HUMANUM
GENUS
ON FREEMASONRY
ENCYCLICAL OF
POPE LEO XIII
To the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and
Bishops of the Catholic World in Grace and
Communion with the Apostolic See.
1. The race of man, after its miserable fall
from God, the Creator and the Giver of heavenly gifts, "through
the envy of the devil," separated into two diverse and opposite
parts, of which the one steadfastly contends for truth and virtue,
the other of those things which are contrary to virtue and to
truth. The one is the kingdom of God on earth, namely, the true
Church of Jesus Christ; and those who desire from their heart
to be united with it, so as to gain salvation, must of necessity
serve God and His only-begotten Son with their whole mind and
with an entire will. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose
possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example
of their leader and of our first parents, those who refuse to
obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their
own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God.
2. This twofold kingdom St. Augustine keenly
discerned and described after the manner of two cities, contrary
in their laws because striving for contrary objects; and with
a subtle brevity he expressed the efficient cause of each in these
words: "Two loves formed two cities: the love of self, reaching
even to contempt of God, an earthly city; and the love of God,
reaching to contempt of self, a heavenly one."(1) At every
period of time each has been in conflict with the other, with
a variety and multiplicity of weapons and of warfare, although
not always with equal ardour and assault. At this period, however,
the partisans of evil seems to be combining together, and to be
struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly
organized and widespread association called the Freemasons. No
longer making any secret of their purposes, they are now boldly
rising up against God Himself. They are planning the destruction
of holy Church publicly and openly, and this with the set purpose
of utterly despoiling the nations of Christendom, if it were possible,
of the blessings obtained for us through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Lamenting these evils, We are constrained by the charity which
urges Our heart to cry out often to God: "For lo, Thy enemies
have made a noise; and they that hate Thee have lifted up the
head. They have taken a malicious counsel against Thy people,
and they have consulted against Thy saints. They have said, 'come,
and let us destroy them, so that they be not a nation.'(2)
3. At so urgent a crisis, when so fierce and
so pressing an onslaught is made upon the Christian name, it is
Our office to point out the danger, to mark who are the adversaries,
and to the best of Our power to make head against their plans
and devices, that those may not perish whose salvation is committed
to Us, and that the kingdom of Jesus Christ entrusted to Our charge
may not stand and remain whole, but may be enlarged by an ever-increasing
growth throughout the world.
4. The Roman Pontiffs Our predecessors, in their
incessant watchfulness over the safety of the Christian people,
were prompt in detecting the presence and the purpose of this
capital enemy immediately it sprang into the light instead of
hiding as a dark conspiracy; and , moreover, they took occasion
with true foresight to give, as it were on their guard, and not
allow themselves to be caught by the devices and snares laid out
to deceive them.
5. The first warning of the danger was given
by Clement XII in the year 1738,(3) and his constitution was confirmed
and renewed by Benedict XIV(4) Pius VII followed the same path;(5)
and Leo XII, by his apostolic constitution, Quo Graviora,(6) put
together the acts and decrees of former Pontiffs on this subject,
and ratified and confirmed them forever. In the same sense spoke
Pius VIII,(7) Gregory XVI,(8) and, many times over, Pius IX.(9)
6. For as soon as the constitution and the spirit
of the masonic sect were clearly discovered by manifest signs
of its actions, by the investigation of its causes, by publication
of its laws, and of its rites and commentaries, with the addition
often of the personal testimony of those who were in the secret,
this apostolic see denounced the sect of the Freemasons, and publicly
declared its constitution, as contrary to law and right, to be
pernicious no less to Christiandom than to the State; and it forbade
any one to enter the society, under the penalties which the Church
is wont to inflict upon exceptionally guilty persons. The sectaries,
indignant at this, thinking to elude or to weaken the force of
these decrees, partly by contempt of them, and partly by calumny,
accused the sovereign Pontiffs who had passed them either of exceeding
the bounds of moderation in their decrees or of decreeing what
was not just. This was the manner in which they endeavoured to
elude the authority and the weight of the apostolic constitutions
of Clement XII and Benedict XIV, as well as of Pius VII and Pius
IX.(10) Yet, in the very society itself, there were to be found
men who unwillingly acknowledged that the Roman Pontiffs had acted
within their right, according to the Catholic doctrine and discipline.
The Pontiffs received the same assent, and in strong terms, from
many princes and heads of governments, who made it their business
either to delate the masonic society to the apostolic see, or
of their own accord by special enactments to brand it as pernicious,
as, for example, in Holland, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Bavaria,
Savoy, and other parts of Italy.
7. But, what is of highest importance, the course
of events has demonstrated the prudence of Our predecessors. For
their provident and paternal solicitude had not always and every
where the result desired; and this, either because of the simulation
and cunning of some who were active agents in the mischief, or
else of the thoughtless levity of the rest who ought, in their
own interest, to have given to the matter their diligent attention.
