THE CONVERSION TO THE CATHOLIC RELIGION OF TWO LUTHERAN QUEENS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 91, 23 January 1875, Page 14

THE CONVERSION TO THE CATHOLIC RELIGION OF TWO LUTHERAN QUEENS.

(From the ' Unita Cattolica ' of October 16t1i.) The |Corriere Bavarese' announces that the Dowager Queen of Bavaria made her abjuration of Lutheranism and her profession of the Catholic faith in the cnurch of Valtenhofen, on the 12th of October. For this most joyful event we ought to return thanks to God, who vouchsafes to console our Holy Father Pius IX. by compensating His Church for what it has for so long a time been suffering in Germany. But we will carefully avoid mixing up with the political affairs of Germany" the august name of this distinguished lady, whose private virtues have made her deserve to be enrolled as a member of the true fold fold of Jesus Christ. We will record, however, a similar conversion which created a sensation as great, and which happened during the pontificate of Alexander VII. — the conversion to the Catholic faith of Christina, Queen of Sweden, recorded by Cardinal Sforza Pallavicins, in his lifo of that Pontiff. A detailed accoxint of this conversion has recently been published in Modena by the Rev. Joseph Boero, of the Society of Jesus. Father Boero has gathered the particulars of the evonfc from the letters which passed between the Very Eev. Father Nickel, the General of the Society of Jesus, and the Queen Christina herself, with reference to her abjuration. Christina was the only child of Gustavus Adolphus, the great warrior, who was the terror of Germany, and of Maria Eleonora, princess of Brandenburgh, a singularly accomplished and gifted lady. Chx'istina was born on the Bth of December, 1626. Her father was slain, though his troops remained victorious, in the battle of Lutzen, in 1632, and Christina was then only sis years of age. The states of the kingdom, however, determined that the young princess should succeed her father on the throne, and that during the minority she should be under the guardianship of five of the most distinguished officers of state. As soon as she became of age she assumed the reins of government, which she directed with singular ability. She formed advantageous alliances, brought to a successful close the war with Denmark, concluded with Germany a treaty to the benefit of Sweden, and developed greatly in her kingdom both literature and the arts and sciences. She was sought in marriage by various European sovereigns, but she declined every offer. She was most upright in her conduct and principles, and in. all her actions followed most exactly the dictates of her conscience and after a while it pleased the Almighty to remove from, her mind the darkness of error with His divine illumination, and to call her to the bosom of the true Church. She perceived the emptiness of the Lutheran sect, which was the established in Sweden. She reflected in regard to this religion thab it had not antiquity to recommend it, nor miracle to conform it, that it was not introduced or embraced by men distinguished for holiness of life, that it was not consistent in its principles or teaching, but varied and shifted with the whim or caprice of those who directed it. She noticed the same defects in all the other sects, and the Catholic religion alone appeared to her to possess the necessary attributes of antiquity, stability and uniformity ; and so after much prayer, study and consultation "with others, she finally resolved to embrace that religion and renounce the throne of Sweden. On the 17th of June, 1654, Queen Christina made her solemn abdication of the throne in favor of Charles Gustavus, and, laying aside her purple robe of sovereign, appeared dressed simply as a private lady. She then quitted Sweden, "and proceeded first to Antwerp and afterwards to Brussels, where she made her abjuration in private of the Lutheran heresy. Finally on the 3rd of November, in 1655, she made in Innspruck her public profession of the Catholic faith, in presence of Monsignor Luke Holstein, the delegate of the Holy See. The Queen of Sweden, after her reception into the Church, wrote a very beautiful letter to the Pops, which we subjoin. She afterwards pursued her journey towards the Pontifical States, visiting on the way all the most famous relics. She went to Lorefclo, to the noly House, and there her piety and devotion were such as to draw tears from the beholders. Whilst she was at Lorett), Monsignor Holstein submitted for her approval some Latin verses which were to be entered in the registers or Loretto in memory of her visit to that shrine. In these verses it was stated that she made an offering to the Blessed Virgin of "the crown which she despised." She requested the monsignor to change this expression into " the crown which, she laid aside," remarking that she had no intention of offering tha Blessed Virgin a tbing which she despised, but, rather, what she prized above all earthly things. On her arrival in Rome a splendid reception was given to her. She received the sacrament of Confirmation and also the Holy Communion from the hands of the Holy Father, and at the conclusion of the Mass, which was said by the Pope, she entertained at a repast in the Vatican at which the Sovereign Pontiff was present. The Farnesian Palace was chosen as her place of residence, and the people of Rome paid all the honors due to a sovereign, for she had added to her dignity as queen by sacrificing her royal crown in order to be at full liberty to embrace the true faith. Tho following is the letter which Christina, Qu3en of Sweden, wrote to Pope Alexander VII. on the sth of November, 1665, from Innspruck, on the day of her solemn profession of the Catholic . religion : — Most Holy Father — Having at length arrived at th.3 term so much desired by me, of seeing myself received into the bosom of our holy mother the Roman Catholic Church, I am anxious to send news ot' this to your Holiness, thanking you in all humility for the honor you have done in sending me your gracious commands, whish I have observed with the respect due to your Holiness. In obedience to your Holiness I have made a public declaration of my sentiments, in which I state that with the greatest joy I leave a kingdom in which reverence towards your Holiness is reckoned amongst the irremissible sins^and I have put aside all feelings of human respect, in order to let it be known that I esteem more the honor of obeying your Holiness than the splendor of the most elevated throne. I beseech your Holiness to

receive me, divested as I am of human greatness, with that paternal benignity which you have always shown me. I have nothing now to sacrifice at your feet but my person. I offer myself entirely to your Holiness with that complete obedience which is due to you, entreating you to dispose of me as you shall judge most fitting for the general good of our Holy Church, to which, and to your Holiness as to its only true head, I have dedicated all that remains to me of life, with the most ardent desire to employ and spend it all to the greater glory of God, from whom I implore for your Holiness many long and happy years, so needful for the good and common welfare of the Christian world. And I pray our Lord to preserve in your Holiness those great gifts He has bestowed upon you, and to make me so fortunate as to be able to arrive at the day so much desired in which I may be permitted to prostrate myself at the feet of your Holiness, which I humbly kiss, beseeching you to grant me your holy and paternal benediction. From Innspruck, the sth November, 1665. Your HoHness's most obedient daughter, Chhistina.

Wonderful — if Tbtte. — Uncle Sam is not to be^done by eithex Neptune or Germany (writes the correspondent of the 'Herald'). A Philadelphia man has invented a machine by which two gallons of water will drive the largest engine in the world. The inventor has been engaged for fourteen years on his invention. At a recent trial, in the City of Brotherly Love, he produced a motive power equal to & pressure of 7,0001b5. to the square inch. He asserts that no chemical of any kind is used, and that electricity has nothing to do with his invention. The water, which is placed in a pear-shaped cylinder, was tested both before and after the experiment and found unchanged. It is supposed that the new power is produced by the decomposition of the water, by contact with the machine. Of course there is a great deal of mystery about the affair ; nevertheless, several wealthy men have placed their money on the affair, and it is now patented. The inventor claims that by attaching his machine to an ordinary engine he can drive a train from New York to 'Frisco " on time" without any expenditure of power, save that generated in his machine by the two gallons of water.