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THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT FOR CATHOLICS.

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TRANSLATED AND REVISED

PROM TSE GERMAN OP THE REY. ALBAN STOLE,

BY

Monsignor H. Cluever, D.D

FR. PUSTET,

PRINTER TO THE HOLY SEE AND THE SACRED CONGREGATION OF RITES.

FR. PUSTET & CO.,

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New York and Cincinnati.

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Imprimatur

:

f FRANCISCUS,

EP. ALBANENSIS.

Copyright ,

E. STEINBACK,

1883 .



PREFACE.

<*£

*
N the very beginning of the Holy Scriptures we

are told that our first parents in Paradise re-

ceived only one commandment, in accordance

with which they were to exercise themselves in the

fear and the love of God. The commandment for-

bade them to eat the fruit of one particular tree,

whilst they could eat the fruit of all the others. God
had given no other commandments to them because

they were in the state of innocence and free from

evil inclinations. At present it is entirely different

;

men have received many commandments, whose ob-
ject is to make us practise what is good, and avoid

what is evil,—since, by our nature, we are inclined to
all manner of evil. Hence it is that we are living, as

it were, in a whole forest of forbidden trees
;
that is,

the relations and conditions of our life are such, that

we are constantly allured into temptation and sin if
we do not struggle to deny ourselves. These for-

bidden trees are of different kinds. Amongst them is

one tree which is very much like that forbidden tree
in Paradise, inasmuch as it not only makes miserable

those who are tempted by it to sin, but injures also
their posterity, often indeed for all time. As this tree
has a great charm for many young people, and con-
sequently, a very great danger, this little pamphlet

has for its aim to raise a voice of warning lest anyone

should accept its fatal fruit. That fruit is mixed

marriage. I trust that this little pamphlet will be

read not only by those who are in danger or exposed
to the danger of contracting mixed marriages, but

also by others, that they may receive a warning in
due time.

Deacftfifted



I.

THE PROTESTANT EDUCATION OF THE

CHILDREN OF A MIXED MARRIAGE.

VERY married Catholic who agrees that his
children shall be brought up Protestants, com-

mits a sin just as great as if he himself had

forsaken his faith
;
nay, even a greater sin, inasmuch

as he robs his children and their descendants, and,

consequently, many souls of the Catholic faith. The

numerous benefits which are lost by abandoning the

Catholic faith are of the greatest value.

HOW GREAT THE HARM DONE.

Baptism outside the Catholic Church is very doubt-

ful. Baptism, indeed, performed by Protestants is

valid if it be administered in the right way, and with

the right intentions : but these are very often want-

ing. Numbers of Protestant ministers do not believe
any longer that Christ is the Son of God. If such

people, in behalf of the laity, go through with what

is external in Baptism, but do not believe in the Holy

Trinity or in the effects of Baptism, they can hardly

have the right intention; then their Baptism is no Sa-

crament, and hence the child has no share in the re-

demption of our Saviour. That Catholic who, being

married to a Protestant, agrees that the children shall

be brought up in the Protestant communion, under-

goes, consequently, the risk of having his or her

children baptized invalidly, and therefore, the risk of

not having them made Christians even before God.

Outside of the fact that the Protestant himself must

doubt whether he was baptized validly or not, there



5

is no doubt that he misses an immense benefit for life

and death, namely, the Sacraments of Penance and of

the Altar. The Protestants have no priest because

they do not believe in the Sacrament of Ordination.

Only a Bishop, as a successor of the Apostles, can

ordain priests. Ordination bestows on the priest a

supernatural power which no man, who is not a priest,

can exercise : I mean the power to absolve a repentant

sinner. The Saviour said to His Apostles : “ Whose

sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them
;
and

whose sins you shall retain, thby are retained.” This

power is exercised every day in the Confessional.

The Protestant does not know where to go when he
has sinned grievously

;
his minister is no better able

to give him a valid absolution from his sins than the

wife or the maid-servant of the minister. It is the

will and the command of God that the sinner shall go
to a duly-ordained priest to accuse himself and repent

if he wishes to receive absolution from his sins. The

Catholic who permits his children to be educated as
Protestants deprives them of this Sacrament. The

most terrible threat which our Lord made against

those Jews who refused to have anything to do with
Him was : “You shall die in your sins.” If, then, your
children die in their sins, it is your own fault, be-
cause you permitted them to become Protestants, and,

consequently, lose that Sacrament by which the for-

giveness of sins can be obtained. The same is true of

the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. The Saviour

Himself says distinctly: “That bread which came from

heaven is My Body. Who does not eat My Flesh and
drink My Blood has not life in him.” The Flesh and
Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ can never be found

in a Protestant church, for the simple reason that the

transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body

and Blood of the Son of God only takes place during
the Consecration in the Holy Mass. The Protestants

receive only ordinary bread and ordinary wine.

Therefore, it often happens that the remnants of bread

from their communion or last supper are brought into
the kitchen, or are given to the poultry. Nay, with



6

their so-called consecrated hosts they often seal their

letters. If you, then, agree to the Protestant educa-

tion of your children, you deprive them of that great-

est of all benefits : a union with their Saviour in the

Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

If any member of a Catholic family die without
having received the last Sacraments, it is considered

a great misfortune. I was once summoned to a place
where a young man had died suddenly whilst at work.
The mother lamented not so much the loss of her son
as the fact that he died without the last Sacraments.

“I would have preferred,” she said, “to have seen him

brought to a mass of corruption in his bed through

sickness, no matter how long continued, than that he
should have died unprepared.” That woman was
right, because the Apostle says : “It is a terrible thing

to fall into the hands of the living God.” All your

children will die unprepared if you allow them to be

brought up Protestants. The Protestant may die after
a long sickness, but he will receive no more of that

necessary help, and of that greatest of consolations,

the last Sacraments, than if he had died suddenly.

