EPISCOPAL VISITATION

1SSO

SaintEugène 9, 10; 11 June.

Saint Joachim Il, 12 "

Saint Alphonse de Liguori de Hawkes-

bury 12, 13

Saint Jean Baptiste de L'Orignal 13, 14, 15 "

SaintGrégoire de Vankleek Hill 15, 16, 17 "

Saint Bernard de Fonrnierville 17, 18, 19 u

Saint Isidore de Fonrnierville 19, 20 "

Saint Victor d'Alfred 28, 29, 30 "

SaintThomas d'Alfred 30, 1, 2 Jnly.

Saint Paul de Planlagenet 2, 3, 4

Saint Lue de Gurran 4, 5, 6 c<

Wendover 6, 7 u

Sainte Félicité de Glarence-Creek 7, 8, 9 u

Saint Hughes de Sarsfield 9, 10 "

Saint Joseph d'Orléans 10, 11, 12 u

Notre Dame de Lourdes 12, 13, 14 "

Saint Albert de Cambridge 15,16 "

Saint Jacques d'Embrun 16, 17, 18 u

Sainte Catherine de Metcalf 18, 19 "

Sainte Marie de la Visitation de Glou-

cest.r 19, 20, 21

Saint Jean d'Osgoode 21, 22, 23

Sainte Brigitte de Manotic 23,24 u

Saint Judo de Nepean 26, 27 "

SaintPierre de Hichmond '27, 28

Saint Isidore de March 28, 29

Saint François-Xavier de Renfrvw 21, 22, 23Âugust

SaintPierre Gé^siin de Pakenham 23, 24, 25 *'

Saint Michel de Fitzroy 25, 26 l*

Saint Michel de Huntley 26, -27, 28

Sainte Marie d'Alumine'.' 28, 29, 30

Sud Séries? No, 22.

PASTORAL LETTER

OF

s HIS LORDSMP THE B1SH0P OF OTTAWA,

Promulgating the Encyclical of Pope Léo XIII on

Marriage.

JOSEPH THOMAS DUHAMEL

By the mercy of G-od and the favour of the Holy Apostolic See, Bishop of Ottawa.

To the Clergy and to the Faithful of Our Diocèse, Health and Bénédiction in Our Lord.

Dearly Beloved Brethren,

Enlightened by the rays which human science sheds upon the mind of man, and by the more brilliant light imparted by Divine Faith to the Christian soûl, and specially illumined, as Vicar of Christ, by the efFulgence of the Holy Ghost flooding his intelligence, Léo XIII, at the very commencement of his pontificate, detected ail the disorders that afflict this our âge, discerned their nature, and discovered the sources from which they spring.

And, like a watchful and active sentinel over his people, he lias not failed to point out those evils, nor omitted to indicate their remédies.

At one time, he addresses himself to those who, through ignorance, pride, or malice, hâve taken up arms against the Church, and calls upon them to cease their unjust warring against Religion, which alone can give them happiness and peace.

Again, he warns kings, princes and heads of governments, of the evils they may expect to befall themselves and their subjects, if they do not become reconciled to the Church, and unité with the Head of the Church in opposing a strong barrier to those threatening floods, — wicked doctrines, human passions, and secret and condemned societies ; for, as he déclares, the Church alone can restore stability to the tottering basis of civil society.

And now, in an admirable Encyclical on Marriage, he points out the dangers and evils to which domestic life is exposed, if men will not accept and faithfully adhère to the teachings of the Church on this subject.

In promulgating the Encyclical Arcanum Divnœ Sapicn'iœ, Dearly Beloved Brethren, we seek to conform to the desires of the Sovereign Pontiff, by calling your attention to the truths which he teaches in virtue of his right and duty to provide for the flock of the Divine Shepherd.

Léo XIII, the legitimate successor of St. Peter and infallible doctor of the Church, begins by establishing a principle which forms the basis of his teaching, and from which ail his conclusions are drawn. He enunciates that incontrovertible truth, taught in the Sacred Writings, that Jésus Christ, the Desired of nations, did Himself restore the world and impart to ail things a sort of new form and aspect.

