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Title: |
Humanum Genus
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Descr.: |
On Freemasonry
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Pope: |
Pope Leo XIII
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Date: |
April 20, 1884
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To
the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic
World in Grace and Communion with the Apostolic See.
1.
The race of man, after its miserable fall from God, the Creator
and the Giver of heavenly gifts, "through the envy of the
devil," separated into two diverse and opposite parts, of
which the one steadfastly contends for truth and virtue, the other
of those things which are contrary to virtue and to truth. The one
is the kingdom of God on earth, namely, the true Church of Jesus
Christ; and those who desire from their heart to be united with
it, so as to gain salvation, must of necessity serve God and His
only-begotten Son with their whole mind and with an entire will.
The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control
are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader and of
our first parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal
law, and who have many aims of their own in contempt of God, and
many aims also against God.
2.
This twofold kingdom St. Augustine keenly discerned and described
after the manner of two cities, contrary in their laws because
striving for contrary objects; and with a subtle brevity he
expressed the efficient cause of each in these words: "Two
loves formed two cities: the love of self, reaching even to
contempt of God, an earthly city; and the love of God, reaching to
contempt of self, a heavenly one."(1) At every period of time
each has been in conflict with the other, with a variety and
multiplicity of weapons and of warfare, although not always with
equal ardor and assault. At this period, however, the partisans of
evil seems to be combining together, and to be struggling with
united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized
and widespread association called the Freemasons. No longer making
any secret of their purposes, they are now boldly rising up
against God Himself. They are planning the destruction of holy
Church publicly and openly, and this with the set purpose of
utterly despoiling the nations of Christendom, if it were
possible, of the blessings obtained for us through Jesus Christ
our Savior. Lamenting these evils, We are constrained by the
charity which urges Our heart to cry out often to God: "For
lo, Thy enemies have made a noise; and they that hate Thee have
lifted up the head. They have taken a malicious counsel against
Thy people, and they have consulted against Thy saints. They have
said, 'come, and let us destroy them, so that they be not a
nation.'" (2)
3.
At so urgent a crisis, when so fierce and so pressing an onslaught
is made upon the Christian name, it is Our office to point out the
danger, to mark who are the adversaries, and to the best of Our
power to make head against their plans and devices, that those may
not perish whose salvation is committed to Us, and that the
kingdom of Jesus Christ entrusted to Our charge may not stand and
remain whole, but may be enlarged by an ever-increasing growth
throughout the world.
4.
The Roman Pontiffs Our predecessors, in their incessant
watchfulness over the safety of the Christian people, were prompt
in detecting the presence and the purpose of this capital enemy
immediately it sprang into the light instead of hiding as a dark
conspiracy; and, moreover, they took occasion with true foresight
to give, as it were on their guard, and not allow themselves to be
caught by the devices and snares laid out to deceive them.
5.
The first warning of the danger was given by Clement XII in the
year 1738,(3) and his constitution was confirmed and renewed by
Benedict XIV.(4) Pius VII followed the same path;(5) and Leo XII,
by his apostolic constitution, Quo Graviora,(6) put together the
acts and decrees of former Pontiffs on this subject, and ratified
and confirmed them forever. In the same sense spoke Pius VIII,(7)
Gregory XVI,(8) and, many times over, Pius IX.(9)
6.
For as soon as the constitution and the spirit of the masonic sect
were clearly discovered by manifest signs of its actions, by the
investigation of its causes, by publication of its laws, and of
its rites and commentaries, with the addition often of the
personal testimony of those who were in the sect, this apostolic
see denounced the sect of the Freemasons, and publicly declared
its constitution, as contrary to law and right, to be pernicious
no less to Christendom than to the State; and it forbade any one
to enter the society, under the penalties which the Church is wont
to inflict upon exceptionally guilty persons. The sectaries,
indignant at this, thinking to elude or to weaken the force of
these decrees, partly by contempt of them, and partly by calumny,
accused the sovereign Pontiffs who had passed them either of
exceeding the bounds of moderation in their decrees or of
decreeing what was not just. This was the manner in which they
endeavored to elude the authority and the weight of the apostolic
constitutions of Clement XII and Benedict XIV, as well as of Pius
VII and Pius IX.(10) Yet, in the very society itself, there were
to be found men who unwillingly acknowledged that the Roman
Pontiffs had acted within their right, according to the Catholic
doctrine and discipline. The Pontiffs received the same assent,
and in strong terms, from many princes and heads of governments,
who made it their business either to delate the masonic society to
the apostolic see, or of their own accord by special enactments to
brand it as pernicious, as, for example, in Holland, Austria,
Switzerland, Spain, Bavaria, Savoy, and other parts of Italy.
7.
