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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:11:03 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:11:03 -0700 |
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diff --git a/38751-tei/38751-tei.tei b/38751-tei/38751-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..97d62d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/38751-tei/38751-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,3453 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> + +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd" [ + +<!ENTITY u5 "http://www.tei-c.org/Lite/"> + +]> + +<TEI.2 lang="en"> +<teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, November 1864</title> + </titleStmt> + <editionStmt> + <edition n="1">Edition 1</edition> + </editionStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date>February 2, 2012</date> + <idno type="etext-no">38751</idno> + <availability> + <p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and + with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it + away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg + License online at www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + <sourceDesc> + <bibl> + Created electronically. + </bibl> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + <encodingDesc> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="en"></language> + <language id="la"></language> + <language id="fr"></language> + </langUsage> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2012-02-02">February 2, 2012</date> + <respStmt> + <name> + Produced by Bryan Ness, David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. + (This file was produced from images generously + made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian + Libraries.) + </name> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> +</teiHeader> + +<pgExtensions> + <pgStyleSheet> + .boxed { x-class: boxed } + .shaded { x-class: shaded } + .rules { x-class: rules; rules: all } + .indent { margin-left: 2 } + .bold { font-weight: bold } + .italic { font-style: italic } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + </pgStyleSheet> + + <pgCharMap formats="txt.iso-8859-1"> + <char id="U0x2014"> + <charName>mdash</charName> + <desc>EM DASH</desc> + <mapping>--</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2003"> + <charName>emsp</charName> + <desc>EM SPACE</desc> + <mapping> </mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2026"> + <charName>hellip</charName> + <desc>HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS</desc> + <mapping>...</mapping> + </char> + </pgCharMap> +</pgExtensions> + +<text lang="en"> + <front> + <div> + <divGen type="pgheader" /> + </div> + <div> + <divGen type="encodingDesc" /> + </div> + + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <p rend="font-size: xx-large; text-align: center">The Irish Ecclesiastical Record</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Volume 1.</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">November, 1864</p> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <head>Contents</head> + <divGen type="toc" /> + </div> + + </front> +<body> + +<pb n='049'/><anchor id='Pg049'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Holy See And The Liberty Of The Irish +Church At The Beginning Of The Present +Century.</head> + +<p> +All students of Irish Catholic affairs must feel, at every moment, +that we are at a great loss for a collection of ecclesiastical +documents connected with our Church. The past misfortunes +of Ireland explain the origin of this want. During the persecutions +of Elizabeth, of James the First, and Cromwell, our ancient +manuscripts, and the archives of our convents and monasteries, +were ruthlessly destroyed. At a later period, whilst the +penal laws were in full operation, it was dangerous to preserve +official ecclesiastical papers, lest they should be construed by the +bigotry and ignorance of our enemies into proofs of sedition or +treason. Since liberty began to dawn on our country, things +have undergone a beneficial change, and recently great efforts +have been made to rescue and preserve from destruction every +remaining fragment of our ancient history, and every document +calculated to throw light on the annals of our Church. We are +anxious to coöperate in this good work, and we shall feel deeply +grateful to our friends if they forward to us any official ecclesiastical +papers, either ancient or modern, that it may be desirable +to preserve. Receiving such papers casually, we cannot insert +them in the <hi rend='smallcaps'>Record</hi> in chronological order, but by aid of an +Index, to be published at the end of each volume, the future +historian will be able to avail himself of them for his purposes. +</p> + +<pb n='050'/><anchor id='Pg050'/> + +<p> +To-day we insert in our columns two letters never published +before, as far as we can learn, in their original language. They +were addressed, in the beginning of this century, by the learned +Archbishop of Myra, Monsignore Brancadoro, Secretary of the +Propaganda, to a distinguished Dominican, Father Concanen, then +agent of the Irish bishops, who was afterwards promoted to the +See of New York, and who died at Naples, in the year 1808, +before he could take possession of his diocese. +</p> + +<p> +The first letter, dated the 7th August, 1801, refers to certain +resolutions adopted by ten Irish prelates, in January, 1799, at a +sad period of our history, when Ireland was in a state of utter +prostration, and abandoned to the fury of an Orange faction. In +such circumstances, we are not to be surprised that the Catholics +of Cork, Waterford, Wexford, and many other parts of Ireland, +in the hope of preserving their lives and property, should have +petitioned to be united to England; or that Catholic prelates, +anxious to gain protection for their flocks, should have endeavoured +to propitiate those who had the power of the government +in their hands, by taking into consideration the proposals then +made—that the state should provide for the maintenance of the +clergy, and that a right should be given to the state to inquire +into the loyalty of such ecclesiastics as might be proposed for the +various sees of Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +The celebrated Dr. Milner, treating of the resolutions just referred +to, observes in his <hi rend='italic'>Supplementary Memoirs</hi>, p. 115, that +they had nothing in common with the veto which was afterwards +proposed by government in 1805, and several times in succeeding +years, and adds, that the prelates <q>stipulated for their own +just influence, and also for the consent of the Pope in this important +business.</q> +</p> + +<p> +According to the wise determination of the prelates, the +matters they had agreed to were referred to the judgment of the +Supreme Head of the Church. A speedy answer, however, could +not be obtained. At that time the great Pontiff, Pius the Sixth, +was a captive in the hands of the French Republicans, and soon +after died a martyr at Valence in France. The Holy See was +then vacant for several months, until, by the visible interposition +of Providence, Italy was freed from her invaders, and the cardinals +were enabled to assemble in conclave to elect a new Pope. +Soon after his promotion, Pius the Seventh occupied himself with +the affairs of our Church, and the secretary of the Propaganda received +instructions to communicate through Father Concanen to +the Irish Prelates the wishes of his Holiness. +</p> + +<p> +The substance of the official note of Monsignore Brancadoro is, +1. That his Holiness is thankful to the British government for +the relaxation of the penal laws to which Catholics had been so +<pb n='051'/><anchor id='Pg051'/> +long subjected, and for any other acts of liberality or kindness +conferred on them. 2. That the Irish prelates, whilst manifesting +their gratitude for the favours they had received, should +prove, by their conduct, that it was not through a feeling of self-interest, +or through hopes of temporal advantages, that they inculcated +on their flocks the necessity of obedience to the laws +and the conscientious fulfilment of the duties of good citizens; but +that they did so through a spirit of religion, and in conformity +with the dictates of the gospel. 3. That to prove how sincerely +they were animated with those feelings, the Irish prelates should +refuse the proffered pension, and continue to act and support +themselves as they have done for the past, thus giving an example +of Christian perfection which would not fail to give +general edification. +</p> + +<p> +The second letter is also from the secretary of Propaganda to +Father Concanen, and is dated 25th of Sept., 1805, in which year +Dr. Milner had just brought under the notice of the Holy See +some new projects of government interference with the Catholic +clergy, which had lately been introduced into Parliament by Sir +John Hippisley, at that time a supporter of Emancipation, but +who afterwards gave proofs of a great desire to enslave the +Catholic Church. +</p> + +<p> +In the second letter Monsignore Brancadoro states the apprehension +felt by the S. Congregation, lest the moment of the +Catholic triumph should prove the one most dangerous to the +purity and stability of the Catholic religion since the Reformation; +that it would be no injustice to suspect the British Government +of being influenced by designs to that very effect; +that the Bishops should, therefore, as a general principle, renounce +all idea of advancing their own proper interests, or of securing +any temporal advantages, lest through human frailty they should +inadvertently be surprised into any concessions which in course +of time might prove injurious to the interests of religion. The +Secretary then goes on to say that the S. Congregation found +serious difficulties, more or less, in all the plans which, as Dr. +Milner had reported, had been proposed by the statesmen of the +day in England. These plans were:—1. The pensioning of the +clergy. 2. State interference in the nomination of Bishops. 3. +The restoration of the Hierarchy in England. 4. The concession +to the ministry of the right to examine the communications +which might pass between the English and Irish Catholics and +the Holy See. +</p> + +<p> +As to the plan of pensioning the clergy, Monsignore Brancadoro +points out the dangers to which its adoption would expose +them. If they accept a pension from government, the +offerings of the faithful will be undoubtedly withdrawn, and the +<pb n='052'/><anchor id='Pg052'/> +priesthood will be left quite dependent on the caprice of those +in power. He recalls to Father Concanen's memory, that in +his previous letter of the 7th of August, 1801, he had announced +to him the Pope's wish that the Irish clergy should decline all +pensions from the government, and mentions that the Irish +Bishops, in reply, had stated that they willingly renounced all +temporal advantages in order to preserve religion uninjured. +</p> + +<p> +The secretary of the Propaganda next reminds his correspondent +that Pius VI., in a brief of 20th March, 1791, had condemned +a decree of the National Assembly of France, by which +the clergy of that country were made pensioners of the state; and +he adds that the Holy See had resisted a similar attempt of the +English government in regard to the clergy of Corsica, when +that island had fallen into their hands. +</p> + +<p> +Examining the various vetoistical plans mentioned by Dr. +Milner, Monsignore Brancadoro quotes the authority of the +great and learned Pontiff, Benedict XIV., to show how decidedly +opposed the Holy See has always been to every project directed +to vest Catholic ecclesiastical appointments in the hands of a +Protestant sovereign. This question is discussed in a brief of +that Pope addressed to the Bishop of Breslau on the 15th of +May, 1748, and his words are as follows: <q>There is not recorded +in the whole history of the Church a single example in +which the appointment of a bishop or abbot was conceded to a +sovereign of a different religion</q>. He adds <q>that he would +not, and could not, introduce a practice calculated to scandalize +the Catholic world, and which, besides bringing on him a dreadful +judgment in another world, would render his name odious +and accursed during life, and much more so after death</q>. +</p> + +<p> +2. The learned writer then proceeds to examine the various +plans of granting to government certain powers in regard to the +nomination of bishops, and explodes them all as replete with +danger to religion, and well calculated to enslave the Church. +</p> + +<p> +The plans proposed to lessen the Pope's unwillingness to grant +to the sovereign the right of nomination were the following:—Some +thought that the nomination should be limited to a certain +class of persons who should have been approved of by the episcopal +body after an examination and trial. Such a body might +be the vicars-general, of whom two should be appointed for +each diocese. The government was to be bound to choose the +bishops out of this body. This plan was rejected, first, because it +would really amount to vesting the nomination of bishops in a +non-Catholic sovereign; and secondly, on account of difficulties +created by the circumstances of the time and place. +</p> + +<p> +Others proposed to give the government the right of excluding +from the episcopal charge those obnoxious to itself. Monsignore +<pb n='053'/><anchor id='Pg053'/> +Brancadoro says of this plan, that unless this right of +exclusion were restricted by limits, it would be equivalent to a +real power of nomination. But even so, even after due limitation, +it was an absolute novelty in the Church, and no one could +tell what its consequences might be. Besides, it was uncalled for, +since the experience of so many centuries ought to have convinced +the government that the ecclesiastics appointed to govern +dioceses were always excellent citizens. Besides, it was the custom +of the Holy See not to appoint to a vacant diocese until it +had received the recommendation of the metropolitans and the +diocesan clergy. This was a safeguard against improper appointments. +</p> + +<p> +3. With respect to the restoration of the Hierarchy in England, +Monsignore Brancadoro blames the motive which induced +the English nobles to petition for such a change of church government, +namely, the desire they felt to have bishops less bound to +the Holy See. He declares that, although differing <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>quoad jus</foreign>, +bishops and vicars-apostolic did not differ in reality, and that the +Holy See was equally well satisfied with the bishops of Ireland, +and the vicars-apostolic of England and Scotland. +</p> + +<p> +4. The Secretary condemns, as worst of all, the plan of giving +to the ministers the right to examine the communications that +pass between the Holy See and the British and Irish Catholics. +Such a right has never been allowed, even to a Catholic power, +much less should it be allowed to a Protestant government. The +case of France was not to the point, for there the right was limited +to provisions of benefices alone. The government has no reason +to be afraid: the Holy See has expressly declared to bishops and +vicars-apostolic, that it does not desire any political information +from them. +</p> + +<p> +The two official notes we insert will be read in their original +language with great interest. They are noble monuments of the +zeal of the holy Pontiff, Pius VII., and of the vigilance with +which the Holy See has always endeavoured to uphold the rights +and independence of our ancient Church. Undoubtedly the +wise instructions given in those letters had no small share in +arousing that spirit with which a few years later our clergy and +people resisted and defeated all the efforts of British statesmen to +deprive our Church of her liberties, and to reduce her to the degraded +condition of the Protestant establishment. The notes of +the secretary of Propaganda are a fine specimen of ecclesiastical +writing, illustrating the maxim <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>fortiter in re, suaviter in +modo</foreign>. +</p> + +<pb n='054'/><anchor id='Pg054'/> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>I. From Mgr. Brancadoro to Father Concanen, O.P., Agent at +Rome for the Irish Bishops. +Dalla Propaganda. 7 Agosto, 1801.</head> + +<p> +Informata la Santità di Nostro Signore del nuovo piano ideato de +Governo Brittannico in supposto vantaggio della ecclesiastica Gerarchia +dei cattolici d'Irlanda, non ha punto esitato a manifestare la +più viva reconoscenza verso la spontanea e generosa liberalità del +prelodato Governo, cui professerà sempre la massima gratitudine, +per l'assistenze, e favori, che accorda ai mentovati cattolici de' suoi +dominj. Tenendo poi la Santità Sua per indubitato, che la sperimentata +fedeltà di quel Clero Cattolico Romano al legittimo suo +Sovrano derivi interamente dalle massime di nostra S. Religione, le +quali non possono mai esser soggette a verun cambiamento, desidera +il suddetto Governo resti assicurato, che i Metropolitani, i Vescovi e +il Clero tutto della Irlanda conoscerà sempre un tal suo stretto dovere, +e lo adempirà esattamente in qualunque incontro. Brama però +ad un tempo vivissimamente il S. Padre, che l'anzidetto Clero seguitando +il plausibile sistema da lui osservato finora si astenga scrupolosamente +dall' avere in mira qualunque suo proprio temporale vantaggio, +e che dimostrando sempre con parole, e con fatti la sincera +invariabilità del suo attacamento, riconoscenza, e sommissione al Governo +Brittanico, gli faccia vieppiù conoscere la realtà di sua gratitudine +alle offerte nuove beneficenze, dispensandosi dal profittarne, e +dando con ciò una luminosa prova di quel costantè disinteresse stimato +tanto conforme all' Apostolico zelo dei ministri del Santuario, e +tanto giovevole, e decoroso alla stessa cattolico Religione, come +quello che concilia in singular modo la stima, e il respetto verso dei +sagri ministeri, e che li rende più venerabili, e più cari ai fedeli commessi +alla loro spirituale direzione. +</p> + +<p> +Tali sono i precisi sentimenti che la Santità di Nostro Signore ha +ordinate al Segretario di Propaganda di communicare alla Paternità +Vostra affinchè per di Lei mezzo giungano senza ritardo a notizie +degli ottimi Metropolitani, e Vescovi del regno d'Irlanda, nel quale +spera fermamente Sua Santità, che come ad onta dei più gravi pericoli +si è già mantenuta in passato, cosi manterassi pur anco in avvenire +affatto illesa da ogni benchè menoma macchia la nostra cattolica +Religione. +</p> + +<p> +Lo scrivente pertanto nell' eseguire i Pontificj comandi si rassegna +nel suo particolare colla più distinta stima ec. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>II. From the same to the same. +Dalla Propaganda, 25 Settembre, 1805.