LEO XIII

Tu ouf Venorab/e Brethren, ihe Pafriqrchs, Primates,

Archbùhops, Bishops, and. olker Ordinaries

hauing peace and communion wilh

the Apostolic See.

Vénérable Brethren,

G-reeting and Apostolic Bénédiction.

The sacred joy caused in our heart by the happy completion of the lïftieth anniversary of our Episcopal consécration was greatly and sweetly multiplied by the sight of the participation of Catholics of ail parts of the world in our happiness, as that of children in their iather's pleasure — a brilliant witness to their faith and love. In that event, with an ever renewed sensé of gratitude, we admire and magnify the counsels of Providence, towards ourself immeasurably gracious, and infinitely fruitful for the Church. At the same time we feel our soûl stimulated to give thanks and glory for this good gift to the august Mother of Grod, most powerful mediatrix at the throne of Grod. Inasmuch as the immense loving-kindness of Mary — which, during a long and varied course of years and in many ways, we hâve ever proved to be prompt and effectuai — appears more clearly and more helpfully every day

it fills out soûl with happiness, and encourages us to a superhuman confidence. We seem to hear the very voice of that heavenly Queen leading us lovingly amongst the difficult ways which the Church must follow, directing us in the fuliilment of our duty in the cause of the salvation of mankind, admonishing us that we should exhort the Faithiul still further to piety and to the exercise of virtue. With fier wishes it lias many and many a time been sweet to us to correspond. And among the fruits which with her blessing, we gathered aiter thèse exhortations, must be specially recorded the increase of dévotion to her rnost holy Rosary, the multiplication and new institution of Confraternities bearing this title, the diffusion of valuable writings upon the same subject, and, finally, the glory rendered to the same dévotion by the Fine Arts. This, as though the voice of the Blessed Mother were calling still more clearly at our ear, " Cry aloud and cease not," we rejoice once more, Vénérable Brethren, to speak to you of the Rosary, now at the approach cf October, the month which we, bestowing the favours of holy indulgences, hâve made sacred to this most sweet dévotion. But our subject will be chiefly neither the giving of new praises to this excellent manner of prayer, nor the urging of Christian people to use it with greater assiduity ; we shall speak of the precious gifts which the use of it will bring, gifts more thân ever needful in the condition of the times. We believe that where the dévotion of the Rosary is practised, great advantage may be gained by a thorough explanation of its fruits and conséquences as regards not individuals merely, but the whole human race.

No man is there who can now be ignorant how much we, exercising the obligations of the suprême Apostolate, hâve laboured for the civil prosperity of the world, or how strongiy we are resolved, with

the help of Grod, to persévère to the same end. We hâve warned the legislators of nations thai. they should not make nor approve laws that were out oi harmony witH the équitable rule of the Divine intention. .And we hâve adrnonished those who, by genius, merit, rank, or riches, are in positions of advantage amongst their fellows that they should conjoin force and opinion to promote and protect the chief and highest interests of human society. In that society, as it is in our day, too many causes hâve produced a relaxation of the bonds of public order, and the people are distracted frora due attention to purity of moral conduct. Among such causes three are most influential in working towards the ruin of the Commonwealth : dislike of obscure and laborious living ; répugnance to sufTering ; disregard of the happiness to corne.

We déplore— and those, indeed, also confess and déplore who acknowledge no rule except the light of reason, no restraint except that of utility — that a deep wound has been inflicted upon mankind by the neglect of those duties and virtues which may be termed private and which are ornaments of ordinary life. From this temper resuit the rébellion of children against the natural duty of obédience, and their resliveness against any kind of bringing up that is not indulgent and efFerninate. From this, too, resnlt the dislike and weariness of labourers at their daily task, their avoidance of hard work, and the discontent with which they raise their eyes to other courses, desiring we know not what impracticable equalisation of fortune. Hence, too, the gênerai tendency of men to forsake their native places and their rush to the turmoil and evil concourse of cities. Hence the destruction of equilibrium amongst the various classes of citizens ; their recklessness, the agitation of minds moved by hatred and envy ; the open attack upon established rights ; the disturb-

