The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-08-11

WHAT The POPES HAVE DONE
IN THE INTERESTS OF WORLD
PEAcE-THEY HAVE EVER Ex-
ERclsED A BENIGN INFLUENCE.
Writing in the Ecclesiastical Re-
view, Rt. Rev. Charles Warren Cur
rier makes the following useful OBJ
servations:
When the Divine Redeemer came
on earth to inauguratee the era of
grace, the world, harassed since the
beginning of history by wars and
bloodshed, had a brief respite and
breathing spell. 1t was most appro-
pirate that the Prince of Peace should
appear when the sign of peace was
given by the closing of the doors of
the temple of Janus, the first time in
ages, so continuous had wars been.
Pax vobis! Peace be to you," the
Lord said, as He had previously an
nounced, that the peacemakers should
be called the children of God. Alas!
the world has not yet learned the
great lesson.
The Church of Christ, however, has
not ceased to strive for peace. AL
though she acknowledges and she has
acknowledged practically from the
Crusades to Montana and Monte
Libretti that war is sometimes justi-
fed and necessary, as in the case of
an unjust invasion of territory, and
as the Sovereign Pontiff defended the
States of the Church against Carl
baldi and others, SO it is agreed that
a nation is justified in defending its
rights. However, it remains true that
war is the ultima ratio regum," the
last resort, and that peace is more
desirable.
Entering into the spirit of love of
her Divine Founder, the Church has,
whenever feasible, striven to promote
peace among Christian nations, and
to be the. protector of the weak
against the strong.
This action became especially no.
ticeable when, the prosecutions hav-
ing ceased, the Roman Pontiff began
to take his. place on the stage of in
ternational politics. A hundred years
had not passed since the Labarum had
led the great Constantine to vic
tory, before the barbarous hordes
from the north and the east began to
close in on Rome. The Visigoths
came under Alaric to lay siege to it,
and Attila followed with his Huns to
bring devastation into Italy, as he
had brought it to Gaul. 1t was then
that the Papacy stepped forward.
When the Emperor Valentinian was
trembling in Rome, the immortal
Pope Leo l went boldly forth to meet
the invader. The might of God was
on his side; Attila retreated and Italy
was saved. A similar victory Pope
Leo won, when Genseric, the Vandal,
besieged Rome. 1t was not so COM
plete as the one gained over Attila,
but it saved much bloodshed and
slaughter.
If Leo had to contend with Huns
and Vandals, Gregory the Great met
successfully the Arian Lombards. He
had it in his power to crush them by
war; he preferred to lead them by
gentleness. Not only did he save
Rome, but he converted the Lombard
king, Agilulf. How much greater was
this victory than one obtained by
force of arms? Why let men be killed
in war, Romans or Lombards, when
they might be more usefully employed
in tilling the ground? Such were the
sentiments of Gregory I, one of the
greatest Popes and Saints that ever
sat upon the Chair of Peter. In spite
of the enemies he made, Gregory con-
tinued calmly on the way of pacifica-
'tion. Pope Zachary, whom nearly two
centuries separate from Gregory, ap-
pears in history as another savior of
Rome when the Lombards still held
northern Italy. In like manner, credit
must be given to Pope Stephen II.
While the Church in general was
instilling her spirit of peace, into the
heart of the people, the Popes were
not inactive on special occasions
among the rulers of the world. From
another Leo, ninth of his name, to
our own Benedict XIV, we find this
constant striving for peace on their
part. Leo TX, in the eleventh century,
great and courageous reformer, Ia
bored in person to bring about peace
between Andrew, King of Hungary,
and Henry III, the German emperor.
He even undertook a jorney to Ger
many for the purpose, and finally sue
ceeded by the help of Hugh, Abbot
of the famous Benedictine Abbey of
Cluny.
A few years later, the Emperor
Henry Nv, then child in the care of
his mother Agnes, finding himself at
war with Godfrey, Duke of Lorraine,
and Baldwin, Count of Flanders, owed
the peace of his empire to his guard
ian, Pope Victor III. The unfortunate
youth, forgetful of what he owed the
papacy, was, later on, to cause such
bitter suffering to the Church and to
Gregory VII, her head.
A successor of Pope Victor, limo
cent III, one of the ablest statesmen
of his age, we find calming the effer-
yeScence of civil war i'm Hungary be-