PEAN FITCHETT, ZOLA, AND THE PAPACY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVI, Issue 8, 24 June 1898, Page 18

PEAN FITCHETT, ZOLA, AND THE PAPACY.

ZOLA, A XEW AID TO SOME CONTROVERSIALISTS. People seldom stop to consider the geological formation of the stono they throw at a dog. There is no particular reason why they should Ihcro are people who pay just as little attention to the stone they throw at Rome, ln other words : they think it quite un n cessary to test the value of the ewdenee or the credibility of th" w! nesses they bring to testify against the (.'rand Old Enemy-fhc Catho he Church. It was with a shock of pained surprise we learned that the Very Bey. I Jean Fitchett ot Dtuudin-a man ot wide read ing and it is said, of cv tivatcd tast.s, has pinned his faith in Zola the apostle of pornography, as an authority on the life and manners of what he had never seeu— the Papal Court. We are "rieved thnrm-h not astonished, when the riff-raff of controversialists bombard us with st.fhng accusations on the authority of real and bo-us ' ex' priests and • ex-nuns,' etc. It apparently does not detract From the value of the ewdenee ot this malodorous fraternity that a lai-e number ot them never wen- Catholics, and that a big pcrceuta-e of them-likc Endows. Slattn-y. Uutlnen, and ever so many more w ho-e lustones h-,n c aj^u-aiod or w ill duly : ,ppear in print-w ere wellseisomd .zaol-nr s. ()ll( . d.M ot cmrow^lM, are evidently v ( ry thankful Jor exen sni.Ul n,,rc,es. and it is no small mercy Z get nraii con wet to t^liry to the -.-neral per\er. U y and hopeless ehuckle-headeduess ot ( 'at)»ol,,s. in lhl . m . lUPr tl)^ v Qnl Qf ° J the lowest criminal is eviduitly prcluable to that ot the most respectable Catholic, or Protestant, be he man, boy, or hobbledehoy layman or cleric, priest, bishop or Pope. This i h one of the adamantind axiom, ot the low-class controversialist. Another is, that Catholics either know nothing whatever of their own Church and creel or thatthey are absolutely incapable of telling the truth about it. A third is that Rome is to this hour the Mistress of Abominations, and Catholics— well, her children. A M.tt AI.IA'. _ We do not know how far Dean Fitchett has accepted these axioms. He has. however, added a new and valuable ally to the broad-arrow b.and ot testimonies against Rome. The pornographic nmehst now linds n.nselt among otlur congenial company hcSs hatoi I- aul.ei.ioun.et Pierre Loti. and Daudct. According o the \./ U,,,,,,L lIH-D.-an lectured at the Young men's Clnistian \ssociation Ko(,in~. Au.-kland, nn-oin- ot /ohi's novels • The V/ /A/././n.p.u-tsays. -What the lecture, eons^,,,! ot i,,,^.^ in this book was the nunnrencMr.utot .be moials, pnncples d charaet( r» ol tho-e residing in the Vatican. In the „vii. , hn behev.d that the acoun, „v,, ),y Z.Lt was ;l (rilo 'one' The lecture was. m | )ru . t , ;i ,i att .ck on th, Pop,- and his court, with Z,da as the w, ness-m-chiet. Mnco .ruling this account we have aken the trouble to wad,, tlnon-h that book which we shouM no otherwise h^o touched, and which n ,tlun» would have" , In 'ed 'V Jo r«^o.»mcn.l to otlu-s. J,, „,,,, is a „„,. <t /o.as a pnest wh,» d<nM „,,t brliese in s.-veril fun .I^i.i.Mital d,,.. ..,„■, of h,s r,li,ion, who lv,. m -w ■ 1 yZ 'I!."" 1 ' "'"oMudin,", .and who , Uli ,u co.dly ), v - tho 8U { p «. a d.Mng man without utterin- a prajer or dreamino- of attempHj.K toadmunsbr., sIIUIes IIU Ie rite oc the Church! The book would, ot „,.., s t , not b, Z ,las il it htd -not its ,1, .u-nuJu^Tf, dnor,« ; m Itte,s.i1 tte,s.i ( sn,antalinfidHily, : ,nd ,ts too hrquent play ot what the translate t.-m.s • frant.c sensuality/ and running throa-h all, an nu-andeK-e.it hatred ol the pa P ary-a hatred which was by no means lessened by the stern .eftisal which met his every En^Xr^^hLturr 011 '° "t0 « /.or.v o.\ rm, poim;. It is w , 11 that we should know where Dean Fitchrtt stands H would be iu.po r ,bh- U) convey to the reader a proper idea oi 'wh-it lie Utuih /olab -mainly true' account of the dignitaries of the