And then the same lot may be yours, who have been
the party to a mixed marriage,, although you are a

Catholic. Your Protestant husband, wife, or children

will hardly call a Catholic priest, but they will try to

quiet you with the consolation that you will get well

again; and so you will die in your sins, and especially

in that mortal sin that you permitted your children

to be brought up Protestants. Oh, it is terrible to

fall into the hands of the living God! Your Pro-

testant children, furthermore, lose the highest and

holiest religious act of Christianity—the Holy Sacri-
fice of the Mass. All those ceremonies which God
ordered to be observed in the Old Testament by

Moses, and which were observed by the Jews in the

temple of Jerusalem with the greatest pomp, were

only figures of the Great Sacrifice of the Son of God
on Golgotha, which is repeated really and truly, al-

though in an unbloody manner, in every Holy Mass

for the members of the Catholic Church. Therefore,



7

God destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, and did away
with all the sacrifices of the Jews, just as lights are

extinguished when the sun rises. And as God blesses
all parts of the world with light and warmth by the

agency of the sun in twenty-four hours, so He blesses
also the whole Catholic world by the Holy Sacrifice

of the Mass, which is offered up, as it were, in a circle

around the earth every twenty-four hours, for there

is not an hour in which the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

is not celebrated somewhere throughout the world

;

so that now is fulfilled what God said by the mouth
of the prophet Malachy: “From the rising of the sun
to the setting of the sun there shall be a clean sacrifice

offered up to My name/’ Now, then, all the adora-
tion, praise, and glory which in the Holy Mass are

given to the Divine Majesty, all the remission of sins

and the blessings on soul and body which the Son of

God asks for us in the Holy Mass by the continual
oblation of His precious Body and Blood, from all

this your children are excluded, and, are, besides

trained to that belief in which the Holy Mass is villi-

fied by the satanic words : “It is accursed idolatry
!”

—Luther.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is, amongst all created

beings, the one most pleasing to God. From her the
Second Person of the Blessed Trinity took His human
nature, and became forevermore, for all eternity, man,

without ceasing to be God. The Blessed Virgin then

having given birth to the God-Man, in whom the
Divine Nature and the human nature are united in a
oneness of Person, and that Person Divine, she is the

Mother of God. God, therefore, sent His angel to

salute her with the words : “ Hail, full of grace
;
the

Lord is with Thee ! Blessed art thou amongst women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” God
has selected Mary, and bestowed on her the greatest

grace which God can bestow on a created being, since
she is free from all stain of sin, and perfect in all

virtue. The angels are indeed also sinless, and serve

God in happiness, and with eternal fidelity. But
there is a merit the Cherubim and Seraphim do not



8

possess, which is found in the Blessed Virgin in the

highest degree. She has for the sake of Jesus Christ

our Lord, suffered such sorrows and trials, as

have only been surpassed by the sufferings of our

Lord Himself in behalf of mankind. But the

angels have never suffered anything for God.

Therefore, the love of God for the Blessed Virgin
Mary is the greatest, because she is the worthy,
faithful, sorrowful Mother of His Divine Son. If

we, therefore, love and honor the Blessed Virgin

Mary, we are in harmony with God’s will, because
God loves and honors her above all other creatures.
And if we call on her now for her intercession, we
may be confident that the Mother of mercy, by her
intercession, will give more effect to our prayers, and

that God will hear us the sooner. Innumerable and
even miraculous aids have been bestowed on Catholics

in all ages and in all places, who, with confidence,

have implored assistance of the Mother of God. But,

in their miserable infatuation, Protestants have

been led by the so-called refomers into a refusal

to honor and invoke the Mother of the Saviour.

She, enlightened by the Holy Ghost, once said:

“From henceforth all nations shall call me blessed.

”

The prophecy is now verified in all parts of the
world; a hundred millions hail her daily with the

angelic salutation. Amongst all baptized Christians,

Protestants alone refrain from saluting and praising

the Blessed Virgin. They take their stand, as it

were, before the church door, and as often as the

Mother of God is venerated in prayer or song,
they become deaf and dumb, as if an unclean spirit

had taken possession of them. To the number of such

misguided men, you add your children. As often as

you say the “Our Father” with them, and then would

go on to the “Hail Mary, full of grace,” they are an-

gered and are silent, and they will turn their backs

upon you, that is, if they are true to their Protestant

teachings. But, furthermore, the Mother of God is

lost to your children, inasmuch as they will never,

their whole lives long, receive the true Holy Com-



9

munion. The Lord Himself says: “ Whoever eateth

My Flesh and drinketh My Blood abideth in Me, and
I in him.” Therefore, we become, by means of a

worthy Holy Communion, members of Christ, and,

consequently, children of His holy Mother. Protest-

ants, then, having no real and true Holy Communion,

never become members of Christ, and, consequently,

never enter into relationship with His holy Mother.

As often as you hear the Angelus bell ring, your

conscience must reproach you, if it has not reached

the last degree of callousness, with the awful fact

:

“It is my fault that my children are not children of
the Blessed Virgin, and that they do not honor and

invoke her.” Hence, you may as well give your
Rosary away to the Catholic child of another; it is of

no use to you any longer. You and it would only be

objects of ridicule to your Protestant family, and the

Mother of God can take no pleasure in your devotion
since you have shown yourself so faithless to her.

Nor is this all that is to be said. Besides Baptism,

man, in order to be saved, needs most faith in Christ.

But this faith itself can be lost to your children, and

with it the last mainstay of Christianity, if they are

brought up Protestants. Nowadays there are Pro-

testant ministers without number who do not believe
any more in Christ than a Jewish rabbi does. Such

ministers will instil the poison of unbelief into their

hearers, and bring them to a total rejection of Chris-

tianity. In this way many a congregation has a wolf
for its pastor, who does not feed his flock with Chris-
tian doctrine, but kills their souls by depriving them

of faith, which is the root and source of Christian life

and Christian love. Whoever, then, kills faith des-

troys the life of the soul, and takes away the conditions

for eternal beatitude. It is a terrifying thought, as

terrifying as a gust from the sulphuric depths of hell,

and one, therefore, that ought to make every Catholic
shrink with horror from ever agreeing to have his

children brought up Protestants, that: “As often

as I look at my Protestant children, and am mindful
of my religion, so often do I feel the reproach that it



10

was through my fault that they have been robbed of
their inheritance of the Catholic religion, and that

their souls are without life, because deprived of the

nourishment of Christian doctrine and grace. The
very sight of my children will not only give me no
pleasure, but will be as a goad to my conscience,
if that conscience of mine be not already dead.”

