IN THE VALE OF REPHAIM.

A SONG OF THE GUARDIAN ANGELS.

"When thou shalt hear the sound of a going in the tops of the Sycamine trees then shalt thou join battle."-2 KINGS, V, 24.

JOIN not the gauge of battle, God unto David said,
As forth from Mount Moriah to meet the foe he sped,
Nor strike the proud Philistine, till, clear, atop the trees,
The Sycamine-a Going, is heard among the leaves.

Obedient the Monarch in Rephaim strong stands,
His men of war battalioned to charge Philistia's bands,
Dark worshippers of Dagon from Gaza's hostile coast,
Strong-armed, invading cohorts of Askalon the boast.

Rephaim for the combat the haughty heathen chose,
The fragrant Wady-el- Werd, the Valley of the Rose,
Where Sycamines their branches bear towering on high,
And proudly with the cedar and the noble Palm trees vie.

Here Israel made ready till rustling wings were heard,
The Sycamine's rich leafage by Angel pinions stirred;
Then Hebrew rushed to battle, and David's banner waved
From Gibeon to Gaza: Jerusalem was saved.

Await we thus God's signal and Watch like men of old
To hear a sound of Going that victory foretold?
For rustlings in the tree-tops proclaim that angels fair
Are marshalled for the combat unseen in ambient air.

The Angels camp around us, though mortal sight be dim,
To lead us through the conflict in our Vale of Rephaim;
Clad in supernal armor, with fulgent sword and spear,
Invisible, invincible, they know no mortal fear.

Soul, hast thou grieved these allies, unheeding aid they bring, The tender admonition, the beat of gentle wing?

Led far by false ambition, hast thou fought and failed alone, And now with shame discover a weakness all thine own?

Still angels loving tarry, they will not be estranged,
They hold their holy office and ministry unchanged,
As in Rephaim's Valley, in David's distant reign,
They wait, all sympathetic, to help God's own again.

Oh, list the leafy signal, announcing Angels nigh,
Those splendid reinforcements from martial fields on high,
And when a sound of Going is heard in greenwood shrine,
March with the victor legions and smite the Philistine.

B. F. DE COSTA.

PILGRIM-WALKS IN ROME.

(Continued.)

XI. PORTA PIA.-SACRILEGIOUS USURPATION OF ROME.

At the end of the Via Venti Settembre stands the Porta Pia, associated with one of the darkest episodes in the history of the church, the sacrilegious invasion and capture of Rome by a king calling himself Catholic, and by 70,000 Italian troops, also Catholic, on September 20, 1870. After cruelly bombarding the defenceless city for five hours, the invaders entered by a breach near the Porta Pia, and marched, "unwelcomed, through the silent streets of the conquered city to their different quarters. Outside is a lying inscription, saying that they entered in answer to the entreaties of the Romans, not one voice having ever urged it." (Aug. Hare.)

In the wake of the invading troops followed an army of ruffians of the worst type, and a host of Freemasons, who came to establish the Grand Orient in Rome. (See Civiltà Cattolica, 1871, p. 209). The scenes of plunder and spoliation that followed were not unlike those of the Reformation in England, only these modern reformers of Italy would do away with Christianity altogether and resuscitate, if possible, the abominations of ancient paganism.

(1)

It was at the moment of France's defeat by Germany when the States of Europe, busy watching the great struggle between the two empires, were not likely to think much of the affairs of Italy, that Victor Emmanuel seized the opportunity of capturing Rome. The scandalous violation of right was viewed with calmness, if not indifference, by the rest of Europe; neither Austria, France nor Spain, took any active steps to redress the wrongs done to the Head of Christendom, and the only evidence of disagreement with accomplished facts has been that for over thirty years no Catholic prince has made or returned an official visit to the usurping king in the new capital of his realm.

