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To the Bishops
of Brazil,
Amid the many and great demonstrations of affection which from almost
all the peoples of the earth have come to Us, and are still coming to
Us, in congratulation upon the happy attainment of the fiftieth
anniversary of Our priesthood, there is one which moves Us in a quite
special way. We mean one which comes from Brazil, where, upon the
occasion of this happy event, large numbers of those who in that vast
empire groan beneath the yoke of slavery, have been legally set free.
And this work, so full of the spirit of Christian mercy, has been
offered up in cooperation with the clergy, by charitable members of the
laity of both sexes, to God, the Author and Giver of all good things,
in testimony of their gratitude for the favor of the health and the
years which have been granted to Us. But this was specially acceptable
and sweet to Us because it lent confirmation to the belief, which is so
welcome to Us, that the great majority of the people of Brazil desire
to see the cruelty of slavery ended, and rooted out from the land. This
popular feeling has been strongly seconded by the emperor and his
august daughter, and also by the ministers, by means of various laws
which, with this end in view. have been introduced and sanctioned. We
told the Brazilian ambassador last January what a consolation these
things were to Us, and We also assured him that We would address
letters to the bishops of Brazil in behalf of these unhappy slaves.
2. We, indeed, to all men are the Vicar of Christ, the Son of God, who
so loved the human race that not only did He not refuse, taking our
nature to Himself, to live among men, but delighted in bearing the name
of the Son of Man, openly proclaiming that He had come upon earth "to
preach deliverance to the captives"[1] in order that, rescuing mankind
from the worst slavery, which is the slavery of sin, "he might
re-establish all things that are in heaven and on earth,"[2] and so
bring back all the children of Adam from the depths of the ruin of the
common fall to their original dignity. The words of St. Gregory the
Great are very applicable here: "Since our Redeemer, the Author of all
life, deigned to take human flesh, that by the power of His Godhood the
chains by which we were held in bondage being broken, He might restore
us to our first state of liberty, it is most fitting that men by the
concession of manumission should restore to the freedom in which they
were born those whom nature sent free into the world, but who have been
condemned to the yoke of slavery by the law of nations."[3] It is
right, therefore, and obviously in keeping with Our apostolic office,
that We should favor and advance by every means in Our power whatever
helps to secure for men, whether as individuals or as communities,
safeguards against the many miseries, which, like the fruits of an evil
tree, have sprung from the sin of our first parents; and such
safeguards, of whatever kind they may be, help not only to promote
civilization and the amenities of life, but lead on to that universal
restitution of all things which our Redeemer Jesus Christ contemplated
and desired.
3. In the presence of so much suffering, the condition of slavery, in
which a considerable part of the great human family has been sunk in
squalor and affliction now for many centuries, is deeply to be
deplored; for the system is one which is wholly opposed to that which
was originally ordained by God and by nature. The Supreme Author of all
things so decreed that man should exercise a sort of royal dominion
over beasts and cattle and fish and fowl, but never that men should
exercise a like dominion over their fellow men. As St. Augustine puts
it: "Having created man a reasonable being, and after His own likeness,
God wished that he should rule only over the brute creation; that he
should be the master, not of men, but of beasts." From this it follows
that "the state of slavery is rightly regarded as a penalty upon the
sinner; thus, the word slave does not occur in the Bible until the just
man Noe branded with it the sin of his son. It was sin, therefore,
which deserved this name; it was not natural."[4]
4. From the first sin came all evils, and specially this perversity
that there were men who, forgetful of the original brotherhood of the
race, instead of seeking, as they should naturally have done, to
promote mutual kindness and mutual respect, following their evil
desires began to think of other men as their inferiors, and to hold
them as cattle born for the yoke. In this way, through an absolute
forgetfulness of our common nature, and of human dignity, and the
likeness of God stamped upon us all, it came to pass that in the
contentions and wars which then broke out, those who were the stronger
reduced the conquered into slavery; so that mankind, though of the same
race, became divided into two sections, the conquered slaves and their
victorious masters. The history of the ancient world presents us with
this miserable spectacle down to the time of the coming of our Lord,
when the calamity of slavery had fallen heavily upon all the peoples,
and the number of freemen had become so reduced that the poet was able
to put this atrocious phrase into the mouth of Caesar: "The human race
exists for the sake of a few."[5]
5. The system flourished even among the most civilized peoples, among
the Greeks and among the Romans, with whom the few imposed their will
upon the many; and this power was exercised so unjustly and with such
haughtiness that a crowd of slaves was regarded merely as so many
chattels -- not as persons, but as things. They were held to be outside
the sphere of law, and without even the claim to retain and enjoy life.
