The Irish standard., 1890-08-02
W ON EMS RIGHTS.
Bishop spaldinR, of Peoria, On
That Subject.

He Expressed the Spirit of CathoIicity---
ss Where the Banners Of The Church
Were TrIum phantly Planted There Ap
peared the Virgin Mary.
In his address to the faculty and stu
dents Of Notre Dame University Bishop
Spalding, of Peoria, advocated the right
of women to larger opportunities in
life. He said that women are treated
now very much as the Negro slaves
used to be-kindly in the majority of.
cases, but as though considered depend
ant and inferior. He demanded higher
education, and those technical forms
Of it which fit ono for profession, for
the gentle sex.
Bishop Spalding has taken bold and
radical views on many open questions
in which different opinions may exist
between Catholics, with mutual tolera-s
tion and perfect good faith on all sides,
rays writer.
But, Bishop spalding expresses the
spirit of Catho1icity That is, he ap-:
plies to the conditions of American life;
those same principles that the Church
has for centuries applied TO the differ
snt conditions Of life in the Old World
. For, when history is looked into 1t is,
found that almost the sole power ex-
erted for the elevation of women, in
the> social. scale, has been that of the
Catholic Church. In the ancient Pagan
times, and, even among the Jews, wo-a
men were distinctly subjected: to man,
not so brutality among the Chosen Peo77
pie as among the Gentiles, But brutallys
enough. There was r, ason for this.
The sin committed by Eve had placed
her sex under a curse greater than that
visited upon the sex of the partner she
tempted to share in her iniquity. But
tine second Eve, III the person of Our
Blessed Mother, who yielded herself as
the immaculate channel of the Hyposz.
tatic Union, redeemed the earthly con-
dition of her sex, just as the Saviour
redeemed mankind for eternity. Every
where that the banners of Christ were
triumphantly planted, there also ap-
peared the benign countenance of the
Virgin Mother, the most perfect crea-
ture that ever came from the hands Of
God, without spot, or wrinkle or any
other blemish. In the beautiful light
reflected from her, all women dwelt SO
in an aureola of glory. The chivalry of
the Middle Ages was, perhaps, an exags
gerated expression of this feeling, and
certain it is that all the respect now
paid to women is directly due to the
cultus of the Blessed Virgin in tho
Catholic Church sI.y
Then came the Renascent and the Re-
formation--the former a reversion to
Pagan ideas which looked upon woman
rs plaything of lust, the latter brur
tai accentuation Of those ideas by
making her in addition beast of bur
aen, as the savages do For it was the
Catholic doctrine Of the Virgin Mother
chat the self-styled "reformers' chiefly
attacked, and they fearlessly practiced
what they preached, Thus, DR.. Martin
Luther allowed The Princesof Hesse to
have two wives at once, while the uxor-
tous career of King Henry VIII. is too
we'll known to be worth dwelling upon
Alt hough the revived Pagan and the
new Protestant views Of women have
obtained too large hold in ali parts of
Christendom, we can still trace the
in the two kinds of nations.
In France, Austria, Italy, Spain and
Portugal, where Catholicity has torce
still as tradition over all, even though
it may not rule as creed over some,
women are treated as fully the equals
Of men. In Germany, to considerable
extent, they are literally regarded Is
boasts sof burden. Or, take two coun-
tries right ongside of each other. In
Ireland women are regarded with ia
widely recognized respect. In England
. man regards it as his undispute Cd
right to maui his woman and when
the wife-beater is fined few shillings
he is apt to think that he has been
hardly dealt with.
The writer then continues:
.sIn America women have been treated
very much according to nationality
lines, with tendency toward Catholic
ideals, born of the very greatness and
extent of the country. Yet in the freer
md wider ranges of thought Of this
New World, women have developed 4
other aspirations. OF course the des-
tiny of the vast majority is to be wives
md mothers. But there is an ever
increasing number who desire to live
IN independent life. and in doing 10
have equal opportunities. Therefore,
while We are rather doubtful about
Bishop Spalding's principle of allowing
them modified suffrage-and that in
the interests Of women themselves
we can heartily coincide with him in
his advo ocacy Of their admission to pro 3
fessions still largely barred to them. !
AS physicians, for instance, they would
Drove invaluable to their fellow-women.
While we disagree with him as to the
Of woman suffrage in the
main, We believe with Bishop Spalding
that the time has come to give women
larger opEortunities, and we shall add
that in. thisIhe is but following the line
of the best Catholic traditions. p
Sacrament of Absointion.
There Is, no sin Of any kind, however
deep, dark. black as midnight, and
often com mmitted, nothing 80 inveterate,
nc%hinp whi rh in the Al pht nf God ia