</head> + +<p> +<hi rend='smallcaps'>Reverendissimo P. Maestro Concanen</hi>, +</p> + +<p> +La lettera del degnissimo Monsig. Milner, Vicario Apostolico del +distretto medio d'Inghilterra, diretta a V. P., la cui traduzione ella, +per ordine del Prefetto stesso, ha communicata all Arcivescovo di +<pb n='055'/><anchor id='Pg055'/> +Mira, Segretario di Propaganda, ha fatto entrare la Sacra Congregazione +nello stesso timore, che manifesta l' ottimo Prelato, che il momento +della fortuna dei cattolici nel Parlamento sia il più pericoloso +alla purità, e stabilità della nostra santa Religione, che sia mai +avvenuto dopo la pretesa riforma di quel regno, e non si farebbe +ingiuria al Governo acattolico, se si sospettassero appunto queste mire: +E perciò dovranno i Vicarj Apostolici, ed i Vescovi di quel dominio +abbandonare ogni mira di proprio vantaggio, ed interesse temporale, +da cui, indebolito il loro cuore potrebbe facilmente, senza avvedersene, +essere sorpreso a condiscendere in qualche cosa, che recherà, col +tempo, del pregiudizio alla Religione. +</p> + +<p> +Questo spirito di disinteresse si scorge già luminosamente in Monsig. +Milner dal tenore della sua lettera: e perciò chiede egli saviamento +della S. C. delle istruzioni, colle quali regolarsi nella trattativa, +in cui si trova impegnato. Ma la S. C. trova delle difficoltà +gravi, più o meno, in tutti i progetti, ch' egli narra, fatti da quei +politici. +</p> + +<p> +Ed in primo luogo, riguardo al progetto di assegnarsi stabili pensioni +sul pubblico erario ai Vescovi, ed al Clero di quel dominio, la +Santità di N. S. espresse già i suoi sentimenti, per mezzo di un +biglietto dell' Arcivescovo, che scrive, diretto a V. P, in data dei 7 +Agosto 1801, il quale essendo stato da lei comunicato ai metropolitani, +e vescovi d'Irlanda, essi risposero, che rinunziavano volentieri +a qualunque vantaggio temporale, per conservare illibata la +cattolica Religione. Sarà dunque opportuno di spedire a Mons. +Milner la copia di quel Biglietto, che si dà qui annessa. +</p> + +<p> +E per verità, accettandosi dal clero le pensioni, cesseranno immantinente +molti fondi di sussistenza, che ora ritrae dalla pietà de fedeli; +resteranno le pensioni per quasi unico mezzo di sostentamento. Ora +chi non vede a quali gravissime tentazioni non si esporrebbero gli +ecclesiastici, di condiscendere, in qualche cosa pregiudiziale alla s. +Religione, alla volontà di un Governo di religione diversa, che può +in un punto ridurlo allu mendicità col ritenere le pensioni? Per +questa, ed altre ragioni, essendosi adottata la massima di dare le pensioni +al clero dell' Assemblea Nazionale di Francia nella Costituzione +civile del clero, la Sa. Me. di Pio VI. la riprovò nel suo breve dei 20 +marzo 1791. pag. 61, e seg. Ed avendo la stessa corte di Londra, +quando entrò in possesso della Corsica, fatto il medesimo progetto, vi +si oppose la S. Sede, e quella Real corte desistè dall' impegno. +</p> + +<p> +Riguardo all' influenza, che si vorrebbe, del potere civile nella +nomina de' vescovi, cosi varj progetti, che si sono fatti, per regolare +una tale influenza, è in primo luogo da avvertirsi, che la nomina assolutamente +non potrà accordarsi al Sovrano, come acattolico. Al +qual proposito basterà riportare i sentimenti di Benedetto XIV. +Questo gran Pontefice in una sua lettera scritta al vescovo di Breslavia +li 15 maggio 1748, si espresse ne' seguenti termini.—"Non ritrovasi +in tutta la storia Ecclesiastica verun indulto conceduto da Romani +Pontefici ai Sovrani di altra comunione, il nominare a Vescovadi, +ed Abbadie—soggiungendo, che non voleva, ne poteva introdurre un +<pb n='056'/><anchor id='Pg056'/> +esempio, che scandalizzarebbe tutto il mondo cattolico, e che, oltre la +gravissima pena, la quale Iddio gli farebbe scontare nell' altro mondo, +renderebbe il suo nome esoso, e maledetto in tutto il tempo di sua +vita, e molto più in quello che avrebbe a decorrere dopo la di lui morte. +La stessa difficoltà sussisterebbe ugualmente, ancorchè il diritto di +nomina fosse limitato tra una classe di persone, esaminata prima, +e previamente sperimentata, ed approvata dal corpo dei Vescovi, +come quello de' Gran-Vicarj, da stabilirsene due in ogni Diocesi, e +Distretto. Ma oltre a questo, il progetto de' Gran-Vicarj involve +gravissime difficoltà per le circostanze locali. Perciocchè, lasciando +anche stare il pericolo dell' ambizione degli ecclesiastici presso de' +Vescovi, e Vicarj Apostolici per essere dichiarati Gran-Vicarj, +quando che ora, scegliendosi i soggetti da promuoversi dal ceto degli +operaj, s' impegnano anche gli ambiziosi a faticare a prò delle anime: +é chiaro ancoro, che in tanta penuria di ecclesiastici, ch' è in +tutto cotesto dominio, se si tolgono due Gran-Vicarj per ogni +Vicario Apostolico, o Vescovo, mancheranno affatto gli ecclesiastici +per la cura delle anime. +</p> + +<p> +Il semplice diritto di esclusiva involverebbe minori inconvenienti +intrinseci, purchè fosse limitato; giacchè altrimenti, a forza di escludere +si otterrebbe per indiretto una vera nomina. Ma questo diritto +è affatto nuovo; e l' introdurlo per la prima volta, non si sa a quali +conseguenze potrebbe condurre. Ma siccome tutti questi progetti si +fanno per assicurare il Governo, che non sia promossa persona, che +non gli sia invisa, dovrebbe bastare l' esperienza di tanti secoli, ad +assicurare il Governo, stesso della somma premura, che ha sempre +avuta la S. Sede, che i soggetti da lei promossi, non solo non siano +invisi, ma siano anche graditi del Governo stesso. Eo V. P. puó di +fatto proprio attestare della somma industria, attività, e segretezza +usatasi, qualche tempo fa, della S. Sede, per escludere persona, +che sospettava potere riuscire men gradita al Governo, benchè ape +poggiata da forti raccomandazioni, ed includesse altra persona, cha +sicuramente fosse di sua soddisfazione. Oltre di che essendo solitquesta +S. C. di attendere per gli promovendi gli attestati, e le postulazioni, +o le informazioni de' Metropolitani, o degli altri Vicarj +Apostolici, ed anche del clero della rispettiva Diocesi, prima di proporre +al S. P. i soggetti, da questi certamente sapra quali siano quelle persone, +che possano essere poco accette al Governo, per escluderle sicuramente. +</p> + +<p> +Quanto al desiderio de' Magnati, di avere vescovi, in vece di +Vicarj Apostolici, in se stesso considerato è santissimo, ed analogo +alla costituzione della Chiessa Cattolica; e se n' è trattato altre volte +in Inghilterra. Dispiace solamente il fine, per cui si fa un tal progetto, +cioè per avere Prelati meno aderenti alla S. Sede. Ma la S. +Sede nulla avrebba a temere da siffata innovazione, sull' esempio de' +vescovi d' Irlanda de quali è ugualmente contenta che de' Vicarj +Apostolici d' Inghilterra, e di Scozia. Senza che, la constante esperienza +dimostra, che quantunque in diritto sia diversa la condizione +de' Vicarj Apostolici de quella de' Vescovi; pure in fatti non porta +<pb n='057'/><anchor id='Pg057'/> +effetti diversi. Solo devrebbe rifflettersi alle circostanze de' tempi, ed +agl' incovenienti che potrebbero esercitare il cosi detto Club Cisalpino, +per evitarsi al possibile ogni innovazione. +</p> + +<p> +Più di tutti sarebbe fatale quel progretto, che per altro Monsig. +Milner dice essere di alcuni pochi, che ogni communicazione de' cattolici +colla S. Sede debba soggiacere all' esame de' ministri di S. M. +Questo diritto non si è mai riconosciuto dalla S. Sede in alcun principe +cattolico: e l' esempio che si cita, della Francia, era dai concordati +limitato alle sole ecclesiastiche proviste. Ma quanto sarebbe più +pericoloso in un Governo acattolico, con cui non è possibile di convenire +nelle massime religiose. Si spera per altro, che quei pochi, che +propongono, un tal progretto, non troveranno seguito: e che quel +Governo, che si vanta di lasciare una piena libertà ai suoi sudditi, +non vorra imporre loro una catena negli effari più delicati, che riguardano +la coscienza, per gli quali soltanto i cattolici, communicano colla +S. Sede: giacchè la S. C. nel questionario stampato, che manda a quei +Vescovi, e Vicarj Apostolici per norma della relazione delle loro +chiese, nel primo articolo si protesta espressamente che non vuole di +loro alcuna nuova politica. +</p> + +<p> +Molto consolante è poi, riuscito alla S. Congr. la nuova, che sia +riuscito, allo stesso Monsig. Milner di ottenere un' assai piú grande +libertà per gli soldati cattolici nell' esercizio della S. Religione; e che +abbia ben dispositi gli animi, per fare riconoscere validi nella legge +civile i matrimonj contratti avanti un sacerdote cattolico. V. Paternità +gliene faccia i più vivi ringraziamenti, per parte di questa +S. C. +</p> + +<p> +In fine l' Arcivescovo, che scrive, con piena stima se le rassegna. +</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>A Recent Protestant View Of The Church +Of The Middle Ages.</head> + +<p> +The history of the Church in the middle ages has ever forced +upon Protestant minds a difficulty which they have met by many +various methods of solution. The middle age exhibits so much +of precious side by side with so much of base, so much of the +beauty of holiness in the midst of ungodliness, so much of what +all Christians admit as truth with what Protestants call fatal +error, that the character of the whole cannot readily be taken +in at first sight from the Protestant point of view. Some there +are who dwell so long on the shadows that they close their eyes +to the light, and these declare the medieval Church to have been +a scene of unmitigated evil. To their minds the whole theology +of the period is useless, or worse than useless, harmful. They +connect the middle ages with wickedness as thoroughly as the +Manicheans connected matter with the evil principle. +</p> + +<pb n='058'/><anchor id='Pg058'/> + +<p> +Others there are who honestly admit that these ages, especially +their earlier part, are not Protestant, but at the same time contend +that neither are they favourable to Roman doctrine. These +believe that facts abundantly prove that in the bosom of the +Church which was then, the two Churches were to be found, +which afterwards disengaged themselves from one another at the +Reformation. This is the philosophy of medieval history which, +as we learn from the preface to his collection of <hi rend='italic'>Sacred Latin +Poetry</hi>,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Sacred Latin Poetry</hi>, selected and arranged by R. C. Trench, D.D., Archbishop +of Dublin, etc. Macmillan and Co., London and Cambridge. 1864.</note> has recommended itself to Dr. Trench, the present +Protestant Archbishop of Dublin. <q>In Romanism we have the +residuum of the middle-age Church and theology, the lees, after +all, or well nigh all the wine was drained away. But in the +medieval Church we have the wine and lees together—the truth +and the error, the false observance and yet at the same time the +divine truth which should one day be fatal to it—side by side.</q> +For such thinkers the sum of all the history of that period +amounts to this: a long struggle between two Churches—one a +Church of truth, the other a Church of error—a struggle which, +however, ended happily in the triumph of the Church of truth +by the Reformation, in which the truth was purified from its +contact with error. +</p> + +<p> +It is not without its advantages to know what views the occupant +of an Irish see so distinguished, is led to take, of the Church +to which seventy-seven out of every hundred Irishmen belong, +with all the convictions of their intellects, and all the love of +their hearts. It seems to us that his theory is not likely to +satisfy any party; it goes too far to please some, and stops short +too soon to be agreeable to others. But what strikes us most of +all in it is the fatal inconsistency of its parts. Of this the very +book to which it serves as preface is proof enough. Dr. Trench's +position is this. He tells his Protestant readers that whereas in the +medieval Church there was a good church, and an evil, all the good +has found its resting place in Protestantism, all the evil in tyrannical +Rome. Whatever of good, of holy, of pure, has ever been +said or done within the Church, Protestants are the rightful inheritors +of it all. From the treasury of the Church before the +Reformation he proposes to draw, and to collect in this work +what his readers may live on and love, and what he is confident +will prove wholesome nourishment for their souls. He would +set before them the feelings of the Church during these thousand +years of her existence, and would summon from afar, from remote +ages, <q>voices in which they may utter and embody the +deepest things of their hearts</q>. Such, he assures them, are the +voices of the writers whose poems have found a place in his +<pb n='059'/><anchor id='Pg059'/> +book. Now, if we are to understand that the two ante-Reformation +Churches stood out quite distinctly, one from the other, in open +antagonism, like Jerusalem and Babylon, each having its own +position more or less clearly defined, we should naturally expect +to find in Dr. Trench's book the thoughts and words only of the +Reformers before the Reformation, of the men, that is, who never +bent the knee to Baal, but ever cherished in their hearts the true +doctrine of salvation. If his own theory be worth anything, he +must have recourse for his present purposes, to that one of the +two Churches which alone has been perpetuated, victorious after +conflict, in Protestantism. Where else shall he find sympathies +that answer to those of Protestants? But he does not do so. +For in the beginning of his preface he tells us that he has not +admitted each and all of the works of the authors whose productions +he inserts. He tells us that he has carefully excluded +from his collection <q>all hymns which in any way imply the +Romish doctrine of transubstantiation</q>, or, <q>which involve any +creature-worship, or speak of the Mother of our Lord in any other +language than that which Scripture has sanctioned, and our +Church adopted</q>, or which <q>ask of the suffrages of the Saints</q>? +These certainly are not the doctrines which have been perpetuated +in Protestantism. +</p> + +<p> +His own practice, therefore, is inconsistent with his theory, if +that theory means to assert the existence of two Churches in the +middle age, distinctly antagonistic, one to the other. +</p> + +<p> +The only escape from this tangle is to reply, that Dr. Trench, +although he may find two Churches in the bosom of the middle-age +Church, does not, however, place between them a separation +so sharp as to suppose the Church of good absolutely without +evil, nor the Church of evil altogether destitute of good. In +each there is good and some mixture of evil: error relieved by +a vein of truth. His favourite authors, by whose labours he +wishes to make his readers profit, are, in this last hypothesis, +men who are subject to the influence of both Churches; men +who belong partly to each in turn, whose doctrines are a pitiable +admixture of truth with falsehood—who, in one word, are visited +both by <q>airs from Heaven and blasts from Hell</q>. At times they +say what all, even Protestants, may treasure up in their hearts, +to live on and love; at times, again, they are made to utter what +all should reject and condemn, as so many snares for unwary +feet. We shall say nothing of the difficulty the mind feels in +accepting such a description of the position of these writers, nor +of the task we have to persuade ourselves that those who +teach belief in deadly heresies to be essential to salvation, can +be, at the same time, the chosen tabernacles wherein the pure +spirit of real piety can ever take up its abode. Such was not +<pb n='060'/><anchor id='Pg060'/> +the feeling of the ancient Church. We ask, instead, who are +the men upon whose writings Dr. Trench would sit in judgment, +<q>to sunder between the holy and profane</q>, to distinguish +between the errors and the truth, to decide what we are <q>to take +warning from and to shun, what to live upon and love</q>. +With the exception of the two, Alard and Buttmann, all are +men highly honoured by the whole Catholic world, and all, +without exception, are praised for their excelling virtues by Dr. +Trench himself. Among the twenty-three names we read with +reverence those of Saint Ambrose, Saint Bonaventure, Venerable +Bede, Saint Bernard, Saint Peter Damian, Thomas a-Kempis, +Peter the Venerable, Jacopone, and others of great reputation +for sanctity and learning. These are the men whose writings +Dr. Trench is to parcel out into two portions; this to be venerated +as sacred, that to be condemned as profane. It needs great +faith in the censor, to accept readily his decision in such a case. +What test does he undertake to apply? what criterion is to influence +his choice? Why does he cast away the poems which celebrate +St. Peter as Prince of the Apostles, and approve of those +that extol St. Paul? Why should he style Adam of St. +Victor's hymn on the Blessed Virgin an exaggeration, and quote +as edifying his <hi rend='italic'>Laus S. Scripturae</hi>? Why are St. Bonaventure's +pieces in honour of Mary visited with censure, and his lines <hi rend='italic'>In +Passione Domini</hi> made the theme of praise? Dr. Trench gives +us his reasons very plainly. <q>If our position mean anything</q>, +says he (page x.), <q>we are bound to believe that to us, having +the Word and the Spirit, the power has been given to distinguish +things which differ.... It is our duty to believe that +to us, that to each generation which humbly and earnestly seeks, +will be given that enlightening spirit, by whose aid it shall be +enabled to read aright the past realizations of God's divine idea in +the wise and historic Church of successive ages, and to distinguish +the human imperfections, blemishes, and errors, from the divine +truth which they obscured and overlaid, but which they could +not destroy, being, one day, rather to be destroyed by it</q>. That +is to say, we, as Protestants, in virtue of our position as such, +are able by the light of the Holy Spirit to discern true from false +doctrine, the fruits of the good Church from the fruits of the +evil Church. This enlightening Spirit will be given to each +generation which humbly and earnestly seeks it. But, we ask, +what are we to believe concerning the working of the same enlightening +Spirit in the hearts of the holy men whose exquisitely +devotional writings Dr. Trench sets before us? Were they men +of humility and earnestness? If they were not, Dr. Trench's +book appears under false colours, and is not a book of edification. +And if they were, as they certainly were, who is Dr. Trench +<pb n='061'/><anchor id='Pg061'/> +that he should take it on himself to condemn those who enjoyed +the very same light which he claims for himself? And why +should we not then rather believe that as these holy men had, on +his own showing, the spirit of God, Dr. Trench, in condemning +their doctrine does in truth condemn what is the doctrine of the +Church of the Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +The theory is therefore as inconsistent as on historical grounds +it is false. Such as it is, however, the conclusions we may draw +from it are of great importance. +</p> + +<p> +1. Dr. Trench declares that, both by omitting and by thinning, +he has carefully removed from his selection, all doctrine implying +transubstantiation, the cultus of the Blessed Virgin, the invocation +of saints, and the veneration of the cross. Now, as the +great bulk of the poems he publishes belong to the middle ages, +strictly so called, it follows, on Dr. Trench's authority, that these +doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church were held long before +the Reformation, and that the Church was already in possession +when Luther came. +</p> + +<p> +2. Since he tells us (page vi) that he has counted inadmissible +poems which breathe a spirit foreign to that tone of piety which +the English Church desires to cherish in her children, it follows +that the spirit of piety in the Church of old is not the same as +that in the present Church of England. Now in such cases the +presumption is against novelty. +</p> + +<p> +3. Dr. Trench (page vii) reminds his readers that it is unfair +to try the theological language of the middle ages by the greater +strictness and accuracy rendered necessary by the struggle, of the +Reformation. A man who holds a doctrine <emph>implicitly</emph> and in a +confused manner, is likely to use words which he would correct +if the doctrine were put before him in accurate form. This is a +sound principle, and one constantly employed by Catholic theologians, +when they have to deal with an objection urged by Protestants +from some obscure or equivocal passage of a Father. It +is satisfactory to be able for the future to claim for its use the +high authority of Dr. Trench. +</p> + +<p> +4. A special assistance of the Holy Spirit is claimed for all +those who humbly and earnestly invoke him. This assistance is +to enable those blessed with it to distinguish between error and +divine truth. Is this happy privilege to be exercised either independently, +without the direction of the ministers of the Church, +or is it one of the graces peculiar to the pastoral office? In the +former case, every fanatical sectary may judge in matters of religion +as securely as if he had the whole world on his side. In +the latter case, it would be interesting to know how much does +this privilege differ from the infallibility claimed by the Catholic +Church. +</p> + +<pb n='062'/><anchor id='Pg062'/> + +<p> +5. Finally, the contradictions inherent to the whole theory +are most clearly to be seen in the following passage about the +noble lines which Hildebert, Archbishop of Tours, in the beginning +of the twelfth century, places on the lip of the city of +Rome: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +<q>I have not inserted these lines</q>, says Dr. Trench, <q rend='pre'>in the body +of this collection, lest I might seem to claim for them that entire +sympathy which I am very far from doing. Yet, believing as we +may, and, to give any meaning to a large period of Church history, +we must, that Papal Rome of the middle ages had a work of God to +accomplish for the taming of a violent and brutal world, in the midst +of which she often lifted up the only voice which was anywhere +heard in behalf of righteousness and truth—all of which we may +believe, with the fullest sense that her dominion was an unrighteous +usurpation, however overruled for good to Christendom, which could +then take no higher blessing—believing this, we may freely admire +these lines, so nobly telling of that true strength of spiritual power, +which may be perfected in the utmost weakness of all other power. +It is the city of Rome which speaks:</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Dum simulacra mihi, dum numina vana placerent,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Militiâ, populo, moenibus alts fui:</l> +<l>At simul effigies, arasque superstitiosas</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Dejiciens, uni sum famulata Deo;</l> +<l>Cesserunt arces, cecidere palatia divum,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Servivit populis, degeneravit eques.