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No. 38.-VOL, IV.
SUBIACO, FRIDAY, JULY 6, 1877.
PRICE 6D.
ALLOCUTION OF HIS HOLINESS. by slender assignments, subject to the shall be exposed to the agitation of parties, ainuations of those who with insidious art eventualities of the times and the caprice to the arbitrary power of the rulers, to the of Governments. We saw usurped and re- results of political elections, and the calculaThe following is a translation of the duced to profane uses innumerable edifices tions of crafty and interested men. magnificent Allocution delivered by his which the faithful had erected at enormous " But do not believe, Venerable Brethren, Holiness Pope Pius IX. to the Cardinals sacrifices, and which formed the fairest orna- that in the midst of so many difficulties we assembled in secret Consistory on Monday, ment of Christian Rome, destined to receive lose courage, or that there is any diminution the spouses of the Lord or other monastic in that trust we repose in he eternal decrees March 12 " Many times, Venerable Brothers, in the families. We saw taken from us, and iron, of the Omnipotent. Railer than seek a heavy days of our much tried Pontificate, the holy ministers of the altar, all the works tranquil asylum in a foreign country we have have we assembled you around us to deplore and institutions of charity and beneficence, remained here in Rome in order to defendthe evils and protest against the crimes com- some of which the Roman Pontiffs, our pre- like a vigilant sentinel at the Sepulchre of mitted, whether in Italy or elsewhere, to the decessors, had erected here in Rome with so S. Peter-the interests of the Catholic injury of the Church and the Apostolic See. much munificence, and some of which were Church. We have struggled, and struggle due to
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attempt to misrepresent our true and real situation, whether by concealing the gravity of it, whether by extolling its liberty and independence, while the whole situation is epitomized in these words-the Church is persecuted in Italy, and the Vicar of Jesus Christ is neither free nor independent in the exercise of his supreme power. And, this being the case, nothing seems to be more opportune, nothing do we desire more ardently, than that those same holy pastors, who have given us so many proofs of union
and goodwill, whether in defence of the
the charity of foreign nations ; and if daily, for the preservation of her rights. We sacred rights of the Church and in In these last years however we have been obedience witnesses of attacks still more violent which some remains of pious works still remain defend inch by inch the little that still re- and affection to this Holy See, should study under the vigilance of the Church, it will mains to save it from the usurpation of the to rouse up their faithful flocks to the Catholic religion has had to endure act upon in various parts of the Catholic world not be long before a law is presented which revolution. We have, in conformity with their Governments through the means through the work of our enemies, to whom will take them also from t.s and cause them our duty, made our voice and our reclama- allowed by the laws of their respective the occasion was opportune for essailing the to disappear altogether, as the open words tions heard, and you, who have shared our countries, in order to induce them to cast a the Spouse of Jesus Christ both on account and acts of the present Government convince trouble and the dangers with us, have been glance upon the situation of the Head of the of our unhappy position and the abandon- us. We have seen, and we repeat it with witnesses of the words we have publicly Catholic Church, and provide, in an efficament in which we stand of every human the most intense bitterness of our soul, both spoken, whether to condemn new attempts, cious manner for the removal of the obstacles succour. We should have wished to recall public and private instruction, whether to protest against the insolence of our which prevent his full and real independence. your attention to this almost general persecu- scientific or literary, withdrawn by degrees enemies, or to warn the failliful against the And as it is proper to God alone to illuminate tion to which the Church is subjected at from the authority and direction of the seductions of hypocrites the teaching of minds and turn the hearts of men, we invite present in various parts of Europe, but, Church, and the office of teaching entrusted false brethren. not only you, Venerable Brethren, to offer reserving the painful description for another to men of suspected faith, or to open enemies " Wolild to Heaven that these our words warm prayers to God, but we exhort the of the Church who had no scruple in making occasion, we cannot do less than point out to might in the end be heard by those whose pastors themselves of all the Catholic peoples you to-day the increasing gravity of the public profession of atheism. auty and interest