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 i 
 
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 -^ 
 
 
 1 
 
 ^- 
 
 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH THE 
 
 MOTHER OF CHASTITY; 
 
 A LECTURE 
 
 DELIVERED AT ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, LOCHABER, 
 
 Sunday, Feb. 22, 1874, 
 
 BY REV. R. McGILLIVRAY, P. P. 
 
 "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God."— iifa«. Gc. 8 v. 
 
 "^ aA"Nw HALIFAX, N. S. 
 
 ^;v'*. -Vki*?^:!) by compton & co., Bedford row. 
 
 1874. 
 
 "^^dTA^ 
 
^1 
 
 Bib 
 
 Le 
 
 3, 
 
^f (f^^^.'^y. )t'^' 
 
 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH THE 
 
 MOTHER OF CHASTITY; 
 
 A LECTUEE, / 
 
 / >t .1 
 
 r 
 
 DELIVERED AT ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, LOCHABER, 
 
 Sunday, Feb. 22, 1874, 
 
 BY REV. R. McGILLIVRAY, P. P. 
 
 "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God."-3/a«. 6c. 8 v. 
 
 3, rue de I'Univarsit^^^^^ 
 Qu6bec 4, QUE; 
 
 HALIFAX, N. S. 
 PRINTED BY COxMPTON & CO., BEDFORD ROW, 
 
 1874. 
 
!,i I '). J, I J , mil mm 
 
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH THE MOTHER 
 
 OF CHASTITY. 
 
 Impurity stands forth as the greatest, the most detestable 
 vice to which man is subject. It is the universal evil of 
 every age. Reason itself discovers to us how it degrades the 
 dignity and excellence of our nature. Man, as originally 
 created, was free from this abject passion. There was per- 
 fect concord between the body and the soul. The body was 
 subject to the easy and gentle sway of the soul, as the soul 
 instinctively yielded obedience to God. Sin destroyed this 
 beautiful order and marred the excellence and integrity of 
 human nature. Man at once found all within him thrown 
 into disarray and the sin-tainted body in a state of revolt 
 against the soul which was created to subjugate and rule all 
 its senses and organs. The ruin of humanity was indeed 
 begun, but not completed. . The soul is still able to govern 
 and regulate those springs of existence called the senses and 
 hold sufHciently fast the reins of a great part of its adminis- 
 tration. There is however one sense — that which leads to 
 impurity — in a state of permanent revolt against the soul. 
 It acts by an instinct of selfishness; it ever conspires against 
 life. Every other sense acts for that end for which it was 
 given ; but this acts against the end of life itself. It wastes 
 our life, clouds the understanding v\d impairs our most 
 admirable faculties. It dries up ana seers the^freshness of 
 youth like the. parching wind of the desert. It destroys the 
 fair promises of youth and pulls down the man from his lofty 
 eminence and dignity to creep upon the earth. Hurried 
 away by the insatiable fury of this detestable passion, the 
 physical and intellectual man pines away into premature 
 decrepitude. It devours the virtues that make man amiable 
 in society ; hastiness, pride, and dissimulation take the place 
 of mildness, gentleness, and affability; corroding anxiety 
 and the sleepless demon of remorse supplant serenity of 
 mind and evenness of temper; it shrivels up the beauty, the 
 goodness, the strength, and the glory of man. It destroys 
 man's true liberty. What is true liberty? Christ tells us: 
 "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make ye free." 
 
Truo liberty consists in freedom from iiitelloctiial error and 
 from the slavery of every vice. Whoever then ^ives himself 
 up us u slave to his lower, aninuil nutiiri;, sinks into the most 
 ignoble despotism. And womiin, too, does not escsipo ita 
 ravages. Modesty is her greatest charm, chastity the divinity 
 that doth hedge her round and win for her the respect and 
 protection of man. It is said that the most urgent desire of 
 a woman's heart is to please, yet so soon as she forgets 
 modesty she becomes displeasing and disgusting. Her heart 
 is a most delicate plant; its tendrils are as tlelicate as the 
 flowers of spring. But this vice destroys all dilicaoy of 
 heart, all tenderness, all shame. Whoever studies the human 
 heart knows that there is no tenderness in the hearts of those 
 who give themselves up to this vice. The poor frail creatures 
 that walk the streets of cities and make a trade of their pas- 
 sions were once tender and modest; but this vice came, and 
 like a serpent crept into the garden of their souls, and ita 
 poison burned, withered up all their delicacy, all their shame 
 and remorse. In a word, it tends to destroy life; to destroy 
 tenderness of heart ; to take away true freedom; to shatter 
 the frame of man ; to stunt his intellect; to destroy- indivi- 
 duals and nations. It is, therefore, the enemy of life, of 
 health, of beauty, of goodness, of strength, and of manly 
 glory — the universal enemy of the human race. 
 
 What reason discovers, lievelution confirms. God in Hia 
 threats and the terrible chastisements which He in times past 
 inflicted on the guilty, shows in language the most unmis- 
 takeable how He abhors it. He hates it as He hates no other 
 vice. He expresses a regret that He had ever created maa 
 on account of his abominations. Although He is not subject 
 to the human passion of anger or sorrow. He speaks in this 
 human fashion in order to impress upon the minds of men 
 His utter abhorrence of this vice. "All flesh had corrupted 
 its way upon the earth." Therefore, said God: "I will de- 
 stroy them olF the face of the earth." He opened the win- 
 dows of heaven and the floods bore down upon the sinful 
 world, destroyed the face of the beautiful earth, and swept 
 away, with the one exception, the whole family of man in 
 one vast destru' tion. See again the signal and awlnl mani- 
 festation of His anger in the swift destruction of the seven 
 cities of Pentapolis — stately cities situated in the midst of a 
 smiling land, crowned with the fruits of a fertile soil, teem- 
 ing with the blessings of plenty, and beautiful as the very 
 garden of the earth. Crimes had been committed in them 
 which we cannot even name. The sentence went forth that 
 they should be blotted out from the face of the earth. The 
 fiery rain descended upon them, the earth opened and swal- 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
error and 
 >H liiniHuU' 
 
 tlio most 
 'sc'jipo ita 
 2 divinity 
 il»».'ot and 
 desire of 
 e forgets 
 ler heart 
 to ji8 the 
 lioiioy of 
 e human 
 
 of those 
 jroaturea 
 lioir paa- 
 nie, and 
 
 and its 
 ir shame 
 
 destroy 
 
 ) shatter 
 
 r indivi- 
 
 : life, of 
 
 manly 
 
 in His 
 
 les past 
 
 unmis- 
 
 other 
 ed man 
 subject 
 
 in this 
 )f men 
 rupted 
 
 ill de- 
 lie win- 
 sinful 
 
 swept 
 nan in 
 
 mani- 
 
 seven 
 it of a 
 
 teem- 
 
 } very 
 
 them 
 
 1 that 
 The 
 
 swal- 
 
 lowed tlicm, and tlio place whore thoy had stood was smittou 
 with a curse of desolation which broods over it to this very 
 dav. 
 
