The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-12-19

world was gradually dspelled, society was trans
formed and the family restored.
The ideal home, where woman reigns supreme,
owes its existence to the teaching of Jesus who re-
established the unity and indissolubility of mar
riage and raised that solemn contract to the dig
nity of sacrament. Roman civilization had de-
graded the family life, and reduced woman to per-
petual servitude. There was no mutual affection,
as woman subjected to the brutal selfshness of
her lordy master Nowhere in pagan nations do
we find that was treated as the companion
or equal of man. According to pagan morality and
Greek philosophy. she had no rank in society and
was considered wicked From this humiliating po-
sition Christian influence elevated her to the true
dignity of child of God. Among the Greeks and
Romans polygamy universally practiced and
divorces obtained for the most trivial and frivolous
cause. This gave the husband unlimited power over
the household, power that recognized and
guaranteed by law In pagan Rome, according to
the established law the newborn babe placed
at the feet of the father, and if he deemed it proper
to have the child raised he would take it up in
his arms. But if he failed to do so. the child was
strangled This inhuman act had the sanction OF
the law, and the approval of pagan writers. Writ
ing on the matter Seneca says that nothing is
more reasonable than to useless things from
the house." whilst Quintillian, the famous rheto-
rician. taught that ito kill a man is frequently
crime. but 10 kill ones children is frequently
very beautiful action"
All this is abhorrent, because unnatural when
viewed under the light of the twentieth century
1t took centuries TO cure the evils and change the
tide of public opinion. The source and origin of
ob no Of
earth began with the birth of the infant Savior As
late as the third century. Tertullian inveiged
against those evils With Christian fortitude he
faced his pagan prosecutors and exclaimed:
among those who surround us and who thirst for
the blood of Christians, among you yourselves,
stern magistrates, severe towards US, who IS
there who has not put his child to death!"
Common usage. legal sanction and the writings
of sages and philosophers adopted and encouraged
what custom condemns, the law Furnishes and writ
ers call barbarous today. Why! There is but one
answer Because through the influence, example
and teaching of the apparently helpness infant
born in Bethlehem on Christmas day new order
of civilization broke in upon the world. Appar-
entity poweress, he dspelled pagan darkness, broke
down old customs, and renovated the face of the
earth. He is the uniting link between pagan and
our present civilization; the grand central figure
around which the amelioration of society and the
evolution of humanity revoves. Therefore it Is
that the anniversary of his birthday is celebrated
as the greatest event in the history of the world.
1t should bring peace and happiness to all homes,
and drive away cares and SORROWS.
Christmas night should be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Should fold their tents like Arabs,
And silently steal away"