ROMAOATHOLICKSl 
 mmiki WITH THAI Or 
 THP POPES? 
 
 pen Lett! lo Cardin<i 
 Jameb vj bbons 
 
 lioN r 
 
IS ROMAN CATHOLICISM IN AMERICA 
 
 IDENTICAL WITH THAT OF 
 
 THE POPES? 
 
 OR, 
 
 Open Letters to Cardinal 
 James Gibbons 
 
 BY 
 
 THOS. E. WATSON 
 
 Author of "The Story of France, " "Napoleon," "Life and Times of 
 
 Andrew Jackson," "The Roman Catholic Hierarchy," 
 
 "A Brief Survey of Pagan Civilization," Etc. 
 
 1914: 
 
 Published By 
 
 THE JEFFERSONIAN PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 Thomson, Ga. 
 
Copyright by 
 
 THOS. E. WATSON 
 
 1914 
 
 Southern Pqmpbletl 
 
 Rare Book ColiectioA 
 
 UNC-Chapel Hi]] 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 CHAPTER I. — Roman Catholic Hierarchy Antagonistic to the ■ 
 Spirit of the Age; the Pope an Absurd Anachronism; Degre- 
 dation of Woman by the Roman Catholic Church; Discour- 
 agement of Reading and Research; Old Superstitions; 
 Ancient Conceptions of Hell and the Devil; Death for those 
 who Violated the Rules of the Priesthood ; the Fatal ilistake 
 of the Roman Catholic Church About the Negro; the Church 
 Refuses any Concessions to Socialists; the Cardinal's Decla- 
 ration That the Roman Church Must Control Education; the 
 Terrible Creed of the Church in Reference to Those Who 
 Quit It ^ 1 
 
 CHAPTER n. — Cardinal Gibbons' Opposition to Philippine Inde- 
 pendence; His Pretended and Real Position; Effects of Roman 
 Catholic Domination in the Islands; Revolting Testimony 
 Before the Taft Commission; Priestly Despotism and Immor- 
 ality; Deportation of Masons from Office; No Man's Wife Safe 
 from Priestly Desire; Rights of Pernada Claimed by Some 
 of the Friars 10 
 
 CHAPTER III. — Discovery of the Philippine Archipelago by 
 Magellan; King Philip of Spain Sets About Converting the 
 Filipinos to the Roman Catholic Faith; the Friars Chosen to 
 Conduct the Work; Their Oaths of Chastity and Poverty; 
 When Persuasion and Argument Failed, the Arbitrament of 
 the Sword to be Resorted to, a Feature of Their Plan of 
 Converting the Islanders; Terrible Indictment of the Friars, 
 in President McKinley's Message to Congress; Their Shame- 
 less Violation of Their Oaths; Driven to Desperation, the 
 Filipinos had Risen in Insurrection; Mr. Stuntz's book; 
 Universal Hatred of the Friars; the Romanist Greed for 
 Land and Rackrents; They Stifle All Liberty of Thought, 
 and Freedom of Speech; Their Insatiable Greed for IMoney; 
 Their Immorality; Testimony of Witnesses Before the 
 Taft Commission 2 6 
 
 CHAPTER IV. — -The Cardinal Compared to an Owl; His Gon- 
 dii ) 
 
 58914;^ 
 
iv CONTEXTS. 
 
 Page 
 troA-ersy With Dr. Osier; The Holy Men of the East and the 
 West the Same in Purpose and in Results 35 
 
 CHAPTER V. — What -is the Roman System? a Religion, a Politi- 
 cal Machine, or a Business Proposition; the Lord Himself, 
 Superseded by the Pope; Traffic in Papal Indulgence; the 
 !\Ianifold Vocations of St. Anthony of Padua; Copies of Some 
 of the Laudatory Letters Written About Him, as Found in 
 Two Roman Catholic ^Magazines 43 
 
 CHAPTER VI. — Great Power of the Roman Catholic Church in 
 the United States; Its Persecutions; No ^lurder to Kill an 
 Ex-communicated Person; the Roman Catholic Church 
 Wreaks Vengeance on the Huguenots; Flight of the Sur- 
 vivors to America; Criticism, by a Virginia Clergyman, of 
 Position Taken in Another Letter to Cardinal Gibbons; the 
 Author's Reply 55 
 
 CHAPTER VII. — Criticism of the Cardinal's Article on "The 
 Church and the Republic;" the Cardinal's Acceptance of the 
 Doctrine of Papal Infallibility With an Exception Clause; 
 The Roman Catholic Church Always Opposed to Liberty of 
 the Press; Demand of the American Federation of American 
 Societies that Congress Abridge This Liberty; Cardinal Gib- 
 bons' Sanction and Encouragement of That Demand; Incon- 
 sistency of His Conduct With the Views Expressed by Him 
 in The North American Review 61 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. — :\Iutilation of Choir Boys a Practice of the 
 Roman Catholic Church; the Practice a Felony, and Punish- 
 able by Law; Girls Attending Convent Schools Given Medi- 
 cinal Preparation to Prevent Menstruation; Horrible Results 
 of this Fiendish Cruelty; Persecution- of the Author by 
 Cardinal Gibbons; Controversion of the Cardinal's State- 
 ment in The North American Review, That the Roman 
 Catholic Church Prefers the American System of Govern- 
 ment to Any Other 68 
 
 CHAPTER IX. — Natural for Men and Women to :\Iate; Traces 
 of it From Childhood Days to ^Maturity; the Curious Lock 
 Invented to Keep Married Women Chaste; Man the Only 
 Living Creature That Uses Sensuality for Pleasure Alone; 
 the Effort of the Roman Catholic Church to Condemn Healthy 
 
CONTENTS. V 
 
 Page 
 
 Young People to Perpetual Virginity Unnatural; Old Maids 
 and Bachelors Looked on With Disfavor; Roman Catholic 
 Priests Should Marry; the Example of Judas Iscariot, Who 
 Was Unmarried, Followed by the Roman Catholic Priests.. . 76 
 
 CHAPTER X. — The Roman Catholic Priests Imitators of the 
 Priests of Maia and Those of Bacchus; the Confessional and 
 the Convent Introduced to Afford Them a Substitute for Mar- 
 riage; the Keeping of Fire Made a Religious Function; the 
 Romans Copy the Albans; the Six Vested Virgins Difficult to 
 Obtain; Evil Effects of Celibacy; Uraldric's Story of What 
 Was Found in the Fish Ponds; Bernard's Views on Celibacy; 
 The University of Oxford's Complaint; the Roman Clergy 
 in Scotland as Pictured by McCrie 84 
 
 CHAPTER XI. — Nonsensical Ideas of the Early Religious 
 Zealots; Their Absurd Methods of Curbing Their Natural 
 Inclinations; the Fatal Error Made in Ordaining Negroes 
 to the Priesthood 90 
 
 CHAPTER XII. — Quotations From the Writings of Blanco White, 
 a Spanish Priest, and From the "Confession of a French 
 Catholic Priest," Showin# the Wickedness and Immorality 
 of the Clergy in Those Countries 99 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. — The Evil of Auricular Confession; the Priests' 
 Substitution for Marriage Far Worse; Religious Societies; 
 the "Blessed Creatures;" Qualifications of a Priest to Become 
 a Member of One of These Religious Societies; Penalties 
 Imposed on "Blessed Creatures" Who are Faithless to Their 
 Vows; How Their Scruples as to Joining These Organiza- 
 tions are Overcome 110 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. — Extracts From the Book by Rev. Dr. Justin 
 D. Fulton, Entitled "Why Priests Should Wed;" Initiation 
 of the Priests and "Blessed Creatures;" Insignia of the 
 "Blessed Creatures;" Places and Arrangmeents to Perform 
 Special Obligations; Definition of a Romanist 121 
 
 CHAPTER XV. — Horrible Fate of Some of Those Selected to be 
 "Blessed Creatures;" Wickedness of Priests in Nunneries and 
 Convents; Testimony of Henrietta Caracciolo 131 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. — Henrietta Caraccioilo's Descriptions of the 
 Convent in Naples; Her Experiences; Her Escape; the 
 Number of Children Borne by Nuns ' 13 7 
 
CAN THE LEOPARD CHANGE ITS SPOTS ? 
 
A Series of Open Letters to Cardinal 
 James Gibbons. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Roman Catholic Hierarchy Antagonistic to the Spirit of the Age; 
 the Pope an Absurd Anachronism; Degradation of Woman by 
 the Roman Catholic Church; Discouragement of Reading and 
 Research; Old Superstitions; Ancient Conceptions of Hell and 
 the Devil; Death for those who Violated the Rules of the Priest- 
 hood; the Fatal Mistake of the Roman Catholic Church About 
 the Negro; the Church Refuses any Concessions to Socialists; 
 the Cardinal's Declaration That the Roman Church Must Control 
 Education; the Terrible Creed of the Church in Reference to 
 Those who Quit It. 
 
 DO YOU have any true conception of the manner in which 
 your hierarchy is antagonizing the Spint of the Age? 
 Does a feeling come over you sometimes, that your 
 Papa is an absurd anachronism^ hiughed at by the intelligent, 
 used by the designing, and secretl}- despised by the very cour- 
 tiers who pay him outward reverence ? 
 
 Do you ever feel that the world has really passed you by; 
 and that your only assets now are. inherited superstitions, the 
 ignorance of the populace, and the cowardice of the politi- 
 cians ? 
 
 * * ^: H: 5-1: * :|: H= * H: 
 
 You say that the most refined, cultured and talented white 
 woman shall not have the privilege to vote. 
 
 In the next breath you say that the most ignorant, brutal 
 and criminal negro shall help to control the country with his 
 ballot. 
 
 Thus you set yourself against the Spirit of the Age. 
 
 You make no concessions to the world-wide demand for a 
 larger sphere for women. Your church is the Bourbon of 
 ecclesiasticism ; you leani nothing and you forget nothing. 
 
 Your priests are like a lot of owls, perched on the dead 
 limbs of monkish lore, solemnly hooting as though it were 
 night, when the blaze of day is all about you. 
 
2 POPERY SHOAVX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 You enslave the ■women : you allow them no voice in the 
 affairs of the church. Woman's duty is to labor and obey, 
 gather ducats for the clerg}^, and to compensate priests for 
 celibacy. 
 
 In short, your church's conception of a woman is that she 
 shall minister unto man, be his servant, be his instrument of 
 carnal pleasure, be his child-bearer and pack-mule, with no 
 life of her own. and no right to appeal against man's inhu- 
 manity, lust and greed. 
 
 The lower down in the scale you can keep her, the more 
 useful she is to you : hence, your church, during all the ages 
 never had a word to say for oppressed woman-hood. 
 
 Your Cardinal Logue voiced your church's sentiments 
 when, at the Canadian Congress, he declared that "it is a grand 
 sight to see a wonuin at the iv ash-tub.'''' 
 
 And that's where your church would keep women if it 
 could — at the wash-tub, slaving for a gang of idle, voluptuous, 
 hypocritical priests ! 
 
 You deny freedom to wives when their husbands have out- 
 raged them in everj^ way possible, when they have had to bear 
 children to habitual drunkards, when they have been beaten 
 and kicked about the home, like so manj' dogs. 
 
 You say that the wife must endure every ignomin}'. every 
 • pollution, every wrong, rather than seek her freedom. 
 
 Having made a mistake in her marriage, she must bear 
 the intolerable yoke to the very end of her life. 
 
 She must never he given another chance. 
 
 The cwp of hafp'iness is for others — not for her. 
 
 Such is your position, Cardinal; and in this respect, as in 
 the others, you are vainly combating the Spirit of the Age. 
 ^'^'■^^^^^^^^ 
 
 In all other churches, the widest reading and research are 
 encouraged. 
 
 All other churches are broadenino- and liberalizine; — the 
 constant tendency being to subordinate mere dogma to essen- 
 tial truth. In every church but yours, the trend is towards 
 the humanities, charities, equities, and common sense. 
 
 ^fen don't believe in the things which were accepted in the 
 Dark Ages. 
 
 "When your church had full sAving, Night settled down 
 upon the world. 
 
 Men believed priests could cast out devils, work miracles, 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 3 
 
 grant pass-ports to heaven, release souls from purgatory, and 
 curse the heretic to his earthly and his eternal perdition. 
 
 Those were the days of the weir-wolf, the succubus, the 
 gnome, the witch, the ghost, the enchanted sword, the unicorn 
 and the dragon. 
 
 You will remember, Cardinal, that, in those Medieval Ages, 
 your church buried the treasures of pagan literature, snuffed 
 out the lights of pagan genius, stifled the voice of human 
 Reason, and measured Truth by the rule of Faith. 
 
 Those were the days when the heavens grew dark, if your 
 popes frowned: the laws of nature were suspended, if your 
 priests needed a miracle ; and the minds of men revelled in 
 senility, if your church grew childish. 
 
 Those were the clays when the sun, more obliging to 
 Charlemagne than to Joshua, stood still for three days, in 
 order that the Christians might overtake and slaughter the 
 Saracens, on the banks of the Ebro, near Saragossa, in Spain. 
 
 Those were the days when the w^alls of Pampeluna were 
 thrown down, in answer to the prayers of Charles the Great, 
 who immediately took the city, and baptized all the Saracens 
 that he did not kill, killing all those that he did not baptize. 
 
 And it came to pass that when this great Emperor died, 
 the sun and moon grew dark; and a wooden bridge which he 
 had built set itself on fire, and perished of spontaneous com- 
 bustion. 
 
 We know of a surety that these marvels happened, for 
 Archbishop Turpin was present and witnessed the same; 
 whereupon he reduced the facts to writing, in order that the 
 record of these things might come down to us — little as we 
 poor worms deserve the consideration of so worthy an Arch- 
 bishop as Turpin is known to have been. 
 
 Those were the days when monkish literature treasured 
 the story that Mahomet was indeed and in truth a Roman 
 Catholic Cardinal; and that he wickedly invented and set up 
 a new religion of his own, at the instigation of the de\dl and 
 his wounded vanity, being provoked "because he failed in his 
 design of being elected pope." 
 
 As was well known in the Middle Ages. Mahomet came to 
 a shameful end, in that, having gorged himself on food and 
 wine, he fell asleep on a dunghill, was attacked by a litter of 
 pigs and suffocated — for which reason all Mohammedans 
 loathe pigs to this very day. 
 
 Was the world flat? It was. 
 
4 POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 The church said so. and that was enough. Besides, there 
 was the unanswerable argument contained in Scripture. Christ 
 was to come again in glory, and all men were to se? Him : and 
 how could all men see Him^ unless the earth is fiat I 
 
 At that time, did the priests seize a rooster, formally try 
 him. and burn him to death at Basle? They did. What for? 
 Because the rooster had laid an egg. Clearly he was a wizard, 
 and could not be suffered to liye. 
 
 In those fine old times of papal domination men had the 
 p.ower to cause storms at sea, and blizzards on land. A wicked 
 jDerson, with an Eyil Eye. could bring on a cattle plague, at 
 pleasure; and could send misfortune upon inofi'ensiye people 
 by merely looking at them. Imps of Satan haunted every 
 mortaFs footsteps; and the Devil himself often appeared, 
 intrusively, and as boldly as though he were not the least bit 
 afraid of the Almighty. 
 
 Epileptics were possessed of devils, the insane were fami- 
 liar with demons, and the necromancer was abroad. Science 
 was Black Magic, and woe unto the wight who could cure the 
 ailment which defied the relic and the Saint. Only a sorcerer 
 could do what the miracle-mongers failed to do — and to burn 
 a sorcerer was an act pleasing to the Lord. 
 
 Those were glorious old times, weren't they. Cardinal? 
 
 Those were the times when whatever a monk said, went. 
 All other men were on their knees, mentally, and the depth of 
 the abjectl}?^ credulous was the height of the gloriously pious. 
 
 Roger Bacon spent IJ: years in a dungeon, because he had 
 delved into the secrets of nature. He learned some things the 
 priests did not know, and was therefore a magician, a wricked, 
 irreverent person. He had doubted the omniscience of the 
 church, a grievous sin^ and grievously was he punished. 
 
 Galileo discovered that the earth moved, flatly contradict- 
 ing Joshua who had commanded the sun to stand still. Galileo 
 had doubted, he had dared to think, and he was therefore 
 guilty of grievous sin. 
 
 Grievously was he punished, until he was made to bring his 
 mind into professed conformity to that of Joshua. • 
 
 Bruno, likeAvise, had his doubts and irreverences: he was 
 guilty of Modernism ; and was. therefore, cut off from com- 
 munion, fellowship, and mercy, perishing at the burning stake 
 — on the s])ot where his monument )wiv towers, and looks in 
 upon the rooms of that ovt-of-date oicl, the Italian Pope/ 
 
 In those old days, Cardinal, your theologians fairly gloated 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 5 
 
 over the horrors of hell: they rioted in the enjoyment of such 
 an Inferno as the gloomy imagination of Dante could not sur- 
 pass. Never did any religious men derive such infinite joy 
 from such a perfectly hideous hell, as your priests found in 
 theirs. 
 
 They pictured the Devil as a Monster seated on a red-hot 
 gridiron, bound by red-hot chains, but with hands free, and an 
 appetite for sinners that could not be satisfied. Amid his own 
 screams of agony, he crunched between his teeth, like grapes, 
 the souls of damned mortals, and then sucked these damned 
 souls down his blazing throat. 
 
 Demons with red-hot pincers and hooks caught hold of the 
 damned souls of mortals and plunged them first into fire, and 
 then into ice. 
 
 Some of the damned souls were hung up by their tongues 
 over the flames, and others were sawn asunder. Some were 
 gnawed by snakes, and others beaten on the anvil and welded 
 together. Some of these souls were boiled and then strained 
 through a cloth ; others were twined in the embraces of flaming 
 devils. 
 
 No wonder the manhood, the intelligence, the independence 
 were scared out of the ignorant under-man, when the conse- 
 crated priests of God were threatening them with such terrors. 
 
 That hell and its terrors Avere not made for those, only, who 
 stole, who robbed, who forged, who ravished and who mur- 
 dered : that hell and all its terrors yawned for every mortal 
 who defied the rules of the priesthood ! 
 
 ]\ren and women were put to death, and sent to hell, for 
 not fasting on the days set by the church. 
 
 ]Men and women were put to death, and sent to hell, for 
 reading the Bible without the supervision of a priest. 
 
 Men and women were put to death, and sent to hell, for 
 having a Bible in their possession. 
 
 Men and women were put to death, and sent to hell, for 
 not taking off their hats and bowing to a 'graven image, set 
 up beside the road, or in the street. 
 
 Those were glorious old times, weren't they. Cardinal ? 
 
 Cardinal we've outgrown all that. Your church did not 
 help us do it, either. 
 
 We did it in spite of yoriv cJivrch. 
 . Cardinal, when you struggle to again subdue men's minds, 
 you are simply opposing the light of the 20th Century and 
 the Spirit of the Age. 
 
6 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 Cardinal you are making a fatal mistake about the negro; 
 and here again j'ou are throwing- yourself against the Spirit 
 of the Age. 
 
 You are receiving the hlack iiuiii into your church on a 
 footing of social equality with the whites. 
 
 Not only are you receiving the black man as an equal, but 
 you are admitting him to the priesthood. 
 
 Now, what is a priest ? 
 
 According to your own book, "Faith of Our Fathers.*' the 
 priest is superior to the angels. You say : 
 
 ''To the carnal eye, the priest looks like other men: but to 
 the eye of faith, he is exalted above the angels, because he 
 exercises powers not given to the angels." * * * "The 
 priest is the Ambassador of God," etc. 
 
 To the carnal eje, that which looks like a man is more than 
 apt to be a man. To the carnal eje^ that which looks like a 
 tad-pole, is vpry apt to be a tad-pole. To the carnal eye. that 
 which looks like a glass of wine, is very apt to be a glass of 
 wine. 
 
 But when "the eye of faith" comes along, it may play the 
 mischief with common sense and the realities. 
 
 That which looks like a man, may not be a man. He may 
 be an angel — a bull-necked, pop-eyed, pot-gutted angel, with 
 a dew-lap under his chin and a fold on the back of his neck. 
 
 That which seems to be a tad-pole, may not be anything of 
 the sort. "The eye of faith" may require us to insult our 
 common sense, and to see in the tad-pole a mermaid, a fairy, a 
 "spirit." 
 
 That which appears to be a glass of wine, may be some- 
 thing wholly different. "The eye of faith" may require us to 
 see the blood of Christ; and we must see that when the priest 
 drinks this apparent wine he is. really, drinking blood. 
 
 Therefore, whea we look upon a priest, we must be pre- 
 l^ared to distrust the evidence of our senses. "To the carnal 
 eye," he may seem to need a bath and some clean clothes: he 
 may seem over- fed and over bibulous: he may have a low, 
 sensual face: he may have repulsively coarse manners: he may 
 be vulgar in his discourse, and immoral in his mode of living: 
 but all of this is mere optical delusion, due to the untrust- 
 vrorthiness of "the carnal eye." 
 
 The eye of faith beholds the same priest and, presto ! all 
 is chanered. 
 
POPERY SHOAVN UP TO AMERICANS. 7 
 
 We see, not a besotted man, but a spiritual being ''more 
 exalted than the angels." 
 
 In this i3articular, Cardinal, you are against the Spirit of 
 
 AND THIS ONE, IS BILL O'CONNELL, CARDINAL PRINCE OF 
 BOSTON. BILL IS A VIRGIN. BILL LOOKS IT. 
 
 the Aage — especially when you ask that "the eye of faith" 
 must see an angel in a nigger. 
 
8 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 Cardinal, your church refuses to make any concession to 
 the Socialists. 
 
 There, again, you set yourself against the Spirit of the Ar/c. 
 
 Eyery goyernment on earth has made concessions to 
 Socialism, and the end is not yet. 
 
 The Socialists no longer demand uniyersal communism. 
 They have repudiated the men who would resort to violence 
 and to revolutionary methods. 
 
 Therefore, the}^ now stand squarely for the Rights of jMan, 
 and not for a general overturn of governments. 
 
 This being so, they come within arm's length of every 
 other body of citizens that is laboring for the uplift of 
 humanity. 
 
 Yet, this is the time your church chooses to make the most 
 savage assaults upon Socialists, This is the time when your 
 churchmen denounce the Socialists as mad dogs who ought 
 to be stopped with bullets. 
 
 Cardinal, tvhen and where did your church ever strike a 
 hlow for the under dog, ever esjyouse the cause of the yohe- 
 heaHng serf, ever fight the hattle of the shackled slave? ^yhen 
 was your church ever anything hut the cdly of the powerful 
 who oppressed the poor, and rohhed honest lahor of the pro- 
 duct of its toil? 
 
 In siding against the working class today, your church is 
 true to its detestable record. 
 
 But you are pitting yourself against the Spirit of the Age. 
 
 ^: -): ♦ ^ H^ ^ ^ Hi ^ Hi 
 
 Cardinal, you say that the Roman church must control 
 education, "even to Avar and bloodshed." 
 
 Your contention is that the child shall l^e enslaved by a 
 priest; and shall be brought up to be Romanist first, and 
 American citizen next. 
 
 Last year when you were interviewed, and asked to name 
 the great dangers to our future, you did not mention the 
 ^Aliite Slave Traffic, the Child Labor Problem, or the Drink 
 Evil. No; you omitted those, but mentioned our public 
 schools. 
 
 Cardinal, how do j-ou figure out that our public schools 
 are more dangerous to the country than are the exploiters of 
 helpless women and children — than are the saloons whose 
 natural tendency is to undo the good work of the Home, the 
 School, and the Church? 
 
 Cardinal, do you know that our public schools furnish 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 9 
 
 comparatively few criminals to the chain-gangs and to the 
 penitentiaries, while your parochial schools are most prolihc 
 feeders of the prisons? 
 
 "By their fruits ye shall know them/' 
 
 ** * *'* * * * * * * 
 
 Cardinal, there was republished in France, (in 1901) 
 TheoJogle de Glermmit by Rev. Father Vincent. The book 
 was issued with episcopal approbation. It contains this terri- 
 ble passage : , , ^ 
 
 -The church has received from God the power to reprove 
 those who wander from the truth, not only by spiritual, but 
 by corporal penalties, such as imprisonment, flagellaUon, 
 mutilation, AND DEATHS (Emphasis, mine.) 
 
 Do von hold to that terrible creed. Cardinal i 
 
 Do Vou claim that your church has the right to imprison, 
 the right to flog', the right to cut oif arms and legs, the right 
 
 to murder? 
 
 Such has always been the creed of your Popes; such has 
 always been their practise. , .^ v i o 
 
 Do you believe in persecution to the death, Cardinal^ 
 
 And what do you mean by "war and bloodshed, m refer- 
 ence to our public schools? . r^ V 
 
 It is about time that you made your meaning clear, Cardi- 
 nal Gibbons. 
 
 <=r^^V TKT^ VIRGIX WITH CARE. HE GOT HIS BULL NECK AND 
 SCAN THIS M^G1^ N^N^ ^^^^^ ^^ DIETING ON CRUSTS. 
 
 CRACKERS. AND VINEGAR. 
 
10 POPERY SHOAVX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Cardinal Gibbons' Opposition to Philippine Independence; His Pre- 
 tended and Real Position; Effects of Roman Catholic Domination 
 in the Islands; Revolting Testimony Before the Taft Commis- 
 sion; Priestly Despotism and Immorality; Deportation of Masons 
 from Office; No Man's Wife Safe from Priestly Desire; Rights 
 of Pernada Claimed by Some of the Friars. 
 
 IF you are so vehemently opposed to the freedom of the 
 Philippine Islanders, why were you dumb when the Demo- 
 cratic Convention at Baltimore (1912) was proposing to ask 
 votes for its Xational candidates upon the ground that the 
 Democratic Party favored the Independence of those unfortu- 
 nate people? 
 
 Why were you silent during the campaign Avhich resulted 
 in Democratic success? 
 
 You waited until the Democrats had triumphed, and then 
 you virtually warned them not to honor their own campaign 
 pledges. 
 
 Is that honorable^ my Prince? 
 
 Is there, in fact, any such word as Honor in the lexicon 
 of the political organisation which vou are pleased to call vour 
 "Church?" 
 
 In your declaration against the Filipinos, you are too 
 shrewd to express your real sentiments. You are ciuming 
 enough to pretend to believe that those cruelly maltreated 
 people should have the right to govern themselves in their own 
 way, sojne time in the future. 
 
 You are too cunning to tell the American people that your 
 papal machine never grants liberty .of its own accord. You 
 dare not confess that you intend to always oppose Philippine 
 independence. Yet, that is exactly where you stand. Cardinal, 
 You mean to have this Republic do, permanently^ what the 
 Spanish monarchy did for you several hundred years. Just 
 as Spain held the Islands down, while Rome robbed them, you 
 intend that this Republic shall continue to do what it is now 
 doing — hold the Filipinos down while monks and friars des- 
 poil them of their lands, their labor, their women ^ and their 
 liberty. 
 
 For upwards of 400 years, your ''church'' had been domi- 
 nant in those afflicted Islands. Popes, priests, monks, and 
 
POPEKY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 11 
 
 friars had been supreme. Church and State belonged to Rome. 
 "With what result? 
 
 The same old result that cursed France. Engiand, Ireland, 
 Spain, Portugal, Italy, Mexico, Cuba, South and Central 
 America. Wherever Rome is supreme HELL moves in, and 
 stays ! 
 
 If we wish to know the horrors of Rome-rule in England, 
 we study the standard histories which reveal it — reading by 
 the light of the fires that burned the patriot, the Christian, 
 the Martyr, We read it in the ghastly annals of the reign of 
 Bloody Mary: the diabolism of the Monasteries as exposed by 
 Henry nil.; the Excommunication which anathematized, 
 with Rome's devilish curse, the Great Charter, of our liber- 
 ties: the Satanic intolerance and atrocity which sent men and 
 women to horrible torture and death because they could not 
 believe that a dozen Latin words, mumbled by an ignorant 
 priest could change wheat bread into the body of Christ. 
 
 As to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy — the records are com- 
 plete, familiar, damning. In vain. Cardinal, will your satel- 
 lites forge, erase, mutilate and otherwise falsify those histori- 
 cal records: they are there — complete, familiar, damning. 
 
 In the Philippine Islands, it was the Commission appointed 
 by this U. S. Government which conducted the examination, 
 heard the witnesses under oath, took down the testimony, and 
 reported it to our Congress. 
 
 William Howard Taft was President of the investigating 
 Commission. It was he who sent the official Report to our 
 President. William ]McKinley. (The Re^^ort is known as 
 Senate document No. 190; 2d session. oi'Ah. Congress.) 
 
 Cardinal, that terrible Report has been noticed in books, 
 in pamphlets, in newspapers, and in speeches; but it has never 
 been contradicted by oral, or written testimony. 
 
 Not a single Romanist friar, bishop, arch-bishop, or lay 
 officer has ever testified that the witnesses who made out the 
 frightful case against Rome, swore falsely. The Romanists in 
 the Islands had every opportunity to rebut the evidence, and 
 the most powerful motives to do so; but not one availed him- 
 self of the privilege. 
 
 In the face of that argument, the Romanists were mute! 
 
 To understand fully what that arraignment was, we must 
 read the official record of the evidence. I have therefore 
 rselected such portions of the iincontradictdble testimony as 
 
12 POPERY SHOWX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 will give a fair conception of what Roman Catholicism, dunng 
 centuries of control., had clone for this people. 
 
 THE lALAIORAUTY OF THE PRIESTS. 
 Testimony of Senor Don Felipe Calderon. 
 
 (This gentleman testified that he was born in the Philippine 
 Islands and had lived there the thirty years of his life, less a period 
 of eight months when he made a few trips to the British posses- 
 sions. Practically all of this time had been spent in the city of 
 Manila, where, as he states, "The friar is intimately connected with 
 all the social, political and other life.") 
 
 Question by Taft Coniniission: Now, as to the morality of the 
 friars, have you had much opportunity to observe as to this? 
 
 A. Considerable. From my earliest youtii. With respect to 
 their morality in general, it was such a conuiion thing to see child- 
 ren of friars that no one ever paid any attention to it or thoul^ht of 
 it, and so depraved had the i>eopIe become in tliis regard that the 
 women who were the mistresses of friars really felt great pride in 
 it and had no compunction in speaking of it. So general had this 
 thing become that it may be said that even now the rule is for a 
 friar to have a mistress and children, and he who has not is the 
 rare exception, and if it is desired that I give names I could cite 
 right noAv 100 children of friars. 
 
 Q. In IManila or in the provinces? 
 
 A. In ^Manila and in the provinces. Everywhere. 
 
 Q. Are the friars living in the islands still who have had those 
 children? 
 
 A. Yes, and I can give their names if necessary, and I can give 
 the names of the children, too. Beginning «ith myself, my mother 
 is the daughter of a Fi-anciscan friar. I do not dishonor myself bv 
 saying this, because my family begins with myself. 
 
 Q. I will be much obliged for a list. 
 
 (Witness here produced long list of such children.) 
 
 ^ ^ ^ *ii ♦ :H if; :H ^ :!: 
 
 Q. It was not a general licentiousness on the part of thr 
 friars? 
 
 A. It was a general licentiousness, because, as I have said, the 
 exception as to the rule among the friars was not to have a mistress 
 and be the father of children by her. The friar «ho was not mixed 
 up with a woman in some way or other was like a snowbird in 
 summer. 
 
 Q. That would seem to indicate that the immoralitv of the friars 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 13 
 
 is not the chief ground of the hostility of the people against them, 
 would it not? 
 
 A. That is not, by any means, because the moral sense of the 
 whole people here has been absolutely perverted. So frequent were 
 these infractions of the moral laws on the part of th friars that 
 really no one ever earetl or took any notice of them; and this 
 acquiescence on the part of the people was imposed upon them; for 
 woe be unto him who should ever murmur anything aganist the 
 friars, and even the young Filipino women had their senses per- 
 verted, because when attending school they had often and often seen 
 the friars come in to speak to their openly avowed daughters, who 
 often were their omi playmates. — Pages 139-140. 
 
 THE CKIELTY OF THE PRIESTS. 
 
 Testimony of Jose Rederigiies Infante. 
 
 (This witness is a licentiate of law, though not practicing the 
 profession, who has lived all his life in the islands, being educated 
 at the University of Santo Thomas. At the time the following 
 questions were asked he gave his age as 3 6. With reference to the 
 taking of statistics for the Spanish government by the friars the 
 following was asked:) 
 
 Question by Talt Commission. So, to swell the taxes, they 
 robbed the cradle and the grave? 
 
 A. They augmented the cradle, but diminished the grave. The 
 friars had a system of blackmail, by which they held the rod over 
 all the citizens of a pueblo, about whose habits and closet skeletons 
 they learned through making little girls of from 5 to 6 and 7 
 years of age, who could barely speak and who were naturally and 
 must have been sinless, come to the confessional and relate to them 
 everything that they knew of the private life in their own homes 
 and in places that they might visit. — Page 14 6. 
 
 Q. What do you know about the morality or immorality of the 
 friars? 
 
 A. Too much. I have nothing to add to what Senor Calderon 
 says, save to cite some more names. 
 
 Q. Have you known a good many young women and young men 
 who were the reputed daughters and sons of friars? 
 
 A. I have known a great many and now have living on my 
 estate six children of a friar. 
 
 Q. Were all the friars (priests) licentious? 
 
 A. I believe that they all are. 
 
14 POPEEY SHOWX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 Q. Do you think that was the ground of hostility against the 
 friars? 
 
 A. No, sir: Csesarism was. Everything was dependent upon 
 them, and I may say that even the process of eating was under their 
 supervision. Xaturally^ their iiiunorality had a slight influence in 
 the case, but it became so conunon that it passed unnoticed. — Pages 
 146-147. 
 
 Q. Charges have been made against the friars that they caused 
 deportations of Filipinos. Do you know of such instances? 
 
 A. In my own province it was seen that the large majority of 
 the friars, and more especially the now deceased friar, Antonio 
 Brabo, had great influence in the deportation of many influential 
 citizens, as also in the incarceration of several of them in order to 
 subsequently have them released so as to show their power with 
 the authorities. 
 
 Q. It is charged, also, that tney were guilty of physical cruelty 
 to their own members and others. What do you know about it? 
 
 A. They were ci-uel, not only in their treatment of their servants 
 by beating them, but they also took gTeat delight in being eye wit- 
 ness to tortures and beatings of men in prisons and jails by the 
 civil authorities. They were always, when witnessing these acts, 
 accompanied by some of the higher Spanish civil authorities, and 
 these acts were usually carried out at the instigation of the friars. 
 Page 147-148. 
 
 Testimony of Senor Nozario Constantino. 
 
 (Witness was born in the islands, had reached the age of 58, 
 and had lived in :\Ianila since beginning the practice of law, though 
 he made frequent trips back to the vicinity of Bigan, where he was 
 born, having interests and lands in Bulacan.) 
 
 Question by Taft Commission: What political functions did the 
 friars discharge before 1896 in the villages in which they were 
 parish priests? 
 
 A. The political functions that they exercised were those of 
 ruling the entire country, every authority and everybody having to 
 be subservient to their caprice. 
 
 Q. Do you know what were the relations between the heads 
 of the Spanish government and the heads of the church here? 
 
 A. GEXERALLY SPEAKING, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL 
 HAD TO KEEP ON THE GOOD SIDE OF THE HEAD OF THE 
 CHURCH HERE, FOR HE KNEW FULL WELL THAT IF HE 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 15 
 
 SHOULD DO ANYTHING WHICH WAS DISPLEASING TO THE 
 ARCH BISHOP THAT HE WOULD LAST A \^KY SHORT TIME 
 IN THE PHILIPPINES. 
 
 Q. What was the morality of the friars? 
 
 A. There was no morality whatever, and the story of the 
 ininiorality would take too long to recount. Great inunorality and 
 corruption. (I desire to say here that, speaking thus frankly about 
 the habits of the priests, the witnesses would fear that they might 
 be persecuted by the priests if it should ever get out what they were 
 saying here.) 
 
 Judge William Howard Taft: I DON'T EXPECT TO PUBLISH 
 IT. I EXPECT TO USE IT TO MAKE A REPORT TO THE COM- 
 MISSION. 
 
 Q. Have you known of the children of friars being about in 
 Vulacan? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. About the year 1840 and the year 18 50 every 
 frir^r curate in the province of Bulacan had his concubine. Dr. 
 Joaquin Gonzales was the son of a curate of Baliuag, and he has 
 three sisters here and another brother, all children of the same 
 friar. We do not look upon that as a discredit to a man. The 
 multitude of friars who came here from 1876 to 1896 and 1898 
 were all of the same kind, and to name the nuiubei' of children that 
 they have would take up an immense lot of space.* * * 
 
 Q. Did not the people become so accustomed to the relations 
 which the friars had with the women that it really played very 
 little part in their hostility to the friars, assuming that the hos- 
 tility did exist? 
 
 A. That contributed somewhat to the hostility of the people, 
 and they carried things in this regard with a very high hand, for 
 if they should desire the wife or daughter of a man, and the husband 
 and father opposed such advances, they would endeavor to have the 
 man deported by bringing up false charges of being a fiilibuster or 
 a Mason, and after succeeding in getting rid of the husband, they 
 would, by foul or fair means, accomplish their purposes, and I «-ill 
 cite a case that actually happened to us. It was the case of a first 
 cousin of mine, Dona Soponce, who married a girl from Baliuag and 
 went to live in Agonoy, and there the local friar curate, who was 
 pursuing his wife, got him the position as registrar of the church 
 in order to have him occupied in order that he might continue his 
 advances with the wife. He was fortunate in this undertaking and 
 succeeded in getting the wife away from the husband and after- 
 wards had the husband deported to Puerto Princessa, near Jolo, 
 where he was shot as an insurgent, and the friar continued to live 
 
IG POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 with the widow and she bore him children. The friar's name is 
 Jose Martin, an Augustinian friar. 
 
 Q. I want to aslv you whetlier the hostility against the friars 
 is confined to the educated and the better element among the peo- 
 ple? 
 
 A. It permeates all classes of society, and principally the lower, 
 for they can do nothing. The upper class, by reason of their educa- 
 tion, can stand them off better than the lower classes, and this is 
 the reason that the friars don't want the public to become educated. 
 — Pages 150-151. 
 
 MASONS DEPOSED FROM OFFICE. 
 Testimony of Dr. Maximo Viola. 
 
 (Dr. Maximo Viola was born in the Philippines and practiced 
 medicine in the province of Bulacan, where he lived practically all 
 his life with the exception of a trifle over four years, which time 
 was spent in Spain, France, Germany and Austria completing his 
 education. 
 
 Question by Taft Commission. What poltiical functions did 
 the friars actually exercise in your parish? 
 
 A. They exercised all functions. They were the lieutenants of 
 the civil guard, the captain of the pueblo, the governor of the pro- 
 vince. To show this, the friar would always watch the elections, 
 and if any provincial governor or any municipal authority were 
 elected by the people whom he did not desire to hold office, he would 
 for subordinate officers appeal to the provincial governor and for 
 these governors to the governor-general, and state that if these 
 officers who had been elected were permitted to assume their offices 
 that the public order would be endangered, because they were 
 Masons, or any other specious argument would be advanced so as 
 to make the superior authorities set at naught the will of the 
 people and appoint whoever might be thought suitable or friendly 
 to the friar, but often this was not necessary, as the friar would so 
 wield the elections as to get only those to vote who were his blind 
 followers. 
 
