commission of sin); and, finally, with the same authority and fullness of apostolíc benignity, we concede and permit that they may dispense such penitents, even among the regulars constituted in sacred orders, from secret irregularity in the exercise of the said orders, and to ascend to the other superiors, contracted solely through violation of censures. We do not intend, however, in force of these presents, to dispense from whatsoever other irregularity -whether public or secret, whether wanting or known-or from whatsoever other incapacity or inability, in whatsoever way contracted, or to grant any faculty for dispensing from the same, or to rebabilitate and restore into the primal state even in foro conscientiæ; nor yet do we intend to derogate from the constitution, with the opportune declarations given forth by Benedict XIV., of blessed memory, our predecessor, which begins, "Sacramentum penitentia," dated the 1st of June, in the year 1741, the first of his pontificate. Neither, finally, do we intend that these same, our letters, can or ought to benefit those who by us and by the Apostolic See, or by whatsoever other prelate or ecclesiastical judge, may have been by name excommunicated, suspended, interdicted, or declared fallen under other sentences or censures, or publicly denounced, unless within the limit of the present year they may not have satisfied or come to an arrangement where Reedful with the others. For the rest, if any, having the intention of gaining this Jubilee, after having commenced the fulfillment of the prescribed works, overtaken by death, shall not be able to accomplish the prescribed number of visits, we, desiring to fill up the measure of their pious and ready intention, will that the said persons, truly penitent, confessed and communicated, may participate in the aforesaid indulgence and remission in the same manner as if they had in the prescribed days really visited the aforesaid churches. If any, however, after obtaining on the strength of these presents the absolution from the censures or the commutations of their vows or the aforesaid dispensations, shall change that serious and sincere intention otherwise necessary to benefit by this jubilee, and thereby fail to complete the works necessary to gain it, although by this same they can scarcely consider themselves blame less, we, nevertheless, decree and declare valid the absolutions, commutations, and dispensations, obtained with the aforesaid dispositions. We also will and decree that these present letters be fully valid and effective, and have and obtain their plenary effect wherever they are published and put in execution by the local ordinaries, and that they be of use to all the faithful of Christ who remain in the grace and obedience of the Apostolic See, and who are either living in the several jurisdictions or have just reached them on their journeys by land or sea; notwithstanding the constitutions about not granting indulgences ad instar and the other apostolic constitutions, and the constitutions, ordinances, and the general or special reservations of absolutions, relaxations, and dispensations, decreed in general, provincial, and synodal councils, as well as the statutes, laws, customs, and uses, of every mendicant or military order, congregation, or institution, even though confirmed by oath, or apostolic approval, or any other kind of ratification, as well as privileges, pardons, and letters apostolic, granted to the same, especially those in which the professors of any order, congregation, or institution, are expressly prohibited from confessing themselves outside their own community. With regard to which things, all and singular, although for their complete repeal, a special, specific, express, and individual mention should be made of them and of their whole tenor, or some special form should be used-nevertheless, we, holding as though their full tenor were inserted, and such form were most accurately adhered to, for this occasion and only for the above-indicated purpose, repeal them fully, as we repeal every thing else to contrary effect.

TO THE FAITHFUL.

