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THE

CATHOLIC CHURCH
• '/

IN THE

UNITED STATES.

ITS KISE, RELATIONS WITH THE REPUBLIC,

H*jL *

Growth, and J^uture J^rospects.

Rev. I. T. HECKER.

LIBRAB¥

St. Patrick’s Seminary

Menlo Park, Cali

NEW YORK

:

THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY CO.,

9 Barclay Street.

1879.



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THE

CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN THE

UNITED STATES.

ITS RISE, RELATIONS WITH THE REPUBLIC,

jjrROWTH, AND
j

7UTURE ^ROSPECTS.

BY

Rev. I. T. HECKER.

LIBRARY

St. Patrick's Seminary

Menlo Park, Cal.

NEW YORK

:

THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY CO.,

9 Barclay Street.

1879.



Copyrighted by

I. T. HECKER,

1879.

THE NATION PRESS, 27 ROSE STREET, NEW YORK..

QeadSf&d



LIBRARY

fl-fe, Patrick’s Seminafy

Menlo Park,Cal.

[From The Catholic World for July, 1879.]

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

UNITED STATES.

We propose in the following

pages to treat of the original ele-

ments of the Catholic Church in

the United States, her relations

with the republic, the causes of her

growth, and her future prospects.

The discovery of the western

continent was eminently a religious

enterprise. Columbus had in vain

sought aid for his great undertak-

ing from his native city, Genoa,

from Portugal, England, Venice,

and the court of Spain ; and it was

after these fruitless applications

that Juan Perez, the prior of La

Rabida, took up his cause and

pleaded it with so much earnest-

ness and ability in a letter to Queen

Isabella that she at once sent for

Columbus and offered to pledge

her jewels to obtain funds for the

expedition. The motive which ani-

mated Columbus, in common with

the Franciscan prior and Isabella

the Catholic, was the burning de-

* Bancroft’s History ofthe United States.

“The Catholic Peril in America.” By Francis

E. Abbott. The Fortnightly Review , March,

1876.

The Papacy and the Civil Power. By R. W.

Thompson.

Future of the Republic. By Ralph Waldo

Emerson.

Democracy in Europe: a History. By Sir

Thomas Erskine May.

Romanism and High Schools. By the Rev.

Joseph Cook. A lecture delivered in Tremont
Temple, Boston, March 17, 1879.

LIBBlHf

sire to carry the blessings of the

Christian faith to the inhabitants

of a new continent, and it was

the inspiration of this idea which

brought a new world to light.

This inspiration has never died

out; if the Spanish and French

missionaries did not accompany

the first discoverers, they followed

speedily in their tracks, and the

work of the conversion of the abo-

rigines was earnestly begun. In a

short time they traversed the whole

northern continent from the mouth

of the St. Lawrence to California,

and from the Gulf of Mexico to

Hudson’s Bay. Sometimes mission-

aries were slain, but the fearless

soldiers of the cross continued un-

ceasingly their work of converting

the natives and bringing them into the

fold of Christ. Though the pages

of history which narrate the self-

sacrificing labors of the missionaries

to the Indians are among the bright-

est in the annals of the church, still

the whole number of Catholic In-

dians will not appear as a large item

in the sum of her members in the

United States. One of the reasons

for this is that the heroic efforts

made for their conversion and civi-

lization have been in a great mea-

arted by the inhuman pol-

St. Patrick’s Seminary

Menlo Park. Gal.



4 The Catholic Church in the United States.

icy pursued towards the Indians.

Yet, when we come to consider the

actual elements which blend to-

gether in forming the Catholic

Church in the republic of the Unit-

ed States, her faithful children of

the forests ought not to be left out

of the count. According to the re-

port of the Bureau of Indian Af-

fairs for 1875 the whole number of
Indians under the government of the

United States is about 279,333, and

it is estimated, on good authority,

that of these 106,000 are Catholics.

The raising of the red men to
the height of the Christian faith

was but one of the fruits of the dis-

covery of the new continent
;
an-

other was to offer an asylum to all

who in other lands were persecuted
and oppressed on account of their

religious convictions. Among the
first to seek this relief from oppres-

sion on the virgin soil of the New
World were the English Catholic

colonists under Lord Baltimore.

To their honor it is to be said that,
both by the original design of the

proprietary, Lord Baltimore, and
by the legislative enactments of

the freemen of the province, there

reigned, while their rule lasted in

Maryland, a perfect equality among
all Christian denominations, and to

all were secured the same rights

and privileges, civil and religious.

This act on the part of the colo-

nists of Maryland was in harmony

with the dictates of right reason

and the authentic teachings of

faith : for all attempts to bring by

coercion men who differ in their
religious convictions to uniformity

in the profession of religious belief,

if successful, would logically put
an end to all rational religion.

Compulsion never gave birth to

faith, which is “ not by any means
a blind assent of the mind,”* but

* Vatican Council,. De Fide, ch. iii.

essentially an intelligent and vol-
untary act. Convinced of this, as
Catholics, the idea of religious tole-

rance flowed naturally and consist-
ently in the minds of the first set-
tlers on the shores of the Potomac.

It was a noble act on their part to
proclaim that within the province

and jurisdiction of Maryland no
Christian man should be molested
in worshipping God according to
the dictates of his conscience, and
whoever supposes that the Syllabus
teaches anything to the contrary

seriously mistakes its meaning.

Honor, then, to the pilgrim fathers
of St. Mary ! who, when the other
settlements had a state-supported

church and were intolerant to all
others, asked for themselves no fa-
vor, but offered equal rights to all

;

thus excluding the secular authori-

ty of the state from interfering in

matters of religion—a principle for
which the popes, in their struggles

with the secular powers for the

rights of. the church, have always

contended, and for wlfich they still

have to contend. Let, then, those

Catholic Anglo-Americans have

their due share of praise for the

religious toleration of which they

were the first to give an example

—

an example, furthermore, which had

a formative influence in shaping tl-.e

republic and its free institutions.

For the principle of the incompe-

tency of the state to enact laws

controlling matters purely religious

is the keystone of the arch of Ame-
rican liberties, and Catholics of all

climes can point to it with special

delight. This noble course of the

Catholics of Maryland, however,

was little appreciated, and they

were hindered in their progress

and trampled upon when those to
whom they had so generously of-
fered a refuge from persecution had

attained to power in the province

;



5
The Catholic Church

nevertheless, they kept their
faith,

and were by far the largest
part of

the body of the Catholic Church
up

to the time when the great
tide of

immigration set in towards
the

shores of the United States,
and

their descendants still form
a pro-

minent and influential portion
of

the Catholic community.

The next original element was

that furnished by France.
'lhe

soil of the United * States was at
an

early period watered by the blood

of the French missionaries to
the

Indian tribes. In 17 75 an
acces "

sion to the church came through

the expulsion by the Puritans
of

Massachusetts of a colony of French

Catholics from Acadia, on the Bay

of Fundy. In spite of the solemn

engagements of the capitulation,

that they should not be disturbed,

they were driven from their peace-

ful homes, and about seven thou-

sand were scattered among the Bri-

tish colonies. These are the Aca-

dians whose sad tale has been told

by Longfellow in the beautiful poem

of Evangeline. The influence ex-

erted by the flower of the French

army and nobility who entered the

service of the infant republic at a

time when, but for their aid, its

cause would likely have been lost,

in removing prejudices from the

minds of colonists against the Ca-

tholic religion, and compelling them

to show at least a decent respect

for the religious convictions of their

Catholic allies, is not lightly to be

estimated. Then the storm of the

French Revolution drove to the

shores of the United States, be-

tween the years 1791 and 1799, a

body of apostolic clergymen whose

labors reanimated the zeal of Ca-

tholics, caused conversions to the

faith, organized new.parishes, found-

ed seminaries and colleges, and

created bishoprics. It would be

in the United States .

difficult to estimate the influence

which these French missionaries

exercised throughout the country

by their exemplary lives, their

learning, their virtues, and their

qualities as men. Among them

was a Marechal, a Cheverus, a

Brutd, a Flaget, and a Dubois.

Twenty-three French priests came

at that period to aid the
young

church in the United States; six

were made bishops, and of these

Marechal became the third arch-

bishop of Baltimore. Cheverus was

the first bishop of Boston, and was

recalled to France and made arch-

bishop of Bordeaux and cardinal.

To these are to be added several

thousand Catholics, among whom

were some hundred colored people

who came from San Domingo and

other West Indian islands in 1793

to escape the effects of the French

Revolution and the negro insurrec-

tion. These French Catholics add-

ed faith, piety, wealth to the in-

fant church, and their posterity,

constant to their religion, rank

among the distinguished citizens

of the republic. Their number was

also considerably increased by the

territories acquired or admitted to

the Union, which were mostly in-

habited by French Catholics. Loui-

siana was acquired in 1803, and

had at that time about thirty-two

thousand inhabitants, nearly all of

whom were Catholics. Besides

these were other settlements, peo-

pled by the descendants mostly of

French-Canadians, at St. Louis,

Detroit, Vincennes, which have

grown since into places of import-

ance, and still retain the deep im-

print of the French race.

