ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF OUR MOST HOLY LORD PIUS IX.. BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE POPE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 43, 21 February 1874, Page 11

ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF OUR MOST HOLY LORD PIUS IX.. BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE POPE.

TO AIL PATEIAKCHS, PHIMATES, AECHBISHOPS, BISHSP3, AND OTHER OIJDINAKIEB" IST THE &KAOB AKD COMMUNION 01 THE APOSTOLIC SEE. PIUS PP. IX. Vinerjble Ehethkek ;- llealth and the Apostoiic BbneDICTIOV.

AxTUCn&H many giicvous and bitter sufferings, from the beginning of Our long Pur tificate, have fallen to Our lot through various causes which We have unfolded in Our Encyclic.il letters from. time to time, yet in these last yearsthe number of Our sorrows has so increased that, were We nofc upheld by the mercy of God, We should be almoi-fc overwhelmed by them. Of late indeed matters have readied siu-h a pass, that death itself 6cems better than life amid such storms, and with eyes lifted up to heaven We aro fam to cry, ■" It is better for us to die than to see the evils of the saints" (1). Ever since Our city of Borne by the will of God has-been taken away by force of arms, and has passed-under the sway of'inen, who despise law, who are enemies of religion, who- confound all things both human and divino, hardly a- day has passed without inflicting some new wound on Our heart already suffering from repeated injuries and wrongs. There ring still in our ears the cries of religious men and women, who have been driven from their homes in poverty and scattered hither and thither by hostile hand 1 ?, as is done where revolution triumphs : just as, according to Athanasius.-the great Antony ustd to say, " The devil hates all Christians, bub he cannot endure good monks and virgins dedicated to Christ." We have now seen what we thought could never come to pass, viz., the suppression and abolition of the Roman University, which had been established (according <o tho words of an ancieut author uniting on the Anglo-Saxon school in Rome), that young churchstudents from distant parts might be educated in Catholic faith and doctrine, lest in their own landß* they should be wrongly taught or in a>way contrary to 1 Catholic unity, and that they might go back strong and steadfast in the faith. Thus while by foul means We are by degrees deprived ol all ways of ruling imd governing the Universal Church, it i 9 clearly manifest how very far from tho truth is that which has been asserted, viz., that the liberty of the Roman Pontiff in the exercise of his spiritual ministry and in his relations with -the Catholic world has been no wise diminished by tho loss of Our city : nay it becomes clearer every day, how truly we have so often insisted, that the sacrilegious usurpasion of Our territory has had for its especial object the subversion of the Pontifical authority and the destruction, if possible, of the Catholic Religion i self. It is not however the object of Ouv letter to Wiite to you on the woes of Our city and of the whole of Italy, We would rather pass in silence over Our own sorrows, if' by the mercy of God We could assuage the bitter griefs which so many of Our Vev.erable Brethren, their clergy ai.d people, are undergoing in other lands. You are well aware, Venerable Brethren, that certain of the Cantons of tho Swiss Federation — not at the suggestion of nonCatholics, seme of whom have condemned the act, but at the bidding of those busy sectarians who have now everywhere possessed thenselves of power — have overturned the order and undermined the foundations of the Church of Christ, contrary to every rule of justice and in spite of their publicly pledged word ; for according to covenants passed by the laws and authority of the FeJoratiin the reli&ious liberty of the Catholics ought to be maintained inviolate. In Our Allocution of the 23rd of December, 187-2,- We lamented the wrongs inflicted or. religion by the' Governments of those Cantons, " both in making decrees concerning the doctrines of the Catholic Faith, in showing favor to apostates, and in l'ot bidding the exercise of episcopal power." Our just complaints made by Our Envoy before tbe Federal Council were altogether overlooked, nor was greater regard sliown to the repented remonstrances of the Bishops of Switzerland, and of the Catholics of every class, and fresh wrong* put the last stroke to the injuries alicidy inflicted. After the forcible banishment of Our Vtnoiv.blc Brother G-aepar, Bit-hop of Hebron and Vicar-Apostolic of Geneva, feo glorious for the sufferer and so disgraceful to those who put it into execution, the Govern ri.cn t of G.uew., on tho 23rd of March and the 27 th of August of tliid year, enacted two laws of the same tenor as the decree of October, Ifc72, which was condemned by Us in the Allocution before mentioned. That Government has claimed the right of reforming the constitution cf the Catholic Church in tbe Canton 1 according to the democratic! pattern, a'i. l of subjecting the Bishop to the Civil i'owcr iv the cxrrc)°e of Lis proper jurisdiction, and the aJinini.