The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-12-10
TRUE CATHOLIC WOMEN.

Inc WOH1dulOOu UIldI Has .cVcIs
been known as truly Catholic al
ways has stood as a challenge to
the world. From the very mo-
ment when Adam and Eve with
bowed heads and Inundated
spirits walked forth from Eden,
there has been standard varia-
BILE and elastic in regard to woman
hood. The primitive pagan and
his later successor considered her
in terms of mere property-to be
used or enjoyed, as slave or para
mour-and then cast aside. Here
and there, as in certain Roman
and Greek periods, woman attain
ed a position of honor, although
frequently her morals were no
consideration or bar from the
esteem of even the learned.
The Hebrew held the woman
hood of his nation as something
sacred. From her ranks was to is
sue the coming Messias; hence the
purity of the strain was upheld at
all costs, while violation thereof
usually meant death to the unfor-
tunate female. Among the Jews
the family was closely guarded,
and family life presented the
sweetness and decorum of a bless
ed state wherein each member is
united by bonds Of love to all the
others.
Christianity intensified and ele-
waited even the Jewish ideal. Wom-
an was to be not only a mother
she could soar with honor to the
heights of consecrated virginity.
Mary combined in her own person
the quintessence Of each state, and
she has remained the exemplar of
both. Agnes, Domitilla, Gather
inc, with a host of others, stood
forth as types Of highest perfec-
ton, something unknown to the
Old Law. The myriads Of virgin
followers Of these early heroines
have upheld the virtue Of purity
before world that has gloated
and walloWed in moral filth from
the debaucheries of Nero down to
the cesspools of so-called birth
controllers.
Ii God desires the race to con-
tinue, as He surely does, and if
woman is the means thereto, then
it follows that woman must ever
remain fit and appropriate me-
dunn for the fulfillment of that
law. Her person and her status
must be surrounded by all those
forms of protection that will
guard her dignity, that will pre-
serve her from the moral ma
rauder, and that will permit her
to be the honored mother of in
telllgent men, not merely the pas
sive agent in an animal world.
Her dignity as mother, real or
potential, must equal at least that
OF the greatest man on earth, fer
without her cooperation and suf-
ferlng there cannot appear a sin
gle human being in this world.
Now, Christianity surrounds
woman with all the powers of re-
hgion. 1t demands that she be
honored and respected by every
human being. 1t forbids under
horrible penalties the violation of
the rights that belong to her as
the mother Of the race. It wei.
comes everything that will tend to
robe her in the habiliments Of hon.
orable decorum, and it FORCES
bands of steel to restrain the sew.
ering of the bonds of marriage.
| Woman today has achieved
what is called political freedom
She can go forth and express by
the vote her preference for this
or that candidate. She can ever
sit in the councils of the com.
munlty of the nation and make
her voice heard authoritatively il
the halls of legislation. The Cath
Ole Church never has suggested
this advance: she has not ever
sanctioned the movement aiming
at this apparent disfranchisement
although after the accomplished
fact Catholic women have beer
urged to use the power giver
them, lest perchance they be over
whelmed by the opponents Of thei1
rights.
i True Catholic Women: such i.
the subject for which Benedict XIV
bids us pray during December
This type of womanhood EN-
bodies in her life and actions al
the beauty and strength, the faitl
and conservatism that have eve
marked the noblest Of her sisters
She remembers that the home de
ponds on woman, and that there
fore her proper sphere, whateve.
may be said to the contrary. is tn,
sacred precincts of that home
True, she may be forced by condi
tions at present to enter midi,
into the world of civic agitation
She may be called upon to tax,
even an active part in those thing
that concern her sex and it's vari
L