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CATHOLIC PRIEST.

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BY

MICHAEL MULLER, C.S.S.R.,

friest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.

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BALTIMORE s

PUBLISHED BY KREUZER BROTHERS,
80 NoSTtt STREET.

1872.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 18T2, "by

&REUZER BROTHERS,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

CONTENTS.

PAOB
CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY 7

CHAPTER II.
THEY ARE "THE LIGHT or THE WORLD " . . 17

CHAPTER III.
THEY ARE " THE SALT OP THE EARTH " . . 60

CHAPTER IV.
THEIR POWER OVER THE MYSTIC BODY OF

CHRIST 70

CHAPTER V.
THE POWER OF THE PRIEST OVER CHRIST'S OWN

BODY 94

CHAPTER VI.
THE CATHOLIC PRIEST THE FATHER AND FRIEND

OF THE PEOPLE 113

CHAPTER VII.

OBLIGATIONS OF THE PEOPLE TO THE CATHOLIC
PRIEST . 143

(v)

THE CATHOLIC PRIEST.

CHAPTEE I.

INTRODUCTORY.

WHEN our dear Saviour Jesus Christ
was living on earth, He was accused of
the worst crimes. He was accused by the
high-priests and the doctors of the law, to
whom it belonged to pronounce who was
the Messiah. He was accused before an
idolatrous judge, in presence of all the
people. He was treated as a blasphemer,
as one possessed by the devil, as a lover
of wine, as a destroyer of the Temple, as
a seducer of the people, as a rebel, a se
ditious man, who gave to Himself the title
of king, who forbade the payment of
tribute to Caesar, and who wished to
(7)

8 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST.

destroy the Jewish nation. If ever infa
mous calumny was carried to excess, it
was undoubtedly in regard to our divine
Saviour Jesus Christ, "who knew not sin,"
who had never uttered a deceitful word,
who "did all things well," and who "passed
His life in doing good, and healing all
kinds of infirmities."

Now Jesus Christ continues to live in
the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the
Pope, the bishops and priests. He has
made a prediction to His Apostles and
their successors, which has come true in
all ages, and which will be verified to the
end of the world. He said to them : "The
servant is not greater than his lord ; if
they have persecuted me, they will also
persecute you."— (John xv. 20.) This
prediction of our Lord Jesus Christ has
been especially verified in our own cen
tury. See how the enemies of Jesus

INTRODUCTORY. 9

Christ have treated, and how they continue
still to treat, our holy father Pius IX.;
see how they massacred the Archbishop
of Paris, and many of his clergy, in cold
blood! The Pope! the Pope! The
Priest I the Priest! This has ever been
the cry of all the wicked, and what fan
cies has it not conjured up? Some, when
they only hear the word "Pope," or
"Priest," turn up their jeyes in horror,
and shrink back as if they had suddenly
encountered an evil genius. Others, at
the mere sound of the word "Pope," or
"Priest," become as rabid as a dog
stricken with hydrophobia when he sees
water. They grind their teeth, they
froth and foam at the mouth, they tremble
with rage, and seem as if they would tear
into pieces all the popes and priests that
have ever lived from Peter to the present
dav.

10 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST.

Others shake their heads with an air of
majesty, as if they would say : "How can
we get over the Pope — over the hierarchy
of the Catholic Church?" Like a divine
stigma, the world's hatred is impressed on
the brow of the Pope, of the bishops and
priests of the Church. The spirit of the
world — the spirit of falsehood and of
negation — hates the Pope — the Vicar of
Christ ; it hates all our Lord's true min
isters — the Catholic bishops and priests
— with demoniacal hatred. Why? Be
cause they are the palladium of truth,
and of public and private morality ; the
root and bond of charity and of faith.

The spirit of the world hates the Pope,
it hates the bishops and priests of the
Catholic Church, because they love justice
and hate iniquity. But it is for this very
reason that they will remain forever ; for
truth and justice being, in the end, always

INTRODUCTORY. 11

victorious, the Pope, together with the
Catholic bishops and priests, will not cease
to bless and to triumph. All the works
of the earth have perished ; time has ob
literated them. The hierarchy of the
Catholic Church remains, because the
Church remains, and it will endure until
the Church passes from her earthly exile
to her country in heaven.
\ Human theories and systems have flitted
across her path like birds of night, but
have vanished ; numberless sects have,
like so many waves, dashed themselves to
froth against this rock, or, recoiling, have
been lost in the vast ocean of forgetful-
ness. Kingdoms and empires that once
existed in inimitable worldly grandeur are
no more ; dynasties have died out, and
have been replaced by others.

Thrones and sceptres and crowns have
withstood the hierarchy of the Church ;

12 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST.

but, immutable, like God, who laid its
foundation, it is the firm, unshaken cen
tre round which the weal and woe of na
tions move — weal if they adhere to it —
woe if they separate from it. If the
world takes from the Pope, the bishops
and priests of the Catholic Church, the
cross of gold, they will bless the world
with one of wood. If necessary, popes,
bishops and priests can suffer and die for
the welfare of the world, as Jesus suffered
and died. The hierarchy of the Catholic
Church is immortal.

We cannot but smile when we hear men
talk of the downfall of this hierarchy.
What could hell and its agents do more
than they have already done for its de
struction ? They have employed tortures
for the body, but they could not reach the
spirit ; they have tried heresy, or the de
nial of revealed truth, to such an extent

INTRODUCTORY. 13

that we cannot see room for any new
heresy ; they have, by the hand of schism,
torn whole countries from the unity of
the Church ; but what she lost on one side
of the globe, she gained tenfold on the
other. All these have ignominiously
failed to verify the prophecies of hell,
that "the hierarchy of the Church shall
fall."

Look, for instance, at the tremendous
effort of the so-called glorious Reforma
tion, together with its twin sister — the
unbelief of the nineteenth century. Whole
legions of church reformers, together with
armies of philosophers armed with nega
tion, and a thousand and one systems of
paganism, rushed on against the chair of
Peter, and swore that the papacy would
fall, and with it the whole hierarchy of the
Church. Three hundred years are over,
and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church

14 - THE CATHOLIC PRIEST.

is still alive, and, to all appearances, more
vigorous than ever. The nations have
proved that they can get along very well
without reformers, but not without the
Pope, the bishops and priests of the Cath
olic Church. Men are foolish enough to
dream of the destruction of the papacy.
Napoleon tried the game, and, from the
summit of his empire, walked into exile,
whilst his victim, Pius VII., leaving his
prison, entered Rome in triumph. A
great statesman of France said, not long
ago, that those who tried to swallow the
papacy, and with it the whole hierarchy
of the Church, always died of indigestion.
Let the enemies of the Pope, and of the
Catholic bishops and priests, beware : if
they dash their heads against the rock,
they must not be astonished to find them
broken.

The whole hierarchy of the Catholic

INTRODUCTORY. 15

Church is a grand fact in history — a fact
so great that there would be no history
without it — a fact permanent, repeating
itself perpetually, entering into the con
cerns of all the nations on the face of the
earth, appearing again and again on the
records of time, and benefiting, perceived
or unperceived, directly or indirectly, so
cially, morally, and supernaturally, every
individual who forms part of the great
organism of human society.

Around this hierarchy human society
moves like a wheel around its axle ; on
this hierarchy society depends for its
support, its life, its energy, like the plan
etary system on the sun. This assertion,
my dear reader, I hope to make good by
showing to you in this little work that the
Pope, the bishops and priests are "the
light of the world, the salt of the earth,

16 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST.

the mediators between God and man,
and the best fathers and friends of the
people."

CHAPTER II.

THEY ARE "THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD."

THE great roots of all the evils that
press upon society, and make man unhappy,
are
"THE IGNORANCE OF THE MIND, AND THE

DEPRAVITY OF THE WILL."
Hence he who wishes to civilize the world,
and thus assist in executing the plans of
God's providence, must remove these two
great roots of evil by imparting to the
mind infallibly the light of truth, and by
laying down for the will authoritatively
the unchangeable principles of morality.
If the hierarchy of the Catholic Church
has accomplished in society this twofold
task, then has it rendered itself worthy
2 (17)

18 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

of the praises of all men, and deserves to
be called the greatest, the most astonish
ing, the most divine fact in the history of
the world — then the hierarchy of the Cath
olic Church is truly "the light of the
world, and the salt of the earth."

Look at the world before Christianity.
Everywhere the grossest ignorance and
immorality prevailed. The true God was
hardly known, save in one single corner
of the earth, that is to say, in Judea alone ;
and even there, how very few loved Him !
As to the rest of the world, some wor
shipped the sun, some the brutes, some
the very stones, and others again even
viler creatures still ; nay, many even wor
shipped the very demons as gods.

Everywhere there reigned the night of
sin which blinds souls, and hides from
them the sight of the miserable state in
which they are living as enemies of God,

"THE LIGHT or THE WORLD." 19

and condemned to hell. The most de
grading vices were extolled even as vir
tues. The world cried for light. Men
could no longer see their way. "Why are
we here ? Who made us ? Whither are
we going? Whence the evils in the
world? Why have we a thirst for im
mortality? Why does nothing on earth
satisfy us? Why our yearning for per
petual happiness ? " Such were the ques
tions that resounded everywhere, in the
schools of philosophy, in the forum, in
the market-place, in the temple, at the
fireside. No one could answer ; and yet
the social, domestic and religious happi
ness of the world was at stake on these
questions then as it is now. What rem
edy could be applied to heal such invet
erate evils of the mind and the will?
Pagan philosophers, poets and orators, had
tried their best to elevate mankind ; but

20 THE CATHOLIC PKIESTS ARE

they had tried in vain. Then "the light
shone into the darkness" ; and Jesus Christ
was this light, by His divine doctrine and
example. St. Peter and the other Apos
tles and their successors — the Roman
Catholic bishops and priests — became the
bearers of this light.

More than fifteen hundred years ago
there hung in the Catacombs of Rome a

o

lamp shaped in the form of a ship, at
whose helm sat St. Peter, steering with
one hand, and with the other giving his
blessing. On one side of this miniature
ship were engraved the words, "Peter
dies not," and on the other the words of
our dear Saviour : " I have prayed for
thee."— (Luke xxii. 32.)

There could not be a more beautiful
symbol of the papacy and the hierarchy
of the Catholic Church. This hierarchy
is a lamp which illumines all darkness,

and furnishes us with the brilliant light of
truth ; the Church is a ship which carries
this light safely through the storms of
ages to the ends of the earth, bringing
with it blessings to the nations, and gath
ering into its apostolic net, as it sails
along, the perishing children of men.
And at the helm sits the poor fisherman
of Galilee, the Pope, together with his
assistants — the Catholic bishops and priests
— directing the course of the vessel, now
to this, now to that distressed country,
now to this, now to that sorrowing people,
to bring them not gold, not silver, but
what is infinitely more precious — Faith ;
and with faith, true civilization, based upon
the unchangeable principles of supernat
ural morality, true prosperity, true happi
ness, and peace on earth and for eternity.
One thousand eight hundred and forty-
odd years ago, a poor, meanly-clad wan-

22 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

derer went to the Capital of the world —
the wealthy, magnificent city of Rome.
He passes its gates, and threads his way
unobserved through its populous streets.
Oil every side he beholds splendid pal
aces raised at the expense of down-trodden
nationalities ; he beholds stately temples
dedicated to as many false gods as nations
were congregated in Rome ; he beholds
public baths and amphitheatres devoted to
pleasure and to cruelty ; he beholds stat
ues, monuments, and triumphal arches
raised to the memory of blood-thirsty
tyrants.

He passes warriors and senators, beg
gars and cripples, effeminate and dissolute
women, gladiators and slaves, merchants
and statesmen, orators and philosophers,
all classes, all ranks, all conditions of men
of every language and color under the
sun. Everywhere he sees a maddening

23

race for pleasure, everywhere the impress
of luxury, everywhere the full growth of
crime, side by side with indescribable
suffering, diabolical cruelty and barbarity.
And this poor, meanly-clad wanderer,
was St. Peter. Oh ! how the noble heart
of the poor fisherman of Galilee must
have bled when he observed the empire
of Satan so supreme — when he witnessed
the shocking licentiousness of the temple
and the homestead, when he saw the fear
ful degradation of woman groaning under
the load of her own infamy, when he saw
the heart-rending inhumanity which slew
the innocent babes, and threw them into
the Tiber, when he saw how prisoners of
war, slaves, soldiers, were trained for
bloody fights, and entered the arena of the
amphitheatre and strove whole days to
strangle one another, for the special en
tertainment of the Roman people.

24 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

Here, then, was to be the scene of his
labors : into this foul mass, into this car
cass of a rotten society, St. Peter was
come to infuse a new life, to lay the
foundation of a new Rome, a Rome
which, instead of paganism and deprav
ity, would convey the truth and the
blessing of Christian virtues to the far
thermost ends of the earth. When Peter,
the first Pope, came to Rome, that city
was the condensation of all the idolatry, all
the oppression, all the injustice, all the
immoralities, of the world ; for the world
was centred in Rome. Hence the work
of Peter was the type of what his suc
cessors and their fellow-laborers in the
vineyard of the Lord — the Catholic
bishops and priests — would do for the
world. Peter laid his hand to the plough
and never once looked back. For twenty-
five years he struggled, and succeeded in

25

establishing, in the very midst of this
centre of every excess of which the hu
man mind and the human heart could be
guilty, a congregation of Christians, to
whom St. Paul could address an epistle,
and in it state that the far fame of their
faith had already spread over the whole
world. "I give thanks to my God
through Jesus Christ for you all, because
your faith is spoken of in the whole
world." — (Rom. i. 8, xvi. 19.)