-tration and delegation of his nutln-nty to others ; forbidding him to dwell in the Canton, Lmiting Ihe i umber aud boundaries of tho parishes, laying down tLe form and "omiitions of the election of paiish priests and their a-'-istan'-p, and t lie manner of their resignation or suspension ; | assigning to laymen tho right of nomination and the tcmpor.il ajmin- .. ist ration and inspection of ecclesiastical affairs generally. Moreover, paiuh prutts aud their iiß.-Utants, without permission — withdrawn at pleasure — of tlio Government, were foi bidden to exercise their functions, to ai-cept any digaifies higher than that conferred upon them by the election of the people-, and were also forced to take an oath in terms invohing actual apostasy. It is cler.r (hat laws of this kind are not only null and void tiy reason of want of pawer in the law-makers as being laymen and non Catholics, but also as regards their provisions fc'.iat they are go contrary to the doctrines of the Catholic Faith, and to the ecclesiastical discipline enjoined by Pontifical Conatmitions and the CEcun.emval Council of Trent, that they ought to* 'be altogether rejected by Us. We, therefore, a3 required bj Our office, do, by Our Apostolic authority, soK mnly reject and condemn them, declaring the required oath to be unlawful and sacrilegious, and that all those, who in the Canton of Geneva or elsewhere, having been elected according to the tenor of the same laws, or others liko them, by the votes of the people, and confirmat:on of the civil power, shall venture to take upon them (1) M&chab. iii. 50.

ecclesiastical function's, do ipso facto incur the greater exeouirauiiication, especially reserved to this lEoly See, and other canonical penalties ;- and that they are to be avoided by the faithful according to the Divine command "as strangers and robbers, who'comi not but to steal and tokill and to destroy " (2). These are sad and sorrowful events, but deod3 still more ' sorrow--' ful have taken place, in five of the seven cantons which, form "this,' Diocese of Bale, viz., Sileuro, Berno, Bale-C.imprigne, Anrgau, and. Zurich. In those parts also law 3 have been enacted concerning parishes, the election 'and discharge of pariah priests and their assis-' tants, subversive of the -government and Divine constitution of tho_ Church, md subjecting the Church to the secular and schismatical power. These laws, and especially thsi law'of tha, 23rd of December, 1872, passed by the Government of Soleuro. We denounce and con-j demn, and order to be considered as so denounced and condemned.. After Our Venerable Brother Eugenin3, Bishop of Bale, in Jiis jii3C indignation and Apostolic fortitude), had. rejected • certain articles proposed in the meeting -or "so-called diocesan conference, to wlii.;h thera' came delegates from the five aforesaid cantons, — having a just; reason 1 for rejecting them aa injurious to • Episcopal- authority, subversive of hierarchical government, and openly favorable to heresy : for thiscaude he was banished from his Bishopric, expelled from his house,. and violently driven into exile. No kind of wrong and injury wasleft undoi.e to lead into schism (he clorgy and people of tho five afore--, said cantons; the clergy were forbid len to hold any intercourse wifcli their banished paator ; order 3 wore given to tho Cathedral Chapter of Bale to proceed to the election of a Vicar-Capitular or Administrator, as if the See were actually vacant. The Chapter, however, vigorously protested, and spurned such unworthy action. In the meantime, by, a decree of the civil magi.