St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-04-16

iquitous evil, full of deadly poison. 1t
spreads rapidly in towns, villages and
cities, and few there are who have
| nothing i'll to say of their neighbors, so
| thoroughly are people saturated with
| this evil. DetractiOn is a malicious
conversation about either the living or
| dead, with desire of lessening or ruin
ing their reputation. There are two
kinds of detraction. The first is cal
umny, which consists in falsely misrep-
| resenting the words or actions of
lIanother; of spreading evil reports we
Itlnow are not true. This is a dark
crime, and springs from the lowest
Idepths of he'll it's
II PROMPTED BY THE FATHER OF LIES
] himself. 1t is more or less grievOus
I2acc0rding as it is more or less grievOuS
to the person illuminated. 1t is eS-
pecially grieyOuS when the calumnia-
3tion is directed towards one holding
position of honor or trust, either in the
ichurch or state, for the reason that the
asins of the great, when made known to
the world, cause far more scandal than
those of private individuals. The sin
Of caiumny is a grave one, and, if we
are guilty of it, we are obliged in
Justice to make restitution for it, and to
re-establish the injured ones reputa
Ill.
complish than to make just reperation,
for calumny spreads with incredible
fapidity, and, besides, the retraction
offered never reaches the ears of all
those who have heard the calumny.
The second species of detraction con-
sistS in spreading about evil reports,
true in themselves but not generally
known. As rule. this sin is not so
grievouS as that OF calumny. 1t is never
lawful to tell all we know about our
neighbors. This sin is worse than that
of theft. A good name is of SO great a
price that the wise man places 1T above
riches. Hence it is that theOlOgianS
conclude that inaSmuch as good name
is better than riches, SO much is the sin
of detraction graver than that of theft.
To understand the enormity of this sin
we must consider that the detractor in
fiicts three mortal wounds: First on his
own soul, depriving it of charity; he
wounds his neighbor by stealing from
him his good name and taking away the
spirit of grace; also he wounds all those
who listen to his detraction. 1t is
for these reasons that Holy Scripture
likens the tongue of the detractor to
double-edged, sharp-pointed, death
dealing sw rd, and again to serpent
whose bite is scarcely felt. but whose
poison goes to the heart. This sin is as
cowardly as it is inful. Its chief char
acteristic is cowardice. 1t is even more
unjust than it is cowardly. If the man
he detracts is his friend, such action is
vile-it is downright treachery. If the
one detracted is his enemy, the detractor
is still guilty of injustice; he arrOgateS
to himself the right of vengeance. After
all this we need not be surprised at the
terms made use of by holy scriptures:
1.-THE detractor is the abemination of
men, "Neither liars or detractors
shall possess the kingdom of GOd.''
Let us then deteSt detractiOn. Let
us try and initiate that old saint. who,
on his dying bed, thanked God that dur
ing sixty years of his life nOtOne unkind
word of his neighbor had ever crossed
his lips. Remember the words Of st.
John, who says: Though it is pleasant
to detract, it is still more pleasant not
to detract." 1t Isl common saying that
if there were no receivers of stolen
goods, there would be no thieves. The
same
is TRUE OF THIS GREAT SIN.
If there were no listeners there would
be no detractors. A great deal of the
damage done in this matter is due to the
eowardly complacency given to the de-
tractor. We may be shocked and scan
daliZed, yet we encourage this unjust
reviling, hence the progress of detrac-
ton.
St. Thomas says: eff any one listens
to detraetion without in any way resist
ing it, that one becomes an accomplice
to the SIM" st. Bernard is just as def
mite: Il find it difficult to determine
whether it is more criminal to detract or
listen to detraction." Either you have
authority over the detractor or not. If
you have you must net fail to reprove
him: if You have not, you must show by
your behavior that such a thing is not to
your liking.
This should be the rule of Christians
endeavor to be charitable, and cloak.
rather than expose the faults of your
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