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ACERBISSIMUM VOBIScuм -  XXVII SEPTEMBRIS  MDCCCLII.

SPEECH FROM OUR HOLY FATHER POPE PIUS IX PRONOUNCED IN THE SECRET CONSISTORY OF SEPTEMBER 27, 1852.

Venerable Brothers,

Today we want to share with you, Venerable Brothers, the cruel pain that We have felt for a long time in the depths of our souls, for the serious damage which cannot be sufficiently deplored by which, since several years, the Catholic Church has been oppressed and afflicted so miserably in the Republic of New Granada. We could have never expected anything similar: everyone knows what testimonies of goodwill this Apostolic See has lavished on this Republic, and with what eagerness Our predecessor Gregory XVI, of blessed memory, not only recognized it before the other republics of these regions, but furthermore established an apostolic nunciature there, in order to provide the spiritual good of this people and to strengthen with them the bonds of a reciprocal friendship. OUR pain is all the more acute as We have seen no results from the means employed by Our predecessor and by Ourselves with this government, with tireless perseverance, so that it could remedy the great evils done to the Catholic religion in this country, and so that it too would abolish certain laws that the civil power has promulgated and sanctioned there to the detriment of the faithful, laws contrary to the divine institution of the Church, to its venerable rights, to its freedom and to the supreme authority of this Apostolic See, no less also to the authority of the sacred pastors and other ecclesiastical persons.

Beginning in 1845, during the month of April, a law was promulgated in New Granada, which carries, among other prescriptions, that when secular courts admitted an accusation against ecclesiastical persons, these persons, and not only priests and other clerics, but also the Bishops themselves whom the Holy Ghost has established to govern the Church of God, must immediately cease all functions of the sacred ministry and entrust to others the exercise of their office. The same law punishes with prison, exile and other penalties anyone who refuses to submit to these prescriptions. Our predecessor learned of it, and immediately He addressed a letter to the President of the Republic, energetically representing to him how much such a law was worthy of reprobation and asking with insistence that it be abrogated and that the rights of the Church remain in their integrity.

For Us, raised by the impenetrable judgment of God on this Chair of the Prince of the Apostles, We had just taken the government of the universal Church that We felt enflamed ourselves with the desire to provide for the needs of the holy religion in this country, and for this purpose in 1847 We sent letters to the President of this Republic. We expressed on the one hand all the ardor of Our concern for this part of the flock of Jesus Christ and with what paternal charity We would want to apply remedies to Israel's wounds, remedies suitable for healing them.  We are deploring on the other hand, the miserable situation in which this Church found itself crushed. We also warmly requested that two new bills, the first of which abolished tithes without the Holy See having been consulted;  the second, which guaranteed to men of every nation who emigrate to New Grenada the public exercise of their religion, whatever the cult.  In reproving these projects, We asked with the greatest force that they would never be put into practice and that the Church could use all Her rights and enjoy Her complete freedom.

We consoled ourselves in the hope that the government of New Grenada would welcome these words, these warnings, these requests, these complaints, coming from the most loving heart, but afflicted heart, of the common Father of the faithful. But to Our great pain, We are forced to announce to you today that the hostile and violent attacks against the Church of Christ are multiplying every day in this country;  for two years especially they have been become such that secular power has never ceased to do to the Church new and very serious injuries.  Not only, Venerable Brothers, the laws which We have already spoken about have been maintained, but furthermore the two legislative Assemblies of this government have created others which violate manifestatively, which attack and trample underfoot the most sacred rights of the Church and this Apostolic See.  In May of last year, for example, was promulgated a law against religious orders which, constituted with holiness and governed with wisdom, render such great services and do much to honor civil society as well as to Christian society.  This law confirms the expulsion of the Society of Jesus, a religious family which, after having been long desired and finally called to this country, was of such great utility under the double relationship of social interest and Catholic interest.  The same law prohibits the establishment in the territory of the Republic of any religious order which professes, as the saying goes, passive obedience. Again, much more, she promises help and relief to all those who want to apostatize by leaving the religious life already embraced and thus breaking the bond of solemn vows.

Finally, it prohibits the vigilant Archbishop of this ecclesiastical province, Our Venerable Brother Emmanuel, who in every way so well merited of Us and of this Apostolic See; it prohibits him from exercising the power that was conferred on him by  the Holy See, in 1835, to visit religious families to vigorously re-establish regular discipline.

