THE AMERICAN. u 1 V J. " J, ft v I we hope Americans will note the fact that: "It li well enough known that by Canon law all ecclesiastics and, by greater right, bishops are personally exempt from secular courts, whether In ecclesiastical causes, or in causes either civil or criminal, unless the Holy See by a concordant takes away their privilege." This is in harmony with the concep tion of the relations of the civil to the ecclesiastical power maintained by the occupants of the papal throne for cen turies. In this country the forms un der which it expresses itself are lim ited, but nevertheless the principle Is involved. Indeed it is in an apostolic letter to the archbishops and bishops of the United States of so late a date as January 5, 18;5, that Leo XIII. eays: "It would be very erroneous to draw the conclusion that in America is to be sought the type of the most desira ble state of the church, or that it would be universally lawful or expedient for state and church as In America to be dissevered and divorced She would bring forth more abundant fruits if, in addition to liberty, she enjoyed the favor of the laws and the patronage of the public authority." What this signifies, in the mind of Leo XIII. can perhaps be fairly infer red from quoting from his favorite philosopher and teacher, Thomas Aquinas, in relation to the rights of the papacy. This leading theologian of the Ro man church says: "In the pope is the summit of power when any one is denounced ex communicate by his decision on ac count of apostasy, his subjects are im mediately freed from his dominion and their oath of allegiance to him." Bellarmine tells us that in his book on the "Rule of Princes," St. Thomas affirms: "That the pope, by divine right, hath spiritual and temporal power, as supreme king of the world." In many ways the present pope has emphasized the teachieg of this saint, declaring him in a "brief" the patron of Roman Catholic schools, urging the study of his works upon the bishops in an encyclical, and commending him in words like these: "That most sapient doctor always proceeds within the limits of the truth, as one who not only never contends with God, but always adhears to him most closely and obediently, whatever may be the way in which he discloses his secrets; as one, also, who is not less sacredly obedient to the Roman pontiff, and who reverences the divine authority in him, and holds that to be subject to the Romon pontiff is alto gether necessary to salvation." Following such a teacher we are pre pared to have Leo XIII. eay, address ing Italians in November, 1895, that: "In forming opinions, it is necessary to hold whatever things the Roman pontiffs have delivered or shall deliver and to prof 686 them openly as often as the case may demand" and to have him describe the Roman Pontiff as the one "In whom matters of eternal and immutable good have their custodian and defender in the earth." In exalt ing the papacy this same liberal pope holds and has always held that the pontiff can be in subjection to no one nor to any form of human government. He says: ' ; "The church by the will of God is a perfect society; and, as it has its own laws, so it has Its own magistrates, properly distinguished as to grade of authority, of whom the chief Is the Roman pontiff, by Divine right set over the church and subject to the au thority and judgment of God alone." If these quotations mean anything they place the papacy above all earthly power, make it subject to none, and make the pope the sole judge of his own prercgatives a claim that has never been more fully illustrated and enforced so far as they have had the power than in the present century and with the last two popes. In Italy, Leo XIII. followed in the footsteps of Pius IX., commanded the "faithful" to take no part in the na tional elections, even going so far as to declare on July 30th, 1886, that the formula, It is "not expedient" that you should participate in national elections signified it is "not permitted" that you should. In France the same autocratic hand has played a double game for years and it is fresh in the memory of all of us when at his mandate the clergy were compelled to "Right about face" and instead of supporting the claim ants to the throne were ordered to favor the Republic. And this, as no one believed, because of any change of heart but because the interests of Catholicism would be thus better served. In Germany the ominous words of Bismarck that he would never go to Canossa. and the triumphant tone of that part of the Catholic press, which claim that Emperor William has been compelled to yield to the clerical party headed by Leo XIII. at vital points, emphasizes the ultramontane teaching and practice of the present liberal pontiff, and recalls to all the world the struggle of Boniface VIII. with nonry IV. another German emperor In the eleventh century. In Mexico, Brazil and other of the lands that are Romanist, not one but has its clerical party