The sun., 1902-06-01
vALCE or Az INTELLIGENT
LtITI.
4 view Of Silence by DtstinEuhneo
uemar tatheic Laymau.

To rHE FDiToR or THr SUN-SH' FOR
many y.ar- after the fall OF the Roman
Empire. the Catholic Church preserved
for the rnossern world not a little of what
was good in the government of ancirh'
Rome; aud he who does not know how
much was done by Pope- and by Monk
/ 70 keep aliye among the semi barbarian
Of Europe a little thirst for knowledge has
hecn n blind student Of history. Br' tn
feudal day., when Europe was cut up int"
many petty princedoms and when countless
human bulldogs were tearing each Other
in piece-. there were few opportuniti"s
for study among tho laity. Indeed, We
l..liey, that In tho~e days the laynan liked
a battleaxe and cro-sbow great deal more
than he liked n schoolmaster his dearest
playground was the battlefield, and schools
and universities would have had poor
chance 20 take root cxcep, for III" Catholic
priesthood Hut gradually times grew
more peaceful and the layrnan cnrne sofus-
wha, morr to the from; in civil aud educa-
tional uat,ers lie still, however, remained
uncommonly haclC,, ard, especially In the
knowledge Of nature. The tearhings Of
the monk Roger Bacon, seemed 20 bs
utterly forgotten by him.
Although printing had ben invented IN
its0. and although Copernicus wrote his
famous treatise DE RevolutionIbus Or
bum Crlestium.' almos, a century after
IL was invented. very little attention was
given 70 the new system of astronomy.
And We all know wha, happened when
even sixtv years after CopernIcus, Galileo.
through his primitive telescope. observed
four Of the satellite. Of Jupiter revolving
around Jup ter. a. well as the phases of
Venus II is true that what Calico OBJ
served in 1910 did not demonstrate the
revolution Of our earth round he sun.
The direct proof came a few years
later. when Or. Bradley made known tie
phenomenon Of the alteration OF light.
Yet the facts which Calico dii establish
verc 40 brilliantly illustrative of the Copper
mean theory that an intelligent laty would
not have tsCome alarmed 10y his DISCOVERIES.
The great astronomer might even have
allowed many persons TO look through his
glazed optic tubs a. b.. called II, and
they might have gone away willing to
brLrve that our earth did indeed make q
yrarly revolution round III. sun. " Calico
was s,!enced by the lnQuisition. II was IN
order that the faith of al uninteligent
lai,y might not be shaken 10y his dSoreri~s,
for they were convinced that our earth
stood sill and was th. centre Of the UNI
verse But a. the late Very Rev August ne
Hewitt told tI- IN the catholic World for
August 1891. the ca-s Of Calico u he one
signal in-ta O. Of the condemnation nj
a true scientific theory hy eccle-iasttcal
authority
I, il therefore untrue To say thai the
Catholic church IL afraid of science al
though. owing to want 81 intelligence
on the mart O.! the laitv. she ma, SonIei lines
10 protect the faith bc made Ia app"ar
n Il -h. were. And " ! hav" brought up
her. the wel-worn subject uf GaIieo. a
has b-A.n solely IN show what an important
hing a know ledg" OF natur" i and the
hmm thai NAV flow from the lack q! u.
Even a, 'hc present day there ar" no' few
lavnsr who through want Of knowledge,
are in the same frame of mind M their
predecessors wsr' IN ''alil"n'- time, lh"y
are unnarVsd hv recent d-'oNtri"~ in the
field of nature. and -nme - them would
even have b" hurrh condemn those a, ho-
lic- Who maintain IN" doctrine ~ "rgani'
evolution. The" good Iepri" do not read.
They do not gn'w what ~. Augusta
taurh' on this verN subject fifteen centuries
ago Thi- great doctor of the church did
NOT -earrh The Scriptures for laws OF nature.
n, not only did not believe that tie -iN
days ~ CREATION were meant To imply -N
solar DAYS but he also believed that N"
deyrlotnent " organic life takes - nat
ural CnurS" through Irw"r- impaired -
created things nv the Creator And here
. carre-'lv recommend timid lavmen to
read 'ho addr''-~ "f Mgr Ninot the Arch-
bishop 81 tlhi. uu Nov. n, 1901, az the
r.otpuiug Of m" iatholic Institute Il Tout
iulirs, ana reproduced IN III" h.'kiy R'1iH-
Ter and Cdfhohc Rtucu for January "f
ihis year
you know. ssy- this eminent prelai",
with What ni-'ItIst IN" idea ~ evolution,
" hich -.rn,,d ~ seriously Cpmpr. iniss~i by
c-rram link that cpnn"ct'-d u to ~" pan
'heistc philo-pphv. was received IN onr
Schools thirty year ago. since then IT.
contents have leon nnaly D"d with pre-
cisIou ana it = almost unar .mou-lv r"C-
ogninci that evClC'ion i. Ia -nme -'''se
r"concilahle with religious and Christian
~uucrp,iou of tho uu,Net~" that IN" germ
81 y j. found ~ -. Augustine, and ~ptn"
hay. discovered. With Vincent Of lsrin-,
that when appli"d To- rel l'giou- history y
can she'd much light on problems found
hitherto iusoluhl"- And Ia the Dublin
R.'isu for Octob"-. isas. ~ an article en-
tI,le'l Physical SCi"ur" and Farm, Bishop
H"il~y writes -tu' iir~l q! az i should u"
well horr,c IN innd that 'h" foremost tathn-
ltr men of SrirnC- ~ tie dav not nrlv hold
a theory of evolution. h'' cpn~ dor that
there can h~ NJ doubt on IA" matter
Unfortunately, a. W. haN. sad. these
iimid laym~n do not rad wha' tath'lc
writers such a. the harmed DuminICsn,
NJ ID Leroy, have written IN support Cf
organic development, and they are gnorsn'
81 the fact thai every living h,ol'g,st uf
rrpu,e accepts th. doctrine of evolution.
Ana thfltur, 700. 10 Aif WY tItN
who are sp little given Ia the study II nature.
who arr ~ unwilling 10 believe ia IN" hangc
81 spssrie,. are IN other matters exceedingly
cr.duous. In France, only ulur wears
ago, a shrewd lmIo-ter, nanrd L'-o laAI!,
declared that a Young woman, wh' m l..
callcd Diana Naug han. tsh" had onrr joined
the fremasnn-. tut had rcpeutcd and
left tho secret s,cEetyl had had several
personal lntcrv e~s With Satan She Id
of the approaching cDd Of the world a.
well a. the birth Of AntichTi-i mother
Now, this ridio oulous story was a, copied gs
true by many pious laymen. not only IA
Frame but al-o M Italy. and IN ltaiv a
world-known Catholic magazine. which
! shall not name maintained during thre
whole years that the disclosures ~ the
50, allied Diana Vaughan N.r entirely
worthy ~ belief We may imagine their
nortlhcation when one day Leo 1aAll
openly confessed IN Pare thai Diana
Vaughan was n myth and the whole story
va a fabrication.
among the lnity ~ Continental Europe
is accompanied w not hl'l- political in