ETSI
NOS
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII
ON CONDITIONS
IN ITALY
To
the Archbishops and Bishops and
the Other Ordinaries of Italy.
Venerable
Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction.
Although
the authority and extent of Our Apostolic duties cause Us to embrace the
whole Christian Republic and each of the provinces which compose it with
all the love and vigilance which is in Our power, it is Italy which, at
the present moment, more especially attracts Our solicitude and Our thoughts.
These thoughts and these solicitudes extend far above mere temporal concerns,
for it is the eternal salvation of souls which occupies Us and causes
Us anxiety-a business which demands all Our zeal, and obliges Us to concentrate
it entirely on that object, in proportion as We see it exposed to greater
and greater perils. If ever these perils were menacing in Italy they are
surely so now, at a time when the condition of the Civil State itself
disastrously imperils the freedom of religion. We are also still more
affected by this since an intimate alliance unites Us to Italy, where
God has placed the residence of His Vicar, the Chair of truth and the
centre of Catholic Unity. On other occasions We have urged the nations
to take heed, and Christians individually to realize, what duties are
incumbent on them in such baleful circumstances. Nevertheless the evils
continue to increase and We desire, Venerable Brethren, to point them
out and commend them to your diligent attention, in order that, having
recognized the tendency of public affairs, you may with greater vigilance
strengthen the minds of your flocks, and surround them with every help,
for fear lest that most precious treasure, the Catholic faith, should
be torn from them.
2.
A pernicious sect, of which the founders and chiefs neither hide nor even
mask their desires, has established itself for some time back in Italy;
after having declared war against Jesus Christ it is attempting to rob
the people of their Christian institutions. As to the extent to which
it has carried its audacity, it is the less necessary for Us to speak,
Venerable Brethren, since the grave injuries and even ruin which morality
and religion have to deplore lie patent before your eyes. In
the midst of the populations of Italy, which have always been so constant
and steadfast in the faith of their fathers, the liberty of the Church
is wounded on all sides; everyday efforts are redoubled in order to efface
from the public institutions that Christian stamp and character which
has always, and with good reason, been the
seal of the glories of Italy. Religious houses suppressed, the goods of
the Church confiscated, marriages contracted in despite of the laws and
without the rites of the Church, the position of the religious authorities
as to the education of the young utterly ignored-in fine, a cruel and
deplorable war without limit and without measure declared against the
Apostolic See, a war on account of which the Church is weighed down by
inexpressible suffering, and the Roman Pontiff finds himself reduced to
extreme anguish. For, despoiled of his Civil Princedom, he has of necessity
fallen into the hands of another Power.
3.
More than this; Rome, the most august of Christian cities, is now a place
laid open to all the enemies of the Church; profane novelties defile it;
here and there, temples and schools devoted to heresy are to be found.
It is even reported that this year it is about to receive the deputies
and leaders of the sect which is most embittered against Catholicism,
who have appointed this city as the place for their solemn meeting. The
reasons which have determined their choice of such a meeting place are
no secret; they desire by this outrageous provocation to glut the hatred
which they nourish against the Church, and to bring their incendiary torches
within reach of the Roman Pontificate by attacking it in its very seat.
4.
The Church, without doubt, will in the end be triumphant and will baffle
the impious conspiracies of men; but it is none the less admitted and
certain that their designs aim at nothing less than the destruction of
the whole system of the Church with its Head, and the abolition, if it
were possible, of all religion.
5.
For those who pretend to be friends of the honour of Italy to dream of
such prospects would seem a thing incredible, for the ruin of the Catholic
faith in Italy would dry up the source of the most precious of goods.
If, in truth, the Christian religion has created for the nations the best
guarantees for their prosperity, the sanctity of right and the guardianship
of justice; if by her influence she has everywhere subdued headlong and
hasty passions, she, the companion and protectress of all honesty, of
all nobility, of all greatness; if she has everywhere summoned all classes
and every member of society to meet in a lasting peace and in perfect
harmony, Italy has received a richer share of these benefits than any
other nation.
6.
