HUMANUM
GENUS
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII
ON FREEMASONRY
To
the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and
Bishops of the Catholic World in Grace and
Communion with the Apostolic See.
The
race of man, after its miserable fall from God, the Creator and the Giver
of heavenly gifts, "through the envy of the devil," separated
into two diverse and opposite parts, of which the one steadfastly contends
for truth and virtue, the other of those things which are contrary to
virtue and to truth. The one is the kingdom of God on earth, namely, the
true Church of Jesus Christ; and those who desire from their heart to
be united with it, so as to gain salvation, must of necessity serve God
and His only-begotten Son with their whole mind and with an entire will.
The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control are
all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader and of our first
parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who
have many aims of their own in contempt of God, and many aims also against
God.
2.
This twofold kingdom St. Augustine keenly discerned and described after
the manner of two cities, contrary in their laws because striving for
contrary objects; and with a subtle brevity he expressed the efficient
cause of each in these words:
"Two loves formed two cities: the love of self, reaching even to
contempt of God, an earthly city; and the love of God, reaching to contempt
of self, a heavenly one."(1) At every period of time each has been
in conflict with the other, with a variety and multiplicity of weapons
and of warfare, although not always with equal ardour and assault. At
this period, however, the partisans of evil seems to be combining together,
and to be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that
strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons. No
longer making any secret of their purposes, they are now boldly rising
up against God Himself. They are planning the destruction of holy Church
publicly and openly, and this with the set purpose of utterly despoiling
the nations of Christendom, if it were possible, of the blessings obtained
for us through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Lamenting these evils, We are
constrained by the charity which urges Our heart to cry out often to God:
"For lo, Thy enemies have made a noise; and they that hate Thee have
lifted up the head. They have taken a malicious counsel against Thy people,
and they have consulted against Thy saints. They have said, `come, and
let us destroy them, so that they be not a nation.' (2)
3. At so urgent a
crisis, when so fierce and so pressing an onslaught is made upon the Christian
name, it is Our office to point out the danger, to mark who are the adversaries,
and to the best of Our power to make head against their plans and devices,
that those may not perish whose salvation is committed to Us, and that
the kingdom of Jesus Christ entrusted to Our charge may not stand and
remain whole, but may be enlarged by an ever-increasing growth throughout
the world.
4.
The Roman Pontiffs Our predecessors, in their incessant watchfulness over
the safety of the Christian people, were prompt in detecting the presence
and the purpose of this capital enemy immediately it sprang into the light
instead of hiding as a dark conspiracy; and , moreover, they took occasion
with true foresight to give, as it were on their guard, and not allow
themselves to be caught by the devices and snares laid out to deceive
them.
5.
The first warning of the danger was given by Clement XII in the year 1738,(3)
and his constitution was confirmed and renewed by Benedict XIV.(4) Pius
VII followed the same path;(5) and Leo XII, by his apostolic constitution,
Quo Graviora,(6) put together the acts and decrees of former Pontiffs
on this subject, and ratified and confirmed them forever. In the same
sense spoke Pius VIII,(7) Gregory XVI,(8) and, many times over, Pius IX.(9)
6.
For as soon as the constitution and the spirit of the masonic sect were
clearly discovered by manifest signs of its actions, by the investigation
of its causes, by publication of its laws, and of its rites and commentaries,
with the addition often of the personal testimony of those who were in
the secret, this apostolic see denounced the sect of the Freemasons, and
publicly declared its constitution, as contrary to law and right, to be
pernicious no Less to Christiandom than to the State; and it forbade any
one to enter the society, under the penalties which the Church is wont
to inflict upon exceptionally guilty persons. The sectaries, indignant
at this, thinking to elude or to weaken the force of these decrees, partly
by contempt of them, and partly by calumny, accused the sovereign Pontiffs
who had passed them either of exceeding the bounds of moderation in their
decrees or of decreeing what was not just. This was the manner in which
they endeavoured to elude the authority and the weight of the apostolic
constitutions of Clement XII and Benedict XIV, as well as of Pius VII
and Pius IX.(10) Yet, in the very society itself, there were to be
found men who unwillingly
acknowledged that the Roman Pontiffs had acted within their right, according
to the Catholic doctrine and discipline. The Pontiffs received the same
assent, and in strong terms, from many princes and heads of governments,
who made it their business either to delate the masonic society to the
apostolic see, or of their own accord by special enactments to brand it
as pernicious, as, for example, in Holland, Austria, Switzerland, Spain,
Bavaria, Savoy, and other parts of Italy.
7.
