of the Center and some members of other parties. The whole of the press which is hostile to the Church took up the question later on, and did its best to fan the flame of irritation.
The anti-Christian spirit is still more rampant and obnoxious at the present time in France. There a godless government is making every effort to destroy the Church — to subvert the Kingdom of Christ. Faith in the divinity of Christ is also assailed in the United States and other countries by tongue and pen, and from many a pulpit and platform.
The contemptuous cry of the Jews on Good Friday: "We will not have this man to reign over us!" is to-day the battle-cry of His enemies. Therefore is Christianity to be expelled from the school, from the family, from the legislature. And for the selfsame reason the daily press becomes ever more and more unchristian; ever more shamelessly and impudently are immoral novels disseminated, a truly scandalous kind of literature.
3. Therefore it is of the utmost importance that the generation of Catholics who are now growing up, I mean Catholic young men, should fearlessly and courageously come forward and espouse the cause of Christ. Even the dread of death ought to induce no one to hold back, much less the dread of temporal loss. God will know how to protect His own in case of need. Think of what the faithful adherents of our holy religion have endured since the so-called Reformation in England and Ireland. Remember that millions of the early Christians shed their blood for Christ, amid the most cruel tortures. Those who confessed themselves to be adherents of the Christian religion were robbed and de-
