Page:Gregor The story of Bohemia.pdf/432

 In 1624 a decree was passed ordering all priests non-Catholic to leave the country, and the Catholic reformation to be carried into effect in all the cities and villages; this meaning nothing less than that all Churches, no matter of what creed, were to be placed immediately under the supervision of Catholic priests and bishops. As the number of Catholic priests was far from sufficient to fill all the vacancies caused by the exile of the Protestant clergy, they were imported from other countries, especially from Poland. The people then were ordered, by various compulsory methods, to take part in the Catholic service. The work of conversion making slow progress, more severe measures were adopted. The priests were forbidden to marry couples not professing the Catholic faith, nor to perform the burial service to persons that had died not Catholic. The keeping of holy-days, fast-days, and attending mass was made obligatory under heavy fines. As a species of servitude was general in Bohemia at this time, the Catholic lords themselves undertook the conversion of the peasants living upon their estates. This was accomplished by driving them to church in crowds like cattle, by beating them, locking them up, and by various other rough usages.

With all these violent measures, the work of conversion still lagged far behind the zeal of the victors; consequently still more severe methods were resorted to. In Prague, when the greater part of the population refused to be converted, four of the most prominent citizens were sent into exile as a warning to the others. This failing of the desired effect, fifty more suffered the same fate, and then seventy. The fiendish malignity of these would-be missionaries devised a