Cardinal Gibbons wrote his mendacious book, "The Faith of our Fathers," for the purpose of answering all that had been said against Popery. He mentioned Maria Monk by name, and denounced her true story as false. Yet, although Gibbons published his book sixteen years after Dr. Fulton had hurled his awful charge against Pope Pius IX., the Baltimore priest dared not challenge the statement of Dr. Fulton!
Maria Monk—poor, outraged, persecuted woman, was dead: Dr. Justin D. Fulton, a fearless, powerful man, was alive! Gibbons was brave enough to vilely attack the dead woman: he was too much of a contemptible coward to attack the living man.
The living man was ready with his evidence, and he was a fighter—and the catlike Gibbons knew it.
Says Dr. Fulton—
"At first the female may be a little timid, &c. She may object, &c. But the priest, representing God's angel in this office, gently soothes the mind and quiets the fears of his future spouse by saying to her, He who will come upon thee is not man, but is the holy one of God, and this union is pleasing to him;——."
(At this point Anthony Comstock must have blushed and raised an objection, as the nun was doing, for the remainder of the sentence is stricken out.)
But the text continues—"It will be holy and blessed; therefore I say unto thee, as the angel said unto Mary, Fear not."
After this, the woman, being convinced by the language of heaven's messenger that all is right, gives the priest complete assurance of her willingness to submit by saying, as Mary said to the angel, "Be it done unto me according to thy word."
Then Dr. Fulton so frankly indicates what takes place in that private room, and upon that consecrated bed, that I really am curious to know what it was that made Comstock blush, a few lines above those which thus tell of the soliciting priest, the yielding nun, and the ready bed.
Now, if you will compare one case with another, from the time of the early Fathers down to the present day, you will detect a similarity that is appalling.