But, what is of highest importance, the course of events has
demonstrated the prudence of Our predecessors. For their provident
and paternal solicitude had not always and every where the result
desired; and this, either because of the simulation and cunning of
some who were active agents in the mischief, or else of the
thoughtless levity of the rest who ought, in their own interest,
to have given to the matter their diligent attention. In
consequence, the sect of Freemasons grew with a rapidity beyond
conception in the course of a century and a half, until it came to
be able, by means of fraud or of audacity, to gain such entrance
into every rank of the State as to seem to be almost its ruling
power. This swift and formidable advance has brought upon the
Church, upon the power of princes, upon the public well-being,
precisely that grievous harm which Our predecessors had long
before foreseen. Such a condition has been reached that henceforth
there will be grave reason to fear, not indeed for the Church -
for
her foundation is much too firm to be overturned by the effort of
men - but for those States in which prevails the power, either of
the sect of which we are speaking or of other sects not dissimilar
which lend themselves to it as disciples and subordinates.
8.
For these reasons We no sooner came to the helm of the Church than
We clearly saw and felt it to be Our duty to use Our authority to
the very utmost against so vast an evil. We have several times
already, as occasion served, attacked certain chief points of
teaching which showed in a special manner the perverse influence
of Masonic opinions. Thus, in Our encyclical letter, Quod
Apostolici Muneris, We endeavored to refute the monstrous
doctrines of the socialists and communists; afterwards, in another
beginning "Arcanum," We took pains to defend and explain
the true and genuine idea of domestic life, of which marriage is
the spring and origin; and again, in that which begins "Diuturnum,"(11)
We described the ideal of political government conformed to the
principles of Christian wisdom, which is marvelously in harmony,
on the one hand, with the natural order of things, and, in the
other, with the well-being of both sovereign princes and of
nations. It is now Our intention, following the example of Our
predecessors, directly to treat of the masonic society itself, of
its whole teaching, of its aims, and of its manner of thinking and
acting, in order to bring more and more into the light its power
for evil, and to do what We can to arrest the contagion of this
fatal plague.
9.
There are several organized bodies which, though differing in
name, in ceremonial, in form and origin, are nevertheless so bound
together by community of purpose and by the similarity of their
main opinions, as to make in fact one thing with the sect of the
Freemasons, which is a kind of center whence they all go forth,
and whither they all return. Now, these no longer show a desire to
remain concealed; for they hold their meetings in the daylight and
before the public eye, and publish their own newspaper organs; and
yet, when thoroughly understood, they are found still to retain
the nature and the habits of secret societies. There are many
things like mysteries which it is the fixed rule to hide with
extreme care, not only from strangers, but from very many members,
also; such as their secret and final designs, the names of the
chief leaders, and certain secret and inner meetings, as well as
their decisions, and the ways and means of carrying them out. This
is, no doubt, the object of the manifold difference among the
members as to right, office, and privilege, of the received
distinction of orders and grades, and of that severe discipline
which is maintained. Candidates are generally commanded to promise
- nay, with a special oath, to swear - that they will never,
to any person, at any time or in any way, make known the members,
the passes, or the subjects discussed. Thus, with a fraudulent
external appearance, and with a style of simulation which is
always the same, the Freemasons, like the Manichees of old,
strive, as far as possible, to conceal themselves, and to admit no
witnesses but their own members. As a convenient manner of
concealment, they assume the character of literary men and
scholars associated for purposes of learning. They speak of their
zeal for a more cultured refinement, and of their love for the
poor; and they declare their one wish to be the amelioration of
the condition of the masses, and to share with the largest
possible number all the benefits of civil life. Were these
purposes aimed at in real truth, they are by no means the whole of
their object. Moreover, to be enrolled, it is necessary that the
candidates promise and undertake to be thenceforward strictly
obedient to their leaders and masters with the utmost submission
and fidelity, and to be in readiness to do their bidding upon the
slightest expression of their will; or, if disobedient, to submit
to the direst penalties and death itself. As a fact, if any are
judged to have betrayed the doings of the sect or to have resisted
commands given, punishment is inflicted on them not infrequently,
and with so much audacity and dexterity that the assassin very
often escapes the detection and penalty of his crime.
10.
But to simulate and wish to lie hid; to bind men like slaves in
the very tightest bonds, and without giving any sufficient reason;
to make use of men enslaved to the will of another for any
arbitrary act; to arm men's right hands for bloodshed after
securing impunity for the crime - all this is an enormity from which
nature recoils. Wherefore, reason and truth itself make it plain
that the society of which we are speaking is in antagonism with
justice and natural uprightness. And this becomes still plainer,
inasmuch as other arguments, also, and those very manifest, prove
that it is essentially opposed to natural virtue. For, no matter
how great may be men's cleverness in concealing and their
experience in lying, it is impossible to prevent the effects of
any cause from showing, in some way, the intrinsic nature of the
cause whence they come. "A good tree cannot produce bad
fruit, nor a bad tree produce good fruit."(12) Now, the
masonic sect produces fruits that are pernicious and of the
bitterest savour. For, from what We have above most clearly shown,
that which is their ultimate purpose forces itself into view -
namely, the utter overthrow of that whole religious and
political order of the world which the Christian teaching has
produced, and the substitution of a new state of things in
accordance with their ideas, of which the foundations and laws
shall be drawn from mere naturalism.
