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[Illustration: C. CHINIQUY]

                              FIFTY YEARS
                                 IN THE
                            CHURCH OF ROME.

                                   BY

                            FATHER CHINIQUY,

                  THE APOSTLE OF TEMPERANCE OF CANADA.

 AUTHOR OF “THE MANUAL OF TEMPERANCE,” “THE PRIEST, THE WOMAN, AND THE
                             CONFESSIONAL,”
              “PAPAL IDOLATRY,” “ROME AND EDUCATION,” ETC.








                       FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY,

             NEW YORK.          CHICAGO.           TORONTO.

                _Publishers of Evangelical Literature._

------------------------------------------------------------------------

                               COPYRIGHT,
                                 1886,
         BY REV. CHARLES CHINIQUY, ST. ANNE, KANKAKEE CO., ILL.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

                              DEDICATION.

                      TO COLONEL EDWIN A. SHERMAN.


Allow me to mention your name the first among the many to whom I
dedicate this book.

I owe this to you as a token of gratitude for your help in my researches
after the true murderers of our martyred President Abraham Lincoln.

I found you as wise and honorable in your counsels as our country found
you brave on the battlefields of Liberty.

             TO THE ORANGEMEN OF THE UNITED STATES, CANADA,
                   GREAT BRITAIN, AUSTRALIA, TASMANIA
                          AND NEW ZEALAND,[A]

this book is also dedicated by the humblest of their brethren.

Orangemen! Read this book: you will not only understand Romanism as you
never did, but you will find many new reasons to be, more than ever,
vigilant, fearless and devoted, even to death, in the discharge of the
sacred duties imposed upon you by your love for your country, your
brethren and your God.

-----

Footnote A:

  L. O. A. B. A. BOYNE L. O. L. No. 401.

                                             Montreal, 20th Sept., 1878.

  This is to Certify that Bro. C. Chiniquy was duly initiated into Boyne
  L. O. L. No. 401, and is a member in good standing, and we do
  therefore request all Brethren to receive him as such, whereof witness
  our hand and seal hereto affixed.

                                   MASTER No. 401.

                                             JOHN HAMILTON, Secretary.

-----

             TO THE HONEST AND LIBERTY-LOVING PEOPLE OF THE
                             UNITED STATES,

I also dedicate this book.

Americans! You are sleeping on a volcano, and you do not suspect it! You
are pressing on your bosom a viper which will bite you to death, and you
do not know it.

Read this book, and you will see that Rome is the sworn, the most
implacable, the absolutely irreconcilable and deadly enemy of your
schools, your institutions, your so dearly bought rights and liberties.

Read this book, and you will not only understand that it is to Rome you
owe the rivers of blood and the unspeakable horrors of the last civil
war: but you will learn that Romanism and Liberty can not live on the
same ground. This has been declared by the Popes, hundreds of times.

Read this book: And you will not only see that Abraham Lincoln was
murdered by Rome, but you will learn that Romanism, under the mask of
religion, is nothing but a permanent political conspiracy against all
the most sacred rights of man and the most holy laws of God.

In those pages you will not learn to hate the Roman Catholics. No! But
you will learn to be more than ever watchful in guarding the precious
treasures of Freedom bestowed upon you by your fathers. You will learn
never to let them fall into the hands of those who, with the sacred name
of Liberty on their lips, and the mask of Liberty on their faces, are
sworn to destroy all Liberty.

              TO ALL THE FAITHFUL MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL,

I also, dedicate this book.

Venerable Ministers of the Gospel! Rome is the great danger ahead for
the Church of Christ, and you do not understand it enough.

The atmosphere of light, honesty, truth and holiness in which you are
born, and which you have breathed since your infancy, makes it almost
impossible for you to realize the dark mysteries of idolatry,
immorality, degrading slavery, hatred of the Word of God, concealed
behind the walls of that modern Babylon. You are too honest to suspect
them; and your precious time is too much taken up by the sacred duties
of your ministry, to study the long labyrinth of argumentations which
form the bulk of the greater number of controversial books. Besides
that, the majority of the books of controversy against Rome are of such
a dry character that, though many begin to read them, very few have the
courage to go to the end. The consequence is an ignorance of Romanism
which becomes more and more deplorable and fatal, every day.

It is ignorance which paves the way to the triumph of Rome, in a near
future, if there is not a complete change in your views, on that
subject.

