...Now the Church has had to undergo already twopersecutions, one from the hand of the Jews and one also from the hand of thepagans; so the writers of the early ages, the Fathers both of the East and ofthe West, foretold that, in the last age of the world, the Church will have toundergo a third persecution, more bitter, more bloody, more searching, and morefiery than any it has undergone as yet, and that from the hands of an infidelworld revolted from the Incarnate Word….

As the wicked did not prevail against Him [our Lord JesusChrist] even when they bound Him with cords, dragged Him to the judgment,blindfolded His eyes, mocked Him as a false King, smote Him on the head as afalse Prophet, led Him away, crucified Him, and in the mastery of their powerseemed to have absolute dominion over Him, so that He lay ground down andalmost annihilated under their feet; and as, at that very time when He was deadand buried out of their sight, He was conqueror over all, and rose again thethird day, and ascended into heaven, and was crowned, glorified, and investedwith His royalty, and reigns supreme, King of kings and Lord of lords,— even soshall it be with His Church: though for a time persecuted, and, to the eyes ofman, overthrown and trampled on, dethroned, despoiled, mocked, and crushed, yetin that high time of triumph the gates of hell shall not prevail. There is instore for the Church of God a resurrection and an ascension, a royalty and adominion, a recompense of glory for all it has endured. Like Jesus, it needs mustsuffer on the way to its crown; yet crowned it shall be with Him eternally. Letno one, then, be scandalised if the prophecy speak of sufferings to come. Weare fond of imagining triumphs and glories for the Church on earth,— that the Gospelis to be preached to all nations, and the world to be converted, and allenemies subdued, and I know not what,—until some ears are impatient of hearingthat there is in store for the Church a time of terrible trial: and so we do asthe Jews of old, who looked for a conqueror, a king, and for prosperity; andwhen their Messias came in humility and in passion, they did not know Him. So,I am afraid, many among us intoxicate their minds with the visions of successand victory, and cannot endure the thought that there is a time of persecutionyet to come for the Church of God….

The first sign or mark of this coming persecution is anindifference to truth. Just as there is dead calm before a whirlwind, and asthe waters over a great fall run like glass, so before an outbreak there is atime of tranquility. The first sign is indifference. The sign that portendsmore surely than any other the outbreak of a future persecution is a sort of scornfulindifference to truth or falsehood. Ancient Rome in its might and power adoptedevery false religion from all its conquered nations, and gave to each of them atemple within its walls. It was sovereignly and contemptuously indifferent toall the superstitions of the earth. It encouraged them; for each nation had itsown proper superstition, and that proper superstition was a mode oftranquillising, of governing, and of maintaining in subjection, the people whowere indulged by building a temple within its gates. In like manner we see thenations of the Christian world at this moment gradually adopting every form ofreligious contradiction— that is, giving it full scope, and, as it is called,perfect toleration; not recognising any distinctions of truth or falsehoodbetween one religion or another, but leaving all forms of religion to work theirown way….

[T]here grows up an intense hatred of what is calleddogmatism, that is, of any positive truth, anything definite, anything final,anything which has precise limits, any form of belief which is expressed inparticular definitions— all this is utterly distasteful to men who on principleencourage all forms of religious opinion….

The next step is, then, the persecution of the truth…. [Inancient Rome] there were all manner of sacred confraternities, and orders, andsocieties, and I know not what; but there was one society which was notpermitted to exist, and that was the Church of the living God. In the midst ofthis universal toleration, there was one exception made with the mostperemptory exactness, to exclude the truth and the Church of God from theworld. Now this is what must again inevitably come to pass, because the Churchof God is inflexible in the mission committed to it. … The Catholic Church is boundby the Divine law to suffer martyrdom rather than compromise a doctrine, orobey the law of the civil governor which violates the conscience; and more thanthis, it is not only bound to offer a passive disobedience, which may be done ina corner, and therefore not detected, and because not detected not punished;but the Catholic Church cannot be silent; it cannot hold its peace; it cannotcease to preach the doctrines of Revelation, not only of the Trinity and of theIncarnation, but likewise of the Seven Sacraments, and of the infallibility ofthe Church of God, and of the necessity of unity, and of the sovereignty, bothspiritual and temporal, of the Holy See; and because it will not be silent, andcannot compromise, and will not obey in matters that are of its own Divineprerogative, therefore it stands alone in the world …

The holy Fathers who have written upon the subject ofAntichrist, and of [the] prophecies of Daniel, without a single exception, asfar as I know, and they are the Fathers both of the East and of the West, theGreek and the Latin Church— all of them unanimously,— say that in the latterend of the world, during the reign of Antichrist, the holy sacrifice of thealtar will cease. In the work on the end of the world, ascribed to St.Hippolytus, after a long description of the afflictions of the last days, weread as follows: “The Churches shall lament with a great lamentation, for thereshall be offered no more oblation, nor incense, nor worship acceptable to God.The sacred buildings of the churches shall be as hovels; and the precious bodyand blood of Christ shall not be manifest in those days; the Liturgy shall beextinct; the chanting of psalms shall cease; the reading of Holy Scriptureshall be heard no more. But there shall be upon men darkness, and mourning uponmourning, and woe upon woe.” Then, the Church shall be scattered, driven intothe wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible,hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking-places; for a time itshall be swept, as it were, from the face of the earth. Such is the universaltestimony of the Fathers of the early centuries….