«trate3 of Berne, sixty-nine parish -priest's of tho CantGn of Jura were forbidden to exercise their-function3, anil deprived of their office, for the only reason that they had openly testified, that they acknowledged only Our Venerable Brother JEliueiiiiis as their lawful Bishop and Pastor, and would not treacherously sever ' themselves from Catholic unity. The consequence ia that tho whole of that district-^- which had constantly presei'ved the Cdtholio faith, and which had been united to the Canton of Berne on tlu condition of keeping the exercise of religion free and inviolate — has been deprive 1 of Alass, and the rites of baptism, marriage, and burial in spite of. the complaints and rerronstrances of Ihe faithful, by the lii^hcsb injustice reduced to the necessity either of receiving- Bchi9mntic.il and ' heretical ■ pastors thrust upon them by civil authority, or of being depiivcd of ah assistance and ministry of their priest?. We thank God for upholding aud strengthening with tho siaio grace that sustained tho martyrs, that chosen part of ths O.itholio flock, which manfully follows their Bishop, " setting up a wall for the house of' I-raol 'to stand in battle in tho day of the L-ml" (3), and without fear treading in the footsteps of the ll sad of M>utyrs, Je-U3 Christ, meeting ferocious wolves with the meekness of lambs, aud cheerfully and patiently fighting for the Faith. This noble constancy of the faithful in Switzerland is imitated in a manner worthy of all praise by the clergy and faithful pyopleof Germany, following the bright examples of their Bishops. They have been made a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men, who from every side look up io them clad with tho breastplate of Catholic truth, and in the helmet of salvntion, valiantly fighting the battle of Orod. Their courage and id-vincible fortitude is the more admired aud pr.uscd, as day by day the persecution raised against them in Germany, and especially in Prussia, rages more and more bitterly. Bsside many grave wrongs inflicted la9t yi-ar upon the Catholic Church, the Prns ian Government has subjected to tho civil po-ver, by cruel and unjust legislation, altogether alio.i from its for.ner coa--luct, the entire instruction and education of the clergy, iv such manner that it belongs to the said power to enquire into and to decide in what manner Church students are to bs taught :.nd trained to the sacerdotal and pastoral life ; .and proceeding further, it gives to the eanie power the right of examining aid judging iv respect to collating to all ecclesiastical offices and benefices, and even of depriving sicrsd pistor3 - f office and of benefice. Moreover, in order to subvert moro speedily aud completely the ecclesiastical government of the Church, and the order of Hierarchical obedience instituted by Christ Our Lord Himself, many obstac-leo are interposed by the stnio laws to hinder the Bishops in providing with timely measures by canouical censures and pains for the salvation of soulq, for tho sou;idnc3S of doctrine in Catholic schools, or for the obedience due to them from their clcrsy. For, arcorci'ig to the tenor of those Li'va tho Bishops are not permitted to essrclso thase functions save only at the pleasure of the civil authority and according to the rules l.iid down by the same. Finally, that nothing should be wanting lo the entire suppression of tho Catholic Church a royal tribunal for ecclesiastical ulf iirs hai been instituted, before which Bishops aud sacred pastors may be i-ifo !, bolh by private men who are iheir subjects, and by public migisn.itca, there to receive judgment aa criminals, and to bo coerced iv the exercise of their spiritual office. Thus the Holy Church of Christ, to whiuh tho ne-essary a>rl fall liberty of religion had been guarantee I by the solemn and rdr.-rated promise of princes, and by public pacts and conventions, is now in mourning in those regions, stripped of its every light, and exposed to hostile powers which threat ju it with final destruction ; for this new legislation reaches ro the point or rendering the life of the ChurcU impossible. ISTo wonder, (h ore fore, that in that Empire tho former religious pence should be broken up by Lavs of this kind and by ihe othsv counsels and acts of the Prussian Government full of hostility to the; Church. Whoreforo, if any one would throw tho blame of tiscfo ' perturbations on the Catholics of the German Empire, ii would bo altogether without warrant. _ For if it be imputed* to them as aa offence that they do not. acquiesce in those laws in which with n safe conscience they cannot acquiesce ; for a like voason and iv liko manner the apostles and martyrs of Jesus Christ arc to be jweusod, who choso- 1 (2) St.. John x., 5, 10. (3) Ezech. xiii. 0.

