Donahoes Magazine, Volume 15, No. 1, January 1886 | Page 2

339. The Ten-Commandment Theory,
346. The Paschal Candle, 352. The Irish as Conspirators, 362. The
National Catholic University, 407. Thot's of Ireland, 423. The

Middogue, 424. The Passion, 430. The Holy Mass, 446. The
Instruments of the Passion, 464. The New Era, 465. Terrence V.
Powderly, 561. The Keegan Challenge Fund, 564. The Providence
Cathedral, 546. Three Decisions, 551.
U.
Useful Knowledge, 95, 209, 305.
V.
Vindication, 58.
W.
What English Catholics are Contending For, 276. William J. Onahan,
467.
* * * * *
[Illustration: HIS EMINENCE JOHN CARDINAL MCCLOSKEY.
See page 18.]

DONAHOE'S MAGAZINE.
* * * * *
Vol. XV.
BOSTON, JANUARY, 1886.
No. 1.
* * * * *
"THE future of the Irish race in this country, will depend largely upon
their capability of assuming an independent attitude in American

politics."--RIGHT REV. DOCTOR IRELAND, St. Paul, Minn.

[Illustration: Coat of Arms]
Encyclical Letter
OF OUR MOST HOLY LORD LEO XIII., BY DIVINE
PROVIDENCE POPE,
CONCERNING THE CHRISTIAN CONSTITUTION OF STATES.
TO ALL THE PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES, ARCHBISHOPS AND
BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC WORLD, IN THE GRACE AND
COMMUNION OF THE APOSTOLIC SEE,
LEO PP XIII.
Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction.
The work of a merciful God, the Church looks essentially, and from the
very nature of her being, to the salvation of souls and the winning for
them of happiness in heaven, nevertheless, she also secures even in this
world, advantages so many and so great that she could not do more,
even if she had been founded primarily and specially to secure
prosperity in this life which is worked out upon earth. In truth,
wherever the Church has set her foot she has at once changed the aspect
of affairs, colored the manners of the people as with new virtues and a
refinement unknown before--as many people as have accepted this have
been distinguished for their gentleness, their justice, and the glory of
their deeds. But the accusation is an old one, and not of recent date, that
the Church is incompatible with the welfare of the commonwealth, and
incapable of contributing to those things, whether useful or ornamental,
which, naturally and of its own will, every rightly-constituted State
eagerly strives for. We know that on this ground, in the very beginnings
of the Church, the Christians, from the same perversity of view, were
persecuted and constantly held up to hatred and contempt, so that they
were styled the enemies of the Empire. And at that time it was

generally popular to attribute to Christianity the responsibility for the
evils beneath which the State was beaten down, when in reality, God,
the avenger of crimes, was requiring a just punishment from the guilty.
The wickedness of this calumny, not without cause, fired the genius
and sharpened the pen of Augustine, who, especially in his Civitate Dei,
set forth so clearly the efficacy of Christian wisdom, and the way in
which it is bound up with well-being of States, that he seems not only
to have pleaded the cause of the Christians of his own time, but to have
triumphantly refuted these false charges for all time. But this unhappy
inclination to complaints and false accusations was not laid to rest, and
many have thought well to seek a system of civil life elsewhere than in
the doctrines which the Church approves. And now in these latter times
a new law, as they call it, has begun to prevail, which they describe as
the outcome of a world now fully developed, and born of a growing
liberty. But although many hazardous schemes have been propounded
by many, it is clear that never has any better method been found for
establishing and ruling the State than that which is the natural result of
the teaching of the Gospel. We deem it, therefore, of the greatest
moment, and especially suitable to our Apostolic function, to compare
with Christian doctrine the new opinions concerning the State, by
which method we trust that, truth being thus presented, the causes of
error and doubt will be removed, so that each may easily see by those
supreme commandments for living, what things he ought to follow, and
whom he ought to obey.
It is not a very difficult matter to set forth what form and appearance
the State should have if Christian philosophy governed the
commonwealth. By nature it is implanted in man that he should live in
civil society, for since he cannot attain in solitude the necessary means
of civilized life, it is a Divine provision that he comes into existence
adapted for taking part in the union and assembling of men, both in the
Family and in the State, which alone can supply adequate facilities for
the perfecting of life. But since no society can hold together unless
some