In consequence, the sect of Freemasons grew with a rapidity beyond
conception in the course of a century and a half, until it came
to be able, by means of fraud or of audacity, to gain such entrance
into every rank of the State as to seem to be almost its ruling
power. This swift and formidable advance has brought upon the
Church, upon the power of princes, upon the public well-being,
precisely that grievous harm which Our predecessors had long before
foreseen. Such a condition has been reached that henceforth there
will be grave reason to fear, not indeed for the Church - for
her foundation is much too firm to be overturned by the effort
of men - but for those States in which prevails the power, either
of the sect of which we are speaking or of other sects not dissimilar
which lend themselves to it as disciples and subordinates.
8. For these reasons We no sooner came to the
helm of the Church than We clearly saw and felt it to be Our duty
to use Our authority to the very utmost against so vast an evil.
We have several times already, as occasion served, attacked certain
chief points of teaching which showed in a special manner the
perverse influence of Masonic opinions. Thus, in Our encyclical
letter, Quod Apostolici Muneris, We endeavoured to refute the
monstrous doctrines of the socialists and communists; afterwards,
in another beginning "Arcanum," We took pains to defend
and explain the true and genuine idea of domestic life, of which
marriage is the spring and origin; and again, in that which begins
''Diuturnum,"(11) We described the ideal of political government
conformed to the principles of Christian wisdom, which is marvellously
in harmony, on the one hand, with the natural order of things,
and, in the other, with the well-being of both sovereign princes
and of nations. It is now Our intention, following the example
of Our predecessors, directly to treat of the masonic society
itself, of its whole teaching, of its aims, and of its manner
of thinking and acting, in order to bring more and more into the
light its power for evil, and to do what We can to arrest the
contagion of this fatal plague.
9. There are several organized bodies which,
though differing in name, in ceremonial, in form and origin, are
nevertheless so bound together by community of purpose and by
the similarity of their main opinions, as to make in fact one
thing with the sect of the Freemasons, which is a kind of center
whence they all go forth, and whither they all return. Now, these
no longer show a desire to remain concealed; for they hold their
meetings in the daylight and before the public eye, and publish
their own newspaper organs; and yet, when thoroughly understood,
they are found still to retain the nature and the habits of secret
societies. There are many things like mysteries which it is the
fixed rule to hide with extreme care, not only from strangers,
but from very many members, also; such as their secret and final
designs, the names of the chief leaders, and certain secret and
inner meetings, as well as their decisions, and the ways and means
of carrying them out. This is, no doubt, the object of the manifold
difference among the members as to right, office, and privilege,
of the received distinction of orders and grades, and of that
severe discipline which is maintained.
Candidates are generally commanded to promise - nay, with a special
oath, to swear - that they will never, to any person, at any time
or in any way, make known the members, the passes, or the subjects
discussed. Thus, with a fraudulent external appearance, and with
a style of simulation which is always the same, the Freemasons,
like the Manichees of old, strive, as far as possible, to conceal
themselves, and to admit no witnesses but their own members. As
a convenient manner of concealment, they assume the character
of literary men and scholars associated for purposes of learning.
They speak of their zeal for a more cultured refinement, and of
their love for the poor; and they declare their one wish to be
the amelioration of the condition of the masses, and to share
with the largest possible number all the benefits of civil life.
Were these purposes aimed at in real truth, they are by no means
the whole of their object. Moreover, to be enrolled, it is necessary
that the candidates promise and undertake to be thenceforward
strictly obedient to their leaders and masters with the utmost
submission and fidelity, and to be in readiness to do their bidding
upon the slightest expression of their will; or, if disobedient,
to submit to the direst penalties and death itself. As a fact,
if any are judged to have betrayed the doings of the sect or to
have resisted commands given, punishment is inflicted on them
not infrequently, and with so much audacity and dexterity that
the assassin very often escapes the detection and penalty of his
crime.
10. But to simulate and wish to lie hid; to bind
men like slaves in the very tightest bonds, and without giving
any sufficient reason; to make use of men enslaved to the will
of another for any arbitrary act ; to arm men's right hands for
bloodshed after securing impunity for the crime - all this is
an enormity from which nature recoils. Wherefore, reason and truth
itself make it plain that the society of which we are speaking
is in antagonism with justice and natural uprightness. And this
becomes still plainer, inasmuch as other arguments, also, and
those very manifest, prove that it is essentially opposed to natural
virtue. For, no matter how great may be men's cleverness in concealing
and their experience in lying, it is impossible to prevent the
effects of any cause from showing, in some way, the intrinsic
nature of the cause whence they come. "A good tree cannot
produce bad fruit, nor a bad tree produce good fruit."(12)
Now, the masonic sect produces fruits that are pernicious and
of the bitterest savour. For, from what We have above most clearly
shown, that which is their ultimate purpose forces itself into
view - namely, the utter overthrow of that whole religious and
political order of the world which the Christian teaching has
produced, and the substitution of a new state of things in accordance
with their ideas, of which the foundations and laws shall be drawn
from mere naturalism.
