THE PERSECUTION IN FRANCE

New Zealand Tablet, 15 May 1913, Page 13

THE PERSECUTION IN FRANCE

EXAMPLES OF INTOLERANCE At the morning sitting of the Chamber of Deputies (November 26), in the debate on the internal Finances of France, the Reporter of the Budget declared that the Separation of Church and State is not sufficiently complete that the laws against the Congregations are not applied with sufficient rigor (writes Mr. J. C. Sutcliffe, M.A., in the Catholic Times). In other words, the State might lighten the burden of taxation by further confiscation of the property of- defenceless religious, whilst at the same time delighting the enemies of religion by a renewal of the persecution of the Church. And, indeed, for some months past, Bishops and Catholic journalists and politicians have from time to time pointed out the i * Actual and Future Danger. Mgr. Marty, Bishop of Montauban, issued a serious warning to his flock. He ends: Politicians eager for power have no care for the honor, or even the existence, of our country. Persecution begins again its hypocritical, cowardly, and destructive work. One hundred schools are to be closed on October 1. Other threats are uttered, which eminent jurisconsults do not fear to call ' monstrous.' The agents of power ought to protect the weak. With us, it is the feeble they attack. Now, more

than ever, is the hour to watch, to pray, to act, and to prepare to defend the right.' The same warning ia given by the Gaulois : —'ln the opinion of persons highplaced m : the Catholic world, the persecution is - about • to. become more severe. A recent decree assigns to the "Public Assistance" all the buildings in Paris belonging to the various parishes, and serving as asylums, "patronages," and for other charitable works carried on by religious. Another -, ' Decree Closes 100 Schools, eleven of which are in the diocese of Paris. Senators, deputies, town councillors, fathers of families of all parties, are alike opposed to the closing of these schools.' The article concludes: We find many new proofs of the anti-clerical diversion now preparing, in the numerous condemnations, annoyances, .and sectarian plots which are reported in France on every side latterly, and which remind us of the famous days of the Combes' Ministry. At Armentieres, Catholics are sentenced for displaying the Papal flag; two Bishops—at Sens, Mgr. Chesnelong, and at Viviers, Mgr. Bonnet^—are fined for the same "offence" in very many places Catholics are punished with "three days' prison" for the same fact; in the north. .-._. ' The Expulsion of Nuns Recommence. On every side, in the north, the south, the centre, prosecutions for trivial causes, unjustifiable sentences, unworthy annoyances shower on the Catholics. A marvel- of its kind is the case made out against Mgr. Maurin, Bishop of Grenoble, who, when presiding in the Basilica of St. Maurice, at Vienne, the ceremony of closure of the diocesan congress, and carrying the Blessed Sacrament, advanced a few steps in the portico, and thus slightly passed the limits, of the sanctuary. On the formal order of the sub-prefect, a commissary of police at once got up a case against him "for having exceeded by 4£ feet the line of the church door" !' Among the more odious of these barbarous evictions is that of the refuge and working-school founded by the former Western Railway Company (now, to the great detriment of the public, swallowed up by the State), where 850 children of railway men are taught and tended by Sisters of Charity. This institution is extremely useful to the men, and, as there is no other accommodation for these children, the existing schools being already too small, they are practically thrown on the street. Two very flourishing higher schools are dispossessed by this decree of spoliation: St. Sigisbert's at Nancy, and St. Peter Fourier's at Luneville. The first was renowned throughout France for its success in the great Government examinations. These schools are reconstituted, with crippled resources, in other buildings. At Brest, many nuns of the St. Esprit have latterly been fined for continuing to teach: fifteen from Kerinou and Lambezellec (four at £2 each, nine at £1 each, the other two at less); seven from Breles (the Superior at £B, the other £2 each or less). At Morlaix, no less than fifty-eight nuns were Dragged Before the Court at one sitting, many being of the St. Esprit. On January 4 another batch of the same Order from Plouenan were fined £1 each. The Sisters employed at Roscoff in a private hospital were fined, but were granted remission. Other nuns, of the same Order, at Landivisiau and Sibiril, were acquitted, it being proved that they directed hospitalising works, supported by the municipalities. At Le Puy, forty professors or servants of the important secondary school of Notre Dame de France were charged with false secularisation. Three days only were allowed between the citation and the trial. The Deputy, the Mayor, and many fathers of families were present to show their sympathy with the professors, whilst manifestations in their favor were suppressed by important forces of soldiers, gendarmes and police. Six former Capuchins of Le Mans were brought before the Appeal Court of Orleans under the same accusation. Acquitted in the police court and on appeal, they were further prosecuted by the Government agents. The final court, acquitting the others, fined the former Guardian £4 and costs, because, as in 1908,.