While thus by the apostolic office which we exercise, and through the solicitude with which we are bound to embrace the whole flock of Christ, we propose the salutary opportunity of obtaining remission and grace, we cannot abstain from beseeching and adjuring by the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, the Prince of Pastors, all the patriarchs, primates, archbishops, bishops, and other local ordinaries, prelates, and those who are legitimately exercising the office or the ordinary jurisdiction of the above said bishops and prelates in their stead, who maintain grace and communion with the Apostolic See, that they announce so great a benefit to the people committed to their charge, and that they give all diligence in order that all the faithful, being reconciled to God by penance, may turn to the gain and profit of their souls the grace of the Jubilee. Therefore, your first care, venerable brethren, after having implored with public prayers the divine clemency to fill the minds and hearts of all with His light and grace, shall be to direct, by means of timely instruction and admonition, the Christian people to perceive the fruit of the Jubilee, so that they may understand accurately what are the force and the nature of the Christian Jubilee for the profit and advantage of souls in which with a spiritual reason are abundantly fulfilled by virtue of the Lord Christ those benefits, which among the Jewish people were promised by the law on the return of every fiftieth year, and so that they may be still sufficiently instructed with regard to the force of indulgences, and of all those things which ought to be performed for the fruitful confession of sins, and for the holy receiving of the sacrament of the eucharist. Because then not only the example but the whole work of the ecclesiastical ministry is necessary in order that the fruits of the desired holiness may be had among the people, do not omit, venerable brethren, to excite the zeal of your priests, willingly and readily to exercise their ministry particularly in this time of salvation; for which and for the common good, it will certainly conduce much, when it can be done, if they, preceding the Christian people with the example of piety and religion, will, by means of spiritual exercises, renew the spirit of their holy calling, so that they may employ themselves more usefully and salutarily in the discharge of their own offices and in the sacred missions to be directed to the people according to the order and method prescribed by you. Since, therefore, at the present time so many are the evils which need to be repaired and the benefits which need to be sought, drawing the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God, give every heed that your people be led to detest the immense sin of blasphemy, the violation of which nothing at the present time is too sacred to escape, and that they be led to know and fulfill their duties about the holy observance of the festival days and about the laws of fasting and abstinence to be observed according to the prescription of the Church of God, and this to avoid those punishments which the contempt of such things has called down upon the earth. So likewise let your anxious zeal watch constantly over the maintenance of discipline among the clergy and securing the right ordering of the clergyman, and in every possible way give assistance to the youth around you, who are placed in so many dangers and who are subjected to so many great perils. You certainly are not ignorant. This kind of evil was so bitterly sad for the heart of the Divine Redeemer himself as to cause him to utter against the authors of the same these words: "Whosoever shall offend one of these little children that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the sea" (St. Mark ix. 41). Nothing then is more worthy the time of the Holy Jubilee than being unweariedly occupied in every work of charity; this, then, also shall be the duty of your zeal, venerable brethren, the adding of stimulus, so that the poor may be relieved, sins may be redeemed

with alms, the benefits of which are shown to be so numerous in Holy Scripture; and that the fruit of love may be greater and more lasting, shall be very opportune if the funds supplied by charity are directed to aid or establish those pious institutions which at the present time are considered most conducive to the well-being of souls and bodies. If to obtain these benefits your minds and efforts are united, it cannot fail but that the kingdom of Christ and His righteousness shall receive great increase, and that in this acceptable time and in these days of salvation the divine clemency shall pour upon the sons of love a great abundance of heavenly gifts.

To you, finally, all ye sons of the Catholic Church, we direct our discourse, and you, each and all, we exhort with paternal affection so to make use of this opportunity of the Jubilee to obtain pardon as the sincere pursuit of your salvation requires of you. If at all times it is necessary-now more especially is it so-most beloved sons, to cleanse the conscience from dead works, to offer the sacrifices of righteous ness, to bring forth fruits meet for repentance and to sow in tears that you may reap in joy. The Divine Majesty sufficiently shows what he requires from us, while now, for a long time, through our depravity, we are laboring under His threatenings and under the inspiration of the spirit of His anger. In truth, "men are accustomed when they are suffering under a too hard necessity, to send embassadors to neighboring nations to receive some aid. We, as is better, send an embassy to God himself;" from Him we implore aid, to Him we turn with all our hearts, with prayers, and fastings, and alms. For, "the nearer we are to God the further shall our enemies be driven from us" (S. Maxim., Hom. xci.). But do ye chiefly hear the apostolic voice because we are embassadors of Christ. Ye who labor and are heavy laden, and who, departing from the path of salvation, are oppressed by the yoke of depraved desires, and by the slavery of the devil, do not despise the riches of the goodness and patience and long-suffering of God, and while there is opened out before you so easy and broad a way for the obtaining of pardon, do not, by your obstinacy, render yourselves inexcusable before the Divine Judge, and lay up for yourselves a treasure of wrath in the day of wrath, and of the revelation of the just judgment of God. Return, therefore, sinners, be reconciled to God; the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; cast off the works of darkness, put on the armor of light; cease to be the enemies of your own souls, so that you may at the last merit peace in this world, and in the world to come the eternal rewards of the just. These are our desires, these things we will not cease to ask from the most merciful Lord, and these same benefits-all the sons of the Catholic Church being united to us in this society of prayer-we trust we can obtain accumulatively from the Father of Mercies. Meanwhile, for the successful and salutary fruit of this holy work, let the auspicious omen of all grace and heavenly gift be the apostolic benediction, which from our inmost heart we affectionately grant in the Lord to you all, venerable brethren, and to you beloved children, as many as are numbered within the Catholic Church.