upboldlng, under varied conditions, the most extreme views of the papacy as held in the darkest of medieval times, and this under the direct guidance of Leo XIII- In the United States we are in the midst of a struggle which Rome has deemed so important that it has sent to us as the representative of the pontiff with "supreme" powers the most ac complished diplomat If official posi tion be a basis of judgement of the papal court; a conflict that can never cease till one party or the other goes to the wall, so diametrically opposed are the demands made and things de sired to the spirit and genius of our American life and Institutions. That the reader may better judge for bimself of the nature of the conflict that is now on with the papal power not only in the United States but all over the civilized world, we append part of the Syllabus of Piui IX., which is now the law of the church and has been endorsed in all its propositions by the present pope; together with such extracts fron the encyclical Quanta Cura, to which this syllabus was ap pended, as space permits. This document was issued from the Vatican December 8, 18(14, and it has been well eald of It by Leonard Woolsey Bacon, that "In its terms, this edict applies to all liberal thought and opinion in all parts of the world. It condemns nil those convictions concerning human rights and duties which underlie the best results of modern civilization and which are incorporated with all the haoits of American thought and the fabric of American government." Published at a time when we were in the midst of the throes of our civil war it escaped that attention in this coun try which would have been gigen it in times of peace, but with the Issues forced upon us by Romanism today, and the claims of such American pre lates as Archbishop Ireland and Car dinal Gibbons that nothing in Roman ism conflicts with those fundamental principles on which rests the fabric of our institutions and laws, it is time that liberty-loving Americans had in their hands The Civil Platform of the Papacy iu the 19th Century, Extracts from the Encyclical and Syllabus in so far as they relate spec ially to the civil power and so are of Interest to American citizens and all lovers of liberty. For full test see The Vatican Council, An Inside View; 250 pages, price 50 cents. After speaking in the usual manner of the fearful condition of society in general, its heresies, errors, corrup tion, ets., etc., the worthy pontiff says: Now although hitherto we have not omitted to denounce and reprove the chief errors of this kind, yet the cause of the Catholic church and the salva tion of souls committed to us by God, and even the interests of human society, absolutely demand, that once again we should stir up your pastoral solicitude to drive away other erroneous opinions which flow from those errors above specified, as their source. These false and perverse opinions are so much the more detestable by how much they have chiefly for their object to hinder and banish that salutary influence which the Catholic church, by the in stitution and command of her divine author, ought freely to exercise, even to the consummation of the world, over not nly individual men but nations, peoples and sovereigns and to abolish that mutual co-operation and agree ment of counsels between the priest hood and governments which has al ways been propitious and conducive to the welfare of both church and state. They are authorized to publish and put forward openly all their ideas whatso ever, either by speaking, in print or by other method. You are well aware that at this time there are not a few who apply to civil society the impious and absurd princi ple of naturalism, as they term it, and dare to teach that "the welfare of the state and political and social progress require that human society should be constituted and governed irrespective of religion, which is to be treated just as if it did not exl6t, or as if no real difference existed between true and false religions." Contrary to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, of the church, and of the holy fathers, these persons do not hesi tate to assert that the "best condition of human society is that wherein no duty is recognized by the government of correcting by enacted penalties the violators of the Catholic religion, ex cept when the maintenance of the pub lic peace requires it." From this totally false notion of social govern ment, they fear not to uphold that er roneous opinion most pernicious to the Catholic church and to the salvation of souls, which was called by our prede cessor Gregory XVI., above quoted, the insanity, (Encycl., 13th August, 1832,) (deliramentum), namely, that "liberty of conscience and of worship is the right of every man; and that this right ought, in every well-governed state, to be proclaimed and as serted by the law; and that the citizens possess the right of being unrestrained In the exercise of any kind of liberty, by any