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decay, like the tender bud before the
untimely frost, we have a fitting example
to illustrate the assertion that the “free
air of the Republic” is not charged with
danger for the well-being of Catholicism.
The growth of Catholicism, under the
fostering flag of civil and religious liber
ty, is simply marvellous in this country.
Notwithstanding the injustices to which
Catholics as a body are still subjected,
we are well satisfied with the system of
Government under which we live, and we
would not change it if we could, although
some say we are always conspiring
against the liberties of our Republic.
What we ask for first of all, is the eleva
tion of religion to its proper place—such
social order as the people in their wisdom
may consider consistent with, and suited
to their corporate temperament.
If then the change put on foot in
France favors religion and good order,
favors the rights of the Supreme Rnler,
favors conscientious convictions which
iDr. Newman with much originality and
force, styles the “aboriginal Vicar of
Christ,” we can see no reason why we,
as Catholics, would not salute the resus
citated Republic with the warmest greet
ings. But if, on the oontrary.it is to be sub
servient to tlfe visionary and destructive
schemes of those ideal Republicans who
aby hd, in the leading centres of Euro
pefc States; if it is to be the instrumen
tality through which social rights are to
be assailed, and the laws of the Higher
Power conveniently ignored or irrever
ently despised, then the sooner such a
Government system comes to a close,
having ceased its nefarious functions, the
better it will be for France, and for hu
man society in general.
But as far as the Church is concerned,
we repeat, that she is bound to the
fortunes of no dynasty. She is above
them all; for she rules the realms of the
mind and heart in the name of the King
of Kings. She is the friend of the peo
ple, and the masses in the hour of their
dire distress instinctively turn to her as
the Israelites of old turned to the mighty
Jehovah, that they might find solace when
consolation no where else can be found.
If the Republic which the Deputies of
France, speaking in the name of the people
have created, proves itself recreant to its
trust; and seeks to subvert the cause to
which, through good and ill, the popu
lation of that glorious land have clung,
we may rest assured that the first to ex
pose the sham, reveal the hypocrisy,
and to tear away the mask from the face
of deception and guile, will be that same
institution which has sung the funeral
chant over the dissolving remains of
kingdoms without number, and, States
j&eyond any political classification. The
[For the Southern Cross.)
FAITH AND ITS MYSTERIES.
We believe, every day, in the material
world, a thousand things wMch we do
not understand. Still more, in mattery
of Religion must there be mysteries, if
we consider the elevation of the subject.
Truly," there would be no merit or virtue
to believe, if all was made clear and
manifest to us; the beauty of Faith is,
that we bow down our understanding
and reason before the infinite knowl
edge of God, and accept His word on
His own authority. Faith must needs
have its mysteries. They are “above”
reason but not “against” it, and this
difference is immense.
For what is an absurdity, a contradic
tion ? It is that which presents at the same
time, and in the same sense, the being
and the non-being in the same object—it
is that wMch contains an affirmative and
a negative. The mysteries of Faith offer
nothing of the kind. The “How” is
inconceivable, but nothing is absolutely
incompatible.
. The “Trinity,” for instance, seems ob
scure, but it does not contain contradic
tor}'ideas. They do not tell us that,
What is “one” is also “triple” in the same
sense; or that three things of a Mnd
make only one thing of the same kind;
I they do not present to our Faith one
j God and three Gods, which would be ab
'strd, but only three persons in God,
I which are only one God. The Trinity
afects the persons only and not the
substance, in this, no limit, no division.
Hie Christian adores one only Being, all
'powerful, eternal, immense, infinite; and
His attributes are common and entire
in each person in the unity, and perfect
simplicity of a same essence. This mys
tery was once beautifully illustrated to
an Indian, by pointing to him a lake
covered with ice, upon which snow had
just fallen; there was snow above the ice
and water under it, and still the three
■were all water. The Indian accepted at
once the Trinity. But how to explain the
divine fecundity, the union of three
persons in one substance, and all the
energy of this word “person” employed
to express, says St. Augustine, what is
above all expression, there is the mystery
that Faith proposes to our belief; but it
is sufficient to see that in the ideas it
contains, there is nothing absurd.
