Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/28



the nature of Our Apostolic office required of Us, We have not omitted, from the very outset of Our Pontificate, addressing you, Venerable Brothers, in Encyclical Letters, in order to advert to the deadly plague which is tainting society to its very core and bringing it to a state of extreme peril. At the same time We call attention to certain most effectual remedies, by which society may be renewed unto salvation and enabled to escape the crisis now threatening.

But the evils which We then deplored have taken in a brief space of time such widespread growth that We are compelled to address you anew, with the words of the prophet resounding as it were in Our ears: Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet.

You understand as a matter of course, Venerable Brothers, that We are alluding to that sect of men who, under the motley and all but barbarous terms and titles of Socialists, Communists, and Nihilists, are spread abroad throughout the world and, bound intimately together in baneful alliance, no longer look for strong support in secret meetings held in darksome places, but standing forth openly and boldly in the light of day, strive to carry out the purpose long resolved upon, of uprooting the foundations of civilized society at large.

These are they in very truth who, as the sacred text