lay, ecclesiastical or civil, so that they are authorized to publish and put forward openly all tbeir idea whatsoever, either by speaking, In print, or by any other method." After calling this "the liberty of per dition" Pius IX. proceed to y that: Since religion has been banished from civil government; aincethe teach ing and authority of divine revelation have been repudiated, the idea insup erable therefrom of justice and human right is obscured by darkness and lost, and in place of true justice and legiti mate right, material forde is substi tuted, whence it appears why some, entirely neglecting and slighting the most certain principles of sound reason, dare to proclaim "that the will of the people manifested by public opinion (as they call it,) or by other means constitutes a supreme law lndependt nt of all divine and human right; and that, In the political order, accom plished facts, by the mere fact of their having been accomplished, have the force of right. Not content with abolishing religion In public society, they desire further to banish it from families and private life. Teaching and professing those most fatal errors of socialism and com munism, tbey declare that "domestic society or the family derives all its reason or existence solely from civil law, whence it is to be concluded that from civil law descend and depend all the rights of parents over their chil dren, and, above all, tbe right of in structing and teaching them." By such impious opinions and machina tions do these most false teachers en deavor to eliminate the salutary teach ing and influence of the Catholic church from the Instruction and educa tion of youth, and to miserably infect and deprave by every pernicious error and vice the tender and pliant minds of youth; asserting of the clergy in general, that they are the enemies of the useful sciences, of progress, and of civilization, and that they ought to be deprived of all participation in the work of teaching and training tbe youth. Others, reviving the depraving fic tions of innovators, errors many times condemned, presume with extraordi nary Impudence, to subordinate the au thority of the church and of this Apostolic See, conferred upon it by Christ our Lord, to the judgement of civil authority, and to deny all the rights of this same church and this See with regard to those things which appertain to the secular order. For these persons do not blush to affirm "that the laws of the church do not bind the conscience if they are not promulgated by the civil power; that the acts and decrees of the Roman pontiff concerning religion and the church require tho sanction and ap probation, or at least the assent, of the civil power; and that the apostolic con stitutions i(Clement XII., Benedict XIV., Pius VII., Leo XII.) condemn ing secret societies, whether these ex act or do not exact an oath of secrecy, and branding with anathema their followers and partisans, have no force in those countries of the world where such associations are tolerated by the civil government." It is likewise affirmed "that the ex communications launched by the coun cil of Trent and the Roman pontiffs against those who invade and usurp the possessions of the church and its rights, strive, by confounding the spir itual and temporal orders to attain solely a mere earthly end; that the church can decide nothing which may bind the consciences of the faithful in the temporal order of things; that the right of the church is not competent to restrain with temporal penalties the violators of her laws; and that it is in accordance with the principles of theology and of public law for the civil government to appropriate property possessed by tho churches, the relig ious orders, and other pious establish ments." And they have no shame in avowing openly and publicly the heret ical statement and principle from which have emanated so many errors and perverse opinions, "that the ec clesiastical power is not by the law of God made distinct from the indepen dent of civil power, and that no dis tinction, no independence of this kind can be maintained without the church invading and usurping the essential rights of the civil power." Neither can we pass over in silence the audacity of those who, not enduring sound doc trine, assert that "the judgements and decrees of the Holy See, the object of which is declared to concern the gen eral welfare of the church, its rights, and its discipline, do not claim ac quiescence and obedience under pain of sin and loss of the Catholic profession, if they do not treat of the dogmas of faith and of morals." How contrary is this doctrine to the Catholic dogma of the plenary power divinely conferred on the sovereign pontiff by our Lord Jesus Christ, to guide, to supervise, and govern the universal church, no one can fail to see and understand clearly and evi dently. Therefore do we by our apostolic au thority reprobate, denounce, and con demn generally and particularly all the evil opinions and