11.
What We have said, and are about to say, must be understood of the
sect of the Freemasons taken generically, and in so far as it
comprises the associations kindred to it and confederated with it,
but not of the individual members of them. There may be persons
amongst these, and not a few who, although not free from the guilt
of having entangled themselves in such associations, yet are
neither themselves partners in their criminal acts nor aware of
the ultimate object which they are endeavoring to attain. In the
same way, some of the affiliated societies, perhaps, by no means
approve of the extreme conclusions which they would, if
consistent, embrace as necessarily following from their common
principles, did not their very foulness strike them with horror.
Some of these, again, are led by circumstances of times and places
either to aim at smaller things than the others usually attempt or
than they themselves would wish to attempt. They are not, however,
for this reason, to be reckoned as alien to the masonic
federation; for the masonic federation is to be judged not so much
by the things which it has done, or brought to completion, as by
the sum of its pronounced opinions.
12.
Now, the fundamental doctrine of the naturalists, which they
sufficiently make known by their very name, is that human nature
and human reason ought in all things to be mistress and guide.
Laying this down, they care little for duties to God, or pervert
them by erroneous and vague opinions. For they deny that anything
has been taught by God; they allow no dogma of religion or truth
which cannot be understood by the human intelligence, nor any
teacher who ought to be believed by reason of his authority. And
since it is the special and exclusive duty of the Catholic Church
fully to set forth in words truths divinely received, to teach,
besides other divine helps to salvation, the authority of its
office, and to defend the same with perfect purity, it is against
the Church that the rage and attack of the enemies are principally
directed.
13.
In those matters which regard religion let it be seen how the sect
of the Freemasons acts, especially where it is more free to act
without restraint, and then let any one judge whether in fact it
does not wish to carry out the policy of the naturalists. By a
long and persevering labor, they endeavor to bring about this
result - namely, that the teaching office and authority of the
Church may become of no account in the civil State; and for this
same reason they declare to the people and contend that Church and
State ought to be altogether disunited. By this means they reject
from the laws and from the commonwealth the wholesome influence of
the Catholic religion; and they consequently imagine that States
ought to be constituted without any regard for the laws and
precepts of the Church.
14.
Nor do they think it enough to disregard the Church - the best of
guides - unless they also injure it by their hostility. Indeed, with
them it is lawful to attack with impunity the very foundations of
the Catholic religion, in speech, in writing, and in teaching; and
even the rights of the Church are not spared, and the offices with
which it is divinely invested are not safe. The least possible
liberty to manage affairs is left to the Church; and this is done
by laws not apparently very hostile, but in reality framed and
fitted to hinder freedom of action. Moreover, We see exceptional
and onerous laws imposed upon the clergy, to the end that they may
be continually diminished in number and in necessary means. We see
also the remnants of the possessions of the Church fettered by the
strictest conditions, and subjected to the power and arbitrary
will of the administrators of the State, and the religious orders
rooted up and scattered.
15.
But against the apostolic see and the Roman Pontiff the contention
of these enemies has been for a long time directed. The Pontiff
was first, for specious reasons, thrust out from the bulwark of
his liberty and of his right, the civil princedom; soon, he was
unjustly driven into a condition which was unbearable because of
the difficulties raised on all sides; and now the time has come
when the partisans of the sects openly declare, what in secret
among themselves they have for a long time plotted, that the
sacred power of the Pontiffs must be abolished, and that the
papacy itself, founded by divine right, must be utterly destroyed.
If other proofs were wanting, this fact would be sufficiently
disclosed by the testimony of men well informed, of whom some at
other times, and others again recently, have declared it to be
true of the Freemasons that they especially desire to assail the
Church with irreconcilable hostility, and that they will never
rest until they have destroyed whatever the supreme Pontiffs have
established for the sake of religion.
16.
If those who are admitted as members are not commanded to abjure
by any form of words the Catholic doctrines, this omission, so far
from being adverse to the designs of the Freemasons, is more
useful for their purposes. First, in this way they easily deceive
the simple-minded and the heedless, and can induce a far greater
number to become members. Again, as all who offer themselves are
received whatever may be their form of religion, they thereby
teach the great error of this age - that a regard for religion
should be held as an indifferent matter, and that all religions
are alike. This manner of reasoning is calculated to bring about
the ruin of all forms of religion, and especially of the Catholic
religion, which, as it is the only one that is true, cannot,
without great injustice, be regarded as merely equal to other
religions.
17.
