The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-03-09
THE INDEX OF FORBIDDEN
BOOKS.
The Catholic CitiseH.

clpllne that the pSuedO-llttefateuf
hates more than that which is sum
med up in the word Index The
high school girl VINO thinks she has
an expansive soul, the amateur teach
er who regards his outlook upon life
as the sanest ever, the young profess
siOnal man who views his own ACQUIRE
ments through magnifying lenses, all
join in q chorus of denunciation of a
Church that refuses to art and Htera-
ture the independence they claim.
That the number of forbidden books
is infnitesmally small does not alter
the situation. The Church's crime
consists in refusing free and indie
pendent minds the right to dip into
anything that pleases them, and in
denying to such enlightened people as
they believe themselves to be, the
right Of judging for themselves. Ac-
cordingly they hasten to upset ecclesi-
astical authority by Selling some for
hidden work, which usually will be,
by preference Victor Hugo's LES
Miserables." The thousands of sane
and wholesome books that lie about
them are neglected in the mad drive
for work whose chief merit is that
it is forbidden. How such conduct
leads the mind back to an early day
when the most subtle OF the beasts
said to the woman: . 9 Why hath God
commanded you that you should not
eat Of every tree in Paradise? =.
And the woman saw. that the tree was
good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and
delightful to behold: And she took
of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and
gave to her husband who did eat"
Poor Mother Eve, how little Gid she
think that down through the ages,
even in the twentieth century, her fair
daughters and brave sons would still
follow her illustrious example? Like
her they would look with longing eyes
to the forbidden, like her they would
turn their backs upon the fairest and
the best, scattered in wild profusion
about them, and hurry to the tree,
the book, that bore "Thou must not
touch" on it's bark or cover. If we
could but see ourselves!
AS a matter of fact every authority,
legitimate or illegitimate, that existed
in the world since men first began to
put their hands to paper, had it's In
deX. The primal government, under
Heaven, is that of the parent. Does
any one suppose that a worthy parent
will allow indiscriminate reading in
the home? AS he is obliged to pro-
tect the morals of his family, he must
be concerned about what its members
read. He may not permit books that
will attack his own authority or as
sail his character. There is, there
fore an Index in every well-regulated
home. Indeed the home that tried to
work without it must, and should fail.
There is no civil government that
has not it's Index. Plato, in discuss
ing the formation of the model city,
or republic, says: apparently our
first duty will be to exercise a super
vision over the authors of fables, Sc
1ecting their good productions and re-
jecting the bad And the selected
fables we shall advise our nurses
and mothers to repeat to their chill
dren, that they may thus mould their
minds with the fables even more than
they shape their bodies with the hand
But we shall have to repudiate the
greater part Of those now in vogue
This is the Index with a vengeance!
There is no government of our day
that has not it's Index expurgator-
ius," and Of such scope that the small
volume containing the list of the
Church S. forbidden books pales before
it. In Germany, which will be con
ceded the most scholarly country in
the world, more books and periodicals
are condemned than in the Universal
Church. Prussia for many years would
mot allow catechis1ns that taught
Papal infallibility Bismarck, during
four short months of 1878, arrested 49,
editors, and confiscated 80 neWspa
pers. e
But even in so liberal a country as
England, the same thing happens
| though in a less degree. Britain al
lows attacks upon Omnipotence to &c
unchallenged, but it has, again a11C
again, suppressed National publica
tions in Ireland, and literature in its
various forms elsewhere. 1t exercises
it's power whenever it considers the
writing seditious, or in any way op
posed to peace or to good morals
Then we are all familiar with oul
own governments shutting the mails
against publications of low character
Now, especially, a strict censorship
is exercised. No one finds fault will
this. Indeed, if good people desire
any change it would be in the direc
ton of more rigorous discipline.
Every library has, in letter or il
spirit, its index. So has every school
college and university. Indeed, where
ever there is order there also is su
pervision of literature, or an Index
How, then, can that great institution
1 the Church, whose mission is to teacl
all nations, and to guard the faith %
its children from contamination, b
expected to discard this PROTECTIVE
measure? Indeed, the Church woult
fail in it's duty if it did not exercise
a supervision over it's children's read
ing. 1t must, like a good shepherd
lead the sheep to wholesome pasture