Moreover, the immigration of the

French from Canada to the United

States has been slowly on the in-

crease, and in recent years has

grown rapidly in volume. On in-



6 The Catholic Church

quiry made of a dignitary of one
of the principal dioceses of Canada,
we were told that the number of
French-Canadians who had emigrat-
ed to the United States during a
period of thirty years should be
estimated at five hundred thousand.
The presence of this Canadian ele-
ment is a marked feature in all
the dioceses bordering on Canada,
which contain a considerable num-
ber of parishes composed entirely
of French-Canadians. Thus it will
be seen that the Catholic French
element was an active and important
one, both in regard to character

and numbers, in the formation of
the Catholic Church in the New
World.

"1 he Catholics from Ireland will
not be found so numerous as
those from England and France
among the early settlers of North
America. The Irish settlers, how-
ever considerable their aggre-

gate number may have been, were
not concentrated in any one lo-
cality like the Spanish, French, or

English. A number of Catholic
Irishmen, however, or their descen-

dants, one of whom was Charles
Carroll, the signer of the Declara-

tion oflndependence, took an active

part in the struggle for indepen-

dence. The first commodore, the
father of the American navy, was

John Barry, born in Ireland, a

faithful Catholic, a true American,

and an able seaman. But before

the great exodus Ireland had given

to America prelates distinguished

for their faith, virtue, learning, elo-

quence, and apostolic zeal—prelates
such as Bishop England, Archbi-

shops Kenrick and Hughes. No
man did more in his day than Bi-
shop England to make the Catho-
lic Church respected. Love for
the free institutions of his adopted

country was with him a vital prin-

in the United States.

ciple, and often prompted his elo-
quence. Bishop England as a pul-
pit orator was unrivalled, and may
be called the Chrysostom of the
American Church. The first bishop
and archbishop of the church in
the United States, John Carroll,
and the first in North America to
be invested with the dignity of
the cardinalate, the Archbishop of
New York, John McCloskey, were
Irishmen by descent.

But the famine of 1846—1847 gave
the impetus to a mighty stream of
immigration which did not cease in
volume until it supplied millions of
faithful children to the young church
in America and rapidly extended
her borders. The number of immi-
grants from Ireland who arrived at
the port of New York during the
thirty years ending in 1876 was

2,001,727.

There will not be found in the
Catholic Church in the United
States a people, as a class, more
devoted, sincere, and better in-
structed in their religion than the

Germans. The number of their
churches, schools, seminaries, hos-

pitals, orphan asylums will com-
pare advantageously, from an intel-

lectual no less than a material
point of view, with those of any
other portion of the Catholic popu-
lation. None are better supplied
with priests for the^r people and
teachers for their children than

the Germans. The religious orders
flourish among them, and are re-
presented by the Benedictines, with

several abbots; the Capuchins, and

other branches of the order of St.

Francis; thejesuits, Redemptorists,

and other religious congregations

both of men and of women, especial-
ly such as are devoted to teaching.

In the hierarchy there is one Ger-

man archbishop, and a considerable
number of the bishops are German



7The Catholic Church in the United States.

by birth or descent. The Catholic

German element had been almost

insignificant until the period in-

cluding the last thirty years ; for

although Catholics are consider-

ably in the majority in South Ger-

many, immigration to the United

States in the past was mostly from

the Protestant states. According

to the latest and most accurate

computation of German Catholics

in the United States, they number

i> 237>5 63 souls -

Conversions to the Catholic

faith during the early part of the

century were few and isolated in-

stances
;
but within the last twenty-

five years they have become more

numerous. Speaking on this sub-

ject, a French writer who visited,

twelve or more years ago, the Unit-

ed States, says :
“ It is difficult

to apply, a statistical table to the

study of the question of conver-

sions. The different Protestant

sects furnish very unequal contin-

gents to the little army of souls

daily returning to the true faith

;

and it is a curious fact that the two

sects which furnish the most are the

Episcopalians, who in their forms

and traditions approach nearest to

the Catholic Church, and the Uni-

tarians, who go to the very oppo-

site extreme, and appear to push

their philosophical and rationalistic

principles almost beyond the pale

of Christianity. These two sects

generally comprise the most en-

lightened and intellectual people

of North America.”*

This observation is exact and

has a profound reason for its basis.

The human mind is uneasy until

it has reached unity and grasps

universal truth. And this is ar-

rived at by two diverse but equally

legitimate ways. Those who are

born in sectarianism, as soon as

* E. Rameau, Le Corrtspondant , 1865.

they allow their reason to act on

their faith learn that they have

but fragments of Christian truth

;

and by tracing these to their logi-

cal connection with other truths

contained in divine revelation they

gain by degrees the knowledge of

the whole body of revealed truth.

Having reached this stage of prepa-

ration, there breaks upon their men-

tal vision the divine character and

mission of the Catholic Church.

This once seen, to enter her fold

becomes a test both of their intel-

lectual consistency and of the sin-

cerity of their faidi in Christianity.

This is the road which leads Epis-

copalians and others who still re*

tain firmly one or more of the

revealed truths of Christianity to

the Catholic Church. The second

class fall back upon the essential

truths of natural reason. This

basis recovered,, the rejection of

sectarianism logically follows, for

the denial of any one truth of di-

vine revelation involves of necessity

a contradiction of human reason.

Indignant at this, they ask rightly

for a religion which is consonant

with the dictates of reason and

finds its foundation in the human

breast. Americans who have repu-

diated Protestantism on the grounds

of reason—and they are not a few

—

have made the discovery that the

exposition of Christianity by the

Catholic Church agrees with the

dictates of reason, and that it takes

in its scope all the faculties of

human nature. This is the Unita-

rian road, which is destined, in

our opinion, to become the great

American highway to the Catholic

Church.

There is scarcely an American

family, distinguished either by its

ancestry, or by its social position,

or by its wealth, which to-day has

not one or more representatives



The Catholic Church in the United States.

among the converts to the Catholic
Church. In some parts of the

country there are congregations al-

most altogether made up of con-
verts. Converts will be found

among the archbishops, bishops,
and clergy, and a fair share also

belong to the different learned pro-

fessions or hold positions of simi-

lar respectability. Statistics which

bear upon this point vary. In

some dioceses the number of con-
verts among the confirmed is as
high as twelve per cent., in others

it is about seven per cent., and in

others again not more than five,

while elsewhere probably the pro-

portion is smaller. To the fore-
going source of Catholic increase

is to be added the accession of

Florida by purchase in 1819, con-

taining a population of about

18,000; also the acquisition of

Texas in 1845, and California and

New Mexico in 1848, having about
160,000 inhabitants. These peo-

ple were for the most part of Span-

ish-American blood, and nearly all

Catholics. Finally, if we add from a
rough guess 25,000 to 30,000 colored

people, we have all the original

elements which the power of the

Catholic faith has blended together

in one, forming the organization

and strength of the Catholic Church

in the republic of the United

States.

The connection between the re-

public and the Catholic Church, if

satisfactorily treated, requires that

the fundamental principles of the

republic should be clearly stated,

and their relation with Protestant-

ism first be disposed of. This is

what we now attempt.

The republic of the United

States is the result of the gathered

political wisdom and experience of

past ages, shaped by a recognition

of man’s natural rights and a trust

in his innate capacity for self-gov-

ernment beyond what had found

expression in the prevailing politi-

cal systems of Europe. The fun-
damental articles of the American

political creed and the formative

principles of the republic are em-

bodied in the Declaration of Inde-

pendence, whence they passed gra-

dually into the constitutions of the

several States and into the Consti-

tution of the United States, and

have step by step worked their

way more or less perfectly into the
general and special laws of the

country. These articles consist

principally in the declaration “ that

all men are created equal; that
they are endowed by their Crea-
tor with certain inalienable rights;

that among these are life, liber-
ty, and the pursuit of happiness;

that, to secure these rights, govern-

ments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the

consent of the governed.”

These declarations can be looked

upon only by superficial thinkers

as “ glittering generalities,” where-

as some are divine and fundamen-

tal, and all are practical verities,

having a ground both in reason

and revelation. They are divine,

inasmuch as they declare the rights

of the Creator in his creature;

they are fundamental, for without

the enjoyment of the natural rights

which they proclaim man is not a
man, but a slave or a chattel

;
they

are practical, for man is, or ought
to be, under his Creator, the master

of his own destiny and free from

any dominion not founded in di-

vine right. The Creator invested

man with these rights in order that

he might fulfil the duties insepara-

bly attached to them. For these

rights put man in the possession of
himself, and leave him free to

reach the end for which his Crea-



9The Catholic Church

tor called him into existence. He,

therefore, who denies or violates

these rights offends God, acts the

tyrant, and is an enemy of man-

kind. And if there be any supe*

rior merit in the republican polity

of the United States, it consists

chiefly in this: that while it adds

nothing and can add nothing to

man’s natural rights, it expresses

more clearly, guards more securely,

and protects more effectually these

rights
;
so that man, under its popu-

lar institutions, enjoys greater lib-

erty in working out his true des-

tiny.

