Desiré Girouard

“ Dear Sir,—Although the marriage of man with his deceased wife's sister is prohibited in the Catholic Church as a general rule, still we are sometimes under the necessity of applying to the Holy See for a dispensation for such marriages. ”

“ In answer to this let me say that the Biblical critics seem to be agreed that Philip was actually living at the time, and that the rebuke of John had reference to Herod's open adultery with the wife of a living man, and not to his marriage with the widow of his brother.
The Bishop of Ontario in his petition takes this rather extraordinary stand. He says in effect: A man and a woman by marriage becomes one flesh; ergo, a man in marrying the sister of his wife, marries his own sister. ”

“ The restrictions now imposed in Canada upon these marriages are virtually a dead letter, and I feel convinced that the great mass of the Canadians desires the passage of Mr. Girouard's bill. The absence of petitions in its favor is easily accounted for. There is little or no need for them. When the country sees men like the Hon. Edward Blake. the Hon. J.J.C. Abbott. Mr. Hector Cameron, and others uniting to support the bill, it at once feels that the measure is being carefully looked after in Parliament, and requires little outside assistance. ”

“ If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger; her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her. ”

“ Sir,—I have the honor to inform you, in answer to your yesterday's letter, that I would be content to see disappear from our Code, not only article 125, but also article 126, which, in many cases, are very embarrassing for us Catholics. ”

“ That at this juncture of our national progress, when the Chinese question and others of vital and organic import are starting up. it is all important for us, the Dominion of Canada, to lay 'broad, as well as deep the foundations of our national structure, Our's is to be, in its vastness of field for honorable, varied industries, social life and national aspirations, a nature of nations, where every child of God may worship and holy live as he will, giving to God what is God's, and unto Cæsar what is Cæsar's—civil liberty untrammeled by the clogs of an antiquated ecclesiasticism or of class. ”

“ I confess that I am appearing in a rôle' which is somewhat new to me, in venturing to expound the Scriptures and Levitical law, but the fact that your correspondent has—to my mind—distorted a very plain passage of Scripture must he my apology for my boldness.
Let me say in conclusion that no measure which has received the hearty endorsation of men like Gladstone. ”

“ Tho Bill of Mr Girouard, as amended in committee of the whole, reads as follows:—
"1. Marriage between a man and the sister of his deceased wife, or the widow of his deceased brother, shall be legal. ”