11. What We have said, and are about to say,
must be understood of the sect of the Freemasons taken generically,
and in so far as it comprises the associations kindred to it and
confederated with it, but not of the individual members of them.
There may be persons amongst these, and not a few who, although
not free from the guilt of having entangled themselves in such
associations, yet are neither themselves partners in their criminal
acts nor aware of the ultimate object which they are endeavoring
to attain. In the same way, some of the affiliated societies,
perhaps, by no means approve of the extreme conclusions which
they would, if consistent, embrace as necessarily following from
their common principles, did not their very foulness strike them
with horror. Some of these, again, are led by circumstances of
times and places either to aim at smaller things than the others
usually attempt or than they themselves would wish to attempt.
They are not, however, for this reason, to be reckoned as alien
to the masonic federation; for the masonic federation is to be
judged not so much by the things which it has done, or brought
to completion, as by the sum of its pronounced opinions.
12. Now, the fundamental doctrine of the naturalists,
which they sufficiently make known by their very name, is that
human nature and human reason ought in all things to be mistress
and guide. Laying this down, they care little for duties to God,
or pervert them by erroneous and vague opinions. For they deny
that anything has been taught by God; they allow no dogma of religion
or truth which cannot be understood by the human intelligence,
nor any teacher who ought to be believed by reason of his authority.
And since it is the special and exclusive duty of the Catholic
Church fully to set forth in words truths divinely received, to
teach, besides other divine helps to salvation, the authority
of its office, and to defend the same with perfect purity, it
is against the Church that the rage and attack of the enemies
are principally directed.
13. In those matters which regard religion let
it be seen how the sect of the Freemasons acts, especially where
it is more free to act without restraint, and then let any one
judge whether in fact it does not wish to carry out the policy
of the naturalists. By a long and persevering labor, they endeavor
to bring about this result - namely, that the teaching office
and authority of the Church may become of no account in the civil
State; and for this same reason they declare to the people and
contend that Church and State ought to be altogether disunited.
By this means they reject from the laws and from the commonwealth
the wholesome influence of the Catholic religion; and they consequently
imagine that States ought to be constituted without any regard
for the laws and precepts of the Church.
14. Nor do they think it enough to disregard
the Church - the best of guides - unless they also injure it by
their hostility. Indeed, with them it is lawful to attack with
impunity the very foundations of the Catholic religion, in speech,
in writing, and in teaching; and even the rights of the Church
are not spared, and the offices with which it is divinely invested
are not safe. The least possible liberty to manage affairs is
left to the Church; and this is done by laws not apparently very
hostile, but in reality framed and fitted to hinder freedom of
action. Moreover, We see exceptional and onerous laws imposed
upon the clergy, to the end that they may be continually diminished
in number and in necessary means. We see also the remnants of
the possessions of the Church fettered by the strictest conditions,
and subjected to the power and arbitrary will of the administrators
of the State, and the religious orders rooted up and scattered.
15. But against the apostolic see and the Roman
Pontiff the contention of these enemies has been for a long time
directed. The Pontiff was first, for specious reasons, thrust
out from the bulwark of his liberty and of his right, the civil
princedom; soon, he was unjustly driven into a condition which
was unbearable because of the difficulties raised on all sides;
and now the time has come when the partisans of the sects openly
declare, what in secret among themselves they have for a long
time plotted, that the sacred power of the Pontiffs must be abolished,
and that the papacy itself, founded by divine right, must be utterly
destroyed. If other proofs were wanting, this fact would be sufficiently
disclosed by the testimony of men well informed, of whom some
at other times, and others again recently, have declared it to
be true of the Freemasons that they especially desire to assail
the Church with irreconcilable hostility, and that they will never
rest until they have destroyed whatever the supreme Pontiffs have
established for the sake of religion.
16. If those who are admitted as members are
not commanded to abjure by any form of words the Catholic doctrines,
this omission, so far from being adverse to the designs of the
Freemasons, is more useful for their purposes. First, in this
way they easily deceive the simple-minded and the heedless, and
can induce a far greater number to become members. Again, as all
who offer themselves are received whatever may be their form of
religion, they thereby teach the great error of this age-that
a regard for religion should be held as an indifferent matter,
and that all religions are alike. This manner of reasoning is
calculated to bring about the ruin of all forms of religion, and
especially of the Catholic religion, which, as it is the only
one that is true, cannot, without great injustice, be regarded
as merely equal to other religions.
