{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_51634/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_51634","id":"gutenberg_51634","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51634","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Catholic Church -- Clergy -- Biography","Catholic Church -- Controversial literature","Catholic Church -- United States -- Clergy -- Biography","Catholic ex-priests -- United States -- Biography","Chiniquy, Charles Paschal Telesphore, 1809-1899","Protestant converts -- United States -- Biography"],"text":"------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n Transcriber\u2019s Note:\n\nThis version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.\nItalics are delimited with the \u2018_\u2019 character as _italic_.\n\nErrors, when reasonably attributable to the printer, have been\ncorrected. Please see the transcriber\u2019s note at the end of this text for\ndetails. Corrections made to the text are summarized there.\n\nFrench passages did not include diacritical marks (with a single\nappearance of \u2018\u00e7\u2019 on p. 54), and are presented here as printed.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n[Illustration: C. CHINIQUY]\n\n FIFTY YEARS\n IN THE\n CHURCH OF ROME.\n\n BY\n\n FATHER CHINIQUY,\n\n THE APOSTLE OF TEMPERANCE OF CANADA.\n\n AUTHOR OF \u201cTHE MANUAL OF TEMPERANCE,\u201d \u201cTHE PRIEST, THE WOMAN, AND THE\n CONFESSIONAL,\u201d\n \u201cPAPAL IDOLATRY,\u201d \u201cROME AND EDUCATION,\u201d ETC.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY,\n\n NEW YORK. CHICAGO. TORONTO.\n\n _Publishers of Evangelical Literature._\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n COPYRIGHT,\n 1886,\n BY REV. CHARLES CHINIQUY, ST. ANNE, KANKAKEE CO., ILL.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n DEDICATION.\n\n TO COLONEL EDWIN A. SHERMAN.\n\n\nAllow me to mention your name the first among the many to whom I\ndedicate this book.\n\nI owe this to you as a token of gratitude for your help in my researches\nafter the true murderers of our martyred President Abraham Lincoln.\n\nI found you as wise and honorable in your counsels as our country found\nyou brave on the battlefields of Liberty.\n\n TO THE ORANGEMEN OF THE UNITED STATES, CANADA,\n GREAT BRITAIN, AUSTRALIA, TASMANIA\n AND NEW ZEALAND,[A]\n\nthis book is also dedicated by the humblest of their brethren.\n\nOrangemen! Read this book: you will not only understand Romanism as you\nnever did, but you will find many new reasons to be, more than ever,\nvigilant, fearless and devoted, even to death, in the discharge of the\nsacred duties imposed upon you by your love for your country, your\nbrethren and your God.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote A:\n\n L. O. A. B. A. BOYNE L. O. L. No. 401.\n\n Montreal, 20th Sept., 1878.\n\n This is to Certify that Bro. C. Chiniquy was duly initiated into Boyne\n L. O. L. No. 401, and is a member in good standing, and we do\n therefore request all Brethren to receive him as such, whereof witness\n our hand and seal hereto affixed.\n\n MASTER No. 401.\n\n JOHN HAMILTON, Secretary.\n\n-----\n\n TO THE HONEST AND LIBERTY-LOVING PEOPLE OF THE\n UNITED STATES,\n\nI also dedicate this book.\n\nAmericans! You are sleeping on a volcano, and you do not suspect it! You\nare pressing on your bosom a viper which will bite you to death, and you\ndo not know it.\n\nRead this book, and you will see that Rome is the sworn, the most\nimplacable, the absolutely irreconcilable and deadly enemy of your\nschools, your institutions, your so dearly bought rights and liberties.\n\nRead this book, and you will not only understand that it is to Rome you\nowe the rivers of blood and the unspeakable horrors of the last civil\nwar: but you will learn that Romanism and Liberty can not live on the\nsame ground. This has been declared by the Popes, hundreds of times.\n\nRead this book: And you will not only see that Abraham Lincoln was\nmurdered by Rome, but you will learn that Romanism, under the mask of\nreligion, is nothing but a permanent political conspiracy against all\nthe most sacred rights of man and the most holy laws of God.\n\nIn those pages you will not learn to hate the Roman Catholics. No! But\nyou will learn to be more than ever watchful in guarding the precious\ntreasures of Freedom bestowed upon you by your fathers. You will learn\nnever to let them fall into the hands of those who, with the sacred name\nof Liberty on their lips, and the mask of Liberty on their faces, are\nsworn to destroy all Liberty.\n\n TO ALL THE FAITHFUL MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL,\n\nI also, dedicate this book.\n\nVenerable Ministers of the Gospel! Rome is the great danger ahead for\nthe Church of Christ, and you do not understand it enough.\n\nThe atmosphere of light, honesty, truth and holiness in which you are\nborn, and which you have breathed since your infancy, makes it almost\nimpossible for you to realize the dark mysteries of idolatry,\nimmorality, degrading slavery, hatred of the Word of God, concealed\nbehind the walls of that modern Babylon. You are too honest to suspect\nthem; and your precious time is too much taken up by the sacred duties\nof your ministry, to study the long labyrinth of argumentations which\nform the bulk of the greater number of controversial books. Besides\nthat, the majority of the books of controversy against Rome are of such\na dry character that, though many begin to read them, very few have the\ncourage to go to the end. The consequence is an ignorance of Romanism\nwhich becomes more and more deplorable and fatal, every day.\n\nIt is ignorance which paves the way to the triumph of Rome, in a near\nfuture, if there is not a complete change in your views, on that\nsubject.\n\nIt is that ignorance which paralyzes the arm of the Church of Christ,\nand makes the glorious word \u201cProtestant\u201d senseless, almost a dead and\nridiculous word. For who does really protest against Rome, to-day? where\nare those who sound the trumpet of alarm?\n\nWhen Rome is striking you to the heart by cursing your schools and\nwrenching the Bible from the hands of your children; when she is not\nonly battering your doors, but scaling your walls and storming your\ncitadels, how few dare go to the breach and repulse the audacious and\nsacrilegious foe?\n\nWhy so? Because modern Protestants have not only forgotten what Rome\nwas, what she is, and what she will forever be: the most irreconcilable\nand powerful enemy of the Gospel of Christ; but they consider her almost\na branch of the church whose corner-stone is Christ.\n\nFaithful ministers of the Gospel! I present you this book that you may\nknow that the monster Church of Rome, who shed the blood of your\nforefathers, is still at work, to-day, at your very door, to enchain\nyour people to the feet of her idols. Read it, and for the first time,\nyou will see the inside life of Popery with the exactness of\nPhotography. From the supreme art with which the mind of the young and\ntimid child is fettered, enchained and paralyzed, to the unspeakable\ndegradation of the priest under the iron heel of the bishop, everything\nwill be revealed to you as it has never been before.\n\nThe superstitions, the ridiculous and humiliating practices, the secret\nand mental agonies of the monks, the nuns and the priests, will be shown\nto you as they were never shown before. In this book, the sophisms and\nerrors of Romanism are discussed and refuted with a clearness,\nsimplicity and evidence which my twenty-five years of priesthood only\ncould teach me. It is not in boasting that I say this. There can be no\nboasting in me for having been so many years an abject slave of the\nPope. The book I offer you is an arsenal filled with the best weapons\nyou ever had to fight, and, with the help of God, conquer the foe.\n\nThe learned and zealous champion of Protestantism in Great Britain Rev.\nD. Badenoch, who has revised the manuscript, wrote to a friend: \u201cI do\nnot think there is a Protestant work more thrilling in interest and more\nimportant at the present time. It is not only full of incidents, but\nalso of arguments, on the side of truth with all classes of Romanists,\nfrom the bishops to the parish priests. I know of no work which gives so\ngraphically the springs of Roman Catholic life, and at the same time,\nmeets the plausible objections to Protestantism in Roman Catholic\ncircles. I wish with all my heart that this work would be published in\nGreat Britain.\u201d\n\nThe venerable, learned and so well known Rev. Dr. Kemp, Principal of the\nYoung Ladies\u2019 College of Ottawa, Canada, only a few days before his\npremature death, wrote: \u201cMr. Chinqiuy has submitted every chapter of his\n\u2018Fifty Years in the Church of Rome\u2019 to me: I have read it with care and\nwith the deepest interest; and I commend it to the public favor in the\nhighest terms. It is the only book I know that gives anything like a\nfull and authentic account of the inner workings of Popery on this\ncontinent, and so effectively unmasks its pretence to sanctity. Besides\nthe most interesting biographical incidents, it contains incisive\nrefutations of the most plausible assumptions and deadly errors of the\nRomish Church. It is well fitted to awaken Protestants to the insidious\ndesigns of the arch-enemy of their faith and liberties, and to arouse\nthem to a decisive opposition. It is written in a kindly and Christian\nspirit, does not indulge in denunciations, and, while speaking in truth,\nit does so in love. Its style is lively and its English good, with only\na delicate flavor of the author\u2019s native French.\u201d\n\n TO THE BISHOPS, PRIESTS AND PEOPLE OF ROME,\n\nthis book is also dedicated.\n\nIn the name of your immortal souls, I ask you, Roman Catholics, to read\nthis book.\n\nBy the mercy of God, you will find, in its pages, how you are cruelly\ndeceived by your vain and lying traditions.\n\nYou will see that it is not through your ceremonies, masses,\nconfessions, purgatory, indulgences, fastings, etc., you are saved. You\nhave nothing to do but to believe, repent and love.\n\nSalvation is a gift! Eternal life is a gift! Forgiveness of sin is a\ngift! Christ is a gift!\n\nRead this book, presented by the most devoted of your friends, and, by\nthe mercy of God, you will see the errors of your ways\u2014you will look to\nthe GIFT\u2014you will accept it\u2014and in its possession you will feel rich and\nhappy for time and eternity.\n\n SPECIAL NOTICE\n TO NEW EDITION.\n\n ------------------\n\n\nSince the publication of the second edition of \u201cFifty Years in the\nChurch of Rome,\u201d the incendiary torch of the foe has twice reduced into\nashes the electrotype plates, with many volumes already printed, and\nabout to be delivered to subscribers.\n\nThough those two disasters have completely ruined me financially, they\nhave not discouraged me, for my trust was in God, and in Him alone.\nRelying on His divine and paternal protection, I offer this New Edition\nto my brethren, with the prayerful hope that the Good Master will bless\nit for His glory, and the good of His elect, wherever it may go.\n\nI have no words to sufficiently bless the friends who have extended to\nme a helping hand to raise the book from its fiery grave; and I cannot\nsufficiently thank the Press, both religious and secular, of Europe and\nAmerica, for the kind appreciation given, almost everywhere, to my\nhumble labor.\n\nMay this book, with the help of God, be the means of giving liberty to\nthose who are held in the bondage of ignorance, superstition and\nidolatry, is the sincere desire of their friend,\n\n C. CHINIQUY.\n\n LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n PAGE\n\n FRONTISPIECE\u2013FATHER CHINIQUY,\n\n \u201d \u201d \u201d IN PRIEST\u2019S\n ROBES,\n\n FESTIVITIES IN A PARSONAGE, 54\n\n GRAND DINNER OF THE PRIESTS, 205\n\n CARDINAL NEWMAN, 405\n\n FALL OF THE \u201cHOLY FATHERS,\u201d 436\n\n LEO XIII., PRESENT POPE, 676\n\n ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 693\n\n CONTENTS.\n\n Page.\n\n TITLE 1\n\n DEDICATION 3-7\n\n PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION 8\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n The Bible and the Priest of Rome 9-13\n\n CHAPTER II.\n\n My first school-days at St. Thomas\u2014The Monk and 14-21\n Celibacy\n\n CHAPTER III.\n\n The Confession of Children 22-30\n\n CHAPTER IV.\n\n The Shepherd whipped by his Sheep 31-40\n\n CHAPTER V.\n\n The Priest, Purgatory, and the poor Widow\u2019s Cow 41-48\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n\n Festivities in a Parsonage 49-56\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n\n Preparation for the First Communion\u2014Initiation to 57-60\n Idolatry\n\n CHAPTER VIII.\n\n The First Communion 61-65\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n\n Intellectual Education in the Roman Catholic 66-74\n College\n\n CHAPTER X.\n\n Moral and Religious Instruction in the Roman 75-85\n Catholic Colleges\n\n\n CHAPTER XI.\n\n Protestant Children in the Convents and Nunneries 86-93\n of Rome\n\n CHAPTER XII.\n\n Rome and Education\u2014Why does the Church of Rome 94-117\n hate the Common Schools of the United States,\n and wants to destroy them?\u2014Why does she object\n to the reading of the Bible in the Schools?\n\n CHAPTER XIII.\n\n Theology of the Church of Rome: its Anti-Social 118-128\n and Anti-Christian Character\n\n CHAPTER XIV.\n\n The Vow of Celibacy 129-140\n\n CHAPTER XV.\n\n The Impurities of the Theology of Rome 141-153\n\n CHAPTER XVI.\n\n The Priest of Rome and the Holy Fathers; or, how I 154-162\n swore to give up the Word of God to follow the\n word of Men\n\n CHAPTER XVII.\n\n The Roman Catholic Priesthood, or Ancient and 163-172\n Modern Idolatry,\n\n CHAPTER XVIII.\n\n Nine Consequences of the Dogma of 173-182\n Transubstantiation\u2014The old Paganism under a\n Christian name\n\n CHAPTER XIX.\n\n Vicarage, and Life at St. Charles, Rivierre Boyer 183-194\n\n CHAPTER XX.\n\n Papineau and the Patriots in 1833\u2014The burning of 195-203\n \u201cLe Canadien\u201d by the Curate of St. Charles\n\n CHAPTER XXI.\n\n Grand Dinner of the Priests\u2014The Maniac sister of 204-215\n Rev. Mr. Perras\n\n\n CHAPTER XXII.\n\n I am appointed Vicar of the Curate of 216-226\n Charlesbourgh\u2014The Piety, Lives and Deaths of\n Fathers Bedard and Perras\n\n CHAPTER XXIII.\n\n The Cholera Morbus of 1834\u2014Admirable courage and 227-235\n self-denial of the Priests of Rome during the\n epidemic\n\n CHAPTER XXIV.\n\n I am named a Vicar of St. Roch, Quebec City\u2014The 236-241\n Rev. Mr. Tetu\u2014Tertullian\u2014General Cargo\u2014The Seal\n Skins\n\n CHAPTER XXV.\n\n Simony\u2014Strange and sacrilegious traffic in the 242-251\n so-called Body and Blood of Christ\u2014Enormous sums\n of Money made by the sale of Masses\u2014The Society\n of three Masses abolished and the Society of one\n Mass established\n\n CHAPTER XXVI.\n\n Continuation of the trade in Masses 252-260\n\n CHAPTER XXVII.\n\n Quebec Marine Hospital\u2014The first time I carried 261-267\n the \u201cBon Dieu\u201d (the wafer god) in my vest\n pocket\u2014The Grand Oyster Soiree at Mr.\n Buteau\u2019s\u2014The Rev. L. Parent and the \u201cBon Dieu\u201d\n at the Oyster Soiree\n\n CHAPTER XXVIII.\n\n Dr. Douglas\u2014My First Lesson on Temperance\u2014Study of 268-282\n Anatomy\u2014Working of Alcohol in the Human\n Frame\u2014The Murderess of her own Child\u2014I forever\n give up the use of Intoxicating Drinks\n\n CHAPTER XXIX.\n\n Conversions of Protestants to the Church of 283-293\n Rome\u2014Rev. Anthony Parent, Superior of the\n Seminary of Quebec: His peculiar way of finding\n access to the Protestants and bringing them to\n the Catholic Church\u2014How he spies the Protestants\n through the Confessional\u2014I persuade ninety-three\n Families to become Catholics\n\n\n CHAPTER XXX.\n\n The Murders and Thefts in Quebec from 1835 to 294-303\n 1886\u2014The night Excursion with two Thieves\u2014The\n Restitution\u2014The Dawn of Light\n\n CHAPTER XXXI.\n\n Chambers and his Accomplices Condemned to 304-312\n death\u2014Asked me to prepare them for their\n terrible Fate\u2014A week in their Dungeon\u2014Their\n Sentence of Death changed to Deportation to\n Botany Bay\u2014Their Departure for exile\u2014I meet one\n of them a sincere Convert, very rich, in a high\n and honorable position in Australia in 1878\n\n CHAPTER XXXII.\n\n The Miracles of Rome\u2014Attack of Typhoid 318-334\n Fever\u2014Apparition of St. Anne and St.\n Philomene\u2014My Sudden Cure\u2014The Curate of St. Anne\n Du Nord, Mons. Ranvoise, almost a disguised\n Protestant\n\n CHAPTER XXXIII.\n\n My Nomination as Curate of Beauport\u2014Degradation 335-342\n and Ruin of that place through Drunkenness\u2014My\n opposition to my nomination useless\u2014Preparation\n to Establish a Temperance Society\u2014I write to\n Father Mathew for advice\n\n CHAPTER XXXIV.\n\n The Hand of God in the establishment of a 343-350\n Temperance Society in Beauport and Vicinity\n\n CHAPTER XXXV.\n\n Foundation of Temperance Societies in the 351-359\n neighboring Parishes\u2014Providential arrival of\n Monsignor De Forbin Janson, Bishop of Nancy\u2014He\n publicly defends me against the Bishop of Quebec\n and forever breaks the opposition of the Clergy\n\n CHAPTER XXXVI.\n\n The God of Rome eaten by Rats 360-367\n\n CHAPTER XXXVII.\n\n Visit of a Protestant stranger\u2014He throws an Arrow 368-373\n into my Priestly Soul never to be taken out\n\n CHAPTER XXXVIII.\n\n Erection of the Column of Temperance\u2014School 374-383\n Buildings\u2014A noble and touching act of the people\n at Beauport\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXIX.\n\n Sent to succeed Rev. Mr Varin, Curate of 384-393\n Kamouraska\u2014Stern opposition of that Curate and\n the surrounding Priests and People\u2014Hours of\n Desolation in Kamouraska\u2014The good Master allays\n the Tempest, and bids the Waves be still\n\n CHAPTER XL.\n\n Organization of Temperance Societies in Kamouraska 394-403\n and surrounding Country\u2014The Girl in the Garb of\n a man in the service of the Curates of Quebec\n and Eboulements\u2014Frightened by the Scandals seen\n everywhere\u2014Give up my Parish of Kamouraska to\n join the \u201cOblates of Mary Immaculate of\n Longueuiel.\u201d\n\n CHAPTER XLI.\n\n Perversions of Dr. Newman to the Church of Rome in 404-430\n the light of his own explanations, Common Sense\n and the Word of God\n\n CHAPTER XLII.\n\n Noviciate in the Monastery of the Oblates of Mary 431-449\n Immaculate of Longueuiel\u2014Some of the thousand\n Acts of Folly and Idolatry which form the life\n of a Monk\u2014The Deplorable Fall of one of the\n Fathers\u2014Fall of the Grand Vicar Quiblier\u2014Sick in\n the Hotel Dieu of Montreal\u2014Sister Urtubise, what\n she says of Maria Monk\u2014The two Missionaries to\n the Lumbermen\u2014Fall and Punishment of a Father\n Oblate\u2014What one of the best Father Oblates\n thinks of the Monks and the Monastery\n\n CHAPTER XLIII.\n\n I accept the hospitality of the Rev. Mr. Brassard 450-456\n of Longueuiel\u2014I Give my reasons for leaving the\n Oblates to Bishop Bourget\u2014He presents me with a\n splendid Crucifix blessed by his Holiness for\n me, and accepts my services in the cause of\n Temperance in the Diocese of Montreal\n\n CHAPTER XLIV.\n\n Preparation for the last Conflict\u2014Wise Counsel, 457-469\n Tears and Distress of Father Mathew\u2014Longueuiel\n the first to accept the great reform of\n Temperance\u2014The whole District of Montreal, St.\n Hyacinthe and Three Rivers Conquered\u2014The City of\n Montreal with the Sulpicians take the\n Pledge\u2014Gold Medal\u2014Officially named Apostle of\n Temperance in Canada\u2014Gift of \u00a3500 from\n Parliament\n\n\n CHAPTER XLV.\n\n My Sermon on the Virgin Mary\u2014Compliments of Bishop 470-483\n Prince\u2014Stormy Night\u2014First serious doubts about\n the Church of Rome\u2014Faithful discussion with the\n Bishop\u2014The Holy Fathers opposed to the modern\n Worship of the Virgin\u2014The Branches of the Vine\n\n CHAPTER XLVI.\n\n The Holy Fathers\u2014New mental troubles at not 484-496\n finding the Doctrines of my Church in their\n writings\u2014Purgatory and the Sucking Pig of the\n Poor Man of Varennes\n\n CHAPTER XLVII.\n\n Letter from the Rev. Bishop Vandeveld of 497-505\n Chicago\u2014Vast project of the Bishop of the United\n States to take possession of the Rich Valley of\n the Mississippi and the Prairies of the West, to\n rule that Great Republic\u2014They want to put me at\n the head of the Work\u2014My Lecture on Temperance at\n Detroit\u2014Intemperance of the Bishops and Priests\n of that City\n\n CHAPTER XLVIII.\n\n My visit to Chicago in 1857\u2014Bishop Vandeveld\u2014His 506-521\n Predecessor Poisoned\u2014Magnificent Prairies of the\n West\u2014Return to Canada\u2014Bad Feelings of Bishop\n Bourget\u2014I decline sending a rich Woman to the\n Nunnery to enrich the Bishop\u2014A Plot to Destroy\n me\n\n CHAPTER XLIX.\n\n The Plot to Destroy me\u2014The Interdict\u2014The Retreat 522-534\n at the Jesuits\u2019 College\u2014The Lost Girl, Employed\n by the Bishop, retracts\u2014The Bishop Confounded,\n sees his Injustice, makes amends\u2014Testimonial\n Letters\u2014The Chalice\u2014The Benediction before I\n leave Canada\n\n CHAPTER L.\n\n Address presented me at Longueuil\u2014I arrive at 535-541\n Chicago\u2014I select the spot for my Colony\u2014I build\n the first Chapel\u2014Jealousy and Opposition of the\n Priests of Bourbonnais and Chicago\u2014Great Success\n of the Colony\n\n CHAPTER LI.\n\n Intrigues, Impostures, and Criminal life of the 542-553\n Priests in Bourbonnais\u2014Indignation of the\n Bishop\u2014The People ignominiously turn out the\n Criminal Priests from their Parish\u2014Frightful\n Scandal\u2014Faith in the Church of Rome seriously\n Shaken\n\n\n CHAPTER LII.\n\n Correspondence with the Bishop 554-569\n\n CHAPTER LIII.\n\n The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary 570-579\n\n CHAPTER LIV.\n\n The Abomination of Auricular Confession 580-602\n\n CHAPTER LV.\n\n The Ecclesiastical Retreat\u2014Conduct of the 603-616\n Priests\u2014The Bishop Forbids me to Distribute the\n Bible\n\n CHAPTER LVI.\n\n Public Acts of Simony\u2014Thefts and Brigandage of 617-629\n Bishop O\u2019Regan\u2014General Cry of Indignation\u2014I\n determine to resist him to his face\u2014He employs\n Mr. Spink again to send me to Gaol, and he\n fails\u2014Drags me as a Prisoner to Urbana in the\n Spring of 1856 and fails again\u2014Abraham Lincoln\n defends me\u2014My dear Bible becomes more than ever\n my Light and my Counselor\n\n CHAPTER LVII.\n\n Bishop O\u2019Regan sells the Parsonage of the French 630-642\n Canadians of Chicago, pockets the money, and\n turns them out when they come to complain\u2014He\n determines to turn me out of my Colony and send\n me to Kahokia\u2014He forgets it next day and\n publishes that he has Interdicted me\u2014My People\n send a Deputation to the Bishop\u2014His Answers\u2014The\n Sham Excommunication by three drunken Priests\n\n CHAPTER LVIII.\n\n Address from my People, asking me to remain\u2014I am 643-667\n again dragged as a prisoner by the Sheriff to\n Urbana\u2014Abraham Lincoln\u2019s anxiety about the issue\n of the Prosecution\u2014My Distress\u2014The Rescue\u2014Miss\n Philomena Moffat sent by God to save\n me\u2014LeBelle\u2019s Confession and Distress\u2014My\n Innocence acknowledged\u2014Noble Words and Conduct\n of Abraham Lincoln\u2014The Oath of Miss Philomena\n Moffat\n\n CHAPTER LIX.\n\n A moment of Interruption in the Thread of my 668-687\n \u201cFifty Years in the Church of Rome,\u201d to see how\n my sad Previsions about my defender, Abraham\n Lincoln, were to be realized\u2014Rome the Implacable\n Enemy of the United States\n\n CHAPTER LX.\n\n The Fundamental Principals of the Constitution of 688-710\n the United States drawn from the Gospel of\n Christ\u2014My first visit to Abraham Lincoln to warn\n him of the Plots I knew against his Life\u2014The\n Priests circulate the news that Lincoln was born\n in the Church of Rome\u2014Letter of the Pope to Jeff\n Davis\u2014My last visit to the President\u2014His\n admirable reference to Moses\u2014His willingness to\n die for his Nation\u2019s Sake\n\n\n CHAPTER LXI.\n\n Abraham Lincoln a true man of God, and a true 711-735\n Disciple of the Gospel\u2014The Assassination by\n Booth\u2014The tool of the Priests\u2014John Surratt\u2019s\n house\u2014The Rendezvous and Dwelling Place of the\n Priests\u2014John Surratt Secreted by the Priests\n after the murder of Lincoln\u2014The Assassination of\n Lincoln known and published in the town three\n hours before its occurrence\n\n CHAPTER LXII.\n\n Deputation of two Priests sent by the People and 736-750\n the Bishops of Canada to persuade us to submit\n to the will of the Bishop\u2014The Deputies\n acknowledge publicly that the Bishop is wrong\n and that we are right\u2014For peace sake, I consent\n to withdraw from the contest on certain\n conditions accepted by the Deputies\u2014One of the\n Deputies turns false to his promise, and betrays\n us, to be put at the head of my Colony\u2014My last\n interview with him and Mr. Brassard\n\n CHAPTER LXIII.\n\n Mr. Desaulnier is named Vicar General of Chicago 751-773\n to crush us\u2014Our People more united than ever to\n defend their rights\u2014Letters of the Bishops of\n Montreal against me, and my answer\u2014Mr. Brassard\n forced, against his conscience, to condemn us\u2014My\n answer to Mr. Brassard\u2014He writes to beg my\n pardon\n\n CHAPTER LXIV.\n\n I write to the Pope Pius IX, and to Napoleon, 774-783\n Emperor of France, and send them the Legal and\n Public Documents proving the bad conduct of\n Bishop O\u2019Regan\u2014Grand Vicar Dunn sent to tell me\n of my victory at Rome, and the end of our\n trouble\u2014I go to Dubuque to offer my submission\n to the Bishop\u2014The peace sealed and publicly\n proclaimed by Grand Vicar Dunn the 28th of\n March, 1858\n\n CHAPTER LXV.\n\n Excellent testimonial from my Bishop\u2014My 784-800\n Retreat\u2014Grand Vicar Saurin and his assistant,\n Rev. M. Granger\u2014Grand Vicar Dunn writes me about\n the new storm prepared by the\n Jesuits\u2014Vision\u2014Christ offers Himself as a Gift\u2014I\n am forgiven, rich, happy and saved\u2014Back to my\n People\n\n CHAPTER LXVI.\n\n The Solemn Responsibilities of my New Position\u2014We 801-817\n give up the Name of Roman Catholic to call\n ourselves Christian Catholics\u2014Dismay of the\n Roman Catholic Bishops\u2014My Lord Duggan, Coadjutor\n of St. Louis, hurried to Chicago\u2014He comes to St.\n Anne to persuade the People to submit to his\n Authority\u2014He is ignominiously turned out, and\n runs away in the midst of the Cries of the\n People\n\n CHAPTER LXVII.\n\n Bird\u2019s-eye View of the Principal Events from my 818-832\n Conversion to this day\u2014My Narrow Escapes\u2014The end\n of the Voyage through the Desert to the Promised\n Land\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n THE BIBLE AND THE PRIEST OF ROME.\n\n\nMy father, Charles Chiniquy, born in Quebec, had studied in the\nTheological Seminary of that city, to prepare himself for the\npriesthood. But a few days before making his vows, having been the\nwitness of a great iniquity in the high quarters of the church, he\nchanged his mind, studied law and became a notary.\n\nMarried to Reine Perrault, daughter of Mitchel Perrault, in 1808, he\nsettled at first in Kamoraska, where I was born on the 30th July, 1809.\n\nAbout four or five years later, my parents emigrated to Murray Bay. That\nplace was then in its infancy, and no school had yet been established.\nMy mother was, therefore, my first teacher.\n\nBefore leaving the Seminary of Quebec my father had received from one of\nthe Superiors, as a token of his esteem, a beautiful French and Latin\nBible. That Bible was the first book, after the A B C, in which I was\ntaught to read. My mother selected the chapters which she considered the\nmost interesting for me; and I read them every day with the greatest\nattention and pleasure. I was even so much pleased with several\nchapters, that I read them over and over again till I knew them by\nheart.\n\nWhen eight or nine years of age, I had learned by heart the history of\nthe creation and the fall of man; the deluge; the sacrifice of Isaac;\nthe history of Moses; the plagues of Egypt; the sublime hymn of Moses\nafter crossing the Red Sea; the history of Samson; the most interesting\nevents of the life of David; several Psalms; all the speeches and\nparables of Christ; and the whole history of the sufferings and death of\nour Saviour as narrated by John.\n\nI had two brothers, Louis and Achille; the first about four, the second\nabout eight years younger than myself. When they were sleeping or\nplaying together, how many delicious hours I have spent by my mother\u2019s\nside, in reading to her the sublime pages of the divine book.\n\nSometimes she interrupted me to see if I understood what I read; and\nwhen my answers had made her sure that I understood it, she used to kiss\nme and press me on her bosom as an expression of her joy.\n\nOne day, while I was reading the history of the sufferings of the\nSaviour, my young heart was so much impressed that I could hardly\nenunciate the words, and my voice trembled. My mother, perceiving my\nemotion, tried to say something on the love of Jesus for us, but she\ncould not utter a word\u2014her voice was suffocated by her sobs. She leaned\nher head on my forehead, and I felt two streams of tears falling from\nher eyes on my cheeks. I could not contain myself any longer. I wept\nalso; and my tears were mixed with hers. The holy book fell from my\nhands, and I threw myself into my dear mother\u2019s arms.\n\nNo human words can express what was felt in her soul and in mine in that\nmost blessed hour! No! I will never forget that solemn hour, when my\nmother\u2019s heart was perfectly blended with mine at the feet of our dying\nSaviour. There was a real perfume from heaven in those my mother\u2019s tears\nwhich were flowing on me. It seemed then, as it does seem to me to-day,\nthat there was a celestial harmony in the sound of her voice and in her\nsobs. Though more than half a century has passed since that solemn hour\nwhen Jesus, for the first time, revealed to me something of His\nsuffering and of His love, my heart leaps with joy every time I think of\nit.\n\nWe were some distance from the church, and the roads, in the rainy days,\nwere very bad. On the Sabbath days the neighboring farmers, unable to go\nto church, were accustomed to gather at our house in the evening. Then\nmy parents used to put me up on a large table in the midst of the\nassembly, and I delivered to those good people the most beautiful parts\nof the Old and New Testaments. The breathless attention, the applause of\nour guests, and\u2014may I tell it\u2014often the tears of joy which my mother\ntried in vain to conceal, supported my strength and gave me the courage\nI wanted, to speak when so young before so many people. When my parents\nsaw that I was growing tired, my mother, who had a fine voice, sang some\nof the beautiful French hymns with which her memory was filled.\n\nSeveral times, when the fine weather allowed me to go to church with my\nparents, the farmers would take me into their _caleches_ (buggies) at\nthe door of the temple, and request me to give them some chapter of the\nGospel. With a most perfect attention they listened to the voice of the\nchild, whom the Good Master had chosen to give them the bread which\ncomes from heaven. More than once, I remember, that when the bell called\nus to the church, they expressed their regret that they could not hear\nmore.\n\nOn one of the beautiful spring days of 1818, my father was writing in\nhis office, and my mother was working with her needle, singing one of\nher favorite hymns, and I was at the door, playing and talking to a fine\nrobin which I had so perfectly trained that he followed me wherever I\nwent. All of a sudden I saw the priest coming near the gate. The sight\nof him sent a thrill of uneasiness through my whole frame. It was his\nfirst visit to our home.\n\nThe priest was a person below the common stature, and had an unpleasant\nappearance\u2014his shoulders were large and he was very corpulent; his hair\nwas long and uncombed, and his double chin seemed to groan under the\nweight of his flabby cheeks.\n\nI hastily ran to the door, and whispered to my parents, \u201cM. le cure\narrive\u201d (\u201cMr. Curate is coming\u201d). The last sound was hardly out of my\nlips, when the Rev. Mr. Courtois was at the door, and my father, shaking\nhands with him, gave him a welcome.\n\nThat priest was born in France, where he had a narrow escape, having\nbeen condemned to death under the bloody administration of Robespierre.\nHe had found a refuge, with many other French priests in England, whence\nhe came to Quebec, and the bishop of that place had given him the charge\nof the parish of Murray Bay.\n\nHis conversation was animated and interesting for the first quarter of\nan hour. It was a real pleasure to hear him. But of a sudden his\ncountenance changed as if a dark cloud had come over his mind, and he\nstopped talking. My parents had kept themselves on a respectful reserve\nwith the priest. They seemed to have no other mind than to listen to\nhim. The silence which followed was exceedingly unpleasant for all the\nparties. It looked like the heavy hour which precedes a storm. At length\nthe priest, addressing my father, said, \u201cMr. Chiniquy, is it true that\nyou and your child read the Bible?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d was the quick reply, \u201cmy little boy and I read the Bible,\nand what is still better, he has learned by heart a great number of its\nmost interesting chapters. If you will allow it, Mr. Curate, he will\ngive you some of them.\u201d\n\n\u201cI did not come for that purpose,\u201d abruptly replied the priest; \u201cbut do\nyou not know that you are forbidden by the holy Council of Trent to read\nthe Bible in French?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt makes very little difference to me whether I read the Bible in\nFrench, Greek or Latin,\u201d answered my father, \u201cfor I understand these\nlanguages equally well.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut are you ignorant of the fact that you cannot allow your child to\nread the Bible?\u201d replied the priest.\n\n\u201cMy wife directs her own child in the reading of the Bible, and I cannot\nsee that we commit any sin by continuing to do in future what we have\ndone till now in that matter.\u201d\n\n\u201cMr. Chiniquy,\u201d rejoined the priest, \u201cyou have gone through a whole\ncourse of theology; you know the duties of a curate; you know it is my\npainful duty to come here, get the Bible from you and burn it.\u201d\n\nMy grandfather was a fearless Spanish sailor (our original name was\nEtchiniquia), and there was too much Spanish blood and pride in my\nfather to hear such a sentence with patience in his own house. Quick as\nlightning he was on his feet. I pressed myself, trembling, near my\nmother, who trembled also.\n\nAt first I feared lest some very unfortunate and violent scene should\noccur; for my father\u2019s anger at that moment was really terrible.\n\nBut there was another thing which affected me. I feared lest the priest\nshould lay his hands on my dear Bible, which was just before him on the\ntable; for it was mine, as it had been given to me the last year as a\nChristmas gift.\n\nFortunately, my father had subdued himself after the first moment of his\nanger. He was pacing the room with a double-quick step; his lips were\npale and trembling, and he was muttering between his teeth words which\nwere unintelligible to any one of us.\n\nThe priest was closely watching all my father\u2019s movements; his hands\nwere convulsively pressing his heavy cane, and his face was giving the\nsure evidence of a too well-grounded terror. It was clear that the\nambassador of Rome did not find himself infallibly sure of his position\non the ground he had so foolishly chosen to take; since his last words\nhe had remained as silent as a tomb.\n\nAt last, after having paced the room for a considerable time, my father\nsuddenly stopped before the priest, and said, \u201cSir, is that all you have\nto say here?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d said the trembling priest.\n\n\u201cWell, sir,\u201d added my father, \u201cyou know the door by which you entered my\nhouse; please take the same door and go away quickly.\u201d\n\nThe priest went out immediately. I felt an inexpressible joy when I saw\nthat my Bible was safe. I ran to my father\u2019s neck, kissed and thanked\nhim for his victory. And to pay him, in my childish way, I jumped upon\nthe large table and recited, in my best style, the fight between David\nand Goliath. Of course, in my mind, my father was David and the priest\nof Rome was the giant whom the little stone from the brook had stricken\ndown.\n\nThou knowest, O God, that it is to that Bible, read on my mother\u2019s\nknees, I owe, by thy infinite mercy, the knowledge of the truth to-day;\nthat Bible had sent, to my young heart and intelligence, rays of light\nwhich all the sophisms and dark errors of Rome could never completely\nextinguish.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II.\n\n MY FIRST SCHOOL-DAYS AT ST. THOMAS\u2014THE MONK AND CELIBACY.\n\n\nIn the month of June, 1818, my parents sent me to an excellent school at\nSt. Thomas. One of my mother\u2019s sisters resided there, who was the wife\nof an industrious miller, called Stephen Eschenbach. They had no\nchildren, and they received me as their own son.\n\nThe beautiful village of St. Thomas had already, at that time, a\nconsiderable population. The two fine rivers which unite their rapid\nwaters in its very midst before they fall into the magnificent basin\nfrom which they flow into the St. Lawrence, supplied the water-power for\nseveral mills and factories.\n\nThere was in the village a considerable trade in grain, flour and\nlumber. The fisheries were very profitable, and the game was abundant.\nLife was really pleasant and easy.\n\nThe families Tachez, Cazeault, Fournier, Dubord, Frechette, Tetu,\nDupuis, Couillard, Duberges, which were among the most ancient and\nnotable of Canada, were at the head of the intellectual and material\nmovements of the place, and they were a real honor to the French\nCanadian name.\n\nI met there with one of my ancestors on my mother\u2019s side whose name was\nF. Amour des Plaines. He was an old and brave soldier, and would\nsometimes show us the numerous wounds he had received in the battles in\nwhich he had fought for his country. Though nearly eighty years old, he\nsang to us the songs of the good old times with all the vivacity of a\nyoung man.\n\nThe school of Mr. Allen Jones, to which I had been sent, was worthy of\nits wide-spread reputation. I have never known and teacher who deserved\nmore, or who enjoyed in a higher degree, the respect and confidence of\nhis pupils.\n\nHe was born in England, and belonged to one of the most respectable\nfamilies there. He had received the best education which England could\ngive to her sons. After having gone through a perfect course of study at\nhome, he had gone to Paris, where he had also completed an academical\ncourse. He was perfectly master of the French and English languages. And\nit was not without good reasons that he was surrounded by a great number\nof scholars from every corner of Canada. The children of the best\nfamilies of St. Thomas were with me, attending the school of Mr. Jones.\nBut he was a Protestant, the priest was much opposed to him, and every\neffort was made by that priest to induce my relatives to take me away\nfrom that school and send me to one under his care.\n\nThe name of the priest was Loranger. He had a swarthy countenance, and\nin person was lean and tall. His preaching had no attraction, and he was\nfar from being popular among the intelligent part of the people of St.\nThomas.\n\nDr. Tachez, whose high capacity afterwards brought him to the head of\nthe Canadian Government, was the leading man of St. Thomas. Being united\nby the bonds of a sincere friendship with his nephew, L. Cazeault, who\nwas afterward placed at the head of the University of Laval, in Quebec,\nI had many opportunities of going to the house of Mr. Tachez, where my\nyoung friend was boarding.\n\nIn those days, Dr. Tachez had no need of the influence of the priests,\nand he frequently gave vent to his supreme contempt for them. Once a\nweek there was a meeting in his house of the principal citizens of St.\nThomas, where the highest questions of history and religion were freely\nand warmly discussed; but the premises as well as the conclusion of\nthese discussions were invariably adverse to the priests and religion of\nRome, and too often to every form of Christianity.\n\nThough these meetings had not entirely the character or exclusiveness of\nsecret societies, they were secret to a great extent. My friend Cazeault\nwas punctual in telling me the days and hours of the meeting, and I used\nto go with him to an adjoining room, from which we could hear everything\nwithout being suspected. From what I heard and saw in these meetings, I\nmost certainly would have been ruined, had not the Word of God, with\nwhich my mother had filled my young mind and heart, been my shield and\nstrength. I was often struck with terror and filled with disgust at what\nI heard at those meetings. But what a strange and deplorable thing! My\nconscience was condemning me every time I listened to these impious\ndiscussions, while there was a strong craving in me to hear them that I\ncould not resist.\n\nThere was then in St. Thomas a personage who was unique in his\ncharacter. He never mixed with the society of the village, but was,\nnevertheless, the object of much respectful attention and inquiry from\nevery one. He was one of the former monks of Canada, known under the\nname of Capucin or Recollets, whom the conquest of Canada by Great\nBritain had forced to leave their monastery.\n\nHe was a clockmaker, and lived honorably by his trade. His little white\nhouse, in the very midst of the village, was the perfection of neatness.\n\nBrother Mark, as he was called, was a remarkably well-built man; high\nstature, large and splendid shoulders, and the most beautiful hands I\never saw. His long black robe, tied around his waist by a white sash,\nwas remarkable for its cleanliness. His life was really a solitary one,\nalways alone with his own sister, who kept his house.\n\nEvery day that the weather was propitious, Brother Mark spent a couple\nof hours in fishing, and as I was myself exceedingly fond of that\nexercise, I used to meet him often along the banks of the beautiful\nrivers of St. Thomas.\n\nHis presence was always a good omen to me; for he was more expert than I\nin finding the best places for fishing. As soon as he found a place\nwhere the fish was abundant, he would make signs to me, or call me at\nthe top of his voice that I might share in his good luck. I appreciated\nhis delicate attention to me, and repaid him with the marks of a sincere\ngratitude. The good monk had entirely conquered my young heart, and I\ncherished a sincere regard for him. He often invited me to his solitary\nbut neat little home, and I never visited him without receiving some\nproofs of a sincere kindness. His good sister rivalled him in\noverwhelming me with such marks of attention and love as I could only\nexpect from a dear mother.\n\nThere was a mixture of timidity and dignity in the manners of brother\nMark which I have found in no one else. He was fond of children: and\nnothing could be more graceful than his smile every time that he could\nsee that I appreciated his kindness, and that I gave him any proof of my\ngratitude. But that smile, and any other expression of joy, were very\ntransient. On a sudden he would change, and it was obvious that a\nmysterious cloud was passing over his heart.\n\nThe Pope had released the monks of the monastery to which he belonged,\nfrom their vows of poverty and obedience. The consequence was that they\ncould become sic and even rich, by their own industry. It was in their\npower to rise to a respectable position in the world by their honorable\nefforts. The pope had given them the permission they wanted, that they\nmight earn an honest living. But what a strange and incredible folly to\nask the permission of a pope to be allowed to live honorably on the\nfruits of one\u2019s own industry!\n\nThese poor monks, having been released from their vows of obedience,\nwere no longer the slaves of a man: but were now permitted to go to\nheaven on the sole condition that they would obey the laws of God and\nthe laws of their country! But into what a frightful abyss of\ndegradation men must have fallen, to believe that they required a\nlicense from Rome for such a purpose. This is, nevertheless, the simple\nand naked truth. That excess of folly, and that supreme impiety and\ndegradation are among the fundamental dogmas of Rome. The infallible\npope assures the world that there is no possible salvation for any one\nwho does not sincerely believe what he teaches in this matter.\n\nBut the pope who had so graciously relieved the Canadian monks from\ntheir vows of obedience and poverty, had been inflexible in reference to\ntheir vows of celibacy. From this there was no relief.\n\nThe honest desires of the good monk to live according to the laws of\nGod, with a wife whom heaven might have given him, had become an\nimpossibility\u2014the pope vetoed it.\n\nThe unfortunate monk was bound to believe that he would be forever\ndamned if he dared to accept as a gospel truth the Word of God which\nsays:\u2014\n\n\u201cPropter fornicationem antem, unusquisque uxorem suam habeat, unaquaque\nvirum suum habeat. (Vulgate Bible of Rome.) Nevertheless to avoid\nfornication let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have\nher own husband.\u201d (1 Cor., vii.: 2). That shining light which the Word\ncontains and which gives life to man, was entirely shut out from brother\nMark. He was not allowed to know that God himself had said, \u201cIt is not\ngood that man should be alone, I will make him an help-meet for him,\u201d\n(Gen. 2: 18). Brother Mark was endowed with such a loving heart! He\ncould not be known without being loved; and he must have suffered much\nin that celibacy which his faith in the pope imposed upon him.\n\nFar away from the regions of light, truth and life, that soul, tied to\nthe feet of the implacable modern Divinity, which the Romanists worship\nunder the name of Sovereign Pontiff, was trying in vain to annihilate\nand destroy the instincts and affections which God himself had implanted\nin him.\n\nOne day, as I was amusing myself, with a few other young friends, near\nthe house of brother Mark, suddenly we saw something covered with blood\nthrown from the window, and falling at a short distance from us. At the\nsame instant we heard loud cries, evidently coming from the monk\u2019s\nhouse: \u201cO my God! Have mercy on me! Save me! I am lost!\u201d\n\nThe sister of brother Mark rushed out of doors and cried to some men who\nwere passing by: \u201cCome to our help! My poor brother is dying! For God\u2019s\nsake make haste, he is losing all his blood!\u201d\n\nI ran to the door, but the lady shut it abruptly and turned me out,\nsaying, \u201cwe do not want children here.\u201d\n\nI had a sincere affection for the good brother. He had invariably been\nso kind to me! I insisted and respectfully requested to be allowed to\nenter. Though young and weak, it seemed that my friendly feelings\ntowards the suffering brother would add to my strength, and enable me to\nbe of some service. But my request was sternly rejected, and I had to go\nback to the street among the crowd which was fast gathering. The\nsingular mystery in which they were trying to wrap the poor monk, filled\nme with trouble and anxiety.\n\nBut that trouble was soon changed into an unspeakable confusion when I\nheard the convulsive laughing of the low people, and the shameful jokes\nof the crowd, after the doctor had told the nature of the wound which\nwas causing the unfortunate man to bleed almost to death. I was struck\nwith such horror that I fled away; I did not want to know any more of\nthat tragedy. I had already known too much!\n\nPoor brother Mark had ceased to be a man\u2014he had become an eunuch.\n\nO cruel and Godless church of Rome! How many souls hast thou deceived\nand tortured! How many hearts hast thou broken with that celibacy which\nSatan alone could invent! This unfortunate victim of a most degrading\nreligion, did not, however, die from his rash action; he soon recovered\nhis usual health.\n\nHaving, meanwhile, ceased to visit him; some months later I was fishing\nalong the river in a very solitary place. The fish were abundant, and I\nwas completely absorbed in catching them, when, on a sudden, I felt on\nmy shoulder the gentle pressure of a hand. It was brother Mark\u2019s.\n\nI thought I would faint through the opposite sentiments of surprise, of\npain and joy, which at the same time crossed my mind.\n\nWith an affectionate and trembling voice he said to me, \u201cMy dear child,\nwhy do you not come to see me any more?\u201d\n\nI did not dare to look at him after he had addressed me these words. I\nliked him on account of his acts of kindness to me. But the fatal hour\nwhen, in the street before the door, I had suffered so much on his\naccount\u2014that fatal hour was on my heart as a mountain which I could not\nput away\u2014I could not answer him.\n\nHe then asked me again with the tone of a criminal who sues for mercy;\n\u201cWhy is it my dear child, that you do not come any longer to see me? You\nknow that I love you.\u201d\n\n\u201cDear brother Mark,\u201d I answered \u201cI will never forget your kindness to\nme. I will forever be grateful to you; I wish that it would be in my\npower to continue, as formerly, to go and see you. But I cannot, and you\nought to know the reason why I cannot.\u201d\n\nI had pronounced these words with down-cast eyes. I was a child, with\nthe timidity and happy ignorance of a child. But the action of that\nunfortunate man had struck me with such a horror that I could not\nentertain the idea of visiting him any more.\n\nHe spent two or three minutes without saying a word, and without moving.\nBut I heard his sobs and his cries, and his cries were those of despair\nand anguish, the like of which I have never heard since.\n\nI could not contain myself any longer, I was suffocating with suppressed\nemotion, and I would have fallen insensible to the ground if two streams\nof tears had not burst from my eyes. Those tears did me good\u2014they did\nhim good also\u2014they told him that I was still his friend.\n\nHe took me in his arms and pressed me to his bosom\u2014his tears were mixed\nwith mine. But I could not speak\u2014the emotions of my heart were too much\nfor my age. I sat on a damp and cold stone, in order not to faint. He\nfell on his knees by my side.\n\nAh! if I were a painter I would make a most striking tableau of that\nscene. His eyes, swollen and red with weeping, were raised to heaven,\nhis hand lifted up in the attitude of supplication; he was crying out\nwith an accent which seemed as though it would break my heart.\n\n\u201cMon Dieu! Mon Dieu que je suis malheureux.\u201d\n\nMy God! My God! what a wretched man I am!\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe twenty-five years that I have been a priest of Rome, have revealed\nto me the fact that the cries of desolation I heard that day, were but\nthe echo of the cries of desolation which go out from almost every\nnunnery, every parsonage and every house where human beings are bound by\nthe ties of the Romish Celibacy.\n\nGod knows that I am a faithful witness of what my eyes have seen and my\nears have heard, when I say to the multitudes which the Church of Rome\nhas bewitched with her enchantments. Wherever there are nuns, monks and\npriests who live in forced violation of the ways which God has appointed\nfor man to walk in, there are torrents of tears, there are desolated\nhearts, there are cries of anguish and despair which say in the words of\nbrother Mark:\n\n\u201cOh! que je suis malheureux!\u201d\n\nOh! how miserable and wretched I am!\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III\n\n THE CONFESSION OF CHILDREN.\n\n\nNo words can express to those who have never had any experience in the\nmatter, the consternation, anxiety and shame of a poor Romish child,\nwhen he hears, for the first time, his priest saying from the pulpit, in\na grave and solemn tone, \u201cThis week, you will send your children to\nconfession. Make them understand that this action is one of the most\nimportant of their lives, that for every one of them, it will decide\ntheir eternal happiness or misery. Fathers and mothers, if, through your\nfault, or his own, your child is guilty of a bad confession\u2014if he\nconceals his sins and commences lying to the priest, who holds the place\nof God himself, this sin is often irreparable. The devil will take\npossession of his heart: he will become accustomed to lie to his father\nconfessor, or rather to Jesus Christ, of whom he is a representative.\nHis life will be a series of sacrileges; his death and eternity those of\nthe reprobate. Teach him, therefore, to examine thoroughly his actions,\nwords and thoughts, in order to confess without disguise.\u201d\n\nI was in the church of St. Thomas when those words fell upon me like a\nthunderbolt.\n\nI had often heard my mother say, when at home, and my aunt, since I had\ncome to St. Thomas, that upon the first confession depended my eternal\nhappiness or misery. That week was, therefore, to decide about my\neternity.\n\nPale and dismayed, I left the church, and returned to the house of my\nrelatives. I took my place at the table, but could not eat, so much was\nI troubled. I went to my room for the purpose of commencing my\nexamination of conscience and to try to recall my sinful actions, words,\nand thoughts. Although scarcely over ten years of age, this task was\nreally overwhelming for me. I knelt down to pray to the Virgin Mary for\nhelp; but I was so much taken up with the fear of forgetting something,\nand of making a bad confession, that I muttered my prayers without the\nleast attention to what I said. It became still worse when I commenced\ncounting my sins. My memory became confused, my head grew dizzy; my\nheart beat with a rapidity which exhausted me, and my brow was covered\nwith perspiration. After a considerable length of time spent in these\npainful efforts, I felt bordering on despair, from the fear that it was\nimpossible for me to remember everything. The night following was almost\na sleepless one; and when sleep did come, it could scarcely be called a\nsleep, but a suffocating delirium. In a frightful dream, I felt as if I\nhad been cast into hell, for not having confessed all my sins to the\npriest. In the morning, I awoke, fatigued and prostrated by the phantoms\nof that terrible night. In similar troubles of mind were passed three\ndays which preceded my first confession. I had constantly before me the\ncountenance of that stern priest who had never smiled upon me. He was\npresent in my thoughts during the day, and in my dreams during the\nnight, as the minister of an angry God, justly irritated against me on\naccount of my sins. Forgiveness had indeed been promised to me, on\ncondition of a good confession; but my place had also been shown to me\nin hell, if my confession was not as near perfection as possible. Now,\nmy troubled conscience told me that there were ninety-nine chances\nagainst one, that my confession would be bad, whether by my own fault I\nforgot some sins, or I was without that contrition of which I had heard\nso much, but the nature and effects of which were a perfect chaos to my\nmind.\n\nThus it was that the cruel and perfidious Church of Rome took away from\nmy young heart the good and merciful Jesus, whose love and compassion\nhad caused me to shed tears of joy when I was beside my mother. The\nSaviour whom that church made me to worship, through fear, was not the\nSaviour who called little children unto Him, to bless them and take them\nin His arms. Her impious hands were soon to torture and defile my\nchildish heart, and place me at the feet of a pale and severe looking\nman\u2014worthy representative of a pitiless God. I was made to tremble with\nterror at the footstool of an implacable divinity, while the gospel\nasked of me only tears of love and joy, shed at the feet of the\nincomparable Friend of sinners!\n\nAt length came the day of confession; or rather of judgment and\ncondemnation. I presented myself to the priest.\n\nMr. Loranger was no longer priest of St. Thomas. He had been succeeded\nby Mr. Beaubien, who did not favor our school any more than his\npredecessor. He had even taken upon himself to preach a sermon against\nthe heretical school, by which we had been excessively wounded. His want\nof love for us, however, I must say, was fully reciprocated.\n\nMr. Beaubien had, then, the defect of lisping and stammering. This we\noften turned into ridicule, and one of my favorite amusements was to\nimitate him, which brought bursts of laughter from us all.\n\nIt had been necessary for me to examine myself upon the number of times\nI had mocked him. This circumstance was not calculated to make my\nconfession easier, or more agreeable.\n\nAt last the dreaded moment came. I knelt at the side of my confessor. My\nwhole frame trembled. I repeated the prayer preparatory to confession,\nscarcely knowing what I said so much was I troubled with fear.\n\nBy the instructions which had been given us before confession, we had\nbeen made to believe that the priest was the true representative\u2014yea,\nalmost the personification of Jesus Christ. The consequence was, that I\nbelieved my greatest sin had been that of mocking the priest. Having\nalways been told that it was best to confess the greatest sin first, I\ncommenced thus: \u201cFather I accuse myself of having mocked a priest.\u201d\n\nScarcely had I uttered these words, \u201cmocked a priest,\u201d when this\npretended representative of the humble Saviour, turning towards me, and\nlooking in my face in order to know me better, asked abruptly, \u201cWhat\npriest did you mock, my boy?\u201d I would rather have chosen to cut out my\ntongue than to tell him to his face who it was. I therefore kept silent\nfor a while. But my silence made him very nervous and almost angry. With\na haughty tone of voice he said, \u201cWhat priest did you take the liberty\nof thus mocking?\u201d\n\nI saw that I had to answer. Happily his haughtiness had made me firmer\nand bolder. I said \u201cSir, you are the priest whom I mocked.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut how many times did you take upon you to mock me, my boy?\u201d\n\n\u201cI tried to find out,\u201d I answered, \u201cbut never could.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou must tell me how many times; for to mock one\u2019s own priest is a\ngreat sin.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is impossible for me to give you the number of times,\u201d answered I.\n\n\u201cWell, my child, I will help your memory by asking you questions. Tell\nme the truth. Do you think you have mocked me ten times?\u201d\n\n\u201cA great many times more, sir.\u201d\n\n\u201cFifty times?\u201d\n\n\u201cMany more still.\u201d\n\n\u201cA hundred times?\u201d\n\n\u201cSay five hundred times and perhaps more,\u201d answered I.\n\n\u201cWhy, my boy, do you spend all your time in mocking me?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot all; but unfortunately I do it very often.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell may you say _unfortunately_; for so to mock your priest, who holds\nthe place of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a great misfortune, and a great\nsin for you. But tell me, my little boy, what reason have you for\nmocking me thus?\u201d\n\nIn my examinations of conscience I had not foreseen that I should be\nobliged to give the reasons for mocking the priest; and I was really\nthunderstruck by his questions. I dared not answer, and I remained for a\nlong time dumb, from the shame that overpowered me. But with a\nharrassing perseverance the priest insisted on my telling why I had\nmocked him; telling me that I should be damned if I did not tell the\nwhole truth. So I decided to speak, and said, \u201cI mocked you for several\nthings.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat made you first mock me?\u201d continued the priest.\n\n\u201cI laughed at you because you lisped. Among the pupils of our school, it\noften happens that we imitate your preaching to excite laughter.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you often done that?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlmost every day, especially in our holidays, and since you preached\nagainst us.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor what other reasons did you laugh at me, my little boy?\u201d\n\nFor a long time I was silent. Every time I opened my mouth to speak\ncourage failed me. However, the priest continuing to urge me, I said at\nlast, \u201cIt is rumored in town that you love girls; that you visit the\nMisses Richards every evening, and this often makes us laugh.\u201d\n\nThe poor priest was evidently overwhelmed by my answer, and ceased\nquestioning me on this subject. Changing the conversation, he said:\n\n\u201cWhat are your other sins?\u201d\n\nI began to confess them in the order in which they came to my memory.\nBut the feeling of shame which overpowered me in repeating all my sins\nto this man was a thousand times greater than that of having offended\nGod. In reality this feeling of human shame which absorbed my\nthought\u2014nay, my whole being\u2014left no room for any religious feeling at\nall.\n\nWhen I had confessed all the sins I could remember, the priest began to\nask me the strangest questions on matters about which my pen must be\nsilent. I replied, \u201cFather, I do not understand what you ask me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI question you on the sixth commandment (seventh in the Bible). Confess\nall. You will go to hell, if through your fault you omit anything.\u201d\n\nThereupon he dragged my thoughts to regions which, thank God had\nhitherto been unknown to me.\n\nI answered him: \u201cI do not understand you,\u201d or \u201cI have never done these\nthings.\u201d\n\nThen, skilfully shifting to some secondary matter, he would soon slyly\nand cunningly come back to his favorite subject, namely, sins of\nlicentiousness.\n\nHis questions were so unclean that I blushed, and felt sick with disgust\nand shame. More than once I had been, to my regret, in the company of\nbad boys; but not one of them has offended my moral nature so much as\nthis priest had done. Not one of them had ever approached the shadow of\nthe things from which that man tore the veil, and which he placed before\nthe eye of my soul. In vain did I tell him that I was not guilty of such\nthings; that I did not even understand what he asked me; he would not\nlet me off. Like the vulture bent upon tearing the poor bird that falls\ninto his claws, that cruel priest seemed determined to defile and ruin\nmy heart.\n\nAt last he asked me a question in a form of expression so bad that I was\nreally pained. I felt as if I had received a shock from an electric\nbattery; a feeling of horror made me shudder. I was so filled with\nindignation that, speaking loud enough to be heard by many, I told him:\n\u201cSir, I am very wicked; I have seen, heard and done many things which I\nregret; but I never was guilty of what you mention to me. My ears have\nnever heard anything so wicked as what they have heard from your lips.\nPlease do not ask me any more of those questions; do not teach me any\nmore evil than I already know.\u201d\n\nThe remainder of my confession was short. The firmness of my voice had\nevidently frightened the priest, and made him blush. He stopped short\nand began to give me some good advice, which might have been useful to\nme if the deep wounds which his questions had inflicted upon my soul had\nnot so absorbed my thoughts as to prevent me from giving attention to\nwhat he said.\n\nHe gave me a short penance and dismissed me.\n\nI left the confessional irritated and confused. From the shame of what I\nhad just heard from the mouth of that priest I dared not lift my eyes\nfrom the ground. I went into a retired corner of the church to do my\npenance; that is, to recite the prayers he had indicated to me. I\nremained for a long time in church. I had need of a calm after the\nterrible trial through which I had just passed. But vainly I sought for\nrest. The shameful questions which had been asked me, the new world of\niniquity into which I had been introduced, the impure phantoms by which\nmy childish heart had been defiled, confused and troubled my mind so\nstrangely that I began to weep bitterly.\n\nWhy those tears? Why that desolation? I wept over my sins? Alas! I\nconfess it with shame, my sins did not call forth those tears. And yet\nhow many sins had I already committed, for which Jesus shed his precious\nblood. But I confess my sins were not the cause of my desolation. I was\nrather thinking of my mother, who had taken such good care of me, and\nwho had so well succeeded in keeping away from my thoughts those impure\nforms of sin, the thoughts of which had just now defiled my heart. I\nsaid to myself, Ah! if my mother had heard those questions; if she could\nsee the evil thoughts which overwhelm me at this moment\u2014if she knew to\nwhat school she sent me when she advised me in her last letter to go to\nconfession, how her tears would mingle with mine! It seemed to me that\nmy mother would love me no more\u2014that she would see written upon my brow\nthe pollution with which that priest had profaned my soul.\n\nPerhaps the feeling of pride was what made me weep. Or perhaps I wept\nbecause of a remnant of that feeling of original dignity whose traces\nhad still been left in me. I felt so downcast by the disappointment of\nbeing removed farther from the Saviour by that confessional which had\npromised to bring me nearer to Him. God only knows what was the depth of\nmy sorrow at feeling myself more defiled and more guilty after than\nbefore my confession.\n\nI left the church only when forced to do so by the shades of night, and\ncame to my uncle\u2019s house with that feeling of uneasiness caused by the\nconsciousness of having done a bad action, and by the fear of being\ndiscovered.\n\nThough this uncle, as well as most of the principal citizens of the\nvillage of St. Thomas, had the name of being a Roman Catholic, yet he\ndid not believe a word of the doctrines of the Roman Church. He laughed\nat the priests, their masses, their purgatory, and especially their\nconfession. He did not conceal that when young, he had been scandalized\nby the words and actions of a priest in the confessional. He spoke to me\njestingly. This increased my trouble and my grief. \u201cNow,\u201d said he \u201cyou\nwill be a good boy. But if you have heard as many new things as I did\nthe first time I went to confess, you are a very learned boy;\u201d and he\nburst into laughter.\n\nI blushed and remained silent. My aunt, who was a devoted Roman\nCatholic, said to me, \u201cYour heart is relieved, is it not, since you\nconfessed all your sins?\u201d I gave her an evasive answer, but I could not\nconceal the sadness that overcame me. I thought I was the only one from\nwhom the priest had asked those polluting questions. But great was my\nsurprise, on the following day, when going to school I learned that my\nfellow pupils had not been happier than I had been. The only difference\nwas, that instead of being grieved, they laughed at it. \u201cDid the priest\nask you such and such questions?\u201d they would demand laughing\nboisterously. I refused to reply, and said, \u201cAre you not ashamed to\nspeak of these things?\u201d\n\n\u201cAh! ah! how very scrupulous you are,\u201d continued they. \u201cIf it is not a\nsin for the priest to speak to us on these matters, how can it be a sin\nfor us?\u201d I stopped, confounded, not knowing what to say.\n\nI soon perceived that even the young school girls had not been less\npolluted and scandalized by the questions of the priest than the boys.\nAlthough keeping at a distance, such as to prevent us from hearing all\nthey said, I could understand enough to convince me that they had been\nasked about the same questions. Some of them appeared indignant, while\nothers laughed heartily.\n\nI should be misunderstood were it supposed that I mean to convey the\nidea that this priest was more to blame than others, or that he did more\nthan fulfil the duties of his ministry in asking these questions. Such,\nhowever, was my opinion at the time, and I detested that man with all my\nheart until I knew better. I had been unjust towards him, for this\npriest had only done his duty. He was only obeying the Pope and his\ntheologians. His being a priest of Rome was, therefore, less his crime\nthan his misfortune. He was, as I have been myself, bound hand and foot\nat the feet of the greatest enemy that the holiness and truth of God\nhave ever had on earth\u2014the Pope.\n\nThe misfortune of Mr. Beaubien, like that of all the priests of Rome,\nwas that of having bound himself by terrible oaths not to think for\nhimself, or to use the light of his own reason.\n\nMany Roman Catholics, even many Protestants, refuse to believe this. It\nis, notwithstanding, a sad truth. The priest of Rome is an automaton\u2014a\nmachine which acts, thinks and speaks in matters of morals and of faith,\nonly according to the order and the will of the Pope and his\ntheologians.\n\nHad Mr. Beaubien been left to himself, he was naturally too much of a\ngentleman to ask such questions. But no doubt he had read Liguori, Dens,\nDebreyne, authors approved by the Pope, and he was obliged to take\ndarkness for light, and vice for virtue.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV\n\n THE SHEPHERD WHIPPED BY HIS SHEEP.\n\n\nShortly after the trial of auricular confession, my young friend, Louis\nCazeault, accosted me on a beautiful morning and said, \u201cDo you know what\nhappened last night?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d I answered. \u201cWhat was the wonder?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou know that our priest spends almost all his evenings at Mr.\nRichards\u2019 house. Everybody thinks that he goes there for the sake of the\ntwo daughters. Well, in order to cure him of that disease, my uncle, Dr.\nTache, and six others, masked, whipped him without mercy as he was\ncoming back at eleven o\u2019clock at night. It is already known by every one\nin the village, and they split their sides with laughing.\u201d\n\nMy first feeling on hearing that news, was one of joy. Ever since my\nfirst confession I felt angry every time I thought of that priest. His\nquestions had so wounded me that I could not forgive him. I had enough\nof self-control, however, to conceal my pleasure and I answered my\nfriend:\n\n\u201cYou are telling me a wicked story; I can\u2019t believe a word of it.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said young Cazeault, \u201ccome at eight o\u2019clock this evening to my\nuncle\u2019s. A secret meeting is to take place then. No doubt they will\nspeak of the pill given to the priest last night. We shall place\nourselves in our little room as usual and shall hear everything, our\npresence not being suspected. You may be sure that it will be\ninteresting.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will go,\u201d I answered, \u201cbut I do not believe a word of that story.\u201d\n\nI went to school at the usual hour. Most of the pupils had preceded me.\nDivided into groups of eight or ten, they were engaged in a most lively\nconversation. Bursts of convulsive laughter were heard from every\ncorner. I could very well see that something uncommon had taken place in\nthe village.\n\nI approached several of these groups, and all received me with the\nquestion:\n\n\u201cDo you know that the priest was whipped last night as he was coming\nfrom the Misses Richards\u2019?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is a story invented for fun,\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cYou were not there to see him, were you? You therefore know nothing\nabout it; for if anybody had whipped the priest he would not surely\nboast of it.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut we heard his screams,\u201d answered many voices.\n\n\u201cWhat! was he then screaming out?\u201d I asked.\n\n\u201cHe shouted at the top of his voice, \u2018Help, help! Murder!\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you were surely mistaken about the voice,\u201d said I. \u201cIt was not the\npriest who shouted, it was somebody else. I could never believe that\nanybody would whip a priest in such a crowded village.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut\u201d said several, \u201cwe ran to his help and we recognized the priest\u2019s\nvoice. He is the only one who lisps in the village.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd we saw him with our own eyes,\u201d said several.\n\nThe school bell put an end to this conversation. As soon as school was\nout I returned to the house of my relatives, not wishing to learn any\nmore about this matter. Although I did not like this priest, yet I was\nmuch mortified by some remarks which the older pupils made about him.\n\nBut it was difficult not to hear any more. On my arrival home I found my\nuncle and aunt engaged in a very warm debate on the subject. My uncle\nwished to conceal the fact that he was among those who had whipped him.\nBut he gave the details so precisely, he was so merry over the\nadventure, that it was easy to see that he had a hand in the plot. My\naunt was indignant, and used the most energetic expressions to show her\ndisapprobation.\n\nThat bitter debate annoyed me so that I did not stay long to hear it\nall. I withdrew to my study.\n\nDuring the remainder of the day I changed my resolution many times about\nmy going to the secret meeting in the evening. At one moment I would\ndecide firmly not to go. My conscience told me that, as usual, things\nwould be uttered which it was not good for me to hear. I had refused to\ngo to the two last meetings, and a silent voice, as it were, told me I\nhad done well. Then a moment after I was tormented by the desire to know\nprecisely what had taken place the evening before. The flagellation of a\npriest in the midst of a large village was a fact too worthy of note to\nfail to excite the curiosity of a child. Besides, my aversion to the\npriest, though I concealed it as well as I could, made me wish to know\nwhether everything was true on the subject of the chastisement. But in\nthe struggle between good and evil which took place in my mind during\nthat day, the evil was finally to triumph. A quarter of an hour before\nthe meeting my friend came to me and said:\n\n\u201cMake haste, the members of the association are coming.\u201d\n\nAt this call all my good resolutions vanished. I hushed the voice of my\nconscience, and a few minutes later I was placed in an angle of that\nlittle room, where for more than two hours I learned many strange and\nscandalous things about the lives of the priests of Canada.\n\nDr. Tache presided. He opened the meeting in a low tone of voice. At the\nbeginning of his discourse I had some difficulty to understand what he\nsaid. He spoke as one who feared to be overheard when disclosing a\nsecret to a friend. But after a few preliminary sentences he forgot the\nrule of prudence which he had imposed upon himself, and spoke with\nenergy and power.\n\nMr. Etienne Tache was naturally eloquent. He seemed to speak on no\nquestion except under the influence of the deepest conviction of its\ntruth. His speech was passionate, and the tone of his voice clear and\nagreeable. His short and cutting sentences did not reach the ear only;\nthey penetrated even the secret folds of the soul. He spoke in substance\nas follows:\n\n\u201cGentlemen:\u2014I am happy to see you here more numerously than ever. The\ngrave events of last night have, no doubt, decided many of you to attend\ndebates which some began to forsake, but the importance of which, it\nseems to me, increases day by day.\n\n\u201cThe question debated in our last meeting\u2014\u2018The Priests\u2019\u2014is one of life\nand death, not only for our young and beautiful Canada, but in a moral\npoint of view it is a question of life and death for our families, and\nfor every one of us in particular.\n\n\u201cThere is, I know, only one opinion among us on the subject of priests;\nand I am glad that this opinion is not only that of all educated men in\nCanada, but also of learned France; nay, of the whole world. The reign\nof the priest is the reign of ignorance, of corruption, and of the most\nbarefaced immorality, under the mask of the most refined hypocrisy. The\nreign of the priest is the death of our schools; it is the degradation\nof our wives, the prostitution of our daughters; it is the reign of\ntyranny\u2014the loss of liberty.\n\n\u201cWe have only one good school, I will not say in St. Thomas, but in all\nour county. This school in our midst is a great honor to our village.\nNow see the energy with which all the priests who come here work for the\nclosing of that school. They use every means to destroy that focus of\nlight which we have started with so much difficulty, and which we\nsupport by so many sacrifices.\n\n\u201cWith the priest of Rome our children do not belong to us; he is their\nmaster. Let me explain. The priest honors us with the belief that the\nbodies, the flesh and bones of our children, are ours, and that our duty\nin consequence is to clothe and feed them. But the nobler and more\nsacred part, namely, the intellect, the heart, the soul, the priest\nclaims as his own patrimony, his own property. The priest has the\naudacity to tell us that to him alone it belongs to enlighten those\nintelligences, to form those hearts, to fashion those souls as it may\nbest suit him. He has the impudence to tell us that we are too silly or\nperverse to know our duties in this respect. We have not the right of\nchoosing our school teachers. We have not the right to send a single ray\nof light into those intellects, or to give to those souls who hunger and\nthirst after truth a single crumb of that food prepared with so much\nwisdom and success by enlightened men of all ages.\n\n\u201cBy the confessional the priests poison the springs of life in our\nchildren. They initiate them into such mysteries of iniquity as would\nterrify old galley slaves. By their questions they reveal to them\nsecrets of a corruption such as carries its germs of death into the very\nmarrow of their bones, and that from the earliest years of their\ninfancy. Before I was fifteen years old I had learned more real\nblackguard ism from the mouth of my confessor than I have learned ever\nsince in my studies and in my life as a physician for twenty years.\n\n\u201cA few days ago I questioned my little nephew, Louis Cazeault, upon what\nhe had learned in his confession. He answered me ingenuously, and\nrepeated things to me which I would be ashamed to utter in your\npresence, and which you, fathers of families, could not listen to\nwithout blushing. And just think, that not only of little boys are those\nquestions asked, but also of our dear little girls. Are we not the most\ndegraded of men if we do not set ourselves to work in order to break the\niron yoke under which the priest keeps our dear country, and by means of\nwhich he keeps us, with our wives and children, at his feet like vile\nslaves!\n\n\u201cWhile speaking to you of the deleterious effect of the confessional\nupon our children, shall I forget its effect upon our wives and upon\nourselves? Need I tell you that, for most women, the confessional is a\nrendezvous of coquetry and of love? Do you not feel as I do myself, that\nby means of the confessional the priest is more the master of the hearts\nof our wives than ourselves? Is not the priest the private and public\nconfidant of our wives? Do not our wives go invariably to the feet of\nthe priest, opening to him what is most sacred and intimate in the\nsecrets of our lives as husbands and as fathers? The husband belongs no\nmore to his wife as her guide through the dark and difficult paths of\nlife: it is the priest! We are no more their friends and natural\nadvisers. Their anxieties and their cares they do not confide to us.\nThey do not expect from us the remedies for the miseries of this life.\nTowards the priest they turn their thoughts and desires. He has their\nentire and exclusive confidence. In a word, it is the priest who is the\nreal husband of our wives! It is he who has the possession of their\nrespect and of their hearts to a degree to which no one of us need ever\naspire!\n\n\u201cWere the priest an angel, were he not made of flesh and bones just as\nwe are, were not his organization absolutely the same as our own, then\nmight we be indifferent to what might take place between him and our\nwives, whom he has at his feet, in his hands\u2014even more, in his heart.\nBut what does my experience tell me, not only as a physician, but also\nas a citizen of St. Thomas? What does yours tell you? Our experience\ntells us that the priest, instead of being stronger, is weaker than we\ngenerally are with respect to women. His sham vows of perfect chastity,\nfar from rendering him more invulnerable to the arrows of Cupid, expose\nhim to be made more easily the victim of that god, so small in form, but\nso dreadful a giant by the irresistible power of his weapons and the\nextent of his conquests.\n\n\u201cAs a matter of fact, of the last four priests who came to St. Thomas,\nhave not three seduced many of the wives and daughters of our most\nrespected families? And what security have we that the priest who is now\nwith us does not walk in the same path? Is not the whole parish filled\nwith indignation at the long nightly visits made by him to two girls\nwhose dissolute morals are a secret to nobody? And when the priest does\nnot respect himself, would we not be silly in continuing to give him\nthat respect of which he himself knows he is unworthy?\n\n\u201cAt our last meeting the opinions were divided at the beginning of the\ndiscussion. Many thought it would be well to speak to the bishop about\nthe scandal caused by those nightly visits. But the majority judged that\nsuch steps would be useless, since the bishop would do one of two\nthings, namely, he would either pay no attention to our just complaints,\nas has often been the case, or he would remove this priest, filling his\nplace with one who would do no better. That majority, which became a\nunanimity, acceded to my thought of taking justice into our own hands.\nThe priest is our servant. We pay him a large tithe. We have therefore\nclaims upon him. He has abused us, and does so every day by his public\nneglect of the most elementary laws of morality. In visiting every night\nthat house whose degradation is known to everybody, he gives to youth an\nexample of perversity the effects of which no one can estimate.\n\n\u201cIt had been unanimously decided that he should be whipped. Without my\ntelling you by whom it was done, you may be assured that Mr. Beaubien\u2019s\nflagellation of last night will never be forgotten by him!\n\n\u201cHeaven grant that this brotherly correction be a lesson to teach all\nthe priests of Canada that their golden reign is over, that the eyes of\nthe people are opened, and that their domination is drawing to an end!\u201d\n\nThis discourse was listened to with deep silence, and Dr. Tache saw by\nthe applause that followed that his speech had been the expression of\neveryone.\n\nNext followed a gentleman named Dubord, who in substance spoke as\nfollows:\n\n\u201cMr. President:\u2014I was not among those who gave the priest the expression\nof public feeling with the energetic tongue of the whip. I wish I had\nbeen, however; I would heartily have co-operated in giving that lesson\nto the priests of Canada. Let me give my reason.\n\n\u201cMy daughter, who is twelve years old, went to confession as did the\nothers a few weeks ago. It was against my will. I know by my own\nexperience that of all actions confession is the most degrading in a\nperson\u2019s life. I can imagine nothing so well calculated to destroy for\never one\u2019s self-respect as the modern invention of the confessional.\nNow, what is a person without self-respect\u2014especially a woman? Without\nthis all is lost to her forever.\n\n\u201cIn the confessional everything is corruption of the lowest grade.\n\n\u201cIn the confessional, a girl\u2019s thoughts are polluted, her tongue is\npolluted, her heart is polluted\u2014yes, and forever polluted! Do I need to\ntell you this? You know it as well as I do. Though you are now all too\nintelligent to degrade yourselves at the feet of a priest, though it is\nlong since you have been guilty of that meanness, not one of you have\nforgotten the lessons of corruption received, when young, in the\nconfessional. Those lessons were engraved on your memory, your thoughts,\nyour hearts, and your souls like the scar left by the red-hot iron upon\nthe brow of the slave, to remain a perpetual witness of his shame and\nservitude. The confessional is a place where one gets accustomed to\nhear, and repeat without a scruple, things which would cause even a\nprostitute to blush!\n\n\u201cWhy are Roman Catholic nations inferior to nations belonging to\nProtestantism? Only in the confessional can the solution of that problem\nbe found. And why are Roman Catholic nations degraded in proportion to\ntheir submission to the priest? It is because the oftener the\nindividuals composing those nations go to confession the more rapidly\nthey sink in the scale of intelligence and morality. A terrible example\nof this I had in my own house.\n\n\u201cAs I said a moment ago, I was against my daughter going to confession;\nbut her poor mother, who is under the control of the priest, earnestly\nwanted her to go. Not to have a disagreeable scene in my house, I had to\nyield to the tears of my wife.\n\n\u201cOn the day following that of her confession they believed I was absent;\nbut I was in my office, with the door sufficiently open to allow me to\nhear what was said. My wife and daughter had the following conversation:\n\n\u201c\u2018What makes you so thoughtful and sad, my dear Lucy, since you went to\nconfession? It seems to me you should feel happier since you had the\nprivilege of confessing your sins.\u2019\n\n\u201cLucy made no answer.\n\n\u201cAfter a silence of two or three minutes her mother said:\n\n\u201c\u2018Why do you weep, dear child? Are you ill?\u2019\n\n\u201cStill no answer from the child.\n\n\u201cYou may well suppose that I was all attention. I had my suspicions\nabout the dreadful ordeal which had taken place. My heart throbbed with\nuneasiness and anger.\n\n\u201cAfter a short time my wife spoke to her child with sufficient firmness\nto force her to answer. In a trembling voice and half suppressed with\nsobs my dear little daughter answered:\n\n\u201c\u2018Ah! mamma, if you knew what the priest asked me, and what he said to\nme in the confessional, you would be as sad as I am.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018But what did he say to you? He is a holy man. You surely did not\nunderstand him if you think he said anything to pain you.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Dear mother,\u2019 as she threw herself into her mother\u2019s arms, \u2018do not ask\nme to confess what that priest said! He told to me things so shameful\nthat I cannot repeat them. But that which pains me most is the\nimpossibility of banishing from my thoughts the hateful things which he\nhas taught me. His impure words are like the leeches put upon the chest\nof my friend Louise\u2014they could not be removed without tearing the flesh.\nWhat must have been his opinion of me to ask such questions!\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cMy child said no more, and began to sob again.\n\n\u201cAfter a short silence my wife rejoined:\n\n\u201c\u2018I\u2019ll go to the priest. I\u2019ll tell him to beware how he speaks in the\nconfessional. I have noticed myself that he goes too far with his\nquestions. I, however, thought that he was more prudent with children.\nAfter the lesson that I\u2019ll give him be sure that you will have only to\ntell your sins, and that you will be no more troubled by his endless\nquestions. I ask of you, however, never to speak of this to anybody,\nespecially never let your poor father know anything about it; for he has\nlittle enough religion already, and this would leave him without any at\nall.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cI could contain myself no longer. I rose and abruptly entered the\nparlor. My daughter threw herself, weeping, into my arms. My wife\nscreamed with terror, and almost fell into a swoon. I said to my child:\n\n\u201cIf you love me, put your hand on my heart and promise me that you\u2019ll\nnever go to confession again. Fear God, my child; walk in His presence,\nfor His eye seeth you everywhere. Remember that day and night He is\nready to forgive us. Never place yourself again at the feet of a priest\nto be defiled and degraded by him!\n\n\u201cThis my daughter promised me.\n\n\u201cWhen my wife had recovered from her surprise I said to her:\n\n\u201cMadam, for a long time the priest has been everything and your husband\nnothing to you. There is a hidden and terrible power that governs your\nthoughts and affections as it governs your deeds\u2014it is the power of the\npriest. This you have often denied; but providence has decided to-day\nthat this power should be forever broken for you and for me. I want to\nbe the ruler in my own house; and from this moment the power of the\npriest over you must cease, unless you prefer to leave my house forever.\nThe priest has reigned here too long! But now that I know he has stained\nand defiled the soul of my daughter, his empire must fall! Whenever you\ngo and take your heart and secrets to the feet of the priest, be so kind\nas not to come back to the same house with me.\u201d\n\nThree other discourses followed that of Mr. Dubord, all of which were\npregnant with details and facts going to prove that the confessional was\nthe principal cause of the deplorable demoralization of St. Thomas.\n\nIf, in addition to all that, I could have mentioned before that\nassociation what I already knew of the corrupting influences of that\ninstitution given to the world by centuries of darkness, certainly the\ndetermination of its members to make use of every means to abolish its\nusage would have been strengthened.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V.\n\n THE PRIEST, PURGATORY, AND THE POOR WIDOW\u2019S COW.\n\n\nThe day following that of the meeting at which Mr. Tache had given his\nreasons for boasting that he had whipped the priest, I wrote to my\nmother: \u201cFor God\u2019s sake, come for me; I can stay here no longer. If you\nknew what my eyes have seen and my ears have heard for some time past,\nyou would not delay your coming a single day.\u201d\n\nIndeed, such was the impression left upon me by that flagellation, and\nby the speeches which I had heard, that had it not been for the crossing\nof the St. Lawrence, I would have started for Murray Bay on the day\nafter the secret meeting at which I had heard things that so terribly\nfrightened me. How I regretted the happy and peaceful days spent with my\nmother in reading the beautiful chapters of the Bible, so well chosen by\nher to instruct and interest me! What a difference there was between our\nconversations after these readings, and the conversations I heard at St.\nThomas!\n\nHappily my parents\u2019 desire to see me again was as great as mine to go\nback to them. So that a few weeks later my mother came for me. She\npressed me to her heart, and brought me back to the arms of my father.\n\nI arrived at home on the 17th of July, 1821, and spent the afternoon and\nevening till late by my father\u2019s side. With what pleasure did he see me\nworking difficult problems in algebra, and even in geometry! for under\nmy teacher, Mr. Jones, I had really made rapid progress in those\nbranches. More than once I noticed tears of joy in my father\u2019s eyes\nwhen, taking my slate, he saw that my calculations were correct. He also\nexamined me in grammar. \u201cWhat an admirable teacher this Mr. Jones must\nbe,\u201d he would say, \u201cto have advanced a child so much in the short space\nof fourteen months!\u201d\n\nHow sweet to me, but how short, were those hours of happiness passed\nbetween my good mother and my father! We had family worship. I read the\nfifteenth chapter of Luke, the return of the prodigal son. My mother\nthen sang a hymn of joy and gratitude, and I went to bed with my heart\nfull of happiness to take the sweetest sleep of my life. But, O God!\nwhat an awful awakening thou hadst prepared for me!\n\nAt about four o\u2019clock in the morning heart-rending screams fell upon my\near. I recognized my mother\u2019s voice.\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter, dear mother?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, my dear child, you have no more a father! He is dead!\u201d\n\nIn saying these words she lost consciousness and fell on the floor!\n\nWhile a friend who had passed the night with us gave her proper care, I\nhastened to my father\u2019s bed. I pressed him to my heart, I kissed him, I\ncovered him with my tears, I moved his head, I pressed his hands, I\ntried to lift him up on his pillow; I could not believe that he was\ndead! It seemed to me that even if dead he would come back to life\u2014that\nGod could not thus take my father away from me at the very moment when I\nhad come back to him after so long an absence! I knelt to pray to God\nfor the life of my father. But my tears and cries were useless. He was\ndead! He was already cold as ice!\n\nTwo days after he was buried. My mother was so overwhelmed with grief\nthat she could not follow the funeral procession. I remained with her as\nher only earthly support. Poor mother! How many tears thou hast shed!\nWhat sobs came from thine afflicted heart in those days of supreme\ngrief!\n\nThough I was then very young, I could understand the greatness of our\nloss, and I mingled my tears with those of my mother.\n\nWhat pen can portray what takes place in the heart of a woman when God\ntakes suddenly her husband away in the prime of his life, and leaves her\nalone, plunged in misery, with three small children, two of whom are\neven too young to know their loss! How long are the hours of the day for\nthe poor widow who is left alone, and without means, among strangers!\nHow painful the sleepless night to the heart which has lost everything!\nHow empty a house is left by the eternal absence of him who was its\nmaster, support, and father! Every object in the house and every step\nshe takes remind her of her loss and sinks the sword deeper which\npierces her heart. Oh, how bitter are the tears which flow from her eyes\nwhen her youngest child, who as yet does not understand the mystery of\ndeath, throws himself into her arms and says: \u201cMamma, where is papa? Why\ndoes he not come back? I am lonely!\u201d\n\nMy poor mother passed through those heart-rending trials. I heard her\nsobs during the long hours of the day, and also during the longer hours\nof the night. Many times I have seen her fall upon her knees to implore\nGod to be merciful to her and to her three unhappy orphans. I could do\nnothing then to comfort her, but love her, pray and weep with her!\n\nOnly a few days had elapsed after the burial of my father when I saw Mr.\nCourtois, the parish priest, coming to our house (he who had tried to\ntake away our Bible from us). He had the reputation of being rich, and\nas we were poor and unhappy since my father\u2019s death, my first thought\nwas that he had come to comfort and to help us. I could see that my\nmother had the same hopes. She welcomed him as an angel from heaven. The\nleast gleam of hope is so sweet to one who is unhappy!\n\nFrom his very first words, however, I could see that our hopes were not\nto be realized. He tried to be sympathetic, and even said something\nabout the confidence that we should have in God, especially in times of\ntrial; but his words were cold and dry.\n\nTurning to me, he said:\n\n\u201cDo you continue to read the Bible, my little boy?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d answered I, with a voice trembling with anxiety, for I\nfeared that he would make another effort to take away that treasure, and\nI had no longer a father to defend it.\n\nThen addressing my mother, he said:\n\n\u201cMadam, I told you that it was not right for you or your child to read\nthat book.\u201d\n\nMy mother cast down her eyes, and answered only by the tears which ran\ndown her cheeks.\n\nThat question was followed by a long silence, and the priest then\ncontinued:\n\n\u201cMadam, there is something due for the prayers which have been sung, and\nthe services which you requested to be offered for the repose of your\nhusband\u2019s soul. I will be very much obliged to you if you pay me that\nlittle debt.\u201d\n\n\u201cMr. Courtois,\u201d answered my mother, \u201cmy husband left me nothing but\ndebts. I have only the work of my own hands to procure a living for my\nthree children, the eldest of whom is before you. For these little\norphans\u2019 sake, if not for mine, do not take from us the little that is\nleft.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, madam, you do not reflect. Your husband died suddenly and without\nany preparation; he is therefore in the flames of purgatory. If you want\nhim to be delivered, you must necessarily unite your personal sacrifices\nto the prayers of the Church and the masses which we offer.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs I said, my husband has left me absolutely without means, and it is\nimpossible for me to give you any money,\u201d replied my mother.\n\n\u201cBut, madam, your husband was for a long time the only notary of Mal\nBay. He surely must have made much money. I can scarcely think that he\nhas left you without any means to help him now that his desolation and\nsufferings are far greater than yours.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy husband did, indeed, coin much money, but he spent still more.\nThanks to God, we have not been in want while he lived. But lately he\ngot this house built, and what is still due on it makes me fear that I\nwill lose it. He also bought a piece of land not long ago, only half of\nwhich is paid, and I will, therefore, probably not be able to keep it.\nHence I may soon, with my poor orphans, be deprived of everything that\nis left us. In the meantime I hope, sir, that you are not a man to take\naway from us our last piece of bread.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, madam, the masses offered for the rest of your husband\u2019s soul must\nbe paid,\u201d answered the priest.\n\nMy mother covered her face with her handkerchief and wept.\n\nAs for me, I did not mingle my tears with hers this time. My feelings\nwere not those of grief, but of anger and unspeakable horror. My eyes\nwere fixed on the face of that man who tortured my mother\u2019s heart. I\nlooked with tearless eyes upon the man who added to my poor mother\u2019s\nanguish, and made her weep more bitterly than ever. My hands were\nclenched, as if ready to strike. All my muscles trembled; my teeth\nchattered as if from intense cold. My greatest sorrow was my weakness in\nthe presence of that big man, and my not being able to send him away\nfrom our house, and driving him far away from my mother.\n\nI felt inclined to say to him: \u201cAre you not ashamed, you who are so\nrich, to come and take away the last piece of bread from our mouths?\u201d\nBut my physical and moral strength were not sufficient to accomplish the\ntask before me, and I was filled with regret and disappointment.\n\nAfter a long silence, my mother raised her eyes, reddened with tears, on\nthe priest, and said:\n\n\u201cSir, you see that cow in the meadow, not far from our house? Her milk\nand the butter made from it form the principal part of my children\u2019s\nfood. I hope you will not take her away from us. If, however, such a\nsacrifice must be made to deliver my poor husband\u2019s soul from purgatory,\ntake her as payment of the masses to be offered to extinguish those\ndevouring flames.\u201d\n\nThe priest instantly arose, saying, \u201cVery well, madam,\u201d and went out.\n\nOur eyes anxiously followed him; but instead of walking towards the\nlittle gate which was in front of the house, he directed his steps\ntowards the meadow, and drove the cow before him in the direction of his\nhome.\n\nAt that sight I screamed with despair: \u201cO, my mother! he is taking our\ncow away! What will become of us?\u201d\n\nLord Nairn had given us that splendid cow when it was three months old.\nHer mother had been brought from Scotland, and belonged to one of the\nbest breeds of that country. I fed her with my own hands, and had often\nshared my bread with her. I loved her as a child always loves an animal\nwhich he has brought up himself. She seemed to understand and love me\nalso. From whatever distance she could see me, she would run to me to\nreceive my caresses, and whatever else I might have to give her. My\nmother herself milked her; and her rich milk was such delicious and\nsubstantial food for us. We all felt so happy, at breakfast and supper,\neach with a cupful of that pure and refreshing milk!\n\nMy mother also cried out with grief as she saw the priest taking away\nthe only means which heaven had left her to feed her children.\n\nThrowing myself into her arms, I asked her: \u201cWhy have you given away our\ncow? What will become of us? We shall surely die of hunger.\u201d\n\n\u201cDear child,\u201d she answered, \u201cI did not think the priest would be so\ncruel as to take away the last resource which God had left us. Ah! if I\nhad believed him to be so unmerciful I would never have spoken to him as\nI did. As you say, my dear child, what will become of us? But have you\nnot often read to me in your Bible that God is the Father of the widow\nand the orphan? We shall pray to that God who is willing to be your\nfather and mine. He will listen to us, and see our tears. Let us kneel\ndown and ask of Him to be merciful to us, and to give us back the\nsupport of which the priest has deprived us.\u201d\n\nWe both knelt down. She took my right hand with her left, and, lifting\nthe other hand towards heaven, she offered a prayer to the God of\nmercies for her poor children such as I have never since heard. Her\nwords were often choked by her sobs. But when she could not speak with\nher voice, she spoke with her burning looks raised to heaven, and with\nher uplifted hand. I also prayed to God with her, and repeated her\nwords, which were broken by my sobs.\n\nWhen her prayer was ended she remained for a long time pale and\ntrembling. Cold sweat was flowing on her face, and she fell on the\nfloor. I thought she was going to die. I ran for cold water, which I\ngave her, saying: \u201cDear mother! O, do not leave me alone upon earth!\u201d\nAfter drinking a few drops she felt better, and taking my hand, she put\nit to her trembling lips; then drawing me near her, and pressing me to\nher bosom, she said: \u201cDear child, if ever you become a priest, _I ask of\nyou never to be so hard-hearted towards poor widows as are the priests\nof to-day_.\u201d While she said these words, I felt her burning tears\nfalling upon my cheek.\n\nThe memory of these tears has never left me. I felt them constantly\nduring the twenty-five years I spent in preaching the inconceivable\nsuperstitions of Rome.\n\nI was not better, naturally, than many of the other priests. I believed,\nas they did, the impious fables of purgatory; and as well as they (I\nconfess it to my shame), if I refused to take, or if I gave back the\nmoney of the poor, I accepted the money which the rich gave me for the\nmasses I said to extinguish the flames of that fabulous place. But the\nremembrance of my mother\u2019s words and tears has kept me from being so\ncruel and unmerciful towards the poor widows as Romish priests are, for\nthe most part, obliged to be.\n\nWhen my heart, depraved by the false and impious doctrines of Rome, was\ntempted to take money from widows and orphans, _under pretence of my\nlong prayers_, I then heard the voice of my mother, from the depth of\nher sepulchre, saying: \u201cMy dear child, do not be cruel towards poor\nwidows and orphans, as are the priests of to-day.\u201d If, during the days\nof my priesthood at Quebec, at Beauport and Kamouraska, I have given\nalmost all that I had to feed and clothe the poor, especially the widows\nand orphans, it was not owing to my being better than others, but it was\nbecause my mother had spoken to me with words never to be forgotten. The\nLord, I believe, had put into my mother\u2019s mouth those words, so simple\nbut so full of eloquence and beauty, as one of His great mercies towards\nme. Those tears the hand of Rome has never been able to wipe off; those\nwords of my mother the sophisms of Popery could not make me forget.\n\nHow long, O Lord, shall that insolent enemy of the gospel, the Church of\nRome, be permitted to fatten herself upon the tears of the widow and of\nthe orphan by means of that cruel and impious invention of\npaganism\u2014purgatory? Wilt thou not be merciful unto so many nations which\nare still the victims of that great imposture? Oh, do remove the veil\nwhich covers the eyes of the priests and people of Rome, as thou hast\nremoved it from mine! Make them to understand that their hopes of\npurification must not rest on these fabulous fires, but only on the\nblood of the Lamb shed on Calvary to save the world.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n\n FESTIVITIES IN A PARSONAGE.\n\n\nGod had heard the poor widow\u2019s prayer. A few days after the priest had\ntaken our cow she received a letter from each of her two sisters,\nGenevieve and Catherine.\n\nThe former, who was married to Etienne Eschenbach, of St. Thomas, told\nher to sell all she had and come, with her children, to live with her.\n\n\u201cWe have no family,\u201d she said, \u201cand God has given us the good things of\nthis life in abundance. We shall be happy to share them with you and\nyour children.\u201d\n\nThe latter, married in Kamouraska to the Hon. Amable Dionne, wrote: \u201cWe\nhave learned the sad news of your husband\u2019s death. We have lately lost\nour only son. We wish to fill the vacant place with Charles, your\neldest. Send him to us. We shall bring him up as our own child, and\nbefore long he will be your support. In the meantime, sell by auction\nall you have, and go to St. Thomas with your two younger children. There\nGenevieve and myself will supply your wants.\u201d\n\nIn a few days all our furniture was sold. Unfortunately, though I had\ncarefully concealed my cherished Bible, it disappeared. I could never\ndiscover what became of it. Had mother herself, frightened by the\nthreats of the priest, relinquished that treasure? or had some of our\nrelatives, believing it to be their duty, destroyed it? I do not know. I\ndeeply felt that loss, which was then irreparable to me.\n\nOn the following day, in the midst of bitter tears and sobs, I bade\nfarewell to my poor mother and young brothers. They went to St. Thomas\non board a schooner, and I crossed in a sloop to Kamouraska.\n\nMy uncle and aunt Dionne welcomed me with every mark of the most sincere\naffection. Having soon made known to them that I wished to become a\npriest, I began to study Latin under the direction of Rev. Mr. Morin,\nvicar of Kamouraska. That priest was esteemed to be a learned man. He\nwas about forty or fifty years old, and had been priest of a parish in\nthe district of Montreal. But, as is the case with the majority of\npriests, his vows of celibacy had not proved a sufficient guarantee\nagainst the charms of one of his beautiful parishioners. This had caused\na great scandal. He consequently lost his position, and the bishop had\nsent him to Kamouraska, where his past conduct was not so generally\nknown. He was very good to me, and I soon loved him with sincere\naffection.\n\nOne day, about the beginning of the year 1822, he called me aside and\nsaid:\n\n\u201cMr. Varin (the parish priest) is in the habit of giving a great\nfestival on his birthday. Now, the principal citizens of the village\nwish on that occasion to present him with a bouquet. I am appointed to\nwrite an address, and to choose some one to deliver it before the\npriest. You are the one whom I have chosen. What do you think of it?\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I am very young,\u201d I replied.\n\n\u201cYour youth will only give more interest to what we wish to say and do,\u201d\nsaid the priest.\n\n\u201cWell, I have no objection to do so, provided the piece be not too long,\nand that I have it sufficiently soon to learn it well.\u201d\n\nIt was already prepared. The time of delivering it soon came. The best\nsociety of Kamouraska, composed of about fifteen gentlemen and as many\nladies, were assembled in the beautiful parlors of the parsonage. Mr.\nVarin was in their midst. Suddenly Squire Paschal Tache, the seigneur of\nthe parish, and his lady entered the room, holding me by each hand, and\nplaced me in the midst of the guests. My head was crowned with flowers,\nfor I was to represent the angel of the parish, whom the people had\nchosen to give to their pastor the expression of public admiration and\ngratitude. When the address was finished, I presented to the priest the\nbeautiful bouquet of symbolical flowers prepared by the ladies for the\noccasion.\n\nMr. Varin was a small but well-built man. His thin lips were ever ready\nto smile graciously. The remarkable whiteness of his skin was still\nheightened by the rose color of his cheeks. Intelligence and goodness\nbeamed from his expressive black eyes. Nothing could be more amiable and\ngracious than his conversation during the first quarter of an hour\npassed in his company. He was passionately fond of these little fetes,\nand the charm of his manners could not be surpassed as the host of the\nevening.\n\nHe was moved to tears before hearing half of the address, and the eyes\nof many were moistened when the pastor, with a voice trembling and full\nof emotion, expressed his joy and gratitude at being so highly\nappreciated by his parishioners.\n\nAs soon as the happy pastor had expressed his thanks, the ladies sang\ntwo or three beautiful songs. The door of the dining-room was then\nopened, and we could see a long table laden with the most delicious\nmeats and wines that Canada could afford.\n\nI had never before been present at a priest\u2019s dinner. The honorable\nposition given me at that little fete permitted me to see it in all its\ndetails, and nothing could equal the curiosity with which I sought to\nhear and see all that was said and done by the joyous guests.\n\nBesides Mr. Varin and his vicar there were three other priests, who were\nartistically placed in the midst of the most beautiful ladies of the\ncompany. The ladies, after honoring us with their presence for an hour\nor so, left the table and retired to the drawing-room. Scarcely had the\nlast lady disappeared when Mr. Varin rose and said:\n\n\u201cGentlemen, let us drink to the health of these amiable ladies, whose\npresence has thrown so many charms over the first part of our little\nfete.\u201d\n\nFollowing the example of Mr. Varin, each guest filled and emptied his\nlong wine-glass in honor of the ladies.\n\nSquire Tache then proposed \u201cThe health of the most venerable and beloved\npriest of Canada, the Rev. Mr. Varin.\u201d Again the glasses were filled and\nemptied, except mine; for I had been placed at the side of my uncle\nDionne, who, sternly looking at me as soon as I had emptied my first\nglass, said: \u201cIf you drink another I will send you from the table. A\nlittle boy like you should not drink, but only touch the glass with his\nlips.\u201d\n\nIt would have been difficult to count the healths which were drank after\nthe ladies had left us. After each health a song or a story was called\nfor, several of which were followed by applause, shouts of joy, and\nconvulsive laughter.\n\nWhen my turn to propose a health came I wished to be excused, but they\nwould not exempt me. So I had to say about whose health I was most\ninterested. I rose upon my two short legs, and turning to Mr. Varin, I\nsaid, \u201cLet us drink to the health of our Holy Father, the Pope.\u201d\n\nNobody had yet thought of our Holy Father, the Pope, and the name,\nmentioned under such circumstances by a child, appeared so droll to the\npriests and their merry guests that they burst into laughter, stamped\ntheir feet and shouted, \u201cBravo! bravo! To the health of the Pope!\u201d\nEveryone stood up, and at the invitation of Mr. Varin, the glasses were\nfilled and emptied as usual.\n\nSo many healths could not be drunk without their natural\neffect\u2014intoxication. The first that was overcome was a priest, Noel by\nname. He was a tall man, and a great drinker. I had noticed more than\nonce, that instead of taking his wine-glass he drank from a large\ntumbler. The first symptoms of his intoxication, instead of drawing\nsympathy from his friends, only increased their noisy bursts of\nlaughter. He endeavored to take a bottle to fill his glass, but his hand\nshook, and the bottle, falling on the floor, was broken to pieces.\nWishing to keep up his merriment he began to sing a Bacchic song, but\ncould not finish. He dropped his head on the table, quite overcome, and\ntrying to rise, he fell heavily upon his chair. While all this took\nplace the other priests and all the guests looked at him, laughing\nloudly. At last, making a desperate effort, he rose, but after taking\ntwo or three steps, fell headlong on the floor. His two neighbors went\nto help him, but they were not in a condition to help him. Twice they\nrolled with him under the table. At length another, less affected by the\nfumes of wine, took him by the feet and dragged him into an adjoining\nroom, where they left him.\n\nThis first scene seemed strange enough to me, for I had never before\nseen a priest intoxicated. But what astonished me most was the laughter\nof the other priests over that spectacle. Another scene, however, soon\nfollowed which made me sadder. My young companion and friend, Achilles\nTache, had not been warned, as I had, only to touch the wine with his\nlips. More than once he had emptied his glass. He also rolled upon the\nfloor before the eyes of his father, who was too full of wine to help\nhim. He cried aloud, \u201cI am choking!\u201d I tried to lift him up, but I was\nnot strong enough. I ran for his mother. She came, accompanied by\nanother lady, but the vicar had carried him into another room, where he\nfell asleep after having thrown off the wine he had taken.\n\nPoor Achilles! he was learning, in the house of his own priest, to take\nthe first step of that life of debauchery and drunkenness which twelve\nor fifteen years later was to rob him of his manor, take from him his\nwife and children, and to make him fall a victim to the bloody hand of a\nmurderer upon the solitary shores of Kamouraska!\n\nThis first and sad experience which I made of the real and intimate life\nof the Roman Catholic priest was so deeply engraved on my memory that I\nstill remember with shame the bacchic song which that priest Morin had\ntaught me, and which I sang on that occasion. It commenced with these\nLatin words:\n\n Ego in arte Bacchi,\n Multum profeei\n Decies pintum vini\n Hodie bibi.\n\nI also remember one sung by Mr. Varin. Here it is:\n\n Savez-vous pourquoi, mes amis, (_bis_)\n Nous sommes tous si rejouis? (_bis_)\n Amis n\u2019endoutez pas,\n C\u2019est qu\u2019un repas\n N\u2019est bon.\n\n Qu\u2019 apprete sans fa\u00e7on,\n Mangeons a la gamelle.\n Vive le son, vive le son,\n Mangeons a la gamelle,\n Vive le son du flacon!\n\nWhen the priests and their friends had sung, laughed and drank for more\nthan an hour, Mr. Varin rose and said: \u201cThe ladies must not be left\nalone all the evening. Will not our joy and happiness be doubled if they\nare pleased to share them with us?\u201d\n\nThis proposition was received with applause, and we passed into the\ndrawing-room, where the ladies awaited us.\n\nSeveral pieces of music, well executed, gave new life to this part of\nthe entertainment. This resource, however, was soon exhausted. Besides,\nsome of the ladies could well see that their husbands were half drunk,\nand they felt ashamed. Madam Tache could not conceal the grief she felt,\ncaused by what had happened to her dear Achilles. Had she some\npresentiment, as many persons have, of the tears which she was to shed\none day on his account? Was the vision of a mutilated and bloody\ncorpse\u2014the corpse of her own drunken son fallen dead, under the blow of\nan assassin\u2019s dagger, before her eyes?\n\nMr. Varin feared nothing more than an interruption in those hours of\nlively pleasure, of which his life was full, and which took place in his\nparsonage.\n\n\u201cWell, well, ladies and gentlemen, let us entertain no dark thoughts on\nthis evening, the happiest of my life! Let us play blind man\u2019s buff.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet us play blind man\u2019s buff!\u201d was repeated by everybody.\n\nOn hearing this noise, the gentlemen who were half asleep by the fumes\nof wine seemed to awaken as if from a long dream. Young gentlemen\nclapped their hands; ladies, young and old, congratulated one another on\nthe happy idea.\n\n\u201cBut whose eyes shall be covered first?\u201d asked the priest.\n\n\u201cYours, Mr. Varin,\u201d cried all the ladies. \u201cWe look to you for the good\nexample, and we shall follow it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe power and unanimity of the jury by which I am condemned cannot be\nresisted. I feel that there is no appeal. I must submit.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: FESTIVITIES IN A PARSONAGE.]\n\nImmediately one of the ladies placed her nicely perfumed handkerchief\nover the eyes of her priest, took him by the hand, led him to an angle\nof the room, and having pushed him gently with her delicate hand, said:\n\u201cMr. Blindman! Let everyone flee! Woe to him who is caught!\u201d\n\nThere is nothing more curious and comical than to see a man walk when he\nis under the influence of wine, especially if he wishes nobody to notice\nit. How stiff and straight he keeps his legs! How learned and\ncomplicated, in order to keep his equilibrium, are his motions to right\nand left! Such was the position of priest Varin. He was not _very_\ndrunk. Though he had taken a large quantity of wine, he did not fall. He\ncarried with wonderful courage the weight with which he was laden. The\nwine which he had drank would have intoxicated three ordinary men; but\nsuch was his capacity for drinking, that he could still walk without\nfalling. However, his condition was sadly betrayed by each step he took\nand by each word he spoke. Nothing, therefore, was more comical than the\nfirst steps of the poor priest in his efforts to lay hold of somebody in\norder to pass his band to him. He would take one forward and two\nbackward steps, and would then stagger to the right and to the left.\nEverybody laughed to tears. One after another they would all either\npinch him or touch him gently on his hand, arm or shoulder, and passing\nrapidly off would exclaim, \u201cRun away!\u201d The priest went to the right and\nthen to the left, threw his arms suddenly now here and then there. His\nlegs evidently bent under their burden; he panted, perspired, coughed,\nand everyone began to fear that the trial might be carried too far, and\nbeyond propriety. But suddenly, by a happy turn he caught the arm of a\nlady who in teasing him had come too near. In vain the lady tries to\nescape. She struggles, turns round, but the priest\u2019s hand holds her\nfirmly.\n\nWhile holding his victim with his right hand he wishes to touch her head\nwith his left, in order to know and name the pretty bird he had caught.\nBut at that moment his legs gave way. He falls, and drags with him his\nbeautiful parishioner. She turns upon him in order to escape, but he\nsoon turns on her in order to hold her better!\n\nAll this, though the affair of a moment, was long enough to cause the\nladies to blush and cover their faces. Never in all my life did I see\nanything so shameful as that scene. This ended the game. Everyone felt\nashamed. I make a mistake when I say _everyone_, because the men were\nalmost all too intoxicated to blush. The priests also were either too\ndrunk or too much accustomed to such scenes to be ashamed.\n\nOn the following day every one of those priests celebrated mass, and ate\nwhat they called the body and blood, the soul and divinity of Jesus\nChrist, just as if they had spent the previous evening in prayer and\nmeditation on the laws of God! He, Mr. Varin, was the arch-priest of the\nimportant part of the diocese of Quebec from La Riviere Ouelle to Gaspe.\n\nThus, O perfidious Church of Rome, thou deceivest the nations who follow\nthee, and ruinest even the priests whom thou makest thy slaves.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n\n PREPARATION FOR THE FIRST COMMUNION\u2014INITIATION TO IDOLATRY.\n\n\nNothing can exceed the care with which Roman Catholic priests prepare\nchildren for their first communion. Two and three months are set apart\nevery year for that purpose. All that time the children between ten and\ntwelve years of age are obliged to go to church almost every day, not\nonly to learn by heart their catechism, but to hear the explanations of\nall its teachings.\n\nThe priest who instructed us was the Rev. Mr. Morin, whom I have already\nmentioned. He was exceedingly kind to children, and we respected and\nloved him sincerely. His instructions to us were somewhat long; but we\nliked to hear him, for he always had some new and interesting stories to\ngive us.\n\nThe catechism taught as a preparation for our first communion was the\nfoundation of the idolatries and superstitions which the Church of Rome\ngives as the religion of Christ. It is by means of that catechetical\ninstruction that she obtains for the Pope and his representatives that\nprofound respect, I might say adoration, which is the secret of her\npower and influence. With this catechism Rome corrupts the most sacred\ntruths of the gospel. It is there that Jesus is removed from the hearts\nfor which he paid so great a price, and that Mary is put in his place.\nBut the great iniquity of substituting Mary for Jesus is so skillfully\nconcealed, it is given with colors so poetic and beautiful, and so well\nadapted to captivate human nature, that it is almost impossible for a\npoor child to escape the snare.\n\nOne day the priest said to me, \u201cStand up, my child, in order to answer\nthe many important questions which I have to ask you.\u201d\n\nI stood up.\n\n\u201cMy child,\u201d he said, \u201cwhen you had been guilty of some fault at home,\nwho was the first to punish you\u2014your father, or your mother?\u201d\n\nAfter a few moments hesitation I answered, \u201cMy father.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have answered correctly, my child,\u201d said the priest. \u201cAs a matter\nof fact, the father is almost always more impatient with his children,\nand more ready to punish them, than the mother.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow, my child, tell us who punished you most severely\u2014your father or\nyour mother?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy father,\u201d I said, without hesitation.\n\n\u201cStill true, my child. The superior goodness of a kind mother is\nperceived even in the act of correction. Her blows are lighter than\nthose of the father. Further, when you had deserved to be chastised, did\nnot one sometimes come between you and your father\u2019s rod, taking it away\nfrom him and pacifying him?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d I said; \u201cmother did that very often, and saved me from severe\npunishment more than once.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is so, my child, not only for you, but for all your companions\nhere. Have not your good mothers, my children, often saved you from your\nfathers\u2019 corrections even when you deserved it? Answer me.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d they all answered.\n\n\u201cOne question more. When your father was coming to whip you, did you not\nthrow yourself into the arms of some one to escape?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir; when guilty of something, more than once, I threw myself into\nmy mother\u2019s arms as soon as I saw my father coming to whip me. She\nbegged pardon for me, and pleaded so well that I often escaped\npunishment.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have answered well,\u201d said the priest. Then turning to the children,\nhe continued:\n\n\u201cYou have a Father and a Mother in heaven, dear children. Your father is\nJesus, and your mother is Mary. Do not forget that a mother\u2019s heart is\nalways more tender and more prone to mercy than that of a father.\n\n\u201cOften you offend your Father by your sins; you make Him angry against\nyou. What takes place in heaven then? Your Father in heaven takes His\nrod to punish you. He threatens to crush you down with His roaring\nthunder; He opens the gates of hell to cast you into it, and you would\nhave been damned long ago had it not been for the loving Mother whom you\nhave in heaven, who has disarmed your angry and irritated Father. When\nJesus would punish you as you deserve, the good Virgin Mary hastens to\nHim and pacifies Him. She places herself between Him and you, and\nprevents Him from smiting you. She speaks in your favor, she asks for\nyour pardon and she obtains it.\n\n\u201cAlso, as young Chiniquy has told you, he often threw himself into the\narms of his mother to escape punishment. She took his part, and pleaded\nso well that his father yielded and put away the rod. Thus, my children,\nwhen your conscience tells you that you are guilty, that Jesus is angry\nagainst you and that you have good reason to fear hell, hasten to Mary!\nThrow yourselves into the arms of that good mother; have recourse to her\nsovereign power over Jesus, and be assured that you will be saved\nthrough her!\u201d\n\nIt is thus that the Pope and the priests of Rome have entirely\ndisfigured and changed the holy religion of the gospel! In the Church of\nRome it is not Jesus, but Mary, who represents the infinite love and\nmercy of God for the sinner. The sinner is not advised or directed to\nplace his hope in Jesus, but in Mary, for his escape from deserved\nchastisement! It is not Jesus, but Mary, who saves the sinner! Jesus is\nalways bent on punishing sinners; Mary is always merciful to them!\n\nThe Church of Rome has thus fallen into idolatry: she rather trusts in\nMary than in Jesus. She constantly invites sinners to turn their\nthoughts, their hopes, their affections, not to Jesus, but to Mary!\n\nBy means of that impious doctrine Rome deceives the intellects, seduces\nthe hearts, and destroys the souls of the young forever. Under the\npretext of honoring the Virgin Mary, she insults her by outraging and\nmisrepresenting her adorable Son.\n\nRome has brought back the idolatry of old paganism under a new name. She\nhas replaced upon her altars the Jupiter Tonans of the Greeks and\nRomans, only she places upon his shoulders the mantle and she writes on\nthe forehead of her idol the name of Jesus, in order the better to\ndeceive the world!\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VIII\n\n THE FIRST COMMUNION.\n\n\nFor the Roman Catholic child, how beautiful and yet how sad is the day\nof his first communion! How many joys and anxieties by turn rise in his\nsoul when for the first time he is about to eat what he has been taught\nto believe to be his God! How many efforts he has to make, in order to\ndestroy the manifest teachings of his own rational faculties! I confess\nwith deep regret that I had almost destroyed my reason, in order to\nprepare myself for my first communion. Yes, I was almost exhausted when\nthe day came that I had to eat what the priest had assured us was the\ntrue body, the true blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. I was\nabout to eat him, not in a symbolical or commemorative, but in a literal\nway. I was to eat his flesh, his bones, his hands, his feet, his head,\nhis whole body! I had to believe this or be cast forever into hell,\nwhile, all the time, my eyes, my hands, my mouth, my tongue, my reason\ntold me that what I was eating was only bread!\n\nHas there ever been, or will there ever be, a priest or a layman to\nbelieve what the Church of Rome teaches on this dreadful mystery of the\nReal Presence? Shall I say that I believed in the real presence of Jesus\nChrist in the communion? I believed in it as all those who are good\nRoman Catholics believe. I believed as a perfect idiot or a corpse\nbelieves. Whatever is essential to a reasonable act of faith had been\ndestroyed in me on that point, as it is destroyed in every priest and\nlayman in the Church of Rome. My reason as well as my external senses\nhad been, as much as possible, sacrificed at the feet of that terrible\nmodern god, the Pope! I had been guilty of the incredibly foolish act,\nof which all good Roman Catholics are guilty\u2014I had said to my\nintellectual faculties, and to all my senses, \u201cHush, you are liars! I\nhad believed to this day that you had been given to me by God in order\nto enable me to walk in the dark paths of life, but, behold! the holy\nPope teaches me that you are only instruments of the devil to deceive\nme!\u201d\n\nWhat is a man who resigns his intellectual liberty, and who cares not to\nbelieve in the testimony of his senses? Is he not acting the part of one\nwho has no gift or power of intelligence? A good Roman Catholic must\nreach that point! That was my own condition on the day of my first\ncommunion.\n\nWhen Jesus said, \u201cIf I had not come and spoken unto them they had not\nhad sin; but now they have no cloak for their sins: if I had not done\namong them the works that none other man did, they had not had sin; but\nnow have they both seen and hated both me and my Father\u201d (John xv.\n22-24), he showed that the sin of the Jews consisted in not having\nbelieved in what their eyes had seen and their ears had heard. But\nbehold, the Pope says to Roman Catholics that they must not believe in\nwhat their hands undoubtedly handle and their eyes most clearly see! The\nPope sets aside the testimony most approved by Jesus. The very witnesses\ninvoked by the son of God are ignominiously turned out of court by the\nPope as false witnesses!\n\nAs the moment of taking the communion drew near, two feelings were at\nwar in my mind, each struggling for victory. I rejoiced in the thought\nthat I would soon have full possession of Jesus Christ, but at the same\ntime I was troubled and humbled by the absurdity which I had to believe\nbefore receiving that sacrament. Though scarcely twelve years old, I had\nsufficiently accustomed myself to reflect on the profound darkness which\ncovered that dogma. I had been also greatly in the habit of trusting my\neyes, and I thought that I could easily distinguish between a small\npiece of bread and a full-grown man!\n\nBesides, I extremely abhorred the idea of eating human flesh and\ndrinking human blood, even when they assured me that they were the flesh\nand blood of Jesus Christ himself. But what troubled me most was the\nidea of that God, who was represented to me as being so great, so\nglorious, so holy, being eaten by me like a piece of common bread!\nTerrible then was the struggle in my young heart, where joy and dread,\ntrust and fear, faith and unbelief by turns had the upper hand.\n\nWhile that secret struggle, known only to God and to myself, was going\non, I had often to wipe off the cold perspiration which came on my brow.\nWith all the strength of my soul I prayed to God and the Holy Virgin to\nbe merciful unto me, to help, and give me sufficient strength and light\nto pass over these hours of anguish.\n\nThe Church of Rome is evidently the most skillful human machine the\nworld has ever seen. Those who guide her in the dark paths which she\nfollows are often men of deep thought. They understand how difficult it\nwould be to get calm, honest and thinking minds to receive that\nmonstrous dogma of the real corporal presence of Jesus Christ in the\ncommunion. They well foresaw the struggle which would take place even in\nthe minds of children at the supreme moment when they would have to\nsacrifice their reason on the altar of Rome. In order to prevent those\nstruggles, always so dangerous to the Church, nothing has been neglected\nto distract the mind and draw the attention to other subjects than that\nof the communion itself.\n\nFirst, at the request of the parish priest, helped by the vanity of the\nparents themselves, the children are dressed as elegantly as possible.\nThe young communicant is clothed in every way best calculated to flatter\nhis own vanity also. The church building is pompously decorated. The\ncharms of choice vocal and instrumental music form a part of the fete.\nThe most odorous incense burns around the altar and ascends in a\nsweet-smelling cloud towards heaven. The whole parish is invited, and\npeople come from every direction to enjoy a most beautiful spectacle.\nPriests from the neighboring churches are called, in order to add to the\nsolemnity of the day. The officiating priest is dressed in the most\ncostly attire. This is the day on which silver and gold altar-cloths are\ndisplayed before the eyes of the wondering spectators. Often a lighted\nwax taper is placed in the hand of each young communicant, which itself\nwould be sufficient to draw his whole attention; for a single false\nmotion would be enough to set fire to the clothes of his neighbor, or\nhis own, a misfortune which has happened more than once in my presence.\n\nNow, in the midst of that new and wonderful spectacle; of singing Latin\npsalms, not a word of which he understands; in view of gold and silver\nornaments, which glitter everywhere before his dazzled eyes; busy with\nthe holding of the lighted taper, which keeps him constantly in fear of\nbeing burned alive, can the young communicant think for a moment of what\nhe is about to do?\n\nPoor child! his mind, ears, eyes, nostrils are so much taken up with\nthose new, striking and wonderful things that, while his imagination is\nwandering from one object to another, the moment of communion arrives,\nwithout leaving him time to think of what he is about to do! He opens\nhis mouth, and the priest puts upon his tongue a flat thin cake of\nunleavened bread, which either firmly sticks to his palate or otherwise\nmelts in his mouth, soon to go down into his stomach just like the food\nhe takes three times a day!\n\nThe first feeling of the child, then, is that of surprise at the thought\nthat the Creator of heaven and earth, the upholder of the universe, the\nSaviour of the world, could so easily pass down his throat!\n\nNow, follow those children to their homes after that great and monstrous\ncomedy. See their gait! Listen to their conversation and their bursts of\nlaughter! Study their manners, their coming in, their going out, their\nglances of satisfaction on their fine clothes, and the vanity which they\nmanifest in return for the congratulations they receive on their fine\ndresses. Notice the lightness of their actions and conversation\nimmediately after their communion, and tell me if you find anything\nindicating that they believed in the terrible dogma they have been\ntaught!\n\nNo, they have not believed in it, neither will they ever do so with the\nfirmness of faith which is accompanied by intelligence. The poor child\nthinks he believes, and he sincerely tries to do so. He believes in it\nas much as it is possible to believe in a most monstrous and ridiculous\nstory, opposed to the simplest notions of truth and common sense. He\nbelieves as Roman Catholics believe. He believes as an idiot believes!!\nHe believes as a corpse believes!\n\nThat first communion has made of him, for the rest of his life, a real\nmachine in the hands of the Pope. It is the first but most powerful link\nof that long chain of slavery which the priest and the Church pass\naround his neck. The Pope holds the end of that chain, and with it he\nwill make his victim go right or left at his pleasure, in the same way\nthat we govern the lower animals. If those children have made a good\nfirst communion they will be submissive to the Pope, according to the\nenergetic word of Loyola. They will be in the hands of the Supreme\nPontiff of Rome just what the stick is in the hand of the traveller\u2014they\nwill have no will, no thought of their own!\n\nAnd if God does not work a miracle to bring them out from the bondage\nwhich is a thousand times worse than the Egyptian, they will remain in\nthat state during the rest of their lives.\n\nMy soul has known the weight of those chains. It has felt the ignominy\nof that slavery! But the great Conqueror of souls has cast down a\nmerciful eye upon me. He has broken my chains, and with His holy Word He\nhas made me free.\n\nMay His name be forever blessed!\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n\n INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC | COLLEGE.\n\n\nI finished, at the College of Nicolet, in the month of August, 1829, my\nclassical course of study which I had begun in 1822. I could easily have\nlearned in three or four years what was taught in those seven years.\n\nIt took us three years to study Latin grammar, when twelve months would\nhave sufficed for all we learned of it. It is true that during that time\nwe were taught some of the rudiments of the French grammar, with the\nelements of arithmetic and geography. But all this was so superficial,\nthat our teachers often seemed more desirous to pass away our time than\nto enlarge our understandings.\n\nI can say the same thing about the _Belles Lettres_ and of rhetoric,\nwhich we studied two years. A year of earnest study would have sufficed\nto learn what was taught us during these twenty-four months. As for the\ntwo years devoted to the study of logic, and of the subjects classed\nunder the name of philosophy, it would not have been too long a time if\nthose questions of philosophy had been honestly given us. But the\nstudent in the college of the Church of Rome is condemned to the\ntorments of Tantalus. He has indeed the refreshing waters of Science put\nto his lips, but he is constantly prevented from tasting them. To\nenlarge and seriously cultivate the intelligence in a Roman Catholic\ncollege is a thing absolutely out of the question. More than that, all\nthe efforts of the principals in their colleges and convents tend to\nprove to the pupil that his intelligence is his greatest and most\ndangerous enemy\u2014that it is like an untamable animal, which must\nconstantly be kept in chains. Every day the scholar is told that his\nreason was not given him that he might be guided by it, but only that he\nmay know the hand of the man by whom he must be guided. And that hand is\nnone other than the Pope\u2019s. All the resources of language, all the most\ningenious sophisms, all the passages of both the Fathers and the Holy\nScriptures bearing on this question are arranged and perverted with\ninconceivable art to demonstrate to the pupil that his reason has no\npower to teach him anything else than that it must be subjected to the\nSupreme Pontiff of Rome, who is the only foundation of truth and light\ngiven by God to guide the intelligence and to enlighten and save the\nworld.\n\nRome, in her colleges and convents, brings up, or raises up, the youth\nfrom their earliest years; but to what height does she permit the young\nman or woman to be raised? Never higher than the feet of the Pope!! As\nsoon as his intelligence, guided by the Jesuit, has ascended to the feet\nof the Pope, it must remain there, prostrate itself and fall asleep.\n\nThe Pope! That is the great object towards which all the intelligence of\nthe Roman Catholics must be converged. It is the sun of the world, the\nfoundation and the only support of Christian knowledge and civilization.\n\nWhat a privilege it is to be lazy, stupid and sluggish in a college of\nRome! How soon such an one gets to the summit of science, and becomes\nmaster of all knowledge! One needs only to kiss the feet of the Pope,\nand fall into a perfect slumber there. The Pope thinks for him! It is he\n(the Pope) who will tell him what he can and should think, and what he\ncan and should believe!\n\nI had arrived at that degree of perfection at the end of my studies, and\nJ. B. Barthe, Esq., M.P.P., being editor of one of the principal papers\nof Montreal in 1844, could write in his paper when my \u201cManual of\nTemperance\u201d was published: \u201cMr. Chiniquy has crowned his apostleship of\ntemperance by that work, with that ardent and holy ambition of character\nof which he gave us so many tokens in his collegiate life, where we have\nbeen so many years the witness of his piety when he was the model of his\nfellow students, who had called him the Louis de Gonzague of Nicolet.\u201d\n\nThese words of the Montreal member of Parliament mean only that, wishing\nto be saved as St. Louis de Gonzague, I had blindly tied myself to the\nfeet of my superiors. I had, as much as possible, extinguished all the\nenlightenments of my own mind to follow the reason and the will of my\nsuperiors. These compliments mean that I was walking like a blind man\nwhom his guide holds by the hand.\n\nThough my intelligence often revolted against the fables with which I\nwas nurtured, I yet forced myself to accept them as gospel truths; and\nthough I often rebelled against the ridiculous sophisms which were\nbabbled to me as the only principles of truth and Christian philosophy,\nyet as often did I impose silence on my reason, and force it to submit\nto the falsehoods which I was obliged to take for God\u2019s truth! But, as I\nhave just confessed it, notwithstanding my good will to submit to my\nsuperiors, there were times of terrible struggle in my soul, when all\nthe powers of my mind seemed to revolt against the degrading fetters\nwhich I was forced to forge for myself.\n\nI shall never forget the day when, in the following terms, I expressed\nto my Professor in Philosophy, the Rev. Charles Harper, doubts which I\nhad conceived concerning the absolute necessity of the inferior to\nsubmit his reason to his superior. \u201cWhen I shall have completely bound\nmyself to obey my superior, if he abuses his authority over me to\ndeceive me by false doctrines, or if he commands me to do things which I\nconsider wrong and dishonest, shall I not be lost if I obey him?\u201d\n\nHe answered: \u201cYou will never have to give an account to God for the\nactions that you do by the order of your legitimate superiors. If they\nwere to deceive you, being themselves deceived, _they alone_ would be\nresponsible for the error which you would have committed. Your sin would\nnot be imputed to you as long as you follow the golden rule which is the\nbase of all Christian philosophy and perfection\u2014humility and obedience!\u201d\n\nLittle satisfied with that answer, when the lesson was over I expressed\nmy reluctance to accept such principles to several of my fellow\nstudents. Among them was Joseph Turcot, who died some years ago when, I\nthink, he was Minister of Public Works in Canada. He answered me: \u201cThe\nmore I study what they call their principles of Christian philosophy and\nlogic, the more I think that they intend to make _asses of every one of\nus!\u201d_\n\nOn the following day I opened my heart to the venerable man who was our\nprincipal\u2014the Rev. Mr. Leprohon. I used to venerate him as a saint and\nlove him as a father. I frankly told him that I felt very reluctant in\nsubmitting myself to the crude principles which seemed to lead us into\nthe most abject slavery, the slavery of our reason and intelligence. I\nwrote down his answer, which I give here:\n\n\u201cMy dear Chiniquy, how did Adam and Eve lose themselves in the Garden of\nEden, and how did they bring upon us all the deluge of evils by which we\nare overwhelmed? Is it not because they raised their miserable reason\nabove that of God? They had the promise of eternal life if they had\nsubmitted their reason to that of their Supreme Master. They were lost\non account of their rebelling against the authority, the reason of God.\nThus it is to-day. All the evils, the errors, the crimes by which the\nworld is overflooded come from the same revolt of the human will and\nreason against the will and reason of God. God reigns yet over a part of\nthe world, the world of the elect, through the Pope, who controls the\nteachings of our infallible and holy Church. In submitting ourselves to\nGod, who speaks to us through the Pope, we are saved. We walk in the\npaths of truth and holiness. But we would err, and infallibly perish, as\nsoon as we put our reason above that of our superior, the Pope, speaking\nto us in person, or through some of our superiors who have received from\nhim the authority to guide us.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said I, \u201cif my reason tells me that the Pope, or some of those\nother superiors who are put by him over me, are mistaken, and that they\ncommand me something wrong, would I not be guilty before God if I obey\nthem?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou suppose a thing utterly impossible,\u201d answered Mr. Leprohon, \u201cfor\nthe Pope and the bishops who are united to him have the promise of never\nfailing in the faith. They cannot lead you into any errors, nor command\nyou anything against the law of God. But supposing for a moment that\nthey would commit any error, and that they would compel you to believe\nor do something contrary to the teachings of the gospel, God would not\nask of you any account of an error committed when you are obeying your\nlegitimate superior.\u201d\n\nI had to content myself with that answer, which I put down word for word\nin my note book. But in spite of my respectful silence, the Rev. Mr.\nLeprohon saw that I was yet uneasy and sad. In order to convince me of\nthe orthodoxy of his doctrines, he instantly put into my hands the two\nworks of De Maistre, \u201cLe Pape\u201d and \u201cLes Soirees de St. Petersburg,\u201d\nwhere I found the same doctrines supported. My superior was honest in\nhis convictions. He sincerely believed in the sound philosophy and\nChristianity of his principles, for he found them in these books\napproved by the \u201cinfallible Popes.\u201d\n\nI will mention another occurrence to show the inconceivable intellectual\ndegradation to which we had been dragged at the end of seven years of\ncollegiate studies. About the year 1829 the curate of St. Anne de la\nParade wrote to our principal, Rev. Mr. Leprohon, to ask the assistance\nof the prayers of all the students of the College of Nicolet in order to\nobtain the discontinuance of the following calamity: \u201cFor more than\nthree weeks one of the most respectable farmers was in danger of losing\nall his horses from the effects of a sorcery! From morning to night, and\nduring most of the night, repeated blows of whips and sticks were heard\nfalling upon these poor horses, which were trembling, foaming and\nstruggling! We can see nothing! The hand of the wizard remains\ninvisible. Pray for us, that we may discover the monster, and that he\nmay be punished as he deserves.\u201d\n\nSuch were the contents of the priest\u2019s letter; and as my superior\nsincerely believed in that fable, I also believed it, as well as the\nstudents of the college who had a _true piety_. On that shore of abject\nand degrading superstitions I had to land after sailing seven years in\nthe bark called a college of the Church of Rome!\n\nThe intellectual part of the studies in a college of Rome, and it is the\nsame in a convent, is therefore entirely worthless. Worse than that, the\nintelligence is dwarfed under the chains by which it is bound. If the\nintelligence does sometimes advance, it is in spite of the fetters\nplaced upon it; it is only like some few noble ships which, through the\nextraordinary skill of their pilots, go ahead against wind and tide.\n\nI know that the priests of Rome can show a certain number of intelligent\nmen in every branch of science who have studied in their colleges. But\nthese remarkable men had from the beginning secretly broken for\nthemselves the chains with which their superiors had tried to bind them.\nFor peace sake they had outwardly followed the rules of the house, but\nthey had secretly trampled under the feet of their noble souls the\nignoble fetters which had been prepared for their understanding. True\nchildren of God and light, they had found the secret of remaining free\neven when in the dark cells of a dungeon!\n\nGive me the names of the remarkable and intelligent men who have studied\nin a college of Rome, and have become real lights in the firmament of\nscience, and I will prove that nine-tenths of them have been persecuted,\nexcommunicated, tortured, some even put to death for having dared to\nthink for themselves.\n\nGalileo was a Roman Catholic, and he is surely one of the greatest men\nwhom science claims as her most gifted sons. But was he not sent to a\ndungeon? Was he not publicly flogged by the hands of the executioner?\nHad he not to ask pardon from God and man for having dared to think\ndifferently from the Pope about the motion of the earth around the sun!\n\nCopernicus was surely one of the greatest lights of his time, but was he\nnot censured and excommunicated for his admirable scientific\ndiscoveries?\n\nFrance does not know any greater genius among her most gifted sons than\nPascal. He was a Catholic. But he lived and died excommunicated.\n\nThe Church of Rome boasts of Bossuet, the Bishop of Meaux, as one of the\ngreatest men she ever had. Yes; but has not Veuillot, the editor of the\n_Univers_, who knows his man well, confessed and declared before the\nwhole world that Bossuet was a disguised Protestant?\n\nWhere can we find a more amiable or learned writer than Montalembert,\nwho has so faithfully and bravely fought the battle of the Church of\nRome in France during more than a quarter of a century? But has he not\npublicly declared on his death-bed that that Church was an apostate and\nidolatrous Church from the day that she proclaimed the dogma of the\nInfallibility of the Pope? Has he not virtually died an excommunicated\nman for having said with his last breath that the Pope was nothing else\nthan a false god?\n\nThose pupils of Roman Catholic colleges of whom sometimes the priests so\nimprudently boast, have gone out from the hands of their Jesuit teachers\nto proclaim their supreme contempt for the Roman Catholic priesthood and\nPapacy. They have been near enough to the priest to know him. They have\nseen with their own eyes that the priest of Rome is the most dangerous,\nthe most implacable enemy of intelligence, progress and liberty; and if\ntheir arm be not paralyzed by cowardice, selfishness or hypocrisy, those\npupils of the colleges of Rome will be the first to denounce the\npriesthood of Rome and demolish her citadels.\n\nVoltaire studied in a Roman Catholic college, and it was probably when\nat their school that he nerved himself for the terrible battle he has\nfought against Rome. The Church will never recover from the blow which\nVoltaire has struck at her in France.\n\nCavour, in Italy, had studied in a Roman Catholic college also, and\nunder that very roof it is more than probable that his noble\nintelligence had sworn to break the ignominious fetters with which Rome\nhad enslaved his fair country. The most eloquent of the orators of\nSpain, Castelar, studied in a Roman Catholic college; but hear with what\nburning eloquence he denounces the tyranny, hypocrisy, selfishness and\nignorance of the priests.\n\nPapineau studied under the priests of Rome in their college at Montreal.\nFrom his earliest years that Eagle of Canada could see and know the\npriests of Rome as they are; he has weighed them in the balance; he has\nmeasured them; he has fathomed the dark recesses of their anti-social\nprinciples; he has felt his shoulders wounded and bleeding under the\nignominious chains with which they dragged our dear Canada in the mire\nfor nearly two centuries. Papineau was a pupil of the priests; and I\nhave heard several priests boasting of that as a glorious thing. But the\nechoes of Canada are still repeating the thundering words with which\nPapineau denounced the priests as the most deadly enemies of the\neducation and liberty of Canada! He was one of the first men of Canada\nto understand that there was no progress, no liberty possible for our\nbeloved country so long as the priests would have the education of our\npeople in their hands. The whole life of Papineau was a struggle to\nwrest Canada from their grasp. Everyone knows how he constantly branded\nthem, without pity, during his life, and the whole world has been the\nwitness of the supreme contempt with which he has refused their\nservices, and turned them out at the solemn hour of his death!\n\nWhen, in 1792, France wanted to be free, she understood that the priests\nof Rome were the greatest enemies of her liberties. She turned them out\nfrom her soil or hung them to her gibbets. If to-day that noble country\nof our ancestors is stumbling and struggling in her tears and her\nblood\u2014if she has fallen at the feet of her enemies\u2014if her valiant arm\nhas been paralyzed, her sword broken and her strong heart saddened above\nmeasure, is it not because she had most imprudently put herself again\nunder the yoke of Rome?\n\nCanada\u2019s children will continue to flee from the country of their birth\nso long as the priest of Rome holds the influence which is blasting\neverything that falls within his grasp, on this continent as well as in\nEurope; and the United States will soon see their most sacred\ninstitutions fall, one after the other, if the Americans continue to\nsend their sons and daughters to the Jesuit colleges and nunneries.\n\nWhen, in the warmest days of summer, you see a large swamp of stagnant\nand putrid water, you are sure that deadly miasma will spread around,\nthat diseases of the most malignant character, poverty, sufferings of\nevery kind, and death will soon devastate the unfortunate country; so,\nwhen you see Roman Catholic colleges and nunneries raising their haughty\nsteeples over some commanding hills or in the midst of some beautiful\nvalleys, you may confidently expect that the self-respect and the manly\nvirtues of the people will soon disappear\u2014intelligence, progress,\nprosperity will soon wane away, to be replaced by superstition,\nidleness, drunkenness, Sabbath-breaking, ignorance, poverty and\ndegradation of every kind. The colleges and nunneries are the high\ncitadels from which the Pope darts his surest missiles against the\nrights and liberties of nations. The colleges and nunneries are the\narsenals where the most deadly weapons are night and day prepared to\nfight and destroy the soldiers of liberty all over the world.\n\nThe colleges and nunneries of the priests are the secret places where\nthe enemies of progress, equality and liberty are holding their councils\nand fomenting that great conspiracy, the object of which is to enslave\nthe world at the feet of the Pope.\n\nThe colleges and nunneries of Rome are the schools where the rising\ngenerations are taught that it is an impiety to follow the dictates of\ntheir own conscience, hear the voice of their intelligence, read the\nWord of God, and worship their Creator according to the rules laid down\nin the gospel.\n\nIt is in the colleges and nunneries of Rome that men learn that they are\ncreated to obey the Pope in everything\u2014that the Bible must be burnt, and\nthat liberty must be destroyed at any cost all over the world.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER X.\n\n MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN THE ROMAN | CATHOLIC COLLEGES.\n\n\nIn order to understand what kind of moral education students in Roman\nCatholic colleges receive, one must only be told that from beginning to\nthe end they are surrounded by an atmosphere in which nothing but\nPaganism is breathed. The models of eloquence which we learned by heart\nwere almost exclusively taken from Pagan literature. In the same manner\nPagan models of wisdom, of honor, of chastity were offered to our\nadmiration. Our minds were constantly fixed on the masterpieces which\nPaganism has left. The doors of our understanding were left open only to\nreceive the rays of light which Paganism has shed on the world. Homer,\nSocrates, Lycurgus, Virgil, Horace, Cicero, Tacitus, C\u00e6sar, Xenophon,\nDemosthenes; Alexander, Lucretia, Regulus, Brutus, Jupiter, Venus,\nMinerva, Mars, Diana, etc., etc., crowded each other in our thoughts, to\noccupy them and be their models, examples and masters for ever.\n\nIt may be said that the same Pagan writers, orators and heroes are\nstudied, read and admired in Protestant colleges. But there the\ninfallible antidote, the Bible, is given to the students. Just as\nnothing remains of the darkness of night after the splendid morning sun\nhas arisen on the horizon, so nothing of the fallacies, superstitions\nand sophisms of Paganism can trouble or obscure the mind on which that\nlight from heaven, the Word of God, comes every day with its millions of\nshining rays. How insignificant is the poetry of Homer when compared\nwith the sublime songs of Moses! How pale is the eloquence of\nDemosthenes, Cicero, Virgil, etc., when read after Job, David or\nSolomon! How quickly tumble down the theories which those haughty\nheathens of old wanted to raise over the intelligence of men when the\nthundering voice from Sinai is heard; when the incomparable songs of\nDavid, Solomon, Isaiah or Jeremiah are ravishing the soul which is\nlistening to their celestial strains! It is a fact that Pagan eloquence\nand philosophy can be but very tasteless to men accustomed to be fed\nwith the bread which comes down from heaven, whose souls are filled with\nthe eloquence of God, and whose intelligence is fed with the philosophy\nof heaven.\n\nBut, alas! for me and my fellow-students in the college of Rome! No sun\never appeared on the horizon to dispel the night in which our\nintelligence was wrapped. The dark clouds with which Paganism had\nsurrounded us were suffocating us, and no breath from heaven was allowed\nto come and dispel them. Moses, with his incomparable legislation, David\nand Solomon with their divine poems, Job with his celestial philosophy,\nJeremiah, Isaiah and Daniel with their sublime songs, Jesus Christ\nhimself with his soul-saving gospel, as well as his apostles Peter,\nJohn, Jude, James and Paul\u2014these were all put on the Index!! They had\nnot the liberty to speak to us, and we were forbidden, absolutely\nforbidden, to read and hear them!\n\nIt is true that the Church of Rome, as an offset to that, gave us her\nprinciples, precepts, fables and legends that we might be attached to\nher, and that she might remain the mistress of our hearts. But these\ndoctrines, practices, principles and fables seemed to us so evidently\nborrowed from Paganism\u2014they were so cold, so naked, so stripped of all\ntrue poetry, that if the Paganism of the ancients was not left absolute\nmaster of our affections, it still claimed a large part of our souls. To\ncreate in us a love for the Church of Rome, our superiors depended\ngreatly on the works of Chateaubriand. The \u201cGenie du Christianisme\u201d was\nthe book of books to dispel all our doubts, and attach us to the Pope\u2019s\nreligion. But this author, whose style is sometimes really beautiful,\ndestroyed, by the weakness of his logic, the Christianity which he\nwanted to build up. We could easily see that Chateaubriand was not\nsincere, and his exaggerations were to many of us a sure indication that\nhe did not believe in what he said. The works of De Maistre, the most\nimpudent history-falsificator of France, were also put into our hands as\na sure guide in our philosophical and historical studies. The \u201cMemoirs\ndu Comte Valmont,\u201d with some authors of the same stamp, were much relied\non by our superiors to prove to us that the dogmas, precepts and\npractices of the Roman Catholic religion were brought from heaven.\n\nIt was certainly our desire as well as our interest to believe them. But\nhow our faith was shaken, and how we felt troubled when Livy, Tacitus,\nCicero, Virgil, Homer, etc., gave us the evidence that the greater part\nof these things had their root and their origin in Paganism.\n\nFor instance, our superiors had convinced us that scapulars, medals,\nholy water, etc., would be of great service to us in battling with the\nmost dangerous temptations, as well as in avoiding the most common\ndangers of life. Consequently we all had scapulars and medals, which we\nkept with the greatest respect, and even kissed morning and evening with\naffection, as if they were powerful instruments of the mercy of God to\nus. How great, then, was our confusion and disappointment when we\ndiscovered in the Greek and Latin historians that those scapulars and\nmedals and statuettes were nothing but a remnant of Paganism, and that\nthe worshippers of Jupiter, Minerva, Diana and Venus believed themselves\nalso free, as we did, from all calamity when they carried them in honor\nof these divinities! The further we advanced in the study of Pagan\nantiquity, the more we were forced to believe that our religion, instead\nof being born at the foot of Calvary, was only a pale and awkward\nimitation of Paganism. The modern Maximus Pontifex (the Pope of Rome),\nwho, as we were assured, was the successor of St. Peter, the Vicar of\nJesus Christ, resembled the \u201cPontifex Maximus\u201d of the great republic and\nempire of pagan Rome as two drops of water resemble each other. Had not\nour Pope preserved not only the name, but also the attributes, the\npageantry, the pride, and even the garb of that high pagan priest? Was\nnot the worship of the saints absolutely the same as the worship of the\ndemigods of olden time? Was not our purgatory minutely described by\nVirgil? Were not our prayers to the Virgin and to the saints repeated,\nalmost in the same words, by the worshippers who prostrated themselves\nbefore the images of their gods, just as we repeated them every day\nbefore the images which adorned our churches? Was not our holy water in\nuse among the idolaters, and for the same purpose for which it is used\namong us?\n\nWe knew by history the year in which the magnificent temple consecrated\n_to all the gods_, bearing the name of Pantheon, had been built at Rome.\nWe were acquainted with the names of several of the sculptors who had\ncarved the statues of the gods in that heathen temple, at whose feet the\nidolaters bowed respectfully, and words cannot express the shame we felt\non learning that the Roman Catholics of our day, under the very eyes and\nwith the sanction of the Pope, still prostrated themselves before the\nSAME IDOLS, in the SAME TEMPLE, and to obtain the SAME FAVORS!\n\nWhen we asked each other the question, \u201cWhat is the difference between\nthe religion of heathen Rome and that of the Rome of to-day?\u201d more than\none student would answer: \u201cThe only difference is in the name. The\nidolatrous temples are the same: the idols have not left their places.\nTo-day, as formerly, the same incense burns in their honor? Nations are\nstill prostrated at their feet to give them the same homage and to ask\nof them the same favors; but instead of calling this statue Jupiter, we\ncall it Peter; and instead of calling that one Minerva or Venus, it is\ncalled St. Mary. It is the old idolatry coming to us under Christian\nnames.\u201d\n\nI earnestly desired to be an honest and sincere Roman Catholic. These\nimpressions and thoughts distracted me greatly, inasmuch as I could find\nnothing in reason to diminish their force. Unfortunately, many of the\nbooks placed in our hands by our superiors to confirm our faith, form\nour moral character, and sustain our piety and our confidence in the\ndogmas of the Church of Rome, had a frightful resemblance to the\nhistories I had read of the gods and goddesses. The miracles attributed\nto the Virgin Mary often appeared to be only a reproduction of the\ntricks and deceits by which the priests of Jupiter, Venus, Minerva,\netc., used to obtain their ends and grant the requests of their\nworshippers. Some of those miracles of the Virgin Mary equalled, if they\ndid not surpass, in absurdity and immorality, what mythology taught us\namong the most hideous accounts of the heathen gods and goddesses.\n\nI could cite hundreds of such miracles which shocked my faith and caused\nme to blush in secret at the conclusion to which I was forced to come,\nin comparing the worship of ancient and modern Rome. I will only quote\nthree of these modern miracles, which are found in one of the books the\nbest approved by the Pope, entitled \u201cThe Glories of Mary.\u201d\n\nFirst miracle. \u201cThe great favors bestowed by the Holy Virgin upon a nun\nnamed Beatrix, of the Convent of Frontebraldo, show how merciful she is\nto sinners. The fact is related by Cesanus, and by Father Rho. This\nunfortunate nun, having been possessed by a criminal passion for a young\nman, determined to leave her convent and elope with him. She was the\ndoorkeeper of the convent, and having placed the keys of the monastery\nat the feet of a statue of the Holy Virgin, she boldly went out, then\nled a life of prostitution during fifteen years in a far off place.\n\n\u201cOne day, accidentally meeting the purveyor of her convent, and thinking\nshe would not be recognized by him, she asked him news of Sister\nBeatrix.\n\n\u201c\u2018I know her well,\u2019 answered this man; \u2018she is a holy nun, and is\nmistress of the novices.\u2019\n\n\u201cAt these words Beatrix was confused; but to understand what it meant,\nshe changed her clothing, and going to the convent, inquired after\nSister Beatrix.\n\n \u201cThe Holy Virgin instantly appeared to her in the form of the statue at\nwhose feet she had placed the keys at her departure. The Divine Mother\nspoke to her in this wise: \u2018Know, Beatrix, that in order to preserve\nyour honor, I have taken your place and done your duty since you have\nleft your convent. My daughter, return to God and be penitent, for my\nson is still waiting for you. Try, by the holiness of thy life, to\npreserve the good reputation which I have earned you.\u2019 Having thus\nspoken, the Holy Virgin disappeared. Beatrix re-entered the monastery,\ndonned her religious dress, and, grateful for the mercies of Mary, she\nled the life of a saint.\u201d (\u201cGlories of Mary,\u201d chap. vi., sec. 2.)\n\nSecond miracle. Rev. Father Rierenberg relates that there existed in a\ncity called Aragona, a beautiful and noble girl by the name of\nAlexandra, whom two young men loved passionately. One day, maddened by\nthe jealousy each one had of the other, they fought together, and both\nwere killed. Their parents were so infuriated at the young girl, the\nauthor of these calamities, that they killed her, cut her head off, and\nthrew her into a well. A few days after St. Dominic, passing by the\nplace, was inspired to approach the well and to cry out, \u201cAlexandra,\ncome here!\u201d The head of the deceased immediately placed itself upon the\nedge of the well, and entreated St. Dominic to hear its confession.\nHaving heard it, the Saint gave her the communion in the presence of a\ngreat multitude of people, and then he commanded her to tell them why\nshe had received so great a favor.\n\nShe answered that though she was in a state of mortal sin when she was\ndecapitated, yet as she had a habit of reciting the holy rosary, the\nVirgin had preserved her life.\n\nThe head, full of life, remained on the edge of the well two days before\nthe eyes of a great many people, and then the soul went to purgatory.\nBut fifteen days after this the soul of Alexandra appeared to St.\nDominic, bright and beautiful as a star, and told him that one of the\nsurest means of removing souls from purgatory was the recitation of the\nrosary in their favor. (\u201cGlories of Mary,\u201d chap. viii., sec. 2).\n\nThird miracle. \u201cA servant of Mary one day went into one of her churches\nto pray, without telling her husband of it. Owing to a terrible storm\nshe was prevented from returning home that night. Harassed by the fear\nthat her husband would be angry, she implored Mary\u2019s help. But on\nreturning home she found her husband full of kindness. After asking her\nhusband a few questions on the subject, she discovered that during that\nvery night the Divine Mother had taken her form and features and had\ntaken her place in all the affairs of the household! She informed her\nhusband of the great miracle, and they both became very much devoted to\nthe Holy Virgin.\u201d (\u201cGlories of Mary:\u201d Examples of Protection, 40.)\n\nPersons who have never studied in a Roman Catholic college will hardly\nbelieve that such fables were told us as an appeal for us to become\nChristians. But, God knows, I tell the truth. Is it not a profanation of\na holy word to say that Christianity is the religion taught the students\nin Rome\u2019s colleges?\n\nAfter reading the monstrous metamorphoses of the gods of Olympus, the\nstudent feels a profound pity for the nations who have lived so long in\nthe darkness of Paganism. He cannot understand how so many millions of\nmen were, for such a long time, deceived by such cruel fables. With joy\nhis thoughts are turned to the God of Calvary, there to receive light\nand life. He feels, as it were, a burning desire to nourish himself with\nthe words of life, fallen from the lips of the \u201cgreat victim.\u201d But here\ncomes the priest of the college, who places himself between the student\nand Christ, and instead of allowing him to be nourished with the Bread\nof Life he offers him fables, husks with which to appease his hunger.\nInstead of allowing him to slake his thirst from the waters which flow\nfrom the fountains of eternal life, he offers him a corrupt beverage!\n\nGod alone knows what I have suffered during my studies to find myself\nabsolutely deprived of the privilege of eating this bread of life\u2014His\nHoly Word.\n\nDuring the last years of my studies, my superiors often confided to me\nthe charge of the library. Once it happened that, as the students were\ntaking a holiday, I remained alone in the college, and shutting myself\nup in the library, I began to examine all the books. I was not a little\nsurprised to discover that the books which were the most proper to\ninstruct us stood on the catalogue of the library marked among the\nforbidden books. I felt an inexpressible shame on seeing with my own\neyes that none but the most indifferent books were placed in our\nhands\u2014that we were permitted to read authors of the third rank only (if\nthis expression is suitable to such whose only merit consisted in\nflattering the Popes, and in concealing or excusing their crimes).\nSeveral students more advanced than myself had already made the\nobservation to me, but I did not believe them. Self-love gave me the\nhope that I was as well educated as one could be at my age. Until then I\nhave spurned the idea that, with the rest of the students, I was the\nvictim of an incredible system of moral and intellectual blindness.\n\nAmong the forbidden books of the college I found a splendid Bible. It\nseemed to be of the same edition as the one whose perusal had made hours\npass away so pleasantly when I was at home with my mother. I seized it\nwith the transports of a miser finding a lost treasure. I lifted it to\nmy lips, and kissed it respectfully. I pressed it against my heart, as\none embraces a friend from whom he has long been separated. This Bible\nbrought back to my memory the most delightful hours of my life. I read\nits divine pages until the scholars returned.\n\nThe next day Rev. Mr. Leprohon, our director, called me to his room\nduring the recreation, and said: \u201cYou seem to be troubled and very sad\nto-day. I noticed that you remained alone while the other scholars were\nenjoying themselves so well. Have you any cause of grief? or are you\nsick?\u201d\n\nI could not sufficiently express my love and respect for this venerable\nman. He was at the same time my friend and benefactor. For four years he\nand Rev. Mr. Brassard had been paying my board; for, owing to a\nmisunderstanding between myself and my uncle Dionne, he had ceased to\nmaintain me at college. By reading the Bible the previous day I had\ndisobeyed my benefactor, Mr Leprohon; for when he entrusted me with the\ncare of the library he made me promise not to read the books in the\nforbidden catalogue.\n\nIt was painful to me to sadden him by acknowledging that I had broken my\nword of honor, but it pained me far more to deceive him by concealing\nthe truth. I therefore answered him: \u201cYou are right in supposing that I\nam uneasy and sad. I confess there is one thing which perplexes me\ngreatly among the rules that govern us. I never dared to speak to you\nabout it; but as you wish to know the cause of my sadness, I will tell\nyou. You have placed in our hands, not only to read, but to learn by\nheart, books which are, as you know, partly inspired by hell, and you\nforbid us to read the only book whose every word is sent from heaven!\nYou permit us to read books dictated by the Spirit of darkness and sin,\nand you make it a crime for us to read the only book written under the\ndictation of the Spirit of light and holiness. This conduct on your\npart, and on the part of all the superiors of the college, disturbs and\nscandalizes me! Shall I tell you, your dread of the Bible shakes my\nfaith, and causes me to fear that we are going astray in our Church.\u201d\n\nMr. Leprohon answered me: \u201cI have been the director of this college for\nmore than twenty years, and I have never heard from the lips of any of\nthe students such remarks and complaints as you are making to me to-day.\nHave you no fear of being the victim of a deception of the devil, in\nmeddling with a question so strange and so new for a scholar whose only\naim should be to obey his superiors?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt may be,\u201d said I, \u201cthat I am the first to speak to you in this\nmanner, for it is very probable that I am the only student in this\ncollege who has read the Holy Bible in his youthful days. I have already\ntold you there was a Bible in my father\u2019s house, which disappeared only\nafter his death, though I never could know what became of it. I can\nassure you that the perusal of that admirable book has done me a good\nthat is still felt. It is, therefore, because I know by a personal\nexperience that there is no book in the world so good, and so proper to\nread, that I am extremely grieved, and even scandalized, by the dread\nyou have of it. I acknowledge to you I spent the afternoon of yesterday\nin the library reading the Bible. I found things in it which made me\nweep for joy and happiness\u2014things that did more good to my soul and\nheart than all you have given me to read for six years. And I am so sad\nto-day because you approve of me when I read the works of the devil, and\ncondemn me when I read the Word of God.\u201d\n\nMy superior answered: \u201cSince you have read the Bible, you must know that\nthere are things in it on matters of such a delicate nature that it is\nimproper for a young man, and more so for a young lady, to read them.\u201d\n\n\u201cI understand,\u201d answered I; \u201cbut these delicate matters, of which you do\nnot want God to speak a word to us, you know very well that Satan speaks\nto us about them day and night. Now, when Satan speaks about and\nattracts our thoughts towards an evil and criminal thing, it is always\nin order that we may like it and be lost. But when the God of Purity\nspeaks to us of evil things (of which it is pretty much impossible for\nmen to be ignorant), He does it that we may hate and abhor them, and He\ngives us grace to avoid them. Well, then, since you cannot prevent the\ndevil from whispering to us things so delicate and dangerous to seduce\nus, how dare you hinder God from speaking of the same things to shield\nus from their allurements? Besides, when my God desires to speak to me\nHimself on any question whatever, where is your right to obstruct His\nword on its way to my heart?\u201d\n\nThough Mr. Leprohon\u2019s intelligence was as much wrapped up in the\ndarkness of the Church of Rome as it could be, his heart had remained\nhonest and true; and while I respected and loved him as my father,\nthough differing from him in opinion, I knew he loved me as if I had\nbeen his own child. He was thunderstruck by my answer. He turned pale,\nand I saw tears about to flow from his eyes. He sighed deeply, and\nlooked at me some time reflectingly, without answering. At last he said:\n\u201cMy dear Chiniquy, your answer and your arguments have a force that\nfrightens me, and if I had no other but my own personal ideas to\ndisprove them, I acknowledge I do not know how I would do it. But I have\nsomething better than my own weak thoughts. I have the thoughts of the\nChurch, and of our Holy Father the Pope. _They forbid us to put the\nBible in the hands of our students._ This should suffice to put an end\nto your troubles. To obey his legitimate superiors in all things and\neverywhere, is the rule a Christian scholar like you should follow; and\nif you have broken it yesterday, I hope it will be the last time that\nthe child whom I love better than myself will cause me such pain.\u201d\n\nOn saying this he threw his arms around me, clasped me to his heart, and\nbathed my face with tears. I wept also. Yes, I wept abundantly.\n\nBut God knoweth, that though the regret of having grieved my benefactor\nand father caused me to shed tears at that moment, yet I wept much more\non perceiving that I would no more be permitted to read His Holy Word.\n\nIf, therefore, I am asked what moral and religious education we received\nat college, I will ask in return, What religious education can we\nreceive in an institution where seven years are spent without once being\npermitted to read the Gospel of God? The gods of the heathen spoke to us\ndaily by their apostles and disciples\u2014Homer, Virgil, Pindar, Horace! and\nthe God of the Christians had not permission to say a single word to us\nin that college!\n\nOur religion, therefore, could be nothing but Paganism disguised under a\nChristian name. Christianity in a college or convent of Rome is such a\nstrange mixture of heathenism and superstition, both ridiculous and\nchildish, and of shocking fables, that the majority of those who have\nnot entirely smothered the voice of reason cannot accept it. A few do,\nas I did, all in their power, and succeed to a certain extent, in\nbelieving only what the superior tells them to believe. They close their\neyes and permit themselves to be led exactly as if they were blind, and\na friendly hand were offering to guide them. But the greater number of\nstudents in Roman Catholic colleges cannot accept the bastard\nChristianity which Rome presents to them. Of course, during their\nstudies they follow its rules, for the sake of peace; but they have\nhardly left college before they proceed to join and increase the ranks\nof the army of skeptics and infidels which overruns France, Spain, Italy\nand Canada\u2014which overruns, in fact, all the countries where Rome has the\neducation of the people in her hands.\n\nI must say, though with a sad heart, that moral and religious education\nin Roman Catholic colleges is worse than void, for from them has been\nexcluded the only true standard of morals and religion\u2014THE WORD OF GOD!\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XI.\n\n =PROTESTANT CHILDREN IN THE CONVENTS AND | NUNNERIES OF ROME.=\n\n\nWe read in the history of Paganism that parents were often, in those\ndark ages, slaying their children upon the altars of their gods, to\nappease their wrath or obtain their favors. But we now see a stranger\nthing. It is that of Christian parents forcing their children into the\ntemples and to the very feet of the idols of Rome, under the fallacious\nnotion of having them educated! While the Pagan parent destroyed only\nthe temporal life of his child, the Christian parent, for the most part,\ndestroys his eternal life. The Pagan was consistent: he believed in the\nalmighty power and holiness of his gods; he sincerely THOUGHT that they\nruled the world, and that they blessed both the victims and those who\noffered them. But where is the consistency of the Protestant who drags\nhis child and offers him as a sacrifice on the altars of the Pope! Does\nhe believe in his holiness or in his supreme and infallible power of\ngoverning the intelligence? Then why does he not go and throw himself at\nhis feet and increase the number of his disciples? The Protestants who\nare guilty of this great wrong are wont to say, as an excuse, that the\nsuperiors of colleges and convents have assured them that their\nreligious convictions would be respected, and that nothing should be\nsaid or done to take away or even shake the religion of their children.\n\nOur first parents were not more cruelly deceived by the seductive words\nof the serpent than the Protestants are this day by the deceitful\npromises of the priests and nuns of Rome.\n\nI had been myself the witness of the promise given by our superior to a\njudge of the State of New York, when, a few days later that same\nsuperior, the Rev. Mr. Leprohon, said to me: \u201cYou know some English, and\nthis young man knows French enough to enable you to understand each\nother. Try to become his friend and to bring him over to our holy\nreligion. His father is a most influential man in the United States, and\nthis, his only son, is the heir of an immense fortune. Great results for\nthe future of the Church in the neighboring republic might follow his\nconversion.\u201d\n\nI replied: \u201cHave you forgotten the promise you have made to his father,\nnever to say or do anything to shake or take away the religion of that\nyoung man?\u201d\n\nMy superior smiled at my simplicity, and said: \u201cWhen you shall have\nstudied theology you will know that Protestantism is not a religion, but\nthat it is the negation of religion. Protesting cannot be the basis of\nany doctrine. Thus, when I promised Judge Pike that the religious\nconvictions of his child should be respected, and that I would not do\nanything to change his faith, I did promise the easiest thing in the\nworld, since I promised not to meddle with a thing _which has no\nexistence_.\u201d\n\nConvinced, or rather blinded, by the reason of my superior, which is the\nreasoning of every superior of a college or nunnery, I set myself to\nwork from that moment to make a good Roman Catholic of that young\nfriend; and I would probably have succeeded, had not a serious illness\nforced him, a few months after, to go home, where he died.\n\nProtestants who may read these lines will, perhaps, be indignant against\nthe deceit and knavery of the Superior of the College of Nicolet. But I\nwill say to those Protestants, it is not on that man, but on yourselves,\nthat you must pour your contempt. The Rev. Mr. Leprohon was honest. He\nacted conformably to principles which he thought good and legitimate,\nand for which he would have cheerfully given the last drop of his blood.\nHe sincerely believed that your Protestantism is a mere negation of all\nreligion, worthy of the contempt of every true Christian. It was not the\npriest of Rome who was contemptible, dishonest and a traitor to his\nprinciples, but it was the Protestant who was false to his gospel and to\nhis own conscience by having his child educated by the servants of the\nPope. Moreover, can we not truthfully say that the Protestant who wishes\nto have his children bred and educated by a Jesuit or a nun _is a man of\nno religion_? and that nothing is more ridiculous than to hear such a\nman begging respect for his _religious principles_! A man\u2019s ardent\ndesire to have his religious convictions respected is best known by his\nrespecting them himself.\n\nThe Protestant who drags his children to the feet of the priests of Rome\nis either a disguised infidel or a hypocrite. It is simply ridiculous\nfor such a man to speak of his religious convictions, or beg respect for\nthem. His very humble position at the feet of a Jesuit or a nun, begging\nrespect for his faith, is a sure testimony that he has none to lose. If\nhe had any he would not be there, an humble and abject suppliant. He\nwould take care to be where there could be no danger to his dear child\u2019s\nimmortal soul.\n\nWhen I was in the Church of Rome, we often spoke of the necessity of\nmaking superhuman efforts to attract young Protestants into our colleges\nand nunneries, as the shortest and only means of ruling the world before\nlong. And as the mother has in her hands, still more than the father,\nthe destinies of the family and of the world, we were determined to\nsacrifice everything in order to build nunneries all over the land,\nwhere the young girls, the future mothers of our country, would be\nmoulded in our hands and educated according to our views.\n\nNobody can deny that this is supreme wisdom. Who will not admire the\nenormous sacrifices made by Romanists in order to surround the nunneries\nwith so many attractions that it is difficult to refuse them preference\nabove all other female scholastic establishments? One feels so well in\nthe shade of these magnificent trees during the hot days of summer! It\nis so pleasant to live near this beautiful sheet of water, or the rapid\ncurrent of that charming river, or to have constantly before one\u2019s eyes\nthe sublime spectacle of the sea! What a sweet perfume the flowers of\nthat parterre diffuse around that pretty and peaceful convent! And,\nbesides, who can withstand the almost angelic charms of the Lady\nSuperior! How it does one good to be in the midst of those holy nuns,\nwhose modesty, affable appearance, and lovely smile present such a\nbeautiful spectacle, that one would think of being at heaven\u2019s gate\nrather than in a world of desolation and sin!\n\nO foolish man! Thou art always the same\u2014ever ready to be seduced by\nglittering appearances\u2014ever ready to suppress the voice of thy\nconscience at the first view of a seductive object!\n\nOne day I had embarked in the boat of a fisherman on the coast of one of\nthose beautiful islands which the hand of God has placed at the mouth of\nthe Gulf of St. Lawrence. In a few minutes the white sail, full-blown by\nthe morning breeze, had carried us nearly a mile from the shore. There\nwe dropped our anchor, and soon our lines, carried by the current,\noffered the deceitful bait to the fishes. But not one would come. One\nwould have thought that the sprightly inhabitants of these limpid waters\nhad acted in concert to despise us. In vain did we move our lines to and\nfro to attract the attention of the fishes; not one would come! We were\ntired. We lamented the prospect of losing our time, and being laughed at\nby our friends on the shore who were waiting the result of our fishing\nto dine. Nearly one hour was spent in this manner, when the captain\nsaid, \u201cIndeed, I will make the fishes come.\u201d\n\nOpening a box, he took out handfuls of little pieces of finely-cut\nfishes, and threw them broadcast on the water.\n\nI was looking at him with curiosity, and I received with a feeling of\nunbelief, the promise of seeing, in a few moments, more mackerel than I\ncould pick up. These particles of fish, falling upon the water,\nscattered themselves in a thousand different ways. The rays of the sun,\nsporting among these numberless fragments, and thousands of scales, gave\nthem a singular whiteness and brilliancy. They appeared like a thousand\ndiamonds, full of movement and life, that sported and rolled themselves,\nrunning at each other, while rocking upon the waves.\n\nAs these innumerable little objects withdrew from us they looked like\nthe milky way in the firmament. The rays of the sun continued to be\nreflected upon the scales of the fishes in the water, and to transform\nthem into as many pearls, whose whiteness and splendor made an agreeable\ncontrast with the deep green color of the sea.\n\nWhile looking at that spectacle, which was so new to me, I felt my line\njerked out of my hands, and soon had the pleasure of seeing a\nmagnificent mackerel lying at my feet. My companions were as fortunate\nas I was. The bait so generously thrown away had perfectly succeeded in\nbringing us not only hundreds, but thousands of fishes, and we caught as\nmany of them as the boat could carry.\n\nThe Jesuits and the nuns are the Pope\u2019s cleverest fishermen, and the\nProtestants are the mackerels caught upon their baited hooks. Never\nfisherman knew better to prepare the perfidious bait than the nuns and\nJesuits, and never were stupid fishes more easily caught than\nProtestants in general.\n\nThe priests of Rome themselves boast that more than half of the pupils\nof the nuns are the children of Protestants, and that seven-tenths of\nthose Protestant children, sooner or later, become the firmest disciples\nand the true pillars of popery in the United States. It is with that\npublic and undeniable fact before them that the Jesuits have prophesied\nthat before twenty-five years the pope will rule that great republic;\nand if there is not a prompt change their prophecy will probably be\naccomplished.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d say many Protestants, \u201cwhere can we get safer securities that the\nmorals of our girls will be sheltered than in those convents? The faces\nof those good nuns, their angelic smiles, even their lips, from which\nseems to flow a perfume from heaven\u2014are not these the unfailing signs\nthat nothing will taint the hearts of our dear children when they are\nunder the care of those holy nuns?\u201d\n\nAngelic smiles! Lips from which flow a perfume from heaven! Expressions\nof peace and holiness of the good nuns! Delusive allurements! Cruel\ndeceptions! Mockery of comedy! Yes, _all_ these angelic smiles, all\nthese expressions of joy and happiness, are but allurements to deceive\nhonest but too trusting men!\n\nI believed myself for a long time that there was something true in all\nthe display of peace and happiness which I saw reflected in the faces of\na good number of nuns. But how soon my delusions passed away when I read\nwith my own eyes, in a book of the _secret rules_ of the convent, that\none of their rules is _always_, especially in the presence of strangers,\nto have an appearance of joy and happiness, even when the soul is\noverwhelmed with grief and sorrow! The motives given to the nuns for\nthus wearing a continual mask, is to secure the esteem and respect of\nthe people, and to win more securely the young ladies to the convent!\n\nAll know the sad end of life of one of the most celebrated female\ncomedians of the American theatre. She had acted her part in the evening\nwith a perfect success. She appeared so handsome and so happy on the\nstage! Her voice was such a perfect harmony; her singing was so merry\nand lively with mirth! Two hours later she was a corpse! She had\npoisoned herself on leaving the theatre! For some time her heart was\nbroken with grief which she could not bear.\n\nThus it is with the nun in her cell! forced to play a sacrilegious\ncomedy to deceive the world and to bring new recruits to the monastery.\nAnd the Protestants, the disciples of the gospel, the children of light,\nsuffer themselves to be deceived by this impious comedy.\n\nThe poor nun\u2019s heart is often full of sorrow, and her soul is drowned in\na sea of desolation; but she is obliged, under oath, always to appear\ngay! Unfortunate victim of the most cruel deception that has ever been\ninvented. That poor daughter of Eve, deprived of all the happiness that\nheaven has given, tortured night and day by honest aspirations, which\nshe is told are unpardonable sins, she has not only to suppress in\nherself the few buds of happiness which God has left in her soul, but\nwhat is more cruel, she is forced to appear happy in anguish of shame\nand of deception.\n\nAh! if Protestants could know, as I do, how much the hearts of those\nnuns bleed, how much those poor victims of the pope feel themselves\nwounded to death, how almost every one of them die at an early age,\nbroken-hearted, instead of speaking of their happiness and holiness,\nthey would weep at their profound misery. Instead of helping Satan to\nbuild up and maintain those sad dungeons by giving both their gold and\ntheir children, they would let them crumble into dust, and thus check\nthe torrents of silent though bitter tears which those cells hide from\nour view.\n\nI was traveling in 1851 over the vast prairies of Illinois in search of\na spot which would suit us the best for the colony which I was about to\nfound. One day my companions and myself found ourselves so wearied by\nthe heat that we resolved to wait for the cool night in the shade of a\nfew trees around a brook. The night was calm; there were no clouds in\nthe sky, and the moon was beautiful. Like the sailor upon the sea, we\nhad nothing but our compass to regulate our course on those beautiful\nand vast prairies. But the pen cannot express the emotions I felt while\nlooking at that beautiful sky and those magnificent deserts opened to\nour view.\n\nWe often came to sloughs which we thought deeper than they really were,\nand of which we would keep the side for fear of drowning our horses.\nMany a time did I get down from the carriage and stop to contemplate the\nwonders which those ponds presented to our view.\n\nAll the splendors of the sky seemed brought down in those pure and\nlimpid waters. The moon and the stars seemed to have left their places\nin the firmament to bathe themselves in those delightful lakelets. All\nthe purest, the most beautiful things of the heavens seemed to come down\nto hide themselves in those tranquil waters as if in search of more\npeace and purity.\n\nA few days later I was retracing my steps. It was daytime, and following\nthe same route, I was longing to get to my charming little lakes. But\nduring the interval the heat had been great, the sun very hot, and my\nbeautiful sheets of water had been dried up. My dear little lakes were\nnowhere to be seen.\n\nAnd what did I find instead? Innumerable reptiles, with the most hideous\nforms and filthy colors! No brilliant stars, no clear moon were there\nany more to charm my eyes. There was nothing left but thousands of\nlittle toads and snakes, at the sight of which I was filled with disgust\nand horror!\n\nProtestants! when upon life\u2019s way you are tempted to admire the smiling\nlips and unstained faces of the pope\u2019s nuns, please think of those\ncharming lakes which I saw on the prairies of Illinois, and remember the\ninnumerable reptiles and toads which swarm at the bottom of those\ndeceitful waters.\n\nWhen, by the light of divine truth, Protestants see behind these perfect\nmockeries by which the nun conceals with so much care the hideous misery\nwhich devours her heart, they will understand the folly of having\npermitted themselves to be so easily deceived by appearances. Then they\nwill bitterly weep for having sacrificed to that modern Paganism the\nfuture welfare of their children, of their families and of their\ncountry!\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d says one, \u201cthe education is so cheap in the nunnery.\u201d I answer,\n\u201cThe education in convents, were it twice cheaper than it is now, would\nstill cost twice more than it is worth. It is in this circumstance that\nwe can repeat and apply the old proverb, \u2018Cheap things are always too\nhighly paid for.\u2019\u201d\n\nIn the first place, the intellectual education in the nunnery is\ncompletely null. The great object of the pope and the nuns is to\ncaptivate and destroy the intelligence.\n\nThe moral education is also of no account; for what kind of morality can\na young girl receive from a nun who believes that she can live as she\npleases as long as she likes it\u2014that nothing evil can come of her,\nneither in this life nor in the next, provided only she is devout to the\nVirgin Mary?\n\nLet Protestants read the \u201cGlories of Mary,\u201d by St. Liguori, a book which\nis in the hands of every nun and every priest, and they will understand\nwhat kind of morality is practiced and taught inside the walls of the\nChurch of Rome. Yes, let them read the history of that lady who was so\nwell represented at home by the Holy Virgin that her husband did not\nperceive that she had been absent, and they will have some idea of what\ntheir children may learn in a convent.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XII.\n\nROME AND EDUCATION\u2014WHY DOES THE CHURCH OF ROME HATE THE COMMON SCHOOLS\n OF THE UNITED STATES, AND WANTS TO DESTROY THEM? WHY DOES SHE OBJECT\n TO THE READING OF THE BIBLE IN THE SCHOOL?\n\n\nThe word EDUCATION is a beautiful word. It comes from the Latin\n_educare_, which means to raise up, to take from the lowest degrees to\nthe highest spheres of knowledge. The object of education is, then, to\nfeed, expand, raise, enlighten and strengthen the intelligence.\n\nWe hear the Roman Catholic priests making use of that beautiful word\neducation as often, if not oftener, than the Protestant. But that word\n\u201ceducation\u201d has a very different meaning among the followers of the pope\nthan among the disciples of the Gospel. And that difference, which the\nProtestants ignore, is the cause of the strange blunders they make every\ntime they try to legislate on that question, here, as well as in England\nor in Canada.\n\nThe meaning of the word education among Protestants is as far from the\nmeaning of that same word among Roman Catholics as the southern pole is\nfrom the northern pole. When a Protestant speaks of education, that word\nis used and understood in its true sense. When he sends his little boy\nto a Protestant school, he honestly desires that he should be reared up\nin the spheres of knowledge as much as his intelligence will allow. When\nthat little boy is going to school, he soon feels that he has been\nraised up to some extent, and he experiences a sincere joy, a noble\npride, for this new, though at first very modest raising; but he\nnaturally understands that this new and modest upheaval is only a stone\nto step on and raise himself to a higher degree of knowledge, and he\nquickly makes that second step with an unspeakable pleasure. When the\nson of a Protestant has acquired a little knowledge, he wants to acquire\nmore. When he has learned what _this_ means, he wants to know what\n_that_ means also. Like the young eagle, he trims his wings for a higher\nflight, and turns his head upward to go farther up in the atmosphere of\nknowledge. A noble and mysterious ambition has suddenly seized his young\nsoul. Then he begins to feel something of that unquenchable thirst for\nknowledge which God Himself has put in the breast of every child of\nAdam; a thirst of knowledge, however, which will never be perfectly\nrealized except in heaven.\n\nWhen God created man in His own image, He endowed him with an\nintelligence and moral faculties worthy of the high, I was going to say\nthe divine, dignity of His own beloved children. He Himself put in us\naspirations and instincts by which we were to be constantly longing\nafter the oceans of light, truth and knowledge, whose waves wash His\neternal throne. It is that thirst after more knowledge, that constant\nlonging after more light, which constitutes the difference between man\nand brute. Man has received from God an intelligence which, though\nclouded now by sin, is to him what the helm is to the noble ship which\ncrosses the boundless ocean; he has a conscience, an immortal soul which\nbinds him to God, and he feels it. His destinies are glorious, they are\nincommensurable, they are infinite, and he knows it. Though a dethroned\nking, he feels that he is still a king. The six thousand years which\nhave passed over him since his fall have not yet effaced the kingly\ntitle which God Himself wrote on his forehead when He told him,\n\u201cMultiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it\u201d (Gen. i: 28). With\nthat glorious, that divine mission of subduing the air and the light,\nthe wind and the waves, the seas and the earth, the roaring thunder and\nthe flashing lightning constantly before his eyes, man marches to the\nconquest of the world with the calm certitude of his power and the\nglorious aspirations of his royal dignity.\n\nThe object of education, then, is to enable man to fulfill that kingly\nmission of ruling, subduing the world, under the eyes of his Creator.\nLet us remember that it is not from himself, nor from any angel, but it\nis from God himself that man has received that sublime mission. Yes, it\nis God himself who has implanted in the bosom of humanity the knowledge\nand aspirations of those splendid destinies which can be attained only\nby \u201cEducation.\u201d\n\nWhat a glorious impulse is this that seizes hold of the newly awakened\nmind, and leads the young intelligence to rise higher and pierce the\nclouds that hide from his gaze the splendors of knowledge that lie\nconcealed beyond the gloom of this nether sphere! That impulse is a\nnoble ambition; it is that part of humanity that assimilates itself to\nthe likeness of the great Creator; that impulse which education has for\nits mission to direct in its onward and upward march, is one of the most\nprecious gifts of God to man. Once more, the glorious mission of\neducation is to foster these thirstings after knowledge and lead man to\naccomplish his high destiny.\n\nIt ought to be a duty with both Roman Catholics and Protestants to\nassist the pupil in his flight toward the regions of science and\nlearning. But is it so? No. When you Protestants send your children to\nschool, you put no fetters to their intelligence; they rise with\nfluttering wings day after day. Though their flight at first is slow and\ntimid, how happy they feel at every new aspect of their intellectual\nhorizon! How their hearts beat with an unspeakable joy when they begin\nto hear voices of applause and encouragement from every side saying to\nthem, \u201cHigher, higher, higher!\u201d When they shake their young wings to\ntake a still higher flight, who can express their joy when they\ndistinctly hear again the voices of a beloved mother, of a dear father,\nof a venerable pastor, cheering them and saying, \u201cWell done! Higher yet,\nmy child, higher!\u201d\n\nRaising themselves with more confidence on their wings, they then soar\nstill higher, in the midst of the unanimous concert of the voices of\ntheir whole country encouraging them to the highest flight. It is then\nthat the young man feel his intellectual strength tenfold multiplied. He\nlifts himself on his eagle wings, with a renewed confidence and power,\nand soars up still higher, with his heart beating with a noble and holy\njoy. For from the south and north, from the east and the west, the\nechoes bring to his ears the voices of the admiring multitudes\u2014\u201cRise\nhigher, higher yet!\u201d\n\nHe has now reached what he thought, at first, to be the highest regions\nof thought and knowledge; but he hears again the same stimulating cries\nfrom below, encouraging him to a still higher flight toward the loftiest\ndominion of knowledge and philosophy, till he enters the regions where\nlies the source of all truth, and light and life. For he has also heard\nthe voice of his God, speaking through His Son Jesus Christ, crying,\n\u201cCome unto me! Fear not! Come unto me! I am the light, the way! Come to\nthis _higher_ region where the Father, with the Son and the Spirit,\nreign in endless light!\u201d\n\nThus does the Protestant scholar making use of his intelligence as the\neagle of his wing, go on from weakness unto strength, from the timid\nflutter to the bold, confident flight, from one degree to another still\nhigher, from one region of knowledge to another still higher, till he\nloses himself in that ocean of light and truth and life which is God.\n\nIn the Protestant schools no fetters are put on the young eagle\u2019s wings;\nthere is nothing to stop him in his progress, or paralyze his movements\nand upward flights. It is the contrary: he receives every kind of\nencouragement in his flight.\n\nThus it is that the only truly _great_ nations in the world are\nProtestants! Thus it is the truly _powerful_ nations in the world are\nProtestants! Thus it is that the _only free_ nations in the world are\nProtestants! The Protestant nations are the only ones that acquit\nthemselves like men in the arena of this world; Protestant nations only\nmarch as giants at the head of the civilized world. Everywhere they are\nthe advance guard in the ranks of progress, science and liberty, leaving\nfar behind the unfortunate nations whose hands are tied by the\nignominious iron chains of Popery.\n\nAfter we have seen the Protestant scholar raising himself, on his eagle\nwings, to the highest spheres of intelligence, happiness and light, and\nmarching unimpaired toward his splendid destinies, let us turn our eyes\ntoward the Roman Catholic student, and let us consider and pity him in\nthe supreme degradation to which he is subjected.\n\nThat young Roman Catholic scholar is born with the same bright\nintelligence as the Protestant one; he is endowed by his Creator with\nthe same powers of mind as his Protestant neighbor; he has the same\nimpulses, the same noble aspirations implanted by the hand of God in his\nbreast. He is sent to school apparently, like the Protestant boy, to\nreceive what is called \u201cEducation.\u201d He at first understands that word in\nits true sense; he goes to school in the hope of being _raised_,\nelevated as high as his intelligence and his personal efforts will\nallow. His heart beats with joy, when at once the first rays of light\nand knowledge come to him; he feels a holy, a noble pride at every new\nstep he makes in his upward progress; he longs to learn more, he wants\nto rise higher; he also takes up his wings, like the young eagle, and\nsoars up higher.\n\nBut here begin the disappointments and tribulations of the Roman\nCatholic student; for he is allowed to raise himself\u2014yes, but when he\nhas raised himself high enough to be on a level with the big toes of the\nPope, he hears piercing, angry, threatening angry cries coming from\nevery side\u2014\u201cStop! stop! Do not raise yourself higher than the toes of\nthe Holy Pope!... Kiss those holy toes, ... and stop your upward flight!\nRemember that the Pope is the only source of science, knowledge and\ntruth!... The knowledge of the Pope is the ultimate limit of learning\nand light to which humanity can attain.... You are not allowed to know\nand believe what his Holiness does not know and believe. Stop! stop! Do\nnot go an inch higher than the intellectual horizon the Supreme Pontiff\nof Rome, in whom only is the plenitude of the true science which will\nsave the world.\u201d\n\nSome will perhaps answer me here: \u201cHas not Rome produced great men in\nevery department of science?\u201d I answer, Yes; as I have once done before.\nRome can show us a long list of names which shine among the brightest\nlights of the firmament of science and philosophy. She can show us her\nCopernices, her Galileos, her Pascals, her Bossuets, her Lamenais, etc.,\netc. But it is at their risk and peril that those giants of intelligence\nhave raised themselves into the highest regions of philosophy and\nscience. It is in spite of Rome that those eagles have soared up above\nthe damp and obscure horizon where the Pope offers his big toes to be\nkissed and worshipped as the _ne plus ultra_ of human intelligence; and\nthey have invariably been punished for their boldness.\n\nOn the 22nd of June, 1663, Galileo was obliged to fall on his knees in\norder to escape the cruel death to which he was to be condemned by the\norder of the Pope; and he signed with his own hand the following\nretractation: \u201cI abjure, curse and detest the error and heresy of the\nmotion of the earth,\u201d etc., etc.\n\nThat learned man had to degrade himself by swearing a most egregious\nlie, namely, that the earth does not move around the sun. Thus it is\nthat the wings of that giant eagle of Rome were clipped by the scissors\nof the Pope. That mighty intelligence was bruised, fettered, and, as\nmuch as it was possible to the Church of Rome, degraded, silenced and\nkilled. But God would not allow that such a giant intellect should be\nentirely strangled by the bloody hands of that implacable enemy of light\nand truth\u2014the Pope. Sufficient strength and life had remained in Galileo\nto enable him to say, when rising up, \u201cThis will not prevent the earth\nfrom moving!\u201d\n\nThe infallible decree of the infallible Pope, Urban VIII., against the\nmotion of the earth, is signed by the Cardinals Felia, Guido, Desiderio,\nAntonio, Bellingero, and Fabricicio. It says, \u201cIn the name and by the\nauthority of Jesus Christ, the plenitude of which resides in His vicar,\nthe Pope, that the proposition that the earth is not the center of the\nworld, and that it moves with a diurnal motion is absurd,\nphilosophically false, and erroneous in faith.\u201d\n\nWhat a glorious thing for the Pope of Rome to be infallible! He\ninfallibly knows that the earth does not move around the sun! And what a\nblessed thing for the Roman Catholics to be governed and taught by such\nan _infallible_ being. In consequence of that infallible decree, you\nwill admire the following act of humble submission of two celebrated\nJesuit astronomers, Lesueur and Jacquier: \u201cNewton assumes in his third\nbook the hypothesis of the earth moving around the sun. The proposition\nof that author could not be explained, except through the same\nhypothesis: we have, therefore, been forced to act a character not our\nown. _But we declare our entire submission to the decrees of the Supreme\nPontiffs of Rome against the motion of the earth._\u201d (Newton\u2019s\n\u201cPrincipia,\u201d vol. iii., p. 450.)\n\nNow, please tell me if the world has ever witnessed any degradation like\nthat of Roman Catholics? I do not speak of the ignorant and unlearned,\nbut I speak of the learned\u2014the intelligent ones. There you see Galileo\ncondemned to gaol because he had proved that the earth moved around the\nsun, and to avoid the cruel death on the rack of the holy Inquisition if\nhe does not retract, he falls on his knees and swears that he will never\nbelieve it\u2014in the very moment that he believes it! He promises, under a\nsolemn oath, that he will never say it any more, when he is determined\nto proclaim it again the very first opportunity! And here you see two\nother learned Jesuits, who have written a very able work to prove that\nthe earth moves around the sun; but, trembling at the thunders of the\nVatican, which are roaring on their heads and threaten to kill them,\nthey submit to the decrees of the Popes of Rome against the motion of\nthe earth. These two learned Jesuits tell a most contemptible and\nridiculous lie to save themselves from the implacable wrath of that\ngreat light-extinguisher whose throne is in the city of the seven hills.\n\nLamenais, a Roman Catholic priest, who lived in this very century, was\none of the most profound philosophers and eloquent writers which France\nhas ever had. But Lamenais was publicly excommunicated for having raised\nhimself high enough in the regions of Gospel light to see that \u201cliberty\nof conscience\u201d was one of the great privileges which Christ has brought\nfrom heaven for all the nations, and which He has sealed with His blood!\nNo man has ever raised himself higher in the regions of thought and\nphilosophy than Pascal; but the wings of that giant eagle were clipped\nby the Pope. Pascal was an outcast in the Church of Rome. He lived and\ndied an excommunicated man! Bossuet is one of the most eloquent orators\nwhich Rome has given to the world. But Veuillot, the editor of the\n_Univers_ (the official journal of the Roman Catholic clergy of France)\nassures us that Bossuet was a disguised Protestant.\n\nIf, at any step made by the Protestant through the regions of science\nand learning, he asks God or man to tell him how he can proceed any\nfurther without any fear of falling into some unknown and unsuspected\nabyss, both God and man tell him what Christ said to His apostles\u2014that\nhe has eyes to see, ears to hear, and an intelligence to understand; he\nis reminded that it is with his own eyes, and not with another\u2019s eyes,\nhe must look; that it is with his own ears, and not with another\u2019s ears,\nhe must hear; and that it is with his own intelligence, and not\nanother\u2019s intelligence, he must understand. And when the Protestant has\nmade use of his own eyes to see, and his own ears to hear, and his own\nintelligence to understand, he nevertheless feels again his feet\nuncertain on the trembling waves of the mysterious and unexplored\nregions of science and learning which spread before him as a boundless\nocean, all the echoes of heaven and earth bring to his ears the simple\nbut sublime words of the Son of God: \u201cIf a son shall ask bread of any of\nyou that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish,\nwill he, for a fish, give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will\nhe offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good\ngifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give\nthe Holy Spirit to them that ask him?\u201d\n\nEmboldened with this infallible promise of the Saviour, which has\nennobled and almost divinized him, the Protestant student ceases to\ntremble and fear, a new strength has been given to his feet, a new power\nto his mind. For he has gone to his Father for more light and strength.\nNay, he has boldly asked not only the assistance and the help of the\nSpirit of God, but the very presence of His Spirit in his soul to guide\nand strengthen him. The assurance that the great God who has created\nheaven and earth is his Father, his loving Father, has absolutely raised\nhim above himself; it has given a new, I dare say a divine impulse, to\nall his aspirations for truth and knowledge. It has put into his breast\nthe assurance that, sustained by the love, and the light, and the help\nof that great infinite, eternal God, he feels himself as a giant able to\ncope with any obstacle. He does not any more walk, on his way to\neternity, as a worm of the dust; a voice from heaven has told him that\nhe was the child of God! Eternity, and not time, then becomes the limits\nof his existence; he is no more satisfied with touching with his hands\nand studying with his eyes the few objects which are within the limited\nhorizon of the eyelid-vision. He stretches his giant hands to the\nboundless limits of the infinite, he boldly raises his feet and eyes\nfrom the dust of this earth, to launch himself into the boundless oceans\nof the unknown worlds. He feels as if there was almost nothing beyond\nthe reach of his intelligence, nothing to resist the power of his arms,\nnothing to stop his onward progress toward the infinite so long as the\ninfallible words of Christ shall be his compass, his light, and his\nstrength. He will then touch the mountains, and they will melt and bow\ndown before him to let his iron and fiery chariot pass over the Rocky\nMountains, 8,000 feet above the level of the sea. He will boldly ascend\nto the regions where the lightning and the storms reign, and there he\nwill place his daring hands into the roaring clouds, and wrench the\nsparkle of lightning which will carry his message from one end of the\nworld to the other. He will force the oceans to tremble and submit, as\nhumble slaves, before those marvelous steam-engines which, like giants,\ncarry \u201cfloating cities\u201d over all the seas in spite of the winds and the\nwaves.\n\nHad the Newtons, the Franklins, the Fultons, the Morses been Romanists,\ntheir names would have been lost in the obscurity which is the natural\nheritage of the abject slaves of the Popes. Being told from their\ninfancy that no one had any right to make use of his \u201cprivate judgment,\u201d\nintelligence and conscience in the research of truth, they would have\nremained mute and motionless at the feet of the modern and terrible god\nof Rome, the Pope. But they were Protestants! In that great and glorious\nword \u201cProtestant,\u201d is the secret of the marvelous discoveries with which\nthey have changed the face of the world. They were Protestants! Yes,\nthey had passed their young years in Protestant schools, where they had\nread a book which told them that they were created in the image of God,\nand that that great God had sent His eternal Son, Jesus, to make them\nfree from the bondage of man. They had read in that Protestant book (for\nthe Bible is the most Protestant book in the world) that man had not\nonly a conscience, but an intelligence to guide him; they had learned\nthat that intelligence and conscience had no other master but God, no\nother guide but God, no other light but God. On the walls of their\nProtestant schools the Son of God had written the marvelous words: \u201cCome\nunto me; I am the Light, the Way, the Life.\u201d\n\nBut when the Protestant nations are marching with such giant strides to\nthe conquest of the world, why is it that the Roman Catholic nations not\nonly remain stationary, but give evidence of a decadence which is, day\nafter day, more and more appalling and remediless? Go to their schools\nand give a moment of attention to the principles which are sown in the\nyoung intelligences of their unfortunate slaves, and you will have the\nkey to that sad mystery.\n\nWhat is not only the first, but the daily school lesson taught to the\nRoman Catholic? Is it not that one of the greatest crimes which a man\ncan commit is to follow his \u201cprivate judgment?\u201d which means that he has\neyes, but cannot see; ears, but he cannot hear; and intelligence, but he\ncannot make use of it in the research of truth and light and knowledge,\nwithout danger of being eternally damned. His superiors\u2014which mean the\npriest and the Pope\u2014must see for him, hear for him, and think for him.\nYes, the Roman Catholic is constantly told in his school that the most\nunpardonable and damnable crime is to make use of his own intelligence\nand follow _his own private judgment_ in the research of truth. He is\nconstantly reminded that man\u2019s own private judgment is his greatest\nenemy. Hence all his intellectual and conscientious efforts must be\nbrought to fight down, silence, kill his \u201cprivate judgment.\u201d It is by\nthe judgment of his superiors\u2014the priest, the bishop and the pope\u2014that\nhe must be guided in everything.\n\nNow, what is a man who cannot make use of his \u201cprivate personal\njudgment?\u201d Is he not a slave, an idiot, an ass? And what is a nation\ncomposed of men who do not make use of their private personal judgment\nin the research of truth and happiness, if not a nation of brutes,\nslaves and contemptible idiots?\n\nBut as this will look like an exaggeration on my part, allow me to force\nthe Church of Rome to come here and speak for herself. Please pay\nattention to what she has to say about the intellectual faculties of\nmen. Here are the very words of the so-called Saint Ignatius Loyola, the\nfounder of the Jesuit Society:\n\n\u201cAs for holy obedience, this virtue must be perfect in every point\u2014in\nexecution, in will, in intellect, doing which is enjoined with all\ncelerity, spiritual joy and perseverance; persuading ourselves that\neverything is just, suppressing every repugnant thought and judgment of\none\u2019s own in a certain obedience; and let every one persuade himself,\nthat he who lives under obedience should be moved and directed, under\nDivine Providence, by his superior, JUST AS IF HE WERE A CORPSE\n(_perinde acsi cadaver esset_) which allows itself to be moved and led\nin every direction.\u201d\n\nYes! Protestants, when you send your child to school, it is that he may\nmore and more understand the dignity of man. Your object is to\nenlighten, expand and raise his intelligence. You want to give more\nlight, more strength, more food, more life to that intelligence. But\nknow it well, not from my pen, but from the solemn declaration of Rome.\nThe young Roman Catholic goes to school, not only that his intelligence\nmay be fettered, clouded and paralyzed, but that it may be killed. (You\nhave read it.) It is only when he will be like a _corpse_ before his\n_superior_ that the young Roman Catholic will have attained to the\nhighest degree of perfect manhood! Is not such a doctrine absolutely\nanti-Christian and anti-social. Is it not diabolical? Would not mankind\nbecome a flock of brute beasts if the Church of Rome could succeed in\npersuading her hundred of millions of slaves to consider themselves as\n_cadavers_\u2014corpses in the presence of their superiors.\n\nSome one will, perhaps, ask me what can be the object of the popes and\nthe priests of Rome in degrading the Roman Catholics in such a strange\nway that they turn them into moral corpses? What can be the use of those\nhundred of millions of corpses? Why not let them live? The answer is a\nvery easy one. The great, and the only object of the thoughts and\nworkings of the Pope and the priests is to raise themselves above the\nrest of the world. They want to be high! high! high! above the head not\nonly of the common people, but of the kings and emperors of the world.\nThey want to be not only as high, but higher than God. It is when\nspeaking of the Pope that the Holy Ghost says: \u201cHe opposeth and exalteth\nhimself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he,\nas God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God\u201d (2\nThess. ii. 4). To attain their object, the priests have persuaded their\nmillions and millions of slaves that they were mere corpses; that they\nmust have no will, no conscience, no intelligence of their own, just \u201cas\ncorpses, which allow themselves to be moved and led in any way, without\nany resistance.\u201d When this has been once gained, they have made a\npyramid of all those motionless, inert corpses, which is so high, that\nthough its feet are on the earth, its top goes to the skies, in the very\nabode of the old divinities of the Pagan world, and putting themselves\nand their popes at the top of that marvelous pyramid, the priests say to\nthe rest of the world: \u201cWho among you are as high as we are? Who has\never been raised by God as a priest and a pope? Where are the kings and\nthe emperors whose thrones are as elevated as ours? Are we not at the\nvery top of humanity?\u201d Yes! yes! I answer to the priests of Rome, you\nare high, very high indeed! No throne on earth has ever been so sublime,\nso exalted as yours. Since the days of the tower of Babel, the world has\nnot seen such a high fabric. Your throne is higher than anything we\nknow. But it is a throne of corpses!!!