The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-05-09

temples dedicated to her honor,
and in costly shrines that speak
her praise. From the beginning
the image of the Virgin with the
Divine Infant in her arms is found
among the mural decorations of
the catacombs, a mute but none
the less eloquent witness to the
faith of the early Christians and
their generation for the Mother of
the Saviour.
It is well that she was so hon
ored. From the earliest days Of
Christianity the Church placed
her on a lofty pedestal as the per-
feet woman, as the Saviour Him
self was the perfect man. Both
names have travelled down the
ages linked in an inseparable
union as they who bore them
were inseparable at Bethlehem s
crib, in the lowly home at Naz-
areth, and on the summit of Cal
vary.
In the mind of the Church Mary
has ever been the ideal of true
womanhood-the model of perfec-
ton upon which Christian women
in every age and in every land
have fixed their gaze, whose vir-
tues they have striven to initiate,
whose stainless purity of life they
have not merely contemplated
from afar, but have endeavored to
make their own in as far as it is
possible for frail humanity, aided
by the grace of God, to incorpo-
rate into itself the singular holi-
ness of life that characterized the
Immaculate Mother Of God. The
history Of the world proves that,
. after the power of the Gross it.
self, nothing did more to uplift
womanhood, to sanctify the home
and embalm it in angelic purity
than the remembrance of Mary,
the Spotless Virgin,
!, Surely the world needs such an
! ideal Of purity. The brightest
jewel in the crown of motherhood
and of maidenhood is purity of
soul. Woman is the guardian of
purity. By purity she compels
reverence and forbids the ap-
proach Of temptation and sin; by
} her own unsullied life she safe
guards and enhances the purity of
father, brother and son, and
makes the home a sanctuary of
) innocence whence the fragrance
of this holy virtue spreads
throughout the social atmosphere.
Today, as never before, per-
} perhaps, the world needs Mary as
an ideal Of pure womanhood. The
lowering Of morals so noticeable
in the world at large is due to the
effacement of modesty, the bar
rier which protects purity, to
which it is related as the fra
GRANGE to the rose, the whiteness
to the lily. The fads of the day
make for immortality. The garb
Of women, following the dictates
of an ever-varying fashion, too
often repels modesty. Theatrical
plays and shows have dragged
modesty from it's lofty pedestal
and robbed virtue and purity of
their Christian meaning and sig
nifcance.
The duty, therefore, of Chris
tan womanhood is to recall and
practice the example Of purity
given to the world by the Virgin
Mary. While all is perilous
around us, Catholic women must
regard it as their God-given mis-
sion to protect and defend the
modesty and purity inculcated by
| the teaching Of the Church. Never
should Catholic women lower
themselves in the least by dress
ing in a garb even bordering on
the immodest; never should they
admit into their homes literature
vitiated by the sensual and i'm
moral; never should they be seen
in theatres where immodesty is
the theme Of drama or play; new
er should they permit those en-
trusted to their care to mingle
with associates who scott at purity
and modesty and whose lives be-
speak the sentiments of their
hearts. Catholic mothers should
watch over their daughters with a
solicitude born Of their knowledge
of the responsibility that rests
upon them to protect the budding
flowers of womanhood against the
pestiferous atmosphere of impur-
ity which would shrivel and de-
stroy the promise of the future.
Catholic maidens should always be
ON their guard against evil COM
partnership and never mingle with
those who are not clean of heart.
The thought of her whose immacu-
late purity the Church commends
to their consideration should suf-
. fee to mould their actions, direct
their footsteps and provide a
shield against the temptations
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