08-26-2026, 08:11 AM
XI. The Market of Souls.
— Heretical books and pamphlets are spread broadcast all over Catholic countries. Yet this distribution, dangerous and active though it be, is only a secondary means for the agents of the Protestant propaganda. There is still a more powerful agent, to which they are not ashamed to have recourse — money. Says the Archbishop of Genoa, in one of his pastorals: "A unanimous cry of indignation re-echoes from all parts of Catholic Europe. It would be astonishing indeed, yet a useless effort, were the Protestant so reckless as to deny it."
There is no gainsaying this traffic of consciences. I know very well that there are some among the Protestants, laity and clergy, who will never have recourse to such means. They become indignant at such charges made against Protestantism, and I hear with pleasure the energetic disavowal in favor of their individual honor; but it avails nothing against the effort of their propaganda, which endeavors to entice the poor with fat baits of money and temporal gain, in order to make them apostatize. Daily experience places this assertion beyond the possibility of denial. Those who love and help the poor continually meet with such attempts at seduction; yet they are very far from knowing them all. The unfortunates, who allow themselves to be seduced, are on their guard lest their infamy should be known, and sectarian agents limit their reports only to the number of converts.
Were we able to judge by the number of refusals, the amount of attempts would reach a very high figure. I have myself come across a large number of artisans' families, and distressed families who have received offers of help, work, and gold, sometimes in large sums, on condition they would turn Protestants. The venerable parish priest of St. Sulpice, in Paris, on the occasion of an investigation made in his parish, in 1858, laid before the minister of public worship a very lengthy document containing numerous depositions of families and individuals, attesting the criminal intrusions of Protestant propagandism.
"Have you never seen," said an illustrious prelate, not long ago, "some of these dealers in consciences running over the country, walking through our streets, and even worming themselves into the bosom of families to sow their cockle and their lies? It is a new trade amongst us, yet it is spreading alarmingly. Attention should be called to it.
"It happens thus: There is in a village a poor family heavily in debt, and they are about selling their cabin — their only place of shelter; but there appears one of these soul-brokers who are always on the scent of misfortune. In a tone of perfect good nature he tells the head of the family: 'Poor man! you are badly lodged indeed in this cabin, open to all the winds; how you must suffer from cold! How is it that your priest does not help you to repair your house and to dress yourselves comfortably? . . . Well, I am a Protestant minister, but when I find any poor in my parish I assist them. Come to my house to-morrow and I'll give a warm blanket for your bed, and good clothing for your children.' And off he goes leaving those poor people in an ecstasy of admiration for so much goodness.
"The warm blanket arrives, and the parson does not tarry far behind. This time he talks about repairing the cabin, and he tells them that the requisite sum will be at hand, only that they are not Protestants. At this the woman flares up, and the preacher takes himself off, leaving behind nothing but a bad book.
"Perchance it is a laboring man who falls sick. His wife and children depend on his arms for their support. Poverty and hunger are bad advisers, and often are the source of terrible temptations. Those traders on souls know it; they are on the spot, and offer bread to those wretches, provided they will barter their souls. Alas! they do it.
"Near by, a creditor has seized upon the cot and the little field of a poor countryman, who has nothing else to depend on. The preachers offer him cash enough to rescue his property from the hammer, provided he gives up his Church. With tears he does give it up!
"A poor mother begs a living from door to door, followed by her two little children. The brokers set a couple of their zealous maids after her: they wish to take care of her children and bring them up properly. To compound matters with her conscience, she gives up one, and reserves the other for God.
"These traders drive the best bargains with drunkards, who are forever in want of money. Bankrupts who need a plank, and lewd women who have nothing but a rotten soul to sell, are also good customers: simpletons and dolts afford good chances. No matter where you are, in hotels or taverns, aboard steamboats, in stages, on the highways, you stumble on preachers, catechizers, Bible carriers, who all seem anxious to convert the whole world, each to his own sect."* — (*Du Commerce des Consciences et de l'agitation Protestante en Europe.* Annecy, 1856.)
