The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

178 THE FAITH OF OUR FATHEBR.Peter occupied for a time thecity of Antioch ashis first See. But iu the mysterious providenceof God, he abandoned Antioch and repaired toRome. And now Antioch is a deserted villagewith scarcely a stone left upon a stone, or a singlemonument standing to commemorate her formergreatness.Had the Popes remained in Antioch, the continent of Asia, the greater part of which lies buriedin idolatry, would now very probably be, instead ofEurope, the centre of Christianity and civilization ;the immortal Dome of St. Peter s would doubtlessovershadow the banks of the Orontes instead of theTiber ;and Antioch, instead of Rome, would be thefocus of the arts and sciences and of sacred literature, and would be called to-day the Eternal city.Our1present beloved Pontiff, Pius IX., I need notinform you,is now treated with indignity in his owncity. In his declining years, as well as in the earlydays of his Pontificate, he is made to drink deepof the chalice of affliction. His name is dear to usall. To many of us it is a name familiar from ouryouth for, thirty-one years have now elapsed since;he first assumed the reins of government and it is;a noteworthy fact that, since the days of Peter, noPope has ever reigned so long as Pius IX.The Pope in every age, like his divine Master,has his period of persecution and his period of peace.1 When these lines were written, Pius IX. was the reigning Pontiff. He died February 7, 1878.