HOW GREAT THE GUILT

Every sin committed by man is especially grievous:
i) If it affects the religion and spiritual welfare of

others. 2) If it is committed with full knowledge

and after full deliberation.
3)

If the motive is vile

and wdcked.

In every one of these three respects the consent of

a Catholic to the Protestant education of his children

is a fearfully grievous sin. You commit an outrage
both against God and against your children. Were
a person to murder his child, he would only kill the

body and take away earthly life
;
but you rob your

children of the source of sin-remission, the Holy

Sacraments, and you turn them out of their mother

Church, as it were, into the arid desert, since the more

faithless their future minister, the more probable it

is that the souls of your children will be lost. You

will not have, at the day of judgment before God, the

excuse of many a poor sinner, that you have sinned

out of ignorance or thoughtlessness. Your sin has, in

this respect, like a false oath, a particular malice that

cries to heaven for vengeance, because you have

sinned before God with knowledge and forethought.
The Catholic party has been warned by his pastor,

and the more conscientious the latter is, the more

earnest has he been in his warning. Nor have your

own relatives and friends been wanting in their ex-

postulations with you. And if there is but the first

instinct of Catholic faith in you, your own conscience

will trouble you day and night.

You may try to silence it with excuses and pretexts;



11

you may read papers and books intentionally written

against the Catholic faith
;

you may read novels,

poems, frequent theatres and gay companies, and

thus you may more and more stifle your conscience.

But among the sins against the Holy Ghost is this

:

To have a heart hardened against salutary admoni-

tions. Such a hardened heart they possess, who, des-

pite the warnings of their conscience, yet consent that

their children be cast off from the rock of the Catholic

Church into the cold and tempestuous waters of

Protestantism.

Finally, God judges our actions according to our

intentions. Even our good works are worthless before

the Almighty, nay, we shall be punished for them, if

a bad or an unrighteous intention has accompanied

them. In the case of mortal sin, however, whenever

it is committed knowingly and deliberately, the in-

tention is always bad. This is especially true of the

grievous sin of consenting that the children be brought

up as Protestants. The Catholic party may agree to

this out of love towards the other party, but that

means to exchange the true and living God for a
creature, like unto whom millions have lived on earth
and have died after a few years, leaving naught but

dust behind them. Or the Catholic party marries

because the Protestant party has money. In this case

it is generally the fault of the avaricious parents, who
persuade daughter or son to marry a rich Protestant.

Such fathers and mothers are like the satanic serpent in

Paradise, because they persuade their daughter or son

to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree of mixed mar-

riage. Therefore, St. Paul writes: “ Those who want
to become rich, will fall into the folds of the devil.

”

Such Catholics sell their most precious inheritance:

their claim to heaven, for money, which has no more

value than the mess of pottage of the heedless Esau.

It is also often the case that a suitor with a small in-

come, in order to win a wealthy Protestant, makes

over to her, as a dowry, the education of the children

in Protestantism
;
or he agrees to the same through

policy that he may be the sooner promoted to offices



12

of trust or emolument by a Protestant government.

It is frequently the case in Germany, that a public

officer confesses openly that he has his children edu-

cated as Protestants, in order to be favored by his

superiors. The words of Christ : “Seek first the king-

dom of heaven and its justice, and all things else shall
be added unto you,”—these words they have perverted
into the destructive maxim of anti-christ : “ Seek first
the goods of this world, and all things else will be add-

ed unto you.” They will assuredly find out in eternity

what is meant by “all things else” promised them by

anti-christ, whom they have so willingly believed.
The same is the case when ambition is in question.

The person to be won may be high in social position.
He may hold a high office

;
he may be a military

officer, or a professor, or a magistrate, or a physician.

There is for a Catholic girl, or her relatives, a strong

temptation in this country to accept the offer of such

an alliance at any price, be it even consent to the

education of the children as Protestants.

Yes, these foolish and conscienceless Catholics are

of the opinion that it is a sign of great respectability to

be a Protestant, and to possess only a few shreds of

Christianity ! I once knew a Catholic girl who mar-
ried a Protestant. He agreed that the daughters
should be educated in a convent as Catholics

;
but the

silly creature would not consent to it, because, for-

sooth, she thought Protestant daughters would bestow

upon their Catholic mother the glitter of greater

social distinction. She is dead, and she may have re-
ceived in eternity another, but, at the same, a terrible

enlightenment as to the value of the distinction which

she sought. So it is with all who, in the face of the

warnings of their pastors, consent to the Protestant

education of their children. They have none but

earthly reasons, and these have more weight with

them than God and His Holy Church. But herein
consists the essence of all mortal sins : To love or to

fear a creature, or earth’s goods, more than the

Creator of heaven and earth, is to sell the Saviour for

thirty pieces of silver.



13

It is not long since that a priest, who is pastor of a

Catholic congregation in a rich Protestant city, told

hie the following : A girl, who was employed in the
shop of a millionaire, had, by her behaviour, won his
entire regard. He had the sense to see that he did
not need to acquire more money by his business than

he had already, but that he wanted a daughter-in-law

by whom the peace and welfare of his family would
be secured. He thought that this girl had all the re-
quisite qualities. After consulting with his two sons,

he offered her the hand of the elder. She declined,

saying that she had a high regard for his son, but that

she could not marry him, simply because she was a

Catholic. Some time afterward the younger son
offered her his hand, and told her she could live after-

wards according to her religion. But the girl gave

the same reply, that she could not comply with his

wishes because her Catholic conscience forbade her to

do so. And so she preferred to remain what she was,
a poor shop girl, than become the wife of a million-

aire in mixed marriage. How high and noble stands
this poor servant girl before God and the world in
comparison with those rich persons, yes, even many
princesses, who, for the sake of a worldly advantage,

entered matrimony by bartering their souls and the

souls of their children!

DISHONEST EXCUSES.