 Q. What was the morality of the parish priests? 
 A. There was no morality. If I was to rehearse the whole his- 
 tory it would be interminable; but I shall confine myself to con- 
 crete cases, beginning with the vows of chastity, which everyone 
 knows they have to take. Upon this point it were better to con- 
 sult the children of friars in every town where there are at least 
 four or five or more, who have cost their mothers more bitter 
 
POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 17 
 
 tears for having brought them into the world, not only because of 
 the dishonor, but also because of the numerous deportations brought 
 about by the friars to get rid of them. The vow of poverty is also 
 loudly commented on by the fact that in every town, however poor 
 it may be, the convent is the finest building, Avhereas in Europe or 
 elsewhere the school house is the finest building. With regard to 
 other little caprices of the friars, I might say that whenever si 
 wealthy resident of the town is in his death throes the Filipino 
 coadjutor of the friar is never permitted to go to his bedside and 
 confess liim; the Spanish friar always goes, and there he paints 
 to the patient the torments of hell and the consequences of an evil 
 life, tluis adding to the terrors of the deathbed. He also states his 
 sonl may be saved by donating either real or personal property to 
 the chui'ch. If the patient dies, the family is compelled to have a 
 most expensive funeral, Avith all the incidental expenses, which go 
 to the cliurch, or be threatened A\-ith deportation or impiisonment; 
 and if the dead person is a paui>er and has naturally notlung to pay 
 with, or if he is a servant or a tenant, the master or enii>loyer has 
 to pay or he will be deiwrted, as happened to my brother-in-law, 
 Moses Santiago, who was a pharmacist, and was de^wrted in the 
 month of November, 1895, because he did not pay the fiuieral 
 expenses of the son of the female servant in his house. The father 
 of this child was a laborer and had funds sufficient to defray the 
 burial expenses, and the friar was so informed by my brother-in- 
 law, and they said they had nothing to do with that, and that he 
 was his master and would have to pay or suffer the consequences, 
 which he did. 
 
 I myself came very near being deported under the following 
 circumstances: A woman heavily with child died in the fifth month 
 of gestation. The friar curate demanded that I should perform 
 the Caesarian operation upon the corpse, in order to baptize the 
 foetus. I declined to perform the operation, because I had a wound 
 in my finger and feared blood poisoning. He told me it was my 
 duty to myself and to my conscience to perform the operation, in 
 order that he might baptize the foetus, and I told him my conscience 
 did not so impel me, and I declined to do it, and he said, "Take 
 care." Those two words were sufficient to send me hurriedly to 
 Manila, where I remained from 189-5, the year in which this 
 occurred, to 1899. 
 
 If the dying person is a pauper, with no one to pay fees, the 
 Spanish friar does not go to confess him, but sends the Filipino, 
 and when he dies without burial fees his corpse is often allowed to 
 rot, and there have been many cases where the sacristans of the 
 
18 POPERY SHOWX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 church have been ordered bj- the friar to hang the corpse publicly, 
 so that the relatives may be thus compelled to seek the fees some- 
 where sufficient to bury the corpse. 
 
 Q. What proportion of the friars do you think violated their 
 vows of celibacy? 
 
 A. I do not know a single one of all those I have kno^\^l in tlie 
 pi-ovince of Biilacan who has not A-iolated his vow of celibacy. 
 
 Q. Does a hostility exist among the people against the friars? 
 
 A. A great deal. If you were to ask the innabitants of the 
 Philippines, one by one, that question, they would all say the same 
 — that they hated the friars, because there is scarcely a person 
 living here whc has not in one way or another suffered at their 
 hands. 
 
 Q. What is the chief ground of that hostility? 
 
 A. The despotism and the immorality. 
 
 Q. Had other causes than the immorality not existed, do you 
 think the immorality was sufficient? 
 
 A. Yes: that would be a sufficient cause, for the simple reason 
 that the immorality brings as a natural consequence in its train 
 despotism, intimidation and force to carry out their desires and 
 designs; for all may be reduced to this, that the Filipino who did 
 not bow his head in acquiescence had it cut off from his shoulders. 
 
 Q. In other words, this was only a manifestation of the power 
 they exercised over the people. That was one end toward which 
 they used their power? 
 
 A. Immorality was the chief end. — Pages 155-157. 
 
 TOO INDECENT TO PRINT. 
 
 Testimony of Pedro Siu'ano Laktaw. 
 
 (This native was 4 7 years of age, had received his degree as 
 teacher of elementary schools in IManila, his degree of superior 
 teacher in Salamanca, Spain, and his degree as instructor of nor- 
 mal schools in Madrid. When asked in regard to his knowledge of 
 the friars, he said: "I think I am in a position to know more 
 about them than any other Filipino, because through my position 
 as teacher I was brought in constant contact with them.") 
 
 Question by Taft Commission. What political functions did the 
 friars actually exercise in the pueblos? 
 
 A. All without exception. Even those which the governor- 
 general was not able to exercise. One of the most terrible arms 
 that the friars wielded in the provinces was the secret investigation 
 and report upon the private life and conduct of .a person. For 
 instance, if some one had made accusations against a resident of a 
 
POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 19 
 
 pueblo and laid them before the governor-general, he would have 
 private instructions sent to the curate of the town to investigate 
 and report upon the private life of that resident, stating he had 
 been charged with conspiring against the Spanish sovereignty. This 
 resident was having his private life investigated without any notice 
 to him whatever and in a secret way, and the report was always 
 sent secretly to the governor-general, and he might be the intimate 
 friend of the governor of the province or of the gobernadorcillo of 
 the town, or of the commander of the civil guard in his town. He 
 would render reports openly very favorable to him, but notwith- 
 standing this the governor-general would receive the secret report 
 of the friar and act upon it. For instance, there have been many 
 cases in pueblos where a large number of the inhabitants have 
 attended a feast in honor of the birthday of the governor of the 
 province and have partaken of his hospitality, being intimate friends 
 of his, and three or four days later nearly all of them have been 
 arrested and imprisoned, charged with being conspirators against 
 the life of the governor and against the continuance of the Spanish 
 sovereignty through secret information received from the friar 
 curate. This is the secret of their great political influence in the 
 country, for from the governor-general down to the lowest subordi- 
 nate of the Spanish government they feared the influence of the 
 friar at home, which was very great, owing either to social position 
 there or to power of money here, and I myself have seen several 
 officers of high rank in the army and officials of prominence under 
 the government sent back long before their times of service had 
 expired at the instigation of the friars. 
 
 (5. What do you know as to the morality of the friars? 
 
 A. I have already related in my statement a few cases, and 
 I Avoiiltl pi'efer to answer the questions by saying that the details of 
 the immorality of the friars are so base and so indecent that instead 
 of smirching the friars I would smirch myself by relating them. 
 
 The witness closed his testimony before 'Sir. Taft, with this 
 statement: "In a word it can be truthfully said that the morality 
 of the Filipino people becomes looser and looser as it nears the 
 neighborhood of the convent." (For further particulars see pages 
 163-165 — Senate document No. 190, .56th Cong. 2d session.) 
 
 "NO IVIAN'S WIFE SAFE." 
 
 Testimony of Ambrosia Flores. 
 
 (This man had lived in the islands all his life, had been an 
 officer in the Spanish army and later a general in the insurgent 
 army, coming into contact with the friars in the discharge of mill- 
 
20 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS: 
 
 tary and civil duties. Note his answers in regard to ttieir 
 "chastity.") 
 
 Question by Taft Conmiission, Do you know whether there are 
 in these islands a great many descendants of the friars? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Is that generally understood? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Do you think the immorality was general or not — whether 
 or not with a great many exceptions? 
 
 A. Yes, there were exceptions, but they were very rare. 
 
 Q. What was the ground of the hostility against the friars? 
 
 A. The reasons for their hostility were many. In the first place, 
 the haughty, overbearing, despotic manner of the friars. Then the 
 questions of the haciendas, (large farms, referred to in Taft's Nash- 
 ville speech) because the conditions of their tenantry were very 
 terrible. Then there was the fact of the fear which beset every 
 man, even those Avho through fear were nearest to the friars, that 
 if his eyes should light upon his wife or daughter in an envious way 
 that if he did not give them up he was lost. Another reason was 
 that they were inimical to educating the people. Then, again, 
 because of the parish fees, because they were very excessive, always 
 compelling the rich to have the greatest amount of ceremony in 
 their weddings, baptisms and interments — whether they wanted it 
 or not — and cost them thereby a good deal, and if they did not 
 accede to the payment they would say they were ]Masons and fili- 
 busters. 
 
 Q. Was the chief reason for the feeling of the people against 
 the friars such as you have stated; that is, that they represented to 
 the people the oppressive power of the Spanish people? 
 
 A. Yes, sir; exactly. 
 
 Q. Do you think that if there were no other reason their great 
 immorality would have made them unpopular? 
 
 A. That would be sufficient for this reason: That the means 
 which they used to carry out their purposes with respect to women 
 were the most grievous and oppressive. If they had merely desired 
 a woman and courted her, nothing would have been said, but if the 
 woman declined to allow their advances they used every effort in 
 their power to compel her and her relatives to succumb. — Pages 
 169-170. 
 
 The testimony of Brigadier-General R. P. Hnghes. U. S. 
 A., is summed np in his final answer to a question: 
 
POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 21 
 
 A. To be plain. Judge, there is no morality in them; not a 
 particle. They gamble in their convents; they send for members of 
 theii- congregation to gamble mth them. There is no morality. — 
 
 Pages 176-177. 
 
 The gist of the evidence of the Attorney-General of the 
 isLand — Florentino' Torres — may be seen in the following- 
 extract : 
 
 The artlessness and deficient culture of a great part of the 
 inhabitants of this archipelago are circumstances of which the friars 
 have taken advantage, for, as is known, they take care to have it 
 always believed that they can hurl excommunications and command 
 the terrible punishments of heaven, with the power to cast the 
 disobedient into the uttermost depths of hell. 
 
 The social relations which the friars have maintained with the 
 Filipinos are the most injurious, and opposed to culture and the 
 moral and material progress of the latter. 3Ilnisters of a religion 
 whose founder proclaimed charity to the limits of sacrifice and 
 equality among men have preached the contrary, and sustained by 
 their works the ineqviality and difference between races, impeding 
 and ridiculing every motion or idea of dignity conceived by a Fili- 
 pino. They have endeavored to keep the Filipinos in ignorance, 
 opposing wherever they could bring their pressure to bear, the 
 teaching of the Spanish language by primary school teachers. They 
 have condemned in their preachings and private conversations every 
 desire for culture and civilization, antagonizing the best purposes 
 of the Madrid government or of that of these islands, as well in the 
 faint and meager reforms in behalf of the progress and education of 
 the Filipinos as in the economical measures which to a certain extent 
 affect the interests of the corporations, although they may redound 
 to the great benefit of the people; and have arrogated to themselves 
 the title of mentors and directors of this society. Instead of teach- 
 ing the Filipinos cultured social behavior becoming to civilized men, 
 they educated and formed them morally with that narrow character, 
 little frank and distrustful, which is noticeable in the generality of 
 the people, especially in the more ignorant, making them stubborn 
 and suspicious of intercourse and relations with foreigners. 
 
 They have devoted themselves to keeping this society in ignor- 
 ance, as though it lived in the middle ages or in the medieval epoch 
 of remote centuries. 
 
 Lastly, as priests and curates, the majority of them were 
 
22 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 living examples of immorality, or disorder in the towns, and 
 of disobedience and resistence to the constituted powers and the 
 authorities, encouraged by the impunity guaranteed in the anach- 
 ronistic ecclesiastical jurisdiction, by the weakness of the gover- 
 nors and officials vitiated with fetichism and hypocrisy, and by the 
 irresistible omnipotence of each monarchal corporation, possessing 
 immense wealth. 
 
 The curate friars were agents and representatives of a powerful 
 theocratic feudalism, which has been ruling this country for many 
 centuries back, without, any sign of responsibility of any kind 
 through civil and military officials appointed by the Spanish govern- 
 ment with the more or less direct intervention of the commissary 
 friars residing in the capital of Spain. 
 
 i[i :^ :^ ^ ^ ^ i'fi i^ <fi ^ 
 
 Question by Taft Commission: -What was the morality of the 
 friars as parish priests, etc.? 
 
 A. The morality of the friars generally left much to be desired: 
 it was a cause for scandal among their parishoners — the way in 
 which they broke their vows of chastity and poverty. This free 
 life of the friars was so notorious that nothing was hidden from 
 their parishoners, who had everything before their eyes on all occa- 
 sions. We shall cite some cases: They comi>elle(l an the spinsters 
 to go up to the convent on Sundays and feast days, and there they 
 exhorted them regartling matters which were not advisable, and, 
 not satisfied ^vith this, they advised them to confess frequently, 
 and they relied upon this means to profane the house of God; and, 
 if they tlid not secure their disordered ends, they sought meansi, 
 even through it were calumny, to secui'e the deportation of thei 
 fathers of families, and if the women were married their husbands, 
 as happened to the former captain, Don Miguel Bevollo, and others. 
 To show how far their astuteness went, there still exists in the con- 
 vent of this pueblo two secret stairways, the door being in the form 
 of a wardrobe, which, when opened, formed means of escape — one 
 communicating with the vault and leading from the choir of the 
 church to the sacristy, and the other in the sleeping room of the 
 curate, which led to a storehouse which is now used as the office 
 of the local presidente. This was the idea of a friar to carry out 
 his impure and disordered passions. It can be said that there were 
 two curates of this pueblo who were so cruel and inhuman that even 
 without any reason they verbally ill-treated Avho«'ver had the mis- 
 fortune to have anything to do with them, not to say anything of 
 their servants, sacristans and singers, without respecting the sanc- 
 tity of the place and of religious functions; wherefor, by reason of 
 
POPEKY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 23 
 
 our consciences as good Catholics, we cannot but protest under pain 
 of tlireatening demoralization and corruption of our holy religion. 
 They abused all kinds of females without distinction of class or age, 
 and when some of them became with child they gave them medicine 
 to kill the foetus. — Page 2 00. 
 
 CIVIL OFFICERS PUT IN JAIL. 
 
 The friar curates, usurping the attributes of the local authori- 
 ties, not only Intervened but exercised joint action with the said 
 authorities in the three branches, administrative, judicial and 
 economical. The justice of the peace who should have dared to 
 disobey the curate friar was certain to land in jail within a few days 
 if he were not deported, to which end the reverened friars always 
 had on hand, like a penance against them, the accusation of being a 
 filibuster and anti-Spanish. The heads of the Spanish government, 
 to the detriment of their dignity, became servile tools, because they 
 knew that the friars, with the powerful lever of their money treas- 
 ured up in the convents of Manila, were above the law; therefore 
 more powerful than the very governor-general of the islands. 
 
 — Testimony of Francisco Alvarez, ex-clerk of court of ex-council- 
 lor of justice, before Taft Commission, Senate document No. 190, 
 56th Congress, 2d session, p. 258. 
 
 "ABSOLUTE LORD AXD PIASTER." 
 
 The parish friar placed in the position already described by the 
 undersigned regarding his parish converted himself up to a certain 
 point, into an absolute lard, master of lives and property, and, if so 
 willed, he made and unmade everything according to his fancy. 
 Master of the will of the people, more through fear than out of love 
 for him, he nominated town authorities who pleased him, which 
 nomination resulted almost always in the greatest flatterer of all his 
 parishoners, and it is plain that all weighty determinations dictated 
 by the municipal authorities were not proper initiatives, but those 
 of his amours. 
 
 — Testimony of J. C. Mijares, before Taft Commission, Senate 
 document No. 190, 56th Congress, 2d session, 254. 
 
 "ASSERTED RIGHT TO IVIARRIAGE BED." 
 
 I do not know whether this (high fees) may have been the 
 cause in some cases for reluctance to contract ecclesiastical matri- 
 money, although in my judgment what mostly influenced this reluc- 
 tance is that some reverend friars had arrogated to themselves 
 
•24: POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMERICAXS. 
 
 rights ^-liich in fuedal times were called riglits of "pernada." (The 
 right asserted by certain fuedal lords to enter the marriage bed of a 
 newly-wedded bride before the husband.) Far from my mind is 
 the idea of injuring or slandering, for I can cite specific and con- 
 crete facts, with the names and descriptions of the parties interested, 
 should I be compelled thereto. 
 
 — Testimony of Don Jose C. Mijares, resident of Bacolod, before 
 Taft Commision, Senate document No. 190, 56th Congress, 2d ses- 
 sion, p. 254. 
 
 DETECTIVE WORK OF THE PRIEST. 
 
 The detective work of the friar curates and their false accusa- 
 tions and slanders sent many and an innumerable number of the 
 peacefully inclined to the revolutionary ranks, because between the 
 horrible punishments and outrages which produced death slowly 
 and death in the open field, many preferred the latter. The greater 
 part of the well-to-do and cultured people of the provinces and 
 many from this capital embraced the cause of the rebellion, forced 
 thereto by the persecution and false accusations made by many 
 jingoistic Spanish patriots and the friars, ratlier than of their own 
 notion, and also because of the outrages, ferocious punishments, 
 and most severe penalties imposed on persons that the people 
 believed to be innocent. (P. 187.) The curate friars were agents 
 and representatives of a powerful theocratic feudalism, which has 
 been ruling this country for many centuries back without any sign 
 of responsibility of any kind, through civil and military officials 
 appointed by the Spanish government with the more or less direct 
 intervention of the commisary friars residing in the capital of 
 Spain. 
 
 — Testimony of Florentino Tores, attorney-general of the Philip- 
 pines under military government of the U. S., before Taft Commis- 
 sion, Senate document No. 190, 56th Congress, 2d sesion, p. 181- 
 187. 
 
 MASONS DEPORTED: WIVES OUTRAGED. 
 
 If they should desire the wife or daughter of a man, and the 
 husband and father opposed such advances, they would endeavor 
 to have the man deported by bringing up false charges of being a 
 filibuster or a jMason, and after succeeding in getting rid of the 
 husband, they would by foul or fair means, accomplish their pur- 
 poses, and I will cite a case that actually happened to us. 
 
 — Witness Senor Constantino, before Taft Commission, Senate 
 document No. 190, 5 6th Congress, 2 dsession, p. 150-151. 
 
POPEKY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 25 
 
 TRUST IVEETHODS USED. 
 
 Q. How did the friar rob them? 
 
 A. He robbed them in the vicinity of the railroads by forcing 
 the people to sell their rice to him at the prices which the friar 
 made, and not allowing the people to send their own products to 
 the market. 
 
 — Testimony of H. P. Whitemarsh, American correspondent 
 Century Magazine, and other periodicals, before Taft Commission, 
 Senate document No. 190, 56th Congress, 2d session. 
 
 CAUSE OF HOSTILITY, 
 
 Q. What grounds did they give for their hostility? 
 
 A. Mainly that the priests held them under, oppressed them, 
 robbed them, and that they used their women and daughters just 
 as they pleased. 
 
 — Testimony of H. P. Whitemarsh, American correspondent rep- 
 resenting Century ^Magazine and other periodicals, given before Taft 
 Commission, Senate document No. 190, 56th Congress, 2d session, 
 p. 17. 
 
 Cardinal Gibbons, you cannot say that yon are ignorant of 
 the appalling record which your "Church" made in the Philip- 
 pines, after having had full sway there for centuries. Yet you 
 now demand that this Democratic administration shall play 
 false^ to the American people, shall stultify itself, and shall 
 keep the U. S. Army in the Islands for the purpose of perpet- 
 uating the rule of the Eomanist robbers, seducers and mur- 
 derers. 
 
 What is your motive^ my Prince f 
 
 Are you compelled to obey an order from the Vatican? 
 
 Are you as much of a slave to Rome, as you demand that 
 the Filipinos shall always be ? 
 
26 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMEEICAXS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Discovery of the Philippine Archipelago by Magellan; King Philip 
 of Spain Sets About Converting the Filipinos to the Roman 
 Catholic Faith; the Friars Chosen to Conduct the Work; Their 
 Oaths of Chastity and Poverty; When Persuasion and Argument 
 Failed, the Arbitrament of the Sword to be Resorted to, a Feature 
 of Their Plan of Converting the Islanders; Terrible Indictment of 
 the Friars, in President McKinley's Message to Congress; Their 
 Shameless Violation of Their Oaths; Driven to Desperation, the 
 Filipinos had Risen in Insurrection; Mr. Stuntz's book; Universal 
 Hatred of the Friars; the Romanist Greed for Land and Rack- 
 rents; They Stifle All Liberty of Thought, and Freedom of 
 Speech; Their Insatiable Greed for Money; Their Immorality; 
 Testimony of Witnesses Before the Taft Commission. 
 
 YOU are no doubt conversant with the history of the 8000 
 islands, in the far Pacific, which are called the Philip- 
 pines — so named, in honor of Philip II. of Spain, whose 
 greatest happiness it was to attend the burning to death of 
 those Spaniards who could jiot be brought to believe that a 
 dozen Latin words, mumbled bv a priest, could change a piece 
 of bread into the body of Christ. 
 
 You therefore know that this Eastern archipelago was 
 "discovered'' by Magellan, the navigator who succeeded in 
 finding the water-way to the East by way of the AYest. which 
 Columbus was vainly seeking when he stumbled upon the 
 West Indes. 
 
 We do not know to what extent the inhabitants of those 
 Islands had enjoyed life, previous to the '•discovery"' by the 
 Spanish Christians, in the year 1519; but we have a fairly 
 accurate idea of the torments they have suffered ever since 
 King Philip set about their ''conversion'' in 1555, 
 
 This most orthodox monarch, in casting about for the best 
 agents to bring the Islanders oA'er to Holy Church and the 
 Holv Father, chose the friars. In this selection the Papa 
 heartily concurred, Xo instruments more fitting could be 
 desired. 
 
 The friars Avere solemnly sworn to lire as eunn(/ts, letting 
 the women alone, even as St, Anthonv and Simeon Stvlites 
 did. 
 
 The friars were also deeply .f;)C())'/i to porofi/. They were 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICAXS. 
 
 27 
 
 commissioned to lay up treasures in Heaven, only, where moths 
 do not corrupt, nor thieves break in and steal. 
 
 These consecrated, self-denying frairs were not even 
 allowed to own the very clothes they wore. Their oaths bound 
 them to own nothing. 
 
 Hence King Philip, who was a stingy soul, chose these 
 friars as the most inexpensive Romanist machinery which he 
 could establish in the Islands. They did not cost Spain a 
 ducat: what they cost the Filipinos is a hideous story, written 
 
 
 THESE CHAPS OWE THEIR THICK NECKS AND COARSE MOUTHS 
 
 TO ABSTEMIOUS DIET, PURE THOUGHTS, AND FREQUENT 
 
 RESORT TO GRUEL, BRANCH WATER, VEGETABLES, &C. 
 
 in blood, in chains, in torture-chambers, in untimely graves, 
 in crimes that appal humanity. 
 
 Cardinal Gibbons, are you familiar with the black record? 
 
 Do you not know that the order of the Spanish King 
 authorized those Roman friars to "convert" the natives ''5?; 
 force of aj'tns,'^ when milder measures failed? 
 
 Do you not know what butcheries were conmiitted. under 
 that royal order, by Spanish troops at the instigation of the 
 friars ? 
 
 In those remote Islands, too far away from European eye 
 to see or European ear to hear, deeds were done in the name 
 
28 POPEKY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 of Christ that Avere fiendish enough to ghidden the imps of 
 the Pit. 
 
 In my last letter to you, my Prince, liberal extracts were 
 quoted from the Message of the President of the United 
 States, transmitting to Congress the official Report of the 
 Secretary of War, relative to the Philippine Islands. This 
 Message was sent from the Executive Mansion. Feb. 25, 1901 
 — William McKinley being President. 
 
 Cardinal, the Message is, in effect, as frightful an indict- 
 ment of your Romish system as Erasmus ever published, as 
 Luther ever fulminated, as Henry VIII. ever put on record, as 
 any ex-priest ever hurled at your head. 
 
 Erasmus, your Papa dared not burn: it was too late: the 
 embers still glowed beneath the ashes where he burned Jerome, 
 and Huss, and Bruno, and Savonarola. 
 
 Luther could not be burned, for the German princes put 
 the steel girdle of their swords around him, and would not 
 yield him up to the fires of papal hate. 
 
 Henry VIII. your Papa could not burn, because he was 
 a King, and the day had passed when a haughty Pope could 
 dethrone and degrade a monarch. 
 
 Ex-priests have been shot, and have been poisoned, and 
 have been sand-bagged, and have been drowned, and have 
 been shut up in dungeons whence no sound can be heard — 
 but yet the ex-priest is ever with us, and his indictment against 
 you, Cardinal, cries aloud to the God on High ! 
 
 But never did King or prelate arraign you more sweep- 
 ingly, more convincingly, more unanswerably, than your sys- 
 tem is arraigned in President McKinley's Message to Congress. 
 
 Mark you, my Prince ! Your system had been in full con- 
 trol of the Philipine Islands for more than 300 years. The 
 field was yours. No heretic was there to make a note of dis- 
 cord. It was death., not to be a Roman Catholic ! 
 
 Yours, the ground ; yours, the tree ; yours, the fruit ! 
 
 A"\Tiat was that fruit, as disclosed by the tmdisputed evi- 
 dence of all the witnesses before the Taft Commission? 
 
 (1.) Sworn to poverty., your frairs had robbed the natives 
 of their best lands and had enriched themselves at the expense 
 of their helpless converts; 
 
 (2.) Sworn to chastity., your friars had satiated their 
 swinish lust upon the wives and daughters of their ''converts," 
 until no man was safe; 
 
FOPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 29 
 
 (3.) Sworn to Christian duties ami responsibilities, your 
 friars had banished the Bible, had kept the natives in ignor- 
 ance, had imposed upon them with all sorts of unjust taxes, 
 fees, forced labor and contemptuous mistreatment. 
 
 No wonder the miserable victims of priestly greed and 
 lust, flamed out into desperate insurrection— determined to die 
 in arms rather than submit longer to these intolerable wrongs. 
 
 Cardinal, have you run your eyes over Taft's report to 
 McKinley, and McKinley's report to Congress? It is Senate 
 Document No. 190, 2nd session, 56th Congress, Elihu Root 
 being Secretary of War at the time. 
 
 My Prince, you should read the entire record of that fear- 
 ful investigation. 
 
 The facts therein revealed on oath corroborate Erasmus, 
 Savonarola, Luther, Henry VIIL, Count C. P. DeLasteyrie, 
 Justin D. Fulton, Father Chiniquy, Joseph McCabe, William 
 Hogan, Margaret Shepherd, Jeremiah Crowley, Bernard Fre- 
 senborg, Manuel Ferrando, P. A. Seguin, Maria Monk and all 
 the host of other witnesses who have testified against your 
 dammable system. 
 
 Cardinal, you will find that official Report of Taft quoted 
 and substantiated in the book entitled, The Philippines and 
 the Far East, by Homer C. Stuntz (1904) who lived two years 
 in the Islands. 
 
 Mr. Stuntz says that Governor Taft's witnesses were 
 "bishops, priests, friars, doctors, lawyers, teachers, business 
 men, all residents of the Philippines." 
 
 Now, let me simplify matters by following Mr. Stuntz in 
 his selections from the mass of testimony presented to the 
 Taft Commission, and in his enumeration of the causes that 
 led to the insurrection of the natives against the Romanists. 
 
 First, Mr. Stuntz proves by the evidence that the hatred 
 borne to the friars was iiniversal. He cites the lawyer, Con- 
 stantino, p. 151 Sen. Doc. 190. 
 
 This universal hatred was engendered by — 
 
 (1.) The Romanist greed for land, and for rack-rents 
 from the natives. 
 
 For instance, one of the orders that was bound by the vows 
 to poverty had seized ori'e tract of land that was 28 miles long, 
 hy 14 miles loide. 
 
 Nice little poor- farm, wasn't it Cardinal? 
 
 In all, these sworn paupers of Rome had appropriated 
 403,000 acres of the very choicest land in the Islands, and were 
 
30 POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 rack-renting 00.000 native "converts"* — doing it, of course, in 
 the name of God, and for the glorj- of the Virgin j\Iary. 
 
 This land had been earned, principally, by praying souls 
 out of "pugaterry,'' putting oil on the dying, and granting 
 pardons for sin. Breath, and not money, paid for the soil held 
 l3y these sworn paupers — much of the breath being heavily 
 encumbered by whiskey and tobacco. 
 
 It was to extinguish fraudulent titles thus obtained that 
 RooseA'elt. Taft and Eoot agreed to pay the paupers $18. per 
 acre for their araole dirt, $7,000,000 total ! 
 
 Secondly, Mr. Stuntz found that the Romanists were hated 
 b}^ the natives — 
 
 '''•Because they stifled all Wjerty of thought, or freedom of 
 sfeech^ in matters religious ANI) POLITICAL.'''' 
 
 There was a Spanish law which mude it a crime to teach 
 any other religion than the Roman Catholic. (Section 226 
 Penal Code.) 
 
 So late as 1896, the Romanists were relentlessly persecut- 
 ing and murdering such Filipino patriots as Dr. Jose Rizal, 
 an educated and very brilliant man. whose only crime teas his 
 independence of thought and speech. (Shot in Manila, Dec. 
 30, 1896, while hundreds of Romanist friars looked on. smil- 
 ing as they puffed their cigars.) 
 
 The third cause of the hatred of the natives for the Roman- 
 ists was — 
 
 '■''Their insatiahle greed for money.'''' 
 
 The evidence is, that the sworn paupers charged money for 
 masses, indulgences, bulas, pictures, books, chaplets, benedic- 
 tions, marriages, baptisms, burials, confessions of the dying, 
 etc. 
 
 It can hardly be credited that these poverty-vowing disci- 
 ples of Jesus charged $15. for giving Christian interment to 
 the corpse of a native ! 
 
 Sometimes, the friars forced the sacristans "to hang the 
 corpse publicly, so that the relatives may be thus compelled 
 to seek the fees somewhere, sufficient to bury the corpse." 
 (Stuntz, p. 100, quoting testimony of Senor Maximo Viola 
 before the Civil Commission.) 
 
 The fourth cause of the intense and universal hatred was — 
 
 '■''The immorality of the fHars.'''' 
 
 Mr. H. Phelps Whitmarsh was sent to the Islands as the 
 correspondent of TJte Outlool\ the magazine of which Mr. 
 Roosevelt is now one of the editors. 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 31 
 
 Mr. Whitmarsh was made Governor of the Hill Province 
 at Benguest in the Philippines. 
 
 The Commission inquired of him the grounds of the hos- 
 tility of the natives to the Romanist friars. He replied : 
 
 '■''Mainly, that the priests held them under, oppressed them, 
 rolled them., AND USED THEIR ^YIyES AND DAUGH- 
 TERS JUST AS THEY PLEASED:' 
 
 There it is, in a nut-shell: simple, terse, complete, dam- 
 ning ! 
 
 ^Y\v3ii about it, Cardinal? 
 
 That's what your Roman system does, and always has 
 done, whenever it has gained the upper hand. 
 
 It keeps the people under, it oppresses them, it robs them, 
 and it vses their loives and daughters just as they please. 
 
 The Philippines was no isolated case : it was a typk-al 
 denbonst ration, my Prince. 
 
 Lest we forget, my Prince, I will re-state what was proved 
 against your system,, in the Philippines, after it had had full 
 swing for more than 300 years : 
 
 General R. P. Hughes, of the United States Army, testi- 
 fied that there was no morality — "?io^ a particle'''' — among your 
 Romanist priests. 
 
 Attorney-General Torres swore that your Romanist priests 
 "have condemned, in their preachings and in their private 
 conversations, EVERY DESIRE FOR CULTURE AND 
 civilization;' among the natives. 
 
 General Torres further testified that they — the priests — 
 ''^ahvsed all kinds of females, irithont distinction of class or 
 age:' 
 
 Jose Templo. speaking for himself and as chosen rcjyre- 
 sentative of his city of Lipa, accused your Romanist friars of 
 being ''THE CORRUPTORS OF YOUTH:' 
 
 He further made the terrible charge that, "in the admin- 
 istration of the sacraments they exercised only the penitential 
 as in these they experienced pleasures and deliqhts 
 
 through their shameless and incredible 
 solicitations:' 
 
 To avoid misrepresentation, I will quote the words of this 
 unimpeached and uncontradicted witness: 
 
 In Lenten time, which was the period when the comitry folk 
 came in to confess, the parish friar would give strict orders to the 
 
32 POPERY SHOWX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 scribes of the church to the end that in the distribution or giving 
 of the certificates to the penitents among himself and the coadju- 
 tors, they should give him the young immanied country women and 
 servant penitents, whom he obscenely solicited throvigh words and 
 manipulations in the confessional, which they always had cornered 
 and buried in the darkest part of the chiu-ch. Is a proof of this 
 desired as clear as the light of mid-day? Here are the thousands 
 of solicited females, of which I have some examples in my house, 
 ready to depose if necessary in accordance with what is here 
 denounced. 
 
 Q. What do you think is the chief ground for hostility to the 
 friars as parish priests? 
 
 A. The abuses, tyranniies, and countless immoralities com- 
 mitted safely. I say "safely" because in the Philippines no one 
 could call the frair to account for his acts. And if any governor 
 allowed himself at any time to bridle his friars his rashness cost 
 him dearly, he being discharged from his office. — Pages 202, 209, 
 210. 
 
 Don Jose C. Mi j ares had lived in the Islands 63 years: he 
 testified : 
 
 The friar curates, usurping the attributes of the local authori- 
 ties, not only intervened but exercised joint action with the said 
 authorities in the three branches, administrative, judicial and 
 economical. The gobernadorcilla or justice of the peace who should 
 have dared to disobey the curate friar was certain to land in jail 
 within a few days if he were not deported, to which end the 
 reverened friars always had on hand, like a panacea against them, 
 the accusation of being a filibusterer and anti-Spanish. 
 
 The heads of the Spanish government, to the detriment of their 
 dignity, became servile tools, because they knew that the friars, 
 with the powerful lever of their money treasured up in the con- 
 vents of Manila, were above the law; THEREFORE, MORE POW- 
 ERFUL THAN THE VERY GOVERNOR-GENERAL OP THE 
 ISLANDS. 
 
 General Torres said : 
 
 It can be asserted without exaggeration that the friars have 
 been and are a fatal hindrance to the advancement, moral and 
 material, of this country, from the very fact that they have devoted 
 
POPERY 8H0WX UP TO AMERICANS. 33 
 
 themselves to keeping this society in ignorance, as though it lived 
 in the middle ages or in the mediaeval epoch of remote centuries; 
 and lastly, as priests and curates, the majority of them were living 
 examples of immorality, of disorder in the towns. 
 
 General Torres further stated: 
 
 In many pueblos the concubines and children of the friars Aver€ 
 publicly kno«ii and pointed out, and the colleges existing in this 
 capital used to be, and still are, filled with youths of both sexes 
 whose featui'es reveal their origin and birth. 
 
 Ambrosia Flories said: 
 
 A. The reasons for this hostility were many. In the first place, 
 the haughty, overbearing, despotic manner of the friars. Then the 
 question of the haciendas, because the conditions of their tenantry 
 were very terrible. Then there was the fact of the fear which beset 
 every man, even those who through fear were nearest to the friars, 
 that if his eyes should light uiwn his Avife or his daughter in an 
 en\aous way that if he did not give them up he was lost. ANOTHER 
 REASON WAS THAT THEY WERE INIMICAL TO EDUCATING 
 THE PEOPLE. Then, again, because of the parish fees, because 
 they were very excessive, always compelling the rich to have the 
 greatest amount of ceremony in their weddings, baptisms and inter- 
 ments — whether they wanted it or not — and cost them thereby a 
 good deal, and if they did not accede to tlie payment they would 
 say they were IMasons or filibusters. 
 
 Pedro Luraiio Laktaw swore that the immorcdit}/ of the 
 Filipinos grew worse and worse. THE NEARER ONE 
 APPROACHED TO THE CONVENTS. 
 
 Senor Nozarino Constantino testified, concerning the 
 priests : 
 
 If they should desire the wife or daughter of a man, and the 
 husband and father opposed such advances, they would endeavor 
 to have the man deported by bringing up false charges of being a 
 filibuster or a Mason, and after succeeding in getting rid of thej 
 husband, they Avould, by foul or fair means, accomplish their pm*- 
 poses. 
 
 All the evidence discloses '•'■the immense wealth'''' which 
 
34 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICAXS. 
 
 these sAvorn-to-poverty friars had accumulated. By the cor- 
 rupt use of this ill-gotten wealth, the holy paupers bribed 
 officials, in the Islands, or in Spain, and thus maintained their 
 irresistible power to wring more ajicl more, AND MORE^ 
 from the miserable natives. 
 
 The evidence is that the Islanders could read and tcrite 
 their own language, before the Spaniards and the friars came 
 to "discover" the archipelago. 
 
 Afterwards, the natives were systematically mistreated', 
 degraded, deprived of education and debauched morally, in 
 tlie manner described by the witnesses. 
 
 ^Miat have you to sav about it, Cardinal? 
 
 You want another THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF 
 LOOT, for your Italian Papa, don't you? 
 
 With unctious persuasiveness, you argue against the grant 
 of self-government to these Islanders. 
 
 You say that we must dishonor our forefathers, spurn our 
 Declaration of Independence, break the assurances that we 
 gave to the world and the promises we have made to the 
 Islanders. 
 
 You say that the natives are not yet prepared for self- 
 government. 
 
 "Whose fault is that, my Prince? 
 Your political corporation has had them in custody and tute- 
 lage for three centuries : how many more hundreds of years 
 do you demand? 
 
 P. S. Do not forget, my Prince, that your Eomanist 
 jDriests, as shown hy undisputed testimony, claimed and exer- 
 cised the feudal right known in fuedal law as the jus prima 
 noctis — that is, the privilege of the feudal landlord to occupy 
 the Indal led, AYITH THE BRIDE, on the frst night after 
 the wedding. 
 
 They did that in the Philippines. Elsewhere, they are still 
 doing things to the women and the men that are quite as 
 wicked and lustful as the jus prima noctis. 
 
 Do you demand proof, my Prince? 
 
 You shall have it. 
 
POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMEEICAXS. 35 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Cardinal Compared to an Owl; His Controversy With Dr. Osier; 
 The Holy Men of the East and the West the Same in Purpose and 
 in Results. 
 
 HOW does it feel to be an owl ? Do you never throb with 
 the impulse to dart away from the dead limb of the 
 tree upon which you perch; and to spread a free, strong 
 wing in the vibrant air? Or, have you grown so accustomed to 
 the ancient nest, and to the gloom of night and to your 
 monotonous hoot, that you could not bear the jocund day, 
 with its riot of nature's woodnotes? 
 
 Dr. Osier, scientist, rudely shook your dead limb, a few 
 weeks ago, by speaking somewhat irreverently of those bygone 
 shells which produce just such horned owls as yourself. The 
 scientist proudly alluded to the triumphs and the trophies of 
 those hardy ventures into the uncharted seas who had freighted 
 their daring vessels with so many priceless cargoes rescued from 
 "Chaos and old Night," so many Sibylyne leaves that were 
 forbidden to eyes profane, so many Eleusynian mysteries from 
 which common mortals were debared, so many of Nature's 
 inner secrets before whose closed portals had flashed the flam- 
 ing swords. Beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the scientists have 
 sailed, defying wind and wave and oracular interdict : and 
 from the newly found world, beyond the horizon of orthodox 
 cult and knowledge, they have brought to us the Elixir of 
 Life, the Conqueror's sword that cuts the Gordian knot, the 
 Holy Grail that Sir Galahad sought in vain. 
 