The secret societies have long ago undermined andhoneycombed the Christian society of Europe, and are at this moment strugglingonward toward, Rome, the centre of all Christian order in the world. Thefulfilment of the prophecy is yet to come; and that which we have seen in thetwo wings, we shall see also in the centre; and that great army of the Churchof God will, for a time, be scattered. It will seem, for a while, to bedefeated, and the power of the enemies of the faith for a time to prevail. Thecontinual sacrifice will be taken away, and the sanctuary will be cast down….If you would understand this prophecy of desolation, enter into a church: whichwas once Catholic, where now is no sign of life; it stands empty, untenanted,without altar, without tabernacle, without the presence of Jesus….

And thus we come to the third mark, the casting down of “thePrince of Strength;” that is, the Divine authority of the Church, andespecially of him in whose person it is embodied, the Vicar of Jesus Christ….The dethronement of the Vicar of Christ is the dethronement of the hierarchy ofthe universal Church, and the public rejection of the Presence and Reign ofJesus….

The direct tendency of all the events we see at this momentis clearly this, to overthrow Catholic worship throughout the world. Already wesee that every Government in Europe is excluding religion from its public acts.The civil powers are desecrating themselves: government is without religion;and if government be without religion, education must be without religion. Wesee it already in Germany and in France. It has been again and again attemptedin England. The result of this can be nothing but the re-establishment of merenatural society; that is to say, the governments and the powers of the world,which for a time were subdued by the Church of God to a belief in Christianity,to obedience to the laws of God, and to the unity of the Church, havingrevolted from it and desecrated themselves, have relapsed into their naturalstate….

[Many] shall fall from their fidelity to God. And how shallthis come to pass? Firstly by fear, partly by deception, partly by cowardice,partly because they cannot stand for unpopular truth in the face of popularfalsehood; partly because the overruling contemptuous public opinion, as insuch a country as this, and in France, so subdues and frightens Catholics, thatthey dare not avow their principles, and, at last, dare not hold them….

The Word of God tells us that towards the end of time thepower of this world will became so irresistible and so triumphant that theChurch of God will sink underneath its hand — that the Church of God willreceive no more help from emperors, or kings, or princes, or legislatures, ornations, or peoples, to make resistance against the power and the might of itsantagonist. It will be deprived of protection. It will be weakened, baffled,and prostrate, and will lie bleeding at the feet of the powers of this world.Does this seem incredible? What, then, do we see at this moment? Look at theCatholic and Roman Church throughout the world. When was it ever more like itsDivine Head in the hour when He was bound hand and foot by those who betrayedHim? Look at the Catholic Church, still independent, faithful to its Divinetrust, and yet cast off by the nations of the world; at the Holy Father, theVicar of our Divine Lord, at this moment mocked, scorned, despised, betrayed,abandoned, robbed of his own, and even those that would defend him murdered.When, I ask, was the Church of God ever in a weaker condition, in a feeblerstate in the eyes of men, and in this natural order, than it is now?

And from whence, I ask, is deliverance to come? Is there onearth any power to intervene? Is there any king, prince, or potentate, that hasthe power to interpose either his will or his sword for the protection of theChurch? Not one; and it is foretold it should be so. Neither need we desire it,for the will of God seems to be otherwise.

But there is One Power which will destroy all antagonists;there is One Person who will break down and smite small as the dust of thesummer threshing-floor all the enemies of the Church, for it is He who willconsume His enemies “with the Spirit of His mouth,” and destroy them “with thebrightness of His coming.” It seems as if the Son of God were jealous lest anyone should vindicate His authority. He has claimed the battle to Himself; Hehas taken up the gage which has been cast down against Him; and prophecy isplain and explicit that the last overthrow of evil will be His; that it will bewrought by no man, but by the Son of God; that all the nations of the world mayknow that He, and He alone, is King, and that He, and He alone, is God….

The writers of the Church tell us that in the latter daysthe city of Rome will probably become apostate from the Church and Vicar ofJesus Christ; and that Rome will again be punished, for he will depart from it;and the judgment of God will fall on the place from which he once reigned overthe nations of the world…. Rome shall apostatise from the faith and drive awaythe Vicar of Christ, and return to its ancient paganism….