But the naturalists go much further; for, having, in the highest
things, entered upon a wholly erroneous course, they are carried
headlong to extremes, either by reason of the weakness of human
nature, or because God inflicts upon them the just punishment of
their pride. Hence it happens that they no longer consider as
certain and permanent those things which are fully understood by
the natural light of reason, such as certainly are - the existence
of God, the immaterial nature of the human soul, and its
immortality. The sect of the Freemasons, by a similar course of
error, is exposed to these same dangers; for, although in a
general way they may profess the existence of God, they themselves
are witnesses that they do not all maintain this truth with the
full assent of the mind or with a firm conviction. Neither do they
conceal that this question about God is the greatest source and
cause of discords among them; in fact, it is certain that a
considerable contention about this same subject has existed among
them very lately. But, indeed, the sect allows great liberty to
its votaries, so that to each side is given the right to defend
its own opinion, either that there is a God, or that there is
none; and those who obstinately contend that there is no God are
as easily initiated as those who contend that God exists, though,
like the pantheists, they have false notions concerning Him: all
which is nothing else than taking away the reality, while
retaining some absurd representation of the divine nature.
18.
When this greatest fundamental truth has been overturned or
weakened, it follows that those truths, also, which are known by
the teaching of nature must begin to fall - namely, that all things
were made by the free will of God the Creator; that the world is
governed by Providence; that souls do not die; that to this life
of men upon the earth there will succeed another and an
everlasting life.
19.
When these truths are done away with, which are as the principles
of nature and important for knowledge and for practical use, it is
easy to see what will become of both public and private morality.
We say nothing of those more heavenly virtues, which no one can
exercise or even acquire without a special gift and grace of God;
of which necessarily no trace can be found in those who reject as
unknown the redemption of mankind, the grace of God, the
sacraments, and the happiness to be obtained in heaven. We speak
now of the duties which have their origin in natural probity. That
God is the Creator of the world and its provident Ruler; that the
eternal law commands the natural order to be maintained, and
forbids that it be disturbed; that the last end of men is a
destiny far above human things and beyond this sojourning upon the
earth: these are the sources and these the principles of all
justice and morality. If these be taken away, as the naturalists
and Freemasons desire, there will immediately be no knowledge as
to what constitutes justice and injustice, or upon what principle
morality is founded. And, in truth, the teaching of morality which
alone finds favor with the sect of Freemasons, and in which they
contend that youth should be instructed, is that which they call
"civil," and "independent," and
"free," namely, that which does not contain any
religious belief. But, how insufficient such teaching is, how
wanting in soundness, and how easily moved by every impulse of
passion, is sufficiently proved by its sad fruits, which have
already begun to appear. For, wherever, by removing Christian
education, this teaching has begun more completely to rule, there
goodness and integrity of morals have begun quickly to perish,
monstrous and shameful opinions have grown up, and the audacity of
evil deeds has risen to a high degree. All this is commonly
complained of and deplored; and not a few of those who by no means
wish to do so are compelled by abundant evidence to give not
infrequently the same testimony.
20.
Moreover, human nature was stained by original sin, and is
therefore more disposed to vice than to virtue. For a virtuous
life it is absolutely necessary to restrain the disorderly
movements of the soul, and to make the passions obedient to
reason. In this conflict human things must very often be despised,
and the greatest labors and hardships must be undergone, in order
that reason may always hold its sway. But the naturalists and
Freemasons, having no faith in those things which we have learned
by the revelation of God, deny that our first parents sinned, and
consequently think that free will is not at all weakened and
inclined to evil.(13) On the contrary, exaggerating rather the
power and the excellence of nature, and placing therein alone the
principle and rule of justice, they cannot even imagine that there
is any need at all of a constant struggle and a perfect
steadfastness to overcome the violence and rule of our passions.
Wherefore we see that men are publicly tempted by the many
allurements of pleasure; that there are journals and pamphlets
with neither moderation nor shame; that stage-plays are remarkable
for license; that designs for works of art are shamelessly sought
in the laws of a so called verism; that the contrivances of a soft
and delicate life are most carefully devised; and that all the
blandishments of pleasure are diligently sought out by which
virtue may be lulled to sleep. Wickedly, also, but at the same
time quite consistently, do those act who do away with the
expectation of the joys of heaven, and bring down all happiness to
the level of mortality, and, as it were, sink it in the earth. Of
what We have said the following fact, astonishing not so much in
itself as in its open expression, may serve as a confirmation.
For, since generally no one is accustomed to obey crafty and
clever men so submissively as those whose soul is weakened and
broken down by the domination of the passions, there have been in
the sect of the Freemasons some who have plainly determined and
proposed that, artfully and of set purpose, the multitude should
be satiated with a boundless license of vice, as, when this had
been done, it would easily come under their power and authority
for any acts of daring.
21.
