MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8359, 12 September 1890, Page 6

MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib,—ln a report of a meeting of the Auckland Catholic Literary Society, in this day's Herald, it is stated that one of the speakers took exception to a statement made by me on Sunday last, viz., that the men, women, and children who were massacred in Paris on St. Bartholomew's Day, 1572, were murdered on account of their being non-Unionists in respect of the Roman Catholic Church, that is, because they would not submit to the Bishop of Rome. The speaker at the Literary Society on Tuesday evening is reported to have said that "religion had nothing whatever to do with the *nassacre.' He and 1, and all Christian people at the present day are, doubtless, at one in condemning and' deploring that horrible crime; but it is not right to forget the lesson for all time taught by that exhibition of intolerance. In adducing the massacre of St. Bartholomew as a warning to " confederated" citizens, whether employers or employed, against the spirit of intolerance, I was careful not to say that the Bishop of Rome was responsible for the foul deeds which were committed at that time in the name of religion; but, as the speaker on Tuesday night seems to have impugned my accuracy in a matter of history, it is only right that I should give some of my authorities for stating that the Huguenots of Paris in 1572 were murdered on account of their exercising liberty of choice as to the religious union to which they would belong. 1. In the Bodleian Library at Oxford there is a book containing an official account of the " Order of Solemn Procession made by the Sovereign Pontiff into the eternal city of Rome for the most happy destruction of the Huguenot Party," which was printed at Rome by the heirs of Antonio Blado, printers to the Chamber, 1572." This ends with a copy of an inscription which was ' most elegantly embroidered in letters of gold upon a cloth of purple," and hung over the portico of the Church of St. Mark, to which the procession was made, and in which the thanksgiving was offered. This .inscription distinctly states that the massacre occurred after counsels had been given, aud that Charles IX. made grateful acknowledgment of the same. Here is that portion of the inscription : — " Carolus IX, Christianiss. Francorum Rex, zelo zelatus pro Domino Deo exercituum, repeute, velut Angelo percussore divinitus immisso ; sublatis una occidione prope universis regni sui hiKreticis, perduellibusq.; tanti beneficii immemor nunquam futurus, consiliorum ad earn rem datorum, anxiliorum mi&sorum, duo decennaliu precum, supplicationum, votorum, lachrymaruin suspinumq. : ad Deum Opt. Max., &c." The document is subscribed, "Carolus tit. S. Apoll. S.R.E. Presbyter Cardiu. De Lotharingen hie omnibus significatum ac testificatum esse voluit. A.D., MDLXXII. VI. Id. Sept." And 2. One of the medals struck on the occasion is in the British Museum, which is thus described by one of the tirst authorities on the sub ject:— "Obv. Gregorius XIII., Pont. Max. Ann. II.; head and shoulders of the Pope facing the left. Under the head of the Pope the lettera "F.P." Rev.. " Vgon'ottorvm Strages, 1572." An angel (compare the above inscription) " advancing from the left, and holding in her right hand a drawn sword, and in her left the Cross. Before her are five figures, of which two are dead warriors, one a dying warrior, one a man trying to make his escape ; in the background a female figure throwing up her hands apparently to express horror at the scene, and a figure draped as a priest looking on." This medal was struck at Rome in silver and in copper. 3. Pictures were still hanging on the walls of the Vatican Palace at Rome in 1872, delineating the horrors of the massacre, though the inscription had been carefully effaced. The present Pope, no doubt, regards with as great horror as you do, Mr. Editor, the murderous deeds committed in 157'2, in Paris, for the extermination of those who would not submit to the authority of his predecessor, Gregory XVI.—I am, etc., W.G. Auckland, Bishop.