\n\nAnd if you want to know what other use is made of those millions and\nmillions of corpses, I will tell it to you. There is no manure so rich\nas dead carcasses. Those millions of corpses serve to manure the gardens\nof the priests, the bishops and the popes, and make their cabbages grow.\nAnd what fine cabbages grow in the Pope\u2019s garden!\n\nIs it not a lucky thing for the world in general, and for the Roman\nCatholics in particular, that though they are taught to become like\ncorpses, to have no will, no understanding, no judgment of their own in\nthe presence of their superiors, there are many who can never attain to\nthat perfection of intellectual degradation and death! Yes, in spite of\nthe efforts, in spite of the teachings of their Church, a few Roman\nCatholics retain some life, some will, some intelligence, some judgment\nof their own which prevents them from becoming complete brutes. Many now\nand then refuse to descend to the damp, dark and putrid abode of the\ncorpses. They want to breathe the fresh and pure air of liberty which\nGod has given to man. They raise their humiliated forehead from the\nignominious tomb which their church has dug for them, and they give some\nsigns of life. But at every such signs of life given by an individual or\nby a people in the Church of Rome, be sure that you will see the\nflashing light and hear the roaring thunder of the Vatican directed\nagainst the rebel who dares to refuse to become a _corpse_ before his\nsuperiors. It is for having shown such signs of life and independence of\nmind that Galileo was sent to gaol and threatened to be cruelly tortured\non the racks of the Inquisition in Italy, three hundred years ago. It is\nfor having shown those symptoms of life that not long ago the honest\nKenna, one of the most respected Roman Catholics of the day, was\nexcommunicated the day before his death, and had to be buried as a dog\nin his own field, for having refused to take away his children from an\nexcellent grammar school to obey the priest. It is for having dared to\nthink for himself that a few days before his death the amiable and\nlearned Montalembert was considered as an outcast by the Pope, who\nrefused him the honor of public prayers in Rome after his death.\n\nBut that you may better understand the degrading tendencies of the\nprinciples which are as the fundamental stone of the moral and\nintellectual education of Rome, let me put before your eyes another\nextract of the Jesuit teachings, which I take again from the \u201cSpiritual\nExercises,\u201d as laid down by their founder, Ignatius Loyola: \u201cThat we may\nin all things attain the truth, that we may not err in anything, we\nought ever to hold as a fixed principle that what I see white I believe\nto be black, if the superior authorities of the Church define it to be\nso.\u201d\n\nYou all know that it is the avowed desire of Rome to have public\neducation in the hands of the Jesuits. She says everywhere that they are\nthe best, the model teachers. Why so? Because they more boldly and more\nsuccessfully than any other of her teachers aim at the destruction of\nthe intelligence and conscience of their pupils. Rome proclaims\neverywhere that the Jesuits are the most devoted, the most reliable of\nher teachers; and she is right, for when a man has been trained a\nsufficient time by them, he most perfectly becomes a moral corpse. His\nsuperiors can do what they please with him. When he knows that a thing\nis white as snow, he is ready to swear that it is black as ink, if his\nsuperior tells him so. But some may be tempted to think that these\ndegrading principles are exclusively taught by the Jesuits; that they\nare not the teachings of the Church, and that I do an injustice to the\nRoman Catholics when I give, as a general iniquity, what is the guilt of\nthe Jesuits only. Listen to the words of that infallible Pope Gregory\nXVI., in his celebrated Encyclical of the 15th of August, 1832. \u201cIf the\nholy Church so requires, let us sacrifice our own opinions, our\nknowledge, _our intelligence_, the splendid dreams of our imagination,\nand the most sublime attainments of the human understanding.\u201d\n\nIt is when considering those anti-social principles of Rome that our\nlearned and profound thinker, Gladstone, wrote, not long ago: \u201cNo more\ncunning plot was ever devised against the freedom, the happiness and the\nvirtues of mankind than Romanism.\u201d (\u201cLetter to Earl Aberdeen.\u201d) Now,\nProtestants, do you begin to see the difference of the object of\neducation between a Protestant and a Roman Catholic school? Do you begin\nto understand that there is as great a distance between the word\n\u201cEducation\u201d among you, and the meaning of the same word in the Church of\nRome, than between the southern and the northern poles! By education you\nmean to raise man to the highest sphere of manhood. Rome means to lower\nhim below the most stupid brutes. By education you mean to teach man\nthat he is a free agent; that liberty, within the limits of the laws of\nGod and of his country, is a gift secured to every one; you want to\nimpress man with the noble thought that it is better to die a free man\nthan to live a slave. Rome wants to teach that there is only one man who\nis free, the Pope, and that all the rest are born to be his abject\nslaves in thought, will and action.\n\nNow, that you may still more understand to what a bottomless abyss of\nhuman degradation and moral depravity these anti-Christian and\nanti-social principles of Rome lead her poor blind slaves, read what\nLiguori says in his book, \u201cThe Nun Sanctified\u201d: \u201cThe principal and most\nefficacious means of practicing obedience due to superiors, and of\nrendering it meritorious before God, is to consider that in obeying them\nwe obey God himself, and that by despising their commands, we despise\nthe authority of our Divine Master. When, thus, a religious receives a\nprecept from her prelate, superior or confessor, she should immediately\nexecute it, _not only to please them_ but principally to please God,\nwhose will is made known to her by their command. In obeying their\ncommand, in obeying their directions, she is more certainly obeying the\nwill of God than if an angel came down from heaven to manifest his will\nto her. Bear this always in your mind, that the obedience which you\npractice to your superior is paid to God. If, then, you receive a\ncommand from one who holds the place of God, you should observe it with\nthe same diligence as if it came from God himself. Blessed Egidus used\nto say that it is more meritorious to obey man for the love of God than\nGod himself. It may be added that there is more certainty of doing the\nwill of God by obedience to your superior than by obedience to Jesus\nChrist, should He appear in person and give His commands. St. Philip de\nNeri used to say that religious shall be most certain of not having to\nrender an account of the actions performed through obedience; for these\nthe superiors only who commanded them shall be held accountable.\u201d The\nLord said once to St. Catherine of Sienne, \u201cReligious will not be\nobliged to render an account to _me_ of what they do through obedience;\nfor that I will demand an account from the superior. This doctrine is\nconformable to Sacred Scripture: Behold, says the Lord, as clay is in\nthe potter\u2019s hands, so are you in my hand, O Israel! (Jeremiah xviii:\n6.) A religious man must be in the hands of the superiors to be molded\nas they will. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What art\nthou making? The potter ought to answer, \u2018Be silent; it is not your\nbusiness to inquire what I do, but to obey and to receive whatever form\nI please to give you.\u2019\u201d\n\nI ask of you, American Protestants, what would become of your fair\ncountry if you were blind enough to allow the Church of Rome to teach\nthe children of the United States? What kind of men and women can come\nout of such schools? What future of shame, degradation and slavery you\nprepare for your country if Rome does succeed in forcing you to support\nsuch schools. What kind of women would come out from the schools of\nnuns, who would teach them that the highest pitch of perfection in a\nwoman is when she obeys her superior, the priest, _in everything he\ncommands_ her! that your daughter will never be called to give an\naccount to God for the actions she will have done to please and obey her\nsuperior, the priest, the bishop or the Pope? That the affairs of her\nconscience will be arranged between God and that superior, and that she\nwill never be asked why she had done this or that, when it will be to\ngratify the pleasures of the superior and obey his command that she has\ndone it. Again, what kind of men and citizens will come out from the\nschools of those Jesuits who believe and teach that a man has attained\nthe perfection of manhood only when he is a perfectly spiritual corpse\nbefore his superior; when he obeys the priest with the perfection of a\n_cadaver_, that has neither life nor will in itself.\n\nBut some will be tempted to think that this perfect blind obedience to\nthe priest, which is the corner-stone of the Roman Catholic education,\nis required only in spiritual matters. Yes; but you must not forget that\nin the Church of Rome every action of the public or private life belongs\nto the spiritual sphere, which the superior only must rule. For\ninstance, a Roman Catholic has not the right to select the teacher of\nhis boy, nor the school where he will send him; he must consult his\npriest, and if he dares to act in a different way from what his priest\nhas told him in the selection of that teacher or that school, he is\nexcommunicated and damned, as Mr. Kenna has been lately. If he votes\naccording to his own private judgment for Mr. Jones, instead of Mr.\nThompson, the selected member of the bishop and the priest, he is damned\nand considered as a rebel against his holy Church, out of which there is\nno salvation.\n\nThe Church of Rome\u2019s only object in giving what she calls education is\nto teach her slaves that they must obey their superiors in everything,\nas God himself. All the rest of her teaching is only a mask to conceal\nher plans. History is never taught in her schools; what she calls\nhistory is a most shameful string of falsehoods. Of course she does not\ndare to say a word of truth about her past struggles against the great\nprinciples of light and liberty, when she covered the whole of Europe\nwith tears, blood and ruins. Writing, reading, arithmetic, geography and\ngrammar are taught to a certain degree in her schools, but all these\nteachings are nothing else but covered roads through which the priest\nwants to reach the citadel of the heart and intelligence of his poor\nvictim, and take an absolute possession of them. Those things are taught\nevery day only to have a daily opportunity to persuade the pupil that he\nmust never make any use of his private judgment in anything, and that he\nmust submit his intelligence, his conscience, his will to the\nintelligence, conscience and will of his superior, if he wants to save\nhimself from the eternal fire of hell. He is constantly told, what I\nhave been told a thousand times myself, when studying in the college of\nNicolet, that those who obey their superiors in everything will not be\ncalled to give an account of their actions to their Supreme Judge, even\nif those actions were bad in themselves; for, as Liguori told you a\nmoment ago, \u201cWhosoever obeys his superior for the love of God, obeys God\nhimself, and that there are more merits to obey one\u2019s own superior than\nGod himself.\u201d\n\nThe Church of Rome shows her great wisdom in enforcing that dogma of the\nentire and blind subjection of the will and intelligence of the inferior\nto the superior. For the very moment that a Roman Catholic thinks that\nit is his right and sacred duty to follow the dictates of his own\nconscience and intelligence, he is lost to the church of Rome. It is\nonly when a man has entirely silenced and absolutely killed his\nintelligence, it is only when he has become a perfect moral corpse, that\nhe can believe that his priest, even his drunken priest, has the power\nto change a wafer, or any other piece of bread, into the great God, for\nwhom and by whom everything has been created. It is only when the\nintelligence of man has become a dead carcass that he can believe that a\nmiserable sinner has the supreme power to force the Son of God to come,\nin His divine and human person, into his vest or pant\u2019s pockets to\nfollow him everywhere he wants to go, even to the bar of the low tavern,\nthat He may become his companion of debauch and drunkenness. Do you see,\nnow, why the Church of Rome cannot let her poor young slaves go to your\nschools? In your schools, the first thing you inculcate to the pupil is\nthat his intelligence is the great gift of God, by which man is\ndistinguished from the brute; that he must enlighten, form, feed,\ncultivate his intelligence, which is to him what the helm is to the\nship, Christ, with His holy Word, being the pilot. You see, now why the\nChurch of Rome abhors your schools. It is because you want to make\n_men_, and she wants to make _brutes_. You want to raise men to the\nhighest sphere to which his intelligence can allow him to reach; she\nwants to keep him in the dust, at the feet of the priests; you want to\nform free citizens, she wants to form abject and obedient slaves of the\npriests; you teach man to keep his sacred promises and stand by his\noath, she teaches him that the Pope has the right to dissolve the most\nsacred promises and to annul all his oaths, even to the oath of\nallegiance to his country. You tell your pupils that so long as they\nwill keep themselves within the limits of the laws of their country they\nare responsible only to God for their consciences. They tell their\npupils that it is not to God, but to the priest that he must go to give\nan account of his conscience. You teach your pupils that the laws of God\nonly bind the conscience of man; they tell him that it is the laws of\nthe Church, which means the _ipse dixit_ of the Pope, which binds their\nconsciences. You teach the student that every man has the right to\nchange his religion according to his conscience; she positively says\nthat no man has the right to change his religion according to his\nconscience. It is evident that the Church of Rome would be dead\nto-morrow, if, to-day, she would allow her children to attend schools\nwhere they would learn to follow the dictates of their conscience and\nlisten to the voice of their intelligence. But she is too shrewd to avow\nbefore the world the real reasons why she wants, at any cost, to prevent\nher children from attending your schools. And it is here she shows her\nprofound and diabolical cunning. Though she is the most deadly enemy of\nliberty of conscience, though she has, time after time, anathemized\nliberty of conscience as one of Satan\u2019s schemes, she suddenly steps on,\nas the great friend and apostle of liberty of conscience, and under that\nnew mask she approaches your legislators with great airs of dignity, and\nsays, \u201cWe are happy to live in a country where liberty of conscience is\nsecured to every citizen. It is in its sacred name that we respectfully\napproach your honorable legislature to ask: First, to be exempted from\nsending our children to the Government schools. Second, to have the\nmoney we want from the public treasury in order to support our own\nschools. For two reasons: First, you read the Bible in your schools, and\nit is against our conscience to let our children read the Bible. Second,\nyou have some prayers at the beginning and some religious hymns sung at\nthe end of the hours of school, and it is against our conscience to\nallow the children of the Church of Rome to join you in those prayers\nand hymns.\u201d The legislators, who, for the greater part are too honorable\nmen to suspect the fraud, are won by the air of candor and honesty of\nthe Roman Catholic petitioners. Considering the great benefit which will\ncome to the country if all the children are taught in the same school,\nthey are soon ready to make any sacrifice in order to have the Roman\nCatholic and the Protestant children under the same roof, to receive the\nsame light and the same moral food and same instruction. As true\npatriots, the legislators understand that if they wish their beloved\ncountry to be strong and happy, the first thing they must do is to make\nthe young generation one in mind, in heart. If the Protestant and Roman\nCatholic children are taught in the same school, they will know each\nother and love each other when young, and those sacred ties of\nfriendship which will bind them in the spring of life, will be\nstrengthened when their reason will be matured and enlightened by a good\neducation under the same respected and worthy teachers. As Christian\nmen, the legislators would perhaps like to keep the Bible, and have\nshort prayers in the schools; but as patriots, they feel that those\nthings, though good and sacred, are an insurmountable barrier to the\nRoman Catholic. The delicate conscience of the bishops and priests\ncannot allow such things in the school attended by their lambs! Through\nrespect for the sacred rights of the Roman Catholic conscience, the\nlegislators in many places throw the Bible overboard, and they say to\nGod: \u201cPlease get out from our schools, and do excuse us if we order our\nteachers to ignore your existence!\u201d They say to Jesus Christ: \u201cWe have\nnot forgotten your sublime and touching words, \u2018Suffer little children\nto come unto me.\u2019 No doubt you would like to press our dear little ones\non your loving heart and bless them for a moment in the schools; but we\ncannot allow them to go so near you in the school, we cannot even allow\nthem to speak to you a single word there. Please be not offended if we\nturn you out from those very schools where you were so welcome formerly.\nWe are forced to that sad extremity through the respect we owe to the\ntender consciences of our fellow-citizens of the Church of Rome. You\nknow that they cannot allow their children to speak to you together with\nours.\u201d But when those awful, not to say sacrilegious, sacrifices have\nbeen made by the Protestant legislators to appease the implacable god of\nRome\u2014when, through respect for the scruples of the bishops and priests\nof Rome, the great God of Heaven, with His Son, Jesus Christ, have been\nunceremoniously turned out from the schools\u2014when the Word of God has\nbeen prohibited, and the Bible is thrown overboard, is the Moloch god\nappeased? Will the Roman Catholic bishops and priests tell their\nchildren that they may unite with yours to go and receive education from\nthe same teacher? No! But assuming, then, a sublime air of indignation,\nthey turn against you as mad dogs; they call your schools _godless\nschools_! good only to form thieves, infidels and atheists!\n\nDo you see now that all those dignified scruples of conscience about\nreading the Bible, praying with you, etc., were only a mask to deceive\nyou, and make you fall into a snare? Do you not perceive now that they\ndid not care a straw for the Bible and the prayers in the schools? but\nthey wanted your legislators to compromise themselves before the\nChristian world, lose their moral strength in the eyes of a great part\nof the nation, divide your ranks, your means, your strength, and beat\nyou on that great question of education. They will take such airs of\nmartyrs when you will try to force their children to your schools that\nmany honest and unsuspecting Protestants will be completely deceived by\nthem. At first, they could not, they said, trust the children to your\nhands, because you read the Word of God; you prayed and blessed God in\nthe school. But now that the Bible and God are turned out from the\nschools, they baptize them by the most ignominious names which can be\ngiven\u2014they call them \u201cgodless schools!\u201d Have you ever seen a more\nprofoundly ignominious and sacrilegious trick? Will not your legislators\nopen their eyes to that strange act of deception, of which they are the\nvictims? Will they not come out quickly from the traps laid before them\nby the bishops and the priests of Rome? Yes! let us hope that your\npatriots and Christian legislators will soon understand that they owe a\nreparation to God and to their country; with unanimous voice they will\nask pardon from God for having expelled him from the very place where He\nhas most right to reign supremely\u2014the school.\n\nFor what is a school without God in its midst to sit as a father, and to\nform the young hearts and evoke the young intellect? What is a boy, what\nis a girl, what is a woman or a man without God? what is a family, what\nis a people without God? It is a monstrosity, it is a body without life,\nit is a world without light, it is a cistern without water. Let us hope\nthat, before long, your patriotic and Christian legislators will\nremember that the Bible is the foundation of the greatness of Protestant\nnations. It is to the Bible the United States, as well as Great Britain,\nowe their liberty, power, prestige and strength. It is the Bible that\nhas ennobled the hearts of your heroes, improved the minds of your poets\nand orators, and strengthened the arms of your warriors. Yes! it is\nbecause your soldiers have brought with them everywhere, the Bible,\npressed on their hearts, that they have conquered the enemies of\nliberty. So long as the United States will be true to the Bible, their\nglorious banners will fly respected and feared all over the seas, and\nover all the continents of the world. Let the disciples of the Gospel,\nthe children of God, and the redeemed of Christ all over the fair and\nnoble country you inhabit, hasten to request their legislators to invite\nthe Saviour of the world to come back and bless their dear children in\nthe school. For it is not only in your homes and in your churches that\nJesus tells you \u201cSuffer little children to come unto me.\u201d It is\nparticularly in the school. Oh! give two or three minutes to those dear\nlittle ones, that they may press themselves on His bosom, bless him for\nhaving saved them on the cross, and proclaim his mercies by singing one\nof those hymns which they like so much. By this noble act of national\nreparation you will take away from the hands of the priests the only\nweapon with which they can hurt you; you will destroy the only argument\nthey use with a true force against your schools when they call them\ngodless schools. Do not fear any more the priests and the prelates of\nRome. Do not yield any more and give up your privilege to please them\nand reconcile them to your schools. You will never be able to reconcile\nthem to your schools; for there is light in your schools, and they want\nthe darkness. There is freedom and liberty in your schools; they want\nslavery! There is life in your schools, and it is only on dead corpses\nthat their church can have a chance to live a few years more. You see,\nby a sad experience, that their scruples of conscience against the Bible\nand the prayer of the school are mere hypocrisy just thrown into the\neyes of the public. Do not say with some honest but deluded Protestants:\nIs it not enough that that child should learn his religion at home? No,\nit is not enough; for it is in our nature that we want two witnesses to\nbelieve a thing. What comes to our mind only through one witness remains\nuncertain; but let two good witnesses confirm a fact, and then we accept\nit. Your child wants two witnesses to believe the necessity of the\nsacredness of religion. His Christian home is surely a good witness to\nyour child, but it is not enough; what he has heard from you must be\nconfirmed by his school teacher. Without this second witness, nine times\nout of ten your children will be skeptics and infidels. Besides that,\nthe very idea of God brings with it the obligation to bless, love and\nadore Him everywhere. The moment you take your child to a place where\nnot only he cannot love, bless and adore God, but where the adoration\nand the praise of God are forbidden, you entirely destroy the idea of\nGod from the mind and from the heart of your child. You make him believe\nthat what you have told him, when at home, of God is only a fable to\namuse and deceive him.\n\nDo you see that noble ship in the midst of that splendid harbor, how she\nis tossed by the foaming waves, how she is beaten by the furious winds?\nWhat does prevent that ship from flying before the storm and running\nashore, a miserable wreck? What does prevent her from being dashed on\nthat rock? The anchor! Yes, the anchor is her safety. But let a single\nlink of the chain that binds the ship to her anchor break, will she not\nsoon be dashed on the rock and broken to pieces, and sink to the bottom\nof the sea? It is so with your child! So long as his intelligence and\nhis heart are united to God by the anchor of faith, he will nobly stand\nagainst the furious waves, he will nobly fight his battles; but let the\nschool teacher be silent about God, and here is a broken link, and the\nchild will be a wreck. Do not fear the priest, but fear God! Do not try\nany more to please the priests, but do all in your power to please your\ngreat and merciful God, not only in your homes, but also in your\nschools, and those schools will become more than ever a focus of light,\nan inexhaustible source of intellectual and moral strength\u2014more than\never your children will learn in the school to be your honor and your\nglory and your joy. They will learn that they are not ignoble worms of\nthe dust, whose existence will end in the tomb, but that they are\nimmortal as God, whose beloved children they are. They will learn how to\nserve their God and love their country. Be not ashamed, but be proud to\nsend your children to schools where they will learn how to be good\nChristians and good citizens. When you will have finished your\npilgrimage they will be your worthy successors, and the God whom they\nwill have learned to fear, serve and love in the school will help them\nto make your country great, happy and free.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIII.\n\n THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH OF ROME: ITS ANTI-SOCIAL AND ANTI-CHRISTIAN\n CHARACTER.\n\n\nTalleyrand, one of the most celebrated Roman Catholic bishops of France,\nonce said, \u201cLanguage is the art of concealing one\u2019s thoughts.\u201d Never was\nthere a truer expression, if it had reference to the awful deceptions\npracticed by the Church of Rome under the pompous name of \u201cTheological\nstudies.\u201d\n\nTheology is the study of the knowledge of the laws of God. Nothing,\nthen, is more noble than the study of theology. How solemn were my\nthoughts and elevated my aspirations when, in 1829, under the guidance\nof the Rev. Messrs. Raimbault and Leprohon, I commenced my theological\ncourse of study at Nicolet, which I was to end in 1833!\n\nI supposed that my books of theology were to bring me nearer to my God\nby the more perfect knowledge I would acquire, in their study, of His\nholy will and His sacred laws. My hope was that they would be to my\nheart what the burning coal, brought by the angel of the Lord, was to\nthe lips of the prophet of old.\n\nThe principal theologians which we had in our hands were \u201cLes\nConferences d\u2019Anger,\u201d Bailly, Dens, St. Thomas, but above all Liguori,\nwho has since been canonized. Never did I open one without offering up a\nfervent prayer to God and to the Virgin Mary for the light and grace of\nwhich I would be in need for myself and for the people whose pastor I\nwas to become.\n\nBut how shall I relate my surprise when I discovered, that in order to\naccept the principles of the theologians which my Church gave me for\nguides, I had to put away all principles of truth, of justice, of honor\nand holiness! What long and painful efforts it cost me to extinguish,\none by one, the lights of truth and of reason kindled by the hand of my\nmerciful God in my intelligence. For to study theology in the Church of\nRome signifies to learn to speak falsely, to deceive, to commit robbery,\nto perjure one\u2019s self! It means how to commit sins without shame, it\nmeans to plunge the soul into every kind of iniquity and turpitude\nwithout remorse!\n\nI know that Roman Catholics will bravely and squarely deny what I now\nsay. I am aware also that a great many Protestants, too easily deceived\nby the fine whitewashing of the exterior walls of Rome, will refuse to\nbelieve me. Nevertheless they may rest assured it is true, and my proof\nwill be irrefutable. The truth may be denied by many, but my witnesses\ncannot be contradicted by any one. My witnesses are even infallible.\nThey are none other than the Roman Catholic theologians themselves,\napproved by infallible Popes! These very men who corrupted my heart,\nperverted my intelligence and poisoned my soul, as they have done with\neach and every priest of their Church, will be my witnesses, my only\nwitnesses. I will just now forcibly bring them before the world to\ntestify against themselves!\n\nLiguori, in his treatise on oaths, Question 4, asks if it is allowable\nto use ambiguity, or equivocal words, to deceive the judge when under\noath, and at No. 151 he answers: \u201cIt is certain, and the opinion of all\ntheologians, that for good reasons one may be permitted to use\nequivocations and to maintain them by oath; and by \u2018good reasons\u2019 we\nmean all that can do any good to the body or the soul.\u201d\n\nHere is the Latin text:\n\n\u201cCertum est, et commune apud omnes quod, ex justa causa, licitum sit uti\naequivocatione, et cum juvamento affirmare: Et justa causa esse potest\nquicunque fines honestus ad servanda bona spiritui vel corporali utilia\u201d\n(Sal: Nos. 109 and vol. sauch).\n\n\u201cA culprit, or a witness, questioned by a judge, but in an illegal\nmanner, may swear that he knows nothing of the crime about which he is\nquestioned, though he knows it well, mentally meaning that he knows\nnothing in such a manner as to answer.\u201d\n\nWhen the crime is very secret and unknown to all, Liguori says the\nculprit or the witness must deny it under oath. Here are his own words:\n\n\u201cIdem si testis ex alio capite, non teneatur deponere: Nempe si ipsi\nconotet crimen caruisse culpa, vel si sciat crimen, sed sub secreto, cum\nnulla proccesserit infamia.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe may swear that he knows nothing, when he knows that the person who\ncommitted the crime committed it _without malice_ (as affir. Salm. to c.\n2, No. 259, and Elb. No. 145); or again, if he knows the crime, but\nsecretly, and that there has been no scandal\u201d (as we are assured by\nCard. No. 51.)\n\n\u201cWhen a crime is well concealed, the witness, and even the criminal, may\nand even must swear that the crime has not been committed!\n\n\u201cThe guilty party may yet do likewise, when a half proof cannot be\nbrought against him.\u201d\n\nHere is the Latin text:\n\n\u201cReus vel testis non tenetur judicio, respondere si crimen fuerit omnis\noccultum tunc enim potest imo teneteur testis dicere reum non commisse.\nEt idem potest reus, si non adsit semiplena probatio\u201d (Salm. D. 2, No.\n146 Bus.).\n\nLiguori asks himself (Quest. 2): If an accused, legally interrogated by\na judge, may deny his crime under oath, when the confession of the crime\nmight cause his condemnation, and be disadvantageous to him? and he\nanswers:\n\n\u201cIt is altogether probable that when the accused fears a sentence of\ndeath, or of being sent to prison, or exiled, he may deny his crime\nunder oath, understanding that he has not committed this crime in such a\nmanner as to be obliged to confess it.\u201d Here is the Latin text:\n\n\u201cQu\u00e6ritur 2. Au reus legitime interrogatus possit negare cimen, etiam\ncum juramento, si grave damnum, ex confessione ipsi immineat satis\nprobabiliter, (Lugo de Justitia, D. 40, N. 15; Tamb. lib. 3, etc.); et\naliis pluribus dicunt posse reum si sibi immineat poena mortis,\ncarceris, rut exilii, negare crimen, etiam juramento, saltem sine\npeccato gravi, sub intelligendo; se non commississe quotenus teneatur\nillud fateri mado sit spes vitandi p\u0153nam.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe who has sworn to keep a secret is not obliged to keep his oath, if\nany consequential injury to him or to others is thereby caused.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf any one has sworn before a judge to keep the truth, he is not\nobliged to say secret things.\u201d (Less, Bonar, Trall, etc.)\n\nLiguori asks whether a woman, accused of the crime of adultery, which\nshe has really committed, may deny it under oath? He answers: \u201cYes;\nprovided that she has been to confess, and received the absolution; for\nthen,\u201d he says, \u201cthe sin has been pardoned, and has really ceased to\nexist.\u201d\n\n\u201cQuaritur 2. An adultera negare adulterium viro suo? Resp. Si adulterium\nconfessa sit: Potest respondere, \u2018Innocens sum ab hoc crimine\u2019 quia per\nconfessionem est jam oblatum.\u201d (Card, Disc. 19, N. 54.)\n\nLiguori maintains that one may commit a minor crime in order to avoid a\ngreater crime. He says: \u201cIt is right to advise any one to commit a\nrobbery or a fornication in order to avoid a murder.\u201d\n\n\u201cHinc, docet, Sanchez, No. 19 caj. sot., parato aliquem occidere licet\nposse suaderi ut ab eo furetur, vel ut fornicatur\u201d (page 419).\n\nQuestion 3, Liguori: \u201cMay a servant open the door for a prostitute?\u201d\nCroix denies it, but Ligouri affirms it.\n\n\u201cUtrum famulo ostium meretrici operere? Negat Croix. At commune\naffirmant Theologi.\u201d\n\nQuestion 4, Liguori: \u201cQuaeretur an liceat famulo deferre scalam vel\nsubjicere humeros domino ascendenti ad fornicandum et similia. Buss,\netc., affirmant, quorum sententia probabilior videtur.\u201d\n\n\u201cMay a servant bring a ladder and help his master to go up and commit\nadultery? Buss and others think that he may do it, and I am of the same\nopinion.\u201d (Liguori, Q. 2.)\n\n\u201cA servant has the right to rob his master, a child his father, and a\npoor man the rich!\u201d\n\nThe Salmantes says that a servant may, according to his own judgment,\npay himself with his own hands more than was agreed upon as a salary for\nhis own work, if he finds that he deserves a larger salary; \u201cand,\u201d says\nLiguori, \u201cthis doctrine appears just to me.\u201d\n\nSalm., D. 4, proe. N. 137, dicunt famulum etiam ex _proprio judicio_\nsibi compensare suam operam, si ipse certe judicet se majus stipendium\nmereri. Quod sane videtur mihi probabile.\n\nA poor man, who has concealed the goods and effects of which he is in\nneed, may swear that he has nothing.\n\n\u201cIndigens, bonis absconditis ad sustentationem, protest judici\naespondere se nihil habere.\u201d (Salm., N. 140.)\n\nIn like manner an heir who, without taking an inventory, conceals his\ngoods, when it is not the goods mortgaged for the debt, may swear that\nhe has concealed nothing, understanding the goods with which he was to\npay. (Salm. 140.)\n\n\u201cThere are many opinions about the amount which may be stolen to\nconstitute a mortal sin. Navar has said, too scrupulously, that to steal\na half piece of gold is a mortal sin; while others, too lax, hold that\nto steal less than ten pieces of gold cannot be a serious sin. But Tol,\nMech, Less, etc., have more wisely ruled that to steal two pieces of\ngold constitutes a mortal sin.\u201d\n\nDubium 2, Liguori: \u201cVariae ea de re sunt sententi\u00e6. Nav. nimis\nscrupulose statuit medium regulum: alii nemis laxe 10 aureos.\nModeratius, Tol., Med. Less., etc., etc., duos regales, etsi minus\nsufficiat, si notabiliter noceat.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it a crime to steal a small piece of a relic? There is no doubt its\nbeing a sin in the district of Rome, since Clement VII. and Paul V. have\nexcommunicated those who committed such thefts. But this theft is not a\nserious thing when committed outside of the district of Rome, unless it\nbe a very rare and precious relic, as the wood of the Holy Cross or some\nof the hair of the Virgin Mary!\u201d\n\nDubium 3, Liguori: \u201cIf any one steals small sums at different times,\neither from the same or from different persons, not having the intention\nof stealing large sums, nor of causing a great damage, his sin is not\nmortal; particularly if the thief is poor, and if he has the intention\nto give back what he has stolen.\u201d\n\nLatin text: \u201cSi quis et occasione furatur sive uni, sive pluribus, non\nintendens notabile aliquid acquirere nec proximo graviter nocere, neque\nea simul sumpta unum mortale constituunt, si vel restituere non possit\nvel animum habeat restituendi.\u201d\n\nQuestion 11, N. 536: \u201cIf several persons steal from the same master, in\nsmall quantities, each in such a manner as not to commit a mortal sin,\nthough each one knows that all these little thefts together cause a\nconsiderable damage to their master, yet no one of them commits a mortal\nsin, even when they steal at the same time.\u201d\n\nLatin text: \u201cSi plures modica furentur, nemo peccat graviter, et si\nmutuo sciant graviter damnum domino fieri. Et hoc, etiamsi singuli eodem\ntempore furentur.\u201d (Liguori, 536.)\n\nLiguori, speaking of children who steal from their parents, says:\n\u201cSalas, cited by Croix, maintains that a son does not commit a mortal\nsin when he steals only twenty or thirty pieces of gold from a father\nwho has an income of 150 pieces of gold; and Lugo approves of that\ndoctrine. Less and other theologians say that it is not a mortal sin for\na child to steal two or three pieces of gold from a rich father; Bannez\nmaintains that to commit a mortal sin a child must steal not less than\nfifty pieces of gold from a rich father; but Lacroix rejects that\ndoctrine, except the father is a prince.\u201d\n\nThe theologians of Rome assure us that we may, and even that we must,\nconceal and disguise our faith.\n\n\u201cThough lying is forbidden, we may be allowed to conceal the truth, or\nto disguise it under ambiguous or equivocal words or signs, for a just\ncause, and when there is no necessity to confess the truth. If by that\nmeans one can rid himself of dangerous pursuits, he is permitted to use\nit; for in general it is not true to say that, when interrogated by\npublic authority about his faith, he is obliged to reveal it. When you\nare not questioned as to your faith, you are not only allowed to conceal\nit, but it is often more to the glory of God and the interest of your\nneighbor. If, for example, you are among a heretical people, you can do\nmore good by concealing your faith; or if, by declaring it, you are to\ncause great trouble or death. It is temerity to expose one\u2019s life.\u201d\n(Liguori, L. 2.)\n\nThe Pope has the right to release from all oaths.\n\n\u201cAs for an oath made for a good and legitimate object, it seems that\nthere should be no power capable of annulling it. However, when it is\nfor the good of the public, a matter which comes under the immediate\njurisdiction of the Pope, who has the supreme power over the Church, the\nPope has full power to release from that oath.\u201d (St. Thomas, Quest. 89,\nart. 9, vol. iv.)\n\nThe Roman Catholics have not only the right, but it is their duty to\nkill heretics.\n\n\u201cExcommunicatus privatur omni alia civili communicatione fidelium, ita\nut ipsi non possit cum aliis, et si non sit toleratus, etiam aliis cum\nipso non possit communicare; idque in casibus hoc versu comprehensis.\nOs, orare, cammunio, mensa negatur.\u201d\n\nTranslated: \u201cAny man excommunicated is deprived of all civil\ncommunication with the faithful, in such a way that if he is not\ntolerated they can have no communication with him, as it is in the\nfollowing verse: \u2018It is forbidden to kiss him, pray with him, salute\nhim, to eat or to do any business with him.\u2019\u201d (St. Liguori, vol. ix.,\npage 62.)\n\n\u201cQuanquam heretici tolerandi non sunt ipso illorum demerito, usque tamen\nad secundam correptionem expectandi sunt, ut ad sanam redeant ecclesi\u00e6\nfidem; qui vero post secundam correptionem in suo errore obstinati\npermanent, non modo excommunicationis sententia sed, etiam s\u00e6cularibus\nprincipibus exterminandi tradendi sunt.\u201d\n\nTranslated: \u201cThough heretics must not be tolerated because they deserve\nit, we must bear with them till, by a second admonition they may be\nbrought back to the faith of the Church. But those who, after a second\nadmonition, remain obstinate in their errors, must not only be\nexcommunicated, but they must be delivered to the secular powers to be\nexterminated.\u201d\n\n\u201cQuanquam heretici revertentes, semper recipiendi sint ad p\u0153nitentiam\nquoties cumque relapsi fuerint; non tamen semper sunt recipiendi et\nrestituendi ad bonorum hujus vit\u00e6 participationem ... recipiumtur ad\np\u0153nitentiam ... non tamen ut liberentur a sententia mortis.\u201d\n\nTranslated: \u201cThough the heretics who repent must always be accepted to\npenance, as often as they have fallen, they must not in consequence of\nthat always be permitted to enjoy the benefits of this life. When they\nfall again they are admitted to repent. But the sentence of death must\nnot be removed.\u201d (St. Thomas, vol. iv., page 91.)\n\n\u201cQuum quis per sententiam denuntiatur propter apostasiam excommunicatus,\nipso facto, ejus subditi a domino et juramento fidelitatis ejus liberati\nsunt.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen a man is excommunicated for his apostasy, it follows from that\nvery fact that all those who are his subjects are released from the oath\nof allegiance by which they were bound to obey him.\u201d (St. Thomas, vol\niv., page 91.)\n\nEvery heretic and Protestant is condemned to death, and every oath of\nallegiance to a government which is Protestant or heretic is abrogated\nby the Council of Lateran, held in A. D. 1215. Here is the solemn decree\nand sentence of death, which has never been repealed, and which is still\nin force:\n\n\u201cWe excommunicate and anathematize every heresy that exalts itself\nagainst the holy orthodox and Catholic faith, condemning all heretics,\nby whatever name they may be known; for though their faces differ, they\nare tied together by their tails. Such as are condemned are to be\ndelivered over to the existing secular powers, to receive due\npunishment. If laymen, their goods must be confiscated. If priests, they\nshall be first degraded from their respective orders, and their property\napplied to the use of the church in which they have officiated. Secular\npowers of all ranks and degrees are to be warned, induced, and, if\nnecessary, compelled by ecclesiastical censure, to swear that they will\nexert themselves to the utmost in the defence of the faith, and\nextirpate all heretics denounced by the Church who shall be found in\ntheir territories. And whenever any person shall assume government,\nwhether it be spiritual or temporal, he shall be bound to abide by this\ndecree.\n\n\u201cIf any temporal lord, after being admonished and required by the\nChurch, shall neglect to clear his territory of heretical depravity, the\nmetropolitan and bishops of the province shall unite in excommunicating\nhim. Should he remain contumacious for a whole year, the fact shall be\nsignified to the Supreme Pontiff, who will declare his vassals released\nfrom their allegiance from that time, and will bestow the territory on\nCatholics, to be occupied by them, on the condition of exterminating the\nheretics, and preserving the said territory in the faith.\n\n\u201cCatholics who shall assume the cross for the _extermination_ of\nheretics shall enjoy the same indulgences and be protected by the same\nprivileges as are granted to those who go to the help of the Holy Land.\nWe decree, further, that all who may have dealings with heretics, and\nespecially such as receive, defend, or encourage them, shall be\nexcommunicated. He shall not be eligible to any public office. He shall\nnot be admitted as a witness. He shall neither have the power to\nbequeath his property by will, nor to succeed to any inheritance. He\nshall not bring any action against any person, but any one can bring an\naction against him. Should he be a judge, his decision shall have no\nforce, nor shall any cause be brought before him. Should he be an\nadvocate, he shall not be allowed to plead. Should he be a lawyer, no\ninstruments made by him shall be held valid, but shall be condemned with\ntheir author.\u201d\n\nBut why let my memory and my thoughts linger any longer in these\nfrightful paths, where murderers, liars, perjurers and thieves are\nassured by the theologians of the Church of Rome that they can lie,\nsteal, murder and perjure themselves as much as they like, without\noffending God, provided they commit those crimes according to certain\nrules approved by the Pope for the good of the Church!\n\nI should have to write several large volumes were I to quote all the\nRoman Catholic doctors and theologians who approve of lying, of perjury,\nof adultery, theft and murder, for the greatest glory of God and the\ngood of the Roman Church! But I have quoted enough for those who have\neyes to see and ears to hear.\n\nWith such principles, is it a wonder that all the Roman Catholic\nnations, without a single exception, have declined so rapidly?\n\nThe great Legislator of the World, the only Saviour of nations, has\nsaid: \u201cMan shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that\nproceedeth out of the mouth of God.\u201d A nation can be great and strong\nonly according to the truths which form the basis of her faith and life.\n\u201cTruth\u201d is the only bread which God gives to the nations that they may\nprosper and live. Deceitfulness, duplicity, perjury, adultery, theft,\nmurder, are the deadly poisons which kill the nations.\n\nThen, the more the priests of Rome, with their theology, are venerated\nand believed by a people, the sooner that people will decay and fall.\n\u201cThe more priests the more crimes,\u201d has said a profound thinker; for\nthen the more hands will be at work to pull down the only sure\nfoundations of society.\n\nHow can any man be sure of the honesty of his wife as long as a hundred\nthousand priests tell her that she may commit any sin with her neighbor,\nin order to prevent him from doing something worse? or when she is\nassured, that, though guilty of adultery, she can swear she is pure as\nan angel?\n\nWhat will it avail to teach the best principles of honor, decency and\nholiness to a young girl, when she is bound to go many times a year to a\nbachelor priest, who is bound in conscience to give her the most\ninfamous lessons of depravity, under the pretext of helping her to\nconfess all her sins?\n\nHow will the rights of justice be secured, and how can the judges and\nthe juries protect the innocent and punish the guilty, so long as the\nwitnesses are told by two hundred thousand priests that they can conceal\nthe truth, give equivocal answers, and even perjure themselves under a\nthousand pretexts?\n\nWhat Government, either monarchical or republican, can be sure of a\nlease of existence? how can they make their people walk with a firm step\nin the ways of light, progress and liberty, as long as there is a dark\npower over them which has the right, at every hour of the day or night,\nto break and dissolve all the most sacred oaths of allegiance?\n\nArmed with his theology, the priest of Rome has become the most\ndangerous and determined enemy of truth, justice and liberty. He is the\nmost formidable obstacle to every good Government, as he is, without\nbeing aware of it, the greatest enemy of God and man.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIV\n\n THE VOW OF CELIBACY.\n\n\nWere I to write all the ingenious tricks, pious lies, shameful stories\ncalled miracles, and sacrilegious perversions of the Word of God made\nuse of by superiors of seminaries and nunneries to entice their poor\nvictims into the trap of perpetual celibacy, I should have to write ten\nlarge volumes, instead of a short chapter.\n\nSometimes the trials and obligations of married life are so exaggerated\nthat they may frighten the strongest heart. At other times the joys,\npeace and privileges of celibacy are depicted with such brilliant colors\nthat they fill the coldest mind with enthusiasm.\n\nThe Pope takes his victim to the top of a high mountain, and there shows\nhim all the honors, praise, wealth, peace and joys of this world, united\nto the most glorious throne of heaven, and then tells him: \u201cI will give\nyou all those things if you fall at my feet, promise me an absolute\nsubmission, and swear never to marry in order to serve me better.\u201d\n\nWho can refuse such glorious things? But before entirely shutting their\neyes, so that they may not see the bottomless abyss into which they are\nto fall, the unfortunate victims sometimes have forebodings and\npresentiments of the terrible miseries which are in store for them. The\nvoice of their conscience, intelligence and common sense has not always\nbeen so fully silenced as the superior desired.\n\nAt the very time when the tempter is whispering his lying promises into\ntheir ears, their Heavenly Father is speaking to them of the ceaseless\ntrials, the shameful falls, the tedious days, the dreary nights, and the\ncruel and insufferable burdens which are concealed behind the walls\nwhere the sweet yoke of the Good Master is exchanged for the burdens of\nheartless men and women.\n\nAs formerly, the human victims crowned with flowers, when dragged to the\nfoot of the altar of their false gods, often cried out with alarm, and\nstruggled to escape from the bloody knife of the heathen priest, so at\nthe approach of the fatal hour at which the impious vow is to be made,\nthe young victims often feel their hearts fainting and filled with\nterror. With pale cheeks, trembling lips and cold-dropping sweat they\nask their superiors, \u201cIs it possible that our merciful God requires of\nus such a sacrifice?\u201d\n\nOh! how the merciless priest of Rome then becomes eloquent in depicting\ncelibacy as the only way to heaven, or in showing the eternal fires of\nhell ready to receive cowards and traitors, who, after having put their\nhand to the plough of celibacy, look back! He speaks of the\ndisappointment and sadness of so many dear friends, who expected better\nthings of them. He points out to them their own shame when they will\nagain be in a world which will have nothing for them but sneers for\ntheir want of perseverance and courage. He overwhelms them with a\nthousand pious lies about the miracles wrought by Christ in favor of his\nvirgins and priests. He bewitches them by numerous texts of Scripture,\nwhich he brings as evident proof of the will of God in favor of their\ntaking the vows of celibacy, though they have not the slightest\nreference to such vows.\n\nThe text of which the strangest abuses are made by the superiors to\npersuade the young people of both sexes to bind themselves to those\nshameful vows is Matt. xix., 12, 13: \u201cFor there are eunuchs which were\nborn from their mother\u2019s womb; and there are some eunuchs which were\nmade eunuchs of men; and there are eunuchs which have made themselves\neunuchs for the kingdom of heaven\u2019s sake. He that is able to receive it,\nlet him receive it.\u201d\n\nUpon one occasion our superior made a very pressing appeal to our\nreligious feelings from this text, to induce us to make the vow of\ncelibacy and become priests. But the address, though delivered with a\ngreat deal of zeal, seemed to us deficient in logic.\n\nThe next day was a day of rest (_conge_). The students in theology who\nwere preparing themselves for the priesthood, with me, talked seriously\nof the singular arguments of the last address. It seemed to them that\nthe conclusions could not in any way be drawn from the selected text,\nand therefore determined to respectfully present their objections and\ntheir views, which were also mine, to the superior; and I was chosen to\nspeak for them all.\n\nAt the next conference, after respectfully asking and obtaining\npermission to express our objections with our own frank and plain\nsentiments, I spoke about as follows:\n\n\u201cDear and venerable sir: You told us that the following words of Christ,\n\u2018_There be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of\nheaven\u2019s sake_,\u2019\u2014show us evidently that we must make the vow of celibacy\nand make ourselves eunuchs if we want to become priests. Allow us to\ntell you respectfully, that it seems to us that the mind of our Saviour\nwas very different from yours when he pronounced these words. In our\nhumble opinion, the only object of the Son of God was to warn His\ndisciples against one of the most damnable errors which were to endanger\nthe very existence of nations. He was foretelling that there would be\nmen so wicked and blind as to preach that the best way for men to go to\nheaven would be to make eunuchs of themselves. Allow us to draw your\nattention to the fact that in that speech Jesus Christ neither approves\nnor disapproves of the idea of gaining a throne in heaven by becoming\neunuchs. He leaves us to our common sense and to some clearer parts of\nScripture to see whether or not He approves of those who would make\neunuchs of themselves to gain a crown in heaven. Must we not interpret\nthis text as we interpret what Jesus said to His apostles, \u2018The time\ncometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God\u2019s\nservice\u2019 (John xvi., 1, 2).\n\n\u201cAllow us to put these two texts face to face:\n\n\u201c\u2018There are eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom\nof heaven\u2019s sake.\u2019 (Matt. xix., 12, 13).\n\n\u201c\u2018The time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth\nGod\u2019s service.\u2019 (John xvi. 1, 2).\n\n\u201cBecause our Saviour has said that there would be men who would think\nthat they would please God (and of course gain a place in heaven) by\nkilling His disciples, are we, therefore, allowed to conclude that it\nwould be our duty to kill those who believe and follow Christ? Surely\nnot.\n\n\u201cWell, it seems to us that we are not to believe that the best way to go\nto heaven is to make ourselves eunuchs, because our Saviour had said\nthat some men had got that criminal and foolish notion into their mind!\n\n\u201cChristian nations have always looked with horror upon those who\nvoluntarily became eunuchs. Common sense, as well as the Word of God,\ncondemns those who thus destroy in their own bodies that which God in\nhis wisdom gave them for the wisest and holiest purposes. Would it not,\ntherefore, be a crime which every civilized and Christian nation would\npunish, to preach publicly and with success to the people that one of\nthe surest ways for a man to go to heaven would be to make himself an\neunuch? How can we believe that our Saviour could ever sanction such a\npractice?\n\n\u201cMoreover, if being eunuchs would make the way to heaven surer and more\neasy, would not God be unjust for depriving us of the great privilege of\nbeing born eunuchs, and thus being made ripe fruits for heaven?\n\n\u201cIt seems to us that that text does not in any way require us to believe\nthat an eunuch is nearer the kingdom of God than he who lives just\naccording to the laws which God gave to man in the earthly paradise. If\nit was not good for man to be without his wife when he was so holy and\nstrong as he was in the Garden of Eden, how can it be good now that he\nis so weak and sinful?\n\n\u201cOur Saviour clearly shows that he finds no sanctifying power in the\nstate of an eunuch, in his answer to the young man who asked him, \u2018Good\nmaster, what must I do that I may have eternal life?\u2019 (Matt. xix., 16.)\nDid the good Master answer him in the language we heard from you two\ndays ago, namely, that the best way to have eternal life is to make\nyourself an eunuch\u2014make a solemn vow never to marry? No; but he said,\n\u2018Keep the commandments!\u2019\n\n\u201cWere the blessed Saviour to-day in your place, and I should ask him,\n\u2018What must I do to be saved, and to show the way of God to my brethren?\u2019\nwould he not say to me, \u2018Keep the commandments!\u2019 But where is the\ncommandment of God in the Old or New Testament, to induce us to make\nsuch a vow as that of celibacy? The promise of a place in heaven is not\nattached in any way to the vow of celibacy. Christ has not a word about\nthat doctrine.\n\n\u201cAllow us to respectfully ask, if the views concerning the vows of\ncelibacy entertained by Christ had been like yours, is it possible that\nHe would have forgotten to mention them when He answered the solemn\nquestion of that young man? Is it possible that He would not have said a\nsingle word about a thing which you have represented to us as being of\nsuch vital importance to those who sincerely desire to know what to do\nto be saved? Is it not strange that the Church should attach such an\nimportance to that vow of celibacy, when we look in vain for such an\nordinance in both the Old and New Testaments? How can we understand the\nreasons or the importance of such a strict, and we dare say, unnatural\nobligation in our day, when we know very well that the holy apostles\nthemselves were living with their wives, and that the Saviour had not a\nword of rebuke for them on that account?\u201d\n\nThis free expression of our common views on the vows of celibacy\nevidently took our superior by surprise. He answered me, with an accent\nof indignation which he could not suppress. \u201cIs that all you have to\nsay?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is not quite all we have to say,\u201d I answered; \u201cbut before we go\nfurther we would be much gratified to receive from you the light we want\non the difficulties which I have just stated.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have spoken as a true heretic,\u201d replied Mr. Leprohon, with an\nunusual vivacity; \u201cand were it not for the hope which I entertain that\nyou said those things more to receive the light you want than to present\nand support the heretical side of such an important question, I would at\nonce denounce you to the bishop. You speak of the Holy Scriptures just\nas a Protestant would do. You appeal to them as the only source of\nChristian truth and knowledge. Have you forgotten that we have the holy\ntraditions to guide us, the authority of which is equal to that of the\nScriptures?\n\n\u201cYou are correct when you say that we do not find any direct proof in\nthe Bible to enforce the vows of celibacy upon those who desire to\nconsecrate themselves to the service of the Church. But if we do not\nfind the obligation of that vow in the Bible, we find it in the holy\ntraditions of the Church.\n\n\u201cIt is an article of faith that the vow of celibacy is ordered by Jesus\nChrist, through His Church. The ordinances of the Church, which are\nnothing but the ordinances of the Son of God, are clear on that subject,\nand bind our consciences, just as the commandments of God upon Mount\nSinai; for Christ has said, those who do not hear the Church must be\nlooked upon as heathen and publicans. There is no salvation to those who\ndo not submit their reasoning to the teachings of the Church.\n\n\u201cYou are not required to understand all the reasons for the vow of\ncelibacy; but you are bound tobelieve in its _necessity_ and _holiness_,\nas the Church has pronounced her verdict upon that question. It is not\nyour business to argue about those matters; but your duty is to obey the\nChurch, as dutiful children obey a kind mother.\n\n\u201cBut who can have any doubt about the necessity of the vows of celibacy,\nwhen we remember that Christ had ordered His apostles to separate\nthemselves from their wives?\u2014a fact on which no doubt can remain after\nhearing St. Peter say to our Saviour, \u2018Behold, we have forsaken all and\nfollowed thee; what shall we have, therefore?\u2019 (Matt. xix. 27). Is not\nthe priest the true representative of Christ on earth? In his\nordination, is not the priest made the equal, and, in a sense, the\nsuperior of Christ? for when he celebrates Mass he commands Christ, and\nthat very Son of God is bound to obey! It is not in the power of Christ\nto resist the orders of the priest. He must come down from heaven every\ntime the priest orders Him. The priest shuts Him up in the holy\ntabernacles or takes him out of them, according to his own will.\n\n\u201cBy becoming priests of the New Testament you will be raised to a\ndignity which is much above that of angels. From these sublime\nprivileges flows the obligation of the priest to raise himself to a\ndegree of holiness much above the level of the common people, a holiness\nequal to that of the angels. Has not our Saviour, when speaking of the\nangels, said, \u2018_Neque nubent neque nubentur?_\u2019 They marry not, nor are\ngiven in marriage. Surely, since the priests are the messengers and\nangels of God, on earth they must be clad with angelic holiness and\npurity.\n\n\u201cDoes not Paul say that the state of virginity is superior to that of\nmarriage? Does not that saying of the apostle show that the priest,\nwhose hands every day touch the divine body and blood of Christ, must be\nchaste and pure, and must not be defiled by the duties of married life?\nThat vow of celibacy it like a holy chain, which keeps us above the\nfilth of this earth and ties us to heaven. Jesus Christ, through His\nholy Church, commands that vow to his priests as the most efficacious\nremedy against the inclinations of our corrupt nature.\n\n\u201cAccording to the holy Fathers, the vow of celibacy is like a strong,\nhigh tower, from the top of which we can fight our enemies, and be\nperfectly safe from their darts and weapons.\n\n\u201cI will be happy to answer your other objections, if you have any more,\u201d\nsaid Mr. Leprohon.\n\n\u201cWe are much obliged to you for your answers,\u201d I replied, \u201cand we will\navail ourselves of your kindness to present you with some other\nobservations.\n\n\u201cAnd, firstly, we thank you for having told us that we find nothing in\nthe Word of God to support the vows of celibacy, and that it is only by\nthe traditions of the Church that we can prove their necessity and\nholiness. It was our impression that you desired us to believe that the\nnecessity of that vow was founded on the Holy Scriptures. If you will\nallow it, we will discuss the traditions another time, and will confine\nourselves to-day to the different texts to which you referred in favor\nof celibacy.\n\n\u201cWhen Peter says, \u2018We have given up everything,\u2019 it seems to us that he\nhad no intention of saying that he had forever given up his wife by a\nvow. For St. Paul positively says, many years after, that Peter had his\nwife; that he was not only living with her in his own house, but was\ntraveling with her when preaching the gospel. The words of Scripture are\nof such evidence on that subject that they can neither be obscured by\nany shrewd explanation nor by any tradition, however respectable it may\nappear.\n\n\u201cThough you know the words of Paul on that subject, you will allow us to\nread them: \u2018Have we not power to eat and drink? have we not power to\nlead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles and as the\nbrethren of the Lord, and Cephas?\u2019 (1 Cor. ix., 4, 5). St. Peter saying,\n\u2018We have forsaken everything\u2019 could not mean then that he had made a vow\nof celibacy, and that he would not live with his wife as a married man.\nEvidently the words of Peter mean only that Jesus had the first place in\nhis heart\u2014that everything else, even the dearest objects of his love, as\nfather, mother, wife, were only secondary in his affections and\nthoughts.\n\n\u201cYour other text about the angels who do not marry, from which you infer\nthe obligation and law of the vow of celibacy, does not seem to us to\nbear on that subject as much as you have told us. For, be kind enough to\nagain read the text: \u2018Jesus answered and said unto them, \u2018Ye do err, not\nknowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection\nthey neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of\nGod in heaven\u2019 (Matt. xxii. 29, 30). You see that when our Saviour\nspeaks of men who are like angels, and who do not marry, He takes care\nto observe that he speaks of the state of men _after the resurrection_.\nIf the Church had the same rule for us that Christ mentioned for the\nangelic men to whom He refers, and would allow us to make a vow never to\nmarry after the resurrection, we would not have the slightest objection\nto such a vow.\n\n\u201cYou see that our Saviour speaks of a state of celibacy; but He does not\nintimate that that state is to begin on this side of the grave. Why does\nnot our Church imitate and follow the teachings of our Saviour? Why does\nshe enforce a state of celibacy before the resurrection, while Christ\npostpones the promulgation of this law till after that great day?\n\n\u201cChrist speaks of a perpetual celibacy only in heaven! On what\nauthority, then, does our Church enforce that celibacy on this side of\nthe grave, when we still carry our souls in earthly vessels?\n\n\u201cYou tell us that the vow of celibacy is the best remedy against the\ninclinations of our corrupt nature; but do you not fear that your remedy\nmakes war against the great one which God prepared in His wisdom? Do we\nnot read in our own vulgate: \u2018Propter fornicationem autem quisque suam\nuxorem habeat, et unaquaqu\u00e6 virum suum\u2019? \u2018To avoid fornication let every\nman have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband\u2019 (2 Cor.\nvii. 2.)\n\n\u201cIs it not too strange, indeed, that God does tell us that the best\nremedy He had prepared against the inclinations of our corrupt nature is\nin the blessings of a holy marriage. \u2018Let every man have his own wife,\nand every woman her own husband.\u2019 But now our Church has found another\nremedy, which is more accordant to the dignity of man and the holiness\nof God, and that remedy is the vow of celibacy!\u201d\n\nThe sound of my last words were still on my lips when our venerable\nsuperior, unable any longer to conceal his indignation, abruptly\ninterrupted me, saying:\n\n\u201cI do exceedingly regret to have allowed you to go so far. This is not a\nChristian and humble discussion between young Levites and their\nsuperior, to receive from him the light they want. It is the exposition\nand defence of the most heretical doctrines I have ever heard. Are you\nnot ashamed, when you try to make us prefer your interpretation of the\nHoly Scriptures to that of the Church? Is it to you, or to His holy\nChurch, that Christ promised the light of the Holy Ghost? Is it you who\nhave to teach the Church, or the Church who must teach you? Is it you\nwho will govern and guide the Church, or the Church who will govern and\nguide you?\n\n\u201cMy dear Chiniquy, if there is not a great and prompt change in you and\nin those whom you pretend to represent, I fear much for you all. You\nshow a spirit of infidelity and revolt which frightens me. Just like\nLucifer, you rebel against the Lord! Do you not fear to share the\neternal pains of his rebellion?\n\n\u201cWhence have you taken the false and heretical notions you have, for\ninstance, about the wives of the apostles? Do you not know that you are\nsupporting a Protestant error, when you say that the apostles were\nliving with their wives in the usual way of married people? It is true\nthat Paul says that the apostles had women with them, and that they were\neven traveling with them. But the holy traditions of the Church tell us\nthat those women were holy virgins, who were traveling with the apostles\nto serve and help them in different ways. They were ministering to their\ndifferent wants\u2014washing their underclothes, preparing their meals, just\nlike the housekeeper whom the priests have to-day. It is a Protestant\nimpiety to think and speak otherwise.\n\n\u201cBut only a word more, and I am done. If you accept the teaching of the\nChurch, and submit yourself as doubtful children to that most holy\nMother, she will raise you to the dignity of the priesthood, a dignity\nmuch above kings and emperors in this world. If you serve her with\nfidelity, she will secure to you the respect and veneration of the whole\nworld while you live, and procure you a crown of glory in heaven.\n\n\u201cBut if you reject her doctrines, and persist in your rebellious views\nagainst one of the most holy dogmas; if you continue to listen to the\nvoice of your own deceitful reason rather than to the voice of the\nChurch, in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, you become\nheretics, apostates and Protestants; you will lead a dishonored life in\nthis world, and you will be lost for all eternity.\u201d\n\nOur superior left us immediately after these fulminating words. Some of\nthe theological students, after his exit, laughed heartily, and thanked\nme for having so bravely fought and gained a glorious victory. Two of\nthem, Joseph Turcot and Benony Legendre, disgusted by the sophisms and\nlogical absurdities of our superior left the seminary a few days after.\nThe rest, with me, had not the moral courage to follow their example,\nbut remained, stunned by the last words of our superior.\n\nI went to my room and fell on my knees, with a torrent of tears falling\nfrom my eyes. I was really sorry for having wounded his feelings, but\nstill more so for having dared for a moment to oppose my own feeble and\nfallible reason to the mighty and infallible intelligence of my Church!\n\nAt first it appeared to me that I was only combatting, in a respectful\nway, against my old friend, Rev. Mr. Leprohon; but I had received it\nfrom his own lips that I had really fought against the Lord!\n\nAfter having spent a long and dark night of anguish and remorse, my\nfirst action, the next day, was to go to confession, and ask my\nconfessor, with tears of regret, pardon for the sins I had committed and\nthe scandal I had given.\n\nHad I listened to the voice of my conscience, I certainly would have\nleft the seminary that day; for they told me that I had confounded my\nsuperior and pulverized all his arguments. Reason and conscience told me\nthat the vow of celibacy was a sin against logic, morality and God; that\nthat vow could not be sustained by any argument from the Holy\nScriptures, logic or common sense. But I was a most sincere Roman\nCatholic. I had therefore to fight a new battle against my conscience\nand intelligence, so as to subdue and silence them forever! Many a time\nit was my hope, before this, to have succeeded in slaughtering them at\nthe foot of the altar of my Church; but that day, far from being forever\nsilenced and buried, they had come out again with renewed force, to\nwaken me from the terrible illusions in which I was living.\nNevertheless, after a long and frightful battle, my hope was that they\nwere perfectly subdued and buried under the feet of the holy Fathers,\nthe learned theologians and the venerable popes, whose voice only I was\ndetermined now to follow. I felt a real calm after that struggle. It was\nevidently the silence of death, although my confessor told me it was the\npeace of God. More than ever I determined to have no knowledge, no\nthought, no will, no light, no desires, no science but that which my\nChurch would give me through my superior. I was fallible, she was\ninfallible! I was a sinner, she was the immaculate spouse of Jesus\nChrist! I was weak, she had more power than the great waters of the\nocean! I was but an atom, she was covering the world with her glory!\nWhat, therefore, could I have to fear in humbling myself to her feet, to\nlive of her life, to be strong of her strength, wise of her wisdom, holy\nwith her holiness? Had not my superior repeatedly told me that no error,\nno sin would be imputed to me as long as I obeyed my Church and walked\nin her ways?\n\nWith these sentiments of a most profound and perfect respect for my\nChurch, I irrevocably consecrated myself to her service on the 4th of\nMay, 1832, by making the vow of celibacy and accepting the office of\nsub-deacon.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XV.\n\n THE IMPURITIES OF THE THEOLOGY OF ROME\n\n \u201cThe mother of harlots and abominations.\u201d\u2014REV. xvii. 5.\n\n\nConstrained by the voice of my conscience to reveal the impurities of\nthe theology of the Church of Rome, I feel, in doing so, a sentiment of\ninexpressible shame. They are of such a loathsome nature, that often\nthey cannot be expressed in any living language.\n\nHowever great may have been the corruptions in the theologies and\npriests of paganism, there is nothing in their records which can be\ncompared with the depravity of those of the Church of Rome. Before the\nday on which the theology of Rome was inspired by Satan, the world had\ncertainly witnessed many dark deeds; but vice had never been clothed\nwith the mantle of theology:\u2014the most shameful forms of iniquity had\nnever been publicly taught in the schools of the old pagan priest, under\nthe pretext of saving the world. No! neither had the priests or the\nidols been forced to attend meetings where the most degrading forms of\niniquity were objects of the most minute study, and that under the\npretext of glorifying God.\n\nLet those who understand Latin read the pages which I give at the end of\nmy book, \u201cThe Priest, the Woman, and the Confessional,\u201d and then decide\nas to whether or not the sentiments therein contained are not enough to\nshock the feelings of the most depraved. And let it be remembered that\nall those abominations have to be studied, learned by heart and\nthoroughly understood by men who have to make a vow never to marry! For\nit is not till after his vow of celibacy that the student in theology is\n_initiated_ into those mysteries of iniquity.\n\nHas the world ever witnessed such a sacrilegious comedy? A young man\nabout twenty years of age has been enticed to make a vow of perpetual\ncelibacy, and the very next day the Church of Rome puts under the eye of\nhis soul the most infamous spectacle? She fills his memory with the most\ndisgusting images! She tickles all his senses and pollutes his ears not\nby imaginary representations, but by realities which would shock the\nmost abandoned in vice!\n\nFor, let it be well understood, that it is absolutely impossible for one\nto study those questions of Roman Theology, and fathom those forms of\niniquity without having his body as well as his mind plunged into a\nstate the most degrading. Moreover, Rome does not even try to conceal\nthe overwhelming power of this kind of teaching; she does not even\nattempt to make it a secret from the victims of her incomparable\ndepravity, but BRAVELY TELLS them that the study of those questions will\nact with an irresistible power upon those organs, and without a blush\nsays \u201cthat pollution must follow!!!\u201d\n\nBut in order that the Church of Rome may more certainly destroy her\nvictims, and that they may not escape from the abyss which she has dug\nunder their feet, she tells them \u201cThere is no sin for you in those\npollutions!\u201d (Dens, vol. i., p. 315.)\n\nBut Rome must bewitch, so as the better to secure their destruction. She\nputs to their lips the cup of her enchantments, the more certainly to\nkill their souls, dethrone God from their consciences, and abrogate his\neternal laws of holiness. What answer does Rome give those who reproach\nher with the awful impurity of her theology. \u201cMy theological works,\u201d she\nanswers, \u201care all written in Latin; the people cannot read them. No\nevil, no scandal, therefore, can come from them!\u201d But this answer is a\nmiserable subterfuge. Is this not the public acknowledgment that her\ntheology would be exceedingly injurious to the people if it were read\nand understood by them?\n\nBy saying, \u201cMy theological works are written in Latin, therefore the\npeople cannot be defiled, as they do not understand them,\u201d Rome does\nacknowledge that these works would only act as a pestilence among the\npeople were they read and understood by them. But are not the one\nhundred thousand priests of Rome bound to explain in every known tongue,\nand present to the mind of every nation, the theology contained in those\nbooks? Are they not bound to make every polluting sentence in them flow\ninto the ears, imagination, hearts and minds of all the married and\nunmarried women whom Rome holds in her grasp?\n\nI exaggerate nothing when I say that not fewer than half a million women\nevery day are compelled to hear in their own language, almost every\npolluting sentence and impure notion of the diabolical science.\n\nAnd here I challenge, most fearlessly, the Church of Rome to deny what I\nsay, when I state that the daily average of women who go to confession\nto each priest, is ten. But let us reduce the number to five. Then the\ntwo hundred thousand priests who are scattered over the whole world,\nhear the confessions of one million women every day. Well, now, out of\none hundred women who confess, there are at least ninety-nine whom the\npriest is bound in conscience to pollute, by questioning them on the\nmatters mentioned in \u201cThe Priest, the Woman and the Confessional.\u201d How\ncan one be surprised at the rapid downfall of the nations who are under\nthe yoke of the Pope?\n\nThe public statistics of the European, as well as of American nations,\nshow that there is among Roman Catholics nearly double the amount of\nprostitution, bastardy, theft, perjury and murder, than is found among\nProtestant nations. Where must we, then, look for the cause of those\nstupendous facts, if not in the corrupt teachings of the theology of\nRome. How can the Roman Catholic nations hope to raise themselves in the\nscale of Christian dignity and morality as long as there remain two\nhundred thousand priests in their midst, bound in conscience every day\nto pollute the minds, and the hearts of their mothers, their wives and\ntheir daughters.\n\nAnd here let me say, once for all, that I am not induced to speak as I\ndo from any motive of contempt or unchristian feeling against the\ntheological professors who have initiated me into those mysteries of\niniquity. The Rev. Messrs. Raimbault and Leprohon were, and in my mind\nthey still are, as venerable as men can be in the Church of Rome. As I\nhave been myself, and as all the priests of Rome are, they were plunged\ninto the abyss without understanding it, into the abyss of the most\nstolid ignorance. They were crushed, as I was myself, under a yoke which\nbound their understanding to the dust and polluted their hearts without\nmeasure. We were embarked together on a ship, the first appearance of\nwhich was really magnificent, but the bottom of which was irremediably\nrotten. Without the true Pilot on board we were left to perish on\nunknown shoals. Out of this sinking ship the hand of God alone, in his\nmerciful providence, rescued me. I pity those friends of my youth, but\ndespise them? hate them? No! Never! Never!\n\nEvery time our theological teachers gave us our lessons, it was evident\nthat they blushed in the inmost part of their souls. Their consciences\nas honest men were evidently forbidding them, on the one hand, to open\ntheir mouths on such matters, while, on the other hand, as slaves and\npriests of the Pope, they were compelled to speak without reserve.\n\nAfter our lessons in theology, we students used to be filled with such a\nsentiment of shame that sometimes we hardly dared to look at each other;\nand, when alone in our rooms, those horrible pictures were affecting our\nhearts, in spite of ourselves, as the rust affects and corrodes the\nhardest and purest steel. More than one of my fellow-students told me,\nwith tears of shame and rage, that they regretted to have bound\nthemselves by perpetual oaths to minister at the altars of the Church.\n\nOne day one of the students, called Desaulnier, who was sick in the same\nroom with me, asked me: \u201cChiniquy, what do you think of the matters\nwhich are the objects of our present theological studies? Is it not a\nburning shame that we must allow our minds to be so polluted?\u201d\n\n\u201cI cannot sufficiently tell you my feelings of disgust,\u201d I answered.\n\u201cHad I known sooner that we were to be dragged over such a ground, I\ncertainly never would have nailed my future to the banners under which\nwe are irrevocably bound to live.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you know,\u201d said Desaulnier, \u201cthat I am determined never to consent\nto be ordained a priest; for when I think of the fact that the priest is\nbound to confer with women on all these polluting matters, I feel an\ninsurmountable disgust and shame.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not less troubled,\u201d I replied. \u201cMy head aches and my heart sinks\nwithin me, when I hear our theologians telling us that we will be in\nconscience bound to speak to females on these impure subjects. But\nsometimes this looks to me as if it were a bad dream, the impure\nphantoms of which will disappear at the first awakening. Our Church,\nwhich is so pure and holy, that she can only be served by the spotless\nvirgins, surely cannot compel us to pollute our lips, thoughts, souls,\nand even our bodies, by speaking to strange women on matters so\ndefiling!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut we are near the hour at which the good Mr. Leprohon is in the habit\nof visiting us. Will you,\u201d said I, \u201cpromise to stand by me on what I\nshall ask him on this subject? I hope to get from him a pledge that we\nwill not be compelled to be polluted in the confessional by the women\nwho will confess to us. The purity and holiness of our superior is of\nsuch a high character, that I am sure he has never said a word to\nfemales on those degrading matters. In spite of all the theologians, Mr.\nLeprohon will allow us to keep our tongues and our hearts, as well as\nour bodies, pure in the confessional.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have had the desire to speak to him on this subject for some time,\u201d\nrejoined Desaulnier, \u201cbut my courage failed me every time I attempted to\ndo so. I am glad, therefore, that you are to break the ice, and I will\ncertainly support you, as I have a longing desire to know something more\nin regard to the mysteries of the confessional. If we be at liberty\nnever to speak to women on those horrors, I will consent to serve the\nChurch as a priest; but if not, I WILL NEVER BE A PRIEST.\u201d\n\nA few minutes after this our superior entered, to kindly inquire how we\nhad rested the night before. Having thanked him for his kindness, I\nopened the volumes of Dens and Liguori, which were on our table, and,\nwith a blush, putting my fingers on one of the infamous chapters\nreferred to, I said to him:\n\n\u201cAfter God, you have the first place in my heart since my mother\u2019s\ndeath, and you know it. I take you, not only as my benefactor, but also,\nas it were, as my father and mother. You will therefore tell me all I\nwant to know in these my hours of anxiety, through which God is pleased\nto make me pass. To follow your advice, not to say your commands, I have\nlately consented to receive the order of sub-deacon, and I have in\nconsequence taken the vow of perpetual celibacy. But I will not conceal\nthe fact from you that I had not a clear understanding of what I was\nthen doing; and Desaulnier has just stated to me, that until recently he\nhad no more idea of the nature of that promise, nor of the difficulties\nwhich we now see ahead of us in our priestly life, than I had.\n\n\u201cBut Dens, Liguori and St. Thomas have given us notions quite new in\nregard to many things. They have directed our minds to the knowledge of\nthe laws which are in us, as well as in every other child of Adam. They\nhave, in a word, directed our minds into regions which were quite new\nand unexplored by us; and I dare say that every one of those whom we\nhave known, whether in this house or elsewhere, who have made the same\nvow, could tell the same tale.\n\n\u201cHowever, I do not speak for them; I speak only for myself and\nDesaulnier. For God\u2019s sake, please tell us if we will be bound in\nconscience to speak in the confessional, to the married and unmarried\nfemales, on such impure and defiling questions as are contained in the\ntheologians before us?\u201d\n\n\u201cMost undoubtedly,\u201d replied Rev. Mr. Leprohon; \u201cbecause the learned and\nholy theologians whose writings are in your hands are positive on that\nquestion. It is absolutely necessary that you should question your\nfemale penitents on such matters; for, as a general thing, girls and\nmarried women are too timid to confess those sins, of which they are\neven more frequently guilty than men, therefore they must be helped by\nquestioning them.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut have you not,\u201d I rejoined, \u201cinduced us to make an oath that we\nshould always remain pure and undefiled? How is it, then, that to-day\nyou put us in such a position that it is almost an impossibility for us\nto be true to our sacred promise? For the theologians are unanimous that\nthose questions put by us to our female penitents, together with the\nrecital of their secret sins, will act with such an irresistible power\nupon us that we will be polluted.\n\n\u201cWould it not be better for us to feel those things in the holy bonds of\nmarriage, with our wives, and according to the laws of God, than in\ncompany and conversation with strange women? Because, if we are to\nbelieve the theologians which are in our hands, no priest\u2014not even you,\nmy dear Mr. Leprohon, can hear the confessions of women without being\ndefiled.\u201d\n\nHere Desaulnier interrupted me, and said: \u201cMy dear Mr. Leprohon, I\nconcur in everything Chiniquy has just been telling you. Would we not be\nmore chaste and pure by living with our lawful wives, than by daily\nexposing ourselves in the confessional in company of women whose\npresence will irresistibly drag us into the most shameful pit of\nimpurity? I ask you, my dear sir, what will become of my vow of perfect\nand perpetual chastity, when the seducing presence of my neighbor\u2019s\nwife, or the enchanting words of his daughter, will have defiled me\nthrough the confessional. After all, I may be looked upon by the people\nas a chaste man; but what will I be in the eyes of God? The people may\nentertain the thought that I am a strong and honest man; but will I not\nbe a broken reed? Will God not be the witness that the irresistible\ntemptations which will have assailed me when hearing the secret sins of\nsome sweet and tempting women, will have deprived me of that glorious\ncrown of chastity for which I have so dearly paid? Men will think that I\nam an angel of purity; but my own conscience will tell me that I am\nnothing but a skillful hypocrite. For according to all the theologians,\nthe confessional is the tomb of the chastity of priests!! If I hear the\nconfession of women, I will be like all other priests, in a tomb, well\npainted and gilded on the outside, but within full of corruption.\u201d\n\nFrancis Desaulnier, just as he had foretold me, refused to be a priest.\nHe remained all his life in the orders of the sub-deaconate, in the\nCollege of Nicolet, as a Professor of Philosophy. He was a man who\nseldom spoke in conversation, but thought very much. It seems to me that\nI still see him there, under that tall centenary tree, alone, during the\nlong hours of intermission, and many long days during our holidays,\nwhile the rest of the students passed hither and thither, singing and\nplaying, on the enchanting banks of the river of Nicolet.\n\nHe was a good logician and a profound mathematician; and although\naffable to everyone, he was not communicative. I was probably the only\none to whom he opened his mind concerning the great questions of\nChristianity\u2014faith, history, the Church and her discipline. He\nrepeatedly said to me: \u201cI wish I had never opened a book of theology.\nOur theologians are without heart, soul or logic. Many of them approve\nof theft, lies and perjury; others drag us, without a blush, into the\nmost filthy pits of iniquity. Every one of them would like to make an\nassassin of every Catholic. According to their doctrine, Christ is\nnothing but a Corsican brigand, whose bloody disciples are bound to\ndestroy all the heretics by fire and sword. Were we acting according to\nthe principles of those theologians, we would slaughter all Protestants\nwith the same coolness of blood as we would shoot down the wolf which\ncrosses our path. With their hand still reddened with the blood of St.\nBartholomew they speak to us of charity, religion and God, as if there\nwere neither of them in the world.\u201d\n\nDesaulnier was looked upon as \u201c_un homme singulier_\u201d at Nicolet. He was\nreally an exception to all the men in the seminary. For example: Though\nit was the usage and the law that ecclesiastics should receive the\ncommunion every month, and upon every great feast day of the Church, yet\nhe would scarcely take the communion once a year. But let me return to\nthe interview with our superior.\n\nDesaulnier\u2019s fearless and energetic words had evidently made a very\npainful impression upon our superior. It was not a usual thing for his\ndisciples in theology thus to take upon themselves to speak with such\nfreedom as we both did on this occasion. He did not conceal his pain at\nwhat he called our unbecoming and unchristian attack upon some of the\nmost holy ordinances of the Church; and after he had refuted Desaulnier\nin the best way he could, he turned to me and said: \u201cMy dear Chiniquy, I\nhave repeatedly warned you against the habit you have of listening to\nyour own frail reasoning, when you should only obey as a dutiful child.\nWere we to believe you we would immediately set ourselves to work to\nreform the Church and abolish the confession of women to priests; we\nwould throw all our theological books into the fire and have new ones\nwritten, better adapted to your fancy. What does all this prove? Only\none thing, and that is, that the devil of pride is tempting you as he\nhas tempted all the so-called Reformers, and destroyed them as he would\nyou. If you do not take care, you will become another Luther!\n\n\u201cThe theological books of St. Thomas, Liguori and Dens have been\napproved by the Church. How, therefore, do you not see the ridicule and\ndanger of your position. On one side, then, I see all our holy popes,\nthe two thousand Catholic bishops, all our learned theologians and\npriests, backed up by our two hundred millions of Roman Catholics drawn\nup as an innumerable army to fight the battles of the Lord; and on the\nother side, what do I see? Nothing but my small, though very dear\nChiniquy!\n\n\u201cHow, then, is it that you do not fear, when with your weak reasoning\nyou oppose the mighty reasoning and light of so many holy popes,\nvenerable bishops and learned theologians? Is it not just as absurd for\nyou to try to reform the Church by your small reasons, as it is for the\ngrain of sand which is found at the foot of the great mountain to try to\nturn that mighty mountain out of its place? or for the small drop of\nwater to attempt to throw the boundless ocean out of its bed, or try to\noppose the running tides of the Polar seas?\n\n\u201cBelieve me, and take my friendly advice,\u201d continued our superior,\n\u201cbefore it is too late. Let the small grain of sand remain still at the\nfoot of the majestic mountain! and let the humble drop of water consent\nto follow the irresistible currents of the boundless seas, and\neverything will be in order.\n\n\u201cAll the good priests who have heard the confessions of women before us\nhave been sanctified and have had their souls saved, even when their\nbodies were polluted; for those carnal pollutions are nothing but human\nmiseries, which cannot defile a soul which desires to remain united to\nGod. Are the rays of the sun defiled by coming down into the mud? No!\nThe rays remain pure, and return spotless to the shining orb whence they\ncame. So the heart of a good priest\u2014as I hope my dear Chiniquy will\nbe\u2014will remain pure and holy in spite of the accidental and unavoidable\ndefilement of the flesh.\n\n\u201cApart from those things, in your ordination you will receive a special\ngrace which will change you into another man; and the Virgin Mary, to\nwhom you will constantly address yourself will obtain for you a perfect\npurity from her Son.\n\n\u201cThe defilement of the flesh spoken of by the theologians, and which, I\nconfess, is unavoidable when hearing the confessions of women, must not\ntrouble you; for they are not sinful, as Dens and Liguori assure us.\n(Dens, vol. i., pages 299, 309.)\n\n\u201cBut enough on that subject. I forbid you to speak to me any more on\nthose idle questions, and, as much as my authority is anything to you\nboth, I forbid you to say a word more to each other on that matter!\u201d\n\nIt was my fond hope that my dear and so much venerated Mr. Leprohon\nwould answer me with some good and reasonable arguments; but he, to my\nsurprise, silenced the voice of our conscience by \u201c_un coup d\u2019etat_.\u201d\n\nNevertheless, the idea of that miserable grain of sand which so\nridiculously attempted to remove the stately mountain, and also of that\nall but perceptible drop of water which attempted to oppose itself to\nthe onward motion of the vast ocean, singularly struck and humbled me. I\nremained silent and confused, though not convinced.\n\nThis was not all. Those rays of the sun, which could not be defiled,\neven when going down into the mud, after bewildering one by their\nglittering appearance, left my soul more in the dark than ever. I could\nnot resist a presentiment that I was in the presence of an imposition,\nand of a glittering sophism. But I had neither sufficient learning,\nmoral courage, nor grace from God clearly to see through that misty\ncloud, and to expel it from my mind.\n\nAlmost every month of the ten years which I had passed in the seminary\nof Nicolet, priests of the district of Three Rivers and elsewhere were\nsent by the bishops to spend two or three weeks in doing penances for\nhaving bastards by their nieces, their housekeepers and their fair\npenitents. Even not long before this conversation with our director, the\ncurate of St. Francois, the Rev. Mr. Amiot, had in the very same week\ntwo children by two of his fair penitents, both of whom were sisters.\nOne of those girls gave birth to her child at the parsonage the very\nnight on which the bishop was on his episcopal visit to that parish.\nThese public and undeniable facts were not much in harmony with those\nbeautiful theories of our venerable director concerning the rays of the\nsun, which \u201cremained pure and undefiled, even when warming and vivifying\nthe mud of our planet.\u201d The facts had frequently occurred to my mind\nwhile Mr. Leprohon was speaking, and I was tempted more than once to ask\nhim respectfully if he really thought these \u201cshining rays,\u201d the priests,\nhad thus come into the mire, and would then return, like the rays of the\nsun, without taking back with them something of the mire in which they\nhad been so strangely wallowing. But my respect for Mr. Leprohon sealed\nmy lips.\n\nWhen I returned to my room, I fell on my knees to ask God to pardon me\nfor having, for a moment, thought otherwise than the popes and\ntheologians of Rome. I again felt angry with myself for having dared,\nfor a single moment, to have arrayed my poor little and imperceptible\ngrain of sand\u2014drop of water\u2014and personal and contemptible understanding\nagainst that sublime mountain of strength, that vast ocean of learning,\nand that immensely divine wisdom of the popes!\n\nBut, alas! I was not yet aware that when Jesus in His mercy sends into a\nperishing soul a single ray of His grace, that there is more light and\nwisdom in that soul than in all the popes and their theologians!\n\nI was then taught what the real foundation of the Church of Rome is, and\nsincerely believed that to think for myself was a damnable impiety\u2014that\nto look and see with my own eyes, and understand with my own mind, was\nan unpardonable sin. To be saved I had to believe, not what I considered\nto be the truth, but what the popes told me to be the truth. I had to\nlook and see every object of faith, just as every true Roman Catholic of\nto-day has to look and see the same, through the Pope\u2019s eyes or those of\nhis theologians.\n\nHowever absurd and impious this belief may be, yet it was mine, and it\nis also the belief of every true member of the Church of Rome to-day.\nThe glorious light and grace of God could not possibly flow directly\nfrom Him to me; they had to pass through the Pope and his Church, which\nwere my only mountain of strength and only ocean of light. It was, then,\nmy firm belief that there was an impassable abyss between myself and\nGod, and that the Pope and his Church were the only bridge by which I\ncould have communication with Him. That stupendously high and most\nsublime mountain, the Pope, was between myself and God; and all that was\nallowed my poor soul was to raise itself and travel with great\ndifficulty till it attained the foot of that holy mountain, the Pope,\nand, prostrating itself there in the dust, ask him to let me know what\nmy yet distant God would have me do. The promises of mercy, truth, light\nand life were all vested in this great mountain, the Pope, from whom\nalone they could descend upon my poor lost soul!\n\nDarkness, ignorance, uncertainty and eternal loss were my lot the very\nmoment I ceased worshipping at the feet of the Pope! The God of Heaven\nwas not _my_ God; He was only the God of the Pope. The Saviour of the\nworld was not my Saviour; he was only the Pope\u2019s. Therefore it was\nthrough the Pope only that I could receive Christ as my Saviour, and to\nthe Pope alone had I to go, to know the way, the truth and the life of\nmy soul!\n\nGod alone knows what a dark and terrible night I passed after this\nmeeting! I had again to smother my conscience, dismantle my reason, and\nbring them all under the turpitudes of the theologies of Rome, which are\nso well calculated to keep the world fettered in ignorance,\nsuperstition, and death.\n\nBut God saw the tears with which I bedewed my pillow that night. He\nheard the cry of my agonizing soul, and in His infinite love and mercy\ndetermined to come to my rescue, and save me. If He saw fit to leave me\nmany years more in the slavery of Egypt, it was that I might better know\nthe plagues of that land of darkness, and the iron chains which are\nthere prepared for poor lost souls.\n\nWhen the hour of my deliverance came, the Lord took me by the hand and\nhelped me to cross the Red Sea. He brought me to the Land of Promise\u2014a\nland of peace, life and joy which passeth all understanding.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XVI.\n\nTHE PRIEST OF ROME AND THE HOLY FATHERS: OR HOW I SWORE TO GIVE UP THE\n WORD OF GOD TO FOLLOW THE WORD OF MEN.\n\n\nThere are several imposing ceremonies at the ordination of a priest; and\nI will never forget the joy I felt when the Roman Pontiff presenting to\nme the Bible, ordered me, with a solemn voice, to study and preach it.\nThat order passed through my soul as a beam of light. But, alas! those\nrays of light and life were soon to be followed, as a flash of lightning\nin a stormy night, by the most sudden and distressing darkness!\n\nWhen holding the sacred volume, I accepted with unspeakable joy the\ncommand of studying and preaching its saving truth; but I felt as if a\nthunderbolt had fallen upon me when I pronounced the awful oath which is\nrequired from every priest: \u201c_I will never interpret the Holy Scriptures\nexcept according to the unanimous consent of the Holy Fathers._\u201d\n\nMany times, with the other students in theology, I had discussed the\nnature of that strange oath; still more often, in the silence of my\nmeditations, alone in the presence of God, I had tried to fathom the\nbottomless abyss which, it seemed to me, was dug under my feet by it,\nand every time my conscience had shrunk in terror from its consequences.\nBut I was not the only one in the seminary who contemplated, with an\nanxious mind, its evidently blasphemous nature.\n\nAbout six months before our ordination, Stephen Baillargeon, one of my\nfellow theological students, had said in my presence to our superior,\nthe Rev. Mr. Raimbault: \u201cAllow me to tell you that one of the things\nwith which I cannot reconcile my conscience is the solemn oath we will\nhave to take, \u2018That we will never interpret the Scriptures except\naccording to the _unanimous_ consent of the Holy Fathers!\u2019 We have not\ngiven a single hour yet to the serious study of the Holy Fathers. I know\nmany priests, and not a single one of them has ever studied the Holy\nFathers; they have not even got them in their libraries! We will\nprobably walk in their footsteps. It may be that not a single volume of\nthe Holy Fathers will ever fall into our hands! In the name of common\nsense, how can we swear that we will follow the sentiments of men of\nwhom we know absolutely nothing, and about whom, it is more probable, we\nwill never know anything, except by mere vague hearsay?\n\nOur superior gave evident signs of weakness in his answer to that\nunexpected difficulty. But his embarrassment grew much greater when I\nsaid: \u201cBaillargeon cannot contemplate that oath without anxiety, and he\nhas given you some of his reasons; but he has not said the last word on\nthat strange oath. If you will allow me, Mr. Superior, I will present\nyou some more formidable objections. It is not so much on account of our\nignorance of the doctrines of the Holy Fathers that I tremble when I\nthink that I will have \u2018to swear never to interpret the Scriptures\nexcept according to their unanimous consent.\u2019 Would to God that I could\nsay, with Baillargeon, \u2018I know nothing of the Holy Fathers; how can I\nswear that they will guide me in all my ways?\u2019 It is true that we know\nso little of them that it is supremely ridiculous, if it is not an\ninsult to God and man, that we take them for our guides. But my regret\nis that we know already too much of the Holy Fathers to be exempt from\nperjuring ourselves, when we swear that we will not interpret the Holy\nScriptures except according to their unanimous consent.\n\n\u201cIs it not a fact that the Holy Fathers\u2019 writings are so perfectly kept\nout of sight, that it is absolutely impossible to read and study them?\nBut even if we had access to them, have we sufficient time at our\ndisposal to study them so perfectly that we could conscientiously swear\nthat we will follow them? And if we don\u2019t study them, how can we be\nexempted from wilful perjury the day that we will swear to follow them?\nHow can we follow a thing we do not see, which we do not hear, and about\nwhich we do not know more than the man in the moon? Our shameful\nignorance of the Holy Fathers is a sufficient reason to make us fear at\nthe approach of the solemn hour that we will swear to follow them. Yes!\nBut we know enough of the Holy Fathers to chill the blood in our veins\nwhen swearing to interpret the Holy Scriptures only according to their\nunanimous consent. Please, Mr. Superior, tell us what are the texts of\nScripture on which the Holy Fathers are _unanimous_. You respect\nyourself too much to try to answer a question which no honest man has,\nor will ever dare to answer. And if you, one of the most learned men of\nFrance, cannot put your finger on the texts of the Holy Bible and say,\n\u2018The Holy Fathers are perfectly unanimous on these texts!\u2019 how can we,\npoor young ecclesiastics of the humble College of Nicolet, say \u2018The Holy\nFathers are _unanimously_ of the same mind on those texts?\u2019 But if we\ncannot distinguish to-day, and if we shall never be able to distinguish\nbetween the texts on which the Holy Fathers are unanimous and the ones\non which they differ, how can we _dare_ to swear before God and man to\ninterpret _every text of the Scriptures_ only according to the unanimous\nconsent of the Holy Fathers?\n\n\u201cBy that awful oath, will we not be absolutely bound to remain mute as\ndead men on every text on which the Holy Fathers have differed, under\nthe evident penalty of becoming perjured? Will not every text on which\nthe Holy Fathers have differed become as the dead carcass which the\nIsraelites could not touch, except by defiling themselves? After that\nstrange oath, to interpret the Scriptures _only_ according to the\n_unanimous_ consent of the Holy Fathers, will we not be absolutely\ndeprived of the privilege of studying or preaching on a text on which\nthey have differed?\n\n\u201cThe consequences of the oath are _legion_, and every one of them seems\nto me the death of our ministry, the damnation of our souls! You have\nread the history of the Church, as we have it here, written by Henrion,\nBerrault-Bell-Costel and Fleury. Well, what is the prominent fact in\nthose reliable histories of the Church? Is it not that the Church has\nconstantly been filled with the noise of the controversies of Holy\nFathers with Holy Fathers? Do we not find, on every page, that the Holy\nFathers of one century very often differed from the Holy Fathers of\nanother century in very important matters? Is it not a public and\nundeniable fact, that the history of our Holy Church is almost nothing\nelse than the history of the hard conflict, stern divisions, unflinching\ncontradictions and oppositions of Holy Fathers to Holy Fathers?\n\n\u201cHere is a big volume of manuscript written by me, containing only\nextracts from our best Church historians, filled with the public\ndisputes of Holy Fathers among themselves on almost every subject of\nChristianity.\n\n\u201cThere are Holy Fathers who say, with our best modern theologians\u2014St.\nThomas, Bellarmine and Liguori\u2014that we must kill heretics as we kill\nwild beasts; while many others say that we must tolerate them! You all\nknow the name of the Holy Father who sends to hell all the widows who\nmarry a second time, while other Holy Fathers are of a different mind.\nSome of them, you know well, had very different notions from ours about\npurgatory. Is it necessary for me to give you the names of the Holy\nFathers, in Africa and Asia, who refused to accept the supreme\njurisdiction we acknowledge in the Pope over all churches? Several Holy\nFathers have denied the supreme authority of the Church of Rome\u2014you know\nit; they have laughed at the excommunications of the Popes! Some even\nhave gladly died when excommunicated by the Pope, without doing anything\nto reconcile themselves to him! What do we find, in the six volumes of\nletters we have still from St. Jerome, if not the undeniable fact that\nhe filled the Church with the noise of his harsh denunciations of the\nscriptural views of St. Augustine on many important points. You have\nread those letters? Well, have you not concluded that St. Jerome and St.\nAugustine agreed almost only on one thing, which was, to disagree on\nevery subject they treated?\n\n\u201cDid not St. Jerome knock his head against nearly all the Holy Fathers\nof his time? And has he not received hard knocks from almost all the\nHoly Fathers with whom he was acquainted? Is it not a public fact that\nSt. Jerome and several other Holy Fathers rejected the sacred book of\nthe Maccabees, Judith, Tobias, just as the heretics of our time reject\nthem?\n\n\u201cAnd now we are gravely asked, in the name of the God of Truth, to swear\nthat we will interpret the Holy Scriptures only according to the\nunanimous consent of those Holy Fathers, who have been unanimous but in\none thing, which was never to agree with each other, and sometimes not\neven with themselves.\n\n\u201cFor it is a well-known fact, though it is a very deplorable one, for\ninstance, that St. Augustine did not always keep to the same correct\nviews on the text \u2018Thou art Peter, and upon that rock I will build my\nchurch.\u2019 After holding correct views on that fundamental truth he gave\nit up, at the end of his life, to say, with the Protestants of our day,\nthat \u2018upon that rock means only Christ, and not Peter.\u2019 Now, how can I\nbe bound by such an oath to follow the views of men who have themselves\nbeen wavering and changing, when the Word of God must stand as an\nunmoving rock to my heart? If you require from us an oath, why put into\nour hands the history of the Church, which has stuffed our memory with\nthe undeniable facts of the endless fierce divisions of the Holy Fathers\non almost every question which the Scriptures present to our faith?\n\n\u201cWould to God that I could say, with Baillargeon, I know nothing of the\nHoly Fathers! Then I could perhaps be at peace with my conscience, after\nperjuring myself by promising a thing that I cannot do.\n\n\u201cI was lately told by the Rev. Mr. Leprohon, that it is absolutely\nnecessary to go to the Holy Fathers in order to understand the Holy\nScriptures! But I will respectfully repeat to-day what I then said on\nthat subject.\n\n\u201cIf I am too ignorant or too stupid to understand St. Mark, St. Luke and\nSt. Paul, how can I be intelligent enough to understand Jerome,\nAugustine, and Tertullian? And if St. Matthew, St. John and St. Peter\nhave not got from God the grace of writing with a sufficient degree of\nlight and clearness to be understood by men of good-will, how is it that\nJustin, Clemens and Cyprian have received from our God a favor of\nlucidity and clearness which he denied to His apostles and evangelists?\nIf I cannot rely upon my private judgment when studying, with the help\nof God, the Holy Scriptures, how can I rely on my private judgment when\nstudying the Holy Fathers? You constantly tell me I cannot rely on my\nprivate judgment to understand and interpret the Holy Scriptures; but\nwill you please tell me with what judgment and intelligence I shall have\nto interpret and understand the writings of the Holy Fathers, if it be\nnot with my own private judgment? Must I borrow the judgment and\nintelligence of some of my neighbors in order to understand and\ninterpret, for instance, the writings of Origen? or shall I be allowed\nto go and hear what that Holy Father wants from me with my own private\nintelligence? But again, if you are forced to confess that I have\nnothing else but my _private judgment and intelligence_ to read,\nunderstand and follow the Holy Fathers, and that I not only can, but I\nmust, rely on my own private judgment, without any fear, in that case,\nhow is it that I will be lost if I make use of that same _private and\npersonal judgment_ when at the feet of Jesus, listening to His eternal\nand life-giving words?\n\n\u201cNothing distresses me so much in our holy religion as this want of\nconfidence in God when we go to the feet of Jesus to hear or read His\nsoul-saving words, and the abundance of self-confidence, when we go\namong sinful and fallible men, to know what they say.\n\n\u201cIt is not to the Holy Scriptures that we are invited to go to know what\nthe Lord saith, it is to the Holy Fathers!!\n\n\u201cWould it be possible that, in our Holy Church, the Word of God would be\ndarkness, and the words of men light!\n\n\u201cThis dogma, or article of our religion, by which we must go to the Holy\nFathers in order to know what \u2018The Lord saith,\u2019 and not to the Holy\nScripture, is to my soul what a handful of sand would be to my eyes\u2014it\nmakes me perfectly blind.\n\n\u201cWhen our venerable bishop places the Holy Scriptures in my hands and\ncommands me to study and preach them, I will understand what he means,\nand he will know what he says. He will give me a most sublime work to\nperform; and, with the grace of God, I hope I will do it. But when he\norders me to swear that I will _never_ interpret the Holy Scriptures,\nexcept according to the unanimous consent of the Holy Fathers, will he\nnot make a perjured man of me, and will he not say a thing to which he\nhas not given sufficient attention? For to swear that we will never\ninterpret anything of the Scriptures, except according to the unanimous\nconsent of the Holy Fathers, is to swear to a thing as impossible and\nridiculous as to take the moon with our hands. I say more, it is to\nswear that we will never study nor interpret a single chapter of the\nBible. For it is probable that there are very few chapters of that Holy\nBook which have not been a cause of serious difference between some of\nthe Holy Fathers.\n\n\u201cAs the writings of the Holy Fathers fill at least two hundred volumes\nin folio, it will not take us less than ten years of constant study to\nknow on what question they are or are not unanimous! If, after that time\nof study, I find that they are _unanimous_ on the question of orthodoxy,\nwhich I must believe and preach, all will be right with me. I will walk\nwith a fearless heart to the gates of eternity, and with the certainty\nof following the true way of salvation. But if among fifty Holy Fathers\nthere are forty-nine on one side and one only on the opposite side, in\nwhat awful state of distress will I be plunged! Will I not be then as a\nship in a stormy night, after she has lost her compass, her masts and\nher helm. If I were allowed to follow the majority, there would always\nbe a plank of safety to rescue me from the impending wreck. But the Pope\nhas inexorably tied us to the unanimity. If my faith is not the faith of\n_unanimity_, I am forever damned. I am out of the Church!!\n\n\u201cWhat a frightful alternative is just before us! We must either perjure\nourselves, by swearing to follow a unanimity which is a fable, in order\nto remain Roman Catholics, or we must plunge into the abyss of impiety\nand atheism by refusing to swear that we will adhere to a unanimity\nwhich never existed.\u201d\n\nIt was visible, at the end of that long and stormy conference, that the\nfears and anxieties of Baillargeon and mine were partaken of by every\none of the students in theology. The boldness of our expressions brought\nupon us a real storm. But our superior did not dare to face or answer a\nsingle one of our arguments; he was evidently embarrassed, and nothing\ncould surpass his joy when the bell told him that the hour of the\nconference was over. He promised to answer us the next day; but the next\nday he did nothing but throw dust into our eyes, and abuse us to his\nheart\u2019s content. He began by forbidding me to read any more of the\ncontroversial books I had bought a few months before, among which was\nthe celebrated Derry discussion between seven priests and seven\nProtestants. I had to give back the well-known discussion between \u201cPope\nand Maguire,\u201d and between Gregg and the same Maguire. I had also to give\nup the numbers of the _Avenir_ and other books of Lamenais, which I had\ngot the liberty, as a privilege, to read. It was decided that my\nintelligence was not clear enough, and that my faith was not\nsufficiently strong to read those books. I had nothing to do but to bow\nmy head under the yoke and obey, without a word of murmur. The darkest\nnight was made around our understandings, and we had to believe that\nthat awful darkness was the shining light of God!! We rejected the\nbright truth which had so nearly conquered our minds, in order to accept\nthe most ridiculous sophisms as gospel truths! We did the most degrading\naction a man can do\u2014we silenced the voice of our conscience, and we\nconsented to follow our superior\u2019s views, as a brute follows the order\nof his master; we consented to be in the hands of our superiors like a\nstick in the hands of the traveler.\n\nDuring the months which elapsed between that hard-fought, though lost\nbattle, and the solemn hour of my priestly ordination, I did all I could\nto subdue and annihilate my thoughts on that subject. My hope was that I\nhad entirely succeeded. But, to my dismay, that reason suddenly awoke,\nas from a long sleep, when I had perjured myself, as every priest has to\ndo. A chill of horror and shame ran through all my frame in spite of\nmyself. In my inmost soul a cry was heard from my wounded conscience.\n\u201cYou annihilate the Word of God! You rebel against the Holy Ghost! You\ndeny the Holy Scriptures to follow the steps of sinful men! You reject\nthe pure waters of eternal life, to drink the waters of death.\u201d\n\nIn order to choke again the voice of my conscience, I did what my Church\nadvised me to do\u2014I cried to my wafer god and to the blessed Virgin Mary,\nthat they might come to my help, and silence the voices which were\ntroubling my peace by shaking my faith.\n\nWith the utmost sincerity, the day of my ordination, I renewed the\npromise that I had already so often made, and said in the presence of\nGod and His angels, \u201cI promise that I will never believe anything except\naccording to the teachings of my Holy and Apostolic Church of Rome.\u201d\n\nAnd on that pillow of folly, ignorance and fanaticism I laid my head to\nsleep the sleep of spiritual death, with the two hundred millions of\nslaves whom the Pope sees at his feet.\n\nAnd I slept that sleep till the God of our salvation, in His great\nmercy, awoke me, by giving to my soul the light, the truth and the life\nwhich are in Jesus Christ.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XVII.\n\n THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD: OR ANCIENT AND\n MODERN IDOLATRY.\n\n\nI was ordained a priest of Rome in the Cathedral of Quebec, on the 21st\nof September, 1833, by the Right Reverend Sinai, first Archbishop of\nCanada. No words can express the solemnity of my thoughts, the\nsuperhuman nature of my aspirations, when the delegate of the Pope,\nimposing his hands on my head, gave me the power of converting a wafer\ninto the real substantial body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus\nChrist! The bright illusion of Eve, as the deceiver told her \u201cYe shall\nbe as gods,\u201d was child\u2019s play compared with what I felt when, assured by\nthe infallible voice of my Church that I was not only on equal terms\nwith my Saviour and God, but I was in reality above Him! and that\nhereafter I would not only command, but _create_ Him!!\n\nThe aspirations to power and glory which had been such a terrible\ntemptation in Lucifer were becoming a reality in me! I had received the\npower of commanding God, not in a spiritual and mystical, but in a real,\npersonal and most irresistible way.\n\nWith my heart full of an inexpressible joy and gratitude to God, and\nwith all the faculties of my soul raised to exaltation, I withdrew from\nthe feet of the pontiff to my oratory, where I passed the rest of the\nday in meditation on the great things which my God had wrought in me.\n\nI had, at last attained the top of that power and holiness which my\nChurch had invited me to consider from my infancy as the most glorious\ngift which God had ever given to man! The dignity which I had just\nreceived was above all the dignities and the thrones of this world. The\nholy character of the PRIESTHOOD had been impressed on my soul, with the\nblood of Christ, as an imperishable and celestial glory. Nothing could\never take it away from me in time or eternity. I was to be a priest of\nmy God forever and ever. Not only had Christ let His divine and priestly\nnature fall on my shoulders, but He had so perfectly associated me with\nHimself as the great and eternal Sacrificator, that I was to renew,\nevery day of my life, His atoning SACRIFICE! At my bidding, the only and\neternally begotten Son of my God was now to come into my hands in\nperson! The same Christ who sits at the right hand of the Father was to\ncome down every day into my breast, to unite His flesh to my flesh, His\nblood to my blood, His divine soul to my poor sinful soul, in order to\nwalk, work and live in me and with me in the most perfect unity and\nintimacy!\n\nI passed the whole day and the greater part of the night in\ncontemplating the superhuman honors and dignities which my beloved\nChurch had conferred on me. Many times I fell on my knees to thank God\nfor His mercies towards me, and I could hardly speak to Him except with\ntears of joy and gratitude. I often repeated the words of the Holy\nVirgin Mary: \u201cMy soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice\nin God my Saviour.\u201d\n\nThe privileges granted to me were of a more substantial kind than those\nbestowed upon Mary. She had been obeyed by Christ _only_ when He was a\nchild. He had to obey me now, although He was in the full possession of\nHis eternal glory!\n\nIn the presence of God and His angels, I promised to live a holy life as\na token of my gratitude to Him. I said to my lips and my tongue, \u201cBe\nholy now; for you will not only speak to your God: you will give Him a\nnew birth every day!\u201d I said to my heart, \u201cBe holy and pure now; for you\nwill bear every day the Holy of Holies.\u201d To my soul I said, \u201cBe holy\nnow; for you will henceforth be most intimately and personally united to\nChrist Jesus. You will be fed with the body, blood, soul and divinity of\nHim before whom the angels do not find themselves pure enough!\u201d\n\nLooking on my table, where my pipe, filled with tobacco, and my\nsnuff-box were lying, I said: \u201cImpure and noxious weeds, you will no\nmore defile me! I am the priest of the Almighty. It is beneath my\ndignity to touch you any more!\u201d and opening the window I threw them into\nthe street, never to make use of them again.\n\nOn the 21st of September, 1833, I had thus been raised to the\npriesthood; but I had not yet made use of the divine powers with which I\nhad been invested. The next day I was to say my first Mass, and work\nthat incomparable miracle which the Church of Rome calls\nTRANSUBSTANTIATION.\n\nAs I have already said, I had passed the greater part of the night\nbetween the 21st and 22nd in meditation and thanksgivings. On the\nmorning of the 22nd, long before the dawn of day, I was dressed and on\nmy knees. This was to be the most holy and glorious day of my life!\nRaised the day before, to a dignity which was above the kingdoms and\nempires of the world, I was now for the first time, to work a miracle at\nthe altar which no angel or seraph could do.\n\nAt my bidding Christ was to receive a new existence! The miracle wrought\nby Joshua, when he commanded the sun and moon to stop, on the bloody\nplain of Gibeon, was nothing compared to the miracle that I was to\nperform that day. When the eternal Son of God would be in my hands, I\nwas to present myself at the throne of mercy, with that expiatory victim\nof the sins of the world pay the debt, not only of my guilty soul, but\nof all those for whom I should speak? The ineffable sacrifice of Calvary\nwas to be renewed by me that day with the utmost perfection!\n\nWhen the bell rang to tell me that the hour was come to clothe myself\nwith the golden priestly robes and go to the altar, my heart beat with\nsuch a rapidity that I came very near fainting. The holiness of the\naction I was to do, the infinite greatness of the sacrifice I was about\nto make, the divine victim I was to hold in my hands and present to God\nthe Father! the wonderful miracle I was to perform, filled my soul and\nmy heart with such sentiments of terror, joy and awe, that I was\ntrembling from head to foot; and if very kind friends, among whom was\nthe venerable secretary of the Archbishop of Quebec, now the Grand Vicar\nCazault, had not been there to help and encourage me, I think I would\nnot have dared to ascend the steps of the altar.\n\nIt is not an easy thing to go through all the ceremonies of a mass.\nThere are more than _one hundred different ceremonies and positions_ of\nthe body, which must be observed, with the utmost perfection. To omit\n_one_ of them willingly, or through a culpable neglect or ignorance, is\neternal damnation. But thanks to a dozen exercises through which I had\ngone the previous week, and thanks be to the kind friends who helped and\nguided me, I went through the performances of that first mass much more\neasily than I expected. It lasted about an hour. But when it was over, I\nwas really exhausted by the effort made to keep my mind and heart in\nunison with the infinite greatness of the mysteries accomplished by me.\n\nTo make one\u2019s self believe that he can convert a piece of bread into God\nrequires such a supreme effort of the will, and complete annihilation of\nintelligence, that the state of the soul, after the effort is over, is\nmore like death than life.\n\nI had really persuaded myself that I had done the most holy and sublime\naction of my life, when, in fact I had been guilty of the most\noutrageous act of idolatry! My eyes, my hands and lips, my mouth and\ntongue, and all my senses, as well as the faculties of my intelligence,\nwere telling me that what I had seen, touched, eaten, was nothing but a\nwafer; but the voices of the Pope and his Church were telling me that it\nwas the real body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. I had\npersuaded myself that the voices of my senses and intelligence were the\nvoices of Satan, and that the deceitful voice of the Pope was the voice\nof the God of Truth! Every priest of Rome has to come to that strange\ndegree of folly and perversity, every day of his life, to remain a\npriest of Rome.\n\nThe great imposture taught under the modern word TRANSUBSTANTIATION,\nwhen divested of the glare which Rome, by his sorceries, throws around\nit, is soon seen to be what it is\u2014a _most impious and idolatrous\ndoctrine_.\n\n\u201cI must carry the \u2018good god\u2019 to-morrow to a sick man,\u201d says the priest\nto his servant girl. In plain French: \u201cJe dois porter le \u2018Bon Dieu\u2019\ndemain a un malade, dit le praitre a sa servante; mais il n\u2019y en a plus\ndans le tabernacle.\u201d \u201cBut there are no more in the tabernacle. Make some\nsmall cakes, that I may consecrate them to-morrow.\u201d And the obedient\ndomestic takes some wheat flour, for no other kind of flour is fit to\nmake the god of the Pope. A mixture of any other kind would make the\nmiracle of \u201ctransubstantiation\u201d a great failure. The servant girl\naccordingly takes the dough, and bakes it between two heated irons, on\nwhich are graven the following figures, \u271d/C.H.S. When the whole is\nwell baked, she takes her scissors and cuts those wafers, which are\nabout four or five inches large, into smaller ones of the size of an\ninch, and respectfully hands them over to the priest.\n\nThe next morning the priest takes the newly-baked wafers to the altar,\nand changes them into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus\nChrist. It was one of those wafers that I had taken to the altar in that\nsolemn hour of my first mass, and which I had turned into my Saviour by\nthe five magical words\u2014HOC EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM!\n\nWhat was the difference between the incredible folly of Aaron on the day\nof his apostasy in the wilderness, and the action I had done when I\nworshipped the god whom I made myself, and got my friends to worship?\nWhere, I ask, is the difference between the adoration of the calf-god of\nAaron and the wafer-god which I had made on the 22nd September, 1833.\nThe only difference was, that the idolatry of Aaron lasted but one day,\nwhile the idolatry in which I lived lasted a quarter of a century, and\nhas been perpetuated in the Church of Rome for more than a thousand\nyears.\n\nWhat has the Church of Rome done by giving up the words of Christ, \u201cDo\nthis in remembrance of me,\u201d and substituting her dogma of\nTransubstantiation? She has brought the world back to the old\nheathenism. The priest of Rome worships a Saviour called Christ. Yes;\nbut that Christ is not the Christ of the gospel. It is a false and\nnewly-invented Christ whom the Popes have smuggled from the Pantheon of\nRome, and sacrilegiously called by the adorable name of our Saviour\nJesus Christ.\n\nI have often been asked: \u201cWas it possible that you sincerely believed\nthat the wafer could be changed into God by you?\u201d And, \u201cHave you really\nworshipped that wafer as your Saviour?\u201d\n\nTo my shame, and to the shame of poor humanity, I must say \u201cYes.\u201d I\nbelieved as sincerely as every Roman Catholic priest is bound to believe\nit, that I was creating my own Saviour-God every morning by the assumed\nconsecration of the wafer; and I was saying to the people, as I\npresented it to them, \u201cEcce agnus Dei\u201d\u2014\u201cThis is the Lamb of God, who\ntakes away the sins of the world; let us adore him\u201d\u2014prostrating myself\non my knees, I was adoring the God made by myself, with the help of my\nservant; and all the people prostrated themselves to adore the\nnewly-made god!\n\nI must confess, further, that though I was bound to believe in the\nexistence of Christ in heaven, and was invited by my Church to worship\nHim as my Saviour and my God, I had, as every Roman Catholic has, more\nconfidence, faith and love towards the Christ which I had created with a\nfew words of my lips, than towards the Christ of heaven.\n\nMy Church told me, every day of my life, and I had to believe and preach\nit, that though the Christ of heaven was my Saviour, He was angry\nagainst me on account of my sins; that He was constantly disposed to\npunish me according to His terrible justice; that He was armed with\nlightning and thunder to crush me; and that, were it not for His mother,\nwho day and night was interceding for me, I should be cast into that\nhell which my sins had so richly deserved. All the theologians, with St.\nLiguori at their head, whose writings I was earnestly studying, and\nwhich had received the approbation of infallible popes, persuaded me\nthat it was Mary whom I had to thank and bless, if I had not yet been\npunished as I deserved. Not only had I to believe this doctrine, but I\nhad to preach it to the people. The result was for me, as it is for\nevery Roman Catholic, that my heart was really chilled, and I was filled\nwith terror every time I looked to the Christ of heaven through the\nlights and teachings of my Church. He could not, as I believed, look to\nme except with an angry face; He could not stretch out His hand towards\nme except to crush me, unless His merciful mother or some other mighty\nsaint interposed their saving supplications to appease His just\nindignation. When I was praying to that Christ of the Church of Rome, my\nmind was constantly perplexed about the choice I should make of some\npowerful protector, whose influence could get me a favorable hearing\nfrom my irritated Saviour.\n\nBesides this, I was told, and I had to believe it, that the Christ of\nheaven was a mighty monarch, a most glorious king surrounded by\ninnumerable hosts of servants, officers and friends, and that, as it\nwould not do for a poor rebel to present himself before his irritated\nKing to get his pardon, but he must address himself to some of His most\ninfluential courtiers, or to His beloved mother, to whom nothing can be\nrefused, that they might plead his cause; so I sincerely believed that\nit was better for me not to speak myself to Jesus Christ, but to look\nfor some one who would speak for me.\n\nBut there would be no such terrors or fears in my heart when I\napproached the Saviour whom I had created myself! Such an humble and\ndefenceless Saviour, surely, had no thunder in His hands to punish His\nenemies. He could have no angry looks for me. He was my friend, as well\nas the work of my hands. There was nothing in Him which could inspire me\nwith any fear. Had I not brought Him down from heaven? And had He not\ncome into my hands that He might hear, bless and forgive me?\u2014that He\nmight be nearer to me, and I nearer to Him?\n\nWhen I was in His presence, in that solitary church, there was no need\nof officers, of courtiers, of mothers to speak to Him for me. He was no\nlonger there a mighty monarch, an angry king, who could be approached\nonly by the great officers of His court; He was now the rebuked of the\nworld, the humble and defenceless Saviour of the manger, the forsaken\nJesus of Calvary, the forgotten Christ of Gethsemane.\n\nNo words can give any idea of the pleasure I used to feel when, alone,\nprostrated before the Christ whom I had made at the morning mass, I\npoured out my heart at His feet. It is impossible for those who have not\nlived under those terrible illusions to understand with what confidence\nI spoke to the Christ who was then before me, bound by the ties of His\nlove for me! How many times, in the colder days of winter, in churches\nwhich had never seen any fire, with an atmosphere 15 degrees below zero,\nhad I passed whole hours alone, in adoration of the Saviour whom I had\nmade only a few hours before! How often have I looked with silent\nadmiration to the Divine Person who was there alone, passing the long\nhours of the day and night, rebuked and forsaken, that I might have an\nopportunity of approaching Him, and of speaking to Him as a friend to\nhis friend, as a repenting sinner to his merciful Saviour. My faith\u2014I\nshould rather say my awful delusion, was then so complete that I\nscarcely felt the biting of the cold! I may say with truth, that the\nhappiest hours I ever had, during the long years of darkness into which\nthe Church of Rome had plunged me, were the hours which I passed in\nadoring the Christ whom I had made with my own lips. And every priest of\nRome would make the same declaration, were they questioned on the\nsubject.\n\nIt is a similar principle of monstrous faith that leads widows in India\nto leap with cries of joy into the fire which will burn them into ashes\nwith the bodies of their deceased husbands. Their priests have assured\nthem that such a sacrifice will secure eternal happiness to themselves\nand their departed husbands.\n\nIn fact, the Roman Catholics have no other Saviour to whom they can\nbetake themselves than the one made by the consecration of the wafer. He\nis the only Saviour who is not angry with them, and who does not require\nthe mediation of virgins and saints to appease His wrath. This is the\nreason why Roman Catholic churches are so well filled by the poor blind\nRoman Catholics. See how they rush to the foot of their altars at almost\nevery hour of the day, sometimes long before the dawn! Go to some of\ntheir churches, even on a rainy and stormy morning, and you will see\ncrowds of worshippers, of every age and from every grade of society,\nbraving the storm and the rain, walking through the mud to pass an hour\nat the foot of their tabernacles!\n\nHow is it that the Roman Catholics, alone, offer such a spectacle to the\ncivilized world? The reason is very simple and plain. Every soul yearns\nfor a God to whom it can speak, and who will hear its supplications with\na merciful heart, and who will wipe away her penitential tears. Just as\nthe flowers of our gardens turn naturally towards the sun which gives\nthem their color, their fragrance and their life, so every soul wants a\nSaviour who is not angry but merciful towards those who come unto Him\u2014A\nSaviour who will say to the weary and heavy laden: \u201cCome unto me, and I\nwill give you rest.\u201d\u2014A God, in fine, who is not armed with Thunder and\nLightning, and does not require to be approached only by saints, virgins\nand martyrs; but who, through his son Jesus, is the real, the true and\nthe only friend of Sinners.\n\nWhen the people think that there is such a God,\u2014such a loving Saviour to\nbe found in the tabernacle, it is but natural that they should brave the\nstorms and the rains, to worship at his feet, to receive the pardon of\ntheir sins.\n\nThe children of light, the disciples of the gospel, who protest against\nthe errors of Rome, know that their Heavenly Father is _everywhere_\nready to hear, forgive and help them. They know that it is no more \u201cat\nJerusalem, nor on this or that mountain,\u201d or at church that God wants to\nbe worshipped (John iv. 21.) They know that their Saviour liveth, and is\neverywhere ready to hear those who invoke His name; that He is no more\nin that desert, or in that secret chamber (Matt. xxiv.) They know that\nHe is everywhere\u2014that He is ever near to those who look to his bleeding\nwounds and want to wash their robes in His blood. They find Jesus in\ntheir most secret closets when they enter them to pray;\u2014they meet Him\nand converse with Him when in the fields, behind the counter, traveling\non railroads or steamers\u2014everywhere they meet with Him, and speak to Him\nas friend to friend.\n\nIt is not so with the followers of the Pope. They are told contrary to\nthe gospel (Matt. xxiv. 22.), that Christ is in this Church\u2014in that\nsecret chamber or tabernacle! Cruelly deceived by their priests, they\nrun, they brave the storms to go as near as possible to that place where\ntheir merciful Christ lives. They go to the Christ who will give them a\nhearty welcome, who will listen to their humble prayers, and be\ncompassionate to their tears of repentance.\n\nLet Protestants cease to admire poor deluded Roman Catholics who dare\nthe storm and go to church even before the dawn of day. This devotion,\nwhich so dazzles them, should excite compassion, and not admiration; for\nit is the logical result of the most awful spiritual darkness. It is the\noffspring of the greatest imposture the world has ever seen, it is the\nnatural consequence of the belief that the priest of Rome can create\nChrist and God by the consecration of a wafer, and keep Him in a secret\nchamber.\n\nThe Egyptians worshipped God under the form of crocodiles and calves:\nThe Greeks made their gods of marble or of gold: The Persian made the\nsun his god: The Hottentots make their gods with whale-bone, and go far\nthrough the storms to adore them: The Church of Rome makes her god out\nof a piece of bread! Is this not idolatry?\n\nFrom the year 1833, to the day that God in his mercy opened my eyes, my\nservant had used more than a bushel of wheat flour, to make the little\ncakes which I had to convert into the Christ of the mass. Some of these\nI ate; others I carried about with me for the sick; and others I placed\nin the tabernacle for the adoration of the people.\n\nI am often asked:\u2014\u201cHow is it that you could be guilty of such a gross\nact of idolatry?\u201d My only answer is the answer of the blind man of the\ngospel: \u201cI know not, only this one thing I know, that I was blind, and\ncould not see. But Jesus has touched my eyes and now I see.\u201d (John ix.\nii).\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XVIII.\n\nNINE STARTLING CONSEQUENCES OF THE DOGMA OF TRANSUBSTANTIATION\u2014THE OLD\n PAGANISM UNDER A CHRISTIAN NAME.\n\n\nOn the day of my ordination to the priesthood, I had to believe, with\nall the priests of Rome, that it was within the limits of my powers to\ngo into all the bakeries of Quebec, and change all the loaves and\nbiscuits in that old city, into the body, blood, soul and divinity of\nour Lord Jesus Christ, by pronouncing over them the five words: HOC EST\nENIM CORPUS MEUM. Nothing would have remained of these loaves and\nbiscuits but the smell, the color, the taste.\n\n2. Every bishop and priest of the cities of New York and Boston,\nChicago, Montreal, Paris and London, etc., firmly believes and teaches\nthat he has the power to turn all the loaves of their cities, of their\ndioceses, nay, of the whole world, into the body, blood, soul and\ndivinity of our Saviour Jesus Christ. And, though they have never yet\nfound it advisable to do that wonderful miracle, they consider, and say,\nthat to entertain any doubt about the power to perform that marvel, is\nas criminal as to entertain any doubt about the existence of God.\n\n3. When in the Seminary of Nicolet, I heard, several times, our\nSuperior, the Rev. Mr. Raimbault, tell us that a French priest having\nbeen condemned to death in Paris, when dragged to the scaffold had,\nthrough revenge, consecrated and changed into Jesus Christ all the\nloaves of the bakeries of that great city which were along the streets\nthrough which he had to pass; and though our learned superior condemned\nthat action in the strongest terms, yet he told us that the consecration\nwas valid, and that the loaves were really changed into the body, blood,\nsoul and divinity of the Saviour of the world. And I was bound to\nbelieve it under pain of eternal damnation.\n\n4. Before my ordination I had been obliged to learn by heart, in one of\nthe most sacred books of the Church of Rome, (Missale Romanism, p. 63)\nthe following statement: \u201cIf, after the consecration, the consecrated\nbread disappear, taken away by the wind, or through any miracle; or\ndragged away by an animal, let the priest take a new bread, consecrate\nit, and continue his mass.\u201d\n\nAnd at page 57 I had learned, \u201cIf a fly or spider fall into the chalice,\nafter the consecration, let the priest take and eat it, if he does not\nfeel an insurmountable repugnance; but if he cannot swallow it, let him\nwash it and burn it and throw the ashes into the sacrarium.\u201d\n\n5. In the month of January, 1834, I heard the following fact from the\nRev. Mr. Paquette, curate of St. Gervais, at a grand dinner which he had\ngiven to the neighboring priests:\n\n\u201cWhen young, I was the vicar of a curate who could eat as much as two of\nus, and drink as much as _four_. He was tall and strong, and he has left\nthe dark marks of his hard fists on the nose of more than one of his\nbeloved sheep; for his anger was really terrible after he drank his\nbottle of wine.\n\n\u201cOne day, after a sumptuous dinner, he was called to carry the good god\n(Le Bon Dieu), to a dying man. It was mid-winter. The cold was intense.\nThe wind was blowing hard. There was at least five or six feet of snow,\nand the roads were almost impassable. It was really a serious matter to\ntravel nine miles on such a day, but there was no help. The messenger\nwas one of the first marguilliers (elders) who was very pressing, and\nthe dying man was one of the first citizens of the place. The curate,\nafter a few grumblings, drank a tumbler of good Jamaica with his\nmarguillier as a preventative against the cold, went to church, took the\ngood god (Le Bon Dieu), and threw himself into the sleigh; wrapped as\nwell as possible in his large buffalo robes.\n\n\u201cThough there were two horses, one before the other, to drag the sleigh,\nthe journey was a long and tedious one, which was made still worse by an\nunlucky circumstance. They were met half-way by another traveler coming\nfrom the opposite direction. The road was too narrow to allow the two\nsleighs and horses to remain easily on firm ground when passing by each\nother, and it would have required a good deal of skill and patience in\ndriving the horses to prevent them from falling into the soft snow. It\nis well known that when once horses are sunk into five or six feet of\nsnow, the more they struggle the deeper they sink.\n\n\u201cThe marguillier, who was carrying the \u2018good god,\u2019 with the cure,\nnaturally hoped to have the privilege of keeping the middle of the road\nand escaping the danger of getting his horses wounded, and his sleigh\nbroken. He cried to the other traveler, in a high tone of authority:\n\u201cTraveler! let me have the road. Turn your horses into the snow! Make\nhaste, I am in a hurry. I carry the good god!\u201d\n\n\u201cUnfortunately the traveler was a heretic, who cared much more for his\nhorses than for the \u201cgood god.\u201d He answered:\n\n\u201cLe Diable emporte ton Bon Dieu avant que je ne casse le cou de mon\ncheval!\u201d \u201cThe devil take your god before I consent to break the neck of\nmy horse. If your god has not taught you the rules of law and of common\nsense, I will give you a free lecture on that matter,\u201d and jumping out\nof his sleigh, he took the reins of the front horse of the marguillier\nto help him to walk on the side of the road, and keep the half of it for\nhimself.\n\n\u201cBut the marguillier, who was naturally a very impatient and fearless\nman, had drank too much with my curate, before he left the parsonage, to\nkeep cool, as he ought to have done. He also jumped out of his sleigh,\nran to the stranger, took his cravat in his left hand and raised his\nright one to strike him in the face.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately for him, the heretic seemed to have foreseen all this. He\nhad left his overcoat in the sleigh and was more ready for the conflict\nthan his assailant. He was also a real giant in size and strength. As\nquick as lightning his right and left fists fell like iron masses on the\nface of the poor marguillier, and threw him on his back in the soft\nsnow, where he almost disappeared.\n\n\u201cTill then the curate had been a silent spectator; but the sight and the\ncries of his friend, whom the stranger was pommelling without mercy,\nmade him lose his patience. Taking the little silk bag which contained\nthe \u2018good god\u2019 from about his neck, where it was tied, he put it on the\nseat of the sleigh, and said: \u2018Dear good god! Please remain neutral; I\nmust help my marguillier! Take no part in this conflict, and I will\npunish that infamous Protestant as he deserves.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut the unfortunate marguillier was entirely put _hors de combat_\nbefore the curate could go to his help. His face was horribly cut\u2014three\nteeth were broken\u2014the lower jaw dislocated, and the eyes were so\nterribly damaged that it took several days before he could see anything.\n\n\u201cWhen the heretic saw the priest coming to renew the battle, he threw\ndown his other coat to be freer in his movements. The curate had not\nbeen so wise. Relying too much on his herculean strength, covered with\nhis heavy overcoat, on which was his white surplice, he threw himself on\nthe stranger, like a big rock which falls from the mountain and rolls\nupon the oak below.\n\n\u201cBoth of these combatants were real giants, and the first blows must\nhave been terrible on both sides. But the \u2018infamous heretic\u2019 probably\nhad not drank so much as my curate before leaving home, or perhaps he\nwas more expert in the exchange of these bloody jokes. The battle was\nlong and the blood flowed pretty freely on both sides. The cries of the\ncombatants might have been heard at a long distance, were it not for the\nroaring noise of the wind, which at that instant was blowing a\nhurricane.\n\n\u201cThe storm, the cries, the blows, the blood, the surplice and the\novercoat of the priest torn to rags, the shirt of the stranger reddened\nwith gore, made such a terrible spectacle, that in the end the horses of\nthe marguillier, though well-trained animals, took fright and threw\nthemselves into the snow, turned their backs to the storm and made for\nhome. They dragged the fragments of the upset sleigh a pretty long\ndistance, and arrived at the door of their stable with only some\ndiminutive parts of the harness.\n\n\u201cThe \u2018good god\u2019 had evidently heard the prayer of my curate, and he had\nremained neutral; at all events he had not taken the part of his priest,\nfor he lost the day, and the infamous Protestant remained master of the\nbattle-field.\n\n\u201cThe curate had to help his marguillier out of the snow in which he was\nburied, and where he had lain like a slaughtered ox. Both had to walk,\nor rather crawl, nearly half a mile in snow to their knees, before they\ncould reach the nearest farmhouse, where they arrived when it was dark.\n\n\u201cBut the worst is not told. You remember when my curate had put the box\ncontaining the \u2018good god\u2019 on the seat of the sleigh, before going to\nfight. The horses had dragged the sleigh a certain distance, upset and\nsmashed it. The little silk bag, with the silver box and its precious\ncontents, was lost in the snow, and though several hundred people had\nlooked for it, several days at different times, it could not be found.\nIt was only late in the month of June, that a little boy, seeing some\nrags in the mud of the ditch, along the highway, lifted them and a\nlittle silver box fell out. Suspecting that it was what the people had\nlooked for so many days during the last winter, he took it to the\nparsonage.\n\n\u201cI was there when it was opened; we had the hope that the \u2018good god\u2019\nwould be found pretty intact, but we were doomed to be disappointed,\n_The good god was entirely melted away. Le Bon Dieu etait fondu!_\u201d\n\nDuring the recital of that spicy story, which was told in the most\namusing and comical way, the priests had drunk freely and laughed\nheartily. But when the conclusion came: \u201cLe Bon Dieu etait fondu!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe good god was melted away!\u201d There was a burst of laughter such as I\nnever heard\u2014the priests striking the floor with their feet, and the\ntable with their hands, filled the house with the cries, \u201cThe good god\nmelted away!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe good god melted away!\u201d\n\n\u201cLe Bon Dieu est fondu!\u201d \u201cLe Bon Dieu est fondu!\u201d Yes, the god of Rome,\ndragged away by a drunken priest, and really melted away in the muddy\nditch. This glorious fact was proclaimed by his own priests in the midst\nof convulsive laughter, and at tables covered with scores of bottles\njust emptied by them!\n\n6. About the middle of March, 1839, I had one of the most unfortunate\ndays of my Roman Catholic priestly life. At about two o\u2019clock in the\nafternoon, a poor Irishman had come in haste from beyond the high\nmountains, between Lake Beauport and the river Morency, to ask me to go\nand anoint a dying woman. It took me ten minutes to run to the church,\nput the \u201cgood god\u201d in the little silver box, shut the whole in my vest\npocket and jump into the Irishman\u2019s rough sleigh. The roads were\nexceedingly bad, and we had to go very slowly. At 7 p. m. we were yet\nmore than three miles from the sick woman\u2019s house. It was very dark, and\nthe horse was so exhausted that it was impossible to go any further\nthrough the gloomy forest. I determined to pass the night at a poor\nIrish cabin which was near the road. I knocked at the door, asked\nhospitality, and was welcomed with that warm-hearted demonstration of\nrespect which the Roman Catholic Irishman knows, better than any other\nman, how to pay to his priests.\n\nThe shanty, twenty-four feet long by sixteen wide, was built with round\nlogs, between which a liberal supply of clay, instead of mortar had been\nthrown, to prevent the wind and cold from entering. Six fat, though not\nabsolutely well-washed, healthy boys and girls, half-naked, presented\nthemselves around their good parents as the living witnesses that this\ncabin, in spite of its ugly appearance, was really a happy home for its\ndwellers.\n\nBesides the eight human beings sheltered beneath that hospitable roof, I\nsaw, at one end, a magnificent cow with her newborn calf, and two fine\npigs. These two last boarders were separated from the rest of the family\nonly by a branch partition two or three feet high.\n\n\u201cPlease your reverence,\u201d said the good woman, after she had prepared our\nsupper, \u201cexcuse our poverty, but be sure that we feel happy and much\nhonored to have you in our humble dwelling for the night. My only regret\nis that we have only potatoes, milk and butter to give you for your\nsupper. In these backwoods, tea, sugar and wheat flour are unknown\nluxuries.\u201d\n\nI thanked that good woman for her hospitality, and caused her to rejoice\nnot a little by assuring her that good potatoes, fresh butter and milk,\nwere the best delicacies which could be offered to me in any place. I\nsat at the table and ate one of the most delicious suppers of my life.\nThe potatoes were exceedingly well-cooked\u2014the butter cream and milk of\nthe best quality, and my appetite was not a little sharpened by the long\njourney over the steep mountains.\n\nI had not told these good people, nor even my driver, that I had \u201cLe bon\nDieu,\u201d the good god, with me in my vest pocket. It would have made them\ntoo uneasy, and would have added too much to my other difficulties. When\nthe time of sleeping arrived, I went to bed with all my clothing, and\nslept well; for I was very tired by the tedious and broken roads from\nBeauport to these distant mountains.\n\nNext morning, before breakfast and the dawn of day, I was up, and as\nsoon as we had a glimpse of light to see our way, I left for the house\nof the sick woman, after offering a silent prayer.\n\nI had not traveled a quarter of a mile when I put my hand into my vest\npocket, and to my indescribable dismay, I found that the little silver\nbox containing the \u201cgood god\u201d was missing. A cold sweat ran through my\nframe. I told my driver to stop and turn back immediately, that I had\nlost something which might be found in the bed where I had slept. It did\nnot take five minutes to retrace our way.\n\nOn opening the door I found the poor woman and her husband almost\nbesides themselves, and distressed beyond measure. They were pale and\ntrembling as criminals who expected to be condemned.\n\n\u201cDid you not find a little silver box after I left?\u201d I said.\n\n\u201cO, my God!\u201d answered the desolate woman, \u201cYes, I have found it, but\nwould to God I had never seen it. There it is.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut why do you regret finding it, when I am too happy to find it here,\nsafe in your hands?\u201d I replied.\n\n\u201cAh! your reverence, you do not know what a terrible misfortune has just\nhappened to me not more than half a minute before you knocked at the\ndoor.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat misfortune can have fallen upon you in so short a time,\u201d I\nanswered.\n\n\u201cWell, please your reverence, open the little box and you will\nunderstand me.\u201d\n\nI opened it, but the \u201cgood god\u201d was not in it!! Looking in the face of\nthe poor distressed woman, I asked her, \u201cWhat does this mean? It is\nempty!\u201d\n\n\u201cIt means,\u201d answered she, \u201cthat I am the most unfortunate of women! Not\nmore than five minutes after you had left the house, I went to your bed\nand found that little box. Not knowing what it was, I showed it to my\nchildren and to my husband. I asked him to open it, but he refused to do\nit. I then turned it on every side, trying to guess what it could\ncontain; till the devil tempted me so much that I determined to open it.\nI came to this corner, where this pale lamp is used to remain on that\nlittle shelf, and I opened it. But, O, my God; I do not dare to tell the\nrest.\u201d\n\nAt these words she fell on the floor in a fit of nervous excitement\u2014her\ncries were piercing, her mouth was foaming. She was cruelly tearing her\nhair with her own hands. The shrieks and lamentations of the children\nwere so distressing that I could hardly prevent myself from crying also.\n\nAfter a few moments of the most agonizing anxiety, seeing that the poor\nwoman was becoming calm, I addressed myself to the husband, and said:\n\u201cPlease give me the explanation of these strange things?\u201d\n\nHe could hardly speak at first, but as I was very pressing, he told me\nwith a trembling voice: \u201cPlease your reverence; look into that vessel\nthat the children use, and you will perhaps understand our desolation!\nWhen my wife opened the little silver box, she did not observe the\nvessel was there, just beneath her hands. In the opening, what was in\nthe silver box fell into that vase, and sank! We were all filled with\nconsternation when you knocked at the door and entered.\u201d\n\nI felt struck with such unspeakable horror at the thought that the body,\nblood, soul and divinity of my Saviour, Jesus Christ, was there, sunk\ninto that vase, that I remained speechless, and for a long time did not\nknow what to do. At first it came to my mind to plunge my hands into the\nvase and try to get my Saviour out of that sepulchre of ignominy. But I\ncould not muster courage to do so.\n\nAt last I requested the poor desolated family to dig a hole three feet\ndeep in the ground, and deposit it, with its contents, and I left the\nhouse, after I had forbidden them from ever saying a word about that\nawful calamity.\n\n7. In one of the most sacred books of the laws and regulations of the\nChurch of Rome (Missale Romanism), we read, page 58, \u201cIf the priest\nafter the communion vomit, and that in the vomited matter the\nconsecrated bread appears, let him swallow what he has vomited. But if\nhe feels too much repugnance to swallow it, let him separate the body of\nChrist (the consecrated bread), from the vomited matter, till it be\nentirely corrupted, and then throw it into the sacrarium.\u201d\n\n8. When a priest of Rome, I was bound, with all the Roman Catholics, to\nbelieve that Christ had taken His own body, with his own hand to His\nmouth! and that he had eaten Himself, not in a spiritual, but in a\nsubstantial, material way! After eating himself, he had given himself to\neach one of his apostles, who then ate him also!!\n\n9. Before closing this chapter, let the reader allow me to ask him, if\nthe world in its darkest ages of paganism has ever witnessed such a\nsystem of idolatry, so debasing, impious, ridiculous and diabolical in\nits consequences as the Church of Rome teaches in the dogma of\ntransubstantiation!\n\nWhen, with the light of the gospel in hand, the Christian goes into\nthose horrible recesses of superstition, folly and impiety, he can\nhardly believe what his eyes see and his ears hear. It seems impossible\nthat men can consent to worship a god whom the rats can eat! A god who\ncan be dragged away and lost in a muddy ditch by a drunken priest! A god\nwho can be eaten, vomited, and eaten again by those who are courageous\nenough to eat again what they have vomited!!\n\nThe religion of Rome is not a religion: it is the mockery, the\ndestruction, the ignominious carricature of religion. The Church of\nRome, as a public fact, is nothing but the accomplishment of the awful\nprophecy: \u201cBecause they receive not the love of the truth that they\nmight be saved, God shall send them strong delusions that they might\nbelieve a lie.\u201d (2 Thess. ii. x. xi.)\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIX.\n\n VICARAGE AND LIFE AT ST. CHARLES, RIVIERRE BOYER.\n\n\nOn the 24th September, 1833, Rev. Mr. Casault, secretary of the bishop\nof Quebec, presented to me the official letters which named me the vicar\nof the Rev. Mr. Perras, arch-priest, and curate of St. Charles, Rivierre\nBoyer, and I was soon on my way, with a cheerful heart, to fill the post\nassigned to me by my superior.\n\nThe parish of St. Charles is beautifully situated about twenty miles\nsouth-west of Quebec, on the banks of a river, which flows in its very\nmidst, from north to south. Its large farm-houses and barns, neatly\nwhite-washed with lime, were the symbols of peace and comfort. The\nvandal axe had not yet destroyed the centenary forests which covered the\ncountry. On almost every farm a splendid grove of maples had been\nreserved as the witness of the intelligence and taste of the people.\n\nI had often heard of the Rev. Mr. Perras, as one of the most learned,\npious and venerable priests of Canada. I had even been told that several\nof the governors of Quebec had chosen him for the French teacher of\ntheir children. When I arrived he was absent on a sick call, but his\nsister received me with every mark of refined politeness. Under the\nburden of her five and fifty years she had kept all the freshness and\namiability of youth. After a few words of welcome, she showed me my\nstudy and sleeping room. They were both perfumed with the fragrance of\ntwo magnificent bouquets of the choicest flowers, on the top of one of\nwhich was written the words: \u201cWelcome to the angel whom the Lord sends\nto us as his messenger.\u201d The two rooms were the perfection of neatness\nand comfort. I shut the doors and fell on my knees to thank God and the\nblessed Virgin for having given me such a home. Ten minutes later I came\nback to the large parlor, where I found Miss Perras waiting for me, to\noffer me a glass of wine and some excellent \u201cpain de savoie,\u201d as it was\nthe universal custom, then, to do in every respectable house. She then\ntold me how her brother, the curate, and herself were happy when they\nheard that I was to come and live with them. She had known my mother\nbefore her marriage, and she told me how she had passed several happy\ndays in her company.\n\nShe could not speak to me of any subject more interesting, than my\nmother; for, though she had died a few years before, she had never\nceased to be present to my mind, and near and dear to my heart.\n\nMiss Perras had not spoken long when the curate arrived. I rose to meet\nhim, but it is impossible to adequately express what I felt at that\nmoment. The Israelites were hardly struck with more awe when they saw\nMoses coming down from Mount Sinai, than I was at the first sight I had\nof that venerable man.\n\nRev. Mr. Perras was then about sixty-five years old. He was a tall\nman\u2014almost a giant. No army officer, no king ever bore his head with\nmore dignity. But his beautiful blue eyes, which were the embodiment of\nkindness, tempered the dignity of his mien. His hair, which was\nbeginning to whiten, had not yet lost its golden lustre. It seemed as if\nsilver and gold were mixed on his head to adorn and beautify it. There\nwas on his face an expression of peace, calm, piety and kindness, which\nentirely won my heart and respect. When, with a smile on his lips, he\nextended his hands towards me, I felt beside myself, I fell on my knees\nand said: \u201cMr. Perras, God sends me to you that you may be my teacher\nand my father. You will have to guide my first and inexperienced steps\nin the holy ministry. Do bless me and pray that I may be a good priest\nas you are yourself.\u201d\n\nThat unpremeditated and earnest act of mine, so touched the good old\npriest, that he could hardly speak. Leaning towards me, he raised me up\nand pressed me to his bosom, and with a voice trembling with emotion he\nsaid, \u201cMay God bless you, my dear sir, and may he also be blessed for\nhaving chosen you to help me carry the burden of the holy ministry in my\nold age.\u201d After half-an-hour of the most interesting conversation, he\nshowed me his library, which was very large and composed of the best\nbooks which a priest of Rome is allowed to read; and he very kindly put\nit at my service.\n\nNext morning, after breakfast, he handed me a large and neat sheet of\npaper, headed by these latin words:\n\n \u201cORDO DUCIT AD DEUM.\u201d\n\nIt was the rule of life which he had imposed upon himself, to guide all\nthe hours of the day in such a way that not a moment could be given to\nidleness or vain pastime.\n\n\u201cWould you be kind enough,\u201d he said, \u201cto read this and tell me if it\nsuits your views? I have found great spiritual and temporal benefits in\nfollowing these rules of life, and would be very happy if my dear young\ncoadjutor would unite with me in walking in the ways of an orderly,\nChristian and priestly life.\n\nI read this document with interest and pleasure, and handed it back to\nhim saying: \u201cI will be very happy, with the help of God, to follow with\nyou the wise rules set down here for a holy and priestly life.\u201d\n\nThinking that these rules might be interesting to the reader, I give\nthem here in full:\n\n 1. Rising, 5.30 a. m.\n\n 2. Prayer and meditation 6 to 6.30 a. m.\n\n 3. Mass, hearing confession and recitation of\n brevarium 6.30 to 8 a. m.\n\n 4. Breakfast 8 a. m.\n\n 5. Visitation of the sick, and reading the lives of 8.30 to 10 a.\n the saints m.\n\n 6. Study of philosophical, historical, or\n theological books 11 a. m. to 12.\n\n 7. Dinner 12 to 12.30.\n\n 8. Recreation and conversation 12.30 to 1.30.\n\n 9. Recitation of vespers 1.30 to 2 p. m.\n\n 10. Study of history, theology or philosophy 2 to 4 p. m.\n\n 11. Visit to the holy sacrament and reading\n \u201cImitation of Jesus Christ,\u201d 4 to 4.30 p. m.\n\n 12. Hearing of confessions, or visit to the sick, or\n study 4.30 to 6 p. m.\n\n 13. Supper 6 to 6.30 p. m.\n\n 14. Recreation 6.30 to 8 p. m.\n\n 15. Chaplet\u2014reading of the Holy Scriptures and\n prayer 8 to 9 p. m.\n\n 16. Going to bed 9 p. m.\n\nSuch was our daily life during the eight months which it was my\nprivilege to remain with the venerable Mr. Perras, except that Thursdays\nwere invariably given to visit some of the neighboring curates, and the\nSabbath days spent in hearing confessions, and performing the public\nservices of the church.\n\nThe conversation of Mr. Perras was generally exceedingly interesting. I\nnever heard from him any idle, frivolous talking, as it is so much the\nhabit among the priests. He was well versed in the literature,\nphilosophy, history and theology of Rome. He had personally known almost\nall the bishops and priests of the last fifty years, and his memory was\nwell stored with anecdotes and facts concerning the clergy, from almost\nthe days of the conquest of Canada. I could write many interesting\nthings, were I to publish what I heard from him, concerning the doings\nof the clergy. I will only give two or three of the facts of that\ninteresting period of the church in Canada.\n\nA couple of months before my arrival at St. Charles, the vicar who\npreceded me, called Lajus, had publicly eloped with one of his beautiful\npenitents, who, after three months of public scandal, had repented and\ncome back to her heart-broken parents. About the same time a neighboring\ncurate, in whom I had great confidence, compromised himself also, with\none of his fair parishioners, in a most shameful, though less public\nway. These two scandals, which came to my knowledge almost at the same\ntime, distressed me exceedingly, and for nearly a week I felt so\noverwhelmed with shame, that I dreaded to show my face in public, and I\nalmost regretted that I ever became a priest. My nights were sleepless;\nthe best viands of the table had lost their relish. I could hardly eat\nanything. My conversations with Mr. Perras had lost their charms. I even\ncould hardly talk with him or anybody else.\n\n\u201cAre you sick, my young friend?\u201d said he to me one day.\n\n\u201cNo, sir, I am not sick, but I am sad.\u201d\n\nHe replied, \u201cCan I know the cause of your sadness? You used to be so\ncheerful and happy since you came here. I must bring you back to your\nformer happy frame of mind. Please tell me what is the matter with you?\nI am an old man and I know many remedies for the soul as well as for the\nbody. Open your heart to me, and I hope soon to see that dark cloud\nwhich is over you pass away.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe two last awful scandals given by the priests,\u201d I answered, \u201care the\ncause of my sadness. The news of the fall of these two confreres, one of\nwhom seemed to me so respectable, has fallen upon me like a thunderbolt.\nThough I had heard something of that nature when I was a simple\necclesiastic in the college, I had not the least idea that such was the\nlife of so many priests. The fact of the human frailty of so many, is\nreally distressing. How can one hope to stand up on one\u2019s feet when he\nsees such strong men fall by one\u2019s side? What will become of our holy\nchurch in Canada, and all over the world, if her most devoted priests\nare so weak and have so little self-respect, and so little fear of God?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear young friend,\u201d answered Mr. Perras, \u201cOur holy church is\ninfallible. The gates of hell can not prevail against her; but the\nassurance of her perpetuity and infallibility does not rest on any human\nfoundation. It does not rest on the personal holiness of her priests;\nbut it rests on the promises of Jesus Christ. Her perpetuity and\ninfallibility are a perpetual miracle. It requires the constant working\nof Jesus Christ to keep her pure and holy, in spite of the sins and\nscandals of her priests. Even the clearest proof that our holy church\nhas a promise of perpetuity and infallibility, is drawn from the very\nsins and scandals of her priests; for those sins and scandals would have\ndestroyed her long ago, if Christ was not in the midst to save and\nsustain her. Just as the ark of Noah was miraculously saved by the\nmighty hand of God, when the waters of the deluge would otherwise have\nwrecked it, so our holy church is miraculously prevented from perishing\nin the flood of iniquities by which too many priests have deluged the\nworld. By the great mercy and power of God, the more the waters of the\ndeluge were flowing on the earth, the more the ark was raised towards\nheaven by these very waters. So it is with our holy church. The very\nsins of the priests make that spotless spouse of Jesus Christ fly away\nhigher and higher towards the regions of holiness, as it is in God. Let,\ntherefore, your faith and confidence in our holy church, and your\nrespect for her, remain firm and unshaken in the midst of all these\nscandals. Let your zeal be rekindled for her glory and extension, at the\nsight of the unfortunate confreres who yield to the attacks of the\nenemy. Just as the valiant soldier makes superhuman efforts to save the\nflag, when he sees those who carried it fall on the battle-field. Oh!\nyou will see more of our flag-bearers slaughtered before you reach my\nage. But be not disheartened or shaken by that sad spectacle; for once\nmore our holy church will stand forever, in spite of all those human\nmiseries, for her strength and her infallibility do not lie in men, but\nin Jesus Christ, whose promises will stand in spite of all the efforts\nof hell.\n\n\u201cI am near the end of my course, and thanks be to God, my faith in our\nholy church is stronger than ever, though I have seen and heard many\nthings, compared with which, the facts which just now distress you are\nmere trifles. In order the better to inure you to the conflict, and to\nprepare you to hear and see more deplorable things than what is now\ntroubling you, I think it is my duty to tell you a fact which I got from\nthe late Lord Bishop Plessis. I have never revealed it to anybody, but\nmy interest in you is so great that I will tell it to you, and my\nconfidence in your wisdom is so absolute, that I am sure you will never\nabuse it. What I will reveal to you is of such a nature that we must\nkeep it among ourselves, and never let it be known to the people, for it\nwould diminish, if not destroy, their respect and confidence in us,\nrespect and confidence, without which, it would become almost impossible\nto lead them.\n\n\u201cI have already told you that the late venerable Bishop Plessis was my\npersonal friend. Our intimacy had sprung up when we were studying under\nthe same roof in the seminary of St. Sulpice, Montreal, and it had\nincreased year after year till the last hour of his life. Every summer,\nwhen he had reached the end of the three months of episcopal visitation\nof his diocese, he used to come and spend eight or ten days of absolute\nrest and enjoyment of private and solitary life with me, in this\nparsonage. The two rooms you occupy were his, and he told me many times\nthat the happiest days of his episcopal life were those passed in this\nsolitude.\n\n\u201cOne day he had come from his three months\u2019 visit, more worn out than\never, and when I sat down with him in this parlor, I was almost\nfrightened by the air of distress which covered his face. Instead of\nfinding him the loquacious, amiable and cheerful guest I used to have in\nhim, he was taciturn, cast down, distressed. I felt really uneasy for\nthe first time, in his presence, but as it was the last hour of the day,\nI supposed that this was due to his extreme fatigue, and I hoped that\nthe rest of the night would bring about such a change in my venerable\nfriend, that I would find him the next morning, what he used to be, the\nmost amiable and interesting of men.\n\n\u201cI was, myself, completely worn out. I had traveled nearly thirty miles\nthat day, to go to receive him at St. Thomas. The heat was oppressive,\nthe roads very bad, and the dust awful. I was in need of rest, and I was\nhardly in my bed, when I fell into a profound sleep, and slept till\nthree o\u2019clock in the morning. I was then suddenly awakened by sobs and\nhalf-suppressed lamentations and prayers, which were evidently coming\nfrom the bishop\u2019s room. Without losing a moment, I went and knocked at\nthe door, inquiring about the cause of these sobs. Evidently the poor\nbishop had not suspected that I could hear him.\n\n\u201c\u2018Sobs! Sobs!\u2019 he answered, \u2018What do you mean by that. Please go back to\nyour room and sleep. Do not trouble yourself about me, I am well,\u2019 and\nhe absolutely refused to open the door of his room. The remaining hours\nof the night, of course, were sleepless ones for me. The sobs of the\nbishop were more suppressed, but he could not sufficiently suppress them\nto prevent me from hearing them. The next morning his eyes were reddened\nwith weeping, and his face was that of one who had suffered intensely\nall the night. After breakfast I said to him: \u201cMy lord, last night has\nbeen one of desolation to your lordship; for God\u2019s sake, and in the name\nof the sacred ties of friendship, which has united us during so many\nyears, please tell me what is the cause of your sorrow. It will become\nless the very moment you share it with your friend.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe bishop answered me: \u2018You are right when you think that I am under\nthe burden of a great desolation; but its cause is of such a nature,\nthat I cannot reveal it even to you, my dear friend. It is only at the\nfeet of Jesus Christ and His holy mother, that I must go to unburden my\nheart. If God does not come to my help, it is sure that I must die from\nit. But I will carry with me into my grave, the awful mystery which\nkills me.\u2019\n\n\u201cIn vain, during the rest of the day, I did all that I could to persuade\nMonseigneur Plessis to reveal the cause of his grief. I failed. At last,\nthrough respect for him, I withdrew to my own room, and left him alone,\nknowing that solitude is sometimes the best friend of a desolated mind.\nHis lordship, that evening, withdrew to his sleeping room sooner than\nusual, and I retired to my room much later. But sleep was out of the\nquestion for me that night, for his desolation seemed to be so great,\nand his tears so abundant, that when he bade me \u2018good night,\u2019 I was in\nfear of finding my venerable, and more than ever dear friend, dead in\nhis bed the next morning. I watched him, without closing my eyes, from\nthe adjoining room, from ten o\u2019clock till the next morning. Though it\nwas evident that he was making great efforts to suppress his sobs, I\ncould see that his sorrow was still more intense that night, than the\nlast one, and my mental agony was not much less than his, during those\ndistressing hours.\n\n\u201cBut I formed an extreme resolution, which I put into effect the very\nmoment that he came out of his room the next morning, to salute me.\n\n\u201c\u2018My Lord,\u2019 said I, \u2018I thought till the night before last, that you\nhonored me with your friendship, but I see to-day that I was mistaken.\nYou do not consider me as your friend, for if you would look upon me as\na friend worthy of your confidence, you would unburden your heart unto\nmine. A true friend has no secret from a true friend. What is the use of\nfriendship if it be not to help each other to carry the burdens of life!\nI found myself honored by your presence in my house, so long as I\nconsidered myself as your own friend. But now, that I see I have lost\nyour confidence, please allow me frankly to say to your lordship, that I\ndo not feel the same at your presence here. Besides, it seems to me very\nprobable that the terrible burden which you want to carry alone will\nkill you, and that very soon, and I do not at all like the idea of\nfinding you suddenly dead in my parsonage, and having the coroner\nholding his inquest on your body, and making the painful inquiries which\nare always made upon one suddenly taken by death, particularly when he\nbelongs to the highest ranks of society. Then, my lord, be not offended\nif I respectfully request your lordship to find another lodging as soon\nas possible.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy words fell upon the bishop like a thunderbolt. He seemed to awaken\nfrom a profound sleep. With a deep sigh he looked in my face, with his\neyes rolling in tears, and said:\n\n\u201c\u2018You are right, Perras, I ought never to have concealed my sorrow from\nsuch a friend as you have always been for more than half a century to\nme. But you are the only one to whom I can reveal it. No doubt your\npriestly and Christian heart will not be less broken than mine; but you\nwill help me with your prayers and wise counsels to carry it. However,\nbefore I initiate you into such an awful mystery, we must pray.\u2019\n\n\u201cWe then knelt down and, we said together a chaplet to invoke the power\nof the Virgin Mary, after which we recited Psalm li: \u2018Misere mihi.\u2019 Have\nmercy upon me, O Lord!\n\n\u201cThere, sitting by me on this sofa, the bishop said: \u2018My dear Perras,\nyou are the only one to whom I could reveal what you are about to hear,\nfor I think you are the only one who can hear such a terrible secret\nwithout revealing it, and because, also, you are the only friend whose\nadvice can guide me in this terrible affliction.\n\n\u201c\u2018You know that I have just finished the visit of my immense diocese of\nQuebec. It has taken me several years of hard work and fatigue, to see\nby my own eyes, and know by myself, the gains and losses\u2014in a word, the\nstrength and life of our holy church. I will not speak to you of the\npeople. They are, as a general thing, truly religious and faithful to\nthe church. But the priests. O, Great God! will I tell you what they\nare? My dear Perras, I would almost die with joy, if God would tell me\nthat I am mistaken. But, alas! I am not mistaken. The sad, the terrible\ntruth is this (putting his right hand on his forehead,) the priests! Ah!\nwith the exception of you and three others, are infidels and atheists!\nO, my God! my God! what will become of the church in the hands of such\nwicked men!\u2019 and covering his face with his hands, the bishop burst into\ntears, and for one hour could not say a word. I myself remained mute.\n\n\u201cAt first I regretted having pressed the bishop to reveal such an\nunexpected mystery of iniquity. But, taking counsel of our very\nfathomless humiliation and distress, after an hour of silence, spent in\npacing the walks of the garden, almost unable to look each other in the\nface, I said: \u2018My lord, what you have told me is surely the saddest\nthing that I ever heard; but allow me to tell you that your sorrows are\nout of the limits of your high intelligence and your profound science.\nIf you read the history of our holy church, from the seventh to the\nfifteenth century, you will know that the spotless spouse of Christ has\nseen as dark days, if not darker, in Italy, France, Spain and Germany,\nas she does in Canada, and though the saints of those days deplored the\nerrors and crimes of those dark ages, they have not killed themselves\nwith their vain tears as you are doing.\u2019\n\n\u201cTaking the bishop by the hand, I led him to the library, and opened the\npages of the history of the church, by Cardinals Baronius and Henrion, I\nshowed him the names of more than fifty Popes who had evidently been\natheists and infidels. I read to him the lives of Borgia, Alexander VI.\nand a dozen others, who would surely and justly be hanged to-day by the\nexecutioner of Quebec, were they, in that city, committing one half of\nthe public crimes of adultery, murder, debauchery of every kind, which\nthey committed in Rome, Avignon, Naples, etc., etc. I read to him some\nof the public and undeniable crimes of the successors of the apostles,\nand of the inferior clergy, and I easily and clearly proved to him that\nhis priests, though infidels and atheists, were angels of pity, modesty,\npurity and religion, when compared with a Borgia, who publicly lived as\na married man with his own daughter, and had a child by her. He agreed\nwith me that several of the Alexanders, the Johns, the Piuses and the\nLeos, were sunk much deeper in the abyss of every kind of iniquity than\nhis priests.\n\n\u201cFive hours passed in so perusing the sad but irrefutable pages of the\nhistory of our holy church, wrought a marvelous and beneficial change in\nthe mind of Monseigneur Plessis.\n\n\u201cMy conclusion was, that if our holy church had been able to resist the\ndeadly influence of such scandals during so many centuries in Europe,\nshe would not be destroyed in Canada, even by the legion of atheists by\nwhom she is served to-day.\n\n\u201cThe bishop acknowledged that my conclusion was correct. He thanked me\nfor the good I had done him, by preventing him from despairing of the\nfuture of our holy church in Canada, and the rest of the days which he\nspent with me, he was almost as cheerful and amiable as before.\n\n\u201cNow, my dear young friend,\u201d added Mr. Perras, \u201cI hope you will be as\nreasonable and logical in your religion as Bishop Plessis, who was\nprobably the greatest man Canada has ever had. When Satan tries to shake\nyour faith by the scandals you see, remember that Stephen, after having\nfought with his adversary,\u2014the Pope Constantine II., put out his eyes\nand condemned him to die. Remember that other Pope, who through revenge\nagainst his predecessor, had him exhumed, brought his dead body before\njudges, then charged him with the most horrible crimes, which he proved\nby the testimony of scores of eye-witnesses, got him (the dead Pope), to\nbe condemned to be beheaded and dragged with ropes through the muddy\nstreets of Rome, and thrown into the river Tiber. Yes, when your mind is\noppressed by the secret crimes of the priests, which you will know,\neither through the confessional or by public rumor, remember that more\nthan twelve Popes have been raised to that high and holy dignity by the\nrich and influential prostitutes of Rome, with whom they were publicly\nliving in the most scandalous way. Remember that young bastard, John\nXI., the son of Pope Sergius, who was consecrated Pope, when only twelve\nyears old, by the influence of his prostitute mother, Marosian, but who\nwas so horribly profligate that he was deposed by the people and the\nclergy of Rome.\n\n\u201cWell, if our holy church has been able to pass through such storms\nwithout perishing, is it not a living proof that Christ is her pilot,\nthat she is imperishable and infallible because St. Peter is her\nfoundation, \u2018Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram edificabo Ecclesiam meam,\net portae inferi non prevalebunt adversus eam.\u2019\u201d\n\nOh, my God! what shall I confess to my confusion, what my thoughts were\nduring that conversation, or rather that lecture of my curate, which\nlasted more than an hour! Yes, to thy eternal glory, and to my eternal\nshame, I must say the truth. When the priest was exhibiting to me the\nhorrible unmentionable crimes of so many of our Popes, to calm my fears\nand strengthen my shaken faith, a mysterious voice was repeating to the\nears of my soul, the dear Saviour\u2019s words: \u201cA good tree cannot bring\nforth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.\nEvery tree that bringeth not good fruit is hewn down and cast into the\nfire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them,\u201d and in spite of\nmyself the voice of my conscience cried in thundering tones that a\nchurch, whose head and members were so horribly corrupt, could not, by\nany means, be the Church of Christ.\n\nBut the most sacred and imperative law of my church, which I had\npromised by oaths, was, that I would never obey the voice of my\nconscience, nor follow the dictates of my private judgment, when they\nwere in opposition to the teachings of my church. Too honest to admit\nthe conclusions of Mr. Perras, which were evidently the conclusions of\nmy church, I was too cowardly and too mean to bravely express my own\nmind, and repeat the words of the Son of God: \u201cBy their fruits ye shall\nknow them! A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XX.\n\n PAPINEAU AND THE PATRIOTS, IN 1833\u2014THE BURNING OF\n \u201cLE CANADIEN\u201d BY THE CURATE OF ST. CHARLES.\n\n\nThe name of Louis Joseph Papineau will be forever dear to the French\nCanadians; for whatever may be the political party to which one belongs\nin Canada, he cannot deny that it is to the ardent patriotism, the\nindomitable energy, and the remarkable eloquence of that great patriot,\nthat Canada is indebted for the greater part of the political reforms\nwhich promise in a near future to raise the country of my birth to the\nrank of a great and free nation.\n\nIt is not my intention to speak of the political parties which divided\nthe people of Canada into two camps in 1833. The long and trying abuses\nunder which our conquered race was groaning, and which at last brought\nabout the bloody insurrections of 1837 and 1838, are matters of history,\nwhich do not pertain to the plea of this work. I will speak of Papineau,\nand the brilliant galaxy of talented young men by whom he was surrounded\nand supported, only in connection with their difficulties with the\nclergy and the Church of Rome.\n\nPapineau, Lefontaine, Bedard, Cartier and others, though born in the\nChurch of Rome, were only nominal Romanists. I have been personally\nacquainted with every one of them, and I know they were not in the habit\nof confessing. Several times I invited them to fulfil that duty, which I\nconsidered, then, of the utmost importance to be saved. They invariably\nanswered me with jests, which distressed me; for I could see that they\ndid not believe in the efficacy of auricular confession. These men were\nhonest and earnest in their efforts to raise their countrymen from the\nhumiliating and inferior position which they occupied compared with the\nconquering race. They well understood that the first thing to be done in\norder to put the French Canadians on a level with their British\ncompatriots, was to give good schools to the people; and they bravely\nset themselves to show the necessity of having a good system of\neducation, for the country as well as for the city. But at the very\nfirst attempt they found an insurmountable barrier to their patriotic\nviews in the clergy. The priests had everywhere the good common sense to\nunderstand that their absolute power over the people was due to its\ncomplete ignorance. They felt that that power would decrease in the same\nproportion that light and education would spread among the masses. Hence\nthe almost insurmountable obstacles put by the clergy before the\npatriots, to prevent them from reforming the system of education. The\nonly source of education, then in Canada, with the exception of the\ncolleges of Quebec, Montreal and Nicolet, consisted in one or two\nschools in the principal parishes, entirely under the control of the\npriests, and kept by their most devoted servants, while the new parishes\nhad none at all. The greater part of these teachers knew very little\nmore, and required nothing more from their pupils, than the reading of\nthe A, B, C, and their little catechism. When once admitted to the first\ncommunion, the A, B, C, and the little catechism were soon forgotten,\nand 95 in 100 of the French Canadian people were not even able to sign\ntheir names! In many parishes, the curate, with his school-teacher, the\nnotary, and a half-dozen of others, were the only persons who could read\nor write a letter. Papineau and his patriotic friends understood that\nthe French Canadian people were doomed to remain an inferior race in\ntheir own country, if they were left in that shameful state of\nignorance. They did not conceal their indignation at the obstacles\nplaced by the clergy to prevent them from amending the system of\neducation. Several eloquent speeches were made by Papineau, who was\ntheir \u201cParliament Speaker,\u201d in answer to the clergy. The curates, in\ntheir pulpits, as well as by the press, tried to show that Canada had\nthe best possible system of education\u2014that the people were happy\u2014that\ntoo much education would bring into Canada the bitter fruits which had\ngrown in France,\u2014infidelity, revolution, riots, bloodshed; that the\npeople were too poor to pay the heavy taxes which would be imposed for\nthe new system of education. In one of his addresses, Papineau answered\nthis last argument, showing the immense sums of money, foolishly given\nby those so-called poor people, to gild the ceilings of the church (as\nwas the usage then). He made a calculation of the tithes paid to the\npriests; of the costly images and statues of saints, which were to be\nseen then, around all the interior of the churches, and he boldly said\nthat the priests would do better to induce the people to establish good\nschools, and pay respectable teachers, than to lavish their money on\nobjects which were of so little benefit.\n\nThat address, which was reproduced by the only French paper of Quebec,\n\u201cLe Canadien,\u201d fell upon the clergy like a hurricane upon a rotten\nhouse, shaking it to its foundation. Everywhere Papineau and his party\nwere denounced as infidels, more dangerous than Protestants, and plans\nwere immediately laid down to prevent the people from reading \u201cLe\nCanadien,\u201d the only French paper they could receive. Not more than half\na dozen were receiving it in St. Charles; but they used to read it to\ntheir neighbors, who gathered on Sabbath afternoons to hear its\ncontents. We at first tried, through the confessional, to persuade the\nsubscribers to reject it, under the pretext that it was a bad paper;\nthat it spoke against the priests and would finally destroy our holy\nreligion. But, to our great dismay, our efforts failed. The curates then\nhad recourse to a more efficacious way of preserving the faith of the\npeople.\n\nThe postmaster of St. Charles was, then, a man whom Mr. Perras had got\neducated at his own expense in the seminary of Quebec. His name was\nChabot. That man was a perfect machine in the hands of his benefactor.\nMr. Perras forbade him to deliver any more of the numbers of that\njournal to the subscribers, when there would be anything unfavorable to\nthe clergy in its columns. \u201cGive them to me,\u201d said he, \u201cthat I may burn\nthem, and when the people come to get them, give them such evasive\nanswers, that they may believe that it is the editor\u2019s fault, or of some\nother post-offices, if they have not received it.\u201d From that day, every\ntime there was any censure of the clergy, the poor paper was consigned\nto the flames. One evening, when Mr. Perras had, in my presence, thrown\na bundle of these papers into the stove, I told him: \u201cPlease allow me to\nexpress to you my surprise at this act. Have we really the right to\ndeprive the subscribers of that paper, of their property? That paper is\ntheirs, they have paid for it. How can we take upon ourselves to destroy\nit without their permission! Besides, you know the old proverb: _Les\npierres parlent_. (Stones speak.) If it were known by our people that we\ndestroy their papers, would not the consequences be very serious? Now,\nMr. Perras, you know my sincere respect for you, and I hope I do not go\nagainst that respect by asking you to tell me by what right or authority\nyou do this? I would not put this question to you if you were the only\none who does it. But I know several others who do just the same thing. I\nwill, probably, be obliged, when a curate, to act in the same manner,\nand I wish to know on what grounds I shall be justified in acting as you\ndo.\u201d\n\n\u201cAre we not the spiritual fathers of our people,\u201d answered Mr. Perras.\n\nI replied, \u201cYes, sir, we are surely the spiritual fathers of our\npeople.\u201d \u201cThen,\u201d rejoined Mr. Perras, \u201cwe have in spiritual matters all\nthe rights and duties which temporal fathers have, in temporal things,\ntoward their children. If a father sees a sharp knife in the hands of\nhis beloved but inexperienced child, and if he has good reasons to fear\nthat the dear child may wound himself, nay, destroy his own life with\nthat knife, is it not his duty, before God and man, to take it from his\nhands and prevent him from touching it any more?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d I answered, \u201cbut allow me to draw your attention to a little\ndifference which I see between the corporal and the spiritual children\nof your comparison. In the case you bring forward, of a father who takes\naway the knife from the hands of a young and inexperienced child, that\nknife has, very probably, been bought by the father. It has been paid\nfor with that father\u2019s money. It is, then, the father\u2019s knife. But the\npapers of your spiritual children, which you have thrown into your\nstove, have been paid for by them, and not by you. They are theirs,\nthen, before the laws of God and man, and they are not yours.\u201d\n\nI saw that my answer had cut the good old priest to the quick, and he\nbecame more nervous than I had ever seen him. \u201cI see that you are\nyoung,\u201d answered he; \u201cyou have not yet had time to meditate on the great\nand broad principles of our holy church. I confess there is a difference\nin the rights of the two children to which I had not paid attention, and\nwhich, at first sight, may seem to diminish the strength of my argument.\nBut I have, here, an argument which will satisfy you, I hope. Some weeks\nago, I wrote to our venerable Bishop Panet about my intention of burning\nthat miserable and impious paper, \u201cLe Canadien,\u201d to prevent it from\npoisoning the minds of our people against us, and he has approved me,\nadding the advice, to be very prudent, and to act so secretly that there\nwould be no danger in being detected. Here is the letter of the holy\nbishop, you may read it, if you like.\u201d\n\n\u201cI thank you,\u201d I replied, \u201cI believe that what you say in reference to\nthat letter is correct. But suppose that our good bishop has made a\nmistake in advising you to burn those papers, would you not have some\nreasons to regret that burning, should you, sooner or later, detect that\nmistake?\u201d\n\n\u201cA reason of regretting to follow the advice of my superiors! Never!\nNever? I fear, my dear young friend, that you do not sufficiently\nunderstand the duties of an inferior, and the sacred rights of superiors\nin our holy church. Have you not been told by your superiors in the\ncollege of Nicolet, that there can be no sin in an inferior, who obeys\nthe orders or counsels of his legitimate superiors?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes sir,\u201d I answered, \u201cthe Rev. Mr. Leprohon has told us that, in the\ncollege of Nicolet.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d rejoined Mr. Perras, \u201cyour last question makes me fear that you\nhave forgotten what you have learned there. My dear young friend, do not\nforget that it was the want of respect to their ecclesiastical\nsuperiors, which caused the apostacy of Luther and Calvin, and damned so\nmany millions of heretics who have followed them. But in order to bring\nyour rebellious mind under the holy yoke of a perfect submission to your\nsuperiors, I will show you, by our greatest and most approved\ntheologian, that I can burn these papers, without doing anything wrong\nbefore God.\u201d\n\nHe then went to his library, and brought me a volume of Liguori, from\nwhich he read to me the following Latin words: Docet Sanchez, No.\n19.\u2014Parato aliquem occidere licite posse suaderi ut ab eo furetur, vel\nut fornicatur (Page 419.) \u201cIt is allowed to commit a sin of a lesser\ndegree, in order to prevent one of a graver nature.\u201d With an air of\ntriumph he said, \u201cDo you see now that I am absolutely justifiable in\ndestroying these pestilential papers. According to those principles of\nour holy Church, you know well that even a woman is allowed to commit\nthe sin of adultery with a man who threatens to kill her, or himself, if\nshe rebukes him; because murder and suicide are greater crimes, and more\nirremediable than adultery. So the burning of those papers, though a\nsin, if done through malice, or without legitimate reasons, ceases to be\na sin; it is a holy action the moment I do it, to prevent the\ndestruction of our holy religion, and to save immortal souls.\u201d\n\nI must confess, to my shame, that the degrading principles of absolute\nsubmission of the inferior to the superiors, which flattens everything\nto the ground in the Church of Rome, had so completely wrought their\ndeadly work on me, that it was my wish to attain to that supreme\nperfection of the priest of the Church of Rome, to become like a stick\nin the hands of my superiors\u2014like a corpse in their presence. But my God\nwas stronger than his unfaithful and blind servant, and he never allowed\nme to go down to the bottom of that abyss of folly and impiety. In spite\nof myself, I had left in me sufficient manhood to express my doubts\nabout that awful doctrine of my Church.\n\n\u201cI do not want to revolt against my superiors,\u201d I answered, \u201cand I hope\nGod will prevent me from falling into the abyss where Luther and Calvin\nlost themselves. I only respectfully request you to tell me, if you\nwould not regret the burning of these papers, in case you would know\nthat Bishop Panet made a mistake in granting you the power of destroying\na property which is neither yours nor his\u2014a property over which neither\nof you has any control?\u201d\n\nIt was the first time that I was not entirely of the same mind with Mr.\nPerras. Till then, I had not been brave, honest or independent enough to\noppose his views and his _ipse dixit_, though often tempted to do so.\nThe desire of living in peace with him; the sincere respect which his\nmany virtues and venerable age commanded in me; the natural timidity,\nnot to say cowardice, of a young, inexperienced man, in the presence of\na learned and experienced priest, had kept me, till then, in perfect\nsubmission to the views of my aged curate. But it seemed impossible to\nyield any longer, and to bow my conscience before principles, which\nseemed to me then, as I am sure they are now, subversive of everything\nwhich is good and holy among men. I took the big Bible, which was on the\ntable, and I opened it at the history of Susanna, and I answered: \u201cMy\ndear Mr. Perras, God has chosen you to be my teacher, and I have learned\nmany things since it has been my privilege to be with you. But I have\nmuch more to learn, before I know all that your books and your long\nexperience have taught you. I hope you will not find fault with me, if I\nhonestly tell you that in spite of myself, there is a doubt in my mind\nabout this doctrine of our theologians,\u201d and I said: \u201cIs there anything\nmore sublime, in the whole Bible, than that feeble woman Susanna, in the\nhands of those two infamous men? With a diabolical impudence and malice,\nthey threaten to destroy her, and to take her before a tribunal which\nwill surely condemn her to the most ignoble death, if she does not\nconsent to satisfy their criminal desires. She is just in the position\nalluded to by Liguori. What will she do? Will she be guided by the\nprinciples of our theologians? Will she consent to become an adulteress\nin order to prevent those two men from perjuring themselves, and\nbecoming murderers, by causing her to be stoned to death, as was\nrequired by the law of the Jews? No! She raises her eyes and her soul\ntowards the God whom she loves and fears more than anything in the\nworld, and she says: \u201cI am straitened on every side, for if I do this\nthing it is death unto me; and if I do it not, I cannot escape your\nhands. It is better for me to fall into your hands, and not to do it,\nthan to sin in the sight of the Lord.\u201d Has not God Almighty himself\nshown that he approved of that heroic resolution of Susanna, to die\nrather than commit adultery. Does He not show that He planted, Himself,\nin that noble soul, the principle that it is better to die than break\nthe laws of God when he brought his prophet Daniel, and gave him a\nsupernatural wisdom to save the life of Susanna? If that woman had been\nguided by the principles of Ligouri, which, I confess to you with\nregret, are the principles accepted everywhere in our Church (principles\nwhich have guided you in the burning of \u201cLe Canadien,\u201d) she would have\nconsented to the desires of those infamous men. Nay, if she had been\ninterrogated by her husband, or by the judges on that action, she would\nhave been allowed to swear before God and men, that she was not guilty\nof it. Now, my dear Mr. Perras, do you not find that there is some\nclashing between the Word of God, as taught in the Holy Scriptures, and\nthe teachings of our Church, through the theologians?\u201d\n\nNever have I seen such a sudden change in the face and manners of a man,\nat I saw in that hour. That Mr. Perras, who had, till then, spoken with\nso much kindness and dignity, completely lost his temper. Instead of\nanswering me, he abruptly rose to his feet, and began to pace the room\nwith a quick step. After some time, he told me: \u201cMr. Chiniquy, you\nforget that when you were ordained a priest, you swore that you would\nnever interpret the Holy Scriptures according to your own fallible\nprivate judgment; you solemnly promised that you would take them only\naccording to the unanimous consent of the Holy Fathers speaking to you\nthrough your superiors. Has not Ligouri been approved by the Popes, by\nall the bishops of the Church? We have then, here, the true doctrine\nwhich must guide us. But instead of submitting yourself with humility,\nas it becomes a young and inexperienced priest, you boldly appeal to the\nScriptures, against the decisions of Popes and bishops; against the\nvoice of all your superiors, speaking to you through Liguori. Where will\nthat boldness end? Ah! I tremble for you if you do not speedily change;\nyou are on the high road to heresy!\u201d\n\nThese last words had hardly fallen from his lips when the clock struck 9\np. m. He abruptly stopped speaking, and said: \u201cThis is the hour of\nprayer.\u201d We knelt and prayed.\n\nI need not say that that night was a sleepless one to me. I wept and\nprayed all through its long dark hours. I felt that I had lost, and\nforever, the high position I had in the heart of my old friend, and that\nI had probably compromised myself, forever, in the eyes of my superiors,\nwho were the absolute masters of my destinies. I condemned myself for\nthat inopportune appeal to the Holy Scriptures, against the _ipse dixit_\nof my superiors. I asked God to destroy in me that irresistible tendency\nby which I was constantly going to the Word of God to know the truth,\ninstead of remaining at the feet of my superiors, with the rest of the\nclergy, as the only fountain of knowledge and light.\n\nBut, thanks be to God, that blasphemous prayer was never to be granted.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXI\n\n GRAND DINNER OF THE PRIESTS\u2014THE MANIAC SISTER OF REV. MR. PERRAS.\n\n\nIt was the custom in those days, in the Church of Rome, to give the\ntitle of arch-priest to one of the most respectable and able priests,\namong twelve or fifteen others, by whom he was surrounded. That title\nwas the token of some superior power, which was granted him over his\nconfreres, who, in consequence, should consult him in certain difficult\nmatters.\n\nAs a general thing, those priests lived in the most cordial and\nfraternal unity, and to make the bond of that union stronger and more\npleasant, they were, in turn, in the habit of giving a grand dinner\nevery Thursday.\n\nIn 1834 these dinners were really _state affairs_. Several days in\nadvance, preparations were made on a grand scale, to collect everything\nthat could please the tastes of the guests. The best wines were\npurchased. The fattest turkeys, chickens, lambs, or sucking pigs were\nhunted up. The most delicate pastries were brought from the city, or\nmade at home, at any cost. The rarest and most costly fruits and\ndesserts were ordered. There was a strange emulation among those\ncurates, who would surpass his neighbors. Several extra hands were\nengaged some days before, to help the ordinary servants to prepare the\n\u201cGRAND DINNER.\u201d\n\nThe second Thursday of May, 1834, was Mr. Perras\u2019 turn, and at twelve\no\u2019clock, noon, we were fifteen priests seated around the table.\n\n[Illustration: GRAND DINNER OF THE PRIESTS.]\n\nI must here render homage to the sobriety and perfect moral habits of\nthe Rev. Mr. Perras. Though he took his social glass of wine, as was the\nuniversal usage at that time, I never saw him drink more than a couple\nof glasses at the same meal. I wish I could say the same thing of all\nthose who were at this table that day.\n\nNever did I see, before nor after, a table covered with so many tempting\nand delicate viands. The good curate had surpassed himself, and I would\nhardly be believed, were I to give the number of dishes and covers,\n_plates et entreplates_, which loaded the table. I will only mention a\nsplendid salmon, which was the first brought to Quebec that year, for\nwhich Mr. Amiot, the purveyor of the priests around the capital, had\npaid twelve dollars.\n\nThere was only one lady at that dinner, Miss Perras, sister of the\ncurate. However, she was not at all embarrassed by finding herself alone\namong those jolly celebataires, and she looked like a queen at the head\nof the table. Her sweet and watchful eyes were everywhere to see the\nwants of her guests. She had an amiable word for every one of them. With\nthe utmost grace she pressed the Rev. Mr. A. to try that wing of\nturkey\u2014she was so gently remonstrating with the Rev. Mr. B. for his not\neating more, and she was so eloquent in requesting them all to taste of\nthis dish, or of that; which was quite a new thing in Canada. And her\nyoung chickens! who could refuse to accept one of them, after she had\ntold their story: how, three months before, in view of this happy day,\nshe had so cajoled the big black hen to watch over sixteen eggs in the\nkitchen; what a world of trouble she had, when the little dog was coming\nin, and she (the hen) was rushing at him! how, many times, she had to\nstop the combatants and force them to live in peace! and what desolation\nswept over her mind, when, in a dark night, the rats had dragged into\ntheir holes three of her newly-hatched chickens! how she had got a cat\nto destroy the rats; and how in escaping Scylla, she was thrown upon\nCharybdis, when three days after, the cat made his dinner of two of her\ndear little chickens; for which crime, committed in open day, before\nseveral witnesses, the sentence of death was passed and executed,\nwithout benefit of clergy.\n\nNow, where would they find young chickens in the month of May, in the\nneighborhood of Quebec, when the snow had scarcely disappeared?\n\nThese stories, given with an art which no pen can reproduce, were not\nfinished before the delicate chickens had disappeared in the hungry\nmouths of the cheerful guests.\n\nOne of the most remarkable features of these dinners was the levity, the\nabsolute want of seriousness and gravity. Not a word was said in my\npresence, there, which could indicate that these men had anything else\nto do in this world but to eat and drink, tell and hear merry stories,\nlaugh and lead a jolly life.\n\nI was the youngest of those priests. Only a few months before, I was in\nthe Seminary of Nicolet, learning from my grave old superior, lessons of\npriestly life, very different from what I had there under my eyes. I had\nnot yet forgotten the austere preaching of self-denial, mortification,\nausterity and crucifixion of the flesh, which were to fill up the days\nof a priest!\n\nThough, at first, I was pleased with all I saw, heard and tasted; though\nI heartily laughed with the rest of the guests, at their _bon mots_,\ntheir spicy stories about their fair penitents, or at the funny\ncaricatures they drew of each other, as well as of absent ones, I felt,\nby turns, uneasy. Now and then the lessons of priestly life, received\nfrom the lips of my venerable and dear Mr. Leprohon, were knocking hard\nat the door of my conscience. Some words of the Holy Scriptures which,\nmore than others, had adhered to my memory, were also making a strange\nnoise in my soul. My own common sense was telling me that this was not\nquite the way Christ taught his disciples to live.\n\nI made a great effort to stifle those troublesome voices. Sometimes I\nsucceeded, and then I became cheerful; but a moment after I was\noverpowered by them, and I felt chilled, as if I had perceived on the\nwalls of the festive room, the finger of my angry God, writing, \u201cMENE,\nMENE, TEKEL UPHARSIN.\u201d Then all my cheerfulness vanished, and I felt so\nmiserable that, in spite of all my efforts to look happy, the Rev. Mr.\nPaquette, curate of St. Gervais, observed it on my face. That priest was\nprobably the one who most enjoyed everything of that feast. Under the\nsnowy mantle of sixty-five years, he had kept the warm heart and the\njoviality of youth. He was considered one of our most wealthy curates,\nand he richly deserved the reputation of being the most epicurean of\nthem all. He was a perfect cook, and with his chaplet or his breviarium\nin hand, he used to pass a great part of the day in his kitchen, giving\norders about broiling this beefstake, or preparing this fricassee, and\nthat gravy _a la Francais_. He was loved by all his confreres, but\nparticularly by the young priests, who were the objects of his constant\nattentions. He had always been exceedingly kind to me, and when in his\nneighborhood, I dare say that my most pleasant hours were those passed\nin his parsonage.\n\nLooking at me in the very moment when my whole intellectual being was,\nin spite of myself, under the darkest cloud, he said: \u201cMy dear little\nFather Chiniquy, are you falling into the hands of some blue devils,\nwhen we are all so happy? You were so cheerful half an hour ago! What is\nthe matter with you now? Are you sick? You look as grave and anxious as\nJonah, when in the big whale\u2019s stomach! What is the matter with you? Has\nany of your fair penitents left you, to go to confess to another,\nlately?\u201d\n\nAt these funny questions, the dining-room was shaken with the convulsive\nlaughter of the priests. I wished I could join in with the rest of my\nconfreres; for it seemed to me very clear that I was making a fool of\nmyself by this singularity of demeanor. But there was no help for it;\nfor a moment before I had seen that the servant girls had blushed; they\nhad been scandalized by a very improper word from the lips of a young\npriest, about one of his young female penitents; a word which he would,\nsurely, never have uttered, had he not drank too much wine. I answered:\n\u201cI am much obliged to you for your kind interest. I find myself much\nhonored to be here in your midst; but as the brightest days are not\nwithout clouds, so it is with us all sometimes. I am young, and without\nexperience; I have not yet learned to look at certain things in their\nproper light. When older, I hope I shall be wiser, and not make an ass\nof myself as I do to-day.\u201d\n\n\u201cTah! Tah! Tah!\u201d said old Mr. Paquette, \u201cthis is not the hour of dark\nclouds and blue devils. Be cheerful, as it behooves your age. There will\nbe hours enough in the rest of your life for sadness and sombre\nthoughts. This is the hour for laughing and being merry. Sad thoughts\nfor to-morrow.\u201d And appealing to all, he asked, \u201cIs not this correct,\ngentlemen?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, yes,\u201d unanimously rejoined all the guests.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the old priest, \u201cyou see that the verdict of the jury is\nunanimously in my favor and against you. Give up those airs of sadness,\nwhich do not answer in the presence of those bottles of champagne. Your\ngravity is an anachronism when we have such good wines before us. Tell\nme the reason of your grief, and I pledge myself to console you, and\nmake you happy as you were at the beginning of the dinner.\u201d\n\n\u201cI would have liked better that you should have continued to enjoy this\npleasant hour without noticing me,\u201d I answered. \u201cPlease excuse me if I\ndo not trouble you with the causes of my personal folly.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, well,\u201d said Mr. Paquette, \u201cI see it; the cause of your trouble is\nthat we have not yet drank together a single glass of sherry. Fill your\nglass with that wine, and it will surely drown the blue devil, which I\nsee at its bottom.\u201d\n\n\u201cWith pleasure,\u201d I said, \u201cI feel much honored to drink with you,\u201d and I\nput some drops of wine into my glass. \u201cOh! oh! what do I see you doing\nthere? Only a few drops in your glass! This will not even wet the cloven\nfeet of the blue devil which is tormenting you. It requires a full\nglass, an overflowing glass, to drown and finish him. Fill, then, your\nglass with that precious wine\u2014the best I ever tasted in my whole life.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I cannot drink more than those few drops,\u201d I said.\n\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d he replied.\n\n\u201cBecause, eight days before her death, my mother wrote me a letter,\nrequesting me to promise her that I would never drink more than two\nglasses of wine at the same meal. I gave her that promise in my answer,\nand the very day she got my pledge, she left this world to convey it,\nwritten on her heart, into heaven, to the feet of her God!\u201d\n\n\u201cKeep that sacred pledge,\u201d answered the old curate; \u201cbut tell me why you\nare so sad when we are so happy?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou already know part of my reasons\u2014if I had drank as much wine as my\nneighbor, the vicar of St. Gervais, I would probably have filled the\nroom with my shouts of joy, as he does; but you see now that the hands\nof my deceased, though always dear mother, are on my glass to prevent me\nfrom filling it any more, for I have already drank two glasses of wine.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut your sadness in such a circumstance is so strange, that we would\nall like to know its cause.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, yes,\u201d said all the priests. \u201cYou know that we like you, and we\ndeeply feel for you. Please tell us the reason of this sadness.\u201d\n\nI then answered, \u201cIt would be better for me to keep my own secret, for I\nknow I will make a fool of myself here; but as you are unanimous in\nrequesting me to give you the reasons of the mental agony through which\nI am just passing, you will have them.\n\n\u201cYou well know that, through very singular circumstances, I have been\nprevented, till this day, from attending any of your grand dinners.\nTwice I had to go to Quebec on these occasions, sometimes I was not well\nenough to be present\u2014several times I was called to visit some dying\nperson, and at other times the weather, or the roads were too bad to\ntravel; this, then, is the first grand dinner, attended by you all, that\nI have the honor of attending.\n\n\u201cBut before going any further, I must tell you that during the eight\nmonths it has been my privilege to sit at Rev. Mr. Perras\u2019 table, I have\nnever seen anything which could make me suspect that my eyes would see,\nand my ears would hear such things in this parsonage as have just taken\nplace. Sobriety, moderation, truly evangelical temperance in drink and\nfood were the invariable rule. Never a word was said which could make\nour poor servant girls, or the angels of God blush. Would to God that I\nhad not been here to-day! For I tell you, honestly, that I am\nscandalized by the epicurean table which is before us; by the enormous\nquantity of delicate viands and the incredible number of bottles of most\ncostly wines, emptied at this dinner.\n\n\u201cHowever, I hope I am mistaken in my appreciation of what I have seen\nand heard\u2014I hope you are all right and that I am wrong. I am the\nyoungest of you all. It is not my business to teach you, but it is my\nduty to be taught by you.\n\n\u201cNow, I have given you my mind, because you so pressingly requested me\nto do it, as honestly as human language will allow me to do. I have the\nright, I hope, to request you to tell me, as honestly, if I am, and in\nwhat I am, wrong or right!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! ho! my dear Chiniquy,\u201d replied the old curate, \u201cyou hold the stick\nby the wrong end. Are we not the children of God?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d I answered, \u201cwe are the children of God.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow, does not a loving father give what he considers the best part of\nhis goods to his beloved children?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d I replied.\n\n\u201cIs not that loving father pleased when he sees his beloved children eat\nand drink the good things he has prepared for them?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d was my answer.\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d rejoined the logical priest, \u201cthe more we, the beloved children\nof God, eat of these delicate viands, and drink of those precious wines,\nwhich our Heavenly Father puts into our hands, the more he is pleased\nwith us. The more we, the most beloved ones of God, are merry and\ncheerful, the more he is himself pleased and rejoiced in his heavenly\nkingdom.\n\n\u201cBut if God, our Father, is so pleased with what we have eaten and drunk\nto-day, why are you so sad?\u201d\n\nThis masterpiece of argumentation was received by all (except Mr.\nPerras), with convulsive cries of approbation, and repeated \u201cbravo!\nbravo!\u201d\n\n\u201cI was too mean and cowardly to say what I felt. I tried to conceal my\nincreased sadness under the forced smiles of my lips, and I followed the\nwhole party, who left the table, and went to the parlor to drink a cup\nof coffee. It was then half-past one p. m. At two o\u2019clock the whole\nparty went to the church, where, after kneeling for a quarter of an hour\nbefore their wafer God, they fell on their knees at the feet of each\nother, to confess their sins, and get their pardon, in the absolution of\ntheir confessors!\n\nAt three p. m. they were all gone, and I remained alone with my\nvenerable old curate Perras. After a few moments of silence, I said to\nhim: \u201cMy dear Mr. Perras, I have no words to express to you my regret\nfor what I have said at your table. I beg your pardon for every word of\nthat unfortunate and unbecoming conversation, into which I was dragged\nin spite of myself; you know it. It does not do for a young priest, as I\nam, to criticise those whom God has put so much above him by their\nscience, their age and their virtues. But I was forced to give my mind,\nand I have given it. When I requested Mr. Paquette to tell me in what I\nmight be wrong, I had not the least idea that we would hear, from the\nlips of one of our veterans in the priesthood, the blasphemous jokes he\nhas uttered. Epicurus himself would have blushed, had he been among us,\nin hearing the name of God connected with such deplorable and awful\nimpieties.\u201d\n\nMr. Perras answered me: \u201cFar from being displeased with what I have\nheard from you at this dinner, I must tell you that you have gained much\nin my esteem by it. I am, myself, ashamed of that dinner. We priests are\nthe victims, like the rest of the world, of the fashions, vanities,\npride and lust of that world against which we are sent to preach. The\nexpenditure we make at those dinners is surely a crime, in the face of\nthe misery of the people by whom we are surrounded. This is the last\ndinner I give with such foolish extravagance. The next time my neighbors\nwill meet here, I will not expose them to stagger on their legs, as the\ngreater part of them did when they rose from the table. The brave words\nyou have uttered have done me good. They will do them good also; for\nthough they had all eaten and drunk too much, they were not so\nintoxicated as not to remember what you have said.\u201d\n\nThen, pressing my hand in his, he said, \u201cI thank you my good little\nFather Chiniquy for the short but excellent sermon you have given us. It\nwill not be lost. You have drawn my tears when you have shown us your\nsaintly mother going to the feet of God in heaven, with your sacred\npromise written in her heart. Oh! you must have had a good mother! I\nknew her when she was very young. She was then, already, a very\nremarkable girl, for her wisdom and the dignity of her manners.\u201d\n\nThen he left me alone in the parlor, and he went to visit a sick man in\none of the neighboring houses.\n\nWhen alone I fell on my knees, to pray and weep. My soul was filled with\nemotions which it is impossible to express. The remembrance of my\nbeloved mother whose blessed name had fallen from my lips when her\nsacred memory filled my mind with the light and strength I needed in\nthat hour of trial\u2014the gluttony and drunkenness of those priests, whom I\nwas accustomed to respect and esteem so much\u2014their scandalous\nconversation\u2014their lewd expressions\u2014and more than all, their confessions\nto each other after two such hours of profanity and drinking, were more\nthan I could endure. I could not contain myself, I wept over myself, for\nI felt also the burden of my sins, and I did not find myself much better\nthan the rest, though I had not eaten or drunk quite so much as several\nof them\u2014I wept over my friends, whom I had seen so weak; for they were\nmy friends. I loved them, and I know they loved me. I wept over my\nchurch, which was served by such poor, sinful priests. Yes! I wept\nthere, when on my knees, to my heart\u2019s content, and it did me good. But\nmy God had another trial in store for his poor unfaithful servant.\n\nI had not been ten minutes alone, sitting in my study, when I heard\nstrange cries, and such a noise as if a murderer were at work to strike\nhis victim. A door had evidently been broken open, up stairs, and some\none was running down stairs as if one was wanting to break down\neverything. The cries of \u201cMurder, murder!\u201d reached my ears, and the\ncries of \u201cOh! my God! my God! where is Mr. Perras?\u201d filled the air.\n\nI quickly ran to the parlor to see what was the matter, and there I\nfound myself face to face with a woman absolutely naked! Her long black\nhair was flowing on her shoulders; her face was pale as death\u2014her dark\neyes fixed in their sockets. She stretched her hands toward me with a\nhorrible shriek, and before I could move a step, terrified, and almost\nparalyzed as I was, she seized my two arms with her hands, with such a\nterrible force as if my arms had been grasped in a vise. My bones were\ncracking under her grasp, and my flesh was torn by her nails. I tried to\nescape, but it was impossible. I soon found myself as if nailed to the\nwall, unable to move any further. I cried then to the utmost compass of\nmy voice for help. But the living spectre cried still louder: \u201cYou have\nnothing to fear. Be quiet. I am sent by God Almighty and the blessed\nvirgin Mary, to give you a message. The priests whom I have known,\nwithout a single exception, are a band of vipers: they destroy their\nfemale penitents through auricular confession. They have destroyed me,\nand killed my female child! Do not follow their example!