The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1909-02-27
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
Continued from Page One.

Continued from Page One.
fervor of those who were to do the
bloody work. Again, the badge which
the assassins were to wear in order
that they might recognize each other
and do each other no violence during
the night and day Of excitement, was
the cross-the holy emblem of their
mother church. Again, the fatal marx
which was placed upon the doors OF
those who were doomed was likewise
/ the sign of the cross. Therefore. in
the very beginning of the massacre,
everything was done to give it a re-
ligious character. While the massacre
was actually in progress, the cries OF
those who were Staying men, women.
and children all over the stricken, city
indicated that religious fanaticism was
the passion which they were glutting.
| Crying out to the terrorized victims.
20 you HuguenotstOy you Huguenotsl'
the Catholic zealots murdered them
with indiscriminate feroeity. As to the
part which the priests took in the
work, Voltaire is not the only author
ity who charges them with completely.
All of the nor. partisan historians
agree that during that awful Sabbath
the priests who of1ciated in the pulpits
exhorted their hearers to continue the
good work, and to purge Paris OF
heretics. To indame the minds OF
their superstitious followers to a still
higher pitch of fanatieal exaltatlon,
the priests pretended that miracle
had been worked. To the blood thirsty
and miracle-craVing mob the priests
cried out: "Go to the Cemetery of the
Iunocents and see the hawthorne bush
which has just blossomed the second
time with a new and vigorous youth
as having been watered with hereto
! blood. . Numbers OF the audience did
rush to worship the Holy Thorn, and
/ left the cemetery flushed with re-
/ doubled zeal in the conviction that
heaven approved of the hellish atroe-
tiles to which they we're being melted
If the Catholics were simply eudeav-
oring TO anticipate a conspiracy
against the king, why did they slay
innocent babes at the breast; why did
| they ruthlessly butcher helpless little
children; why did they murder the
women as fercely as they struck down
the men? AS Guizot well says, the
statements concerning the alleged con-
spir acy of the Protestants were ''tardy
and lying accus ations, the result
of second thought, when it was found
hat the massacre had excited a feeling
OF horror throughout the European
world, and that even a considerable
number of Catholics renowned their
1 faith and joined the Protestants be-
cause of their disapproval OF what had
been done in the name of the church.
AS to the sanction given to the Mas
sacre of ST. Bartholomew by the pope,
the facts are equally well known. Pope
Gregory XIII was filled with JOY, not
because the king had escaped from a
| faneied peril, but because the hereucs
had been dealt such blow. To the
messenger who brought him the news
he gave thousand gold.pieces; he
not only fred the cannon of ST. Angelo
as a salute to the glorious event which
| had occurred in Paris, and offered up
solemn thanksgiving with the College
! OF Cardinals, but he prcc aimed a
Jubilee and had a media struck off to
i commemorate that awful tragedy.
The brother of the Duke of Guise,
who was the leader of the assassins in
| the Massacre of ST. Bartholomew,
was the Cardinal of Lorraine, then
/ residing in Rome. It is believed that
he was aware OF what was about to
happen in Paris, and he ii was who
communicated the design to the pope.
This would explain what was an at
| titude of expectancy on the part of the
papaI court. When the news of the
mass acre was brought to Rome, Car.
i dinal Lorraine instructed the process
| sion to joyonsly celebrate the event,
and he declared that now at length
heaven had answered the prayers
which he had offered daily for twelve
long years.
/ Philip II Of Spain, who had, through
the Duke of AlEa, suggested the mas
/ sacre of the Protestant leaders, was so
| filled with joy by the news OF what had
been done in France that he burst out
into a loud laugh, and historians say
that this is the only time that he is
known TO have INDUCED in tbahluxury
during the whole period that he oc
cupied the throne.
t AS to the number of the victims Of
the Massacre of ST. Bartholomew,
there is no trustworthy record. In
| the nature of things, there could not
be. In great numbers the bodies of
| the slain were thrown into the river:
at one place eleven hundred of these
bodies were taken from the Seine and
buried. In other parts of Paris bodies
were heaped up and burned. OF
course, it is natural to presume that
NUM- ers of those who were cast into
the river ffoated away and the eorpses
Il X r. -.- ~ L