THE STATE OF ITALY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 236, 9 November 1877, Page 13

THE STATE OF ITALY.

In recording for the warning as well as for the reprobation of other* the great crimes of the wicked secular rulers of Italy, " against the Lord and against His Christ," we have felt that it must often have occurred to our readers that surely this is not the Italy which is so dear to the Catholic heart and of which Catholics everywhere are so justly and so gratefully proud. Sometimes we have heard good Catholics confess that they were " disheartened " by the wickedness of such men as Victor Emmanuel, Humbert, Garibaldi, and Nicotera. There is indeed room for being saddened by the sight of such men dominating the glorious peninsula, but in the sense in which our friends complained, their domination is no cause for being "disheartened." The Italy of Pio Nono is the Italy in which Catholics are interested and of whose traditions Catholics are proud, and the Italy of Pio Nono, though comparatively helpless in material strength, is after all in the majority of souls, although trodden under foot by an unscrupulous and aggressive minority, careless of its methods and careless of the future deluge which will follow its misrule. But when Catholic readers become " disheartened," thinking that the mass of the people of Italy are becoming like their secular rulers and the secret societies, they neglect information and deductions which are within their reach. Even if Pio Nono remains a prisoner in the Vatican it can be seen that neither the faith of Catholic Italy has been destroyed nor that the Italians are about to become Protestants after the manner of the apostate English of Elizabeth's time. It is true that there is not much encouragement in the apparent inertness of the Italian Catholics who to the average and rapid American seem to be biding their time longer than is wholly admirable. Nevertheless we are satisfied that when the hoar comes Catholic Italy will not be wanting. But apart from this there are two great facts which ought to be remembered by those who are " disheartened " at times by the sad news from Italy, first the utter failure of the Protestants notwithstanding their persistent, peculiarly extravagant and civilly supported efforts to obtain a foothold and converts. The next fact is that throughout the peninsula, from Turin and Lombardy to the kingdom of Naples the piety and devotion of the people continues to be as great as it was in the days when Italy contributed armies of canonised saints to the Church. We are happy to say that our private correspondents have given us most gratifying intelligence on this point.— Catholic Jteview.