What refers to domestic life in the teaching of the naturalists is
almost all contained in the following declarations: that marriage
belongs to the genus of commercial contracts, which can rightly be
revoked by the will of those who made them, and that the civil
rulers of the State have power over the matrimonial bond; that in
the education of youth nothing is to be taught in the matter of
religion as of certain and fixed opinion; and each one must be
left at liberty to follow, when he comes of age, whatever he may
prefer. To these things the Freemasons fully assent; and not only
assent, but have long endeavored to make them into a law and
institution. For in many countries, and those nominally Catholic,
it is enacted that no marriages shall be considered lawful except
those contracted by the civil rite; in other places the law
permits divorce; and in others every effort is used to make it
lawful as soon as may be. Thus, the time is quickly coming when
marriages will be turned into another kind of contract - that is
into changeable and uncertain unions which fancy may join
together, and which the same when changed may disunite. With the
greatest unanimity the sect of the Freemasons also endeavors to
take to itself the education of youth. They think that they can
easily mold to their opinions that soft and pliant age, and bend
it whither they will; and that nothing can be more fitted than
this to enable them to bring up the youth of the State after their
own plan. Therefore, in the education and instruction of children
they allow no share, either of teaching or of discipline, to the
ministers of the Church; and in many places they have procured
that the education of youth shall be exclusively in the hands of
laymen, and that nothing which treats of the most important and
most holy duties of men to God shall be introduced into the
instructions on morals.
22.
Then come their doctrines of politics, in which the naturalists
lay down that all men have the same right, and are in every
respect of equal and like condition; that each one is naturally
free; that no one has the right to command another; that it is an
act of violence to require men to obey any authority other than
that which is obtained from themselves. According to this,
therefore, all things belong to the free people; power is held by
the command or permission of the people, so that, when the popular
will changes, rulers may lawfully be deposed and the source of all
rights and civil duties is either in the multitude or in the
governing authority when this is constituted according to the
latest doctrines. It is held also that the State should be without
God; that in the various forms of religion there is no reason why
one should have precedence of another; and that they are all to
occupy the same place.
23.
That these doctrines are equally acceptable to the Freemasons, and
that they would wish to constitute States according to this
example and model, is too well known to require proof. For some
time past they have openly endeavored to bring this about with all
their strength and resources; and in this they prepare the way for
not a few bolder men who are hurrying on even to worse things, in
their endeavor to obtain equality and community of all goods by
the destruction of every distinction of rank and property.
24.
What, therefore, sect of the Freemasons is, and what course it
pursues, appears sufficiently from the summary We have briefly
given. Their chief dogmas are so greatly and manifestly at
variance with reason that nothing can be more perverse. To wish to
destroy the religion and the Church which God Himself has
established, and whose perpetuity He insures by His protection,
and to bring back after a lapse of eighteen centuries the manners
and customs of the pagans, is signal folly and audacious impiety.
Neither is it less horrible nor more tolerable that they should
repudiate the benefits which Jesus Christ so mercifully obtained,
not only for individuals, but also for the family and for civil
society, benefits which, even according to the judgment and
testimony of enemies of Christianity, are very great. In this
insane and wicked endeavor we may almost see the implacable hatred
and spirit of revenge with which Satan himself is inflamed against
Jesus Christ. - So also the studious endeavor of the Freemasons to
destroy the chief foundations of justice and honesty, and to
cooperate with those who would wish, [as if they were beasts], to do what they
please, tends only to the ignominious and
disgraceful ruin of the human race. The evil, too, is increased by
the dangers which threaten both domestic and civil society. As We
have elsewhere shown,(14) in marriage, according to the belief of
almost every nation, there is something sacred and religious; and
the law of God has determined that marriages shall not be
dissolved. If they are deprived of their sacred character, and
made dissoluble, trouble and confusion in the family will be the
result, the wife being deprived of her dignity and the children
left without protection as to their interests and well being. - To
have in public matters no care for religion, and in the
arrangement and administration of civil affairs to have no more
regard for God than if He did not exist, is a rashness unknown to
the very pagans; for in their heart and soul the notion of a
divinity and the need of public religion were so firmly fixed that
they would have thought it easier to have city without foundation
than a city without God. Human society, indeed for which by nature
we are formed, has been constituted by God the Author of nature;
and from Him, as from their principle and source, flow in all
their strength and permanence the countless benefits with which
society abounds. As we are each of us admonished by the very voice
of nature to worship God in piety and holiness, as the Giver unto
us of life and of all that is good therein, so also and for the
same reason, nations and States are bound to worship Him; and
therefore it is clear that those who would absolve society from
all religious duty act not only unjustly but also with ignorance
and folly.
25.
As men are by the will of God born for civil union and society,
and as the power to rule is so necessary a bond of society that,
if it be taken away, society must at once be broken up, it follows
that from Him who is the Author of society has come also the
authority to rule; so that whosoever rules, he is the minister of
God. Wherefore, as the end and nature of human society so
requires, it is right to obey the just commands of lawful
authority, as it is right to obey God who ruleth all things; and
it is most untrue that the people have it in their power to cast
aside their obedience whensoever they please.
