The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1930-03-06
Thursday, February ~, 1880
Pastoral Letter of Bishop
Read in Churches Sunday

Preparatory to the observance in
the Diocese of st. Cloud of the sea-
son of Lent which begins on We'd
nesday of this week, the following
pastoral letter of the Rt. Rev.
Joseph f. Busch, Bishop of the
Diocese, was read at all the masses
in all the churches of the Diocese
Sunday:
Beloved Brethern: On the first
Sunday of the solemn season of
Lent, Holy Church reminds US that
there is a devil.
While many admit that the world
is wicked and the flesh is weak,
some seem to consider the devil
only figure of speech.
And yet, as we canot explain Gre
alton without God, nor human
history without Christ, so we cam
not explain the history of the
Church, her prosecutions and the
suffering of her saints without the
devil.
Back in Paradise, at the very
cradle of the human race, we find
the devil tempting Eve, and with
what terrible results of sin and
death and all the other ills that
human flesh is heir to.
Denounced in Testament
Again we find the devil at his
diabolic work in the story of Job,
whose name has come to be
synonym of distress and woe.
But the daring wickedness of the
devil reached it's climax, when he
tempted Christ Himself. What won
der that Christ and His Apostles, as
recorded in more than seventy
passages of the New Testament,
denounce the devil, as the father of
lies, whose cunning makes him
appear even as an angle of light,
who is never weary of evil doing
and who has usurped the leader
ship of all the wicked world.
The scripture tells us, that the
devil entered into Judas before he
betrayed his master, Luke 22-3.St.
Peter warns us to "be sober and
watch, because our adversary the
devil as a roaring lion goeth about
seeking whom he may devour."
Pet. 5-S and st. Paul tells us that,
and blood but against principalities
and powers, against the rulers Of
the world of this darkness, against
the spirits of wickedness in high
places" Ephes. 6-12.
Existence Ignored
And there fhncn xxI,H
ignore the devil. Not so the Church;
at our Baptism she asked us most
solemnly to renounce the devil with
all his works and pomps and she
commanded him never to violate
the sign of the cross wherewith
she signed our forehead. In ordain-
ing her priests, she confers on
them the Order of Exorcists, which
gives them power over the devil, a
power so great that they are not
allowed to exercise it solemnly, ex-
cept with the express permission
of the Bishop.
The Church tries to bring home
to us her constant dread of the
devil and her solicitude to protect
us from him, when she blesses
Holy Water, Palms and many other
objects of devotions, over all of
which she prays, that they may
protect us from the DEVILS evil
influence.
Another constant reminder of the
Church's attitude toward the devil
is the prayer that the great Pope
Leo XIII ordered the priests to
recite after every low mass: "St.
Michael the Archangel, defend us
in the battle, be our protection
against the wickedness and snares
of the devil. Restrain him o God we
humbly beseech Thee and do Thou,
o prince of the heavenly host, by
the divine power, drive into hell,
satan and the other evil spirits who
go about in the world for the de-
struction of souls"
Activities Numerous
But such is the supreme cunning
of the devil, that in spite of all this