ct, which, as has been shown, was
destined to prove a failure. It is almost superfluous to say that the
parishioners studiously avoided all communication in things spiritual with
the nominees of the State. Meanwhile, the faithful people were not left
destitute. Zealous young priests from the seminaries visited them
privately at their houses, and ministered to their religious wants. Such
as so acted were arrested and conducted to the frontier. They returned by
the next railway train. They were then cast into prison. As soon as they
were free they returned to the post of duty. There was in Germany a
revival of the Primitive Church--of the zeal and self-sacrifice of the
apostolic age. All this was met by the closing of the seminaries, the
severest blow that had, as yet, been struck against the cause of religion.
The chancellor, nevertheless, was not successful. The newspapers in his
interest, which he designated as the _reptile press_, laughed at his
short-sightedness. He had counted on accomplishing his purpose by some six
months of persecution. Generations would not suffice. The endurance of the
Church is unconquerable. It is as an anvil which wears out many hammers.
That which Chancellor Bismarck applied, so vigorously, will prove to be no
exception.(11) Southern Germany, it is a pleasure to record, abhors the
ridiculous _Kulturkampf_ of Chancellor Bismarck. Louis II., of Bavaria,
would fain follow in his wake. But, as is shown by the large Catholic
majorities at the elections, he is not seconded, even passively, as in
Prussia, by the Bavarian people. The persecution, attended by its
essential results, is rendering all Germany more Catholic than ever. When
its work shall have been accomplished, what will remain? The Church or the
_Kulturkampf_?

In the meantime many innocent persons must suffer: many time-honored
institutions will have been swept away: in the pursuit of an ideal
civilization, and by means of cruelties unworthy of an enlightened age,
many monuments which owed their origin to the superior civilizing power of
Christianity will have disappeared forever. In addition to all this,
feelings hostile to the Church, and prejudices hurtful as they are
groundless, are everywhere created. Pius IX. complained of this
unfortunate state of things, when he said (10th January, 1875): "The
revolution, not satisfied with persecuting Catholics in Prussia, excites,
on both sides of the Alps, those governments which profess to