It was Our Divine Saviour, the Source and Perfection of ail the works of God, whether visible or invisible, who effected the restoration of the human race, of the individual man and of society, and of ail that concerns society. It was He who repaired the min caused by Satan and his court. He renewed the kingdom of heaven, by placing soûls redeemed by the precious price of His blood upon the thrones that had remained vacant since the fall of the rebellious angels. Sin had made man the slave of the de vil, but Our Lord remedied this evil by associating man to the angels, and thus formed, of angels and of men, one Churchof winch He is the Head. Ail nature participated in this restoration 'brought about by the Son of Grod made Man, like unto us in ail things except sin.

This Divine work having been accomplished, Our Lord, wishing to préserve ail things as re-established, constituted the Church, with power to remedy whatever .disorder might arise, and effect a new restoration should there be any falling off. Behold how sublime is the mission of the Church, and what a benefactor she was destined to be in the temporal as well as in the spiritual order.

Having recalled how this gênerai restoration was accomplished, and the means Divinely established to provide against a relapse, the Pope announces the subject of his Encyclical. "We propose," hesays "totreat of domestic life, the source and foundation of which is Marriage."

" As Marriage is gifted with many divine blessings, holding, as it does, a plac » amongst the sacraments of the Church, and honored, as it was, by the présence of Our Lord Himself, it becomes the obvious duty of the pastor to expound its doctrine ; particularly when we lind that St. Paul, and the prince o

the Apostles. hâve, in many places, minutely described to us not only the dignity but also the duties of the married state. Filled with the spirit of Grod, they well ïindoistood the numerous and important advantages which must flow to Christian society from a knowledge of the sanctity and an inviolable observance of the obligations of Marriage ; whilst they saw that from an ignorance of the former, and a disregard of the latter, Marriage must prove the fertile source of the greatest evils, and the heaviest cal amitiés to the Church of God."

(Catechism of the Council of Trent — On the Sacrament of Matrimony I.)

After the example of the Apostles, charged even as they with the duty of teaching ail nations, Pope Léo XIII, points out the true origin of Marriage, its two principal properties, viz., unity and indissolubility, the dignity to which it has been raised by Our Lord, and the rights of the Church in ail matrimonial causes. He opposes and condemns erroneous doctrines anthissubject, and exposes in the clearest manner their pernicious efFects, concluding with an exhortation to the Bishops of the world to labor without ceasing to préserve the doctrine of Christ.

Hère, it will not be out of place, O. D. B. B., to introduce a few gênerai notes on Marriage.

lst. Matrimony, matrimonium, is so called from the word mater, because the principal object which a female should propose to herself in entering this state is to become a mother, and because to the mother it belongs to train up her ofTspring. Marriage is also called a " conjugal union," because the husband and wife are united, as it were, by a common yoke. It is also called " nuptials " from the Latin word nuptiœ, because it is customary for the bride to cover her face

with a veil. This observance is a mark of the modesty which should distinguish her, and also signifies the obédience and submission which the wife owes to her husband.

2o. Considered simply as a contract, Marriage is the conjugal union of man and woman, by which they are found to live together during the term of their natural life. This conjugal union is formed by the mutual consent of the man and woman in becoming husband and wife, and forms the marriage tie. The essence of Marriage consists in this tie which binds the married parties. Marriage should conform to the Divine, the natural and the positive law. St. Thomas says on this subject : *as an office of nature, Marriage is subject to the natural law ; as a social contract it is regulated to the civil law ; and as a sacrament it is governed by Divine law.

Matrimony is a holy state, because G-od is the author thereof. You will find this clearly confirmed O. D. B B., in the Enclycical which will be shortly read to you.

Considered as a sacrament, Matrimony is a sacrament which sanctifies the union between man and woman. It has its matter and its form, and itsminister who applies both together. It exists only were there is a licit or valid contract. Faith teaches us that this contract confers a particular grâce, or grâce of state, which is necessary to the married couple to sanctify their union, to fulfill their duties, and to sustain the obligations of Marriage. This grâce is due to the merits of the sufFerings and death of Our Lord Jésus Christ. It is granted to those who place no obstacle in its way, and, consequently, to whosoever receives this sacrament in a state of grâce, with the firm purpose of rendering faithful seTricfl to G-od.

'They whomarry in a state of mortal sin profane the sacrament of Marriage, and by this, sacrilège render themaelvee unwdrthyoftheblessings which Almighly

God is plcased to bestow upon those who receive this sacrament with proper dispositions, and upon their families. " (Liitle Catechismof Québec). Let ail, therefore, in whom such dispositions were wanting when they entered the married state, do penance in order tobecome filled, if the Almightyin Hisgoodness grant it, with the sacrament al grâce of which they hâve been unworthy.