Since Christianity claims to be

God’s revelation of the great end

for which he created man, it fol-

lows that those rights without

which he cannot reach that end

must find their sanction, expressed

or implied, in all true interpreta-

tions of its doctrines.

That the interpretations of Chris-

tianity by the so-called Reformation,

especially by its leaders, neither

sanctioned nor even implied the

natural rights of man, the peculiar

articles of its creed and its history

plainly show.

When the Puritan Fathers landed

on Plymouth Rock they brought

with them a fixed religious creed,

whose primary article was
“ the

total depravity ” of human nature,

and, as a consequence, the loss of

free-will
;
from which premise it

was held that man, in his unre-

generate state, is not able to do

any good, but is inclined to all evil.

This fundamental dogma, applied

to the political order, excludes un-

regenerate men from all part in the

organization of the state, as well

as from all participation in the

rights and privileges of citizenship.

Such, too, is the historical fact

;

political citizenship in the province

of the Puritans, where they trim-

in the United States.

med the state to suit their creed,

was exclusively granted to mem-

bers of the orthodox church.
“ All

civil power,” says, the Presbyterian

Dr. Hodge, “ was confined to the

members of the church, no person

being either eligible to office or

entitled to the right of suffrage

who was not in full communion of

some church.”* The natural man

had no rights. To be a freeman

you must be a Puritan. The men

who came in the Mayflower did

not hold the principles which gave

birth to religious toleration or po-

litical liberty in the New World.

And so far were their annals from

the “grand historic lines of the

country ” that it was as late as 1834

when Massachusetts granted full

religious liberty, while even to-day

a Catholic is ineligible to office
in.

the State of New Hampshire be-

cause of his religion. Hence there

can scarcely be an assertion farther

from the truth than that made by

Ranke and D’Aubigne, and repeat-

ed by Bancroft and men of less or

more note, that republican liberty

is due to Protestantism, and due

to Protestantism under its most re-

pulsive form—that which was given
to it by John Calvin.

An appeal to the New World,

where the original Protestant colo-

nies were free toform a political gov-

ernment in accordance with their pe-

culiar religious belief, gives no coun-

tenance to this peremptory assertion.

It is, moreover, made in face of the

historic testimony of the Old World,

for nowhere in Europe has Pro-

testantism been favorable to popu-

lar rights, or called into existence
1

what by any honest interpretation

can be termed a republic. This

statement can be easily verified.

During its three centuries of ex-

istence a republican form of gov-

* Princeton Review y 1863.



10 The Catholic Church

ernment has nowhere under Pro-
testant ascendency made its ap-
pearance. One will look in vain
in Germany, the cradle of Protes-
tantism, for a popular government.

The same is true of Prussia, Eng-
land, Scotland, Sweden, and Hol-
land, for the Dutch Republic was
founded upon the ancient consti-
tutions of the provinces, and not
upon popular rights. It was a re-
public only in name, and, such as
it was, its life was very short. M.
Guizot, in his Life of John Calvi?i

,

reveals the cause for this, and right-
ly discriminates between the influ-

ence of Calvinism on churches and
the influence of Calvinism on lib-
erty when he says: “Calvin’s In-
stitutes were the source of the

strength and vitality of the Re-
formed churches in these countries,”

but at the same time he acknow-
ledges that “ their claims were in-

compatible with the progress of

liberty” (Guizot’s Life of John
Calvin, ch. v.) “ Calvin did not

believe in man’s free-will,” says

the same author, “ and he treated
it with severity and a kind of con-

tempt. Calvin believed and as-

serted that he had more right over
other men’s opinions and actions

than he ought to have claimed, and

he did not show sufficient respect

for their rights ” (ibid) He knows
little of the origin of liberty in

America or elsewhere who honors
in any sense John Calvin as its

author.

If Protestants have contributed

to human freedom, it was not as
Protestants

;
the motives which

prompted them did not spring from
their religious creed, for that was
a foe to human rights and the
grave of liberty. The servitude of
the human will in consequence of
original sin, as taught by both Mar-
tin Luther and John Calvin, cut off,

in the United States.

root and branch, personal, political,
civil, intellectual, moral, and re-
ligious liberty. Protestantism as a
religious system was an insult to
all ideas of freedom. Hence it
was not due to any principle of
liberty of the original Protestant

colonists that religious toleration

was made a part of the organic law
of the republic, but to the fact that

the Protestant sects were not able
to agree, and that there was no
one of them sufficiently powerful
to press its exclusive claim and get
its peculiarities incorporated into

the Constitution.

In no place where Protestantism

prevailed among a people as their
religion has it given birth to a re-

public, and nowhere in the nine-
teenth century does there exist a

republic in a Protestant land.

The so-called Reformation, follow-
ing out its own principles, failed
altogether to reconcile Christianity

with popular rights. Its spirit and
doctrines, derived from an exagger-

ated idea of the sovereignty of God
and the utter nullity of man, are in

accordance with the Oriental mind
and suitable to an Asiatic despot-
ism, and it deserves credit for civil
and religious liberty nowhere. As
for the. Puritans in particular, one
of their descendants covers the

whole ground when he says : “ I
believe we are descended from the
Puritans, who nobly fled from a
land of despotism to a land of

freedom, where they could not only

enjoy their own religion but pfe-
vent everybody else from enjoying

his.”

Protestantism in its political as-

pect might be defined as a theo-

cratic corporation composed exclu-

sively of regenerate men of ortho-
dox faith, having for its premise the

religious dogma concerningthe “ to-
tal corruption of human nature

”



The Catholic Church in the United States. ii

in consequence of Adam’s fall, as

taught by its leaders, Martin Luther

and John Calvin. One may repel

this conclusion, but it will be at

the expense of intellectual consis-

tency and historical testimony.

So long as the New England set-

tlements were content to remain

English colonies it was possible

for them to hold their peculiar re-

ligious tenets and maintain their

exclusive religio-political organi-

zation
;
but when they joined with

the other colonies, and appealed to

the equality by birth of all men

and the inalienable rights of man

to justify their separation from

Great Britain, the Puritans then

and there, in sanctioning these de-

clarations, entered upon a road

which necessarily terminated in a

radical and total change of the

peculiar articles of their religious

creed. For the proclamation of

man’s natural rights involved the

overthrow of the whole theological

structure built by the reformed

theologians upon the corner-stone

of man’s “total depravity.” The

Puritans, in signing the Declaration

of Independence, signed their own

death-warrant.

A comparison between the two
will show tiiis. The political sys-

tem of the Puritans was founded on

an exaggerated supernaturalism

;

the political system implied in the

truths contained in the Declaration

of Independence supposed a mere

naturalism. The former held hu-

man nature to be totally corrupt

;

the latter supposes human nature

as essentially good. The one

maintained that man, by Adam’s

fall, forfeited all his natural rights;

the other declared that the rights

of man by nature are inalienable.

The first granted political suffrage

exclusively to the elect
;
the sec-

ond based the right of suffrage

on universal manhood. The Pu-

ritans relied altogether on the

strength of divine grace
;
the Ame-

rican republican trusted in the

inborn capacity of human nature.

The two parties started from oppo-

site poles in regard to man’s rights

and the value of human nature.

The Declaration of Independence

was the antithesis of Martin Lu-

ther’s work on the Slave-will and

John Calvin’s Institutes
,
looked at

from their political side.

That Calvinism excludes repub-

licanism in politics has been shown
;

and that- republicanism excludes

Calvinism in religion we will now

endeavor to prove.

The process of this exclusion was

a simple one. The natural influ-

ence of the practical working of

the American political system, bas-

ed on universal suffrage, is an in-

citement to the intelligence and

conscience of the people under the

conviction that the choice of the

ballot-box will be in the main on

the side of good government. Fre-

quent elections and the popular

agitations attending them awaken

aspirations, excite debate and ac-

tion, and under this stimulating in-

fluence the people are soon led to

trust human reason and to become

conscious of the possession of free-

will
;
and it was quite natural that,

as these repressed powers grew in

strength by action, their leaders

should assert, and rather defiantly

at first, the rights of man, be for-

ward as champions of human lib-

erty, and indulge in some pretty

“ tall talk ” about the dignity of

man and the nobility of human na-

ture. Nor can it be a matter of

surprise that rousing appeals were

made to men who, under the de-

pressing influence of a religious

creed, would have lost their man-

hood, if that were possible : “ to



12 The Catholic Church in the United States.

act out your self,” “ obey your in-

stincts/’ “assert your manhood,”
“ be a man ”! The extravagant ef-
forts to magnify man were the na-
tural rebound from the opposite

extreme of excessive abasement.