France, its large cities, Paris, above all, are infested by these indefatigable Protestants. Their chiefs have said: "We must get hold of Paris by all means: once in Paris France is ours: through France we can master Europe." Accordingly paid agents and fanatical women, deacons and deaconesses, etc., creep into the dwellings of our poor people and buy them or their children.
The Vicar-General of Lyons, Mr. Cattet, thus writes on this subject:
". . . When we were drawing the picture of these shameful practices employed by Protestantism for the purpose of proselytizing, we had an abundance of affidavits of such poor Catholics in country places as had thus been seduced, who, ashamed of themselves and repenting for having sold themselves to the apostles of the new gospel, gave us written declarations of the contemptible means of seduction employed against them. Since then we have forwarded to the rector of the Academy of Lyons four affidavits from heads of families, who also declare that they have received money with a pledge that their children should attend Protestant schools.†
"It was a sensible remark, and we love to repeat it, made by one of these bribed wretches who has since recanted in the hands of one of our clergy. Torn with remorse and anguish after he had touched the price of his apostasy, he said to his wife, who also had yielded to the tempter: 'Indeed, woman, I have my doubts about a religion that gives money to make itself accepted.'
"In the face of these well-known facts will the Committee on Evangelization still maintain that no money is given by their party for the purpose of making proselytes?"
Here we should give statistics; but it would be stepping beyond the bounds of a simple talk. Everywhere the same process, and everywhere the strong pleading of "cash" to hold fast the Catholic poor. "Not a day," say the "Annals of Geneva," "not a day, but we hear of some conquest by the god of mammon. Here a well-known minister offers work to the laborer whom he meets on the road — work and help for the winter; there a noble lady entraps a servant in her carriage to explain the precious benefits of the Reformation; elsewhere a gentleman of some sort, who, once foiled, returns by stealth and steals from a father his children whom he sends to some Protestant asylum, etc."‡
Everywhere officious and persevering visits, and the circumstance of the priest being poor is improved upon, and the faith of simple souls is ruined. "How is it?" they will say, with a look of wonder, to the wretch already soured by want, "do not your priests take care of you? Well, never mind, come to see us; we'll do something for you." Then a little talk about the wicked priests, and the abuses of the Catholic Church; which is followed by a piece of money slipped into the poor man's hand, and oh, the glory of having gained a glorious evangelic campaign! A Christian that will go to mass no more, shall no more make his Easter, will hate the priest — a great gain in the cause of the pure gospel!
Such is this ever-increasing Protestant propagandism. Such are these immoral conversions, no less shameful for those who procure than for those who undergo them. Sensible people among Protestants as well as among Catholics will scarcely believe such trade in souls; and yet it is beyond all doubt that money has become the principal agent of such propagandism. In its hands, charity is not a disinterested work; it is the first advance made towards apostasy: You are poor, come to us; we'll give you plenty.
How bitter that bread must taste which is bought at the price of such infamy!
In the track of this religious stock-jobbing the grand ideas of honor and morality, already so weakened, keep on dwindling away, grow fainter and fainter: hearts become debased, characters lose their strength, convictions crumble away; truth and religion are only a means to draw wealth out of the rich and humble the poor.
"To buy" and "to sell" — such are the last words of Protestant propagandism.
---
*Footnotes:*
* What is here written, as European experience, tallies too well with what we see and experience in America. Even this very day (Aug. 27, 1867) a parson, not five miles from my residence, is tampering with the souls of the children of two Catholic families, emboldened by the distance at which they are from their Church and their pastor's residence.
† Should a law be passed in Italy that agents of English and American propagandism were not to give their proselytes any money, there would not be one single Protestant in Italy. Yet, of course, they are only Protestants in name.
‡ The "Annals," quoted above, add by way of a note: "We should mention Messrs. Oltramare, Jacquet, and Bordier (Protestant ministers in Geneva), who have not the least fear to become highly prominent in such visits to poor Catholics."
