OCR Text |
Show THE FRIAR MILLIONS. Editor Intermountain Catholic: I read with interest your replies to question.- on different subjects sub-jects which appear from time to time in your columns. col-umns. Your answer to a correspondent here on "Marriage" leaves a doubt as to the course open to the party interested in that matrimonial en-t)tnglenient. en-t)tnglenient. A question, which the present writer would like to see answered, vis: What will the Friars of the Philippine island.-, do with the millions mil-lions of dollars they received from the United States? Does that large amoun.: rightfully belong to them? f so, is there not an inconsistency between be-tween such large possessions an-! the vow of poverty pov-erty which thev are supposed to have made? Butte City, Jan. 1. CONSTANT READER. The marriage difficulty to which our correspondent correspon-dent refers appeared in this paper last month. It had reference to the validity of n certain marriage which took place in a foreign country and under very peculiar circumstances. The only impediment impedi-ment to its validity was error. This impediment, in its theological sense, was fully explained. The writer could not See the mind oi: the injured party before the nuptial contract. Hence the doubt which exists as to the course which may be pursued pur-sued by the supposed injured party. We arc unable un-able to tell pur correspondent what the Friars will do with the millions they receive in payment for the land puc-hased by the United States. Thcy may expend it iii extending theii" sphere of useful labors. The natives are not ; et in the advance guard of civilization and Christian education. The lamp of , faith must be kept "trimmed and filled withoil." Peter's bark is now steered by a holy, zealous, devoted and unselfish Pontiff, who realizes' real-izes' the needs of the Church in the archipelago, lie will, no 'doubt,' in time answer the question propounded by our correspondent The second question: "Does that large amount rightfully lie-long lie-long to them?'- is answered by the tribunal appointed ap-pointed to pass judgment. That court, consisting of enlightened legal minds, win studied the ques--tion in all its bearings, has decided the justice of the claimants. The presumption, therefore, is that "the large amount rightfully belongs to them." Our correspondent insidiously injects a question which he considers an inconsistency.. This is because , he 'd ws not take in the broad, Christian view of -a" vow of poverty. Those who take -such vows voluntarily sacrifice, what the world seeks aft- I. or. Wealth, with all its pomp and display, the forego. 'Ju doing so they follow th-. example of Christ, who, though rich, became poor for the bene-f.r bene-f.r of humanity. His teaching and example- are the Christian standard. The solution of the quotum quo-tum does not depend on the possession or absence oi wealth, but on the spirit that dominates the ps-; ps-; sessor. Poverty, like whiteness, is a mere abstrac-j abstrac-j tion. You can see it only whoa realized in some hungry, thinly-clad individual. The application of the vow of poverty in the Christian sense would ; i.;can love for fiich persons, ami its practice would still further mean to give the individual bread and j clothing. "To feed the hungry, clothe the naked," I ets., are doctrines inculcated by the Good Master. Persons inheriting large esiates have frequently made vows of poverty, and. whilst stiil retaining their income', they were porfe"t!y consistent m iheir vows, which were made from pure motives of love for the hungry and naked. For this purpose, their goods and earthly poss-v.. ions were in the end distributed. To repress the evil of greed and avarice, no more effective mean- could be devised. Poverty is no crime, and in all countries the poor, so dear to ihe heart of Jesus, will be found in large numbers. A vow of poverty does not mean that tiiose who are so bound should be in the same reduced re-duced poverty-? tricken circumstances, but that they love those who are reduced to euch a state. The vow itself is a voluntary act of a free agent, and they who make it show that '.hoy believe in an order of things higher than this world, and that it is more blessed to be poor than rich. Nations generally devote themselves to material interests and, whilst interested in the welfare of their citizens, the latter do not escape ( poverty. America and England are the two wealthiest nations na-tions in the world today, yet in both you will find sviualid poverty to your heart's content, or discontent. discon-tent. In Chicago, on Christmas day, some wealthy people, imitating the grand Christian principle which lies concealed beneath the vow of poverty, gave a charity dinner to JO.OOo hungry men, women wo-men and children. But hunger appeased soon re-. re-. turns, and, had those wealthy people vowed to do the same thing every time they met hungry people, their actions would differ but little from the real vow of poverty whicli they ridicule and condemn. Infinite Wisdom alone, who penetrates the inmost ' recesses of the soul, and judges- not the external acts, but the motives which prompt them, could answer, satisfactorily our correspondent as to the inconsistency between a vow of poverty and the possession of wealth. 1 j i. : . |