"Slaves are in the power of their masters, and this power is derived
from the law of nations; for we find that among all nations masters
have the power of life and death over their slaves, and whatever a
slave earns belongs to his master."[6] Owing to this state of moral
confusion it became lawful for men to sell their slaves, to give them
in exchange, to dispose of them by will, to beat them, to kill them, to
abuse them by forcing them to serve for the gratification of evil
passions and cruel superstitions; these things could be done, legally,
with impunity, and in the light of heaven. Even those who were wisest
in the pagan world, illustrious philosophers and learned jurisconsults,
outraging the common feeling of mankind, succeeded in persuading
themselves and others that slavery was simply a necessary condition of
nature. Nor did they hesitate to assert that the slave class was very
inferior to the freemen both in intelligence and perfection of bodily
development, and therefore that slaves, as things wanting in reason and
sense, ought in all things to be the instruments of the will, however
rash and unworthy, of their masters. Such inhuman and wicked doctrines
are to be specially detested; for, when once they are accepted, there
is no form of oppression so wicked but that it will defend itself
beneath some color of legality and justice. History is full of examples
showing what a seedbed of crime, what a pest and calamity, this system
has been for states. Hatreds are excited in the breasts of the slaves,
and the masters are kept in a state of suspicion and perpetual dread;
the slaves prepare to avenge themselves with the torches of the
incendiary, and the masters continue the task of oppression with
greater cruelty. States are disturbed alternately by the number of the
slaves and by the violence of the masters, and so are easily
overthrown; hence, in a word, come riots and seditions, pillage and
fire.
6. The greater part of humanity were toiling in this abyss of misery,
and were the more to be pitied because they were sunk in the darkness
of superstition, when in the fullness of time and by the designs of
God, light shone down upon the world, and the merits of Christ the
Redeemer were poured out upon mankind. By that means they were lifted
out of the slough and the distress of slavery, and recalled and brought
back from the terrible bondage of sin to their high dignity as the sons
of God. Thus, the Apostles, in the early days of the Church, among
other precepts for a devout life taught and laid down the doctrine
which more than once occurs in the Epistles of St. Paul addressed to
those newly baptized: "For you are all the children of God by faith, in
Jesus Christ. For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have
put on Christ. There is neither Jew, nor Greek; there is neither bond,
nor free; there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in
Christ Jesus."[7] "Where there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision
nor uncircumcision, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free. But Christ
is all and in all."[8] "For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one
body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free; and in one Spirit
we have all been made to drink."[9] Golden words, indeed, noble and
wholesome lessons, whereby its old dignity is given back and with
increase to the human race, and men of whatever land or tongue of class
are bound together and joined in the strong bonds of brotherly kinship.
Those things St. Paul, with that Christian charity with which he was
filled, learned from the very heart of Him who, with much surpassing
goodness, gave Himself to be the brother of us all, and in His own
person, without omitting or excepting any one, so ennobled men that
they might become participators in the divine nature. Through this
Christian charity the various races of men were drawn together under
the divine guidance in such a wonderful way that they blossomed into a
new state of hope and public happiness; as with the progress of time
and events and the constant labor of the Church the various nations
were able to gather together, Christian and free, organized anew after
the manner of a family.
7. From the beginning the Church spared no pains to make the Christian
people, in a matter of such high importance, accept and firmly hold the
true teachings of Christ and the Apostles. And now through the new
Adam, who is Christ, there is established a brotherly union between man
and man, and people and people; just as in the order of nature they all
have a common origin, so in the order which is above nature they all
have one and the same origin in salvation and faith; all alike are
called to be the adopted sons of God and the Father, who has paid the
self-same ransom for us all; we are all members of the same body, all
are allowed to partake of the same divine banquet, and offered to us
all are the blessings of divine grace and of eternal life. Having
established these principles as beginnings and foundations, the Church,
like a tender mother, went on to try to find some alleviation for the
sorrows and the disgrace of the life of the slave; with this end in
view she clearly defined and strongly enforced the rights and mutual
duties of masters and slaves as they are laid down in the letters of
the Apostles. It was in these words that the Princes of the Apostles
admonished the slaves they had admitted to the fold of Christ.
"Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the
good and gentle, but also to the froward."[10] "Servants, be obedient
to them that are your lords according to the flesh, with fear and
trembling in the simplicity of your heart, as to Christ. Not serving to
the eye, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the
heart. With a good will serving as to the Lord, and not to men. Knowing
that whatsoever good thing any man shall do, the same shall he receive
from the Lord, whether he be bond or free."[11] St. Paul says the same
to Timothy: "Whosoever are servants under the yoke, let them count
their masters worthy of all honor; lest the name of the Lord and his
doctrine be blasphemed. But they that have believing masters, let them
not despise them because they are brethren, but serve them the rather,
because they are faithful and beloved, who are partakers of the
benefit. These things teach and exhort."[12] In like manner he
commanded Titus to teach servants "to be obedient to their masters, in
all things pleasing, not gainsaying. Not defrauding, but in all things
showing good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior in all things.[13]
8. Those first disciples of the Christian faith very well understood
that this brotherly equality of all men in Christ ought in no way to
diminish or detract from the respect, honor, faithfulness, and other
duties due to those placed above them. From this many good results
followed, so that duties became at once more certain of being
performed, and lighter and pleasanter to do, and at the same time more
fruitful in obtaining the glory of heaven. Thus, they treated their
masters with reverence and honor as men clothed in the authority of Him
from whom comes all power. Among these disciples the motive of action
was not the fear of punishment or any enlightened prudence or the
promptings of utility, but a consciousness of duty and the force of
charity. On the other hand, masters were wisely counseled by the
Apostle to treat their slaves with consideration in return for their
services: "And you, masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing
threatenings; knowing that the Lord both of them and you is in heaven,
and there is not respect of persons with Him."[14] They were also told
to remember that the slave had no reason to regret his lot, seeing that
he is "the freeman of the Lord," nor the freeman, seeing that he is
"the bondman of Christ,"[15] to feel proud, and to give his commands
with haughtiness. It was impressed upon masters that they ought to
recognize in their slaves their fellow men, and respect them
accordingly, recognizing that by nature they were not different from
themselves, that by religion and in relation to the majesty of their
common Lord all were equal. These precepts, so well calculated to
introduce harmony among the various parts of domestic society, were
practiced by the Apostles themselves. Specially remarkable is the case
of St. Paul when he exerted himself in behalf of Onesimus, the fugitive
of Philemon, with whom, when he returned him to his master, he sent
this loving recommendation: "And do thou receive him as my own bowels,
not now as a servant, but instead of a servant a most dear brother. . .
And if he have wronged thee in anything, or is in thy debt, put that to
my account."[16]
9. Whoever compare the pagan and the Christian attitude toward slavery
will easily come to the conclusion that the one was marked by great
cruelty and wickedness, and the other by great gentleness and humanity,
nor will it be possible to deprive the Church of the credit due to her
as the instrument of this happy change. And this becomes still more
apparent when we consider carefully how tenderly and with what prudence
the Church has cut out and destroyed this dreadful curse of slavery.
She has deprecated any precipitate action in securing the manumission
and liberation of the slaves, because that would have entailed tumults
and wrought injury, as well to the slaves themselves as to the
commonwealth, but with singular wisdom she has seen that the minds of
the slaves should be instructed through her discipline in the Christian
faith, and with baptism should acquire habits suitable to the Christian
life. Therefore, when, amid the slave multitude whom she has numbered
among her children, some, led astray by some hope of liberty, have had
recourse to violence and sedition, the Church has always condemned
these unlawful efforts and opposed them, and through her ministers has
applied the remedy of patience. She taught the slaves to feel that, by
virtue of the light of holy faith, and the character they received from
Christ, they enjoyed a dignity which placed them above their heathen
lords, but that they were bound the more strictly by the Author and
Founder of their faith Himself never to set themselves against these,
or even to be wanting in the reverence and obedience due to them.
