The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1908-04-10
COMMUNICATION.
Father Clarsou Protests Against
Article Published In True
Northerner.

To tho Editor.
Dear Sir:-I take tho liberty OF asking
you to refer your readers to the author
ity for tho startling tale about tho grew
some discovery made in an ancient mon
astery ut Carlentini. Italy," and pub
lished in The True Nogthernsr Of March
q.
Surely there must be incontrovertible
evidences at hand to just I, the publication
Of such q revolving instance OF ghoul'sh
barbarity and sordid cupidity. 1t savors
so strongly OF the traditional policy OF Sian
der 30 persistently carried on blythe ene-
mes Of the Catholic church that have
not the slightest hesitation in stigma
Using the story as one OF the Lying won
ders" and infamous fabrications so reck-
lessly uttered about the much maligned
monks of the middle ages. The story is,
on the face of it, clumsy calumny
worthy of Titus Cakes, a Maria Monk
or Fox's Lying Book of Martyrs" l
had fondly hoped that falsehoods OF this
kind we're long since consigned to the
limbo of exploded fables, but it seems
there still are people so predjudiced
against Catholicism that they are ready
to believe any Pigment, no matter how alb
surd and extravagant that is told to its
disadvantage and that appears to sup
port their pet theory that Catholics
must be, everyone of them, either bru-
tishly deluded or preternaturally hypo-
critical and they, themselves, on the
I'll oh NJ lH
uprghtness and enlightened christianity.
The favorite theme of the calumona-
tor of the Catholic church is the Monks,
Their name is made title of reproach.
They are types and emblems Of ignor-
ance, stupidity and fanaticism. 1t star
ties their traducer to hear word said
in their favor. This is the traditional
view of the nursery and school room
authors and their following. the half ed
ucated masses, and il will, no doubt, be
revelation to them to be told that some
of the ablest and most strenuous vindi-
Gators of the Monks are the great prot
estant historians, the manly and indie
pendent thinkers and investigators; men
of such eminence in the arstocracy of
talent and literature as DIR. Neander,
| Waddington, Guizot, Maitland, etc. 1t
will stagger their belief to be told that
there is no body of men to whom the
civilized and christian world is so in
debted as the medieval Monks. 1t was
the ignorant Monks that founded the
universities of Europe; to the untiring
labor of the "lazy Monks" we owe the va
rious manuscript and codicies ,of the
bible as well as thei preservation of the
ancient classics OF Greece and Rome.
1T is impossible" says Maitland in his
history of the Ozark Ages, "to touch
the subjectofi Monastlcism without rub
bling off some of the dirt which has been
heaped upon it. 1t is impossible to get
even a superficial knowledge of medieval
Europe without seeing how greatly the
world of that PERIOD twas Indebted to the
mouastic bodies, and feeling that monas.
teries we're beyond all price in these days
of turbulence and mi5rule, where God
was worshipped; as a quiet and religious
refuge for helpless infancy and old
age; shelter of respectful sympathy for
the orphan maiden and helpless widow
as repositories of the learning which
then was and well springs for the lear1
ing which was TO be; as nurseries of art
and science, giving the stimulus, the
means and the re ward to invention ano
aggragating around them every head
that could devise and every hand that
could execute as the nucleus Of the city
which in after days of pride should
crown its palaces and buIwarks witt
the towering cross of it's cathedral
This" he continues, Il think no mar
can deny. | believe it is true, but il it i:
only dream | shall be glad to b,
awakened from it; not, indeed, by tn,
yelling of the illiterate agitators, but BY
: a quiet and sober proof that | have mis-
understood the matter. Ia the mean
time let me thankfully believe that thous
ands OF the persons at whom Robertson
aud Justin, and other such very misera
bile second hand writer's have sneered
were men Of enlarged minds, purified af
fections and holy lives that they wer,
: Justly reverenced by men, and above all
favorably accepted by God and distn
BuiohOu oy VIC hlHuesl uOuOT he VOuCD
: safes to those whom He has called int,
existence, that of being the channels O
His love al mercy to their fellow crea
: lures
If space permitted, passages of simila
: import could easily be multiplied frou
the writings of the eminent protestan
historian, Neander, and many others. |
this testimony Of great and impartia
protestant historian compatible with th
grotesque and grewsome story of al
anonymous scribe which was puhlishe,
in your edition Of March 81?
Thanking you in advance for givin
insertion to this short protest agains
a calumny recklessly uttered, and blind
believed.
Yours faithfully,
g. A. CLARsoN.
The article against which Father Cha,
son protests 1. the above communics
ton was published in The True NORTH
erner under date OF March 81. 1t wa
an alleged "grewsome discovery of
room filled with skeletons in an ancier
monastery in Carlentini, Italy" Til