In this same month of May 1851 another law was promulgated by which is entirely abolished the ecclesiastical forum, so that all the civil and criminal causes which are within its jurisdiction, and even though they concerned the Archbishop or the Bishops, must henceforth be judged by secular courts and by the magistrates of the Republic.  A few days later, that is to say on May 27, 1851, a law was promulgated on the nomination of parish priests, by virtue of which the national assemblies transfer (power)from the President of the Republic to certain parish assemblies which are called 'Cabildo parroquial', in which the fathers of families of each parish are granted the right, false and devoid of any basis, of naming the parish pastor.  A curate becoming vacant, it would be this assembly which would name the new pastor.  Other articles of this law prohibit holy Shepherds to give any or sacred visits under any circuмstances of any kind or by any other right to receive monies, and authorize the 'Cabildo parroquial' to arbitrarily determine, either to increase or diminish, at its good pleasure, the incomes of the parish, as well as all the expenses relative to the cult. And, these provisions are still subject to additional ones which are equally destructive and annul the rights of ecclesiastical property.

Another law, published June 1, 1851 forbids the granting of canonical monies to the Cathedral Churches until the majority of provincial councils of the respective dioceses consent to it. Other laws were subsequently made which give everyone the right to free themselves from the duty to pay bequeathed estates (leges), which form the largest part of ecclesiastical income, on the condition of paying half to the government.  In addition, the assets of the archepiscopal-seminary of Santa-Fe-di-Bogota were adjudicated to the national college, and the inspector-superior position over the seminary itself was attributed to secular power.

We must not pass over in silence here that the new Constitution of this Republic, sanctioned in recent times, recognizes among other rights the right of free institution, and grants to all full and complete freedom to publish their thoughts and even the most monstrous opinions, at the same time the freedom to profess, either in public or in private, any cult one wishes.

You see, Venerable Brothers, what a disastrous and sacrilegious war those who direct the affairs in New Granada do to the Catholic Church, and what is the number, how great are the injustices committed against Her, against its sacred rights, against its pastors and against its ministers, against the supreme authority of Our person and of this Holy See.  The laws of which We have just spoke began to be put into effect in 1851;  the Bishops and ecclesiastics who, filled with catholic sentiments, have rightly and with every right protest against these laws and refuse to obey them, have become the object of the cruellest vexations and suffered the hardest vicissitudes, to the greatest detriment of loyal populations.  The sacred authority of the Bishops has been oppressed, the ministry of cures is surrounded by obstacles and rendered useless;  the best preachers of the Divine Word were thrown into prison, the ecclesiastics of all rank reduced to the most extreme poverty and overwhelmed with all kinds of evils.

Our venerable Brother Emmanuel-Joseph de Monsquera, the vigilant Archbishop of Santa-Fe-di-Bogota, above all, had to bear the labor and the suffering;  and this because, gifted as he is with a singular piety and having especially the doctrine, the prudence, the spirit of counsel, the courage of the apostolic zeal, he never ceased to protest with as much wisdom as of firmness, as his duty imposed on him, against these impieties, to oppose the licentious behaviour of the century, to combat the projects of men of impiety, to energetically support the cause of God and his Church.  Therefore, learn, Venerable Brothers, what pretext the government of New Granada mainly puts forward to justify its persecutions against this illustrious Metropolitan.

The custom has become established in this country of opening examinations every six months to
those who must be promoted to vacant parishes.  By a law contrary to the canonical laws, the government has long since audaciously claimed the right not only to bring together the Bishops at the fixed time for these examinations, but also to constrain the nearest archbishop or bishop to fill this office whenever a bishop has not fulfilled it at the appointed time.

Under this law, the government, in 1851, ordered an Archbishop to proceed with the exams.  That Prelate found himself suffering from a serious illness, so his Vicar General responded on his behalf to the government and believed having to reject, although with all possible precautions, such an unjust and pretentious affair, fearing above all things to appear to approve of what was the law on the appointment of parish priests of which We have already spoken.  For having maintained this conduct as prudent as it is upright and which is worthy of all praise, the Vicar general was brought before the secular courts, stripped from the exercise of his office, publicly thrown into prison, and, after having spent two months, sentenced to stay for another six months and to undergo various other sentences.  However, Venerable Brothers - and this is what is most painful- the Vicar General capitular of the vacant Church of Antiochia, the most near Bogota, shamefully obeying the injunctions of the government of New Granada, did not fear, in March 1851, to publish an edict by which, rising against his own Metropolitan and invading his jurisdiction, despite all the canonical prescriptions, he opened the examination for the parishes of this archbishopric.