doctrines spec ially mentioned in this letter, and we wish that they may be held as repro bated, denounced, and condemned by all tbe children of the Catholic church. And do not omit to teach, adds this encyclical, that the royal power has been established not 'only to exercise tbe government of the world, but, above all, for tho protection of the church, and that there U nothing more profitable and more glorious for the sovereigns of state and king than to leave tho Catholic church to exercise it laws, and not to permit any to cur tail lu liberty;" and our most wlo and courageous predecessor, St. Felix, wrote to the Emeror Zjno: "It Is certain that it is advantageous for sov ereigns, when tho cauee of God is in question, to submit tholr royal will ac cording to hi ordlnenoe, to the priest of Jesus Christ, and not to prefer It be fore them." All thi is In harmony with the doc trine advanced at tho Roman Catho lic Congress at Chicago, a voiced In the paper lead by Mr. Gang of Balti more, on the relations of the Catholic Church to the Social, Civil and Politi cal Institutions of the United States: "We have among us our prophet of Israel, divinely commissioned, a were the holy men of old, to guide, Instruct, ennoble, and elevate the nation: and tbe American people will have achieved their highest glory when they seek the words of wisdom and truth from their lips; when they voluntarily eubmlt to tbe gentle ministrations of the priests and bishops of the holy Catholic chuieh." The Syllabus of the Prlnclal Krrors of Our Time, Kto., Kto." Each of tho propositions here quoted are errors, and the reader need to pre face each one of them with the word, "it is an error to say that": Proposition 15. Every man Is free to embrace and profess the religion he shall believe true, guided by the light of reason. Prop. 18. Men may In any religion find the way to eternal salvation, and obtain eternal salvation. Prop. IT. We may entertain at least a well-founded hone for the eternal salvation of all those who are In no manner In the true church of Christ. Prop. 18. Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion, in which It Is possible to bo equally pleasing to God as in the Catholic church. Prop. 19. The church Is not a true, and perfect, and entirely free society, nor does she enjoy peculiar and per petual rights conferred upon her by her Divine Founder, but it appertain to the civil power to define what are the right and limits with which the church may exercise authority. Prop. 20. The ecclesiastical power must not exercise its authority without the permission and assent of the civil government. Prop. 21. The church ha not the power of defining dogmatically that the religion of the Catholic church Is the only true religion. Prop. 23. The Roman pontiffs and 3umenlcal councils have exceeded the limits of their power, have usurped the rights of princes, and have even com mitted errors in defining matter of faith and morals. Prop. 24 The church has not the power of availing herself of force, or any direct or indirect tamporal power. Prop. 25. In ad iition to the author ity inherent in the episcopate, a fur ther and temporal power Is granted to it by the civil authority, either ex pressly or tacitly, which power Is on that account also revocable by the civil authority whenever it pleases. Prop. 27. The ministers of the church and the Roman pontiff ought to be absolutely excluded from all charge and dominion over temporal affairs. Prop. 28. Bishops have not the right of promulgating even their aj08 tolical letters, without the permission of the government. Prop. 29. Dispensations granted by the Roman pontiff must be considered null, unless they have been asked for by the civil government. Prop. 30. The immunity of the church and of ecclesiastical person de rives its origin from civil law. VI. Error About Civil Society, lloth In It nelfand In Ita Relation to the Church. Prop. 39. The republic Is the origin and source of all rights, and possesses rights which are not circumscribed bv any limit. Prop. 40. The teaching of the Catho lic church is opposed to the well-being and interests of society. Prop. 41. The civil power even when exercised by an infidel sovereign, pos sesses an indirect and negative power over religious affairs. It therefore possesses not only the right called that of exequatur, but that of the (so-called) appldatio ab abusu. The power of authorizing official acts of the papal power, and of correcting the alleged abuses of the same. Prop. 42. In the case of conflicting law between the two powers, the civil law ought to prevail. Prop. 43. The civil power has a right to break, and to declare and ren der null the conventions (commonly called concordats) concluded with the Apostolic See, relative to the use of rights appertaining to the ecclesiasti cal immunity, without the consent of the Holy See, and even contrary to its protest. Prop. 45. The entire direction of public school. In which tho youth of Christian