It is that ignorance which paralyzes the arm of the Church of Christ,
and makes the glorious word “Protestant” senseless, almost a dead and
ridiculous word. For who does really protest against Rome, to-day? where
are those who sound the trumpet of alarm?

When Rome is striking you to the heart by cursing your schools and
wrenching the Bible from the hands of your children; when she is not
only battering your doors, but scaling your walls and storming your
citadels, how few dare go to the breach and repulse the audacious and
sacrilegious foe?

Why so? Because modern Protestants have not only forgotten what Rome
was, what she is, and what she will forever be: the most irreconcilable
and powerful enemy of the Gospel of Christ; but they consider her almost
a branch of the church whose corner-stone is Christ.

Faithful ministers of the Gospel! I present you this book that you may
know that the monster Church of Rome, who shed the blood of your
forefathers, is still at work, to-day, at your very door, to enchain
your people to the feet of her idols. Read it, and for the first time,
you will see the inside life of Popery with the exactness of
Photography. From the supreme art with which the mind of the young and
timid child is fettered, enchained and paralyzed, to the unspeakable
degradation of the priest under the iron heel of the bishop, everything
will be revealed to you as it has never been before.

The superstitions, the ridiculous and humiliating practices, the secret
and mental agonies of the monks, the nuns and the priests, will be shown
to you as they were never shown before. In this book, the sophisms and
errors of Romanism are discussed and refuted with a clearness,
simplicity and evidence which my twenty-five years of priesthood only
could teach me. It is not in boasting that I say this. There can be no
boasting in me for having been so many years an abject slave of the
Pope. The book I offer you is an arsenal filled with the best weapons
you ever had to fight, and, with the help of God, conquer the foe.

The learned and zealous champion of Protestantism in Great Britain Rev.
D. Badenoch, who has revised the manuscript, wrote to a friend: “I do
not think there is a Protestant work more thrilling in interest and more
important at the present time. It is not only full of incidents, but
also of arguments, on the side of truth with all classes of Romanists,
from the bishops to the parish priests. I know of no work which gives so
graphically the springs of Roman Catholic life, and at the same time,
meets the plausible objections to Protestantism in Roman Catholic
circles. I wish with all my heart that this work would be published in
Great Britain.”

The venerable, learned and so well known Rev. Dr. Kemp, Principal of the
Young Ladies’ College of Ottawa, Canada, only a few days before his
premature death, wrote: “Mr. Chinqiuy has submitted every chapter of his
‘Fifty Years in the Church of Rome’ to me: I have read it with care and
with the deepest interest; and I commend it to the public favor in the
highest terms. It is the only book I know that gives anything like a
full and authentic account of the inner workings of Popery on this
continent, and so effectively unmasks its pretence to sanctity. Besides
the most interesting biographical incidents, it contains incisive
refutations of the most plausible assumptions and deadly errors of the
Romish Church. It is well fitted to awaken Protestants to the insidious
designs of the arch-enemy of their faith and liberties, and to arouse
them to a decisive opposition. It is written in a kindly and Christian
spirit, does not indulge in denunciations, and, while speaking in truth,
it does so in love. Its style is lively and its English good, with only
a delicate flavor of the author’s native French.”

              TO THE BISHOPS, PRIESTS AND PEOPLE OF ROME,

this book is also dedicated.

In the name of your immortal souls, I ask you, Roman Catholics, to read
this book.

By the mercy of God, you will find, in its pages, how you are cruelly
deceived by your vain and lying traditions.

You will see that it is not through your ceremonies, masses,
confessions, purgatory, indulgences, fastings, etc., you are saved. You
have nothing to do but to believe, repent and love.

Salvation is a gift! Eternal life is a gift! Forgiveness of sin is a
gift! Christ is a gift!

Read this book, presented by the most devoted of your friends, and, by
the mercy of God, you will see the errors of your ways—you will look to
the GIFT—you will accept it—and in its possession you will feel rich and
happy for time and eternity.

                             SPECIAL NOTICE
                            TO NEW EDITION.

                           ------------------


Since the publication of the second edition of “Fifty Years in the
Church of Rome,” the incendiary torch of the foe has twice reduced into
ashes the electrotype plates, with many volumes already printed, and
about to be delivered to subscribers.

Though those two disasters have completely ruined me financially, they
have not discouraged me, for my trust was in God, and in Him alone.
Relying on His divine and paternal protection, I offer this New Edition
to my brethren, with the prayerful hope that the Good Master will bless
it for His glory, and the good of His elect, wherever it may go.