</l> +<l>Vix scio quae fuerim: vix Romae Roma recordor;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Vix sinit occasus vel meminisse mei.</l> +<l>Gratior haec jactura mihi successibus illis,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Major sum pauper divite, stante jacens.</l> +<l>Plus aquilis vexilla crucis, plus Caesare Petrus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Plus cinctis ducibus vulgus inerme dedit.</l> +<l>Stans domui terras; infernum diruta pulso;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Corpora stans, animas fracta jacensque rego.</l> +<l>Tunc miserae plebi, nunc principibus tenebrarum</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Impero; tunc urbes, nunc mea regna polus.</l> +<l>Quod ne Caesaribus videar debere vel armis,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Et species rerum meque meosque trahat,</l> +<l>Armorum vis illa perit, ruit alta Senatûs</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Gloria, procumbunt templa, theatra jacent.</l> +<l>Rostra vacant, edicta silent, sua praemia desunt</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Emeritis, populo jura, colonus agris.</l> +<l>Ista jacent, ne forte meus spem ponat in illis</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Civis, et evacuet spemque bonumque crucis.</l> +</lg> + +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='063'/><anchor id='Pg063'/> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Mss. Remains Of Professor O'Curry +In The Catholic University. +No. II.</head> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Prayer of St. Aireran the Wise, ob.</hi>. 664. +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +[In the first number of the <hi rend='smallcaps'>Record</hi> we published from the manuscripts of the late Professor +O'Curry the Prayer of St. Colga of Clonmacnoise. We now publish another beautiful devotional +piece from the same collection. +</p> + +<p> +Speaking of ancient Irish religious works now remaining, O'Curry says (at page 378 of his +great work): <q>The fifth class of these religious remains consists of the prayers, invocations, +and litanies, which have came down to us</q>. The Prayer of St. Colga, published in our last number, +is placed by O'Curry in the second place among these documents, which he sets down in +chronological order. +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The first piece of this class (adopting the chronological order) is the prayer of St. <hi rend='italic'>Aireran</hi> +the Wise (often called <hi rend='italic'>Aileran</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Eleran</hi>, and <hi rend='italic'>Airenan</hi>), who was a classical professor in the great +school of Clonard, and died of the plague in the year 664. St. Aireran's prayer or litany +is addressed, respectively, to God the Father, to God the Son, and to God the Holy Spirit, invoking +them for mercy by various titles indicative of their power, glory, and attributes. The prayer +consists of five invocations to the Father, eighteen invocations to the Son, and five to the Holy +Spirit; and commences in Latin thus: <q>O Deus Pater, Omnipotens Deus, exerci misericordiam +nobis</q>. This is followed by the same Invocation in the Gaedhlic; and the petitions to the end +are continued in the same language. The invocation of the Son begins thus: <q>Have mercy on +us, O Almighty God! O Jesus Christ! O Son Of the living God! O Son, born twice! O only born +of God the Father</q>. The petition to the Holy Spirit begins: <q>Have mercy on us, O Almighty +God! O Holy Spirit! O Spirit the noblest of all spirits!</q> (See original in <hi rend='smallcaps'>Appendix</hi>, No. CXX.)</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>When I first discovered this prayer in the <hi rend='italic'>Leabhar Buidhe Lecain</hi> (or Yellow Book of <hi rend='italic'>Lecain</hi>), +in the library of Trinity College, many years ago, I had no means of ascertaining or fixing its +date; but in my subsequent readings in the same library, for my collection of ancient glossaries, +I met the word <foreign rend='italic'>Oirchis</foreign> set down with explanation and illustration, as follows:</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><q><foreign rend='italic'>Oirchis</foreign>, id est, Mercy; as it is said in the prayers of Arinan the Wise</q>:—Have mercy on us, +O God the Father Almighty!</q> See original in <hi rend='smallcaps'>Appendix</hi>, No. CXXI. +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>I think it is unnecessary to say more on the identity of the author of this prayer with the +distinguished <hi rend='italic'>Aireran</hi> of Clonard. Nor is this the only specimen of his devout works that has +come down to us. Fleming, in his Collecta Sacra, has published a fragment of a Latin tract +discovered in the ancient monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland, which is entitled <q>The Mystical +Interpretation of the Ancestry of our Lord Jesus Christ</q>. A perfect copy of this curious tract, +and one of high antiquity, has, I believe, been lately discovered on the continent.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>There was another <hi rend='italic'>Airenan</hi>, also called <q>the wise</q>, who was abbot of <hi rend='italic'>Tamhlacht</hi> [Tallaght] +in the latter part of the ninth century; but he has not been distinguished as an author, as far +as we know</q>. +</p> + +<p> +It seems to us that there are three things specially worthy of our consideration in this beautiful +prayer. +</p> + +<p> +In the first place, we find in it an explicit and most clear declaration of the Catholic Faith +regarding the Blessed Trinity, especially the distinction of three persons, and the Divinity of +each of these Divine Persons. <q>O God the Father Almighty, O God of Hosts, help us! Help +us, O Almighty God! O Jesus Christ! Help us, O Almighty God, O Holy Spirit!</q> +</p> + +<p> +We are in the next place struck by the extraordinary familiarity with the Holy Scripture +which the writer evinces. There is scarcely one of the epithets which is not found in the sacred +pages, almost in the precise words used by him, beginning with the first words, addressed to +the Eternal Father, <q>O God of Hosts</q>, the <hi rend='italic'>Deus Sabaoth</hi> of the Prophets, and going on to the +last invocation of the Holy Ghost, <q>Spirit of love</q>, which comprises in itself the two inspired +phrases: <q><foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>Spiritus est Deus</foreign></q>, and <q><foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>Deus Charitas est</foreign></q>. We may also remark the coincidence +between Saint Aireran and the liturgical prayers of the Church, especially in the invocations +of the Holy Ghost found in the office of Whitsuntide and in the administration of the Sacrament +of Confirmation, <q><foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>Tu septiformis munere: Digitus Paternae dexterae</foreign></q>. <q>O Finger of God! +O Spirit of Seven Forms</q>. +</p> + +<p> +In fine, we find our Irish saint applying to the Son of God the vision of the Prophet Ezechiel +regarding the four mysterious animals: <q>O true Man! O Lion! O young Ox! O Eagle!</q> +The prophecy is commonly interpreted of the Four Evangelists. Saint Augustine and Saint +Jerome are quoted as authorities for this interpretation. But it is worthy of remark, that Saint +Gregory the Great, whilst giving the same interpretation, applies the mysterious vision also to +God the Son.<note place='foot'><q>Nihil obstat si etiam in his omnibus et Ipse (Redemptor noster) signetur. Ipse enim +Unigenitus Dei Filius <emph>veraciter</emph> factus est <emph>homo</emph>: ipse in sacrificio nostrae redemptionis dignatus +est mori ut <emph>vitulus</emph>: ipse per virtutem suae fortitudinis surrexit ut <emph>leo</emph>.... Ipse +etiam post resurrectionem suam ascendnes ad coelos, in superioribus est elevatus ut <emph>aquila</emph>. +Totum ergo simul nobis est, qui et nascendo <emph>homo</emph>, et moriendo <emph>vitulus</emph>, et resurgendo <emph>leo</emph>, et ad +coelos ascendendo <emph>aquila</emph> factus est</q>—<hi rend='italic'>S. Greg. Magn., Hom.</hi> iv. <hi rend='italic'>in Ezech.</hi></note> And Saint Aireran, by adopting this opinion, seems to afford us another proof of +the great familiarity of our Irish scholars with the writings of the great Pontiff and Father of +the Church. And this familiarity is rendered still more remarkable, and serves to give another +proof of the constant communication between Rome and Ireland, from the close proximity of +the times of our Saint and of Saint Gregory.] +</p> + +</quote> + +<pb n='064'/><anchor id='Pg064'/> + +<p> +O Deus Pater omnipotens Deus exerce tuam misericordiam +nobis! +</p> + +<p> +O God the Father Almighty! O God of Hosts, help us. +</p> + +<p> +O illustrious God! O Lord of the world! O Creator of all creatures, +help us. +</p> + +<p> +O indescribable God! O Creator of all creatures, help us. +</p> + +<p> +O invisible God! O incorporeal God! O unseen God! O unimaginable +God! O patient God! O uncorrupted God! O unchangeable +God! O eternal God! O perfect God! O merciful +God! O admirable God! O Golden Goodness! O Heavenly +Father, who art in Heaven, help us. +</p> + +<p> +Help us, O Almighty God! O Jesus Christ! O Son of the +living God! O Son twice born! O only begotten of the Father! +O first-born of Mary the Virgin! O Son of David! O Son of +Abraham, beginning of all things! O End of the World! O +Word of God! O Jewel of the Heavenly Kingdom! O Life of +all (things)! O Eternal Truth! O Image, O Likeness, O Form of +God the Father! O Arm of God! O Hand of God! O Strength +of God! O right (hand) of God! O true Wisdom! O true Light, +which enlightens all men! O Light-giver! O Sun of Righteousness! +O Star of the Morning! O Lustre of the Divinity! O Sheen +of the Eternal Light! O Fountain of immortal Life! O Pacificator +between God and Man! O Foretold of the Church! O +Faithful Shepherd of the flock! O Hope of the Faithful! O +Angel of the Great Council! O True Prophet! O True Apostle! +O True Preacher! O Master! O Friend of Souls (Spiritual Director)! +O Thou of the shining hair! O Immortal Food! O Tree +of Life! O Righteous of Heaven! O Wand from the Stem of +Moses! O King of Israel! O Saviour! O Door of Life! O +Splendid Flower of the Plain! O Corner-stone! O Heavenly +Zion! O Foundation of the Faith! O Spotless Lamb! O Diadem! +O Gentle Sheep! O Redeemer of mankind! O true God! +O True Man! O Lion! O young Ox! O Eagle! O Crucified +Christ! O Judge of the Judgment Day! help us. +</p> + +<p> +Help us, O Almighty God! O Holy Spirit! O Spirit more +noble than all Spirits! O Finger of God! O Guardian of the +Christians! O Protector of the Distressed! O Co-partner of the +True Wisdom! O Author of the Holy Scripture! O Spirit of +Righteousness! O Spirit of Seven Forms! O Spirit of the Intellect! +O Spirit of the Counsel! O Spirit of Fortitude! O Spirit +of Knowledge! O Spirit of Love! help us. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='065'/><anchor id='Pg065'/> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Destiny Of The Irish Race.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>The Destiny of the Irish Race</hi>: a lecture delivered at Philadelphia on the +17th of March, 1864, by Rev. M. O'Connor, S. J. In order to give to our readers +the beautiful lecture of the ex-Bishop of Pittsburgh, we have increased the number +of pages in this month's <hi rend='smallcaps'>Record</hi>.—<hi rend='smallcaps'>Ed. I. E. R.</hi></note></head> + +<p> +That God knows and governs all things—that whatever +happens is either done or permitted by him, and that he proposes +to himself wise and beneficent ends in all he does or permits—are +truths which lie at the foundation of all religion. The +wicked may refuse to obey his commands, but they cannot withdraw +themselves from the reach of his power. While their +wickedness is entirely their own, <emph>God</emph> makes them, however +unwilling or unconscious, instruments to work out his ends. +</p> + +<p> +It is thus that individuals and nations have each a peculiar +destiny. Not that there is a blind fate, such as Pagans imagined; +but that an all-seeing and all-governing God proposes to himself +certain objects, which he is determined to attain, despite the +perversity of man. +</p> + +<p> +To learn the purposes of God in the development of human +events, to trace his hand in the complicated movements of society, +to see him overruling and directing all to his own great +ends, is one of the most sublime objects to which the study of +history can be applied. Frequently, indeed, we may be unable +fully to comprehend the designs of his providence in the moral, +as in the physical world. Fancy, or pride, may easily have +a great part in suggesting our theories. But, if we confine +ourselves to certain facts and undoubted principles, we can often +trace the design in both orders, and admire in it the wisdom, +the power, the goodness—all the attributes of God. Nay, +all these shine more brightly in the moral than in the physical +order. +</p> + +<p> +The history of his chosen people is an example of this. We +find empires rising and falling, at one time to punish, at another +time to try, at another to deliver his people. The good and the +wicked, the weak and the strong, become in turn his instruments. +The whole history of that people is but a record of the acts of +his overruling providence, directing all things to the accomplishment +of the designs which he had announced. +</p> + +<p> +This is, indeed, so evident in this case that it may not be +considered a fair instance to prove my general position. For it +is admitted that God's providence over the Jewish race was quite +extraordinary. Still, it proves that God does so intervene in +human affairs, and it illustrates many of the principles that must +be kept in view in these investigations. It shows, for example, +that many, unconscious of the fact—nay, with quite another object +<pb n='066'/><anchor id='Pg066'/> +in view, acting perhaps from avarice, hatred, or ambition, are yet +instruments in the hand of God for the accomplishment of his +wise purposes. It shows how things, and persons, considered as +of little or of no value, according to human views, may, in reality, +be the pivots on which the destinies of vast empires turn, connected, +as they may be, with the accomplishment of purposes +which weigh more in the scales of Heaven than the mere temporal +condition of all the empires of the Earth. +</p> + +<p> +It is in this view that many Christian writers assert that the +Roman empire obtained universal sway, that civilized nations +being thus brought closely together, an easier way might be +prepared for the spread of the Gospel. The generals and statesmen +of Rome had no doubt a very low idea of the poor fishermen +of Galilee, and of the tentmaker of Tharsus. It may be safely +presumed that they did not even allow their names to divert +their thoughts, for a moment, from the grand projects of conquest +and government by which they were engrossed. Yet, in +the designs of God, it was, most probably, to prepare a way for +the work of those fishermen, and of that tentmaker, and their +associates, that wisdom had been vouchsafed to their counsels +and victory to their arms. +</p> + +<p> +The endless invasions of the Roman empire by northern +tribes is another instance of whole races being used by God for +his own purposes, without their having any idea of the work in +which they were employed. They came to punish those who +had revelled in the blood of the saints, and to supply fresh material +for the great work of the Church of God. +</p> + +<p> +Towards the close of the fifteenth century, an Italian sailor, +led by some astronomical observations and some half understood, +or rather misunderstood, tales of ancient travellers, to believe that +there must be another continent far away beyond the western +waters, wandered from court to court, in Europe, in search of +means to fit up an expedition to discover it, and he finally succeeded +in making known a new world. It requires little faith +in divine Providence to believe that it was God who was impelling +him thus to open a new outlet for the energies of the +ancient world, which were then about being developed on a +gigantic scale, and, still more, to prepare a field for a more extensive +spread of the Gospel, in which the Church might repair +the losses she was about to sustain in the religious convulsions +impending in Europe. +</p> + +<p> +Numberless similar instances might be quoted. These designs +of God are sometimes manifest, sometimes hidden; sometimes +they are far-reaching, sometimes limited. Ignorance and pride +may mistake or pervert them. But they always prevail; they +are always worthy of their Author; and let me add, that the salvation +<pb n='067'/><anchor id='Pg067'/> +of men being the object most highly prized by God, it is +not only rightfully considered the most noble, but it is that to +which his other works may be justly accounted subordinate. +</p> + +<p> +It is under the light of these principles that I undertake an +investigation of the purposes of God regarding the Irish race. +These purposes seem to me no longer matter of speculation; +they may be pronounced manifest; for they are written in unmistakable +characters in the development of events. +</p> + +<p> +The history of Ireland is, in many respects, peculiar. Few +nations received the faith so readily, and no other preserved it +amidst similar