THE POPE AND THE FRENCH WORKINGMEN PILGRIMS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 36, 27 December 1889, Page 29

THE POPE AND THE FRENCH WORKINGMEN PILGRIMS.

The following is the address to the French pilgrims, delivered on Sunday, October 20, by the Holy Father in the Great Hall of Canonisation :—: —

It is now two years since a large body of workingmen from France gathered around Us in tbia spot. In their presence and under the happiest auspices Oar jubilee year was then opened, for which they brought Us, as it were, the first fruits of the Catholic world's devotion. That day left in Our mind a pleasant and deep impression, which your presence, dear sons, and the noble words addressed to Us in your name, mv Lord Cardinal, perforce revive in Us now, and render ineffaceable. Be welcome then. The homage which you give at this hour to the head of the Catholic religion, reveals the mainsprings of your thoughts. You have recognised — your hearts and minds have spoken to you — you have recognised that only ia religion will you fiud strength and comfort in the midst of your ceaseless toils and the miseries of this world. Only religion can fill your souls with immortal hopes ; it alone will ennoble your labour, by raising yon to the heights of dignity and freedom. la giving to religion, then, your present and future destinies, you act with the greatest wisdom . Aud on this point, We are happy to confirm here words pronounced by Us ia different circumstances, which you have just recalled to Us. And we wish to insist, once for all, upon these truths, persuaded as We are that your salvation will be the work ol the Church, aud of her teachings to society.

You know then that pagans pretended to solve the social problem by despoi ing the weaker amoag men of their rights, by stifling their aspirations, by paralysing their intellectual and moral faculties, and by reducing them to a state of complete impotence. That was slavery. Christianity came to announce to the world that the whole human family, without distinction of noble and plebeian, was ca lid to enter into participation of tbe divine inheritance ; it declared that a'l were, by the same title.sonsof the heavenly Father, and bought at the same price ; it taught that labour was, on to is earth, the natuial state of man, that to accept this condition courageously, was for him an honour and a tign of wisdom, and that to desire an avoidance of i', was at the same time a cowardice and a defection from a sacred and fundamental duty. In order further to console labourers and the poor, the Divine Founder of Christianity deigned to give effect to Uis woids by His example ; He had noi where to lay His head ; He experienced the trials of hunger ani thirst ; He passed His public aid private life in fatigue, agony, and suffering. Acording to His doctrine, the rich man, ~as Tertullian pats it, was created t j be the treasurer of Gjd upon earth ; far him are the limitations put upon tbe good use of temporal goods ;' against his door lie the formidable threats of the Saviour, if he should close his heart against misfortune and poverty. Meanwhile even that did not suffice. It was necessary to connect the two classes, to establish

between them a solid and indissoluble tie ; and such waa the mission of charity ; charity created that social bond and gave to it a strength and sweetuees unknown before, charity discovered, by a eelf-multifi-oation, a remedy for all evils, a comfort for all griefs ; and by its innumerable works and institutions, it succeeded in rousing, in favour of the unfortunate, a noble rivalry of 4 real, generosity and renunciation. That was tbe single solution which, in the inevitable inequality between man and man, brought a bearable existence to each. For tome centuries this solution was universally accepted and imposed upon all. Without donbt there were occasional uprisings of insubordination, bat they were merely partial and circumscribed in action ; faith bad too vigorous a hold upon souls for the possibility of a general and definite darkening of this principle. None dared to contest tbe lawfulness of this social basis ; none dared to entertain the vast design of seducing away from it the spirits and the hearts of whole peoples, or of contemplating the total ruin of society. Such were the wicked doctrines and upheavals which in later days overwhelmed the social edifice so laboriously built up by tbe Ohurch. We have spoken of it el sj where, there is no need to re-open the ■abject here.