\u201d Then she began\nto sing, with a beautiful voice, to a most touching tune, a kind of poem\nshe had composed herself, which I secretly got afterward from one of her\nservant maids, the translation of which is as follows:\n\n \u201cSatan\u2019s priests have defiled my heart!\n Damned my soul! murdered my child!\n O my child! my darling child!\n From thy place in heaven, dost thou see\n Thy guilty mother\u2019s tears?\n Canst thou come and press me in thine arms?\n My child! my darling child!\n Will never thy smiling face console me?\u201d\n\nWhen she was singing these words, big tears were rolling down her pale\ncheeks, and the tone of her voice was so sad that she could have melted\na heart of stone. She had not finished her song when I cried to the\ngirl: \u201cI am fainting, for God\u2019s sake bring me some water!\u201d The water was\nonly passed to my lips, I could not drink. I was choked, and petrified\nin the presence of that living phantom! I could not dare to touch her in\nany way with my hands. I felt horrified and paralyzed at the sight of\nthat livid, pale, cadaverous, naked spectre. The poor servant girl had\ntried in vain, at my request, to drag her away from me. She had struck\nher with terror, by crying, \u201cIf you touch me, I will instantly strangle\nyou!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere is Mr. Perras? Where is Mr. Perras and the other servants? For\nGod\u2019s sake call them,\u201d I cried out to the servant girl, who was\ntrembling and beside herself.\n\n\u201cMiss Perras is running to the church after the curate,\u201d she answered,\n\u201cand I do not know where the other girl is gone.\u201d\n\nIn that instant Mr. Perras entered, rushed toward his sister, and said,\n\u201cAre you not ashamed to present yourself naked before such a gentleman?\u201d\nand with his strong arms he tried to force her to give me up.\n\nTurning her face towards him, with tigress eyes, she cried out,\n\u201cWretched brother! what have you done with my child? I see her blood on\nyour hands!\u201d\n\nWhen she was struggling with her brother, I made a sudden and extreme\neffort to get out of her grasp; and this time I succeeded: but seeing\nthat she wanted to throw herself again upon me, I jumped through a\nwindow which was opened.\n\nQuick as lightning she passed out of the hands of her brother, and\njumped also through the window to run after me. She would, surely, have\novertaken me; for I had not run two rods, when I fell headlong, with my\nfeet entangled in my long, black, priestly robe. Providentially, two\nstrong men, attracted by my cries, came to my rescue. They wrapped her\nin a blanket, taken there by her sister, and brought her back into the\nupper chambers, where she remained safely locked, under the guard of two\nstrong servant maids.\n\nThe history of that woman is sad indeed. When in her priest-brother\u2019s\nhouse, when young and of great beauty, she was seduced by her father\nconfessor, and became mother of a female child, which she loved with a\nreal mother\u2019s heart. She determined to keep it and bring it up. But this\ndid not meet the views of the curate. One night, while the mother was\nsleeping, the child had been taken away from her. The awakening of the\nunfortunate mother was terrible. When she understood that she could\nnever see her child any more, she filled the parsonage with her cries\nand lamentations, and, at first, refused to take any food, in order that\nshe might die. But she soon became a maniac.\n\nMr. Perras, too much attached to his sister to send her to a lunatic\nasylum, resolved to keep her in his own parsonage, which was very large.\nA room in its upper part had been fixed in such a way that her cries\ncould not be heard, and where she would have all the comfort possible in\nher sad circumstances. Two servant maids were engaged to take care of\nher. All this was so well arranged, that I had been eight months in that\nparsonage, without even suspecting that there was such an unfortunate\nbeing under the same roof with me. It appears that occasionally, for\nmany days, her mind was perfectly lucid, when she passed her time in\npraying, and singing a kind of poem which she had composed herself, and\nwhich she sang while holding me in her grasp. In her best moments she\nhad fostered an invincible hatred for the priests whom she had known.\nHearing her attendants often speak of me, she had, several times,\nexpressed a desire to see me, which, of course, had been denied her.\nBefore she had broken her door, and escaped from the hands of her\nkeeper, she had passed several days in saying that she had received from\nGod a message for me which she would deliver, even if she had to pass on\nthe dead bodies of all in the house.\n\nUnfortunate victim of auricular confession! How many others could sing\nthe sad words of thy song,\n\n \u201cSatan\u2019s priest\u2019s have defiled my heart,\n Damned my soul! murdered my child!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXII.\n\nI AM APPOINTED VICAR OF THE CURATE OF CHARLESBOURGH\u2014THE PIETY, LIVES AND\n DEATHS OF FATHERS BEDARD AND PERRAS.\n\n\nThe grand dinner previously described had its natural results. Several\nof the guests were hardly at home, when they complained of various kinds\nof sickness, and none was so severely punished as my friend Paquette,\nthe curate of St. Gervais. He came very near dying, and for several\nweeks was unable to work. He requested the bishop of Quebec to allow me\nto go to his help, which I did to the end of May, when I received the\nfollowing letter:\n\n CHARLESBOURGH, May 25th, 1834.\n\nREV. MR. C. CHINIQUY:\n\nMY DEAR SIR: My Lord Panet has again chosen me, this year, to accompany\nhim in his episcopal visit. I have consented, with the condition that\nyou should take my place, at the head of my dear parish, during my\nabsence. For I will have no anxiety when I know that my people are in\nthe hands of a priest who, though so young, has raised himself so high\nin the esteem of all those who know him.\n\nPlease come as soon as possible to meet me here, that I may tell you\nmany things which will make your ministry more easy and blessed in\nCharlesbourgh.\n\nHis Lordship has promised me that when you pass through Quebec, he will\ngive you all the powers you want to administer my parish, as if you were\nits curate during my absence.\n\n Your devoted brother-priest, and\n friend in the love and heart\n of Jesus and Mary,\n\n ANTOINE BEDARD.\n\nI felt absolutely confounded by that letter. I was so young and so\ndeficient in the qualities required for the high position to which I was\nso unexpectedly called. I know it was against the usages to put a young\nand untried priest in such a responsible post. It seemed evident to me\nthat my friends and my superiors had strangely exaggerated to themselves\nmy feeble capacity.\n\nIn my answer to the Rev. Mr. Bedard, I respectfully remonstrated against\nsuch a choice. But a letter received from the bishop himself, ordering\nme to go to Charlesbourgh, without delay, to administer that parish\nduring the absence of its pastor, soon forced me to consider that sudden\nand unmerited elevation as a most dangerous, though providential trial,\nof my young ministry. Nothing remained to be done by me but to accept\nthe task in trembling, and with a desire to do my duty. My heart,\nhowever, fainted within me, and I shed bitter tears of anxiety. When\nentering into that parish for the first time, I saw its magnitude and\nimportance. It seemed, then, more than ever evident to me that the good\nMr. Bedard, and my venerable superiors, had made a sad mistake in\nputting such a heavy burden on my young and feeble shoulders. I was\nhardly twenty-four years old, and had not more than nine months\u2019\nexperience of the ministry.\n\nCharlesbourgh is one of the most ancient and important parishes of\nCanada. Its position, so near Quebec, at the feet of the Laurentide\nMountains, is peculiarly beautiful. It has an almost complete command of\nthe city, and of its magnificent port, where not less than 900 ships\nthen received their precious cargoes of lumber. On our left, numberless\nranges of white houses extended as far as the Falls of Montmorency. At\nour feet the majestic St. Lawrence, dashing its rapid waters on the\nbeautiful \u201cIsle d\u2019Orleans.\u201d To the right the parishes of Lorette, St.\nFoy, St. Roch, etc., with their high church steeples, reflected the\nsun\u2019s glorious beams: and beyond, the impregnable citadel of Quebec,\nwith its tortuous ranges of black walls, its numerous cannon and its\nhigh towers, like fearless sentinels, presented a spectacle of\nremarkable grandeur.\n\nThe Rev. Mr. Bedard welcomed me on my arrival with words of such\nkindness that my heart was melted and my mind confounded. He was a man\nabout sixty-five years of age, short in stature, with a well-formed\nbreast, large shoulders, bright eyes, and a face where the traits of\nindomitable energy were coupled with an expression of unsurpassed\nkindness.\n\nOne could not look on that honest face without saying to himself: \u201cI am\nwith a really good and upright man!\u201d Mr. Bedard is one of the few\npriests in whom I have found a true honest faith in the Church of Rome.\nWith an irreproachable character, he believed with a child\u2019s faith all\nthe absurdities which the Church of Rome teaches, and he lived according\nto his honest and sincere faith.\n\nThough the actions of our daily lives were not subjected to a regular\nand inexorable rule in Charlesbourgh\u2019s as in St. Charles\u2019 parsonage,\nthere was yet far more life and earnestness in the performance of our\nministerial duties.\n\nThere was less reading of learned, theological, philosophical and\nhistorical books, but much more real labor in Mr. Bedard\u2019s than in Mr.\nPerras\u2019 parish: there was more of the old French aristocracy in the\nlatter priest, and more of the good religious Canadian habitant in the\nformer. Though both could be considered as men of the most exalted faith\nand piety in the Church of Rome, their piety was of a different\ncharacter. In Mr. Perras\u2019 religion there was real calmness and serenity,\nwhile the religion of Mr. Bedard had more of a flash of lightning and\nthe noise of thunder. The private religious conversations with the\ncurate of St. Charles were admirable, but he could not speak common\nsense for ten minutes when preaching from his pulpit. Only once did he\npreach while I was his vicar, and then he was not half through his\nsermon before the greater part of his auditors were soundly sleeping.\nBut who could hear the sermons of Rev. Mr. Bedard without feeling his\nheart moved and his soul filled with terror? I never heard anything more\nthrilling than his words when speaking of the judgments of God and the\npunishment of the wicked. Mr. Perras never fasted, except on the days\nappointed by the church: Mr. Bedard condemned himself to fast besides\ntwice every week. The former never drank, to my knowledge, a single\nglass of rum or any other strong drink, except his two glasses of wine\nat dinner; but the latter never failed to drink full glasses of rum\nthree times a day, beside two or three glasses of wine at dinner. Mr.\nPerras slept the whole night as a guiltless child; Mr. Bedard, almost\nevery night when I was with him, rose up, and lashed himself in the most\nmerciless manner with leather thongs, at the end of which were small\npieces of lead. When inflicting upon himself those terrible punishments,\nhe used to recite, by heart, the fifty-first Psalm, in Latin, \u201cMiserere\nmihi Deus secundam magnam misericordiam tuam\u201d (Have mercy upon me, O,\nLord, according to thy loving kindness); and though he seemed to be\nunconscious of it, he prayed with such a loud voice, that I heard every\nword he uttered; he also struck his flesh with such violence, that I\ncould count all the blows he administered.\n\nOne day I respectfully remonstrated against such a cruel self-infliction\nas ruining his health and breaking his constitution. \u201cCher petit Frere\u201d\n(dear little brother), he answered, \u201cOur health and constitution cannot\nbe impaired by such penances, but they are easily and commonly ruined by\nour sins. I am one of the healthiest men of my parish, though I have\ninflicted upon myself those salutary and too well-merited chastisements\nfor many years. Though I am old, I am still a great sinner. I have an\nimplacable and indomitable enemy in my depraved heart, which I cannot\nsubdue except by punishing my flesh. If I do not do those penances for\nmy numberless transgressions, who will do them for me? If I do not pay\nthe debts I owe to the justice of God, who will pay them for me?\u201d\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d I answered, \u201cHas not our Saviour, Jesus Christ, paid our debts on\nCalvary? Has he not saved and redeemed us all by his death on the cross?\nWhy, then, should you or I pay again to the justice of God that which\nhas been so perfectly and absolutely paid by our Saviour?\u201d\n\n\u201cAh! my dear young friend,\u201d quickly replied Mr. Bedard, \u201cthat doctrine\nyou hold is Protestant, which has been condemned by the Holy Council of\nTrent. Christ has paid our debts, certainly; but not in such an absolute\nway that there is nothing more to be paid by us. Have you never paid\nattention to what St. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Colossians. I\nfill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ in the flesh\nfor his body\u2019s sake, which is the Church. Though Christ could have\nentirely and absolutely paid our debts, if it had been his will, it is\nevident that such was not his holy will\u2014he left something behind, which\nPaul, you, I, and every one of his disciples, should take and suffer in\nour flesh for his Church. When we have taken and accomplished in our\nflesh what Christ has left behind, then the surplus of our merits goes\nto the treasury of the Church. For instance, when a saint has\naccomplished in his flesh what Christ has left behind for his perfect\nsanctification, if he accomplishes more than the justice of God\nrequires, that surplus of merits not being any use to him, is put by God\ninto the grand and common treasure, where it makes a fund of merits of\ninfinite value, from which the Pope and the bishops draw the indulgences\nwhich they scatter all over the world as the dew from heaven. By the\nmercy of God, the penances which I impose upon myself, and the pains I\nsuffer from these flagellations, purify my guilty soul, and raising me\nup from this polluting world, they bring me nearer and nearer to my God\nevery day. I am not yet a saint, unfortunately, but if by the mercy of\nGod, and my penances united to the sufferings of Christ, I arrive at the\nhappy day when all my debts shall be paid, and my sins cleansed away,\nthen if I continue those penances and acquire new merits, more than I\nneed, and if I pay more debts than I owe to the justice of God, this\nsurplus of merits which I shall have acquired will go to the rich\ntreasure of the Church, from which she will draw merits to enrich the\nmultitude of good souls who cannot do enough for themselves to pay their\nown debts, and to reach that point of holiness which will deserve a\ncrown in heaven. Then, the more we do penance and inflict pains on our\nbodies, by our fastings and floggings, the more we feel happy in the\nassurance of thus raising ourselves more and more above the dust of this\nsinful world, of approaching more and more to that state of holiness of\nwhich our Saviour spoke when he said: \u2018Be holy as I am holy myself.\u2019 We\nfeel an unspeakable joy when we know that by those self-inflicted\npunishments we acquire incalculable merits, which enrich not only\nourselves, but our holy Church, by filling her treasures for the benefit\nand salvation of the souls for which Christ died on Calvary.\u201d\n\nWhen Mr. Bedard was feeding my soul with these husks, he was speaking\nwith great animation and sincerity. Like myself, he was far away from\nthe Good Father\u2019s house. He had never tasted of the bread of the\nchildren. Neither of us knew anything of the sweetness of that bread. We\nhad to accept those husks as our only food, though it did not remove our\nhunger.\n\nI answered him: \u201cWhat you tell me here is what I find in all our ascetic\nbooks and theological treatises, and in the lives of all our saints. I\ncan hardly reconcile that doctrine with what I read this morning in the\n2d chapter of Ephesians. Here is the verse in my New Testament: \u2018But\nGod, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,\neven when we were dead in sins, he has quickened us together with\nChrist. By grace ye are saved; for by grace ye are saved, through faith,\nand not of ourselves, it is this gift of God; not of works, lest any man\nshould boast.\u2019\n\n\u201cNow, my dear and venerable Mr. Bedard, allow me respectfully to ask,\nhow it is possible that your salvation is only by grace, if you have to\npurchase it every day by tearing your flesh and lashing your body in\nsuch a fearful manner? Is it not a strange favour\u2014a very singular\ngrace\u2014which reddens your skin with your blood, and bruises your flesh\nevery night?\u201d\n\n\u201cDear little brother,\u201d answered Mr. Bedard, \u201cwhen Mr. Perras spoke to\nme, in the presence of the bishop, with such deserved eulogium of your\npiety, he did not conceal that you had a very dangerous defect, which\nwas to spend too much time in reading the Bible, in preference to every\nother of our holy books. He told us more than this. He said that you had\na fatal tendency to interpret the Holy Scriptures too much according to\nyour own mind, and in a sense which is rather more Protestant than\nCatholic. I am sorry to see that the curate of St. Charles was but too\ncorrect in what he told us of you. But, as he added that, though your\nreading too much the Holy Scriptures brought some clouds in your mind,\nyet when you were with him, you always ended by yielding to the sense\ngiven by our holy Church. This did not prevent me from desiring to have\nyou in my place during my absence, and I hope we will not regret it, for\nwe are sure that our dear young Chiniquy will never be a traitor to our\nholy Church.\u201d\n\nThese words, which were given with a great solemnity, mixed with the\ngood manners of the most sincere kindness, went through my soul as a\ntwo-edged sword. I felt an inexpressible confusion and regret, and,\nbiting my lips, I said: \u201cI have sworn never to interpret the Holy\nScriptures except according to the unanimous consent of the Holy\nFathers, and with the help of God, I will fulfil my promise. I regret\nexceedingly to have differed for a moment from you. You are my superior\nby your age, your science and your piety. Please pardon me that\nmomentary deviation from my duty, and pray that I may be as you are\u2014a\nfaithful and a fearless soldier of our holy Church to the end.\u201d\n\nAt that moment the niece of the curate came to tell us that the dinner\nwas ready. We went to the modest, though exceedingly well-spread table,\nand to my great pleasure, that painful conversation was dropped. We had\nnot sat at the table five minutes, when a poor man knocked at the door\nand asked a piece of bread for the sake of Jesus and Mary. Mr. Bedard\nrose from the table, went to the poor stranger, and said: \u201cCome, my\nfriend, sit between me and our dear little Father Chiniquy. Our Saviour\nwas the friend of the poor: he was the father of the widow and the\norphan, and we, his priests, must walk after him. Be not troubled; make\nyourself at home. Though I am the curate of Charlesbourgh, I am your\nbrother. It may be that in heaven you will sit on a higher throne than\nmine, if you love our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and his holy mother, Mary,\nmore than I do.\u201d\n\nWith these words, the best things that were on the table were put by the\ngood old priest on the plate of the poor stranger, who, with some\nhesitation, finished by doing honor to the excellent viands.\n\nAfter this, I need not say that Mr. Bedard was charitable to the poor;\nhe always treated them as his best friends. So also was my former curate\nof St. Charles; and, though his charity was not so demonstrative and\nfraternal as that of Mr. Bedard, I had never yet seen a poor man go out\nof the parsonage of St. Charles whose breast ought not to have been\nfilled with gratitude and joy.\n\nMr. Bedard was as exact as Mr. Perras in confessing once, and sometimes\ntwice, every week; and, rather than fail in that humiliating act, they\nboth, in the absence of their common confessors, and much against my\nfeelings, several times humbly knelt at my youthful feet to confess to\nme.\n\nThese two remarkable men had the same views about the immorality and the\nwant of religion of the greater part of the priests. Both have told me,\nin their confidential conversations, things about the secret lives of\nthe clergy which would not be believed were I to publish them; and both\nrepeatedly said that auricular confession was the daily source of\nunspeakable depravities between the confessors and their female, as well\nas male penitents; but neither of them had sufficient light to conclude\nfrom those deeds of depravity that auricular confession was a diabolical\ninstitution. They both sincerely believed, as I did then, that the\ninstitution was good, necessary and divine, and that it was a source of\nperdition to so many priests only on account of their want of faith and\npiety; and principally from their neglect of prayers to the Virgin Mary.\n\nThey did not give me those terrible details with a spirit of criticism\nagainst our weak brethren. Their intention was to warn me against the\ndangers, which were as great for me as for others. They both invariably\nfinished those confidences by inviting me more and more to pray\nconstantly to the mother of God, the blessed Virgin Mary, and to watch\nover myself, and avoid remaining alone with a female penitent, advising\nme also to treat my own body as my most dangerous enemy, by reducing it\ninto subjection to the law, and crucifying it day and night.\n\nMr. Bedard had accompanied the Bishop of Quebec in his episcopal visits\nduring many years, and had seen with his eyes the unmentionable plague,\nwhich was then, as it is now, devouring the very vitals of the Church of\nRome. He very seldom spoke to me of those things without shedding tears\nof compassion over the guilty priests. My heart and my soul were also\nfilled with an unspeakable sadness when hearing the details of such\niniquities. I also felt struck with terror lest I might perish myself,\nand fall into the same bottomless abyss.\n\nOne day I told him what Mr. Perras had revealed to me about the distress\nof Bishop Plessis, when he had found that only three priests besides Mr.\nPerras believed in God, in his immense diocese. I asked him if there was\nnot some exaggeration in this report. He answered, after a profound\nsigh: \u201cMy dear young friend, the angel could not find ten just men in\nSodom\u2014my fear is that they would not find more among the priests! The\nmore you advance in age, the more you will see that awful truth\u2014Ah! let\nthose who stand, fear, lest they fall!\u201d\n\nAfter these last words he burst into tears, and went to church to pray\nat the feet of his wafer god!\n\nThe revelations which I received from those worthy priests did not in\nany way shake my faith in my Church. She even became dearer to me; just\nas a dear mother gains in the affection and devotedness of a dutiful son\nas her trials and affliction increase. It seemed to me that after this\nknowledge it was my duty to do more than I had ever done to show my\nunreserved devotedness, respect and love to my holy and dear mother, the\nChurch of Rome, out of which (I sincerely believed then) there was no\nsalvation. These revelations became to me, in the good providence of\nGod, like the light-houses raised on the hidden and dreadful rocks of\nthe sea, to warn the pilot during the dark hours of the night to keep at\na distance, if he does not want to perish.\n\nThough these two priests professed to have a most profound love and\nrespect for the Holy Scriptures, they gave very little time to their\nstudy, and both several times rebuked me for passing too many hours in\ntheir perusal; and repeatedly warned me against the habit of constantly\nappealing to them against certain practices and teachings of our\ntheologians. As good Roman Catholic priests, they had no right to go to\nthe Holy Scriptures alone to know what \u201cthe Lord saith!\u201d The traditions\nof the Church were the fountains of science and light! Both of them\noften distressed me with the facility with which they buried out of\nview, under the dark clouds of their traditions, the clearest texts of\nHoly Scripture which I used to quote in defence of my positions in our\nconversations and debates.\n\nThey both, with an equal zeal, and unfortunately with too much success,\npersuaded me that it was right for the Church to ask me to swear that I\nwould never interpret the Holy Scriptures, except according to the\nunanimous consent of the Holy Fathers. But when I showed them that the\nHoly Fathers had never been unanimous in anything except in differing\nfrom one another on almost every subject they had treated; when I\ndemonstrated by our Church historians that some Holy Fathers had very\ndifferent views from ours on many subjects, they never answered my\nquestions, except by silencing me by the text: \u201cIf he does not hear the\nChurch let him be as a heathen or a publican,\u201d and by giving me long\nlectures on the danger of pride and self-confidence.\n\nMr. Bedard had many opportunities of giving me his views about the\nsubmission which an inferior owes to his superiors. He was of one mind\nwith Mr. Perras and all the theologians who had treated that subject.\nThey both taught me that the inferior must blindly obey his superior,\njust as the stick must obey the hand that holds it; assuring me at the\nsame time that the inferior was not responsible for the errors he\ncommits when obeying his legitimate superior.\n\nMr. Bedard and Mr. Perras had a great love for their Saviour, Jesus; but\nthe Jesus Christ whom they loved and respected and adored was not the\nChrist of the Gospel, but the Christ of the Church of Rome.\n\nMr. Perras and Mr. Bedard had a great fear, as well as a sincere love\nfor their God, while yet they professed to make him every morning by the\nact of consecration. They also most sincerely believed and preached that\nidolatry was one of the greatest crimes a man could commit, but they\nthemselves were every day worshipping an idol of their own creating.\nThey were forced by their Church to renew the awful iniquity of Aaron,\nwith this difference only, that while Aaron made his gods of melted\ngold, and molded them into a figure of a calf, they made theirs of\nflour, baked between two heated and well-polished irons, and in the form\nof a crucified man.\n\nWhen Aaron spoke of his golden calf to the people, he said: \u201cThese are\nthy gods, O, Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.\u201d So,\nlikewise, Mr. Bedard and Mr. Perras, showing the wafer to the deluded\npeople, said: \u201cEcce agnus Die qui tollit peccata mundi!\u201d (\u201cBehold the\nLamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world!\u201d)\n\nThese two sincere and honest priests placed the utmost confidence also\nin relics and scapularies. I have heard both say that no fatal accident\ncould happen to one who had a scapulary on his breast\u2014no sudden death\nwould overtake a man who was faithful about keeping those blessed\nscapularies about his person. Both of them, nevertheless, died suddenly,\nand that too of the saddest of deaths. Mr. Bedard dropped dead on the\n19th of May, 1837, at a great dinner given to his friends. He was in the\nact of swallowing a glass of that drink of which God says: \u201cLook not\nupon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when\nit moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent and\nstingeth like an adder.\u201d\n\nThe Rev. Mr. Perras, sad to say, became a lunatic in 1845, and died the\n29th of July, 1847, in a fit of delirium.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXIII.\n\nTHE CHOLERA MORBUS OF 1834\u2014ADMIRABLE COURAGE AND SELF-DENIAL OF THE\n PRIESTS OF ROME DURING THAT EPIDEMIC.\n\n\nI had not been more than three weeks the administrator of the parish of\nCharlesbourgh, when the terrible words, \u201cThe cholera morbus is in\nQuebec!\u201d sent a thrill of terror from one end to the other of Canada.\n\nThe cities of Quebec and Montreal, with many surrounding country places,\nhad been decimated in 1832 by the same terrible scourge. Thousands upon\nthousands had fallen its victims; families in every rank of society had\ndisappeared; for the most skillful physicians of both Europe and America\nhad been unable to stop its march and ravages. But the year 1833 had\npassed without hearing almost of a single case of that fatal disease: we\nhad all the hope that the justice of God was satisfied, and that He\nwould no more visit us with that horrible plague. In this, however, we\nwere to be sadly disappointed.\n\nCharlesbourgh is a kind of suburb of Quebec, the greatest part of its\ninhabitants had to go within its walls to sell their goods several times\nevery week. It was evident that we were to be among the first visited by\nthat messenger of a just, but angry God. I will never forget the hour\nafter I had heard: \u201cThe cholera is in Quebec!\u201d It was, indeed, a most\nsolemn hour to me. At a glance, I measured the bottomless abyss which\nwas dug under my feet. We had no physicians, and there was no\npossibility of having any one\u2014for they were to have more work than they\ncould do in Quebec. I saw that I would have to be both the body and the\nsoul-physician of the numberless victims of this terrible disease.\n\nThe tortures of the dying, the cries of the widows and of the orphans,\nthe almost unbearable stench of the houses attacked by the scourge, the\ndesolation and the paralyzing fears of the whole people, the fatherless\nand motherless orphans by whom I was to be surrounded, the starving poor\nfor whom I would have to provide food and clothing when every kind or\nwork and industry was stopped; but above all, the crowds of penitents\nwhom the terrors of an impending death would drag to my feet to make\ntheir confessions, that I might forgive their sins, passed through my\nmind as so many spectres. I fell on my knees, with a heart beating with\nemotions that no pen can describe, and prostrating myself before my too\njustly angry God, I cried for mercy; with torrents of tears I asked Him\nto take away my life as a sacrifice for my people, but to spare them:\nraising my eyes towards a beautiful statue of Mary, whom I believed to\nbe then the Mother of God, I supplicated her to appease the wrath of her\nSon.\n\nI was still on my knees, when several knocks at the door told me that\nsome one wanted to speak to me\u2014a young woman was there, bathed in tears\nand pale as death, who said to me: \u201cMy father has just returned from\nQuebec, and is dying from the cholera\u2014please come quick to hear his\nconfession before he expires!\u201d\n\nNo tongue will ever be able to tell half of the horrors which strike the\neyes and the mind the first time one enters the house of a man\nstruggling in the agonies of death from cholera. The other diseases seem\nto attack only one part of the body at once, but the cholera is like a\nfurious tiger, whose sharp teeth and nails tear his victim from head to\nfeet without sparing any part. The hands and the feet, the legs and the\narms, the stomach, the breast and the bowels are at once tortured. I had\nnever seen anything so terrific as the fixed eyes of that first victim\nwhom I had to prepare for death. He was already almost as cold as a\npiece of ice. He was vomiting and ejecting an incredible quantity of a\nwatery and blackish matter, which filled the house with an unbearable\nsmell. With a feeble voice he requested me to hear the confession of his\nsins, and I ordered the family to withdraw and leave me alone, that they\nmight not hear the sad story of his transgressions. But he had not said\nfive words before he cried out: \u201cOh my God! what horrible cramps in my\nleg! For God\u2019s sake, rub it.\u201d And when I had given up hearing his\nconfession to rub the leg, he cried out again: \u201cOh! what horrible cramps\nin my arms!\u2014in my feet!\u2014in my shoulders!\u2014in my stomach!\u201d And to the\nutmost of my capacity and my strength, I rubbed his arms, his feet, his\nshoulders, his breast, till I felt so exhausted and covered with\nperspiration, that I feared I should faint. During that time the fetid\nmatter ejected from his stomach, besmeared me almost from head to foot.\nI called for help, and two strong men continued with me to rub the poor\ndying man.\n\nIt seemed evident that he could not live very long; his sufferings\nlooked so horrible and unbearable! I administered him the sacrament of\nextreme-unction. But I did not leave the house after that ceremony, as\nit is the custom of the priests. It was the first time that I had met\nface to face with that giant which had covered so many nations with\ndesolation and ruin, caused so many torrents of tears to flow. I had\nheard so much of him! I knew that, till then, nothing had been able to\nstop his forward march! He had scornfully gone through the obstacles\nwhich the most powerful nations had placed before him to retard his\nprogress. He had mocked the art and the science of the most skillful\nphysicians all over the world! In a single step, he had gone from Moscow\nto Paris!\u2014and in another step he had crossed the bottomless seas which\nthe hands of the Almighty have spread between Europe and America! That\nking of terrors, after piling in their graves, by millions, the rich and\nthe poor, the old and the young, whom he had met on his march through\nAsia, Africa, Europe and America, was now before me! Nay, he was\ntorturing, before my eyes, the first victim he had chosen among my\npeople! But the more I felt powerless in the presence of that mighty\ngiant, the more I wanted to see him face to face. I had as a secret\npleasure, a holy pride, in daring him. I wanted to tell him: \u201cI do not\nfear you! You mercilessly attack my people, but with the help of God, in\nthe strength of the One who died on Calvary for me, and who told me that\nnothing was more sweet and glorious than to give my life for my friends,\nI will meet and fight you everywhere when you attack any one of those\nsheep who are dearer to me than my own life!\u201d\n\nStanding by the bedside of the dying man, whilst I rubbed his limbs to\nalleviate his tortures, I exhorted him to repent. But I closely watched\nthat hand to hand battle\u2014that merciless and unequal struggle between the\ngiant and his poor victim. His agony was long and terrible, for he was a\nman of great bodily strength. But after several hours of the most\nfrightful pains, he quietly breathed his last. The house was crowded\nwith the neighbors and relations, who, forgetful of the danger of\ncatching the disease, had come to see him. We all knelt and prayed for\nthe departed soul, after which I gave them a few words about the\nnecessity of giving up their sins and keeping themselves ready to die\nand go at the Master\u2019s call.\n\nI then left that desolated house with feelings of distress which no pen\ncan portray. When I got back to the parsonage, after praying and weeping\nalone in my closet, I took a bath, and washed myself with vinegar and a\nmixture of camphor, as a preventive against the epidemic. The rest of\nthe day, till ten at night, was spent in hearing the confessions of a\ngreat number of people whom the fear of death had dragged around my\nconfessional box that I might forgive their sins. This hearing of\nconfession was interrupted only at ten o\u2019clock at night, when I was\ncalled to the cemetery to bury the first victim of the cholera in\nCharlesbourgh. A great number of people had accompanied the corpse to\nhis last resting-place: the night was beautiful, the atmosphere balmy,\nand the moon and stars had never appeared to me so bright. The stillness\nof the night was broken only by the sobs of the relations and friends of\nthe deceased. It was one of the best opportunities God had ever given me\nof exhorting the people to repentance. I took for my text: \u201cTherefore,\nbe ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man\ncometh.\u201d The spectacle of that grave, filled by a man who twenty-four\nhours before, was full of health and life in the midst of his happy\nfamily, was speaking more eloquently than the words of my lips, to show\nthat we must be always ready. And never any people entered the threshold\nof their homes with more solemn thoughts than those to whom I spoke,\nthat night, in the midst of the graveyard.\n\nThe history of that day is the history of the forty days which\nfollowed\u2014for not a single one of them passed without my being called to\nvisit a victim of the cholera\u2014more than one hundred people were attacked\nby the terrible disease, nearly forty of whom died!\n\nI cannot sufficiently thank my merciful God for having protected me in\nsuch a marvelous way that I had not a single hour of disease during\nthose two months of hard labors and sore trials. I had to visit the sick\nnot only as a priest, but as physician also; for seeing, at first, the\nabsolute impossibility of persuading any physician from Quebec to give\nup their rich city patients for our more humble farmers, I felt it was\nmy duty to make myself as expert as I could in the art of helping the\nvictims of that cruel and loathsome disease: I studied the best authors\non that subject, consulted the most skillful physicians, got a little\npharmacy which would have done honor to an old physician, and I gave my\ncare and my medicine gratis. Very soon the good people of Charlesbourgh\nput as much, if not more confidence, in my medical care, as in any other\nof the best physicians of the country. More than once, I had to rub the\nlimbs of so many patients in the same day, that the skin of my hands was\ntaken away, and several times the blood come out from the wounds. Dr.\nPainchaud, one of the ablest physicians of Quebec, who was my personal\nfriend, told me after, that it was a most extraordinary thing that I had\nnot fallen a victim to that disease.\n\nI would never have mentioned what I did, in those never-to-be-forgotten\ndays of the cholera of 1834, when one of the most horrible epidemics\nwhich the world has ever seen spread desolation and death almost all\nover Canada, if I had been alone to work as I did; but I am happy and\nproud to say that, without a single exception, the French Canadian\npriests, whose parishes were attacked by that pestilence, did the same.\nI could name hundreds of them who, during several months, also, day\nafter day and night after night, bravely met and fought the enemy, and\nfearlessly presented their breasts to its blows. I could even name\nscores of them who heroically fell and died when facing the foe on that\nbattlefield!\n\nWe must be honest and true towards the Roman Catholic priests of Canada.\nFew men, if even any, have shown more courage and self-denial in the\nhour of danger than they did. I have seen them at work during the two\nmemorable years of 1832 and 1834, with a courage and self-denial worthy\nof the admiration of heaven and earth. Though they knew well that the\nmost horrible tortures and death might be the price of their\ndevotedness, I have not known a single one of them who ever shrank\nbefore the danger. At the first appeal, in the midst of the darkest and\nstormiest nights, as well as in the light of the brightest days, they\nwere always ready to leave their warm and comfortable beds to run to the\nrescue of the sick and dying.\n\nBut, shall we conclude from that, as the priests of Rome want us to do,\nthat their religion is the true and divine religion of Christ? Must we\nbelieve that because the priests are brave, admirably brave, and die the\ndeath of heroes on the battlefields, they are the true, the only priests\nof Christ, the successors of the apostles\u2014the ministers of the religion\nout of which there is no salvation? No!\n\nWas it because his religion was the divine and only true one that the\nmillionaire Stephen Gerard, when in 1793 Philadelphia was decimated by a\nmost frightful epidemic, went from house to house, visiting the sick,\nserving, washing them with his own hands, and even helping to put them\ninto their coffins? I ask it again, is it because his religion was the\ndivine religion of Jesus that that remarkable man, during several\nmonths, lived among the dying and the dead, to help them, when his\nimmense fortune allowed him to put a whole world between him and the\ndanger? No; for every one knows that Stephen Gerard was a deist, who did\nnot believe in Christ.\n\nWas it because they followed the true religion that, in the last war\nbetween Russia and Turkey, a whole regiment of Turks heroically ran to a\nsure death to obey the order of their general, who commanded them to\ncharge bayonets on a Russian battery, which was pouring upon them a real\nhail of bullets and canisters? No! surely no!\n\nThese Turks were brave, fearless, heroic soldiers, but nothing more. So\nthe priests of the Pope, who expose themselves in the hour of danger,\nare brave, fearless, heroic soldiers of the Pope\u2014but they are nothing\nmore.\n\nWas it because they were good Christians that the soldiers of a French\nregiment, at Austerlitz, consented to be slaughtered to the last, at the\nhead of a bridge where Napoleon had ordered them to remain, with these\ncelebrated words: \u201cSoldiers! stand there and fight to the last; you will\nall be killed; but you will save the army, and we will gain the day!\u201d\n\nThose soldiers were admirably well disciplined\u2014they loved their flag\nmore than their lives\u2014they knew only one thing in the world: \u201cObey the\ncommand of Napoleon!\u201d They fought like giants and died like heroes. So\nthe priests are a well-disciplined band of soldiers; they are trained to\nlove their church more than their own life; they also know only one\nthing: \u201cObey your superior, the Pope!\u201d they fight the battle of their\nchurch like giants, and they die like heroes!\n\nWho has not read the history of the renowned French man-of-war, the\n\u201cTonnant?\u201d When she had lost her masts, and was so crippled by the red\nbullets of the English fleet that there was no possibility of escape,\nwhat did the soldiers and mariners of that ship answer to the cries of\n\u201cSurrender!\u201d which came from the English admiral? \u201cWe die, but do not\nsurrender!\u201d\n\nThey all went to the bottom of the sea, and perished rather than see\ntheir proud banners fall into the hands of the foe!\n\nIs it because those French warriors were good Christians that they\npreferred to die rather than give up their flag? No! But they knew that\nthe eyes of their country, the eyes of the whole world were upon them.\nLife became to them a trifle: it became nothing when placed in the\nbalance against what they considered their honor, and the honor of their\nfair and noble country;\u2014nay, life became an undesirable thing, when it\nwas weighted against the glory of dying at the post of duty and honor.\n\nSo it is with the priest of Rome. He knows that the eyes of his people,\nand of his superiors\u2014the eyes of his whole church are upon him. He knows\nthat if he shrinks in the hour of danger, he will forever lose their\nconfidence and their esteem; that he will lose his position and live the\nlife of a degraded man! Death seems preferable to such a life.\n\nBesides, it is not only in the gospel of Christ that we read: \u201cThis is\nmy commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.\u201d \u201cGreater\nlove hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his\nfriends.\u201d Our great God has written these words in the hearts of all the\nchildren of Adam. He has written them in the very heart of humanity.\nThese words are engraven in the hearts of the Turks of Constantinople,\nas well as in the hearts of the priests of Canada. They are engraven in\nthe hearts of the Esquimaux of the icy regions of Greenland, as well as\nin the hearts of the refined citizens of Paris.\n\nHence, in the midst of the wreck of almost all the other virtues, we\nfind a spark of that sacred fire, kept alive, everywhere. For again, God\nAlmighty himself has breathed that spark of fire and life into the heart\nof man when he made him in his own image. We find that spark of holy and\ninextinguishable fire of love and life even among the most depraved\nnations. For that nation must infallibly perish and disappear the day it\nhas lost it entirely. This is the reason why, even among the degraded\nidolaters of ancient and modern times, we find acts of admirable\ndevotedness and self-sacrifice. Read the history of the Iroquois,\nwritten by the Jesuit Father, Charlevoix, and you will see how the\nsavages of our forests often raised themselves to the very stature of\ngiants at the approach of death, when the honor of their nations, or the\ninterests of their friends, or their own reputation was at stake. No men\nhave ever carried the contempt of pain and death so far, perhaps, as the\nheathen Iroquois of this continent.\n\nYes! let the people of Canada read the history of \u201cLa Nouvelle France,\u201d\nand they will cease from presenting to us the courage of their priests\nas an indication of the divinity of their religion. For there they will\nsee that the worshippers of the wooden gods of the forests have\nequalled, if not surpassed, in courage and self-denial in the face of\ndeath, the courage and self-denial of the priests of the wafer god of\nRome.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXIV.\n\nI AM NAMED A VICAR OF ST. ROCH, QUEBEC CITY\u2014THE REV. MR.\n TETU\u2014TERTULLIAN\u2014GENERAL CARGO\u2014THE SEAL SKINS.\n\n\nIn the beginning of September, 1834, the Bishop Synaie gave me the\nenviable position of one of the vicars of St. Roch, Quebec, where the\nRev. Mr. Tetu had been curate for about a year. He was one of the\nseventeen children of Mr. Francis Tetu, one of the most respectable and\nwealthy farmers of St. Thomas. Such was the amiability of character of\nmy new curate, that I never saw him in bad humor a single time during\nthe four years that it was my fortune to work under him in that parish.\nAnd although in my daily intercourse with him I sometimes\nunintentionally sorely tried his patience, I never heard an unkind word\nproceed from his lips.\n\nHe was a fine-looking man, tall and well-built, large forehead, blue\neyes, a remarkably fine nose and rosy lips, only a little too feminine.\nHis skin was very white for a man, but his fine short whiskers, which he\nknew so well how to trim, gave to his whole mien a manly and pleasant\nappearance.\n\nHe was the finest penman I ever saw; and by far the most skillful skater\nof the country. Nothing could surpass the agility and perfection with\nwhich he used to write his name on the ice with his skates. He was also\nfond of fast horses, and knew, to perfection, how to handle the most\nunmanageable steeds of Quebec. He really looked like Phaeton when, in a\nlight and beautiful buggy, he held the reins of the fiery coursers which\nthe rich bourgeois of the city liked to trust to him once or twice a\nweek, that he might take a ride with one of his vicars to the\nsurrounding country. Mr. Tetu was also fond of fine cigars and choice\nchewing tobacco. Like the late Pope Pius IX., he also constantly used\nthe snuff-box. He would have been a pretty good preacher, had he not\nbeen born with a natural horror of books. I very seldom saw in his hands\nany other books than his breviary, and some treatises on the catechism:\na book in his hands had almost the effect of opium on one\u2019s brains, it\nput him to sleep. One day, when I had finished reading a volume of\nTertullian, he felt much interested in what I said of the eloquence and\nlearning of that celebrated Father of the Church, and expressed a desire\nto read it. I smilingly asked him if he were more than usual in need of\nsleep. He seriously answered me that he really wanted to read that work,\nand that he wished to begin its study just then. I lent him the volume,\nand he went immediately to his room in order to enrich his mind with the\ntreasures of eloquence and wisdom of that celebrated writer of the\nprimitive church. Half an hour after, suspecting what would occur, I\nwent down to his room, and noiselessly opening the door, I found my dear\nMr. Tetu sleeping on his soft sofa, and snoring to his heart\u2019s content,\nwhile Tertullian was lying on the floor! I ran to the rooms of the other\nvicars, and told them: \u201cCome and see how our good curate is studying\nTertullian!\u201d\n\nThere is no need to say that we had a hearty laugh at his expense.\nUnfortunately, the noise we made awoke him, and we then asked him: \u201cWhat\ndo you think of Tertullian?\u201d\n\nHe rubbed his eyes, and answered, \u201cWell! well! what is the matter? Are\nyou not four very wicked men to laugh at the human frailties of your\ncurate?\u201d We for awhile called him Father Tertullian.\n\nAnother day he requested me to give him some English lessons. For,\nthough my knowledge of English was then very limited, I was the only one\nof five priests who understood and could speak a few words of that\nlanguage. I answered him that it would be as pleasant as it was easy for\nme to teach the little I knew of it, and I advised him to subscribe for\nthe \u201cQuebec Gazette,\u201d that I might profit by the interesting matter\nwhich that paper used to give to its readers; and at the same time I\nshould teach him to read and understand its contents.\n\nThe third time that I went to his room to give him his lesson, he\ngravely asked me: \u201cHave you ever seen \u2018General Cargo?\u2019\u201d\n\nI was at first puzzled by that question, and answered him: \u201cI never\nheard that there was any military officer by the name of \u2018General\nCargo.\u2019 How do you know that there is such a general in the world?\u201d\n\nHe quickly answered: \u201cThere is surely a \u2018General Cargo\u2019 somewhere in\nEngland or America, and he must be very rich; for see the large number\nof ships which bear his name, and have entered the port of Quebec these\nlast few days!\u201d\n\nSeeing the strange mistake, and finding his ignorance so wonderful, I\nburst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. I could not answer a word,\nbut cried at the top of my voice: \u201cGeneral Cargo! General Cargo!\u201d\n\nThe poor curate, stunned by my laughing, looked at me in amazement. But,\nunable to understand its cause, he asked me: \u201cWhy do you laugh?\u201d But the\nmore stupefied he was, the more I laughed, unable to say anything but\n\u201cGeneral Cargo! General Cargo!\u201d\n\nThe three other vicars, hearing the noise, hastily came from their rooms\nto learn its cause, and get a good laugh also. But I was so completely\nbeside myself with laughing, that I could not answer their questions in\nany other way than by crying, \u201cGeneral Cargo! General Cargo!\u201d\n\nThe puzzled curate tried then to give them some explanation of that\nmystery, saying with the greatest naivete: \u201cI cannot see why our little\nFather Chiniquy is laughing so convulsively. I put him a very simple\nquestion when he entered my room to give me my English lesson. I simply\nasked him if he had ever seen \u2018General Cargo,\u2019 who has sent so many\nships to our ports these last few days, and added that that general must\nbe very rich, since he has so many ships on the sea!\u201d The three vicars\nsaw the point, and without being able to answer him a word, they burst\ninto such fits of laughter that the poor curate felt more than ever\npuzzled.\n\n\u201cAre you crazy?\u201d he said, \u201cWhat makes you laugh so when I put to you\nsuch a simple question? Do you not know anything about that \u2018General\nCargo,\u2019 who surely must live somewhere, and be very rich, since he sends\nso many vessels to our port that they fill nearly two columns of the\n\u2018Quebec Gazette?\u2019\u201d\n\nThese remarks of the poor curate brought such a new storm of\nirrepressible laughter from us all as we never experienced in our whole\nlives. It took us some time to sufficiently master our feelings to tell\nhim that \u201cGeneral Cargo\u201d was not the name of any individual, but only\nthe technical words to say that the ships were laden with general goods.\n\nThe next morning the young and jovial vicars gave the story to their\nfriends, and the people of Quebec had a hearty laugh at the expense of\nour friend. From that time we called our good curate by the name of\n\u201cGeneral Cargo,\u201d and he was so good-natured that he joined with us in\njoking at his own expense. It would require too much space were I to\npublish all the comic blunders of that good man, so I shall give only\none more.\n\nOn one of the coldest days in January, 1835, a merchant of seal skins\ncame to the parsonage with some of the best specimens of his\nmerchandise, that we might buy them to make overcoats. For in those days\nthe overcoats of buffalo or raccoon skins were not yet thought of. Our\nrichest men used to have beaver overcoats, but the rest of the people\nhad to be contented with Canada seal skins; a beaver overcoat could not\nbe had for less than $200.\n\nMr. Tetu was anxious to buy his skins; his only difficulty was the high\nprice asked by the merchant. For nearly an hour he had turned over and\nover again the beautiful skins, and had spent all his eloquence on\ntrying to bring down their price, when the sexton arrived, and told him,\nrespectfully: \u201cMr. le Cure, there are a couple of people waiting for you\nwith a child to be baptized.\u201d \u201cVery well,\u201d said the curate, \u201cI will go\nimmediately;\u201d and addressing the merchant, he said: \u201cPlease wait a\nmoment; I will not be long absent.\u201d\n\nIn two minutes after, the curate had donned the surplice, and was going\nat full speed through the prayers and ceremonies of Baptism. For, to be\nfair and true towards Mr. Tetu (and I might say the same thing of the\ngreatest part of the priests I have known), it must be acknowledged that\nhe was very exact in all his ministerial duties; yet he was in this case\ngoing through them by steam, if not by electricity. He was soon at the\nend. But, after the sacrament was administered, we were enjoined, then,\nto repeat an exhortation to the godfathers and godmothers, from the\nritual which we all knew by heart, and which began with these words:\n\u201cGodfather and godmothers: you have brought a sinner to the church, but\nyou will take back a saint!\u201d\n\nAs the vestry was full of people who had come to confess, Mr. Tetu\nthought that it was his duty to speak with more emphasis than usual in\norder to have his instructions heard and felt by everyone. But instead\nof saying, \u201cGodfather and godmother, you have brought a sinner to the\nchurch, you will take back a saint!\u201d he, with great force and unction,\nsaid: \u201cGodfather and godmother, you have brought a sinner to the church,\nyou will take back a _seal skin_!\u201d\n\nNo words can describe the uncontrollable burst and roar of laughter\namong the crowd, when they heard that the baptized child was just\nchanged into a \u201cseal skin.\u201d Unable to contain themselves, or do any\nserious thing, they left the vestry to go home and laugh to their\nheart\u2019s content.\n\nBut the most comic part of this blunder was the _sang froid_ and the\ncalmness with which Mr. Tetu, turning towards me, said: \u201cWill you be\nkind enough to tell me the cause of that indecent and universal laughing\nin the midst of such a solemn action as the baptism of this child?\u201d\n\nI tried to tell him his blunder; but for some time it was impossible to\nexpress myself. My laughing propensities were so much excited, and the\nconvulsive laughter of the whole multitude made such a noise, that he\nwould not have heard me had I been able to answer him. It was only when\nthe greatest part of the crowd had left that I could reveal to Mr. Tetu\nthat he had changed the baptized baby into a \u201cseal skin!\u201d He heartily\nlaughed at his own blunder, and calmly went back to buy his seal skins.\nThe next day the story went from house to house in Quebec, and caused\neverywhere such a laugh as they had not had since the birth of \u201cGeneral\nCargo.\u201d\n\nThat priest was a good type of the greatest part of the priests of\nCanada: Fine fellows\u2014social and jovial gentlemen\u2014as fond of smoking\ntheir cigars as of chewing their tobacco and using their snuff; fond of\nfast horses; repeating the prayers of their breviary and going through\nthe performance of their ministerial duties with as much speed as\npossible. With a good number of books in their libraries, but knowing\nnothing of them but the titles; possessing the Bible, but ignorant of\nits contents; believing that they had the light, when they were in awful\ndarkness; preaching the most monstrous doctrines as the gospel of truth;\nconsidering themselves the only true Christians in the world, when they\nworshipped the most contemptible idols made with hands. Absolutely\nignorant of the Word of God, while they proclaimed and believed\nthemselves to be the lights of the world. Unfortunate, blind men,\nleading the blind into the ditch!\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXV.\n\nSIMONY\u2014STRANGE AND SACRILEGIOUS TRAFFIC IN THE SO-CALLED BODY AND BLOOD\n OF CHRIST\u2014ENORMOUS SUMS OF MONEY MADE BY THE SALE OF MASSES\u2014THE\n SOCIETY OF THREE MASSES ABOLISHED AND THE SOCIETY OF ONE MASS\n ESTABLISHED.\n\n\nIn one of the pleasant hours which we used invariably to pass after\ndinner, in the comfortable parlor of our parsonage, one of the vicars,\nMr. Louis Parent, said to the Rev. Mr. Tetu: \u201cI have handed this morning\nmore than one hundred dollars to the bishop, as the price of the masses\nwhich my pious penitents have requested me to celebrate, the greatest\npart of them for the souls in purgatory. Every week I have to do the\nsame thing, just as each of you, and every one of the hundreds of\npriests in Canada have to do. Now, I would like to know how the bishops\ncan dispose of all these masses, and what they do with the large sums of\nmoney which go into their hands from every part of the country to have\nmasses said. This question vexes me, and I would like to know your mind\nabout it.\u201d\n\nThe good curate answered in a joking manner, as usual: \u201cIf the masses\npaid into our hands, which go to the bishop, are all celebrated,\npurgatory must be emptied twice a day. For I have calculated that the\nsums given for those masses in Canada cannot be less than $4,000 every\nday, and, as there are three times as many Catholics in the United\nStates as here, and as those Irish Catholics are more devoted to the\nsouls in purgatory than the Canadians, there is no exaggeration in\nsaying that they give as much as our people; $16,000 at least will thus\nbe given every day in these two countries to throw cold water on the\nburning flames of that fiery prison. Now, these $16,000 given every day,\nmultiplied by the 365 days of the year, make the handsome sum of\n$5,840,000 paid for that object in low masses, every year. But, as we\nall know, that more than twice as much is paid for high masses than for\nthe low, it is evident that more than $10,000,000 are expended to help\nthe souls of purgatory end their tortures every twelve months, in North\nAmerica alone. If those millions of dollars do not benefit the good\nsouls in purgatory, they at all events are of some benefit to our pious\nbishops and holy popes, in whose hands the greatest part must remain\ntill the day of judgment. For there is not a sufficient number of\npriests in the world to say all the masses which are paid for by the\npeople. I do not know any more than you do about what the bishops do\nwith those millions of dollars; they keep that among their secret good\nworks. But it is evident there is a serious mystery here. I do not mean\nto say that the Yankee and the Canadian bishops swallow those huge piles\nof dollars as sweet oranges; or that they are a band of big swindlers,\nwho employ smaller ones, called Revs. Tetu, Baillargeon, Chiniquy,\nParent, etc., to fill their treasuries. But, if you want to know my mind\non that delicate subject, I will tell you that the least we think and\nspeak of it, the better it is for us. Every time my thoughts turn to\nthose streams of money which day and night flow from the small purses of\nour pious and unsuspecting people into our hands, and from ours into\nthose of the bishops, I feel as if I were choking. If I am at the table\nI can neither eat nor drink, and if in my bed at night, I cannot sleep.\nBut as I like to eat, drink and sleep, I reject those thoughts as much\nas possible, and I advise you to do the same thing.\u201d\n\nThe other vicars seemed inclined, with Mr. Parent, to accept that\nconclusion; but, as I had not said a single word, they requested me to\ngive them my views on that vexatious subject, which I did in the\nfollowing brief words:\n\n\u201cThere are many things in our holy church which look like dark spots;\nbut I hope that this is due only to our ignorance. No doubt these very\nthings would look as white as snow, were we to see and know them just as\nthey are. Our holy bishops, with the majority of the Catholic priests of\nthe United States and Canada, cannot be that band of thieves and\nswindlers whose phantoms chill the blood of our worthy curate. So long\nas we do not know what the bishops do with those numberless masses paid\ninto their hands, I prefer to believe that they act as honest men.\u201d\n\nI had hardly said these few words, when I was called to visit a sick\nparishioner, and the conversation was ended.\n\nEight days later, I was alone in my room, reading the \u201cL\u2019ami de la\nReligion et du Roi,\u201d a paper which I received from Paris, edited by\nPicot. My curiosity was not a little excited, when I read, at the head\nof a page, in large letters: \u201cAdmirable Piety of the French Canadian\nPeople.\u201d The reading of that page made me shed tears of shame, and shook\nmy faith to its foundation. Unable to contain myself, I ran to the rooms\nof the curate and the vicars, and said to them: \u201cA few days ago we\ntried, but in vain, to find what becomes of the large sums of money\nwhich pass from the people, through our hands, into those of the bishop,\nto say masses; but here is the answer, I have the key to that mystery,\nwhich is worthy of the darkest ages of the Church. I wish I were dead,\nrather than see with my own eyes such abominations.\u201d We then read that\nlong chapter, the substance of which was that the venerable bishops of\nQuebec had sent not less than one hundred thousand francs, at different\ntimes, to the priests of Paris, that they might say four hundred\nthousand masses at five cents each! Here we had the sad evidence that\nour bishops had taken four hundred thousand francs from our poor people,\nunder the pretext of saving the souls from purgatory! That article fell\nupon us as a thunderbolt. For a long time we looked at each other\nwithout being able to utter a single word; our tongues were as paralyzed\nby our shame; we felt as vile criminals when detected on the spot.\n\nAt last, Baillargeon, addressing the curate, said: \u201cIs it possible that\nour bishops are swindlers, and we, their tools to defraud our people?\nWhat would that people say, if they knew that not only we do not say the\nmasses for which they constantly fill our hands with their hard-earned\nmoney, but that we send those masses to be said in Paris for five cents!\nWhat will our good people think of us all when they know that our bishop\npockets twenty cents out of each mass they ask us to celebrate according\nto their wishes.\u201d\n\nThe curate answered: \u201cIt is very lucky that the people do not know that\nsharp operation of our bishops, for they would surely throw us all into\nthe river. Let us keep that shameful trade as secret as possible. For\nwhat is the crime of simony if this be not an instance of it?\u201d\n\nI replied: \u201cHow can you hope to keep that traffic of the body and blood\nof Christ a secret, when not less than 40,000 copies of this paper are\ncirculated in France, and more than 100 copies come to the United States\nand Canada? The danger is greater than you suspect; it is even at our\ndoors. Is it not on account of such public and undeniable crimes and\nvile tricks of the clergy of France that the French people in general,\nnot only have lost almost every vestige of religion, but, not half a\ncentury ago, condemned all the priests and bishops of France to death as\npublic malefactors?\n\n\u201cBut that sharp mercantile operation of our bishops takes a still darker\ncolor, when we consider that those \u2018five-cent masses\u2019 which are said in\nParis are not worth a cent. For who among us is ignorant of the fact\nthat the greatest part of the priests of Paris are infidels, and that\nmany of them live publicly with concubines? Would our people put their\nmoney in our hands if we were honest enough to tell them that their\nmasses would be said for five cents in Paris by such priests? Do we not\ndeceive them when we accept their money, under the well understood\ncondition that we shall offer the holy sacrifice according to their\nwishes? But, instead of that, we get it sent to France, to be disposed\nof in such a criminal way. But, if you allow me to speak a little more,\nI have another strange fact to consider with you, which is closely\nconnected with this simonical operation.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! speak, speak!\u201d answered all four priests.\n\nI then resumed: \u201cDo you remember how you were enticed into the \u2018Three\nMasses Society?\u2019 Who among us had the idea that the new obligations we\nwere then assuming were such that the greatest part of the year would be\nspent in saying masses for the priests, and that it would thus become\nimpossible to satisfy the pious demands of the people who support us? We\nalready belonged to the societies of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of St.\nMichael, which raised to five the number of masses we had to celebrate\nfor the dead priests. Dazzled by the idea that we would have two\nthousand masses said for us at our death, we bit at the bait presented\nto us by the bishop as hungry fishes, without suspecting the hook. The\nresult is that we have had to say 165 masses for the 33 priests who died\nduring the past year, which means that each of us has to pay $41.00 to\nthe bishop for masses which he has had said in Paris for $8.00. Each\nmass which we celebrate for a dead priest here, is a mass which the\nbishop sends to Paris, on which he gains twenty cents. Then the more\npriests he enrolls in his society of \u2018Three Masses,\u2019 the more twenty\ncents he pockets from us and from our pious people. Hence his admirable\nzeal to enroll every one of us. It is not the value of the money which\nour bishop so skilfully got from our hands which I consider, but I feel\ndesolate when I see that by these societies we become the accomplices of\nhis simonical trade. For, being forced the greatest part of the year to\ncelebrate the holy sacrifice for the benefit of the dead priests, we\ncannot celebrate the masses for which we are daily paid by the people,\nand are therefore forced to transfer them into the hands of the bishop,\nwho sends them to Paris, after spiriting away twenty cents from each of\nthem. However, why should we lament over the past? It is no more within\nour reach. There is no remedy for it. Let us then learn from the past\nerrors how to be wise in the future.\u201d\n\nMr. Tetu answered: \u201cYou have shown us our error. Now, can you indicate\nany remedy?\u201d\n\n\u201cI cannot say that the remedy we have in hand is one of those patented\nmedicines which will cure all the diseases of our sickly church in\nCanada, but I hope it will help to bring a speedy convalescence. That\nremedy is to abolish the society of \u2018Three Masses,\u2019 and to establish\nanother of \u2018One Mass,\u2019 which will be said at the death of every priest.\nIn that way it is true that instead of 2,000 masses, we shall have only\n1,200 at our death. But if 1,200 masses do not open to us the gates of\nheaven, it is because we shall be in hell. By that reduction we shall be\nenabled to say more masses at the request of our people, and shall\ndiminish the number of five-cent masses said by the priests of Paris at\nthe request of our bishop. If you take my advice, we will immediately\nname the Rev. Mr. Tetu president of the new society, Mr. Parent will be\nits treasurer, and I consent to act as your secretary, if you like it.\nWhen our society is organized, we will send our resignations to the\npresident of the other society, and we shall immediately address a\ncircular to all the priests, to give them the reason for the change, and\nrespectfully ask them to unite with us in this new society, in order to\ndiminish the number of masses which are celebrated by the five-cent\npriests of Paris.\u201d\n\nWithin two hours the new society was fully organized, the reasons of its\nformation written in a book, and our names were sent to the bishop, with\na respectful letter informing him that we were no more members of the\n\u2018Three Masses Society.\u2019 That letter was signed, \u201cC. Chiniquy,\nSecretary.\u201d Three hours later, I received the following note from the\nbishop\u2019s palace:\n\n\u201cMy Lord Bishop of Quebec wants to see you immediately upon important\naffairs. Do not fail to come without delay. Truly yours,\n\n \u201cCHARLES F. CAZEAULT, Sec\u2019y.\u201d\n\nI showed the missive to the curate and the vicars, and told them: \u201cA big\nstorm is raging on the mountain; this is the first peal of thunder\u2014the\natmosphere looks dark and heavy. Pray for me that I may speak and act as\nan honest and fearless priest, when in the presence of the bishop.\u201d\n\nIn the first parlor of the bishop\u2019s palace I met my personal friend,\nSecretary Cazeault. He said to me: \u201cMy dear Chiniquy, you are sailing on\na rough sea\u2014you must be a lucky mariner if you escape the wreck. The\nbishop is very angry at you; but be not discouraged, for the right is on\nyour side.\u201d He then kindly opened the door of the bishop\u2019s parlor, and\nsaid: \u201cMy lord, Mr. Chiniquy is here, waiting for your orders.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet him come, sir,\u201d answered the bishop.\n\nI entered and threw myself at his feet, as it is the usage of the\npriests. But, stepping backward, he told me in a most excited manner: \u201cI\nhave no benediction for you till you give me a satisfactory explanation\nof your strange conduct.\u201d\n\nI arose to my feet and said: \u201cMy lord, what do you want from me?\u201d\n\n\u201cI want you, sir, to explain to me the meaning of this letter signed by\nyou as secretary of a new-born society called, \u2018One Mass Society.\u2019\u201d At\nthe same time he showed me my letter.\n\nI answered him: \u201cMy lord, the letter is in good French\u2014your lordship\nmust have understood it well. I cannot see how any explanation on my\npart could make it clearer.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat I want to know from you, is what you mean, and what is your object\nin leaving the old and respectable \u2018Three Masses Society?\u2019 Is it not\ncomposed of your bishops and of all the priests of Canada? Did you not\nfind yourself in sufficiently good company? Do you object to the prayers\nsaid for the souls in purgatory?\u201d\n\nI replied: \u201cMy lord, I will answer by revealing to your lordship a fact\nwhich has not sufficiently attracted your attention. The great number of\nmasses which we have to say for the souls of the dead priests makes it\nimpossible for us to say the masses for which the people pay into our\nhands; we are, then, forced to transfer this money into your hands; and\nthen instead of having these holy sacrifices offered by the good priests\nof Canada, your lordship has recourse to the priests of France, where\nyou get them said for five cents. We see two great evils in this:\nFirst\u2014Our masses are said by priests in whom we have not the least\nconfidence; and though the masses they say are very cheap, they are too\ndearly purchased; for between you and me, we can say that, with very few\nexceptions, the masses said by the priests of France, particularly of\nParis, are not worth one cent. The second evil is still greater, for in\nour eyes, it is one of the greatest crimes which our holy church has\nalways condemned, the crime of simony.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you mean to say,\u201d indignantly replied the bishop, \u201cthat I am guilty\nof the crime of simony?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! my lord; it is just what I mean to say, and I do not see how your\nlordship does not understand that the trade in masses by which you gain\n400,000 francs on a spiritual merchandise, which you get for 100,000, is\nnot simony.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou insult me! You are the most impudent man I ever saw. If you do not\nretract what you have said, I will suspend and excommunicate you!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy suspension and my excommunication will not make the position of your\nlordship much better. For the people will know that you have\nexcommunicated me because I protested against your trade in masses. They\nwill know that you pocket twenty cents on every mass, and that you get\nthem said for five cents in Paris by priests, the greatest part of whom\nlive with concubines, and you will see that there will be only one voice\nin Canada to bless me for my protest and to condemn you for your\nsimoniacal trade on such a sacred thing as the holy and tremendous\nsacrifice of the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.\u201d\n\nI uttered these words with such perfect calmness that the bishop saw\nthat I had not the least fear of his thunders. He began to pace the\nroom, and he heaped on my devoted head all the epithets by which I could\nlearn that I was an insolent, rebellious and dangerous priest.\n\n\u201cIt is evident to me,\u201d said he, \u201cthat you aim to be a reformer, a\nLuther, _au petit pied_, in Canada. But you will never be anything else\nthan a monkey!\u201d\n\nI saw that my bishop was beside himself, and that my perfect calmness\nadded to his irritation. I answered him: \u201cIf Luther had never done\nanything worse than I do to-day, he ought to be blessed by God and man.\nI respectfully request your lordship to be calm. The subject on which I\nspeak to you is more serious than you think. Your lordship, by asking\ntwenty-five cents for a mass which can be said for five cents, does a\nthing which you would condemn if it were done by another man. You are\ndigging under your own feet, and under the feet of your priests the same\nabyss in which the Church of France nearly perished, not half a century\nago. You are destroying with your own hands every vestige of religion in\nthe hearts of the people, who will sooner or later know it. I am your\nbest friend, your most respectful priest, when I fearlessly tell you\nthis truth before it is too late. Your lordship knows that he has not a\npriest who loves and cherishes him more than I do\u2014God knows, it is\nbecause I love and respect you, as my own father, that I profoundly\ndeplore the illusions which prevent you from seeing the terrible\nconsequences that will follow, if our pious people learn that you abuse\ntheir ignorance and their good faith, by making them pay twenty-five\ncents for a thing which costs only five. Woe to your lordship! Woe to\nme, woe to our holy church, the day that our people know that in our\nholy religion the blood of Christ is turned into merchandise to fill the\ntreasury of the bishops and pope!\u201d\n\nIt was evident that these last words, said with most perfect\nself-possession, had not all been lost. The bishop had become calmer. He\nanswered me: \u201cYou are young and without experience: your imagination is\neasily fed with phantoms. When you know a little more, you will change\nyour mind and will have more respect for your superiors. I hope your\npresent error is only a momentary one. I could punish you for this\nfreedom with which you have dared to speak to your bishop, but I prefer\nto warn you to be more respectful and obedient in future. Though I\ndeplore for your sake that you have requested me to take away your name\nfrom the \u2018Three Masses Society,\u2019 you and the four simpletons who have\ncommitted the same act of folly are the only losers in the matter.\nInstead of two thousand masses said for the deliverance of your souls\nfrom the flames of purgatory, you will have only twelve hundred. But, be\nsure of it, there is too much wisdom and true piety in my clergy to\nfollow your example. You will be left alone, and, I fear, covered with\nridicule. For they will call you the \u2018little reformer.\u2019\u201d\n\nI answered the bishop: \u201cI am young, it is true, but the truths I have\nsaid to your lordship are as old as the gospel. I have such confidence\nin the infinite merits of the holy sacrifice of the mass, that I\nsincerely believe that twelve hundred masses said by good priests are\nenough to cleanse my soul and extinguish the flames of purgatory. But,\nbesides, I prefer twelve hundred masses said by one hundred sincere\nCanadian priests, to a million said by the five-cent priests of Paris.\u201d\n\nThese last words, spoken with a tone half serious, half jocose, brought\na change on the face of my bishop. I thought it was a good moment to get\nmy benediction and take leave of him. I took my hat, knelt at his feet,\nobtained his blessing and left.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXVI\n\n CONTINUATION OF THE TRADE IN MASSES.\n\n\nThe hour of my absence had been one of anxiety for the curate and the\nvicars. But my prompt return filled them with joy.\n\n\u201cWhat news!\u201d they all exclaimed.\n\n\u201cGood news,\u201d I answered; \u201cthe battle has been fierce but short. We have\ngained the day; and if we are only true to ourselves, another great\nvictory is in store for us. The bishop is so sure that we are the only\nones who think of that reform, that he will not move a finger to prevent\nthe other priests from following us. This security will make our success\ninfallible. But we must not lose a moment. Let us address our circular\nto every priest in Canada.\u201d\n\nOne hour later there were more than twenty writers at work, and before\ntwenty-four hours, more than three hundred letters were carried to all\nthe priests, giving them the reasons why we should try, by all fair\nmeans, to put an end to the shameful simoniacal trade in masses which\nwas going on between Canada and France.\n\nThe week was scarcely ended, when letters came from nearly all the\ncurates and vicars to the bishop, respectfully requesting him to\nwithdraw his name from \u201cThe Society of the Three Masses.\u201d Only fifty\nrefused to comply with our request.\n\nOur victory was more complete than we had expected. But the bishop of\nQuebec, hoping to regain his lost ground, immediately wrote to the\nbishop of Montreal, my Lord Telemesse, to come to his help and show us\nthe enormity of the crime we had committed, in rebelling against the\nwill of our ecclesiastical superiors.\n\nA few days later, to my great dismay, I received a short and very cold\nnote from the bishop\u2019s secretary, telling me that their lordships, the\nbishops of Montreal and Quebec, wanted to see me at the palace, without\ndelay. I had never seen the bishop of Montreal, and my surprise and\ndisappointment were great in finding myself in the presence of a man, my\nidea of whom was of gigantic proportions, when in reality he was very\nsmall. But I felt exceedingly well pleased by the admirable mixture of\nfirmness, intelligence and honesty of his whole demeanor. His eyes were\npiercing as the eagle\u2019s; but when fixed on me, I saw in them the marks\nof a noble and honest heart.\n\nThe motions of his head were rapid, his sentences short, and he seemed\nto know only one line\u2014the straight one\u2014when approaching a subject or\ndealing with a man. He had the merited reputation of being one of the\nmost learned and eloquent men of Canada. The bishop of Quebec had\nremained on his sofa and left the bishop of Montreal to receive me. I\nfell at his feet and asked his blessing, which he gave me in the most\ncordial way. Then, putting his hand upon my shoulder, he said in a\nQuaker style: \u201cIs it possible that _thou_ art Chiniquy\u2014that young priest\nwho makes so much noise? How can such a small man make so much noise?\u201d\n\nThere being a smile on his countenance as he uttered these words, I saw\nat once that there was no anger or bad feeling in his heart. I replied:\n\u201cMy lord, do you not know that the most precious pearls and perfumes are\nput up in the smallest vases?\u201d\n\nThe bishop saw that this was a compliment to his address; he smilingly\nreplied: \u201cWell, well, if thou art a noisy priest, thou art not a fool.\nBut tell me, why dost thou want to destroy our \u2018Three Mass Society\u2019 and\nestablish that new one on its ruins, in spite of thy superiors?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lord, my answer will be as respectful, short and plain as possible.\nI have left the \u2018Three Mass Society\u2019 because it was my right to do it,\nwithout anybody\u2019s permission. I hope our venerable Canadian bishops do\nnot wish to be served by slaves!\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not say,\u201d replied the bishop, \u201cthat thou wert bound in conscience\nto remain in the \u2018Three Mass Society;\u2019 but, can I know why thou hast\nleft such a respectable association, at the head of which thou seest thy\nbishops and the most venerable priests in Canada?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will again be plain in my answer, my lord. If your lordship wants to\ngo to hell with your venerable priests by spiriting away twenty cents\nfrom every one of our honest and pious penitents for masses which you\nget said for five, by bad priests in Paris, I will not follow you.\nMoreover, if your lordship wants to be thrown into the river by the\nfurious people, when they know how long and how cunningly we have\ncheated them with our simoniacal trade in masses, I do not want to\nfollow you into the cold stream.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, well!\u201d answered the bishop, \u201clet us drop that matter forever.\u201d\n\nHe uttered this short sentence with such an evidence of sincerity and\nhonesty, that I saw he really meant it. He had, at a glance, seen that\nhis ground was untenable, in the presence of priests who knew their\nrights and had a mind to stand by them.\n\nMy joy was great indeed at such a prompt and complete victory. I again\nfell at the bishop\u2019s feet and asked his benediction before taking leave\nof him. I then left to go and tell the curates and vicars the happy\nissue of my interview with the bishop of Montreal.\n\nFrom that time till now, at the death of every priest, the Clerical\nPress never failed mentioning whether the deceased priest belonged to\nthe \u201cThree\u201d or \u201cOne Mass Society.\u201d\n\nWe had, to some extent, diminished the simoniacal and infamous trade in\nmasses, but unfortunately we had not destroyed it; and I know that\nto-day it has revived. Since I left the Church of Rome, the bishops of\nQuebec have raised the \u201cThree Mass Society\u201d from its grave.\n\nIt is a public fact, that no priest dare deny, that the trade in masses\nis still conducted on a large scale with France. There are in Paris and\nother large cities in that country public agencies to carry on that\nshameful traffic. It is, generally, in the hands of booksellers or\nmerchants of church ornaments. Every year their houses send a large\nnumber of prospectuses through France and Belgium and other Catholic\ncountries, in which they say that, in order to help the priests, who\nhaving received money for their masses, don\u2019t know where to have them\nsaid, they offer a premium of twenty-five or thirty per cent. to those\nwho will send them the surplus of the money they have in hand, to offer\nthe Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.\n\nThe priests who have such surplus, tempted by that premium, which is\nusually paid with a watch or chain, or a chalice, disgorge a part or the\nwhole of the large sums they possess into the hands of the pious\nmerchants, who take this money and use it as they please.\n\nBut they never pay the masses in money, they give only merchandise. For\ninstance, that priest will receive a watch if he promises to celebrate\none or two hundred masses, or a chalice to celebrate three or four\nhundred masses. I have, here in hand, several of the contracts or\npromissory notes sent by those merchants of masses to the priests. The\npublic will, no doubt, read the following documents with interest. They\nwere handed me by a priest lately converted from the Church of Rome:\n\n RUE DE REIMES\u2014PARIS.\n\nAnt. Levesques, editor of the works of Mr. Dufriche\u2014Desgenettes. Cure of\nNotre Dame des Victoires.\n\nDelivered to the Rev. Mr. Camerle, curate of Ansibeau (Basses Alpes).\n\n PARIS, October 12, 1874.\n\n F.\n 10 metres of Satin cloth, at 22 francs 220.\n 8 \u201d of merino, all wool 123.\n Month of May 2.\n History of Mary Christina 1.40\n Life of St. Stanislas Koska 2.\n Meditations of the Soul 4.\n Jesus Christ, the light of the world 2.\n Packing and freight 9.30\n \u2014\u2014\u2014\n Total 363.70\n\nMR. CURATE: We have the honor of informing you that the packages\ncontaining the articles you have ordered on the 4th of October, were\nshipped on the 12th of October, to Digne, where we respectfully request\nyou to go and ask for them. For the payment of these articles, we\nrequest you to say the following masses:\n\n58 ad intentionem of the giver, for the discharge of Rev. Mr. Montet.\n\n58 ad intentionem of the givers, for the discharge of Rev. Mr. H\u0153g.\n\n100-188 for the dead, for the discharge of Rev. Mr. Wod.\n\nMR. CURATE: Will you be kind enough to say or have said all those masses\nin the shortest time possible, and answer these Rev\u2019d gentlemen, if they\nmake any inquiries about the acquittal of those masses.\n\n Respectfully yours,\n\n (Signed) ANT. LEVESQUES.\n\n PARIS, Nov. 11, 1874.\n\nREV. MR. CAMERLE: We have the honor of addressing you the invoice of\nwhat we forwarded to you on the 12th of October. On account we have put\nto your credit 188 masses. We respectfully request you get said to the\nfollowing intentions:\n\n 73 for the dead, to the acquittal of Rev. Mr. }\n Watters,\n\n 70 pro defucto, } For the discharge\n\n 20 ad intentionem donatis, } of Rev. Mr. C\u2014\u2014\n\n 13 ad intentionem donatis, }\n\n \u2014\u2014\n\n 176\n\nMR. CURATE: Be kind enough to say these masses or have them said as soon\nas possible, and answer the reverend gentlemen who may inquire from you\nabout their acquittal. The 188 masses mentioned in our letter of the 3rd\ninst., added to the 176 here mentioned, make 364 francs, the value of\nthe goods sent you. We thought you would like to have the pamphlets of\npropaganda we address you.\n\n Respectfully yours,\n\n Signed: ANT. LEVESQUES.\n\nHence it is that priests, in France and elsewhere, have gold watches,\nrich house furniture, and interesting books, purchased with the money\npaid by our poor deluded Canadian Catholics to their priests for masses\nwhich are turned into mercantile commodities in other places. It would\nbe difficult to say who makes the best bargain between those merchants\nof masses, the priests to whom they are sold, or those from whom they\nare bought at a discount of twenty-five to thirty per cent.\n\nThe only evident thing is the cruel deception practiced on the credulity\nand ignorance of the Roman Catholics by their priests and bishops.\nTo-day, the houses of Dr. Anthony Levesques in Paris are the most\naccredited in France. In 1874, the house of Mesme was doing an immense\nbusiness with its stock of masses, but in an evil day, the Government\nsuspected that the number of masses paid into their hands, exceeded the\nnumber of those celebrated through their hired priests. The suspicion\nsoon turned into certainty when the books were examined. It was then\nfound that an incredible number of masses, which were to empty the large\nroom of purgatory, never reached their destination, but only filled the\npurse of the Parisian mass merchant; and so the unlucky Mesme was\nunceremoniously sent to the penitentiary to meditate on the infinite\nmerits of the holy sacrifice of the mass, which had been engulfed in his\ntreasures.\n\nBut these facts are not known by the poor Roman Catholics of Canada, who\nare fleeced more and more by their priests, under the pretext of saving\nsouls from purgatory.\n\nA new element of success in the large swindling operations of the\nCanadian priests has lately been discovered. It is well known that in\nthe greater part of the United States, the poor deluded Irish pay one\ndollar to their priest, instead of a shilling, for a low mass. Those\npriests whose conscience are sufficiently elastic (as is often the\ncase), keep the money without ever thinking of having the masses said,\nand soon get rich. But there are some whose natural honesty shrinks from\nthe idea of stealing; but unable to celebrate all the masses paid for\nand requested at their hands, they send the dollars to some of their\nclerical friends in Canada, who, of course, prefer these one dollar\nmasses to the twenty-five cent ones paid by the French Canadians.\nHowever, they keep that secret and continue to fill their treasury.\n\nThere are, however, many priests in Canada who think it less evil to\nkeep those large sums of money in their own hands, than to give them to\nthe bishops to traffic with the merchants of Paris. At the end of one of\nthe ecclesiastical retreats in the seminary of St. Sulpice in 1850,\nBishop Bourget told us that one of the priests who had lately died, had\nrequested him, in the name of Jesus Christ, to ask every priest to take\na share in the $4,000 which he had received for masses he had never\nsaid. We refused to grant him that favor, and those $4,000 received by\nthat priest, like the millions put into the hands of other priests and\nthe bishops, turned to be nothing less than an infamous swindling\noperation under the mask of religion.\n\nTo understand what the priests of Rome are, let the readers note what is\nsaid in the Roman Catholic Bible, of the priest of Babylon:\n\n\u201cAnd King Astyges was gathered to his fathers, and Cyrus, of Persia,\nreceived his kingdom, and Daniel conversed with the king, and was\nhonored above all his friends. Now the Babylonians had an idol, called\nBel, and there were spent upon him, every day, twelve measures of fine\nflour, and forty sheep and six vessels of wine. And the king worshipped\nit and went daily to adore: but Daniel worshipped his own God, and the\nking said unto him: \u2018Why dost thou not worship Bel?\u2019 who answered and\nsaid: \u2018because I may not worship idols made with hands, but the living\nGod, who hath created the heavens and the earth, and hath sovereignty\nover all flesh.\u2019 Then the king said: \u2018Thinkest thou not that Bel is a\nliving God! Seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day?\u2019\n\n\u201cThen Daniel smiled and said: \u2018Oh, king! be not deceived; for this is\nbut clay within and brass without, and did never eat or drink anything.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo the king was wroth, and called for his priests and said: \u2018If ye tell\nme not who this is that devoureth these expenses, ye shall die; but if\nye can certify me that Bel devoureth them, then Daniel shall die, for he\nhas spoken blasphemy against Bel.\u2019 And Daniel said unto the king: \u2018Let\nit be according to thy word.\u2019\n\n\u201cNow the priests of Bel were three score and ten, besides their wives\nand children.\n\n\u201cAnd the king went with Daniel to the temple of Bel\u2014so Bel\u2019s priests\nsaid: \u2018Lo! we got out, but thou, O king, set on the meat, and make ready\nthe wine, and shut the door fast, and seal it with thine own signet; and\nto-morrow when thou comest in, if thou findest not that Bel hath eaten\nup all, we will suffer death; or else, Daniel, that speaketh falsely\nagainst Bel shall die\u2014and they little regarded it, for under the table\nthey had made a privy entrance, whereby they entered continually and\nconsumed those things.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo when they were gone forth, the king set meats before Bel.\n\n\u201cNow Daniel had commanded his servants to bring ashes, and those they\nstrewed throughout all the temple, in the presence of the king alone:\nthen they went out, and shut the door, and sealed it with the king\u2019s\nsignet, and so departed.\n\n\u201cNow in the night came the priests, with their wives and children, as\nthey were wont to do, and did eat and drink up all.\n\n\u201cIn the morning betimes the king arose, and Daniel with him.\n\n\u201cAnd the king said, \u2018Daniel, are the seals whole?\u2019 And he said, \u2018Yea, O\nking, they be whole.\u2019 And as soon as they had opened the door, the king\nlooked upon the table, and cried with a loud voice: \u2018Great art thou, O\nBel! and with thee there is no deceit at all.\u2019 Then laughed Daniel, and\nheld the king that he should not go in, and said: \u2018Behold now the\npavement, and mark well whose footsteps are these.\u2019 And the king said:\n\u2018I see the footsteps of men, women and children.\u2019 And then the king was\nangry, and took the priests, with their wives and children, who showed\nhim the privy doors, where they came in and consumed such things as were\non the tables.\n\n\u201cTherefore the king slew them, and delivered Bel into Daniel\u2019s power,\nwho destroyed him and his temple.\u201d\n\nWho does not pity the king of Babylon, who, when looking at his clay and\nbrass god, exclaimed: \u201cGreat art thou, O Bel, and with thee there is no\ndeceit!\u201d\n\nBut, is the deception practiced by the priests of the Pope on their\npoor, deluded dupes, less cruel and infamous? Where is the difference\nbetween that Babylonian god, made with brass and baked clay, and the god\nof the Roman Catholics, made with a handful of wheat and flour, baked\nbetween two hot polished irons?\n\nHow skilful were the priests in keeping the secret of what became of the\nrich daily offerings brought to the hungry god! Who could suspect that\nthere was a secret trap through which they came with their wives and\nchildren to eat the rich offerings?\n\nSo, to-day, among the simple and blind Roman Catholics, who could\nsuppose that the immense sums of money given every day to the priests to\nglorify God, purify the souls of men, and bring all kinds of blessings\nupon the donors, were, on the contrary, turned into the most ignominious\nand swindling operation the world has ever seen?\n\nThough the brass god of Babylon was a contemptible idol, is not the\nwafer god of Rome still more so? Though the priests of Bel were skilful\ndeceivers, are they not surpassed in the art of deception by the priests\nof Rome! Do not these carry on their operations on a much larger scale\nthan the former?\n\nBut, as there is always a day of retribution for the great iniquities of\nthis world, when all things will be revealed; and just as the cunning of\nthe priests of Babylon could not save them, when God sent his prophet to\ntake away the mask, behind which they deceived their people, so let the\npriests of Rome know that God will, sooner or later, send his prophet,\nwho will tear off the mask, behind which they deceive the world. Their\nbig, awkward and flat feet will be seen and exposed, and the very people\nwhom they keep prostrated before their idols, crying: \u201cO God! with thee\nthere is no deceit at all!\u201d will become the instruments of the justice\nof God in the great day of retribution.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXVII.\n\nQUEBEC MARINE HOSPITAL\u2014THE FIRST TIME I CARRIED THE \u201cBON DIEU\u201d (THE\n WAFER GOD) IN MY VEST POCKET\u2014THE GRAND OYSTER SOIREE AT MR.\n BUTEAU\u2019S\u2014THE REV. L. PARENT AND THE \u201cBON DIEU\u201d AT THE OYSTER SOIREE.\n\n\nOne of the first things done by the curate Tetu, after his new vicars\nhad been chosen, was to divide, by casting lots, his large parish into\nfour parts, that there might be more regularity in our ministerial\nlabors, and my lot gave me the northeast of the parish which contained\nthe Quebec Marine Hospital.\n\nThe number of sick sailors I had to visit almost every day in that noble\ninstitution, was between twenty-five and a hundred. The Roman Catholic\nchapel, with its beautiful altar was not yet completed. It was only in\n1837 that I could persuade the hospital authorities to fix it as it is\nto-day. Having no place there to celebrate mass and keep the Holy\nSacrament, I soon found myself in presence of a difficulty which, at\nfirst, seemed to me of a grave character. I had to administer the\nviaticum (holy communion) to a dying sailor. As every one knows, all\nRoman Catholics are bound to believe that by the consecration, the wafer\nis transformed into the body, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. Hence,\nthey call that ceremony: \u201cPorter le bon dieu au malade\u201d (carry the good\nGod to the sick.) Till then, when in Charlesborough or St. Charles, I,\nwith the rest of Roman Catholic priests, always made use of pomp and\nexterior marks of supreme respect for the Almighty God I was carrying in\nmy hands to the dying.\n\nI had never carried the good God without being accompanied by several\npeople, walking or riding on horseback. I then wore a white surplice\nover my long black robe (soutane) to strike the people with awe. There\nwas also a man ringing a bell before me, all along the way, to announce\nto the people that the great God, who had not only created them, but had\nmade himself man to save them, by dying on Calvary, was passing by; that\nthey had to fall on their knees in their houses, or along the public\nroads or in their fields, and prostrate themselves and adore him.\n\nBut could I do that in Quebec, where so many miserable heretics were\nmore disposed to laugh at my God than to adore him?\n\nIn my zeal and sincere faith, I was, however, determined to dare the\nheretics of the whole world, and to expose myself to their insults,\nrather than give up the exterior marks of supreme respect and adoration\nwhich were due to my God everywhere; and twice I carried Him to the\nhospital with the usual solemnity.\n\nIn vain my curate tried to persuade me to change my mind. I closed my\nears to his arguments. He then kindly invited me to go with him to the\nbishop\u2019s palace, in order to confer with him on that grave subject. How\ncan I express my dismay when the bishop told me, with a levity which I\nhad not yet observed in him, \u201cthat on account of the Protestants whom we\nhad to meet everywhere, it was better to make our \u2018God\u2019 travel\n_incognito_ in the streets of Quebec.\u201d He added in a high and jocose\ntone: \u201cPut Him in your vest pocket, as do the rest of the city priests.\nCarry Him to your dying patients without any scruples. Never aim at\nbeing a reformer and doing better than your venerable brethren in the\npriesthood. We must not forget that we are a conquered people. If we\nwere masters, we would carry Him to the dying with the public honors we\nused to give Him before the conquest; but the Protestants are the\nstronger. Our governor is a Protestant, as well as our Queen. The\ngarrison which is inside the walls of their impregnable citadel, is\ncomposed chiefly of Protestants. According to the laws of our holy\nchurch, we have the right to punish, even by death, the miserable people\nwho turn into ridicule the mysteries of our holy religion: But though we\nhave that right, we are not strong enough to enforce it. We must, then,\nbear the yoke in silence. After all, it is our God himself, who in his\ninscrutable judgment, has deprived us of the power of honoring Him as He\ndeserves, and to tell you my whole mind as plainly as possible, it is\nnot our fault, but His own doing, so to speak, if we are forced to make\nHim travel _incognito_ through our streets. It is one of the sad results\nof the victory which the God of battles gave to the Heretics over us on\nthe plains of Abraham. If, in His good providence, we could break our\nfetters, and become free to pass again the laws which regulated Canada\nbefore the conquest, to prevent the heretics from settling among us,\nthen we would carry Him as we used to do in those happy days.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said I, \u201cwhen I walk in the streets with my good God in my vest\npocket, what will I do if I meet any friend who wants to shake hands and\nhave a joke with me?\u201d\n\nThe bishop laughed and answered: \u201cTell your friend you are in a hurry,\nand go your way as quickly as possible; but if there is no help, have\nyour talk and your joke with him, without any scruple of conscience. The\nimportant point in this delicate matter is that the people should not\nknow that we are carrying our God through the streets _incognito_; for\nthis knowledge would surely shake and weaken their faith. The common\npeople are, more than we think, kept in our holy church, by the\nimpressing ceremonies of our processions and public marks of respect we\ngive to Jesus Christ, when we carry Him to the sick; for the people are\nmore easily persuaded by what they see with their eyes and touch with\ntheir hands, than by what they hear with their ears.\u201d\n\nI submitted to the order of my ecclesiastical superior; but I would not\nbe honest, were I not to confess that I lost much of my spiritual joy\nfor some time in the administration of the viaticum. I continued to\nbelieve as sincerely as I could, but the laughing words and light tone\nof my bishop had fallen upon my soul as an icy cloud. The jocose way in\nwhich he had spoken of what I had been taught to consider as the most\nawful and adorable mystery of the church, left the impression on my mind\nthat he did not believe one iota of the dogma of transubstantiation. And\nin spite of all my honest efforts to get rid of that suspicion, it grew\nin my mind every time I met him to talk on any ministerial subject.\n\nIt took several years before I could accustom myself to carry my God in\nmy vest pocket as the other priests did, without any more ceremony than\nwith a piece of tobacco. So long as I was walking alone I felt happy. I\ncould then silently converse with my Saviour, and give Him all the\nexpressions of my love and adoration. It was my custom, then, to repeat\nthe 103d or 50th psalm of David,\u2014or the Te Deum, or some other beautiful\nhymn, or the _Pange Langua_, which I knew by heart. But no words can\nexpress my sadness when, as it was very often the case, I met some\nfriends forcing me to shake hands with them, and began one of those idle\nand common-place talks, so common everywhere.\n\nWith the utmost efforts, I had then to put a smiling mask on my face, in\norder to conceal the expression of faith which are infallibly seen, in\nspite of one\u2019s self, if one is in the very act of adoration.\n\nHow, then, I earnestly cursed the day when my country had fallen under\nthe yoke of Protestants, whose presence in Quebec prevented me from\nfollowing the dictates of my conscience! How many times did I pray my\nwafer god, whom I was personally pressing on my heart, to grant us an\nopportunity to break those fetters, and destroy forever the power of\nProtestant England over us! Then we should be free again, to give our\nSaviour all the public honors which were to due his majesty. Then we\nshould put in force the laws by which no heretic had any right to settle\nand live in Canada.\n\nNot long after that conversation with the bishop, I found myself in a\ncircumstance which added much to my trouble and confusion of conscience\non that matter.\n\nThere was then, in Quebec, a merchant who had honorably raised himself\nfrom a state of poverty, to the first rank among the wealthy merchants\nof Canada. Though, a few years after, he was ruined by a series of most\nterrible disasters, his name is still honored in Canada, as one of the\nmost industrious and honest merchants of our young country. His name was\nJames Buteau. He had built a magnificent house and furnished it in a\nprincely style.\n\nIn order to celebrate his \u201chouse warming\u201d in a becoming style, he\ninvited a hundred guests from the elite of the city, among whom were all\nthe priests of the parishes. But in order not to frighten their prudery,\nthough the party was to be more of the nature of a ball than anything\nelse, Mr. Buteau had given it the modest name of an Oyster Soiree.\n\nJust as the good curate Tetu, with his cheerful vicars was starting, a\nmessenger met us at the door, to say that Mr. Parent, the youngest\nvicar, had called to carry the \u201cGood God\u201d to a dying woman.\n\nMr. Parent was born, and had passed his whole life in Quebec, in whose\nseminary he had gone through a complete and brilliant course of study. I\nthink there was scarcely a funny song in the French language which he\ncould not sing. With a cheerful nature, he was the delight of the Quebec\nsociety, by almost every member of which he was personally known.\n\nHis hair was constantly perfumed with the richest pomade, and the most\nprecious eaux de cologne surrounded him with an atmosphere of the\nsweetest odors. With all these qualities and privileges, it is no wonder\nthat he was the confessor \u201c_a la mode_\u201d of the young ladies of Quebec.\n\nThe bright luminaries which hover around Jupiter are not more exact in\nconverging toward the brilliant star, than those pious young ladies were\nin gathering around the confessional box of Mr. Parent every week or\nfortnight.\n\nThe unexpected announcement of a call to the deathbed of one of his\npoorest penitents, was not quite the most desirable thing for our dear\nyoung friend, at such an hour. But he knew too well his duty to grumble.\nHe said to us: \u201cGo before me and tell Mrs. Buteau that I will be in time\nto get my share of the oysters.\u201d\n\nBy chance, the sick house was on the way and not far from Mr. Buteau\u2019s\nsplendid mansion. He left us to run to the altar and take the \u201cGood God\u201d\nwith him. We started for the soiree, but not without sympathizing with\nour dear Mr. Parent, who would lose the most interesting part, for the\nadministration of the viaticum. The extreme unction, with the giving of\nindulgences, _in articulo mortis_, and the exhortation to the dying, and\nthe people gathered from the neighborhood to witness those solemn rites,\ncould not take much less than three quarters, or even an hour of his\ntime. But, to my great surprise, we had not yet been ten minutes in the\nmagnificent parlor of our host, when I saw Mr. Parent, who like a\nnewborn butterfly, flying from flower to flower, was running from lady\nto lady, joking, laughing, surpassing himself with his inimitable,\nlovely and refined manners. I said to myself, how is it possible that he\nhas so quickly got rid of his unpalatable task with his dying penitent!\nand I wanted an opportunity of being alone with him, to satisfy my\ncuriosity on that point. But it was pretty late in the evening, when I\nhad a chance to say to him; \u201cWe all feared lest your dying patient might\ndeprive us of the pleasure of your company the greater part of the\nsoiree!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! Oh!\u201d answered he, with a hearty laugh, \u201cthat intelligent woman had\nthe good common sense to die just two minutes before I entered her\nhouse. I suppose that her guardian angel, knowing all about this\nincomparable party, had dispatched the good soul to heaven a little\nsooner than she expected, in my behalf.\u201d I could not but smile at his\nanswer, which was given in a manner to make a stone laugh. \u201cBut,\u201d said\nI, \u201cwhat have you done with the \u2018Good God\u2019 you carried with you?\u201d\n\n\u201cAh! ah! the Good God,\u201d he replied in a jocose and subdued tone. \u201cWell,\nwell! the \u2018Good God\u2019? He stands very still in my vest pocket. And if he\nenjoys this princely festivity as well as we all do, he will surely\nthank me for having brought him here, even _en survenant_. But do not\nsay a word of his presence here; it would spoil everything.\u201d\n\nThat priest, who was only one year younger than myself, was one of my\ndearest friends. Though his words rather smelt of the unbeliever and\nblasphemer, I preferred to attribute them to the sweet champagne he had\ndrunk than to a real want of faith.\n\nBut I must confess that, though I had laughed very heartily at first,\nhis last utterance pained me so much that, from that moment to the end\nof the soiree, I felt uneasy and confounded. My firm belief that my\nSaviour Jesus Christ was there in person, kept a prisoner in my young\nfriend\u2019s vest pocket, going to and fro from one young lady to the other,\nwitnessing the constant laughing, hearing the idle words, the light and\nfunny songs, made my whole soul shudder, and my heart sunk within me. By\ntimes I wished I could fall on my knees to adore my Saviour, whom I\nbelieved to be there. However, a mysterious voice was whispering in my\near: \u201cAre you not a fool to believe that you can make a God with a\nwafer; and that Jesus Christ your Saviour and your God, can be kept a\nprisoner, in spite of himself, in the vest pocket of a man? Do you not\nsee that your friend Parent, who has much more brains and intelligence\nthan you, does not believe a word of that dogma of transubstantiation?\nHave you forgotten the unbeliever\u2019s smile which you saw on the lips of\nthe bishop himself only a few days ago? Was not that laugh the\ninfallible proof that he also does not believe a particle of that\nridiculous dogma?\u201d\n\nWith superhuman effort I tried, and succeeded partly, to stifle that\nvoice. But that struggle could not last long within my soul without\nleaving its exterior marks on my face. Evidently a sad cloud was over my\neyes, for several of my most respectable friends, with Mr. and Mrs.\nButeau, kindly asked if I were sick.\n\nAt last I felt so confused at the repetition of the same suggestion by\nso many, that I felt that I was only making a fool of myself by\nremaining any longer in their midst. Angry with myself for my want of\nmoral strength in this hour of trial, I respectfully asked pardon from\nmy kind host for leaving their party before the end, on account of a\nsudden indisposition.\n\nThe next day there was only one voice in Quebec, saying that young\nParent had been the lion of that brilliant soiree, and that the poor\nyoung priest Chiniquy had been its fool.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXVIII.\n\nDR. DOUGLAS\u2014MY FIRST LESSON IN TEMPERANCE\u2014STUDY OF ANATOMY\u2014WORKING OF\n ALCOHOL IN THE HUMAN FRAME\u2014THE MURDERESS OF HER OWN CHILD\u2014I FOREVER\n GIVE UP THE USE OF INTOXICATING DRINKS.\n\n\nGod controls the greatest as well as the smallest of the events of this\nworld. Our business during the few days of our pilgrimage, then, is to\nknow His will and do it. Our happiness here, as in heaven, rests on this\nfoundation, just as the success and failures of our lives come entirely\nfrom the practical knowledge or ignorance of this simplest and sublimest\ntruth. I dare say that there is not a single fact of my long and\neventful life which has not taught me that there is a special providence\nin our lives. Particularly was this apparent in the casting of the lots\nby which I became the first chaplain of the Quebec Marine Hospital.\nAfter the other vicars had congratulated each other for having escaped\nthe heavy burden of work and responsibilities connected with that\nchaplaincy, they kindly gave me the assurance of their sympathies for\nwhat they called my bad luck. In thanking them for their kindly\nfeelings, I confessed that this occurrence appeared to me in a very\ndifferent light. I was sure that God had directed this for my good and\nHis own glory, and I was right. In the beginning of November, 1834, a\nslight indisposition having kept me for a few days at home, Mr.\nGlackmayer, the superintendent of the hospital, came to tell me that\nthere was an unusually large number of sick, left by the Fall fleets, in\ndanger of death, who were day and night calling for me. He added in a\nsecret way, that there were several cases of small-pox of the worst\ntype; that several had already died and many were dying from the\nterrible cholera morbus, which was still raging among the sailors.\n\nThis sad news came to me as an order from heaven to run to the rescue of\nmy dear sick seamen. I left my room, despite my physician, and went to\nthe hospital.\n\nThe first man I met was Dr. Douglas, who was waiting for me at Mr. C.\nGlackmayer\u2019s room. He confirmed what I had known before of the number of\nsick, and added that the prevailing diseases were of the most dangerous\nkind.\n\nDr. Douglas, who was one of the founders and governors of the hospital,\nhad the well-merited reputation of being one of the ablest surgeons of\nQuebec. Though a staunch Protestant by birth and profession, he honored\nme with his confidence and friendship from the first day we met. I may\nsay I have never known a nobler heart, a larger mind and a truer\nphilanthropist.\n\nAfter thanking him for the useful though sad intelligence he had given\nme, I requested Mr. Glackmayer to give me a glass of brandy, which I\nimmediately swallowed.\n\n\u201cWhat are you doing there?\u201d said Dr. Douglas.\n\n\u201cYou see,\u201d I answered; \u201cI have drank a glass of excellent brandy.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut please tell me why you drank that brandy.\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause it is a good preservative against the pestilential atmosphere I\nwill breathe all day,\u201d I replied. \u201cI will have to hear the confessions\nof all those people dying from small-pox or cholera, and breathe the\nputrid air which is around their pillows. Does not common sense warn me\nto take some precautions against the contagion?\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it possible,\u201d rejoined he, \u201cthat a man for whom I have such a\nsincere esteem is so ignorant of the deadly workings of alcohol in the\nhuman frame? What you have just drank is nothing but poison; and, far\nfrom protecting yourself against the danger, you are now much more\nexposed to it than before you drank that beverage.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou poor Protestants,\u201d I answered, in a jocose way, \u201care a band of\nfanatics, with your extreme doctrines on temperance; you will never\nconvert me to your views on that subject. Is it for the use of the dogs\nthat God has created wine and brandy? No; it is for the use of men who\ndrink them with moderation and intelligence.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear Mr. Chiniquy, you are joking; but I am in earnest when I tell\nyou that you have poisoned yourself with that glass of brandy,\u201d replied\nDr Douglas.\n\n\u201cIf good wine and brandy were poisons,\u201d I answered, \u201cyou would be long\nago the only physician in Quebec, for you are the only one of the\nmedical body whom I know to be an abstainer. But, though I am much\npleased with your conversation, excuse me if I leave you to visit my\ndear sick sailors, whose cries for spiritual help ring in my ears.\u201d\n\n\u201cOne word more,\u201d said Dr. Douglas, \u201cand I have done. To-morrow morning\nwe will make the autopsy of a sailor who has just died suddenly here.\nHave you any objections to come and see with your eyes, in the body of\nthat man, what your glass of brandy has done in your own body?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, sir; I have no objection to see that,\u201d I replied. \u201cI have been\nanxious for a long time to make a special study of anatomy. It will be\nmy first lesson; I cannot get it from a better master.\u201d\n\nI then shook hands with him and went to my patients, with whom I passed\nthe remainder of the day and the better part of the night. Fifty of them\nwanted to make general confessions of all the sins of their whole lives;\nand I had to give the last sacraments to twenty-five who were dying from\nsmall-pox or cholera morbus. The next morning I was, at the appointed\nhour, by the corpse of the dead man, when Dr. Douglas kindly gave me a\nvery powerful microscope, that I might more thoroughly follow the\nravages of alcohol in every part of the human body.\n\n\u201cI have not the least doubt,\u201d said he, \u201cthat this man has been instantly\nkilled by a glass of rum, which he drank one hour before he fell dead.\nThat rum has caused the rupture of the aorta\u201d (the big vein which\ncarries the blood from the heart).\n\nWhile talking thus, the knife was doing its work so quickly, that the\nhorrible spectacle of the broken artery was before our eyes almost as\nthe last word fell from his lips.\n\n\u201cLook here,\u201d said the doctor, \u201call along the artery, and you will see\nthousands, perhaps millions of reddish spots, which are as many holes\nperforated through it by alcohol. Just as the musk rats of the\nMississippi river, almost every spring, dig little holes through the\ndams which keeps the powerful river within its natural limits, and cause\nthe waters to break through the little holes, and thus carry desolation\nand death along its shores, so alcohol every day causes the sudden death\nof thousands of victims, by perforating the veins and opening small\nissues through which the blood rushes out of its natural limits. It is\nnot only this big vein which alcohol perforates; it does the same deadly\nwork in the veins of the lungs and the whole body. Look at the lungs\nwith attention, and count, if you can, the thousands and thousands of\nreddish, dark and yellow spots, and little ulcers with which they are\ncovered. Every one of them is the work of alcohol, which has torn and\ncut the veins and caused the blood to go out of its canals, to carry\ncorruption and death all over these marvelous organs. Alcohol is one of\nthe most dangerous poisons\u2014I dare say it is the most dangerous. It has\nkilled more men than all the other poisons together. Alcohol cannot be\nchanged or assimilated to any part or tissue of our body, it cannot go\nto any part of the human frame without bringing disorder and death to\nit. For it cannot in any possible way unite with any part of our body.\nThe water we drink, the wholesome food and bread we eat, by the laws and\nwill of God are transformed into the different parts of the body, to\nwhich they are sent through the millions of small canals which take them\nfrom the stomach to every part of our frame. When the water has been\ndrunk, or the bread we have eaten is, for instance, sent to the lungs,\nto the brain, the nerves, the muscles, the bones\u2014wherever it goes it\nreceives, if I can so speak, letters of citizenship; it is allowed to\nremain there in peace and to work for the public good. But it is not so\nwith alcohol. The very moment it enters the stomach it more or less\nbrings disorder, ruin and death, according to the quantity taken. The\nstomach refuses to take it, and makes a supreme effort to violently\nthrow it out, either through the mouth, or by indignantly pushing it to\nthe brain or into the numberless tubes by which it discharges its\ncontents to the surface through all the tissues. But will alcohol be\nwelcome in any of these tubes and marvellous canals, or in any part or\ntissue of the body it will visit on its passage to the surface? No! Look\nhere with your microscope, and you will see with your own eyes that\neverywhere alcohol has gone into the body there has been a hand-to-hand\nstruggle and a bloody battle fought to get rid of it. Yes! every place\nwhere King Alcohol has put his foot has been turned into a battlefield,\nspread with ruin and death, in order to ignominiously turn it out. By a\nmost extraordinary working of nature, or rather by the order of God,\nevery vein and artery through which alcohol has to pass suddenly\ncontracts, as if to prevent its passage or choke it as a deadly foe.\nEvery vein and artery has evidently heard the voice of God: \u2018Wine is a\nmocker: it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder!\u2019 Every nerve\nand muscle which alcohol touched trembled and shook as if in the\npresence of an implacable and unconquerable enemy. Yes, at the presence\nof alcohol every nerve and muscle loses its strength, just as the\nbravest man, in the presence of a horrible monster or demon, suddenly\nloses his natural strength, and shakes from head to foot.\u201d\n\nI cannot repeat all I heard that day from the lips of Dr. Douglas, and\nwhat I saw with my own eyes of the horrible workings of alcohol through\nevery part of the body. It would be too long. Suffice to say that I was\nstruck with horror at my own folly, and at the folly of so many people\nwho make use of intoxicating drinks.\n\nWhat I learned that day was like the opening of a mysterious door, which\nallowed me to see the untold marvels of a new and most magnificent\nworld. But though I was terror-stricken with the ravages of strong drink\nin that dead man, I was not yet convinced of the necessity of being a\ntotal abstainer from wine and beer, and a little brandy now and then, as\na social habit. I did not like to expose myself to ridicule by the\nsacrifice of habits which seemed then, more than now, to be among the\nsweetest and most common links of society. But I determined to lose no\nopportunity of continuing the study of the working of alcohol in the\nhuman body. At the same time I resolved to avail myself of every\nopportunity of making a complete study of anatomy under the kind and\nlearned Dr. Douglas.\n\nIt is from the lips and works of Dr. Douglas that I learned the\nfollowing startling facts:\n\n1st. The heart of man, which is only six inches long by four inches\nwide, beats seventy times in a minute, 4,200 in one hour, 100,300 in a\nday, 36,792,000 in a year. It ejects two ounces and a half of blood out\nof itself every time it beats, which makes 175 ounces every minute, 656\npounds every hour, seven tons and three-quarters of blood which goes out\nof the heart every day! The whole blood of a man runs through his heart\nin three minutes.\n\n2d. The skin is composed of three parts placed over each other, whose\nthickness varies from a quarter to an eighth of a line. Each square inch\ncontains 3,500 pores, through which the sweat goes out. Every one of\nthem is a pipe a quarter of an inch long. All those small pipes united\ntogether would form a canal 201,166 feet long\u2014equal to forty miles, or\nnearly thirteen leagues!\n\n3rd. The weight of the blood in a common man is between thirty and forty\npounds. The blood runs through the body in 100 seconds, or one minute\nand forty-one seconds. Eleven thousand (11,000) pints of blood pass\nthrough the lungs in twenty-four hours.\n\n4th. There are 246 bones in the human body; 63 of them are in the head,\n24 in the sides, 16 in the wrist, 14 in the joints, and 108 in the hands\nand feet.\n\nThe heart of a man who drinks nothing but pure water beats about 100,300\na day, but will beat from 25,000 to 30,000 times more if he drinks\nalcoholic drinks. Those who have not learned anatomy know little of the\ninfinite power, wisdom, love and mercy of God. No book except the Bible,\nand no science except the science of astronomy, is like the body of man,\n_to tell us what our God is, and what we are_. The body of man is a book\nwritten by the hand of God, to speak to us of Him as no man can speak.\nAfter studying the marvellous working of the heart, the lungs, the eyes\nand the brain of man, I could not speak; I remained mute, unable to say\na single word to tell my admiration and awe. I wept, as overwhelmed with\nmy feelings. I should have liked to speak of those things to the priests\nwith whom I lived, but I saw at first they could not understand me; they\nthought I was exaggerating. How many times, when alone with God in my\nlittle closet, when thinking of those marvels, I fell on my knees, and\nsaid: \u201cThou art great, O my God! The works of thy hands are above the\nworks of man! But the works of thy love and mercy are above all thy\nother works!\u201d\n\nDuring the four years I was chaplain of the Marine Hospital, more than\none hundred corpses were opened before me, and almost as many outside\nthe hospital. For when, by the order of the jury and the coroner, an\nautopsy was to be made, I seldom failed to attend. In that way, I have\nhad a providential opportunity of acquiring the knowledge of one of the\nmost useful and admirable sciences, as no priest or minister probably\never had on this continent. It is my conviction that the first thing a\ntemperance orator ought to do is to study anatomy; get the bodies of\ndrunkards, as well as those of so-called temperate drinkers, opened\nbefore him, and study there the workings of alcohol in the different\norgans of man. So long as the orators on temperance will not do that,\nthey cannot understand the subject on which they speak. Though I have\nread the best books written by the most learned physicians of England,\nFrance and the United States, on the ravages of rum, wine and beer, of\nevery kind and name, in the body of men, I have never read anything\nwhich enlightened me so much, and brought such profound convictions to\nmy intelligence, as the study I have made of the brain, the lungs, the\nheart, veins, arteries, nerves and muscles of a single man or woman.\nThese bodies, opened before me, were books written by the hand of God\nhimself, and they spoke to me as no man could speak. By the mercy of\nGod, to that study is due the irresistible power of my humble efforts in\npersuading my countrymen to give up the use of intoxicating drinks. But\nhere is the time to tell how my merciful God forced me, His unprofitable\nand rebellious servant, almost in spite of myself, to give up the use of\nintoxicating drinks.\n\nAmong my penitents there was a young lady belonging to one of the most\nrespectable families in Quebec. She had a child, a girl, almost a year\nold, who was a real beauty. Nothing this side of heaven could surpass\nthe charms of that earthly angel. Of course that young mother idolized\nher; she could hardly consent to be without her sweet angel, even to go\nto church. She carried her everywhere, to kiss her at every moment and\npress her to her heart. Unfortunately that lady, as it was then, and is\nstill now too often the case, even among the most refined, had learned\nin her father\u2019s house, and by the example of her own mother, to drink\nwine at table, and when receiving the visits of her friends or when\nvisiting them herself. Little by little she began to drink, when alone,\na few drops of wine, at first by the advice of her physician, but soon\nonly to satisfy the craving appetite, which grew stronger day by day. I\nwas the only one, excepting her husband, who knew this fact. He was my\nintimate friend, and several times, with tears trickling down his\ncheeks, he had requested me, in the name of God, to persuade her to\nabstain from drinking. That young man was so happy with his accomplished\nwife and his incomparably beautiful child! He was rich, had a high\nposition in the world, numberless friends, and a palace for his home!\nEvery time I had spoken to that young lady, either when alone or in the\npresence of her husband, she had shed tears of regret; she had promised\nto reform, and take only the few glasses prescribed by her doctor. But,\nalas! that fatal prescription of the doctor was like the oil poured on\nthe burning coals; it was kindling a fire that nothing could quench. One\nday, which I will never forget, a messenger came in haste and said: \u201cMr.\nA. wants you to come to his home immediately. A terrible misfortune has\njust happened\u2014his beautiful child has just been killed. His wife is half\ncrazy; he fears lest she will kill herself.\u201d\n\nI leaped into the elegant carriage, drawn by two fine horses, and in a\nfew minutes I was in the presence of the most distressing spectacle I\never saw. The young lady, tearing her robes into fragments, tearing her\nhair with her hands and cutting her face with the nails of her fingers,\nwas crying, \u201cOh! for God\u2019s sake, give me a knife that I may cut my\nthroat? I have killed my child! My darling is dead! I am the murderess\nof my own dear Lucy! My hands are reddened with her blood. Oh! may I die\nwith her!\u201d\n\nI was thunderstruck, and at first remained mute and motionless. The\nyoung husband, with two other gentlemen, Dr. Blanchet and Coroner Panet,\nwere trying to hold the hands of his unfortunate wife. He did not dare\nto speak. At last the young wife, casting her eyes upon me, said: \u201cOh,\ndear Father Chiniquy, for God\u2019s sake give me a knife that I may cut my\nthroat! When drunk, I took my precious darling in my arms to kiss her;\nbut I fell\u2014her head struck the sharp corner of the stove. Her brain and\nblood are there spread on the floor! My child! my own child is dead! I\nhave killed her! Cursed liquor! Cursed wine! My child is dead! I am\ndamned! Cursed drink!\u201d\n\nI could not speak, but I could weep and cry. I wept, and mingled my\ntears with those of that unfortunate mother. Then, with an expression of\ndesolation which pierced my soul as with a sword, she said: \u201cGo and\nsee.\u201d I went to the next room, and there I saw that once beautiful\nchild, dead, her face covered with her blood and brains! There was a\nlarge gap made in the right temple. The drunken mother, by falling with\nher child in her arms, had caused the head to strike with such a\nterrible force on the stove that it upset on the floor. The burning\ncoals were spread on every side, and the house had been very nearly on\nfire. But that very blow, with the awful death of her child, had\nsuddenly brought her to her senses, and put an end to her intoxication.\nAt a glance she saw the whole extent of her misfortune. Her first\nthought had been to run to the sideboard, seize a large, sharp knife,\nand cut her own throat. Providentially, her husband was on the spot.\nWith great difficulty, and after a terrible struggle, he took the knife\nout of her hands and threw it into the street through the window. It was\nthen about five o\u2019clock in the afternoon. After an hour passed in\nindescribable agony of mind and heart, I attempted to leave and go back\nto the parsonage. But my unfortunate young friend requested me, in the\nname of God, to spend the night with him. \u201cYou are the only one,\u201d he\nsaid, \u201cwho can help us in this awful night. My misfortune is great\nenough, without destroying our good name by spreading it in public. I\nwant to keep it as secret as possible. With our physician and coroner,\nyou are the only man on earth whom I trust to help me. Please pass the\nnight with us.\u201d\n\nI remained, but tried in vain to calm the unfortunate mother. She was\nconstantly breaking our hearts with her lamentations\u2014her convulsive\nefforts to take her own life. Every minute she was crying, \u201cMy child! my\ndarling Lucy! Just when thy little arms were so gently caressing me, and\nthy angelic kisses were so sweet on my lips, I have slaughtered thee!\nWhen thou wert pressing me on thy loving heart and kissing me, I, thy\ndrunken mother, gave thee the death blow! My hands are reddened with thy\nblood! My breast is covered with thy brains! Oh! for God\u2019s sake, my dear\nhusband, take my life. I cannot consent to live a day longer! My dear\nFather Chiniquy, give me a knife, that I may mingle my blood with the\nblood of my child! O that I could be buried in the same grave with her!\u201d\n\nIn vain I tried to speak to her of the mercies of God towards sinners;\nshe would not listen to anything I could say; she was absolutely deaf to\nmy voice. At about ten o\u2019clock, she had a most terrible fit of anguish\nand terror. Though we were four men to keep her quiet, she was stronger\nthan we all. She was stronger than a giant. She slipped from our hands\nand ran to the room where the dead child was lying in her cradle.\nGrasping the cold body in her hands, she tore the bands of white linen\nwhich had been put round the head to cover the horrible wound, and with\ncries of desolation she pressed her lips, her cheeks, her very eyes, on\nthe horrible gap from which the brain and blood were oozing, as if\nwanting to heal it and recall the poor dear one to life.\n\n\u201cMy darling, my beloved, my own dear Lucy,\u201d she cried, \u201copen thy\neyes\u2014look again at thy mother! Give me a kiss! Press me again to thy\nbosom! But thine eyes are shut! Thy lips are cold! Thou dost not smile\non me any longer! Thou art dead, and I, thy mother, have slaughtered\nthee! Canst thou forgive me thy death? Canst thou ask Jesus Christ, our\nSaviour, to forgive me? Canst thou ask the blessed Virgin Mary to pray\nfor me? Will I never see thee again? Ah, no! I am lost\u2014I am damned! I am\na drunken mother who has murdered her own darling Lucy! There is no\nmercy for the drunken mother, the murderess of her own child.\u201d\n\nAnd when speaking thus to her child, she was sometimes kneeling down,\nthen running around the room as if flying before a phantom.\n\nBut even then, she was constantly pressing the motionless body to her\nbosom, or convulsively passing her lips and cheeks over the horrible\nwound, so that her lips, her whole face, her breast and hands, were\nliterally besmeared with the blood flowing from the wound. I will not\nsay that we were all weeping and crying, for the words \u201cweeping and\ncrying\u201d cannot express the desolation\u2014the horror we felt. At about\neleven o\u2019clock, when on her knees, clasping her child to her bosom, she\nlifted her eyes towards me, and said:\n\n\u201cDear Father Chiniquy, why is it that I have not followed your\ncharitable advice when, still more with your tears than with words, you\ntried so often to persuade me to give up the use of those cursed\nintoxicating wines? How many times you have given me the very words\nwhich come from heaven: \u2018Wine is a mocker; it bites as a serpent, and\nstings as an adder!\u2019 How many times, in the name of my dear child, in\nthe name of my dear husband, in the name of God, you have asked me to\ngive up the use of those cursed drinks! But listen now to my prayer. Go\nall over Canada; tell all the fathers never to put any intoxicating\ndrink before the eyes of their children. It was at my father\u2019s table\nthat I first learned to drink that wine which I will curse during all\neternity! Tell all the mothers never to taste these abominable drinks.\nIt was my mother who first taught me to drink that wine which I will\ncurse as long as God is!\n\n\u201cTake the blood of my child, and go redden with it the top of the doors\nof every house in Canada, and say to all those who dwell in those houses\nthat that blood was shed by the hand of a murderess mother when drunk.\nWith that blood write on the walls of every house in Canada that \u2018wine\nis a mocker.\u2019 Tell the French Canadians how, on the dead body of my\nchild, I have cursed that wine which has made me so wretchedly miserable\nand guilty.\u201d\n\nShe then stopped, as if to breathe a little for a few minutes. She\nadded:\n\n\u201cIn the name of God, tell me, can my child forgive me her death? Can she\nask God to look upon me with mercy? Can she cause the blessed Virgin\nMary to pray for me and obtain my pardon?\u201d\n\nBut before I could answer, she horrified us by the cries, \u201cI am lost!\nWhen drunk I killed my child! Cursed wine!\u201d\n\nAnd she fell a corpse on the floor. Torrents of blood were flowing from\nher mouth on her dead child, which she was pressing to her bosom even\nafter her death!\n\nThat terrible drama was never revealed to the people of Quebec. The\ncoroner\u2019s inquest was that the child\u2019s death was accidental, and that\nthe distressed mother died from a broken heart six hours after.\n\nTwo days later the unfortunate mother was buried, with the body of her\nchild clasped in her arms. Many tears were shed on that tomb, and this\ndear little child\u2019s guardian angel must have written with its blood on\nthat tomb: \u201cWine is a mocker; look not at it. It biteth like a serpent,\nand stings like an adder.\u201d However, what I had just seen and heard could\nnot be buried and forgotten in the grave.\n\nAfter such a terrible storm, I was in need of solitude and rest, but\nabove everything I was in need of praying. I shut myself in my little\nroom for two days, and there, alone, in the presence of God, I meditated\non the terrible justice and retribution which He had called me to\nwitness. The unfortunate woman had not only been my penitent: she had\nbeen, with her husband, among my dearest and most devoted friends. It\nwas only lately that she had become a slave to drunkenness. Before that,\nher piety and sense of honor were of the most exalted kind known in the\nChurch of Rome. Her last words were not the commonplace expressions\nwhich ordinary sinners proffer at the approach of death; her words had a\nsolemnity for me which almost transformed them into oracles of God in my\nmind. Each of them sounded in my ears as if an angel of God had touched\nthe thousand strings of my soul, to call my attention to a message from\nheaven. Sometimes they resembled the terrible voice of thunder; and\nagain it seemed as if a seraph, with his golden harp, were singing them\nin my ears, that I might prepare to fight faithfully for the Lord\nagainst His gigantic enemy, alcohol.\n\nIn the middle of that horrible night, when the darkness was most\nprofound and the stillness fearful, was I awake, was I sleeping? I do\nnot know. But I saw the calm, beautiful and cherished form of my dear\nmother standing by me, holding by the hand the late murderess, still\ncovered with the blood of her child. Yes! my beloved mother was there\nstanding before me; and she said, with power and authority which\nengraved every one of her words on my soul, as if written with letters\nof tears, blood and fire: \u201cGo all over Canada; tell every father of a\nfamily never to put any intoxicating drink before his children. Tell all\nthe mothers never to take a drop of those cursed wines and drinks. Tell\nthe whole people of Canada never to touch nor look at the poisoned cup,\nfilled with those cursed intoxicating drinks. And thou, my beloved son,\ngive up forever the use of those detestable beverages, which are cursed\nin hell, in heaven and on earth. It bites like a serpent; it stings like\nan adder.\u201d\n\nWhen the sound of that voice, so sweet and powerful, was hushed, and my\nsoul had ceased seeing that strange vision of the night, I remained for\nsome time exceedingly agitated and troubled. I said to myself, \u201cIs it\npossible that the terrible things I have seen and heard these last few\ndays will destroy my mind, and send me to the lunatic asylum?\u201d\n\nI had hardly been able to take any sleep or food for the last three days\nand nights, and I seriously feared lest the weakness of my body would\ncause me to lose my reason. I then threw myself on my knees to weep and\npray. This did me good. I soon felt myself stronger and calmer.\n\nRaising again my mind to God, I said: \u201cO my God, let me know thy holy\nwill, and grant me the grace to do it. Do the voices I have just heard\ncome from thee? Hast thou really sent one of the angels of thy mercy,\nunder the form of my beloved mother? or is all this nothing but the vain\ndreams of my distressed mind?\n\n\u201cIs it thy will, O my God, that I should go and tell my country what\nthou hast so providentially taught me of the horrible and unsuspected\ninjuries which wine and strong drink cause to the bodies as well as to\nthe souls of men? Or is it thy will that I should conceal from the eyes\nof the world the wonderful things thou hast made known to me, and that I\nmight bury them with me in my grave?\u201d\n\nAs quick as lightning the answer was suggested to me. \u201cWhat I have\ntaught thee in secret, go and tell it on the housetops!\u201d Overwhelmed\nwith an unspeakable emotion, and my heart filled with a power which was\nnot mine, I raised my hands toward heaven, and said to my God:\n\n\u201cFor my dear Saviour Jesus\u2019 sake, and for the good of my country, O my\nGod, I promise that I will never make any use of intoxicating drinks; I\nwill, moreover, do all in my power to persuade the other priests and the\npeople to make the same sacrifice!\u201d\n\nFifty years have passed since I took that pledge, and, thanks be to God,\nI have kept it.\n\nFor the next two years, I was the only priest in Canada who abstained\nfrom the use of wine and other intoxicating drinks; and God only knows\nwhat I had to suffer all that time\u2014what sneers, and rebukes and insults,\nof every kind, I had silently to bear! How many times the epithets of\n_fanatic_, _hypocrite_, _reformer_, _half-heretic_, have been whispered\ninto my ear, not only by the priests, but also by the bishops.\n\nBut I was sure that my God knew the motives of my actions, and, by His\ngrace, I remained calm and patient. In His infinite mercy, _He_ has\nlooked down upon His unprofitable servant and has taken his part. He had\nhimself chosen the day when my humiliations were to be turned into great\njoy. The day came when I saw those same priests and bishops, at the head\nof their people, receiving the pledge and blessing of temperance from my\nhands. Those very bishops who had unanimously, at first, condemned me,\nsoon invited the first citizens of their cities to present me with a\ngolden medal, as a token of their esteem, after giving me, officially,\nthe title of \u201cApostle of Temperance of Canada.\u201d The Governor and the two\nChambers of Parliament of Canada voted me public thanks in 1851, and\npresented me \u00a3500 as a public testimony of their kind feelings for what\nhad been done in the cause of temperance. It was the will of my God,\nthat I should see, with my own eyes, my dear Canada taking the pledge of\ntemperance and giving up the use of intoxicating drinks. How many tears\nwere dried in those days! Thousands and thousands of broken hearts were\nconsoled and filled with joy. Happiness and abundance reigned in many\nonce desolate homes, and the name of our merciful God was blessed\neverywhere in my beloved country. Surely this was not the work of poor\nChiniquy!\n\nIt was the Lord\u2019s work, for the Lord, who is wonderful in all His\ndoings, had once more chosen the weakest instrument to show His mercy\ntowards the children of men. He had called the most unprofitable of His\nservants to do the greatest work of reform, Canada has ever seen, that\nthe praise and glory might be given to Him, and Him alone!\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXIX.\n\nCONVERSIONS OF PROTESTANTS TO THE CHURCH OF ROME\u2014REV. ANTHONY PARENT,\n SUPERIOR OF THE SEMINARY OF QUEBEC: HIS PECULIAR WAY OF FINDING ACCESS\n TO THE PROTESTANTS AND BRINGING THEM TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH\u2014HOW HE\n SPIES THE PROTESTANTS THROUGH THE CONFESSIONAL\u2014I PERSUADE NINETY-THREE\n FAMILIES TO BECOME CATHOLICS.\n\n\n\u201cOut of the Church of Rome there is no salvation,\u201d is one of the\ndoctrines which the priests of Rome have to believe and teach to the\npeople. That dogma, once accepted, caused me to devote all my energies\nto the conversion of Protestants. To prevent one of those immortal and\nprecious souls from going into hell seemed to me more important and\nglorious that the conquest of a kingdom. In view of showing them their\nerrors, I filled my library with the best controversial books which\ncould be got in Quebec, and I studied the Holy Scriptures with the\nutmost attention. In the Marine Hospital, as well as in my intercourse\nwith the people of the city, I had several occasions of meeting\nProtestants and talking to them; but I found at once that, with very few\nexceptions, they avoided speaking with me on religion. This distressed\nme. Having been told one day that the Rev. Mr. Anthony Parent, superior\nof the Seminary of Quebec, had converted several hundred Protestants\nduring his ministry, I went to ask him if this were true. For answer, he\nshowed me the list of his converts, which numbered more than two\nhundred, among whom were some of the most respectable English and Scotch\nfamilies of the city. I looked upon that list with amazement; and from\nthat day I considered him the most blessed priest of Canada. He was a\nperfect gentleman in his manners, and was considered our best champion\non all points of controversy with Protestants. He could have been\nclassed, also, among the handsomest men in his time, had not he been so\nfat. But, when the high classes called him by the respectable name of\n\u201cMr. Superior of the Seminary,\u201d the common people used to name him Pere\nCocassier (\u201cCock-fighting Father\u201d), on account of his long-cherished\nhabit of having the bravest and strongest fighting-cocks of the country.\nIn vain had the Rev. Mr. Renvoyze, curate of the \u201cGood St. Anne,\u201d that\ngreatest miracle-working saint of Canada, expended fabulous sums of\nmoney in ransacking the whole country to get a cock who would take away\nthe palm of victory from the hands of the superior of the Seminary of\nQuebec. He had almost invariably failed; with very few exceptions his\ncocks had fallen bruised, bleeding and dead on the many battlefields\nchosen by those two priests. However, I feel happy in acknowledging\nthat, since the terrible epidemic of cholera, that cruel and ignominious\n\u201c_passe temps_\u201d has been entirely given up by the Roman Catholic clergy\nof this country. Playing cards and checkers is now the most usual way\nthe majority of curates and vicars have recourse to spend their long and\nmany idle hours, both of the week and Sabbath days.\n\nAfter reading over and over again that long list of converts, I said to\nMr. Parent: \u201cPlease tell me how you have been able to persuade these\nProtestant converts to consent to speak with you on the errors of their\nreligion. Many times I have tried to show the Protestants whom I met,\nthat they would be lost if they do not submit to our holy Church, but,\nwith few exceptions, they laughed at me as politely as possible, and\nturned the conversation to other matters. You must have some secret way\nof attracting their attention and winning their confidence. Would you\nnot be kind enough to give me that secret, that I may be able also to\nprevent some of those precious souls from perishing?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are right when you think that I have a secret to open the doors of\nthe Protestants, and conquer and tame their haughty minds,\u201d answered Mr.\nParent. \u201cBut that secret is of such a delicate nature, that I have never\nrevealed it to anybody except my confessor. Nevertheless, I see that you\nare so in earnest for the conversion of Protestants, and I have such a\nconfidence in your discretion and honor, that for the sake of our holy\nChurch I consent to give you my secret; only you must promise that you\nwill never reveal it, during my lifetime, to anybody\u2014and even after my\ndeath you will not mention it, except when you are sure it is for the\ngreatest glory of God. You know that I was the most intimate friend your\nfather ever had; I had no secret from him, and he had none from me. But\nGod knows that the friendly feelings and confidence I had in him are now\nbestowed upon you, his worthy son. If you had not in my heart and esteem\nthe same high position your father occupied, I would not trust you with\nmy secret.\u201d\n\nHe then continued: \u201cThe majority of Protestants in Quebec have Irish\nRoman Catholic servant girls; these, particularly before the last few\nyears, used to come to confess to me, as I was almost the only priest\nwho spoke English. The first thing I used to ask them, when they were\nconfessing, was, if their masters and mistresses were truly devoted and\npious Protestants, or if they were indifferent and cold in performing\ntheir duties. The second thing I wanted to know was, if they were on\ngood terms with their ministers; whether or not they were visited by\nthem. From the answers of the girls, I knew both the moral and immoral,\nthe religious or irreligious habits of their masters as perfectly as if\nI had been an inmate of their households. It is thus that I learned that\nmany Protestants have no more religion and faith than our dogs. They\nawake in the morning, and go to bed at night, without praying to God any\nmore than the horses in their stables. Many of them go to church on the\nSabbath day, more to laugh at their ministers and criticise their\nsermons than for anything else. A part of the week is passed in turning\nthem into ridicule; nay, through the confessions of these honest girls,\nI learned that many Protestants liked the fine ceremonies of our Church;\nthat they often favorably contrasted them with the cold performances of\ntheir own, and expressed their views in glowing terms about the\nsuperiority of our educational institutions, nunneries, etc., over their\nown high schools or colleges. Besides, you know that a great number of\nour most respectable and wealthy Protestants trust their daughters to\nour good nuns for their education. I took notes of all these things, and\nformed my plans of battle against Protestantism, as a general who knows\nhis ground and the weak points of his adversaries, and I fought as a man\nwho is sure of an easy victory. The glorious result you have under your\neyes is the proof that I was correct in my plans. My first step with the\nProtestants whom I knew to be without any religion, or even already well\ndisposed toward us, was to go to them with sometimes \u00a35, or even \u00a325,\nwhich I presented to them as being theirs. They, at first, looked at me\nwith amazement, as a being coming from a superior world. The following\nconversation then almost invariably took place between them and me:\n\n\u201cAre you positive, sir, that this money is mine?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d I answered. \u201cI am certain that this money is yours.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d they replied, \u201cplease tell me how you know that it belongs to me?\nIt is the first time I have the honor of talking with you, and we are\nperfect strangers to each other.\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cI cannot say, sir, how I know that this money is yours,\nexcept by telling you that the person who deposited it in my hands for\nyou has given me your name and your address so correctly that there is\nno possibility of any mistake.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut can I not know the name of the one who has put that money into your\nhands for me?\u201d rejoined the Protestant.\n\n\u201cNo, sir; the secret of confession is inviolable,\u201d I replied. \u201cWe have\nno example that it has ever been broken; and I, with every priest of our\nChurch, would prefer to die, rather than betray our penitents and reveal\ntheir confession. We cannot even act from what we have learned through\ntheir confession, except at their own request.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut this auricular confession must then be a most admirable thing,\u201d\nadded the Protestant; \u201cI had no idea of it before this day.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir, auricular confession is a most admirable thing,\u201d I used to\nreply, \u201cbecause it is a divine institution. But, sir, please excuse me;\nmy ministry calls me to another place. I must take leave of you, to go\nwhere my duty calls me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am very sorry that you go so quickly,\u201d generally answered the\nProtestant. \u201cCan I have another visit from you? Please do me the honor\nof coming again. I would be so happy to present you to my wife; and I\nknow she would be happy also, and much honored to make your\nacquaintance.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir, I accept with gratitude your invitation. I will feel much\npleased and honored to make the acquaintance of the family of a\ngentleman whose praises are in the mouth of every one, and whose\nindustry and honesty are an honor to our city. If you will allow me,\nnext week, at the same hour, I will have the honor of presenting my\nrespectful homage to your lady.\n\n\u201cThe very next day, all the papers reported that Mr. So-and-So had\nreceived \u00a35, or \u00a310, or even \u00a325, as a restitution through auricular\nconfession: and even the staunch Protestant editors of those papers\ncould not find words sufficiently eloquent to praise me and our\nsacrament of penance.\n\n\u201cThree or four days later, I was sure that the faithful servant girls\nwere in the confessional-box, glowing with joy to tell me that now their\nmasters and mistresses could not speak of anything else than the\namiability and honesty of the priests of Rome. They raised them a\nthousand miles over the heads of their own ministers. From those pious\ngirls, I invariably learned that that they had not been visited by a\nsingle friend without making the eulogium of auricular confession, and\neven sometimes expressing the regret that the reformers had swept away\nsuch a useful institution.\n\n\u201cNow, my dear young friend, you see how, by the blessing of God, the\nlittle sacrifice of a few pounds brought down and destroyed all the\nprejudices of those poor heretics against auricular confession and our\nholy Church in general. You understand how the doors were opened to me,\nand how their hearts and intelligences were like fields prepared to\nreceive the good seed. At the appointed hour, I never failed from paying\nthe requested visit, and I was invariably received like a messiah. Not\nonly the gentlemen, but the ladies, overwhelmed me with marks of the\nmost sincere gratitude and respect; even the dear little children petted\nme, and threw their arms around my neck to give me their sweetly angelic\nkisses. The only topic on which we could speak, of course, was the great\ngood done by auricular confession. I easily showed them how it works as\na check to all the evil passions of the heart; how it is admirably\nadapted to all the wants of the poor sinners, who find a friend, a\ncounsellor, a guide, a father, a real saviour in their confessor.\n\n\u201cWe had not talked half an hour in that way, when it was generally\nevident to me that they were more than half way out of their Protestant\nerrors. I very seldom left the houses without being sure of a new,\nglorious victory for our holy religion over its enemies. It is very\nseldom that I do not succeed in bringing that family to our holy Church\nbefore one or two years; and if I fail of gaining the father or mother,\nI am nearly sure to persuade them to send their daughters to our good\nnuns and their boys to our colleges, where they, sooner or later, become\nour most devoted Catholics. So you see that the few dollars I spend\nevery year for that holy cause are the best investments ever made. They\ndo more to catch the Protestants of Quebec than the baits of the\nfishermen do to secure the cod fishes of the Newfoundland banks.\u201d\n\nIn ending this last sentence, Mr. Parent filled his room with laughter.\n\nI thanked him for these interesting details. But I told him: \u201cThough I\ncannot but admire your perfect skill and shrewdness in breaking the\nbarriers which prevent Protestants from understanding the divine\ninstitution of auricular confession, will you allow me to ask you if you\ndo not fear to be guilty of an imposture and a gross imposition in the\nway you make them believe that the money you hand them has come to you\nthrough auricular confession?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have not the least fear of that,\u201d promptly answered the old priest,\n\u201cfor the good reason that, if you had paid attention to what I have told\nyou, you must acknowledge that I have not said positively that the money\nwas coming from auricular confession. If those Protestants have been\ndeceived, it is only due to their own want of a more perfect attention\nto what I said. I know that there were things that I kept in my mind\nwhich would have made them understand the matter in a very different way\nif I had said them. But Liguori and all our theologians, among the most\napproved of our holy Church, tell us that these reservations of the mind\n(\u2018_mentis reservationes_\u2019) are allowed when they are for the good of\nsouls and the glory of God.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d answered I, \u201cI know that such is the doctrine of Liguori, and it\nis approved by the popes. I must confess, however, that this seems to me\nentirely opposed to what we read in the sublime gospel. The simple and\nsublime \u2018Yea, yea,\u2019 and \u2018Nay, nay,\u2019 of our Saviour seems to me in\ncontradiction with the art of deceiving, even when not saying absolute\nand direct falsehoods; and if I submit myself to those doctrines, it is\nalways with a secret protest in my inmost soul.\u201d\n\nIn an angry manner, Mr. Parent replied: \u201cNow, my dear young friend, I\nunderstand the truth of what the Rev. Messrs. Perras and Bedard told me\nlately about you. Though these remarkable priests are full of esteem for\nyou, they see a dark cloud on your horizon; they say that you spend too\nmuch time in reading the Bible, and not enough in studying the doctrines\nand holy traditions of the Church. You are too much inclined also to\ninterpret the Word of God according to your own fallible intelligence,\ninstead of going to the Church _alone_ for that interpretation. This is\nthe dangerous rock on which Luther and Calvin were wrecked. Take my\nadvice. Do not try to be wiser than the Church. Obey her voice when she\nspeaks to you through her holy theologians. This is your only safeguard.\nThe bishop would suspend you at once were he aware of your want of faith\nin the Church.\u201d\n\nThese last words were said with such emphasis that they seemed more like\na sentence of condemnation from the lips of an irritated judge than\nanything else. I felt that I had again seriously compromised myself in\nhis mind; and the only way of preventing him from denouncing me to the\nbishop as a heretic and a Protestant was to make an apology, and\nwithdraw from the dangerous ground on which I had again so imprudently\nput myself. He accepted my explanation, but I saw that he bitterly\nregretted having trusted me with his secret. I withdrew from his\npresence, much humiliated by my want of prudence and wisdom. However,\nthough I could not approve of all the _modus operandi_ of the superior\nof Quebec, I could not but admire, then, the glorious results of his\nefforts in converting Protestants; and I took the resolution of devoting\nmyself more than ever to show them their errors and make them good\nCatholics. In this I was too successful; for during my twenty-five years\nof priesthood I have persuaded ninety-three Protestants to give up their\ngospel light and truth, in order to follow the dark and lying traditions\nof Rome. I cannot enter into the details of their conversions, or rather\nperversions; suffice it to say, that I soon found that my only chance of\nsuccess in that proselytizing work was among the Ritualists. I saw at\nfirst that Calvin and Knox had dug a really impassable abyss between the\nPresbyterians, Methodists, Baptists and the Church of Rome. If these\nRitualists remain Protestants, and do not make the very short step which\nseparates them from Rome, it is a most astonishing fact, when they are\nlogical men. Some people are surprised that so many eminent and learned\nmen, in Great Britain and America, give up their Protestantism to submit\nto the Church of Rome; but my wonder is that there are so few among them\nwho fall into that bottomless abyss of idolatry and folly, when they are\ntheir whole life on the very brink of the chasm. Put millions of men on\nthe very brink of the Falls of Niagara, force them to cross to and fro\nin small canoes between both shores, and you will see that, every day,\nsome of them will be dragged, in spite of themselves, into the yawning\nabyss. Nay, you will see that, sooner or later, those millions of people\nwill be in danger of being dragged in a whole body, by the irresistible\nforce of the dashing waters, into the fathomless gulf. Through a sublime\neffort the English people, helped by the mighty and merciful hand of\nGod, have come out from the abyss of folly, impurity, ignorance, slavery\nand idolatry called the Church of Rome. But many, alas! in the present\nday, instead of marching up to the high regions of unsullied Gospel\ntruth and light\u2014instead of going up to the high mountains where true\nChristian simplicity and liberty have forever planted their glorious\nbanners\u2014have been induced to walk only a few steps out of the\npestiferous regions of Popery. They have remained so near the\npestilential atmosphere of the stagnant waters of death which flow from\nRome, that the atmosphere they breathe is still filled with the deadly\nemanations of that modern Sodom. Who, without shedding tears of sorrow,\ncan look at those misguided ministers of the Gospel who believe and\nteach in the Episcopal Church that they have the power to make their God\nwith a wafer, and who bow down before that wafer god and adore him! Who\ncan refrain from indignation at the sight of so many Episcopal ministers\nwho consent to have their ears, minds and souls polluted at the\nconfessional by the stories of their penitents, whom in their turn they\ndestroy by their infamous and unmentionable questions? When I was\nlecturing in England, in 1860, the late Archbishop of Canterbury, then\nBishop of London, invited me to his table, in company with Rev. Mr.\nThomas, now Bishop of Coulbourne, Australia, and put to me the following\nquestions, in the presence of his numerous and noble guests:\n\n\u201cFather Chiniquy, when you left the Church of Rome, why did you not join\nthe Episcopalian rather than the Presbyterian Church?\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cIs it the desire of your lordship that I should speak my\nmind on that delicate subject?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, yes,\u201d said the noble lord bishop.\n\n\u201cThen, my lord, I must tell you that my only reason is that I find in\nyour Church several doctrines which I have to condemn in the Church of\nRome.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow is that?\u201d replied his lordship.\n\n\u201cPlease,\u201d I answered, \u201clet me have one of your Common Prayer Books.\u201d\n\nTaking the book, I read slowly the article on the visitation of the\nsick: \u201cThen shall the sick person be moved to make a special confession\nof his sins, if he feels his conscience troubled with any weighty\nmatters. After which confession the priest shall absolve him, after this\nsort: \u2018Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to His Church to\nabsolve all sinners who repent and believe in Him, of His great mercy\nforgive thee all thine offenses, and by His authority, committed to me,\nI absolve thee of all thy sins, in the name of the Father, the Son, and\nthe Holy Ghost. Amen.\u2019\u201d I then added: \u201cNow, my lord, where is the\ndifference between the errors of Rome and your Church on this subject?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe difference is very great,\u201d he answered. \u201cThe Church of Rome is\nconstantly pressing the sinners to come to her priests all their\nlifetime, where we subject the sinner to this humiliation only once in\nhis life, when he is near his last hour.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, my lord, let me tell you that it seems to me the Church of Rome is\nmuch more logical and consistent in this than the Episcopal Church. Both\nchurches believe and teach that they have received from Christ the power\nto forgive the sins of those who confess to their priests, and you think\nyourself wiser because you invite the sinner to confess and receive his\npardon only when he is tied to a bed of suffering, at the last hour\nbefore his death. But will your lordship be kind enough to tell me when\nI am in danger of death. If I am constantly in danger of death, must you\nnot, with the Church of Rome, induce me constantly to confess to your\npriests, and get my pardon and make my peace with God? Has our Saviour\nsaid anywhere that it was only for the dying, at the last extremity of\nlife, that He gave the power to forgive my sins? Has He not warned me\nmany times to be always ready; to have always our peace made with God,\nand not to wait till the last day, to the last hour?\u201d\n\nThe noble bishop did not think fit to give me any other answer than\nthese very words: \u201cWe all agree that this doctrine ought never to have\nbeen put in our Common Prayer Book. But you know that we are at work to\nrevise that book, and we hope that this clause, with several others,\nwill be taken away.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d I answered, in a jocose way, \u201cmy lord, when this obnoxious\nclause has been removed from your Common Prayer Book, it will be time\nfor me to have the honor of belonging to your great and noble Church.\u201d\n\nWhen the Church of England went out of the Church of Rome, she did as\nRachel, the wife of Jacob, who left the house of her father, Laban, and\ntook his gods with her. So the Episcopal Church of England,\nunfortunately, when she left Rome, concealed in the folds of her mantle\nsome of the false gods of Rome; she kept to her bosom some vipers\nengendered in the marshes of the modern Sodom. These vipers, if not soon\ndestroyed, will kill her. They are already eating up her vitals. They\nare covering her with most ugly and mortal wounds. They are rapidly\ntaking away her life.\n\nMay the Holy Ghost rebaptize and purify that noble Church of England,\nthat she may be worthy to march at the head of the armies of the Lord to\nthe conquest of the world, under the banners of the great Captain of our\nSalvation.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXX.\n\nTHE MURDERS AND THEFTS IN QUEBEC FROM 1835 TO 1836\u2014THE NIGHT EXCURSION\n WITH TWO THIEVES\u2014THE RESTITUTION\u2014THE DAWN OF LIGHT.\n\n\nThe three years which followed the cholera will be long remembered in\nQuebec for the number of audacious thefts and the murders which kept the\nwhole population in constant terror. Almost every week, the public press\nhad to give us the account of the robbery of the houses of some of our\nrich merchants, or old wealthy widows.\n\nMany times, the blood was chilled in our veins by the cruel and savage\nassassinations which had been committed by the thieves when resistance\nhad been offered. The number of these crimes, the audacity, with which\nthey were perpetrated, the ability with which the guilty parties escaped\nfrom all the researches of the police, indicated that they were well\norganized, and had a leader of uncommon shrewdness.\n\nBut in the eyes of the religious population of Quebec, the thefts of the\n10th of February, 1835, surpassed all the others by its sacrilegious\ncharacter. That night, the chapel dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary\nwas entered, a silver statue of the Virgin, the gift of the King of\nFrance, a massive lamp, a silver candlestick, and the silver vases which\ncontained the bread which the Roman Catholics believe to be the body,\nblood and divinity of Jesus Christ, were stolen, and the holy sacrament\nimpiously thrown and scattered on the floor.\n\nNothing can express the horror and indignation of the whole Catholic\npopulation at this last outrage. Large sums of money were offered in\norder that the brigands might be detected. At last, five of\nthem\u2014Chambers, Mathieu, Gagnon, Waterworth, and Lemoine\u2014were caught in\n1836, tried, found guilty and condemned to death in the month of March,\n1837.\n\nDuring the trial, and when public attention was most intensely fixed on\nits different aspects, in a damp, chilly dark night, I was called to\nvisit a sick man. I was soon ready, and asked the name of the sick man\nfrom the messenger. He answered that it was Francis Oregon. As a matter\nof course, I said that the sick man was a perfect stranger to me, and\nthat I had never heard that there was even such a man in the world. But\nwhen I was near the carriage which was to take me, I was not a little\nsurprised to see that the first messenger left abruptly and disappeared.\nLooking with attention, then, at the faces of the two men who had come\nfor me in the carriage, it seemed that they both wore masks.\n\n\u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d I said; \u201ceach of you wear a mask. Do you mean to\nmurder me?\u201d\n\n\u201cDear Father Chiniquy,\u201d answered one of them, in a low, trembling voice,\nand in a supplicating tone, \u201cfear not. We swear before God that no evil\nwill be done to you. On the contrary, God and man will, to the end of\nthe world, praise and bless you, if you come to our help, and save our\nsouls, as well as our mortal bodies. We have in our hands a great part\nof the silver articles stolen these last three years. The police are on\nour track, and we are in great danger of being caught. For God\u2019s sake,\ncome with us. We will put all those stolen things in your hands, that\nyou may give them back to those who have lost them. We will then\nimmediately leave the country, and lead a better life. We are\nProtestants, and the Bible tells us that we cannot be saved if we keep\nin our hands what is not ours. You do not know us, but we know you well.\nYou are the only man in Quebec to whom we can so trust our lives and\nthis terrible secret. We have worn these masks that you may not know us,\nand that you may not be compromised if you are ever called before a\ncourt of justice.\u201d\n\nMy first thought was to leave them and run back to the door of the\nparsonage; but such an act of cowardice seemed to me, after a moment\u2019s\nreflection, unworthy of a man. I said to myself, these two men cannot\ncome to steal from me; it is well known in Quebec that I keep myself as\npoor as a church mouse, by giving all I have to the poor. I have never\noffended any man in my life, that I know. They cannot come to punish or\nmurder me. They are Protestants, and they trust me. Well, well, they\nwill not regret to have put their trust in a Catholic priest.\n\nI then answered them: \u201cWhat you ask from me is of a very delicate, and\neven dangerous nature. Before I do it, I want to take the advice of one\nwhom I consider the wisest man of Quebec\u2014the old Rev. Mr. Demars,\nex-president of the seminary of Quebec. Please drive me as quickly as\npossible to the seminary. If that venerable man advises me to go with\nyou, I will go; but I cannot promise to grant you your request if he\ntells me not to go.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll right,\u201d they both said; and in a very short time, I was knocking at\nthe door of the seminary. A few moments after, I was alone in the room\nof Mr. Demars. It was just half-past twelve at night.\n\n\u201cOur little Father Chiniquy here on this dark night, at half-past\ntwelve! What does this mean? What do you want from me?\u201d said the\nvenerable old priest.\n\n\u201cI come to ask your advice,\u201d I answered, \u201con a very strange thing. Two\nProtestant thieves have in their hands a great quantity of the\nsilverware stolen, these last three years. They want to deposit them in\nmy hands, that I may give them back to those from whom they have been\nstolen, before they leave the country and lead a better life. I cannot\nknow them, for they both wear masks. I cannot even know where they take\nme, for the carriage is so completely wrapped up by curtains that it is\nimpossible to see outside. Now, my dear Mr. Demars, I come to ask your\nadvice. Shall I go with them or not? But remember that I trust you with\nthese things under the seal of confession, that neither you nor I may be\ncompromised.\u201d\n\nBefore answering me, the venerable priest said: \u201cI am very old, but I\nhave never heard of such a strange thing in my life. Are you not afraid\nto go alone with these two thieves in that covered carriage?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, sir,\u201d I answered; \u201cI do not see any reason to fear anything from\nthese two men.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! well,\u201d rejoined Mr. Demars, \u201cif you are not afraid under such\ncircumstances, your mother has given you a brain of diamond and nerve of\nsteel.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow, my dear sir,\u201d I answered, \u201ctime flies, and I may have a long way\nto travel with these two men. Please, in the shortest possible way, tell\nme your mind? Do you advise me to go with them?\u201d\n\nHe replied, \u201cYou consult me on a very difficult matter; there are so\nmany considerations to make, that it is impossible to weigh them all.\nThe only thing we have to do is to pray God and His Holy Mother for\nwisdom\u2014Let us pray.\u201d\n\nWe knelt and said the \u201cVeni Sancte Spiritus;\u201d \u201cCome Holy Spirit,\u201d etc.,\nwhich prayer ends by an invocation to Mary as Mother of God.\n\nAfter the prayer Mr. Demars again asked me: \u201cAre you not afraid?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, sir, I do not see any reason to be afraid. But, please, for God\u2019s\nsake hurry on, tell me if you advise me to go and accept this message of\nmercy and peace.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! go! go! if you are not afraid,\u201d answered the old priest, with a\nvoice full of emotion, and tears in his eyes.\n\nI fell on my knees and said: \u201cBefore I start, please, give me your\nblessing and pray for me, when I shall be on my way to that strange,\nbut, I hope, good work.\u201d\n\nI left the seminary and took my seat at the right hand of one of my\nunknown companions, while the other was on the front seat, driving the\nhorse.\n\nNot a word was said by any of us on the way. But I perceived that the\nstranger, who was at my left, was praying to God; though in such a low\nvoice that I understood only these words twice repeated: \u201cO Lord! have\nmercy upon me\u2014such a sinner!\u201d\n\nThese words touched me to the heart, and brought to my mind the dear\nSaviour\u2019s words: \u201cThe publicans and harlots shall go into the kingdom of\nGod before you,\u201d and I also prayed for that poor repenting sinner and\nfor myself, by repeating the sublime 50th Psalm:\n\n\u201cHave mercy upon me, O Lord!\u201d\n\nIt took about half an hour to reach the house. But, there, again, it was\nimpossible for me to understand where I was. For the carriage was\nbrought so near the door that there was no possibility of seeing\nanything beyond the carriage and the horse through the terrible darkness\nof that night.\n\nThe only person I saw, when in the house, was a tall woman covered with\na long black veil, whom I took to be a disguised man, on account of her\nsize and her strength; for she was carrying very heavy bags with as much\nease as if they had been a handful of straw.\n\nThere was only a small candle behind a screen, which gave so little\nlight that everything looked like phantoms around us. Pictures and\nmirrors were all turned to the wall, and presented the wrong side to\nview. The sofa and the chairs were also upset in such a way that it was\nimpossible to identify anything of what I had seen. In fact, I could see\nnothing in that house. Not a word was said, except by one of my\ncompanions, who whispered in a very low voice, \u201cPlease, look at the\ntickets which are on every bundle; they will indicate to whom these\nthings belong.\u201d There were eight bundles. The heaviest of which was\ncomposed of the melted silver of the statue of the virgin, the\ncandlesticks, the lamp of the chapel, the ciborium, a couple of\nchalices, and some dozens of spoons and forks. The other bundles were\nmade up of silver plates, fruit baskets, tea, coffee, cream and sugar\npots, silver spoons and forks, etc.\n\nAs soon as these bundles were put into the carriage we left for the\nparsonage, where we arrived a little before the dawn of day. Not a word\nwas exchanged between us on the way, and my impression was, that my\npenitent companions were sending their silent prayers, like myself, to\nthe feet of that merciful God who has said to all sinners, \u201cCome unto\nme, all ye who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.\u201d\n\nThey carried the bundles into my trunk, which I locked with peculiar\nattention. When all was over, I accompanied them to the door to take\nleave of them. Then, each seizing one of my hands, by a spontaneous\nmovement of gratitude and joy, they pressed them on their lips, shedding\ntears, and saying in a low voice: \u201cGod bless you a thousand times for\nthe good work you have just performed. After Christ, you are our\nsaviour.\u201d\n\nAs these two men were speaking, it pleased God to send forth into my\nsoul one of those rays of happiness which he gives us only at great\nintervals.\n\nI believe our fragile existence would soon be broken up were we by such\njoys incessantly inundated. Those two men had ceased to be robbers in my\neyes. They were dear brethren, precious friends, such as are seldom to\nbe seen. The narrow and shameful prejudices of my religion were silent\nbefore the fervent prayers that I had heard from their lips; they\ndisappeared in those tears of repentance, gratitude and love, which fell\nfrom their eyes on my hands. Night surrounded us with its deepest\nshades; but our souls were illuminated with a light purer than the rays\nof the sun. The air that we breathed was cold and damp; but one of these\nsparks brought down from heaven by Jesus to warm the earth, had fallen\ninto our hearts, and we were all penetrated by its glow. I pressed their\nhands in mine, saying to them:\n\n\u201cI thank and bless you for choosing me as the confident of your\nmisfortunes and repentance. To you I owe three of the most precious\nhours of my life. Adieu! We shall see one another no more on this earth;\nbut we shall meet in heaven. Adieu!\u201d\n\nIt is unnecessary to add that it was impossible to sleep the remainder\nof that memorable night. Besides, I had in my possession more stolen\narticles than would have caused fifty men to be hanged. I said to\nmyself: \u201cWhat would become of me if the police were to break in on me,\nand find all that I have in my hands. What could I answer if I were\nasked, how all these had reached me?\u201d\n\nDid I not go beyond the bounds of prudence in what I have just done?\nHave I not, indeed, slipped a rope around my neck?\n\nThough my conscience did not reproach me with any thing, especially when\nI had acted on the advice of a man as wise as Mr. Demars, yet was I not\nwithout some anxiety, and I longed to get rid of all the things I had,\nby giving them to their legitimate owners.\n\nAt ten o\u2019clock in the morning, I was at Mr. Amiot\u2019s, the wealthiest\ngoldsmith in Quebec, with my heavy satchel of melted silver. After\nobtaining from him a promise of secrecy, I handed it over to him, giving\nhim at the same time its history. I asked him to weigh it, keep its\ncontents, and let me have its value, which I was to distribute according\nto its label.\n\nHe told me that there was in it a thousand dollars\u2019 worth of melted\nsilver, which amount he immediately gave me. I went down directly to\ngive about half of it to Rev. Mr. Cazeault, chaplain of the\ncongregation, which had been robbed, and who was then the secretary of\nthe Archbishop of Quebec; and I distributed the remainder to the parties\nindicated on the labels attached to this enormous ingot.\n\nThe good Lady Montgomery could scarcely believe her eyes when, after\nobtaining also from her the promise of the most inviolable secrecy on\nwhat I was going to show her, I displayed on her table the magnificent\ndishes of massive silver, fruit baskets, tea and coffee pots, sugar\nbowls, cream jugs, and a great quantity of spoons and forks of the\nfinest silver, which had been taken from her in 1835. It seemed to her a\ndream which brought before her eyes these precious family relics.\n\nShe then related in a most touching manner what a terrible moment she\nhad passed, when the thieves, having seized her, with her maid and a\nyoung man, rolled them in carpets to stifle their cries, whilst they\nwere breaking locks, opening chests and cupboards to carry off their\nrich contents. She told me how nearly she had been stifled with her\nfaithful servants under the enormous weight of carpets heaped upon them\nby the robbers.\n\nThis excellent lady was a Protestant, and it was the first time in my\nlife that I met a Protestant whose piety seemed so enlightened and\nsincere. I could not help admiring her.\n\nWhen she had most sincerely thanked and blessed me for the service I had\ndone her, she asked if I would have any objection to pray with her, and\nto aid her in thanking God for the favor he had just shown her. I told\nher, I should be happy in uniting with her to bless the Lord for his\nmercies. Upon this, she gave me a Bible, magnificently bound, and we\nread each in turn a verse slowly, and on our knees, the sublime Psalm\n103: \u201cBless the Lord, O my soul,\u201d etc.\n\nAs I was about to take leave of her, she offered me a purse containing\none hundred dollars in gold, which I refused, telling her that I would\nrather lose my two hands than receive a cent for what I had done.\n\n\u201cYou are,\u201d she said, \u201csurrounded with poor people. Give them this that I\noffer to the Lord as a feeble testimony of my gratitude, and be assured\nthat as long as I live I will pray God to pour his most abounding favors\nupon you.\u201d\n\nIn leaving that house I could not hide from myself that my soul had been\nembalmed with the true perfume of piety that I had never seen in my own\nchurch.\n\nBefore the day closed, I had given back to their rightful owners the\neffects left in my hands, whose value amounted to more than $7,000, and\nhad my receipts in good form.\n\nI am glad to say here, that the persons, most of whom were Protestants,\nto whom I made these restitutions, were perfectly honorable, and that\nnot a single one of them ever said anything to compromise me in this\nmatter, nor was I ever troubled on this subject.\n\nI thought it my duty to give my venerable friend, the Grand Vicar\nDemars, a detailed account of what had just happened. He heard me with\nthe deepest interest, and could not retain his tears when I related the\ntouching scene of my separation from my two new friends, that night, one\nof the darkest\u2014which, nevertheless, has remained one of the brightest of\nmy life.\n\nMy story ended, he said, \u201cI am, indeed, very old, but I must confess\nthat never did I hear anything so strange and so beautiful as this\nstory. I repeat, however, that your mother must have given you a brain\nharder than diamond and nerves more solid than brass, not to have been\nafraid during this very singular adventure in the night.\u201d\n\nAfter the fatigues and incidents of the last twenty-four hours, I was in\ngreat need of rest, but it was impossible for me to sleep a single\ninstant during the night which followed. For the first time, I stood\nface to face with that Protestantism which my Church had taught me to\nhate and fight with all the energy that heaven had bestowed on me, and\nwhen that faith had been, by the hand of Almighty God, placed in the\nscale against my own religion, it appeared as a heap of pure gold\nopposite a pile of rotten rags. In spite of myself, I could hear\nincessantly the cries of grief of that penitent thief: \u201cLord, have mercy\non me, so great a sinner!\u201d\n\nThen, the sublime piety of Lady Montgomery, the blessings she had asked\nGod to pour on me, his unprofitable servant, seemed, as so many coals of\nfire heaped upon my head by God, to punish me for having said so much\nevil of Protestants, and so often decried their religion.\n\nA secret voice arose within me: \u201cSeest thou not how these Protestants,\nwhom thou wishest to crush with thy disdain, know how to pray, repent,\nand make amends for their faults, much more nobly than the unfortunate\nwretches whom thou holdest as so many slaves at thy feet by means of the\nconfessional?\n\n\u201cUnderstandest thou not that the Spirit of God, the grace and love of\nJesus Christ, produces effectually in the hearts and minds of these\nProtestants a work much more durable than thy auricular confession?\nCompare the miserable wiles of Mr. Parent, who makes false restitutions,\nto cast dust into the eyes of the unsuspecting multitude, with the\nstraightforwardness, noble sincerity, and admirable wisdom of these\nProtestants, in making amends for their wrongs before God and men, and\njudge for thyself which of those two religions raise, in order to save,\nand which degrades, in order to destroy the guilty.\n\n\u201cHas ever auricular confession worked as efficiently on sinners as the\nBible on these thieves to change their hearts?\n\n\u201cJudge, this day, by their fruits, which of the two religions is led by\nthe spirit of darkness, or the Holy Ghost?\u201d\n\nNot wishing to condemn my religion, nor allow my heart to be attacked by\nProtestantism during the long hours of that restless night, I remained\nanxious, humiliated, and uneasy.\n\nIt is thus, O my God, that thou madest use of everything, even these\nthieves, to shake that wonderful fabric of errors, superstitions, and\nfalsehoods that Rome had raised in my soul. May thy name be forever\nblessed for thy mercies towards me, thy unprofitable servant!\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXI.\n\nCHAMBERS AND HIS ACCOMPLICES CONDEMNED TO DEATH\u2014ASKED ME TO PREPARE THEM\n TO MEET THEIR TERRIBLE FATE\u2014A WEEK IN THEIR DUNGEON\u2014THEIR SENTENCE OF\n DEATH CHANGED INTO DEPORTATION TO BOTANY BAY\u2014THEIR DEPARTURE FOR\n EXILE\u2014I MEET ONE OF THEM, A SINCERE CONVERT, VERY RICH, IN A HIGH AND\n HONORABLE POSITION IN AUSTRALIA IN 1878.\n\n\nA few days after the strange and providential night spent with the\nrepentant thieves, I received the following letter signed by Chambers\nand his unfortunate criminal friends:\n\n\u201cDEAR FATHER CHINIQUY:\u2014We are condemned to death. Please come and help\nus to meet our sentence as Christians.\u201d\n\nI will not attempt to say what I felt when I entered the damp and dark\ncells where the culprits were enchained. No human words can express\nthose things. Their tears and their sobs were going through my heart as\na two-edged sword. Only one of them had, at first, his eyes dried, and\nkept silent; Chambers, the most guilty of all.\n\nAfter the others had requested me to hear the confession of their sins,\nand prepare them for death, Chambers said: \u201cYou know that I am a\nProtestant. But I am married to a Roman Catholic, who is your penitent.\nYou have persuaded my two so dear sisters to give up their Protestantism\nand become Catholics. I have many times desired to follow them. My\ncriminal life alone has prevented me from doing so. But now I am\ndetermined to do what I consider to be the will of God in this important\nmatter. Please, tell me what I must do to become a Catholic.\u201d\n\nI was a sincere Roman Catholic priest, believing that out of the Church\nof Rome there was no salvation. The conversion of that great sinner\nseemed to me a miracle of the grace of God: it was for me a happy\ndistraction in the desolation I felt in that dungeon.\n\nI spent the next eight days, in hearing their confessions, reading the\nlives of some saints, with several chapters of the Bible as the Seven\nPenitential Psalms, the sufferings and death of Christ, the history of\nthe Prodigal Son, etc. And I instructed Chambers, as well as the\nshortness of the time allowed me, in the faith of the Church of Rome. I\nusually entered the cells at about 9 A. M. and left them only at 9 P. M.\n\nAfter I had spent much time in exhorting them, reading and praying\nseveral times, I asked them to tell me some of the details of the\nmurders and thefts they had committed, which might be to me as a lesson\nof human depravity, which would help me when preaching on the natural\ncorruption and malice of the human heart, when once the fear and the\nlove, or even the faith in God, were completely set aside.\n\nThe facts I then heard very soon convinced me of the need we have of a\nreligion, and what would become of the world if the atheists could\nsucceed in sweeping away the notions of a future punishment after death,\nor the fear and the love of God from among men.\n\nWhen absolutely left to his own depravity, without any religion to stop\nhim on the rapid declivity of his uncontrollable passions, man is more\ncruel than the wild beasts. The existence of society would simply be\nimpossible without a religion and a God to protect it.\n\nThough I am in favor of liberty of conscience, in its highest sense, I\nthink that the atheist ought to be punished like the murderer and the\nthief\u2014for his doctrines tend to make a murderer and a thief of every\nman. No law, no society is possible if there is no God to sanction and\nprotect them.\n\nBut the more we were approaching the fatal day, when I had to go on the\nscaffold with those unfortunate men, and to see them launched into\neternity, the more I felt horrified. The tears the sobs and the cries of\nthose unfortunate men had so melted my heart, my soul and my strong\nnerves, they had so subdued my unconquerable will, and that stern\ndetermination to do my duty at any cost, which had been my character\ntill then, that I was shaking from head to feet, when thinking of that\nawful hour.\n\nBesides that, my constant intercourse with those criminals, these last\nfew days, their unbounded confidence in me, their gratitude for my\ndevotedness to them, their desolation and their cries when speaking of\ntheir fathers or mothers, wives or children, had filled my heart with a\nmeasure of sympathy which I would vainly try to express. They were no\nmore thieves and murderers, to me, whose bloody deeds had at first\nchilled the blood in my veins; they were the friends of my bosom\u2014the\nbeloved children whom cruel beasts had wounded. They were dearer to me\nthan my own life\u2014not only I felt happy to mix my tears with theirs, and\nunite my ardent prayers to God for mercy with them, but I would have\nfelt happy to shed my blood in order to save their lives. As several of\nthem belonged to the most reputable families of Quebec and vicinity, I\nthought I could easily interest the clergy and the most respectable\ncitizens to sign a petition to the governor, Lord Gosford, asking him to\nchange their sentence of death into one of perpetual exile to the\ndistant penal colony of Botany Bay, in Australia. The governor was my\nfriend. Colonel Vassal, who was my uncle, and the adjutant-general of\nthe militia of the whole country, had introduced me to his Excellency,\nwho many times had overloaded me with the marks of his interest and\nkindness, and my hope was that he would not refuse me the favor I was to\nask him, when the petition would be signed by the Bishop, the Catholic\npriests, the ministers of the different Protestant denominations of the\ncity, and hundreds of the principal citizens of Quebec. I presented the\npetition myself, accompanied by the secretary of the Archbishop. But to\nmy great distress, the governor answered me that those men had committed\nso many murders, and kept the country in terror for so many years, that\nit was absolutely necessary they should be punished according to the\nsentence of the court. Who can tell the desolation of those unfortunate\nmen, when, with a voice choked by my sobs and my tears, I told them that\nthe governor had refused to grant the favor I had asked him for them.\nThey fell on the ground and filled their cells with cries which would\nhave broken the hardest heart. From those very cells we were hearing the\nnoise of the men who were preparing the scaffold where they were to be\nhanged the next day. I tried to pray and read, but was unable to do so.\nMy desolation was too great to utter a single word. I felt as if I were\nto be hanged with them\u2014and to say the whole truth, I think I would have\nbeen glad to hear that I was to be hanged the next day to save their\nlives. For there was a fear in me, which was haunting me as a phantom\nfrom hell, the last three days. It seemed that, in spite of all my\nefforts, prayers, confessions, absolutions and sacraments, these men\nwere not converted, and that they were to be launched into eternity with\nall their sins.\n\nWhen I was comparing the calm and true repentance of the two thieves,\nwith whom I spent the night a few weeks before in the carriage, with the\nnoisy expressions of sorrow of these newly converted sinners, I could\nnot help finding an immeasurable distance between the first and the\nsecond of those penitents. No doubt had remained in my mind about the\nfirst, but I had serious apprehensions about the last. Several\ncircumstances, which it would be too long and useless to mention here,\nwere depressing me by the fear that all my chaplets, indulgences,\nmedals, scapulars, holy waters, signs of the cross, prayers to the\nVirgin, auricular confessions, absolutions, used in the conversion of\nthese sinners, had not the divine and perfect power of a simple look to\nthe dying Saviour on the cross. I was saying to myself, with anxiety:\n\u201cWould it be possible that those Protestants, who were with me in the\ncarriage, had the true ways of repentance, pardon, peace and life\neternal in that simple look to the great victim, and that we Roman\nCatholics, with our signs of the cross and holy waters, our crucifixes\nand prayers to the saints, our scapulars and medals, our so humiliating\nauricular confession, were only distracting the mind, the soul and the\nheart of the sinner from the true and only source of salvation, Christ!\u201d\nIn the midst of those distressing thoughts, I almost regretted having\nhelped Chambers in giving up his Protestantism for my Romanism.\n\nAt about 4 P. M. I made a supreme effort to shake off my desolation, and\nnerve myself for the solemn duties God had intrusted to me. I put a few\nquestions to those desolated men, to see if they were really repentant\nand converted. Their answers added to my fears that I had spoken too\nmuch of the virgins and the saints, the indulgences, medals and\nscapulars, integrity of confession, and not enough of Christ dying on\nthe cross for them. It is true, I had spoken of Christ and his death to\nthem, but this had been so much mixed up with exhortation to trust in\nMary, put their confidence in their medals, scapulars, confessions,\netc., that it became almost evident to me that, in our religion, Christ\nwas like a precious pearl lost in a mountain of sand and dust. This fear\nsoon caused my distress to be unbearable.\n\nI then went to the private, neat little room, which the gaoler had\nkindly allotted to me, and I fell on my knees to pray God for myself and\nfor my poor convicts. Though this prayer brought some calm to my mind,\nmy distress was still very great. It was then that the thought came\nagain to my mind to go to the governor and make a new and supreme effort\nto have the sentence of death changed into that of perpetual exile to\nBotany Bay: and without a moment of delay, I went to his palace.\n\nIt was about 7 P. M. when he reluctantly admitted me to his presence,\ntelling me, when shaking hands, \u201cI hope, Mr. Chiniquy, you are not\ncoming to renew your request of the morning, for I cannot grant it.\u201d\n\nWithout a word of answer, I fell on my knees, and for more than ten\nminutes I spoke as I had never spoken before. I spoke as we speak when\nwe are the ambassadors of God in a message of mercy. I spoke with my\nlips. I spoke with my tears. I spoke with my sobs and cries. I spoke\nwith my supplicating hands lifted to heaven. For some time, the governor\nwas mute, and as if stunned. He was not only a noble-minded man, but he\nhad a most tender, affectionate and kind heart. His tears soon began to\nflow with mine, and his sobs mixed with my sobs; with a voice, half\nsuffocated by his emotion, he extended his friendly hand, and said:\n\n\u201cFather Chiniquy, you ask me a favor which I ought not to give, but I\ncannot resist your arguments, when your tears, your sobs, and your cries\nare like arrows which pierce and break my heart. I will give you the\nfavor you ask.\u201d\n\nIt was nearly 10 P. M. when I knocked at the door of the gaoler, asking\nhis permission to see my dear friends in their cells, to tell them that\nI had obtained their pardon, that they would not die. That gentleman\ncould hardly believe me. It was only after reading twice the document I\nhad in my hands that he saw that I told him the truth.\n\nLooking at the parchment again, he said: \u201cHave you noticed that it is\ncovered and almost spoiled by the spots evidently made with the tears of\nthe governor. You must be a kind of a sorcerer to have melted the heart\nof such a man, and have wrenched from his hands the pardon of such\nconvicts; for I know he was absolutely unwilling to grant the pardon.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not a sorcerer,\u201d I answered. \u201cBut you remember that our Saviour\nJesus Christ had said, somewhere, that he had brought a fire from\nheaven\u2014well, it is evident that he has thrown some sparks of that fire\ninto my poor heart, for it was so fiercely burning when I was at the\nfeet of the governor, that I think I would have died at his feet, had he\nnot granted me that favor. No doubt that some sparks of that fire have\nalso fallen on his soul and in his heart when I was speaking, for his\ncries, his tears and his sobs were filling his room, and showing that he\nwas suffering as well as myself. It was that he might not be consumed by\nthat fire that he granted my request. I am now the most happy man under\nheaven. Please, make haste. Come with me and open the cells of those\nunfortunate men that I may tell what our merciful God has done for\nthem.\u201d When entering their desolated cells I was unable to contain\nmyself. I cried out: \u201cRejoice, and bless the Lord, my dear friends! You\nwill not die to-morrow! I bring you your pardon with me!\u201d\n\nTwo of them fainted, and came very near dying from excess of surprise\nand joy. The others, unable to contain their emotions, were crying and\nweeping for joy. They threw their arms around me to press me to their\nbosom, kiss my hands and cover them with their tears of joy. I knelt\nwith them and thanked God, after which I told them how they must promise\nto God to serve him faithfully, after such a manifestation of his\nmercies. I read to them the 100th, 101st, 102d, and 103d Psalms, and I\nleft them after twelve o\u2019clock at night to go and take some rest. I was\nin need of it after a whole day of such work and emotions.\n\nThe next day, I wanted to see my dear prisoners early, and I was with\nthem at 7 A. M. As the whole country had been glad to hear that they\nwere to be hanged that very day, the crowds were beginning to gather at\nthat early hour to witness the death of those great culprits. The\nfeelings of indignation were almost unmanageable, when they heard that\nthey were not to be hanged, but only to be exiled for their life to\nBotany Bay. For a time, it was feared that the mob would break the doors\nof the gaol and lynch the culprits. Though very few priests were more\nrespected and loved by the people, they would have probably torn me into\npieces when they heard that it was I who had deprived the gibbet of its\nvictims, that day. The chief of police had to take extraordinary\nmeasures to prevent the wrath of the mob from doing mischief. He advised\nme not to show myself for a few days, in the streets.\n\nMore than a month passed before all the thieves and murderers in Canada,\nto the number of about seventy, who had been sentenced to be exiled to\nBotany Bay, could be gathered into the ship which was to take them into\nthat distant land. I thought it was my duty, during that interval, to\nvisit my penitents in gaol every day, and instruct them on the duties of\nthe new life they were called upon to live. When the day of their\ndeparture arrived, I gave a Roman Catholic New Testament, translated by\nDeSacy, to each of them to read and meditate on their long and tedious\njourney, and I bade them adieu, recommending them to the mercy of God,\nand the protection of the Virgin Mary and all the saints. Some months,\nlater, I heard that, on the sea, Chambers had cut loose his chains and\nthose of some of his companions, with the intention of taking possession\nof the ship, and escaping on some distant shore. But he had been\nbetrayed, and was hanged on his arrival at Liverpool.\n\nI had almost lost sight of those emotional days of my young years of\npriesthood. Those facts were silently lying among the big piles of the\ndaily records, which I had faithfully kept since the very days of my\ncollegiate life at Nicolet, when, in 1878, the Rev. George Sutherland,\nPresbyterian minister, of Sydney, invited me in the name of the\nnoble-hearted Orangemen and many other Christians of that great country,\nto go and lecture in Australia. They accompanied their invitation with a\ncheck of \u00a3100 for the traveling expenses from Chicago to that distant\nland, and I accepted their kind invitation.\n\nSome time after my arrival, when I was lecturing in one of the young and\nthriving cities of that country, whose future destinies promise to be so\ngreat, a rich carross, drawn by two splendid English horses, driven by\ntwo men _en livre_, stopped before the house where I had put up for a\nfew days. A venerable gentleman alighted from the carriage and knocked\nat the door, as I was looking at him from the window. I went to the\ndoor, to save trouble to my host, and I opened it. In saluting me, the\nstranger said: \u201cIs Father Chiniquy here?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d I answered. \u201cFather Chiniquy is the guest of this family.\u201d\n\n\u201cCould I have the honor of a few minute\u2019s conversation with him?\u201d\nreplied the old gentleman.\n\n\u201cAs I am Father Chiniquy, I can, at once, answer you that I will feel\nmuch pleasure in granting your request.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, dear Father Chiniquy,\u201d quickly replied the stranger, \u201cis it\npossible that it is you? Can I be absolutely alone with you for half an\nhour, without any one to see and hear us?\u201d\n\n\u201cCertainly,\u201d I said; \u201cmy comfortable rooms are upstairs, and I am\nabsolutely alone there. Please, sir, come and follow me.\u201d\n\nWhen alone, the stranger said: \u201cDo you not know me?\u201d\n\n\u201cHow can I know you, sir,\u201d I answered. \u201cI do not even remember ever\nhaving seen you.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have not only seen me, but you have heard the confession of my\nsins, many times; and you have spent many hours in the same room with\nme,\u201d replied the old gentleman.\n\n\u201cPlease tell me where and when I have seen you, and also be kind enough\nto give your name: for all those things have escaped from my memory.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you remember the murderer and thief, Chambers, who was condemned to\ndeath in Quebec, in 1837, with eight of his accomplices?\u201d asked the\nstranger.\n\n\u201cYes, sir; I remember well Chambers, and the unfortunate men he was\nleading in the ways of iniquity,\u201d I replied.\n\n\u201cWell, dear Father Chiniquy, I am one of the criminals who filled Canada\nwith terror, for several years, and who were caught and rightly\ncondemned to death. When condemned, we selected you for our father\nconfessor, with the hope that through your influence we might escape the\ngallows; and we were not disappointed. You obtained our pardon; the\nsentence of death was commuted into a life of exile to Botany Bay. My\nname in Canada was A\u2014\u2014, but here they call me B\u2014\u2014. God has blessed me\nsince in many ways; but it is to you I owe my life, and all the\nprivileges of my present existence. After God, you are my saviour. I\ncome to thank and bless you for what you have done for me.\u201d\n\nIn saying that, he threw himself into my arms, pressed me to his heart,\nand bathed my face and my hands with tears of joy and gratitude.\n\nBut his joy did not exceed mine, and my surprise was equal to my joy to\nfind him apparently in such good circumstances. After I had knelt with\nhim to thank and bless God for what I had heard, I asked him to relate\nto me the details of his strange and marvellous story. Here is a short\n_resume_ of his answer:\n\n\u201cAfter you had given us your last benediction, when on board the ship\nwhich was to take us from Quebec to Botany Bay, the first thing I did\nwas to open the New Testament you had given me and the other culprits,\nwith the advice to read it with a praying heart. It was the first time\nin my life I had that book in my hand. You were the only priest in\nCanada who would put such a book in the hands of common people. But I\nmust confess that its first reading did not do me much good, for I read\nit more to amuse myself and satisfy my curiosity, than through any good\nand Christian motive. The only good I received from that first reading,\nwas that I clearly understood, for the first time, why the priests of\nRome fear and hate that book, and why they take it out of the hands of\ntheir parishioners when they hear that they have it. It was in vain that\nI looked for mass, indulgence, chaplets, purgatory, auricular\nconfession, Lent, holy waters, the worship of Mary, or prayers in an\nunknown tongue. I concluded from my first reading of the Gospel that our\npriests were very wise to prevent us from reading a book which was\nreally demolishing our Roman Catholic Church, and felt surprised that\nyou had put in our hands a book which seemed to me so opposed to the\nbelief and practice of our religion as you taught it to us when in gaol,\nand my confidence in your good judgment was much shaken. To tell you the\ntruth, the first reading of the Gospel went far to demolish my Roman\nCatholic faith, and to make a wreck of the religion taught me by my\nparents, and at the college, and even by you. For a few weeks, I became\nmore of a skeptic than anything else. The only good that first reading\nof the Holy Book did me was to give me more serious thoughts and prevent\nme from uniting myself to Chambers and his conspirators in their foolish\nplot for taking possession of the ship and escaping to some unknown and\ndistant shore. He had been shrewd enough to conceal a very small, but\nexceedingly sharp saw, between his toes before coming to the ship, with\nwhich he had already cut the chains of eighteen of the prisoners, when\nhe was betrayed and hanged on his arrival at Liverpool.\n\n\u201cBut if my first reading of the Gospel did not do me much good, I cannot\nsay the same thing of the second. I remember that, when handing to us\nthat holy book, you had told us never to read it except after a fervent\nprayer to God for help and light to understand it. I was really tired of\nmy former life. In giving up the fear and the love of God, I had fallen\ninto the deepest abyss of human depravity and misery, till I had come\nvery near ending my life on the scaffold. I felt the need of a change.\nYou had often repeated to us the words of our Saviour, \u2018Come unto me all\nye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest;\u2019 but, with\nall the other priests, you had always mixed those admirable and saving\nwords with the invocation of Mary, the confidence in our medals,\nscapulars, signs of the cross, holy waters, indulgences, auricular\nconfessions, that the sublime appeal of Christ had always been, as it\nalways will be, drowned in the Church of Rome by those absurd and\nimpious superstitions and practices.\n\n\u201cOne morning, after I had spent a sleepless night, and feeling as\npressed down under the weight of my sins, I opened my gospel book, after\nan ardent prayer for light and guidance, and my eyes fell on these words\nof John, \u2018Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the\nworld!\u2019 These words fell upon my poor guilty soul with a divine,\nirresistible power. With tears and cries of an unspeakable desolation, I\nspent the day in crying, \u2018O Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the\nworld, have mercy upon me! Take away my sins!\u2019 The day was not over,\nwhen I felt and knew that my cries had been heard at the mercy-seat. The\nLamb of God had taken away my sins! He had changed my heart and made\nquite a new man of me. From that day, the reading of the Gospel was to\nmy soul what bread is to the poor, hungry man, and what pure and\nrefreshing waters are to the thirsty traveler. My joy, my unspeakable\njoy, was to read the holy book, and speak with my companions in chains\nof the dear Saviour\u2019s love for the poor sinners; and, thanks be to God,\na good number of them have found Him altogether precious, and have been\nsincerely converted in the dark holds of that ship. When working hard at\nSydney with the other culprits, I felt my chains to be as light as\nfeathers when I was sure that the heavy chains of my sins were gone; and\nthough working hard under a burning sun from morning till night, I felt\nhappy, and my heart was full of joy when I was sure that my Saviour had\nprepared a throne for me in His kingdom, and that He had brought a crown\nof eternal glory for me by dying on the cross to redeem my guilty soul.\n\n\u201cI had hardly spent a year in Australia, in the midst of the convicts,\nwhen a minister of the Gospel, accompanied by another gentleman, came to\nme and said: \u2018Your perfectly good behavior and your Christian life has\nattracted the attention and admiration of the authorities, and the\ngovernor sends us to hand you this document, which says you are no more\na criminal before the law, but that you have your pardon, and you can\nlive the life of an honorable citizen, by continuing to walk in the ways\nof God.\u2019 After speaking so, the gentlemen put one hundred dollars in my\nhands, and added: \u2018Go and be a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus, and\nGod Almighty will bless you and make you prosper in all your ways.\u2019 All\nthis seemed to me as a dream or vision from heaven. I would hardly\nbelieve my ears and my eyes. But it was not a dream, it was a reality.\nMy merciful Heavenly Father had again heard my humble supplications;\nafter having taken away the heavy chains of my sins, He had mercifully\ntaken away the chains which wounded my feet and my hands. I spent\nseveral days and nights in weeping and crying for joy, and in blessing\nthe God of my salvation, Jesus the redeemer of my soul and my body.\n\n\u201cSome years after that, we heard of the discoveries of the rich gold\nmines in several parts of Australia.\n\n\u201cAfter having prayed God to guide me, I bought a bag of hard crackers, a\nham and cheese, and started for the mines in company with several who\nwere going, like myself, in search of gold. But I soon preferred to be\nalone. For I wanted to pray and to be united to my God, even when\nwalking. After a long march, I reached a beautiful spot, between three\nsmall hills, at the foot of which a little brook was running down toward\nthe plain below. The sun was scorching, there was no shade, and I was\nmuch tired, I sat on a flat stone to take my dinner, and quenched my\nthirst with the water of the brook. I was eating and blessing my God at\nthe same time for His mercies, when suddenly my eyes fell on a stone by\nthe brook, which was about the size of a goose egg. But the rays of the\nsun were dancing on the stone, as if it had been a mirror. I went and\npicked it up. The stone was almost all gold of the purest kind! It was\nalmost enough to make me rich. I knelt to thank and bless God for this\nnew token of his mercy toward me, and I began to look around to see if I\ncould not find some new pieces of the precious metal, and you may\nimagine my joy, when I found that the ground was not only literally\ncovered with pieces of gold of every size, from half an inch to the\nsmallest dimensions, but that the very sand, in great part, was composed\nof gold. In a very short time, it was the will of God that I could carry\nto the bank particles of gold to the value of several thousand pounds. I\ncontinued to cover myself with rags and have old boots on, in order not\nto excite the suspicion of any one on the fortune which I was\naccumulating so rapidly. When I had about \u00a380,000 deposited in the\nbanks, a gentleman offered me \u00a380,000 more for my claim, and I sold it.\nThe money was invested by me on a piece of land which soon became the\nsite of an important city, and I soon became one of the wealthy men of\nAustralia. I then began to study hard and improve the little education I\nhad received in Canada. I married, and my God has made me father of\nseveral children. The people where I settled with my fortune and wife,\nnot knowing my antecedents, have raised me to the first dignities of the\nplace. Please, dear Mr. Chiniquy, come and take dinner with me,\nto-morrow, that I may show you my house and some of my other properties,\nand also that I may introduce you to my wife and children. But let me\nask the favor not to make them suspect that you have known me in Canada,\nfor they think I am an European.\u201d When telling me his marvellous\nadventures, which I am obliged to condense and abridge, his voice was,\nmany times, choked by his emotion his tears and his sobs, and more than\nonce he had to stop. As for me, I was absolutely beside myself with\nadmiration at the mysterious ways through which God leads his elect, in\nall ages. Now, I understand why my God had given me such a marvellous\npower over the governor of Canada, when I wrenched your pardon from his\nhands almost in spite of himself, I said: \u201cThat merciful God wanted to\nsave you, and you are saved! May his name be forever blessed.\u201d\n\nThe next day, it was my privilege to be with his family, at dinner. And\nnever have I seen a more happy mother, and a more interesting family.\nThe long table was actually surrounded by them. After dinner, he showed\nme his beautiful garden and his rich palace, after which, throwing\nhimself into my arms, he said: \u201cDear Father Chiniquy, all those things\nbelong to you. It is to you, after God, that I owe my life, all the\nblessings of a large and Christian family, and the honor of the high\nposition I have in this country. May the God of Heaven for ever bless\nyou for what you have done for me.\u201d I answered him: \u201cDear friend, you\nowe me nothing, I have been nothing but a feeble instrument of the\nmercies of God toward you. To that great and merciful God alone be the\npraise and the glory. Please ask your family to come here and join with\nus in singing to the praise of God the 103d Psalm.\u201d And we sang\ntogether: \u201cPraise the Lord, O my soul, and let all that is within me\npraise His holy name.\n\n\u201cHe hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to\nour iniquities.\n\n\u201cFor as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward\nthem that fear him.\n\n\u201cAs far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our\ntransgressions from us.\n\n\u201cLike as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that\nfear Him.\u201d\n\nAfter the singing of that hymn, I bade him adieu for the second time,\nnever to meet him again except in that Promised Land, where we will sing\nthe eternal Alleluia around the throne of the Lamb, who was slain for\nus, and who redeemed us all in His blood.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXII.\n\nTHE MIRACLES OF ROME\u2014ATTACK OF TYPHOID FEVER\u2014APPARITION OF ST. ANNE AND\n ST. PHILOMENE\u2014MY SUDDEN CURE\u2014THE CURATE OF ST. ANNE DU NORD, MONS\n RANVOIZE, A DISGUISED PROTESTANT.\n\n\nThe merchant fleet of the fall of 1836 had filled the Marine Hospital of\nQuebec with the victims of a ship-typhoid fever of the worst kind, which\nsoon turned into an epidemic. Within the walls of that institution Mr.\nGlackmeyer, the superintendent, with two of the attending doctors, and\nthe majority of the servants, were swept away during the winter months.\n\nI was, in the spring of 1837, almost the only one spared by that\nhorrible pest. In order not to spread terror among the citizens of\nQuebec, the physicians and I had determined to keep that a secret. But,\nat the end of May, I was forced to reveal it to the Bishop of Quebec, My\nLord Signaie; for I felt in my whole frame, the first symptoms of the\nmerciless disease. I prepared myself to die, as very few who had been\nattacked by it had escaped. I went to the bishop, told him the truth\nabout the epidemic, and requested him to appoint a priest, immediately,\nas chaplain in my place, for I added, I feel the poison running through\nmy veins, and it is very probable that I have not more than ten or\ntwelve days to live.\n\nThe young Mons D. Estimanville was chosen, and though I felt very weak,\nI thought it was my duty to initiate him in his new and perilous work. I\ntook him immediately to the hospital, where he never had been before,\nand, when at a few feet from the door, I said: \u201cMy young friend, it is\nmy duty to tell you that there is a dangerous epidemic raging in that\nhouse since last fall, nothing has been able to stop it. The\nsuperintendent, two physicians and most of the servants have been its\nvictims. My escape till now is almost miraculous. But these last ten\nhours I feel the poison running through my whole body. You are called by\nGod to take my place; but before you cross the threshold of that\nhospital, you must make the generous sacrifice of your life; for you are\ngoing on a battle-field from which only few have come out with their\nlives.\u201d\n\nThe young priest turned pale and said: \u201cIs it possible that such a\ndeadly epidemic is raging where you are taking me?\u201d I answered: \u201cYes! my\ndear young brother, it is a fact, and I consider it my duty to tell you\nnot to enter that house, if you are afraid to die!\u201d\n\nA few minutes of silence followed, and it was a solemn silence, indeed!\nDid the angels of God appear to show him the crown given to those who\ndie for their brethren? I do not know. What I do know is that, a few\nmonths later, that young priest won the glorious crown by falling at his\npost of duty. He then took his handkerchief and wiped away some big\ndrops of sweat, which were rolling from his forehead on his cheeks, and\nsaid: \u201cIs there a more holy and desirable way of dying than in\nministering to the spiritual and temporal wants of my brethren? No! If\nit is the will of God that I should fall when fighting at this post of\ndanger, I am ready. Let his holy will be done.\u201d\n\nHe followed me into the pestilential house with the heroic step of the\nsoldier who runs at the command of his general to storm an impregnable\ncitadel, when he is sure to fall. It took me more than an hour to show\nhim all the rooms, and introduce him to the poor, but very dear sick and\ndying mariners.\n\nI felt then so exhausted that two friends had to support me on my return\nto the parsonage of St. Roch. My physicians were immediately called (one\nof them, Dr. Rousseau, is still living) and soon pronounced my case so\ndangerous that three other physicians were called in consultation. For\nnine days, I suffered the most horrible tortures in my brains and the\nvery marrow of my bones, from the fever, which so devoured my flesh, as\nto seemingly leave but the skin.\n\nOn the ninth day, the physicians told the bishop, who had visited me,\nthat there was no hope for my recovery. The last sacraments were\nadministered to me, and I prepared myself to die, as taught by the\nChurch of Rome. The tenth day I was absolutely motionless, and not able\nto utter a word. My tongue was parched like a piece of dry wood.\n\nThrough the terrible ravage on the whole system, my very eyes were so\nturned inside their orbits, the white part only could be seen; no food\ncould be taken from the beginning of the sickness except a few drops of\ncold water, which were dropped through my teeth with much difficulty.\nBut, though all my physical faculties seemed dead, my memory and my\nintelligence were full of life, and acting with more power than ever.\nNow and then, in the paroxysms of the fever, I used to see awful\nvisions. At one time, suspended by a thread at the top of a high\nmountain, with my head down over a bottomless abyss; at another,\nsurrounded by merciless enemies, whose daggers and swords were plunged\nthrough my body. But these were of short duration, though they have left\nsuch an impression on my mind that I still remember the minutest\ndetails. Death had at first no terrors for me. I had done, to the best\nof my ability, all that my church had told me to do to be saved. I had,\nevery day, given my last cent to the poor, fasted and done penance\nalmost enough to kill myself, made my confessions with the greatest care\nand sincerity, preached with such zeal and earnestness as to fill the\nwhole city with admiration.\n\nMy pharisaical virtues and holiness, in a word, were of such a glaring\nand deceitful character, and my ecclesiastical superiors were so taken\nby them that they made the greatest efforts to persuade me to become the\nfirst Bishop of Oregon and Vancouver.\n\nOne after the other, all the saints of heaven, beginning with the Holy\nVirgin Mary, were invoked by me that they might pray God to look down\nupon me in mercy, and save my soul.\n\nOn the thirteenth night, as the doctors were retiring, they whispered to\nthe Revs. Baillargeon and Parent, who were at my bedside: \u201cHe is dead,\nor if not, he has only a few minutes to live. He is already cold and\nbreathless, and we cannot feel his pulse.\u201d Though these words had been\nsaid in a very low tone, they fell upon my ears as a peal of thunder.\nThe two young priests, who were my devoted friends, filled the room with\nsuch cries, that the curate and the priest, who had gone to rest, rushed\nto my room, and mingled their tears and cries with theirs.\n\nThe words of the doctor, \u201cHe is dead!\u201d were ringing in my ears as the\nvoice of a hurricane; I suddenly saw that I was in danger of being\nburied alive; no words can express the sense of horror I felt at that\nidea. A cold, icy wave began to move slowly, but it seemed to me, with\nirresistible force, from the extremities of my feet and hands toward the\nheart, as the first symptoms of approaching death. At that moment, I\nmade a great effort to see what hope I might have of being saved,\ninvoking the help of the blessed Virgin Mary. With lightning rapidity, a\nterrible vision struck my mind; I saw all my good works and penances, in\nwhich my church had told me to trust for salvation, in the balance of\nthe justice of God. These were in one side of the scales, and my sins on\nthe other. My good works seemed only as a grain of sand compared with\nthe weight of my sins.