17. But the naturalists go much further; for,
having, in the highest things, entered upon a wholly erroneous
course, they are carried headlong to extremes, either by reason
of the weakness of human nature, or because God inflicts upon
them the just punishment of their pride. Hence it happens that
they no longer consider as certain and permanent those things
which are fully understood by the natural light of reason, such
as certainly are - the existence of God, the immaterial nature
of the human soul, and its immortality. The sect of the Freemasons,
by a similar course of error, is exposed to these same dangers;
for, although in a general way they may profess the existence
of God, they themselves are witnesses that they do not all maintain
this truth with the full assent of the mind or with a firm conviction.
Neither do they conceal that this question about God is the greatest
source and cause of discords among them; in fact, it is certain
that a considerable contention about this same subject has existed
among them very lately. But, indeed, the sect allows great liberty
to its votaries, so that to each side is given the right to defend
its own opinion, either that there is a God, or that there is
none; and those who obstinately contend that there is no God are
as easily initiated as those who contend that God exists, though,
like the pantheists, they have false notions concerning Him: all
which is nothing else than taking away the reality, while retaining
some absurd representation of the divine nature.
18. When this greatest fundamental truth has
been overturned or weakened, it follows that those truths, also,
which are known by the teaching of nature must begin to fall -
namely, that all things were made by the free will of God the
Creator; that the world is governed by Providence; that souls
do not die; that to this life of men upon the earth there will
succeed another and an everlasting life.
19. When these truths are done away with, which
are as the principles of nature and important for knowledge and
for practical use, it is easy to see what will become of both
public and private morality. We say nothing of those more heavenly
virtues, which no one can exercise or even acquire without a special
gift and grace of God; of which necessarily no trace can be found
in those who reject as unknown the redemption of mankind, the
grace of God, the sacraments, and the happiness to be obtained
in heaven. We speak now of the duties which have their origin
in natural probity. That God is the Creator of the world and its
provident Ruler; that the eternal law commands the natural order
to be maintained, and forbids that it be disturbed; that the last
end of men is a destiny far above human things and beyond this
sojourning upon the earth: these are the sources and these the
principles of all justice and morality. If these be taken away,
as the naturalists and Freemasons desire, there will immediately
be no knowledge as to what constitutes justice and injustice,
or upon what principle morality is founded. And, in truth, the
teaching of morality which alone finds favor with the sect of
Freemasons, and in which they contend that youth should be instructed,
is that which they call "civil," and "independent,"
and "free," namely, that which does not contain any
religious belief. But, how insufficient such teaching is, how
wanting in soundness, and how easily moved by every impulse of
passion, is sufficiently proved by its sad fruits, which have
already begun to appear. For, wherever, by removing Christian
education, this teaching has begun more completely to rule, there
goodness and integrity of morals have begun quickly to perish,
monstrous and shameful opinions have grown up, and the audacity
of evil deeds has risen to a high degree. All this is commonly
complained of and deplored; and not a few of those who by no means
wish to do so are compelled by abundant evidence to give not infrequently
the same testimony.
20. Moreover, human nature was stained by original
sin, and is therefore more disposed to vice than to virtue. For
a virtuous life it is absolutely necessary to restrain the disorderly
movements of the soul, and to make the passions obedient to reason.
In this conflict human things must very often be despised, and
the greatest labors and hardships must be undergone, in order
that reason may always hold its sway. But the naturalists and
Freemasons, having no faith in those things which we have learned
by the revelation of God, deny that our first parents sinned,
and consequently think that free will is not at all weakened and
inclined to evil.(13) On the contrary, exaggerating rather the
power and the excellence of nature, and placing therein alone
the principle and rule of justice, they cannot even imagine that
there is any need at all of a constant struggle and a perfect
steadfastness to overcome the violence and rule of our passions.
Wherefore we see that men are publicly tempted by the many allurements
of pleasure; that there are journals and pamphlets with neither
moderation nor shame; that stage-plays are remarkable for license;
that designs for works of art are shamelessly sought in the laws
of a so called verism; that the contrivances of a soft and delicate
life are most carefully devised; and that all the blandishments
of pleasure are diligently sought out by which virtue may be lulled
to sleep. Wickedly, also, but at the same time quite consistently,
do those act who do away with the expectation of the joys of heaven,
and bring down all happiness to the level of mortality, and, as
it were, sink it in the earth. Of what We have said the following
fact, astonishing not so much in itself as in its open expression,
may serve as a confirmation. For, since generally no one is accustomed
to obey crafty and clever men so submissively as those whose soul
is weakened and broken down by the domination of the passions,
there have been in the sect of the Freemasons some who have plainly
determined and proposed that, artfully and of set purpose, the
multitude should be satiated with a boundless license of vice,
as, when this had been done, it would easily come under their
power and authority for any acts of daring.