It is, in truth, the shame of too many persons that they dare to denounce
the Church as dangerous to public safety and prosperity, and to regard
the Roman Pontificate as the enemy of the greatness of the name of Italy.
But the records of the past give the lie to such slanders and to absurd
calumnies of a similar kind. It is to the Church and the Roman Pontiffs
that Italy especially owes gratitude for having spread her glories in
all lands, for never having allowed her to succumb under the repeated
incursions of having for generations preserved in many ways a lawful amount
of just and proper liberty, and for having enriched her cities with numerous
and immortal monuments of science and of art. In truth it is not the least
glory of the Roman Pontiffs that they have maintained united in a common
faith the various provinces of Italy, so different in customs and in genius,
and have kept them from most disastrous disagreements. Frequently, in
times of trouble and calamity, the welfare of the State would have been
in peril, had not the Roman Pontificate saved it by exercise of its life-giving
power.
7.
And its influence will not be less beneficial in the future if the malice
of men does not interfere and hinder its efficacy or stifle its liberty.
This beneficial force, which is peculiar to Catholic institutions, because
it flows from them as a natural consequence, is unchangeable and unceasing.
Even as, for the salvation of souls, the Catholic religion embraces all
countries without any limitations of time or space, so does it always
and everywhere stand forth and present itself as the true friend of the
civil power.
8.
These great advantages are being lost, and are being followed by grave
evils; for the enemies of Christian wisdom, be their rival pretensions
what they may, are leading society to its ruin. Nothing can be more efficacious
than their doctrines in the way of kindling in men's minds the flames
of violence and of stirring up the most pernicious passions. In the sphere
of science they are repudiating the heavenly lights of faith; and when
once this torch is put out, the mind of men is usually carried away by
errors, no longer sees the truth, and begins quietly to sink into the
lowest depths of a base and shameful materialism. In the sphere of morals
they are disdainfully rejecting the eternal and unchangeable reasoning,
and are despising God-the sovereign Legislator and supreme
Avenger and when once these foundations are torn away no sufficient authority
remains for law, and the regulation of life merely depends upon the good
pleasure and free will of man. In society, the liberty without limit which
they preach and pursue engenders license, and this license is very soon
followed by the overthrow of order, the most fatal scourge of the public
welfare. Of a truth, it is impossible to see society in a more pitiable
or miserable state than in those places where such men and such doctrines
as we have been describing have gained the upper hand even for a moment.
Unless recent examples had furnished evidence it would have been difficult
to believe that men, in a transport of furious and criminal boldness,
could even have cast themselves into excesses of such a kind, and while
retaining as if in mockery the name of liberty, could have given themselves
over to saturnalia of conflagrations and murders. If Italy has not, up
to the present time, experienced a similar reign of terror, we must attribute
it first to the especial protection of God; but the fact must be also
recognized-to explain this preservation-that the people of Italy-the immense
majority of whom are still faithful to the Catholic religion-have never
been able to be subdued by the vicious and shameful doctrines We have
denounced. And it must be confessed that if the ramparts erected by religion
begin to give way, Italy also will fall into the same abyss, in which
the greatest and most flourishing nations have in past times lain prostrate
as victims. Similar doctrines involve similar consequences, and since
the germs are infected with the same poisons, it cannot be but that they
should produce the same fruits.
9.
Moreover Italy would perhaps have to pay yet more dearly for her apostasy,
because in her case perfidy and impiety would be aggravated by ingratitude.
It is not by chance or human caprice that Italy has from the first been
a sharer in the salvation won by JESUS CHRIST, and has contained within
her bosom the Chair of Peter, and enjoyed throughout a long course of
ages the incomparable and divine benefits of which the Catholic religion
is the natural source. She ought then greatly to fear for herself the
judgment threatened by the Apostle Paul to ungrateful nations: "The
earth that drinketh in the rain which cometh often upon it, and bringeth
forth herbs meet
for them by whom it is tilled, receiveth blessing from God. But that which
bringeth forth thorns and briars is reprobate, and very near unto a curse,
whose end is to be burnt."(1)
10.