As there is with every willful mortal sin,
(
e

. g., per-

jury,) a false excuse in order to blindfold the con-

science and to quiet scruples, so it is the case in

matrimony with respect to the Protestant education

of the chlidren. These excuses are so evidently false

that only a glimmering of reason is sufficient to see

that there is no truth whatsoever in them. I will

indicate some that are generally made use of.

a) “We all have but one God”

That there is one God, Catholics, Protestants, Jews



14
f

and Turks believe
;
but in this there is no allusion

made to the essence of God. This man can only
know by revelation. The Saviour says: “This is
eternal life, That they may know Thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” “No
one can come to the Father but through Me.” Jesus
Christ, our Lord, has founded a Church by which

man will have share in Him. And He has declared
expressly : “ Whosoever does not hear the Church,

let him be to you as a heathen.” We Catholics be-
long to this Church

;
in this Church we have part in

Jesus Christ, our Lord, in His perfect truth, and in

all His Sacraments
;
and by Him only can we come

to God. Whosoever does not belong to this Church

cannot even have a true knowledge of the true God.

His god, as he conceives him, is no more than an

imagination, and not the real and true God as He
has revealed Himself and as He is known in the
Catholic Church. The phrase, “We all have but one
God,” is only a snare and a delusion for dishonest

hearts of men who do not care for the pure truth.

b)
“
Protestants

,
too

,
will go to heaven

,

because a?nongst

them are as many good people as a?nongst the Catholics.”

Now pay attention to what I say : The Protestant,
who is born in a Protestant family, and is without

his fault in error, and tries to live as a Christian, has

hard work to attain the destination of man—that is,
heaven,—because he is in want of the means of sal-
vation, especially Confession and Holy Communion

;

but he will not be condemned for his errors, because

he was brought up in them. But quite otherwise is it

• with those who have been born and educated as Cath-

olics, and who have made a shipwreck of their faith
;

of these the Saviour says : “ Whosoever believeth

not shall be condemned.” Many a person thinks

that he does not compromise his Catholic faith if

he permits that his children be brought up Protes-

tants. But this is entirely wrong. He compromises

his faith through his children, because he himself

thereby shows that he has no longer faith in the



15

Catholic Church. If you believe that the Catholic

Church is the only true Church of Christ, and yet

jmi agree to the Protestant education of your chil-

dren, you commit an irreparable injury towards your

children, and act as a Judas towards the Church of

Christ. That there are amongst Protestants pious

and just people I believe myself
;
but this is the case

because many Protestants are better than their reli-

gion ; if they would become Catholics they would be

still more perfect Christians. It is true that many

Catholics lead a bad life, but of them we say they are

worse than their religion, or in their hearts they fell

already away from their faith
;
and to these you, my

reader, belong—if you intend to have your children
brought up as Protestants.

c) A person said once to me : “In the Protestant
church everything is more simple than in the Catholic ser-

vices j for that reason I like it betterI

Yes, indeed, everything is more simple in the Pro-

testant meeting-houses. The plain walls are more

simple, the black robe of the preacher is more simple,

many a sermon consists only of phrases (like a
watery soup without bread). It is very simple not to

go to confession, their communion service consists of

simple bread as the baker has baked it
;

only the

wine sometimes is not simple, because the wine-

merchant has mixed and adulterated it. It is very

simple to die without the Last Sacraments, and it is

simple to be buried without a Requiem Mass. To
have no religion would be more simple yet than to

have a few scraps of teaching which are torn from

the body of the Catholic truth. Innumerable Protes-

tants have in all simplicity made another kind of

progress : they do not go to church the whole year

round, and do not believe in anything at all. What
you call simple is nothing but emptiness, poverty,

frigidity. You might compare the Protestant meet-
ing-house with a room without table, chair and stove,

with fair walls and broken windows
;
of course, that

is all very simple.



16

d)
u
It has gone too far already.”

Many a person may say : “ My parents have con-
sented, I have given my word, all my relatives and
friends know it, the contracts are signed; what would
the people say if I would back out now?” You may
give us a hundred more reasons, but one thing is

certain, a Christian has sooner to sacrifice his life

than to commit a mortal sin
;
you commit a mortal

sin with due reflection and on purpose if you agree to

a marriage in which your children are separated from

the Catholic Church, and are brought up in dreary

Protestantism. Here the words of Christ are impor-

tant : “What doth it profit a man if he gain the
whole world and lose his own soul?” And again:
“ If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and

cast it from thee
;
for it is expedient that one of thy

members should perish, rather than that thy whole

body should go into hell.” The eye which you should

pluck out is the bride or the groom. You should do so
even if it should be as painful to you as if you would

pluck out your physical eye. If you do not do it,

you prefer a creature who may, perhaps, rot in the
grave in a few years, to the great and almighty God
who created you, and to your Saviour, who has given
His life and Blood for your immortal soul, and you

cast yourself into eternal damnation, from which you

cannot be redeemed.

What is indispensable, and, at the same time, the

least that you can do, is to impress upon the Protestant

party that if he will not agree to the Catholie educa-

tion of the children, you will decline the marriage.

If he answers that you have agreed already that the

children should be educated Protestants, tell him that

to keep this promise would be sinful for you as was

the command of Herod to behead St. John the Bap-

tist, because he had promised it. If the other party

says he thinks as much of his religion as you do of

yours, and you cannot expect of him that which you

would not consent to yourself, you may answer that

it is not at all the same case. The Protestant may

yield rather than the Catholic, because the children



17

participate in the Catholic Church all benefits which

<:an be found amongst believing Protestants,— I mean
Baptism, the faith and the triune in God, in fact,

everything that is taught by the Apostolic creed
;
but

the Catholics have got many things which have been

set aside by the so-called reformers, and which, after

all, is very important for the salvation of the soul.

Therefore a Protestant is respected even if he agrees

that the children be brought up as Catholics, but he

cannot respect the Catholic who shows himself un-
faithful towards the Holy Catholic and Apostolic

Church. If the Protestant party insists upon the

Protestant education of the children, you have no

choice but to withdraw from the engagement, if you

do not want to forske your faith. You dare not even
agree to the proposal often made by Protestants, that

the boys shall follow the religion of their father, the

girls that of the mother. It would be like a woman
with twins who nourishes the one and lets the other
starve. She is the murderess of the soul of the child

whose faith perishes. In all matters which refer

immediately to Catholic faith you cannot, without

sin, make compromises.

