company was soon increased by the arrival of several nuns, whom curiosity had brought into the room of the abbess. In answering their various inquiries, Prascovia was insensibly led to mention the many incidents of her journey; and such were the affecting simplicity and natural eloquence of her narrative, that her hearers could not restrain their tears, and vied with each other in showing the interest with which she had inspired them. She was loaded with kindnesses and caresses; the abbess lodged her in her own apartment, and was glad to think that she might become one of her novices. We have already mentioned, that Prascovia had formed the resolution of spending the rest of her life in a convent, if she should succeed in her endeavors to procure the liberty of her father. Better acquainted with the religious establishments of Kiew, than with those of Niejeni, she had determined to take the veil in one of the convents of the former city, because she wished to visit the famous catacombs,* which she had heard belonged to its cathedral, and was desirous to be near the many holy relics which those tombs enclose. However, since she had learned that Kiew was not on the road of St. Petersburg, she was not disinclined to choose the convent of Niejeni for her future retreat. The nuns pressed her to make her vows, but she would only give a qualified promise. "Do I know," said she, "what God may yet require from * The catacombs of Kiew are large subterraneous galleries under the cathedral, containing the remains of a great number of Greek saints, dressed in rich apparel, but of whose persons only the faces, hands, and feet are visible; yet the bodies are said to be entire. The fleshy part of them has the color and hardness of mahogany. The religious service at the Cathedral is committed to the monks of an ancient and rich monastery. me? I wish,-I long to finish my days here, and if it is also the will of heaven, who shall oppose it?" She readily consented to spend a few days at Niejeni, to rest herself, and prepare for her journey to Moscow; but, instead of profiting by it, she began to feel the effects of her extraordinary exertions, and became dangerously ill. Since her accident on the Wolga, she had suffered much from a troublesome cough, and she fell now into an inflammatory fever, which alarmed her physicians for her life. She herself felt no apprehension. "I cannot believe," said she" that my time has come, and I hope that God will permit me to perform my task." She mended indeed, gradually, and spent the rest of the autumn in the convent. But, feeble as she was, she could not continue her journey on foot, and still less support the jolting of post-wagons. For want of means to procure a more comfortable mode of conveyance, she was obliged to wait until the season for travelling in sledges had begun. In the meantime she observed and practised the rules and the duties of the convent, perhaps retarding by it her recovery, but improving in her studies. By her conduct she won more and more the esteem and affection of the nuns, who had no longer any doubt that she would, at some future time, return to them and become a permanent member of their society. The When at last the roads were fit for travelling, she departed in a covered sled, with some other travellers, for Moscow. abbess gave her a letter for one of her friends in that capital, and promised her that she should find a refuge in her convent, and be received at it as a favorite child, whatever might be the result of her pilgrimage. TO BE CONTINUED. WE THE THEATRE.* E learn from history, that in every age they who have had a regard for sound morals, have evinced an opposition to theatrical representations. They were first introduced at Athens, and the legislator of that celebrated republic did not hesitate to condemn, as an unworthy citizen, the author of them, who exhibited the hideous spectacle of a false divinity under the garb of intemperance. In assuming a more polished exterior, the ancient drama only became the more dangerous; for then, as now-a-days, it was the achievements of unlawful passions that were displayed to the view of the public. Philosophers indeed. wept over such a state of things; but what could they effect to stay a licentiousness which the dramatic poets continually presented to the gaze of the people? When Greece fell under the power of the Romans, the scenic art was carried from that country to the capital of the world, and was one of the means by which the conquered revenged themselves of their conquerors, introducing among them, as an excellent historian has remarked, unbecoming usages and disgraceful fancies. The gravest writers of pagan antiquity loudly protested against the exhibitions of the theatre, with a view to arrest their baneful influence over public morals. In speaking of the ancient Germans, an historian alleges as the reason of their sound morality, that "they were not corrupted by the licentiousness of popular shows." He elsewhere mentions these exhibitions as having introduced into Rome every species of disorder and infamy, and as having contributed more than any other cause to the -corruption of its people. Another writer lauds the decree of the senate, that required the demolition of all newly constructed heatres. In Lacedemon, the comedian, buffoon and other dramatic actors were banished the republic; in Rome they were *Translated and condensed from a late Pastoral Letter of the bishop of Marseilles. 