Matrimony, considered as a mère natural union, has for object the propagation of the human race. But it has been raised to the dignity of a sacrament, in order that children born in wedlock may be reared to seive Grod and our Lord in the true Religion. Our Lord Jésus Christ speaks of Matrimony* as a symbol of the union that exists between Himself and His Church, and a sign of His infinité love for us.

Léo XIII conclusively proves that Marriage is a sacrament of the new law, and that the contract and the sacrament are inséparable. He explains its Divine origin, its unity and indissolubility, and infallibly expounds the doctrine that has been always recerved in the Church.

Marriage, in order to be valid, can only be contracted by parties free from certain impediments, and who conform to ail the formalities prescribed by the Church under pain of invalidity. To be licit, the parties contracting marriage require to follow in ail points the canon laws regulating the célébration thereof.

The Pope, 0. D. B. B., in his Encyclical Letter describes the corruption and dégradation of those, who, not submitting to the laws of Grod, regard Marriage only as a means for the gratification of their most shameful passions. With great force he excites us to an intense loathing for ail impurity, and proves that

the Catholic Church is justified in opposing divorce, and ail else that can in any way mar the sanctity of Marriage. Be you, therefore, attached to the teachings of the Church in this as in ail other matters. May they who are united by the sacred bond of conjugal union, scrupulously practice the chastity and the fidelity of married life, without which they cannot be happy, nor hope to bequeath to their children the glorious héritage of an unsullied réputation. May those who intend to embrace the married state, shun bad company and avoid criminal assiduities, those occasions of so many thoughts, so many desires, so many words, and often of actions too which morality condemns, and which alas ! too frequently end in alliances to be deplored in every respect. Let us hope that their préparation to receive this sacrament, which St. Paul calls great, may be Christ ian-like and in accordance wTith the will of Q-od. They should pray beforehand with great fervor, and render their union happy by frequenting the sacraments, and by an aversion for sin and ail the occasions thereof. Oh ! wThy do so many young men and women, in a matter which so much concerns their welfare, forget their duty, and by their improper conduct, sow the seeds of a life of unhappiness, grief and malédiction !

But O. î). B. B., let us turn away our thoughts and our view from the depths into which the corrupt of heart plunge themselves, and contemplate Our Divine Lord, as the Restorer of the family in accordance with the designs of the Creator. He restored to the family ail that tho malice and the passions of m an had deprived it of, and reformed it by the sanctity which he attached to the nuptial cérémonies. This sanctity of the conjugal union supposes and exacts the performance of certain duties.

Wherefore, O. D. B. B., the Common Father of the faithful, having shown in what consiste the perfection

and completeness oi Christian Marriage, exposes in a few words to parents and to children their reciprocal duties and rights. Both should meditate constantly on thèse important principles, and conform their conduct thereto.

Do you, then, reflect on thèse duties and rights : lst. The first obligation binding the husband, is to entertain a conjugal life for his wife, to bestow his heart upon her alone, and to dévote his whole person to her. This love, directed as it should be by Religion, is a chaste and Christian love. A well disposed husband will love his partner loyally as his wife. He will treat her with kindness and considération, never in an immodest and libertine manner, nor with haughtiness and disdain. He should also avoid giving her unnecessary pain, and ail whims of humor and movements of impatience likely to disturb the harmony, the calmness and the peace of conjugal union.

2nd. The Christian wife should be a model of chastity. It must not be imagined that marriage ever furnishes an excuse for indécent behaviour, immodesty in dress, license in discourse, or familiariaties with persons of an opposite sex. In ail states of life the Christian law obliges us to be chaste and reserved, and a wifes relations towards her husband should be governed iccordingly. As the wife is charged in particular with the care of domestic concerns, she should know how to direct and manage ail household afîairs. Amongst other important obligations, there is this strict one, of preventing, as far as possible, the commission of any sin, above ail a grievous one, by any one under her control. She is, moreover, obliged to obey her husband in ail things not contrary to the law of G-od.

3rd. NowT, as to the duties of married people in regard to their office as heads of family, they may be thus briefly expressed : — The laws of nature, honor,

and Religion oblige parents to provide for the éducation of their children. Parents owe them a tender care during their infancy ; support, instruction, and tutors during youth, and to establish them in some state when of âge.

