The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-06-20
.ALL0CU ION or THE
HOLY FATHER
ADDRESS OF POPE Plus X AT THE
coNSlSToRY OF MAY Is WHEN
THIRTEEN CARDINALS WERE
CREATED.

THIRTEEN CARDINALS WERE
CREATED.
Venerable Brothers:
Not much time has passed since last
We spoke to you, Venerable Brothers,
met together in Sacred Consistory.
Still in this brief interval there have
passed away, one after the other, not
a few members of the Sacred College,
many of whom Our eyes still look for
in their wonted posts. While, how
ever, We grieve for the loss of men
deservedly most dear to Us, it may
be said that We grieve rather for
Ourselves than for them; for they have
gone where, as We hope, they already
enjoy in eternal beatitude the reward
of their holy lives consecrated to the
good of the Church, while We, de-
priVed of their aid and untiring work,
are still amid the storms of life.
Wherefore We have called you togeth-
er, Venerable Brothers, not only to
provide for the churches deprived of
their pastors, but also to fill the seats
vacant in your College, as it is most
right to give companions and helpers
in bearing the weight of your charge
to you who strive so diligently to rem
der less heavy Our Apostolic Office
And it is all the more right inasmuch
as, if We look at the course of events,
We see continuing for the Church days
of exceeding trouble, for pernicious
doctrines are creeping everywhere cor
rupting the faith and customs of the
Christian people, and We are daily
constrained to undergo the attacks of
men who decry the supreme dominion
of God and drive religion out of civil
society. Nevertheless, by the Grace
Of God most merciful, there are not
wanting to Us timely comforts: as in
the year just passed, when was cele-
brated the centenary of the Edict of
Constantine the Great by which the
Church after SO many trials and
agonies breathed again and began to
enjoy in peace the benefits of liberty
We had indeed reason to rejoice in
the religious manifestations celebrated
so magnifcently and with such a con-
course of people, by which the Cath
Ollie world boldly proclaimed it's faith
and seemed, by raising up in it's hands
the Cross of Christ, to wish to show it
to the troubled human race as the one
fount of peace and safety. Today
more than ever they seek for peace,
and indeed We see classes of citizens,
races, nations fighting among them
selves, and from the enmities ever be-
coming more intense among them We
see break out of a sudden fearful
wars. True, there are clever and dis
tinguished statesmen who put before
themselves the good of nations and
indeed of human society and seek by
common agreement for the means of
arresting the harm that comes from
the strife of classes and the slaughters
of war, and of securing within and
without their borders the benefits of
peace. These without doubt are ex-
.cellent endeavors, but their counsels
will bear little fruit unless at the
same time they can ensure that the
precepts of justice and Christian char
ity are deeply rooted in souls. Today
peace or war in society and in the
State do not depend so much on the
governors as on the multitudes. De-
prived of the light of truth revealed
by God, unused to the discipline of
the laws of Christ, what wonder if the
multitudes, the prey of blind passions,
r~Y1ch RI %hoir anV1orann Ts11ira 20
by clever agitators who seek nothing
but their own advantage? Yet with
the Church constituted by it's Divine
Founder mistress of truth, guardian of
justice and charity, alone and above
all other things able to lead men to
their common salvation, would it not
be work of civil wisdom on the part
of rulers not only to allow it to ex-
ercise its mission freely and without
hindrance, but also to give it every
assistance? And yet it is the opposite
that happens; for generally the
Church is treated, not as the creator
and parent of all that forms the es-
sence of civilisation, but almost as If
it must be regarded as the enemy of
the human race. Still this should not
disquiet Us; from the example of
Christ We know that the Church is
destined to do so much good as it re-
ceives injuries in return, as, too, we
know well that never, even in its
greatest tribulations, can the Divine
help fail it, and of that We have Christ
Himself as sponsor and history as wit
ness. It is exactly hundred years
since Rome in triumph, amid the joy
of the whole world, received its Pom
tiff freed from the insults of long
captivity. All could then admire the
constancy of the holy, aged Pontiff, as
If crowned with the aureoIe of mar
| tyrdom, who, alone, had resisted and
overcome the arrogance of the a1l-pow-
erful autocrat. But far greater marvel
was the fact, which could not but be
seen most clearly at that time, of that
aid which Christ Himself had prom
ised for ever to His Spouse; for Plus
VII would never have come through