Knowing themselves as the chosen ones of the Kingdom of God, and
endowed with the freedom of His children, and called to the good things
that are not of this life, they were able to work on without being cast
down by the sorrows and troubles of this passing world, but with eyes
and hearts turned to heaven were consoled and strengthened in their
holy resolutions. St. Peter was addressing himself specially to slaves
when he wrote: "For this is thanksworthy, if for conscience towards God
a man endure sorrows, suffering wrongfully. For unto this you are
called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example
that you should follow his steps."[17]
10. The credit for this solicitude joined with moderation, which in
such a wonderful way adorns the divine powers of the Church, is
increased by the marvelous and unconquerable courage with which she was
able to inspire and sustain so many poor slaves. It was a wonderful
sight to behold those who, in their obedience and the patience with
which they submitted to every task, were such an example to their
masters, refusing to let themselves be persuaded to prefer the wicked
commands of those above them to the holy law of God, and even giving up
their lives in the most cruel tortures with unconquered hearts and
unclouded brows. The pages of Eusebius keep alive for us the memory of
the unshaken constancy of the virgin Potamiana, who, rather than
consent to gratify the lusts of her master, fearlessly accepted death,
and sealed her faithfulness to Jesus Christ with her blood. Many other
admirable examples abound of slaves, who, for their souls' sake and to
keep their faith with God, have resisted their masters to the death.
History has no case to show of Christian slaves for any other cause
setting themselves in opposition to their masters of joining in
conspiracies against the State.
Thence, peace and quiet times having been restored to the Church, the
holy Fathers made a wise and admirable exposition of the apostolic
precepts concerning the fraternal unanimity which should exist between
Christians, and with a like charity extended it to the advantage of
slaves, striving to point out that the rights of masters extended
lawfully indeed over the works of their slaves, but that their power
did not extend to using horrible cruelties against their persons. St.
Chrysostom stands pre-eminent among the Greeks, who often treats of
this subject, and affirms with exulting mind and tongue that slavery,
in the old meaning of the word, had at that time disappeared through
the beneficence of the Christian faith, so that it both seemed, and
was, a word without any meaning among the disciples of the Lord. For
Christ indeed (so he sums up his argument), when in His great mercy to
us He wiped away the sin contracted by our birth, at the same time
healed the manifold corruptions of human society; so that, as death
itself by His means has laid aside its terrors and become a peaceful
passing away to a happy life, so also has slavery been banished. Do
not, then, call any Christian man a slave, unless, indeed, he is in
bondage again to sin; they are altogether brethren who are born again
and received in Christ Jesus. Our advantages flow from the new birth
and adoption into the household of God, not from the eminence of our
race; our dignity arises from the praise of our truth, not of our
blood. But in order that that kind of evangelical brotherhood may have
more fruit, it is necessary that in the actions of our ordinary life
there should appear a willing interchange of kindnesses and good
offices, so that slaves should be esteemed of nearly equal account with
the rest of our household and friends, and that the master of the house
should supply them, not only with what is necessary for their life and
food, but also all necessary safeguards of religious training. Finally,
from the marked address of Paul to Philemon, bidding grace and peace
"to the church which is in thy house,"[18] the precept should be held
in respect equally by Christian masters and servants, that they who
have an intercommunion of faith should also have an intercommunion of
charity.[19]
