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About The American. (Omaha, Nebraska) 1891-1899 | View Entire Issue (May 10, 1895)
.0 0 THE AMERICAN", A WEEKLY NEv. "AMERICA FOR AMERICANS." We hold that all men are A nerlcans who Swear Allegiance to the United Kiaht without a mental nervation in favor of the l'ojw. PRICE FIVE CENT VOLDMK V. OMAHA, NEBRASKA, Fill DAY, MAY 10, 1895. NUMBKR 19 i d 1 j ' if, i i Ik 8 i i t ROME'S INQUISITION. It Was Not More Terrible in the Dark kg es Than it is Today. A Vivid Picture of it Taints by the Masterly IVn ttf Key. Justin 1). Ful ton, 1). D. "Master. Muster, and kissed hliu."-Mark 14 4S. Judas Israriot was the progenitor of the inquisition. His betrayal of the Son of God with a kiss was a type and a prophesy. Koine has good names for devilish and inhuman practices. The ward inquisition originally meant inquiry, but Jinked with Koine it means indescribable barbarity. Nothing could be more harmless than the name. Nothing1 more terrible than the thing. Rome and the inquisition are iuseper- ably linked together, because they are parts of each other. The inquisition lives now because Koine lives. It is now what it was in spirit, because the spirit of Rome remains unchanged. Rome boasts her "semper eadein,? and practices, whenever she can, the hor rible atrocities which distinguished her in the past. The inquisition in the minds of men means the tiger spirit. Judas' kiss is the kiss of 'the serpent before it strikes its victim with the fang of the adder. The holy office is the title it assumed for its place of business. With saintly look it poses before the public eye, as with merciless cruelty its instigator and master, the inquisitor, tortures the innocent, and with delight listens to the wail of the condemned. For a thousand years these trained instrumentalities of treachery have, done their work with the persistence of the slouth-hound and the blood thirstiness of the savage. "Kun with your nose to earth Run. blood-hound, run. and sent out The lovers of truth, the doers of righteous ness." This was the command the pope gave his minions in the past, where he had supreme control. The same spirit characterizes Rome at this hour. In many a home this is known. There are many that hate Koine, but dare not tell what .they know concerning its damning deeds lest they die. There are men who are afraid to confess Christ because of this inquisitorial hate, watched and attended by inquis itorial power." The inquisition found its origin in the purpose of Rome to kill or cure heresy. The Messiah, the apostles, and the fathers for several ages op posed, in word and deed, all compulsion and persecution. The Son of Man came not to destroy but to save the lives of men No two characters ever displayed a more striking contrast than the Messiah and the inquisitor. The Messiah was clothed in mercy. The inquisitor was drenched in blood. The tear of compassion stained the cheek of the divine Saviour. The storm of vengeance infuriated the face of the inquisitorial tormentor. The apostles walked in the footsteps of their divine Master. They suffered persecution but they never persecuted. A persecuted church is almost in evitably a pure church, and the men who stood for Christ, with the stake before their eyes, have been described by an inquisitor "as modest and well regulated. They do not accumulate wealth, but are content with necessar ies. They are to be known by their modesty and perci-sion of speech, avoid ing scurility and detraction and light words and lies and oaths." Roman ists declare that scandals in the church were the cause, if not the justification, of heresy. "Six centuries have passed since the Cathari broke with Rome, and cast aside all machinery of the church. To them the church of Rome was the synagogue of satan, in which salvation was impossible. Conse quently the sacraments, the sacrifices of the altar, the suffrages and inter position of the virgin and saints, purgatory, relics, images, crosses, holy water, indulgences, and the other de vices by which the priest procured sal vation for the faithful were rejected, as well as the tithes and oblations which rendered the procuring of sal vation so profitable." St. Bernard says of the Cathari: "If you interro gate them, nothing can be more christian; as to their conversation, nothing can be less reprehensible, and what they speak they prove by deeds. He cheats no one, he oppresses no one, he strikes no one, he eats not the bread of idleness, his hands labor for his livelihood." Yet tens of thousands of them are slain by