 The grandest of all music today, is the voice of independent 
 Thought. Its battle-axe rings upon the castle gate, and the 
 Chained Princess of Truth must be freed. Its all-seeing eye 
 is the sungleam into all the dungeons of superstition, and the 
 barred windows must be opened. It stands. Redeemer-like, 
 where every law of nature has been suspended, and imperi- 
 oush^ calls, "Lazarus, come forth I" It walks the surface of 
 all the seas, and wherever the doubting Peter, on his way to 
 Life, is about to sink, it cries. "Be not afraid : it is II" 
 
 And so Dr. Osier, a scientist, proud of the marvellous 
 achievements of the fearless, the discontented, the restless, the 
 progressive, the seekers after more knowledge — Dr. Osier. I 
 say ,spoke in Baltimore a few weeks ago and was not as 
 
3G POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICAXS. 
 
 reverent as he might have been, in his references to the Saints, 
 the relics, t'he iiimges, the miracles, and the rest of the owlish 
 stock-in-trade of ecclesiastical night-birds. 
 
 Consequently, you. my Prince, had to erect your honorable 
 horns, and make the forest ring with your honorable hoot. 
 
 You were scandalized by Dr. Osier. You were shocked to 
 hear so manj^ goodly gifts accredited to fearless research, to 
 irreverent doubt, to heterodox discontent, to the Ajaxes who 
 dare the lightning, to the sons of Prometheus who snatch the 
 torch from heaven itself, in the determination that mankind 
 shall SEE AND KXO^Y! 
 
 Dr. Osier disturbed you in your ancient solitary tower, 
 and you sent forth a lugubrious hoot — To-whit, tu-whit, to- 
 hoo ! — admonishing us to remember that Science and the 
 Intellect are as nothing, compared Avith i^he Saint, the relic, 
 the imcige, and the miracle! 
 
 Wrapped in the uncanny cerements of a dead creed, with^ 
 the sickening smell of embalming fluid all over you. and with 
 the repulsive look of a mummy that dried up a thousand years 
 ago, you, Cardinal, cannot imagine what an absurd figure you 
 cut, when you come forth, owlishly blinking your eyes in the 
 light of day, and pouring forth maudlin puerilities about 
 Saints, images, relics and miracles. 
 
 If there is a miracle in this American world, my Prince, 
 it consists of the fact that such Rip Van Winkles as yourself 
 can secure respectful reception by men who have sense enough 
 to go in out of the rain. 
 
 That you should not be conscious of having overslept your- 
 self, that the world has passed you by, that the very clothes 
 on your back have become tatters, that your faithful dogs of 
 the Inquisition are known only by the bones they left behind; 
 and that the radiant day of the Twentieth Century has no 
 place for such antiquated anachronisms as you and your Paj^a, 
 is, I confess, something of a miracle. 
 
 ]Must every chain have its faulty link? ]Must every flock 
 have its black sheep? Must eveiy litter have its nint? jNIust 
 Humanity, in the advance of its hosts, always have a camp- 
 following debris hanging upon its flanks and rear— a wretched 
 motley of squalid ignorance, of degrading superstition, of 
 decadent recurrence to type, of degeneracy and monkeyism? 
 Apparently, "y^s." 
 
 In the Orient, the Holy Man is the vagabond who squats 
 in one place for the greatest numlier of years, accumulates the 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 37 
 
 greatest amount of filth, presents the most disgusting spectacle 
 of vermin infested head and body, finger-nails grown to talons 
 of incredible length and repulsiveness, features devoid of 
 human emotions, eyes that look upon the world without see- 
 ing it. 
 
 Armies of peace march by with banners of snow: armies 
 of war march by. under flags of blood : hosts of workers, doers, 
 lovers, revellers, joy-makers, grief -victims — they all march by, 
 in Nature's varied way in Nature's appointed time, to Nature's 
 inevitable goal : and the Holy Man, encrusted in his dirt, his 
 inertia, his Ego, his sordid stupidity, squats there, a very toad^ 
 with no smile to answer smile, with never a tear to keep com- 
 pany with tears, with never a wami wave of affection to 
 mingle with the warmth of some kindred wave, with never a 
 hand at the loom that weaves, with never a foot on the path- 
 way of duty, with never a word of cheer for those who press 
 forward, with no contribution to the world's heritage from the 
 past — with nothing but the beggar's hand forever outstretched, 
 the cob-web brain within which spiders crouch and spin, the 
 festering mind and heart that hate movement, progress, light, 
 knowledge and the manly independence and self-confidence of 
 real Men! 
 
 In the Occident the pose is different, the method is differ- 
 ent, the dress is different, the aspect is different, but the Thing 
 itself is the same, and the results are the same. 
 
 In the East, the dirty fakir is content to let the human 
 procession pass onward, satisfied if his beggar palm be crosed, 
 and he be left alone in the glory of his ignorance and his physi- 
 cal filth. 
 
 In the West the fakir is not content iov the procession to 
 pass on. He demaitds that the procession halt. He even jDlants 
 himself in its way, and imperiously commands it to '■^HaltP'' 
 He not only craves that his mendicant hands be kept filled to 
 overflowing, but will be satisfied with nothing less. No mon- 
 arch shall be so splendidly arrayed as his Papa : no princes 
 shall parade in such gaudy vestments as his nobles: no palaces 
 shall rival his in royal appointments: no luxurious living shall 
 compare with his: no hoards of silver and gold and precious 
 stones shall equal his — and even then, he still has demands that 
 remain to be met. 
 
 "Let me do your thinking for you !" says the Western fakir 
 to the Western world. "I^t me choose your books, mark the 
 limits of your research, set the boundaries of your thought. 
 
38 , POPERY RHOWX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 A MODKRN VIRGIN OF THE POPE. 
 
\ POPERY SHOWN UP lO AMERICANS. 39 
 
 lock the doors which you should not open, Avrite articles of 
 your faith, prescribe the medicine for your conscience, nego- 
 tiate the peace betAveen you and your ^Slaker, and issue the 
 pass-port from Time to Eternity!" 
 
 He does not squat in the same attitude, at the same spot^ 
 during- all seasons of the year; he is nice in his personal get-up 
 and habits ; and does not sit apart as humanity goes by. But 
 to all intents and purposes, the Western fakir is just as ignor- 
 ant, just as uncanny, just as much out of place and out of date 
 as the hideous human bull-bat that sits by the dusty road in 
 Hindustan; or the wooden idol that squats in the joss-house of 
 "the heathen Chinee.'' 
 
 The Devil who would come to us in the old personification 
 would do us no harm. Seeing his horns, his tail, his feet, his 
 breath of flame, we would take fright, and flee. 
 
 The Devil has altered his dress and his manners: he now 
 follows the fashion, and looks, for all the world, like a gentle- 
 man of the most exquisite type. Lucifer is Mephistopheles, 
 and the poor human Gretchen becomes the victim, as her 
 mother Eve did, in the Long Ago. 
 
 In like manner, Superstition has put on a modern mask 
 and a modern domino: but it attends the carnival, as of yore, 
 and its victims are as numerous as they ever were. 
 
 Cardinal, how does it feel to be an owl? 
 
 Is it difficult to keep your face straight when you have to 
 talk about Saints and relics ? 
 
 Your rebuke of Dr. Osier stirred my memory, and caused 
 an array of relics to pass in mental review. This array is 
 imposing. Your ''collection"' is complete. No wonder that 
 you should be otfended Avhen Dr. Osier appears forgetful of 
 the curative virtues of these most blessed relics. 
 
 Lest the world in its levity become unmindful of the inesti- 
 mable riches of our Holy Church, we will mention a few of 
 these marvelous treasures. 
 
 RELICS IN STOCK: 
 
 Item : The Cross upon which Christ was crucified, and the 
 nails that were driven into his hands and feet, the crown of 
 thorns which he wore, and the handkerchief with which his 
 face was wiped. 
 
 Item : We have the lance with which the soldiers pierced 
 his side, the sponge that was held to his lips, and the pillar 
 against which he leaned at his trial. 
 
40 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 Item : AVe have many veils of the Virgin ]\Iarv. and quarts 
 of her maternal milk, and the house in which she dwelt. 
 
 Item: We have the chain with which Paul was fettered, 
 . the rod with which Moses struck the rock, the Aviiiding-sheet 
 in which Christ was wrapped, and a phial-ful of the darkness 
 which overspread Egj'pt. 
 
 Item : We have the heads of Saint Anne, the mother of 
 Marv — three at Rome and one at Bologna^ making four heads 
 in all, for this most blessed Saint Anne. We have thirteen 
 heads of John the Baptist, one of which is, of a certainty, the 
 identical head that Herodias danced for. and got. We have 
 the ten heads of Saint James, the Great ; and the eight bodies 
 of St. Luke. 
 
 Item : We possess six seamless garments that belonged to 
 Christ, one of which is most assuredly the very same that the 
 Roman soldiers rallied off. Also, a lock of the Virgin's hair. 
 Also, a piece of the tomb of Lazarus. 
 
 Item: We possess the table on which Christ ate the Last 
 Supper; the slab on which the Roman soldiers cast dice for 
 Christ's garment ; the first baby-shirt that Jesus ever wore : 
 and the identical finger which the once doubting Thomas— 
 now a most blessed Saint — was bidden to ''reach hither"' and 
 put into the nail-holes in our Savior'ss hands and feet. 
 
 Item: Our most Holy ^Mother Church possesses the 
 placard which Pilate wrote for the Cross; also, the water-jars 
 used at the marriage feast at Cana ; the shoes which Christ 
 wore when a boy; and the reed which was mockingly placed 
 in his hands when he was jeeringly greeted as King of the 
 Jews. 
 
 Item: We have the halter with which Judas hanged him- 
 self ! And the wedding ring of Mary ! And a piece of Jacob's 
 ladder ! And the brazen serpent which ]Moses lifted up ! And 
 parts of the skeletons of the identical "innocents" who were 
 slain by the orders of Herod ! And some of the wine that 
 Christ made at Cana ! 
 
 Ite7n : We have a bottle of Saint Joseph's breath ! Also, 
 the tail of the ass that Christ rode into Jerusalem ! Also, the 
 rods of Moses and Aaron ! Also, the roost from which the 
 cock crowed while Peter was entering his third denial of his 
 Master ! 
 
 Item: We have — and it is the most glorious of all our 
 most blessed relics — a bottle that is full of the blood of Christ 
 himself! 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 41 
 
 That it is genuine, can no more be gainsaved than you can 
 deny that we possess a portion of the Virgin's petticoat". 
 
 bo we not read in history of tlie solenni procession that 
 was led by a King of England, when this most genuine and 
 holy relic was borne from one church to another in London, 
 some few generations ago? 
 
 Let us edify and solemnize ourselves by a re-perusal of the 
 most comfortable and pious narrative : 
 
 '"Our Henry III., summoned all the great in the kingdom to 
 meet at London. This summons excited the most general curi- 
 osity, and multitudes appeared. The king then acquainted 
 them that th great master of the Knights' Templars had sent 
 him a phial containing a small portion of the precious blood of 
 Christ, which He had shed upon the cross; and attested to he 
 genuine, by the seals of the Patriarch of Jesusalem and others ! 
 He commanded a procession the following day; and the histo- 
 rian adds, that although the road between St. Paul's and West- 
 minster Abbey was very deep and miry, the king kept his eyes 
 constantly fixed on the phial. Two monks received it. and 
 deposited the phial in the abbey, 'which made all England 
 shine with glory, dedicating it to God and St. Edward.' '' 
 
 ('•Windsor Castle." by Leitch Ritchie, p. 124.) 
 
 But. Cardinal, why is it that these miraculous relics are 
 never used to restore your health? Why is it that your Holy 
 Father, in his recent dangerous sickness, never once sought 
 relief from the bones of the Saints, the relics handed down 
 from Apostolic times, or from any other supernatural agency, 
 but relied solely on mere human science and nature's medicines? 
 
 According to reports, the Holy Father came near dying: 
 yet none of the Saints were invoked and none of the relics 
 asked to work a miracle. The doctor Avas needed : the doctor 
 was sent for : the doctor came : the doctor prescribed natural 
 remedies : the doctor cured the patient. 
 
 What about it, my Prince? Surely if there be miraculous 
 powers in Saints and Relics, those powers should become irre- 
 sistibly active when our Holy Father needs them. 
 
 Is it not so. my Prince? 
 
 P. S. I came near forgetting that one of our most holy 
 relics is the most venerable gridiron in Avhich the blessed 
 martyr. Saint Lawrence, was broiled; and that another is the 
 slab on which Abraham fed the angels who were enroute to 
 destrov Sodom and Gomorrah. 
 
ANOTHER MODERN VIRGIN OF THE POPE. HE LOOKS IT. 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 43 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 What is the Roman System? a Religion, a Political Machine, or a 
 'Business Proposition; the Lord Himself, Superseded by the Pope; 
 Traffic in Papal Indulgence; the Manifold Vocations of St. 
 Anthony of Padua; Copies of Some of the Laudatory Letters 
 Written About Him, as Pound in Two Roman Catholic Maga- 
 zines. 
 
 T T TTIlCIi do you consider the Roman system. — a religion, 
 Wf a political machine, or a business proposition? 
 
 If your chief aim is relic/ioiK why do you have so 
 much to do with politics and finance ? 
 
 If your chief aim is religion, why do you never use the 
 Bible, nor imitate Christ as to money-getting? 
 
 If the main object of your elaborate organization is not 
 to amasss earthly riches, and to wield earthly power, why are 
 you so persistently demanding money, and reaching out for 
 the offices? Why have you established a price-list, a market 
 report, which keeps the world posted on all the various fees 
 which you exact in the performance of Christian duties? 
 
 You liberate sinners from their chains; but the sinner must 
 come down with his cash before you will pardon those sins. 
 
 You release condemned and tortured souls from Purgatory ; 
 but, unless the cash or its equivalent is forthcoming, those con- 
 demned and tortured souls may continue to suffer, evermore. 
 
 Where is your Scriptural authority for that. Cardinal ? 
 
 If. by a few words of supplication to the "Virgin Mary," 
 3"0u can bring etenial bliss to souls now languishing in tor- 
 ment, are vou not a stonv-hearted person, when a'ou fail to 
 do it? ■ 
 
 If we are taught to think ill of the passers-by when they 
 neglected the wounded stranger whom the Good Samaritan 
 relieved, what must we think of Christian priests who won't 
 open the doors of hell, unless the gate-receipts are satisfactory? 
 
 If we are taught that our Heavenly Father is served, every 
 time we visit the sick, clothe the naked and feed the hungry, 
 how much greater would be that service if we voluntarily 
 emptied Purgatory by prayers and intercessions, freely ofl'ered 
 from the hearts overflowing with compassion for the wretched ! 
 
 You. Cardinal* stand committed, as a Romanist, to this dia- 
 bolically uncharitable proposition: "The Roman church can 
 
U POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 release all the purgatorial sufferers, but WOX'T, unless money 
 is paid for the prayers'' 
 
 Cardinal, do you remember how baldly that position of 
 your church has Ijeen exi3ressed by your peddlers of Indul- 
 gences ? 
 
 The Archbishop of Mentz said : "Those who wish to 
 deliver souls from Purgatory, and procure the pardon of their 
 offences, let them put money in the hox; contrition of heart, or 
 confession of mouth, is not necessary." 
 
 Put cash into the Church chest — nothing more is required 
 for the remission of sins. 
 
 No broken and contrite heart,' no grieved^ repentent soul 
 is needed'. JUST PAY THE 3I0NEY TO THE ROMAN- 
 IST PRIEST • and^ though the sins he as scarlet^ they shall be 
 washed whiter than snow! 
 
 What matters it if the Bible declares that nothing but the 
 blood of Christ can cleanse from sin ? 
 (Rom. V. 9; viii. I. John I. 7and 9.) 
 
 What though the Christian Church of Rome, for more than 
 a thousand years held to the Scriptural doctrine i 
 
 It suited the mercenary spirit of later Popes to supersede 
 God Himself, and they did it ! 
 
 Hear Tetzel, the Pope's agent, sent into Germany to sell 
 pardons for sins — sins past, sins present, and sins future ! 
 
 ""Indidgenees avail not only for the living, h)it for the 
 dead:' 
 
 Have you. stricken father, an unbaptised infant in the 
 other world? If so, it is undergoing agony in the flames of 
 Purgatory. If you love your own child, and would save it 
 from everlasting pain, pay for a papal Indulgence. 
 
 Have you, bereaved husband, a wife that died in her sins, 
 without priestly absolution? If so, she is at the bottom of the 
 abyss, in the dread Beyond: how can you refuse to save her 
 from further anguish? Pay a small sum to the Pope, and her 
 soul will immediately take wings to heaven ! 
 
 Listen to Tetzel, apjDealing to the ignorant believers in the 
 Pope : 
 
 "Do you not hear your parents and your other friends who 
 are dead, and who are crying to you from the bottom of the 
 abyss : 
 
 "TT'e are suffering hoirible torments! A trifling sum of 
 money wovld deliver vs: you CAN give it, and you u-ill not:' 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 45 
 
 Think of a. Pope's agent making that kind of appeal to 
 illiterate, priest-ridden peasants ! 
 
 Tetzel continued : 
 
 "At the very instant that the money rattles at the bottom 
 of the chest, the soul escapes from Purgatory, and flies 
 liberated to heaven." 
 
 "With twelve goats, you can deliver your father from Pur- 
 gatory. * * I declare to you, that though you have but a 
 single coat, you ought to str^p it off and sell it, in order to 
 obtain this grace. 
 
 "The Lord our God no longer reigns. He has resigned all 
 poAver to the Pope.'' (See D'Aubigne's Reformation, pp. 86, 
 87.) 
 
 Cardinal, that is really and truly the creed of modern, 
 infallible Popery. 
 
 Pardons for sins — past, present and future— all still ped- 
 dled in Europe. 
 
 Souls are still paid and prayed out of Purgatory, all over 
 the Roman Catholic world — and even in these United States. 
 
 Did you ever forgive a sin, My Prince? 
 
 If so, what is the evidence? 
 
 Did you ever pray a soul, out of Purgatory? 
 
 If so, what is the evidence? 
 
 Where is the proof that Popery ever cleansed a soul of its 
 sins, or got a prisoner out of Purgatory ? 
 
 Inasmuch as it took the Romanists 1400 years to discover 
 that there was a Purgatory, it is an awful thing to reflect upon 
 the myraids of incarcerated spirits that did not even get the 
 chance to be paid for and prayed out. 
 
 Cardinal, do you sometimes feel sorry for St. Anthony of 
 Padua ? 
 
 If ever there was an overworked Saint, it is Anthoney. 
 
 He is the Saint whose vocation in the other and better 
 world it is, to find lost pocket-books, lost jewels, and lost 
 health. He is the Saint who keeps the house from catching 
 a-fire. He is the Saint who finds a man for the vacant job, 
 and a job for the vacant man. He is the Saint who hunts up 
 tenants for unoccupied houses, and who tells absent-minded 
 women where they laid down their spectacles, the house-keys, 
 the pawn-ticket, and the jewel-case. 
 
 Saint Anthony is perhaps the greatest old busy-body in 
 the realms of bliss. He never has the leisure to attune his 
 
46 POPERY 8H0WX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 harp, find a comfortable seat on the damp clouds, and out- 
 pour his devotional ardor in song. No: St. An'tne}' is always 
 bus}', looking for old women's keys, or spectacles, or pocket- 
 books, or stolen hric-a-hrac. 
 
 Think of the trouble that old Saint must have in discover- 
 ing a man who is willing to marry some shelf-worn spinster, 
 whom every other man has looked over, and passed up I 
 
 I follow his jobs in the Romanist magazines called Bethle- 
 hem and The Messenger — the last named, in Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 
 Bethelehem is printed in Europe — in Switzerland. 
 
 Lest I be accused of levit}' and slander, I copy some of the 
 letters. 
 
 These letters are addressed to the JMagazines, by sundry 
 bipeds in whose behalf Saint Anthony has labored. 
 
 Here are samples: 
 
 I am sending an offering in thanksgiving for a great favour 
 granted, through the holy intercession of Saint Anthony. I liad 
 suffered form a severe pain in my side for over two years, and often 
 thouglit that I would not live till morning. Last November I 
 promised an offering to Saint Anthony, and from that time forward 
 I got quite well and free from all pain. I waited some time to see 
 if it would return, but thank God it has not. — E. 'SI., Ireland. 
 
 I am sending you an offering in thanksgiving for a favour 
 granted through St. Joseph and St. Anthony. I lost an article and 
 at once commenced a novena, and promised to have it published in 
 the Bethlehem. On the second day the article was restored to me. 
 Surely St. Anthony is a miracle worker. — A Lover of St. Anthony. 
 
 I send you an offering in thanksgiving for a favour granted 
 through the holy intercession of St. Anthony. The intention for 
 which I requested your prayers was that I might get a good and 
 suitable husband and happy home, and thank God my desire has 
 been granted, much to the surprise of everyone. — I\Irs. L., Ireland. 
 
 I promised an offering to St. Anthony for your School, if he 
 would help my sister recover a pocket-book, containing money and 
 jewelry, which she had lost. My request was granted, the book 
 found in a mysterious manner. — T. O'B., Brooklyn, U. S. A. 
 
 I enclose an offering in honour of St. Anthony and for a Mass 
 for the Souls in Purgatory. I promised this offering to Saint 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 47 
 
 Anthony, if he would get a tenant for a house that was vacant for 
 months so now, it is rented and I hasten to fulfill my promise. I 
 also enclose an offering for a Mass of thanksgiving in honour of the 
 Sacred Heart of Jesus for all the graces and blessings bestowed 
 on us. — 'SI. B., Louisville, U. S. A. 
 
 I appealed to St. Anthony to obtain an improvement in the 
 state of my health. The result has surpassed all my hopes. Please 
 insert this favour in your journal. — H. B. — St. G., Cote d'Or 
 (France.) 
 
 Enclosed find an offering to dear St. Anthony, the Infant Jesus, 
 His Holy :Mother and St. Joseph for favours received. We had a 
 contagious disease and two members of the family escaped after 
 invoking our patron. The others had a safe and speedy recovery. 
 We were also assisted in a former sickness which I failed to men- 
 tion. Dear St. Anthony never fails to help when I invoke him. — 
 B. M., U. S. A. 
 
 You will find enclosed herewith my offering, in payment of a 
 debt to Saint Anthony, who has helped me in a most providential 
 manner to find an object which I value very much and which I 
 thought had left behind me, when traveling, in the train. Now 
 after making apromise to Saint Anthony, I have found this object 
 in a trunk where I have no recollection of having put it. — M. R. — C. 
 Nievre (France.) 
 
 A great forest-fire threatened our land. We appealed to St. 
 Anthony who has preserved us from the scourge we feared. Thanks 
 to this good Saint. — H. L., Saint-Esprit, Canada. 
 
 I Avas suffering a great pain in my eyes for several days. Then 
 it occurred to me to apply to the painful part, the blessed medal of 
 St. Anthony and Our Lady of Lourdes. A great relief followed. I 
 thank my holy patron Saints and beg you to publish this favor in 
 "Bethlehem." — E. R., U. C, Canada. 
 
 A relation of mine had some payments to meet and had not 
 the necessary sum to fulfill the engagement at the appointed time. 
 She promised a ]Mass in honour ouf Saint Anthony, for the Souls 
 in Purgatory, if work arived in time. She had no cause for dis- 
 appointment in St. Anthony. — L. R., Geneva. 
 
48 POPERY SHOAVX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 I had recommended myself to St. Anthony and to the Souls in 
 Purgatory, promising a Mass and insertion in "Bethelehem' if I 
 found a sum of money which was wanted. INly prayer was granted, 
 so I hasten to fulfill my promise and recommend myself to the pray- 
 ers of the Institute. — D. T., — B., Jura-Bernois. 
 
 I had promised an offering if my son obtained the situation he 
 wished for. The prayer was granted at the very moment we least 
 expected it. Thanks to Saint Anthony. — A. G. — T., Eure-et-Loire 
 (France.) 
 
 San Antonio, Tex., June 16, 1911. Last month I had under my 
 care a patient with typhoid fever. Complications of various natures 
 set in. The patient was given up by the attending physician. I 
 promised St. Anthony to have it published in the Messenger, and 
 also to give an alms for St. Anthony's Bread if he should recover. 
 Now, thanks to our dear Blessed Mother and good St. Anthony, the 
 patient recovered and has gone from the hospital completely cured. 
 
 D. P., Nurse. 
 
 Chicago, 111., June IS, 1911. Enclosed you will find the second 
 installment of alms for the poor students which I promised, if 
 father has steady work and I hold my position. Thanks to St. 
 Anthony, we both still have steady work. M. A. H. 
 
 New York City, June 2 6, 1911. Enclosed please find an offering 
 for the poor students, which I had promised, if a certain sale should 
 be made without trouble. Thanks to good St. Anthony my petition 
 has been granted. M. E. S. 
 
 Soldiers' Grove, Wis., July i, 1911. For passing the senior's 
 examination in the Madison ^Musical College successfully, and also 
 for having procured some pupils, 1' enclose an alms for St. Anthony's 
 Bread in thanksgiving to the dear Saint. A. V. F. 
 
 , July 5, 1911. For the same favor mentioned above I 
 
 send you an offering for the poor students which I promised, if my 
 daughter was successful. Thanks to the S. Heart, the Bl. Virgin, 
 St. Joseph and good St. Anthony. M. A. F. 
 
 Cincinnati, O., July 5, 1911. The enclosed offering for the poor 
 students was promised, if my sister should have a safe confinement. 
 Thanks to the Infant Jesus and St. Anthony, all passed off quietly. 
 
 E. W. 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 49 
 
 Elizabeth, N. J.. July 5, 1911. Enclosed offering for St. Antho- 
 ny's Bread is in gratitude for a special temporal favor obtained. 
 Please pray for another favor to be granted. N. N. 
 
 Covington, Ky., July, 7, 1911. For the cure of an abscess in my 
 face without having to undergo an operation, as also for finding a 
 purchaser for mv house and getting the desired price therefor, I 
 return sincere thanks to the Bl. Virgin and St. Anthony, and enclose 
 the promised offering for the poor students. M. M. 
 
 , Wis., July 7, 1911. Many thanks to our dear Lord and 
 
 good St. Anthony, also to the Bl. Virgin and St. Joseph for being 
 cured of a painful ailment. Enclosed alms was promised for the 
 poor students. 
 
 -, Wis., July 7, 1911. Please accept the enclosed offering 
 
 for your poor students. I had promised this if I was successfully 
 cured of an ailment which caused me much trouble. A Friend. 
 
 New York City, July 10, 1911. In fulfillment of a promise 
 made if a law-suit was settled out of court and quickly, I enclose 
 an offering. 
 
 Hamilton, O., July 13, 1 9 11. To express our sincere thanks to 
 the S. Heart and dear St. Anthony for protecting our stock, crops 
 and the family from fire and storms, we enclose an offering. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. J. H. S. 
 
 Thanksgivings Are Also Offered. 
 
 For the recovery of lost articles: E. K. Winsted, Conn, (sum 
 of money.) — M. McM., Buffalo, N. Y., (a ring.) 
 
 For special favors: F. B., West Arichat, C. B.— L. E., Clinton, 
 
 ]Mich. W. H. Frontenac, Kan. — O. M., Indianapolis, Ind. — A. 
 
 Reader, Cincinnati, O.— M. S., Ludlow, Ky.— X. Y. Z., Louisville, 
 
 Ky. A. V. F., Madison, Wis. — H. McD., Shenandoah, Pa.— T. A. C, 
 
 Cumminsville, Cincinnati, O.— M. F., Wilkesbarre, Pa.— M. D., ^lan- 
 hattan, 111. 
 
 Aliwal North, S. Africa, June 2, 1913. A year has elapsed since 
 we requested the prayers of the poor students for a court case on 
 which the welfare of three families depended. Praise be to our 
 good God who has once again deigned to manifest the power of His 
 great St. Anthony, for the case has come off successfully. S. P. 
 
50 POPERY SHOAVX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 San Francisco, Cal., July l4, 1913. Enclosed amount was 
 promised dear St. Anthony in return for a watch, very much valued 
 as a keepsake. Lost on Sunday evening, it was advertised in Tues- 
 day's paper, and at 9 o'clock the same morning it was returned to 
 me. The finder would take no reward. I am certain its return 
 was due to dear St. Anthony, for it was found in a different place 
 from that mentioned in the advertisement. Sincere thanks to good 
 St. Anthony. M. F. O'K. 
 
 Camrose, Alberta, Canada, July 18 ,1913. Last Fall I promised 
 St. Anthony enclosed offering, if I would not get the hayfever 
 (asthma), with which I had been afflicted for many years. As I 
 w'as spared last year, I gratefully now fulfill my promise. 
 
 W. C. S. 
 
 Boyd, Wis., July 18, 1913. The enclosed offering for the poor 
 students was promised, if our business would be profitable. Thanks 
 to God and dear St. Anthony, the favor was granted. C. I. 
 
 Mt. Angel, Oregon, July 19, 1913. A short time ago we were 
 in need of a loan of money. Having been empowered by my Supe- 
 riors to obtain the same, I asked the assistance of dear St. Anthony, 
 promising publication, if secured. The same week we received the 
 amount desired, under more desirable conditions than we had dared 
 to hope for. We had a Mass, said in thanksgiving, and wish to 
 publicly thank good St. Anthony. B. S. 
 
 Omaha, Neb., July 23, 1913. Enclosed alms for the poor 
 students is in fulfillment of a promise to send any money I received 
 as a birthday present (July 19) in thanksgiving to our dear St. 
 Anthony, if he helped me to meet some business obligations by July 
 1, which he graciously did. J. M., L. 
 
 Cincinnati, O., July 31, 1913. When my daughter had an attack 
 of appendicitis, I promised enclosed offering for the poor students 
 and publication in the "Messenger," if she would recover without an 
 operation. Thanks to dear St. Anthony, she is well again. T. L. 
 
 Cumberland Mills, Me., July 31, 1913. With enclosed offering 
 r wish to return sincere thanks to the S. Heart, the Bl. Virgin and 
 St. Anthony for the safe return of a dear relative. A. L. S. 
 
 Taunton, ]\lass., July 31, 1913. This is the remainder of the 
 
POPEEY SHOWN UP TU AMERICANS. 51 
 
 offering which I promised for the poor students, if, through the 
 intercession of the B. Virgin and St. Anthony, my daughter obtained 
 a position. With sincere thanks to both I fulfill my promise. 
 
 A. C. 
 
 Providence, R. I., Aug. 2, 1913. Fo a complete reconciliation 
 with a very dear friend whom I had offended, I return sincere thanks 
 to St. Anthony, who obtained this great favor from the S. Heart for 
 me. With enclosed alms for the poor students and publication in 
 the "Messenger," I fulfill my promise. B. O'N. 
 
 Butte, Mont., Aug. 2, 1913. The enclosed offering was promised 
 for the poor students, when making a novena, that my brother 
 "would have a successful operation of the stomach. With grateful 
 hearts we return sincere thanks to the S. Hearty the Bl. Virgin and 
 dear St. Anthony for the granting of the request. B. H. P. 
 
 Buffalo, N. Y., Aug. il, 1913. :My little cousin who was visiting 
 in this city for the first time, went to a store and coming out, lo'st 
 her way. When I heard this, I immediately promised St. Anthony 
 enclosed alms for the poor students. I only went to the corner and 
 found her in front of the church. Thanks to God and St. Anthony. 
 
 M. A. G. 
 
 New York City, Aug. 12, 1913. About or a little over two 
 months ago I had a severe and prolonged cold which I feared would 
 develop into pneumonia or consumption. In my distress I made a 
 novena to dear St. Anthony, bought a nice statue of the Saint, 
 candles and candle sticks, had them blessed and applied a blessed 
 medal of the Saint. Before the end of the novena I was cured both 
 in health of body and soul; I now gladly and gratefully enclose the 
 promised offering for the poor students and ask you to have two 
 Masses offered in honor of St. Anthony. M. R. 
 
 St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 13, 1913. Sincere thanks to dear St. 
 Anthony and the Poor Souls for the restoration of my health which 
 had been seriously affected for a long time. S'. S. 
 
 Hamilton, O., Aug. 14, 1913. I wish to return sincere thanks 
 to St. Anthony for his evident intercession in my behalf in a very 
 important matter. F. G. S. 
 
52 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 Thanksgirings Are Also Offered. 
 
 For restoration of Health: N. M. B., Covington, Ky. (for her 
 mtother's recovery from nervous attack). — Mrs. C, Devereaux Mar- 
 blehead, Mass. (for a safe confinement.) 
 
 For obtaining work: Mrs. S. J. N., Cliicago, 111. 
 
 For recovering lost articles: Mrs. J. S., IMilwaukee, Wis. (wed- 
 ding ring.-) — A. V. F., Soldiers' Grove, Wis. (lost check.) — Mrs. K., 
 Cincinnati, O. (lost ring.) 
 
 For various favors not specified: R. McG., Chicago, 111. — C. C. 
 H., St. Louis. Mo. — M. J. F., Venice, O. — M. K., Sligo, Ireland. — 
 M. C, Plymouth, Mass. — A. P. I., Cincinnati, O. — H. W., Hazle- 
 wood, Pa. — E. E. W., Manistee, Mich. — M. J. W., Stillwater, Minn. — 
 J. F. M., Lexington, Ky. — N. N., Cincinnati, O. — M. W. Rochester, 
 N. Y. — W. C. Balaton, Minn. — J. M., Norwood, O. — D. B., Cleve- 
 land, O. — T. C, Butte, Mont. — F. H., Laurium, Mich. — F. J. L., 
 Frankfort, Ky. — N. N., Whitmore Lake, Mich. — H. S., Ludlow, Ky. 
 — C. E. S., Cincinnati, O. 
 
 Denver, Col., Aug. 14, 1913. Through novenas to our Blessed 
 St. Anthony, I have received an increase in salary, and in thanks- 
 giving enclose an offering for the poor students, asking their prayers 
 for various intentions. A. F. H. 
 
 Butte, Mont., Aug. 19, 1913. Enclosed find an offering for the 
 poor students, promised St. Anthony, if an operation for stomach 
 trouble to be performed in my brother was successful. Thanks to 
 the dear Saint, the operation was a complete success. IM. C. P. 
 
 Eaton, O., Aug. 22, 1913. I just closed a very successful sale 
 on the 16th inst. I had promised St. Anthony, I would send a 
 check of one per cent for his poor students, if the volume of busi- 
 ness in the 16 days amounted to $2,200. As it amounted to $35 
 more than I expected, I gladly enclose check to pay my obligation. 
 
 J. H. M. 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 2.5, 1913. I wish to return my sincerest 
 thanks to the S. Heart, Our Lady of Victory, St. Anthony and St. 
 Rita for favor granted in obtaining me good employment. 
 
 J. J. McG. 
 
 Blanchester, O., Aug. 25, 1913. In thanksgiving for a special 
 favor, we enclose an offering for the poor students in honor of St. 
 Anthony, for having found a valuable swine, which we feared we 
 would never regain. F. B. 
 
POPERY SHOWX UP TO AMERICANS. 53 
 
 Taunton, Mass., Aug. 25, 1913. I am enclosing an alms for your 
 poor students for obtaining the favor of a reconciliation for which 
 I am very grateful. R- D. 
 
 Cincinnati, O., Sept. 1, 1913. For the successful renting of a 
 flat I send you an offering for the poor students in thanksgiving to 
 St. Anthony. The flat stood vacant only one month and three days. 
 
 J. . L. 
 
 Cincinnati, O., Sept. 9, 1913. Enclosed offering for the poor 
 students is in thanksgiving to the Sacred Heart, the Bl. Virgin and 
 
 St. Anthony for the successful and speedy cure of my foot. B. B. 
 
 I 
 
 Los Angeles, Cal., Sept. il, 1913. With sincere thanks to St. 
 Anthony, I enclose an alms for the poor students for a special great 
 favor obtained through his powerful intercession. We had come to 
 California from the East to find a quiet home. But try as we would, 
 we could not find a suitable lot to build a little home. Father was 
 almost in despair, and mother would not consent to bu.lding a 
 house except near a Catholic church. At last, when everything 
 looked gloomy, I took refuge to St. Anthony, and succeeded in 
 finding just what we. sought for many months. We are all happy 
 once more, thanks to dear St. Anthony. B. B. 
 
 Tompkinsville, Staten Island, N. Y., Sept. 12, 1913. For a suc- 
 cessful operation performed on my children and their speedy 
 recovery I enclose an alms for the poor students. Thanks to good 
 St. Anthony for his prompt help. H. J. B. 
 
 Kaleva, Mich., Sept. 13, 1913. Some time ago 1 sent you a 
 petition to obtain a school. On account of the number of older 
 teachers, it was very difficult for a younger one to obtain a position. 
 Several times all arrangements had been made and then cancelled. 
 At last I resolved to invoke St. Anthony's help through the "Mes- 
 senger," and quite remarkably the unexpected happened, and I was 
 given a school far superior to anything I could have obtained 
 through my own efforts. Therefore, in grateful acknowledgement, 
 I enclose the promised offering for your poor students. M. R. 
 
 Cincinnati, O., Sept. 14, 1913. Some weeks ago I asked St. 
 Anthony to help me, so I could begin my studies at the College of 
 Music not later than September 10th. With sincere thanks to the 
 
54 POPERY 8HOAVX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 dear Saint, I enclose an alms for the poor students, as my petition 
 has been granted. ^^- S. 
 
 — From St. Anthony's IMessenger, Cincinnati, O. 
 
 If a system of so-called religion can bring' the human mind 
 to such a feeble, credulous, benighted state, as indicated in 
 those letters, is it good for the believers, and good for the 
 world? 
 
 If it is the business of Saint Anthony to find tenants for 
 vacant house, servants for needy house-keepers, and husbands 
 for old maids, why does he confine his services to those who 
 happen to know his vocation, and who happen to 1>9 able to 
 pay for his services? 
 
 While this Saint was engaged in hunting for the lost 
 pocket-book and the lost letter referred to above, it is a great 
 pity that he did not find a safe pathway for the ships that 
 went down at sea. 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 55 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Great Power of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States; 
 Its Persecutions; No Murder to Kill an Ex-communicated Person; 
 the Roman Catholic Church Wreaks Vengeance on the Hugue- 
 nots; Flight of the Survivors to America; Criticism, by a Vir- 
 ginia Clergyman, of Position Taken in Another Letter to Cardi- 
 nal Gibbons; the Author's Reply. 
 
 IS IT still the proud boast of your church, that is neATr 
 changes ? 
 
 Is it always the same? 
 
 Unless I am greatly mistaken, you will haye to issue some 
 declaration upon that subject before many .more months 
 elapse. 
 
 Eyen the most casual obseryer in this country now realizes 
 that you haye made jDrodigous progress toward the control of 
 our Goyernment. 
 
 Through Tammany Hall, you dictate to the greatest of all 
 our States, to the greatest of all our cities, to the greatest of 
 all our ncAyspapers^ and to the greatest of our National politi- 
 cal organizations. 
 
 To a large extent, you control our army and nayy. and 
 eyen now you are organizing your chaplains to strengthen 
 your hold upon the military and nayal establishments. 
 
 Your yoice is potent in the selection of Ambassadors Avho 
 represent us abroad. 
 
 The Assistant President of the United States is a Jesuit, 
 sworn to allegiance to the General of his order, at Rome, where 
 another Jesuit, Merry Del Yal. controls the weak old creature. 
 Joseph Sarto, the present Pope. 
 
 You are trying to throw out of the mails, books, maga- 
 zines and newspapers that are objectionable to you. 
 
 Men heretofore conspicuous and honored in the pulilic life 
 of this country, are now pursued by you with malicious prose- 
 cutions, whose purpose is to silence, degrade and destroy. 
 