66 branded with infamy; Quisquis in scenam prodierit, ait prætor, infamis est." But can that which was criminal, which was the destroyer of virtue and the source of every vice in a pagan community, be lawful among a Christian people? Can we have a right to permit, under the law of grace, in the face of the Gospel and under the shadow of the cross, that which decency alone reprobated before man was regenerated from above? No, one of the most glorious features in Christianity is, that it will not connive at any sinful act, that it proscribes unreservedly every thing vicious, and requires its followers to shun even the appearance of evil. If the reckless Christian attempts to conciliate the unlawfulness of the theatre with the maxims of the Gospel, he who values his salvation will rather listen submissively to its teaching, as declared by the voice of the Church. All her councils that have taken this subject into consideration, have condemned the drama of their respective periods. A synod of Arles pronounces excommunication against theatrical actors. A council held by St. Charles Borromeo, is still more severe in the penalties which it inflicts upon such persons. If we consult the fathers of the Church, we shall find them denouncing, in the strongest terms, the exhibitions of which we are speaking. Tertullian calls the theatre "a place that gives rise to unholy thoughts, a rendezvous of demons, an assembly of the enemies of Christ." Its performances are termed by St. Jerom "the idols of Egypt, the mere sight of which will contaminate the soul." "What a subject of grief and of shame," exclaims St. Cyprian, "is presented by the dramatic art! how sorely does it wound the morals of the people!" He adds, that a priest ought to refuse the holy communion to an actor, as long as he continues to exercise his profession. St. Augustin asserts, that "the theatre is the ruin of morality." In a word, St. John Chrysostom does not hesi tate to pronounce the drama, "a school of vice, a rallying-point of lust, a receptacle of uncleanness, a furnace of Babylon." This is most assuredly energetic language; but if the eloquent archbishop of Constantinople had lived in modern times, how much more forcibly would he have depicted the excesses that are now witnessed! It cannot be denied that what ought to be the most carefully shunned by a Christian, is the most frequently brought under his observation in a theatre. Does he not there behold every incentive to a vice, which, according to the apostle St. Paul, should not even be named among the followers of Christ! Is not the subject developed before him, almost always made up of incidents arising from the successful scheming or disappointed hopes of some wild and enthusiastic suitor? Is it not the opportunity of witnessing the living image of scenes congenial and flattering to the corruption of the human heart, that too frequently leads the worlding to exhibitions of this description? But this is not the only evil that they produce. False maxims, and maxims altogether at variance with the precepts of the gospel, are there inculcated in the most solemn and impressive manner. Every thing is fitted in a theatrical display, to pass off, not only the follies and vanities of the world, but even its crimes and disorders, as harmless, nay worthy of admiration and praise. All kinds of iniquity find their justification in the circumstances of those who have perpetrated it, and awaken in the breast of the spectator feelings of sympathy much oftener than those of horror and aversion. To say that the drama has a moral tendency, would be a mockery of all experience. It is true, you will occasionally hear on the stage a pompous eulogy of virtue, and magnificent exclamations in favor of the high principles that should govern the conduct of men; but all this is a mere desecration of what is holy and estimable. The maxims of virtue are opposed and counteracted in too many ways by the immoral arts of the modern drama; and hence a writer, who was far from being a friend of religion, has ridiculed the idea of associating morality with the theatre, and has well observed that the union of the two would itself be a fit subject for a drama, particularly as it would be represented for the first time. Nor is it only by the ordinary aids of language and impassioned elocution that the pernicious maxims of the drama are inculcated; every seduction that art can invent is employed to act upon the passions and to produce the deepest impressions. To the physical excitement of the dramatis persona, to their affected tones and too often indelicate attitudes, are added the enchantments of music, that nothing may be wanting to lead away captive the mind and heart of the auditor. But what shall we say of the dance that is not unfrequently mingled with such performances? Is it a worthy spectacle for Christian eyes to gaze upon? In ancient times, among the Greeks and Romans, a female was never suffered to par{ticipate in the pantomime, or appear as an actress on the stage; the moral sense of the community would have been shocked by such a disorder. But at the present day, and under the light of the Gospel, woman is introduced upon the scene, as the idol of men's adoration; an idol the undue veneration of which has been known to vilify them to a level with the brute creation. We have every reason, therefore, to say, beware of the theatre. If immoral books or objects offensive to modesty are to be avoided, there is much more reason to shun them, when extraordinary means are used to heighten their dangerous influence. You will ask, perhaps, if it is an evil to visit the theatre, how does it happen that so many persons of respectability frequent it? But it is easy to answer in the words of Bossuet to a powerful monarch: "there are great examples in favor of the theatre; but there are weighty reasons against it;" and it is certain that bad example should never prevail over the requirements of Christian morality. The number of those who flock to the drama. far from being admissible as a plea of jus tification, is rather an additional motive fo condemning it. Not to speak of those individuals who are the outcast of society, can it be said that the classes which fre quent the theatre, are the wiser and the more religious portion of