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only religious institution that dares to do deadly battle with Masonry. Protestantism has yielded in its presence-for is not the heir-apparent of the English throne the Grand Master of Masonry in England, and is not the representative of royalty its Grand Master in Ireland? Protestant Germany has fallen prostrate before Masonry-for is not its emperor its grand protector (to use the jargon of its pantomimic ritual) in his mighty empire, and his omnipotent Prince-Chancellor one of the grand

1866, in the course of an article on the Masonic Statutes, expressly discusses that one in which there is mention made of the existence of God, and the immortality of the soul. "Is there nothing," asks the Monde Maconnique, "to be exacted of a man in order that he may be deemed worthy of being a Mason? Nothing, except that he be an honest man. Is he to reject the idea of a God? Give him such an idea as will satisfy his reason. Is he to doubt of a future life? Prove to him that annihilation is contradic-est of its grand officers? Down with tory. Is he to despise the founda- Catholicity! for whilst it stands tions of morality? Well, what mat- erect, there will stand with it, as ter if he does, if he lives and acts as there stands to-day, a feeble old man if he acknowledged them." Is it in Rome to bid the Masonic hosts possible to conceive an ethical sys- stand back, and to wither them into tem more revolting than this; or is impotence with a curse little less it hard to conceive the manner of than divine. But, with all its pasmen that will be moulded out of its sionate longing, Masonry shall not adoption? With such principles for be triumphant, for Catholicity has its guidance, it cannot astonish us the assurance of its Founder that it to hear Proudhon, who was as high will not go down in face of it, or of in Masonry as his congenial merits the gates of hell. deserved from it, proclaiming that "Freemasonry is the very negation of the religious element." And so it is we find that the press organs of Masonry are steeped to their utmost capacity in the filth and hideousness of a downright Atheism, or a Deism that despises God. Any one who has taken the trouble of purchasing, in Brussels, in Liege, or some other of the towns of Belgium, or at some of the kiosques in Paris or Marseilles, the journals of the sect, will readily agree that we have not in the least exaggerated the impious character of their contents. And what does all this mean? It means simply that Masonry is the propagandist of infidelity, to the end that it may thereby destroy the Catholic Church. This is the passionate longing of the sect. "Down with Catholicity!" is its cry, not alone in effect, but in words-for Catholicity once gone, the name and the glory of its Divine Founder go with it. Down with the Catholic Church!-it is the

It is not our purpose just now to travel farther into the fields of Masonic operations or Masonic projects. We have written but a slight fraction of all that might be written about them. But we trust we have said enough to show, that Catholics are not unjustified in looking with aversion upon this huge Masonic organization. Even if they did not know what it is, what it aims at, and how it seeks the accomplishment of what it aims at, they would have more than ample reason for shrinking from the remotest contact with it, in the repeated and emphatic condemnations with which it has been visited by the Infallible Head of their Church.

Of these condemnations it may not be uninteresting that we should here recapitulate a few. In the first half of the last century, Masonry began to be openly propagated throughout Europe, and speedily made its mark for evil. Accordingly, we find the Pastor of the fold awake and

vigilant. On the 27th of April, 1738, Clement XII issued a Bull, In eminenti, condemning the association. "Reflecting," wrote his Holiness, "on the great evils which these secret societies give us reason for apprehending, as well for the tranquillity of states as for the safety of souls, after having taken counsel with our Venerable Brethren, the cardinals, of our own motion, and by the plenitude of the Apostolic power, we have resolved and decreed that the before-named societies, assemblies, or reunions of Freemasons, whatever name they may take, should be condemned and proscribed; therefore, we condemn and proscribe them by this present Constitution, whose effect is to last forever. Therefore, in virtue of holy obedience, we forbid all the Christian faithful, and each one of them in particular, of whatsoever age, dignity, or condition they may be, cleric or laic, secular or regular, to establish, propagate, or favor the aforesaid society of Freemasons, to join or assist at their reunions under pain of excommunication, to be incurred ipso facto, without any further declaration, and specially reserved to ourselves and our successors, so that no one can absolve them from it without our authorization, save only in articulo mortis."

During the Pontificate of Benedict XIV, an attempt was made to maintain that the Constitution of Clement XII had ceased to have effect, and that his condemnation of it was, therefore, null. Benedict XIV made a diligent examination of the matter, and soon resolved all doubts upon the subject. On the 18th of May, 1751, his Holiness issued a Bull, Providas, confirming in every particular the Constitution of his predecessor. "To the end," says the Bull, "that no one may accuse us of falling short in anything which prudence demands of us, we have resolved to renew the Constitution of our predecessor, by inserting it

word for word in the present letters; therefore, acting on certain knowledge, and in virtue of the plenitude of the Apostolic power, we confirm and renew it, and we will and decree that it shall from this day be put in force as if it had been just published for the first time."