 It destroys the germs of Religion in the soul, darkens the 
 mind, corrupts the lieart, sliuts out the grace of God, and 
 leads its votaries to apostacy and infidelity. Read the sad 
 exaiMiiJes of its baleliil effects in the histories of Amnon, of 
 David, of Solomon, of Putiphar, and the two wicked old 
 Judges. 
 
 Hut now what is the remedy? Whore is the power to bo 
 found that can span the vast abyss which this vice creates 
 between the sou! and (4od 'i Whore is the sytem to be found 
 that can raise the lost, soul out of its degradation and lead it 
 back to God? Nature cannot do it. Nature left to itself can 
 only lead to selfishness, to animalism, to systematic sensuality. 
 Nature can never create chastity. Nature has had its war- 
 riors, its orators, its heroes; it has done something for 
 honesty, for justice and bravery. In its history the name ot 
 a great man gleams out at rare intervals amid the surround- 
 ing corru})tion. But as a rule it has been powerless to create 
 chaste men and chaste women. In truth, its kings, its 
 potentates, its philosophers, steeped themselves in nameless 
 impurities. The moat polished nations of antiquity raised 
 temples and ordained priests for impurity. Mahomedanism 
 has created ]»olygamy and harems of sensuality. The infidel 
 philosophy of France, true to its instincts, placed a prostitute 
 as its divinity upon the Altar of Religion. And the world 
 of to-day with its vague deism and sentimental banalities 
 is debased l)y female idolatry and has its face turned toward 
 sensualism and ancient paganism. 
 
 But what has Protestantism done for chastity? I have no 
 intention to assail Protestants with loathsome charges and 
 low vulgar suspicions. I will not imitate the apostles of im- 
 purity who damaged in name and of small repute pour forth 
 a black lava of obscenity upon the immaculate purity of the 
 Catholic Church. No, I have no charge to make against 
 the purity of Protestant ladies and gentlemen. For aught I 
 know, I have no doubt but all Protestant ministers, all Protest- 
 ant men and women, are high-minded and pure. And even 
 should the public prints bring to our notice, or if we should 
 have heard that this one or that disgraced himself by this 
 vice, it would be altogether unfair to adduce this as an 
 apodictic argument against their religious belief. Human 
 nature is the same everywhere, and passion — the volcanic 
 matter in man — in spite of religion, will occasionally break 
 
 forth in shameless excesses, 
 that Protestantism is power 
 
 planation I say 
 " e supernatural 
 
' r 
 
 i( I 
 
 virtue of chastity. I go turthor and asHort tliat ProtoBtantisra 
 haw inflioted a wouiiu upon eluiHtity which itHolf can novor 
 houl. My assortion, wore I unal»lo to support it witli proof, 
 wouhl be criminal and valuuleri.s. I nhall not take snoltor 
 behind my own more aHsortion, and as there are many pre- 
 sent who are not Catholics, I invite them to use the reason 
 witli which God endowed them to examine with mo facts 
 and itrinciplcH. I will here hrietly refer to the manner in 
 which the Catholic (Miurch created and fostered chastity. 
 She created and sustained it by her doctrines and by the 
 grace of her sacraments. Hho hedged it round with the 
 powerful barrier of the Confessional. She sent forth her 
 virgin priesthood as the anointed apostles of chastity. She 
 placed the spotless virgin, Mother of God, before the eyes of 
 the young maiden as her model of imitation in purity of life. 
 Thus the young maiden was early taught to raise her pure 
 heart to heaven, offering as a holocaust to the Divine Son of 
 the Blessed Virgin all the enchantments of youth and beauty. 
 She consecrated to the service of religion and the poor the 
 strong, manly, and chaste hearts of her monks, tne tramplers 
 upon the world's wealth and earth's vanities, the lovers of 
 the jtoor and of that true benelicence which forgets itself in 
 the very act of giving and never feels itself so rich as when 
 it is pouring itself out for the benefit of others. Her doctors, 
 her Cyprians, her Ambroses, and her Jeromes exerted the 
 powers of their eloquence in weaving the praises of virginity. 
 She employed the Blessed Eucharist as the spiritual tood to 
 sustain the supernatural life of virginity. At the commence- 
 ment of her career, impurity was sinking the world down 
 into hell. She by her teaching and her bright examples and 
 martyrs of chastity arrested its course and taught the nations 
 that there was a higher and a better lite than the miserable 
 life of sense. She consecrated marriage and placed it under 
 the shield of Religion. Her doctrine of monogamy and the 
 indissolubility of the nuptial tie came in as powerful auxili- 
 ries in guarding chastity. Her doctrine on this head is quite 
 simple : One with one exclusioeli/, and forever. As the best way 
 to extinguish fire is to deprive it of fuel, the best way to re- 
 press passion is to deprive it of hope. During many ages 
 she struggled with firmness and decision against the passions 
 of powerful monarchs, to maintain unsullied the sanctity of 
 marriage. Neither threats nor promises could move her. 
 How often has the Pope of Rome interposed his shield be- 
 tween weak woman and the lustful passioti of some ferocious 
 potentate? Amid barbarous ages, in times of violence and 
 corruption caused by invading nations passing pell-mell over 
 Europe, his was the arm which hindered the torrent of sen- 
 
 I 
 
ProtoHtaiitiBui 
 plf CUM novor 
 it with yvooty 
 
 tiiko rtholtor 
 ro iminy pro- 
 HO tho rt'Hson 
 ^itli mo tiicts 
 a nmnijor in 
 I'od cluiHtity. 
 
 und l)v tho 
 'itl vvith tho 
 It forth Jior 
 a8tity. 8he 
 i tho oyoH of 
 ui'itv of life, 
 se hor pure 
 iviijo Son of 
 an<l beauty, 
 ho poor the 
 truniplers 
 10 lovers of 
 ets itself in 
 oh as when 
 lor doctors, 
 exerted the 
 i vir^rinitj. 
 uul tood to 
 ^'oninienee- 
 orhl down 
 LHiples and 
 ho nations 
 
 miserable 
 d it under 
 y and the 
 •fnl auxili- 
 id is quite 
 > best way 
 way to re- 
 aaiiy ages 
 3 passions 
 anctity of 
 love her. 
 ihield be- 
 ferocious 
 lence and 
 tnell over 
 It of sen- 
 
 ■| 
 
 Huality from overflowing and corrunting tlio cliaractor of 
 European civilization. His intrepid rtrmnoss agaiiiHt the 
 lustful passion of iin Knglish king caused tho loss of England 
 to Catholicity. No, the; Catholic Churclj has never acted 
 upon tlie immoral principle tlnit the ond justitics tho moans. 
 