anee ot public peace, and the hostility against authority, of those who, deluded in their vain hopes, assume the part of agitators. Against thèse evils let a remedy be sought for in the holy Rosary, which comprises both a determined order of prayer and a méditation upon the Mysteries of Christ and of His Blessed Mother. If we but présent to the mind the Mysteries that are called Joyiul. we produce images and pictures of virtue, and make them familiar to children from their earliest years. Each may see for himself how full and how rich are the examples of righteousness that may be found therein, as an inspiration to right conduct ; and by the contemplation of thèse the soûl will be attracted with indescribable sweetness. Behold, we are before the House of Nazareth, the habitation of earthly and Divine sanctity. What a life together ! What a model of domestic association ! There abide simplicity of manners, perpétuai concord, an order never disturbed, a mutual respect and honour, not false or capricious, but proved by the assiduity of service. There lacks no industry for the gaining of ail that is needful for life ; but ail is got by the sweat of the brow, and -so much contentment is there with little — rather with the aim of lessening poverty, than with that of increasing riches. As a crown to ail this, tranquillity of soûl keeps rule, and joy of spirit, which never wholly forsake him who does righteously Now, thèse examples of humility and modesty, of patience under burdens, and of neighbourly kindness, of faithful fulfilment of the small duties that belong to daily life, and of other like virtues, entering the soûl and impressing themselves upon it, will certainly produce within it in time the wished for change and growth in good. Then will those private virtues, which so many despise, be once more pleasant and attractive, and wearisome no longer ; and conscience, made joyful and sweet

in her effect, will also be made strong to persuade and constrain. Manners will grow gentler, family life more dear, daily intercourse more loving. Ail this effect upon the individnal will become an effect upon the family, next an effect upon cities, upon nations, for thèse are ruled and formed by the unit. So wide and so great are the blessings that the society of mankind may gain !

The second great and fatal evil which we déplore, and which we can never déplore sufficiently, inasmuch as it gains way daily to the ruin of men, is the growing désire to fly from pain, the résolve to avoid and escape ail that b rings with it a touch of suffering. No longer is calm and liberty of the soûl desired as the noble reward of those who meet and overcome péril and labour with unconquerable will. Men hâve made to themselves another idéal ; the greater number of them aspire after a chimeric perfection and an illusory progress of civil society, to be rewarded and crowned with none but earthly triumphs, none but natural delights. That wild and desperate longing for happiness holds sway in too many hearts, which, even if they do not suffer the loss of ail, are inevitably enervated, and too often sink miserably under the pain of life. In this péril, too, we must flnd hope and safety in the Rosary. Men must learn to hâve spiritual hopes and generous desires. And this shall corne to pass if from their boyhood they sweetly and tranquilly pore upon the Mysteries of Sorrow. In thèse we behold how Christ, the author and finisher of our Faith, worked in such wise that we might find in his life, reduced to practice, ail that has been taught us of the necessity of bearing pain. Nay, we see Him lay hold of ail that is hardest to be borne. We contemplate Him as He grows exceedinj? sorrowful unto death, so that He sweats blood. We see him bound like a thief, subjected to the judgment of iniquity, cursed,

