7 DECEMBER 1861, Page 1

Dr. Cullen has declared that all members of secret societies

are ex facto cut off from the Church, and called on all Irishmen to remember that such societies are rampant in Italy, and that Ireland, with all its misfortunes, is not mis- governed like Piedmont. The speech will do good by deterring all sincere and all superstitious Catholics from joining the Ribbon movements. It is the union of the priests with the people which makes these associations so strong. It must not be forgotten that the rules of the secret societies inter- fere with the duty of confession, and that Catholicism every- where has tried to proscribe freemasonry.