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48 the picture of Pius VII. To enable the authorities to control the book trade more effectively, no printing establishment was allowed to have, in Paris more than four, and in the provinces more than two, presses.

Needless to remark, the civil authorities have the right to prohibit books that seriously endanger the common welfare. If they use this right in a reasonable way, their measures are likely to bring about good and prevent evil. We all have occasional opportunities to observe this in the measures taken against immoral literature by the police or the post-office department.

The first Roman Index, that of 1559, was considered rather severe. One of the influential men who tried hard to have its provisions softened, was Blessed Peter Canisius, the "Second Apostle of Germany." Yet the very letters he wrote to Rome for this purpose show that he scrupulously observed all the regulations, though he himself, called the "Hammer of Heretics,"