Also in the mystery of the Incarnation;
Faith does not offer to us a God, who, in
becoming man, altered in Himself this
divine nature, wMch is by its essence
“inalterable,” but a God, who, without
ceasing, to be all that He is by Himself,
has deigned to unite Himself to human
nature. The variations, the humiliations
and sufferings of the “word made flesh”
fall upon his humanity; and in Jesus
Christ, by the union of the two natures,
the sufferings are of a man, the merits
of a God. This union is astonishing, the
idea is incomprehensible, but not contra
dictory.
In the Eucharist, it is the same body
immolated on Calvary, which is at the
same time in Heaven and on earth upon
our altars; and, according to enlightened
physicians and profound philosophers,
it is not necessary that it should be every
where, the same numerical quantity of
matter, and in total the same number of
particles,in order that is should be every
where the same man, and, properly speak
ing, the same body.
In all these religions mysteries then,
I see tilings that are obscure, but none
that an upright reason and sane philoso
phy might name absurd—since there
is none that contain the principle of
contraditlon, so called by “Luibeitz,”
which is the essential rule of all that is
truly absurd or impossible.
Jacksonville, Florida. Cl. V. M.
BIIRTIVIG ALIVE.
Great efforts have been made by scien
tific men to discover some rule by which
death may be infallibly indicated. For
years the French Government has held
out a standing reward of a large amount
of money to any one who would discover
and communicate a satisfactory test,
other than that of actual decomposition,
indicated by the skin turning to be black
and blue and green, which is conclusive
on the subject; but in cold weather this
may not take place in many weeks, and
to “keep the body” so long would be in
convenient and objectionable on several
accounts. A method has recently been
given to the French Government, which
will probably take the prize. Hold a
lighted candle to any portion of a body,
a blister will soon rise; if, on puncture, it
gives out a fluid substance, death has
not taken place; if it emits air only, it is
perfectly certain that life has become
entirely extinct, for which we offer but
one reason among others: In case of
actual death, the blood is congealed—in
asense, there is no moisture, simply a
little air; this, being rarified under a
flame, raises up the skin; if there is life,
the flame causes an inflammation, and
nature, in her alarm, sends increased
material there for repairs, a kind of
glairy fluid, and this, being sent there in
excess, causes the skin to rise. Inability
to feel the pulse or heart beat, cold skin,
or dew on a bit of glass—none of these
.are conclusive, there has been life,
whan noncj' of 'these were observed.—
Hall’s Journal of Health.
TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION.
The past history of the families o
Louis Napoleon and of the Sultan o?
Turkey is full of interesting and marvel
lous incidents, some of.which are proba
bly not generally known to our readers.
These two monarchs, who a few years
ago so cordially united in the struggle to
maintain the integrity of the Ottoman
Empire, were both the descendants of
West Indian ladies—the one a grandson,
the other a great-grandson. The ladies
were born in the same neighborhood, on
the island of Martinique, one of the
Weßt Indies. They were Josephine de
Taschreau and Miss & .
The history of JosepMne is generally
well known. She went over to France,
and was married to M. de Beauhamais,
by whom she had one son (Eugene) and
a daughter (Hortense). Some time after
the death of Beauharnais, Josephine was
married to Napoleon Bonaparte, and be
came Empress of France. Her only
daughter, Hortense, was married to
Louis Bonaparte, then King of Holland;
and the late Emperor of France was her
son by this marriage.
But now for the romance of this affair.
Josephine’s bosom friend left the Island
of Martinique some time before she did.
But the vessel that was carrying her to
France was attacked and captured by
Algerian corsairs, and the crew and pas
sengers were made prisoners. But the
corsair ship was in turn attacked and
pillaged by Tunis pirates, and Miss
S was taken by them to Constantino
ple, and there offered for sale as a slave.
Her extraordinary beauty and accom
plishments found her a purchaser in the
Sultan himself, and she soon became the
chief lady in his seraglio, and Sultana of
Turkey. Mahmoud 11. was her son; Ab
dul Mejid was the son of Mahmoud; and
the present Sultan, Abdul Aziz Kahn,
is the grandson of Mahmoud.
Thus these two sovereigns, who have
occupied so large a space in the world’s
eye, descended from two French Creole
girls, who were playmates from their
youth, and as remarkable for their beauty
and excellent dispositions as for their
varied and similar fortunes.
Both of these women, in the height of
their power, did not forget those who
were the friends of their youth, but pro
vided munificently for their welfare.
