A lady's reply to a priest concerning Spiritism.

— We are informed from Bordeaux that an ecclesiastic of that city wrote the following letter to a very elderly lady, dated last January 8. We are formally authorized to publish it, as well as the reply that was given to it.

“Madam, “I regret that yesterday I was unable to converse with you in private regarding certain religious practices contrary to the teaching of the holy Church. Much has been said about this in your family, and even about the existence of a circle. I should be happy, madam, to know that you hold nothing but contempt for these diabolical superstitions, and that you are always sincerely attached to the invariable dogmas of the Catholic religion.

“I have the honor, etc.

“X…”

REPLY.

“My dear Abbot, “My mother being too ill to reply personally to your kind letter of the 8th of this month, I hasten to do so on her behalf and in her stead, in order to set at ease your solicitude regarding the dangers that she and her family might run.

“Dear sir, in my home no religious practice is carried out that could disturb even the most fervent Catholics, unless respect and prayer for the dead, faith in the immortality of the soul, an unlimited confidence in the love and goodness of God, and an observance as strict as human nature permits of the holy doctrines of Christ be practices condemned by the holy Catholic Church.

“As for what they may say of my family, even of the existence of a circle, I am untroubled: they will never say, here or elsewhere, that any of us has done anything for which he must blush or hide himself; and I do not blush, nor do I conceal myself, for admitting the development and the clarity that the Spiritist manifestations spread, for me and for many others, over that which was obscure, from the standpoint of my intelligence, in all that seemed to depart from the laws of Nature. I owe to these diabolical superstitions the believing with sincerity, with gratitude, in all the miracles that the Church gives us as articles of faith, and which, until now, I regarded as symbols, or rather — I confess it — as fancies. I owe to them a peace of mind that until now I had not obtained, whatever my efforts. I owe to them faith, faith without limits, without reflection, without commentary; in short, faith such as the holy Church recommends to its children, such as the Lord must require of His creatures, such as our divine Savior preached it by word and by example. “Be at ease, then, dearest sir. The good Shepherd has gathered around Him the indifferent sheep that followed Him mechanically out of habit and who now follow Him, and will always follow Him, with love and gratitude. The divine Master forgave Saint Thomas for having believed only after he had seen. Well then! Even today He comes to make the unbelievers touch His side and His hands, and it is with a nameless love that those who doubt draw near to kiss His bloodied feet and to thank that good and merciful Father for permitting these immutable truths to become palpable, in order to strengthen the weak and enlighten the blind who refused even to see the light that has shone for so many centuries. “Permit me now to rehabilitate my mother in the eyes of the holy Church. Of all my family, my husband and I are the only ones who have the happiness of following this path, which each is at liberty to judge from his own point of view. I hasten, then, to set you at ease in this regard. As for myself personally, I have found much strength and consolation in the palpable certainty that those whom we love, and whom we mourn, are always at our side, preaching the love of God above all things; love of one's neighbor, charity under all its aspects, self-denial, the forgetting of insults, good for evil (which, it seems, does not depart from the dogmas of the Church) — so that, come what may, I cling to that which I know, to that which I have seen, asking God to send His consolations to those who, like me, did not dare reflect upon the mysteries of religion, fearful that that poor human reason, which wishes to admit only what it understands, might destroy the beliefs that habit gave me the air of possessing. “I give thanks, then, to the Lord, whose incontestable goodness and power permit the angels and the saints now to make themselves visible, in order to save men from doubt and denial — that which the demon had been permitted to do to lose them ever since the creation of the world. All things are possible to God, even miracles. Today I acknowledge it with happiness and confidence.

“Receive, dear Abbot, my sincere thanks for the interest you were good enough to show us, and believe that I make ardent wishes to see enter into all hearts the faith and the love that I today have the happiness of possessing.

“Accept, etc., Émilie Collignon.”

Observation. – We dispense ourselves from any commentary on this letter, leaving to each the care of appreciating it. We will only say that we are acquainted with a great number of writings to the same effect.

— The following passage, taken from one of them, may summarize them, if not as to the terms, at least as to the sense:

“Although born and baptized in the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion, for thirty years, that is, since my first communion, I had forgotten my prayers and the way to church; in a word, I no longer believed in anything save the reality of the present life. By a heavenly grace, Spiritism came, at last, to open my eyes; today the facts have spoken to me. Not only do I believe in God and in the soul, but in the future life, whether happy or unhappy. I believe in a just and good God, who punishes evil acts and not mistaken beliefs. Like a mute man who recovers speech, I remembered my prayers, and I pray, no longer with the lips and without understanding, but with the heart, the intelligence, with faith and love. Not long ago I judged it an act of weakness to draw near to the sacraments of the Church; today I believe I am performing an act of humility pleasing to God in receiving them. You repel me even from the tribunal of penitence; first of all, you impose a formal retraction of my Spiritist beliefs; you wish me to renounce conversing with the dear son I lost, who came to speak to me words so sweet, so consoling; you wish me to declare that this child, whom I recognized as if he were alive before me, is the demon! No! a mother is not deceived so grossly. But, Abbot, it is the very words of this child that, having convinced me of the future life, lead me back to the Church! How, then, would you have me believe that it is the demon? If this is the last word of the Church, one may ask what will happen when everyone is a Spiritist. “You drew attention to me from the height of the pulpit; you pointed at me with your finger; you raised against me a fanatical rabble; you caused to be taken away from a poor woman who shares my beliefs the work by which she made her living, telling her that she would be helped if she ceased to see me, hoping to bend her through hunger. Frankly, Abbot, would Jesus Christ have done this?

“You say you act according to your conscience. You have no fear that I will commit violence, and you find it right that I should act according to my conscience. Yet you have repelled me from the Church; I will not try to return there by force, for in any place prayer is pleasing to God. Allow me only to recount the causes that, for so long, had drawn me away from it; that first made doubt arise in me, and from doubt the denial of everything. If now I am accursed, as you maintain, you will see to whom the responsibility belongs.”

Observation. – The reflections that arise from such things may be summed up in two words: Fatal imprudence! Fatal blindness! We had in hand a manuscript entitled: Memoirs of an Unbeliever. It is a curious account of the causes that lead man to materialist ideas, and of the means by which he may be led back to faith. We do not yet know whether it is the author's intention to publish it.