pitiless Rome. Dominic, the inventor of the inquisi tion, was well qualified for his office. He possessed all that impregnable cruelty which enabled his mind to soar above every feeling of compassion, and to extract pleasure from scenes of I torture and misery. The torments of heretic were his enjoyment. The so called saint, in satanic and Undated malignity, enjoyed the spectacle of his victim's bleeding veins, dislocated joints. torn nerves and lacerated limbs, quivering and convulsed with agony. During the crusade against the Albigenses, though a pretended mis sionary, he encouraged the holy war riors of the cross in the work of massacre and murder." Edgar's Var iations of Popery, p. 258. "The holy office, as well as the holy war, showed Dominic's cruelty. Dislocating the joints of the Waldesian man or woman afforded him his amusement. This was done by suspending his victim by a cord, affixed to his arms, that were brought behind the back, which, being raised by a wheel, lifted off the ground the victim who refused to confess, till forced by the violence ofjtorture. His saintship, by words and miracles, con victed 1H0 Albigenses, who were at one time committed to the flames." I. 25'). In 119H Innocent III. sent into South ern France Cistercian Monks Reimer and Gui, to eonvert the Manicheans, with which those parts swarmed; to excommunicate the obstinate and to command the lords to confiscate the possessions of the excommunicated, to banish them and punish them with severity. Those commissioners forced the lords to surrender to Rome or suffer the sequestration of their estates. They were then the called inquisitors. In 123.S, at the towncil of Narbonne, and at Beziers in 124d, the power was given to the inquisitors to go on with their work, and a rule of ordinance of thirty-seven articles was given them as the basis of procedure, which have been observed since that time, in the tribunal of the inquisition. The in-j quisition came at the call of ignorance, superstition, tyranny, and covered the people with the pall of night. The home of the inquisition was the convent. May it not be its home in America at this hour, as it was In Europe? In 1244 Frederick II. increased UlPlr power by declaring himself their pro tector, and decreed That the clergy should join in the hunt for heresy, and that the lay judges' should proscribe heretics after the former had heard them. At this time th'e war was opened against the WaldcnsV.ins ' In 1525 in quisitors were appointed against the Lutherans, by a bull of Pope Clement VII. Upon any caprice these zealots would publish crusades against the heretics, and seize the possessions of nnocent persons, upon the false pre tense of being heretics. Milan and Rome were nearly ruined by the sedi tions raised by them, and nothing was heard all over Italy but 'bitter com plaints against the inquisition and in quisitors. In 1.S45 the inquisition, composed of twelve cardinals, presided over by the pope, began to do business in the Eternal City. Venice refused to have the tribunal established there. The innuisition found congenial soil in Spain. In 1484 all that fair land was brought under ts appalling yoke. John de Torquemada, a Dominican friar, was the confessor of Isabella, and made her promise before she came to the throne, that she would use all possible means to extirpate heresy in her dominions. She kept her vow. She who is praised as the one who pledged her jewels to Columbus, was a woman that looked with approbation upon the most terrible persecutions, and viewed with apparent delight the sufferings of the martyrs as they burned at the stake Alexander VI. was pope. As priest, as bishop, and as cardinal, he had been the synonym of all that was had. He lived with a woman, and by her had two daughters. One of them he placed in a nunnery, and the other became his mistress or wife, and by her had four children, one of whom beeame the famed Lucretia Borgia, who presided over the council of cardinals, dressed in a thin gauze veil not thick enough to conceal her person, and had at one time in Rome 50,000 houses of ill-fame, which poured their disgraceful rev enue, under her supervision, into the lap of the Roman Catholic church. Henry Charles Lea, in his history of the inquisition, shows that, as the twelfth century drew to its close, there was a state of things in the church calculated to appall the stauuehest heart. The ancient independence of the episcopate was no more. The pope was master, and through bishop and priest ruled with an iron hand. It was felt that the destiny of all men lay