— Heretical books and pamphlets are spread broadcast all over Catholic countries. Yet this distribution, dangerous and active though it be, is only a secondary means for the agents of the Protestant propaganda. There is still a more powerful agent, to which they are not ashamed to have recourse — money. Says the Archbishop of Genoa, in one of his pastorals: "A unanimous cry of indignation re-echoes from all parts of Catholic Europe. It would be astonishing indeed, yet a useless effort, were the Protestant so reckless as to deny it."
There is no gainsaying this traffic of consciences. I know very well that there are some among the Protestants, laity and clergy, who will never have recourse to such means. They become indignant at such charges made against Protestantism, and I hear with pleasure the energetic disavowal in favor of their individual honor; but it avails nothing against the effort of their propaganda, which endeavors to entice the poor with fat baits of money and temporal gain, in order to make them apostatize. Daily experience places this assertion beyond the possibility of denial. Those who love and help the poor continually meet with such attempts at seduction; yet they are very far from knowing them all. The unfortunates, who allow themselves to be seduced, are on their guard lest their infamy should be known, and sectarian agents limit their reports only to the number of converts.
Were we able to judge by the number of refusals, the amount of attempts would reach a very high figure. I have myself come across a large number of artisans' families, and distressed families who have received offers of help, work, and gold, sometimes in large sums, on condition they would turn Protestants. The venerable parish priest of St. Sulpice, in Paris, on the occasion of an investigation made in his parish, in 1858, laid before the minister of public worship a very lengthy document containing numerous depositions of families and individuals, attesting the criminal intrusions of Protestant propagandism.
"Have you never seen," said an illustrious prelate, not long ago, "some of these dealers in consciences running over the country, walking through our streets, and even worming themselves into the bosom of families to sow their cockle and their lies? It is a new trade amongst us, yet it is spreading alarmingly. Attention should be called to it.
"It happens thus: There is in a village a poor family heavily in debt, and they are about selling their cabin — their only place of shelter; but there appears one of these soul-brokers who are always on the scent of misfortune. In a tone of perfect good nature he tells the head of the family: 'Poor man! you are badly lodged indeed in this cabin, open to all the winds; how you must suffer from cold! How is it that your priest does not help you to repair your house and to dress yourselves comfortably? . . . Well, I am a Protestant minister, but when I find any poor in my parish I assist them. Come to my house to-morrow and I'll give a warm blanket for your bed, and good clothing for your children.' And off he goes leaving those poor people in an ecstasy of admiration for so much goodness.
"The warm blanket arrives, and the parson does not tarry far behind. This time he talks about repairing the cabin, and he tells them that the requisite sum will be at hand, only that they are not Protestants. At this the woman flares up, and the preacher takes himself off, leaving behind nothing but a bad book.
"Perchance it is a laboring man who falls sick. His wife and children depend on his arms for their support. Poverty and hunger are bad advisers, and often are the source of terrible temptations. Those traders on souls know it; they are on the spot, and offer bread to those wretches, provided they will barter their souls. Alas! they do it.
"Near by, a creditor has seized upon the cot and the little field of a poor countryman, who has nothing else to depend on. The preachers offer him cash enough to rescue his property from the hammer, provided he gives up his Church. With tears he does give it up!
"A poor mother begs a living from door to door, followed by her two little children. The brokers set a couple of their zealous maids after her: they wish to take care of her children and bring them up properly. To compound matters with her conscience, she gives up one, and reserves the other for God.
"These traders drive the best bargains with drunkards, who are forever in want of money. Bankrupts who need a plank, and lewd women who have nothing but a rotten soul to sell, are also good customers: simpletons and dolts afford good chances. No matter where you are, in hotels or taverns, aboard steamboats, in stages, on the highways, you stumble on preachers, catechizers, Bible carriers, who all seem anxious to convert the whole world, each to his own sect."* — (*Du Commerce des Consciences et de l'agitation Protestante en Europe.* Annecy, 1856.)