The foundation of a new world had
been laid by the first Pope, and cemented
by his own blood. Since then, Pope has
succeeded Pope in spite of persecution
and death, in spite of the opposition of
pagan philosophy and of pagan intrigue,
of pagan hate and of pagan enmity. It
was through the Popes and their fellow-
laborers — the Catholic priests — that
Christianity, till at the end of the third

26 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

century, covered the whole then known
world. The Capitoline temple, and with
it the many shrines of idolatry, the
golden house of Nero, and with it Roman
excess and Roman cruelty, the throne of
the Caesars, and with it Roman oppression
and Roman injustice, had all passed away.
And there stood the Rome of the Fathers
of the Church, the Rome which was yet
to do such wonders in the world. Two
hundred and fifty-eight Popes have, till
now, succeeded each other in the See of
Peter. Of these, seventy-seven are hon
ored by the Church as saints, and twenty-
seven have, in imitation of Peter, sealed
their work with their blood.

" And the light shone into the dark
ness." Pope after Pope, the principal
bearers of the light of the true faith, sent
forth to the nations bishops and mission
aries, full of the spirit of self-sacrifice,

27

solely devoted to their great task ; and
year after year new tribes, new nations,
were gained for Christ by the constant
labors and hardships of the priests of
the Catholic Church. Thus St. Austin
brought the light of faith to England,
St. Patrick to Ireland, St. Boniface to
Germany. The Frieslanders, the Mora
vians, the Prussians, the Swedes, the
Picts, the Scots, the Franks, and hun
dreds of others, were brought to the
bosom of the Church through the preach
ing and labors of the bishops and priests
of the Eoman Catholic Church. Driven
from one country, their influence was
made to act on another. When Solisman,
the Sultan, threatened to wipe out Chris
tianity from Europe, Roman Catholic
bishops and priests went to the East
Indies, to China, and Japan. When
Europe failed in its fidelity, and listened

28 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

to the siren voices of heresy, Catholic
bishops and priests were sent to the
newly-discovered continent of America,
and to the West Indies.

Gregory XVI. devised plans for mis
sions to the interior of Africa, missions
which are working wonders yet. This
great work of enlightening the world the
Popes accomplished more particularly by
those astonishing organizations called Re
ligious Orders, all of which depend for
their existence on the approbation of the
Holy See. It was the great Pope Greg
ory I., who, a monk himself, gave, by his
example, his dignity, his decrees, and in
stitutions, firmness and stability to the
monastic life of the West. True wisdom
rests for its support on the principles of
Faith. Hence the first aim of these re
ligious orders was to spread the light of
faith. With what success they did this,

we all know. But there was another
thing they did : they civilized the coun
tries to which the Papacy had sent them.
In the pagan world, education was an
edifice built up on the principles of slavery.
The motto was, " Odi profanum vulgus ct
arceo." Education was the privilege of
the aristocracy. The great mass of peo
ple was studiously kept in ignorance of
the treasures of the mind. This state of
things was done away with by the Papacy
when it established the monastic institu
tions of the West. The whole of Europe
was soon covered with schools, not only
for the wealthy, but for the poorest even
of the poor. Yes, education was system
atized, and an emulation was created for
learning, such as the world had never
seen before. Italy, Germany, France,
England, and Spain, had theii*' univer
sities ; but side by side with these, their

30 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

colleges, gymnasiums, parish and village
schools, as numerous as the churches and
monasteries, which the efforts of the Holy
See had scattered with lavish hand over the
length and breadth of the land.

And where was the source of all this
light? I answer, at Rome. For when
the barbarian hordes poured down upon
Europe from the Caspian Mountains, it
was the Popes who saved civilization.
They collected, in the Vatican, the manu
scripts of the ancient authors, gathered
from all parts of the earth at enormous
expense. The barbarians, who destroyed
everything by fire and sword, had already
advanced as far as Rome. Attila, who
called himself the scourge of God, stood
before its walls ; there was no emperor,
no pretorian guard, no legions present to
save the ancient Capital of the world.
But there was a Pope — Leo I. And Leo

went forth, and by entreaties, and threats
of God's displeasure, induced the dreaded
king of the Huns to retire. Scarcely had
Attila retired, before Genseric, king of
the Vandals, made his appearance, invited
by Eudoxia, the empress, to the plunder
of Rome. Leo met him, and obtained
from him the lives and the honor of the
Romans, and the sparing of the public
monuments which adorned the city in such
numbers. Thus Leo the Great saved
Europe from barbarism. To the name
of Leo, I might add those of Gregory I.,
Sylvester II., Gregory XIII., Benedict
XIV., Julius III., Paul III., Leo X.,
Clement VIII., John XX., and a host of
others, who must be looked upon as the
preservers of science and the arts, even
amid the very fearful torrent of barbarism
that was spreading itself, like an inunda
tion, over the whole of Europe. The

32 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

principle of the hierarchy of the Church
has ever been this : " By the knowledge of
Divine things, and the guidance of an in
fallible teacher, the human mind must
gain certainty in regard to the sublimest
problems, the great questions of life : by
them the origin, the end, the norm and
limit of man's activity must be made
known, for then alone can he venture
fearlessly upon the sphere of human
efforts, and human developments, and hu
man science." And, truly, never has sci
ence gained the ascendancy outside of the
Church that it has always held in the
Church. And what I say of science I
also say of the arts. I say it of archi
tecture, of sculpture, and of painting. I
need only point to the Basilica of Peter,
to the museums and libraries of Eome.
It is to Rome the youthful artist always
turns his steps, in order to drink in, at

the monuments of art and of science, the
genius and inspiration he seeks for in
vain in his own country. He feels, only
too keenly, that railroads and telegraphs,
steamships and power-looms, banking-
houses and stock companies, though good
and useful institutions, are not the
mothers of genius, nor the schools of
inspiration ; and therefore he leaves his
country, and goes to Rome, and there
feasts on the fruits gathered by the hands
of St. Peter's successors, and then returns
home with a name which will live for
ages in the memory of those who have
learned to appreciate the true and the
beautiful.

It is thus that the Popes, and bishops
and priests have accomplished the first
great work of enlightening society. They
have shed the light of Faith over the East
and the West, over the North and the
3

34 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

South, and with the faith they have estab
lished the principles of true science on
their natural basis. They have imparted
education to the masses, wherever they
were left free to adopt their own, and un
trammelled by civil interference. They
have fostered and protected, yes, gathered
around themselves the arts and the sci
ences, and to-day, if all the libraries, and
all the museums, and all the galleries of
art in the world were destroyed. Rome
alone would possess quite enough to sup
ply the want, as it did in former ages,
when others supplied themselves by plun
dering Rome.

The depravity of man shows itself in
the constant endeavor to shake off the re
straint placed by law and duty upon his
will; and to this we must ascribe the
licentiousness which has at all times af
flicted society. Passion acknowledges no

law, and spares neither rights nor conven
tions ; where it has the power, it exercises
it to the advantage of self, and to the det
riment of social order. The Church is by
its very constitution Catholic, and hence
looks upon all men as brothers of the same
family. She acknowledges not the nat
ural right of one man over another, and
hence her Catholicity lays a heavy restraint
upon all the efforts of self-love, and curbs
with a mighty hand the temerity of those
who would destroy the harmony of life
implied in the idea of Catholicity.

One of the first principles of all social
happiness is, that before the law of nature,
and before the face of God, all men are
equal. This principle is based on the
unity of the human race, the origin of all
men from one common father. If we study
the History of Paganism, we find that all
heathen nations overturned this great prin-

36 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

ciple, since we find among all heathen na
tions the evil of Slavery. Prior to the
coming of Christ, the great majority of
men were looked upon as a higher devel
opment of the animal, as animated instru
ments which might be bought and sold,
given away and pawned ; which might be
tormented, maltreated, or murdered ; as
beings, in a word, for whom the idea of
right, duty, pity, mercy, and law had no
existence. Who can read, without a feel
ing of intense horror, the accounts left
us of the treatment of their slaves by the
Romans? There was no law that could
restrain in the least the wantonness, the
cruelty, the licentious excess of the mas
ter, who, as master, possessed the absolute
right to do with his slaves whatsoever he
pleased. To remove this stain of slavery
has ever been the aim of the Popes, bishops
and priests. "Since the Saviour and Cre-

"THE LIGHT or THE WORLD." 37

ator of the world," Says Pope Gregory I.,
in his celebrated decree, "wished to be
come man, in order, by grace and liberty,
to break the chains of our slavery, it is
right and good to bestow again upon man,
whom nature has permitted to be born
free, but whom the law of nations has
brought under the yoke of slavery, the
blessing of their original liberty." Through
all the middle ages — called by Protestants
the dark ages of the world — the echo of
these words of Gregory I. is heard, and
in the 13th century Pope Pius II. could
say, "Thanks to God, and the Apostolic
See, the yoke of slavery does no longer
disgrace any European nation." Since
then slavery was again introduced into
Africa, and the newly-discovered regions
of America, and again the Popes, bishops
and priests raised their voices in the in
terests of liberty, — from Pius II. to Pius

38 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

VII., who, even at the time Napoleon had
robbed him of his liberty, and held him
captive in a foreign land, became the de
fender of the negro, to Gregory XVI. , who,
on the third of November, 1839, insisted
in a special Bull on the abolition of the
slave trade, and who spoke in a strain as
if he had lived and sat side by side with
Gregory I., thirteen hundred years before.
But here let us observe, that not only the
vindication of liberty for all, not only the
abolition of slavery, but the very mode of
action followed in this matter by the
Popes, bishops and priests, has gained for
themselves immortal honor, and the es
teem of all good men. When the Church
abolished slavery in any country where it
existed, the Popes, bishops and priests
did not compel masters, by harshness or
threats, to manumit their slaves ; they did
not bring into action the base intrigues,

"THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." 39

the low chicanery, the canting hypocrisy
of modern statesmen ; they did not raise
armies, and send them into the lands of
their masters to burn and to pillage, to lay
waste and to destroy ; they did not slaugh
ter, by their schemes, over a million of
free men and another million of slaves ;
they did not make widows and orphans
without numbers ; they did not impov
erish the land, and lay upon their subjects
burdens which would crush them into
very dust. Nothing of all this. That is
not the way in which the Church abolished
slavery. The Popes sent bishops and
priests into those countries where slavery
existed, to enlighten the minds of the
masters, and convince them that slaves
were men, and consequently had souls,
like other people, too. The Popes, bish
ops and priests infused into the hearts of
masters a deep love for Jesus Christ, and

40 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

consequently a deep love for souls. The
Popes, bishops and priests taught masters
to look upon their slaves as created by the
same God, redeemed by the same Jesus
Christ, destined for the same glory. The
consequence was, that the relations of
slave and master became the relations
of brother to brother ; the master began
to love his slave, and to ameliorate his
condition, till, at last, forced by his own
acknowledged principles, he granted to
him his liberty. Thus it was that slavery
was abolished by the preaching of the
Popes, bishops and priests. The great
barrier to all the healthy, permanent, and
free development of nations was thus bro
ken down ; the blessings, the privileges of
society, were made equally attainable by
the masses, and ceased to be the special
monopoly of a few, who, for the most

41

part, had nothing to recommend them ex
cept their wealth.

But even though the Popes have abol
ished slavery from Christian society, the
female portion of our race would always
have sunk back into a new slavery, had
not the Popes entered the breach for the
protection of the Unity, the sanctity, the
Indissolubility of matrimony. In the midst
of the barbarous ages, during which the
conqueror and warrior swayed the scep
tre of empire, and kings and petty tyrants
acknowledged no other right but that of
force, it was the privilege of the Popes,
and their honor, to oppose themselves and
their authority like a wall of brass to the
sensuality and the passions of the mighty
ones of the earth , and to stand forth as the
protectors of innocence and outraged vir
tue, as the champions of the rights of
woman, against the wanton excesses of

42 THE CATHOLIC PKIESTS ARE

tyrannical husbands, by enforcing, in their
full seventy, the laws of Christian mar
riage. If Christian Europe is not covered
with harems, if polygamy has never gained
a foothold in Europe, if, with the indis-
solubility and sanctity of matrimony, the
palladium of European civilization has
been saved from destruction, it is all owing
to the Popes, the bishops and priests. "If
the Popes " — says the Protestant Von Miil-
ler — " if the Popes could hold up no other
merit than that which they gained by pro
tecting monogamy against the brutal lusts
of those in power, notwithstanding bribes,
threats, and persecutions, that alone would
render them immortal for all future ages."
And how had they to battle till they had
gained this merit? What sufferings had
they to endure, what trials to undergo?
When King Lothair, in the 9th century,
repudiated his lawful wife in order to live

"THE LIGHT OF THE WOULD." 43

with a concubine, Pope Nicholas I. at once
took upon himself the defence of the
rights and of the honor of the unhappy wife.
All the arts of an intriguing policy were
plied, but Nicholas remained unshaken ;
threats were used, but Nicholas remained
firm. At last the king's brother, Louis
II., appears with an army before the walls
of Rome, in order to compel the Pope to
yield. It is useless — Nicholas swerves not
from the line of duty. Rome is besieged ;
the priests and people are maltreated and
plundered ; sanctuaries are desecrated ; the
cross is torn clown and trampled under
foot, and, in the midst of these scenes of
blood and sacrilege, Nicholas flies to the
Church of St. Peter ; there he is besieged
by the army of the Emperor for two clays
and two nights : left without food or
drink, he is willing to die of starvation on
the tomb of St. Peter, rather than yield

44 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

to a brutal tyrant, and sacrifice the sanctity
of Christian marriage, the law of life of
Christian society. And the perseverance
of Nicholas I. was crowned with victory.
He had to contend against a licentious
king, who was tired of restraint ; against
an emperor, who with an army at his
heels, came to enforce his brother's unjust
demands ; against two councils of venal
bishops, the one at Metz, the other at
Aix-la-Chapelle, who had sanctioned the
scandals of the adulterous monarch. Yet,
with all this opposition, and the suffering
it cost him, the Pope succeeded in pro
curing the acknowledgment of the rights
of an injured woman. And during suc
ceeding ages we find Gregory V. carrying
on a similar combat against King Eobert,
and Urban II. against King Philip of
France. In the 13th century, Philip
.Augustus, mightier than his predecessors,

45

set to work all the levers of power, in or
der to move the Pope to divorce him from
his wife Ingelburgis. Hear the noble
answer of the great Innocent III. : —

"Since, by the grace of God, we have
the firm and unshaken will never to sep
arate ourselves from Justice and Truth,
neither moved by petitions, nor bribed by
presents, neither induced by love, nor in
timidated by hate, we will continue to go
on in the royal path, turning neither to
the right nor to the left; and we judge
without any respect to persons, since God
Himself does not respect persons."