[B]\n\n-----\n\nFootnote B:\n\n In order to be understood by those of my readers who have never been\n deceived by the diabolical doctrines of the Church of Rome, I must say\n here, that when young I had learned all my Catechism, and when a\n priest, I had believed and preached what Rome says on that subject.\n Here is her doctrine as taught in her Catechism:\n\n \u201cWho are those who go to heaven?\u201d\n\n ANS. \u201cThose only who have never offended God, or who, having offended\n Him, have done penance.\u201d\n\n-----\n\nThis awful vision entirely destroyed my false and pharisaical security,\nand filled my soul with an unspeakable terror. I could not cry to Jesus\nChrist, nor to God, his Father, for mercy; for I sincerely believed what\nmy church had taught me on that subject, that they were both angry with\nme on account of my sins. With much anxiety, I turned my thoughts, my\nsoul and hopes toward St. Anne and St Philomene. The first was the\nobject of my confidences since the first time I had seen the numberless\ncrutches and other \u201cEx Votos\u201d which covered the Church of \u201cLa Bonne St.\nAnne du Nord,\u201d and the second was the saint _a la mode_. It was said\nthat her body had lately been miraculously discovered, and the world was\nfilled with the noise of the miracles wrought through her intercession.\nHer medals were on every breast, her pictures in every house, and her\nname on all lips. With entire confidence in the will and power of these\ntwo saints to obtain any favor for me, I invoked them to pray God to\ngrant me a few years more of life; and with the utmost honesty of\npurpose, I promised to add to my penances, and to live a more holy life,\nby consecrating myself with more zeal than ever, to the service of the\npoor and the sick. I added to my former prayer, the solemn promise to\nhave a painting of the two saints put in St. Anne\u2019s Church, to proclaim\nto the end of the world their great power in heaven, if they would\nobtain my cure and restore my health. Strange to say! the last words of\nmy prayer were scarcely uttered, when I saw above my head St. Anne and\nSt. Philomene, sitting in the midst of a great light, on a beautiful\ngolden cloud. St. Anne was very old and grave, but St. Philomene was\nvery young and beautiful. Both were looking at me with great kindness.\n\nHowever, the kindness of St. Anne was mixed with such an air of awe and\ngravity, that I did not like her looks; while St. Philomene had such an\nexpression of superhuman love and kindness, that I felt myself drawn to\nher by a magnetic power, when she said distinctly: \u201cYou will be cured!\u201d\nand the vision disappeared.\n\nBut I was cured, perfectly cured! At the disappearance of the two\nsaints, I felt as though an electric shock went through my whole frame;\nthe pains were gone, the tongue was untied, the nerves were restored to\ntheir natural and easy power; my eyes were opened, the cold and icy\nwaves which were fast going from the extremities to the regions of the\nheart, seemed to be changed into a most pleasant warm bath, restoring\nlife and strength to every part of my body. I raised my head, stretched\nout my hands, which I had not moved for three days, and looking around,\nI saw the four priests. I said to them: \u201cI am cured, please give me\nsomething to eat, I am hungry.\u201d\n\nAstonished beyond measure, two of them threw their arms around my\nshoulders to help me sit a moment, and change my pillow; when two others\nran to the table which the kind nuns of Quebec had covered with\ndelicacies in case I might want them. Their joy was mixed with fear, for\nthey all confessed to me afterwards that they at once thought that all\nthis was nothing but the last brilliant flash of light which the\nflickering lamp gives before dying away. But they soon changed their\nminds when they saw that I was eating ravenously, and that I was\nspeaking to them and thanking God with a cheerful though very feeble\nvoice. \u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d they all said. \u201cThe doctors told us last\nevening that you were dead; and we have passed the night not only\nweeping over your death, but praying for your soul, to rescue it from\nthe flames of purgatory, and now you look so hungry, so cheerful and so\nwell.\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cIt means that I was not dead, but very near dying, and when\nI felt that I was to die, I prayed to St. Anne and St. Philomene to come\nto my help and cure me; and they have come. I have seen them both,\nthere, above my head. Ah! if I were a painter, what a beautiful picture\nI could make of that dear old St. Anne and the still dearer St.\nPhilomene! for it is St. Philomene who has spoken to me as the messenger\nof the mercies of God. I have promised to have their portraits painted\nand put into the church of The Good St. Anne du Nord.\u201d\n\nWhile I was speaking thus, the priests, filled with admiration and awe,\nwere mute; they could not speak, except with tears of gratitude. They\nhonestly believed with me that my cure was miraculous, and consented\nwith pleasure to sing that beautiful hymn of gratitude, the \u201cTe Deum.\u201d\n\nThe next morning the news of my miraculous cure spread through the whole\ncity with the rapidity of lightning, for besides a good number of the\nfirst citizens of Quebec who were related to me by blood, I had not less\nthan 1,800 penitents who loved and respected me as their spiritual\nfather.\n\nTo give an idea of the kind interest of the numberless friends whom God\nhad given me when in Quebec, I will relate a single fact. The citizens\nwho were near our parsonage, having been told by a physician that the\ninflammation of my brain was so terrible that the least noise, even the\npassing of carriages or the walking of horses on the streets, was\ncausing me real torture, they immediately covered all the surrounding\nstreets with several inches of straw to prevent the possibility of any\nmore noise.\n\nThe physicians having heard of my sudden cure, hastened to come and see\nwhat it meant. At first, they could scarcely believe their eyes. The\nnight before, they had given me up for dead, after thirteen days\nsuffering with the most horrible and incurable of diseases! And there I\nwas, the very next morning, perfectly cured! No more pain, not the least\nremnant of fever, all the faculties of my body and mind perfectly\nrestored!\n\nThey minutely asked me all the circumstances connected with that\nstrange, unexpected cure; and I told them simply but plainly, how, at\nthe very moment I expected to die, I had fervently prayed to St. Anne\nand St. Philomene, and how they had come, spoken to me and cured me.\n\nTwo of my physicians were Roman Catholics, and three Protestants. They,\nat first, looked at each other without saying a word. It was evident\nthat they were not all partakers of my strong faith in the power of the\ntwo saints. While the Roman Catholic doctors, Messrs. Parent and\nRousseau, seemed to believe in my miraculous cure, the Protestants\nenergetically protested against that view in the name of science and\ncommon sense.\n\nDr. Douglas put me the following questions, and received the following\nanswers. He said:\n\n\u201cDear Father Chiniquy, you know you have not a more devoted friend in\nQuebec than I, and you know me too well to suspect that I want to hurt\nyour religious feelings when I tell you that there is not the least\nappearance of a miracle in your so happy and sudden cure. If you will be\nkind enough to answer my questions, you will see that you are mistaken\nin attributing to a miracle a thing which is most common and natural.\nThough you are perfectly cured, you are very weak; please answer only\n\u2018yes\u2019 or \u2018no\u2019 to my questions, in order not to exhaust yourself. Will\nyou be so kind as to tell us if this is the first vision you have had\nduring the period of that terrible fever?\u201d\n\nANS. I have had many other visions, but I took them as being the effect\nof the fever.\n\nDOCTOR. Please make your answers shorter, or else I will not ask you\nanother question, for it would hurt you. Tell us simply, if you have not\nseen in those visions, at times, very frightful and terrible, and at\nothers, very beautiful things?\n\nANS. Yes, sir.\n\nDOCTOR. Have not those visions stamped themselves on your mind with such\na power and vividness that you never forget them, and that you deem them\nmore realities than mere visions of a sickly brain?\n\nANS. Yes, sir.\n\nDOCTOR. Did you not feel, sometimes, much worse, and sometimes much\nbetter after those visions, according to their nature?\n\nANS. Yes, sir.\n\nDOCTOR. When at ease in your mind during that disease, were you not used\nto pray to the saints, particularly to St. Anne and St. Philomene?\n\nANS. Yes, sir.\n\nDOCTOR. When you considered that death was very near (and it was indeed)\nwhen you had heard my imprudent sentence that you had only a few minutes\nto live, were you not taken suddenly by such a fear of death as you\nnever felt before?\n\nANS. Yes, sir.\n\nDOCTOR. Did you not then make a great effort to repel death from you?\n\nANS. Yes, sir.\n\nDOCTOR. Do you know that you are a man of an exceedingly strong will,\nand that very few men can resist you when you want to do something? Do\nyou not know that your will is such an exceptional power that mountains\nof difficulties have disappeared before you, here in Quebec? Have you\nnot seen even me, with many others, yielding to your will almost in\nspite of ourselves, to do what you wanted?\n\nWith a smile, I answered, \u201cYes, sir.\u201d\n\nDOCTOR. Do you not know that the will, or if you like it better, the\nsoul, has a real, mysterious, and sometimes an irresistible, power over\nthe body, to silence its passions, calm its sufferings, and really heal\nits diseases, particularly when they are of a nervous nature, as in all\ncases of fever?\n\nANS. Yes, sir! I know that.\n\nDOCTOR. Do you not remember seeing, many times, people suffering\ndreadfully from toothache, coming to us to have their teeth extracted,\nwho were suddenly cured at the sight of the knives and other surgical\ninstruments we put upon the table for use?\n\nI answered, with a laugh, \u201cYes, sir. I have seen that very often, and it\nhas occurred to me once.\u201d\n\nDOCTOR. Do you think that there was a supernatural power, then, in the\nsurgical implements, and that those sudden cures of toothache were\nmiraculous?\n\nANS. No, sir.\n\nDOCTOR. Have you not read the volume of the Medical Directory I lent\nyou, on typhoid fever, where several cures exactly like yours are\nreported?\n\nANS. Yes, sir.\n\nThen, addressing the physicians, Dr. Douglas said to them:\n\n\u201cWe must not exhaust our dear Father Chiniquy. We are too happy to see\nhim full of life again, but from his answers you understand that there\nis no miracle here. His happy and sudden cure is a very natural and\ncommon thing. The vision was what we call the turning-point of the\ndisease, when the mind is powerfully bent on some very exciting object,\nwhen that mysterious thing of which we know so little as yet, called the\nwill, the spirit, the soul, fights as a giant against death, in which\nbattle, pains, diseases, and even death, are put to flight and\nconquered.\n\n\u201cMy dear Father Chiniquy, from your own lips we have it; you have\nfought, last night, the fever and approaching death, as a giant. No\nwonder that you won the victory, and I confess, it is a great victory. I\nknow it is not the first victory you have gained, and I am sure it will\nnot be the last. It is surely God who has given you that irresistible\nwill. In that sense only does your cure come from Him. Continue to fight\nand conquer as you have done last night, and you will live a long life.\nDeath will long remember its defeat of last night, and will not dare\napproach you any more, except when you will be so old that you will ask\nit to come as a friend, and put an end to the miseries of this present\nlife. Good-bye.\u201d\n\nAnd with friendly smiles, all the doctors pressed my hand and left me,\njust as the bishop and the curate of Quebec, Mons. Baillargeon, my\nconfessor, were entering the room.\n\nAn old proverb says: \u201cThere is nothing so difficult as to persuade a man\nwho does not want to be persuaded.\u201d Though the reasoning and kind words\nof the doctor ought to have been gladly listened to by me, they had only\nbothered me. It was infinitely more pleasant, and it seemed then, more\nagreeable to God, and more according to my faith in the power of the\nsaints in heaven, to believe that I had been miraculously cured. Of\ncourse, the bishop with his coadjutor, and my Lord Turgeon, as well as\nmy confessor, with the numberless priests and Roman Catholics who\nvisited me during my convalescence, confirmed me in my views.\n\nThe skillful painter, Mr. Plamondon, recently from Rome, was called, and\npainted at the price of $200 (\u00a350) the tableau, I had promised to put in\nthe church of St. Anne du Nord. It was one of the most beautiful and\nremarkable paintings of that artist, who had passed several years in the\nCapitol of Fine Arts in Italy, where he had gained a very good\nreputation for his ability.\n\nThree months after my recovery, I was at the parsonage of the curate of\nSt. Anne, the Rev. Mr. Ranvoize, a relative of mine. He was about 64\nyears of age, very rich, and had a magnificent library. When young he\nhad enjoyed the reputation of being one of the best preachers in Canada.\n\nNever had I been so saddened and scandalized as I was by him on this\noccasion. It was evening when I arrived with my tableau. As soon as we\nwere left alone, the old curate said: \u201cIs it possible, my dear young\ncousin, that you will make such a fool of yourself to-morrow? That\nso-called miraculous cure is nothing but \u201c_natur\u00e6 suprema vis_,\u201d as the\nlearned of all ages have called it. Your so-called vision was a dream of\nyour sickly brain, as it generally occurs at the moment of the supreme\ncrisis of the fever. It is what is called the \u201cturning-point\u201d of the\ndisease, when a desperate effort of nature kills or cures the patient.\nAs for the vision of that beautiful girl, whom you call St. Philomene,\nwho has done you so much good, she is not the first girl, surely, who\nhas come to you in your dreams, and done you good!\u201d At these words he\nlaughed so heartily that I feared he would split his sides. Twice he\nrepeated this unbecoming joke.\n\nI was, at first, so shocked at this unexpected rebuke, which I\nconsidered as bordering on blasphemy, that I came very near taking my\nhat, without answering a word, to go and spend the night at his\nbrother\u2019s; but, after a moment\u2019s reflection, I said to him:\n\n\u201cHow can you speak with such levity on so solemn a thing? Do you not\nbelieve in the power of the saints, who, being more holy and pure than\nwe are, see God face to face, speak to Him and obtain favors which he\nwould refuse to us rebels? Are you not the daily witness of the\nmiraculous cures wrought in your own church, under your own eyes? Why\nthose thousands of crutches which literally cover the walls of your\nchurch?\u201d\n\nMy strong faith, and the earnestness of my appeal to the daily miracles\nof which he was the witness, and above all, the mention of the\nnumberless crutches suspended all over the walls of his church, brought\nagain from him such a Homeric laugh, that I was disconcerted and\nsaddened beyond measure. I remained absolutely mute; I wished I had\nnever come into such company.\n\nWhen he had laughed at me to his heart\u2019s content, he said: \u201cMy dear\ncousin, you are the first one to whom I speak in this way. I do it\nbecause, first: I consider you a man of intelligence, and hope you will\nunderstand me. Secondly: because you are my cousin. Were you one of\nthose idiotic priests, real blockheads, who form the clergy of to-day;\nor, were you a stranger to me, I would let you go your way, and believe\nin those ridiculous, degrading superstitions of our poor ignorant and\nblind people, but I know you from your infancy, and I have known your\nfather, who was one of my dearest friends; the blood which flows in your\nveins, passes thousands of times every day through my heart. You are\nvery young and I very old. It is a duty of honor and conscience in me to\nreveal to you a thing which I have thought better to keep till now, a\nsecret between God and myself. I have been here more than thirty years,\nand though our country is constantly filled with the noise of the great\nand small miracles wrought in my church, every day, I am ready to swear\nbefore God, and to prove to any man of common sense, that not a single\nmiracle has been wrought in my church since I have come here. Every one\nof the facts given to the Canadian people as miraculous cures, are sheer\nimpositions, deceptions, the work of either fools, or the work of\nskillful impostors and hypocrites, whether priests or laymen. Believe\nme, my dear cousin, I have studied carefully the history of all those\ncrutches. Ninety-nine out of a hundred have been left by poor, lazy\nbeggars, who, at first, thought with good reason that, by walking from\ndoor to door with one or two crutches, they would create more sympathy\nand bring more into their purses; for how many will indignantly turn out\nof doors a lazy, strong and healthful beggar, who will feel great\ncompassion, and give largely to a man who is crippled, unable to work,\nand forced to drag himself painfully on crutches? Those crutches are,\nthen, passports from door to door. They are the very keys to open both\nthe hearts and purses. But the day comes when that beggar has bought a\npretty good farm with his stolen alms; or when he is really tired,\ndisgusted with his crutches and wants to get rid of them! How can he do\nthat without compromising himself?\n\n\u201cBy a miracle! Then, he will sometimes travel again hundreds of miles\nfrom door to door, begging as usual, but this time, he asks the prayers\nof the whole family, saying, \u2018I am going to the \u2018good St. Anne du Nord\u2019\nto ask her to cure my leg (or legs). I hope she will cure me, as she has\ncured so many others, I have great confidence in her power!\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cEach one gives twice, nay, ten times as much as before to the poor\ncripple, making him promise that if he is cured, he will come back and\nshow himself, that they may bless the good St. Anne with him. When he\narrives here, he gives me sometimes one, sometimes five dollars, to say\nmass for him. I take the money, for I would be a fool to refuse it when\nI know that his purse has been so well filled. During the celebration of\nthe mass, when he receives the communion, I hear generally, a great\nnoise, cries of joy! A miracle! A miracle!! The crutches are thrown on\nthe floor, and the cripple walks as well as you or I! And the last act\nof that religious comedy is the most lucrative one, for he fulfills his\npromise of stopping at every house he had ever been seen with his\ncrutches. He narrates how he was miraculously cured, how his feet and\nlegs became suddenly all right. Tears of joy and admiration flow from\nevery eye. The last cent of that family is generally given to the\nimpostor, who soon grows rich at the expense of his dupes. This is the\nplain, but true story, of ninety-nine out of every hundred of the cures\nwrought in my church. The hundredth, is upon people as honest, but,\npardon me the expression, as blind and superstitious as you are; they\nare really cured, for they were really sick. But their cures are the\nnatural effects of the great efforts of the will. It is the result of a\nhappy combination of natural causes which work together on the frame,\nand kill the pain, expel the disease and restore to health, just as I\nwas cured of a most horrible toothache, some years ago. In the paroxysm,\nI went to the dentist and requested him to extract the affected tooth.\nHardly had his knife and other surgical instruments come before my eyes\nthan the pain disappeared. I quietly took my hat and left, bidding a\nhearty \u2018good-by\u2019 to the dentist, who laughed at me every time we met, to\nhis heart\u2019s content.\n\n\u201cOne of the weakest points of our religion is in the ridiculous, I\nventure to say, diabolical miracles, performed and believed every day\namong us, with the so-called relics and bones of the saints.\n\n\u201cBut, don\u2019t you know that, for the most part, these relics are nothing\nbut chickens\u2019 or sheeps\u2019 bones. And what could not say, were I to tell\nyou of what I know of the daily miraculous impostures of the scapulars,\nholy water, chaplets and medals of every kind. Were I a pope, I would\nthrow all these mummeries, which come from paganism, to the bottom of\nthe sea, and would present to the eyes of the sinners, nothing but\nChrist and Him crucified as the object of their faith, invocation and\nhope, for this life and the next, just as the Apostle Paul, Peter and\nJames do in their Epistles.\u201d\n\nI cannot repeat here, all that I heard, that night, from that old\nrelative, against the miracles, relics, scapulars, purgatory, false\nsaints and ridiculous practices of the Church of Rome. It would take too\nlong, for he spoke three hours as a real Protestant. Sometimes what he\nsaid to me seemed according to common sense, but as it was against the\npractices of my church, and against my personal practices, I was\nexceedingly scandalized and pained, and not at all convinced. I pitied\nhim for having lost his former faith and piety. I told him at the end,\nwithout ceremony: \u201cI heard, long ago, that the bishops did not like you,\nbut I knew not why. However, if they could hear what you think and say\nhere about the miracles of St. Anne, they would surely interdict you.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill you betray me?\u201d he added, \u201cand will you report our conversation to\nthe bishop?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, my cousin,\u201d I replied, \u201cI would prefer to be burned to ashes. I\nwill not sell your kind hospitality for the traitor\u2019s money.\u201d\n\nIt was two o\u2019clock in the morning when we parted to go to our sleeping\nrooms. But that night was again a sleepless one to me. Was it not too\nsad and strange for me to see that that old and learned priest was\nsecretly a Protestant!\n\nThe next morning, the crowds began to arrive, not by hundreds, but by\nthousands, from the surrounding parishes. The channel between \u201cL\u2019Isle\nD\u2019Orleans\u201d and St. Anne, was literally covered with boats of every size,\nladen with men and women who wanted to hear from my own lips, the\nhistory of my miraculous cure, and see, with their own eyes, the picture\nof the two saints who had appeared to me. At 10 A. M., more than 10,000\npeople were crowded inside and outside the walls of the Church.\n\nNo words can give an idea of my emotion and of the emotion of the\nmultitude when, after telling them in a simple and plain way, what I\nthen considered a miraculous fact, I disclosed to their eyes, and\npresented it to their admiration and worship. There were tears rolling\non every cheek and cries of admiration and joy from every lip.\n\nThe picture represented me dying in my bed of sufferings, and the two\nsaints seen, at a distance, above me, and stretching their hands, as if\nto say: \u201cYou will be cured.\u201d It was hung on the walls, in a conspicuous\nplace, where thousands and thousands have come to worship it from that\nday to the year 1858, when the curate was ordered by the bishop to burn\nit, for it had pleased our merciful God, that very year, to take away\nthe scales which were on my eyes and show me his saving light, and I had\npublished all over Canada, my terrible, though unintentional error, in\nbelieving in that false miracle. I, however, was honest in my belief in\na miraculous cure; and the apparition of the two saints had left such a\ndeep impression on my mind, that, I confess it to my shame, the first\nweek after my conversion, I very often said to myself: \u201cHow is it that I\nnow believe that the Church of Rome is false, when such a miracle has\nbeen wrought on me as one of her priests?\u201d\n\nBut, our God, whose mercies are infinite, knowing my honesty when a\nslave of Popery, was determined to give me the full understanding of my\nerrors in this way.\n\nAbout a month after my conversion, in 1858, I had to visit a dying Irish\nconvert from Romanism, who had caught in Chicago, the same fever which\nso nearly killed me at the Marine Hospital of Quebec. I again caught the\ndisease, and during twelve days passed through the same tortures and\nsuffered the same agonies as in 1837. But this time, I was really happy\nto die; there was no fear for me to see the good works as a grain of\nsand in my favor, and the mountains of my iniquities in the balance of\nGod against me. I just had given up my pharisaical holiness of old; it\nwas no more in my good works, my alms, my penances, my personal efforts,\nI was trusting to be saved; it was in Jesus alone. My good works were no\nmore put by me in the balance of the justice of God to pay my debts and\nto appeal for mercy. It was the blood of Jesus, the Lamb slain from the\nfoundation of the world for me, which was in the balance. It was the\ntears of Jesus, the nails, the crown of thorns, the heavy cross, the\ncruel death of Jesus only, which was there to pay my debts and to cry\nfor mercy. I had no fear then, for I knew that I was saved by Jesus, and\nthat that salvation was a perfect act of His love, His mercy and His\npower; I was glad to die.\n\nBut when the doctor had left me, the thirteenth day of my sufferings,\nsaying the very same words of the doctors of Quebec: \u201cHe has only a few\nminutes to live, if he be not already dead,\u201d the kind friends who were\naround my bed, filled the room with their cries! Although, for three or\nfour days, I had not moved a finger, said a single word, or given any\nsign of life, I was perfectly conscious. I had heard the words of the\ndoctor and I was glad to exchange the miseries of this short life for\nthat eternity of glory which my Saviour had bought for me. I only\nregretted to die before bringing more of my dear countrymen out of the\nidolatrous religion of Rome, and from the lips of my soul, I said: \u201cDear\nJesus, I am glad to go with thee just now, but if it be thy will to let\nme live a few years more, that I may spread the light of the gospel\namong my countrymen; grant me to live a few years more, and I will bless\nthee eternally, with my converted countrymen, for thy mercy.\u201d This\nprayer had scarcely reached the mercy seat, when I saw a dozen bishops\nmarching toward me, sword in hand, to kill me. As the first sword raised\nto strike was coming down to split my head, I made a desperate effort,\nwrenched it from the hand of my would-be murderer, and struck such a\nblow on his neck that the head rolled down to the floor. The second,\nthird, fourth, and so on to the last, rushed to kill me; but I struck\nsuch terrible blows on the necks of every one of them, that twelve heads\nwere rolling on the floor and swimming in a pool of blood. In my\nexcitement, I cried to my friends around me: \u201cDo you not see the heads\nrolling and the blood flowing on the floor?\u201d\n\nAnd suddenly I felt a kind of electric shock from head to foot. I was\ncured! perfectly cured!! I asked my friends for something to eat; I had\nnot taken any food for twelve days. And with tears of joy and gratitude\nto God, they complied with my request.\n\nThis last cure was not only the perfect cure of the body, but it was a\nperfect cure of the soul. I understood then clearly that the first was\nnot more miraculous than the second. I had a perfect understanding of\nthe diabolical forgeries and miracles of Rome. I was not cured or saved\nby the saints, the bishops or the Popes, but by my God, through his son\nJesus.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXIII.\n\nMY NOMINATION AS CURATE OF BEAUPORT\u2014DEGRADATION AND RUIN OF THAT\n PLACE THROUGH DRUNKENNESS\u2014MY OPPOSITION TO MY NOMINATION\n USELESS\u2014PREPARATIONS TO ESTABLISH A TEMPERANCE SOCIETY\u2014I WRITE TO\n FATHER MATHEW FOR ADVICE.\n\n\nThe 21st of September, 1838, was a day of desolation to me. On that day\nI received the letter of my bishop, appointing me curate of Beauport.\n\nMany times, I had said to the other priests, when talking about our\nchoice of the different parishes, that I would never consent to be\ncurate of Beauport.\n\nThat parish, which is a kind of a suburb of Quebec, was too justly\nconsidered the very nest of the drunkards of Canada. With a soil of\nunsurpassed fertility, inexhaustible lime quarries, gardens covered with\nmost precious vegetables and fruits, forests near at hand to furnish\nwood to the city of Quebec, at their doors, the people of Beauport were,\nnevertheless, classed among the poorest, most ragged and wretched people\nof Canada. For almost every cent they were getting at the market went\ninto the hands of the saloon-keepers.\n\nHundreds of times I had seen the streets which led from St. Roch to the\nupper town of Quebec almost impassable, when the drunkards of Beauport\nwere leaving the market to go home.\n\nHow many times I heard them fill the air with their cries and\nblasphemies; and saw the streets reddened with their blood, when\nfighting with one another, like mad dogs.\n\nThe Rev. Mr. Begin, who was their cure since 1825, had accepted the\nmoral principles of the great Roman Catholic \u201cTheologia Liguori,\u201d which\nsays, \u201cthat a man is not guilty of the sin of drunkenness, so long as he\ncan distinguish between a small pin and a load of hay.\u201d Of course the\npeople would not find themselves guilty of sin so long as their eyes\ncould make that distinction.\n\nAfter weeping to my heart\u2019s content at the reading of the letter from my\nbishop, which had come to me as a thunderbolt, my first thought was that\nmy misfortune, though very great, was not irretrievable. I knew that\nthere were many priests who were as anxious to become curates of\nBeauport as I was opposed to it.\n\nMy hope was that the bishop would be touched by my tears, if not\nconvinced by my arguments, and that he would not persist in putting on\nmy shoulders a burden which they could not carry.\n\nI immediately went to the palace, and did all in my power to persuade\nhis lordship to select another priest for Beaufort.\n\nHe listened to my arguments with a good deal of patience and kindness,\nand answered:\n\n\u201cMy dear Mr. Chiniquy, you forget too often that \u2018implicit and perfect\nobedience\u2019 to his superiors is the virtue of a good priest? You have\ngiven me a great deal of trouble and disappointment by refusing to\nrelieve the good Bishop Provencher of his too heavy burden. It was at my\nsuggestion, you know very well, that he had selected you to be his\nco-worker along the coasts of the Pacific, by consenting to become the\nfirst Bishop of Oregon. Your obstinate resistance to your superiors in\nthat circumstance, and in several other cases, is one of your weak\npoints. If you continue to follow your own mind rather than obey those\nwhom God has chosen to guide you, I really fear for your future. I have\nalready too often yielded to your rebellious character. Through respect\nto myself, and for your own good, to-day I must force you to obey me.\nYou have spoken of the drunkenness of the people of Beauport, as one of\nthe reasons why I should not put you at the head of that parish; but\nthis is just one of the reasons why I have chosen you. You are the only\npriest I know, in my diocese, able to struggle against the long-rooted\nand detestable evil, with a hope of success.\n\n\u201c\u2018_Quod scriptum scriptum est._\u2019 Your name is entered in our official\nregisters as the curate of Beauport; it will remain there till I find\nbetter reasons than those you have given me to change my mind. After\nall, you cannot complain; Beauport is not only the most beautiful\nparsonage in Canada, but it is one of the most splendid spots in the\nworld. In your beautiful parsonage, at the door of the old capital of\nCanada, you will have the privileges of the city, and the enjoyments of\nsome of the most splendid scenery of this continent. If you are not\nsatisfied with me to-day, I do not know what I can do to please you.\u201d\n\nThough far from being reconciled to my new position, I saw there was no\nhelp; I had to obey. As my predecessor, Mr. Begin, was to sell all his\nhouse furniture, before taking charge of his far distant parish, La\nRiviere Ouelle, he kindly invited me to go and buy, on long credit, what\nI wished for my own use, which I did.\n\nThe whole parish was on the spot long before me, partly to show their\nfriendly sympathy for their late pastor, and partly to see their new\ncurate. I was not long in the crowd without seeing that my small stature\nand my leanness were making a very bad impression on the people, who\nwere accustomed to pay their respects to a comparatively tall man, whose\nlarge and square shoulders were putting me in the shade.\n\nMany jovial remarks, though made in half-suppressed tones, came to my\nears, to tell me that I was cutting a poor figure by the side of my\njolly predecessor.\n\n\u201cHe is hardly bigger than my tobacco-box,\u201d said one not far from me; \u201cI\nthink I could put him in my vest pocket.\u201d\n\n\u201cHas he not the appearance of a salted sardine!\u201d whispered a woman to\nher neighbor, with a hearty laugh.\n\nHad I been a little wiser, I could have redeemed myself by some amiable\nor funny words, which would have sounded pleasantly in the ears of my\nnew parishioners.\n\nBut, unfortunately for me, that wisdom is not among the gifts I received\nfrom nature. After a couple of hours of auction, a large cloth was\nsuddenly removed from a long table, and presented to our sight an\nincredible number of wine and beer-glasses, of empty decanters and\nbottles of all sizes and quality.\n\nThis brought a burst of laughter and clapping of hands from almost every\none. All eyes were turned toward me, and I heard from hundreds of lips:\n\u201cThis is for you, Mr. Chiniquy.\u201d\n\nWithout weighing my words, I instantly answered: \u201cI do not come to\nBeauport to buy wine glasses and bottles, but to break them.\u201d\n\nThese words fell upon their ears like a spark of fire on a train of\npowder. Nine-tenths of the multitude, without being very drunk, had\nemptied from four to ten glasses of beer or rum, which Rev. Mr. Begin\nhimself was offering them in a corner of the parsonage. A real deluge of\ninsults and cursings overwhelmed me; and I soon saw that the best thing\nI could do was to leave the place without noise, and by the shortest\nway.\n\nI immediately went to the bishop\u2019s palace to try again to persuade his\nlordship to put another curate at the head of such a people.\n\n\u201cYou see, my lord,\u201d I said, \u201cthat by my indiscreet and rash answer I\nhave forever lost the respect and confidence of that people. They\nalready hate me; their brutal cursings have fallen upon me like balls of\nfire. I prefer to be carried to my grave next Sabbath than have to\naddress such a degraded people. I feel that I have neither the moral nor\nthe physical power to do any good there.\u201d\n\n\u201cI differ from you,\u201d replied the bishop, \u201cEvidently the people wanted to\ntry your mettle, by inviting you to buy those glasses, and you would\nhave lost yourself by yielding to their desire. Now they have seen that\nyou are brave and fearless. It is just what the people of Beauport want;\nI have known them for a long time. It is true that they are drunkards;\nbut, apart from that vice, there is not a nobler people under heaven.\nThey have, literally, no education, but they possess marvellous common\nsense, and have many noble and redeeming qualities, which you will soon\nfind out. You took them by surprise when you boldly said you wanted to\nbreak their glasses and decanters. Believe me, they will bless you if,\nby the grace of God, you fulfill your prophecy; though it will be a\nmiracle if you succeed in making the people of Beauport sober. But you\nmust not despair. Trust in God; fight as a good soldier, and Jesus\nChrist will win the victory.\u201d\n\nThose kind words of my bishop did me good, though I would have preferred\nbeing sent to the back woods of Canada, than to the great parish of\nBeauport. I felt that the only thing that I had to do was to trust in\nGod for success, and to fight as if I were to gain the day. It came to\nmy mind that I had committed a great sin by obstinately refusing to\nbecome bishop of Oregon, and my God, as a punishment, had given me the\nvery parish for which I felt an almost insurmountable repugnance.\n\nThe next Sunday was a splendid day, and the church of Beauport was\nfilled to its utmost capacity by the people, eager to see and hear, for\nthe first time, their new pastor.\n\nI had spent the last three days in prayers and fastings. God knows that\nnever a priest, nor any minister of the gospel, ascended the pulpit with\nmore exalted views of his sublime functions than I did that day, and\nnever a messenger of the gospel had been more terrified than I was, when\nin that pulpit, by the consciousness of his own demerits, inability and\nincompetency, in the face of the tremendous responsibilities of his\nposition. My first sermon was on the text: \u201cWoe unto me if I preach not\nthe gospel\u201d (1 Cor. ix.:16). With a soul and heart filled with the\nprofoundest emotions, a voice many times suffocated by uncontrollable\nsobs, I expounded to them some of the awful responsibilities of a\npastor. The effect of that sermon was felt to the last day of my\npriestly ministry in Beauport.\n\nAfter the sermon, I told them: \u201cI have a favor to ask of you. As it is\nthe first, I hope you will not rebuke me. I have, just now, given you\nsome of the duties of your poor young curate toward you; I want you to\ncome again this afternoon at half-past two o\u2019clock, that I may give you\nsome of your duties toward your pastor.\u201d At the appointed hour the\nchurch was still more crowded than in the morning, and it seemed to me\nthat my merciful God blessed still more that second address than the\nfirst.\n\nThe text was: \u201cWhen he (the shepherd) putteth forth his own sheep, he\ngoeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.\u201d\n(John x.:4.)\n\nThose two sermons on the Sabbath were a startling innovation in the\nRoman Catholic Church of Canada, which brought upon me, at once, many\nbitter remarks from the bishop and surrounding curates. Their unanimous\nverdict was that I wanted to become a little reformer. They had not the\nleast doubt that in my pride I wanted to show to the people \u201cthat I was\nthe most zealous priest of the country.\u201d This was not only whispered\nfrom ear to ear among the clergy, but several times it was thrown into\nmy face in the most insulting manner. However, my God knew that my only\nmotives were, first, to keep my people away from the taverns, by having\nthem before their altars during the greatest part of the Sabbath day;\nsecond, to impress more on their minds the great saving and regenerating\ntruths I preached, by presenting them twice on the same day under\ndifferent aspects.\n\nI found such benefits from those two sermons that I continued the\npractice during the four years I remained in Beauport, though I had to\nsuffer and hear in silence, many humiliating and cutting remarks from\nmany co-priests.\n\nI had not been more than three months at the head of that parish, when I\ndetermined to organize a temperance society on the same principles as\nFather Mathew, in Ireland.\n\nI opened my mind, at first, on that subject to the bishop, with the hope\nthat he would throw the influence of his position in favor of the new\nassociation, but, to my great dismay and surprise, not only did he turn\nmy project into ridicule, but absolutely forbade me to think any more of\nsuch an innovation.\n\n\u201cThose temperance societies are a Protestant scheme,\u201d he said. \u201cPreach\nagainst drunkenness, but let the respectable people who are not\ndrunkards alone. St. Paul advised his disciple Timothy to drink wine. Do\nnot try to be more zealous than they were in those apostolic days.\u201d\n\nI left the bishop much disappointed, but did not give up my plan. It\nseemed to me if I could gain the neighboring priests to join with me in\nmy crusade I wanted to preach against the usage of intoxicating drinks,\nwe might bring about a glorious reform in Canada, as Father Mathew was\ndoing in Ireland.\n\nBut the priests, without a single exception, laughed at me, turned my\nplans into ridicule, and requested me in the name of common sense, never\nto speak any more to them of giving up their social glass of wine.\n\nI shall never be able to give any idea of my sadness, when I saw that I\nwas to be opposed by my bishop and the whole clergy in the reform which\nI considered then, more and more every day, the only plank of salvation,\nnot only of my dear people of Beauport, but of all Canada. God alone\nknows the tears I shed, the long, sleepless nights I have passed in\nstudying, praying, meditating on that great and holy work of Beauport. I\nhad recourse to all the saints of heaven for more strength and light;\nfor I was determined, at any cost, to try and form a temperance society.\n\nBut every time I wanted to begin, I was frightened by the idea, not only\nof the wrath of the whole clergy, which would hunt me down, but still\nmore of the ridicule of the whole country, which would overwhelm me in\ncase of a failure. In these perplexities, I thought I would do well to\nwrite to Father Mathew, and ask him his advice and the help of his\nprayers. That noble apostle of temperance of Ireland answered me in an\neloquent letter, and pressed me to begin the work in Canada as he had\ndone in Ireland, relying on God, without paying any attention to the\nopposition of man.\n\nThe wise and Christian words of that great and worthy Irish priest came\nto me as the voice of God; and I determined to begin the work at once,\nthough the whole world should be against me.\n\nI felt that if God was in my favor, I would succeed in reforming my\nparish and my country in spite of all the priests and bishops of the\nworld, and I was right. Before putting the plow into the ground, I had\nnot only prayed to God and all his saints, almost day and night, during\nmany months, but I had studied all the best books written in England,\nFrance and the United States on the evil wrought by the use of\nintoxicating drinks. I had taken a pretty good course of anatomy in the\nMarine Hospital under the learned Dr. Douglas.\n\nI was then well posted on the great subject I was to bring before my\ncountry. I knew the enemy I was to attack. And the weapons which would\ngive him the death blow were in my hands. I only wanted my God to\nstrengthen my hands and direct my blows. I prayed to Him, and in His\ngreat mercy He heard me.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXIV\n\n THE HAND OF GOD IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TEMPERANCE SOCIETY IN\n BEAUPORT AND VICINITY.\n\n\n\u201cMy thoughts are not your thoughts,\u201d saith the Lord. And, we may add,\nHis works are not like the works of man. This great truth has never been\nbetter exemplified than in the marvellous rapidity with which the great\ntemperance reformation grew in Canada, in spite of the most formidable\nobstacles. To praise any man for such work seems to me a kind of\nblasphemy, when it is so visibly the work of the Lord.\n\nI had hardly finished reading the letter of Ireland\u2019s Apostle of\nTemperance, when I fell on my knees and said: \u201cThou knowest, O my God,\nthat I am nothing but a sinner. There is no light, no strength, in thy\npoor, unprofitable servant. Therefore come down into my heart and soul,\nto direct me in that temperance reform which thou hast put into my mind\nto establish. Without thee, I can do nothing, but with thee, I can do\nall things.\u201d\n\nThis was on Saturday night, March 20th, 1839. The next morning was the\nfirst Sabbath of Lent. I said to the people after the sermon: \u201cI have\ntold you, many times, that I sincerely believe it is my mission from God\nto put an end to the unspeakable miseries and crimes engendered every\nday, here and in our whole country, by the use of intoxicating drinks.\nAlcohol is the greatest enemy of your souls and your bodies. It is the\nmost implacable enemy of your husbands, your wives and your children. It\nis the most formidable enemy of our dear country and our holy religion.\nI must destroy that enemy. But I cannot fight alone. I must form an army\nand raise a banner in your midst, around which all the soldiers of the\ngospel will rally. Jesus Christ himself will be our general. He will\nbless and sanctify us\u2014He will lead us to victory. The next three days\nwill be consecrated by you and by me in preparing to raise that army.\nLet all those who wish to fill its ranks, come and pass these three days\nwith me in prayer and meditation at the feet of our sacred altars. Let\neven those who do not want to be soldiers of Christ, or to fight the\ngreat and glorious battles which are to be fought, come, through\ncuriosity, to see a most marvellous spectacle. I invite every one of\nyou, in the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, whom alcohol nails anew\nto the cross every day. I invite you in the name of the holy Virgin\nMary, and of all the saints and angels of God, who are weeping in heaven\nfor the crimes committed every day by the use of intoxicating drinks. I\ninvite you in the names of the wives, whom I see here in your midst,\nweeping because they have drunkard husbands. I invite you to come in the\nnames of the fathers whose hearts are broken by drunkard children. I\ninvite you to come in the name of so many children who are starving,\nnaked and made desolate by their drunkard parents. I invite you to come\nin the name of your immortal souls, which are to be eternally damned if\nthe giant destroyer, Alcohol, be not driven from our midst.\u201d\n\nThe next morning, at eight o\u2019clock, my church was crammed by the people.\nMy first address was at half-past eight o\u2019clock, the second at 10.30 A.\nM., the third at 2 P. M., and the fourth at five. The intervals between\nthe addresses were filled by beautiful hymns selected for the occasion.\n\nMany times during my discourse, the sobs and the cries of the people\nwere such that I had to stop speaking, to mix my sobs and my tears with\nthose of my people. The first day seventy-five men, from among the most\ndesperate drunkards, enrolled themselves under the banner of Temperance.\nThe second day I gave again four addresses, the effects of which were\nstill more blessed in their result. Two hundred of my dear parishioners\nwere enrolled in the grand army which was to fight against their\nimplacable enemy.\n\nBut it would require the hand of an angel to write the history of the\nthird day, at the end of which, in the midst of tears, sobs, and cries\nof joy, three hundred more of that noble people swore, in the presence\nof their God, never to touch, taste, nor handle the cursed drinks with\nwhich Satan inundates the earth with desolation, and fills hell with\neternal cries of despair.\n\nDuring these three days, more than two-thirds of my people had publicly\ntaken the pledge of temperance, and had solemnly said, in the presence\nof God, at the feet of their altars, \u201cFor the love of Jesus Christ, and\nby the grace of God, I promise that I will never take any intoxicating\ndrink, except as a medicine. I also pledge myself to do all in my power,\nby my words and example, to persuade others to make the same sacrifice.\u201d\n\nThe majority of my people, among whom we counted the most degraded\ndrunkards, were changed and reformed, not by me surely, but by the\nvisible, direct work of the great and merciful God, who alone can change\nthe heart of man.\n\nAs a great number of people from the surrounding parishes, and even from\nQuebec, had come to hear me the third day, through curiosity, the news\nof that marvellous work spread very quickly throughout the whole\ncountry. The press, both French and English, were unanimous in their\npraises and felicitations. But when the Protestants of Quebec were\nblessing God for that reform, the French Canadians, at the example of\ntheir priests, denounced me as a fool and heretic.\n\nThe second day of our revival, I had sent messages to four of the\nneighboring curates, respectfully requesting them to come and see what\nthe Lord was doing, and help me to bless Him. But they refused. They\nanswered my note with their contemptuous silence. One only, the Rev. Mr.\nRoy, curate of Charlesbourg, deigned to write me a few words, which I\ncopy here:\n\nRev. Mr. Chiniquy, Curate of Beauport.\n\nMy dear Confrere:\u2014Please forgive me if I cannot forget the respect I owe\nto myself, enough to go and see your fooleries.\n\n Truly yours,\n\n PIERRE ROY.\n\n Charlesbourg, March 5th, 1839.\n\nThe indignation of the bishop knew no bounds. A few days after, he\nordered me to go to his palace, and give an account of what he called my\n\u201cstrange conduct.\u201d\n\nWhen alone with me, he said: \u201cIs it possible, Mr. Chiniquy, that you\nhave so soon forgotten my prohibition not to establish that ridiculous\ntemperance society in your parish? Had you compromised yourself alone by\nthat Protestant comedy\u2014for it is nothing but that\u2014I would remain silent,\nin my pity for you. But you have compromised our holy religion by\nintroducing a society whose origin is clearly heretical. Last evening,\nthe venerable Grand Vicar Demars told me that you would sooner or later\nbecome a Protestant, and that this was your first step. Do you not see\nthat the Protestants only praise you? Do you not blush to be praised\nonly by heretics? Without suspecting it, you are just entering a road\nwhich leads to your ruin. You have publicly covered yourself with such\nridicule that I fear your usefulness is at an end, not only in Beauport,\nbut in all my diocese. I do not conceal it from you, my first thought,\nwhen, an eye-witness told me yesterday what you had done, was to\ninterdict you. I have been prevented from taking that step only by the\nhope that you will undo what you have done. I hope that you yourself\nwill dissolve that Anti-Catholic association, and promise to put an end\nto these novelties, which have too strong a smell of heresy to be\ntolerated by your bishop.\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cMy lord, your lordship has not forgotten that it was\nabsolutely against my own will that I was appointed curate of Beauport;\nand God knows that you have only to say a word, and without a murmur, I\nwill give you my resignation, that you may put a better priest at the\nhead of that people, which I consider, and which is really, to-day, the\nnoblest and the most sober people of Canada. But I will put a condition\nto the resignation of my position. It is, that I will be allowed to\npublish before the world, that the Rev. Mr. Begin, my predecessor, has\nnever been troubled by his bishop for having allowed his people, during\ntwenty-three years, to swim in the mire of drunkenness; and that I have\nbeen disgraced by my bishop, and turned out from that same parish, for\nhaving been the instrument, by the mercy of God, in making them the most\nsober people of Canada.\u201d\n\nThe poor bishop felt at once that he could not stand on the ground he\nhad taken with me. He was a few minutes without knowing what to say. He\nsaw also that his threats had no influence over me, and that I was not\nready to undo what I had done.\n\nAfter a painful silence of a minute or two, he said:\n\n\u201cDo you not see that the solemn promises you have extorted from those\npoor drunkards are rash and unwise; they will break them at the first\nopportunity. Their future state of degradation, after such an\nexcitement, will be worse than the first.\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cI would partake of your fears if that change were my work;\nbut as it is the Lord\u2019s work, we have nothing to fear. The works of men\nare weak and of short duration, but the works of God are solid and\npermanent.\n\n\u201cAbout the prophecy of the venerable Mr. Demars, that I have taken my\nfirst step towards Protestantism, by turning a drunken into a sober\npeople, I have only to say that if that prophecy be true, it would show\nthat Protestantism is more apt than our holy religion to work for the\nglory of God and the good of the people. I hope that your lordship is\nnot ready to accept that conclusion, and that you will not then trouble\nyourself with the premises. The venerable Grand Vicar, with many other\npriests, would do better to come and see what the Lord is doing in\nBeauport, than to slander me and turn false prophets against its curate\nand people. My only answer to the remarks of your lordship, that the\nProtestants alone praise me, when the Roman Catholic priests and people\ncondemn me, proves only one thing, viz.: that Protestants, on this\nquestion, understand the Word of God and have more respect for it than\nwe Roman Catholics. It would prove also that they understand the\ninterests of humanity better than we do, and that they have more\ngenerosity than we have, to sacrifice their selfish propensities to the\ngood of all. I take the liberty of saying to your lordship, that in\nthis, as in many other things, it is high time that we should open our\neyes to our false position. Instead of remaining at the lowest step of\nthe ladder of one of the most Christian virtues, temperance, we must\nraise ourselves to the top, where Protestants are reaping so many\nprecious fruits. Besides, would your lordship be kind enough to tell me\nwhy I am denounced and abused here, and by my fellow-priests and my\nbishop, for forming a temperance society in my parish, when Father\nMathew, who wrote to me lately to encourage and direct me in that work,\nis publicly praised by his bishops and blessed by the Pope for covering\nIreland with temperance societies?\n\n\u201cIs your lordship ready to prove to me that Samson was a heretic in the\ncamp of Israel, when he fulfilled the promise made by his parents, that\nhe would never drink any wine or beer; and John, the Baptist, was he not\na heretic and a Protestant as I am, when, to obey the voice of God, he\ndid what I do to-day, with my dear people of Beauport?\u201d\n\nAt that very moment the sub-secretary entered to tell the bishop that a\ngentleman wanted to see him immediately on pressing business, and the\nbishop abruptly dismissed me, to my great comfort; and my impression was\nthat he was as glad to get rid of me as I was to get rid of him.\n\nWith the exception of the secretary, Mr. Cazeault, all the priests I met\nthat day and the next month, either gave me the cold shoulder or\noverwhelmed me with their sarcasms. One of them who had friends in\nBeauport, was bold enough to try to go through the whole parish to turn\nme into ridicule by saying that I was half crazy, and the best thing the\npeople could do was to drink moderately to my health when they went to\ntown.\n\nBut at the third house, he met a woman, who, after listening to the bad\nadvice he was giving to her husband, said to him: \u201cI do not know if our\npastor is a fool in making people sober, but I know you are a messenger\nof the devil, when you advise my husband to drink again. You know that\nhe was one of the most desperate drunkards of Beauport. You personally\nknow also what blows I have received from him when he was drunk; how\npoor and miserable we were; how many children had to run on the streets,\nhalf naked, and beg in order not to starve with me! Now that my husband\nhas taken the pledge of temperance, we have every comfort; my dear\nchildren are well fed and clothed, and I find myself as in a little\nparadise. If you do not go out of this immediately, I will turn you out\nwith my broomstick.\u201d\n\nAnd she would have fulfilled her promise, had not the priest had the\ngood sense to disappear at the double-quick.\n\nThe next four months after the foundation of the society in Beauport, my\nposition when with the other priests was very painful and humiliating. I\nconsequently avoided their company as much as possible. And as for my\nbishop, I took the resolution never to go and see him, except he should\norder me into his presence. But my merciful God indemnified me by the\nunspeakable joy I had in seeing the marvellous change wrought by Him\namong my dear people. Their fidelity in keeping the pledge was really\nwonderful, and soon became the object of the admiration of the whole\ncity of Quebec and of the surrounding country. The change was so sudden,\nso complete and so permanent, that the scoffing bishops and priests,\nwith their friends, had, at last, to blush and be silent.\n\nThe public aspect of the parish was soon changed, the houses were\nrepaired, the debts paid, the children well clad. But what spoke most\neloquently about the marvellous reform, was that the seven thriving\nsaloons of Beauport were soon closed, and their owners forced to take to\nother occupations. Peace, happiness, abundance and industry, everywhere\ntook the place of the riots, fighting, blasphemies and the squalid\nmisery which prevailed before. The gratitude and respect of that noble\npeople for their young curate knew no bounds; as my love and admiration\nfor them cannot be told by human words.\n\nHowever, though the great majority of that good people had taken the\npledge, and kept it honorably, there was a small minority, composed of\nthe few who never had been drunkards, who had not yet enrolled\nthemselves under our blessed banners. Though they were glad of the\nreform, it was very difficult to persuade them to give up their social\nglass! I thought it was my duty to show them in a tangible way, what I\nhad so often proved with my words only, that the drinking of the social\nglass of wine, or of beer, is an act of folly, if not a crime. I asked\nmy kind and learned Doctor Douglas to analyze, before the people, the\nvery wine and beer used by them, to show that it was nothing else but a\ndisgusting and deadly poison. He granted my favor. During four days that\nnoble philanthropist extracted the alcohol, which is not only in the\nmost common, but in the most costly and renowned wines, beer, brandy and\nwhiskey. He gave that alcohol to several cats and dogs, which died in a\nfew minutes in the presence of the whole people.\n\nThese learned and most interesting experiments, coupled with his\neloquent and scientific remarks, made a most profound impression. It was\nthe corner-stone of the holy edifice which our merciful God built with\nhis own hands in Beauport. The few recalcitrants joined with the rest of\ntheir dear friends to show to our dear Canada that the temperance\nsocieties are nothing else than drops of living water which comes from\nthe fountains of eternal life, to reform and save the world.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXV.\n\nFOUNDATION OF TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES IN THE NEIGHBORING\n PARISHES\u2014PROVIDENTIAL ARRIVAL OF MONSIGNOR DE FORBIN JANSON, BISHOP OF\n NANCY\u2014HE PUBLICLY DEFENDS ME AGAINST THE BISHOP OF QUEBEC, AND FOREVER\n BREAKS THE OPPOSITION OF THE CLERGY.\n\n\nThe people of Beauport had scarcely been a year enrolled under the\nbanners of temperance, when the seven thriving taverns of that parish\nwere deserted and their owners forced to try some more honorable trade\nfor a living. This fact, published by the whole press of Quebec, more\nthan anything forced the opponents, especially among the clergy, to\nsilence, without absolutely reconciling them to my views. However, it\nwas becoming every day more and more evident to all that the good done\nin Beauport was incalculable, both in a material and moral point of\nview. Several of the best thinking people of the surrounding parishes\nbegan to say to one another: \u201cWhy should we not try to bring into our\nmidst this temperance reformation which is doing so much good in\nBeauport?\u201d The wives of drunkards would say: \u201cWhy does not our curate do\nhere, what the curate of Beauport has done there?\u201d\n\nOn a certain day, one of those unfortunate women, who had received, with\na good education, a rich inheritance, which her husband had spent in\ndissipation, came to tell me that she had gone to her curate to ask him\nto establish a temperance society in his parish, as we had done in\nBeauport; but he had told her \u201cto mind her own business.\u201d She had then\nrespectfully requested him to invite me to come and help to do for his\nparishioners what I had done for mine, but she had been sternly rebuked\nat the mention of my name. The poor woman was weeping, when she said:\n\u201cIs it possible that our priests are so indifferent to our sufferings,\nand that they will let the demon of drunkenness torture us as long as we\nlive, when God gives us such an easy and honorable way to destroy his\npower for ever?\u201d\n\nMy heart was touched by the tears of that lady, and I said to her: \u201cI\nknow a way to put an end to the opposition of your curate, and force him\nto bring among you the reformation you so much desire; but it is a very\ndelicate matter for me to mention to you. I must rely upon your sacred\npromise of secrecy, before opening my mind to you on that subject.\u201d\n\n\u201cI take my God to witness,\u201d she answered, \u201cthat I will never reveal your\nsecret.\u201d \u201cWell, madame, if I can rely upon your discretion and secrecy,\nI will tell you an infallible way to force your priest to do what has\nbeen done here.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! for God\u2019s sake,\u201d she said, \u201ctell me what to do.\u201d\n\nI replied: \u201cThe first time you go to confession, say to your priest that\nyou have a new sin to confess which is very difficult to reveal to him.\nHe will press you more to confess it. You will then say:\n\n\u201c\u2018Father, I confess I have lost confidence in you.\u2019 Being asked \u2018Why?\u2019\nyou will tell him: \u2018Father, you know the bad treatment I have received\nfrom my drunken husband, as well as hundreds of other wives in your\nparish from theirs; you know the tears we have shed on the ruin of our\nchildren, who are destroyed by the bad example of their drunken fathers;\nyou know the daily crimes and unspeakable abominations caused by the use\nof intoxicating drinks; you could dry our tears and make us happy wives\nand mothers, you could convert our husbands and save our children, by\nestablishing the society of temperance here, as it is in Beauport, and\nyou refuse to do it. How, then, can I believe you are a good priest, and\nthat there is any charity and compassion in you for us?\u2019\n\n\u201cListen with a respectful silence to what he will tell you; accept his\npenance, and when he asks you if you regret that sin, answer him that\nyou cannot regret it till he has taken the providential means which God\noffers him to convert the drunkards.\n\n\u201cGet as many other women whom you know are suffering as you do, as you\ncan, to go and confess to him the same thing; and you will see that his\nobstinancy will melt as the snow before the rays of the sun in May.\u201d\n\nShe was a very intelligent lady: She saw at once that she had in hand an\nirresistible power to force her priest out of his shameful and criminal\nindifference to the welfare of his people. A fortnight later she came to\ntell me that she had done what I had advised her, and that more than\nfifty other respectable women had confessed to their curate that they\nhad lost confidence in him, on account of his lack of zeal and charity\nfor his people.\n\nMy conjectures were correct. The poor priest was beside himself, when\nforced, every day, to hear from the very lips of his most respectable\nfemale parishioners, that they were losing confidence in him. He feared\nlest he should lose his fine parish near Quebec, and be sent to some of\nthe backwoods of Canada.\n\nThree weeks later, he was knocking at my door, where he had not been\nsince the establishment of the temperance society. He was very pale, and\nlooked anxious. I could see in his countenance that I owed the honor of\nthis visit to his fair penitents. However, I was happy to see him. He\nwas considered a good priest, and had been one of my best friends before\nthe formation of the temperance society. I invited him to dine with me,\nand made him feel at home as much as possible, for I knew by his\nembarrassed manner that he had a very difficult proposition to make. I\nwas not mistaken. He at last said:\n\n\u201cMr. Chiniquy, we had, at first, great prejudices against your\ntemperance society; but we see its blessed fruits in the great\ntransformation of Beauport. Would you be kind enough to preach a retreat\nof temperance, during three days, to my people, as you have done here?\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cYes, sir; with the greatest pleasure. But it is on\ncondition that you will yourself be an example of the sacrifice, and the\nfirst to take the solemn pledge of temperance, in the presence of your\npeople.\u201d\n\n\u201cCertainly,\u201d he answered; \u201cfor the pastor must be an example to his\npeople.\u201d\n\nThree weeks later, his parish had nobly followed the example of\nBeauport, and the good curate had no words to express his joy. Without\nlosing a day, he went to the two other curates of what is called \u201cLa\nCote de Beaupre,\u201d persuaded them to do what he had done, and six weeks\nafter, all the saloons from Beauport to St. Joachim were closed; and it\nwould have been difficult, if not impossible, to persuade any one in\nthat whole region to drink a glass of any intoxicating drink.\n\nLittle by little, the country priests were thus giving up their\nprejudices, and were bravely rallying around our glorious banners of\ntemperance. But my bishop, though less severe, was still very cold\ntoward me. At last, the good providence of God forced him, through a\ngreat humiliation, to count our society among the greatest spiritual and\ntemporal blessings of the age.\n\nAt the end of August, 1840, the public press informed us that the Count\nde Forbin Janson, Bishop de Nancy, in France, was just leaving New York\nfor Montreal. That bishop, who was the cousin and minister to Charles\nthe Tenth, had been sent into exile by the French people, after the king\nhad lost his crown in the Revolution of 1830. Father Mathew had told me,\nin one of his letters, that this bishop had visited him, and blessed his\nwork in Ireland, and had also persuaded the Pope to send him his\napostolical benediction.\n\nI saw, at once, the importance of gaining the approbation of this\ncelebrated man, before he had been prejudiced by the bishop against our\ntemperance societies. I asked and obtained leave of absence for a few\ndays, and went to Montreal, which I reached just an hour after the\nFrench bishop. I went immediately to pay my homage to him, told him all\nabout our temperance work, asking him, in the name of God, to throw\nbravely the weight of his great name and position in the scale in favor\nof our temperance societies. He promised he would, adding: \u201cI am\nperfectly persuaded that drunkenness is not only the great and common\nsin of the people, but still more of the priests in America, as well as\nin Ireland. The social habit of drinking the detestable and poisonous\nwines, brandies and beer used on this continent, and in the northern\nparts of Europe, where the vine cannot grow, is so general and strong,\nthat it is almost impossible to save the people from becoming drunkards,\nexcept through an association in which the elite of society will work\ntogether to change the old and pernicious habits of common life. I have\nseen Father Mathew, who is doing an incalculable good in Ireland; and,\nbe sure of it, I shall do all in my power to strengthen your hands in\nthat great and good work. But do not say to anybody that you have seen\nme.\u201d\n\nSome days later, the Bishop of Nancy was in Quebec, the guest of the\nSeminary, and a grand dinner was given in his honor, to which more than\none hundred priests were invited, with the Archbishop of Quebec, his\ncoadjutor, N. G. Turgeon, and the Bishop of Montreal, M. Q. R. Bourget.\n\nAs one of the youngest curates, I had taken the last seat, which was\njust opposite the four bishops, from whom I was separated only by the\nbreadth of the table. When the rich and rare viands had been well\ndisposed of, and the most delicate fruits had replaced them, bottles of\nthe choicest wines were brought on the table in incredible numbers. Then\nthe superior of the college, the Rev. Mr. Demars, knocked on the table\nto command silence, and rising on his feet, he said at the top of his\nvoice: \u201cPlease, my lord bishops, and all of you, reverend gentlemen, let\nus drink to the health of my Lord Count de Forbin Janson, Primate of\nLorraine and Bishop of Nancy.\u201d\n\nThe bottles passing around were briskly emptied into the large glasses\nput before every one of the guests. But when the wine was handed to me,\nI passed it to my neighbor without taking a drop, and filled my glass\nwith water. My hope was that nobody had paid any attention to what I had\ndone; but I was mistaken. The eyes of my bishop, my Lord Signaie, were\nupon me. With a stern voice, he said: \u201cMr. Chiniquy, what are you doing\nthere? Put wine in your glass, to drink with us the health of Mgr. de\nNancy.\u201d\n\nThese unexpected words fell upon me as a thunderbolt, and paralyzed me\nwith terror. I felt as at the approach of the most terrible tempest I\nhad ever experienced. My blood ran cold in my veins; I could not utter a\nword. For what could I say, there, without compromising myself forever.\nTo openly resist my bishop, in the presence of such an august assembly,\nseemed impossible. But to obey him was also impossible; for I had\npromised my God and my country never to drink any wine. I thought, at\nfirst, that I could disarm my superior by my modesty and my humble\nsilence. However, I felt that all eyes were upon me. A real chill of\nterror and unspeakable anxiety was running through my whole frame. My\nheart began to beat so violently that I could not breathe. I wished,\nthen, I had followed my first impression, which was not to come to that\ndinner. I think I would have suffocated, had not a few tears rolled down\nfrom my eyes, and helped the circulation of my blood. The Rev. Mr.\nLafrance, who was by me, nudged me, and said: \u201cDo you not hear the order\nof my Lord Signaie? Why do you not answer, by doing what you are\nrequested to do?\u201d I still remained mute, just as if nobody had spoken to\nme. My eyes were cast down; I wished then I were dead. The silence of\ndeath, reigning around the tables, told me that every one was waiting\nfor my answer; but my lips were sealed. After a minute of that silence,\nwhich seemed as long as a whole year, the bishop, with a loud and angry\nvoice which filled the large room, repeated: \u201cWhy do you not put wine in\nyour glass, and drink to the health of my Lord Forbin Janson, as the\nrest of us are doing?\u201d\n\nI felt I could not be silent any longer. \u201cMy lord,\u201d I said, with a\nsubdued and trembling voice, \u201cI have put in my glass what I want to\ndrink. I have promised my God and my country that I would never drink\nany more wine.\u201d\n\nThe bishop, forgetting the respect he owed to himself and to those\naround him, answered me in the most insulting manner: \u201cYou are nothing\nbut a fanatic, and you want to reform us.\u201d\n\nThese words struck me as the shock of a galvanic battery, and\ntransformed me into a new man. It seemed as if they had added ten feet\nto my stature and a thousand pounds to my weight. I forgot that I was\nthe subject of that bishop, and remembered that I was a man, in the\npresence of another man. I raised my head and opened my eyes; as quick\nas lightning I rose to my feet, and addressing the Grand Vicar Demars,\nsuperior of the seminary, I said with calmness: \u201cSir, was it that I\nmight be insulted at your table that you have invited me here? Is it not\nyour duty to defend my honor when I am here, your guest? But, as you\nseem to forget what you owe to your guests, I will take my own defense\nagainst my unjust aggressor.\u201d Then, turning towards the Bishop de Nancy,\nI said: \u201cMy Lord de Nancy, I appeal to your lordship from the unjust\nsentence of my own bishop. In the name of God, and of His Son, Jesus\nChrist, I request you to tell us, here, if a priest cannot, for his\nSaviour\u2019s sake, and for the good of his fellow-men, as well as for his\nown self-denial, give up forever the use of wine and other intoxicating\ndrinks, without being abused, slandered and insulted, as I am here, in\nyour presence?\u201d\n\nIt was evident that my words had made a deep impression on the whole\ncompany. A solemn silence followed for a few seconds, which was\ninterrupted only by my bishop, who said to the Bishop de Nancy: \u201cYes,\nyes, my lord; give us your sentence.\u201d\n\nNo words can give an idea of the excitement of every one in that\nmultitude of priests, who, accustomed from their infancy, abjectly to\nsubmit to their bishop, were, for the first time, in the presence of\nsuch a hand-to-hand conflict between a powerless, humble, unprotected\nyoung curate and his all-powerful, proud and haughty archbishop.\n\nThe Bishop of Nancy, at first, refused to grant my request. He felt the\ndifficulty of his position; but after Bishop Signaie had united his\nvoice to mine, to press him to give his verdict, he rose and said:\n\n\u201cMy Lord Archbishop of Quebec, and you, Mr. Chiniquy, please withdraw\nyour request. Do not press me to give my views on such a new, but\nimportant subject. It is only a few days since I came in your midst. It\nwill not do that I should so soon become your judge. The responsibility\nof a judgment in such a momentous matter is too great. I cannot accept\nit.\u201d\n\nBut when the same pressing request was repeated by nine-tenths of that\nvast assembly of priests; and that the archbishop pressed him more and\nmore to pronounce his sentence, he raised his eyes and hands to heaven,\nand made a silent but ardent prayer to God. His countenance took an air\nof dignity, I might say majesty, which gave him more the appearance of\nan old prophet than of a man of our day. Then, casting his eyes upon his\naudience, he remained a considerable time, meditating. All eyes were\nupon him, anxiously waiting for the sentence. There was an air of\ngrandeur in him, at that moment, which seemed to tell us that the purest\nblood of the great kings of France was flowing in his veins. At last, he\nopened his lips, but it was again pressingly to request me to settle the\ndifficulty with the archbishop among ourselves, and to discharge him of\nthat responsibility. But we both refused again to grant him his request,\nand pressed him to give his judgment. All this time, I was standing,\nhaving publicly said that I would never sit again at that table, unless\nthat insult was wiped away.\n\nThen he said with unspeakable dignity: \u201cMy Lord of Quebec! Here, before\nus, is our young priest, Mr. Chiniquy, who, once on his knees, in the\npresence of God and his angels, for the love of Jesus Christ, the good\nof his own soul and the good of his country, has promised never to\ndrink! We are the witnesses that he is faithful to his promise, though\nhe has been pressed to break it by your lordship.\n\n\u201cAnd because he keeps his pledge with such heroism, your lordship has\ncalled him a fanatic! Now, I am requested by every one here, to\npronounce my verdict on that painful occurrence. Here it is! Mr.\nChiniquy drinks no wine! But, if I look through the past ages, when God\nhimself was ruling his own people, through his prophets, I see Samson,\nwho, by the special order of God, never drank wine or any other\nintoxicating drink! If from the Old Testament, I pass to the New, I see\nJohn the Baptist, the precursor of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who to obey\nthe command of God, never drank any wine!! When I look at Mr. Chiniquy,\nand see Samson at his right hand to protect him; and John the Baptist at\nhis left to bless him, I find his position so strong and impregnable,\nthat I would not dare attack or condemn him!\u201d\n\nThese words were pronounced in the most eloquent and dignified manner,\nand were listened to with a most respectful and breathless attention.\n\nBishop de Nancy, keeping his gravity, sat down, emptied his wine glass\ninto a tumbler, filled it with water, and drank to my health.\n\nThe poor archbishop was so completely confounded and humiliated, that\nevery one felt for him. The few minutes spent at the table, after this\nextraordinary act of justice, seemed oppressive to every one. Scarcely\nany one dared to look at his neighbor, or speak, except in a low and\nsubdued tone, as when a great calamity has just occurred.\n\nNobody thought of drinking his wine; and the health of the Bishop de\nNancy was left undrunk. But a good number of priests filled their\nglasses with water, and giving me a silent sign of approbation, drank to\nmy health.\n\nThe society of temperance had been dragged by her enemies to the\nbattle-field, to be destroyed; but she bravely fought, and gained the\nvictory. Now, she was called to begin her triumphant march through our\ndear Canada.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXVI\n\n THE GOD OF ROME EATEN BY A RAT.\n\n\nHas God given us ears to hear, eyes to see, and intelligence to\nunderstand? The Pope says, no! But the Son of God says, yes. One of the\nmost severe rebukes of our Saviour to His disciples, was for their not\npaying sufficient attention to what their eyes had seen, their ears\nheard, and their intelligence perceived. \u201cPerceive ye not yet, neither\nunderstand? Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not,\nhaving ears, hear ye not? and do not ye remember?\u201d\u2014(Mark viii: 17, 18.)\n\nThis solemn appeal of our Saviour to our common sense, is the most\ncomplete demolition of the whole fabric of Rome. The day that a man\nceases to believe that God would give us our senses and our intelligence\nto ruin and deceive us, but that they were given to guide us, he is lost\nto the Church of Rome. The Pope knows it; hence the innumerable\nencyclicals, laws, and regulations by which the Roman Catholics are\nwarned not to trust the testimony of their ears, eyes, or intelligence.\n\n\u201cShut your eyes,\u201d says the Pope to his priests and people; \u201cI will keep\nmine opened, and I will see for you. Shut your ears, for it is most\ndangerous for you to hear what is said in the world. I will keep my ears\nopened, and will tell you what you must know. Remember that to trust\nyour own intelligence, in the research of truth, and the knowledge of\nthe Word of God, is sure perdition. If you want to know anything, come\nto me: I am the only sure infallible fountain of truth,\u201d saith the pope.\n\nAnd this stupendous imposture is accepted by the people and the priests\nof Rome with a mysterious facility, and retained with a most desolating\ntenacity.\n\nIt is to them what the iron ring is to the nose of the ox, when a rope\nis once tied to it. The poor animal loses its self-control. Its natural\nstrength and energies will avail it nothing; it must go left or right,\nat the will of the one who holds the end of the rope.\n\nReader, please have no contempt for the unfortunate priests and people\nof Rome, but pity them, when you see them walking in the ways into which\nintelligent beings ought not to take a step. They cannot help it. The\nring of the ox is at their nose, and the Pope holds the end of the rope.\nHad it not been for that ring, I would not have been long at the feet of\nthe wafer god of the Pope. Let me tell you of one of the shining rays of\ntruth, which were evidently sent by our merciful God, with a mighty\npower, to open my eyes. But I could not follow it; the iron ring was at\nmy nose; and the Pope was holding the end of the rope.\n\nThis was after I had been put at the head of the magnificent parish of\nBeauport, in the spring of 1840. There was living at \u201cLa jeune Lorette,\u201d\nan old retired priest, who was blind. He was born in France, where he\nhad been condemned to death, under the Reign of Terror. Escaped from the\nguillotine, he had fled to Canada, where the bishop of Quebec had put\nhim in the elevated post of Chaplain of the Ursuline Nunnery. He had a\nfine voice, was a good musician, and had some pretensions to the title\nof poet. Having composed a good number of church hymns, he had been\ncalled \u201cPere Cantique,\u201d but his real name was \u201cPere Daule.\u201d His faith\nand piety were of the most exalted character among the Roman Catholics;\nthough these did not prevent him from being one of the most amiable and\njovial men I ever saw. But his blue eyes, sweet as the eyes of the dove;\nhis fine yellow hair, falling on his shoulders as a golden fleece; his\nwhite, rosy cheeks, and his constantly smiling lips, had been too much\nfor the tender hearts of the good nuns. It was not a secret that \u201cPere\nCantique,\u201d when young, had made several interesting conquests in the\nmonastery. There was no wonder at that. Indeed, how could that young and\ninexperienced butterfly escape damaging his golden wings, at the\nnumberless burning lamps of the fair virgins? But the mantle of charity\nhad been put on the wounds which the old warrior had received on that\nformidable battlefield, from which even the Davids, Samsons, Solomons,\nand many others, had escaped only after being mortally wounded.\n\nTo help the poor, blind priest, the curates around Quebec used to keep\nhim by turn in their parsonages, and give him the care and marks of\nrespect due to his old age. After the Rev. Mr. Roy, curate of\nCharlesbourg, had kept him five or six weeks, I had taken him to my\nparsonage. It was in the month of May\u2014a month entirely consecrated to\nthe worship of the Virgin Mary, to whom Father Daule was a most devoted\npriest. His zeal was really inexhaustible, when trying to prove to us\nhow Mary was the surest foundation of the hope and salvation of sinners;\nhow she was constantly appeasing the just wrath of her son Jesus, who,\nwere it not for his love and respect to her would have, long since,\ncrushed us down.\n\nThe Councils of Rome have forbidden their blind priests to say their\nmass; but on account of high piety, he had got from the Pope the\nprivilege of celebrating the short mass of the Virgin, which he knew\nperfectly by heart. One morning, when the old priest was at the altar,\nsaying his mass, and I was in the vestry, hearing the confessions of the\npeople, the young servant boy came to me in haste, and said, \u201cFather\nDaule calls you; please come quick.\u201d\n\nFearing something wrong had happened to my old friend, I lost no time,\nand ran to him. I found him nervously tapping the altar with his two\nhands, as in an anxious search for some very precious thing. When very\nnear to him, I said: \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d He answered with a shriek of\ndistress: \u201cThe good god has disappeared from the altar. He is lost!\n(J\u2019ai perdu le Bon Dieu. Il est disparu de dessus l\u2019autel!\u201d) Hoping that\nhe was mistaken, and that he had only thrown away the good god, \u201cLe Bon\nDieu,\u201d on the floor, by some accident, I looked on the altar, at his\nfeet, everywhere I could suspect that the _good god_ might have been\nmoved away by some mistake of the hand. But the most minute search was\nof no avail; the good god could not be found. I really felt stunned. At\nfirst, remembering the thousand miracles I had read of the disappearance\nand marvellous changes of form of the wafer god, it came to my mind that\nwe were in the presence of some great miracle; and that my eyes were to\nsee some of these great marvels of which the books of the Church of Rome\nare filled. But I had soon to change my mind, when a thought flashed\nthrough my memory, which chilled the blood in my veins. The church of\nBeauport was inhabited by a multitude of the boldest and most insolent\nrats I have ever seen. Many times, when saying my mass, I had seen the\nugly nose of several of them, who, undoubtedly attracted by the smell of\nthe fresh wafer, wanted to make their breakfast with the body, blood,\nsoul and divinity of my Christ. But, as I was constantly in motion, or\npraying with a loud voice, the rats had invariably been frightened and\nfled away into their secret quarters. I felt terror-stricken at the\nthought that the good god (Le Bon Dieu) had been taken away and eaten by\nthe rats.\n\nFather Daule so sincerely believed what all the priests of Rome are\nbound to believe, that he had the power to turn the wafer into God,\nthat, after he had pronounced the words by which the great marvel was\nwrought, he used to pass from five to fifteen minutes in silent\nadoration. He was then as motionless as a marble statue, and his\nfeelings were so strong that often torrents of tears used to flow from\nhis eyes on his cheeks. Leaning my head toward the distressed old\npriest, I asked him: \u201cHave you not remained, as you are used, a long\ntime motionless, in adoring the good god, after the consecration?\u201d\n\nHe quickly answered, \u201cYes, but what has this to do with the loss of the\ngood god?\u201d\n\nI replied in a low voice, but with a real accent of distress and awe,\n\u201cSome rats have dragged and eaten the good god!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you say?\u201d replied Father Daule. \u201cThe good god carried away and\neaten by rats?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d I replied, \u201cI have not the least doubt about it.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy God! my God! what a dreadful calamity upon me!\u201d rejoined the old\nman; and raising his hands and his eyes to heaven, he cried out again,\n\u201cMy God! my God! Why have you not taken away my life before such a\nmisfortune could fall upon me!\u201d He could not speak any longer; his voice\nwas choked by his sobs.\n\nAt first, I did not know what to say; a thousand thoughts some very\ngrave, some exceedingly ludicrous, crossed my mind more rapidly than I\ncan say them. I stood there, as nailed to the floor, by the old priest,\nwho was weeping as a child, till he asked me, with a voice broken by his\nsobs, \u201cWhat must I do now?\u201d I answered him: \u201cThe Church has foreseen\noccurrences of that kind, and provided for them the remedy. The only\nthing you have to do is to get a new wafer, consecrate it, and continue\nyour mass as if nothing strange had occurred. I will go and get you,\njust now, new bread.\u201d I went, without losing a moment, to the vestry,\ngot and brought a new wafer, which he consecrated and turned into a new\ngod, and finished his mass, as I had told him. After it was over, I took\nthe disconsolate old priest by the hand to my parsonage for breakfast.\nBut all along the way he rent the air with his cries of distress. He\nwould hardly taste anything, for his soul was drowned in a sea of\ntrouble. I vainly tried to calm his feelings, by telling him that it was\nno fault of his; that this strange and sad occurrence was not the first\nof that kind; that it had been calmly foreseen by the Church, which had\ntold us what to do in these circumstances; that there was no neglect, no\nfault, no offence against God or man on his part.\n\nBut as he would not pay the least attention to what I said, I felt the\nonly thing I had to do was to remain silent and respect his grief, by\nletting him unburden his heart by his lamentations and tears.\n\nI had hoped that his good common sense would help him to overcome his\nfeelings, but I was mistaken; his lamentations were as long as those of\nJeremiah, and the expressions of his grief as bitter.\n\nAt last, I lost patience and said: \u201cMy dear Father Daule, allow me to\ntell you respectfully that it is quite time to stop these lamentations\nand tears. Our great and just God cannot like such an excess of sorrow\nand regret about a thing which was only, and entirely, under the control\nof His power and eternal wisdom.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you say there?\u201d replied the old priest, with a vivacity which\nresembled anger.\n\n\u201cI say that, as it was not in your power to foresee or to avoid that\noccurrence, you have not the least reason to act and speak as you do.\nLet us keep our regrets and our tears for our sins; we cannot shed too\nmany tears on them. But there is no sin here, and there must be some\nreasonable limit to our sorrow. If anybody had to weep and regret\nwithout measure what has happened, it would be Christ. For He alone\ncould foresee that event, and he alone could prevent it. Had it been His\nwill to oppose this sad and mysterious act, it was in His, not in our\npower to prevent it. He alone has suffered from it, because it was His\nwill to suffer it.\u201d\n\n\u201cMr. Chiniquy,\u201d he replied, \u201cyou are quite a young man, and I see you\nhave the want of attention and experience which are often seen among\nyoung priests. You do not pay a sufficient attention to the awful\ncalamity which has just occurred in your church. If you had more faith\nand piety you would weep with me instead of laughing at my grief. How\ncan you speak so lightly of a thing which makes the angels of God weep?\nOur dear Saviour dragged and eaten by rats! Oh! great God! does not this\nsurpass the humiliation and horrors of Calvary?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear Father Daule,\u201d I replied, \u201callow me respectfully to tell you\nthat I understand, as well as you do, the nature of the deplorable event\nof this morning. I would have given my blood to prevent it. But let us\nlook at that fact in its proper light. It is not a moral action for us;\nit did not depend on our will more than the spots of the sun. The only\none who is accountable for that fact is our God! For, again, I say, that\nHe was the only one who could foresee and prevent it. And, to give you\nplainly my own mind, I tell you here that if I were God Almighty, and a\nmiserable rat would come to eat me, I would strike him dead before he\ncould touch me.\u201d\n\nThere is no need of confessing it here; every one who reads these pages,\nand pays attention to this conversation, will understand that my former\nso robust faith in my priestly power of changing the wafer into my God\nhad melted away and evaporated from my mind, if not entirely, at least\nto a great extent.\n\nGreat and new lights had flashed through my soul in that hour;\nevidently my God wanted to open my eyes to the awful absurdities and\nimpieties of a religion whose God could be dragged and eaten by rats.\nHad I been faithful to the saving lights which were in me then, I was\nsaved in that very hour; and before the end of that day I would have\nbroken the shameful chains by which the Pope had tied my neck to his\nidol of bread. In that hour it seemed to me evident that the dogma of\ntransubstantiation was a sic monstrous imposture, and my priesthood an\ninsult to God and man.\n\nMy intelligence said to me with a thundering voice: \u201cDo not remain any\nlonger the priest of a God whom you make every day, and whom the rats\ncan eat.\u201d\n\nThough blind, Father Daule understood very well by the stern accents of\nmy voice, that my faith in the god whom he had created that morning, and\nwhom the rats had eaten, had been seriously modified, if not entirely\ncrumbled down. He remained silent for some time, after which he invited\nme to sit by him; and he spoke to me with a pathos and an authority\nwhich my youth and his old age alone could justify. He gave me the most\nawful rebuke I ever had; he opened on my poor wavering intelligence,\nsoul and heart, all the cataracts of heaven. He overwhelmed me with a\ndeluge of Holy Fathers, Councils and infallible Popes, who had believed\nand preached before the whole world, in all ages, the dogma of\ntransubstantiation.\n\nIf I had paid attention to the voice of my intelligence, and accepted\nthe lights which my merciful God was giving me, I could easily have\nsmashed the arguments of the old priest of Rome. But what has the\nintelligence to do in the Church of Rome? What could my intelligence\nsay? I was forbidden to hear it. What was the weight of my poor,\nisolated intelligence, when put in the balance against so many learned,\nholy infallible intelligences?\n\nAlas! I was not aware, then, that the weight of the intelligence of God,\nthe Father, Son and Holy Ghost was on my side; and that, weighted\nagainst the intelligence of the Popes, they were greater than all the\nwords against a grain of sand.\n\nOne hour after, shedding tears of regret, I was at the feet of Father\nDaule, in the confessional box, confessing the great sin I had committed\nby doubting, for a moment, of the power of the priests to change a wafer\ninto God.\n\nThe old priest, whose voice had been like a lion\u2019s voice, when speaking\nto the unbelieving curate of Beauport, had become sweet as the voice of\na lamb when he had me at his feet, confessing my unbelief. He gave me my\npardon. For my penance, he forbade me ever to say a word on the sad end\nof the god he had created that morning; for, said he: \u201cThis would\ndestroy the faith of the most sincere Roman Catholics.\u201d For the other\npart of the penance, I had to go on my knees every day, during nine\ndays, before the fourteen images of the way of the cross, and say a\npenitential psalm before every picture, which I did. But the sixth day\nthe skin of my knees was pierced, and the blood was flowing freely. I\nsuffered real torture every time I kneeled down, and at every step I\nmade. But it seemed to me that these terrible tortures were nothing\ncompared to my great iniquity!\n\nI had refused, for a moment, to believe that a man can create his God\nwith a wafer! and I had thought that a church which adores a god eaten\nby rats must be an idolatrous church!\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXVII\n\n VISIT OF A PROTESTANT STRANGER\u2014HE THROWS AN ARROW INTO MY PRIESTLY SOUL\n NEVER TO BE TAKEN OUT.\n\n\nA few days before the arrival of Bishop de Forbin Janson, I was alone in\nmy study, considering my false position toward my ecclesiastical\nsuperiors, on account of my establishing the temperance society against\ntheir formal protest. My heart was sad. My partial success had not\nblinded me to the reality of my deplorable isolation from the great mass\nof the clergy. With very few exceptions, they were speaking of me as a\ndangerous man. They had even given me the nickname of \u201c_Le reformateur\nau petit pied_\u201d (small-sized reformer), and were losing no opportunity\nof showing me their supreme contempt and indignation, for what they\ncalled my obstinacy.\n\nIn that sad hour, there were many clouds around my horizon, and my mind\nwas filled with anxiety; when, suddenly, a stranger knocked at my door.\nHe was a good-sized man, his smiling lips and honest face were beaming\nwith the utmost kindness. His large and noble forehead told me, at once,\nthat my visitor was a man of superior intellect. His whole mien was that\nof a true gentleman.\n\nHe pressed my hand with the cordiality of an old friend, and giving me\nhis name, he told me at once the object of his visit, in these words.\n\n\u201cI do not come here only in my name; but it is in the name of many, if\nnot of all the English-speaking people of Quebec and Canada. I want to\ntell you our admiration for the great reform you have accomplished in\nBeauport. We know the stern opposition of your superiors and\nfellow-priests to your efforts, and we admire you more for that.\n\n\u201cGo on, sir, you have on your side the great God of heaven, who has said\nto us all: \u2018Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth\nits color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last, it\nbiteth like a serpent, it stingeth like an adder.\u2019\n\n\u201cTake courage, sir,\u201d he added; \u201cyou have, on your side, the Saviour of\nthe world, Jesus Christ himself, who has inspired his Apostle Paul to\nsay: \u2018I will not drink any wine if it can be a cause of sin to my\nneighbor.\u2019 Fear not man, sir, when God the Father, and His son, Jesus\nChrist, are on your side. If you find any opposition from some quarter,\nand if deluded men turn you into ridicule when you are doing such a\nChristian work, bless the Lord. For Jesus Christ has said: \u2018Blessed are\nthey who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be\nfilled. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and\nshall say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for my sake.\u2019\n\n\u201cI come also to tell you, sir, that if there are men who oppose you,\nthere are many more who are praying for you day and night, asking our\nHeavenly Father to pour upon you His most abundant blessings.\n\n\u201cIntoxicating drinks are the curse of this young country. It is the most\ndeadly foe of every father and mother, the most implacable enemy of\nevery child in Canada. It is the ruin of our rich families, as well as\nthe destruction of the poor.\n\n\u201cThe use of intoxicating drinks, under any form or pretext is an act of\nsupreme folly; for alcohol kills the body and damns the soul of its\nblind victim.\n\n\u201cYou have, for the first time, raised the glorious banners of temperance\namong the French Canadian people; though you are alone, to-day, to lift\nit up, be not discouraged; for, before long, you will see your\nintelligent countrymen rallying around it to help you to fight and\nconquer.\n\n\u201cNo doubt the seed you sow to-day is often watered with your tears; but\nbefore long you will reap the richest crop, and your heart will be\nfilled with joy when your grateful country will bless your name.\u201d\n\nAfter a few other sentences of the same elevated sentiments, he hardly\ngave me time enough to express my feelings of gratitude, and said: \u201cI\nknow you are very busy, I do not want to trespass upon your time.\nGood-bye, sir; may the Lord bless you, and be your keeper in all your\nways.\u201d\n\nHe pressed my hand, and soon disappeared. I would try, in vain, to\nexpress what I felt when alone with my God, after that strange and\nprovidential visit. My first thought was to fall on my knees and thank\nthat merciful God for having sent me such a messenger to cheer me in one\nof the darkest hours of my life; for every word from his lips had fallen\non my wounded soul as the oil of the Good Samaritan on the bleeding\nwounds of the traveler to Jericho. There had been such an elevation of\nthought, such a ring of true, simple but sublime faith and piety; such\nlove of man and fear of God in all that he had said. It was the first\ntime I had heard words so conformable to my personal views and profound\nconvictions on that subject. That stranger, whose visit had passed as\nquickly as the visit of an angel from God, had filled my heart with such\njoy and surprise at the unexpected news that all the English-speaking\npeople of Canada were praying for me!\n\nHowever, I did not fall on my knees to thank God; for my sentiments of\ngratitude to God were suddenly chilled by the unspeakable humiliation I\nfelt when I considered that that stranger was a Protestant!\n\nThe comparison I was forced to make between the noble sentiments, the\nhigh philosophy, the Christian principles of that Protestant layman with\nthe low expressions of contempt, the absolute want of generous and\nChristian thoughts of my bishop and my fellow-priests when they were\nturning into ridicule that temperance society which God was so visibly\npresenting to us as the best, if not the only way, to save the thousands\nof drunkards who were perishing around us, paralyzed my lips, bewildered\nmy mind, and made it impossible for me to utter a word of prayer. My\nfirst sentiments of joy and of gratitude to God soon gave way to\nsentiments of unspeakable shame and distress.\n\nI was forced to acknowledge that these Protestants, whom my Church had\ntaught me, through all her councils, to anathematize and curse as the\ndamned slaves and followers of Satan, were, in their principles of\nmorality, higher above us than the heavens are above the earth! I had to\nconfess to myself that those heretics, whom my Church had taught me to\nconsider as rebels against Christ and His Church, knew the laws of God\nand followed them much more closely than ourselves. They had raised\nthemselves to the highest degree of Christian temperance, when my\nbishops, with their priests, were swimming in the deadly waters of\ndrunkenness!\n\nA voice seemed crying to me: \u201cWhere is the superiority of holiness of\nyour proud Church of Rome over those so-called heretics, who follow more\nclosely the counsels and precepts of the gospel of Christ?\u201d\n\nI tried to stifle that voice, but I could not. Louder and louder it was\nheard asking me: \u201cWho is nearer God\u2014the bishop, who so obstinately\nopposes a reform which is so evidently according to the Divine Word, or\nthose earnest followers of the gospel, who make the sacrifice of their\nold and most cherished usages with such pleasure, when they see it is\nfor the good of their fellow-men and the glory of God?\u201d\n\nI wished then to be a hundred feet below the ground, in order not to\nhear those questions answered within my soul. But there was no help; I\nhad to hear them, and to blush at the reality before my eyes.\n\nPride! yes, diabolical pride! is the vice, _par excellence_, of every\npriest of Rome. Just as he is taught to believe and say that his church\nis far above every other church, so he is taught to believe and say\nthat, as a priest, he is above all the kings, emperors, governors and\npresidents of this world. _That_ pride is the daily bread of the pope,\nthe bishop, the priests, and even the lowest layman in the Church of\nRome.\n\nIt is also the great secret of their power and strength. It is this\ndiabolical pride which nerves them with an iron will, to bring down\neverything to their feet; subject every human being to their will, and\ntie every neck to the wheels of their chariot. It is this fearful pride\nwhich so often gives them that stoical patience and indomitable courage\nin the midst of the most cruel pain, or in the face of the most\nappalling death, which so many deluded Protestants take for Christian\ncourage and heroism. The priest of Rome believes that he is called by\nGod Almighty to rule, subdue and govern the world. With all those\nprerogatives that he fancies granted him by heaven, he builds up a high\npyramid, on the top of which he seats himself, and from that elevation\nlooks down with the utmost contempt on the rest of the world.\n\nIf anyone suspects that I exaggerate in thus speaking of the pride of\nthe priest, let him read the following haughty words which Cardinal\nManning puts on the lips of the pope in one of his lectures:\n\n\u201cI acknowledge no civil power; I am the subject of no prince. I am more\nthan this. I claim to be the supreme judge and director of the\nconscience of men: of the peasant who tills his field and of the prince\nwho sits upon the throne; of the household that lives in the shade of\nprivacy, and the legislator that makes laws for the kingdom. I am the\nsole, last, supreme judge of what is right or wrong.\u201d\n\nIs it not evident that the Holy Ghost speaks of this pride of the\npriests and of the pope\u2014the high priest of Rome\u2014when he says: \u201cThat man\nof sin, that son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above\nall that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sits\nin the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.\u201d\n\nThat caste pride which was in me, though I did not see it then, as it is\nin every priest of Rome, though he does not suspect it, had received a\nrude check, indeed, from that Protestant visitor. Yes, I must confess\nit, he had inflicted a deadly wound on my priestly pride; he had thrown\na barbed arrow into my priestly soul which I tried many times, but\nalways in vain, to take away. The more I attempted to get rid of this\narrow, the deeper it went through my very bones and marrow. That strange\nvisitor, who caused me to pass so many hours and days of humiliation,\nwhen forcing me to blush at the inferiority of the Christian principles\nof my Church compared with those of the Protestants, is well known in\nCanada, the United States and Great Britain, as the founder and first\neditor of two of the best religious papers of America, the _Montreal\nWitness_ and the _New York Witness_. His name is John Dougall.\n\nAs he is still living, I am happy to have this opportunity of thanking\nand blessing him again for the visit he paid to the young curate of\nBeauport forty-five years ago.\n\nI was not aware then that the wounds inflicted by that unknown but\nfriendly hand was one of the great favors bestowed upon me by my\nmerciful God; but I understand it now. Many rays of light have since\ncome from the wounds which my priestly pride received that day. Those\nrays of light helped much to expel the darkness which surrounded me, by\nleading me to see, in spite of myself, that the vaunted holiness of the\nChurch of Rome is a fraud.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXVIII.\n\nERECTION OF THE COLUMN OF TEMPERANCE\u2014SCHOOL BUILDINGS\u2014ADDRESSES\u2014A NOBLE\n AND TOUCHING ACT OF THE PEOPLE OF BEAUPORT.\n\n\nThe battle fought and gained at the grand dinner of the Quebec Seminary\nby the society of temperance had been decisive.\n\nThe triumph was as complete as it was glorious. Hereafter her march to\nthe conquest of Canada was to be a triumph. Her blessed banners were\nsoon to be planted over all the cities, towns and villages of my dear\ncountry.\n\nTo commemorate the expression of their joy and gratitude to God to the\nremotest generations, the people of Beauport erected the beautiful\nColumn of Temperance, which is still seen halfway between Quebec and the\nMontmorency Falls. The Bishop de Nancy, my Lord Forbin Janson, blessed\nthat first monument of temperance, September 7th, 1841, in the midst of\nan immense multitude of people.\n\nThe parishes of St. Peter, St. John, St. Famille (Orleans Island), with\nSt. Michel were the first after Lange Gardien, Chateau Richer, St. Anne\nand St. Joachin, to request me to preach on temperance.\n\nSoon after, the whole population of St. Roch, Quebec, took the pledge\nwith a wonderful unanimity, and kept it long with marvellous fidelity.\nIn order to show to the whole country their feelings of gratitude, they\npresented me with a fine picture of the Column of Temperance and a\ncomplimentary address, written and delivered by one of the most\npromising young men of Quebec, Mr. John Cauchon, who was raised some\nyears later to the dignity of a Cabinet Minister, and who has been the\nworthy lieutenant-governor of Manitoba.\n\nThat address was soon followed by another from the citizens of Quebec\nand Beauport, presented along with my portrait, by Mr. Joseph Parent,\nthen editor of the _Canadien_, and afterwards Provincial Secretary of\nCanada.\n\nWhat a strange being man is! How fickle are his judgments! In 1842, they\nhad no words sufficiently flattering to praise the very man in the face\nof whom they were spitting in 1838, for doing the very same thing! Was I\nbetter for establishing the society of temperance in 1842 than I was in\nestablishing it in 1838? No! And was I worse when, in 1838, bishops,\npriests and people were abusing, slandering and giving me bad names for\nraising the banners of temperance over my country, than I was in\ncontinuing to lift it up in 1842? No?\n\nThe sudden and complete change of the judgment of men in such a short\nperiod of time had the good and providential effect of filling my mind\nwith the most supreme indifference, not to say contempt, for what men\nthought or said of me.\n\nYea! this sudden passage from condemnation to that of praise, when I was\ndoing the very same work, had the good effect to cure me of that natural\npride which one is apt to feel when publicly applauded by men.\n\nIt is to that knowledge, acquired when young, that I owe the\npreservation of my dignity as man and priest, when all my bishops and\ntheir priests were arrayed against me at the dining table of the\nSeminary of Quebec. It is that knowledge, also, that taught me not to\nforget that I was nothing but a worm of the dust and an unprofitable\nservant of God, when the same men overwhelmed me with their unmerited\npraises.\n\nLet not my readers think, however, that I was absolutely indifferent to\nthis change of public feeling; for no words can tell the joy I felt at\nthe assurance which these public manifestations afforded me that the\ncause of temperance was to triumph everywhere in my country.\n\nLet me here tell a fact too honorable to the people of Beauport to be\nomitted. As soon as the demon of intemperance was driven from my parish,\nI felt that my first duty was to give my attention to education, which\nhad been so shamefully neglected by my predecessors that there was not a\nsingle school in the parish worthy of that name. I proposed my plan to\nthe people, asked their co-operation and set to work without delay.\n\nI began by erecting the fine stone school house near the church, on the\nsite of the old parsonage. The old walls were pulled down, and on the\nold foundation a good structure was soon erected with the free\ncollections raised in the village. But the work was hardly half finished\nwhen I found myself without a cent to carry it on. I saw at once that,\nhaving no idea of the value of education, the people would murmur at my\nasking any more money. I therefore sold my horse, a fine animal given me\nby a rich uncle, and with the money finished the building.\n\nMy people felt humiliated and pained at seeing their pastor obliged to\nwalk when going to Quebec or visiting the sick. They said to each other;\n\u201cIs it not a burning shame for us to have forced our young curate to\nsell his fine horse to build our school houses, when it would have been\nso easy to do that work ourselves? Let us repair our faults.\u201d\n\nOn my return from establishing the society of temperance in St. John,\ntwo weeks later, my servant man said to me:\n\n\u201cPlease, Mr. le Cure, come to the stable and see a very curious thing.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat curious thing can there be?\u201d I answered.\n\n\u201cWell, sir, please come and you will see.\u201d\n\nWhat was both my surprise and pleasure to find one of the most splendid\nCanadian horses there, as mine! For my servant said to me: \u201cDuring your\nabsence the people have raised five hundred dollars and bought this fine\nhorse for you. They say they do not want any longer to see their curate\nwalking in the mud. When they drove the horse here, that I might present\nhim to you as a surprise on your arrival, I heard them saying that, with\nthe temperance society, you have saved them more than five hundred\ndollars every week in money, time and health, and that it was only an\nact of justice to give you the savings of a week.\u201d\n\nThe only way of expressing my gratitude to my noble people was to\nredouble my exertions in securing the benefits of a good education to\ntheir children. I soon proposed to the people to build another school\nhouse two miles distant from the first.\n\nBut I was not long without seeing that this new enterprise was to be\nstill more uphill work than the first one among the people, of whom\nhardly one in fifty could sign his name.\n\n\u201cHave not our fathers done well without those costly schools?\u201d said\nmany. \u201cWhat is the use of spending so much money for a thing that does\nnot add a day to our existence, nor an atom to our comfort?\u201d\n\nI soon felt confronted by such a deadly indifference, not to say\nopposition, on the part of my best farmers, that I feared for a few days\nlest I had really gone too far. The last cent of my own revenues was not\nonly given, but a little personal debt created to meet the payments, and\na round sum of $500 had to be found to finish the work. I visited the\nrichest man of Beauport to ask him to come to my rescue. Forty years\nbefore he had come to Beauport barefooted, without a cent, to work. He\nhad employed his first earned dollars in purchasing some rum, with which\nhe had doubled his money in two hours; and had continued to double his\nmoney, at that rate, in the same way, till he was worth nearly $200,000.\n\nHe had then stopped selling rum, to invest his money in city properties.\nHe answered me: \u201cMy dear curate, I would have no objections to give you\nthe $500 you want, if I had not met the Grand Vicar Demars yesterday,\nwho warned me, as an old friend, against what he calls your dangerous\nand exaggerated views in reference to the education of the people. He\nadvised me, for your own good, and the good of the people, to do all in\nmy power to induce you to desist from your plan of covering our parishes\nwith schools.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill you allow me,\u201d I answered, \u201cto mention our conversation to Mr.\nDemars, and tell him what you have just said about his advising you to\noppose me in my efforts to promote the interests of education?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir, by all means,\u201d answered Mr. Des Roussell. \u201cI allow you to\nrepeat to the venerable superior of the Seminary of Quebec what he said\nto me yesterday; it was not a secret, for there were several other\nfarmers of Beauport to whom he said the very same thing. If you ignore\nthat the priests of Quebec are opposed to your plans of educating our\nchildren you must be the only one who does not know it, for it is a\npublic fact. Your difficulties in raising the funds you want come only\nfrom the opposition of the rest of the clergy to you in this matter; we\nhave plenty of money in Beauport to-day, and we would feel happy to help\nyou. But you understand that our good-will is somewhat cooled by the\nopposition of men whom we are accustomed to respect.\u201d\n\nI replied: \u201cDo you not remember, my dear Mr. Des Roussell, that those\nvery same priests opposed me in the same way in my very first efforts to\nestablish the temperance society in your midst?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d he answered with a smile, \u201cwe remember it well, but you have\nconverted them to your views now.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, my dear sir, I hope we shall convert them also in this question\nof education.\u201d\n\nThe very next morning, I was knocking at the door of the Rev. Grand\nVicar Demars, after I had tied my splendid horse in the courtyard of the\nSeminary of Quebec. I was received with the utmost marks of courtesy.\nWithout losing any time, I repeated to the old superior what Mr. Des\nRoussell had told me of his opposition to my educational plans, and\nrespectfully asked him if it were true.\n\nThe poor Grand Vicar seemed as if thunder-struck by my abrupt, though\npolite question. He tried, at first, to explain what he had said, by\ntaking a long circuit, but I mercilessly brought him to the point at\nissue, and forced him to say, \u201cYes, I said it.\u201d\n\nI then rejoined and said: \u201cMr. Grand Vicar, I am only a child before\nyou, when comparing my age with yours; however, I have the honor to be\nthe curate of Beauport. It is in that capacity that I respectfully ask\nyou by what right you oppose my plans for educating our children?\u201d\n\n\u201cI hope, Mr. Chiniquy,\u201d he answered, \u201cthat you do not mean to say that I\nam the enemy of education; for I would answer you that this is the first\nhouse of education on this continent, and that I was at its head before\nyou were born. I hope that I have the right to believe and say that the\nold Superior of the Seminary of Quebec understands as well as the young\ncurate of Beauport the advantage of a good education. But I will repeat\nto you what I said to Mr. Des Roussell, that it is a great mistake to\nintroduce such a general system of education as you want to do in\nBeauport. Let every parish have its well educated notary, doctor,\nmerchants, and a few others to do the public business; that is enough.\nOur parishes of Canada are models of peace and harmony under the\ndirection of their good curates, but they will become unmanageable the\nvery day your system of education spreads abroad; for then all the bad\npropensities of the heart will be developed with an irresistible force.\nBesides, you know that since the conquest of Canada by Protestant\nEngland, the Protestants are waiting for their opportunity to spread the\nBible among our people. The only barrier we can oppose to that danger is\nto have in the future, as in the past, only a very limited number of our\npeople who can read or write. For as soon as the common people are able\nto read, they will, like Adam and Eve, taste the forbidden fruit; they\nwill read the Bible, turn Protestant, and be lost for time and\neternity.\u201d\n\nIn my answer, among other things, I said: \u201cGo into the country, look at\nthe farm which is well cultivated, ploughed with attention and skill,\nrichly manured, and sown with good seed, is it not infinitely more\npleasant and beautiful to live on such a farm than on one which is\nneglected, unskilfully managed and covered with noxious weeds? Well, the\ndifference between a well-educated and an uneducated people is still\ngreater in my mind.\n\n\u201cI know that the priests of Canada, in general, have your views, and it\nis for that reason that the parish of Beauport, with its immense\nrevenues, has been left without a school worthy the name, from its\nfoundation till my going there. But my views are absolutely different;\nand as for your fear of the Bible, I confess we are antipodes to each\nother. I consider that one of the greatest blessings God has bestowed\nupon me, is that I have read the Bible when I was on my mother\u2019s knees.\nI do not even conceal from you that one of my objects in giving a good\neducation to every boy and girl of Beauport, is to put the gospel of\nChrist in their hands as soon as they are able to read it.\u201d\n\nAt the end of our conversation, which was very excited on both sides,\nthough kept in the bounds of politeness during nearly two hours, I said:\n\u201cMr. Grand Vicar, I did not come here to convert you to my views\u2014this\nwould have been impertinence on my part; nor can you convert me to\nyours, if you are trying it, for you know I have the bad reputation of\nbeing a hard case. I came to ask you, as a favor, to let me work\naccording to my conscience in a parish which is mine and not yours. Do\nnot interfere any more in my affairs between me and my parishioners than\nyou would like me to interfere in the management of your seminary. As\nyou would not like me to criticize you before your pupils and turn you\ninto ridicule, please cease adding to my difficulties among my people,\nby continuing in the future what you have done in the past.\n\n\u201cYou know, Mr. Grand Vicar, that I have always respected you as my\nfather; you have many times been my adviser, my confessor and my friend;\nI hope you will grant me the favor I ask from you in the name of our\ncommon Saviour. It is for the spiritual and temporal good of the people\nand pastor of Beauport that I make this prayer.\u201d\n\nThe old priest was a kind-hearted man. These last words melted his\nheart. He promised what I wanted, and we parted from each other on\nbetter terms than I had expected at first.\n\nWhen crossing the courtyard of the seminary, I saw the Archbishop\nSignaie, who, coming from taking a ride, had stopped to look at my horse\nand admire it. When near him, I said: \u201cMy lord, this is a bishop\u2019s\nhorse, and ought to be in your hands.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is what I was saying to my secretary,\u201d replied the bishop. \u201cHow long\nis it since you got it?\u201d\n\n\u201cOnly a few days ago, my lord.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you any intention of selling it?\u201d\n\n\u201cI would, if it would please my bishop,\u201d I replied.\n\n\u201cWhat is the price?\u201d asked the bishop.\n\n\u201cThose who gave it to me paid $500 for it,\u201d I replied.\n\n\u201cOh! oh! that is too dear,\u201d rejoined the bishop; \u201cwith five hundred\ndollars we can get five good horses. Two hundred would be enough.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour lordship is joking. Were I as rich as I am poor, one thousand\ndollars would not take that noble animal from my hands, except to have\nit put in the carosse of my bishop.\u201d\n\n\u201cGo and make a check for two hundred dollars to the order of Mr.\nChiniquy,\u201d said the bishop to his sub-secretary, Mr. Belisle.\n\nWhen the secretary had gone to make the check, the bishop being alone\nwith me, took from his portfeuille three bank bills of one hundred\ndollars each, and put them into my hands, saying: \u201cThis will make up\nyour $500, when my secretary gives you the check. But please say nothing\nto anybody, not even to my secretary. I do not like to have my private\naffairs talked of around the corners of the streets. That horse is the\nmost splendid I ever saw, and I am much obliged to you for having sold\nit to me.\u201d\n\nI was also very glad to have $500 in hand. For with $300 I could finish\nmy school house, and there was $200 more to begin another, three miles\ndistant.\n\nJust two weeks later, when I was dressing myself at sunrise, my servant\ncame to my room and said: \u201cThere are twenty men on horseback who want to\nspeak to you.\u201d\n\n\u201cTwenty men on horseback who want to speak to me!\u201d I answered. \u201cAre you\ndreaming?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not dream,\u201d answered my young man; \u201cthere they are at the door, on\nhorseback, waiting for you.\u201d\n\nI was soon dressed and in the presence of twenty of my best farmers, on\nhorseback, who had formed themselves in a half-circle to receive me.\n\n\u201cWhat do you want, my friends?\u201d I asked them.\n\nOne of them, who had studied a few years in the Seminary of Quebec,\nanswered:\n\n\u201cDear pastor, we come in the name of the whole people of Beauport to ask\nyour pardon for having saddened your heart by not coming as we ought to\nyour help in the superhuman efforts you make to give good schools to our\nchildren. This is the result of our ignorance. Having never gone to\nschool ourselves, the greater part of us have never known the value of\neducation. But the heroic sacrifices you have made lately have opened\nour eyes. They ought to have been opened at the sale of your first\nhorse. But we were in need of another lesson to understand our meanness.\nHowever, the selling of the second horse has done more than anything\nelse to awaken us from our shameful lethargy. The fear of receiving a\nnew rebuke from us, if you made another appeal to our generosity, has\nforced you to make that new sacrifice. The first news came to us as a\nthunderbolt. But there is always some light in a thunderbolt. Through\nthat light we have seen our profound degradation, in shutting our ears\nto your earnest and paternal appeals in favor of our own dear children.\nBe sure, dear pastor, that we are ashamed of our conduct. From this day,\nnot only our hearts but our purses are yours, in all you want to do to\nsecure a good education for our families. However, our principal object\nin coming here to-day is not to say vain words, but to do an act of\nreparation and justice. Our first thought, when we heard that you had\nsold the horse we had given you, was to present you with another. We\nhave been prevented from doing this by the certainty that you would sell\nit again, either to help some poor people or to build another school\nhouse. As we cannot bear to see our pastor walking in the mud when going\nto the city or visiting us, we have determined to put another horse into\nyour hands, but in such a way that you will not have the right to sell\nit. We ask you then, as a favor, to select the best horse here among\nthese twenty which are before you, and to keep it as long as you remain\nin our midst, which we hope will be very long. It will be returned to\nits present possessor if you leave us; and be sure, dear pastor, that\nthe one of us who leaves his horse in your hands will be the most happy\nand proudest of all.\u201d\n\nWhen speaking thus, that noble-hearted man had several times been unable\nto conceal the tears which were rolling down his cheeks, and more than\nonce his trembling voice had been choked by his emotion.\n\nI tried in vain at first to speak. My feelings of gratitude and\nadmiration could be expressed only with my tears. It took some time\nbefore I could utter a single word. At last I said: \u201cMy dear friends,\nthis is too much for your poor pastor. I feel overwhelmed by this grand\nact of kindness. I do not say that I thank you\u2014the word thank is too\nsmall, too short and insignificant to tell you what your poor unworthy\npastor feels at what his eyes see and his ears hear just now. The great\nand merciful God, who has put those sentiments into your hearts, alone\ncan repay you for the joy with which you fill my soul. I would hurt your\nfeelings, I know, by not accepting your offering. I accept it. But to\npunish your speaker, Mr. Parent, for his complimentary address, I will\ntake his horse for the time I am curate of Beauport, which I hope will\nbe till I die.\u201d And I laid my hand on the bridle of the splendid animal.\n\nThere was then a struggle which I had not expected. Every one of the\nnineteen whom I left with their horses began to cry: \u201cOh! do not take\nthat horse; it is not worth a penny; mine is much stronger,\u201d said one.\n\u201cMine is much faster,\u201d cried out another. \u201cMine is a safe rider,\u201d said a\nthird. Every one wanted me to take his horse, and tried to persuade me\nthat it was the best of all; they really felt sorry that they were not\nable to change my mind.\n\nHas any one ever felt more happy than I was in the midst of these\ngenerous friends?\n\nThe memory of that happy hour will never pass away from my mind.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXXIX.\n\nSENT TO SUCCEED REV. MR. VARIN, CURATE OF KAMOURASKA\u2014STERN OPPOSITION OF\n THAT CURATE AND THE SURROUNDING PRIEST AND PEOPLE\u2014HOURS OF DESOLATION\n IN KAMOURASKA\u2014THE GOOD MASTER ALLAYS THE TEMPEST, AND BIDS THE WAVES\n BE STILL.\n\n\nOn the morning of the 25th of August, 1842, we blessed and opened the\nseventh school of Beauport. From that day all the children were to\nreceive as good an education as could be given in any country place of\nCanada. Those schools had been raised on the ruins of the seven taverns\nwhich had so long spread ruin, shame, desolation and death over that\nsplendid parish. My heart was filled with an unspeakable joy at the\nsight of the marvellous things which, by the hand of God, had been\nwrought in such a short time.\n\nAt about two P. M. of that never-to-be-forgotten day, after I had said\nmy vespers, and was alone, pacing the alleys of my garden, under the\nshade of the old maple trees bordering the northern part of that\nbeautiful spot, I was reviewing the struggles and the victories of these\nlast four years. It seemed that everything around me\u2014not only the giant\ntrees which were protecting me from the burning sun, but even the\nhumblest grasses and flowers of my garden\u2014had a voice to tell me, \u201cBless\nthe Lord for His mercies.\u201d\n\nAt my feet the majestic St. Lawrence was rolling its deep waters;\nbeyond, the old capital of Canada, Quebec, with its massive citadel, its\nproud towers, its bristling cannons, its numerous houses and steeples,\nwith their tin roofs reflecting the light of the sun in myriads of rays,\nformed such a spectacle of fairy beauty as no pen can describe. The\nfresh breeze from the river, mingled with the perfume of the thousand\nflowers of my parterre, bathed me in an atmosphere of fragrance. Never\nyet had I enjoyed life as at that hour. All the sanguine desires of my\nheart and the holy aspirations of my soul had been more than realized.\nPeace, harmony, industry, abundance, happiness, religion and education\nhad come on the heels of temperance, to gladden and cheer the families\nwhich God had entrusted to me. The former hard feelings of my\necclesiastical superiors had been changed into sentiments and acts of\nkindness, much above my merits. With the most sincere feelings of\ngratitude to God, I said with the old prophet, \u201cBless the Lord, O my\nsoul.\u201d\n\nBy the great mercy of God, that parish of Beauport, which at first had\nappeared to me as a bottomless abyss, in which I was to perish, had been\nchanged for me into an earthly paradise. There was only one desire in my\nheart. It was that I never should be removed from it. Like Peter on\nMount Tabor, I wanted to pitch my tent in Beauport to the end of my\nlife. But the rebuke which had shamed Peter came as quickly as lightning\nto show me the folly and vanity of my dreams.\n\nSuddenly the carrosse of the Bishop of Quebec came in sight, and rolled\ndown to the door of the parsonage. The sub-secretary, the Rev. Mr.\nBelisle, alighting from it, directed his steps towards the garden, where\nhe had seen me, and handed me the following letter from the Right Rev.\nTurgeon, Coadjutor of Quebec:\n\nMy dear Mons. Chiniquy.\n\nHis lordship Bishop Signaie and I wish to confer with you on a most\nimportant matter. We have sent our carriage to bring you to Quebec.\nPlease come without the least delay.\n\n Truly yours,\n\n \u2720 FLAV. TURGEON.\n\nOne hour after, I was with the two bishops. My Lord Signaie said:\n\n\u201cMonseigneur Turgeon will tell you why we have sent for you in such\nhaste.\u201d\n\n\u201cMons. Chiniquy,\u201d said Bishop Turgeon, \u201cis not Kamouraska your\nbirthplace?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my lord.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you like that place, and do you interest yourself much in its\nwelfare?\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course, my lord, I like Kamouraska; not only because it is my\nbirthplace, and the most happy years of my youth were spent in it, but\nalso because, in my humble opinion, the beauties of its scenery, the\npurity of its atmosphere, the fine manners and proverbial intelligence\nof its people, make it the very gem of Canada.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou know,\u201d rejoined the bishop, \u201cthat Rev. Mons. Varin has been too\ninfirm, these last years, to superintend the spiritual interest of that\nimportant place, it is impossible to continue putting a young vicar at\nthe head of such a parish, where hundreds of the best families of the\naristocracy of Quebec and Montreal resort every summer. We have, too\nlong, tried that experiment of young priests in the midst of such a\npeople. It has been a failure. Drunkenness, luxury and immoralities of\nthe most degrading kind are eating up the very life of Kamouraska\nto-day. Not less than thirty illegitimate births are known and\nregistered in different places from Kamouraska these last twelve months.\nIt is quite time to stop that state of affairs, and you are the only\none, Mons. Chiniquy, on whom we can rely for that great and difficult\nwork.\u201d\n\nThese words passed through my soul as a two-edged sword. My lips\nquivered, I felt as if I were choking, and my tongue, with difficulty\nmuttered: \u201cMy lord, I hope it is not your intention to remove me from my\ndear parish of Beauport.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, Mons. Chiniquy, we will not make use of our authority, to break the\nsacred and sweet ties which unite you to the parish of Beauport. But we\nwill put before your conscience the reasons we have to wish you at the\nhead of the great and important parish of Kamouraska.\u201d\n\nFor more than an hour, the two bishops made strong appeals to my charity\nfor the multitudes who were sunk into the abyss of drunkenness and every\nvice, and had no one to save them.\n\n\u201cSee how God and men are blessing you to-day,\u201d added the Archbishop\nSignaie, for what you have done in Beauport! Will they not bless you\nstill more, if you save that great and splendid parish of Kamouraska, as\nyou have saved Beauport? Will not a double crown be put upon your\nforehead by your bishops, your country and your God, if you consent to\nbe the instrument of the mercies of God towards the people of your own\nbirthplace, and the surrounding country, as you have just been for\nBeauport and its surrounding parishes? Can you rest and live in peace\nnow in Beauport, when you hear day and night the voice of the multitudes\nwho cry: \u2018Come to our help, we are perishing?\u2019 What will you answer to\nGod, at the last day, when He will show you the thousands of precious\nsouls lost at Kamouraska, because you refused to go to their rescue? As\nMonseigneur Turgeon has said, we will not make use of our authority to\nforce you to leave your present position; we hope that the prayers of\nyour bishops will be enough for you. We know what a great sacrifice it\nwill be for you to leave Beauport to-day; but do not forget that the\ngreater the sacrifice, the more precious will the crown be.\u201c\n\nMy bishops had spoken to me with such kindness! Their paternal and\nfriendly appeals had surely more power over me than orders. Not without\nmany tears; but with a true good will, I consented to give up the\nprospects of peace and comfort which were in store for me in Beauport,\nto plunge myself again into a future of endless trouble and warfare, by\ngoing to Kamouraska.\n\nThere is no need of saying that the people of Beauport did all in their\npower to induce the bishops to let me remain among them some time\nlonger. But the sacrifice had to be made. I gave my farewell address on\nthe second Sabbath of September; in the midst of indescribable cries,\nsobs and tears, and on the 17th of the same month, I was on my way to\nKamouraska. I had left everything behind me at Beauport, even to my\nbooks, in order to be freer in that formidable conflict which seemed to\nbe in store for me in my new parish.\n\nWhen I took leave of the bishops of Quebec, they showed me a letter just\nreceived by them from Mons. Varin, filled with the most bitter\nexpressions of indignation on account of the choice of such a fanatic\nand fire-brand as Chiniquy, for a place so well known for its peaceful\nhabits and harmony among all classes.\u201d The last words of the letter were\nas follows:\n\n\u201cThe clergy and people of Kamouraska and vicinity consider the\nappointment of Mons. Chiniquy to this parish as an insult, and we hope\nand pray that your lordship will change your mind on the subject.\u201d\n\nIn showing me the letter, my lord Signaie and Turgeon said: \u201cWe fear\nthat you will have more trouble than we expected with the old curate and\nhis partisans, but we commend you to the grace of God and the protection\nof the Virgin Mary, remembering that our Saviour has said: \u2018Fear not, I\nhave overcome the world.\u2019\u201d\n\nI arrived at Kamouraska the 21st of September, 1842, on one of the\nfinest days of the year. But my heart was filled with an unspeakable\ndesolation, for all along the way, the curates had told me that the\npeople, with their old pastor, were unanimous in their opposition to my\ngoing there. It was even rumored that the doors of the church would be\nshut against me, the next Sunday. To this bad news were added two very\nstrange facts. My brother Achilles, who was living at St. Michel, was to\ndrive me from that place to St. Roch des Aulnets, whence my other\nbrother Louis, would take me to Kamouraska. But we had not traveled more\nthan five or six miles, when the wheel of the newly finished and\nbeautifully painted buggy, having struck a stone, the seat was broken\ninto fragments, and we both fell to the ground.\n\nBy chance, as my brother was blessing the man who sold him that rig for\na new and first-class conveyance, a traveler going the same way passed\nby. I asked him for a place in his caleche, bade adieu to my brother,\nand consoled him by saying: \u201cAs you have lost your fine buggy in my\nservice, I will give you a better one.\u201d\n\nTwo days after, my second brother was driving me to my destination, and\nwhen about three or four miles from Kamouraska, his fine horse stepped\non a long nail which was on the road, fell down and died in the awful\nconvulsions of tetanus. I took leave of him, and consoled him also by\npromising to give him another horse.\n\nAnother carriage took me safely to the end of my journey. However,\nhaving to pass by the church, which was about 200 yards from the\nparsonage, I dismissed my driver at the door of the sacred edifice, and\ntook my satchel in hand, which was my only baggage, entered the church\nand spent more than an hour in fervent prayers, or rather in cries and\ntears. I felt so heart-sick that I needed that hour of rest and prayer.\nThe tears I shed there relieved my burdened spirit.\n\nA few steps from me, in the cemetery, lay the sacred remains of my\nbeloved mother, whose angelic face and memory were constantly before me.\nFacing me was the altar where I had made my first communion; at my left,\nwas the pulpit which was to be the battlefield where I had to fight the\nenemies of my God and my people, who, I had been repeatedly told, were\ncursing and grinding their teeth at me. But the vision of that old\ncurate I had soon to confront, and who had written such an impudent\nletter against me to the bishops, and the public opposition of the\nsurrounding priests to my coming into their midst, were the most\ndiscouraging aspects of my new position. I felt as if my soul had been\ncrushed. My very existence seemed an unbearable burden.\n\nMy new responsibilities came so vividly before my mind in that\ndistressing hour, that my courage, for a moment, failed me. I reproached\nmyself for the act of folly in yielding to the request of the bishops.\nIt seemed evident that I had accepted a burden too heavy for me to bear.\nBut I prayed with all the fervor of my soul to God and to the Virgin\nMary, and wept to my heart\u2019s content.\n\nThere was a marvellous power in the prayers and tears which came from my\nheart. I felt as a new man. I seemed to hear the trumpet of God calling\nme to the battlefield. My only business then was to go and fight,\nrelying on Him alone for victory. I took my traveling bag, went out of\nthe church, and walked slowly towards the parsonage, which has been\nburnt since. It was a splendid two-story building, eighty feet in\nlength, with capacious cellars. It had been built shortly after the\nconquest of Canada, as a store for contraband goods; but after a few\nyears of failure, became the parsonage of the parish.\n\nThe Rev. Mons. Varin, though infirm and sick, had watched me from his\nwindow, and felt bewildered at my entering the church and remaining so\nlong.\n\nI knocked the first door, but as nobody answered, I opened it, and\ncrossed the first large room to knock at the second door; but, here\nalso, no answer came except from two furious little dogs. I entered the\nroom, fighting the dogs, which bit me several times. I knocked at the\nthird and fourth doors with the same result\u2014no one to receive me.\n\nI knew that the next was the old curate\u2019s sleeping-room. At my knocking,\nan angry voice cried out: \u201cWalk in.\u201d\n\nI entered, made a step toward the old and infirm curate, who was sitting\nin his large arm chair. As I was about to salute him, he angrily said:\n\u201cThe people of Beauport have made great efforts to keep you in their\nmidst, but the people of Kamouraska will make as great an effort to turn\nyou out of this place.\u201d\n\n\u201cMons. le Cure,\u201d I answered calmly, \u201cGod knoweth that I never desired to\nleave Beauport for this place. But I think it is that great and merciful\nGod who has brought me here by the hand; and I hope He will help me to\novercome all opposition, from whatever quarter it may come.\u201d\n\nHe replied angrily: \u201cIs it to insult me that you call me \u2018Mons. le\nCure?\u2019 I am no more the curate of Kamouraska. You are the curate now,\nMr. Chiniquy.\u201d\n\n\u201cI beg your pardon, my dear Mr. Varin; you are still, I hope you will\nremain all your life, the honored and beloved curate of Kamouraska. The\nrespect and gratitude I owe you have caused me to refuse the titles and\nhonors which our bishop wanted to give me.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, then, if I am the curate, what are you?\u201d replied the old priest,\nwith more calmness.\n\n\u201cI am nothing but a simple soldier of Christ, and a sower of the good\nseed of the gospel!\u201d I answered. \u201cWhen I fight the common enemy in the\nplain, as Joshua did, you, like Moses, will stand on the top of the\nmountain, lift up your hands to heaven, send your prayers to the\nmercy-seat, and we will gain the day. Then both will bless the God of\nour salvation for the victory.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! well! this is beautiful, grand and sublime,\u201d said the old priest,\nwith a voice filled with friendly emotions. \u201cBut where is your household\nfurniture, your library?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy household furniture,\u201d I answered, \u201cis in this little bag which I\nhold in my hand. I do not want any of my books, as long as I have the\npleasure and honor to be with the good Mons. Varin, who will allow me, I\nam sure of it, to ransack his splendid library, and study his rare and\nlearned books.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut what rooms do you wish to occupy?\u201d rejoined the good old curate.\n\n\u201cAs the parsonage is yours, and not mine,\u201d I answered, \u201cplease tell me\nwhere you want me to sleep and rest. I will accept, with gratitude, any\nroom you will offer me, even if it were in your cellar or granary. I do\nnot want to bother you in any way. When I was young, a poor orphan in\nyour parish, some twenty years ago, were you not a father to me? Please\ncontinue to look upon me as your own child, for I have always loved you\nand considered you as a father, and still do the same. Were you not my\nguide and adviser, in my first steps in the ways of God? Please continue\nto be my friend and adviser to the end of your life. My only ambition is\nto be your right-hand man, and to learn from your old experience and\nyour sincere piety, how to live and work as a good priest of Jesus\nChrist.\u201d\n\nI had not finished the last sentence, when the old man burst into tears,\nthrew himself into my arms, pressed me to his heart, bathed me with his\ntears, and said, with a voice half-suffocated by his sobs: \u201cDear Mr.\nChiniquy, forgive me the evil things I have written and said about you.\nYou are welcome in my parsonage, and I bless God to have sent me such a\nyoung friend, who will help me to carry the burden of my old age.\u201d\n\nI then handed him the bishop\u2019s letter, which had confirmed all I had\nsaid about my mission of peace towards him.\n\nFrom that day to his death, which occurred six months after, I never had\na more sincere friend than Mr. Varin.\n\nI thanked God, who had enabled me at once, not only to disarm the chief\nof my opponents, but to transform him into my most sincere and devoted\nfriend. My hope was that the people would soon follow their chief, and\nbe reconciled to me, but I did not expect that this would be so soon,\nand from such an unforeseen and unexpected cause.\n\nThe principal reason the people had to oppose my coming to Kamouraska,\nwas, that I was the nephew of the Hon. Amable Dionne, who had made a\ncolossal fortune at their expense. The Rev. Mr. Varin, who was always in\nhis debt, was also forced by the circumstances, to buy everything, both\nfor himself and the church, from him, and had to pay, without a murmur,\nthe most exorbitant prices for everything.\n\nIn that way, the church and the curate, though they had very large\nrevenues, had never enough to clear their accounts. When the people\nheard that the nephew of Mons. Dionne was their curate, they said to\neach other: \u201cNow our poor church is forever ruined, for the nephew will,\nstill more than the curate, favor his uncle, and the uncle will be less\nscrupulous than ever in asking most unreasonable prices for his\nmerchandise.\u201d\n\nThey felt they had more than fallen from Charybdis into Scylla.\n\nThe very next day after my arrival, the beadle told me that the church\nneeded a few yards of cotton for some repairs, and asked me if he would\nnot go, as usual, to Mr. Dionne\u2019s store. I told him to go there first,\nask the price of that article, and then go to the other stores, ordering\nhim to buy at the cheapest one. Thirty cents was asked at Mr. Dionne\u2019s,\nand only fifteen cents at Mr. St. Pierre\u2019s; of course we bought at the\nlatter\u2019s store.\n\nThe day was not over before this apparently insignificant fact was known\nall over the parish, and was taking the most extraordinary and\nunforeseen proportions.\n\nFarmers would meet with their neighbors, and congratulate themselves\nthat, at last, the yoke imposed upon them by the old curate and Mr.\nDionne was broken; that the taxes they had to pay the store were at an\nend, with the monopoly which had cost them so much money. Many came to\nMr. St. Pierre to hear from his own lips that their new curate had, at\nonce, freed them from what they considered the long and ignominious\nbondage, against which they so often, but so vainly protested. For the\nrest of the week, this was the only subject of conversation. They\ncongratulated themselves, that they had, at last, a priest, with such an\nindependent and honest mind, that he would not do them any injustice,\neven to please a relative in whose house he had spent the years of his\nchildhood.\n\nThis simple act of fair play towards that people won over their\naffection. Only one little dark spot remained in their minds against me.\nThey had been told that the only subject on which I could preach was:\nRum, whiskey and drunkenness. And it seemed to them exceedingly tedious\nto hear nothing else from the curate, particularly when they were more\nthan ever determined to continue drinking their social glasses of\nbrandy, rum and wine.\n\nThere was an immense crowd at church the next Sunday. My text was: \u201cAs\nthe Father has loved me, so have I loved you.\u201d Showing them how Jesus\nhad proved that He was their friend.\n\nBut their sentiments of piety and pleasure at what they had heard were\nnothing compared to their surprise when they saw that I had preached\nnearly an hour without saying a word on whiskey, rum or beer.\n\nPeople are often compared to the waters of the sea in the Holy\nScriptures. When you see the roaring waves dashing on that rock to-day,\nas if they wanted to demolish it, do not fear that this fury will last\nlong. The very next day, if the wind has changed, the same waters will\nleave that rock alone, to spend their fury on the opposite rock. So it\nwas in Kamouraska. They were full of indignation and wrath when I set my\nfeet in their midst; but a few days later, those very men would have\ngiven the last drop of their blood to protect me. The dear Saviour had\nevidently seen the threatening storm which was to destroy His poor\nunprofitable servant. He had heard the roaring waves which were dashing\nagainst me. So he came down and bid the storm \u201cbe still,\u201d and the waves\nbe calm.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XL.\n\nORGANIZATION OF TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES IN KAMOURASKA AND SURROUNDING\n COUNTRY\u2014THE GIRL IN THE GARB OF A MAN IN THE SERVICE OF THE CURATES OF\n QUEBEC AND EBOULEMENTS\u2014FRIGHTENED BY THE SCANDALS SEEN EVERYWHERE\u2014GIVE\n UP MY PARISH OF KAMOURASKA TO JOIN THE \u201cOBLATES OF MARY IMMACULATE OF\n LONGGUEIL.\u201d\n\n\nTwo days after my arrival at Kamouraska, I received a letter from the\nsurrounding priests, at the head of whom was the Grand Vicar Mailloux,\nexpressing the hope that I would not try to form any temperance society\nin my new parish, as I had done in Beauport; for the good reasons, they\nsaid, that drunkenness was not prevailing in that part of Canada, as it\nwas in the city of Quebec. I answered them politely, that, so long as I\nshould be at the head of this new parish, I would try, as I had ever\ndone, to mind my own business, and I hoped that my neighboring friends\nwould do the same. Not long after, I saw that the curates felt ashamed\nof their vain attempt to intimidate me.\n\nThe next Sabbath, the crowd was greater than at the first. Having heard\nthat the merchants were to start the next day, with their schooners, to\nbuy their winter provisions of rum, I said, in a very solemn way, before\nmy sermon:\n\n\u201cMy friends, I know that, to-morrow, the merchants leave for Quebec, to\npurchase their rum. Let me advise them, as their best friend, not to buy\nany; and as the ambassador of Christ, I forbid them to bring a single\ndrop of those poisonous drinks here. It will surely be their ruin, if\nthey pay no attention to this friendly advice; for they will not sell a\nsingle drop of it, after next Sabbath. That day, I will show to the\nintelligent people of this parish, that rum, and all the other drugs\nsold here, under the name of brandy, wine and beer, are nothing else\nthan disgusting, deadly and cursed poisons.\u201d\n\nI then preached on the words of our Saviour: \u201cBe always ready; for ye\nknow neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh.\u201d Though\nthe people seemed much pleased and impressed by that second sermon, they\nfelt exceedingly irritated at my few warning words to the merchants.\nWhen the service was over, they all rallied around the merchants to tell\nthem not to mind what they had heard.\n\n\u201cIf our young curate,\u201d said they, \u201cthinks he will lead us by the nose,\nas he has done with the drunkards of Beauport, he will soon see his\nmistake. Instead of one hundred tons, as you brought last fall, bring us\ntwo hundred, this year; we will drink them to his health. We have a good\ncrop, and we want to spend a jolly winter.\u201d\n\nIt is probable that the church of Kamouraska had never seen within its\nwalls such a crowd as on the second Sabbath of October, 1842. It was\nliterally crammed. Curiosity had attracted the people, who, not less\neager to hear my first grand sermon against rum, than to see the failure\nthey expected, and wished, of my first efforts to form a temperance\nsociety. Long before the public service, at the door of the church, as\nwell as during the whole preceding week, the people had pledged\nthemselves never to give up their strong drink, and never to join the\ntemperance society.\n\nBut what are the resolutions of man against God? Is He not their master?\n\nThe half of that first sermon on temperance was not heard, when that\nwhole multitude had forgotten their public promises. The hearts were not\nonly touched\u2014they were melted and changed by God, who wanted to show,\nonce more, that His works of mercy were above all the works of His\nhands.\n\nFrom the very first day of my arrival in Kamouraska, I had made a\nserious and exact inquiry about the untold miseries brought upon the\npeople by intoxicating drinks.\n\nI had found that, during the last twenty years, twelve men had been\ndrowned, and eight had been frozen to death, who had left twenty widows\nand sixty orphans in the most distressing poverty. Sixty farmers had\nlost their lands, and had been obliged to emigrate to other places,\nwhere they were suffering all the pangs of poverty from the drunkenness\nof their parents; several other families had their properties mortgaged\nfor their whole value, to the rum merchants, and were expected, every\nday, to be turned out from their inheritances, to pay their rum bills.\nSeven mothers had died in delirium tremens, one had hung herself,\nanother drowned herself when drunk. One hundred thousand dollars had\nbeen paid to the rum merchants during the last fifteen years. Two\nhundred thousand more were due to the storekeeper; three-fourths of\nwhich were for strong drink. Four men had been murdered, among whom was\ntheir landlord, Achilles Tache, from their drunken habits!\n\nWhen I had recapitulated all these facts, which were public and\nundeniable, and depicted the desolation of the ruined families, composed\nof their own brothers, sisters, and dear children; when I brought before\ntheir minds, the tears of the widows, the cries of the starving and\nnaked children, the shame of the families, the red hands of the\nmurderers, and the mangled bodies of their victims; the eternal cries of\nthe lost from drunkenness, the broken-hearted fathers and mothers, whose\nchildren had been destroyed by strong drink; when I proved to them that\nthere was not a single one in their midst who had not suffered, either\nin his own person, or in that of his father or mother, brothers, sisters\nor children. Yes, when I had given them the simple and awful story of\nthe crimes committed in their midst; the ruin and deaths, the misery of\nthousands of precious souls for whom Christ died in vain, the church was\nfilled with such sobs and cries that I often could not be heard. Many\ntimes my voice was drowned by the indescribable confusion and\nlamentation of that whole multitude. Unable to contain myself, several\ntimes I stopped and mingled my sobs and cries with those of my people.\n\nWhen the sermon, which lasted two hours, was finished, I asked all those\nwho were determined to help me in stopping the ravages of intoxicating\ndrinks, in drying the tears which they caused to flow, and saving the\nprecious souls they were destroying, to come forward and take the public\npledge of temperance, by kissing a crucifix which I held in my hand.\nThirteen hundred and ten came.\n\nNot fifty of the people had refused to enroll themselves under the\nblessed and glorious banners of temperance! and these few recalcitrants\ncame forward, with a very few exceptions, the next time I spoke on the\nsubject.\n\nThe very same day, the wives of the merchants sent despatches to their\nhusbands in Quebec, to tell them what had been done, and not a single\nbarrel of intoxicating drinks was brought by them. The generous example\nof the admirable people of Kamouraska spoke with an irresistible\neloquence to the other parishes of that district, and before long, the\nblessed banners of temperance floated over all the populations of St.\nPascal, St. Andrew, Isle Verte, Cacouna, Riviere du Loup, Rimouski,\nMatane, St. Anne, St. Roch, Madawaska, St. Benoit, St. Luce, etc., on\nthe south side of the St. Lawrence, and the Eboulements, La Malbaye, and\nthe other parishes on the north side of the river; and the people kept\ntheir pledge with such fidelity that the trade in rum was literally\nkilled in that part of Canada, as it had been in Beauport and its\nvicinity.\n\nThe blessed fruits of this reform were soon felt and seen everywhere, in\nthe public prosperity and the spread of education. Kamouraska, which was\nowing $200,000, to the merchants in 1842, had not only paid its\ninterest, but had reduced its debt to only $120,000, when I left it to\ngo to Montreal, in 1846.\n\nGod only knows my joy at these admirable manifestations of his mercies\ntoward my country. However, the joys of man are never without their\nmixture of sadness.\n\nIn the good providence of God, being invited by all the curates to\nestablish temperance societies among their people, I had the sad\nopportunity, as no priest ever had in Canada, to know the secret and\npublic scandals of each parish. When I went to the Eboulements, on the\nnorth side of the river, invited by the Rev. Noel Toussignant, I learned\nfrom the very lips of that young priest, and the ex-priest, Tetreau, the\nhistory of the most shameful scandals.\n\nIn 1830, a young priest of Quebec, called Derome, had fallen in love\nwith one of his young female penitents of Vercheres, where he had\npreached a few days, and he had persuaded her to follow him to the\nparsonage of Quebec. The better to conceal their iniquity from the\npublic, he persuaded his victim to dress herself as a young man, and\nthrow her dress into the river, to make her parents and the whole parish\nbelieve that she was drowned. I had seen her many times at the parsonage\nof Quebec, under the name of Joseph, and had much admired her refined\nmanners, though more than once I was very much inclined to think that\nthe smart Joseph was no one else than a lost girl. But the respect I had\nfor the curate of Quebec (who was the coadjutor of the bishop) and his\nyoung vicars, caused me to reject those suspicions as unfounded.\nHowever, many, even among the first citizens of the city, had the same\nsuspicions, and they pressed me to go to the coadjutor and warn him; but\nI refused, and told those gentlemen to do that delicate work themselves,\nand they did it.\n\nThe position of that high dignitary and his vicar was not then a very\nagreeable one. Their bark had evidently drifted into dangerous waters.\nTo keep Joseph among themselves was impossible, after the friendly\nadvice from such high quarters, and to dismiss him was not less\ndangerous. He knew too well how the curate of Quebec, with his vicars,\nwere keeping their vows of celibacy, to dismiss him without danger to\nthemselves; a single word from his lips would destroy them. Happily, for\nthem, Mr. Clement, then curate of the Eboulements, was in search of such\na servant, and took him to his parsonage, after persuading the\nbishop-coadjutor to give Joseph a large sum of money to seal his lips.\n\nThings went on pretty smoothly between Joseph and the priest for several\nyears, till some suspicions arose in the minds of the sharp-sighted\npeople of the parish, who told the curate that it would be safer and\nmore honorable for him to get rid of his servant. In order to put an end\nto those suspicions, and to retain him in the parsonage, the curate\npersuaded him to marry the daughter of a poor neighbor.\n\nThe three bans were published, and the two girls were duly married by\nthe curate, who continued his criminal intimacies, in the hope that no\none would trouble him any more on that subject. But not long after he\nwas removed to La Petite Riviere, and in 1838, the Rev. M. Tetreau was\nappointed curate of the Eboulements. This new priest, knowing nothing of\nthe abominations which his predecessor had practiced, continued to\nemploy Joseph. One day, when Joseph was working at the gate of the\nparsonage, in the presence of several people, a stranger came and asked\nhim if Mr. Tetreau was at home.\n\n\u201cYes, sir, Mr. Curate is at home,\u201d answered Joseph; \u201cbut as you seem a\nstranger to the place, would you allow me to ask you from what parish\nyou come?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not ashamed of my parish,\u201d answered the stranger. \u201cI come from\nVercheres.\u201d\n\nAt the word \u201cVercheres,\u201d Joseph turned so pale that the stranger was\npuzzled. He looked carefully at him, and exclaimed:\n\n\u201cOh! my God! What do I see here? Genevieve! Genevieve! over whom we have\nmourned so long as drowned! Here you are, disguised as a man!\u201d\n\n\u201cDear uncle\u201d (it was her uncle); \u201cfor God\u2019s sake, not a word more here!\u201d\n\nBut it was too late; the people who were there had heard the uncle and\nthe niece. Their long and secret suspicions were well-founded. One of\ntheir former priests had kept a girl, under the disguise of a man, in\nhis house; and to blind his people more thoroughly, he had married that\ngirl to another, in order to have them both in the house when he\npleased, without awakening any suspicion!\n\nThe news went, almost as quickly as lightning, from one end to the other\nof the parish, and spread all over the country, on both sides of the St.\nLawrence. I had heard of that horror, but I could not believe it.\nHowever, I had to believe it, when, on the spot, I heard from the lips\nof the ex-curate, M. Tetreau, and the new curate, M. Noel de\nToussignant, and from the lips of my landlord, the Honorable Laterriere,\nthe following details, which had come to light only a short time before.\n\nThe justice of the peace had investigated the matter, in the name of\npublic morality. Joseph was brought before the magistrates, who decided\nthat a physician should be charged to make, not a _post mortem_ but an\n_ante-mortem_ inquest. The Honorable Laterriere, who made the inquest,\ndeclared that Joseph was a girl, and the bonds of marriage were legally\ndissolved.\n\nAt the same time, the curate M. Tetreau, had sent a dispatch to the\nRight Rev. Bishop-coadjutor of Quebec, informing him that the young man\nwhom he had kept in his house, several years, was legally proved a girl;\na fact which, I need hardly state, was well known by the bishop and his\nvicars! They immediately sent a trustworthy man with \u00a3500, to induce the\ngirl to leave the country without delay, lest she were prosecuted and\nsent to the penitentiary. She accepted the offer, and crossed the lines\nto the United States with her $2,000, where she was soon married, and\nwhere she still lives.\n\nI wished that this story had never been told me, or at least, that I\nmight be allowed to doubt some of its circumstances; but there was no\nhelp. I was forced to acknowledge that in my Church of Rome, there was\nsuch corruption from head to foot, which could scarcely be surpassed in\nSodom. I remember what the Rev. Mr. Perras had told me of the tears and\ndesolation of Bishop Plessis, when he had discovered that all the\npriests of Canada, with the exception of three, were atheists.\n\n[Illustration: CARDINAL NEWMAN.]\n\nI would not be honest, did I not confess that the personal knowledge of\nthat fact, which I learned in all its scandalous details from the very\nlips of unimpeachable witnesses, saddened me, and for a time, shook my\nfaith in my religion, to its foundation. I felt secretly ashamed to\nbelong to a body of men so completely lost to every sense of honesty, as\nthe priests and bishops of Canada. I had heard of many scandals before.\nThe infamies of the grand vicar Manceau and Quiblier of Montreal,\nCadieux at Three Rivers, and Viau at Riviere Ouelle. The public acts of\ndepravity of the priests Lelievre, Tabeau, Pouliot, Belisle, Brunet,\nQuevillon, Huot, Lajuste, Rabby, Crevier, Bellecourt, Valle, Mignault,\nNoel, Pinet, Duguez, Davely and many others, were known to me, as well\nas by the whole clergy. But the abominations of which Joseph was the\nvictim seemed to overstep the conceivable limits of infamy. For the\nfirst time, I sincerely regretted that I was a priest. The priesthood of\nRome seemed then, to me, the very fulfillment of the prophecy of\nRevelation, about the great prostitute, who makes the nations drunk with\nthe wines of her prostitutions.\n\nAuricular confession, which I knew to be the first, if not the only\ncause, of these abominations, appeared to me, what it really is, a\nschool of perdition for the priest and his female penitents. The\npriest\u2019s oath of celibacy, was to my eyes, in those hours of distress,\nbut a shameful mask to conceal a corruption which was unknown in the\nmost depraved days of old paganism. New and bright lights came, then,\nbefore my mind which, had I followed them, would have guided me to the\ntruth of the gospel. But I was blind! The Good Master had not yet\ntouched my eyes with his divine and life-giving hand. I had no idea that\nthere could be any other church than the Church of Rome, in which I\ncould be saved. I was, however, often saying to myself: \u201cHow can I hope\nto conquer on a battlefield where so many, as strong and even much\nstronger than I am, have perished?\u201d\n\nI felt no longer at peace. My soul was filled with trouble and anxiety.\nI not only distrusted myself, but I lost confidence in the rest of the\npriests and bishops. In fact, I could not see any one in whom I could\ntrust. Though my beautiful and dear parish of Kamouraska was, more than\never, overwhelming me with tokens of its affection, gratitude and\nrespect, it had lost its attraction for me. To whatever side I turned my\neyes, I saw nothing but the most seducing examples of perversion. It\nseemed as if I were surrounded by numberless snares, from which it was\nimpossible to escape. I wished to depart from this deceitful and lost\nworld.\n\nWhen my soul was as drowned under the waves of a bitter sea, the Rev.\nMr. Guignes, Superior of the Monastery of the Fathers of Oblates of Mary\nImmaculate, at Longueuil, near Montreal, came to pass a few days with\nme, for the benefit of his health.\n\nI spoke to him of that shameful scandal, and did not conceal from him\nthat my courage failed me, when I looked at the torrent of iniquity\nwhich was sweeping everything, under our eyes, with an irresistible\nforce.\n\n\u201cWe are here alone, in the presence of God,\u201d I said to him. \u201cI confess\nthat I feel an unspeakable horror at the moral ruin which I see\neverywhere in our church. My priesthood, of which I was so proud till\nlately, seems to me, to-day, the most ignominious yoke, when I see it\ndragged in the mud of the most infamous vices, not only by the immense\nmajority of the priests, but even by our bishops. How can I hope to save\nmyself, when I see so many stronger than I am, perishing all around me?\u201d\n\nThe Reverend Superior, with the kindness of a father and the gravity of\nan apostle, answered me:\n\n\u201cI understand your fears perfectly. They are legitimate and too\nwell-founded. Like you, I am a priest; and like you, if not more than\nyou, I know the numberless and formidable dangers which surround the\npriest. It is because I know them too well, that I have not dared to be\na secular priest, a single day. I knew the humiliating and disgraceful\nhistory of Joseph and the coadjutor bishop of Quebec. Nay! I know many\nthings still more horrible and unspeakable which I have learned when\npreaching and hearing confessions in France and in Canada. My fear is\nthat, to-day, there are not many more undefiled souls among the priests,\nthan in Sodom, in the days of Lot. The fact is, that it is morally\nimpossible for a secular priest to keep his vows of celibacy, except by\na miracle of the grace of God. Our holy church would be a modern Sodom,\nlong ago, had not our merciful God granted her the grace that many of\nour priests have always enrolled themselves among the armies of the\nregular priests, in the different religious orders which are, to the\nchurch, what the ark was to Noah and his children, in the days of the\ndeluge. Only the priests whom God calls, in His mercy, to become members\nof any of those orders, are safe. For they are under the paternal care\nand surveillance of superiors whose zeal and charity are like a shield\nto protect them. Their holy and strict laws are like strong walls and\nhigh towers which the enemy cannot storm.\u201d\n\nHe then spoke to me, with an irresistible eloquence, of the peace of\nsoul which a regular priest enjoys within the walls of his monastery. He\nrepresented, in the most attractive colors, the spiritual and constant\njoys of the heart which one feels when living, day and night, under the\neyes of a superior to whom he has vowed a perfect submission. He added:\n\u201cYour providential work is finished in the diocese of Quebec. The\ntemperance societies are established almost everywhere. We are in need\nof your long experience and your profound studies on that subject, in\nthe diocese of Montreal. It is true that the good Bishop de Nancy has\ndone what he could to support that holy cause, but, though he is working\nwith the utmost zeal, he has not studied that subject enough to make a\nlasting impression on the people. Come with us. We are more than thirty\npriests, oblates of Mary Immaculate, who will be too happy to second\nyour efforts in that noble work, which is too much for one man alone.\nMoreover, you cannot do justice to your great parish of Kamouraska and\nto the temperance cause together. You must give up one, to consecrate\nyourself to the other. Take courage, my young friend! Offer to God the\nsacrifice of your dear Kamouraska, as you made the sacrifice of your\nbeautiful Beauport, some years ago, for the good of Canada and in the\ninterest of the Church, which calls you to its help.\u201d\n\nIt seemed to me that I could oppose no reasonable argument to these\nconsiderations. I fell on my knees, and made the sacrifice of my\nbeautiful and precious Kamouraska. The last Sabbath of September, 1846,\nin the midst of tears and desolation which no words can depict, I gave\nmy farewell address to the so dear and intelligent people of Kamouraska,\nto go to Longueuil and become a novice of the Oblates of Mary\nImmaculate.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLI.\n\nPERVERSION OF DR. NEWMAN TO THE CHURCH OF ROME IN THE LIGHT OF HIS OWN\n EXPLANATIONS, COMMON SENSE AND THE WORD OF GOD.\n\n\nThe year 1843 will be long remembered in the Church of Rome for the\nsubmission of Dr. Newman to her authority. This was considered by many\nRoman Catholics as one of the greatest triumphs ever gained by their\nchurch against Protestantism. But some of us, more acquainted with the\ndaily contradictions and tergiversations of the Oxford divine, could not\nassociate ourselves in the public rejoicings of our church.\n\nFrom almost the very beginning of his public life, Dr. Newman, as well\nas Dr. Pusey, appeared to many of us as cowards and traitors in the\nProtestant camp, whose object was to betray the church which was feeding\nthem, and which they were sworn to defend. They both seemed to us to be\nskillful but dishonest conspirators.\n\nDr. Newman, caught in the very act of that conspiracy, has boldly denied\nit. Brought before the tribunal of public opinion as a traitor who,\nthough enrolled under the banners of the Church of England, was giving\nhelp and comfort to its foe, the Church of Rome, he has published a\nremarkable book under the title of \u201cApologia pro vita sua,\u201d to exculpate\nhimself. I hold in my hands the New York edition of 1865. Few men will\nread that book from beginning to end; and still fewer will understand it\nat its first reading. The art of throwing dust in the eyes of the public\nis brought to perfection in that work. I have read many books in my long\nlife, but I have never met with anything like the Jesuit ability shown\nby Dr. Newman in giving a color of truth to the most palpable errors and\nfalsehoods. I have had to read it at least four times, with the utmost\nattention, before being sure of having unlocked all its dark corners and\nsophistries.\n\nThat we may be perfectly fair towards Dr. Newman, let us forget what his\nadversaries have written against him, and let us hear only what he says\nin his own defence. Here it is. I dare say that his most bitter enemies\ncould never have been able to write a book so damaging against him as\nthis one which he has given us for his apology.\n\nLet me tell the reader at once that I, with many other priests of Rome,\nfelt at first an unspeakable joy at the reading of many of the \u201cTracts\nfor the Times.\u201d It is true that we keenly felt the blows Dr. Newman was\ngiving us now and then; but we were soon consoled by the more deadly\nblows which he was striking at his own Church\u2014the Church of England.\nBesides that, it soon became evident that the more he was advancing in\nhis controversial work, the nearer he was coming to us. We were not long\nwithout saying to each other: \u201cDr. Newman is evidently, though secretly,\nfor us; he is a Roman Catholic at heart, and will soon join us. It is\nonly from want of moral courage and honesty that he remains a\nProtestant.\u201d\n\nBut from the very beginning there was a cloud in my mind, and in the\nminds of many other of my co-priests, about him. His contradictions were\nso numerous, his sudden transitions from one side to the other extreme,\nwhen speaking of Romanism and Anglicanism; his eulogiums of our Church\nto-day, and his abuses of it the very next day; his expressions of love\nand respect for his own Church in one tract, so suddenly followed by the\ncondemnation of her dearest doctrines and practices in the next, caused\nmany others as well as myself to suspect that he had no settled\nprinciples, or faith in any religion.\n\nWhat was my surprise, when reading this strange book, I found that my\nsuspicions were too well founded; that Dr. Newman was nothing else than\none of those free-thinkers who had no real faith in any of the sacred\ndogmas he was preaching, and on which he was writing so eloquently! What\nwas my astonishment when, in 1865, I read in his own book, the\nconfession made by that unfortunate man that he was nothing else but a\ngiant weathercock, when the whole people of England were looking upon\nhim as one of the most sincere and learned ministers of the Gospel! Here\nis his own confession, pages 111, 112. Speaking of the years he had\nspent in the Episcopal Church as a minister, he says: \u201cAlas! It was my\nportion, for whole years, to remain without any satisfactory basis for\nmy religious profession; in a state of moral sickness, neither able to\nacquiesce in Anglicanism, nor able to go to Rome!\u201d This is Cardinal\nNewman, painted by himself! He tells us how _miserable_ he was when an\nEpiscopalian minister, by feeling that his religion had no basis, no\nfoundation!\n\nWhat is a preacher of religion who feels that he has no basis, no\nfoundation, no reason to believe in that religion? Is he not that blind\nman of whom Christ speaks, \u201cwho leads other blind men into the ditch?\u201d\n\nNote it is not Rev. Charles Kingsley; it is not any of the able\nProtestant controversialists: it is not even the old Chiniquy, who says\nthat Dr. Newman was nothing else but an unbeliever, when the Protestant\npeople were looking upon him as one of their most pious and sincere\nChristian theologians. It is Dr. Newman himself who, without suspecting\nit, is forced by the marvellous Providence of God, to reveal that\ndeplorable fact in his \u201cApologia pro vita sua.\u201d\n\nNow what was the opinion entertained by him of the high and low sections\nof his church? Here are his very words, page 91: \u201cAs to the High Church\nand the Low Church, I thought that the one had not much more of a\nlogical basis than the other; while I had a thorough contempt for the\nEvangelical!\u201d But please observe that when this minister of the Church\nof England had found, with the help of Dr. Pusey, that this church had\nno logical basis, and that he had a \u201cthorough contempt for the\nEvangelical,\u201d he kept a firm and continuous hold upon the living which\nhe was enjoying from day to day. Nay, it is when paid by his church to\npreach her doctrines and fight her battles that he set at work to raise\nanother church! Of course the new church was to have a firm basis on\nlogic, history and the Gospel; the new church was to be worthy of the\nBritish people, it was to be the modern ark to save the perishing world!\n\nThe reader will perhaps think I am joking, and that I am caricaturing\nDr. Newman. No! the hour in which we live is too solemn to be spent in\njokes\u2014it is rather with tears and sobs that we must approach the\nsubject. Here are the very words of Dr. Newman about the new church he\nwished to build after demolishing the Church of England as established\nby law. He says (page 116): \u201cI have said enough on what I consider to\nhave been the general objects of the various works which I wrote,\nedited, or prompted in the years which I am reviewing. _I wanted to\nbring out in a substantive form a living Church of England, in a\nposition proper to herself, and founded on distinct principles; as far\nas paper could do it_, and as earnestly preaching it and influencing\nothers toward it, could tend to make it in fact;\u2014a living church, made\nof flesh and blood, with voice, complexion, motion and action, and a\nwill of its own.\u201d (The italics are mine.) If I had not said that these\nwords were written by Dr. Newman, would the reader have suspected it?\n\nWhat is to be the name of the new church? Dr. Newman himself has called\nit \u201cVia Media.\u201d As the phrase indicates, it was to stand between the\nrival Churches of England and Rome, and it was to be built with the\nmaterials taken, as much as possible, from the ruins of both.\n\nThe first thing to be done, then, was to demolish that huge, illogical,\nunscriptural, unchristian church, restored by the English reformers. Dr.\nNewman bravely set to work, under the eye and direction of Dr. Pusey.\nHis merciless hammer was heard almost day and night from 1833 to 1834,\nstriking alternately, with hard blows, now against the church of the\nPope, whom he railed Antichrist, and then against his own church, which\nhe was, very soon, to find still more corrupted and defiled than its\nanti-Christian rival. For, as he was proceeding in his work of\ndemolition, he tells us that he found more clearly, every day, that the\nmaterials and the foundations of the Church of Rome were exceedingly\nbetter than those of his own. He then determined to give a _coup de\ngrace_ to the Church of England, and strike such a blow that her walls\nwould be forever pulverized. His perfidious tract XC. aims at this\nobject.\n\nNothing can surpass the ability and the pious cunning with which Dr.\nNewman tries to conceal his shameful conspiracy in his \u201cApologia.\u201d\n\nHear the un-British and unmanly excuses which he gives for having\ndeceived his readers, when he was looked upon as the most reliable\ntheologian of the day, in defence of the doctrine of the Church of\nEngland. In pages 236-37 he says: \u201cHow could I ever hope to make them\nbelieve in a second theology, when I had cheated them in the first? With\nwhat face could I publish a new edition of a dogmatic creed, and ask\nthem to receive it as gospel? Would it not be plain to them that no\ncertainty was to be found anywhere? Well, in my defence, I could make\nbut a lame apology; however, it was the true one\u2014viz: that I had not\nread the Fathers critically enough; that in such nice points as those\nwhich determine the angle of divergence between the two churches, I had\nmade considerable miscalculations; and how came this about? Why, the\nfact was, unpleasant as it was to avow, that I had leaned too much upon\nthe assertions of Usher, Jeremy Taylor, or Barrow, and had been deceived\nby them.\u201d\n\nHere is a specimen of the learning and honesty of the great Oxford\ndivine! Dr. Newman confesses that when he was telling his people \u201cSt.\nAugustine says this, St. Jerome says that\u201d\u2014when he assured them that St.\nGregory supported this doctrine, and Origen that, it was all false.\nThose holy fathers had never taught such doctrines. It was Usher, Taylor\nand Barrow who were citing them, and they had deceived him!\n\nIs it not a strange thing that such a shrewd man as Dr. Newman should\nhave so completely destroyed his own good name in the very book he\nwrote, with so much care and ingenuity, to defend himself? One remains\nconfounded\u2014he can hardly believe his own eyes at such want of honesty in\nsuch a man. It is evident that his mind was troubled at the souvenir of\nsuch a course of procedure. But he wanted to excuse himself by saying it\nwas the fault of Usher, Taylor and Barrow!\n\nAre we not forcibly brought to the solemn and terrible drama in the\nGarden of Eden? Adam hoped to be excused by saying, \u201cThe woman whom thou\ngavest to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree, and I did eat.\u201d\nThe woman said, \u201cThe serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.\u201d But what was\nthe result of those excuses? We read: \u201cTherefore the Lord God sent him\nforth from the Garden of Eden.\u201d Dr. Newman has lost the precious\ninheritance God has given him. He has lost the lamp he had received to\nguide his steps, and he is now in the dark dungeon of Popery,\nworshipping as a poor slave, the wafer god of Rome.\n\nBut what has become of that new church or religion, the _Via Media_,\nwhich has just come out from the sickly brain of the Oxford professor?\nLet us hear its sad and premature end from Dr. Newman himself. Let me,\nhowever, premise, that when Dr. Newman began his attacks against his\nchurch, he at first so skillfully mixed the most eloquent eulogiums with\nhis criticisms, that, though many sincere Christians were grieved, few\ndared to complain. The names of Pusey and Newman commanded such respect\nthat few raised their voices against the conspiracy. This emboldened\nthem. Month after month they became unguarded in their denunciations of\nthe Church of England, and more explicit in their support of Romanism.\nIn the meantime, the Church of Rome was reaping a rich harvest of\nperverts; for many Protestants were unsettled in their faith, and were\ngoing the whole length of the road to Rome, so cunningly indicated by\nthe conspirators. At last, the 90th tract appeared in 1843. It fell as a\nthunderbolt on the church. A loud cry of indignation was raised all over\nEngland against those who had so mercilessly struck at the heart of that\nchurch which they had sworn to defend. The bishops almost unanimously\ndenounced Dr. Newman and his Romish tendencies, and showed the absurdity\nof his _Via Media_.\n\nNow, let us hear him telling himself this episode of his life. For I\nwant to be perfectly fair to Dr. Newman. It is only from his own words\nand public acts that I want the reader to judge him.\n\nHere is what he says of himself, after being publicly condemned: \u201cI saw\nindeed clearly that my place in the movement was lost. Public confidence\nwas at an end. My occupation was gone. It was simply an impossibility\nthat I could say anything henceforth to good effect, when I had been\nposted up by the Marshal on the buttery hatch of every college of my\nUniversity after the manner of discommoned pastry-cooks, and when, in\nevery part of the country, and every class of society, through every\norgan and occasion of opinion, in newspapers, in periodicals, at\nmeetings, in pulpits, at dinner-tables in coffee-rooms, in railway\ncarriages, I was denounced as a traitor who had laid his train, and was\ndetected in the very act of firing it against the time-honored\nestablishment.\u201d... \u201cConfidence in me was lost. But I had already lost\nfull confidence in myself.\u201d (p. 132.)\n\nLet the reader hear these words from the very lips of Dr.\nNewman\u2014\u201c_Confidence in me was lost! But I had already lost full\nconfidence in myself!_\u201d (p. 132.) Are these words the indications of a\nbrave, innocent man? Or are they not the cry of despair of a cowardly\nand guilty conscience?\n\nWas it not when Wishart heard that the Pope and his millions of slaves\nhad condemned him to death, that he raised his head as a giant, and\nshowed that he was more above his accusers and his judges than the\nheavens are above the earth? Had he lost his confidence in himself and\nin his God when he said: \u201cI am happy to suffer and die in the cause of\nTruth?\u201d Did Luther lose confidence in himself and in his God, when\ncondemned by the Pope and all his Bishops, and ordered to go before the\nEmperor to be condemned to death, if he would not retract? No! It is in\nthose hours of trial that he made the world to re-echo the sublime words\nof David: \u201cGod is our refuge and our strength, a present help in\ntrouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and\nthough the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Though the\nwaters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the\nswelling thereof.\u201d But Luther had a good cause. He knew, he felt, that\nthe God of Heaven was on his side, when Dr. Newman knew well that he was\ndeceiving the world, after having deceived himself. Luther was strong\nand fearless: for the voice of Jesus had come through the fifteen\ncenturies to tell him: \u201cFear not, I am with thee.\u201d Dr. Newman was weak,\ntrembling before the storm, for his conscience was reproaching him for\nhis treachery and his unbelief.\n\nDid Latimer falter and lose his confidence in himself and in his God,\nwhen condemned by his judges and tied to the stake to be burnt? No! It\nis then that he uttered those immortal and sublime words: \u201cMaster\nRidley: Be of good comfort and play the man; we shall, this day, light a\ncandle, by God\u2019s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out!\u201d\n\nThis is the language of men who are fighting for Christ and His Gospel.\nDr. Newman could not use such noble language when he was betraying\nChrist and His Gospel.\n\nNow, let us hear from himself when, after having lost the confidence of\nhis Church and his country, and having also lost his confidence in\nhimself, he saw a ghost, and found that the Church of Rome was right. At\npage 157, he says: \u201cMy friend, an anxiously religious man, pointed out\nthe palmary words of St. Augustine which were contained in one of the\nextracts made in the (Dublin) _Review_, and which had escaped my\nobservation, \u2018Securus judicat orbis terrarum.\u2019 He repeated these words\nagain and again; and when he was gone, they kept ringing in my ears....\nThe words of St. Augustine struck me with such a power which I never had\nfelt from any words before. To take a familiar instance, they were like\nthe \u2018Turn again, Whittington,\u2019 of the chime; or, to take a more serious\none, they are like the \u2018tolle lege\u2019 of the child which converted St.\nAugustine himself. \u2018Securus judicat orbis terrarum!\u2019 By those great\nwords of the ancient father, the theory of the _Via Media_ was\nabsolutely pulverized. I became excited at the view thus opened upon\nme.... I had seen the shadow of a hand upon the wall.... He who has seen\na ghost cannot be as if he had never seen it. The heaven had opened and\nclosed again. The thought, for the moment, had been: \u2018The Church of Rome\nwill be found right, after all.\u2019\u201d (158).\n\nIt would be amusing, indeed, if it were not so humiliating, to see the\n_naivete_ with which Dr. Newman confesses his own aberration, want of\njudgment and honesty in reference to the pet scheme of his whole\ntheological existence at Oxford. \u201cBy these words,\u201d he says, \u201cthe _Via\nMedia_ was absolutely pulverized!\u201d\n\nWe all know the history of the mountain in travail, which gave birth to\na mouse. Dr. Newman tells us frankly that, after ten years of hard and\npainful travail, he produced something less than a mouse. His _Via\nMedia_ was pulverized; it turned to be only a handful of dust.\n\nRemember the high-sounding of his trumpet about his plan of a new\nchurch, that New Jerusalem on earth, the church of the future which was\nto take the place of his rotten Church of England. Let me repeat to you\nhis very words about that new ark of salvation with which the professor\nof Oxford was to save the world. (Page 116): \u201cI wanted to bring out, in\na substantive form, a living Church of England, in a position proper to\nherself and founded on distinct principles, as far as paper could do it,\nand as earnestly preaching it and influencing others towards it could\ntend to make it a fact: a living church, made of flesh and blood, with\nvoice, complexion, and motion, and action, and a will of its own.\u201d\n\nNow, what was the end of that masterpiece of theological architecture of\nDr. Newman? Here is its history, given by the great architect himself:\n\u201cI read the palmary words of St. Augustine, \u2018_Securus judicat orbis\nterrarum!_\u2019 By those great words of the ancient father, the theory of\nthe _Via Media_ was pulverized! I became excited at the view thus opened\nbefore me. I had seen the shadow of a hand on the wall. He who has seen\na ghost can never be as if he had not seen it; the heavens had opened\nand closed again. The thought, for a moment, was \u2018The Church of Rome\nwill be found right, after all.\u2019\u201d (158). Have we ever seen a man\ndestroying himself more completely at the very moment that he tries to\ndefend himself? Here he does ingeniously confess what every one knew\nbefore, that his whole work, for the last ten years, was not only a\nself-deception, but a supreme effort to deceive the world\u2014his _Via\nMedia_ was a perfect string of infidelity, sophism, and folly. The whole\nfabric had fallen to the ground at the sight of a ghost! To build a\ngrand structure, in the place of his Church which he wanted to demolish,\nhe had thought it was sufficient to throw a great deal of glittering\nsand, with some blue, white, and red dust, in the air! He tells us that\none sad hour came when he heard five Latin words from St. Augustine, saw\na ghost\u2014and his great structure fell to the ground!!\n\nWhat does this all mean? It simply means that God Almighty has dealt\nwith Dr. Newman as He did with the impious Pharaoh in the Red Sea, when\nhe was marching at the head of his army against the church of old, his\nchosen people, to destroy them.\n\nDr. Newman was not only marching with Dr. Pusey at the head of an army\nof theologians to destroy the Church of God, but he was employing all\nthe resources of his intellect, all his false and delusive science, to\nraise an idolatrous church in its place; and when Pharaoh and Dr. Newman\nthought themselves sure of success, the God of Heaven confounded them\nboth. The first went down with his army to the bottom of the sea as a\npiece of lead. The second lost, not his life, but something infinitely\nmore precious\u2014he lost his reputation for intelligence, science and\nintegrity; he lost the light of the Gospel, and became perfectly blind,\nafter having lost his place in the kingdom of Christ!\n\nI have never judged a man by the hearsay of anyone, and I would prefer\nto have my tongue cut out than to repeat a word of what the adversaries\nof Dr. Newman have said against him. But we have the right, and I think\nit is our duty, to hear and consider what he says of himself, and to\njudge him on his own confession.\n\nAt page 174 we read these words from his own pen to a friend: \u201cI cannot\ndisguise from myself that my preaching is not calculated to defend that\nsystem of religion which has been received for three hundred years, and\nof which the Heads of Houses are the legitimate maintainers in this\nplace.... I fear I must allow that, whether I will or no, I am disposing\nthem (the young men) towards Rome.\u201d Here Dr. Newman declares, in plain\nEnglish, that he was disposing his hearers and students at Oxford to\njoin the Church of Rome! I ask it: what can we think of a man who is\npaid and sworn to do a thing, who not only does it not, but who does the\nvery contrary? Who would hesitate to call such a man dishonest? Who\nwould hesitate to say that such a one has no respect for those who\nemploy him, and no respect for himself?\n\nDr. Newman writes this whole book to refute the public accusation that\nhe was a traitor, that he was preparing the people to leave the Church\nof England and to submit to the Pope. But, strange to say, it is in that\nvery book we find the irrefutable proof of his shameful and ignominious\ntreachery! In a letter to Dr. Russell, President of the Roman Catholic\nCollege of Maynooth, he wrote, page 227: \u201cRoman Catholics will find this\nto be the state of things in time to come, whatever promise they may\nfancy there is of a large secession to their church. This man or that\nmay leave us, but there will be no general movement. There is, indeed,\nan incipient movement of our church towards yours, and this your leading\nmen are doing all they can to frustrate by their unwearied efforts, at\nall risks to carry off individuals. When will they know their position,\nand embrace a larger and wiser policy?\u201d Is it not evident here that God\nwas blinding Dr. Newman, and that He was making him confess his\ntreachery in the very moment that he was trying to conceal it? Do we not\nsee clearly that he was complaining of the unwise policy of the leaders\nof the Church of Rome who were retarding _that incipient movement_ of\nhis church towards Romanism, for which he was working day and night with\nDr. Pusey?\n\nBut had not Dr. Newman confessed his own treachery, we have, to-day, its\nundeniable proof in the letter of Dr. Pusey to the English Church Union,\nwritten in 1879. Speaking of Dr. Newman and the other Tractarians, he\nsays: \u201cAn acute man, Dr. Hawkins, Provost of Oriel, said of the\n\u2018Tracts,\u2019 on their first appearance, \u2018I know they have a forced\ncirculation.\u2019 We put the leaven into the meal, and waited to see what\nwould come of it. Our object was to Catholicise England.\u201d\n\nAnd this confession of Dr. Pusey, that he wanted to Catholicise England,\nis fully confirmed by Dr. Newman (page 108, 109) where he says: \u201cI\nsuspect it was Dr. Pusey\u2019s influence and example which set me and made\nme set others on the larger and more careful works in defense of the\nprinciples of the movement which followed\u201d (towards Rome) \u201cin a course\nof years.\u201d\n\nNothing is more curious than to hear from Dr. Newman himself with what\nskill he was trying to conceal his perfidious efforts in preparing that\nmovement towards Rome. He says on that subject, page 124: \u201cI was\nembarrassed in consequence of my wish to go as far as possible in\ninterpreting the articles in the direction of Roman dogma, without\ndisclosing what I was doing to the parties whose doubts I was meeting,\nwho might be, thereby, encouraged to go still farther than, at present,\nthey found in themselves any call to do.\u201d\n\nA straw fallen on the water indicates the way the tide goes. Here we\nhave the straw, taken by Dr. Newman himself, and thrown by him on the\nwater. A thousand volumes written by the ex-Professor of Oxford to deny\nthat he was a conspirator at work to lead his people to Rome, when in\nthe service of the Church of England, could not destroy the evident\nproof of his guilt given by himself in this strange book.\n\nIf we want to have a proof of the supreme contempt Dr. Newman had for\nhis readers, and his daily habit of deceiving them by sophistries and\nincorrect assertions, we have it in the remarkable lines which I find at\npage 123 of his _Apologia_. Speaking of his \u201cdoctrinal development,\u201d he\nsays: \u201cI wanted to ascertain what was the limit of that elasticity in\nthe direction of Roman dogma. But, next, I had a way of inquiry of my\nown which I state without defending. I instanced it afterward in my\nessay on \u2018Doctrinal Development.\u2019 That work, I believe, I have not read\nsince I published it, and I doubt not at all that I have made many\nmistakes in it, partly from my ignorance of the details of doctrine as\nthe Church of Rome holds them, but partly from my impatience to clear as\nlarge a range for the _Principles_ of doctrinal development (waiving the\nquestion of historical _fact_) as was consistent with the strict\napostolicity and identity of the Catholic creed. In like manner, as\nregards the Thirty-nine Articles, my method of inquiry was to leap \u2018_in\nmedias res_\u2019\u201d (123-124).\n\nDr. Newman is the author of two new systems of theology; and, from his\nown confession, the two systems are a compendium of error, absurdities,\nand folly. His _Via Media_ was \u201cpulverized\u201d by the vision of a ghost,\nwhen he heard the four words of St. Augustine: \u201c_Securus judicat orbis\nterrarum._\u201d The second, known under the name of \u201cDoctrinal Development,\u201d\nis, from his own confession, full of errors on account of his ignorance\nof the subject on which he was writing, and his own impatience to\nsupport his sophisms.\n\nDr. Newman is really unfortunate in his paternity. He is the father of\ntwo children. The first-born was called _Via Media_. But it had neither\nhead nor feet, it was suffocated on the day of its birth by a \u201cghost.\u201d\nThe second, called \u201cDoctrinal Development,\u201d was not _viable_. The father\nis so shocked with the sight of the monster, that he publicly confessed\nits deformities and cries out, \u201cMistake! mistake! mistake!\u201d (pages\n123-124 _Apologia pro vita sua_).\n\nThe troubled conscience of Dr. Newman has forced him to confess (page\n111) that he was miserable, from his want of faith, when a minister of\nthe Church of England and a Professor of Theology of Oxford: \u201cAlas! it\nwas my portion for whole years to remain without any satisfactory basis\nfor my religious profession!\u201d At page 174 and 175 he tells us how\nmiserable and anxious he was when the voice of his conscience reproached\nhim in the position he held in the Church of England, while leading her\npeople to Rome. At page 158 he confesses his unspeakable confusion when\nhe saw his supreme folly in building up the _Via Media_, and heard it\ncrash at the appearance of a ghost. At page 123 he acknowledges how he\ndeceived his readers, and deceived himself, in his \u201cDoctrinal\nDevelopment.\u201d At page 132 he tells us how he had not only completely\nlost the confidence of his country, but lost confidence in himself. And\nit is after this humiliating and shameful course of life that he finds\nout \u201cthat the Church of Rome is right!\u201d\n\nMust we not thank God for having forced Dr. Newman to tell us through\nwhat dark and tortuous ways a Protestant, a disciple of the Gospel, a\nminister of Christ, a Professor of Oxford, fell into that sea of Sodom\ncalled Romanism or Papism! A great lesson is given us here. We see the\nfulfillment of Christ\u2019s word about those who have received great talents\nand have not used them for the \u201cGood Master\u2019s honor and glory.\u201d\n\nDr. Newman, without suspecting it, tells us that it was his course of\naction towards that branch of the Church of Christ of which he was a\nminister, that caused him to lose the confidence of his country, and\ntroubled him so much that it caused him to lose that self-confidence\nwhich is founded on our faith and our union with Christ, who is our\nrock, our only strength in the hour of trial. Having lost her sails, her\nanchor, and her helm, the poor ship was evidently doomed to become a\nwreck. Nothing could prevent her from drifting into the engulfing abyss\nof Popery.\n\nDr. Newman confesses that it is only when his guilty conscience was\nuniting its thundering voice with that of his whole country to condemn\nhim, that he said, \u201cAfter all, the Church of Rome is right!\u201d\n\nThese are the arguments, the motives, the light which have led Dr.\nNewman to Rome! And it is from himself that we have it! It is a just,\nand avenging God who forces his adversary to glorify Him and say the\ntruth in spite of himself in this \u201c_Apologia pro vita sua_.\u201d\n\nNo one can read that book, written with almost a superhuman skill,\nability, and fineness, without a feeling of unspeakable sadness at the\nsight of such bright talents, such eloquence, such extensive studies,\nemployed by the author to deceive himself and deceive his readers; for\nit is evident, on every page, that Dr. Newman has deceived himself\nbefore deceiving his readers. But no one can read that book without\nfeeling a sense of terror also. For he will hear, at every page, the\nthundering voice of the God of the Gospel, \u201cBecause they received not\nthe love of the Truth that they might be saved, God shall send them\nstrong delusions, that they should believe a lie.\u201d (2 Thess. ii:10-11).\n\nWhat, at first, most painfully puzzles the mind of the Christian reader\nof this book is the horror which Dr. Newman has for the Holy Scriptures.\nThe unfortunate man who is perishing from hydrophobia does not keep\nhimself more at a distance from water than he does from the word of God.\nIt seems incredible, but it is a fact, that from the first page of the\nhistory of his \u201cReligious Opinions\u201d to page 261, where he joins the\nChurch of Rome, we have not a single line to tell us that he has gone to\nthe Word of God for light and comfort in his search after truth. We see\nDr. Newman at the feet of Daniel Wilson, Scott, Milner, Whately,\nHawkins, Blanco White, William James, Butler, Keble, Froude, Pusey, &c.,\nasking them what to believe, what to do to be saved: but you do not see\nhim a single minute, no! not a single minute, at the feet of the\nSaviour, asking him, \u201cMaster, what must I do to have \u2018Eternal Life?\u2019\u201d\nThe sublime words of Peter to Christ, which are filling all the echoes\nof heaven and earth, these eighteen hundred years, \u201cLord! To whom shall\nwe go? Thou hast the words of eternal life!\u201d have never reached his\nears! In the long and gloomy hours, when his soul was chilled and\ntrembling in the dark night of infidelity; when his uncertain feet were\ntired by vainly going here and there, to find the true way, he has never\nheard Christ telling him: \u201cCome unto Me. I am the Way; I am the Door; I\nam the Life!\u201d In those terrible hours of distress of which he speaks so\neloquently, when he cries (page 111) \u201cAlas! I was without any basis for\nmy religious profession, in a state of moral sickness: neither able to\nacquiesce in Anglicanism, nor able to go to Rome:\u201d when his lips were\nparched with thirst after truth, he never, no never, went to the\nfountain from which flow the waters of eternal life!\n\nOne day, he goes to the Holy Fathers. But what will he find there? Will\nhe see how St. Cyprien sternly rebuked the impudence of Stephen, Bishop\nof Rome, who pretended to have some jurisdiction over the See of\nCarthage? Will he find how Gregory positively says that the Bishop who\nwill pretend to be the \u201cUniversal Bishop\u201d is the forerunner of\nAnti-Christ? Will he hear St. Augustine declaring that when Christ said\nto Peter, \u201cThou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church,\u201d\nHe was speaking of Himself as the rock upon which the Church would\nstand? No. The only thing which Dr. Newman brings us from the Holy\nFathers is so ridiculous and so unbecoming that I am ashamed to have to\nrepeat it. He tells us (page 78), \u201cI have an idea. The mass of the\nFathers (Justin, Anthenagoras, Iren\u00e6us, Clement, Tertullian, Origen,\nAmbrose), hold that, though Satan fell from the beginning, the angels\nfell before the deluge, falling in love with the daughters of men. This\nhas lately come across me as a remarkable solution of a notion I cannot\nhelp holding.\u201d\n\nAllow me here to remind the reader that, though the Fathers have written\nmany beautiful evangelical pages, some of them have written the greatest\nnonsense and the most absurd things which human folly can imagine. Many\nof them were born and educated as pagans. They had learned and believed\nthe history and immorality of their demi-gods; they had brought those\nnotions with them into the Church; and they had attributed to the angels\nof God, the passions and love for women which was one of the most\nconspicuous characters of Jupiter, Mars, Cupid, Bacchus, etc. And Dr.\nNewman, whose want of accuracy and judgment is so often revealed and\nconfessed by him in this book, has not been able to see that those\nsayings of the Fathers were nothing but human aberrations. He has\naccepted that as Gospel truth, and he has been silly enough to boast of\nit.\n\nThe bees go to the flowers to make their precious honey. They wisely\nchoose what is more perfect, pure and wholesome in the flowers to feed\nthemselves. Dr. Newman does the very contrary: he goes to those flowers\nof past ages, the Holy Fathers, and takes from them what is impure for\nhis food. After this, is it a wonder that he has so easily put his lips\nto the cup of the great enchantress who is poisoning the world with the\nwine of her prostitution?\n\nWhen the reader has followed with attention the history of the religious\nopinions of Dr. Newman in his \u201c_Apologia pro vita sua_,\u201d and he sees him\napproaching, day after day, the bottomless abyss of folly, corruption,\nslavery and idolatry of Rome, into which he suddenly falls (page 261),\nhe is forcibly reminded of the strange spectacle recorded in the\neloquent pages of Chateaubriand, about the Niagara Falls.\n\nMore than once, travelers standing at the foot of that marvel of the\nmarvels of the works of God, looking up toward heaven, have been struck\nby the sight of a small, dark spot, moving in large circles, at a great\ndistance above the fall. Gazing at that strange object, they soon\nremarked that in its circular march in the sky, the small, dark spot was\nrapidly growing larger, as it was coming down towards the thundering\nfall. They soon discovered the majestic form of one of the giant eagles\nof America! And the eagle, balancing himself in the air, seemed to look\ndown on the marvellous fall, as if absolutely taken with admiration at\nits grandeur and magnificence! For some time, the giant of the air\nremained above the majestic cataract, describing his large circles. But\nwhen coming down nearer and nearer the terrific abyss, he was suddenly\ndragged by an irresistible power into the bottomless abyss, to\ndisappear. Some time later the body, bruised and lifeless, is seen\nfloating on the rapid and dark waters, to be forever lost in the bitter\nwaters of the sea, a long distance below.\n\nRome is a fall. It is the name which God himself has given her: \u201cThere\ncome a falling away\u201d (2 Thess. ii., 3). As the giant eagle of America,\nwhen imprudently coming too near the mighty Fall of Niagara, is often\ncaught in the irresistible vortex which attracts it from a long\ndistance, so that eagle of Oxford, Dr. Newman, whom God had created for\nbetter things, has imprudently come too near the terrific papal fall. He\nhas been enchanted by its beauty, its thousand bright rainbows; he has\ntaken for real suns the fantastic jets of light which encircles its\nmisty head, and conceals its dark and bottomless abyss. Bewildered by\nthe bewitching voice of the enchantress, he has been unable to save\nhimself from her perfidious and almost irresistible attractions. The\neagle of Oxford has been caught in the whirlpool of the engulphing\npowers of Rome, and you see him to-day, bruised, lifeless, dragged on\nthe dark waters of Popery towards the shore of a still darker eternity.\n\nDr. Newman could not make his submission to Rome without perjuring\nhimself. He swore that he would never interpret the Holy Scriptures\nexcept according to the unanimous consent of the Holy Fathers. Well, I\nchallenge him here, to meet me and show me that the Holy Fathers are\nunanimous on the supremacy of the power of the Pope over the other\nBishops; that he is infallible; that the Priest has the power to make\nhis God with a wafer; that the Virgin Mary is the only hope for sinners.\nI challenge him to show us that auricular confession is an ordinance of\nChrist. Dr. Newman knows well that those things are impostures. He has\nnever believed, he never will believe them.\n\nThe fact is that Dr. Newman confesses that he never had any faith when\nhe was a minister of the Church of England; and it is clear that he is\nthe same since he became a Roman Catholic. In page 282 we read this\nstrange exposition of his faith: \u201cWe are called upon not to profess\nanything, but to submit and be silent,\u201d which is just the faith of the\nmute animal which obeys the motion of the bridle, without any resistance\nor thought of its own. This is\u2014I cannot deny it\u2014the true, the only faith\nin the Church of Rome; it is the faith which leads directly to Atheism\nor idiotism. But Christ gave us a very different idea of the faith he\nasks from his disciples when he said: \u201cThe time has come when the\nworshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.\u201d (John vi.,\n23.)\n\nThat degraded and brutal religion of Dr. Newman, surely was not the\nreligion of Paul, when he wrote, \u201cI speak as to wise men; judge ye what\nI say.\u201d (1 Cor. x., 15.) Dr. Newman honestly tells us (page 228), when\nspeaking of the worship of the Virgin Mary: \u201cSuch devotional\nmanifestations in honor of our Lady had been my great _Crux_ as regards\nCatholicism. I say, frankly that I do not fully enter into them now ...\nthey are suitable for Italy, but are not suitable for England.\u201d He has\nonly changed his appearance\u2014his heart is what it was formerly, when a\nminister of the Church of England. He wanted then another creed, another\nChurch for England. So now, he finds that this and that practice of Rome\nmay do for the Italians, but not for the English people!\n\nWas he pleased with the promulgation of Papal infallibility? No. It is a\npublic fact that one of his most solemn actions, a few years since his\nconnection with the Church of Rome, was to protest against the\npromulgation of that dogma. More than that, he expressed his doubts\nabout the wisdom and the right of the Council to proclaim it.\n\nLet us read his interesting letter to Bishop Ullathorne\u2014\u201cRome ought to\nbe a name to lighten the heart at all times; and a council\u2019s proper\noffice is, when some great heresy or other evil impends, to inspire hope\nand confidence in the faithful. But now we have the greatest meeting\nwhich ever has been, and that at Rome, infusing into us by the\naccredited organs of Rome and of its partisans (such as the _Civilta_,\nthe _Armonia_, the _Univers_ and the _Tablet_) little else than fear and\ndismay! When we are all at rest and have no doubts, and\u2014at least\npractically, not to say doctrinally\u2014hold the Holy Father to be\ninfallible, suddenly there is thunder in the clear sky, and we are told\nto prepare for something, we know not what, to try our faith, we know\nnot how\u2014no impending danger is to be averted, but a great difficulty is\nto be created. Is this the proper work of an [OE]cumenical Council? As\nto myself, personally, please God, I do not expect any trial at all; but\nI cannot help suffering with the many souls who are suffering, and I\nlook with anxiety at the prospect of having to defend decisions which\nmay not be difficult to my own private judgment, but may be most\ndifficult to maintain logically in the face of historical facts.\n\n\u201cWhat have we done to be treated as the faithful never were treated\nbefore? When has a definition _de fide_ been a luxury of devotion, and\nnot a stern, painful necessity? Why should an aggressive, insolent\nfaction be allowed to \u2018make the heart of the just sad, whom the Lord\nhath not made sorrowful?\u2019 Why cannot we be let alone, when we have\npursued peace, and thought no evil!\n\n\u201cI assure you, my Lord, some of the truest minds are driven one way and\nanother, and do not know where to rest their feet\u2014one day determining\n\u2018to give up all theology as a bad job,\u2019 and recklessly to believe\nhenceforth almost that the Pope is impeccable; at another, tempted to\n\u2018believe all the worst that a book like _Janus_ says;\u2019 others doubting\nabout \u2018the capacity possessed by Bishops drawn from corners of the\nearth, to judge what is fitting for European society;\u2019 and then, again,\nangry with the Holy See for listening to \u2018the flattery of a clique of\nJesuits, redemptorists, and converts.\u2019\n\n\u201cThen, again, think of the store of Pontifical scandals in the history\nof eighteen centuries, which have partly been poured forth, and partly\nare still to come. What Murphy inflicted upon us in one way, M. Veuillot\nis indirectly bringing on us in another. And then, again, the blight\nwhich is falling upon the multitude of Anglican Ritualists, etc., who,\nthemselves, perhaps\u2014at least their leaders\u2014may never become Catholics,\nbut who are leavening the various English denominations and parties (far\nbeyond their own range), with principles and sentiments towards their\nultimate absorption into the Catholic Church.\n\n\u201cWith these thoughts ever before me, I am continually asking myself\nwhether I ought not to make my feelings public? But all I do is to pray\nthose early doctors of the Church, whose intercession would decide the\nmatter (Augustine, Ambrose and Jerome, Athanasius, Chrysostom and\nBasil), to avert this great calamity.\n\n\u201cIf it is God\u2019s will that the Pope\u2019s infallibility be defined, then it\nis God\u2019s will to throw back \u2018the times and movements\u2019 of that triumph\nwhich He has destined for His kingdom, and I shall feel I have but to\nbow my head to His adorable, inscrutable providence.\n\n\u201cYou have not touched upon the subject yourself, but I think you will\nallow me to express to you feeling which, for the most part, I keep to\nmyself.\u201d[C]\n\n-----\n\nFootnote C:\n\n \u201c_The Pope, the Kings, and the People._\u201d (Mullan & Son, Paternoster\n Square, pp. 269-70.) Also see (London) _Standard_, 7th April, 1870.\n\n-----\n\nThese eloquent complaints of the new convert exceedingly irritated Pius\nIX. and the Jesuits at Rome; they entirely destroyed their confidence in\nhim. They were too shrewd to ignore that he had never been anything else\nbut a kind of free-thinker, whose Christian faith was without any basis,\nas he himself confessed. They had received him, of course, with\npleasure, for he was the very best man in England to unsettle the minds\nof the young ministers of the Church, but they had left him alone in his\noratory of Birmingham, where they seemed to ignore him.\n\nHowever, when the protest of the new so-called convert showed that his\nsubmission was but a sham, and that he was more Protestant than ever,\nthey lashed him without mercy. But before we hear the stern answers of\nthe Roman Catholics to their new recruit, let us remember the fact that\nwhen that letter appeared, Dr. Newman had lost the memory of it; he\nboldly denied its paternity at first; it was only when the proofs were\npublicly given that he had written it, that he acknowledged it, saying\nfor his excuse that he had forgotten his writing it!!\n\nNow let us hear the answer of the _Civilta_, the organ of the Pope, to\nDr. Newman. \u201cDo you not see that it is only temptation that makes you\nsee everything black? If the Holy Doctors whom you invoke, Ambrose,\nJerome, etc., do not decide the controversy in your way, it is not as\nthe Protestant _Pall Mall Gazette_ fancies, because they will not or\ncannot interpose, but because they agree with St. Peter, and with the\npetition of the majority. Would you have us make a procession in\nsackcloth and ashes to avert this scourge of the definition of a\nverity?\u201d _Ibid_, p. 281.\n\nThe clergy of France, through their organ, _L\u2019Univers_ (Vol. 11, p.\n31-34), was still more severe and sarcastic. They had just collected\n\u00a34,000 to help Dr. Newman to pay the enormous expenses of the suit for\nhis slanders against Father Achille, which he had lost.\n\nDr. Newman, as it appears by the article from the pen of the celebrated\neditor of the _Univers_, had not even had the courtesy to acknowledge\nthe gift, nor the exertions of those who had collected that large sum of\nmoney. Now let us see what they thought and said in France about the\nex-Professor of Oxford whom they called the \u201cRespectable Convict.\u201d\nSpeaking of the \u00a34,000 sent from France, Veuillot says: \u201cThe respectable\nconvict received it, and was pleased; but he gave no thanks and showed\nno mercy. Father Newman ought to be more careful in what he says;\neverything that is comely demands it of him. But, at any rate, if his\nLiberal passion carries him away, till he forgets what he owes to us and\nto himself, what answer must one give him, but that he had better go on\nas he set out, silently ungrateful?\u2014_L\u2019Univers_, Vol. 11. p. 32-34.\n_Ibid_, p. 272.\n\nThese public rebukes, addressed from Paris and Rome by the two most\npopular organs of the Church of Rome, tell us the old story; the\nservices of traitors may be accepted, but they are never trusted. Father\nNewman had not the confidence of the Roman Catholics.\n\nBut some one will say: Has not the dignity of Cardinal, to which he has\nlately been raised, proved that the present Pope has the greatest\nconfidence in Dr. Newman?\n\nHad I not been 25 years a priest of Rome, I would say \u201cYes!\u201d But I know\ntoo much of their tactics for that. The dignity of Cardinal has been\ngiven to Drs. Manning and Newman as the baits which the fisherman of\nPrince Edward Island throw into the sea to attract the mackerels. The\nPope, with those long scarlet robes thrown over the shoulders of the two\nrenegades from the Church of England, hopes to catch more English\nmackerels.\n\nBesides that, we all know the remarkable words of St. Paul: \u201cAnd those\nmembers of the body which we think to be less honourable, upon them we\nbestow more abundant honours, and our uncomely parts have more abundant\ncomeliness.\u201d (1 Cor. xii., 23.)\n\nIt is on that principle that the Pope has acted. He knew well that Dr.\nNewman had played the act of a traitor at Oxford; that he had been\ncaught in the very act of conspiracy by his Bishops; that he had\nentirely lost the confidence of the English people. These public facts\nparalyzed the usefulness of the new convert. He was really a member of\nthe Church of Rome, but he was one of the most uncomely ones; so much\nso, that the last Pope, Pius IX., had left him alone, in a dark corner,\nfor nearly eighteen years. Leo XIII. was more shrewd. He felt that\nNewman might become one of the most powerful agents of Romanism in\nEngland, if he were only covering his uncomeliness with the rich red\nCardinal robe.\n\nBut will the scarlet colors which now clothe Dr. Newman make us forget\nthat, to-day, he belongs to the most absurd, immoral, abject and\ndegrading form of idolatry, the world has ever seen? Will we forget that\nRomanism, these last six centuries, is nothing else than old paganism in\nits most degrading forms, coming back under a Christian name? What is\nthe divinity which is adored in those splendid temples of modern Rome?\nIs it anything else but the old Jupiter Tonans? Yes, the Pope has stolen\nthe old gods of paganism, and he has sacrilegiously written the adorable\nname of Jesus in their faces, that the more deluded modern nations may\nhave less objection to accept the worship of their pagan ancestors. They\nadore a Christ in the Church of Rome; they sing beautiful hymns to His\nhonor; they build him magnificent temples; they are exceedingly devoted\nto Him\u2014they make daily enormous sacrifices to extend His power and glory\nall over the world. But what is that Christ? It is simply an idol of\nbread, baked every day by the servant girl of the priest, or the\nneighboring nuns.\n\nI have been 25 years one of the most sincere and zealous priests of that\nChrist. I have made Him with mine own hands, and the help of my servants\nfor a quarter of a century; I have a right to say that I know Him\nperfectly well. It is that I may tell what I know of that Christ that\nthe God of the Gospel has taken me by the hand, and granted me to give\nmy testimony before the world. Hundreds of times, I have said to my\nservant girl what Dr. Newman and all the priests of Rome say, every day,\nto their own servants or their nuns: \u201cPlease make me some wafers, that I\nmay say mass, and give the communion to those who want to receive it.\u201d\nAnd the dutiful girl took some wheat flour, mixed it with water, and put\nthe dough between these two well-polished and engraven irons, which she\nhad well heated before. In less time than I can write it, the dough was\nbaked into wafers. Handing them to me, I brought them to the altar, and\nperformed a ceremony which is called \u201cthe mass.\u201d In the very midst of\nthat mass, I pronounced on the wafer five magic words, \u201c_Hoc est enim\ncorpus meum_,\u201d and had to believe, what Dr. Newman and all the priests\nof Rome profess to believe, that there were no more wafers, no more\nbread before me, but that what were wafers, had been turned into the\ngreat Eternal God who had created the world. I had to prostrate myself,\nand ask my people to prostrate themselves before the God I had just made\nwith five words from my lips; and the people, on their knees, bowing\ntheir heads, and bringing their faces to the dust, adored God whom I had\njust made, with the help of these heated irons and my servant girl.\n\nNow, is this not a form of idolatry more degrading, more insulting to\nthe infinite Majesty of God than the worship of the golden calf? Where\nis the difference between the idolatry of Aaron and the Israelites\nadoring the golden calf in the wilderness and the idolatry of Dr. Newman\nadoring the wafer in his temple? The only difference is, that Aaron\nworshipped a god infinitely more respectable and powerful, in melted\ngold, than Dr. Newman worshipping his baked dough.\n\nThe idolatry of Dr. Newman is more degrading than the idolatry of the\nworshippers of the sun.\n\nWhen the Persians adore the sun, they give their homage to the greatest,\nthe most glorious being which is before us. That magnificent fiery orb,\nmillions of miles in circumference, which rises as a giant, every\nmorning, from behind the horizon, to march over the world and pour\neverywhere its floods of heat, light and life, cannot be contemplated\nwithout feelings of respect, admiration and awe. Man must raise his eyes\nup to see that glorious sun\u2014he must take the eagle\u2019s wings to follow his\ngiant strides throughout the myriads of worlds which are there, to speak\nto us of the wisdom, the power, and love of our God. It is easy to\nunderstand that poor, fallen, blind men may take that great being for\ntheir god. Would not every one perish and die, if the sun would forget\nto come every day, that we may bathe and swim in his ocean of light and\nlife?\n\nThen, when I see the Persian priests of the sun, in their magnificent\ntemple, with censers in their hands, waiting for the appearance of its\nfirst rays, to intone their melodious hymns and sing their sublime\ncanticles, I know their error and I understand it; I was about to say, I\nalmost excuse it. I feel an immense compassion for these deluded\nidolaters. However, I feel they are raised above the dust of the earth:\ntheir intelligence, their souls cannot but receive some sparks of light\nand life from the contemplation of that inexhaustible focus of light and\nlife. But is not Dr. Newman with his Roman Catholic people a thousand\ntimes more worthy of our compassion and our tears, when they are\nabjectly prostrated before this ignoble wafer\u2014to adore it as their\nSaviour, their Creator, their God? Is it possible to imagine a spectacle\nmore humiliating, blasphemous and sacrilegious, than a multitude of men\nand women prostrating their faces to the dust to adore a god whom the\nrats and mice have, thousands of times, dragged and eaten in their dark\nholes? Where are the rays of light and life coming from that wafer?\nInstead of being enlarged and elevated at the approach of this\nridiculous modern divinity, is not the human intelligence contracted,\ndiminished paralyzed, chilled and struck with idiocy and death at its\nfeet?\n\nCan we be surprised that the Roman Catholic nations are so fast falling\ninto the abyss of infidelity and atheism, when they hear their priests\ntelling them that more than 200,000 times, every day, this contemptible\nwafer is changed by them into the great God who has created heaven and\nearth at the beginning, and who has saved this perishing world by\nsacrificing the body and the blood which He has taken as His tabernacle\nto show us His eternal love!