it should be to our to assemble together their faithful in the situation of the Catholic Church in Italy, "Every religious institution being thus authority and to protect the mostsustain temples, that they may not cease to pray and the still harder trials that await us and destroyed, nothing remained but to.impede legitimate cause of any upon holy and from the depths of their heart from the earth. this Apostolic See. It is already the seventh the ministers of the altar in the exercise of And how can they be unaware the common mother the Church, for the converthat there year since an usurping Government, treading their spiritual functions, and this has been cannot be prosperity for the nations, sion of our enemies, and the cessation of tranunder foot every Divine and human right, done by the law lately voted in the Chamber quility and repose for the peoples, and evils so great and so universal. God will in despite of the most solemn treaties, and of Deputies, and which has for its title, ' On firmness and stability for thrones, if the receive, we are confident, the supplications profiting by the ill -fortune of a generous the Abuses of the Clergy.' In virtue of this authority of the Church, which is the founda- of His people who turn to Him, for He has nation, occupied by main force all that re- law acts, insidiously qualified as disturbing tion of all well -ordered society, pleasure, in those who fear Him and hope mained of our provinces and invaded this the public conscience, and the peace of trodden and outraged, and if the is down- in Ilia.nrercy. person of Holy City, filling the Universal Church wits families, are made crimes in bishops and the Supreme Hierarch is not free' " Meantime, Venerable Brethren, let us mourning at the consummation of so iniqui- priests, and for that reason subject to severe dependent in his elevated ministry ? and in- comfort Ourselves in the Lord and ia the tous a deed. In spite of the hypocritical and punishments ; words and writings of every " For the rest, it is a cause of rejoicing power of His might ; and clothed in the clislo al promises made at that moment by kind with whit h the ministers of the altar ig that our voice has, happily, heard by armour of the strong, let us not cease to the usurpers to foreign Governments, that the fulfilment of their sacred d,rties may the Catholic peoples, who have been alacrity combat with valor and vigor, as we have they would respect the liberty of the Chum) disapprove or censure any decree, any act received it with nal pietywith and equal hitherto done, against the powers of darktoil the independence of the Roman Pontiff, whatsoever of a public authority, whether as advantage and the repeated and continued ness and the perversity of this age. Already we were never under the allusion whatever contrary to the rights of religion, whether as proofs which they give us, while they are a the torrent of revolution threatens to sweep as to the sat and miserable future in store opposed to the laws of God and the Church, glory to them, and to away all things, and not a few of the authors the Church, are -for us under their dominion. On the con- are equally punishable, as are also those who earnest of better days for the Church her- and promoters of it look back terrified at trary, indeed, well knowing the fell designs may publish or diffuse the aforesaid writings, self, and for the Apostolic See and in their own work. God is with us, and will peeper to men bound Loge her by the spirit from whatsoever ecclesiastical authority, and truth we cannot sufficiently express to you, be with us until the consummation of the of revolution and iniquitious ties, we then from whatsoever place they may emanate. Venerable Brethren, the consolation which, ages. Let those fear of whom it is written foretold that the Rill) of such sacrilegious So soon as this law can he sanctioned and amid the general abandonment I saw those who committed iniquity and in which we invasion .vas not so much the conquest of promulgated, a lay tribunal may judge amid are, we experience in seeing thisspontaneous sowed troubles and reaped troubles perish at cur State as the wicked designs of destroy- how a priest in the administration of the and generous movement which the breath of God, and they were consumed ing the more easily, through the suppression sacraments disturbs the conscience of the ing and diffusing itself among is manifest- at the breath of His the peoples of anger' But for those of our temporal dominion, all the institutions faithful and the peace of families, and the even the most remote nations in favor of the who fear God, who fight in His name, who of the Church, of annihilating the authority word of the bishops, of the priests, shall re- Roman Pontificate and of is our humble person. hope in His power, prepared mercy and of the Holy See, and of cutting the supreme main shackled and stifled, and nut less shall The generowl aid ; succours is for doubting that power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, to