POPE LEO TO CARDINAL LAVIGERIE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 5, 31 October 1890, Page 29

POPE LEO TO CARDINAL LAVIGERIE.

POPB Lbo sent his blessing to Cardinal Lavigerie's twenty missionaries, who are to pierce the heart of Africa and carry " the tidi/es of gn at joy "to the nations in the jungles. In doing so he sent the following letter to Cardinal Lavigerie : •■ We were singularly overjoyed to receive the letter which you sent, together with the solemn and touching address delivered by you on the Feast of the Chiefs of the Apostles t'> tbe body of Algerian missioners who were about to be sei fonh for the remoter parts of Africa. We were the more tenderly moved by that communication, as i' Bhowed tbat, despite enormous difficulties, the work of those who seek to civilise the tribes of Africa advances to prosperity— a work which, as you know, We regard with particular favour, and which, by b!1 tbe means that lie in Our power, We are prepared to further Wherefore We give great thauks to the Providence of God, Who raises up chosen and high-souled men to devote themselves to this noble work, and gives to their evangelical ministry the power and the increase aod the gladfulness of the harvest. Wonderful and pleasant to hear is this zeal of the missionaries, who, rivalling the first heralds of the Gospel, seek tbe unexplored shades of Africa where no light illuminating with the revelation of the glory of Jesus' Christ has shone ; and stilt more glad is the tidings that the chiefs of the barbarous tribes have eagerly embraced the Christian faith, and entreat for an increase of labourers the more quickly to spread tbe Kingdom of God in their lands. But wtrile We acknowledge the favour of Divine Providence m these things, no less do we admire it in that zeal with which European Sovereigns hasten in all their preat Btrengtb to the cause of humaoity in Africa. A signal example of this zeal has bern given by the solemn assembly recently held at Brussels, at which these Sovereigns, by their representatives, assumed the patronage of that cause which for so long We have favoured. For there by the unanimous consent of the Assembly, remedies were agreed upon such as seemed most efficient to turn aside the evil which fills Africa in consequence of the avarice of those who, unworthy the name of men, by craft and barbarous ferocity, carry on a trade in the blacks, who themselves are stamped with the image of the Creator and must be held to share in our common naiure equally with all men' We applaud deservedly, and with all expression of gratitude, this noble zeal on tbe part of the Sovereigns of Europe. We pray for a felicitous ami unimpeded result to their counsels, and we shall strive earnestly to foiward them, leaving nothing undone on Our part whereby Africa may be brought under such law and morality as are worthy the dignity of the human race redeemed by Christ. •• But it must be Our chief duty to see that there may be a large number of Apostolic men to pour forth the light of tbe Gospel in those countries, and in this matter your noble zeal and unwearied anxiety are of the greatest advantage to Us. For though there be many methods and many influences at hand for the civilisation of the Africaus, each of which has its own strength and opportuneness nevertheless, nothing is so potent and befitting the nature of the undertaking and the spirit of the Gosp. 1 as a plen iful supply of preachers of the truth, who, like an unternfied army, may go forth to the work —as the experience of nines past and the fresh memory of recent undertakings nobly accomplished have taught Us. For the Christian Boldier in the fu.fi lmg of his sacred vocation goes forward andjlceived by any lust of gain or glory, but roused by the voice of God calling him, aud prepbied by His grace to fear no threats of ill-fortune Such an one, filled with the charity whereby the Son of God was compelled to sacrifice Himself for the salvation of men, leaves bis home and country that he may devote himself to tbe noble and divine ministry to which he gives his life's strength, weighted by no other attachment. Wherefore 'tis no matter for wonder if the heroic virtue

of men of this stamp, who are accustomed to subdue appetites of the flesh to tbe ■pint, is strongs to -repeat those marrelt bj- which the Spirit of God, when the Apostles taught, renewed the face of the earth and poured upon the people that walk in darkness, the light of faith, thatjshould never fail. Therefore, We earnestly desire and seek in prayer from God that .despite the fnry of wicked men against the clergy and religious Orders, many Apostolic men may rise up, who, compelled by the Spirit of Christ, may sow broadcast in Afrioa the word of God, and, if need be, may f rectify the land by the flowing of blood, or at least by the sweat of their brow. la truth, wherever the awful sign of redemption shall be raised, there beside the tree of the Cross will grow np civilisation and all the arts of cultured huma rity. Nor have We any doubt that you, beloved son, hearkening to Our encouragement and tbe drawings of your priestly soul, will hasten with instant zeal and industry to this work, upon which, following the example of Our predecessors, though oppressed by adversity and exposed to many perils, We expend the anxious care of the Apostolic ministry. Lastly we desire that you learn the pleasure We have taken in hearing of the design of tbe Society for thetrtmliti >n of African slavery, that a com* petition should be set on foot among talented and eminent men, in which a prise should be given to tbe author of a work which shall be thought most efficient in showing how the slavery of the blacks and the fitters of the human nee (things condemned by personal feeling and by public expression) should be utterly abolished and destroyed Therefore, We willingly consent to your prayer that in the award of ! tbe prise Our name shall be used as giving marked and particular approval of the design. But though all toil aud oare of this kind be worthy of the highest prai«e — looking, indeed, to this result that the z"*l of men be roused and their wills associated to a work equally diftcult and salutary —yet tbe chief hope of a prosperous issuo must be laid up in the assistance of heavenly grace, which will abide more constantly by the labourers, the more earnestly and insistently it oe asked by fervent prayer. Meanwhile, in pledge of this Dmne-favour and in testimony of paternal benevolence, We lovingly grant in the Lord tbe Apostolic blessing to you, Our beloved eon, and to the clergy and faithful committee to your wacbfulnees. " Given at Home, at St. Peter's, the 17ih day of July, 1890 the 13tb year of Our Pontificate."