The Republican., 1931-11-05
APOSTOLIC LETTER FROM
HIS HOLINESS THE POPE
Published on the Feast of the
Guardian Angels, October 2.

The following Apostolic letter, pub
lished in all Catholic churches on the
Feast of the Guardian Angels, Oc-
tober 2, has been sent to The Re-
publican with the request that it be
printed in these columns.
Venerable Brethren:
A new plague menaces, indeed al
ready afflicts great portion of the
flock entrusted to our care, striking
more cruelty the less strong through
the more strongly loved-the chill
dren, the humble, and less monied,
the workers and the proletariat.
We refer to the grave pecuniary
embarrassment, the financial crisis,
which has descended upon every peo-
pie and with steady and frightened
progress is bringing unemployment to
every land. ~. sJ=
We see great multitudes of honor
able,, willing workers forced to idle
ness. and reduced, with their famil-
les, to extreme indulgence; workers
who desire nothing better than to
earn with the sweat of their brow,
as the Divine mandate teaches, the
daily bread they beg each, morning
of their Lord.
Touched by Children's Plight
Their cries of distress move our
paternal heart and make US repeat
with like tenderness the words which
heart of the Divine Master as
He beheld the crowd faint with hum
ger: "Misereor super turbam"-"I
have compassion on the multitude" !"
With particular commiseration,
however, are we moved to pity at the
enormous number of children, most
innocent victims of this sad state Of
affairs. "The little ones have asked
for bread, and there was none to
break it unto them." In the squalor
of misery they are condemned to see
fade from their lives the joy and the
happiness which these ingenious little
souls seek to find about them.
Now winter approaches, and with
it the long succession of suffering and
private ons which the cold season
brings especially to the poor and to
the helpless young.
Asks Crusade of Charity
Most serious of all, however, is
this steady aggravation of the plague
of unemployment to which we have
made reference. The want of so
many families and of their children
if not provided for, threatens to push
them (Which may God avert) to the
point of evaporation.
Our fatherly heart has thought
with trepidation on all of this, and
as our predecessors have done on
similar occasions-in particular, our
immediate predecessor, Benedict XIV
of holy memory-we raise our voice
and address our appeal to all who
possess a sense of faith and of Chris
tian love; an appeal for what may
almost be termed crusade of char
ity and relief. n
Such crusade, while it will pro-
vide assistance to the body, will give
likewise comfort and aid to the sepl,
creating again serene confidence,
disencumbering the mind of those
ugly thoughts which misery is ac-
customed to implant in mans bos-
oms. 1t will quench the flames OF
rancor and of the passions which rend
men, and will awaken and sustain
the fires of love and concord and the
strong and noble bonds of individual
and social peace and prosperity.
All Members of Gods Family
1t is therefore to crusade of mer-
cy and love, and unquestionably OF
sacrifice as we'll, that we call all, sons
of the one Father, members OF the
one and same great family, Gods
family, and hence all participants, as
children of the same family, of the
Joy and prosperity and of the sorrow
and adversely to which our brothers
fall lot.
To this crusade we call all as to a
sacred duty, a duty rooted in that
commandment so distinctly peculiar
| to the evangelical law and proclaimed
by Jesus Christ as His first and great
est commandment (indeed COM
pendium and synthesis of all the 9TH
ers) the commandment of charity.
It was this commandment to which
our predecessors of happy memory
appealed repeatedly with like pur-
pose in the days of hatreds and bitter
war. We invoke this most beautiful
of commandments now not merely as
the supreme and all-embracing duty
according to Christian law, but rather
as Cne nlPH manu- SuUllill6 lucdl VI OH
souls which are generous-spirited and
more finely keyed to nobleness and to
Christian perfection. S..
., Armaments Cited as One Cause
We do not feel it necessary to in
sist on this with many words for it
seems SO, evident that this generosity
of heart alone, this fervor alone of
Christian o souls. with their holy i'm
petus. toward dedication and sacrifice
for the, salvation of their. brethren,
notably for those most needy and
those exciting most compassion, as
do the throngs of innocent children,
will succeed in overcoming by force
of, unanimous concord the grave diff
culties of the present hour. ri -
And since the unbridled race for
'armaments is on the one hand the
effect of the rivalry among ma
tions and on the other he cause Of
withdrawal of enormous sums from
the public wealth and hence not the
smallest of contributors to the cur
rent extraordinary crisis, we can
not refrain from renewing on this
subject the wise admonitions of our
predecessors which thus far have not
been heard. .r.' ,u.I
We exhort you all, venerable breth-
ren, that with all the means at your
II 1 L..