21. What refers to domestic life in the teaching
of the naturalists is almost all contained in the following declarations:
that marriage belongs to the genus of commercial contracts, which
can rightly be revoked by the will of those who made them, and
that the civil rulers of the State have power over the matrimonial
bond; that in the education of youth nothing is to be taught in
the matter of religion as of certain and fixed opinion; and each
one must be left at liberty to follow, when he comes of age, whatever
he may prefer. To these things the Freemasons fully assent; and
not only assent, but have long endeavoured to make them into a
law and institution. For in many countries, and those nominally
Catholic, it is enacted that no marriages shall be considered
lawful except those contracted by the civil rite; in other places
the law permits divorce; and in others every effort is used to
make it lawful as soon as may be. Thus, the time is quickly coming
when marriages will be turned into another kind of contract -
that is into changeable and uncertain unions which fancy may join
together, and which the same when changed may disunite.
With the greatest unanimity the sect of the Freemasons also endeavours
to take to itself the education of youth. They think that they
can easily mold to their opinions that soft and pliant age, and
bend it whither they will; and that nothing can be more fitted
than this to enable them to bring up the youth of the State after
their own plan. Therefore, in the education and instruction of
children they allow no share, either of teaching or of discipline,
to the ministers of the Church; and in many places they have procured
that the education of youth shall be exclusively in the hands
of laymen, and that nothing which treats of the most important
and most holy duties of men to God shall be introduced into the
instructions on morals.
22. Then come their doctrines of politics, in
which the naturalists lay down that all men have the same right,
and are in every respect of equal and like condition; that each
one is naturally free; that no one has the right to command another;
that it is an act of violence to require men to obey any authority
other than that which is obtained from themselves. According to
this, therefore, all things belong to the free people; power is
held by the command or permission of the people, so that, when
the popular will changes, rulers may lawfully be deposed and the
source of all rights and civil duties is either in the multitude
or in the governing authority when this is constituted according
to the latest doctrines. It is held also that the State should
be without God; that in the various forms of religion there is
no reason why one should have precedence of another; and that
they are all to occupy the same place.
23. That these doctrines are equally acceptable
to the Freemasons, and that they would wish to constitute States
according to this example and model, is too well known to require
proof. For some time past they have openly endeavoured to bring
this about with all their strength and resources; and in this
they prepare the way for not a few bolder men who are hurrying
on even to worse things, in their endeavor to obtain equality
and community of all goods by the destruction of every distinction
of rank and property.
24. What, therefore, sect of the Freemasons is,
and what course it pursues, appears sufficiently from the summary
We have briefly given. Their chief dogmas are so greatly and manifestly
at variance with reason that nothing can be more perverse. To
wish to destroy the religion and the Church which God Himself
has established, and whose perpetuity He insures by His protection,
and to bring back after a lapse of eighteen centuries the manners
and customs of the pagans, is signal folly and audacious impiety.
Neither is it less horrible nor more tolerable that they should
repudiate the benefits which Jesus Christ so mercifully obtained,
not only for individuals, but also for the family and for civil
society, benefits which, even according to the judgment and testimony
of enemies of Christianity, are very great. In this insane and
wicked endeavor we may almost see the implacable hatred and spirit
of revenge with which Satan himself is inflamed against Jesus
Christ. - So also the studious endeavour of the Freemasons to
destroy the chief foundations of justice and honesty, and to co-operate
with those who would wish, as if they were mere animals, to do
what they please, tends only to the ignominious and disgraceful
ruin of the human race.
The evil, too, is increased by the dangers which threaten both
domestic and civil society. As We have elsewhere shown,(14) in
marriage, according to the belief of almost every nation, there
is something sacred and religious; and the law of God has determined
that marriages shall not be dissolved. If they are deprived of
their sacred character, and made dissoluble, trouble and confusion
in the family will be the result, the wife being deprived of her
dignity and the children left without protection as to their interests
and well being.-To have in public matters no care for religion,
and in the arrangement and administration of civil affairs to
have no more regard for God than if He did not exist, is a rashness
unknown to the very pagans; for in their heart and soul the notion
of a divinity and the need of public religion were so firmly fixed
that they would have thought it easier to have city without foundation
than a city without God. Human society, indeed for which by nature
we are formed, has been constituted by God the Author of nature;
and from Him, as from their principle and source, flow in all
their strength and permanence the countless benefits with which
society abounds. As we are each of us admonished by the very voice
of nature to worship God in piety and holiness, as the Giver unto
us of life and of all that is good therein, so also and for the
same reason, nations and States are bound to worship Him; and
therefore it is clear that those who would absolve society from
all religious duty act not only unjustly but also with ignorance
and folly.
25. As men are by the will of God born for civil
union and society, and as the power to rule is so necessary a
bond of society that, if it be taken away, society must at once
be broken up, it follows that from Him who is the Author of society
has come also the authority to rule; so that whosoever rules,
he is the minister of God. Wherefore, as the end and nature of
human society so requires, it is right to obey the just commands
of lawful authority, as it is right to obey God who ruleth all
things; and it is most untrue that the people have it in their
power to cast aside their obedience whensoever they please.