As soon as this news reached our ears, and without the slightest delay, We addressed to this Vicar Capitular a letter to severely reprimand him for such a great crime and to condemn, as was our duty, by ordering him to desist immediately of his attack, and by warning him that, if he did not obey, We would be forced, to Our great regret, to take the measures required in such circuмstances with the severity of the sacred canons and the dignity of Our apostolic office.  For his part, the religious Archbishop, fulfilling his duty with prudence and wisdom, promulgated an edict by which, with all reason, he declared null and void the Act promulgated by the Vicar Capitular against the prescriptions of the holy canons, forbidding at the same time, conform to canon law, to obey this act.

It was then that the Chamber of Deputies, turning with all-out increasing fury against his own pastor, did not fear to accuse this illustrious Archbishop as guilty of violating the laws.  For its part, the Senate of New Granada does not blush to accept this iniquitous and impious accusation .  This is why, by virtue of the abominable law which We have said was condemned by our predecessor Gregory XVI, of happy memory, the Archbishop was ordered to renounce his own jurisdiction and resign into the hands of another ecclesiastic.  This Prelate, distinguished by piety as in doctrine and ardent defender of Catholic interests and of the rights of the Church, showed himself ready to suffer anything.  To the notice which was made, he gave a response full of truth and wisdom which testifies to the
truly episcopal firmness of his soul.  He replied that he could not in any way renounce an authority which came to him from no one other than God and the Apostolic Chair.  So, to the chagrin and indignation of all decent people, the Government was not afraid not only of putting a sequestration on the revenues and  properties of the archiepiscopal , but further to condemn into exile its own Archbishop, famous in so many titles, and who had so well merit of his flock.  A serious illness did not allow him a long journey, he was forced to retire to a country house two days from Bogota.  Distinguished personages, including the ambassador of an illustrious foreign nation, moved by such unworthy treatment, had taken care to make an appeal to the government;  but the only thing they could get was that the Prelate would only be obliged to go into exile until he found himself in a state to endure the fatigue of the road.

Things wouldn't stay there.  In recent days, We have learned with great bitterness that our venerable Brother Bishop of Cartagena and our beloved son the Vicar General capitular of the diocese of Sainte-Marthe had received from the Government, regarding the assistance for the examination, completely similar to that which had been made previously to the Archbishop.  They were the object of the same treatments, having one and the other reject these claims with a firmness worthy of the greatest praise.  We knew, on the other hand, that a similar storm threatens our venerable Brother the Bishop of Nuova-Pamplona, who is ready to fill all the duties of his office and to defend with an unshakable constancy the rights of the Holy Church.

Other distinguished ecclesiastics from the Republic were also subjected to the same outrages and the same persecutions.  Our Legate himself had to undergo these: on various occasions, in deliberative assemblies, in the midst of the most violent and most vile outrageous acts against the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth and against the apostolic Holy See , the proposal to dismiss him was discussed.  Yet he never stopped, with all necessary prudence and with equal firmness, to claim in Our name against these abominable and sacrilegious attacks.

We will not talk here about some other new laws proposed at the Chamber of Deputies by some of its members, laws entirely contrary to the immutable doctrine of the Catholic Church and its sacred rights.

Also, We say nothing about the proposals made for the Church to be separated from the State, so that the goods of the regular Orders and those coming from the pious legacies are subject to the burden of forced loans;  so that they repeal the laws which ensure the existence of religious families and guarantee their rights and their offices;  so that the civil authority is given the right to erect dioceses and collegiates, and to determine their limits;  so that the ecclesiastical jurisdiction be conferred on anyone who has obtained his appointment from government.  Nor do We say anything about another decree by which, completely ignoring the dignity, holiness and mystery of the sacrament of marriage, by upsetting with extreme ignorance the institution and the nature, disregarding the power which belongs to the Church over every sacrament, they proposed, in accordance with the opinions of heretics already condemned, and without taking into account the doctrine of the Catholic Church, to no longer see in marriage a civil contract, and in various cases to sanction divorce properly speaking, and finally to submit all matrimonial causes to the jurisdiction and judgment of secular courts.  Among Catholics, who can ignore that marriage is truly and properly one of the seven sacraments of the evangelical law instituted by Our Lord Jesus-Christ, so that there cannot be among the faithful any marriage which is not at the same time a sacrament;  that between Christians the union of man and the woman outside the sacrament, whatever the civil formalities and legal, cannot be anything other than this shameful and disastrous concubinage condemned so many times by the Church?  From which it clearly follows that the sacrament cannot be separate from the marital bond, and that it is in the power of the Church that it is exclusively the responsibility of regulating things relating to marriage in any way.  But, as We have just declared,  let Us move on from all this, because these laws, although proposed by some deputies, were rejected by the majority of this House and by the majority of senators, who, better inspired, by an element of divine favor, recognized and opposed the idea of adding new plagues to all those by which they had already torn this Church.

