In the midst of all these exasperating infractions of religious liberty, the Catholic people of France were constantly consoled by the deep and abiding interest manifested by the Holy Father. In 1884, he addressed to them his celebrated encyclical _Nobilissima Gallorum gens_, an effusion of fatherly tenderness towards a noble daughter of the Church. In a magnificent word-picture he spoke of the past grandeur of France, he deplored her present evils, and he pointed out, as an efficacious remedy, a cordial understanding and necessary concord between Church and State. This understanding the Concordat of 1801 had cemented for the happiness and prosperity of a country which was then at the height of its power. And it was still to the Concordat not mutilated and denatured in its letter and spirit, but loyally interpreted and honestly executed that recourse must be had for the re-establishment of union and peace. At the same time he warned the bishops that they should give no occasion for a suspicion of hostility to the Republic: "Nemo jure criminabitur vos constitutae reipublicae adversari." The same sentiments, calling for close union among Catholics in a Catholic State, were reiterated in his letter to the Bishop of Perigueux, and in his encyclicals, _Immortale Dei_ of November 19, 1885, in his _Libertas_, June 20, 1888, and still more in the encyclical, _Sapientiae Christianae_, January 10, 1890, all of which while defending the glory and rights of the French Catholics, instructed them in the duties and methods of unity among themselves, and of loyalty to the Republic. _CATHOLICS AND THE REPUBLIC._ The enemies of the Church, who during former periods had rested the defence of their persecutions upon the doctrines and internal life of Catholics, began during the period of the Third Republic to have recourse to tactics more effective among a people to whom republican liberty appeared the consummation of all national well-being. The Government no longer dared to touch upon the religion of the soul; it perceived clearly that dogmas and the internal rules of morality were beyond the scope of civil legislation. In its new war upon religion it invoked against the Church reasons of State, and interests of a political order. Comprehending as they did that the French people were attached to republican institutions, the party of persecution endeavored to represent the Catholics as the enemies of the republican Government while they would identify their own cause with that of the established power.