THE POLISH PERSECUTION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 174, 28 July 1876, Page 14

THE POLISH PERSECUTION.

The Church of Poland haß not ceased to suffer. Her martyrdom continues with unabated ferocity, and her glorious patience is still unexhausted. To read the Polish papers of the last two months, seems like perusing a chapter from the history of the Church of the Catacombs, and they, being placed under the control of the government, contain but a faint outline of the truth. As in the first centuries of Christianity paganism made a supreme effort to quench the light of faith, so schism is now in Poland endeavoring to accomplish the same impossibility. The renewal of the heroic struggle of years has begun,' and with the same result. On the one hand we have to record Rus-j sian barbarity and violence, and on the other Polish and Catholic con-l stancy and heroism. The question of the suppression of the Unitedl Greek Church is still stoiu quo, notwithstanding the cruelty and iniquitous violence of the Russian officials. The massacres of Drelow and Pratalin only seived to strengthen the faith nnd increase the spirit of resistance on the part of the unhappy inhabitants of Podlachia. They will not frequent the Eussian Church or hold any communication with the Greco Russian priests. The spectacle is consequently presented of an entire people preparing for martyrdom. Recently the Eussian mayors of the various villages, ordered that all children should be baptised in the Eussian Church. The inhabitants refused obedience to the decree, and the soldiers received the command to take the little ones from their parents and baptise them by force. At Forespol a poor woman had her infant lorn from her arms

by the military. She clung to it, and the soldier actually cut her fingers off with his sword, in order to force her to release the child. Afc Siedlec and at Biala 300 Catholics were recently arrested and sent into Siberia, for refusing to embrace the Orthodox religion as it is called. The mitred Abbot Zegera, and the priest Rossoz Dmochoweki have been banished and the churches which they served closed. The churches of Lesna, Koden, Mattora, Gorra, Eossoz, Terespol, and Pratalin hare beei desecrated and those of Biala and Lesna converted into Eusßo Greek churches. The splendid monastery of Biala has been suppressed and turned into barracks for soldiers, the famous collection of pictures which it contained ruined, and its ancient cemetery desecrated and the bones of the dead scattered abroad, to enable the troops to dig a garden on its site. Governor Gromecka, the principal author of the Podlachian excesses, which were so univereal^uiondemned last year, and which were even blamed by the Eussian press, has been deposed, and, strange to say, he owes his downfall to the Eussian Archbishop Joanicius, who was unable to tolerate his cynicism and cruelty. This estimable man, although a schismatic, when recently in Podlachia on a pastoral tour, was so disgusted at what he saw there that he publicly upbraided the Governor and Eussian priests for their monstrous behaviour in persecuting the poor Catholics, and on his return to Warsaw, reported all he had seen to the Government in such a manner that it was obliged to remove Gromecka, but at the same time it took care to translate Archbishop Joani* civs to the distant see of Czernichow. It is to this gentleman that the Podlachianß owe the temporary suspension of their persecution, which, however, is beginning again, now that his excellent influence is no longer exerted on their behalf. Many Catholic priests have been lately exiled, and not a few sent to Siberia. Amongst these was the Eev. V. Kalinsky, whose father was barbarously murdered by the Russians last year. This unfortunate priest actually died of starvation, for he was driven from his home penniless in the dead of winter to seek an asylum in some foreign country. He walked for many miles, but fell upon the road to Piotrkow, and was found dead some days afterwards, a martyr to the faith of Christ. It Beems actually impossible that such horrors can be permitted in a century like the present, which boasts so much of its superior civilisation and toleration ; but Eussia appears to be a privileged country and is allowed to do with the people over whom she tyrannises as she chooses, without provoking much indignation even in free America and England. The truth is, we know and hear little about the evil doings of this vast empire, and good care is taken that we shall hear and know as little as possible. The Eussian and Polish press dare not raise a complaint, and consequently the German, which obtains its news from them, tell* but very little concerning the movements of the Eussians in the interior of Poland. It is only through the exiles that we obtain genuine information, or by chance, as we did last year, through the American Ambassador. Our readers will remember that it is to Minister Jewell we owe the knowledge of the truth concerning those horrible massacres of Catholics in the interior of Poland, which produced so painful an impression throughout the civilised world. — c Catholic Eeview/