rather to undergo the most cruel punishment and death itself than betray their proper office, and violate the lowa of their moat holy religion in obedience to impious commands of persecuting Princes. Of a truth, "Venerable Brothers, if no other laws than the laws of a civil empire existed, and laws indeed of a higher order which it is a duty to obey and sin to violate ; if, moreover, these same civil laws could constitute a supreme rule of conscience, as some impiously and absurdly contend, the primitive martyrs, and they who afterwards followed them in shedding their blood for the Faith of Christ and the liberty of the Church, would be rather worthy of blame than of honor and praise. Nay, it would not even have been possible, in the teeth of laws and against the will of Princes, to preach and propagate the Christian religion, and to found the Church. The Faith however teaches, and human reason demonstrates, that there exists a two-fold order of things, and at the same time two powers are to be distinguished on tho earth— the ono natural, which provides for the tranquility of human society and secular affairs ; the other, the origin of which is above nature, supreme over the City of God, that is the Church of Christ, divinely instituted for the peace and eternal salvation of souls. And the officers of twofold power are in wisdom ordained that the things of God should be rendered to God, and that, in obedience to God, the things of Cresar should be rendered to Ctesar, who is " therefore great because he is less than heaven ; for he himself belongs to Him to whom belong the heavens and every creature " (4). From this divine command the Church assuredly has never been turned aside, for it has always and everywhere labored to impress on the minds of the faithful the obedience which they ought inviolably to maintain towards sovereign Princes and their laws in secular things, and it has taught with the apostle, that " Princes are not a terror to good works, but to e^il, commanding the faithful to be subject not only for wrath's sake, because the Prince bears the sword, as an avenger in wrath for him wh<» does evil, but also for conscience sake, because in his office he is the minister of God" (5). This fear of Princes the Church itself restrains to evil deeds, and excludes it expressly from the observance of the divine law, being mindful of that •which the blessed Peter taught to the faithful : " Let non 9of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or a railer, or a coveter of other men's goods, but if as a Christian let him not be ashamod, but let him glorify God in this name " {6). Since these things are so, you will easily understand, Venerable Brothers, with what sorrow of mind we must have been affected when ■we read in a letter lately sent to us by the Emperor of Germany in person an accusation not less cruel than unlocked for against a part, as he himself says, of his Catholic subjects, and especially against the Catholic clergy and Bishops of Germany. Of which accusation this is the cause, that they, fearless of bonds and tribulations and not 11 counting their life more precious than themselves " (7), have refused to obey the aforesaid laws with the same constancy, with which, beloie they were passed, they had protested by denouncing their injustice, which was unfolded in grave, luminous, and solid expostulations, amidst the applause of the whole Catholic world, and of not a few even of non-Catholics, before the So foreign, his Ministers, and the supreme legislative of the kingdom. For that cause they are now accused aa of the crime of treason, as of consenting and conspiring with those who are endeavouring to overthow all orders in hurran society, without regard to innumeiable and notable proofs which evidently bear vutcess to their unshaken faith and allegiance to their Sovereign and their fervent patriotism towards thoir country. Yea, and we ourselves are asked to exhort those Catholics and sacred pastors to observe the aforesaid laws, which is to ask that we also ourselves should lend our help in oppressing and scattering the flock of Christ. But, trusting in God, we are confident that the most Serene Emperor, -when he has better ascertained and weighed these things, will reject a suspicion so empty and incredible against his faithful servants, and will no longer endure that their honour should be assailed by so foul a calumny, and that an unmerited prosecution should be continued against them. We should indeed have gladly passed over in this place the letter of the Emperor, if it had not been made public by the official journal in Berlin altogether withont our knowledge, and in a manner certainly unusual, together with another letter written by our hand, in which we appealed for the Catholic Church in Prussia to the justice of the most Serene Emperor. The thiugi which we have thus far recounted are before the eyes of all : wherefore, while Religious and Virgins dedicated to God are deprived of the common liberty of citizens, and are exiled with cruel harshness ; while public schools, in which Catholic youth are educated are day by day further withdrawn from the wholesome teaching and vigilanco oi' the Church ; while societies founded for the nurturing of piety, and evui the seminaries of the clergy, are dissolved; while the liberty of preaching tho Gospel is hindered, while it is prohibited m certain parts of tho kingdom to teach the elements of religious education iv tho mother-tongue, while the priests are forcibly taken away from tho parishes over which they were set by the Bishops, and tbo Bishops themselves are deprived of their revenues, coerced by fines, and menaced by threats of imprisonment, while Catholics are disturbed by vexations of everj kind, is it possible that we should receive into our mind that '«\hich is laid before U3, viz., that neither the religion of Jesus Christ nor the truth is called in question. Nor is this the end of the wronga which aro inflicted upon tho Catholic Church. For to this must be also added th« patronage which lias been openly taken up by tho Prussian and the other Governments of the Germanic Empire in behalf of those new heretics, who call themselves Old Cathdlics by the abuse of the name, which would be truly ridiculous, if it were not that so many monstrous eriors of that sect against the chief principles of the Catholic faith, so many tacrileges in Divine worship and in the administration of sacraments, co many gravest scandals, so great a havoc of souls redeemed in the Blood of Christ, did not rather draw abundant tears from our eyes. (4) TeitulHan, Apolog. cap. 80. (5) Uomf xiii. 3. (t>) 1 St. Peter iv. 15, 10. (7) Acts xx., 24.

