ON THE OCCASION OF HIS HAPPY RETURN FROM ROME

Publishing, lst. a Papal Encyclical denouncing and

condemning Socialism, Communism and Nihilism ;

2nd. the Letters Apostolic concerning the

Jubilee granted by Our Holv Father,

Pope Léo XIII.

JOSEPH THOMAS DUHAMEL

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

To the Clergy, to the Religions Communilies, and to ail the faithful of Our Diocèse, — Health and Bénédiction in Our Lord.

Our Dearly Beloved Brethren,

The magnificent réception which was tendered Us on the occasion of Our happy return from the Eternal City, and the joy that We felt in being once more in your midst hâve made it a pleasing duty to issue, without delay, a Letter disclosing to you some of the thoughts which Our pilgrimage suggested to Us, and

communicating two documents which will cause you to appreciate, as they deserve, the zeal, the firmness, the sweetness and the charity of the great Pope who governs the Church.

We hâve first of ail to thank you for the fervent prayers which you offered to G-od for Us during Our voyage afar. If We hâve accomplished it under most consolin^ and most favorable auspices, "We feel that We owe it to the efficacy of your prayers.

A few weeks after Our departure, We prostrated Ourself before the tomb of St. Peter and St. Paul. We rendered account to Ourself and to the Sovereign PontifF of the responsible office whose weight We hâve borne over four years. We sought to renew within Us the Apostolic spirit, at its very source whence it pervades the whole universe.

Although far removed from you, Our Dearly Beloved Brethren, during those five long months of absence, you were ail ever présent with Us at the différent stations of Our holy pilgrimage. You were with Us in Our visit to Ireland, Scotland and England. You accompained Us to the celebrated sanctuaries within which We knelt in adoration ; at St. Anne d'Auray, at Paray-le-Monial, and Notre Dame de Lourdes, to mention but three of the numerous shrines of France. You were with Us in the catacombs, so worthy of our vénération, which recall the fait h of the first Christians and the constancy of the martyrs who shed their blood for Jésus Christ. You were with Us at the holy house of Loretto, where We prayed that ail the families of Our diocèse might imitate in sanctity the holy family, who so long inhabited this house where the Divine Word became Man. Especially were you présent with Us at Our particular interviews with Léo XIII, with whom, We felt happy in conversing

a bout you. He was much moved by your faith and attachaient, and asked Us the most complète détails concerning this Diocèse, the undertakings that prosper hère, and particularly concerning our Houses of Education and Catholic societies.

If We could relate with exact fidelity those sweet and intimate conversations of which you were the subject, you would be profoundly afFected. Suffice it to say, that Léo XIII is a Father as well as a Pontiff, and from this you may form an idea of his goodness and the worth of his teachings and counsels. à.s a Father, he blessed Us, and you were allincluded with Us in his bénédiction. Léo XIII expressed this formai intention : In blessmg you, he said, I bless your Clergy, your Grand Semtnary, your Collège, your Eeligious Communities, your Catholic societies, ail school-teachers and those who attend Catholic schools, ail the faithjul of your diocèse, and remember well, he added, / make no exception, and I authorize you to bless in my name ail those who love the Pope, and every one who desires to receive the blessing of Léo "KHI. TJie blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost descend upon you and remain forever.

As PontifF, Léo XIII exposed to Us in a few words the end which, as a Catholic bishop, We should ever hâve in view, and towards which ail Our thoughts, Our words, and Our labours should he directed : Teach ail to know and love the Church. Exert yourself that the holy spouse of Christ and Mother of ail shall hâve as many defenders as she has children. See to it, your co-operators and y our self, see to it, that parents will give their children at home and provide for them at school, a Christian, a truly Catholic éducation ; and give every facility to the youth of your country to learn, besides human sciences, the Divine science of religion, that they may be always strongly attached to the Church.

At the feet of the Holy Father We bound Ourself to neglect nothing to conform to his views.

The renecting mind will easily perceive how meet are thèse words which the Chief Pastor was pleased to address Us. The Church is the immortal institution of Jésus Christ. The Church is a regular Society, clearly defined in ail the essential éléments of her constitution, and the full Divine powers of which she is the depositary. The Church exists for an évident purpose, — to be the officiai and infallible guardian of that holy religion which Jésus Christ revealed to man.

Simon Peter became the rock on which Our Lord built his Church, and his supremacy is everywhere proved in holy scripture and apostolical tradition.

To the Church is given : lst, a doctrinal power : Ail power is given to Me in heaven and in earth ; going, therefore, teach ye ail nations : data est mihi omnis potestas in cœlo et in terra. Euntes ergo, docete omnes gentes. (Matt. XXVIII, 18, 19); 2nd — A sacerdotal power, by the right to consecrate the sacred victim : Do this for a commémoration of me : Hocfacite in meam commemorationem (Luke XXII, 19); by the right to remit sins and administer the sacraments : As the Father hath sent me, I also send you ; whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain they are retained : sicut misit me Pater et ego mitto vos.... Quorum r émiser itis peccata, remittuntur eis ; et quorum retinueritis, retenta sunt (John XX, 21, 23) ; 3d, — A gubernatorial power : Et tibi daboclaves regni cœlorum (Matt. XVI, 19 ) ; I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, said Jésus Christ to Peter ; and again : Feed my lambs, feed my sheep : Pasce agnos meos (John XXI, 15) ; Pasce oves meas (ibid, lï) ; that is to say, govern ail my flock. Jésus said to the Apos-