struggles. St. Patrick first announced the Gospel +to the assembled states of the realm at Tara. He received permission +to preach it, unmolested, throughout the length and +breadth of the land. By his indomitable zeal and heroic virtue, +he succeeded in winning over the natives so effectually, that at +his death few pagans remained in Ireland. Not a drop of blood +was shed when Christianity was first announced. Heroism was +displayed only by the exalted virtues of the Apostle and of the +neophytes. Nowhere else did the Gospel take root so quickly +and so firmly, and produce fruits so immediate and so abundant. +Catholic Ireland soon became the home of the saints and sages +of the Christian world. To many of the nations of the continent +her apostles went forth, charged with the embassy of eternal +truth. In every realm of Europe her children established sanctuaries +of piety and learning; and to her own hospitable shores +the natives of other lands flocked to receive education, and even +support, from her gratuitous bounty. Homes of virtue dotted +her hills and valleys; and thus were laid deep the roots of that +strong attachment to the faith, which, later, was to be exposed to +trials the most severe. +</p> + +<p> +We thus find God preparing Ireland for a future, then hidden +to all but Himself. For the day of trial came at last. She was +reposing in peace, under the shadow of the Gospel, when the +barbaric invasion, that swept before it every vestige of learning +and religion in many parts of Europe, reached her shores. Ireland +was the only country that rolled back its wave. But she +did this at the cost of her life's blood. For two centuries the +Dane trampled her sons under foot. His cruelties yet re-echo in +the national traditions. But the Irish race at last arose in its +might, and drove the barbarian from its shores. The churches +of the country had been pillaged, its monasteries plundered, its +institutions of learning destroyed—everything that the sword +could smite, or fire consume, had perished; but the Irish race +came out of the ordeal preserving its own integrity, and the +jewel which it prized above all else—its glorious faith. +</p> + +<p> +Not long after this deliverance, and before Ireland had succeeded +<pb n='068'/><anchor id='Pg068'/> +in obliterating the traces of Danish cruelty, another invader +set his foot on her shores. Availing himself of the discords +naturally arising from the disorganized state of society, he succeeded +in gaining a foothold. By fanning these discords, he +kept possession and gained strength. The rule of the Saxon became +thus almost as severe a calamity as had been the oppression +of the Dane. To the hatred, which is generally greater in the oppressor +than in the oppressed, were added, in time, religious fanaticism +and the desire of plunder, which became its associate and assumed +its garb. The <emph>mere</emph> Irishman, who was hated under any circumstances +on account of his race, was now hunted in his own +country as if he were a wild beast. The property of the Catholic +people was confiscated, and most stringent laws were enacted to +prevent its renewed acquisitions. Priests, wherever found, were +put to death, and the severest penalties were inflicted on those +who would harbour any that escaped detection. Extermination +by fire and sword was ordered in so many words, and was attempted. +When this failed, a system of penal laws was established, +which were in full force until lately, and which a Protestant +writer of deservedly high repute (Burke) calls a <q>machine +of wise and elaborate contrivance, and as well fitted for the oppression, +impoverishment, and degradation of a people, and the debasement +in them of human nature itself, as ever proceeded from +the perverted ingenuity of man</q>. Upon the partial abandonment +of this form of oppression, a system of proselytism was adopted, +and is yet in full vigour (for it has become an institution, and +the best supported institution in Ireland), which, by bribes to +the high and the low, appeals to every base instinct to draw men +away from the faith. +</p> + +<p> +Yet neither confiscation of property, nor famine, nor disgrace, +nor death in its most hideous forms, could make Ireland waver +in that faith which our forefathers received from St. Patrick. +There were, of course, from time to time, and there are, a few +exceptions. Did not these occur, the Irish must have been more +than men. But, as a general rule, the places that could not be +procured or retained, except by apostacy, were resigned. The +rich allowed their property to be torn from them, and they willingly +became poor; the poor bore hunger and all other consequences +of wretched poverty; and though every Earthly good +was arrayed temptingly before them, they scorned to purchase +comfort at the price of apostacy. During the four years from +1846 to 1850, nearly two millions either perished from hunger +or its attendant pestilence, or were forced to leave their native +land to escape both. In the midst of the dead and the dying, +proselytisers showed themselves everywhere, well provided with +food and money, and Bibles, and every one of the sufferers felt, +<pb n='069'/><anchor id='Pg069'/> +and was made to feel, that all his sufferings might have been +spared had he been willing to barter his faith for bread. Yet +the masses could bear hunger and face pestilence, or fly from +their native land; but they would not eat the bread of apostacy. +They died, or they fled; but they clung to their faith. +</p> + +<p> +In vain, I think, will history be searched for another example +of such vast numbers, generation after generation, calmly, silently +facing an unhonoured death, without any support on earth but +the approving voice of conscience. +</p> + +<p> +This fidelity can be predicated with truth of the whole Irish +race, notwithstanding the numbers of those in Ireland who are not +Catholics. For these, besides being a minority of the inhabitants, +are but an exotic, planted in Ireland by the sword. They were +imported, being already, and because they were, of another faith, +for the purpose of supplanting that of the inhabitants. Many of +them adopted the faith of the old race, so that the names that +indicate their origin are not a certain test of their religion. But +so steadily has the old stock adhered to its faith, that an Irish +<q>O</q>, or <q>Mac</q>, or any other old Celtic name, is almost sure to +designate a Catholic. Indeed, such names are usually called +<q>Catholic names</q>. Whenever an exception is found, it is so +rare an occurrence that the party is considered a renegade from +his race as well as from his religion. +</p> + +<p> +It would, however, be not only unfounded to flatter ourselves +that this stability in the faith is the result of anything peculiar +in the Irish nature, but it would be, I may say, a blasphemy +to assert it. God alone can preserve any one in the paths of +truth and virtue; how much more must we attribute to Him +the fidelity of a whole race, under the trying circumstances here +enumerated? +</p> + +<p> +Such grace may have been given, as many believe, in reward +of the readiness and the fulness with which our ancestors first +received the faith of the Gospel, and it is hoped that God will +to the end grant the same grace of fidelity to their descendants. +Our great Apostle is said to have asked this favour from God +for the nation which so readily responded to his call. Let us +unite our prayers with his, and, like Solomon, ask for our race +not riches, nor power, but true wisdom, which is, above all and +before all, allegiance to the true faith. This was the prayer, no +doubt, which the millions of our martyred ancestors poured out. +They themselves sacrificed property and liberty; they gave up +everything that man could take away, that they might preserve +this precious jewel. They believed that in doing this they were +following the dictates of true wisdom, and, in their fondest love +for their remotest posterity, they wished and prayed that similar +wisdom might be displayed by them. May their prayer be +heard to the end. +</p> + +<pb n='070'/><anchor id='Pg070'/> + +<p> +This prayer has been heard, or at least this grace has been +granted, up to the present. When the sons of Ireland on this +day return in thought to the homes of their fathers, they may +indeed look back upon a land inferior to many in the elements +of material greatness. They may behold her castles and rich +domains in the possession of the stranger. They may view the +masses of their race with scarcely a foothold in the land of their +fathers, liable to be ejected from the farm, and driven out on the +public highways, and from the highways into the crowded town, +and from the hovels of the crowded town into the poorhouse, +and even at the poorhouse denied the right of admission. But +amidst all the miseries of those who yet dwell in the old land—in +spite of the wiles of unscrupulous governments, and heartless +and tyrannical landlords, and hypocritical proselytizers—in spite +of open violence and covert bribes, their undying attachment to +the faith remains unaltered, unshaken—a monument of national +virtue more honourable than any which wealth or power could +erect, or flattery devise. +</p> + +<p> +But all this is a grace, a great grace of God. It reveals a +purpose of Heaven more bountiful in regard to this people than +if he had raised them to the highest place in material power +amongst the nations of the Earth. +</p> + +<p> +Temporal prosperity, in its various forms, though a favour +from God, is not his most precious blessing. He himself selected +the way of the Cross. In abjection and suffering he came +into the world; he lived in it despised and persecuted, he died +amidst excruciating torments. To those whom he loved in a +special manner, he says, <q>Can you drink the chalice which I +am to drink, and be baptized with the baptism with which I +shall be baptized?</q> and when they reply, they can, the promise +that this shall be fulfilled, his leading them to follow him +in the way of the Cross, his calling them to suffer for righteousness, +is the best pledge of his greatest love. +</p> + +<p> +This grace he has given to Ireland. Her children have received +and accepted the call; they have reaped the reward. +Indeed, I have found the opinion entertained by many clergymen +of extensive experience, that there is not probably a people +on this Earth of whom more, in proportion to their number, leave +this world with well grounded hopes of a happy eternity. They +do not, it is true, display a boastful assurance that they are about +to ascend at once into Heaven. But vast masses serve God with +humble fidelity in life, and, at death, acknowledging and sorry +for their sins, doing all they can to comply with his requirements, +they throw themselves, with resignation to his will, into +the arms of his mercy. +</p> + +<p> +Were nothing else apparent in the purposes of God, we might +<pb n='071'/><anchor id='Pg071'/> +stop here. We would find a great and worthy object for all +that Ireland has suffered, and cause to thank the Almighty +Ruler for having given her the grace to suffer in union with and +for the sake of his Son. +</p> + +<p> +But God's graces are often given for ulterior purposes; and +it may be asked whether the extraordinary preservation of +this nation's faith has not another object in his wise and merciful +counsels. +</p> + +<p> +It appears to me that this is now clear in the case of Ireland. +But, to understand it properly, we must reflect more closely on +her connection with England, and on the condition of this +latter country. +</p> + +<p> +In the sixteenth century England abandoned the faith to +which she had adhered for a thousand years. Her apostacy, +though consummated by degrees, may be said to have become +at last complete. The blood of her best sons flowed at Tyburn. +The priests that were not of the number were banished, or forced +to seek safety in hiding places. The same price was put on the +head of a priest as on that of a wolf. The property of Catholics +was confiscated, their children were taken from them, and educated +in the religion of the establishment. These and analogous +measures produced their effect at last. Were it not for these +things, a great part of that nation, if not a majority, would be +Catholic to-day. Though they desired no share in the plunder +of the Church, and had no fancy for the new theories of the +Reformers, they were weak enough to yield to a pressure, under +which compromise first, and then apostacy, afforded the only +means of escaping confiscation and the loss of every social advantage, +frequently the only means of escaping death. The old +faith stamped, indeed, its mark on the institutions of the kingdom +in a manner that could not be blotted out. It left its +memorials everywhere throughout the land. The noble universities, +the gorgeous cathedrals, and the splendid ruins scattered +over the surface of the country, are witnesses of its departed +power; but it is itself effectually blotted out from the hearts of +the people. Though the most noble kings and princes of the +land had delighted in honouring Catholicity, though England +had sent her apostles and her saints into many a clime, though +her hills and valleys had re-echoed for centuries with the sweet +songs of Catholic devotion, her people now know nothing more +hateful than the faith under the auspices of which their fathers +were civilized. They nickname it <q>Popery</q>, and the name +expresses that which is to them most hateful. +</p> + +<p> +Yet this England, this Catholic-hating England, has become +one of the greatest nations of the Earth in the material order. +Her fleets are mirrored in every sea; her banner floats on every +<pb n='072'/><anchor id='Pg072'/> +continent. It has been truly said that the sound of her drums, +calling her soldiers from slumber, goes before and greets the +rising sun in its circuit around the globe. +</p> + +<p> +But what is most remarkable, and certainly not without some +great purpose in the order of divine Providence, England has +become in our day the great hive from which colonies go out to +people islands and continents in distant parts of the world; lands +which were before vast wastes, tenanted only by the wild beast, +or by the savage scarcely less ferocious. Indeed, she is the only +nation in our day that seems to have received such a mission. +</p> + +<p> +And is it then to an apostate nation exclusively that God has +given the mission to fill up these wastes? Is it a corrupted faith +only which is to be borne to these savage nations, and to be +planted in those vast regions, which God has made known to +civilized man in these latter days? Were this the case, we might +tremble, though we should adore it as one of the inscrutable +judgments of God, dealing with nations in his <emph>great</emph> wrath. +</p> + +<p> +But is such the fact? It would indeed be the fact were it not +for faithful Ireland. But, united as England is with Ireland, +the result is quite otherwise. The very ambition and desire for +gain which impel England to extend her power and plant her +colonies in the most distant countries of the globe, become the +instruments for carrying also the undying faith of Ireland to the +regions which England has conquered. +</p> + +<p> +Saul went to seek Samuel, thinking only of finding his father's +asses. God was sending him to be anointed king over his +people. England sends her ships all over the world, thinking +only of markets for the produce of her forges and her looms. +God is sending her that she may spread everywhere the faith of +the Irish people. +</p> + +<p> +Under the <q>Union Jack</q>, on which the crosses of St. George +and St. Andrew are blended, but so blended as to prevent any +Christian symbol being recognized (a fit emblem of the effect +of the union of jarring sects, each professing to proclaim Christianity, +but between them only obscuring and obstructing it)—the +Irishman, too, is borne to the distant colony. He goes, probably, +before the mast or in the forecastle, but he bears with +him the true faith; and when he lands he hastens to raise its +symbol. This may be at first over a rude chapel. But it is a +signal to other way-farers, and they gather under its shade to +offer up the sacred mysteries. As soon as his means permit, +even before he can build a good dwelling for himself, he takes +care that the house of God be, in every possible degree, worthy +of its sacred character. And so the Church creeps on and grows, +and regions that sat in darkness are now blessed by the offering +of the Adorable Sacrifice and the announcement of the true faith. +</p> + +<pb n='073'/><anchor id='Pg073'/> + +<p> +The Irishman, generally speaking, did not leave home through +ambition, or for conquest. He departed with sorrow from the +shade of that hawthorn around which the dearest memories of +childhood clustered. He would have remained content with the +humble lot of his father had he been allowed to dwell there in +peace. But the bailiff came, and, to make wider pastures for +sheep and bullocks, his humble cottage was levelled, and he himself +sent to wander through the world in search of a home. But +in his wanderings he carries his faith with him, and he becomes +the means of spreading everywhere the true Church of God. +</p> + +<p> +It is thus that the tempest, which seems but to destroy the +flower, catches up its seeds and scatters them far and near, and +these seeds produce other flowers as beautiful as that from which +they were torn, so that some fair spot of the prairie, when despoiled +of its loveliness, but affords the means of covering the vast +expanse with new and variegated beauties. +</p> + +<p> +It is thus that the famine, and the pestilence, and the inhuman +evictions of Irish landlords, have spread the faith of Christ far and +near, and planted it in new colonies, which, when they shall have +grown out of their tutelage, will look back to the departed power +of England and the undying faith of Ireland as, in the hands of +Providence, the combined causes of their greatness and their orthodoxy. +Macaulay's traveller from New Zealand, who will, +on some future day, <q>from a broken arch of London Bridge, +take a sketch of the ruins of St. Paul's</q>, may be some Irish <q>O'</q> +or <q>Mac</q> on a pilgrimage to the Eternal City, who passes that +way—having first landed on the shores from which his ancestors +were driven by the <q>crowbar brigade</q>, and visited with reverence +the hallowed graves under whose humble sod lie the bones +of his martyred forefathers. +</p> + +<p> +It is thus that the Catholic faith is being planted in the British +colonies of North America; it is thus it is carried to India, and +to Australia, and to the islands of the South Sea. Thus are laid +the foundations of flourishing churches, which promise, at no distant +day, to renew, and even to surpass, the work done by Ireland +in the palmiest days of faith, when her sons planted the Cross, +and caused Christ to be adored, as he wished to be adored, in the +most distant regions of the earth. +</p> + +<p> +The magnitude of this work is not to be measured even by the +importance of these transplanted churches at the present moment. +The countries to which I have alluded are but in their +infancy. We can see on this continent the rapid strides of such +infant colonies. Within three quarters of a century this country +has advanced in population from three to over thirty millions, +and in most other elements of greatness in still grander proportions. +If it continue to increase, as it has done regularly from +<pb n='074'/><anchor id='Pg074'/> +the beginning, at the end of this century, or soon after, it will +have a population of over one hundred millions—that is, as great +as is now the population of France, and Spain, and Italy, and +Great Britain combined. If this be expected in this country in +forty years, what will the case be in