in the hands which could administer or withhold the sacraments essential to salvation. Not only did the humblest priest wield a supernatural power, which marked him as one elevated above the common level of humanity, but his person was inviolable, and his possessions could not be interfered with. No matter what crimes he night commit, secular justice could not take cognizance of them, and secular officials could not arrest him ' I'age 2. "1 lie church militant was thus an army encamped on the soil of Christendom, with its outposts every where, subject to the most efficient discipline, animated with a common purpose, every soldier panoplied with inviolability and armed with the tre meudous weapon which slew the soul." Page 4. The degradation and pollution of the clergy outpusses belief. Hildebert le Mails pictures them as "stone in understanding, wood as to rendering judgement, tire as to wrath, iron as to forgiveness, foxes in deceit, bulls in pride, and iiiinotaurs in consuming everything." Page 20. "Bishops did not blush to derive a filthy gain from licentiousness universal among a celibate clergy, by exacting a tribute known as 'cullagium,' on payment of which the priest was permitted to have his concubine in peace." Page 21. "Deprived as was the priesthood of the gtatitication afforded by marriage to the natural instincts of man, the wife was best succeeded by a concu bine, at worst by a succession of para mours, for which the functions of the priest and confessor gave peculiar op portunity. So thoroughly was this recognized that a man confessing an illicit amour was forbidden to name the partner of his guilt, for fear it might lead the confessor into the temptation of abusing the knowledge of her frailty." Page 31. "The scan dals were the cause, if not the justi fication of heresy." Page 61. I. The inquisition was the ripened flower grown on the etora of hate, which found iu root in the loss of respect and consequent power with the people. It was an attempt to bring back the dis affected into a church which was be coming odious to all who cared for decency and virtue. Independent of control and organized to wreak venge ance, stirred in the heart, by contempt felt, for the priests whose conduct dis graced humanity to such an extent that to be "as bad as a priest" was the climax of comparison, we are not sur prised at the treatment of prisoners. Shut into a dungeon, from which friendship and help was excluded, with but little choice as to what be shall eat or drink. Only in case of sickness is any humanity shown. No noise Is per mitted in the cells, not even coughing. No two prisoners is lodge in one cell except they be husband and wife. A day or two after a prisoner is brought in, his hair is cut off and his head shaved. He may pass months and years without a trial, about which, if it conn s, there is no fairness nor justice. If, in hopes of escape, he confesses guilt, his goods are confisea ed. If he asserts his innocence, he is without an advocate, and has no way of contradict ing the charges in ail o against him, and then, if condemned, he loses all, and is sent to the unto He fe, or act of faith, where, after much ceremony, they are di livered over to the judge, who, with out passing upon their trial, asks them in what religion they wish to die. If they reply in the church of Rome, they are strangled and then burned, and if in the faith of Christ, they are burned alive. At the place of execution stakes about four feet high have a small board on which the prisoner is seated, within a half yard of the op. Two Jesuits con duct the prisoner and advise h.m to be reconciled to the church of Rome. If he refuses, the Jesuit comes down and the executioner ascends; and having chained the body close to the stake, the Jesuit returns to persuade him to re cant, and if he still refuses, he declares that the devil is at his elbow and will carry his soul to hell. Upon this a great shout is raised. Then they make a beard for him by pressing lighted fuses fastened to a long pole against his face. This is continued until the face is burned to a coal, and is alw;iy accompanied with loud acclamations of joy- Then comes the fire, wh'ch is so lighted that if there be a wir.d his limbs will be roasted, while the body is unharmed. There cannot b i a. more terrible spectacle than is h-jro ex hibited. In this manner did Rime extinguish every light possible which Christ had kindled. Time and space forbids that we uncover the terrible sufferings endured in the trial where the victim was left to the merciless cruelty of the