He Had Taken Part in the Elections of His Order., an Belgium, it was held that he still belonged .to it. Five former Capuchins of Blois were summoned before the same "court. Only one appeared; ■ The pretended superior died-three years ago, one was a gardener who had never belonged ,to any Congregation, another had long resided in Constantinople, , ana so on. ■_■ The Abbe Beauchene had the same-..fine, and for the same reasons as those just given. This case had followed the same course of acquittals, and;further prosecutions,/as the Capuchins of Le Mans. The former Capuchins of Paris, prosecuted also for reconstituting their Congregation, have (January 14), by the Appeal Court of Paris, been finedthree Fathers £2 each, two-£1 each, and three Fathers acquitted. " ; " ;■=■;' ': ; •' > : The nuns of the Christian. Doctrine had a boardingschool at Philippeville (Algeria) for the last sixty years. That : is to say, they were among the first pioneers of civilisation in the difficult commencements of the colony. Their request to keep their school open for one year being refused, as also their request for permission to open a family boarding-house ,v they were, obliged to leave Philippeville (January 22). They have gone to work, again as pioneers, at Oudjda (Morocco). 1 Nuns of the same Congregation, who have taught at Benney, near .Nancy, since 1808, authorised by a decree of that date, were expelled in November. In January were forcibly sold, at nominal prices, and dispersed under the guard of the police, all the school furniture, library, etc., of the celebrated school of the Rue de Vaugirard, Paris. ■-.. At Sin-le-Noble, near Douai (Nord), the motherhouse of the Damese de la Sainte Union was seized and sold for a price so low that the Mayor described the affair as a ' gift to the town. Five aged nuns still (remained in their home. A special commissary, the Inspector of Bomains, and thirty' gendarmes were sent to turn them out. A Municipal Councillor obtained one day's respite for them. Ten nuns were driven in August from their house at Darnetal (Seine-Inferieure), where for seventy-five years their Congregation had carried on an admirable work known as , , The ' Working Refuge ' (Atelier-Refuge). ' More than 6000 girls had here received instruction and protection, which made of them (in nearly all cases) honest workers or good mothers. A specially sad case is the agricultural orphanage of Smermesnil, near le Havre, where a dozen nuns gave their children an education so admirable that the number of servants demanded from them was always greater than they could supply. Other important establishments closed are the orphanages of Dampierre, Hericy, and Calais. The Comte d'Haussonville addressed an open letter to the Minister of the Interior showing that these acts of persecution are not legally, necessary, even under the present laws of persecution as has been pretended, but are purely arbitrary. On September 29 the Mayor of Arras received notice from the Prefet to liquidate as soon as possible The Halluin Orphanage, .. which has 360 children. The Abbe Halluin bought the house with his own money in 1845, and went to beg for means to support the children. The town raised «a statue to him. The Prefet offers to sell to the town, for an atheist orphanage, the establishment, which is Catholic property and has not cost the Government a farthing. The Mayor replies that all are satisfied, with the - orphanage, which costs nothing to town or State, but which would cost the town, as a Government institution, more than £4OOO a year; that his mining county has more need of orphanages than any other part of France, and he recalls the recent catastrophe in the diocese of Arrsa, in the Clarence Mine. The Town Council of Arras has unanimously refused to purchase. Near Amiens, the Dames de la Compassion have been obliged to.close their sewing-classes (ouvroir) and infant school (garderie), and other nuns the sewingclasses they had directed at Abbeville for fifty years. The same blow has fallen on the classes for Working girls held by the nuns of La Charite.de BoUrges at Yzeure, and on those of the Sisters of Charity of St.

Vincent [ attached to the forges and to the mines of Commentry. • .;-■ ' - •'"X- The expulsion from Orleans of the nursing Sisters of Bon Secours is especially arbitrary. These nuns asked for authorisation in '■ 1901. ; No reply was made. ; Now, eleven years :.after, without any, • examination of ; their demand, the . Minister informs* them that he; will not transmit it to the Council : of State .for consideration, and that they must leave the town; which they have done. - , ~.;--. - •-/- At Trouville (well known to English tourists) the municipality maintained a 'garderie,' where 200 infants were guarded during the day, but without receiving any instruction. Although; the nuns in charge belonged to-a Congregation authorised by; the law, and' although the Town "Council, echoing J the .general wish- of ' the townsfolk, passed a unanimous resolution in their favor, they were ordered by the. Government to leave. As these 200 babies will, in great part, be left without proper care, nearly 10,000 inhabitants of Trouville signed A Petition to the Minister of the Interior begging for the maintenance of the Sisters. ! As the first care of the Government is to stamp out Christianity, this petition shared the fate of so many others, and the nuns were expelled. The Prefect of the Jura has given notice to the nursing, religious to quit ontarlier. Yet, a few years ago, his subaltern, the SubPrefect, called in one of these nuns to nurse his wife. The astounding' case of Sister Valentinien of Penquestel has already been related. Fined for gratuitously tending the sick for more than twenty years, she was unable to pay. The Mayor gave her a certificate of destitution, wh-"ch usually saves from prison. But hot in the case of, a nun. As "two gendarmes sent to arrest her dared not take, her into custody in the face of the population, they came later unexpectedly in a motor car, kidnapped her on her way to early Mass, and locked her up at Lorient. In view, however, of the general reprobation, she was afterwards released. One hundred establishments of Congregations were forcibly closed last year: and the Government intend to close as many this year. ■ The foregoing cases are selected as typical. It remains to consider • various other forms of the actual persecution of Catholics.

St. Mary’s Church, Grafton, was completely gutted by a . fire, which broke - out about 4 o’clock on the morning of April 29. Nothing was saved, and the damage is estimated at £3OOO, of which insurance makes provision for only £SOO. All that as saved was a holy water font, a couple of chairs, and a table, which were in the eastern porch. The organ, vestments one set was worked by the nuns in France, and was valued at £l3othe chalices, the monstrance, gold and silver candlesticks, a number of expensive pictures, altar fittings, and the cedar sittings were all destroyed. The organ cost £IOO.