After the death of his first wife, Isa
bella, Philip Augustus wished to gain the
favor of Denmark by marrying Ingelbur
gis. The union had hardly been solem
nized, when he wished to be divorced from
her. A council of venal bishops assem
bled at Compiegne, and annulled his lawful

46 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

marriage. The queen, poor woman, was
summoned before her Judges, and the
sentence was read and translated to her.
She could not speak the language of
France, so her only cry was " Rome ! "
And Rome heard her cry of distress, and
carne to her rescue. Innocent III. needed
the alliance of France, in the troubles in
which he was engaged with Germany ;
Innocent III. needed the assistance of
France, for the Crusade ; yet Innocent
III. sent Peter of Capua as Legate to
France ; a Council is convoked by the
Legate of the Pope ; Philip refuses to ap
pear, in spite of the summons, and the
whole of the kingdom of Philip is placed
under interdict. Philip's rage knows no
bounds : bishops are banished, his lawful
wife is imprisoned, and the king vents his
rage on the clergy of France. The barons
at last appeal against Philip to the sword.

47

The king complains to the Pope of the
harshness of the Legate, and when Inno
cent only confirms the sentence of the
Legate, the king exclaims, "Happy Sal-
adin ; he had no Pope ! " Yet the king
was forced to obey. When he asked the
barons assembled in council, "What must
I do ? " their answer was : " Obey the
Pope ; put away Agnes and restore Ingel-
burgis." And, thanks to the severity of
Innocent III., Philip repudiated the con
cubine, and restored Ingelburgis to her
rights, as wife and queen. Hear what the
Protestant Hurter says, in his life of In
nocent : "If Christianity has not been
thrown aside as a worthless creed, into
some isolated corner of the world ; if it
has not, like the sects of India, been re
duced to a mere theory ; if its European
vitality has outlived the voluptuous effem
inacy of the East, it is due to the watch-

48 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS AKE

fill severity of the Eoman Pontiffs ; to their
increasing care to maintain the principles
of authority in the Church."

As often as we look to England, that
land of perfidy and deceit, we are re
minded of the words of Innocent III. to
Philip Augustus. We see Clement using
them as his principles in his conduct to
wards the royal brute Henry VIII. Cath
erine of Arragon,the lawful wife of Henry,
had been repudiated by her disgraceful
husband, and it was again to Rome she
appealed for protection. Clement remon
strates with Henry. The monarch calls
the Pope hard names. Clement repeats,
"Thou shalt not commit adultery ! " Henry
threatens to tear England from the Church ;
he does it ; still Clement insists, " Thou
shalt not commit adultery!" Fisher and
More go to bleed out their life at Tyburn ;
still the Pope repeats, "Thou shalt not

"THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." 49

commit adultery ! " The firmness of the
Pope cost England's loss to the Church.
It cost the Pope bitter tears, and he
prayed to Heaven not to visit on the
people of England the crimes of the des
pot ; he prayed for the conversion of the
nation ; but sacrifice the sanctity, the
indissolubility of matrimony, that he could
never do— abandon helpless woman to the
brutality of men who were tired of the
restraints of morality — no, that the Pope
could never permit. If the Court, if the
palace of the domestic hearth refused a
shelter, Rome was always open, a refuge
to injured and down-trodden innocence.

"One must obey God more than man."
This has ever been the language of the
Popes, of the bishops and priests, when
ever there was question of defending the
laws of God against the powers of the
earth ; and in thus defending the laws of

50 THE CATHOLIC PKIESTS AKE

God, they protected against outrage the
personal dignity, the moral liberty and
the intellectual freedom of man. "Be
cause there was a Pope," says a Protestant
historian, " there could not any longer be
a Tiberius in Europe, and the direction
of the religious and spiritual welfare of
man was withdrawn from the hands of
royalty." Because there were Popes, the
will of Caesar could not any longer be
substituted for law ; for the Popes made
the Gospel the law-book of the nations.
Now the Gospel teaches that all power
comes from God, that from God the sov
ereign derives his power, to rule in justice
and equity for the welfare of his subjects,
and that the subjects are bound to obey
their rules for conscience sake. Hence,
adopting the great principle of action,
the Popes have at all times condemned the
spirit of rebellion, and have anathematized

"THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." 51

those principles, those factions, those or
ganizations whose aim is, and has always
been, to overturn authority and to substi
tute anarchy in the place of the harmony
of legitimate government. In conformity
with this rule of action the Popes Clement
XII., Benedict XIV., Pius VII., Leo
XII., Gregory XVI., and Pius IX., have
condemned secret societies, whose object
is the overthrow of civil and religious
government. But at the same time that
the Popes required from subjects obedi
ence to their lawful governments, they
have ever defended subjects against the
abuse of power, or against the tyranny of
unjust rulers. In pagan times it had the
appearance as if the people existed for the
sovereign, and not the sovereign for the
people ; but in the days and in the coun
tries where the spiritual supremacy of the
Pope was acknowledged by rulers, the

52 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

pagan idea had necessarily to disappear,
for the Popes gave the princes to under
stand that they existed for the people,
and not the people for them.

Viewed in this light, what a magnificent
spectacle does the Catholic Church present
to our admiration, and how does the hon
est heart of down-trodden nationality yearn
that these happy days may once more re
turn ! Taken mostly from the middle
classes, sometimes even from the most
humble ranks of society, the Popes as
cended the chair of Peter. And these
men, who had been the sons of artisans
and mechanics, but who had, by their vir
tue and talent, gained a merit which
neither wealth nor a noble pedigree could
bestow, became the arbiters between na
tion and nation, between prince and peo
ple, always prepared to weld together the
chain of broken friendship, and to protect,

"THE LIGHT OF THE WOULD." 53

by their power and authority, the rights
of subjects oppressed by tyrannical rulers.
It was indeed a blessing for Europe thnt
Nicholas I. could curb, with an iron hand,
the tyranny of kings and nobles. It was
indeed a blessing, not for Europe alone,
but for the world, that there lived a ge
nius on earth in the person of Gregory
VII. , who knew how to protect the Saxons
against the wanton lawlessness of Henry,
King of Germany, a monster who ground
his subjects remorsely in the dust, and re
spected neither the sanctity of virginity
nor the sacredness of marriage ; neither
the rights of the Church, nor those of the
State ; whose very existence seemed to have
no other aim but that of the leech, to draw
out the blood from the hearts of his un
happy subjects. What would have be
come of Germany had there not been a
power superior to that of this godless

54 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

prince ? It was Gregory VII. who hurled
him from his throne, and restored to the
noble Saxons and Thuringians their inde
pendence, not by the power of the sword,
but by the scathing power of his anathema.
The same I may say of Boniface VIII. and
of Innocent III. There was, happily for
Europe, a Court of Appeal, to which even
monarchs were forced to bow ; and that
court was Rome. It was to Borne that
the nations appealed, when their inde
pendence was at stake or their rights were
trampled upon. And Rome was never
deaf to the cry of distress, whether it
came from Germany or from France, from
England or from Poland, from Spain or
from the shores of the Bosphorus.

The independence of religion from the
control of the State — a boon of which our
constitution boasts — was a thing for which
the Popes, together with the bishops and

priests, had fought and bled since the
days of Constantino, and for which they
gained the victory, centuries before Amer
ica was discovered. The abolition of slav
ery was the constant aim of the Popes —
an aim which it accomplished without dis
turbing the harmony of nations, without
drenching in blood the countries where
slavery existed ; whereas, the powers suc
ceeded in the abolition of slavery only at
the cost of torrents of blood and millions
of treasure, pressed out by merciless wars
and political injustice. The corner-stone
of society is Christian marriage ; and at
that corner-stone have the Popes, bishops
and priests stood guard for eighteen cen
turies, by insisting that Christian marriage
is one, holy, and indissoluble. Woman,
weak and unprotected, has, as the history
of the Church abundantly proves, found
at Home that guaranty which was refused

56 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

her by him who had sworn at the altar of
God to love her, and to cherish her till
death. Whereas, in the nations whom
the Keformation of the 16th century tore
from the bosom of the Church, the sacred
laws of matrimony are trampled in the
dust ; whereas, the statistics of these na
tions hold up to the world the sad spec
tacle of divorces as numerous as marriages,
of separations of husband from wife, and
wife from husband, for the most trivial
causes, thus granting to lust the widest
margin of license, and legalizing concubi
nage and adultery; whereas, the 19th
century records in its annals the existence
of a community of licentious polygamists
within the borders of one of the most civ
ilized countries of the earth ; we must yet
see the decree emanating from Rome that
would permit even a beggar to repudiate
his lawful wife, in order to give his affec-

tions to an adulteress . And when the liberty
of a nation was on the verge of destruc
tion, and when emperors, and kings, and
barons rode rough-shod over the rights,
natural and vested, of their subjects, for
getting the sacred trust confided to them,
became tyrants, when neither prosperity
nor undivided liberty were secure from
that rapacious grasp ; when even the rights
of conscience were set aside with impunity ;
it was the Popes of Eome who buckled on
the armor of Justice, and humbled the
pride of princes — even if, as a conse
quence, they had to say, with a Gregory
VII., "Dilexi Justitiam et odivi iniquita-
tem ; ideo morior in exilio."

Thus the Popes, the bishops and the
priests are the light of the world, the or
gan of the Holy Ghost. They announce
the most beautiful, the most useful truths ;
they speak to encourage the good, to ex-

58 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

hort the weak, and to convert the sinner.
It is not in their own name that they
speak ; no, beloved brethren, it is in the
name of God. They open the Book of
books. They trace out for every one his
individual duties ; to the monarchs as
well as to their subjects, to the learned
and the ignorant, to the rich and to the
poor, to the just and to the sinner. To
all they offer instruction, counsel, and
hope. Sometimes they inveigh against
crime, sometimes they encourage virtue;
now they relate the sweet consolations of
the just, and again they describe the fearful
state of the impenitent sinner. There is
not a sound maxim, nor a political truth,
whose germ is not found in the Word of
God. Now it is the Popes, the bishops
and the priests whom God has appointed
to dispense these treasures. Yes, show
me, if you can, a single country blessed

"THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." 59

by faith and civilization, that has not
been watered by the tears and by the
preaching, by the prayers and by the
blood, of those who are styled the light
of the world — the Popes, the bishops and
priests.

CHAPTER HI.

IF it is the Popes, the bishops and
priests who have drawn forth the civil
ized nations of the world from barbarism,
it is also the Popes, the bishops and
priests who keep them from falling back
into their former degradation. It is for
this reason that our Divine Saviour calls
them also "the salt of the earth." Al
mighty God, Who incessantly watches
over the welfare of His Church, has, in
every century, provided chosen vessels —
holy Popes, bishops and priests — to de
fend and uphold her holy doctrine.
Against Arianism, God raised up an
Athanasius and a Hilary of Poictiers ; to
(60)

THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS, ETC. 61

oppose the Nestorians, God sent St.
Cyril. He sent St. Augustine to beat
down the Pelagians ; St. John Damas
cene, to fight the Iconoclasts. When the
world became Christian, and Catholics
grew rich, and forgot the poverty of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Franciscan monks
were called to teach the love of Christian
poverty to voluptuous Catholics.

Heresy and ignorance then followed,
and the Dominican Fathers were raised
up, by God, to combat these two great
evils. In the 16th century, Protestant
ism came up. Heresy arose in all its
strength : Luther was its ringleader and
its spokesman ; sensual passion and dis
obedience were personified in him. God
raised up the Jesuit Fathers to oppose
Protestantism, by self-denial, by an es
pecial vow to the Holy See, and by their
sound teachings of the Catholic religion.

62 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

Finally, in the 18th century, in
fidelity and impiety, the last conse
quences of Protestantism, personified in
Voltaire and his associates, boldly raised
their heads. Infidelity naturally united
with Jansenism to undermine the edifice
of the Church. Rigorism took hold of
confessors, and armed them with iron
sternness against weak and shuddering
sinners. The consequence was, that ser
vile fear took the place of the charity of
God; that the sacraments, the fountains
of life, were abandoned, or turned into
derision ; that the Blessed Eucharist, the
lifespriug of Catholic piety, became an
object of dread, and that the spirit of
Christianity seemed to pass away. But
the eye of an Omniscient Providence was
watching over it. In order to confound
impiety, to fight against Jansenism, to
disarm confessors of their overstrained

"THE SALT or THE EARTH." 63

rigidity, to awaken faith, to kindle in the
hearts of the faithful love for the Blessed
Sacrament, God gave to his Church a man
after His own heart, — Alphonsus de
Liguori. Infidelity had permeated society
from the nobility to the lower classes,
and the sons of St. Alphonsus, the Re-
demptorist Fathers, are preaching to
the poor the eternal truths which they
may have lost sight of by indifferentism
and infidelity.

Truly, if the Church is the Spouse of
Jesus Christ, the Popes, bishops and
priests are her guardians. If the Church
is an army ranged in battle, the Popes,
the bishops and priests are her gener
als. If the Church is a vessel steering
across the storms of persecutions, the
Popes, the bishops and priests are
her pilots. If the Church is the Mystic
Body of Christ, and if the faithful are its

THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

members, the Popes, the bishops and
priests are the principal members of this
Body ; by their eyes, Jesus Christ watches
over His flock ; by their feet, He carries
to every nation the Gospel of peace;
by their hearts, He diffuses everywhere
the life of that divine charity without
which all is dead. If the Church is the
people of acquisition, bought at a great
price, the Popes, the bishops and priests
are the leaders, the teachers, the princes
of that chosen generation. If the Church
is that sacred edifice built up by the
Divine Wisdom Itself for the children
of God, the Popes, the bishops and
priests are the administrators of this pal
ace ; they are the columns of the Church
upon which the whole world rests. God
the Father has created the world without
the Popes, the bishops and priests,
but it is only through them that He saves

"THE SALT OF THE EARTH." 65

it. God the Son redeemed the world
without the Popes, the bishops and
priests, but it is only by them that He
applies His Blood to the souls of men,
and secures the fruits of His copious Ke-
demption. And you can hardly name a
single blessing of the Holy Ghost, with
out beholding by the side of that bless
ing the priest as the instrument through
which that Divine Spirit communicates
His blessing. Yes, if St. Bernard is
right in saying that all comes to us
through Mary, we are also right in say
ing that all comes to the people through
the Popes, the bishops and priests :
yes, all happiness, every grace, every
heavenly gift.