 You are building slaye-pens all oyer the United States, 
 and you haye so arranged that the city courts feed these slaye- 
 pens with a continuous supply of boys and girls, youths and 
 maidens. 
 
 You furiously antagonize eyery effort that has been made 
 
56 
 
 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 to put these private prisons on a footing of equality with 
 others, where the State can inspect and supervise. 
 
 In other words. Cardinal, you are building up an empire 
 within the Empire, a jurisdiction Avithin the Jurisdiction. It 
 has already become well-nigh impossible to compel a priest 
 or a nun to obey the ordinary processes of our courts, and to 
 appear before these courts, as all the rest of us have to do. 
 
 We would be A'ery blind indeed, if we did not see what is 
 going on. 
 
 We would be otossIv recreant to the lilDerties handed down 
 
 N. 
 
 i I 
 
 ROMAN CATHUI.IC VIRGINS W'HOSE CHASTITY AND ROBUSTNESS 
 
 WERE MAINTAINED BY RIGID ADHERENCE TO ICE-W^ATER, 
 
 ARTICHOKES, LETTUCE AND STALE BREAD. 
 
 to US by our ancestors, if we felt no concern at the growth, 
 and the encroachment of your fatal system, which, in the Old 
 World (h"enched the earth with martyr blood, kindled the 
 fires around martyr victims, slaughtered women and children 
 with hellish ferocity, gloried in murder when the murdered 
 were heretics; and cursed with jDapal anathema every effort 
 of mankind to win those liberties which our forefathers won 
 and transmitted to us. 
 
 Don you stand on your record ? 
 
 Is vour church ever the same? 
 
POPEEY SHOWN UP lO AMERICANS. 57 
 
 The Papa who preached the first crusade declared that it 
 "was no murder to kill an excommunicated person.'' This 
 benign Christian dogma of your Papa Urban was incorj^orated 
 in your Canon Law. 
 
 ^Mien this law of j'our Infallible church was revised in 
 the IGth Century they retained the principle that it w^as no 
 murder to kill a person who had l^een turned out of the 
 church. 
 
 Is that still the Law? 
 
 If not, when did it cease to be so? 
 
 For nearly eight hundred j^ears, that diabolical encourage- 
 ment to assassination has been one of the corner-stones of your 
 religion. 
 
 That's a lovely principle to be a part of a Christian reli- 
 gion, isn't it? 
 
 How do you go about squaring it with the teachings of 
 Jesus Christ? 
 
 The Savior never inflicted any wounds: He Iiealed them. 
 
 Christ did not preach murder and hatred : He taught kind- 
 ness and brotherly love. 
 
 Again and again, He spoke to His disciples, saying: "Love 
 one another." 
 
 Is it any wonder that the world was filled with horror and 
 crime and hideous blood-shed, and indescribable barbarities, 
 when the pope of Rome, claiming to speak as Christ, delivered 
 over to their enemies those people who would not conscien- 
 tiously surrender themselves, and kiss a man's foot? 
 
 I repeat the question : is that frightful canon still one of the 
 laws of your Church ? 
 
 If it is, we have a right to know it. 
 
 If it is not, when did your church abrogate it? 
 
 It will not do for you to say that this Draconian clause 
 never was anything more than a dead letter. 
 
 Would to God you and I could truthfully say that. 
 
 You know perfectly well that every victim of the Inquisi- 
 tion, ever}^ victim of the massacres in France, every victim 
 butchered in Ireland, Ital3^ Germany and Portugal, owed 
 their deaths to the frightful doctrine of your church, 
 taught through more than eight hundred years, that it is a 
 good deed to murder a Protestant — so good that one of the 
 later jDopes officially declared, that "such a murder atones, and 
 more than atones for the murder of a Catholic hy a Catholic!''' 
 
 Therefore, it is no wonder that Pius V., who has been 
 
58 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 declared a saint by your Hierarchy, first issued a decree, 
 depriving Queen Elizal>eth of her throne, she being a Pro- 
 testant, and not content with this effort to discrown her, com- 
 missioned an as'sassin to take her life. (Referred to by Right 
 Hon. W. E. Gladstone, in his ''Vatican Decrees." page G2.) 
 
 Not long after our American forefathers had established 
 themselves in Jamestown and on the coasts of Massachusetts 
 and New York, there came flying across the ocean hundreds 
 of families, fleeing for their lives, escaping with the greatest 
 difficulty from the Old World. 
 
 Who were they? 
 
 They were the Huguenots of France: they were people 
 who would not take their religion from the pope; they were 
 Protestants who claimed the right to worship God according 
 to the dictates of their own conscience. 
 
 The French King, bred in the orthodox Roman Catholic 
 faith, was determined to convert these people, or exterminate 
 them; his confessor told him that it was his religious duty to 
 reduce these heretics to submission; his pious mistress told 
 him the same thing: the pope, successor to the saint who had 
 tried to have Queen Elizabeth assassinated, "implored the 
 King, during two months, by his Nuncio and his Legate, to 
 carry the work on to the bitter end, y7itil every Huguenot had 
 recanted or ferished.'''' 
 
 Those who were seen crossing the ocean to make new homes 
 in Massachusetts. Virginia, the Carolinas and Florida, were 
 the Protestants who were able to escape: the others icere dead 
 — killed in the name of Christ, who never Himself, drew a 
 drop of blood .and who, by His whole life, emphasized the 
 doctrine, "thou shalt not kill." 
 
 To Peter, on the very last night, the divine command was — 
 
 '^''Piit iij) thy swordP'' 
 
 By what authority, Cardinal, did your church afterward 
 unsheathe the sword, and butcher more Chnstians with it. than 
 ever fell beneath the conquering hosts of ]\Iahomet? 
 
 {Addenda to Chapter VI.) 
 
 The following letter will interest our readers: 
 
 Dear Sir: A minister of our town, after reading your 6th open 
 letter to Cardinal Gibbons, commented as follows on your argument 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 59 
 
 relating to Cardinal Gibbons' contention for the perpetual virginity 
 of Mary: 
 
 "The 17th chapter of Joshua, from which your conclusions are 
 drawn, is not a statement of the immediate family of Manasseh, 
 but a statement of the division of land for the tribal inheritance. 
 The daughters of ]\Ienasseh who inherited with the sons are, simply, 
 the women of the tribe. Machir was the only son of Menasseh, the 
 tribe was small and the inheritance of the women was essential to 
 give to that tribe its proportionate part of the land of Canaan. 
 This division of land took place 150 years after Menasseh's death." 
 
 Please give your opinion of this criticism of your position. 
 
 Your subscriber, R. E. BORDEN. 
 
 Strasburg, Va. 
 
 COMMENT : 
 
 Machir, the first-born of Menasseh, is referred to, in the 
 Bible, in the same way that Menasseh is called the first-born 
 of Joseph. 
 
 Time and again, Menasseh is called "the son of Joseph," 
 jnst as Machir is called "the son of Menasseh." 
 
 The Biblical words which inform ns that Joseph had other 
 children, besides Menasseh, are no plainer than those which 
 tell us that Menasseh had other children than Machir. 
 
 See, Numbe7's 26-27 — ''The sons of Menasseh." 
 
 See, also. Chronicles^ 7-14: "The sons of Menasseh; Ash- 
 riel whom she bare; (but his concubine the Aramitess bare 
 Machir the father of Gilead," &c.) 
 
 In this chapter, we are given, as it were a census by fami- 
 lies; and thci names of the children of each family are 
 recorded. 
 
 The statement that Menasseh had a legitimate son, named 
 Ashriel, is as clear and positive as any that appears in the 
 Bible. 
 
 But it seems to me that Joshua — 17 : 1 and 2 — are as lucid 
 and definite as need be : 
 
 (1) "There was also a lot for the tribe of Menasseh (for 
 he was the first-born of Joseph) for Machir. the first-born of 
 Menasseh," &c. 
 
 (2.) "There was also a lot for the rest of the children of 
 Menasseh^ by their families * * * and for the children 
 of Ashriel^'''' &c. 
 
 Is not this plain enough? 
 
60 POPERY SHOAVX UP TO AMEEICAXS. ^ 
 
 Is the Ashriel here mentioned identical with the son of 
 Menasseh, mentioned in Chronicles? 
 
 The time of the division of the land is not a matter of 
 importance, so far as the question in dispute is concerned. 
 
 If the clergyman who agrees with Cardinal Gibbons, that 
 Machir was an only son. v:ill cite me to his authority^ he will 
 oblige me. and will let the Cardinal out of a hole. 
 
 The Cardinal cited no other evidence than the 1st. verse of 
 17th Joshua ; and that verse certainly does not support His 
 Eminence. 
 
 On the contrary, it supports my contention, by mentioning 
 Machir, a first-born, along with Menasseh. another first-born. 
 We knoio that Joseph had other children, besides his first- 
 born, and we would naturally infer that Menasseh had others, 
 than his first-born. 
 
 And the positive statement in Chronicles furnishes the 
 name of one more son to Menasseh ; to-wit. Ashriel. 
 
 I hope to hear further from the clergyman of Strasburg, 
 Virginia. 
 
 If Machir, a "first-born," was an only child, there ought 
 to be some way of j^roving it, 
 
 (I never heard any more from this.) 
 
POPERY SHOWX UP TO AMERICANS. 61 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 Criticism of tlie Cardinal's Article on "The Church and the Repub- 
 lic;" the Cardinal's Acceptance of the Doctrine of Papal Infalli- 
 bility With an Exception Clause; the Roman Catholic Church 
 Always Opposed to Liberty of the Press; Demand of the Ameri- 
 can Federation of American Societies that Congress Abridge 
 This Liberty; Cardinal Gibbons' Sanction and Encouragement of 
 That Demand; Inconsistency of His Conduct With the Views 
 Expressed by Him in The North American Review. 
 
 IX the March, 1909, number of the North American Review, 
 there appeared an article in which yon discussed "The 
 
 Church and the Republic" — the Pope's Church in its rela- 
 tions, past, present and future, to our Republic. The gist of 
 your carefully worded chapter was, that no confjict exists 
 heticeen the creed of a Pctpist, and the dutifid allegiance which 
 a citizen of this country owes to its laws and institutions. 
 
 Referring- to your fellow papists, you wrote — 
 
 "They love their country. * * * They prefer its form 
 of government before any other. They admire its institutions 
 and the spirit of its laws. 
 
 They accept the Constitution without reserve, with no 
 desire^ as Catholics, to see it changed in any feature. They 
 can with a clear conscience, swear to uj^hold it." 
 
 In another part of your article you subscribe fully to the 
 slavish doctrine of Papal infallibility which chains yoiir mind 
 to an Italian's mind, chains your conscience to the alleged 
 conscience of an Italian, and makes your soul dependent for 
 its salvation, not on Christ or the Bible, but upon a decrepit 
 Italian whose intellect never did equal yours in native power, 
 or acquired culture. 
 
 You say — 
 
 "Yes ; we obey the Pope, for our conscience tells us that we 
 ought to obey the spiritual authority of the Pope in every- 
 thing." 
 
 Then you slily add an exception: 
 
 "Everything, except what is sinful."" 
 
 But, the very essence of the doctrine of I nf all Utility is that 
 the Pope, when he speaks to you on matters of conscsience, 
 cannot be wrong, cannot make a mistake, cannot commit sin. 
 To say that, in matters of conscience., 3'our Papa can order vou 
 
62 POPERY SHOWX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 to commit what is sinful, is to leave your Papa in the pitiful 
 categoiy of common, clay-made mortals. Your exceftion^ 
 knocks out your Infallibility. 
 
 But we will not linger upon this slippance of yours. You 
 were writing for an American magazine whose readers are 
 largely non-Catholics: you were sugar-coating 3^our ancient 
 pill as sweetly as j^ou knew how; your Jesuit conscience 
 allowed a^ou all the hand-roomance you needed; and you 
 needed a good deal of hand-roomance : hence, your queer state- 
 ment of an Infallibility which allows Papa''s children to exer- 
 cise their own conscience . 
 
 Between your doctrine of Infallibility, with your Excep- 
 tion clause qualif}nng it, and our belief in the right of 
 individual judgment, there would not be a sufficient difference 
 to justify another Thirty Years' War, another Albigensian 
 Crusade, another series of Waldensian massacres, another 
 reign of helPs worst earthly manifestation, the Roman Cath- 
 olic Inquisition. 
 
 But, you did not mean to emasculate the doctrine of Infal- 
 libility. You dare not do that. Wlien that Italian master of 
 yours ordered you to take the oath against modem ideas, mod- 
 ern liberalism, modern freedom of thought, you obeyed. The 
 Italian said, "Swear!'' And you swore, quickly. 
 
 It is one of the psychological mysteries that puzzles the 
 sane, normal, emancipated mind — 
 
 That so many robust Irishmen, Germans, and Americans 
 should be eager to debase themselves at the feet of an Italian 
 priest, who was never their equal mentally, physically or mor- 
 ally. 
 
 Does it never occur to these robust men that there must be 
 something intensely human, selfish and unjust in the invaria- 
 ble success of the Italians, in running for the of ice of Pope? 
 
 As already stated, there can be no doubt that you, Cardi- 
 nal Gibbons, believe that Joseph Sarto — your Italian Papa — ■ 
 is infallible. 
 
 ^Vhen you and Joe were both shirt-tail boys, you had 
 more mother wit than he did. Joe's father was not able to 
 take him to Ireland for a fine education, as your earthly 
 father took you. Between yourself, James Gibbons, and the 
 Italian priest, Joseph Sarto, there was no perceptible differ- 
 ence, save that you were an Irishman, thoroughly educated, 
 and placed in a non-Catholic environment where you had to 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 63 
 
 THIS THE PAPA, JOSEPH SARTO, DIKED OUT IN HIS HABER- 
 DASHERY 
 
64 POPERY SHOWX UP TO AMERICAXS. 
 
 pussy- foot most cautiously, as you stepped around among the 
 
 Yet, because Joe Sarto is an Italian, and preached that 
 Pius IX — the father of some bastards — was Christ veiled 
 in the flesh, he was made Papa, and you were left to pussy- 
 foot among the American eggs. And when the ignorant 
 Sarto required you to take an oath against Modern Times, 
 you ate humble pudding, and took the ignominious oath. 
 
 Therefore, I am warranted in saying that you are a good 
 Catholic who believes in the Infallibility of your Papa. 
 
 Your PajDa denies you the right of individual judgment. 
 That is one of the crucial tests of the Papacy. ' That is where 
 the German monk, Luther, challenged Rome. That is the 
 germ of the Reformation. That is the central idea of Pro- 
 testantism. 
 
 Your Italian master claims to be the absolute judge of 
 right and wrong — the absolute, unerring, infallible judge. 
 
 Cardinal Bellarmine, with papal approval, laid down the 
 doctrine, that — 
 
 '"If the pope should err by enjoining vices or forbidding 
 virtues, the Church would he obliged to helieve the vices to he 
 good^ and the virtues had * * * 
 
 Cardinal, in the Romanist Council which met at Baltimore 
 in 1884, you bore an important part, and you were one of those 
 Americans who took the oath of allegiance to the Pope. That 
 treasonous oath reads — 
 
 "I pledge and swear true ohedience to the Roman Pontiffs 
 vicar of Jesus Christ, &c." 
 
 (Yet an alien, seeking citizenship with us is required by 
 law to renounce forever "«?/ allegiance and fidelity to any 
 foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereig-nty !'") 
 
 Cardinal, you know full well that Pope Leo XIII. declared 
 officially — 
 
 The Roman Catholic must render as ''''perfect suhmission 
 and ohedience of tvill to the Church and the Sovereign Pon- 
 
 tif, AS TO GOD himself:' 
 
 (Quoted in Dr. Strong's "Our Country," p. 66.) 
 That doctrine, — the doctrine that, the voice of the Pope is 
 the voice of God! had been impudently taught for centuries 
 by an arrogant minority in 3^our so-called Church, was dra- 
 gooned through the Vatican Council of 1870, was scornfully 
 rejected by such honest Romanists as Dr. Dollinger, Pere 
 Hyacinthe, and Alessandro Gavazzi, was ruthlessly enforced by 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 65 
 
 persecutions, outlawiT and excommunication, and is now the 
 orthodoxy of all "good Catholics." 
 
 Vicar-General Preston proclaimed it in New York in 1888 : 
 '■'■Christ speaA's thorough the Poper 
 
 AYith exuberant servility, William O'Connell, now Cardi- 
 nal, published it in his Boston Pilot, in 1890. 
 
 In 1912. the Pope's official representative to our '"Court"' 
 at Washington announced the same doctrine in his letter to 
 the Kansas gentleman, Thomas Carey, who had written Cardi- 
 nal Bonzano, asking posit:ive information on that subject. 
 
 '■'Your political opinions must yield to the interests of the 
 Church^'''' was the gist of the reply of the Romanist oracle to 
 the American Catholic. 
 
 All this being so, how dare you tell the American people, 
 through the Xorth American Review, that you '''•accept the 
 Constitution, WITHOUT RESERVE r 
 
 How can you truthfully declare that 3^ou have "no desire, 
 as Catholics, to see it changed in any feature?" And that you 
 Romanists "can with a clear conscience SAvear to uphold it?" 
 
 There is hardly a principle dearer to liberty than the free- 
 dom of the Press. 
 
 In the British Parliament, Richard Brinsley Sheridan 
 exclaimed, in a famous burst of eloquence, 
 
 "Give them a corrupt House of Commons, give them a 
 venal House of Lords, give them a tyrannical Prince, give 
 them a servile Court, and let me have but an unshackled Press 
 — and I will defy them to encroach one hairs-breadth upon 
 the liberties of England.'' 
 
 Now. Cardinal, you know very well that your Church has 
 always combatted the liberty of printing. You know that you 
 shackled all the book-writers, age after age, and compelled 
 them to bring their manuscript to the priests, for examination 
 and approval before they were published. You know that 
 your Church hounded to their death the pioneers of science, 
 of mechanical arts, of advanced learning, of Progress of every 
 kind. 
 
 You know very well that I can furnish you with a list of 
 the books you condemned to the flames and of the authors .you 
 murdered with your devilish persecutions. AVill you chal- 
 lenge me to publish the list? 
 
 But I will not deal with ancient history, lest you say in 
 avoidance, that the Church is no longer animated hy the 
 Medievalism which plunged Europe into The Dark Ages. 
 
66 POPERY SHOAVN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 Let us see what modern Popes have prochiimed upon this 
 all-important subject. 
 
 In language of ferocious imprecation, damning to hell 
 everybody who believed to the contrary, Pope Gregory XVI., 
 in 1831, anathematized "those who maintain the liberty of the 
 press." (See Right Honorable AVilliam E. Gladstone's "Vati- 
 can Decrees,'' page 13.) 
 
 In words of inextinguishable hatred, your Italian Church 
 has always condemned liberty of speech, and of publication. 
 What else does your Index of Prohibited Books mean ? That 
 proscriptive Index originated with Bargia, the Pope known 
 as Alexander VI. — a Pope who kept his acknowledged concu- 
 bine, Julia Farnese. in the Vatican itself, and one of whose 
 bastard sons murdered another while both lived with the Pope. 
 
 You say, ijou^ that you accept our Constitution without 
 reserve, when that Constitution declares that Congress shall 
 have no power to abridge the freedom of the press ! 
 
 How can you say it, when your infallible Papa devotes to 
 the fires of an everlasting Inferno those who maintain the 
 principle that is embedded in our highest law? 
 
 Cardinal, j^ou must have been personally acquainted with 
 Pope Pius IX. — at any rate, you must be familiar with every 
 important deliverance which he made to the priesthood. Your 
 own ecclesiastical career was contemporaneous with his ; and it 
 was he who sicore you to jyersecute the non-Catholics when 
 he made you a Cardinal. 
 
 In 1864, you were the private secretary of Archbishop 
 Spalding, and soon became the assistant chancellor of the Sec- 
 ond Plenary Council of your Church held in Baltimore, in 
 1866. 
 
 You could not have been ignorant of the fact that Pope 
 Pius IX., your then Italian master, was bitterly against the 
 freedom of the press, for he had published an Encyclical to 
 that effect, just as his predecessor Gregory had done. 
 
 If you believe in and maintain the freedom of the press, 
 you are anathema^ cursed by your General Councils, cursed by 
 the record of your church, cursed s]:)ecificallv bv Greo-orv the 
 XVI., and by Pius IX. 
 
 How is it, my Prince? 
 You know that in his Encyclical letter of June 20, 1888, 
 Pope Leo XIII. declared — 
 
 "// imhricUed license of speech and of writing he granted 
 to (dh nothing irill remain sacred and inriolate^ 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 67 
 
 That declaration is ex-cathedra, it is from the source infal- 
 lible, it is the voice of Christ speaking through your Italian 
 Papa, it binds you in conscience and under your solemn oath. 
 
 But how does it consist loith our Federal Constitutia^n? 
 
 Your American Federation of American* Societies, in 
 national conventions, has demanded that Congress "abridge 
 the liberty of the press,'' by penalizing attacks on the Roman 
 Catholic Faith. 
 
 You, Cardinal Gibbons, have given your sanction and 
 encouragement to that violation of a fundamental principle of 
 our Government, its highest law, and its institutions. 
 
 Hovr does your conduct, and the conduct of your church, 
 in this matter, consist with what you wrote for The Niorth 
 American Review? 
 
68 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Mutilation of Choir Boys a Practice of the Roman Catholic Church; 
 the Practice of Felony, and Punishable by Law; Girls Attending 
 Convent Schools Given Medicinal Preparation to Prevent 
 Menstruation; Horrible Results of this Fiendish Cruelty; Perse- 
 cution of the Author by Cardinal Gibbon§; Controversion of the 
 Cardinal's Statement in The North American Review, That the 
 Roman Catholic Church Prefers the American System of Govern- 
 ment to Any Other. 
 
 DO yoii believe that one man has the right to sell another ? 
 You will certainly answer^ '"No." 
 
 Do yon believe one man has the right to maim 
 another? 
 
 You will probably answer, "No." 
 
 Yet, your church has. for ages, been exercismg the right 
 to castrate little boys, to preserve that falsetto-soprano voice 
 which is so conspicuous in your choir service. 
 
 You have had much to say about the martyrdoms of the 
 early Christians. In j^aintings which are immortal, you have 
 pictured upon canvas the agonies of those who were doomed 
 by cruel emperors to suffer for their faith. 
 
 Did you ever stop to think that there are some misfortunes 
 which men consider worse than death? 
 
 When your fanatical monks seized upon the liberal, pro- 
 gressive scholar, Abelard^ and desexualized him, the enlight- 
 ened world was horrified. 
 
 The literature of after-ages rang with the reproach of it. 
 
 But, it was considered an isolated case. 
 
 The fact is, it was not-an isolated case. 
 
 Your church makes a regular business of the unnatural 
 crime of depriving males of their manhood. 
 
 Go to a full-sexed, full-blood man of today, and put the 
 question to him — when he has the mumps, for instance — and 
 he will tell you he would just as lief be dead, as to lose his 
 virility. 
 
 How geat, then, must be the crime of the prnest and the 
 ohiirch, when a fnU-sexed hoy is mutilated. 
 
 Such a boy had the right to love and be loved. 
 
 He had the right to woo and to win the maiden who cap- 
 tured his heart. 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 69 
 
 He had the right to take such maiden to wife and to have a 
 home circle, made musical, and bright, and happy with the 
 prattle and caresses of children. 
 
 Cardinal, don't you think it was an awful crime against 
 humanity to seize that boy and castrate him ? 
 
 Was it not more cruel than to have thrown him to the lions 
 in the arena ? 
 
 Out of mere vanity, the desire to have better music in your 
 choirs than other churches can furnish, you have deliberately, 
 and for ages, sacrificed full-sexed youths, in defiance of the 
 
 ANOTHEK ("OUPLE OF THE POPE'S VIRGINS. THEY NEVER TASTE 
 WaNE NOR MEAT. YOU CAN SEE IT IN THEIR FACES. 
 
 laws of man and of God, committing a felony, punishable by 
 a term in the penitentiary, and annulling the decree of God, 
 who gave that masculine equipment to the boy, in order that 
 he might mate with some congenial woman, and bring forth 
 children to perjDetuate the human species. 
 
 Cardinal, you dare not deny this accusation. 
 
 You know it to be the literal truth. 
 
 How can you defend it ? 
 
 Cardinal, do you deny that it is a practice in some of your 
 
70 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 convents, where girls are kept at school, to dose them in a 
 preparation Avhich prevents menstruation? 
 
 I challenge you to deny it. and I invite you to defend it. 
 
 What right has your church to interfere with the course 
 of Nature? 
 
 A^Hiat right have your priests and your nuns to set aside 
 the laws of God. in order to save a laundry bill, and some 
 possible disability from labor? 
 
 The laws of Nature and of God cannot be violated with 
 impunity. 
 
 To every such violation, a penalty is attached. 
 
 When you suppress the monthly illness of adolescent girls 
 and of young women, you assume a frightful responsibility. 
 
 Who pays the penalty? 
 
 Not your bachelor petticoated hypocrites, who perpetrate 
 this outrage upon the other sex. 
 
 It is the woman who pays, as usual. Either in the mad- 
 house, or upon the doleful list of the incurable invalids, the 
 victim of your hellish methods has to pay outraged Nature's 
 inexorable penalty. 
 
 Cardinal, you are a Jesuit. 
 
 You took an oath to persecute such men as I. 
 
 Through the Knights of Columbus you are doing it. 
 
 Using the powerful machinery of the Federal Government, 
 you and the Knights of Columbus are trying to crush an 
 individual. 
 
 "What is my offense? 
 
 I sent through the mails, one diapter of a book which your 
 church has been sending through the mails for decades. 
 
 That chapter was taken from a book, from which your 
 theological students are taught their duties. 
 
 That chapter tells the theological student what questions 
 they must ask of married women, and of maidens when they 
 •come to confess their sins to you, in the privacy of the con- 
 fessional box. 
 
 YOU say those questions constitute obscene literature, and 
 that they should not be sent through the mails. 
 
 You say I should be put in the penitentiary, because The 
 Jeffersonian Publishing Company sent those questions through 
 the mails. 
 
 "\Miat, then, should be done to the priests who defile the 
 ears and the souls of womanhood with those vile questions? 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 71 
 
 If those questions constitute obscene literature, are not 
 your priests guilty of using obscene language in the presence 
 of females, when they ask those vile questions of Roman 
 Catholic wives, sisters and daughters ? 
 
 If I am to be punished because my Company mailed those 
 questions, ought not your priests to be punished for using that 
 obscene language in the presence and hearing of females? 
 
 In your paper which the North American Review pub- 
 lished, you solemnly assured the world that your church pre- 
 fers our form of government to any other, that you admire 
 our institutions and the spirit of our laws, that you- accept 
 our Constitution without reserve, and without any desire to 
 see it changed in any feature. 
 
 Yet, Cardinal, the greatest historic fact of modern times, 
 since Luther defied your putrid Italian hierarchy, is, that our 
 forefathers created this self-governing Republic as an escape 
 from the foul, debasing partnership of Popes and Kings. Our 
 ancestors fled from the Old World to establish a government 
 which would not be cursed by your despotic methods and your 
 detestable doctrines. 
 
 Cardinal, the very soul of your system makes for slavery — 
 slavery of mind and spirit and body, slavery which renders 
 to self-appointed masters the toil of the physical man ; slavery, 
 which surrenders to self-chosen masters the gocl-given light of 
 reason and conscience; slavery, which robs the pitiable serf 
 of the freedom to see with his own eyes, to hearken to the voice 
 of his own intelligence, and to make for 'himself the golden 
 strand which links his faith to the Eternal. 
 
 Cardinal, the whole record and energy of your infernal 
 organization of fraud, hypocrisy and imposture makes for 
 ignorance, superstition and despotism : your supreme theory 
 is, that there shall be one man. at the head of the State, and 
 one man at the head of the Clinch: and that these two shall 
 divide between themselves the dominion of the universe. 
 
 Cardinal, the underlings of the world have risen, in spite 
 of you. Never did the banner of your church float over the 
 shining legions of '•Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." Never! 
 
 The iron sceptre of the brutal King and his ferocious feu- 
 dal lord was broken, in spite of you. Never did your church 
 lift a finger to lighten the load of the feudal serf and to send 
 a ray of hope into his squalid hovel. 
 
 The brain of the world escaped bondage, the voice of the 
 
72 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 scholar and the patriot broke silence, the pen of the Idol- 
 breaker leaped to life, waking nations to freedom — in spite of 
 you. Never did your church have aught but the dungeon, 
 the rack, the fagot, the headsman's block for the Spartan 
 torch-bearers of enlightened civilization. 
 
 All history bears Avitnes.s against you. Your own horrible 
 record damns you. The voice of patriots, scholars, soldiers, 
 lovers of humanity and liberty, choking with blood, denounce 
 you. If the men and women of today had not been falsely 
 taught by just such sly deceivers as yourself, an involuntary 
 burst of scorn and execration would have greeted your state- 
 ment that your church heartily approves the spirit of our 
 laws and accepts without reserve the principles of our Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 Cardinal, lohen and where has your church favored the 
 separation of Church and State? 
 
 AVhen and where, has your church sanctioned freedom of 
 speech, of press, of conscience, and of worship? 
 
 AMien and where, has your church pretended to support 
 a democracy, a republic — any other form of government than 
 a monarchy? 
 
 "NAlien and ^vhere has your church helped the under dog, 
 stood for the rights of the wife and the child, demanded fair 
 treatment for Labor, proclaimed the emancipation of Woman? 
 
 When Kings and hereditary aristocrats laid the scourge of 
 intolerable pillage and forced labor upon the miserable white 
 slaves of Europe, your church's whip-cords drew blood even 
 as did the lash of King and noble I 
 
 AMien wives had no freedom, no voice, no house of refuge 
 from slave-driving husbands; when even the babes they had 
 borne were snatched from their bosoms, and the State gave 
 no redress, your church gave none. 
 
 '\^Tienever oppressed humanity rose in desperation, striv- 
 ing to throw off the yoke of serfdom, there was your church 
 ever found, ready and eager and pitiless, with book and bell 
 and candle, to consign everlastingly to hell the victims who 
 sought escape from tyranny. 
 
 Is it not so, my Prince? 
 
 Did not your church exploit the slave, throughout the 
 mediaeval ages? 
 
 Did not your church merge the wife's existence into that 
 of the husband, and diA^est her completely, first of her estate, 
 and then of the fruit of her womb ? 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 73 
 
 Did not voiir church sanction, for priest and hiy lord, the 
 feudal right which gave the first night, the bride and the 
 h'ridal led, to priest, or noble? 
 
 Did not your church bless the swords Avhich tried to beat 
 down the Dutch Republic? Did not your church savagely 
 make war upon the cruelly-burdened peasants of Germany? 
 
 Did not your church lay its anathema upon the Great 
 Charter which Englishmen wrung from a Norman Conqueror? 
 
 Did not your church, by written deed, convey Ireland to 
 Norman marauders, stipulating for a share of the loot? 
 
 TTAH' TW^O MORE OF THE POPE'S PERPETUAL VIPjGINS. 
 HAH. {^^\>^ *^V^^HE EARLY SAINTS LIVED:— SEE TEXT. 
 FOR FULL EXPLANATION, 
 
 THEY 
 
 Did not vour church ruthlessly persecute every free thinker 
 who dared 'to deny that the earth was flat, that there were 
 other worlds than this, that science could cure where relics 
 could not, and that the wine and the bread of the Last Supper 
 remained wine and bread in spite of the Latin words of a 
 stupid priest? 
 
 Cardinal, do vou reallv flatter yourself that you can per- 
 suade the American people that your Italian pope is not the 
 same old Italian pope, heir of the. same old system, successor 
 
74 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 to the same old pagan impostors who so long capitalized the 
 inherited superstitions of mankind? 
 
 Do you truly believe you can convince our people that your 
 Ethiopian can change his skin; your leopard, his spots? 
 
 Cardinal, I laugh at your attempt. You will fail. As 
 your two-faced church always has done, you will fail. True, 
 you got a good start. Owing to our inclination to let matters 
 drift, and to be over confident that what happened in Europe 
 can't happen here^ you have made astonishing progress. 
 
 We are a liberal people: we don't like to hurt feelings: 
 we naturally shun disagreeable subjects; we are prone to let 
 things rock along in their own way. It takes great provoca- 
 tion to rouse us ; but when we are aroused — look out ! 
 
 Cardinal, this country is not going to be ruled from Italy, 
 by a lecherous lot of chemise-wearing Italians. 
 Don't you think it — not for a moment. 
 
 This country is not going to be taken back to the Council 
 of Trent, nor to the Castle of Canossa. This people are not 
 going to have their blood-bought liberties submerged by pajDist 
 hordes from popish Europe ! 
 
 Cardinal, when you w^rote that your church heartily 
 endorsed the spirit of our laws and the principles of our 
 Constitution, you uttered a barefaced, monumental falsehood ! 
 Being a Jesuit, your moralitiy encourages you to deceive. 
 
 AVith you Jesuits, there is no such thing as a morality that 
 frustrates the aims of your order and your church. Your 
 morality sanctions duplicity, mendacity, any sort of crime, if 
 thereby the interests of the organization be served. 
 
 Is it no so. my Prince? Dcnwnd that I prove it, AXD I 
 WILL! 
 
 Let us not waste time over ancient history: let us recur to 
 your own times and your own ministry, to discover whether 
 you could have been honest, in telling our people that your 
 church approves our institutions and our laws. 
 
 (1) One of our institutions is, our Public Schools. Have 
 not you, yourself, denounced that institution? Have not all 
 your higher prelates done so? Did not Archbishop jNIessmer, 
 of ^lilwaukee, threaten to excommunicate those of his church 
 who patronized the Public Schools? 
 
 In that respect, he faithfully oheyed the papal lau\ as laid 
 down hy Pope Pius IX. 
 
 (2) Another of our institutions is, a free press. Did not 
 your infallible Papa, Gregory XVI., denounce all those who 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 75 
 
 maintained the liberty of the press: and did he not use the 
 most ferocious epithets in his denunciation? Did not youi 
 Papa Pius IX. in 1864. do the same thing? 
 
 Sworn to obey the Italian pope, and to persecute to extir- 
 pation all those 'fellow creatures of yours Avho are lud toot- 
 kissers, how can you decently contend that you heartily 
 approve the American law and institution of tlie free press? 
 
 (8) Cardinal, you cannot be ignorant ot the tact that 
 Pius IX, in ISerand again in 1864. fulminated savagely 
 against liberty of speech, and of conscience, and of worship! 
 How then, dare you to contend that your churuch favors- 
 our American law of 'free speech, free conscience, free worship? 
 (4) Cardinal you know very well that your church claims 
 the right to fix the line between civil and religious authority; 
 that she claims the right to employ force; that she claims the 
 right to supremacy in her own sphere, she herself lemg the 
 sole indqe of the limits of that sphere. ■, • ^- i 
 
 You know that herein lies the fatal gem of ecclesiastical 
 despotism, as boundless and as dangerous as it ever was 
 tliundered in the Dark Ages. . i .i 
 
 Yet you tell us to rest at ease : there is no cloud on the 
 horizon:" there is no significance in the current that slowly 
 makes its circle, on the onter nm of the maelstrom! 
 
 Does the same tree always bear the same fruit? Does the 
 sowino- of dragon's teeth always portend the upsprmgmg crop 
 of armed men ? Shall any man deceive himself as to what the 
 serpent will do, when once it has been warmed into life at our 
 hearth ? 
 
POPERY SHOWX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Natural for Men and Women to Mate; Traces of it From Childhood 
 Days to Maturity; the Curious Lock Invented to Keep Married 
 Women Chaste; Man the Only Living Crature That Uses Sensu- 
 ality for Pleasure Alone; the Effort of the Roman Catholic 
 Church to Condemn Healthy Young People to Perpetual Vir- 
 ginity Unnatural; Old Maids and Bachelors Looked on With 
 Disfavor; Roman Catholic Priests Should Marry; the Example 
 of Judas Iscariot, Who Was Unmarried, Followed by the Roman 
 Catholic Priests. 
 
 THE full sexed man yearns for a mate : the normal woman 
 wants a husband and children. 
 
 The little bo}- makes him a mud-house, and chooses 
 a sweet-heart, long- before the age of puberty. Without being 
 conscious of what it is, the boy is borne along by the tendencies 
 of sex. After awhile, his dreams will be voluptuous. The 
 physical contact with girls will sexually excite him. As 
 he groAvs older, this desire, and curiositi/ becomes stronger. 
 Many boys relieve themselves, unnaturally and injuriously, by 
 masturbation. Others, run after loose girls. Some will exert 
 self-control and find partial relief in nocturnal emissions. 
 
 The greater number of full-sexed men either sow wild oats, 
 or marry early. Of course there are very many who become 
 rakes, and never become heads of families. So, ther? are 
 considerable numbers who are confirmed practisers of onanism. 
 
 The girPs first love is a doll ; then a play-house. The 
 serious, unwearied pains that a mere tot will take in arrang- 
 ing, adorning and keeping, her doll's play-house, is one of 
 the most pathetic and deep-meaning commonplaces of human 
 life. 
 
 As I look back over my own journey, one of the pictures 
 most vividly stamped on my recollection, is that of my two little 
 girls, in the play-house, under the bay-window. The nice and 
 orderly arrangement of its small details, the efforts to make it 
 pleasing to the eye, the placing of pretty bits of china and 
 glassware; the ribbons knotted and festooned here and there; 
 the flowers in the tiny vases; the toy brooms which swept it 
 clean; and then the motherly care and tenderness and pride 
 in the placing of the dolls ! 
 
POPERY SHOAVN UP TO AMERICANS. 77 
 
 They had their names, these dolls; and thej^ were babies, in 
 terms and endearment, to those two little mothers. The dolls 
 were bathed and dressed and fed and put to sleep with mater- 
 nal solicitude. Alas ! They were sometimes spanked for mis- 
 iDehavior. 
 
 They went visiting, these dolls did; and they gave parties 
 which other dolls gaily attended. There Avere tiny plates, and 
 cups, and saucers, and teapots; and the entertainment was a 
 joyous reality, rather than a make-believe, to the tots con- 
 cerned — those who brought their dolls to the party, or those 
 whose dolls gave it. 
 
 Xearly every father will recognize the familiar picture; 
 and every father of girls will agree with me that the first 
 development in girls, makes for motherhood. 
 
 Happy is the maiden who goes to her mother^ with all her 
 questions and all her troubles. She will need caution, warn- 
 ing, anxious instruction, constant care. Nature is in the warm 
 blood of the girl, and she must not trust her strength too far. 
 
 The sneaking, sly inclination of which Robert Burns wrote, 
 is to be dreaded, and it must never be given opportunithj. 
 
 "L^ad us not into temptation !"' 
 
 Happy the maiden who knows the danger, and shuns it, 
 giving no opportunity to the tempter. 
 
 Why do so many girls go astray? Nature. 
 
 Why are there so many women living in vice? Nature. 
 
 It has always heen so. 
 
 The professional courtesan is the protectress of many a 
 pure girl. The rake, himself, might be a seducer., were he not 
 content with the loose women so easy of access. 
 
 In Dr. Sanger's History of Prostitution, you will be startled 
 by the statistics which show that such a large per centage of 
 prostitutes live that way, from inclination. 
 
 The good men and women who devote theniselves to Rescue 
 Work, will tell you that the greatest obstacle in their way is, 
 that the xvomen do not want to he rescued. 
 
 Do we not know what human nature is? Have we not 
 heard and seen enough, yet? 
 
 The Bible tells us what the carnal man craves, what the 
 unrestrained woman will do. Was it a mere flagi-ant insult 
 to the Jewesses of antiquit}^ when the Law forbade them to 
 have sexual intercourse with four-footed beasts? 
 