us, be that of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, who, from every corner of the which come to us His nor the there room being cause, His the battle, He will earth to supply the although undeserving, confided. although he may be personally called irre- most urgent needs of the Holy See, and this guide the combatants to victory." sponsible for reasons of policy, shall never- gathering of the nations to the Vatican " Now, this work of the demolition an to Behold Venerable Brethren, how not only so destruction of every ecclesiastical organiza- theless be punished in the persons of his testify to the Head of the Church the senti- many aids and institutions which had stood tion may be said to be completed, if not up accomplices as a Minister had nu hesitation ments of their filial piety, are facts for the test of centuries, and other tempestuous to the intentions and hatred of the persecu- in declaring in public Parliament, when which we cannot enough thank Divine epochs, institutions so necessary to the adminalluding to our person, he stated that it was Providence. We would wish also that all tors, at least in as far as the most grievous istration of the Church have been violently ,vhich up to the present day have neither a novelty nor an anomaly in penal might fully recognize the value and the destroyed ; but sae how the extreme is been heaped upon us and it is only neces- legislation to punish accomplices when the significance of these pilgrimages, which, being sary to cast a retrospective glance upon the principal author was beyond reach. From thus multiplied in the very moment of peril reached even of impeding that sublime mislaws and decrees made in this short lapse of which it is evident that the blow aimed by for the Roman Pontificate, are not so much a sion, which the Church bad from her Divine of teaching, directing, admonishing, time to see clearly that, one by one, all the this law, according to the meaning of the demonstration of simple affection and Founder, by closing under threats of severest penalties means have been taken from us of suitably rulers, refers also to us, so that whet) our reverence toward our humble person, as a the mouth of her ministers, who, while they words or our acts are in opposition to it, the clear and eloquent manifestation of the governing the Catholic Church. inthe people to observe all that Jesus "The suppression of the religions Orders bishops and the priests who shall publish or ternal uneasiness which reigns in the heart of teach shall carry out our resolutions shall bear the all Catholics as to the abnormal position of Christ has commanded, while they are has, in fact, not only deprived us of useful fellow -labourers in the exercise of the sacred penalty of that pretended online which in their common Father ; an uneasiness which instant in season and out of season-reprovministry and the assistance of the different their judgment is attributed to us, as to the will not cease, but rather increase until the ing, entreating, exhoqiug, teaching with all ecclesiastical congregations, but has at the principal author of the crime and offence. Head of Catholicity returns into the patience-are doing exactly what is imposed upon them by Divine and A postolic authority. same time caused the disappearance of so " This, Venerable Brethren, is the exact possession of 'ais full and real indeWe pass over in silence other dark machimany centres where those religious of other and truthful description of the position to pendence. nations of the enemies of the Church, to nations were welcomed who hastened to this which the ruling Government has reduced " We would wish that our voice, issuing which, we are aware, some in public authometropolis from time to time to refresh their us ; this is the much -boasted liberty and from this inclosure, might penetrate to the rity do not refuse their aid and encouragespirit and to render account of their mis- power we enjoy-liberty, it is true, to assist utmost limits of the sions ; so that these beneficient plants, daily at the progressive destruction of all the Catholics of the world, to attest to all ment-machinations through which they which were always bearing to every corner ecclesiastical organisation, and of the certain of our soul for the universe the gratitude would desire to prepare for the Church day sof of the earth fruits of blessing and peace, ruin of souls, without being able to oppose proofs given us of generous and repeated yet greater desolation ; whetherin prompting their affection and filial occasions of schism at the moment of the were torn up by the roots. The same unjust the slightest remedy. After all this, is it devotion. We would thank them for the election of the future Pontiff ; whether in suppression, also, which dissolved the houses not an atrocious irony and mockery to re- sacrifices they make to the necessities of disallowing the spiritual authority of the of the Missions established in Rome, in order peat to us, as is continually done, that we