The attempts indeed, and the aims of these unhnppy sons of perdition appear plainly, both from other writings of theirs, and most of all from that impious and most impudent of documents which has lately been published by him whom they hare sot up for themselves as their so-called Bishop. For they deny and prevert the true authority of jurisdiction which is in the Roman Pontiff and th« Bishops, the successors of the Blessed Peter and the Apostles, and transfer it to the populace, or, as they Bay, to the community ; they stubbornly reject and assail the infallible teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff and of the whcle Church ; and, contrary to the Holy Spirit who has been promised by Christ to abide in His Church for ever, they audaciously affirm that the Roman Pontiff, and the whole of the Bishops, priests, and people, who are united with him in one faith and communion, have fallen into heresy by sanctioning and professing the definitions of the (Ecumenical Vatican Council. Therefore they deny even the indefectibility of the Church, blasphemously saying that it has perished throughout the world, and that its visible head and its Bishopß have fallen away : and that for this reason it has been necessary for them to restore the lawful Episcopate in their pseudo-bishop, a man who, entering not by the gfcte, but coming up by another way, has drawn upon his head the condemnation of Christ. Nevertheless, those unhappy men, who would undermine the foundations of the Catholic religion, and destroy its character and endowments, who have invented such shameful and manifold errors, or rather have collected them together from the old store of heretics, are not ashamed to call themselvs Catholics, and Old Catholics ; while by their doctrine, their novelty, and their fewness, they give up all mark of antiquity and of Catholicity. Truly with a stronger right against them than in former days, by the mouth of St. Augustine against the Donatists, the Church which is spread abroad among all nations, which Christ the Son of the living God has built upon the rock, against which the gates of hell shall not p-evail, and with which he, to whom all power has been given in heaven and upon earth, has promised that he will remain all days to the end of the world, cries cut to the Eternal Spouse : " Why do those who have gone from me murmur against me ? Why do those who are lost declare that it is I who have perished ? Announce to me the fewness of my days ; how long shall Ibe i* thU •world ? Tell it to me for the sake of those who say that she was and now she is not ; for tho sake of those who say that the Scriptures have been fulfilled, the nation* have believed, but the Church has apostatized and perished from all the nations. " And it was answered ; nor was the voice an empty one. In what words was it announced 1 Behold I am with you until the consummation of tlie world. That is, moved by your words and your false opinions, the Church asks of God to make known to her the fewness of her days ; and she finds that the Lord has said, Behold lam with you until the consummation of the world. Here you will reason thua : "Of us it is said that we are, and we shall be until the end of the world. Let Christ be asked : And this Gospel, he says, shall be preached in tlie whole world, in testimony to all nations, and then shall the end come. Therefore, until the end of the world is the Church among all nations." May heretics perish; may they perish v they are, and be found to become what they are not (8). But