26.
In like manner, no one doubts that all men are equal one to
another, so far as regards their common origin and nature, or the
last end which each one has to attain, or the rights and duties
which are thence derived. But, as the abilities of all are not
equal, as one differs from another in the powers of mind or body,
and as there are very many dissimilarities of manner, disposition,
and character, it is most repugnant to reason to endeavor to
confine all within the same measure, and to extend complete
equality to the institutions of civic life. Just as a perfect
condition of the body results from the conjunction and composition
of its various members, which, though differing in form and
purpose, make, by their union and the distribution of each one to
its proper place, a combination beautiful to behold, firm in
strength, and necessary for use; so, in the commonwealth, there is
an almost infinite dissimilarity of men, as parts of the whole. If
they are to be all equal, and each is to follow his own will, the
State will appear most deformed; but if, with a distinction of
degrees of dignity, of pursuits and employments, all aptly
conspire for the common good, they will present the image of a
State both well constituted and conformable to nature.
27.
Now, from the disturbing errors which We have described the
greatest dangers to States are to be feared. For, the fear of God
and reverence for divine laws being taken away, the authority of
rulers despised, sedition permitted and approved, and the popular
passions urged on to lawlessness, with no restraint save that of
punishment, a change and overthrow of all things will necessarily
follow. Yea, this change and overthrow is deliberately planned and
put forward by many associations of communists and socialists; and
to their undertakings the sect of Freemasons is not hostile, but
greatly favors their designs, and holds in common with them their
chief opinions. And if these men do not at once and everywhere
endeavor to carry out their extreme views, it is not to be
attributed to their teaching and their will, but to the virtue of
that divine religion which cannot be destroyed; and also because
the sounder part of men, refusing to be enslaved to secret
societies, vigorously resist their insane attempts.
28.
Would that all men would judge of the tree by its fruit, and would
acknowledge the seed and origin of the evils which press upon us,
and of the dangers that are impending! We have to deal with a
deceitful and crafty enemy, who, gratifying the ears of people and
of princes, has ensnared them by smooth speeches and by adulation.
Ingratiating themselves with rulers under a pretense of
friendship, the Freemasons have endeavored to make them their
allies and powerful helpers for the destruction of the Christian
name; and that they might more strongly urge them on, they have,
with determined calumny, accused the Church of invidiously
contending with rulers in matters that affect their authority and
sovereign power. Having, by these artifices, insured their own
safety and audacity, they have begun to exercise great weight in
the government of States; but nevertheless they are prepared to
shake the foundations of empires, to harass the rulers of the
State, to accuse, and to cast them out, as often as they appear to
govern otherwise than they themselves could have wished. In like
manner, they have by flattery deluded the people. Proclaiming with
a loud voice liberty and public prosperity, and saying that it was
owing to the Church and to sovereigns that the multitude were not
drawn out of their unjust servitude and poverty, they have imposed
upon the people, and, exciting them by a thirst for novelty, they
have urged them to assail both the Church and the civil power.
Nevertheless, the expectation of the benefits which was hoped for
is greater than the reality; indeed, the common people, more
oppressed than they were before, are deprived in their misery of
that solace which, if things had been arranged in a Christian
manner, they would have had with ease and in abundance. But,
whoever strive against the order which Divine Providence has
constituted pay usually the penalty of their pride, and meet with
affliction and misery where they rashly hoped to find all things
prosperous and in conformity with their desires.
29.
The Church, if she directs men to render obedience chiefly and
above all to God the sovereign Lord, is wrongly and falsely
believed either to be envious of the civil power or to arrogate to
herself something of the rights of sovereigns. On the contrary,
she teaches that what is rightly due to the civil power must be
rendered to it with a conviction and consciousness of duty. In
teaching that from God Himself comes the right of ruling, she adds
a great dignity to civil authority, and on small help towards
obtaining the obedience and good will of the citizens. The friend
of peace and sustainer of concord, she embraces all with maternal
love, and, intent only upon giving help to mortal man, she teaches
that to justice must be joined clemency, equity to authority, and
moderation to lawgiving; that no one's right must be violated;
that order and public tranquillity are to be maintained; and that
the poverty of those are in need is, as far as possible, to be
relieved by public and private charity. "But for this
reason," to use the words of St. Augustine, "men think,
or would have it believed, that Christian teaching is not suited
to the good of the State; for they wish the State to be founded
not on solid virtue, but on the impunity of vice."(15)
Knowing these things, both princes and people would act with
political wisdom,(16) and according to the needs of general
safety, if, instead of joining with Freemasons to destroy the
Church, they joined with the Church in repelling their attacks.