LIFE AND DEATH IN MIXED MARRIAGE.

The mixed marriage ceremony must be dismal to

the Catholic party. The priest cannot marry you if

you have agreed to the Protestant education of the

children
;
you have to go to a Protestant church,

where, perhaps, you have not been in your whole

life-time
;
you have to stand before a Protestant

preacher to be treated by him as if you belonged to

his flock, the Protestants. That is the first surrender

of conscience. Then comes the distraction and bustle

of the wedding. If a swimmer throws himself from

the shore into the sea, he will sink down first as far
as possible, and then come back to the surface of the

water. So you, after your wedding, will be immersed

in the joys of this world
;
but some time later your



18

poor soul will rise again, and come, as it were, to it-

self. The first Sunday, there will be a dis-union.

You want to go to your church, whither you were
accustomed to go. Your husband will refuse to go

with you, and he will look upon your going to church

with dislike. Later he will ridicule or abuse your

faith. Formerly you were accustomed to keep the

commandments of the Church, and not eat meat on
Fridays. Now you can do so no longer

;
your hus-

band will want meat on Friday, and after a while you

will eat meat on the same day, like a Protestant; that

is the second stain on your conscience. Easter comes,

and since your first Holy Communion you have never
omitted to receive the Sacraments at Easter. This

has now become a troublesome and difficult matter
for you. If you go to confession, and conceal the

mortal sin you committed in agreeing to the Protest-

ant education of your children, you deceive your

confessor, the absolution is void, and you, burdened

with all your sins, receive unworthily the Holy Com-
munion. If you tell your confessor openly the truth,

the very first question will be whether you repent

from the bottom of your heart of the faithlessness of

which you are guilty on account of that sinful agree-

ment. If you cannot say before Almighty God that
you repent of this sin, not merely out of a feeling of

regret, but out of love to God, that you are willing

to do and suffer everything rather than again offend

God so grievously, and if you really do not do every-
thing in your power to repair the damage done, no

priest can give you a valid absolution. As long as

you have no such repentance, and, moreover, would,

even now, if that opportunity were to present itself,

still contract such a marriage, you could not receive

the Blessed Sacrament, without committing a mortal

sin. Thus would your life be embittered from the

altar to the grave: by your living without the

Sacraments.

If children are born to you, you will comprehend

what you have done by your cursed agreement. You
are descended from Catholic parents

;
your ancestors



19

may have been Catholics for a thousand years
;
they

resisted the onslaught of the reformation, perhaps

they underwent persecution because they would not

abandon the Catholic Church. Now you commit the
crime of breaking the long chain of your Catholic

ancestors, and of delivering your children over to a

false religion. The preacher comes and performs the

rite of Baptism, which is, perhaps, not valid, over your

child, inscribes the name of your child in the Protest-

ant record, and now it is lost, lost by your own fault
to the Catholic Church. To as many children as you
will give birth, to so many souls will you bring

dishonor.

The children grow up
;

you should pray with them;

they should go to school and church. There the sting

of your sins is felt again in your conscience. If you

say the “Our Father’’ with them, you will have to
omit to say the “ Hail Mary.” In school, your chil-

dren are taught a catechism which blasphemes the

Catholic faith. They go to one church, you go to

another. Thus, you and your children realize that

you are separated in the most important matter of

religion, and that you belong to each other no more.

This separation will be sharply drawn still more on

the day of their so-called confirmation. Very often,

yes, I may say, as a general thing, the children, by the
instructions received, are so filled with hatred and

scorn for Catholicity, that they will never get rid of

that prejudice. Your children will lose their respect

and love towards you because you are a Catholic

;

consequently, they will be less obedient to you.

Many a time will you hear them tell what they have
heard in school or from their preacher, and you may
hear remarks made against the Catholic religion

which will hurt you more than if a wasp had stung

you, or if whilst eating you had bit into a piece of

glass. All this through your own fault. But suppos-
ing that one or the other of your children in later

years recognizes that the Catholic Church is some-

thing deserving of veneration and regard,—how con-
temptible must you appear to them because you have



20
•

shown yourself so faithless towards that noble Church!
And how are you going to keep up the practice of
your religion yourself? You have excommunicated
yourself

;

you belong to a Catholic faith no longer.

You cannot find any consolation in prayer. You
have trespassed God’s commandments, and you can-

not pray any longer : “ Thy will be done
;

” you may
only pray for your true conversion. Your Catholic

relatives and friends can have no real respect for you,

because you have made your children forsake your

Church out of low and worldly motives
:

your ap-

pearance awakens in them the remembrance of a

sinful deed.

What I have said hitherto occurs in a mixed mar-
riage where the Catholic party has not lost the faith

;

—but very seldom the Catholic party in a family
where all the rest are Protestants, and, perhaps, in a

Protestant village or city, will keep his faith. Life

amongst Protestants makes a person gradually in-

different to Catholic piety, finally even malicious

against the Catholic Church. Every remembrance of

the defection is disagreeable
;
qualms of conscience

arise : for that reason the thought is avoided. And
now the unfortunate is in perfect apostacy from the
Catholic Church, in which, by the great grace of God
he was born and baptized.

For the Protestant consort it is in itself no sin to

be a Protestant
;
but for the Catholic the falling into

Protestantism—the forsaking of faith, is a sin deserv-
ing damnation. The matter of greatest moment to
every man is how to die. It is the pronouncement of
God, delivered by the oldest fathers of the Church :

“As I find you, I will judge you.” How will God
judge the Catholic who consented to the Protestant

education of his children ?

i. The Catholic consort in a mixed marriage may

not have advanced any farther in the abandonment

of his faith, but may have become uneasy in con-

science after the honeymoon is over. Such a person

may have felt deep anguish when children were born,

and were really separated in religion from father or



21

mother. Such a person will ask for a priest on his

death-bed only out of terror of the judgment of God.

But the question is whether they will get one. The

Protestant members of the family do not care about

the last Sacraments, perhaps they are even positively

opposed to them. Under these circumstances, they

have many a reason not to permit the visit of a
Catholic priest, and they will never exhort father or

mother to be prepared. Protestants very often think

their chief care in sickness to be to console the sick

person, and tell him that he will be well again in a

short while. So it happens that many a Catholic dies
without having received the help and consolation of

the last Sacraments, perhaps as a retribution for hav-

ing betrayed his own children, and for having con-
sented to their Protestant education.