 Was there never a foundation in fact for the story of Leda 
 and the Swan ? 
 
78 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 Will we never take to heart the meaning of Sodom and 
 Gomorrah ? 
 
 Christ Himself could not move around among men, teach- 
 ing and healing, without stumbling upon a couple brutishly 
 copulating — and the woman is "taken in the act!'' 
 
 In all the histories, the story is the same. Assyria was 
 sensual, Egj^pt was sensual. Babylon was sensual, Greece and 
 Rome were sensual. According to the Catholic Rabelais, the 
 sexual sin of his times was the wallow of priests and layman, 
 king and peasant. According to the Catholic Erasmus, the 
 sexual sin of his times was the mire of all classes. According 
 to the Councils of the Catholic church, and the fulminations 
 of Popes, the sexual sin threatened to bring down the very 
 frame-work of society. 
 
 In the Middle Ages, and down to comparatively modern 
 times, the sexual passions of men and women were known to 
 be so strong, that a curious kind of lock was invented, whereby 
 a husband, going upon a journey- to distant parts, might lock 
 his wife, until his return. 
 
 This lock was ingeniously contrived. It was arranged cun- 
 ningly upon the woman's body, so as to render her safe from 
 men. and yet free to exercise the necessary functions of nature. 
 
 But we are told by the historians that these locked-up 
 ladies, indignant at the jealousy of their lords and at having 
 to wear these cunning locks about their waists, found a method 
 of unlocking the device : thus triumphantly demonstrating the 
 truth of the adage that Love laughs at locksmiths. 
 
 All of these things we know, or ought to know, for we have 
 had line upon line, and precept upon precept, from the dawn 
 of Creation, to convince vs of the danger^ the universality, and 
 the power of the sexual passion. 
 
 We have seen conquerors, like Marc Antony, throw a Avorld 
 away, for a wanton woman. We have seen nations wage war 
 about it. We have seen individuals ruined by it. We have 
 seen nations ruined by it. 
 
 We know that it maddens the rapist, strips woman of her 
 decency and makes her a nymphomaniac. 
 
 It caused the untimely death of Alexander the Great, and 
 well-nigh wrecked Julius Caesar. 
 
 It made a crazy man out of Henry of Xavarre. and killed 
 each of the Kings who were the sons of Catherine de Medici. 
 It contributed to the death of Peter the Great. It killed the 
 great general of France, Marshal Saxe. It killed the great 
 
POPERY SHOAVN UP TO AMERICANS. 79 
 
 general of Russia, Skobeleff. It sapped the vitality of the 
 royal families of Valois, of Bourbon, of Stuart and of Han- 
 over. 
 
 It burnt out the vigor of the Mohammedan conquerors, 
 the ]^Iooul Emperors, and the Tartar Khans. It has made 
 fffeininatc every nation, and every line of monarchs, that ever 
 ALLOWED NATURE TO HAVE A FREE REIN WITH 
 THE ANIMAL PASSION. 
 
 For, mark this! the hinnanAdnd is the only kind that uses 
 sexuality for ijleasure^ only. 
 
 The male quadruped has connexion with the female for the 
 purpose of veirroduction. It is the odor of the female that 
 inflames the male. That odor ceases when she has been 
 impregnated, and the male never teazes her again. 
 
 In the animal kingdom, exclusive of Man.^ there is no such 
 thing as immorality. There are no libertines, no rakes, no 
 concubines, no procurers, no places where females of pleasure 
 are kept for the use of males. 
 
 There are no brothels among the brutes or the birds: and 
 there are no celibate priests ! Animated Nature has no use for 
 a monk, or a nun. 
 
 The sexual passions of animals serve no other purpose than 
 that of nature. Males and females copulate to produce more 
 males and females. That is all : pleasure, for pleasure's sake, is 
 unknown to natural intercourse of the sexes. The pleasure 
 was meant to be incidental and compensatory — for the act 
 itself is filthy; and to the weaker sex, the consequences are 
 painful. 
 
 This much I have written as preliminary to the statement 
 that the Roman Catholic church attempted the unnatural and 
 the impossible, when it undertook to condemn thousands of 
 healthy young people, of both sexes, to perpetual virginity. 
 
 Nature never intended it so: Nature will not allow it so: 
 and Nature never will tolerate it so. Nature ahhors that, AND 
 THE CHURCH IS NOT STRONGER THAN NATURE. 
 
 From the remotest ages, down to the present time, a certain 
 degree of blame, or of discredit, has afflicted the spinster, the 
 barren wife, and the man who is either incapable of marriage 
 duty, or unwilling to perform it. 
 
 This feeling is much weaker in our day than formerly, but 
 traces of it are clearly to be seen. Every girl dreads being 
 called "an old maid.'' This moral cowardice, resulting from 
 fear of the reproach which cruelly punishes spinsterhood. 
 
80 
 
 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 often drives young Avomen into hurried and unhappy wed- 
 lock. 
 
 If a married man is known to be impotent, he becomes an 
 object of pity, or of contempt. Even now, the law gives his 
 wife a divorce. 
 
 As to the "old bachelor," he is rareh' loved: most people- 
 regard him as one of three things — a cynic, a roue, or a 
 eunuch. He is considered to have shirked the duties and 
 res^Donsibilities of life. If his excuse is a good one, he is to 
 
 THESE TYPICAL IRISH PRIESTS NEVER TASTED WINE, NOR 
 
 MEATS, NOR ANY OTHEH THING THAT COULD 
 
 NOURISH ANIMAL HEATS. 
 
 be pitied : but if he had no valid reason for his flunk, he is 
 treated with more or less disfavor. 
 
 In so modern a book as our Bible, we see the odium which 
 fixes itself upon the barren wife. We see in all parts of it the 
 duties of the martial union. -We see that the mating of the 
 ■two sexes was planned from the beginning; and that no other 
 idea than that of sex-union, and the bringing of children into 
 the Avorld can be found in the Scriptures. 
 
 In the Old Testament there is no hint of monl's, unmarried 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 81 
 
 and immarriageable monks: none Avhatever. Nor is there the 
 slightest hint of nuns. 
 
 In the New Testament, ^/^^ ice noiv hare U, there is a 
 reference by Christ to men who are born enniichs, or men who 
 have caused themselves to be made enniichs, in order that thej' 
 might devote themselves wholly to the service of God. 
 
 But you may search the Scriptures from cover to cover in 
 the ell'ort to find the text which warrants the belief that men 
 and women, full-sexed, can live in perpetual virginity, and 
 you won't find it! 
 
 No such text is in the Book. 
 
 The whole Bible, so far as it bears upon sex, makes for 
 matrimony and procreation. 
 
 No Jesuitical sacuit, no tonsured juggler with truth and 
 facts, can escape that proposition. 
 
 God Himself instituted marriage and condemned monasti- 
 cism, when the Garden of Eden was changed from a hermit 
 solitude nto a blooming jDaradise, where Eve was the sweetest 
 blossom that flowered. 
 
 If the old story in Genesis is nothing more than Oriental 
 allegory, its deep truthfulness is not the less clear, for ive 
 know ''it is not good that the man should be alone." 
 
 To the happily married man, we can say — 
 
 Without your wife, you were incomplete: without you., 
 your wife was incomplete : mated, you both were complete ; 
 and when the children came, your home, be it ever so humble, 
 was Paradise. 
 
 The men of old who walked with God, were married men. 
 The patriarchs, the Jewish priests, the inspired prophets, were 
 men who took wives and begot children. Do you, Cardinal 
 Gibbons, agree with the Romanists of Belgium and Spain that 
 the Bible should be tampered with by striking out the words — 
 ^^AU the prophets had ivivesf'' 
 
 Paul says, "'Marriage is honorable to all." 
 
 Should he have excepted the priests? If it were right that 
 he should, how can we account for his omission i If we are 
 to assume that he knew what he meant, and meant what he 
 said, how can we escape the conclusion that marriage is hon- 
 orable to all? 
 
82 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 And the word "all."' will have to include the priests, 
 won't it? 
 
 Then if it be honorable, according to Paul for priests to 
 marry, why don't they do the honorable thing, and marry? 
 
 Christ chose married men for his disciples. 
 
 If Peter's wife's mother was sick, as the Bible tells us, 
 then Peter must have been married he fore Christ chose him, 
 or he married after he was chosen. 
 
 Take either horn of the dilemma, and celibacy is gored. 
 
 The Popes who condemn the inarr'mge of Christian priests, 
 CONDEMN PETER. AND CONDEMN JESUS CHRIST, 
 AND CONDEM THE GOD ^VHO GAVE EVE TO ADAM! 
 
 But Peter was not the only apostle who had a wife. Philip, 
 the evangelist, is said to have had four daughters : therefore, 
 he had had at least one wife — unless indeed, we resort to the 
 theory which the modern example of Popes, Cardinals, bish- 
 ojDS, &c., have made so familiar to scandalous chronicles. 
 
 But if Philip's four daughters were bastards, like the 
 daughters of modern Popes, they would hardly have been 
 alluded to in the Scriptures. 
 
 Paul states that James and Jude, sons of the Virgin Mary 
 and hrothers of Jesus, were married men. 
 
 As a matter of fact, it seems that the New Testament 
 justifies the contention that Judas Iscanot was the only mem- 
 ber of the original Twelve who did not have a wife ! 
 
 Judas Iscariot teas the first Christian ceNhate; and the 
 Popes of Rome, when thev forbade the priests to marry, ivere 
 foUounng THE EXAMPLE OF JUDAS, instead of \hat of 
 Peter! 
 
 Cardmal Gibbons, what have you to say to that? 
 
 Any one who will read the instructions which Paul puts in 
 writing for the priests of the Christum Church, will be con- 
 vinced that the Apostle took it for granted the greater num- 
 ber of them, would he married men. 
 
 His advice and guidance is based upon that assumption. 
 
 The wives of the deacons must be women of seemly beha- 
 vior, grave, sober, considerate of speech — not given to tattling, 
 and undignified levity. Let the deacons avoid polygam^'^ be 
 content with one wife at a time, govern the children properly, 
 and keep a decent, orderly house. 
 
 The wife of the bishop must be hospitable^ in addition 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 83 
 
 to all other g-ood qualities; and she and the bishop must con- 
 trol their children, setting a good example of rule^ thus enab- 
 ling the bishop to win more confidence from his church. 
 
 So thoroughly does Paul understand that normal men must 
 have. wiA-es, even though they serve God in the priesthood, that 
 he almost commands the deacon and the bishop to take one 
 wife. Otherwise, Paul would have been talking nonsense 
 when he warned those holy men against taking two or more 
 wives at the same time. 
 
 And why did the inspired Paul take so much pains to lay 
 down the rules for the behavior of the bishop's wife and 
 children, if the bishop was not to have a wife and children? 
 
 Paul argues that the wisdom learned by the husband and 
 father, in the governing of his family, will be of service to 
 the priest in the governing of his flock in the church. 
 
 And yet, after the Christian priests for hundreds of years, 
 had been imitating Peter, imitating the brothers of our Lord, 
 and obeying the precepts of Paul, the ambitious Popes of 
 Rome set up the example of Judas Iscariot, and ordered the 
 priests to imitate the disciple, the celibate traitor who sold his 
 God! 
 
84 POPERY SHOWN UP TO A:MERICAXS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Roman Catholic Priests Imitators of the Priests of Maia and 
 Those of Bacchus; the Confessional and the Convent Introduced 
 to Affor<i Them a Substitute for Marriage; the Keeping of Fire 
 Made a Religious Function; the Romans Copy the Albans; the 
 Six Vested Virgins Difficult to Obtain; Evil Effects of Celibacy; 
 Udaldric's Story of What Was Found in the Fish Ponds; Ber- 
 nard's Views on Celibacy; the University of Oxford's Complaint; 
 the Roman Clergy in Scotland as Pictured by McCrie. 
 
 IX ancient times, the priests of Maia, the Virgin Mother of 
 one of the incarnations of Buddha, were eunuchs, either 
 
 born sexless or made so by surgical operation. These monks 
 of Maia shaved the tops of their heads, and were fond of 
 public processions, thus setting examples which the priests of 
 Rome were soon to follow. 
 
 The priests of Bacchus were not allowed to marry ; but they 
 were free to indulge themselves with women, the Confessional 
 giving them the secrets of the sexually loose votaries, and the 
 opi^ortunities for indulgence. 
 
 This Bacchic confessional and sexual license was quickly 
 adopted hj the Roman priests, aftei^ enforced bachelorhood 
 had become the inexorable rule of papal discipline. Let it be 
 kept in mind, constantly, that the ceJihacy of the Ronuni Cath- 
 olic ^ynests came before the adoption of auricular and jyrivate 
 confession by the Roman Catholic church. 
 
 See how it Avas designed : 
 
 The priests were denied wives : they were given the secluded 
 confessional: at confession, the women revealed their weak- 
 nesses to the bachelor priests — and the privacy of the box 
 itself, as well as the nearness of the sacristy, afforded the 
 opj)ortrni/ty! 
 
 Thus the Confessional and the convent were set up to give 
 the priests a substitute fo'^ marriage. 
 
 In the olden time, the keeping of fire was a matter of the 
 utmost importance. There were no easy methods, such as we 
 now have, of re-kindling the flames. Hence, the preservation 
 of the fire, so that the city, or the tribe, or the whole nation, 
 should not be left in darkness was made a religious function. 
 
 To let the light go out, was a public calamity: hence offi- 
 
POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 85 
 
 cials were appointed, supported and rewarded, for the sole 
 purpose of guarding and renewing the sacred flame. The 
 punishment of neglect, was death. 
 
 The Romans copied the Albans, who entrusted the fire to 
 four virgins. The Alban system was the forerunner of all the 
 nunneries which have since existed in Europe. 
 
 Servius Tulhis, the Roman King, increased the number of 
 the Virgins to six. At that number it stood for centuries. In 
 the fourth century of our Christian era, the number of Vestals 
 was increased to seven, and so it remained to the end. 
 
 
 
 IS 
 
 E 
 
 ^^ 
 
 sSv*""^ 
 
 .fe 
 
 
 
 ^^mi 
 
 p^ 
 
 
 Hl 
 
 ^ "fA> 
 
 
 ^mr^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 r^ 
 
 B 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 !.' 
 
 
 *i'^ 
 
 
 1 
 
 j 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 FAT AND GRO.SS LIKE THE OTHERS. YET THEY ARE VIRGINS. 
 
 THEY COOL THE WARMTH OF THE BLOOD BY STANDING 
 
 IN ICE-PACKS, ROLLING ON THE SNOW, RUNNING- 
 
 IN THE WOODS, &C. 
 
 To insure the selection of Virgins, no girl was chosen who 
 was more than ten years old. The term of service was thirtj' 
 years. After that period, the Vestal could leave the temple, 
 freed of her vows, and at liberty to marry. 
 
 Although the number of required Virgins was so very 
 small, and the rewards of her station so rich and regal, it was 
 with the utmost difficulty that the Roman world could supply 
 six maidens who would undertake the vows of chastity. And 
 in spite of the fact that the doom of the erring Vestal was 
 
86 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 burial alive, it was found that even this frightful punishment 
 could not restrain the natural, irresistible sex-inclination of 
 those six women. 
 
 Yet, the Roman Catholic Church asks mankind to 
 believe that it expected hundreds of thousands of women to 
 keep the vows, when they were secluded in convents to which 
 the priests had freedom of access ! 
 
 Does not the history of the Roman Church drip with the 
 slime of celibacy and the Confessional ? 
 
 Paul had dwelt upon the scandals of the unmarried state, 
 and had roundly declared that young widows should marry. 
 No reason could be given in such a case that would not apply 
 to young bachelors and young widowers. 
 
 The earliest church writers express their horrors of celi- 
 bacy, and describe conditions which decent language avoids. 
 
 Ireneeus, Epiphanius, Cyprian, and Chrysostom bewail the 
 widespread, cankerous vice, writing of the licentiousness of the 
 priesthood as universal; and t<his was prior to the discipline 
 which made celibacy obligatory. 
 
 "\Miat Irenteus says of the practical results of bachelor- 
 hood, is corroborative of what Paul implies in his letter to 
 Timothy. 
 
 "\Miat Cyprian says, is so very literal and shocking that it 
 cannot be printed. Unnatural indulgence teas always the 
 resnlt of denying nature her rights. 
 
 AYhat Chrysostom says corroborates Cyprian, and paints 
 a filthy picture of the bachelor priests of the third century. 
 
 "Alas, my souls!" cries the golden-mouthed Christian: 
 
 "Our virginity has fallen into contempt: the veil is rent 
 \)j impudent hands, that parted it off from matrimony. * * 
 That which was once held in reverence, (celibacy) as far more 
 excellent than matrimony, is now sunk so low, as that one 
 should rather call the marnecl hlessed. * * 
 
 Nor is it the enemy that has effected all this, but the vir- 
 gins themselves." 
 
 This admission is made by one who had warmly advocated 
 the celibacy of the priesthood. 
 
 At the Council of Nice in o'25, when a decree was about 
 to be introduced, enjoining celibacy of the clergA^ Paphnutius, 
 an unmarried bishop, testified against it on the ground that 
 such a prohibition would produce great immorality, and was 
 contrary to Scripture. 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 87 
 
 Udalric. bishop of Auousta, who wrote a letter to Pope 
 Nichohis I., in which he says concerning Poj^e Gregory the 
 Gi-eat. who reigned in COO. '"That Gregory the Great, by his 
 decree, deprived priests of their wives; when, shortly after, 
 he commanded that some fish should be caught from the fish 
 ponds, the fishers, instead of fish, found the heads of six 
 thousand infants that had been drowned in the ponds. ^Y\\en 
 Gregory ascertained that the infants thus killed were born 
 from the concealed fornications and adulteries of the priests, 
 he forthwith recalled his decree, and purged the sin with 
 worthy fruits of repentance, extolling the apostolic command : 
 "It is better to marry than to burn," and adding from him- 
 self: "It is better to marry than to be the occasion of death.'' 
 
 Bernard, who died in 936, utters the followng complaint 
 in his sermon to the clerg}^ on conversion: "If, according to 
 the prophecy of Ezekiel, we could look behind the partition, 
 that we might see the horrible things in the house of the Lord, 
 perhaps the foulest things would appear on the inside of the 
 partition. Nay, besides fornications, adulteries, and incests, 
 there are not wanting among some the most shameful ignomi- 
 nious conduct. Would that the apostles never had written 
 such things, that it would not be necessary for us to speak of 
 them, so that no credence would be given to those who mention 
 what sometimes occupies the human mind — what abominable 
 lust ! alas ! the enemy of man has defiled the body of the 
 church with the exorable ashes of the Sodomites: and indeed 
 the most filthy and abominable crimes have defiled some of 
 its very ministers also. Many, not indeed all, but many, it is 
 certain, cannot be concealed on account of their multitude, nor 
 do they lament, by reason of their impudence, and many are 
 seen to have employed this licentiousness for an occasion of 
 the flesh, abstaining from the nuptial remedy, and hence using 
 this liberty of theirs for perpetrating every crmie. Would 
 that those who cannot contain would fear to give their course 
 the name of celibacy. It is better to marrv^ than to burn, and 
 to be saved in the humble grade of the common people, than 
 to live worse, and to be judged severely in the sublime rank 
 of the clergj^ Take away from the church honorable mar- 
 riage and the bed undefiled, and do you not fill it with con- 
 cubines, incestuous persons, onanists, male concubines, and 
 with every kind of unclean person ? 
 
 In the Eleventh century, the secular or parochial clergy 
 kept women generally in their houses, upon more or less terms 
 
88 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICAXS. 
 
 of familiarity, by a connivance of their ecclesiastical superiors, 
 which almost amounted to a positive toleration. The sons of 
 priei^ts Avere capable of inheriting, bv the laws of both France 
 and Castile. 
 
 The third Lateran Council, held in 1179. speaks of the 
 detestable custom of keeping concubines, long- used by the 
 English clergy. 
 
 Innocent III., who died in 1227, declares: "That certain 
 Latin priests had concubines in their houses, and some were 
 not afraid to betroth or marry them." 
 
 Nicholas de Clemangis, about 1400. says: 'Tn many dio- 
 ceses the rectors of parishes, for a certain stipulated sum to 
 the prelates, generally and publically have concubines." 
 
 The University of Oxford, at the king's command, drew 
 up forty-six articles stating abuses that needed reformation, 
 to be laid before the Council of Constance, which sat in 1414. 
 The thirty-eight article represents: "That the carnal and 
 debauched lives of the clergy in our days, and their public 
 fornications which are never punished. excejDt with a small 
 fine in private, set an evil example before others: it would, 
 therefore, b? a holy thing, and contribute to the reformation 
 of the church, if priests of every rank and order, who were 
 public fornicators, were obliged to abstain from saying mass 
 for a limited time." 
 
 The following picture of the Roman clergy in Scotland is 
 given by M'Crie in his Life of John Knox : ""Inferior l3enifices 
 were put up to sale, or bestowed on the illiterate and unworthy 
 minions of courtiers; on dice players, strolling bards, and the 
 bastards of bishops." "Again, the lives of the clergy, expected 
 from the secular jurisdiction, and corrupted by wealth and 
 idleness, were become a scandal to religion, and an outrage to 
 decency. While they professed chastity, and prohibited, under 
 the severest penalties, any of the ecclesiastical order from 
 contracting lawful wedlock, the bishops set the example of 
 the most shameless profligacy before the inferior clergy; 
 avowedly kejDt their harlots, provided their natural sons with 
 benefices, and gave their daughters in marriage to the sons of 
 the nobility and the principal gentry; many of whom were 
 so mean as to contaminate the blood of their families by such 
 base alliances, for the sake of the rich dowries which they 
 brought." To make out the above statement of M'Crie, there 
 is no need of going to the testimony of the reformers, or to 
 satirical poems published at the time. The truth is registered 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 89 
 
 in the acts of parliament, in the decrees of their own councils, 
 and in the confessions of their own writers. 
 
 In an act of parliament passed in England, on February 
 19th, 1548, it was stated : "That great filthiness of living, 
 with other inconveniences, had followed on the laws that com- 
 pelled chastity, and prohibited marriage ; so that it was better 
 they should be suffered to marr}' than to be so restrained." 
 (Elliot on Romanism.) 
 
90 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMEPvICAXS. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Nonsensical Ideas of the Early Religious Zealots; Their Absurd 
 Methods of Curbing Their Natural Inclinations; the Fatal Error 
 Made in Ordaining Negroes to the Priesthood. 
 
 RELIGIOUS zealots, possessed of the idea that marriage 
 was unclean, that woman was the original cause of the 
 coming of Sin into the world, and that Heaven must be 
 won by the sacrifice of all earthly enjoyments, consecrated 
 themselves to the life ascetic, monastic, useless, unnatural, fan- 
 tastic, monomanical. 
 
 These fanatics imagined that they pleased God immensely 
 by surrendering to the Devil all the good thing's of life. Even 
 personal cleanliness, enjoined in the Bible, was tabooed by 
 the monomaniacs of monasticism. 
 
 Everything that pleased the senses, was to be shunned. It 
 was a cunning snare of the Evil One. God made the flowers — 
 but the monk did not love them. God made the beauty of the 
 landscape, hung the purple haze around the mountain top, 
 colored the rainbow in the sky, built vast and gorgeous taber- 
 nacles amid the clouds, spread marvellous carpets and tapes- 
 tries along fallow fields and furzy heaths and hill-side slopes 
 — but the monk must not gaze with eyes of ra^Dture upon the 
 evanescent scene. 
 
 God made the melody and the magnificence of the woods, 
 the mingled songs of streams and birds, the blended beauty of 
 vine and leaf, of pine and oak. of rock and water, of sunshine 
 and shadow at plaj^ over limitless stretches of sea and forest — 
 but the anchorite must l3e deaf to the music and blind to the 
 beauty, while he stifi'ened his thought into moody meditation 
 on the ultimate destiny of what he conceived to be his soul. 
 
 God made the woman, and fashioned her wonderfully", 
 indeed. If ever the Almighty ''spread" Himself, and 
 exhausted the utmost of His powers, it was when He made the 
 help-meet for Man. 
 
 Dainty where he is coarse ; tender where he is rough ; strong 
 where he is weak; weak where he is strong; round and plump 
 where he is square and spare; made for Love and Leisure as 
 he is made for War and Labor. 
 
 Her hands were made small, to be held in his : her feet were 
 made small, to follow his. Her arms are soft to embrace — not 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 91 
 
 to fight. Her voice is low and sweet — not pitched to the 
 battle-cry. but to the song which woos the lover and soothes 
 the fretful babe. Her neck is the flower stem — not the short 
 column meant to bear a warrior's helm and bear a foeman's 
 blow. Her bosom swells with the loveliness that maddens the 
 male — ready to cradle the child that shall lay its little head 
 there, and smile up in its mother's face, as it draws life from 
 her. 
 
 Built for Love, fashioned for Maternity, meant for male 
 companionship, her glory of dimpled cheek and flowing hair 
 and dancing eyes were given her to allure the King. The 
 Woman's smile, before it was fixed on her rosy lips, was bathed 
 in the crystal streams that still flow in the Eden from which 
 erring humanity was expelled, in the old. old days : and the 
 light that was put in her eyes, and the infinite tenderness that 
 comes into her speech, were taken from across the space which 
 divides the spheres. 
 
 Against this heaven-sent mate, the anchorite steeled his 
 acrid heart: she was a syren, born of Sin and ministering to 
 Beelzebub. To look at her was wickedness: to listen to her 
 was rash experiment with temptation : to follow her, was hell 
 itself — an extremely black, dismal, disagreeable Hell ! 
 
 So, the holy hermit shut his eyes to the splendors of Nature, 
 shut his heart to love of women, shut his mind to the glories 
 of learning, and went off. like a mangy dog. into the wilder- 
 ness to encrust his body with dirt, and his thoughts with what 
 he called religious contemplation. 
 
 If he could find a cavern in some desolate mountain side, 
 he chose this hole in the ground for his habitation. If there 
 was a spring of pure water near by. he immediately imagined 
 a miracle. This holy man, having unloaded duties and 
 responsibilities, fancied himself growing into perfection. If 
 he had deserted his family, so much the more glorious was his 
 conduct. Some wicked, worldly person would no doubt be 
 prompted by Satan to perform the natural services which the 
 Saints had advised the hermit to abandon. If an old mother 
 had been left in "the world," the world would, or should pro- 
 vide for her. If the hennit. in forsaking "the world,"' had left 
 his creditors in the lurch, so much the greater his merit. Had 
 he remained in "the world," and supported his family and 
 paid his debts, worldly pride might have seized him, and 
 puffed him up. In which case, he would have incurred mortal 
 Sin, and might have lost his soul. 
 
92 POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 Dwelling- in his cave, apart from his fellow man. the holy 
 hermit lived a frugal life. He might depend upon charitable 
 folk to bring him a few simple necessaries of life, in return 
 for his prayers ; or he might cultivate a small plot of ground, 
 for his subsistence. 
 
 Visitors were not encouraged, and few came. Naturally, 
 a cavern in a desert is not apt to attract company, especially 
 if the hermit is said to be a person who seldom speaks, and 
 who much prefers solitude. As to women, they were not to be 
 suffered anywhere about the premises. If by the rarest chance, 
 a daughter of Eve tresspassed upon the sanctified habitat of 
 the anchorite, he started up in wild alarm, and made a desper- 
 ate dash for remote fastnesses and unddscoverable hiding 
 places. 
 
 In those olden times ^ peojyle knew what humanity IS. 
 
 They knew what a man had to do to stifle the voice of 
 Nature. They knew what he had to do, if he were determined 
 to preserve his virginity. 
 
 The man himself knew it — Ae, best of all ! He knew 
 what his raging passions were. He knew^ the power of those 
 innate, unavoidable, inextinguishable longings for a mate. 
 
 Therefore, he fled the temptations. He fled the sight of 
 woman. He did not dare to trust himself where he could hear 
 the frou-frou of her flowing garments; smell the perfume of 
 her abundant, glossy hair; and feast his eyes upon the volup- 
 tousness of her form, or upon the witchery of her voice and 
 face. 
 
 He fled the scene, knowing that to stay was to surrender. 
 He fled the scene, poor, poor fanatic ! insulting the God who 
 mercifully made the Woman for the Man ! 
 
 Even in his cavern, he knew he was not safe. His enemy 
 dwelt within himself. This enemy was intrenched in his 
 throbbing heart, coursed through every burning vein, lurked 
 in every vagrant thought. 
 
 This enemy must be combated* must be watched, must be 
 mortified, must be starved out. The heat of the blood must 
 be cooled. The lust of the flesh must be chilled. 
 
 The hermit must avoid meat: must banish wine: must eat 
 sparingly of watery vegetables: must not wear soft clothing; 
 must not sleep on a warm bed. 
 
 The physical man must be reduced to skin and bones: and 
 the blood must be made as thin and scant as possible. Never 
 a hermit- virgin, anchorite-monk had a fair round belly, with 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 93 
 
 fat capon lined : never a virgin monk had a red face, bulbous 
 lips, bulging eyes, and thick neck with a fold at the base of the 
 skull, never! 
 
 In the olden time, jyeopJe hieic what human nature IS. 
 
 There is an odd sort of book entitled "Table Traits,'* pub- 
 lished by the Dr. Doran, who was the historian of the "Queens 
 of England and the House of Hanover." ' For a quiet hour on 
 a rainy day, I don't know a volume that would prove more 
 entertaining. The learned Doctor, who ought to have been a 
 chum of Isaac DTsraeli, father of Benjamin ditto, devotes 
 chapters to the Legend of Amphitryon, to Diet and Digestion, 
 to Materials for Breakfast, to the Old Coffe-house, to French 
 Cafes, to the Ancient Cook, to Materials for Dining, to Sauces, 
 to the Making and Marring of Wine, to the Tables of the 
 Ancient Egyptians, to Csesars at the Table, to their Majesties 
 at Meat, to Strange Banquets, to Liquor-loving Laureates, to 
 Supper, to the Diet of the Saints of Old and to the Support of 
 Modern Saints. 
 
 The chapters devoted to the Saints are those that claim my 
 attention. 
 
 We hardly need another book to teach us how the Csesars 
 carried on at Table. Scores of authors have told us about it. 
 We can see them in the mind's eye, sprawled along their 
 couches, stuffing and guzzling, until they can hold no more. 
 We know how the earth and the sea were ransacked to procure 
 delicacies for the epicurian tastes of the Roman lords. We can 
 see the sparkle of the wine, hear the ribald jest, note the grow- 
 ing swinishness of the feast. 
 
 We know fairly well what the Egyptian banquet was; and 
 how the "Imperial drinkers of Germany" bore up, or bore 
 down, under tremendous irrigation of the interior viaducts. 
 We have a sufficiently clear conception of the "Table Traits of 
 England in Early Times;" and also of the same traits of the 
 same country, preceding and postdating those Early Times. 
 About all those matters, this Gallio is not at all concerned. 
 
 What I want to know is. How did the Saints live? AMiat 
 did the anchorites eat and drink? In what way did the chaste 
 man rigorously confine his natural propensities, and preserve 
 his sexual virtue? How did the priest manage his diet and 
 daily habit, so that he passed over the ploughshares of all the 
 hot vears of vouth and earlv manhood without getting burnt? 
 
94 POPERY SHOAVX UP TO AMEEICAXS. 
 
 Being a man^ how did he avoid thinking as a man, feeling 
 as a man, and acting as a man ? 
 
 On page 316, Dr. Doran begins to tell mankind what he 
 has learned about the Diet of the Saints. 
 
 After mentioning the painful circumstances that the Chris- 
 tian Fathers "corrected"' those who ate prohibited food during 
 Lent by pulling all their teeth out. he speaks of the stu- 
 pendous row that split the churches when the orthodox 
 authorities relaxed the rigor of the rules, and made an excep- 
 tion in favor of eggs. The Greek churches went off into a 
 schism, and refused to be reconciled, or comforted. 
 
 Besides the regular fast daj^s, there were the days of "dry 
 eatings" (Xerophagia) when the Christians who were reso- 
 lutely determined on their sah^ation, ate nothing but bread 
 and salt. AjDparentl}^, those Christian Fathers had not yet 
 learned how to put the salt in the bread. It would be con- 
 sidered a rarely diverting spectacle, nowadays, to see a devout 
 person salting his ]3one of bread as he devoured it. 
 
 There were other days on which Christians might not only 
 take bread and salt, but hj^ssop. also. It is not very clear what 
 hyssop was, but we moderns suppose it to ha've been a kind of 
 plant, shrub, herb, or vegetable. 
 
 Saint Macarius ate nothing but raw herbs and pulse. This 
 he kept up for several years, after which he changed his diet 
 to five ounces of bread a day. 
 
 During Lent this Saint stood in one position, forty days 
 and nights, with no food save "a few raw cabbage leaves on a 
 Sunday." This "one position" must have been a sight to see, 
 and a smell to inhale, when the 40 days were up. The same 
 remark apjolies to the person of the Saint. 
 
 Saint Genevieve was almost equally austere and filthy. She 
 ate only twice a week, Sundays and Thursdays, and her food 
 was beans and bread. But when she grew old. she became 
 somewhat more self-indulgent: she took "a little fish and 
 milk." Let us hope that she had better sense than to take 
 them together. 
 
 Saint Simeon Stylites never ate anything at all during 
 Lent, and at other seasons, only once a week. As his lodging 
 was upon the top of a high pillar, and his time Avas spent in 
 prajT^er and genuflexions, I am prepared to believe that he 
 preserved his virginity. 
 
 Saint Paul lived on the fruit of one palm tree which 
 miraculously bore a fresh supply every day. To assist the 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 95 
 
 miraculous tree, a raven brought the Saint some every morn- 
 ing, as early and as regularly as a baker's boy of those modern 
 da,ys. 
 
 A^^ien a wicked v\-oman, at the instigation of the Devil, 
 unveiled her charms before this Saint and tempted him, he 
 bit off his tongue, and spat it in her face — the hussy ! 
 
 Samt Isidore ate almost nothing. Day and night he fasted, 
 and fasted, and fasted ; and when at last his outraged appetite 
 clamored for food, the Saint burst into tears, so great was the 
 humiliation of having to eat at all. 
 
 Saint Pluvius and his monks tabooed wine, milk, cheese, 
 grapes, and even vinegar. Their staple of food was pulse, 
 herbs, bread and water. Only after Easter, and until "N-VTiit- 
 suntide, did they get on a sort of holy jag, and consume a gill 
 of oil apiece. 
 
 Saint William of Maleval wept bitterly, when he found 
 that, in spite of his diet of divy bread, his sensuality still tor- 
 mented him. 
 
 Saint Martianus lived on biscuits and water, the biscuits 
 being brought to him once in every six Tnonths. Biscuits 
 several months old will assauge the carnal heats, if anj'thing 
 can do it. 
 
 Saint Winwaloe's fare was barley-bread strewn with ashes. 
 During Lent, he lessened the bread and doubled the ashes, in 
 honor of the season and for the greater glory of God. 
 
 Saint Benedict never drank any but stagnant water, nor 
 would he eat anything cooked. He even ate his bread raw. 
 So vehement was his determination to save his soul, and his 
 virginity. 
 
 Samt Francis D'Assisi would eat nothing dressed by fire, 
 unless he were very sick; and even then "he covered it with 
 ashes and dipped it in cold water." His common daily food 
 was drj^ bread strewn with ashes. 
 
 Saint Hilary for many years lived on fifteen figs a day; 
 and Saint Catherine, upon grass! 
 
 Other hermits, in order "to counteract the movements of 
 the flesh, cased the body in steel, put on sackcloth, ran to the 
 mountains, spent the night and day in fasting, vigils, and all 
 the rigor of severity. Shunning the company of women, the 
 whole sex were forbidden access to their solitary retreat. 
 
 All this self-mortification, however, could scarcely allay 
 the rebellion of their blood. 
 
 The fanatical idea of the Christian extremists being that 
 
96 POPERY SHOAVX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 the pleasures of the senses y^eve sinful, it logically followed 
 that the more diificult the self-restraint, the more glorious the 
 \dcton'. To abstain from wine and palatable food was 
 diificult; therefore, the abstinence was meritorious. To deny 
 one's self the sexual enjoyment, was most difficult; hence, the 
 victory over that passion was supremely honorable. 
 
 Saint Bernard declared that fasting was a necessary 
 remedy for the natural heat and desire of the blood. To the 
 same effect, testifies Saint Chrysostom. However, he and Saint 
 Jerome both advise resort to prayer. 
 
 Saint Francis, founder of the Franciscans, deemed it neces- 
 sary, even in winter, to stand to the neck in a pit full of icy 
 water. One day, when the pains of the sensual hell got hold 
 of him with unusual strength, the Saint stripped himself stark 
 naked, and buried himself in a snow drift. 
 
 Saint Godric had to chill his lusts of the flesh by solitude, 
 by semi-starvation, by sleeping on the bare ground, with a 
 stone for his pillow. He ate no meat, drank no wine, lived on 
 the herbs of the field, drank the water of the spring, wore a 
 garment of hair-cloth, and spent his time in prayers, in tears 
 and in bemoaning the treacherous leanings of nature. In the 
 winter he immersed himself in the river, doing this even at 
 night, in the heroic determination to save his virginity and 
 his soul. 
 
 Saint Ulric. also, made a desperate defense of his chastity. 
 He froze his poor body in the cold bath, lying in this chilly 
 bed during the long hours of the night. He fasted, until the 
 bones almost pushed out of his skin, and he was a scare-crow 
 to the eye. 
 
 But he saved his virginity, and we trust that he also saved 
 his precious soul. 
 
 Saint Benedict was so tortured by lascivious dreams which 
 haunted him after the night had passed, that he pulled off his 
 clothes, and "rolled his naked body on nettles and thorns, till 
 the larcerated body, through pain, lost all sense of pleasure." 
 
 Saint Thomas xVquinas was sorely beset by his sexual 
 desires, and owed his rescue to supernatural aid. It is said 
 that while asleep he "seemed, through a dream to undergo a 
 constriction of a certain part, by the angels, and lost from that 
 time forward all sense of consupiscence."' 
 
 This curious statement suggests that Saint Thomas may 
 have undergone the experience of Abelard, and of Origen. 
 
 The Bishop of Sherburn, Adhelm by name, was a wise 
 
I'OPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 97 
 
 man in his generation. LikeAvise, he was rich in i)ractical 
 resource. AVhen his flesh threatened to become unrulj^, he 
 plunged into the river which ran b}' his monastery, 'and 
 remained in this icy bath all night, even in the winter time. 
 
 This remedy he varied by sending for ''a fair virgin who 
 lay in his bed til Ihe sung the whole order of the Psalms, and 
 overcame by this means the paroxism of passion.'' 
 
 Resourceful Bishop I Obliging fair virgin ! O, the times ! 
 O, the manners ! O, Lordy ! 
 
 When we reflect upon the austerities which the early monks 
 felt it necessarj^ to practise in their efforts to keep down the 
 natural desire for sexual relations with the other sex; when 
 we think of their flight from the battle-field where natural 
 passions rage; when we think of the starvation diet upon 
 which the anchorite monks lived, the immersions in ic}^ water, 
 the burial of their palpitating bodies in snow drifts, their 
 lacerations of themselves upon beds of nettles and thorns, and 
 their rigid exclusion of any drink that might warm the l)lood, 
 we are the more amazed at the consummate impudence of the 
 priests of our day. These masculine virgins court the battle- 
 field, rather than shun it; they fling themselves into the very 
 midst of temptations; they feast upon the richest viands 
 known to the epicure; they are lovers of wine and are fasti- 
 dious as to its quality; their palaces blaze with luxury; they 
 robe themselves in purple and fine linen; they are lapped in 
 sensuous music and surrounded by adoring women — yet they 
 ask us to believe that their manly virtue passes through these 
 fires without even the inclination to melt ! 
 
