blessed sacrament of the Eucharist, and witness the same further with my hand and seal in the face of this holy convent, this day of Domini. Anno I' THE ROMAN PRIEST'S OATH A. B., do acknowledge the ecclesiastical power of his holiness and the Mother Church of Rome, as the chief head and matron above all pretended churches throughout the whole earth, and that my zeal shall be for St. Peter and his successors as the founder of the true and ancient Catholic faith, against all heretical kings, princes, states, or powers repugnant unto the same, and although I, A. B., may follow, in case of persecution or otherwise, to be heretically despised, yet in soul and conscience I shall hold, aid, and succor the Mother Church of Rome, as the true, ancient, and apostolic church. I, A. B., further declare not to act or control any matter or thing prejudicial unto her, in her sacred orders, doctrines, tenets, or commands, without leave of its supreme power or its authority under her appointed, or to be appointed, and being so permitted, then to act, and further her interests more than my own earthly good and pleasure, as she and her head, his holiness, and his successors have, or ought to have, the supremacy over all kings, princes, estates, or powers whatsoever, either to deprive them of their crowns, scepters, powers, privileges, realms, countries, or governments, or to set up others in lieu thereof, they dissenting from Mother Church and her commands. THE PAPAL ATTACK ON FRANCE TO GETHER WITH THE PAPAL AGGRESSION IN FRANCE AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR OTHER NATIONS A BRIEF compilation of two articles entitled "The Papal Attack on France," Nineteenth Century Magazine, April, 1906, and "The Papal Aggression in France and its Significance for other Nations," Fortnightly Review, October, 1906, by Robert Dell. First, "As to the Papal Attack on France": "The French Church has been given by the republic free religious liberty, an autonomy it has not enjoyed for centuries. The ancient cathedrals and churches which are by law public property are handed over for use, with all their contents, and the rest of the church property, permanently and free of charge to the Catholic Church. The pope reprobates and condemns this gift of spiritual freedom, the liberty offered the church, and rejects it with curses and anathemas, liberty to be enjoyed equally with other religious bodies; but that is just what he does not want and will not have. The pope claims the Roman Catholic Church has the right "to the sole and undivided allegiance of states no less than of individuals; that it is the duty of every state to put that church in a position of privilege, and to submit to its right of dominion over the civil power; that the pope has the right to depose civil rulers, and to absolve the peoples from their oath of fealty to the state; that the temporal authority must be subject to the spiritual power. We must obey God rather than man;' that is, we must obey the pope, and not the law of the land. The pope has absolved us from our fealty to our country." (The attention of the citizens of other countries is called to the above claims, for the time may come when they shall have to face a similar position.) The papacy have nothing but pleasant things to say of the freedom they enjoy under English law, and of the equality and toleration that exists; but the " Encyclical Vehementer nos condemns this system of toleration and equality, absolutely and unequivocally. Would there be any toleration or religious equality if the Catholic Church had retained her hold on England? "We are Catholics first and Englishmen afterwards," says a lay official of a Catholic society at a Catholic banquet. The pope has declared the church will never accept" a régime of religious toleration and equality. 66 66 "But Rome acquiesces in such a régime in America simply because she cannot help it, and is not yet strong enough to get anything better. The issue in France is whether the civil power is to submit to the domination of a theocracy. A body of citizens said, in the famous words of Louis Veuillot," We demand from you the liberty which on your principles you are bound to give us, and which on our principles we shall deny to you when we have the power." The French republic replied to such people, "Liberty can safely be granted only when measures have been taken to make it impossible to use their liberty to destroy that of others," and every state must make the same answer to those who conspire against its autonomy or the freedom of their fellow citizens. And again, "We declare war upon progress, liberalism, and modern civilization. We have been ordered to do so by the representative of God on earth, rather than man." The French government replied, "that, as it happened to believe in progress, liberalism, and modern civilization, it was quite willing to fight for them," and proceeded to do so, whereupon the challengers raised a howl of persecution," on the principle, "I may hit you, but if you hit back I am a martyr." For thirty years the French republic has had to fight in self defense, not against the church as a spiritual influence, but as a political institution. French Catholics as a body are hostile to the republic. From 1871 to 1875 the Catholics had the whole control of France. That control they used to plot for the restoration of the monarchy. In 1877 they were driven from power by an outraged nation, never to return. 66 - Let us take the evidence on this point of one of the most distinguished French prelates, Mgr. Lacroix, Bishop of Tarentaise, who, in a recent pastoral, says, "Our mistake, our great mistake we must have the courage to admit it has been our refusal from the very beginning of the republic to recognize that the will of the nation cannot be traversed (thwarted) with impunity. Our hesitations, our criticisms |