these men, going on more boldly in the ■Ray of iniquity and perdition, as by a just judgment of Grod it happens Lo heretical sects, have wished also to form to themselves a hierarchy, as wo have said, and have chosen and set up for themselves as their pstmdo bishop a certain notorious apostate from the Catholic Faith, Joseph Hubert Reinkens ; and, that nothing might be wanting to their impudence, for his consecration they have had recourse to those Jansenists of Utrecht whom they themselves, before (heir falling away from the Church, regarded with other Catholics as hei-etios and schismatics. Nevertheless, this Joseph Hubert dares to call himself a Bishop, and, incredible as it may^seem, the Most Serene Emperor of G-u'inany has by pub ie decree named and acknowledged him as a Catholic Bishop, and exhibited him to all his subjects as one who is to be regarded as a lawful Bishop, and as such to be obeyed. But the very rudiments of Catholic teaching declaro, that no one can be held to be a lawful Bishop who is not joined in communion of faith and charity to the Rock on which the one Church of Christ is built ; who does not adhere to the Supreme Pastor to whom all the sheep of Christ are committed to be fed ; who is not united to the confii-mer of the brotherhood -which is in the world. Aud ; indeed, "to Peter did the Lord speak: to one, that he might by one establish unity." (9) To Peter " the Divine authority has given a great and wonderful share of His power ; and if that authority ha 3 wished anything to be in common between Him and other princes, it is only through Him, that it has been given." (10). Hence it is that from this Apostolic See, where the blessed Peter " lives and presides, and dispenses the truth to all who seek it," (11) " the rights of holy fellowship extend to all " ; (12) and it is certain that this same See is " to tho chavches throughout the world as the head to the members, and that'if any one cuts himself off from it, he becomes on outcast from the Christian religion, since he is not in the same bond of union." (13)Hence the holy martyr Cyprian, speaking of the schisinatica pseudo-bishop Novatian, denied to him the very name of Christian as being separated and cut off from tho Church of Christ : " Whoever he is and whatever he is, " he is not a Christian, wh<> is not in the Church of Cluist. Though he boast himself ami talk of his wisdom and eloquence in proud language, he who has not retained either brotherly love or ecclesiastical unity has lost even what he before possessed. Since the one church lias been divided by Christ into many members throughout the whole world, and also one Episcopate has been overspread therein by the manifold unity of many Bishops, that man in spite of the tradition of God and in spite of the closely compacted unity of the Church is endeavouring to make tho Church human. He, therefore, who rnaiataina neither the unity of the Spirit nor the brotherhood of peace, and severs himself from tho bouis of the Church and from the fellowship of the priesthood, can possess neither the power of a Bishop nor the honour, unity, and peace of tho Episcopate." (14). We, therefore, who have been placed, undeserving as We are, m (8) August, in Psalm 101, ennarrat. 2, num. 8, 9. (9) Piician, Ep. iii. n. 11. .. (10) St Leo, M. serm. 3, in sua assunipt, Optatus. lib. n. ii. 2. (1 1 ) St. Peter Chryß. ep. ad Eutych (1 2) St. Jerome ep. 14 and 16 ad L ;mas. (13) Bouifac. I ep. 14 ad Epiacopos ' i.essal. (14) Cyprian, contra Novatiau, Ej.. 52, ad Autoaian.