\n\nCome with me and see those multitudes of people with their faces\nprostrated in the dust, adoring their white elephant of Siam.\n\nOh! what ignorance and superstition! what blindness and folly! you will\nexclaim. To adore a white elephant as God!\n\nBut there is a spectacle more humiliating and more deplorable: There is\na superstition, an idolatry below that of the Siamese. It is the\nidolatry practiced by Dr. Newman and his millions of co-religionists\nto-day. Yes! The elephant-god of the Asiatic people, is infinitely more\nrespectable than the wafer-god of Dr. Newman. That elephant may be taken\nas the symbol of strength, magnanimity, patience, etc. There is life,\nmotion in that noble animal\u2014he sees with his eyes, he walks with his\nfeet. Let some one attack him, he will protect himself\u2014with his mighty\ntrunk he will throw his enemy high in the air\u2014he will crush him under\nhis feet.\n\nBut look at this modern divinity of Rome. It has eyes, but does not see;\nfeet, but does not move; a mouth, but does not speak. There is neither\nlife nor strength in the wafer god of Rome.\n\nBut if the fall of Dr. Newman into the bottomless abyss of the idolatry\nof Rome is a deplorable fact, there is another fact still more\ndeplorable.\n\nHow many fervent Christians, how many venerable ministers of Christ\neverywhere, are, just now, prostrated at the dear Saviour\u2019s feet,\ntelling Him with tears: \u201cDidst thou not sow the good Gospel seed all\nover our dear country, through the hands of our heroic and martyred\nfathers? From whence, then, hath it these Popish and idolatrous tares?\u201d\nAnd the \u201cGood Master\u201d answers, to-day, what he answered eighteen hundred\nyears ago. \u201cWhile men slept, the enemy came during the night; he has\nsowed those tares among the wheat, and he went away.\u201d\u2014(Matthew xiii:\n25.)\n\nAnd if you want to know the name of the enemy who has sowed tares, in\nthe night, amongst the wheat, and went away, you have only to read this\n\u201c_Apologia pro vita sua_.\u201d You will find this confession of Dr. Newman\nat page 174:\u2014\n\n\u201cI cannot disguise from myself that my preaching is not calculated to\ndefend that system of religion which has been received for three hundred\nyears, and of which the Heads of Houses are the legitimate maintainers\nin this place.... I must allow that I was disposing the minds of young\nmen towards Rome!\u201d\n\nNow, having obtained from the very enemy\u2019s lips how he has sowed tares\nduring the night (secretly), read page 262, and you will see how he went\naway and prostrated himself at the feet of the most implacable enemy of\nall the rights and liberties of men, to call him \u201cMost Holy Father.\u201d\nRead how he fell at the knees of the very power which prepared and\nblessed the Armada destined to cover his native land, England, with\ndesolation, ruins, tears and blood, and enchain those of her people who\nwould not have been slaughtered on the battle-field! See how the enemy,\nafter having sown the tares, went away to the feet of a Sergius III.,\nthe public lover of Maroria\u2014and to the feet of his bastard, John XI.,\nwho was still more debauched than his father\u2014and to the feet of Leo VI.,\nkilled by an outraged citizen of Rome, in the act of such an infamous\ncrime that I cannot name it here\u2014to the feet of an Alexander, who\nseduced his own daughter, and surpassed in cruelty and debauchery Nero\nand Caligula. Let us see Dr. Newman falling at the feet of all those\nmonsters of depravity, to call them, \u201cMost Holy Fathers,\u201d \u201cMost Holy\nHeads of the Church.\u201d \u201cMost Holy and Infallible Vicars of Jesus Christ!\u201d\n\nAt the sight of such a fall, what can we do, but say with Isaiah:\n\n\u201cThe Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, and the scepter of the\nruler.... How art thou fallen, O Lucifer, Son of the morning! how art\nthou cut down to the ground?\u201d Is. xiv.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLII.\n\nNOVICIATE IN THE MONASTERY OF THE OBLATES OF MARY IMMACULATE OF\n LONGUEUIL\u2014SOME OF THE THOUSAND ACTS OF FOLLY AND IDOLATRY WHICH FORM\n THE LIFE OF A MONK\u2014THE DEPLORABLE FALL OF ONE OF THE FATHERS\u2014FALL OF\n THE GRAND VICAR QUIBLIER\u2014SICK IN THE HOTEL DIEU OF MONTREAL\u2014SISTER\n URTUBISE, WHAT SHE SAYS OF MARIA MONK\u2014THE TWO MISSIONARIES TO THE\n LUMBER MEN\u2014FALL AND PUNISHMENT OF A FATHER OBLATE\u2014WHAT ONE OF THE BEST\n FATHER OBLATES THINKS OF THE MONKS AND THE MONASTERY.\n\n\nOn the first Sabbath of November, 1846, after a retreat of eight days, I\nfell on my knees, and asked as a favor, to be received as a novice of\nthe religious order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate of Longueuil,\nwhose object is to preach retreats (revivals) among the people. No child\nof the Church of Rome ever enrolled himself with more earnestness and\nsincerity under the mysterious banners of her monastic armies, than I\ndid, that day. It is impossible to entertain more exalted views of the\nbeauty and holiness of the monastic life, than I had. To live among the\nholy men who had made the solemn vows of poverty, obedience and charity,\nseemed to me the greatest and the most blessed privilege which my God\ncould grant on earth.\n\nWithin the walls of the peaceful monastery of Longueuil, among those\nholy men who had, long since, put an impassable barrier between\nthemselves and that corrupted world, from the snares of which I was just\nescaping, my conviction was that I should see nothing but actions of the\nmost exalted piety; and that the deadly weapons of the enemy could not\npierce those walls protected by the Immaculate Mother of God!\n\nThe frightful storms which had covered with wrecks the roaring sea,\nwhere I had so often nearly perished, could not trouble the calm waters\nof the port where my bark had just entered. Every one of the members of\nthe community was to be like an angel of charity, humility, modesty,\nwhose example was to guide my steps in the ways of God. My superior\nappeared to be less a superior than a father, whose protecting care, by\nday and night, would be a shield over me. Noah, in the ark, safe from\nthe raging waves which were destroying the world, did not feel more\ngrateful to God, than I was, when once in this holy solitude. The vow of\nperfect poverty was to save me, for ever, from the cares of the world.\nHaving, hereafter, no right to possess a cent, the world would become to\nme a paradise, where food, clothing, and lodging would come without\nanxiety or care. My father superior would supply all these things,\nwithout any other condition on my part, than to love, and obey a man of\nGod whose whole life was to be spent in guiding my steps in the ways of\nthe most exalted evangelical virtues. Had not that father himself made a\nsolemn vow to renounce not only all the honors and dignities of the\nchurch, that his whole mind and heart might be devoted to my holiness on\nearth, and my salvation in Heaven?\n\nHow easy to secure that salvation now! I had only to look to that father\non earth, and obey him as my Father in Heaven. Yes! The will of that\nfather, was to be, for me, the will of my God. Though I might err in\nobeying him, my errors would not be laid to my charge. To save my soul,\nI should have only to be like a corpse, or a stick in the hands of my\nfather superior. Without any anxiety or any responsibility whatever of\nmy own, I was to be led to heaven as a new-born child in the arms of his\nloving mother without any fear, thoughts or anxiety of his own.\n\nWith the Christian poet I could have sung:\n\n \u201cRocks and storms I\u2019ll fear no more,\n When on that eternal shore,\n Drop the anchor! Furl the sail!\n I am safe within the vail.\u201d\n\nBut how short were to be these fine dreams of my poor deluded mind! When\non my knees, father Guigues handed me, with great solemnity, the Latin\nbooks of the rules of that monastic order, which is their real gospel,\nwarning me that it was a _secret book_, that there were things in it\nthat I ought not to reveal to any one; and he made me solemnly promise\nthat I would never show it to any one outside of the order.\n\nWhen alone, the next morning, in my cell, I thanked God and the Virgin\nMary for the favors of the last day, and the thought came involuntarily\nto my mind:\n\n\u201cHave you not, a thousand times, heard and said that the Holy Church of\nRome absolutely condemns and anathematizes secret societies. And, do you\nnot, to-day, belong to a secret society? How can you reconcile the\nsolemn promise of secrecy you made last night, with the anathemas hurled\nby all your popes against secret societies?\u201d After having, in vain,\ntried, in my mind, to reconcile those two things, I happily remembered\nthat I was a corpse, that I had forever given up my private\njudgment\u2014that my only business, now, was to obey. \u201cDoes a corpse argue\nagainst those who turn it from side to side? Is it not in perfect peace,\nwhatever may be the usage to which it is exposed, or to whatever place\nit is dragged? Shall I lose the rich crown which is before me, at my\nfirst step in the way of perfection?\u201d\n\nI bade my rebellious intelligence to be still, my private judgment to be\nmute, and, to distract my mind from this first temptation, I read that\nbook of rules with the utmost attention. I had not gone through it all,\nbefore I understood why it was kept from the eyes of the curates and\nother secular priests. To my unspeakable amazement, I found that, from\nthe beginning to the end, it speaks with the most profound contempt for\nthem all. I said to myself: \u201cWhat would be the indignation of the\ncurates, if they should suspect that these strangers from France have\nsuch a bad opinion of them all! Would the good Canadian curates receive\nthem as angels from heaven, and raise them so high in the esteem of the\npeople, if they knew that the first thing an oblate has to learn, is\nthat the secular priest is, to-day, steeped in immorality, ignorance,\nworldliness, laziness, gluttony, etc.; that he is the disgrace of the\nchurch, which would speedily be destroyed, was she not providentially\nsustained, and kept in the ways of God, by the holy monastic men whom\nshe nurses as her only hope? Clear as the light of the sun on a bright\nday, the whole fabric of the order of the oblates presented itself to my\nmind, as the most perfect system of Pharisaism the world had ever seen.\n\nThe oblate who studies his book of rules, his only gospel, must have his\nmind filled with the idea of his superior holiness, not only over the\npoor sinful, secular priest, but over everyone else. The oblate alone is\nChristian, holy and saved; the rest of the world is lost! The oblate\nalone is the salt of the earth, the light of the world!\n\nI said to myself: \u201cIs it to attain this pharisaical perfection, that I\nhave left my beautiful and dear parish of Kamouraska, and given up the\nhonorable position which my God had given me in my country!\u201d\n\nHowever, after some time spent in these sad and despondent reflections,\nI again felt angry with myself; I quickly directed my mind to the\nfrightful, unsuspected and numberless scandals I had known in almost\nevery parish I had visited. I remembered the drunkenness of that curate,\nthe impurities of this, the ignorance of another, the worldliness and\nabsolute want of faith of others, and concluded that, after all, the\noblates were not far from the truth in their bad opinions of the secular\nclergy. I ended my sad reflections by saying to myself: \u201cAfter all, if\nthe oblates live a life of holiness, as I expect to find here, is it a\ncrime that they should see, feel and express among themselves, the\ndifference which exists between a regular and a secular clergy? Am I\ncome here to judge and condemn these holy men? No! I came here to save\nmyself by the practice of the most heroic Christian virtues, the first\nof which, is that I should absolutely and forever give up my _private\njudgment_\u2014consider myself as a corpse in the hand of my superior.\u201d\n\nWith all the fervor of my soul, I prayed to God and to the Virgin Mary,\nday and night, that week, that I might attain that supreme state of\nperfection, when I would have no will, no judgment of my own. The days\nof that first week passed very quickly, spent in prayer, reading and\nmeditation of the Scriptures, studies of ecclesiastical history and\nascetical books, from half-past five in the morning till half-past nine\nat night. The meals were taken at the regular hours of seven, twelve and\nsix o\u2019clock, during which, with rare exceptions, silence was kept, and\npious books were read. The quality of the food was good; but, at first,\nbefore they got a female cook to preside over the kitchen, everything\nwas so unclean, that I had to shut my eyes at meals, not to see what I\nwas eating. I should have complained, had not my lips been sealed by\nthat strange monastic vow of perfection that every religious man is a\ncorpse! What does a corpse care about the cleanliness or uncleanliness\nof what is put into its mouth? The third day, having drank at breakfast\na glass of milk which was literally mixed with the dung of the cow, my\nstomach rebelled; a circumstance which I regretted exceedingly,\nattributing it to my want of monastic perfection. I envied the high\nstate of holiness of the other fathers, who had so perfectly attained to\nthe sublime perfection of submission that they could drink that impure\nmilk, just as if it had been clean.\n\nEverything went on well the first week, with the exception of a dreadful\nscare I had, at the dinner of the first Friday. Just after eating soup,\nwhen listening with the greatest attention to the reading of the life of\na saint, I suddenly felt as if the devil had taken hold of my feet; I\nthrew down my knife and fork, and I cried, at the top of my voice, \u201cMy\nGod! My God! what is there?\u201d and as quick as lightning, I jumped on my\nchair to save myself from Satan\u2019s grasp. My cries were soon followed by\nan inexpressible burst of convulsive laughter from everyone.\n\n\u201cBut what does that mean? Who has taken hold of my feet?\u201d I asked.\n\nFather Guigues tried to explain the matter to me, but it took him a\nconsiderable time. When he began to speak, an irrepressible burst of\nlaughter prevented his saying a word. The fits of laughter became still\nmore uncontrollable, on account of the seriousness with which I was\nrepeatedly asking them who could have taken hold of my feet! At last,\nsome one said, \u201cIt is Father Lagier who wanted to kiss your feet!\u201d At\nthe same time, Father Lagier, walking on his hands and knees, his face\ncovered with sweat, dust and dirt, was crawling out from under the\ntable, literally rolling on the floor, in such an uncontrollable fit of\nlaughter, that he was unable to stand on his feet.\n\nOf course, when I understood that no devil had tried to drag me by the\nfeet, but that it was simply one of the father oblates, who, to go\nthrough one of the common practices of humility in that monastery, had\ncrawled under the table, to take hold of the feet of everyone and kiss\nthem, I joined with the rest of the community, and laughed to my heart\u2019s\ncontent.\n\nNot many days after this, we were going, after tea, from the dining-room\nto the chapel, to pass five or ten minutes in adoration of the\nwafer-god; we had two doors to cross, and it was pretty dark. Being the\nlast who had entered the monastery, I had to walk first, the other monks\nfollowing me; we were reciting, with a loud voice, the Latin Psalm:\n\u201c_Misere mihi Deus_.\u201d We were all marching pretty fast, when, suddenly,\nmy feet met a large, though unseen object, and down I fell, and rolled\non the floor; my next companion did the same, and rolled over me, and so\ndid five or six others, who, in the dark had also struck their feet on\nthat object. In a moment, we were five or six \u201cHoly Fathers\u201d rolling on\neach other on the floor, unable to rise up, splitting our sides with\nconvulsive laughter. Father Brunette, in one of his fits of humility,\nhad left the table a little before the rest, with the permission of the\nSuperior, to lay himself flat on the floor, across the door. Not\nsuspecting it, and unable to see anything, from the want of sufficient\nlight, I had entangled my feet on that living corpse, as also the rest\nof those who were walking too close behind me to stop, before tumbling\nover one another.\n\n[Illustration: FALL OF THE \u201cHOLY FATHERS.\u201d]\n\nNo words can describe my feelings of shame when I saw, almost every day,\nsome performance of this kind going on, under the name of Christian\nhumility. In vain, I tried to silence the voice of my intelligence,\nwhich was crying to me, day and night, that this was a mere diabolical\ncaricature of the humility of Christ. Striving to silence my untamed\nreason by telling it that it had no right to speak and argue and\ncriticise, within the holy walls of the monastery. It, nevertheless,\nspoke louder, day after day, telling me that such acts of humility were\na mockery. In vain, I said to myself, \u201cChiniquy, thou art not come here\nto philosophize on this and that, but to sanctify thyself by becoming\nlike a corpse, which has no preconceived ideas, no acquired store of\nknowledge, no rule of common sense to guide you! Poor, wretched, sinful\nChiniquy, thou art here to save thyself by admiring every idea of the\nholy rules of your superiors, and to obey every word of their lips!\u201d\n\nI felt angry against myself, and unspeakably sad, when, after whole\nweeks and months of efforts, not only to silence the voice of my reason,\nbut to kill it, it had more life than ever, and was more and more loudly\nprotesting against the unmanly, unchristian and ridiculous daily usages\nand rules of the monastery. I envied the humble piety of the other good\nFathers, who were apparently so happy, having conquered themselves so\ncompletely as to destroy that haughty reason which was constantly\nrebelling in me.\n\nTwice, every week, I went to reveal to my guide and confessor, Father\nAllard, the master of novices, my interior struggles; my constant,\nthough vain efforts to subdue my rebellious reason. He always gladdened\nme with the promise that, sooner or later, I should have that interior\nperfect peace which is promised to the humble monk, when he has attained\nthe supreme monastic perfection of considering himself as a corpse, as\nregards the rules and will of his superiors. My sincere and constant\nefforts to reconcile myself to the rules of the monastery were, however,\nsoon to receive a new and rude check. I had read in the book of rules,\nthat a true monk must closely watch those who live with him, and\nsecretly report to his superior the defects and sins which he detects in\nthem. The first time I read that strange rule, my mind was so taken up\nby other things, that I did not pay much attention to it. But the second\ntime, I studied that clause, the blush came to my face, and in spite of\nmyself, I said: \u201cIs it possible that we are a band of spies?\u201d I was not\nlong in seeing the disastrous effects of this most degrading and immoral\nrule. One of the fathers, for whom I had a particular affection, for his\nmany good qualities, and who had, many times, given me the sincere proof\nof his friendship, said to me one day: \u201cFor God\u2019s sake, my dear Father\nChiniquy, tell me if it is you who denounced me to the Superior, for\nhaving said that the conduct of Father Guigues toward me was\nuncharitable?\u201d \u201cNo! my dear friend,\u201d I answered, \u201cI never said such a\nthing against you, for two reasons: The first is, that you have never\nsaid a word in my presence which could give me the idea that you had\nsuch an opinion of our good Father Superior; the second reason is, that,\nthough you might have told me anything of that kind, I would prefer to\nhave my tongue cut and eaten by dogs, than to be a spy, and denounce\nyou!\u201d\n\n\u201cI am glad to know that,\u201d he rejoined, \u201cfor I was told by some of the\nfathers that you were the one who had reported me to the superior as\nguilty, though I am innocent of that offense, but I could not believe\nit.\u201d He added, with tears: \u201cI regret having left my parish to be an\noblate, on account of that abominable law which we are sworn to fulfill.\nThat law makes a real hell of this monastery, and, I suppose, of all the\nmonastic orders, for I think it is a general law with all the religious\nhouses. When you have passed more time here, you will see that the law\nof detection puts an insurmountable wall between us all; it destroys\nevery spring of Christian and social happiness.\u201d\n\n\u201cI understand perfectly well what you say,\u201d I answered him; \u201cthe last\ntime I was alone with father superior, he asked me why I had said that\nthe present Pope was an old fool; he persisted in telling me that I must\nhave said it, \u2018for,\u2019 he added, \u2018one of our most reliable fathers has\nassured me you said it.\u2019 \u2018Well, my dear father superior,\u2019 I answered\nhim, \u2018that reliable father has told you a big lie; I never said such a\nthing, for the good reason that I sincerely think that our present Pope\nis one of the wisest that ever ruled the church.\u2019\u201d I added: \u201cNow I\nunderstand why there is so much unpleasantness in our mutual\nintercourse, during the hours we are allowed to talk. I see that nobody\ndares to speak his mind on any grave subject. The conversations are\ncolorless and without life.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is just the reason,\u201d answered my friend. \u201cWhen some of the\nfathers, like you and me, would prefer to be hung rather than become\nspies, the great majority of them, particularly among the French priests\nrecently imported from France, will not hear ten words from your lips on\nany subject, without finding an opportunity of reporting eight of them\nas unbecoming and unchristian, to the superiors. I do not say that it is\nalways through malice that they give such false reports: it is more\nthrough want of judgment. They are very narrow-minded; they do not\nunderstand the half of what they hear in its true sense: and they give\ntheir false impressions to the superiors, who, unfortunately, encourage\nthat system of spying, as the best way of transforming every one of us\ninto corpses. As we are never confronted with our false accusers, we can\nnever know them, and we lose confidence in each other; thus it is that\nthe sweetest and holiest springs of true Christian love are forever\ndried up. It is on this spying system, which is the curse and the hell\nof our monastic houses, that a celebrated French writer, who had been a\nmonk himself, wrote of all the monks:\n\n\u201cIls rentrent dans leurs monasteres sans se connaitre; ils y vivent sans\ns\u2019aimer et ils se separent sans se regretter\u201d (monks enter the monastery\nwithout knowing each other. They live there, without loving each other,\nand they depart from each other without any regret).\n\nHowever, though I sincerely deplored that there was such a law of\nespionage among us, I tried to persuade myself that it was like the dark\nspots of the sun which do not diminish its beauty, its grandeur and its\ninnumerable blessings. The society of the oblates was still to me the\nblessed ark where I should find a sure shelter against the storms which\nwere desolating the rest of the world.\n\nNot long after my reception as a novice, the providence of God put\nbefore my eyes one of those terrible wrecks which would make the\nstrongest of us tremble. Suddenly, at the hour of breakfast, the\nsuperior of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, and grand vicar of the Diocese\nof Montreal, the Rev. Mr. Quibiler, knocked at our door, to rest an hour\nand breakfast with us, when on his way to France.\n\nThis unfortunate priest, who was among the best orators and the best\nlooking men, Montreal had ever seen, had lived such a profligate life\nwith his penitent nuns and ladies of Montreal, that a cry of indignation\nfrom the whole people had forced Bishop Bourget to send him back to\nFrance. Our father superior took the opportunity of the fall of that\ntalented priest, to make us bless God for having gathered us behind the\nwalls of our monastery, where the efforts of the enemy were powerless.\nBut alas! we were soon to know, at our own expense, that the heart of\nman is weak and deceitful everywhere.\n\nIt was not long after the public fall of the grand vicar of Montreal,\nwhen a fine-looking widow was engaged to preside over our kitchen. She\nwas more than forty years old, and had very good manners. Unfortunately,\nshe had not been four months in the monastery, when she fell in love\nwith her father confessor, one of the most pious of the French father\noblates. The modern Adam was not stronger than the old one against the\ncharms of the new Eve. Both were found, in an evil hour, forgetting one\nof the holy laws of God. The guilty priest was punished and the weak\nwoman dismissed. But an unspeakable shame remained upon us all! I would\nhave preferred to have my sentence of death, than the news of such a\nfall inside the walls of that house where I had so foolishly believed\nthat Satan could not lay his snares. From that day, it was the will of\nGod that the strange and beautiful illusions which had brought me to\nthat monastery, should fade away one after the other, like the white\nmist which conceals the bright rays of the morning sun. The oblates\nbegan to appear to me pretty much like other men. Till then, I had\nlooked at them with my eyes shut, and I had seen nothing but the\nglittering colors with which my imagination was painting them. From that\nday, I studied them with my eyes opened, and I saw them just as they\nwere.\n\nIn the spring of 1847, having a severe indisposition, the doctor ordered\nme to go to the Hotel Dieu of Montreal, which was, then, near the\nsplendid St. Mary\u2019s Church. I made there, for the first time, the\nacquaintance of a venerable old nun, who was very talkative. She was one\nof the superiors of the house; her family name was Urtubise. Her mind\nwas still full of indignation at the bad conduct of two father oblates,\nwho, under the pretext of sickness, had lately come to her monastery to\nseduce the young nuns who were serving them. She told me how she had\nturned them out ignominiously, forbidding them ever to come again, under\nany pretext, into the hospital. She was young, when Bishop Lartigue,\nbeing driven away from the Sulpician Seminary of Montreal, in 1824, had\ntaken refuge, with his secretary, the Rev. Ignace Bourget, into the\nmodest walls of that nunnery. She told me how the nuns had soon to\nrepent having received that bishop with his secretary and other priests.\n\n\u201cIt was nearly the ruin of our community. The intercourse of the priests\nwith a certain number of the nuns,\u201d she said: \u201cwas the cause of so much\ndisorder and scandal, that I was deputed with some other nuns, to the\nbishop to respectfully request him not to prolong his stay in our\nnunnery. I told him, in my name, and in the name of many others, that if\nhe would not comply with our legitimate request, we should instantly\nleave the house, go back to our families and get married, that it was\nbetter to be honestly married than to continue to live as the priests,\neven our father confessors, wanted us to do.\u201d\n\nAfter she had given me several other spicy stories of those interesting\ndistant days, I asked her if she had known Maria Monk, when she was in\ntheir house, and what she thought of her book \u201cAwful Disclosures?\u201d \u201cI\nhave known her well,\u201d she said. \u201cShe spent six months with us. I have\nread her book, which was given me, that I might refute it. But after\nreading it, I refused to have anything to do with that deplorable\n_exposure_. There are surely some inventions and suppositions in that\nbook. But there is a sufficient amount of truth to cause all our\nnunneries to be pulled down by the people, if only the half of them were\nknown to the public?\u201d\n\nShe then said to me: \u201cFor God\u2019s sake, do not reveal these things to the\nworld, till the last one of us is dead, if God spares you.\u201d She then\ncovered her face with her hands, burst into tears, and left the room.\n\nI remained horrified. Her words fell upon me as a thunderbolt. I\nregretted having heard them, though I was determined to respect her\nrequest not to reveal the terrible secret she had entrusted to me. My\nGod knows that I never repeated a word of it till now. But I think it is\nmy duty to reveal to my country and the whole world the truth, on that\ngrave subject, as it was given me by a most respectable and\nunimpeachable eye-witness.\n\nThe terrible secrets which sister Urtubise had revealed to me rendered\nmy stay in the Hotel Dieu as unpleasant as it had been agreeable at\nfirst. Though not quite recovered, I left, the same day, for Longueuil,\nwhere I entered the monastery with a heavy heart. The day before, two of\nthe fathers had come back from a two or three months\u2019 evangelical\nexcursion among the lumber men, who were cutting wood in the forests,\nalong the Ottawa River and its tributaries, from one to three hundred\nmiles north-west of Montreal. I was glad to hear of their arrival. I\nhoped that the interesting history of their evangelical excursions,\nnarrow escapes from the bears and the wolves of the forests; their\nhearty receptions by the honest and sturdy lumber men, which the\nsuperior had requested me, some weeks before, to write, would cause a\nhappy diversion from the deplorable things I had recently learned. But\nonly one of those fathers could be seen, and his conversation was\nanything but interesting and pleasant. There was evidently a dark cloud\naround him. And the other oblate, his companion, where was he? The very\nday of his arrival, he had been ordered to keep his room, and make a\nretreat of ten days, during which time he was forbidden to speak to any\none.\n\nI inquired from a devoted friend among the old oblates the reason of\nsuch a strange thing. After promising never to reveal to the superiors\nthe sad secret he trusted me with, he said: \u201cPoor father D\u2014\u2014 has seduced\none of his fair penitents, on the way. She was a married woman, the lady\nof the house where our missionaries used to receive the most cordial\nhospitality. The husband having discovered the infidelity of his wife,\ncame very near killing her; he ignominiously turned out the two fathers,\nand wrote a terrible letter to the superior. The companion of the guilty\nfather, denounced him and confessed everything to the superior, who has\nseen that the letter of the enraged husband was only giving too true and\ncorrect version of the whole unfortunate and shameful occurrence. Now,\nthe poor weak father, for his penance, is condemned to ten days of\nseclusion from the rest of the community. He must pass that whole time\nin prayer, fasting, and acts of humiliation, dictated by the superior.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo these deplorable facts occur very often among the father oblates?\u201d I\nasked.\n\nMy friend raised his eyes, filled with tears, to Heaven, and with a deep\nsigh, he answered: \u201cDear Father Chiniquy, would to God that I might be\nable to tell you that it is the first crime of that nature committed by\nan oblate. But alas! you know, by what has occurred with our female\ncook, not long ago, that it is not the first time that some of our\nfathers have brought disgrace upon us all. And you know also the\nabominable life of Father Telmont with the two nuns at Ottawa!\u201d\n\n\u201cIf it be so,\u201d I replied, \u201cwhere is the spiritual advantage of the\nregular clergy over the secular?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe only advantage I see,\u201d answered my friend, \u201cis that the regular\nclergy gives himself with more impunity to every kind of debauch and\nlicentiousness than the secular. The monks being concealed from the eyes\nof the public, inside the walls of their monastery, where nobody, or at\nleast very few people have any access, are more easily conquered by the\ndevil, and more firmly kept in his chains, than the secular priests. The\nsharp eyes of the public, and the daily intercourse the secular priests\nhave with their relations and parishioners, form a powerful and salutary\nrestraint upon the bad inclinations of our depraved nature. In the\nmonastery, there is no restraint except the childish and ridiculous\npunishment of retreats, kissing of the floor, or of the feet, the\nprostration of the ground as father Brunet did, a few days after your\ncoming among us.\n\n\u201cThere is surely more hypocrisy and selfishness among the regular than\nthe secular clergy. That great social organization which forms the human\nfamily, is a divine work. Yes! those great social organizations which\nare called the city, the township, the country, the parish, and the\nhousehold, where every one is called to work in the light of day, is a\ndivine organization, and makes society as strong, pure and holy as it\ncan be.\n\n\u201cI confess that there are also terrible temptations, and deplorable\nfalls there, but the temptations are not so unconquerable, and the falls\nnot so irreparable, as in these dark recesses and unhealthy prisons\nraised by Satan only for the birds of night called monasteries or\nnunneries.\n\n\u201cThe priest and the woman who fall in the midst of a well organized\nChristian society, break the hearts of the beloved mother, cover with\nshame a venerable father, cause the tears of cherished sisters and\nbrothers to flow, pierce, with a barbed arrow the hearts of thousands of\nfriends; they forever lose their honor and good name. These\nconsiderations are so many providential, I dare say divine shields, to\nprotect the sons and daughters of Eve against their own frailty. The\nsecular priest and the woman shrink before throwing themselves into such\na bottomless abyss of shame, misery and regret. But behind the thick and\ndark walls of the monastery, or the nunnery, what has the fallen monk or\nnun to fear? Nobody will hear of it, no bad consequences worth\nmentioning will follow, except a few days of retreat, some\ninsignificant, childish, ridiculous penances, which the most devoted in\nthe monastery are practicing almost every day.\n\n\u201cAs you ask me, in earnest, what are the advantages of a monastic life\nover a secular, in a moral and social point of view, I will answer you:\nIn the monastery, man as the image of God forgets his divine origin,\nloses his dignity; and as a Christian, he loses the most holy weapons\nChrist has given to his disciples to fight the battle of life. He, at\nonce and forever, loses that law of self-respect, and respect for\nothers, which is one of the most powerful and legitimate barriers\nagainst vice. Yes! That great and divine law of self-respect, which God\nhimself has implanted in the heart of every man and woman who live in a\nChristian society, is completely destroyed in the monastery and nunnery.\nThe foundation of perfection in the monk and the nun is that they must\nconsider themselves as corpses. Do you not see that this principle\nstrikes at the root of all that God has made good, grand and holy in\nman? Does it not sweep away every idea of holiness, purity, greatness!\nevery principle of life which the Gospel of Christ had for its mission\nto reveal to the fallen children of Adam?\n\n\u201cWhat self-respect can we expect from a corpse? and what respect can a\ncorpse feel for the other corpses which surround it? Thus it is that the\nvery idea of monastic perfection carries with it the destruction of all\nthat is good, pure, holy and spiritual in the religion of the gospel. It\ndestroys the very idea of life, to put death into its place.\n\n\u201cIt is for that reason that if you study the true history, _not the\nlying history_, of monachism, you will find the details of a corruption\nimpossible, anywhere else, not even among the lowest houses of\nprostitution. Read the Memoirs of Scipio de Ricci, one of the most pious\nand intelligent bishops our Church has ever had, and you will see that\nthe monks and the nuns of Italy lead the very life of the brutes in the\nfields. Yes! read the terrible revelations of what is going on among\nthose unfortunate men and women, whom the iron hand of monachism keeps\ntied in their dark dungeons, you will hear from the very lips of the\nnuns that the monks are more free with them than the husbands are with\ntheir legitimate wives; you will see that every one of those monastic\ninstitutions is Sodom!\n\n\u201cThe monastic axiom, that the highest point of perfection is attained\nonly when you consider yourself a corpse in the hand of your superior,\nis anti-social and anti-Christian; it is simply diabolical. It\ntransforms into a vile machine that man whom God had created in his\nlikeness, and made forever free. It degrades below the brute that man\nwhom Christ, by his death, has raised to the dignity of a child of God,\nand inheritor of an eternal kingdom in Heaven. Everything is mechanical,\nmaterial, false, in the life of a monk and a nun. Even the best virtues\nare deceptions and lies. The monks and the nuns being perfect only when\nthey have renounced their own free will and intelligence, to become\ncorpses, can have neither virtues nor vices,\n\nTheir best actions are mechanical. Their acts of humility are to crawl\nunder the table and kiss the feet of each other, or to make a cross on a\ndirty floor with the tongue, or lie down in the dust to let the rest of\nthe monks or the nuns pass over them. Have you not remarked how these\nso-called monks speak with the utmost contempt of the rest of the world?\nOne must have opportunities as I have had of seeing the profound hatred\nwhich exists among all monastic orders against each other. How the\nDominicans have always hated the Franciscans, and how they both hate the\nJesuits, who pay them back in the same coin. What a strong and merciless\nhatred divides the oblates, to whom we belong, from the Jesuits! The\nJesuits never lose an opportunity of showing us their supreme contempt!\nYou are aware that, on account of those bad feelings, it is absolutely\nforbidden to an oblate to confess to a Jesuit, as we know it is\nforbidden to the Jesuits to confess to an oblate, or to any other\npriest.\n\n\u201cI need not tell you, for you know that their vow of poverty is a mask\nto help them to become rich with more rapidity than the rest of the\nworld. Is it not under the mask of that vow that the monks of England,\nScotland, France and Italy became the masters of the richest lands of\nthose countries, which the nations were forced, by bloody revolutions,\nto wrench from their grasp?\n\n\u201cI have seen much more of the world than you. When a young priest, I was\nthe chaplain, confessor and intimate friend of the Duchesse De Berry,\nthe mother of Henry V., now the only legitimate King of France. When, in\nthe midst of those great and rich princes and nobles of France, I never\nsaw such a love of money, of honor, of vain glory, as I have seen among\nthe monks since I have become one of them. When the Duchess De Berry\nfinished her providential work in France, after making the false step\nwhich ruined her, I threw myself into the religious order of the\nChartreux. I have lived several years in their palatial monastery of\nRome; have cultivated and enjoyed their sweet fruits in their\nmagnificent gardens; but I was not there long, without seeing the fatal\nerror I had committed in becoming a monk. During the many years I\nresided in that splendid mansion, where laziness, stupidity, filthiness,\ngluttony, superstition, tediousness, ignorance, pride and unmentionable\nimmoralities, with very few exceptional cases, reigned supreme. I had\nevery opportunity to know what was going on in their midst. Life soon\nbecame an unbearable burden, but for the hope I had of breaking my\nfetters. At last I found out that the best, if not the only way of doing\nthis, was to declare to the Pope that I wanted to go and preach the\ngospel to the savages of America, which was and is still true.\n\n\u201cI made my declaration, and by the Pope\u2019s permission, the doors of my\ngaol were opened, with the condition that I should join the order of the\nOblates Immaculate, in connection with which I should evangelize the\nsavages of the Rocky Mountains.\n\n\u201cI have found among the monks of Canada, the very same things I have\nseen among those of France and Italy. With very few exceptions, they are\nall corpses, absolutely dead to every sentiment of true honesty and real\nChristianity; they are putrid carcasses, which have lost the dignity of\nmanhood.\n\n\u201cMy dear Father Chiniquy,\u201d he added, \u201cI trust you as I trust myself,\nwhen I tell you for your own good, a secret which is known to God alone.\nWhen I am on the Rocky Mountains, I will raise myself up, as the eagles\nof those vast countries, and I shall go up to the regions of liberty,\nlight and life; I will cease being a corpse, to become what my God has\nmade me\u2014a free and intelligent man. I will cease to be a corpse, in\norder to become one of the redeemed of Christ, who serve God in spirit\nand in truth.\n\n\u201cChrist is the light of the world; monachism is its night! Christ is the\nstrength, the glory, the life of man; monachism is its decay, shame and\ndeath! Christ died to make us free; the monastery is built up to make\nslaves of us! Christ died that we might be raised to the dignity of\nchildren of God; monachism is established to bring us down much below\nthe living brutes, for it transforms us into corpses! Christ is the\nhighest conception of humanity; monachism is its lowest.\n\n\u201cYes, yes, I hope my God will soon give me the favor I have asked so\nlong. When I shall be on the top of the Rocky Mountains, I will,\nforever, break my fetters. I will rise from my tomb, I will come out\nfrom among the dead, to sit at the table of the redeemed, and eat the\nbread of the living children of God.\u201d\n\nI do regret that the remarkable monk, whose abridged views on monachism\nI have here given, should have requested me never to give his name, when\nhe allows me to tell some of his adventures, which will make a most\ninteresting romance. Faithful to his promise, he went, as an oblate, to\npreach to the savages of the Rocky Mountains, and there, without noise,\nhe slipped out of their hands; broke his chains, to live the life of a\nfreedman of Christ, in the holy bonds of a Christian marriage with a\nrespectable American lady.\n\nWeak and timid soldier that I was once; frightened by the ruins spread\neverywhere on the battle-field, I looked around to find a shelter\nagainst the impending danger; I thought that the monastery of the\noblates of Mary Immaculate was one of those strong towers, built by my\nGod, where the arrows of the enemy could not reach me, and I threw\nmyself into it.\n\nBut, hardly beginning to hope that I was out of danger, behind those\ndark and high walls, when I saw them shaking like a drunken man; and the\nvoice of God passed like a hurricane over me.\n\nSuddenly, the high towers and walls around me fell to the ground, and\nwere turned into dust. Not one stone remained on another.\n\nAnd I heard a voice saying to me: \u201cSoldier! come out and get in the\nlight of the sun; trust no more in the walls built by the hand of man;\nthey are nothing but dust. Come and fight in the open day, under the\neyes of God, protected only by the gospel banners of Christ! Come out\nfrom behind those walls, they are a diabolical deception, a snare, a\nfraud!\u201d\n\nI listened to the voice, and I bade adieu to the inmates of the\nmonastery of the oblates of Mary Immaculate.\n\nWhen, on the first of October, 1847, I pressed them on my heart for the\nlast time, I felt the burning tears of many of them falling on my\ncheeks, and my tears moistened their faces: for they loved me, and I\nloved them. I had met there several noble hearts and precious souls,\nworthy of a better fate. Oh! if I could have, at the price of my life,\ngiven them the light and liberty which my merciful God had given me! But\nthey were in the dark; and there was no power in me to change their\ndarkness into light.\n\nThe hand of God brought me back to my dear Canada, that I might again\noffer it the sweat and labors, the love and life of the least of its\nsons.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLIII.\n\nI ACCEPT THE HOSPITALITY OF THE REV. MR. BRASSARD, OF LONGUEUIL\u2014I GIVE\n MY REASONS FOR LEAVING THE OBLATES TO BISHOP BOURGET\u2014HE PRESENTS ME\n WITH A MEDALLION, PORTRAIT OF THE POPE AND A SPLENDID CRUCIFIX BLESSED\n BY HIS HOLINESS FOR ME, AND ACCEPTS MY SERVICES IN THE CAUSE OF\n TEMPERANCE IN THE DIOCESE OF MONTREAL.\n\n\nThe eleven months spent in the monastery of the oblates of Mary\nImmaculate, were among the greatest favors God has granted me. What I\nhad read of the monastic orders, and what my honest, though deluded\nimagination had painted of the holiness, purity and happiness of the\nmonastic life, could not be blotted out of my mind, except by a kind of\nmiraculous interposition. No testimony whatever could have convinced me\nthat the monastic institutions were not one of the most blessed of the\ngospel. Their existence, in the bosom of the Church of Rome, was, for\nme, an infallible token of her divine institution, and one of the\nstrongest proofs that those heretics were entirely separated from\nChrist. Without religious orders, the Protestant denominations were to\nme, as dead and decayed branches cut from the true vine, which are\ndoomed to perish.\n\nBut, just as the eyes of Thomas were opened, and his intelligence was\nconvinced of the divinity of Christ, only after he had seen the wounds\nin his hands and side, so I could never have believed that the monastic\ninstitutions were of heathen and diabolical origin, if my God had not\nforced me to see with my own eyes, and to touch with my fingers, their\nunspeakable corruptions.\n\nThough I remained for some time longer, a sincere Catholic priest, I\ndare say that God himself had just broken the strongest tie of my\naffections and respect for that church.\n\nIt is true that several pillars remained, on which my robust faith in\nthe holiness and apostolicity of the church rested for a few years\nlonger, but I must here confess, to the glory of God, that the most\nsolid of those pillars had forever crumbled to pieces, when in the\nmonastery of Longueuil.\n\nLong before my leaving the oblates, many influential priests of the\ndistrict of Montreal, had told me that my only chance of success, if I\nwanted to continue my crusade against the demon of drunkenness, was to\nwork alone.\n\n\u201cThose monks are pretty good speakers on temperance,\u201d they unanimously\nsaid, \u201cbut they are nothing else than a band of comedians. After\ndelivering their eloquent tirades against the use of intoxicating\ndrinks, to the people, the first thing they do is to ask for a bottle of\nwine, which soon disappears! What fruit can we expect from the preaching\nof men who do not believe a word of what they say, and who are the\nfirst, among themselves, to turn their own arguments into ridicule? It\nis very different with you; you believe what you say; you are consistent\nwith yourself; your hearers feel it; your profound, scientific and\nChristian conviction pass into them with an irresistible power.\n\n\u201cGod visibly blesses your work with a marvellous success! Come to us,\u201d\nsaid the curates, \u201cnot as sent by the superior of the oblates, but as\nsent by God himself, to regenerate Canada. Present yourself as a French\nCanadian priest; a child of the people. That people will hear you with\nmore pleasure, and follow your advice with more perseverance.\n\n\u201cLet them know and feel that Canadian blood runs in your veins; that a\nCanadian heart beats in your breast; continue to be in the future, what\nyou have been in the past. Let the sentiments of the true patriot be\nunited with those of a Catholic priest; and when you address the people\nof Canada, the citadels of Satan will crumble everywhere before you in\nthe district of Montreal, as they have done in that of Quebec.\u201d\n\nAt the head of the French Canadian curates, who thus spoke, was my\nvenerable personal friend and benefactor, the Rev. Mr. Brassard, curate\nof Longueuil. He had not only been one of my most devoted friends and\nteachers, when I was studying m the college of Nicolet, but had helped\nme, with his own money, to go through the last four years of my studies,\nwhen I was too poor to meet my collegiate expenses. No one had thought\nmore highly than he of the oblates of Mary Immaculate, when they first\nsettled in Canada. But their monastery was too near the parsonage for\ntheir own benefit. His sharp eyes, high intelligence and integrity of\ncharacter, soon detected that there was more false varnish than pure\ngold, on their glittering escutcheon. Several love scrapes between some\nof the oblates and the pretty young ladies of his parish, and the long\nhours of night spent by Father Allard with the nuns, established in his\nvillage, under the pretext of teaching them grammar and arithmetic, had\nfilled him with disgust. But what had absolutely destroyed his\nconfidence, was the discovery of a long suspected iniquity, which at\nfirst seemed incredible to him. Father Guigues, the superior, after his\nnomination, but before his installation to the Bishopric of Ottawa, had\nbeen closely watched, and at last discovered opening the letters of Mr.\nBrassard, which, many times, had passed from the post office through his\nhands. That criminal action came very near being brought before the\nlegal courts by Mr. Brassard; this was avoided only by Father Guigues\nacknowledging his guilt, asking pardon in the most humiliating way,\nbefore me and several other witnesses.\n\nLong before I left the oblates, Mr. Brassard had said to me: \u201cThe\noblates are not the men you think them to be. I have been sorely\ndisappointed in them, and your disappointment will be no less than mine,\nwhen your eyes are opened. I know that you will not remain long in their\nmidst. I offer you, in advance, the hospitality of my parsonage, when\nyour conscience calls you out of their monastery!\u201d\n\nI availed myself of this kind invitation on the evening of the 1st of\nNovember, 1847.\n\nThe next week was spent in preparing the memoir which I intended to\npresent to my Lord Bourget, Bishop of Montreal, as an explanation of my\nleaving the oblates. I knew that he was disappointed and displeased with\nthe step I had taken.\n\nThe curate of Chambly, Rev. Mr. Mignault, having gone to the bishop, to\nexpress his joy that I had left the monks, in order to serve again the\nchurch, in the ranks of secular clergy, had been very badly received.\nThe bishop had answered him: \u201cMr. Chiniquy may leave the oblates if he\nlikes; but he will be disappointed if he expects to work in my diocese.\nI do not want his services.\u201d\n\nThis did not surprise me. I knew that those monks had been imported by\nhim from France, and that they were pets of his.\n\nWhen I entered their monastery, just eleven months before, he was just\nstarting for Rome, and expressed to me the pleasure he felt that I was\nto join them.\n\nMy reasons, however, were so good, and the memoir I was preparing was so\nfull of undoubted facts and unanswerable arguments, that I was pretty\nsure, not only to appease the wrath of my bishop, but to gain his esteem\nmore firmly than before. I was not disappointed in my expectation.\n\nA few days later, I called upon his lordship, and was received very\ncoldly. He said: \u201cI cannot conceal from you my surprise and pain, at the\nrash step you have just taken. What a shame, for all your friends to see\nyour want of consistency and perseverance! Had you remained among those\ngood monks, your moral strength could have been increased more than\nten-fold. But you have stultified yourself in the eyes of the people, as\nwell as in mine; you have lost the confidence of your best friends, by\nleaving, without good reasons, the company of such holy men. Some bad\nrumors are already afloat against you, which give us to understand that\nyou are an unmanageable man, a selfish priest, whom the superiors have\nbeen forced to turn out as a black sheep, whose presence could not be\nany longer tolerated inside the peaceful walls of that holy monastery.\u201d\n\nThose words were uttered with an expression of bad feeling which told me\nthat I had not heard the tenth part of what he had in his heart.\nHowever, as I came into his presence, prepared to hear all kinds of bad\nreports, angry reproaches, and humiliating insinuations, I remained\nperfectly calm. I had, in in advance, resolved to hear all his\nunfriendly, insulting remarks, just as if they were addressed to another\nperson, a perfect stranger to me. The last three days had been spent in\nprayers to obtain that favor. My God had evidently heard me; for the\nstorm passed over me, without exciting the least unpleasant feelings in\nmy soul.\n\nI answered: \u201cMy lord: Allow me to tell you that, in taking the solemn\nstep of leaving the monastery of Longueuil, I was not afraid of what the\nworld would say or think of me. My only desire is to save my soul, and\ngive the rest of my life to my country and my God, in a more efficacious\nway than I have yet done. The rumors which seem to trouble your lordship\nabout my supposed expulsion from the oblates, do not affect me in the\nleast, for they are without the least foundation. From the first to the\nlast day of my stay in that monastery, all the inmates, from the\nsuperior, to the last one, have overwhelmed me with the most sincere\nmarks of kindness, and even of respect. If you had seen the tears which\nwere shed by the brothers, when I bade them adieu, you would have\nunderstood that I never had more devoted and sincere friends than the\nmembers of that religious community. Please read this important\ndocument, and you will see that I have kept my good name during my stay\nin that monastery.\u201d I handed him the following testimonial letter which\nthe superior had given me when I left:\n\n\u201cI, the undersigned, superior of the noviciate of the oblates of Mary\nImmaculate, at Longueuil, do certify that the conduct of Mr. Chiniquy,\nwhen in our monastery, has been worthy of the sacred character which he\npossesses, and after this year of solitude, he does not less deserve the\nconfidence of his brethren in the holy ministry than before. We wish,\nmoreover, to give our testimony of his persevering zeal in the cause of\ntemperance. We think that nothing was more of a nature to give a\ncharacter of stability to that admirable reform, and to secure its\nperfect success, than the profound reflections and studies of Mr.\nChiniquy, when in the solitude of Longueuil, on the importance of that\nwork.\n\n T. F. ALLARD,\n\n _Superior of the Noviciate O. M. I._\u201d\n\nIt was really most pleasant for me to see that every line of that\ndocument, read by the bishop, was blotting out some of the stern and\nunfriendly lines which were on his face, when speaking to me. Nothing\nwas more amiable than his manners, when he handed it back to me, saying:\n\u201cI thank God to see that you are still as worthy of my esteem and\nconfidence as when you entered that monastery. But would you be kind\nenough to give me the real reasons why you have so abruptly separated\nfrom the oblates?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my lord, I will give them to you: but your lordship knows that\nthere are things of such a delicate nature, that the lips of man shiver\nand rebel when required to utter them. Such are some of the deplorable\nthings which I have to mention to your lordship. I have put those\nreasons in these pages, which I respectfully request your lordship to\nread,\u201d and I handed him the _Memoir_, about thirty pages long, which I\nhad prepared.\n\nThe bishop read, very carefully, five or six pages, and said: \u201cAre you\npositive as to the exactness of what you write here?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my lord! They are as true and real as I am here.\u201d\n\nThe bishop turned pale, and remained a few minutes silent, biting his\nlips, and after a deep sigh, said: \u201cIs it your intention to reveal those\nsad mysteries to the world, or can we hope that you will keep that\nsecret?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d I answered, \u201cif your lordship and the oblates deal with me,\nas I hope they will do, as with an honorable Catholic priest; if I am\nkept in the position which an honest priest has a right to fill in the\nChurch, I consider myself bound, in conscience and honor, to keep those\nthings secret. But, if from any abuse, persecutions emanating from the\noblates, or any other party, I am obliged to give to the world the true\nreasons of my leaving that monastic order, your lordship understands\nthat, in self-defence, I will be forced to make these revelations!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut the oblates cannot say a word, or do anything wrong against you,\u201d\npromptly answered the bishop, \u201cafter the honorable testimony they have\ngiven you.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is true, my lord, that I have no reason to fear anything from the\noblates!\u201d I answered; \u201cbut those religious men are not the only ones who\nmight force me to defend myself. You know another who has my future\ndestinies in his hands. You know that my future course will be shaped on\nhis own toward me.\u201d\n\nWith amiable smile, the bishop answered:\n\n\u201cI understand you. But I pledge myself that you have nothing to fear\nfrom that quarter. Though I frankly tell you that I would have preferred\nseeing you work as a member of that monastic institution, it may be that\nit is more according to the will of God, that you should go among the\npeople, as sent by God, rather than by a superior, who might be your\ninferior in the eyes of many, in that glorious temperance of which you\nare evidently the blessed apostle in Canada. I am glad to tell you that\nI have spoken of you to his holiness, and he requested me to give you a\nprecious medal, which bears his most perfect features, with a splendid\ncrucifix. His holiness has graciously attached 300 days indulgences for\nevery one who will take the pledge of temperance in kissing the feet of\nthat crucifix. Wait a moment,\u201d added the bishop, \u201cI will go and get them\nand present them to you.\u201d\n\nWhen the bishop returned, holding in his hands those two infallible\ntokens of the kind sentiments of the Pope towards me, I fell on my knees\nto receive them and press them both to my lips with the utmost respect.\nMy feelings of joy and gratitude, in that happy hour, cannot be\nexpressed. I remained mute, for some time with surprise and admiration,\nwhen holding those precious things which were coming to me, as I then\nsincerely believed, from the very successor of Peter, and the true Vicar\nof Christ himself. When handing me those sacred gifts, the bishop\naddressed me the kindest words which a bishop can utter to his priest,\nor a father to his beloved son. He granted me the power to preach and\nhear confessions all over his diocese, and he dismissed me only after\nhaving put his hand on my head and asked God to pour upon me His most\nabundant benedictions everywhere I should go to work in the holy cause\nof temperance in Canada.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLIV.\n\nPREPARATIONS FOR THE LAST CONFLICT\u2014WISE COUNSEL, TEARS AND DISTRESS OF\n FATHER MATHEW\u2014LONGUEUIL THE FIRST TO ACCEPT THE GREAT REFORM OF\n TEMPERANCE\u2014THE WHOLE DISTRICT OF MONTREAL, ST. HYACINTHE AND THREE\n RIVERS CONQUERED\u2014TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND TEETOTALERS\u2014THE CITY OF MONTREAL\n WITH THE SUPLICIANS TAKE THE PLEDGE\u2014GOLD MEDAL\u2014OFFICIALLY NAMED\n APOSTLE OF TEMPERANCE OF CANADA\u2014GIFT OF \u00a3500 FROM PARLIAMENT.\n\n\nOur adorable Saviour said: \u201cWhat king, going to make war against another\nking sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able, with ten\nthousand, to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?\u201d\n(Luke 14: 31.) To follow that advice, how often had I fallen on my knees\nbefore my God, to implore the necessary strength and wisdom to meet that\nterrible enemy which was marching against me and my brethren! Many times\nI was so discouraged by the sense of personal incapacity, that I came\nnear fainting and flying away at the sight of the power and resources of\nthe foe! But the dear Saviour\u2019s voice has as many times strengthened me,\nsaying: \u201cFear not, I am with thee!\u201d He seemed, at every hour, to whisper\nin my ears: \u201cCheer up, I have overcome the world!\u201d Trusting, then, in my\nGod, alone, for victory, I nevertheless understood that my duty was to\narm myself with the weapons which the learned and the wise men of the\npast ages had prepared. I again studied the best works written on the\nsubject of wine, from the learned naturalist, Pleny, to the celebrated\nSir Astley Cooper. I not only compiled a multitude of scientific notes,\narguments and facts from these books, but prepared a \u201cManual of\nTemperance,\u201d which obtained so great a success for such a small country\nas Canada, that it went through four editions of twenty-five thousand\ncopies in less than four years. But my best source of information and\nwisdom was from letters received from Father Mathew, and my personal\ninterviews with him, when he visited the United States.\n\nThe first time I met him, in Boston, he told me how he regretted his\nhaving, at first, too much relied on the excitement and enthusiasm of\nthe multitudes. \u201cThose fits,\u201d he said, \u201cpass away as quickly as the\nclouds of the storm; and they, too often, leave no more traces of their\npassage. Persevere in the resolution you have taken in the beginning,\nnever to give the pledge, except when you give a complete course of\nlectures on the damning effects of intoxicating drinks. How can we\nexpect that the people will forever give up beverages which they\nhonestly, though ignorantly, believe to be beneficial and necessary to\ntheir body? The first thing we do we must demonstrate to them that these\nalcoholic drinks are absolutely destructive of their temporal as well as\nof their eternal life. So long as the priest and the people believe, as\nthey do to-day, that rum, brandy, wine, beer and cider give strength to\nhelp man to keep up his health in the midst of his hard labors; that\nthey warm his blood in winter and cool it in the summer; all our\nefforts, and even our successes, will be like the burning bundle of\nstraw, which makes a bright light, attracts the attention for a moment,\nand leaves nothing but smoke and cinders.\n\n\u201cHundreds of times, I have seen my Irish countrymen honestly taking the\npledge for life; but before a week had elapsed, they had obtained a\nrelease from their priest, under the impression that they were unable to\nearn their own living and support their families, without drinking those\ndetestable drugs. Very few priests in Ireland have taken the pledge, and\nstill fewer have kept it. In New York, only two Irish priests have given\nup their intoxicating glass, and the very next week I met both of them\ndrunk! Archbishop Hughes turned my humble efforts into ridicule, before\nhis priests, in my own presence, and drank a glass of brandy to my\nhealth with them at his own table, to mock me. And here in Boston the\ndrinking habits of the Bishop and his priest are such, that I have been\nforced, through self-respect, to quietly withdraw from his palace and\ncome to this hotel. This bad conduct paralyzes and kills me.\u201d\n\nIn saying these last words, that good and noble man burst into a fit of\nconvulsive sobs and tears; his breast was heaving under his vain efforts\nto suppress his sighs. He concealed his face in his hands, and for\nnearly ten minutes he could not utter a word.\n\nThe spectacle of the desolation of a man whom God had raised so high,\nand so much blessed, and the tears of one who had himself dried up so\nmany tears, and brought so much joy, peace and comfort, to so many\ndesolate homes, has been one of the most solemn lessons my God ever gave\nme. I then learned more clearly than ever, that all the glory of the\nworld is _Vanity_, and that one of the greatest acts of folly is to\nrely, for happiness, on the praises of men, and the success of our own\nlabors. For who had received more merited praises, and who had seen his\nown labors more blessed by God and man, than Father Mathew, whom all\nages will call \u201cThe Apostle of Temperance of Ireland?\u201d\n\nMy gratitude to Mr. Brassard caused me to choose his parish, near\nMontreal, for the first grand battle-field of the impending struggle\nagainst the enemy of my God and my country; and the first week of Advent\ndetermined upon for the opening of the campaign. But the nearer the day\nchosen to draw the sword against the modern Goliath the more I felt the\nsolemnity of my position, and the more I needed the help of Him on whom\nalone we can trust for light and strength.\n\nI had determined never to lecture on temperance in any place, without\nhaving previously inquired, from the most reliable sources, about:\n\n1st. The number of deaths and accidents caused by drunkenness the last\nfifteen or twenty years.\n\n2d. The number of orphans and widows made by drunkenness.\n\n3d. The number of rich families ruined, and the number of poor families\nmade poorer by the same cause.\n\n4th. The approximate sum of money expended by the people during the last\ntwenty years.\n\nAs the result of my inquiries, I learned that during that short period,\nthat 32 men had lost their lives when drunk; and through their\ndrunkenness 25 widows and 37 orphans had been left in the lowest degree\nof poverty; 72 rich families had been entirely ruined and turned out of\ntheir once happy homes by the demon of intemperance, and 90 kept poor.\nMore than three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) had been paid in\ncash, without counting the loss of time, for the intoxicating beverages\ndrank by the people of Longueuil during the last twenty years.\n\nFor three days, I spoke twice a day to crowded houses. My first text\nwas: \u201cLook not upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in\nthe cup: when it moveth itself aright. At last, it biteth like a serpent\nand stingeth like an adder\u201d (Prov. 33: 31-32).\n\nThe first day I showed how alcoholic beverages were biting like a\nserpent and stinging like an adder, by destroying the lungs, the brains,\nand the liver; the nerves and the muscles; the blood and the very life\nof man.\n\nThe second day I proved that intoxicating drinks were the most\nimplacable and cruel enemies of the fathers, the mothers, the children;\nof the young and the old; of the rich and the poor; of the farmers, the\nmerchants and the mechanics; the parish and the country.\n\nThe third day I proved, clearly, that those intoxicating liquors were\nthe enemy of intelligence, and the soul of man; the gospel of Christ and\nof His holy church; the enemy of all the rights of man and the laws of\nGod.\n\nMy conclusion was, that we were all bound to raise our hands against\nthat gigantic and implacable foe, whose arm was raised against every one\nof us. I presented the thrilling tableau of our friends, near and dear\nrelations, and neighbors, fallen and destroyed around us; the thousands\nof orphans and widows, whose fathers and husbands had been slaughtered\nby strong drink. I brought before their minds the true picture of the\nstarving children, the destitute widows and mothers, whose life had to\nbe spent in tears, ignominy, desolation and unspeakable miseries, from\nthe daily use of strong drink. I was not half through my address when\ntears flowed from every eye. The cries and sobs so much drowned my\nvoice, that I had several times to stop speaking for a few minutes.\n\nThen holding the crucifix, blessed and given to me by the Pope, I showed\nwhat Christ had suffered on the cross for sins engendered by the use of\nintoxicating drinks. And I requested them to listen to the voices of the\nthousands of desolate orphans, widows, wives, and mothers, coming from\nevery corner of the land; the voices of their priests and their church;\nthe voices of the angels, the Virgin Mary and the saints in heaven; the\nvoice of Jesus Christ their Saviour, calling them to put an end to the\ndeluge of evils and unspeakable iniquities caused by the use of those\ncursed drinks; \u201cfor,\u201d said I, \u201cthose liquors are cursed by millions of\nmothers and children, widows and orphans, who owe to them a life of\nshame, tears, and untold desolation. They are cursed by the Virgin Mary\nand the angels who are the daily witnesses of the iniquities with which\nthey deluge the world.\n\n\u201cThey are cursed by the millions of souls which they have plunged into\neternal misery.\n\n\u201cThey are cursed by Jesus Christ, from whose hands they have wrenched\nuntold millions of souls, for whom he died on Calvary.\u201d\n\nEvery one of those truths, incontrovertible for Roman Catholics, were\nfalling with irresistible power on that multitude of people. The\ndistress and consternation were so profound and universal, that they\nreacted, at last, on the poor speaker, who several times could not\nexpress what he himself felt except with his tears and his sobs.\n\nWhen I hoped that, by the great mercy of God, all resistances were\nsubdued, the obstacles removed, the intelligences enlightened, the wills\nconquered, I closed the address, which had lasted more than two hours,\nby an ardent prayer to God, to grant us the grace to give up forever the\nuse of those cursed poisons, and I requested every one to repeat with\nme, in their hearts, the solemn pledge of temperance in the following\nwords:\n\n\u201cAdorable and dear Saviour, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to take\naway my sins and save my guilty soul, for thy glory, the good of my\nbrethren and of my country, as well as for my own good, I promise, with\nthy help, never to drink, nor to give to anybody any intoxicating\nbeverages; except when ordered by an honest physician.\u201d\n\nOur merciful God had visibly blessed the work and his unprofitable\nservant. The success was above our sanguine expectations. Two thousand\nthree hundred citizens of Longueuil enrolled under the banners of\ntemperance. Instead of inviting them to sign any written pledge, I asked\nthem to come to the foot of the altar and kiss the crucifix I was\nholding, as the public and solemn pledge of their engagement.\n\nThe first thing done by the majority of the intelligent farmers of\nLongueuil, on the return from the church, was to break their decanters\nand their barrels, and spill the last drop of the accursed drink on the\nground.\n\nSeven days later, there were eighty requests in my hands to go and show\nthe ravages of alcoholic liquors to many other parishes.\n\nBoucherville, Chambly, Varennes, St. Hyacinthe, etc., Three Rivers, the\ngreat city of Montreal, with all the priests of St. Sulpice, the\nparishes along the Chambly river, Laprairie, Lachine. In a word, the\nvast diocese of Montreal, Three Rivers and St. Hyacinthe, one after the\nother, raised the war cry against the usages of intoxicating drinks,\nwith a unanimity and determination which seemed to be more miraculous\nthan natural.\n\nDuring the four years, I gave 1,800 public addresses, in 200 parishes,\nwith the same fruits, and enrolled more than 200,000 people under the\nbanners of temperance. Everywhere, the taverns, the distilleries and\nbreweries were shut, and their owners forced to take other trades to\nmake a living; not on account of any stringent law, but by the simple\nfact that the whole people had ceased drinking their beverages, after\nhaving been fully persuaded that they were injurious to their bodies,\nopposed to their happiness, and ruinous to their souls.\n\nThe convictions were so unanimous and strong on that subject, that, in\nmany places, the last evening I spent in their midst, the merchants used\nto take all their barrels of rum, beer, wine and brandy to the public\nsquares, make a pyramid of them, to which I was invited to set fire. The\nwhole population, attracted by the novelty and sublimity of that\nspectacle, would then fill the air with their cries and shouts of joy.\nWhen the husbands and wives, the parents and children of the redeemed\ndrunkards rent the air with their cries of joy at the destruction of\ntheir enemy, and the fire was in full blaze, one of the merchants would\ngive me an ax to stave in the last barrel of rum. After the last drop\nwas emptied, I usually stood on it to address some parting words to the\npeople.\n\nSuch a spectacle baffles any description. The brilliant lights of the\npine and cedar trees, mixed with all kinds of inflammable materials\nwhich every one had been invited to bring, changed the darkest hour of\nthat time into the brightest of days. The flames, fed by the fiery\nliquids, shot forth their tongues of fire towards Heaven, as if to\npraise their great God, whose merciful hand had brought the marvellous\nreformation we were celebrating. The thousand faces, illuminated by the\nblaze, beamed with joy. The noise of the cracking barrels, mixed with\nthat of a raging fire; the cries and shouts of that multitude, with the\nsinging of the Te Deum, formed a harmony which filled every soul with\nsentiments of unspeakable happiness. But where shall I find words to\nexpress my feelings, when I had finished speaking! The mothers and wives\nto whom our blessed temperance had given back a loving husband and some\ndear children, were crowding around me with their families and redeemed\nones, to thank me, press my hands to their lips, and water them with\ntheir grateful tears.\n\nThe only thing which marred that joy were the exaggerated honors and\nunmerited praises with which I was really overwhelmed.\n\nI was, at first, forced to receive an ovation from the curates and\npeople of Longueuil, and the surrounding parishes, when they presented\nto me my portrait, painted by the artist Hamel, which filled me with\nconfusion, for I felt so keenly that I did not deserve such honors! But\nit was still worse at the end of May, 1849. Judge Mondelet was deputed\nby the bishop and the priests and the city of Montreal, accompanied by\n15,000 people, to present me with a gold medal, and a gift of $400.\n\nBut the greatest surprise my God had in store for me, was kept for the\nend of June, 1850. At that time, I was deputed by 40,000 teetotalers, to\npresent a petition to the Parliament of Toronto, in order to make the\nrumsellers responsible for the ravages caused to the families of the\npoor drunkards to whom they had sold their poisonous drugs. The House of\nCommons having kindly appointed a committee of ten members to help me to\nframe that bill, it was an easy matter to have it pass through the three\nbranches. I was present when they discussed and accepted that bill.\nNapoleon was not more happy when he won the battle of Austerlitz, than I\nwas when I heard that my pet bill had become a law, and that hereafter,\nthe innocent victims of the drunken father or husband would receive an\nindemnity from the landsharks who were fattening on their poverty and\nunspeakable miseries.\n\nBut what was my surprise and consternation, when, immediately after the\npassing of that bill, the Hon. Dewitt rose and proposed that a public\nexpression of gratitude should be given me by Parliament, under the form\nof a large pecuniary gift!\n\nHis speech seemed to me filled with such exaggerated eulogiums, that I\nwould have been tempted to think it was mockery, had I not known that\nthe Protestant gentleman was one of my most sincere friends. He was\nfollowed by the Honorables Baldwin and Lafontaine, Prime Minister at the\ntime, and half a dozen other members, who went still further into what I\nso justly consider the regions of exaggeration.\n\nIt seemed to me bordering on blasphemy to attribute to Chiniquy, a\nreformation which was so clearly the work of my merciful God.\n\nThe speeches on that subject lasted two hours, and were followed by a\nunanimous vote to present me with \u00a3500, as a public testimony of the\ngratitude of the people for my labors in the temperance reform of\nCanada. Previous to that, the bishops of Quebec and Montreal had given\nme tokens of their esteem which, though unmerited, had been better\nappreciated by me.\n\nWhen in May, 1850, the Archbishop of Quebec, my Lord Turgeon, sent the\nRev. Charles Baillargeon, curate of Quebec, to Rome, to become his\nsuccessor, he advised him to come to Longueuil and get a letter from me,\nwhich he might present to the Pope, with a volume of my \u201cTemperance\nManual.\u201d I complied with his request, and wrote to the Pope. Some months\nlater, I received the following lines:\n\n ROME, AUG. 10TH, 1850.\n\n REV. MR. CHINIQUY:\n\nSIR AND DEAR FRIEND:\u2014Monday the 12th, was the first opportunity given me\nto have a private audience with the Sovereign Pontiff. I presented him\nyour book, with your letter, which he received, I will not say with that\ngoodness which is so eminently characteristic of him, but with all\nspecial marks of satisfaction and approbation, while charging me to\nstate to you that he accords his apostolic benediction to you and to the\nholy work of temperance you preach. I consider myself happy to have had\nto offer on your behalf, to the Vicar of Jesus Christ, a book which,\nafter it had done so much good to my countrymen, had been able to draw\nfrom his venerable lips, such solemn words of approbation of the\ntemperance society and of blessings on those who are its apostles; and\nit is also, from my heart, a very sweet pleasure to transmit them to\nyou.\n\n Your Friend,\n\n CHARLES BAILLARGEON,\n\n _Priest_.\n\nA short time before I received that letter from Rome, my Lord Bourget,\nBishop of Montreal, had officially given me the title of \u201cApostle of\nTemperance;\u201d in the following documents, which, on account of their\nimportance, the readers will probably like to have its original Latin:\n\n\u201cIGNATIUS BOURGET, MISERATIONE DIVINA ET ST\u00c6. SEDIS APOSTOLIC\u00c6 GRATIA,\n EPISCOPUS MARIANOPOLITANENSIS, ETC., ETC., ETC.\u201d\n\n\u201cUNIVERSIS pr\u00e6sentes litteras inspecturis, notum facimus et attestamur\nVenerabilem Carolum Chiniquy, Temperanti\u00e6 Apostolum, Nostr\u00e6 Dioc\u0153cis\nSacerdotem, Nobis optime notum esse, exploratumque habere illum vitam\nlaudabilem et professione Ecclesiastica consonam agere, nullisque\necclesiasticis censuris, saltem qu\u00e6 ad nostram devenerunt Notitiam\ninnodiatum: qua propter, per viscera Misericordi\u00e6 Dei Nostri, obsecramus\nomnes et Singulos Archiepiscopos, Episcopos, c\u0153teras que Ecclesi\u00e6\ndignitates ad quos ipsum declinare contingent, ut eum, pro Christi\nAmore, benigne tractare dignentur, et quando cumque ab eo fuerint\nrequisiti, Sacrum Miss\u00e6 Sacrificium ipsi celebrare, nec non alia munia\nEcclesiastica, et pietatis opera exercere permittant, paratos nos ad\nsimilia et majora exhibentes: In quorum fidem, pr\u00e6sentes litteras signo\nsigilloque nostris, ac Secretarii Episopatus nostri subscriptione\ncommunitas expediri mandavimus Marianopoli, in [OE]dibus Nostris Beati\nJacobi, anno millesimo quinquagesimo. Die vero mensis Junii Sexta.\u201d\n\n \u201c\u2720IG. EPUS. MARIANOPOLITANENSIS.\u201d\n\n \u201cJ. O. PARE, CAN. SECRIUS.\u201d\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\nIGNATIUS BOURGET, BY THE DIVINE MERCY AND GRACE OF THE HOLY APOSTOLIC\n SEE, BISHOP OF MONTREAL.\n\nTo all who would inspect the present letters, we make known and certify\nthat the venerable Charles Chiniquy, \u201cApostle of Temperance,\u201d Priest of\nour Diocese, is very well known to us, and we regard him as proved, to\nlead a praiseworthy life, and agreeable to his ecclesiastical\nprofession. Through the tender mercies of our God, he is under no\necclesiastical censures, at least, which have come to our knowledge.\n\nWe entreat each and all, Archbishop, Bishop and other dignitaries of the\nchurch, to whom it may happen that he may go, that they, for the love of\nChrist, entertain him kindly and courteously, and as often as they may\nbe asked by him, permit him to celebrate the holy sacrifice of the mass,\nand exercise other ecclesiastical privileges of piety. Being ourselves\nready to grant him these and other greater privileges. In proof of this\nwe have ordered the present letters to be prepared under our sign and\nseal, and with subscription of our secretary, in our palace of the\nblessed James, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty, on the\nsixth day of the month of June.\n\n \u2720IGNATIUS. BISHOP OF MARIANOPOLIS.\n\nBy order of the most illustrious and most Reverend Bishops of\nMarianopolis, D. D.\n\n J. O. PARE, Canon,\n\n Secretary.\n\nNo words from my pen can give an idea of the distress and shame I felt\nwhen these unmerited praises and public honors began to flow upon me.\nFor, when the siren voice of my natural pride was near to deceive me,\nthere was the noise of a sudden storm in my conscience, crying with a\nlouder voice: \u201cChiniquy, thou art a sinner, unworthy of such honors.\u201d\n\nThis conflict made me very miserable. I said to myself. \u201cAre those great\nsuccesses due to my merits, my virtues and my eloquence? No! Surely No!\nThey are due to the great mercy of God for my dear country. Will I not\nforever be put to shame if I consent to these flattering voices which\ncome to me from morning till night, to make me forget that to my God\nalone, and not to me, must be given the praise and glory of that\nmarvellous reform?\u201d\n\nThese praises were coming every day, thicker and thicker, through the\nthousand trumpets of the press, as well as through the addresses daily\npresented to me from the places which had been so thoroughly reformed.\n\nThose unmerited honors were bestowed on me by multitudes who came in\ncarriages and on horseback, bearing flags, with bands of music, to\nreceive me on the borders of their parishes, where the last parishes had\njust brought me with the same kind of ovations.\n\nSometimes, the roads were lined on both sides, by thousands and\nthousands of maple, pine or spruce trees, which they had carried from\ndistant forests, in spite of all my protests.\n\nHow many times the curates, who were sitting by me in the best\ncarriages, drawn by the most splendid horses, asked me: \u201cWhy do you look\nso sad, when you see all these faces beaming with joy?\u201d I answered, \u201cI\nam sad, because these unmerited honors these good people do me, seems to\nbe the shortest way the Devil has found to destroy me.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut the reform you have brought about is so admirable and so\ncomplete\u2014the good which is done to the individuals, as well as to the\nwhole country, is so great and universal, that the people want to show\nyou their gratitude.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you know, my dear friends,\u201d I answered, \u201cthat that marvellous change\nis too great to be the work of man? Is it not evidently the work of God?\nTo Him, and Him alone, then we ought to give the praise and the glory.\u201d\n\nMy constant habit, after these days of ovation, was to pass a part of\nthe night in prayer to God, to the Virgin Mary, and to all the saints in\nheaven, to prevent me from being hurt by these worldly honors. It was my\ncustom then to read the passion of Jesus Christ, from his triumphant\nentry into Jerusalem to his death on the cross, in order to prevent this\nshining dust from adhering to my soul. There was a verse of the gospel,\nwhich I used to repeat very often in the midst of those exhibitions of\nthe vanities of this world: \u201cWhat is a man profited if he should gain\nthe whole world and lose his own soul?\u201d (Matt. 16:26).\n\nAnother source of serious anxiety for me, was then coming from the large\nsums of money constantly flowing from the hands of my too kind and\ngrateful reformed countrymen into mine.\n\nIt was very seldom that the public expression of gratitude presented me\nin their rhetorical addresses were not accompanied by a gift of from $50\nto $500, according to the means and importance of the place. Those sums\nmultiplied by the 365 days of the year would have soon made of me one of\nthe richest men of Canada.\n\nHad I been able to trust to my own strength against the hungers of\nriches, I should have been able, easily, to accumulate a sum of at least\n$70,000, with which I might have done a great amount of good.\n\nBut I confess, that when in the presence of God, I went to the bottom of\nmy heart, to see if it were strong enough to carry such a glittering\nweight, I found it, by far, too weak. I knew so many who, though\nevidently stronger than I was, had fallen on the way and perished under\ntoo heavy burden of their treasures, that I feared for myself at the\nsight of such unexpected and immense fortune. Besides, when only 18\nyears old, my venerable and dear benefactor, the Rev. Mr. Leprohon,\ndirector of the College of Nicolet, had told me a thing I never had\nforgotten: \u201cChiniquy,\u201d he said, \u201cI am sure you will be what we call a\nsuccessful man in the world. You will easily make your way among your\ncontemporaries; and, consequently, it is probable that you will have\nmany opportunities of becoming rich. But when the silver and gold flow\ninto your hands, do not pile and keep it. For, if you set your\naffections on it, you will be miserable in this world and damned in the\nnext. You must not do like the fattened hogs, which give their grease\nonly after their death. Give it while you are living. Then you will not\nbe blessed only by God and man, but you will be blessed by your own\nconscience. You will live in peace and die in joy.\u201d\n\nThese solemn warnings from one of the wisest and best friends God had\never given me when young, has never gone out of my mind. I found them\ncorroborated in every page of that Bible which I loved so much and\nstudied every day. I found them also written, by God, on my heart. I\nthen, on my knees, took the resolution, without making an absolute vow\nof it, to keep only what I wanted for my daily support and give the rest\nto the poor, or some Christian or patriotic object. I kept my promise.\nThe \u00a3500 given me by parliament did not remain three weeks in my hands.\nI never put a cent in Canada in the vaults of any bank; and when I left\nfor Illinois, in the fall of 1851, instead of taking with me $70,000, as\nit would have been very easy, had I been so minded, I had hardly $1,500\nin hand, the price of a part of my library, which was too heavy to be\ncarried so far away.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLV.\n\nMY SERMON ON THE VIRGIN MARY\u2014COMPLIMENTS OF BISHOP PRINCE\u2014STORMY\n NIGHT\u2014MY FIRST SERIOUS DOUBTS ABOUT THE CHURCH OF ROME\u2014PAINFUL\n DISCUSSION WITH THE BISHOP\u2014THE HOLY FATHERS OPPOSED TO THE MODERN\n WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN\u2014THE BRANCHES OF THE VINE.\n\n\nThe 15th of August, 1850, I preached in the Cathedral of Montreal, on\nthe blessed Virgin Mary\u2019s power in heaven, when interceding for sinners.\nI was sincerely devoted to the Virgin Mary. Nothing seemed to me more\nnatural than to pray to her, and rely on her protection. The object of\nmy sermon was to show that Jesus Christ cannot refuse any of the\npetitions presented to him by his mother; that she has always obtained\nthe favors she asked her Son, Jesus, to grant to her devotees. Of\ncourse, my address was more sentimental than scriptural, as it is the\nstyle among the priests of Rome. But I was honest; and I sincerely\nbelieved what I said.\n\n\u201cWho among you, my dear brethren,\u201d I said to the people, \u201cwill refuse\nany of the reasonable requests of a beloved mother? Who will break and\nsadden her loving heart when, with supplicating voice and tears, she\npresents to you a petition which it is in your power, nay, to your\ninterests, to grant? For my own part, were my beloved mother still\nliving, I would prefer to have my right hand crushed and burned into\ncinders, to have my tongue cut, than to say, No! to my mother, asking me\nany favor which it was in my power to bestow.\n\n\u201cThese are the sentiments which the God of Sinai wanted to engrave in\nthe very hearts of humanity, when giving his laws to Moses, in the midst\nof lightning and thunders, and these are the sentiments which the God of\nthe Gospel wanted to impress on our souls by the shedding of his blood\non Calvary. These sentiments of filial respect and obedience to our\nmothers, Christ Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Mary, practiced to\nperfection. Although God and man, he was still in perfect submission to\nthe will of his mother, of which he makes a law to each of us.\n\n\u201cThe Gospel says, in reference to his parents, Joseph and Mary, \u2018He was\nsubject unto them.\u2019 (Luke 2:51.) What a grand and shining revelation we\nhave in these few short words: \u2018Jesus was subject unto Mary!\u2019 Is it not\nwritten in the same Gospel, that \u2018Jesus is the same to-day, as he was\nyesterday, and will be forever?\u2019 He has not changed. He is still the Son\nof Mary, as he was when only twelve years old.\n\n\u201cThis is why our holy Church, which is the pillar and foundation of\nTruth, invites you and me, to-day, to put an unbounded confidence in her\nintercession. Remembering that Jesus has always granted the petitions\npresented to him by his divine mother, let us put our petitions in her\nhands, if we want to receive the favors we are in need of.\n\n\u201cThe second reason why we must all go to Mary, for the favors we want\nfrom heaven, is that we are sinners\u2014rebels in the sight of God. Jesus\nChrist is our Saviour. Yes! but he is also our God, infinitely just,\ninfinitely holy. He hates our sins with an infinite hatred. He abhors\nour rebellions with an infinite, a godly hatred. If we had loved and\nserved him faithfully we might go to him, not only with the hope, but\nwith the assurance of being welcomed. But we have forgotten and offended\nHim; we have trampled His laws under our feet; we have joined with those\nwho nailed Him on the cross, pierced his heart with the lance, and shed\nHis blood to the last drop. We belong to the crowd which mocked at His\ntortures, and insulted Him at His death. How can we dare to look at Him\nand meet His eyes? Must we not tremble in his presence? Must we not fear\nbefore that Lion of the tribe of Judah whom we have wounded and nailed\nto the cross?\n\n\u201cWhere is the rebel who does not shiver, when he is dragged to the feet\nof the mighty Prince against whom he has drawn the sword? What will he\ndo if he wants to obtain pardon? Will he go himself and speak to that\noffended Majesty? No! But he looks around the throne to see if he can\nfind some one of the great officers and friends, or some powerful and\ninfluential person, through whose intercession he can obtain pardon. If\nhe finds any such, he goes immediately to him, puts his petitions into\ntheir hands, and they go to the foot of the throne to plead for the\nrebel, and the favor which would have been indignantly refused to the\nguilty subject, had he dared to speak himself, is granted, when it is\nasked by a faithful officer, a kind friend, a dear sister or a beloved\nmother.\n\n\u201cThis is why our holy church, speaking through her infallible supreme\npontiff, the Vicar of Christ, Gregory XVI., has told us, in the most\nsolemn manner, that \u2018Mary is the only hope of sinners.\u2019\n\nWinding up my arguments, I added: \u201cWe are those insolent, ungrateful\nrebels. Jesus is the King of Kings against whom we have, a thousand\ntimes, risen in rebellion. He has a thousand good reasons to refuse our\npetitions, if we are impudent enough to speak to Him ourselves. But look\nat the right hand of the offended King, and behold his dear and divine\nmother. She is your mother also. For it is to every one of us, as well\nas to John, that Christ said on the cross, speaking of Mary, \u2018Behold\nyour Mother.\u2019\n\n\u201cJesus has never refused any favor asked by that Queen of Heaven. He\ncannot rebuke His Mother. Let us go to her; let us ask her to be our\nadvocate and plead our cause, and she will do it. Let us suppliantly\nrequest her to ask for our pardon, and she will get it.\u201d\n\nI then sincerely took these glittering sophisms for the true religion of\nChrist, as all the priests and people of Rome are bound to take them\nto-day, and presented them with all the earnestness of an honest though\ndeluded mind.\n\nMy sermon had made a visible and deep impression. Bishop Prince,\ncoadjutor of my Lord Bourget, who was among my hearers, thanked and\ncongratulated me for the good effect it would have on the people, and I\nsincerely thought I had said what was true and right before God.\n\nBut when night came, before going to bed, I took my Bible as usual,\nknelt down before God, in the neat little room I occupied in the\nbishop\u2019s palace, and read the twelfth chapter of Matthew, with a praying\nheart and a sincere desire to understand it, and be benefitted thereby.\nStrange to say! when I reached the 40th verse, I felt a mysterious awe,\nas if I had entered for the first time, into a new and most holy land.\nThough I had read that verse, and the following, many times, they came\nto my mind with a freshness and newness as if I had never seen them\nbefore. There was a lull in my mind for a few moments. Slowly, and with\nbreathless attention, supreme veneration and respect, I read the history\nof that visit of Mary to the sacred spot where Jesus, my Saviour, was\nstanding in the midst of the crowd, feeding his happy hearers with the\nbread of life.\n\nWhen I contemplated that blessed Mary, whom I loved, as so tenderly\napproaching the house where she was to meet her divine Son, who had been\nso long absent from her, my heart suddenly throbbed in sympathy with\nhers. I felt as if sharing her unspeakable joy at every step which\nbrought her nearer to her adorable and beloved son. What tears had she\nnot shed when Jesus had left her alone, in her poor, now, and cheerless\nhome, that He might preach the gospel in the distant places, where his\nFather had sent Him! With Jesus in her humble home, was she not more\nhappy than the greatest queen on her throne! Did she not possess a\ntreasure more precious than all the world! How sweet to her ears were\nthe words she had heard from His lips!\n\nHow lovely the face of the most beautiful among the sons of men! How\nhappy she must have felt when she heard that he was, now, near enough to\nallow her to go and see Him! How quick were her steps! How cheerful and\ninteresting the meeting! How the beloved Saviour will repay by His\nrespectful and divine love to his mother, the trouble and the fatigue of\nher long journey! My heart beat with joy at the privilege of witnessing\nthat interview, and of hearing the respectful words Jesus would address\nto His mother!\n\nWith heart and soul throbbing with these feelings, I slowly read,\n\n\u201cWhile he talked to the people, behold His mother and His brethren,\nstood without desiring to speak with Him.\n\n\u201cThen one said unto Him: Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand\nwithout desiring to speak with thee.\n\n\u201cBut he answered, and said unto him that told Him: Who is my mother? Who\n=are= my brethren?\n\n\u201cAnd he stretched forth His hands towards His disciples, and said:\nBehold my mother and brethren!\n\n\u201cFor whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in Heaven, the\nsame is my brother, sister and mother.\u201d\n\nI had hardly finished reading the last verse, when big drops of sweat\nbegan to flow from my face, my heart beat with a tremendous speed, and I\ncame near fainting; I sat in my large armchair, expecting every minute\nto fall on the floor. Those alone who have stood several hours at the\nfall of the marvellous Niagara, heard the thundering noise of its\nwaters, and felt the shaking of the rocks under their feet, can have any\nidea of what I felt in that hour of agony.\n\nA voice, the voice of my conscience, whose thunders were like the voice\nof a thousand Niagaras, was telling me: \u201cDo you not see that you have\npreached a sacrilegious lie, this morning, when, from the pulpit, you\nsaid to your ignorant and deluded people, that Jesus always granted the\npetitions of His mother, Mary? Are you not ashamed to deceive yourself,\nand deceive your poor countrymen with such silly falsehoods?\u201d\n\nReader, read again these words! and understand that, far from granting\nall the petitions of Mary, Jesus has always, except when a child, said\n\u201cNo!\u201d to her requests. He has always rebuked her, when she asked him\nanything in public! Here she comes to ask Him a favor before the whole\npeople. It is the easiest, the most natural favor that a mother ever\nasked of her son. It is a favor that a son has never refused to a\nmother. He answers by a rebuke, a public and solemn rebuke! Is it\nthrough want of love and respect for Mary that He gave her that rebuke?\nNo! Never a son loved and respected a mother as He did. But it was a\nsolemn protest against the blasphemous worship of Mary, as practiced in\nthe Church of Rome.\n\nI felt, at once, so bewildered and confounded, by the voice, which was\nshaking my very bones, that I thought it was the devil\u2019s voice; and, for\na moment, I feared less I was possessed of a demon.\n\n\u201cMy God,\u201d I cried, \u201chave mercy on me! Come to my help! Save me from my\nenemy\u2019s hands!\u201d\n\nAs quick as lightning, the answer came: \u201cIt is not Satan\u2019s voice you\nhear. It is I, thy Saviour and thy God, who speaks to thee. Read what\nMark, Luke, and John tell you about the way I received =her= petitions,\nfrom the very day I began to work, and speak publicly as the Son of God,\nand the Saviour of the world.\u201d\n\nThese cries of my awakening intelligence were sounding in my ears for\nmore than one hour, before I consented to obey them. At last, with a\ntrembling hand, and a distressed mind, I took my Bible and read in St.\nMark, chapter iii: verses 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35: \u201cThere came then his\nbrethren and his mother, and standing without, sent unto him, and\ncalling him. And the multitude sat about him and they said unto him:\nBehold thy mother and thy brethren without, sending for thee. And he\nanswered them, saying: who is my mother and my brethren?\n\n\u201cAnd he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said: Behold\nmy mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of God, the\nsame is my brother, my sister, and my mother.\u201d\n\nThe reading of these words acted upon me as the shock of a sword going\nthrough and through the body of one who had already been mortally\nwounded. I felt absolutely confounded. The voice continued to sound in\nmy ears: \u201cDo you not see you have presented a blasphemous lie, every\ntime you said that Jesus always granted the petitions of his mother?\u201d\n\nI remained again, a considerable time, bewildered, not knowing how to\nfight down thoughts which were so mercilessly shaking my faith, and\ndemolishing the respect I had kept, till then, for my church. After more\nthan half an hour of vain struggle to silence these thoughts, it came to\nmy mind that St. Luke had narrated this interview of Mary and Jesus in a\nvery different way. I opened the holy book again to read the eighth\nchapter. But how shall I find words to express my distress when I saw\nthat the rebuke of Jesus Christ was expressed in a still sterner way by\nSt. Luke than by the two other evangelists!\n\n\u201cThen came to him his mother and brethren, and could not come at him for\nthe press.\n\n\u201cAnd it was told him: Thy mother and thy brethren stand without,\ndesiring to see thee.\n\n\u201cAnd he answered, and said unto them: my mother and brethren are those\nwho will hear the word of God and do it.\u201d (Luke viii: 19, 20, 21.)\n\nIt then seemed to me as if those three Evangelists said to me: \u201cHow dare\nyou preach, with your apostate and lying church, that Jesus has always\ngranted all the petitions of Mary, when we were ordered by God to write\nand proclaim that all the public petitions she had presented to him,\nwhen working as the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world, had been\nanswered by a public rebuke?\u201d\n\nWhat could I answer? How could I stand the rebuke of these three\nEvangelists? Trembling from head to foot, I fell upon my knees, crying\nto the Virgin Mary to come to my help and pray that I might not succumb\nto this temptation, and lose my faith and confidence in her. But the\nmore I prayed, the louder the voice seemed to say: \u201cHow dare you preach\nthat Jesus has always granted the petitions of Mary, when we tell you\nthe contrary by the order of God himself?\u201d\n\nMy desolation became such, that a cold sweat covered my whole frame\nagain; my head was aching, and I think I would have fainted had I not\nbeen released by a torrent of tears. In my distress, I cried: \u201cOh! my\nGod! my God! look down upon me in thy mercy; strengthen my faith in thy\nHoly Church! Grant me to follow her voice and obey her commands with\nmore and more fidelity; she is thy beloved church. She cannot err. She\ncannot be an apostate church.\u201d But in vain I wept and cried for help. My\nwhole being was filled with dismay and terror from the voices of the\nthree witnesses, who were crying louder and louder.\n\n\u201cHow dare you preach that Christ has always granted the petitions of\nMary, when the gospels, written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost,\ntell you so clearly the contrary?\u201d\n\nWhen I had, in vain, wept, prayed, cried, and struggled from ten at\nnight till three in the morning; the miraculous change of water into\nwine, by Christ, at the request of his mother, suddenly came to my mind.\nI felt a momentary relief from my terrible distress, by the hope that I\ncould prove to myself that, in this case the Saviour had obeyed the\ndemands of his holy mother. I eagerly opened my Bible again and read:\n\n\u201cAnd the third day there was a marriage in Cana, of Galilee, and the\nmother of Jesus was there.\n\n\u201cAnd both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when\nthey wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said unto him, they have no wine.\nJesus saith unto her: Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is\nnot yet come.\n\n\u201cHis mother saith unto the servants: whatsoever he saith unto you, do\nit.\u201d (John ii: 2.)\n\nTill that hour, I had always accepted that text in the sense given in\nthe Church of Rome, as proving that the very first miracle of Jesus\nChrist was wrought at the request of his mother. And I was preparing\nmyself to answer the three mysterious witnesses: \u201cHere is the proof that\nyou are three devils, and not three evangelists, when you tell me that\nJesus has never granted the petitions of his mother, except when a\nchild. Here is the glorious title of Mary to my confidence in her\nintercession; here is the seal of her irresistible superhuman power over\nher divine son; here is the undeniable evidence that Jesus cannot refuse\nanything asked by his divine mother!\u201d But when, armed with these\nexplanations of the church, I was preparing to meet what Matthew, St.\nMark, and St. Luke had just told me, a sudden distressing thought came\nto my mind; and this thought was as if I heard the three witnesses\nsaying: \u201cHow can you be so blind as not to see that instead of being a\nfavor granted to Mary, this first miracle is the first opportunity\nchosen by Christ to protest against her intercession. It is a solemn\nwarning to Mary never to ask anything from him, and to us, never to put\nany confidence in her requests. Here, Mary, evidently full of compassion\nfor those poor people, who had not the means to provide the wine for the\nguests who had come with Jesus, wants her Son to give them the wine they\nwanted. How does Christ answer her requests? He answers it by a rebuke,\na most solemn rebuke. Instead of saying: \u201cYes, mother, I will do as you\nwish,\u201d he says, \u201cWoman, what have I to do with thee?\u201d which clearly\nmeans \u201cWoman, thou hast nothing to do in this matter. I do not want you\nto speak to me of the bridegroom\u2019s distress. It was my desire to come to\ntheir help and show my divine power. I do not want you to put yourself\nbetween the wants of humanity and me. I do not want the world to believe\nthat you had any right, any power or influence over me, or more\ncompassion on the miseries of man than I have. Is it not to me, and me\nalone, the lost children of Adam must look to be saved? Woman, what have\nI to do with thee in my great work of saving this perishing world?\nNothing, absolutely nothing. I know what I have to do to fulfill, not\nyour will, but my Father\u2019s will!\u201d\n\nThis is what Jesus meant by the solemn rebuke given to Mary. He wanted\nto banish all idea of her ever becoming an intercessor between man and\nChrist. He wanted to protest against the doctrine of the Church of Rome,\nthat it is through Mary that He will bestow His favor, to His disciples,\nand Mary understood it well when she said, \u201cWhatsoever He saith unto\nyou, do it.\u201d Never come to me, but go to Him. \u201cFor there is no other\nname given among men, whereby we must be saved.\u201d\n\nEvery one of these thoughts passed over my distressed soul like a\nhurricane. Every sentence was like a flash of lightning in a dark night.\nI was like the poor dismantled ship suddenly overtaken by the tempest in\nthe midst of the ocean.\n\nTill the dawn of day, I felt powerless against the efforts of God to\npull down and demolish the huge fortress of sophisms, falsehoods,\nidolatries, which Rome had built around my soul. What a fearful thing it\nis to fight against the Lord!\n\nDuring the long hours of that night, my God was contending with me, and\nI was struggling against Him. But though brought down to the dust; I was\nnot conquered. My understanding was very nearly convinced; but my\nrebellious and proud will was not yet ready to yield.\n\nThe chains by which I was tied to the feet of the idols of Rome, though\nrudely shaken, were not yet broken. However, to say the truth, my views\nabout the worship of Mary had received a severe shock, and were much\nmodified. That night had been sleepless; and in the morning my eyes were\nred, and my face swollen with my tears.\n\nWhen, at breakfast, Bishop Prince, who was sitting by me, asked: \u201cAre\nyou sick? Your eyes are as if you had wept all night?\u201d\n\n\u201cYour lordship is not mistaken, I have wept the whole night!\u201d I\nanswered.\n\n\u201cWept all the night!\u201d replied the bishop. \u201cMight I know the cause of\nyour sorrow?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my lord. You can, you must know it. But please come to your room.\nWhat I have to say is of such a private and delicate nature, that I want\nto be alone with your lordship, when opening my mind to the cause of my\ntears.\u201d\n\nBishop Prince, then coadjutor of Bishop Bourget and late bishop of St.\nHyacinthe, where he became insane in 1858 and died in 1860, had been my\npersonal friend from the time I entered the college at Nicolet, where he\nwas professor of Rhetoric. He very often came to confession to me, and\nhad taken a lively interest in my labors on temperance.\n\nWhen alone with him, I said: \u201cMy lord, I thank you for your kindness in\nallowing me to unburden my heart to you. I have passed the most horrible\nnight of my life. Temptations against our holy religion such as I never\nhad before, have assailed me all night. Your lordship remembers the kind\nwords you addressed to me, yesterday, about the sermon I preached. But,\nlast night, very different things came to my mind, which have changed\nthe joys of yesterday into the most unspeakable desolation. You\ncongratulated me, yesterday, on the manner I had proved that Jesus had\nalways granted the request of His mother, and that He cannot refuse any\nof her petitions. The whole night it has been told to me that this was a\nblasphemous lie, and from the Holy Scriptures themselves, I have been\nnearly convinced that you and I, nay, that our holy church, are\npreaching a blasphemous falsehood every time we proclaim the doctrines\nof the worship of Mary as the gospel truth.\u201d\n\nThe poor bishop, thunderstruck by this simple and honest declaration,\nquickly answered: \u201cI hope you have not yielded to these temptations, and\nthat you will not become a Protestant as so many of your enemies whisper\nto each other.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is my hope, my lord, that our merciful God will keep me, to the end\nof my life, a dutiful and faithful priest of our holy church. However, I\ncannot conceal from your lordship that my faith was terribly shaken,\nlast night.\n\n\u201cAs a bishop, your portion of light and wisdom must be greater than\nmine. I hope you will grant me some of the lights which still brightly\nshine before your eyes: I have never been so much in need of the\ncounsels of your piety and the help of your spiritual knowledge as\nto-day. Please help me to come out from the intellectual slough in which\nI spent the night.\n\n\u201cYour lordship has congratulated me for having said that Jesus Christ\nhas always granted the petitions of Mary. Please tell me how you\nreconcile that proposition with this text,\u201d and I handed him the gospel\nof Matthew: pointing to the last five verses of the twelfth chapter, I\nrequested him to read them aloud.\u201d\n\nHe read them and said: \u201cNow what do you want from me?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lord, I want respectfully to ask you how can we say that Jesus has\nalways granted the requests of His mother, when this evangelist tells us\nthat He never granted her petitions, when acting in His capacity of\nSaviour of the world.\n\n\u201cMust we not fear that we proclaim a blasphemous falsehood when we\nsupport a proposition directly opposed to the gospel?\u201d\n\nThe poor bishop seemed absolutely confounded by this simple and honest\nquestion. I also felt confused and sorry for his humiliation. Beginning\na phrase, he would give it up; trying arguments, he could not push to\ntheir conclusion. It seemed to me that he had never read that text, or\nif he had read it, he, like myself and the rest of the priests of Rome,\nhad never noted that they entirely demolish the stupendous impostures of\nthe church in reference to the worship of Mary.\n\nIn order to help him out of the inextricable difficulties into which I\nhad once pushed him, I said: \u201cMy lord, will you allow me to put a few\nmore questions to you?\u201d\n\n\u201cWith pleasure,\u201d he answered.\n\n\u201cWell! my lord, who came to this world to save you and me? Is it Jesus\nor Mary?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is Jesus,\u201d answered the bishop.\n\n\u201cWho was called, and is, in reality, the sinner\u2019s best friend? Was it\nJesus or Mary?\u201d\n\nThe bishop answered: \u201cIt was Jesus.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow please allow me a few more questions.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen Jesus and Mary were on earth, whose heart was most devoted to\nsinners? Who loved them with a more efficacious and saving love; was it\nJesus or Mary?\u201d\n\n\u201cJesus, being God, His love was evidently more efficacious and saving\nthan Mary\u2019s,\u201d answered the bishop.\n\n\u201cIn the days of Jesus and Mary, to whom did Jesus invite sinners to go\nfor their salvation; was it to himself or Mary?\u201d I asked again.\n\nThe bishop answered: \u201cJesus has said to all sinners, \u2018Come unto me.\u2019 He\nnever said come or go to Mary.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave we any examples, in the Scriptures, of sinners, who, fearing to be\nrebuked by Jesus, have gone to Mary and obtained access to him through\nher, and been saved through her intercessions?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not remember of any such cases,\u201d replied the bishop.\n\nI then asked: \u201cTo whom did the penitent thief, on the cross, address\nhimself to be saved; was it to Jesus or to Mary?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt was to Jesus,\u201d replied the bishop.\n\n\u201cDid that penitent thief do well to address himself to Jesus on the\ncross, rather than to Mary who was at His feet?\u201d said I.\n\n\u201cSurely he did better,\u201d answered the bishop.\n\n\u201cNow, my lord, allow me only one question more. You told me that Jesus\nloved sinners, when on earth, infinitely more than Mary; that he was\ninfinitely more their true friend than she was; that he infinitely took\nmore interest in their salvation, than Mary; that it was infinitely\nbetter for sinners to go to Jesus than to Mary, to be saved; will you\nplease tell me if you think that Jesus has lost, in heaven, since he is\nsitting at the right hand of his Father, any of his divine and infinite\nsuperiority of love and mercy over Mary for sinners: and can you show me\nthat what Jesus has lost has been gained by Mary?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not think that Christ has lost any of his love, and power to save\nus, now that he is in heaven,\u201d answered the bishop.\n\n\u201cNow, my lord, if Jesus is still my best friend; my most powerful,\nmerciful and loving friend, why should I not go directly to him? Why\nshould we, for a moment, go to any one who is infinitely inferior, in\npower, love and mercy, for our salvation?\u201d\n\nThe bishop was stunned by my questions.\n\nHe stammered some unintelligible answer, excused himself for not being\nable to remain any longer, on account of some pressing business; and\nextending his hand to me before leaving he said: \u201cYou will find an\nanswer to your questions and difficulties in the Holy Fathers.\u201d\n\n\u201cCan you lend me the Holy Fathers, my lord?\u201d\n\nHe replied: \u201cNo sir, I have them not.\u201d\n\nThis last answer from my bishop, shook my faith to its foundation, and\nleft my mind in a state of great distress. With the sincere hope of\nfinding in the Holy Fathers, some explanations which would dispel my\npainful doubts, I immediately went to Mr. Fabre, the great bookseller of\nMontreal, who got me, from France, the splendid edition of the Holy\nFathers, by Migne. I studied with the utmost attention, every page where\nI might find what they taught of the worship of Mary, and the doctrines\nthat Jesus had never refused any of her prayers.\n\nWhat was my desolation, my shame and my surprise, to find that the Holy\nFathers of the first six centuries had never advocated the worship of\nMary, and that the many eloquent pages on the power of Mary in heaven,\nand her love for sinners, found in every page of my theologians; and\nother ascetic books I had read till then, were but impudent lies;\nadditions interpolated in their works a hundred years after their death.\n\nWhen discovering these forgeries, under the name of the Holy Fathers, of\nwhich my church was guilty, how many times, in the silence of my long\nnights of study and prayerful meditations, did I hear a voice telling\nme: \u201cCome out of Babylon.\u201d\n\nBut where could I go? Out of the Church of Rome, where could I find that\nsalvation which was to be found only within her walls? I said to myself,\n\u201cSurely there are some errors in my dear church.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe dust of ages may have fallen on the precious gold of her treasures,\nbut will I not find still more damnable errors among those hundreds of\nProtestant churches, which, under the name of Episcopalians,\nPresbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, &c., &c., are divided and\nsub-divided into scores of contemptible sects anathematizing and\ndenouncing each other before the world?\u201d\n\nMy ideas of the great family of evangelical churches, comprised under\nthe broad name of Protestantism, were so exaggerated then, that it was\nabsolutely impossible for me to find in them that unity which I\nconsidered the essentials of the church of Christ.\n\nThe hour was not yet come, but it was coming fast, when my dear Saviour\nwould make me understand his sublime words: \u201cI am the vine and ye are\nthe branches.\u201d\n\nIt was some time later, when under the beautiful vine I had planted in\nmy own garden, and which I had cultivated with mine own hands, I saw\nthat there was not a single branch like another in that prolific vine.\n\nSome branches were very big, some very thin, some very long, some very\nshort, some going up, some going down, some straight as an arrow, some\ncrooked as a flash of lightning, some turning to the west, some to the\neast, some to the north, and others to the south.\n\nBut, although the branches were so different from each other in so many\nthings, they all gave me excellent fruit, so long as they remained\nunited to the vine.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLVI.\n\nTHE HOLY FATHERS\u2014NEW MENTAL TROUBLES AT NOT FINDING THE DOCTRINES OF MY\n CHURCH IN THEIR WRITINGS\u2014PURGATORY AND THE SUCKING PIG OF THE POOR MAN\n OF VARENNES.\n\n\nThe most desolate work of a sincere catholic priest is the study of the\nHoly Fathers. He does not make a step in the labyrinth of their\ndiscussions and controversies without seeing the dreams of his\ntheological studies and religious views disappear as the thick morning\nmist, when the sun rises above the horizon. Bound, as he is, by a solemn\noath, to interpret the Holy Scriptures only according to the unanimous\nconsent of the Holy Fathers, the first thing which puzzles and\ndistresses him is their absolute want of unanimity on the greater part\nof the subjects which they discuss. The fact is, that more than\ntwo-thirds of what one Father has written, is to prove that what some\nother Holy Father has written, is wrong and heretical.\n\nThe student of the Fathers not only detects that they do not agree with\none another, but finds that many of them do not even agree with\nthemselves. Very often they confess that they were mistaken when they\nsaid this and that; that they have lately changed their minds; that they\nnow hold for saving truth, what they formerly condemned as damnable\nerror!\n\nWhat becomes of the solemn oath of every priest, in presence of this\nundeniable fact? How can he make an act of faith when he feels that its\nfoundation is nothing but falsehood?\n\nNo words can give an idea of the mental tortures I felt, when I saw\npositively, that I could not, any longer, preach on the eternity of the\nsuffering of the damned, nor believe in the real presence of the body,\nsoul and divinity of Christ in the sacrament of communion; nor in the\nsupremacy of the sovereign pontiff of Rome, nor in any of the other\ndogmas of the church, without perjuring myself! For there was not one of\nthose dogmas which had not been flatly and directly denied by some Holy\nFathers.\n\nIt is true, that in my Roman Catholic theological books, I had long\nextracts of Holy Fathers, very clearly supporting and confirming my\nfaith in these dogmas. For instance, I had the apostolic liturgies of\nSt. Peter, St. Mark, and St. James, to prove that the sacrifice of the\nmass, purgatory, prayers for the dead, transubstantiation, were believed\nand taught from the very days of the apostles.\n\nBut what was my dismay when I discovered that those liturgies were\nnothing else than vile and audacious forgeries presented to the world,\nby my Popes and my church, as gospel truths.\n\nI could not find words to express my sense of shame and consternation,\nwhen I became sure that the same church which had invented these\napostolic liturgies, had accepted and circulated the false decretals of\nIsidore, and forged innumerable additions and interpolations to the\nwritings of the Holy Fathers, in order to make them say the very\ncontrary of what they intended.\n\nHow many times, when alone, studying the history of the shameless\nfabrications, I said to myself: \u201cDoes the man whose treasury is filled\nwith pure gold, forge false coins, or spurious pieces of money? No! How,\nthen, is it possible that my church does possess the pure truth, when\nshe has been at work during so many centuries, to forge such egregious\nlies, under the names of liturgies and decretals, about the holy mass,\npurgatory, the supremacy of the Pope, etc.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf those dogmas could have been proved by the gospel and the true\nwritings of the Fathers, where was the necessity of forging lying\ndocuments? Would the Popes and councils have treasuries with spurious\nbank bills, if they had had exhaustless mines of pure gold in hand? What\nright has my church to be called holy and infallible, when she is\npublicly guilty of such impostures?\u201d\n\nFrom my infancy I had been taught, with all the Roman Catholics, that\nMary is the mother of God, and many times every day, when praying to\nher, I used to say, \u201cHoly Mary, mother of God, pray for me.\u201d\n\nBut what was my distress when I read in the \u201cTreatise on Faith and\nCreed,\u201d by St Augustine, chapter iv., \u00a7 9, these very words, \u201cWhen the\nLord said: Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet\ncome.\u201d (John xix: 4.) He rather admonishes us to understand that, in\nrespect of His being God, there was no mother for Him.\n\nThis was so completely demolishing the teachings of my church, and\ntelling me that it was blasphemy to call Mary, mother of God, that I\nfelt as if struck with a thunderbolt.\n\nSeveral volumes might be written, if my plan were to give the story of\nmy mental agonies, when reading the Holy Fathers, I found their furious\nbattles against each other, and reviewed their fierce divisions on\nalmost every subject. The horror of many of them at the dogmas which my\nchurch had taught to make me believe from my infancy, as the most solemn\nand sacred revelations of God to man, such as transubstantiation,\nauricular confession, purgatory, the supremacy of Peter, the absolute\nsupremacy of the Pope over the whole church of Christ. Yes! what\nthrilling pages I would give to the world, were it my intention to\nportray in their true colors, the dark clouds, the flashing lights and\ndestructive storms which, during the long and silent hours of the many\nnights I spent in comparing the Fathers with the Word of God and the\nteachings of my church. Their fierce and constant conflicts; their\nunexpected, though undeniable opposition to many of the articles of the\nfaith I had to believe and preach; were coming to me day after day, as\nthe barbed darts thrown at the doomed whale when coming out of the dark\nregions of the deep to see the light and breathe the pure air.\n\nThus, as the unexpected contradictions of the Holy Fathers to the tenets\nof my church, and their furious and uncharitable divisions among\nthemselves, were striking me, I plunged deeper and deeper in the deep\nwaters of the Fathers and the Word of God, with the hope of getting rid\nof the deadly darts which were piercing my Roman Catholic conscience.\nBut it was in vain. The deeper I went, the more the deadly weapons would\nstick to the flesh and bone of my soul. How deep was the wound I\nreceived from Gregory the Great, one of the most learned Popes of Rome,\nagainst supremacy and universality of the power of the Pope of Rome as\ntaught to-day, the following extracts from his writings will show: \u201cBut\nI confidently say that whosoever calls himself universal bishop, or\ndesires to be called so, in his pride, he prefers himself to the rest.\nAnd he is led to error with a similar pride. For as that wicked one\nwishes to appear a God, above all men, whosoever he is, who alone\ndesires to be called a supreme Bishop, extols himself above the other\nbishops.\u201d (Bk. vii. Int. 15. Epist. 33, to Maurituus Augustus.)\n\nThese words wounded me very painfully. I showed them to Mr. Brassard,\nsaying: \u201cDo you not see here the incontrovertible proof of what I have\ntold you many times, that, during the first six centuries of\nChristianity, we do not find the least proof that there was anything\nlike our dogma of the supreme power and authority of the Bishop of Rome,\nor any other bishop, over the rest of the Christian world? If there is\nanything which comes to the mind with an irresistible force, when\nreading the Fathers of the first centuries, it is that, not one of them\nhad any idea that there was, in the church, any man chosen by God, to be\nin fact or name, the universal and supreme pontiff. With such an\nundeniable fact before us, how can we believe and say that the religion\nwe profess and teach is the same which was preached from the beginning\nof Christianity?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear Chiniquy,\u201d answered Mr. Brassard, \u201cdid I not tell you, when you\nbought the Holy Fathers, that you were doing a foolish and dangerous\nthing? In every age, the man who singularises himself and walks out of\nthe common tracks of life is subject to fall into ridicule. As you are\nthe only priest in Canada who has the Holy Fathers, it is thought and\nsaid in many quarters, that it is through pride you got them; that it is\nto raise yourself above the rest of the clergy, that you study them, not\nonly at home, but that you carry some wherever you go. I see with\nregret, that you are fast losing ground in the mind, not only of the\nbishop, but of the priests in general, on account of your indomitable\nperseverance in giving all your spare time in their study. You are also\ntoo free and imprudent in speaking of what you call the contradictions\nof the Holy Fathers, and their want of harmony with some of our\nreligious views. Many say that this too great application to study,\nwithout a moment of relaxation, will upset your intelligence and trouble\nyour mind. They even whisper that there is danger ahead for your faith,\nwhich you do not suspect, and that they would not be surprised if the\nreading of the Bible and the Holy Fathers would drive you into the abyss\nof Protestantism. I know that that they are mistaken, and I do all in my\npower to defend you. But, I thought, as your most devoted friend, that\nit was my duty to tell you those things, and warn you before it is too\nlate.\u201d\n\nI replied: \u201cBishop Prince told me the very same things, and I will give\nyou the answer he got from me; \u2018When you ordain a priest, do you not\nmake him swear that he will never interpret the Holy Scriptures, except\naccording to the unanimous consent of the Holy Fathers? Ought you not,\nthen, to know what they teach? For, how can we know their unanimous\nconsent without studying them. Is it not more than strange that not only\nthe priests do not study the Holy Fathers, but the only one in Canada\nwho is trying to study them, is turned into ridicule and suspected of\nheresy? Is it my fault if that precious stone, called 'unanimous consent\nof the Holy Fathers\u2019 which is the very foundation of our religious\nbelief and teachings, is to be found nowhere in them? Is it my fault if\nOrigen never believed in the eternal punishment of the damned; if St.\nCyprien denied the supreme authority of the Bishop of Rome, if St.\nAugustine positively said that nobody was obliged to believe in\npurgatory, if St. John Chrysostom publicly denied the obligations of\nauricular confession, and the real presence of the body of Christ in the\neucharist? Is it my fault if one of the most learned and holy Popes,\nGregory the Great, has called by the name of Antichrist, all his\nsuccessors, for taking the name of supreme pontiff, and trying to\npersuade the world that they had, by divine authority, a supreme\njurisdiction and power over the rest of the church?\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what did Bishop Prince answer you?\u201d rejoined Mr. Brassard.\n\n\u201cJust as you did, by expressing his fears that my too great application\nto the study of the Bible and the Holy Fathers would either send me to\nthe lunatic asylum, or drive me into the bottomless abyss of\nProtestantism.\u201d\n\nI answered him, in a jocose way: \u201cthat if the too great study of the\nBible and the Holy Fathers were to open me the gates of the lunatic\nasylum, I feared I would be left alone there, for I know that they are\nkeeping themselves at a respectable distance from those dangerous\nwritings.\u201d I added seriously. \u201cSo long as God keeps my intelligence\nsound, I cannot join Protestants, for the numberless and ridiculous\nsects of these heretics are a sure antidote against their poisonous\nerrors. I will not remain a good Catholic on account of the unanimity of\nthe Holy Fathers, which does not exist, but I will remain a Catholic on\naccount of the grand and visible unanimity of the prophets, apostles and\nthe evangelists, with Jesus Christ. My faith will not be founded upon\nthe fallible, obscure and wavering words of Origen, Tertullian,\nChrysostom, Augustine or Jerome; but on the infallible word of Jesus,\nthe Son of God, and His inspired writers; Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,\nPeter, James and Paul. It is Jesus, not Origen who will now guide me;\nfor the second was a sinner, like myself, and the first is forever my\nSaviour and my God. I know enough of the Holy Fathers to assure your\nlordship that the oath we take accepting the Word of God according to\ntheir unanimous consent, is a miserable blunder, if not a blasphemous\nperjury. It is evident that Pius IV., who imposed the obligation of that\noath upon us all, never read a single volume of the Holy Fathers. He\nwould not have been guilty of such an incredible blunder, if he had\nknown that the Holy Fathers are unanimous in only one thing, which is to\ndiffer from each other on almost everything; except we suppose that,\nlike the last Pope, he was too fond of good champagne, and that he wrote\nthat ordinance after a luxurious dinner.\u201d\n\nI spoke this last sentence in a half-serious and half-joking way.\n\nThe bishop answered: \u201cWho told you that about our last Pope?\u201d\n\n\u201cYour lordship,\u201d I answered, \u201ctold me that, when you complimented me on\nthe apostolical benediction which the present Pope sent me through my\nLord Baillargeon, \u2018that his predecessor would not have given me his\nbenediction for preaching temperance because he was too fond of wine!\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cOh yes! yes! I remember it now,\u201d answered the bishop. \u201cBut it was a bad\njoke on my part, which I regret.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood or bad joke,\u201d I replied, \u201cIt is not the less the fact, that our\nlast Pope was too fond of wine. There is not a single priest of Canada\nwho has gone to Rome, without bringing that back as a public fact, from\nItaly.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what did my Lord Prince say to that,\u201d asked again Mr. Brassard.\n\n\u201cJust as when he was cornered by me, on the subject of the Virgin Mary,\nhe abruptly put an end to the conversation, by looking at his watch and\nsaying that he had a call to make, at that very hour.\u201d\n\nNot long after that painful conversation about the Holy Fathers, it was\nthe will of God, that a new arrow should be thrust into my Roman\nCatholic conscience, which went through and through, in spite of myself.\n\nI had been invited to give a course of three sermons at Varennes. The\nsecond day, at tea time, after preaching and hearing confessions for the\nwhole afternoon, I was coming from the church with the curate, when\nhalf-way to the parsonage, we were met by a poor man, who looked more\nlike one coming out of the grave, than a living man; he was covered with\nrags, and his pale and trembling lips indicated that he was reduced to\nthe last degree of human misery. Taking off his hat, through respect for\nus, he said to Rev. Primeau, with a trembling voice; \u201cYou know, Mr. le\nCure, that my poor wife died, and was buried ten days ago, but I was too\npoor to have a funeral service sung the day she was buried, and I fear\nshe is in purgatory, for almost every night, I see her in my dreams,\nwrapped up in burning flames. She cries to me for help, and asks me to\nhave a high mass sung for the rest of her soul. I come to ask you to be\nso kind as to sing that high mass for her.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course,\u201d answered the curate, \u201cyour wife is in the flames of\npurgatory, and suffers there the most unspeakable tortures, which can be\nrelieved only by the offering of the holy sacrifice of mass. Give me\nfive dollars and I will sing that mass to-morrow morning.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou know very well, Mr. le Cure,\u201d answered the poor man, in a most\nsupplicating tone, \u201cthat my wife has been sick, as well as myself, a\ngood part of the year. I am too poor to give you five dollars!\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you cannot pay, you cannot have any mass sung. You know it is the\nrule. It is not in my power to change it.\u201d\n\nThese words were said by the curate with a high and unfeeling tone,\nwhich were in absolute contrast with the solemnity and distress of the\npoor sick man. They made a very painful impression upon me, for I felt\nfor him. I knew the curate was well-off, at the head of one of the\nrichest parishes of Canada; that he had several thousand dollars in the\nbank. I hoped at first, that he would kindly grant the petition\npresented to him, without speaking of the pay, but I was disappointed.\nMy first thought, after hearing his hard rebuke, was to put my hand in\nmy pocket and take one of the several five-dollar gold pieces I had, and\ngive it to the poor man, that he might be relieved from his terrible\nanxiety about his wife. It came also to my mind to say to him: \u201cI will\nsing your high mass for nothing to-morrow.\u201d But alas! I must confess, to\nmy shame, I was too cowardly to do that noble deed. I had a sincere\ndesire to do it, but was prevented by the fear of insulting that priest,\nwho was older than myself, and for whom I had always entertained great\nrespect. It was evident to me that he would have taken my action as a\ncondemnation of his conduct.\n\nWhen I was feeling ashamed of my own cowardice, and still more indignant\nagainst myself than against the curate, he said to the disconcerted poor\nman: \u201cThat woman is your wife; not mine. It is your business, and not\nmine, to see how to get her out of purgatory.\u201d\n\nTurning to me, he said, in the most amiable way: \u201cPlease, sir, come to\ntea.\u201d\n\nWe hardly started, when the poor man, raising his voice, said, in a most\ntouching way: \u201cI cannot leave my poor wife in the flames of purgatory;\nif you cannot sing a high mass, will you please say five low masses to\nrescue her soul from those burning flames?\u201d\n\nThe priest turned towards him and said: \u201cYes, I can say five masses to\ntake the soul of your wife out of purgatory, but give me five shillings;\nfor you know the price of a low mass is one shilling.\u201d\n\nThe poor man answered: \u201cI can no more give one dollar than I can five. I\nhave not a cent; and my three poor little children are as naked and\nstarving as myself.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! well!\u201d answered the curate, \u201cwhen I passed this morning, before\nyour house, I saw two beautiful sucking pigs. Give me one of them, and I\nwill say your five low masses.\u201d\n\nThe poor man said: \u201cThese small pigs were given me by a charitable\nneighbor, that I might raise them to feed my poor children next winter.\nThey will surely starve to death, if I give my pigs away.\u201d\n\nBut I could not listen any longer to that strange dialogue; every word\nof which fell upon my soul as a shower of burning coals. I was beside\nmyself with shame and disgust. I abruptly left the merchant of souls,\nfinishing his bargains, went to my sleeping-room, locked the door, and\nfell upon my knees to weep to my heart\u2019s content.\n\nA quarter of an hour later, the curate knocked at my door and said: \u201cTea\nis ready; please come down!\u201d I answered: \u201cI am not well; I want some\nrest. Please excuse me, if I do not take my tea to-night.\u201d\n\nIt would require a more eloquent pen than mine to give the correct\nhistory of that sleepless night. The hours were dark and long.\n\n\u201cMy God! my God!\u201d I cried, a thousand times, \u201cIs it possible that, in my\nso dear Church of Rome, there can be such abominations as I have seen\nand heard to-day? Dear and adorable Saviour, if thou wert still on\nearth, and should see the soul of a daughter of Israel fallen into a\nburning furnace, wouldst thou ask a shilling to take it out? Wouldst\nthou force the poor father, with his starving children, to give their\nlast morsel of bread, to persuade thee to extinguish the burning flames?\nThou hast shed the last drop of thy blood to save her. And how cruel,\nhow merciless, we, thy priests, are, for the same precious soul! But are\nwe really thy priests? Is it not blasphemous to call ourselves thy\npriests, when not only we will not sacrifice anything to save that soul,\nbut will starve the poor husband and his orphans? What right have we to\nextort such sums of money from thy poor children to help them out of\npurgatory? Do not thy apostles say that thy blood alone can purify the\nsoul?\n\n\u201cIs it possible that there is such a fiery prison for the sinners after\ndeath, and that neither thyself nor any of thy apostles has said a word\nabout it?\n\n\u201cSeveral of the Fathers consider purgatory as of Pagan origin.\nTertullian spoke of it only after he had joined the sect of the\nMontanists, and he confesses that it is not through the Holy Scriptures,\nbut through the inspiration of the Paraclete of Montanus that he knows\nanything about purgatory. Augustine, the most learned and pious of the\nHoly Fathers, does not find purgatory in the Bible, and positively says\nthat its existence is dubious; that every one may believe what he thinks\nproper about it. Is it possible that I am so mean as to have refused to\nextend a helping hand to that poor distressed man, for fear of offending\nthe cruel priest?\n\n\u201cWe priests believe, and say that we can help souls out of the burning\nfurnace of purgatory, by our prayers and masses; but instead of rushing\nto their rescue, we turn to the parents, friends, the children of those\ndeparted souls, and say: \u201cGive me five dollars; give me a shilling, and\nI will put an end to those tortures; but if you refuse us that money, we\nwill let your father, husband, wife, child, or friend endure those\ntortures, hundreds of years more! Would not the people throw us into the\nriver, if they could once understand the extent of our meanness and\navarice? Ought we not to be ashamed to ask a shilling to take out of the\nfire a human being who calls us to the rescue? Who, except a priest, can\ndescend so low in the regions of depravity?\u201d\n\nIt would take too long to give the thoughts which tortured me during\nthat terrible night. I literally bathed my pillow with my tears. Before\nsaying my mass next morning, I went to confess my criminal cowardice and\nwant of charity towards that poor man, and also the terrible temptation\nagainst my faith which tortured my conscience during the long hours of\nthat night! And I repaired my cowardice by giving $5.00 to that poor\nman.\n\nI spent the morning in hearing confessions till ten o\u2019clock, when I\ndelivered a very exciting sermon on the malice of sin, proved by the\nsufferings of Christ on the cross. This address gave a happy diversion\nto my mind, and made me forget the sad story of the sucking pig.\n\nAfter the sermon, the curate took me by the hand to his dining room,\nwhere he gave me, in spite of myself, the place of honor.\n\nHe had the reputation of having one of the best cooks of Canada, in the\nwidow of one of the governors of Nova Scotia, whom he had as his\nhousekeeper. The dishes before our eyes did not diminish his good\nreputation.\n\nThe first dish was a sucking pig, roasted with an art and perfection as\nI had never seen; it looked like a piece of pure gold, and its smell\nwould have brought water to the lips of the most penitent anchorite.\n\nI had not tasted anything for the last twenty-four hours; had preached\ntwo exciting sermons, and spent six hours in hearing confessions. I felt\nhungry; and the sucking pig was the most tempting thing to me. It was a\nreal epicurean pleasure to look at it and smell its fragrance. Besides,\nthat was a favorite dish with me. I cannot conceal that it was with real\npleasure that I saw the curate, after sharpening his long, glittering\nknife on the file, cutting a beautiful slice from the shoulder, and\noffering it to me. I was too hungry to be over patient. My knife and\nfork had soon done their work. I was carrying to my mouth the tempting\nand succulent mouthful, when, suddenly, the remembrance of the poor\nman\u2019s sucking pig came to my mind. I laid the piece on my plate, and\nwith painful anxiety, looked at the curate and said: \u201cWill you allow me\nto put you a question about this dish?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! yes; ask me, not only one, but two questions, and I will be happy\nto answer you to the best of my ability,\u201d answered he, with his fine\nmanners.\n\n\u201cIs this the sucking pig of the poor man of yesterday?\u201d I asked.\n\nWith a convulsive fit of laughter, he replied: \u201cYes; it is just it. If\nwe cannot take away the soul of the poor woman out of the flames of\npurgatory, we will, at all events, eat a fine sucking pig!\u201d\n\nThe other thirteen priests filled the room with laughter, to show their\nappreciation of their host\u2019s wit.\n\nHowever, their laughter was not of long duration. With a feeling of\nshame and uncontrollable indignation, I pushed away my plate with such\nforce, that it crossed the table, and nearly fell on the floor, saying,\nwith a sentiment of disgust which no pen can describe: \u201cI would rather\nstarve to death than eat of that execrable dish; I see in it the tears\nof the poor man; I see the blood of his starving children; it is the\nprice of a soul. No! no, gentlemen; do not touch it. You know, Mr.\nCurate, how 30,000 priests and monks were slaughtered in France, in the\nbloody days of 1792. It was for such iniquities as this that God\nAlmighty visited the church in France. The same future awaits us here in\nCanada, the very day that people will awaken from their slumber and see\nthat, instead of being ministers of Christ, we are vile traders of\nsouls, under the mask of religion.\u201d\n\nThe poor curate, stunned by the solemnity of my words, as well as by the\nconsciousness of his guilt, lisped some excuse. The sucking pig remained\nuntouched; and the rest of the dinner had more the appearance of a\nburial ceremony than of a convivial repast.\n\nBy the mercy of God, I had redeemed my cowardice of the day before. But\nI had mortally wounded the feelings of that curate and his friends, and\nforever lost their good-will.\n\nIt is in such ways that God was directing the steps of his unprofitable\nservant through ways unknown to him. Furious storms were constantly\nblowing around my fragile bark, and tearing my sails into fragments.\nBut, every storm was pushing me, in spite of myself, towards the shores\nof eternal life, where I was to land safely a few years later.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLVII.\n\nLETTER FROM THE REV. BISHOP VANDEVELD, OF CHICAGO\u2014VAST PROJECT OF THE\n BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES TO TAKE POSSESSION OF THE RICH VALLEY OF\n THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PRAIRIES OF THE WEST, TO RULE THAT GREAT\n REPUBLIC\u2014THEY WANT TO PUT ME AT THE HEAD OF THE WORK\u2014MY LECTURES ON\n TEMPERANCE AT DETROIT\u2014INTEMPERANCE OF THE BISHOP AND PRIESTS OF THAT\n CITY.\n\n\nOn the 15th of December, 1850, I received the following letter:\n\n CHICAGO, Ill., Dec. 1st, 1850.\n\nREV. FATHER CHINIQUY,\n\n Apostle of Temperance of Canada.\n\nDEAR SIR:\u2014When I was in Canada, last fall, I intended to confer with you\non a very important subject. But you were then working in the diocese of\nBoston, and my limited time prevented me from going so far to meet you.\nYou are aware that the lands of the State of Illinois and the whole\nvalley of the Mississippi are among the richest and most fertile of the\nworld. In a near future, those regions, which are now a comparative\nwilderness, will be the granary, not only of the United States, but of\nthe whole world; and those who will possess them, will not only possess\nthe very heart and arteries of this young and already so great republic,\nbut will become its rulers.\n\nIt is our intention, without noise, to take possession of those vast and\nmagnificent regions of the west in the name and for the benefit of our\nholy church. Our plan to attain that object is as sure as easy. There\nis, every year, an increasing tide of emigration from the Roman Catholic\nregions of Europe and Canada towards the United States. Unfortunately,\ntill now, our emigrants have blindly scattered themselves among the\nProtestant populations, which too often absorb them and destroy their\nfaith.\n\nWhy should we not direct their steps to the same spot? Why should we\nnot, for instance, induce them to come and take possession of these\nfertile States of Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, etc. They can get\nthose lands now at a nominal price. If we succeed, as I hope we will,\nour holy church will soon count her children here by ten and twenty\nmillions, and through their numbers, their wealth and unity, they will\nhave such a weight in the balance of power that they will rule\neverything.\n\nThe Protestants, always divided among themselves, will never form any\nstrong party without the help of the united vote of our Catholic people;\nand that party alone which will ask and get our help by yielding to our\njust demands, will rule the country. Then, in reality, though not in\nappearance, our holy church will rule the United States, as she is\ncalled by our Saviour Himself to rule the whole world. There is, to-day,\na wave of emigration from Canada towards the United States which, if not\nstopped or well directed, is threatening to throw the good French\nCanadian people into the mire of Protestantism. Your countrymen, when\nonce mixed with the numberless sects which try to attract them, are soon\nshaken in their faith. Their children sent to Protestant schools, will\nbe unable to defend themselves against the wily and united efforts made\nto pervert them.\n\nBut put yourself at the head of the emigrants from Canada, France and\nBelgium; prevent them from settling any longer among the Protestants, by\ninducing them to follow you to Illinois, and with them you will soon see\nhere a Roman Catholic people, whose number, wealth and influence will\namaze the world. God Almighty has wonderfully blessed your labors in\nCanada, in that holy cause of temperance. But now the work is done, the\nsame Great God presents to your Christian ambition a not less great and\nnoble work for the rest of your life. Make use of your great influence\nover your countrymen to prevent them from scattering any longer among\nProtestants, by inducing them to come here, in Illinois. You will then\nlay the foundation of a Roman Catholic French people whose piety, unity,\nwealth and number will soon renew and revive, on this continent, the\npast and fading glories of the Church of France.\n\nWe have already, at Bourbonnais, a fine colony of French Canadians. They\nlong to see and hear you. Come and help me to make that comparatively\nsmall, though thriving people, grow with the emigrants from the\nFrench-speaking countries of Europe and America, till it covers the\nwhole territory of Illinois with its sturdy sons and pious daughters. I\nwill ask the pope to make you my coadjutor, and you will soon become my\nsuccessor, for I already feel too weak and unhealthy to bear alone the\nburden of my too large diocese.\n\nPlease consider what I propose to you before God, and answer me. But be\nkind enough to consider this overture as strictly confidential between\nyou and me, till we have brought our plans into execution.\n\n Truly Yours, \u2720OLIV VANDEVELD,\n\n _Bishop of Chicago_.\n\nI answered him that the bishops of Boston, Buffalo and Detroit had\nalready advised me to put myself at the head of the French Canadian\nemigration, in order to direct its tide towards the vast and rich\nregions of the West. I wrote him that I felt as he did, that it was the\nbest way to prevent my countrymen from falling into the snares laid\nbefore them by Protestants, among whom they were scattering themselves.\nI told him that I would consider it a great honor and privilege to spend\nthe last part of my life in extending the power and influence of our\nholy church over the United States, and that I would, in June next, pay\nmy respects to him in Chicago, when on my way towards the colony of my\ncountrymen at Bourbonnais Grove. I added that after I should have seen\nthose territories of Illinois and the Mississippi valley with my own\neyes it would be more easy to give him a definite answer. I ended my\nletter by saying: \u201cBut I respectfully request your lordship to give up\nthe idea of selecting me for your coadjutor or successor. I have already\ntwice refused to become a bishop. That high dignity is too much above my\nmerits and capacities to be ever accepted by me. I am happy and proud to\nfight the battles of our holy church; but let my superiors allow me to\ncontinue to remain in her ranks simply as a soldier to defend her honor\nand extend her power. I may, then, with the help of God, do some good.\nBut I feel and know that I would spoil everything, if raised to an\nelevated position, for which I am not fit.\u201d\n\nWithout speaking to anybody of the proposition of the Bishop of Chicago,\nI was preparing to go and see the new field where he wanted me to work,\nwhen, in the beginning of May, 1851, I received a very pressing\ninvitation from my Lord Lefebre, Bishop of Detroit, to lecture on\ntemperance to the French Canadians, who were then forming the majority\nof the Roman Catholics of that city.\n\nThat bishop had taken the place of Bishop Rese, whose public scandals\nand infamies had covered the whole Catholic church of America with\nshame. During the last years he had spent in his diocese, very few weeks\nhad been passed without his being picked up beastly drunk in the lowest\ntaverns, and even in the streets of Detroit, and dragged, unconscious to\nhis palace.\n\nAfter long and vain efforts to reform him, the pope and the bishops of\nAmerica had happily succeeded in persuading him to go to Rome, and pay\nhis respects to the so-called vicar of Jesus Christ. This was a snare\ntoo skilfully laid to be suspected by the drunken bishop. He had hardly\nset his feet in Rome when the inquisitors threw him into one of their\ndungeons, where he remained till the republicans set him at liberty, in\n1848, after Pope Pius IX. had fled to Civita Vecchia.\n\nIn order to blot out from the face of his church the black spots with\nwhich his predecessor had covered it, my Lord Lefebre made the greatest\ndisplay of zeal for the cause of temperance. As soon as he was inducted,\nhe invited his people to follow his example and enroll themselves under\nits banners, in a very powerful address on the evils caused by the use\nof intoxicating drinks. At the end of his eloquent sermon, laying his\nright hand on the altar, he made a solemn promise never to drink any\nalcoholic liquors.\n\nHis telling sermon on temperance, with his solemn and public promise,\nwere published through nearly all the papers of that time, and I read it\nmany times to the people with good effect. When on my way to Illinois, I\nreached the city of Detroit to give the course of lectures demanded by\nthe bishop, in the first week in June. Though the bishop was absent, I\nimmediately began to preach to an immense audience in the Cathedral. I\nhad agreed to give five lectures, and it was only during the third one\nthat Bishop Lefebre arrived. After paying me great compliments for my\nzeal and success in the temperance cause, he took me by the hand to his\ndining-room and said: \u201cLet us go and refresh ourselves.\u201d\n\nI shall never forget my surprise and dismay, when I perceived the long\ndining table covered with bottles of brandy, wine, beer, etc., prepared\nfor himself and his six or seven priests, who were already around it,\njoyfully emptying their glasses. My first thought was to express my\nsurprise and indignation, and leave the room in disgust, but by a second\nand better thought I waited a little to see more of that unexpected\nspectacle. I accepted the seat offered me by the bishop at his right\nhand.\n\n\u201cFather Chiniquy,\u201d he said, \u201cthis is the sweetest claret you ever\ndrank.\u201d And before I could utter a word, he had filled my large glass\nwith the wine and drank his own to my health.\n\nLooking at the bishop in amazement, I said: \u201cWhat does this mean, my\nlord?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt means that I want to drink with you the best claret you ever\ntasted.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you take me for a comedian? and have you called me here to play such\na strange comedy?\u201d I replied, with lips trembling with indignation.\n\n\u201cI did not invite you to play a comedy,\u201d he answered. \u201cI invited you to\nlecture on temperance to my people, and you have done it in a most\nadmirable way these last three days. Though you did not see me, I was\npresent at this evening\u2019s address. I never heard anything so eloquent on\nthat subject as what you said. But now that you have fulfilled your\nduty, I must do mine, which is to treat you as a gentleman and drink\nthat bottle of wine with you.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, my lord, allow me to tell you that I would not deserve to be\ncalled or treated as a gentleman were I vile enough to drink wine after\nthe address I gave this evening.\u201d\n\n\u201cI beg your pardon for differing from you,\u201d answered the bishop.\u201c Those\ndrunken people to whom you spoke so well against the evils of\nintemperance are in need of the stringent and bitter remedies you offer\nthem in your teetotalism. But here we are sober men and gentlemen, we do\nnot want such remedies. I never thought that the physicians were\nabsolutely bound to take the pills they administer to their patients.\u201d\n\n\u201cI hope your lordship will not deny me the right you claim for yourself,\nto differ with me in this matter. I entirely differ from you, when you\nsay that men who drink as you do with your priests, have a right to be\ncalled sober men.\u201d\n\n\u201cI fear, Mr. Chiniquy, that you forget where you are, and to whom you\nspeak just now,\u201d replied the bishop.\n\n\u201cIt may be that I have made a blunder, and that I am guilty of some\ngrave error in coming here and speaking to you as I am doing, my lord.\nIn that case, I am ready to ask your pardon. But before I retract what I\nhave said, please allow me to respectfully ask you a very simple\nquestion.\u201d\n\nThen taking from my pocket-book his printed address, and his public and\nsolemn promise never to drink, neither to offer any intoxicating drinks\nto others, I read it aloud, and said:\n\n\u201cAre you the same Bishop of Detroit, called Lefebre, who has made this\nsolemn promise? If you are not the same man, I will retract and beg your\npardon, but if you are the same, I have nothing to retract.\u201d\n\nMy answer fell upon the poor bishop as a thunderbolt.\n\nHe lisped some unintelligible and insignificant explanation, which,\nhowever, he ended by a _coup d\u2019etat_, in saying:\n\n\u201cMy dear Mr. Chiniquy, I did not invite you to preach to the bishop, but\nonly to the people of Detroit.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are right, my lord, I was not called to preach to the bishop, but\nallow me to tell you that if I had known sooner that when the Bishop of\nDetroit, with his priests, solemnly, publicly, and with their right hand\non the altar, promised that they would never drink any intoxicating\ndrinks, it means that they will drink and fill themselves with those\ndetestable liquors till their brains shiver with their poisonous fumes,\nI would not have troubled you with my presence or my remarks here.\nHowever, allow me to tell your lordship to be kind enough to find\nanother lecturer for your temperance meetings; for I am determined to\ntake the train to-morrow morning for Chicago.\u201d\n\nThere is no need to say that during that painful conversation the\npriests (with only one exception) were as full of indignation against me\nas they were full of wine. I left the table and went to my sleeping\napartment, overwhelmed with sadness and shame.\n\nHalf an hour later, the bishop was with me, conjuring me to continue my\nlectures, on account of the fearful scandals which would result from my\nsudden and unexpected exit from Detroit, when the whole people had the\nassurance from me that very night that I would continue to lecture the\ntwo following evenings. I acknowledged that there would be a great\nscandal, but I told him that he was the only one responsible for it, by\nhis want of faith and consistency.\n\nHe, at first, tried to persuade me that he was ordered to drink by his\nown physicians, for his health; but I showed him that this was a\nmiserable illusion. He then said that he regretted what had occurred,\nand confessed that it would be better if the priests practiced what they\npreached to the people. After which, he asked me, in the name of our\nLord Jesus Christ, to forget the errors of the bishop and priests of\nDetroit, in order to think only of the good which the conversion of the\nnumberless drunkards of that city would do to the people.\n\nHe spoke to me with such earnestness of the souls saved, the tears\ndried, the happiness restored to hundreds of families by temperance,\nthat he touched the most sensitive chords of my heart, and got from me\nthe promise that I would deliver the other two expected lectures. He was\nso glad that he pressed me on his bosom and gave me, what we call in\nFrench, _Le baiser de paix_ (kiss of peace), to show me his esteem and\ngratitude.\n\nWhen alone, I tried to drown in a sound sleep the sad emotions of that\nevening; but it was impossible. That night was to be again a sleepless\none to me. The intemperance of that high dignitary and his priests\nfilled me with an unspeakable horror and disgust. Many times during the\ndark hours of that night, I heard as if it were a voice, saying to me:\n\u201cDo you not see that the bishops and priests of your church do not\nbelieve a word of their religion? Their only object is to throw dust in\nthe eyes of the people, and live a jolly life. Do you not see that you\ndo not follow the Word of God, but only the vain and lying traditions of\nmen, in the Church of Rome? Come out of it; break the heavy yoke which\nis upon you, and follow the simple, pure religion of Jesus Christ.\u201d\n\nI tried to silence that voice by saying to myself: \u201cThese sins are not\nthe sins of my holy church\u2014they are the sins of individuals. It was not\nthe fault of Christ if Judas was a thief! It is not more the fault of my\nholy church if this bishop and his priests are drunkards and worldly\nmen. Where will I go if I leave my church? Will I not find drunkards and\ninfidels everywhere I may go in search of a better religion?\u201d\n\nThe dawn of the next day found me feverish, and unable to get any rest\nin my bed. Hoping that the first fresh air of the morning would do me\ngood, I went to the beautiful garden, covered with fruit trees of all\nkinds, which was then around the Episcopal residence. But what was my\nsurprise to see the bishop leaning on a tree, with his handkerchief over\nhis face, and bathed in tears. I approached him with the least noise\npossible. I saw that he did not perceive me. By the motion of his head\nand shoulders, it became evident to me that he was in anguish of soul. I\nsaid to him: \u201cMy dear bishop, what is the matter? Why do you weep and\ncry at such an early hour?\u201d\n\nPressing my hand convulsively in his, he answered:\n\n\u201cDear Father Chiniquy, you do not yet know the awful calamity which has\nbefallen me this night.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat calamity?\u201d I asked.\n\n\u201cDo you not remember,\u201d he answered, \u201cthat young priest who was sitting\nat your right hand, last evening? Well! he went away, during the night,\nwith the wife of a young man, whom he had seduced, and stole $4,000 from\nme before he left.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not at all surprised at that, when I remember how that priest\nemptied his glasses of beer and wine last night,\u201d I answered. \u201cWhen the\nblood of a man is heated by those fiery liquors, it is sheer absurdity\nto think that he will keep his vow of chastity.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are right! You are right! God Almighty has punished me for breaking\nthe public pledge I had taken never to drink any intoxicating drinks. We\nwant a reform in our midst, and we will have it,\u201d he answered. \u201cBut what\nhorrible scandal! One of my young priests gone with that young wife,\nafter stealing $4,000 from me! Great God! Must we not hide our face now,\nin this city?\u201d\n\nI could say nothing to alleviate the sorrow of the poor bishop, but to\nmingle my tears of shame and sorrow with his. I went back to my room,\nwhere I wept a part of the day, to my heart\u2019s content, on the\nunspeakable degradation of that priesthood of which I had been so proud,\nand about which I had such exalted views when I entered its ranks,\nbefore I had an inside view of its dark mysteries.\n\nOf course, the next two days that I was the guest of Bishop Lefebre, not\na single drop of intoxicating drink was seen on the table. But I know\nthat not long after, that representative of the pope forgot again his\nsolemn vows and continued with his priests drinking, till he died a most\nmiserable death in 1875.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLVIII.\n\nMY VISIT TO CHICAGO IN 1851\u2014BISHOP VANDEVELD\u2014HIS PREDECESSOR\n POISONED\u2014MAGNIFICENT PRAIRIES OF THE WEST\u2014RETURN TO CANADA\u2014BAD\n FEELINGS OF BISHOP BOURGET\u2014I DECLINE SENDING A RICH WOMAN TO THE\n NUNNERY TO ENRICH THE BISHOP\u2014A PLOT TO DESTROY ME.\n\n\nThe journey from Detroit to Chicago, in the month of June, 1851, was not\nso pleasant as it is to-day. The Michigan Central Railroad was completed\nthen only to New Buffalo. We took the steamer there and crossed Lake\nMichigan to Chicago, where we arrived the next morning, after nearly\nperishing in a terrible storm. On the 15th of June, I first landed, with\nthe greatest difficulty, on a badly wrecked wharf, at the mouth of the\nriver. Some of the streets I had to cross in order to reach the bishop\u2019s\npalace were almost impassable. In many places loose planks had been\nthrown across them to prevent people from miring in the mud and\nquicksands.\n\nThe first sight of Chicago was then far from giving an idea of what that\ncity has become in 1886. Though it had rapidly increased in the last ten\nyears, its population was then not much more than 30,000. The only line\nof railroad finished was from Chicago to Aurora, about forty miles.\n\nThe whole population of the State of Illinois was then not much beyond\n200,000. To-day, Chicago alone numbers more than 500,000 souls within\nher limits. Probably more grain, lumber, beef and pork are now bought\nand sold in a single day in Chicago than were then in a whole year.\n\nWhen I entered the miserable house called the \u201cbishop\u2019s palace,\u201d I could\nhardly believe my eyes. The planks of the lower floor, in the\ndining-room, were floating, and it required a great deal of ingenuity to\nkeep my feet dry while dining with him for the first time. But the\nChristian kindness and courtesy of the bishop, made me more happy in his\npoor house than I felt, later, in the white marble palace built by his\nhaughty successor, C. O\u2019Regan.\n\nThere were then in Chicago about 200 French Canadian families, under the\npastorate of the Rev. M. A. Lebel, who, like myself, was born in\nKamouraska. The drunkenness and other immoralities of the clergy,\npictured to me by that priest, surpassed all I had ever heard or known.\n\nAfter getting my promise that I would never reveal the fact before his\ndeath, he assured me that the last bishop had been poisoned by one of\nhis grand vicars in the following way. He said, the grand vicar, being\nfather confessor of the nuns of Loretto, had fallen in love with one of\nthe so-called virgins, who died a few days after becoming the mother of\na still-born child.\n\nThis fact having transpired, and threatening to give a great deal of\nscandal, the bishop thought it was his duty to make an inquiry and\npunish his priest, if he should be found guilty. But the grand vicar,\nseeing that his crime was to be easily detected, found that the shortest\nway to escape exposure was to put an end to the inquest by murdering the\npoor bishop. A poison very difficult to detect was administered, and the\ndeath of the prelate soon followed, without exciting any surprise in the\ncommunity.\n\nHorrified by the long and minute details of that mystery of iniquity, I\ncame very near returning to Canada, immediately, without going any\nfurther. But after more mature consideration, it seemed to me that these\nawful iniquities on the part of the priests of Illinois was just the\nreason why I should not shut my ears to the voice of God, if it were His\nwill that I should come to take care of the precious souls He would\ntrust to me. I spent a week in Chicago, lecturing on temperance every\nevening, and listening during the days to the grand plans the bishop was\nmaturing, in order to make our Church of Rome the mistress and ruler of\nthe magnificent valley of the Mississippi, which included the States of\nMinnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Mississippi, etc. He clearly\ndemonstrated to me, that once mistress of the incalculable treasures of\nthose rich lands, through the millions of her obedient children, our\nchurch would easily command the respect and the submission of the less\nfavored states of the east.\n\nMy zeal for my church was so sincere that I would have given, with\npleasure, every drop of my blood, in order to secure to her such a\nfuture of power and greatness. I felt really happy and thankful to God\nthat He should have chosen me to help the pope and the bishops realize\nsuch a noble and magnificent project.\n\nLeaving Chicago, it took me nearly three days to cross the vast\nprairies, which were then a perfect wilderness, between Chicago and\nBourbonnais, where I spent three weeks in preaching and exploring the\ncountry extending from the Kankakee river to the south-west towards the\nMississippi.\n\nIt was only then that I plainly understood the greatness of the plans of\nthe bishop, and that I determined to sacrifice the exalted position God\nhad given me in Canada to guide the steps of the Roman Catholic\nemigrants from France, Belgium and Canada towards the regions of the\nwest, in order to extend the power and influence of my church all over\nthe United States.\n\nOn my return to Chicago, in the second week of July, all was arranged\nwith the bishop for my coming back in the autumn, to help him to\naccomplish his gigantic plans.\n\nHowever, it was understood between us that my leaving Canada for the\nUnited States would be kept a secret till the last hour, on account of\nthe stern opposition I expected from my bishop.\n\nThe last thing to be done, on my return to Canada, in order to prepare\nthe emigrants to go to Illinois, rather than any other part of the\nUnited States, was to tell them through the press the unrivaled\nadvantages which God had prepared for them in the west. I did so by a\nletter, which was published not only by the press of Canada, but also in\nmany papers of France and Belgium. The importance of that letter is such\nthat I hope my reader will bear with me in reproducing the following\nextracts from it.\n\n MONTREAL, CANADA EAST.\n\n August 13th, 1851.\n\nIt is impossible to give our friends, by narration, an idea of what we\nfeel, when we cross for the first time the immense prairies of Illinois.\nIt is a spectacle which must be seen to be well understood.\n\nAs you advance in the midst of these boundless deserts, where your eyes\nperceive nothing but lands of inexhaustible richness, remaining in the\nmost desolating solitude, you feel something which you cannot express by\nany words.\n\nIs your soul filled with joy, or your heart broken with sadness? You\ncannot say. You lift up your eyes to heaven, and the voice of your soul\nis chanting a hymn of gratitude. Tears of joy are trickling down your\ncheeks, and you bless God, whose curse seems not to have fallen on the\nland where you stand: \u201cCursed is the earth in thy work; thorns and\nthistles shall it bring forth to thee.\u201d\n\nYou see around you the most luxuriant verdure; flowers of every kind,\nand magnificence above description.\n\nBut, if in the silence of meditation, you look with new attention on\nthose prairies, so rich, so magnificent, you feel an inexpressible\nsentiment of sadness, and addressing yourself to the blessed land, you\nsay: \u201cWhy art thou so solitary? Why is the wild game alone here to\nglorify my God?\u201d\n\nAnd if you continue to advance through those immense prairies, which,\nlike a boundless ocean, are spreading their rolling waves before you,\nand seem to long after the presence of man, to cover themselves with\nincalculable treasures, you remember your friends in Canada, and more\nparticularly those among them who, crushed down by misery, are watering\nwith the sweat of their brow a sterile and desolated soil, you say:\n\n\u201cAh! if such and such of my friends were here, how soon they would see\ntheir hard and ungrateful labors changed into the most smiling and happy\nposition.\u201d\n\nPerhaps I will be accused here, of trying to depopulate my country, and\ndrive my countrymen from Canada to the United States.\n\nNo! no. I never had so perverse a design. Here is my mind about the\nsubject of emigration, and I see no reason to be ashamed of it, or to\nconceal it.\n\nIt is a fact that a great number (and much greater than generally\nbelieved) of French Canadians are yearly emigrating from Canada, and\nnobody regrets it more than I do; but as long as those who govern Canada\nwill not pay more attention to that evil, it will be an incurable one,\nand every year Canada will lose thousands and thousands of its strongest\narms and noblest hearts, to benefit our happy neighbors.\n\nWith many others, I had the hope that the eloquent voice of the poor\nsettlers of our eastern townships would be heard, and that the\ngovernment would help them; but that hope has gone like a dream, and we\nhave now every reason to fear that our unfortunate settlers of the east\nwill be left to themselves.\n\nThe greatest part of them, for the want of roads to the markets of\nQuebec and Montreal, and still more by the tyranny of their cruel\nlandlords, will soon be obliged to bid an eternal adieu to their\ncountry, and with an enraged heart against their haughty oppressors,\nthey will seek in the exile to a strange land the protection they could\nnot find in their own country.\n\nYes! If our Canadian government continues a little longer to show the\nsame incomprehensible and stupid apathy for the welfare of its own\nsubjects, emigration will increase every year from Canada to swell the\nranks of the American people.\n\nSince we cannot stop that emigration, is it not our first duty to direct\nit in such a way that it will be to the poor emigrants as little injury\nas possible?\n\nLet us do everything to hinder them from going to the large cities of\nthe United States.\n\nDrowned in the mixed population of American cities, our unfortunate\nemigrating countrymen would be too much exposed to losing their morality\nand their faith.\n\nSurely there is not another country under the heavens where space,\nbread, and liberty are so universally assured to every member of the\ncommunity, as the United States. But it is not in the great cities of\nthe United States that our poor countrymen will soonest find these three\ngifts. The French Canadian who will stop in the large cities, will not,\nwith a very few exceptions, raise himself above the unenviable position\nof a poor journeyman.\n\nBut those among them who will direct their steps towards the rich and\nextensive prairies of Bourbonnais, will certainly find a better lot.\n\nMany in Canada would believe that I am exaggerating, were I to publish\nhow happy, prosperous and respectable is the French Canadian population\nof Bourbonnais.\n\nThe French Canadians of Bourbonnais have had the intelligence to follow\nthe good example of the industrious American farmers in the manner of\ncultivating the lands.\n\nOn their farms as well as those of their neighbors, you will find the\nbest machinery to cut their crops, to thresh their grain.\n\nThey enjoy the just reputation of having the best horses in the country,\nand very few can beat them for the number and quality of their cattle.\n\nNow, what can be the prospects of a young man in Canada, if he has not\nmore than $200? A whole life of hard labor and continued privation is\nhis too certain lot. But, let that young man go directly to Bourbonnais,\nand if he is industrious, sober and religious, before a couple of years\nhe will see nothing to envy in the most happy farmer in Canada.\n\nAs the land he will take in Illinois, is entirely prepared for the plow,\nhe has no trees to cut or eradicate, no stones to move, no ditch to dig,\nhis only work is to fence and break his land and sow it, and the very\nfirst year the value of the crop will be sufficient to pay for his farm.\n\nHoly Providence has prepared everything for the benefit of the happy\nfarmers of Illinois.\n\nThat fertile country is well watered by a multitude of rivers and large\ncreeks, whose borders are generally covered with the most rich and\nextensive groves of timber of the best quality, as black oak, maple,\nwhite oak, burr oak, etc.\n\nThe seeds of the beautiful acacia (locust), after five or six years,\nwill give you a splendid tree.\n\nThe greatest variety of fruits are growing naturally in almost every\npart of Illinois; coal mines have been discovered in the very heart of\nthe country, more than sufficient for the wants of the people. Before\nlong, a railroad from Chicago to Bourbonnais will bring our happy\ncountrymen to the most extensive market, the Queen city of the\nwest\u2014Chicago.\n\nI will then say to my young countrymen who intend emigrating from\nCanada: \u201cMy friend, exile is one of the greatest calamities that can\nbefall a man.\n\n\u201cYoung Canadian, remain in thy country, keep thy heart to love it, thy\nintelligence to adorn it, and thine arms to protect it.\n\n\u201cYoung and dear countrymen, remain in thy beautiful country; there is\nnothing more grand and sublime in the world than the waters of the St.\nLawrence. It is on those deep and majestic waters that, before long,\nEurope and America will meet and bind themselves to each other by the\nblessed bonds of an eternal peace; it is on its shores that they will\nexchange their incalculable treasures. Remain in the country of thy\nbirth, my dear son. Let the sweat of thy brow continue to fertilize it,\nand let the perfume of thy virtues bring the blessing of God upon it.\n\n\u201cBut, my dear son, if thou hast no more room in the valley of the St.\nLawrence, and if, by the want of protection from the Government, thou\ncanst not go to the forest without running the danger of losing thy life\nin a pond, or being crushed under the feet of an English or Scotch\ntyrant, I am not the man to invite thee to exhaust thy best days for the\nbenefit of the insolent strangers, who are the lords of the eastern\nlands. I will sooner tell thee, \u2018go my child,\u2019 there are many extensive\nplaces still vacant on the earth, and God is everywhere. That Great God\ncalleth thee to another land, submit thyself to His Divine Will.\n\n\u201cBut, before you bid a final adieu to thy country, engrave on thy heart\nand keep as a holy deposit, the love of thy holy religion, of thy\nbeautiful language and of the dear and unfortunate country of thy birth.\n\n\u201cOn thy way to the land of exile, stop as little as possible in the\ngreat cities, for fear of the many snares thy eternal enemy has prepared\nfor thy perdition.\n\n\u201cBut go straight to Bourbonnais. There you will find many of thy\nbrothers, who have erected the cross of Christ; join thyself to them,\nthou shalt be strong of their strength; go and help them to conquer to\nthe Gospel of Jesus those rich countries, which shall, very soon, weigh\nmore than is generally believed, in the balance of the nations.\n\n\u201cYes, go straight to Illinois. Thou shalt be not entirely in a strange\nand alien country. Holy Providence has chosen thy fathers to find that\nrich country, and to reveal to the world its admirable resources.\n\n\u201cMore than once, that land of Illinois has been sanctified by the blood\nof thy ancestors.\n\n\u201cIn Illinois, thou shalt not make a step without finding indestructible\nproof of the perseverance, genius, bravery and piety of thy French\nforefathers.\n\n\u201cGo to Illinois, and the many names of Bourbonnais, Joliet, Dubuque, La\nSalle, St. Charles, St. Mary, etc., that you will meet everywhere, will\ntell you more than my words, that that country is nothing but the rich\ninheritance which your fathers have found for the benefit of their\ngrandchildren.\u201d\n\n C. CHINIQUY.\n\nI would never have published this letter, if I had foreseen its effects\non the farmers of Canada. In a few days after its appearance, their\nfarms fell to half their value. Every one, in some parishes, wanted to\nsell their lands and emigrate to the west. It was only for want of\npurchasers that we did not see an emigration which would have surely\nruined Canada. I was frightened by its immediate effect on the public\nmind. However, while some were praising me to the skies, for having\npublished it, others were cursing me, and calling me a traitor. The very\nday after its publication, I was in Quebec, where the bishops of Canada\nwere met in council. The first one I met, was my Lord De Charbonel,\nBishop of Toronto. After having blessed me, he pressed my hand and said:\n\n\u201cI have just read your admirable letter. It is one of the most beautiful\nand eloquently written articles I ever read. The Spirit of God has\nsurely inspired every one of its sentences. I have, just now, forwarded\nsix copies of it to different journals of France and Belgium, where they\nwill be republished and do an incalculable amount of good, by directing\nthe French-speaking Catholic emigrants towards a country where they will\nrun no risk of losing their faith, with the assurance of securing a\nfuture of unbounded prosperity for their families. Your name will be put\namong the names of the greatest benefactors of humanity.\u201d\n\nThough these compliments seemed to me much exaggerated and unmerited, I\ncannot deny that they pleased me, by adding to my hopes and convictions\nthat great good would surely come from the plan I had of gathering all\nthe Roman Catholic emigrants on the same spot, to form such large and\nstrong congregations; that they would have nothing to fear from\nheretics. I thanked the bishop for his kind and friendly words, and left\nhim to go and present my respectful salutations to my Bishop of\nMontreal, my Lord Bourget, and give him a short sketch of my voyage to\nthe far west. I found him alone in his room, in the very act of reading\nmy letter. A lioness, who had just lost her whelps, would not have\nlooked upon me with more angry and threatening eyes than that bishop\ndid.\n\n\u201cIs it possible,\u201d he said, \u201cMr. Chiniquy, that your hand has written and\nsigned such a perfidious document? How could you so cruelly pierce the\nbosom of your own country, after her dealing so nobly with you? Do you\nnot see that your treasonable letter will give such an impetus to\nemigration that our most thriving parishes will soon be turned into\nsolitude? Though you do not say it, we feel at every line of that\nletter, that you also will leave your country, to give help and comfort\nto our natural enemies.\u201d\n\nSurprised by this unexpected burst of bad feelings, I kept my _sang\nfroid_, and answered:\n\n\u201cMy lord, your lordship has surely misunderstood me, if you have found\nin my letter any treasonable plan to ruin our country. Please read it\nagain, and you will see that every line has been inspired by the purest\nmotives of patriotism, and the highest views of religion. How is it\npossible that the worthy Bishop of Toronto should have told me that the\nSpirit of God Himself had dictated every line of that letter, when my\ngood bishop\u2019s opinion is so completely opposite?\u201d\n\nThe abrupt answer the bishop gave to these remarks, clearly indicated\nthat my absence would be more welcome than my presence. I left him,\nafter asking his blessing, which he gave me in the coldest manner\npossible.\n\nOn the 25th of August, I was back at Longueuil, from my voyage to\nQuebec, which I had extended as far as Kamouraska, to see again the\nnoble-hearted parishioners, whose unanimity in taking the pledge of\ntemperance, and admirable fidelity in keeping it then, had filled my\nheart with such joy.\n\nI related my last interview with Bishop Bourget to my faithful friend\nMr. Brassard. He answered me:\n\n\u201cThe present bad feelings of the Bishop of Montreal against you, are no\nsecret to me. Unfortunately the low-minded men who surround and council\nhim, are as unable as the bishop himself, to understand your exalted\nviews in directing the steps of the Roman Catholics towards the splendid\nvalley of the Mississippi. They are beside themselves, because they see\nthat you will easily succeed in forming a grand colony of\nFrench-speaking people in Illinois. Now, I am sure of what I say, though\nI am not free to tell you how it came to my knowledge; there is a plot\nsomewhere to dishonor and destroy you, at once. Those who are at the\nhead of that plot, hope that if they can succeed in destroying your\npopularity, nobody will be tempted to follow you to Illinois. For,\nthough you have concealed it as well as you could, it is evident to\nevery one now, that you are the man selected by the bishops of the west\nto direct the uncertain steps of the poor emigrants towards those rich\nlands.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you mean, my dear Mr. Brassard,\u201d I replied, \u201cthat there are priests\naround the Bishop of Montreal, cruel and vile enough to forge calumnies\nagainst me, and spread them before the country in such a way that I\nshall be unable to refute them.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is just what I mean,\u201d answered Mr. Brassard. \u201cMind what I tell you;\nthe bishop has made use of you to reform his diocese. He likes you for\nthat work. But your popularity is too great, to-day, for your enemies;\nthey want to get rid of you, and no means will be too vile or criminal\nto accomplish your destruction, if they can attain their object.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, my dear Mr. Brassard, can you give me any details of the plots\nwhich are in store against me?\u201d I asked.\n\n\u201cNo! I cannot, for I know them not. But be on your guard; for your few,\nbut powerful enemies, are jubilant. They speak of the absolute impotency\nto which you will soon be reduced; if you accomplish what they so\nmaliciously and falsely call your treacherous objects.\u201d\n\nI answered; \u201cOur Saviour has said to all His disciples; \u2018In the world,\nye shall have tribulations. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the\nworld.\u2019 I am more determined than ever, to put my trust in God and fear\nno man.\u201d\n\nTwo hours after this conversation, I received the following from the\nRev. M. Pare, secretary to the Bishop:\n\nTO THE REV. MR. CHINIQUY,\n\n Apostle of Temperance.\n\nMY DEAR SIR:\u2014My lord Bishop of Montreal would like to see you upon some\nimportant business. Please come at your earliest convenience.\n\n Yours truly,\n\n JOS. PARE, Secretary.\n\nThe next morning I was alone with Monseigneur Bourget, who received me\nvery kindly. He seemed at first to have entirely banished the bad\nfeelings he had shown in our last interview at Quebec. After making some\nfriendly remarks on my continual labors and success in the cause of\ntemperance, he stopped for a moment, and seemed embarrassed how to\nresume the conversation. At last he said:\n\n\u201cAre you not the father confessor of Mrs. Chenier?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! my lord. I have been her confessor since I lived in Longueuil.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well, very well,\u201d he rejoined, \u201cI suppose that you know that her\nonly child is a nun, in the Congregation Convent.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! my lord, I know it,\u201d I replied.\n\n\u201cCould you not induce Mrs Chenier to become a nun also?\u201d asked the\nbishop.\n\n\u201cI never thought of that, my lord,\u201d I answered, \u201cand I do not see why I\nshould advise her to exchange her beautiful cottage, washed by the fresh\nand pure waters of the St. Lawrence, where she looks so happy and\ncheerful, for the gloomy walls of the nunnery.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut she is still young and beautiful; she may be deceived by temptation\nwhen she is there, in that beautiful house, surrounded by all the\nenjoyments of her fortune,\u201d replied the bishop.\n\n\u201cI understand your lordship. Yes, Mrs Chenier has the reputation of\nbeing rich; though I know nothing of her fortune, she has kept well the\ncharms and freshness of her youth. However, I think that the best remedy\nagainst the temptations you seem to dread so much for her, is to advise\nher to marry. A good Christian husband seems to me a much better remedy\nagainst the dangers, to which your lordship alludes, than the cheerless\nwalls of a nunnery.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou speak just as a Protestant,\u201d rejoined the bishop, with an evident\nnervous irritation. \u201cWe remark that, though you hear the confessions of\na great number of young ladies, there is not a single one of them who\nhas ever become a nun. You seem to ignore, that the vow of chastity is\nthe shortest way to a life of holiness in this world and happiness in\nthe next.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am sorry to differ from your lordship, in that matter,\u201d I replied.\n\u201cBut I cannot help it, the remedy you have found against sin is quite\nmodern. The old remedy offered by our God Himself, is very different and\nmuch better, I think.\n\n\u201c\u2018It is not good that man shall remain alone, I will make a help-mate\nfor him,\u2019 said our Creator in the earthly paradise. \u2018And to avoid\nfornication, let every man have his wife, and let every woman have her\nhusband,\u2019 said the same God, through His apostle Paul.\n\n\u201cI know too well how the great majority of nuns keep their vows of\nchastity, to believe that the modern remedy against the temptations you\nmention, is an improvement on the old one found and given by our God!\u201d I\nanswered.\n\nWith an angry look, the bishop replied:\n\n\u201cThis is Protestantism, Mr. Chiniquy. This is sheer Protestantism.\u201d\n\n\u201cI respectfully ask your pardon for differing from your lordship. This\nis not Protestantism. It is simply and absolutely the \u2018pure word of\nGod.\u2019 But, my lord, God knows that it is my sincere desire, as it is my\ninterest and my duty, to do all in my power to deserve your esteem. I do\nnot want to vex nor disobey you. Please give me a good reason why I\nshould advise Mrs. Chenier to enter a monastery, and I will comply with\nyour request the very first time she comes to confess.\u201d\n\nResuming his most amiable manner, the bishop answered me:\n\n\u201cMy first reason is, the spiritual good which she would receive from her\nvows of perpetual chastity and poverty in nunnery. The second reason is,\nthat the lady is rich; and we are in need of money. We would soon\npossess her whole fortune; for her only child is already in the\nCongregation Convent.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear bishop,\u201d I replied, \u201cyou already know what I think of your\nfirst reason. After having investigated that fact, not in the Protestant\nbooks, but from the lips of the nuns themselves, as well as from their\nfather confessors, I am fully convinced that the real virtue of purity\nis much better kept in the homes of our Christian mothers, married\nsisters, and female friends, than in the secret rooms, not to say\nprisons, where the poor nuns are enchained by the heavy fetters assumed\nby their vows, which the great majority curse when they cannot break\nthem.\n\n\u201cAnd for the second reason, your lordship gives me to induce Mrs.\nChenier becoming a nun, I am again sorry to say, that I cannot\nconscientiously accept it. I have not consecrated myself to the\npriesthood to deprive respectable families of their legal inheritance in\norder to enrich myself, or anybody else. I know she has poor relations\nwho need her fortune after her death.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you pretend to say that your bishop is a thief?\u201d angrily rejoined\nthe bishop.\n\n\u201cNo, my lord! By no means. No doubt, from your high standpoint of view,\nyour lordship may see things in a very different aspect, from what I see\nthem, in the low position I occupy in the church. But, as your lordship\nis bound to follow the dictates of your conscience in everything, I also\nfeel obliged to give heed to the voice of mine.\u201d\n\nThis painful conversation had already lasted too long. I was anxious to\nsee the end of it; for I could easily read in the face of my superior\nthat every word I uttered was sealing my doom. I rose up to take leave\nof him, and said: \u201cMy lord, I beg your pardon for disappointing your\nlordship.\u201d\n\nHe coldly answered me:\n\n\u201cIt is not the first time, though I would it were the last, that you\nshow such a want of respect and submission to the will of your\nsuperiors. But, as I feel it is a conscientious affair on your part, I\nhave no ill-will against you, and I am happy to tell you that I\nentertain for you all my past esteem. The only favor I ask from you,\njust now, is that this conversation may be kept secret.\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cIt is still more to my interest than yours to keep this\nunfortunate affair a secret between us. I hope that neither your\nlordship, nor the Great God, who alone has heard us, will ever make it\nan imperious duty for me to mention it.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat good news do you bring me from the bishop\u2019s palace?\u201d asked my\nvenerable friend, Mr. Brassard, when I returned, late in the afternoon.\n\n\u201cI would have very spicy, though unpalatable news to give you, had not\nthe bishop asked me to keep what has been said between us a secret.\u201d\n\nMr. Brassard laughed outright, at my answer, and replied:\n\n\u201cA secret! a secret! Ah! but it is a gazette secret; for the bishop has\nbothered me, as well as many others, with that matter, frequently, since\nyour return from Illinois. Several times he has asked us to persuade you\nto advise your devoted penitent, Mrs. Chenier, to become a nun. I knew\nhe invited you to his palace, yesterday, for that object.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe eyes and the heart of our poor bishop,\u201d continued Mr. Brassard,\n\u201care too firmly fixed on the fortune of that lady. Hence, his zeal about\nthe salvation of her soul, through the monastic life. In vain I tried to\ndissuade the bishop from speaking to you on that subject, on account of\nyour prejudices against our good nuns. He would not listen to me. No\ndoubt you have realized my worst anticipations; you have, with your\nusual stubbornness, refused to yield to his demands. I fear you have\nadded to his bad feelings, and consummated your disgrace.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat a deceitful man that bishop is,\u201d I answered indignantly. \u201cHe has\ngiven me to understand that this was a most sacred secret between him\nand me; when I see, by what you say, that it is nothing else than a\nfarcical secret, known by the hundreds who have heard of it.\n\n\u201cBut please, my dear Mr. Brassard, tell me, is it not a burning shame\nthat our nunneries are changed into real traps, to steal cheat and ruin\nso many unsuspecting families? I have no words to express my disgust and\nindignation, when I see that all those great demonstrations and eloquent\ntirades about the perfection and holiness of the nuns, on the part of\nour spiritual rulers, are nothing else, in reality, than a veil to\nconceal their stealing operations. Do you not feel that those poor nuns\nare the victims of the most stupendous system of swindling the world has\never seen?\n\n\u201cI know that there are some honorable exceptions. For instance, the\nnunnery you have founded here, is an exception. You have not built it to\nenrich yourself, as you have spent your last cent in its erection. But\nyou and I are only simpletons, who have, till now, ignored the terrible\nsecrets which put that machine of the nunneries and monkeries in motion.\nI am more than ever disgusted and terrified, not only by the unspeakable\ncorruptions, but also by the stupendous system of swindling which is\ntheir foundation stone. If the cities of Quebec and Montreal could know\nwhat I know of the incalculable sums of money secretly stolen through\nthe confessional to aid our bishops in building the famous cathedrals\nand splendid palaces, or to cover themselves with robes of silk, satin,\nsilver and gold; to live more luxurious than the Pashas of Turkey, they\nwould set fire to all those palatial buildings; they would hang the\nconfessors who have thrown the poor nuns into these dungeons, under the\npretext of saving their souls, when the real motive was to lay hands on\ntheir inheritance and raise their colossal fortunes. The bishop has\nopened before me a most deplorable and shameful page of the history of\nour church. It makes me understand many facts which were a mystery to me\ntill to-day. Now I understand the terrible wrath of the English people\nin the days of old, and of the French people more recently, when they so\nviolently wrenched from the hands of the clergy the enormous wealth they\nhad accumulated during the dark ages. I have condemned those great\nnations till now. But, to-day, I absolve them. I am sure that those men,\nthough blind and cruel in their vengeance, were the ministers of the\njustice of God. The God of heaven could not, forever, tolerate a\nsacrilegious system of swindling, as I know, now, to be in operation\nfrom one end to the other, not only of Canada, but of the whole world,\nunder the mask of religion. I know that the bishop and his flatterers\nwill hate and persecute me for my stern opposition to his rapacity. But\nI do feel happy and proud of his hatred. The God of truth and justice,\nthe God of the gospel, will be on my side, when they attack me. I do not\nfear them; let them come. That bishop surely did not know me, when he\nthought that I would consent to be the instrument of his hypocrisy, and\nthat, under the false pretext of a delusive perfection, I would throw\nthat lady into a dungeon for her life, that he might become rich with\nher inheritance.\u201d\n\nMr. Brassard answered me: \u201cI cannot blame you for your disobeying the\nbishop, in this instance. I foretold him what has occurred; for I knew\nwhat you think of the nuns. Though I do not go as far as you in that, I\ncannot absolutely shut my eyes to the facts which stare us in the face.\nThose monkish communities have, in every age, been the principal cause\nof the calamities which have befallen the church. For their love of\nriches, their pride and laziness, with their other scandals, have always\nbeen the same.\n\n\u201cHad I been able to foresee what has occurred inside the walls of the\nnunnery I built up here, I never would have erected it. However, now\nthat I have built it, it is the child of my old age; I feel bound to\nsupport it to the end. This does not prevent me from being afflicted\nwhen I see the facility with which our poor nuns yield to the criminal\ndesires of their too weak confessors. Who could have thought, for\ninstance, that that lean and ugly superior of the oblates, Father\nAllard, could have fallen in love with his young nuns, and that so many\nwould have lost their hearts on his account. Have you heard how the\nyoung men of our village, indignant at his spending the greater part of\nthe night with the nuns, have whipped him, when he was crossing the\nbridge, not long before his leaving Longueuil for Africa? It is evident\nthat our bishop multiplies too fast those religious houses.\n\n\u201cMy fear is that they will, sooner than we expect, bring upon our Church\nof Canada the same cataclysms which have so often desolated her in\nEngland, France, Germany and even in Italy.\u201d\n\nThe clock struck twelve just when this last sentence fell from the lips\nof Mr. Brassard. It was quite time to take some rest. When leaving me\nfor his sleeping room, he said: \u201cMy dear Chiniquy, gird your loins well,\nsharpen your sword for the impending conflict. My fear is that the\nbishop and his advisers will never forget your wrenching from their\nhands the booty they were coveting so long.\n\n\u201cThey will never forgive the spirit of independence with which you have\nrebuked them.\n\n\u201cIn fact, the conflict is already begun; may God protect you against the\nopen blows, and the secret machinations they have in store for you.\u201d\n\nI answered him: \u201cI do not fear them. I put my trust in God. It is for\nHis honor I am fighting and suffering. He will surely protect me from\nthose sacrilegious traders in souls.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XLIX.\n\nTHE PLOT TO DESTROY ME\u2014THE INTERDICT\u2014THE RETREAT AT THE JESUITS\u2019\n COLLEGE\u2014THE LOST GIRL, EMPLOYED BY THE BISHOP, RETRACTS\u2014THE BISHOP\n CONFOUNDED, SEES HIS INJUSTICE, MAKES AMENDS\u2014TESTIMONIAL LETTERS\u2014THE\n CHALICE\u2014THE BENEDICTION BEFORE I LEAVE CANADA.\n\n\nThe first week of September, 1851, I was hearing confessions in one of\nthe churches of Montreal, when a fine-looking girl came to confess sins,\nwhose depravity surpassed anything I had ever heard. Though I forbade\nher twice to do it, she gave me the names of several priests who were\nthe accomplices of her orgies. The details of her iniquities were told\nwith such cynical impudence that the idea struck me, at once, that she\nwas sent by some one to ruin me. I abruptly stopped her disgusting\nstories by saying: \u201cThe way you confess your sins, is a sure indication\nthat you do not come here to reconcile yourself to God, but to ruin me.\nBy the grace of God, you will fail. I forbid you to come any more to my\nconfessional. If I see you again among my penitents, I will order the\nbeadle to turn you out of the church.\u201d\n\nI instantly shut the door of the small aperture through which she was\nspeaking to me.\n\nShe answered something which I could not understand. But the tone of her\nvoice, the shaking of her hands and head, with her manner of walking,\nwhen she left the confessional, indicated that she was beside herself\nwith rage, as she went to speak a few words to a carter who was in the\nchurch preparing himself to confess.\n\nThe next evening, I said to Rev. Mr. Brassard that I suspected that a\ngirl was sent to my confessional to ruin me.\n\nHe answered: \u201cDid I not warn you sometime ago that there was a plot to\ndestroy you? I have not the least doubt but that that girl was hired to\nbegin that diabolical work. You have no idea of my anxiety about you.\nFor I know your enemies will not shrink from any iniquity to destroy\nyour good name, and prevent you from directing the tide of emigration\nfrom Canada to the valley of the Mississippi.\u201d\n\nI replied \u201cthat I could not partake of his fears; that God knew my\ninnocence and the purity of my motives; He would defend and protect me.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear Chiniquy,\u201d replied Mr. Brassard, \u201cI know your enemies. They are\nnot numerous, but they are implacable, and their power for mischief\nknows no limits. Surely, God can save you from their hands; but I cannot\nshare your security for the future. Your answer to the bishop, in\nreference to Mrs. Chenier, when you refused to send her to the nunnery,\nthat he might inherit her fortune, has, forever, alienated him from you.\nBishop Bourget has the merited reputation of being the most revengeful\nman in Canada. He will avail himself of the least opportunity to strike\nyou without mercy.\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cThough there should be a thousand Bishops Bourget to plot\nagainst me, I will not fear them, so long as I am in the right, as I am\nto-day.\u201d\n\nAs the clock struck twelve, I bade him good night, and ten minutes later\nI was sound asleep.\n\nThe following days I went to deliver a course of lectures on temperance\nto several parishes south of Laprairie, till the 28th of September,\nafter which I came back from St. Constant to rest, for a few days, and\nprepare to start for Chicago.\n\nOn my arrival, I found on my table a short letter from Bishop Bourget,\ntelling me that, for a criminal action, which he did not want to\nmention, committed with a person he would not name, he had withdrawn all\nmy priestly powers and interdicted me.\n\nI handed the letter to Mr. Brassard and said: \u201cIs not this the\nfulfillment of your prophecies? What do you think of a bishop who\ninterdicts a priest without giving him a single fact, and without even\nallowing him to know his accusers?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is just what I expected from the implacable vengeance of the Bishop\nof Montreal. He will never give you the reasons of your interdict, for\nhe knows well you are innocent, and he will never confront you with your\naccusers; for it would be too easy for you to confound them.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut is not this against all the laws of God and man? Is it not against\nthe laws of the church?\u201d I replied.\n\n\u201cOf course it is,\u201d he answered; \u201cbut do you not know that, on this\ncontinent of America, the bishops have, long ago, thrown overboard all\nthe laws of God and man, and all the laws of the church, to rule and\nenslave the priests?\u201d\n\nI replied: \u201cIf it be so, are not Protestants correct when they say that\nour church has rejected the Word of God, to follow the traditions of\nman? What can we answer them when they tell us that our church has no\nright to be called the Church of God? Would the Son of God have given up\nhis life on the cross to save men, that they might be the property of a\nfew lawless tyrants, who should have the right to take away their honor\nand life?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not ready to answer those puzzling questions,\u201d he answered, \u201cbut\nthis is the fact. Though it is absolutely against all the laws of the\nchurch to condemn a priest without showing him his guilt, and\nconfronting him with his accusers, our modern bishops, every week,\ncondemn some of their priests without specifying any fact, or even\ngiving them the names of their accusers.\u201d\n\n\u201cMind what I tell you,\u201d I replied. \u201cI will not allow the bishop to deal\nwith me in that way. If he dares to trample the laws of the gospel under\nhis feet to accomplish my ruin, and satisfy his vengeance, I will teach\nhim a lesson that he will never forget. Thanks be to God, it is not the\ngory cross of the bloody Inquisition, but the emblem of the British Lion\nwhich I see there floating on the tower, to protect our honor and life\nin Canada. I am innocent; God knows it. My trust is in Him; He will not\nforsake me. I will go immediately to the bishop. If he never knew what\npower there is in an honest priest, he will learn it to-day.\u201d\n\nTwo hours later, I was knocking at the bishop\u2019s door. He received me\nwith icy politeness.\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d I said, \u201cyou already know why I am in your presence. Here is\na letter from you, accusing me of a crime which is not specified, under\nthe testimony of accusers whom you refuse to name! And before hearing\nme, and confronting me with my accusers, you punish me as guilty! You\nnot only take away my honor, with that unjust sentence, but my life! I\ncome in the name of God, and of His Son, Jesus Christ, to respectfully\nask you to tell me the crime of which I am accused, that I may show you\nmy innocence. I want to be confronted with my accusers, that I may\nconfound them.\u201d\n\nThe bishop was, at first, evidently embarrassed by my presence; his lips\nwere pale and trembling, but his eyes were dry and red, like the tiger\u2019s\neyes in the presence of his prey. He answered:\n\n\u201cI cannot grant your request, sir.\u201d\n\nOpening, then, my New Testament, I read:\n\n\u201cReceive no accusation against a priest, except under two or three\nwitnesses\u201d (1st Tim. v: 19). I added: \u201cIt was after I had heard this\nvoice of God, and of His holy church, that I consented to be a priest. I\nhope it is not the intention of your lordship to put aside this Word of\nGod and of His church. It is not your intention to break that solemn\ncovenant made by Christ, with His priests, and sealed with His blood?\u201d\n\nWith an air of contempt and tyrannical authority, which I had never\nsuspected to be possible in a bishop, he answered:\n\n\u201cI have no lesson of Scripture or canonical law to receive from you,\nsir, and no answer to give to your impertinent questions. You are\ninterdicted! I have nothing to do with you.\u201d\n\nThese words, uttered by the man whom I was accustomed to consider as my\nsuperior, had a strange effect upon me. I felt as if awakening from a\nlong and painful dream.\n\nFor the first time, I understood the sad prophecies of the Rev. Mr.\nBrassard, and I realized the horror of my position. My ruin was\naccomplished. Though I knew that that high dignitary was a monster of\nhypocrisy, injustice and tyranny, he had, among the masses, the\nreputation of a saint. His unjust sentence would be considered as just\nand equitable by the multitude over whom he was reigning supremely. At a\nnod of his head, the people would fall at his feet and obey his commands\nto crush me. All ears would be shut, and all hearts hardened against me.\nIn that fatal hour, for the first time in my life, my moral strength and\ncourage failed me. I felt as if I had just fallen into a bottomless\nabyss, out of which it was impossible to escape. What would my\ninnocence, known only to God, avail me, when the whole world would\nbelieve me guilty? No words can give an idea of the mental torture of\nthat horrible hour.\n\nFor more than a quarter of an hour not a word was exchanged between the\nbishop and me. He seemed very busy writing letters, while I was resting\nmy head between my hands, and shedding torrents of tears. At last, I\nfell on my knees, took the hands of the bishop in mine, and, with a\nvoice half choked with sighs, I said: \u201cMy lord, in the name of our Lord\nJesus Christ, and in the presence of God, I swear that I have done\nnothing which could bring such a sentence against me. I again implore\nyour lordship to confront me with my accusers, that I may show you my\ninnocence.\u201d\n\nWith a savage insolence, the bishop withdrew his hands, as if I had\ncontaminated them, and said, after rising from his chair:\n\n\u201cYou are guilty; go out of my presence.\u201d\n\nA thousand times since, I have thanked my God that I had no dagger with\nme, for I would have plunged it into his heart. But, strange to say, the\ndiabolical malice and dishonesty of that depraved man, suddenly brought\nback my former self-respect and courage. I at once took the stern\nresolution to face the storm. I felt, in my soul, that giant strength\nwhich, often, God Himself implants in the breast of the oppressed when\nhe is in the presence of his merciless tyrants. It seemed that a flash\nof lightning had passed through my soul, after having written in letters\nof fire on the walls of the palace: \u201cMystery of iniquity.\u201d\n\nRelying entirely on the God of truth and justice, who knew my innocence\nand the great perversity of my oppressor, I left the room, without\nsaying a word, and hastened back to Longueuil, to acquaint the Rev. Mr.\nBrassard with my firm resolution to fight the bishop to the end. He\nburst into tears when I told him what had occurred in the bishop\u2019s\npalace.\n\n\u201cThough innocent, you are condemned,\u201d he said. \u201cThe infallible proof of\nyour innocence, is the cruel refusal of allowing you to be confronted\nwith your accusers. Were you guilty, they would be too glad to show it,\nby confounding you before those witnesses. But the perversity of your\naccusers is so well known that they are ashamed of giving their names.\nThe bishop prefers to crush you under the weight of his unmerited\nreputation for justice and holiness; for very few know him as we do. My\nfear is that he will succeed in destroying you. Though innocent, you are\ncondemned and lost. You will never be able to contend against such a\nmighty adversary.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear Mr. Brassard, you are mistaken,\u201d I replied. \u201cI never was so\nsure of coming out victorious from a conflict as to-day. The monstrous\niniquity of the bishop carries its antidote with itself. It was not a\ndream I saw when he so ignominiously turned me out of his room. A flash\nof lightning passed before my eyes and wrote, as if on the walls of the\npalace, \u2018Mystery of iniquity!\u2019 When Canada, the whole of Christendom,\nshall know the infamous conduct of that dignitary; when they shall see\nthe \u2018mystery of iniquity,\u2019 which I shall stamp upon his forehead, there\nwill be only one cry of indignation against him! Oh! if I can only find\nout the names of my accusers! How I will force that mighty tyrant to\nwithdraw that sentence, at double quick.\n\nI am determined to show, not only to Canada, but to the whole world,\nthat this infamous plot is but the work of the vile male and female\nslaves by whom the bishop is surrounded.\n\n\u201cMy first thought was to start immediately for Chicago where Bishop\nVandeveld expected me.\n\n\u201cBut I am resolved not to go until I have forced my merciless oppressor\nto withdraw his unjust sentence. I will, immediately, go to the Jesuit\nCollege, where I propose spending the next eight days in prayer and\nretreat.\n\n\u201cThe Jesuits are the ablest men under heaven to detect the most hidden\nthings. I hope they will help me to unearth that dark mystery of\niniquity, and expose it to the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am glad to see that you do not fear the terrible storm which is upon\nyou, and that your sails are so well trimmed,\u201d answered Mr. Brassard.\n\u201cYou do well in putting your trust in God, first, and in the Jesuits\nafterwards. The fearless way in which you intend to meet the attacks of\nyour merciless enemies, will give you an easy victory. My hope is that\nthe Jesuits will help you to find out the names of your false accusers,\nand that you will make use of them to hurl back in the face of the\nbishop the shame and dishonor he had prepared for you.\u201d\n\nAt six P. M., in a modest, well-lighted and ventilated room of the\nJesuit College, I was alone with the venerable Mr. Schneider, its\ndirector.\n\nI told him how the Bishop of Montreal, four years before, after giving\nup his prejudices against me, when I had left the oblate, had earnestly\nsupported me in my labors. I acquainted him also with the sudden change\nof those good feelings into the most uncontrollable hatred, from the day\nI had refused to force Mrs. Chenier to become a nun, that he might\nsecure her fortune. I told him also how those bad feelings had found new\nfood in my plan of consecrating the rest of my life to direct the tide\nof the French Catholic emigration towards the Mississippi valley. I\nexposed to him my suspicions about that miserable girl I had turned out\nfrom my confessional. \u201cI have a double object in view,\u201d I added:\n\n\u201cThe first, is to spend the last eight days of my residence in Canada in\nprayer. But my second is, to ask the help of your charity, wisdom and\nexperience in forcing the bishop to withdraw his unjust sentence against\nme. I am determined, if he does not withdraw it, to denounce him before\nthe whole country, and to challenge him, publicly, to confront me with\nmy accusers.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you do that,\u201d answered Mr. Schneider, \u201cI fear lest you not only do\nan irreparable damage to the Bishop of Montreal, but to our holy church\nalso.\u201d\n\nI replied: \u201cOur holy church would indeed suffer an irreparable damage,\nif she sanctioned the infamous conduct of the bishop; but this is\nimpossible.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are correct,\u201d rejoined the Jesuit. \u201cOur holy church cannot sanction\nsuch criminal conduct. She has, hundreds of times, condemned those\ntyrannical and unjust actions, in other bishops. Such want of common\nhonesty and justice will be condemned everywhere, as soon as it is\nknown. The first thing we have to do, is to find out the names of your\naccusers. I have not the least doubt that they are the blind instruments\nof Machiavelist plots against you. But those plots have only to be\nbrought to light, to vanish away. My impression is, that the miserable\ngirl you have so abruptly and so wisely turned out of your confessional,\nknows more than the bishop wants us to find out, about the plots. It is\na pity you did not ask her name and residence. At all events, you may\nrely on my efforts to persuade our bishop that his personal interest, as\nwell as the interest of our holy religion, is, that he should speedily\nwithdraw that sentence, which is a nullity by itself. It will not be\ndifficult for me to show him that he has fallen into the very pit he has\ndug under your feet. He has taken a position against you which is\nabsolutely untenable. Before your retreat is at an end, no doubt he will\nbe too happy to make his peace with you. Only trust in God, and in the\nblessed Virgin Mary, and you have nothing to fear from the conflict. Our\nbishop has put himself above all the laws of man and God, to condemn the\npriest he had himself officially named: \u2018the Apostle of Temperance of\nCanada.\u2019 There is not a single man, in the church, who will allow him to\nstand on that ground. The 200,000 soldiers you have enrolled under the\nholy banners of temperance, will force him to retract his too hasty and\nunjust sentence.\u201d\n\nIt would be too long to repeat here all the encouraging words which that\nwise Jesuit uttered.\n\nFather Schneider was a European priest, who was in Montreal only since\n1849. won my confidence, the very first time I met him, and I had chosen\nhim, at once, for my confessor and adviser. The third day of my retreat,\nFather Schneider came to my room earlier than usual, and said:\n\n\u201cI have worked hard the last two days, to find out the name and\nresidence of the carter to whom that miserable girl spoke in the church,\nafter you had turned her out of your confessional, and I have it. If you\nhave no objection I will send for him. He may know that girl and induce\nher to come here.\u201d\n\n\u201cBy all means, dear father,\u201d I answered, \u201cdo it without losing a\nmoment.\u201d\n\nTwo hours later, the carter was with me. I recognized him as one of\nthose dear countrymen whom our society of temperance had transformed\ninto a new man. I asked him if he remembered the name of the girl who, a\nfew days before, had spoken to him in the church, after going out of my\nconfessional.\n\n\u201cYes sir! I know her well. She has a very bad name, though she belongs\nto a respectable family.\u201d\n\nI added: \u201cDo you think you could induce her to come here, by telling her\nthat a priest, in the Jesuit College, wants to see her? But do not give\nher my name.\u201d\n\nHe answered: \u201cNothing is more easy. She will be here in a couple of\nhours, if I find her at home.\u201d\n\nAt three P. M., the carter was again knocking at my door, and said, with\na low voice:\n\n\u201cThe girl you want is in the parlor; she has no idea you are here, for\nshe told me that you were now preaching in St. Constant. She seems to be\nvery angry against you, and bitterly complains against your want of\ncourtesy, the very first time she went to confess to you.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it possible that she told you that?\u201d I replied.\n\n\u201cYes sir! She told me that to explain her terrible excitement when\ncoming out of your confessional, the other day; she then requested me to\ndrive her home. She was really beside herself, and swore that she would\nmake you pay for your harsh words and rude manner towards her. You will\ndo well to be on your guard with her. She is one of the most depraved\ngirls of Montreal, and has a most dangerous tongue, though to the shame\nof our holy religion, she is daily seen in the bishop\u2019s palace.\u201d\n\nI immediately went to Father Schneider, and said: \u201cMy dear father, by\nthe mercy of God, the girl we want to see is in the parlor. By what I\nhave just heard from the carter who drove her, I have not the least\ndoubt but that she is the one employed by the bishop to slander me, and\nget a pretext for what he has done. Please come with me to witness my\ninnocence. But, take your gospel, ink, paper and pen with you.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll right,\u201d answered the wise Jesuit.\n\nTwo minutes later we were in her presence.\n\nIt is impossible to describe her dismay, when she saw me. She came near\nfainting. I feared she should not be able to utter a word.\n\nI spoke to her very kindly, and ran to get a glass of cold water, which\ndid her good.\n\nWhen she recovered, I said to her, with a tone of mixed authority and\nkind firmness: \u201cYou are here in the presence of God and two of his\npriests. That great God will hear every word which will fall from your\nlips. You must speak the truth. You have denounced me to the bishop as\nguilty of some great iniquity. You are the cause of my being\ninterdicted. You, alone, can repair the injury you have done me. That\ninjury is very great; but it can be easily repaired by you. In the\npresence of that venerable priest, say whether or not, I am guilty of\nthe crime you have brought to my charge!\u201d\n\nAt these words, the unfortunate girl burst into tears. She hid her face\nin her handkerchief, and with a voice half-suffocated with sighs, she\nsaid:\n\n\u201cNo sir! You are not guilty.\u201d\n\nI added: \u201cConfess another thing. Is it not a fact that you had come to\nmy confessional more with the intention of tempting me to sin, than to\nreconcile yourself to God?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes sir!\u201d she added, \u201cthis was my wicked intention.\n\n\u201cContinue to tell the truth, and our great and merciful God will forgive\nyou. Is it not to revenge yourself for my rebuking you, that you have\nbrought the false accusations to the bishop in order that he might\ninterdict me?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes sir! that is the only reason I had for accusing you.\u201d\n\nAfter Father Schneider had made four copies of those declarations,\nsigned by him as witness, and after she had sworn on the gospel, I\nforgave her the injury she had done me, I gave her some good advice and\ndismissed her.\n\n\u201cIs it not evident,\u201d I said to Father Schneider, \u201cthat our merciful God\nnever forsakes those who trust in him?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I never saw the interposition of God so marvellously manifested as\nin this perfect deliverance from the hands of your enemies. But, please\ntell me why you requested me to make four copies of her sworn\ndeclaration of your innocence; was not one sufficient?\u201d asked Mr.\nSchneider.\n\nI answered: \u201cOne of those copies was for the bishop; another will remain\nin your hands, Mr. Brassard will have one, and I need one for myself.\nFor the dishonesty of the bishop is so evident to me, now, that I think\nhim able to destroy the copy I will send him, with the hope, after its\ndestruction, of keeping me at his feet. If he does that new act of\niniquity, I will confound him with the three other authentic copies\nwhich will remain. Besides, this unfortunate girl may die sooner than we\nexpect. In that case, I would find myself again with the bishop\u2019s knife\non my throat, if I had no other retractation to the perjured declaration\nwhich he has persuaded her to give him.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are right,\u201d replied Father Schneider, \u201cnow the only thing for you\nto do is to send that retractation to the bishop, with a firm and polite\nrequest to retract his unjust sentence against you. Let me do the rest\nwith him. The battle is over. It has been fierce, but short. However,\nthanks be to God, you have a most complete victory over your unjust\naggressors. The bishop will do all in his power, no doubt, to make you\nforget this darkest page of his life.\u201d\n\nThe shrewd Jesuit was correct, in his previsions. Never did any bishop\nreceive me with so many marks, not only with kindness, but I dare say of\nrespect, than Bishop Bourget, when, after my retreat, I went to take\nleave of him, before my departure from Canada to the United States.\n\n\u201cI trust, my lord,\u201d I said, \u201cthat, to-day, I can hope to possess the\nconfidence and friendly feelings of your lordship?\u201d\n\n\u201cCertainly, my dear Mr. Chiniquy, certainly; you possess my full\nconfidence and friendship. I dare say more; you possess my most sincere\ngratitude, for what you have done in my diocese.\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cI am much obliged to your lordship for this expression of\nyour kind feelings. But, now, I have two new favors to ask from your\nlordship. The first, is a written document expressive of those kind\nfeelings.\n\n\u201cThe second, is a chalice from your hands to offer the holy sacrifice of\nmass the rest of my life.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will grant your request with the utmost pleasure,\u201d answered the\nbishop; and without losing a moment, he wrote the following letter,\nwhich I reproduce here, on account of its importance.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n MONTREAL. OCT. 13TH, 1851.