tles assembled together : whatsoever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven ; Quœcumque alligaveritis super terrain, erunt ligota et in cœlo ; et quœcumque solveritis super terrain, erunt solutaet in cœlo (Matt. XYIII, 18), and Hehadjust declared : he that will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican : si autem Ecclesiam non audierit, sit.... sicut ethnicus et publicanus (ibid, 17). The Church has, therefore, received ail législative and executive powers that are nccessary to her existence. And Our Lord remains with his Church fore ver to préserve her infallible : Et ecce ego vobiscum sum usque ad consummationem socculi (Matt. XXVIII, 20) ; He communicates to her the spirit of truth who teacheth ail truth : Cum autem venerit Me spiritus veritatis, docebit vos omnem veritatem (John XVI, 13). So was the Church formed at her origin, and such has she existed in the world during more than eighteen centuries. The constitution of the Church is to-day the same as it was at her institution, when she issued from the cenacle,with her immortal episcopacy and the suprême authority of Peter.

Our Holy Father wishes to hâve defenders of this constitution, defenders of the Church. And as there are many men who take sides with her persecutors, through ignorance as well as through malice, Léo XIII, whilst calling upon the rulers of the world to oppose the malice of the wicked, seeks to bring.the light of heaven, the light of truth, to the eyes of ail, to dispel the clouds of error, and thereby convert many from being persecutors to be sincère and able champions. In his admirable Encyclical Letter of the 28th December, 1878, the Pope points out to us those who attack and reject, as contrary to reason, the supernatural truths of faith, and he unveils their infamous designs. Grive ear to the Pontiff who is distressed at^the sight of

those evils from which society has suffered, and must yet suffer more, if the efïicacious remédies he indicates be not immediately employed : " You readily under- " stand ihr ! \7e now speak of those sects of men who, " under dilierent and almost barbarous names, are " called Socialists, Communists or Nihilists, and who " scattered through the whole world, and closely " bound together by an unholy alliance, no longer " shelter themselves in the darkness of the secret " cabals, but boldly advance in full daylight and labor " to achieve their purpose, long since formed, of under- " mining the foundations of ail civil society. Thèse " are assuredly the persons indicated by Holy Scripu ture, who défile the flesh, uespise dominion and blasphème " majesly (St. Jude, 8). They leave whole and intact " nothing of ail that has been wisely established by " Divine and human laws for the safety and honor of " life ; they refuse obédience to those higher powers " to which the Apostle teaches us that every soûl " must be subject, which dérive from GTod the right to " rule, and they preach the absolute equality of ail " men in rights and dignities ; they dishonor the nat- " ural union of man and woman, sacred even among " barbarous nations, and they enfeeble and give over " to caprice that tie by which human society is chiefly " restrained. Seduced by that greed for wordly things " which is the root of ail evils, which, some coveting, hâve " erredfrom the failli (1 Tim. VI, 10), they attack the right " of property sanctioned by natural law,and by an abom- " inable crime, while they prétend to provide for ail " the necessities and desires of man, they labor to take " from him and render common ail that is acquired, " either by legitimate inheritance, or by labor of " mind or body, or by economy." Léo XIII combats ail thèse pernicious doctrines in order to " avert the danger and provide for the safety of the faithful " ; he condemns anew, after the example of his predecessors, ail secret societies, and he reminds

'• those who are charged to watch over the public " welfare, who hâve given proofs of suspicion and " even of injustice as regards the Church, that ail the " efforts of sects would hâve been powerless if the " doctrines of the Catholic Church and the authority " of the Roman Pontiffs had been always duly res- " pected both by princes and by peoples. For," he adds, '' it is the Church of the tiving God, the pitlar and " ground qf truth (I Tim, III, 13), which teaches the " doctrines and the principles which hâve the virtue " of completely assuring the existence and the tran- " quility of society and destroying completely ail the "deadly germs of socialism."

Our Holy Father the Pope, in concluding his Encyclical Letter, invites us to join with him in prayer. Let us implore the Sacred Heart of Jésus, let us invoke the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculate from her Conception, of St. Joseph and the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and pray that light may arise to them that walk in the shadows of death (Isaias IX, 2), and that they who hâve erred from the ways of the commandments may be instructed in the law of G-od ; that leaving their wickedness, they may believe in Jésus Christ and in His Church : Ut relicta malitia, credant in te, domine (Wisdom XII, 2.). Inorder that your prayers may be more powerful with G-od, We exhort you, Our dearly Beloved Brethren, to fulfill ail the conditions to which the Sovereign PontifF has latterly attachée! an Indulgence in the form of a Jubilee. Our Holy Father has ordered that thèse conditions must be fulfilled between the first Sunday in Lent, that is, the second day of March, and the first day of June inclusive, that is to say, Pentecost Sunday. You hâve, therefore, sufficient time to gain this Indulgence which Léo XIII has so liberally granted to the Catholic "flforld.

We also exhort you, Oui* Dearly Beloved Brethren, to persévère in your respect and submission to the Church. and your attachment to the Sacred person of the su 'ccssor of St. Peter.

Wherefore, the holy name of G-od being invoked, We ordain and decree as follows : —

lst. Priests will chant or recite, according to the rubrics, the prayer contra persecutores ecclesiœ, instead of the prayer pro quacumque necessitate.

2nd. We advise parish priests and missionaries to provide for the faithful entrusted to their care at least three days of solemn exercices. We grant permission to conclude thèse exercises every day with the bénédiction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

3rd. The five conditions to be fulfilled,to gain the Indulgence of the Jubilee, are as follows :

I. Confession and Communion with the necessary dispositions ; they must be distinct from the annual confession and paschal communion.