ancis Xavier had
planted in the Empire of Japan, and which was so celebrated in the annals
of Christian heroism.

PERSECUTION IN BRAZIL.

Gonsalvez de Oliveira, Bishop of Olinda, had found it necessary to warn
his diocesans against the machinations of certain secret societies, which
were alike hostile to the Church and to the State. They had obtained so
much influence with the latter as to be able to attack, with impunity, the
Sisters of Charity, and the priests of the Lazarist congregation, as well
as all other zealous priests who sought to restore the discipline of the
church. Whilst, on the one hand, the bishop was sustained by the
congratulations and encouragement of the Holy See, and by the deference to
ecclesiastical authority of many Catholics who had been accustomed to
consider the secret societies as most inoffensive associations, he was
urged, on the other hand, by the fury of the chiefs of those societies,
who, alone, know all that they aim at and hold secret.

The Emperor, Don Pedro II., influenced by his free-thinking _entourage_,
judged that the pastoral letter should be denounced to the Council of
State. The councillors declared that it was an illegal document, not
having received the Imperial _placet_ "required by the Constitution of the
Empire." Now commenced the most heartless, and, as is always the case,
unavailing persecution. By order of the ministry, the procurator-general
summoned the Bishop of Olinda before the Supreme Court of Rio Janeiro. The
intrepid prelate replied by a letter, in which he declared that he could
not, in conscience, appear before the Supreme Court, because it was
impossible to do so, without acknowledging the competence of a civil court
in matters purely religious. On 3rd January, 1874, the bishop was ordered
to go to prison. He intimated that he would yield only to force. The chief
of police, accordingly, accompanied by two army officers, repaired to the
Episcopal palace, and conducted Mgr. de Oliveira to the port where a ship
of war was in attendance, to transport him to the maritime arsenal of Rio
Janeiro, one of the most unwholesome stations in Brazil. There the
illustrious prisoner was visited by Mgr. Lacerda, Bishop of Rio Janeiro,
who took off his pectoral cross, which was a family keep-sake, and placing
it around the neck of Mgr. Oliveira, said: "My Lord, you have full
jurisdiction throughout this land to which you are brought as a captive.
My clergy, the chapter of