All the other gifts of God would avail
us nothing without the Popes, the bish
ops and priests. What would be the
use of a house full of gold, if there

5

66 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

were no one to open the door for you?
Now the Popes, the bishops and priests
have the key of all the treasures of
heaven ; it is they who open the door.
They are the stewards of the Lord, the
administrators of His goods. Without
them, the Passion of our Lord would
profit us nothing. Look at the poor
heathen — of what benefit is our Lord's
death to them ? Alas ! they can have no
share in the Redemption, so long as they
have no priests to apply His blood to
their souls.

No one understands this better than
the devil, and his associates in this world.
When they wish to destroy religion, they
begin by attacking the Popes, the bish
ops and priests ; for where there is no
priest there is no sacrifice, and where
there is no sacrifice there is no religion.
What should we do in the Church ? the

67

people would say ; there is no Mass now,
our Lord is no longer there ; we may as
well pray at home.

Oh, how sad would be the state of so
ciety were the Popes, the bishops and
priests to be banished from the earth !
The bonds that unite the husband and
wife, the child and the parent, the friend
and the friend, would be broken. Peace
and justice would flee from the earth.
Robbery, murder, hatred, lust, and all
the other crimes condemned by the Gos
pel, would prevail. Faith would no
longer elevate the souls of men to heaven.
Hope, the sweet consoler of the afflicted,
of the widow and the orphan, would flee
away, and in her stead would reign black
despair, terror, and suicide. Where
would we find the sweet virtue of charity,
if the Popes, the bishops and priests
were to disappear forever ? Where would

68 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS ARE

we find that charity which consoles the
poor and forsaken, which lovingly dries
the tears of the widow and the orphan ;
that charity which soothes the sick man
in his sufferings, and binds up the wounds
of the bleeding defender of his country ?
Where would we find that charity which
casts a spark of divine fire into the hearts
of so many religious, bidding them aban
don home, friends, and everything that
is near and dear to them in this world, to
go among strangers, among savage tribes,
and gain there, in return for their her
oism, nothing but outrage, suffering and
death? Where, I ask, would we find
this charity, if the Popes, the bishops
and priests were to disappear forever?
Leave a parish for many years without
a priest, and the people thereof will be
come the blind victims of error, of su
perstition, and of all kinds of vices.

69

Show ine an age, a country, a nation
without priests, and I will show you an
age, a country, a nation without morals,
without virtue. Yes, if "Religion and
Science, Liberty and Justice, Principle
and Eight," are not empty sounds — if
they have a meaning, they owe their en
ergetic existence in the world to the
" salt of the earth" — to the Popes, bishops
and priests.

CHAPTER IV.

THEIR POWER OVER THE MYSTIC BODY
OF CHRIST.

EVERY priest can say, in some measure,
with Jesus Christ who sent him: "All
power is given to me in heaven and on
earth." The influence of this power is
felt in heaven, in giving the elect ; it is
felt in hell, in snatching from it victims ;
it is felt in purgatory, in consoling effica
ciously the Church Suffering. The in
fluence of the priest's power is felt all over
the world in sustaining the Church Militant.
The great and the little, kings and their
subjects, the learned and the ignorant, all
expect from the priest not only the light
of the true faith, but also pardon of their
(70)

THE CATHOLIC PRIEST'S POWER, ETC. 71

sins — the grace of God. Indeed, the power
of the priest is so great, that it can grant
all these blessings in abundance. His
power surpasses that of any created being,
either in heaven or on earth. An earthly
judge has great power, but, with all his
power, he can only declare one innocent
who has been falsely accused ; but the
priest has power to restore to innocence
even those that are guilty.

The kings of the earth are powerful,
yet their power extends only over a few
countries, while the power of the priest
extends over the whole earth. His power
reaches to the highest heavens — it pen
etrates even to the very gates of hell. The
treasures of kings are silver and gold —
perishable metals — but the treasures of the
priest are the imperishable merits and
graces of our Lord Jesus Christ. Kings
have power over only the bodies of men, but

72 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST'S POWER

the priest has power over their souls.
Kings have power over only their subjects,
but kings and emperors themselves are
subject to the priest. Kings have power
to open and to close the prison-gates of
earth, but the priest has power to open
and to close the gates of heaven and of
hell.

Yes, beloved brethren, this is no exag
geration. Listen to the words of our Lord
Jesus Christ — words which he addressed to
his Apostles, and their successors in the
priesthood : " I will give you the keys
of the kingdom of heaven. "Whatsoever
you shall bind on earth, shall be bound
also in heaven, and whatsoever you shall
loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in
heaven."

The priest is greater than the patriarchs,
greater, more exalted, than the prophets.
A widow of Sarepta fed the prophet

OVEE THE MYSTIC BODY OF CHRIST. 73

Elias for some time. In reward for her
charity, the prophet obtained for her the
miracle that her pot of meal wasted not,
and that her cruise of oil was not dimin
ished, and thus sustained that family in
a miraculous manner. The Catholic priest
does more : he feeds not merely one fam
ily, but the entire human race ; he gives
not mere material bread, but the living bread
from heaven — the body and blood of Jesus
Christ ; he strengthens the souls of men
with the oil of grace, which he administers
to them in the Holy Sacraments.

Elias raised, moreover, the widow's
son to life ; but the priest does more : he
raises to life the dead soul, not of one
man, but of hundreds and thousands. In
Baptism, and especially in the sacrament
of Confession, he raises to the life of grace
the souls of those that were dead in mortal
sin.

74 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST'S POWER

Elias caused fire to rain from heaven
upon the heads of the wicked. The priest
causes not merely material fire to fall from
heaven, he does far more : he causes the
fire of divine love to fall upon the cold
heart of the sinner, and moves him to con
trition ; he inflames him to a new and per
fect life.

Again, the priest is greater than the
prophets. The prophets beheld the Re
deemer only from afar, only in the dim
future. The priest beholds Him present
before his eyes. He touches the long-
wished for Blessed Redeemer with his
hands ; he offers Him up to the Heavenly
Father ; he carries Him through the streets ;
he even feeds on the precious blood of
this Holy One ; he even receives Him into
his heart, and unites himself most inti
mately with Him in Holy Communion.
The prophets foretold that when the

OVER THE MYSTIC BODY OF CHRIST. 75

fulness of time would come, God would
write His law, not on stone, but on men's
hearts. He would govern men, not by
the law of servile fear, but by the sweet
bonds of holy love ; that God Himself
would dwell in them, and direct them by
His grace. Now this fulness of time, for
which the prophets sighed, has come.
God gives His grace, His own divine life
to man, and He gives it abundantly ; and
as the ministers of this grace, he has
chosen, not the prophets, not His angels,
but His priests.

The Catholic priest has the primacy of
Abel. Abel was hated and persecuted by
his wicked brother ; the priest is hated
and persecuted by the wicked among his
fellow-men.

The priest has the patriarchal dignity of
Abraham. Abraham is called the Father
of the Faithful. The priest is, in reality,

76 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST'S POWER

the Father of the Faithful, for he makes
them the children of God by preaching
the Gospel, and especially by administer
ing to them the Sacraments.

He stands at the helm of the Church,
the ark of salvation, like Noah.

He is consecrated forever, according to
the Order of Melchisedech.

He is invested with a dignity far higher
than that of Aaron. Aaron offered up
only the blood of sheep and oxen ; the
Catholic priest offers up the blood of the
Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

The priest has the authority of Moses.
Moses led the people of God through the
desert to the promised laud ; the Catholic
priest leads the children of God through
the desert of this life to the true Land of
Promise — our home in heaven.

The priest has the power of St. Peter,
the power of the keys, the power of

OVER THE MYSTIC BODY OF CHRIST. 77

binding and loosing, the power of forgiv
ing and of retaining sins. The priest has
the power to free the sinner from the
bonds of sin and hell, and to open to him
the gates of heaven. He has the power
to transform him from a slave of the devil
to a child of God.

Let us take a man who, of his own free
will, has made himself a slave of sin, a
slave of the devil. Who shall free him
from this shameful bondage? Shall we
call upon the angels and saints of heaven?
The saints of heaven are the friends of
God, and God honors them by hearing
their prayers. They may pray for the
sinner, they may obtain for him innumer
able graces, but they cannot free him from
a single sin.

Shall we call upon his guardian-angel ?
The guardian-angel may warn the sinner,
he may assist him, he may urge him to do

78 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST'S POWER

penance, but the guardian-angel cannot
free him from the chains of sin.

Shall we call upon St. Michael? St.
Michael is most powerful ; he is the prince
of the heavenly hosts ; he has conquered
Satan and his hellish crew. He can com
pel the evil spirits to flee away from the
sinner, but he cannot free that sinner from
a single sin.

Shall we, then, call upon the Blessed
Virgin Mary herself? The Blessed Vir
gin Mary is the Mother of God ; she is
the Queen of angels and of men ; her very
name is the terror of hell. She can pray
for the sinner, and her prayers are all-
powerful with God, but she cannot forgive
a single sin ; no ! not even a single venial
sin.

Seek where you will, throughout heaven
and earth, and you will find but one cre
ated being who can forgive the sinner,

OVER THE MYSTIC BODY OF CHEIST. 79

who can free him from the chains of sin
and hell ; and that extraordinary being is
the priest, the Catholic priest. " Who can
forgive sins except God?" was the ques
tion which the Pharisees sneeringly asked.
" Who can forgive sins ? " is the question
which the Pharisees of the present day
also ask ; and I answer, there is a man on
earth that can forgive sins, and that man
is the Catholic priest.

Yes, beloved brethren, the priest not
only declares that the sinner is forgiven,
but he really forgives him. The priest
raises his hand, he pronounces the words
of absolution, and in an instant, quick as
a flash of light, the chains of hell are
burst asunder, and the sinner becomes a
child of God. So great is the power of
the priest, that the judgments of heaven
itself are subject to his decision ; the priest
absolves on earth, and God absolves in.

80 THE CATHOLIC PEIEST's POWER

heaven. " Whatsoever thou shalt bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven, and what
soever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed also in heaven." These are the
ever-memorable words which Jesus Christ
addressed to the Apostles and to their
successors in the priesthood.

Suppose that our Saviour Himself were
to come down from heaven, and were to
appear here in our midst ; suppose He
were to enter one of the confessionals, to
hear confessions. Now let a priest enter
another confessional for the same purpose.
Suppose that two sinners go to confession,
both equally well disposed, equally con
trite. Let one of these go to the priest,
and the other to our Saviour Himself.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ says to the
sinner that comes to Him, "I absolve thee
from thy sins," and the priest says to the
sinner that goes to him, "I absolve thee

OVER THE MYSTIC BODY OF CHRIST. 81

from thy sins." Now the absolution of
the priest will be just as valid, just as
powerful, as the absolution of Jesus Christ
Himself. The sinner who goes to the
priest to confession, will be just as well
absolved as the sinner who goes to our
blessed Lord Himself.

At the end of the world, Jesus Christ
shall judge all men Himself; "for the
Father judges no one, but He has left all
judgment to His divine Son " ; but as
long as this world lasts, Jesus Christ has
left all judgment to His priests. He has
vested them with His own authority, with
His own power. "He that heareth you,"
He says, "heareth Me." He has given
them His own divine Spirit. "Receive ye
the Holy Ghost ; whosesoever sins you shall
forgive, they are forgiven ; and whosesoever
sins you shall retain, they are retained."

The priest is the ambassador, the plen-
6

82 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST'S POWER

ipotentiary, of God. He is the cooperator,
the assistant, of God in the work of Ee-
demption. Beloved brethren, this is no
exaggeration, it is the inspired language
of the Apostle: "Dei adjutores sumus."
— (1 Cor. iii.) "We are the cooperators,
the assistants, of God." It is to the priest
that God speaks, when He says : "Judge
between Me and My people." "Judica
inter Me et vineam meam." — (Isa. v.)
"This man," says God, speaking to the
priest, " this man is a sinner ; he has of
fended Me grievously ; I could judge him
Myself, but I leave this judgment to your
decision. I shall forgive him as soon as
you grant him forgiveness. He is My
enemy, but I shall admit him to My
friendship as soon as you declare him
worthy. I shall open the gates of heaven
to him, as soon as you free him from the
chains of sin and hell."

OVER THE MYSTIC BODY OF CHRIST. 83

Great was the power and dignity of
Joseph, the Viceroy of Egypt. From the
prison, he was raised to the throne. From
the rank of a slave, he was elevated to the
first dignity in the kingdom. The King
of Egypt took off his own ring, and placed
it upon the finger of Joseph. He clothed
him in costly robes. He placed a chain
of gold around his neck. He caused him
to ascend into his second chariot, and com
manded the herald to go before him to
proclaim aloud that all should bend the
knee before his viceroy Joseph. And the
king said to Joseph : " Thou shalt rule
over my house. Thy orders, my people
shall obey ; and without thy commands,
no man shall move hand or foot in all the
land of Egypt, and thou shalt be called
the saviour of the world." — (Gen. xli.
40.)

Great indeed was the dignity to which

84 THE CATHOLIC PKIEST'S POWER

Joseph was raised ; but the dignity to
which God has raised the priest, is infin
itely greater. From the rank of a slave
— a vile slave of sin and hell — God has
elevated him to a dignity far surpassing
that of the angels and saints of heaven.
God has clothed the priest in the costly
robe of grace and innocence. He has
placed around his neck the golden chain
of charity and mercy. He has placed on
his finger the ring of power and authority.
He has given the priest the almighty
power of forgiving sins.