inquisitors Should you descend into the pit of its abominations, you would find a church distinguished for treachery, bribery, perjury and cor ruption, using Its power to brutalize, degrade and 6tupefy the children of men. The vicars of the church were the worst of the lot. In them the wicked ness of the church seemed to blossom and bring forth fruit. They persecuted for opinions' sake; they sought to des- troy liberty of thought, and endeavored to make of every brain a bastilo in which the mind should be a convict and every tongue and lip a prironer watched by a familiar of the Inqulsl tlon, who threatened punishment, I in prlsonment, and burnings here and eternal burnings hereafter. Romanism preferred maglo to medicine, relics to remedies, priests to physicians, thought more of astrologer than of astronomy. It hated science, and op- possej every discovery calculated to improve the condition of mankind There Is no crime that the Roman Catholic church did not commit, no cruelty that It did not practice, no form of treachery that It did not reward, and no virtue that it did not persecute, The inquisition was a court owing no allegiance to temporal authority, and was superior to all earthly tribunals, It condemned not deeds but thoughts It arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession and then punished with lire. The witnesses and those to separate facts were sufficient to confine tho vie- Urn to a loathsome dungeon. Here he was introduced to the rack, where the criminal's only advocate was his forli tude. Think of a tender maiden, loving Christ, sflpped raked and stretched upon the wooden bench. Water, weights, Ores and screws, pulleys all the apparatus by which the sinews could be strained without cracking, the bones crushed without breaking, and the body racked without giving up the ghost were now put in deration. The executioner, enveloped in a black robe from head to foot, with his eyes glaring at his victim through holes cut in the hood which concealed his face, practiced successfully all the forms of torture which devilish ingenuity could invent. It is one of the proud boasts of Protestant Englishmen that, though an attempt was made in the time of Bloody Mary to introduce the Inquisition into Great Britain, though the Lollards hud been perse cuted aud martyr Ores had been kin dled, yet that abode of the British lion never sank to such a dept h -of shame as to make a home for the inquisition. Into Portugal it went as to the manor born, and wherever Spain and Portugal made e. inquests, whether in the old or new world, they carried the inquisition after the same methods and under the sane regulations as at Rome. t " . ... II. ....:. . In Europe the fruits of the Inquisi tion were desolate fields, commerce de stroyed, industries paralyzed, educa tion banished and the foundations of a faith In Christ utterly subverted. France and Italy are both suffering from the blight produced by the reign of persecution to which thise countries were subjected by the bate of Rome. In America the fruits of the inquisi tion are seen In the fear that holds so ciety In thrall, the manner in which society tolerates the despotic methods of Rome in convents, in churches, in parochial schools, and In every town where Rome has power. It is an alarm ing fact that Rome claims to have the middle of the road in the land conse crated to liberty. Conduct is tolerated in Romish priests that is a disgrace to our civilization, and would not be en dured were it not for fear of the in quisitorial might of Rome. Convents cannot bd inspected hero as in Italy or in France. As a result, crimes are going on undi r their shelter ing wing which should startle the com munity. In "Why Priests Should Wed," pp. 178 11)!), are facts Btatcd on authority which has never been denied, showing that virtue is trampled on and life is as ruthlessly tiken here In Amer ica as was ever done in the darkest of the dark ages in Italy. Who speaks of i? In "How to Win Romanists" is a chapter entitled "Nunneries, Prisons and Worse," pp. 348 307, in which are facts given which the American people must very 60on look in the lace and act as it becomes them, or we shall make such a surrender to Itome as is utterly unworthy of a free people. It has been said that Rome does this without the sanction of the United States govern ment. II'.-re, as elsewhere, silence gives consent. It is a shame and a disgrace that Rome is permitted to terrorize ( o igrcss and our state legislatures to ii;h an extent that crime goes unpun-i.