The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1877-03-18
THE ADDRESS OF Plus TX. TO TIE LENT
PREACHERS.
uondon Tablet, Feb. aa.)

| Il 10 customary for the Pope, sometime
before the beginning Of the season Of Lent,
| to receive in solemn audience the parisn
priests of bis diocese and the preachers
who have been appointed to deliver the
Lenten sermons 10 the principal chuIches
| of Rome. On such occasions it has been
the habit of the PontlR TO address himself
| to the preachers, and to inform them OF inc
chief points to which he wishes them 70
direct their attention in the delivery OF
their discourses.
The Pope, as Bishop of Rome, never
| forRets his flock, but desires constantly 70
bear their wants in mind. and to inssrucS
them aud console them with SOUND DOC
trine and loving words of kindly advice.
From time to time he admits TO his
| prsAsnce the representatives of various
| glasses Of his people. Sometimes the fam
| lilies of the aristocracy, sometimeA& the
artisan societies, and sometimes the pupils
| of schools and seminarips are introduced
| into the presence of Plus TX, and are
allowed to speak to him, to make known
their pressing anxieties, and to hear from
his own lips words of kindness and Of
wisdom. Plus TX. daily relieves the tenn
porsl wants Of INDECENT and distressed In
habitants of the diocese of Rome. Nor 10
his charley careless or iDdiscriminate. lie
takes pains to ascertain by means of trust
worthy agents the truth of the memorials
and petitions sent to the Vatican. and uses
precautions to prevent, as far as possible,
his bounty from being abused. Until the
violent capture Of Rome in 1870 made him
prisoner in the Vatican, he used to visit
In person many of the churches in Romes
and share In the ecclesiastical functions.
Now that he cannot show himself to his
people outside the limits of the Vatican,
he yet conyrives to let them see and feel
his personal solicitude for their welfare.
His recent address to the Lenten preach
ere msnifests the most tender and zealous
care for the spiritual interests, not only of
the members of the Catholic Church through
out Europe, but for the interests especially
of Catholics in Italy and Rome. 1t is in
itself a Lenten Pastoral, and is fall of the
spirit which should animate Bishop. Al
though dangers of no ordinary kind threat
en- to add additional bitterness to the al
ready bitter lot of Plus TX, and although
increasing years and inevitable infirmities
overshadow his monotonous life, yet not
trace of failing courage or of debility is to
be found in this remarkable discourse. The
words flow from the lips of the speaker
firmly and clearly, without hesitation or
equivocation. Had he 100000 armed men
behind his back the PontiR could not de-
clare his mind more boldly or more fear
lessly. He charges the present rulers of
Rome with being the patrons and foeterers
Of the heresy aud immortality which have
been introduced into Rome aimee 1870. And
is not this charge made with jasticeS Have
not inc n1A0lSCere OF tlCtOE EumhuuoL
permitted and facilitated the establishm eut
Of Protestant Institutions in Rome by the
agents Of foreign societies, who openly
profess their purpose of perverting the
poorer Catholics from their faith : Has
not Signor Mancini, the Minister of Grace,
Justice and Worship, given some of the
money of the State to aid and abet the
founders of the so-called free Italian
Church, and publicly expressed his desire
to Protestantise Italy7 Has he not en-
deavored to prevail on the archivists and
keepers of public ibraries throughout
Italy to ransack the records under their
charge, in search of documents to be used
against the Popeq Are not all the prosely-
tising associations in Italy favored and
protected by the new laws, while the
Catholic Church has been oppressed and
persecuted by the most harassing legisla-
| tion Is it not uudeniable that, while
religious professions of Catholics have
sometimes forcibly dispersed, and their
crosses aud banners denounced as dis
turbances to public order, yet immoral
and licentiOus processions, even with
semi-nude women in chariOts, have been
suffered to outrage decency in the streets
Of Rome, while corruption has been foster
ed by nightly and almost public gatherings
of men aud women, masked or unmarked
in theatres and dancing hoRses, and ever
in the piazzasf Well may Plus TX, gay
that Rome, the centre of Catholicism, weep
and bewails the authorised vice whict
now flaunts itself in public.
Bat there is something yet more deadl!
than undisguised iHfidellty aud sin. TIL
gentlemen in Montecitorio who plRinl!
boast of being Atheists, and who derid
Christianity as q myth, are harmless il
} comparison with the masked intidels VIII
profess allegiance to the Church whil'
, seeking her destruction. He who betrayed
his Master with kiss was more danger
Gus far than the men who sought openly
to kill Him. The timid and week o
Christ's fold may shrink from the vulga
infidel and the open mouted blasphemer
but may be enanared to destruction by thu
nominal Catholics, who are profuse il
declarations of love and loyalty to thu
Church, while in reality they disobey he
plain precepts and make common cause
with her foes.
! Some of these hypOcrites, as Plus TX.
, remarked, will eject Nuns, and seize upor
the greater part of the monastery. drive thu
Sisters into q corner of their former habi
tatiOn, and then turn round and ask 60 be re-