 Let us now see what protection Protestantism has offered 
 to (ihastitv. (-)no of her tirst works was to remove the potent 
 bjirrier of the confessional, and to destroy th«! celestial food 
 which for so many ages sustained the angelic virtue. Luther 
 himself attested in tlie most desi»airing accents the I'rightful 
 spiritual degradation which immediately followed the estab- 
 lishment of Trotestantism. History tolls us that, when Ger- 
 many gave u[> the contessional, such was tho impurity that 
 filled tho community at once, that actually a (li'rman city 
 was obliged to petition to havt; the Sacrament of' Penance 
 restored. Henry of England (puirrelled and broke with the 
 Pope Ix.'causo ho would not grant him leave to put away his 
 virtuous old wife for a younur and lovelv maiden. Luther 
 not only violated his sacerdotal and monastic vows, but lured 
 away from her happy retreat a consecrated ve ' il of chastity. 
 To seduce the clergy into his service he held out to them the 
 alluring baits of pretty wives and easy establishments. In a 
 public document Lutlier ami the other fathers of the liefor- 
 mation granted the Landgrave of Ilosao-Cassol lil)erty to live 
 with twj women at tho same time as his wives. '' Yes," says 
 Balmes, "IVotostantism at the tirst shock, or rather at the 
 first shadow of tho slightest embarrassment, at the mere fear 
 of displeasing a prince who certainly was not very powerful, 
 yields, humbles itself, consents to polygamy, betrays its con- 
 science, opens a wide door to the passions, and gives up to 
 them the sanctity of marriage, tho first pledge of the good 
 of the family, the foundation stone of trne civilization." 
 
 But one of the greatest crimes of incipient Protestantism 
 was its profanation of virginity. " Tho Catholic Church," 
 says Balmes, "while she vs'atched over the conjugal tie, 
 while slie created in the bosom of the family the admirable 
 dignity of the matron, covered with a mysterious veil the 
 countenance of tho Christian virgin, and she carefully guard- 
 ed the spouses of tho Lord in the seclusion of the sanctuary. 
 It was reserved for Luther, the gross profaner of Catherine 
 DoBore, to act in defiance of the profound and delicate wis- 
 dom of tho Church on this point. After the apostate monk 
 had violated the sacred seal set by religion on the nuptial 
 bed, his was the unchaste hand to tear away .he sacred veil 
 of virgins consecrated to God; it was worthy of his hard 
 heart to excite the cupidity of princes, to induce them to 
 seize upon the possessions of these defenceless virgins and 
 
ri 
 
 
 U! 
 
 8 
 
 expel them from their abodes. See him everywhere excite 
 the flame of sensuality and break through all control. "What 
 will become of virgins devoted to the sanctuary ? Like timid 
 doves will they not fall into the snares of the libertine? Is 
 this the way to increase the feeling of modesty and advance 
 humanity? Was this the way in which Luther j^ave a gener- 
 ous impulse to future generations, perfected the human mind, 
 and gave vigor and splendor to refinement and civilization ? 
 What man with a tender and sensitive heart can endure the 
 shameless declamation of Luther, especially if he has read 
 the Cyprians, the Ambroses, the Jeromes and other shining 
 lights of the Catholic Church on the sublime honor of the 
 Christian virgin? Who then will object to see, during ages 
 when the most savage barbarism prevailed, those secluded 
 dwellings where the spouses of Christ secured themselves 
 from the dangers of the world, incessantly employed in rais- 
 ing their hands to heaven to draw down upon the earth the 
 dews of divine mercy ? In times and countries the most 
 civilized how sad is the contrast between the asylums of the 
 purest and loftiest virtue, and the ocean of dissipation and 
 profligacy? Were these abodes of ignorance, a monument 
 of fanaticism, which the coryphaei of Protestantism did well 
 to sweep from the earth? If this be so, let us protest against 
 all that is noble and disinterested; let us stifle in our hearts 
 all enthusiasm for virtue ; let everything be reduced to the 
 grossest sensuality ; let the painter throw away his pencil, 
 the poet his lyre; let us forget our greatness and our dignity; 
 let us degrade ourselves, saying: "Let us eat and drink, for 
 to-morrow we die." 
 
 Let us now consider in detail how the Catholic Church 
 loves, sustains and fosters the virtue ot chastity. Catholics 
 and Protestants generally agree in their views of the sub- 
 stance of the moral virtues, however variously they carry 
 them out in detail. The Catholic Church is stricter and 
 more successful in its rule of purity than Protestantism. To 
 prove this assertion, and make it clear to all, I will employ a 
 familiar illustration. Thought in the mind precedes the 
 expression of it by means of language. Ideas are prior to, 
 and create institutions. I readily grant that the Protestants 
 of our country are very strict in their rule of temperance 
 and make very praiseworthy eftbrts to promote that noble 
 virtue. Their interior respect for temperance manifests itself 
 outwardly by means of societies for its cultivation and pro- 
 motion. Apply this to the case before us. The Catholic 
 Church loves the angelical virtue of chastity. We should 
 therefore naturally expect that this interior love would mani- 
 fest itself outwardly by means of institutions for the purpose 
 
9 
 
 ere excite 
 )1. What 
 like timid 
 tine? Is 
 I advance 
 a gener- 
 an mind, 
 lization ? 
 idure the 
 has read 
 • shining 
 or of the 
 'ing ages 
 eecluded 
 emaelves 
 J in rais- 
 )arth the 
 he most 
 18 of the 
 tion and 
 >iiument 
 did well 
 against 
 r hearts 
 I to the 
 I pencil, 
 dignity; 
 'ink, for 
 
 Church 
 atholics 
 he sub- 
 y carry 
 er and 
 m. To - 
 3ploy a 
 les the 
 rior to, 
 estants 
 •erance 
 noble 
 8 itself 
 d pro- 
 atholic 
 3hould 
 mani- 
 arpose 
 
 of sustaining and fostering it. Now, the Catholic Church in 
 fact possesses and always possessed such institutions. Let 
 take first the 
 
 CONFESSIONAL. 
 