their Father, to the forgetting some- Bishops placed by us for the rule of the to prepare worthy workers to be sent into the ought to come to an accord and a conciliation times of theireven own straitened means, knowing churches of Italy, which has forced us to most remote and inhospitable regions of the with the Government which oppresses us, that they offer to God what they give to the declare that the presentation to the civil universe, has deprived so many Christians when this pretended conciliation would be Church ; we would wish to congratulate Government of the acts of their canonical of so pious and charitable a succour, with equivalent to a total abandonment on our them for the courage they immense injury to the propagation of the part, not only of the rights of the Holy See the anger and derision of show in despising institution may be tolerated, in order thus the impious ; we to prevent, as much as in us lies, most grave faith, and to Christian civ lization itself, transmitted to us as a sacred and inviolable would prove to them how proceeding from the holiness and doctrine deposit by our august predecessors, but also holden to them for that much we are be- evils and dangers, which no longer refer to alacrity wherewith the simple possession of temporal goods, (teaching) of our religion. in a more specific manner of the Divine they propose to give us a new pledge of their but which serio'rsly threaten the peace of "And these laws, already in themselves mission confided to us for the good of souls, love in celebrating the anniversary of the consciences and the salvation of souls, which very bitter and adverse to religion, not less into the hands of an authority which puts episcopal consecration albeit un- is for us the supreme law. But in this that than to human society itself, were not long everything into operation to destroy, if it worthy, we received nowwhich, we have done to prevent very serious evils, fifty years ago. since made more grievous by new Ministerial were possible, even the name of the Catholic " We would wish that our voice might we desire that publicly, and once again, it ordinations, which severely prohibit both the religion ? Now, indeed, the world must be reach at one and the same time all the may be known that we utterly reprove and forming of religious communities and new thoroughly enlightened as to the value cf pastors, even the most distant, of the condemn this unjust law which is called of admission of regulars of both sexes. those pretended guarantees which, to delude Catholic Church, to invite thesis to signalise the repro placito, declaring openly that the "The religious Ordera being suppressed, the simplicity of the incautions, a show was to the faithful to their care the Divine authority of the Church is offended next came in its turn the destruction of the made of giving to the Head of the Church, to ever-increasing committed perils of our by difficult it, and her liberty situaviolated. secular clergy, and We, togetherwith the ensure his dignity and independence; tion ; we would wish that they might cause " After this painful exposition, which does bishops of Italy, were constraing4 to see- guarantees which have no other foundation them to understand well that, whatever be not include many other deplorable things to alas, with what grief 1-the fairest hopes beyond the caprice and of the the fate awaiting us, we shall never cease to which we could have extended ourdisconrse, of the Church torn from the sanctuary, Government which applies, interprets, young clerics in the very moment of con- carries them into effect, according to and raise our voice against the iniquities com- we ask how it is possible that the Church its mitted under our own eyes, but it may well can oe governed by us under the dominion secrating themselves definitively to God desires and its particular interests. happen that by the recent laws, and by others of an authoriti which deprives us of forced to take arms and lead a life in every " No, the Roman Pontiff neither is, nor which are announced as still more oppres- every means, which closes every way, which way opposed to the spirit of their vocation. ever will be, free and independent under the our voice may not be able to reach at every instant imposes obstacles a,nd emWhat more ? With another unjust law we dominion of an extraneous Power. In Rome sive, them except rarely, and at the coat of grave barrassments, and which lays for us at every saw the whole patrimony which the Church he must either be a Sovereign or a and wearisome difficulties. Meanwhile, moment new lynx -like traps? truth, we by sacred and inviolable title possessed and the Catholic world can never be prisoner, tranquil therefore, we exhort them to forewarn their cannot understand how men NG be found usurped in great part, and in part substituted as long as the action of the R42man Pontiff docks against the false and hypocritical in- who, we cannot tell whether with greater ;
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