Many of the relatives of the Sultana left
the island of Martinique and settled at
Constantinople, where their descendants
still reside, and enjoy the favor of the
Sultan. The Sultana died in 1811; and
the Empress Josephine in the year 181.4.
Pittsburg Catholic.
THE SOU THE 1H CROSS.
A TOUCHING STORY.
Avery touching and beautiful story
comes to us from the East concerning
the Princess Marc line Czartoryska ! who
reoently died in tfrUlicia. Her little
grandson fell ill, and his life was de
spaired of. The Dowager, in a sublime
prayer, asked God to take her life i replace
of that of her grandson. By a sort of
miracle the child was saved; |but almost
immediately the Princess was attacked by
a malady of langor to which it was
impossible to ascribe any natural cause.
“It is a debt that I owe to Heaven,”
she said, smiling faintly. A few days
later, upon a radiant afternoon, she had
herself rolled out in her easy chair <Cu the
lawn and then gave orders to havk all
the doors and gates of the gardens
opened, so that everybody might ..mter.
When the village heard of it, they, at
once, left their tasks. Old men. and
young women, young men and maidens
and little children pressed about the dy
ing Princess, who had long been a moth
er to them, for she had the old fashion
ed notion that the people are the family
of the Sovereign.
Then began a most touching cere
mony. The children came first. Draw
ing the youngest one into her aims, she
embraced it, saying: “Let this fall
upon you all, my dear friends,” Then
she gave to each child a medallion bear
ing the evangelical words, “Love one an
other.” After the children, came the
young girls and women. To each of
them she gave a little case containing im
plements for needle-work and a chaplet
and an image of the Blessed Virgin. To
the men she gave an ebony cross, and for
each gift and recipient she had appro
priate words.
When she had extended her last pres
ent, she was so exhausted that her son
and daughter-in-law, who stood by her,
wished to have her wheeled back into the
house, but she said no. She then beg
ged the people to recite, in a leafed voice,
the dominical orison. Then at a sign
from her hand they all knelt, and their
voices in fervent tones broke out in the
recital of the Lord’s Prayer. As the
“Amen” still echoed in the air she felt
death invading her heart, and whisper
ing “Marcel,” the name of her grandson,
the child was brought, and as he was
being carried to her lips, her head drop
ped upon her breast, and without a
sigh she rendered up her soul to God.
So much for a scene that seems to be
taken from a poem, an ideal. state of
society than one can hardly reconcile
with the present.— Paris Cor. of New
York Graphic.
f v ■
CATHOLIC CONGRESS AT FREIBURG.
The following general resolutions were
carried with acclamation at the recent
Congress of German Catholics at Frei
burg in Baden:
1. The Church is a perfect empire, en
dowed by God with special rights in the
field of teaching, consecrating, and juris
diction. According to divine and posi
tive law it does not depend upon the
State for the exercise of its functions,
and entire liberty must be accorded to
the Church for all its actions.
2. The State as well as the individ
ual is subject to the law of God. Uncon
ditional and unlimited obedience to the
laws of the State is therefore an offense
against the divine moral law, which
stands above the Constitution and the
law of the State.
3. It is an attack upon the existence
of the Church to try and limit the Pope,
the Supreme Head of the whole Church,
in the execution of his unlimited power
as to his teaching and as to his juris
diction over the whole Christian world.
4. This Congress repeats its protest
against the suppression of the temporal
power of the Pope as a violation of the
Apostolic See and of Christianit .
5. It is an offense against the laws of
God and the rights of the Church for
the State to undertake to decide ques
tions in regard to the education, ap
pointment, or removal of clergymen,
or about the constitution and adminis
tration of the Church. It is also an
offense against the Catholic faith and
against a notorious truth to recognize
as Catholic persons who have separated
themselves from the authority of the
Church, and who, as a matter of fact,
are simply Protestants.
6. The abolition of congregations and
religious orders is a violation of the
rights of the Church and of personal
liberty.
7. The Catholic Church receives from
God power and authority to teach its
doctrines. It has, therefore, an inviolable
right of establishing schools in which the
Christian youth shall be taught and
educated according to the principles of
religion. Under no circumstance what
ever could the Church grant to the secu
lar power the right to make enactments
for instruction in religious matters.