But, what is of highest importance, the course of events has demonstrated
the prudence of Our predecessors. For their provident and paternal solicitude
had not always and every where the result desired; and this, either because
of the simulation and cunning of some who were active agents in the mischief,
or else of the thoughtless levity of the rest who ought, in their own
interest, to have given to the matter their diligent attention. In consequence,
the sect of Freemasons grew with a rapidity beyond conception in the course
of a century and a half, until it came to be able, by means of fraud or
of audacity, to gain such entrance into every rank of the State as to
seem to be almost its ruling power. This swift and formidable advance
has brought upon the Church, upon the power of princes, upon the public
well-being, precisely that grievous harm which Our predecessors had long
before foreseen. Such a condition has been reached that henceforth there
will be grave reason to fear, not indeed for the Church-for her foundation
is much too firm to be overturned by the effort of men-but for those States
in which prevails the power, either of the sect of which we are speaking
or of other sects not dissimilar which lend themselves to it as disciples
and subordinates.
8.
For these reasons We no sooner came to the helm of the Church than We
clearly saw and felt it to be Our duty to use Our authority to the very
utmost against so vast an evil. We have several times already, as occasion
served, attacked certain chief points of teaching which showed in a special
manner the perverse influence of Masonic opinions. Thus, in Our encyclical
letter, Quod Apostolici Muneris, We endeavoured to refute the monstrous
doctrines of the socialists and communists; afterwards, in another beginning
"Arcanum," We took pains to defend and explain the true and
genuine idea of domestic life, of which marriage is the spring and origin;
and again, in that
which begins '`Diuturnum,"(11) We described the ideal of political
government conformed to the principles of Christian wisdom, which is marvellously
in harmony, on the one hand, with the natural order of things, and, in
the other, with the well-being of both sovereign princes and of nations.
It is now Our intention, following the example of Our predecessors, directly
to treat of the masonic society itself, of its whole teaching, of its
aims, and of its manner of thinking and acting, in order to bring more
and more into the light its power for evil, and to do what We can to arrest
the contagion of this fatal plague.
9.
There are several organized bodies which, though differing in name, in
ceremonial, in form and origin, are nevertheless so bound together by
community of purpose and by the similarity of their main opinions, as
to make in fact one thing with the sect of the Freemasons, which is a
kind of center whence they all go forth, and whither they all return.
Now, these no longer show a desire to remain concealed; for they hold
their meetings in the daylight and before the public eye, and publish
their own newspaper organs; and yet, when thoroughly understood, they
are found still to retain the nature and the habits of secret societies.
There are many things like mysteries which it is the fixed rule to hide
with extreme care, not only from strangers, but from very many members,
also; such as their secret and final designs, the names of the chief leaders,
and certain secret and inner meetings, as well as their decisions, and
the ways and means of carrying them out. This is, no doubt, the object
of the manifold difference among the members as to right, office, and
privilege, of the received distinction of orders and grades, and of that
severe discipline which is maintained. Candidates
are generally commanded to promise-nay, with a special oath, to swear-that
they will never, to any person, at any time or in any way, make known
the members, the passes, or the subjects discussed. Thus, with a fraudulent
external appearance, and with a style of simulation which is always the
same, the Freemasons, like the Manichees of old, strive, as far as possible,
to conceal themselves, and to admit no witnesses but their own members.
As a convenient manner of concealment, they assume the character of literary
men and scholars associated for purposes of learning. They speak of their
zeal for a more cultured refinement, and of their love for the
poor; and they declare
their one wish to be the amelioration of the condition of the masses,
and to share with the largest possible number all the benefits of civil
life. Were these purposes aimed at in real truth, they are by no means
the whole of their object. Moreover, to be enrolled, it is necessary that
the candidates promise and undertake to be thenceforward strictly obedient
to their leaders and masters with the utmost submission and fidelity,
and to be in readiness to do their bidding upon the slightest expression
of their will; or, if disobedient, to submit to the direst penalties and
death itself. As a fact, if any are judged to have betrayed the doings
of the sect or to have resisted commands given, punishment is inflicted
on them not infrequently, and with so much audacity and dexterity that
the assassin very often escapes the detection and penalty of his crime.
10.
But to simulate and wish to lie hid; to bind men like slaves in the very
tightest bonds, and without giving any sufficient reason; to make use
of men enslaved to the will of another for any arbitrary act ; to arm
men's right hands for bloodshed after securing impunity for the crime-all
this is an enormity from which nature recoils. Wherefore, reason and truth
itself make it plain that the society of which we are speaking is in antagonism
with justice and natural uprightness. And this becomes still plainer,
inasmuch as other arguments, also, and those very manifest, prove that
it is essentially opposed to natural virtue. For, no matter how great
may be men's cleverness in concealing and their experience in lying, it
is impossible to prevent the effects of any cause from showing, in some
way, the intrinsic nature of the cause whence they come. "A good
tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor a bad tree produce good fruit."(12)
Now, the masonic sect produces fruits that are pernicious and of the bitterest
savour. For, from what We have above most clearly shown, that which is
their ultimate purpose forces itself into view-namely, the utter overthrow
of that whole religious and political order of the world which the Christian
teaching has produced, and the substitution of a new state of things in
accordance with their ideas, of which the foundations and laws shall be
drawn from mere naturalism.
