The Irish standard., 1892-11-05

father, knowing full we'll that the charms
| Of the fascinating American, reinforced
as they were by the thousands Of golden
dollars which she brought him in the
shape OF q dowry, had much more to do
with his change of views than any Of the
dogmas Of which he had been previously
the most incorporating advocate.
His ignoble attachment to the woman
whom he called his wife caused scanda-
graver than any other which had for a
long time taken place in Catholic circles
in France. He braved the storm of con-
tempt and ridicnle wi b the assurance
and naughty impassiveness Of a Lucifer.
His pride of intellect blinded him to his
own wickedness. He aspired to become
a second Luther, to create another and
still more formidable schism in the Cath
Ole Church. and to be installed in Office
as a supreme pontif of new religious
community. Hyacinthe, accompanied
by his "wife, proceeded to Geneva, where
the Old Catholic fever was at it's highest
point of temperature. Here he rented a
temple and had himself initiated by Dol
linger into the priesthood of the doctors
communion IT., acinthe did not remain
long ia Geneva. Aiming to be supreme
i.head of the Old Catholic church, he made
many enemies for himself among the ri
val candidates for that position-the re-
suit being that he fell into disgrace and
starting Gallican church on Mrs. 10y
sons fortune. With this object in view,
be appealed to the national feelings of
all Frenchmen in the press and on the
platform. "The Church of Rome is an
Italian church" he said, "your fore
fathers we're Gallican, not Roman Catho-
lies, and bent their necks to no foreign
religious yoke. Come and enter my
church, which is a national and Gallican
onep' A few hundred cranks of both
sexes answered his call He secured the
services Of few suspended priests whose
records we're far from being morally i'm
maculate, and with these coadiutors he
inaugurated his ne v church in an insig-
nifcant little hall in the rue d'Arras in
the Latin quarter of Paris
One Sunday took occasion TO visit
the ex-fathers sanctuary. What YVES
called "a French high mass'' was being
celebrated, Hyacinthe himself acting as
priest, and two of his assistants as dea-
con and subdeacon. An asthmatic organ
wheezed itself almost to death in minia
ture loft overhead; while the voices of
the choir were in thorough touch with
the consumptive character of the music.
| The high mass was celebrated in the
French language, and bread and wine
We're distributed to the communicates.
The celebrants wore the vestments of
Catholic priests; and in all other re-
spects the ceremonial " as the same as
in Catholic churches but the whole
scene struck me az being q CHASTITY
farce. Some fourteen people only were
present-a few professors from the uni
| versity angling for notoriety, and some
powdered and bespectacled elderly maid
ems whose vineg faces were very melan-
choly TO behold. Such was the congre-
cation which the ex-Pere Hyacinthe had
gathered around him after ten years of
toll and labor. In or about that time
now some seven or eight years ago--his
wife's resources having been completely
exhausted, he proceeded to this country
to secure sufficient funds to save hie
church from bankruptcy. His mission
here was dismal failure, for it scarcely
betrayed his travelling expenses. Re.
turning to Paris with heavy heart, he
managed somehow Or other to keep 6
roof over his head, as we'll as the heads
of his bakers dozen of followers, till
quite recently, when he had to disbano
bis congregation. His s'wife' is now
making tour Of the United States, in
the hope that her persuasive powers may
be more effective than were those Of he1
apostate husband. There is no chance
to "raise the wind" in France. French.
men boycotted the ex~father from the
very start Catholics would have none
of him, and the Fresthinkers laughed al
his protested attempts to "re-Christian.
ize" their country. Hyacinthe's fall from
"a position of commanding influence to
that Of impotency and shame is hardly
rivalled in religious annals. Nemesis was
ever on his track since the evil honr when
his passion for a woman dragged him
down to the level of an apostate.
Vote November 8.
It is always amusing and sometimes
instructive to hear men tell what ticket
jthey are going to vote this fall aud why
they ar. going to vot it. The discussion