Encyclical Letter OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO. XIII.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 25, 19 June 1902, Page 3

Encyclical Letter OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO. XIII.

LEO XIII., POPE. To Ar.L the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World. Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction. Entering upon the twenty-fifth year of Oar Apostolio ministry, and astonished at the length of the oourse which We have traversed, in the midst of continual and anxious cares, We feel Ourselves most naturally impelled to raise Our thoughts towards the ever-blessed Ruler of the world, Who, amongst so many other favors, has deigned to grant Us a length of years in the Pontificate almost without parallel in history. Therefore, to the Father of all men, to Him Who holds in His hands the mysterious secret of life. We utter Our hymn of thanksgiving, in obedience to the dictates of Our heart. Assuredly the eye of man cannot fathom the depth of the Divine designs in thus prolonging Our old age beyond all hope ; it is for Us only to bow down in silence and adore Him. One thing, however, We know well, that if He has been pleased, and if He is pleased still, to preserve Our existence, a great duty lies upon Us, viz., to live for the welfare and advancement of His immaculate Spouse, His Holy Church, and, far from losing courage in the presence of care and pain, to consecrate to His service what remaim of Our strength, even to Oar last breath. Having paid the tribute of just thanksgiving to Our Heavenly Father, to Whom be honor and glory for all eternity, it is very pleasing to Us to turn to you in thought, and to address Our words to you, venerable brethren, who have been called by the Holy Spirit to govern tbe chosen portions of the flock of Jesus Christ, and thereby share with 'Us in the struggles and in the triumphs, in the Borrows and in the joys, of the pastoral office. The many remarkable Proofs of Religious Veneration -which you have lavished on Us in the course of Oar Pontificate and still multiply in the present circumstances with an eager devo tion that is full of tenderness, will never fade from Our memory. Intimately united 111 1 you as We are already by Our duty and by Our paternal love, these testionnies of your devotedness, extremely dear to Our heart, bind Us now to you onoe more, less for their personal manifestations towards Ourselves, than for the inviolable attachment that they indicate to this Apostolic See, which is the oentre and support of all the other Sees of Catholicity. If it has always been necessary that the children of the Church should jealously adhere to the different degrees of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, united in the bonds of reciprocal charity and in the pursuit of the same designs, bo as to be moved only by one heart and one soul, this union is become in our time more indispensable than ever. Who, indeed is ignorant of the immense conspiracy of hostile forces which aim to-day at ruining and obliterating the great work of Jesus Christ, which endeavors, with an animosity that knows no limits, to rob man in the intellectual order of the treasure of celestial trut'hß, and in the social order to uproot the holiest and most salutary Christian institutions? But of all this you yourselves have experience every day ; more than once have you expressed to Us your anxiety and distress, while you deplored the multitude of prejudices, f false systems, and of errors that are being sown with impunity among the people. Are not snares being laid on all sides for believing souls ? Are not obstacles being multiplied to enfeeble, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the beneficent action of the Church ? And, in the meantime, as if to add ineult to injustice, is not the Church herself reviled because she cannot recover her ancient power, because she is unable to restrain the torrent of wild passions that threatens to destroy all obstacles in their path ? We would wish, indeed, that We might address you, venerable brethren, on a subject lesß sorrowful and in greater harmony with the happy event from which We take occasion to speak, But however desirable such a discourse might be, it is not permitted by the flfrave trials of the Church which call urgently for assistance, and by the serious condition of contemporary society. The Bocial world, already grievously astray in its moral aud material aspects, ia advancing towards a destiny still worse, owing to The Abandonment of Christian Traditions : for it is a law of Providence, confirmed by history, that one cannot strike a blow at the great principles of religion without shaking at the same time the foundations of order and social prosperity. In these circumstances, in order to refresh your souls, and to supply them with new faith and courage, it appears to Us opportune and useful to consider attentively the origin, causes, and multiplied forms of the implacable war which is being waged against the Church ; and whilst exhibiting its fatal consequences to point out the antidote to them. May Our words, therefore resound afar, although they must recall truths which We have several times affirmed already ; may they be heard not only by the children of Catholic unity, but also by those who dissent from Us ; and even by those unhappy ones who no longer have the faith : for all are children of the sume Father ; all aro ordained to the same supreme end ; may they be received, in fine, as the teßtament whica We, now removed but a short distance from the gates of eternity, witjh to leave to the peoples as an earnest of the salvation We desire for all.

