New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-09-19
GuiborsI's Grave.

The following Is given as tho language
employed by the Bishop Of Montreal, in ut
tering the course of the Church up IN the
grave of the printer Guibord-whereve
that grave may be hereafter located:
Ignace Bourget Bishop of Montreal, ETC.,
to the clergy, laity, and religious bodies,
and all the faithful in our diocese-It is for
you duty to raise your voice to-day, con
corning a certain agitation which is
troubling minda aud u hirh is farrnantinp
day after day, and which will doubtless
create terrible catastrophe. 1t is useless
to recall to you the l,mentable fact which
has caused You so bitter grief, for it is
known to all OF you, and it is strongly en-
graved upon your memories, with ell its
unfortunate circumstances, that it will
doubtless be handed down to osterity
What we are going to tell you requires only
a simple explanation, which, we hope, will
suffice to apptase your fears and dissipate
certain pre- JUDGES By means of which bad
passions are endeavored by some to be
excited.
1t is to the benefit of all to faithfully full
fill their duty to their country and their
church, to maintain the public peace. and
live quietly in the bosom of their families.
Now, the subject which troubles o many of
you is the fear that your cemetery, which
you justly vtnarate as "a holy spot, is to be
protaned by the burial of a man who died
in disgrace and under the anathema of the
church. This news has alarmed, with rea
son, the religious feelings of the Catholic
| population, and it is on this account that
some people have been drawn into public
| but peaceful demonstration to prevent the
| proclamation of a sacred spot where our re.
| ligious ancestors repose in peace, waiting the
| great day of resurrection. By this demon
stration spontaneous, and inspired by your
| 1aapaat inns faals far tba hnl1-
ground blessed by the church for the
repOse of your dead, where your bodies
| will be ultimately deposited to await peace
| ably the sound of the terrible trumpet
which will awake you from your last sleep
| in death an raise all men rom the dust,
we ought TO place at the feet of our SOW
ereign the religious convictions with which
| our cemetery is connected as holy place,
as consecrated ground, and as field set
| apart where are placed after death the
| faithful children of the church to await the
arrival of the Sovereign Judge, while their
| bodies mingle with those OF the saints. who,
like themselves, have departed and died in
| the grace of the church.
| We must, ut the same time, admire and
moderate the feeling shown by you at a
time when all expected blood would be
shed. which would have been considered by
| every one as a great misfortune. For our
| part, we would have exceedingly regretted
| such an issue for many reasons. That is
easy for you to understand and appreciate.
| Let it suffice YOU to say that this shedding
| of blood would have been new profanity
of the holy place, and that we took every
| step to prevent such misfortune. But if,
however, we have managed to prevent a
breach of the public peace, yet at the same
| time we have token every means to uphold
the honor Of our holy church and to prevent
| the proclamation of our cOnsecrated ground,
the means being to declare that, by virtue
| of the divine power we had in the name of
the Lord of Lords, the place where the
| body of this rebelli0us child of the church
should be buried should be entirely cut of
| from the consecrated cemetery, and should
| be for the future accursed.
There is no necessity to inform you that
| under the solemn act of our conservation to
| God, full power has been given to us to bind
and unbind, to bless and to curse, to con-
secrate persons, places and churches, and to
interdict them: to separate from the body of
the church the limbs which disturb and out
rage it: to deliver to Satan those who, by
their own acts. sever themselves from the
church, so that they shall be considered from
hencetorth as heathens and publcans, so
that they shall not return to God without a
sincere repent ance. 1t is by virtue of this
divine authority, etc, and to prevent future
troubles, that we declare by these presents,
even though any one shall pretend igno-
rance of it, that the spot in the cemetery
where the body OF the late Guibord shall be
buried, even though in the future it be ex-
humed in any manner whatever, will be IN
fact and in manner (ipso facto) interdicted
and separated from the rest of the cemetery.
Such is the declaration we have to make to
you. Therefore you need have no fear that
in the present case your cemetery can lose
its sacredness, or that the holy rites it has
upon its sanctifiad and blessed places can
be sacrificed or trodden under foot.