 It is not in ray plan to take the subject up controversially; 
 the divinity of its origin has been proved a thousand times. 
 I will simply show how it is directed to exert a potent influ- 
 ence in fostering and guarding chastity. To make a chaste 
 people you must begin with the young. Anybody who has 
 ever considered the philosophy of habits knows that half the 
 battle is won in the formation of the character of the young, 
 if you begin early before vice has had time to sully the purity 
 of their minds and hearts. It is said that the lion is quite 
 harmless and gentle before he tastes blood ; but the moment 
 he does taste it, he becomes wild and ferocious. There is in 
 human nature a sleeping demon, a foines peccati ; when it 
 once tastes blood it is roused into fury. Bad thoughts beget 
 desires; desiins issue forth in actions ; actions by repetition 
 create the habit, a sort of necessity or second nature. Every 
 transgression of a virtue induces a weakness, a certain ten- 
 dency towards a repetition of the sin. If, therefore, one does 
 not begin early to repress all impure thoughts ; if you dally 
 with them, if you repeatedly fall into sin, the deadly habit 
 is formed, the passion becomes uncontrolable, the mind be- 
 comes fixed in one direction, the serpent coils itself up in 
 your heart, the passion burns itself on your nature. You 
 can now see the saving influence of the Confessional. The 
 apostle speaks of the old dragon lying in wait for the birth 
 of the child in order to devour it so soon as it comes into 
 life. Thus the serpent of impurity lies in wait to creep into 
 the souls of the young so soon as reason dawns in their souls. 
 How well is it that there should be a secret, sacred, asylum 
 into which they ma}' retreat for warning, instruction, and 
 safety ! How well it accords with wisdom that they should 
 kneel beside a wise and experienced friend who knows how 
 to inspire them with love for virtue and horror for vice. 
 And that friend relies not on his own wisdom ; he has for 
 his guidance the delicate and supernatural wisdom of the 
 Church. He knows the secret windings of the human heart; 
 he has studied psychology ; he knows the nature of sin, at 
 least by professional study. Is it not better that the young 
 man should go to him for advice and warning than that he 
 should let himself be swept away by the torrent of his pas- 
 sions? Is it not better that the young maiden should turn 
 away into this sacred retreat of Religion than that she should 
 become the wrecked victim of the artful and heartless 
 
I 
 
 10 
 
 seducer ? How many are daily formed in this school for vir- 
 tue and preserved from ruin and misery? Human respect 
 may restrain the hand from crime ; a more sacred and power- 
 ful principle is required to reach and influence the heart. 
 The outside may be fair and respectable, while the heart is 
 the home of corruption. In the Confessional the young are 
 schooled, not only to restniin the hand, but also to repress 
 the sinful emotions of the heart. Fathers and mothers who 
 know its influeuce frequent it themselves and are the most 
 urgent in sending their children. It is the experience of all 
 that it is those who wish to give a free rein to their passions 
 that abandon it. Very often the first false step of the young 
 in their downward career is the throwing oiF the restraining 
 yoke ot the Confessional. The poor sinner trembling be- 
 tween hope and despair will listen coldly to the eloquent 
 sermon that flies over his head ; but if you once get him to 
 turn aside from the paths of sin, its occasions, and the com- 
 panions of his folly, and kneel beside his spiritual father 
 with the tear of repentance +rembling in his eye, he is 
 saved. The rationalists of Europe have paid tribute to the 
 people of Ireland tor their chastity — a virtue for which they 
 are greatly indebted to the Confessional. Not only in Ire- 
 land, but also in every Catholic country, its saving influence 
 daily transform thousands into angels of purity. Speak not 
 to me of large cities where demons meet demons ; but take 
 the rural districts of Catholic and Protestant counties, and if 
 the former do not excel the latter in purity of thought, word 
 and deed, I shall confess that you go far to invalidate ray 
 reasoning. 
 
 But what is this we hear the blatant and sensual army of 
 Satan say about the priest and the Confessional. The iniidel 
 who has no higher view of Ife than his own sensuality, the 
 impure novel, the pencil of the painter, the fallen and dis- 
 appointed angel, whose vagaries have exhausted the patience 
 of the Church, represent the priest as a loathsome monster. 
 Every asmodeus whose festering soul is a mephitic pool of 
 corruption seems to think that everybody is like himself. 
 Everything, says the apostle, is impure to him that is impure. 
 There are only three kinds of life possible to man in this 
 world : the life of the body or of the senses ; the lite of 
 mere natural reason ; and the life of grace raised above 
 nature by faith and working by charity. The first is the life 
 of an animal ; the second, the life of a man ; the third, the 
 life of a Christian. The two former seem to have no con- 
 ception of the higher life, the life of grace, soul-life, where 
 the soul lives far above the clouds and mists of sensuality. 
 Hence they make no account of the Grace of God ; they 
 
 f 
 
 ,^ 
 
ol for vir- 
 m respect 
 3(1 power- 
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 i heart is 
 oung are 
 
 repress 
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 the most 
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 in Ire- 
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 the 
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 11 
 
 ^ no notion of tno power of habit; they have no concep- 
 i ?a that one consecrated to the service of God, by prayer, by 
 exercirtCH of piety, by meditating upon the law of God by day 
 and by nigitt, by tlic hope of eternal reward, by that heroic 
 spirit which made the tiaints of God look upon all things 
 earthly as vanity, can live a higher, purer, and serener life 
 than the execrable HciiHuality in which they themselves seem 
 to revel. Tiiey Hcem to iiavc thorouffbly debauched tiieir 
 minds into the Muhummedan notion that man and woman, 
 even for the holiest puTposco of Religion, cannot come 
 together wliiiout wicked thoughts. My God ! the priest for 
 love of holy [turity coiKsccrates himself to a life of celibacy, 
 and the oljHcene inildcls would make him out a monster of 
 impiety. If one in a fury of hate publishes to the world 
 that he Iuih nuidc himself impious by an abuse of his priestly 
 privilege, does it follow that in.my will imitate his execrable 
 example? Does one swallow make a summer? We have 
 seen and still see learned men, men of the highest intellect, 
 the most illnstrious mraats of France, Germany, England, 
 and America, return to the Catholic Church, and after having 
 scrutinized all, tried all, ))roclaim to the world that they are 
 ready to «iie for their faith. Is this the mumbo-jumbo — the 
 church black-washed In- tlie eternal sing-song of accusation — 
 is this the mctiister, I say, that could have lured away from 
 doubt, from the; ijrejudices of education, from the faith of 
 their fathers, from the tenderest ties of ilesli and blood, an 
 Augustine Thierry, a Schelling, a Manning, a Newman, a 
 Brownson, and a IJ(!(;ker? 
 