Papal Court, where the np .«tle of filth never set foot, and with not one of the members of wbi hhe had any intercourse. Dunn"- his stay in Rome the rejected ot the Academy was denied iutercourse'even with the fnendsof the papacy. He had perforce to contenthimsel! wit'i thn-eot its enemies who were satisfied to herd with him. From them and frcn his own diseased mi ginat-on h-> mu-t have conjured up his p.eruivof th,-»pipilcour, \Vchx\e.i rd-olleurion of a French critic who showed that the- par-i, ular bool.b 0 01. which Dean Fitchett glorifies with a lecture is full of pi .giants. In any case nobody could expect Zolato tell the. truth .ib.mt the Catholic Church, and le.stof all aboutthe pee-plewhostudiuiHy snubbed and de-pised him duriivhis st.-y m RoJie. Nor can we expect truth from the man who. when whining tor an interview wuh the Pope, protested to Cardinal Gallinhem that lih (.Zol .) "a- a Callioln, uf w isiderdbic zeal and that he w role Lou r,h . t witn the object of serving the Church! Fro n beginning to end Zola s \n,uk is teeming wiUiiioioe, bava-T. and envenomed attacks on the pap il court He (1 escribes the generous old 1 ontift as a miser, burying his arms nightly in secretly hoarded gold. Over an ( over iigain he terms him a "demi-god.' an ' idol that is ' i.doml by 'Christendom.' Even the familiar cry. Vim il Pajm7.V (• I/mg live the Pope-Kinir.') is a 'cry <,t idol itry.' Protestants t ho doz.M have told ,-t the int. \h ctu .1 beauty of Leo's face Zola — whoh'd never M-cn it — peaks of its 'simious (monkeyish) nglin.-,-. M..reov. rhe make- the Pope the subject ot gross innuendo*. l.ie pipal court isde-cnbel as -an abominable neru ork of intrigues. \enahty. cowardice, treach' ry and even < rune.' The apostle of filth does not believe that there is a single honest man in the Vatican from Lhe Pope to the shoe-bla.-k. The papacy let Etuland diitt iiw..y Iroin Catholic unity rather than consent to an unjust divorce, lhe Chuivh s altitude i-even nowiuund fault with byline ;..- being to.* rigorous slip i-, the hnt uncompromising gumlun ot ilij nianidge ue. \\>t l), wi Kitchctt's authoruy airily tcll> v-, thatdnorces are to be purchased formonev at anytime lrom t lie I 'ope' lhe refined and dignified p pal Master 'of Ceremonies is merely a '_ ballet- naster.' The Catholic religion is described as • childish i ola'ry. And so on and on. No mere extracts can convey an idea of the blind sivagery oi the attacks made by Zola on the Pe>pe ;ind his court lUame from such a quarter is praise. But what of the iU rgyma'i who lectures on such a S)ook in a public hall. a ipu-eirly to young m . n . and accepts Zola's coarse savagery as -in the mam a true account of things that neither he" nor Dean r itchett know much, if anything, about .' IMIORABL.K HESULTrt. Dean Fitchett has evidently given a glowing advertisement to Zola, it not to Zolaism. He is probably the first elergj man of any Church that has ventured to do so. We shall probably hear more of Zola in certain pulpits since Dean Fitchett has discovered that ho is an authority (') on the Vatican A <a-e:it impetus will undoubtedly be thereby given to the reading ot Zola's roul-smelling ' masterpieces,' as well as to tho-c wlrch are only sprinkled with pellets of pruriency like raisins in a puddiiv Must we b -lipvc th:it all thU will tend to the glory of Go 1 and the ■••oo 1 of souls' One well-known Protestant English writer describes some ot A las w,,rk., as combining "the gore of the shambles with the filth i.t the sr y ; Oliver Wendell Holmes desenbes Zolae^que literature as e-on.ist.ng • largely m swampy. ih-~melling patches ot soil win. h had been piowenisiy left to reptiles and \ernun.' Ke likewise i et< i - in j terms, to • the nin Jean re\ e'lations of Zola ' lhe well-knoun German entic. Paul Lindau, said, in .\onl mtil S,i,l thu any ule.i ot jmntj for the eai . the e.\e. and the other senv-, see us ,r, rl ,te toieigu to M. Zola. An English Pnrestant i-nliu .escribes som- ot hi- work- as ■\ v gar, olise-ne. turioa- ' • f,,,il ili-un-, • iiMemitiolle.} b) than i-on w hk-1, di^enis the laws of hie m >rahtv and the Diviik- pivs -n.-e in t.K' world.' We thou-ht we h.d leadiud a lou- depth whe l cniwet-, and gaol-buds were a Ivanced by a cci tain cla-s ot el, r uj IUOn .^ >\> v an(l pi . (ll)er vs itne-se^ against ti.eCath.-lio Church. It ha- been n served tor Dean Fitchett to discover another and hiihe-rto uni'\pk>ied depth. We can only express our sui prise and ie,iet that s tl htt l,.eture should have biun ek live ed by such a n, an Lo sueli an audience. The Churcli mast tiv.r suffer cal.nnny : but this Z >la calumny i, one which a man ol i can 1- itchett s p.irts might well have spared v-,.