4th. Children, your duties towards your parents are : love, respect, obédience, and assistance in spirituals and temporals : In opère, et sermone. et omni patientid, honora patrem tuum. (Eccli. III, 9.

For the présent, 0. D. B. B., we shall not dwell at greater length upon thèse serious obligations.

Let us continue to give ear to the wise instructions of the Pope. Having represented how Our Lord restored Matrimony, he proceeds to show under what jurisdiction He has placed it.

" Accordingly Christ, when He had placed again marriages on so high and excellent a plane, confidod and commended to the Church the whole discipline touching them. She has exercised her authority over the marriages of Christians at ail times as well as in every place, and exercised it so that it would appear that it was her own peculiar prérogative, not derived from the concession of men, but Divinely acquired from the will of her founder. It is better known than to need proof how vigilant she has been, and with how many cares she has sought to establish the sanctity of marriages so that her own security might remain with them.

And, indeed, we know that dissolute and free amours were condemned by the Council of Jérusalem ; that a citizen of Corinth was condemned for incest by the authority of St. Paul ; that still in the same line of firmness the attempts of very many sects, who attacked Christian marriage, were repulsed and exploded, namely, the Griiosties, Manicheans, and Montanists in

the very beginnings ot' the Christian system ; and within our own memory, the Mormons, the followers of Saint Simon, the Phalansterians and Communists.

In like manner the equable and uniform right of matrimony amongall was established; the old distinction between the freedman and the slave being abolished, the rights of husband and wife were placed upon an equal footing ; for as St. Jérôme said : "Among us what is not lawful for women, is not any more lawful unto men.' And the same subjection is placed upon a similar condition ; and their same rights were nrmly based on the interchange of kindly feeling and attentions ; the dignity of women was asserted and championed ; it was forbidden to the husband to slay the adulteress for wantonly and shamefully violating her plighted troth. And it was also a great thing that the Church., in relation to the powers of the heads of families, imposed restraints, so far as was needed, lest there should be any abridgement of the just freedom of sons and daughters désirons of entering the married state : that she decreed that there could be no marriages between relations by blood or afhnity within certain degrees, in order that the supernatural love of husband and wife might be diffused over a wider field ; that she took care to ward off error, force, and fraud, as far as she could from the nuptial tie ; that she wished the security of persons, the honor of marriage, the holy modesty of the nuptial relation, the safety of religion to be overshadowed by her protecting power. In fine, with such force and wisdom did she fortify that institution of the Divine laws, that no one can be an impartial judge of things who does not understand, in this very chapter which is devoted to marriages, that the Church is the best custodian and champion of the human race ; where wisdom has corne out victorious over the flight of the âges, the insults of men, and the countless vicissitudes of publie affairs."

You now understand, 0. D. B. B., that " the

Church alone has authority and power to assign a forai to the matrimonial contract, raised to the most sublime dignity of asacrament, and that, conséquent^, she is the only judge of the validity or the invalidity of marriages. This is so plain and so évident that, in order to check the temerity of those who in writings or in speech upheld, as many yet do, ideas contrary to the teachings of the universal Church, and the usage sanctioned since Apostolic times, the holy Council of Trent annexed to its decrees a spécial canon declaring anathema against whosoever would prétend that matrimonial causes do not belong to ecclesiastical judges." Hère it may be well to remark that when Pius VI uttered thèse words, he did so in his capacity as teacher, seated on the chair of Peter, commissioned by our Lord to instruct his brethren and confirm them in the faith. This jurisdiction given to the Church is such that it admits of no exception, and no limitation whatever.

Léo XIII asserts anew the right of the Church to institute impediments of Marriage. It is an easy matter to prove that this doctrine is based upon the universal and constant tradition followed from the days of the Apostles down to our own. If we read the VII chapter of the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, we will find that the Apostle lays down a law regulating Marriage when one of the parties to the union has embraced the faith. And the Apostle takes spécial care to explain that he has not received this law from Our Lord, but that he enacts it himself: I speak, not the Lord. It is in virtue of his office that he acts thus, as minister of the Church and interpréter of thèse words of his Divine Master : whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it thall be bound a/so in heaven; and lohatsoever thou shall loose on earth, it thall be loosed a/so in heaven. (Matt. XVI. 19). He held, therefore, that the Church had the right to regulato wh&tever concernée! Malrimony without the interfér-

once of governments or any other secular authority. To deny this right to the Church, or to sustain that she has erred in establishing mvalidating impediments to Marriage, incurs anathema.