Catholic teachers can give snch instruc
tion only by authorization from the
Church, and Christian parents can con
fide their children only to such schools
as are approved by the ecclesiastic'll
authority. . ’7
8. All Catholics look with admiratiJn
upon the sublime attitude of the Hd
Father and the dutiful German dergj,
undergoing now the most cruel suffer
ings. Theirs is a struggle for the exist
ence of the Catholic Church, for the con
servation of religion, and the liberty of
the Christian faith. The Catholic
Church never can or will submit to a sys
tem of laws which is in contradiction to
its constitution founded by God. Peace
can only be restored when the Catholic
Church receives back its rights and pow
ers, which it claims by virtue of divine
and public law.
THE GERMAN OCEAN ONCE DRY LAND.
The German Ocean or the North Sea,
like the English Channel is supposed to
have been at one time an inland plain or
valley, raised far above the sea level.
The sea has only recently invaded this
flooded plain, submerged its forests, and
superceded its river courses. The buri
ed trees of its sunken forests are still
standing, rooted in their own vegetable
soil, although beneath the waves. Cro
mer Forest, which dips into the waters
from the coast of Norfolk, is
the most famous of the submerg
ed forests of the German Ocean.
This ancient woodland has been traced
at low tide for a distance of more than
forty miles. At certain seasons, and
especially after great storms, the
stumps of oak, alder, yew, and
Scotch fir, are still to be seen stand
ing upright in the water. The
condition of the wood and fir cones,
(some of the latter obviously bitten by
animals) tell us that the sinking of the
land here occurred at no distant period
in the history of our country.
The remains of land animals too, as
well as the forest that they inhabited,are
discovered in the bed of the German
Ocean. In his “Physical Geography of
Norfolk,” Mr. Woodward tells us that in
less than fifteen years the fishermen of
the village of Happisburg had dredged
up from among their oyster bads as
many as txvo thousand teeth of mam
moths. Bones and tusks of mammoths
have also been fished np from the watery
depths.
It takes us back to the time when the
European mainland, instead of termina
ting, as it does to-day, with the coasts of
Norway and France, stretched far west
ward in oue unbroken area, beyond the
present coast of Ireland. These were
flourishing days of the forests of oak,
chestnut, alder, and yew, which are now
submerged in the German Ocean and
the English Channel
BOOK NOTICES,
John Dorrien, by Julia Kavanaugh,
!author of Nathalie, etc. It is not often
in these days of sensation literature that
we read a novel with the pleasure given
us in the perusal of John Dorrien. The
story is well woven, never flagging in
interest, and cultivates the good and
honorable in our natures. The style is
easy and flowing, exhibiting cultivation
without pedantry, and principle without
pharasaic rigidity. Some of the descrip
tions are gems of word painting. For
instance this, of an old Church at La
Ruya:
“John Dorrien followed the
high road. It led him up a hill, with
monotonous plantations of olive trees
on either side, and here and there a
lonely farm, until it brought him at
length to a church, standing alone on the
brow of the mountain, and overlooking
the deep valley beneath. A carved oross
and three huge ilex trees, gave the little
piazza in front of the portico a calm,
monastic look. This was no village
church, with peasant dwellings clustering
around it, as children gather r<.und their
mother’s knee in love and reverance, but
an austere and lonely teacher, raising
her voice in the desert, as John the
Baptist once raised his, calling on sin
ners to repent and mend their ways.
John pushed the door open and entered.
As he passed from the southern bright
ness of the day to the more than Gothic
gloom within, he stood irresolute, for at
first he saw little or nothing; but grad
ually the darkness seemed to fade away,
and he was aware of a brown old place,
very quaint and very low, with heavy
arches and stained-glass windows, and a
few ancient pictures over its altars. The
oaken benches were black with age, and
here and there a gleam of tarnished
gold shone through the perpetual twi
light of the place, telling of the departed
splendor and rich endowments of former
ages. It was quite solitary, but a mur
mer of chanting came from behind the
high altar. The singers were invisible.
Not one token of every day life was to
be found here. No little child was say
ing its prayers—one of the most beauti
ful sights in the Catholic Churches of
Catholic countries; no wearied woman
knelt, resting herself in worship from
the cares and toils of the day; no bare
headed man was humbly seeking
strength wherewith to bear the burden
of his life; and yet, even when the ohant
ing ceased, as it did suddenly, the pres
ence of God filled this silent, lonely
church, and made it beautiful and holy,
and John Dorrien felt that it was home,
for it was the Father’s house.”
