Charles Chiniquy

There are some men who should be more famous than they are. Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943), the father of the electrical power gird, its one of them. If you learn about him and his discoveries, you might consider that he should be as famous as Thomas Edison if not more so! Another is Charles P. Chiniquy (30 July 1809 – 16 January 1899), a former Roman Catholic priest from Quebec Canada who established the settlement of St. Anne Illinois for French immigrants. St. Anne is only 33 miles (53 km) from where I was raised in Chicago, but I never heard about it before. After reading Charles Chiniquy’s book, Fifty Years in the Church of Rome,. he has become my role model! This Catholic priest stood up to the power of Rome, and though he was excommunicated, his parishioners loved him so much they didn’t mind to get excommunicated with him! I myself am a former Roman Cathoic and I can tell you excommunication is a big deal and a sentence of eternal hell fire from a Roman Catholic point of view, unless, that is, you really have faith from your knowledge of the Word of God, the Bible, that you are on the right side of the truth!

Let’s read what Wikipedia has to say about him.

Charles P. Chiniquy (30 July 1809 – 16 January 1899) was a Canadian Catholic priest who was twice suspended from his priestly ministry (for moral turpitude) and finally excommunicated as a schismatic. He then became a Presbyterian pastor. He is known for his lurid accusations against the Roman Catholic Church. In the period between 1885 and 1899 he was the focus of a great deal of discussion in the United States of America. During the 1880s his conspiracy theories included his claim to have exposed the Jesuits as the assassins of President Abraham Lincoln, and that, if unchecked, the Jesuits could eventually politically rule the United States.(Emphasis mine)

Why is Charles Chiniquy in relative obscurity and not talked about in school textbooks even though he pointed the finger at the Jesuits for assassinating Abraham Lincoln? It was much discussed in the late 19th century! I myself didn’t even know this until just the other day! It’s because the powers that be do not want his story to be known. Charles Chiniquy was too powerful a witness for the truth against them!

Charles Chinquy had many enemies among fellow Roman Catholic priests. They were jealous of his successful settlement of St. Anne. Most of the priests were drunkards. Some, including the Bishop of Chicago, were stealing property from the French Canadian immigrants. One of them hired an agent to burn down his church. The sinful priests persecuted Rev. Chiniquy who exposed them for their evil deeds that were so blatant all the French Canadian immigrants could see it for themselves! The evil priests accused him to the police of criminal actions leading to his arrest by the authorities. A young lawyer, Abraham Lincoln, defended him in court and won his case!

The main reason why former loyal and dedicated Roman Catholic priest Charles Chiniquy stood strong against the false accusations of fellow priests and the Bishop of Chicago was because of his love for the Holy Scriptures, the Bible which he read from a young age at the encouragement of his parents. Once the local priest in Quebec came to the Chiniquy household with the intention of taking away the Bible that Charles was reading! His father stood his ground and would not let him do it!

Please read the specific stories I was most impressed with from Fifty Years in the Church of Rome on this site.

And you can read the entire book from, Fifty Years in the Church of Rome

More stories from Charles Chiniquy on this website:

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