Even Protestant writers are severe in their comments on the state of Italy since the occupation of Rome. Captain Gambier, quoted by the Catholic Times (September, 1895), speaks as follows: "The

(1) This revival of corrupt paganism was one of the features of the Roman republic of 1848-1849.

peace and contentment of the old days is gone. Right or wrong, the mass of the people believe that they are robbed and plundered. To them minister means a place-hunting rascal; banker means swindler; municipal councillor, a fraudulent contractor; deputy, a pettifogging attorney; the railway official is believed to be in league with the vanrobber; the custom-house officer with the smuggler, and so on through the whole gamut of administration."

Even Italian statesmen themselves are forced to admit that the occupation of Rome was a big political blunder; disaster has followed on disaster, symptoms of decadence are only too evident, failure of justice, bank scandals, military incapacity, chronic disorders of the universities, corruption of the press, terrible increase of crime and spread of revolutionary sentiments. The Roman question, thought to be dead and buried, like Banquo's ghost, turns up ominously on important occasions.

XII.-REFLECTIONS AT PORTA PIA.

Thirty-two years have flown since the Piedmontese entered Rome, and the chief actors in that deed of sacrilege have gone to their account. It may be well to pause for a moment or so at Porta Pia and reflect on all the evils the Church and Christian morality have suffered during that period and are still suffering:

(1) Loss of the Pope's Temporal Power, with consequent loss of independence in the government of the Church. (1)

(2) Imprisonment of the Holy Father in the Vatican.

(3) Suppression of Religious Orders and Congregations, as such; seizure of their houses, churches, and all their property.

(4) Sequestration (euphemistically termed "conversion into Italian bonds") of the property and revenues of all basilicas, collegiate and parochial churches, colleges and confraternities.

(5) Forced military service of priests, clerics and religious.

(6) The most shocking insults offered to the Holy Father (in violation of the Law of Guarantees) and to the clergy, day after day in the public press. The mind sickens at the thought of the coarse, revolting caricatures seen every week in nearly every street of priests, bishops, and even of the Vicar of Christ.

(7) Public demonstrations in the streets against the Pope and the Church, notably at the inauguration of the statue of the apostate friar,

(1) See also THE MESSENGER, July, 1902, p. 88.

Giordano Bruno, when a dark banner of Satan was flaunted through the streets.

(8) The attempt to cast the body of Pope Pius IX into the Tiber. (9) The spread of heresy, as mentioned above.

(10) The spread of corruption among the young by the irreligious teaching in the public schools. Many of those selected as teachers are professed infidels, men totally unfit to be in contact with children. Carducci, the author of the "Hymn to Satan," held a professorial chair in the Roman College.

(11) The growing disregard of decency. Indecent representations are exposed everywhere, which have a corrupting effect on the heart and mind. Shameful statues are erected in public places, such as would disgrace a pagan city.

(12) The multiplication of bad newspapers, full of blasphemous insults and filthy garbage, with the avowed object of making religion odious.

(13) Scandalous desecration of the Sunday by unnecessary public

works.

(14) Widespread misery among the poor, suffering from bad seasons, want of employment and cruel taxation of the most necessary articles of food. Discontent is driving thousands every year from the country, and thousands into the ranks of the Socialists.

(15) The ruin of the Religious Orders who used to befriend the poor. A non-Catholic correspondent in the Spectator of June 11, 1898, says: "In old days the Religious Orders, scattered throughout the length and breadth of the land, helped the people over periods of distress by finding work for them and distributing alms, just as we assist the natives of India during a famine. Practically they formed a network of benevolent societies, and the peasant felt that he had them to fall back upon. The monastery lands and industries have now, for the most part, passed into the hands of speculators or rich absentee landlords, and at the same time the proceeds of their sequestration have been squandered in inflating the army, in political bribery and in a futile colonial policy."

(16) Sequestration of the funds of the Opere Pie, or pious foundations for hospitals, orphanages, asylums, etc.

(17) The alarming spread of Socialism, robbing the poor man of his one consolation, Religion, filling his mind with hatred of all authority, spiritual and temporal, and with wild ideas tending directly to anarchy.