 Let ua M'M how the prejudice against the Confessional is 
 fed and k(*|»t alive. During this century French infidels, 
 men of heated brains and corrupt hearts like Michelet and 
 Eugene Sue, [)iiblished works against priests, nuns and the 
 Confessional. These works found their way to America, 
 ami No-po[K!ry champions translated them into English and 
 gave them wide circulativ)n. The credulity of incredulity 
 swallowed the putrid garbage like Gospel. Henceforth 
 whoever promised to "unmask"' the Confessional was the 
 white-heade<l boy. Vile works against the Catholic Church 
 called "Maria Monk," or "Footprints of Satan," or "Hell 
 open to ChristianH," or some other equally gaping and ap- 
 propriate muiK', are peddled round and read with morbid 
 curiosity. 0! light to the eyes, and music to the ears, and 
 jubilation to the hearts of otherwise decent and respectable 
 Protestant ladies and gentlemen, is the book that teems with 
 vile shuKJerH against the priests! And then angels, prophets, 
 apostles and j»ri(jsts have before now given tokens of infirm- 
 ity. Monks have apostatized and priests have fallen. The 
 
Iff 
 
 12 
 
 intellectual devil of pride, or the corporeal devil of carnality, 
 got possession of their souls and dragged them down from 
 their high estate into the abyss. These fallen angels turn 
 upon the Church and the Confessiotiul with a bitter and half- 
 satariic hate. They grope through tomes of theology for dis- 
 jointed extracts to prove the immorality of the Confessional; 
 they forget that it would be possible by garbled extracts from 
 works on Law and Medicine to prove that the studies of the 
 Law and Medicine are immoral in their tendency. Why, it 
 wonld be possible to take extracts from the inspired Scrip- 
 tures of God and so arrange and cook them as to prove that 
 the Scriptures themselves are immoral and corrupting in 
 their tendency. But how can one meet such creatures? 
 Theirs is always the language of passion, not of reason. 
 You cannot condescend to refute their slanders without an 
 abatement of your self-respect. To do battle with a chimney 
 sweep is always disagreeable ; you may succeed in putting 
 him hors dc combat, but he is sure to soil jou. iu the effort. 
 There is a pleasure in an intellectual recontre with a Protest- 
 ant; he can be the high-minded gentleman. But from an 
 encounter with a fallen angel, good Lord deliver us! 
 
 If the Confessional be such an institution as they represent 
 it, how is it that the discovery was not made centuries ago? 
 IIow is it that its own innate corruption, according to the 
 rule of Gamuliel, has not destroyed it long ago? How is it 
 that for iifteen hundred years all Christendom resorted to it 
 as a divine institution for the remission of sin through an 
 application made therein of the Blood of Christ? How upon 
 their theory can you account lor the faith of two hundred 
 millions of Christians, the vast majority of the Christian 
 world to-day? How is it that the sounder part of other sects 
 are working for its restoration? How has it happened that 
 men, women and children, all classes — Popes, Bishops, 
 Priests, Kings, Queens and Statesmen — have so long resort- 
 ed to Confession as a duty imposed by divine authority? 
 Could human power have introduced such a law? Is it not 
 a marvel that Popes, Bishops and Priests have not made an 
 exception in their own favor? If it is not of Divine institu- 
 tion, vJicn; where; by whom ; under ichai circumstances^ was it 
 introduced. 
 
 bl 
 tf 
 
 81 
 tl 
 tl 
 
 THE BLESSED EUCHARIST THE FOOD OF CHASTE SOULS. 
 
 For US and for our salvation Jesus Christ was Incarnate 
 and was made Man, St, Paul tells us that by our fellowship 
 with Christ through the Incarnation we have become in 
 Christ a new creature. In the same sense St. Peter says that 
 
13 
 
 we have been made partakers of the divine nature. And a 
 father of the Church hesitates not to say that God became 
 Man, that man might become deified. The Incarnation of 
 the Son of God — an ever living and present fact — has intro- 
 duced into tlie world not only a new law, a new doctrine, 
 but also a new life — the life of Christ lived by men. Now, 
 the appropriate food of this new supernatural life is the 
 sacred and glorified flesh and blood of Christ as contained in 
 the Sacrament of the Altar. "Unless you eat the flesh of 
 the Son of man and drink his blood you shall not have life 
 in you." We firmly hold that in the Sacrament of the Altar 
 Christ is truly present, and indeed in such a way, that 
 Almighty God, wht) was pleased at Cana, in Galilee, to 
 convert water into wine, changes the inward substance of the 
 consecrated bread and wine into the body and blood of 
 Christ. I shall not attempt to f)rove the doctrine; my 
 object is simply to explain it. I have been fourteen years 
 a priest and I have never had a single doubt about the Real 
 Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar, and I 
 never met a priest that had. The plain words of Christ — 
 This Is my Body : This Is my Blood — are sutficient for our 
 faith. The mysteries of faith may and do present difliculties 
 to our minds; but difficulties should not create a doubt. 
 The solution of a problem in mathematics may present 
 difficulties to my mind which I cannot solve, while I have 
 not the slightest doubt that there is a proper solution of it. 
 We must indeed have sufficient evidence to move us to be- 
 lieve that God has revealed a truth or mj'stery of faith ; but 
 we cannot expect to have sufficient evidence to enable us to 
 comprehend it. We have sufficient evidence to move us to 
 believe that the Trinity ot Persons in God is a revealed fact; 
 but who can comprehend the mystery ? If we cannot com- 
 prehend the Divine Mysteries of Religion, the simple reason 
 is that we are men, not gods, and that God Himself cannot 
 place man on a level with Himself. That Christ is really 
 present in the Blessed Eucharist I firmly believe; the mode 
 in which He is so present 1 cannot comprehend because it is 
 a mystery above reason although not against reason. The 
 error of the Jews consisted in the notion that Christ prom- 
 ised to give His flesh and blood in the gross carnal manner. 
 Hov7 can this be ? they said. How can this be, we hear a 
 thousand repeating in the world to-day on account of their 
 misconception of our doctrine. The Church does not teach, 
 and has never taught, that the body of Christ is present in 
 the Sacrament of thy Altar in the same manner as It is pre- 
 sent in Heaven in a sensible and visible manner. He is pre- 
 sent in the Sacrament of the Altar in an invisible, intelligible 
 
n 
 
 14 
 
 s; 
 
 i 
 
 s 
 
 and sacramental manner. The inward substance of a thing 
 is not seen by tlie senses; it is that which is apprehended by 
 the intellect alone. The Church does not teach that there is 
 any change in the visible and sensible qualities of the bread 
 and wine; she teaches that their inward substance only is 
 changed. For us and for our salvation Christ dwelt for nine 
 montlis in the womb of His mother; He changed water into 
 wine; He walked upon the waters; He entered through a 
 closed door into the chamber wherein His disciples were 
 expecting Him. For me I confess I have not the slightest 
 difficulty in believing that the same Christ, because He says 
 so, confers upon us in the Sacrament of the Altar His real 
 sacred and glorified flesh and blood in that manner which is 
 best suited to our spiritual wants and necessities. 
 