Given in Rome, near St. Peter's, the 24th of December, of the year 1874, and twenty-ninth of our pontificate. POPE PIUS IX.

A document purporting to be a brief of Pius IX., regulating the next papal election, was issued in Germany, but proved to be spurious, and was disavowed at Rome. The question of the coming election was, however, taken up by the German Government in its relations with that of Italy. During the year the Pope, in answer to various delegations, pronounced a number of allocutions, all bearing on the actual condition of the Church in

As afflictions grow greater, as contradictions and the infernal rage against the Church of Jesus Christ and against the Holy See increase, so also there increase in this Sacred College its firmness and constancy in sustaining the rights of the Spouse of Jesus Christ and the seat of His Vicar. The words spoken by his Eminence, the Cardinal Dean, prove that with the growth of evil there corresponds the growth of your efforts and of your labors to combat it. And it should be so, because it is your duty to share with me in the administration and the government of the universal Church. In fact, at this moment, while the Church is so maltreated and persecuted, we see flowing to Rome demands for instruc tion, for counsel, and for decisions. The congrega tions are more frequented, and it appears that the Catholic world more than ever has its eyes fixed upon the centre of unity and this chair of truth, that it may receive from it light to guide it in the midst of the terrible storms that agitate it. And, since it has pleased God to permit me to begin the twentyninth year of my pontificate, this occasion appears to me opportune to renew certain acts which cannot long be neglected, so as not to lead into error men of good faith, and not to give any pretext to the tions. Then, in the presence of this august assemenemy to offer in opposition customs and prescripbly which surrounds me, I repeat the most solemn protests against the usurpation of the temporal dominions of the Holy See, against the spoliation of the religious orders, and, in fine, against all the sacrilegious acts committed by the enemies of the Church of Jesus Christ. In renewing these protestations I have, besides, a motive suggested by an extraordinary circumstance. A little time ago some people addressed me, as well vira voce as by writing, certain desires tending to establish a rapprochement between us and the new-comers. The last letter, calmness and respect. They tell me in it that, being which is still upon my table, is written with much the Vicar of a God of peace, I ought to pardon all munications with which I have loaded their conthe enemies of the Church, and remove the excomsciences.

And observe here that the revolutionaries are of

two kinds-one has imagined and brought to its term the revolution; the other has adhered to it while dreaming of happiness, of progress, and of they would reap tribulations, torments, and a thousome unknown earthly paradise, without seeing that sand miseries. The first, obstinate in their hearts, are the Pharaohs of our age; hard as the millstone; an act of the greatest goodness would not soften them. The second (to whom belong those who speak to me in a low voice and who write to me with paradise has vanished, that to wealth, to riches, to sentiments of moderation), seeing that the earthly the prosperity of which they dreamed, there has succeeded a deluge of evils, with taxes and enormous oppressions, experience stings of conscience for having cooperated in producing this state of things, and what peace can I have with them? They experience they appeal to my sentiments of peace." Bat stings! And for what good? Saul experienced them also when, wounded to death, and to be delivered from them, he prayed the Amalekite soldier to kill him. "Stand over me and slay me, since distress overwhelms me." "" And the soldier dared to kill him, and took away from him that little life which remained to him, for which he was mortally

punished by David. And what do they aim at? That the Pope will become for them an Amalekite soldier, or that the Pope should imitate the suicide of the unhappy Saul? Oh, insensate counsels! If the Amalekite did not escape the chastisement of David, could the Vicar of the Eternal Bishop of our souls escape the chastisement of God? They ask for peace; they ask for a truce; they ask, I say, for a modus vivendi ! And is a modus vivendi (a way of living) possible with an adversary who is continually armed with a modus nocendi (way of hurting), with a modus auferendi (a way of stealing), with a modus destruendi (way of destroying), with a modus occidendi (a way of killing)? Can the calm ever be reconciled with the tempest which bellows and rises up, beating down every thing, tearing up the roots and destroying all that it finds in its way?