Universal suffrage is the most

efficient school to awaken general

intelligence, to teach a people their

rights, and to arouse in their bosoms

the sense of their manhood. For

what is a vote ? It is the recogni-

tion of man’s intelligence and lib-

erty and responsibility, the quali-

ties which constitute his manhood.

What is a vote ? It is the admis-

sion that man, as man, is, or ought

to be, considered a factor in a

tolerably perfect political society;

that he has the right to shape, and

in bounden duty ought to shape

so far as his ability extends, the

course of the destiny of his coun-

try. A vote is a practical means
by which every man can exercise

his right and fulfil his duty by mak-

ing his voice heard in the councils

of the nation. It is the practical

application of the truth that “ all

men are born equal ”—that is, “ all
men have an equal right to life,”

to “liberty,” and to the “pursuit of

happiness,” and, armed with a bal-

lot, a man has the power of main-

taining and protecting these rights.

Every vote rightly understood

means at least all that has been

here stated. The force of these

truths, by virtue of their applica-

tion, effaced from the minds of the

offspring of the Puritans in less than

two generations the “ injurious im-

positions of their early catechetical

instructions.” It is speaking with-

in the boundaries of moderation to

say that scarcely one descendant

of the Puritans in fifty, perhaps not

one in five hundred—shall we say
one in a thousand ? perhaps not one

in ten thousand—will be found who

would willingly make, without seri-

ous reservations, an act of faith in

the five points of Calvinism. So

thorough has been this reaction

that a good part of the New Eng-
land people now hold that to be
Christianity which their forefathers

would have condemned as the total

negation of Christianity. This is

not to be wondered at when you
consider that every time a freeman

goes to the polls and deposits his

vote in the ballot-box he virtually

condemns the dogmas of Protes-

tantism and practically repudiates

the lCeformation. The persistent
action of the ballot-box of the re-

public outweighed the persuasive

force of the Puritan pulpit.

A writer in an English periodi-
cal, commenting on this religious

phase of the New England mind
resulting from their rejection of

the doctrine of “total depravity,”

remarks : “ It is now a part of the

Boston creed that a man born in
that city has no need to be born

again.”

The people may not draw

promptly the conclusions which

flow from their premises, for they

act rather from implicit than ex-

plicit reflections
;
but in the long

run they reach the explicit logi-

cal conclusion from these premi-

ses. The early Puritans, in conform-

ing their politics to their religion,

founded a theocracy
;
their descend-

ants, in conforming their religion

to their political principles, found-

ed Unitarianism. “ I trust,” wfote

Mr. Jefferson in 1822, “ there is

not a young man now born in the

United States who will not die an

Unitarian.”
*

This truth, then, if we mistake

not, has been clearly shown : that

every religious dogma has a special

bearing on political society, and this

* Parton’s Life ofJefferson, p. 711.



13The Catholic Church in the United States.

bearing is what constitutes its poli-

tical principle ; and every
political

principle has a religious bearing,

and this bearing involves a religions

dogma which is its premise. And,

as a corollary from the above, it

may be rightly said that Protes-

tant religious dogmas are foreign

to republicanism and lead to a

theocracy in politics ; and that re-

publicanism in politics is foreign

to Protestantism and leads toUni-

tarianism in religion. But Unita-

rianism is naturalism, and no close

observer of the current of religious

thought of the American people

will deny that under the genius of

republicanism its main drift is in

that direction.

This much being said, the way

is now clear to treat more satis-

factorily of the relation between

the republic and the Catholic

Church.

There exists a necessary bond

and correlation between the truths

contained in the Declaration of

Independence and the revealed

truths of Christianity, since the

truths of the natural order serve as

indispensable supports to the body

of revealed truths of faith. Deny

to man reason, and religion can

have no more meaning to men

than to a brute or a machine.

Deny the certitude of reason, and

there would be no foundation for

certitude in supernatural faith.

Deny the innate freedom of the

will, and the basis for all moral-

ity. would be undermined, and the

fountain-head of personal, political,

and religious liberty would be dried

up. Deny to man the gifts of rea-

son and free-will, and the natu-

ral rights of man which flow from

these gifts are the wild fancies

of a dreamer, and a republic

founded upon them becomes the

baseless fabric of a vision.

The following declarations will

throw more light on the value of

human nature, and of the bearing

of the truths of reason upon the

supernatural truths of faith, and

make our road still easier. Rea-

son is the organ of truth, and acts

upon the truth which lies within

its domain with infallible certi-

tude. The action of reason pre-

cedes faith, and can admit the

claims of no authority which does

not appeal with entire trust to its

jurisdiction for its verification, and

can accept of none that does not

accord and blend with its dictates.

Man is by nature in possession of

his free-will; therefore freedom is

a birthright, and he holds it in

trust from his Creator and is re-

sponsible for its right use. Hu-

man nature, as it now exists, is es-

sentially good, and man naturally

seeks and desires his Creator as

the source of his happiness. Man

has lost none of his original facul-

ties and has forfeited none of his

natural rights by Adam’s fall, and

therefore is by nature in possession

of his natural rights, and it is right-

ly said: “Among these are life,

liberty, and the pursuit of happi-

ness.” “ God has created all men

equal” in regard to these rights,

and therefore no one man has the

natural right to govern another

man; and all political authority in

individuals is justly said to be de-

rived from the consent of the col-

lective people who are governed.

The people, under God, associated

in a body politic, are the source of

the sovereign political power in the

civil state. The light of reason is

the light of God in the soul, and

the natural rights of man are con-

ferred by God directly upon man

;

and therefore a religion which

does not affirm the value of hu-

man reason and defend the natural



x4 The Catholic Church in the United States.

rights of man is baseless, and by
no manner of means revealed by
his Creator, but is a delusion or an

imposition and worthy of no re-
spect. With the light of these
statements, the truths of which are
in conformity with her authori-

tative teaching, the connection

of the Catholic Church with the
American republic can easily be
understood, and at the same time
the light which they shed lays bare

to the view of all men the real
motives which actuate Catholics in

their devotion to popular rights,

and places above all suspicion the

sincerity of their love for popular

institutions.

The American people in the
Declaration of Independence avow-

ed unequivocally their belief in the

value of human nature, made a sol-
emn act of loyalty to human rea-
son, grounded their popular gov-

ernment on a solid foundation,

and opened the door which leads

directly to the truth. These truths

which it asserted were not the

fruits of philosophical speculations,

but evident truths of human rea-
son

;
and the rights which it affirm-

ed were not the declamations of

political dreamers, but rights insep-

arable from man’s rational nature.

Nor were these truths and these

rights proclaimed to the world for

the first time on the 4th of July,

1776, by the Continental Congress

of the colonies; for they are as

old as human nature, and will be
found among the traditions of all

races of civilized men. They are

not lifeless abstractions but living

truths, concreted more or less in

all political governments, in their

institutions and laws. Freedom is

no tender sapling, but a hardy tree

and of slow growth, whose roots

are grounded in and entwined

around the very elements of hu-

man nature, and under the shel-
ter of its stout branches man has
reached, through many struggles,
his existing state of manhood.

The War of Independence was a
struggle for man’s sacred rights and

liberties, and in support of these

rights and liberties the colonists, as

British subjects, cited the Magna
Charta outlined by Cardinal Lang-

ton and his compeers, and won by
them from King John in the mea-

dow of Runnymede. Upon these
inherent and acknowledged rights

of man, and upon the conclusion

which they derived from them that

no taxation without representation

ought to be permitted, as a practi-

cal maxim of government and safe-

guard of these rights which they

had received as a legacy from our

common Catholic ancestors, the
war for independence began, was

fought, was won
;
the republic was

erected, and stands unchanged and

immovable. Had the far-seeing
Count de Maistre been as well

acquainted with the history of the

American colonies as he was with

the history of his own country or

that of England, he would not have

hazarded the statement, advanced

in his Considerations on France, that

“ he did not believe that the United

States would last” or that “the

city of Washington would accom-

plish the object for which it was

projected.” All the conditions

which he considered as essential

to form a nation, and the vital prin-

ciples necessary to produce a con-

stitution, were existing and gave

birth to the republic. The repub-

lic came forth from these into exis-

tence as naturally as the flower ex-

pands from the bud. The illus-

trious count’s unbelief was in con-

tradiction to his own political doc-

trines no less than to the truths

of his Catholic faith. He whose



i5
The Catholic Church

intellectual vision is open to the

light of first principles and their

main bearings, and is not altogether

a stranger to true history, knows

full well that the Catholic Church

has battled her whole lifetime for

those rights of man and that liber-

ty which confer the greatest glory

on the American republic.