2. We will consider the case in which the Catholic
party has not felt much anxiety about the affair of
education. He got along well; the Protestants have
shown him much friendship and favor, because no one
is better liked by them than a Catholic who permits
his children to be educated as Protestants. The chil-

dren are able to employ nice phrases and make a
good appearance. The conscience of such persons is

often like a volcano. Such a mountain may be quiet
for many years

;
perhaps once in a while a light smoke

arises from it. But all at once it thunders within it

;

the fiery flames break forth, rocks and stones are

thrown out of it. So the conscience of man may be
quiet for years, but on the death-bed it will break

forth like a volcano, and the terrible flames of despair

rage in the soul, a fearful prelude of hell. How awful
must be for such a man the thought: “If the Catholic
faith is the only true and saving one, then I have

wronged my children out of their salvation; and how
will it be for me before the judgment seat of Christ,
who is chief and founder of the Catholic faith ?”

3. Very often it happens, especially if the married

couple live in a Protestant place, that they abandon

their religion entirely, so that they take on Sunday a

Protestant prayer-book and go to a Protestant church.



22

On Easter the Catholic party does not go to com-
munion in a Protestant church, but neither does he go

to the Catholic church to receive the Blessed Sacra-

ment. They are living as if in a state of religious

listlessness. Yes, there are persons that in time hate

the Church, their mother, and mock it more than
Protestants. Such persons often die quite uncon-

cerned. But to die so after a life in mortal sin is the

most terrible thing that can happen to man; it means

to die in obduracy, and go into eternal damnation,

like a man who sleeps near a great fire, and suddenly
falls into it. Should such an unfortunate Catholic

with Protestant children even at that moment ask the
help of a priest, and receive the extraordinary grace

of confessing with repentance, even then the matter

is still doubtful yet. The children remain Protest-

ants, and this cannot be remedied. That misfortune

remains and exists from generation to generation,

perhaps to the day of judgment. How will the saints
and your Catholic ancestors regard you ? This mis-

fortune will gnaw your soul like a cancer, and even
if it should be saved, its torments in Purgatory will

be terrible, perhaps up to the day of judgment ! How
sad are your funeral rites ! The coffin in which your

corpse lies appears to good Catholics as the coffin of

a suicide. The suicide has committed his sin because

of the misery that appeared intolerable to him, and

often through loss of mind
;
you have committed

this sin from lust, lust of the flesh, lust of the eye in

pride of life, and against conscience. Does your

soul deserve more mercy than the soul of the unfor-

tunate suicide? Your consort and your children

may accompany your corpse sobbing
;
they may shed

tears, but they will not pray for you, because they

have been taught that false and loveless doctrine that

the soul of man will, after death, either immediately
go to heaven or to hell,;—for that reason they cannot
pray for you. For that reason, no Mass will be said

for your poor soul
;
and if a monument be placed

over your grave, it would profit you less than one

Our Father said by a Catholic in the state of grace.



23

This your children will never do, even if they visit

your grave and shed tears.

ii.

MIXED MARRIAGE WITH CATHOLIC EDU-

CATION OF THE CHILDREN.

ANY Catholics are so conscientious that
they will only enter a mixed marriage on

condition of the Catholic education of

their children. But what is a promise and a signa-

ture in our days ? I know of more than one
man who agreed to this condition before the union,
who afterwards acted like a scoundrel : his broke
that sacred promise which he made to his Cath-

olic consort, and through which he induced his

Catholic consort to marry him. Whilst the poor

woman was lying weak and helpless, he took her
children to the Protestant preacher. The poor wo-

man afterwards complained, but all in vain. Many a
Protestant is so bigoted that he does not scruple at

a lie, or at perjury, if he can tear a soul away from

the Catholic Church.

It is not my business to instruct Protestants who
want to remain so, in the affairs of their soul. But

there are certain truths which are so evident that

they cannot be denied either by Protestants or by

Catholics. To them belongs : Are you a faithful
Protestant? Then you act sinfully and unreasonably

if you contract a mixed marriage. If you agree

that your children should become Catholics, you act

against your conscience—if you think that the Pro-
testant faith is the only true one, yet you permit that

your children be not educated in it; or you insist that



24

your children should become Protestants—and then
you are guilty of a mortal sin, because it is your fault

that the Catholic party commits a mortal sin against

his faith and his conscience, and therefore lives and

dies in the state of mortal sin before God. The Pro-
testant can only enter marriage with a good con-

science with a Catholic person when he is convinced
of Catholic truth and becomes a Catholic. Of course

then it is no longer a mixed marriage. Now it is
very often the case that a so-called Protestant is not

a Christian, that he does not believe even in the

divinity of Christ
;
and that all religions are as in-

different to him as they are to the beast. For such a

one I have no advice, because he will only do what

he likes or by which he can profit. Protestants

who do not believe in anything, or who do not care
about religion, or do not like their preacher, may
consent that their children be educated Catholics in

every case, though you have a consort who is separated
from you in the most important affair of the soul.

Married people should be one in everything, and es-

pecially in matters of faith. The nuptials commence

with a separation, you have to go alone to confession

and communion
;
the Protestant party will not and

can not go with you. This is the prelude to a divided

matrimony. You cannot even say the “ Our Father”

together; the Protestant party does not want to know
anything about the “Angelical Salutation,” while the

Catholic party is accustomed from childhood to unite

the one with the other. You do not go with your

consort to the same church
;
you cannot go with him

to the Lord’s Supper; the Holy Communion divides

you sharply instead of uniting you. The relatives of

your Protestant consort look at you with suspicion,

because Protestants are generally intolerant towards

Catholics, especially if you have insisted upon the

Catholic education of the children. Even the Catholic

pictures on your walls, especially that of the Blessed

Virgin, are an occasion to them of scandal and

ridicule.

In the married state there is often unhappiness, and

*



25

even great unhappiness; but the unhappiness in mixed

marriages is generally very bitter; each party remem-

bers that the other belongs to a strange religion.