30
.Whatever the future may be, in this grave and widespread evil it
is Our duty, venerable brethren, to endeavor to find a remedy. And
because We know that Our best and firmest hope of a remedy is in
the power of that divine religion which the Freemasons hate in
proportion to their fear of it, We think it to be of chief
importance to call that most saving power to Our aid against the
common enemy. Therefore, whatsoever the Roman Pontiffs Our
predecessors have decreed for the purpose of opposing the
undertakings and endeavors of the masonic sect, and whatsoever
they have enacted to enter or withdraw men from societies of this
kind, We ratify and confirm it all by our apostolic authority: and
trusting greatly to the good will of Christians, We pray and
beseech each one, for the sake of his eternal salvation, to be
most conscientiously careful not in the least to depart from what
the apostolic see has commanded in this matter.
31.
We pray and beseech you, venerable brethren, to join your efforts
with Ours, and earnestly to strive for the extirpation of this
foul plague, which is creeping through the veins of the body
politic. You have to defend the glory of God and the salvation of
your neighbor; and with the object of your strife before you,
neither courage nor strength will be wanting. It will be for your
prudence to judge by what means you can best overcome the
difficulties and obstacles you meet with. But, as it befits the
authority of Our office that We Ourselves should point out some
suitable way of proceeding, We wish it to be your rule first of
all to tear away the mask from Freemasonry, and to let it be seen
as it really is; and by sermons and pastoral letters to instruct
the people as to the artifices used by societies of this kind in
seducing men and enticing them into their ranks, and as to the
depravity of their opinions and the wickedness of their acts. As
Our predecessors have many times repeated, let no man think that
he may for any reason whatsoever join the masonic sect, if he
values his Catholic name and his eternal salvation as he ought to
value them. Let no one be deceived by a pretense of honesty. It
may seem to some that Freemasons demand nothing that is openly
contrary to religion and morality; but, as the whole principle and
object of the sect lies in what is vicious and criminal, to join
with these men or in any way to help them cannot be lawful.
32.
Further, by assiduous teaching and exhortation, the multitude must
be drawn to learn diligently the precepts of religion; for which
purpose we earnestly advise that by opportune writings and sermons
they be taught the elements of those sacred truths in which
Christian philosophy is contained. The result of this will be that
the minds of men will be made sound by instruction, and will be
protected against many forms of error and inducements to
wickedness, especially in the present unbounded freedom of writing
and insatiable eagerness for learning.
33.
Great, indeed, is the work; but in it the clergy will share your
labors, if, through your care, they are fitted for it by learning
and a well-turned life. This good and great work requires to be
helped also by the industry of those amongst the laity in whom a
love of religion and of country is joined to learning and goodness
of life. By uniting the efforts of both clergy and laity, strive,
venerable brethren, to make men thoroughly know and love the
Church; for, the greater their knowledge and love of the Church,
the more will they be turned away from clandestine societies.
34.
Wherefore, not without cause do We use this occasion to state
again what We have stated elsewhere, namely, that the Third Order
of St. Francis, whose discipline We a little while ago prudently
mitigated,(16) should be studiously promoted and sustained; for
the whole object of this Order, as constituted by its founder, is
to invite men to an imitation of Jesus Christ, to a love of the
Church, and to the observance of all Christian virtues; and
therefore it ought to be of great influence in suppressing the
contagion of wicked societies. Let, therefore, this holy sodality
be strengthened by a daily increase. Amongst the many benefits to
be expected from it will be the great benefit of drawing the minds
of men to liberty, fraternity, and equality of right; not such as
the Freemasons absurdly imagine, but such as Jesus Christ obtained
for the human race and St. Francis aspired to: the liberty, We
mean, of sons of God, through which we may be free from slavery to
Satan or to our passions, both of them most wicked masters; the
fraternity whose origin is in God, the common Creator and Father
of all; the equality which, founded on justice and charity, does
not take away all distinctions among men, but, out of the
varieties of life, of duties, and of pursuits, forms that union
and that harmony which naturally tend to the benefit and dignity
of society.
35.
In the third place, there is a matter wisely instituted by our
forefathers, but in course of time laid aside, which may now be
used as a pattern and form of something similar. We mean the
associations of guilds of workmen, for the protection, under the
guidance of religion, both of their temporal interests and of
their morality. If our ancestors, by long use and experience, felt
the benefit of these guilds, our age perhaps will feel it the more
by reason of the opportunity which they will give of crushing the
power of the sects. Those who support themselves by the labor of
their hands, besides being, by their very condition, most worthy
above all others of charity and consolation, are also especially
exposed to the allurements of men whose ways lie in fraud and
deceit. Therefore, they ought to be helped with the greatest
possible kindness, and to be invited to join associations that are
good, lest they be drawn away to others that are evil. For this
reason, We greatly wish, for the salvation of the people, that,
under the auspices and patronage of the bishops, and at convenient
times, these gilds may be generally restored. To Our great
delight, sodialities of this kind and also associations of masters
have in many places already been established, having, each class
of them, for their object to help the honest workman, to protect
and guard his children and family, and to promote in them piety,
Christian knowledge, and a moral life. And in this matter We
cannot omit mentioning that exemplary society, named after its
founder, St. Vincent, which has deserved so well of the lower
classes. Its acts and its aims are well known. Its whole object is
to give relief to the poor and miserable. This it does with
singular prudence and modesty; and the less it wishes to be seen,
the better is it fitted for the exercise of Christian charity, and
for the relief of suffering.
