The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1916-07-15
RESUME OF THE A. P. A.
MOVEMENT IN THE u. S.
Present Agitation Believed To Be
the Outcropping of Know-Nothing
Wave of 1850 Loyalty of Catholics
To Flag Refute the Silly Charges

10 Flag Ketute
II BLESSED are We when men shall hate
you and revile you and persecute you
and say all manner of evil against
you falsely for Thy sake. Rejoice and
be glad, for your reward is very great
In heaven"
1 The story of human credulity makes
pitiful reading, and perhaps the most
pitiful of all being the chapter that
deals with pagan calumnies against
4 Christians and Protestant calumnies
\ about Catholics. The Son of God Him.
self was not immune from calumny.
He was charged with disloyalty to His
temporal sovereign, with stirring up
sedition, with plotting to overthrow
+ the institutions of His country. And
down the centuries even to the pres
ent day, these and similar calumnies
have been hurled at the Church He
came on earth to found. 1t is difficult
to comprehend why such large pro-
portion of the great non-Catholic pub.
lie is averse to examining the claims
Of Catholicism and unwilling to ad-
NIT that those claims are worthy Of
examination by men Of sense.
The slanderers Of the Catholic
Church are many and their ISLANDERS
vary according to the temperament
and education of the slanderers. Thus
the vulgar and illiterate claim that
the Church sells for money permission
to commit sin; that priests are vile
and nuns are wicked, and that Catho-
lies are idolators, whose favorite pas
times are murder, adultery and lying,
and who glow fat on the credulity Of
the ignorant. Others of cleaner minds
submit the charge that priests are in
politics, that Catholics have designs
on the school fund and that they put
none but Catholics into office. These
very calumnies are uttered in Port
land today against the men and wom-
en- who have lived their lives in this
city.
Local A. P. A. activities make the
history of the anti-Catholic movement
in this country full of interest.
In 1929 Boston, Mass, suffered from
an outburst of anti-Catholic frenzy.
An attack was made on the houses
of Catholics living on Broad street,
but little damage was done beyond
breaking few windows. In 1881 in
cendiaries attacked and burned st.
Mary's church, in Sheriff street, New
] York, probably as result of Orange
activities. The Orangemen, under the
name of the American Protestant AS
sociation, published and propagated
the foulest calumnies against the
church.
The anti-Catholic agitation came to
a head in New England first, and
vented itself in a disgraceful on.
slaught on the Ursuline convent The
success of this flourishing school
aroused the anger of the Rev. Lyman
Beecher, a Congregationalist minister,
and many were the bitter polemics
he launched against the church. The
most shameless accusations were
made against the nuns and the great
public seemed to believe them. The
matter came to a climax when In lS43
one of the inmates in a fit of delirium,
induced by overstudy left the institu-
ton and went to the house Of a neigh
Dor. After some time she was induced
Ito return to the convent. medical en-
animation having shown that she was
deranged. Rumors spread far and
6537 1RISH-14- wnu Obie
wide that she was detained in the in
stitution against her will. lntlamma-
tory anti-Catholic sermons were
preached, the Rev. Lyman Beecher
raising his voice as often as three
| times on one Sunday to denounce the
iniquities of Catholics and converts.
4 Dark-lantern meetings were held
and a brave band of A. P. AS set
forth under the cover of darkness to
4 attack a few defenseless women and
children. They broke open the doors
of the convent and drove forth Sisters
and pupils. Barrels of liquor inflamed
the pity and patriotism. of the mob.
After ransacking the house and
smashing the furniture they made a
heap of everything combustible in the
1 rooms, set fire to it, and with yells of
exultation cast into the blaze Cath
1 Ollie Bible. They knew no cessation
of activity until the convent was
burned to the ground, and then they
turned to the cemetery, opened the
graves Of the dead, wrested the plates
from off the collins and left the moul-
i dering dust of their tenants exposed to
1, the passersby.
The perpetrators of this outrage be.
|SSing known, legal proceedings were in
( Stituted against them, but the state
slet the case go by default. No wit
s1esses being called, the scoundrels
/ sfere declared not guilty. The Massa-
fShusetts state legislature refused
lEcOmpensation to the Ursuline Sisters
80 %1.o I1o o1-orod u,o1lc ne Nho rIoc