The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-02-07
PASTORAL LETTER
OF HIS GRACE, THE ARCHBISHOP OF NE
ORLEANS, FOR THE LENT OF 1873.

ORLEANS, FOR THE LEN Ot 1870
NAroLEoN JosErm By the Grace of Col and favor OF
the Holy Apostolic See Archbishop OF New Orleans,
Assistant at the Pontincal Throue, Roman Count,
Grand Cross Of the Order of the Holy Sepuchre ETC.
To the Clergy and Laity of Diocese: Health and
Benedicton In Jesus Christ Our Lord
Belored Fello,o- Laborers Of the Clergy and dear
Brethren Of the Laity.-Although the spirit Of
pensnce is the very ground and essence of
Christianity, and although the life of Christ
ian must be sanctifed every day by works of
penance and expiration, however, the Church,
| conscious of our weakness, has fixed, in the
course of the year, certain epochs, such as Lent,
the Ember Days and Vigils, to impose upon Us
works of modification, that we may renew
ourselves in the spirit of penance, which con-
tinually tends to relaxation.
We come, therefore, dearly beloved Brethren,
in the name of Christ Lord, whose place
we hold in your midst, in the name of the
Church which we represent for you in this
Diocese, in the name of your dearest interests,
of your sanctiication and everlasting saliva
ton, to urge you to cooperate with the merci-
full designs of the Lord upon you and with the
maternal intentions of the Church, in profting
by this holy time of Lent, to accomplish, as
far as your strength will allow, the penance
which it will impose upon you, and to add to
1T voluntary acts of notification, works of
mercy, and that spirit of prayer, which gives
our actions their supernatural merit.
Alas, dearly beloved Brethren, could we
hesitate a moment resoiutely to enter into the
ways of Christian penance, when we see moth
ing on all sides but subjects of grief and
atfiiction, and when Almighty God, in letting |
fall heavy upon the arm of His justice |
urges US so strongly to enter into ourselves !
and return to him.
1t seems we have come to those unhappy
times, of which the Lord speaks, when he says:
When the son of Man will come, do you believe
he will find faith upon earth 1t is no longer
some bold, but isolated men; it is whole
associations whose members are counted by
millions, that now deny divine Providence, the
action of God upon creatures, creation itself;
and carry the lnsolence of blasphemy to the
very negation of the existence of God, thus
endeavoring to destroy what has been to this
time held most holy and sacred amongst men
For them there is immortal SOUL no future
ite, no difference between truth and error
between God and evil consequently, con-
cienee, honor, probity are nothing more than
mere prejudice; and their only principle of I
morality is the glorfcation of corrupt nature
md the gross satisfaction of the present. They t
hus degrade mar to the level of the brute, &
nd of the most igneble and AFFECT brute. a
Others who dare not carry SO far the frenzy '
inidelity, but who are the more dangerous 8
or it, endeavor to break asunder the bonds
'hich unite man with his Creator, whilst they o
reclaim pretended natural religion, which is Q
, reality the uegaton of all religion. They d
lafjn 1o1,, l.
le supernatural relation existing between Il
cd and men; insult the religion which God Il
ave to men, as o hideons mass of errors and g.
lperstltlons. In their eyes, man, with his n
eak and proud reason, his corrupt heart, and
'praved will, is enlightened enough, pure oil
ough, strong enough, to find truth and ia
practice virtue 1t is always the same pride, gi
hich inclines naughty and rebellious creature al
set aside that great God, creator, preservor, al
ID regulator of all beings, and without whose ne
sistance we can do nothing. m
AS for us Catholics who adore in our Lord ST
sus Christ, true God and true Man. our Re. W
emer, our Mediator and Saviour; who send ju
to Him the thoughts of our mind, the as br
ratlons of our heart, the motions of our tn
II who want to love him, and who proclaim NJ
III the principle and source of all good for tn
IS lie and the next, We have the grief to da
ar the most horrid blasphemies uttered CO
Aust his adorable name, before which every an
ee must bend in heaven, upon earth, and in WI
IL. HIS heavenly doctrine is ridiculed his de
re moral is corrupted by lies; his divine law by
tranpled under feet; his worship is in Ch
ted, and our holy solemnitios, which re- wi
I'd US of the ineffable mysteries of love !
ich he has worked for US, are the objects of pic
shject sarcasms and odious blasphemies of pre-
impious. Sa,
he immaculate Spouse of Christ, the holy Co
sholic Church, our mother, is everywhere, ing
3 her Divine Spouse. exposed to every kind by
'utrages, insults and calumuies. Her purest and
'ntions are misinterpreted her hottest &C. yea
Is disfgured. She, who is the Mother and pet
ilizer of regenerated humanity, she, who ma,
braces all men in her love, and alone to
bies us to know aed acquire the real and arc
3 goods for the present life and the next, eve
is represented as the enemy of mankind. this
being onnosed to civiE ood -.