11. Of the Latin authors, we worthily and justly call to mind St.
Ambrose, who so earnestly inquired into all that was necessary in this
cause, and so clearly ascribes what is due to each kind of man
according to the laws of Christianity, that no one has ever achieved it
better, whose sentiments, it is unnecessary to say, fully and perfectly
coincide with those of St. Chrysostom.[20] These things were, as is
evident, most justly and usefully laid down; but more, the chief point
is that they have been observed wholly and religiously from the
earliest times wherever the profession of the Christian faith has
flourished. Unless this had been the case, that excellent defender of
religion, Lactantius, could not have maintained it so confidently, as
though a witness of it. "Should any one say: Are there not among you
some poor, some rich, some slaves, some who are masters; is there no
difference between different persons? I answer: There is none, nor is
there any other cause why we call each other by the name of brother
than that we consider ourselves to be equals; first, when we measure
all human things, not by the body but by the spirit, although their
corporal condition may be different from ours, yet in spirit they are
not slaves to us, but we esteem and call them brethren, fellow workers
in religion."[21]
12. The care of the Church extended to the protection of slaves, and
without interruption tended carefully to one object, that they should
finally be restored to freedom, which would greatly conduce to their
eternal welfare. That the event happily responded to these efforts, the
annals of sacred antiquity afford abundant proof. Noble matrons,
rendered illustrious by the praises of St. Jerome, themselves afforded
great aid in carrying this matter into effect; so that as Salvian
relates, in Christian families, even though not very rich, it often
happened that the slaves were freed by a generous manumission. But,
also, St. Clement long before praised that excellent work of charity by
which some Christians became slaves, by an exchange of persons, because
they could in no other way liberate those who were in bondage.
Wherefore, in addition to the fact that the act of manumission began to
take place in churches as an act of piety, the Church ordered it to be
proposed to the faithful when about to make their wills, as a work very
pleasing to God and of great merit and value with Him. Therefore, those
precepts of manumission to the heir were introduced with the words,
"for the love of God, for the welfare or benefit of my soul."[22]
Neither was anything grudged as the price of the captives, gifts
dedicated to God were sold, consecrated gold and silver melted down,
the ornaments and gifts of the basilicas alienated, as, indeed, was
done more than once by Ambrose, Augustine, Hilary, Eligius, Patrick,
and many other holy men.
13. Moreover, the Roman Pontiffs, who have always acted, as history
truly relates, as the protectors of the weak and helpers of the
oppressed, have done their best for slaves. St. Gregory himself set at
liberty as many as possible, and in the Roman Council of 597 desired
those to receive their freedom who were anxious to enter the monastic
state. Hadrian I maintained that slaves could freely enter into
matrimony even without their masters' consent. It was clearly ordered
by Alexander III in the year 1167 to the Moorish King of Valencia that
he should not make a slave of any Christian, because no one was a slave
by the law of nature, all men having been made free by God. Innocent
III, in the year 1190, at the prayer of its founders, John de Matha and
Felix of Valois, approved and established the Order of the Most Holy
Trinity for Redeeming Christians who had fallen into the power of the
Turks. At a later date, Honorius III, and, afterwards, Gregory IX, duly
approved the Order of St. Mary of Help, founded for a similar purpose,
which Peter Nolasco had established, and which included the severe rule
that its religious should give themselves up as slaves in the place of
Christians taken captive by tyrants, if it should be necessary in order
to redeem them. The same St. Gregory passed a decree, which was a far
greater support of liberty, that it was unlawful to sell slaves to the
Church, and he further added an exhortation to the faithful that, as a
punishment for their faults, they should give their slaves to God and
His saints as an act of expiation.
14. There are also many other good deeds of the Church in the same
behalf. For she, indeed, was accustomed by severe penalties to defend
slaves from the savage anger and cruel injuries of their masters. To
those upon whom the hand of violence had rested, she was accustomed to
open her sacred temples as places of refuge to receive the free men
into her good faith, and to restrain those by censure who dared by evil
inducements to lead a man back again into slavery. In the same way she
was still more favorable to the freedom of the slaves whom, by any
means she held as her own, according to times and places; when she laid
down either that those should be released by the bishops from every
bond of slavery who had shown themselves during a certain time of trial
of praiseworthy honesty of life, or when she easily permitted the
bishops of their own will to declare those belonging to them free. It
must also be ascribed to the compassion and virtue of the Church that
somewhat of the pressure of civil law upon slaves was remitted, and, as
far as it was brought about, that the milder alleviations of Gregory
the Great, having been incorporated in the written law of nations,
became of force. That, however, was done principally by the agency of
Charlemagne, who included them in his "Capitularia," as Gratian
afterwards did in his "Decretum."[23] Finally, monuments, laws,
institutions, through a continuous series of ages, teach and splendidly
demonstrate the great love of the Church toward slaves, whose miserable
condition she never left destitute of protection, and always to the
best of her power alleviated. Therefore, sufficient praise or thanks
can never be returned to the Catholic Church, the banisher of slavery
and causer of true liberty, fraternity, and equality among men, since
she has merited it by the prosperity of nations, through the very great
beneficence of Christ our Redeemer.
