PREPARATION FOR THE FIRST COMMUNION—INITIATION TO IDOLATRY.
Nothing can exceed the care with which Roman Catholic priests prepare
children for their first communion. Two and three months are set apart
every year for that purpose. All that time the children between ten and
twelve years of age are obliged to go to church almost every day, not
only to learn by heart their catechism, but to hear the explanations of
all its teachings.
The priest who instructed us was the Rev. Mr. Morin, whom I have already
mentioned. He was exceedingly kind to children, and we respected and
loved him sincerely. His instructions to us were somewhat long; but we
liked to hear him, for he always had some new and interesting stories to
give us.
The catechism taught as a preparation for our first communion was the
foundation of the idolatries and superstitions which the Church of Rome
gives as the religion of Christ. It is by means of that catechetical
instruction that she obtains for the Pope and his representatives that
profound respect, I might say adoration, which is the secret of her
power and influence. With this catechism Rome corrupts the most sacred
truths of the gospel. It is there that Jesus is removed from the hearts
for which he paid so great a price, and that Mary is put in his place.
But the great iniquity of substituting Mary for Jesus is so skillfully
concealed, it is given with colors so poetic and beautiful, and so well
adapted to captivate human nature, that it is almost impossible for a
poor child to escape the snare.
One day the priest said to me, “Stand up, my child, in order to answer
the many important questions which I have to ask you.”
I stood up.
“My child,” he said, “when you had been guilty of some fault at home,
who was the first to punish you—your father, or your mother?”
After a few moments hesitation I answered, “My father.”
“You have answered correctly, my child,” said the priest. “As a matter
of fact, the father is almost always more impatient with his children,
and more ready to punish them, than the mother.”
“Now, my child, tell us who punished you most severely—your father or
your mother?”
“My father,” I said, without hesitation.
“Still true, my child. The superior goodness of a kind mother is
perceived even in the act of correction. Her blows are lighter than
those of the father. Further, when you had deserved to be chastised, did
not one sometimes come between you and your father’s rod, taking it away
from him and pacifying him?”
“Yes,” I said; “mother did that very often, and saved me from severe
punishment more than once.”
“That is so, my child, not only for you, but for all your companions
here. Have not your good mothers, my children, often saved you from your
fathers’ corrections even when you deserved it? Answer me.”
“Yes, sir,” they all answered.
“One question more. When your father was coming to whip you, did you not
throw yourself into the arms of some one to escape?”
“Yes, sir; when guilty of something, more than once, I threw myself into
my mother’s arms as soon as I saw my father coming to whip me. She
begged pardon for me, and pleaded so well that I often escaped
punishment.”
“You have answered well,” said the priest. Then turning to the children,
he continued:
“You have a Father and a Mother in heaven, dear children. Your father is
Jesus, and your mother is Mary. Do not forget that a mother’s heart is
always more tender and more prone to mercy than that of a father.
“Often you offend your Father by your sins; you make Him angry against
you. What takes place in heaven then? Your Father in heaven takes His
rod to punish you. He threatens to crush you down with His roaring
thunder; He opens the gates of hell to cast you into it, and you would
have been damned long ago had it not been for the loving Mother whom you
have in heaven, who has disarmed your angry and irritated Father. When
Jesus would punish you as you deserve, the good Virgin Mary hastens to
Him and pacifies Him. She places herself between Him and you, and
prevents Him from smiting you. She speaks in your favor, she asks for
your pardon and she obtains it.
“Also, as young Chiniquy has told you, he often threw himself into the
arms of his mother to escape punishment. She took his part, and pleaded
so well that his father yielded and put away the rod. Thus, my children,
when your conscience tells you that you are guilty, that Jesus is angry
against you and that you have good reason to fear hell, hasten to Mary!
Throw yourselves into the arms of that good mother; have recourse to her
sovereign power over Jesus, and be assured that you will be saved
through her!”
It is thus that the Pope and the priests of Rome have entirely
disfigured and changed the holy religion of the gospel! In the Church of
Rome it is not Jesus, but Mary, who represents the infinite love and
mercy of God for the sinner. The sinner is not advised or directed to
place his hope in Jesus, but in Mary, for his escape from deserved
chastisement! It is not Jesus, but Mary, who saves the sinner! Jesus is
always bent on punishing sinners; Mary is always merciful to them!
The Church of Rome has thus fallen into idolatry: she rather trusts in
Mary than in Jesus. She constantly invites sinners to turn their
thoughts, their hopes, their affections, not to Jesus, but to Mary!
By means of that impious doctrine Rome deceives the intellects, seduces
the hearts, and destroys the souls of the young forever. Under the
pretext of honoring the Virgin Mary, she insults her by outraging and
misrepresenting her adorable Son.
Rome has brought back the idolatry of old paganism under a new name. She
has replaced upon her altars the Jupiter Tonans of the Greeks and
Romans, only she places upon his shoulders the mantle and she writes on
the forehead of her idol the name of Jesus, in order the better to
deceive the world!