How simple the sketch, yet how beau
tifully are the details filled in ! We can
heartily commend this novel to our read
ers. We have enjoyed the manliness
of John Dorrien, the grim honesty of
Mrs. Reginald, almost got angry, with
the weaknesses of Mrs. John, pitied the
entanglements of Antoinette, contemned
the cold worldliness of George Dorrien,
and despised the Sybarite philosophy
of Oliver Black. Having enjoyed the
fare, we would that others should also
partake of it with us.
The Woman of Honor; A Book far
women, translated from the French of
Louis Enault, by Mrs. Rebecca L. Tutt.
T. B. Peterson &-Brothers, Philadelphia.
We have A received from the publishers,
the Brothers Peterson, a copy of this
novel. It is thoroughly French in its
conception and execution, and the trans
lation well preserves its national traits
and the peculiarities of French sentiment
and its expression. Touching incidents
excite smypathy, and beautiful descrip
tions please the imagination. Its tone is
good, and aims at elevating the honorable
and the true in human nature. We en
dorse the opinion of Gen. Strother
(Porte Crayon), introducing it, that—
“lt is a book which may be read with
pleasure in the most refined family circle;
and with profit by that large class of young
women, who are, in this country, earnest
ly and practically endeavoring to solve
the question of woman’s rights and
woman’s duties.”
The Child. By Bishop Dupanloup:
Patrick Donahoe, Boston, Publisher.
Our space this week does not permit us
to review this work as it merits. We
reserve it for our next issue.
Be Agreeable.— The beauty of a Chris
tian life consists in the application of great
principles to common relations of daily
life. The duty to be agreeable is tire
outcome and elaboration of Christ’s great
law of love. If we love men, we shall
seek to make ourselves a joy to them
Any failure to do this is as real an infrac
tion of the divine law, as to trample the
Decalogue under foot. Not only has a
man no right to kill his neighbor: he has
no right to make himself a nuisance to
him. It is little that you do not actually
pilfer his purse, or rob Ms house, if your
conduct deprive him of comfort or privi
lege. Do not flatter yourself too much
because you neither cheat, nor swear,
nor indulge in other pet vices: your hot
tempei, ycmr selfish indMefttnse to the
happiness of others, your frigid, unsym
pathetic reserve, put you in the rank of
sinners. If you add to the discomfort
and unpleasantness of the world, even in
trifles, you are so far a traitor to the King
dom of Heaven.
Exposition of the Relics oe St. Vin
cent de Paul in Philadelphia.— During
the past week the daughters of St. Vin
cent, the Sisters of Charity, have been
paying increased honor and devotion to
their holy founder. In St. Joseph’s
Hospital, a portion of the relics of the
great friend of the poor has been pub
licly exposed, in a richly decorated case,
to the worship of the Sisters, and of
such of the patients as are able to at
tend the chapel. The little altar impro
vised for the occasion looks just like
what might be expected from the skilled
taste of the good Sisters. Several of
the visitors to the chapel, during bene
diction, could not refrain from express
ing their delight at what they had seen.
All the festivals of the Church are cele
brated with splendor at the Hospital.
The Sultan has at last awoke to the
necessity of reforming the civil adminis
tration of his Empire. Many years ago,
at the instigation of the Christian Pow
ers, a firman was promulgated, guaran
teeing entire freedom to the Christians
qf Turkey. This has, all along, been a
dead letter. Now, the promise so long
broken to the hope, is to be redeemed
fully, wholly and entirely. The time is
happily gone by, when the Christians of
the Orient are left to the mercy of mus
sulman faith. They will henceforward
cease to be “dogs” for Turks to kick,
and sheep for the followers of the pro
phet to fleece. The latest news from
the seat of insurrection indicate most
hopefully for the success of the Christian
cause.
The new German periodical, DeuischM
Rundschau, which has met with such
success, announces among its forthcoming
attractions not only letters and new
communications concerning Henrioh
Heine, but actually promises some
hitherto unpublished poems. It wiß
also give a life of Heine’s mother and
some of her letters.
Mrs. Herschel, wife of Captain Har
schel, F. R. S. (grandson of the cele
brated Sir William Herschel), is now
engaged on a memoir of Miss Caroline
Herschel, the accomplished sister and
assistant of Sir William, compiled from
her own journals. Several letters of
the great astronomer, hitherto unpub
lished, will be included in the volume.
5