15. Toward the end of the fifteenth century, at which time the base
stain of slavery having been nearly blotted out from among Christian
nations, States were anxious to stand firmly in evangelical liberty,
and also to increase their empire, this apostolic see took the greatest
care that the evil germs of such depravity should nowhere revive. She
therefore directed her provident vigilance to the newly discovered
regions of Africa, Asia, and America; for a report had reached her that
the leaders of those expeditions, Christians though they were, were
wickedly making use of their arms and ingenuity for establishing and
imposing slavery on these innocent nations. Indeed, since the crude
nature of the soil which they had to overcome, nor less the wealth of
metals which had to be extracted by digging, required very hard work,
unjust and inhuman plans were entered into. For a certain traffic was
begun, slaves being transported for that purpose from Ethiopia, which,
at that time, under the name of "La tratta dei Negri," too much
occupied those colonies. An oppression of the indigenous inhabitants
(who are collectively called Indians), much the same as slavery,
followed with a like maltreatment.
16. When Pius II had become assured of these matters without delay, on
October 7, 1462, he gave a letter to the bishop of the place in which
he reproved and condemned such wickedness. Some time afterwards, Leo X
lent, as far as he could, his good offices and authority to the kings
of both Portugal and Spain, who took care to radically extirpate that
abuse, opposed alike to religion, humanity, and justice. Nevertheless,
that evil having grown strong, remained there, its impure cause, the
unquenchable desire of gain, remaining. Then Paul III, anxious with a
fatherly love as to the condition of the Indians and of the Moorish
slaves, came to this last determination, that in open day, and, as it
were, in the sight of all nations, he declared that they all had a just
and natural right of a threefold character, namely, that each one of
them was master of his own person, that they could live together under
their own laws, and that they could acquire and hold property for
themselves. More than this, having sent letters to the Cardinal
Archbishop of Toledo, he pronounced an interdict and deprival of
sacraments against those who acted contrary to the aforesaid decree,
reserving to the Roman Pontiff the power of absolving them.[24]
17. With the same forethought and constancy, other Pontiffs at a later
period, as Urban VIII, Benedict XIV, and Pius VII, showed themselves
strong asserters of liberty for the Indians and Moors and those who
were even as yet not instructed in the Christian faith. The last,
moreover, at the Council of the confederated Princes of Europe, held at
Vienna, called their attention in common to this point, that that
traffic in Negroes, of which We have spoken before, and which had now
ceased in many places, should be thoroughly rooted out. Gregory XVI
also severely censured those neglecting the duties of humanity and the
laws, and restored the decrees and statutory penalties of the apostolic
see, and left no means untried that foreign nations, also, following
the kindliness of the Europeans, should cease from and abhor the
disgrace and brutality of slavery.[25] But it has turned out most
fortunately for Us that We have received the congratulations of the
chief princes and rulers of public affairs for having obtained, thanks
to Our constant pleadings, some satisfaction for the long-continued and
most just complaints of nature and religion.
18. We have, however, in Our mind, in a matter of the same kind,
another care which gives Us no light anxiety and presses upon Our
solicitude. This shameful trading in men has, in- deed, ceased to take
place by sea, but on land is carried on to too great an extent and too
barbarously, and that especially in some parts of Africa. For, it
having been perversely laid down by the Mohammedans that Ethiopians and
men of similar nations are very little superior to brute beasts, it is
easy to see and shudder at the perfidy and cruelty of man. Suddenly,
like plunderers making an attack, they invade the tribes of Ethiopians,
fearing no such thing; they rush into their villages, houses, and huts;
they lay waste, destroy, and seize everything; they lead away from
thence the men, women, and children, easily captured and bound, so that
they may drag them away by force for their shameful traffic. These
hateful expeditions are made into Egypt, Zanzibar, and partly also into
the Sudan, as though so many stations. Men, bound with chains are
forced to take long journeys, ill supplied with food, under the
frequent use of the lash; those who are too weak to undergo this are
killed; those who are strong enough go like a flock with a crowd of
others to be sold and to be passed over to a brutal and shameless
purchaser. But whoever is thus sold and given up is exposed to what is
a miserable rending asunder of wives, children, and parents, and is
driven by him into whose power he falls into a hard and indescribable
slavery; nor can he refuse to conform to the religious rites of
Mahomet. These things We have received not long since with the greatest
bitterness of feeling from some who have been eyewitnesses, though
tearful ones, of that kind of infamy and misery; with these, moreover,
what has been related lately by the explorers in equatorial Africa
entirely coincides. It is indeed manifest, by their testimony and word,
that each year 400,000 Africans are usually thus sold like cattle,
about half of whom, wearied out by the roughness of the tracks, fall
down and perish there, so that, sad to relate, those traveling through
such places see the pathway strewn with the remains of bones.
