The Virgin Mother of Good Counsel - the Catholic Kingdom!

V111PREFACEof Italy, has had ample opportunity of witnessing whathe here asserts. He visited that country for the firsttime early in the spring of the past year; and heconfesses, he was prepared to see everywhere a greatdecay of religion in a nation where the Church hadbeen universally plundered , where the SupremePontiff was dethroned and imprisoned, where thereligious orders were suppressed, where the publicobservance of the Lord's Day and of many Christianpractices had been legally abolished , where therecognition of Catholicity by the State was made acruel farce, and where, in fine, the most formidableatheism the world has ever seen was, with supremepolitical power in its hands, astutely planning theeradication of Christianity from the social, political,and even individual life of the people.The aspect of some streets in several great citieson Sundays and festivals , the casual conversationof employds and others interested in the existinggovernment , the language of journals circulatingamongst the party in power, were calculated, at first,to confirm his worst fears. But fortunately for a morecorrect knowledge of Italy his stay was prolonged.Impaired in health after twenty years of missionarylabour in Australia, he was advised to try for aPRIVATE USE ONLY