strength to politics, but only to the service of God and the cause of souls."

During the succeeding years this tireless worker and zealous religious preached many sermons. In nearly all the large cities of France he was heard preaching occasional sermons. Along with other Dominicans, he busied himself preaching missions, retreats, etc. As in 1871 he was sent to the General Chapter of Ghent to represent his province, so in 1898 he went to the General Chapter of Avila as a Definitor. His apostolic travels closed with the magnificent oration delivered at Rheims on the occasion of the fourteenth centenary of the baptism of Clovis, the King of the Franks. After this he confined his preaching to the convent church at Havre, where he preached the Lent year after year. In 1881 he was elected Prior of this convent. There he celebrated (A. D. 1901) the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood. The golden jubilee of his religious profession was celebrated on the 31st of May, of last year. As the convent had been confiscated by the Government, this celebration had to be held otherwhere than within its hallowed walls. With what emotions his heart was filled may be seen from the following, which he wrote to a friend at the time of the jubilee :

"With my brethren, I have been ejected from the convent, so that I am living here in a modest little home where my days are spent between prayer and study. My latest work on 'Prayer' has just appeared. At present I am working on a continuation of this book. On the 31st of next May, I shall celebrate in the closest retirement and with absolute simplicity the golden jubilee of my religious profession. For the rest, overcome by the remembrance of the many graces and favors I have received from my God and deeply grateful for all of these, I am with fear and trembling awaiting His call to judgment, ter

rified by the awful account which I must needs render, yet encouraged by the remembrance of His infinite mercy. If I could but spend this anniversary in the circle of my brethren I should kneel before them and beg their forgiveness for the many imperfections which in my long life must have been offensive and disedifying to them. I should ask them all to forgive and forget the bad example I have given them. I should say to them, Oh, my brethren, have pity on me a poor old sinner. Pray to God that I may have the grace to die a happy death. In turn, I shall remember you and pray God to make you holier, better and more perfect than I have been."

P. Monsabre was a religious of deep piety.

On Sunday, the 24th of February, 1907, Pere Janvier closed his Lenten sermons in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris with the following:

"Pere Monsabre is no more. In his death the Dominican Order has lost one of its most illustrious members and the whole Church a faithful servant. For more than twenty years he stood in this pulpit and preached the word of God with an inerrancy of judgment, a majesty of speech and a general impressiveness the memory of which can never die, for the guardian angels of this basilica will keep alive the remembrance of Pere Monsabre and his imperishable conferences. Banished from his convent, he died in exile like one despised and rejected. It was not vouchsafed to him to hear amid the gathering gloom. of death the voices of his brethren singing the hymn to their heavenly Queen and Mother, that hymn which comforts the dying and fans the embers of hope into a bright and steady flame.* Now

*When a Dominican is dying, the members of the community gather around his deathbed and sing the "Salve Regina." In all Dominican convents the "Salve Regina" and the "O Lumen," a hymn to St. Dominic, are sung daily just after compline has been chanted.

Cardinal Archbishop of Paris was represented by Canon Pousset, the Archpriest of Notre Dame.

The Mass was celebrated by the Very Rev. Father Roland, O. P., with Father Gallois, O. P., as deacon and Father de Kerdanet, O. P., as subdeacon.

After the Gospel, Mgr. Fuzet, Archbishop of Rouen, preached a most eloquent and impressive sermon upon the following text: "They that instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity." At the conclusion of the Mass His Grace gave the absolution, assisted by the Canon Pousset, Archpriest of Notre Dame, Paris, and the V. Rev. Pere Boulanger, O. P.

The funeral service being ended the procession moved slowly and solemnly from the church to the cemetery of St. Mary, where the mortal remains were tenderly given back to mother earth to await the summoning note of the judgment trumpet.

N view of the religious persecution which, in the Latin countries of Europe, has been in progress for the past few years, one is inclined to seek for its cause and, if possible, its remedy. Is the reason to be found in the temperament of the Southern European, or in the circumstances that surround him? If in neither, then in what? To assign but one cause would be both unphilosophical and unhistorical; for like every other great social fact it has many causes, it is the resultant of numberless forces, originating in the very substance. of man's nature, reaching down to the abode of the infernal powers, and again upward to the great white throne from which an all-guiding Providence is directing the movements of the universe.

Historical events long past, individuals, now gone, who have left their impress upon their national character, the writings of a Voltaire, a Renan,—these, together with the prevailing indifference in matters of faith and a traditional and habitual religious persecution, have contributed to create that disposition in the people which permits a few well-disciplined Masons to carry on successfully their warfare against the Church.

Yet, whatever may have preceded and prepared the way for this oppression, it was not too late even at the last moment to provide an effectual remedy. Aside from the supernatural means which are always at the disposal of the Church and with which she must never dispense, aside from continual prayer, suitable natural means of defense might have been employed. No miraculous intervention of divine power is to be expected until every human effort has been made and every human resource exhausted to

bring about a deliverance from this persecution. But what means ought the Catholics to have employed? To begin with, such means as would be suitable to meet the existing difficulties, such as would be fitted to remove those difficulties, to cope with the enemy's forces. Now, what is there that characterizes the ranks of the Church's enemies? Where lies the secret of their success? It is chiefly found, not in their numbers but in their organization. This makes the use of certain methods easy which would be otherwise difficult.

It is true they do not confine themselves to mere lawful organization, but on the contrary hazard their very existence to achieve their iniquitous ends. To the despot the laws of equity are of little consequence. In theory he may admire them; yes, let them be observed in the courts of justice, let them be taught to the growing generation; but yet what nation has ever risen to great empire by the observance of justice? how can any nation become powerful if it binds itself to such observance? And, then, what evil is greater than weakness in a State,-weakness, the sign of coming dissolution? The enemies of the Church in France have in times past desecrated churches, condemned to death the most innocent, laid under the knife of the guillotine the angelic victims of Mt. Carmel. Their end was the destruction of the Church; their means, plunder and blood.

But all this they could not have brought to pass, in the face of superior numbers, had they not well chosen their mode of operation. Organization was the secret of their success. It is true there was religious indifference in the nation, there was poverty in the masses,