\n\nSIR:\u2014You request me to give you permission to leave my diocese in order\nto go and offer your services to the Bishop of Chicago. As you still\nbelong to the Diocese of Quebec, I think you ought to address yourself\nto my lord of Quebec, to get the extract you want. As for me, I cannot\nbut thank you for what you have done in our midst; and in my gratitude\ntowards you, I wish you the most abundant blessing from heaven. Every\nday of my life, I will remember you. You will always be in my heart, and\nI hope that on some future day, the providence of God will give me some\nopportunity of showing you all the feelings of gratitude I feel towards\nyou.\n\n I remain, your most obedient servant,\n\n \u2720IGNACE.\n\n _Bishop of Montreal._\n\nREV. C. CHINIQUY.\n\nThough that letter was a most perfect recantation of all he had said and\ndone against me, and was of immense value to me in such circumstances,\nthe bishop added to its importance by the exceedingly kind manner in\nwhich he handed it to me.\n\nAs he was going into another room he said:\n\n\u201cI will give you the silver chalice you want, to offer the holy\nsacrifice of mass the rest of your days.\u201d\n\nBut, he came back and said:\n\n\u201cMy secretary is absent, and has the key of the trunk which contains\nthose vases.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt makes no difference, my lord,\u201d I replied, \u201cplease order your\nsecretary to put that chalice in the hands of Rev. Mr. Brassard, who\nwill forward it, with a box of books which he has to send me to Chicago,\nnext week.\u201d\n\nThe bishop very kindly promised to do so; and he fulfilled his promise.\nThe next day, the precious gift was put in the hands of Mr. Brassard, in\npresence of several priests.\n\nIt was sent, the following week, to Chicago, where I got it, and that\nfine silver chalice is still in my possession.\n\nI then fell on my knees, and said:\n\n\u201cMy lord, I am just leaving Canada for the Far West, please give me your\nbenediction.\u201d\n\nHe blessed me and pressed me to his heart with a tenderness of a father,\nsaying:\n\n\u201cMay God Almighty bless you, wherever you go and in everything you do,\ntill the end of your life.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER L.\n\nADDRESS PRESENTED ME AT LONGUEUIL\u2014I ARRIVE AT CHICAGO\u2014I SELECT THE SPOT\n FOR MY COLONY\u2014I BUILD THE FIRST CHAPEL\u2014JEALOUSY AND OPPOSITION OF THE\n PRIESTS OF BOURBONNAIS AND CHICAGO\u2014GREAT SUCCESS OF THE COLONY.\n\n\nThough I had kept my departure from Canada as secret as possible, it had\nbeen suspected, by many; and Mr. Brassard, unable to resist the desire\nthat his people should give me the expression of their kind feelings,\nhad let the secret slip from his lips, two days before I left. I was not\na little surprised, a few hours before my taking leave of him, to see\nhis whole parish gathered at the door of his parsonage, to present me\nthe following address.\n\n TO THE REV. FATHER CHINIQUY.\n\nVENERABLE SIR:\u2014It is only three years since we presented you your\nportrait, not only as an expression of our gratitude for your labors and\nsuccess in the cause of temperance in our midst, but also as a memorial,\nwhich would tell our grandchildren the good you have done to our\ncountry. We were, then, far from thinking that we were so near the day\nwhen we would have the sorrow to see you separating yourself from us.\n\nYour unforeseen exit from Canada fills us with a regret and sadness,\nwhich is increased by the fear we have, that the reform you have\nstarted, and so gloriously established everywhere, will suffer from your\nabsence. May our merciful God grant that your faithful co-laborers may\ncontinue it, and walk in your footsteps.\n\nWhile we submit to the decrees of providence, we promise that we will\nnever forget the great things you have done for the prosperity of our\ncountry. Your likeness, which is in every Canadian family, will tell to\nthe future generations, what Father Chiniquy has done for Canada.\n\nWe console ourselves by the assurance that, wherever you go, you will\nraise the glorious banners of temperance among those of our countrymen\nwho are scattered in the land of exile. May those brethren put on your\nforehead, the crown of immortality, which you have so well deserved for\nyour noble work in our midst. Signed\n\n L. M. BRASSARD,\n\n _Priest and Curate_.\n\n H. HICKS, _Vicar_.\n\n AND 300 OTHERS.\n\nI ANSWERED:\n\nGENTLEMEN:\u2014I thank you for the honor you do me by your address. But\nallow me to tell you, that the more I look upon the incalculable good\nresulting from the Temperance Reform I have established, nearly from one\nend of Canada to the other, the more I would deceive myself, were I to\nattribute to myself the whole merit of that blessed work.\n\nIf our God has chosen me, his so feeble servant, as the instrument of\nhis infinite mercies towards our dear country; it is because he wanted\nus to understand that He alone could make the marvellous change we see\neverywhere, and that we shall give all the glory to Him.\n\nIt is more to the fervent prayers, and to the good examples of our\nvenerable bishops and curates, than to my feeble efforts, that we owe\nthe triumph of temperance in Canada; and it is my firm conviction that\nthat holy cause will lose nothing by my absence.\n\nOur merciful God has called me to another field. I have heard his voice.\nThough it is a great sacrifice for me to leave my own beloved country, I\nmust go to work in the midst of a new people, in the distant lands of\nIllinois.\n\nFrom many parts of Europe and Canada, multitudes are rushing towards the\nwestern territories of the United States, to secure to their families,\nthe incalculable treasures which the good providence of God has\nscattered over those broad prairies.\n\nThose emigrants are in need of priests. They are like those little ones\nof whom God speaks in his Word, who wanted bread and had nobody to give\nthem any: \u201cI have heard their cries, I have seen their wants.\u201d And in\nspite of the great sacrifice I am called upon to make, I must bless the\nGood Master, who calls me to work in that vineyard, planted by his own\nhands, in those distant lands.\n\nIf anything can diminish the sadness of my feelings, when I bid adieu to\nmy countrymen, it is the assurance given me by the noble people of\nLongueuil, that I have in Canada many friends whose fervent prayers will\nconstantly ascend to the throne of grace, to bring the benedictions of\nheaven upon me, wherever I go.\n\n C. CHINIQUY.\n\nI arrived at Chicago on the 29th of October, 1851, and spent six days\nwith Bishop Vandeveld, in maturing the plans of our Catholic\ncolonization.\n\nHe gave me the wisest advice with the most extensive powers which a\nbishop can give a priest, and urged me to begin, at once, the work, by\nselecting the most suitable spot for such an important and vast\nprospect.\n\nMy heart was filled with uncontrollable emotions when the hour came to\nleave my superior and go to the conquest of the magnificent State of\nIllinois, for the benefit of my church.\n\nI fell at his knees to ask his benediction, and requested him never to\nforget me in his prayers. He was not less affected than I was, and\npressing me to his bosom, bathed my face with his tears, and blessed me.\n\nIt took me three days to cross the prairies from Chicago to Bourbonnais.\nThose prairies were then a vast solitude, with almost impassable roads.\nAt the invitation of their priest, Mr. Courjeault, several people had\ncome long distances to receive and overwhelm me with the public\nexpressions of their joy and respect.\n\nAfter a few days of rest, in the midst of their interesting young\ncolony, I explained to Mr. Courjeault that, having been sent by the\nbishop to found a settlement of Roman Catholic emigrants, on a\nsufficiently grand scale to rule the government of Illinois, it was my\nduty to go further south, in order to find the most suitable place for\nthe first village I intended to raise. But to my unspeakable regret, I\nsaw that my proposition filled the heart of that unfortunate priest with\nthe most bitter feelings of jealousy and hatred. It had been just the\nsame thing with Rev. Mr. Lebel, at Chicago.\n\nThe very moment I told him the object of my coming to Illinois, I felt\nthe same spirit of jealousy had turned him into an implacable enemy. I\nhad expected very different things from those two priests, for whom I\nhad entertained, till then, most sincere sentiments of esteem. So long\nas they were under the impression that I had left Canada to help them\nincrease their small congregations, by inducing the emigrants to settle\namong them, they loaded me, both in public and private, with marks of\ntheir esteem. But the moment they saw that I was going to found, in the\nvery heart of Illinois, settlements on such a large scale, they banded\ntogether to paralyze and ruin my efforts. Had I suspected such\nopposition from the very men on whose moral help I had relied for the\nsuccess of my colonizing schemes, I would have never left Canada, for\nIllinois. But it was now too late to stop my onward march. Trusting in\nGod alone for success, I felt that those two men were to be put among\nthose unforeseen obstacles which Heaven wanted me to overcome, if I\ncould not avoid them. I persuaded six of the most respectable citizens\nof Bourbonnais to accompany me, in three wagons, in search of the best\nsite for the center of my future colony. I had a compass, to guide me\nthrough those vast prairies, which were spread before me like a\nboundless ocean. I wanted to select the highest point in Illinois for my\nfirst town, in order to secure the purest air and water for the new\nemigrants.\n\nI was fortunate enough, under the guidance of God, to succeed better\nthan I expected, for the government surveyors have lately acknowledged\nthat the village of St. Anne occupies the very highest point of that\nsplendid state.\n\nTo my great surprise, ten days after I had selected that spot, fifty\nfamilies from Canada had planted their tents around mine, on the\nbeautiful site which forms to-day the town of St. Anne.\n\nWe were at the end of November, and though the weather was still mild, I\nfelt I had not an hour to lose in order to secure shelter for every one\nof those families, before the cold winds and chilly rains of winter\nshould spread sickness and death among them. The greater part were\nilliterate and poor people, without any idea of the dangers and\nincredible difficulties of establishing a new settlement, where\neverything had to be created. There were, at first, only two small\nhouses, one 25 by 30, and the other 16 by 20 feet, to lodge us.\n\nWith the rest of my dear emigrants, wrapped in buffalo robes, with my\novercoat for my pillow, I slept soundly, many nights on the bare floor,\nduring the three months which it took to get my first house erected.\n\nHaving taken the census of the people on the first of December, I found\ntwo hundred souls, one hundred of whom were adults. I said to them:\n\n\u201cThere are not three of you, if left alone, able to prepare a shelter\nfor your families, this winter; but if, forgetting yourselves, you work\nfor each other, as true friends and brethren, you will increase your\nstrength tenfold, and in a few weeks, there will be a sufficient number\nof small, but solid buildings, to protect you against the storms and\nsnow of the winter which is fast coming upon us. Let us go to the forest\ntogether and cut the wood, to-day; and to-morrow we will draw that\ntimber to one of the lots you have selected, and you will see with what\nmarvellous speed the house will be raised, if your hands and hearts are\nperfectly united to work for each other, under the eyes and for the love\nof the merciful God who gives us this splendid country for our\ninheritage. But before going to the forest, let us kneel down to ask our\nHeavenly Father to bless the work of our hands, and grant us to be of\none mind and one heart, and to protect us against the too common\naccidents of those forests and building works.\u201d\n\nWe all knelt on the grass, and, as much with our tears as with our lips,\nwe sent to the mercy-seat a prayer, which was surely heard by the One\nwho said, \u201cAsk and you will receive,\u201d and we started for the forest.\n\nThe readers would scarcely believe me, were I to tell them with what\nmarvellous rapidity the first forty small, but neat houses were put up\non our beautiful prairies.\n\nWhilst the men were cutting timber, and raising one another\u2019s houses,\nwith a unity, a joy, a good-will and rapidity, which many times drew\nfrom me tears of admiration, the women would prepare the common meals.\nWe obtained our flour and pork from Bourbonnais and Momence, at a very\nlow price; and, as I was a good shot, one or two friends and I, used to\nkill, every day, enough prairie chickens, quails, ducks, wild geese,\nbrants and deer, to feed more people than there were in our young\ncolony.\n\nThose delicious viands, which would have been welcomed on the table of\nthe king, and which would have satisfied the most fastidious gourmand,\ncaused many of my poor, dear emigrants to say:\n\n\u201cOur daily and most common meals here, are more sumptuous and delicate\nthan the richest ones in Canada, and they cost almost nothing.\u201d\n\nWhen I saw that a sufficient number of houses had been built to give\nshelter to every one of the first emigrants, I called a meeting and\nsaid:\n\n\u201cMy dear friends, by the great mercy of God, and in almost a miraculous\nway, (thanks be to the unity and charity which have bound you to each\nother till now, as members of the same family,) you are in your little,\nbut happy homes, and you have nothing to fear from the winds and snow of\nthe winter, I think that my duty now is to direct your attention to the\nnecessity of building a two-story house. The upper part will be used as\nthe school-house for your children on week days, and for a chapel on\nSundays, and the lower part will be my parsonage. I will furnish the\nmoney for the flooring, shingles, the nails and the windows, and you\nwill give your work gratis to cut and draw the timber and put it up. I\nwill also pay the architect, without asking a cent from you. It is quite\ntime to provide a school for your children; for in this country, as in\nany other place, there is no possible prosperity or happiness for a\npeople, if they neglect the education of their children. Now, we are too\nnumerous to continue having our Sabbath worship in any private house, as\nwe have done till now. What do you think of this?\u201d\n\nThey unanimously answered:\n\n\u201cYes! after you have worked so hard to give a home to every one of us,\nit is just that we should help you to make one for yourself. We are\nhappy to hear that it is your intention to secure a good education for\nour children. Let us begin the work at once.\u201d\n\nThis was the 16th of January, 1852. The sun was as warm as on a\nbeautiful day of May in Canada. We again fell upon our knees to implore\nthe help of God, and sang a beautiful French hymn.\n\nThe next day, we were seventy-two men in a neighboring forest, felling\nthe great oaks; and on the 17th of April, only three months later, that\nfine two-story building, nearly forty feet square, was blessed by Bishop\nVandeveld.\n\nIt was surmounted by a nice steeple, thirty feet high, in which we had\nput a bell, weighing 250 pounds, whose solemn sound was to tell our joys\nand sorrows over the boundless prairies.\n\nOn that day, instead of being only fifty families, as at the last\ncensus, we numbered more than one hundred, among whom more than 500 were\nadults. The chapel which we thought, at first, would be too large, was\nfilled to its utmost capacity on the day of its consecration to God.\n\nNot a month later, we had to speak of making an addition of forty feet\nmore, which when finished, six months later, was found to be still\ninsufficient for the accommodation of the constantly increasing flood of\nimmigration, which came, not only from Canada, but from Belgium and\nFrance. It soon became necessary to make a new center, and expand the\nlimits of my first colony; which I did, by planting a cross at l\u2019Erable,\nabout fifteen miles southwest of St. Anne, and another at a place we\ncall St. Mary, twelve miles southeast, in the county of Iroquois. These\nsettlements were soon filled; for that very spring, more than one\nthousand new families came from Canada, to join us.\n\nNo words can express the joy of my heart, when I saw with what rapidity,\nmy (then) so dear Church of Rome was taking possession of those\nmagnificent lands, and how soon she would be unrivaled mistress, not\nonly of the State of Illinois, but of the whole valley of the\nMississippi. But the ways of men are not the ways of God. I had been\ncalled, by the Bishops of Rome, to Illinois, to extend the power of that\nchurch. But my God had called me there, that I might give, to that\nchurch, the most deadly blow she has ever received on this Continent.\n\nMy task is now to tell my readers, how the God of Truth, and Light and\nLife, broke, one after another, all the charmed bonds by which I was\nkept a slave at the feet of the Pope; and how He opened my eyes, and\nthose of my people, to the unsuspected and untold abominations of\nRomanism.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LI.\n\nINTRIGUES, IMPOSTURES, AND CRIMINAL LIFE OF THE PRIEST IN\n BOURBONNAIS\u2014INDIGNATION OF THE BISHOP\u2014THE PEOPLE IGNOMINIOUSLY TURN\n OUT THE CRIMINAL PRIEST FROM THEIR PARISH\u2014FRIGHTFUL SCANDAL\u2014FAITH IN\n THE CHURCH OF ROME SERIOUSLY SHAKEN.\n\n\n\u201cPlease accompany me to Bourbonnais; I have to confer with you and the\nRev. Mr. Courjeault, on important matters,\u201d said the bishop, half an\nhour before leaving St. Anne, after having blessed the chapel.\n\n\u201cI intended, my lord, to ask your lordship to grant me that honor,\nbefore you offered it,\u201d I answered.\n\nTwo hours of good driving took us to the parsonage of the Rev. Mr.\nCourjeault, who had prepared a sumptuous dinner, to which several of the\nprincipal citizens of Bourbonnais had been invited.\n\nWhen all the guests had departed, and the bishop, Mr. Courjeault, and I,\nwere alone, he drew from his trunk, a bundle of weekly papers of\nMontreal, Canada, in which several letters, very insulting and\ncompromising for the bishop, were published, signed R. L. C. Showing\nthem to me, he said:\n\n\u201cMr. Chiniquy, can I know the reason you had for writing such insulting\nthings against your bishop?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d I answered. \u201cI have no words to express my surprise and\nindignation, when I read those letters. But, thanks be to God, I am not\nthe author of those infamous writings. I would rather have my right hand\ncut off, than to allow it to pen such false and perfidious things\nagainst you, or any one else.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you assure me that you are not the writer of the letters? Are you\npositive in that denegation; and do you know the contents of these lying\ncommunications?\u201d replied the Bishop.\n\n\u201cYes, my lord, I know the contents of these communications. I have read\nthem, several times, with supreme disgust and indignation; and I\npositively assert that I never wrote a single line of them.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, can you tell me who did write them?\u201d said the bishop.\n\nI answered: \u201cPlease, my lord, put that question to the Rev. Mr.\nCourjeault; he is more able than any one to satisfy your lordship on\nthat matter.\u201d\n\nI looked at Mr. Courjeault with an indignant air, which told him, that\nhe could not any longer wear the mask, behind which he had concealed\nhimself, for the last three or four months. The eyes of the bishop were\nalso turned, and firmly fixed on the wretched priest.\n\nNo! Never had I seen anything so strange, as the countenance of that\nguilty man. His face, though usually ugly, suddenly took a cadaverous\nappearance; his eyes were fixed on the floor, as if unable to move.\n\nThe only signs of life left in him, were given by his knees, which were\nshaking convulsively; and by the big drops of sweat rolling down his\nunwashed face; for, I must say here, _en passant_, that, with very few\nexceptions, that priest was the dirtiest man I ever saw.\n\nThe bishop, with unutterable expressions of indignation, exclaimed:\n\n\u201cMr. Courjeault; you are the writer of those infamous and slanderous\nletters! Three times, you have written, and twice you told me, verbally,\nthat they were coming from Mr. Chiniquy! I do not ask you if you are the\nauthor of these slanders against me.\n\n\u201cI see it written in your face. Your malice against Mr. Chiniquy, is\nreally diabolical. You wanted to ruin him in my estimation, as well as\nin that of his countrymen. And to succeed the better in that plot, you\npublish the most egregious falsehoods against me in the Canadian press,\nto induce me to denounce Mr. Chiniquy as an impostor.\n\n\u201cHow is it possible that a priest can so completely give himself to the\nDevil?\u201d\n\nAddressing me, the bishop said: \u201cMr. Chiniquy, I beg your pardon for\nhaving believed and repeated, that you were depraved enough to write\nthose calumnies against your bishop, I was deceived by that deceitful\nman.\n\n\u201cI will immediately retract what I have written and said against you.\u201d\n\nThen, addressing Mr. Courjeault he again said:\n\n\u201cThe least punishment I can give you is to turn you out of my diocese,\nand write to all the Bishops of America, that you are the vilest priest\nI ever saw, that they may never give you any position on this\nContinent.\u201d\n\nThese last words had hardly fallen from the lips of the bishop, when Mr.\nCourjeault fell on his knees, before me, and bathing, with his tears, my\nhands, which he was convulsively pressing in his, said:\n\n\u201cDear Mr. Chiniquy, I see the greatness of my iniquity against you and\nagainst our common bishop. For the dear Saviour Jesus\u2019 sake, forgive me.\nI take God to witness that you will never have a more devoted friend\nthan I will be. And you, my lord, allow me to tell you, that I thank God\nthat my malice and my great sin against both you and Mr. Chiniquy is\nknown and punished at once. However, in the name of our crucified\nSaviour, I ask you to forgive me. God knows that, hereafter, you will\nnot have a more obedient and devoted priest than I.\u201d\n\nIt was a most touching spectacle to see the tears, and hear the sobs of\nthat repentant sinner. I could not contain myself, nor refrain from\ntears. They were mingled with those of that returning stray sheep. I\nanswered:\n\n\u201cYes, Mr. Courjeault, I forgive you with all my heart, as I wish my\nmerciful God to forgive me my sins. May the God who sees your repentance\nforgive you also!\u201d\n\nBishop Vandeveld, who was gifted with a most sensitive and kind nature,\nwas also shedding tears, when I lifted up Mr. Courjeault to press him to\nmy heart, and to tell him again with my voice choked with sobs: \u201cI\nforgive you most sincerely, as I want to be forgiven.\u201d\n\nHe asked me: \u201cWhat do you advise me to do? Must I forgive also? and can\nI continue to keep him at the head of this important mission?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my lord. Please forgive and forget the errors of that dear\nbrother; he has already done so much good to my countrymen of\nBourbonnais. I pledge myself that he will, hereafter, be one of your\nbest priests.\u201d\n\nAnd the bishop forgave him, after some very appropriate and paternal\nadvice, admirably mixed with mercy and firmness.\n\nIt was then about three o\u2019clock in the afternoon. We separated, to say\nour vespers and matins (prayers which took nearly an hour).\n\nI had just finished reciting them in the garden, when I saw the Rev. Mr.\nCourjeault walking from the church towards me, but his steps were\nuncertain, as one distracted or half drunk. I was puzzled at the sight,\nfor he was a strong teetotaler, and I knew he had no strong drink in the\nchurch. He advanced three or four steps, then retreated. At last, he\ncame very near, but his face had such an expression of terror and\nsadness that he was hardly recognizable. He muttered something that I\ncould not understand.\n\n\u201cPlease repeat your sentence,\u201d I said to him, \u201cI did not understand\nyou.\u201d\n\nHe then put his hands on his face, and again muttered something. His\nvoice was drowned in his tears and sobs. Supposing that he was coming to\nask me again to pardon his past malice and calumnies against me, I felt\nan unspeakable compassion for him.\n\nAs there were a couple of seats near by, I said to him:\n\n\u201cMy dear Mr. Courjeault, come and sit here with me; and do not think any\nmore of what God Almighty has blotted out with the blood of His Son. I\nwill never think any more of your momentary errors. You may look upon me\nas your most devoted friend.\u201d\n\n\u201cDear Mr. Chiniquy,\u201d he answered, \u201cI have to reveal to you another dark\nmystery of my miserable life. Since more than a year, I have lived with\nthe beadle\u2019s daughter as if she were my wife!\n\n\u201cShe has just told me that she is to become a mother in a few days, and\nthat I have to see to that, and give her $500. She threatens to denounce\nme publicly to the bishop and people if I do not support her and her\noffspring. Would it not be better for me to flee away, this night, and\ngo back to France to live in my own family, and conceal my shame?\nSometimes, I am even tempted to throw myself in the river, to put an end\nto my miserable and dishonored existence. Do you think that the bishop\nwould forgive this new crime, if I threw myself at his feet and asked\npardon? Would he give me some other place in his vast diocese, where my\nmisfortunes and my sins are not known? Please tell me what to do.\u201d\n\nI remained absolutely stupefied, and did not know what to answer. Though\nI had compassion for the unfortunate man, I must confess that this new\ndevelopment of his hypocrisy and rascality filled me with an unspeakable\nhorror and disgust. He had, till then, wrapped himself in such a thick\nmantle of deception that many of his people looked upon him as an angel\nof purity. His infamies were so well concealed under an exterior of\nextreme moral rigidity that several of his parishioners looked upon him\nas a saint, whose relics could perform miracles. Not long before, two\nyoung couples, of the best families of Bourbonnais, having danced in a\nrespectable social gathering, had been condemned by him, and compelled\nto ask pardon, publicly, in the church. This pharisaical rigidity caused\nthe secret vices of that priest to be still more conspicuous and\nscandalous. I felt that the scandal which would follow the publication\nof this mystery of iniquity would be awful; that it would even cause\nmany, forever, to lose faith in our church. So many sad thoughts filled\nmy mind that I was confused and unable to give him any advice. I\nanswered:\n\n\u201cYour misfortune is really great. If the bishop were not here, I might,\nperhaps, tell you my mind about the best thing to do, just now. But the\nbishop is here; he is the only man to whom you have to go to know how to\ncome out of the bottomless abyss into which you have fallen. He is your\nproper counsellor; go and tell him, frankly, everything, and follow his\nadvice.\u201d\n\nWith staggering step, and in such deep emotions that his sobs and cries\ncould be heard for quite a distance, he went to the bishop. I remained\nalone, half petrified at what I had heard.\n\nHalf an hour later, the bishop came to me. He was pale and his eyes\nreddened with tears. He said to me:\n\n\u201cMr. Chiniquy, what an awful scandal! What a new disgrace for our holy\nchurch! That Mr. Courjeault, whom I thought, till to-day, to be one of\nmy best priests, is an incarnate devil. What shall I do with him? Please\nhelp me by your advice; tell me what you consider the best way of\npreventing the scandal, and protecting the faith of the good people\nagainst the destructive storm which is coming upon them.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear Bishop,\u201d I answered, \u201cthe more I consider these scandals here,\nthe less I see how we can save the church from becoming a dreadful\nwreck. I feel too much the responsibility of my advice to give it. Let\nyour lordship, guided by the Spirit of God, do what you consider the\nbest for the honor of the church and the salvation of so many souls,\nwhich are in danger of perishing when this scandal becomes known. For\nme, the only thing I can do is to conceal my face with shame, go back to\nmy young colony to pray and weep and work.\u201d\n\nThe bishop replied: \u201cHere is what I intend to do. Mr. Courjeault tells\nme that there is not the least suspicion among the people of his sin,\nand that it is an easy thing to send that girl to the house provided in\nCanada for priests\u2019 offenses, without awakening any suspicion. He seems\nso penitent, that I hope, hereafter, we have nothing to fear from him.\nHe will now live the life of a good priest here, without giving any\nscandal. But if I remove him, then there will be some suspicions of his\nfall, and the awful scandal we want to avoid will come. Please lend me\n$100, which I will give to Mr. Courjeault, to send that girl to Canada\nas soon as possible; and he will continue here, to work with wisdom\nafter this terrible trial. What do you think of that plan?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf your lordship is sure of the conversion of Mr. Courjeault, and that\nthere is no danger of his great iniquity being known by the people,\nevidently the wisest thing you can do is to send that girl to Canada,\nand keep Mr. Courjeault here. Though I see great dangers even in that\nway of dealing in this sad affair. But, unfortunately, I have not a cent\nin hand to-day, and I cannot lend you the $100 you want.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said the bishop, \u201cI will give a draft on a bank of Chicago, but\nyou must endorse it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have no objection, my lord, to endorse any draft signed by your\nlordship,\u201d I replied.\n\nThough it was late in the day, and that I had, at first, proposed to\nspend the night, I came back to my dear colony of St. Anne. Bourbonnais\nappeared to me like a burning house, in the cellar of which there was a\nbarrel of powder, from which one could not keep himself too far away.\n\nFive days later, four of the principal citizens of that interesting, but\nsorely tried, place knocked at my door. They were sent as a deputation\nfrom the whole village to ask me what to do about their curate, Mr.\nCourjeault. They told me that several of them had, long since, suspected\nwhat was going on between that priest and the beadle\u2019s daughter, but\nthey had kept that secret. However, yesterday, they said the eyes of the\nparish had been opened to the awful scandal.\n\nThe disgusting demonstrations and attention of the curate, when the\nvictim of his lust took the diligence, left no doubt in the minds of any\none that she is to have a child in Montreal.\n\n\u201cNow, Mr. Chiniquy, we are sent here to ask your advice. Please tell us\nwhat to do.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear friends,\u201d I answered, \u201cit is not from me, but from our common\nbishop, that you must ask what is to be done in such deplorable\naffairs.\u201d\n\nBut they replied: \u201cWould you not be kind enough to come to Bourbonnais\nwith us, and go to our unfortunate priest to tell him that his criminal\nconduct is known by the whole people, and that we cannot decently keep\nhim a day longer as our Christian teacher. He has rendered us great\nservices in the past, which we will never forget. We do not want to\nabuse or insult him in any way. Though guilty, he is still a priest. The\nonly favor we ask from him now is that he quits the place, without noise\nand scandal, in the night, to avoid any disagreeable demonstrations\nwhich might come from his personal enemies, whom his pharisaical\nrigidity has made pretty numerous and bitter.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not see any reason to refuse you that favor,\u201d I answered.\n\nThree hours later, in the presence of those four gentlemen, I was\ndelivering my sad message to the unfortunate curate. He received it as\nhis death warrant. But he was humble, and submitted to his fate.\n\nAfter spending four hours with us in settling his affairs, he fell on\nhis knees, with torrents of tears, he asked pardon for the scandal he\nhad given, and requested us to ask pardon from the whole parish, and at\n12 o\u2019clock at night he left for Chicago. That hour was a sad one,\nindeed, for us all. But my God had a still sadder hour in store for me.\nThe people of Bourbonnais had requested me to give them some religious\nevening services the next week, and I was just at the end of one of\nthem, the 7th of May, when, suddenly, the Rev. Mr. Courjeault entered\nthe church, walked through the crowd, saluting this one, smiling on that\none, and pressing the hands of many. His face bore the marks of\nimpudence and debauchery.\n\nFrom one end of the church to the other, a whisper of amazement and\nindignation was heard.\n\n\u201cMr. Courjeault! Mr. Courjeault!! Great God! what does this mean?\u201d\n\nI observed that he was advancing towards me, probably with the intention\nof shaking hands, before the people, but I did not give him time to do\nit. I left by the back door, and went to the parsonage, which was only a\nfew steps distant. He, then, went back to the door to have a talk with\nthe people, but very few gave him that chance. Though he affected to be\nexceedingly gay, jocose and talkative, he could not get many people to\nstop and hear him. Every one, particularly the women, were filled with\ndisgust, at his impudence. Seeing himself nearly deserted, at the church\ndoor, he turned his steps towards the parsonage, which he entered,\nwhistling. When he beheld me, he laughed and said:\n\n\u201cOh! oh! our dear little Father Chiniquy here? How do you do?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am quite unwell,\u201d I answered, \u201csince I see that you are so miserably\ndestroying yourself.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not want to destroy myself,\u201d he answered; \u201cbut it is you who wants\nto turn me out of my beautiful parish of Bourbonnais, to take my place.\nWith the four blockheads who accompanied you, the other day, you have\nfrightened and persuaded me that my misfortune with Mary was known by\nall the people; but our good bishop has understood that this was a trick\nof yours, and that it was one of your lying stories. I came back to take\npossession of my parish, and turn you out.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf the bishop has sent you back here to turn me out, that I may go back\nto my dear colony, he has just done what I asked him to do; for he\nknows, better than any man, for what great purpose I came to this\ncountry, and that I cannot do my work so long as he asks me to take care\nof Bourbonnais. I go, at once, and leave you in full possession of your\nparsonage. But I pity you, when I see the dark cloud which is on your\nhorizon. Good-bye!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are the only dark cloud on my horizon,\u201d he answered. \u201cWhen you are\ngone, I will be in as perfect peace as I was before you set your feet in\nIllinois. Good-bye; and please never come back here, except I invite\nyou.\u201d\n\nI left, and ordered my servant-man to drive me back to St. Anne. But\nwhen crossing the village, I saw that there was a terrible excitement\namong the people. Several times they stopped me, and requested me to\nremain in their midst to advise them what to do.\n\nBut I refused, saying to them: \u201cIt would be an insult on my part to\nadvise you anything, in a matter where your duty as men and Catholics is\nso clear. Consult the respect you owe to yourselves, to your families\nand to your church, and you will know what to do.\u201d\n\nIt took me all night, which was very dark, to come back to St. Anne,\nwhere I arrived at dawn, the 9th of May, 1852.\n\nThe next Sabbath day, I held a public service in my chapel, which was\ncrowded, without making any allusion to that deplorable affair. On the\nMonday following, four citizens of Bourbonnais were deputed to tell me\nwhat they had done, and asked me not to desert them in that hour of\ntrial, but to remember that I was their countryman, and that they had\nnobody else to whom they could look to help to fulfill their religious\nduties. Here is the substance of their message:\n\n\u201cAs soon as we saw that you had left our village, without telling us\nwhat to do, we called a public meeting, where we passed the following\nresolutions\u201d:\n\n1st. No personal insult shall be given to Mr. Courjeault.\n\n2nd. We cannot consent to keep him a single hour as our pastor.\n\n3rd. When, next Sabbath, he will begin his sermon, we will instantly\nleave the church, and go to the door, that he may remain absolutely\nalone, and understand our stern determination not to have him any more\nfor our spiritual teacher.\n\n4th. We will send these resolutions to the bishop, and ask him to allow\nMr. Chiniquy to divide his time and attention between his new colony and\nus, till we have a pastor able to instruct and edify us.\n\nStrange to say, poor Mr. Courjeault, shut up in his parsonage during\nthat night, knew nothing of that meeting. He had not found a single\nfriend to warn him of what was to happen the next Sunday. That Sunday,\nthe weather was magnificent, and there never had been such a multitude\nof people at the church.\n\nThe miserable priest, thinking by that unusual crowd, that everything\nwas to be right with him, that day, began his mass and went to the\npulpit to deliver his sermon. But he had hardly pronounced the first\nwords, when, at a signal given by some one, the whole people, without a\nsingle exception, ran out of the church, as if it had been on fire, and\nhe remained alone.\n\nOf course, this fell upon him as a thunderbolt, and he came very near\nfainting. However, recovering himself, he went to the door, and having\nwith his tears and sobs, as with his words, persuaded the people to\nlisten to what he had to tell them, he said:\n\n\u201cI see that the hand of God is upon me, and I deserve it. I have sinned,\nand made a mistake by coming back. You do not want me any more to be\nyour pastor. I can not complain of that; this is your right, you will be\nsatisfied. I will leave the place forever, to-night. I only ask you to\nforgive my past errors and pray for me.\u201d\n\nThis short address was followed by the most deadly silence, not a voice\nwas heard to insult him. Many, on the contrary, were so much impressed\nwith the sad solemnity of this occurrence that they could not refrain\ntheir tears. The whole people went back to their homes with broken\nhearts. Mr. Courjeault left Bourbonnais that very night, never to return\nagain. But the awful scandal he had given did not disappear with him.\n\nOur Great and Merciful God, who, many times, has made the very sins and\nerrors of his people to work for good, caused that public iniquity of\nthe priest to remove the scales from many eyes and prepare them to\nreceive the light, which was already dawning at the horizon. A voice\nfrom heaven was as if heard by many of us:\n\n\u201cDo you not see that in your Church of Rome, you do not follow the Word\nof God, but the lying traditions of men? Is it not evident that your\npriest\u2019s celibacy is a snare and an institution of Satan?\u201d\n\nMany asked me to show them, in the Gospel, where Christ had established\nthe law of celibacy.\n\n\u201cI will do better,\u201d I added, \u201cI will put the Gospel in your hands, and\nyou will look for yourselves in that holy book what is said on that\nmatter.\u201d\n\nThe very same day I ordered a merchant, from Montreal, to send me a\nlarge box filled with New Testaments, printed by the order of the\nArchbishop of Quebec, and on the 25th as many from New York. Very soon\nit was known by every one of my emigrants that not only had Jesus never\nforbidden His apostles and priests to marry, but he had left them free\nto have their wives, and live with them, according to the very testimony\nof Paul: \u201cHave we not the power to lead about with us a wife and sister,\nas well as the rest of the apostles and brethren of the Lord, and\nCephas\u201d (Cor. ix: 55); they saw, by their Gospel, that the doctrine of\ncelibacy of the priests was not brought from heaven by Christ, but had\nbeen forged in darkness, to add to the miseries of man. They read and\nread over again these words of Christ:\n\n\u201cIf you continue in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed.\n\n\u201cYou shall know the truth, and it shall make you free.\n\n\u201cIf, therefore, the son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed\u201d\n(John viii: 31, 32, 36).\n\nAnd those promises of liberty, which Christ gave to those who read and\nfollowed His Word, made their hearts leap with joy. They fell upon their\nminds as music from heaven. They also soon found, by themselves, that\nevery time the disciples of Christ had asked Him who would be the first\nruler, or the pope, in His church, he had always solemnly and positively\nsaid that, in His church, nobody would ever become the first, the ruler\nor the pope.\n\nAnd they began, seriously, to suspect that the great powers of the pope\nand his bishops were nothing but a sacrilegious usurpation. I was not\nlong without seeing that the reading of the Holy Scriptures by my dear\ncountrymen was changing them into other men.\n\nTheir minds were evidently enlarged and raised to higher spheres of\nthought. They were beginning to suspect that the heavy chains which were\nwounding their shoulders were preventing them from making progress in\nwealth, intelligence and liberty, as their more fortunate fellow-men,\ncalled Protestants.\n\nThis was not yet the bright light of the day, but it was the blessed\ndawn.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LII.\n\n\nOn the 20th of May, 1852, I received the following letter from Bishop\nVandeveld:\n\nREV. MR. CHINIQUY.\n\nMY DEAR MR. CHINIQUY:\u2014The Rev. Mr. Courjeault is just returned from\nBourbonnais, where he ought never to have gone back. He has told me of\nhis complete failure and ignominious exit. I bitterly regret having\nallowed him to go there again. But he had so persuaded me that his\ncriminal conduct with his servant girl was ignored by the people, that I\nhad yielded to his request.\n\nI feel that this new attempt, on his part, to impose himself on that\nhonest people, has added to the enormity of his first scandal. I advise\nhim now to go back to France, where he can more easily conceal his shame\nthan in America. But one of the darkest features of that disgusting\naffair is that I am obliged to pay the $500 which the girl asked, in\norder to prevent Mr Courjeault from being dragged before the civil\ntribunal and sent to jail.\n\nThe malice of that priest against you has received its just reward. But\nmy fear is that you have another implacable enemy here in Mr. Lebel,\nwhose power to do evil is greater than Mr. Courjeault\u2019s.\n\nBefore you began your great work of directing the flood of Roman\nCatholic emigration towards this country, to secure it to our holy\nchurch, he was in favor of that glorious scheme, but his jealousy\nagainst you has suddenly changed his mind.\n\nHe has, lately, addressed a letter to the Canadian press, every word of\nwhich is an unmitigated falsehood. Of course, the Bishop of Montreal,\nwho is more than ever opposed to our colonization plan, has published\nthat lying letter in his journal; more than that, he has reproduced the\ntestimony of a perjured man, who swears that many of the people of\nIllinois are bitten and killed by the rattlesnakes, and those who escape\nare taxed six cents for each pane of glass of their windows.\n\nWill you be discouraged by this opposition? I hope not. This opposition\nis the greatest evidence we could have that our scheme is from God, and\nthat He will support you. I am tempted to interdict Mr. Lebel, and send\nhim back to Canada, for writing things which he so well knows to be\nfalse. The want of a French-speaking priest for your countrymen of\nChicago is the only thing which has prevented me from withdrawing his\nfaculties. But I have warned him that if he writes any more against the\ntruth, I will punish him as he deserves.\n\nFor you, my dear sir, I will address to you the very words which God\nHimself addressed to His servant, Joshua: \u201cBe strong, and of good\ncourage; for unto this people shalt thou divide, for an inheritance, the\nland which I swear unto their fathers to give them\u201d (Joshua 1: 6).\n\n1 agree with what you wrote me in your last letter, that the charge I\nhave given you of Bourbonnais, pro tempore, will seriously interfere\nwith your other numberless duties towards your dear emigrants. But there\nis no help; the only thing I can promise, is to relieve you as soon as\npossible. I have no other priest to whom I can trust the interesting\nmission of Bourbonnais. For Father Huick is too old and infirm for such\na work. It is evidently the will of God that you should extend your\nlabors over the first limits you had fixed. Be faithful to the end, and\nthe Lord will be with you, and support you throughout all your labors\nand tribulations.\n\n Truly Yours,\n\n \u2720 OLIV VANDEVELD,\n\n _Bishop of Chicago_.\n\nDuring the next six months, more than 500 families from France, Belgium\nand Canada came and gave to our colony a life, power and prosperity\nimpossible for me to depict. The joy I felt at this unforeseen success\nwas much diminished, however, by the sudden news that Mr. Courjeault had\ncome back from France, where he spent only one month.\n\nNot daring to visit Bourbonnais again, he was lurking on the frontiers\nof Indiana, only a few miles distant, evidently with some sinister\nintention.\n\nDriven to a state of madness by his jealousy and hatred, that\nunfortunate man addressed to me, on the 23d of January, 1853, the most\nabusive letter I ever received, and ended it by telling me that the fine\n(though unfinished) church of Bourbonnais, which he had built, was to be\nburned, and that my life would be in danger if I remained at the head of\nthat mission.\n\nI immediately sent that letter to the bishop, asking his advice. In his\nanswer he told me that he thought that Mr. Courjeault was wicked enough\nto fulfill his threats. He added: \u201cThough I have not yet clear evidence\nof it, it is my fear that Mr. Lebel is united with Mr. Courjeault in the\ndiabolical plot of burning your church of Bourbonnais. Several people\nhave reported to me that he says that your presence there will be the\nruin of that people, and the destruction of their church. Oh! to what\nextremities bad priests can go, when once they have given themselves to\ntheir unbridled passions! The first thing I would advise you, my dear\nMr. Chiniquy, in the presence of such a terrible calamity, is to insure\nthat church without delay. I have tried to do it here, but they have\nrefused, under the pretext that it is an unfinished, frame building, and\nthere are too many dangers of fire when people are still working at it.\n\n\u201cMy impression is that Mr. Lebel is on intimate terms with some\ninsurance gentlemen, and has frightened them by speaking of that rumor\nof danger, of which he is probably the father, with that miserable\nCourjeault. Perhaps you may have a better chance, by addressing yourself\nto some insurance company which you might find at Joliet or at\nSpringfield.\u201d\n\nAfter vain efforts to insure the church, I wrote to the bishop: \u201cThe\nonly way to escape the impending danger is to finish the church at once,\nand insure it after. I have just made a collection of $400 among the\npeople of Bourbonnais, to which I added $300 from my own private\nresources, and will go to work immediately if your lordship has no\nobjections.\u201d\n\nHaving got the approbation of my superior, on the 1st of March I began\nto put the last hand to that building.\n\nWe worked almost day and night, till the 1st of May, when it was all\nfinished. I dare affirm, that for a country place, that church was\nunsurpassed in beauty. The inside frame-work was all made of the\nsplendid black oak of Bourbonnais, polished and varnished by most\nskillful men, and it looked like a mirror. Very seldom have I seen\nanything more grand and beautiful than the altar, made also of that\nprecious black oak. It was late at night when, with my fellow-laborers,\ncovered with dust and sweat, we could say with joy the solemn words, \u201cIt\nis finished!\u201d Afterwards we sung the Te Deum.\n\nHad I had any opportunity, at that late hour, it was my thought and\ndesire to insure it. But I was forced to postpone this till the next\nMonday.\n\nThe next day (the first Sabbath of May, 1853), the sun seemed to come\nout from the horizon and rise above our heads with more than usual\nmagnificence.\n\nThe air was calm and pure, and the numberless spring flowers of our\ngardens mingling their perfumes with the fragrant leaves of the splendid\nforest at the front of the village, the balmy atmosphere, the songs of\nthe birds, seemed to tell us that this Sabbath day was to be the most\nhappy one for me and my dear people of Bourbonnais. The church had never\nbeen so crowded. The hymns we sung had never been so melodious, and the\nwords of gratitude which I addressed to my God, when I thanked him for\nthe church he had given us, in which to adore and bless him, had never\nbeen so sincere and earnest: never had our tears of joy flowed so\nprofusely as on that splendid and never-to-be-forgotten Sabbath.\n\nAlas! who would suspect that, six hours later, the same people, gathered\naround the smoking ruins of their church, would rend the air with their\ncries of desolation! Such, however, was the case.\n\nWhile taking my dinner, after the public service, two little boys, who\nhad remained in the church to wait for the hour of the Catechism, ran to\nthe parsonage, crying: \u201cFire! Fire!! Fire!!!\u201d\n\nBare-headed, and half-paralyzed with the idea that my church was on\nfire, I went out to see the awful reality. A girdle of smoke and fire\nwas already issuing from almost every part, between the top of the\nwooden walls and the roof.\n\nI had rushed to the church with a pail of water in my hand. But it was\ntoo late to make any use of it; the flames were already running and\nleaping with a fearful rapidity over the fresh varnish, like a long\ntrain of powder. In less than two hours all was finished again.\n\nNo doubt could remain in our minds. This was the work of an incendiary,\nfor there was no fire in the church after the service. Many strangers\nwho had come from a distance, had gone through the whole nave and the\nupper galleries, to have a better sight of the whole building, and two\nof them had been seen by the little boys, remaining ten or fifteen\nminutes alone; they had gone back to some of the houses of the village\nwithout being remarked by anybody, for it was dinner time, and there was\nnobody to watch them.\n\nThough stunned by that awful calamity, the noble-hearted people of\nBourbonnais did not lose their minds. Seeing that they were all gathered\naround the smoking ruins, at about six P. M., I addressed to them a few\nwords to support their courage. I told them that it was only in the\nmidst of great trials and difficulties that men could show their noblest\nqualities, and their true manhood; that if we were true men, instead of\nlosing our time in shedding tears and rending the air with our cries of\ndesolation, we would immediately put our hands to the work, and begin\nthe very next day to raise up, not a frame building, which the flames\ncould turn into ashes in a few minutes, and which the storm could blow\ndown over our heads, but a stone church, which would stand before God\nand man as an imperishable monument of their faith, indomitable courage\nand liberality. We immediately started a subscription, to erect, without\ndelay, a stone church. In less than one hour, $4,000 in money, and more\nthan $5,000 in time, timber and stone and other material, were\nsubscribed, every cent of which has been faithfully given for the\nerection of that fine stone church of Bourbonnais.\n\nThe next Thursday, Bishop Vandeveld came from Chicago to confer with me\nabout what could be done to repair that terrible loss, and to inquire\nconfidentially of me as to the author of that fire. All the facts we\ngathered pointed to the same direction. It was evident that the\nmiserable Courjeault, with Lebel, the French Canadian priest of Chicago,\nhad done that evil work through their emissaries. No doubt of this\nremained in my mind when I learned that soon after, Mr. Courjeault had\nthrown himself into one of those dark dungeons called a monastery of La\nTrappe, which Satan has built on earth as a preparation for the dark\nhereafter of the wicked.\n\nThe unexpected visit of the bishop, had, at first, rejoiced me, by the\nhope that he would bring me words of encouragement.\n\nBut what was my disappointment, when he said to me:\n\n\u201cMy dear Mr. Chiniquy, I must reveal to you a thing that I have not yet\nmade known to anyone. It is confidential, and I request you not to say a\nword before it is accomplished. I can not remain any longer Bishop of\nIllinois! No! I cannot any longer assume the responsibilities of such a\nhigh position, because it is beyond my power to fulfill my duties and do\nwhat the church requires of me. The conduct of the priests of this\ndiocese is such, that, should I follow the regulations of the canon, I\nwould be forced to interdict all my priests with the exception of you\nand two or three others.\n\n\u201cThey are all either notorious drunkards, or given to public or secret\nconcubinage; several of them have children by their own nieces, and two\nby their own sisters. I do not think that ten of them believe in God.\nReligion is nothing to them but a well-paying comedy. Where can I find a\nremedy for such a general evil? Can I punish one of them and leave the\nothers free in their abominable doings, when they are almost all equally\nguilty? Would not the general interdiction of these priests be the death\nblow to our church in Illinois? Besides, how can I punish them, when I\nknow that many of them are ready to poison me the very moment I raise a\nfinger against them. I suppose that you do not ignore the fact that my\npoor predecessor was poisoned by one of those priests who had seduced\nseveral nuns, when he was in the very act of investigating the matter.\n\n\u201cI intend to go to Rome, as soon as I receive my permit from the pope,\nto renounce at his feet the Bishopric of Chicago, which I will not keep\non any consideration.\n\n\u201cIf the pope does not give me another diocese, with a better set of\npriests, I prefer to spend the rest of my life at the head of a small\ncongregation, where I shall not have, on my shoulders, the awful\nresponsibility which is killing me here. The last horrible deeds of\nCourjeault and Lebel, of which you are the victim to-day, has filled the\nbitter cup which God has put to my lips to drink. It is overflowing. I\ncannot any longer endure it.\u201d\n\nWhen speaking so, the bishop\u2019s face was bathed with tears. It was very\nlate\u2014too late, indeed, to make the remonstrances which came to my mind,\nin order to change his resolutions.\n\nI determined to wait till the next morning, when I should have plenty of\ntime, I hoped, to expel his dark thoughts, and give him more courage.\nBesides, I was, myself, so discouraged by those awful disclosures, that\nI was in need of mental as well as bodily rest. But, alas! the next day\nwas to be one of the darkest of my priestly life!\n\nWhen the hour for breakfast came the next morning, I went to awaken the\nbishop. What was my dismay, when I found him drunk!\n\nBefore going to bed, he had secretly asked my housekeeper to give him\nthe bottle of wine which I used to celebrate mass. It was a large\nbottle, containing nearly a quart of wine, which would last me at least\nsix months. The whole of which he had drank during the night!\n\nI had been told that Bishop Vandeveld (as well as the greater number of\nthe Bishops of the United States) was a drunkard, but I had never\nbelieved it. He always drank very moderately, before me, any time I sat\nat his table, or he at mine. It appears that it was at night, when\nnobody could see him, that he gave himself up to that detestable habit.\nHis room was filled with the odor of what he had vomited, after drinking\nsuch an enormous quantity of wine. He left the room, only at noon, after\nthe fumes of the wine had almost entirely disappeared, and requested the\nhousekeeper to cleanse it herself, without letting the servants know\nanything of the occurrence of the night.\n\nBut words would fail to express my consternation and the discouragement\nI felt. I had formed such a good and exalted opinion of that man! I had\nfound in him such noble qualities! His intelligence was so bright, his\nlearning so extensive, his heart so large, his plans so grand, his piety\nso sincere, his charity so worthy of a Bishop of Christ!\n\nIt was so pleasant for me to know, till then, that I was honored with\nthe full confidence of a bishop who, it seemed to me, had not a superior\nin our church!\n\nThe destruction of my dear church by the hands of incendiaries was\nsurely a great calamity for me; but the fall of my bishop, from the high\nposition he had in my heart and mind, was still greater.\n\nI had the means, in hand, to rebuild that church; but my confidence in\nmy bishop was irremediably, and forever lost! Never had a son loved his\nfather more sincerely, than I had loved him; and never had any priest\nfelt a more sincere respect for his bishop, than I for him! Oh! what a\nterrible wound was made in my heart that day! what tortures I felt!\n\nBut how many times, since, I have blessed my God for these wounds!\nWithout them, I should never have known, that instead of being in the\nbosom of the Immaculate Church of Christ, I was the slave of that great\nBabylon, which poisons the nations with the wine of her abominations.\n\nMy love and respect for Bishop Vandeveld, were very strong chains, by\nwhich I was bound to the feet of the idols of Rome. I will earnestly\nbless God for having himself broken these chains, on that day of supreme\ndesolation.\n\nThe remaining part of the day, as well as the hour of the next morning\nwhich the bishop spent in my house, I remained almost mute in his\npresence. He was not less embarrassed when he asked me my view about his\nproject of leaving the diocese. I answered him, in a few words, that I\ncould not disapprove the purpose; for I would, myself, prefer to live in\na dark forest, in the midst of wild animals, than among drunken, atheist\npriests and bishops.\n\nSome months later, I learned, without regret, that the Pope had accepted\nhis resignation of the Bishopric of Chicago, and appointed him Bishop of\nNatchez, in Louisiana. His successor to the Bishopric of Chicago, was\nRev. O\u2019Regan.\n\nOne of the very first things which this new bishop did, was to bring\nBishop Vandeveld before the criminal tribunals, as a thief, accusing him\nof having stolen $100,000 from the Bishopric of Chicago, and carrying\nthem away with him. There is no need to say, that this action caused a\nterrible scandal. Not only in Illinois, but through all the United\nStates, both priests and laymen had to blush, and cast down their eyes\nbefore the world. The two bishops, employing the best lawyers to fight\neach other, came very near proving to the world that both of them were\nequally swindlers and thieves; when the Pope forced them both to stop\ntheir contestation, and bring the affair before his tribunal, at Rome.\nThere, it was decided that the $100,000, which had really been taken\nfrom Chicago to the Natchez diocese, should be equally divided between\nthe two bishops.\n\nHow many times did I feel my soul brought to the dust, in the midst of\nthose horrible scandals! How many sleepless nights have I spent, when a\nvoice, which I could not silence, seemed crying to me, louder than\nthunder:\n\n\u201cWhat are you doing here, extending the power of a church, which is a\nden of thieves, drunkards, and impure atheists? A church, governed by\nmen whom you know to be godless, swindlers, and vile comedians? Do you\nnot see that you do not follow the Word of God, but the lying traditions\nof men, when you consent to bow your knees before such men? Is it not\nblasphemy to call such men the ambassadors, and the disciples of the\nhumble, pure, holy, peaceful, and divine Jesus? Come out of that church!\nBreak the fetters, by which you are bound, as a vile slave, to the feet\nof such men! Take the Gospel for thine only guide, and Christ for thine\nonly Ruler!\u201d\n\nI was in desolation, at finding that my faith in my church was, in spite\nof myself, shaken by these scandals. With burning tears rolling down my\ncheeks, and with a broken, and humiliated heart, I fell, one night, on\nmy knees, and asked my God to have mercy upon me, by strengthening my\nfaith and preserving it from ruin. But it seemed that neither my tears\nnor my cries were of any avail, and I remained the whole night, as a\nship struck by a hurricane, drifting on an unknown sea, without a\ncompass or a rudder.\n\nI was not aware of it then, but I learned it after, that the divine and\nsure Pilot was directing my course towards the port of salvation!\n\nThe next day, I had a happy diversion, in the arrival of fifty new\nemigrants, who knocked at my door, asking my advice about the best place\nto select for their future home.\n\nIt seemed to me, though pretty long after that, that my duty was to go\nand pay my respects to my new bishop, and open to him my heart as to my\nbest friend, and the guide whom God Himself had chosen to heal the\nwounds of my soul, by pouring the oil and wine of charity into them.\n\nI will never forget the day (the 11th day of December, 1854) when I saw\nBishop O\u2019Regan, for the first time, nor the painful impressions I\nreceived from that first interview.\n\nHe was of medium stature, with a repugnant face, and his head always in\nmotion: all its motions seemed the expression of insolence, contempt,\ntyranny, and pride; there was absolutely nothing pleasant, either in his\nwords, or in his manners. I fell on my knees to ask his benediction,\nwhen I had given him my name and kissed his hand, which seemed as cold\nas that of a corpse.\n\n\u201cAh! ah! you are Father Chiniquy,\u201d he said, \u201cI am glad to see you,\nthough you have deferred your visit a long time; please sit down, I want\nsome explanation from you about a certain very strange document, which I\nhave just read to-day;\u201d and he went, at the double quick, to his room to\nget the document. There were two Irish priests in the room, who came a\nfew minutes before me. When we were alone, one of them said: \u201cWe had\nhoped that we would gain by changing Bishop Vandeveld, for this one. But\nmy fear is that we have only passed from Charybdis to Scylla,\u201d and they\nlaughed outright. But I could not laugh. I was more inclined to weep.\nAfter less than ten minutes of absence, the bishop returned, holding in\nhis hand a paper, which I understood, at once, to be the deed of the\neleven acres of land, which I had bought, and on which I had built my\nchapel of St. Anne.\n\n\u201cDo you known this paper?\u201d he asked me in an angry manner.\n\n\u201cYes, my lord, I know it,\u201d I answered.\n\n\u201cBut, then,\u201d he quickly replied, \u201cyou must know that that title is a\nnullity; a fraud, which you ought never to have signed.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour venerable and worthy predecessor has accepted it,\u201d I answered,\n\u201cand what might have been incorrect has been made valid, I hope, by his\nacceptation.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not care a straw about what my predecessor has done,\u201d he abruptly\nanswered, \u201che is not here to defend himself; neither are we here to\ndiscuss his merits or demerits. We have not to deal with my lord\nVandeveld, but with a document which is a nullity, a deception, which\nmust be thrown into the fire; you must give me another title of that\nproperty!\u201d\n\nAnd saying this, he flung my deed on the floor. I calmly picked it up,\nand said:\n\n\u201cI exceedingly regret, my lord, that my first interview with your\nlordship should be the occasion of such an unexpected act. But I hope\nthis will not destroy the paternal sentiments which God must have put\ninto the heart of my bishop, for the last and least of his priests. I\nsee that your lordship is very busy; I do not want to trespass on your\nvaluable time; I take this rejected document with me, to make another\none, which I hope will be more agreeable to your views;\u201d and I then took\nmy departure.\n\nI leave the reader to imagine the sentiments which filled my mind when\ncoming back to my colony.\n\nI did not dare to say a word to my people about our bishop. When\nquestioned by them, I gave the most evasive answers I could. But I felt\nas the mariner feels when he hears the rumbling thunder approaching.\nThough the sea is calm as the oil of a lamp, he knows the storm is\ncoming, he trims his sails, and prepares for the impending hurricane.\n\nIt seemed that my most pressing duty, after my first interview, was to\nbring my heart nearer to my God than ever; to read and study my Bible\nwith more attention, and to get my people to take more than ever the\nWord of God as their daily bread. I began, also, to speak more openly of\nour Christian rights, as well as of our duties, as these are set forth\nin the Gospel of Christ.\n\nSome time, before this, feeling more than ever that I could not do\njustice to my colony, by keeping any longer the charge of Bourbonnais, I\nhad respectfully sent my resignation to the bishop, which had been\naccepted. A priest had been called by him to take my place there. But he\ntoo was ere long, guilty of a public scandal with his servant girl. The\nprincipal citizens of Bourbonnais protested against his presence in\ntheir midst, and soon forced the bishop to dismiss him. His successor\nwas the miserable priest, Lebel, who had been turned out of Chicago for\na criminal offence with his own niece, and was now to be the curate of\nBourbonnais. But his drunkenness and other public vices, caused him to\nbe interdicted, and expelled from that place, in the month of September,\n1855. About the same time, a priest, who had been expelled from Belgium,\nfor a great scandal, was sent to Kankakee, as the curate of the French\nCanadians of that interesting young city. After his expulsion from\nBelgium, he had come to Chicago, where, under another name, he had made\na fortune, and for five or six years kept a house of prostitution.\nBecoming tired of that occupation, he offered $5,000 to the bishop, if\nhe would accept him as one of his priests, and give him a parish. Bishop\nO\u2019Regan being in need of money, accepted the gift, and fulfilled the\ncondition by sending him as missionary to Kankakee.\n\nAs soon as he had taken possession of that interesting mission, he came\nwith Mr. Lebel to pay me a visit. I received them as politely as\npossible, though they were both half drunk when they arrived. After\ndinner, they went to shoot prairie chickens, and got so drunk that one\nof them, Mr. Lebel, lost his boots in a slough, and came back to my\nhouse barefooted, without noticing his loss. I had to help them get\ntheir carriage, and the next day I wrote them, forbidding them to ever\nset a foot in my house again.\n\nBut what was my surprise and sadness, not long before these two infamous\npriests were ignominiously turned out by their people, to receive a\nletter from my bishop, which ended in these words:\n\n\u201cI am sorry to hear that you refuse to live on good terms with your two\nneighboring brother priests. This ought not to be, and I hope to hear\nsoon, that you have reconciled yourself with them, in a friendly way, as\nyou ought to have done long ago.\u201d\n\nI answered him:\n\n\u201cIt is my interest, as well as my duty, to obey my bishop. I know it.\nBut as long as my bishop gives me for neighbors, priests, one of whom\nhas lived publicly with his own niece, as his wife, and the other who\nhas kept a house of prostitution in Chicago, I respectfully ask my\nbishop to be excused for not visiting them.\u201d\n\nThe bishop felt insulted by my letter, and was furious against me. It\ncame to be a public fact that he had said before many people: \u201cI would\ngive anything to the one who would help me to get rid of that\nunmanageable Chiniquy.\u201d\n\nAmong those who heard the bishop, was a land speculator, a real\nland-shark, against whom a bill for perjury had been found by the jury\nof Iroquois county, the 27th of April, 1854. That man was very angry\nagainst me for protecting my poor countrymen against his too sharp\nspeculations. He said to the bishop, \u201cif you pay the expenses of the\nsuit, I pledge myself to have Chiniquy put in gaol.\u201d The bishop had\npublicly answered him:\n\n\u201cNo sum of money will be too great to be delivered from a priest, who\nalone gives me more trouble than the rest of my clergy.\u201d\n\nTo comply with the desires of the bishop, this speculator dragged me\nbefore the criminal court of Kankakee, on the 16th day of May, 1855, but\nhe lost his action, and was condemned to pay the cost.\n\nIt was my impression that the bishop, having so often expressed in\npublic his bad feelings against me, would not visit my colony. But, I\nwas mistaken, on the 11th of June, taking the Rev. Mr. Lebel and\nCarthuval for his companions, he came to St. Anne to administer the\nsacrament of confirmation.\n\nAs the infamous conduct of those two priests was known to every one of\nmy people, I felt a supreme disgust at their arrival, and came very near\nforbidding them to sit at my table. Having, however, asked the bishop to\ngive me half-an-hour of private interview, I respectfully, but\nenergetically protested against the presence of these two degraded men\nin my house.\n\nHe coldly answered me:\n\n\u201cMr. Chiniquy, you forget that I am the Bishop of Illinois, and that you\nare a simple priest, whom I can interdict and remove from here when I\nlike. I do not come here to receive your lessons, but to intimate to you\nmy orders. You seem to forget that charity is above all others the\nvirtue which must adorn the soul of a good priest. Your great zeal is\nnothing before God, and it is less than nothing before me, so long as\nyou have not charity. It is my business, and not yours, to know what\npriests I must employ or reject. Your business is to respect them, and\nforget their past errors, the very day I see fit to receive them among\nmy priests.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d I answered, \u201callow me respectfully to tell you, that though\nyou are a bishop, and I am a simple priest, the Gospel of Christ, which\nwe have to preach, tells us to avoid the company of publicly vicious and\nprofligate men. My conscience tells me that through respect for myself,\nand my people, and through respect for the Gospel I preach, I must avoid\nthe company of men, one of whom has lived with his niece as his wife,\nand the other has, till very lately, been guilty of keeping a house of\nprostitution in Chicago. Your lordship may ignore these things, and, in\nconsequence of that, may give his confidence to these men; but nothing\nis more apt to destroy the faith of our French Canadian people, than to\nsee such men in your company when you come to administer the sacrament\nof confirmation. It is through respect for your lordship, that I take\nthe liberty of speaking thus.\u201d\n\nHe angrily answered me:\n\n\u201cI see, now, the truthfulness of what people say about you. It is to the\nGospel you constantly appeal on everything. The Gospel! The Gospel! is\nsurely a holy book; but remember that it is the _church_ which must\nguide you. Christ has said: \u2018Hear my church.\u2019 I am here the interpreter,\nambassador\u2014the representative of the church\u2014when you disobey me, it is\nthe church you disobey.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow, my lord, that I have fulfilled what I consider a conscientious\nduty, I promise, that through respect for your lordship, and to keep\nmyself in the bonds of peace with my bishop, I, to-day, will deal with\nthese two priests, as if they were worthy of the honorable position you\ngive them.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll right! all right!\u201d replied the bishop. \u201cBut it must be near the\nhour for dinner.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my lord, I have just heard the bell calling us to the\ndining-room.\u201d\n\nAfter the blessing of the table by the bishop he looked at the Rev.\nCarthuval, who was sitting just before him, and said:\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter with you, Mr. Carthuval, you do not look well?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, my lord,\u201d he answered, \u201cI am not well, I want to go to bed.\u201d\n\nHe was correct, he was not well, for he was drunk.\n\nDuring the public services, he had left the chapel to come down to ask\nfor a bottle of the wine I kept to celebrate mass. The housekeeper,\nthinking he wanted the wine in the chapel, handed him the bottle, which\nhe drank in her presence, in less than five minutes. After which he went\nup the chapel to help the bishop in administering the confirmation to\nthe 150 people whom I had prepared for the reception of that rite.\n\nAs soon as dinner was finished, the bishop requested me to go and take a\nwalk with him. After giving me some compliments, on the beauty of the\nsite I had chosen for my first village and chapel, he saw at a short\ndistance, a stone building, which was raised only a little above the\nwindows, and directing his steps towards it, he stopped only twenty or\nthirty feet distant and asked me:\n\n\u201cWhose house is this?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is mine, my lord.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is yours!\u201d he replied, \u201cand to whom does that fine garden belong?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is mine, also, my lord.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! Well!\u201d he rejoined. \u201cWhere did you get the money to purchase that\nfine piece of land, and build that house?\u201d\n\n\u201cI got the money where every honest man gets what he possesses, in my\nhard labor, and in the sweat of my brow,\u201d I replied.\n\n\u201cI want that house and that piece of land!\u201d rejoined the bishop, with an\nimperative voice.\n\n\u201cSo do I,\u201d I replied.\n\n\u201cYou must give me that house, with the land on which it is built,\u201d said\nthe bishop.\n\n\u201cI can not give them as long as I am in need of them, my lord,\u201d I\nreplied.\n\n\u201cI see that you are a bad priest, as I have often been told, since you\ndisobey your bishop,\u201d he rejoined with an angry manner!\n\nI replied: \u201cI do not see why I am a bad priest, because I keep what my\nGod has given me.\u201d\n\n\u201cAre you ignorant of the fact that you have no right to possess any\nproperty,\u201d he answered.\n\n\u201cYes! my lord, I am ignorant of any law in our holy church that deprives\nme of any such rights. If, however, your lordship can show me any such\nlaw, I will give you the title of that property just now.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf there is not such a law,\u201d he replied, stamping on the ground with\nhis feet, \u201cI will get one passed.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d I replied, \u201cYou are a great bishop. You have great power in\nthe church, but allow me to tell you that you are not great enough to\nhave such a law passed, in our holy church!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are an insolent priest,\u201d he answered with an accent of terrible\nanger, \u201cand I will make you repent for your insolence.\u201d\n\nHe then turned his face towards the chapel, without waiting for my\nanswer, and ordered the horses put in the carriage, that he might leave\nin the shortest possible time.\n\nA quarter of an hour later, he had left St. Anne, where he was never to\ncome again.\n\nThe visit of that mitred thief, with his two profligate priests, though\nvery short, did much by the mercy of God, to prepare our minds to\nunderstand that Rome is the =great= harlot of the Bible, which seduces\nand intoxicates the nations with the wine of her prostitution.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LIII.\n\n THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY.\n\n\nThe 8th December, 1854, Pope Pius IX. was sitting on his throne; a\ntriple crown of gold and diamonds was on his head; silk and damask\u2014red\nand white vestments on his shoulders; five hundred mitred prelates were\nsurrounding him; and more than fifty thousand people were at his feet,\nin the incomparable St. Peter\u2019s Church of Rome.\n\nAfter a few minutes of most solemn silence, a Cardinal, dressed with his\npurpled robe, left his seat, and gravely walked towards the Pope,\nkneeled before him, and humbly prostrating himself, at his feet said:\n\n\u201cHoly Father: tell us if we can believe and teach that the Mother of\nGod, the Holy Virgin Mary, was immaculate in her conception?\u201d\n\nThe Supreme Pontiff answered. \u201cI do not know; let us ask the light of\nthe Holy Ghost.\u201d\n\nThe Cardinal withdrew; the Pope and the numberless multitude fell on\ntheir knees; and the harmonious choir sang the \u201cVeni Creator Spiritus.\u201d\n\nThe last note of the sacred hymn had hardly rolled under the vaults of\nthe Temple, when the same Cardinal left his place, and again advanced\ntowards the throne of the Pontiff, prostrated himself at his feet, and\nsaid:\n\n\u201cHoly Father, tell us if the Holy Mother of God, the blessed Virgin\nMary, was immaculate in her conception.\u201d\n\nThe Pope again answered: \u201cI do not know; let us ask the light of the\nHoly Ghost.\u201d\n\nAnd, again, the \u201cVeni Creator Spiritus\u201d was sung.\n\nThe most solemn silence had, a second time, succeeded to the melodious\nsacred song, when again the eyes of the multitude were following the\ngrave steps of the purple-robed Cardinal, advancing, for the third time,\nto the throne of the successor of St. Peter, to ask again:\n\n\u201cHoly Father, tell us if we can believe that the blessed Virgin Mary,\nthe Mother of God, was immaculate?\u201d\n\nThe Pope, as if he had just received a direct communication from God,\nanswered with a solemn voice:\n\n\u201cYes! we must believe that the blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God,\nwas immaculate in her conception. * * * There is no salvation to those\nwho do not believe this dogma!\u201d\n\nAnd, with a loud voice, the Pope intoned the Te Deum; the bells of three\nhundred churches of Rome rang; the cannons of the citadel were fired.\nThe last act of the most ridiculous and sacrilegious comedy the world\nhas ever seen, was over; the doors of heaven were, for ever, shut\nagainst those who would refuse to believe the anti-scriptural doctrine\nthat there is a daughter of Eve who has not inherited the sinful nature\nof Adam, to whom the Lord said in his justice:\n\n\u201cDust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return!\u201d and of the children of\nwhom the God of truth has said:\n\n\u201c'There is none righteous; no, not one; they have all sinned!'\u201d\n\nWe look in vain to the first centuries of the Church to find any traces\nof that human aberration. The first dark clouds which Satan had brought\nto mar the gospel truth, on that subject, appeared only between the\neighth and ninth centuries. But, in the beginning, that error made very\nslow progress; those who propagated it, at first, were a few ignorant\nfanatics, whose names are lost in the night of the dark ages.\n\nIt is only in the twelfth century that it began to be openly preached by\nsome brainless monks. But, then, it was opposed by the most learned men\nof the time. We have a very remarkable letter of St. Bernard to refute\nsome monks of Lyons who were preaching this new doctrine.\n\nA little later, Peter Lombard adopted the views of the monks of Lyons,\nand wrote a book to support that opinion; but he was refuted by St.\nThomas Aquinas, who is justly considered, by the Church of Rome, as the\nbest theologian of that time.\n\nAfter that, the celebrated order of the Franciscans used all their\ninfluence to persuade the world that \u201cMary was immaculate in her\nconception,\u201d but they were vigorously opposed and refuted by the not\nless celebrated order of the Dominicans. These two learned and powerful\nbodies, during more than a century, attacked each other without mercy on\nthat subject, and filled the world with the noise of their angry\ndisputes, both parties calling their adversaries heretics. They\nsucceeded in driving the Roman Catholics of Europe into two camps of\nfierce enemies. The \u201cImmaculate Conception\u201d became the subject of\nburning discussions, not only between the learned universities, between\nthe bishops and the priests and the nuns of those days; but it divided\nthe families into two fiercely contending parties. It was discussed,\nattacked and defended, not only in the chairs of universities, and the\npulpits of the cathedrals, but also in the fields, and in the very\nstreets of the cities. And when the two parties had exhausted the\nreasons which their ingenuity, their learning, or their ignorant\nfanaticism could suggest to prove or deny the \u201cImmaculate Conception,\u201d\nthey often had recourse to the stick and to the sword to sustain their\narguments.\n\nIt will appear almost incredible to-day, but it is a fact, that the\ngreatest number of the large cities of Europe, particularly in Spain,\nwere then reddened with the blood of the supporters and opponents of\nthat doctrine. In order to put an end to these contests, which were\ntroubling the peace of their subjects, the kings of Europe sent\ndeputation after deputation to the Popes to know, from their infallible\nauthority, what to believe on the subject.\n\nPhilip III. and Philip IV. made what we may call supreme efforts to\nforce the Popes, Paul V., Gregory XV., and Alexander VII., to stop the\nshedding of blood, and disarm the combatants, by raising the opinion in\nfavor of the Immaculate Conception to the dignity of a Catholic dogma.\nBut they failed. The only answer they could get from the infallible head\nof the Church of Rome was, that \u201cthat dogma was not revealed in the Holy\nScriptures, had never been taught by the Apostles, nor by the Fathers,\nand had never been believed or preached by the Church of Rome as an\narticle of faith!\u201d\n\nThe only thing the Popes could do to please the supplicant kings and\nbishops, and nations of Europe in those days, was to _forbid_ both\nparties to call each other _heretics_: and to _forbid_ to say that it\nwas an article of faith which ought to be believed to be saved.\n\nAt the Council of Trent, the Franciscans, and all the partisans of the\n\u201cImmaculate Conception,\u201d gathered her strength to have a decree in favor\nof the new dogma; but the majority of the bishops were visibly against\nthat sacrilegious innovation, and they failed.\n\nIt was reserved to the unfortunate Pius IX., to drag the Church of Rome\nto that last limit of human folly. In the last century, a monk, called\nFather Leonard, had a dream, in which he heard the Virgin Mary telling\nhim: \u201cThere would be an end to the wars in the world, and to the\nheresies and schism in the church, only after a Pope should have\nobliged, by a decree, all the faithful to believe that she was\n'immaculate in her conception.\u2019\u201d\n\nThat dream, under the name of a \u201ccelestial vision,\u201d had been extensively\ncirculated, by means of little tracts. Many believed it to be a genuine\nrevelation from heaven; and, unfortunately, the good natured, but\nweak-minded Pius IX., was among the number.\n\nWhen he was an exile in Gaeta, he had, himself, a dream, which he took\nfor a vision, on the same subject. He saw the Virgin, who told him that\nhe should come back to Rome, and get an eternal peace for the church,\nonly after he should have promised to declare that the \u201cImmaculate\nConception\u201d was a dogma, which every one had to believe to be saved. He\nawoke from his dream much impressed by it; and the first thing he did\nwhen up, was to make a vow to promulgate the new dogma as soon as he\nshould be back to Rome, and the world has seen how he has fulfilled that\nvow.\n\nBut, by the promulgation of this new dogma, Pius IX., far from securing\nan eternal peace to his church, far from destroying what he was pleased\nto call the heresies which are attacking Rome on every side, has done\nmore to shake the faith of the Roman Catholics than all their enemies.\n\nBy trying to force this new article of faith on the consciences of his\npeople, in a time that so many can judge for themselves, and read the\nrecords of past generations, he has pulled down the strongest column\nwhich was supporting the whole fabric of his church; he forever\ndestroyed the best arguments which the priests had to offer to the\nignorant, deluded multitudes which they kept so abjectly tied to their\nfeet.\n\nNo words can sufficiently express the dignified and supreme contempt\nwith which, before that epoch, the priests of Rome were speaking of the\n\u201cnew articles of faith, the novelties of the arch-heretics, Luther,\nCalvin, Knox, &c., &c!\u201d How eloquent were the priests of Rome, before\nthe 8th of December, 1854, when saying to their poor ignorant dupes: \u201cIn\nour holy Church of Rome there is no change, no innovations, no\nnovelties, no new dogmas. We believe to-day just what our fathers\nbelieved, and what they have taught us; we belong to the apostolical\nchurch; which means we believe only what Apostles have believed and\npreached.\u201d And the ignorant multitudes were saying: \u201cAmen!\u201d\n\nBut, alas, for the poor priests of Rome to-day; those dignified\nnonsenses, those precious and dear illusions, are impossible! They have\nto confess that those high-sounding denunciations against what they call\nthe _new_ doctrines of the heretics, were nothing but big guns loaded to\nthe mouth to destroy the Protestants, which are discharging their deadly\nmissiles against the crumbling walls of their Church of Rome. They have\nto confess that their pretensions to an unchangeable creed is all mere\nhumbug, shameful lies; they have to confess that the Church of Rome is\nFORGING NEW DOGMAS, NEW ARTICLES OF FAITH; they do not any longer dare\nto say to the disciples of the Gospel: \u201cWhere was your religion before\nthe days of Luther and Calvin?\u201d for the secret voice of their conscience\nsays to-day to the Roman Catholics: \u201cWhere was your religion before the\n8th of December, 1854?\u201d and they cannot answer.\n\nThere is an inexorable and irresistible logic in the minds even of the\nmost unlearned men, which defies, to-day, all the sophisms of the\npriests of Rome, if they dare to speak again on their pet subjects: \u201cthe\nnovelties and new dogmas of the Protestants.\u201d There is a silent, but\ncrushing voice, going, to-day, from the crowds to the priest, telling\nhim: \u201cNow, be quiet and silent on what you are used to call the\nnovelties and new doctrines of the Protestants! for, are you not\npreaching to us an awful novelty? Are you not damning us to-day for\ndisbelieving a thing which the church, during eighteen hundred years\nhas, a hundred times, solemnly declared, by the mouth of the Popes, had\nnever been revealed in the Holy Scriptures, had never been taught by the\nFathers, had never been heard of by the church herself?\u201d\n\nI will never forget the sadness which overcame me when I received the\norder from Bishop O\u2019Regan to proclaim that new dogma to my people, (then\nall Roman Catholics.) It was as if an earthquake had shaken and\ndestroyed the ground on which my feet were resting. My most cherished\nillusions about the immutability and the infallibility of my church were\ncrumbling down, in my intelligence, in spite of my efforts to keep them\nup. I have seen old priests, to whom I opened my mind on that subject,\nshed tears of sorrow on the injury this new dogma would do to the\nchurch.\n\nThe Archbishop of Paris, at the head of the most learned members of the\nclergy of France, had sent his protest to the Pope against this dogma\nbefore it was decreed; and he had eloquently foretold the deplorable\nconsequences which would follow that innovation; but their warning voice\nfailed to make any impression on the mind of the infatuated Pope.\n\nAnd, we children of God, must we not acknowledge the hand of the Lord,\nin that blindness of \u201cthe man of sin!\u201d\n\nThe days are not far away that a cry of joy will be heard from one end\nof the world to the other: \u201cFear God, and give glory to him! Babylon is\nfallen! Babylon is fallen! because she made all nations drink of the\nwine of the wrath of her fornications.\u201d\n\nFor, when we see that \u201cwicked one, who exalteth himself above all that\nis called God,\u201d destroying himself by the excess of his own folly and\nimpurities, we must bless the Lord.\n\nThe proclamation of this new dogma is one of those great moral\niniquities which carry their punishment and their remedy in their own\nhands.\n\nWhen the Pope, in the morning of the 8th of December, 1854, answered\ntwice: \u201cI do not know;\u201d to the question put to him: \u201cIs the Virgin Mary\nImmaculate in her Conception?\u201d and then, a minute after, to the same\nquestion, he answered: \u201cYes! I know it: the Holy Virgin Mary was\nImmaculate in her Conception;\u201d he proved to his most credulous dupes\nthat he was nothing but a sacrilegious comedian. How would a jury of\nhonest men deal with a witness who, being interrogated about what he\nknows of a certain fact, would answer: \u201cI know nothing about it;\u201d and a\nmoment after would acknowledge that \u201che knows everything about it?\u201d\nWould not such a witness be justly punished as a perjurer?\n\nSuch is the sad and unenviable position which the Pope made to himself\nand to his church, on the 8th of December, 1854. Interrogated by the\nnations of Europe about what was to be believed on the \u201cConception of\nthe Virgin Mary,\u201d the Church of Rome, during ten centuries, had\nanswered: \u201cI do not know.\u201d And let every one remember that she wants to\nbe believed INFALLIBLE when she says she \u201cknows nothing about the\nImmaculate Conception.\u201d\n\nBut, to-day, that same church assures us, through the infallible decree\nof Pius IX., that she knows, and that she has _always_ known and\nbelieved that the Virgin Mary was Immaculate!\n\nHas the world ever seen such a want of self-respect, such an unblushing\nimpudence!\n\nWhat verdict will the Christian world give against that great mother of\nlies? What punishment will the God of truth administer to that great\nculprit who swears \u201cyes\u201d and \u201cno\u201d on the same question?\n\nIt is a fact, that by the promulgation of this decree, Pius IX. had\nforever destroyed his prestige in the minds of millions of his\nfollowers.\n\nA few days after I had read to my congregation the decree of the pope\nproclaiming the new dogma, and damning all those who would not believe\nit, one of my most intelligent and respectable farmers came to visit me,\nand put to me the following questions on the new articles of faith:\n\n\u201cMr. Chiniquy, please tell me, have I correctly understood the letter\nfrom the pope you read us last Sabbath? Does the pope tell us in that\nletter that we can find this new dogma of the \u2018Immaculate Conception\u2019 in\nthe Holy Scriptures; that it has been taught by the Fathers, and that\nthe church has constantly believed it from the days of the Apostles?\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cYes, my friend, the pope tells us all those things in his\nletter which I read in the church last Sabbath.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, sir, will you be so kind as to read me the verses of the Holy\nScriptures which are in favor of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy\nVirgin Mary?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear friend,\u201d I answered,\u201c \u201cNow, please tell me the names of the\nHoly Fathers who have preached that we must believe in the Immaculate\nConception, or be forever damned if we do not believe in it!\u201d\n\nI answered my parishioner: \u201cI would have preferred, my dear friend, that\nyou should have never come to put to me these questions; but as you ask\nme the truth, I must tell you the truth. I have studied the Fathers with\na pretty good attention, but I have not yet found a single one of them\nwho was of that opinion in any way.\u201d\n\n\u201cI hope,\u201d added the good farmer, \u201cyou will excuse me if I put to you\nanother question on this subject. Perhaps you do not know it, but there\nis a great deal of feeling and talking about this new article of faith\namong us since last Sabbath; I want to know a little more about it. The\npope says in his letter that the Church of Rome has always believed and\ntaught that dogma of Immaculate Conception. Is that correct?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my friend, the pope says that in his Encyclical; but these last\nnine hundred years more than one hundred popes have declared that the\nchurch had never believed it. Even several popes have forbidden to say\n\u2018that the Immaculate Conception was an article of faith\u2019\u2014and they\nsolemnly permitted us to believe and say what we please on that matter.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf it be so with this new dogma, how can we know it is not so with the\nother dogmas of our church, as the confession, the purgatory, etc.?\u201d\nadded the farmer.\n\n\u201cMy dear friend, do not allow the devil to shake your faith. We are\nliving in bad days, indeed. Let us pray God to enlighten us and save us.\nI would have given much had you never put to me these questions!\u201d\n\nMy honest parishioner had left me; but his awful questions (they were\nreally awful, as they are still awful for a priest of Rome), and the\nanswers I had been forced to give were sounding in my soul as\nthunder-claps. There was in my poor trembling heart, as the awful noise\nof an irresistible storm which was to destroy all that I had so dearly\ncherished and respected in my then so dear and venerated Church of Rome.\nMy head was aching. I fell on my knees; but for a time I could not utter\na word of prayer; big tears were rolling on my burning cheeks; new light\nwas coming before the eyes of my soul; but I took it for the deceitful\ntemptation of Satan; a voice was speaking to me\u2014it was the voice of my\nGod, telling me, \u201cCome out from Babylon!\u201d But I took that voice for the\nvoice of Satan; I was trying to silence it. The Lord was then drawing me\naway from my perishing ways; but I did not know Him then; I was\nstruggling against Him to remain in the dark dungeons of error. But God\nwas to be the stronger. In His infinite mercy He was to overpower His\nunfaithful servant; He was to conquer me, and with me many others.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LIV\n\n THE ABOMINATIONS OF AURICULAR CONFESSION.\n\n\nThere are two women who ought to be constant objects of the compassion\nof the disciples of Christ, and for whom daily prayers ought to be\noffered at the mercy-seat\u2014the Brahmin woman, who, deceived by her\npriests, burns herself on the corpse of her husband to appease the wrath\nof her wooden gods; and the Roman Catholic woman, who, not less deceived\nby her priests, suffers a torture far more cruel and ignominious in the\nconfessional-box, to appease the wrath of her wafer-god.\n\nFor I do not exaggerate when I say, that for many noble-hearted,\nwell-educated, high-minded women to be forced to unveil their hearts\nbefore the eyes of a man, to open to him all the most secret recesses of\ntheir souls, all the most sacred mysteries of their single or married\nlife, to allow him to put to them questions which the most depraved\nwoman would never consent to hear from her vilest seducer, is often more\nhorrible and intolerable than to be tied on burning coals.\n\nMore than once, I have seen women fainting in the confessional-box, who\ntold me afterwards that the necessity of speaking to an unmarried man on\ncertain things, on which the most common laws of decency ought to have\nforever sealed their lips, had almost killed them! Not hundreds, but\nthousands of times, I have heard from the lips of dying girls, as well\nas married women, the awful words: \u201cI am forever lost! All my past\nconfessions and communions have been so many sacrileges! I have never\ndared to answer correctly the questions of my confessors! Shame has\nsealed my lips and damned my soul!\u201d\n\nHow many times I remained as one petrified by the side of a corpse, when\nthese last words having hardly escaped the lips of one of my female\npenitents who had been snatched out of my reach by the merciless hand of\ndeath before I could give her pardon through the deceitful sacramental\nabsolution. I then believed, as the dead sinner herself had believed,\nthat she should not be forgiven except by that absolution.\n\nFor there are not only thousands, but millions, of Roman Catholic girls\nand women whose keen sense of modest and womanly dignity are above all\nthe sophisms and diabolical machinations of their priests. They never\ncan be persuaded to answer \u201cYes\u201d to certain questions of their\nconfessors. They would prefer to be thrown into the flames and burnt to\nashes with the Brahmin widows, rather than allow the eyes of a man to\npry into the sacred sanctuary of their souls. Though sometimes guilty\nbefore God, and under the impression that their sins will never be\nforgiven if not confessed, the laws of decency are stronger in their\nhearts than the laws of their perfidious church. No consideration, not\neven the fear of eternal damnation, can persuade them to declare to a\nsinful man sins which God alone has the right to know, for He alone can\nblot them out with the blood of His Son, shed on the cross.\n\nBut what a wretched life must that be of those exceptional noble souls\nwhich Rome keeps in the dark dungeons of her superstition! They read in\nall their books and hear from all their pulpits that if they conceal a\nsingle sin from their confessors, they are forever lost! But being\nabsolutely unable to trample under their feet the laws of self-respect\nand decency, which God Himself has impressed in their souls, they live\nin constant dread of eternal damnation. No human words can tell their\ndesolation and distress, when at the feet of their confessors, they find\nthemselves under the horrible necessity of speaking of things on which\nthey would prefer to suffer the most cruel death rather than to open\ntheir lips, or to be forever damned if they do not degrade themselves\nforever in their own eyes by speaking on matters which a respectable\nwoman will never reveal to her own mother, much less to a man!\n\nI have known only too many of these noble-hearted women, who, when alone\nwith God in a real agony of desolation and with burning tears, had asked\nHim to grant them what they considered the greatest favor, which was to\nlose so much of their self-respect as to be enabled to speak of those\nunmentionable things just as their confessors wanted them to speak; and,\nhoping that their petition had been granted, they went again to the\nconfessional-box, determined to unveil their shame before the eyes of\nthat inexorable man. But when the moment had come for the\nself-immolation, their courage failed, their knees trembled, their lips\nbecame pale as death, cold sweat poured from all their pores! The voice\nof modesty and womanly self-respect was speaking louder than the voice\nof their false religion. They had to go out of the confessional-box\nunpardoned\u2014nay, with the burden of a new sacrilege on their conscience.\n\nOh! how heavy is the yoke of Rome\u2014how bitter is human life\u2014how cheerless\nis the mystery of the cross to those deluded and perishing souls! How\ngladly they would rush into the blazing piles with the Brahmin women, if\nthey could hope to see the end of their unspeakable miseries through the\nmomentary tortures which would open to them a better life!\n\nI do here publicly challenge the whole Roman Catholic priesthood to deny\nthat the greater part of their female penitents remain a certain period\nof time\u2014some longer, some shorter\u2014under that most distressing state of\nmind.\n\nYes, by far the greater majority of women at first find it impossible to\npull down the sacred barriers of self-respect, which God Himself has\nbuilt around their hearts, intelligences and souls as the best safeguard\nagainst the snares of this polluted world. Those laws of self-respect,\nby which they cannot consent to speak an impure word into the ears of a\nman, and which shut all the avenues of the heart against his unchaste\nquestions, even when speaking in the name of God\u2014those laws of\nself-respect are so clearly written on their conscience, and they are so\nwell understood by them to be a most Divine gift, that, as I have\nalready said, many prefer to run the risk of being forever lost by\nremaining silent.\n\nIt takes many years of the most ingenious (I do not hesitate to call it\ndiabolical) efforts on the part of the priests to persuade the majority\nof their female penitents to speak on questions which even pagan savages\nwould blush to mention among themselves. Some persist in remaining\nsilent on those matters during the greater part of their lives, and many\nof them prefer to throw themselves into the hands of their merciful God,\nand die without submitting to the defiling ordeal, even after they have\nfelt the poisonous stings of the enemy, rather than receive their pardon\nfrom a man who, as they feel, would surely have been scandalized by the\nrecital of their human frailties. All the priests of Rome are aware of\nthis natural disposition of their female penitents. There is not a\nsingle one\u2014no, not a single one of their moral theologians, who does not\nwarn the confessors against that stern and general determination of the\ngirls and married women never to speak in the confessional on matters\nwhich may more or less deal with sins against the seventh commandment.\nDens, Liguori, Debreyene, Bailly, etc.,\u2014in a word, all the theologians\nof Rome, own that this is one of the greatest difficulties which the\nconfessors have to contend with in the confessional-box.\n\nNot a single Roman Catholic priest will dare to deny what I say on this\nmatter, for they know that it would be easy for me to overwhelm them\nwith such a crowd of testimonials that their grand imposture would\nforever be unmasked.\n\nI intend, at some future day, if God spares me and gives me time for it,\nto make known some of the innumerable things which the Roman Catholic\ntheologians and moralists have written on this question. It will form\none of the most curious books ever written, and it will give\nunanswerable evidence of the fact that, instinctively, without\nconsulting each other, and with an unanimity which is almost marvellous,\nthe Roman Catholic women, guided by the honest instincts which God has\ngiven them, shrink from the snares put before them in the\nconfessional-box, and that everywhere they struggle to nerve themselves\nwith a superhuman courage against the torturer who is sent by the pope\nto finish their ruin, and to make shipwrecks of their souls. Everywhere\nwoman feels that there are things which ought never to be told, as there\nare things which ought never to be done, in the presence of the God of\nholiness. She understands that to recite the history of certain sins,\neven of thought, is not less shameful and criminal than to do them. She\nhears the voice of God whispering into her ears,\u201c Perhaps the world has\nnever seen a more terrible, desperate, solemn struggle than the one\nwhich is going on in the soul of a poor trembling young woman, who, at\nthe feet of that man, has to decide whether or not she will open her\nlips on those things which the infallible voice of God, united to the no\nless infallible voice of her womanly honor and self-respect, tell her\nnever to reveal to any man!\n\nThe history of that secret, fierce, desperate struggle, has never yet,\nso far as I know, been fully given. It would draw the tears of\nadmiration and compassion of the whole world, if it could be written\nwith its simple, sublime, and terrible realities.\n\nHow many times I have wept as a child when some noble-hearted and\nintelligent young girl, or some respectable married woman, yielding to\nthe sophisms with which I or some other confessor, had persuaded them to\ngive up their self-respect and their womanly dignity to speak with me on\nmatters on which a decent woman should never say a word with a man. They\nhave told me of their invincible repugnance, their horror of such\nquestions and answers, and they have asked me to have pity on them. Yes!\nI have often wept bitterly on my degradation, when a priest of Rome. I\nhave realized all the strength, the grandeur and the holiness of their\nmotives for being silent on these defiling matters, and I could not but\nadmire them. It seemed at times that they were speaking the language of\nangels of light; that I ought to fall at their feet and ask their pardon\nfor having spoken to them of questions on which a man of honor ought\nnever to converse with a woman whom he respects.\n\nBut alas! I had soon to reproach myself, and regret those short\ninstances of my wavering faith in the infallible voice of my church. I\nhad soon to silence the voice of my conscience, which was telling me,\n\u201cIs it not a shame that you, an unmarried man, dare to speak on these\nmatters with a woman? Do you not blush to put such questions to a young\ngirl? Where is your self-respect\u2014where is your fear of God? Do you not\npromote the ruin of that girl by forcing her to speak on these matters?\u201d\n\nHow many times my God has spoken to me as He speaks to all the priests\nof Rome, and said with a thundering voice: \u201cWhat would that young man\ndo, could he hear the questions you put to his wife? Would he not blow\nout your brains? And that father, would he not pass his dagger through\nyour breast if he could know what you ask from his poor trembling\ndaughter? Would not the brother of that young girl put an end to your\nmiserable life if he could hear the unmentionable subjects on which you\nspeak with her in the confessional?\u201d\n\nI was compelled by all the popes, the moral theologians, and the\nCouncils of Rome to believe that this warning voice of my merciful God\nwas the voice of Satan. I had to believe, in spite of my own conscience\nand intelligence, that it was good, nay, necessary, to put those\npolluting, damning questions. My infallible church was mercilessly\nforcing me to oblige those poor trembling, weeping, desolate girls and\nwomen to swim with me and all their priests in those waters of Sodom and\nGomorrah, under the pretext that their self-will would be broken down,\ntheir fear of sin and humility increased, and that they would be\npurified by our absolutions.\n\nWith what supreme distress, disgust and surprise we see, to-day, a great\npart of the noble Episcopal Church of England struck by a plague which\nseems incurable, under the name of Puseyism, or Ritualism, bringing\nagain\u2014more or less openly\u2014in many places the diabolical and filthy\nauricular confession among the Protestants of England, Australia and\nAmerica The Episcopal church is doomed to perish in that dark and\nstinking pool of popery\u2014auricular confession\u2014if she does not find a\nprompt remedy to stop the plague brought by the disguised Jesuits, who\nare at work everywhere to poison and enslave her too unsuspecting\ndaughters and sons.\n\nIn the beginning of my priesthood, when I was in Quebec I was not a\nlittle surprised and embarrassed to see a very accomplished and\nbeautiful young lady, whom I used to meet almost every week at her\nfather\u2019s house, entering the box of my confessional. She had been used\nto confess to another young priest of my acquaintance, and she was\nalways looked upon as one of the most pious girls of the city. Though\nshe had disguised herself as much as possible, in order that I might not\nknow her, I felt sure that I was not mistaken\u2014she was the amiable Mary *\n*\n\nNot being absolutely certain of the correctness of my impressions, I\nleft her entirely under the hope that she was a perfect stranger to me.\nAt the beginning she could hardly speak; her voice was suffocated by her\nsobs, and through the little apertures of the thin partition between her\nand me, I saw two streams of big tears trickling down her cheeks. After\nmuch effort, she said: \u201cDear Father, I hope you do not know me, and that\nyou will never try to know me\u2014I am a desperately great sinner. Oh! I\nfear that I am lost! But if there is still a hope for me to be saved,\nfor God\u2019s sake, do not rebuke me! Before I begin my confession, allow me\nto ask you not to pollute my ears by questions which our confessors are\nin the habit of putting to their female penitents; I have already been\ndestroyed by those questions. Before I was seventeen years old, God\nknows that His angels are not more pure than I was; but the chaplain of\nthe nunnery where my parents had sent me for my education, though\napproaching old age, put to me in the confessional a question which, at\nfirst, I did not understand, but, unfortunately, he had put the same\nquestions to one of my young class-mates, who made fun of them in my\npresence, and explained them to me: for she understood them too well.\nThis first unchaste conversation of my life plunged my thoughts into a\nsea of iniquity, till then absolutely unknown to me; temptations of the\nmost humiliating character assailed me for a week, day and night; after\nwhich, sins which I would blot out with my blood, if it were possible,\noverwhelmed my soul as with a deluge. But the joys of the sinner are\nshort. Struck with terror at the thought of the judgment of God, after a\nfew weeks of the most deplorable life, I determined to give up my sins\nand reconcile myself to God. Covered with shame, and trembling from head\nto foot I went to confess to my old confessor, whom I respected as a\nsaint and cherished as a father. It seems to me that, with sincere tears\nof repentance, I confessed to him the greatest part of my sins, though I\nconcealed one of them, through shame and respect for my spiritual guide.\nBut I did not conceal from him that the strange questions he had put to\nme at my last confession were, with the natural corruption of my heart,\nthe principal cause of my destruction.\n\n\u201cHe spoke to me very kindly, encouraged me to fight against my bad\ninclinations, and, at first, gave me very kind and good advice. But when\nI thought he had finished speaking, and as I was preparing to leave the\nconfessional-box, he put to me two new questions of such a polluting\ncharacter that, I fear neither the blood of Christ, nor all the fires of\nhell will ever be able to blot them out of my memory. Those questions\nhave achieved my ruin; they have stuck to my mind like two deadly\narrows; they are day and night before my imagination; they fill my\narteries and veins with deadly poison.\n\n\u201cIt is true, that at first, they filled me with horror and disgust; but\nalas! I soon got so accustomed to them that they seemed to be\nincorporated with me, and as if becoming a second nature. Those thoughts\nhave become a new source of innumerable criminal thoughts, desires and\nactions.\n\n\u201cA month later, we were obliged by the rules of our convent to go and\nconfess; but by this time, I was so completely lost, that I no longer\nblushed at the idea of confessing my shameful sins to a man; it was the\nvery contrary. I had a real, diabolical pleasure in the thought that I\nshould have a long conversation with my confessor on those matters, and\nthat he would ask me more of his strange questions. In fact, when I had\ntold him everything without a blush, be began to interrogate me, and God\nknows what corrupting things fell from his lips into my poor criminal\nheart! Every one of his questions was thrilling my nerves and filling me\nwith the most shameful sensations! After an hour of this criminal\n_tete-a-tete_ with my old confessor (for it was nothing else but a\ncriminal _tete-a-tete_), I perceived that he was as depraved as I was\nmyself. With some half-covered words, he made a criminal proposition,\nwhich I accepted with covered words also; and during more than a year,\nwe have lived together on the most sinful intimacy. Though he was much\nolder than I, I loved him in the most foolish way. When the course of my\nconvent instruction was finished, my parents called me back to their\nhome. I was really glad of that change of residence, for I was beginning\nto be tired of my criminal life. My hope was that, under the directions\nof a better confessor, I should reconcile myself to God and begin a\nChristian life.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately for me, my new confessor, who was very young, began also\nhis interrogation. He soon fell in love with me, and I loved him in a\nmost criminal way. I have done with him things which I hope you will\nnever request me to reveal to you, for they are too monstrous to be\nrepeated, even in the confessional, by a woman to a man.\n\n\u201cI do not say these things to take away the responsibility of my\niniquities with my young confessor, from my shoulders, for I think I\nhave been more criminal than he was. It is my firm conviction that he\nwas a good and holy priest before he knew me; but the questions he put\nto me, and the answers I had to give him, melted his heart\u2014I know\nit\u2014just as boiling lead would melt the ice on which it flows.\n\n\u201cI know this is not such a detailed confession as our holy Church\nrequires me to make, but I have thought it necessary for me to give you\nthis short history of the life of the greatest and most miserable sinner\nwho ever asked you to help her to come out from the tomb of her\niniquities. This is the way I have lived these last few years. But last\nSabbath, God, in His infinite mercy, looked down upon me. He inspired\nyou to give us the Prodigal Son as a model of true conversion, and as\nthe most marvellous proof of the infinite compassion of the dear Saviour\nfor the sinner. I have wept day and night since that happy day, when I\nthrew myself into the arms of my loving, merciful Father. Even now, I\ncan hardly speak, because my regret for my past iniquities, and my joy\nthat I am allowed to bathe the feet of the Saviour with tears, are so\ngreat that my voice is as choked. \u201c I was then a very young priest, and\nnever had any words so sublime come to my ears in the confessional-box.\nHer tears and her sobs, mingled with the frank declaration of the most\nhumiliating actions, had made such a profound impression upon me that I\nwas, for some time, unable to speak. It had come to my mind also that I\nmight be mistaken about her identity, and that perhaps she was not the\nyoung lady that I had imagined. I could, then, easily grant her first\nrequest, which was to do nothing by which I could know her. The second\npart of her prayer was more embarrassing; for the theologians are very\npositive in ordering the confessors to question their penitents,\nparticularly those of the female sex, in many circumstances.\n\nI encouraged her in the best way I could, to persevere in her good\nresolutions, by invoking the blessed Virgin Mary and St. Philomene, who\nwas, then, _Sainte a la mode_, just as Marie Alacoque is to-day, among\nthe blind slaves of Rome. I told her that I would pray and think over\nthe subject of her second request; and I asked her to come back in a\nweek for my answer.\n\nThe very same day, I went to my own confessor, the Rev. Mr. Baillargeon,\nthen curate of Quebec, and afterwards Archbishop of Canada. I told him\nthe singular and unusual request she had made, that I should never put\nto her any of those questions suggested by the theologians, to insure\nthe integrity of the confession. I did not conceal from him that I was\nmuch inclined to grant her that favor; for I repeated what I had already\nseveral times told him, that I was supremely disgusted with the infamous\nand polluting questions which the theologians forced us to put to our\nfemale penitents. I told him frankly that several old and young priests\nhad already come to confess to me; and that, with the exception of two,\nthey had told me that they could not put those questions and hear the\nanswers they elicited without falling into the most damnable sins.\n\nMy confessor seemed to be much perplexed about what he should answer. He\nasked me to come the next day, that he might review some theological\nbooks, in the interval. The next day, I took down in writing his answer,\nwhich I find in my old manuscripts, and I give it here in all its sad\ncrudity:\u2014\n\n\u201cSuch cases of the destruction of female virtue by the questions of the\nconfessors is an unavoidable evil. It cannot be helped; for such\nquestions are absolutely necessary in the greater part of the cases with\nwhich we have to deal. Men generally confess their sins with so much\nsincerity that there is seldom any need for questioning them, except\nwhen they are very ignorant. But St. Liguori, as well as our personal\nobservation, tells us that the greatest part of girls and women, through\na false and criminal shame, very seldom confess the sins they commit\nagainst purity. It requires the utmost charity in the confessors to\nprevent these unfortunate slaves of their secret passions from making\nsacrilegious confessions and communions. With the greatest prudence and\nzeal he must question them on those matters, beginning with the smallest\nsins, and going, little by little, as much as possible by imperceptible\ndegrees, to the most criminal actions. As it seems evident that the\npenitent referred to in your questions of yesterday is unwilling to make\na full and detailed confession of all her iniquities, you cannot promise\nto absolve her without assuring yourself, by wise and prudent questions,\nthat she has confessed everything.\n\n\u201cYou must not be discouraged when, through the confessional or any other\nway, you learn the fall of priests into the common frailties of human\nnature with their penitents. Our Saviour knew very well that the\noccasions and the temptations we have to encounter, in the confessions\nof girls and women, are so numerous, and sometimes so irresistible, that\nmany would fall. But He has given them the Holy Virgin Mary, who\nconstantly asks and obtains their pardon; He has given them the\nsacrament of penance, where they can receive their pardon as often as\nthey ask for it. The vow of perfect chastity is a great honor and\nprivilege; but we cannot conceal from ourselves that it puts on our\nshoulders a burden which many cannot carry forever. St. Liguori says\nthat we must not rebuke the penitent priest who falls only once a month;\nand some other trustworthy theologians are still more charitable.\u201d\n\nThis answer was far from satisfying me. It seemed to me composed of soft\nsoap principles. I went back with a heavy heart and an anxious mind; and\nGod knows that I made many fervent prayers that this girl should never\ncome again to give me her sad history. I was then hardly twenty-six\nyears old, full of youth and life. It seemed to me that the stings of a\nthousand wasps to my ears could not do me so much harm as the words of\nthat dear, beautiful, accomplished, but lost girl.\n\nI do not mean to say that the revelations which she made, had, in any\nway, diminished my esteem and my respect for her. It was just the\ncontrary. Her tears and her sobs, at my feet; her agonizing expressions\nof shame and regret; her noble words of protest against the disgusting\nand polluting interrogations of the confessors, had raised her very high\nin my mind. My sincere hope was that she would have a place in the\nkingdom of Christ with the Samaritan women, Mary Magdalene, and all the\nsinners who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.\n\nAt the appointed day, I was in my confessional, listening to the\nconfession of a young man, when I saw Miss Mary entering the vestry, and\ncoming directly to my confessional-box, where she knelt by me. Though\nshe had, still more than at the first time, disguised herself behind a\nlong, thick, black veil, I could not be mistaken; she was the very same\namiable young lady in whose father\u2019s house I used to pass such pleasant\nand happy hours. I had often listened, with breathless attention, to her\nmelodious voice, when she was giving us, accompanied by her piano, some\nof our beautiful church hymns. Who could then see and hear her, without\nalmost worshipping her? The dignity of her steps, and her whole mien,\nwhen she advanced towards my confessional, entirely betrayed her and\ndestroyed her incognito.\n\nOh! I would have given every drop of my blood in that solemn hour, that\nI might have been free to deal with her just as she had so eloquently\nrequested me to do\u2014to let her weep And cry at the feet of Jesus to her\nheart\u2019s content. Oh! if I had been free to take her by the hand, and\nsilently show her the dying Saviour, that she might have bathed His feet\nwith her tears, and spread the oil of her love on His head, without my\nsaying else but \u201cGo in peace: thy sins are forgiven.\u201d\n\nBut there, in that confessional-box, I was not the servant of Christ, to\nfollow His Divine, saving words, and obey the dictates of my honest\nconscience. I was the slave of the Pope! I had to stifle the cry of my\nconscience, to ignore the inspirations of my God! There, my conscience\nhad no right to speak; my intelligence was a dead thing! The theologians\nof the Pope, alone, had a right to be heard and obeyed! I was not there\nto save, but to destroy; for, under the pretext of purifying, the real\nmission of the confessor, often, if not always, in spite of himself, is\nto scandalize and damn their souls.\n\nAs soon as the young man who was making his confession at my left hand,\nhad finished, I, without noise, turned myself towards her, and said,\nthrough the little aperture, \u201cAre you ready to begin your confession?\u201d\n\nBut she did not answer me. All that I could hear was: \u201cOh, my Jesus,\nhave mercy upon me! I come to wash my soul in Thy blood; wilt Thou\nrebuke me?\u201d\n\nDuring several minutes she raised her hands and eyes to heaven, and wept\nand prayed. It was evident that she had not the least idea that I was\nobserving her; she thought the door of the little partition between her\nand me was shut. But my eyes were fixed upon her; my tears were flowing\nwith her tears, and my ardent prayers were going to the feet of Jesus\nwith her prayers. I would not have interrupted her for any\nconsideration, in this, her sublime communication with her merciful\nSavior.\n\nBut after a pretty long time, I made a little noise with my hand, and\nputting my lips near the opening of the partition which was between us,\nI said in a low voice, \u201cDear sister, are you ready to begin your\nconfession?\u201d\n\nShe turned her face a little towards me, and said with trembling voice,\n\u201cYes, dear father, I am ready.\u201d\n\nBut she then stopped again to weep and pray, though I could not hear\nwhat she said.\n\nAfter some time in silent prayer, I said, \u201cMy dear sister, if you are\nready, please begin your confession.\u201d She then said, \u201cMy dear father, do\nyou remember the prayers which I made to you, the other day? Can you\nallow me to confess my sins without forcing me to forget the respect\nthat I owe to myself, to you, and to God, who hears us? And can you\npromise that you will not put to me any of those questions which have\nalready done me such irreparable injury? I frankly declare to you that\nthere are sins in me that I cannot reveal to anyone, except to Christ,\nbecause He is my God, and that he already knows them all. Let me weep\nand cry at His feet: can you not forgive me without adding to my\niniquities by forcing me to say things that the tongue of a Christian\nwoman cannot reveal to a man?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear sister,\u201d I answered, \u201cwere I free to follow the voice of my own\nfeelings I would be only too happy to grant your request; but I am here\nonly as the minister of our holy church, and bound to obey the laws.\nThrough her most holy Popes and theologians she tells me that I cannot\nforgive your sins, if you do not confess them all, just as you have\ncommitted them. The church tells me also that you must give the details,\nwhich may add to the malice or change the nature of your sins. I am\nsorry to tell you that our most holy theologians make it a duty of our\nconfessor to question the penitent on the sins which he has good reason\nto suspect have been voluntarily omitted.\u201d\n\nWith a piercing cry she exclaimed, \u201cThen, O my God, I am lost\u2014forever\nlost!\u201d\n\nThis cry fell upon me like a thunderbolt; but I was still more\nterror-stricken when, looking through the aperture, I saw she was\nfainting; I heard the noise of her body falling upon the floor, and of\nher head striking against the sides of the confessional box.\n\nQuick as lightning I ran to help her, took her in my arms, and called a\ncouple of men who were at a little distance, to assist me in laying her\non a bench. I washed her face with some cold water and vinegar. She was\nas pale as death, but her lips were moving, and she was saying something\nwhich nobody but I could understand\u2014\n\n\u201cI am lost\u2014lost forever!\u201d\n\nWe took her home to her disconsolate family, where, during a month she\nlingered between life and death. Her two first confessors came to visit\nher; but having asked every one to go out of the room, she politely, but\nabsolutely, requested them to go away, and never come again. She asked\nme to visit her every day, \u201cfor,\u201d she said, \u201cI have only a few more days\nto live. Help me to prepare myself for the solemn hour which will open\nto me the gates of eternity!\u201d\n\nEvery day I visited her, and I prayed and I wept with her.\n\nMany times, when alone, with tears I requested her to finish her\nconfession; but, with a firmness which, then, seemed to be mysterious\nand inexplicable, she politely rebuked me.\n\nOne day, when alone with her, I was kneeling by the side of her bed to\npray, I was unable to articulate a single word, because of the\ninexpressible anguish of my soul on her account, she asked me, \u201cDear\nfather why do you weep?\u201d\n\nI answered, \u201cHow can you put such a question to your murderer! I weep\nbecause I have killed you, dear friend.\u201d\n\nThis answer seemed to trouble her exceedingly. She was very weak that\nday. After she had wept and prayed in silence, she said, \u201cdo not weep\nfor me, but weep for so many priests who destroy their penitents in the\nconfessional. I believe in the holiness of the sacrament of penance,\nsince our holy church has established it. But there is, somewhere,\nsomething exceedingly wrong in the confessional. Twice I have been\ndestroyed, and I know many girls who have also been destroyed by the\nconfessional. This is a secret, but will that secret be kept forever? I\npity the poor priests the day that our fathers will know what becomes of\nthe purity of their daughters in the hands of their confessors. Father\nwould surely kill my two last confessors, if he could only know they\nhave destroyed his poor child.\u201d\n\nI could not answer except by weeping.\n\nWe remained silent for a long time; then she said, \u201cIt is true that I\nwas not prepared for the rebuke you have given me, the other day, in the\nconfessional; but you acted conscientiously as a good and honest priest.\nI know you must be bound by certain laws.\u201d\n\nShe then pressed my hand with her cold hand and said,\u201c She had hardly\nfinished her last word when she fainted, and I feared lest she should\ndie just then, when I was alone with her.\n\nI called the family, who rushed into the room. The doctor was sent for.\nHe found her so weak that he thought proper to allow only one or two\npersons to remain in the room with me. He requested us not to speak at\nall: \u201cFor,\u201d said he, \u201cthe least emotion might kill her instantly; her\ndisease is, in all probability, an aneurism of the aorta, the big vein\nwhich brings the blood to the heart: when it breaks, she will go as\nquick as lightning.\u201d\n\nIt was nearly ten at night when I left the house, to go and take some\nrest. But it is not necessary to say that I passed a sleepless night. My\ndear Mary was there, pale, dying from the deadly blow which I had given\nher in the confessional. She was there, on her bed of death, her heart\npierced with the dagger which my church had put into my hands! and\ninstead of rebuking, and cursing me for my savage, merciless fanaticism,\nshe was blessing me! She was dying from a broken heart! and I was not\nallowed by my church to give her a single word of consolation and hope,\nfor she had not made her confession? I had mercilessly bruised that\ntender plant, and there was nothing in my hands to heal the wounds I had\nmade!\n\nIt was very probable that she would die the next day, and I was\nforbidden to show her the crown of glory which Jesus has prepared in His\nkingdom for the repenting sinner!\n\nMy desolation was really unspeakable, and I think I would have been\nsuffocated and have died that night, if the stream of tears which\ncontinually flowed from my eyes had not been as a balm to my distressed\nheart.\n\nHow dark and long the hours of that night seemed to me!\n\nBefore the dawn of day, I arose to read my theologians again, and see if\nI could not find some one who would allow me to forgive the sins of that\ndear child, without forcing her to tell me anything she had done. But\nthey seemed to me, more than ever, unanimously inexorable, and I put\nthem back on the shelves of my library with a broken heart.\n\nAt nine A. M. the next day, I was by the bed of our dear sick Mary. I\ncannot sufficiently tell the joy I felt, when the doctor and whole\nfamily said to me, \u201cShe is much better; the rest of last night has\nwrought a marvelous change, indeed.\u201d\n\nWith a really angelic smile she extended her hand towards me, that I\nmight press it in mine, and she said, \u201cI thought last evening, that the\ndear Savior would take me to Him, but He wants me, dear father, to give\nyou a little more trouble; however, be patient, it cannot be long before\nthe solemn hour of the appeal will ring. Will you please read me the\nhistory of the suffering and death of the beloved Savior, which you read\nme the other day? It does me so much good to see how He has loved me,\nsuch a miserable sinner.\u201d\n\nThere was a calm and solemnity in her words which struck me singularly,\nas well as all those who were there.\n\nAfter I had finished reading, she exclaimed, \u201cHe has loved me so much\nthat He died for my sins!\u201d And she shut her eyes as if to meditate in\nsilence, but there was a stream of big tears rolling down her cheeks.\n\nI knelt down by her bed, with her family, to pray; but I could not utter\na single word. The idea that this dear child was there, dying from the\ncruel fanaticism of my theologians and my own cowardice in obeying them,\nwas a mill-stone to my neck. It was killing me.\n\nOh! if by dying a thousand times, I could have added a single day to her\nlife, with what pleasure I would have accepted those thousand deaths!\n\nAfter we had silently prayed and wept by her bedside, she requested her\nmother to leave her alone with me.\n\nWhen I saw myself alone, under the irresistible impression that this was\nher last day, I fell on my knees again, and with tears of the most\nsincere compassion for her soul, I requested her to shake off her shame\nand to obey our holy church, which requires every one to confess their\nsins if they want to be forgiven.\n\nShe calmly, but with an air of dignity which no human words can express,\nsaid,\u201c \u201cYes,\u201d I said, \u201cthis is what the Holy Scriptures tell us.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, then, how is it possible that our confessors dare to take away\nfrom us that holy, divine coat of modesty and self-respect? Has not\nAlmighty God Himself made, with His own hands, that coat of womanly\nmodesty and self-respect, that we might not be to you and to ourselves,\na cause of shame and sin?\u201d\n\nI was really stunned by the beauty, simplicity, and sublimity of that\ncomparison. I remained absolutely mute and confounded. Though it was\ndemolishing all the traditions and doctrines of my church, and\npulverizing all my holy doctors and theologians, that noble answer found\nsuch an echo in my soul, that it seemed to me a sacrilege to try to\ntouch it with my finger.\n\nAfter a short time of silence, she continued, \u201cTwice I have been\ndestroyed by priests in the confessional. They took away from me that\ndivine coat of modesty and self-respect which God gives to ever human\nbeing who comes into this world, and twice, I have become for those very\npriests a deep pit of perdition, into which they have fallen, and where,\nI fear, they are forever lost! My merciful heavenly Father has given me\nback that coat of skins, that nuptial robe of modesty, self-respect, and\nholiness, which had been taken away from me. He cannot allow you or any\nother man, to tear again and spoil that vestment which is the work of\nHis hands.\u201d\n\nThese words had exhausted her; it was evident to me that she wanted some\nrest. I left her alone, but I was absolutely beside myself. Filled with\nadmiration for the sublime lessons which I had received from the lips of\nthat regenerated daughter of Christ, who, it was evident, was soon to\nfly away from us, I felt a supreme disgust for myself, my\ntheologians,\u2014shall I say it? yes, I felt in that solemn hour a supreme\ndisgust for my church, which was cruelly defiling me, and all her\npriests, in the confessional-box. I felt, in that hour, a supreme horror\nfor that auricular confession, which is so often a pit of perdition and\nsupreme misery for the confessor and penitent. I went out and walked two\nhours on the Plains of Abraham, to breathe the pure and refreshing air\nof the mountains. There, alone, I sat on a stone, on the very spot where\nWolf and Montcalm fought and died; and I wept to my heart\u2019s content, on\nmy irreparable degradation, and the degradation of so many priests\nthrough the confessional.\n\nAt four o\u2019clock in the afternoon I went back again to the house of my\ndear dying Mary. The mother took me apart, and very politely said, \u201cMy\ndear Mr. Chiniquy, do you not think it is time that our dear child\nshould receive the last sacraments? She seemed to be much better this\nmorning, and we were full of hope: but she is now rapidly sinking.\nPlease lose no time in giving her the holy viaticum and the extreme\nunction.\u201d\n\nI said, \u201cYes, madam: let me pass a few minutes alone with our dear\nchild, that I may prepare her for the last sacraments.\u201d\n\nWhen alone with her, I again fell on my knees, and, amidst torrents of\ntears, I said, \u201cDear sister, it is my desire to give you the holy\nviaticum and the extreme unction: but tell me, how can I dare do a thing\nso solemn against all the prohibitions of our holy church? How can I\ngive you the holy communion without first giving you absolution? and how\ncan I give you absolution when you earnestly persist in telling me that\nyou have so many sins which you will never declare to me or any other\nconfessor?\n\n\u201cYou know that I cherish and respect you as if you were an angel sent to\nme from heaven. You told me, the other day, that you blessed the day\nthat you first saw and knew me. I say the same thing. I bless the day\nthat I have known you; I bless every hour that I have spent by your bed\nof suffering; I bless every tear which I have shed with you on your sins\nand on my own; I bless every hour we have passed together in looking to\nthe wounds of our beloved, dying Savior; I bless you for having forgiven\nme your death! for I know it, and I confess it in the presence of God, I\nhave killed you, dear sister. But now I prefer a thousand times to die\nthan to say to you a word which would pain you in any way, or trouble\nthe peace of your soul. Please, my dear sister, tell me what I can and\nmust do for you in this solemn hour?\u201d\n\nCalmly, and with a smile of joy such as I had never seen before, nor\nseen since, she said, \u201cI thank and bless you, dear father, for the\nparable of the Prodigal Son, on which you preached a month ago. You have\nbrought me to the feet of the dear Savior; there I have found a peace\nand a joy surpassing anything that human heart can feel; I have thrown\nmyself into the arms of my Heavenly Father, and I know He has mercifully\naccepted and forgiven His poor prodigal child! Oh, I see the angels with\ntheir golden harps around the throne of the Lamb! Do you not hear the\ncelestial harmony of their songs? I go\u2014I go to join them in my Father\u2019s\nhouse. I SHALL NOT BE LOST!\n\nWhile she was thus speaking to me my eyes were really turned into two\nfountains of tears; I was unable, as well as unwilling, to see anything,\nso entirely overcome was I by the sublime words which were flowing from\nthe dying lips of that dear child, who was no more a sinner, but a real\nangel of Heaven to me. I was listening to her words; there was a\ncelestial music in every one of them. But she had raised her voice in\nsuch a strange way, when she had begun to say,\u201cand she had made such a\ncry of joy when she had to let the last words, \u201cnot be lost,\u201d escape her\nlips, that I raised my head and opened my eyes to look at her. I\nsuspected that something strange had occurred.\n\nI got upon my feet, passed my handkerchief over my face to wipe away the\ntears which were preventing me from seeing with accuracy, and looked at\nher.\n\nHer hands were crossed on her breast, and there was on her face the\nexpression of a really superhuman joy; her beautiful eyes were fixed as\nif they were looking on some grand and sublime spectacle; it seemed to\nme, at first, that she was praying.\n\nIn that very instant the mother rushed into the room, crying, \u201cMy God!\nmy God! what does that cry \u2018_lost_\u2019 mean?\u201d\u2014For her last words, \u201cnot to\nbe lost,\u201d particularly the last one, had been pronounced with such a\npowerful voice, that they had been heard almost everywhere in the house.\n\nI made a sign with my hand to prevent the distressed mother from making\nany noise and troubling her dying child in her prayer, for I really\nthought that she had stopped speaking, as she used so often to do, when\nalone with me, in order to pray. But I was mistaken. The redeemed soul\nhad gone, on the golden wings of love, to join the multitude of those\nwho have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, to sing the\neternal Alleluia.\n\nThe revelation of the unmentionable corruptions directly and unavoidably\nengendered by auricular confession, had come to me from the lips of that\nyoung lady, as the first rays of the sun which were to hurl back the\ndark clouds of night by which Rome had wrapped my intelligence on that\nsubject.\n\nSo miserable by her fall and her sins, but so admirable by her\nconversion, that young lady was standing before me, for the rest of my\npriestly life, as the bright beacon raised on the solitary rocks stands\nbefore the sailor whose ship is drifting through the shoals, in a dark\nand stormy night.\n\nShe was brought there, by the merciful hand of God, to right my course.\n\nLost and degraded by auricular confession, only after having given it\nup, that precious soul was to find peace and life, when washed in the\nblood of the Lamb, as the only hope and refuge of sinners.\n\nHer words, filled with a superhuman wisdom, and her burning tears, came\nto me, by the marvelous Providence of God, as the first beams of the Sun\nof Righteousness, to teach me that auricular confession was a Satanic\ninvention.\n\nHad this young person been the only one to tell me that, I might still\nhave held some doubt about the diabolical origin of that institution.\nBut thousands and thousands, before and after her, have been sent by my\nmerciful God to tell me the same tale, till after twenty-five years of\nexperience it became a certitude to me that that modern invention of\nRome must, sooner or later, with very few exceptions, drag both the\nconfessor and his female penitents into a common and irreparable\nruin.[D]\n\n-----\n\nFootnote D:\n\n Those who would like to know all about the abominations of auricular\n confession should have my volume \u201cThe Priest, The Woman and The\n Confessional.\u201d It is probably the only book ever written on that\n subject which completely unveils the mask of Rome, by telling the\n whole truth.\n\n-----\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LV.\n\nTHE ECCLESIASTICAL RETREAT\u2014CONDUCT OF THE PRIESTS\u2014THE BISHOP FORBIDS ME\n TO DISTRIBUTE THE BIBLE.\n\n\nOn the first of Aug., 1855, I received the following letter:\n\n THE COLLEGE\u2014_Chicago July 24th, 1855_.\n\n REV. MR. CHINIQUY.\n\nYou will have the goodness to attend a spiritual retreat to be given\nnext month at the college, in Chicago, for the clergy of the diocese of\nChicago and Quincy.\n\nThe spiritual exercises, which will be conducted by the Rt. Rev. the\nBishop of Louisville, are to commence on Tuesday, the 28th of Aug., and\nwill terminate on the following Sunday. This arrangement will\nnecessitate your absence from your church on Sunday, the 14th, after\nPentecost, which you will make known to your congregation. No clergyman\nis allowed to be absent from this retreat without the previous written\nconsent of the bishop of the diocese, which consent will not be given\nexcept in cases which he will judge to be of urgent necessity.\n\n By order of Rt. Rev. Bishop,\n\n MATTHEW DILLON,\n\n _Pro Secretary_.\n\nWishing to study the _personnel_ of that Irish clergy of which Bishop\nVandeveld had told such frightful things, I went to St. Mary\u2019s\nUniversity, two hours ahead of time.\n\nNever did I see such a band of jolly fellows. Their dissipation and\nlaughter, their exchange of witty, and too often, unbecoming\nexpressions, the tremendous noise they made in addressing each other, at\na distance: Their \u201cHallo, Patrick!\u201d \u201challo, Murphy!\u201d\u201cThe answers: \u201cYes!\nyes! She will never leave me;\u201d or \u201cno! no! the crazy girl is gone,\u201d were\ninvariably followed by outbursts of laughter.\n\nThough nine-tenths of them were evidently under the influence of\nintoxicating drinks, not one could be said to be drunk. But the strong\nodor of alcohol, mixed with the smoke of cigars, soon poisoned the air\nand made it suffocating.\n\nI had withdrawn in a corner, alone, in order to observe everything.\n\nWhat stranger, in entering that large hall, would have suspected that\nthose men were about to begin one of the most solemn and sacred actions\nof a priest of Jesus Christ! With the exception of five or six, they\nlooked more like a band of carousing raftsmen, than priests.\n\nAbout an hour before the opening of the exercises, I saw one of the\npriests with hat in hand accompanied by two of the fattest and most\nflorid of the band, going to every one, collecting money and with the\nmost hilarity and pleasure, each one threw his bank bills into the hat.\nI supposed that this collection was intended to pay for our board,\nduring the retreat, and I prepared the $15 I wanted to give. When they\ncame near me\u2014the big hat was literally filled with five and ten dollar\nbills. Before handing my money to them, I asked: \u201cWhat is the object of\nthat collection?\u201d\n\n\u201cAh! ah!\u201d they answered with a hearty laugh,\u201cand the collectors laughed\noutright.\n\nI answered politely, but seriously: \u201cGentlemen, I came here to meditate\nand pray; and when I am thirsty, the fresh and pure water of Lake\nMichigan will quench my thirst. I have given up, long ago, the use of\nintoxicating drinks. Please excuse me, I am a teetotaler.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo we are!\u201d they answered with a laugh; \u201cWe have all taken the pledge\nfrom Father Mathew; but this does not prevent us from taking a little\ndrop to quench our thirst and keep up our health. Father Mathew is not\nso merciless as you are.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know Father Mathew well;\u201d I answered, \u201cI have written to him and seen\nhim many times. Allow me to tell you that we are of the same mind about\nthe use of intoxicating drink.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it possible! you know Father Mathew! and you are exchanging letters\nwith him! What a holy man he is, and what good he has done in Ireland,\nand everywhere!\u201d they answered.\n\n\u201cBut the good he has done will not last long,\u201d I said, \u201cif all his\ndisciples keep their pledges as you do.\u201d\n\nAs we were talking, a good number of priests came around to hear what\nwas said; for it was evident to all, that the bark of their collectors,\nnot only had come to shallow waters, but had struck on a rock.\n\nOne of the priests said: \u201cI thought we were to be preached by Bishop\nSpaulding; I had no idea that it was Father Chiniquy who had that\ncharge.\u201d\n\n\u201cGentlemen,\u201d I answered, \u201cI have as much right to preach to you in favor\nof temperance as you have to preach to me in favor of intemperance. You\nmay do as you please about the use of strong drink, during the retreat;\nbut I hope I also may have the right to think and do as I please, in\nthat matter.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course,\u201d they all answered, \u201cBut you are the only one who will not\ngive us a cent to get a little drop.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo much the worse for you all, gentlemen, if I am the only one. But\nplease excuse me, I cannot give you a cent for that object.\u201d\n\nThey then left me, saying something which I could not understand, but\nthey were evidently disgusted, with what they considered my stubbornness\nand want of good manners.\n\nI must, however, say here, that two of them, Mr. Dunn, pastor of one of\nthe best congregations in Chicago, and the other unknown to me, came to\ncongratulate me on the stern rebuke I had given the collectors.\n\n\u201cI regret,\u201d said Mr Dunn, \u201cthe five dollars I have thrown into that hat.\nIf I had spoken to you before, and had known that you would be brave\nenough to rebuke them, I would have stood by you, and kept my money for\nbetter use. It is really a shame that we should be preparing ourselves\nfor a retreat by wasting $500 for such a shameful object. They have just\ntold me that they have raised that sum for the champagne, brandy, whisky\nand beer they will drink, this week. Ah! what disgrace! What a cry of\nindignation would be raised against us, if such a shameful thing should\nbe known! I am sorry about the unkind words those priests have spoken to\nyou; but you must excuse them, they are already full of bad whisky.\n\n\u201cDo not think, however, that you are friendless, here, in our midst. You\nhave more friends than you think among the Irish priests; and I am one\nof them, though you do not know me. Bishop Vandeveld has often spoken to\nme of your grand colonization work, among the French.\u201d\n\nMr. Dunn, then, pressed my hand in his, and taking me a short distance\nfrom the others, said:\n\n\u201cConsider me, hereafter, as your friend: you have won my confidence by\nthe fearless way in which you have just spoken, and the common sense of\nyour arguments.\n\n\u201cYou have lost a true friend in Bishop Vandevelde. I fear that our\npresent bishop will not do you justice. Lebel and Carthyvel have\nprejudiced him against you. But I will stand by you, if you are ever\nunjustly dealt with, as I fear you will, by the present administration\nof the diocese. I fear we are on the eve of great evils. The scandalous\nsuit which Bishop O\u2019Regan has brought upon his predecessor is a\ndisgrace. If he has gained $50,000 by it, he has forever lost the\nrespect and confidence of all his priests and diocesans.\n\n\u201cAfter the mild and paternal ruling of Bishop Vandevelde, neither the\npriests, nor the people of Illinois will long bear the iron chains which\nthe present bishop has in store for us all.\u201d\n\nI thanked Mr. Dunn for his kind words, and told him that I had already\ntasted the paternal love of my bishop by being twice dragged by Spink\nbefore the criminal court for having refused to live on good terms with\nthe two most demoralized priests I have ever known.\n\nHe, then, speaking with a more subdued voice, said:\n\n\u201cI must tell you, confidentially, that one of those priests, Lebel, will\nbe turned out ignominiously from the diocese, during the retreat. Last\nweek, a new fact, which surpasses all his other abominations, has been\nrevealed and proved to the bishop, for which he will be interdicted.\u201d\n\nAt that moment, the bell called us to the chapel to hear the regulations\nof the bishop in reference to the retreat, after which we sang the\nmatins.\n\nAt 8 P. M., we had our first sermon by Bishop Spaulding, from Kentucky.\nHe was a fine-looking man, a giant in stature, and a good speaker. But\nthe way in which he treated his subject, though very clever, left, in my\nmind, the impression that he did not believe a word of what he said. At\ncertain times, there was much fire in his elocution, but it was a fire\nof straw. He delivered two sermons, each day; and the Rev. Mr.\nVanhulest, a Jesuit, gave us two meditations, each of them lasting from\nforty to fifty minutes. The rest of the time was spent in reading aloud\nthe life of a saint, reciting the breviarum, examination of conscience\nand going to confession.\n\nWe had half an hour for meals, followed by one hour of recreation. Thus\nwere the days spent. But the nights! the nights! what shall I say of\nthem! What pen can describe the orgies I witnessed during those dark\nnights! and who can believe what I shall have to say about them! though\nI will not and cannot say the half of what I have seen and heard!\n\nI got from the Rev. Mr. Dunn, then one of the bishop\u2019s counselors, and\nsoon after, Vicar General, the statement that the sum of $500 was\nexpended in intoxicating drinks during the six days of the retreat. I\nought to say during the five nights. My pen refuses to write what my\neyes saw and my ears heard during the long hours of those nights, which\nI cannot forget though I should live a thousand years.\n\nThe drinking used to begin about 9 o\u2019clock, as soon as the lights were\nput out. Some were handing the bottles from bed to bed, while others\nwere carrying them to those at a distance, at first, with the least\nnoise possible; but half an hour had not elapsed before the alcohol was\nbeginning to unloose the tongues, and upset the brain. Then the _bons\nmots_, the witty stories, at first, were soon followed by the most\nindecent and shameful recitals. Then the songs, followed by the barking\nof dogs, the croaking of frogs, the howling of wolves. In a word, the\ncries of all kinds of beasts, often mixed with the most lascivious\nsongs, the most infamous anecdotes flying from bed to bed, from room to\nroom, till one or two o\u2019clock in the morning.\n\nOne night three priests were taken with delirium tremens, almost at the\nsame time. One cried out that he had a dozen rattle-snakes at his shirt;\nthe second was fighting against thousands of bats which were trying to\ntear his eyes from their sockets: and the third, with a stick, was\nrepulsing millions of spiders which, he said, were as big as wild\nturkeys, all at work to devour him. The cries and lamentations of those\nthree priests were really pitiful! To those cries, add the lamentations\nof some dozen of them whose overloaded stomachs were ejecting in the\nbeds and all around, the enormous quantity of drink they had swallowed!\n\nThe third day, I was so disgusted and indignant, that I determined to\nleave, without noise, under the pretext that I was sick. It was not a\nfalse pretext; for I was really sick. There was no possibility of\nsleeping before two or three o\u2019clock. Besides, the stench in the\ndormitories was horrible.\n\nThere was, however, another thing which was still more overwhelming me.\nIt was the terrible moral struggle in my soul from morning till night,\nand from night till morning, when the voice of conscience, which I had\nto take for the voice of Satan, was crying in my ears:\u201c Oh! what an\nawful thing it is to resist the voice of God! To take him for the evil\none, when, by his warnings, he seeks to save your soul! Although the\nhorrible scandal I had seen distressed me more than human words can\ntell, those mental conflicts were still more distressing. Fearing lest I\nshould entirely lose my faith in my religion, and become an absolute\ninfidel, by remaining any longer in the midst of such profligacy, I\ndetermined to leave; but before doing so, I wanted to consult the new\nfriend whom the Providence of God had given me in Mr. Dunn. It seemed\nthe unbearable burden which was on my shoulders would become lighter, by\nsharing it with such a sympathetic brother priest.\n\nI went to him, after dinner, and taking him apart, I told him all about\nthe orgies of last night, and asked his advice on my determination not\nto continue that retreat, which was evidently nothing else than a blind,\nand a sacrilegious comedy, to deceive the world.\n\nHe answered: \u201cYou teach me nothing, for I spent last night in the same\ndormitory where you were. One of the priests told me all about those\norgies, yesterday; I could hardly believe what he said, and I determined\nto see and hear for myself what was going on. You do not exaggerate, you\ndo not even mention half of the horrors of last night. It baffles any\ndescription. It is simply incredible for any one who has not himself\nwitnessed them. However, I do not advise you to leave. It would forever\nruin you in the mind of the bishop, who is not already too well disposed\nin your favor. The best thing you can do is to go and tell everything to\nBishop Spaulding. I have done it this morning; but I felt that he did\nnot believe the half of what I told him. When the same testimony comes\nfrom you, then he will believe it, and will probably take some measures,\nwith our own bishop, to put an end to those horrors. I have something to\ntell you, confidentially, which surpasses, in a measure, anything you\nknow of the abominations of these last three nights. \u201c \u201cWith these fine\nwords ringing in my ears,\u201d said good Mr. Dunn, \u201cI had to leave his room\nat the double quick. It is of no use for us to speak to Bishop O\u2019Regan,\non that matter. It will do no good. He wants to get a large subscription\nfrom those priests, at the end of the retreat, and he is rather inclined\nto pet than punish them, till he obtains the $100,000 he wants to build\nhis white marble palace on the lake shore.\u201d\n\nI replied: \u201cThough you add to my desolation, instead of diminishing it,\nby what you say of the strange principles of our bishop, I will speak to\nmy lord Spaulding as you advise me.\u201d\n\nWithout a moment\u2019s delay, I went to his room. He received me very\nkindly, and did not at all seem surprised at what I said. It was as if\nhe had been accustomed to see the same, or still worse abominations.\nHowever, when I told him the enormous quantity of liquor drank, and that\nretreat would be only a ridiculous comedy, if no attempt at reform was\ntried, he agreed with me; \u201cbut it would be advisable to try it,\u201d he\nsaid.\u201c Although the Bishop of Chicago seemed puzzled at seeing me\nentering the room with my lord Spaulding, he was as polite as possible.\nHe listened with more attention than I expected to the narrative I gave\nof what is going on among the priests. After telling him my sad story,\nBishop Spaulding said: \u201cMy lord of Chicago: These facts are very grave,\nand there cannot be any doubt about the truth of what we have just\nheard. Two other gentlemen gave me the same testimony this morning.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d said Bishop O\u2019Regan, \u201cit is very sad to see that our priests have\nso little self-respect, even during such solemn days as those of a\npublic retreat. The Rev. Mr. Dunn has just told me the same sad story as\nFather Chiniquy. But what remedy can we find for such a state of things?\nPerhaps it might do well to give them a good sermon on temperance. Mr.\nChiniquy, I am told that you are called \u2018the temperance apostle of\nCanada.\u2019 and that you are a powerful speaker on that subject; would you\nnot like to give them one or two addresses on the injury they are doing\nto themselves and to our holy church, by their drunkenness?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf those priests could understand me in French,\u201d I replied, \u201cI would\naccept the honor you offer me, with pleasure; but to be understood by\nthem, I would have to speak in English; and I am not sufficiently free\nin that language to attempt it. My broken English would only bring\nridicule upon the holy cause of temperance.\n\n\u201cBut my lord Spaulding has already preached on that subject in Kentucky,\nand an address from his lordship would be listened to with more\nattention and benefit from him than from me.\u201d\n\nIt was, then, agreed that he should change his programme, and give two\naddresses on temperance, which he did. But though these addresses were\nreally eloquent, they were pearls thrown before swine.\n\nThe drunken priests slept as usual; and even snored, almost through the\nwhole length of the delivery. It is true that we could notice a little\nimprovement and less noise the following nights; the change, however,\nwas very little.\n\nThe fourth day of the retreat, the Rev. Mr. Lebel came to me with his\nbag in his hand. He looked furious. He said:\n\n\u201cNow, you must be satisfied, I am interdicted and turned out\nignominiously from this diocese. It is your work! But mind what I tell\nyou; you will, also, soon, be turned out from your colony by the mitred\ntyrant who has just struck me down. He told me, several times, that he\nwould, at any cost, break your plans of French colonization, by sending\nyou to the south-west of Illinois, along the Mississippi, to an old\nFrench settlement, opposite St. Louis.\n\n\u201cHe is enraged against you for your refusing to give him your fine\nproperty at St. Anne.\u201d\n\nI answered him: \u201cYou are mistaken when you think that I am the author of\nyour misfortunes. You have disgraced yourself, by your own acts. God has\ngiven you talents and qualities, which, if cultivated, would have\nexalted you in the church, but you have preferred to destroy those great\ngifts, in order to follow the evil inclinations of your poor degraded\nhuman nature; you reap to-day what you have sown. Nobody is more sorry\nthan I am, for your misfortune, and my most sincere wish is that the\npast may be a lesson to guide your steps in the future. The desire of my\nbishop to turn me out of my colony does not trouble me. If it is the\nwill of God to keep me at the head of that great work, the Bishop of\nChicago will go down from his episcopal throne before I go down the\nbeautiful hill of St. Anne. Adieu!\u201d\n\nHe soon disappeared. But how the fall of this priest, whom I had so\nsincerely loved, saddened me!\n\nThe next Sabbath was the last day of the retreat. All the priests went\nin procession to the cathedral, to receive the holy communion, and every\none of them ate, what we had to believe the true body, soul and divinity\nof Jesus Christ. This, however, did not prevent thirteen of them from\nspending the greater part of the next night in the calaboose, to which\nthey had been taken by the police, from houses of ill-fame, where they\nwere rioting and fighting. The next morning, they were discharged from\nthe hands of the police by paying pretty round sums of money for the\ntrouble of the night!\n\nThe next day, I went to Mr. Dunn\u2019s parsonage to ask him if he could give\nme any explanation of the rumor which was afloat, and to which Mr. Lebel\nhad made allusion, that it was the intention of the bishop to remove me\nfrom my colony to some distant part of his diocese.\n\n\u201cIt is unfortunately too true,\u201d said he. \u201cBishop O\u2019Regan thinks that he\nhas a mission from heaven to undo all his predecessor has done, and as\none of the best and grandest schemes of Bishop Vandevelde was to secure\nthe possession of this magnificent State of Illinois to our church, by\ninducing all the Roman Catholic emigrants from France, Belgium and\nCanada, to settle here, our present bishop does not conceal that he will\noppose that plan by removing you to such a distance, that your\ncolonization plans will be at an end. He says that the French are, as a\ngeneral thing, rebels and disobedient to their bishops. He prefers\nseeing the Irish coming, on account of their proverbial docility to\ntheir ecclesiastical superiors.\n\n\u201cI have, in vain, tried to change his mind. I told you, before, that he\noften asks my opinion on what I think the best thing to be done for the\ngood of the diocese. But I do not think that he intends to follow my\nadvice! it is just the contrary. My impression now is, that he wants to\nknow our views, only for the pleasure of acting diametrically in\nopposition to what we advise.\u201d\n\nI must not omit to say, that we had been requested to spend the forenoon\nof Monday, in the University, for an important affair which the Bishop\nhad to propose to his clergy. We were all there, in the great hall, at\nthe appointed hour. Even the thirteen priests who had spent the best\npart of the night at the police station, heard the voice of their\nbishop, and they were there, as docile lambs.\n\nWe knew beforehand, the proposition which was to be put before us. It\nwas to build a palace for our bishop, worthy of the great Illinois\nState, the cost of which would be about $100,000.\n\nThough every one of us felt that this was most extravagant in such a\nyoung and poor diocese, nobody dared to raise his voice against that act\nof pride and supreme folly. Every one promised to do all in his power to\nraise that sum, and to show our good will, we raised among ourselves, at\nonce, $7,000, which we gave in cash or in promissory notes.\n\nAfter this act of liberality, we were blessed and dismissed by our\nbishop.\n\nI was but a few steps from the University, when an Irish priest, unknown\nto me, ran after me to say: \u201cMy lord O\u2019Regan wants to see you\nimmediately.\u201d And, five minutes later, I was alone with my bishop, who,\nwithout any preface, told me:\n\n\u201cMr. Chiniquy, I hear very strange and damaging things about you, from\nevery quarter. But the worst of all is, that you are a secret Protestant\nemissary; that, instead of preaching the true doctrines of our holy\nchurch, about the immaculate conception, purgatory, the respect and\nobedience due to their superiors by the people, auricular confession,\netc., etc., you spend a part of your time in distributing Bibles and New\nTestaments among your emigrants; I want to know from your own lips, if\nthis be true or not.\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cA part of what the people told you about the matter is not\ntrue; the other is true. It is not true that I neglect the preaching of\nthe doctrines of our holy church, about purgatory, immaculate conception\nof Mary, auricular confession, or the respect due to our superiors. But\nit is true that I do distribute the Holy Bible and the Gospel of Christ,\namong my people.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd instead of blushing at such unpriestly conduct, you seem to be\nproud of it,\u201d angrily replied the bishop.\n\n\u201cI do not understand, my lord, why a priest of Christ could blush for\ndistributing the Word of God among his people; as I am bound to preach\nthat Holy Word, it is not only my right, but my duty to give it to them.\nI am fully persuaded that there is no preaching so efficacious and\npowerful as the preaching of God Himself, when speaking to us in His\nHoly Book.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is sheer Protestantism, Mr. Chiniquy, this is sheer\nProtestantism,\u201d he answered me, angrily.\n\n\u201cMy dear bishop,\u201d I answered calmly, \u201cif to give the Bible to the people\nand invite them to read and meditate on it, is Protestantism, our holy\nPope Pius VI. was a good Protestant, for in his letter to Martini, which\nis probably in the first pages of the beautiful Bible I see on your\nlordship\u2019s table, he not only blesses him for having translated that\nHoly book into Italian, but invites the people to read it.\u201d\n\nThe bishop, assuming an air of supreme contempt, replied:\n\n\u201cYour answer shows your complete ignorance on the subject on which you\nspeak so boldly. If you were a little better informed on that grave\nsubject, you would know that the translation by Martini, which the Pope\nadvised the Italian people to read, formed a work of twenty-three big\nvolumes in folio, which, of course, nobody except very rich and idle\npeople could read. Not one in ten thousand Italians have the means of\npurchasing such a voluminous work; and not one in fifty thousand have\nthe time or the will to peruse such a mass of endless commentaries. The\nPope would never have given such an advice to read a Bible, as the one\nyou distribute so imprudently.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, my lord, do you positively tell me that the Pope gave permission\nto read Martini\u2019s translation because he knew that the people could\nnever get it on account of its enormous size and price, and do you\nassure me that he would never have given such an advice had the same\npeople been able to purchase and read that holy work?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir! It is what I mean,\u201d answered the bishop, with an air of\ntriumph, \u201cfor I know, positively, that this is the fact.\u201d\n\nI replied, calmly: \u201cI hope your lordship is unwillingly mistaken; for if\nyou were correct, the stern and unflinching principles of logic would\nforce me to think and say that that Pope, and all his followers were\ndeceivers, and that encyclical, a public fraud in his own hands; for we,\nCatholic priests, make use of it, all over the world, and reprint it at\nthe head of our own Bibles, to make the people, both Protestants and\nCatholics, believe that we approve of their reading our own versions of\nthat Holy Book.\u201d\n\nHad I thrown a spark of fire in a keg of powder, the explosion would not\nhave been more prompt and terrible than the rage of that prelate.\nPointing his finger to my face, he said:\n\n\u201cNow, I see the truth of what I have been told, that you are a disguised\nProtestant, since the very day you were ordained a priest.\n\n\u201cThe Bible! the Bible! is your motto! For you, the Bible is everything,\nand the holy church, with her Popes and bishops, nothing! what an\ninsolent, I dare say, what a blasphemous word I have just heard from\nyou! You dare call an encyclical letter of one of our most holy Popes, a\n_fraud_!\u201d\n\nIn vain, I tried to explain; he would not listen, and he silenced me by\nsaying:\n\n\u201cIf our holy church has, in an unfortunate day, appointed you one of her\npriests in my diocese, it was to preach her doctrines, and not to\ndistribute the Bible! If you forget that, I will make you remember it!\u201d\n\nAnd with that threat on my head, as a Damocles\u2019 sword, I had to take to\nthe door, which he had opened, without any _au revoir_. Thanks be to\nGod, this first persecution and these outrages I received for my dear\nBible\u2019s sake, did not diminish my respect for God\u2019s Holy Word nor my\nconfidence in it. On the contrary, on reaching home, I took it, fell on\nmy knees, and pressing it to my heart, I asked my Heavenly Father to\ngrant me the favor to love it more sincerely, and follow its divine\nteachings with more fidelity, till the end of my life.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LVI.\n\nPUBLIC ACTS OF SIMONY\u2014THEFTS AND BRIGANDAGE OF BISHOP O\u2019REGAN\u2014GENERAL\n CRY OF INDIGNATION\u2014I DETERMINE TO RESIST HIM TO HIS FACE\u2014HE EMPLOYS\n MR. SPINK AGAIN TO SEND ME TO GAOL, AND HE FAILS\u2014DRAGS ME AS A\n PRISONER TO URBANA IN THE SPRING OF 1856 AND FAILS AGAIN\u2014ABRAHAM\n LINCOLN DEFENDS ME\u2014MY DEAR BIBLE BECOMES MORE THAN EVER MY LIGHT AND\n MY COUNSELOR.\n\n\nA month had hardly elapsed since the ecclesiastical retreat, when all\nthe cities of Illinois, were filled by the most strange and humiliating\nclamors against our bishop. From Chicago to Cairo, it would have been\ndifficult to go to a single town, without having, from the most\nrespectable people, or reading in big letters, in some of the most\ninfluential papers, that Bishop O\u2019Regan was a thief or a simoniac, a\nperjurer, or even something worse. The bitterest complaints were\ncrossing each other over the breadth and length of Illinois, from almost\nevery congregation:\n\n\u201cHe has stolen the beautiful and costly vestments we bought for our\nchurch,\u201d cried the French Canadians of Chicago. \u201cHe has swindled us out\nof a fine lot given us to build our church, sold it for $40,000, and\npocketed the money, for his own private use, without giving us any\nnotice,\u201d said the Germans.\n\n\u201cHis thirst for money is so great,\u201d said the whole Catholic people of\nIllinois, \u201cthat he is selling even the bones of the dead to fill his\ntreasures!\u201d\n\nI had not forgotten the bold attempt of the bishop to wrench my little\nproperty from my hands, at his first visit to my colony.\n\nThe highway thief who puts his dagger at the breast of the traveler,\nthreatening to take away his life, if he does not give him his purse,\ndoes not appear more infamous to his victim than that bishop appeared to\nme, that day. But my hope, then, was, that this was an isolated and\nexceptional case in the life of my superior; and I did not whisper a\nword of it to anybody. I began to think differently, however, when I saw\nthe numerous articles in the principal papers of the State, signed by\nthe most respectable names, accusing him of theft, simony and lies. My\nhope, at first, was that there were many exaggerations in those reports.\nBut they came thicker, day after day, I thought my duty was to go to\nChicago, and see for myself, to what extent those rumors were true. I\nwent directly to the French Canadian church; and to my unspeakable\ndismay, I found that it was too true that the bishop had stolen the fine\nchurch vestments, which my countrymen had bought for their own priest,\nfor grand festivals; and he had transferred them to the cathedral of St.\nMary for his own personal use. The indignation of my poor countrymen\nknew no bounds. It was really deplorable to hear with what supreme\ndisgust, and want of respect, they were speaking of their bishop.\nUnfortunately, the Germans and Irish people were still ahead of them in\ntheir unguarded, disrespectful denunciations. Several spoke of\nprosecuting him before the civil courts, to force him to disgorge what\nhe had stolen; and it was with the greatest difficulty that I succeeded\nin preventing some of them from mobbing and insulting him publicly in\nthe streets, or even in his own palace. The only way I could find to\nappease them was to promise that I would speak to his lordship, and tell\nhim that it was the desire of my countrymen to have those vestments\nrestored to them.\n\nThe second thing I did was to go to the cemetery, and see for myself, to\nwhat extent it was true or not that our bishop was selling the very\nbones of his diocesans, in order to make money.\n\nOn my way to the Roman Catholic graveyard, I met a great many cart-loads\nof sand, which, I was told by the carters, had been taken from the\ncemetery; but I did not like to stop them till I was at the very door of\nthe consecrated spot. There, I found three carters, who were just\nleaving the grounds. I asked and obtained from them, the permission to\nsearch the sand which they carried, to see if there were not some bones.\nI could not find any in the first cart; and my hope was that it would be\nthe same in the two others. But, to my horror and shame, I found the\ninferior jaw of a child, in the second; and part of the bones of an arm,\nand almost the whole foot of a human being, in the third cart! I\npolitely requested the carters to show me the very place where they had\ndug that sand, and they complied with my prayer. To my unspeakable\nregret and shame, I found that the bishop had told an unmitigated\nfalsehood when, to appease the public indignation against his\nsacrilegious trade, he had published that he was selling only the sand\nwhich was outside of the fence, on the very border of the lake.\n\nIt is true that, to make his case good, he had ordered the old fence to\nbe taken away, in order to make a new one, many feet inside the old one.\nBut this miserable and shameful subterfuge rendered his crime still\ngreater than it had at first appeared. What added to the gravity of that\npublic iniquity, is that the Bishop of Chicago had received that piece\nof land from the city, for a burial ground, only after they had taken a\nsolemn oath to use it only for burying the dead. Every load of that\nground sold then, was not only an act of simony, but the breaking of a\nsolemn oath! No words can express the shame I felt, after convincing\nmyself of the correctness of what the press of Chicago, and of the whole\nState of Illinois, had published against our bishop, about this\nsacrilegious traffic.\n\nSlowly retracing my steps to the city from the cemetery, I went directly\nto the bishop, to fulfil the promise I had made to the French Canadians,\nto try to obtain the restoration of their fine vestments. But I was not\nlong with him without seeing that I would gain nothing but his\nimplacable enmity in pleading the cause of my poor countrymen. However,\nI thought that my duty was to do all in my power to open the eyes of my\nbishop to the pit he was digging for himself and for us all Catholics,\nby his conduct.\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d I said, \u201cI will not surprise your lordship, when I tell you\nthat all the true Catholics of Illinois, are filled with sorrow by the\narticles they find, every day, in the press, against their bishop.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! yes!\u201d he abruptly replied, \u201cthe good Catholics must be sad indeed\nto read such disgusting diatribes against their superior; and I presume\nthat you are one of those that are sorry. But, then, why do you not\nprevent your insolent and infidel countrymen from writing those things!\nI see that a great part of those libels are signed by the French\nCanadians.\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cIt is to try, as much as it is in my power, to put an end\nto those scandals that I am in Chicago, to-day, my lord.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well, very well,\u201d he replied, \u201cas you have the reputation of\nhaving great influence over your countrymen, make use of it to stop them\nin their rebellious conduct against me, and I will, then, believe that\nyou are a good priest.\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cI hope that I will succeed in what your lordship wants me\nto do. But there are two things to be done, in order to secure my\nsuccess.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat are they?\u201d quickly asked the bishop.\n\n\u201cThe _first_ is, that your lordship give back the fine church vestments\nwhich you have taken from the French Canadian congregation of Chicago.\n\n\u201cThe _second_ is, that your lordship abstain, absolutely, from this day,\nto sell the sand of the burying ground, which covers the tombs of the\ndead.\u201d\n\nWithout answering a word, the bishop struck his fist violently upon the\ntable, and crossed the room at a quick step, two or three times; then\nturning towards me, and pointing his finger to my face, he exclaimed in\nan indescribable accent of rage:\n\n\u201cNow, I see the truth of what Mr. Spink told me! you are not only my\nbitterest enemy, but you are at the _head_ of my enemies. You take sides\nwith them against me. You approve of their libellous writings against\nme! I will never give back those church vestments. They are mine, as the\nFrench Canadian church is mine! Do you not know, that the ground on\nwhich the churches are built, as well as the churches themselves, and\nall that belongs to the church, belongs to the bishop? Was it not a\nburning shame to use those fine vestments in a poor miserable church of\nChicago, when the bishop of that important city was covered with rags?\nIt was in the interest of the episcopal dignity, that I ordered those\nrich and splendid vestments, which were mine by law, to be transferred\nfrom that small and insignificant congregation, to my cathedral of St.\nMary, and if you had an ounce of respect for your bishop, Mr. Chiniquy,\nyou would immediately go to your countrymen and put a stop to their\nmurmurs and slanders against me; by simply telling them that I have\ntaken what was mine from that church, which is mine also, to the\ncathedral, which is altogether mine.\n\n\u201cTell your countrymen to hold their tongues, and respect their bishop,\nwhen he is in the right, as I am to-day.\u201d\n\nI had, many times, considered the infamy and injustice of the law which\nthe bishops have had passed all over the United States, making every one\nof them a corporation, with the right of possessing personally all the\nchurch properties of the Roman Catholics. But I had never understood the\ninfamy and tyranny of that law so clearly as in that hour.\n\nIt is impossible to describe with ink and paper the air of pride and\ncontempt with which the bishop really in substance, if not in words,\ntold me:\n\n\u201cAll those things are mine. I do what I please with them, you must be\nmute and silent when I take them away from you. It is against God\nHimself that you rebel when you refuse me the right of dispossessing you\nof all those properties which you have purchased with your own money,\nand which have not cost me a cent!\u201d\n\nIn that moment I felt that the law which makes every bishop the only\nmaster and proprietor of all the religious goods, houses, churches,\nlands and money of their people as Catholics, is simply diabolical: and\nthat the church which sanctions such a law, is antichristian. Though it\nwas, at the risk and peril of every thing dear to me, that I should\nopenly protest against that unjust law, there was no help; I felt\nconstrained to do so with all the energy I possessed.\n\nI answered: \u201cMy lord, I confess that this is the law, in the United\nStates; but this is a human law, directly opposed to the Gospel. I do\nnot find a single word in the Gospel which gives this power to the\nbishop. Such a power is an abusive, not a divine power, which will\nsooner or later destroy our holy church, in the United States, as it has\nalready mortally wounded her in Great Britain, in France and in many\nother places. When Christ said, in the Holy Gospel, that He had not\nenough of ground whereon to lay His head, He condemned, in advance, the\npretensions of the bishops who lay their hands on our church properties\nas their own. Such a claim is an usurpation and not a right, my lord.\nOur Saviour Jesus Christ protested against that usurpation, when asked\nby a young man to meddle in his temporal affairs with his brothers; He\nanswered that \u201cHe had not received such power.\u201d The Gospel is a long\nprotest against that usurpation; in every page, it tells us that the\nKingdom of Christ is not of this world. I have myself given $50 to help\nmy countrymen to buy those church vestments. They belong to them, and\nnot to you!\u201d\n\nMy words, uttered with an expression of firmness which the bishop had\nnever yet seen in any of his priests, fell upon him, at first, as a\nthunderbolt. They so puzzled him, that he looked at me, a moment, as if\nhe wanted to see if it was a dream or a reality, that one of his priests\nhad the audacity to use such language, in his presence.\n\nBut, soon, recovering from his stupor, he interrupted me by striking his\nfist again on the table, and saying in anger:\n\n\u201cYou are half a Protestant! Your words smell Protestantism! The Gospel!\nthe Gospel!! that is your great tower of strength against the laws and\nregulations of our holy church! If you think, Mr. Chiniquy, that you\nwill frighten me with your big words of the Gospel, you will soon see\nyour mistake, at your own expense. I will make you remember that it is\n_the Church_ you must obey, and it is through your bishop that the\nchurch rules you!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d I answered, \u201cI want to obey the church. Yes! but it is a\nchurch founded on the Gospel; a church that respects and follows the\nGospel, that I want to obey!\u201d\n\nThese words threw him into a fit of rage, and he answered: \u201cI am too\nbusy to hear your impertinent babblings any longer. Please let me alone,\nand remember that you will, soon, hear from me again, if you cannot\nteach your people to respect and obey their superiors!\u201d\n\nThe bishop kept his promise. I heard of him very soon after, when his\nagent, Peter Spink, dragged me, again, a prisoner, before the Criminal\nCourt of Kankakee, accusing me falsely of crimes which his malice alone\ncould have invented.\n\nMy lord O\u2019Regan had determined to interdict me; but not being able to\nfind any cause in my private or public life as a priest, to found such a\nsentence, he had pressed that land speculator, Spink, to prosecute me\nagain; promising to base his interdict on the condemnation which, he had\nbeen told, would be passed against me by the Criminal Court of Kankakee.\n\nBut the bishop and Peter Spink were again to be disappointed; for the\nverdict of the court, given on the 13th of November, 1855, was again in\nmy favor.\n\nMy heart filled with joy at this new and great victory my God had given\nme against my merciless persecutors. I was blessing him, when my two\nlawyers, Messrs. Osgood and Padcock, came to me and said: \u201cOur victory,\nthough great, is not so decisive as was expected; for Mr. Spink has just\ntaken an oath that he has no confidence in this Kankakee Court, and he\nhas appealed, by a change of venue, to the Court of Urbana, in Champaign\nCounty. We are sorry to have to tell you that you must remain a\nprisoner, under bail, in the hands of the sheriff, who is bound to\ndeliver you to the sheriff of Urbana, the 19th of May, next spring.\u201d\n\nI nearly fainted when I heard this. The ignominy of being again in the\nhands of the sheriff, for so long a time; the enormous expenses, far\nbeyond my means, to bring my fifteen to twenty witnesses such a long\ndistance of nearly one hundred miles; the new ocean of insults, false\naccusations and perjuries, with which my enemies were to overwhelm me\nagain; and the new risk of being condemned, though innocent, at that\ndistant court; all those things crowded themselves in my mind, to crush\nme. For a few minutes, I was obliged to sit down; for I would have,\nsurely, fallen down, had I continued to stand on my feet. A kind friend\nhad to bring me some cold water, and bathe my forehead, to prevent me\nfrom fainting. It seemed that God had forsaken me, for the time being,\nand that He was to let me fall powerless into the hand of my foes. But I\nwas mistaken. That merciful God was near me, in that dark hour, to give\nme one of the marvellous proofs of his paternal and loving care.\n\nThe very moment I was leaving the court with a heavy heart, a gentleman,\na stranger, came to me and said:\u201c I answered: \u201cI am much obliged to you\nfor your sympathetic words; but would you please allow me to ask your\nname?\u201d\n\n\u201cBe kind enough to let me keep my incognito here,\u201d he answered. \u201cThe\nonly thing I can say is, that I am a Catholic like you, and one who,\nlike you, cannot bear any longer the tyranny of our American bishops.\nWith many others, I look to you as our deliverer, and for that reason I\nadvise you to engage the services of Abraham Lincoln.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d I replied, \u201cwho is that Abraham Lincoln? I never heard of that\nman before.\u201d\n\nHe replied: \u201cAbraham Lincoln is the best lawyer and the most honest man\nwe have in Illinois.\u201d\n\nI went, immediately, with that stranger, to my two lawyers, who were in\nconsultation only a few steps from us, and asked them if they would have\nany objections that I should ask the services of Abraham Lincoln, to\nhelp them to defend me at Urbana.\n\nThey both answered: \u201cOh! If you can secure the services of Abraham\nLincoln; by all means do it. We know him well; he is one of the best\nlawyers, and one of the most honest men we have in our State.\u201d\n\nWithout losing a minute, I went to the telegraph office with that\nstranger, and telegraphed to Abraham Lincoln to ask him if he would\ndefend my honor and my life (though I was a stranger to him) at the next\nMay term of the court at Urbana.\n\nAbout twenty minutes later, I received the answer:\n\n\u201cYes, I will defend your honor and your life at the next May term at\nUrbana.\n\n ABRAHAM LINCOLN.\u201d\n\nMy unknown friend then paid the operator, pressed my hand, and said:\n\u201cMay God bless and help you, Father Chiniquy. Continue to fight\nfearlessly for truth and righteousness, against our mitred tyrant; and\nGod will help you to the end.\u201d He then took a train for the north, and\nsoon disappeared, as a vision from heaven. I have not seen him since,\nthough I have not let a day pass without asking my God to bless him. A\nfew minutes later, Spink came to the office, to telegraph to Lincoln,\nasking his services at the next May term of the Court, at Urbana. But it\nwas too late.\n\nBefore being dragged to Urbana, I had to renew, at Easter, 1856, the oil\nwhich is used for the sick, in the ceremony which the Church of Rome\ncalls the sacrament of Extreme Unction, and in the Baptism of Children.\nI sent my little silver box to the bishop by a respectable young\nmerchant of my colony, called Dorion. But he brought it back without a\ndrop of oil, with a most abusive letter from the bishop, because I had\nnot sent five dollars to pay for the oil. It was just what I expected. I\nknew that it was his habit to make his priests pay five dollars for that\noil, which was not worth more than two or three cents.\n\nThis act of my bishop was one of the many evident cases of simony of\nwhich he was guilty every day. I took his letter, with my small silver\nbox to the Archbishop of St. Louis, my Lord Kenrick, before whom I\nbrought my complaints against the Bishop of Chicago, on the 9th of\nApril, 1856. That high dignitary told me that many priests of the\ndiocese of Chicago had already brought the same complaints before him,\nand exposed the infamous conduct of their bishop. He agreed with me that\nthe rapacity of Bishop O\u2019Regan, his thefts, his lies, his acts of\nsimony, were public and intolerable, but that he had no remedy for them,\nand said: \u201cThe only thing I advise you to do is to write to the pope\ndirectly. Prove your charges against that guilty bishop as clearly as\npossible. I will myself write to corroborate all you have told me, for I\nknow it is true. My hope is that your complaints will attract the\nattention of the pope. He will probably send some one from Rome to make\nan inquiry, and then that wicked man will be forced to offer his\nresignation. If you succeed, as I hope, in your praiseworthy efforts to\nput an end to such scandals, you will have well deserved the gratitude\nof the whole church. For that unprincipled dignitary is the cause that\nour holy religion is not only losing her prestige in the United States,\nbut is becoming an object of contempt where-ever those public crimes are\nknown.\u201d\n\nI was, however, forced to postpone my writing to the pope. For, a few\ndays after my return from St. Louis to my colony, I had to deliver\nmyself again into the hands of the sheriff of Kankakee county, who was\nobliged by Spink to take me prisoner, and deliver me as a criminal in to\nthe hands of the sheriff of Champaign county, on the 19th of May, 1856.\n\nIt was then that I met Abraham Lincoln for the first time. He was a\ngiant in stature; but I found him still more a giant in the noble\nqualities of his mind and heart. It was impossible to converse five\nminutes with him without loving him. There was such an expression of\nkindness and honesty in that face, and such an attractive magnetism in\nthe man; that, after a few moments\u2019 conversation, one felt as tied to\nhim by all the noblest affections of the heart.\n\nWhen pressing my hand, he told me: \u201cYou were mistaken when you\ntelegraphed that you were unknown to me. I know you, by reputation, as\nthe stern opponent of tyranny of your bishop, and the fearless protector\nof your countrymen in Illinois. I have heard much of you from two\npriests; and, last night, your lawyers, Messrs. Osgood & Paddock,\nacquainted me with the fact that your bishop employs some of his tools\nto get rid of you. I hope it will be an easy thing to defeat his\nprojects and protect you against his machinations.\u201d\n\nHe then asked me how I had been induced to desire his services. I\nanswered by giving him the story of that unknown friend who had advised\nme to have Mr. Abraham Lincoln for one of my lawyers, for the reason\nthat \u201che was the best lawyer and the most honest man in Illinois.\u201d He\nsmiled at my answer, with that inimitable and unique smile, which we may\ncall the \u201cLincoln smile,\u201d and replied: \u201cThat unknown friend would surely\nhave been more correct had he told you that Abraham Lincoln was the\nugliest lawyer of the country!\u201d And he laughed outright.\n\nI spent six long days at Urbana as a criminal, in the hands of the\nsheriff, at the feet of my judges. During the greatest part of that\ntime, all that human language can express of abuse and insult was heaped\non my poor head. God only knows what I suffered in those days; but I was\nprovidentially surrounded, as by a strong wall, when I had Abraham\nLincoln for my defence. \u201cThe best lawyer and the most honest man of\nIllinois,\u201d and the learned and upright David Davis for my judge. The\nlatter became Vice-President of the United States in 1882, and the\nformer its most honored President from 1861 to 1865.\n\nI never heard anything like the eloquence of Abraham Lincoln, when he\ndemolished the testimonies of the two perjured priests, Lebel and\nCarthevel, who, with ten or twelve other false witnesses, had sworn\nagainst me. I would have surely been declared innocent, after that\neloquent address, and the charge of the learned Judge Davis, had not my\nlawyers, by a sad blunder, left a Roman Catholic on the jury. Of course,\nthat Irish Roman Catholic wanted to condemn me, while the eleven honest\nand intelligent Protestants were unanimous in voting \u201cNot guilty.\u201d The\ncourt, having at last found that it was impossible to persuade the jury\nto give a unanimous verdict, discharged them. But Spink again forced the\nsheriff to keep me prisoner, by obtaining from the court the permission\nto begin the prosecution _de novo_ at the term of the fall, the 19th of\nOctober, 1856.\n\nHumanly speaking, I would have been one of the most miserable of men had\nI not had my dear Bible, which I was meditating and studying day and\nnight, in those dark days of trial.\n\nBut, though I was then still in the desolate wilderness, far away yet\nfrom the Promised Land, my Heavenly Father never forsook me. He many\ntimes let the sweet manna fall from heaven to feed my desponding soul,\nand cheer my fainting heart. More than once, when I was panting with\nspiritual thirst, He brought me near the Rock, from the side of which\nthe living waters were gushing to refresh and renew my strength and\ncourage.\n\nThough the world did not suspect it, I knew from the beginning, that all\nmy tribulations were coming from my unconquerable attachment and my\nunfaltering love and respect for the Bible, as the root and source of\nevery truth given by God to man; and I felt assured that my God knew it\nalso. That assurance supported my courage in the conflict. Every day, my\nBible was becoming dearer to me. I was then constantly trying to walk in\nits marvellous light and divine teaching. I wanted to learn my duties\nand rights. I like to acknowledge that it was the Bible which gave me\nthe power and wisdom I then so much needed, to fearlessly face so many\nfoes. That power and wisdom I felt were not mine. On this very account,\nmy dear Bible enabled me to remain calm in the very lion\u2019s den; and it\ngave me, from the very beginning of that terrible conflict, the\nassurance of a final victory; for every time I bathed my soul in its\ndivine light, I heard my merciful heavenly Father\u2019s voice saying, \u201cFear\nnot, for I am with thee.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LVII\n\nBISHOP O\u2019REGAN SELLS THE PARSONAGE OF THE FRENCH CANADIANS OF CHICAGO,\n POCKETS THE MONEY, AND TURNS THEM OUT WHEN THEY COME TO COMPLAIN\u2014HE\n DETERMINES TO TURN ME OUT OF MY COLONY AND SEND ME TO KAHOKIA\u2014HE\n FORGETS IT THE NEXT DAY, AND PUBLISHES THAT HE HAS INTERDICTED ME\u2014MY\n PEOPLE SEND A DEPUTATION TO THE BISHOP\u2014HIS ANSWERS\u2014THE SHAM\n EXCOMMUNICATION BY THREE DRUNKEN PRIESTS.\n\n\nThe Holy Scriptures say that an abyss calls for another abyss (_abyssus\nabyssum invocat_). That axiom had its accomplishment in the conduct of\nBishop O\u2019Regan. When once on the declivity of iniquity, he descended to\nits lowest depths, with more rapidity than a stone thrown into the sea.\nNot satisfied with the shameful theft of the rich vestments of the\nFrench Canadian Church of Chicago, he planned iniquity, which was to\nbring upon him, more than ever, the execration of the Roman Catholics of\nIllinois. It was nothing less than the complete destruction of the\nthriving congregations of my French Canadian countrymen of Chicago and\nSt. Anne. The removal of the French-speaking priest of Chicago from his\npeople, as well as my removal from my colony, were determined.\n\nOur churches were, at first, to be closed, and after some time sold to\nthe Irish people, or to the highest bidder, for their own use. It was in\nChicago that this great iniquity was to begin.\n\nNot long after Easter, 1856, the Rev. Mons. Lemaire was turned out,\ninterdicted and ignominiously driven from the diocese of Chicago without\neven giving the shadow of a reason, and the French Canadians suddenly\nfound themselves without a pastor.\n\nA few days after, the parsonage they had built for their priest in Clark\nstreet, was sold for $1,200 to an American. The beautiful little church\nwhich they had built on the lot next to the parsonage, at the cost of so\nmany sacrifices, was removed five or six blocks southwest, and rented by\nthe bishop to the Irish Catholics for about $2,000 per annum, and the\nwhole money was pocketed, without even a word of notice to my\ncountrymen.\n\nThough accustomed to his acts of perfidy, I could not believe at first\nthe rumors which reached me of those transactions. They seemed to be\nbeyond the limits of infamy, and to be impossible. I went to Chicago,\nhoping to find that the public rumor had exaggerated the evil. But alas!\nnothing had been exaggerated!\n\nThe wolf had dispersed the sheep and destroyed the flock. The once\nthriving French congregation of Chicago was no more! Wherever I went, I\nsaw tears of distress among my dear countrymen, and heard cries of\nindignation against the destroyer. Young and old, rich and poor among\nthem, with one voice, denounced and cursed the heartless mitred brigand\nwho had dared to commit publicly such a series of iniquities, to satisfy\nhis thirst for gold and his hatred of the French Canadians.\n\nThey asked me what they should do; but what could I answer? They\nrequested me to go again to him and remonstrate. But I showed them that\nafter my complete failure, when I had tried to get back the sacerdotal\nvestments, there was no hope that he would disgorge the house and the\nchurch. The only thing I could advise them was to select five or six of\nthe most influential members of their congregation to go and\nrespectfully ask him by what right he had taken away, not only their\npriest, but the parsonage and the church they had built and transferred\nthem to another people. They followed my advice. Messrs. Franchere and\nRoffinot (who are still living) and six other respectable French\nCanadians were sent by the whole people to put those questions to their\nbishop. He answered them:\n\n\u201cFrench Canadians: You do not know your religion! Were you a little\nbetter acquainted with it, you would know that I have the right to sell\nyour churches and church properties, pocket the money, and go eat and\ndrink it where I please.\u201d\n\nAfter that answer they were ignominiously turned out from his presence\ninto the street. Posterity will scarcely believe those things, though\nthey are true.\n\nThe very next day, August 19th, 1856, the bishop having heard that I was\nin Chicago, sent for me. I met him after his dinner. Though not\nabsolutely drunk, I found him full of wine and terribly excited.\n\n\u201cMr. Chiniquy,\u201d he said, \u201cyou had promised me to make use of your\ninfluence to put an end to the rebellious conduct of your countrymen\nagainst me. But I find that they are more insolent and unmanageable than\never; and my firm belief is that it is your fault. You, and the handful\nof French Canadians of Chicago, give me more trouble than all of my\npriests and my people of Illinois. You are too near Chicago, sir; your\ninfluence is too much felt on your people here. I must remove you to a\ndistant place, where you will have enough to do without meddling in my\nadministration. I want your service to Kahokia, in my diocese of Quincy;\nand if you are not there by the 15th of September next, I will interdict\nand excommunicate you, and forever put an end to your intrigues.\u201d\n\nThese words fell upon me as a thunderbolt. The tyranny of the bishop of\nmy church and the absolute degradation of the priest whose honor,\nposition and life are entirely in his hands, had never been revealed to\nme so vividly as in that hour. What could I say or do to appease that\nmitred despot? After some moments of silence, I tried to make some\nrespectful remonstrances, by telling him that my position was an\nexceptional one; that I had not come to Illinois as his other priests,\nto be at the head of any existing congregation; but that I had been\ninvited by his predecessor to direct the tide of emigration of the\nFrench-speaking people of Europe and America. That I had come to a\nwilderness which, by the blessing of God, I had changed into a thriving\ncountry, covered with an industrious and religious people. I further\ntold him that I had left the most honorable position which a priest had\never held in Canada, with the promise from his predecessor that, as long\nas I lived the life of a good priest, I should not be disturbed in my\nwork. As I soon perceived that he was too much under the influence of\nliquor to understand me, and speak with intelligence, I only added:\n\n\u201cMy lord, you speak of interdict and excommunication! Allow me to\nrespectfully tell you that if you can show me that I have done anything\nto deserve to be interdicted or excommunicated, I will submit in silence\nto your sentence. But before you pass that sentence, I ask you, in the\nname of God, to make a public inquest about me, and have my accusers\nconfront me. I warn your lordship that if you interdict or excommunicate\nmu without holding an inquest, I will make use of all the means which\nour holy church puts in the hands of her priests, to defend my honor and\nprove my innocence. I will also appeal to the laws of our great\nRepublic, which protects the character of all her citizens against\nanyone who slanders them. It will then be at your risk and peril that\nyou will pass such a sentence against me.\u201d\n\nMy calm answer greatly excited his rage. He violently struck the table\nwith his fist, and said:\n\n\u201cI do not care a straw about your threats. I repeat it, Mr. Chiniquy, if\nyou are not at Kahokia by the 15th of next month, I will interdict and\nexcommunicate you.\u201d\n\nFeeling that it was a folly on my part to argue with a man who was\nbeside himself by passion and excess of wine, I replied:\n\n\u201cWith the help of God, I will never bear the infamy of an interdict or\nexcommunication. I will do all that religion and honor will allow me to\nprevent such a dark spot from defiling my name, and the man who does try\nit, will learn at his own expense that I am not only a priest of Christ\nbut also an American citizen. I respectfully tell your lordship that I\nneither smoke, nor use intoxicating drinks. The time which your other\npriests give to those habits, I spend in the study of books, and\nespecially of my Bible. I found in them not only my duties but my\nrights; and just as I am determined, with the help of God, to perform my\nduties, I will stand by my rights.\u201d\n\nI then immediately left the room to take the train to St. Anne.\n\nHaving spent a part of the night praying God to change the heart of my\nbishop, and keep me in the midst of my people, who were becoming dearer\nand dearer to me, in proportion to the efforts of the enemy to drive me\naway from them, I addressed the following letter to the bishop:\n\nTO THE RT. REV. O\u2019REGAN, Bishop of Chicago.\n\nMY LORD:\u2014The more I consider your design to turn me out of the colony\nwhich I have founded and of which I am the pastor, the more I believe it\na duty which I owe to myself, my friends and to my countrymen, to\nprotest before God and man against what you intend to do.\n\nNot a single one of your priests stands higher than I do in the public\nmind, neither is more loved and respected by his people than I am. I\ndefy my bitterest enemies to prove the contrary. And that character\nwhich is my most precious treasure you intend to despoil me of by\nignominiously sending me away from among my people! Certainly, I have\nenemies, and I am proud of it. The chief ones are well known in this\ncountry as the most depraved of men. The cordial reception they say they\nhave received from you, has not taken away the stains they have on their\nforeheads.\n\nBy this letter, I again request you to make a public and most minute\ninquest into my conduct. My conscience tells me that nothing can be\nfound against me. Such a public and fair dealing with me would confound\nmy accusers. But I speak of accusers, when I do not really know if I\nhave any. Where are they? What are their names? Of what sin do they\naccuse me? All these questions, which I put to you last Tuesday, were\nleft unanswered! and would to God that you would answer them to-day, by\ngiving me their names. I am ready to meet them before any tribunal.\nBefore you strike the last blow on the victim of the most hellish plot,\nI request you, in the name of God, to give a moment\u2019s attention to the\nfollowing consequences of my removal from this place at present.\n\nYou know I have a suit with Mr. Spink at the Urbana Court, for the\nbeginning of October. My lawyers and witnesses are all in Kankakee and\nIroquois counties; and in the very time I want most to be here to prove\nmy innocence and guard my honor, you order me to go to a place more than\n300 miles distant? Did you ever realize that by that strange conduct you\nhelp Spink against your own priest? When at Kahokia, I will have to bear\nthe heavy expenses of traveling more than 300 miles, many times, to\nconsult my friends, or, be deprived of their valuable help! Is it\npossible that you thus try to tie my hands and feet, and deliver me into\nthe hands of my remorseless enemies? Since the beginning of that suit,\nMr. Spink proclaims that you help him, and that, with the perjured\npriests, you have promised to do all in your power to crush me down! For\nthe sake of the sacred character you bear, do not show so publicly that\nMr. Spink\u2019s boastings are true. For the sake of your high position in\nthe church, do not so publicly lend a helping hand to the heartless land\nspeculator of L\u2019Erable. He has already betrayed his Protestant friends\nto get a wife; he will, ere long, betray you for less. Let me then live\nin peace here, till that suit is over.\n\nBy turning me away from my settlement, you destroy it. More than\nnine-tenths of the emigrants came here to live near me; by striking me\nyou strike them all.\n\nWhere will you find a priest who will love that people so much as to\ngive them, every year, from one to two thousand dollars, as I have\ninvariably done. It is at the price of those sacrifices that, with the\npoorest class of emigrants from Canada, I have founded here in four\nyears a settlement which cannot be surpassed, or even equaled, in the\nUnited States, for its progress. And now that I have spent my last cent\nto form this colony, you turn me out of it. Our college, where 150 boys\nare receiving such a good education, will be closed the very day I\nleave. For, you know very well the teachers I got from Montreal will\nleave as soon as I will.\n\nAh! if you are merciless towards the priest of St. Anne, have pity on\nthese poor children. I would rather be condemned to death than to see\nthem destroy their intelligence by running in the streets. Let me then\nfinish my work here, and give me time to strengthen these young\ninstitutions, which would fall to the ground with me.\n\nIf you turn me out or interdict me, as you say you will do, if I disobey\nyour orders, my enemies will proclaim that you treat me with that rigor\nbecause you have found me guilty of some great iniquity, and this\nnecessarily will prejudice my judges against me. They will consider me\nas a vile criminal. For who will suppose, in this free country, that\nthere is a class of men who can judge a man and condemn him as our\nBishop of Chicago is doing to-day, without giving him the names of his\naccusers or telling him of what crimes he is accused.\n\nIn the name of God, I again ask you not to force me to leave my colony\nbefore I prove my innocence, and the iniquity of Spink, to the honest\npeople of Urbana.\n\nBut, if you are deaf to my prayers, and if nothing can deter you from\nyour resolution, I do not wish to be in the unenviable position of an\ninterdicted priest among my countrymen. Send me, by return mail, my\nletters of mission for the new places you intend trusting to my care.\nThe sooner I get there, the better for me and my people. I am ready!\nWhen on the road of exile, I will pray the God of Abraham to give me the\nfortitude and the faith he gave to Isaac, when laying his head on the\naltar, he willingly presented his throat to the sword. I will pray my\nSaviour, bearing His heavy cross to the top of Calvary, to direct and\nhelp my steps towards the land of exile you have prepared for your\n\n Devoted Priest,\n\n C. CHINIQUY.\n\nThis letter was not yet mailed when we heard that the drunkard priests\naround us were publishing that the bishop had interdicted me, and they\nhad received orders from him to take charge of the colony of St. Anne. I\nimmediately called a meeting of the whole people and told them: \u201cThe\nbishop has not interdicted me as the neighboring priests publish; he has\nonly threatened to do so, if I do not leave this place for Kahokia, by\nthe 15th of next month. But though he has not interdicted me, it may be\nthat he does to-day falsely publish that he has done it. We can expect\nanything from the destroyer of the fine congregation of the French\nCanadians of Chicago. He wants to destroy me and you as he has destroyed\nthem. But before he immolates us, I hope that, with the help of God, we\nwill fight as Christian soldiers, for our life, and we will use all the\nmeans which the laws of our church, the Holy Word of God, and the\nglorious Constitution of the United States allow us to employ against\nour merciless tyrant.\n\n\u201cI ask you, as a favor, to send a deputation of four members of our\ncolony in whom you place the most implicit confidence, to carry this\nletter to the bishop. But before delivering it, they will put to him the\nfollowing questions, the answers of which, they will write down with\ngreat care in his presence, and deliver them to us faithfully. It is\nevident that we are now entering into a momentous struggle. We must act\nwith prudence and firmness. Messrs. J. B. Lemoine, Leon Mailloux,\nFrancis Bechard and B. Allaire, having been unanimously chosen for that\nimportant mission, we gave them the following questions to put to the\nbishop:\n\n1st. \u201cHave you interdicted Mr. Chiniquy?\n\n2nd. \u201cWhy have you interdicted him? Is Mr. Chiniquy guilty of any crime\nto deserve to be interdicted? Have those crimes been proved against him\nin a canonical way?\n\n3rd. \u201cWhy do you take Mr. Chiniquy away from us?\n\n[Our deputies came back from Chicago with the following report and\nanswers, which they swore to, some time after before the Kankakee\ncourt.]\n\n1st. \u201cI have suspended Mr. Chiniquy on the 19th inst., on account of his\nstubbornness and want of submission to my orders, when I ordered him to\nKahokia.\n\n2nd. \u201cIf Mr. Chiniquy has said mass since as you say, he is irregular\nand the pope alone can restore him in his ecclesiastical and sacerdotal\nfunctions.\n\n3rd. \u201cI take him away from St. Anne, despite his prayers and yours,\nbecause he has not been willing to live in peace and friendship with the\nRevs. Messrs. Lebel and Cartevel.\n\n[The bishop, being asked if those two priests had not been interdicted\nby him for public scandals, was forced to say, \u201cYes!\u201d]\n\n4th. \u201cMy second reason for taking Mr. Chiniquy from St. Anne, and\nsending him to his new mission, is to stop the law-suit Mr. Spink has\ninstituted against him.\n\n[The bishop being asked if he would promise that the suit would be\nstopped by the removal of Mr. Chiniquy, answered: \u201cI cannot promise\nthat.\u201d]\n\n5th. \u201cMr. Chiniquy is one of the best priests in my diocese, and I do\nnot want to deprive myself of his services. No accusation against his\nmorality has been proved before me.\n\n6th. \u201cMr. Chiniquy has demanded an inquest to prove his innocence\nagainst certain accusations made against him; he asked me the names of\nhis accusers, to confound them. I have refused to grant his request.\n\n[After the bishop had made these declarations, the deputation presented\nhim the letter of Mr. Chiniquy. It evidently made a deep impression upon\nhim. As soon as he had read it, he said:]\n\n7th. \u201cTell Mr. Chiniquy to come and meet me to prepare for his new\nmission, and I will give him the letters he wants, to go and labor\nthere.\n\n FRANCIS BECHARD,\n (Signed) J. B. LEMOINE,\n BASILIQUE ALLAIRE,\n LEON MAILLOUX.\u201d[E]\n\n-----\n\nFootnote E:\n\n Those gentlemen, with the exception of Mr. Allaire, are still living,\n 1886.\n\n-----\n\nAfter the above had been read and delivered to the people, I showed them\nthe evident falsehood and contradictions of the bishop when he said in\nhis second answer: \u201cIf Mr. Chiniquy said mass since I interdicted him,\nhe is irregular, and the pope alone can restore him in his\necclesiastical functions,\u201d and then in the seventh, \u201cTell Mr. Chiniquy\nto come and meet me to prepare for his new mission, and I will give him\nthe letters he wants to go and labor there.\u201d\n\nThe last sentence, I said, proves that he knew he had not interdicted me\nas he said at first. For, had he done so, he could not give me letters\nto administer the sacraments and preach at Kahokia before my going\nbefore the pope, who alone, as he said, himself, could give me such\npowers, after he (the bishop) knew that I had said mass since my return\nfrom Chicago. Now, my friends, here is the laws of our holy church, not\nthe saying or the law of a publicly degraded man, as the Bishop of\nChicago: \u2018If a man has been unjustly condemned, let him pay no attention\nto the unjust sentence; let him even do nothing to have that unjust\nsentence removed.\u2019 (_Canon of the Church_, by St. Gelase, Pope.)\n\n\u201cIf the bishop had interdicted me on the 19th, his sentence would be\nunjust, for from his own lips we have the confession, \u2018that no\naccusation has ever been proved before him; that I am one of his best\npriests; that he does not want to be deprived of my services.\u2019 Yes, such\na sentence, if passed, would have been unjust, and our business, to-day,\nwould be to treat it with the contempt it would deserve. But that unjust\nsentence has not even been pronounced, since, after saying mass every\nday since the 19th, the bishop himself wants to give me letters to go to\nKahokia and work as one of his best priests! It strikes me, to-day, for\nthe first time, that it is more your destruction, as a people, than\nmine, which the bishop wants to accomplish. It is my desire to remain in\nyour midst to defend your rights as Catholics. If you are true to me, as\nI will be to you, in the impending struggle, we have nothing to fear;\nfor our holy Catholic church is for us; all her laws and canons are in\nour favor; the Gospel of Christ is for us; the God of the Gospel is for\nus; even the pope, to whom we will appeal, will be for us\u2014for I must\ntell you a thing which, till to-day, I kept secret, viz.: The Archbishop\nof St. Louis, to whom I brought my complaint, in April last, advised me\nto write to the pope and tell him, not all, for it would make too large\na volume, but something of the criminal deeds of the roaring lion who\nwants to devour us. He is, to-day, selling the bones of the dead which\nare resting in the Roman Catholic cemetery of Chicago! But if you are\ntrue to yourselves as Catholics and Americans, that mitred tyrant will\nnot sell the bones of our friends and relatives which rest here in our\nburying ground. He has sold the parsonage and the church which our dear\ncountrymen had built in Chicago. Those properties are, to-day, in the\nhands of the Irish; but if you promise to stand by your rights as\nChristian men and American citizens, I will tell that avaricious bishop:\n\u2018Come and sell our parsonage and our church here, if you dare!\u2019\n\n\u201cAs I told you before, we have a glorious battle to fight. It is the\nbattle of freedom against the most cruel tyranny the world has ever\nseen. It is the battle of truth against falsehood; it is the battle of\nthe old Gospel of Christ against the new gospel of Bishop O\u2019Regan. Let\nus be true to ourselves to the end, and our holy church, which that\nbishop dishonors, will bless us. Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, whose Gospel\nis despised by that adventurer, will be for us, and give us a glorious\nvictory. Have you not read in your Bibles that Jesus wanted his\ndisciples to be free, when He said: \u2018If the son of man shall make you\nfree, you shall be free indeed.\u2019 Does that mean that the Son of God\nwants us to be the slaves of Bishop O\u2019Regan? \u2018No!\u2019 cried out the whole\npeople.\n\n\u201cMay God bless you for your understanding of your Christian rights. Let\nall those who want to be free, with me, raise their hands.\n\n\u201cOh! blessed be the Lord,\u201d I said, \u201cthere are more than 3,000 hands\nraised towards heaven to say that you want to be free! Now, let those\nwho do not want to defend their rights as Christians and as American\ncitizens, raise their hands. Thanks be to God,\u201d I again exclaimed,\n\u201cthere is not a traitor among us! You are all the true, brave and noble\nsoldiers of liberty, truth and righteousness! May the Lord bless you\nall!\u201d\n\nIt is impossible to describe the enthusiasm of the people. Before\ndismissing them, I said:\n\n\u201cWe will, no doubt, very soon witness one of the most ludicrous comedies\never played on this continent. That comedy is generally called\nexcommunication. Some drunkard priests, sent by the drunkard Bishop of\nChicago, will come to excommunicate us. I expect their visit in a few\ndays. That performance will be worth seeing, and I hope that you will\nsee and hear the most amusing thing in your life.\u201d\n\nI was not mistaken. The very next day, we heard that the 3rd of\nSeptember had been chosen by the bishop to excommunicate us.\n\nI said to the people: \u201cWhen you see the flag of the free and the brave\nfloating from the top of our steeple, come and rally around that emblem\nof liberty.\u201d\n\nThere were more than 3,000 people on our beautiful hill when the priests\nmade their appearance. A few moments before, I had said to that immense\ngathering:\n\n\u201cI bless God that you are so many to witness the last tyrannical act of\nBishop O\u2019Regan. But I have a favor to ask of you, it is that no insult\nor opposition whatever will be made to the priests who come to play that\ncomedy. Please do not say an angry word, do not move a finger against\nthe performers. They are not responsible for what they do, for two\nreasons:\n\n\u201c1st. They will probably be drunk. \u201c The priests arrived at about 2\no\u2019clock P. M., and never such shouting and clapping of hands had been\nheard in our colony as on their appearance. Never had I seen my dear\npeople so cheerful and good-humored as when one of the priests,\ntrembling from head to foot with terror and drunkenness, tried to read\nthe following sham act of excommunication, which he nailed on the door\nof the chapel:\n\nThe Reverend Monsieur Chiniquy, heretofore curate of St. Anne, Colonie\nof Beaver, in the Diocese of Chicago, has formally been interdicted by\nme for canonical causes.\n\nThe said Mr. Chiniquy, notwithstanding that interdict, has maliciously\nperformed the functions of the holy ministry, in administering the holy\nsacraments and saying mass. This has caused him to be irregular and in\ndirect opposition to the authority of the church, consequently he is a\nschismatic.\n\nThe said Mr. Chiniquy, thus named by my letters and verbal injunction,\nhas absolutely persisted in violating the laws of the church, and\ndisobeyed her authority, is by this present letter excommunicated.\n\nI forbid any Catholic having any communication with him, in spiritual\nmatters, under pain of excommunication. Every Catholic who goes against\nthis defense, is excommunicated.\n\n (Signed) \u2720 ANTHONY,\n\n Bishop of Chicago, and Administrator of Quincy.\n\n Sept. 3rd, 1856.\n\nAs soon as the priests, who had nailed this document to the door of our\nchapel, had gone away at full speed, I went to see it, and found, what I\nhad expected, that it was not signed by the bishop, neither by his grand\nvicar, nor any known person, and consequently, it was a complete\nnullity, according to the laws of the church. Fearing I would prosecute\nhim, as I threatened he shrank from the responsibility of his own act,\nand had not signed it. He was probably ignorant of the fact that he was\nhimself excommunicated, _ipso facto_, for not having signed the document\nhimself, or by his known deputies. I learned afterwards, that he got a\nboy 12 years old to write and sign it. In this way, it was impossible\nfor me to bring that document before any court, on account of its want\nof legal and necessary forms. That act was also a nullity, for being\nbrought by three priests who were not _mentis compos_, from their actual\nstate of drunkenness. And again, it was a nullity, from the evident\nfalsehood which was its base.\n\nIt is alleged that the bishop had interdicted and suspended me on the\n19th of Aug., for canonical causes. But he had declared to the four\ndeputies we had sent him: \u201cThat Mr. Chiniquy was one of my best priests,\nthat nothing had been proved against him,\u201d consequently, no canonical\ncause could exist for the allegation. The people understood very well\nthat the whole affair was a miserable farce, designed to separate them\nfrom their pastor. It had just, by the good providence of God, the\ncontrary effect. They had never shown me such sincere respect and\ndevotedness as since that never-to-be-forgotten day.\n\nThe three priests, after leaving, entered the house of one of our\nfarmers, called Bellanger, a short distance from the chapel, and asked\npermission to rest a while. But after sitting and smoking a few minutes,\nthey all went out to the stables. The farmer finding this very strange,\nwent out after them to see what they would do in his stables: to his\ngreat surprise and disgust, he found them drinking the last of their\nwhiskey. He exclaimed: \u201cIs it not a shame to see three priests, in a\nstable, drinking rum?\u201d\n\nThey made no answer, but went immediately to their carriage and drove\naway as quickly as possible, singing with all their might, a\nbacchanalian song! Such was the last act of that excommunication, which\nhas done more than anything else to prepare my people and myself to\nunderstand that the Church of Rome is a den of thieves, a school of\ninfidelity and the very antipodes of the Church of Christ.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LVIII.\n\nADDRESS FROM MY PEOPLE, ASKING ME TO REMAIN\u2014ADDRESS OF THE PEOPLE TO THE\n BISHOP\u2014I AM AGAIN DRAGGED AS A PRISONER BY THE SHERIFF TO\n URBANA\u2014PERJURY OF THE PRIEST LEBELLE\u2014ABRAHAM LINCOLN\u2019S ANXIETY ABOUT\n THE ISSUE OF THE PROSECUTION\u2014MY DISTRESS\u2014NIGHT OF DESOLATION\u2014THE\n RESCUE\u2014MISS PHILOMENE MOFFAT SENT BY GOD TO SAVE ME\u2014LEBELLE\u2019S\n CONFESSION AND DISTRESS\u2014SPINK WITHDRAWS HIS SUIT\u2014MY INNOCENCE\n ACKNOWLEDGED\u2014NOBLE WORDS AND CONDUCT OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN\u2014THE OATH OF\n MISS PHILOMENE MOFFAT.\n\n\nThe Sabbath afternoon after the three drunken priests nailed their\nunsigned, unsealed, untestified, and consequently null sentence of\nexcommunication, to the door of our chapel, the people had gathered from\nevery part of our colony into the large hall of the court-house of\nKankakee City to hear several addresses on their duties of the day, and\nthey unanimously passed the following resolution:\n\n\u201c_Resolved._ That we, French Canadians of the County of Kankakee, do\nhereby decide to give our moral support to Rev. C. Chiniquy, in the\npersecution now exerted against him by the Bishop of Chicago, in\nviolation of the laws of the church, expressed and sanctioned by the\nCouncils.\u201d\n\nAfter this resolution had been voted, Mr. Bechard, who is now one of the\nprincipal members of the parliament of Canada, and who was then a\nmerchant of Kankakee City, presented to me the following address, which\nhad also been unanimously voted by the people:\n\n\u201cDEAR AND BELOVED PASTOR:\u2014For several years we have been witnesses of\nthe persecution of which you are the subject, on the part of the bad\npriests, your neighbors, and on the part of the unworthy Bishop of\nChicago; but we also have been the witnesses of your sacerdotal\nvirtues\u2014of your forbearance of their calumnies\u2014and our respect and\naffection for your person has but increased at the sight of those\ntrials.