one or two hundred, in this +and so many others similarly situated? +</p> + +<p> +Australia starts with all the advantages of this country, and +some peculiar to itself, and is following it with giant strides. It +may overtake it before long, if not outstrip it. But the position +of Catholicity there is very different from what it was at the +commencement, or even at an advanced period, in the United +States. The Catholics in Australia occupy a position of practical +social equality with others. They will grow with the growth +and strengthen with the strength of their adopted country, and +have their fair share in its importance. +</p> + +<p> +England herself, from which the Catholic name was thought +to have been almost blotted out, has been deeply affected by this +exodus of Irish Catholics. In her cities, and towns, and hamlets, +the Cross has been raised from the dust. At the side of the ancient +monuments which remind England of her apostacy, humble +spires rise in every part of the land, and tell that nation that +the faith which they thought destroyed still lives, and is ready +to admit them again to its wonted blessings. They stand there, +and betoken the unity and stability of that faith of which they +are the symbols—of that faith which reclaimed the fathers of +that people from barbarism, and continued to be the faith of the +land for a thousand years, and is yet a faith, and the only faith, +in which men of every tongue and every clime are united. The +English people see its unity and stability, while they are forced +to witness the ever shifting and clashing forms of the religion +that was substituted for it. For, in the name of the one Christ +and the one Bible, altar is everywhere erected against altar, pulpit +thunders against pulpit, the teaching of to-day is contradicted +in the same pulpit on the morrow; yet each one proclaims his +own device as the plain teaching of Scripture. +</p> + +<p> +This confronting of unity with confusion, of steady adherence +to truth with the ever varying shifts of error, of the mild but +bright glory of an everlasting Church with the frivolities of the +proudest inventions of men, is a grace, and a great grace, which +God grants. It is a grace for the use of which that people will +give strict account. And oh! may that use be, that they will +make it fructify to their salvation. For while we appreciate the +blessings granted to ourselves, we have no other feeling in their +regard than a wish that they, too, may share in these blessings, +and be like unto us in everything <q>except these chains</q>. +</p> + +<p> +But whether well used or abused, whether unto <q>the ruin</q> or +<pb n='075'/><anchor id='Pg075'/> +<q>salvation</q> of many in that country, this grace is given chiefly +through the Irish emigration. +</p> + +<p> +I am not unaware of, nor do I undervalue, the importance of +the faithful remnant that has in England steadfastly continued in +the faith once delivered to the saints, nor of the accession made +to their numbers by the conversion of so many noble souls, to +whom God gave light and strength to overcome the many difficulties +that would have fain prevented their following that light. +But of both we might not inaptly ask, <q>What are these amongst +so many?</q> They are like those few tints that gild the skies here +and there, when the sun's light has all but departed; or like those +stars that pierce at night the cumbered heavens—bright, indeed, +and beautiful—but only showing forth more clearly the dark outlines +of the heavy and murky clouds that shroud the horizon. +They make us feel only more sensibly, and keep fresh in our +memory, the loss of the sun that has set. +</p> + +<p> +It is the Irish emigration that has chiefly supplied the multitudes +who flock around English altars, that has made churches +and schools spring up, that has finally called for the restoration +of a numerous hierarchy; and, as if to mark this fact, and point +out the great part that Ireland had in restoring Catholic life to +England, God has so arranged it that the first head and brightest +ornament of that new hierarchy should be the son of Irish emigrants; +for such is the great and illustrious Cardinal Wiseman. +</p> + +<p> +And even in these United States, let people say what they +please, has not the Irish race held the first place in planting the +cross throughout the length and breadth of the land? +</p> + +<p> +In this, and wherever else I speak of the Irish race, I do not, +of course, confine myself to those born in Ireland. The work +which a race is called to do is to be done by those who now live, +and by their children and their children's children, wherever +they happen to be born. Indeed, it would be a contradiction in +terms to consider the father and son, wherever born, as belonging +to different races. Be it for weal or for woe, be it unto honour +or unto shame, the fathers cannot disown the children nor the +children the fathers. If it depended on feeling or wishes, I, for +one, would be very glad to dissolve connection with any one who +insists that he owes nothing to the race that gave him a father or +a mother. I would readily leave such a one to his proud claim +of owning no paternity but the land on which he vegetates, and +I only regret that he will scarcely bring to it much credit or advantage. +He who is unwilling to acknowledge the father that +begot him, or the mother that gave him suck, is not a prize worth +contending for. But whatever we or he may wish, whatever be +the results to us or to him, he is flesh of our flesh and bone of our +bone. What God has united, neither he nor we can put asunder. +</p> + +<pb n='076'/><anchor id='Pg076'/> + +<p> +It is not that we should form separate classes or castes, or that +we claim other rights or privileges, or have other duties than +those of other races; but the one to which each man belongs has +been fixed by the Almighty Provider in the very act of giving +him being, and he who would fain conceal, or disown, or be +ashamed of his race—that is, of the order of Providence to which +he owes his existence—could succeed in nothing else but in proving +himself unworthy the esteem of men of any race. +</p> + +<p> +I know and gratefully acknowledge the important services +rendered to Catholicity in the United States by persons of other +races. There was, first of all, the Maryland colony, with whose +noble history that of few, if any, of the other colonies can compare. +By their justice and humanity in treating with the native +tribes, by similar justice and fair dealing with other colonists, of +every religion and every race, by their domestic virtues and patriotic +course, the men of that colony deserved and received a +high place in the esteem of their countrymen and of the world. +</p> + +<p> +But their number is small, too small—indeed. Would that +they were more. Were they all put together they would not +form one average diocese of the forty-six now existing in this +country. +</p> + +<p> +God has sent us many illustrious men from France, and Belgium, +and Italy, who have occupied the foremost ranks in the +ministry, whose heroic virtues and zealous works are even now +as beacon lights to all who labour for God's glory. But as to +the people from these countries, they are not many more than +those from the Maryland stock. Germany has sent many of her +hardy sons to labour with the steadfastness of their countrymen +in building up the walls of the sanctuary. These are, indeed, a +most important element, and are destined to become more and +more important every day. They may yet exercise a greater +influence on the destiny of the Church in this country than the +Irish race. But so far, I think, no one will claim that they can +be compared with it in numbers, or as to the results hitherto +obtained. Of the converts in this country we may say the same +thing as of those in England. +</p> + +<p> +Giving all, therefore, what belongs to them—for there is not, +nor should there be here, any room for jealousy—I think it will +be admitted that it is above all others to the sons of Ireland and +to their children that the spread of Catholicity is due in this +land. No matter who ministered at the altar (though there, +too, the sons of Ireland have had their share), in the body of the +church you will find that, in the majority of places, they constitute +the bulk, and in many the whole of the congregation. +Their hard earned dollars were foremost in supplying means to +buy the lot and raise the building from which the Catholic faith +<pb n='077'/><anchor id='Pg077'/> +is announced. The priest, no matter what his own nationality, +was nowhere more confident of finding help and support than +among the Irish emigrants or their children. Wherever a railway, +or a canal, or a hive of industry invited their sturdy labour, +the cross soon sprang up to bear witness to their generosity and +their faith. +</p> + +<p> +Even the old Maryland colony, though consisting chiefly of +English Catholics, seeking here a freedom of conscience denied +them at home, had its Irish element, and that not the least noble +in deeds nor the least conspicuous in virtue. +</p> + +<p> +When at the period of the Revolution the noblest men of this +land stood together, shoulder to shoulder, and issued that Declaration +of Independence to which they pledged their lives, their +fortunes, and their sacred honours, it was a Catholic of the Irish +race who affixed his signature for Maryland. In doing this he +pledged an honour as pure, and a life as precious as any of the +rest, but he staked a fortune equal to, if not greater than, that +of all the others put together. When he signed his name, one +standing by said, <q>There go some millions</q>. Another remarked, +<q>There are many Carrolls; he will not be known</q>. He overheard +the remark, and to avoid all misconception, wrote down +in full, <q><hi rend='italic'>Charles Carroll, of Carrollton</hi></q>. +</p> + +<p> +Yet this noble scion of the Irish race, for so many years the +pride and the ornament of his native state, while fulfilling all +the duties of an illustrious citizen, was not ashamed of the race +from which he sprang. Instead of selecting amongst French +<foreign lang='fr' rend='italic'>villes</foreign> or English <emph>parks</emph> or <emph>towns</emph> a name for his princely estate, +he stamped on it a title with the good old Celtic ring. He +called it after a property of one of his Irish ancestors, <hi rend='italic'>Doughoregan +Manor</hi>, thereby telling his posterity and his countrymen +that if they feel any pride in his name, they must associate him +with a race which so many affect to despise. +</p> + +<p> +Let all the sons, and the sons of the sons, of Ireland be, like +him, faithful to their duties as citizens, ready to sacrifice their +all for their country, whether that all be little, or as great as was +his vast wealth; just and respectful and charitable to men of all +races and creeds, not anxious either to conceal or obtrude their +own, but rather to live worthy of both; determined, in a word, +faithfully to discharge all their civil and Christian duties, let +them be earnest in elevating the one by greater fidelity to the +other. Acting thus, they will imitate Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, +and fulfil all I would wish them to do out of fidelity to +their country, their religion, and their race. +</p> + +<p> +It was also one of the Maryland stock, but of this same Irish +race—another Carroll—who was chosen the first bishop, and the +founder of the hierarchy, of the young American Church; as if +<pb n='078'/><anchor id='Pg078'/> +Providence here too wished to indicate from which race the +chief strength of Catholicity was to be derived in this land. +</p> + +<p> +Would it be overstraining matters to say, that a hint of this +was also given by Providence in the Irish name of the future +metropolitan see of the United States—the first in time, and +always to be the first in dignity? The word <hi rend='italic'>Baltimore</hi> is an +Irish word, and, through the founder of the colony, was derived +from an Irish hamlet, which from the extreme south-west coast +of Ireland, is looking, as it were, over the waters of the Atlantic +to this continent for the full realization of its name. The word, +in the Irish language, means <q>the town of the great house</q>, and +it was beyond the Atlantic that Baltimore, in becoming the +chief see of a great church, has truly become <q>the town of the +great house</q>, for the church, or house at the head of which it +stands, extends probably over a wider surface than any other +church or churches amongst which any one bishop holds pre-eminence, +excepting only the church governed by the Vicar of +Jesus Christ, to whom is committed the care of <emph>all</emph> the sheep +and lambs of God's fold, that is, the whole of Christ's Church. +In names, which God has given, or permitted to be given, he +has frequently foreshadowed the destinies of individuals and +races. Would it be superstitious to suppose that in the Irish +name of this American ecclesiastical metropolis—the only important +city in this country that has an Irish name—Providence +pointed, on the one hand, to its future position in the Christian +hierarchy, and on the other to the character of the chief portion +of the family of that house or church? +</p> + +<p> +But, be this as it may, it was a scion of the Irish race who +was the founder of the new American hierarchy. For some +time he held the crozier alone. The whole country was his +diocese. But he did not depart until he saw suffragans around +him forming a regular hierarchy, that was destined to multiply +and, mainly on Irish shoulders, carry, everywhere, the ark that +would spread blessings throughout the land. +</p> + +<p> +The work that has thus been commenced is no doubt destined +to prosper. It is not without a motive that in this country the +lines are drawn, and the foundations laid by Providence for a +noble church. Its beginnings (for we may say it is yet in its +infancy) bear many of the marks of the process by which the +work was effected, It is destined to grow, and may it grow, +particularly in the mild beauty of Christian virtue, and win, by +love, the homage of all the children of the land, that all may +receive through it the graces of Heaven, and even their Earthly +prosperity be consolidated and become the means of their acquiring +higher blessings. +</p> + +<p> +But whatever be said of the United States, the Irish race is +<pb n='079'/><anchor id='Pg079'/> +certainly almost alone in the work of diffusing Catholicity in the +various other countries in which the English language is spoken. +</p> + +<p> +The sufferings of Ireland were, therefore, the means, and evidently +intended by God as the means to preserve her in the faith, +to give her its rewards in a high degree; and this preservation of +her faith was as evidently intended to make her and her sons instruments +in spreading that faith throughout the English-speaking +world. This is, therefore, what I claim to be, in the counsels of +God, the <hi rend='smallcaps'>destiny of the Irish Race</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +Did we endeavour to draw this conclusion by far-fetched arguments, +we might fear the delusions of fancy, but I think it is +plainly written in the facts to which I have alluded, when looked +at with faith in an overruling Providence. The diffusion of the +true faith enters too closely, and is too primary a thing in the +designs of God, to suppose it for a moment to be the work of +accident. It is his work first of all. Where it exists it exists +because he so willed it. The instruments that effected it must +be those which he has chosen and placed to the work with this +very view. When, therefore, the results obtained, and those we +see in the certain future, and the means by which they are obtained, +are a matter of intuition, rather than of reasoning, the conclusion +drawn seems to me to have all the force of demonstration, +and in no way liable to be considered the product of fancy or of +national pride. +</p> + +<p> +This interpretation of the facts of history will, by some, be +considered a complicated theory, and therefore unworthy of God. +But the simplicity of God's operations by no means excludes +multiplicity and combination of agents in themselves most inadequate +or discordant. Our inclination to exclude these, though +we imagine the very contrary, is the result of the consciousness +of our own weakness, which we would fain attribute to God. +<emph>We</emph> may, indeed, be overwhelmed, or at least embarrassed, by +many instruments; and therefore we think it wise to avoid their +use. But, it is as easy for God to use and direct many as few, or +to produce results by his own immediate action. Nay, though +sometimes he performs wonderful works in a moment, he is more +often pleased to act through numerous and far-reaching instruments, +which, at times, seem even to work in opposition to his +designs, and by overruling and directing them, to prove that he +is Ruler and Master over all things in action, as well as the +Author of their being. +</p> + +<p> +By one word he made the Earth produce <q>every green herb</q> +and <q>every fruit-tree yielding fruit according to its kind</q>; but +he is now pleased to make the fertility of the earth, and the +various ingredients of the air, and the heat and light of the sun, +labour through a whole season to produce the flower, that for a +<pb n='080'/><anchor id='Pg080'/> +few days wastes its fragrance on the meadow. At one time he +sends his angel to strike down in one night myriads of the enemies +of his people; at another he is pleased <q>to hiss for the fly, +that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the +bee that is in the land of Assyria</q> (<hi rend='italic'>Is.</hi>, vii. 18), that they may +come and be the instruments of his vengeance. At one time he +rains down bread from Heaven to feed a whole multitude; at +another, he sends his angel to take the prophet by the hair of +his head from Judea, even unto Babylon, that he may supply +food to his servant. +</p> + +<p> +It is not for us to prescribe ways to Providence, but to study +His design in the events which we witness, and to bow down +and adore his Power, his Wisdom, and his Goodness. +</p> + +<p> +To give power to an apostate and persecuting nation, and the +grace of fidelity to another; to use and even to create the material +resources of the first as the instrument of his design over +the latter, may appear a circuitous course, but it is only another +instance of that unity of purpose and multiplicity, variety and +apparent incongruity of means, which we witness in almost all +his works. +</p> + +<p> +When the people of God were carried away into captivity, +<q>the priests took the fire from the altar, and hid it in a valley +where there was a pit without water</q>. There <q>they kept it +safe</q>, while the Gentile hosts reigned triumphant in the land. +But <q>when many years had passed</q>, and the people returned, +they sought the fire, but found only <q>thick water</q>. This they +sprinkled on the new sacrifices that were prepared, and <q>when +the sun shone out, which before was in a cloud, there was a great +fire kindled so that all wondered</q>. (II. <hi rend='italic'>Mach.