What we now ask is, that men should build up anew this edifice by returning to the teachings and spirit of Christianity ; by causing a revival, at least in their substantial aid and manifold possibilities lor \ good, and under the forms permitted by the altered conditions of the I times, of those guilds of arts and crafts which, in days past, inspired by | Christian thought and springing from the maternal solicitude of the Church, subserved the material and religious Deeds of workmen, eased their toil, protected their rights, and defended, in needful measure, their lawful demands. What we ask is, that by a sincere return to Christian principles, there should be established and consolidated between masters and servants, between capital and labour, such a harmony and Buch an union as are the only safeguard of their mutual interests, and on which depend simultaneously private good and public peace and tranquihty. On every side of you, dear sons, clamour hundreds of workers, Who, seduced by false doctrines, conceit to have found a remedy to their ills in the overturning of what constitutes the essence of political and civil society— in the destruction and annihilation of property. Vain delusions I They are rushing blindly against immutable laws that nothing can destroy, and they redden the road of their advance with blood, by heaping up ruin and by sowing on all sides discord and disorder ; bat by such a course they will aggravate their own on happiness and draw upon them the curse of good men. No, the remedy lies neither with the subversive principles of the one nor with the eeductive though erroneous theories of tbe other. Only in the faithful fulfilment of the duties imposed upon all classes of society in tbe respect and guardianship of the fnoctions belonging to each member does the remedy lie. These truths and these duties the Church has the mission to proclaim loudly and to inculcate on all. L On the governing class is imposed the need of much charity and sympathy towards those who win their bread by the sweat of their brow; theirs it is to put a curb upon the insatiable lov« of wealth, of luxury, of bodily pleasure, whion with high and low gains ever in persuasive power. In all classes there is abroad thirst tor pleasure ; I and, as all cannot satisfy it, there results a glooming and endless discontent which muse end in a permanent revolt. It is an imperative duty of tbo6ewho hold power in their hands before all things to recognise this truth, away from which ij warding aside the perils threatening society, neither human laws, nor judicial repression, nor armies are sirong enough ; whU before all is necessary is that they ihould leave to the Church freedom t) re-inkindle in souls the divine teachings, end to infuse her saving influence into all c' asses of society ; that by wisa bnd just rules and measures they should guarantee the interests of the labouring classes, that they should protect the young, uphold the weakness and entirely domestic mission of the Woman, inculcate the right ani dv y of the Sun Jay rest, and ttiat they should farther in families, as in person-, the habits of a Christian »nd well-ordered life. Public w«jal, no lessa than justice and right, demand that it should be so. It is necessary that employers should regard the workman as a brother, should soften his lot to tbe utmost f pos lble limit by just conditions, should watch over bis spiiitual and boaily interests, should edify him by the good example of a Christian life, and, above all, should never accumulate at his servants' disadvantage rapid and disproportionate gains and profits. For you, my Uear sons, and for all ot your class, it is necessary always to behave praiseworthily by the faithful observance of your religious, domestic and social duties. You have told Us— and it has given Us great pleasure -that you wish in a formal manner to submit resignedly to »oil and iO its hard condition?, to show yourselves always peaceable and respectful towards your masters, whose mission it is to give you work and organise it, and to abstain from all Uwiess actions. Lastly, you wish to preserve and nourish in your hearts feelings of love and filial confidence towards Holy Church, which has delivered you from the Aa slavery and oppression, and towards the Vicar of Christ, who ceases not, and will never cease to look upon you paternally to leareb out your interests, and to further them by recalling to all Itteir respective duties, and by speaking to the ax the language of l^ove. May this feeling of devotion to the Church and her Head reI nain ever with you. and increase in depth and strength. I - Ab f ° r Ourselves, Our condition darkens with the years, aad the ■Jeed to Us of a real independence and a true freedom in the exercise Wpt oar Apostolic ministry becomes daily more evident. As eood ■Vatnolics be tiue, dear sons, to this great cause. Bach of you, in his rwn iphere, make it a duty to defend it and hasten its triumph fM»a now, dear sons, return to your country— to Franca, where, in K>i«>of individual and passing defections, the desire for g O 3d has C. waned, and where the flame of sacrifice and generosiiy has sf »»« . * Uowed *° Brow weak. Return to your work, andlshow I JJu ' onduct that in your combinations, where religious principles BL«hJl?^ O - Sed .' - at the Bame time brotherly love, peace, discipline, En** ti ' pmt foreßi g ht »nd household economy reign. Go, and way ue peact of our Lord accompany you everywhere, assist you, ■protect you, uphold you inyoor toils, ec courage you in giving you

•peedily t) tatte the unspeakable joys that flow from virtue, and hold oat to yon hope of a better life in the land of those who bare believed. We turn Onr eyes and bands to heaven, and We shall ever, dearly loved sons, send up for you these prayers, tbeie supplications. And as a pledge of heavenly favours, We grant yon the Apostolic Blessing:. We bless yon who are present with all the love of Oar paternal heart. We bless your wives, your ohildreo, your families. We bless your masters, yoar employers, yoar benefactors, as well as all the pious associations in which you share.