The Irish standard., 1906-06-30

kampf'' had at length burst forth. In
April, 1879, the right of self-govern-
ment, given legally to the Catholic
Church in Prussia, was abolished, and
the State arrogated to itself supreme
control that it was to find, later to its
cost, was not in it's power to have. In
1873, also the May Laws, four in num-
Der, published in May, or as the Falk
Laws. from the name of their nominal
author, Dr. Falk, the Minister of Pub
lie Worship, claimed for the State the
education of the clergy up to the very
time of ordination to the priesthood,
and decreed that nomination to ecclesi-
astical positions could take place only
with State certificate.
We want to exterminate Catholi-
cism in Germany said Falk one day
to the Belgian Minister, land we shall
do that the more effectually by the
extinction of the clergy" The bishops
were commanded to take an oath to
observe, without restriction or condi-
ton, the State laws; diplomatic con-
nection with the Holy See was severed;
civil marriage made obligatory; the re-
ligious orders Numbering nearly ten
thousand persons) We're driven from
the realm with the exception of those
engaged in hospital work; all the bish
ops except three We're either impris-
oned or exiled.
But the Government was radically
astray in it's reckoning. The cruel
measures served only to call forth
from the clergy and luity the most I'M
flinching loyalty to the Church and
the successor of St. Peter. Bismarck
had power to drive bishops and arch
bishops into prison ana exile. to close
seminaries and to deprive the Rhine
valley of it's pastors from the Alps to
awaited to make them take un unlawful
oath. In their combined memoir of
Jan. 10, 1873. they exclaimed: Let
them drag us before the tribunals!
The grace of God, we trust will grant
us strength to give an unalterable wit
ness to our faith as did our innumer-
able predecessors in the apostolic min
istry in ages past, and to bear with joy
the harshest treatment in the cause Of
Catholic liberty"
AS to the laymen, they naturally
looked to Windthorst for guidance and
grouped themselves in serried phalanX
around their glorious leader in the ia
NOUS Centre; and. in answer to the
Government demands. the Catholic
champion flung back these memorable
words You can torment us, you can
make our hearts bleed. but you have no
power to take us from our faith. When
you have closed all our churches, we
shall meet in our forests to pray
From the beginning, the Govern
ment had attracted to it's service the
nom Catholic press of the country.
These organs did not scruple to mis-
represent the Catholic side of the QueS-
opinion against the Centre and it's sup
portcrs. TO counteract this press cam
paign, the Catholic leaders organized a
rival press which circulated political
and religious pamphlets among the
people ana thus kept their minds from
becoming inoculated with the poison of
the German journals
The wretched condition of the
Church in Prussia in 1874 at the death
of the great Malinkrodt. made Wind
thorst the sole leader of the Catholic
cause. Truly hercuean was the task
that confronted the Catholic chief and
the Holy See in the beginning of 1915.
True enough, he had n party to stand
by him. Il party which counted fifty
seven deputies, some of whom We're
men of great political experience and
commanding ability. such as Bishop
Kcttler the two Rcichcnpergers, Peter
and Augustine. Savigny Baron Won
SchoremerAlst, but the very makeup
of the Centre presented Il serious diff
Guilty. which only the skill. tact and
self-denial of Windthorst could have
overcome. The Centre included men,
bers from almost every station in life
And precisely in this cosmopolitan
character, as ii We're. of the Catholic
party lay it's Weakness for the many
distinct political creeds cualcsccd but
slowly and withal under IL master hand
into Il firm political unit. strong
enough To offer successful resistance
to the Government
Windthursts task was comparatively
easy during the first decade OF the
party's existence. when the severe and
cxacting measures. the severity with
which the laws were carried into effect
as well as the abuse which the Centre
met on all sides. concurred to keep the
members united in the great principles
they We're defending. But later on.
when the down-trodden and despised
minority had become an influential
and often decisive factor in the inner
politics of the State, the difficulty of
maintaining harmony and unity was
increased thousandfold, and the
simple fact that the party was never
do1 nft ,,,,,n ,,t,