 This being our belief, it is easy to see what power the 
 Blessed Eucharist is in our hands for the destruction of 
 impurity and the creation of chastity. In fact- it is in our 
 day our most eiiective weapon for the destruction of sin. it 
 is easier to conceive in thought than to express by words the 
 salutary influence which the morning dew exerts upon plants, 
 or the vivifying effect of light upon nature, or how the water 
 which filters through the bowels of the earth fertilizes it by 
 producing fruits and flowers. The very thought of receiving 
 the sacred and sinless flesh of the God of all purity must 
 have a potent and purifying effect upon the soul ; the inherent 
 power of this sacred fire infuses into the soul an increase of 
 sanctifying grace, weakens the power of concupiscence and 
 inflames the heart with the love of purity. " He that eateth 
 my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in Me and I in him." 
 When Christ was on this earth, a sacred virtue, we are told, 
 issued forth from His btdy and healed all who came in con- 
 tact with Him. The poor woman who came behind Him 
 and touched the hem of His garment, was healed at once, 
 because the very contact with His body gave to His clothes 
 a physical power of conferring health. What healing balm, 
 what saving virtue must then issue from His sacred flesh 
 when it comes into such close contact with our souls ? When 
 God banished our first parents from the earthly paradise He 
 stationed at its entrance an angel with a flaming sword to 
 prevent their return. There is something like this in the 
 oflice of the priest in regard to the Blessed Eucharist. We 
 are stationed on the Altar to guard It from all profanation 
 and to drive away the unworthy and the impure. With care 
 and anxiety we prepare the young for their first communion, 
 and when they receive it worthily for the first time, half the 
 battle is won, and very many of them never return to the 
 paths of sin. They pass through life without any experience 
 
f 
 
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 15 
 
 of those horrible things which outsiders are forever conjuring 
 up as the staple of what is told in confession. And even if 
 they should unfortunately fall into sin, see how the Blessed 
 Eucharist attracts them back. They return to confession, 
 and when, having opened the state of their soul in a few 
 chaste words, we consider that they are not yet tit to partake 
 of the Bread of Angels, we send them away upon trial for 
 some days, and when they return and prove thus, as hunum 
 actions do prove, that they are truly contrite for their sins 
 and tixed firmly in their resolve to avoid it for the future, 
 with what joy do they receive the Bread of Life ! St. Liguori 
 whose great soul glowed with love for souls and whose very 
 zeal for their salvation is brought against his memory by 
 pignues who cannot understand him, used to get some poor 
 slave of sin, when every other resource failed to rescue him 
 from his miserable state, to go to con)munion every day for 
 several weeks. Thus the Blessed Eucharist is used by us to 
 strengthen the soul, to create in it the luibit of virtue, and 
 when the soul is once fixed, turned toward the sun of purity, 
 it is comparatively easy to persevere in that happy state. 
 Hence the Church applies to the Blessed Eucharist the words 
 of the Prophet Zachary: "The corn of the elect; the wine 
 begetting virgins." iSt. Cyril refers to tlie same power when 
 he says : " Christ existing in us weakens the cruel law of the 
 iiesli in our members.'' "If any of you," says St. Bernard, 
 "find the movements of anger and envy and impurity, or 
 other passions, less frequent and less violent than usual, let 
 him attribute this calm to the most holy body and precious 
 blood of Christ which he has received ; for the strength of 
 this sacrament worketh in us." And in reference to the priest- 
 hood, the late Cardinal Wiseman uses the following beautiful 
 words : " Hence the Church, guided by the spirit of God, 
 obliges all who aspire to this high honor to renounce forever 
 all carnal pleasure, and to make a solemn engagement to 
 that effect. For with them, purity of body, of heart and 
 of mind, should be habitual and complete. Holiness should 
 be the characteristic of their lives — a holiness extending to 
 their entire being, outward and inward. After the Immacu- 
 late Mother of Jesus, no other human being has come into 
 such close and intimate union with Him as the priest who 
 daily possesses Him in his breast. So short, indeed, is the 
 interval between oue approach to Him and the next, that 
 unless the soul can be kept pure and holy in the interval, it 
 would be useless to think of persevering in the practice of 
 daily celebration. But then, if worthily received day after 
 day, what a never failing stream of holiness ia poured into the 
 soul, and how essentially pure must it become by contact 
 
16 
 
 with the Sacred Humanity of Jesus, so as to be daily more 
 qualified for partaking of it. What wonder if the ancient 
 fathers, who truly appreciated this mystery of holiness and 
 love, considered an anffel's purity not too great for drawing 
 so nigh to the essential sanctity of our Lord s heavenly Body 
 and Blood. How pure, exclaims St. Chrysostom, should be 
 the hands that daily offer up that sinless Fl'jsh; how purified 
 by more than the contact of a burning coul from seraphs 
 hands those lips which are daily empurpled by the rich 
 stream of salvation flowing into the chalice from our Saviour's 
 
 side Oh, how pure and briglitly clean should we keep 
 
 the couch on which He thus daily deigns to rest. How 
 should we fly from every temptation, from every remote 
 danger, from every suspicion ot fear ; that so we may always 
 be equally worthy to receive and entertain Him." 
 
 CELIBACY OF TEK CLERGY. 
 
 Christ is our great pattern. He is the great High priest 
 who contains in Himself the plenitude of the priesthood. 
 He became perfect man, like as we are, sin only excepted. 
 Now He was a virgin and lived a life of perfect chastity. 
 He selected for His mother a woman immaculate even in 
 her conception, and pure as the rays of the Sun in her life 
 of virginity. Born of a spotless virgin, He spoke of virginity 
 in words which leave no room for doubt that He regarded it 
 aa the higher, purer, and more celestial life. In His Serm(>a 
 on the Mount He placed purity of heart among the eight 
 Beatitudes. "Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall 
 see God." For the virgin apostle, St. John, who leaned 
 upon His bosom at the last supper. He had a special love 
 and friendship. And who, according to the same apostle, 
 are the white-robed army that follow the Lord in Heaven 
 whithersoever he goeth ? They are virgins. He selected 
 the pure self-denying virgin John the Baptist to prepare the 
 world for Hi* own mission. This man, who merited to have 
 his eulogy pronounced by Christ Himself, gave up his life as 
 the first martyr of chastity. A sensual king oflers his head 
 as a sacrifice to sensuality. Nevertheless, the death of the 
 martyr is the triumph of chastity, and his blood produces 
 abundant fruit. 
 