tate are educated, except (to a certain extent) In the care of Episcopal seminaries, may and must appertain to the civil power, and be long to It to far, that no other author ity whatsoever shall be recognized a having any right to Interfere in the discipline of the school, the arrange men toft lie ttudies, the taking of de gree, or tho choice and approval of teacher. Prop. 46. Much more, even In cleri cal seminaries, the method of study to bo edopted la subject to the civil au thority. Prop. 47. Tho best theory of civil society requires, that popular school opan to the children of all classes, and generally, all public institute. Intended for Instruction In letter and philoso phy, and for conducting the education of tho young, should bo freed from all ecclesiastical authority, government and Interferenee, and ihould be fully subject to the civil andlpolltlcal power, In conformity with the will of ruler and the prevalent opinions of the age. Prop. 4S. Thl system Jof Instruct ing youth, which consist In separat ing It from the Catholic faith and from the power of the church, and In teach ing exclusively, or at least primarily, the knowledge of natural ithlngs and the earthly end of soelal life alone, may bo approved by Catholic. Prop. 4'J. Tho civil power ha the right to prevent ministers of religion, and the faithful, from communicating freely and mutually with each other, and with the Roman pontiff. Prop. 53 Tho law for the 'protec tion of religious establishments, and securing their right and duties, ought to be abolished; nay mora, J the civil government may lend Its assistance to all who deslro to 'quit the religious life they have'undertakon, and break their vow. The government may also suppress religious orders, 'collegiate churches, and simple ""benefices, even those belonging to private ipatronago, and submit their 'goods ;and revenue to the administration and disposal of tho civil power. Prop. 55. Tae church ought to be separated from the state, and .the state from the church. VIII. Krrors Conceraliig't,hrltUn Mar riage. Prop. 65. It cannot be by any mean tolerated, to maintain, that Christ ha raised marriage to the dignity of a sacrament. Prop. 67. By the law of jnature, the marriage tie Is not indissoluble, and In many case divorce, proporlyjso called, may be pronounced by theolvll,author Ity. Prop. 68. The church TJha not the power of laying down what are diri ment impediments to marriage. The civil authority d09 possess -Jsuch a power, and can do away with existing Impedimenta ofimarrlage. Prop. 70. The canons of the-Councll of Trent, which pronouncej'censure of anathema against those iwho deny to the church the right of laying down what are diriment impediments, either are not dogmatic, or must be under stood as referring only tO'Jsuoh bor rowed power. Prop. 71. The form of solemnizing marriage prescribed by the said coun cil, under penalty of nullity, does not bind In cases where Jthe -civil law has appointed another form, and where it decrees that this new foria shall effect uate a valid marriage. (Id. Ibid.) Prop. 73. A merely .'civil contract may, amon; Christians, constitute a true marriage; and it is false either that the rnirrlage contrast, between Christians is always a' sacrament, or that the contract is null Jif the sacra ment be excluded. Prop. T4. Matrimonial causes and espousals belong by their very nature to civil jurisdiction. Prop. 77. In the present day, it is no longer expedient that jjthe Catholic religion shall be held as the- only re ligion of tbe state, to the exclusion of all other modes of worship. Prop. 78. Whence it has been wisely provided by law, In some countries called Catholic, that persons coming to reside therein shall enjoy the public exercise of their own worship. Prop. 80. The Roman pontiff can and ought to reconcile himself to, and agree with progress, liberalism, and civilization as lately introduced. In the light of the official and now infallible utterances on Roman Catho lic theories of which the quotations In this number of the American Chau tauqua Series are but a partial lllus tration, on what grounds do these Ro man Catholics stand who claim to be American In sentiment. Every bishop is sworn to obey these laws and all the laws and canons of the church and the dictum of the popes Are they in their professed loyalty to American institutions and to our American liberties honest, or Ignorant or are they Jesuits availing themselves of that doctrine of "Mental Reserve," which enables one to take an oath in a court of justice in the most solemn manner and form, and by adding men tally a simple negative to nullify it all. Victor Iramauuel Kxcoiumitttiratd. Whether the particular form of curs ing here quotod or tho one given in Dowlings' History of Romanism as having been printed at tho time In the Philadelphia papers, or somo other of the fouler and coarser form, furnished u hy Roman Catholic authorities, mat ter not. The simple (act that In tho 19lb century the king who stood for civil liberty a against ecclesiastical domination was visited with tit major excommunication in any form and the Italian people warned In the terms of thl allocution a to the censure and p.