France, its large cities, Paris, above all, are infested by these indefatigable Protestants. Their chiefs have said: "We must get hold of Paris by all means: once in Paris France is ours: through France we can master Europe." Accordingly paid agents and fanatical women, deacons and deaconesses, etc., creep into the dwellings of our poor people and buy them or their children.
The Vicar-General of Lyons, Mr. Cattet, thus writes on this subject:
". . . When we were drawing the picture of these shameful practices employed by Protestantism for the purpose of proselytizing, we had an abundance of affidavits of such poor Catholics in country places as had thus been seduced, who, ashamed of themselves and repenting for having sold themselves to the apostles of the new gospel, gave us written declarations of the contemptible means of seduction employed against them. Since then we have forwarded to the rector of the Academy of Lyons four affidavits from heads of families, who also declare that they have received money with a pledge that their children should attend Protestant schools.†
"It was a sensible remark, and we love to repeat it, made by one of these bribed wretches who has since recanted in the hands of one of our clergy. Torn with remorse and anguish after he had touched the price of his apostasy, he said to his wife, who also had yielded to the tempter: 'Indeed, woman, I have my doubts about a religion that gives money to make itself accepted.'
"In the face of these well-known facts will the Committee on Evangelization still maintain that no money is given by their party for the purpose of making proselytes?"
Here we should give statistics; but it would be stepping beyond the bounds of a simple talk. Everywhere the same process, and everywhere the strong pleading of "cash" to hold fast the Catholic poor. "Not a day," say the "Annals of Geneva," "not a day, but we hear of some conquest by the god of mammon. Here a well-known minister offers work to the laborer whom he meets on the road — work and help for the winter; there a noble lady entraps a servant in her carriage to explain the precious benefits of the Reformation; elsewhere a gentleman of some sort, who, once foiled, returns by stealth and steals from a father his children whom he sends to some Protestant asylum, etc."‡
Everywhere officious and persevering visits, and the circumstance of the priest being poor is improved upon, and the faith of simple souls is ruined. "How is it?" they will say, with a look of wonder, to the wretch already soured by want, "do not your priests take care of you? Well, never mind, come to see us; we'll do something for you." Then a little talk about the wicked priests, and the abuses of the Catholic Church; which is followed by a piece of money slipped into the poor man's hand, and oh, the glory of having gained a glorious evangelic campaign! A Christian that will go to mass no more, shall no more make his Easter, will hate the priest — a great gain in the cause of the pure gospel!
Such is this ever-increasing Protestant propagandism. Such are these immoral conversions, no less shameful for those who procure than for those who undergo them. Sensible people among Protestants as well as among Catholics will scarcely believe such trade in souls; and yet it is beyond all doubt that money has become the principal agent of such propagandism. In its hands, charity is not a disinterested work; it is the first advance made towards apostasy: You are poor, come to us; we'll give you plenty.
How bitter that bread must taste which is bought at the price of such infamy!
In the track of this religious stock-jobbing the grand ideas of honor and morality, already so weakened, keep on dwindling away, grow fainter and fainter: hearts become debased, characters lose their strength, convictions crumble away; truth and religion are only a means to draw wealth out of the rich and humble the poor.
"To buy" and "to sell" — such are the last words of Protestant propagandism.
---
*Footnotes:*
* What is here written, as European experience, tallies too well with what we see and experience in America. Even this very day (Aug. 27, 1867) a parson, not five miles from my residence, is tampering with the souls of the children of two Catholic families, emboldened by the distance at which they are from their Church and their pastor's residence.
† Should a law be passed in Italy that agents of English and American propagandism were not to give their proselytes any money, there would not be one single Protestant in Italy. Yet, of course, they are only Protestants in name.
‡ The "Annals," quoted above, add by way of a note: "We should mention Messrs. Oltramare, Jacquet, and Bordier (Protestant ministers in Geneva), who have not the least fear to become highly prominent in such visits to poor Catholics."
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre