PROTEST OF THE BISHOP OF PARA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 73, 19 September 1874, Page 14

PROTEST OF THE BISHOP OF PARA.

Thb following protest has been made by the Bishop of Park or hia arrest : — " Yielding to force and delivering myself to prison, I ou«bt as a citizen and as a Bishop, to make a solemn protest against this violence • which is not only ,a violation of the Constitution and of the laws of this country, but an offence against the liberty of the soul, and a terrible blow that will reach across the ocean, and wound the heart alteadv - overpowered with grief, of the Holy Father Pius IX., and that of all the Catholics in the world. " "I declare before my flock, before my country, before the Church and above all before God, who will judge the powers of the earth that I have not committed the smallest iufraetion of the laws of mv country that I only seek to be .faithful to the Holy Catholic Church of Rome to which I belong, and will belong, through God's help, to the last moment* or xxij iit&* " I pardon, with all my heart, those who have in any way cau^d the tribulations in which the Church of Brazil i 3i 3 now involved • and in this solemn hour of my life, I give from the bottom of my soul mv most affectionate benediction to all my dear Diocesans and to this faithful people of Para and Amazonas, for whom I pra y that they' may be always true to their Faith, always united to their lawful Bishops, who will continue to be so, though in prison or degraded and especially to Our August Pontiff, Pius IX, the vicar of Jesus^ Christ. " Given in our episcopal palace, the 2Sth day of April, 1874. "(Signed) f Antonio, Bishop of Para."