 Now, we share in the priesthood of Christ, or w^e are 
 nothing. What then should the priesthood, the ambassadors 
 of Christ, be, but a chaste virgin priesthood. Chastity alone 
 can beget chastity. Therefore the Church, the bride of 
 Christ, demands of her priesthood absolute continency. St. 
 Paul became the apostle of chastity and wove the praises of 
 
17 
 
 
 M'apha 
 
 rich 
 
 )iir'8 
 
 keep 
 
 How 
 
 virginity. "He that giveth his daughter in marriage doth 
 well, hut he that giveth her uot doth better." The apostle 
 teaches that just as the life ot the soul is extinguished by 
 sin, 80 by worldly ties and entanglements the service of 
 Christ is impeded. "No man being a soldier to God entan- 
 gleth himself with secular businesses." — (2 Tira. c. 2, v. 4.) 
 "But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is 
 without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the 
 Lord, how he may please God. But he that is with a wife, 
 is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please 
 his wife, and he is divided."— (1 Cor., c. 8, v. 820 The 
 preaching of St. Paul became the model for the Christian 
 orators and doctors. Thus the Church began early to gather 
 around her sanctuary a chaste priesthood. The world indeed, 
 immersed in the things of sense, sneers at celibacy as unna- 
 tural, but yet who can look at the lives of God's saints and 
 refuse to admire the beauty and splendor of their spotless 
 
 Eurity. One must have lost all sense of moral loveliness and 
 eauty if he does not see that the more rigidly this angelical 
 virtue is observed, the more closely will the Divine pattern 
 be followed. 
 
 The Church takes a young man in the freshness and inno- 
 cence of youth ; she watches over him and trains him in her 
 sanctuary with this one thought in view, that a priest he is 
 to be; she takes one and rejects another; she instructs him 
 in profane and sacred science ; she moulds him after her own 
 model ; she purifies him by prayer, meditation and penance ; 
 she makes him humble, obedient and chaste. "VVhen the 
 time arrives — when he has given certain signs of vocation— 
 when he has arrived at the full maturity of his intellect and 
 manhood, with his own full and free consent, she consecrates 
 him as a priest and sends him forth as tlie anointed apostle 
 of chastity. And then she throws around his person a 
 hundred provisions and checks in detail, which are to be his 
 safeguard in his arduous calling, and unless he be wonder- 
 fully wanting to himself, the power of divine grace is abun- 
 dantly poured upon him, without which all human nueans 
 are useless, but which can do, and constantly does, miracles, 
 as the experience, not of priests merely, but of every one 
 who has been converted from a life of sin will abundantly 
 testify. In the midst of the seductions of the world, he re- 
 mains firm, like granite, by chastity. In a word, celibacy is 
 the most beautiful and glorious feature of our order. Nobody 
 could quarrel with us on this score but the sensual man who 
 makes his heaven on oarth, is immersed in the things of 
 sense, and cannot therefore appreciate that beautiful heroism 
 which for a high purpose renounces that which nature loves. 
 
18 
 
 Sorao one has truly said that while the priest remains chaste, 
 God and men will forgive him much. IBut if he violates his 
 vow of chastity — if he takes a low view of his state- -if he 
 yields to the seductions of the flesh, the world and the devil, 
 he is flung forth from the garden of the Church as a withered 
 and useless weed, and he may go and mingle with the com- 
 mon herd. 
 
 Dr. Newman maintains that it is easier to preserve the lily 
 of purity in a single state than in a married state, as there 
 are many persons who prefer teetotalism to the engagement 
 to observe temperance. "Purity," says the illustrious con- 
 vert, "is not a virtue which comes merely as a matter of 
 course to the married any more than to the single, though of 
 course there is a great difference between man and man ; 
 and though it is impossible to bring the matter fairly to an 
 issue, yet for that very reason I have as much right to my 
 opinion as another has to his, when I state my deliberate 
 conviction that there are, to say the least, as many offences 
 against the marriage vow among Protestant ministers, as 
 there are against the vow of celibacy among Catholic priests. 
 I may go very much further than this in my own view of the 
 matter, and think, as I do, that the priest's vow is generally 
 the occasion of virtues which a married clergy does not con- 
 template even in idea." 
 
 I will here give a short pen and ink sketch which fits in 
 with ray theme. Enter with me in spirit a vast and some- 
 what gloomy church in the City of Pans. Its marble Altars 
 somewhat dimmed by age are all ablaze with light; the 
 statues of saints and doctors look down in their severe 
 grandeur from their lofty niches; the last notes of the 
 solemn organ linger yet in the choir ; the great church is 
 filled with an eager throng. Many of them are humble 
 devout Catholics on whose countenances you can almost 
 trace the stigmata of the Blessed Eucharist and holy purity ; 
 on the brow of others sin has placed its mark ; some are 
 torn by doubt ; others perchance are unbelievers whom the 
 fame of the preacher has attracted. A poor triar mounts 
 the pulpit; he has just emerged from his own humble and 
 beloved cell where far away from the din and mists of the 
 world, he spends his time in prayer and meditation on the 
 eternal truths. His frame is enveloped in the ample 
 but rough sack of his order; his loins are girded around 
 with the girdle of celibacy ; his head is shaven in contempt 
 of the vanities of the world. Although there is something 
 in it which tells you that he does not excel in judgment, his 
 face indicates the man of genius. He begins his discourse. 
 The syrnpathetic tones of liis silvery voice issue forth from 
 
19 
 
 li'iB heart and roach tho heart ; he is a man of strong sensi- 
 bility ; he is gifted with the mighty power and grace of tho 
 orat(>r ; ho seizes upon the sympathies and affections of liis 
 auditory and sweeps them away whither he lists ; ho knows 
 how to touch and vibrate overv chord in tlio human heart. 
 By his mighty power tho good are consoled, the proud are 
 humbled, the unmerciful melt into tenderness, the lover of 
 the world gives up his idols, tho sinner prays, the doubter is 
 conlirmod, and the dark soul of tho infadel trembles on the 
 verge of faith. When he ends, he retires to his poor coll, 
 to pray, meditate, road and study. Do you think that his 
 life is not happy ? It should be at least, for it is the moat 
 free and happy life in the world. But our friar in some way 
 or another comes in conflict with that principle of authority 
 which he vowed to obey. The old serpent of disobedience 
 and pride creeps into his soul and tires his brain with the 
 thought ; I will not obey ; 7i<m serviam. He kicks up his 
 heels and sets everybody at defiance. He throws away the 
 rough habit of his order and invests himself in a surtout 
 which at first sits awry upon his monkish person. He is 
 now restless, goes up and down, finding fault with this and 
 that in the Church. He has set liimself up as a reformer. 
 The Church indeed has a divine and a human side. One 
 might as well essay to change tho seasons as to try his hand 
 at reforming the divine side of the Church fashioned by tho 
 wisdom of Almighty God. In the Church which Christ 
 compares to a net that gathers of the good and of the bad, 
 there have always been, and there shall ever bo, scandals 
 and sins and perversity and miseries enough for the exorcise 
 of the reformer's zeal. But the best and shortest way to 
 reform the world is this : let everybody strive to reform him- 
 self. What next do we hoar of our eloquent friar? Ho 
 marries a wife, say, a fair and smart widow, with money in 
 the back ground. Ah! tho woman, that's the trouble! If 
 you should go to Geneva, one of these fine days, you mi^ht 
 find our reforming friar with his feet on the stove nursmg 
 the baby. As the orator ot Notre Dame he was sublime ; he 
 was a living praetical protest against the pride, the lust, the 
 efl'eminacy, the love of ease and wealth — the vices which are 
 to-day dragging the world down into Hell. Now he is ridi- 
 culous ; he has turned his back upon the Christ-principles 
 which alone can save the world, and set his face toward 
 infidelity and sensualism. 
 