26. In like manner, no one doubts that all men
are equal one to another, so far as regards their common origin
and nature, or the last end which each one has to attain, or the
rights and duties which are thence derived. But, as the abilities
of all are not equal, as one differs from another in the powers
of mind or body, and as there are very many dissimilarities of
manner, disposition, and character, it is most repugnant to reason
to endeavor to confine all within the same measure, and to extend
complete equality to the institutions of civic life. Just as a
perfect condition of the body results from the conjunction and
composition of its various members, which, though differing in
form and purpose, make, by their union and the distribution of
each one to its proper place, a combination beautiful to behole,
firm in strength, and necessary for use; so, in the commonwealth,
there is an almost infinite dissimilarity of men, as parts of
the whole. If they are to be all equal, and each is to follow
his own will, the State will appear most deformed; but if, with
a distinction of degrees of dignity, of pursuits and employments,
all aptly conspire for the common good, they will present the
image of a State both well constituted and conformable to nature.
27. Now, from the disturbing errors which We
have described the greatest dangers to States are to be feared.
For, the fear of God and reverence for divine laws being taken
away, the authority of rulers despised, sedition permitted and
approved, and the popular passions urged on to lawlessness, with
no restraint save that of punishment, a change and overthrow of
all things will necessarily follow. Yea, this change and overthrow
is deliberately planned and put forward by many associations of
communists and socialists; and to their undertakings the sect
of Freemasons is not hostile, but greatly favours their designs,
and holds in common with them their chief opinions. And if these
men do not at once and everywhere endeavour to carry out their
extreme views, it is not to be attributed to their teaching and
their will, but to the virtue of that divine religion which cannot
be destroyed; and also because the sounder part of men, refusing
to be enslaved to secret societies, vigorously resist their insane
attempts.
28. Would that all men would judge of the tree
by its fruit, and would acknowledge the seed and origin of the
evils which press upon us, and of the dangers that are impending!
We have to deal with a deceitful and crafty enemy, who, gratifying
the ears of people and of princes, has ensnared them by smooth
speeches and by adulation. Ingratiating themselves with rulers
under a pretense of friendship, the Freemasons have endeavoured
to make them their allies and powerful helpers for the destruction
of the Christian name; and that they might more strongly urge
them on, they have, with determined calumny, accused the Church
of invidiously contending with rulers in matters that affect their
authority and sovereign power. Having, by these artifices, insured
their own safety and audacity, they have begun to exercise great
weight in the government of States; but nevertheless they are
prepared to shake the foundations of empires, to harass the rulers
of the State, to accuse, and to cast them out, as often as they
appear to govern otherwise than they themselves could have wished.
In like manner, they have by flattery deluded the people. Proclaiming
with a loud voice liberty and public prosperity, and saying that
it was owing to the Church and to sovereigns that the multitude
were not drawn out of their unjust servitude and poverty, they
have imposed upon the people, and, exciting them by a thirst for
novelty, they have urged them to assail both the Church and the
civil power. Nevertheless, the expectation of the benefits which
was hoped for is greater than the reality; indeed, the common
people, more oppressed than they were before, are deprived in
their misery of that solace which, if things had been arranged
in a Christian manner, they would have had with ease and in abundance.
But, whoever strive against the order which Divine Providence
has constituted pay usually the penalty of their pride, and meet
with affliction and misery where they rashly hoped to find all
things prosperous and in conformity with their desires.
29. The Church, if she directs men to render
obedience chiefly and above all to God the sovereign Lord, is
wrongly and falsely believed either to be envious of the civil
power or to arrogate to herself something of the rights of sovereigns.
On the contrary, she teaches that what is rightly due to the civil
power must be rendered to it with a conviction and consciousness
of duty. In teaching that from God Himself comes the right of
ruling, she adds a great dignity to civil authority, and on small
help towards obtaining the obedience and good will of the citizens.
The friend of peace and sustainer of concord, she embraces all
with maternal love, and, intent only upon giving help to mortal
man, she teaches that to justice must be joined clemency, equity
to authority, and moderation to lawgiving; that no one's right
must be violated; that order and public tranquility are to be
maintained; and that the poverty of those are in need is, as far
as possible, to be relieved by public and private charity. "But
for this reason," to use the words of St. Augustine, "men
think, or would have it believed, that Christian teaching is not
suited to the good of the State; for they wish the State to be
founded not on solid virtue, but on the impunity of vice."(15)
Knowing these things, both princes and people would act with political
wisdom,(16) and according to the needs of general safety, if,
instead of joining with Freemasons to destroy the Church, they
joined with the Church in repelling their attacks.