What shall we do, then, venerable brethren, we to whom it has been said, "Statis in domo Dei, et in atriis domus Dei nostri" (you stand in the house of God and the halls of the house of God)? We shall be united with the Episcopate which in Germany, in Brazil, and in all the Church gives luminous proofs of constancy and firmness. We will unite ourselves to it and to all the souls dear to our Lord, and we shall be constant in prayer, demanding patience and courage to combat our enemies; but not with sword in hand, for Jesus Christ combats with the Cross, and the Cross will be our arm, and we shall supplicate God for them, never conforming ourselves to their principles, but condemning the poltroons who repeat, in their cowardice, "What will you do? How will you do it?" an imbecile question worthy of the worms of the earth, but not of men. Courage, then. Blessed Mary, whose feast we celebrate to-day under the title of Auxilium Christianorum, inspires us. The 24th of May, destined for this feast, has been occupied this year by the feast of the Holy Spirit, the Spouse of Mary. Let this coincidence augment our confidence. As Mary has protected one Pius, who crushed the pride of the Turks; as she protected another Pius to crush a great imperial pride; so at this hour she protects the least Pius and his see, attacked by a thousand different enemies. And as she has conquered apud Echinadas Insulas (at the Islands of Egina), as she has conquered apud Savonam (at Savona), the morning of a new victory will come apud Sanctum Petrum (at St. Peter's).

May God bless me, His unworthy Vicar, and you, my collaborators, in the administration of His Church. And may He, by this benediction, plunge our hearts in the fire of His love. May the same benediction descend upon the episcopate, the religious orders, and especially upon the poor religious, so ill-treated and oppressed. May it descend upon families, upon fathers and mothers-in fine, upon everybody. And may it be the pledge of the eternal benediction which God will give us at our departure from this life! Benedictio Dei, etc.

The Italian Government continued the confiscation of ecclesiastical property. On the 4th of January, thirty-two convents were seized in Rome, and property belonging to the Roman churches and even to the Propaganda, given by Catholics of all countries for the purpose of supporting foreign missions, were seized and sold. According to statistics officially given between October 26, 1867, and July 31, 1874, 102,019 pieces of property were seized and sold, producing $93,430,942. The vestments, church-plate, office books, libraries, also seized, were valued at about $3,000,000. In the province of Rome 4,054 ecclesiastical institutions have been seized.

The demonstrations made on the anniversary

of the Pope led to arrests, and the severe punishment, extending to years, of some who shouted" Viva Pio Nono!" The removal of the stations and cross from the Colosseum was followed by the prohibition of all praying there, and the arrest of the Belgian Countess Steinlein, and other foreign ladies. A Catholic Congress met at Venice in June, which sent an address to the Pope. The clergy were not, however, generally molested in their functions, except in some cases like that of Bishop Rota, who was imprisoned in September for language used in a pastoral letter.

In Prussia and the German Empire the enforcement of the Falk laws was steadily continued. The Pope, on the 3d of November, 1873, had addressed to the Archbishop of Gnesen and Posen the following, encouraging him in the course he had taken:

REV. BROTHER-Greeting, Apostolic blessings. If at any time it has been God's pleasure to show to men that the fabric of the Church is of Divine building, and that on that account all attacks directed against it by the powers of hell and the malice of man must be in vain, surely it is now, reverend brother, while this truth is forced upon the sight even of those who do not wish to see it, for He has permitted all to conspire for the destruction of the Church. We see contempt, calumny, laws and temporal superiority arrayed against it, the effect of resolutions long formed brought to realization by protracted labor and developed by the most exasperated sect, which has almost everywhere secured suPreme power. Its professors are designated rebels; its bishops are condemned by lay courts as agitators, persecuted with fines, deprived of their offices and expelled the country. The spiritual orders are prohibited, the clergy is gagged, and, by arbitrary measures, prevented from exercising its office. Education of youth in the spirit of the Church is forbidden, in order that, on the one hand, the population may not be confirmed in the principles of religion, and that, on the other, the hope may vanish of able and faithful servants of the altar being trained up. In order to undermine the glory of God, the property dedicated to God is robbed; even the chief helmsman of the Church is kept in bondage in order that, though utterly despoiled, he may not govern the Church with freedom according to his powers. All this, reverend brother, makes your heart bleed, but it likewise rends our own; for, though we are grieved at the heavy portion of woe meted out specially to you-so heavy that by the weight of our persecutions your health has been endangered-we see on the other hand, and beyond this, the evil spreading over the whole of Europe to its full length and breadth, and, moreover, over other continents likewise.