11.
What We have said, and are about to say, must be understood of the sect
of the Freemasons taken generically, and in so far as it comprises the
associations kindred to it and confederated with it, but not of the individual
members of them. There
may be persons amongst these, and not a few who, although not free from
the guilt of having entangled themselves in such associations, yet are
neither themselves partners in their criminal acts nor aware of the ultimate
object which they are endeavoring to attain. In the same way, some of
the affiliated societies, perhaps, by no means approve of the extreme
conclusions which they would, if consistent, embrace as necessarily following
from their common principles, did not their very foulness strike them
with horror. Some of these, again, are led by circumstances of times and
places either to aim at smaller things than the others usually attempt
or than they themselves would wish to attempt. They are not, however,
for this reason, to be reckoned as alien to the masonic federation; for
the masonic federation is to be judged not so much by the things which
it has done, or brought to completion, as by the sum of its pronounced
opinions.
12.
Now, the fundamental doctrine of the naturalists, which they sufficiently
make known by their very name, is that human nature and human reason ought
in all things to be mistress and guide. Laying this down, they care little
for duties to God, or pervert them by erroneous and vague opinions. For
they deny that anything has been taught by God; they allow no dogma of
religion or truth which cannot be understood by the human intelligence,
nor any teacher who ought to be believed by reason of his authority. And
since it is the special and exclusive duty of the Catholic Church fully
to set forth in words truths divinely received, to teach, besides other
divine helps to salvation, the authority of its office, and to defend
the same with perfect purity, it is against the Church that the rage and
atack of the enemies are principally directed.
13.
In those matters which regard religion let it be seen how the sect of
the Freemasons acts, especially where it is more free to act without restraint,
and then let any one judge whether in fact it does not wish to carry out
the policy of the naturalists. By a long and persevering labor, they endeavor
to bring about this result-namely, that the teaching office and authority
of the Church may become of no account in the civil State; and for this
same reason they declare to the people and contend that Church and State
ought to be altogether disunited. By this means they reject from the laws
and from the commonwealth thewholesome influence of the Catholic religion;
and they consequently imagine that States ought to be constituted without
any regard for the laws and precepts of the Church.
14.
Nor do they think it enough to disregard the Church-the best of guides-unless
they also injure it by their hostility. Indeed, with them it is lawful
to attack with impunity the very foundations of the Catholic religion,
in speech, in writing, and in teaching; and even the rights of the Church
are not spared, and the offices with which it is divinely invested are
not safe. The least possible liberty to manage affairs is left to the
Church; and this is done by laws not apparently very hostile, but in reality
framed and fitted to hinder freedom of action. Moreover, We see exceptional
and onerous laws imposed upon the clergy, to the end that they may be
continually diminished in number and in necessary means. We see also the
remnants of the possessions of the Church fettered by the strictest conditions,
and subjected to the power and arbitrary will of the administrators of
the State, and the religious orders rooted up and scattered.
15.
But against the apostolic see and the Roman Pontiff the contention of
these enemies has been for a long time directed. The Pontiff was first,
for specious reasons, thrust out from the bulwark of his liberty and of
his right, the civil princedom; soon, he was unjustly driven into a condition
which was unbearable because of the difficulties raised on all sides;
and now the time has come when the partisans of the sects openly declare,
what in secret among themselves they have for a long time plotted, that
the sacred power of the Pontiffs must be abolished, and that the papacy
itself, founded by divine right, must be utterly destroyed. If other proofs
were wanting, this fact would be sufficiently disclosed by the testimony
of men well informed, of whom some at other times, and others again recently,
have declared it to be true of the Freemasons that they especially desire
to assail the Church with irreconcilable hostility, and that they will
never rest until they have destroyed whatever the supreme Pontiffs have
established for the sake of religion.
16.
If those who are admitted as members are not commanded to abjure by any
form of words the Catholic doctrines, this omission, so far from being
adverse to the designs of the Freemasons, is more
useful for their purposes. First, in this way they easily deceive the
simple-minded and the heedless, and can induce a far greater number to
become members. Again, as all who offer themselves are received whatever
may be their form of religion, they thereby teach the great error of this
age-that a regard for religion should be held as an indifferent matter,
and that all religions are alike. This manner of reasoning is calculated
to bring about the ruin of all forms of religion, and especially of the
Catholic religion, which, as it is the only one that is true, cannot,
without great injustice, be regarded as merely equal to other religions.
17.
But the naturalists go much further; for, having, in the highest things,
entered upon a wholly erroneous course, they are carried headlong to extremes,
either by reason of the weakness of human nature, or because God inflicts
upon them the just punishment of their pride. Hence it happens that they
no longer consider as certain and permanent those things which are fully
understood by the natural light of reason, such as certainly are-the existence
of God, the immaterial nature of the human soul, and its immortality.