I have no words to sufficiently bless the friends who have extended to
me a helping hand to raise the book from its fiery grave; and I cannot
sufficiently thank the Press, both religious and secular, of Europe and
America, for the kind appreciation given, almost everywhere, to my
humble labor.

May this book, with the help of God, be the means of giving liberty to
those who are held in the bondage of ignorance, superstition and
idolatry, is the sincere desire of their friend,

                                                        C. CHINIQUY.

                         LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


                                                              PAGE

     FRONTISPIECE–FATHER CHINIQUY,

       ”             ”             ”     IN PRIEST’S
     ROBES,

     FESTIVITIES IN A PARSONAGE,                                54

     GRAND DINNER OF THE PRIESTS,                              205

     CARDINAL NEWMAN,                                          405

     FALL OF THE “HOLY FATHERS,”                               436

     LEO XIII., PRESENT POPE,                                  676

     ABRAHAM LINCOLN,                                          693

                               CONTENTS.

                                                             Page.

     TITLE                                                       1

     DEDICATION                                                3-7

     PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION                                    8

                              CHAPTER I.

     The Bible and the Priest of Rome                         9-13

                              CHAPTER II.

     My first school-days at St. Thomas—The Monk and         14-21
       Celibacy

                             CHAPTER III.

     The Confession of Children                              22-30

                              CHAPTER IV.

     The Shepherd whipped by his Sheep                       31-40

                              CHAPTER V.

     The Priest, Purgatory, and the poor Widow’s Cow         41-48

                              CHAPTER VI.

     Festivities in a Parsonage                              49-56

                             CHAPTER VII.

     Preparation for the First Communion—Initiation to       57-60
       Idolatry

                             CHAPTER VIII.

     The First Communion                                     61-65

                              CHAPTER IX.

     Intellectual Education in the Roman Catholic            66-74
       College

                              CHAPTER X.

     Moral and Religious Instruction in the Roman            75-85
       Catholic Colleges


                              CHAPTER XI.

     Protestant Children in the Convents and Nunneries       86-93
       of Rome

                             CHAPTER XII.

     Rome and Education—Why does the Church of Rome         94-117
       hate the Common Schools of the United States,
       and wants to destroy them?—Why does she object
       to the reading of the Bible in the Schools?

                             CHAPTER XIII.

     Theology of the Church of Rome: its Anti-Social       118-128
       and Anti-Christian Character

                             CHAPTER XIV.

     The Vow of Celibacy                                   129-140

                              CHAPTER XV.

     The Impurities of the Theology of Rome                141-153

                             CHAPTER XVI.

     The Priest of Rome and the Holy Fathers; or, how I    154-162
       swore to give up the Word of God to follow the
       word of Men

                             CHAPTER XVII.

     The Roman Catholic Priesthood, or Ancient and         163-172
       Modern Idolatry,

                            CHAPTER XVIII.

     Nine Consequences of the Dogma of                     173-182
       Transubstantiation—The old Paganism under a
       Christian name

                             CHAPTER XIX.

     Vicarage, and Life at St. Charles, Rivierre Boyer     183-194

                              CHAPTER XX.

     Papineau and the Patriots in 1833—The burning of      195-203
       “Le Canadien” by the Curate of St. Charles

                             CHAPTER XXI.

     Grand Dinner of the Priests—The Maniac sister of      204-215
       Rev. Mr. Perras


                             CHAPTER XXII.

     I am appointed Vicar of the Curate of                 216-226
       Charlesbourgh—The Piety, Lives and Deaths of
       Fathers Bedard and Perras

                            CHAPTER XXIII.

     The Cholera Morbus of 1834—Admirable courage and      227-235
       self-denial of the Priests of Rome during the
       epidemic

                             CHAPTER XXIV.

     I am named a Vicar of St. Roch, Quebec City—The       236-241
       Rev. Mr. Tetu—Tertullian—General Cargo—The Seal
       Skins

                             CHAPTER XXV.

     Simony—Strange and sacrilegious traffic in the        242-251
       so-called Body and Blood of Christ—Enormous sums
       of Money made by the sale of Masses—The Society
       of three Masses abolished and the Society of one
       Mass established

                             CHAPTER XXVI.

     Continuation of the trade in Masses                   252-260

                            CHAPTER XXVII.

