socialism or communism, endeavour to annul the commandments of God, by which we are forbidden, not only to take away unjustly. but even to covet the possessions of others. What shall I say" he adds——"of those who, pretending to promote the interests of society, preach up sedition and licentiousness, under the sacred name of liberty, and impugn that subordination and respect to established authority that ore prescribed in the Gospel and are necessary for the welfare of every State?" In l850 he presided at the National Council of Thurles, and delivered the Synodical address, which was unamimously adopted by the bishops, and in which occur those words:—"We caution you also against those publications in which loyalty in treated as a crime, a spirit of sedition is insinuated, and efforts are made to induce you to make common cause—to sympathise with, those apostles of socialism and infidelity, who, in other countries, under the pretence of promoting civil liberty, not only undermined the foundations of every government, but artfully assailed the rights of the Apostolic See and sought for the destruction of the Holy Catholic Church." The address condemned "secret and illegal combinations" and concluded with Scripture quotations, including St. Paul's injunction,—"Let every soul be subject to higher powers; for there is no power but from God; and those that are, are ordained of God," etc. The address of the Catholic University Committee signed, in the same year, by the four Archbishops, breathes a similar spirit of loyalty, and says : "Should the Sovereign of these Realms ever have to invoke the loyalty of the well disposed against the designs of turbulent men, tho youth brought up in a Catholic University would be found in the front rank of the defenders of order; and hence, the British statesman who would surround the throne with devoted subjects, and give to society good citizens, must, on the grounds at least of a wise State policy, sincerely desire to see the youth of Ireland brought up according to the strict principles of the Catholic Faith." When all the Irish Bishops drew up an address to their flocks on the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, they urge as the surest means of defeating that penal measure “ the fulfilment of all your duties, loyalty to the Crown and obedience to the constituted authorities." In 1853, when the Convents were threatened with penal legislation, Archbishop Cullen and the Bishops of the Dublin province exhorted their flocks “to use all legitimate means of petition and remonstrances, which the Constitution places at your disposal," but to avoid betrayal "into an open and violent resistance to authority." Persecution—they observe—"has been oftentimes our lot; its vestiges are indelibly engraved on the surface of our country; but no provocation, no trials could eradicate the spirit of submission, obedience and loyalty, with which our forefathers were animated. Let the post he the guide for the future, and whether in good or ill fame, whether protected or persecuted, let us he always good and faithful subjects of the realm." Addressing, in 1860, a similar meeting in Marlboro-street Cathedral, Archbishop Cullen said that "our principles, as Catholics, render us hostile to all seditious practices," and that "we repudiate and condemn resistance to lawful authority, and denounce treason and rebellion wherever they may spring up.”
Secret societies and illegal combinations ware denounced by all the Archbishops and Bishops assembled in Dublin, in 1861, and by a pastoral letter from Archbishop Cullen, who describes them as hostile to the Church. "It cannot be. denied," he says, "that wherever secret societies and a revolutionary spirit prevail, religion is soon destroyed, and tho worst principles of error and indifferentism introduced."
In the same year, in another pastoral, the Archbishop warned the people "against secret and other unlawful associations," some "bound by oath. and others professing to do nothing secretly but to carry out their projects under the eyes of the public." In one of these associations "inventives have been uttered against the Catholic. clergy. because they would not. ailment to applaud wild
also Ireland and the Holy See; A Retrospective 1866 v. 1883. Illegal and Seditious Movements in Ireland, contrasted with the principles of the Catholic Church, as shown in the Writings of Cardinal Cullen Rome: Printed at the Propaganda Press, May 1883.