</hi>, i. 19, 22). +</p> + +<p> +An analogous phenomenon, methinks, has been presented in +Ireland. That combination of frenzy and irreligion, which men +have called <q>The Reformation</q>, swept before it almost every +vestige of faith from many of the northern countries of Europe, +and seemed in a special manner to have enveloped in darkness +the islands of the West. Men were like <q>raging waves of the +sea, foaming out their own confusion</q>, boasting of liberty and +light, but treating the faithful with savage cruelty, and showing +their own inability to hold fast any positive principles which +they proclaimed as truth. The ancient faith of these islands, +overwhelmed in the waters of tribulation, seemed hidden in the +hearts of the Irish people, saddened by persecution and sufferings +of every kind. +</p> + +<p> +But the day has come for pouring forth this water on nations. +By their sufferings, the Irish race, driven into many lands, mingles +with the progeny of its oppressors. The sun of God's grace, +which seems under a cloud, is now shining forth, and a great +<pb n='081'/><anchor id='Pg081'/> +fire is enkindled and is spreading its light and its heat far and +near. The Church of God is everywhere showing itself again +in its pristine beauty. English-speaking nations that were the +ramparts of heresy, are beginning again to fall into the ranks of +Catholic unity, and, as happened once before, the light of faith +that took refuge in the most distant island of the West, is, from +that sacred spot, sending forth its beams and gladdening the +Church by giving her whole people as her children. +</p> + +<p> +So far we are led, I may say, by the mere logic of facts. Were +we to indulge in speculation, but in a speculation quite in conformity +with the beneficent designs of God, we might expect +still more from these effects of the steadfastness of Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding all the faults of England, the Catholic heart +throughout the world has never lost its interest in that land, once +so faithful. Other nations, once as Catholic, have been lost, and +they are almost forgotten. The land where the Saviour Himself +lived is, indeed, remembered on account of the sacred spots which +he trod; but no hopes are entertained for the conversion of its +people. The Churches planted by the Apostles have been destroyed. +We cherish the memory of the holy confessors and martyrs +who adorned them; but despair of their return to the truth +is the only feeling in their regard that we can discover in the +Catholic world. +</p> + +<p> +But in one way or another the Catholic heart seems never to +have despaired of the return of England. Opinions and expectations +which are, probably, nothing more than an expression of +the intensity of this feeling, are everywhere to be met. They +exist among the learned and the high, as well as amongst the +humble children of the Church, and are found to be cherished +in different lands. England, with her long catalogue of saints, +seems to be considered, not as an outcast, on whom the sentence +of spiritual death has been executed, but rather as the prodigal, +who in a moment of thoughtlessness demanded, what he called +his own share, and wandered from his father's house. The father +is looking out, expecting every day to see the wayward one return, +and is ever ready to kill the fatted calf, and to call on his +friends and neighbours to rejoice and be merry, for <q>he that was +dead is come to life again, and he that was lost is found</q>. +</p> + +<p> +But, alas! there is much reason to fear that such joy is not to +be expected. We know of no instance of a whole nation once +fully and deliberately apostatising from the faith ever again returning. +The grace of faith, if lost by individuals by formal +apostacy, is seldom recovered. It has never yet been recovered +by any nation that once enjoyed its full light, and deliberately +abandoned it. It is not for us, to be sure, to place bounds to the +mercies of God. Who knows but that in these latter ages God +<pb n='082'/><anchor id='Pg082'/> +may do a work which he never did before? and, now that the +Church has encircled the globe, and announced the Gospel to +every nation under the sun, God may send her back on another +mission more glorious than the first, showing forth his power in +giving new life to fallen nations as he did before in converting +those who knew not his name. His first work might be compared +to that which he performed when he took the clay and +breathed into it the breath of life; this, to his raising up the +dead already mouldering in the tomb. But he has done both in +the physical, and he may do both in the moral order. +</p> + +<p> +Without having recourse, however, to this extraordinary dispensation, +the hope of which would be unwarranted by anything +we have yet seen, may not the hopes to which I have alluded, +and which could scarcely have existed without some influence +of the divine Spouse of the Church, be realized in the conversion +of the children, rather than in that of the mother? May +not the expectations of the Catholic world be realized by a return +of English-speaking brethren in the various colonies which +the mother country has planted? May <emph>they</emph> not receive the +graces which the latter has cast away, and thus more than compensate +the Church for the loss of that one island? +</p> + +<p> +Such results would be no anomaly in the experience of the +Church. Several nations first learned Christianity under a heterodox +form, and some of the most Catholic to-day are their descendants. +Their errors were not their own faults, <emph>as nations</emph>, +and God had pity upon them. +</p> + +<p> +We may say the same thing of this, and of several other countries, +where great and independent peoples will be found one +day as they now are here. This nation has never apostatised +from Catholic truth, simply because it never possessed it <hi rend='italic'>as a +nation</hi>. At its birth it was already entangled in the meshes of +heterodoxy, and it found the Catholic Church in its midst, with +few adherents. Yet, at its very birth, it struck off the shackles +by which she was bound. Several circumstances, it is true, +aided this course of justice. But, who will say that these existed +otherwise than by God's Providence, and for the nation's benefit, +as well as for ours? This course of justice, moreover, was +adopted cordially and fully by the founders of the country's independence, +and that at a time when the Church was so treated by +few even of those nations on whom she had the best claims. +Bigots, it is true, were not wanting, then, or since. But it is a +great fact, that this nation, <emph>as a nation</emph> and as a Government, +has always, since its birth, treated God's Church with justice. +</p> + +<p> +A cup of cold water, given in the name of Christ, shall not be +without its reward. Do we exaggerate in hoping that this mode +of proceeding towards his Church shall have its reward from her +<pb n='083'/><anchor id='Pg083'/> +Heavenly Spouse—that it will plead for this nation with the Divine +Mercy, as the alms of Cornelius obtained for him the knowledge +of Gospel truth and a share in its blessings? The grace +of faith, with these blessings, is the greatest which God gives to +man, nor is it the less valuable because it is not now appreciated +or is even spurned. It is God's grace that gives a hunger for divine +things, as it is by Him that the hungry are filled. +</p> + +<p> +Yes, I do not only desire, and send up the prayer, but I candidly +avow the hope, that the light of faith is yet destined to shine +brightly here, even amongst those who now look on it with contempt +or hostility. In this I am strengthened by the desire for +a knowledge of truth, which, notwithstanding the bigotry of +many, is so widely spread. I am strengthened by the growth of +the Church itself, which bears the marks of a higher purpose on +the part of God than the mere preservation of those who came +Catholics to our shores. I am strengthened by the very losses +which the Church sustains in the falling away of many of her +children. For surely God did not permit them to be driven +hither by persecution that they might perish. He sent them forth +to battle, in doing which, though many may be lost, he will grant +victory to his own cause. I am strengthened by the very dangers +by which we are surrounded; nor would my hope be shaken +even if storms should impend. For it is according to the ways of +God to reach his ends amidst contradictions. +</p> + +<p> +Let it not be said that the humble condition or the faults of +many of the children of the Church, forbid such a hope as this. +God's ways are not as our ways. It is not by the great or by the +mighty that his truth is propagated. Flesh might otherwise +glory in His sight, and men might say that, by their wisdom and +their efforts was His kingdom established. So far from this being +an objection, when other things inspire hope, the hope is strengthened +by the humble form in which the Church presents itself. +Our hope of its diffusion is better founded when we see it borne +to our shores by humble labourers, than if it had come recommended +exclusively by proud philosophers, cunning statesmen, +or by men loaded with wealth. +</p> + +<p> +What we hope for this nation, we may hope with greater reason +for the other nations yet reposing in their infancy, or growing +in giant proportions under British rule. I say, with greater reason, +because in most of these the foundations of Catholicity are +laid even more deeply than they are here. While it would be a +great thing for God's honour and glory, there is nothing to forbid +the hope that these may one day be united in the true fold of the +everlasting Church. The blood of Ireland and of England will +mingle in their veins; and, while they will look back with shame +on the apostacy of the sixteenth century, as a disgraceful chapter +<pb n='084'/><anchor id='Pg084'/> +in the history of their forefathers, they will glory in the recollections +of the saints and the heroes of religion who, for a thousand +years, adorned both their mother countries. With feelings analogous +to those with which we look back to the tyrants of the +first centuries and their victims, they will set off the martyr heroes +of one portion of their ancestors to the apostacy of the other, +and the apostasy itself will be, in their history, but an episode +proving how far human nature may stray, while their own conversion +will be a standing monument of the power of the cross. +</p> + +<p> +If these hopes be realized, the Irish race and its sufferings will +have been the instruments in the hands of God by which the +grand result will be accomplished; but whether they be realized +or not, the main point which I have endeavoured to dwell upon +seems to me to be established beyond doubt—that is, that this +race has been preserved by God in the true faith in an extraordinary +manner, for the purpose of spreading that faith throughout +the English-speaking nations which now exist, or which are +coming into being. +</p> + +<p> +As Ireland owes the preservation of her faith to her being +destined as the leaven of that mass, it is but assigning to God a +purpose worthy of His goodness to say, that England owes her +power to her mission to spread that leaven throughout so many +vast regions. It will not, I presume, be considered rash to say +that God, permitting her to acquire power, proposed to himself +some higher object than that other nations should have cheap +cotton or woollen fabrics, or that they should learn how to travel +forty instead of four or ten miles an hour. In his goodness he +designed that power for some purpose worthy of Heaven; and +this purpose may be accomplished whether England herself will +it or not, or even though she desire the very contrary. I have +said before, that most learned and grave writers consider the +Roman power to have been intended, in the counsels of God, to +prepare a way for the diffusion of the Gospel. The rulers of +Rome despised the Gospel and its heralds. Still Rome most +probably owed to them her greatness, and but for this mission, +she might have remained what she was in the beginning—an +obscure village, a place of refuge for the thieves of the surrounding +country. England may despise the Irish Catholic. +Like Rome, she may look upon the professors of Catholicity +as the great plague-spot of her system. Yet, in the designs +of God, she most probably is indebted for her power to the +part she is made to act in the diffusion of their faith. It +is certain, at least, that the highest use of that power she has +yet been allowed to make, is the carrying of frieze-coated Papists +to distant shores, and the clearing of the forests where they +are propagating, and are yet to propagate more extensively, +<pb n='085'/><anchor id='Pg085'/> +the true faith. If a higher design in her behalf exist in the arrangements +of Providence, it is yet to be made known. But for this +she might have remained, as the poet described her, <q>a naked +fisher</q> on her rock, and when she shall have ended her usefulness +as an instrument for accomplishing this object, she may return +<q>to her hook</q>, still musing, perhaps, her senseless <q>No +Popery</q>, while the churches which she has unwillingly assisted +to plant, will be growing up in beauty and praising God in one +harmonious voice with the other children of his family throughout +the world. +</p> + +<p> +The value and importance of this great mission cannot be +overrated. It is awful to think what would have been the condition +of the English-speaking races, in a religious point of view, +if Ireland had shared in the English apostacy. Scarcely a +Catholic voice would be heard amongst those seventy or eighty +millions now using that language, who occupy so large a portion +of the Earth, and in another century, according to the ratio of +their growth, may become two or four hundred millions, or even +more. The very remnant that has continued faithful in England +might have followed in the wake of their predecessors, had not +the influence of Ireland caused the sword of persecution to be +sheathed, and civil intolerance to cease at last, and thus the +temptation to be removed which had proved fatal to so many. +In that vast empire, or the empires that may rise out of its +fragments—for, in more than one place are foundations of empires +laid which would grow with giant growth, even though the power +of the mother country were paralysed to-morrow—the holy sacrifice +would not be offered up, and thus the prophecy not fulfilled, +which foretold that a clean oblation would be offered from the +rising of the sun to the going down thereof. That union of the +Christian family for which the Saviour prayed before he suffered, +and which he left as a mark by which men would know his followers, +would not be exhibited to the world. Christianity would +be confounded with the products of these latter ages of so-called +<q>light</q>, and be thought, like the appliances of steam and the contrivances +of machinery, to owe its power to the genius of the +Anglo-Saxon race, instead of deriving it from Him who died on +Calvary. For their Christianity, by its very name, would proclaim +that the work of Christ had failed, until the press and the +<q>march of light</q> had come to its aid. Religion, in a word, instead +of being a divine institution, would appear and be amongst +them but a brilliant work or invention of man, and, therefore, +in the supernatural order, but a brilliant delusion, not an institution +which the mercy of God transplanted from Heaven, and +made to stand, and to grow, and to bless, and produce fruit, in +every age and in every form of society. +</p> + +<pb n='086'/><anchor id='Pg086'/> + +<p> +But, in preserving the faith of the Irish race, God has provided +a leaven of truth for these masses. By the side of systems +of religion which men have devised, stands the everlasting +Church—that Church which, as Macaulay remarked, is the only +connecting link between the civilization of the ancient and modern +worlds—the Church which taught the name of Christ to +every nation that knows him, even to those who afterwards fell +from the fullness of truth—the Church which Augustine brought +to England, and Patrick to Ireland—the Church that raised the +dignity of the poor, and humbled the pride of the high, placing +all on the level of the Gospel—the Church that claims no new +inventions, but is itself an invention of God, infinitely surpassing +all inventions of man, holding out nothing to the nineteenth, +which it did not present to the first, to the tenth, and to every +other century, but presenting to all the faith and institutions of +God, able to save all, to elevate all, to bring all into one fold, that +all may be united in one happiness in Heaven. +</p> + +<p> +Is not this great result worth all the sufferings which Ireland +has endured? The ways of God appear often circuitous. But +in their circuitous course they are everywhere fraught with blessings. +The children of Ireland suffered; yet, even in their sufferings +they were blessed. He himself pronounced <q>blessed +those who suffer persecution for justice's sake</q>; for in their trials +they redeemed their own souls. But they were doubly blessed, +because they were preserving the ark of God, and carrying it +through the waters of tribulation to bless more amply unborn +and numerous generations. The ways of God are circuitous, +and though, like the course of the planets, they sometimes seem +to us to retrograde, they are always onward. The sufferings of +Ireland at a time seemed without a purpose, or even the very +contrary to what we might have expected for so faithful a people. +But, who knows what might have been the result, if justice and +humanity had marked the course of the English nation towards +Ireland? Who knows but the temptation to the latter to be +drawn into apostacy would have been too powerful? Had +Apostate England dealt generously or justly with Catholic +Ireland, who knows if, in the alliances that would have been +formed, she would have been equally steadfast in her faith? +And though for a long time confiscations, and plunder, and persecution, +and slaughter, and even now, harsh treatment condemning +her sons to famine and banishment, have been the effects of +the English connection; if these have been the means of creating +a barrier that prevented the spread of heresy amongst her +sons, has too great a price been paid for the <q>pearl</q> that has been +bought? When, particularly, the cross borne by the children +of Ireland shall have been erected in the Western and Southern +<pb n='087'/><anchor id='Pg087'/> +Hemispheres, and flourishing Churches in Catholic unity established +under its shade, where, but for the fidelity of our fathers, +heterodoxy alone would have had sway, shall we not say that +little indeed were their sufferings compared to the value of such +an Apostolate of Empires? +</p> + +<p> +What is any Earthly mission compared to this? What is even +the spreading of civilization with its highest privileges, compared +to the spreading of the saving institutions of the Gospel? +Even in this world virtue is a thing infinitely superior to mere +physical power. The man who does God's will, whose soul is +adorned with grace, is an object of complacency with his Maker, +and enjoys his esteem infinitely more, than he who can control +the hidden powers of nature, and make them subservient to his +will, but does not make his own will conform to the great law +that should govern it—subjection to the will of God. When +Earth, and all that is of Earth, shall have passed away, the +proudest human achievements will be seen to have been as +nothing, while those who shall have caused God's name to be +glorified, shall shine as bright stars <q>unto perpetual eternities</q>. +</p> + +<p> +This mission, however, has its duties as well as its dignity. +What will it avail us to be the sons of martyred sires who sacrificed +all for God, if we barter the faith for which they died, for +some paltry bauble, or fail to transmit it to those under our +charge? Will not the constancy and sufferings of our fathers +be a reproach to us before God and man? Will they not pronounce +judgment upon us if, while we honour their heroic deeds, +we ourselves display nothing but pusillanimity? And even +though we preserve our faith, will not this be rather to our shame, +if we do not endeavour to practise the virtues which it teaches? +When the salt has lost its savour, it is good for nothing any more +but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men. The