this list, which is far from perfect, we find one hundred and thirty-six priests, and forty-four of the laity, both men and women. Of the greater number who suffered torture, or died in prison, it is impossible to make any estimate.

These measures were at length effectual. With the com. mon people, ignorance did its own work. They gradually came to believe the calumnies which they heard unceasingly from the pulpit, and the very traditions of the old faith died out from among them. The wretched English pauper who sees, from the window of his workhouse, the ruins of some ancient abbey, little dreams how large a share the men who made the ruin had in causing his misery and degradation. He does not know that when the stately abbey occupied the place now cumbered by those mouldering stones, England had no workhouses, no poorlaws. The Gospel of Christian charity sufficed, and the poverty now treated as a crime, was relieved with tender sympathy. The monks were proverbially easy landlords, and their revenues were spent among the people, and for their benefit.

FRANCE.

In this country the new doctrines were introduced by the disciples of John Calvin, one of the most violent and fanatical of the reformers. The Huguenots, as the French Protestants were called, increased in power, being protected by the Prince of Condé and the king of Navarre. Civil troubles arose; Elizabeth of England encouraged the Huguenots in secret, and France saw the beginning of the religious wars which were to desolate the realm during half a century.

ITALY.

The doctrines of Luther were never received in this country. Leo X., who occupied the pontifical throne at the be

Did many Catholics suffer in her reign? Were these measures effectual? What do you say of the Reformation in France? Were the doctrines of Luther ever received in Italy?

COUNCIL OF TRENT.

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ginning of these troubles, was a man of unblemished life, and illustrious as a patron of art and letters. Whether he met the dangers threatening the Church with sufficient promptitude it is difficult to say. Under his successor, Clement VII., the Eternal City underwent the most terrible calamities. The Constable de Bourbon led an army composed principally of Lutherans through Italy; took Rome by assauit, and gave the city up to a general pillage. It is said that the actrocities committed by the soldiery exceeded all that history records of the barbarous legions of Alaric or Genseric.

A. D. 1540 Pope Paul III. gave his solemn approbation to a new order founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, which has since become illustrious as the Society of Jesus.

COUNCIL OF TRENT.

From the beginning of the religious troubles the sovereign Pontiffs felt that a General Council was necessary. The Catholic princes were of the same opinion, but such was the troubled state of Europe that it was only in 1545 that the council held its first session at Trent.

The task before the Council was immense, as there was not a single doctrine which was not assailed by some one of the new sects. The necessity of a thorough reform in discipline was also evident, and the Catholic princes, who had caused so much of the existing troubles by their interference in Church matters, raised difficulties at every step. From these causes, and the movements of hostile armies, the deliberations were frequently interrupted, so that the sessions of the Council were protracted over a period of eighteen years under six different Popes.

God watched visibly over the work of this great assembly.

What calamity marked the reign of Clement VII.? Where and when did the eighteenth General Council meet? What did i affect!

Every dogma was clearly defined, and such wise measures were taken to bring about a peaceful but thorough reform in the hierarchy, the inferior clergy and the monastic orders, that the Church entered on a new and happier era.

PROGRESS OF RELIGION.

In the newly conquered regions of the new world the Dominicans and Franciscans were laboring with devoted zeal for the conversion of the natives. The natural obstacles presented by the ignorance and superstition of the heathen, were increased a hundredfold by the bad example given to the poor natives by the Spanish and Portuguese colonists. A vast proportion of these men were soldiers of fortune, needy adventurers or criminals; and among their leaders were many turbulent spirits whom the Spanish sovereigns were well pleased to employ at a safe distance. We must add to these circumstances the corrupting influences of rapidly acquired wealth, and a climate so enervating that the strongest motives were hardly sufficient to stimulate the European settlers to any species of industry. We must take these things into account when we hear conclusions unfavorable to the Catholic Church drawn from the prosperity of Northern America, and the wretched condition of the Spanish settlements. The exiles who landed on Plymouth rock, found a land which afforded the necessaries of life only as the reward of incessant toil. There were no gold mines to attract rovers greedy of spoil; no effeminate natives to reduce to slavery. Not that the first settlers of New England and Virginia can be cleared of the charge of cruelty towards the poor natives; their own annals furnish abundant proof of the contrary. We meet indeed, in the history of these colonies, instances of unprovoked cruelty sufficiently numerous to show,

With what difficulties had the missionaries in America to con. tend? How do you account for the greater prosperity of the North American settlement?

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that under similar circumstances, and with the same temptations, they would have been guilty of all the excesses which disgraced the memory of the Spanish settlers. Of the nations which sent out colonies to the new world, France only has had no cause to blush for her children. Whether in Acadia, in the Canadas, or the far West, the conduct of the French settlers towards the natives was worthy of all praise.

The great Bishop Las Casas was, during a public career of sixty years, the fearless champion of the poor natives. The Spanish sovereigns supported his efforts, which were, however, constantly thwarted by the rapacity of the colonists; and complaints which took such a weary time to reach the royal ear, generally came too late to be effectual.

Notwithstanding all these discouraging circumstances, the missionaries gained a multitude of souls to Christ; and when the sons of St. Ignatius joined their ranks the conversion of the natives was undertaken in a more organized manner. The Church was meanwhile consoled by the conversions wrought in the East by St. Francis Xavier, one of the first companions of St. Ignatius. This great missionary enjoyed the gift of tongues; he raised the dead to life, and his miracles recalled the wonders of the Apostolic age.

This period is so crowded with great events that we can only name those which have a less direct bearing on religion. Mexico was conquered in 1523 by Hernando Cortez. Peru was subdued the following year by the arms of Francisco Pizarro. The defeat of the Turks in the great naval battle of Lepanto, A. D. 1571, freed Christian Europe from the gravest apprehensions. A. D. 1587 was marked by the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. The following year a great naval expedition was fitted out by the Spanish king Philip II. for the invasion of England. This squadron, called the Invincible Armada, was

What nation acted with justice towards the natives? What great missionary labored in the East? Enumerate some of the leading events of the century.

partly dispersed by storms, partly defeated by the English

navy.

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

ENGLAND.

'HE death of Elizabeth, A. D. 1603, raised hopes

THE

among the English Catholics which were not destined to be fulfilled. James I., son of Mary Queen of Scots, who succeeded her, was favorably inclined regarding toleration and freedom of worship. He had, before his accession, made promises which were soon forgotten when he found that any favor shown the Catholics would involve him in a dangerous struggle with his parliament. There were fewer executions under this reign, but the Catholics were perpetually harassed by fines, imprisonment, and other vexations.

While the great body of the faithful bore these sufferings with exemplary patience, a few desperate men determined on effecting a change, and planned to blow up the Parliament Ilouse, involving in one destruction, king, lords, and commons. This plot, equally wild and wicked, was fortunately discovered. Guy Fawkes and others suffered the penalty of their crime, and suspicion fell upon a number of innocent persons. It has been proved that at no time were there more than nine persons engaged in the conspiracy, which was most unjustly charged upon the great body of the Catholics.

The persecution continued under Charles I., who came to the throne A. D. 1625. On the restoration of Charles II. the hopes of the Catholics were again disappointed. This weak and profligate prince feared to enter into any contention with

What hopes were excited by the death of Elizabeth? What conspiracy was formed? With what result? Did Charles I. grant toleration?