30 .Whatever the future may be, in this grave
and widespread evil it is Our duty, venerable brethren, to endeavour
to find a remedy. And because We know that Our best and firmest
hope of a remedy is in the power of that divine religion which
the Freemasons hate in proportion to their fear of it, We think
it to be of chief importance to call that most saving power to
Our aid against the common enemy. Therefore, whatsoever the Roman
Pontiffs Our predecessors have decreed for the purpose of opposing
the undertakings and endeavours of the masonic sect, and whatsoever
they have enacted to enter or withdraw men from societies of this
kind, We ratify and confirm it all by our apostolic authority:
and trusting greatly to the good will of Christians, We pray and
beseech each one, for the sake of his eternal salvation, to be
most conscientiously careful not in the least to depart from what
the apostolic see has commanded in this matter.
31. We pray and beseech you, venerable brethren,
to join your efforts with Ours, and earnestly to strive for the
extirpation of this foul plague, which is creeping through the
veins of the body politic. You have to defend the glory of God
and the salvation of your neighbour; and with the object of your
strife before you, neither courage nor strength will be wanting.
It will be for your prudence to judge by what means you can best
overcome the difficulties and obstacles you meet with. But, as
it befits the authority of Our office that We Ourselves should
point out some suitable way of proceeding, We wish it to be your
rule first of all to tear away the mask from Freemasonry, and
to let it be seen as it really is; and by sermons and pastoral
letters to instruct the people as to the artifices used by societies
of this kind in seducing men and enticing them into their ranks,
and as to the depravity of their opinions and the wickedness of
their acts. As Our predecessors have many times repeated, let
no man think that he may for any reason whatsoever join the masonic
sect, if he values his Catholic name and his eternal salvation
as he ought to value them. Let no one be deceived by a pretense
of honesty. It may seem to some that Freemasons demand nothing
that is openly contrary to religion and morality; but, as the
whole principle and object of the sect lies in what is vicious
and criminal, to join with these men or in any way to help them
cannot be lawful.
32. Further, by assiduous teaching and exhortation,
the multitude must be drawn to learn diligently the precepts of
religion; for which purpose we earnestly advise that by opportune
writings and sermons they be taught the elements of those sacred
truths in which Christian philosophy is contained. The result
of this will be that the minds of men will be made sound by instruction,
and will be protected against many forms of error and inducements
to wickedness, especially in the present unbounded freedom of
writing and insatiable eagerness for learning.
33. Great, indeed, is the work; but in it the
clergy will share your labours, if, through your care, they are
fitted for it by learning and a well-turned life. This good and
great work requires to be helped also by the industry of those
amongst the laity in whom a love of religion and of country is
joined to learning and goodness of life. By uniting the efforts
of both clergy and laity, strive, venerable brethren, to make
men thoroughly know and love the Church; for, the greater their
knowledge and love of the Church, the more will they be turned
away from clandestine societies.
34. Wherefore, not without cause do We use this
occasion to state again what We have stated elsewhere, namely,
that the Third Order of St. Francis, whose discipline We a little
while ago prudently mitigated,(16) should be studiously promoted
and sustained; for the whole object of this Order, as constituted
by its founder, is to invite men to an imitation of Jesus Christ,
to a love of the Church, and to the observance of all Christian
virtues; and therefore it ought to be of great influence in suppressing
the contagion of wicked societies. Let, therefore, this holy sodality
be strengthened by a daily increase. Amongst the many benefits
to be expected from it will be the great benefit of drawing the
minds of men to liberty, fraternity, and equality of right; not
such as the Freemasons absurdly imagine, but such as Jesus Christ
obtained for the human race and St. Francis aspired to: the liberty,
We mean, of sons of God, through which we may be free from slavery
to Satan or to our passions, both of them most wicked masters;
the fraternity whose origin is in God, the common Creator and
Father of all; the equality which, founded on justice and charity,
does not take away all distinctions among men, but, out of the
varieties of life, of duties, and of pursuits, forms that union
and that harmony which naturally tend to the benefit and dignity
of society.
35. In the third place, there is a matter wisely
instituted by our forefathers, but in course of time laid aside,
which may now be used as a pattern and form of something similar.
We mean the associations of guilds of workmen, for the protection,
under the guidance of religion, both of their temporal interests
and of their morality. If our ancestors, by long use and experience,
felt the benefit of these guilds, our age perhaps will feel it
the more by reason of the opportunity which they will give of
crushing the power of the sects. Those who support themselves
by the labour of their hands, besides being, by their very condition,
most worthy above all others of charity and consolation, are also
especially exposed to the allurements of men whose ways lie in
fraud and deceit. Therefore, they ought to be helped with the
greatest possible kindness, and to be invited to join associations
that are good, lest they be drawn away to others that are evil.
