The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-11-25
Driven From Their Convents-An
Abbe's Book Condemned-An An
cient Graveyard-The Lantern of
the Dead-CathoIic BIumentaq in
HoIland-A "Free From Rome
Church-Lady Herbert of Lea.

HoIland-A "Free From Rome"
Church-Lady Herbert of Lea.
Things are coming to a crisis in
France. She has stood great persecu-
tion in silence and with a fortitude
truly Christian which has not retail
ated; but when it comes to robbing
the poor of their best friends she can
stand it no longer. At Lyons, at
Puteaux, and at several other places
where the Little Sisters of the AS
sumption still have houses the order
has gone forth for their ejectment. 1t
was complied with in the most brutal
way at one convent in Lyons before
the people knew what was happening.
The Sisters were all assembled in their
convent chapel chanting the "Parce,
Domino" when Commissary of Police
and a troop of men burst into it,
dragged the nuns from their knees
and thrust them without ceremony and
with great indignity into the street.
At the Motherhouse of Lyons, the
officials we're checked for they were
met by the Mother Superior sur
rounded by group of Catholic lawyers
who demanded the authority of the
police to act as they were doing. No
authority being forthcoming, the domi-
ciliary visit had to be postponed pend
ing the arrival of written instructions.
At third house, on strong represen-
tations, the sisters were allowed three
days in which to vacate their convent.
The scenes witnessed in the poorer
quarter, when the evicted sisters were
compelled to seek shelter from their
old friends were deeply moving. The
women gathered round them to COM
fort them, and knots of people as
sembled in the streets recounting the
deeds of mercy done by the Little
Sisters. One man who was dying of
cancer turned his face to the wall
when he heard the news and said,
There is nothing to live for now"
The sisters had nursed him devotedly
and their gentle hands alone brought
relief from his terrible pain. Women
told how the sisters had helped them
to nurture and bring up their children
or had comforted them when human
skill had failed to save the little lives.
At convent of the same congregation
near Paris, which is threatened, the
workmen of the neighborhood as.
sembled in the chapel the other even.
ing and made a solemn vow before
the Blessed Sacrament that they
would shed their blood rather than
allow one hair of the head of one little
sister to be touched. They mean to
keep this VOW and if the authorities
resort to force, it may mean the begin
ming of a civil war which has long
ragged without blood, but which if once
it comes to blows or physical violence
will be very terrible.
An Abbe's Book Condemned.
The Archbishop of Paris, Monsignol
Annette, soon to be made Cardinal
has just published letter condemnine
the work of M. PAbbe Jules Clerens
formerly Vicar of st. German d'Auxer
rois, but now suspended and deprived
of his functions. The book which is
entitled "The Marriage of Priests" i:
not only published without the eeclesi
astical sanction required by Pontifica
decree for all works dealing with ques
tions of faith or morals, but has beer
repeatedly forbidden by the Arch
bishop. From the testimony of the
censors, Monsignor Annette says tina
it contains theories absolutely con
trary to the teaching of the Church
and falls particularly under the con
demnation of the Encyclical "Pas
cendi'' which reproves as modernist'
those who, echoing the opinions o
their Protestant teachers, desire th'
abolition of ecclesiastical celibacy
The Archbishop proscribes the bool
for laity and clergy alike.
An Ancient Graveyard.
In the center of the sea-front a
Sables d'Olonne upon pile of stone
moss-grown and damp, stands Cal
vary surrounded by garden. Thi
garden was the property of the Church
and covers the site of an old cemetery
1t is full of the bones of those who fel
in Sables in the days Of the Terror
These relics were piously gathere
and placed in a common tomb upo
which was erected the great Calvary
Now the garden and the Calvary
already plundered from the Churc
under the Separation Law, and give
to the Communal Hospital are to
sold in order to crafty the wish c
the Masons to see the Cross raze
to the ground. A petition signed b
more than three-fourths of the town:
folk was treated with contempt; bu
when the details of the sale cam
to be arranged it was found that ever
notary in Sables refused to act. Th