May God avert so terrible a misfortune! May all give a serious consideration
to the evils by which in part we are afflicted, and with which in part
we are threatened by those who, devoted t~ the interests of political
sects, not of the public, have sworn to wage a war to the death against
the Church. Unhappy men, if they were wise, if they had a true love for
their country, far from distrusting the Church, and striving, under the
influence of injurious suspicions, to deprive her of her necessary liberty,
they would do all in their power to defend and protect her, and would
first of all make provision for the re-establishment of the Roman Pontiff
in the possession of his rights. In fact the more injurious the war against
the Apostolic See is to the Church, the more fatal it is in the cause
of Italy. We have elsewhere expressed this thought: "Say that the
State in Italy can never prosper nor become stable and tranquil unless
provision be made for the dignity of the Roman See and the liberty of
the Supreme Pontiff, as every consideration of right requires."
11.
And, therefore, as We have nothing more at heart than the safety of Christian
interests, and deeply moved as We are by the peril in which the people
of Italy now stands, We exhort you, Venerable Brethren, more earnestly
than ever to unite your care and loving efforts to Ours, that a remedy
for so many evils may be found.
12.
And first endeavour to make your people understand of what value the Catholic
Faith is to them, and how they ought to defend it at every cost. But,
since the enemies and assailants of the Catholic name employ a thousand
devices and a thousand feints to seduce those who are not on their guard,
it is of the first importance to unmask and drag into the light of day
their secret machinations, so that Catholics, having their eyes opened
to the real aims of these men, may feel their own courage redoubled, and
may resolve openly and intrepidly to defend the Church, the Roman Pontiff,
and their own salvation.
13.
Up to the present time, whether through unfamiliarity with the new state
of things, or through an imperfect understanding of the extent
of the danger, the
courage of many from whom much might have been expected, does not seem
to have displayed itself with all the activity and vigour required for
the defence of so great a cause.
14.
But now that We have learned by experience in what times We live, nothing
could be more fatal than to endure in cowardly inertness the malice of
the wicked which never tires, and to leave the field open to them to persecute
the Church to the full satisfaction of their hate.
15.
More prudent than the children of light, they have been daring in their
enterprises; inferior in numbers, but superior in cunning and in riches,
they have soon succeeded in lighting up amongst us a great conflagration
of evils. May all the friends of Catholicity now, at least, understand
that it is time to make some daring effort, and to rouse themselves at
any cost from a languid carelessness, for one is never more easily overcome
than in the sleep of cowardly security. Let them behold how the noble
courage of their ancestors knew no fear and no repose; how by their indefatigable
labours, and at the price of their blood, the Catholic Faith has grown
and spread in the world.
16.
Do you then, Venerable Brethren, awaken the sleeping, stimulate the hesitating;
by your example and your authority train them all to fulfil with constancy
and courage the duties which are the Christian life in action. And in
order to maintain and develop this revived courage, means must be taken
to promote the growth, multiplication, harmony, and fruitfulness of Associations
the principal object of which should be to preserve and excite zeal for
the Christian faith and other virtues. Such are the associations of young
men and of workmen; such are the committees organized by Catholics, and
meeting periodically; such are the institutions destined to relieve poverty,
to protect the sanctification of festival days, to instruct the children
of the poor, and several others of the same kind. And since it is of supreme
importance to Christian interests that the Roman Pontiff should be, and
should be clearly seen to be, free from all danger, from all vexations,
and from all hindrance in the government of the Church, it is necessary,
to attain this end, that action should be taken, petitions, and every
possible means within the limits of the law should be adopted, and that
none should rest until We have restored to Us, in reality and not in appearance
only, that liberty on which, not only the
welfare of the Church, but the prosperity of Italy and the peace of Christian
nations depend by a necessary connection.
17.
Then it is of very great importance that writings of a healthy character
should be published and circulated far and wide. Those who, with a deadly
hatred, dissent from the Church, are wont to contend by means of publications,
and to make use of these as the arms best adapted for inflicting injury.