\n\n\u201cWe know that you are persecuted, not only because you are a Canadian\npriest, and that you like us, but also because you do us good in making\na sacrifice of your own private fortune to build school-houses and to\nfeed our teachers at your own table. We know that the Bishop of Chicago,\nwho resembles more an angry wolf than a pastor of the church, having\ndestroyed the prosperous congregation of Chicago by taking away from\nthem their splendid church, which they had built at the cost of many\nsacrifices, and giving it to the Irish population, and having\ndiscouraged the worthy population of Bourbonnais Grove in forcing on\nthem drunken and scandalous priests, wants to take you away from among\nus, to please Spink, the greatest enemy of the French population. They\neven say that the bishop, carrying iniquity to its extreme bonds, wanted\nto interdict you. But as our church cannot, and is not willing to\nsanction evil and calumny, we know that all those interdicts, based on\nfalsehood and spite, are null and void.\n\n\u201cWe therefore solicit you not to give way in presence of the perfidious\nplots of your enemies, and not to leave us. Stay among us as our pastor\nand our father, and we solemnly promise to sustain you in all your\nhardships to the end, and to defend you against our enemies. Stay among\nus, to instruct us in our duties by your eloquent speeches, and to\nenlighten us by your pious examples. Stay among us, to guard us against\nthe perfidious designs of the Bishop of Chicago, who wants to discourage\nand destroy our prosperous colony, as he has already discouraged and\ndestroyed other congregations of the French Canadians, by leaving them\nwithout a pastor, or by forcing on them unworthy priests.\u201d\n\nThe stern and unanimous determination of my countrymen to stand by me in\nthe impending struggle is one of the greatest blessings which God has\never given me. It filled me with a courage which nothing could hereafter\nshake. But the people of St. Anne did not think that it was enough to\nshow to the bishop that nothing could ever shake the resolution they had\ntaken to live and die free men. They gathered in a public and immense\nmeeting on the Sabbath after the sham excommunication, to _adopt_ the\nfollowing address to the Bishop of Chicago, a copy of which was sent to\nevery Bishop of the United States and Canada, and to Pope Pius IX:\n\n\u201cTO HIS LORDSHIP, ANTHONY O\u2019REGAN OF CHICAGO:\u2014We, the undersigned,\ninhabitants of the parish of St. Anne, Beaver settlement, seeing with\nsorrow that you have discarded our humble request, which we have sent\nyou by four delegates, and have persisted in trying to drive away our\nhonest and worthy priest, who has edified us in all circumstances by his\npublic and religious conduct, and having, contrary to the rules of our\nholy church and common sense, struck our worthy pastor, Mr. Chiniquy,\nwith excommunication, having caused him to be announced as a schismatic\npriest, and having forbidden us to communicate with him in religious\nmatters, are hereby protesting against the unjust and iniquitous manner\nin which you have struck him, refusing him the privilege of justifying\nhimself and proving his innocence.\n\n\u201cConsequently, we declare that we are ready at all times as good\nCatholics, to obey all your orders and ordinances that are in accordance\nwith the laws of the Gospel and the Church, but that we are not willing\nto follow you in all your errors of judgments, in your injustices and\ncovetous caprices. Telling you, as St. Jerome wrote to his Bishop, that\nas long as you will treat us as your children, we will obey you as a\nfather; but as soon as you will treat us as our master, we shall cease\nto consider you as our father. Considering Mr. Chiniquy as a good and\nvirtuous priest, worthy of the place he occupies, and possessing as yet\nall his sacerdotal powers, in spite of your null and ridiculous\nsentence, we have unanimously decided to keep him among us as our\npastor; therefore praying your Lordship not to put yourself to the\ntrouble of seeking another priest for us. More yet: we have unanimously\ndecided to sustain him and furnish him the means to go as far as Rome,\nif he cannot have justice in America.\n\n\u201cWe further declare that it has been dishonorable and shameful for our\nbishop and for our holy religion to have seen, coming under the walls of\nour chapel, bringing the orders of the prince of the church of a\nrepresentative of Christ, three men covered with their sacerdotal\ngarments, having their tongues half paralyzed by the effects of brandy,\nand who, turning their backs to the church, went into the house and barn\nof one of our settlers and there emptied their bottles. And from there,\ntaking their seats in their buggies, went towards the settlement of\nL\u2019Erable, singing drunken songs and hallooing like wild Indians. Will\nyour lordship be influenced by such a set of men, who seem to have for\ntheir mission to degrade the sacrados and Catholicism?\n\n\u201cWe conclude, in hoping that your lordship will not persist in your\ndecision, given in a moment of madness and spite; that you will\nreconsider your acts, and that you will retract your unjust, null and\nridiculous excommunication, and by these means avoid the scandal of\nwhich your precipitation is the cause. We then hope that, changing your\ndetermination, you will work for the welfare of our holy religion, and\nnot to its degradation, in which your intolerant conduct would lead us,\nand that you will not persist in trying to drive our worthy pastor, Rev.\nCharles Chiniquy, from the flourishing colony that he has founded at the\ncost of the abandonment of his native land, of the sacrifice of the high\nposition he had in Canada: that you will bring peace between you and us,\nand that we shall have in the Bishop of Chicago not a tyrant, but a\nfather, and that you will have in us not rebels, but faithful children,\nby our virtues and our good example. Subscribing ourselves the obedient\nchildren of the church.\n\n \u201cTHEOPILE DORIEN,\n \u201cDET. VANIER,\n \u201cJ. B. BELANGER,\n \u201cCAMILE BETOURNEY,\n \u201cSTAN\u2019LAS GAGNE,\n \u201cANTOINE ALLAIN,\n\n J. B. LEMOINE, N. P.,\n OLIVER SENECHALL,\n BASILIQUE ALLAIR,\n MICHEL ALLAIR,\n JOSEPH GRISI,\n JOSEPH ALLARD,\n\n\u201cAnd five hundred others.\u201d\n\nThis address, signed by more than five hundred men, all heads of\nfamilies, and reproduced by almost the whole press in the United States,\nfell as a thunderclap on the head of the heartless destroyer of our\npeople. But it did not change his destructive plans. It had just the\ncontrary effect. As a tiger, mortally wounded by the sure shots of the\nhunters, he filled the country with his roaring, hoping to frighten us\nby his new denunciations. He published the most lying stories to explain\nhis conduct, and to show the world that he had good reasons for\ndestroying the French congregation of Chicago, and trying the same\nexperiment on St. Anne.\n\nIn order to refute his false statements, and to show more clearly to the\nwhole world the reason I had, as a Catholic priest, to resist him, I\naddressed the following letter to his lordship:\n\n ST. ANNE, KANKAKEE COUNTY, ILLS.,\n\n September 25, 1856.\n\n\u201cRT. REV\u2019D O\u2019REGAN:\u2014You seem to be surprised that I have offered the\nholy sacrifice of mass since our last interview. Here are some of my\nreasons for so doing.\n\n\u201c1st. You have not suspended me; far from it, you have given me fifteen\ndays to consider what I should do, threatening only to interdict me\nafter that time, if I would not obey your orders.\n\n\u201c2nd. If you have been so ill-advised as to suspend me, for the crime of\ntelling you that my intention was to live the live of a retired priest\nin my little colony, sooner than be exiled at my age, your sentence is\nridiculous and null; and if you were as expert in the _jure Canonico_ as\nin the art of pocketing our money, you would know that you are yourself\nsuspended _ipso facto_ for a year, and that I have nothing to fear or to\nexpect from you now.\n\n\u201c3rd. When I bowed down before the altar of Jesus Christ, twenty-four\nyears ago, to receive the priesthood, my intention was to be the\nminister of the Catholic Church, but not a slave of a lawless tyrant.\n\n\u201c4th. Remember the famous words of Tertullian, \u2018_Nimia potestas, nulla\npotestas_.\u2019 For the sake of peace, I have, with many others, tolerated\nyour despotism till now; but my patience is at an end, and for the sake\nof our holy church, which you are destroying, I am determined with many\nto oppose an insurmountable wall to your tyranny.\n\n\u201c5th. I did not come here, you know well, as an ordinary missionary; but\nI got from your predecessor the permission to form a colony of my\nemigrating countrymen. I was not sent here in 1851 to take care of any\ncongregation. It was a complete wilderness; but I was sent to form a\ncolony of Catholics. I planted my cross in a wilderness. In a great\npart, with my own money, I have built a chapel, a college and a female\nacademy. I have called from everywhere my countrymen\u2014nine-tenths of them\ncame here only to live with me, and because I had the pledged word of my\nbishop to do that work. And as long as I live the life of a good priest\nI deny you the right to forbid me to remain in my colony which wants my\nhelp and my presence.\n\n\u201c6th. You have never shown me your authority (but once) except in the\nmost tyrannical way. But now, seeing that the more humble I am before\nyou, the more insolent you grow, I have taken the resolution to stand by\nmy rights as a Catholic priest and as an American citizen.\n\n\u201c7th. You remember, that in our second interview you forbade me to have\nthe good preceptors we have now for our children, and you turned into\nridicule the idea I had to call them from Canada. Was that the act of a\nbishop or of a mean despot?\n\n\u201c8th. A few days after you ordered me to live on good terms with R. R.\nLeBelle and Carthavel, though you were well acquainted with their\nscandalous lives, and twice you threatened me with suspension for\nrefusing to become a friend of those two rogues! And you have so much\nmade a fool of yourself before the four gentlemen I sent to you to be\nthe witnesses of your iniquity and my innocence, that you have\nacknowledged before them that one of your principal reasons for turning\nme out of my colony was, that I had not been able to keep peace with\nthree priests whom you acknowledged to be depraved and unworthy priests!\nIs not that surpassing wickedness and tyranny of anything recorded in\nthe blackest pages of the most daring tyrants? You want to punish by\nexile a gentleman and a good priest, because he cannot agree to become\nthe friend of two public rogues! I thank you, Bishop O\u2019Regan, to have\nmade that public confession in the presence of unimpeachable witnesses.\nI do not want to advise you to be hereafter very prudent in what you\nintend to do against the reputation and character of the priest of St.\nAnne. If you continue to denounce me as you have done since a few weeks,\nand to tell the people what you think fit against me, I have awful\nthings to publish of your injustice and tyranny.\n\n\u201cAs Judas sold our Saviour to his enemies, so you have sold me to my\nenemy of L\u2019Erable. But be certain that you shall not deliver up your\nvictim as you like.\n\n\u201cFor withdrawing a suit which you have incited against my honor and\nwhich you shall certainly lose, you drag me out from my home and order\nme to the land of exile, and you cover that iniquity with the appearance\nof zeal for the public peace, just as Pilate delivered his victim into\nthe hands of their enemies to make peace with them.\n\n\u201cShame on you, Bishop O\u2019Regan! For the sake of God, do not oblige me to\nreveal to the world what I know against you. Do not oblige me, in\nself-defence, to strike, in you, my merciless persecutor. If you have no\npity for me, have pity on yourself, and on the church which that coming\nstruggle will so much injure.\n\n\u201cIt is not enough for you to have so badly treated my poor countrymen of\nChicago\u2014your hatred against the French Canadians cannot be satisfied\nexcept when you have taken away from them the only consolation they have\nin this land of exile\u2014to possess in their midst a priest of their own\nnation whom they love and respect as a father! My poor countrymen of\nChicago, with many hard sacrifices, had built a fine church for\nthemselves and a house for their priest. _You have taken their church\nfrom their hands and given it to the Irish_; you have sold the house of\ntheir priests, after turning him out; and what have you done with the\n$1,500 you got as its price? Public rumor says that you are employing\nthat money to support the most unjust and infamous suit against one of\ntheir priests. Continue a little longer, and you may be sure that the\ncursing of my poor countrymen against you will be heard in heaven and\nthat the God of Justice will give them an avenger!\n\n\u201cYou have, at three different times, threatened to interdict and\nexcommunicate me if I would not give you my little personal properties!\nand as many times you have said in my teeth, that I was a bad priest,\nbecause I refused to act according to your rapacious tyranny!\n\n\u201cThe impious Ahab, murdering Naboth to get his fields, is risen from the\ndead in your person. You cannot kill my body, _since I am protected by\nthe glorious flag of the United States_; but you do worse, you try to\ndestroy my honor and my character, which are dearer to me than my life.\nIn a moral way you give my blood to be licked by your dogs. But remember\nthe words of the prophet to Ahab, \u2018In this place where the dogs have\nlicked the blood of Naboth, they shall lick thy blood also.\u2019 For every\nfalse witness you shall bring against me, I shall have a hundred\nunimpeachable ones against you. Thousands and thousands of religious\nIrish, and generous Germans, and liberty and fair-play-loving French\nCanadians, will help me in that struggle. I do not address you these\nwords as a threat, but as a friendly warning.\n\n\u201cKeep quiet, my lord; do not let yourself be guided by your quick\ntemper; do not be so free in the use of suspense and interdicts. These\nterrible arms are two-edged swords, which very often hurt more the\nimprudent who make use of them than those whom they intend to strike.\n\n\u201cI wish to live in peace with you. I take my God to witness, that to\nthis day I have done everything to keep peace with you. But the peace I\nwant is the peace which St. Jerome speaks of when, writing to his\nbishop, he tells him:\n\n\u201c\u2018It is no use to speak of peace with the lips, if we destroy it with\nour works. It is a very different way to work for peace, from trying to\nsubmit every one to an abject slavery. We, also, want peace. Not only we\ndesire it, but we implore you instantly to give it. However, the peace\nwe want is the peace of Christ\u2014a true peace, a peace without hatred, a\npeace which is not a masked war, a peace which is not to crush enemies,\nbut a peace which unites friends.\n\n\u201c\u2018How can we call that peace which is nothing but tyranny? Why should we\nnot call everything by its proper name? Let us call hatred\u2014what is\nhatred. And let us say that peace reigns only when a true love exists.\nWe are not the authors of the troubles and divisions which exist in the\nchurch. A father must love his children. A bishop, as well as a father,\nmust wish to be loved, but not feared. The old proverb says, _One hates\nwhom he fears_, and we naturally wish for the death of the one we hate.\nIf you do not try to crush the religious men under your power they will\nsubmit themselves to your authority. Offer them the kiss of love and\npeace and they will obey you. But liberty refuses to yield as soon as\nyou try to crush it down. The best way to be obeyed by a free man is not\nto deal with him as with a slave. We know the laws of the church, and we\ndo not ignore the rights which belong to every man. We have learned many\nthings, not only from experience, but also from the study of books. The\nking who strikes his subjects with an iron rod, or who thinks that his\nfingers must be heavier than his father\u2019s hand, has soon destroyed the\nkingdom even of the peaceful and mild David. The people of Rome refused\nto bear the yoke of their proud king.\n\n\u201c\u2018We have left our country in order to live in peace. In this solitude\nour intention was to respect the authority of the pontiffs of Christ (we\nmean those who teach the true faith). We want to respect them not as our\nmasters, but as our fathers. Our intention was to respect them as\nbishops, not as usurpers and tyrants who want to reduce us to slavery by\nthe abuse of their power. We are not so vain as to ignore what is due to\nthe priests of Christ, for to receive them is to receive the very one\nwhose bishops they are. But let them be satisfied with the respect which\nis due to them. Let them remember that they are fathers, not masters of\nthose who have given up everything in order to enjoy the privileges of a\npeaceful solitude. May Christ who is our mighty God grant that we should\nbe united not by a false peace, but by a true and loyal love, lest that\nby biting each other we destroy each other.\u2019\n\n[Letter of St. Jerome to his bishop.]\n\n\u201cYou have a great opinion of the episcopal power, and so have I. But St.\nPaul and all the Holy Fathers that I have read, have also told us many\nthings of the dignity of the priest (alter Christus Sacerdos). I am your\nbrother and equal in many things; do not forget it. I know my dignity as\na man and a priest, and I shall sooner lose my life than to surrender\nthem to any man, even a bishop. If you think you can deal with me as a\ncarter with his horse, drawing him where he likes, you will soon see\nyour error.\n\n\u201cI neither drink strong wines nor smoke, and the many hours _that others\nspend in emptying their bottles and smoking their pipes_, I read my dear\nbooks\u2014I study the admirable laws of the church and the Gospel of Christ.\nI love my books and the holy laws of our church, because they teach me\nmy rights as well as my duties. They tell me that many years ago a\ngeneral council, which is something above you, has annulled your unjust\nsentence, and brought upon your head the very penalty you intended to\nimpose upon me. They tell me that any sentence from you coming (from\nyour own profession) from bad and criminal motives, is null, and will\nfall powerless at my feet.\n\n\u201cBut I tell you again, that I desire to live in peace with you. The\nfalse reports of LeBelle and Carthevel have disturbed that peace; but it\nis still in your power to have it for yourself and give it to me. I am\nsure that the sentence you say you have preferred against me comes from\na misunderstanding, and your wisdom and charity, if you can hear their\nvoice, can very easily set everything as it was two months ago. It is\nstill in your power to have a warm friend, or an immovable adversary in\nKankakee County. It would be both equitable and honorable in you to\nextinguish the fires of discord which you have so unfortunately\nenkindled, by drawing back a sentence which you would never have\npreferred if you had not been deceived. You would be blessed by the\nChurch of Illinois, and particularly by the 10,000 French Canadians who\nsurround me, and are ready to support me at all hazards.\n\n\u201cDo not be angry from the seeming harsh words which you find in this\nletter. Nobody, but I, could tell you these sad truths, though every one\nof your priests, and particularly those who flatter you the most, repeat\nthem every day.\n\n\u201cBy kind and honest proceedings you can get everything from me, even the\nlast drop of my blood; but you will find me an immovable rock if you\napproach me as you have already done (but once) with insult and\ntyrannical threats.\n\n\u201cYou have not been ordained a bishop to rule over us according to your\nfancy, but you have the eternal laws of justice and equity to guide you.\nYou have the laws of the church to obey as well as her humblest child,\nand as soon as you do anything against these imperishable laws you are\npowerless to obtain your object. It is not only lawful, but a duty to\nresist you. When you strike without a legitimate or a canonical cause;\nwhen you try to take away my character to please some of your friends;\nwhen you order me to exile to stop a suit which you are exciting against\nme; when you punish me for the crime of refusing to obey the orders you\ngave me to be the friend of three public rogues; when you threaten me\nwith excommunication, because I do not give you my little personal\nproperties, I have nothing to fear from your interdicts and\nexcommunication.\n\n\u201cWhat a sad lot for me, and what a shame for you, if by your continual\nattacks at the door of our churches or in the public press, you oblige\nme to expose your injustice. It is yet time for you to avoid that.\nInstead of striking me like an outcast, come and give me the paternal\nhand of charity, instead of continuing that fratricidal combat, come and\nheal the wounds you have made and already received. Instead of insulting\nme by driving me away from my colony to the land of exile, come and\nbless the great work I have begun here for the glory of God and the good\nof my people. Instead of destroying the college and the female academy,\nfor the erection of which I have expended my last cent, and whose\nteachers are fed at my table, come and bless the three hundred little\nchildren who are daily attending our schools.\n\n\u201cInstead of sacrificing me to the hatred of my enemies, come and\nstrengthen my heart against their fury.\n\n\u201cI tell you again, that no consideration whatever will induce me to\nsurrender my right as a Catholic priest _and as an American citizen_. By\nthe first title you cannot interdict me, as long as I am a good priest,\nfor the crime of wishing to live in my colony and among my people. _By\nthe second title, you cannot turn me out from my home._\n\n \u201cC. CHINIQUY.\u201d\n\nIt was the first time that a Roman Catholic priest, with his whole\npeople, had dared to speak such language to a Bishop of Rome on this\ncontinent. Never yet had the unbearable tyranny of those haughty men\nreceived such a public rebuke. Our fearless words fell as a bombshell in\nthe camp of the Roman Catholic hierarchy of America.\n\nWith very few exceptions, the press of the State of Illinois, whose\ncolumns had so often echoed the cries of indignation raised everywhere\nagainst the tyranny of Bishop O\u2019Regan, took sides with me. Hundreds of\npriests, not only from Illinois, but from every corner of the United\nStates, addressed their warmest thanks to me for the stand I had taken,\nand asked me, in the name of God and for the honor of the church, not to\nyield an inch of my rights. Many promised to support us at the court of\nRome, by writing themselves to the Pope, to denounce not only the Bishop\nof Illinois, but several others, who, though not so openly bad, were yet\ntrampling under their feet the most sacred rights of the priests and the\npeople. Unfortunately those priests gave me a saddening knowledge of\ntheir cowardice by putting in their letters \u201c_absolutely confidential_.\u201d\nThey all promised to help me when I was storming the strong fortress of\nthe enemy, provided I would go alone in the gap, and that they would\nkeep themselves behind thick walls, far from shot and shell.\n\nHowever, this did not disturb me, for my God knows it, my trust was not\nin my own strength, but in his protection. I was sure that I was in the\nright, that the Gospel of Christ was on my side, that all the canons and\nlaws of the councils were in my favor.\n\nMy library was filled with the best books on the canons and laws passed\nin the great councils of my church. It was written in big letters in the\ncelebrated work, \u201c_Histoire du droit canonique_.\u201d There is no arbitrary\npower in the Church of Christ,\u2014Vol. iii., page 139.\n\nThe Council of Augsburg, held in 1548 (Can. 24), had declared that, \u201cno\nsentence of excommunication will be passed, except for great crimes.\u201d\n\nThe Pope St. Gregory had said: \u201cThat censures are null when not\ninflicted for great sins or for faults which have not been clearly\nproved.\u201d\n\n\u201cAn unjust excommunication does not bind before God those against whom\nit has been hushed. But it injures only the one who has proffered\nit.\u201d\u2014Eccl. Laws, by Hericourt, c. xxii., No. 50.\n\n\u201cIf an unjust sentence is pronounced against any one, he must not pay\nany attention to it; for, before God and his Church, an unjust sentence\ncannot injure anybody. Let, then, that person do nothing to get such an\nunjust sentence repealed, for it cannot injure him.\u201d\u2014St. Gelace\u2014The\nPope\u2014(_Canoni bin est._)\n\nThe canonists conclude, from all the laws of the church on that matter,\n\u201cThat if a priest is unjustly interdicted or excommunicated he may\ncontinue to officiate without any fear of becoming irregular.\u201d\u2014Eccl.\nLaws, by Hericourt, c. xxii., No. 51.\n\nProtected by these laws, and hundreds of others too long to enumerate,\nwhich my church had passed in every age, strengthened by the voice of my\nconscience, which assured me that I had done nothing to deserve to be\ninterdicted or excommunicated; sure, besides, of the testimony brought\nby our four delegates that the bishop himself had declared that I was\none of his best priests, that he wanted to give me my letters to go and\nperform the functions of my ministry in Kahokia: above all, knowing the\nunanimous will of my people that I should remain with them and continue\nthe great and good work so providentially trusted to me in my colony,\nand regarding this as an indication of the divine will, I determined to\nremain, in spite of the Bishop of Chicago. All the councils of my church\nwere telling me that he had no power to injure me, and that all his\nofficial acts were null.\n\nBut if he were spiritually powerless against me, it was not so in\ntemporal matters. His power and his desire to injure us had increased\nwith his hatred, since he had read our letters and seen them in all the\npapers of Chicago.\n\nThe first thing he did was to reconcile himself to the priest LeBelle,\nwhom he had turned out ignominiously from his diocese some time before.\nThat priest had since that obtained a fine situation in the diocese of\nMichigan. He invited him to his palace, and petted him several days. I\nfelt that the reconciliation of those two men meant nothing good for me.\nBut my hope was, more than ever, that the merciful God who had protected\nme so many times against them, would save me again from their\nmachinations. The air was, however, filled with the strangest rumors\nagainst me. It was said everywhere that Mr. LeBelle was to bring such\ncharges against my character that I would be sent to the penitentiary.\n\nWhat were the new iniquities to be laid to my charge? No one could tell.\nBut the few partisans and friends of the bishop, Messrs. LeBelle and\nSpink, were jubilant and sure that I was to be forever destroyed.\n\nAt last, the time arrived when the Sheriff of Kankakee had to drag me\nagain as a criminal and a prisoner to Urbana, and deliver me into the\nhands of the sheriff of that city. I arrived here on the 20th of\nOctober, with my lawyers, Messrs. Osgood and Paddock, and a dozen\nwitnesses. Mr. Abraham Lincoln had preceded me only by a few minutes\nfrom Springfield. He was in the company of Judge David Davis, since\nVice-President of the United States, when I met him.\n\nThe jury having been selected and sworn, the Rev. Mr. LeBelle was the\nfirst witness called to testify and say what he knew against my\ncharacter.\n\nMr. Lincoln objected to that kind of testimony, and tried to prove that\nMr. Spink had no right to bring his new suit against me by attacking my\ncharacter. But Judge Davis ruled that the prosecution had that right in\nthe case that was before him. Mr. LeBelle had, then, full liberty to say\nanything he wanted, and he availed himself of his privilege. His\ntestimony lasted nearly an hour, and was too long to be given here. I\nwill only say that he began by declaring that \u201cChiniquy was one of the\nvilest men of the day\u2014that every kind of bad rumors were constantly\ncirculating against him.\u201d He gave a good number of those rumors, though\nhe could not positively swear if they were founded on truth or not, for\nhe had not investigated them. But he said there was one of which he was\nsure, for he had authenticated it thoroughly. He expressed a great deal\nof apparent regret that he was forced to reveal to the world such things\nwhich were not only against the honor of Chiniquy, but, to some extent,\ninvolved the good name of a dear sister, Madame Bosse. But as he was to\nspeak the truth before God, he could not help it\u2014the sad truth must be\ntold. \u201c_Mr. Chiniquy_,\u201d he said, \u201c_had attempted to do the most infamous\nthings with my own sister, Madame Bosse_. She herself has told me the\nwhole story under oath, and she would be here to unmask the wicked man\nto-day before the whole world, if she were not forced to silence, at\nhome, from a severe illness.\u201d\n\nThough every word of that story was a perjury, there was such a color of\ntruth and sincerity in my accuser, that his testimony fell upon me and\nmy lawyers and all my friends as a thunderbolt. A man who has never\nheard such a calumny brought against him before a jury in a court-house\npacked with people, composed of friends and foes, will never understand\nwhat I felt in this the darkest hour of my life. My God only knows the\nweight and the bitterness of the waves of desolation which then passed\nover my soul.\n\nAfter that testimony was given, there was a lull, and a most profound\nsilence in the court-room. All the eyes were turned upon me, and I heard\nmany voices speaking of me, whispering, \u201cThe villain!\u201d Those voices\npassed through my soul as poisoned arrows. Though innocent, I wished\nthat the ground would open under my feet and bring me down to the\ndarkest abysses, to conceal me from the eyes of my friends and the whole\nworld.\n\nHowever, Mr. Lincoln soon interrupted the silence by addressing to\nLeBelle such cross-questions that his testimony, in the minds of many,\nsoon lost much of its power. And he did still more destroy the effect of\nhis (LeBelle\u2019s) false oath, when, he brought my twelve witnesses, who\nwere among the most respectable citizens of Bourbonnais, formerly the\nparishioners of Mr. LeBelle. Those twelve gentlemen swore that Mr.\nLeBelle was such a drunkard and vicious man, that he was so publicly my\nenemy on account of the many rebukes I had given to his private and\npublic vices, that they would not believe a word of what he said, even\nupon his oath.\n\nAt ten P. M., the court was adjourned, to meet again the next morning,\nand I went to the room of Mr. Lincoln with my two other lawyers, to\nconfer about the morning\u2019s work. My mind was unspeakably sad. Life had\nnever been such a burden to me as in that hour. I was tempted, like Job,\nto curse the hour when I was born. I could see in the faces of my\nlawyers, though they tried to conceal it, that they were also full of\nanxiety.\n\n\u201cMy dear Mr. Chiniquy,\u201d said Mr. Lincoln, \u201cthough I hope, to-morrow, to\ndestroy the testimony of Mr. LeBelle against you, I must concede that I\nsee great dangers ahead. There is not the least doubt in my mind that\nevery word he has said is a sworn lie; but my fear is that the jury\nthinks differently. I am a pretty good judge in these matters. I feel\nthat our jurymen think that you are guilty. There is only one way to\nperfectly destroy the power of a false witness\u2014it is by another direct\ntestimony against what he has said, or by showing from his very lips\nthat he has perjured himself. I failed to do that last night, though I\nhave diminished, to a great extent, the force of his testimony. Can you\nnot prove an alibi, or can you not bring witnesses who were there in the\nsame house that day, who would flatly and directly contradict what your\nremorseless enemy has said against you?\u201d\n\nI answered him: \u201cHow can I try to do such a thing when they have been\nshrewd enough not to fix the very date of the alleged crime against me?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are correct, you are perfectly correct, Mr. Chiniquy,\u201d answered Mr.\nLincoln, \u201cas they have refused to specify the date, we cannot try that.\nI have never seen two such skillful rogues as those two priests! There\nis really a diabolical skill in the plan they have concocted for your\ndestruction. It is evident that the bishop is at the bottom of the plot.\nYou remember how I have forced LeBelle to confess that he was now on the\nmost friendly terms with the Bishop of Chicago, since he has become the\nchief of your accusers. Though I do not give up the hope of rescuing you\nfrom the hands of your enemies, I do not like to conceal from you that I\nhave several reasons to fear that you will be declared guilty and\ncondemned to a heavy penalty, or to the penitentiary, though I am sure\nyou are perfectly innocent. It is very probable that we will have to\nconfront that sister of LeBelle tomorrow. Her sickness is probably a\nfeint, in order not to appear here except after the brother will have\nprepared the public mind in her favor. At all events, if she does not\ncome, they will send some justice of the peace to get her sworn\ntestimony, which will be more difficult to rebut than her own verbal\ndeclarations. That woman is evidently in the hands of the bishop and her\nbrother priest, ready to swear anything they order her, and I know\nnothing so difficult as to refute such female testimonies, particularly\nwhen they are absent from the court. The only way to be sure of a\nfavorable verdict to-morrow is, that God Almighty would take our part\nand show your innocence! Go to Him and pray, for He alone can save you.\u201d\n\nMr. Lincoln was exceedingly solemn when he addressed those words to me,\nand they went very deep into my soul.\n\nI have often been asked if Abraham Lincoln had any religion but I have\nnever had any doubt about his profound confidence in God, since I heard\nthose words falling from his lips in that hour of anxiety. I had not\nbeen able to conceal my deep distress. Burning tears were rolling on my\ncheeks when he was speaking, and there was on his face the expression of\nfriendly sympathy which I shall never forget. Without being able to say\na word, I left him to go to my little room. It was nearly eleven\no\u2019clock. I locked the door and fell on my knees to pray, but I was\nunable to say a single word. The horrible sworn calumnies thrown at my\nface by a priest of my own church were ringing in my ears! my honor and\nmy good name so cruelly and forever destroyed! all my friends and my\ndear people covered with an eternal confusion! and more than that, the\nsentence of condemnation which was probably to be hurled against me the\nnext day in the presence of the whole country, whose eyes were upon me!\nAll those things were before me, not only as horrible phantoms, but as\nheavy mountains, under the burdens of which I could not breathe. At last\nthe fountains of tears were opened, and it relieved me to weep; I could\nthen speak and cry: \u201cOh! my God! have mercy upon me! thou knowest my\ninnocence! hast thou not promised that those who trust in thee cannot\nperish! Oh! do not let me perish, when Thou art the only One in whom I\ntrust! Come to my help! Save me!\u201d\n\nFrom eleven P. M., to three in the morning I cried to God, and raised my\nsupplicating hands to his throne of mercy. But I confess to my\nconfusion, it seemed to me in certain moments, that it was useless to\npray and to cry, for though innocent, I was doomed to perish. I was in\nthe hands of my enemies. My God had forsaken me!\n\nWhat an awful night I spent! I hope none of my readers will ever know by\ntheir own experience the agony of spirit I endured. I had no other\nexpectation than to be forever dishonored, and sent to the penitentiary\nnext morning!\n\nBut God had not forsaken me! He had again heard my cries, and was, once\nmore, to show me His infinite mercy!\n\nAt three o\u2019clock A. M., I heard three knocks at my door, and I quickly\nwent to open it. \u201cWho was there? Abraham Lincoln, with a face beaming\nwith joy!\u201d\n\nI could hardly believe my eyes. But I was not mistaken. It was my\nnoble-hearted friend, the most honest lawyer of Illinois!\u2014one of the\nnoblest men Heaven has ever given to earth! It was Abraham Lincoln, who\nhad been given me as my Saviour! On seeing me bathed with tears, he\nexclaimed, \u201cCheer up, Mr. Chiniquy, I have the perjured priests in my\nhands. Their diabolical plot is all known, and if they do not fly away\nbefore the dawn of day, they will surely be lynched. Bless the Lord, you\nare saved!\u201d\n\nThe sudden passage of extreme desolation to an extreme joy came near\nkilling me. I felt as suffocated, and unable to utter a single word. I\ntook his hand, pressed it to my lips, and bathed it with tears of joy. I\nsaid: \u201cMay God forever bless you, dear Mr. Lincoln. But please tell me\nhow you can bring me such glorious news!\u201d\n\nHere is the simple but marvellous story, as told me by that great and\ngood man, whom God had made the messenger of his mercies towards me:\n\n\u201cAs soon as LeBelle had given his perjured testimony against you\nyesterday,\u201d said Mr. Lincoln, \u201cone of the agents of the Chicago press\ntelegraphed to some of the principal papers of Chicago: \u2018It is probable\nthat Mr. Chiniquy will be condemned; for the testimony of the Rev. Mr.\nLeBelle seems to leave no doubt that he is guilty.\u2019 And the little Irish\nboys, to sell their papers, filled the streets with the cries: \u2018Chiniquy\nwill be hung! Chiniquy will be hung!\u2019 The Roman Catholics were so glad\nto hear that, that ten thousand extra copies have been sold. Among those\nwho bought those papers was a friend of yours, called Terrien, who went\nto his wife and told her that you were to be condemned, and when the\nwoman heard that, she said, \u2018It is too bad, for I know Mr. Chiniquy is\nnot guilty.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018How do you know that?\u2019 said her husband. She answered: \u2018I was there\nwhen the priest LeBelle made the plot, and promised to give his sister\ntwo-eighties of good land if she would swear a false oath\u2014and accuse him\nof a crime which that woman said he had not even thought of with her.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018If it be so,\u2019 said Terrien, \u2018we cannot allow Mr. Chiniquy to be\ncondemned. Come with me to Urbana.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut that woman being quite unwell, said to her husband, \u2018You know well\nI cannot go; but Miss Philomene Moffat was with me then. She knows every\nparticular of that wicked plot as well as I do. She is well; go and take\nher to Urbana. There is no doubt that her testimony will prevent the\ncondemnation of Mr. Chiniquy.\u2019\n\n\u201cNarcisse Terrien started immediately: and when you were praying God to\ncome to your help, He was sending your deliverer at the full speed of\nthe railroad cars. Miss Moffat has just given me the details of that\ndiabolical plot. I have advised her not to show herself before the Court\nis opened. I will, then, send for her, and when she will have given,\nunder oath, before the Court, the details she has just given me, I pity\nSpink with his perjured priests. As I told you, I would not be surprised\nif they were lynched: for there is a terrible excitement in town among\nmany people who from the beginning, suspect that the priests have\nperjured themselves to destroy you.\n\n\u201cNow your suit is gained, and to-morrow, you will have the greatest\ntriumph a man ever got over his confounded foes. But you are in need of\na rest as well as myself. Good-bye.\u201d\n\nAfter thanking God for that marvellous deliverance, I went to bed and\ntook the needed rest.\n\nBut what was the priest LeBelle doing in that very moment? Unable to\nsleep after the awful perjury he had just made, he had watched the\narrival of the trains from Chicago with an anxious mind, for he was\naware through the confessions he had heard, that there were two persons\nin that city who knew his plot and his false oath; and though he had the\npromises from them that they would never reveal it to anybody, he was\nnot without some fearful apprehensions that I might, by some way or\nother, become acquainted with his abominable conspiracy. Not long after\nthe arrival of the trains from Chicago, he came down from his room to\nsee in the book where travelers register their names, if there was any\nnewcomers from Chicago, and what was his dismay when he saw the first\nname entered was \u201c_Philomene Moffat_!\u201d That very name, Philomene Moffat,\nwho some time before, had gone to confess to him that she had heard the\nwhole plot from his own lips, when he had promised 160 acres of land to\npersuade his sister to perjure herself in order to destroy me. A deadly\npresentiment chilled the blood in his veins! \u201cWould it be possible that\nthis girl is here to reveal and prove my perjury before the world?\u201d\n\nHe immediately sent for her, when she was just coming from meeting Mr.\nLincoln.\n\n\u201cMiss Philomene Moffat here!\u201d he exclaimed, when he saw her. \u201cWhat are\nyou coming here for, this night?\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cYou will know it, sir, to-morrow morning,\u201d she answered\n\n\u201cAh! wretched girl! you come to destroy me?\u201d he exclaimed.\n\nShe replied: \u201cI do not come to destroy you, for you are already\ndestroyed. Mr. Lincoln knows everything.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! my God! my God!\u201d he exclaimed, striking his forehead with his\nhands. Then taking a big bundle of bank notes, from his pocket-book, he\nsaid: \u201cHere are one hundred dollars for you, if you take the morning\ntrain and go back to Chicago.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you would offer me as much gold as this house could contain, I would\nnot go,\u201d she replied.\n\nHe then left her abruptly, ran to the sleeping-room of Spink, and told\nhim: \u201cWithdraw your suit against Chiniquy; we are lost; he knows all.\u201d\n\nWithout losing a moment, he went to the sleeping-room of his co-priest,\nand told him: \u201cMake haste\u2014dress yourself and let us take the morning\ntrain; we have no business here, Chiniquy knows all our secrets.\u201d\n\nWhen the hour of opening the court came, there was an immense crowd, not\nonly inside, but outside its walls. Mr. Spink, pale as a man condemned\nto death, rose before the Judge, and said: \u201cPlease the court, allow me\nto withdraw my prosecution against Mr. Chiniquy. I am now persuaded that\nhe is not guilty of the faults brought against him before this\ntribunal.\u201d\n\nAbraham Lincoln, having accepted that reparation in my name, made a\nshort, but one of the most admirable speeches I had ever heard, on the\ncruel injustices I had suffered from my merciless persecutors, and\ndenounced the rascality of the priests who had perjured themselves, with\nsuch terrible colors, that it had been very wise on their part to fly\naway and disappear before the opening of the court. For the whole city\nwas ransacked for them by hundreds, who blamed me for forgiving them and\nrefusing to have my revenge for the wrong they had done me. But I\nthought that my enemies were sufficiently punished by the awful public\ndisclosures of their infernal plot. It seemed that the dear Saviour who\nhad so visibly protected me, was to be obeyed, when he was whispering in\nmy soul, \u201cForgive them and love them as thyself.\u201d\n\nWas not Spink sufficiently punished by the complete ruin which was\nbrought upon him by the loss of the suit? For having gone to Bishop\nO\u2019Regan to be indemnified for the enormous expenses of such a long\nprosecution, at such a distance, the bishop coldly answered him: \u201cI had\npromised to indemnify you if you would put Chiniquy down, as you\npromised me. But as it is Chiniquy who has put you down, I have not a\ncent to give you.\u201d\n\nAbraham Lincoln had not only defended me with the zeal and talent of the\nablest lawyer I have ever known, but as the most devoted and noblest\nfriend I ever had. After giving more than a year of his precious time to\nmy defense, when he had pleaded during two long sessions of the Court of\nUrbana, without receiving a cent from me, I considered that I was owing\nhim a great sum of money. My other two lawyers, who had not done the\nhalf of his work, asked me a thousand dollars each, and I had not\nthought that too much. After thanking him for the inappreciable services\nhe had rendered me, I requested him to show me his bill, assuring him\nthat, though I would not be able to pay the whole cash, I would pay him\nto the last cent, if he had the kindness to wait a little for the\nbalance.\n\nHe answered me with a smile and an air of inimitable kindness, which was\npeculiar to him:\n\n\u201cMy dear Mr. Chiniquy, I feel proud and honored to have been called to\ndefend you. But I have done it less as a lawyer than as a friend. The\nmoney I should receive from you would take away the pleasure I feel at\nhaving fought your battle. Your case is unique in my whole practice. I\nhave never met a man so cruelly persecuted as you have been, and who\ndeserves it so little. Your enemies are devils incarnate. The plot they\nhad concocted against you is the most hellish one I ever knew. But the\nway you have been saved from their hand, the appearance of that young\nand intelligent Miss Moffat, who was really sent by God in the very hour\nof need, when, I confess it again, I thought everything was nearly lost,\nis one of the most extraordinary occurrences I ever saw. It makes me\nremember what I have too often forgotten, and what my mother often told\nme when young\u2014that our God is a prayer-hearing God. This good thought,\nsown into my young heart by that dear mother\u2019s hand, was just in my mind\nwhen I told you, \u2018Go and pray, God alone can save you.\u2019 But I confess to\nyou that I had not faith enough to believe that your prayer would be so\nquickly and so marvellously answered by the sudden appearance of that\ninteresting young lady, last night. Now let us speak of what you owe me.\nWell!\u2014Well!\u2014how much do you owe me? You owe me nothing! for I suppose\nyou are quite ruined. The expenses of such a suit, I know, must be\nenormous. Your enemies want to ruin you. Will I help them to finish your\nruin, when I hope I have the right to be put among the most sincere and\ndevoted of your friends?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are right,\u201d I answered him; \u201cyou are the most devoted and noblest\nfriend God ever gave me, and I am nearly ruined by my enemies. But you\nare the father of a pretty large family; you must support them. Your\ntraveling expenses in coming, twice, here for me from Springfield; your\nhotel bills during the two terms you have defended me, must be very\nconsiderable. It is not just that you should receive nothing in return\nfor such work and expenses.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! well!\u201d he answered, \u201cI will give you a promissory note which you\nwill sign.\u201d Taking then a small piece of paper, he wrote:\n\nHe handed me the note, saying, \u201cCan you sign that?\u201d\n\n[Illustration: IOU]\n\nAfter reading it, I said, \u201cDear Mr. Lincoln, this is a joke. It is not\npossible that you ask only fifty dollars for services which are worth at\nleast two thousand dollars.\u201d\n\nHe then tapped me with the right hand on the shoulders and said: \u201cSign\nthat; it is enough. I will pinch some rich man for that and make them\npay the rest of the bill,\u201d and he laughed outright.\n\nWhen Abraham Lincoln was writing the due-bill, the relaxation of the\ngreat strain upon my mind, and the great kindness of my benefactor and\ndefender in charging me so little for such a service, and the terrible\npresentiment that he would pay with his life what he had done for me,\ncaused me to break into sobs and tears.\n\nAs Mr. Lincoln had finished writing the due bill, he turned round to me,\nand said, \u201cFather Chiniquy, what are you crying for? ought you not to be\nthe most happy man alive? you have beaten your enemies and gained the\nmost glorious victory, and you will come out of all your troubles in\ntriumph.\u201d\n\n\u201cDear Mr. Lincoln,\u201d I answered, \u201callow me to tell you that the joy I\nshould naturally feel for such a victory is destroyed in my mind by the\nfear of what it may cost you. There were, then, in the crowd, not less\nthan ten or twelve Jesuits from Chicago and St. Louis, who came to hear\nmy sentence of condemnation to the penitentiary. But it was on their\nheads that you have brought the thunders of heaven and earth! nothing\ncan be compared to the expression of their rage against you, when you\nnot only wrenched me from their cruel hands, but you were making the\nwalls of the court-house tremble under the awful and superhumanly\neloquent denunciation of their infamy, diabolical malice, and total want\nof Christian and human principle, in the plot they had formed for my\ndestruction. What troubles my soul, just now, and draws my tears, is\nthat it seems to me that I have read your sentence of death in their\nbloody eyes. How many other noble victims have already fallen at their\nfeet!\u201d\n\nHe tried to divert my mind, at first, with a joke, \u201cSign this,\u201d said he,\n\u201cIt will be my warrant of death.\u201d\n\nBut after I had signed, he became more solemn, and said, \u201cI know that\nJesuits never forget nor forsake. But man must not care how and where he\ndies, provided he dies at the post of honor and duty,\u201d and he left me.\n\nHere is the sworn declaration of Miss Philomene Moffat, now Mrs.\nPhilomene Schwartz:\n\nState of Illinois,} s.s.\nCook County }\n\n\u201cPhilomene Schwartz being first duly sworn, deposes and says: That she\nis of the age of forty-three years, and resides at 484 Milwaukee Avenue,\nChicago; that her maiden name was Philomene Moffat, that she knew Father\nLeBelle, the Roman Catholic priest of the French Catholics of Chicago\nduring his lifetime, and knows Rev. Father Chiniquy; that about the\nmonth of May, A. D. 1854, in company with Miss Eugenia Bossey, the\nhousekeeper of her uncle, the Rev\u2019d Mr. LeBelle, who was then living at\nthe parsonage on Clark street, Chicago, while we were sitting in the\nroom of Miss Bossey, the Rev. Mr. LeBelle was talking with his sister,\nMrs. Bossey, in the adjoining room, not suspecting that we were there\nhearing his conversation, through the door, which was partly opened;\nthough we could neither see him nor his sister, we heard every word of\nwhat they said together, the substance of which is as follows\u2014Rev. Mr.\nLeBelle said in substance, to Mrs. Bossey, his sister:\n\n\u201c\u2018You know that Mr. Chiniquy is a dangerous man, and he is my enemy,\nhaving already persuaded several of my congregation to settle in his\ncolony. You must help me to put him down, by accusing him of having\ntried to do a criminal action with you.\u2019\n\n\u201cMadame Bossey answered: \u2018I cannot say such a thing against Mr.\nChiniquy, when I know it is absolutely false.\u2019\n\n\u201cRev. M. LeBelle replied: \u2018If you refuse to comply with my request, I\nwill not give you the one hundred and sixty acres of land I intended to\ngive you; you will live and die poor.\u2019\n\n\u201cMadame Bossey answered: \u2018I prefer never to have that land, and I like\nbetter to live and die poor, than to perjure myself to please you.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe Rev. Mr. LeBelle, several times, urged his sister, Mrs. Bossey, to\ncomply with his desires, but she refused. At last, weeping and crying,\nshe said: \u2018I prefer never to have an inch of land than to damn my soul\nfor swearing to a falsehood.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe Rev. Mr. LeBelle then said:\n\n\u201c\u2018Mr. Chiniquy will destroy our holy religion and our people if we do\nnot destroy him. If you think that the swearing I ask you to do is a\nsin, you will come to confess to me, and I will pardon it in the\nabsolution I will give you.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Have you the power to forgive a false oath?\u2019 replied Mrs. Bossey to\nher brother, the priest.\n\n\u201c\u2018Yes,\u2019 he answered, \u2018I have that power; for Christ has said to all his\npriests, \u201cWhat you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and\nwhat you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.\u201d\u2019\n\n\u201cMrs. Bossey then said: \u2018If you promise that you will forgive that false\noath, and if you give me the one hundred and sixty acres of land you\npromised, I will do what you want.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe Rev\u2019d Mr. LeBelle then said: \u2018All right!\u2019 I could not hear any more\nof that conversation, for in that instant Miss Eugenia Bossey, who had\nkept still and silent with us, made some noise and shut the door.\n\n\u201cAffiant further states: That some time later I went to confess to Rev.\nMr. LeBelle, and I told him that I had lost confidence in him, He asked\nme why? I answered: \u2018I lost my confidence in you since I heard your\nconversation with your sister, when you tried to persuade her to perjure\nherself in order to destroy Father Chiniquy.\u2019\n\n\u201cAffiant further says: \u201cThat in the month of October, A. D. 1856, the\nRev\u2019d Mr. Chiniquy had to defend himself, before the civil and criminal\ncourt of Urbana, Illinois, in an action brought against him by Peter\nSpink; some one wrote from Urbana to a paper of Chicago, that Father\nChiniquy was probably to be condemned. The paper which published that\nletter was much read by the Roman Catholics, who were glad to hear that\nthat priest was to be punished. Among those who read that paper was\nNarcisse Terrien. He had lately been married to Miss Sara Chaussey, who\ntold him that Father Chiniquy was innocent; that she was present with me\nwhen Rev\u2019d LeBelle prepared the plot with his sister, Mrs. Bossey, and\nhad promised her a large piece of land if she would swear falsely\nagainst Father Chiniquy. Mr. Narcisse Terrien wanted to go with his wife\nto the help of Father Chiniquy, but she was unwell and could not go. He\ncame to ask me if I remembered well the conversation of Rev\u2019d Mr.\nLeBelle, and if I would consent to go to Urbana to expose the whole plot\nbefore the court, and I consented.\n\n\u201cWe started that same evening for Urbana, where we arrived late at\nnight. I immediately met Mr. Abraham Lincoln, one of the lawyers of\nFather Chiniquy, and told him all that I knew about the plot.\n\n\u201cThat very same night the Rev\u2019d Mr. LeBelle, having seen my name on the\nhotel register, came to me much excited and troubled, and said,\n\u2018Philomene, what are you here for?\u2019\n\n\u201cI answered him, \u2018I cannot exactly tell you that; but you will probably\nknow it tomorrow at the court-house!\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Oh, wretched girl!\u2019 he exclaimed, \u2018you have come to destroy me.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I do not come to destroy you,\u2019 I replied, \u2018for you are already\ndestroyed!\u2019\n\n\u201cThen drawing from his portmonnaie-book a big bundle of bank-notes,\nwhich he said was worth one hundred dollars, he said: \u2018I will give you\nall this money if you will leave by the morning train and go back to\nChicago.\u2019\n\n\u201cI answered him: \u2018Though you would offer me as much gold as this room\ncan contain, I cannot do what you ask.\u2019\n\n\u201cHe then seemed exceedingly distressed, and he disappeared. The next\nmorning Peter Spink requested the court to allow him to withdraw his\naccusations against Father Chiniquy, and to stop his prosecutions,\nhaving, he said, found out that he, Father Chiniquy, was innocent of the\nthings brought against him, and his request was granted. Then the\ninnocence and honesty of Father Chiniquy was acknowledged by the court\nafter it had been proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln, who was afterwards\nelected President of the United States.\n\n \u201c(Signed) PHILOMENE SCHWARTZ.[F]\n\n\u201cI, Stephen R. Moore, a Notary Public in the County of Kankakee, in the\nState of Illinois, and duly authorized by law to administer oaths, do\nhereby certify that, on this 21st day of October, A. D. 1881, Philomene\nSchwartz personally appeared before me, and made oath that the above\naffidavit by her subscribed is true, as therein stated. In witness\nwhereto, I have hereunto set my hand and notarial seal.\n\n \u201cSTEPHEN R. MOORE,\n\n \u201cNotary Public.\u201d\n\n-----\n\nFootnote F:\n\n That lady is still living, 1886, and at the head of one of the most\n respectable families of Chicago, residing at 482 Milwaukee Avenue.\n\n-----\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LIX.\n\nMOMENT OF INTERRUPTION IN THE THREAD OF MY \u201cFIFTY YEARS IN THE CHURCH OF\n ROME,\u201d TO SEE HOW MY SAD PREVISIONS ABOUT MY DEFENDER, ABRAHAM\n LINCOLN, WERE TO BE REALIZED\u2014ROME THE IMPLACABLE ENEMY OF THE UNITED\n STATES\u2014SHE WANTS TO CONQUER AND RULE THEM, IN ORDER TO DESTROY ALL\n THEIR RIGHTS, PRIVILEGES AND LIBERTIES.\n\n\nWhen it became evident, in 1851, that my plan of forming a grand colony\nof Roman Catholic French-speaking people on the prairies of Illinois was\nto be a success, D\u2019Arcy McGee, then editor of _The Freeman\u2019s Journal_,\nofficial journal of the Bishop of New York, wrote me to know my views,\nand immediately determined to put himself at the head of a similar\nenterprise in behalf of the Irish Roman Catholics. He published several\nable articles to show that the Irish people, with very few exceptions,\nwere demoralized, degraded and kept poor, around their groggeries, and\nshowed how they would thrive, become respectable and rich, if they could\nbe induced to exchange their grog shops for the fertile lands of the\nwest. Through his influence, a large assembly, principally composed of\npriests, to which I was invited, met at Buffalo, in the spring of 1852.\nBut what was his disappointment, when he saw that the greatest part of\nthose priests were sent by the Bishops of the United States to oppose\nand defeat his plans!\n\nHe vainly spoke with a burning eloquence for his pet scheme. The\nmajority coldly answered him: \u201cWe are determined, like you, to take\npossession of the United States and rule them; but we cannot do that\nwithout acting secretly and with the utmost wisdom. If our plans are\nknown, they will surely be defeated. What does a skillful general do\nwhen he wants to conquer a country? Does he scatter his soldiers over\nthe farm lands, and spend their time and energy in ploughing the fields\nand sowing grain? No! He keeps them well united around his banners, and\nmarches at their head, to the conquest of the strongholds, the rich and\npowerful cities. The farming countries then submit and become the price\nof his victory, without moving a finger to subdue them. So it is with\nus. Silently and patiently, we must mass our Roman Catholics in the\ngreat cities of the United States, remembering that the vote of a poor\njourneyman, though he be covered with rags, has as much weight in the\nscale of power as the millionaire Astor, and that if we have two votes\nagainst his one, he will become as powerless as an oyster. Let us, then,\nmultiply our votes; let us call our poor but faithful Irish Catholics\nfrom every corner of the world, and gather them into the very hearts of\nthose proud citadels which the Yankees are so rapidly building under the\nnames of Washington, New York, Boston, Chicago, Buffalo, Albany, Troy,\nCincinnati, etc. Under the shadows of those great cities, the Americans\nconsider themselves as a giant and unconquerable race. They look upon\nthe poor Irish Catholic people with supreme contempt, as only fit to dig\ntheir canals, sweep their streets and work in their kitchens. Let no one\nawake those sleeping lions, to-day. Let us pray God that they may sleep\nand dream their sweet dreams, a few years more. How sad will their\nawakening be, when with our outnumbering votes, we will turn them,\nforever, from every position of honor, power and profit! What will those\nhypocritical and godless sons and daughters of the fanatical Pilgrim\nFathers say, when not a single judge, not a single teacher, not a single\npoliceman, will be elected if he be not a devoted Irish Roman Catholic?\nWhat will those so-called giants think of their matchless shrewdness and\nability, when not a single Senator or member of Congress will be chosen,\nif he be not submitted to our holy father, the Pope? What a sad figure\nthose Protestant Yankees will cut when we will not only elect the\nPresident, but fill and command the armies, man the navies, and hold the\nkeys of the public treasury? It will then be time for our faithful Irish\npeople to give up their grog-shops, in order to become the judges and\ngovernors of the land. Then our poor and humble mechanics will leave\ntheir damp ditches and muddy streets, to rule the cities in all their\ndepartments, from the stately mansion of Mayor of New York, to the\nhumble, though not less noble position of teacher.\n\n\u201cThen, yes! then, we will rule the United States, and lay them at the\nfeet of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, that he may put an end to their\ngodless system of education, and sweep away those impious laws of\nliberty of conscience, which are an insult to God and man!\u201d\n\nD\u2019Arcy McGee was left almost alone when the votes were taken. From that\ntime, the Catholic priests, with the most admirable ability and success,\nhave gathered their Irish legions into the great cities of the United\nStates, and the American people must be very blind indeed, if they do\nnot see that if they do nothing to prevent it, the day is very near when\nthe Jesuits will rule their country, from the magnificent White House at\nWashington, to the humblest civil and military department of this vast\nRepublic. They are already the masters of New York, Baltimore, Chicago,\nSt. Paul, New Orleans, Mobile, Savannah, Cincinnati, Albany, Troy,\nMilwaukee, St. Louis, San Francisco, etc. Yes! San Francisco, the rich,\nthe great queen of the Pacific, is in the hands of the Jesuits!\n\nFrom the very first days of the discovery of the gold mines of\nCalifornia, the Jesuits had the hopes of becoming masters of these\ninexhaustible treasures, and they secretly laid their plans, with the\nmost profound ability and success. They saw, at once, that the great\nmajority of the lucky miners, of every creed and nation, were going back\nhome, as soon as they had enough to secure an honorable competence to\ntheir families. It became then evident, that of those multitudes which\nthe thirst of gold had brought from every corner of the world, not one\nout of fifty would fix their homes in San Francisco. The Jesuits saw at\na glance, that if they could persuade the Irish Catholics to settle and\nremain there, they would soon be the masters and rulers of that golden\ncity, whose future is so bright and so great! And that scheme, worked\nday and night with the utmost perseverance, has been crowned with\nperfect success.\n\nThe consequence is, that while you find only a few Americans, Germans,\nScotch and English millionaires in San Francisco, you find more than\nfifty Catholic Irish millionaires in that city. Its richest bank (Nevada\nBank) is in their hands, and so are all the street railways. The\nprincipal offices of the city are filled with Irish Roman Catholics.\nAlmost all the police are composed of the same class, as well as the\nvolunteer military associations. Their compact unity, in the hands of\nthe Jesuits, with their enormous wealth, make them almost supreme\nmasters of the mines of California and Nevada.\n\nWhen one knows the absolute, abject submission of the Irish Roman\nCatholics, rich or poor, to their priests; how the mind, the soul, the\nwill, the conscience are firmly and irrevocably tied to the feet of the\npriests, he can easily understand that the Jesuits of the United States\nform one of the richest and most powerful corporations the world ever\nsaw.\n\nIt is well known that those fifty Catholic millionaires, with their\nmyriads of employees, are, through their wives, and by themselves,\ncontinually at the feet of the Jesuits, who swim in a golden sea.\n\nNo one, if he be not a Roman Catholic, or one of those so-called\nProtestants who give their daughters to the nuns, and their sons to the\nJesuits to be educated, has much hopes, where the Jesuits rule, of\nhaving a lucrative office in the San Francisco to-day.\n\nThe Americans, with few exceptions, do not pay any attention to the dark\ncloud which is rising at their horizon, from Rome. Though that cloud is\nfilled with rivers of tears and blood, they let it grow and rise without\neven caring how they will escape from the impending hurricane.\n\nIt is to San Francisco that you must go to have an idea of the number of\nsecret and powerful organizations with which the Church of Rome prepares\nherself for the impending conflict, through which she hopes to destroy\nthe schools and every vestige of human rights and liberties in the\nUnited States.\n\nIn order to more easily drill the Roman Catholics and prepare them for\nthe irrepressible struggle, the Jesuits have organized them into a great\nnumber of secret societies, the principal of which are: Ancient Order of\nHibernians, Irish American Society, Knights of St. Patrick, St.\nPatrick\u2019s Cadets, St. Patrick Mutual Alliance, Apostles of Liberty,\nBenevolent Sons of the Emerald Isle, Knights of St. Peter, Knights of\nthe Red Branch, Knights of the Columskill, The Sacred Heart, etc., etc.\n\nAlmost all these secret associations are military ones. They have their\nheadquarters at San Francisco; but their rank and file are scattered all\nover the United States. They number 700,000 soldiers, who, under the\nname of United States Volunteer Militia, are officered by some of the\nmost skillful generals and officers of this Republic.\n\nAnother fact, to which the American Protestants do not sufficiently pay\nattention, is that the Jesuits have been shrewd enough to have a vast\nmajority of Roman Catholic generals and officers, to command the army\nand man the navy of the United States.\n\nRome is in constant conspiracy against the rights and liberties of man\nall over the world; but she is particularly so in the United States.\n\nLong before I was ordained a priest, I knew that my church was the most\nimplacable enemy of this Republic. My professors of philosophy, history\nand theology had been unanimous in telling me that the principles and\nlaws of the Church of Rome were absolutely antagonistic to the laws and\nprinciples which are the foundation-stones of the Constitution of the\nUnited States.\n\n1st. The most sacred principle of the United States Constitution is the\nequality of every citizen before the law. But the fundamental principle\nof the Church of Rome, is the denial of that equality.\n\n2nd. Liberty of conscience is proclaimed by the United States, a most\nsacred principle which every citizen must uphold, even at the price of\nhis blood. But liberty of conscience is declared by all the Popes and\nCouncils of Rome, a most godless, unholy and diabolical thing, which\nevery good Catholic must abhor and destroy, at any cost.\n\n3rd. The American Constitution assures the absolute independence of the\ncivil from the ecclesiastical or church power; but the Church of Rome\ndeclares, through all her Pontiffs and Councils, that such independence\nis an impiety and a revolt against God.\n\n4th. The American Constitution leaves every man free to serve God\naccording to the dictates of his conscience; but the Church of Rome\ndeclares that no man has ever had such a right, and that the Pope alone\ncan know and say what man must believe and do.\n\n5th. The Constitution of the United States denies the right in any body\nto punish any other for differing from him in religion. But the Church\nof Rome says that she has a right to punish with the confiscation of\ntheir goods, or the penalty of death, those who differ in faith from the\nPope.\n\n6th. The United States have established schools all over their immense\nterritories, where they invite the people to send their children, that\nthey may cultivate their intelligence and become good and useful\ncitizens. But the Church of Rome has publicly cursed all these schools,\nand forbidden their children to attend them, under pain of\nexcommunication in this world and damnation in the next.\n\n7th. The Constitution of the United States is based on the principle\nthat the people are the primary source of all civil power. But hundreds\nof times, the Church of Rome has proclaimed that this principle is\nimpious and heretical. She says that \u201call government must rest upon the\nfoundation of the Catholic faith; with the Pope alone as the legitimate\nand infallible source and interpreter of the law.\u201d\n\nI could cite many other things, proving that the Church of Rome is an\nabsolute and irreconcilable enemy of the United States; but it would be\ntoo long. These are sufficient to show to the American people that Rome\nis a viper, which they feed and press upon their bosom. Sooner or later,\nthat viper will bite to death and kill this Republic.\n\nThis was foretold by Lafayette, and is now promulgated by the greatest\nthinkers of our time.\n\nThe greatest inventor, or rather the immortal father of electric\ntelegraphy, Samuel Morse, found it out when in Rome, and published it in\n1834, in his remarkable work, \u201cConspiracies Against the Liberties of the\nUnited States.\u201d The learned Dr. S. Iren\u00e6us Prime, in his life of Prof.\nMorse, says: \u201cWhen Mr. Morse was in Italy, he became acquainted with\nseveral ecclesiastics of the Church of Rome, and he was led to believe,\nfrom what he learned from them, that a political conspiracy, under the\ncloak of a religious mission, was formed against the United States. When\nhe came to Paris and enjoyed the confidence and friendship of Lafayette,\nhe stated his convictions to the General, who fully concurred with him\nin the reality of such a conspiracy.\u201d\n\nThat great statesman and patriot, the late Richard W. Thompson,\nSecretary of the Navy, in his admirable work, \u201cThe Papacy and the Civil\nPower,\u201d says: \u201cNothing is plainer than that, if the principles of the\nChurch of Rome prevail here, our constitution would necessarily fall.\nThe two cannot exist together. They are in open and direct antagonism\nwith the fundamental theory of our government and of all popular\ngovernment everywhere.\u201d\n\nThe eloquent Spanish orator, Castelar, speaking of his own Church of\nRome, said, in 1869, \u201cThere is not a single progressive principle that\nhas not been cursed by the Catholic Church. This is true of England and\nGermany, as well as all Catholic countries. The Church cursed the French\nRevolution, the Belgian Constitution and the Italian Independence. Not a\nConstitution has been born, not a step of progress made, not a solitary\nreform effected, which has not been under the terrific anathemas of the\nChurch.\u201d\n\nBut why ask the testimony of Protestants or Liberals to warn the\nAmerican people against that conspiracy, when we have the public\ntestimony of all the bishops and priests to prove it? With the most\ndaring impudence, the Church of Rome, through her leading men, is\nboasting of her stern determination to destroy all the rights and\nprivileges which have cost so much blood to the American people. Let the\nAmericans, who have eyes to see and intelligence to understand, read the\nfollowing unimpeachable documents, and judge for themselves of what will\nbecome of this country, if Rome is allowed to grow strong enough to\nexecute her threats.\n\n\u201cThe church is of necessity intolerant. Heresy, she endures when and\nwhere she must, but she hates it, and directs all her energies to\ndestroy it.\n\n\u201cIf Catholics ever gain a sufficient numerical majority in this country,\nreligious freedom is at an end. So our enemies say, so we believe.\u201d\u2014_The\nShepherd of the Valley_, official journal of the Bishop of St. Louis,\nNov. 23, 1851.\n\n\u201cNo man has a right to chose his religion. Catholicism is the most\nintolerant of creeds. It is intolerance itself. We might as rationally\nmaintain that two and two does not make four, as the theory of Religious\nLiberty. Its impiety is only equalled by its absurdity.\u201d\u2014_New York\nFreeman_, official journal of Bishop Hughes, Jan. 26, 1852.\n\n\u201cThe Church is instituted, as every Catholic who understands his\nreligion believes, to guard and defend the right of God, against any and\nevery enemy, at all times, in all places. She, therefore, does not, and\ncannot accept, or in any degree favor liberty, in the Protestant sense\nof liberty.\u201d\u2014_Catholic World_, April, 1870.\n\n\u201cThe Catholic Church is the medium and channel through which the will of\nGod is expressed. While the state has rights, she has them only in\nvirtue and by permission of the Superior Authority, and that authority\ncan be expressed only through the church.\u201d\u2014_Catholic World_, July, 1870.\n\n\u201cProtestantism has not, and never can have, any right, where Catholicity\nhas triumphed. Therefore, we lose the breath we expend in declaiming\nagainst bigotry and intolerance and in favor of Religious Liberty, or\nthe right of man to be of any religion as best pleases him.\u201d\u2014_Catholic\nReview_, June, 1865.\n\n\u201cReligious Liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried\ninto effect without peril to the Catholic Church.\u201d\u2014Rt. Rev. O\u2019Connor,\nBishop of Pittsburgh.\n\n\u201cThe Catholic Church numbers one-third the American population; and if\nits membership shall increase, for the next thirty years, as it has the\nthirty years past, in 1900, Rome will have a majority, and be bound to\ntake this country and keep it. There is, ere long, to be a state\nreligion in this country, and that state religion is to be the Roman\nCatholic.\n\n\u201c1st. The Roman Catholic is to wield his vote for the purpose of\nsecuring Catholic ascendancy in this country.\n\n\u201c2nd. All legislation must be governed by the will of God, unerringly\nindicated by the Pope.\n\n\u201c3rd. Education must be controlled by Catholic authorities, and under\neducation, the opinions of the individual, and the utterances of the\npress are included, and many opinions are to be forbidden by the secular\narm, under the authority of the church, even to war and\nbloodshed.\u201d\u2014Father Hecker, _Catholic World_, July, 1870.\n\n\u201cIt was proposed that all religious persuasions should be free and their\nworship publicly exercised. But we have rejected this article as\ncontrary to the canons and councils of the Catholic church.\u201d\u2014Pope Pius\nVII., _Encyclical_, 1808.\n\nEvery one knows that one of the first and most solemn acts of the\npresent Pope Leo XIII., was to order that the theology of St. Thomas\nAquinas should be taught in all the colleges, seminaries and\nuniversities of the Church of Rome throughout the whole world, as the\nmost accurate teachings of the doctrines of his church. Well, on the\n30th of Dec., 1870, I forced the Rt. Rev. Foley, Bishop of Chicago, to\ntranslate from Latin into English, before the court of Kankakee, and to\nswear that the following law was among those promulgated by St. Thomas\nas one of the present and unchangeable laws of the Church of Rome:\n\n\u201cThough heretics must not be tolerated because they deserve it, we must\nbear with them, till, by a second admonition, they may be brought back\nto the faith of the church. But those who after a second admonition,\nremain obstinate in their errors, must not only be excommunicated, but\nthey must be delivered to the secular power to be exterminated.\u201d\u2014St.\nThomas Acquinas _Summa Theologia_, vol. 4, p. 90.\n\n[Illustration: LEO XIII.]\n\nAfter the Bishop had sworn that this was the true doctrine of the Church\nof Rome, expressed by St. Thomas, and taught in all the colleges,\nseminaries and universities of the Church of Rome, I forced him to\ndeclare, under oath, that he, and every priest of Rome, once a year,\nunder pain of eternal damnation, is obliged to say, in the presence of\nGod, in his Breviarum (his official prayer-book) that that doctrine was\nso good and holy, that every word of it has been inspired by the Holy\nGhost to St. Thomas.\n\nThe same Bishop Foley was again forced by me, before the same court of\nKankakee, to translate from Latin into English, the following decree of\nthe council of Lateran, and to acknowledge, under oath, that it was as\nmuch the law of the Church of Rome to-day, as on the day it was passed,\nin the year 1215:\n\n\u201cWe excommunicate and anathematize every heresy that exalts itself\nagainst the holy orthodox and Catholic faith, condemning all heretics,\nby whatever name they may be known, for though their faces differ, they\nare tied together by their tails. Such as are condemned are to be\ndelivered over to the existing secular powers to receive due punishment.\nIf laymen, their goods must be confiscated. If priests, they shall be\ndegraded from their respective orders, and their property applied to the\nchurch in which they officiated. Secular powers of all ranks and degrees\nare to be warned, induced, and, if necessary, compelled by\necclesiastical censure, to swear that they will exert themselves to the\nutmost in the defence of the faith, and extirpate all heretics denounced\nby the church, who shall be found in their territories. And whenever any\nperson shall assume government, whether it be spiritual or temporal, he\nshall be bound to abide by this decree.\n\n\u201cIf any temporal lord, after having been admonished and required by the\nchurch, shall neglect to clear his territory of heretical depravity, the\nMetropolitan and Bishop of the Province shall unite in excommunicating\nhim. Should he remain contumacious a whole year, the fact shall be\nsignified to the Supreme Pontiff, who will declare his vassals released\nfrom their allegiance from that time, and will bestow his territory on\nCatholics, to be occupied by them, on condition of exterminating the\nheretics and preserving the said territory in the faith.\u201d\n\n\u201cCatholics who shall assume the cross for the extermination of heretics,\nshall enjoy the same indulgence, and be protected by the same privileges\nas are granted to those who go to the help of the Holy Land. We decree\nfurther that all those who have dealings with heretics, and especially\nsuch as receive, defend and encourage them, shall be excommunicated. He\nshall not be eligible to any public office. He shall not be admitted as\na witness. He shall neither have the power to bequeath his property by\nwill, nor to succeed to any inheritance. He shall not bring any action\nagainst any person, but any one can bring action against him. Should he\nbe a judge, his decision shall have no force, nor shall any cause be\nbrought before him. Should he be a lawyer, no instruments made by him\nshall be held valid, but shall be condemned with their authors.\u201d\n\nCardinal Manning, speaking in the name of the Pope, said: \u201cI acknowledge\nno civil power; I am the subject of no prince; and I claim more than\nthis. I claim to be the supreme judge and director of the consciences of\nmen. Of the peasants that till the fields, and of the prince that sits\nupon the throne; of the household that lives in the shade of privacy,\nand the legislator that makes laws for kingdoms. I am sole, last,\nsupreme judge of what is right and wrong. Moreover, we declare, affirm,\ndefine and pronounce it to be necessary to salvation to every human\ncreature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff!!\u201d\u2014_Tablet_, Oct. 9, 1864.\n\n\u201cUndoubtedly it is the intention of the Pope to possess this country. In\nthis intention he is aided by the Jesuits, and all the Catholic prelates\nand priests.\u201d\u2014_Brownson\u2019s Review_, May, 1864.\n\n\u201cFor our own part, we take this opportunity to express our hearty\ndelight at the suppression of the Protestant Chapel in Rome. This may be\nthought intolerant; but when, we ask, did we profess to be tolerant of\nProtestantism, or to favor the question that Protestantism ought to be\ntolerated. On the contrary, we hate Protestantism. We detest it with our\nwhole heart and soul, and we pray our aversion for it may never\ndecrease.\u201d\u2014_Pittsburgh Catholic Visitor_, July, 1848, official journal\nof the Bishop.\n\n\u201cNo good government can exist without religion, and there can be no\nreligion without an inquisition, which is wisely designed for the\nprotection and promotion of the true faith.\u201d\u2014_Boston Pilot_, official\njournal of the Bishop.\n\n\u201cThe Pope has the right to pronounce sentence of deposition against\nany sovereign, when required by the good of the Spiritual\nOrder.\u201d\u2014_Brownson\u2019s Review_, 1849.\n\n\u201cThe power of the church exercised over sovereigns in the middle ages\nwas not a usurpation, was not derived from the concessions of princes or\nthe consent of the people, but was and is held by divine right, and\nwhoso resists it, rebels against the King of Kings and Lord of\nLords.\u201d\u2014_Brownson\u2019s Review_, June 1851.\n\nThe council of Constance, held in 1414, declared: \u201cThat any person who\nhas promised security to heretics shall not be obliged to keep his\npromise, by whatever he may be engaged.\n\n\u201cIt is in consequence of that principle that _no faith must be kept with\nheretics_, that John Huss was publicly burned on the scaffold, the 6th\nof July, 1415, in the city of Constance, though he had a safe passport\nfrom the Emperor.\u201d\n\n\u201cNegroes have no rights which the white man is bound to respect.\u201d\u2014_Roman\nCatholic Chief-justice Tany_, in his Dred-Scot Decision.\n\n\u201cIf the liberties of the American people are ever destroyed, they will\nfall by the hands of the Catholic clergy.\u201d\u2014_Lafayette._\n\n\u201cIf your son or daughter is attending a State School, you are violating\nyour duty as a Catholic parent, and conducing to the everlasting anguish\nand despair of your child. Take him away. Take him away, if you do not\nwish your deathbed to be tormented with the spectre of a soul which God\nhas given you as a sacred trust, surrendered to the great enemy of\nmankind. Take him away, rather than incur the wrath of his God, and the\nloss of his soul.\u201d\u2014_Western Tablet_, official paper of the Bishop of\nChicago.\n\nAll the echoes of the United States, are still repeating the same\ndenunciations against our public schools made by Mgr. Capel, a prelate\nattached to the household of the Pope. That Roman Catholic dignitary has\nnot only passed again the sentence of death against the schools of the\nUnited States; but he has warned the Americans that the time is not far\naway when the Roman Catholics, at the order of the Pope, will refuse to\npay their school tax, and will send bullets to the breasts of the\ngovernment agents, rather than pay it. \u201cThe order can come any day from\nRome,\u201d said the prelate. \u201cIt will come as quickly as the click of the\ntrigger, and it will be obeyed, of course, as coming from God Almighty,\nhimself!\u201d\n\nThe _Catholic Columbian_, edited under the immediate supervision of the\nRt. Rev. Bishop of Columbus, Ohio, says: \u201cSecular (government) schools\nare unfit for Catholic children. Catholic parents cannot be allowed the\nsacraments, who choose to send their children to them, when they could\nmake use of the Catholic schools.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe absurd and erroneous doctrines, or ravings, in defense of liberty\nof conscience, are a most pestilential error, a pest of all others, to\nbe dreaded in the State.\u201d\u2014_Encyclical Letters of Pope Pius IX._, Aug.\n15, 1854.\n\n\u201cYou should do all in your power to carry out the intentions of his\nholiness, the Pope. Where you have the electoral franchise, give your\nvotes to none but those who assist you in so holy a struggle.\u201d\u2014_Daniel\nO\u2019Connell._\n\n\u201cCatholic votes should be cast solidly for the democracy at the next\nelection. It is the only possible hope to break down the school\nsystem.\u201d\u2014_Toledo Catholic Review._\n\n\u201cIt is of faith that the Pope has the right of deposing heretical and\nrebel kings. Monarchs, so deposed by the Pope, are converted into\nnotorious tyrants, and may be killed by the first who can reach them.\n\n\u201cIf the public cause cannot meet with its defence in the death of a\ntyrant, it is lawful for the first who arrives, to assassinate\nhim.\u201d\u2014Suarez, _Defensio Fidei_; Book VI., chap. 4, Nos. 13-14.\n\n\u201cSee, sir, from this chamber, I govern, not only to Paris, but to China;\nnot only to China, but to all the world, without any one knowing how I\ndo it.\u201d\u2014_Tambriorini_, General of the Jesuits.\n\n\u201cA man who has been excommunicated by the Pope, may be killed anywhere,\nas Escobar and Deaux teach, because the Pope has an indirect\njurisdiction over the whole world, even in temporal things, as all the\nCatholics maintain, and as Suarez proves against the King of\nEngland.\u201d\u2014Bussambaum\u2014Lacroi, _Theologica Moralis_, 1757.\n\nThe Roman Catholic historian of the Jesuits, Cratineau Joly, in his Vol.\nII., page 435, approvingly says: \u201cFather Guivard, writing about Henry\nIV., King of France, says: \u2018If he cannot be deposed, let us make war;\nand if we cannot make war, let him be killed.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe great Roman Catholic theologian, Dens, puts to himself, the\nquestion: \u201cAre heretics justly punished with death? He answers: \u2018St.\nThomas says: Yes! 22, question 11, Art. 3. Because forgers of money, or\nother disturbers of the state, are justly punished with death;\ntherefore, all heretics who are forgers of faith, and, as experience\ntestifies, grievously disturb the State.\u2019\n\n\u201cThis is confirmed, because God, in the Old Testament, ordered the false\nprophets to be slain, and in Deuteronomy it is decreed that if any one\nwill act proudly, and will not obey the commands of the priests, let him\nbe put to death.\n\n\u201cThe same is proved from the condemnation of the 14th article of John\nHuss, in the Council of Constance.\u201d\u2014Dens, p. 88, Tome II., Dublin, 1834.\n\n\u201cThat we may, in all things, attain the truth. That we may not err in\nanything, we ought ever to hold, as a fixed principle, that what I see\nwhite, I believe to be black, if the superior authorities of the church\ndefine it to be so.\u201d\u2014_Spiritual Exercise_, by Ignatius Loyola, founder\nof the Jesuits.\n\n\u201cAs for holy obedience, this virtue must be perfect in every point, in\nexecution, in will, in intellect, doing which is enjoined with all\ncelerity, spiritual joy, and perseverance; persuading ourselves that\neverything is just, suppressing every repugnant thought and judgment of\none\u2019s own, in a certain obedience, should be moved and directed under\nDivine Providence, by his superior, just as if he were a corpse\n(_Perindi acsi cadaver esset_) which allows itself to be moved and led\nin every direction.\u201d\u2014Ignatius Loyola, _Spiritual Exercise_.\n\n\u201cIf the Holy Church so requires, let us sacrifice our own opinions, our\nknowledge, our intelligence, the splendid dreams of our imagination and\nthe sublime attainments of human understanding.\u201d\u2014Pope Gregory XVI.,\n_Encyclical_, Aug. 15th, 1832.\n\n\u201cNo more cunning plot was ever devised against the intelligence, the\nfreedom, the happiness and virtue of mankind, than Romanism.\u201d\u2014Gladstone,\n_Letter to Aberdeen_.\n\n\u201cThe principal and most efficacious means of practicing obedience due to\nsuperiors, and of rendering it meritorious before God, is to consider\nthat, in obeying them, we obey God Himself, and that by despising their\ncommands, we despise the authority of the Divine Master.\n\n\u201cWhen, thus, a Religious receives a precept from her prelate, superior\nor confessor, she should immediately execute it, not only to please\nthem, but principally to please God, whose will is known by their\ncommand.\n\n\u201cIf, then, you receive a command from one who holds the place of God,\nyou should observe it as if it came from God Himself. It may be added\nthat there is more certainty of doing the will of God by obedience to\nour superiors than by obedience to Jesus Christ, should He appear in\nperson and give His command.\n\n\u201cSt. Philip used to say that the Religious shall be most certain of not\nhaving to render an account of the actions performed through obedience,\nfor these, the superiors only, who command them shall be\naccountable.\u201d\u2014Saint Ligouri, _The Nun Sanctified_.\n\n\u201cIn the name and by the authority of Jesus Christ, the plenitude of\nwhich resides in His Vicar, the Pope, we declare that the teaching that\nthe earth is not the centre of the world, and that it moves with a\ndiurnal motion, is absurd, philosophically false, and erroneous in\nfaith.\u201d\u2014Decree of Pope Urbain XIII. (signed) by Cardinals Felia, Guido,\nDesiderio, Antonio, Belligero, and Fabricius.\n\nIn consequence of that infallible decree of the infallible Pope,\nGalileo, in order to escape death, was obliged to fall on his knees and\nperjure himself, by signing the following declaration on the 22nd of\nJune, 1663:\n\n\u201cI abjure, curse and detest the error and heresy of the motion of the\nearth around the sun.\u201d\n\nIn obedience to that decree, the two learned Jesuit astronomers, Lesueur\nand Jacquier, in Rome, only a few years ago, made the following\ndeclaration: \u201cNewton assumes, in his third book, the hypothesis of the\nearth moving around the sun. The proposition of that author could not be\nexplained, except through the same hypothesis; we have, therefore, been\nforced to act a character not our own. But we declare our entire\nsubmission to the decrees of the supreme Pontiff of Rome against the\nmotion of the earth.\u201d\u2014_Newton\u2019s Principia_, by Fathers Lesueur and\nJacquier, vol. iii., page 450.\n\n\u201cA Catholic should never attach himself to any political party composed\nof heretics. No one who is truly, at heart, a thorough and complete\nCatholic, can give his entire adhesion to a Protestant leader; for in so\ndoing, he divides his allegiance, which he owes entirely to the\nchurch.\u201d\u2014_Univers_, the official Catholic paper of the Bishops of\nFrance, Mar. 28th, 1868.\n\n\u201cWould he (the priest) be warranted in withholding any sacrament of the\nchurch from a man by reason of his preferring one candidate to the\nother! Absolutely speaking, he would; because a priest is not only\nwarranted, but bound to withhold, the sacraments from a man who is\ndisposed to commit a mortal sin!!\u201d\u2014Bishop Vaughan\u2019s address to the\nCatholic Club at Salford, England, Jan. 2nd, 1873.\n\n\u201cOur business is to contrive:\n\n\u201c1st. That the Catholics be imbued with hatred for the heretics, whoever\nthey may be, and that this hatred shall constantly increase, and bind\nthem closely to each other.\n\n\u201c2nd. That it be, nevertheless, _dissembled_, so as not to transpire\nuntil the day when _it shall be appointed to break forth_.\n\n\u201c3rd. That this secret hate be combined with great activity in\nendeavoring to detach the faithful from every government inimical to us,\nand employ them, when they shall form a detached body, to strike deadly\nblows at heresy.\u201d\u2014_Secret Plans of the Jesuits, revealed by Albate\nLeon_, p. 127.\n\nHenry IV., King of France, after being wounded by an assassin sent by\nthe Jesuits, said: \u201cI am compelled to do one of these two things: Either\nrecall the Jesuits, free them from the infamy and disgrace with which\nthey are covered, or to expel them in a more absolute manner, and\nprevent them from approaching either my person or my kingdom.\n\n\u201cBut, then, we will drive them to despair and to the resolution of\nattempting my life again, which would render it so miserable to me,\nbeing always under the apprehension of being murdered, or poisoned. For\nthese people have correspondence everywhere, and are so very skillful in\ndisposing the minds of men to whatever they wish, that I think it would\nbe better that I should be already dead.\u201d\u2014_Sully\u2019s Memoirs_, tome ii.,\nchap. iii.\n\n\u201cLet us bring all our skill to bear upon this part of our plan. Our\nchief concern must be to mould the people to our purposes. Doubtless,\nthe first generation will not be wholly ours; but the second will nearly\nbelong to us: and the third entirely.\u201d\u2014_The Secret Plan_, page 127-128.\n\n\u201cThe state is, therefore, only an inferior court, bound to receive the\nlaw from the superior court (the church) and liable to have its decrees\nreversed on appeal.\u201d\u2014_Brownson\u2019s Essays_, pages 282-284.\n\n\u201cThe Jesuits are a _military organization_, not a religious order. Their\nchief is a general of an army, not the mere father abbot of a monastery.\nAnd the aim of this organization is: POWER. Power in the most despotic\nexercise. Absolute power, universal power, power to control the world by\nthe volition of a single man. Jesuitism is the most absolute of\ndespotisms; and at the same time the greatest and the most enormous of\nabuses.\u201d\u2014_Memorial of the Captivity of Napoleon at St. Helena_, by\nGeneral Montholon, vol. ii., p. 62.\n\n\u201cThe general of the Jesuits insists on being master, sovereign, over the\nsovereign. Wherever the Jesuits are admitted they will be masters, cost\nwhat it may. Their society is by nature dictatorial, and therefore it is\nthe irreconcilable enemy of all constituted authority. Every act, every\ncrime, however atrocious, is a meritorious work, if committed for the\ninterest of the Society of the Jesuits, or by the order of its\ngeneral.\u201d\u2014_Memorial of the Captivity of Napoleon at St. Helena_, vol.\nii., p. 174.\n\nIn the allocution of Sept. 1851, Pope Pius IX. said:\n\n\u201cThat he had taken that principle for basis: That the Catholic religion,\nwith all its votes, ought to be exclusively dominant in such sort that\nevery other worship shall be banished and interdicted!\n\n\u201cYou ask if the Pope were lord of this land and you were in a minority,\nwhat he would do to you? That, we say, would entirely depend on\ncircumstances. If it would benefit the cause of Catholicism, he would\ntolerate you; if expedient, he would imprison, banish you, probably he\nmight even hang you. But be assured of one thing, he would never\ntolerate you for the sake of your glorious principles of civil and\nreligious liberty.\u201d\u2014_Rambler_, one of the most prominent Catholic papers\nof England, Sept. 1851.\n\nLord Acton, one of the Roman Catholic peers of England, reproaching her\nbloody and anti-social laws to his own church, wrote: \u201cPope Gregory VII.\ndecided it was no murder to kill excommunicated persons. This rule was\nincorporated in _the canon law_. During the revision of the code, which\ntook place in the 16th century, and which produced a whole volume of\ncorrections, the passage was allowed to stand. It appears in every\nreprint of the _Corpus Juris_. It has been for 700 years, and continues\nto be, part of the ecclesiastical law. Far from being a dead letter, it\nobtained a new application in the days of the Inquisition; and one of\nthe later Popes has declared that the murder of a Protestant is so good\na deed that it atones, and more than atones, for the murder of a\nCatholic.\u201d\u2014_The London Times_, July 20th, 1872.\n\nIn the last council of the Vatican, has the Church of Rome expressed any\nregret for having promulgated and executed such bloody laws? No! On the\ncontrary, she has anathematized all those who think or say that she was\nwrong when she deluged the world with the blood of the millions she\nordered to be slaughtered to quench her thirst for blood; she positively\nsaid that she had a right to punish those heretics by tortures and\ndeath.\n\nThose bloody and anti-social laws, were written on the banners of the\nRoman Catholics, when slaughtering 100,000 Waldenses in the mountains of\nPiedmont, and more than 50,000 defenceless men, women and children in\nthe city of Bezieres. It is under the inspiration of those diabolical\nlaws of Rome, that 75,000 Protestants were massacred, the night and\nfollowing week of St. Bartholomew.\n\nIt was to obey those bloody laws that Louis XIV. revoked the Edict of\nNantes, caused the death of half a million of men, women and children,\nwho perished in all the highways of France, and caused twice that number\nto die in the land of exile, where they had found a refuge.\n\nThose anti-social laws, to-day, are written on her banners with the\nblood of ten millions of martyrs. It is under those bloody banners that\n6,000 Roman Catholic priests, Jesuits and bishops, in the United States,\nare marching to the conquest of this Republic, backed by their seven\nmillions of blind and obedient slaves.\n\nThose laws, which are still the ruling laws of Rome, were the main cause\nof the last rebellion of the Southern States.\n\nYes! without Romanism, the last awful civil war would have been\nimpossible. Jeff Davis would never have dared to attack the North, had\nhe not had assurance from the Pope, that the Jesuits, the bishops, the\npriests and the whole people of the Church of Rome, under the name and\nmask of _Democracy_, would help him.\n\nThese diabolical and anti-social laws of Rome caused a Roman Catholic\n(Beauregard) to be the man chosen to fire the first gun at Fort Sumter,\nagainst the flag of Liberty, on the 12th of April, 1861. Those\nantichristian and anti-social laws caused the Pope of Rome to be the\nonly crowned prince in the whole world, so depraved as to publicly shake\nhands with Jeff Davis, and proclaim him President of a legitimate\ngovernment.\n\nThese are the laws which led the assassins of Abraham Lincoln to the\nhouse of a rabid Roman Catholic woman, Mary Surratt, which was not only\nthe rendezvous of the priests of Washington, but the very dwelling-house\nof some of them.\n\nThat woman, gifted by God to be an angel of peace and mercy on earth,\nwas changed by those laws into a bloodthirsty tigress; for she had smelt\nthe blood which, everywhere, comes from the robe, the hands and the lips\nof the priest of Rome.\n\nThose bloody and infernal laws of Rome nerved the arm of the Roman\nCatholic, Booth, when he slaughtered one of the noblest men God has ever\ngiven to the world.\n\nThose bloody and anti-social laws of Rome, after having covered Europe\nwith ruins, tears and blood, for ten centuries, have crossed the oceans\nto continue their work of slavery and desolation, blood and tears,\nignorance and demoralization, on this continent. Under the mask and name\nof Democracy, they have raised the standard of rebellion of the South\nagainst the North, and caused more than a half million of the most\nheroic sons of America to fall on the fields of carnage.\n\nIn a very near future, if God does not miraculously prevent it, those\nlaws of dark deeds and blood will cause the prosperity, the rights, the\neducation, and the liberties of this too confident nation, to be buried\nunder a mountain of smoking and bloody ruins. On the top of that\nmountain, Rome will raise her throne and plant her victorious banners.\n\nThen she will sing her Te Deums and shout her shouts of joy, as she did,\nwhen she heard the lamentations and cries of desolation of the millions\nof martyrs burning in the five thousand auto-da-fes she had raised in\nall the capitals and great cities of Europe.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LX.\n\nFUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, DRAWN\n FROM THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST\u2014ROME CANNOT THRIVE AND STAND IN THE UNITED\n STATES WITHOUT DESTROYING THEIR PRINCIPLES OF FRATERNITY, EQUALITY AND\n LIBERTY, WHICH ARE THE FOUNDATION OF THE REPUBLIC\u2014MY FIRST VISIT TO\n ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO WARN HIM OF PLOTS I KNEW AGAINST HIM\u2014ROMISH PRIESTS\n CIRCULATE THE NEWS THAT HE WAS BORN IN THE CHURCH OF ROME\u2014LETTER OF\n THE POPE TO JEFF DAVIS\u2014MY LAST VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT\u2014HIS ADMIRABLE\n REFERENCE TO MOSES\u2014WILLING TO DIE FOR HIS NATION\u2019S SAKE.\n\n\n EQUALITY AND FRATERNITY OF MEN PROCLAIMED\n BY CHRIST.\n\n\u201cBe ye not called Rabbi. For one is your Master, even Christ. And all ye\nare brethren.\u201d (Math. 23:8.)\n\n\u201cGod is no respecter of persons. But in every nation, he that feareth\nHim and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him.\u201d (Acts 10:34-35.)\n\n\u201cJesus called them unto him and said: Ye know that the princes of the\nGentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise\nauthority upon them:\n\n\u201cBut it shall not be so among you. But whosoever will be great among\nyou, let him be your minister: And whosoever will be chief among you,\nlet him be your servant.\n\n\u201cEven as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,\nand give his life a ransom for many.\u201d (Math. 20:25-28.)\n\n PRINCIPLES OF LIBERTY PROCLAIMED BY\n CHRIST.\n\n\u201cIf ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye\nshall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If the Son\nshall make you free, you shall be free indeed.\u201d (John 8:32.)\n\n\u201cThe spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to\npreach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the\nbroken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of\nsight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.\u201d (Luke\n4:18.)\n\n\u201cWhere the Spirit of God is, there is liberty.\u201d (2 Cor. 3:17.)\n\n TOLERANCE AND LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE\n PROCLAIMED BY CHRIST.\n\n\u201cAnd they did not receive him (Christ) because his face was as though he\nwould go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James, and John, saw this,\nthey said: Wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and\nconsume them, even as Elias did?\n\n\u201cBut he turned and rebuked them, and said: Ye know not what spirit ye\nare of.\n\n\u201cFor the Son of Man is not come to destroy man\u2019s life, but to save\nthem.\u201d (Luke 9:53-56.)\n\n\u201cThen Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and smote the high priest\u2019s\nservant, and cut off his right ear. The servant\u2019s name was Malchus.\n\n\u201cThen said Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup\nwhich my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? For all they that\ntake the sword, shall perish with the sword.\u201d (Matt. 26:52. John 18:10.)\n\nIt is no wonder that the people of Judea, filled with admiration at\nthese sublime doctrines of equality, fraternity, liberty and tolerance,\nshould exclaim. \u201cNever man spake like this man!\u201d\n\nIs it on those admirable principles that the Church of Rome is founded?\nNo! for she has, thousands of times, proclaimed that her mission was to\ndestroy them all, even if she had to wade in the blood of those who\nsupport them.\n\nBut just as the Catholic Church is not only the very antipodes and the\nmost implacable enemy of those admirable doctrines and principles, so\nthe constitution of the United States, is the ripe fruit of this divine\nseed, sown by the Son of God himself in the bosom of humanity, eighteen\nhundred years ago, to save the world.\n\nYes, in reference to those principles of fraternity, equality, liberty\nand tolerance, the constitution of the United States is to the Gospel of\nChrist what the fruit is to the tree which has given it. And this is the\nverdict given by the whole world, the Church of Rome excepted.\n\nWhy is it that the poor, the bruised, the wounded and the oppressed from\nevery land, turn their eyes, their hearts and their steps, towards this\ncountry? It is because all the echoes of heaven and earth have told them\nthat the United States Republic is, _par excellence_, the land of\nfraternity, fair-play, equality and liberty, as the Saviour of the world\nhas revealed them.\n\nThe Pope of Rome and his Jesuits know this better than any one. Hence,\ntheir constant and supreme efforts to destroy this Republic. Believing\nand preaching that it is their duty to exterminate the individuals who\ndiffer from them in religion, they assume that it is their duty to\ndestroy the governments and the nations who refuse to submit to their\nyoke, when they can do it safely.\n\nThe mission of Rome being, to teach that the inferior, the people, must\nobey his superior, just as the corpse obeys the hand which moves it, or\nas the stick obeys the arm which directs it, she knows well that she\ncannot fulfill her mission, and attain her object so long as this\ngovernment of a free, sovereign people, stands; she is, then, bound to\noppose, paralyze and destroy that government when she finds her\nopportunity.\n\nWith lynx\u2019s eye, she watched that opportunity: and with anxiety and rage\nshe spied from her cradle the onward march of this young giant Republic.\nShe knew that it was in the bosom of every true citizen of the United\nStates to propagate those accursed, (by her) principles of equality,\nfraternity and liberty, all over the world. She saw that the\nirresistible influence of those principles were felt on the most distant\nnations, as well as on the poor, miserable, Irish people, she was\nkeeping under her heavy and ignominious yoke; she understood that there\nwas a real danger for her very existence, if those principles would\ncontinue to spread; that her slavery star would go down as the liberty\nstar would rise on the horizon. In a word, Rome saw at once that the\nvery existence of the United States was a formal menace to her own life.\nAlready she had seen the chains of two millions of her Irish slaves\nmelted at the simple touch of the warm rays of liberty which had fallen\nfrom the stars and stripes banners. From the very beginning, she\nperfidiously sowed the germs of division and hatred between the two\ngreat sections of this country, and she felt an unspeakable joy when she\nsaw that she had succeeded in dividing its South from the North, on the\nburning question of slavery. She looked upon that division as her golden\nopportunity. To crush one party by the other, and reign over the bloody\nruins of both, has invariably been her policy. She hoped that the hour\nof her supreme triumph over this continent was come. She ordered her\nelder son, the Emperor of France, to keep himself ready to help her\ncrush the North, by having an army in Mexico ready to support the South,\nand she bade all the Roman Catholic bishops, priests and people to\nenroll themselves under the banners of slavery, by joining themselves to\nthe party of Democracy. And everybody knows how the Roman Catholic\nbishops and priests, almost to a man, obeyed that order. Only one bishop\ndared to disobey. Above everything, it was ordered to oppose the\nelection of Lincoln at any cost. For, from the very first day his\neloquent voice had been heard, a thrill of terror had gone through the\nhearts of the partisans of slavery. The Democratic press, which was\nthen, and is still now, almost entirely under the control of the Roman\nCatholics, and the devoted tool of the Jesuits, deluged the country with\nthe most fearful denunciations against him. They called him an ape; a\nstupid brute, a most dangerous lunatic, a bloody monster, a merciless\ntyrant, etc., etc. In a word, Rome exhausted all her resources of\nlanguage, she ransacked the English dictionary to find the most suitable\nexpressions to fill the people with contempt, hatred and horror against\nhim. But it was written in the decrees of God that the honest Abraham\nLincoln should be proclaimed President of the United States, the 4th of\nMarch, 1861.\n\nAt the end of August, having known from a Roman Catholic priest, whom,\nby the mercy of God, I had persuaded to leave the errors of Popery, that\nthere was a plot among them to assassinate the President, I thought it\nwas my duty to go and tell him what I knew, at the same time giving him\na new assurance of gratitude for what he had done for me.\n\nKnowing that I was among those who were waiting in the ante-chamber, he\nsent immediately for me, and received me with greater cordiality and\nmarks of kindness than I could expect.\n\n\u201cI am so glad to meet you again,\u201d he said: \u201cyou see that your friends,\nthe Jesuits, have not yet killed me. But they would have surely done it,\nwhen I passed through their most devoted city, Baltimore, had I not\ndefeated their plans, by passing incognito, a few hours before they\nexpected me. We have the proof that the company which had been selected\nand organized to murder me, was lead by a rabid Roman Catholic, called\nByrne; it was almost entirely composed of Roman Catholics; more than\nthat, there were two disguised priests among them, to lead and encourage\nthem. I am sorry to have so little time to see you; but I will not let\nyou go before telling you that, a few days ago, I saw Mr. Morse, the\nlearned inventor of electric telegraphy; he told me that, when he was in\nRome, not long ago, he found out the proofs of a most formidable\nconspiracy against this country and all its institutions. It is evident\nthat it is to the intrigues and emissaries of the pope, that we owe, in\ngreat part, the horrible civil war which is threatening to cover the\ncountry with blood and ruins.\n\n\u201cI am sorry that Prof. Morse had to leave Rome before he could know more\nabout the secret plans of the Jesuits against the liberties and the very\nexistence of this country. But do you know that I want you to take his\nplace and continue that investigation? My plan is to attach you to my\nambassador of France, as one of the secretaries. In that honorable\nposition, you would go from Paris to Rome, where you might find, through\nthe directions of Mr. Morse, an opportunity of reuniting the broken\nthreads of his researches. \u2018It takes a Greek to fight a Greek.\u2019 As you\nhave been twenty-five years a priest of Rome, I do not know any man in\nthe United States so well acquainted as you are with the tricks of the\nJesuits, and on the devotedness of whom I could better rely. And, when\nonce on the staff of my ambassador, even as one of the secretaries,\nmight you not soon yourself become the ambassador? I am in need of\nChristian men in every department of the public service, but more in\nthose high positions. What do you think of that?\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cMy dear President,\u201d I answered, \u201cI feel overwhelmed by your kindness.\nSurely nothing could be more pleasant to me than to grant your request.\nThe honor you want to confer upon me is much above my merit; but my\nconscience tells me that I cannot give up the preaching of the Gospel to\nmy poor French-Canadian countrymen, who are still in the errors of\nPopery. For I am about the only one who, by the Providence of God, has\nany real influence over them. I am, surely, the only one the bishops and\npriests seem to fear in that work. The many attempts they have made to\ntake away my life are a proof of it. Besides that, though I consider the\npresent President of the United States much above the Emperors of\nFrance, Russia, and Austria, much above the greatest kings of the world,\nI feel that I am the servant, the ambassador of One who is as much above\neven the good and great President of the United States, as the heavens\nare above the earth. I appeal to your own Christian and honorable\nfeelings to know if I can forsake the one for the other.\u201d\n\nThe President became very solemn, and replied:\n\n\u201cYou are right! you are right! There is nothing so great under heaven,\nas to be the ambassador of Christ.\u201d\n\nBut, then, coming back to himself, with one of his fine jokes, which he\nhad always ready, he added:\n\n\u201cYes! yes! You are the ambassador of a greater Prince than I am; but he\ndoes not pay you with as good cash as I would do.\u201d\n\nHe then added: \u201cI am exceedingly pleased to see you. However, I am so\npressed, just now, by most important affairs, that you must excuse me if\nI ask you to give your place to one of my generals who is, there,\nwaiting for me. Please come again, to-morrow, at ten o\u2019clock, I have a\nvery important question to ask you, on a matter which has been\nconstantly before my mind, these last few weeks.\u201d\n\nThe next day, I was there, at the appointed hour, with my noble friend,\nwho said:\n\n\u201cI could not give you more than ten minutes, yesterday, but I will give\nyou twenty, to-day; I want your views about a thing which is exceedingly\npuzzling to me, and you are the only one to whom I like to speak on that\nsubject. A great number of Democratic papers have been sent to me,\nlately, evidently written by Roman Catholics, publishing that I was born\na Roman Catholic, and baptized by a priest. They call me a renegade, an\napostate, on account of that; and they heap upon my head mountains of\nabuse. At first, I laughed at that, for it is a lie. Thanks be to God, I\nhave never been a Roman Catholic. No priest of Rome has ever laid his\nhand on my head. But the persistency of the Romish press to present this\nfalsehood to their readers as a gospel truth, must have a meaning.\nPlease tell me, as briefly as possible, what you think about that.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear President,\u201d I answered, \u201cit was just this strange story\npublished about you, which brought me here, yesterday. I wanted to say a\nword about it; but you were too busy.\n\n\u201cLet me tell you that I wept as a child when I read that story for the\nfirst time. For, not only my impression is, that it is your sentence of\ndeath; but I have from the lips of a converted priest, that it is in\norder to excite the fanaticism of the Roman Catholic murderers, whom\nthey hope to find, sooner or later, to strike you down, they have\ninvented that false story of your being born in the Church of Rome, and\nof your being baptized by a priest. They want by that to brand your face\nwith the ignominious mark of apostacy. Do not forget that, in the Church\nof Rome, an apostate is an outcast, who has no place in society, and who\nhas no right to live.\n\n\u201cThe Jesuits want the Roman Catholics to believe that you are a monster,\nan open enemy of God and of his Church, that you are an excommunicated\nman. For, every apostate is, _ipso facto_ (by that very fact)\nexcommunicated. I have brought to you the theology of one of the most\nlearned and approved of the Jesuits of his time, Bussambaum, who, with\nmany others, say that the man who will kill you will do a good and holy\nwork. More than that, here is a copy of a decree of Gregory VII.,\nproclaiming that the killing of an apostate, or an heretic and an\nexcommunicated man, as you are declared to be, is not murder; nay, that\nit is a good, a Christian action. That decree is incorporated in the\ncanon law, which every priest must study, and which every good Catholic\nmust follow.\n\n\u201cMy dear President, I must repeat to you here what I said when in\nUrbana, in 1856. My fear is that you will fall under the blows of a\nJesuit assassin, if you do not pay more attention than you have done,\ntill now, to protect yourself. Remember that because Coligny was an\nheretic, as you are, he was brutally murdered in the St. Bartholomew\nnight; that Henry IV. was stabbed by the Jesuit assassin, Revaillac, the\n14th of May, 1610, for having given liberty of conscience to his people,\nand that William the Taciturn was shot dead by another Jesuit murderer,\ncalled Girard, for having broken the yoke of the Pope. The Church of\nRome is absolutely the same to-day, as she was then; she does believe\nand teach, to-day, as then, that she has the right and that it is her\nduty to punish by death any heretic who is in her way as an obstacle to\nher designs. The unanimity with which the Catholic hierarchy of the\nUnited States is on the side of the rebels, is an incontrovertible\nevidence that Rome wants to destroy this republic, and as you are, by\nyour personal virtues, your popularity, your love for liberty, your\nposition, the greatest obstacle to their diabolical scheme, their hatred\nis concentrated upon you; you are the daily object of their\nmaledictions; it is at your breast they will direct their blows. My\nblood chills in my veins, when I contemplate the day which may come,\nsooner, or later, when Rome will add to all her other iniquities, the\nmurder of Abraham Lincoln.\u201d\n\nWhen saying these things to the President, I was exceedingly moved, my\nvoice was as choked, and I could hardly retain my tears. But the\nPresident was perfectly calm. When I had finished speaking, he took the\nvolume of Bussambaum from my hands, read the lines which I had marked\nwith red ink, and I helped him to translate them into English. He, then,\ngave me back the book, and said:\n\n\u201cI will repeat to you what I said at Urbana, when for the first time you\ntold me your fears lest I would be assassinated by the Jesuits. \u2018Man\nmust not care where and when he will die, provided he dies at the post\nof honor and duty.\u2019 But I may add, to-day, that I have a presentiment\nthat God will call me to him through the hand of an assassin. Let His\nwill, and not mine, be done!\u201d He then looked at his watch, and said: \u201cI\nam sorry that the twenty minutes I had consecrated to our interview have\nalmost passed away; I will be forever grateful for the warning words you\nhave addressed to me about the dangers ahead to my life, from Rome. I\nknow that they are not imaginary dangers. If I were fighting against a\nProtestant South, as a nation, there would be no danger of\nassassination. The nations who read the Bible, fight bravely on the\nbattle-fields, but they do not assassinate their enemies. The Pope and\nthe Jesuits, with their infernal Inquisition, are the only organized\npower in the world which have recourse to the dagger of the assassin to\nmurder those whom they cannot convince with their arguments, or conquer\nwith the sword.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately, I feel more and more, every day, that it is not against\nthe Americans of the South, alone, I am fighting, it is more against the\nPope of Rome, his perfidious Jesuits and their blind and blood-thirsty\nslaves, than against the real American Protestants, that we have to\ndefend ourselves. Here is the real danger of our position. So long as\nthey will hope to conquer the North, they will spare me; but the day we\nwill rout their armies (and the day will surely come, with the help of\nGod), take their cities, and force them to submit; then, it is my\nimpression that the Jesuits, who are the principal rulers of the South,\nwill do what they have almost invariably done in the past. The dagger or\nthe pistol of one of their adepts, will do what the strong hands of the\nwarriors could not achieve. This civil war seems to be nothing but a\npolitical affair to those who do not see, as I do, the secret springs of\nthat terrible drama. But it is more a religious than a civil war. It is\nRome who wants to rule and degrade the North, as she has ruled and\ndegraded the South, from the very day of its discovery. There are only\nvery few of the Southern leaders who are not more or less under the\ninfluence of the Jesuits, through their wives, family relations and\ntheir friends. Several members of the family of Jeff Davis belong to the\nChurch of Rome. Even the Protestant ministers are under the influence of\nthe Jesuits without suspecting it. To keep her ascendency in the North,\nas she does in the South, Rome is doing here what she has done in\nMexico, and in all the South American Republics; she is paralyzing, by a\ncivil war, the arms of the soldiers of Liberty. She divides our nation,\nin order to weaken, subdue and rule it.\n\n\u201cSurely we have some brave and reliable Roman Catholic officers and\nsoldiers in our armies, but they form an insignificant minority when\ncompared with the Roman Catholic traitors against whom we have to guard\nourselves, day and night. The fact is, that the immense majority of the\nRoman Catholic bishops, priests and laymen, are rebels in heart, when\nthey cannot be in fact; with very few exceptions, they are publicly in\nfavor of slavery. I understand, now, why the patriots of France, who\ndetermined to see the colors of Liberty floating over their great and\nbeautiful country, were forced to hang or shoot almost all the priests\nand the monks as the irreconcilable enemies of Liberty. For it is a\nfact, which is now evident to me, that, with very few exceptions, every\npriest and every true Roman Catholic is a determined enemy of Liberty.\nTheir extermination, in France, was one of those terrible necessities\nwhich no human wisdom could avoid; it looks to me now as an order from\nheaven to save France. May God grant that the same terrible necessity be\nnever felt in the United States! But there is a thing which is very\ncertain; it is, that if the American people could learn what I know of\nthe fierce hatred of the generality of the priests of Rome against our\ninstitutions, our schools, our most sacred rights, and our so dearly\nbought liberties, they would drive them away, to-morrow, from among us,\nor they would shoot them as traitors. But I keep those sad secrets in my\nheart; you are the only one to whom I reveal them, for I know that you\nlearned them before me. The history of these last thousand years tells\nus that wherever the Church of Rome is not a dagger to pierce the bosom\nof a free nation, she is a stone to her neck, and a ball to her feet, to\nparalyze her and prevent her advance in the ways of civilization,\nscience, intelligence, happiness and liberty. But I forget that my\ntwenty minutes are gone long ago.\n\n\u201cPlease accept my sincere thanks for the new lights you have given me on\nthe dangers of my position, and come again, I will always see you with a\nnew pleasure.\u201d\n\nMy second visit to Abraham Lincoln was at the beginning of June, 1862.\nThe grand victory of the Monitor over the Merrimac, and the conquest of\nNew Orleans, by the brave and Christian Farragut, had filled every heart\nwith joy; I wanted to unite my feeble voice to that of the whole\ncountry, to tell him how I blessed God for that glorious success. But I\nfound him so busy that I could only shake hands with him.\n\nThe third and last time I went to pay my respects to the doomed\nPresident, and to warn him against the impending dangers which I knew\nwere threatening him, was on the morning of June 8th, 1864, when he was\nabsolutely besieged by people who wanted to see him. After a kind and\nwarm shaking of hands, he said:\n\n\u201cI am much pleased to see you again. But it is impossible, to-day, to\nsay anything more than this. To-morrow afternoon, I will receive the\ndelegation of the deputies of all the loyal states, sent to officially\nannounce the desire of the country that I should remain the President\nfour years more. I invite you to be present with them at that\ninteresting meeting. You will see some of the most prominent men of our\nRepublic, and I will be glad to introduce you to them. You will not\npresent yourself as a delegate of the people, but only as the guest of\nthe President; and that there may be no trouble, I will give you this\ncard, with a permit to enter with the delegation. But do not leave\nWashington before I see you again; I have some important matters on\nwhich I want to know your mind.\u201d\n\nThe next day, it was my privilege to have the greatest honor ever\nreceived by me. The good President wanted me to stand at his right hand,\nwhen he received the delegation, and hear the address presented by\nGovernor Dennison, the President of the convention, to which he replied\nin his own admirable simplicity and eloquence; finishing by one of his\nmost witty anecdotes. \u201cI am reminded in this convention of a story of an\nold Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion, wisely, \u2018that it was not\nbest to swap horses when crossing a stream.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe next day, he kindly took me with him in his carriage, when visiting\nthe 30,000 wounded soldiers picked up on the battle-fields of the seven\ndays battle of the Wilderness, and the thirty days battle around\nRichmond, where Grant was just breaking the backbone of the rebellion.\nOn the way to and from the hospitals, I could not talk much. The noise\nof the carriage rapidly drawn on the pavement was too great. Besides\nthat, my soul was so much distressed, and my heart so much broken by the\nsight of the horrors of that fracticidal war, that my voice was as\nstifled. The only thought which seemed to occupy the mind of the\nPresident was the part which Rome had in that horrible struggle. Many\ntimes he repeated:\n\n\u201cThis war would never have been possible without the sinister influence\nof the Jesuits. We owe it to Popery that we now see our land reddened\nwith the blood of her noblest sons. Though there were great differences\nof opinion between the South and the North, on the question of slavery;\nneither Jeff Davis nor any one of the leading men of the Confederacy\nwould have dared to attack the North, had they not relied on the\npromises of the Jesuits, that, under the mask of Democracy, the money\nand the arms of the Roman Catholics, even the arms of France, were at\ntheir disposal, if they would attack us. I pity the priests, the bishops\nand the monks of Rome in the United States, when the people realize that\nthey are, in great part, responsible for the tears and the blood shed in\nthis war; the later the more terrible will the retribution be. I conceal\nwhat I know, on that subject, from the knowledge of the nation; for if\nthe people knew the whole truth, this war would turn into a religious\nwar, and it would, at once, take a tenfold more savage and bloody\ncharacter. It would become merciless as all religious wars are. It would\nbecome a war of extermination on both sides. The Protestants of both the\nNorth and the South would surely unite to exterminate the priests and\nthe Jesuits, if they could hear what Professor Morse has said to me of\nthe plots made in the very city of Rome to destroy this Republic, and if\nthey could learn how the priests, the nuns, and the monks, who daily\nland on our shores, under the pretext of preaching their religion,\ninstructing the people in their schools, taking care of the sick in the\nhospitals, are nothing else but the emissaries of the Pope, of Napoleon,\nand the other despots of Europe, to undermine our institutions, alienate\nthe hearts of our people from our constitution, and our laws, destroy\nour schools, and prepare a reign of anarchy here as they have done in\nIreland, in Mexico, in Spain, and wherever there are any people who want\nto be free, etc.\u201d\n\nWhen the President was speaking thus, we arrived at the door of his\nmansion. He invited me to go with him to his study, and said:\n\n\u201cThough I am very busy, I must rest an hour with you. I am in need of\nthat rest. My head is aching, I feel as crushed under the burden of\naffairs which are on my shoulders. There are many important things about\nthe plots of the Jesuits that I can learn only from you. Please wait\njust a moment, I have just received some dispatches from General Grant,\nto which I must give an answer. My secretary is waiting for me. I go to\nhim. Please amuse yourself with those books, during my short absence.\u201d\n\nTwenty-five minutes later, the President had returned, with his face\nflushed with joy.\n\n\u201cGlorious news! General Grant has again beaten Lee, and forced him to\nretreat towards Richmond, where he will have to surrender before long.\nGrant is a real hero. But let us come to the question I want to put to\nyou. Have you read the letter of the Pope to Jeff Davis, and what do you\nthink of it?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear President,\u201d I answered, \u201cit is just that letter which brought\nme to your presence again, day before yesterday. I wanted to come and\nsee you, from the very day I read it. But I knew you were so overwhelmed\nwith the affairs of your government, that I would not be able to see\nyou. However, the anxieties of my mind were so, that I determined to go\nover every barrier to warn you again against the new dangers and plots\nwhich I knew would come out from that perfidious letter, against your\nlife.\n\n\u201cThat letter is a poisoned arrow thrown by the Pope, at you personally;\nand it will be more than a miracle if it be not your irrevocable warrant\nof death. Before reading it, it is true that every Catholic could see by\nthe unanimity of the bishops siding with rebel cause, that their church,\nas a whole, was against this free Republican government. However, a good\nnumber of liberty-loving Irish, German and French Catholics, following\nmore the instincts of their noble nature, than the degrading principles\nof their church, enrolled themselves under the banners of Liberty, and\nthey have fought like heroes. To detach these men from the rank and file\nof the Northern armies, and force them to help the cause of the\nrebellion, became the object of the intrigues of the Jesuits. Secret and\npressing letters were addressed from Rome to the bishops, ordering them\nto weaken your armies by detaching those men from you. The bishops\nanswered, that they could not do that without exposing themselves to be\nshot. But they advised the Pope to acknowledge, at once, the legitimacy\nof the Southern Republic, and to take Jeff Davis under his supreme\nprotection, by a letter, which would be read everywhere.\n\n\u201cThat letter, then, tells logically the Roman Catholics that you are a\nbloody tyrant! a most execrable being when fighting against a government\nwhich the infallible and holy Pope of Rome recognizes as legitimate. The\nPope, by this letter, tells his blind slaves that you are an infamous\nusurper, when considering yourself the President of the Southern States;\nthat you are outraging the God of heaven and earth, by continuing such a\nbloody war to subdue a nation over whom God Almighty has declared,\nthrough his infallible pontiff, the Pope, that you have not the least\nright; that letter means that you will give an account to God and man\nfor the blood and tears you cause to flow in order to satisfy your\nambition.\n\n\u201cBy this letter of the Pope to Jeff Davis you are not only an apostate,\nas you were thought before, whom every man had the right to kill,\naccording to the canonical laws of Rome; but you are more vile, criminal\nand cruel than the horse thief, the public bandit, and the lawless\nbrigand, robber and murderer, whom it is a duty to stop and kill, when\nwe take them in their acts of blood, and that there is no other way to\nput an end to their plunders and murders.\n\n\u201cAnd, my dear President, the meaning I give you of this perfidious\nletter of the Pope to Jeff Davis, is not a fancy imagination on my part,\nit is the unanimous explanation given me by a great number of the\npriests of Rome, with whom I have had occasion to speak on that subject.\nIn the name of God, and in the name of our dear country, which is so\nmuch in need of your services, I conjure you to pay more attention to\nprotect your precious life, and not continue to expose it as you have\ndone till now.\u201d\n\nThe President listened to my words with breathless attention. He\nreplied:\n\n\u201cYou confirm me in the views I had taken of the letter of the Pope.\nProfessor Morse is of the same mind with you. It is, indeed, the most\nperfidious act which could occur under present circumstances. You are\nperfectly correct when you say that it was to detach the Roman Catholics\nwho had enrolled themselves in our armies. Since the publication of that\nletter, a great number of them have deserted their banners and turned\ntraitors; very few, comparatively, have remained true to their oath of\nfidelity. It is, however, very lucky that one of those few, Sheridan, is\nworth a whole army by his ability, his patriotism and his heroic\ncourage. It is true, also, that Meade has remained with us, and gained\nthe bloody battle of Gettysburgh. But how could he lose it, when he was\nsurrounded by such heroes as Howard, Reynolds, Buford, Wadsworth,\nCutler, Slocum, Sickles, Hancock, Barnes, etc. But it is evident that\nhis Romanism superseded his patriotism after the battle. He let the army\nof Lee escape, when it was so easy to cut his retreat and force him to\nsurrender, after having lost nearly the half of his soldiers in the last\nthree days\u2019 carnage.\n\n\u201cWhen Meade was to order the pursuit, after the battle, a stranger came,\nin haste, to the headquarters, and that stranger was a disguised Jesuit.\nAfter a ten minutes\u2019 conversation with him, Meade made such arrangements\nfor the pursuit of the enemy, that he escaped almost untouched, with the\nloss of only two guns!\n\n\u201cYou are right,\u201d continued the President, \u201cwhen you say that this letter\nof the Pope has entirely changed the nature and the ground of the war.\nBefore they read it, the Roman Catholics could see that I was fighting\nagainst Jeff Davis and his Southern Confederacy. But now, they must\nbelieve that it is against Christ and his holy vicar, the Pope, that I\nam raising my sacrilegious hands; we have the daily proofs that their\nindignation, their hatred, their malice, against me, are an hundredfold\nintensified. New projects of assassination are detected almost every\nday, accompanied with such savage circumstances that they bring to my\nmemory the massacres of the St. Bartholomew and the gunpowder plot. We\nfeel, at their investigation, that they come from the same masters in\nthe art of murder, the Jesuits.\n\n\u201cThe New York riots were evidently a Romish plot from beginning to end.\nWe have the proofs in hand, that they were the work of Bishop Hughes and\nhis emissaries. No doubt can remain in the minds of the most incredulous\nabout that bloody attempt of Rome to destroy New York, when he knows the\neasy way it was stopped. I wrote to Bishop Hughes, telling him that the\nwhole country would hold him responsible for it, if he would not stop it\nat once. He, then, gathered the rioters around his palace, called them\nhis \u2018dear friends,\u2019 invited them to go back home peacefully, and all was\nfinished! so Jupiter of old used to raise a storm, and stop it with a\nnod of his head!\n\n\u201cFrom the beginning of our civil war, there has been, not a secret, but\na public alliance, between the Pope of Rome and Jeff Davis; and that\nalliance has followed the common laws of this world\u2019s affairs. The\ngreater has led the smaller, the stronger has guided the weaker. The\nPope and his Jesuits, have advised, supported, and directed Jeff Davis\non the land, from the first gun shot, at Fort Sumter, by the rabid Roman\nCatholic, Beauregard. They are helping him on the sea, by guiding and\nsupporting the other rabid Roman Catholic pirate, Semmes, on the ocean.\nAnd they will help the rebellion when firing their last gun to shed the\nblood of the last soldier of Liberty, who will fall in this fratricidal\nwar. In my interview with Bishop Hughes, I told him, \u2018that every\nstranger who had sworn allegiance to our government by becoming a United\nStates citizen, as himself, was liable to be shot or hung as a perjured\ntraitor, and an armed spy, as the sentence of the court martial may\ndirect. And he will be so shot and hanged accordingly, as there will be\nno exchange of such prisoners.\u2019 After I had put this flea in the ears of\nthe Romish bishop, I requested him to go and report my words to the\nPope. Seeing the dangerous position of his bishops and priests when\nsiding with the rebels, my hope was that he would advise them, for their\nown interests, to become loyal and true to their allegiance and help us\nthrough the remaining part of the war. But the result has been the very\ncontrary. The Pope has thrown away the mask, and shown himself the\npublic partisan and the protector of the rebellion, by taking Jeff Davis\nby the hand, and impudently recognizing the Southern States as a\nlegitimate government. Now, I have the proof in hand that that very\nBishop Hughes, whom I had sent to Rome that he might induce the Pope to\nurge the Roman Catholics of the North at least, to be true to their oath\nof allegiance, and whom I thanked publicly, when, under the impression\nthat he had acted honestly, according to the promise he had given me, is\nthe very man who advised the Pope to recognize the legitimacy of the\nSouthern Republic, and put the whole weight of his tiara in the balance\nagainst us, in favor of our enemies! Such is the perfidy of those\nJesuits. Two cankers are biting the very entrails of the United States,\nto-day: the Romish and the Mormon priests. Both are quietly at work to\nform a people of the most abject, ignorant and fanatical slaves, who\nwill recognize no other authority but their supreme pontiffs. Both are\naiming at the destruction of our schools, to raise themselves upon our\nruins. Both shelter themselves under our grand and holy principles of\nliberty of conscience, to destroy that very liberty of conscience, and\nbind the world before their heavy and ignominious yoke. The Mormon and\nthe Jesuit priests are equally the uncompromising enemies of our\nconstitution and our laws; but the more dangerous of the two is the\nJesuit\u2014the Romish priest, for he knows better how to conceal his hatred\nunder the mask of friendship and public good; he is better trained to\ncommit the most cruel and diabolical deeds for the glory of God.\n\n\u201cTill lately, I was in favor of the unlimited liberty of conscience, as\nour constitution gives it to the Roman Catholics. But now, it seems to\nme that, sooner or later, the people will be forced to put a restriction\nto that clause towards the Papists. Is it not an act of folly to give\nabsolute liberty of conscience to a set of men who are publicly sworn to\ncut our throats the very day they have their opportunity for doing it?\nIs it right to give the privilege of citizenship to men who are the\nsworn and public enemies of our constitution, our laws, our liberties,\nand our lives?\n\n\u201cThe very moment that Popery assumed the right of life and death on a\ncitizen of France, Spain, Germany, England, or the United States, it\nassumed to be the power, in the government of France, Spain, England,\nGermany, and the United States. Those states then committed a suicidal\nact by allowing Popery to put a foot on their territory with the\nprivilege of citizenship. The power of life and death is the _supreme\npower_, and two _supreme powers_ cannot exist on the same territory\nwithout _anarchy_, riots, bloodshed and civil wars without end. When\nPopery will give up the power of life and death which it proclaims as\nits own divine power, in all its theological books and canon laws, then,\nalone, it can be tolerated and can receive the privileges of\ncitizenship, in a free country.\n\n\u201cIs it not an absurdity to give to a man a thing which he is sworn to\nhate, curse and destroy? And does not the Church of Rome hate, curse and\ndestroy liberty of conscience, whenever she can do it safely?\n\n\u201cI am for liberty of conscience in its noblest, broadest, highest sense.\nBut I cannot give liberty of conscience to the Pope and to his\nfollowers, the papists, so long as they tell me, through all their\ncouncils, theologians and canon laws, that their conscience orders them\nto burn my wife, strangle my children, and cut my throat when they find\nthe opportunity!\n\n\u201cThis does not seem to be understood by the people, to-day. But sooner\nor later, the light of common sense will make it clear to every one,\nthat no liberty of conscience can be granted to men who are sworn to\nobey a Pope, who pretends to have the right to put to death those who\ndiffer from him in religion.\n\nYou are not the first to warn me against the dangers of assassination.\nMy ambassadors in Italy, France and England, as well as Professor Morse,\nhave, many times, warned me against the plots of the murderers whom they\nhave detected in those different countries. But I see no other safeguard\nagainst those murderers, but to be always ready to die, as Christ\nadvises it. As we must all die sooner or later, it makes very little\ndifference to me whether I die from a dagger plunged through the heart\nor from an inflammation of the lungs. Let me tell you that I have,\nlately, read a passage in the Old Testament which has made a profound,\nand, I hope, a salutary impression on me. Here is that passage.\u201d\n\nThe President took his Bible, opened it at the third chapter of\nDeuteronomy, and read from the 22nd to the 28th verse.\n\n\u201c22. Ye shall not fear them; for the Lord your God shall fight for you.\n\n\u201c23. And I besought the Lord at that time, saying:\n\n\u201c24. O Lord God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness, and\nthy mighty hand; for what God is there, in heaven or in earth, that can\ndo according to thy words, and according to thy might!\n\n\u201c25. I pray thee, let me go over and see the good land that is beyond\nJordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.\n\n\u201c26. But God was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me:\nand the Lord said unto me, let it suffice thee: speak no more unto me of\nthis matter:\n\n\u201c27. Get thee up unto the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward\nand northward, and southward and eastward, and behold it with thine\neyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.\u201d\n\nAfter the President had read these words with great solemnity, he added:\n\n\u201cMy Dear Father Chiniquy, let me tell you that I have read these strange\nand beautiful words several times, these last five or six weeks. The\nmore I read them, the more, it seems to me that God has written them for\nme as well as for Moses.\n\n\u201cHas he not taken me from my poor log cabin by the hand, as he did of\nMoses in the reeds of the Nile, to put me at the head of the greatest\nand the most blessed of modern nations, just as he put that prophet at\nthe head of the most blessed nation of ancient times? Has not God\ngranted me a privilege, which was not granted to any living man, when I\nbroke the fetters of 4,000,000 of men, and made them free? Has not our\nGod given me the most glorious victories over our enemies? Are not the\narmies of the Confederacy so reduced to a handful of men, when compared\nto what they were two years ago; that the day is fast approaching when\nthey will have to surrender.\n\n\u201cNow, I see the end of this terrible conflict, with the same joy of\nMoses, when at the end of his trying forty years in the wilderness; and\nI pray my God to grant me to see the days of peace and untold\nprosperity, which will follow this cruel war, as Moses asked God to see\nthe other side of Jordan and enter the Promised Land. But, do you know\nthat I hear in my soul, as the voice of God, giving me the rebuke which\nwas given to Moses?\n\n\u201cYes! every time that my soul goes to God to ask the favor of seeing the\nother side of Jordan, and eating the fruits of that peace, after which I\nam longing with such an unspeakable desire, do you know that there is a\nstill but solemn voice, which tells me that I will see those things only\nfrom a long distance, and that I will be among the dead, when the\nnation, which God granted me to lead through those awful trials, will\ncross the Jordan, and dwell in that Land of Promise, where peace,\nindustry, happiness and liberty will make everyone happy, and why so?\nBecause he has already given me favors which he never gave, I dare say,\nto any man in these latter days.\n\n\u201cWhy did God Almighty refuse to Moses the favor of crossing the Jordan,\nand 'entering the Promised Land? It was on account of his own nation\u2019s\nsins! That law of divine retribution and justice, by which one must\nsuffer for another, is surely a terrible mystery. But it is a fact which\nno man who has any intelligence and knowledge can deny. Moses, who knew\nthat law, though he probably did not understand it better than we do,\ncalmly says to his people: \u2018God was wroth with me for your sakes.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut, though we do not understand that mysterious and terrible law, we\nfind it written in letters of tears and blood wherever we go. We do not\nread a single page of history, without finding undeniable traces of its\nexistence.\n\n\u201cWhere is the mother who has not shed tears and suffered real tortures,\nfor her children\u2019s sake?\n\n\u201cWho is the good king, the worthy emperor, the gifted chieftain, who\nhave not suffered unspeakable mental agonies, or even death, for their\npeople\u2019s sake?\n\n\u201cIs not our Christian religion the highest expression of the wisdom,\nmercy and love of God! But what is Christianity if not the very\nincarnation of that eternal law of divine justice in our humanity?\n\n\u201cWhen I look on Moses, alone, silently dying on the Mount Pisgah, I see\nthat law, in one of its most sublime human manifestations, and I am\nfilled with admiration and awe.\n\n\u201cBut when I consider that law of justice, and expiation in the death of\nthe Just, the divine Son of Mary, on the mountain of Calvary, I remain\nmute in my adoration. The spectacle of the crucified one which is before\nmy eyes, is more than sublime, it is divine! Moses died for his people\u2019s\nsake, but Christ died for the whole world\u2019s sake! Both died to fulfill\nthe same eternal law of the divine justice, though in a different\nmeasure.\n\n\u201cNow, would it not be the greatest of honors and privileges bestowed\nupon me, if God, in his infinite love, mercy and wisdom, would put me\nbetween his faithful servant, Moses, and his eternal Son, Jesus, that I\nmight die as they did, for my nation\u2019s sake!\n\n\u201cMy God alone knows what I have already suffered for my dear country\u2019s\nsake. But my fear is that the justice of God is not yet paid: When I\nlook upon the rivers of tears and blood drawn by the lashes of the\nmerciless masters from the veins of the very heart of those millions of\ndefenceless slaves, these two hundred years: When I remember the\nagonies, the cries, the unspeakable tortures of those unfortunate people\nto which I have, to some extent, connived with so many others, a part of\nmy life, I fear that we are still far from the complete expiation. For\nthe judgments of God are true and righteous.\n\n\u201cIt seems to me that the Lord wants, to-day, as he wanted in the days of\nMoses, another victim\u2014a victim which he has himself chosen, anointed and\nprepared for the sacrifice, by raising it above the rest of his people.\nI cannot conceal from you that my impression is that I am the victim. So\nmany plots have already been made against my life, that it is a real\nmiracle that they have all failed, when we consider that the great\nmajority of them were in the hands of skillful Roman Catholic murderers,\nevidently trained by Jesuits. But can we expect that God will make a\nperpetual miracle to save my life? I believe not. The Jesuits are so\nexpert in those deeds of blood, that Henry IV. said that it was\nimpossible to escape them, and he became their victim, though he did all\nthat could be done to protect himself. My escape from their hands, since\nthe letter of the Pope to Jeff Davis has sharpened a million of daggers\nto pierce my breast, would be more than a miracle.\n\n\u201cBut just as the Lord heard no murmur from the lips of Moses, when he\ntold him that he had to die, before crossing the Jordan, for the sins of\nhis people, so I hope and pray that he will hear no murmur from me when\nI fall for my nation\u2019s sake.\n\n\u201cThe only two favors I ask of the Lord, are, first, that I may die for\nthe sacred cause in which I am engaged, and when I am the\nstandard-bearer of the rights and liberties of my country.\n\n\u201cThe second favor I ask from God, is that my dear son, Robert, when I am\ngone, will be one of those who lift up that flag of Liberty which will\ncover my tomb, and carry it with honor and fidelity, to the end of his\nlife, as his father did, surrounded by the millions who will be called\nwith him to fight and die for the defence and honor of our country.\u201d\n\nNever had I heard such sublime words. Never had I seen a human face so\nsolemn and so prophet-like as the face of the President, when uttering\nthese things. Every sentence had come to me as a hymn from heaven,\nreverberated by the echoes of the mountains of Pisgah and Calvary. I was\nbeside myself. Bathed in tears, I tried to say something, but I could\nnot utter a word.\n\nI knew the hour to leave had come, I asked from the President permission\nto fall on my knees, and pray with him that his life might be spared;\nand he knelt with me. But I prayed more with my tears and sobs than with\nmy words.\n\nThen I pressed his hand on my lips and bathed it with my tears, and with\na heart filled with an unspeakable desolation, I bade him Adieu! It was\nfor the last time!\n\nFor the hour was fast approaching when he was to fall by the hand of a\nJesuit assassin, for his nation\u2019s sake.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXI.\n\nABRAHAM LINCOLN A TRUE MAN OF GOD, AND A TRUE DISCIPLE OF THE GOSPEL\u2014HIS\n ASSASSINATION BY BOOTH\u2014THE TOOL OF THE PRIESTS\u2014MARY SURRATT\u2019S\n HOUSE\u2014THE RENDEZVOUS AND DWELLING PLACE OF THE PRIESTS\u2014JOHN SURRATT\n SECRETED BY THE PRIESTS AFTER THE MURDER OF LINCOLN\u2014THE ASSASSINATION\n OF LINCOLN KNOWN AND PUBLISHED IN THE TOWN THREE HOURS BEFORE ITS\n OCCURRENCE.\n\n\nEvery time I met President Lincoln, I wondered how such elevation of\nthought and such childish simplicity could be found in the same man.\nAfter my interviews with him, many times, I said to myself: \u201cHow can\nthis rail-splitter have so easily raised himself to the highest range of\nhuman thought and philosophy?\u201d\n\nThe secret of this was, that Lincoln had spent a great part of his life\nat the school of Christ, and that he had meditated his sublime teachings\nto an extent unsuspected by the world. I found in him, the most perfect\ntype of Christianity I ever met.\n\nProfessedly, he was neither a strict Presbyterian, nor a Baptist, or a\nMethodist; but he was the embodiment of all which is more perfect and\nChristian in them. His religion was the very essence of what God wants\nin man. It was from Christ himself, he had learned to love his God and\nhis neighbor, as it was from Christ he had learned the dignity and the\nvalue of man. \u201cYe are all brethren, the children of God,\u201d was his great\nmotto.\n\nIt was from the Gospel that he had learned his principles of equality,\nfraternity and liberty, as it was from the Gospel he had learned that\nsublime, childish simplicity, which, alone, and forever, won the\nadmiration and affection of all those who approached him. I could cite\nmany facts to illustrate this, but I will give only one, not to be too\nlong: It is taken from the memoirs of Mr. Bateman, Superintendent of\nPublic Instruction for the State of Illinois.\n\n\u201cMr. Lincoln paused; for long minutes, his features surcharged with\nemotion. Then, he rose and walked up and down the reception-room, in the\neffort to retain, or regain his self-possession. Stopping, at last, he\nsaid, with a trembling voice, and his cheeks wet with tears:\n\n\u201c\u2018I know there is a God, and that He hates injustice and slavery. I see\nthe storm coming, and I know that His hand is in it. If He has a place\nand work for me, and I think He has, I believe I am ready! I am nothing,\nbut truth is everything! I know I am right, because I know that liberty\nis right; for Christ teaches it, and Christ is God. I have told them\nthat a house divided against itself cannot stand, and that Christ and\nreason say the same thing, and they will find it so.\n\n\u201c\u2018Douglas does not care whether slavery is voted up or down. But God\ncares, and humanity cares, and I care. And with God\u2019s help, I will not\nfail. I may not see the end, but it will come, and I shall be\nvindicated; and those men will see that they have not read their Bible\nright!\n\n\u201c\u2018Does it not appear strange that men can ignore the _moral aspect_ of\nthis contest. A revelation could not make it plainer to me that slavery,\nor the Government, must be destroyed. The future would be something\nawful, as I look at it, but for this ROCK on which I stand (alluding to\nthe Gospel book he still held in his hand). It seems as if God had borne\nwith slavery until the very teachers of religion had come to defend it\nfrom the Bible, and to claim for it a divine character and sanction. And\nnow the cup of iniquity is full, and the vials of wrath will be poured\nout.\u2019\u201d\n\nMr. Bateman adds: \u201cAfter this, the conversation was continued for a long\ntime. Everything he said was of a very deep, tender and religious tone,\nand all was tinged with a touching melancholy. He repeatedly referred to\nhis conviction \u2018that the day of wrath was at hand,\u2019 and that he was to\nbe an actor in the struggle which would end in the overthrow of slavery,\nthough he might not live to see the end.\n\n\u201cAfter further reference to a belief in Divine Providence, and the fact\nof God, in history, the conversation turned upon prayer. He freely\nstated his belief in the duty, privilege and efficacy of prayer; and he\nintimated, in no unmistakable terms, that he had sought, in that way,\nthe divine guidance and favor.\u201d\n\nThe effect of this conversation upon the mind of Mr. Bateman, a\nChristian gentleman, whom Mr. Lincoln profoundly respected, was to\nconvince him that Mr. Lincoln had, in his quiet way, found a path to the\nChristian stand-point; that he had found God, and rested on the eternal\ntruth of God. As the two men were about to separate, Mr. Bateman\nremarked:\n\n\u201cI had not supposed that you were accustomed to think so much upon this\nclass of subjects; certainly your friends, generally, are ignorant of\nthe sentiments you have expressed to me.\u201d\n\nHe quickly replied: \u201cI know they are, but I think more on these subjects\nthan upon all others, and I have done so for years; and I am willing you\nshould know it.\u201d\u2014_The Inner Life of Lincoln_, by Carpenter, pages\n193-195.\n\nMore than once, I felt as if I were in the presence of on old prophet,\nwhen listening to his views about the future destinies of the United\nStates. In one of my last interviews with him, I was filled with an\nadmiration which it would be difficult to express, when I heard the\nfollowing views and predictions:\n\n\u201cIt is with the southern leaders of this civil war, as with the big and\nsmall wheels of our railroad cars. Those who ignore the laws of\nmechanics are apt to think that the large, strong and noisy wheels that\nthey see, are the motive power, but they are mistaken. The real motive\npower is not seen; it is noiseless and well concealed in the dark,\nbehind its iron walls. The motive power are the few well concealed pails\nof water heated into steam, which is itself directed by the noiseless,\nsmall, but unerring engineer\u2019s finger.\n\n\u201cThe common people see and hear the big, noisy wheels of the Southern\nConfederacy\u2019s cars, they call them Jeff Davis, Lee, Toombs, Beauregard,\nSemmes, etc., and they honestly think that they are the motive power,\nthe first cause of our troubles. But it is a mistake. The true motive\npower is secreted behind the thick walls of the Vatican, the colleges\nand schools of the Jesuits, the convents of the nuns and the\nconfessional boxes of Rome.\n\n\u201cThere is a fact which is too much ignored by the American people, and\nwith which I am acquainted only since I became President; it is that the\nbest, the leading families of the South, have received their education\nin great part, if not in whole, from the Jesuits and the nuns. Hence\nthose degrading principles of slavery, pride, cruelty, which are as a\nsecond nature among so many of those people. Hence that strange want of\nfair play, humanity; that implacable hatred against the ideas of\nequality and liberty, as we find them in the Gospel of Christ. You do\nnot ignore that the first settlers of Louisiana, Florida, New Mexico,\nTexas, South California and Missouri, were Roman Catholics, and that\ntheir first teachers were Jesuits. It is true that those states have\nbeen conquered or bought by us since. But Rome had put the deadly virus\nof her anti-social and anti-christian maxims into the veins of the\npeople before they became American citizens. Unfortunately the Jesuits\nand the nuns have in great part remained the teachers of those people\nsince. They have continued, in a silent, but most efficacious way, to\nspread their hatred against our institutions, our laws, our schools, our\nrights and our liberties, in such a way, that this terrible conflict\nbecame unavoidable, between the North and the South. As I told you\nbefore, it is to Popery that we owe this terrible civil war.\n\n\u201cI would have laughed at the man who would have told me that, before I\nbecame the President. But Professor Morse has opened my eyes on that\nsubject. And, now, I see that mystery; I understand that engineering of\nhell which, though not seen, nor even suspected by the country, is\nputting in motion the large, heavy and noisy wheels of the state cars of\nthe Southern Confederacy.\n\n\u201cOur people is not yet ready to learn and believe those things, and\nperhaps it is not the proper time to initiate them to those dark\nmysteries of hell; it would throw oil on a fire which is already\nsufficiently destructive.\n\n\u201cYou are almost the only one with whom I speak freely on that subject.\nBut sooner or later, the nation will know the real origin of those\nrivers of blood and tears, which are spreading desolation and death\neverywhere. And, then, those who have caused those desolations and\ndisasters will be called to give an account of them.\n\n\u201cI do not pretend to be a prophet. But though not a prophet, I see a\nvery dark cloud on our horizon. And that dark cloud is coming from Rome.\nIt is filled with tears of blood. It will rise and increase, till its\nflanks will be torn by a flash of lightning, followed by a fearful peal\nof thunder. Then a cyclone such as the world has never seen, will pass\nover this country, spreading ruin and desolation from north to south.\nAfter it is over, there will be long days of peace and prosperity: for\nPopery, with its Jesuits and merciless Inquisition, will have been\nforever swept away from our country. Neither I nor you, but our\nchildren, will see those things.\u201d\n\nMany of those who approached Abraham Lincoln felt that there was a\nprophetic spirit in him, and that he was continually walking and acting\nwith the thought of God in his mind, and had only in view to do his will\nand work for his glory. Speaking of the slaves, he said, one day, before\nthe members of his cabinet:\n\n\u201cI have not decided against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but\nI hold the matter under advisement. And I can assure you that the\nsubject is on my mind, by day and by night, more than any other.\nWhatever shall appear to be God\u2019s will, I will do.\u201d\u2014_Six Months in the\nWhite House_, by Carpenter, page 86.\n\nA few days before that proclamation, he said, before several of his\ncounsellors:\n\n\u201cI made a solemn vow before God, that if General Lee was driven back\nfrom Pennsylvania, I would crown the result by the declaration of\nfreedom to the slaves.\u201d\u2014_Six Months in the White House._\n\nBut I would have volumes to write, instead of a short chapter, were I to\ngive all the facts I have collected of the sincere and profound piety of\nAbraham Lincoln.\n\nI cannot, however, omit his admirable and solemn act of faith in the\neternal justice of God, as expressed in the closing words of his last\ninaugural address of the 4th of March, 1865.\n\n\u201cFondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of\nwar may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all\nthe wealth piled by the bondman\u2019s 250 years of unrequited toil shall be\nsunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid by\nanother drawn by the sword, as was said 3,000 years ago, so, still, it\nmust be said: \u2018The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous\naltogether.\u2019\u201d\n\nThese sublime words, falling from the lips of the greatest Christian\nwhom God ever put at the head of a nation, only a few days before his\nmartyrdom, sent a thrill of wonder through the whole world. The\nGod-fearing people and the upright of every nation listened to them as\nif they had just come from the golden harp of David. Even the infidels\nremained mute with admiration and awe. It seemed to all that the echoes\nof heaven and earth were repeating that last hymn, falling from the\nheart of the noblest and truest Gospel man of our days: \u201cThe judgments\nof the Lord are true and righteous altogether.\u201d\n\nThe 6th of April, 1865, President Lincoln was invited by General Grant\nto enter Richmond, the capital of the rebel states, which he had just\ncaptured. The ninth, the beaten army of Lee, surrounded by the\nvictorious legions of the soldiers of Liberty, were forced to lay down\ntheir arms and their banners at the feet of the generals of Lincoln. The\ntenth, the victorious President addressed an immense multitude of the\ncitizens of Washington, to invite them to thank God and the armies for\nthe glorious victories of the last few days, and for the blessed peace\nwhich was to follow these five years of slaughter.\n\nBut he was on the top of the mountain Pisgah, and though he had\nfervently prayed that he might cross the Jordan, and enter with his\npeople into the Land of Promise, after which he had so often sighed, he\nwas not to see his request granted. The answer had come from heaven:\n\u201cYou will not cross the Jordan, and you will not enter that Promised\nLand, which is there, so near. You must die for your nation\u2019s sake!\u201d the\nlips, the heart and soul of the New Moses were still repeating the\nsublime words: \u201cThe judgments of the Lord are true and righteous\naltogether,\u201d when the Jesuit assassin, Booth, murdered him, the 14th of\nApril, 1865, at 10 o\u2019clock P. M.\n\nLet us hear the eloquent historian, Abbott, on that sad event:\n\n\u201cIn the midst of unparalleled success, and while all the bells of the\nland were ringing with joy, a calamity fell upon us which overwhelmed\nthe country in consternation and awe. On Friday evening, April 14th,\nPresident Lincoln attended Ford\u2019s Theatre, in Washington. He was sitting\nquietly in his box, listening to the drama, when a man entered the door\nof the lobby leading to the box, closing the door behind him. Drawing\nnear to the President, he drew from his pocket a small pistol, and shot\nhim in the back of the head. As the President fell, senseless and\nmortally wounded, and the shriek of his wife, who was seated at his\nside, pierced every ear, the assassin leaped from the box, a\nperpendicular height of nine feet, and, as he rushed across the stage,\nbare-headed, brandished a dagger, exclaiming, \u2018_sic semper tyrannis!_\u2019\nand disappeared behind the side scenes. There was a moment of silent\nconsternation. Then ensued a scene of confusion which it is in vain to\nattempt to describe.\n\n\u201cThe dying President was taken into a house near by, and placed upon a\nbed. What a scene did that room present! The chief of a mighty nation\nlay, there, senseless, drenched in blood, his brains oozing from his\nwounds! Sumner, Farwell and Colfax and Stanton, and many others were\nthere, filled with grief and consternation.\n\n\u201cThe surgeon, General Barnes, solemnly examined the wound. There was\nsilence as of the grave, the life and death of the nation seemed\ndependent on the result. General Barnes looked up sadly and said: \u2018The\nwound is mortal!\u2019\n\n'\u201c\u2018Oh! No! General, no! no!\u2019 cried out Secretary Stanton, and sinking\ninto a chair, he covered his face, and wept like a child. Senator Sumner\ntenderly held the head of the unconscious martyr.\n\n\u201cThough all unused to weep, he sobs as though his great heart would\nbreak. In his anguish, his head falls upon the bloodstained pillow, and\nhis black locks blend with those of the dying victim, which care and\ntoil has rendered gray, and which blood has crimsoned. What a scene!\nSumner, who had lingered through months of agony, having himself been\nstricken down by the bludgeon of slavery, now sobbing and fainting in\nanguish over the prostrate form of his friend, whom slavery had slain!\nThis vile rebellion, after deluging the land with blood, has culminated\nin a crime which appalls all nations.\n\n\u201cNoble Abraham, true descendant of the father of the faithful; honest in\nevery trust, humble as a child, tender-hearted as a woman, who could not\nbear to injure even his most envenomed foes; who in the hour of triumph,\nwas saddened lest the feelings of his adversaries should be wounded by\ntheir defeat, with \u2018charity for all, malice towards none,\u2019 endowed with\n\u2018common sense,\u2019 intelligence never surpassed, and with power of\nintellect which enabled him to grapple with the most gigantic opponents\nin debates, developing abilities as a statesman, which won the gratitude\nof his country and the admiration of the world, and with graces and\namiabilities which drew to him all generous hearts; dies by the bullet\nof the assassin!\u201d\u2014_History of the Civil War_, by Abbott, vol. ii., page\n594.\n\nBut who was that assassin? Booth was nothing but the tool of the\nJesuits. It was Rome who directed his arm, after corrupting his heart\nand damning his soul.\n\nAfter I had mixed my tears with those of the grand country of my\nadoption, I fell on my knees and asked my God to grant me to show to the\nworld what I knew to be the truth, viz.: that that horrible crime was\nthe work of Popery. And, after twenty years of constant and most\ndifficult researches, I come fearlessly, to-day, before the American\npeople, to say and prove that the President, Abraham Lincoln, was\nassassinated by the priests and the Jesuits of Rome.\n\nIn the book of the testimonies given in the prosecution of the assassin\nof Lincoln, published by Ben. Pitman, and in the two volumes of the\ntrial of John Surratt in 1867, we have the legal and irrefutable proof\nthat the plot of the assassins of Lincoln was matured, if not started,\nin the house of Mary Surratt, No. 561 H Street, Washington City, D. C.\nBut who were living in that house, and who were visiting that family?\nThe legal answer says: \u201cThe most devoted Catholics in the city!\u201d The\nsworn testimonies show more than that. They show that it was the common\nrendezvous of the priests of Washington. Several priests swear that they\nwere going there \u201csome times,\u201d and when pressed to answer what they\nmeant by \u201csome times,\u201d they were not sure if it was not once a week, or\nonce a month. One of them, less on his guard, swore that he seldom\npassed before that house without entering; and he said he never passed\nless than once a week. The devoted Roman Catholic (an apostate from\nProtestantism) called L. J. Weichman, who was himself living in that\nhouse, swears that Father Wiget was _very often_ in that house, and\nFather Lahiman swears that he was living with Mrs. Surratt, in the same\nhouse! * * * *\n\nWhat does the presence of so many priests, in that house, reveal to the\nworld? No man of common sense, who knows anything about the priests of\nRome, can entertain any doubt that, not only they knew all that was\ngoing on inside those walls, but that they were the advisers, the\ncounselors, the very soul of that infernal plot. Why did Rome keep one\nof her priests under that roof, from morning till night, and from night\ntill morning? Why did she send many others, almost every day of the\nweek, into that dark nest of plotters against the very existence of the\ngreat republic, and against the life of her President, her principal\ngenerals and leading men, if it were not to be the advisers, the rulers,\nthe secret motive power of the infernal plot.\n\nNo one, if he is not an idiot, will think and say that those priests,\nwho were the personal friends and the father confessors of Booth, John\nSurratt, Mrs. and Misses Surratt, could be constantly there without\nknowing what was going on, particularly when we know that every one of\nthose priests, was a rabid rebel in heart. Every one of those priests,\nknowing that his infallible Pope had called Jeff Davis his dear son, and\nhad taken the Southern Confederacy under his protection, was bound to\nbelieve that the most holy thing a man could do, was to fight for the\nSouthern cause, by destroying those who were its enemies.\n\nRead the history of the assassination of Admiral Coligny, Henry III. and\nHenry IV., and William the Taciturn, by the hired assassins of the\nJesuits; compare them with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and you\nwill find that one resembles the other as one drop of water resembles\nanother. You will understand that they all come from the same source,\nRome!\n\nIn all those murders, you will find that the murderers, selected and\ntrained by the Jesuits, were of the most exalted Roman Catholic piety,\nliving in the company of priests, going to confess very often, receiving\nthe communion the day before, if not the very day of the murder. You\nwill see in all those horrible deeds of hell, prepared behind the dark\nwalls of the holy inquisition, that the assassins were considering\nthemselves as the chosen instruments of God, to save the nation by\nstriking its tyrant; that they firmly believed that there was no sin in\nkilling the enemy of the people, of the holy church, and of the\ninfallible Pope!\n\nCompare the last hours of the Jesuit Ravaillac, the assassin of Henry\nVI., who absolutely refuses to repent, though suffering the most\nhorrible tortures on the rack, with Booth, who, suffering also the most\nhorrible tortures from his broken leg, writes in his daily memorandum,\nthe very day before his death: \u201cI can never repent, though we hated to\nkill. Our country owed all our troubles to him (Lincoln), and God simply\nmade me the instrument of his punishment.\u201d\u2014_Trial of Surratt_, vol. i.,\npage 310.\n\nYes! Compare the bloody deeds of those two assassins, and you will see\nthat they had been trained in the same school; they had been taught by\nthe same teachers. Evidently the Jesuit Ravaillac, calling all the\nsaints of heaven to his help, at his last hour; and Booth pressing the\nmedal of the Virgin Mary on his breast, when falling mortally wounded\n(_Trial of Surratt_, page 310), both came from the same Jesuit mould.\n\nWho has lost his common sense enough to suppose that it was Jeff Davis\nwho had filled the mind and the heart of Booth with that religious and\nso exalted fanaticism! Surely Jeff Davis could have promised the money\nto reward the assassins and nerve their arms by the hope of becoming\nrich. The testimonies on that account says that one million dollars had\nbeen asked from him. (_Assassination of Abraham Lincoln_, p. 51-52.)\n\nThe arch-rebel could give the money; but the Jesuits alone could select\nthe assassins, train them, and show them a crown of glory in heaven, if\nthey would kill the author of the bloodshed, the famous renegade and\napostate\u2014the enemy of the Pope and of the Church\u2014Lincoln.\n\nWho does not see the lessons given by the Jesuits to Booth, in their\ndaily intercourse in Mary Surratt\u2019s house, when he reads those lines\nwritten by Booth a few hours before his death: \u201cI can never repent, God\nmade me the instrument of his punishment!\u201d Compare these words with the\ndoctrines and principles taught by the councils, the decrees of the\nPope, and the laws of holy inquisition, as you find them in chapter 55\nof this volume, and you will find that the sentiments and belief of\nBooth flow from those principles, as the river flows from its source.\n\nAnd that pious Miss Surratt who, the very next day after the murder of\nLincoln, said, without being rebuked, in the presence of several other\nwitnesses: \u201cThe death of Abraham Lincoln is no more than the death of\nany nigger in the army,\u201d where did she get that maxim, if not from her\nchurch! Had not that church recently proclaimed, through her highest\nlegal and civil authority, the devoted Roman Catholic, Judge Taney, in\nhis Dred-Scott decision, that negroes have no right, which the white is\nbound to respect! By bringing the President on a level with the lowest\nnigger, Rome was saying that he had no right, even to his life; for this\nwas the maxim of the rebel priests, who, everywhere, had made themselves\nthe echoes of the sentence of their distinguished co-religionist\u2014Taney.\n\nIt was from the very lips of the priests, who were constantly coming in\nand going out of their house, that those young ladies had learned those\nanti-social and anti-christian doctrines. Read in the testimony\nconcerning Mrs. Mary E. Surratt, (p. 122-123) how the Jesuits had\nperfectly drilled her in the art of perjuring herself. In the very\nmoment when the government officer orders her to prepare herself, with\nher daughter, to follow him as prisoners, at about 10 P. M., Payne, the\nwould-be murderer of Seward, knocks at the door and wants to see Mrs.\nSurratt. But instead of having Mrs. Surratt to open the door, he finds\nhimself confronted, face to face, with the government detective, Major\nSmith, who swears:\n\n\u201cI questioned him in regard to his occupation, and what business he had\nat the house, at this late hour of the night. He stated that he was a\nlaborer, and had come to dig a gutter, at the request of Mrs. Surratt.\n\n\u201cI went to the parlor door, and said: \u2018Mrs. Surratt, will you step here\na minute?\u2019 She came out, and I asked her: \u2018Do you know this man, and did\nyou hire him to come and dig a gutter for you?\u2019 She answered,raising her\nright hand; \u2018Before God, sir, I do not know this man, I have never seen\nhim, and I did not hire him to dig a gutter for me.\u2019\u2014_Assassination of\nLincoln_, p. 122.\n\nBut it was proved after, by several unimpeachable witnesses, that she\nknew very well that Payne was a personal friend of her son, who, many\ntimes, had come to her house, in company of his friend and pet, Booth.\nShe had received the communion just two or three days before that public\nperjury. Just a moment after making it, the officer ordered her to step\nout into the carriage. Before doing it, she asked permission to kneel\ndown and pray; which was granted (page 123.)\n\nI ask it from any man of common sense, could Jeff Davis have imparted\nsuch a religious calm, and self-possession to that woman, when her hands\nwere just reddened with the blood of the President, and she was on her\nway to trial!\n\nNo! such _sang froid_, such calm in that soul, in such a terrible\nand solemn hour, could only come from the teachings of those Jesuits\nwho, for more than six months, were in her house, showing her a\ncrown of eternal glory, if she would help to kill the monster\napostate\u2014Lincoln\u2014the only cause of that horrible civil war! There is\nnot the least doubt that the priests had perfectly succeeded in\npersuading Mary Surratt and Booth that the killing of Lincoln was a\nmost holy and deserving work, for which God had an eternal reward in\nstore.\n\nThere is a fact to which the American people have not yet given a\nsufficient attention. It is, that, without a single exception, the\nconspirators were Roman Catholics. The learned and great patriot,\nGeneral Baker, in his admirable report, struck and bewildered by that\nstrange, mysterious and portentous fact, said:\n\n\u201cI mention, as an exceptional and remarkable fact, that every\nconspirator in custody, is, by education, a Catholic.\u201d\n\nBut those words which, if well understood by the United States, would\nhave thrown so much light on the true causes of their untold and\nunspeakable disasters, fell as if on the ears of deaf men. Very few, if\nany, paid attention to them. As General Baker says, all the conspirators\nwere attending Catholic Church services, and were educated Roman\nCatholics. It is true that some of them, as Atzeroth, Payne and Harold,\nasked for Protestant ministers, when they were to be hung. But they had\nbeen considered, till then, as converts to Romanism. At page 436, of\n_The Trial of John Surratt_, Louis Weichman tells us that he was going\nto St. Aloysin\u2019s Church with Atzeroth, and that it was there that he\nintroduced him to Mr. Brothy (another Roman Catholic).\n\nIt is a well authenticated fact, that Booth and Weichman, who were\nthemselves Protestant perverts to Romanism, had proselytized a good\nnumber of semi-Protestants and infidels who, either from conviction, or\nfrom hope of the fortunes promised to the successful murderers, were\nthemselves very zealous for the Church of Rome. Payne, Atzeroth and\nHarold were among those proselytes. But when those murderers were to\nappear before the country, and receive the just punishment of their\ncrime, the Jesuits were too shrewd to ignore that if they were all\ncoming on the scaffold as Roman Catholics, and accompanied by their\nfather confessors, it would, at once, open the eyes of the American\npeople, and clearly show that this was a Roman Catholic plot. They\npersuaded three of their proselytes to avail themselves of the\ntheological principles of the Church of Rome, that a man is allowed to\nconceal his religion, nay, that he may say that he is an heretic, a\nProtestant, though he is a Roman Catholic, when it is for his own\ninterest or the best interests of his church to conceal the truth and\ndeceive the people. Here is the doctrine of Rome on that subject:\n\n\u201cSoepe melius est ad dei honorem, et utiliatatem proximi, tegere fidem\nquam frateri, ut si latens inter herticos, plus boni facis; vel si ex\nconfessione fidei, plus mali sequeretur, verbi gratia turbatio, neces,\nexacerbotio tyrannis.\u201d\u2014_Ligouri Theologia_, b. ii., chap. iii., p. 6.\n\n\u201cIt is often more to the glory of God and the good of our neighbor to\nconceal our religious faith, as when we live among heretics, we can more\neasily do them good in that way; or if by declaring our religion, we\ncause some disturbances, or deaths, or even the wrath of the tyrant.\u201d\n\nIt is evident that the Jesuits had never had better reasons to suspect\nthat the declaration of their religion would damage them and excite the\nwrath of their tyrant, viz: the American people.\n\nLloyd\u2019s, in whose house Mrs. Surratt concealed the carbine which Booth\nwanted for protection, when just after the murder he was to flee towards\nthe Southern States, was a firm Roman Catholic.\n\nDr. Nudd, at whose place Booth stopped, to have his broken leg dressed,\nwas a Roman Catholic, and so was Garrett, in whose barn Booth was caught\nand killed. Why so? Because, as Jeff Davis was the only man to pay one\nmillion dollars to those who would kill Abraham Lincoln, the Jesuits\nwere the only men to select the murderers and prepare everything to\nprotect them after their diabolical deed, and such murderers could not\nbe found except among their blind and fanatical slaves.\n\nThe great, the fatal mistake of the American Government in the\nprosecution of the assassins of Abraham Lincoln was to constantly keep\nout of sight the religious element of that terrible drama. Nothing would\nhave been more easy, then, than to find out the complicity of the\npriests, who were not only coming every week and every day, but who were\neven living in that den of murderers. But this was carefully avoided\nfrom the beginning to the end of the trial. When, not long after the\nexecution of the murderers, I went, incognito, to Washington to begin my\ninvestigation about its real and true authors, I was not a little\nsurprised to see that not a single one of the government men, to whom I\naddressed myself, would consent to have any talk with me on that matter,\nexcept after I had given my word of honor that I would never mention\ntheir names in connection with the result of my investigation. I saw,\nwith a profound distress, that the influence of Rome was almost supreme\nin Washington. I could not find a single statesman who would dare to\nface that nefarious influence and fight it down, except General Baker.\n\nSeveral of the government men, in whom I had more confidence, told me:\n\n\u201cWe had not the least doubt that the Jesuits were at the bottom of that\ngreat iniquity; we even feared, sometimes, that this would come out so\nclearly before the military tribunal, that there would be no possibility\nof keeping it out of the public sight. This was not through cowardice,\nas you think, but through a wisdom which you ought to approve, if you\ncan not admire it. Had we been in days of peace, we know that with a\nlittle more pressure on the witnesses, many priests would have been\ncompromised; for Mrs. Surratt\u2019s house was their common rendezvous; it is\nmore than probable that several of them might have been hung. But the\ncivil war was hardly over. The Confederacy, though broken down, was\nstill living in millions of hearts; murderers and formidable elements of\ndiscord were still seen everywhere, to which the hanging or exiling of\nthose priests would have given a new life. Riots after riots would have\naccompanied and followed their execution. We thought we had had enough\nof blood, fires, devastations and bad feelings. We were all longing\nafter days of peace; the country was in need of them. We concluded that\nthe best interests of humanity was to punish only those who were\npublicly and visibly guilty; that the verdict might receive the\napprobation of all, without creating any new bad feelings. Allow us also\nto tell you that this policy was that of our late President. For you\nknow it well, there was nothing which that great and good man feared so\nmuch as to arm the Protestants against the Catholics and the Catholics\nagainst the Protestants.\u201d\n\nBut if any one has still any doubts of the complicity of the Jesuits, in\nthe murder of Abraham Lincoln, let them give a moment of attention to\nthe following facts, and their doubts will be forever removed. It is\nonly from the very Jesuit accomplice\u2019s lips that I take my sworn\ntestimonies.\n\nIt is evident that a very elaborate plan of escape had been prepared by\nthe priests of Rome, to save the lives of the assassins and the\nconspirators. It would be too long to follow all the murderers when,\nCain-like, they were fleeing in every direction to escape the vengeance\nof God and man. Let us fix our eyes on John Surratt, who was in\nWashington on the 14th of April, helping Booth in the perpetration of\nthe assassination. Who will take care of him? Who will protect and\nconceal him? Who will press him on their bosoms, put their mantles on\nhis shoulders to conceal him from the just vengeance of the human and\ndivine laws? The priest, Charles Boucher (_Trial of John Surratt_, vol.\nii., page 904-912), swears that only a few days after the murder, John\nSurratt was sent to him by Father Lapierre, of Montreal; that he kept\nhim concealed in his parsonage of St. Liboire, from the end of April to\nthe end of July, then he took him back, secretly, to Father Lapierre,\nwho kept him secreted in his own father\u2019s house, under the very shadow\nof the Montreal bishop\u2019s palace. He swears (p. 905-914) that Father\nLapierre visited him (Surratt) often, when secreted at St. Liboire, and\nthat he (Father Boucher) visited him, at least twice a week, from the\nend of July to September, when concealed in Father Lapierre\u2019s house in\nMontreal.\n\nThat same Father Charles Boucher swears that he accompanied John Surratt\nin a carriage, in the company of Father Lapierre, to the steamer\n\u201cMontreal,\u201d when starting for Quebec. That Father Lapierre kept him\n(John Surratt) under lock, during the voyage from Montreal to Quebec,\nand that he accompanied him, disguised, from the Montreal steamer to the\nocean steamer, \u201cPeruvian.\u201d\u2014_Trial of John Surratt_, p. 910.\n\nThe doctor of the steamer \u201cPeruvian,\u201d L. I. A. McMillan, swears (vol.\ni., p. 460) that Father Lapierre introduced him to John Surratt, under\nthe false name of McCarthy, whom he was keeping locked in his state\nroom, and whom he conducted disguised to the ocean steamer \u201cPeruvian,\u201d\nand with whom he remained till he left Quebec for Europe, the 15th of\nSeptember, 1865.\n\nBut who is that Father Lapierre who takes such a tender, I dare say a\npaternal care of Surratt? It is not less a personage than the canon of\nBishop Bourget, of Montreal. He is the confidential man of the bishop.\nHe lives with the bishop, eats at his table, assists him with his\ncounsel, and has to receive his advice in every step of life. According\nto the laws of Rome, the canons are to the bishop what the arms are to\nthe body.\n\nNow, I ask: Is it not evident that the bishops and the priests of\nWashington have trusted this murderer to the tender care of the bishops\nand priests of Montreal, that they might conceal, feed and protect him\nfor nearly six months, under the very shadow of the bishop\u2019s palace?\nWould they have done that if they were not his accomplices? Why did they\nso continually remain with him, day and night, if they were not in fear\nthat he might compromise them by an indiscreet word? Why do we see those\npriests (I ought to say, those two ambassadors and appointed\nrepresentatives of the Pope) alone in the carriage, which takes that\ngreat culprit from his house of concealment to the steamer? Why do they\nkeep him there, under lock, till they transfer him, under a disguised\nname, to the oceanic steamer, the \u201cPeruvian,\u201d the 15th of July, 1865?\nWhy such tender sympathies for that stranger? Why go through such\ntrouble and expense for that young American, among the bishops and\npriests of Canada? There is only one answer. He was one of their tools,\none of their selected men to strike the great Republic of Equality and\nLiberty to the heart. For more than six months before the murder, the\npriests had lodged, eaten, conversed, slept with him under the same roof\nin Washington. They had trained him to his deed of blood, by promising\nhim protection on earth, and a crown of glory in heaven, if he would\nonly be true to their designs to the end. And he had been true to the\nend.\n\nNow the great crime is accomplished! Lincoln is murdered! Jeff Davis,\nthe dear son of the Pope, is avenged! The great republic has been struck\nto the heart! The soldiers of Liberty all over the world are weeping\nover the dead form of the one who had led them to victory; a cry of\ndesolation goes from earth to heaven.\n\nIt seems as if we heard the death-knell of the cause of freedom,\nequality and fraternity among men. It was many centuries since the\nimplacable enemies of the rights and liberties of men had struck such a\ngiant foe: their joy was as great as their victory complete.\n\nBut do you see that man fleeing from Washington toward the north? He has\nthe mark of Cain on his forehead, his hands are reddened with blood, he\nis pale and trembling, for he knows it; a whole outraged nation is after\nhim for her just vengeance; he hears the thundering voice of God: \u201cWhere\nis thy brother?\u201d Where will he find a refuge? Where, outside of hell,\nwill he meet friends to shelter and save him from the just vengeance of\nGod and men?\n\nOh! He has sure refuge in the arms of that church which, for more than a\nthousand years, is crying: \u201cDeath to all heretics! death to all the\nsoldiers of Liberty!\u201d He has devoted friends among the very men who,\nafter having prepared the massacre of Admiral Coligny and his 75,000\nProtestant countrymen, rang the bells of Rome to express their joy when\nthey heard that, at last, the King of France had slaughtered them all.\n\nBut where will those bishops and priests of Canada send John Surratt,\nwhen they find it impossible to conceal him any longer from the\nthousands of detectives of the United States, who are ransacking Canada\nto find out his retreat? Who will conceal, feed, lodge and protect him\nafter the priests of Canada pressed his hand for the last time, on board\nof the \u201cPeruvian,\u201d the 15th of September, 1865.\n\nWho can have any doubt about that? Who can suppose that any one but the\nPope himself and his Jesuits will protect the murderer of Abraham\nLincoln in Europe?\n\nIf you want to see him, after he has crossed the ocean, go to Vitry, at\nthe door of Rome, and there, you will find him enrolled under the\nbanners of the Pope, in the 9th company of his Zouaves, under the false\nname of Watson (_Trial of John Surratt_, vol. i., p. 492). Of course,\nthe Pope was forced to withdraw his protection over him, after the\ngovernment of the United States had found him there, and he was brought\nback to Washington to be tried.\n\nBut on his arrival as a prisoner in the United States, his Jesuit father\nconfessor whispered in his ear: \u201cFear not, you will not be condemned!\nThrough the influence of a high Roman Catholic lady, two or three of the\njurymen will be Roman Catholics, and you will be safe.\u201d\n\nThose who have read the two volumes of the trial of John Surratt, know,\nthat never more evident proofs of guilt were brought against a murderer\nthan in that case. But the Roman Catholic jurymen had read the Theology\nof St. Thomas, a book which the Pope had ordered to be taught in every\ncollege, academy and university of Rome, they had learned that it is the\nduty of the Roman Catholics to exterminate all the heretics.\u2014_St.\nThomas\u2019 Theology_, vol. iv., p. 90.\n\nThey had read the decree of the councils of Constance, that no faith was\nto be kept with heretics. They had read in the council of Lateran, that\nthe Catholics who arm themselves for the extermination of heretics have\nall their sins forgiven, and receive the same blessings as those who go\nand fight for the rescue of the Holy Land.\n\nThose jurymen were told by their father confessors that the most holy\nFather, the Pope Gregory VII., had solemnly and infallibly declared that\n\u201cthe killing of an heretic was no murder.\u201d\u2014_Jure Canonico._\n\nAfter such teachings, how could the Roman Catholic jurymen find John\nSurratt guilty of murder, for killing the heretic Lincoln? The jury\nhaving disagreed, no verdict could be given. The government was forced\nto let the murderer go unpunished.\n\nBut when the irreconcilable enemies of all the rights and liberties of\nmen were congratulating themselves on their successful efforts to save\nthe life of John Surratt, the God of heaven was stamping again on their\nfaces, the mark of murder, in such a way that all eyes will see it.\n\n\u201cMurder will out,\u201d is a truth repeated by all nations from the beginning\nof the world. It is the knowledge of that truth which has sustained me\nin my long and difficult researches of the true authors of the\nassassination of Lincoln, and which enables me to-day, to present to the\nworld a fact, which seems almost miraculous, to show the complicity of\nthe priests of Rome in the murder of the martyred President.\n\nSome time ago, I providentially met the Rev. Mr. F. A. Conwell, at\nChicago. Having known that I was in search of facts about the\nassassination of Abraham Lincoln, he told me he knew one of those facts,\nwhich might perhaps throw some light on the subject of my researches.\n\n\u201cThe very day of the murder,\u201d he said, \u201che was in the Roman Catholic\nvillage of St. Joseph, Minnesota State, when, at about six o\u2019clock, in\nthe afternoon, he was told by a Roman Catholic of the place, who was a\npurveyor of a great number of priests who lived in that town, where they\nhave a monastery, that the State Secretary Seward and the President\nLincoln had just been killed. This was told me,\u201d he said, \u201cin the\npresence of a most respectable gentleman, called Bennett, who was not\nless puzzled than me. As there were no railroad lines nearer than 40\nmiles, nor telegraph offices nearer than 80 miles, from that place, we\ncould not see how such news was spread in that town. The next day, the\n15th of April, I was at St. Cloud, a town about twelve miles distant,\nwhere there are neither railroad nor telegraph, I said to several people\nthat I had been told in the priestly village of St. Joseph, by a Roman\nCatholic, that Abraham Lincoln and the Secretary Seward had been\nassassinated. They answered me that they had heard nothing about it. But\nthe next Sabbath, the 16th of April, when going to the church of St.\nCloud, to preach, a friend gave me a copy of a telegram sent to him on\nthe Saturday, reporting that Abraham Lincoln and Secretary Seward had\nbeen assassinated, the very day before, which was Friday, the 14th, at\n10 P. M. But how could the Roman Catholic purveyor of the priests of St.\nJoseph, have told me the same thing, before several witnesses, just four\nhours before its occurrence? I spoke of that strange thing to many, the\nsame day, and the very next day, I wrote to the \u2018St. Paul Press,\u2019 under\nthe heading of \u2018A Strange Coincidence.\u2019 Sometime later, the editor of\n\u2018The St. Paul Pioneer,\u2019 having denied what I had written on that\nsubject, I addressed him the following note, which he had printed, and\nwhich I have kept. Here it is, you may keep it as an infallible proof of\nmy veracity:\u201d\n\n \u201cTO THE EDITOR OF THE ST. PAUL PIONEER.\n\n\u201cYou assume the non-truth of a short paragraph addressed by me to the\nSt. Paul \u2018Press,\u2019 viz:\n\n \u201cA STRANGE COINCIDENCE!\n\n\u201cAt 6:30 P. M., Friday last, April 14th, I was told as an item of news,\n8 miles west of this place, that Lincoln and Seward had been\nassassinated. This was three hours after I had heard the news.\u201d\n\n \u201cST. CLOUD, 17th of April, 1865.\n\n\u201cThe integrity of history requires that the above coincidence be\nestablished. And if anyone calls it in question, then proofs more ample\nthan reared their sanguinary shadows to comfort a traitor can now be\ngiven.\n\n \u201cRespectfully,\n\n \u201cF. A. CONWELL.\u201d\n\nI asked that gentleman if he would be kind enough to give me the fact\nunder oath, that I might make use of it in the report I intended to\npublish about the assassination of Lincoln. And he kindly granted my\nrequest in the following form:\n\nState of Illinois,} s.s.\nCook County }\n\nRev. F. A. Conwell, being sworn, deposes and says that he is seventy-one\nyears old, that he is a resident of North Evanston, in Cook County,\nState of Illinois, that he has been in the ministry for fifty-six years,\nand is now one of the chaplains of the \u201cSeamen\u2019s Bethel Home,\u201d in\nChicago; that he was chaplain of the First Minnesota Regiment, in the\nwar of the rebellion. That, on the 14th day of April, A. D., 1865, he\nwas in St. Joseph, Minnesota, and reached there as early as six o\u2019clock\nin the evening in company with Mr. Bennett, who, then and now, is a\nresident of St Cloud, Minnesota. That on that date, there was no\ntelegraph nearer than Minneapolis. about 80 miles from St. Joseph; and\nthere was no railroad communication nearer than Avoka, Minnesota, about\n40 miles distant. That when he reached St. Joseph, on the 14th day of\nApril, 1865, one Mr. Linneman, who, then, kept the hotel of St. Joseph,\ntold affiant that President Lincoln and Secretary Seward were\nassassinated, that it was not later than half-past six o\u2019clock, on\nFriday, April 14th, 1865, when Mr. Linneman told me this. Shortly\nthereafter, Mr. Bennett came in the hotel, and I told him that Mr.\nLinneman said the President Lincoln and Secretary Seward were\nassassinated; and then the same Mr. Linneman reported the same\nconversation to Mr. Bennett in my presence. That during that time, Mr.\nLinneman told me that he had the charge of the friary or college for\nyoung men, under the priests, who were studying for the priesthood at\nSt. Joseph. That there was a large multitude of this kind at St. Joseph,\nat this time. Affiant says that, on Saturday morning, April 15th, 1865,\nhe went to St. Cloud, a distance of about 10 miles, and reached there\nabout eight o\u2019clock in the morning. That there was no railroad nor\ntelegraph communication to St. Cloud. When he arrived at St. Cloud he\ntold Mr. Haworth, the hotel-keeper, that he had been told that President\nLincoln and Secretary Seward had been assassinated, and asked if it was\ntrue. He further told Henry Clay, Wait, Charles Gilman, who was\nafterwards Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, and Rev. Mr. Tice, the same\nthing, and inquired of them if they had any such views; and they replied\nthat they had not heard anything of the kind.\n\nAffiant says that, on Sunday morning, April 16th, 1865, he preached in\nSt. Cloud, and on the way to the church, a copy of a telegram was handed\nhim, stating that the President and Secretary were assassinated Friday\nevening, at about 9 o\u2019clock. This telegram had been brought to St. Cloud\nby Mr. Gorton, who had reached St. Cloud by stage; and this was the\nfirst intelligence that had reached St. Cloud of the event.\n\nAffiant says further that, on Monday morning, April 17th, 1865, he\nfurnished the \u201cPress,\u201d a paper of St. Paul, a statement that three hours\nbefore the event took place, he had been informed at St. Joseph,\nMinnesota, that the President had been assassinated, and this was\npublished in the \u201cPress.\u201d\n\n FRANCIS ASBURY CONWELL.\n\nSubscribed and sworn to by Francis A. Conwell, before me, a Notary\nPublic of Kankakee County, Illinois, at Chicago, Cook County, the 6th\nday of September, 1883.\n\n STEPHEN R. MOORE, Notary Public.\n\nThough this document was very important and precious to me, I felt that\nit would be much more valuable if it could be corroborated by the\ntestimonies of Messrs. Bennett and Linneman, themselves, and I\nimmediately sent a magistrate to find out if they were still living, and\nif they remembered the facts of the sworn declaration of Rev. Mr.\nConwell. By the good providence of God, both of these gentlemen were\nfound living, and both gave the following testimonies:\n\nState of Minnesota, } Sterns County, City } of St. Cloud. }\n\nHorace B. Bennett, being sworn, deposes and says that he is aged\nsixty-four years; that he is a resident of St. Cloud, Minnesota, and has\nresided in this county since 1856; that he is acquainted with the Rev.\nF. A. Conwell, who was chaplain of the First Minnesota Regiment in the\nwar of the rebellion; that on the 14th of April, 1865, he was in St.\nJoseph, Minnesota, in company with Mr. Francis A. Conwell; that they\nreached St. Joseph about sundown of said April 14th; that there was no\nrailroad or telegraph communication with St. Joseph at that time, nor\nnearer than Avoka, about 40 miles distant. That affiant, on reaching the\nhotel kept by Mr. Linneman, went to the barn, while Rev. F. Conwell\nentered the hotel; and shortly afterward, affiant had returned to the\nhotel, Mr. Conwell told him that Mr. Linneman had reported to him the\nassassination of President Lincoln; that Linneman was present and\nsubstantiated the statement.\n\nThat on Saturday morning, April 15th, affiant and Rev. Conwell came to\nSt. Cloud, and reported that they had been told at St. Joseph, about the\nassassination of President Lincoln, that no one at St. Cloud had heard\nof the event at this time, that the first news of the event which\nreached St. Cloud was on Sunday morning, April 16th, when the news was\nbrought by Leander Gorton, who had just come up from Avoka, Minnesota;\nthat they spoke to several persons of St. Cloud concerning the matter,\nwhen they reached there, on Sunday morning, but affiant does not now\nremember who those different persons were, and further affiant says not.\n\n HORACE P. BENNETT.\n\nSworn before me, and subscribed in my presence, this 18th of October A.\nD., 1883.\n\n ANDREW C. ROBERTSON, Notary Public.\n\nMr. Linneman having refused to swear on his written declaration, which I\nhave in my possession, I take only from it what refers to the principal\nfact, viz: that three or four hours before Lincoln was assassinated at\nWashington, the 14th of April, 1865, the fact was told as already\naccomplished, in the priestly village of St. Joseph, Minnesota.\n\n\u201cHe (Linneman) remembers the time that Messrs. Conwell and Bennett came\nto this place (St. Joseph, Minnesota) on Friday evening, before the\nPresident was killed, and he asked them if they had heard he was dead,\nand they replied they had not. He heard this rumor in his store from\npeople who came in and out. But he cannot remember from whom.\n\n October 20th, 1883.\n\n J. H. LINNEMAN.\n\nI present here to the world a fact of the greatest gravity, and that\nfact is so well authenticated that it cannot allow even the possibility\nof a doubt.\n\nThree or four hours before Lincoln was murdered in Washington, the 14th\nof April, 1865, that murder was not only known by some one, but it was\ncirculated and talked of in the streets, and in the houses of the\npriestly and Romish town of St. Joseph, Minnesota. The fact is\nundeniable; the testimonies are unchallengeable, and there were no\nrailroad nor any telegraph communication nearer than 40 or 80 miles from\nthe nearest station to St. Joseph.\n\nNaturally every one asked: \u201cHow could such news spread? Where is the\nsource of such a rumor?\u201d Mr. Linneman, who is a Roman Catholic, tells us\nthat though he heard this from many in his store, and in the streets, he\ndoes not remember the name of a single one who told him that. And when\nwe hear this from him, we understand why he did not dare to swear upon\nit, and shrunk from the idea of perjuring himself.\n\nFor everyone feels that his memory cannot be so poor as that, when he\nremembers so well the name of the two strangers, Messrs. Conwell and\nBennett, to whom he had announced the assassination of Lincoln, just\nseventeen years before. But if the memory of Mr. Linneman is so\ndeficient on that subject, we can help him, and tell him with\nmathematical accuracy:\n\n\u201cYou got the news from your priests of St. Joseph! The conspiracy which\ncost the life of the martyred President was prepared by the priests of\nWashington in the house of Mary Surratt, No. 541 H. Street. The priests\nof St. Joseph were often visiting Washington, and boarding, probably, at\nMrs. Surratt\u2019s as the priests of Washington were often visiting their\nbrother priests at St. Joseph.\n\n\u201cThose priests of Washington were in daily communication with their\nco-rebel priests of St. Joseph; they were their intimate friends. There\nwere no secrets among them, as there are no secrets among priests. They\nare the members of the same body, the branches of the same tree. The\ndetails of the murder, as the day selected for its commission were as\nwell known among the priests of St. Joseph, as they were among those of\nWashington. The death of Lincoln was such a glorious event for those\npriests! That infamous apostate, Lincoln, who, baptized in the Holy\nChurch, had rebelled against her, broken his oath of allegiance to the\nPope, taken the very day of his baptism, and lived the life of an\napostate! That infamous Lincoln, who had dared to fight against the\nConfederacy of the South after the Vicar of Christ had solemnly declared\nthat their cause was just, legitimate and holy! That bloody tyrant, that\ngodless and infamous man was to receive, at last, the just chastisement\nof his crimes, the 14th of April! What glorious news! How could the\npriests conceal such a joyful event from their bosom friend, Mr.\nLinneman? He was their confidential man: he was their purveyor: he was\ntheir right hand man among the faithful of St. Joseph. They thought that\nthey would be guilty of a want of confidence in their bosom friend, if\nthey did not tell him all about the glorious event of that great day.\nBut, of course, they requested him not to mention their names, if he\nwould spread the joyful news among the devoted Roman Catholics who,\nalmost exclusively, formed the people of St. Joseph. Mr. Linneman has\nhonorably and faithfully kept his promise never to reveal their names,\nand to-day, we have, in our hand, the authentic testimonies signed by\nhim that, though somebody, the 14th of April, told him that President\nLincoln was assassinated, he does not know who told him that!\n\nBut there is not a man of sound judgment who will have any doubt about\nthat fact. The 4th of April, 1865, the priests of Rome knew and\ncirculated the death of Lincoln four hours before its occurrence in\ntheir Roman Catholic town of St. Joseph, Minnesota. But they could not\ncirculate it without knowing it, and they could not know it, without\nbelonging to the band of conspirators who assassinated President\nLincoln.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXII.\n\nDEPUTATION OF TWO PRIESTS SENT BY THE PEOPLE AND THE BISHOPS OF CANADA\n TO PERSUADE US TO SUBMIT TO THE WILL OF THE BISHOP\u2014THE DEPUTIES\n ACKNOWLEDGE PUBLICLY THAT THE BISHOP IS WRONG AND THAT WE ARE\n RIGHT\u2014FOR PEACE SAKE, I CONSENT TO WITHDRAW FROM THE CONTEST ON\n CERTAIN CONDITIONS ACCEPTED BY THE DEPUTIES\u2014ONE OF THOSE DEPUTIES\n TURNS FALSE TO HIS PROMISES AND BETRAYS US, TO BE PUT AT THE HEAD OF\n MY COLONY\u2014MY LAST INTERVIEW WITH HIM AND MR. BRASSARD.\n\n\nWhen alone, on my knees, in the presence of God, on the 1st of January,\n1855, I took the resolution of opposing the acts of simony and tyranny\nof Bishop O\u2019Regan, I was far from understanding the logical consequences\nof my struggle with that high dignitary. My only object was to force him\nto be honest, just and Christian towards my people. That people, with\nme, had left their country and had bid an eternal adieu to all that was\ndear to them in Canada, in order to live in peace in Illinois, under\nwhat we, then, considered the holy authority of the Church of Christ.\nBut we were absolutely unwilling to be slaves of any man, in the land of\nLiberty.\n\nIf any one, at that hour, could have shown me that this struggle would\nlead me to a complete separation from the Church of Rome, I would have\nshrank from the task. My only ambition was to purify my church from the\nabuses which, one after the other, had crept everywhere about her, as\nnoxious weeds. I felt that those abuses were destroying the precious\ntruths which Jesus Christ and his apostles have revealed to us. It\nseemed to me that was a duty imposed upon every priest to do all in his\npower to blot from the face of our church the scandals which were the\nfruits of the iniquities and tyranny of the bishops. I had most\nsincerely offered myself to God for this work.\n\nFrom the beginning, however, I had a presentiment that the power of the\nbishops would be too much for me, and that, sooner or later, they would\ncrush me. But my hope was that when I should have fallen, others would\ntake my place and fight the battles of the Lord, till a final victory\nwould bring the church back to the blessed days when she was the\nspotless spouse of the Lamb.\n\nThe great and providential victory I had gained at Urbana, had\nstrengthened my conviction that God was on my side, and that he would\nprotect me, so long as my only motives were in the interest of truth and\nrighteousness. It seemed, in a word, that I could not fail so long as I\nshould fight against the official lies, tyrannies, superstitions and\ndeceits which the bishops had everywhere in the United States and\nCanada, substituted in the place of the Gospel, the primitive laws of\nthe church, and the teachings of the holy fathers.\n\nIn the autumn of 1856, our struggle against the Bishop of Chicago had\ntaken proportions which could not have been anticipated either by me or\nby the Roman Catholic hierarchy of America. The whole press of the\nUnited States and Canada, both political and religious, were discussing\nthe causes and the probable results of the contest.\n\nAt first, the bishops were indignant at the conduct of my lord O\u2019Regan.\nThey had seen with pleasure, that a priest from his own diocese would\nprobably force him to be more cautious and less scandalous in his public\nand private dealings with the clergy and the people. But, they also\nhoped that I should be paralyzed by the sentence of excommunication, and\nthat the people, frightened by these fulminations, would withdraw the\nsupport they had, at first, given me. They were assured by Spink, that I\nwould lose my suit, at Urbana, and should, when lodged in the\npenitentiary, become powerless to do any mischief in the church.\n\nBut their confidence was soon changed into dismay when they saw that the\npeople laughed at the excommunication; that I had gained my suit, and\nthat I was triumphing on that very battle-field from which no priest,\nsince Luther and Knox, had come out unscathed. Everywhere, the sound of\nalarm was heard, and I was denounced as a rebel and schismatic. The\nwhole body of the bishops prepared to hurl their most terrible\nfulminations at my devoted head. But before taking their last measure to\ncrush me, a supreme effort was made to show us what they considered our\nerrors. The Rev. Messrs. Brassard, curate of Longueuil, and Rev. Isaac\nDesaulnier, President of St. Hyacinthe college, were sent by the people\nand bishops of Canada to show me what they called the scandal of my\nproceedings, and press me to submit to the will of the bishop, by\nrespecting the so-called sentence of excommunication.\n\nThe choice of those two priests was very wise. They were certainly the\nmost influential that could be sent. Mr. Brassard had not only been my\nteacher at the college of Nicolet, but my benefactor, as I have already\nsaid. When the want of means, in 1825, had forced me to leave the\ncollege and bid adieu to my mother and my young brothers, in order to go\nto a very distant land, in search of a position; he stopped me on the\nroad of exile and brought me back to the college: and along with the\nRev. Mr. Leprohon, he paid all my expenses to the end of my studies. He\nhad loved me since, as his own child, and I cherished and respected him\nas my own father. The other, Mons. I. Desaulnier, had been my class-mate\nin the college, from 1822 to 1829, and we had been united during the\nwhole of that period, as well as since, by the bonds of the sincerest\nesteem and friendship! They arrived at St. Anne on November 24th, 1856.\n\nI heard of their coming only a few minutes before their arrival; and\nnothing can express the joy I felt at the news. The confidence I had in\ntheir honesty and friendship, gave me, at once, the hope that they would\nsoon see the justice and holiness of our cause, and they would bravely\ntake our side against our aggressor. But they had very different\nsentiments. Sincerely believing that I was an unmanageable schismatic,\nwho was creating an awful scandal in the church, they had not only been\nforbidden by the bishops to sleep in my house, but also have any\nfriendly and Christian communication with me. With no hatred against me,\nthey were yet filled with horror at the thought that I should be so\nscandalous a priest, and so daring, as to trouble the peace and destroy\nthe unity of the church.\n\nOn their way from Canada to St. Anne, they had often been told that I\nwas not the same man as they knew me formerly to be, and that I had\nbecome sour and gloomy, abusive, insolent and haughty; that also, I\nwould insult them, and perhaps advise the people to turn them away from\nmy premises, as men who had no business to meddle in our affairs. They\nwere pleasantly disappointed, however, when they saw me running to meet\nthem, as far as I could see them, to press them to my heart, with the\nmost sincere marks of affection and joy. I told them that all the\ntreasures of California brought to my house, would not make me half so\nhappy as I was made by their presence.\n\nI, at once, expressed my hope that they were the messengers, sent by\nGod, to bring us peace and put an end to the deplorable state of things\nwhich was the cause of their long journey. Remarking that they were\ncovered with mud, I invited them to go to their sleeping rooms, to wash\nand refresh themselves.\n\n\u201cSleeping rooms! sleeping rooms!!\u201d said Mr. Desaulnier, \u201cbut our written\ninstructions from the bishops who sent us, forbid us to sleep here, on\naccount of your excommunication.\u201d\n\nMr. Brassard answered: \u201cI must tell you, my dear Mr. Desaulnier, a thing\nwhich I have kept secret till now. After reading that prohibition of\nsleeping here, I said to the bishop that if he would put such a\nrestraint upon me, he might choose another one to come here. I requested\nhim to let us both act according to our conscience and common sense,\nwhen we should be with Chiniquy.\n\n\u201cAnd, to-day, my conscience and common sense tells me that we cannot\nbegin our mission of peace by insulting a man who gives us such a\nfriendly and Christian reception. The people of Canada have chosen us as\ntheir deputies, because we are the most sincere friends of Chiniquy. It\nis by keeping that character that we will best fulfill our sacred and\nsolemn duties. I accept with pleasure, the sleeping room offered me.\u201d\n\nMr. Desaulnier rejoined: \u201cI accept it also, for I did not come here to\ninsult my best friend, but to save him.\u201d\n\nThese kind words of my guests added to the joy I experienced at their\ncoming. I told them:\n\n\u201cIf you are here to obey the voice of your conscience and the dictates\nof your common sense, there is a glorious task before you. You will soon\nfind that the people and priest of St. Anne, have also done nothing, but\nlistened to the voice of their honest conscience, and followed the laws\nof common sense in their conduct towards the bishop. But,\u201d I added,\n\u201cthis is not the time to explain my position, but the time to wash your\ndusty faces and refresh yourselves. Here are your rooms, make yourselves\nat home.\u201d\n\nAfter supper, which had been spent in the most pleasant way, and without\nany allusion to our troubles, they handed me the letters addressed to me\nby the bishops of Montreal, London and Toronto, to induce me to submit\nto my superior, and offer me the assurance of their most sincere\nfriendship and devotedness, if I would obey.\n\nMr. Desaulnier then said: \u201cNow, my dear Chiniquy, we have been sent here\nby the people and bishops of Canada to take you away from the bottomless\nabyss into which you have fallen with your people. We have only one day\nand two nights to spend here, we must lose no time, but begin at once,\nto fulfill our solemn mission.\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cIf I have fallen into a bottomless abyss as you say, and\nthat you will draw me out of it, not only God and men will bless you;\nbut I will also forever bless you for your charity. The first thing,\nhowever, you have to do here, is to see if I am really fallen, with my\npeople, into that bottomless abyss of which you speak.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut are you not excommunicated,\u201d quickly rejoined Mr. Desaulnier, \u201cand,\nnotwithstanding that excommunication, have you not continued to say your\nmass, preach and hear the confessions of your people? Are you not then\nfallen into that state of irregularity and schism which separate you\nentirely from the church, and to which the Pope alone can restore you?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, my dear Desaulnier,\u201d I answered, \u201cI am no more excommunicated than\nyou are. For the simple reason that an act of excommunication which is\nnot signed and certified, is a public nullity, unworthy of any\nattention. Here is the act of the so-called excommunication, which makes\nso much noise in the world! Examine it yourself; look if it is signed by\nthe bishop, or any one else you know; consider with attention if it is\ncertified by anybody.\u201d And I handed him the document.\n\nAfter he had examined it, and turned it every way, for more than half an\nhour, with Mr. Brassard, without saying a word, he at last broke the\nsilence, and said:\n\n\u201cIf I had not seen it with my own eyes, I could never have believed that\na bishop can play such a sacrilegious comedy in the face of the world.\nYou have, several times, published it in the press, but I confess that\nyour best friends, and I among the rest, did not believe you. It could\nnot enter our minds that a bishop should be so devoid, I do not say of\nevery principle of religion, but of the most common honesty, as to have\nproclaimed before the whole world that you were excommunicated, when he\nhad to offer us only that ridiculous piece of rag, to support his\nassertion. But, in the name of common sense, why is it that he has not\nsigned his sentence of excommunication, or got it signed and\ncountersigned by some authorized people, when it is so evident that he\nwanted to excommunicate you?\u201d\n\n\u201cHis reason for not putting his name, nor the name of any known person\nat the bottom of that so-called excommunication is very clear,\u201d I\nanswered: \u201cthough our bishop is one of the most accomplished rogues of\nIllinois, he is still more a coward than a rogue. I had threatened to\nbring him before the civil court of the country, if he dared to destroy\nmy character by a sentence of interdict or excommunication; and he found\nthat the only way to save himself, in the same time that he was\noutraging me, was not to sign that paper; he thereby took away from me\nthe power of prosecuting him. For, the first thing I would have to do in\na prosecution, in that case, would be to prove the signature of the\nbishop. Where could I find a witness who would swear that this is his\nsignature? Would you swear it yourself, my dear Desaulnier?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! no, for surely, it is not his signature, nor that of his grand\nvicar or secretary. But without going any further,\u201d added he, \u201cwe must\nconfess to you that we have talked to the bishop when passing through\nChicago, asking him if he had made any public or private inquest against\nyou, and if he had found you guilty of any crime. As he felt embarrassed\nby our questions, we told him that it was in our public character as\ndeputies of the bishops and people of Canada towards you, that we were\nputting to him those questions. That it was necessary for us to know all\nabout your public and private character, when we were coming to press\nyou to reconcile yourself to your bishop.\n\n\u201cHe answered that he had never made any inquest about you, though you\nhad requested him, several times, to do it, for the simple reason that\nhe was persuaded that you were one of his best priests. Your only\ndefect, he said, was a spirit of stubbornness, and want of respect and\nobedience to your superior, and your meddling with the dealings of his\ndiocesans, with which you had no business. He told us also that you\nrefused to go to Kahokia. But his face became so red and his tongue was\nso strangely lisping when he said that, that I suspected that it was a\nfalsehood; and we have now, before our eyes, that document, signed by\nfour unimpeachable witnesses, that it was more than a falsehood\u2014it was a\nlie. He proffered another lie, also, we see it now, when he said that he\nhad signed himself, the act of excommunication.\n\n\u201cFor, surely, this is not his handwriting. Such conduct from a bishop is\nvery strange. If you would appeal to the Pope, and go to Rome with such\ndocuments in hand against that bishop, you would have an easy victory\nover him. For the canons of the church are clear and unanimous on that\nsubject. A bishop who pronounces such a grave sentence against a priest,\nand makes use of false signatures to certify his sentences, is himself\nsuspended and excommunicated, _ipso facto_, for a whole year.\u201d\n\nMr. Brassard added: \u201cCannot we confess to Chiniquy that the opinion of\nthe bishops of Canada is, that Bishop O\u2019Regan is a perfect rogue, and\nthat if he (Chiniquy) would submit, at once, under protest, to those\nunjust sentences, and appeal to the Pope, he would gain his cause, and\nsoon be reinstated by a public decree of his holiness.\u201d\n\nOur discussion about the troubles I had had; and the best way to put an\nend to them, having kept us up till three o\u2019clock in the morning without\nbeing able to come to any satisfactory issue, we adjourned to the next\nday, and went to take some rest, after a short prayer.\n\nThe 25th of November, at 10 A. M., after breakfast and a short walk in\nour public square, to breathe the pure air and enjoy the fine scenery of\nour beautiful hill of St. Anne, we shut ourselves up in my study, and\nresumed the discussion of the best plans of putting an end to the\nexisting difficulties.\n\nTo show them my sincere desire of stopping those noisy and scandalous\nstruggles without compromising the sacred principles which had guided me\nfrom the beginning of our troubles, I consented to sacrifice my position\nas pastor of St. Anne, provided Mr. Brassard would be installed in my\nplace. It was decided, however, that I should remain with him, as his\nvicar, and help in the management of the spiritual and temporal affairs\nof the colony. The promise was given me that on that condition, the\nbishop would withdraw his so-called sentence, give back to the\nFrench-Canadians of Chicago the church he had taken away from them, put\na French-speaking priest at the head of the congregation, and forget and\nforgive what he might consider our irregular conduct towards him, after\nwe should have signed the following document:\n\nTO HIS LORDSHIP O'REGAN, BISHOP OF CHICAGO.\n\nMY LORD:\u2014As my writings and actions in opposition to your orders have,\nsince a few months, given some scandals, and caused some people to think\nthat I would rather prefer to be separated from our holy church, than to\nsubmit to your authority, I hasten to express the regret I feel for such\nacts and writings. And to show to the world, and to you, my bishop, my\nfirm desire to live and die a Catholic, I hasten to write to your\nlordship that I submit to your sentence, and that I promise, hereafter,\nto exercise the holy ministry only with your permission. In consequence,\nI respectfully request your lordship to withdraw the censures and\ninterdicts you have pronounced against me and those who have had any\nspiritual communication with me. I am, my lord, your devoted son in\nChrist.