In every age the Holy Church of Christ has had to combat and to suffer for truth and justice. Instituted by the Divine Redeemer

Himself to increase tbe kingdom of God in the world, it is her duty to lead fallen humanity by the light of the Gospel law towards its immortal destiny— that ia to say, she mast bring them into possession of the endless blessings that God hat promised, but to 7 i«i man ' 8 unaided strength is not sufficient to attain. In the fulfilment of her heavenly mission she must of neoefsity oome into collision with the countless passions which are transmitted from the pristine fall, and from the corruption begotten of it, with pride, cupidity, the unbridled desire of material pleasures, and with all manners of vices and disorders. True to her trust the Ohuroh has always exercised over these The Most Powerful Restraint. These persecutions ought not to astonish as. Have they not been predicted by the Divine Master, and do we not know they will last as long as the world? What did our Saviour Bay to His disciples when He sent them to bear the treasure of Hia doctrine to all nations 1 ' You will be persecuted from oity to city, because of My name ; you will be hated and despised : you will be delivered before tribunals and condemned to the extremity of punishments. 1 And to encourage them to bear such trials He gave Himself as an example. 'If the world hate you, know you that it hath hated Me before you Si mnndut vos odit scitote quia me priorem vobit odio habmt (John xy., 18.) These are the joys, theee the rewards, whioh the Divine Saviour promises us here below. No one who considers the matter justly ard impartially will ever discover a reason for such hatred. Whom, indeed, had the Divine Redeemer ever offended, or in what had He deserved ill 1 He had come down to this earth impelled by infinite oharity, and there had taught a doctrine, pure and consoling, and beyond all others adapted to unite fraternally all men in peace and love. He had coveted neither the greatness of the world nor its honors. He had interfered with no one's rights ; on the contrary, men saw in Him one moved by infinite compassion for the feeble, tbe siok, the poor : for sinners and for the oppressed. His life was spent distributing tlis divine benefits amongst men. It was then through sheer excess of malice on the part of those men, an excess the more lamentable as it was the more unjust, that the Saviour, in accordance with the prophecy of Simeon, became the sign of oontradiotion on this earth — 'ngnum cvi contradicetur ' (Luke ii. 34) • a sign that shall be oon« tradicted. May we, therefore, be surprised if the Catholic Church, whioh continues the divine mission of Jesus Christ, and is the incorruptible guardian of His truth, hae not escaped the lot of its Master! The world does not change. By the side of the children of God are always found the fanatics of the great enemy of the human raoe, the followers of him who, rebellious against the Most High from the beginning, is called in the Gospel the prince of this world. And there lies the reason why this world in opposition to the divine law and to him who presenos that law to it in the name of God feels rising up and revolting within itself, in measureless pride, a spirit of independence to which it has no right. Ah ! how often and often, in times of great disturbance, have the enemies of the Church with unspeakable cruelty, with shameless injustice, evidently aiming at ihe destruction of all society, banded their hosts together to overthrow the divine work ! If one class of persecution was found unsuccessful they tried another. Daring three long centuries the Roman Empire, by the abuse of brutal for^e, strewed all its provinces with the corpses of our martyrs, and purpled with their blood each Bod of earth in this sacred city. Then heresy, sometimes masked, sometimes open, had recourse to sophisms and to perfidious artifices, in order to destroy the harmony and break the unity of the Church. Then, like a devastating tempest, the barbarians were let loose from the north, and Idlamism from the south ; and behind them everywhere were left ruine strewn over the deserts. Thus was transmitted, from century to century, the sorrowful inheritance of hatred under whioh the Spoube of Christ was opposed. Then came a Caeearism, as suspicious as it was powerful, jealous of the greatness of others, no matter how far it had extended its own conquests, and began a aeries of attacks upon the Church in order that it might lay a cowardly hand upon her rights and trample her liberties under foot. The heart bleeds to see this mother so often afflicted with anguish and inexpressible sorrow. However, triumphing over all obstacles, all violence, and tyranny, she went on planting more and more widely her peaceful institutions. She saved from disaster the glorious patrimony of the arts, of history, of the sciences, of letters: and by making the Spirit of the Gospel penetrate deeply throughout the whole extent of society she created in all its elements Christian civilisation. To that civilisation the peoples, who have been subjected to its beneficent influence, owe equity of laws, mildness of manners, protection for the weak, pity for the poor and the unfortunate, respect for the rights and for the dignity of all men, and likewise, as far as the fluctuation of human affairs will allow, that peace in Bocial life which comes from a wise agreement between justicej ustice and liberty. These Proofs of the Intrinsic Beneficence of the Church are as brilliant and sublime ao they have been lasting. Yet, as in the middle ages and in the early centuries, we see this Church assailed in times more near our own, in some respects at least, more harshly and more cruelly than ever, Following a series of well-known historical causes, the pretended Reformation raised, in the sixteenth century, the standard of revolt ; and, intending to wound the Church to her very heart, it boldly struck at the Papacy. It broke the precious bond of the ancient unity of faith and authority which had co often, through the harmonious pursuit of the same purposes, multiplied a hundredfold the power, prestige, and glory of Christian nations, which had united all the peoples in one fold and umler one Shepherd, and it thus introduced into the ranks of Christians the fatal principle of disunion. We do not, indeed, mean to assert that from the very beginning of this movement the object these 80-called reformers had in