higher +the vocation of God, the lower will be the degradation of those +who fail to correspond. They will be despised, and justly despised, +by God and by men. +</p> + +<p> +We can see in the fate of other nations the consequences of +infidelity to a noble mission. Spain and Portugal were once +great powers. They achieved great things at home and abroad. +The sails of their commerce whitened every sea. The most +distant lands acknowledged their might. They, too, were missionary +nations. They carried the faith to the East and to the +West, and in both hemispheres planted the cross on continents +and islands where Christ was before unknown. God may be +said to have given them power for this purpose. It was mainly +through their agency that the missionary work, which repaired +the losses of the Church in Europe, was carried on for two hundred +years. +</p> + +<pb n='088'/><anchor id='Pg088'/> + +<p> +But the rulers of these countries listened to wicked counsels. +On <emph>one and the same</emph> dark day did Spain, on another did Portugal, +command the most strenuous heralds of the cross to be seized +and bound in chains. The galleons that were wont to bear over +the deep the treasures of Asia and America, and pour them into +the laps of the mother countries, or to carry their commands +and the means of enforcing them to the most distant lands, were +now spreading their sails over every ocean and sea, in the inglorious +work of conveying to home prisons, or into exile, the truest +missionaries of the cross. On that day these nations renounced +their noble mission, and the power that was given to enable them +to carry it out soon departed. +</p> + +<p> +The immediate agencies producing their downfall, as well as +those that gave rise to their power, may, indeed, be seen in operation +before the existence of the causes to which I have attributed +them, but not before these were known to God. Now, +he frequently prepares, by a long process, the instruments both +of his rewards and his punishments, and holds them ready to be +conferred on the virtuous, or poured forth on the head of the +criminal, long before the fidelity of the one be tested, or the +guilt of the other be consummated. Spain and Portugal thus +fell, if you will, by immediate agencies long in operation, but +by agencies over which God ruled, and which He directed according +to his own wise counsels. They fell, and in their humbled +condition, mocked by the remains of ancient greatness, they +teach all the important lesson, that the greater the high calling +given by God, the greater the punishment of those who prove +untrue. +</p> + +<p> +Were we also to prove faithless to the mission which God has +assigned us, we know not what punishment may await us, even +in this world. The trials through which our race has passed, +and is passing, may seem severe; but, they are trials permitted +by a loving father. May we never deserve that he should scourge +us in his <emph>great</emph> anger. We might then find, like the Jewish +people, that to suffer for righteousness' sake from the hands of +men, is sweet, compared to the gall and wormwood mixed in +the cup of those who fall into the hands of an avenging God. +</p> + +<p> +On this day, when the Church calls on us to commemorate +the heroic virtues and the glorious deeds of our great Apostle, +I would fain say to every son of Ireland—to every one in whose +veins Irish blood flows, no matter where he himself was born: +Let us live worthy of our ancestry, of an ancestry which is the +same for all, and is a noble one, noble in that which is the +noblest thing man can rejoice in—virtue and fidelity to +God. We ourselves are called in a special manner to do honour +to our faith by spreading it amongst nations that are destined to +<pb n='089'/><anchor id='Pg089'/> +occupy the highest position in the social scale. Let us be faithful +to our calling. Let us show ourselves worthy sons of the +martyred dead. Let us make sure, like them, whatever else we +fail in, not to fail in transmitting the faith to those entrusted to +our charge, never exposing it to danger for any advantage, much +less for the trifling things that may be gained here by want of +fidelity. Transmit, carefully, the faith, first of all, but with +faith spare no effort that you yourselves, and those committed to +your care, grow also in every other virtue. Nay, endeavour so to +live that <emph>all men</emph> may learn to love the faith which is the spring +of your actions, and thus glorify and love that God who is the +<q>Author and Finisher</q> of that Faith. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Liturgical Questions. +(<hi rend='italic'>From M. Bouix's <q>Revue des Sciences Ecclesiastiques</q></hi>).</head> + +<p> +1. Is it lawful or obligatory to insert, at the letter N, in the +collect <hi rend='italic'>A cunctis</hi>, the name of the patron of the locality (if there +be one) when the titular of the church is the Blessed Virgin or +a mystery of our Saviour? +</p> + +<p> +2. Is it right to place on the corner of the altar the finger-towel, +which in some churches is fastened to the altar-cloth, from +which it hangs suspended? +</p> + +<p> +3. Is there any obligation to ring the bell at the Sanctus and +at the Elevation, even when there is no one at Mass? +</p> + +<p> +4. Is it lawful for a priest to use a cincture of the kind generally +used by bishops? +</p> + +<p> +1. The name of the titular of the church in which the Mass +is said is that which ought to be inserted at the letter N in the +collect <hi rend='italic'>A cunctis</hi>. In the application of this general rule various +cases may occur; the title may be a mystery of our Lord or of +our Blessed Lady; or it may be a saint already named in the +collect—for example, Saint Peter or Saint Paul; or Mass may +be said in an oratory which has no titular saint. The following +are the rules to be observed in such cases: +</p> + +<p> +1<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>o</hi>. That it is the name of the titular saint which is to be inserted +at the letter N is clear from the following decrees: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +1 <hi rend='smallcaps'>Decree</hi>. <hi rend='italic'>Question.</hi> <q>In missali romano praecipitur, ut post nomina +Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, in oratione <hi rend='italic'>A cunctis</hi>, etc., dicatur +nomen patroni praecipui illius ecclesiae, seu diocesis. In Hispania +est praecipuus illius regni patronus B. Jacobus apostolus et ex concessione +Apostolica in ecclesia dioecesi Guadicensi est patronus specialis +S. Torquatus, B. Jacobi apostoli discipulus, et ejusdem ecclesiae +<pb n='090'/><anchor id='Pg090'/> +et civitatis primus episcopus. Quaeritur: An in praedicta oratione +<hi rend='italic'>A cunctis</hi> debeat dici nomen B. Jacobi apostoli, an B. Torquati?</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Answer.</hi> <q>In oratione <hi rend='italic'>A cunctis</hi> post nomina sanctorum apostolorum +Petri et Pauli, nomen Torquati tanquam Ecclesiae cathedralis Guadicensis +Patroni dumtaxat ponendum esse</q>. (Decree of 22 January, +1678, No. 2856, q. 8.) +</p> + +<p> +2 <hi rend='smallcaps'>Decree</hi>. <hi rend='italic'>Questions.</hi> <q>... 15. S. Jacobus est patronus universalis +regnorum Hispaniae, sancti vero martyres Stemeterius et Caledonius +fratres sunt patroni particulares ecclesiae cathedralis, et totius dioecesis +Santanderiensis rite electi, et novissime approbati a S. R. C. +Quaeritur igitur: Quis ex his patronis debeat nominari ... in oratione +<hi rend='italic'>A cunctis</hi>, quando in missis haec oratio dicitur in ecclesia matrice et +in caeteris dioecesis? 16. In casu, quo ob dignitatis praestantiam +nominari debeat S. Jacobus, quaeritur an ... exprimi etiam possint +nomina SS. Stemeterii et Caledonii in praedicta oratione ..., praecipue +in ecclesia matrice ubi sacra eorum capita ... venerantur? Et si negative, +supplicatur pro gratia ad promovendum cultum qui ipsos +decet in ecclesia cathedrali ac tota dioecesi ratione sui specialissimi +patronatus</q>. <hi rend='italic'>Answer.</hi> <q>Ad 15. In qualibet ecclesia nominandum esse +patronum seu titularem proprium ejusdem ecclesiae. Ad 16. Provisum +in praecedenti</q>. (Decree of 23 January, 1793, No. 4448, q. 15 +and 16.) +</p> + +<p> +3 <hi rend='smallcaps'>Decree</hi>. <hi rend='italic'>Question.</hi> <q>An patronus nominandus in oratione <hi rend='italic'>A +cunctis</hi> intelligi debeat patronus principalis loci?</q> <hi rend='italic'>Answer.</hi> <q>Nominandus +titularis Ecclesiae</q>. (Decree of 12 November, 1831, No. +4669, q. 31.) +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +2<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>o</hi>. If the titular of the church has been already named in the +collect <hi rend='italic'>A cunctis</hi>, no name is to be inserted at the letter N. The +same holds if the Mass happens to be that of the same saint. +This rule depends on the following decision: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +<q>Quis nominandus sit ad litteram N. si patronus vel titularis jam +nominatus sit in illa oratione, aut de eo celebrata sit missa?</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Answer.</hi> <q>Si jam fuerit nominatus omittenda nova nominatio</q>. +(Ibid.) +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +3<hi rend='ertical-align: super'>o</hi>. If the oratory in which the Mass is said have no titular +saint, the name of the patron of the locality is to be inserted. This +rule is proved from a decree of 12th December, 1840, No. 4897, +No. 2: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +<q>Sacerdos celebrans in oratorio publico vel privato quod non +habet sanctum patronum vel titularem, an debeat in oratione <hi rend='italic'>A +cunctis</hi> ad litteram N. nominare sanctum patronum vel titularem +ecclesiae parochialis intra cujus limites sita sunt oratoria, vel sanctum +patronum ecclesiae cui adscriptus est, vel potius omnem ulteriorem +nominationem omittere?</q> <hi rend='italic'>Answer.</hi> <q>Patronum civitatis, vel loci +nominandum esse</q>. +</p> + +</quote> + +<p> +4<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>o</hi>. If the titular of the church be a mystery of the life of +our Lord, or of our Lady, authors differ in opinion whether the +name of the patron of the locality is to be inserted at the letter +<pb n='091'/><anchor id='Pg091'/> +N, or whether no addition should be made. M. de Conny is for +the latter opinion, and his authority is a safe guide for us. The +second rule we have laid down is sufficient to show that no +name is to be inserted in cases where the title of the church is a +mystery of the Blessed Virgin, seeing that the august Mother of +God is always named in the body of the prayer. The words of +the conclusion are enough perhaps to excuse from the obligation +of naming the patron of the locality in cases where the church is +dedicated to a mystery of the life of our Lord. +</p> + +<p> +2. The usage here alluded to is not only not becoming, but it +is also contrary to the Rubric of the Missal. (part i., tit. xx.): +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>Ab eadem parte epistolae ... ampullae vitreae vini et aquae, cum +pelvicula et manutergio mundo in fenestella, seu in parva mensa ad +haec praeparata. Super altare nihil omnino ponatur, quod ad Missae +sacrificium vel ipsius altaris ornatum non pertineat</q>. +</quote> + +<p> +3. The sole reason for ringing a bell at Mass is to give a +signal to the faithful. <q>Ad excitandos circumstantes</q>, says +Gavantus (t. i. part i., tit. XX., l. c.), <q>ad laetitiam exprimendam +et ad cultum sanctissimi Sacramenti adhibetur campanula</q>. +Other writers coincide with this opinion. It seems but natural, +therefore, not to ring the bell when there are no assistants present, +and when there is no need of any signal. Besides, it is +clearly the teaching of authors, and even of the Sacred Congregation +of Rites, that whenever a signal is not required, the bell +is not to be rung. Thus, the following decision forbids the bell +to be rung during the celebration of the divine office in the +choir, at least in certain circumstances: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>Exposito in S. R. C. ecclesiam collegiatam civitatis Senarum +habere chorum adeo subjectum oculis populi, et tali loco positum, ut +canonici dicto choro pro divinis celebrandis, et praecipue Missae cantatae +assistentibus, omnino altaria ejusdem coliegiatae pernecesse inspiciantur, +et exposito quoque tempore, quo canonici choro ut supra +assistunt, consuevisse in dictis altaribus celebrari Missas privatas et +sine scandalo prohiberi non posse: ideo supplicatum fuit pro declaratione: +an ipsi canonici in elevationibus quae fiunt in Missis privatis, +genuflectere teneantur?</q> <hi rend='italic'>Answer.</hi> <q>Non esse genuflectendum, ne +sacra, quibus assistunt, per actum privatum interrumpantur, sed ad +evitandum scandalum, quod in populo et adstantibus causari possit +ob non genuflectionem esse omittendam pulsationem campanulae in +elevatione Sanctissimi, in dictis Missis privatis.</q> (Decret of 5 March +1667, No. 2397.) +</quote> + +<p> +Nor, as a general rule, is the bell rung when the Blessed Sacrament +is exposed, for then it is unnecessary to summon the faithful +to adore the Eucharist. <q>During the private Masses</q>, says the +<hi rend='italic'>Instructio Clementina</hi>, <q>that are celebrated during the exposition, +the bell is not to be rung</q>. Cavalieri, commenting on this passage, +<pb n='092'/><anchor id='Pg092'/> +says: <q>Ex rubricarum praescripto ... interdicuntur</q>. He is +of opinion that this rule of the <hi rend='italic'>Instructio</hi> regards only low Masses, +but Gardellini holds that it refers also to High Masses: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<q>Non erat, cur instructio etiam Missas solemnes commemoraret, +pro quibus Rubrica, non jubet, ut in privatis, eadem pulsari ad +finem prefationis, et ad elevationem Sacramenti. Romae saltem in +majoribus ecclesiis obtinet mos etiam non pulsandi, praeterquam in +Missis solemnibus pro defunctis: gravis organorum sonitus supplet +vices tintinnabuli, et populi adstantis excitat attentionem</q>. +</quote> + +<p> +From all this it is clear that the bell is not to be rung whenever +there is no signal to be given. This is certainly the case +when there is no one to assist at Mass. +</p> + +<p> +4. The cincture for the use of a priest does not differ from +that for the use of a bishop. It may be made either of linen +thread or silk, but it is better that it should be of linen. It may +be either white or of the colour of the vestments. These rules +are drawn from two decrees of the Sacred Congregation: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> + +<p> +1 <hi rend='smallcaps'>Decree</hi>. <hi rend='italic'>Question.</hi> <q>An sacerdotes in sacrificio Missae uti possint +cingulo serico?</q> <hi rend='italic'>Answer.</hi> <q>Congruentius uti cingulo lineo</q>. +(22 Jan. 1701, No. 3575, q. 7.) +</p> + +<p> +2 <hi rend='smallcaps'>Decree</hi>. <hi rend='italic'>Question.</hi> <q>An cingulum, tertium indumentum sacerdotale, +possit esse colons paramentorum; an necessario debeat esse +album?</q> <hi rend='italic'>Answer.</hi> <q>Posse uti cingulo colore paramentorum</q>—(8 +Jun. 1709, No. 3809, q. 4.) +</p> + +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='093'/><anchor id='Pg093'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Documents.</head> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>I. Condemnation Of Dr. Froschammer's +Works.</head> + +<p> +Venerabili Fratri Gregorio Archiepiscopo +</p> + +<p> +Monacensi Et Frisingensi +</p> + +<p> +Pius PP. IX. +</p> + +<p> +Venerabilis Frater, Salutem et Apostolicam Benedictionem. Gravissimas +inter acerbitates, quibus undique premimur, in hac tanta +temporum perturbatione et iniquitate vehementer dolemus, cum noscamus, +in variis Germaniae regionibus reperiri nonnullos catholicos +etiam viros, qui sacram theologiam ac philosophiam tradentes minime +dubitant quamdam inauditam adhuc in Ecclesia docendi scribendique +libertatem inducere, novasque et omnino improbandas opiniones +palam publiceque profiteri, et in vulgus disseminare. Hinc +non levi moerore affecti fuimus, Venerabilis Frater ubi tristissimus +ad Nos venit nuntius, presbyterum Jacobum Frohschammer in ista +Monacensi Academia philosophiae doctorem hujusmodi docendi scribendique +licentiam proe ceteris adhibere, eumque suis operibus in +lucem editis perniciosissimos tueri errores. Nulla igitur interposita +mora, Nostrae Congregationi libris notandis praepositae mandavimus, +ut praecipua volumina, quae ejusdem presbyteri Frohschammer +nomine circumferuntur, cum maxima diligentia sedalo perpenderet, +et omnia ad Nos referret. Quae volumina germanice scripta titulum +habent—<hi rend='italic'>Introductio in Philosophiam—De Libertate scientiae—Athenaeum</hi>—quorum +primum anno 1858, alterum anno 1861, tertium vero +vertente hoc anno 1862 istis Monacensibus typis in lucem est editum. +Itaque eadem Congregatio Nostris mandatis diligenter obsequens +summo studio accuratissimum examen instituit, omnibusque sem el +iterumque serio ac mature ex more discussis et perpensis judicavit, +auctorem in pluribus non recte sentire, ejusque doctrinam a veritate +catholica aberrare. Atque id ex duplici praesertim parte, et primo +quidem propterea quad auctor tales humanae rationi tribuat vires, +quae rationi ipsi minime competunt, secundo vero, quod eam omnia +opinandi, et quidquid semper audendi libertatem eidem rationi concedat, +ut ipsius Ecclesiae jura, officium, et auctoritas de media omnino +tollantur. Namque auctor imprimis edocet, philosophiam, si recta +ejus habeatur notio, posse non solum percipere et intelligere ea +christina dogmata, quae naturalis ratio cum fide habet communia +(tamquam commune scilicet perceptionis objectum) verum etiam +ea, quae christianam religionem fidemque maxime et proprie efficiunt, +<pb n='094'/><anchor id='Pg094'/> +ipsumque scilicet supernaturalem hominis finem, et ea omnia, quae +ad ipsum spectant, atque sacratissimum Dominicae Incarnationis +mysterium ad humanae rationis et philosophiae provinciam pertinere, +rationemque, dato hoc objecto suis propriis principiis scienter ad ea +posse pervenire. Etsi vero aliquam inter haec et illa dogmata distinctionem +auctor inducat, et haec ultima minori jure rationi attribuat, +tamen clare aperteque docet, etiam haec contineri inter illa, +quae veram propriamque scientiae seu philosophiae materiam constituunt. +Quocirca ex ejusdem auctoris sententia concludi omnino +possit ac debeat, rationem in abditissimis etiam divinae Sapientiae ac +Bonitatis, immo etiam et liberae ejus voluntatis mysteriis, licet posito +revelationis objecto posse ex seipsa, non jam ex divinae auctoritatis +principio sed ex naturalibus suis principiis et viribus ad scientiam +seu certitudinem pervenire. Quae auctoris doctrina quam falsa sit +et erronea nemo est, qui christianae doctrinae rudimentis vel leviter +imbutus non illico videat, planeque sentiat. Namque si isti philosophiae +cultores vera ac sola rationis et philosophiae disciplinae tuerentur +principia et jura, debitis certe laudibus essent prosequendi. +Siquidem vera ac sana philosophia nobilissimum suum locum habet, +cum ejusdem philosophiae sit, veritatem diligenter inquirere, humanamque +rationem licet primi hominis culpa obtenebratam, nullo +tamen modo extinctam recte ac sedulo excolere, illustrare, ejusque +cognitionis objectum, ac permultas veritates percipere, bene intellegere, +promovere, earumque plurimas, uti Dei existentiam, naturam, +attributa, quae etiam fides credenda proponit, per argumenta ex suis +principiis petita demonstrare, vindicare, defendere, atque hoc modo +viam munire ad haec dogmata fide rectius tenenda, et ad illa etiam +reconditiora dogmata, quae sola fide percipi primum possunt, ut illa +aliquo modo a ratione intelligantur. Haec quidem agere, atque +in his versari debet severa et pulcherrima verae philosophiae scientia. +Ad quae praestanda si viri docti in Germaniae Academiis enitantur +pro singulari inclytae illius nationis ad severiores gravioresque +disciplinas excolendas propensione, eorum studium a Nobis comprobatur +et commendatur, cum in sacrarum rerum utilitatem profectumque +convertant, quae illi ad suos usus invenerint. At vero in +hoc gravissimo sane negotio tolerare numquam possumus, ut omnia +emere permisceantur, utque ratio illas etiam res, quae ad fidem +pertinent, occupet atque perturbet, cum certissimi, omnibusque +notissimi sint fines, ultra quos ratio numquam suo jure est +progressa, vel progredi potest. Atque ad hujusmodi dogmata ea +omnia maxime et apertissime spectant, quae supernaturalem hominis +elevationem, ac supernaturale ejus cum Deo commercium respiciunt +atque ad hunc finem revelata noscuntur. Et sane cum +haec dogmata sint supra naturam, idcirco naturali ratione, ac naturalibus +principiis attingi non possunt. Numquam siquidem ratio +suis naturalibus principiis ad hujusmodi dogmata scienter tractanda +effici potest idonea. Quod si haec isti temere asseverare audeant +sciant, se certe non a quorumlibet doctorum opinione, sed a communi, +et numquam immutata Ecclesiae doctrina recedere. Ex divinis enim +<pb n='095'/><anchor id='Pg095'/> +Litteris, et sanctorum Patrum traditione constat. Dei quidem existentiam, +multasque alias veritates, ab iis etiam qui fidem nondum +susceperunt, naturali rationis lumine cognosci, sed illa reconditiora +dogmata Deum solum manifestasse dum notum facere voluit, <hi rend='italic'>mysterium, +quod absconditum fuit a saeculis et generationibus<note place='foot'>Col. 1. v. 26. 