The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-10-17
TO THE EDITOR
CATHOLIC PRESS I'm FRANCE.

II .ssA
Dear Father Reardon:
| wish to enter a protest against a
| statement Il read in the last issue OF
the Bulletin that there Is in France
"only one great Catholic newspaper
worthy of the name--La Croix." At
the audience granted by the lamented
Holy Father Plus x to the last French
pilgrims, the Pontiff praised them
highly for the intelligence and zeal
| which they have shown in organizing
and developing, in the face of untold
difficulties, a magnificent Catholic
press, and in creating Christian
schools. Why, Father, since 1880,
whilst Catholic papers were hardly
| "a-borning" in other countries, men
whose names are held in reverence
| throughout the Catholic. world, ~ De
Bonald, Louis Veuillot, Parisis, Mar
tin, Dupanloup, Lacordaire, Crafty,
Peireyve, Montalembert, Villefranche
and hosts of others, were holding aloft
the banner of religion, and made
gigantic efforts to wrest from tyran-
nical governments the liberty the
| Church has enjoyed. LIRE 1Nouvelle,
L'Ami de la Religion, PUnivers, lie
Monde, PUnion, la Gazette de; France,
lie Pays, PAutorite, la Libre Parole, la
Decentralization, lie Salut Public: to
name those newspapers is Reminding
anyone acquainted with the history of
religion in France for the last eighty
| years of fearless defense of Holy
Church against the most disheartening
odds. y
Today, La Croix, indeed, and the
EtWenty-four Catholic reviews and pub
LEGATIONS issuing from ia Maison de Ia
Bonnie ,Presse" and reaching over
| three millions of people, hold the first
place in. the French Catholic Press.
But there is in France no large city
without its daily Catholic newspaper,
| besides the many weeklies and month
lies published under Catholic auspices.
Being SO many years away from
France, Lcannot, of course, supply you
with a full list of the Catholic papers
of the country. But here are a few
| figures relating to those dioceses in
1 WLANAA i nay yOI 0O4A1S" POA wi
respondents. In my own small native
Diocese of Belley, which is an entirely
rural diocese, for over eighty years
lie Journal de Pain" has been pub
Ilished three times a week. A very
talented but very poor man, ]. M.
Villefranche, took the management of
it some forty years ago, and at his
death, some twelve years since, left to
his fourteen children large fortune
made BY means of his paper, which
tishows that his list of subscribers was
Large. Ia Croix de rAin," a weekly,
Els read by twenty thousand people, and
besides those, in that small diocese,
eighteen other Catholic papers or re-
Views are issued weekly or monthly,
Ipapers or reviews of a devotional,
Escientific, literary or historical charac-
Eter i. 3t533is,,,
+ Lyons has it's two fearless Catholic
fdailies, lie Nouvelliste" and 'TEx-
/ press, Z with over fifty thousand read
ers each, and "PEcho du Forez," an
other leading Catholic paper with six
4 ty thousand subscribers, is daily pub
| lished at ST. Etienne, the second larg'
est city of. that Archdiocese.
/ In the Diocese of Nancy, 81 Esp6r.
ance de Nancy" a daily, is one of the
4 Oldest and most influential Catholic
i papers in France. There also is pub
llished weekly, La Croix de Lorraine,
(which counts, am told by priest OF
that region, nearly 100000 subscribers
+ !, In the Diocese of Rodez, entirely
rural, where the episcopal city has
only Is, 900 inhabitants, 'L'Union Cath
4 clique a daily, has $4,000 subscribers
and ola, Croix de PAveyron," week
4 .ly, $4,000. And, / am sure it is the
same in every diocese of France. The
u French clergy and the Catholic laity
realize as well as the Catholics of any
land the tremendous power of the
;. press, and they havs not been slothfu
Il in availing themselves of its influence
i The fruits of their labors are clearl!
. seen, in the Christian revival which i!
visible. in all classes of the nation
= Can Catholic faith and Catholic
charity be dead in country where, il
!, a short time, "a Bishops were housed
! 70. seminaries established and ia col
: leges reopened, after the old-time Bish
3 ops palaces, seminaries and Catholic
colleges were sacrilegiously confis
: Gated; where 10000 priests are fed an
!. supported by people who, even now
: are foremost in offerings for tn
: Propagation of the Faith an
Peters Pence? Why not mention
: fact unique in the history of Catholi
journalism-La Croix and it's siste
publications were all confiscated fror
: the Fathers of the Assumption, an
bought by a noble Catholic Frenchmar
Mr.. Paul Feron-Vrau. The gentlema
was sued by the government, whic
. tried to- prove that he had acted a
! agent of the monks. The government
: won the. case, and once again Nj
Feron-Vrau bought and paid for wha
was his. own lawful property; it
I'll figured that that great man spent twel
2 ty-tWo million francs to save fo
: France La Croix and la Maison de
: Bonnie Presse. No son of France, n
y Catholic ought to despair of the futur
= of the Catholic religion in France
z the face such sacrifices.
y f.. Sincerely yours in Christ,
Z 49,. JOSEPH GUILLOT.
: AktTIpoTE FOR DIVORCE.
u r. - sss-E+3s