view was to banish the principles of Christianity from the bosom of society ; but by refut-ing, on the one hand, to recognise the Bupremaoy of the Se^ of librae, which is the efficient cause and bond of unity, and by proclaiming, on the other hand, ttui principle of free judgment, they phook to its lowest foundations the Divine edifice, and opened the way for infinite varieties of creeds, for doubts and denials on the most important matter*, for departures from faith far Burpassing the expectations of the innovators themselves. The road being 1 thus clear, there arose the proud and scoffing philosophy ot the eighteenth c.-ntury, which went furl her still. It turned into derision the sacred collection of the iSciiptures, and rejected in the mass ail truths divinely levcalcd, with the object of finally uprooting 1 from the conscience of men all religious belief, and of stifling in them the last breath of Christian spirit. From this source flowed Rationalism and Pantheism, Naturalism and Materialism, deleterious and fatal systems which ushered in again, under new appearances, the ancient errors which had long since been victoriously rtfuted by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church.' The result has ben that the pride of modern timea, through an exoets oh confi ience in its own light, has been smitten with blindness, and, like Paganism, feeds itself now only with dreain°, even in all that relutes to the attributes of the human boul. and the immortal destinies which constitute its glorious privilege, The Struggle Against the Church thus assumed a more serious character than in the past, no less by reason of the vehemence of the attacks than of their universality. Contemporary incredulity does not, in truth, confine itself to calling in doubt or to denying such or such a truth of faith , but it combats the very body of principles which revelation consecrates and true philosophy Buppoits — fundamental and sacred principles which teach man the supreme end of his sojourn in life, which sustain him in duty and infuse into his soul courage and resignation, which, in promising him incorruptible justice and perfect felicity beyond the tomb, teach him to subordinate time to eternity and earth to heaven. Now, what do they give man instead of those teachings, those incomparable supports of faith / A frightful scepticism that petrifies the heart and stifles in the conscience all magnanimous aspirations. Such fatal doctrines have passed only too frequently, as you know, venerable brethren, from the domain of ideas into the exterior life and into the spheres of public action. Great and powerful States are constantly reducing them to practice, and imagine that they are thus doing the work of civilisation, and taking the lead in progress. And just as if public authorities were not bound to collect in themselves and to reflect all that is soundest in the moral life, they hold themselves free from the duty of publicly honoring God ; and it happens only too often thit, while they boast of their indifferenc 3 to all religions, they, in lact, make war on the one religion instituted by God. This system of practical atheinm must neoessirily cause, and in fact has caused, profound disturb ince in the domain of morals , for, as the most famous sages of pagan antiquity foresaw, religion is the principal foundation of justice and ot virtue. When the honds are broken which unite man to God, the Sovereigu Lawgiver and Universal Judge, there remains but, a phantom of morality ; purely civil, or, as it is cal'.td, independent morality, which, abstracting from all eternal rea-ou and all divine law, drtws hh u.evitably and fatally to this last consequer cc of making man a la.v unto himself. Henceforth incap.ible ot mi-ing hi-i.s If on the pinions of Chrit.ti.in hope towards the higher good. mm. thus lnfatuat- d, no longer seeks anything above t'.e materirtl satisfaction of Ihh desires m the collective enj lymentn and convenience of hie W'nen we a. c excited in him a thnst for phasurus a dot re ot riches, the devouring avarice of rapid and immoderate gam- : when, at the name time, all kinds of ambition, with feverish and frenzied .nun :y to gratify them, even by illegitimate means, «-et him on fire, justice must suffer. In a word, contempt for Uw and for public author i<y are^ the inevitable const quences, and a licentiousness of morals which, op it becomes general, brings with it without fail the deoay of society. But perhaps We exaggerate the doleful results of the sad troubles ot which We speak I Xo, for the reality i« at Our door, and only too fully confirms Our conclusions. It is n.,anife«t. mdi-td. that the very foundations of bocien.if they are nor H'renuthened very poon, will totter, and the eup^etrucures will bun"- down in their fall The Great Principles of Bight and Eternal Morality. Hence