-h;d. The boycott is the fruit of this in q lisib r ul spirit. Merchants dismiss Protectant el v k ; ar.d employ Roman Catholics for trie sake of gain when it is known that Protestant trade is far more profitable. Let Americans stand for their own, and this can be checked. The convents can be examined, In accordance with laws that shall be placed on our statute books. The tyranny of Rome can be broken by legal process. Rome is bent on the mastery. Millions are taught to believe that this country is to come into the hands of Rome. Is there not a reason for it? Think of $13,000,000 given to Rome by congress since Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by Roman Catholics. Why these cells in convents and churches now going up In all our cities?" III. The remedy is found In truth-telling concerning the purpose and plana of Rome. Romanists as ferocious and as vile at ever waged war In Europe are here determined on holding la thrall their NH)plo, anJ by terrorizing Prot estants, gain the mastery. Resist this devil In Rome and he will flee from you. Insist upon Roman Catholics conform ing io l tie law. A priest stood across the path of a commissioner who wont to examine a parochial school. Behold him arrested and fined. Another got possession of $40,000, because a dying Romanist believed that the priest could deliver his soul. The wife, a Roman Cat hollo, went to a Protest ant church, got her eyes 'qiencd, sued for her money and got It becauie the priest could not prove that ho had delivered the goods. Such facts strip off the mask of Rome. An undertaker recently sued a priest who had told his eoplc not to employ him, and recovered a handsome sum. This is America. Make Rome behave herself, and the inquisitorial power of Rome will fade away, and In its stead will come an emancipated people ready to make America the homo of the free and the lighthouse of the world. Justin D. Fulton. PRIESTS LOSE A LEUACY. Mm tj Relative of a Lunatic Contests Her Will ami Wins. A decision affecting the Interests of a number of Roman Catholic institutions has been handed down by Justice Bar rett, of the New York supreme court, under the will of Mrs. Ann ElizaOwens, who died in July, 181)0, aged 82 years. Mrs. Owens had a life Interest In valu able property left by her husband, and upon her death it was to revert to her two daughters. They, however, both died a short time before her, and, by the provisions of her will, she hequi athed one-third of her estate to St. Lawrence's Roman Catholic Church, one-third to the sis ters of that church, and ono-thfrd to the Home for the Aged of the Little Sisters of the Poor. She had executed a deed some time prior to her death, convejing some of her real estate to the College of St. Francis Xavier. Mrs Owens had been adjudged insane in May, 1873, and im mediately after her death a fight over her estate was begun. It was started n the surrogate's court with a contest over the will, brought in the name of her niece, Mary Lavelle, upon the round that the old lady was insane when she made the will, and that its execution had been brought about by ndue influence. The will, neverthe- ess, was sustained. The will has been kept in litigation by the niece, in actions to set aside the el conveying the property to the College of St. Francis Xavier, to upset the will, and also for a partition of the estato. The lust case was tried before ustico Barrett for a partition of the property 58 Woes tor street and 151 Fast Eighty-first street, New York, and indirectly to attack the validity of the will. The judge holds that the devise to St. Lawrence's Roman Catholic Church is cor.cedidly void, and that to the Home for the Aged of the Little Sisters of the Poor conceded ly valid. The de bated question was as to the devise to the sisters of charity attached to St. Lawrence's Chur;h, and the judge de cides that this cannot bo uphold, for the reason that it was made to the sisters in their individual capacity, whereas the Intention of the Ustatrix was that this one-third should bo given to these sisters of charity as such; that is, for their use and benefit, not as in dividuals, but as sister of charity. SHE DECORATED THE ALTAR. And Also Tried to Destroy the Eyes of a Heretic. The Lowell (Mass.) Scmi-Wctkly Her ald is a wide-awake patriotic news paper. It possesses a young man who peddles the paper upon the street who is a marvel in the way of courage and stick-to-itiveness. He has been bullied, abused, arrested, knocked down, kicked and assaulted upon a dozen resiiective occasions, but still continuesdoing busi ness at the old sUnd. Recently .Mary