Nevertheless, the very magnitude of the evil and the uncommon breadth of the diffusion give the sure hope that deliverance is close at hand; for if God at a former time, when He desired to save the world, permitted so many devilish perversities that even His own Son was not spared, we have cause to infer that the same God is now, by the unbridled efforts of hell, preparing the generally eventual regeneration, and for a triumph of the Church, at this moment deprived of all human assistance, and that by the visible manifestation of His power He will compel even the proudest hearts into obedience. Furthermore, reverend brother, you make the tokens of your love the dearer to us the more you are afflicted with troubles, and magnanimously sacrifice every thing, even life itself, to the execution of your office; and the more resolutely and stanch you fight for the Church the more does our desire gain in in

tensity that you may be quickly restored to all the more complete health.

The gifts from your diocesans which you have forwarded to us forced us to admire their fervent love, but have at the same time occasioned a certain regret because these alms are offered by those who are themselves hemmed in on all sides by severe tribulation. Receive, therefore, the assurance of the deep gratitude of our heart, you as well as your clergy and your people, on behalf of whom we pray for vently to God that He may give them the same spirit which He has given their pastor, and like perseverance in the hour of peril in which they find themselves. May God grant them and you that unfailing unanimity which annihilates and exhausts all the power of the adversaries, in order thus to provide a fresh victory for the just cause and fresh glory for the Church. Meanwhile, as herald of the grace of God, and in proof of our particular attachment, we pronounce upon you and both your archdioceses our apostolic blessing. Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, November 3, 1873, the twenty-eighth of our reign. PIUS P. P. IX.

On the 24th of November, President Gunther cited the archbishop to resign his episcopal dignity within a week, or in default thereof to appear before the Royal Tribunal of Ecclesiastical Affairs at Berlin. He replied the next day in a spirited letter, denying the competency of the civil power to depose him from a purely ecclesiastical office, or the justice of making the conscientious discharge of his duty a crime against the state. He as well as several other bishops had been repeatedly fined, each act of episcopal jurisdiction being regarded a new offense, but, as the seizure of property had failed to intimidate them, he was now prosecuted for appointing a priest named Anton Arndt to the parish of Felehne without leave of the Government officials. Declining to appear before the Royal District Court, criminal division, he was condemned to imprisonment, and on February 3d sent to Ostrowo, a town on the Olabock. The remaining archbishops and bishops then issued a circular letter, in which, looking forward to the possible removal of all the Catholic bishops and priests, they exhort all to fidelity and courage. The Bishop of Treves and the Archbishop of Cologne were arrested in March, and priests in all parts of the country were imprisoned. On the 15th of April, Archbishop Ledochowski, though actually in prison, was tried before the Ecclesiastical Tribunal in Berlin, condemned for not appearing, and deprived of his see. The Bishop of Paderborn was also imprisoned, refusing a subscription made up to pay his fines. A new law, supplemental to the Falk law, provided that all church officials who at the direction of any bishop, unrecognized by the state, or deposed by the state, or at the direction of any person acting for such bishop, in opposition to the law, shall carry out any ecclesiastical functions, will be fined one hundred thalers, or undergo a year's imprisonment. And, if, in the fulfillment of such a commission, they shall perform any episcopal duties, they shall be imprisoned from six months to two years. Provision was also made, requiring Catholics to elect new bishops and priests to

replace any who should be deposed by the state and in default the church property was to be seized. The Catholic chapter of Posen having, on the 19th of June, refused to elect a capitular vicar or recognize the see as vacant, an administration of the diocese was appointed by government. A Catholic congress met at Mayence in June, but its protests and those of the bishops were disregarded. The Government even prosecuted and on July 20th punished thirty-six noble ladies who had sent an address of sympathy to the Bishop of Münster. The attempt to assassinate Bismarck tended to make the Government more rigorous, and the police on the 1st of November attempted to arrest a priest while saying mass at Treves. This led to a conflict in the church between the police and the people, in which blood was shed. The movements led, as usually happens, to accessions to the Church assailed, the chief convert to the Catholic Church in Germany being the Queen-dowager of Bavaria, in September.

