ith him in praying
for the suffering nation which he nobly declared to be "the soldier of
civilization and of faith." Such as were at Rome, at the time of these
prayers, will never forget how enthusiastically the Roman people responded
to the call of Pius IX. In praying for the defenders of a distant country,
they seemed to pray, at the same time, for their own, which was now, more
than ever, threatened. But the time of mercy had not yet come, and
persecution was redoubled. Ecclesiastics were deported or put to death,
simply for not having refused the aid of religion to the dying on the
field of battle. Families and whole populations were doomed to choose
between exile and apostacy. All the bishops, without exception, were
driven from their dioceses, and some of them perished on the way to
Siberia. Pius IX. could no longer contain his grief and indignation. On
the 27th of April, 1864, in replying to the postulators in the cause of
blessed Francis of the five wounds, he said: "The blood of the helpless
and the innocent cries for vengeance to the throne of the Almighty against
those by whom it is shed. Unhappy Poland! It was my desire not to speak
before the approaching consistory. But I fear lest, by being silent any
longer, I should draw down upon myself the punishment denounced by the
prophets against those who tolerate iniquity. No, I would not that I were
forced to cry out, one day, in presence of the Sovereign Judge: 'Woe to me
because I have held my peace!' (_Va mihi quia tacui._) I feel inspired at
this moment to condemn a sovereign whose vast Empire reaches to the Pole.
This potentate, who falsely calls himself the Catholic of the East, but
who is only a schismatic cast forth from the bosom of the true church,
persecutes and slays his Catholic subjects, and by his ferocious cruelty
has driven them to insurrection. Under the pretext of suppressing this
insurrection, he extirpates the Catholic religion. He deports whole
populations to inhospitable climes, where they are deprived of all
religious assistance, and replaces them by schismatical adventurers. He
tears the pastors from their flocks, and drives them into exile, or
condemns them to forced labors and other degrading punishments. Happy they
who have been able to escape, and who now wander in strange lands! This
potentate, all heterodox and schismatical as he is, arrogates to himself a
power which the Vicar of Christ possesses not. He pretends to deprive a
bisho