If 0. D. B. B., any amongst you, inquire what authority temporal governments exercise over Marriage, ¥e reply : The state has a right to make laws concerning the temporal concerns of Marriage ; it can regulate the civil effects of Marriage, the respective rights of husband and wife over the goods of the conjugal community ; but over the Marriage tie or natural contract, without which there is no sacrament, it has no jurisdiction. Human or civil laws, says St. Thomas, are not sufficient to establish impediments of Marriage ; the authority ofthe Church is necessary to do this. If the legislators of a country would decree anything concerning the validity or invalidity of Marriage, or obstruct on this question the fullliberty ofthe Church, such législation might, perhaps, be accepted, for want of better, as a lesser evil, but never could be admitted as legitimate, nor be approved of, against thé laws and discipline of the Church. Ail responsibility for such législation would be attachcd to the ruling powers.

G-overnments who sincerely désire the préservation of public morals and the peace of families should conform, in ail that relates tothe question of Marriage, to the wise régulations of the Church. Otherwise, there would be conflict between ecclesiastical power and civil dominion. The same marriage would be valid in the eyes of the Church, and null in the eyes of the state, or valid in the eyes of the state and null in the eyes of the Church. What advantage would accrue to the state from such a conflict ? The Church has received power to bind and to loose. Let the state, therefore, recognise as bound those whom she déclares

to be bound, and as free those whom she déclares to be free.

We bave reason to be thankful, 0. D. B. B., that we live in a land where the holy oharacter of Matrirnony is so well understood, that its laws do not admit of civil Marriage, but requirethat Marriage, to be légal, must be celebrated in the présence of a minister of Religion. But alas ! why does the Constitution under which we live give to Parliament the power of granting, in certain cases, a bill of divorce, since our Lord Himself has said of the husband and wife * Noiv they are not two, but one flesh. What the refore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. Quod ergo Deus conjunxit, homo non separet. (Matt. XIV, 6). Nothing can be plainer than this language. And it behooves us to call upon our Catholic représentatives, and those who call themselves Christians, to repeal anything in our Constiution which is diametrically opposed to the doctrine of our Divine Saviour, that it is never permitted to grant divorce. They know that no human authority can dissolve the nuptial union, once validly contracted, and that to permit husband or wife, during the lifetime of one or the other, to become a party to a new alliance, is to legalize concubinage. It is unnecessary to reply at any length to the objection drawn from this passage in St. Matthew, XIV, 9 : Whoever shall put avmy his wife, except it be for fornication, and, shall marry another, committeth adu/tery. Hère is the complète answer in a few words : The meaning to be attached to the above text is, thaï it is permitted a husband to put away his wife for adultery, but it is prohibited him, having put her away, to marry another. This explanation is in perfect accord with what we read in St. Mark and St. Luke, where it is ab>olutoly déclarai whotœver sW/ put away his wifi and marry

anofhery commit teth aâultery. They, î hère fore, are to be regarded as adulterers who, their husbands or wifes yet living, hâve wedded others, even if they hâve done so in virtue of a bill of divorce.

Before bringing this Letter to a conclusion, We feel that some few remarks are necessary on the subjet of mixed marriages, or marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics. Such alliances should be shunned for the following reasons :

lst. It requires a dispensation of the Holy See to render nîixed marriages licit, and this dispensation must be based upon solid reasons. Certainly, a whimsical affection or foolish passion is not a sufficient reason, and yet, what else leads to most of those unions which are always to be regretted, because the conséquences are always déplorable. Whenever the Church permits a mixed marriage, it is always to avoid some greater evil, and they who force her to such an extremity, should tremble through fear of being deprived of Grods blessings.

2nd. For the truth, indeed, is that dispensations are often granted by the Holy See through fear lest the parties interested présent themselves before a Protestant minister to be married, and their children exposed to eternal loss by being reared up in error, the Protestant party not having strictly bound himself to leave full control of them to the Catholic, to bring them up in the true faith. Now, can thèse Catholics be regarded as innocent who, by their obstinacy, place the Church in the painful necessity of départ ing from her laws, which are of such strict obligation, and on the observance of which she has always so strongly insisted.