aripe the eerioup injuries which all parts of the bo-Jy social, beginning with the fa inly, have h.id to endure. For the eecular state, forgetful ot the, limits and of 1 he. essential amis of the authority which it holds, has bud violent hand-, upon the. conjugal bond, profaned it and de«poikd it of its religious chi.i.ie or ; it has encroached as far as it < ould on the natuial lights of parent^ in matters that concern the education (,f their children , and in many places it ban destroyed the stilnlity of marriage by giving legal sanction to the licentious institution of divorce. Now, everybody knows the fruit 9 that these encroachments have borne.' '1 hey have multiplied beyond all expuhsiun uiui.hh biought inout-olely by shameful passions, which areomiwq iently broken off ;ut, r briut intervals or when they have d< generated otun into tr-igii; t-oiK"* of conflict, often into suandaloiih inti lelitits ' Wesiy noUii'ig oj- ih^ children, the innocent offspring who nm negkoUd. or peiwrud. in some casc-s by the vicious example* of the parents, m oilh-ts through the poison which the State officially puts bjtoie them every day. Not only the family but the nocial and political order itneif is endangered, especially by the new doctrines which. iw-igning a fuKe origin to sovereignty, have thereby corrupted its true idea, For, if sovereign authonty flows formally fioui the co hem of tnc peoj 1 • and not from God, the bupreuie and eternal hjuico of all power, it

loses in the eyes of the subject its most august character, and degenerates into an artificial sovereignty which is erected on foundations unsteady and shifting as the will of the men from whom it is said to be derived. Do we not see also the consrquenee of this error in the laws? Too often, in truth, instead of being the written dictates of reason, these laws express nothing more than the power of superior numbers and the prelomiuant will of a political party, limn the illicit desires of the multitude are catered for, and the reins are thrown loose on popular passion?, even when these passions disturb the hard-earned repose of the citizens. When the cvi has gone too far, and has become extreme, recourse is had te violent means to repress it, and the oalubtiuphe is reached in the effusion of blood. The nations having repudiated these Christian piinciples which have such power and efficacy to establish the brotherhood of peoples, and to unite all men in a great family, there has arisen in the international ordera system of jealousy and selfishness in consequence of which the nations mutually regard each other if notalwaya with hatred at leant certainly with the distrust that animates rivals. Hence it ia that in their enterprises they are easily led to forget the great principles of morality and justice, and the protection of the feeble and the oppressed. In the desire which goads them on to the indefinite increase of the national wealth, the nations pay heed no longer to aught save the opportunity of circumstances, the profits arising from success, and the tempting possessions that will be theirs when the deed ih successfully accomplished, sure that no one will disturb them afterwards in the name of justice, and through the respect which is due to it. Fatal principles, which have consecrated material force, as the supreme law of the world, to which must be attributed this progressive and unmeasured increase of military preparations, this armed peace comparable in many respects at least to the most disastrous effects of war. This lamentable confusion in the domain of ideas has caused among the popular classes uneasiness, unrest, and the spirit of revolt, whence arise agitation and disorder— the prelude to commotions still more formidable. The miserable condition of so great a part of the lower classes, people assuredly very deserving of relief and help, admirably serves the purpose of agitators who are full of craft and in particular of those of the Socialist factions, who, by lavishing foolish promises on the humblest classes, hasten the acoomplishment of their nefarious designs. He who loses his footing in a dangerous steep rolls with increased speed to the bottom of the abyss. With a logic which has vindicated its principlas there has been organised a veritable association of criminals. With instincts thoroughly savage by its first exploits this association has filled the world with awe Owing to lto solid constitution, and its branches spread through the nations, it is already able to raise its wicked hand in every place without tear of any obstacle, unterrified by any punishment. Its members repudiating all union with society, and cynically breaking with law religion, and morality, have taken the name of Auarchists; they propose to themselves the utter subversion of society as it is, and employ for their purpose all the means that blind and savage passion can suggest. And as society receive-) unity and life from the authority which governs it, it is against authority in the first place that anarchy directs its blows. How do we not shudder with horror as well as with indignation and pity, at the remembrance of the numerous victims wbo have fallen in these latter years ! Emperors, empre pe*, kings, presidents of powerful republics, whose sole crime consi-ted in the supreme power with which they were invested. In thr- presence of the enormous evila which overwhelm society and of the dangers which threaten it, Our duty rt quire Us ouce more To Warn Men of Good Will, especially those who occupy the highest stations, and to exhort them, art We do at this moment, to reflects on the remedies which the Mtuation needs, and with provident energy