     Quebec Marine Hospital—The first time I carried       261-267
       the “Bon Dieu” (the wafer god) in my vest
       pocket—The Grand Oyster Soiree at Mr.
       Buteau’s—The Rev. L. Parent and the “Bon Dieu”
       at the Oyster Soiree

                            CHAPTER XXVIII.

     Dr. Douglas—My First Lesson on Temperance—Study of    268-282
       Anatomy—Working of Alcohol in the Human
       Frame—The Murderess of her own Child—I forever
       give up the use of Intoxicating Drinks

                             CHAPTER XXIX.

     Conversions of Protestants to the Church of           283-293
       Rome—Rev. Anthony Parent, Superior of the
       Seminary of Quebec: His peculiar way of finding
       access to the Protestants and bringing them to
       the Catholic Church—How he spies the Protestants
       through the Confessional—I persuade ninety-three
       Families to become Catholics


                             CHAPTER XXX.

     The Murders and Thefts in Quebec from 1835 to         294-303
       1886—The night Excursion with two Thieves—The
       Restitution—The Dawn of Light

                             CHAPTER XXXI.

     Chambers and his Accomplices Condemned to             304-312
       death—Asked me to prepare them for their
       terrible Fate—A week in their Dungeon—Their
       Sentence of Death changed to Deportation to
       Botany Bay—Their Departure for exile—I meet one
       of them a sincere Convert, very rich, in a high
       and honorable position in Australia in 1878

                            CHAPTER XXXII.

     The Miracles of Rome—Attack of Typhoid                318-334
       Fever—Apparition of St. Anne and St.
       Philomene—My Sudden Cure—The Curate of St. Anne
       Du Nord, Mons. Ranvoise, almost a disguised
       Protestant

                            CHAPTER XXXIII.

     My Nomination as Curate of Beauport—Degradation       335-342
       and Ruin of that place through Drunkenness—My
       opposition to my nomination useless—Preparation
       to Establish a Temperance Society—I write to
       Father Mathew for advice

                            CHAPTER XXXIV.

     The Hand of God in the establishment of a             343-350
       Temperance Society in Beauport and Vicinity

                             CHAPTER XXXV.

     Foundation of Temperance Societies in the             351-359
       neighboring Parishes—Providential arrival of
       Monsignor De Forbin Janson, Bishop of Nancy—He
       publicly defends me against the Bishop of Quebec
       and forever breaks the opposition of the Clergy

                            CHAPTER XXXVI.

     The God of Rome eaten by Rats                         360-367

                            CHAPTER XXXVII.

     Visit of a Protestant stranger—He throws an Arrow     368-373
       into my Priestly Soul never to be taken out

                           CHAPTER XXXVIII.

     Erection of the Column of Temperance—School           374-383
       Buildings—A noble and touching act of the people
       at Beauport


                            CHAPTER XXXIX.

     Sent to succeed Rev. Mr Varin, Curate of              384-393
       Kamouraska—Stern opposition of that Curate and
       the surrounding Priests and People—Hours of
       Desolation in Kamouraska—The good Master allays
       the Tempest, and bids the Waves be still

                              CHAPTER XL.

     Organization of Temperance Societies in Kamouraska    394-403
       and surrounding Country—The Girl in the Garb of
       a man in the service of the Curates  of Quebec
       and Eboulements—Frightened by the Scandals seen
       everywhere—Give up my Parish of Kamouraska to
       join the “Oblates of Mary Immaculate of
       Longueuiel.”

                             CHAPTER XLI.

     Perversions of Dr. Newman to the Church of Rome in    404-430
       the light of his own explanations, Common Sense
       and the Word of God

                             CHAPTER XLII.

     Noviciate in the Monastery of the Oblates of Mary     431-449
       Immaculate of Longueuiel—Some of the thousand
       Acts of Folly and Idolatry which form the life
       of a Monk—The Deplorable Fall of one of the
       Fathers—Fall of the Grand Vicar Quiblier—Sick in
       the Hotel Dieu of Montreal—Sister Urtubise, what
       she says of Maria Monk—The two Missionaries to
       the Lumbermen—Fall and Punishment of a Father
       Oblate—What one of the best Father Oblates
       thinks of the Monks and the Monastery

                            CHAPTER XLIII.

     I accept the hospitality of the Rev. Mr. Brassard     450-456
       of Longueuiel—I Give my reasons for leaving the
       Oblates to Bishop Bourget—He presents me with a
       splendid Crucifix blessed by his Holiness for
       me, and accepts my services in the cause of
       Temperance in the Diocese of Montreal

                            