The priest has received from God the
power of forgiving sins. But do you
know, beloved brethren, what it means to
have the power of forgiving, of destroying,
sin? Sin is so great an evil, that were
all the men on earth, were all the saints
and angels of heaven to perform the most
vigorous penances, were they to sacrifice

OVER THE MYSTIC BODY OF CHRIST. 85

everything for love of God, yet, with all
their good works, they would not suffice
to blot out a single sin. Nay, even the
fierce fires of hell, though burning through
out all eternity, can never destroy a single
mortal sin. To have the power of moving
mountains is indeed something great ; but
to have the power of removing sin from
the soul is something far greater. To
have the power to raise the dead to life is
wonderful ; but the power to raise the
dead soul to life is still more wonderful.
To have the power to create new worlds,
is to partake of God's own Omnipotence ;
but to have the power of forgiving, of de
stroying, sin, is to hold the very place of
God Himself — it is to perform one of the
greatest works of God's almighty power.
Before concluding this point, I would
wish to address a few words, in all charity,

86 THE CATHOLIC PEIEST'S POWER

to those of my kind hearers who may not as
yet be members of the Catholic Church.

There are many noble-hearted, precious
souls ; they are created by God for a high
purpose — created to shine amid the bright
angels throughout all eternity. They are
created with such keen sensibilities, that
they seem born only to suffer and to weep.
Their path to heaven is indeed a path of
thorns. Their griefs and yearnings are
such, that but few can understand them.
God help these noble souls, if they are
deprived of the strength and consolations
of the Catholic Church 1 Out of the
Church, such a gifted soul must bear her
anguish alone. She was told, in the hour
of happiness, that religion would console
her in the hour of sorrow. And now her
hour of sorrow has come. Whither shall
she turn for strength and consolation?
She turns to her books — to her Bible.

OVER THE MYSTIC BODY OF CHRIST. 87

But books are cold and wearisome ; their
words are dead. Oh, how she envies the
penitent Magdalen, who could sit at Jesus's
feet, and hear from His blessed lips the
sweet words of pardon and peace ! She
turns to God in prayer ; but God answers
her not by the Urim and Thummim ; and,
in her doubt and loneliness, she envies
even the Jews of old. Ah ! she listens in
vain for the voice of God, because God
has appointed a voice to answer her ; but
that voice is only within the shepherd's
fold ; and she is kept without the fold by
the cruel enemy, and the shepherd's voice
cannot reach her.

Ah, how different it is with the faithful
Catholic soul ! Try to call to mind some
virtuous friend of your acquaintance ; try
to imagine one who is learned and pious,
devoting his whole life, not to the care of
a family, but solely to the service of God ;

88 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST'S POWER

imagine such a one ever ready to aid you
in your necessities, spiritual and even
temporal, ever wise in giving counsel,
gentle in reproving, clear in teaching, an<J
powerful in word and deed ; imagine that
such a one were your friend — your inti
mate friend — how great would be your
happiness !

Imagine, moreover, that this kind,
trustworthy friend, were appointed by God
Himself to be your constant guide and
director ; imagine that he was bound by
the most sacred oaths never to reveal,
even by word or look, any secret you
might confide to him ; imagine, moreover,
that this friend had received from God the
power to forgive every sin that you con
fess to him with true contrition — imagine
all this, and you will have what every
Catholic has in his confessor. The good
Catholic is accustomed, even from his

OVER THE MYSTIC BODY OF CHRIST. 89

childhood, to communicate to his confes
sor every trial and temptation that dis
turbs his peace of heart. He goes to his
confessor for consolation in the hour of
darkness and sorrow ; he asks his advice
when in doubt ; he consults him in every
important undertaking. Our Lord Jesus
Christ promised His beloved disciples that
though He would quit the earth, yet He
would not leave them "orphans," He
would send them the Spirit of Truth to be
their comforter. Now this divine promise
was ratified, and even in a great measure
fulfilled, when, on Easter Sunday night,
Jesus appeared to His Apostles and gave
them the Holy Ghost, saying : ff Receive
ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins you
forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose
soever sins you retain, they are retained."
On this solemn moment Jesus made His
priests to be the fathers of the faithful,

from whom they were to receive the spirit
of grace and consolation, even to the end
of time.

The same Divine Hand which poured
such wonderful affection into the heart of
the mother, fills the heart of the priest
with divine charity, and teaches him to
adapt his treatment to the spiritual wants
of his penitent. The priest feels for his
penitent as an earthly father feels for his
child ; and as a spiritual father, he judges
and decides according as he thinks it is
best for the eternal welfare of the penitent.

Ah ! believe me, my dear Protestant
friends, you cannot imagine the consola
tion, the peace of mind which a Catholic
experiences when he has made a good
confession ; when he leaves the feet of the
priest with the divine assurance which
faith gives him, that his sins are really
and truly forgiven. You cannot realize

OVER THE MYSTIC BODY OF CHRIST. 91

this joy by any force of the imagination.
To understand this happiness you must
experience it as the Roman Catholic ex
periences it, who confesses with the infal
lible certainty that the priest has received
from Christ the power to forgive sins.
The Episcopalian " Book of Common
Prayer," at least in England, teaches that
when one is sick and dying he may have
recourse to confession, and obtain the
pardon of his sins, if his conscience be
troubled with any weighty matter. The
Catholic, however, needs not to wait until
he is at the point of death, he can obtain
the pardon of his sins whenever he desires
it. He does not need to wait until his
conscience is burdened by some grave
matter, he can go to confession and obtain
pardon for those daily sins and failings
that vex the heart and weigh down the

92 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST'S POWER

spirit by their frequent recurrence, even
in spite of all our watchfulness.

To the faithful Catholic soul, the portals
of the Catholic Church stand ever open.
Hither she may come as to a healing foun
tain, whose waters ever flow. Here she
may lave her burning brow ; here she may
drink of the cooling stream, and allay the
feverish anguish of her soul. Here Jesus
Himself, the dearest of friends, speaks to
her by the mouth of him to whom He has
given the Holy Ghost — the spirit of con
solation.

Mrs. Moore, a very intelligent lady of
Edinton, N. Carolina, and a convert to
our holy faith, said to her Protestant chil
dren on her death-bed : " O my children,
there is such hope, such comfort in our
holy religion ! When I was so near death,
and believed I should never see you again,
my soul was filled with anguish. When

OVER THE MYSTIC BODY OF CHRIST. 93

I thought I was so soon to meet my God,
I feared ; but when I had made my con
fession to His own commissioned minister,
and received absolution in the name of
the Holy Trinity, death was divested of
every sting. Each day I thank God more
and more that He has given me grace to
break the ties that kept me from the
Church. I have never looked back with
regret, and, in fact, I wonder why I could
ever have been anything but a Catholic."

CHAPTER Y.

THE POWER OF THE PRIEST OVER CHRIST'S
OWN BODY.

GOD has given to the priest the keys of
heaven. He has given the priest power
over the faithful, over His mystic body ;
but Pie has given the priest even a more
extraordinary power, — a power so stupen
dous, so unutterably great, that, had we
not the grace of faith, we could never be
lieve it. He has given to the priest
power over His own Sacred Body, power
over Himself! The eternal, Omnipotent
God, in whose presence the pillars of
heaven tremble, that God before whom
the earth, and all that dwell thereon, be
fore whom the boundless universe, with all
its countless suns and planets, before
(94)

THE POWER OF THE PRIEST, ETC. 95

whom all created things are but as a drop
of water, as a grain of dust, as if they
were not ; that God of infinite majesty and
glory is subject to the priest. He in
stantly descends from heaven in obedience
to the voice of His priest ! The monarchs
of the earth have great power s their
commands are obeyed, their very name is
respected and feared. Thousands and thous
ands of their fellow-men are subject to them.
Their power is great indeed, but there is
one on earth whose power is greater.

Great was the power of Adam when he
came forth from the hands of God, in all
the majesty of justice and innocence. He
was king of creation, and all the creatures
of the earth obeyed him.

Great was the power of Moses, when,
by a single word, he divided the waters
of the sea, and led avast multitude dry-shod
through the midst of the surging billows.

96 THE POWER OF THE PRIEST

Great was the power of Elias, who
caused fire to rain from heaven upon the
heads of his enemies.

Great was the power of Joshua, who,
in the heat of battle, raised his hands to
heaven, and commanded the sun : "Move
not, O sun!" he cried, "and thou moon,
stand still " ; and the sun and the moon
obeyed his voice. They stood still in the
midst of the heavens, for the space of an
entire day !

Great, indeed, was the power which God
thus gave to man, but there is one on earth
to whom God has given power infinitely
greater. There is a man who opens at
will the gates of heaven, who speaks to
the eternal Son of God, and at his voice
the God of heaven descends on earth, and
subjects Himself to his control. We are
astonished at the words of the Evangelist
when he tells us that Jesus, the Son of

OVER CHRIST'S OWN BODY. 97

God, was subject to Mary and Joseph.
"Et erat subditus illia : and He was subject
to them." But at least some reasons may
be assigned to show the fitness of this
obedience. Mary was the most pure and
holy, the most perfect of God's creatures ;
she was the mother of God, and as such,
had a certain right to the obedience of her
Son ; but when we see a weak, sinful man
gifted with a power which angels dare not
claim, when we see a weak, sinful man
possessing power over God Himself, pos
sessing power to bear Him, to place Him,
to give Him to whom he wills, we cannot
help exclaiming in amazement: "O won
drous miracle ! O unheard-of power ! "
And yet, beloved brethren, it is most true ;
we know it with all the certainty of faith.
We are as certain of it as we are of the
existence of God. There is a man on
7

98 THE POWER OF THE PRIEST

earth who possesses this extraordinary
power, and that man is the Catholic priest !

The power which God has given to the
priest is even far more excellent than the
power of creation. By creation, God pro
duces the substance of bread out of noth
ing, by His word ; but by the words of the
priest in consecration, the substance of
bread is changed into the most Sacred
Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

So sublime is the dignity of the priest
hood, that, in order to establish it, our
Lord Jesus Christ had to die. To redeem
the world, it was not necessary that our
Lord should die. A single drop of His
Sacred Blood, a single tear, a single prayer
of His would have sufficed; but in order
to establish the priesthood, our Lord had
to die. He had to leave the priests of his holy
religion a fitting sacrifice ; he had to leave
them a victim pure, holy, undefiled, worthy

OVER CHRIST'S OWN BODY. 99

of God ; and in the entire universe no victim
could be found so worthy as Himself.

Hence our Lord Jesus Christ instituted,
at the Last Supper, the sacrifice of His
Sacred Body and Blood. On the night
before His Passion, our Blessed Redeemei ,
in presence of His Apostles, offered up
bread and wine to His Heavenly Father ;
He then, by His almighty power, changed
the bread and wine into His Sacred Body
and Blood, and offered up His Body and
Blood in sacrifice for our sins. " This,"
he said, " is my Blood, which is shed for
the remission of sin."

He then empowered His Apostles to
offer up this same Divine sacrifice. "Do
this," He said, or sacrifice this, " in remem
brance of me." It was, then, our Divine
Saviour Himself who first offered up the
sacrifice of the New Law — the sacrifice
of His Body and Blood — which we call

:otL CNftiST! Rftll

100 THE POWER OF THE PRIEST

the holy sacrifice of the Mass. The first
Mass, then, that was ever celebrated on
earth, was offered up by our Lord Jesus
Christ Himself, at the Last Supper.

Now all good works together are not of
equal value with the sacrifice of the Mass,
because they are the works of men ; but
the holy Mass is the work of God. Mar
tyrdom is nothing in comparison — it is
the sacrifice that man makes of his life to
God ; but the Mass is the Sacrifice that
God makes of His Body and of His Blood
for man. In this sacrifice there is noth
ing to be seen but the Infinite. The priest
is God — the victim is God. The holy
sacrifice of Mass is essentially the very same
as the sacrifice of the cross. It differs from
the sacrifice of the cross only in appear
ance. On Mount Calvary, the victim
offered to God was the living Body and
Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in

OVER CHRIST'S OWN BODY. 101

the holy sacrifice of the Mass, the victim
is also the living Body and Blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ.

On Mount Calvary , the priest that offered
the sacrifice was our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself; and in the holy sacrifice of the
Mass, the priest that offers sacrifice is also
our Lord Jesus Christ.

On Mount Calvary, Jesus Christ was
really and visibly present, and on the altar,
during holy Mass, Jesus Christ is also
really present, though invisible.

On the cross, our Saviour died a painful
and bloody death ; but in the holy Mass,
our Saviour dies only in appearance, or,
as it is called, a mystical death.

In the holy sacrifice of the Mass, the
Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
are not dead; no, it is the living Body,
the living, warm heart's Blood ; it is the
living, rational soul of our Lord Jesus

102 THE POWER OP THE PRIEST

Christ, united to His Divinity, that are
offered to God in the holy Mass. It is
this which gives the holy Mass an infinite
value ; which makes it the highest worship
that can ever be offered to God. In the
holy Mass, the Son of God worships His
Heavenly Father for you ; He prays for
you ; He asks pardon for you ; He adores,
He gives thanks for you.

What, then, must be the effects of this
august sacrifice? God, appeased by the
sacrifice of the Mass, forgives even the
most enormous sins by granting to the
sinner the grace of doing penance for them.
Without doubt, it is to the efficacy of the
Mass that we must attribute the less fre
quent occurrence, in later times, of those
terrible punishments which God formerly
inflicted on the wicked. " It is to the
Mass," says Timothy of Jerusalem, "that
the entire world owes its preservation ;

OVER CHRIST'S OWN BODY. 103

without it, the sins of men would have
annihilated it long ago." (Orat. de Proph.)
Now the Catholic priest is the only one
of God's creatures who can offer to Him
the holy sacrifice of the Mass. It is by a
single Mass that he gives God for you,
and for all men, more honor, and more
thanks, than all the angels and saints of
heaven. It is by a single Mass that he
obtains for you, and for all men, more
blessings ; that he averts from you, and
from all men, more chastisements ; that he
appeases God more efficaciously than all
the prayers of the angels and saints of
heaven can do.