That the pages of history testify

to the close relationship existing

between popular governments and

the Catholic faith is shown by the

fact that all republics since the

Christian era have sprung into ex-

istence under the influence of the

Catholic Church, were founded in

the ages of faith and by a Catho-

lic people. The republic of San

Marino has existed in an entirely

Catholic population in the heart of

Italy one thousand years or more ;

and that of Andorra, on the bor-

ders of Spain and France, has stood

the same number of years, and

neither shows any signs of approach-

ing dissolution. But these repub-

lics are small in numbers and in

extent of territory ? Grant it ; yet

they are large enough and have

existed long enough to illustrate

the principle that republicanism is

congenial with the Catholic reli-

gion and at home in a Catholic

population. Then, again, we have

the Italian republics in Catholic

ages—those of Venice, Pisa, Genoa,
Milan, Florence, Padua, Bologna.

In fact, there were no less than two

hundred republics spread over the

fair land of Italy. The princi-

pal Italian cities may be regarded

as model republics. Some were

founded in the ninth, others in the

tenth or eleventh, century, and last-

ed several hundred years. Venice

stood one thousand years and more.

The Swiss republic was founded in

mediaeval tknes, and counts among

its heroes and martyrs of political

in the United States.

liberty William Tell, Arnold von

Winkelried, and Andrew Hofer, all

faithful sons of the Catholic Church.

The republics in South America,

though rather quarrelsome, are at

least the growth of a population al-

together Catholic. How else can

we explain that the love of liber-

ty and popular institutions should

spring up spontaneously and ex-

clusively on Catholic soil, unless it

be that republicanism and the Ca-

tholic Church have one common

root ?

From this point of view it is a

matter of no surprise that Catholics

were the first to proclaim religious

freedom among the original colo-

nists, and were also among the first

and stanchest patriots in the war

for independence. Ndne will be

found among the signers of the

Declaration of Independence whose

position in society and wealth were

equal to those of Charles Carroll,

the intelligent, sincere, and fervent

Catholic layman. The priest who

became the first bishop and first

archbishop in the hierarchy of the

Catholic Church in the United

States was the intimate friend of

Benjamin Franklin, and, an asso-

ciate with him, invited by Congress

to engage the Canadians to be

neutral if they were not ready to

join their efforts for independence.

Washington, with his characteristic

impartiality, publicly acknowledged

at the close of the war the patri-

otic part which Catholics as a class

had taken in the great struggle for

liberty. No one can appreciate

the depth of conviction and the

strength of affection of Catholics

for republican institutions unless

he sees, as they do, the same order

of truths which serve as the foun-

dation of his religious belief un-

derlying, as their support, the free

institutions of his country. The



The Catholic Church in the United States.

doctrines of the Catholic Church

alone give to popular rights, and

governments founded thereupon,

an intellectual basis, and furnish

their vital principle. What a Ca-
tholic believes as a member of the
Catholic Church he believes as a

citizen of the republic. His reli-

gion consecrates his political con-

victions, and this consecration im-

parts a twofold strength to his pa-

triotism.

What a Catholic believes as a
citizen of the republic he believes

as a member of the Catholic Church

;

and as the natural supports and

strengthens the supernatural, this

accounts for the universally ac-

knowledged fact that no Catholics

are more sincere in their religious

belief, more loyal to the author-

ity of the church, more generous

in her support, than the Catholic

republican citizens of the Unit-

ed States. Catholicity in religion

sanctions republicanism in politics,

*and republicanism in politics favors

Catholicity in religion.

Their relationship is so intimate

and vital that no attack can be

made against the church which is

not equally a blow against the re-

public. The animus of the so-call-

ed Native-American party was hos-

tility to the Catholic Church, and

its principles were in direct con-

tradiction to the American bill of

rights, and its policy was a flagrant

violation of that religious, civil, and

political liberty guaranteed by the

Constitution of the United States.

The question of education affords

another illustration. Catholics fa-

vor education, none more than

they, and they take the strongest

grounds against ignorance, for they

look upon ignorance, when volun-
tary, as being frequently something

worse than a misfortune
;

they

even condemn it in many cases as

a sin. They are prepared, if their
rights be respected, to give their

children all the elementary, scien-

tific, and moral education of which

they are capable, and even more
than the state will ever ask. As
an evidence of their spirit and de-
votion to education witness their

schools, academies, and colleges

dotted all over the land. No de-
nomination of Christians, no class
of American citizens, can stand

alongside of Catholics when it is a
question of earnestness and self-

sacrifice for education. But “ No,”

say the votaries of the common-
school system to Catholics

;

“ we

insist that you shall educate your

children according to our specially-

devised state system, and that, too,

under compulsory force
;
and, what

is more, you shall be taxed by the

state for its support.”

Catholics say in reply that it is

no necessary part of the function

of the state to teach and educate

children. The education of chil-
dren is rather a parental than a

political duty. Besides, to ascribe

this function to the state is anti-

American
1

;
for the genius of our

political system dictates that the

state should abstain from all inter-

ference in matters which can be

accomplished by individual enter-

prise or voluntary associations. It

is clear that the chief aim of the

advocates of the present public-

school system in the United States

is less the desire for general diffu-

sion ofknowledge than the advance-

ment of a pet theory of education
;

and they insist upon its exclusive

adoption because they imagine that

its spirit and tendency are against

the spread and progress of the

Catholic faith. Thus they subor-

dinate education to a sectarian

prejudice. These feelings of hos-

tility to the Catholic Church actu-



The Catholic Clnirch

ate a considerable number of the

advocates of this un-American sys-

tem of what is claimed to be purely

secular but really is infidel educa-

tion. and to such a degree that

they are blind to the fact that it is

equally destructive to every form

of the Christian faith ; that it leaves,

because of its practical inefficiency,

thousands of children in ignorance

;

that it does violence to the reli-

gious convictions of a large body

of citizens of the republic ; that it

tramples upon the sacred rights of

parents, and endangers the state it-

self by perverting its action from

its legitimate function.
“ Heat not

a furnace so hot that it doth singe

yourself” is good advice. The so-

called American public-school sys-

tem is a cunningly-devised scheme,

under the show of zeal for popular

education, for forcing the state, in

violation of American principles of

liberty, to impose an unjust^ and

heavy tax on its citizens, with the

intent of injuring the Catholic

Church, while in the meantime it

is sapping in the minds of the

American youth the foundations of

all religion and driving them into

infidelity.

There are other questions, agi-

tated only by an inconsiderable

portion of the American people,

and equally foreign to the genius

and normal action of the republic.

Some would change the Constitu-

tion of the United States, and,

under the plea of Christianizing it,

make it sectarian; while others,

under the garb of liberty, would

make the state at least pagan, if

not atheistic. Had these partisans

their way, the one would make the

church the state, and the other

would make the state the church.

Catholics are content with the or-

ganic law of the republic as it

stands, because it is as it ought to

in the United States. 1 7

be. They say to both leagues,

“ Protestant ” and “ Liberal
”

:

“ Hands off from the palladium

of American rights and freedom

!

Let there be an open field; there is

no ground for fear that truth will

be worsted in a fair encounter.”

“ Truth,” in the inspired words of

Holy Writ, “is mighty above all

things, and will prevail.”

But we are told quite recently

by a well-known and distinguished

author, in a lecture on the “Fu-

ture of the Republic,” that
“ The

Catholic Church exasperates com-

mon sense.” Common sense ?

“ Common sense ” is the decision

of unperverted reason, and its voice

has been given counting nineteen

centuries' in favor of the Catholic

Church, and this record has not

been reversed. It was not com-

mon sense that dictated, the ill-tem-

pered sentence quoted; it bears the

unmistakable ear-marks of the grim

spirit of the old Puritans. The

presence of the Catholic Church

always did exasperate the Puritans,

and acted upon their irritable

nerves as her exorcisms act on evil

spirits. Error always feels ill at

ease when confronted by the oppo-

site truth. This was so with the

heathen, and in their exasperation

they forced Catholic virgins into

houses of infamy in the vain ex-

pectation of their fall. The times

are changed and no longer suffer

such an outrage, but in revenge

this writer couples the holy church

with“ trance-mediums ” and “ rebel

paradoxes.” He says : “ The Ca-

tholic Church, trance-mediums, and

rebel paradoxes exasperate com-

mon sense.” This utterance of the

oracle of transcendentalism is a

singular survival of the Puritan and

heathen spirit, and as such it may

be left to the investigations of stu-

dents of atavism. To them also



i8 The Catholic Church in the United States.

may be left the explanation of how,

under their spell, an otherwise

acute and polished writer witlessly

commits a blunder against common

sense and civility. “To what base

uses we may return !” O Seer

of Concord ! it’s your nerves, and

you need physic.

