# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_September 1855_S270
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

270 On the History of the Roman Catholic Associations, etc.

the priesthood held to such "exercises" gathers together daily for eight, ten, up to fourteen days; renouncing all worldly intercourse during so significant a time, in order to give themselves over to religious meditations of a general nature, such as on the duties of their calling, and to receive instruction. The spiritual strengthening and inspiration of ordained priests intended by the exercises is to be regarded as the specifically theological essence which alone is able to grant the means of grace of the church. Exposition of the so-called Most Holy, prayers, general confession, communal Communion, the giving of the blessing with the Most Holy — these predominate in these spiritual exercises.

Such exercises have subsequently also been held with Catholic teachers, governesses, school sisters and Sisters of Mercy, whom one sought, in the manner described, to revive anew in their work for the church and for the salvation of the souls of the faithful.

These "spiritual exercises" of the priesthood went hand in hand with the great popular missions that were called into being against the Roman church by the onslaughts of Ronge's German Catholicism and the unrest of the February days of 1848. Concerning the significance of these popular missions, an initiate, Dr. Buß, furnishes us satisfying information, whose explanations deserve to be incorporated into the history books of our time.

The popular mission, which among Catholic congregations usually lasts eight to fourteen days, is solemnly rung in on the eve of its beginning. At earliest morning, our informant instructs us, the "holy" Masses are offered by numerous priests. During the first "holy" sacrifice of the Mass, prayer is offered aloud from the pulpit together with the people for all their concerns. These special holy Masses are held with the wish that God may give His blessing to the carrying out of the mission and, to the faithful present, enlightenment and grace "for the most important work of their soul." — During the first holy Mass, the "public examination of conscience" is undertaken with the people concerning the Ten Commandments of God, the "five commandments of the church," and so forth, in the form of a meditation, so that in a skillful manner the people, keeping equal step with the priest's celebration of the Mass, arrive, amid prayers, "at insight into their own conscience." The priests celebrate Mass from 5:30 to 9 o'clock, hear confessions, and administer the Lord's Supper. At 9 o'clock the first and principal sermon is held; thereupon follows the general prayer, and after this, before the exposed Most Reverend Good, a solemn High Mass. In the afternoon the solemnity is opened with singing, followed by a sermon on the duties of one's station and calling. All the priestly meditations and addresses aim toward eliciting "zeal for penance." The sermons, delivered by several religious clergy taking turns, treat of the destiny and the final goal of man here below, human freedom, the need of the divine—