Hence a most evil deluge of books, hence the turbulent and wicked journals
whose malevolent attacks neither the laws avail to bridle, nor modesty
to restrain. Whatsoever in these latter years has been wrought by sedition
and mobs, that they maintain to have been lawfully done; they dissimulate
or corrupt the truth; they pursue the Church and the Supreme Pontiff with
daily maledictions and false accusations; nor are there any opinions so
absurd and pestiferous that they are not eager every where to disseminate
them. The violence of this so great evil, which is daily spreading wider,
must be diligently arrested; you must severely and gravely lead the people
to be carefully on their guard, and to be willing most religiously to
exercise a prudent choice in their reading. Moreover, writings must be
opposed by writings, so that the same art which can effect most for the
destruction, may in turn be applied to the salvation and benefit of mankind,
and remedies be supplied from that source whence evil poisons are now
obtained. And to this end it is to be wished that, at any rate in every
province, there should be established some method of publicly demonstrating
what and how great are the duties of all Christians towards the Church,
by frequent, and, as far as possible, daily publications with this object.
But in the first place, let there be kept in sight the conspicuous deserts
of the Catholic religion in regard to all nations; let it be verbally
explained how its influence, both in private and public affairs, is most
benign and salutary; let it be shown of how great importance it is that
the Church should promptly be established in that place of dignity in
the State, which both its Divine grandeur and the public advantage of
the nations absolutely required. For these reasons it is necessary that
those who have devoted themselves to writing should observe further that
they all keep the same end in view, that they should clearly ascertain
what is most expedient and carry it out; they omit none of those things
the knowledge of which seems useful and desirable;
that, with gravity and moderation of speech, they reprove errors and vices;
in such a way, however, that their reproof may be without bitterness,
and with respect for the individuals; lastly that they use a plain and
clear manner of speech, which the multitude can easily understand. But
let all other persons, who truly and ex ammo desire that religion and
society, defended by human intellect and literature, should flourish,
let them study by their liberality to guard and protect these productions
of literature and intellect; and let everyone, in proportion to his income,
support them by his money and influence. For to those who devote themselves
to writing we ought by all means to bring helps of this kind; without
which their industry will either have no results, or uncertain and miserable
ones.-And in all these things if any inconvenience falls upon our friends,
if there is any conflict to be sustained, let them still dare to be brave,
since to the Christian there can be no cause for endurance or labour more
just than that of not suffering religion to be attacked by the wicked.
For the Church has not brought forth or educated her sons with this idea,
that, when time and necessity compel, she should expect no assistance
from them, but rather that they should all prefer the salvation of souls
and the well-being of religion to their own ease and their own private
interests.
18.
But your chief cares and thoughts, Venerable Brethren, must have for their
object the due appointment of fitting ministers of God. For if it be the
office of Bishops to use very much labour and zeal in properly training
the whole of their youth, they ought to spend themselves far more on the
clerics who are growing up as the hope of the Church, and are to be some
day sharers in the most sacred duties. Indeed, grave reasons, common to
all times, demand in priests many and great graces; but this time in which
we live demands that they should be even more and greater. In truth the
defence of the Catholic Faith, in which the industry of priests ought
specially to be employed, and which is in these days so very necessary,
demands no common nor ordinary learning, but that which is recondite and
varies; which embraces not only sacred, but even philosophical studies,
and is rich in the treatment of physical and historical discoveries. For
the error which has to be eradicated is multiform, and saps all the foundations
of Christian wisdom; and very often a battle has to be waged with
adversaries well prepared, pertinacious in disputing, who astutely draw
confirmation from every kind of science. Similarly, since in these days
there is great and far extended corruption of morals, there is need in
priests of singular excellence of virtue and constancy. They can by no
means avoid associating with men; by the very duties of their office,
indeed, they are compelled to have intimate relations with the people;
and that in the midst of cities where there is hardly any lust that has
not permitted and unbridled license. From which it follows that virtue
in the clergy ought at this time to be strong enough peacefully to guard
itself, and both conquer all the blandishments of desire and securely
overcome dangerous examples. Besides a paucity of clerics has everywhere
followed the laws which have been enacted to the injury of the Church,
so plainly, that it is necessary for those who by the grace of God are
being trained to Holy Orders, to give double attention, and by increased
diligence, zeal, and devotion to compensate for the sparse supply. And,
indeed, they cannot do this advantageously unless they possess a soul
resolute of purpose, mortified, incorrupt, ardent with charity, ever prompt
and quick in undertaking labours for the salvation of men. But for such
tasks a long and diligent preparation must be made; for one is not accustomed
to such great things easily and quickly. And they indeed will pass their
time in the priesthood holily and purely, who have exercised themselves
in this way from their youth, and have so advanced in discipline that
they seem not so much to have been instructed to those virtues, of which
We have spoken, as to have been born to them.