Towards the early part of the present century, Masonry sent forth one of its pernicious offshoots in the infamous confederation known as the Italian Carbonari. The confederation was not long in existence until it made evident its vast capability for evil. As usual, the Head of the Church was wakeful against the new enemy, and so we find Pope Pius VII issuing his Bull, Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo, of the 17th September, 1821, denouncing the impious association-tracing its intimate alliance with Freemasonry, and visiting it with the Church's anathema. In this Constitution the illustrious Pontiff renews the penalty of a specially reserved excommunication against all the members of the confederation, and against those who in any way favored it. But the propagandists of the secret societies abated nothing of their unholy energy in their warfare against the Church; it appeared rather as if they had been only stirred up to more diabolical activity. Accordingly, it seemed fitting to the then Sovereign Pontiff, Leo XII, to warn the faithful anew against these iniquitous confederations, and he published, on March 3d, 1825, his Bull, Quo graviora, containing a republication of the Constitution we have already enumerated. In this Bull his Holiness reaffirmed the Apostolic condemnations of secret societies, declaring that their founders and their chiefs were the propagandists of indifference in matters of religion, and that they claimed for themselves and their organization a power of life and death over those who violated their secrets or refused obedience to whatsoever

ordinances the Lodges might send forth. In this Bull special mention is made of Freemasonry, and all the faithful are warned against association or participation of any sort in the Masonic organization. It renews the penalties of former Constitutions imposed on those who become members of it, and reserves the excommunication specially to the Holy See.

Scarcely had our present illustrious Pontiff ascended the Papal throne than he, too, hurled the anathemas of the Church against the secret societies. In his Encyclical, Qui pluribus, of November 9th, 1846, he re-enacted the preceding Constitutions, and made distinct mention of the Masonic brotherhood. Again, in 1865, in his Allocution of September 25th, he reaffirmed his previous condemnation, and earnestly implored of all the faithful who had had the misfortune to join the Masonic body to separate themselves from it, and return to the obedience of dutiful children.

From all this it is clear that the Church looks with horror upon the Masonic confederation, and she does so, because she holds that Masonry is working in direct antagonism to her teaching and to her interests. The struggle has reached to this: Which shall be triumphant, Masonry or Catholicity? There is no effort at concealment of the purposes of

Masonry. In the Monde Maconnique of May, the issue is directly put: "One cannot," says that journal, "be at the same time a Mason and a Catholic." In such a struggle Catholics have no doubt of the result. They know what Christ has promised to his Church, and they know that Christ will not be wanting to his promises. But at such a time, and in face of such hostile forces ranged against her, it is not becoming that her children should be inactive. They must not cease to do battle for the cause and the interests

so dear to her heart. They must be firm in their allegiance. to her, and loyally obedient to all her commands. There must be no union of any sort whatever with organizations, whatever be their name, which aim at the overthrow of her authority. Companionship in secret associations must be avoided, and the children of the Church must not suffer themselves to be tempted into seeming acknowledgment of the lawfulness of such associations by sharing in any of their assemblages, whether of festivity or otherwise, remembering that by such participation they incur the anger and the punishment of their Church. Catholics have but to be earnest in their attachment to their creed, and let it struggle as it will, Masonry will be made to feel that it has encountered a foe which it is powerless to vanquish.

WHY all this toil for triumphs of an hour?
What, though we wade in wealth, or soar in fame?
Earth's highest station ends in "Here he lies!"
And "Dust to dust" concludes her noblest song.

A RAMBLE IN SABINUM.

On the 1st of March, at sunrise, a great many years ago, two travellers, with their guide Domenico, passed out from Rome on the Via Salaria for an expedition into Sabinum. We had come chiefly for curiosity-the Englishman's occupation -to see what we could of Rome and its vicinity. A pair of light Roman horses took our vehicle at a fair pace towards Cures, now Correze; from that place we were to proceed on foot.

Our guide Domenico, a sinisterlooking, servile fellow, wore an English shooting-jacket, was attended by a couple of dogs, and carried a good double-barrelled gun. He was one of those men who are spoiled and made venal by their intercourse with English and the touch of English gold. "We should, perhaps," he said, “pick up a woodcock, or some snipes, or at least some thrushes." He sought to please us by hinting a desire to get rid of religion and a priest for a king. He said that he had been, in time past, with Leo XII, who at times enjoyed the sight of a boar-hunt in Sabinum; but we did not always take Domenico's word for gospel. We soon crossed the Anio, which came down from our right, across the road-a rapid, turbid stream, with a considerable volume of water, the "Aniena fluenta," rushing on to join the Tiber. Near the confluence, and hard by the Tiber, stands Castel Giubileothe ancient Fidenæ-on a strong hill commanding the road; it must have been a place of considerable military strength. Three miles on lies Crustumerium, now Marcigliano, on a long ridge, not of such height as the first, but strong and precipitous. We then passed several little streams running down to the Tiber, with steep

banks, one of which was perhaps the Allia.