A. Hodder, who decorates the altar of the papal church of the Immaculate Conception, conceived the holy and Christ-like idea of ruining the eye sight of the enterprising and plucky news vender. Accordingly, having pro cured a quantity of red-pepper, threw it in the eyes of O'Xeil, whose only offense was that he had dartd to exer cise his right as an American citizen. Mary was arrested and fined $25. but, as the priest probably paid the fine and threw in $25 worth of absolution to bin t, no one Is Injured much except Mr. O'Nell. It would not bo a bad Idea to give the papists of Lowell a conclusive lesson la the supremacy of American law by administering the full jMinally to a few of these medhi'val thugs. Fulllllid the Script ii res. Atchison, Kan., May 8. Two little boys attending the parochial school failed to return homo at the usual hour or even two hours later. The mother went to the tchool, only to bo informed that they had been "kept in" by Father . At 8 p. ni. she returned, to find them, crying bitterly, just leaving the school. They said they had been locked in a dark room and were hungry, cold and frightened. The parents were not able to And out whether they had been whlpied or not. The alleged reason for this outrage was that the Romish parents had attended a Protestant fu neral a few days before. This Is RomeV way of fulfilling the Scriptures that Is, "Visiting the sing of the parents on the heads of the chil dren." We will only add for the bene fit of a few Protestants whoso minds are still In a comatose state that this did not occur in priest-ridden Mexico, Rome-oursed Central America or In benighted Spain, but right here among the pagans of Kansas. (Jood Work at Moore's Hill. Mooue'b Him., Ind., May 1. Edi tor Tub American: You recollect I told you in my last letter that I had failed to get names enough to procure a charter under (which to organlzo a council of tho A. P. A. Well, a short time afterward William T. Grelncr, an organizer from BatoBvlllo, happened along and found where I had been at work, r So he conferred with mo, and we soon secured the nqulslte number of names, and about the middle of Feb ruary the new council of trcemen was duly instituted. We initiated 14 can didates at the first mooting, I the next, 2 tho next snd 4 the fourth. Tho pros pects for patriotic work are promising. was chosen president. I never saw a more earnest set of men. They mean business, every one of them. AMERICAN. Methodists in Rome. The Methodist Episcopal Church and College in Rome looks like a court house somewhat, hut It Is undoubtedly well arranged to do the work for which It Is being built. The edilW will cost $150,000, and will contain two churches, a college, two prlntlng-ofllces and rooms for societies. Their two pnpers have a combined clieulatlon of 0,000. When the new parthenon of Protestantism la dedicated, there will be 500 Methodists present from the United States to see it done. m Father Lambert. This Is not the editor of tho Free man's Journal ho is doing good work in keeping the bishops in line but it Is a man who was one of the Redemption 1st priests-a man t'f ability and elo quence, lie will goto the West Indies, and will there do an important work for the Methodists. Let sonio more of the priests leave the Church of Rome. They miy have as good a position, and will not be compel ed lo serve the Beast. Celibacy. According to Rev. Thomas Connel lan, editor of the Dublin Catholic, the pope is considering the advisability of permitting the secular clergy to wed, if they so elect. Cardinal Vaughan and some others are opposed to the pro posed innovation, but some of the bish ops favor it. Yes, it is a good idea. It should have reached full fruition long years ago. At Their 01.1 Ti ieks. Mr. Casey "I hear that the weddin' of Alderman Mullaney's daughter wor nut such a pleasant affair, after all." Mr. Noonan "How's thot?" Mr. Casey "About twinty of his ward heelers got to repeating at the supper table, an', in consequence, some av the late guests got nawthin' to ate." Buffalo Express. Well l"p in the Requirements. An Irishman recently applied for en listment in a United St.ites army re cruiting office. "Do you know anything about drill ing?" asked the officer. "I do," answered Pat. "It's 12! cents a yard at any of the dry-goods stores." Isnuhm Glubc. Feed Them Properly and carefully; reduce the painfully large percentage of infant mortality. Take no chances and make no experi ment in this very important matter. The Gail Borden Eagle Brand Con densed Milk has saved thousands of little lives. 4