36.
In the fourth place, in order more easily to attain what We wish,
to your fidelity and watchfulness We commend in a special manner
the young, as being the hope of human society. Devote the greatest
part of your care to their instruction; and do not think that any
precaution can be great enough in keeping them from masters and
schools whence the pestilent breath of the sects is to be feared.
Under your guidance, let parents, religious instructors, and
priests having the care of souls use every opportunity, in their
Christian teaching, of warning their children and pupils of the
infamous nature of these societies, so that they may learn in good
time to beware of the various and fraudulent artifices by which
their promoters are accustomed to ensnare people. And those who
instruct the young in religious knowledge will act wisely if they
induce all of them to resolve and to undertake never to bind
themselves to any society without the knowledge of their parents,
or the advice of their parish priest or director.
37.
We well know, however, that our united labors will by no means
suffice to pluck up these pernicious seeds from the Lord's field,
unless the Heavenly Master of the vineyard shall mercifully help
us in our endeavors. We must, therefore, with great and anxious
care, implore of Him the help which the greatness of the danger
and of the need requires. The sect of the Freemasons shows itself
insolent and proud of its success, and seems as if it would put no
bounds to its pertinacity. Its followers, joined together by a
wicked compact and by secret counsels, give help one to another,
and excite one another to an audacity for evil things. So vehement
an attack demands an equal defense - namely, that all good men
should form the widest possible association of action and of
prayer. We beseech them, therefore, with united hearts, to stand
together and unmoved against the advancing force of the sects; and
in mourning and supplication to stretch out their hands to God,
praying that the Christian name may flourish and prosper, that the
Church may enjoy its needed liberty, that those who have gone
astray may return to a right mind, that error at length may give
place to truth, and vice to virtue. Let us take our helper and
intercessor the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so that she, who from
the moment of her conception overcame Satan may show her power
over these evil sects, in which is revived the contumacious spirit
of the demon, together with his unsubdued perfidy and deceit. Let
us beseech Michael, the prince of the heavenly angels, who drove
out the infernal foe; and Joseph, the spouse of the most holy
Virgin, and heavenly patron of the Catholic Church; and the great
Apostles, Peter and Paul, the fathers and victorious champions of
the Christian faith. By their patronage, and by perseverance in
united prayer, we hope that God will mercifully and opportunely
succor the human race, which is encompassed by so many dangers.
38.
As a pledge of heavenly gifts and of Our benevolence, We lovingly
grant in the Lord, to you, venerable brethren, and to the clergy
and all the people committed to your watchful care, Our apostolic
benediction.
Given
at St. Peter's in Rome, the twentieth day of April, 1884, the
sixth year of Our pontificate.
Endnotes:
1.
De civ. Dei, 14, 28 (PL 41, 436). | 2. Ps. 81:24. | 3. Const. In
Eminenti, April 24, 1738. | 4. Const. Providas, May 18, 1751. | 5.
Const. Ecclesiam a Jesu Chrisro, Sept. 13, 1821. | 6. Const. given
March 13, 1825. | 7. Encyc. Traditi, May 21, 1829. | 8. Encyc.
Mirari, August 15, 1832. | 9. Encyc. Qui Pluribus, Nov. 9, 1846;
address Multiplices inter, Sept. 25, 1865, etc. | 10. Clement XII
(1730-40); Benedict XIV (1740-58); Pius VII (1800-23); Pius IX
(1846-78). | 11. See nos. 79, 81, 84. | 12. Mt. 7:18. | 13. Trid.,
sess. vi, De justif., c. 1. | 14. See
Arcanum, no. 81. | 15. Epistola 137, ad Volusianum, c. v, n. 20
(PL 33 525). | 16. The text here refers to the encyclical letter
Auspicato Concessum (Sept. 17, 1882), in which Pope Leo XIII had
recently glorified St. Francis of Assisi on the occasion of the
seventh centenary of his birth. In this encyclical, the Pope had
presented the Third Order of St. Francis as a Christian answer to
the social problems of the times. The constitution Misericors Dei
Filius (June 23, 1883) expressly recalled that the neglect in
which Christian virtues are held is the main cause of the evils
that threaten societies. In confirming the rule of the Third Order
and adapting it to the needs of modern times, Pope Leo XIII had
intended to bring back the largest possible number of souls to the
practice of these virtues.
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