“ Dull Sphinx, Jove keep thy fine wits !

Thy sight is growing blear
;

Rue, myrrh, and cumin for the Sphinx,

Her muddy eyes to clear.”

Error forces truth to appear and

become known; hence every new

attack,
' every new agitation, and

every newly invented calumny

against the Catholic Church brings

out into clearer light her divine

character, removes prejudices from

the minds of her adversaries, pro-

motes conversion, and adds to her

strength.

Let it, then, be clearly under-

stood that what we maintain is

that the common aim of all legit-

imate political government is the

security of man’s natural rights

;

that the American republic is

most distinctly founded on this

common basis
;
that the Catholic

interpretation of Christianity em-

phatically sanctions its declaration

of these rights, and as the natural

and supernatural spring from one

and the same divine source, “and

God cannot deny himself, nor one

truth ever contradict another,”* it

follows that the republic and the

Catholic Church can never in their

normal action, if intelligence reigns,

clash, but, by a necessary law of their

existence, mutually aid, advance, and

complete each other. A citizen of

the American republic who under-

stands himself is all the more loy-

al to the republic because he is a

Catholic, and all the better Catho-

lic because he is loyal to the re-

public. For the doctrines of the

Catholic Church alone furnish him

with the principles which enable

him to make a synthesis between

republicanism and Christianity.

We give below a table to show

the gradual increase of the Catholic

Church, so far as the data was at-

tainable, from the time of the De-

claration of Independence to the

year 1878 inclusive. As for the

number of Catholics, we have taken

what may be considered an aver-

age estimate :

CO

m N O CO OO 0 fOMOO §
m mvo 10N O CO O. CM -r rT* v® 8 0m to h 0 5

0

1

8 8NN ronv) 1000 0 ^ N 0 0~ §8
W « H 10 IO

CO

H*-

6

CO

VO N N • O O mONN w 8 O

CO CO
CM

d

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Year.

Archbishops

Bishops

Dioceses

Apostolic

Vicariates

Priests

Churches

Stations

and

chapels

Ecclesiastical

institutions.

Colleges
Female

academies

Catholic

population

Total

population

V •

O !
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£ :

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* Vatican Council, De fide et ratione.



The Catholic Church in the United States. 19

The increase of Catholics in

the United States has been due

almost altogether to immigration

,

and when immigration diminishes

will not her progress cease ? The

number of immigrants may fall

short of what it has been, but still,

for good reasons, it* will continue

to be large. Recently, on account

of the financial crisis, it nearly stop-

ped
;
but as this is now sensibly

passing away the tide of immigra-

tion is again rising. This will con-

tinue
;
for the liberty which is en-

joyed under popular institutions,

and the material advantages which

the country offers to settlers, espe-

cially in its cheap and fertile lands,

are inducements that will suffice

of themselves to attract large num-

bers to its shores. The millions

of immigrants settled in the repub-

lic as their home and their coun-

try act as an attractive force to

their relatives, friends, and former

countrymen. The desire to escape

the almost insupportable burden of

military service by forced con-

scriptions, occasioned by frequent

wars and by the dangers from ri-

val nationalities continually loom-

ing with threatening aspect on the

political horizon, will drive large

numbers in the prime and vigor

of manhood to a country that has

no standing army to speak of, and

whose geographical position ren-

ders it free from all threatening

dangers to its peace. Last and

not least of the causes bearing on

this point are religious persecu-

tions. These send large numbers,

thanks especially to Prince Bis-

marck, to the land of religious tol-

eration. For these and other cau-

ses, from Ireland, Germany, and

other countries of Europe will flow

a continuous stream of immigrants

to the United States. And as

three-fifths of Europe retain the

Catholic faith (omitting to count

the promise of a greater increase

from its Catholic population for

which there are special reasons),

the Catholic Church in the United

States may rely on having, rela-

tively at least, her share in the fu-

ture immigrants.

But the increase of Catholics in

the United States is not solely due

to immigration ; there is another

cause, a moral and a potent one,

which accelerates her growth. It

has been noticed, by several au-

thors who have written works on

the population of the United States

and on kindred subjects, that the

natural increase of the foreign ele-

ment of our population is much

greater in proportion than that of

the home-born element. This will

be best seen by' following the sta-

tistics of Massachusetts and Rhode

Island, the former the largest State

in New England and the latter the

smallest, in population, and where

registration reports have been care-

fully kept. Taking the population

of American origin in these States

as a class, their deaths exceed their

birth-rate. Dr. Allen, of Lowell,

who is an authority on this subject,

speaking of Massachusetts, says

:

“It is very questionable whether

there is much increase by numbers

in the class of Americans.” “ Take,”

he observes, “ the towns contain-

ing none or scarce any foreign

populations, where in 1846 and 1865

not a single foreign birth is report-

ed (there are thirty such towns in

Massachusetts), and the whole num-

ber of deaths in these towns for

1864 and 1865 exceed each year

the births.” The registration re-

port of Massachusetts for 1870

says : “ The character of our popula-

tion is undergoing a great change.

Surely, and not slowly, a mixed

stock of Irish, German, and Cana-



20 The Catholic Church in the United States.

dians is taking the place of the

pure English stock which has pos-

sessed Massachusetts for more than

two centuries.” To pick and to

choose and to reject among the

truths known to be revealed by

God is properly called heresy, and

it is evident that such a state of

mind is incompatible with either

intellectual or moral rectitude, and

therefore all heresy, by its very

nature, leads inevitably to self-

extinction with its fanatical adher-

ents.

But there is an increase of po-

pulation in the State of Massachu-

setts, and whence does this come?
“ Wherever an increase has taken

place,” observes the same writer,

“it is found on examination to be

made up largely of the foreign ele-

ment, either from emigration or by

great number of births. It is a

fact now pretty well established

that the foreign class will have, on

an average, about three times as

many children as an equal num-

ber of the American.” In Rhode

Island the census report of 1875

shows “that its native American

population by parentage has in-

creased only 12.89 per cent, in ten

years past, while the foreign popu-

lation by parentage has increased

80.11 percent, in the same time.

If this increase should continue at

the same rate in the future, the

population of Rhode Island will

be in June, 1877 : American 138,-

195, and foreign 143,307; and in

1885, American 152,087, and for-

eign 222,466.” “Old Massachu-

setts,” remarks another writer on

the subject, “has passed away, and

a new Massachusetts is taking its

place.” But these comparative,

birth-rates apply with equal force

to other Eastern States
;
and if

things follow their actual course,

and right names are applied to

things, New England presently will
have to be called New Ireland.
The ratio of the Catholic popula-

tion in all the New England States,
compared with the non-Catholic, is

considered at present to be about

one-fourth. As Catholics are

taught and believe that the bonds

of wedlock are perpetually binding

in conscience by a divine law, and

the duties of parentage are sacred,

they have no temptation to be freed

from the restraints of the one or

relieved from the duties of the other

;

or if such temptations arise they

are quickly repressed by the in-

fluence of religious motives. Sad

experience will teach statesmen

that there is no other way of pro-

tecting the state from sure decay

than in conforming its legislation

to Christian morals as taught by

the Catholic Church only. If the

Catholic Church in the United

States were left to the law of na-

tural increase alone, this, it is evi-

dent, would suffice for her con-

tinuous progress relatively to the

population of the country.

No vessel sails without back-

water, and this is true of the bark

of the church. Her counter-cur-

rent has been in the number of her

children who have strayed from

her fold on account of the insuffi-

ciency of priests, churches, and the

means for their religious instruc-

tion
;

and, again, the increased

death-rate of the children of for-

eign parentage, occasioned for the

most part by reason of poverty.

As to the first drawback, the num-

ber of priests, churches, schools,

these are in the larger settled States

approaching to the needs of the

faithful. The .vocations to the

priesthood in the most settled dio-

ceses, we are informed, suffice for

their wants. Seminaries are in-

creasing; many of them are fine



The Catholic Church in the United States. 21

buildings, and that of the diocese

of Philadelphia, if equalled anywhere

in Catholic countries, is not sur-

passed. The recent decrease in

immigration has given the church

a breathing-spell, and she is putting

forth her strength and coping with

these difficulties, as the table in re-

ference to these points on page

18 shows. As to the second, the

relative poverty of Catholics, this,

with their energy, industry, and

spirit of enterprise, is rapidly disap-

pearing. “ From whatever branch

of industry,” says a Protestant

writer,* “ the Irish adopt they suc-

ceed in driving off native Ame-

rican competitors, and they are

equally successful in establishing

and maintaining in all departments

under their control an enhanced

rate of compensation. They have

swept our factories almost clear of

native help. They have nearly the

monopoly of boot and shoe making,

the most important and lucrative

industry of Massachusetts. They

are planting their colonies in many

of the best towns and cities ; and

when they once get a foothold

in a neighborhood there springs

up forthwith a populous Hibernia.