19. Who would not be moved by the thought of such miseries. We, indeed,
who are holding the place of Christ, the loving Liberator and Redeemer
of all mankind, and who so rejoice in the many and glorious good deeds
of the Church to all who are afflicted, can scarcely express how great
is Our commiseration for those unhappy nations, with what fullness of
charity We open Our arms to them, how ardently We desire to be able to
afford them every alleviation and support, with the hope, that, having
cast off the slavery of superstition as well as the slavery of man,
they may at length serve the one true God under the gentle yoke of
Christ, partakers with Us of the divine inheritance. Would that all who
hold high positions in authority and power, or who desire the rights of
nations and of humanity to be held sacred, or who earnestly devote
themselves to the interests of the Catholic religion, would all,
everywhere acting on Our exhortations and wishes, strive together to
repress, forbid, and put an end to that kind of traffic, than which
nothing is more base and wicked.
20. In the meantime, while by a more strenuous application of ingenuity
and labor new roads are being made, and new commercial enterprises
undertaken in the lands of Africa, let apostolic men endeavor to find
out how they can best secure the safety and liberty of slaves. They
will obtain success in this matter in no other way than if,
strengthened by divine grace, they give themselves up to spreading our
most holy faith and daily caring for it, whose distinguishing fruit is
that it wonderfully flavors and develops the liberty "with which Christ
made us free."[26] We therefore advise them to look, as if into a
mirror of apostolic virtue, at the life and works of St. Peter Claver,
to whom We have lately added a crown of glory.[27] Let them look at him
who for fully forty years gave himself up to minister with the greatest
constancy in his labors, to a most miserable assembly of Moorish
slaves; truly he ought to be called the apostle of those whose constant
servant he professed himself and gave himself up to be. If they
endeavor to take to themselves and reflect the charity and patience of
such a man, they will shine indeed as worthy ministers of salvation,
authors of consolation, messengers of peace, who, by God's help, may
turn solicitude, desolation, and fierceness into the most joyful
fertility of religion and civilization.
21. And now, venerable brethren, Our thoughts and letters desire to
turn to you that We may again announce to you and again share with you
the exceeding joy which We feel on account of the determinations which
have been publicly entered into in that empire with regard to slavery.
If, indeed, it seemed to Us a good, happy, and propitious event, that
it was provided and insisted upon by law that whoever were still in the
condition of slaves ought to be admitted to the status and rights of
free men, so also it conforms and increases Our hope of future acts
which will be the cause of joy, both in civil and religious matters.
Thus the name of the Empire of Brazil will be justly held in honor and
praise among the most civilized nations, and the name of its august
emperor will likewise be esteemed, whose excellent speech is on record,
that he desired nothing more ardently than that every vestige of
slavery should be speedily obliterated from his territories. But,
truly, until those precepts of the laws are carried into effect,
earnestly endeavor, We beseech you, by all means, and press on as much
as possible the accomplishment of this affair, which no light
difficulties hinder. Through your means let it be brought to pass that
masters and slaves may mutually agree with the highest goodwill and
best good faith, nor let there be any transgression of clemency or
justice, but, whatever things have to be carried out, let all be done
lawfully, temperately, and in a Christian manner. It is, however,
chiefly to be wished that this may be prosperously accomplished, which
all desire, that slavery may be banished and blotted out without any
injury to divine or human rights, with no political agitation, and so
with the solid benefit of the slaves themselves, for whose sake it is
undertaken.