The priest's hands, more sacred than
the cherubim that upheld the mercy-seat,
more venerable than the sapphire throne
on which appeared the Ancient of days,
more blessed than even the spotless womb
of the immaculate Virgin Mary — his

104 THE POWER OF THE PRIEST

hands touch and handle the Incarnate
Word of God. His hands bear that sa
cred Body, before whose dazzling splen
dor the angels veil their faces in trembling
awe. Yes, at the altar I can imagine the
blessed spirits in the attitude in which St.
John the Evangelist beheld them. "They
lay prostrate on their face before the Lamb
of God."— (Apoc. vii. 11.) But the
priest is standing at the altar ; his is the
authority, and his the action. The angels
are only witnesses of the holy sacrifice,
and God wills that the priest should be its
minister. The angels are prostrated be
fore the Lamb of God upon the altar, but
the priest is at the table of the Divine
Lamb ; he incorporates Himself with Him
Whom the angels hardly dare look upon.
The holy Church, contemplating the
unutterable privilege of the Bleised
Mother of God, cries out in adm.irftV.or ;

OVER CHRIST'S OWN BODY. 105

WO blessed is the womb of the Virgin Mary,
that bore the Son of the Eternal God, and
blessed are the breasts that suckled Christ
our Lord ! " But we can say, with even
more justice : "O blessed, thrice blessed,
are the hands of the priest into which the
Eternal Son of God descends every day
from heaven; blessed are those hands
which bear, which handle, which sacrifice
the ever-blessed Son of God I" The Son
of God descended but once into the chaste
womb of the Virgin Mary, but He de
scends every day into the hands of the
priest.

Five words of her humility brought
the Eternal Word into her sacred womb.
Five words of the power of the priest
bring the same Eternal Word upon the
altar. If the consent which Mary gave
was the conditional cause of the mystery
of the Incarnation, the action of the priest,

106 THE POWER OF THE PRIEST

speaking in the name, and in the all-pow
erful virtue of Jesus Christ, is the efficient
cause of Transubstantiation — the New In
carnation — which is but an extension of
the first. And what Mary did but once,
the priest does every day. While she
gave to the Son of God a life of suffering,
which ended by the torment of the cross,
the priest renders Him present, in his
hands, in a state immortal and impassible.
Oh, beloved brethren ! with whom shall
I compare the priest? Next to God, his
equal cannot be found, either in heaven or
on earth. It is in establishing the priest
hood that God seems to have exhausted
all the treasures of His power and mercy.
Indeed, in the light of faith, the man dis
appears altogether in the priest. Faith
beholds in him nothing but Jesus Christ,
continuing, in him and through him, the
work of Redemption, for the honor of His

OVER CHRIST'S OWN BODY. 107

Father and the salvation of mankind. Faith
sees but Jesus Christ Himself in the priest
when he preaches : "Go," says Jesus Christ
to the priest, "as My Father has sent Me,
so send I you. All power is given to Me
in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore,
teach all nations ; he who heareth you,
heareth Me."

Faith sees but Jesus Christ in the priest
when he remits sin. The priest does not
say : "Jesus Christ absolve thee " ; no, he
says : "I absolve thee."

Faith sees but Jesus Christ in the priest
when he consecrates at Mass ; for at the
consecration the priest does not say:
" This is Christ's Body " ; he says : " This
is my Body."

Faith sees in the priest but the man of
the Blessed Trinity. "Go," says Jesus
Christ to the priest, " baptize all nations
in the name of the Father, and of the Son,

108 THE POWER OF THE PRIEST

and of the Holy Ghost." The priest is
the man of God the Father, to sustain His
cause, to make His name respected, to de
fend His interests, to promote His glory,
to vindicate His honor, to adopt for Him
children, to prepare them for His service
and His Kingdom.

The priest is the man of the Son of
God ; he is the preacher of His Gospel,
the sacrificer of His Body, the dispenser
of His mysteries, the treasurer of all His
graces.

The priest is the man of the Holy Ghost.
Pie is His .organ to enlighten the minds of
men, to purify and sanctify their hearts, to
establish and confirm in their souls a most
intimate union with this Divine guest.

"I in them," says Jesus Christ of the
priests, " and thou (Father) in me. The
glory which thou hast given me, I have
given them."— (John 17, 22, 23.) Truly,

OVER CHRIST'S OWN BODY. 109

"the priest," says St. Ambrose, f" is a man
all divine ; " and the royal prophet says
particularly of the priests, "Ye are gods."
To forgive sins, to cause the Holy Ghost to
dwell in the soul, to change bread and
wine into the body of God, are miracles
that can be performed only by God Him
self. Now the priests perform these mir
acles every day, and consequently they
may be truly said to be gods ; and St.
Gregory Nazianzen is right in saying :
"The priest is a God on earth, and his
mission is to make gods of his fellow-men. "
Next to God, the priest is everything.
Truly the Catholic priest can only be un-
stood in heaven. If we could understand
him upon earth, we should die of love.

What admiration and respect, what love
and veneration, would be elicited for him
whom the Lord would associate with
Himself in the government of the universe,

110 THE POWER OF THE PRIEST

ruling, with him, the course of the stars, the
vicissitudes of the seasons, and, add if you
will, creating with him new worlds. Avoca
tion so marvellous would place in a rank by
itself this privileged mortal. But the priest
is the object of a distinction far more glo
rious. He is not called, it is true, to
direct the course of the sun, to excite or
calm the winds — all that is within the cir
cle of nature and time. But the priest is
called to give to heaven the elect, to snatch
victims from hell, to sanctify souls, to con
cur in the redemption of a world, spiritual
and indestructible, to fill the greatest of
kingdoms with inhabitants all radiant with
glory, divine and everlasting.

Since God, then, has placed the priest
upon the throne of His own adorable
sanctity, since He gives to the priest the
title of " Saviour of the World," since He
calls the priest "His cooperator in the divine

OVER CHRIST'S OWN BODY. Ill

work of redemption," what wonder if He
commands all to obey and honor the
priest as they honor and obey Himself?
"He that heareth you," He says to the
priest, "heareth Me, and he thatdespiseth
you, despiseth Me." "He that toucheth
you, toucheth the apple of Mine eye."
Since the priest has been so much honored
by God Himself, what wonder is it that
he should be honored by angels and men?
St. Francis de Sales saw the guardian
angel of a young priest, whom he had or
dained, go in advance to the right of the
priest, before his ordination ; but after his
ordination, the angel went to the left of
the priest and followed him.

The Emperor Constantine, at the Coun
cil of Nice, sat last. Wenceslaus, King
of Poland, would not sit down in the
presence of a priest.

St. Catharine of Sienna, and Mary of

112 THE POWEK OF THE PRIEST, ETC.

Oignies, kissed the ground on which a
priest had walked.

St. Francis of Assissium said that if he
saw an angel from heaven, and a priest,
he would first bow to the priest and then
to the angel, for the angel is the friend of
God, but the priest holds His place.

CHAPTER VI.

THE CATHOLIC PRIEST THE FATHER AND
FRIEND OF THE PEOPLE.

GREAT, unutterably great, indeed, are
the powers of the Catholic priest. But it
is not merely as the celebrator of the
rites of Divine worship ; it is not merely
as the minister of the sacraments ; it is
not merely as the preacher of God's Holy
Word, that the Catholic priest stands con
spicuous in the midst of his people. No,
beloved brethren, he has not received his
extraordinary powers for himself; he
cannot absolve himself; he cannot admin
ister the sacraments to himself; he lives
not for himself; no, he lives for the peo-
8 (113)

114 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST,

pie : he is the companion of their hard
ships, he is the soother of their afflictions,
the guardian of their interests ; he is the
trustee of their hearts, the sentinel of
their death-beds.

From his youth, the priest renounces
the glory and honors of this world. He
bids an eternal farewell to family pleas
ures, and to a thousand enjoyments that
are permitted to others, in order to sac
rifice himself freely for the good of his
fellow-men : to be their father and best
friend. The priest generally spends,
previous to his ordination, from about
ten to twelve years in hard studies, which
often undermine the health and weary
the mind. And for whose benefit is it
that he undertakes so many difficult
studies during the best part of his life ?
It is for the benefit of the people ; it is to
enable himself to teach and guide aright,

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 115

in the pathway to heaven, all those who
will be placed under his spiritual direc
tion. After his ordination, the priest
spends all the days of his life in the ser
vice of his neighbor. On Sundays you
see him, for your temporal and spiritual
welfare, at the altar, or in the pulpit, or
in the confessional. On week-days you
may see him, early in the morning,
raising his hands to God, in prayer, in
offering the atoning sacrifice for the peo
ple ; and the man of charity — the priest
of God — spends the remainder of the
day in preparing his sermons, in instruct
ing the children in school in their cate
chism, in relieving the poor, in visiting
the sick, in wiping away the tears of the
unfortunate, in causing the tears of re
pentance to flow, in instructing the igno
rant, in strengthening the weak, and in

116 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST,

encouraging the good in the practice of
virtue.

Go through the streets of any of our
cities or towns. Enter the hut of the
poor. Ask them who gave them the
alms that keep them from death and de
spair, and they will tell you that it was
the priest, or some charitable soul guided
by the zeal of the priest.

Go to the sick-bed ; draw near the bed
side of that poor wretch whom every one
has forsaken : ask him who is the consol
ing angel that pours upon his weary heart
the balm of hope and consolation, and he
will tell you it is the priest.

About twenty years ago, when the
French troops were encamped around
Gallipolis, the cholera burst suddenly
upon them. They were unprepared for
that terrible visitor. Father Gloriot, S. J. ,
alone in an army of ten thousand

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 117

men. "I was obliged," says he, "to hear
their confessions on my knees, and stoop
ing by their couches. Indeed, I learned
then that to save souls for Jesus Christ it
is necessary to undergo, with Him, the
double agony of mind and body. Yet
my greatest trial was my loneliness. I
was alone ; I had not had the consolation
of confession for six weeks past ; every
body died around me ; and, should I be
taken sick, there was none to assist me in
my dying hour. But God, in His mercy,
preserved me, that I might attend to the
wants of souls so well prepared. The
trials were certainly great, but great were
also the consolations. Whenever I en
tered those places of desolation I was
hailed from all parts — f Chaplain, here !
come here I to me ! Make haste to rec
oncile me with God ! I have only a few
moments to live ! ' Some would press

118 THE CATHOLIC PKIEST,

my hand to their hearts, and say, with
grateful feelings, ' How lucky for us that
you are here ! Were you not with us,
who would console us in our last mo
ments ? ' "

Enter the dark and mouldy dungeon
where the unhappy prisoner pines away
in weary captivity ; ask him who it is that
lightens his chains and makes his prison
walls look less dreary, and he will tell
you it is the priest.

Go upon the scaffold where the wretched
criminal is about to expiate his crime.
Who is it that stands at his side, and strips
death of its terrors? It is again the
priest. With one hand the priest shows
the dying man the cross, the hope of the
repentant sinner, and with the other he
points to heaven, that blessed home where
the weary find rest.

In 1851, the following murder was com-

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 119

mitted near Paris, in France : A captain
of the carbineers, an excellent officer, be
loved by all, going, as usual, the rounds
of the stables, had reprimanded one of
the troopers whose conduct had not been
very regular. The latter made no reply,
but turned away with apparently a calm
countenance, and went up to the mess-
room. There he loaded one of his horse-
pistols, and, going back to the stable,
approached his captain, and, with a deadly
aim, discharged the arm against the loins
of the officer.

The unfortunate man fell, weltering in
'blood. They had taken him up, carried
him to his room, and the surgeons had
pronounced the wound mortal. In fact
the poor captain had breathed his last in
a few hours after, in the arms of his old
mother, in the midst of horrible sufferings,
endured heroically, and with sentiments

120 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST,

of faith and charity truly admirable. He
had made his confession with great piety,
had received the Blessed Sacrament, and,
in imitation of his Divine Master praying
on the cross for His crucifiers, had par
doned his murderer, and begged for his
pardon with the most touching and press
ing appeal.

The murderer had been arrested on the
spot, and transferred to the prison in
Paris. There he was abandoned by all,
except by the priest. Two or three days
after the deed had been committed, the
priest went to see the trooper for the first
time in the cell of the military prison.
He encouraged him to hope in the mercy
of God, and to prepare himself for a
good confession, and to accept death in
expiation for his crime. The poor crim
inal was touched by the words of the
priest, and said : " I have been the victim

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 121

of a moment of fury and insanity. It
was a punishment from God, whom I had
abandoned. Had I always prayed as I
do now, I should not have come to this
pass. My father said to me often : ' Fear
God, and pray to Him ; He alone is good,
all the rest are nothing ! ' But it is so
hard to do so at the regiment; we are
always surrounded by young men who
say nothing but what is bad." When he
heard that he was sentenced to death, he
exclaimed : "The sentence is just ; to ap
peal would be going against the goodness
of God. They would show me a mercy
that I do not wish for, because the pun
ishment must be undergone. I must atone
for what I have done. My hopes are no
longer here below ; I have only God now to
look to. He is now everything to me ; in
Him alone do I trust ; I feel quite calm ;

122 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST,

I feel no rebellion in my heart ; I am
perfectly resigned to the will of God."

Now what brought about that calmness,
that happiness, in this poor prisoner? It
was his sincere confession, which the
priest was kind enough to hear ; it was
Holy Communion, which the priest
brought to him several times ; in a word,
it was the charity of the priest, who
often went to see him in his prison, in
order to console him, and to inspire him
with great confidence in the mercy of
God.

During the three hours and a half of
the drive to the place of execution, he
never lost his calmness ; God was with him
in the person of the priest, who accom
panied him to the Savory Plains, where
he was to be shot. What a touching
spectacle, to behold, on a wagon, a tall
man — the culprit followed by the priest

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 123

of God — to see how the priest was even
paler than the culprit; and, to see them
walking side by side, you would think
that he was the one to be shot !

