The daily gazette., 1875-01-02


lead in this movement to defend the
! Union.
From the New York World.
The Expulsion of the Sisters of
Charity from Merico.
The news which comes to us from
Mexico, that the Mexican Congress- has
solemnly voted to erpel the Sisters of
Charity from the territory of the repub-
nc, Is not q pleasant piece of informa-
tion IN itself, nor is it likely to enhance
the reputation of the Mexican people on
either side Of the Atlantic. For the
daughters of st. Vincent" are known
and honored Of all men, of whatever
creed, who are capable of appreciating
unselhsh devotion, untiring benevolence
and that most intelligible of all forms of
the love of God which expresses itself in
loving service to tho poorest and most
miserable of His creatures. That the
legislature OF q considerable civilized
country should deliberately refuse to an
association OF Christian women abso-
lutely consecrated and set apart to the
works OF charity the right to exercise
their sacred vocation, may well seem to
other nations such piece of stold big
Ctry as is hardly reconcilable with any
rational faith In the future of such q
country. 1t is but simple justice, there
fore to Mexico and the Mexicans that SO
extraordinary an act should not be mis-
represented nor tho steps by which the
Mexican Congress reached it lost sight
OF. On the 2lst of May last four mem
bers OF the Mexican Congress laid before
that body q project OF constitutional
reform" The nineteenth and twentieth
articles OF this project were aimed at
| m 0atI Nd in L.
named article absolutely prohibiting the
existence of such orders in the republic,
and the last-named article defining as
monastic orders within the scope Of ar
| "tlcle 19 all religious societies the mem
| bers of which live under certain rules
| OF their own in fulfllment of tempor-
ary or permanent vows and promises,
:and under subsection to one or more
| "superiors; even if the members of the
"order thus formed should have different
"and seperate dwelling places" Under
such an article it would he impossible
for such q body as our own American
Shakers" or as the Oneida Communi-
| ty, or as the Mormons, to exist In Mexi-
co, and If the article was to have any
virtue or vitality, at all, those who pro
posed the plan of reform" of which it
is part were fatally bound to admit
that it included in its purview the be-
/
has finally, after sharp debate, been
decided that it must apply. In the
course of this debate, one or two Of the
most distinguished men in Mexico, and
particularly Senior Rafael Martinez de La
Tore, the brilliant and accomplished
Mexican lawyer who played so honora-
BILE part in the defence of the Empero.
Maximilian before the court-martial
which condemned that unhappy prince
4 To xnIo ba off fha
ters of Charity with rare and touching
| eloquence. The simple record OF the
| life and work Of the Sisters in Mexico
pleaded also for them, and none the less
eloquently.
The order of the Sisters Of Charity has
been established now in Mexico for thir-
ty years. The number of sisters against
whom the hand of the Government has
now been lifted is 4l0, of whom no fewer
than 355 are native daughters of Mexico.
OF tho others 90 are of French, IS Of
| Spanish, and of Irish birth. No fewer
| than 43 charitable establishments in diff
ferent parts Of the republic nre under
their charge. 29 Of which have been
founded and are supported through their
influence by private benevolence exclu
sively. In these establishm ments 81 ,l45
poor people are actually receiving succor.
medical care, and the tender help which
they can hope to find nowhere else. 10
expel the Sisters of Charity from Mexico
is to close these establishments, and to
close these establishments is to throw all
| the sufferers now relieved in them upon
the casual charity of a country in which
neither charity nor any other form OF
modern social activity can now be truly
said to be organized upon a scale or in a
manner wholly worthy of the present
age These considerations We're potent
enough to array 81 votes in behalf of the
threatened Sisters, against 1l3sdesperate-
IL logical Liberals whorefused to exempt
them from the sweeping prohibition en-
acted by the lnew project of reform"
against all "monastic orders.' For
when it is stated that the new law ex-
pels the Sisters from Mexico it is only
fair to be exact about its operation and
to say that it attains this result not by
directly and specifically ordering them or
the members of any other order to leave
the. republic, as the Jesuits, fer example
were recently ordered by the German
Government to remove out of the em-
pire, but by forbidding them to recog-
nize the authority of their superiors, or
to wear in public their distinctive dress.
OF tcourse, this amounts to the same
thing so far as the Sisters are concerneds
But it is not quite so barbarous and pig
headed thing so far as the majority OF
the Mexican Congress are concerned.
Tho truth is that the Sisters are SIM
ply suffering with the rest Of the Catho
lie Church in Mexico, which is paying
the penalty now of its long and fatal con-
nection with the State.