The Protestant easily gets the thought he might be

divorced and marry another person; yes, for him it is

not even necessary that he is living in unhappiness

to be tempted in that way; for him it is only necessary

that he meets with a person whom he likes better, and
he will easily find a reason for a divorce, so as to mar-

ry the other one. Then it is worse for the Catholic

party than if the Protestant had died. He is not free
and not married, and yet not widowed

;
therefore he

can not marry again, without falling from the Cath-

olic faith as long as the separated party is alive.

The education of the children is often a failure

when one of the parents is a Protestant. For the

Protestant it is not very agreeable, as his children

grow up, to hear them say other prayers, and see

them go to another church than the one he is accus-

tomed to go to. The more faith the Protestant party

has, the more painful it is for him to see his grown

up children becoming pious Catholics, and if you say

the rosary with your children, your consort feels the

estrangement in his family more and more. The Pro-

testant father or the Protestant mother is looked

upon by their own children as a heretic
;

this, there-

fore interferes with the fulfillment of the fourth com-

mandment, and with the respect children should have

towards their parents. Every religious exhortation

from the Protestant party is received by the children

with mistrust, and for that reason it is very often not

given. On the part of the female it might be replied :
“ If I marry a Catholic who does not care anything
about his religion, as there are so many in our days,
I may be worse off than if I marry a good Protes-
tant. ” That is not always the case

:
you will hardly

convert your Protestant husband to your religion.

But it is possible and has often happened that a sen-

sible and good woman has brought her Catholic hus-
band back by her word and example, so that he goes

again with her to church and to the Holy Sacraments,



26

even if he has not done so for years. A man will
seldom resist his pious wife

;
at the worst, when he

is on his death-bed he will be converted, and be rec-

onciled with his God
;
whilst a Protestant husband

will die as Protestants generally die. She cannot

even get a Mass said for the repose of his soul. Some-

times it may happen that the Catholic party dies first,
but what will then become of the poor children?

Very often it will happen that they will be sent to a
Protestant school, and made Protestants. Even if

the Protestant party is as honest as possible, and

wishes, after the death of the Catholic consort, to keep

his promise to have the children educated Catholics,

who will take care of the education of those children
at home in the Catholic faith ? The Protestant party
cannot, even with the best will. If the latter marries

again and marries a Protestant, what then will become

of the Catholic children ? Therefore neither a Cath-

olic father nor mother who has been living in mixed
marriage can die easy at the thought of these dangers.

The dying Catholic has to fear that his children will

be brought up as Protestants, or that they will not

be sound in the Catholic faith. So there is in a

mixed marriage, even with the Catholic education of

children, many calamities to be feared. Therefore
the Catholic Church dislikes any sort of mixed mar-

riages. The marriages in which the children are

educated Protestants are entirely forbidden, and a

Catholic priest can never bless such marriages. In

this case there is no dispensation, even for a king or

emperor who would ask the Pope for one. Even if
the children are educated Catholics, the Church dis-

likes the marriage. Therefore Pope Benedict XIV.

has ordered that they shall hot be contracted before

the altar, but in the sacristy, as a sign that they are

not entered into with the favor of the Church. From

all this a Catholic is able to see that he ought never

to make the aquaintance of a Protestant in order to

marry her. If father or mother advise or even com-

mand such a marriage, disobedience is then a duty

;

you must obey God and His Church rather than man.



27
I

The Saviour Himself says distinctly : “ Whosoever

loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy
of Me.” Such parents will have to answer before

God why they have required such a marriage of you.
If you should have already made the aquaintance

of a Protestant, declare to him firmly that your faith

and your conscience command you to give up that
acquaintance

;
you can only resolve to enter an en-

tirely Catholic marriage because only in it is peace

and unity in the most important affairs of your heart.

You would have to do the same if, without acquain-

tance, a Protestant would offer to marry you
;
be firm

in that resolution. You owe to God innumerable
thanks that you have been born and raised in the

Catholic Church, in this refuge for poor sinners, and

that you have your share in the blessed Sacraments.

Would you be so ungrateful towards God as to tear
away your future children from the Catholic Church,

the source of salvation, and let their souls wither in

the dry soil of Protestantism ? May God prevent
you from such a murder of souls !

hi.

FOR CATHOLICS WHO ARE ALREADY

LIVING IN MIXED MARRIAGE.

—

j^OR those this pamphlet may act as vitriol on a
healing wound. It may be that their con-
sciences are not yet dead. Shall those people

despair, or what shall they do ? Have they lost every-
thing, and are they lost themselves ? To these ques-
tions I will give a two-fold answer.

a) For those who have agreed to the Protestant
education of their children, although they themselves



28

belong to the Catholic Church: If they do not repent,

but are quite content with their surrender, nay, would

make it again if they were to marry again, they will

die and go where all those go who fall from the Cath-
olic faith. They will go into the other world with-

out satisfaction for the crime they have committed.

Such men are called apostates. As there is neverthe-
less, even for the greatest sinner, forgiveness in the

Sacrament of Penance, if he approaches the Saviour

with repentance, so also the Catholic consort can find

forgiveness if he be converted, and accuse himself

with bitter contrition that he has cut off the immor-

tal souls of his children from the source of salvation

—from the Catholic Church—and delivered them to
the adversary, to Protestantism. This contrition must

be very strong, yes, so strong that you would be will-

ing to do and to suffer anything rather than consent

again to such a crime. And in this state of repent-
tance you must remain to the end of your days.

Therefore you have to do everything in your power

to repair the damage done to your children by con-

senting to their Protestant education. Before all, you

must ask your Protestant consort most urgently to

permit the Catholic education of the children. This

request you must renew again and again, even if he

has refused you, and refused in anger. Tell him you

cannot find rest and can enjoy life no more if your

children will not become Catholics
;
be not content

until he has agreed to your petition. Again, it is

necessary that you show a true respect for the Cath-

olic religion, and that you try to produce this effect

in the soul of your consort. You must try to be an

honor to the Catholic Church, so that your consort

may wish your children would imitate you. Further-
more, you must pray and induce others to pray that

God, with whom everything is possible, may make
the heart of your husband to incline to your wishes.