The expression of the culprit's coun
tenance was great calmness and resigna
tion ; his eyes betrayed at once sorrow
and hope. He seemed to pray with fer
vor. There was no sadness in his looks ;
there could even be seen the reflection
of a certain inward joy. He listened
with love, and deep attention, to the words
addressed to him by the minister of Jesus
Christ. When the priest said to him,
"Our Lord is between us two, my poor
child, we are always well when the good
Saviour is with us," he replied, "Oh,
yes, my heart is perfectly happy; I did
not think I should tell you, but I feel as
if I was going to a wedding. God has
permitted all this for my good, to save

124 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST,

my soul. I feel so much consoled, think
ing that my poor captain died so Chris-
tianly ! 1 am going to see him : he is
praying for me now. My God has saved
me ; I feel that He will have mercy on me.
He ascended Calvary carrying His cross :
I accompany Him. I shall not resist
whatever they wish to do with me — tie
me, or bandage my eyes. Ah ! the poor
soldiers are lost because they do not
listen to you priests. Without you,
without religion, the whole world would
be lost ! "

When they drove by the barracks,
where he had committed the murder, he
offered a prayer for his captain. "I can't
conceive how I could do it ! I had no ill-
will against him ! Could the commission
of a sin save me from being shot, I would
not do it ; I think so now. I have nothing

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 125

to keep me here, I am going to see
God ! "

When they had arrived at the place of
execution, the priest and the culprit
alighted. An officer read the sentence.
The culprit replied : " I acknowledge the
justice of my punishment, I am sorry for
what I have done, I beg of God to par
don me ; I love Him with all my heart ! "
Then he knelt ; the priest gave him the
crucifix to kiss, for a last time. "My
father," he said, with feeling expression,
" my father, I place my soul within your
hands ; I unite my death with that of my
Saviour, Jesus. Farewell ! farewell ! "
The priest embraced him once more.
TheD, with his arms extended in the form
of a cross, the culprit inclined his head,
and awaited his death. The priest re
tires to pray at some distance. One min
ute after, human justice had been satisfied,

126 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST,

and the soul of the unfortunate soldier,
purified and transformed by religion,
had fled to the bosom of Him who par
dons all to those who repent. The
priest resumed his place by him, and,
with tears in his eyes, prayed, on his
knees, for the departed soul of the unfor
tunate carbineer.

Ah ! beloved brethren, go where you
will, through all the miseries of this life,
and you will find that everywhere the
consoling angel, the father of the poor
and friendless, is the priest ; he labors
day and night, without boasting, without
praise, and often without any other re
ward, in this life, than contempt and ingrat
itude. If a dangerous disease breaks out
in the parish, the priest does not abandon
the post of danger. No, beloved breth
ren, the Catholic priest is no coward, the
Catholic priest is no hireling. Devoted

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 127

and fearless, he remains to encourage his
flock, to give them the last sacraments,
and, if need be, even to die with them.

A poor man is dying in his wretched
hovel . In the midst of the winter's night
the priest hears a knock at his door ; he
is told that one of his flock requires his
assistance. The bleak winter wind howls
around him, the chilling rain beats pit
ilessly in his face, yet he hurries on ;
there is a soul to save, there is a soul to
aid in its fearful death-struggle ; that
makes him forget everything else. At
last he enters the house of death ; he
enters the sick man's room, though he
knows that the very air of that room is
loaded with pestilence. He receives the
last whisper of the dying man ; he
breathes into his ear the sweet words of
pardon and of peace. He bends over the
sick man's infected body, and breathes

128 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST,

the tainted breath from his impoiscued
lips. The priest is willing to risk his
own life provided he can save the soul of
his fellow-man.

During the Crimean War, the cholera
raged in the division of Herbillon. The
soldiers became restless ; they looked
gloomy, and spoko despondingly, because
the victims were many, and ih was not the
kind of death a soldier likes. What
troubled the soldiers most, was the pre
vailing thought that the plague was com
municated by contact ; and there was
great dejection in camp. "What shall we
do, Monsieur 1'Abbe ? " said the General to
Father Parabere ; " those boys look as if
they were frightened." "O, it is neces
sary to let that fear know that it has to
attack Frenchmen and Christians ! leave
it to me, General." And the dauntless
priest walks straight to the very quarters

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 129

where the pest raged most furiously. A
poor soldier was in the last convulsions,
and in the throes of his agony. The he
roic priest had still time left to console and
to absolve him, and then he closed his
eyes. Then he called all the comrades
of the dead man around his couch, and
endeavored to persuade them that the
scourge was not contagious ; but as some
of them shook their heads, he added,
"You will not believe me to-day, you
shall to-morrow." And just think of it, the
brave priest lies down on the same couch
with the man dead of cholera, and prepares
himself to pass the night with that novel
bedfellow ! Many hours passed away,
and Pere Parabere, who certainly had
worked enough during the day to need
rest, did not quit his post until he was
called to prepare another man for death.
On the morrow, the whole camp had heard
9

130 THE CATHOLIC PKIEST,

of it, and the soldiers, recovering from
their fear, said to one another, "There's a
man who has no fear ! "

It is only a few years ago that a young
Irish priest, then in the first year of his
mission in this country, received what to
him was literally the death-summons. He
was lying ill in bed when the " sick call "
reached his house, the pastor of the dis
trict being absent. The poor young
priest did not hesitate a moment; no
matter what the consequence to himself
might be, the Catholic should not be
without the consolations of religion. To
the dismay of those who knew of his
intention, and who remonstrated in vain
against what to them appeared to be an
act of madness, he started on his journey,
a distance of thirty-six miles, which he
accomplished on foot, in the midst of in
cessant rain. Ah I who can tell how often

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 131

he paused involuntarily on that terrible
march, or how he reeled and staggered as
he approached its termination? Scarcely
had he reached the sick man's bed, and
performed the functions of the ministry,
when he was conscious of his own ap
proaching death ; and there being no
brother priest to minister to him in his
last hour, he administered the viaticum to
himself, and instantly sank on the floor, a
corpse.

Ah, my beloved brethren, how often
does not the priest risk his health, his
honor, his life, and even his immortal
soul, iii order to help a poor dying sinner I
How often is not the priest found on the
battle-field, whilst the bullets are whist
ling, and the shells are shrieking around
him ! How often is he not found on his
knees beside the dying soldier, hearing his
last confession, and whispering into his

132 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST,

ear the sweet words of pardon and peace !
How often must not the priest visit the
plague-stricken in the hospitals, and in the
wretched hovels of the poor ! How often
must he not remain, even for hours, in a
close room beside those infected with the
most loathsome diseases ! When all else,
when friends and relatives, when the near
est and dearest have abandoned the poor
dying wretch, then it is that only the
priest of God can be found to assist him
in his last and fearful struggle.

Whilst St. Charles Borromeo was Bishop
of Milan, there broke out a fierce plague
in that city. The priests of the city gen
erously offered their services. They en
tered the houses of the plague-stricken ;
they heard their confessions, and admin
istered to them the last sacraments.
Neither the loathsome disease, nor the
fear of certain death, could appall them,

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 133

and they all soon fell victims to their zeal.
Death swept them away, but their places
were filled by other generous priests, who
hastened from the neighboring towns,
and, in a short time, one thousand eight
hundred priests fell victims to their char-
ity.

And not in Italy alone, in every clime
beneath the sun, the Catholic priest has
proved the earnestness of his charity by
the generous sacrifice of his life. I need
only remind you of the sufferings and
heroism of the Catholic priests 'of Ireland,
during the long and bloody persecutions
that have afflicted that ill-fated country.
Their sad, yet glorious, history is, no
doubt, familiar to you all. The Catholic
priests of Ireland were outlawed ; they
were commanded to quit the country ;
they were hunted down like wolves. But,
for all that, they did not abandon their

134 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST,

poor, suffering children. They laid aside
their rich vestments, they laid aside their
priestly dress, and disguised themselves
in the poorest and most humble attire.
Their churches were burned down and
desecrated ; but then the cabins of their
persecuted countrymen were opened to
them. And the Catholic priest shared in
the poverty and the sorrows of his poor
children. He followed them into the for
est: he descended with them into the
caves. Often in some lonely hut, in the
midst of a dreary bog, or amid the wild
fastnesses of the rugged mountains, the
priest could be found kneeling at the bed
side of a poor, dying father or mother,
whilst pale and starving children were
weeping around. There you could find
the Catholic priest hearing the last con
fession of that poor soul, aiding her in her
death-struggle, and reciting the touching

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 135

prayers of the church, by the dim flicker-
ering of a poor rushlight. The Catholic
priest did not abandon his poor, perse
cuted flock, even though he knew that a
price was set on his head, though he knew
that spies and informers were in search of
though he knew that well-trained
blood-hounds were sent out to track him.
The Catholic priest did not forsake his
children, though he knew that if he were
taken, the rack and the gibbet awaited
him. He suffered not only poverty and
sorrows with his poor flock, but he often
underwent the most cruel death ; for when
ever a priest was found in the country, the
tender mercy of the tyrant had decreed
that he was to be hanged, drawn and quar
tered.

Ah, beloved brethren, would to God I
could take you to the Martyr's Room in
Paris, where priests, loving their God and

136 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST,

their neighbors, are incessantly preparing
themselves to go to preach the Gospel,
suffer and die for the faith, among the
Pagans ! Would to God you could see
there that sacred army filled with generous
soldiers of Jesus Christ, who aspire to the
pacific conquest of infidel realms ; who
burn with the hopes of shedding their
blood on the battle-fields of faith, sacrifice,
and martyrdom ; who very often attain,
after a life of labors, toils, and torments,
the ensanguined crown, which has been the
goal of their life-long aspirations !

When they have attained it, when their
head has fallen under a Pagan's sword,
their vestments, their hallowed bones, the
instruments of their martyrdom, are rev
erently gathered by the Christians of the
lands where they have been martyred, and
sent to Paris ; and the hall where all these
precious relics are gathered is called the

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 137

Martyr's Room. The sight alone of this
sanctuary, fresh with the blood of those
lovers of Jesus Christ, is the most elo
quent of sermons on the priest's charity
towards the people. Bones, and skeletons,
and skulls of martyred priests enclosed in
glass cases, instruments of martyrdom,
paintings representing insufferable tor
ments, iron chains which tortured the
limbs of the confessors of faith, ropes
which strangled them, crucifixes crimsoned
with the blood of those who impressed on
them their last kiss of love, garments, en
sanguined linen — O, what a sight ! Great
God, what a lesson !

Here a huge cangue, which rested for
six long months on the shoulders of Bishop
Borie, there a mat clogged with the blood
of John Baptist Cor nay, who upon it was
beheaded and quartered, like the animal
that is butchered. Near by, a painting

138 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST,

describing the horrible supplice of the
blessed Marchant, whom the executioners
chopped all alive, from head to foot, until
he died of suffering and exhaustion.
Everywhere, in every corner, the image
of the good priest dying for the love of
God and of his brethren, and of the fiend
in human shape crucifying, with an inde
fatigable hatred, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the person of His priests.

Ah, if you wish to know what the Catholic
priest has done, go ask the winds, that
have heard his sighs and his prayers ; ask
the earth, that has drunk in his tears and
his blood ; go ask the ocean, that has wit
nessed his death-struggle whilst speeding
on an errand of mercy ! Go to the dreary
shores of the icy north, go to the burning
sands of the distant south, and the bleached
and scattered bones of the Catholic priest

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 139

will tell you how earnestly he has labored
for the welfare of his fellow-men.

Ah, beloved brethren in Christ, could
the many happy souls that have died in
the arms, died with the blessing of the
priest, could they appear before you at
this moment, ah ! they would describe to
you, in glowing language, the great ben
efits they have derived from the Catholic
priest. They would say to you : K We
were weak and helpless, but the consoling
words of the priest gave us strength. We
trembled at the thought of God's judg
ments ; but the blessing and absolution
of the priest gave us a supernatural cour
age. We were tormented by the assaults
of the devil ; but the power of the priest
put the evil one to flight. We were heart
broken at the thought of bidding a long
farewell to wife and children, to the near
est and dearest ; but the priest turned our

140 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST,

weeping eyes towards a happier home,
where there is no parting, no weeping, no
mourning, any more ! And even when
our soul had left the body, when our
friends were shedding fruitless tears over
the cold corpse, even then the priest of
God still followed us with his prayers ; he
commended us to the mercy of God ; he
called upon the angels and saints to come
to our aid to present us before the throne
of God. Ah ! now we understand, indeed,
that whosesoever sins the priest forgives on
earth, they are truly forgiven them in
heaven."

The priest has enemies. He knows it,
but he does not complain. The world,
too, hated and persecuted his Divine Mas
ter. But the priest opens his lips only to
pray for them ; he raises his hand only to
bless them. He remembers the words of
Jesus : "I say to you, love your enemies,

THE FATHER OF THE PEOPLE. 141

do good to those that hate you, bless those
that curse you, and pray for those that
persecute and calumniate you " ; and, like
his Divine Master, the priest says : "Father,
forgive them."

During the French Ke volution, a wicked
monster, who had often dyed his hands in
the blood of priests, fell dangerously ill.
He had sworn that no priest should ever set
his foot in his house, and that, if any dared
to enter, he should never leave it alive.
A priest heard of his illness ; he heard,
too, of the impious vow he had made. But
he heeded it not. The good shepherd
must be ready to lay down his life for his
sheep. As soon as this wicked monster
saw the priest standing before him, he flew
into a rage : " What ! " cried he, "a priest
in my house ! Bring me my pistols." Then
the dying ruffian raised his brawny arm,
and shook it threateningly at the priest.

142 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST, ETC.

" See ! " he cried, with a horrible oath, w this
arm has murdered twelve of such as you."

" Not so, my good friend," answered the
priest, calmly, "you have murdered only
eleven. The twelfth now stands before
you." Then baring his breast, he said :
"See here, on my breast, the marks of
your fury ! See here the scars that your
hand has made ! God has preserved my
life, that I might save your soul." With
these words the priest threw his arms
around the neck of the dying murderer,
and, with tears in his eyes, conjured him,
by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ, to
have pity on his poor soul, and make his
peace with God.

