The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-03-20
State Of Montana.

| so. Not only does ii allow all men to
think and act as they will. within the
rules of propriety. but IL also respects
and gives weight to the opinions Of
others. These types of liberty are char
acteristic of Americanism. They are
essentials in patriotism, and they are
of the noblest teachings of Mother
| Church.
But the Church and the age, although
| not always in harmony, have an infiu
ence upon each other. The more ad-
vanced and enlightened we find the age
| the more progressive and liberal we find
| the Church. In dark ages, we ind the
men of church responsive to the influ-
| ence of those times. This is natural.
| But the aim and tendency of the
| Church has been and shall ever be to
| keep in advance, to lift up the age, to
brighten and quicken its thought. and
to ennoble its people. AS pitch will de-
| file, so has the bright armor of the
| Church been furnished in the evil age.
| But America has essentially been
| land of progress, and in this progress
we find the Catholic Church ever fore
| most.
What sacred institution of freedom
| have we in America to which Catholics
| have not contributed their share? Has
there ever been a movement toward I'D
erty within the American shores in
which Catholics have not taken lead
| ing part? And why should they not?
| They have come here as eXiles from
| tyranny in every land. Prosecuted be-
| cause of their holy religion in the ma
| lions OF Europe the Catholics were COM
| PEELED to find a refuge. Rocked on the
| pillows OF chance they crossed the surg
| ing ocean to America. They came here
from Ireland where to be a Catholic
| was criminal, where a county was Of
fered for priests head. and the pa
rent who tried to educate his child was
| punished by death. They came here
| seeking the right to think and to wor-
ship God as they pleased, and deter
| mined to accord that right to others.
| The exiled Catholics came there from
| Germany where under discriminating
| laws, they had been denied the protec-
ton of government and the right to
! implore Divine assistance. They came
| here from Poland-from fair, crushed.
| dismembered Poland-her land divided
| by three conquering kings and parceled
| out to Infatuated warriors, her soil. en-
| riched by the blood of heroes, bearing
| golden harvests to her foreign oppres-
! sors, her flag in tatters. her lineage de-
| graded, her songs forgotten, her re-
| ligion Knocked. The remaining few of
| those exiled heroes came here to find
| and make a home for the free. They
came her from France-from that ma
ton which has done more
| 1Of the cause OF liberty lndD
| all the world besides-they came
here from the union Of church and
state, and anxious TO make of this the
| one free land for all the types of creed
| and color. Aye. They came here from
| England, and a sturdy little band I'M
der Lord Baltimore first planted relig
| ious freedom in America at the colony
| of Marysville, now Maryland, in 1884.
two years before Roger Williams and
| the colony of Rhode Island. A Catho-
! lie Columbus pleaded, begged at the
| courts of Europe was Knocked and
| tainted in the streets of old Madrid,
braved the perils of the unknown seas,
| the mutiny of his crew, and died of
! broken heart; all this that he might
discover America. Catholic Verraxani
| and Champlain explored our Atlantic
coast A Catholic DeSoto penetrated
! the wilderness to discover and find a
| resting place an the bosom of the
| Father of Waters" Those Jesuit
priests, Marquette Hennepin and La
Sale. preached the gospel of peace and
| good will in the forest wigwam where
| now teens the verdant meads and
blooming prairies of the Mississippi
| valley. In the continental congress.
| Richard Henry Lee first thrilled the
chords of freedom, while the only for
| eigners who crossed the ocean to fight
| the battle of Americas independence
| were the Catholics, Kosciusko, Pulaski
! and Lafayette. So 1 might enumerate.
| We would find Catholic patriots of the
| type of Sumpter and Marion, states
men as Benton and Ewing. and war
| riors as Wayne, Rosecrans, Porter and
| Sheridan. What a galaxy to have
sprung from the Catholic portion which
has been less than one-tenth of our
| people. And yet the Catholics have
been accused of planning the destruc-
ton of our God-given liberties!
OF Catholic authors. one must men
| ton: Francis Scott Key, who wrote
the star Spangled Banner" During
the attack upon Fort Henry in the war
of 1912, he was sent out in a small boat
| under a flag of truce to one of the enc
mics ships The English man-of-war
| did not even take him on board. but
| dashed his little boat beside her in the
| ocean directly under one OF her own
| guns. There he spent the long night
while the battle went on. Cannons
| crashed over his head and shells are
| bursting in the water about him. A
| single shell may destroy his tiny craft
| and send him helpless TO a watery
| grave But does he think OF danger?
| No: for there the song of the Star
| Spangled Banner" had its inception.
| All night long. while the cannon boom
| about him. he watches and prays. With
the first gray light of morning we can
see him peering,
"Oh. say. can you see by the dawn's
| early light.
| What so proudly we hailed at the twi-
lights last cleaning.
Whose broad stripes and bright stars,
thro' the perilous night.
Ger the ramparts we watched were so
CALAMITY streaming"
There is patriotism, There is love OF
| country, There is heroism. Utterly
| unconscious OF his own danger. he
watches only to catch one glimpse OF
| the precious folds of his dear flag. And
| as he watches he breathes. over and
| over again, those fervent prayers he
| learned 10 lisp in innocent childhood
| days at a Catholic mothers knee-"Our
| Father and an Ave Marie" WHAT
! anxiety that long night had in store
| for him, But see him again as he
/ anxiously peers forth.
/ What is that which the breeze DER
! The tnL-.rInn siaan