A MODERN NERO.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 152, 31 March 1876, Page 14

A MODERN NERO.

The Holy Father, in his reply to the address of the Cardinals, spoke aa follows : — " If I am not mistaken, I think I see the return, indeed, of the empire of another Nero, who comes under another form. In some places 'he sits with his lyre in hand, that is to say, with artful and deceitful words, he pretends to caress, but at the same time he destroys and reduces everything to ashes. In other places he appears with a rod of iron in his hand, and if he does not stain the highways with blood, he fills prisons, and multiplies exiles ; he despoils, and whilst despoiling he blasphemes ; he usurps jurisdictions, and exercises them with violence and injustice. With the*">" lyre in hand, he tears down the sign of redemption and the way of the Cross, in the great Roman Amphitheatre, and these arenas, consecrated by the blood of martyrs, are defiled with stagnant and fetid waters, fit symbols of the consciences of the authors and abettors of such great impieties. I will not refer to other painful circumstances, lest, by doing so, I feed unjust resentment against persecuted Catholics, but it really seems to me as if in certain portions of the universe there is an effort to dethrone Jesus Christ, and that they are again crying out : Nolumus hunc regnare super nos. But the time will come when we can exclaim : Vidi impium superexaltaium .... tran.siviet ecce non erat. Let ns, in the meantime, turn to the King of Peace, that through the intercession of that Virgin whom the Church salutes with the name of Virgo Potens, He may grant us all peace of soul, notwithstanding that we are struggling with the tempest, and that He may render us active and courageous, so that we may fight His battles for Him."