Such, my beloved brethren, such is the
Catholic priest. I tell the truth when I
say that he is indeed an angel of God,
with the heart of a man.

CHAPTER VII.

OBLIGATIONS OF THE PEOPLE TO THE
CATHOLIC PRIEST.

BEFORE concluding this little work, I
must speak of another point of great im
portance. Holy Scripture tells us, that,
when the holy man Tobias considered
the great benefits which God had bestowed
upon his family through the angel Ra
phael, he was seized with fear ; he was at
a loss how to express his gratitude ; he and
his family fell prostrate upon their faces
for three hours, thanking and blessing the
Lord. He called his son Tobias, and
said to him : " What can we give to this
holy man that is come with thee ? " And
the young Tobias said to his father :
(143)

144 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST —

<f Father, what wages shall we give him,
or what can be worthy of his benefits ?
He conducted me, and brought me safe
again ; he received the money of Gabelus,
he caused me to have my wife, and he
chased from her the evil spirit ; he gave
joy to her parents, myself he delivered
from being devoured by the fish, thee also
he hath made to see the light of heaven,
and we are filled with all good things
through him. What can we give him
sufficient for these things ? But I beseech
thee, my father, to desire him that he
would vouchsafe to accept of half of all
the things that have been brought." —
(Tobias, chap. xii. ) It is thus, my beloved
brethren, that this holy family showed
themselves thankful to God and His holy
angel for the divine blessings.

Now you have heard that the priest is,
for you, the true angel of God ; you have

YOUR OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS HIM. 145

heard that his dignity is far more sublime
than that of the angel Raphael ; you have
heard that the priest's powers far surpass
those of all the angels of heaven ; you
have heard that his offices are of greater
importance to you than those of the an
gels ; you have heard that the benefits
which God bestows upon you through the
hands of the priest, far surpass those
which He bestows through His holy an
gels ; you have heard that the Catholic
priest lives not for himself, but exclu
sively for you ; that he is invested with
the most extraordinary powers, not for
his benefit, but for yours ; in a word, you
have heard that God has given you, in the
priest, all the goods and blessings of
heaven and earth. What fitting thanks
can you, then, offer to him? Ah ! if the
Lord had only once shown you but one
single mark of affection, even then you
10

146 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST —

would be under infinite obligations to
Him, and He would deserve an infinite
thanksgiving from you, inasmuch as that af
fection is the gift and favor of an Infinite
God. But since you daily receive,
through the priest, blessings of God, in
finite in number and greatness, what
should then be your thanksgivings to God
and His angel — the priest? With To
bias you should say : " What shall we give
to this holy man? What can be worthy
of his benefits ? " Were you, in imitation
of Tobias ? to offer to God and His priest
one-half of all your goods, it would be a
poor return for the Divine blessings.
Believe me, you will never be able, in this
world, fully to understand what God has
given to you in the priest, and what you
should be to the priest ; you will understand
it only in the world to come. But let me
beseech you to believe, at least, what you

YOUR OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS HIM. 147

cannot understand. And if you live up
to this belief, you will listen to our Lord
when He speaks of the priest, and says :
"He that receiveth you, receiveth Me, and
he that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that
sent Me." — (Matt. x. 41.) Our Divine
Saviour spoke these words to His Apostles
and to all priests in general, to encourage
them in establishing on earth His king-

o o

dom — the Catholic Church. You know
very well, that in order to establish and keep
established the holy Church, the priests
have to announce the Gospel truths ; they
have to administer the Sacraments. But
this is not enough : they have also to build
churches, or keep the old ones, and every
thing that belongs to them, in good con
dition and repair ; they have to erect and
to support Catholic schools, hospitals, and
orphan asylums. They are the ministers
of God, and as such, they are charged

148 THE CATHOLIC PEIEST —

with the honor of His worship, and the
care of His sacred temples. Thdy are,
moreover, the almoners of the poor, and the
fathers of the needy. How, think you,
can poor priests meet all the expenses that
they must necessarily incur in the exer
cise of the sacred ministry? Only put
yourselves a day or two in the place of your
priests : take care of all the poor of the
place ; assist all the needy that come to
your door, or that modestly hide their
poverty from every one but the priest of
God. Try to support Catholic schools,
colleges, hospitals, orphan asylums.
Build new churches, or keep old ones in
good condition. Do all this, and more,
and you will find out what the difficulties
and crosses, the troubles and hardships of
the priests are in this country. You will
find out that it requires heroic virtue, an
gelic patience, and superhuman courage

YOUR OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS HIM. 149

in the priests, to comply with their duties
towards God and men.

Jesus Christ knew full well all the diffi
culties which His poor priests had to en
counter. But H« encourages them. He
says to them, "He that receiveth you, re-
ceiveth Me ; and he that receiveth Me,
receiveth Him that sent Me. He that
receiveth a prophet " — a priest — " shall
receive the reward of a prophet " — of a
priest. Jesus Christ made the salvation
of the people dependent on the priest,
and He made also the priest dependent
on the people for his support and other
expenses which he has to incur in the ex
ercise of the sacred ministry. It is by
this mutual dependence that our divine
Saviour MepA the priests united with the
people. The dWil — the cursed spirit of
discord -V- has often tried to break up this
sacred i\nipn between Catholic nations and

150 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST —

their clergy. He has succeeded in many
countries by means of Protestant gov
ernments, but he never could succeed
in one country — in the country of the
glorious St. Patrick, in Ireland. There
the perfidious government of England
offered, not long ago, to support the
Catholic clergy. Had this offer been ac
cepted, the Catholic priests of Ireland
would have become dependent on the
English government, and that close union
and warm love, that deep-rooted respect
and esteem, which, for so many centuries,
has existed between the Irish Catholics
and their priests, would soon have fallen
a prey to the devilish trick of a perfidious
government. But thanks be t/> God, and
to the foresight and wisdom lof \the Irish
clergy, the devil and his Colleague — *- the
English government — met, in ,tjhis in-

YOUJR OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS HIM. 151

stance, as in many others, with a cold re
ception — with a flat refusal.

Jesus Christ has given to His priests
ever so many reasons to keep up mutual
love between themselves and the people.
Priests, no doubt, will do all in their
power to establish and to preserve this
love. But Jesus Christ wishes also
that the people should preserve this mu
tual love between themselves and the
clergy. To obtain this object, they are
commanded to support and assist the
clergy ; but in order to make them ob
serve this commandment joyfully, Jesus
Christ holds out to the people a most
powerful inducement. He says to every
Catholic : "If you receive my priest, you
receive Me ; and by receiving Me, you re
ceive my Heavenly Father . " In other word s ,
Jesus Christ says that, by supporting and
assisting the priests, you support and assist

152 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST —

your Divine Saviour Himself, Who looks
upon all the difficulties of His priests as His
own, because they are His representatives
on earth.

Moreover, in order to make Catholics
cling to their priests, and keep them
closely united with them, Jesus Christ
promises them an immense reward. He
says : " He that receiveth a prophet " — a
priest — "shall receive the reward of a
prophet." Our Divine Saviour has at
tached great blessings to the charity
which is shown to the least of His breth
ren on earth. "Amen I say to you, as
long as you did it to one of these, my
least brethren, you did it to Me." — (Matt.
xxv. 40.) By saying "to the least of
these, My brethren," Jesus Christ gives
us to understand that there is another
class of His brethren who are great in
His sight, and whom He loves most ten-

YOUR OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS HIM. 153

derly. Now, if God bestows such great
blessings upon those who are charitable
to the least of the brethren of Jesus
Christ, how much more abundantly will
He not bestow His blessings upon those
who are charitable to His great friends ?
The Holy Ghost calls our particular at
tention to this great truth when He says
in Holy Scripture: "If thou do good,
know to whom thou doest it, and there
shall be much thanks for thy good deeds.
Do good to the just, and thou shalt find
great recompense, and if not of him, as
suredly of the Lord." — (Eccles. xii. 1,
2.) To the just, especially to those of
them who are eminently so, may be ap
plied what the Angel of the Lord said
of John the Baptist, namely, that "he
was great before God." — (Luke i. 15.)
The reason of this is, because Jesus Christ
lives in the just by His grace. "I live,

154 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST —

now not I," says St. Paul, " but Christ
liveth in me." — (Galat. ii. 20.) Hence,
whatever is given to a just man is given
to Christ Himself in a more special man
ner. To show this in reality, Christ has
often appeared in the form and clothing
of a poor man, and as such begged and
received alms. This happened to John
the Deacon, as is related in his life by
St. Gregory. The same saint relates
also (Horn. 39, in Evang.), that Jesus
Christ, in the form of a leper, appeared
to a certain charitable monk, named
Martyrius, who carried Him on his shoul
ders. The same happened to St. Christo
pher, also to St. Martin, Bishop of Tours.
When he was still a soldier, and receiving
instruction for admission into the Cath
olic Church, he gave one-half of his man
tle to a poor man ; the following night
Jesus Christ appeared to him, wearing

YOUE OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS HIM. 155

this mantle, and said to the angels who
surrounded Him: "Behold, this is Mar
tin, who gave Me this mantle ! "

Once St. Catherine of Sienna gave to
a poor beggar the silver cross she wore,
having nothing else about her to give.
During the night Christ appeared to her,
and said that, on the Day of Judgment,
He would show that cross to the whole
world in proof of her charity. God,
then, rewards liberally those who are
charitable to the least of His brethren ;
but He rewards far more liberally all
those who are charitable to His friends —
to the just. "He that receiveth a just
man," says Jesus Christ, "in the name of
a just man (that is, because he is a just
man, a friend of God), shall receive the
reward of a just man."

But what will be the reward of all those
who liberally and joyfully support and aid

156 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST —

the priests — the ministers and true rep
resentatives of God — through whose min
istry men are made just and holy? To
understand this I must make here a very
important remark, to which I call your
special attention : namely, that there are
degrees in this well-doing. The more
just a man is, both for himself and
others, the more souls he leads to justice,
to holiness of life, the greater will be his
reward, and consequently the greater also
will be the reward of him who assists such
a just man. "They that instruct many
to justice, shall shine as stars for all
eternity."— (Dan. xii. 3.) To whom
can these words of Holy Scripture be ap
plied more truly than to fervent pastors
of souls and missionary priests? They
devote their whole life to the salvation
of souls. Now there is nothing more
pleasing in the sight of God than labor-

YOUR OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS HIM. 157

ing for the salvation of souls. "We can
not ofier any sacrifice to God," says St.
Gregory, "which is equal to that of the
zeal for the salvation of souls." "This
zeal and labor for the salvation of men,"
says St. John Chrysostom, "is of so great
a merit before God, that to give up all our
goods to the poor, or to spend our whole
life in the exercise of all sorts of auster
ities, cannot equal the merit of this labor.
This merit of laboring in the vineyard of
the Lord is something far greater than
the working of miracles. To be employed
in this blessed labor is even more pleas
ing to the Divine Majesty than to suffer
martyrdom." If, then, in the opinion of
the Fathers of the Church and all the
saints, there can be no greater honor and
no greater merit than that of working for
the salvation of souls, we must also say
that there can be no work of corporal

158 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST —

mercy more honorable and more meritori
ous than that of giving charitable aid to
the pastors of souls, to missionary priests,
and to persons consecrated to God. To
such as give this aid may be applied the
words of the prophet: "They shall shine
as stars for all eternity." " The charity
which you bestow," says Aristotle (Lib. I.
Ethic, c. 3), "will be so much the more
divine, the more it tends to the common
welfare." But what kind of charity is
tending more to the common welfare than
that which is bestowed upon such apostolic
laborers as spend their life exclusively in
laboring for the salvation of souls ? Now
this charity is divine in a most eminent
degree, and consequently it makes all
those divine who bestow it. They shall,
without doubt, shine as the stars, nay,
even as the sun, throughout all eternity.
" Then the just shall shine as the sun in

YOUR OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS HIM. 159

the kingdom of their Father " (Matt. xiii.
43) ; and this glory and happiness of
theirs in heaven will be in proportion to
the zeal and fervor with which they have
continued to furnish charitable aid to
Jesus Christ, in the persons of the minis
ters of the holy Catholic Church. "He
that receiveth a prophet, shall have the re
ward of a prophet." He who receives a
prophet, says our Lord, that is, he who
gives charitable aid to a priest, will re
ceive the reward of a priest. The reason
of this is, because by his charitable aid he
contributes towards the spreading of the
Gospel, and, therefore, as he thus shares in
the labor and in the merits of the Gospel,
he must also share in the reward promised
to the true minister of God. Should
you aid a man in performing sinful actions,
you would become accessory to his sins.
So, in like manner, by assisting the priests

162 THE CATHOLIC PRIEST —

with a cheerful heart. When God, in His
bounty, vouchsafes to call you to co
operate in any of His works, he does not
employ soldiers, or tax-gatherers, or con
stables to collect the impost — He accepts
from you only a voluntary assistance.
The Master of the Universe repudiates
constraint, for He is the God of free
souls ; he does not consent to receive any
thing which is not spontaneous, and of
fered with a cheerful heart.

To conclude : The Catholic priest is the
priest of the Lord of heaven and earth ;
impossible for you to conceive a higher
dignity !

The Catholic priest is the plenipo
tentiary of God; impossible for you to
conceive a greater power !

The Catholic priest is the minister of
God ; impossible for you to conceive an
office more sublime and more important !

YOUR OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS HIM. 163

The Catholic priest is the representative
of God ; impossible for you to conceive a
higher commission !

The Catholic priest is the vicegerent
of God ; impossible for you to conceive a
higher merit !

The Catholic priest is the treasurer of
God ; impossible for you to conceive a
greater benefactor of mankind, a man
worthier of your love and veneration,
of your charity and liberality !

May you, therefore, my beloved breth
ren, always receive the priest as the Gala-
tians received St. Paul the Apostle. " You
despised me not," writes this great Apos
tle to the Galatians, " you did not reject me,
but you received me as an angel of God,
even as Christ Jesus. I bear you witness
that, if it could be done, you would have
plucked out your own eyes, and would
have given them to me.*' (Chap. iv. 14, 15.)

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