tho Supreme See of Peter, for the guardianship of the Catholic Faith» and for the maintenance of the Unity of the Universal Church, according to the custom and example of Our predecessors and their holy decrees, by the power given to us from on high, not only declare the election of the said Joseph Hubert Reinkens to be contrary to the holy canons, unlawful and altogether null and void, and denounce and condemn his consecration as sacrilegious, but by the authority of Almighty God We declare the said Joseph Hubert,— together with those who have taken part in his election and sucrilegioui consecration, and whoever adhere to and follow the same, giving aid, favour, or consent — excommunicated, under anathema, separated from the communion of the Church, and to be reckoned among those whose fellowship has been forbidden to the faithful by the Apostle, so that that they are not so much as to say to them God speed you. (15) From these facts, to which we have referred in grief rather than at large, you are well assured, Venerable Brethren, how grave and full of danger is the condition of Catholics in those countries of Europe which we have mentioned. Neither are matters more favourable, or the times more peaceful in America, where some countries are so hostile to Catholics that their governments seem rather to deny in deeds than to profess the Catholic Faith. There for some years bitter war has been Btirred up against the Church and its institutions, and against the rights of this Apostolic See. Matter would not bo wanting, were We to enlarge upon this subject ; but since, on account of its grave nature, it cannot be lightly touched upon, We shall take another occasion to treat at length of it. Some of you may perhaps be surprised, Venerable Brethren, that the war which is carried on at this time against the Catholic Church extends so far and wide. But whoever is acquainted with the character, the aims, and purposes of the sects — be they Freemasons or by whatever name they are known — and compares them with the character and extent of the strife, which throughout nearly the whole world is waged against the Church,. cannot hesitate to aesign the cause of our present calamities to the craft and conspiracy of the same sects. From them is made up the Synagogue of Satan, which is marshalliug its forces and preparing to engage hand to hand against the Church of Christ. From their first beginnings they have been denounced to the kings and to the nations by Our predecessors who have watched over Israel ; again and again have they condemned them, nor have We ourselves failed in this Our duty. Would that the Supreme Pastors of the Church had been more firmly believed by those who could have warded off so terrible a plague ! But the Sect, winding along by crooked ways, never ceasing its task, beguiling many with its cunning craft, is now bursting forth from its hiding-places, and boasting itself to be all powerful. These sinful associations, having greatly increased the number of their adherents, fancy that they have now attained their ends and all but reached the goal set before them. Succeeding in this object, after which they have so long hankered — the possession of the chief power in many planes — Oiey are now boldly using the strength and power they have acquired that the Church of God may be rednced to the most grinding slavery, that it may be uptorn from its foundations and defaced in the divine marks with which it shines conspicuous ; in a word, that shaken, shattered, and overthrown by many blows, it may if possible be utterly blotted out from the world. Since the=c things are so, do you. Venerable Brothers, do your best to strengthen tho faithful committed to "your care against the snares and canker of these sects, and to save from destruction those who have unfonunctely joined them. Do you especially disprove and show up the errors of those, who from bad faith or through deceit do not shrink from asserting that these secret assemblies have for their only object social progress and advantage, and the practice of mutual benevolence. Explain to them and fls deeply in their minds the Pontifical decrees on this matter, and show that they refer not only to the Masonic societies in Europe, but to those that exist in America and throughout the countries of the world. To conclude, Venerable Brethren, since We have fallen on times not only of suffering;, but of meriting much, let Us take especial care, as good soldiers oi Christ, not to depair, as in the midst of the storm, We have a sure hope of future calm, and a glorious peace for the Church, and, ti listing in the assistance of God, let Us cheer ourselves, Our toiling clergy, an'l Our people with the noble words of Chr;sostom : "Many waves and storms threaten ue, but we are not afraid of being overwhelmed, for ■ne stand upon the rock. Though the sea rage, it cannot melt the rock ; though the waves arise, yet they cannot sink the bark of Jesus. There is nothing mightei* than the Church. The Church is stronger than heaven itself. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words sJiall not pass away. What words are these ? Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the f gj-tes of hell shall not 'prevail against it. If you do not believe in words, believe in deeds. How many tyrants have tried to oppress the Church ? How many gridirons, how many furnaces, how many wild beasts, how many swords have been prepared against her ? How much have they accomplished? Nothing! Where are her foes? They are forgotten. Where is the Church ? She shines more brightly than the sun. Her foes have perished ; her children are immortal. If when there were fjw Christiana they were not overcome ; how, when the whole world is full of holj religion, will you bo able to overcome them 1 Heaven and earth shall pass atvay,'but My words shall not pass aioay." Disturbed, therefore, by no danger and no foar, let us continue steadfast in prayer, and with one mind let us endeavour to appease the anger of Heaven, provoked by the sins of men, so that at lust in His mercy the Almighty may arise and command the winds that they be still. | Meanwhile, in -witness of Our especial affection, We lovingly impart to you all, Venerable Brothers, to the clergy, and all the people committed to your care, Our Apostolic blessing. Given at Rome, from St. Peter's, on the twenty -fit st day of November, iv the year of Our Lord, 1573, in the twenty-eighth year of Our Pontificate PIUS PP. IX.

(15) 2 St. John, 10.