For this reason, We greatly wish, for the salvation of the people,
that, under the auspices and patronage of the bishops, and at
convenient times, these gilds may be generally restored. To Our
great delight, sodalities of this kind and also associations of
masters have in many places already been established, having,
each class of them, for their object to help the honest workman,
to protect and guard his children and family, and to promote in
them piety, Christian knowledge, and a moral life. And in this
matter We cannot omit mentioning that exemplary society, named
after its founder, St. Vincent, which has deserved so well of
the lower classes. Its acts and its aims are well known. Its whole
object is to give relief to the poor and miserable. This it does
with singular prudence and modesty; and the less it wishes to
be seen, the better is it fitted for the exercise of Christian
charity, and for the relief of suffering.
36. In the fourth place, in order more easily
to attain what We wish, to your fidelity and watchfulness We commend
in a special manner the young, as being the hope of human society.
Devote the greatest part of your care to their instruction; and
do not think that any precaution can be great enough in keeping
them from masters and schools whence the pestilent breath of the
sects is to be feared. Under your guidance, let parents, religious
instructors, and priests having the cure of souls use every opportunity,
in their Christian teaching, of warning their children and pupils
of the infamous nature of these societies, so that they may learn
in good time to beware of the various and fraudulent artifices
by which their promoters are accustomed to ensnare people. And
those who instruct the young in religious knowledge will act wisely
if they induce all of them to resolve and to undertake never to
bind themselves to any society without the knowledge of their
parents, or the advice of their parish priest or director.
37. We well know, however, that our united labors
will by no means suffice to pluck up these pernicious seeds from
the Lord's field, unless the Heavenly Master of the vineyard shall
mercifully help us in our endeavours. We must, therefore, with
great and anxious care, implore of Him the help which the greatness
of the danger and of the need requires. The sect of the Freemasons
shows itself insolent and proud of its success, and seems as if
it would put no bounds to its pertinacity. Its followers, joined
together by a wicked compact and by secret counsels, give help
one to another, and excite one another to an audacity for evil
things. So vehement an attack demands an equal defence-namely,
that all good men should form the widest possible association
of action and of prayer. We beseech them, therefore, with united
hearts, to stand together and unmoved against the advancing force
of the sects; and in mourning and supplication to stretch out
their hands to God, praying that the Christian name may flourish
and prosper, that the Church may enjoy its needed liberty, that
those who have gone astray may return to a right mind, that error
at length may give place to truth, and vice to virtue. Let us
take our helper and intercessor the Virgin Mary, Mother of God,
so that she, who from the moment of her conception overcame Satan
may show her power over these evil sects, in which is revived
the contumacious spirit of the demon, together with his unsubdued
perfidy and deceit. Let us beseech Michael, the prince of the
heavenly angels, who drove out the infernal foe; and Joseph, the
spouse of the most holy Virgin, and heavenly patron of the Catholic
Church; and the great Apostles, Peter and Paul, the fathers and
victorious champions of the Christian faith. By their patronage,
and by perseverance in united prayer, we hope that God will mercifully
and opportunely succor the human race, which is encompassed by
so many dangers.
38. As a pledge of heavenly gifts and of Our
benevolence, We lovingly grant in the Lord, to you, venerable
brethren, and to the clergy and all the people committed to your
watchful care, Our apostolic benediction.
Given at St. Peter's in Rome, the twentieth day
of April, 1884, the sixth year of Our pontificate.
LEO XIII
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REFERENCES:
1. De civ. Dei, 14, 28 (PL 41, 436).
2. Ps. 82:24.
3. Const. In Eminenti, April 24, 1738.
4. Const. Providas, May 18, 1751.
5. Const. Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo, Sept. 13, 1821.
6. Const. given March 13, 1825.
7. Encyc. Traditi, May 21, 1829.
8. Encyc. Mirari, Augusr 15, 1832.
9. Encyc. Qui Pluribus, Nov. 9, 1846; address Multiplices inter,
Sept. 25, 1865, etc.
10. Clement XII (1730-40); Benedict XIV (1740-58); Pius VII (1800-23);
Pius IX (1846-78).
11. See nos. 79, 81, 84.
12. Matt. 7:18.
13. Trid., sess. vi, De justif., c. 1. Text of the Council of
Trent: "tametsi in eis (sc. Judaeis) liberum arbitrium minime
extinctum esset, viribus licet attenuatum et inclinatum".
14. See Arcanum, no. 81.
15. Epistola 137, ad Volusianum, c. v, n. 20 (PL 33 525).
16. The text here refers to the encyclical letter Auspicato Concessum
(Sept. 17, 1882), in which Pope Leo XIII had recently glorified
St. Francis of Assisi on the occasion of the seventh centenary
of his birch. In this encyclical, the Pope had presented the Third
Order of St. Francis as a Christian answer to the social problems
of the times. The constitution Misericors Dei Filius (June 23,
1883) expressly recalled that the neglect in which Christian virtues
are held is the main cause of the evils that threaten societies.
In confirming the rule of the Third Order and adapting it to the
needs of modern times, Pope Leo XIII had intended to bring back
the largest possible number of souls to the practice of these
virtues.
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