The Virgin Mother of Good Counsel - the Catholic Kingdom!

16 THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOOD COUNSELand that they had kept their faith under trials wellcalculated to subvert it. And as to the temporalsovereignty of the Pope, he found that, so far frombeing opposed to it, the bulk of the people in theRoman States would gladly receive back the temporalgovernment of their beloved Pontiff to-morrow. Theyhave abundant reason, and they know it well. Thenew regime has brought upon them an intolerableburden df taxation. It brings the leva or conscription todesolate many a happy home. It gives liberty to sin, todesecrate the Sabbath, to insult religion apd ruin morals;but it forges chains for the Church, for the ministersof the altar, and in a hundred ways harasses boththe religion and the religious sentiments of the people.It makes continual efforts by means of hired mobs andnewspaper correspondents, to blind public opinionin England and France, which - and not the Italianpeople as a whole - creakd united Italy. Thereforethe stories from Rome about popular hatred forreligion, and the sad episodes of insults to pilgrims,and outrages such as that which was offered to theremains of the late venerated Pontiff Pius IX.15. The nature of the trials through which theCatholic people of Italy have passed in this generationis known to all. No people on this earth haveexperienced to a greater extent the dark, insidious,and long continued efforts of the infidel, secret-societies.But neither persecution nor seduction has beenable to destroy or even to weaken their faith. So faras the great bulk of the population is concerned, thatfaith is to-day stronger and more fervent than ever.The writer believes this to be owing to their intensePRIVATE USE ONLY