oloss. ii. 8.

176 Matt. xvi.

177 Matt. xvi.

178 Ibid.

179 Luke xxii. 31, 32.

180 John xxi. 16, 17.

181 Matt. viii. 20.

182 Acts iv. 34, 35.

183 Sometimes called Stephen II., as Stephen, his predecessor, died
three days after his election, whose name is omitted in some
calendars.

184 III. Kings xxi. 3.

185 II. Kings xii.

186 I dare say you could have found, a few years since, some persons in
the United States who entertained a holy fear lest the Pope should
one morning land upon our shores, and take forcible possession of
our country. A venerable clergyman once informed me that when he
went to pay his respects to President Pierce, who then occupied the
White House, his Excellency remarked to him: "I had a visit from a
nervous gentleman, who asked me whether I was making any
preparations to resist the approach of the Pope. I replied that so
far I had taken no steps, but that no doubt I would be prepared to
meet the enemy when he arrived. The man retired more composed,
though not fully satisfied."

187 Some of the evils that were predicted to follow from the occupation
of Rome by a foreign power have been too speedily realized. Already
several convents and other ecclesiastical institutions have been
seized and sold, and their inmates sent adrift. A number of colleges
founded and endowed by the piety of foreign Catholics have been
confiscated. Public religious processions through the streets of
Rome have been prohibited. These and other outrages are perpetrated
by a government which solemnly pledged itself to maintain inviolate
the sovereign rights of the Holy Father when it took forcible
possession of his city in 1870. From the events that have already
transpired, we shall not be surprised to see the Pope still more
seriously hampered by a monarch who has unscrupulously violated his
former guarantees.

188 Memoir of Pope Sixtus V., by Baron Huebner, Vol. II., ch. 1.

189 When these lines were written, Pius IX. was the reigning Pontiff. He
died February 7, 1878.

190 Some time ago, my attention was called to a certain excommunication
or "curse," then widely circulated by the press of North Carolina.
The "curse" is attributed to the Holy Father, and is fulminated
against Victor Emmanuel. In this ana