The sect of the Freemasons, by a similar course of error, is exposed to
these same dangers; for, although in a general way they may profess the
existence of God, they themselves are witnesses that they do not all maintain
this truth with the full assent of the mind or with a firm conviction.
Neither do they conceal that this question about God is the greatest source
and cause of discords among them; in fact, it is certain that a considerable
contention about this same subject has existed among them very lately.
But, indeed, the sect allows great liberty to its votaries, so that to
each side is given the right to defend its own opinion, either that there
is a God, or that there is none; and those who obstinately contend that
there is no God are as easily initiated as those who contend that God
exists, though, like the pantheists, they have false notions concerning
Him: all which is nothing else than taking away the reality, while retaining
some absurd representation of the divine nature.
18.
When this greatest fundamental truth has been overturned or weakened,
it follows that those truths, also, which are known by the teaching of
nature must begin to fall-namely, that all things were made by the free
will of God the
Creator; that the world is governed by Providence; that souls do not die;
that to this life of men upon the earth there will succeed another and
an everlasting life.
19.
When these truths are done away with, which are as the principles of nature
and important for knowledge and for practical use, it is easy to see what
will become of both public and private morality. We say nothing of those
more heavenly virtues, which no one can exercise or even acquire without
a special gift and grace of God; of which necessarily no trace can be
found in those who reject as unknown the redemption of mankind, the grace
of God, the sacraments, and the happiness to be obtained in heaven. We
speak now of the duties which have their origin in natural probity. That
God is the Creator of the world and its provident Ruler; that the eternal
law commands the natural order to be maintained, and forbids that it be
disturbed; that the last end of men is a destiny far above human things
and beyond this sojourning upon the earth: these are the sources and these
the principles of all justice and morality. If
these be taken away, as the naturalists and Freemasons desire, there will
immediately be no knowledge as to what constitutes justice and injustice,
or upon what principle morality is founded. And, in truth, the teaching
of morality which alone finds favor with the sect of Freemasons, and in
which they contend that youth should be instructed, is that which they
call "civil," and "independent," and "free,"
namely, that which does not contain any religious belief. But, how insufficient
such teaching is, how wanting in soundness, and how easily moved by every
impulse of passion, is sufficiently proved by its sad fruits, which have
already begun to appear. For, wherever, by removing Christian education,
this teaching has begun more completely to rule, there goodness and integrity
of morals have begun quickly to perish, monstrous and shameful opinions
have grown up, and the audacity of evil deeds has risen to a high degree.
All this is commonly complained of and deplored; and not a few of those
who by no means wish to do so are compelled by abundant evidence to give
not infrequently the same testimony.
20.
Moreover, human nature was stained by original sin, and is therefore more
disposed to vice than to virtue. For a virtuous life it is absolutely
necessary to restrain
the disorderly movements of the soul, and to make the passions obedient
to reason. In this conflict human things must very often be despised,
and the greatest labors and hardships must be undergone, in order that
reason may always hold its sway. But the naturalists and Freemasons, having
no faith in those things which we have learned by the revelation of God,
deny that our first parents sinned, and consequently think that free will
is not at all weakened and inclined to evil.(13) On the contrary, exaggerating
rather the power and the excellence of nature, and placing therein alone
the principle and rule of justice, they cannot even imagine that there
is any need at all of a constant struggle and a perfect steadfastness
to overcome the violence and rule of our passions. Wherefore
we see that men are publicly tempted by the many allurements of pleasure;
that there are journals and pamphlets with neither moderation nor shame;
that stage-plays are remarkable for license; that designs for works of
art are shamelessly sought in the laws of a so called verism; that the
contrivances of a soft and delicate life are most carefully devised; and
that all the blandishments of pleasure are diligently sought out by which
virtue may be lulled to sleep. Wickedly, also, but at the same time quite
consistently, do those act who do away with the expectation of the joys
of heaven, and bring down all happiness to the level of mortality, and,
as it were, sink it in the earth. Of what We have said the following fact,
astonishing not so much in itself as in its open expression, may serve
as a confirmation. For, since generally no one is accustomed to obey crafty
and clever men so submissively as those whose soul is weakened and broken
down by the domination of the passions, there have been in the sect of
the Freemasons some who have plainly determined and proposed that, artfully
and of set purpose, the multitude should be satiated with a boundless
license of vice, as, when this had been done, it would easily come under
their power and authority for any acts of daring.
21.
