THE CATHOLIC CABINET is published with my approbation, and appears to me calculated to promote the interests of the Catholic Religion in this We have selected this subject for our introductory article, because, independently of other grounds on which it deserves attention, it appears peculiarly appropriate in the commencing number of a periodical such as the "CATHOLIC CABINET" is designed to be. Catholicism is often understood to indicate nothing more than a sectional denomination of Christians, without due regard being had to its original signification, "universal," which is that precisely in which it is uniformly applied by Catholics to the Church. The Church is called Catholic, not in consequence of her professing any principles of a universal application, such as, in eulogistic newspaper phraseology, are sometimes styled "truly Catholic sentiments"—although all her principles are of this character-but because she is universally diffused, not being limited to one or more nations, or to one or more of the great divisions of the globe, but is a society of men spread over the whole earth, and yet incorporated into one body by unity of religious principle and the recognition of a common centre of authority. To know, then, what Catholicity is at any given period, we must be acquainted with the extent of its limits at such period; and nothing will give us a more correct idea of this property of the Church, than to pass in review the various nations in which her children are to be found. We have another inducement for beginning our labors with the sketch on which we are about to enter. Many of our readers are doubtless as well, if not better acquainted with the present state and prospects of Catholicism than we can pretend to be; and for such persons our present inquiry might be spared: but there are many who may patronize the CABINET, and who, probably, have very imperfect, if not erroneous ideas on the actual extent to which the Catholic religion is professed. To this class of persons, in a special manner, we wish to be understood as addressing ourselves on the present occasion. An additional motive is suggested by the secondary object contemplated in the issuing of this periodical, which is not only to be devoted to the exposi tion, vindication, and illustration of Catholic principles, but is also intended to be a chronicle of religious intelligence. Were we to leave this part of our undertaking without a suitable introduction, the items of religious intelligence which we shall have to record would lose much of their interest, and, in some instances, be all but unintelligible to ordinary readers. This inconvenience, we hope, we shall be found to have remedied, in the present article, in which we invite the reader to accompany us through the different countries where Catholicisin prevails or is known; and where, by directing his attention to its acVOL. 1. 1 tual state, and giving a very hurried glance at some of the most important of the causes which have operated to produce it, we hope to give our monthly collection of religious intelligence a character of interest and utility it otherwise might not possess. We shall begin our sketch of the Catholic world with Italy, not only on account of its being at present the most purely catholic portion of Europe, but especially as containing within its limits that "greatest, most ancient and universally known church"-we use the language of St. Irenæus, a writer of the second century, with which, "on account of its more powerful principality every church, that is, all the faithful, must agree." Throughout all Italy, in its various political divisions, our religion is the only one publicly professed; so that the entire population of the country, 20,000,000, may be stated as the number of Catholics. No portion of Europe is more visited by travellers of all countries than Italy, as no other land is so gloriously associated with the past, or contains so many relics of antiquity, or exhibits such a profusion of the masterpieces of art. We regret to be obliged to add, that few, if any people, have been more severely, and, in most instances more unjustly dealt with than the Italians by such visitors. Religious prejudice has conspired, with other causes, scarcely less excusable, to influence the judgments of that crowd of tourists who, too often, without taste, refinement, or moral principle themselves, have been unable to appreciate the character and institutions of the Italian people; and who have very frequently made no other return for the kindness and attention they received in Italy, than indiscriminate and contemptuous abuse of its inhabitants. One of the objects which we propose to ourselves in the "CATHOLIC CABINET" is the vindication of our foreign brethren in the faith, by presenting occasional sketches of their manners, derived from authentic sources; as we believe that the evil to which we refer is one of the most fruitful causes of prejudice against our religion. The state of the Church in Spain is truly afflicting; its future destiny is yet uncertain; although every thing bids us hope that the fiery ordeal through which religion is passing in that once Catholic land, is intended by Providence rather to correct than condignly chastise. It is painful in the extreme to contrast the present state of the Spanish church with what she was, even at a comparatively recent period. Truly hath "the enemy put his hand to all her desirable things,-all her gates are broken down; her priests sigh, her virgins are in afliction, and she is oppressed with bitterness;-the stones of the sanctuary are scattered in the top of every street." All these expressions in the prophet Jeremias' description of the desolation of the Holy City, find their application in the actual condition of the Church in Spain. The enemy has indeed, laid his hands on "all her desirable things." We do not speak so much of the treasures of christian art, or the offerings of pious wealth, with which the churches of Spain once abounded, and which have been sacrilegiously plundered. Their loss, indeed, cannot be regarded with indifference, but the enlightened christian has to weep over the sacrilegeous profanation of other and still holier memorials of past ages. Those sacred remains of the martyrs, confessors and virgins of the Spanish church, which had been preserved with so much care for so many ages, and which have been desecrated and destroyed by the hand of violence, either through an irreligious hatred of the departed just, or through base cupidity of the rich reliquaries in which their relics were enshrined. Her institutions of learning and piety, from which the patient student and the devout recluse have been forcibly expelled, or, if permitted to remain, suffered to pine away in want of the common necessaries of life; their property, to which they had as strict a right as can be had to property,-hav |