The French Persecution

New Zealand Tablet, 27 December 1906, Page 9

The French Persecution

In the long^ Jong ago (so runneth an Arab legend) a Sultan asked Solomon for a motto {or a signet ring —a motto, that should hold good both for prosperity and for adversity. And Solomon wrote, these,words : ' This also shall pass. away;.' ' -_, The Catholic poet Southwell couched the same idea in the couplet: — ■ _

'No joy so great but runneth to an end, No, hap so haid but may in fine amend '.

Persecutors pass ami persecution dies, and the Church lives- on and sees the end of them all. And as the chemist Knows how to distil a healing dew from the root of the deadly aconite,- so does God "mow how to draw good out of intended evil. Even persecution (says the Prince~de Brogliejhas its uses,. for it passes through the v crucible^ the courage and the virtues of individuals and of peoples.. It has teen known to give a spinal column even to the physical coward.

Everything seems to show that the Church in France is facing the latest phase of the atheistic, persecution with high hope and" courage. Oppression is no new experience to the church in France. ♦ The attitude of the Government in France throughout the whole _ of the nineteenth century ', said Cardinal Moran recentr ly to a ' Catholic Press ' -interviewer, ', ' has teen one of tyranny and oppression. It may seem strange to .us that a Bishop would jiot be -allowed to publish a pastoral letter without, submitting it to the Prefect of Police. . That is French law. You know 'that the Penal - Laws in Ireland prohibited either the clergy or the people to meet in- any numbers without the sanction of the Government, and the reply of the Irish was that they met in the mountains and on the hillsides to carry, out their religious exercises. They were heedless of any sword of persecution that might be hanging over them, and persistently refused to aUde by any regulations of the -Government in this direction.' ' Of course,' added his Eminence, 'we don't exactly know the relation's of the, people and Government in France, where they have been accustomed to look to the State for everything. One of - the" results of" the persecution of' the Irish duAng three hundred years is that we look to the Government for nothing. In matters of religion we are quite independent. Religion is our guide, and J think in our present position in Australia we are both »able to and are willing to protect our own.. These are the principles I would apply in France. . . " Perhaps it seems very inconsistent to our view of things that before adopting any particular- course of action »in France they write and- ask what Rome would advise rt'hem to do. Well, if such difficulties arose here in the Commonwealth of in Ireland we would not trouble Rome at all. We would settle 'them ourselves. It is not a duty that would devolve upon Rome. It is ours, and we would discharge *t 'Ui the best possible way. . . In such matters those who are opposed .to Home Rule assert that it would mean .Rome Rule. We know notlAng of that kind of thing. We are determined to rule by common sense, duty, and religion,- and do not throw the burden upon Rome, ibr we are confident that if we abide by those principles we shall always have the fullest approval of the authorities, in the centre of Christendom when the case comes before them.'

In the opinion of the Cardinal-Archbishop of Sydney the cessation of Government subsidies will result in a closer union of the clergy and their congregations in France. ' The real hope of religion ', said he, 'as the world is situated nowadays, is the union of the priests and people, and I think the system by which the clergy have to rely on the/ religious spirit of the """ people even for their subsistence, is the most desirable and the one that ensures the happiest results to both parties.' , L. ■ .

And thus out of evil will come forth good— out of the lion's mouth honey. And as to. the regime of atheistic persecution, ' this also shall pass away.' During the French Revolution, in the days of the Constituent Assembly, the French bishops and fifty thousand of thoir clergy refused to take an._oath which their

consciences rejected. They went calmly to prison, exile, or death. We loolc to the Freuch clergy to-day to display in the home-land tho magnificent devotion which makes them such noble martyrs .upon the foreign mis-sion-field. .As to the closing of the churches, -we doubt that any Government is strong enough for that, ' espe-: cially among _ the sturdy Catholic population, of Brittany and the Auvergne. 'There are in France,' said the

Bishop of Bayonne some months.,, ago, ' 64,000 .chur r ches. Priests and people have only to continue to use theni as in the ,£ast. There are not in France 64,000 regiments to. compel respect foc"".the_ sequestrators, the breaking of the seals, and to close- 64,000 churches every Sunday. A decree ordering the "closing of the churches would be inapplicable,' simply because it would lack practical sanction.' _