What refers to domestic life in the teaching of the naturalists is almost
all contained in the following declarations: that marriage belongs to
the genus of commercial contracts, which can rightly be revoked by the
will of those who made them, and that the civil rulers of the State
have power over the matrimonial bond; that in the education of youth nothing
is to be taught in the matter of religion as of certain and fixed opinion;
and each one must be left at liberty to follow, when he comes of age,
whatever he may prefer. To these things the Freemasons fully assent; and
not only assent, but have long endeavoured to make them into a law and
institution. For in many countries, and those nominally Catholic, it is
enacted that no marriages shall be considered lawful except those contracted
by the civil rite; in other places the law permits divorce; and in others
every effort is used to make it lawful as soon as may be. Thus, the time
is quickly coming when marriages will be turned into another kind of contract-that
is into changeable and uncertain unions which fancy may join together,
and which the same when changed may disunite. With
the greatest unanimity the sect of the Freemasons also endeavours to take
to itself the education of youth. They think that they can easily mold
to their opinions that soft and pliant age, and bend it whither they will;
and that nothing can be more fitted than this to enable them to bring
up the youth of the State after their own plan. Therefore, in the education
and instruction of children they allow no share, either of teaching or
of discipline, to the ministers of the Church; and in many places they
have procured that the education of youth shall be exclusively in the
hands of laymen, and that nothing which treats of the most important and
most holy duties of men to God shall be introduced into the instructions
on morals.
22.
Then come their doctrines of politics, in which the naturalists lay down
that all men have the same right, and are in every respect of equal and
like condition; that each one is naturally free; that no one has the right
to command another; that it is an act of violence to require men to obey
any authority other than that which is obtained from themselves. According
to this, therefore, all things belong to the free people; power is held
by the command or permission of the people, so that, when the popular
will changes, rulers may lawfully be deposed and the source of all rights
and civil duties is either in the multitude or in the governing authority
when this is constituted according to the latest doctrines. It is held
also that the State should be without God; that in the various forms of
religion there is no reason why one
should have precedence of another; and that they are all to occupy the
same place.
23.
That these doctrines are equally acceptable to the Freemasons, and that
they would wish to constitute States according to this example and model,
is too well known to require proof. For some time past they have openly
endeavoured to bring this about with all their strength and resources;
and in this they prepare the way for not a few bolder men who are hurrying
on even to worse things, in their endeavor to obtain equality and community
of all goods by the destruction of every distinction of rank and property.
24.
What, therefore, sect of the Freemasons is, and what course it pursues,
appears sufficiently from the summary We have briefly given. Their chief
dogmas are so greatly and manifestly at variance with reason that nothing
can be more perverse. To wish to destroy the religion and the Church which
God Himself has established, and whose perpetuity He insures by His protection,
and to bring back after a lapse of eighteen centuries the manners and
customs of the pagans, is signal folly and audacious impiety. Neither
is it less horrible nor more tolerable that they should repudiate the
benefits which Jesus Christ so mercifully obtained, not only for individuals,
but also for the family and for civil society, benefits which, even according
to the judgment and testimony of enemies of Christianity, are very great.
In this insane and wicked endeavor we may almost see the implacable hatred
and spirit of revenge with which Satan himself is inflamed against Jesus
Christ.-So also the studious endeavour of the Freemasons to destroy the
chief foundations of justice and honesty, and to co-operate with those
who would wish, as if they were mere animals, to do what they please,
tends only to the ignominious and disgraceful ruin of the human race.
The evil, too, is increased
by the dangers which threaten both domestic and civil society. As We have
elsewhere shown,(14) in marriage, according to the belief of almost every
nation, there is something sacred and religious; and the law of God has
determined that marriages shall not be dissolved. If they are deprived
of their sacred character, and made dissoluble, trouble and confusion
in the family will be the result, the wife being deprived of her dignity
and the children left without
protection as to their interests and well being.-To have in public matters
no care for religion, and in the arrangement and administration of civil
affairs to have no more regard for God than if He did not exist, is a
rashness unknown to the very pagans; for in their heart and soul the notion
of a divinity and the need of public religion were so firmly fixed that
they would have thought it easier to have city without foundation than
a city without God. Human society, indeed for which by nature we are formed,
has been constituted by God the Author of nature; and from Him, as from
their principle and source, flow in all their strength and permanence
the countless benefits with which society abounds. As we are each of us
admonished by the very voice of nature to worship God in piety and holiness,
as the Giver unto us of life and of all that is good therein, so also
and for the same reason, nations and States are bound to worship Him;
and therefore it is clear that those who would absolve society from all
religious duty act not only unjustly but also with ignorance and folly.
25.
As men are by the will of God born for civil union and society, and as
the power to rule is so necessary a bond of society that, if it be taken
away, society must at once be broken up, it follows that from Him who
is the Author of society has come also the authority to rule; so that
whosoever rules, he is the minister of God. Wherefore, as the end and
nature of human society so requires, it is right to obey the just commands
of lawful authority, as it is right to obey God who ruleth all things;
and it is most untrue that the people have it in their power to cast aside
their obedience whensoever they please.
26.