 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED MOTHER OP JESUS 
 
 Consists in love, prayer, and the imitation of her virtues. 
 
flO 
 
 Jcfius Christ is the sonrco of Grace, of Merit, nnd of Glory. 
 lie is thu contrul Hiui of the Christian system. His is the 
 only Name vviiore1)y ineii can bo saved. Ho is eternally 
 livint^ in His Church ; in its living voice He it the al)i<llng 
 teacher; in the Hacjranients He applies the rich stroaiu of 
 His prcoioiiH Blood to our sonls; He institutes the priest- 
 hoo(l us the organs whcrohy Ho applies with never- liring 
 activity to every soul that conieth to Him the superabundant 
 merits of His pa^-^ion. Through Him we have access to tho 
 Father, tor He is the Mofliator l^etween God and man. But 
 the mediation of ('lirist does not forbid the intercession of tho 
 saints. We love His mother because He loved her and she 
 is our mother as well. liefore His passion He called His 
 disciples friends; after, He called them brethren. On tho 
 cross he completed the charter of our adoption, and from 
 the cross, in the person of Ht. John, He gave us too the pri- 
 vilege of callins^ her our mother. We ask her to pray lor n ■, 
 because vvc bulieve in the ])Ower of intercessory prayer. 
 Intercessory prayer is taught by the Bible. God commanded 
 the friends of Job to seek his intercession ; Ho oflon spared 
 His people at the intercession of Moses; Ho showed mercy 
 to wicked kings for David their father's sake. The apostle 
 James commanded us to pray for one another that we may be 
 saved. The apostles, who certainly knew there is but one 
 Mediator between God and man, besought the faithful to 
 pray for them. Listen t() the plaintitf tones in which the 
 Protestant minister intercedes for his people. Why does he 
 interpose his shadow betw^^en them and Christ? I am un- 
 ul)le to conceive any ditference between recommending 
 myself to the prayers of the faithful yet sojourning on earth 
 and the happy souls who enjoy the Beatific Vision in Hea- 
 ven, except that the efficacy of prayer must be proportionate 
 to the sanctity of the person who makes it. Thus when 
 Peter wished to ascertain who was the traitor among the 
 twelve, he feared to put the question himself, and therefore 
 desired John, wlio, on account of the special love between 
 him and Christ, might be supposed to ]• ^s-'oss a stronger 
 influence with Him; it was John who put the lainful ques- 
 tion. When some strangers wished to s^ ■ i ;> m 5, :;ey app .a 
 to Philip ; he in turn spoke to Andrew, one of the most 
 favored apostles; and so together they addressed Jesus. — 
 (John, c.12, V.22.) If Elias by his prayer possessed the 
 power to open and shut the windows of heaven, to withhold 
 t-.rj^ procure rain — if the prayer of the just man availeth 
 m'ich — ii iS eas} co conceive the influence which the Blessed 
 Mot/ er must ha, '3 with her Divine Son who was subject to 
 Lor or, earth. While I was engaged writing this lecture, 
 
 4 
 
•21 
 
 there was on the onposito wall a picture of the Blosflod Vir- 
 gin and the adu. !U»lo child Jowurt Htunding by her side. I 
 rairto my eyes aiul look ut her pure and mild countenance 
 and Hay: SpotU)^*'^ Motiior of Juhuh pray for nie, and obtain 
 for me from thy divine Son tho grace of holy purity. Do 
 you not think tnat tho (•in'^nlation will have n purifying effect 
 U|>on my minn ,in<l tliou^htis'!' You have often ^It the 
 elevating inilm-nce vvliich the petUKftl of a good Hook has 
 upon the mind. Are tl ere not men in tin* world, ai.il when 
 you come in contact with them ft«d converse with them, 
 when you leave their preHeiice, do yon not think hettor of 
 human nature? What a miserable ieeling stealn over ua 
 after converHing with a bad, vulgar man, or reading a bad 
 book ! The Catholic Church places before the eyes of her 
 children the Hi)otlo8H mother of Jesus aw the model whom 
 they should strive to imitate and especially in her holj 
 purity. The effect of her example is most powerful. Every 
 priest lias in his parish young men and raanlens enrolled iti 
 the order of the Immaculate Mary, who it their purity rival 
 the very angels of heaven. 
 
 I have finished my theme. So far as m^ )wn Hock is con- 
 cerned, there was no necessity for the defe ice I have sot up. 
 I am glad to see so many of my Prot»'stant neighbors 
 present. I would live in peace and aocia harmony with 
 them; I respect them for their good qua 'ties and social 
 virtues. I nave no desire to pain them when I say that 
 I pity them for the sickening and utterl} contemptible 
 polemical 'iterature that circulates among hem. There 
 13 one paper circulating in the place, and its minagers seem 
 to take a morbid pleasure in carting into its •ovangelicar' 
 pages all the filthy garbage they can rake w • against the 
 Church. What good purpose can they serve by the publica- 
 tion of such obscene stufl'? They may debase the minds of 
 their young and ohl readers ; they may intensif their hate 
 of the priest ; they may confirm the infidel in his misery ; 
 they may win for themselves some of the contempt and 
 loathing they would direct towards the priest? bir injure the 
 Catholic cause — never. God rules and He will vatch over 
 us while we preserve our hands clean and our b arts pure. 
 To-day the Catholic Church moves along on her heaven- 
 
 fiven mission wearing the crown of thorns like her Divine 
 ounder. To-day the world hates her, labors to blacken 
 her, and manacle her hands, as it hated her in the ]>eginning 
 and called her an "execrable superstition." While the dis- 
 nolvi ng sects are drifting away into the darkness and the 
 storm, she, the immaculate spouse of Christ, towers among 
 them all in calm and majestic and solitary grandeur.