outraged, calumniated. We see Him struck with scourges, crowned with thorns, fastened to the Cross, judged unworthy to live, judged worthy of death, amid the clamors oi* a people. And with the pains of the Son we recall to mind the sorrows of Mary most holy, whose soûl was not wounded only, but pierced through by the sword of anguish, insomuch that she gained, and bears for ever, the name of the Mother of Sorrows. Truly he who shall not merely look, but shall meditate, upon such a splendour of suffering virtue shall be constrained to imitation. Even though this world, under the gênerai malédiction, should bring forth for him her thorns and thistles ; even though his soûl should be oppressed with distresses, and his body with disease ; yet (hère shall happen to him no evil from the hatred of men or the anger of devils, there shall happen to him no calamity, public or secret, that he shall not be strong enough to be'ar with patience. Most just is the saying, " to do and to suffer is a Christian's business." For whoever is worthy of that name cannot but imitate the suffering Christ. Under the name ot patience, however, we do not include the vain ostentation of a so .il hardened in endurance ; after the manner of certain philosophers of antiquity. We intend to describe the patience that is learnt ot Christ, Who rejected enjoyment and, overcoming humiliation, becarne obedient to the death of the Cross ; the patience that looks to Him for comfort and for grâce, that refuses not to suffer but rejoices in the face of sorrow, and counts the greatest distress for gain. The Catholic Church has had, and has ever, signal disciples of that doctrine. She has in every place, and in multitudes, men and women of every condition, who, following Christ, endure every kind of insuit and of bitterness for virtue's sake and faith's, repeating, by their 1 i te rather than their lips, the word of Thomas : " We too will go

and die with Him." May such Boble examples of constancy be yet multiplied, may they grow still more splendid, and may they gain Divine protection for civil society, virtue and glory for the Church !

And the third evil that so sorely needs healing chiefly afFects mankind in this our day. Although men in âges past mav hâve greedily amassed the wealth of this world, they yet did not despise the things of the world to corne. The wiser among the Gentil es recognised this life as a place of pilgrimage and not of abiding, as a wayside station and notas a terminus. But our contemporaries, although they are taught by the science of Christianity, for the most part lose their way in following after transitory things ; they do not merely lose the remembrance of a better country and a blessed eternity ; they deliberately intend to abolish and efface that hope. And yet the Apostle has said that we hâve hère no abiding city, but are in search of a home in the future. If we shall seek for the origin of such a disorder we shall find it chiefly in the common delusion that thought of things to corne quenches love of country and acts contrary to the prosperity of the community. There is no more foolish calumny lhan this. For that which we hope for in the life to corne does not so absorb the thoughts of man as to withdraw them altogether irom visible things ; and Christ Himself intends that we should seek first of ail the kingdom of God, yet not in such a manner as to cause our neglect of ail else. In fact the use of présent things and of the innocent pleasures that belong to them are the increat-e and the reward of virtue. The splendour and the beauty of earthly cities, which is augmented by the concourse of mankind, may inspire a thought of the magnificence of the city which is above. There is absolutely nothing lawful that contradicts human reason, nothing that opposes the counsels of religion. G-od is the

author of nature and of grâce. He wills not that the one should be hostile to the other. He would hâve them united in close alliance, not in collision, not apart, but leading by a friendly path to that immortal felicity to which the mortal is predestined. But men, given over to pleasure and loving themselves only, wilfully dégrade ail their hopes to earth and so can mount no higher. So far are they from using visible delights as incentives to hope for the eternal, that they lose ail sight of eternity. Ignoble is the state of those men. Grod can hardly inflict greater punishment than is his who abandons himself to life long self-pleasing without a thought of felicities that are to hâve no end From such péril and evil shall he be free who uses the dévotion of the Rosary with dévotion and contemplâtes the G-lorious Mysteries which it représente to him. From thèse the Christian receives great light for the discovery of those treasures which, albeit remote from corporeal sight, are yet, as we know by undoubting faith, laid up by G-od for those that love Him. From them we learn that death is not a force of disruption and destruction, but a mère passing and changing of life. We learn that the way of Heaven is open to ail men ; and, watching Christ as He returns thither, we call to mind the blessed promise He made at His departure : " I go to prépare a place for you." We learn that a time will corne in which Grod shall wipe away ail tears from our eyes, and when sorrow shail be no more, neither mourning nor weeping ; but when we shall dwell for ever together with our Grod, made like to Him, for we shall see Him as He is, when we shall drink of the torrents of His delight, shall be fellow citizens with the Saints, in the most happy companionship of our Queen and Mother, Mary. A soûl nourished upon such thoughts must needs be kindled by them, and go repeating the words of the Saint : " Oh, how vile seems the earth to me when