Early in the year Austria showed a disposition to adopt an ecclesiastical policy similar to that of Prussia, reviving the theories of Joseph II. This drew from Pius IX. the following Encyclical:

DEAR SONS AND VENERABLE BRETHREN, HEALTH AND APOSTOLIC BENEDICTION: Scarcely had we, in our letter of November 24th last, announced to the been inaugurated against the Church in Prussia and Catholic world the serious persecution which has in Switzerland, than a fresh source of anxiety was prepared for us by the news of other acts of injustice, menacing this Church, which may well, like its Divine Spouse, utter this complaint," You have added to the pains of my wounds." These instances give us all the more anxiety as they are committed by the Government of the Austrian people, which, in the most glorious period of Christian history, fought so valiantly for the Catholic faith, in the closest alliance with this Apostolic See.

It is true that a few years back certain decrees were published in that monarchy which are diamet rically opposed to the most sacred rights of the Church and of the treaties solemnly concluded, and which we, conformably with our duty, condemned and declared invalid in our allocution of June 22, 1868, addressed to our venerable brothers, the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. But now new laws have been presented for the deliberation and approval of the Reichsrath, which tend openly to lead the Church into the most pernicious condition of servility, and to place her entirely at the mercy of the secular power, which is contrary to the divine arrangement of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the Cre ator and Redeemer of the human race has founded the Church most assuredly, as His visible kingdom upon earth; He has not only endowed it with the supernatural gifts of an infallible teaching for the propagation of holy doctrines, with a holy priesthood for the performance of divine services and the sanctification of souls by the sacrifice and the sacra ments, but He has also given it full power to create laws and to judge and exercise a salutary constraint in all things relating to the true end of the kingdom of God upon earth. But this supernatural power of ecclesiastical government, based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, is entirely distinct and independent of the secular authority. This kingdom of God on and governs itself, according to its own laws and its earth is a kingdom of a perfect society which rules right, by its own chiefs, who watch over it so as to give an account of souls, not to secular sovereigns,

but to the Prince of Pastors-to Jesus Christ, who instituted pastors and doctors, who, in their spiritual administration, are subject to no secular power. Just as it is the duty of the hierarchy to govern, so also is it the duty of the faithful, according to the admonition of the apostle, to obey and to submit to them; and therefore it is that the Catholic people have a sacred right which ought not to be interfered with by the civil power in its sacred duty of following the discipline and laws of the Church.

You recognize with us, dear sons and venerable brothers, that the laws debated to-day in the Austrian Reichsrath contain and manifest a serious violation of this divine constitution of the Church, and an intolerable subversion of the rights of the Apostolic See, of the holy canons, and of the entire Cathclic people.

In effect, by virtue of these laws, the Church of Christ, in almost all its relations and acts relative to the direction of the faithful, is judged and considered completely subordinate and subjected to the superior power of the secular authorities, and this is very openly expressed and, so to say, spoken of as a principle in the document which explains the full object and sense of the laws in question. It is also expressly declared that the secular government, in virtue of its unlimited power, possesses the right of making laws on ecclesiastical subjects just as it has on those purely secular, and to overlook and dominate the Church just as if it were a mere human institution within the empire.

By this the secular government arrogates to itself the right of judgment and teaching over the constitution and rights of the Catholic Church, as well as over its exalted administration, which it exercises of itself, partly by its laws and acts, and partly by different ecclesiastical persons.

Hence it follows that this will and power of the civil government usurp the place of the religious power, which was established by divine ordination for the direction of the Church and edification of the body of Christ. Against such a usurpation of the sanctuary the great Ambrose rightly says: "They say that every thing is permitted to Caesar, and that all things belong to him." I answer: "Do not imagine that thou possessest an imperial right over the things consecrated to God. Do not exalt thyself, but be subject to God." He has written: "What is God's is God's, and what Cæsar's, Cæsar's." To the Emperor belong the palaces, the priests, the churches.

