French Official Thieving

New Zealand Tablet, 20 August 1908, Page 9

French Official Thieving

inJTT f f Xi "S Herod ordered the massacre of the innocent, of two years old- and under-in oider to compass th* STStV — bornChrist'the King of .the Jews-run^ vhiciredt s ;r niin m so - was - «*«*»**,*«»* **.**!. - L than H *> caust,c remark tharit was better. to be. Herpd's p«.th«i Herod's son. ,-To-day Hf tf, in .-France, more tolerable .' to be.-a-magsman or a -pickpocket even" an assassin than to'

be a devout and cultured Christian lady who has vowed" her-. lif« to serve the sick and the poor without earthly guerdon or reward. For the worst criminal in -France to-day is assured of food and lodging and clothing ; but the lot' 'of the devoted Sister is to be* deprived of. home and food and shelter, to be thrown out penniless upon .the world, and to be rob.bed of even the pots and pans of the community's simple menage. This is what has recently happened (among so many others) to the Ursuline community at Vanves. On June 20, the official liquidator put. up for auction the poor and simple bits of furniture stolen from the nuns when they were driven out of their home at the point of the bayonet. Some. of their beds (says 'the Univcrs of July 1) were sold forone franc (iod), 1 franc 25 centimes (is); the best of them. were disposed of at 1 franc 50' centimes (is 3d). The chairs were sold for 5 centimes (^-d) each ; and all sorts of odd lpts for 1 franc (iod) each. The sale (says the Univers) Was conducted ' under the- protection of 25 gendarmes.' The stolen altar, the altar-cloths, etc., were- also put up for- auction, and, with the sanction of the Bishop, were bought in by a devout Christian family of the "town, in order to prevent their^possible profanation. Truly, the age of chivalry is dead in Francv ; and the motto of the Third Republic, like that of '.he First, may be paraphrased . • ' Liberte ' — de inal faire ; Egalite — de mishre ; Fraternity — comme avec son frerc ' (Liberty to do evil ; Equality in the misery - ■ which evil produces; Brotherhood, such as Cain showed to his brother Abel '). ' """