aliment should prove to be corrupt or
deleterious, it will not fail to carry moral disease and death to the
entire system. Hence the awful obligations we are under, at the peril of
our souls, of watching over the education of the people whom God has
intrusted to our charge.

"Listen to the emphatic words in which the present illustrious Pontiff
sets forth the dangers to which youth is exposed at the present time,
and the duties which are placed upon the pastors of the people in this
regard. 'It is incumbent upon you,' he says, 'and upon ourselves, to
labor with all diligence and energy, and with great firmness of purpose,
and to be vigilant in everything that regards schools, and the
instruction and education of children and youths of both sexes. For you
well know that the modern enemies of religion and human society, with a
most diabolical spirit, direct all their artifices to pervert the minds
and hearts of youth from their earliest years. Wherefore, they leave
nothing untried; they shrink from no attempt to withdraw schools, and
every institution destined for the education of youth, from
the authority of the Church and the vigilance of her holy
pastors.'--_Encycl. Letter of Pius IX., eighth December, 1849._

"Such are the words of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, which show the
responsibility under which we are placed, and point out our duty to
protect from the insidious snares laid for their destruction the lambs
of the fold--that most helpless but precious portion of the flock of
Jesus Christ which the prophet represents as carried in His bosom."

_Mixed System again Condemned._

Again, in 1859, 1862, 1863, 1867, and 1869, the Irish Bishops renewed
their condemnation of the godless system, and demanded for their
children the advantage of truly Catholic education.

_Unanimity of Catholic Bishops throughout the World on this Point._

The Bishops of Prussia, of Austria, of Belgium, of Holland, of Canada,
and of the United States, in their pastorals, their synodical addresses,
and in their other publications, condemn with one accord the mixed
system, and declare that education based upon our holy religion is alone
suitable for Catholic children. Not to multiply quotations, it will
suffice to cite the following extract from the address of the Plenary
Synod of the Church of the United States, held at Baltimore, in the year
1866. That Council was one of the most numerous assemblies held after
the Council of Trent, un