3rd. In such circumstances, can they be considered as prepared for the grâces of the sacrament which

they propose to receive — those treachorous Catholics, who, in case the Church refuse the dispensation they so arrogantly demand, are ready to présent themselves to be married betore a man who seeks the destruction of our Holy Religion ? Ls it not, on the contrary, to be feard that they will be deprived of thèse grâces, on account of their evil dispositions ? And ought not this of itself be sufficient to fill you with a sovereign abhorrence for engagements so injurious to the fait h ?

4th. The Protestant party, in order to obtain a dispensation, makes oath on the holy Bible, to allow the Catholic party ail liberty in the practice of Religion. And yet how many Catholics hâve lost the faith though the fault of their Protestant consorts ? And, consequently, what a number of perjuries to be charged to marriages of this kind justly condemned by God?

5th. The Protestant party likewise swears on the faith of the holy Evangely to allow the children of both sexes, who may be born of this marriage, full and perfect liberty to profess the Catholic Religion. But how many children, nevertheless, become victims of the proselytism of their Protestant parents ! And, in conséquence, how repeatedly is that most holy and solemn act of religion violât ed !

6th. It too often happens that both parties, having given their consent in marriage before a Catholic priest, hâve recourse to a Protestant minister to renew it. Can there be a greater humiliation than this for Holy Church. to see her acts treated by her own children as useless and void ?

7th. As the Church refuses to accompany mixed marriages with any sacred rite, it not unfrequently happens that the parties interested, displeased at this absence of ceremony, hâve recourse to the minister, with expressions of contempt for the very small service proposed to be rendered by the Catholic priest.

8th. Even if the Protestant party does not restrict the Catholic in the exercise of the duties of Religion, and is esteemed libéral in the care and éducation of the children, nevertheless, it cannot be denied that there is a something essential wanting in the bosom of the family, namely, the principle of faith, which alone, is the life of a good éducation. It is well known, that in order to bring up good children, it is not sumcient not to speak to them against Religion, but it requires to constantly repeat to them the truths of Religion, by which Christian virtues are nourished in the heart.

9th. If the parties live agreably together, as sometimes may happen, then what bitter grief must the Catholic feel, seeing his or her Protestant consort in the toils of error ?— and what torture of mind night and day, fearing lest this husband or wife so well loved be forever lost, if overtaken in error by death ?

lOth. But when half the children are raised in Protestantism, as commonly happens, how a good mother's heart is constantly pierced by the thought that thèse children so dear to her, may, perhaps, be finally lost. A heavy weight of affliction is constantly upon her, in the privation of the happiness of teaching those she has brought into the wxorld how to serve G-od as He desires on earth, in order to be happy with Him in Heaven.

The above reasons, and a thousand others, ought to be a warning to ail not yet blinded by a foolish passion. (Questions on Marriasre published by Mgr. Ig. Bourget, Feb. 9th. 1859).

In conclusion, 0. D. B. B., We would ask you to remember that thèse instructions concerning Christian Marriage concern the préservation of civil society and of the family, as well as the eternal salvation of soûls. We exhort you, therefore, to receive them as docile and submissive children. May G-od grant that they will be received by. ail and for ail time.

In order that they may be known to ail the faithful intrusted to Our care, the holy name of Grod being invoked, "We ordain as follows :

lst. The Encyclical Arcanum Divinœ Sapienfiœ shall be read at the prone, the Sunday folio wing the reading of the présent Pastoral Letter.

2nd. Sunday, the thirtieth, or the Sunday following, after the Parochial Mass, the Litany of theBlessed Virgin shall be chanted, or at least recited, to obtain through the intercession of the Mother of G-od : lst. the blessing of heaven on ail the families of this Diocèse ; 2nd. the necessary grâces for ail those about to enter the bonds of Matrimony, in order to prépare themselves worthily, and that they may regard with pious abhorrence mixed marriages, and ail other alliances which the Church forbids, and the impediînents to which she only dispenses of in exceptional cases.

Shall the présent Pastoral Letter be read at the prune, in full at one time or in parts, beginning the lirst Sunday after its réception, in ail churches where public service is held.

Griven at Ottawa, under Our hand and the seal of tliï Diocèse, and countersigned by Our Secretary, this twentieth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and eighty.

t J. THOMAS, Bp. of Ottawa.

By Command,

M. J. WlIELAN, Secretary.