the community? There are no doubt many upright and respectable persons among them; but is it not true that the general characteristic of a theatrical assembly, is a spirit of levity, of Vanity, of sensuality, of worldliness, of imA prudence, which is altogether opposed to the spirit of the Gospel? Is not this the world which the apostle warns us not to love? Do we not here meet with those stumbling blocks which caused the Son of God to utter the malediction, "wo to the world because of its scandals?" In vain will it be urged by some persons that they visit the play, merely as a pastime, and by others that they receive no injury from its entertainments. To the first we would reply that amusement or relaxation should never be purchased at the risk of innocence and virtue; to the second, that they have no right to fancy themselves secure, where the piety of so many others has suffered a fatal shipwreck. At all events, charity requires that we should not, by example, encourage in our neighbor, a profession, a practice, or an action which may be the occasion of his spiritual ruin. The dangers of the theatre are to be shunned with peculiar caution at the present day, when the ingenuity of human passion is exerted to the utmost in the contrivance of novel and more refined enjoyments. Let the parent particularly think well before he suffers his children to be the spectators of a theatrical display. To permit them to do so would be imitating the example of the Israelites, who once sacrificed their sons and their daughters to evil spirits. We say to all, non licet; it is not allowed to visit the theatre. Population of the Catholic world, 160,842,424. ITALY. The reports that have gone abroad, of grave events in Italy, are unfounded, as we gather from the official publieations of that country. IRELAND.-The Catholic Missionary College of All Hallows, Drumcondra.-We are much gratified to find that there are already thirty-nine students in this college preparing for the foreign missions; eight for Madras, two for Calcutta, one for Agra, three for Australia, one for the Cape of Good Hope, four for Demerara, four for Trinidad, four for Indiana, in North America; one for New York, ditto; one for Boston, ditto; five for Scotland; and the others for places not named to us. The establishment is as yet only in its infancy. The directors, are, however, commissioned by the bishops of the diocesses before named, and by other bishops of various parts of the world, to select and educate young ecclesiastics for their respective missions; so that, from the encouragement which this admirable institution is receiving from the bishops of the foreign missions, we may calculate that ere long this will become one of the most powerful means in the hands of Divine Providence to diffuse and sustain our holy faith throughout the world, and that Ireland will shortly again merit the name which she so long before retained-the Island of Saints.-Tablet. NORWAY.-It is painful to observe, how readily Protestant writers take every occasion of declaiming against the pretended intolerance of the Catholic Church. They tell us of Spain, of Italy, &c., whilst they are careful to say nothing of the fanaticism and persecuting spirit, evinced in every Protestant country, against the profes sors of the ancient faith. It is a fact manifest from history, and evident in our own times, that Protestantism has shown the will to persecute, when she has had the power to do so. But a few years only have passed, since Protestant England was forced, by the circumstances of the age, to repeal, for the most part, her penal code. The late king of Prussia raised his arm against the hierarchy of the Church in his dominions, and imprisoned two of her most estimable prelates; but the spirit of the people being aroused by these acts of religious tyranny, the present king was necessitated to relinquish the principles of his father. The Protestant cantons of Switzerland have also evinced, of late years, the intolerant spirit of the first reformers. The Protestant ministers, who went from our own country to the islands of the South Seas, have used all their efforts to arouse a persecuting spirit among the barbarians over whom they had gained influence; and the French Catholic missionaries to those islands have been made to experience, by their sufferings, how effectually they succeeded. But if Catholics have rejoiced at witnessing more moderate principles prevail in England and Prussia, they will doubtless experience increased delight, upon learning that the principles of tole ration are being extended to their brethren in the Protestant kingdoms of the north of Europe. Over these Lutheranism has prevailed since the period of the Reformation, to the exclusion of every other system of belief. The Catholics in Sweden and Norway were in an especial manner objects of aversion to the government, and laws were enacted against them which rivalled those which stained the statute book of England. The clergy were exiled; the faithful were forbidden to assemble for religious purposes; they were required to attend the Protestant worship, and to have the sacraments administered according to the forms of the Lutheran service. But after full three hundred years of trials and persecutions, we find by a notice in the ministerial journal of the kingdom of Norway, that more tolerant principles begin to prevail in that remote country: that religious privileges to a certain extent, have, during the present year, been extended to the Catholics. The Catholics in the city Christiania have been permitted to build a church, to have their own pastor, to assemble publicly for divine worship, and to have the sacraments of Baptism and Matrimony performed according to the rites of their own Church. They are not allowed, however, to hold public processions. In cases of mixed marriage, the ceremonies must |