As regards these laws which have been preceded by an exposition of their object, they are in reality of the same nature and kind as those of Prussia, and prepare for the Church in Austria the same misfortune, although they appear at first sight to be more moderate when compared with the Prussian

laws.

We do not care to examine in detail each article of these laws, but we cannot pass in silence the cruel insult which by the presentation of such laws has been offered to us and to this Apostolic See, as well as to yourselves, dear sons and dear brethren, and to the entire Catholic people of the empire.

The contract which was concluded in 1855 between ourselves and the illustrious Emperor, and was confirmed by this Catholic sovereign by the most solemn promises and promulgated throughout the entire empire, is now presented to the Chamber of Deputies, with the declaration that it is completely without force and annulled, and this without any previous negotiation with the Apostolic See, and moreover with a public contempt of our most just representations. Could such a thing ever have happened at a time when public faith had still some value? But now, in this sad epoch, it is not only undertaken but completed. Against this public violation of the Concordat we protest once more, before you, well-beloved sons and venerable brothers. We reprove all the more this outrage inflicted

upon the Church, as the cause and pretext of this rupture of the Concordat and of other laws which were attached to it are insidiously rested upon the definition of the teachings of faith published and confirmed by the Ecumenical Council of the Vatican; and they have spoken of these Catholic dogmas in an impious manner and styled them new fushioned, and changes made in the articles of faith and in the constitution of the Church.

There may be in the Empire of Austria some persons who have renounced the Catholic faith on account of these unworthy inventions; but its illustrious monarch and the whole imperial household preserve and confess it, as do also the vast majority of the people, and it is to this people that these laws, founded on such inventions, are to be given. Therefore, without our knowledge and will, they have torn the convention which we had concluded with the noble Emperor in the interest of the salvation of souls and the advantage of the state. A new form of right has been invented, and they have attributed to the civil government a new power, so that it can interfere in all ecclesiastical matters, and so that it can ordain and arrange the affairs of the Church as it thinks fit.

With the projected laws they have been able to bind the Church with heavy chains and to paralyze her action and her inviolable liberty, which she must ever possess for the government of the faithful, the religious guidance of the people, and even of the clergy, to help the progress of Christian life toward evangelical perfection, in the administration and even possession of property. They introduce perversion in discipline, they favor apostacy, and the union and conspiracy of the sects against the true dogmas of Christianity are actually protected and assisted by laws.

In truth, a great task would fall to our lot if we had to mention the nature and number of the evils which we should have to fear as soon as the laws are in operation; but, dear sons and venerable brothers, they cannot either deceive us or escape your wisdom, for really all the ecclesiastical functions and benefices, and even the exercise of pastoral duties, are so entirely subjected to the civil power, that the ecclesiastical superiors, supposing that they would submit to the new laws-which is far from being possible-would ultimately not be able to administer their dioceses (for which they have a strict account to render to God) according to the salutary rules of the Church, but they would be obliged to exercise this direction and to restrain it according to the will and pleasure of the head of the state.

Again, what are we to expect from those laws that bear the heading in consideration of the religious communities? Their fatal intent and hostile meaning are so evident that all easily perceive that they are destined to prepare the way for the ruin and extinction of the religious orders. The loss of temporal property is so great that it is scarcely to be distinguished from a public sale and confiscation. The Government will place the property in question under its authority after the passing of these laws, and will arrogate to itself the right and power of dividing it, of letting it out, and of reducing it by taxation to such an extent that the miserable result and benefit which will remain over can scarcely be considered by the Church as honorable, but rather as a mockery and a mere cloak to cover the injustice.

As the laws discussed by the Chamber of Deputies of the Austrian Reichsrath are worded in this sense, and based upon the principles which we have exposed, you can clearly see, dear sons and venerable brothers, the actual dangers which menace the flock placed under your charge and vigilance. The unity and peace of the Church are notably at stake, and they only wish to deprive her of that liberty which St. Thomas of Canterbury well called "the soul of the Church, without which she has no life, and without which she has no strength to fight against those