In the midst of so much pain, We Ourselves feel consoled by thinking of the religion, piety, firmness and the priestly establishment of the Archbishop Bishop of Bogota and other Prelates of this Republic.  Remembering the rank they occupy, the dignity with which they are vested, the oath they have spoken on the day of their consecration, and walking in the footsteps of their Metropotitan, they did not neglect to raise their voice against such serious injustices made to the Church, and they showed themselves ready to run all the dangers for its defence.  We also find great cause for consolation in the virtue and the distinguished piety of the peoples of New Granada;  the majority brought to light the pain and indignation which penetrated them so much and such horrible attacks against religion and against their pastors.  They have nothing more at heart than to testify in a dazzling public manner that the profession of the Catholic faith is dearer to them than anything;  that they have for their Bishops as much obedience as love, and that they remain firmly united to Us and to this Apostolic See, centre of Catholic truth and of unity.

However, sincerely, since We became aware of iniquitous resolutions, and which We cannot overly reprove, formed and accomplished by the Republic of New Granada against the Church, against its sacred rights, its goods, its pastors and its ministers, We have not ceased to claim through the organ of the Cardinal our Secretary of State, to this government, sending it repeated complaints against the  so serious injustices made to the Church and to this Apostolic See.  But this We say with pain: Our words, Our complaints, remained without result.

Those of the Bishops who, strengthened by Our letters, fulfilling their duty of serving as an example to others, did not fail to oppose like a wall for the house of Israel. It is therefore necessary that the faithful of this Republic know and let the whole world know how much We reproach all the attacks by the leaders of New Granada against religion, against the Church and its laws, against Catholic prelates and ministers, against the rights and authority of this Chair of Blessed Peter.  That is why We wanted to raise today with apostolic freedom Our voice of pastor in your assembly, Venerable Brothers, to reprove, condemn and declare completely invalid and void the above-mentioned decrees
promulgated by this government, in defiance of ecclesiastical power and of this Holy See, to the detriment and for the suffering of religion and its sacred pastors.  In addition, We warn all those who contributed in any way, either by their actions or by their orders, to these same decrees, to reflect seriously about the penalties and censures that the constituent apostolic actions and the sacred canons of the Councils decree against the perpetrators of profanity of sacred things and people, against the violators of power and ecclesiastical freedom, against the usurpers of the rights of the Church and this Apostolic See.

May it please God than the authors of the evils under whose weight groans the oppressed Church finally listen with a docile ear to Our words, Our admonitions, Our warnings and Our complaints!  May it please God that moved at the sight of this Mother filled with pain and love, they would determine to console Her with salutary penance  and pouring on Her wounds the balm of their tears!  Please God that they would hasten to repair the evil, without waiting until they have experienced the rigor that God shows when, in His anger, He judges those who have the audacity to defile, to violate, to persecute His Church.  As for us, Venerable Brothers, let us not stop praying or supplicating ardently to the Father,  by day or night, the most clement God of mercy and all consolation, so that He deigns to bring back by His grace all those who are lost, to the paths of truth, of righteousness, justice and salvation, and so that, by His omnipotent power, He causes the Church, so ardently besieged, so cruelly afflicted in this distant land and elsewhere by the detestable maneuvers of impious men, to leave mourning, wipe away tears, and, putting on garments of joy, see each day more dazzling triumphs to increase its strength and its beauty, from the east to the west.
END.
T.d.  7 pages. Original book: Recueil Des Allocutions...1865, shows the Latin text on the left, French on the right.
ACERBISSIMUM VOBIScuм  -  XXVII SEPTEMBRIS  MDCCCLII.

SPEECH FROM OUR HOLY FATHER POPE PIUS IX PRONOUNCED IN THE SECRET CONSISTORY OF SEPTEMBER 27, 1852.

Historical context: The Republic of New Granada was a centralist unitary republic consisting primarily of present-day Colombia and Panama with smaller portions of today's Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and Brazil that existed from 1831 to 1858. The state was created after the dissolution of Great Colombia in 1830 through the secession of Ecuador and Venezuela. In 1858 the state was renamed into the Granadine Confederation.
-Wikipedia