The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1888-12-22

lIG1O11 ANlIkAEtlJs -
women should be dishonored, hear it!
blush for it! Think that the represent
alive Of Imperial Rome could so use
his authority in regard to . mere young
grill He takes her, he has her put in
one OF private suite of rooms, and he
tells the young men to go in there and
try to destroy the virtue of the spouse
of Jesus Christ. There she is in that
house, which is nothing but hell on
earth, in this house of guilt where these
fast young men came to carry out their
heinous designs. But we read in the
Life of st. Agnes that as sooa as they
opened the door of her room, the apart.
ment was filled with light, and beau
tif'll, brave looking young man, with
his sword drawn and pointed to the FIRST
that should first cross the threshold of
the door, ready to put it through him
and lay him down corpse. AS soon
as these men-who were nothing bat
cowards-saw the protector of Agnes,
they flew away stricken with terror,
and told the son Of the governor what
had happened. "Oh,' said he, : you are
towards. I will show you what brave
man can do.''
So he goes; he opens the door Of her
room, draws his sword and steps inside;
but as soon as he has done 50, quicker
than the twinkle of the eye, quicker
than fash of lightning, the young
man who is there lays him low, a corpse.
She is taken out before the governor
again, and he says: proud young
woman, l admire thy spirit and thy
courage, and do not wish to put thee to
death. You have only to put a spoon
full Of incense in the fire before 'yonder
Idol, and liberty and life are thine"
"Never," said she; ''mv God is the God
of the Christian, and ne will give me
strength to shed the last drop Of my
hearts blood in conviction OF tine eter-
nal truths Of Jesus Christ" Little
Agnes was brought to the block, her
virgin neck was laid upon 1t, her head
was cut off, and her virgin blood dyed
the soil of Rome, On the day Oh which
Agnes fell, the noblest Roman of them
all fell. She was a heroine.
How singn}ar]y strange it is that men
will give expression to their opinions on
all occasions regarding temporal affairs,
but when it comes to giving expression
to their Catholic opinions, they say, II
do not believe their way" Then we
have different politics. We have the
Democrats, the Republicans, the Green
! hackers; we have the Woman's Rights,
! we have the Prohibitionists those men
that love cold water, water from the
| Mississippi river, water from the lakes
If Minnesota; nothing but cold water,
morning. aeon and night. And we
have the man that does business, and
they all say: II do not care what my
neighbors Say; it is none OF their affairs
at all. will conduct my business as I
think proper
There is the man who makes corners
in some Of the principal staples, in cot
fee, in lard, in -four and wheat. And
do they care for the opinions OF their
neighbors? What do they care for what
their fellowmen will say? What do they
care about this poor man who, short
time ago, got coffee for II, IL and Is
cents pound, and now has to pay %
and rs cents for the same coffse. He
cannot drink coffee; be cannot pay for
it at such exorbitant prices. What do
these men care for the opinions OF their
fellowmen? Nothing, nothing, But
with the matter of being Catholic,
with the matter of expressing our Cath
Ollie opinion, it is different case alto
gether. A man may be a Jew, a Pres
byterian, a Baptist, a, roaring Method.
list, anything, but Oh, God! a Catholicl
| know, of course, that we have many
converts to our holy faith. know that
some of the brightest men Of the church
today are converts. What did they care
about what their neighbors might saw
about them? One of the last converts
in England was he who before his con-,
version was master of all the Free Ma.
sons insEngland. He was high among
them, and had under his authority the
whole world Of Free Masons. What
did he care for the opinions of his
brother Masons? There is young man
who was converted only short time
ago; he had Catholic father and moth
er, but he associated with evil company:
they, of course, fattered and praised
him for his superior talents; he listened
10 them and went from bad to worse.
He joined all the secret societies one
could Join, Free Masons and others.
And / tell you that outside of hell there
is no worse work on the face of Gods
earth today than that body Of men who
hold sway in France and England.
Now this young man said there was one
society which was father OF all the rest,
the director of all the others. And what