In like manner, no one doubts that all men are equal one to another, so
far as regards their common origin and nature, or the last end which each
one has to attain, or the rights and duties which are thence derived.
But, as the abilities of all are not equal, as one differs from another
in the powers of mind or body, and as there are very many dissimilarities
of manner, disposition, and character, it is most repugnant to reason
to endeavor to confine all within the same measure, and to extend complete
equality to the institutions of civic life. Just as a perfect condition
of the body results from the conjunction and composition of its various
members, which, though differing
in form and purpose, make, by their union and the distribution of each
one to its proper place, a combination beautiful to behole, firm in strength,
and necessary for use; so, in the commonwealth, there is an almost infinite
dissimilarity of men, as parts of the whole. If they are to be all equal,
and each is to follow his own will, the State will appear most deformed;
but if, with a distinction of degrees of dignity, of pursuits and employments,
all aptly conspire for the common good, they will present the image of
a State both well constituted and conformable to nature.
27.
Now, from the disturbing errors which We have described the greatest dangers
to States are to be feared. For, the fear of God and reverence for divine
laws being taken away, the authority of rulers despised, sedition permitted
and approved, and the popular passions urged on to lawlessness, with no
restraint save that of punishment, a change and overthrow of all things
will necessarily follow. Yea, this change and overthrow is deliberately
planned and put forward by many associations of communists and socialists;
and to their undertakings the sect of Freemasons is not hostile, but greatly
favours their designs, and holds in common with them their chief opinions.
And if these men do not at once and everywhere endeavour to carry out
their extreme views, it is not to be attributed to their teaching and
their will, but to the virtue of that divine religion which cannot be
destroyed; and also because the sounder part of men, refusing to be enslaved
to secret societies, vigorously resist their insane attempts.
28.
Would that all men would judge of the tree by its fruit, and would acknowledge
the seed and origin of the evils which press upon us, and of the dangers
that are impending! We have to deal with a deceitful and crafty enemy,
who, gratifying the ears of people and of princes, has ensnared them by
smooth speeches and by adulation. Ingratiating themselves with rulers
under a pretense of friendship, the Freemasons have endeavoured to make
them their allies and powerful helpers for the destruction of the Christian
name; and that they might more strongly urge them on, they have, with
determined calumny, accused the Church of invidiously contending with
rulers in matters that affect their authority and sovereign power. Having,
by these artifices, insured their own safety and audacity, they have begun
to exercise great weight in the government of States; but nevertheless
they are prepared to shake the foundations of empires, to harass the rulers
of the State, to accuse, and to cast them out, as often as they appear
to govern otherwise than they themselves could have wished. In like manner,
they have by flattery deluded the people. Proclaiming with a loud voice
liberty and public prosperity, and saying that it was owing to the Church
and to sovereigns that the mutitude were not drawn out of their unjust
servitude and poverty, they have imposed upon the people, and, exciting
them by a thirst for novelty, they have urged them to assail both the
Church and the civil power. Nevertheless, the expectation of the benefits
which was hoped for is greater than the reality; indeed, the common people,
more oppressed than they were before, are deprived in their misery of
that solace which, if things had been arranged in a Christian manner,
they would have had with ease and in abundance. But, whoever strive against
the order which Divine Providence has constituted pay usually the penalty
of their pride, and meet with affliction and misery where they rashly
hoped to find all things prosperous and in conformity with their desires.
29.
The Church, if she directs men to render obedience chiefly and above all
to God the sovereign Lord, is wrongly and falsely believed either to be
envious of the civil power or to arrogate to herself something of the
rights of sovereigns. On the contrary, she teaches that what is rightly
due to the civil power must be rendered to it with a conviction and consciousness
of duty. In teaching that from God Himself comes the right of ruling,
she adds a great dignity to civil authority, and on small help towards
obtaining the obedience and good will of the citizens. The friend of peace
and sustainer of concord, she embraces all with maternal love, and, intent
only upon giving help to mortal man, she teaches that to justice must
be joined clemency, equity to authority, and moderation to lawgiving;
that no one's right must be violated; that order and public tranquillity
are to be maintained; and that the poverty of those are in need is, as
far as possible, to be relieved by public and private charity. "But
for this reason," to use the words of St. Augustine, "men think,
or would have it believed, that Christian teaching is not suited to the
good of the State; for they wish the State to be founded not on solid
virtue, but on the impunity of vice."(15) Knowing these things, both
princes and
people would act with political wisdom,(16) and according to the needs
of general safety, if, instead of joining with Freemasons to destroy the
Church, they joined with the Church in repelling their attacks.
