RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN FRANCE

New Zealand Tablet, 4 January 1912, Page 19

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN FRANCE

- -•■: ' --■■•;.: ..■..'-..-.♦..-.'.:.... • s , \ EXPULSION OF THE NUNS The inconsistency of the "French Government has been pointed out from time to time (remarks the Paris correspondent of the Catholic Times). With one hand it rewards religious, and with 1 the other brutally strikes them. Last month, the Minister of the Interior again decreed "medals; of honor to nuns attached to hospitals—'for exceptional services rendered.' But the forcible and ignominious expulsion of nursing and other Sisters continues. A Jesuit; Father, Pere Cattin, Chancellor of : the French Faculty of Medicine at' Beyrouth, has just been named Chevalier 4 of the Legion of : Honor. The Cross; was' presented to 'him in the name of the President : of , the French Republic by the Consul-General ■ of France, and the captain of a French man-of-war in those waters. Yet his Order is persecuted in •France. In October the police drove out at Nantes an enclosed community, entirely shut ; out from the World—the Poor; Clares. In other houses of Poor Clares the inventory was taken.: In November were V I driven from Compiegne the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, who, when expelled;from their school in that town, had remained ' there ■to tend the poor and sick.' '■; " Later a school of household management had been founded for them.' They had hoped to be able to; remain 1 there. But they were ordered to leave the town at once. "' . ••".:'^, as appeared in the Officiel a ] decree of dissolution of the Little Sisters of "the Assumption. Some communities have already been expelled;: others, chiefly in the larger towns of ;the;;:north;i await their turn. These ; admirable 'nuns; have devoted themselves for the last thirty years to taking care of the poor in their own cottages, where - necessary doing the' menial work, and accepting : nothing in; return. The first expulsion took place at the Croix-Rousse, Lyons, amid :" *

Scenes. of . Great Brutality - —doors broken down with hatchets, the Sisters so maltreated that some are. actually ill from blows received.

A week later, two convents at La Guillotiere and Oullins, in the suburbs of Lyons, were broken into and their .peaceful, inmates ; forcibly dispersed ; No local locksmith would help in this - odious work. 1 Each Sister was led out between three policemen, but they were not brutally ill-used. ~l The shameful : scenes at the ■ CroixRousse had - been brought before: the : towncouncil, and the ; . Mayor, unable -to deny them, had ; promised an enquiry. ; A force,• of sno iless than 150 police, commanded by a captain and two commissaries, was thought necessary to assure the expulsion of these few nuns. The- assistant Bishop, Monsignor Dechelette, with the parish priest, and a chaplain of the Cathedral, went, in the name of the aged Cardinal Coullie, to bless and encourage the Sisters. -. The nuns sang the ‘ Magnificat’ in , the chapel, and the Bishop . congratulated them on being counted worthy to suffer persecution. ■ .

Demonstration of Protest.

Two days later an imposing demonstration was organised, convoked by the working men. At least thirty thousand persons, of all conditions and ages, attempted to march to the Prefecture. A large force of police and cavalry barred the way. As the protestors insisted on their right to present their petition to the Prefect, charges and scenes of violence took place, which continued in the centre of the town till 8 p.m. More than a hundred of the petitioners were arrested, of whom all but ten were released later. One was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment, the others to four days’, some of the latter being given the privileges of first offenders.

The numerous houses in Paris are daily awaiting their turn. The Archbishop of Paris himself visited the Sisters in the rue Violet to console and fortify them.

At Levallois-Perret Catholic Young Men's Societies offered .to defend the Sisters. Their- offer was accepted. A, .vigorous- resistance was ; planned, and the house solidly. barricaded with, beams, barbed wire, etc. -Finally/-; the nuns declared their wish to go out : quietly. Tlieir sorrow was that > time had not been :allowed them to warn their sick before nightfall that they were forbidden to tend them any more. Some poor creatures were thus left all night without food or care. /. V Everything possible has been done by way of peaceful (and, •no doubt, useless) protest: ; deputations to the Minister of the Interior,, walls placarded -with protests, tracts distributed, meetings held. '" The Town Council of Paris itself; despite .the sneers of .the sectaries, passed a motion favorable to the Sisters:: The Town Council of Issy-les-Moulineaux has officially requested the ; authorities to retain the services of the Sisters .for the benefit of the poor. ■: : The mothers of families of the ; fifteenth --.- arrondissemerit':; signed a- ~ great petition. ;; At Grenelle there were quickly obtained for a petition nearly eleven thousand At Puteaux, a malicious enemy spread the report^hat; the Sisters pay: no taxes. Their: friends put up posters showing that this year the ;Sisters had paid taxes to the amount of nearly £6O. It -will-be- remembered that the .s present regime - early struck ;•' at.religious : associations with laws exacting crushing and exceptional taxation. -,:'• ■-.' -;-- •■ ■.,...■:"-"•: •:.:;::":, :■■;:::-;. - ■■' . A similar campaign has , been actively waged in many *of the provincial towns where the Sisters : have houses. ,; At St. Etienne the Mayor himself ; carried the petition to the Prefecture. 1 . At Nimes the police tore down the placards. -.'.',.":" - --. i ~ - -:'•;"'.: --:.••--