They are fast taking to themselves

the lion’s share of the actual earn-

ings of productive industry. They

are sending immense sums to Ire-

land
;
the rapidly-growing capitals

of our savings-banks belong in very

great part to them ; they have

very heavy deposits in the hands of

their priests ; and their ecclesiasti-

cal property is enormous, especial-

ly in our Western cities and on the

Pacific coast, where the church

(generally under Irish auspices)

has anticipated other purchasers,

and obtained at the outset corner-

lots and other real estate yielding

* Andrew P. Peabody, D.D.

the most ample revenue, so that the

Romish Church often holds more

property than all Protestant de-

nominations.” But it is not only

in branches of industry that Catho-

lics have become prominent; there

will be found among the distin-

guished merchants, bankers, judges,

legislators, inventors, officers of the

regular army, professors in colleges,

literary and scientific men,, mem-

bers of the Catholic Church, and in

all these classes Catholics are gain-

ing, proportionately, representatives

of their faith.

This prosperity and elevation

have also their effect upon the ma-

terial advancement of the church.

The Catholic cathedrals, both as to

size and style of architecture, are the

most conspicuous structures in the

largest cities in the United States,

such as Philadelphia, Baltimore,

Boston, Cincinnati, New Orleans,

Buffalo, Newark, Cleveland, Pitts-

burgh, Albany, Rochester, Colum-

bus, Mobile, Portland. Preparations

are being made for the construc-

tion of cathedrals, or cathedrals

are actually being built, in other

populous cities—in Brooklyn, St.
Louis, Providence, and Hartford.

That of New York, which is on the

point of completion, has, as be-

comes the metropolis of the Union,

no rival in size, in costliness of ma-

terial, and in architectural character

on the continent of America. The

wealth of the Catholic Church has

more than kept pace with the in-

crease of the country’s wealth, as

is shown by the following statement

:

“ In 1850 the total property valua-

tion of the United States, accord-

ing to the census report of that

year, was $7,135,780,228 ; in i860

it was $16,159,616,068; in 1870 it

was $30,668,518,507. That is tq

say, the aggregate wealth of the



22 The Catholic Church in the United States.

country increased about 125 per

cent, from 1850 to i860, and about

86 per cent, from i860 to 1870.
“ The total property valuation of

the Roman Catholic Church in the
United States in 1850 was $9,256,-

758; in i860 it was $26,774,119;

in 1870 it was $60,985,565. That is

to say, the aggregate wealth of the

Catholic Church increased about

189 per cent, from 1850 to i860,

and about 128 per cent, from i860

to 1870. While, therefore, in the

first of these two decades, the

wealth of the whole country gained

125 per cent., the wealth of the

Catholic Church gained 189 per

cent.
;
and while in the second de-

cade the wealth of the whole

country gained 86 per cent., the

wealth of the Catholic Church

gained 128 per cent.”

The Catholic Church in the re-

public finds her strength in relying

for her material support upon the

piety of the faithful, and the spir-

it and generosity with which all

classes of her children respond to

this test of the sincerity of their

faith is an example which has a

meaning at this moment for the

whole Christian world. Socially

and politically Catholics are slow-

ly taking the rank to which their

education, virtue, wealth, and num-

bers entitle them among the pro-

minent forces of the republic, and

the light which their religion throws

upon its vital principles and its

Constitution will make them con-

spicuous as intelligent and patriotic

citizens.

The future of the United States

belongs, under God, to that religion

which, by its conscious possession

of truth and by the indwelling

Spirit of divine love, shall succeed

in bringing the American people to

unity in their religious belief and

action, as they are actually one in

the political sense. It would be

the utter despair of reason to sup-

pose that truth cannot be known

with certitude, and it is the vir-

tual denial of God to question his
readiness to fill the hearts of all

men with his love. The thought
that the existing wranglings in re-

ligion are to go on and increase

for ever can only enter base minds

and satisfy vulgar souls.

Admitting, then, all that has been

said as true, it may be added that

as the faith of the greater part of

Catholics who come here from

abroad rests on a traditional and

historical basis almost exclusively;

conceding that this traditional faith

will be firm enough to keep its

hold upon the immigrants and re-

tain them in the fold of the church

until death—granting all this, the
question starts up forcibly here

:

But will not the Catholic faith, un-

der the influence of republicanism,

lose its hold in one or two, or at

most in three, generations on their

children ?

It is too obvious to admit of de-

nial that a people born and edu-

cated under the influence of popu-

lar institutions will tend to exalt

reason, and emphasize the positive

instincts of human nature, and be

apt to look upon the intrinsic rea-

son of things as the only criterion

of truth. It is equally clear that

the Catholic Church, if she is to

keep within her fold those who

have received her baptism, and to

captivate an intelligent and ener-

getic people like the Americans,

will have to receive their challenge

and be ready to answer satisfacto-

rily the problems of reason; meet

fully the demands of the needs of

their spiritual nature
;

bless and

sanctify the imagination and senses

and all man’s God-given instincts.

And while answering the most ener-



23
The Catholic Church

getic and sublime intelligence at

the bar of reason, she will hav£ to

know how to retain her sweet and

gentle hold on the tenderest affec-

tions of the child.

This task will not be an arduous

one; for, as has been shown, the

authoritative teachings of the Ca-

tholic Church maintain the natural

order as the basis of the superna-

tural, and, in the minds of many of

the class of which we speak, Ca-

tholicity is still identified with Cal-

vinism. Hence they do themselves

the injustice to believe that in re-

jecting Calvinism they have also

rejected Christianity altogether.

They are not aware that the truths

on which they based their rejec-

tion of Calvinism are affirmed by

Catholicity. What they did in

their repudiation of Calvinism—and
Calvinism is nothing else but the

logical basis of the dogmas of Pro-

testantism—was only a repetition of
the anathemas of the fathers of the

Council of Trent, and their action

at bottom was founded mainly on

the same reasons. They have ab-

jured Protestantism, and never can

be led to go back to what they

know to be hostile to the genius of

their country, contrary to the dic-

tates of reason, and repugnant to

their holiest affections. Its pro-

mised heaven has lost for them all

attractions
;

its hell no longer ex-

cites any fear in their bosoms ; and

its ministers openly confess that, as

a religious system, Protestantism

fails to exercise any authority over

the minds, or to exert any influence

on the conduct, of the majority of

the American people. It demands

from them a crippling of their na-

ture and a sacrifice of its rights

which, once its thraldom has been

broken, nothing can restore. These

minds have impeached Protestant-

ism on Catholic grounds, and when

in the United States .

they have been led to see that

their prejudices against Christianity

will be removed, and they will be

willing to complete their task.

They cannot rest content where

they are, for the human mind was

made by its Creator for truth, and

in the absence of truth it ceases to

live. When it refuses its assent to

truth it is either because the truth

has been travestied and made to

appear as false, or because it is

seen through a colored medium.

For the intellect is powerless to

reject the truth when seen as the

truth. It' is not in the search after

truth, but in the tranquil possession

of truth and appropriation of it by

contemplation, that man finds the

fullest and purest joy. Man craves

to know the enigma of life, and

until this is known his intelligence

cannot be wholly content with the

investigation of bugs, or baffled by

a word which contains a sound and

nothing more—the “ unknowable.”
Moreover, the American mind in

one aspect is unlike the European,

in that infidelity, scepticism, mate-

rialism, and atheism cannot find a

lodgment in it for any length of

time. Their minds, like the native

soil of their country, have some-

thing virginal, and furnish no

nourishment for these poisonous

weeds, which, failing to take root,

soon wither. There is a profound

reason for this, and it will bear ex-

planation. The reason may be

found here : the denial of any one

truth, carried out to its logical con-

sequences, involves the denial of all

truth. The so-called Reformers of

the sixteenth century began by de-

nying the supernatural origin of the

divine institution of the church,

and by force of logical sequence

proceeded to the denial of its di-

vine authority, and thus by pro-

gression to the denial of all su-



24 The Catholic Church

pernatural truth
;
thence the denial

descended to philosophy, to poli-

tics, to the entire natural order of

truth, and finally to the denial of
Him from whom proceeds all truth,
ending in its logical termination

—

atheism The dominant intellec-
tual tendency of Europe has, dur-
ing these last three centuries, fol •

lowed the law of negative sequence

of error to its ultimate logical con •

elusion.

On the other hand, the affirma-
tion of any one truth, logically fol-

lowed out, leads to the knowledge

and affirmation of all truth. The
American republic began afresh in

the last century by the declaration

of certain evident truths of reason.