30
.Whatever the future may be, in this grave and widespread evil it is Our
duty, venerable brethren, to endeavour to find a remedy. And because We
know that Our best and firmest hope of a remedy is in the power of that
divine religion which the Freemasons hate in proportion to their fear
of it, We think it to be of chief importance to call that most saving
power to Our aid against the common enemy. Therefore, whatsoever the Roman
Pontiffs Our predecessors have decreed for the purpose of opposing the
undertakings and endeavours of the masonic sect, and whatsoever they have
enacted to enter or withdraw men from societies of this kind, We ratify
and confirm it all by our apostolic authority: and trusting greatly to
the good will of Christians, We pray and beseech each one, for the sake
of his eternal salvation, to be most conscientiously careful not in the
least to depart from what the apostolic see has commanded in this matter.
31.
We pray and beseech you, venerable brethren, to join your efforts with
Ours, and earnestly to strive for the extirpation of this foul plague,
which is creeping through the veins of the body politic. You have to defend
the glory of God and the salvation of your neighbour; and with the object
of your strife before you, neither courage nor strength will be wanting.
It will be for your prudence to judge by what means you can best overcome
the difficulties and obstacles you meet with. But, as it befits the authority
of Our office that We Ourselves should point out some suitable way of
proceeding, We wish it to be your rule first of all to tear away the mask
from Freemasonry, and to let it be seen as it really is; and by sermons
and pastoral letters to instruct the people as to the artifices used by
societies of this kind in seducing men and enticing them into their ranks,
and as to the depravity of their opinions and the wickedness of their
acts. As Our predecessors have many times repeated, let no man think that
he may for any reason whatsoever join the masonic sect, if he values his
Catholic name and his eternal salvation as he ought to value them. Let
no one be deceived by a pretense of honesty. It may seem to some that
Freemasons demand nothing that is openly contrary to religion and
morality; but, as the
whole principle and object of the sect lies in what is vicious and criminal,
to join with these men or in any way to help them cannot be lawful.
32.
Further, by assiduous teaching and exhortation, the multitude must be
drawn to learn diligently the precepts of religion; for which purpose
we earnestly advise that by opportune writings and sermons they be taught
the elements of those sacred truths in which Christian philosophy is contained.
The result of this will be that the minds of men will be made sound by
instruction, and will be protected against many forms of error and inducements
to wickedness, especially in the present unbounded freedom of writing
and insatiable eagerness for learning.
33.
Great, indeed, is the work; but in it the clergy will share your labours,
if, through your care, they are fitted for it by learning and a well-turned
life. This good and great work requires to be helped also by the industry
of those amongst the laity in whom a love of religion and of country is
joined to learning and goodness of life. By uniting the efforts of both
clergy and laity, strive, venerable brethren, to make men thoroughly know
and love the Church; for, the greater their knowledge and love of the
Church, the more will they be turned away from clandestine societies.
34.
Wherefore, not without cause do We use this occasion to state again what
We have stated elsewhere, namely, that the Third Order of St. Francis,
whose discipline We a little while ago prudently mitigated,(16) should
be studiously promoted and sustained; for the whole object of this Order,
as constituted by its founder, is to invite men to an imitation of Jesus
Christ, to a love of the Church, and to the observance of all Christian
virtues; and therefore it ought to be of great influence in suppressing
the contagion of wicked societies. Let, therefore, this holy sodality
be strengthened by a daily increase. Amongst the many benefits to be expected
from it will be the great benefit of drawing the minds of men to liberty,
fraternity, and equality of right; not such as the Freemasons absurdly
imagine, but such as Jesus Christ obtained for the human race and St.
Francis aspired to: the liberty, We mean, of sons of God, through which
we may be free from slavery to Satan or to our passions, both of them
most wicked masters; the fraternity whose origin is in God, the common
Creator and Father of all; the equality which, founded on justice and
charity, does
not take away all distinctions among men, but, out of the varieties of
life, of duties, and of pursuits, forms that union and that harmony which
naturally tend to the benefit and dignity of society.
35.
In the third place, there is a matter wisely instituted by our forefathers,
but in course of time laid aside, which may now be used as a pattern and
form of something similar. We mean the associations of guilds of workmen,
for the protection, under the guidance of religion, both of their temporal
interests and of their morality. If our ancestors, by long use and experience,
felt the benefit of these guilds, our age perhaps will feel it the more
by reason of the opportunity which they will give of crushing the power
of the sects. Those who support themselves by the labour of their hands,
besides being, by their very condition, most worthy above all others of
charity and consolation, are also especially exposed to the allurements
of men whose ways lie in fraud and deceit. Therefore, they ought to be
helped with the greatest possible kindness, and to be invited to join
associations that are good, lest they be drawn away to others that are
evil. For this reason, We greatly wish, for the salvation of the people,
that, under the auspices and patronage of the bishops, and at convenient
times, these gilds may be generally restored. To Our great delight, sodialities
of this kind and also associations of masters have in many places already
been established, having, each class of them, for their object to help
the honest workman, to protect and guard his children and family, and
to promote in them piety, Christian knowledge, and a moral life. And in
this matter We cannot omit mentioning that exemplary society, named after
its founder, St. Vincent, which has deserved so well of the lower classes.
