Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-02-12
IsISKING THEIR LIVES.
pARis LETTE9 WHICH TELLS or
THE APOSTLES TO THE LePEHs.


= PARIS LETTER WHICH TELLS or
THE APOSTLES RI r4e ,ccreo
'@~nh Priests WI" Work Among the vse-
lin. NJ the Avian t,,.~..~ rhrt.. -.
idea, ~ ~. r..,-,.
= ~ ne
''A' ;" madagascar.
Heroic a. was the deviation ~ ,t.t ...,.s.,.
of the leper. Fa,,,sr r,.,. II vs.s.-s MI,
n,,s, ,,..s...,.,, y. ~ ana
s. ~ = = gre Inc PRAISES bestowed
a.. ~ ~ sacr'nc'ns priest BY the world,
'ps Voluntary martyr to duty was only oias
amc6g multitude Of men and women who.
eyer since the Christian religion began IT.
career. claimed as their dearest nrivilere "a
care for the victims ~ lec~,..v
Without going back 70 the early ares
where we meet 70 many examples Of this
same self sacrificing spirit. the history az ma
diGval and modern Europe furnishes ~ At
every page with the names OF ipstituttons
especially established for the victims Of tbis
awful disease. In Jerusalem. when Il fell
into the possession Of the Crusaders vhile
the Knights HospitaIers Of st. John devoted
their lives TO the care OF the sick and nla0,,a
stricken In general, the Knights of 1T Lara
rus, an association OF German noblemen.
consecrated their existence to the victims Of
leprosy, 90 numerous In the east.
This institution had for members only per
sons Of the highest nobility. In thea old
feudal times it was thought that generosity
OF disposition always accompanied gentle
blood. Noblesse oblixe was the motto ~ thu
true representatives Of ancient houses The
risks to which they were exposed who under
took to bring light and hope into the dark
and despairing life Of the Ieper were beyond
comparison 1t needed, therefore, the high
est degree Of natural and religious beroism to
dedicate ones self by vow to the service Of
these outcasts OF the human race. and the
loftiest honor and conscientiousness 10 perse-
we're in q calling which was q life long cruel
f1xion
Christ, who was 20 tender to tho r,oor lon
ers wherever he met them, and in his passion
Is likened by the Prophet Isaiah to q leper.
was the ideal whom these Knights of st
Lazarus set before themselves Indeed. II
was Christ whom they loved to behold in
every one OF these hideous sufferers. which
ancient society, both Jews and Gentilea, cast
forth from its midst
All Americans who come to Paris will re-
member the st. Lazare railway station. It
Is 90 called from a leprosy bospital of the
Middle Ages with its adjoining monastery.
which existed down TO the last century. II
was only one of several similar establish.
menta founded here and there in France by
kings, mobiles or prelates, in which none but
persons Of royal or noble blood were allowed
to take monastic vows What was done in
France, after the example set in Palestine by
the German knights, was done in every coun-
try of Christendom exposed to the ravages Of
ieprosy. This general spirit of self sacrifice.
prompted by the Christian religion, and the
tender care bestowed on lepers thus separated
from the outside world were one principal
cause Of drying up this fearful disease in
Christian and continental Europe In Asia.
Africa and Oceanica Ieprosy under a hun
bred forms continued its rayages
Certain it is that wherever our missionaries
have labored outside of Europe in the east
and over the adjoining continents, either be-
fore the discoveries of vasco de Cana or Co
lumbus or after them, they invariably met
with the plague of leprosy, and had in their
charity to care for the souls and bodies OF
| these wretched outcasts, treated as criminals
by both pagans and Mohammedans
| In the well known publication. Les Mission.
| Catalogues, which relates only very lin
tied portion of the iabors performed under
| the direction of the propaganda, it is author
| itatively stated that the terrible and incura
BILE infirmity of leprosy is devotedly and ten
| derby cared for by our missionaries at TRIM
| dad, in japan, in China, in India and else
where The heroism which has so startled
| our pleasure loving world at Molokai is only
| one manifestation of the same apostolic spiri
| which finds the subjects of its devotion OIL
every island group in the vast Pacific as wei
as on the neighboring mainlands
| Here is one great leprosy hospital, in tn,
| service of which several missionaries hav,
sacrificed health and life, that would not nov
be heard of were it not that the sad state o
| affairs in France compels the missionaries +
| call for pecuniary help to meet the needs o
an ever increasing number of lepers.
| The hospital is in Madagascar, that won
derful island so near the coast of Africa, and
as science proves, the sole remaining frag
! ment of a continent long ago submerged b
the surrounding ocean The missionaries
| all French appealed, in their dis
| tress, to the great Society for the Propaga
| ton of the Faith, established long ago i
| Lyons; hence the appearance in Les Mission
| Catalogues of the name of great and goo
| work, which deserves to be made known :
| In Madagascar, as everywhere In heather