-naltle Incurred, and that In doing thl l'iu IX. did not "exceed the limit of hi power," "or commit an error la faith or morals" (See Prop. 23, of Syl labus) should command the attention of all thoughtful citizen of the repub lic Tbe excommunication here given 1 Leo's translation of one given by Baluze, and no one who know the au- thorit will quostlon it genuineness or the correctness of the translation. A Porm of Major Kicomuiunlratlon. "By tho authority of God, the om nipotent Father, and of tbe Son, and ot tbe Holy Ghost, and of tho acred canon, and of the holy and unsullied Virgin Mary, the mother of God, and of all tho heavonly virtues, angola, archangel, thronos, domination, poers, cherubim and Boraphlm, and of the holy patriarch, prophet and of all the apostle and evangelists, and of the holy innocent who alone are worthy In tho light of the Limb to ting the new song, and of the holy martyr and the holy coafoor, and tho holy virgin, and of all the saint and elect oi uou we excommunicate and we expel him from the holy church of God, that he may be delivered over toevernal torment, with Dithan and Ablram, and with those who cried to tho Lord God, "Away from us, wo wish not to know thy ways.' And a fire 1 quenched with water, so may hi light be quenched for ever and ever unless he repent and render full satisfaction. Amen. Be ha accursed of God tho Father, who created man; accursed of God tho San who suffered for man; accursed of the Holy Ghoat which comotb In baptism; aocursed of tbe holy cross, which tbe triumphant Christ ascended for our salvation; ao cursed of St. Michael, the receiver of blessed souls; aooursod of the angels and archangels, tho princai and pow er, and all the host of heavon; ao cursed of St. John, the forerunner and baptlzer of Christ; aooursod of St. Peter and St. Paul and St. Andrew and all the apostle of Christ, and the other disciples, and the four evangelists who converted the world; acoursod of tho wonder-working bind of oonfossor and mirtyrs, whose good work have been pleasing to God; accursed of all the holy virgins who have shunned tho world for the lova of Christ; acoursod of all the Balnts beloved of Gol from the beginning even unto the end of the world; aciursel of heaven aid ot the earth, and of all that i holy therein. Let him be aocursed wherever he may bo, whether at horns, or abroad, In the road or in the path or in the wood or in the water, or in the church. Let him be accursed living and dying, eating, drinking, fasting or athlrst, slumbering, Bleeping, wiklng, walking, standing, sitting, lying, working, Idling and bleeding. Let him be aocursed in all the force of hi body. Let him be acoursod out side and inside; aocursed in his hair, and acoursed in his brain; accursed in the crown of his head, in hi temple, in hi forehead, In hi ears, in hi brows, in his eyes, in nls cheek, in his jiws, in hi nostrils, la his front teeth, in his bick teeth, in his lips, in his throat, in hi shoulders, in hi upper arms, in hi lower arm 4, in hi hands, in his fingers, In hln breast, In his heart, la his liver, in his stomach, in his kidney, in hi loins, in hi hips in hi thighs, in hi knees, in his shins, in his feat, in his toe and in his nails. Let nlm be aocursel in every part of his body. Let there be no health in him, from the crown of his heal to the sole of his feet. May Christ, the Son of the living God, curse him through out His kingdom, and may heaven with all its virtues riso up against him to his damnation ualess iho repeat and rendersdueealisfaction. Amen! Amen! (Hailstone's Vaticanism, On pages 175, etc., of this book Glad stone give the followlngjillustratioa of the invasion of the province of the civil power under Plus IX., as illus trating tho present attitude of the papacy. In his allocutlonjof the 22d of. January, 1S55, Piux IX. doclared to be absolutely nullud void.allacts of the government of Piedmont which he held to be in prejudice of therlghts of religion, the church and the Roman see, and particularly law proposed for the suppression of the monastic orders, as moral entities that is to say as civil corporation. 2. Oa the 26th of July, in the same year, Pius IX. sent forth tanother allo cution, In which he citedj various acts of the government of Spain, including the establishment ofltoleration for non Roman worship ani the-secularizition of ecclesiastical property; and of his own apostolical Jauthorlty he declared all the laws thereto relatlng'to bo abro gated, totally null and.ot no effect 3 On the 221 of JJune, 1862, in an other allocution, Pius IX. recited the provisions of an Austrian law of tho previous December which established freedom of opinion, of-theipress, of be lief, of conscience, of"scleace, of educa te juclu led on Pane . ,