 As a rule, the Roman Catholic prelate of middle age is a. 
 round bodied person. He measures most at the waist. He 
 ambles or wabbles when he walks. His neck is thick, and has 
 a fold at the back of his head. His cheeks are full and red: 
 his lips are coarse and sensual: his eyes are bold and bulging 
 and haughty: his nose heavy, his chin double, his breast the 
 ample approach to his protuberant paunch. 
 
 But he is a virgin: he says so: his church says so: he has 
 not been caught in the act; and the cynical "world" lets him 
 pass for what he claims to be. 
 
 The "world" knows that he is not a eunuch, that he eats 
 and drinks lu repletion the food and the wine which inflame, 
 that he has secret access to the most beautiful women, who may 
 be presumed to be as much chafed by unnatural restraint as he 
 himself is : the private-room within the walled convent affords 
 
98 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 the ideal opportunity for sly indulgence — and yet we are asked 
 to believe that the passion is never felt, the opportunity never 
 used, the burning nun never allured by the burning priest into 
 the voluptuous "Retreat Parlor."" which apparently is pro- 
 vided for that very emergency ! 
 
 Can any sane man or woman look upon the faces and the 
 persons of the typical Irish, Italian and French and Spanish 
 priests, and then believe that those representatives of the 
 amorous Celtic and Latin races, ceased to be rejyresentative, 
 when they jDut on petticoats? 
 
 And they have actually gone to admitting negro men into 
 this celibate priesthood, asking us to belieev that negro men, 
 given unlimited opportunities among helpless women, will not 
 have the desire to improve the opportunity. 
 
 They know what the negro is. They know that he will 
 risk the most frightful torture and death, to gratify his rag- 
 ing lust. They know that so intense is his appetite for a lohite 
 woman^ that he will seize her wherever he can, although he 
 may perish at the stake the next day. 
 
 Nevertheless, in their furious ambition to extend the sway 
 of the Italian church, they are ordaining negro priests, who 
 will have precisely the same powers, privileges and opportuni- 
 ties that the white priests enjoy and abuse. Great God ! Think 
 of a great black brute of a negro priest turned loose in a con- 
 vent of white girls, and given his pick of the flock I It makes 
 the blood run cold to think of it. 
 
 WMt im-speaTiCible Jiellians these Roman idolaters are, TO 
 GIVE NEGRO BUCKS A TASTE OF THE SATYR 
 ORGIES OF TEE ITALIAN PRIESTHOOD! 
 
 :-c * * * * * 
 
 I close this discussion of the pretended virginity of the 
 Roman priests, by quoting a few passages from the confessions 
 of typical priests, from the statements of Roman Catholic 
 authors, and from official records whose truthfulness has not 
 been questioned. 
 
POPERY SHOWX UP TO AMERICANS. 99 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Quotations From the Writings of Blanco White, a Spanish Priest, 
 and From the "Confession of a French Catholic Priest," Showing 
 the Wickedness and Immorality of the Clergy in Those Countries. 
 
 WE select the testimony of Blanco White concerning Spain, who 
 wrote in 1835. He was a Spanish priest of great celebrity, 
 and of unquestionable veracity. Speaking of the character 
 of the Spanish clergy, in reference to their celibacy, he testifies as 
 follows, in the most solemn and sincere tone: — 
 
 "That my feelings are painfully vehement when I dwell upon 
 this subject; that neither the freedom I have enjoyed so many years 
 nor the last repose of the victims, the remembrance of whom still 
 wrings tears from my eyes, can allay the bitter pangs of my youth; 
 are proofs that my views arise from a real, painful, and protracted 
 experience. — Devoted to the ecclesiastical profession since the age 
 of fifteen, when I received the minor orders, I livd in constant 
 friendship with the most distinguished youths who, in my town, 
 were preparing for the priesthood. Men of the first eminence in 
 the church were the old friends of my family — my parents' and my 
 own spiritual directors. Thus I grew up, thus I continued in man- 
 hood, till, at the age of five-and-thirty religion, and religion alone, 
 tore me away from kindred and country. The intimacy of friend- 
 ship, the undisguised converse of sacramental confession, opened to 
 me the hearts of many, whose exterior conduct might have deceived 
 a common observer. The coarse frankness of associate dissolute- 
 ness left no secrets among the spiritual slaves, who, unable to 
 separate the laws of God from those of their tyrannical church, 
 trampled both under foot in riotous despair. Such are the sources 
 of the knowledge I possess: God^ sorrow, and remorse, are my 
 witnesses. 
 
 "A more blameless, ingenious, religious set of youths than that 
 in the enjoyments of whose friendship I passed the best years of 
 my life, the world cannot boast of. Eight of us, all nearly of the 
 same age, lived in the closest bond of affection, from sixteen till 
 one-and-twenty; and four, at least, continued in the same intimacy 
 till that of about thirty-five. Of this knot of friends, not one was 
 tainted by the breath of gross vice till the church had doomed them 
 to a life of celibacy, and turned the best affections of their heart 
 into crime. It is the very refinement of church cruelty to say they 
 were free when they deprived themselves of their natural rights- 
 
100 POPERY SHOWX UP TO AMEEICANS. 
 
 Less, indeed^ would be the unfeelingness of a parnt who, watching 
 a moment of generous excitement, would deprive a son of his birth- 
 right, and doom him, by a voluntary act, to pine away through life 
 in want and misery. A virtuous youth of one-and-twenty, who is 
 made to believe Christian perfection inseparable from a life of 
 celibacy, will easily overlook the dangers which beset the state of 
 life. Those who made, and those who still support the unnatural 
 law, which turns the mistaken piety of youth into a source of future 
 vice, ought to have learned mercy from their own experience; but 
 a priest who has waded (as most do) through the miry slough of a 
 life of incessant temptation, falling and rising^ stumbling, strug- 
 gling, and falling again, without at once casting off Catholicism with 
 Christianity, contracts, generally, habits of mind not unlike those 
 of the guards of oriental beauty. Their hearts have been seared 
 with envy. 
 
 "I cannot think on the wanderings of the friends of my youth 
 without heart-rending pain. One, now no more, whose talents 
 raised him to one of the highest dignities of the Church of Spain, 
 was, for many years, a model of Christian purity. When^ by the 
 powerful influence of his mind, and the warmth of his devotion, this 
 man had drawn many into' the clerical, and the religious life, (my 
 youngest sister among the latter,) he sunk at once into the grossest 
 and most daring profligacy. I heard him boast that the night before 
 the solemn procession of Coii>us Christi, where he appeared nearly 
 at the head of his chapter, one of two children had been born which 
 his two concubines brought to light within a few days of each other. 
 The intrigues of ambition soon shared his mind with the pursuit of 
 pleasure; and the fall of a potentate, whom he took the trouble to 
 instruct in the policy of Machiavel, involved him in danger and dis- 
 tress for a time. He had risen again into court influence^ when 
 death cut him off in the flower of life. I had loved him when both 
 our minds were pure: I loved him when Catholicism had driven us 
 both from the path of virtue: I still love, and will love his memory, 
 and hope that God's mercy has pardoned his life of sin without 
 imputing it to the abettors of the barbarous laws which occasioned 
 his spiritual ruin. 
 
 "Such, more or less, has been the fate of my early friends, whose 
 minds and hearts were much above the common standard of the 
 Spanish clergy. What, then, need 1 say of the vulgar crowd of 
 priests, who, coming, as the Spanish phrase has it, from coarse 
 swaddling clothes^ and raised by ordination to a rank of life for 
 which they have not been prepared, mingle vice and superstition, 
 grossness of feeling, and pride of office, in their character. I have 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP lO AMERICANS. 101 
 
 known the best among them; I have heard their confessions; I have 
 heard the confessions of young persons of both sexes, who fell 
 under the influence of their suggestions and example; and I do 
 declare that nothing can be more dangerous to youthful virtue than 
 their company. How many souls would be saved from crime, but 
 for the vain display of pretended superior virtue, which Rome 
 demands of her clergy?" 
 
 The following picture of Roman clerical corruption is drawn by 
 the hand of a French Catholic priest in 1836, edited by Samuel F. 
 B. Morse, A. M., of New York, and published by John S. Taylor 
 New York, in 183 7. The work is entitled, Confession of a Fifnch 
 Catholic Priest. Mr. jMorse, whose veracity cannot be questioned, 
 was intimately acquainted with the priest and edited his work. He 
 was compelled to conceal his name to avoid the persecution which 
 was authorized by the fourth Council of Lateran and Innocent III., 
 in their decree against heretics. This decree is cited in the sixth 
 page of the preface in a note. We quote that part of the fourteenth 
 chapter, from the one hundred and twenty-sixth to the one hundred 
 and forty-second page. 
 
 "Catholic or Protestant writers," says the priest, "who have 
 spoken of the corruption of the church of the Roman clergy^ who 
 have described its matchless wickedness, have not shown its cause. 
 They saw only the effect, without tracing it up to its source. I will 
 try to supply their silence. I have read a certain number of those 
 books, against a body to which I belonged, a body which I know 
 as well as it is possible for one to know it; and I can say that its 
 whole degradation is unkno\m. Careful of saying nothing which 
 can shock the reader, I will reveal only what is necessary to unveil 
 those 'anointed of the Lord,' but nothing to offend the eyes. I shall 
 surprise Protestants, doubtless, by saying, that in France the 
 immense majority of young men in our seminaries are not cor- 
 rupted, and many of them are virtuous. It is nevertheless true. 
 They are ignorant, supertitious ^fanatical, given up to their super- 
 stitious practices, to theology, &c. ; but, I declare it, not at all 
 vicious. That may be conceded, although, in appearance, in con- 
 tradiction to their indecent studies; for they are taught that it is 
 necessary to learn all these in order to be able to fulfill their duty; 
 and to hear confession in all its extent, it is necessary to know all 
 human perversity. I do not give a judgment on these reasons; be 
 that as it may, our superiors endeavor to inspire us, in those recita- 
 tions, with a great dislike of such crimes: and I can affirm that it is 
 very painful to the natural sense of decency in any man, to be 
 obliged, as we are, to be familiar with such books. 
 
102 POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMEPvICAXS. 
 
 "This is the true picture upon this matter of the seminaries. 
 That I know; and I am indifferent whether it agrees or not with 
 pictures drawn by others. 
 
 "The story of the corruption of the clergy begins only when they 
 are out of the seminary. Those young men are sent into a parish 
 in the quality of curates, or vicars; in the beginning they fulfill 
 their duties with great care, and for some time remain faithful to 
 their vows. Many told this to me after their fall; and I have seen it 
 myself, except in a few exceptions. But by and by they open 
 astonished eyes. Restored to freedom, after ten or twelve years of 
 thraldom in a college or seminary, they become quite different men; 
 gradually they forget their vow. 'O!' said a young priest to me, 
 with tears in his eyes, after having four or five years discharged the 
 duties of his station, 'God only knows what I have suffered during 
 this time; and if I have fallen it was not without fighting; had I 
 been allowed to choose a wife, as it is the law of God, who destines 
 man to marriage, whatever our rules teach to the contrary, I should 
 hav remained virtuous: I should have been the happiest man in the 
 world; I should be a good, a holy priest; while now I am — O! I am 
 ashamed of myself.' 
 
 "This is really the sad history of all their falls; for, let us be 
 just, what can become of a young priest of twenty-five years of age, 
 confined in the lonely wilderness of a country parish, in a village 
 where he has only the society of his sacristan and of his servant, 
 because all his parishoners being but coarse peasants, especially in 
 the South and West^ where scarcely any know how to read, are 
 unable to afford any comfort to his solitude? His duty occupies 
 him but little, save on the Sunday; and during the whole week, 
 after his short mass and some confession of women, he is reduced 
 to ask himself, 'What shall I do?' Study has few, if any, charms 
 for him, because he is forbidden to read or study precisely those 
 matters which entertain the intellect. He is allowed only to peruse 
 theology, always Dens, Gomex, Roduguex, the Life of Saints by 
 Godescar. If he should obtain some other books_ the bishop, in his 
 -episcopal visit, would chide him severely, and call him a worldly 
 priest. Our great poet, Racine, so pure, so chaste, is scarcely 
 tolerated; and many bishops do not allow him in the libraries of 
 their priests. The young man, before his profession, had imagined 
 and anticipated a pleasant existence in the ecclesiastic state, and he 
 finds but privations, ennui, disgust; his passions are also raised; 
 the demon of bad thoughts takes possession of him. Moreover his 
 ministry puts him in so m^ny circumstances with ignorant young 
 country-women, in whose most sacred thoughts he is obliged to 
 
POPERY SHOAV> UP TO AMERICANS. 103 
 
 enter, that liis virtue receives many shocks. And can it be other- 
 wise, when a man has those intimate and continual relations required 
 of the Catholic priests with women?' No; it would be unreasonable 
 to expect from human nature more than it Is able to do, to put it on 
 too difficult a trial. Such is, however, the situation of every Catho- 
 lic priest. 
 
 "I do not say all this to veil or excuse the crimes, the natural 
 result of this institution; but I think I am bound to give the matter 
 of fact as it is. Sometimes the resistance is firm, the struggle long; 
 but at length this martyr of fanaticism, this victim of his system, 
 and of his superiors, abandons his vow through despair^ shuts his 
 eyes and throws himself into the slough of passion. This is the end 
 of almost all priests. In the beginning their conscience reproaches 
 them bitterly; they try again to be faithful; they flutter, fall, 
 reform again, go on, fall again, and at length, to finish this horrible 
 struggle, remain in vice. Let us add to this sad catastrophe the 
 temptations against their faith and doctrines, which end with many 
 in complete atheism, into which they fall by the excess of degrada- 
 tion, temptations to atheism in those who reason^ from the impossi- 
 bility of reconciling their faith with reason. 
 
 "The resolution being taken of enjoying life, as they say, after 
 having been so long deprived of it, the only question is to enjoy it 
 safely and secretly, viz., without dishonour.. Dishonour is for a 
 French priest, as for all his countrymen, more intolerable than 
 death, and a priest whose excesses are knowii, loses his reputation; 
 therefore he will neglect nothing to hide carefully both them and 
 his victims. Inconceivable mystery of the human species! This 
 obligation of keeping a profound secret is the best reason which he 
 puts forward to seduce them; for other Frenchmen, by their vanity 
 boast of their 'bonnes fortunes,' but the priest cannot make that 
 boast, because he would be laughed at and scorned. His hypocrisy 
 and care of his fame prevail over his national vanity. By this way, 
 through their dark ministry, they have an immense power upon the 
 minds of women, for they attack only those whose disposition they 
 have long studied in confession. The reader can have some just 
 Idea of this power from this single fact, of which I know the per- 
 sonage, because it became public. A priest, in a parish not far 
 from mine, laid his snares for a young married woman, who had the 
 reputation of piety, because she attended mass every morning. He, 
 through his diabolical arguments, won her and triumphed over all 
 her scruples. She went to him almost every morning in the vestry 
 before the bell rang to call the people to the mass. He then con- 
 fessed and absolved all, and she received the Lord's supper at his 
 
104 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMEPvICAXS. 
 
 mass. The good people said, admiring her daily communiou: 'How 
 pious is this youug wife; she partakes of the sacrament every day; 
 she is doubtless a saint!' 
 
 "There are no means which their cunning does not invent to 
 meet with their victims. If the husband is jealous and suspicious, 
 his wife, upon the advice of the curate, will feign to be sick; and 
 as it is the duty of a priest to visit often (every day if possible) his 
 sick parishioners, he will remain alone with her to speak about 
 spiritual matters in appearance, or to confess her. 
 
 "If a priest, in spite of his proverbial cunning, is discovered, and 
 if he is denounced to the bishop by public opinion^ he will be 
 removed, to silence the scandal, and sent to another distant village, 
 where he will be unknown; and where, by and by, he will begin 
 again the same mode of life. Sometimes he will be interdicted, 
 according to the will of his lordship, who, in those cases, judges at 
 random, and more by his caprice than by justice. The priest is 
 blamed by his superiors, not precisely for having been weak and 
 guilty^ but much more for not having 'better kept appearances,' as 
 said the mother of Talleyrand, formerly bishop of Autum. He, in 
 his youth, said once to his mother, who engaged him in the church 
 because he had little hope of advancing elsewhere, being lame; 
 "Mother, I do not feel myself at all born to celibacy.' 'My son, keep 
 appearances, like others. Regarderos les appareiices.' He did not 
 keep even appearances. This kind of 'bon mot' is the motto of the 
 <;lergy; and it ought to be inscribed on its banner, as was the device 
 of Constantine — 'In hoc signo vinces; By this sigu thou shalt con- 
 quer' — for it is with this it gains so many victories. A priest who is 
 faithful to it is never guilty, although he cares neither for God, nor 
 virtue nor his fellow-creatures. Hence the horrible crimes so com- 
 mon among the clergy, to whom nothing is sacred, to avoid dis- 
 honour. 
 
 "Our ecclesiastical rules, composed by superiors as cunning as 
 men can be, and who know well the disposition of priests, perhaps 
 by their own, try to avoid scandal, the true plague of their religion. 
 Our rules forbid us keeping a maid-servant who is not of a certain 
 age. This age varies according to the whim of the bishop of each 
 diocese, because he is the supreme master and dictator of every 
 thing. On this plan the rule would be useful if executed; but 
 owing to priestly artifice, there is no real law, and it does not pre- 
 vent priests from keeping young and beautiful women, with whom 
 they live as with a wife; for as they say, 
 
 'II est avec le ceil des accomodements.' 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO .UIP:rvlCANS. 105 
 
 If, however, her youth violates too strongly the episcopal rule, the 
 priest will apply directly to the bishop, and will say that his servant 
 is, perhaps, a little young; but on account of her faithfulness and 
 other good qualities, it would be difficult for him to find another 
 one who suits so well. 'But how old is she?' says his lordship, 
 flattered by this remark of submission. ';\Iy lord, between thirty 
 and forty,' answers the priest^ making her older by ten or fifteen 
 years; and the bishop, who has not the proof of the contrary, and 
 who requires not the record of her birth, replies, 'It is a little young; 
 but, however, on account of her good qualities, I give you a dispen- 
 sation of age; take care of scandal, and remember that a woman 
 drove Adam out of paradise.' And the priest boasts of having a 
 dispensation of age, and thus avoids being accused to the bishop by 
 his spies. 
 
 "Consequently this half ecclesiastical couple will be careful of 
 scandal. To avoid the suspicion of living too friendly with each 
 other^ the better to keep up appearances, they will feign ill will 
 toward each other. Sometimes the vicar, when he has some of his 
 parishioners at hime, will pretend to be very angry with his serv- 
 ant, threatening to dismiss her; and his good, short-sighted peas- 
 ants, will try to calm his counterfieited anger, to soften him, and to 
 pray him to keep her. Good people! 
 
 "The 'age' law does not apply to curates, who have at home 
 their mothers, sisters, cousins or neices; and few, for this reason, 
 are without one of those persons; consequently they are at liberty 
 to hire young servants. IMoreover, a priest is always stationed as 
 far as possible from the place of his birth. He is quite unknown, 
 as well as his family, in his parish; and many times he takes with 
 him a young girl, who is his relation only by Adam, and whom he 
 presents under the name of his cousin or niece. Nobody inquires 
 the relation of the curate and his pretended cousin. If, however, 
 there happen some evidnt proof of their too intimate understanding, 
 he sends her under some Jesuitical pretext to some distant city for 
 some time^ or he tries the use of medical remedies. A physician 
 said to a priest, an acquaintance of mine, 'Sir, I have already twice 
 prescribed for your servant-maid ; but beware, I will not do it a 
 third time.' Would this fact, that I wan-ant, be a confirmation of 
 the disclosures of Montreal? 
 
 "A priest who is satisfied with the good services of his maid, 
 makes his will in her favour, to the great disappointment of his 
 own relatives, who watch the inheritance of their rich member with 
 eager and impatient eyes. But alas! there are no pleasures without 
 pain, no roses without thorns no spring without winter. The 
 
106 POPERY SHOWN IP TO AMERICAXS. 
 
 demon of trouble invades those secret illicit unions as well as others. 
 Those internal quarrels end always to the disadvantage of the poor 
 curate, whose reputation is at the mercy of his companion. She has 
 not been at his school without profit, and she draws from him pretty 
 fees, the price of masses or indulgences, by threatening to publish 
 their intimacy, and bringing upon him an interdiction. The unhappy 
 man yields to the force of circumstances, and stripping himself of 
 his purse to pay for keeping his secret, he consoles himself that he 
 has still a good income in his holy water and the credulity of his 
 parish. 
 
 "But if a good understanding presides over their union, and 
 silences the little quarrels occasionally arising, they grow old 
 together. The maid takes care of the income and of the interior of 
 the house; and the poor priest has not always the power of prevent- 
 ing her encroachments even in spiritual matters. The 'Vicar of 
 Wakefield' (whose history caused me to shed bitter tears at seeing 
 what I might have been) had his department^ and his wife hers; 
 and they were never mixed together. But the servant-maid of the 
 Catholic curate is less circumspect, creeps into spiritual matters, 
 and gives decisions almost as much reverenced as those of the priest 
 himself. He is, indeed, the true oracle of the parish, the true son 
 of the light; but his satellite is, on her part, the feminine oracle; a 
 star, the light of which, although reflected from his own, is not with- 
 out merit. When his mate and representative gives, by usurpation 
 some decision about masses, or saints, or prayers, his jealousy mur- 
 murs a little; but, knowing that it is a duty to yield in a family to 
 a great many contrarieties for the sake of peace, he never contra- 
 dicts her opinion by a contrary one in public. 
 
 "Other priests commit much greater and much more horrible 
 crimes, and renew the monstrosities of the cities of the plain, as 
 they are spoken of in the Bible. On one occasion, I confessed some 
 young lads of my catechism, from eleven to fifteen years old. Each 
 of them confessed secret and abominable crimes (with a man.) I 
 inquired, trembling^ who this monster was, being almost sure that 
 there could be none but a priest capable of such abominations. They 
 answered, each after the other, with the simplicity of their age, 
 'Father, it is our vicar.' I begged them to give me leave to make 
 use of their confession; for theology teaches that this leave of the 
 penitent is necessary to do so. I wished to stop so monstrous a 
 disorder, at first secretly if possible, and, if unsuccessful, afterward 
 to try another way. I remembered this passage of the Bible: 
 'Corripe ilium inter te et ipsum; Correct him between thee and him 
 alone.' I went to him, and with words as moderate as I could use. 
 
jeOPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 107 
 
 I remonstrated with him on the horror of such conduct. 'Go to the 
 
 d 1 with your remonstrances^' said he, 'who gave you this right?' 
 
 'Who,' replied I, 'my character of minister of the gospel; and if 
 you continue the same course I shall expose you; for I have this 
 leave from the lads, and you are then lost. I require your word 
 that you will cease for the future.' Hereupon he called me a spy, 
 denunciator of the bishop. 'The best proof to the contrary,' said I, 
 'is that you are neither interdicted nor denounced to the bishop, 
 or to the procurer of the king. I only pray you, between ourselves, 
 for your own sake, for that of your conscience, for the salvation of 
 those boys^ to reform your life.' After a minute of reflection, he 
 answered, 'It is right; you are a good fellow; I will do my best to 
 correct myself. Do not reveal this.' 
 
 "Few years, if any, pass without some affairs of this or of the 
 other kind being made public at the tribunals; and the priests are 
 condemned to the galleys, from which they escape only by the help 
 of their friends in concealing them. 
 
 "Other priests entertain the most vicious habits. In the begin- 
 ning of my priesthood, at the time when I dreamed only of holiness 
 and purity, I was called to the death-bed of an old priest, above 
 seventy years of age. All the features of death were stamped on his 
 face: he begged me to come near his bed, and said to me, 'M., I 
 want to confess before I die. It is a long time since I received this 
 sacrament — I require your ministry.' 'But, sir ' answered I, quite 
 frightened at the task of disentangling an intricate conscience, 'I 
 am very young, and little experienced; my fellow-priests would bet- 
 ter suit you.' As I spoke I saw sviddenly a gleam in his dying eyes. 
 'You are young,' said he, 'it is precisely for that reason I called you. 
 Were you older I would refuse you, for then you would not be bet- 
 ter than others. God forbid that I should die confessed by them. 
 Be seated, sir, and let us begin.' I had nothing to answer and so I 
 listened to him. Among other human wickednesses, he avowed a 
 horrible crime, at which I could not restrain a mark of horror. 
 'Do not shudder,' said he, 'you are young, and in the course of your 
 life, if you confess your fellow-priests, you will find worse things 
 than these.' But his reflection did not diminish my horror: I 
 remained petrified, scarcely knowing what he said. He was obliged 
 to recall to me the formula of absolution, that I might give it to 
 him. The crime, the circumstances, his old age, his distorted fea- 
 tures, his death, made an impression upon me which I have never 
 been able to erase from my memory. I knew particularly another 
 middle-aged priest, who, also on his death-bed, being waited on by 
 a servant, tried to coiTupt him I 
 
108 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 "I said, in the beginning of this chapter, that no crime could 
 deter a priest from its commission if it is necessary to efface the 
 traces of others. A Paris journal gave, some weelvs ago, a strilving 
 proof of this truth. A priest of the diocess of Digon, (department of 
 the Cotedor^) Dela Collonge by name, after a long life of debauchery 
 with a young seamstress whom he had seduced, smothered her one 
 night, cut her body into pieces, and hid them in holes in his house. 
 This is not a history of old times, but the year 183 6. It did not 
 occur among cannibals or anthropophagi; but in France, in the 
 beautiful province of Bourgogne. And the monster who perpetrated 
 this murder, in consideration of the interference of the bishop (the 
 creature of the new king) and of the high clergy, who took a great 
 interest in him, has escaped the pain of death, even that of exposure 
 and pillory, that his cassock, and the body to which he belonged, 
 be not dishonoured. He has been condemned only to the galleys. 
 
 "Some twenty years ago, the whole of France resounded with 
 the before unheard of crime of Contresotto, a monster priest with a 
 human visage; and of that of Mingrot, who being unable to seduce 
 a woman, first killed her, and violating her dead body, cut it to 
 pieces and dispersed the fragments. Her brothers, while this priest 
 fled to Piedmont through protection, published this almost incredi- 
 ble history under this title, 'To the Brothers Of the Female Victim.' 
 There is not a doubt about the truth of these facts. They are pub- 
 lic, and well known in France, as well as a great many other cases 
 less monstrous. The publication in the newspapers of such clerical 
 crimes is one of the most powerful reasons why the clergy, thus 
 unveiled, curse the freedom of press, which keeps an open eye upon 
 their conduct. The newspaper, the 'Constitutionel,' and the 'Cou- 
 rier,' deserve the thanks of the friends of morals and humanity for 
 their courage and zeal in discovering and publishing these horrors, 
 without fearing the power or the vengeance of the Roman clergy. 
 But say the priests to their ignorant flocks in answering those accu- 
 sations, 'Such priests are bad, we acknowledge, but all others are 
 good.' And Catholic France believes so. Blind people! Open your 
 eyes and see those hypocrites; if they do not commit all those 
 crimes, they are yet almost all vicious^ and deserve better your scorn 
 and horror than your veneration. 
 
 "I ought to begin with my holy superiors, my lords, bishops, arch- 
 bishops, cardinals, and pope, who are in general as much more 
 advanced, in the way of corruption, beyond simple priests, as they 
 are in the way of honours and dignities. I beg their lordships' and 
 holiness's pardon for having so long postponed to do them .justice, 
 and I make haste to repair my fault. Unlucky, however^ I know 
 them but very little, for my relations with the lords of the Roman 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 109 
 
 Church have been rare and 'en passant.' Thank God my native land 
 is no more sullied by the holy see, its cardinals, and their school of 
 licentiousness. They have left at Avignon, where they resided dur- 
 ing the great schism, traces enough of their passage, as I myself 
 have ascertained in my frequent intercourse with this land. I caii 
 say nothing about the pope but what every body knows; I will make 
 only this reflection, which has struck me, viz., that he causes him- 
 self to be almost worshipped; and that he receives more honours in 
 a day than Christ in the three years of his mission. 
 
 "Among French bishops, I know but three; mine own^ of whom 
 I will not speak for pertinent reasons, :M. de Cheverus, archbishop 
 of Bordeaux, and M. de Guelin, of Paris. As for M. de Cheverus, I 
 should be reproached by my conscience if I said other than good of 
 him. He is one of those men who atone for the crimes of many 
 Catholics. His virtues recall those of Fenelon and of Lamotte, who 
 were truly good and pious men, not because, but although they were 
 Catholics. His administration of his immense diocess, his charity, 
 his talents, have won to him all hearts; and every time I went into 
 his diocess I heard everywhere public blessings upon him. He has 
 been created cardinal lately. He is one of those men whom Roman 
 purple honours not, but whom honours Roman purple. 
 
 "I could give, perhaps some vague accounts of other bishops; but 
 I have made it a rule to speak only of what I myself know, and have 
 seen with my own eyes. Therefore I will speak only of the arch- 
 bishop of Paris. This man, who cut so deplorable a figure in the 
 secret council called the Camarilla, which has destroyed the throne 
 of Charles X. by dint of its follies, has all the dupliticty and hypoc- 
 risy of a secret counsellor. Under the veil of piety and virtue, he 
 conceals marvellously well his deep corruption. So far does he go 
 in his Jesuitical art, that many a Parisian, who may read this book, 
 will perhaps think me a slanderer; but it is nevertheless true that I 
 have by accident been personally acquainted with one of his mis- 
 tresses. It is also true that his highness has many others in the 
 convent of the Cai-melites in the street 'Saint Jacques,' his seraglio. 
 It is no less true that the pimples upon his face, ascribed by his 
 admirers to penance and mortification, are derived from quite a 
 different source. When, four years ago, the mob of Paris, in one 
 of those awful insurrections so frequent there, passed over his 
 palace and pillaged it, many gowns, which were not the least like a 
 priest's cassock, were found in his cabinet. His confidants published 
 that they were those of his sister; who, by the way. never went to 
 this palace. Credit .Tudaeus apella non ego. He is the only bishop 
 of whom I can or wish, to give an accurate account. Would it not 
 be right to say with Sinon, in Virgilius, 'Ab uno disce omnesl' " 
 
110 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Evil of Auricular Confession; the Priests' Substitution for Mar- 
 riage Far Worse; Religious Societies; the "Blessed Creatures;" 
 Qualifications of a Priest to Become a Member of One of These 
 Religious Societies; Penalties Imposed on "Blessed Creatures" 
 Who are Faithless to Their Vows; How Their Scrupler: as to 
 Joining These Organizations are Overcome. 
 
 WHY PRIESTS DO NOT WED; OR, THE PRIESTS' SUBSTITU- 
 TION FOR MARRIAGE. 
 
 AURICULAR confession is bad. It is believed by those who know 
 most about it, to be the plot of the Devil against virtue and 
 against the home. There is this that makes it to be tolerated 
 and endured: millions think it linked with the salvation 
 of the soul; they believe that they cannot be saved apart 
 from it or without it; that they must confess their sins 
 to a priest, no matter how vile, how polluted, or how 
 much he be opposed to virtue, in order that they may obtain 
 absolution. To strike auricular confession, is to interfere, in the 
 opinion of many, with the religion of their fellow-men — a right 
 which it is claimed is guaranteed to them by the Constitution; as 
 though the Constitution of the United States, or of any other coun- 
 try, could guarantee to a man the right to be damned. The Con- 
 stitution guarantees to every man the right to be saved — the right 
 to believe the truth, and to be blessed by it. The right to believe a 
 lie that they may be damned, belongs to no one, since God Almighty 
 sits on the throne of His universe, and Jesus Christ, His only begot- 
 ten Son, is the one Mediator between God and man. The command 
 is, "Go preach the gospel that saves, to every creature. He that 
 believes and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall 
 be damned." No man has a right to commit suicide. "Cut him 
 down before he breathes his last," is the manifest duty of every- 
 body when he sees the victim of madness suspended by the neck. 
 Nor have men and women the right to exchange Christ the Saviour 
 for man the priest; the "Come unto me, ye heavy laden," of the 
 God-man, for the command which makes millions throng the con- 
 fessional. Tell this truth, tell it now, tell it here, tell it every- 
 where; it is a God-given right to publish it, and so to save men. It 
 is not any man's right to withhold it, and suffer the lost unwarned 
 to go down to hell. 
 
TOrEPvY SHOWN UP TO AMEKICANS. Ill 
 
 Auricular confession is bad, and yet for the sake of false views 
 concerning religious liberty it is tolerated. But 
 
 SUBSTITUTION FOR MARRIAGE 
 
 is without excuse, unless the American people consent to allow mil- 
 lions to sink into the mire of filthy abominations, without a protest 
 and without warning. There are things about it from which the 
 pure in heart draw back in horror. 
 
 There are many reasons why priests should wed. They are men; 
 and God says "it is not good for man to be alone." "Marriage is 
 honorable for all, and the bed undefiled"- — for priests, as well as for 
 ministers of the gospel, or other men. The vow of celibacy is proven 
 to be deceptive and vain. History with trumpet tone declares that 
 priests do not keep the vow. The theologians of the Roman Catho- 
 lic Church palliate their crime, and cover their lapse of virtue with 
 the mantle woven out of the alleged weaknesses of human nature, 
 matched by temptations which are unparallelled. For this, marriage 
 is a remedy. Priests know it; priests say it. Priests to gratify their 
 carnal appetites, are compelled to find their warrant to sin in the 
 violation of the plainest and most positive teachings of the Word of 
 God. Here Romanism baffles us and beats us. The victim of super- 
 stition hides behind indulgences granted by pope or bishop, and 
 goes on to ruin. 
 
 As a rule the man who hints, who deals in innuendoes, is to be 
 despised. To tell the truth about the corruptions disclosed through 
 the attempt to find a substitution for marriage, in the invention of 
 Pio Nono, and to uncover the filth, the turpitude, the devilish 
 ingenuity of the vile, seems to be impossible. As we have said, so 
 we repeat. 
 
 Auricular confession is bad. But "Substitution for marriage 
 for priests" reveals a deeper depth of shame, a more diabolical plot 
 against virtue, and a wantonness on the part of these professed 
 leaders of millions, which may be imagined, but cannot be described. 
 Father Quinn, formerly pastor of the Roman Catholic Church in 
 Kalamazoo, Mich., was the man who uncovered the rascality and 
 robbery of Archbishop Purcell. That was much. The writing of 
 this book, and the horrid revelations he makes of the turptitude 
 and infamies of the priesthood, would be beyond belief were it not 
 for such statements as have been made by Rev. Anthony Gavin, an 
 Episcopal minister of England, William Hogan, an ex-priest of 
 Rome, and many more. Father Quinn publishes these facts that all 
 persons, who desire to know, may know, what perils threaten the 
 
112 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICAXS." 
 
 people of America by lowering the standard of morality. He feels 
 that all loving their families, friends, neighbors, and country, ought 
 to be thoroughly informed on the question of vital importance. 
 
 The institution is thus described: "In the year 1866, Pope Pius 
 IX. sanctioned the establishment of one of the most appalling insti- 
 tutions of immorality and wickedness ever countenanced under the 
 form and garb of religion, virtually adding another plague-spot to 
 that vile body, the mother of harlots, papalism, and thus giving to 
 his clergy the right (which they had already taken in various ways) 
 to use this 'substitution for marriage.' 
 
 "This organization, then, with all its glaring indecencies, its 
 frightful operations, its unlicensed privileges, its revolting and 
 heart-rending outrages, is one more outgrowth of celibacy, one more 
 hell-trap set for the unwary by the pious frauds of a system rotten 
 with the accumulated iniquity of ages — a system which can flourish 
 only through the ignorance of its followers, the blindness and indif- 
 ference of Protestants, and the patience of God, before w^hose laws 
 and teachings it must fail." 
 
 "Many good charitable people revered the late Pope as a saint 
 believed the many false reports issued from Rome concerning his 
 virtues and poverty, and contributed generously to the appeals made 
 frequently by his hired tools all over the country; though his purity 
 was no better than his pretended poverty, who died with a fortune 
 of twenty-three millions of dollars in one bank, over thirty millions 
 in other banks, and real estate, with sundry stocks, to the value of 
 sixty millions or more." 
 
 "Poor old man! Pious fraud, 
 
 "Who worshipped gold far more than God." 
 
 "And yet the only heritage he left was this 'substitution for mar- 
 riage,' to be handed down as the Pope's invention to save the Church 
 from public scandal, and prevcent heretics from discovering, if pos- 
 sible, the rottenness prevailing among priests from the lowest in 
 office to the highest old gray-headed wolf in the fold. Accordingly 
 the best, safest, and most expeditious plans were thought out and 
 adopted for the enslavement of women, by making them "Blessed 
 Creatures," or consecrated prostitutes, to be used as vessels of elec- 
 tion by the "reverened fathers in God." 
 
 "Thus, in many cities of the United States and Canada are 
 flourishing societies, having the sanction of the Pope, and bearing 
 the name of 'Rosary,' 'Compline,' 'Sacred Heart,' 'Immaculate Con- 
 ception,' or such pious titles as may be calculated to awaken no sus- 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 113 
 
 picion." Only those are initiated into the secret order of the 
 "Blessed Creatures," "who are especially fitted by disposition, train- 
 ing and selection, to join the order." The many are called, but few 
 are chosen. The proofs of this order ar^ said to be abundant. "The 
 first evidence came through the confessional, from some of the 
 women who had been members, and who had left their former 
 homes to get rid of the burden of such a life. In all cases examined, 
 the badges, pictures, instruments, and printed matter were invaria- 
 bly the same; also the statements made were identical (in sub- 
 stance) throughout. There are now in safe keeping three copies of 
 the book wliich is used as the guide or manual of the confraterni- 
 ties," and stamp the order as the monstrosity of the nineteenth 
 century. 
 
 QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 The priest who becomes a member of these societies must have 
 served in the priesthood at least seven years. This is the general 
 rule. There are exceptions made decause of favoritism gained by 
 wealth, power, flattery, or praise for their superiors, some of whom 
 are as low in deceit and Injustice as the cruel and dishonest Purcell 
 of Cincinnarti, charged with robbing his people of seven million dol- 
 lars. 
 
 "The female, to be a suitable candidate for membership, must 
 be perfectly pliant, docile, and obedient. She must be sound and 
 healthy in mind and body, free from scrofula and all impurity, as 
 nothing diseased can touch the sacred bodies of these 'holy fathers.' 
 She must be considered good-looking, if not really handsome, at 
 least so held in the estimation of these priestly judges. She must 
 be satisfied with all proofs given in favor of the societies, and feel 
 honored with the privileges and duties thereof. She must be willing 
 to support, if need be, any father who may be poor (or reckoned 
 poor), as compared with some others. She must, if not sick, go at 
 every call to minister to the father, or any of the fathers who hold 
 the office of president, secretary, treasurer, or grand chaplain. She 
 must submit * * * 
 
 ■She must, if possible, attend all the society masses, and take 
 part in keeping the altar sanctuary, and vestments in good order^ 
 and must also pay her portion for the purposes of the altar when 
 requested, beside paying twenty-five cents a month, or that sum 
 every week, if at all convenient. This money is paid by all who are 
 not 'B.. C.'s,' but who are members of those religious societies, so 
 that the B. C.'s have to do likewise to keep up this deception, and 
 
114 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 pay the priest for the honor conferred." Can such things be, and 
 overcome us as a summer cloud without our wonder? 
 