I look into Heaven ! " He will comfort himself, then with the word of the Apostle, who describes our tribulation hère as a light thing- when compared with the eternal weight ot ' glory. Indeed, this is the one sole way to nite time with eternity, the earthly with the heavenly city By this means alone shall noble and genorous characters be shaped. And where thèse abouud, there shall the dignity and the splendour of society be increased. Ail that is good will flourish, ail that is true, ail that is beautiful under the supernal law that is the head and front, the principle and the source, of beauty, righteousness, and truth.

Thus is the tru;h manifest of ail that we hâve affirmed respecting the precious things wherewith the holy Rosary is fruitful, and respecting its efiicacy against the wounds and woes oi human society in our day. Ail, however, will easily perceive that thèse blessings will be more directly and more largely enjoyed by those who shall enrol themselves as members of the holy Confraternities of the Rosary, who, therefore, claim them by a spécial title, and who unité together in bonds of spécial charity in the service ot the Holy Yirgin. Such Associations, authoritatively approved by the Roman PontirTs,and favoured by them with privilèges and indulgences, possess a proper form of corporation and discipline, hold meetings at stated times, and are furnished with the best means for fostering piety and for rendering true service to civil society. They are, as it were, the armies of Christ, fightinsr Uis battles in the strength of His holy Mysteries, guided in their way by the Queen of Heaven, to w7hom are paid their vows, their prayers, in whose honour are held their solemnities, their processions, highly favoured in ail âges, and especially on the day of Lepanto. Most right and salutary, therefore, is it that the instruction, multiplication and direction of such Con-

fraternaties should be undertaken, not by the sons of St. Dominic alone, although the raatter belongs particularly to them and to their Institute,^' ?t by ail who hâve the care of soûls, especially the p- -. -rs of the churches whert the Confraternities hâve b. i canonically erected. It is a wish we hâve also mu k at heart that those who are at vvork upon missioi s for carrying the doctrine of Christ to barbarouft nations or for spreading it among the civilized shou'd give spécial heed to this matter In answer to their exhortations, we doubt not that many ol the Faithful will give in their names to such Associations, and will more than ever seek to gather thence the interior blessings whereof we hâve spoken, for in thèse réside the reason and the essence of the Rosary. The example of members of Confraternities, moreover, will inspire the rest of the Faithful with more esteem and dévotion towards the Rosary, so that ail may incline, according to our earnest wish to >.eek the blessings that will so greatlv avail them.

Thèse are the hopes that encourage us, that sastain us, and — in the midst ot so much public calamity — rejoice us. Their fulfilment is in her hands who inspired and who taught the Rosary, the Mother of God and our Mother, Iviary, who hears our united prayers. We trust, Vénérable Brethren, that, by means of your own labours, our teaching and our desires may produce prospenty in iamilies, tranquility in nations, and every kind of blessing. Nor' shall there be wanring, as a pledge of the Divine assistance and a testimony of our affection, the Apostolic Bénédiction, which we impart to you, your clergy, and your people, with ail charity in the Lord.

Griven in Rome, by St. Peter's, on the eighth of September, in the sixteenth year of our Pontiticate.

t LEO PP. XIII.

5ième Série — No. 12.

CIRCULAIRE AU CLERGE

xIeohevêché d'Ottawa, le 4 janvier 1894. Contributions et Quêtes.

Chers Coopératetjrs,

Je vous prie d'agréer mes meilleurs compliments et mes vœux les plus sincères de bonne et heureuse année.

Ci-après vous trouverez le détail des contributions et quêtes de l'année 1893.

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