We soon saw before us the range of Mount Lucretilis, on the hither side of which lay Horace's farm, for he had from it a full view of Soracte, the top of which was visible on the other side of the Tiber, a beautiful peaked outline. It was Horace's signal for a larger supply of billets upon the hearth when the snow lay upon it-"dum stet nive candidum.” There was a little snow upon its further sides, but not much; while Lucretilis was considerably whitened with it in front of us. At half-past eleven we put up at Cures, some twenty or thirty miles from Rome; and here we dismissed our carriage to proceed on foot, with our knapsacks at our back. The remains of Numa's birthplace are but small-an osteria, with a few outhouses, form Correze. But the old village of Cures was in a flat somewhat further on; it must have been a hamlet of no military position or strength. A bright stream runs by it, with a gravelly bed, and, we are told, has trout of a pound weight in it. We followed the course of the pretty stream, across some fine meadows, and gradually entered a woodland scene; then, leaving the little river, turned away to the right under the hills which rose around us, and, as they opened, discovered to us our first sight of a Sabine valley, such a one as Horace had "in votis.” Right opposite stood Soracte, rising high in the distance towards Etruria. The valley consists of sunny slopes, or rather of glades running amid thicklywooded slopes, over which the wild vine creeps and hangs.

We returned to Cures; and after a draught of "vile Sabinum”—which is far from despicable, being a good,

strong-bodied, and well-tasted dark wine, bearing some resemblance to Burgundy-we set out for Castel S. Pietro, a walk of some fifteen miles. We followed the rivulet, or "fosso," of Cures through a pleasant vale, and soon had peeps of the distant Sabine mountains, and the town of Farfar, on the summit of a hill. But I had not prepared myself for the pleasures of a three days' walk in Sabinum. Rocks rose from the valley like pictures in the old editions of Virgil, and the opposite side was clothed with hanging wood, like the fairy banks of the Wye. Crossing the rivulet and ascending the banks, we entered a wood upon a mountain side, and looked down on a valley through which the river Farfar was winding. Several cities upon the hills studded the vale, at the head of the valley Castel S. Pietro crowning a hilltop, and on similar heights Montopoli and Aspra. The wood was full of violets and a small, sweet bell-flower. The oaks still retained their brown leaves, and the olives and holm oaks gave an appearance of summer leafiness in the early spring. Woodmen were engaged in burning large quantities of wood for charcoal. Descending the mountain, and crossing a little stream at its foot, we gained a fresh view towards Castel Nuovo, rising on a picturesque, conical hill. The slopes around were covered with the gray olives, the black fruit of which was now ready for gathering. Evening was closing in as we crossed the bridge of the river Farfar. The stream runs clear and swift, and has trout of two and three pounds, which they spear like salmon by torchlight. Our path ascended a steep mountain side, through vineyards, to Castel S. Pietro. Short elms, with the tops and branches lopped, supported the vines. Higher upon the hill the olive trees covered the rocky ground, the soil of which was so scanty that it was a wonder they could grow so well and to such a size. A party of

olive gatherers were shaking the trees or picking the black fruit, which was ripe and oily, but very bitter to the taste. A few cypress trees crowned the brow, and opposite these sat a knot of peasant girls, who had been engaged in the olive gathering. Our classical ideas were then uppermost, and the Georgics rushed to the mind:

"Difficiles terræ, collesque maligni,
Tenuis ubi argilla, et dumosis calculus arvis,
Palladiâ gaudent silvâ vivacis oliva."

We turned to look at the setting sun, which was going down behind Soracte and the Volsinian Mountains far away in Etruria; the whole valley beneath us, studded with its white cities upon the hilltops, was glowing crimson as it sank; and just as it went down we entered Castel S. Pietro. We could see the whole of our route as on a map, and St. Peter's on the horizon, though near forty miles distant. No doubt they can see distinctly from S. Pietro the glorious lighting of the dome upon Easter-eve.

There are, or were, no inns in Sabinum; so our guide Domenico took us to the parish priest, whom he highly praised as not one of your every-day men. He certainly was most hospitable, coming out to meet us with bread and wine and a basket of eggs, insisting on our eating immediately. His ejaculations of delight at seeing two strangers showed that he knew some little English, which he made us understand that he had learned in Malta. As our Italian was very scanty, we could not keep up much conversation, but made the best of our Lenten fare, and found the wine excellent. After our refreshment, the good arciprête took us to visit the pretty parish church, which was handsome, and had some good paintings. He rang the bell himself to summon the people for Benediction. On our return we received an invitation, through Domenico, to visit one of the chief families of the little town, and were shown into a room in a handsome

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