The law of its progression consists
in tracing these truths out to their

logical connection with all other

truths, and finally coming to the

knowledge of all truth, both in the

natural and supernatural order,

ending in the affirmation of univer-

sal truth and the union with the

source of all truth—God. The do-
minant tendency of the American

people is towards the law of the

positive sequence of truth. The

course of Europe was that of ne-

gation
;
the course of the United

States was that of affirmation. The
first was destructive, the second

was constructive. The one was

degrading, the other was elevating.

That bred dissension, this created

union. Europe, under the lead of

the religious revolution of the six-

teenth century, turned its back on

Catholicity and entered upon the

downward road that ends in death

;

the republic of the United States,

in affirming man’s natural rights,

started in the eighteenth century

with its face to Catholicity, and is

in the ascending way of life to

God.

From this point of view the

in the United States.

Declaration of American Indepen-

dence has a higher meaning, and it

may be said to be the turning-point
in history from a negation to an

affirmation of truth: interpreting

democracy not as a downward but
as an upward movement, and plac-
ing political society anew on the
road to the fulfilment of its divine

destiny

Christianity, like republicanism,

has in the last analysis nothing

else to rely upon for its reception
and success than reason and con

science and the innate powers of
human nature, graciously aided as
they always are, and let it once
be shown that the Catholic inter-

pretation of Christianity is conso-

nant with the dictates of human
reason, in accordance with man’s

normal feelings, favorable to the

highest conceptions of man’s dig-

nity, and that it presents to his in-

telligence a destiny which awakens

the uttermost action and devotion

of all his powers, and you have

opened the door to the American

people for the reception of the

complete evidence of the claims of

the Catholic Church, and prepared

the way for the universal accep-
tance of her divine character.

The study of Zoroaster, Pytha-
goras, Brahma, Buddha, Confucius,

Plato, Cicero, Aristotle, Marcus

Aurelius, and other seers and sages

of the human race, and the admi-
ration excited by the wisdom and

virtues of the most illustrious

pagans, is a healthful exercise for

such minds as have not been alto-

gether emancipated from a creed

which taught that the heathen were

God-forsaken, and insisted that

their virtues should be “ looked

upon as so many vices.” It may
be said : What Plato did not know
of the ancients was little worth

knowing. Yet Justin the Philoso-



25The Catholic Church in the United States .

pher, who was a devout student ot

Plato’s writings and disciple of the

doctrine of this prince of philoso-

phers, on his becoming a Christian

said: “I abandon Plato, not that

his doctrine is contrary to truth,

but because it is insufficient and

fragmentary.” This, too, will be the

final verdict of all earnest and

honest seekers after truth among

the ancient sages and philosophers;

and if they have the courage to

conquer their prejudices and the

earnestness to pursue their studies

and make an impartial investiga-

tion of the Christian religion in the

light of the Catholic interpretation

of its doctrines, their intellectual

eyes will be opened to see that in

Christianity are all the fragmen-

tary truths which they found, after

diligent and laborious search, scat-

tered among the ancients, reinte-

grated in their general principles.

For Catholicity affirms the convic-

tions and traditions of the whole

human race, and all the truths of

every system of religion or philoso-

phy are contained in her absolute

synthesis. Catholicity means uni-

versal truth, after the knowledge of

which all noble souls aspire natur-

ally. One of the distinctive and

essential marks of true religion is

this : it grasps concretely what-

ever truth has been held always

and everywhere and by all men.

All truth is catholic.

There is a general conviction

abroad that the people’s share in

the government of a nation ought

to be enlarged. It must be admit-

ted that the American republic has

contributed not a little to form and

support this conviction. But the

principles of the republic are not

like those of an Utopia in the air

;

they are . fixedly rooted in the

ground of reason and revealed

truth. If the framers of the repub-

lic set aside certain privileges and

institutions inherited from pagan,

barbaric, or feudal times, it was

not to break with the past, but be-

cause these things were unservice-

able to a people with the spirit and

in the circumstances of the colo-

nists. Besides, they were no less

inharmonious with the more ration-

al ideas of equity due to Christian

influences
;
and by their omission

the founders of the republic provi-

dentially advanced political gov-

ernment, at least for a people

situated as the American people

were.

When the nature of the Ameri-

can republic is better understood,

and the exposition of Christianity

is shaped in the light of its univer-

sal principles so as to suit the pe-

culiarities of the American mind,

the Catholic Church will not only

keep her baptized American chil-

dren in her fold, but will at the

same time remove the prejudices

existing in the minds of a large

class of non-Catholics, and the

dangers apprehended from the

influence of republicanism will be

turned into fresh evidences of the

church’s divine character.

To sum up: He who does not see

the hand of Divine Providence

leading to the discovery of the

western continent, and directing its

settlement and subsequent events

towards a more complete applica-

tion to political society of the uni-

versal truths affirmed alike by hu-

man reason and Christianity, will

fail to interpret rightly and ade-

quately the history of the United

States. It is also true that he who

sees Heaven’s hand in these events,

and fails to see that Christ organiz-

ed a body of men to guard and

teach these universal truths to man-

kind, with the promise of his pres-

ence to the end of the world, will



26 The Catholic Church in the United States.

fail to interpret rightly and ade-

quately the history of the Catholic

Church, and is like a man who sees

the light but has his back turned

to the sun. But he who sees all

this will not fail to see that the

republic and the Catholic Church,

under the same divine guidance,

are working together in the United

States, forming the various races of

men and nationalities into a homo-

geneous people, and by their united

action giving a bright promise of a

broader and higher development of

man than has been heretofore ac-

complished.



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GENERAL LITERATURE AND SCIENCE.

guim,

HE CATHOLIC WORLD contains original articles from the best

Catholic English- writers at home and abroad, as well as transla-

tions from the reviews and magazines of France, Germany, Bel-

Italy, and Spain. Its readers are thus put in possession of the

choicest productions of European periodical literature in a cheap and con-

venient form.
Extract from Letter of Pope Pius IX. to F. Hecker.

Rome, Dec. 30, 1868.

We heartily congratulate you upon the esteem which your periodical,
“ The Catholic World ’has,

through its erudition and perspicuity , acquired even among those who differ from us, etc.

Letter from his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey.

Dear Father Hecker: New York, March 9, 1876.

Eleven years ago I expressed to you my approval of the design of
“ The Catholic World,” and my

expectation of its success as an exponent of Catholic truth. It gives me great pleasure to
assure you on the

completion of its twenty -second volume, of the satisfaction I have felt
at the manner in which it has fulfilled

its original design. The Holy Father has frequently and strongly stated the
need of an intelligent and con-

scientious press, and earnestly encouraged those whose efforts have been
directed to advance by this means

the spread of religion and morality. _ , . . , , . , , , . u
'

'

, At no time has an able and sound exponent of Catholic
principles and opinion been more needed than at

• the
v
present;; for at no period, perhaps, have important questions touching

< atholic interests occupied so large

a share in thfe public mind of our country. A careful observance of the course of The Catholic
World

has convinced me that it has been of great service to the Catholic cause. My best wishes have
accompanied it

in the past and tire same will accompany it in the future. I
take this occasion, therefore, to renew and con-

'

firm the words o. approval which I addressed tc*you at the
beginning of your enterprise.

“ The Catholic World ” has net only drawn around it a large number of already
distinguished and able

oens but has done good service in bringing forth new and successful
ones, thus giving a fresh impetus to

Catholic literature in the United States: I would encourage
them, as far as lies in my power to proceed in

their good work, while I congratulate the Catholics in
America on possessing a magazine of which they may be

justly proud, and trust that they will contribute their share
to make “ The Catholic World still more use-

ful to themselves and to the Church at largo. . .

I remain, dedr Father Hecker, very sincerely, your servant
in Christ,

J^JOUN, CARDINAL McCLQSKEY ^ Archbishop of New York.

Cow of Letter from Cardinal Barnabo.
Rev. Father: , -

RoME
’
September 3, 1865.

I hav* heard of the publication of
“ The Catholic World ” with great satisfaction. I anticipate for it

a complete success. There are so many periodicals in our day
occupied in attacking the truth, that it is a

source of pleasure to its friends .when the same means are
employed in the defence of it. I return you my

thanks for the attention paid inOsending me ‘The Cathouc World.” I pray
the Lord to preserve you

manv years Affectionately in the Lord,
*

' ALEXANDER, CARDINAL BARNABO,
<f

. - Prefect ofthe Propaganda.

Rev. I. T. Hecker, Superior of the Congregation of St. Paul,
New York.

THE CATHOLIC WORLD forms a double-column octavo magazine of 144 pages

each number, making two large volumes, or 1728 pages, each
year, and is furnished/to

subscribers Lr •

Five Dollars a Year, invariably in advance. Single Copies,
50 cents.

Alb remittances and comtuunications on business should be
addressed *o

Lawrence, Keiioe, Manager:

The Catholic Publication Society Co.,

P O Box 3864. No. 9 Barclay St., New York.