\n\n C. CHINIQUY\n\nIt was eleven o\u2019clock at night, when I consented to sign this document,\nwhich was to be handed to the bishop and have any value, only on the\nabove conditions. The two deputies were besides themselves with joy, at\nthe success of their mission, and at my readiness to sacrifice myself\nfor the sake of peace. Mons. Desaulnier said:\n\n\u201cNow we see, evidently, that Chiniquy has been right with his people\nfrom the beginning, that he never meant to create a schism and to put\nhimself at the head of a rebellious party, to defy the authority of the\nchurch. If the bishop does not want to live in peace with the people and\npastor of St. Anne, after such a sacrifice, we will tell him that it is\nnot Chiniquy, but Bishop O\u2019Regan, who wants a schism\u2014we will appeal to\nthe Pope\u2014I will go with Chiniquy, and we will easily get, there, the\nremoval of that Bishop from the diocese of Chicago.\u201d\n\nMr. Brassard confirmed that sentence, and added that he, also, would\naccompany me to Rome to be the witness of my innocence and the bad\nconduct of the bishop. He added that it would not take him a week to\nraise twice the amount of money in Montreal, we would require to go to\nRome.\n\nAfter thanking them for what they had done and said, I asked Mr.\nDesaulnier if he would be brave enough to repeat before my whole people\nwhat he had just said before me and Mr. Brassard, in the presence of\nGod.\n\n\u201cSurely, I would be most happy to repeat before your whole people, that\nit is impossible to find fault with you in what you have done till now.\nBut you know very well, I will never have such an opportunity, for it is\nnow 11 o\u2019clock at night, your people are soundly sleeping, and I must\nstart to-morrow morning, at six o\u2019clock, to take the Chicago train at\nKankakee at 8 A. M.\n\nI answered: \u201cAll right!\u201d\n\nWe knelt together to make a short prayer, and I led them to their rooms,\nwishing them refreshing sleep, after the hard work of the day.\n\nTen minutes later I was in the village, knocking at the doors of six of\nmy most respectable parishioners, and telling them:\n\n\u201cPlease do not lose a moment, go with your fastest horse to such and\nsuch a part of the colony; knock at every door and tell the people to be\nat the church at 5 o\u2019clock in the morning to hear with their own ears\nwhat the deputies from Canada have to say about past struggles with the\nBishop of Chicago. Tell them to be punctual at 5 o\u2019clock in their pews,\nwhere the deputies will address them words which they must hear at any\ncost.\u201d\n\nA little before five, the next morning, Mr. Desaulnier, full of surprise\nand anxiety, knocked at my door, and said:\n\n\u201cChiniquy, do you not hear the strange noise of buggies and carriages,\nwhich seem to be coming from every quarter of the globe? What does it\nmean? Has your people become crazy, to come to church at this dark hour,\nso long before the dawn of day?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat! what!\u201d I answered, \u201cI was sleeping so soundly that I have heard\nnothing yet. What do you mean by this noise of carriages and buggies\naround the chapel? Are you dreaming?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I am not dreaming,\u201d he answered, \u201cnot only do I hear the noise of a\ngreat many carriages, wagons and buggies; but though it is pretty dark,\nI see several hundred of them around the chapel. I hear the voices of a\ngreat multitude of men, women, and even children, putting questions to\neach other, and giving answers which I cannot understand. They make such\na noise by their laughing and jokes! Can you tell me what this means? I\nhave never been so puzzled in my life.\u201d\n\nI answered him: \u201cDo you not see that you are dreaming. Let me dress\nmyself that I may go and see something of that strange and awful dream!\u201d\n\nMr. Brassard, though a little more calm than Desaulnier, was not,\nhimself, without some anxiety at the strange noise of that multitude of\ncarriages, horses and people around my house and chapel, at such an\nhour. Knocking at my door, he said, \u201cPlease, Chiniquy, explain that\nstrange mystery. Do that people come to play us some bad trick, and\npunish us for intruding in their affairs?\u201d\n\n\u201cBe quiet,\u201d I answered, \u201cmy dear friends. You have nothing to fear from\nthat good and intelligent people. Do you not remember that, last night,\na few minutes before 11 o\u2019clock, Desaulnier said that he would be honest\nand brave enough to repeat before my whole people what he had said\nbefore you and me, and in the presence of God. I suppose that some of\nthe angels of heaven have heard those words, and have carried them, this\nnight, to every family, inviting them to be here at the chapel, that\nthey might hear from your own lips, what you think of the grand and\nglorious battle they are fighting in this distant land, for the\nprinciples of truth and justice, as the gospel secures them to every\ndisciple of Christ.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! well!\u201d said Desaulnier, \u201cthere is only one Chiniquy in the world\nto take me in such a trap, and there is only one people under heaven to\ndo what this people is doing here. I would never have given you that\nanswer, had I not been morally sure that I would never have had an\nopportunity to fulfill it. Who would think you would play me such a\ntrick? But,\u201d he added, \u201cthough I know that this will terribly compromise\nme before certain parties, it is too late to retract, and I will fulfill\nmy promise.\u201d\n\nIt is impossible to express my own joy and the joy of that noble people\nwhen they heard, from the very lips of those deputies that, after\nspending a whole day and two nights in examining all that had been done\nby their pastor and by them in that solemn and fearful contest, they\ndeclared that they had not broken any law of God, nor of his holy\nchurch; and that they had kept themselves in the very way prescribed by\nthe canons.\n\nTears of joy were rolling down every cheek when they heard Mr.\nDesaulnier telling them, which Mr. Brassard confirmed after, that the\nbishop had no possible right to interdict their pastor, since he had\ntold them that he was one of his best priests; and that they had done\nwell not to pay any attention to an act of excommunication which was a\nsham and a sacrilegious comedy, not having been signed nor certified by\nany known person. Both deputies said:\n\n\u201cMr. Brassard will be your pastor, and Mr. Chiniquy, as his vicar, will\nremain in your midst. He has signed an act of submission, which we have\nfound sufficient, on the condition that the bishop will let you live in\npeace, and withdraw the sentence he says he has fulminated against you.\nIf he does not accept those conditions, we will tell him, it is not Mr.\nChiniquy, but you, who wants a schism, and we will go with Mr. Chiniquy\nto Rome, to plead his cause and prove his innocence before his\nholiness.\u201d\n\nAfter this, we all knelt to thank and bless God; and never people went\nback to their homes with more cheerful hearts than the people of St.\nAnne, on that morning of the 25th of November, 1856.\n\nAt six o\u2019clock A. M., Mr. Desaulnier was on his way back to Chicago, to\npresent my conditional act of submission to the bishop, and press him,\nin the name of the Bishop of Canada, and in the name of all the most\nsacred interests of the church, to accept the sacrifice and the\nsubmission of the people of St. Anne, and to give them the peace they\nwanted and were purchasing at such a price. The Rev. Mr. Brassard had\nremained with me, waiting for a letter from the bishop to accompany me\nand put the last seal to our reconciliation.\n\nThe next day he received the following note from Mr. Desaulnier:\n\n BISHOPRIC OF CHICAGO, Nov. 26th, 1856.\n\nTHE REV. MR. BRASSARD, MONSIEUR:\u2014\n\nIt is advisable and indispensable that you should come here, with Mr.\nChiniquy, as soon as possible. In consequence, I expect you both day\nafter to-morrow, in order to settle that matter definitely.\n\n Respectfully yours. ISAAC DESAULNIER.\n\nAfter reading that letter with Mr. Brassard, I said:\n\n\u201cDo you not feel that these cold words mean nothing good? I regret that\nyou have not gone with Desaulnier to the bishop. You know the levity and\nweakness of his character, always bold with his words, but soft as wax\nat the least pressure which he feels. My fear is that the bulldog\ntenacity of my lord O\u2019Regan has frightened him, and all his courage and\nbravados have melted away before the fierce temper of the Bishop of\nChicago. But let us go. Be sure, however, my dear Mr. Brassard, that if\nthe Bishop does not accept you to remain at the head of this colony, to\nprotect and guide it, no consideration whatever will induce me to betray\nmy people and let them become the prey of the wolves which want to\ndevour them.\u201d\n\nWe arrived at the Illinois Central depot of Chicago, the 28th, at about\n10 A. M. Mr. Desaulnier was there waiting for us. He was as pale as a\ndead man. The marks of Cain and Judas were on his face. Having taken him\nat a short distance from the crowd, I asked him:\n\n\u201cWhat news?\u201d\n\nHe answered: \u201cThe news is, that you and Mr. Brassard have nothing to do\nbut to take your bags and go away from St. Anne, to Canada. The bishop\nis unwilling to make any arrangements with you. He wants me to be the\npastor of St. Anne, _pro tempore_, and he wants you with Mr. Brassard,\nto go quietly back to Canada, and tell the bishops to mind their own\nbusiness.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what has become of the promise you have given me and to my people,\nto go with me and Mr. Brassard to Rome, if the bishop refused the\nproposed arrangements you had fixed yourselves?\u201d\n\n\u201cTat! tat! tat!\u201d answered he, \u201cthe bishop does not care a straw about\nyour going or not going to Rome. He has put me as his grand vicar at the\nhead of the colony of St. Anne, from which you must go in the shortest\ntime possible.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow, Desaulnier,\u201d I answered, \u201cyou are a traitor, and a Judas, and if\nyou want to have the pay of Judas, I advise you to go to St. Anne. There\nyou will receive what you deserve. The beauty and importance of that\ngreat colony has tempted you, and you have sold me to the bishop, in\norder to become a grand vicar and eat the fruits of the vine I have\nplanted there. But you will soon see your mistake. If you have any pity\nfor yourself, I advise you never to put your feet into that place any\nmore.\u201d\n\nDesaulnier answered: \u201cThe bishop will not make any arrangements with you\nunless you retract publicly what you have written against him on account\nof his taking possession of the church of the French-Canadians of\nChicago, and you must publish, in the press, that he was right and\nhonest in what he did in that circumstance.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear Mr. Brassard,\u201d I said, \u201ccan I make such a declaration\nconscientiously and honorably?\u201d That venerable man answered me:\n\n\u201cYou cannot consent to such a thing.\u201d\n\n\u201cDesaulnier,\u201d I said, \u201cdo you hear? Mr. Brassard and your conscience, if\nyou have any, tell you the same thing. If you take sides against me with\na man whom you have yourself declared, yesterday, to be a sacrilegious\nthief, you are not better than he is. Go and work with him.\n\n\u201cAs for me, I go back into the midst of my dear and noble people of St.\nAnne.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat will you do there,\u201d answered Mr. Desaulnier, \u201cwhen the bishop has\nforbidden you to remain?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat will I do?\u201d I answered, \u201cI will teach those true disciples of\nJesus Christ to shun and despise the tyrants and the traitors, even\nthough wearing a mitre or a square bonnet (un bonnet quarre). Go,\ntraitor! and finish your Judas work! Adieu!\u201d\n\nI then threw myself into the arms of Mr. Brassard, who was almost\nspeechless, suffocated in his sobs and tears. I pressed him to my heart,\nand said:\n\n\u201cAdieu! my dear Mr. Brassard. Go back to Canada and tell my friends how\nthe cowardice and ambition of that traitor has ruined the hopes we had\nof putting an end to this deplorable state of affairs. I go back among\nmy brethren of St. Anne, with more determination than ever to protect\nthem against the tyranny and impiety of our despotic rulers. It will be\nmore easy than ever to show them that the Son of God has not redeemed us\non the cross, that we might be the slaves of those heartless traders in\nsouls.\n\n\u201cI will more earnestly than ever, teach my people to shun the modern\ngospel of the bishops, in order to follow the old Gospel of Jesus\nChrist, as the only hope and life of our poor fallen humanity.\u201d\n\nMr. Brassard wanted to say something; but his voice was suffocated by\nhis sobs. The only words he could utter, when pressing me to his heart,\nwere: \u201cAdieu, dear friend, Adieu!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXIII.\n\nMR. DESAULNIER IS NAMED VICAR GENERAL OF CHICAGO TO CRUSH US\u2014OUR PEOPLE\n MORE UNITED THAN EVER TO DEFEND THEIR RIGHTS\u2014LETTERS OF THE PEOPLE OF\n CHICAGO TO THE BISHOPS AND TO THE POPE\u2014LETTERS OF THE BISHOP OF\n MONTREAL AGAINST ME, AND MY ANSWER\u2014MR. BRASSARD FORCED, AGAINST HIS\n CONSCIENCE, TO CONDEMN US\u2014MY ANSWER TO MR. BRASSARD\u2014HE WRITES TO BEG\n MY PARDON.\n\n\nIt was evident that the betrayal of Mr. Desaulnier would be followed by\nnew efforts on the part of the bishop to crush us. Two new priests were\nsent from Canada, Mr. Mailloux, vicar general, and Mr. Campo, to\nstrengthen his hands, and press the people to submit. Mr. Brassard wrote\nme from Canada in December:\n\n\u201cAll the bishops are preparing to hurl their thunders against you, and\nyour people, on account of your heroic resistance to the tyranny of the\nbishop of Chicago.\n\n\u201cI have told them the truth, but they don\u2019t want to know it. My lord\nBourget told me positively, that you must be forced, at any cost, to\nyield to the authority of your bishop; and he has threatened to\nexcommunicate me, if I tell the people what I know of the shameful\nconduct of Desaulnier. If I were alone I would not mind his\nexcommunication, and would speak the truth, but such a sentence against\nme would kill my poor old mother. I hope you will not find fault with\nme, if I remain absolutely mute. I pray you to consider this letter\nconfidential. You know very well the trouble you would put me into, by\nits publication.\u201d\n\nThe French Canadians of Chicago saw, at once, that their bishop,\nstrengthened by the support of Desaulnier, would be more than ever,\nobstinate in his determination to crush them. They thought that the best\nway to force him to do them justice, was to publish a manifesto of their\ngrievances against him, and make a public appeal to all the Bishops of\nthe United States and even to the Pope.\n\nOn the 22nd of January, 1857, _The Chicago Tribune_ was requested by\nthem to publish the following document:\n\nAt a public meeting of the French and Canadian Catholics of Chicago held\nin the hall of Mr. Bodicar, on the 22nd of January, 1857, Mr. Rofinot\nbeing called to preside, and Mr. Franchere,[G] acting as a Secretary,\nthe following addresses and resolutions, being read, have been\nunanimously approved:\n\n-----\n\nFootnote G:\n\n These two gentlemen are still living in Chicago, 1886.\n\n-----\n\n\u201cEDITORS OF THE TRIBUNE:\u2014Will you allow a thousand voices from the dead\nto speak to the public, through your valuable paper.\n\n\u201cEverybody in Chicago knows, that a few years ago, there was a\nflourishing congregation of French people coming from France and Canada\nin this city. They had their priest, their church, their religious\nmeeting. All that is now dispersed and destroyed. The present Bishop of\nChicago has breathed his deadly breath upon us. Instead of coming to us\nas a father, he came as a savage enemy: instead of helping us as a\nfriend, he has put us down as a revengeful foe. He has done the very\ncontrary to which was commanded him by the gospel. \u2018The bruised reed he\nshall not break, and the smoking flash he shall not extinguish.\u2019 Instead\nof guiding us with the cross of the meek Jesus, he has ruled over us\nwith an iron rod.\n\n\u201cEvery Sunday, the warm-hearted and generous Irish go to their church to\nhear the voice of their priest, in their English language. The\nintelligent Germans have their pastors to address them in their mother\ntongue.\n\n\u201cThe French people are the only ones now who have no priest and no\nchurch. They are the only ones whose beautiful language is prohibited,\nand which is not heard from any pulpit in Chicago. And is it from lack\nof zeal and liberality? Ah! no, we take the whole city of Chicago as a\nwitness of what we have done. There was not in Chicago a better-looking\nlittle church than the French Canadian Church called St. Louis. But,\nalas! we have been turned out of it by our very bishop. As he is now\npublishing many stories to contradict that fact, we owe to ourselves and\nto our children to raise from the tomb, where Bishop O\u2019Regan has buried\nus, a voice to tell the truth.\n\n\u201cAs soon as Bishop O\u2019Regan came to Chicago, he was told that the French\npriest was too popular, that his church was attended not only by his\nFrench Canadian people, but that many Irish and Germans were going daily\nto him, for their religious duties. It was whispered in the ears of his\nRt. Reverence, that on account of this, many dollars and cents were\ngoing to the French priest, which would be better stored in his Rt.\nReverence\u2019s purse.\n\n\u201cTill that time, the bishop was not, in appearance, taking much trouble\nabout us. But as soon as he saw that there were dollars and cents at\nstake, we had the honor to occupy his thoughts day and night. Here are\nthe facts, the undeniable public facts. He (the bishop) began by sending\nfor our priest, and telling him that he had to prepare himself to be\nremoved from Chicago to some other place. As soon as we knew that\ndetermination, a deputation was sent to his Rt. Reverence, to get the\npromise that we would get another French priest, and we received from\nhim the assurance that our just request would be granted. But the next\nSunday, an Irish priest, having been sent to officiate, instead of a\nFrench one, we sent a deputation to ask him where the French priest was\nthat he had promised us? He answered: \u2018That we ought to take any priest\nwe could get, and be satisfied.\u2019 This short and sharp answer raised our\nFrench blood, and we began speaking more boldly to his Reverence, who\ngot up and walked through the room, in a rage, saying some half dozen\ntimes: \u2018You insult me!\u2019 But seeing that we were a fearless people, and\ndetermined to have no other priest but one whom we could understand, he,\nat last promised us again, a French priest, if we were ready to pay the\ndebt of our church and priest-house. We said we would pay them, but, our\nverbal promise was nothing to his Reverence. He immediately wrote an\nagreement, though it was Sunday, and we signed it. But to attain, sooner\nor later, his object, he imposed upon that unfortunate priest, a\ncondition that he knew no Christian could obey.\n\n\u201cThis condition was that he should not receive, in his church, any one\nbut the French. This was utterly impossible, as many Irish, Germans and\nAmerican Catholics had been in the habit, for years past, of coming to\nour church; it was impossible to turn them out at once.\n\n\u201cWe did everything in our power to help our priest in the matter, by\ntaking all the seats in the church against the will of the respectable\npeople of the different nations who had occupied them for years. Finding\nthemselves turned out of the church, and unable to conceive the reason\nof so gross an insult from a fellow-Christian people, they said to us:\n\u2018Have we not paid for our seats in your church till this day? Double the\nrent if you like; we are ready to pay for it; but, for God\u2019s sake permit\nus to come and pray with you at the foot of the same altars.\u2019\n\n\u201cWe explained to them the tyrannical orders of the bishop, and they,\ntoo, commenced cursing the bishop and the ship that brought him over.\n\n\u201cThey continued, however, to come to our church, though they had no\nseat. They attended divine service in the aisles of the church, and we\ndid not like to disturb them; but our feelings were too Christian for\nthe bishop. He kept a watch over our priest, and, of course found out\nthat he was receiving many who were forbidden, by him, to attend our\nreligious meetings.\n\n\u201cThe bishop, then, thought once more of his dear French priest; so he\ncame in person to his house, and asked him if he had kept his orders.\nThe priest answered, that it was quite impossible to obey such orders,\nand remain a Christian. He acknowledged that, in many instances, he had\nbeen obliged, by the laws of charity, to give religious help to some who\nwere not French people.\n\n\u201c\u2018Well then,\u2019 answered the bishop, \u2018from this very moment; I silence\nyou, and I forbid you the functions of priest in my diocese.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe poor trembling priest, thunderstruck, could not say a word.\n\n\u201cHe went to some friends to relate what had just happened him; and he\nwas advised by them to go back to the bishop immediately to beg the\nprivilege of remaining at the head of his congregation till Lent was\nover. The bishop said:\n\n\u201c\u2018I will consent to your request, if you pay me one hundred dollars.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I will give you the sum as soon as I can collect it, and will give you\nmy note for thirty days,\u2019 answered the priest.\n\n\u201c\u2018I want the money cash down,\u2019 said the bishop; \u2018go to some of your\nfriends; you can easily collect that amount.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe poor priest went away in search of the almighty dollars; but he\ncould not find them as soon as he wished, and did not return to his\nlordship, that day. The bishop started that night for St. Louis, but he\ndid not forget his dear French people in his long journey. As soon as he\narrived in St. Louis, he wrote to his grand vicar, Rev. Mr. Dunn, that\nthe French priest pay him $100 or remain suspended.\n\n\u201cThis goodwill of the bishop for our spiritual welfare, and his paternal\nlove for our purses, did not fail to strike us. Our priest made a new\neffort that very day; he went to see an old friend who had been absent\nfrom town for some time, and related to him his sad position. This old\nfriend (P. F. Rofinot) seeing that he could redeem a priest for so\nlittle a sum, (for the priest had collected part of it himself)\nimmediately proceeded with the priest to the house of very Reverend\nDunn, with the money in hand to satisfy the bishop.\n\n\u201cBut alas! that bargain did not last very long; for as soon as the\nbishop returned, the watch that he had left behind him performed his\nduty well and told him that the French priest was going on as before. So\nthe poor priest had to go again to the bishop to explain his conduct.\nBut this time he could not bear the idea of officiating any longer under\nsuch a tyrant. He left us to fight the hardest battles ourselves,\nagainst the bishop.\n\n\u201cAs the church and the house of our priest were on leased grounds, the\nlease had to be renewed or the buildings removed. We went to the bishop,\nwho advised us to buy a lot and remove the church on it, and sell the\nhouse to help pay for the lot. Suspecting nothing wrong in that advice,\nwe followed it. We bargained for a lot, agreed to sell the house and\nwent to report our progress.\n\n\u201cBut we were going too fast. The bishop must stop us, or he would be\nfrustrated in his calculations, for he had a lot himself, to put the\nchurch on, he opposed our removing our church, by telling us that there\nwas another lot adjoining the one we had bargained for; and that we must\nbuy it also. We went immediately and bought the lot on ninety days time.\nBut he objected to this again, saying that he would not allow us to\ntouch the church, unless we had the whole lot paid for, and put the deed\nin his hands, and that the deed should be made to himself personally.\n\n\u201cThis had the effect desired by the bishop. We had collected all the\nmoney that could be collected then, in our small congregation; it was\nimpossible for us to do any more, so we concluded to give up the battle.\nThe bishop then, went on, took the money we had sold the house for\n($1,200). A Catholic lady, whose husband had bought the house, had\nsubscribed one hundred dollars for removing the church, providing the\nbishop would promise that it would remain in the hands of the French,\nand attended by a French priest. The bishop proffered again to that lady\nthe lie, which he had so often uttered to us, everywhere, even from the\naltar, that upon his word of bishop, it should remain a French Church,\nand that they should have a French priest. (This we should call lie\nnumber one). He then moved the church to another lot of his own, sent an\nIrish priest to officiate in it, put the money in his pocket, and made\nthe congregation which is now Irish, pay for the lot, the moving and\nrepairing of the church, and he takes quarterly the revenues which are\nno less than $2,000 a year.\n\n\u201c\u201cThis is the way we have been swindled out of our church, of the house\nof our priest, and of our all, by the tyrant, Bishop O\u2019Regan: and when a\nFrench priest visits our city, he forbids him to address us in our\nmother tongue. This is the way we, French Catholics, as a society, have\nbeen blotted out of the book of the living!\n\n\u201cAnd when Rev. Father Chiniquy has publicly accused Bishop O\u2019Regan of\nhaving deprived us most unjustly of our church, he has proffered a truth\nwhich has as many witnesses as there are Catholics and Protestants in\nChicago.\n\n\u201cWe know well that Bishop O\u2019Regan is proclaiming that he has not\ndeprived us of our church, that if it is in the hands of the Irish, it\nis because the Irish and not the French built it. \u2018This is lie number\ntwo, which can be proven by more than a thousand witnesses.\u2019\n\n\u201cWe would like to know if he has forgotten the agreement (mentioned\nabove) which he made us sign in bargaining for a French priest. He has\nthe receipts for every cent that was due up to the time he took\npossession of our church. He then proffered these words to the French\ngentlemen who brought him the receipts: \u2018It takes the French to collect\nmoney quick these hard times,\u2019 (being in the winter).\n\n\u201cWe must also add that we, French people, have paid for the very\nvestments that the bishop uses in his Cathedral, which he has taken from\nour church. But he uses them only on some high feasts, thinking too much\nof stolen property, to use them on a common day.\n\n\u201cWill it be out of place, here, to say that the cathedral of Chicago was\nbuilt by the French, and that the lot which it is built on was given by\na Frenchman? It is very reluctantly that we expose all these facts\nbefore the eyes of the public; but having waited patiently, during two\nlong years, and having used all the influence we could command in France\nand Canada, to no purpose, we must resort to the sympathy of the public\nfor justice, through the free press of the United States.\n\n \u201cRESOLUTIONS.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 1st. That the Right Rev. O\u2019Regan, Bishop of Chicago, has\nentirely lost the confidence of the French and Canadian population of\nChicago since he has taken away from us our church.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 2nd. That the Right Rev. O\u2019Regan has published a base\nslander against the French and Canadian population of Chicago, when he\nsaid he took our church from our hands on the pretence that we could not\npay for it.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 3rd. That the Right Rev. O\u2019Regan, having said to our\ndeputies, who went to inquire from him by what right he was taking our\nchurch from us to give it to another congregation: \u2018I have the right to\ndo what I like with your church, and your church properties; I can sell\nthem and put the money in my pocket, and go where I please with it,\u2019 has\nassumed a power too tyrannical to be obeyed by a Christian and a free\npeople.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 4th. That the nature of the different suits which the Right\nRev. O\u2019Regan has had before the civil courts of this state, and which he\nhas almost invariably lost, have proved to the whole people of Illinois\nthat he is quite unworthy of the position he holds in the Catholic\nChurch.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 5th. That the Right Rev. O\u2019Regan is here publicly accused\nof being guilty of simony for having extorted $100 from a priest to give\nhim permission to officiate and administer the sacraments among us.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 6th. That the Right Rev. O\u2019Regan, in forbidding the Irish\nand German Catholics to communicate with the French Catholic Church, and\nallowing the French and Canadians to communicate with the Irish and\nGerman Churches, has acted with a view to deprive the French Church of\nreligious fees and other donations, which acts we consider unjust and\nagainst the spirit of the church, and more resembling a mercantile\ntransaction than a Christian work.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 7th. That the French and Canadian people of Illinois have\nseen with feelings of grief and surprise that the Rev. Mr. Desaulnier\nhas made himself the humble valet of the merciless and shameless\npersecutor of his countrymen.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 8th. That the Rev. Mr. Chiniquy, pastor of St. Anne,\ndeserves the gratitude of every Catholic of Illinois, for having the\nfirst, put a stop to the rapacious tyranny of the bishop of Chicago.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 9th. That the French Catholics of Chicago are determined to\ngive all support in their power to the Rev. Mr. Chiniquy, in his\nstruggle against the bishop of Chicago.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 10th. That a printed copy of these resolutions be sent to\nevery bishop and archbishop of the United States and Canada, that they\nmay see the necessity of giving to the church of Illinois a bishop more\nworthy of that high position.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 11th. That a copy of these resolutions be sent to His\nHoliness Pius IX., that he may be incited to make inquiries about the\nhumiliated position of the church in Illinois, since the present bishop\nis among us.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 12th. That the independence and liberty loving press of the\nUnited States be requested to publish the above address and resolutions\nall over the country.\n\n \u201cP. F. ROFINOT, President.\n \u201cDAVID FRANCHERE,\n Secretary.\u201d\n\nThat cry of more than two thousand Roman Catholics of Chicago, which was\nreproduced by almost the whole press of Illinois, and the United States,\nfell as a thunderbolt upon the head of my lord O\u2019Regan and Desaulnier.\nThey wrote to all bishops of America, to hasten to their rescue, and for\nseveral months the pulpits of the Roman Catholic Churches had no other\nmission than to repeat the echoes of the Episcopal fulminations hurled\nagainst my devoted head. Many bishop\u2019s letters and mandements were\npublished, denouncing me and my people as infamous schismatics, whose\npride and obstinancy were troubling the peace of the church. But the\nmost bitter of all these, was a letter from my lord Bourget, bishop of\nMontreal, who thought the best, if not the only way, to force the people\nto desert me, was by forever destroying my honor. But he had the\nmisfortune to fall into the pit he had dug for me, in 1851.\n\nThe miserable girl he had associated with himself, to satisfy his\nimplacable hatred, was dead. But, he had still in hand the lying\naccusations obtained from her, against me. Having probably destroyed her\nsworn recantation, written by the Jesuit Father Schneider, and not\nhaving the least idea that I had kept three other sworn copies of the\nrecantations\u2014he thought he could safely publish that I was a degraded\nman, who had been driven from Canada, by him, after being convicted of\nsome enormous crime, and interdicted.\n\nThis declaration was brought before the public, for the first time, by\nhim, with an hypocritical air of compassion and mercy for me, which\nadded much to the deadly effect he expected to produce by it. Here are\nhis own words, addressed to the people of Bourbonnais, and through them,\nto the whole world:\n\n\u201cI must tell you that on the 27th of September, 1851, I withdrew all his\npowers, and interdicted him, for reasons which I gave him in my letter\naddressed to him; a letter which he has probably kept. Let him publish\nthat letter if he finds that I have persecuted him unjustly.\u201d\n\nI could hardly believe my eyes when I read this ignominious act of\nperfidy on the part of that high dignitary: it seemed incredible, and\nsurpassed anything I had ever seen, even in Bishop O\u2019Regan. I can not\nsay, however, that it took me entirely by surprise, for I had\nanticipated it. When Father Schneider asked me why I had taken four\nsworn copies of the recantation of the unfortunate girl whose tears of\nregret were flowing before us, I told him that I knew so much of the\nmeanness and perfidy of Bishop Bourget, that I thought he might destroy\nthe copy we were sending him, in order to pierce me again with his\npoisonous arrows, whilst, if I kept three other copies, one for him, one\nfor Mr. Brassard and one for myself, I would have nothing to fear. I am\nconvinced that my merciful God knew the malice of that bishop against\nme, and gave me that wisdom to save me.\n\nI immediately sent him, through the press, the following answer:\n\nTO MONSIGNOR BOURGET:\n\n ST. ANNE, April 18, 1857.\n\nMY LORD:\u2014In your letter of the 19th of March, you assure the public that\nyou have interdicted me, a few days before my leaving Canada for the\nUnited States, and you invite me to give the reasons of that sentence. I\nwill satisfy you. On the 28th of September, 1851, I found a letter on my\ntable from you, telling me that you had suspended me from my\necclesiastical offices, on account of a great crime that I had\ncommitted, and of which I was accused. But the name of the accuser was\nnot given, nor the nature of the crime. I immediately went to see you,\nand protesting my innocence, I requested you to give me the name of my\naccusers, and allow me to be confronted by them, promising that I would\nprove my innocence. You refused to grant my request.\n\nThen I fell on my knees, and with tears, in the name of God, I requested\nyou again to allow me to meet my accusers and prove my innocence. You\nremained deaf to my prayer and unmoved by my tears; you repulsed me with\na malice and air of tyranny which I thought impossible in you.\n\nDuring the twenty-four hours after this, sentiments of an inexpressible\nwrath crossed my mind. I tell it to you frankly, in that terrible hour,\nI would have preferred to be at the feet of a heathen priest, whose\nknife would have slaughtered me on his altars, to appease his infernal\ngods, rather than be at the feet of a man who, in the name of Jesus\nChrist, and under the mask of the gospel, should dare to commit such a\ncruel act. You had taken away my honor\u2014you had destroyed me with the\nmost infamous calumny\u2014and you had refused me every means of\njustification! You had taken under your protection the cowards who were\nstabbing me in the dark!\n\nThough it is hard to repeat, I must tell it here publicly, I cursed you\non that horrible day.\n\nWith a broken heart, I went to the Jesuit college, and I showed the\nwounds of my bleeding soul to the noble friend who was generally my\nconfessor, the Rev. Father Schneider, the director of the college.\n\nAfter three days, having providentially got some reasons to suspect who\nwas the author of my destruction, I sent some one to ask her to come to\nthe college, without mentioning my name.\n\nWhen she was in the parlor, I said to Father Schneider:\n\n\u201cYou knew the horrible iniquity of the bishop against me; with the lying\nwords of a prostitute, he has tried to destroy me; but please come and\nbe the witness of my innocence.\u201d\n\nWhen in the presence of that unfortunate female, I told her:\n\n\u201cYou are in the presence of God Almighty, and two of his priests. They\nwill be the witnesses of what you say! Speak the truth. Say in the\npresence of God and this venerable priest, if I have ever been guilty of\nwhat you have accused me to the bishop.\u201d\n\nAt these words, the unfortunate female burst into tears; she concealed\nher face in her hands, and with a voice half suffocated with her sobs,\nshe answered:\n\n\u201cNo, sir, you are not guilty of that sin!\u201d\n\n\u201cConfess here another truth,\u201d I said to her; \u201cIs it not true you have\ncome to confess to me more with the desire to tempt me than to reconcile\nyourself to God?\u201d\n\nShe said, \u201cYes, sir, that is the truth.\u201d Then I said again, \u201cContinue to\nsay the truth, and I will forgive you, and God also will forgive your\niniquity. Is it not through revenge for having failed in your criminal\ndesigns, that you have tried to destroy me by false accusation to the\nbishop?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir, it was the only reason which has induced me to accuse you\nfalsely.\n\n\u201cAnd all I say here, at least in substance, has been heard, written and\nsigned by the Right Rev. Schneider, one of your priests, and the present\ndirector of the Jesuit college. That venerable priest is still living in\nMontreal; let the people of Canada go and interrogate him. Let the\npeople of Canada also go to the Rev. Mr. Brassard, who has in his hands\nan authenticated copy of that declaration.\n\n\u201cYour lordship gives the public to understand that I was disgraced by\nthat sentence some days before I left Canada for Illinois. Allow me to\ngive you my reasons for differing from you in this matter.\n\nThere is a canon law of the church which says:\n\n\u201cIf a censure is unjust and unfounded, let the man against whom the\nsentence has been passed pay no attention to it. For, before God and his\nchurch, no unjust sentence can bring any injury against anyone. Let the\none against whom such unfounded and unjust judgment has been pronounced\neven take no step to annul it, for it is a nullity by itself.\u201d\n\nYou know very well that the sentence you had passed against me was null\nand void, for many good reasons; that it was founded on a false\ntestimony. Father Schneider is there, ready to prove it to you, if you\nhave any doubt.\n\nThe second reason I have to believe that you had yourself considered\nyour sentence a nullity, and that I was not suspended by it from my\necclesiastical dignity and honor, is founded on a good testimony, I\nhope\u2014the testimony of your lordship himself.\n\nA few hours before my leaving Canada for the United States, I went to\nask your benediction, which you gave me with every mark of kindness. I\nthen asked your lordship to tell me frankly if I had to leave with the\nimpression that I was disgraced in his mind? You gave me the assurance\nof the contrary.\n\nThen I told you that I wanted to have a public and irrefutable testimony\nof your esteem, written with your own hand, and you gave me the\nfollowing letter:\n\n MONTREAL, CANADA, October 13, 1851.\n\nSIR:\u2014You ask me permission to leave my diocese to go and offer your\nservices to the bishop of Chicago. As you belong to the diocese of\nQuebec, I think it belongs to my lord the archbishop to give you the\nexeat you wish. As for me, I can not but thank you for your labours\namong us, and I wish you in return, the most abundant blessings from\nheaven. You shall ever be in my remembrance and in my heart, and I hope\nthat divine providence will permit me, at a future time, to testify all\nthe gratitude I owe you.\n\n Meanwhile, I remain your very humble and obedient servant,\n\n \u2720IGNATIUS, Bishop of Montreal.\n\n MR. CHINIQUY, Priest.\n\nI then asked you to give me some other tangible token of your esteem,\nwhich I might show everywhere I should go.\n\nYou answered that you would be happy to give me one, and you said: \u201cWhat\ndo you wish?\u201d \u201cI wish,\u201d I said, \u201cto have a chalice from your hands to\noffer the holy sacrifice of the mass the rest of my life.\u201d\n\nYou answered: \u201cI will do that with pleasure,\u201d and you gave an order to\none of your priests to bring you a chalice, that you might give it to\nme. But that priest had not the key of the box containing the sacred\nvases; that key was in the hands of another priest, who was absent for a\nfew hours.\n\nI had not the time to wait; the hour of the departure of the trains had\ncome; I told you: \u201cPlease, my lord, send that chalice to Rev. Mr.\nBrassard, of Longueuil, who will forward it to me in a few days, to\nChicago.\u201d And the next day, one of your secretaries went to Rev. Mr.\nBrassard, and gave him the chalice you had promised me, which is still\nin my hands. And the Rev. Mr. Brassard is there still living, to be the\nwitness of what I say, and to bring that fact to your memory, if you\nhave forgotten it.\n\nWell, my lord, I do believe that a bishop will never give a chalice to a\npriest to say mass, when he knows that that priest is interdicted. And\nthe best proof that you know very well that I was not interdicted by\nyour rash and unjust sentence, is that you gave me that chalice as a\ntoken of your esteem and of my honesty, etc.\n\n Respectfully,\n\n C. CHINIQUY.\n\n\nTen thousand copies of this exposure of the depravity of the bishop were\npublished in Montreal. I asked the whole people of Canada to go to the\nRev. Mr. Schneider and to the Rev. Mr. Brassard, to know the truth, and\nmany went. The bishop remained confounded. It was proved that he had\ncommitted against me a most outrageous act of tyranny and perfidy; and\nthat I was perfectly innocent and honest, and that he knew it, in the\nvery hour that he tried to destroy my character. Probably the bishop of\nMontreal had destroyed the copy of the declaration of the poor girl he\nhad employed, and thinking that this was the only copy of her\ndeclaration of my innocence and honesty, he thought he could speak of\nthe so-called interdict, after I was a Protestant. But in that he was\ncruelly mistaken, for, as I have already said, by the great mercy of\nGod, three other authenticated copies had been kept; one by the Rev. Mr.\nSchneider himself, another by the Rev. Mr. Brassard, another by one whom\nit is not necessary to mention, and then he had no suspicion that the\nrevelation of his unchristian conduct and of his determination to\ndestroy me with the false oath of a prostitute, were in the hands of too\nmany people to be denied.\n\nThe bishop of Chicago, whom I met a few days after, told me what I was\nwell aware of before:\n\n\u201cThat such a sentence was a perfect nullity in every way, and it was a\ndisgrace only for those who were blind enough to trample under their\nfeet the laws of God and men to satisfy their bad passions.\u201d\n\nA few days after the publication of that letter in Canada, Mr. Brassard\nwrote me:\n\n\u201cYour last letter has completely unmasked our poor bishop, and revealed\nto the world his malice, injustice and hypocrisy. He felt so confounded\nby it, that he has been three days without being able to eat or drink\nanything, and three nights without sleeping. Every one says that the\nchastisement you have given him is a terrible one, when it is in the\nface of the whole world; but he deserved it.\u201d\n\nWhen I received that last friendly letter from Mr. Brassard, on the 1st\nof April, 1857, I was far from suspecting that on the 15th of the same\nmonth, I should read in the press of Canada, the following lines from\nhim:\n\n ST. ROCH DE L\u2019ACHIGAN, LE 9 AUVRIL, 1857.\n\nMESSIEURS:\u2014I request you to insert the following lines in your journal:\nAs some people suspect that I am favoring the schism of Mr. Chiniquy, I\nthink it is my duty to say that I have never encouraged him by my words\nor writings in that schism. I must say that, last November, when I went\nto St. Anne, accompanied by Mr. Desaulnier, Superior of St. Hyacinthe\nCollege, my only object was to persuade that old friend to leave the bad\nways in which he was walking. And in Chicago I pressed him to put\nhimself in a canonical way.\n\nI, more than any one else, deplore the fall of a man whom, I confess, I\nloved much, but for the sake of whom I will not sacrifice the sacred\nties of Catholic unity. I hope that all the Canadians who were attached\nto Mr. Chiniquy when he was united to the church, will withdraw from him\nin horror of his schism. For before anything else, we must be truly and\nfaithfully Catholic.\n\nHowever, we have a duty to perform towards the man who has fulfilled\nsuch a holy mission in our midst, by establishing the society of\ntemperance. It is to call back, with our prayers, that stray sheep who\nhas left the true Pastor\u2019s fold.\n\nI request all journals to reproduce this declaration.\n\n Truly yours,\n\n MOSES BRASSARD, Pastor.\n\nM. M., the Editors of the _Courrier du Canada_.\n\nI felt that there was not a line, not a sentiment of Mr. Brassard in\nthat letter. It smelt Bishop Bourget\u2019s hand, from the beginning to the\nend. I thought, however, it was my duty to address him the following\nanswer:\n\n ST. ANNE, KANKAKEE COUNTY, ILLINOIS, April 13, 1857.\n\nMY DEAR MR. BRASSARD:\u2014I have just received your letter of the 9th inst.,\nbut no! I will not call it a letter, it will be better named a bitter\ntear, and a sad wail of a heart as good as it is noble and generous.\n\nYou have been a witness how the people and missionary of St. Anne have\nbeen betrayed by Mr. Desaulnier. You were at my side, as my friend and\nfather, when this traitor said to me, as well as to my brethren: \u201cSign\nthis act of submission to the bishop of Chicago; this act alone is\nenough to make him withdraw the sentence which fills your Canadian\nfriends with anxiety. If the bishop does not give you the place you\nwant, and if he does not withdraw the excommunication after having been\npresented with this act, I will tell him:\n\n\u201cIt is neither the pastor, nor the people of St. Anne who wish a schism,\nthey have done that which religion and honor commanded, to prove it; it\nis you who wish it.\u201d\n\nYour tears were mingled with mine, and the incense of your prayer\nascended with those of my brethren, when on the 26th of November, Mr.\nDesaulnier said to the people of St. Anne:\n\n\u201cYou cannot be blamed for what you have done since the beginning of your\ndifficulties with your bishop.\u201d\n\nYou were a witness that our first condition to the signing of the act\nwhich you and Mr. Desaulnier presented to us, was that you should be the\npastor of St. Anne, and that I should remain with you as long as you\nwould find it to the interest of my colony. You know that he gave me his\nword of honor, in the presence of all the people, that if the bishop\nwould not give us peace after the signing of the act, he (Mr.\nDesaulnier) would go with us to St. Louis, and even to Rome, to plead my\ncause, and show the iniquity and unbearable tyranny of the bishop of\nChicago. Did he not assure us that, in case the bishop should refuse to\naccept the act of submission, we had signed, your mission to St. Anne\nwas finished, and that you both would return to Canada, after your\nvoyage to St. Louis? Is it not true that when in Chicago, in reply to\nour question: \u201cWhat news?\u201d Mr. Desaulnier said:\n\n\u201cYou have only to take your bags and both return to Canada at once.\u201d\n\nMr. Desaulnier denies all those facts, with an impudence of which he\nalone is capable. You are my only witness before our Canada, which\nwishes and has a right to know the truth in this matter.\n\nI took you as my witness, and you replied in many of your letters, that\nyou could not say the truth without compromising yourself.\n\nIs not this an acknowledgment that we, priests of Jesus Christ, are\ngroaning under the weight of the most frightful tyranny? and that we are\nin the power of men who threaten our honor and life, if we dare speak\nthe truth in favor of an oppressed brother? And this is the system that\nproclaims itself as the divine and ineffable news which the Messiah\nbrought to the world! And this abominable oppression, this system of\ndeceit, is the religion which the Son of the God of truth, justice and\nmercy, has established to save the world? This is the foundation-stone\nof the church of Christ!!! No! You do not believe that, my dear Mr.\nBrassard. Neither do I. I never did, and never will believe it.\n\nThey tell us it is for the greater good of the church that they act\nthus; that it is to preserve the respect which is due to the Holy\nCatholic Hierarchy, that they take those extreme measures against the\npeople of St. Anne!\n\nBut I have carefully studied the laws of the church upon these great\nquestions, and I see they say precisely the contrary. I see that the\nCatholic Church said to us:\n\n1st. \u201cIn the church there is no arbitrary power.\u201d\n\n2nd. \u201cThe censures are null when they have been pronounced against sins\nwhich have not been committed.\u201d\n\n3rd. \u201cNever receive any accusation against a priest, which has not been\nproven by two or three witnesses.\u201d\n\n4th. \u201cIf a sentence is visibly unjust, the condemned must not pay any\nattention to it; for before God and His church, no unjust sentence can\ninjure any one.\u201d\n\n5th. \u201cThe unjust excommunication is not binding, neither before God nor\nthe people, when that people know its injustice, because the Holy Ghost\ncan not abandon those who have not deserved it.\u201d\n\nYou wish me to act according to the canons of the church. I have already\ntold you that if I had been interdicted on the 19th of August, I would\nhave been able to appeal from that sentence, but I had not. I had\nfifteen days to consider. How could I have appealed from a sentence\nwhich had not been pronounced? What witness could I bring against a fact\nwhich, I knew, had never taken place?\n\nBut you will say:\n\n\u201cThe excommunication? Should it not give you some anxiety?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot the least.\u201d\n\nSt. Thomas said positively that no excommunication of which the\ninjustice is known by the people, ought not to prevent a priest from\nexercising his ministry among them.\n\nThey will perhaps say:\n\n\u201cBut where did the people get the right to judge in such things?\u201d St.\nThomas must have believed that the people had that right, since he said\nit. St. Thomas was neither a heretic nor a schismatic for believing\nthese things?\n\nWhy, then, should I be one, for having a thought, spoken and acted\naccording to the doctrine of _him_ whom the church has named the angel\nof the school. Besides that, you know that the excommunication was a\nnullity from want of being signed.\n\nThe reason of this surprise about the right which the people had to\nexercise its judgment upon this question, is that, lately, the bishops\nhave not only stripped the priests, but also the people, of the holy and\njust rights which Jesus Christ had given them. Those who have carefully\nstudied the history of the church in the first centuries know this, as\nwell as I do.\n\nBut be it known, there are rights against which time does not prescribe.\nThere are rights which the priests and people have never renounced, and\nwhich the church of Christ will always like to see them enjoy.\n\nI do not say that the bishops are not ordained to govern the Christian\npeople, but I say that the bishops are not appointed by the church to\ngovern the flock according to their caprices, but according to the\nunchangeable rules of justice, equity and truth of the gospel. In the\nprimitive church, every time that a bishop forgot this, other bishops\nreminded him of it.\n\nDo we not see in the gospel, that the first Christians complained\nbitterly to the apostles themselves of the manner in which they had\nadministered the goods entrusted to them? Were they excommunicated for\nthat? Did they receive in answer the insolent reply that the people\nreceive to-day? viz: \u201cYou are but the laity, that does not concern you?\u201d\nNo! The apostles listened to the complaints of the people; they found\nthem just, and the people were allowed to choose the administrators of\ntheir goods.\n\nThe people, then, were looked upon as something worthy of attention and\nrespect, and were not tied, as to-day, to the feet of a dignitary, and\nobliged to go right and left at the good pleasure of their pretended\nmaster. The people were not, then, bridled; were not mere machines to\npay tithes, build palaces, raise proud cathedrals; nor were they\ndegraded, demoralized, as to-day; obliged to believe they had minds, but\nhad no right to make use of them; they were not, then, as now, poor\nbeasts of burthen, whose only duty is to obey their master. But their\nwants and wishes were consulted; their voice was heard. They had not yet\nthe idea that the Holy Ghost was to enlighten only a certain class of\nmen, and that the rest of humanity were, given up to ignorance, only to\nwalk in the light of a few privileged luminaries.\n\nBut the spirit of wisdom, charity and tolerance; this respect for the\nwill and wishes of the people, where do you find them to-day?\n\nOn the contrary, we find tyranny on the one side, and stern and\nnecessary resistance on the other; resistances which are but the\nexpression of the law of God. Let the tolerant conduct of the apostles,\nwho listened with so much humility to the complaints of the first\nChristians, be compared to that of Bishop O\u2018Regan when questioned by the\nFrench people of Chicago upon the right he had to deprive them of their\nchurch, to give it to another congregation, put them out of doors,\nsaying: \u201cYou do not know your religion; I have the right to sell your\nchurches, and the grounds attached to them, put the money in my pocket,\nand eat and drink where I like.\u201d\n\nThis is what Bishop O\u2018Regan has said and done; and this is what the\nbishop of Canada approves and sanctions in the name of the gospel! They\ntry to make you believe that it is the doctrine of Jesus Christ which\nthese high dignitaries preach and practice.\n\nLet the poor people of Canada believe this, if they wish; as for us, in\nSt. Anne, we do not, and never will believe it. Are not these men who\ncry the loudest to make us respect the canons of the church, the very\nmen who publicly trample the most holy laws of the people and of the\nchurch under their feet? How easy it would be to put to those powerful\npersonages, questions which they would call impertinent, but which would\nshed great light in the midst of the profound darkness in which a\ncertain corner of the world is kept to-day?\n\nYou who overwhelm us with curses, and send us to hell if we are not\nready to say amen to all you say, what have you done with the canon of\nthe holy council of Nice, which forbids you to change a priest\u2019s charge\nwithout his permission?\n\nWhere is the canon of a general council which allows the bishops to add\nthe words: \u201c_usque ad revocationem_,\u201d in the powers given to the\npriests! While one of the canons of the church says: \u201cIt is the\nauthority of the canons, and the examination of the conduct of the\npriests, which ought to give or take away the ecclesiastical dignities,\nand not the _will of the prelates_.\n\nHistory has preserved the names of certain tyrants who forced the\ntrembling hand of a father to set fire to the pile which consumed his\nown child. Ah! why do these bishops of Canada remind us of that\nlamentable page of past centuries, in commanding you to throw burning\ncoals on the pile to which they have led me.\n\nYou are more than a friend to me. I have the right to call you \u2018Father.\u2019\nWhen still very young, domestic misfortunes forced me to leave for a\nstrange country, in search of a living; you stretched out to me a\nhelping hand. Although poor yourself, you shared your bread with the\npoor orphan. You opened to me the doors of the college where I studied.\nAnd ever since, when a tempest threatened my fragile bark with\nshipwreck, in your arms I found sure port. Every time I received a\nwound, in the struggles of life, in your affection I found a remedy.\n\nWhen heaven chose your poor friend to change the face of our dear\ncountry, it was beneath your hospitable roof that I found rest. Your\nhand was the last one which pressed mine, when in 1851 I left Canada to\nconsecrate myself to the service of the emigrants: and lastly, when the\nthunders of three deluded prelates fell upon my head, I said to myself:\n\u2018I have, in Canada, a friend, a father. I am so sure of his heart, that\nI do not even need to call him to aid; there is a voice in his soul\nwhich cries to him; \u2018Go, go to the aid of thy friend, thy child!\u2019\n\n\u201cI was not mistaken. On the 24th of November, you pressed me to your\nheart; your words of peace and charity cheered my broken heart. For the\nlove of God, and for your sake also, my dear Mr. Brassard, I have\nconsented to do all you have required of me. Ah! why did you not come\nalone? How easily everything would have been settled. But without\nknowing it, you had with you a traitor, who came to give the people and\npastor of St. Anne the kiss of Judas, before delivering them into the\nhands of their enemies.\n\n\u201cTo-day you are commanded to add your efforts to those of this traitor,\nto strike me. They want you to add a new thorn to that crown of shame\nwhich the bishops have placed on my forehead.\n\n\u201cBut how can I be guilty for having called you as a witness of the\niniquities of my enemies? Have you forgotten with what sincerity and\npromptitude I signed, as well as my brethren of St. Anne, the act of\nsubmission to the Bishop O\u2019Regan? Have you forgotten the desolation of\nyour heart and mine, when (on the conditions you well know) I declared\nto my people that I would no longer be their pastor?\n\n\u201cSince the bishops of Canada command you to speak in the name of the God\nof truth and justice, I, also, ask you to speak. Yes, state to the\npeople of Canada, how shamefully Mr. Desaulnier has deceived the\ngenerous people who surround me here. Yes! tell your surprise, your just\nindignation, your bitter sorrow, when Mr. Desaulnier refused, in\nChicago, to fulfill the sacred promise he had made! Tell the nature of\nthe new document which he wanted me to sign at Chicago. Declare honestly\nthat you said to me: \u201cMy poor friend, you can not sign that act without\nlying and dishonoring yourself forever.\u201d\n\n\u201cSince the bishops of Canada command you to speak, raise your voice to\nsay to the Canadian people what you wrote to Dr. Letourneaux and to\nmyself:\n\n\u201cThey do not wish to know the truth in Canada, more than at Chicago,\nabout the shameful conduct of Mr. Desaulnier in this affair!!\n\n\u201cYes, speak! Give to my dear Canada the reply which the bishop of\nChicago made when you asked: \u201cHave you any accusation in hand against\nthe character of Mr. Chiniquy?\n\n\u201cI need your testimony upon this question, for the bishop of Chicago,\nforgetting what he confessed to you, is circulating, through my enemies,\na thousand calumnies against me, which are reproduced to-day, by the\nbishop of Montreal.\n\n\u201cSay to Canada that the bishop of Chicago assured you that he had\ninterdicted me, _only_ because I disobeyed him in refusing to leave St.\nAnne, whilst, at the very time, he held a letter brought by four\nwitnesses, saying that I was ready to obey, and that I would prefer\ngoing to the end of the world, rather than be interdicted.\n\n\u201cIf, having said all these things, you are still commanded to strike me,\ndo so, dear friend. Though your blows go more directly to my heart than\nall the thunders of Bishop O\u2019Regan, they will never shake my constancy,\nnor make me betray my brethren; they will neither make me change my\nconvictions nor force me any longer to bend the knee before men who wish\nus to submit to their capricious and impious commands rather than to the\nlaws of the God of justice, truth and mercy, whose priest I have the\nhonor to be. I have sworn at the foot of the altar to preach truth and\njustice; nothing will make me break my oath.\n\n\u201cDo you remember with what dignity you refused, one day, to bow before\none of those modern divinities who believe that everything is allowed\nthem on earth?\n\n\u201cDo you not recollect that the bishop of Ottawa had the audacity to take\none of your letters out of the postoffice and read it, hoping the\nshameful act would never be known? I shall never forget the noble\nindependence with which you protested against that abuse of power, and\nwith what indignation you threatened to drag that haughty bishop before\nthe courts of Justice, if he did not ask pardon for that outrage! Were\nyou revolting against the church of Christ then? No! for you knew that\nher principles of truth and justice could not sanction such brigandage.\nSo I did not revolt against the church of Christ, when I resisted the\ninsolence and outrages of the bishop of Chicago.\n\n\u201cLike St. Jerome, I know the rights of the bishops: I respect their\nauthority. The Catholic Hierarchy is to me a holy and venerable\ninstitution. But when men sheltering themselves behind those holy\ninstitutions, trample under their feet the principles of justice, truth\nand holiness, which the gospel of Christ inculcates, I will fight to the\nend, with my poor emigrants, for the preservation of their Christian\nrights.\n\n\u201cYou say that before all, we must be frankly and sincerely \u2018Catholics.\u2019\nI answer, yes. But when one is wrongfully deprived of this glorious name\nbefore men, because he opposes, as I have done, the brigandage of a\nbishop who believes all is allowed him, he can remain in peace, and be\nlike St. Paul, who did not care what men said or thought of him. To be\nanathematized, because I have devoted myself to the welfare of my\nbrethren, is not such a sad destiny as some people think. St. Paul said:\n\n\u201cI could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my\nkinsmen according to the flesh.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe favor after which the apostle of the Gentiles sighed, has been\naccorded me. I can not complain of it. Besides, does not Christ himself\nsay to those who labor to scatter seeds of justice and truth upon the\nearth, that they ought not expect to be treated better than He?\n\n\u201cFrom every part of Canada and the United States men of distinction\ncease not to cry: \u2018Courage!\u2019 It is true that several curse us, but it is\nbecause they are forced to do it. Many keep silent for fear of their\nmasters, but their prayers and sympathies are for us. The bishops will\nsee, sooner or later, that in order to retain their power on earth, that\npower must be founded, as in heaven, upon justice and truth.\n\n\u201cWhen the priests of Canada, to please the bishops, contrary to their\nconvictions, have degraded their own sacerdotal character in my person;\nwhen they have burned the effigy of the proscribed, having no more the\nglorious privilege of burning his body; when the father whom, by the\ngrace of God, I have snatched from an abyss, cursed me; when this dear\nyoung man who has, so many times, blessed me, because I have shown him\nthe gospel, the way of honor and virtue, by removing the stumbling block\nof intemperance offered to his weakness, has been forced to curse me;\nwhen that poor woman, who, by the grace of God, owes me the bread she\neats, and the few days of holy felicity she has enjoyed upon earth, has\ncursed me; when this fine little child, who has so many times blessed my\nname, because God made use of me to give him back a father, has cursed\nme, there will be a silence of sorrow in Canada, around my proscribed\nname.\n\n\u201cThen a reaction will take place. A great prestige will be destroyed. A\ngreat power, holy and benevolent in its origin, but fallen by its\nexcesses, will be destroyed. God grant that, in the midst of those\nruins, there may be no tears, no blood!!\n\n\u201cThis is not prophecy, it is history. Yes, let the Canadian clergy open\nthe records of the past, and they will find where their blind and\ndemoralizing obedience to the bishops, leads them and their good and\ngenerous people, if not to infidelity and atheism.\n\n\u201cYou advise me, dear Mr. Brassard, to put myself in the canonical ways;\nbut have I not already done so? Have not the bishops of Canada told you\nthat the letter signed by me, has already placed me in that position?\n\n\u201cHas not Mr. Desaulnier said, in your presence, to my people and myself\nat St. Anne.\n\n\u201cSign this act, and if the bishop does not take away his sentence of\nexcommunication, I will say to him: \u2018It is not Mr. Chiniquy, neither his\npeople, who wish a schism; they have done what religion and honor\ncommanded them; it is the bishop of Chicago who makes the schism.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhat have we gained by taking that public step? Nothing, but to be\ncruelly and shamefully betrayed.\n\n\u201cWas not Jesus Christ betrayed only once by Judas? Do not then expect\nthat we will be stronger than the Son of God. The bishops of Canada, by\ntheir emissary, have already betrayed us, of which you have been\nwitness. The people and missionary of St. Anne do not feel strong enough\nto present their cheek again to the smiter.\n\n\u201cIn spite of the clamors which rise around us, we are convinced that we\nmay be good Catholics, without submitting to that degradation twice.\n\n\u201cThe bishops of Canada want you to speak. Very well! My dear Mr.\nBrassard, I, also, implore you to speak. In the name of the friendship\nwhich has united us for forty years, I implore you to tell the truth.\nDid you not, after reading the document which the bishop of Chicago\ncommanded me to sign, as the only condition of peace, say to me:\n\n\u201c\u2018My dear friend, you can not sign such a writing without lying and\ndishonoring yourself forever?\u2019 And behold! to-day you cry to my brethren\nto destroy and abandon me, when you know that the position in which I\nstand is but the result of my refusal to sign a most infamous, lying and\ndegrading document.\n\n\u201cThese things, and many others which you know, would serve wonderfully\nto open the eyes of the people upon the awful abuse of power of which\ncertain bishops are, every day, guilty. This would aid to unmask certain\nmodern divinities who pretend that we cannot go to heaven without their\npermission; who preach that it is not the blood of Jesus Christ, but a\ncertain passport, of which they hold the patent, which assures us a\nplace among the elect of God. A sentence founded upon a public lie, and\nwhich was resisted, can not constitute a schism. Christian men who, like\nthe Catholics of Chicago, Kankakee and St. Anne, resist iniquity, may be\ncondemned by men, but not by God.\n\n\u201cI was not suspended on the 19th of August, and so, I could exercise the\nholy functions of my ministry the following morning and after. It is the\nchurch which assures us of this, through her greatest theologians. As it\nis not enough to say: \u2018My God! My God!\u2019 to be saved; so it is not enough\nto cry: \u2018You are lost! you are lost!\u2019 for one to be lost. The Son of\nGod, who gave his life to save man, gave us a thousand proofs, that the\nsalvation of our soul has a foundation more certain than the capricious\nwill of a sinful being. He has given to no one the power to save or\ncondemn, according to his pleasure. If some bishops and priests believe\nthis, it is not the faith of the people of Chicago, Kankakee and St.\nAnne.\n\n\u201cI will tell you again, my dear Mr. Brassard, that if, in order to obey\nthe bishop of Montreal, you should strip me of the little honor which\nsurrounds my name in Canada, I shall still never forget the good you\nhave done me. Yes! command my friends to betray me, to trample me under\ntheir feet, to turn away from me in horror: Never will you be able to\nweaken my sentiments of respect and gratitude for you!\n\n\u201cI will still love and bless you; for I know the hand which forced yours\nto do so. I will always know that your own heart was first struck and\nwounded by the blow they commanded you to give to your friend and son in\nJesus Christ.\n\n \u201cC. CHINIQUY.\u201d\n\nThe effect of that letter upon Mr. Brassard was still more powerful than\nI had expected. It forced him to blush at his own cowardice, and to ask\nme pardon for the unjust sentence he had passed upon me to obey the\nbishop. Here are the parts of the letter bearing upon that subject:\n\n ST. ROCH, 29 MAI, 1857.\n\nMONCHER CHINIQUY:\u2014\u201cJe suis plus convainen que jamais que tu n\u2019as jamais\nete interdit legalement, depuis que j\u2019ai appris par Monseigneur de\nMontreal, que l\u2019eveque de Chicago t\u2019a interdit de vive voix, dans sa\nchambre; ce que Ligoury dit etre nul te de nul effet.\u201d\n\nI am more than ever convinced that you have never been legally\ninterdicted, since Bishop Bourget told me that Bishop O\u2019Regan had\ninterdicted you privately, \u201c_viva voce_\u201d in his private room. Ligoury\nsays that it is a nullity and that it can have no effect. I beg your\npardon for what I wrote against you. I have been forced to do it.\nBecause I had not yet sufficiently condemned you, and that my name,\nwhich you were citing in your writings, was giving you too much power,\nand a too clear condemnation of Bishop O\u2019Regan, the Bishop of Montreal,\nabusing his authority over me, forced me to sign that document against\nyou. I would not do it to-day if it were to be done again. Keep silence\non what I tell you in this letter. It is all confidential. You\nunderstand it.\n\n Your devoted friend,\n\n L. M. BRASSARD.\n\nNo priest in Canada had more deservedly enjoyed the reputation of a man\nof honor, than Mr. Brassard. Not one had ever stood so high in my esteem\nand respect. His sudden and unexpected fall, filled my heart with an\nunspeakable sadness. I may say that it snapped the last thread which\nheld me to the church of Rome. Till then, it was not only my hope, but\nmy firm conviction, that there were many honest, upright priests in that\nchurch, and Mr. Brassard was, to me, the very personification of\nhonesty.\n\nHow can I describe the shock I felt when I saw him, there, in the mud, a\nmonument of the unspeakable corruption of my church!\n\nThe perfidious Delilah had seduced and destroyed this modern Sampson,\nenchained, as a trembling slave, at the feet of the new implacable\nMoloch, \u201cthe authority of the bishop!\u201d He had not only lost the fear of\nGod, and the respect he owed to himself, by publicly declaring that I\nwas guilty, when he knew that I was innocent, but he had so completely\nlost every sentiment of honesty, that he wanted me to keep secret his\ndeclaration of my innocence, at the very moment he was inviting my whole\ncountry, through the press, to abhor and condemn me as a criminal!\n\nI read again and again the strange letter. Every word of it was\ndestroying the last illusions which had concealed from my mind, the\nabsolute and incurable perversity of the church of Rome. I had no hard\nfeelings against this last friend whom she had poisoned with the wine of\nher prostitutions. I felt only a profound compassion for him. I pitied\nand forgave him from the bottom of my heart. But every word of his\nletter sounded in my ears as the warning voice of the angel sent to save\nLot from the doomed city of Sodom. \u201cEscape for thy life. Look not behind\nthee; neither stay thou in all the plain. Escape thou to the mountain,\nlest thou be consumed!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXIV.\n\nI WRITE TO POPE PIUS IX. AND TO NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF FRANCE, AND SEND\n THEM THE PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PROVING THE BAD CONDUCT OF BISHOP\n O\u2019REGAN\u2014CARDINAL BIDINI ORDERED TO INVESTIGATE\u2014THE BISHOP CALLED TO\n ROME, IS FORCED TO RESIGN, AND BECOMES A BANKER\u2014BISHOP SMITH, OF\n DUBUQUE, NAMED ADMINISTRATOR OF THE DIOCESE OF CHICAGO\u2014GRAND VICAR\n DUNN SENT TO TELL ME OF MY VICTORY AT ROME\u2014I GO TO DUBUQUE TO OFFER MY\n SUBMISSION TO THE BISHOP.\n\n\nI had not forgotten the advice given me by Archbishop Kenrick, of St.\nLouis, April 9, 1856, to address my complaints to the Pope himself. But\nthe terrible difficulties and trials which had constantly followed each\nother, had made it impossible to follow that advice. The betrayal of\nMons. Desaulnier and the defection of Mons. Brassard, however, had so\nstrangely complicated my position, that I felt the only way to escape\nthe wreck which threatened myself and my colony, and to save the holy\ncause God had entrusted me, was to strike such a blow to our haughty\npersecutor that he could not survive it. I determined to send to the\nPope all the public accusations which had been legally proved and\npublished against the bishop, with the copy of the numerous and infamous\nsuits which he had sustained before the civil courts, and had almost\ninvariably lost, with the sentences of the judges who had condemned him.\nThis took me nearly two months of the hardest labors of my life. I had\ngathered all those documents, which covered more than 200 pages of\nfoolscap. I mailed them to Pope Pius IX., accompanied by only the\nfollowing words: \u201cHoly Father, for the sake of your precious lambs which\nare slaughtered and devoured in this vast diocese by a ravening wolf,\nBishop O\u2019Regan, and in the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ, I implore\nyour Holiness to see if what is contained in these documents is correct\nor not. If everything is found correct, for the sake of the blood shed\non Calvary, to save our immortal souls, please take away from our midst,\nthe unworthy bishop whose daily scandals can no longer be tolerated by a\nChristian people.\u201d\n\nIn order to prevent the Pope\u2019s servants from throwing my letter with\nthose documents into their waste paper baskets, I sent a copy of them\nall to Napoleon III., Emperor of France, respectfully requesting him to\nsee, through his ambassador at Washington, and his consul at Chicago,\nwhether these papers contained the truth or not. I told him how his\ncountrymen were trampled under the feet of Bishop O\u2019Regan, and how they\nwere ruined and spoiled to the benefit of the Irish people; how the\nchurches built by the money of the French were openly stolen, and\ntransferred to the emigrants from Ireland. Napoleon had just sent an\narmy to punish the Emperor of China on account of some injustice done to\na Frenchman. I told him \u201cthe injustice done to that Frenchman in the\nChinese Empire is nothing to what is done here every day, not against\none, but hundreds of your majesty\u2019s countrymen. A word from the Emperor\nof France to His Holiness will do here what your armies have done in\nChina: force the unjust and merciless oppressor of the French of\nIllinois to do them justice.\u201d\n\nI ended my letter by saying:\n\n\u201cMy grandfather, though born in Spain, married a French lady, and\nbecame, by choice and adoption, a French citizen. He became a captain in\nthe French navy, and for gallant service, was awarded lands in Canada,\nwhich by the fate of war fell into the hands of Great Britain. Upon\nretiring from the service of France he settled upon his estates in\nCanada, where my father and myself were born. I am thus, with other\nCanadians who have come to this country, a British subject by birth, an\nAmerican citizen by adoption, but French still in blood and Roman\nCatholic in religion. I, therefore, on the part of a noble French\npeople, humbly ask your majesty to aid us by interceding with his\nholiness, Pope Pius IX., to have these outrages and wrongs righted.\u201d\n\nThe success of this bold step was more prompt and complete than I had\nexpected. The Emperor was, then, all powerful at Rome. He had not only\nbrought the Pope from Civita Vecchia to Rome, after taking that city\nfrom the hands of the Italian Republicans, a few years before, but he\nwas still the very guardian and protector of the Pope.\n\nA few months later, when in Chicago, the Grand Vicar Dunn showed me a\nletter from Bishop O\u2019Regan, who had been ordered to go to Rome and give\nan account of his administration in which he had said: \u201cOne of the\nstrangest things which has occurred to me in Rome, is that the influence\nof the Emperor Napoleon is against me here. I can not understand what\nright he he has to meddle in the affairs of my diocese.\u201d\n\nI had learned since, that it was really through the advice of Napoleon\nthat Cardinal Bidini, who had been previously sent to the United States\nto inquire about the scandal given by Bishop O\u2019Regan, gave his opinion\nin our favor. The cardinal, having consulted the bishops of the United\nStates, who unanimously denounced O\u2019Regan as unfit and unworthy of such\na high position, immediately ordered him to go to Rome, where the Pope\nunceremoniously transferred him from the bishopric of Chicago to a\ndiocese extinct more than 1,200 years ago, called \u201cDora.\u201d This was as\ngood as a bishopric in the moon. He consoled himself in his misfortune\nby drawing the hundreds of thousands of dollars of stolen money he had\nsent at different times, to be deposited in the banks of Paris, and went\nto Ireland, where he established a bank, and died in 1865.\n\nOn the 11th of March, 1858, at about 10 o\u2019clock p. m., I was not a\nlittle pleased and surprised to hear the voice of my devoted friend,\nRev. Mr. Dunn, grand vicar of Chicago, asking my hospitality for the\nnight. His first words were:\n\n\u201cMy visit here must be absolutely incognito. In ordering me to come and\nsee you, the bishop of Dubuque, who is just named administrator of\nChicago, advised me to come as secretly as possible. He said: 'Your\ntriumph at Rome is perfect. You have gained the greatest victory a\npriest ever won over his unjust bishop; but you must thank the Emperor\nNapoleon for it. It is to his advice which, under the present\ncircumstances, is equal to an order, that you owe the protection of the\nCardinal Bidini. His report to the Pope is, that all the documents you\nsent to Rome were correct. The inquiry of the cardinal has brought facts\nto the knowledge of the Pope, still more compromising than what you have\nwritten against him. Several bishops of the United States have\nunanimously denounced Bishop O\u2019Regan as a most depraved man, entirely\nunworthy of his position, and have advised the pope to take him away and\nchoose another bishop for Chicago. It is acknowledged, at Rome, that all\nthe sentences pronounced by that bishop against you, are unjust and\nnull. Our good administrator has been advised to put an end, at once, to\nall the troubles of your colony, by treating you as a good and faithful\npriest.\u2019\n\n\u201cI come here, not only to congratulate you on your victory, but also to\nthank you, in my name, and in the name of the church, for having saved\nour diocese from such a plague; for Bishop O\u2019Regan is a real plague. A\nfew more years of such administration would have destroyed our holy\nreligion in Illinois. However, as you handled the poor bishop pretty\nroughly, it is suspected, at a distance, that you and your people are\nmore Protestants than Catholics. We know better here; for, from the\nbeginning, it was evident that the act of excommunication, posted at the\ndoor of your chapel by three priests too drunk to know what they were\nabout, is a nullity, having never been signed by the bishop. It was a\nshameful and sacrilegious comedy. But, in many distant places, that\nexcommunication was accepted as valid, and you are considered by many,\nas a real schismatic. Bishop Smith has thought it advisable to ask you\nto give him a written and canonical act of submission, which he will\npublish to show the world that you are still a good Roman Catholic\npriest.\u201d\n\nI thanked the grand vicar for his kind words, and the good news he was\ngiving me, and I asked him to help me to thank God for having so visibly\nprotected and guided me through all these terrible difficulties. We both\nknelt and repeated the sublime words of gratitude and joy of the old\nprophet: \u201cBless the Lord, oh! my soul, and all that is within me, bless\nHis holy name,\u201d etc. (Ps. ciii.) I then said that I had no objection to\ngive the renewed act of my faith and submission to the church, that it\nmight be published. I took a piece of paper, and with emotions of joy\nand gratitude to God, which it would be impossible to express, I slowly\nprepared to write. But as I was considering what form I should give to\nthat document, a sudden, strange thought struck my mind: \u201cIs this not\nthe golden opportunity to put an end to the terrible temptations which\nhave shaken my faith and distressed me for so many years, I said to\nmyself:\n\n\u201cIs not this a providential opportunity to silence those mysterious\nvoices which are troubling me almost every hour? That, in the church of\nRome, we do not follow the Word of God, but the lying traditions of\nmen?\u201d\n\nI determined then to frame my act of submission in such a way that I\nwould silence those voices, and be, more than ever, sure that my faith,\nthe faith of my dear church, which had just given me such a glorious\nvictory at Rome, was based upon the Holy Word of God, on the divine\ndoctrines of the gospel. I then wrote down, in my own name and in the\nname of my people:\n\n\u201cMy lord Bishop Smith, bishop of Dubuque and administrator of the\ndiocese of Chicago:\u2014We want to live and die in the holy Catholic,\napostolic and Roman church, out of which there is no salvation, and to\nprove this to your lordship, we promise to obey the authority of the\nchurch according to the word and commandments of God as we find them\nexpressed in the gospel of Christ.\n\n \u201cC. CHINIQUY.\u201d\n\nI handed this writing to Mr. Dunn, and said:\n\n\u201cWhat do you think of this act of submission?\u201d He quickly read it and\nanswered:\n\n\u201cIt is just what we want from you.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll right,\u201d I rejoined. \u201cBut I fear the bishop will not accept it. Do\nyou not see that I have put a condition to our submission? I say that we\nwill submit ourselves to the bishop\u2019s authority, but only according to\nthe Word of God and the gospel of Christ.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs not that good?\u201d quickly replied Mr. Dunn.\n\n\u201cYes, my dear, Mr. Dunn, this is good, very good indeed,\u201d I answered,\n\u201cBut my fear is that it is too good for the bishop and the Pope!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d he replied.\n\n\u201cI mean that though this act of submission is very good, I fear lest the\nPope and the bishop reject it.\u201d\n\n\u201cPlease explain yourself more clearly,\u201d answered the grand vicar. \u201cI do\nnot understand the reason for such a fear.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear Mr. Dunn,\u201d I continued, \u201cI must confess to you here, a thing\nwhich is known only to God. I must show you a bleeding wound which is in\nmy soul for many years: A wound which has never been healed by any of\nthe remedies I have applied to it. It is a wound which I never dared to\nshow to any man, except to my confessor, though it has often made me\nsuffer almost the tortures of hell. You know well that there is not a\nliving priest who has studied the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers,\nwith more attention and earnestness, these last few years, than I have.\nIt was not only to strengthen my own faith, but also, the faith of our\npeople, and to be able to fight the battles of our church against her\nenemies, that I spent so many hours of my days and nights in those\nstudies.\n\n\u201cBut, though I am confounded and ashamed to confess it to you, I must do\nit. The more I have studied and compared the Holy Scriptures and the\nHoly Fathers with the teachings of our church, the more my faith has\nbeen shaken, and the more I have been tempted to think, in spite of\nmyself, that our church has, long ago, given up the Word of God and the\nHoly Fathers, in order to walk in the muddy and crooked ways of human\nand false traditions. Yes! the more I study, the more I am troubled by\nthe strange and mysterious voices which haunt me day and night, saying:\n\n\u201cDo you not see that in your Church of Rome, you do not follow the Word\nof God, but the lying traditions of men?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is more strange and painful is that, the more I pray to God to\nsilence these voices, the louder they repeat the same distressing\nthings. It is to put an end to those awful temptations that I have\nwritten this conditional submission. I want to prove to myself that I\nwill obey the Word of God and the gospel of Christ, in our church, and I\nshall be happy all the rest of my life, if the bishops accept this\nsubmission. But I fear it will be rejected.\u201d Mr. Dunn promptly replied:\n\n\u201cYou are mistaken, my dear Mr. Chiniquy. I am sure that our bishop will\naccept this document as canonical, and sufficient to show your orthodoxy\nto the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf it be so,\u201d I replied, \u201cI will be a most happy man.\u201d It was agreed\nthat on the 25th of March, I would go with him to Dubuque, to present my\nact of submission to the administrator of the diocese, after the people\nhad signed it. Accordingly, at 7 p. m. on that day, we both took the\ntrain at Chicago for Dubuque, where we arrived next morning. At 11 a.\nm., I went to the palace of the bishop, who received me with marks of\nthe utmost cordiality and affection. I presented him our written act of\nsubmission with a trembling hand, fearing he would reject it. He read it\ntwice, and throwing his arms around me, he pressed me to his heart. I\nfelt his tears of joy mixed with mine, rolling down my cheeks, as he\nsaid:\n\n\u201cHow happy I am to see that submission! How happy the Pope and all the\nbishops of the United States will be to hear of it, for I will not\nconceal it from you; we feared that both you and your people would\nseparate from the church by refusing to submit to her authority.\u201d\n\nI answered that I was not less happy to see an end to those painful\ndifficulties, and I promised him that, with the help of God, our holy\nchurch would not have a more faithful priest than myself.\n\nWhile engaged in that pleasant conversation, the dinner hour came. He\ngave me the place of honor on his right, before the two grand vicars,\nand nothing could be more pleasant than the time we spent around the\ntable, which was served with a good and well prepared, though frugal\nmeal. I was happy to see that the bishop, with his priests, were\nteetotalers. No wine nor beer to tempt the weak. Before the dinner was\nover, the bishop said to Mr. Dunn:\n\n\u201cYou will accompany Mr. Chiniquy to St. Anne, in order to announce, in\nmy name, to the people, the restoration of peace, next Sabbath. No doubt\nit will be joyful news to the colony of Father Chiniquy.\n\n\u201cAfter so many years of hard fighting, the pastor and the people of St.\nAnne will enjoy the days of peace and rest which are now secured to\nthem.\u201d\n\nThen, addressing himself to me, the bishop said:\n\n\u201cThe only condition of that peace is that you will spend fifteen days in\nretreat and meditation in one of the religious houses you will choose\nyourself. I think that, after so much noise and exciting controversies,\nit will do you good to pass those days in meditation and prayer, in some\nof our beautiful and peaceful solitudes.\n\nI answered him: \u201cIf your lordship had not offered me the favor of those\ndays of perfect and Christian rest, I would have asked you to grant it.\nI consider it as a crowning of all your acts of kindness to offer me\nthose few days of calm and meditation, after the terrible storms of\nthose last three years. If your lordship has no objection to my choice,\nI will go to the beautiful solitude where M. Saurin has built the\ncelebrated Monastery, College and University of St. Joseph, Indiana. I\nhope that nothing will prevent my being there next Monday. After going,\nnext Sabbath, in the company of Grand Vicar Dunn, to proclaim the\nrestoration of the blessed peace to my people of St. Anne.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou cannot make a better choice,\u201d answered the bishop.\n\n\u201cBut, my lord,\u201d I rejoined, \u201cI hope your lordship will have no objection\nto give me a written assurance of the perfect restoration of that\nlong-sought peace. There are people who, I know, will not believe me,\nwhen I tell them how quickly and nobly your lordship has put an end to\nall those deplorable difficulties. I want to show them that I stand,\nto-day, in the same relation with my superiors and the church in which I\nstood previous to these unfortunate strifes.\u201d\n\n\u201cCertainly,\u201d said the bishop, \u201cyou are in need of such a document from\nyour bishop, and you shall have it. I will write it at once.\u201d\n\nBut, he had not yet written two lines, when Mr. Dunn looked at his watch\nand said: \u201cWe have not a minute to lose, if we want to be in time for\nthe Chicago train.\u201d\n\nI then said to the bishop: \u201cPlease, my lord, address me that important\ndocument to Chicago, where I will get it at the postoffice, on my way to\nthe University of St. Joseph, next Monday; your lordship will have\nplenty of time to write it, this afternoon.\u201d\n\nThe bishop, having consented, I hastily took leave of him, with Mr.\nDunn, after having received his benediction.\n\nOn our way back to St. Anne, the next day, we stopped at Bourbonnaise to\nsee the grand vicar Mailloux, one of the priests who had been sent by\nthe bishops of Canada to help my lord O\u2019Regan to crush me. We found him\nas he was going to his dining room to take his dinner. He was visibly\nhumiliated by the complete defeat of Bishop O\u2019Regan, at Rome.\n\nAfter Mr, Dunn told him that he was sent to proclaim peace to the people\nof St. Anne, he coldly asked the written proof of such strange news.\n\nMr. Dunn answered him: \u201cDo you think, sir, that I would be mean enough\nto tell you a lie?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not say that you are telling me a lie,\u201d replied Mr. Mailloux, \u201cI\nbelieve what you say. But, I want to know the condition of that\nunexpected peace. Has Mr. Chiniquy made his submission to the church?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d I replied, \u201chere is a copy of my act of submission.\u201d\n\nHe read it, and coldly said: \u201cThis is not an act of submission to the\nchurch, but only to the authority of the Gospel, which is a very\ndifferent thing. This document can be presented by a Protestant; but, it\ncannot be offered by a Catholic priest to his bishop. I cannot\nunderstand how our bishop did not see that at once.\u201d\n\nMr. Dunn answered him: \u201cMy dear grand vicar Mailloux, I have often been\ntold that it does not do to be more loyal than the king. My hope was\nthat you would rejoice with us at the news of the peace. I am sorry to\nsee that I was mistaken. However, I must tell you that if you want to\nfight, you will have nobody to fight against; for Father Chiniquy was,\nyesterday, accepted as a regular priest of our holy church by the\nadministrator. This ought to satisfy you.\u201d\n\nI listened to the unpleasant conversation of those two grand vicars,\nwith painful feelings, without saying a word. For, I was troubled by\nthose mysterious voices which were reiterating in my mind the cry: \u201cDo\nyou not see that in the Church of Rome, you do not follow the Word of\nGod, but only the lying traditions of men?\u201d\n\nI felt much relieved, when I left the house of that so badly disposed\nconfrere, to come to St. Anne, where the people had gathered on the\npublic square, to receive us, and rend the air with their cries of joy\nat the happy news of peace.\n\nThe next day, 27th of March, was Palm Sunday, one of the grand\nfestivities of the Church of Rome; there was an immense concourse of\npeople, attracted not only by the religious solemnity of the feast; but\nalso by the desire to see and hear the deputy sent by their bishop to\nproclaim peace. He did it in a most elegant English address, which I\ntranslated into French. He presented me a blessed palm, and I offered\nhim another loaded with beautiful flowers, in the presence of the\npeople, as a public sign of the concord which was restored between my\ncolony and the authorities of the church.\n\nThat my Christian readers may understand my blindness, and the mercies\nof God towards me, I must confess here, to my shame, that I was glad to\nhave made my peace with those sinful men, which was not peace with my\nGod. But, that great God had looked down upon me in mercy. He was soon\nto break that peace with the great apostate church, which is poisoning\nthe world with the wine of her enchantments, that I might walk in the\nlight of the Gospel and possess that peace and joy which passeth all\nunderstanding.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXV.\n\nEXCELLENT TESTIMONIAL FROM MY BISHOP\u2014MY RETREAT\u2014GRAND VICAR SAURIN AND\n HIS ASSISTANT, REV. M. GRANGER\u2014GRAND VICAR DUNN WRITES ME ABOUT THE\n NEW STORM PREPARED BY THE JESUITS\u2014BISHOP SMITH, ORDERS ME BACK TO\n DUBUQUE\u2014HE REJECTS THE ACTS OF SUBMISSION\u2014THE VOICE OF GOD\u2014THE BISHOP\n REQUIRES A NEW ACT OF SUBMISSION\u2014I REFUSE IT\u2014VISION\u2014CHRIST OFFERS\n HIMSELF AS A GIFT\u2014I AM FORGIVEN, RICH HAPPY AND SAVED\u2014BACK TO MY\n PEOPLE.\n\n\nBishop Smith had fulfilled his promise in addressing to me a testimonial\nletter, which would show to both friends and foes that the most\nhonorable and lasting peace between us was to succeed the deplorable\nyears of strife through which we had just passed. I read it with grand\nvicar Dunn, who was not less pleased than I with the kind expressions of\nesteem towards my people and myself with which it was filled. I had\nnever had a document in which my private and public character were so\nkindly appreciated. I put it in my portfolio as the most precious\ntreasure I had ever possessed, and my gratitude to the bishop who had\nwritten such friendly lines, was boundless. I, at once, addressed a\nshort letter to thank and bless him: and I requested him to pray for me\nduring the happy days of retreat I was to spend at the monastery of St.\nJoseph.\n\nThe venerable grand vicar Saurin, and his assistant, Rev. M. Granger,\nreceived me as two Christian gentlemen receive a brother priest, and I\nmay say that, during my stay in the monastery, they constantly\noverwhelmed me with the most sincere marks of kindness. I found in them\nboth the very best types of priests of Rome. A volume, and not a\nchapter, would be required, were I to tell what I saw there of the zeal,\ndevotedness, ability and marvellous success of their labors. Suffice it\nto say, that grand vicar Saurin is justly considered one of the largest\nand highest intellects Rome has ever given to the United States. There\nis not, perhaps, a man who has done so much for the advancement of that\nchurch in this country as that highly gifted priest. My esteem, respect,\nI venture to say, my veneration for him, increased every time I had the\nprivilege of conversing with him. The only things which pained me were:\n\n1st. When some of his inferior monks came to speak to him, they had to\nkneel and prostrate themselves as if he had been a god, and they had to\nremain in that humble and degrading posture, till, with a sign of his\nhand or a word from his lips, he told them to rise.\n\n2nd. Though he promised to the numerous Protestant parents, who\nentrusted their boys and girls to his care for their education, never to\ninterfere with their religion, he was, nevertheless, incessantly\nproselytizing them. Several of his Protestant pupils were received in\nthe Church of Rome, and renounced the religion of their fathers, in my\npresence, on the eve of Easter of that year.\n\nWhile, as a priest, I rejoiced in the numerous conquests of my church\nover her enemies, in all our colleges and nunneries, I objected to the\nbreach of promise, always connected with those conversions. I, however,\nthen thought, as I think to-day, that a Protestant who takes his\nchildren to a Roman Catholic priest or nun for their education, had no\nreligion.\n\nIt is simply an absurdity to promise that we will respect the religion\nof a man who has none. How can we respect that which does not exist?\n\nAs a general thing, there are too few people who understand the profound\nmeaning of our Saviour\u2019s words to his disciples: \u201cCome ye yourselves\napart into a desert place and rest a while.\u201d These words, uttered after\nthe apostles had gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him\nall things both what they had done and taught, ought to receive more\nattention, on the part of those whom the Son of God has chosen to\ncontinue the great work of preaching his Gospel to the world. I had\nnever before so well realized how good it was to be alone with Christ,\nand tell him all I had done, said and thought. Those few days of rest\nand communion with my Saviour were one of the greatest favors my\nmerciful God had ever given me.\n\nMy principal occupation was to read and meditate on the Gospel. That\ndivine book had never been so precious to me as since God had directed\nme to put it as the fundamental stone of my faith in the act of\nsubmission I had just given to my bishop: and my church had never been\nso dear to me as since she had accepted that conditional submission. I\nfelt a holy pride and joy at having finally silenced the voice of the\nenemy which, so often, troubled my faith by crying to my soul: \u201cDo you\nnot see that in your Church of Rome, you do not follow the Word of God,\nbut only the lying traditions of men.\u201d My church, through her bishop,\nhad just given me what I considered an infallible assurance of the\ncontrary, by accepting the document signed by me and my people, where we\nhad clearly said that we would never obey any authority or any superior,\nexcept when \u201ctheir orders or doctrines would be based upon the Gospel of\nChrist.\u201d My soul was rejoicing in those thoughts, when, on the 5th of\nApril (Monday after Easter) grand vicar Saurin handed me a letter from\nMr. Dunn, telling me that a new storm, brought by the Jesuits, and more\nformidable than the past ones, was about to break on me; that I had to\nprepare for new and more serious conflicts than I had ever experienced.\n\nThe next morning, Mr. Saurin handed me another letter from the Bishop of\nDubuque, and with a sympathy which I will never forget, he said:\n\n\u201cI am sorry to see that you are not at the end of your troubles, as you\nexpected.\n\n\u201cBishop Smith orders you back to Dubuque with words which are far from\nbeing friendly.\u201d\n\nBut, strange to say, such bad news, which would have saddened and\ndiscouraged me, in other circumstances, left me perfectly calm and\ncheerful on that day. In my dear Gospel, which had been my daily bread,\nthe last eight days, I had found the helmet for my head, the breastplate\nand the shield to protect me, and the unconquerable sword with which to\nfight.\n\nFrom every page, I heard my Saviour\u2019s voice: \u201cFear not, I am with thee.\u201d\n\nWhen, on my way back to Dubuque, I stopped at Chicago, to know from my\nfaithful friend, Mr. Dunn, the cause of the new storm. He said:\n\n\u201cYou remember how grand vicar Mailloux was displeased with the\nconditional submission you had given to the bishop. As soon as we had\nleft him, he sent the young priest who is with him, to the Jesuits of\nChicago, to tell them that the authority of the church and of the bishop\nwould be forever lost, if Chiniquy were allowed to submit on such a\ncondition. He wanted them to notice that it was not to the authority of\nthe bishops and the church you had submitted; but only to the authority\nof the Bible. The Jesuits were of the same mind. They immediately sent\nto Dubuque, and said to the bishop: \u2018Do you not see that Chiniquy is a\ndisguised Protestant; that he has deceived you by presenting you such an\nact of submission. Does not your lordship see that Chiniquy has not\nsubmitted himself to your authority, but to the authority of his Bible\nalone? Do you not fear that the whole body of the bishops and the Pope\nhimself will condemn you for having fallen into the trap prepared by\nthat disguised Protestant?\u2019\n\n\u201cOur administrator, though a good man when left to himself, is weak, and\nlike soft wax, can be manipulated in every way.\n\n\u201cThe Jesuits who want to rule the priests and the church with an iron\nrod, and who are aiming to change the Pope and the bishops into the most\nheartless tyrants, have advised the administrator to force you to give\nan unconditional act of submission. It is not the Word of God which must\nrule us now, it is the old Jupiter, who is coming back to rule us under\nthe name of a modern divinity, called \u2018the authority of the bishops.\u2019\nThe administrator and the Jesuits themselves, have telegraphed your\nsubmission to several bishops, who have unanimously answered that it\nmust be rejected, and another given, without condition, requested from\nyou. You were evidently too correct, when you told me the other day,\nthat your act of submission was too good for the bishops and the Pope.\nWhat will you do?\u201d\n\nI replied: \u201cI do not know what I will do, but be sure of this, my dear\nMr. Dunn, I will do what our great and merciful God will tell me.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well, very well,\u201d he answered, \u201cMay God help you!\u201d[H].\n\n-----\n\nFootnote H:\n\n That same Mr. Dunn was also excommunicated, not long after, by his\n bishop, and died after publicly refusing to be relieved from that\n sentence.\n\n-----\n\nAfter warmly shaking hands with me, I left to take the train for\nDubuque, where I arrived, next morning. I went immediately to the\nbishop\u2019s palace. I found him in the company of a Jesuit, and I felt\nmyself as a poor helpless ship between two threatening icebergs.\n\n\u201cYour lordship wants to see me again,\u201d I said.\n\n\u201cYes, sir, I want to see you again,\u201d he answered.\n\n\u201cWhat do you want from me my lord?\u201d I replied.\n\n\u201cHave you the testimonial letter I addressed to you, at Chicago, last\nweek?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my lord, I have it with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill you please show it to me,\u201d he replied.\n\n\u201cWith pleasure, here it is,\u201d and I handed him the precious document.\n\nAs soon as he had assured himself that it was the very letter in\nquestion, he ran to the stove and threw it into the fire. I felt so\npuzzled at the action of my bishop, that I remained almost paralyzed;\nbut soon, coming to myself, I ran, to save from the flames, that\ndocument which was more valuable and precious to me than all the gold of\nCalifornia, but it was too late. It was in ashes.\n\nI turned to the bishop and said: \u201cHow can you take from me a document\nwhich is my property, and destroy it without my permission?\u201d\n\nHe answered me with an impudence that cannot be expressed on paper: \u201cI\nam your superior, and have no account to give you.\u201d\n\nI replied: \u201cYes, my lord, you are my superior indeed. You are a great\nbishop in our church, and I am nothing but a poor miserable priest.\n\n\u201cBut, there is an Almighty God in heaven, who is as much above you as he\nis above me. That great God has granted me\n\nrights which I will never give up to please any man. In the presence of\nGod, I protest against your iniquity.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you come here to lecture me?\u201d replied the bishop.\n\n\u201cNo, my lord, I did not come to lecture you; I come at your command, but\nI want to know if it was to insult me as you have just done that you\nrequested me to come here again.\u201d\n\n\u201cI ordered you to come here again because you deceived me the last time\nyou were here,\u201d he answered: \u201cyou gave me an act of submission which you\nknow very well is not an act of submission. I accepted it then, but I\nwas mistaken; I reject it to-day.\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cHow can you say that I deceived you? The document I\npresented you, is written in good, plain English. It is there, on your\ntable, I see it: you read it twice, and understood it well. If you were\ndeceived by its contents, you deceived yourself. You are, then, a\nself-deceiver and you cannot accuse me of having deceived you.\u201d\n\nHe then took the document, read it slowly: and when at the words, \u201cwe\nsubmit ourselves to your authority, according to the Word of God as we\nfind it in the Gospel of Christ,\u201d he stopped and said: \u201cWhat do you mean\nby this?\u201d\n\nI answered, \u201cI mean what you see there. I mean that neither I nor my\npeople will ever submit ourselves to anybody, except according to the\neternal laws of truth, justice and holiness of God, as we find them\nexpressed in the Bible.\u201d\n\nHe angrily answered, \u201cSuch language on your part is sheer Protestantism.\nI cannot accept such a conditional submission from any priest.\u201d\n\nThen, again, I seemed to hear the mysterious voice, \u201cDo you not see that\nin your Church of Rome, you do not follow the Word of God, but the lying\ntraditions of men?\u201d\n\nThanks be to God, I did not silence that voice in that solemn hour.\n\nAn ardent, though silent prayer, went from the bottom of my heart to the\nmercy seat. With all the fervor of my soul I said: \u201cOh my God! speak,\nspeak again to thy poor servant, and grant me the grace to follow thy\nHoly Word!\u201d I then said to the bishop:\n\n\u201cYou distress me by rejecting this act of submission, and asking\nanother. Please explain yourself more clearly, and tell me the nature of\nthe new one you require from me and my people.\u201d\n\nTaking then a more subdued and polite tone, the bishop said:\n\n\u201cI hope, Mr. Chiniquy, that, as a good priest, you do not want to rebel\nagainst your bishop, and that you will give me the act of submission I\nask from you. Take away these \u2018Words of God,\u2019 \u2018Gospel of Christ,\u2019 and\n\u2018Bible,\u2019 from your present document, and I will be satisfied.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, my lord, with my people, I have put these words because we want to\nobey only the bishops who follow the Word of God. We want to submit only\nto the church which respects and follows the Gospel of Christ.\u201d\n\nIn an irritated manner, he quickly answered: \u201cTake away from your act of\nsubmission, those \u2018Words of God,\u2019 and \u2018Gospel of Christ,\u2019 and \u2018Bible!\u2019\nor I will punish you as a rebel.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d I replied, \u201cthose expressions are there to show us and to the\nwhole world, that the Word of God, the Gospel of Christ and the Bible,\nare the fundamental stones of our holy church. If we reject those\nprecious stones, on what foundations will our church and our faith\nrest?\u201d\n\nHe answered angrily: \u201cMr. Chiniquy, I am your superior, I do not want to\nargue with you: You are my inferior, your business is to obey me. Give\nme, at once, an act of submission in which you will simply say that you\nand your people will submit yourselves to my authority, and promise to\ndo anything I will bid you.\u201d\n\nI calmly answered: \u201cWhat you ask me is not an act of submission, it is\nan act of adoration. I do absolutely refuse to give it.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf it be so, sir,\u201d he answered, \u201cyou can no longer be a Roman Catholic\npriest.\u201d\n\nI raised my hands to heaven, and cried with a loud voice: \u201cMay God\nAlmighty be forever blessed.\u201d\n\nI took my hat and left to go to my hotel. When alone, in my room, I\nlocked the door and fell on my knees, to consider, in the presence of\nGod, what I had just done. There, the awful, undeniable truth stared me\nin the face. My church could not be the Church of Christ! That sad truth\nhad not been revealed to me by any Protestant, nor any other enemy of\nthe church. It was from her own lips I had got it? It had been told me\nby one of her most learned and devoted bishops! My church was the\ndeadly, the irreconcilable enemy of the Word of God, as I had so often\nsuspected! I was not allowed to remain a single day longer in that\nchurch without positively and publicly giving up the Gospel of Christ!\nIt was evident to me that the Gospel was only a blind, a mockery to\nconceal her iniquities, tyrannies, superstitions and idolatries. The\nonly use of the Gospel in my church, was to throw dust in the eyes of\nthe priests and people! It had no authority. The only rule and guide\nwere the will, the passions and the dictates of sinful men!\n\nThere, on my knees, and alone with God, it was evident to me that the\nvoice which had so often troubled and shaken my faith, was the voice of\nmy merciful God who wanted to save me. It was the voice of my dear\nSaviour, who wanted to bring me out of the ways of perdition in which I\nwas walking. And I had tried so often to silence that voice!\n\n\u201cMy God! my God!\u201d I cried, \u201cThe Church of Rome is not thy church. To\nobey the voice of my conscience, which is thine, I gave it up. When I\nhad the choice between giving up the Church or the Bible, I did not\nhesitate. I could not give up thy Holy Word. I have given up Rome! But,\nO Lord, where is thy church? Oh! speak!! where must I go to be saved?\u201d\n\nFor more than one hour, I cried to God in vain; no answer came. In vain,\nI cried for a ray of light to guide me. The more I prayed and wept, the\ngreater was the darkness which surrounded me! I then felt as if God had\nforsaken me, and an unspeakable distress was the result of that horrible\nthought. To add to my distress, the thought flashed across my mind that\nby giving up the Church of Rome, I had given up the church of my dear\nfather and mother, of my brothers, my friends and my country. In fact\nall that was near and dear to me!\n\nI hope that none of my readers will ever experience what it is to give\nup friends, relatives, parents, honor, country\u2014everything! I did not\nregret the sacrifice, but I felt as if I could not survive it. With\ntears, I cried to God for more strength and faith to bear the cross\nwhich was laid on my too weak shoulders but all in vain.\n\nThen I felt that an implacable war was to be declared against me, which\nwould end only with my life. The Pope, the bishops and priests, all over\nthe world, would denounce and curse me. They would attack and destroy my\ncharacter, my name and my honor, in their press, from their pulpit and\nin their confessionals, where the man they strike can never know whence\nthe blow is coming! Almost in despair, I tried to think of some one who\nwould come to my help in that formidable conflict, but could find none.\nEvery one of the millions of Roman Catholics were bound to curse me. My\nbest friends\u2014my own people\u2014even my own brothers, were bound to look upon\nme with horror as an apostate, a vile outcast! Could I hope for help or\nprotection from Protestants? No! for my priestly life had been spent in\nwriting and preaching against them. In vain would I try to give an idea\nof the desolation I felt, when that thought struck my mind.\n\nForsaken by God and man, what would become of me? Where would I go when\nout of that room?\n\nExpelled with contempt by my former Roman Catholic friends; repulsed\nwith still more contempt by Protestants; where could I go to hide my\nshame and drag my miserable existence? How could I go again into that\nworld where there was no more room for me; where there was no hand to\npress mine; none to smile upon me! Life suddenly became to me an\nunbearable burden. My brain seemed to be filled with burning coals. I\nwas losing my mind. Yea, death, an instant death seemed to me the\ngreatest blessing in that awful hour! and, will I say it? Yes! I took my\nknife to cut my throat and put an end to my miserable existence! But my\nmerciful God, who wanted only to humble me, by showing me my own\nhelplessness, stopped my hand, and the knife fell on the floor.\n\nThough I felt the pangs of that desolation for more than two hours, I\nconstantly cried to God for a ray of his saving light, for a word\ntelling me what to do, where to go to be saved. At last, drops of cold\nsweat began to cover again my face and my whole body. The pulsations of\nmy heart began to be very slow and weak: I felt so feeble that I\nexpected to faint at any moment, or fall dead! At first I thought that\ndeath would be a great relief, but then, I said to myself: \u201cIf I die,\nwhere will I go, when there is no faith, nor a ray of light to illumine\nmy poor perishing soul! Oh, my dear Saviour,\u201d I cried, \u201ccome to my help!\nLift up the light of thy reconciled countenance upon me.\u201d\n\nIn that very instant, I remembered that I had my dear New Testament with\nme, which I used then, as now, to carry everywhere. The thought flashed\nacross my mind that I would find in that divine book the answer to my\nprayer, and light to guide me through that dark night to that house of\nrefuge and salvation, after which my soul was ardently longing. With a\ntrembling hand and a praying heart, I opened the book at random; but,\nno! not I, my God himself opened it for me. My eyes fell on these words:\n\u201cYE ARE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE. BE NOT YE THE SERVANTS OF MEN.\u201d (1 Cor.,\n7:23.)\n\nStrange to say! Those words came to my mind, more as a light than an\narticulated sound. They, suddenly, but most beautifully and powerfully,\ngave me, as much as a man can know it, the knowledge of the great\nmystery of a perfect salvation through Christ alone. They, at once,\nbrought a great and delightful calm to my soul. I said to myself: \u201cJesus\nhas bought me, then I am His; for when I have bought a thing, it is\nmine, absolutely mine! Jesus has bought me! I, then, belong to him! He\nalone has a right over me. I do not belong to the bishops, to the Popes;\nnot even to the church, as I have been told till now. I belong to Jesus,\nand to him alone! His Word must be my guide, and my light by day and by\nnight. Jesus has bought me, I said again to myself; then He has saved\nme! and if so, I am saved, perfectly saved, for ever saved! for Jesus\ncannot save me by half. Jesus is my God; the works of God are perfect.\nMy salvation must, then, be a perfect salvation! But how has he saved\nme? What price has he paid for my poor guilty soul? The answer came as\nquickly as lightning: \u201cHe bought you with his blood shed on the cross!\nHe saved you by dying on Calvary!\u201d\n\nI, then, said to myself again: \u201cIf Jesus has perfectly saved me by\nshedding his blood on the cross, I am not saved as I have thought and\npreached till now, by my penances, my prayers to Mary and the saints, my\nconfessions and indulgences, not even by the flames or purgatory.\n\nIn that instant, all things which, as a Roman Catholic, I had to believe\nto be saved\u2014all the mummeries by which the poor Roman Catholics are so\ncruelly deceived, the chaplets, indulgences, scapularies, auricular\nconfession, invocation of the virgin, holy water, masses, purgatory,\netc., given as means of salvation, vanished from my mind as a huge\ntower, when struck at the foundation, crumbles to the ground. Jesus\nalone remained in my mind as the Saviour of my soul!\n\nOh! what joy I felt at this simple, but sublime truth! But it was the\nwill of God that this joy should be short. It suddenly went away with\nthe beautiful light which had caused it; and my poor soul was again\nwrapped in the most awful darkness. How ever profound that darkness was,\na still darker object presented itself before my mind. It was as a very\nhigh mountain; but not composed of sand or stones, it was the mountain\nof my sins. I saw them all standing before me. And still more horrified\nwas I when I saw it moving towards me as if, with a mighty hand, to\ncrush me. I tried to escape, but in vain. I felt tied to the floor, and\nthe next moment, it had rolled over me. I felt as crushed under its\nweight; for it was as heavy as granite. I could scarcely breathe! My\nonly hope was to cry to God for help. With a loud voice, heard by many\nin the hotel, I cried: \u201cO my God! have mercy upon me! My sins are\ndestroying me! I am lost, save me!\u201d But it seemed God could not hear me.\nThe mountain was between, to prevent my cries from reaching Him, and to\nhide my tears. I suddenly thought that God would have nothing to do with\nsuch a sinner, but to open the gates of hell to throw me into that\nburning furnace prepared for his enemies, and which I had so richly\ndeserved!\n\nI was mistaken, after eight or ten minutes of unspeakable agony, the\nrays of a new and beautiful light began to pierce through the dark cloud\nwhich hung over me. In that light, I clearly saw my Saviour. There he\nwas, bent under the weight of his heavy cross. His face was covered with\nblood, the crown of thorns was on his head and the nails in his hands.\nHe was looking at me with an expression of compassion, of love, which no\ntongue can describe. Coming to me, he said: \u201cI have heard thy cries, I\nhave seen thy tears, I come to offer myself to thee as a GIFT. I offer\nthee my blood and my bruised body as a GIFT to pay thy debts; wilt thou\ngive me thy heart? Wilt thou take my Word for the only lamp of thy feet\nand the only light of thy path? I bring thee eternal life, as a gift!\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cDear Jesus, how sweet art thy words to my soul! Speak, oh!\nspeak again! Yes, beloved Saviour, I want to love thee; but dost thou\nnot see that mountain which is crushing me? Oh! remove it! Take away my\nsins!\u201d\n\nI had not done speaking when I saw his mighty hand stretched out. He\ntouched the mountain, and it rolled into the deep, and disappeared. At\nthe same time, I felt as if a shower of the blood of the Lamb were\nfalling upon me to purify my soul. And, suddenly, my humble room was\ntransformed into a real paradise. The angels of God could not be more\nhappy than I was in that most mysterious and blessed hour of my life.\nWith an unspeakable joy, I said to my Saviour: \u201cDear Jesus, the GIFT of\nGod, I accept thee! Thou hast offered the pardon of my sins as a gift, I\naccept the gift. Thou hast brought me eternal life as a gift! I accept\nit! Thou hast redeemed and saved me, beloved Saviour, I know, I feel it.\nBut this is not enough. I do not want to be saved alone. Save my people\nalso. Save my whole country! I feel rich and happy in that gift; grant\nme to show its beauty and preciousness, to my people, that they may\naccept it, and rejoice in its possession.\u201d\n\nThis sudden revelation of that marvellous truth of salvation as a GIFT,\nhad so completely transformed me, that I felt quite a new man. The\nunutterable distress of my soul had been changed into an unspeakable\njoy. My fears had gone away, to be replaced by a courage and strength,\nsuch as I had never experienced. The Popes, with their bishops and\npriests, and millions of abject slaves might, now, attack me, I felt\nthat I was a match for them all. My great ambition was to go back to my\npeople and tell them what the Lord had done to save my soul. I washed my\ntears away, paid my bill and took the train which brought me back into\nthe midst of my dear countrymen. At that very same hour they were\nanxious and excited, for they had just received, at Kankakee City, a\ntelegram from the Bishop of Dubuque, telling them: \u201cTurn away your\npriest, for he has refused to give me an unconditional act of\nsubmission.\u201d\n\nThey had gathered in great numbers to hear the reading of that strange\nmessage. But they unanimously said: \u201cIf Mr. Chiniquy has refused to give\nan unconditional act of submission, he has done right, we will stand by\nhim to the end.\u201d However, I knew nothing of that admirable resolution. I\narrived at St. Anne, on a Sabbath day, at the hour of the morning\nservice. There was an immense crowd at the door of the chapel. They\nrushed to me and said: \u201cYou are just coming from the bishop; what good\nnews have you to bring us?\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cNo news here, my good friends, come to the chapel and I\nwill tell you what the Lord has done for my soul.\u201d\n\nWhen they had filled the large building, I told them.\n\n\u201cOur Saviour, the day before his death, said to his disciples: \u2018I will\nbe a scandal to you, this night.\u2019 I must tell you the same thing. I will\nbe, to-day, I fear, the cause of a great scandal to every one of you.\nBut, as the scandal which Christ gave to his disciples, has saved the\nworld; I hope that, by the great mercy of God, the scandal I will give\nyou will save you. I was your pastor till yesterday? But I have no more\nthat honor to-day, for I have broken the ties by which I was bound as a\nslave at the feet of the bishops and of the Pope.\u201d\n\nThis sentence was scarcely finished, when a universal cry of surprise\nand sadness filled the church. \u201cOh! what does that mean?\u201d exclaimed the\ncongregation.\n\n\u201cMy dear countrymen,\u201d I added, \u201cI have not come to tell you to follow\nme! I did not die to save your immortal souls: I have not shed my blood\nto buy you a place in heaven; but Christ has done it. Then follow Christ\nand him alone? Now, I must tell you why I have broken the ignominious\nand unbearable yoke of men, to follow Christ. You remember that, on the\n21st of March last, you signed, with me, an act of submission to the\nauthority of the Bishop of the Church of Rome, with the conditional\nclause that we would obey them only in matters which were according to\nthe teachings of the Word of God as found in the Gospel of Christ. In\nthat act of submission we did not want to be slaves of any man, but the\nservants of God, the followers of the Gospel. It was our hope then that\nour church would accept such a submission. And your joy was great, when\nyou heard that Grand Vicar Dunn was here on the 28th of March, to tell\nyou that Bishop Smith had accepted the submission. But that acceptation\nwas revoked. Yesterday, I was told in the presence of God, by the same\nbishop, that he ought not to have accepted an act of submission from any\npriest or people based on the Gospel of Christ! Yes! yesterday, Bishop\nSmith rejected, with the utmost contempt, the act of submission we had\ngiven him, and which he had accepted only two weeks ago, because the\n\u2018Word of God\u2019 was mentioned in it! When I respectfully requested him to\ntell me the nature of the new act of submission he wanted from us, he\nordered me to take away from it \u2018the Word of God, the Gospel of Christ,\nand the Bible,\u2019 if we wanted to be accepted as good Catholics! We had\nthought, till then, that the sacred Word of God, and the Holy Gospel of\nChrist were the fundamental and precious stones of the Church of Rome.\nWe loved her on that account, we wanted to remain in her bosom, even\nwhen we were forced to fight, as honest men, against that tyrant,\nO\u2019Regan. Believing that the Church of Rome was the child of the Word of\nGod, that it was the most precious fruit of the divine tree planted on\nthe earth, under the name of the Gospel, we would have given the last\ndrop of our blood to defend her!\n\n\u201cBut, yesterday, I have learned, from the very lips of the Bishops of\nRome, that we were a band of simpletons in believing those things. I\nhave learned that the Church of Rome has nothing to do with the Word of\nGod, except to throw it overboard, to trample it under their feet, and\nto forbid us even to name it in the solemn act of submission we had\ngiven. I have been told that we could no longer be Roman Catholics, if\nwe persisted in putting the Word of God and the Gospel of Christ as the\nfoundation of our religion, our faith and our submission. When I was\ntold, by the bishop, that I had either to renounce the Word of God as\nthe base of my submission, or the title of priest of Rome, I did not\nhesitate. Nothing could induce me to give up the Gospel of Christ; and\nso I gave up the title and position of priest in the Roman Catholic\nChurch. I would rather suffer a thousand deaths than renounce the Gospel\nof Christ. I am no longer a priest of Rome; but I am more than ever a\ndisciple of Christ, a follower of the Gospel. That Gospel is for me,\nwhat it was for Paul: \u2018The power of God unto salvation.\u2019 It is the bread\nof my soul. In it we can satisfy our thirst with the waters of eternal\nlife! No! no!! I could not buy the honor of being any longer a slave to\nthe bishops and popes of Rome, by giving up the Gospel of Christ!\n\n\u201cWhen I requested the bishop to give me the precise form of submission\nhe wanted from us, he answered: \u2018Give me an act of submission without\nany condition, and promise that you will do anything I bid you.\u2019 I\nreplied:\n\n\u201c\u2018This is not an act of submission, it is an act of adoration! I will\nnever give it to you.!\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018If so,\u2019 he said, \u2018you can no longer be a Roman Catholic priest.\u2019\n\n\u201cI raised my hands to heaven, and with a loud and cheerful voice, I\nsaid: \u2018May God Almighty be forever blessed.\u2019\u201d\n\nI then told them something of my desolation, when alone, in my room; of\nthe granite mountain which had been rolled over my shoulders, of my\ntears and of my despair. I told them also how my bleeding, dying\ncrucified Saviour had brought me the forgiveness of my sins; how he had\noffered me eternal salvation as a GIFT, and how rich, strong and happy I\nfelt in that gift. I then offered them the GIFT and besought them to\naccept it.\n\nMy address lasted more than two hours, and God blessed it in a\nmarvellous way. Its effects were profound and lasting, but it is too\nlong to describe here. In substance, I said: \u201cI respect you too much to\nimpose myself upon your honest consciences, or to dictate what you ought\nto do on this most solemn occasion. I feel that the hour has come for me\nto make a great sacrifice; I must leave you! but no! I will not go away\nbefore you tell me to do so. You will yourselves break the ties so dear\nwhich have united us. Please, pay attention to these, my parting words:\n\u201cIf you think it is better for you to follow the Pope than to follow\nChrist; that it is better to trust in the works of your hands, and in\nyour own merits, than in the blood of the Lamb, shed on the cross, to be\nsaved; if you think it is better for you to follow the traditions of men\nthan the Gospel; and if you believe that it is better for you to have a\npriest of Rome, who will keep you tied as slaves to the feet of the\nbishops, and who will preach to you the ordinances of men, rather than\nhave me preach to you nothing but the pure Word of God, as we find it in\nthe Gospel of Christ, tell it to me by rising up, and I will go!\u201d But to\nmy great surprise nobody moved. The chapel was filled with sobs; tears\nwere flowing from every eye; but not one moved to tell me to leave them!\nI was puzzled. For though I had hoped that many, enlightened by the\ncopies of the New Testament I had given them, tired of the tyranny of\nthe bishops, and disgusted with the superstitions of Rome, would be glad\nto break the yoke with me, to follow Christ; I was afraid that the\ngreatest number would not dare to break their allegiance to the church,\nand publicly give up her authority. After a few minutes of silence,\nduring which I mixed my tears and my sobs with those of my people, I\ntold them: \u201cWhy do you not, at once, rise up and tell me to go? You see\nthat I can no longer remain your pastor after renouncing the tyranny of\nthe bishops, and the traditions of men, to follow the Gospel of Christ\nas my only rule. Why do you not bravely tell me to go away?\u201d\n\nBut this new appeal was still without any answer. I was filled with\nastonishment. However, it was evident to me that a great and mysterious\nchange was wrought in that multitude. Their countenances, their manners\nwere completely changed. They were speaking to me with their eyes filled\nwith tears, and their manly faces beaming with joy. Their sobs, in some\nway, told me that they were filled with new light; that they were full\nof new strength, and ready to make the most heroic sacrifices, and break\ntheir fetters to follow Christ, and Him alone. There was something in\nthose brave, honest and happy faces which was telling me more\neffectually than the most eloquent speech: \u201cWe have accepted the GIFT,\nwe want to be rich, happy, free, and saved in the gift: we do not want\nanything else; remain among us and help us to love both the gift and the\ngiver!\u201d\n\nA thought suddenly flashed across my mind, and with an inexpressible\nsentiment of hope and joy, I told them:\n\n\u201cMy dear countrymen! The Mighty God, who gave me his saving light,\nyesterday, can grant you the same favor, to-day. He can, as well, save a\nthousand souls as one. I see, in your noble and Christian faces, that\nyou do not want any more to be slaves of men. You want to be the free\nchildren of God, intelligent followers of the Gospel! The light is\nshining, and you like it. The gift of God has been offered to you, and\nyou have accepted it! With me you will break the fetters of a captivity,\nworse than that of Egypt, to follow the Gospel of Christ, and take\npossession of the Promised Land: let all those who think it is better to\nfollow Jesus Christ than the Pope, better to follow the Word of God than\nthe traditions of men: let all those of you who want me to remain here\nand preach to you nothing but the Word of God, as we find it in the\nGospel of Christ, tell it to me, by rising up. I am your man! Rise up!\u201d\n\nWithout a single exception, that multitude arose! More than a thousand\nof my countrymen had, forever, broken their fetters. They had crossed\nthe Red Sea and exchanged the servitude of Egypt, for the blessings of\nthe Promised Land!\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXVI.\n\nTHE SOLEMN RESPONSIBILITIES OF MY NEW POSITION\u2014WE GIVE UP THE NAME OF\n ROMAN CATHOLIC TO CALL OURSELVES CHRISTIAN CATHOLICS\u2014DISMAY OF THE\n ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS\u2014MY LORD DUGGAN, COADJUTOR OF ST. LOUIS, HURRIED\n TO CHICAGO\u2014HE COMES TO ST. ANNE TO PERSUADE THE PEOPLE TO SUBMIT TO\n HIS AUTHORITY\u2014HE IS IGNOMINIOUSLY TURNED OUT AND RUNS AWAY IN THE\n MIDST OF THE CRIES OF THE PEOPLE.\n\n\nWhere shall I find words to express the sentiments of surprise,\nadmiration and joy I felt when, after divine service, alone in my humble\nstudy, I considered, in the presence of God, what His mighty hand had\njust wrought under my eyes. The people who surrounded the Saviour when\nhe cried to Lazarus to come forth, were not more amazed at seeing the\ndead coming out of his grave than I was when I had seen not one, but\nmore than a thousand, of my countrymen so suddenly and unexpectedly\ncoming out from the grave of the degrading slavery in which they were\nborn and brought up. No, the heart of Moses was not filled with more joy\nthan mine, when on the shores of the Red Sea, he sang his sublime hymns:\n\n\u201cI will sing unto the Lord: for He hath triumphed gloriously. The horse\nand his rider, hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and\nsong, and he is become my salvation. He is my God and I will prepare him\nan habitation: My fathers\u2019 God and I will exalt him.\u201d\u2014Ex. 15:1, 2.\n\nMy joy was, however, suddenly changed into confusion, when I considered\nthe unworthiness of the instrument which God had chosen to do that work.\nI felt this was only the beginning of the most remarkable religious\nreform which had ever occurred on this continent of America, and I was\ndismayed at the thought of such a task! I saw, at a glance, that I was\ncalled to guide my people into regions entirely new and unexplored. The\nterrible difficulties which Luther, Calvin and Knox had met, at almost\nevery step, were to meet me! Though giants, they had, at many times,\nbeen brought low and almost discouraged in their new positions. What\nwould become of me, seeing that I was so deficient in knowledge, wisdom\nand experience!\n\nMany times, during the first night, after the deliverance of my people\nfrom the bondage of the Pope, I said to my God in tears:\n\n\u201cWhy hast not thou chosen a more worthy instrument of thy mercies\ntowards my brethren?\u201d I would have shrank before the task, had not God\nsaid to me in his Word: \u201cFor ye see your calling, brethren, how that not\nmany wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are\ncalled; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound\nthe wise. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound\nthe things which are mighty, and base things of the world and things\nwhich are despised, hath God chosen; yea, the things which are not, to\nbring to naught the things which are, that no flesh should glory in his\npresence.\u201d\u20141 Cor. 1:26-30.\n\nThese words calmed my fears and gave me new courage. Next morning, I\nsaid to myself: \u201cIs it not God alone, who has done the great things of\nyesterday? Why should I not rely upon him for the things which remain to\nbe done?\n\n\u201cI am weak, it is true, but he is strong and mighty. I am unwise, but he\nis the God of light and wisdom: I am sinful, but he is the God of\nholiness: He wants the world to know that He is the worker.\u201d\n\nIt would make the most interesting book, were I to tell all the\nmarvellous episodes of the new battle my dear countrymen and I had to\nfight against Rome, in those stormy but blessed days. Let me ask my\nreaders to come with me to that Roman Catholic family and see the\nsurprise and desolation of the wife and children when the father\nreturned from public service and said: \u201cMy dear wife and children, I\nhave, forever, left the Church of Rome, and hope that you will do the\nsame. The ignominious chains by which we were tied, as the slaves of the\nbishops and of the Pope, are broken. Christ Jesus alone will reign over\nus now. His Holy Word alone will rule and guide us. Salvation is a gift.\nI have accepted it and am happy in its possession.\u201d\n\nIn another house, the husband had not been able to come to church, but\nthe wife and children had. It was now the wife who announced to her\nhusband that she had, forever, renounced the usurped authority of the\nbishops and the Pope: and that it was her firm resolution to obey no\nother master than Christ, and accept no other religion than the one\ntaught in the Gospel.\n\nAt first, this was considered only as a joke; but as soon as it was\nrealized to be a fact, there were, in many places, confusion, tears,\nangry words and bitter discussions. But the God of truth, light and\nsalvation was there; and as it was His work, the storms were soon\ncalmed, the tears dried, and peace restored.\n\nA week had scarcely passed, when the Gospel cause had achieved one of\nthe most glorious victories over its implacable enemy, the Pope. In a\nfew days, 405 out of 500 families which were around me in St. Anne, had\nnot only accepted the Gospel of Christ, as their only authority in\nreligion; but had publicly given up the name of Roman Catholics, to call\nthemselves Christian Catholics.\n\nA few months later, a Romish priest, legally questioned on the subject,\nby the Judge of Kankakee, had to swear that only fifteen families had\nremained Roman Catholics in St. Anne.\n\nA most admirable feature of this religious movement, was the strong\ndetermination of those who had never been taught to read, to lose no\ntime in acquiring the privilege of reading for themselves the Divine\nGospel which had made them free from the bondage of man. Half of the\npeople had never been taught to read while in Canada; but as their\nchildren were attending the schools we had established in different\nparts of the colony, every house, as well as our chapel, on Sabbath\ndays, was soon turned into a school house, where our school boys and\ngirls were the teachers, and the fathers and mothers, the pupils. In a\nshort time, there were but few, except those who refused to leave Rome,\nwho could not read for themselves the Holy Word of God.\n\nBut, however great the victory we had gained over the Pope, it was not\nyet complete. It was true that the enemy had received a deadly wound.\nThe beast, with the seven heads, had its principal one severed. The\nusurped authority of the bishops had been destroyed, and the people had\ndetermined to accept none, but the authority of Christ. But many false\nnotions, drank with the milk of their mothers, had been retained. Many\nerrors and superstitions still remained in their minds, as a mist after\nthe rising of the sun, to prevent them from seeing clearly the saving\nlight of the Gospel.\n\nIt was my duty to destroy those superstitions, and root out these\nnoxious weeds. But, I knew the formidable difficulties the reformers of\nthe 15th century had met, the deplorable divisions which had spread\namong them, and the scandals which had so seriously retarded and\ncompromised the reformation.\n\nI cried to God for wisdom and strength. Never had I understood so\nclearly, as I did at that most solemn and difficult epoch of my life,\nthe truth that prayer is to the troubled mind what oil is to the raging\nwaves of the sea.\n\nMy people and I, as are all Roman Catholics, were much given to the\nworship of images and statues. There were fourteen beautiful pictures\nhung on the walls of our chapel called: \u201cThe Way of the Cross,\u201d on which\nthe circumstances of the passion of Jesus Christ were represented, each\nsurmounted with a cross. One of our favorite devotional exercises, was\nto kneel, three or four times a week, before them, prostrate ourselves\nand say, with a loud voice: \u201cOh! holy cross we adore thee.\u201d\n\nWe used to address our most fervent prayers to them, as if they could\nhear us, asking them to change our hearts and purify our souls! Our\nblind devotions were so sincere that we used to bow our heads to the\nground before them. I may say the same of a beautiful statue, or rather\nidol, of the Virgin Mary, represented as a child learning to read at the\nfeet of her mother, St. Anne.\n\nThe group was a masterpiece of art, sent to me by some rich friends from\nMontreal, not long after I had left that city to form the colony of St.\nAnne, in 1852. We had frequently addressed our most fervent prayers to\nthose statues, but after the blessed pentecost on which we had broken\nthe yoke of the Pope, I never entered my church without blushing at the\nsight of those idols on the altar.\n\nI would have given much to have the pictures, crosses and images\nremoved, but dare not lay hands suddenly on them. I was afraid, lest I\nshould do harm to some of my people who, it seemed to me, were yet too\nweak in their religious views to bear it. I was just then reading how\nKnox and Calvin had made bonfires of all those relics of old Paganism,\nand I wished I could do the same; but I felt like Jacob, who could not\nfollow the rapid march of his brother, Esau, towards the land of Seir.\n\u201cThe children were tender and the flocks and herds were young. If men\nhad overdriven them one day, all the flocks would have died.\u201d\u2014Gen.\n33:13.\n\nOur merciful God saw the perplexity in which I was, and taught me how to\nget rid of those idols without harming the weak.\n\nOne Sabbath, on which I preached on the 2nd Commandment: \u201cThou shalt not\nmake unto thyself any graven image,\u201d etc., I remained in the chapel to\npray after the people had left. I looked up to the group of statues on\nthe altar, and said to them: \u201cMy good ladies, you must come down from\nthat high position. God Almighty alone is worshipped here now; if you\ncould walk out of this place, I would politely invite you to do it. But\nyou are nothing but mute, deaf, blind and motionless idols. You have\neyes, but you cannot see; ears, but you cannot hear; feet, but you\ncannot walk. What will I do with you now? Your reign has come to an\nend.\u201d\n\nIt suddenly came to my mind that when I had put these statues on their\nhigh pedestal, I had tied them with a very slender, but strong silk\ncord, to prevent them from falling. I said to myself: \u201cIf I were to cut\nthat string, the idols would surely fall, the first day the people would\nshake the floor when entering or going out.\u201d Their fall and destruction\nwould then scandalize no one. I took my knife and scaled the altar, cut\nthe string, and said: \u201cNow, my good ladies, take care of yourself,\nespecially when the chapel is shaken by the wind, or the coming in of\nthe people.\u201d\n\nI never witnessed a more hearty laugh than, at the beginning of the\nreligious services, on the next Sabbath. The chapel, being shaken by the\naction of the whole people who fell on their knees to pray, the two\nidols, deprived of their silk support, after a couple of jerks which, in\nformer days, we might have taken for a friendly greeting, fell down with\na loud crash, and broke into fragments. Old and young, strong and weak,\nand even babes in the faith, after laughing to their heart\u2019s content, at\nthe sad end of their idols, said to each other: \u201cHow foolish and blind\nwere we, to put our trust in and pray to these idols, that they might\nprotect us when they cannot take care of themselves!\u201d\n\nThe last vestige of idol worship among our dear converts, disappeared\nfor ever with the dust and broken fragments of these poor helpless\nstatues. The very next day, the people themselves took away all the\nimages before which they had so often abjectly prostrated themselves,\nand destroyed them.\n\nFrom the beginning of this movement, it had been my plan to let the\npeople draw their own conclusions as much as possible from their own\nstudy of the Holy Scriptures. I used to direct their steps, in such a\nway that they might understand that I was myself led with them by the\nmighty and merciful arm of God, in our new ways.\n\nIt was also evident to me that, from the beginning, the great majority,\nafter searching the Scriptures with prayerful attention, had found out\nthat Purgatory was a diabolical invention used by the priests of Rome,\nto enrich themselves, at the expense of their poor blind slaves. But I\nwas also convinced that quite a number were not yet altogether free from\nthat imposture.\n\nI did not know how to attack and destroy that error without wounding and\ninjuring some of the weak children of the Gospel. After much praying, I\nthought that the best way to clear the clouds which were still hovering\naround the feeblest intelligences, was to have recourse to the following\ndevice:\n\nThe All-Souls Day (1st Nov.) had come, when it was the usage to take up\ncollections for the sake of having prayers and masses said for the souls\nin purgatory. I then said to the people, from the pulpit: \u201cYou have been\nused from your infancy, to collect money, to-day, in order to have\nprayers said for the souls in purgatory. Since we have left the Church\nof Rome, for the Church of Christ, we have spent many pleasant hours\ntogether in reading and meditating upon the Gospel. You know that we\nhave not found in it a single word about purgatory. From the beginning\nto the end of that divine book, we have learned that it was only through\nthe blood of the Lamb, shed on the cross, that our guilty souls could be\npurified from their sins. I know, however, that a few of you have\nretained something of the views taught to you, when in the Church of\nRome, concerning purgatory. I do not want to trouble them by useless\ndiscussions on the subject, or by refusing the money they want to give\nfor the souls of their dear departed parents and friends. The only thing\nI want to do is this: You used to have a small box passed to you to\nreceive that money. To-day, instead of one box, two boxes will be\npassed, one white, the other black. Those who, like myself, do not\nbelieve in purgatory, will put their donations in the white box, and the\nmoney will be given to the poor widows and orphans of the parish, to\nhelp them to get food and clothing for next winter. Those of you who\nstill believe in purgatory, will put their money into the black box, for\nthe benefit of the dead. The only favor I ask of them is, that they\nshould tell me how to convey their donations to their departed friends.\nI tell you frankly that the money you give to the priests, never goes to\nthe benefit of the souls of purgatory. The priests, everywhere, keep\nthat money for their own bread and butter.\u201d\n\nMy remarks were followed by a general smile. Thirty-five dollars were\nput in the white box for the orphans and widows, and not a cent fell\ninto the box for the souls of purgatory.\n\nFrom that day, by the great mercy of God, our dear converts were\nperfectly rid of the ridiculous and sacrilegious belief in purgatory.\nThat is the way I have dealt with all the errors and idolatries of Rome.\nWe had two public meetings every week, when our chapel was as well\nfilled as on Sabbath. After the religious exercises, every one had the\nliberty to question me and argue on the various subjects announced at\nthe last meeting.\n\nThe doctrines of auricular confession, prayers in an unknown language,\nthe mass, holy water and indulgences were calmly examined, discussed and\nthrown overboard, one after the other, in a very short time. The good\ndone in those public discussions was incalculable. Our dear converts not\nonly learned the great truths of Christianity, but they learned also how\nto defend and preach them to their relations, friends and neighbors.\nMany would come from long distances to see for themselves that strange\nreligious movement which was making so much noise all over the country.\nIt is needless to say that few of them went back without having received\nsome rays of the saving light which the Sun of Righteousness was so\nabundantly pouring upon me and my dear brethren of St. Anne.\n\nThree months after our exit from the land of bondage, we were not less\nthan six thousand French Canadians marching towards the promised land.\n\nHow can I express the joy of my soul, when, under cover of the darkness\nof night, I was silently pacing the streets of our town, I heard, from\nalmost every house, sounds of reading the Holy Scriptures, or the\nmelodies of our delightful French hymns! How many times did I then,\nuniting my feeble voice with that old prophet, say in the rapture of my\njoy: \u201cBless the Lord, O! my soul: and all that is within me, bless his\nholy name.\u201d\n\nBut it was necessary that such a great and blessed work should be tried.\nGold cannot be purified without going through the fire.\n\nOn the 27th of July, a devoted priest, through my friend, Mr. Dunn, of\nChicago, sent me the following copy of a letter, written by the Roman\nCatholic Bishop of Illinois, my lord Duggan, to several of his\nco-bishops:\n\n\u201cThe schism of the apostate, Chiniquy, is spreading with an incredible\nand most irresistible velocity. I am told that he has not less than ten\nthousand followers from his countrymen. Though I hope that this number\nis an exaggeration, it shows that the evil is great; and that we must\nnot lose any time in trying to open the eyes of the deluded people he is\nleading to perdition. I intend (D. V.) to visit the very citadel of that\ndeplorable schism, next Tuesday, the 3rd of August. As I speak French\nalmost as well as English, I will address the deluded people of St. Anne\nin their own language. My intention is to unmask Chiniquy, and show what\nkind of a man he is. Then I will show the people the folly of believing\nthat they can read and interpret the Scriptures by their own private\njudgment. After which, I will easily show them that out of the Church of\nRome, there is no salvation. Pray to the blessed Virgin Mary, that she\nmay help me reclaim that poor deceived people.\u201d\n\nHaving read that letter to the people on the first Sabbath of August, I\nsaid:\n\n\u201cWe know man only after he has been tried. So we know the faith of a\nChristian only after it has been through the fire of tribulations. I\nthank God that next Tuesday will be the day chosen by Him to show the\nworld that you are worthy of being in the front rank of the great army\nJesus Christ is gathering to fight his implacable enemy, the Pope, on\nthis continent.\n\n\u201cLet every one of you come and hear what the bishop has to say. Not only\nthose who are in good health, must come; but even the sick must be\nbrought and hear and judge for themselves. If the bishop fulfills his\npromise to show you that I am a depraved and wicked man, you must turn\nme out. You must give up or burn your Bibles, at his bidding, if he\nproves that you have neither the right to read, nor the intelligence to\nunderstand them; and if he shows you that, out of the Church of Rome,\nthere is no salvation, you must, without an hour\u2019s delay, return to that\nchurch and submit yourselves to the Pope\u2019s bishops. But if he fails (as\nhe surely will do), you know what you have to do. Next Tuesday will be a\nmost glorious day for us all. A great and decisive battle will be fought\nhere, such as this continent has never witnessed, between the great\nprinciples of Christian truth and liberty, and the principles of lies\nand tyranny of the Pope. I have only one word more to say: From this\nmoment to the solemn hour of the conflict, let us humbly, but fervently\nask our great God, through His beloved and eternal Son, to look down\nupon us in his mercy, enlighten and strengthen us, that we may be true\nto Him, to ourselves and to His Gospel; and then the angels of heaven\nwill unite with all the elects of God on earth to bless you for the\ngreat and glorious victory you will win.\u201d\n\nNever had the sun shone more brightly on our beautiful hill than on the\n3rd of August, 1858. The hearts had never felt so happy, and the faces\nhad never been so perfectly the mirrors of joyful minds, as on that day,\namong the multitudes which began to gather from every corner of the\ncolony, a little after 12 o\u2019clock, noon.\n\nSeeing that our chapel, though very large, would not be able to contain\nhalf the audience, we had raised a large and solid platform, ten feet\nhigh, in the middle of the public square, in front of the chapel. We\ncovered it with carpets and put a sofa, with a good number of chairs,\nfor the bishop, his long suite of priests, and one for myself, and a\nlarge table for the different books of references I wanted to have at\nhand, to answer the bishop.\n\nAt about 2 o\u2019clock P. M., we perceived his carriage, followed by several\nothers filled with priests. He was dressed in his white surplices, and\nhis official \u201cbonnet quarre\u201d on his head, evidently to more surely\ncommand the respect and awe of the multitude.\n\nI had requested the people to keep silence and show him all the respect\nand courtesy due a gentleman who was visiting them for the first time.\n\nAs soon as his carriage was near the chapel, I gave a signal, and up\nwent the American flag to the top of a mast put on the sacred edifice.\nIt was to warn the ambassador of the Pope that he was not treading the\nland of the holy inquisition and slavery, but the land of Freedom and\nLiberty. The bishop understood it. For, raising his head to see that\nsplendid flag of stripes and stars, waving to the breeze, he became pale\nas death. And his uneasiness did not abate, when the thousands around\nhim rent the air with the cry: \u201cHurrah! for the flag of the free and the\nbrave!\u201d The bishop and his priests thought this was the signal I had\ngiven to slaughter them; for they had been told several times, that I\nand my people were so depraved and wicked that their lives were in great\ndanger among us. Several priests who had not much relish for the crown\nof martyrdom, jumped from their carriages and ran away, to the great\namusement of the crowd. Perceiving the marks of the most extreme terror\non the face of the bishop, I ran to tell him that there was not the\nleast danger, and assured him of the pleasure we had to see him in our\nmidst.\n\nI offered my hand to help him down from his carriage, but he refused it.\nAfter some minutes of trembling and hesitation, he whispered a few words\nin the ear of his grand vicar, Mailloux, who was well known by my\npeople, and of whom I have already spoken. I knew that it was by his\nadvice that the bishop was among us, and it was by his instigation that\nBishop Smith had refused the submission we had given him.\n\nRising slowly, he said with a loud voice: \u201cMy dear French Canadian\ncountrymen: Here is your holy bishop. Kneel down and he will give you\nhis benediction.\u201d\n\nBut to the great disgust of the poor grand vicar, this so well laid plan\nfor beginning the battle, failed entirely. Not a single one of that\nimmense multitude cared for the benediction. Nobody knelt.\n\nThinking that he had not spoken loud enough, he raised his voice to the\nhighest pitch, and cried:\n\n\u201cMy dear fellow countrymen: This is your holy bishop. He comes to visit\nyou. Kneel down and he will give you his benediction.\u201d\n\nBut nobody knelt, and what was worse, a voice from the crowd answered:\n\n\u201cDo you not know, sir, that here, we no longer bend the knee before any\nman? It is only before God we kneel.\u201d\n\nThe whole people cried: \u201cAmen!\u201d to that noble answer. I could not\nrestrain a tear of joy from falling down my cheeks, when I saw how this\nfirst effort of the ambassador of the Pope to entrap my people, had\nsignally failed. But, though I thanked God from the bottom of my heart\nfor this first success He had given to his soldiers, I knew the battle\nwas far from being over.\n\nI implored him to abide with us, to be our wisdom and our strength to\nthe end. I looked at the bishop, and seeing his countenance as\ndistressed as before, I offered him my hand again, but he refused it the\nsecond time with supreme disdain: However, he accepted the invitation I\ngave him to come to the platform.\n\nWhen half way up the stairs, he turned, and seeing me following him, he\nput forth his hand to prevent me from ascending any further, and said:\n\n\u201cI do not want you on this platform. Go down and let my priests alone\naccompany me.\u201d\n\nI answered him: \u201cIt may be that you do not want me there. But I want to\nbe at your side, to answer you. Remember that you are not on your own\nground here; but on mine!\u201d\n\nHe then, silently and slowly, walked up. When on the platform, I offered\nhim a good arm chair, which he refused, and sat on one of his own\nchoice, with his priests around him. I then addressed him as follows:\n\n\u201cMy lord, the people and pastor of St. Anne are exceedingly pleased to\nsee you in their midst. We promise to listen attentively to what you\nhave to say, on condition that we have the privilege of answering you.\u201d\n\nHe answered, angrily: \u201cI do not want you to say a word, here.\u201d\n\nThen, stepping to the front, he began his address in French, with a\ntrembling voice. But it was a miserable failure from beginning to end.\nIn vain did he try to prove that out of the Church of Rome, there is no\nsalvation. He failed still more miserably to prove that the people have\nneither the right to read the Scriptures, nor the intelligence to\nunderstand them. He said such ridiculous things on that point, that the\npeople went into fits of laughter, and some said:\n\n\u201cThat is not true. You do not know what you are talking about. The Bible\nsays the very contrary.\u201d\n\nBut I stopped them by reminding them of the promise they had made of not\ninterrupting him.\n\nA little before closing his address, he turned to me and said:\n\n\u201cYou are a wicked, rebel priest against your holy church. Go from here\ninto a monastery to do penance for your sins. You say that you have\nnever been excommunicated in a legal way! Well, you will not say that\nany longer, for I excommunicate you now before this whole people.\u201d\n\nI interrupted him and said: \u201cYou forget that you have no right to\nexcommunicate a man who has publicly left your church long ago.\u201d\n\nHe seemed to realize that he had made a fool of himself in uttering such\na sentence, and stopped speaking, for a moment. Then, recalling his lost\ncourage, he took a new and impressive manner of speaking. He told the\npeople how their friends, their relatives, their very dear mothers and\nfathers, in Canada, were weeping over their apostacy. He spoke for a\ntime, with great earnestness, of the desolation of all those who loved\nthem, at the news of their defection from their holy mother church.\n\nThen, resuming, he said:\n\n\u201cMy dear friends: Please tell me what will be your guide in the ways of\nGod, after you have left the holy church of your fathers, the church of\nyour country; who will lead you in the ways of God?\u201d\n\nThose words, which had been uttered with great emphasis and earnestness,\nwere followed by a most complete and solemn silence. Was that silence\nthe result of a profound impression made on the crowd, or was it the\nsilence which always precedes the storm? I could not say.\n\nBut I must confess that, though I had not lost confidence in God, I was\nnot without anxiety. Though silent and ardent prayers were going to the\nmercy-seat, from my heart, I felt that that poor heart was troubled and\nanxious, as it had never been before. I could have easily answered the\nbishop and confounded him, in a few words; but I thought that it was\nmuch better to let the answer and rebuke come from the people.\n\nThe bishop, hoping that the long and strange silence was a proof that he\nhad successfully touched the sensitive chords of the hearts, and that he\nwas to win the day, exclaimed a second time with still more power and\nearnestness:\n\n\u201cMy dear French Canadian friends: I ask you, in the name of Jesus\nChrist, your Saviour and mine, in the name of your desolated mothers,\nfathers and friends, who are weeping along the banks of your beautiful\nSt. Lawrence River. I ask it in the name of your beloved Canada! Answer\nme! now that you refuse to obey the holy Church of Rome, who will guide\nyou in the ways of salvation?\u201d\n\nAnother solemn silence followed that impassionate and earnest appeal.\nBut this silence was not to be long. When I had invited the people to\ncome and hear the bishop, I requested them to bring their Bibles.\nSuddenly, we heard the voice of an old farmer, who, raising his Bible\nover his head, with his two hands, said:\n\n\u201cThis Bible is all we want to guide us in the ways of God. We do not\nwant anything but the pure Word of God to teach us what we must do to be\nsaved. As for you, sir, you had better go away and never come here any\nmore.\u201d\n\nAnd more than 5,000 voices said: \u201cAmen!\u201d to that simple and yet sublime\nanswer. The whole crowd filled the air with cries: \u201cThe Bible! the Holy\nBible, the Holy Word of God is our only guide in the ways of eternal\nlife! Go away, sir, and never come again!\u201d\n\nThese words, time and again repeated by the thousands of people who\nsurrounded the platform, fell upon the poor bishop\u2019s ears as formidable\nclaps of thunder. They were ringing as his death knell in his ears. The\nbattle was over, and he had lost it.\n\nBathed in his tears, suffocated by his sobs, he sat, or to speak more\ncorrectly, he fell into the arm chair, and I feared, at first, lest he\nshould faint. When I saw that he was recovering, and strong enough to\nhear what I had to say, I stepped to the front of the platform. But I\nhad scarcely said two words, when I felt as if the claws of a tiger were\non my shoulders. I turned and found that it was the clenched fingers of\nthe bishop, who was shaking me, while he was saying with a furious\nvoice:\n\n\u201cNo! no! not a word from you.\u201d\n\nAs I was about to show him that I had a right to refute what he had\nsaid, my eyes fell on a scene which baffles all description. Those only\nwho have seen the raging waves of the sea, suddenly raised by the\nhurricane, can have an idea of it. The people had seen the violent hand\nof the bishop raised against me, they had heard his insolent and furious\nwords forbidding me to say a single word in answer; and a universal cry\nof indignation was heard:\n\n\u201cThe infamous wretch! Down with him! He wants to enslave us again! he\ndenies us the right of free speech! he refuses to hear what our pastor\nhas to reply! Down with him!\u201d\n\nAt the same time, a rush was made by many toward the platform, to scale\nit, and others were at work to tear it down. That whole multitude,\nabsolutely blinded by their uncontrollable rage, were as a drunken man\nwho does not know what he does. I had _read_ that such things had\noccurred before, but I hope I shall never see it again. I rushed to the\nhead of the stairs and, with great difficulty, repulsed those who were\ntrying to lay their hands on the bishop. In vain, I raised my voice to\ncalm them, and make them realize the crime they wanted to commit. No\nvoice could be heard in the midst of such terrible confusion. It was\nvery providential that we had built the scaffold with strong materials,\nso that it could resist the first attempt to break it.\n\nHappily, we had in our midst a very intelligent young man, called\nBechard, who was held in great esteem and respect. His influence, I\nventure to say, was irresistible over the people. I called him to the\nplatform, and requested him, in the name of God, to appease the blind\nfury of that multitude. Strange to say, his presence, and a sign from\nhis hand, acted like magic.\n\n\u201cLet us hear what Bechard has to say,\u201d whispered every one to his\nneighbor, and suddenly, the most profound calm succeeded the most awful\nnoise and confusion I had ever witnessed. In a few appropriate and\neloquent words, that young gentleman, showed the people that, far from\nbeing angry, they ought to be glad at the exhibition of the tyranny and\ncowardice of the bishop. Had he not confessed the wickedness of his\naddress when he refused to hear the answer? Had he not confessed that he\nwas the vilest and most impudent of tyrants, when he had come into their\nvery midst to deny them the sacred right of speech and reply? Had he not\nproved, before God and man, that they had done well to reject, forever,\nthe authority of the Bishop of Rome, when he was giving them such an\nunanswerable proof that that authority meant the most unbounded tyranny\non his part, and the most degraded and ignominious moral degradation on\nthe part of his blind slaves.\u201d\n\nSeeing that they were anxious to hear me; I then told them:\n\n\u201cInstead of being angry, you ought to bless God for what you have heard\nand seen from the Bishop of Chicago. You have heard: and you are\nwitnesses that he has not given us a single argument to show that we\nwere wrong, when we give up the words of the Pope to follow the Words of\nChrist. Was he not right when he told you that there was no need, on my\npart, to answer him! Do you not agree that there was nothing to answer,\nnothing to refute in his long address! Has not our merciful God brought\nthat bishop into your midst, to-day, to show you the truthfulness of\nwhat I have so often told you, that there was nothing manly, nothing\nhonest, or true in him? Have you heard from his lips a single word which\ncould have come from the lips of Christ? A word which could have come\nfrom that great God who so loved the world that he sent his eternal Son\nto save it, on the simple condition that we should repent, love and\ntrust in Him. Was there a single sentence in all you have heard which\nwould remind you that salvation through Christ was a gift? that eternal\nlife was a free gift offered to all those who accepted him as their true\nand only Saviour? Have you heard anything from him to make you regret\nthat you are no longer his obedient and abject slaves?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo! no!\u201d they replied.\n\n\u201cThen, instead of being angry with that man, you ought to thank him and\nlet him go in peace,\u201d I added.\n\n\u201cYes! yes!\u201d replied the people, \u201cbut on condition that he shall never\ncome again.\u201d\n\nThen Mons. Bechard stepped to the front, raised his hat, and cried with\nhis powerful, melodious voice:\n\n\u201cPeople of St. Anne! you have just gained the most glorious victory\nwhich has ever been won by a people against their tyrants. Hurrah for\nSt. Anne, the grave of the tyranny of the Bishops of Rome in America!\u201d\n\nThat whole multitude, filled with joy, rent the air with the cry:\n\u201cHurrah for St. Anne, the grave of the tyranny of the Bishops of Rome in\nAmerica!\u201d\n\nI then turned towards the poor bishop and his priests, whose distress\nand fear were beyond description, and told them:\n\n\u201cYou see that the people forgive you the indignity of your conduct, by\nnot allowing me to answer you; but I counsel you not to repeat that\ninsult here. Please take the advice they gave you; go away as quickly as\npossible. I will go with you to your carriage, through the crowd, and I\npledge myself that you will be safe, provided you do not insult them\nagain.\u201d\n\nOpening their ranks, the crowd made a passage, through which I led the\nbishop and his long suite of priests, to their carriages.\n\nThis was done in a most profound silence. Only a few women whispering to\nthe prelate, as he was hurrying by:\n\n\u201cAway with you, and never come here again. Henceforward we follow\nnothing but Christ.\u201d\n\nCrushed by waves of humiliation, such as no bishop had ever met with on\nthis continent, the weight of the ignominy which he had reaped in our\nmidst completely overpowered his mind, and ruined him. He left us to\nwander every day nearer the regions of lunacy. That bishop, whose\nbeginning had been so brilliant, after his shameful defeat at St. Anne,\non the 3rd of August, 1858, was soon to end his broken career in the\nlunatic asylum at St. Louis, where he is still confined to-day.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER LXVII.\n\nBIRD\u2019S-EYE VIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS FROM MY CONVERSION TO THIS\n DAY\u2014MY NARROW ESCAPES\u2014THE END OF THE VOYAGE THROUGH THE DESERT TO THE\n PROMISED LAND.\n\n\nThe marvellous power of the Gospel to raise a man above himself and give\nhim a supernatural strength and wisdom in the presence of the most\nformidable difficulties has seldom been more gloriously manifested than\non the 3rd of August, 1858, on the hill of St. Anne, Illinois.\n\nSurely the continent of America has never seen a more admirable\ntransformation of a whole people than was, then and there, accomplished.\nWith no other help than the reading of the Gospel, that people had,\nsuddenly, exchanged the chains of the most abject slavery for the royal\nscepter of Liberty which Christ offers to those who believe in Him!\n\nBy the strength of their faith they had pulverized the gigantic power of\nRome, put to flight the haughty representatives of the Pope, and had\nraised the banners of Christian Liberty on the very spot marked by the\nbishop as the future citadel of the empire of Popery in the United\nStates.\n\nSuch work was so much above my capacity, so much above the calculation\nof my intelligence, that I felt that I was more its witness than its\ninstrument. The merciful and mighty hand of God was too visible to let\nany other idea creep into my mind; and the only sentiments which filled\nmy soul were those of an unspeakable joy, and of gratitude to God.\n\nBut I felt that the greater the favors bestowed upon us from heaven, the\ngreater were the responsibilities of my new position.\n\nThe news of that sudden religious reformation spread with lightning\nspeed all over the continents of America and Europe, and an incredible\nnumber of inquiring letters reached me from every corner. Episcopalians,\nMethodists, Congregationalists, Baptists, and Presbyterians, of every\nrank and color, kindly pressed me to give them some details. Of course,\nthose letters were often accompanied by books considered the most apt to\ninduce me to join their particular denominations.\n\nFeeling too young and inexpert in the ways of God to give a correct\nappreciation of the Lord\u2019s doings among us, I generally answered those\nkind enquirers by writing them: \u201cPlease come and see with your own eyes\nthe marvellous things our merciful God is doing in the midst of us, and\nyou will help us to bless him.\u201d\n\nIn less than six months, more than one hundred venerable ministers of\nChrist, and prominent Christian laymen of different denominations,\nvisited us. Among those who first honored us with their presence was the\nRt. Rev. Bishop Helmuth, of London, Canada; then, the learned Dean of\nQuebec, so well known and venerated by all over Great Britain and\nCanada. He visited us twice, and was one of the most blessed instruments\nof the mercies of God towards us.\n\nI am happy to say that those eminent Christians, without any exception,\nafter having spent from one to twenty days in studying for themselves\nthis new religious movement, declared that it was the most remarkable\nand solid evangelical reformation among Roman Catholics, they had ever\nseen. The Christians of the cities of Chicago, Baltimore, Washington,\nPhiladelphia, New York, Boston, etc., having expressed the desire to\nhear from me of the doings of the Lord among us, I addressed them in\ntheir principal churches, and was received with such marks of kindness\nand interest, for which I shall never be able sufficiently to thank God.\n\nI have previously said that we had, at first, adopted the beautiful name\nof Christian Catholics, but we soon perceived that unless we joined one\nof the Christian denominations of the day, we were in danger of forming\na new sect.\n\nAfter many serious and prayerful considerations, it seemed that the\nwisest thing we could do was to connect ourselves with that branch of\nthe vine which was the nearest, if not identical with that of the French\nProtestants, which gave so many martyrs to the Church of Christ.\nAccordingly, it was our privilege to be admitted in the Presbyterian\nChurch of the United States. The Presbytery of Chicago had the courtesy\nto adjourn their meeting from that city to our humble town, on the 15th\nof April, 1860, when I presented them with the names of nearly 2,000\nconverts, who, with myself, were received into full communion with the\nChurch of Christ.\n\nThis solemn action was soon followed by the establishment of missions\nand congregations in the cities and towns of Chicago, Aurora, Kankakee,\nMiddleport, Watseka, Momence, Sterling, Manteno, etc., where the light\nof the Gospel had been received by large numbers of our French Canadian\nemigrants, whom I had previously visited.\n\nThe census of the converts taken then gave us about 6,500 precious souls\nalready wrenched from the iron grasp of Popery. It was a result much\nbeyond my most sanguine hopes, and it would be difficult to express the\njoy it gave me. But my joy was not without a mixture of anxiety. It was\nimpossible for me, if left alone, to distribute the bread of life to\nsuch multitudes, scattered over a territory of several hundred miles. I\ndetermined, with the help of God, to raise a college, where the children\nof our converts would be prepared to preach the Gospel.\n\nThirty-two of our young men, having offered themselves, I added, at\nonce, to my other labors, the daily task of teaching them the\npreparatory course of study for their future evangelical work.\n\nThat year (1860) had been chosen by Scotland to celebrate the\ntercentenary anniversary of her Reformation. The committee of\nmanagement, composed of Dr. Guthrie, Professor Cunningham and Dr. Begg,\ninvited me to attend their general meetings in Edinburgh. On the 16th of\nAugust, it was my privilege to be presented by those venerable men to\none of the grandest and noblest assemblies which the Church of Christ\nhas ever seen. After the close of that great council, which I addressed\ntwice, I was invited, during the next six months, to lecture in Great\nBritain, France and Switzerland, and to raise the funds necessary for\nour college. It is during that tour that I had the privilege of\naddressing, at St. Etienne, the Synod of the Free Protestant Church of\nFrance, lately established through the indomitable energy and ardent\npiety of the Rev. Felix Monod.\n\nThose six months\u2019 efforts were crowned with the most complete success,\nand more than $15,000 were handed me for our college, by the disciples\nof Christ.\n\nBut it was the will of God that I should pass through the purifying\nfires of the greatest tribulations. On my return from Europe into my\ncolony, in the beginning of 1861, I found everything in confusion. The\nambition of the young men I had invited to preach in my place, and in\nwhom I had so imprudently put too much confidence, encouraged by the\nvery man I had chosen for my representative and my attorney during my\nabsence, came very near ruining that evangelical work, by sowing the\nseeds of division and hatred among our dear converts. Through the\ndishonest and false reports of those two men, the money I had collected\nand left in England, (in the hands of a gentleman who was bound to send\nit at my order) was retained nearly two years, and lost in the failure\nof the Gelpeck New York Bank, through which it was sent. The only way we\nfound to save ourselves from ruin, was to throw ourselves into the hands\nof our Christian brothers of Canada.\n\nA committee of the Presbyterian Church, composed of Rev\u2019s. Dr. Kemp, Dr.\nCavan and Mr. Scott, was sent to investigate the cause of our trouble,\nand they soon found them.\n\nDr. Kemp published a critical resume of their investigation, which\nclearly showed where the trouble lay. Our integrity and innocence were\npublicly acknowledged, and we were solemnly and officially received as\nmembers of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, on the 11th of June, 1863.\n\nWe may properly acknowledge here that the Christian devotedness, the\nadmirable ability and zeal of the late Dr. Kemp in performance of that\nwork, has secured to him our eternal gratitude.\n\nIn 1874, I was again invited to Great Britain by the committee appointed\nto prepare the congratulatory address of the English people to the\nEmperor of Germany and Bismark, for their noble resistance to the\nencroachments of Popery. I addressed the meetings held for that purpose\nin Exter Hall, under the Presidency of Lord John Russell, on the 27th of\nJanuary, 1874. The next day, several Gospel ministers pressed me to\npublish my twenty-five years\u2019 experience of auricular confession, as an\nantidote to the criminal and too successful efforts of Dr. Pusey, who\nwanted to restore that infamous practice among the Protestants of\nEngland.\n\nAfter much hesitation and many prayers, I wrote the book entitled: \u201cThe\nPriest, the Woman and the Confessional,\u201d which God has so much blessed\nto the conversion of many, that twenty-nine editions have already been\npublished. It has been translated into many languages.\n\nI spent the next six months in lecturing on Romanism in the principal\ncities of England, Scotland and Ireland.\n\nOn my return, pressed by the Canadian Church to leave my colony of\nIllinois, for a time at least, to preach in Canada, I went to Montreal,\nwhere, in the short space of four years, we had the unspeakable joy of\nseeing seven thousand French Canadian Roman Catholics and emigrants from\nFrance, publicly renounce the errors of Popery, to follow the Gospel of\nChrist.\n\nIn 1878, exhausted by the previous years of incessant labors, I was\nadvised, by my physicians, to breathe the bracing air of the Pacific\nOcean. I crossed the Rocky Mountains and spent two months lecturing in\nSan Francisco, Portland, Oregon, and in Washington Territory, where I\nfound great numbers of my French countrymen, many of whom received the\nGospel with joy.\n\nUnder the auspices and protection of my Orange brethren, I crossed the\nPacific and went to the Antipodes, lecturing two years in Australia,\nTasmania and New Zealand. It would require a large volume to tell the\ngreat mercies of God towards me during that long, perilous, but\ninteresting voyage. During those two years, I gave 610 public lectures,\nand came back to my colony of St. Anne with such perfectly restored\nhealth, that I could say with the Psalmist: \u201cBless the Lord, O my soul,\nthy youth is renewed like the eagle\u2019s.\u201d\n\nBut the reader has the right to know something of the dangers through\nwhich it has pleased God to make me pass.\n\nRome is the same to-day as she was when she burned John Huss and\nWishart, and when she caused 70,000 Protestants to be slaughtered in\nFrance, and 100,000 to be exterminated in Piedmont and Italy.\n\nOn the 31st of December, 1869, I forced the Rt. Rev. Bishop Foley, of\nChicago, to swear before the civil court, at Kankakee, that the\nfollowing sentence was an exact translation of the doctrine of the\nChurch of Rome, as taught to-day in all the Roman Catholic seminaries,\ncolleges and universities, through the \u201cSumma Theologica\u201d of Thomas\nAquinas (vol. 4, p. 90), \u201cThough heretics must not be tolerated because\nthey deserve it, we must bear with them, till by a second admonition,\nthey may be brought back to the faith of the church. But those who,\nafter a second admonition, remain obstinate to their errors, must not\nonly be excommunicated, but they must be delivered to the secular power\nto be exterminated.\u201d\n\nIt is on account of this law of the Church of Rome, which is to-day, in\nfull force, as it was promulgated for the first time, that not less than\nthirty public attempts have been made to kill me since my conversion.\n\nThe first time I visited Quebec, in the spring of 1859, fifty men were\nsent by the Bishop of Quebec (Baillargeon) to force me to swear that I\nwould never preach the Bible, or to kill me in case of my refusal.\n\nAt 4 o\u2019clock, a. m., sticks were raised above my head, a dagger stuck in\nmy breast, and the cries of the furious mob were ringing in my ears:\n\n\u201cInfamous apostate! Now you are in our hands, you are a dead man, if you\ndo not swear that you will never preach your accursed Bible.\u201d\n\nNever had I seen such furious men around me. Their eyes were more like\nthe eyes of tigers than of men. I expected, every moment, to receive the\ndeadly blow, and I asked my Saviour to come and receive my soul. But the\nwould-be murderers, with more horrible imprecations cried again:\n\n\u201cInfamous renegade! Swear that you will never preach any more your\naccursed Bible, or you are a dead man!\u201d\n\nI raised my eyes and hands towards heaven, and said: \u201cOh! my God! hear\nand bless the last words of thy poor servant: I solemnly swear, that so\nlong as my tongue can speak, I will preach thy Word, as I find it in the\nHoly Bible!\u201d\n\nThen opening my vest and presenting my naked breast, I said:\n\n\u201cNow! Strike!\u201d\n\nBut my God was there to protect me: they did not strike. I went through\ntheir ranks into the streets, where I found a carter, who drove me to\nMr. Hall, the mayor of the city, for that day I showed him my bleeding\nbreast, and said:\n\n\u201cI just escaped, almost miraculously, from the hands of men sworn to\nkill me, if I preach again the Gospel of Christ. I am, however,\ndetermined to preach again to-day, at noon, even if I have to die in the\nattempt.\u201d I put myself under the protection of the British flag.\n\nSoon after, more than 1,000 British soldiers were around me, with fixed\nbayonets. They formed themselves into two lines along the streets,\nthrough which the mayor took me, in his own sleigh, to the lecture room.\nI could then deliver my address on \u201cThe Bible,\u201d to at least 10,000\npeople, who were crowded inside and outside the walls of the large\nbuilding. After this, I had the joy of distributing between five and six\nhundred Bibles to that multitude, who received them as thirsty and\nhungry people receive fresh water and pure bread, after many days of\nstarvation.\n\nI have been stoned 20 times. The principal places in Canada where I was\nstruck and wounded, and almost miraculously escaped, were: Quebec,\nMontreal, Ottawa, Charlotte Town, Halifax, Antigonish, etc. In the last\nmentioned, on the 10th of July, 1873, the pastor, the Rev. P.\nGoodfellow, standing by me when going out of his church, was also struck\nseveral times by stones which missed me. At last, his head was so badly\ncut, that he fell on the ground bathed in blood. I took him up in my\narms, though wounded and bleeding myself. We would surely have been\nslaughtered there, had not a noble Scotchman, named Cameron, opened the\ndoor of his house, at the peril of his own life, to give us shelter\nagainst the assassins of the Pope. The mob, furious that we had escaped,\nbroke the windows and beseiged the house from 10 a. m. till 3 next\nmorning. Many times, they threatened to set fire to Mr. Cameron\u2019s house,\nif he did not deliver me into their hands to be hung. They were\nprevented from doing so, only from fear of burning the whole town,\ncomposed in part, of their own dwellings. Several times, they put long\nladders against the walls, with the hope of reaching the upper rooms,\nwhere they could find and kill their victim.\n\nAll this was done under the very eyes of five or six priests, who were\nonly at a distance of a few rods.\n\nAt Montreal, in the winter of 1870, one evening, coming out of Cote\nStreet Church, where I had preached, accompanied by Principal MacVicar,\nwe fell into a kind of ambuscade, and received a volley of stones which\nwould have seriously, if not fatally, injured the doctor, had he not\nbeen protected from head to foot by a thick fur cap and overcoat, worn\nin the cold days of winter in Canada.\n\nAfter a lecture given at Paramenta, near Sydney, Australia, I was again\nattacked with stones by the Roman Catholics. One struck my left leg with\nsuch force that I thought it was broken, and was lame for several days.\n\nIn New South Wales, Australia, I was beaten with whips and sticks, which\nleft marks upon my shoulders.\n\nAt Horsham, in the same Province, on the 1st of April, 1879, the\nRomanists took possession of the church where I was speaking, rushed\ntoward me with daggers and pistols, crying:\n\n\u201cKill him! Kill him!\u201d\n\nIn the tumult, I providentially escaped through a secret door. But I had\nto crawl on hands and knees a pretty long distance, in a ditch filled\nwith mud, not to be seen, and escape death. When I reached the\nhospitable house of Mr. Cameron, the windows were broken with stones,\nmuch of the furniture destroyed, and it was a wonder I escaped with my\nlife.\n\nAt Ballarat, in the same province, three times the houses where I\nlodged, were attacked and broken. Rev. Mr. Inglis, one of the most\neloquent ministers of the city, was one of the many who were wounded by\nmy side. The wife of the Rev. Mr. Quick came also nearly being killed\nwhile I was under their hospitable roof.\n\nIn the same city, as I was waiting for the train at the station, a well\ndressed lady came as near as possible and spat in my face. I was\nblinded, and my face covered with filth. She immediately fled, but was\nsoon brought back by my secretary and a policeman, who said:\n\n\u201cHere is the miserable woman who has just insulted you, what shall we do\nwith her?\u201d\n\nI was then almost done cleaning my face with my handkerchief, and some\nwater, brought by some sympathizing friends. I answered:\n\n\u201cLet her go home in peace. She has not done it of her own accord, she\nwas sent by her confessor, she thinks she has done a good action. When\nthey spat in our Saviour\u2019s face, he did not punish those who insulted\nhim. We must follow his example.\u201d And she was set at liberty, to the\ngreat regret of the crowd.\n\nThe very next day (21st of April), at Castlemain, I was again fiercely\nattacked and wounded on the head, as I came from addressing the people.\nOne of the ministers, who was standing by me, was seriously wounded and\nlost much blood.\n\nAt Greelong, I had again a very narrow escape from stones thrown at me\nin the streets.\n\nIn 1870, while lecturing in Melbourne, the splendid capital of Victoria,\nAustralia, I received a letter from Tasmania, signed by twelve ministers\nof the Gospel, saying:\n\n\u201cWe are much in need of you here, for though the Protestants are in the\nmajority, they leave the administration of the country almost entirely\nin the hands of Roman Catholics, who rule us with an iron rod. The\nGovernor is a Roman Catholic, etc. We wish to have you among us, though\nwe do not dare to invite you to come. For we know that your life will be\nin danger, day and night, while in Tasmania. The Roman Catholics have\nsworn to kill you, and we have too many reasons to fear that they will\nfulfill their promises. But, though we do not dare ask you to come, we\nassure you that there is a great work for you here, and that we will\nstand by you with our people. If you fall, you will not fall alone.\u201d\n\nI answered: \u201cAre we not soldiers of Christ, and must we not be ready and\nwilling to die for him, as he died for us? I will go.\u201d\n\nOn the 25th of June, as I was delivering my first lecture in Hobart\nTown, the Roman Catholics, with the approbation of their bishop, broke\nthe door of the hall, and rushed towards me, crying: \u201cKill him! kill\nhim!\u201d The mob was only a few feet from me, brandishing their daggers and\npistols, when the Protestants threw themselves between them and me, and\na furious hand-to-hand fight occurred, during which many wounds were\nreceived and given. The soldiers of the Pope were overpowered, but the\nGovernor had to put the city under martial law for four days, and call\nthe whole militia to save my life from the assassins drilled by the\npriests.\n\nIn a dark night, as I was leaving the steamer to take the train, on the\nOttawa River, Canada, twice, the bullets of the murderers whistled at no\nmore than two or three inches from my ears.\n\nSeveral times, in Montreal and Halifax, the churches where I was\npreaching were attacked and the windows broken by the mobs sent by the\npriests, and several of my friends were wounded (two of whom, I believe,\ndied from the effects of their wounds) whilst defending me.\n\nThe 17th of June, 1884, after I had preached, in Quebec, on the text:\n\u201cWhat would I do to have Eternal Life,\u201d a mob of more than 1,500 Roman\nCatholics, led by two priests, broke the windows of the church, and\nattacked me with stones, with the evident object to kill me. More than\none hundred stones struck me, and I would surely have been killed there,\nhad I not had, providentially, two heavy overcoats which I put, one\naround my head, and the other around my shoulders. Notwithstanding that\nprotection, I was so much bruised and wounded from head to feet, that I\nhad to spend the three following weeks on a bed of suffering, between\nlife and death. A young friend, Zotique Lefebre, who had heroically put\nhimself between my would-be assassin and me, escaped only after\nreceiving six bleeding wounds in the face.\n\nThe same year, 1884, in the month of November, I was attacked with\nstones and struck several times, when preaching and in coming out from\nthe church in the city of Montreal. Numbers of policemen and other\nfriends who came to my rescue were wounded, my life was saved only by an\norganization of a thousand young men, who, under the name of Protestant\nGuard, wrenched me from the hands of the would-be murderers.\n\nWhen the bishops and priests saw that it was so difficult to put me out\nof the way with stones, sticks and daggers, they determined to destroy\nmy character by calumnies, spread every where, and sworn before civil\ntribunals as gospel truths.\n\nDuring eighteen years, they kept me in the hands of the sheriffs, a\nprisoner, under bail, as a criminal. Thirty-two times, my name has been\ncalled before the civil and criminal courts of Kankakee, Joliet,\nChicago, Urbana and Montreal, among the names of the vilest and most\ncriminal of men.\n\nI have been accused by Grand Vicar Mailloux of having killed a man and\nthrown his body into a river to conceal my crime. I have been accused of\nhaving set fire to the church of Bourbonnais and destroyed it. Not less\nthan seventy-two false witnesses have been brought by the priests of\nRome to support this last accusation.\n\nBut thanks be to God, at every time, from the very lips of the perjured\nwitnesses, we got the proof that they were swearing falsely, at the\ninstigation of their father confessors. And my innocence was proved by\nthe very men who had been paid to destroy me. In this last suit, I\nthought it was my duty as a Christian and citizen, to have one of those\npriests punished for having so cruelly and publicly trampled under his\nfeet the most sacred laws of society and religion. Without any vengeance\non my part, God knows it, I asked the protection of my country against\nthose incessant plots. Father Brunet, found guilty of having invented\nthose calumnies and supported them by false witnesses, was condemned to\npay $2,500 or go to gaol for fourteen years. He preferred the last\npunishment, having the promise from his Roman Catholic friends that they\nwould break the doors of the prison and let him go free to some remote\nplace. He was incarcerated at Kankakee; but on a dark and stormy night,\nsix months later, he was rescued, and fled to Montreal (900 miles).\nThere, he made the Roman Catholics believe that the blessed Virgin Mary,\ndressed in a beautiful white robe, had come in person to open, for him,\nthe gates of the prison.\n\nI do not mention these facts here, to create bad feelings against the\npoor blind slaves of the Pope. It is only to show to the world that the\nChurch of Rome of to-day is absolutely the same as when she reddened\nEurope with the blood of millions of martyrs.\n\nMy motive in speaking of those murderous attacks is to induce the\nreaders to help me to bless God who has so mercifully saved me from the\nhands of the enemy. More than any living man, I can say with the old\nprophet: \u201cThe Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.\u201d With Paul, I could\noften say: \u201cWe are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are\nperplexed, but not in despair: persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down,\nbut not destroyed: always bearing about in the body the dying of the\nLord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus, might be manifest in our body.\u201d\n\nThose constant persecutions, far from hindering the onward march of the\nevangelical movement to which I have consecrated my life, seem to have\ngiven it a new impulse and a fresher life. I have even remarked that the\nvery day after I had been bruised and wounded, the number of converts\nhad invariably increased. I will never forget the day, after the\nterrible night when more than a thousand Roman Catholics had come to\nstone me, and on which I had received a severe wound, more than one\nhundred of my countrymen asked me to enroll their names under the banner\nof the Gospel and publicly sent their recantation of the errors of Rome\nto the bishop. To-day, the Gospel of Christ is advancing with an\nirresistible power among the French Canadians from the Atlantic to the\nPacific Oceans. We find numbers of converts in almost every town and\ncity from New York to San Francisco. Rallied around the banners of\nChrist, they form a large army of fearless soldiers of the Cross. Among\nthose converts, we count now twenty-five priests, and more than fifty\nyoung zealous ministers born in the Church of Rome.\n\nIn hundreds of places, the Church of Rome has lost her past prestige,\nand the priests are looked upon with indifference, if not contempt, even\nby those who have not yet accepted the light.\n\nA very remarkable religious movement has also been lately inaugurated\namong the Irish Roman Catholics, under the leadership of Rev\u2019ds.\nO\u2019Connor and Quinn, which promises to keep pace with, if not exceed the\nprogress of the Gospel among the French.\n\nTo-day, more than ever, we hear the Good Master\u2019s voice: \u201cLift up your\neyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.\u201d\n\nOh! may the day soon come when all my countrymen will hear the voice of\nthe Lamb and come to wash their robes in his blood! Will I see the\nblessed hour when the dark night in which Rome keeps my dear Canada will\nbe exchanged for the bright and saving light of the Gospel?\n\nAt all events, I cannot but bless God for what mine eyes have seen and\nmine ears have heard of his mercy towards me and my countrymen. From my\ninfancy he has taken me into his arms and led me most mercifully,\nthrough ways I did not know, from the darkest regions of superstition,\nto the blessed regions of light, truth and life!\n\nFrom the day he granted me to read his divine word on my dear mother\u2019s\nknees, to the hour He came to me as \u201cthe Gift of God,\u201d He has not let a\nsingle day pass without speaking to me some of His warning and saving\nwords. I have not always paid sufficient attention to His sweet voice, I\nconfess it to my shame. My mind was so filled with the glittering\nsophisms of Rome, that many times I refused to yield to the still voice\nwhich was almost night and day heard in my soul. But my God was not\nrepelled by my infidelities, as the reader will find in this book. When\ndriven away in the morning, He came back in the silent hours of the\nnight. For more than twenty-five years He forced me to see as a priest,\nthe abominations which exist inside the walls of the modern Babylon. I\nmay say, He took me by the lock of mine head, as He did with the prophet\nof old and said:\n\n\u201cSon of man, lift up thine eyes now the way towards the North and\nbehold, northward at the gate of the altar, this image of Jealousy in\nthe entry. He said furthermore unto me: Son of man, seest thou what they\ndo, even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth\nhere, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But turn thee yet\nagain, and thou shalt see greater abominations. And he brought me to the\ndoor of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. Then\nsaid he unto me, son of man, dig now in the wall; and when I had digged\nin the wall, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I\nwent and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable\nbeasts and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the\nwalls round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the\nancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood\nZaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand;\nand a thick cloud of incense went up.\n\n\u201cThen said he unto me: Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of\nthe house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his\nimagery? for they say the Lord has forsaken the earth. He said also unto\nme: turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than\nthey do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord; and,\nbehold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.\n\n\u201cThen said he unto me: Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Turn thee yet\nagain, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he\nbrought me into the inner court of the Lord\u2019s house, and, behold, at the\ntemple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and\ntwenty men, with their backs towards the temple of the Lord, and their\nfaces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.\n\n\u201cThen he said unto me: Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light\nthing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they\ncommit here? for they have filled the land with violence and have\nreturned to provoke me into anger; and lo! they put the branch to their\nnose. Therefore, will I also deal in fury; mine eyes shall not spare,\nneither will I have pity; and they cry in mine ears, with a loud voice,\nyet will I not hear them.\u201d (Ezek. 8.)\n\nI can say with John:\n\n\u201cOne of the seven angels said unto me: I will show unto thee the\njudgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters; with whom the\nkings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of\nthe earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornications. So he\ncarried me away into the wilderness; and I saw a woman sit upon a\nscarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and\nten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and\ndecked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in\nher hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: and\nupon her forhead was a name written: \u2018Mystery, Babylon, the Great, the\nmother of the harlots and abominations of the earth.\u2019 And I saw the\nwoman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the\nmartyrs of Jesus; and when I saw her I wondered with great admiration.\u201d\n(Rev. 17.)\n\nAnd after the Lord had shown me all these abominations, he took me out\nas the eagle takes his young ones on his wings. He brought me into his\nbeautiful and beloved Zion and he set my feet on the rock of my\nsalvation. There, he quenched my thirst with the pure waters which flow\nfrom the fountains of eternal life, and he gave me to eat the true bread\nwhich comes from heaven.\n\nOh! that I might go all over the world, through this book, and say with\nthe psalmist: \u201cCome, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he\nhath done for my soul.\u201d\n\nLet all the children of God who will read this book lend me their\ntongues to praise the Lord. Let them lend me their hearts, to love him.\nFor, alone, I cannot praise him, I cannot love him as he deserves. When\nI look upon the seventy-eight years which have passed over me, my heart\nleaps for joy, for I find myself at the end of trials. I have nearly\ncrossed the desert.\n\nOnly the narrow stream of Jordan is between me and the new Jerusalem. I\nalready hear the great voice out of heaven, saying: \u201cBehold, the\ntabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they\nshall be his people, and he shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;\nand there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither\nshall there be any more pain; for the former things have passed away. He\nthat overcometh shall inherit all things.\u201d (Rev. 21:34.)\n\nRich with the unspeakable gift which has been given me, and pressing my\ndear Bible to my heart, as the richest treasure, I hasten my steps with\nan unspeakable joy toward the Land of Promise. I already hear the\nangel\u2019s voice telling me: \u201cCome; the Master calls thee!\u201d\n\nA few days more and the bridegroom will say to my soul: \u201cSurely I come\nquickly.\u201d And I will answer: \u201cEven so, come Lord Jesus.\u201d AMEN.\n\n _Printed in the United States of America_\n\n\n\n\n EVANGELISTIC SERMONS\n\n_S. D. GORDON_\n\n =Quiet Talks about Simple Essentials=\n\nand the Present World Outlook\n\n $1.25\n\n\u201cA refreshing volume on the simple though really important things in the\nChristian life. The latest book by one of the most popular of all\ndevotional writers\u2014refreshing as a cool draft on a sultry day,\nenheartening as a familiar voice in the dark, and helpful as a lift in\ncarrying a heavy load.\u201d\u2014_Alabama Baptist._\n\n_R. A. TORREY, D.D._\n\n =Soul-Winning Sermons=\n\nSermons Used in Saving Myriads of Sinners all Around the Globe.\n\n $4.00\n\nTwenty-five of Dr. Torrey\u2019s best evangelistic addresses\u2014addresses\ndelivered by him in many lands and climes. These sermons have been the\nmeans, under God, of leading many thousands into Christian fellowship\nand service.\n\n_LOUIS ALBERT BANKS, D.D._\n\n =Bible Soul-Winners=\n\n $1.50\n\nDr. Banks always strikes the true evangelistic note. His addresses are\nnot figments of ethical philosophy, but burning messages of salvation.\nIn his latest book he invites attention to some of the outstanding\ninstances recorded in Holy Writ of how the proclamation of the Good News\nwas accompanied by the winning of souls for the Kingdom.\n\n_R. A. TORREY, D.D._\n\n =The Power of Prayer=\n\nand The Prayer of Power.\n\n $1.75\n\nWith characteristic forcefulness and reliance on Holy Scripture for\nproof and support of his postulates, Dr. Torrey reviews the whole\nquestion of Prevailing Prayer. Among the aspects of the theme treated\nare: The Power of Prayer, The Proper Method of Praying, Hindrances to\nPrayer, etc.\n\n FOR REACHING MEN\n\n_C. F. WIMBERLY, D.D._\n\n =The Mastery of Manhood=\n\nIntroduction by Henry C. Morrison, D.D.\n\n $1.25\n\nA vigorous, bracing discussion of the factors which make for victorious\nmanhood. Not by men who are a law unto themselves are life\u2019s highest\nachievements attained, Dr. Wimberly contends, but by men whose thoughts\nand deeds are influenced by the indwelling Spirit of the Most High. It\nis the God-governed, not the self-governed life which counts for most,\nwhich is best worth while.\n\n CHRISTIAN MOVEMENTS\n\n_FRED B. SMITH (Editor)_\n\n =Law versus Lawlessness=\n\nAddresses delivered at Citizenship Conference.\n\n $1.00\n\nBy Bishop W. F. McDowell, D.D., Hon. Roy A. Haynes, Dr. E. H.\nCherrington, Mrs. Raymond Robins, Justice Florence E. Allen, Rabbi Wise,\nHon. Carter Glass, Hons. Mabel W. Willebrandt, William Jennings Bryan,\nGifford Pinchot, Henry J. Allen, Louis Marshall, William E. Borah, Dr.\nJoseph Fort Newton, etc.\n\n_CHARLES S. MACFARLAND, D.D._\n\n _General Secretary,_\n _The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America_\n\n =International Christian Movements=\n\n $1.75\n\nFor a number of years past, the Evangelical Churches and Christian\norganizations of various kinds throughout the world have been coming\ntogether in a quiet yet effective way. The record of these activities\nform a notable addition to the annals of modern Christian progress, and\nfurnish a striking indication of how the Kingdom of God is winning its\nwidening way throughout the world.\n\n_FREDERICK LYNCH, D.D. (Editor)_\n\n _Educational Secretary_,\n _World Alliance for International Friendship_\n\n =Mobilising for Peace=\n\n $2.00\n\nAddresses Delivered at the Congress on America and the Permanent Court\nof International Justice.\n\nBy William P. Merrill, D.D., Chas. E. Jefferson, D.D., Prof. William\nAdams Brown, D.D., Hon. Oscar Straus, Pres. A. Lawrence Lovell, Pres.\nMary E. Woolley and many others.\n\n\n_WEBSTER E. BROWNING, Ph.D., Litt. D._\n\n _\u201cThe World\u2019s Living Religions\u201d series;\n Edited by Frank Knight Sanders and Harlan Page Beach_\n\n =Roman Christianity in Latin America=\n\n $1.00\n\nDr. Browning, Educational Secretary of the Committee on Cooperation in\nLatin America, has spent twenty-seven years as a missionary in South\nAmerica, and he has seen Roman Catholicism in operation at close\nquarters. A fair-minded and authentic study which can scarcely fail of\naiding very materially in this much-to-be-desired direction.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nEXPOSITORY\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n_G. CAMPBELL MORGAN, D.D._\n\n =The Acts of the Apostles=\n\n 550 pages, 8vo. $3.75\n\n\u201cA handbook of the spiritual forces and methods of the first years of\nChristianity at work in human history. It reflects everywhere the keen\nand analytical powers and marked ability of the distinguished author.\nDr. Morgan\u2019s large reputation as a teacher will guarantee the broadest\ncirculation of this work.\u201d\u2014_Western Recorder._\n\n\n_HARRIS ELLIOTT KIRK, D.D._\n_Minister, Franklin Street Presbyterian Church, Baltimore_\n\n=One Generation to Another=\n\nLessons from Old Testament Lives.\n\n $1.50\n\nDr. Kirk is one of the foremost of American expository preachers.\nPossessed of a keen insight into the foibles of human nature, he\nvisualizes Old Testament scenes, and revitalizes the characters in a\nfresh, unusual fashion.\n\n\n_BERNARD C. CLAUSEN, D.D._\n_Pastor First Baptist Church, Syracuse, N. Y._\n\n =Pen-Portraits of The Twelve=\n\n Illustrated. $1.50\n\nIn Dr. Clausen\u2019s pages the Apostles live again. As one reads he realizes\nafresh how very like himself these men were; how prone to err, to act on\nimpulse\u2014true types of humanity \u201cnow as then, and for all time.\u201d\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n BIBLE STUDY BOOKS\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n_LEONIDAS ROBINSON_\n\n =Gates and Keys to Bible Books=\n\nIntroduction by Bishop John M. Moore.\n\n $3.00\n\nAn unusually well-planned and well-arranged aid to Bible study. Dr.\nRobinson deals with each book in the Old and New Testaments in a\nfourfold fashion\u2014\u201cThe Key of the Book,\u201d \u201cThe Christ of the Book,\u201d \u201cThe\nProgress of the Book,\u201d and \u201cThe Lessons of the Book.\u201d\n\n\n_PHILIP VOLLMER, Ph.D., D.D._\n\n _Author of the \u201cModern Student\u2019s Life of Christ\u201d_\n\n =The Writings of the New Testament=\n\nin Their Historical Setting. An Outline Guide for the Study of the New\nTestament.\n\n $1.50\n\nArranged for the use of _advanced_ Bible work, of adult Sunday school\nclasses, Teacher Training Institutes and similar groups and for\nElementary classes.\n\n QUESTIONS IN DISPUTE\n\n\n_WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN_\n\n =Seven Questions in Dispute=\n\nShall Christianity Remain Christian?\n\n $1.25\n\n\u201cMr. Bryan deals with vigorous use of all the resources at his command\nwith the inspiration of the Bible, the deity of Christ, the virgin\nbirth, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, the miraculous origin of man,\netc. Mr. Bryan insists that the real issue is \u2018Shall Christianity Remain\nChristian?\u2019 and that modernism attacks all that is vital in the\nChristian religion. A veritable arsenal for the controversy.\u201d\u2014_Boston\nHerald._\n\n\n_WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN_\n\n =Orthodox Christianity versus=\n =Modernism=\n\n Paper. Net, 35c\n\n\u201cA defense by the strong, well-informed, spiritually-minded and\ncourageous believer of the truth. We commend Mr. Bryan and his earnest\nefforts for the honor of Christ, the glory of God, and the salvation of\nsouls.\u201d\u2014_Herald and Presbyter._\n\n\n_A. Z. CONRAD, D.D._\n_Pastor, Park Street Congregational Church, Boston, Mass._\n\n =Jesus Christ at the Crossroads=\n\n $1.25\n\n\u201cDr. Conrad stands unflinchingly for \u2018the reliability of the Scriptures\nand the belief that Christianity rests on unshaken and unshakable\nvalidities.\u2019 The book is written with the vigor and with the epigramatic\neffectiveness familiar to the congregation of the Park Street Church,\nwhere he has occupied the pulpit for the past eighteen years.\u201d\u2014_Boston\nHerald._\n\n_W. B. RILEY, D.D._\n_Pastor, First Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minn._\n\n =Christ, the Incomparable=\n\n $1.50\n\nA series of strong, uncompromising arguments for the unchallengable\nDivinity and Deity of Jesus. Dr. Riley stands foursquare and unflinching\nfor the fullest possible recognition of Christ\u2019s claims, and his book is\nvoicing of his deeply-rooted beliefs.\n\n_MARK A. MATTHEWS, D.D._\n_Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Seattle, Wash._\n\n =Gospel Sword Thrusts=\n\n $1.25\n\n\u201cIf the liberalist is not convinced by the logic of these addresses\nintellectually conceived, they ought to be convinced by the spiritual\nforce and the absolute conviction of truth pulsing through these lines.\nHere is truth on fire, warming the true believer, burning the\nunbeliever.\u201d\u2014_Bible Champion._\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n DEVOTIONAL\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n_JOHN WANAMAKER_\n\n =Prayers of John Wanamaker=\n\nWith an Introduction by A. G. MacLennan, D.D., Pastor, Bethany Central\nChurch, Philadelphia.\n\n $1.25\n\nA large number of the prayers (of which the notes were preserved) are\nhere brought together,\u2014prayers that reveal a singularly childlike faith\nand simplicity of thought\u2014which indicate how humbly and devoutly John\nWanamaker walked and talked with God.\n\n\n_JOHN TIMOTHY STONE, D.D._\n\n _Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Ill._\n _Author of \u201cRecruiting for Christ,\u201d etc._\n\n =To Start the Day=\n\nA Thought, A Verse, A Song.\n\n $1.50\n\n\u201cA sentence thought, followed by a suitable verse of Scripture, and then\nby a stanza from a hymn or verse of a poem, arranged for every day of\nthe year for devotional reading and meditation.\u201d\u2014_The Christian\nGuardian._\n\n\n_ANNIE RICHARDSON KENNEDY_\n\n =A Year in John\u2019s Gospel=\n\nDevotional Studies for Every Day.\n\n $2.00.\n\nA selection from the Fourth Gospel, a brief meditation thereon, and a\nshort prayer\u2014a separate page for each day in the year. The Scriptural\npassages cover the entire Gospel and are so arranged as to form a\ntopical study.\n\n\n_GAIUS GLENN ATKINS, D.D._\n\n =A Rendezvous with Life=\n\n Paper, Decorated. Net 25c.\n\n\u201cBeautiful meditation. Life is represented as a journey, with various\n\u2018Inns\u2019 along the way, such as Day\u2019s End, Week\u2019s End, Month\u2019s End, Year\u2019s\nEnd, etc., all of which are suggestive of certain experiences and\nduties.\u201d\u2014_Religious Telescope._\n\n\n_HARMON ALLEN BALDWIN_\n\n =The Fisherman of Galilee=\n\nA Devotional Study of the Apostle Peter.\n\n $1.25.\n\nA book wrought in fine, spiritual temper, free of all controversial\nelement, and devoted to a thoughtful exposition of the Petrine\nconception of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n _NEW EDITIONS_\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n=Modern Religious Cults and Movements=\n\n By Gaius Glenn Atkins, D.D.\n\n _Dr. S. Parkes Cadman_ says: \u201cIt is a needed and a thoroughly good\n piece of work. One of the best psychologists I know has just read\n it, and he also reports to me its excellence.\u201d =$2.50.=\n\n=Twelve Great Questions About Christ=\n\n By Clarence E. Macartney, D.D.\n\n \u201cSimple and direct. You cannot mistake its meaning. Courtesy,\n courage and a passion for truth characterize the book. We\n hope that it will have a circulation of just 1,000,000\n copies.\u201d\u2014_Watchman-Examiner._ =$1.50.=\n\n=What Is Success?=\n\n By Roger W. Babson\n\n \u201cMr. Babson answers his question out of wide observation. His book\n is packed with suggestions that ought to turn the feet of many in\n the right direction.\u201d\u2014_C. E. World._ =$1.25.=\n\n=The Golden Rule in Business=\n\n By Arthur Nash\n\n \u201cWhile true in every detail, Mr. Nash\u2019s story constitutes one of\n the great romances of modern industrial life.\u201d\u2014_Christian Work._\n =$1.25.=\n\n=Pilgrims of the Lonely Road=\n\n By Gaius Glenn Atkins, D.D.\n\n \u201cJust such a book as might be read with profit in our own restless\n and pleasure-loving age.\u201d\u2014_N. W. Christian Advocate._ =$2.00.=\n\n=Culture and Restraint=\n\n By Hugh Black, D.D.\n\n \u201cInteresting from every point.... Dr. Black supports his philosophy\n from a mind well stored....\u201d\u2014_N. Y. Times Review._ =$2.00.=\n\n=Nerves and Personal Power=\n\n By D. Macdougall King, M.B.\n\n Some Principles of Psychology as Applied to Conduct and Health.\n With Introduction by Hon. W. L. Mackenzie King. =$2.00.=\n\n=The \u2019Round the World Traveller=\n\n By D. E. Lorenz, Ph.D.\n\n Similar in scope to \u201cThe New Mediterranean Traveller\u201d it gives in\n systematic and serviceable form \u201cjust what the Traveller needs to\n know\u201d on a tour of the world. With 8 maps, 60 illustrations, etc.,\n =$5.00.=\n\n=The New Mediterranean Traveller=\n\n With Maps, Plans, Pictures, Etc. =$3.50.=\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n Transcriber\u2019s Note\n\nThe many errors in the text have been corrected where it is reasonably\nattributable to the printer or editor, or where the same word appears as\nexpected elsewhere.\n\nWhere the issue can be attributed to the idiosyncrasies of the author\nor the era, the text as printed has been retained. Punctuation is\nfrequently missing at the end of sentences and especially paragraphs,\nand has been supplied here. The use of quotation marks is also erratic\nat times, and where the voices can be followed, they have been\ndisambiguated.\n\nThe Table of Contents had several errors in pagination, which have been\ncorrected for accuracy, with no further notice here.\n\nThe details of each correction are noted below.\n\n p. xii Appar[a/i]tion of St. Anne Corrected.\n\n p. xiv on [r/t]he Virgin Mary Corrected.\n\n Magnific[i]ent Prairies of the West Removed.\n\n p. xvi is name[d] Vicar General Added.\n\n p. 5 the mo[f/s]t interesting Corrected.\n\n p. 11 beau[ti]ful French hymns Corrected. Line\n break error.\n\n p. 14 my parents sent me to an excellent Added.\n s[c]hool\n\n p. 17 man[n]ers Added.\n\n nothi[u/n]g Inverted.\n\n the monks of the mon[a]stery Added.\n\n independant _sic._\n\n The infa[i/l]lible pope assures Corrected.\n\n p. 18 [\u201c]Propter Added.\n\n p. 19 tra[deg/ged]y Transposed.\n\n the gentle pres[s]ure of a hand. Added.\n\n p. 20 d[i/e]spair and anguish Corrected.\n\n p. 23 Forgiv[i/e]ness Corrected.\n\n co[u/n]dition Corrected.\n\n bless[s] Removed.\n\n p. 24 implac[i/a]ble Corrected.\n\n p. 25 several thing[s]. Added.\n\n p. 26 in whic[e/h] they came to my memory Corrected.\n\n p. 29 those pol[l]uting questions Added.\n\n p. 30 The misfortune of Mr. B[e]aubien Added.\n\n p. 31 prece[e]ded Removed.\n\n p. 38 two or three min[n/u]tes Inverted.\n\n p. 50 I am a[ /p]pointed to write an address Added.\n\n p. 68 degrad[a]ing Removed.\n\n p. 69 to make _asses of every one of us_![\u201d] Added.\n\n p. 76 is fed with the ph[li/li]osophy of Transposed.\n heaven\n\n p. 77 The \u201cMemoirs du [Conte] Valmont,\u201d _Sic._ Comte.\n\n p. 78 the relig[i]on of heathen Rome Added.\n\n p. 81 had taken her form an[y/d] features Corrected.\n\n p. 82 I ha[v]e spurned the idea Added.\n\n He was at the s[r/a]me time Corrected.\n\n Yo[n/u] are right Inverted.\n\n p. 85 But the greater n[n/u]mber of students Inverted.\n\n p. 88 a disguised i[h/n]fidel or a hypocrite Corrected.\n\n our co[t/l]leges and nunneries Corrected.\n\n p. 90 While looking a[s/t] that spectacle Corrected.\n\n p. 93 to be so easi[i/l]y deceived Corrected.\n\n p. 103 Pro[s]testant Removed.\n\n p. 105 such a h[u/i]gh] fabric Corrected.\n\n p. 108 obedien[e/c]e Corrected.\n\n p. 109 relig[i]ous Added.\n\n p. 121 prostitute?[\u201d] Croix denies it, but Added/Removed.\n Ligouri affirms it.[\u201d]\n\n [\u201c]Utrum liceat Added.\n\n p. 123 gravit[s/e]r Corrected.\n\n p. 125 recipiumtur _Sic_\n recipiuntur?\n\n p. 132 privile[d]ge Removed.\n\n p. 134 beli[e]ve Added.\n\n p. 137 h[e/a]beat Corrected.\n\n p. 139 k[n]ees Added.\n\n p. 141 IMPURIT[IT]IES Removed.\n\n b[v/u]t Corrected.\n\n p. 142 understood by them?[\u201d] Removed.\n\n p. 146 De[l]saulnier Removed.\n\n p. 154 present[ni/in]g Transposed.\n\n p. 157 Christ[ai/ia]nity Transposed.\n\n p. 160 saf[te]/et]y Transposed.\n\n p. 167 I[t/n] plain French Corrected.\n\n f[u/a]ilure Corrected.\n\n p. 172 idola[rt/tr]y Transposed.\n\n p. 175 marguill[i]er Added.\n\n co[n/u] Corrected.\n\n p. 176 marguill[i]er Added.\n\n p. 179 I had not[ not] traveled Removed.\n\n p. 187 a[s/n]swered Corrected.\n\n p. 204 univer[s]al Added.\n\n p. 207 beefstake _Sic._\n\n p. 213 exc[e]ption Added.\n\n p. 214 [\u201c]and I do not know Added.\n\n p. 219 remonst[r]ated Added.\n\n p. 225 demo[m/n]strated Corrected.\n\n p. 229 confess[s]ion Removed.\n\n p. 230 to[ to] me than Removed.\n\n p. 232 th[ie/ei]r Transposed.\n\n p. 234 C[a/o]nstantinople Corrected.\n\n p. 255 or a chalice [t]o celebrate Added.\n\n p. 257 traf[f]ic Added.\n\n p. 261 BON D[EI/IE]U Transposed.\n\n p. 263 breth[er/re]n Transposed.\n\n p. 272 and yo[u] will see Added.\n\n p. 288 coun[c/s]ellor Added.\n\n p. 296 the venerable priest s[s/a]id Corrected.\n\n p. 300 scar[c]ely Added.\n\n p. 306 mil[i]tia Added.\n\n p. 307 h[a]unting Added.\n\n p. 309 men that[ that] I may tell Removed.\n\n p. 310 to visit my penitents in g[oa/ao]l Transposed.\n\n p. 314 said: [\u201c/\u2018]Your perfectly good behavior Corrected.\n\n p. 323 inte[a/r]est Corrected.\n\n p. 327 convales[c]ence Added.\n\n p. 330 in her power![\u2019]\u201d Added.\n\n p. 338 glasse[e/s] Added.\n\n p. 340 Jno / John Corrected.\n\n p. 346 prohib[l/i]tion Corrected.\n\n p. 349 disappe[a]r Added.\n\n p. 352 re[s]pectful Added.\n\n p. 366 most most monstrous imposture _Sic._\n\n p. 376 ben[e]fits Added.\n\n p. 377 s[n/c]hool Corrected.\n\n p. 386 Kamour[a]ska Added.\n\n p. 387 your country and you[r] God Added.\n\n p. 389 sat[e/c]hel Corrected.\n\n p. 391 you[n]g Added.\n\n p. 392 K[o/a]mouraska Corrected.\n\n p. 394 [S/T]he next Sabbath Corrected.\n\n p. 398 He knew to[o] well Added.\n\n p. 420 irre[r/s]istible Corrected.\n\n p. 434 had given me i[m/n] in my country Corrected.\n\n p. 439 vivent sa[i]ns s\u2019aimer Corrected.\n\n esp[oi/io]nage Transposed\n\n p. 445 a new Sodom[?/!] Corrected.\n\n p. 450 Cha[p]ter XLIII. Added.\n\n p. 451 sever[e/a]l Added.\n\n p. 459 caused me to[ to] choose Removed\n\n Golia[t]h Added.\n\n p. 460 like an adder[\u201d] Added.\n\n p. 463 brandy to[ to] the public squares Removed.\n\n p. 481 I had once pushed[ pushed] him Removed.\n\n of any such [s/c]ases Corrected.\n\n p. 485 is it possible th[r/a]t my church Corrected.\n\n p. 486 my mental agonies when reading[,] the Removed.\n Holy Fathers\n\n p. 489 Mat[t]hew, Mark, Luke Added.\n\n over the rest of the church?[\u2019]\u201d Added.\n\n p. 490 fond of wine![\u2019]\u201d Added.\n\n that[ a] new arrow Added.\n\n p. 500 My first tho[n/u]ght was Inverted.\n\n p. 511 that can befall a ma[u/n]. Inverted.\n\n in the world th[e/a]n the waters Corrected.\n\n I will sooner tell the[e], \u2018go my Added.\n child,\u2019\n\n p. 513 any treasonable plan to ru[i]n our Added.\n country.\n\n my good bishop[\u2019]s opinion Added.\n\n p. 516 much better, I think.[\u201d] Added.\n\n let every woman have[ have] her husband Removed.\n\n p. 521 [\u2018/\u201c]My dear Chiniquy Corrected.\n\n p. 527 tyrant to with[d]raw Added.\n\n p. 532 I can hope to poss[s]ess the confidence Removed.\n\n p. 535 I was not a little su[r]prised Added.\n\n Your unfor[e]seen exit Added.\n\n p. 538 among those unfor[e]seen obstacles Added.\n\n p. 539 our bea[u]tiful prairies. Added.\n\n p. 540 every one of the first emigra[n]ts Added.\n\n to dir[r]ect your attention Removed.\n\n p. 541 It soon became necessa[r]y Added.\n\n p. 543 You[r] malice against Mr. Chiniquy Added.\n\n p. 552 \u201cI will do better,[\u201d] Added.\n\n p. 563 Bishop O\u2019R[a/e]gan Added.\n\n hanging Bishop Va[n]develd Added.\n\n p. 564 more agre[e]able to your views Added.\n\n p. 565 Bishop O\u2019R[a/e]gan Corrected.\n\n p. 567 see such men in you[r] company Added.\n\n p. 572 in her co[/n]ception Corrected.\n\n p. 573 \u2018immaculate in her conception.[\u2019]\u201d Added.\n\n p. 575 Bishop O\u2019R[a/e]gan Corrected.\n\n p. 578 Is that correct?[\u201d] Added.\n\n p. 603 Chi[b/c]ago Corrected.\n\n p. 609 I wa[a/n]ted to consult Corrected.\n\n p. 618 to the cath[red/edr] of St. Mary Transposed.\n\n p. 624 It seemed [f/t]hat God had forsaken Corrected.\n\n p. 625 and soon disap[p]eared as a vision Added.\n\n p. 630 EXCOMM[R/U]NICATION Corrected.\n\n axiom had it[s] accomplishment Added.\n\n p. 634 I had left the[ the] most honorable Removed.\n position\n\n p. 642 a den of th[ei/ie]ves Transposed.\n\n p. 647 of your iniq[n/u]ity and my innocence Inverted.\n\n p. 650 your unjust sentenc[a/e] Corrected.\n\n p. 651 that frat[r]icidal combat Added.\n\n erection of w[h/i]tch I have Corrected.\n\n the Roman Catholic hiera[r]chy Added.\n\n p. 659 \u201c\u2018If it be so,\u2019 said Terrien, [\u201c/\u2018]we Corrected.\n cannot\n\n the priest LeBe[i/l\\le Corrected.\n\n p. 663 in charging me so little [t/f]or such a Corrected.\n service\n\n p. 664 have already fallen at their feet![\u201d] Added.\n\n p. 666 and said, [\u2018]Philomene what are you here Added.\n for?\u2019\n\n [\u201c]\u2018Oh, wretched girl!\u2019 Added.\n\n p. 669 those Protes[s/t]ant Yankees Corrected.\n\n p. 671 liberties in the United S[i/t]ates Corrected.\n\n p. 684 the second wi[i/l]l nearly Corrected.\n\n p. 686 Protestants were massacre[e]d Removed.\n\n p. 687 again[s]t the flag of Liberty Added.\n\n p. 693 Surely nothi[u/n]g could be more Inverted.\n pleasant\n\n p. 695 The una[min/nim]ity with which Transposed.\n\n p. 696 defend ourselves[.] Added.\n\n p. 701 usu[r]per Added.\n\n p. 703 o[r]ther Removed.\n\n p. 704 [\u201c]Till lately Added.\n\n p. 707 Promised Land[?] Added.\n\n p. 708 what is Christian[i]ty if not Added.\n\n [l/i]f God, in his infinite love Added.\n\n p. 712 \u201c[\u2018]Does it not Added.\n\n p. 717 \u201c\u2018Oh! No! General, no! no![\u2019] Added.\n\n p. 722 \u2018Mrs. Sur[a/r]att>, will you Added.\n\n p. 723 going to St. Aloysin\u2019s Chur[o/c]h Corrected.\n\n p. 724 after their di[o/abolical deed Corrected.\n\n p. 735 The 4th of April, 1865, the priests of _Sic_ 14th\n Rome knew\n\n p. 736 But we were absolutely unw[l/i]lling to Corrected.\n be\n\n p. 741 I am no[r] more excommunicated Removed.\n\n p. 743 of putt[t/i]ng an end Corrected.\n\n p. 749 such a thing.[\u201d] Added.\n\n p. 753 the same altars.[\u2019] Added.\n\n p. 756 O\u2019Regan i[t/s] here publicly accused Corrected.\n\n p. 758 the recantation of th[a/e] unfortunate that/the?\n girl\n\n p. 761 Oc[o]tober 13, 1851. Removed.\n\n p. 763 t[eh/he] following lines from him Transposed.\n\n p. 765 two or three witnesses.[\u201d] Added.\n\n any one.[\u201d] Added.\n\n p. 767 the very men who publicl[l]y trample Removed.\n\n p. 768 the bishops have placed [e/o]n my Corrected.\n forehead\n\n I need yo[n/u]r testimony Inverted.\n\n p. 771 \u2018My God![\u2019] My God!\u2019 Removed.\n\n p. 777 a good and faithful priest.[\u2019] Added.\n\n Prot[t]estants Removed.\n\n p. 780 'said to Mr. Dunn[./:] Corrected.\n\n p. 781 to gi[y/v]e me a written assurance Corrected.\n\n p. 782 in time for the Chicago train.[\u201d] Added.\n\n p. 784 GI[E/F]T Corrected.\n\n p. 787 by that disguised Protestant?[\u2019] Added.\n\n p. 788 but a poor miserable priest.[\u201d] Removed.\n\n p. 792 what would become of me[?] Added.\n\n p. 795 the pardon\u2014of[ of] my sins Removed.\n\n p. 796 Christ gave to his disc[t/i]ples Corrected.\n\n p. 802 [\u2018/\u201c]For ye see your calling Corrected.\n\n p. 803 refused to leave[ leave] Rome Removed.\n\n p. 807 do not beli[e]ve in purgatory Added.\n\n their own bread and butter.[\u2019/\u201d] Corrected.\n\n p. 810 [\u201c]Let every one Added.\n\n p. 820 the Presbyterian Church of the U[u]nited Removed.\n States.\n\n p. 822 my colony of Illino[i]s Added.\n\n p. 823 the following sentence was [o/a]n exact Corrected.\n\n p. 828 sticks [o/a]nd daggers Corrected.\n\n p. 831 turn the[e] yet again Added.\n\n p. 832 for my soul.[\u201d] Added.\n\n Jord[o/a]n Corrected.","title":"Fifty Years in the Church of Rome","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":315643}