 She must be subservient to the will of her masters at all times. 
 "One gi'eat principle pei'Tadin>o; the whole membership is that evei'y 
 'B. C must deny the knowledge or existence of such a society, life, 
 of body of women in the Church (should she be accused), under pain 
 of persecution and death." 
 
 THE PENALTIES 
 
 of the societies imposed on faithless members vary according to cir- 
 cumstances. Fasting a certain number of days, attending the sanc- 
 tuary a certain number of times, extra fees, are among them. Should 
 any "B. C." become obstinate, she is punished until she submits. "If 
 a nun is a member of this society, and confesses that she has * * 
 As a penalty she must seek an early opportunity of complying 
 with the wishes of the father, as delay would be sinful." 
 
 REASONS FOR JOINING. 
 
 "The inducements held out for joining these societies are com- 
 plex and varied, as different modes are required to suit the charac- 
 ter and disposition and bearing of the ladies selected; but as priests 
 make women a special study, and have become conversant with the 
 publicity, artifice and cunning of human nature (by means of the 
 confessional), it is only a question of time, as the victim is bound, 
 sworn, and delivered to the tender mercies of her spiritual adviser. 
 After the emotional nature has been worked up, as it were, to the 
 concert pitch, the sexual or passionate is then attacked; and success 
 is in nine cases out of ten assured, as priests know exactly the kind 
 of material they work upon." Human nature run by the Devil 
 makes a success in the Romish Church. How carefully, and with 
 what specious arguments, these smooth-tongued villians ingratiate 
 themselves into the favor of their flock, the initiated alone can tell; 
 suffice it to say, they rule, they sway the bodies and souls of their 
 dupes, touching as with a magic wand the secret springs of passion 
 and lust, till, like a "mighty chorus, the spirits of evil seem to con- 
 gregate about them, and revel in villiany such as never before was 
 perpetrated under the sanction of any religion claiming to be Chris- 
 tion, thus rivalling in enormity the worst and most licentious insti- 
 tutions of paganism. 
 
 The Church obtains control over the women in various ways. 
 "Some are naturally so full of passion and lust that they gladly 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 115 
 
 avail themselves of the means of gratification, so protected and 
 secured by religion. For a people who can be led to believe that 
 they eat and drink the soul and divinity of Jesus Christ can be led to 
 believe any thing." 
 
 Their perversion of Scripture, and what Romanists regard as 
 holy, enable them to accomplish their hellish purposes. The orna- 
 ments in the chapel are made to have a special significance and a 
 hidden meaning for these societies. "The Church or the clergy 
 obtain complete control of the female's will, mind, heart, or con- 
 science, and then lay claim to facts (which the ladies admit) that 
 the papal Church is the true Church of God, established by Jesus 
 and His apostles to govern and teach all who wish to be saved; that 
 there is also much mystery connected with this divine Church and 
 its practices, and that it is the conscientious duty of every one, male 
 and female, to yield a wiling and hearty obedience to the voice of 
 the priest, who is the true representative of Jesus, and the inter- 
 preter of God's Church, God's will, and God's mysteries." Would 
 you see the lost and the damned playing at religion, read this. 
 "The cushion on which the woman kneels represents that on which 
 Mary knelt to receive the heavenly message from God through the 
 mouth of His angel." 
 
 "Every female, in being persuaded to join, must count herself 
 as highly honored and exalted as Mary was, and must consider her- 
 self as promoted to a celestial dignity far above the other women of 
 the parish or city to which she belongs, as Mary was promoted to 
 be the mother of Christ by operation of or the on-coming of the 
 Being called the Third Person of the Trinity." 
 
 •At first the female may be a little timid, and somewhat sur- 
 prised to learn that the priest or bishop requires the unusual, 
 apparently wrong, mysteriously right, service from her; and she 
 may object, as Mary did, in her innocent fear, when she said on 
 hearing the unusual announcement, 'How can this be? for I know 
 not a man.' But the priest, representing God's angel in this office, 
 gently soothes the mind and quiets the fears of his future spouse 
 by saying to her, 'He who will come upon thee is not man, but is 
 the holy one of God, and this union is pleasing to Him; it will be 
 holy and blessed; therefore I say unto thee as the angel said unto 
 Mary, Fear not.' After this, the woman, being convinced by the 
 language of heaven's messenger, that all is right, gives the priest 
 complete assurance of her willingness to submit by saying, as Mary 
 said to the angel, 'Be it done unto me according to thy word.' 
 
 "Then there are a few mumbled words in Latin, a sprinkling of 
 holy water, a blessing asked, and the feast is ready for the priest. 
 
116 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 who has accomplished by mock prayers and ceremonies what ought 
 to send a pang through his accursed heart. 
 
 "There is a picture hanging opposite the cushion, representing 
 the Holy Ghost in the shape of a white dove, signifying to the soul 
 of the woman the approval of Heaven, and the perfect purity of her 
 submission in this relation to the priest, and coming as a voice 
 from above to bless their union, and saying, 'This is my beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him, obey him, as he 
 desires, as did the holy women of old serve Jesus.' " 
 
 "Another picture shadows forth the angel bearing to her the 
 commission to become honored among women by joining this holy 
 family. Would they like to see the picture of that God who says, 
 Thou shalt not commit adultery?" 
 
 "There is also a statue of the Virgin Mary to signify the exalted 
 position these females will occupy in the Church and in the life to 
 come, for their fidelity in this matter." Can impiety go farther? 
 Will God tolerate it? 
 
 "The flowers denote the beauty, simplicity, and sweet-scented 
 fragrance, arising from and adorning the consecrated relations 
 existing between these 'Blessed Creatures' and the Fathers." 
 
 "The lights represent not only the joys of heaven, but the many 
 bright spirits above looking down with beaming and sparkling eyes 
 to behold these holy beings in the courts of God consummating this 
 divinely appointed act, which renders them pure and holy forever." 
 
 "The holy water signifies the grace of God which passeth 'all 
 understanding,' purifying their bodies, deeds, and souls, as mem- 
 bers of this sacred order." 
 
 "The book in the priest's hand denotes the authority and sanc- 
 tion of heaven. The altar typifies the throne of God. The missal 
 or Bible betokens the voice of God, pronouncing a blessing on the 
 heads of his devoted children. The priest assumes to be a substitute 
 for the angel, the Holy Ghost, or the person of Jesus. The surplice 
 which he wears in this connection indicates the purity of the Holy 
 Spirit of Mary. The stole around his neck represents the power of 
 Christ and the bond of perfect union between Jesus Christ and him- 
 self, and as binding the female who serves him to God, through 
 Jesus, so that by this tie of close union the woman and the priest 
 are one, Jesus and the priest are one, as Jesus and the Father are 
 one; thus the union of oneness is perfected." 
 
 "If all this be right, then Protestant ministers and other men 
 have indeed made a sad mistake in being encumbered with wives 
 and children. Why not join the Papal Church, and swell the num- 
 ber of fathers not husbands, who have a plurality of wives or spouses 
 
POPERY SHOAVX UP TO AMERICANS. 117 
 
 in Jesus, and then palm off their offspring to be supported by chari- 
 table institutions, instead of rearing and caring for them as true 
 God-fearing parents?" 
 
 "Many arguments from the Scriptures are then introduced to 
 persuade these women as to the propriety and godliness of this 
 institution; and it will be seen by the following examples how they 
 pervert passages to their own destruction, and the defilement of 
 many; but if the blind follow the blind, then surely they will fall 
 into the pit of papal corruption." 
 
 "Now, these fathers and their Church teach these deluded 
 women that Jesus used, in this peculiar manner, Mary Magdalene 
 and other women, because they had loved and served Him in this 
 manner during His earthly sojourn. These men, although they 
 honor and praise Him in public, thus ascribe to Him, in private, an 
 immorality and passion such as so-called infidels have rarely, if 
 ever, mentioned in connection with Hi? career as a social reformer. 
 But to justify this course of iniquity, and to convince their favorite 
 female slaves that they are right, they maintain that, as Jesus acted 
 so with Mary Magdalene and others, such actions on their part are 
 virtuous." 
 
 Without intending it, they show why priests ought to marry, 
 and give the Scripture for it. "They adduce, as an argument in 
 their favor on this point, the fact that Peter a great saint, was a 
 married man, retained his wife, and begat children while acting as 
 one of the apostles of Jesus; claiming that Christ approved of 
 Peter's cohabiting with his wife, when he went, as recorded by the 
 Evangelist, and healed Peter's mother-in-law. They quote the fol- 
 lowing words from the eighth chapter of Matthew, as found in their 
 own Testament: 'And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he 
 saw his wife's mother lying sick of a fever; and he touched her 
 hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and ministered unto 
 them.' " 
 
 "They assert that the clergy from the days of Christ to the 
 present, have used women in this way, who were married to them 
 privately, and blessed for their special comfort, though the majority 
 of the people have been taught that such was wrong, and therefore 
 not allowed. Then, as a further proof, they read the language of 
 St. Paul, as found in 1 Cor. ix. 5 : 'Have we not power to lead 
 about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren 
 of the Lord, and Cephas [Peter]? or I only and Barnabas, have we 
 not power to do this?' 
 
 "Again, they say the Virgin Mary had many children, and prove 
 it by the statements of her neighbors, and as is reported in Mark vi. 
 
118 POPERY SHOWa up TO AMERICANS. 
 
 3: 'Is not this the carpenter, the son of :Mary, the brother of 
 James and Joseph and Judge and Simon? and are not his sisters 
 here with us?' In this they are right, and overthrow the doctrine 
 of the immaculate conception. 
 
 "Besides, they produced the example of Solomon, who had seve- 
 ral hundred wives and concubines; and of the patriarchs and proph- 
 ets who were servants of God though they too had several women 
 that served them in this most ancient, natural, and divine style of 
 wedlock." What a plaything this Church and her priests make of 
 woman. Scripture, God and religion! 
 
 iTor instance, they quote Paul's words to Titus, (Epistle of Paul 
 to Titus, i. 5), in which he speaks of him as "his own son:" "For 
 this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in order the 
 things that are wanting, and shouldst ordain priests, as I also 
 appointed (ordained) thee; if any be without crime the husband of 
 one wife, having faithful children." "Then they make such com- 
 ments on these words, which are generally unknown to the majority 
 of the people, as will cancel all doubt concerning the authorized mar- 
 riage of priests." They make a very extensive use of Paul's writ- 
 ings to Timothy and Titus. 
 
 To prove that the bishops of the true Church were married men, 
 they quote the words as found in 1 Tim. iii. 1: "It behooveth a 
 bishop to be blameless, the husband of one wife, one who ruleth 
 well his own house, having his children in subjection with all chas- 
 tity." Then, to show that deacons ought to be married men, they 
 refer to the twelfth verse of the same chapter and Epistle. "Let 
 deacons be the husbands of one wife, who rule well their own 
 children and their own houses." The eleventh verse of the same 
 chapter and Epistle is then introduced, to prove the rip"ht of faith- 
 ful women, who must be considered chaste while serving the clergy. 
 
 To accomplish their purpose, the Douay Version substitutes the 
 word "women'"' for wives. In the Protestant Version, it is written 
 1 Tim. iii. 11: "Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, 
 sober, faithful in all things." In the Roman Catholic or Douay ver- 
 sion it reads: "The 'women' in like manner chaste, not slanderers; 
 but sober, faithful in all things." In this manner is the wife put 
 away from the priest. "Portions of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 verses of the same chapter and Epistle are then added as evidence 
 that this was practiced in the true Christian Church: 'These things 
 I write to thee, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave 
 thyself in the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the 
 truth.' Then the whole of the sixteenth verse is finally read with 
 great emphasis and solemnity, giving the key or explanation of 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 119 
 
 such service and mysterious godliness; and, evidently, 'Great is the 
 mystery of godliness, which was manifested in the flesh, justified in 
 the spirit, appeared unto the Gentiles [women converted from 
 Protestantism], is believed in the world, is taken up in glory.' " 
 
 It will be noticed how much of Scripture they ignore. In Tim. 
 i. 10, it is declared "that there are many disobedient vain talkers, 
 and seducers." No reference is made to this fact while they ply 
 their arts for the destruction of the simple. 
 
 "They say that their secret association is the mystery of godli- 
 ness, and that the deacons and priests and bishops of the Church of 
 Jesus were chaste while married and begetting children, and that 
 each of these clergymen was authorized to have one wife and several 
 women as consecrated mistresses who rendered him this peculiar 
 service, which was according to the flesh." They do not add Paul's 
 words: "Because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, 
 and let each woman have her own husband." 
 
 "They admit that the Papal Chvu'ch made a gi-eat mistake in ti*>'- 
 ing to enforce celibacy, which, being contrary to nature and the 
 laws of God, has been the source of shocking corruption and scandal ; 
 but they maintain that this Church has, by divine authority, substi- 
 tuted this blessed institution, rather than let the people discover 
 that she had been deceiving them for ages on this vital question." 
 
 Furthermore, they also admit that the explanation of the words 
 "one wife," as given by their Church, in their own New Testament, 
 is so full of absurdity that it would destroy the inspiration, and 
 bring swift disgrace upon her, if it were followed throughout, and 
 properly brought to the notice of her subjects; she thinks it best, 
 therefore, to keep their attention away from that and other parts of 
 Scripture, thus leaving them in ignorance of her many deceptions. 
 
 When taking the language of their Church in her explanation 
 of these two words, they show how it really destroys the true doc- 
 trine of Paul, and leaves it both silly and senseless. To make all 
 this clear and satisfactory to the minds of their ladies elect, they 
 repeat the words of the Papal Church, as explaining the expression 
 (or words) "one wife," saying they mean that "no one shall be 
 admitted to the holy order of bishop, priest, or deacon, who has 
 been married more than once." Now, if that be the true and correct 
 meaning and interpretation of those two words, "one wife," it must 
 then, be equally correct and just to construe, or pervert, the remain- 
 ing parts of the verse, and say, no one shall be admitted to these 
 orders who has been "blameless" more than once, "sober" more 
 than once, "prudent" more than once, "of good behavior" more 
 than once, "chaste" more than once, "given to hospitality" more 
 
120 POPERY SHOWN VF TO AMEPvICAXS. 
 
 than once, or "a teacher" more than once; but this rendering would 
 manifestly contradict and overturn all that people have believed 
 on the subject since the beginning, as may be seen by the honest 
 reading and view of the whole verse or passage. This places the 
 Papal Chufch in a frightful dilemma before her own followers, and 
 before all the intelligent people of the world;- for she must admit 
 that she has given a wrong explanation of these words, "one wife," 
 to uphold her false doctrine on celibacy, or she must admit that, 
 according to her explanation, no one is to be ordained as a priest, 
 bishop, or deacon, if he has been blameless, sober, chaste, hospita- 
 ble, etc., etc., more than once; but as this would imply and mean 
 that a man, to be qualified for admission to any of these orders, 
 should have been impure, inhospitable, ill-behaved, incompetent to 
 teach, etc., etc., it would make her, in the estimation of all sensible 
 people, a very dangerous guide, an unsafe and most fallible teacher. 
 
 These and other false explanations of the Papal Church, if dis- 
 covered by her people, would cause them to revolt against her, and 
 abandon her teachings as pernicious, as unchristian; but as her 
 numerous perversions and corruptions must, at all hazards, be 
 screened and defended, her clergy feel justified in denying or con- 
 cealing the fact that she has departed from the apostolic silence 
 on all questions which, if duly investigated, would drive her to 
 destruction, and bring upon her the odium and contempt sTie has 
 earned by a long, unscrupulous course of avarice, hypocrisy, deceit, 
 and carnage. 
 
 Without entering further into this disgusting recital, is it not 
 patent to all that the marriage of priests is a necessity for the 
 preservation of the Roman Catholic Church in America? Can the 
 rotten stench be tolerated in its present state? We know that with 
 heartless arrogance they protect themselves and the wickedness of 
 their Church system. Their ungovernable avarice subverts in them 
 fidelity, integrity, all principles of honor, and fills them with impu- 
 dence, cruelty, irreligion, lust, and gross venality. 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 121 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Extracts From the Book by Rev. Dr. Justin D. Pulton, Entitled 
 "Why Priests Should Wed;" Initiation of the Priests and 
 "Blessed Creatures;" Insignia of the "Blessed Creatures;" 
 Places and Arrangements to Perform Special Obligations; Defi- 
 nition of a Romanist. 
 
 INITIATION. 
 
 TO make the impression lasting, and give the form of sacredness 
 and solemnity to the affair with its obligations, the Papal 
 Church requires both the priest and the female to observe 
 many ceremonies at the time of initiation. Some of the pomp, shows, 
 music, pictures, candles, incense, bells, holy water, together with all 
 the paraphernalia used by the Church on important occasions, is now 
 brought into requisition to mystify and impress the victim. 
 
 "The priest who is to bless or receive the female is robed in 
 cassock, surplice, and stole. The female usually wears a white veil; 
 kneels on a cushion before the officiating clergyman who has power 
 to bless and consecrate her for such holy uses, holding in her hand 
 a lighted candle, while the priest asks her the usual questions; she 
 answers all promptly, and swears to obey and perform all enjoined.'" 
 
 She swears implicit obedience to all clergymen who are members 
 of the society, especially to him who shall be her pastor, and also 
 to be most faithful in the discharge of all duties, particularly in not 
 revealing the secrets, duties, or insignia of the society. She swears 
 to watch the conduct and language of every female member, and to 
 report the same to any of the priests or bishops having control. 
 She swears to take part in opposing and pursuing, even to death, 
 every member who may become dissatisfied with the requirements of 
 the clerical members. She swears to defend every clergyman who 
 is a member, on all occasions, and deny under oath, if need be, every 
 charge or statement made against him by any member who may 
 report to the outside world, find fault, or complain of the society 
 or its proceedings. She swears to submit to punishment herself in 
 case she should displease her superiors in any of their demands. If 
 she is a married woman, when she is admitted into this order, she 
 promises to be faithful to her pastor, and to consider him, if a mem- 
 ber, and serve him in all things, as her only true and lawful 
 husband, blessed before God and his Church, and also agree tO' 
 abstain from sei'\ing her ostensible husband, as the laws of the 
 Church are more binding than the laws of man. 
 
122 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 She agrees to get what money she can from her apparent hus- 
 band for the support of the priest and Church, and to persuade him 
 that she, though living in the same house with him, can no longer 
 live as a wife to him, but has to consecrate her whole being to the 
 service of God and his holy Church by trying to live a life of virtue 
 and holiness, saying she would displease God, and defile her body, 
 by being his wife in that one respect, and that it would be contrary 
 to the vow she took when she became a member of one of the 
 "Blessed Confraternities" belonging to the Church. 
 
 Some husbands have actually believed all this, and, out of 
 respect for the apparent religious wishes and scruples of their wives, 
 have lived and are now living in the same house, supporting and 
 caring for them, supposing that God, conscience, purity, and religion 
 are the only motives actuating their once loving and truthful com- 
 panions, whom they wedded in all confidence and love. As to the 
 marriages of heretics, the Papal Church holds, both theoretically 
 and practically, as far as possible, that they are null and void, and 
 that the offspring of such marriages are illegitimate, or, in the 
 language of the priests, are bastards. 
 
 "The Papal Church maintains that no clergyman belonging to 
 her can be married, and does not consider the bishops and priests 
 who have left her, and married, as being at all married; yet secretly 
 she allows her chief priests and bishops, who are members of these 
 infamous societies, to make these deluded women believe that they, 
 as members, are truly and honorably married, and so much so that 
 they are not permitted to live as wives with their husbands. While 
 they are not permitted to have wives of their own, the Pope per- 
 mits them to have somebody's else wife, and so debauch woman, 
 and wreck the home. 
 
 "When the females have duly vowed to serve the clergy, who 
 represent Christ and the Holy Spirit, and have bound themselves 
 to observe all obligations laid upon them, by giving every assur- 
 ance that henceforth they will serve all priests and bishops, obey, 
 honor, and respect them as the pure, holy representatives of Jesus 
 — for, in fact, they consider all priests and bishops thus joined to 
 them in holy wedlock as Jesus or as the Holy Ghost — then the offi- 
 ciating clergyman concludes the ceremony by sprinkling the initiated 
 with holy water, and bestowing upon her the name of the 'Blessed 
 Creature.' And thus by the initials 'B. C at the top or end of a 
 note or letter, they frequently make themselves known to each 
 other." 
 
 Well does Father Quinn ask, "If this be right for some, why not 
 for all? If clergymen can have several women, married or single, 
 
POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 123 
 
 why may not laymen indulge in this manner?" Is it not possible 
 that this accounts for the prostitution in Roman Catholic circles? 
 The commandments, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," "Thou 
 Shalt not covet thy neighbor's wtfe," are trampled into the dust. 
 "When a church becomes a leper on the body of the community, 
 it should be avoided." The Papal Church poisons all who come 
 under her influence. 
 
 INSIGNIA OF "B. C." 
 
 "These 'Blessed Creatures' have certain badges of insignia, by 
 which they can easily be recognized as members by the Fathers at 
 home or abroad. That which is considered of the most importance 
 is the image of the Virgin JMary with the Child Jesus in her arms." 
 
 "A brass or silver case, with a tiny glass door or window in front, 
 encloses the image; a covering of leather, morocco, or silk, is fre- 
 quently used as an outside casing or protection for the more solid 
 and costly one, lest it be damaged or broken. The Virgin Mary is 
 the protectress of the entire organization. These B. C.'s. pray to 
 Mary to help them to be perfectly resigned to the will of the Father, 
 as she was to the will and demand of God, and the operation of the 
 Holy Ghost, as well as to Joseph. 
 
 They ask her to prevent conception, or, if that must take place, 
 to assist them in pregnancy and childbirth." 
 
 "They implore her to guard their bodily health, and to restore 
 it if at any time it should suffer from any duty or service in the 
 confraternity. They believe in the Virgin's willingness to shield 
 them from scandal, exposure, disease, or death, while undergoing 
 the operation necessary to produce abortion." 
 
 "They are required to keep one of these images constantly in 
 the house, and as near their persons as practicable, so that they 
 may look through the little door or window, and see the Virgin and 
 Child, and pray to her for aid and protection." 
 
 "Another badge is a pair of silken mittens, generally very white 
 and knit by hand. They cover the fingers from the middle joint up 
 over the hand, wrist, and half the fore-arm. If a 'B. C.' is a special 
 favorite by reason of her beauty, etc., she is honored by a present of 
 a very beautiful pair from the highest officer, for the purpose of 
 making her known to the Fathers when in a strange home or 
 country." 
 
 "Then each 'B. C is provided with a ring which is plain, and 
 worn on the third finger of the left hand as the wedding ring; or it 
 may be worn on the corresponding finger on the right hand. These 
 
124 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 are the articles generally used in public, and by them, or any one 
 of them, with a certain grip of the hand, a 'B. C can make herself 
 known to any of the Fathers, without detection by strangers. But 
 the most private and cherished articles of insignia are the twelve 
 napkins or handkerchiefs. * * * 
 
 THE BOOK. 
 
 "If any change is made in the grips, insignia, letters, etc., the 
 old features are retained until all are instructed. Books containing 
 the insignia are circulated in a guarded manner. The Fathers can 
 recognize a 'B. C in Europe, in Canada, or in the United States, as 
 easily as they can count their beads." 
 
 PLACES AND ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 "A list of the females is usually kept in the vestry or priest's 
 house, where the 'B. C may see it every morning after mass. There 
 is a frame with a wooden back having many squares or locks 
 marked upon it, like a checker-board, and on each square the name 
 of one of the 'B. C.'s is written or printed. A hole is bored in each 
 block, and in it a little peg is inserted. When the peg it out, the 
 'B. C whose name is in that square knows that she is required. 
 
 * * * * When the 'B. C is absent, her name is removed from 
 the frame. In some parishes, however, the order of using the peg is 
 reversed." The Father, before leaving the sanctuary, notices where 
 these 'B. C.'s have pews, makes his selection, and having taken off 
 his vestments, and made a mock thanksgiving halt, takes the peg 
 out, or in some unsuspicious manner makes known his good pleas- 
 ure to the one elected, who gladly * * * Every ^B. C knows 
 the day or week of * * * and if weakness, sickness or com- 
 pany prevents, she communicates the fact to the Holy Father." 
 
 The priest's housekeeper, or so-called niece, even when she is a 
 member, often becomes jealous of these favorite "B. C.'s" and mani- 
 fests much reluctance if in any way she is to show courtesy or kind- 
 ness while they are present; and many a tempest is raised in the 
 priest's house by these fair inmates. So priests, as well as other 
 men, are made to feel that "hell has no fury like a woman scorned." 
 
 * * * and well enough to attend to his duties, this one 
 included." 
 
 A common place for the performance of these special obligations 
 is a room in the Father's house which is kept for that purpose, and 
 is frequently taken care of by his housekeeper if she be a member; 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 125 
 
 otherwise the "B. C." who serves that day cleans and regulates it 
 to suit herself. Sometimes there is a room in the parish school- 
 house, whenever that can be done without awakening suspicion or 
 creating scandal. A neat little bed, called a bed of the family, is 
 blessed by one of the Fathers, and consecrated to this use. A 
 statue of Mary, with the Infant Jesus in her arms, covered with a 
 white veil, stands in one corner of the room. Two or more blessed 
 candles are burning at the foot of the statue, or on a small altar 
 which is usually kept in these rooms, or in rooms in the homes of 
 these "B. C.'s." There are rooms elegantly and sumptuously fur- 
 nished for this purpose in the homes of the higher dignitaries, in 
 which these officials entertain for a considerable time their most 
 favored and beautiful "B. C.'s." Some of the titled ambassadors 
 of the Pope spend many an hour on their knees, * * * revell- 
 ing dulciana. Many thousand dollars have been expended on these 
 women, and many a time has the chant, with the words so often 
 sung at the offertory of the mass, been poured into the ear of these 
 adorable darlings. "The choir may not understand the meaning ot 
 the words; but the Fathers do know and express their full deep 
 meaning, with all fire of passion and lust, when singing or inter- 
 preting them for the amusement of the 'B. C.'s' whose presence 
 thrills and inspires these lecherous priests, who rapturously trans- 
 late in the quiet of the 'blessed room,' 'O sponsa mea, dilecta veni, 
 amplecti te desidero.' Then they ask, 'Do you understand, my 
 darling, all these words imply?' when they receive the answer 'No,' 
 they say, * * * 
 
 "These words are sacred, and are used by the holy Church of 
 God to express the intense love and heartfelt desire I now have, at 
 this moment, for you, and to embrace you as my true spouse in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ; for the Church desires that the clergy as mar- 
 ried people ought to show and feel the same burning affection and 
 admiration for Jesus, for his people, for his elect and cherished 
 daughters, of whom you are the most worthy, my own blessed 
 creature and lovely spouse." 
 
 "Such is a fair specimen of the language used by these pious 
 Fathers when making over, or transforming, their flock of sheep, 
 which in time become shorn of all power of resistance, and as plia- 
 ble as wax or putty." 
 
 "Protestants, together with Papists, have been very generous in 
 patronizing big fairs, and swelling the treasury of this Church by 
 liberal donations for the ostensible purpose of building a 'new 
 cathedral,' 'orphan asylum,' or the support of seminaries and vari- 
 ous institutions of supposed charity; when, in reality, a large por- 
 
126 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 tion of such money has been expended on the persons or for the 
 entertainment of these 'B. C'.'s,' while the remainder is retained for 
 various uses, such as buying the favor of the Pope, for real estate 
 speculations, for sundry securities, bonds, and the many popular 
 stocks that are put upon the market, to say nothing of the large 
 supplies of 'Holland gin, choice Maderia, first-class Cognac brandy, 
 pure Bourdon, old Irish and Scotch whiskey,' strong enough and 
 fiery enough to send a torchlight procession through their brain 
 and stomach. These supplies are generally of more consequence to 
 a genuine papal priest or bishop than the presence of the grace of 
 God. Imagine one of these apostles, one of these iK)or, humble, 
 abstemious representatives of the Church, haying constantly in his 
 cellar vault from three hundred to three thousand dollars' worth 
 of such stuff, while hundreds of his parishioners are starving for 
 bread." 
 
 "Apartments are often fitted up in some favorite convent for one 
 of these lordly Fathers, where he can spend a few days in private 
 pleasure and meditation with his chosen 'B. C The excuse assigned 
 for these episcopal visits is the giving of the veil, or receiving the 
 vows of females who have abandoned this wicked world, and are 
 prepared to devote their remaining days to God or to that Church in 
 a nunnery. Some of the nuns are members of this secret organi- 
 zation, and are bound to * * * as the 'B. C.'s' who are still 
 in the world. Many of the nuns, like many of the priests, and few 
 of the bishops, are not members, and know nothing' concerning its 
 existence, oaths, and duties. Sisters and nuns are not allowed to 
 become members of this secret society before they have spent four 
 years in the convent, after 'making their profession;' they are not 
 usually admitted, in fact, before serving five, six, or seven years, 
 after they have taken their final vows, and have received all the 
 insignia peculiar to the sisterhood which they join. The parents 
 or friends of the young ladies about to become nuns attend the 
 grand ceremony or wedding of these brides of Jesus Christ, which 
 wedding may be only the foreshadowing of the real marriage, when, 
 blessed anew, they become privileged to enter into the joy awaiting 
 them in their union with these Fathers who are the true messengrs 
 in their eyes of Jesus. Many priests of the diocese and vicinity are 
 invited to participate in the festivities. A grand dinner or repast 
 is furnished. The young ladies who attend school at the convent are 
 given a holiday, and the sisters spare no pains to make all things 
 pleasing and attractive. During the afternoon the visitors return 
 home. Some of the nuns resume their ordinary duties, others, with 
 the pupils, continue the relaxation and merriment to a late hour, 
 
POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 127 
 
 whlie to the eye of the public the whole affair is solemn and 
 impressive. 
 
 "The lordly celebrant, who at times was jolly, prayerful, and 
 evidently absorbed in deep thought, suddenly becomes very much 
 fatigued, and quietly withdraws to the apartments so tastefully, and 
 in some respects gorgeously, arranged for his special ease and 
 pleasure. Nothing more is known to the public, unless the news- 
 papers write up the remarkable event; and remarkable it is to find 
 free women in this America, vow themselves, body, brain, reason, 
 will, soul, and all, into that life of slavery, not knowing what may 
 be required of them in the years to come by these spiritual vultures, 
 not knowing the day when they may be dismissed in disgrace, or 
 poisoned in secret, as many good women have been, for no other 
 reason than that the bishop or superioress desires it for the grati- 
 fication of personal anger, revenge, jealousy, or self-interest, which 
 last is the ruling passion or motive in many instances." 
 
 "But to return to the giving of the veil. Every thing is done to 
 make the episcopal visitation pleasing and successful. The silver 
 for the table, with many rich ornaments for the rooms, the best 
 and most palatable food, the choicest wines and liquors, wait the 
 coming of his lordship. At the table all is joy. Some fair Cecilia 
 In a room near by performs upon the harp or piano, and sings a 
 few classic pieces. They fill up with music and with wine." 
 
 "Dinner over, he climbs to his throne. Up come the fair and 
 bow. An address is read filled with fulsome praise. Night prayers 
 are said. The bishop goes to his rooms, which are adapted to his 
 tastes, wants, and privacy. A fair supply of choice things to eat 
 and drink is left on table. The 'Blessed Creature,' whether nun or 
 woman of the world. * * * ^.11 is hushed, even the gentle 
 footsteps of the sisters, passing and repassing to extinguish the 
 lights and examine the doors before they retire for the night." 
 
 "It frequently happens that, instead of a nun, some 'B. C who 
 is a convert from Protestantism is invited by his lordship to meet 
 him there, to spend some days and nights with him. When that 
 is the case, the preparations are almost as on the occasion of giving 
 the veil; and the sisters belonging to the convent, who know the 
 whole secret, manage to disturb or visit him as little as possible. 
 The excuse which the bishop gives for spending so much time with 
 tnis 'B. C is, that she, being a po^ivert. needs much private instruc- 
 tion on many matters of importance pertaining to their religion; 
 and of course he is supposed to be employed in making plain all 
 difficult points of doctrine and practice." 
 
 "When the bishop wishes one of these converts to meet him at 
 
128 POPERY SHOAA^X UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 the convent, his own palace, or elsewhere, for the purpose described, 
 he usually supplies : y she requires for jewelry 
 
 and other ornaments of dress to make her attractive. Such a 
 favorite has often received from one thousand to five thousand dol- 
 lars for one such visit. One of those 'B. C.'s' had fifteen thousand 
 dollars a year while she endured the service, and continued faith- 
 ful; another obtained the neat sum of thirty thousand dollars one 
 year, but then she was, in the estimation of the bishop, the very pink 
 of perfection. She had a cultivated mind, a fine pnysique, a classic 
 head, and was a descendant pf a family that once had rank, wealth, 
 and social influence. She became a member of the 'B. C.'s', and 
 * * * The letters of love and confidence which she and others 
 received for some of these Fathers were rare specimens. Some 
 teemed with amorous quotations from the pens of Byron, Shelley, 
 and others, and were sanctified by the touching whispers of the Old 
 Testament, particularly the gushing Song of Solomon. 
 
 This "B. C." had a trunk filled with such epistles, rich orna- 
 ments, and valuable trinklets which she had received while so 
 highly esteemed as a member of this organization. 
 
 This woman was, like many others of the "B. C.'s," full of pas- 
 sion, enthusiastic, intensely emotional, having in her nature power- 
 ful elements of the romantic, sentimental, and visionary. Her feel- 
 ings overruled reason, and "she loved not wisely, but too well." 
 
 "Her constitution was wrecked by indulgence. She grew ill. 
 The clammy touch and chill of death crept towards her. In this 
 condition, with terrible uninterrupted pain of remorse gnawing at 
 her heart-strings, the accumulated guilt of years resting like a 
 heavy weight upon her conscience, she thought of her husband and 
 children, whom she loved and honored before she gave herself to 
 the Papal Church, and whom she had neglected and disgraced 
 secretly. She grew to hate Rome, to despise the priesthood, and 
 resolved to expose 'the substitution of marriage' and the Church 
 that upheld it and accomplished her ruin. The letters, badges, 
 books, etc., were placed in the hands of a trusted physician, and 
 an exposure was resolved upon. She left the city with her family, 
 and sought another home. In speaking of the enormities, she has 
 no mercy for the system, and its principal leaders, who have drawn 
 so many of their subjects into such abnormal, unnatural, and 
 dangerous conditions by their false teachings and baneful dealings. 
 STie warns Protestants against the wiles of Rome spread for them 
 in convent schools and elsewhere. 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 129 
 
 HER INFAMIES 
 
 and that of others surpass belief. She confesses to have * * * 
 
 Another lady, a convent from Protestantism, was induced to 
 become a 'B. C.,' and 
 
 "This indulgence brought severe prostration and sickness upon 
 her; and death finally put an end to all her sufferings, and removed 
 her from her devoted family, who never mistrusted her virtue." 
 
 "Another lady who had always been a Papist, and whose hus- 
 band is yet a subject of the Papacy, 
 
 She suffered much in trying * * * i^u^ \yy good nursing 
 and medical treatment partially recovered her health. She aband- 
 oned the society, and persuaded her husband to leave the State." 
 
 "One relates that she was afraid to keep a lounge or sette or 
 sofa in her room, lest one of these strong, burly, passionate Fathers 
 might call when somewhat intoxicated, and foix-e her to comply 
 with his desires. So great was her fear, that she took the keys out 
 of the doors, when two or more of these fathers called together, 
 and kept the doors open, pretending to be engaged in some import- 
 ant work." 
 
 "Two married ladies, sisters, were initiated, and * * * 
 
 So we might go on page after page. Is it not enough? Does 
 this not teach us that Romanism is the mystery of iniquity? We 
 know that Romanists do not believe in a change of heart. The 
 natural man, full of passion, seems to have been set on fire of hell. 
 
 A Romanist is described in these words: 
 
 "The works of the flesh are these: Adultery, fomication, 
 uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, 
 emulations, wTath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, 
 drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you 
 before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such 
 things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." 
 
 "Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whore- 
 mongers and adulterers God will judge." (Heb. xiii. 4.) "Know 
 ye not, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? 
 Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, 
 nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor 
 thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners 
 shall inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Cor. vi. 9, 10.) This proves 
 that Roman Catholic priests, as a rule, are in danger, not of pur- 
 gatory, for there is no such place, but of an eternal hell. What 
 Christ said to Nicodemus, he says to them: "Ye must be born 
 again." The life of God in the soul changes the nature, quenches 
 
130 POPERY SHOAVX UP TO AMEBIC AX^S. 
 
 the glow of passion, and compels the individuals to walk in har- 
 mony with the teachings of the word of God. Hence, where the 
 word of God rules, there is virtue. The home is respected. But 
 where it is banished from the mind and heart, there all kinds of 
 wickedness abound. 
 
 Chapter eight tells of abortions and cruelties which result from 
 these criminal marriages, which sicken and sadden the heart. 
 Roman Catholic priests become skilled in the medicines to be used, 
 and, when these fail, in the use of the forceps, which kills the child, 
 while the priestly consolation offered to the mother is, that the 
 infant has received a baptism of blood, and is therefore happy in 
 heaven. Others born are provided for in foundling asylums, orphan- 
 ages, or other places of refuge, with which Rome abounds because 
 in such institutions priests can be screened from infamy. Roman- 
 ism deserves to be studied not only in its history, but in its pur- 
 pose and plan as revealed in its daily life. A Roman Catholic starts 
 wrong, goes wrong, keeps wrong, dies deceived, and goes down to 
 pitiless wrath without God and without hope. 
 
 A lady acquainted with the infamies of the priests rebuked some 
 of them for their profligate doings, and asked them how they could 
 say mass while leading such criminal lives. They laughed at her, 
 and said, "What is the confessional for, if we cannot get absolution 
 as well as other men?" 
 
 "Many of the 'B. C.'s,' having been demoralized by the clergy, 
 become dissipated, and are often sent to places of reform and pun- 
 ishment. They know if they were to speak out as they ought con- 
 cerning the Fathers, they would be denounced by their own people, 
 and by the clergy, and considered insane or worse. The fear of 
 persecution and of death seals their lips, though their wrongs burn 
 like fire." 
 
POPERY SHOW^ UP TO AMERICANS. 131 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Horrible Fate of Some of Those Selected to be "Blessed Creatures;" 
 Wickedness of Priests in Nunneries and Convents; Testimony of 
 Henrietta Caracciolo. 
 
 SPECIAL CASES. 
 
 AMONG the special cases mentioned is that of a beautiful girl, 
 seduced by priestly cunning and Church influence, who became 
 a "B. C." Her beauty and educational accomplishments made 
 her exceedingly attractive to a large number of the fathers, * * * 
 had been sick several times, through the brutality of these men, she 
 became so disgusted with the society and its horrid crimes, that 
 she finally complained to some of the members, who, of course, 
 reported her murmurs to the leading pastor. He paid a little 
 attention to these reports, and soon asked the young lady: * * * 
 This she refused, when he coolly told her that she knew the 
 terms. Then came 
 
 THE INQUISITORIAL METHOD 
 
 "She was seized by the priests, carried up to the garret, bound 
 with a strong rope round the wrists to a post, and, fearing that she 
 might escape, they procured a chain, and fastened her to a large 
 beam, and thus left her to her own reflections, thinking that she 
 would repent and submit. But in this they were disappointed, for 
 they found they had to deal with a spirit as invincible for the right 
 as they were for the wrong." 
 
