The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-10-21
.(Continued from page ~
INDEPENDENCE HALL.

1 lNSGT T1fA@|s
clared all settlers who came TO his
Province should be free to worship
God as they pleased, that none should
| interfere in religious matters one with
the other. Twenty men who came as
the first Adventures, including Faith
ers White and Altman, were most
likely all Catholics; but the strange
part of it is that although Catholics
were being prosecuted in England
but few Catholics could be obtained
to become settlers in Maryland. These
Catholic gentlemen" were able to en-
list mostly Protestants to engage in
the expedition.
Under this condition the second
Lord Baltimore could do nothing but
order federation. A Protestant king
had given him the land. He therefore
left the Colonists to do as they pleas
ed religiously. He then ordered the
Catholics to keep quiet about their re-
ligion while on their way over, No
yember 1888 to March 1884; and to
perform their services in private SO
as not to offend the Professionals. Was
religion to conform to the way of Eng
land? 1t was not a proclamation of
religious liberty. 1t was religious
freedom for Professionals. Lord Balti-
more was simply making Maryland
piece of England as far as Catholics
In IN cn1Onf
cation scheme to settle land granted
to his father. The son seems not to
have had any religious fervor or spe-
cial concern about Catholics or the
faith.
Lord Baltimore prevailed upon the
Superior of the Jesuits to send two
priests in order to induce Catholics to
engage i'll the enterprise. They were
never treated as priests, nor were
their successors. They were treated
simply as settlers. The Jesuits who
first arrived came as settlers not as
priests, who were to be supported for
their religious services. To get land
they had to bring servants or tillers
of the soil as others had to do; even
when the Indians gave the priests
land as a donation, Lord Baltimore
made them give it up or take it ac-
cording to his methods. Professionals
in Maryland could do as they pleased,
but Catholics were told to hold their
peace and be quiet. 1t was simply
placing Maryland in condition like
England. The federation Act of 1649
was only an effort to prevent the re-
ligious and political disturbances of
England at the time from taking root
in Maryland by prohibiting Maryland
ers from calling each other Names"
The federation Act.
The liberation Act decreed death
against all who shall deny the Holy
Trinity, Son and Holy Ghost, or the
Godhead Of any Three Persons of the
Trinity, or the unity of the Godhead'.
Under the federation Act Jews, Uni
tarians or Infidels could be put to
death for expressing their belief The
federation Act amounted to nothing.
Those in Maryland upset it generally
and gave no liberation to federation.
The twenty men who were the chief
settlers had no record of suffering
for the Faith in England. Very many,
if not the first settlers of Maryland,
were Protestants. Lord Baltimore
had to be tolerant of necessity as he
was from principle. He could not ex-
clude Professionals from his colony
which needed settlers.
When the Catholics in England were
being let alone, then liberation pre-
vailed in Maryland. When the perse-
cution of Catholics was in order i'll
England, then Catholics of Maryland
had a hard time OF it. 1t is claimed
that the federation Act was passed by
the Protestant members of the AS
sembly, and that every Catholic mem
Der voted against it. When James IL
was overthrown, what happened to
the Catholics of Maryland? They
were doubly taxed and restricted in
religious exercises, and priests almost
debarred from visiting the sick. For
almost one hundred years, prior to
the Revolution, there was no religious
freedom in so-calIed Catholic Mary
land. Cecil Calvert's only motive
seems to have been pecuniary as far
as the settlement of Maryland was
concerned. Had the first Lord Balti-
more lived, Maryland would undoubt-
eddy have been the American sane
tuary for Catholics, but under his son,
that province was simply one of re-
ligious liberty for Professionals and of
liberation only, for Catholics. In Mary
land Catholics we're ciyilly opposed,
though i'll a colony they had found
ed. They could have no place in pub
lic worship, but were restricted to the
dwelling houses of the faithful, and
that only by exemption granted by
Queen Anne.
When Father Creation said that he
claimed the right for Public Worship.
from William Penn, that settled for
once and all time the religious free
don in Pennsylvania: I'VE are and
of right ought to be free and independ-
ent of any civil law restricting and
debarring our rights to religious lib
erty."
Controversy On City.
Why was it then if PENNSYLVANIA
always had religious freedom. that
Catholic Church was not erected in
Philadelphia, prior to 1874? It was not
known whether Philadelphia was in