to apply them without delay. In tne first place it is rk'ht to ascertain what these remedies are and t> examine th-ir value. We have heard liberty and its blessings exalted to the cloudd as the sovereign rein -dy the incomparable instrument of fruitful peice and prosperity. But facts have cl-arly demonstrate d th it it does not Dossess the efrUacy which has beeu attributed to it. Kooucmie conflicts, the strife of classes, are eukiudled and break forth on all side*, and there has not yet been beeu the dawn of public life in which peace might reigo For the rent, and everyone can verify this, liberty, as it in understood today—that is to say, hceiiHe fctanted indiscriminately to truth and error, to good and evil— results only in the lowering of all that is noble, holy, generous, and in < pening more widely the road to crime to -.made, and to the wretched categoiy of passions. It haH been maintained albotl.atthod^velopujerit of instruct'on by rendering the pe. pie more refined and more enlighten, d, would Hullice to fortify them ag vist their i\il inclina ions and to keep them within the limits of justice and probity But does nut the btem reality of things every day give uh palpable pro f of the useletwne-* of instrm ti..n whiJi is not accompanied by solid religious and moral truii mi* ' In c-ms. quence of their inexperience, and of tne ferment of j.a^ionn, the spirit of young people submits to the iaKcmation i.f pervert teachings. Ie is captivating, especially by the eiror.s union a Jicentiouw journalism fears not to di as. m mate wuh muiflowing hauls, and which, while depraving at the bame time the n.nlleet and the will, f<>sfr rs iv youth that spirit of pride and of insubordiuauon which troubles bj often the peace of families and or edits Much eoi fi lence has also been placed in the progress of t-cience Assuredly the la«t century saw many of lU great and unexpected' aye, marvellous conquests. But is it so true that these advances have given uh the full and satisfactory abundance of fruits that bo many men expected from them? Undoubtedly the expansion of science has op -ued new horizons to tur minds , it has widened the cinque of man ov< r the foices of matter ; and life in this world has

been Bweetened by it in many respeots. Nevertheless, all feel and many confess that the reality has not been up to the level of their hopes. They cannot deny ir, when they consider the state of minds and of manners, the statistics of crime, the deep sounds of dipcontent thst arise from the lower orders, and the predominance of force over right. Not to speak yet of the multitudes that are the prey of misery, it suffices to cast even a superficial glance over the world to find convincing proof that an indefinable Barnes- weight* upon poulp, and that an immenne void exists in men's heart". Man has indeed succeeded in subjecting matter to his power ; but matter has not been able ro pive him what it dor? net po^p"" ; nmi to the great questions wh'ch bear on our loftiest interests human science has given no reply. Th« thuot for truth, for the g™d for the infinite, hat not been quenched, and neither the joys and the treasures of earth, nor the increase of the conveniences of lifr* have been able to lull to sleep the moral sufferings in the depth* of hearts. Are we then to despise or put aMde the advantages which flow from instruction, from science, from civilisation, and from a wise »nd gentle liberty ? Certainly not. We must, on the contrary, hold them in high esteem, preserve them and. increase them like bo much precious capital ; for they constitute means, good in their own order, conferred by God Himself and appointed by infinite Wisdom for the well-being of the human family and for its profit. But we must regulate its use according to The Intentions of the Creator, and employ them in such a manner that they may not be separated from the religions element, in which resides the virtue that confer! on them a special value and makes them genuinely fruitful. Such is the secret of the problem. When an organic being dies or decays it has ceased to be under the action of the causes which gave it itd form and constitution. In order to build it up again in a healthy and flourishing state it should undoubtedly be subjected anew to the vivifying action of these same causes. Now, actual society in the fool it h attempt that it has made to escape from God has rejected the supernatural order and Divine revelation ; it has thus withdrawn itself from the salutary influence of Christianity, which 19 manifestly the most stable guarantee of order, the strongest bond of brotherhood, and the inexhaustible Bource of private and public virtues. From this sacrilegious abandonment has sprung the trouble which harasses the world to-day. Hence society must once more enter inside the pale of Christianity if it has its well-being, its repose, and its safety at heart. Just as Christianity does not penetrate the soul without elevating and improving it, so it does not enter into public life without producing order and harmony. With the idea of a God Who rulei all things, Who is all-wise, infinitely good and infinitely just, the sense of duty must penetrate the human conscience. This is the faith that sweetens suffering, subdues hatred, and begets heroes. If it transformed pagan BOciety — and that transformation was veritably a resurrection, nince barbarism disappeared in proportion to the spread of Christianity — it will be able in the same way, after these terrible shocks of incredulity, to place modern etates and contemporary peoples again on the right path and to restore order in .their midnt. (To be concluded in our n> xt ixtue.J