 "They brought her barely enough bread and water to keep her 
 alive, had she partaken of the miserable allowance; but she, the 
 once loved and petted idol, neither ate nor drank, and constantly 
 reiterated her determination to expose and denounce the whole 
 crowd; until finally the over-burdened mind gave way, and she 
 became sick and crazed in that temporary prison." 
 
 "In her fury and insanity she tore her long and beautiful hair 
 out of her head, and cursed it as being one of the beauties admired 
 by the Fathers. She also tore the clothing from her body into 
 shreds, and sat there raving, cursing, crying, praying, while the 
 fiends, Fathers and 'B. C.'s' invited a few of their associates who 
 were a little wavering or fault-finding, to witness the sufferings 
 and punishment of that poor girl, as a specimen of what they might 
 
132 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 expect, should they venture to threaten, leave, or speak against the 
 confraternity; and, what is truly surprising, not one of these women 
 either by look or word expressed the slightest pity of commisera- 
 tion for the poor victim before them. On the contrary, some said, 
 'Oh, it is good enough for her, for talking as she did, and refusing 
 to obey the blessed Father! It serves her right.' There is no tell- 
 ing how vice, when presented in the garb of religion, may harden 
 and destroy every fibre of human sympathy or Christian charity in 
 the hearts of men and women. For this reason the cruelty of the 
 Roman Catholic Church has brought mourning and ruin to mil- 
 lions. This unfortunate girl lingered but a few days, when death 
 released the tried and worn-out spirit. Then the scene changes. 
 
 "In a dimly lighted chapel, with the smoke and aroma of incense 
 floating" through the air, the altar draped in mourning lies the 
 heart-broken, abused girl, all unconscious of the mock prayers and 
 empty ceremonies performed seemingly for her benefit, but in 
 reality to show that nofhing is wrong, that all is well, all is proper, 
 all is religion, all is in honor of the dead and living. There are no 
 relatives present: no fond mother, whose keen, loving eyes might 
 have discovered something wrong in the appearance of her child; 
 no proud father to mourn over the object his whole heart was 
 wrapped up in; no brother or sister to mingle tears of love. All is 
 strange mockery and deception." 
 
 A certain priest, who knew the particulars of these and many 
 other cases, as well as the criminal conduct of this bishop with two 
 other nuns, has had a very narrow escape from death by poisoning. 
 Three times within two years have these attempts been made. 
 
 "One priest died from a loathsome disease, caused by his exces- 
 sive indulgence with the 'B. C.'s' and others. When on his death- 
 bed, he declared to some of the members, that he belivd his soul 
 would certainly be lost, not only for the life of impurity and intem- 
 perance which he had lived, but for continuing to teach people what 
 he knew was wrong. He said he was sorry that he had ever heard 
 of that Church which was his final ruin. He had been a Protestant 
 minister before entering the priesthood, and gave as his dying con- 
 viction, that ministers who become priests are, as a rule, among 
 the most immoral, bigoted, dangerous men of that Church; they 
 leave Protestantism without fear of persecution, but they have 
 neither the conscience nor courage to abandon Papalism, which 
 they know to be false. He died in dreadful agony of mind, request- 
 ing two of his consecrated mistresses to leave the society and have 
 it destroyed, if at all possible. Another priest had no less than 
 twenty-four of these women, some of them nuns. Though a profli- 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 133 
 
 gate and intemperate man, he still continues in charge of a large 
 parish, and drives occasionally, in grand style, past the houses of 
 some of the 'B. C.'s,' who, with their husbands, bow to him with all 
 the reverence due a saint. One of the sisters teaching in the parish 
 school has been a favorite for more than five years, and has been 
 obliged three times to retire from duty and public view while being 
 freed from * * * 
 
 "This priest fairly steams with liquor, hut is allowed to continue 
 as pastor, as he gives money in abundance to the bishop, and is a 
 violent upholder of the Church in all its demands. ' 
 
 Is there any thing about this statement which makes it difficult 
 to give credence to it? Does it not look natural that there should 
 be some such invenion as a "substitution for marriage" with the 
 priests? The press teems with reports of their scandals; but little 
 is made of them, because the Roman Catholic Church is regarded 
 rather as a sewer in which to drain off the scandals and loathsome 
 deeds of society, than as a repr-esentative of the Christ who went 
 about doing good. The time has come to cut loose from this sink 
 of corruption, turn on it the eye of public investigation, and compel 
 it by strenuous laws to behave, or suffer the consequences. 
 
 PRIESTS IN NUNNERIES AND CONVENTS. 
 
 Priests work in darkness. They prefer darkness to light, 
 because their deeds are evil. They are not the innocents at home 
 or abroad, that many seem to suppose. If God writes a legible 
 hand in tracing the character of men by their looks and appear- 
 ance, the Roman Catholic priests show by their own downcast look, 
 their lack of frankness, their unwillingness to look you in the eye, 
 the absence of cordiality in their greeting, their separation and 
 remove from men even while they move among them, that, though 
 with us, they are not of us. A tie unseen, but not unknown, binds 
 them to the man in the Vatican. They are in America, and yet 
 utterly un-American. A foreign and an oath-bound despotism claims 
 them, holds them, and runs them. 
 
 If there is any place connected with the Roman Catholic Church 
 that people suppose is removed from sin and strife, from impurity, 
 from worldliness, from the gratification of the flesh, it is the nun- 
 nery, convent, or monastery. The facts prove that if there is any 
 place which is next to hell, in more ways than can be described in 
 language, it is found in the convent, monastery, or nunnery. These 
 are words — empty words if usustained by facts. Let facts weigh 
 them. If nunneries, convents, and monasteries are a blessing, the 
 
134 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICAXS. 
 
 people of Italy ought to know it. If they are pronounced a curse 
 by the people of Italy, their verdict ought to pass current in other 
 lands. They have pronounced them a nuisance, and barrier to 
 progress. Nothing can be more foolish than the respect shown 
 these nuns and sisters with their white bonnets and black cloaks, 
 crowding our street cars, and filling great overgrown establishments 
 in all our cities. They are whited sepulchers, beautiful in appear- 
 ance, but within — let others describe them. 
 
 The Italy of the monks and popes has been made by them the 
 habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage 
 of every unclean and hateful bird. Beautiful for situation, embrac- 
 ing one hundred thousand square miles, being in size about equal to 
 New England and New York, if her people were Christianized she 
 would be the glory of Europe. Alas! sin has reigned there. Every 
 prospect pleases, and only man is vile. Rome, with its wolfish 
 progenitor which suckled Romulus and Remus, the rape of the 
 Sabine women who came at her invitation, were captured and held 
 as captives for the gratification of lust, are but prophecies of the 
 story which blackens the page of history, and when read in the sun- 
 light of truth offends the world. 
 
 Whoever has gazed upon the hills and vales of Italy covered 
 with villas and vineyards, her plains fruitful and cultured, her pala- 
 ces attesting to the wealth, the genius, and the taste of men, obtains 
 a conception of what Italy might have been, had not Romanism, 
 which is baptized Paganism, taken out of her that healthful life that 
 glorifies our own free land, and filled her with all unrighteousness 
 and wickedness and envy and murder. Assassination and suicide 
 were the portion of her rulers, while the people were left to be the 
 prey to cruelty and robbery. In the past, on almost every delight- 
 ful eminence was a monastery or a convent perched like a bird of 
 prey, and casting shadows dread and drear over what otherwise 
 ■would be transcendently beautiful. Monks with their coarse habits, 
 nuns with their cloaks and veils, told of everything but the free 
 spirit of the gospel of love. From dawn to dark they went, until 
 Louis Napoleon was compelled to withdraw the support that upheld 
 the hand which held the crosier. As Romanism withdrew, freedom 
 advanced. Take faith in the Lord Jesus Christ out of a community, 
 and you subtract its power, and leave a residue of men without the 
 life of God. Add this faith to a people, and you panoply them with 
 strength, soul them with a great purpose, give them up to the con- 
 trol of God, who causes them to will and to do according to a pur- 
 pose which harmonizes with all that is noblest and best for the 
 immortal nature. In this land it is difficult to understand it. 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO A:\IERICANS. 135 
 
 Here there is freedom and recklessness. The American people are 
 afraid of neither Pope nor Devil. Perhaps they ought to apprehend, 
 because of their unconcern, danger from both. It is very difficult 
 to believe that the Romanism we see is like the Romanism of which 
 we read. No martyr's fire has shed its glare across our path. It 
 was not so in Italy. Persecution the worst, cruelty the most impla- 
 cable and fiendish, has characterized the land and the city nearest 
 to, and most directly under the control of, the Pope. Justice fell 
 in the streets. ;\Ien who loved Christ in spirit and in truth had 
 been banished the realm. Some had gone direct to God, through 
 the open door of a martyr's death; others had journeyed by slower 
 stages, through exile and through sorrows, to the rest prepared for 
 those who love God. 
 
 Death characterizes the Italy of the monks and nuns. There are 
 processions, feast-days, saint-days, holy days, without number. "Is 
 not this a sign of faith?" asks the unthinking inquirer. Whatever 
 takes hold of God is faith, whatever rejects him is unbelief. The 
 Italians and Romanists in general are taught to 'reverence the 
 crucifix, to pray to the Virgin and to the saints, to trust in relics; 
 but between them and Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God 
 and man, is the Virgin i\Iary, the rosary, the blind formula, so full 
 of doubt and despair. Christ's words — 
 
 "HAVE FAITH IN GOD," 
 
 which sheared through the night of Jewish tradition and Pagan 
 superstition, are essential to the life of Italy. 
 
 Henrietta Caracciolo, linked by birth to one of the noble fami- 
 lies of Italy, driven to a convent by a mother's oppression, has 
 opened the doors of the cloisters, and bade us look with our own 
 eyes into them. Her womanly delicacy has partly concealed the 
 hideousness which she has not nakedly disclosed; still no reader of 
 "The Mysteries of the Neopolitan Convents," of ordinary penetra- 
 tion, can fail to see the awful sufferings of which these places are 
 the abodes, and the shameful wickedness enacted within, their walls. 
 In the convent there is no moral light and air; and to expect love 
 to blossom in a convent is like expecting color in the darkness, or 
 life in a sepulchre. The heart, finding nothing without, turns in 
 upon itself, and becomes the seat of foul desires, or of evil passions. 
 Paul described the inhabitants of this pandemonium in these words: 
 "Without natural affections, implacable, unmerciful." Instead of 
 a paradise of purity, as the uninitiated dream, it is filled with people 
 who hiss and sting like serpents, and torment one another like 
 
136 POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 furies. Their vow, which makes their suffering perpetual, leaves 
 them with no hope of escape, except in the grave. "Never was there 
 on earth slavery more foul and bitter, and never was there a decree 
 more humane and merciful than that by which Italy declared that 
 this bondage should no longer disgrace its soil, or oppress its 
 children." (John Dowling, D. D., in the Introduction to Neapolitan 
 Convents, p. 7. ) 
 
 Attempts had been made to reform the abuse. At the close of 
 the last century, Scipio di Ricci, an Italian Roman Catholic bishop, 
 at the command of Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, tried to root 
 out these terrible abominations. Among the disclosures is this let- 
 ter from the aged Flavia Pernaccini, prioress of the Convent of 
 Catherine of Pistoit. She says, "The priests are the husbands of the 
 nuns, and the lay brothers of the lay sisters. . . . Everywhere 
 it is the same; everywhere the same abuses prevail." (^lysteries 
 of Neapolitan Convents, p. 19.) 
 
 Garibaldi, born and bred amid these scenes, knew whereof he 
 affirmed when he said, "In the midst of Italy, at its very heart, there 
 is a cancer called Popery — an imposture called Popery. We have 
 a formidable enemy; the more formidable because it exists among 
 the ignorant classes, where it rules by falsehood, because it is 
 sacrilegiously covered with the cloak of religion. Its smile is the 
 smile of Satan. This enemy is the Popish priests." (The same, 
 p. 21.) 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO A:\rEKICAXS. 137 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Henrietta Caracciolo's Descriptions of the Convent in Naples; Her 
 Experiences; Her Escape; tlie Number of Children Borne by 
 Nuns. 
 
 THE suppression of monasteries and nunneries began in 1864, 
 when the Chamber of Deputies, led by Count Cavour, enacted, 
 "that the religious orders should be no longer recognized 
 by the State; that their houses should be suppressed and their goods 
 placed under an ecclesiastical board; and that the members of the 
 suppressed corporations should acquire their civil and political 
 rights from the date of the publication of this law." (The same, 
 p. 21.) The number of these institutions existing in Italy at the 
 time of the suppression surpasses belief, and should startle Ameri- 
 cans who are fostering the curse. The Old World is spewing them 
 out as useless and corrupt: shall the New World give them wel- 
 come? The Italian States compel the lazy orders to work or starve; 
 the United States permit them to beg from door to door, build their 
 colossal establishments that they may impoverish us. Taxation of 
 Church property is a duty which points to the safety of the State. 
 The number of convents actually suppressed in Italy was 2,382. 
 Of these 1,506 were male convents, or monasteries, and 876 were 
 female convents, or nunneries. 
 
 Th value of property possessed by them was about eight mil- 
 lions of dollars. The number of useless drones who inhabited these 
 swarming hives was 15,494 monks and 18,198 nuns, 4,468 lay 
 brothers and 7,671 lay sisters, besides 13,441 monks of the mendi- 
 cant orders, and 3,976 lay brothers; making a total of 60,239 per- 
 sons. In Naples alone, eleven convents of monks and six of nuns 
 were suppressed during the first half of 1865. Thus did Italy seek 
 to get rid of an incubus that cursed and crushed her. (Mysteries 
 of Neapolitan Convents, p. 22.) Would that Americans could real- 
 ize the peril of youth who are being enticed to enter these pitfalls of 
 ruin! Politicians would find it not for their advantage to sell them- 
 selves to Rome, and buy Catholic votes with subsidies draw^n from 
 the pockets of Protestant tax-payers to these un-American popish 
 institutions. 
 
 THE INSIDE OF A BENEDICTINE CONVENT, 
 
 of Naples, called San Gregorio Armeno, is revealed. In it were 
 fifty-eight nuns, belonging to the most conspicuous families of 
 
138 POPERY SHOAVX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 Naples. "From the selfishness of unnatural parents and brothers, 
 they had been destined, while yet in their swaddling clothes to 
 bring their minds, hearts and personal charms in this solitude, and 
 to immolate, less to religion than to the avarice of relatives, all 
 their affections, even to filial love; and to make a solemn and invio- 
 lable renunciation of the duties and the rights which bind the indi- 
 vidual to the family, to the nation, and to humanity, without the 
 least regard to the social inclinations, to the ingenous temper, or to 
 the fickleness of their hereditary characters.'' Educated with such 
 motives; taught to avoid every thing that would by any chance 
 expand the sphere of their ideas, or discipline or fertilize their 
 minds, or socialize their habits; informed on no other subjects in 
 the world than of legends, miracles, visions, and the various phan- 
 tasmagoria of ascetics, drawn from the reading of the musty old 
 books which the "Index Expurgatorium" has conceded for family 
 reading; never by any chance permitted, either in or out of the 
 house, to come in contact with any other than the members of their 
 own families, or their own confessors — the nuns are as much want- 
 ing in their qualities which distinguish the well-born woman, as 
 they are destitute of those which, in other more civilized society, 
 render the religious character so estimable. (^Mysteries of Neapoli- 
 tan Convents, p. 139.) 
 
 THE PRESENT NUNNERY A GROVvTH. 
 
 "At the outset the vows were temporary. The oblates (lay sis- 
 ters) renewed their vows each year. At the end of the year they 
 could select any other condition. They maintained themselves at 
 their own expense until they took their veil after which the estab- 
 lishments provided for them. At this time they enjoyed the repu- 
 tation of being virtuous. But under the reign of Ferdinand the 
 Catholic, and of Charles V., a marked change came over the rela- 
 tions which the nuns maintained with the people of the world. 
 
 It was then that the most potent, those who were invested 
 with distinctions and resplendent with the brilliabcy of courts, 
 were permitted to seduce these pious women." (The same, p. i42.) 
 
 Then came the Aulic Council. The Archbishop of Naples and 
 the Nuncio had their own prisons, in which they kept those they 
 sought. * * * Every church, convent, and feudal palace 
 enjoyed the privilege of a sanctuary, and retained in its pay the 
 most notorious bravos. Then came the Sicilian Vespers and the 
 dark deeds. ^Morality was banished. Intrigue, deception, and con- 
 spiracies, the blackest and the worst, were hatched. A father, 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 139 
 
 inhuman, capricious, and avaricious, threw his daughter whose sup- 
 port caused him embarrassment, or the wife whose fidelity was sus- 
 pected, into a convent. In those days the condition of women was 
 worse than in Turkey. "The mere shadow of suspicion; a calum- 
 nious accusation; a hallucination begot by jealousy; the false depo- 
 sition of a rejected lover — sufficed to assemble, in all haste, a family 
 council, under the same mysterious circumstances in which the 
 Spanish Inquisition was wont to envelop its tribunal, when it would 
 thunder against the accused that sentence which, according to the 
 prejudices of the period, could alone wipe off the stain from the 
 family escutcheon in the public eye. Nor, to wash away the stain, 
 often imaginary, did they know, or seek to know, any other means 
 than through blood. Conformably to this barbarous code, the 
 woman, if living in the house, was stabbed or strangled in her own 
 bed, if marriageable; or she was condemned to the civil death of 
 convent seclusion." (Mysteries of Neapolitan Convents, p. 144.) 
 
 "THE CONFESSIONAL 
 
 in the convent was constructed like small closets, carefully cur- 
 tained on all sides, and furnished with a stool on which the peni- 
 tent could sit at her ease. 'Why the stool?' asked Miss Caracciolo. 
 'Because it is not possible for a nun to remain two or three hours 
 on her knees.' 'Why are two or three hours required to tell the 
 confessor that you have not wished to commit a sin during the two 
 or three days of cloister life?' 'It is the custom of the world to 
 make a confession of only a few moments; but we not only ack- 
 nowledge our little sins, but we confide, and whom we have chosen 
 for that purpose, should direct in us all the duties of our daily life. 
 To him we confide our thoughts and business and purposes — he 
 being our sole friend, and our only mediator between heaven, the 
 world, and the cloister, which a nun is permitted to have. While 
 separated from the world, we find, in the intimacy which subsists 
 between us, a personification of the universe in compensation for 
 our solitude. In short, after God, the confessor is all in all for 
 us.' " (^Mysteries of Neapolitan Convents, p. 1.50.) 
 
 "The next day he told me that in the convent it was imperative 
 to take the communion every day, and that it required nearly the 
 whole day. I begged a release. Later in the day the priest, about 
 fifty, very corpulent, with a rubicund face and a type of physi- 
 ognomy as vulgar as it was repulsive, put the w^afer on my tongue, 
 and caressed my chin. On opening my eyes suddenly, I found the 
 priest gazing rudely upon me, with a sensual smile upon his face." 
 
UO POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMEEICAXS. 
 
 (The same, p. 151.) These overtures meant much. "It occurred 
 to me to place myself in a contiguous apartment, where I could 
 observe if this libertine priest was accustomed to take similar liber- 
 ties with the nuns. I did so, and was fully convinced that the old 
 only left him without being caressed. All the others allowed him 
 to do with them as he pleased; and even in taking leave of him did 
 so with the utmost reverence." 
 
 THIS OPENED THE EYES OF MISS CARACCIOLO, 
 
 and she determined never to take the veil. Efforts were made to 
 change her mind. A young priest was given her as a confessor. 
 He questioned her as to her loves and of her history. She con- 
 fessed to having been forsaken. Then came the priest to her side. 
 He said, "The world has abandoned you. The heavenly Spouse 
 opens the doors of His house to you, offers to embrace you in His 
 arms with tenderness, and anxiously awaits you, to make you for- 
 get, in the sublime comforts of His love, the discord of men. 
 Remember, the priest is the representative of Christ," and pro- 
 posed to embrace her with his arms. She scorned and upbraided 
 him. Some nuns hate, while others love. He continued a long 
 time, playing upon the same pipe, which she thought tedious and 
 stupid. Finally she interrupted him by saying, "Is it, or is it not 
 true that man was created for humanity r If, as you say, the family 
 of Christ be restricted to this little community, why was the Son of 
 God crucified for the salvation of the whole human race? It is 
 said, that, to be contented with solitude^ it is necessary to be either 
 God or brute. Now, I have not arrived at the elevation of the 
 Diety, nor yet to the condition of the brute. I love the world, and 
 take pleasure in the society of my friends. Besides, I do not 
 believe that you yourself have a horror of human society; because, 
 if it were so, you would, ere this, have become a monk at least, if 
 not an anchorite." 
 
 THEN CAME A SCENE. 
 
 A Madalena, thinking that Miss Caracciolo had captured her 
 priest and lover, on meeting her became livid in the face, and 
 rudely turned her back upon her. Another came and said, "She 
 forced her confessor upon you, and now she is crying and desperate 
 with jealousy." Miss Caracciolo dismissed the new canoiiico. He 
 would not be dismissed. She begged him to give his attention to 
 others. He revealed his intention to dismiss the other nun. The 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMERICAXS. 141 
 
 result was, that in the afternoon she heard a great noise in the 
 corridor. On going out, she found that the Madalena was in the 
 centre of a group of excited nuns, waving a letter. The noise 
 increased; the whole community assembled. In the confusion of 
 the revolt, but one single word could be distinguished, and that, a 
 thousand times repeated, was the word "canonico." 
 
 Meanwhile the old abbess, leaning upon the arm of one of the 
 ediicande, came up to the scene of the riot to appease ^Madalena, and 
 promised her that the canonico should no longer confess Miss 
 Caracciolo, and that she herself would find another confessor for 
 her. 
 
 "Will you give me your word for that?" cried the infuriated 
 iMadalena, whilst the seventy other mouths around her remained 
 closed awaiting in silence the answer. "Hold me pledged," replied 
 the abbess. 
 
 "Bravo! Bravo!" exclaimed the nuns in chorus, while the iMada- 
 lena exclaimed, "It was insupportable for me to see him shut up in 
 the confessional with another." That is a picture of the best side 
 of convent life in Italy. Priests and nuns passed whole days in each 
 others company, in love-making and in lazy enjoyment. (iMysteries 
 of Neapolitan Convents, p. 161.) 
 
 "Another nun had loved a priest ever since he had served in 
 the church as an acolyte. Arriving at the priesthood, he was made 
 sacristan; but, his companions denouncing him for the intimacy 
 which subsisted between him and this nun, he was forbidden by his 
 superior ever to pass through the street in which the convent was 
 situated. The nun remained faithful, wrote him every day, sent 
 presents to him, and managed to meet from time to time secretly 
 in the parlatoria. The superior being finally changed, the nun, 
 although she now had arrived at mature age, succeeded in securing 
 him for a confessor." "She celebrated the event as she would a 
 marriage, gave gifts and flowers to her patron saint, and built at 
 her own expense a confessional where she might have him to her- 
 self whenever they were inclined." (Mysteries of Neapolitan Con- 
 vents, p. 16.5.) 
 
 A letter sent by one of "the spouses of Christ" to a priest was 
 dropped in the street. A gentleman picked it up, and said, "A com- 
 mon courtesan would make use of more modest language." (The 
 same, p. 165.) 
 
 "I have received myself, from an impertinent monk, a letter in 
 which he signified to me that he had hardly seen me, when he 
 conceived the sweet hope of becoming my confessor. An exquisite 
 of the first water, a man of scents and euphuism, could ont have 
 
142 POPERY SHOAYX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 employed phrases more melodramatic, to demand whether he might 
 hope or despair." (The same, p. 169.) 
 
 " 'Fair daughter,' said a priest to me one day, 'knowest thou 
 who God truly is?' 'He is the Creator of the universe,' I answered 
 dryly. 
 
 " 'No, no no, no! that is not enough,' he replied, laughing at my 
 ignorance. 'God is love, but love in the abstract, which receives its 
 incarnation in the mutual affection of two hearts which idolize each 
 other; you then must not only love God in His abstract existence, 
 but must also love Him in His incarnation; that is, in the exclusive 
 love of a man who adores you.' 'Then,' I replied, 'a woman who 
 adores her own lover, would adore Divinity himself.' 
 
 " 'Assuredly,' reiterated the priest, over and over again, taking 
 courage from my remark, and chuckling at what seemed to him to 
 be the effects of his catechism. 
 
 " 'In that case,' said I hastily, 'I should select for my lover 
 rather a man of the world than a priest.' 
 
 " 'God preserves you, my daughter! God preserves you from 
 that sin! To love a man of the world, a sinner, a wretch, an unbe- 
 liever, an infidel! Why, you would go immediately to hell! The 
 love of a priest is a sacred love, while that of the profane is infamy; 
 the faith of a priest emanates from that granted to the Holy Church, 
 while that of the profane is false — false as is the vanity of the 
 century. The priest purifies his affection daily in communion with 
 the Holy Spirit; the man of the world, if he ever knows love at all, 
 sweeps the muddy crossings of the street with it day and night.' 
 'But it is the heart as well as the conscience which prompts me to 
 fly from the priests,' I replied. 
 
 'Well, if you will not love me because I am your confeSsor, I 
 will find means, to assist you to get ria of your scruples. We will 
 place the name of Jesus Christ before all our affectionate demon- 
 strations; and thus our love will be a grateful offering to the Lord, 
 and will ascend fragrant with perfume to heaven, like the smoke 
 of the incense of the sanctuary. Say to me, for example, I love you 
 in Jesus Christ; this night I dreamed of you in Jesus Christ: and 
 you will have a tranquil conscience, because, in doing this, you will 
 sanctify every transport.' " This is in line with the priests' sub- 
 stitution for marriage. 
 
 "Of a very respectable monk, respectable alike for his age and 
 moral character, I inquired what signified the prefixing of Jesus 
 Christ to amorous- apostrophes. 
 
 " 'It is,' said he, 'an expression used by a horrible company, 
 unfortunately only too numerous, which thus abusing the name of 
 
POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 143 
 
 our Lord, permits to its members tlie most unbridled licentious- 
 ness.' ' (IMysteries of Neapolitan Convents, p. 1711.) 
 
 Thus it appears that in Italy in the olden time the priests had 
 a substitution for marriage, as they have at this time in our land. 
 And why not? It is the same tree there as here. Why not bear 
 the same kind of fruit? 
 
 Garibaldi had entered Naples in triumph. While the priests of 
 San Gennaro, in order to avoid the solemnity of a Te Deum, and to 
 escape the customary prayers, "Save thy people and thy patrimony, 
 O God," (The same, p. 482), detained Garibaldi, Henrietta Carac- 
 ciolo took off her veil from her head, and deposited on the altar 
 what had been given her twenty years before. (Mysteries of Nea- 
 politan Convents, p. 4 8 4.) A free woman she went forth into a free 
 world, uncontaminated by priests because by God's help she stood 
 her ground against them. Finally she met a man to love and to 
 be loved. They were married, and she writes: "I found myself in 
 the state in which God placed woman at the close of His first week 
 of the creation. Why, fulfilling the offices of a good wife, of a good 
 mother, of a good citizen- — why may I not aspire even to the treas- 
 ury of the Divine Confession?" (The same, p. 484.) 
 
 She stepped out of the convent. The curse remains. It is the 
 same at this hour whenever they exist in fact as in name. As a 
 prioress said, "The priests deceive the innocent, and even those that 
 are more circumspect; and it would need a miracle to converse with 
 them and not fall. Poor creatures! Many of them think they are 
 leaving the world to escape danger, and they only meet with greater 
 danger. Do not suppose this is the case in one convent alone. 
 Everj^vhere it is the same; everywhere the same disorders, every- 
 where the same abuses, prevail. Let the superiors suspect as they 
 may, they do not know even the smallest part of the enormous 
 wickedness that goes on between the monks and the nuns." (The 
 same, Introduction, p. i9.) 
 
 "Such was the profligacy of priors and nuns, as Llorenti informs 
 us, in the fifteenth century^ that the Pope, from very shame, had to 
 take notice of it. He had to invest the Inquisition with special 
 power to take cognizance of the matter. The inquisitors, in obedi- 
 ence to orders from their sovereign Pope, entered immediately upon 
 the discharge of their duties. They issued, through their immediate 
 superior, a general order commanding all women, nuns, and lay 
 sisters, married women and single women, without regard to age, 
 station in life, or any other circumstance, to appear before them, 
 and give information, if any they had, against all priests, Jesuits, 
 monks, priors, and confessors." (Popish Nunneries, by William 
 
144 POPEEY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 Hogan, p. 60.) "The Pope got more than he bargained for. Sup- 
 posing that the licentiousness of his priests did not extend beyond 
 women of ill-fame, he summoned all to come. Disobedience was 
 heresy, and heresy was death. The accusers came, not singly, but 
 in battalions. The number who made their appearance to lodge 
 information, in the single city of Seville, Spain, was so great, that 
 the taking of depositions occupied twenty notaries for thirty days. 
 The inquisitors, worn out with fatigue, determ.ned on taking a 
 recess; and, having done so, they re-assembled, and devoted thirty 
 days more to the same purpose; but the depositions continued to 
 increase so fast, that they saw no use in continuing them, and they 
 finally resolved to adjourn, and quash the inquiry. The country 
 was found to be one vast area of pollution.'" (The same, p. 60.) 
 This Church, so polluted and so vile, is reckoned by many as one 
 of the religious denominations. These priests, and priests as 
 debased and vile, are called in the United States, by so-called Chris- 
 tians, "niinisters of God!" The ignorance of the average professing 
 Christian in America concerning Romanism, what it was and is, 
 surprises those who have studied the character of Papal life, and 
 the blindness of the people who ought to be better informed. It 
 will not do to say that this belonged to a past age. Priests, nuns, 
 and confessors are the same now that they were in the fifteenth 
 century all over the world. Whoever visits Paris will find a lying-in 
 haspital attached to every nunnery. The same is to be seen in Mad- 
 rid and the principal cities of Spain, in ]\lexico, and in Dublin, Ire- 
 land. What is the object of these hospitals? Let William Hogan, 
 the ex-priest, answer. 
 
 "The object is to provide for the illict offspring of priests and 
 nuns and such other unmarried females as the priests can seduce 
 through the confessional. But, it will be said, there are no lying-in 
 hospitals attached to nunneries in this country. True, there are 
 not: but I say, of my own knowledge and from my own experience 
 through the confessional, that it would be well if there were; there 
 would be fewer abortions, there would be fewer infants strangled 
 and murdered. It is not generally known that the crime of pro- 
 curing abortion — a crime which our laws pronounce to be felony- 
 is a commok offence in Popish nunneries. In Kings County Peni- 
 tentiary is a woman who has been in prison twenty years for infanti- 
 cide, and who is condemned to stay there for life. That which is a 
 crime in the State is a practice in the convents. Luther, In his 
 'Table Talk,' says that in his time a pool was cleaned out in the 
 vicinity of a convent, and the bottom was almost literally paved 
 with the bones of infants." 
 
POPEKY SHOWN UP TO AMERICANS. 145 
 
 Any scoundrel tired of a woman can embrace the religious state, 
 enter a monastery, and be rid of her, though he has ruined her 
 under promise of marriage. Statistics prove that in no city is there 
 so great a number of children born out of wedlock as in Rome; and 
 it is in Rome also that the greatest number of infanticides take 
 place. This must ever be the case with a wealthy unmarried priest- 
 hood and a poor and ignorant population. 
 
 In Rome there are from thirty to forty thousand monks and 
 nuns condemned to the material interests of the Vatican, to an 
 impossible chastity, to violence against nature, for which she avenges 
 herself by treading under her feet morality, and compelling families 
 and the State to bear the consequences of this condition of violence 
 in which the Church has placed it. Humanity and morality are pay- 
 ing the cost in Europe of eight centuries of temporal power, of the 
 ambition of the pontificate, and from it come the blood-stains that 
 disgrace the Eternal City. 
 
 THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS 
 
 receives the sanction of Rome. "The modus operandi is this. The 
 infallible Church teaches that without baptism even infants cannot 
 go to heaven. The holy Church, not caring much how the afore- 
 said infants may come into this world, but anxious that they should 
 go out of it according to the ritual of the Church, insists that the 
 infant shall be baptized. That being done, and its soul being thus 
 fitted for heaven, the mother abbess generally takes between her 
 holy fingers the nostrils of the infant, and in the name of the infal- 
 lible Church consigns it to the care of the Almighty; and I beg to 
 state, from my own personal knowledge through the confessional, 
 that the father is, in nearly all cases, the individual who baptizes 
 it. I desire to assert nothing of a character as frightful and dis- 
 gusting as this on my own authority: I could give numberless 
 instances; let this suffice." 
 
 Llorenti, in his "History of the Inquisition," relates the follow- 
 ing. "There was among the Carmelite nuns of Lerma a mother 
 abbess called IMother Aguecla, who was accounted a saint. People 
 came to her from all the neighboring country to be cured of their 
 respective diseases. Her mode of curing all diseases was this. She 
 had in her possession a number of small stones, of which she said 
 she was delivered in all the pains of childbirth. She was delivered 
 of them periodically for the space of twenty years, according to her 
 own statement; and, by the application of these stones to any 
 diseased person, he was forthwith cured. Rumor, however, got 
 
146 POPEKY SHOWX UP TO AMERICANS. 
 
 abroad that the mother abbess 'was no better than she ought to be,' 
 and that in place of bringing forth stones, she and the other nuns 
 of the convent were bringing forth children for the friars of the 
 Carmelite order, who arrange all her miracles for her, and enabled 
 her fort twenty years to impose upon the public as the lady prioress 
 of a nunnery and fashionable boarding-school. Whenever she was 
 confined and delivered of a child, the holy nuns strangled it, and 
 burned it. All the other nuns did likewise, and probably would 
 have continued to do so through their successors until this day, had 
 not the niece of the mother abbess, in a moment of anger, arising 
 from maltreatment, let fall some observations which excited the 
 suspicions of the public authorities. The burying-ground of the 
 nuns were examined; the spot where the strangled infants were 
 buried was pointed out by the niece of the mother abbess, and the 
 bodies found." (Popish Nunneries, by William Hogan^ p. 63.) 
 
 It is said that a chemical process has been discovered by which 
 the bones, as well as the flesh of infants, are reduced in a little time 
 almost to perfect annihilation. This helps on the iniquity. Maria 
 Monk will tell how this was managed in Montreal. 
 
 "Virtuous ladies," says William Hogan, "into whose hands this 
 statement will come, will exclaim on reading it, 'This cannot be 
 true. If even nuns had witnessed such things, however depraved 
 they may be, they would fly from such scenes; or, at all events, no 
 nun who has ever been once guilty of such conduct, would consent a 
 second time.' Here, again, we see how little Americans know of ' 
 popery and of the practices of priests and nuns. The fact is, Roman 
 Catholic laymen know almost as little of popery as Protestants. 
 When a female goes to the confessional, she virtually binds herself 
 to answer every question which her confessor proposes, and that the 
 concealment of any thought or deed which she committed was a 
 mortal sin, hateful to God, and deserving of an eternal hell. 
 
 She believes that the priest sits in the confessional as God, and 
 is divested of his humanity and acts not as man, but as God. Noth- 
 ing, then, is easier, if he has the least fancy for the penitent, than 
 to act his pleasure with her. There have been instances — and there 
 are now thousands of them in Europe and in this land — where a 
 priest tells any good-looking woman who goes to confession to him, 
 that it is her duty * * * "gg j^q^- startled, American hus- 
 bands," says William Hogan. "I make not these statements to hurt 
 or outrage your feelings. I make it in an earnest desire for you, to 
 prevent you, if possible, from permitting your wives and daughters 
 to go in future to these dens of vice called confessionals." (Popish 
 Nunneries, p. 65.) 
 
POPERY SHOWN UP TO AMEEICANS. 147 
 
 Who heeds this warning? A few years since, the world was 
 horrified by revelations made concerning the internal workings of 
 several European convents. Germany refused to permit any reli- 
 gious establishment to exist, except it should be inspected four times 
 a year by the government inspector^ who went alone, visited every 
 cell and every part of the establishment, and, if persons were con- 
 fined there that desired their liberty, they were brought out, and 
 there was none to say to them nay. The convents, compelled to 
 submit to this, or disband, preferred this latter course, afraid of 
 the light, and remained closed until Bismarck submitted to the 
 Pope, and now they are again opened. Such a law is essential for 
 the Church establishments in the New World. In all of them may 
 be some one wanting the light, who is disgusted with the sensualism 
 of the priests, and who desire the purity of a home and the free life 
 of a Christian in the world. 
 
 In the name of liberty, in the name of humanity, why will not 
 the American people awake to their duty? We have reached the 
 time when the proposed plans of the Papacy laid down in the long 
 ago, are being put into practice and pushed with determination and 
 power. Lands are given to great ecclesiastical establishments, free 
 from taxation. Priests and nuns, monks and lay sisters, abound. 
 In Europe we see what they were and are. Let us turn over a leaf 
 in American history, and read their biography where, it was our 
 dream, that the free light of liberty would kill out the superstitions 
 of papal lands. 
 
 Xote: The preceding chapters after number XIII, are 
 taken from the work of Rev. Dr. Justin D. Fulton, which was 
 submitted to Anthony Comstock. the Cato, of America, and 
 o. k'd. bv that virtuous citizen. The book goes bv the name of 
 "AMiv Priests Should Wed." 
 
The Roman 
 Catholic Hierarchy 
 
 Pi BOOK WHICH IS THE RESULT OF 
 YEf\RS OF STUDY 
 
 By Thos. E, Watson 
 
 Contains historical data sliowing f/?e evolu- 
 tion of tlie Papacy, and its adoption of Pagan 
 ceremonies and rites. 
 
 It cites Roman Catholic theological authori- 
 ties, whose instructions are "not fit to be placed 
 on court records," according to the statement of 
 the foreman of a Georgia Federal Grand Jury. 
 
 Richly illustrated $hOO, postpaid 
 
 Jejfersonian Pub. Co. 
 
 Thomson, Ga. 
 
Read This Book: 
 
 A Brief Survey 
 
 OF 
 
 Pagan Civilization 
 
 OR 
 
 Watson's Reply to Windle 
 
 Showing how, under Roman CathoHcism, 
 ignorance, degradation and superstition have 
 always flourished. 
 
 History cannot be denied, and history is 
 quoted to prove the charges made. 
 
 This book is the outcome of the attack made 
 by Windle on Mr. Watson's book, "The Roman 
 Catholic Hierarchy." 
 
 The book is now ready for delivery. It is 
 well printed, and bound in substantial paper 
 covers. 
 
 PRICE FIFTY CENTS, POSTPAID 
 
 Order from 
 
 The Jeffersonian Pub. Co. 
 
 Thomson, Georgia 
 
i * 
 
 I Why Priests 
 
 i Should Wedl 
 
 4* This name does not do justice t 
 
 I to tlie vast scope and import- ^ 
 
 t ance of tite boolt. It is really a % 
 
 I dynamic expose of the entire t 
 
 % rotten Roman system • BUY the ^ 
 
 I BOOK! Price 75c, postpaid. t 
 
 i * 
 
 t The Jeffersonian Pub. Co. I 
 
 t Thomson, Georgia t 
 
 * % 
 
 I I 
 
 I Order One of These! * 
 
 I n/IARfA MONK'S BBOK is a dis- | 
 
 * closure of the frightful immor- ^ 
 
 t ality and crime in the Roman t 
 
 4* ^ 
 
 * Catholic convents ^ 
 
 j: On sale at the office of The Jef' t 
 
 t fersonian Publishing Company t 
 
 * for 50 cents. By mail, prepaid, * 
 t 50 cents. ORDER NOW! . . X 
 
 t The Jeffersonian Publishing Co. % 
 
 % Thomson, Georgia % 
 
 + 4-