19.
For these reasons, Venerable Brethren, the Seminaries of clerics demand
a very great portion of your zeal, care, and vigilance.
20.
As to virtue and morals, it does not escape your wisdom with what precepts
and instruction the youth of clerics must be surrounded. In graver studies
Our Encyclical Letters, Aeterni Patris, have pointed out the best way
and course. But since in such a condition of mental activity many things
have been wisely and usefully discovered, which it is not fitting to ignore
especially when wicked men are accustomed to turn, as new weapons, against
divinely revealed truths, every addition of this kind which the day brings-take
care, Venerable Brethren, as far as lies in your power, that the young
clerics be not only
better instructed in natural sciences, but also properly educated in those
arts which have connection with the interpretation or authority of the
Sacred Scriptures. Of this surely we are not ignorant, that many things
are needful for perfection in the highest studies, the means for which
in the religious seminaries of Italy hostile laws are taking away or diminishing.
But in this also the time demands that by their bounty and munificence
Our children should strive to merit well of the Catholic religion. The
pious and beneficent goodwill of our ancestors had admirably provided
for necessities of this kind; and this the Church had been able by prudence
and economy to accomplish, so that she had no necessity whatever to recommend
to the charity of her children the care and preservation of sacred property.
But her legitimate and sacred patrimony, which the attacks of former ages
had spared, the tempest of our times has dissipated; so that there is
again a reason why those who love the Catholic name should be induced
to renew the liberality of their ancestors. Illustrious indeed are the
proofs of munificence on the part of Frenchmen, Belgians, and others in
a cause not very dissimilar from this munificence most worthy the admiration
not only of contemporaries, but also of posterity. Nor do We doubt but
that the Italian people, moved by the consideration of their common circumstances,
will, in proportion to their means, act so as to show themselves worthy
of their father, and will imitate the example of their brethren.
21.
In these things, of which We have spoken, We have the greatest hope of
consolation and security. But since in all designs, and especially in
those which are undertaken for the sake of public safety, it is necessary
to add always to human instruments the aid of Almighty God, in Whose power
are the wills of individual men no less than the course and fortunes of
Empires, therefore we must invoke God by instant prayers, and
beseech Him to look upon Italy, which has been enriched and increased
by so many of His benefits, and, having taken away every suspicion of
peril, ever to preserve in her the Catholic Faith, which is the chief
good. For this self same reason let us devoutly implore the Immaculate
Virgin Mary, the great Mother of God, the prompter and helper of good
counsels, together with her most holy spouse Joseph, the guardian and
patron of Christian nations. And with like care we must beseech the great
Apostles, Peter and Paul, to guard safely in the Italian people the fruit
of their labour, and to keep holy and inviolate amongst their latest posterity
the Catholic name which they begot for our fathers with their own blood.
22.
Confiding in the celestial patronage of all these, as a pledge of divine
favours, and a proof of Our particular good will, We most lovingly in
the Lord bestow on you all, Venerable Brethren, and on the flocks committed
to your care, the Apostolic Benediction.
Given
at Rome, at St. Peter's, on the 15th day of February, in the year of Our
Lord 1882, and of Our Pontificate the fourth.
REFERENCES:
1. Heb. vi. 7, 8.
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