The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1915-09-04

Praise for Catholic Church for
NoN-cATHoLlc TRIBUTES TO
CHURCH FOR HER STAND
ON DIVORCE.
Robert Louis Stevenson, in his Vir-
ginibus Puerisque, sagaciously re-
marks: God made you, but you
marry yourself" He believed that
half the misery Of the world is due to
thoughtless and irreligious marriages..
Goodness in marriage is a more in
tricate problem than mere single vir-
tue: for in marriage there are two
ideals to be realized. When
a horse has run away, and the two
flustered people in the gig have each
possessed themselves of a. rein, we
know the end of that conveyance will
be in the ditch. So, when see raw
youth and green girl futed and
fiddled in a dancing measure into that
most serious contract, and setting out
upon life's journey with ideas mon
strously divergent, am not surprised
that some make shipwreck, but that
any come to port"
In q purposely frivolous manner
Stevenson thus holds the attention OF
his readers while he writes an excel
lent sermon on the Intricate prob
lem" involved in the matrimonial
bond, in that permanent, divinely or
dered union which we call the Sacra-
ment of Holy Marriage.
OF the enduring character of this
sacrament IN the Catholic Church.
Goethe notes in his Autobiography
that Here youthful pair gave their
hands to one another, not for pass
ing salutation, or for the dance; the
priest announces his blessing upon
the act, and the bond is indissoluble."
A youthful pair? What does Lecky
say in this regard? 1.-THE nearly uni
versal custom of early marriages
among the Irish peasantry has alone
rendered possible that high standard
of female chastity, that intense and
Jealous constituencies respecting fe-
male honor, for which the
Irish poor have long been prominent
In Europe"
The Only Real Witness.
Have we been faithful to the divine
injunctions respecting this sacrament?
Did we, as historians aver, rather lose
a whole nation than countenance
marital disruption at the pleasure of
a profligate sovereign? quote a
fuori writer, w. 8. Lilly:
1.-THE only real witness in the world
for the absolute character of holy
matrimony is the Catholic Church,
and whether men will hear or whether
they will forbear, she warns them that
to degrade indissoluble marriage to a
mere regulation governed by the So
cial police, to a mere material fact
governed by the animal, will be to
throw back modern civilization to
that wallowing in the mire from which
she rescued it,
Cleaned from an Ohio secular pa
per. the "Deshler Flag" the following
editorial is noteworthy:
For ages there has been consider
able said and written, both in jest" and
in all sincerity, about marriage a
failure and yet, with all that has
been said and done along this line,
marriage, in too many instances, we
are sorry to say, still continues to be
a failure, and, perhaps, always will be
until some different forms and laws
are adopted in this country making
the marriage VOW more sacred and
worthy of reverence"
The editor then describes a Cath
Ollie wedding which he had had the
opportunity and pleasure of attend
ing" he notes "the air of sacredness
pervading every NOOK and corner"
he remarks that the marriage-the
ordinary service. evidently, without
the far more beautiful and significant
addition OF a nuptial mass-"was a
subject for an artist, and one that
will require years to fade from the
memory of those who were present.
he admits that to himself he said, mo
wonder there are no divorces among
the Catholics-they realize the solemn
vows they are taking" he recalls,
while watching 1.-The very impressive