But how is it with the children ? If they have been
baptized by a minister who believes in Christ, the
baptism is valid, and your children are made by it

members of the Catholic Church, because there is



29

only one Baptism and one Church. The children are

only separated from the Catholic Church if they, at

the so-called confirmation, accept the false doctrine

and communion from a Protestant minister, who is

not ordained, and therefore has no spiritual power.

You must therefore try to keep your children Cath-

olics by instructing them in the truths of our reli-

gion, and by making them say the Hail Mary and

other Catholic prayers. If they come from school,

and bring from there the usual calumnies against the

Catholic Church, show them that these things are

told by the Protestant teachers out of hatred or igno-

rance. Give to your children Catholic books of

piety and doctrine. Make them keep company with

good Catholics, and pray often for them that their

hearts may be inclined to the only true faith. There

is great power in an urgent prayer. I know a woman
who married a Protestant, and agreed to the Protes-

tant education of the children. Afterwards this

woman, by the great grace of God, received a lively

faith
;
of course her conscience became very uneasy

because all the children went to Protestant schools,

and in this way became Protestants. She commenced

to pray, and prayed fervently that her children might

be enlightened with the same faith she enjoyed her-

self. And her prayers were crowned with success, by
God’s blessing : the children, moved by the love of

the Catholic faith, went to their father and asked per-

mission to become Catholics
;
the father replied to

their request : “ If you yourselves wish it, I have no

objection.” The children became very good and pious

Catholics, and the eldest girl went to a convent
;
and

after several years the father himself, who was a
learned man, became a Catholic. So the merciful

God not only forgave the sin of the mother, but even
removed the consequences of her sin. But the mat-

ter is seldom settled in so happy a manner. There is

often an opportunity by which the children may be
gained for the Catholic Church, if the Protestant

party die. Then the greatest hindrance to your chil-

dren becoming Catholics is removed. Should your



30

Protestant relatives'try to hinder you, you might, per-

haps, leave the place you are living in, and move to a
village or city which is entirely Catholic, and where

there are Catholic schools and churches. People

mighFsay that you, having agreed before marriage to

the Protestant education of the children, it would be

only just if you would keep your promise even after

the death of your husband. But then you may easily
answer if a man has promised anything, which, with-
out doubt, is a sin, he ought not keep that promise,

because no promise can dispense from obedience

towards the express will of God. It is for a Cath-

olic a sin, yes, a crime against the Church of Christ

and the souls of her children, to consent to see them

educated as Protestants. Her promise was not right

before God
;
and if she fulfills it she remains in the

state of sin, until, repenting, she tries everything in

her power to save the children from Protestantism.

Finally, every man who has sinned by entering a
mixed marriage must try to expiate this sin by ear-

nest endeavors to warn others who are in the same
temptation and occasion. Futhermore, he ought at

every apt opportunity show his regret that he has

delivered his children to Protestantism. By this deed,
in fact, he became a public sinner in the eyes of the

Catholic Church, and ought to repair the scandal he

has given to good Catholics as much as he can. You
might be, however, in a condition where your eyes

have been opened, but with the best will you cannot

repair anything
;
your children may be grown up

already, perhaps married to Protestants, or you your-

self are on your death-bed. Then you should not

despair, but invoke constantly the almighty and mer-

ciful God, your crucified Redeemer, and the Blessed

Virgin Mary, that your sin and the damage done by

it may be cancelled. It is a grace from God, and a
sign that He is inclined to forgive if you remain re-
penting to the end. But it would be a most dreadful

condition to die without repentance of the crime

which has been committed against the souls of your

children.



31

b) Catholics who live in mixed marriage, where

Catholic education was agreed upon, can by no

means be easy about the religion of their children.

Above all they have to take the greatest care ihat the

faith of their children be not weakened by the Protes-

estant party until they arrive at a state in which,

though they are not Protestants, still they are not

Catholics from their hearts. The Catholic father or

mother must plant the faith in the hearts of children

in such a way that it cannot be injured or grow weak.

Therefore the Catholic party in a mixed marriage

ought to prevent his children from associating with

Protestant children and relatives as much as possible.

Where that cannot be hindered entirely, or where

your children have to go to a Protestant school, you

ought to accustom them always to tell you if any-

thing was said against the Catholic religion. In this

way you may, in due time, dispel dangerous doubt

and mistrust in the souls of your children. You must
never allow your children to read Protestant books

or papers which are in the possession of you Protes-

tant consort. In a mixed marriage the Catholic party

must do everything alone concerning the religious

education of the children. For that reason you ought

only to have good Catholic servants. If some of your

children are grown up, and if your circumstances

allow it, let them be educated in a convent, or

in a Catholic institution, where there are only

Catholic teachers. On the other hand, never consent
that any one of your children be given to Protestants,

—even if they are your relatives,— for the sake of
education, or for the sake of business, or for any

other reason. Finally, provide even for the danger of

your death. Your children might be easily led to Pro-

testantism, even against their will
;
therefore, show

them in due time what a great grace the true faith is,

and that we ought to be willing to suffer anything in
order not to lose it. Read to them sometimes the

lives of the martyrs, and such like books, by which

they may see what men, even whole people,—for in-
stance the Irish,—have suffered for their faith, that



they may see that they ought rather give up their
lives and everything they possessed, than their faith.

Then tell them that they might fall into temptation,

give up their faith
;
and instruct them then how they

should imitate the examples of the martyrs.

Try to buy books for them in which the truths and

beauty of the Catholic Church are put clearly before

them. If you come to die, then make your children

promise before God that they, all their life-time,
will remain true and faithful children of the Cath-

olic Church, and that they will never commit that

sin which you have committed : of entering into

mixed marriage.
*

Now that I have written this and you have read it,

you cannot excuse yourself any longer with the pretext of

ignorance : if you now run against the two-edged knife

of mixed marriage, you inflict suicide upon your soul.

Are you in temptation? Do whatever a Christian

should do if he undertake an important business, —pray
often and fervently, that God may enlighten you, that

He may lead you and give you strength to do His holy

will. If you really and honestly pray so every day, I

know for certain what will happen: — You will pluck
out that scandalizing eye and never enter that forbidding

cave of a mixed marriage.

i