Its acts and its aims are well known. Its whole object is to give relief
to the poor and miserable. This it does with singular prudence and modesty;
and the less it wishes to be seen, the better is it fitted for the exercise
of Christian charity, and for the relief of suffering.
36.
In the fourth place, in order more easily to attain what We wish, to your
fidelity and watchfulness We commend in a special manner the young, as
being the hope of human society. Devote the greatest part of your care
to their instruction; and do not think that any precaution can be great
enough in keeping them from masters and schools whence the pestilent breath
of the sects is to
be feared. Under your guidance, let parents, religious instructors, and
priests having the cure of souls use every opportunity, in their Christian
teaching, of warning their children and pupils of the infamous nature
of these societies, so that they may learn in good time to beware of the
various and fraudulent artifices by which their promoters are accustomed
to ensnare people. And those who instruct the young in religious knowledge
will act wisely if they induce all of them to resolve and to undertake
never to bind themselves to any society without the knowledge of their
parents, or the advice of their parish priest or director.
37.
We well know, however, that our united labours will by no means suffice
to pluck up these pernicious seeds from the Lord's Eield, unless the Heavenly
Master of the vineyard shall mercifully help us in our endeavours. We
must, therefore, with great and anxious care, implore of Him the help
which the greatness of the danger and of the need requires. The sect of
the Freemasons shows itself insolent and proud of its success, and seems
as if it would put no bounds to its pertinacity. Its followers, joined
together by a wicked compact and by secret counsels, give help one to
another, and excite one another to an audacity for evil things. So vehement
an attack demands an equal defence-namely, that all good men should form
the widest possible association of action and of prayer. We beseech them,
therefore, with united hearts, to stand together and unmoved against the
advancing force of the sects; and in mourning and supplication to stretch
out their hands to God, praying that the Christian name may flourish and
prosper, that the Church may enjoy its needed liberty, that those who
have gone astray may return to a right mind, that error at length may
give place to truth, and vice to virtue. Let us take our helper and intercessor
the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so that she, who from the moment of her
conception overcame Satan may show her power over these evil sects, in
which is revived the contumacious spirit of the demon, together with his
unsubdued perfidy and deceit. Let us beseech Michael, the prince of the
heavenly angels, who drove out the infernal foe; and Joseph, the spouse
of the most holy Virgin, and heavenly patron of the Catholic Church; and
the great Apostles, Peter and Paul, the fathers and victorious champions
of the Christian faith. By their patronage, and by perseverance in united
prayer, we hope that
God will mercifully and opportunely succor the human race, which is encompassed
by so many dangers.
38.
As a pledge of heavenly gifts and of Our benevolence, We lovingly grant
in the Lord, to you, venerable brethren, and to the clergy and all the
people commited to your watchful care, Our apostolic benediction.
Given
at St. Peter's in Rome, the twentieth day of April, 1884, the sixth year
of Our pontificate.
REFERENCES:
1. De civ. Dei, 14,
28 (PL 41, 436).
2. Ps.81:24.
3. Const. In
Eminenti, April 24, 1738.
4. Const. Providas,
May 18, 1751.
5. Const. Ecclesiam
a Jesu Chrisro, Sept. 13, 1821.
6. Const. given
March 13, 1825.
7. Encyc. Traditi,
May 21, 1829.
8. Encyc. Mirari,
Augusr 15, 1832.
9. Encyc. Qtsi
Pluribus, Nov. 9, 1846; address Multiplices inter, Sept. 25, 1865, etc.
10. Clement
XII (1730-40); Benedict XIV (1740-58); Pius VII (1800-23); Pius IX (1846-78).
11. See nos. 79, 81,
84.
12. Matt. 7:18.
13. Trid., sess.
vi, De justif., c. 1. Text of the Council of Trent: "tamecsi
in eis (sc. ]udaeis) liberum arbitrium and all minime extinctum esset,
viribus licet attenuatum et inclinatum".
14. See Arcanum,
no. 81.
15. Epistola
137, ad Volusianum, c. v, n. 20 (PL 33 525).
16. The text here refers
to the encyclical letter Auspicato Concessum (Sept. 17,
1882), in which Pope Leo XIII had recently
glorified St. Francis of Assisi on the occasion of the
seventh centenary of his birch. In this encyclical, the Pope
had presented the Third Order of St. Francis as a Christian
answer to the social problems of the times. The
constitution Misericors Dei Filius (June 23, 1883) expressly recalled
that the neglect in which Christian virtues are held is the main cause
of the evils that threaten societies.
In confirming the rule of the Third Order and adapting
it to the needs of modern times, Pope Leo XIII had
intended to bring back the largest possible number of
souls to the practice of these virtues.
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