22. To each one of these, whether they have already been made free or
are about to become so, We address with a pastoral intention and
fatherly mind a few salutary cautions culled from the words of the
great Apostle of the Gentiles. Let them, then, endeavor piously and
constantly to retain grateful memory and feeling towards those by whose
council and exertion they were set at liberty. Let them never show
themselves unworthy of so great a gift nor ever confound liberty with
license; but let them use it as becomes well ordered citizens for the
industry of an active life, for the benefit and advantage both of their
family and of the State. To respect and increase the dignity of their
princes, to obey the magistrates, to be obedient to the laws, these and
similar duties let them diligently fulfill, under the influence, not so
much of fear as of religion; let them also restrain and keep in
subjection envy of another's wealth or position, which unfortunately
daily distresses so many of those in inferior positions, and present so
many incitements of rebellion against security of order and peace.
Content with their state and lot, let them think nothing dearer, let
them desire nothing more ardently than the good things of the heavenly
kingdom by whose grace they have been brought to the light and redeemed
by Christ; let them feel piously towards God who is their Lord and
Liberator; let them love Him, with all their power; let them keep His
commandments with all their might; let them rejoice in being sons of
His spouse, the Holy Church; let them labor to be as good as possible,
and as much as they can let them carefully return His love.
Do you also, Venerable Brethren, be constant in showing and urging on
the freedmen these same doctrines; that, that which is Our chief
prayer, and at the same time ought to be yours and that of all good
people, religion, amongst the first, may ever feel that she has gained
the most ample fruits of that liberty which has been obtained wherever
that empire extends.
23. But that that may happily take place, We beg and implore the full
grace of God and motherly aid of the Immaculate Virgin. As a foretaste
of heavenly gifts and witness of Our fatherly good will towards you,
Venerable Brethren, your clergy, and all your people, We lovingly
impart the apostolic blessing.
Given at St. Peter's, in Rome, the fifth day of May, 1888, the eleventh
of Our pontificate.
ENDNOTES:
1. Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:19.
2. Eph. 1:10.
3. Epist., lib. 6, ep. 12 (PL 77, 803C-804A).
4. "De civ. Dei," 19, 15 (PL 41, 643).
5. Lucan, "Phars." 5, 343.
6. Justinian, "Inst.," lib. I, tit. 8, n. I; in "Corpus jurs civilis"
(4th ed., Berlin, Weidmann, 1886) Vol. 1, p. 3.
7. Gal. 3:26-28.
8. Col. 3:11.
9. I Cor. 12:13.
10. I Peter 2:18.
11. Eph. 6:5-8.
12. I Tim. 6: 1-2.
13. Titus 2:9-10.
14. Eph. 6:9.
15. I Cor. 7:22.
16. Philemon 12, 18.
17. I Peter 2:19-21.
18. Philemon 2.
19. John Chrysostom, "Hom. in Lazar." (PG 58, 1039); "Hom. xix in ep. l
ad Cor." (PG 61,157-158); "Hom. l in ep. ad Phil." (PG 62, 705).
20. "De Jacob et de vita beata," cap. 3 (PL 14, 633A-636A); "De patr.
Joseph," cap. 4 (PL 16, 680C-682B); "Exhort. Virgin.," cap. 1. (PL 16,
351A-352B).
21. "Divin. Instit.," lib. 5, cap. 16 (PL 6, 599A-600A).
22. Clement of Rome, I "Ep. ad Cor.," cap. 55 (PG 1, 319A).
23. Gratian, "Decretum," Part 1, dist. 54; ed. E. Friedberg, Vol. 1,
cols. 206-214.
24. Paul III (1534-49), "Veritas ipsa" (June 2, 1559).
25. Gregory XVI (1831-46), "In Supremo Apostolatus Fastigio" (Dec. 3,
1837).
26. Gal. 4:31.
27. St. Peter Claver (1581-1654), joined the Society of Jesus in 1602;
in 1610, he went to Cartagena, then the main slave market of the New
World, and for forty-four years devoted himself to missionary work. He
had declared his intention to remain "the slave of the Negroes" for his
entire life and, in point of fact, is said to have baptized over
300,000 of them. He was canonized by Pope Leo XIII on January 15, 1888.
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