Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1913-08-16
Cast Upon Emperor Constantine
Refuted by Protestant
Historian.
Menace Fails to Quote Authority
For the Lies 1t
Repeats.
Malicious Accusations Arising
From Celebration of COnstan-
tinian Jubilee.
DISQUALIFIED BY ITS BLUNDER

Grave aspersions and malicious
accusations have been cast upon the
memory of the Emperor Constantine
in the anti-Catholic press of Europe.
and some of our rabidly polemical
sheets have copied them without TAX
ing the trouble to invent new
defamations. The celebration In the
Catholic church of the Constantinian
jubilee prompted these accusations
which have long been refuted or ex-
piained by historians, Catholic and
non-Catholic. The Menace, which
ekes out a living by feeding lies to
a hungry mob of bigots, repeats an
old slander of Constantine, without
even quoting its authority. We shall
quote an authority, and that a
Protestant historian, in disproving
this silly though malicious accusa-
ton. Says the Menace in recent
issue:
That most holy Catholic Chris
tian Emperor and Pope, Constan-
tine drowned his wife Fausta in a
cath of boiling water; beheaded his
own son, Crispus, the same year he
presided over the Council of Nice,
325; murdered the two husbands OF
his sister, Constantia," etc., etc.
Now to begin with, the Menace
should know that the Emperor Con-
stantine never was Pope. This
blunder of the Menace alone should
disqualify it utterly with all thinking
men. No sane person and, certainly
no editor who poses as a spiritual
o IF mo oh L.
blunders. Moreover, Constantine
did not, and could not, preside over
the Council of Nice, the Presidency !.
being reserved to the ecclesiasticars
authority. But let that pass. We
have said that among the author
tiles refuting the first big Menace
lie we preferred Protestant author
ity, and so we shall quote Prof. v.
Schultze, a Protestant historian,
member of the faculty of the Prus-
sian University of Greitswald, in
confederation of our contention. In
a book recently published (Leipsic,
1913, p. 216) on Ancient Christian
cities and districts he writes as fol-
lows:
''In the beginning of 3D7 Con-
stantine welded Flavia Maxima
Fausta, the young daughter of
Augustus MaXimianus, a sister of
Maxentius, who later lost his life in
the battle at the Milvian bridge. The
Princess, who to Judge from coins
made at that time was not a great
beauty but nevertheless very amia-
BILE, was greatly devoted to her hus-
band and children; her picture Is
shown on some coins pressing her
little sons Constantine and Constan-
titus to her bosom, while the sitting
Venus with the inscription Venus
Felix on the reverse of a coin made
by the Emperor, is a public profess
sion of the connubial happiness OF
the royal couple. IN 326, however,
the Emperor realized beyond a doubt
that he had been deceived, that his
marital happiness was ruined. Proof
was furnished him Of the adulterous
intercourse between his twenty-five
year old son Crispus and the latter's
the Empress, who was
then thirty-five years of age. Deeply
wronged by this disgrace brought
upon his family honor, and guided
by his own laws and the teachings
of the Old Testament. he followed
the path of relentless prosecution of
this crime. .Cripsus' was summoned
before a court in far off Pola in
July of the same wear, was found
guilty and decapitated; the guilty
Empress is said to have been killed
in an overheated bath. 1t is prob
ably more correct to assume, since
the warm blood of her Syrian
mother Eutropia rolled in her veins,
that she voluntarily paid the PEN
atty Of her crime in this manner.
One can readily see why these ter
rible occurrences were covered with
a veil and how the most exaggerated
reports could arise. Put the oc-
currence itself was too horrible
than that II could be entirely for
gotten by posterity. Posterity was
prone to look upon Constantine. who
served justice so sternly and mex
orably, as little less than a criminal,
while we must recognize in him an
heroic example OF submission TO
divine and human law"
IL was not a Catholic, but a
Protestant, historian that wrote this.
And II was not written decades or
centuries ago, but a few months ago,
In 1918, with a knowledge of the
most recent historical investigation.
In the light of such evidence the
fables of the big0ted grafters at
Aurora, who commit themselves
issue for issue, should he discarded
by all sane Americans, regardless or
IL. .-Ft..to... afffIfattAno