1.</note> et ita quidem, +ut postquam multifariam multisque modis olim locutus esset patribus in +prophetis novissime Nobis locutus est in Filio, per quem fecit et saecula<note place='foot'>Hebr. 1, v. 1, 2.</note> +... Deum enim nemo vidit umquam. Unigenitus Filius, qui est in +sinu Paris ipse ennarravit.</hi><note place='foot'>Joan. 1, v. 18.</note> Quapropter Apostolus, qui gentes +Deum per ea, quae facta sunt cognovisse testatur, disserens de <hi rend='italic'>gratia +et veritate<note place='foot'>Joan 1, v. 17.</note> quae per Jesum Christum facta est, loquimur, iniquit, Dei +sapientiam in mysterio, quae abscondita est ... quam nemo principum +hujus saeculi cognovit ... Nobis autem revelavit Deus per Spiritum +Suum ... Spiritus enim omnia scrutatur, etiam profunda Dei. Quis +enim hominum scit quae sunt hominis, nisi Spiritus hominis, qui in ipso est? +Ita et quae Dei sunt nemo cognovit, nisi Spiritus Dei.</hi><note place='foot'>1 Corint. v. 2, 7, 8, 10, 11.</note> Hisce aliisque +fere innumeris divinis eloquiis inhaerentes SS. Patres in Ecclesiae +doctrina tradenda continenter distinguere curarunt rerum divinarum +notionem, quae naturalis intelligentiae vi omnibus est communis +ab illarum rerum notitia, quae per Spiritum Sanctum fide suscipitur, +et constanter docuerunt, per hanc ea nobis in Christo revelari +mysteria, quae non solam humanam philosophiam, verum etiam +Angelicam naturalem intelligentiam transcendunt, quaeque etiamsi +divina revelatione innotuerint, et ipsa fide fuerint suscepta, +tamen sacro ad hue ipsius fidei velo tecta et obscura caligine +obvoluta permanent, quamdiu in hac mortali vita peregrinamur +a Domino.<note place='foot'>S. Joan. Chrys. hom. 7. in 1. Corinth. S. Ambros. de fide ad Grat. S. Leo de +Nativ. Dom. Serm. 9. S. Cyril. Alex. contr. Nestor. lib. 3. in Joan, 1, 9. S. Joan, +Dam. de fide orat. II, 1, 2, in 1, 2, in 1 Cor. c. 2, S. Hier. in Galat. III, 2.</note> Ex his omnibus patet alienam omnino esse a catholicae +Ecclesiae doctrina sententiam, qua idem Frohschammer +asserere non dubitat, omnia indiscriminatim christianae religionis +dogmata esse objectum naturalis scientiae, seu philosophiae, +et humanam rationem historice tantum excultam, modo haec dogmata +ipsi rationi tanquam objectum proposita fuerint, posse ex +suis naturalibus viribus et principio ad veram de omnibus etiam +reconditioribus dogmatibus scientiam pervenire. Nunc vero in +memoratis ejusdem auctoris scriptis alia domanitur sententia, +quae catholicae Ecciesiae doctrinae, ac sensui plane adversatur. +Etenim eam philosophiae tribuit libertatem, quae non scientiae +libertas, sed omnio reprobanda et intoleranda philosophiae +licentia sit appellanda. Quadam enim distinctione inter +philosophum et philosophiam facta, tribuit philosopho jus et officium +se submittendi auctoritati, quam veram ipse probaverit, sed +utrumque philosophiae ita denegat, ut nulla doctrinae revelatae +ratione habita asserat, ipsam nunquam debere ac posse Auctoritati +se submittere. Quod esset toet crandum et forte admittendum, +<pb n='096'/><anchor id='Pg096'/> +si haec dicerentur de jure tantum, quod habit philosophia suis +principiis, seu methodo, ac suis conclusionibus, uti, sicut et aliae +scientiae, ac si ejus libertas consisteret in hoc suo jure utendo, ita ut +nihil in sea dmitteret, quod non fuerit ab ipsa suis conditionibus acquisitum, +aut fuerit ipsi alienum. Sed haec justa philosophiae libertas +suos limites noscere et experiri debet. Nunquam enim non solum +philosopho, verum etiam philosophiae licebit, aut aliquid contrarium +dicere iis, quae divina revelatio, et Ecclesia docet, aut aliquid ex +eisdem in dubium vocare propterea quod non intelligit, aut judicium +non suscipere, quod Ecclesiae auctoritas de aliqua philosophiae conclusione, +quae hujusque libera erat, proferre constituit. Accedit +etiam, ut idem auctor philosophiae libertatem, seu potius effrenatam +licentiam tam acriter, tam temere propugnet, ut minime vereatur asserere, +Ecclesiam non solum non debere in philosophiam unquam +animadvertere, verum etiam debere ipsius philosophiae tolerare +erores, eique relinquere, ut ipsa se corrigat, ex quo evenit, ut philosophi +hanc philosophiae libertatem necessario participent, atque ita +etiam ipsi ab omni lege solvantur. Ecquis non videt quam vehementer +sit rejicienda, reprobanda, et omnini damnanda hujusmodi +Frohschammer sententia atque doctrina? Etenim Ecclesia ex divina +sua institutione et divinae fidei depositum integrum inviolatumque +diligentissime custodire, et animarum saluti summo studio debet continenter +advigilare, ac summa cura ea omnia amovere et eliminare, +quae vel fidei adversari, vel animarum salutem quovis modo in discrimen +adducere possunt. Quocirca Ecclesia ex potestate sibi a +divino suo Auctore commissa non solum jus, sed officium praesertim +habet non tolerandi, sed pro scribendi ac damnandi omnes erores, si +ita fedei integritas, et animarum salus postulaverint, et omni philosopho, +qui Ecclesiae filius esse velit, ac etiam philosophiae officium +incumbit nihil unquam dicere contra ea, quae Ecclesia docet, et ea +retractare, de quibus eos Ecclesia monuerit. Sententiam autem, quae +contrarium edocet omnino erroneam, et ipsi fidei. Ecclesiae ejusque +auctoritati vel maxime injuriosam esse edicimus et declaramus. +Quibus omnibus accurate perpensis, de eorumdrm VV. FF. NN. +S. R. E. Cardinalium Congregationis libris notandis praepositae +consilio, ac motu proprio, et certa scientia matura deliberatione +Nostra, deque Apostolicae Nostrae potestatis plenitudine praedictos +librus presbyteri Frohschammer tamquam continentes propositiones +et doctrinas respective falsas, erroneas, Ecclesiae, ejusque +actoritati ac juribus injuriosas reprobamus, damnamus, ac pro reprobatis +et damnatis ab omnibus haberi volumus, atque eidem +Congregationi mandamus, ut eosdem libros in indicem prohibitorum +librorum referat. Dum vero haec Tibi significamus, Venerabilis +Frater, non possumus non exprimere magnum animi Nostri Dolorem +cum videamus hunc filium eorumdem librorum auctorem, qui ceteroquin +de Ecclesia benemereri potuisset, infelici quodam cordis impete +misere abreptum in vias abire, quae ad salutem non ducunt, ac magis +magisque a recto tramite aberrare. Cum enim alius ejus liber de +animarum origine prius fuisset damnatus non solum se minime submisit, +<pb n='097'/><anchor id='Pg097'/> +verum etiam non extimuit, eumdem errorem in his etiam libridenuo +docere, et Nostram Indicis Congregationem contumeliis cumen +lare, ac multa alia contra Ecclesiae agendi rationem temere mendaciterque +pronuntiare. Quae omnia talia sunt, ut iis merito atque optimo +jure indignare potuissemus. Sed nolumus adhuc paternae +Nostrae charitatis viscera erga illum deponere, et idcirco Te +Venerabilis Frater, excitamus, ut velis eidem manifestare cor +Nostrum paternum, et acerbiseimum dolorem, cujus ipse est causa, +ac simul ipsum saluberrimis monitis hortari et monere, ut Nostram, +quae communis est omnium Patris vocem audiat, ac resipiscat, +quemadmodum catholicae Ecclesiae filium decet, et ita nos omnes +laetitia afficiat, ac tandem ipse felixiter experiatur quam jucundum +sit, non vana quadam et perniciosa libertate gaudere, sed Domini, +adhaerere, cugus jugum suave est, et onus leve, cujus eloquo +casta, igne examinata, cujus judicia vera, justificata in semetipsa, +et cujus universae viae misericordia et veritas. Denique hac etiam +occasione libentissime utimur, ut iterum testemur et confirmemus +praecipuam Nostram in Te benevolentiam. Cujus quoque pignus +esse volumus Apostolicam Benedictionem, quam intimo cordis affectu +Tibi ipsi, Venerabilis Frater, et gregi Tuae curae commisso paremanter +impertimus. Datum Romaae apud S. Petrum die 11 Decembris +anno 1862, Pontificatus Nostri anno decimo septimo. +</p> + +<p> +Pius PP. IX. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>II. Decree Of The Congregation Of Rites.</head> + +<p> +The Roman ritual, speaking of the Blessed Eucharist, prescribes +as follows: <q>Lampades coram eo plures vel saltem una +diu notucque colluceat</q>. These lamps are to be fed with olive +oil, which the Church has adopted for mystic reasons in so many +of her sacred rites. But in many countries the difficulty of +procuring olive oil is considerable, and the expense greater than +small churches can bear. Several prelates of France, moved by +these reasons, asked permission to burn in the lamps before the +Blessed Sacrament oils other than from olives. The following is +the answer: +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Decretum: Plurium Dioeceseum.</hi> +</p> + +<p> +Nonnulli Reverendissimi Galliarum Antistites serio perpendentes +in multis suarum Dioeceseum Ecclesiis difficile admodum et +nonnisi magnis sumptibus comparari posse oleum olivarum ad +nutriendam diu noctuque saltem unam lampadam ante Sanctissimum +Eucharistiae Sacramentum, ab Apostolica Sede declarari +petierunt utrum in casu, attentis difficultatibus et Ecclesiarum paupertate, +oleo, olivarum substitue possint alea olea quae ex vegetalibus +habentur, ipso non excluso petroleo. Sacra porro Rituum +Congregatio, etsi semper sollicita ut etiam in hac parte quod usque ab +<pb n='098'/><anchor id='Pg098'/> +Ecclesiae primordiis circa usum olei ex olivis inductum est, +ob mysticas significationes retineatur; attamen silentio praeterire +minime censuit rationes ab iisdem Episcopis prolatas; ac proinde exquisito +prius Voto alterius ex Apostolicarum Coeremoniarum Magistris, +subscriptus Cardinalis Praefectus ejusdem Sacrae Congregationis +rem omnem proposuit in Ordinariis Commitiis ad Vaticanum hodierna +die habitis. Eminentissimi autem et Reverendissimi Patres Sacris +tuendis Ritibus praepositi, omnibus accurate perpensis ac diligentissime +examinatis, rescribendum censuerunt: Generatim utendum esse +oleo olevarum: <hi rend='italic'>ubi vero haberi nequeatt remittendum prudentiae Episcoporum +ut lampades nutriantur ex aliis oleis quantum fieri possit vegetabilibus</hi> +die 9 Julii 1864. +</p> + +<p> +Facta postmodum de praemissis Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Pio +Papae IX. per infrascriptum Secretarium fideli relatione, Sanctitas +Sua sententiam Sacrae Congregationis ratam habuit et confirmavit. +Die 14 iisdem mense et anno. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='smallcaps'>C. Episcopus Portuen. et S. Rufinae Card. Patrizi S. R. C. Praef. +Loco</hi> ✠ Signi <hi rend='italic'>D. Bartolini S. R. C. Secretarius</hi>. +</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Notices Of Books.</head> + +<div> +<head>I.</head> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Martyrologium Dungallense, seu Calendarium Sanctorum Hiberniae.</hi> +<hi rend='italic'>Collegit et digessit</hi> Fr. Michael O'Clery, Ord. Fr. +Min. Strictioris Observantiae. Permissu et facultate Superiorum. +1630. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>The Martyrology of Donegal: a Calendar of the Saints of Ireland</hi>, +translated from the original Irish by the late John O'Donovan, +LL.D., M.R.I.A., Professor of Celtic Literature +in the Queen's College, Belfast. Edited, with the Irish +text, by James Henthorn Todd, D.D., M.R.I.A., F.S.A., +Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin; and by William +Reeves, D.D., M.R.I.A., Vicar of Lusk, etc. Dublin: +printed for the Archaeological Society. Thom, 1864, lv.-566 +pp. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>The Martyrology of Donegal</hi> was completed on the 19th of April, +1630, in the Franciscan convent of Donegal. The compilers were +Brother Michael O'Clery, a lay brother of that convent, with three +associates who with him are so well known by the name of <q>The +Four Masters</q>. Colgan (<hi rend='italic'>Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae</hi>, tom. 1, p. 5 a.) +thus speaks of it: <q>Martyrologium quod Dungallense vocamus, +nostris diebus ex diversis tum Martyrologiis, tum annalibus patriis +collectum est, partim operâ Authorum qui Annales communes, de +<pb n='099'/><anchor id='Pg099'/> +quibus infra, compilarunt in Conventu Dungallensi; partim opera +Patrum ejusdem Conventus qui sanctos, qui extra patriam vixerunt +et de quibus hystorici exteri scripserunt, addiderant</q>. The Donegal +copy of 1630 was a more complete transcript of a first copy, made +by Michael O'Clery in the preceding year at Douay. Both copies +are now extant in the Burgundian Library at Brussels, but +circumstances have not permitted Dr. Todd to get the first copy +also transcribed. Both copies are autographs of Michael O'Clery. +</p> + +<p> +The first to discover the mine of Irish MSS. in Brussels +was Mr. L. Waldron, M.P., who, in 1844, at the request of Professor +O'Curry, examined the library there. By the influence of +Lord Clarendon, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland, with the government, +Dr. Todd procured from the Belgian government, in +1848, the loan of several MSS. of the greatest importance, with +the permission to have them transcribed. One of these was the +autograph MS. of the <hi rend='italic'>Martyrology of Donegal</hi>, prepared for the +press by the author, with the approbations of his ecclesiastical +superiors. A copy of it was executed by the late Professor +O'Curry with the skill and beauty of his unequalled penmanship; +and this copy was collated with the original, whilst it was still +in Dr. Todd's possession. From O'Curry's copy Dr. Reeves +made another for his own use, and from this he made a third +transcript for the printers, and the translator, Dr. O'Donovan. +This translation was the last labour of Dr. O'Donovan's life. +</p> + +<p> +The contents of the volume are distributed as follows: An +introduction (ix.-xxiv.) by Dr. Todd is followed by an appendix +(xxiv.-xlix.) containing <q>a number of memoranda, references to +authorities, and miscellaneous notes, which have been written by +the author, and others, through whose hands the MS. has passed, +on the fly-leaves at the beginning and end of each volume</q>. +Many of them are of great interest. Then come the <hi rend='italic'>Testimonia et +Approbationes</hi> (xlix.-lv.) of Flann Mac Egan, Conner McBrody, +Dr. Malachy O'Cadhla, Archbishop of Tuam; Dr. Boetius Mac +Egan, Bishop of Elphin; Dr. Thomas Fleming, Archbishop of +Dublin; and Dr. Roth Mac Geoghegan, Bishop of Kildare. +The <hi rend='italic'>Martyrology</hi> proper follows (1-351) with the Irish text on one +page and Dr. O'Donovan's translation on the other. The notes +appended are but few, and serve merely to explain obscurities in +the text, to settle the reading, or to correct some obvious mistake. +For almost all the notes we are indebted to Dr. Todd himself. +A table of the <hi rend='italic'>Martyrology</hi>, compiled by the author, and translated +by Dr. Todd, occupies from page 354 to page 479, and is +followed by three indexes, compiled by Dr. Reeves, one of persons +(485-528), another of places (529-553), and a third of matters (544-566). +These indexes, says Dr. Todd, <q>possess a topographical +and historical interest quite independent of their connection with +<pb n='100'/><anchor id='Pg100'/> +the present work, and are in themselves a most important practical +help to the study of Irish history</q>. +</p> + +<p> +What is the value of this work? What position does it occupy +among Irish Ecclesiastical documents? It cannot be +regarded as an <emph>original</emph> authority. <q>It is confessedly a compilation, +and of comparatively recent date, having been completed, +as we have seen, in the early part of the seventeenth century. +But it is a compilation made by a scholar peculiarly well fitted +for the task, who had access to all the original documents then +extant in the Irish language, the matter of which he has transferred +either in whole or in part into the present work, quoting +in almost every instance the sources from which he drew his information</q> +(Introd., p. xiii.). The bare enumeration of these +sources will serve to show the value of the book. I. <hi rend='italic'>The Metrical +Calendar, or Festilogium of Aengus Ceile De</hi>, commonly called +the <hi rend='italic'>Felire of Aengus</hi>. Its author was a monk of Tallaght, near +Dublin, in the days when Saint Maolruain was abbot, about the +beginning of the ninth century. Dr. Kelly of Maynooth has +published a translation of a portion of this <hi rend='italic'>Metrical Calendar</hi> in +his <hi rend='italic'>Calendar of Irish Saints</hi>. II. The <hi rend='italic'>Martyrology of Tallaght</hi>. +This is a transcript of a very ancient martyrology containing the +names of the saints and martyrs of the entire Church, with the +Irish saints added under each day. It was composed at the +close of the ninth or very early in the tenth century. The +Brussels MS. is an abstract of the ancient copy at Saint Isidore's +at Rome, but it contains the Irish saints alone, omitting altogether +the general martyrology. It was from a transcript of the Belgian +MS. that Dr. Kelly published in 1857 the calendar alluded to +above. III. The <hi rend='italic'>Calendar of Cashel</hi>, which is not now known +to exist. According to Colgan, its author flourished about the +year 1030. IV. The <hi rend='italic'>Martyrology of Maolmuire</hi> (or <hi rend='italic'>Marianus</hi>) +<hi rend='italic'>O'Gorman</hi>, written in Irish verse, in the times of Gelasius, +Archbishop of Armagh, about 1167. Its author was abbot of +Knock, near Louth, and the work is taken from the <hi rend='italic'>Felire of +Tallaght</hi>, and is not confined to Irish saints. V. <hi rend='italic'>The Book of +Hymns</hi>, a portion of which has already been published by the +Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society, and of which a second +portion is in the press, under the care of Dr. Todd. VI. +Poems, such as the <hi rend='italic'>Poem of St. Cuimin of Condeire (Connor)</hi>, +of the middle of the seventh century, published by Dr. Kelly, +with a translation by Professor O'Curry; the <hi rend='italic'>Naoimhseanchus</hi>, +attributed by Colgan to Selbach of the tenth century; the <hi rend='italic'>Poem +of St. Moling of Ferns</hi> (<hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 675-695), and several minor poems. +VII. Several of the great collections or <hi rend='italic'>Bibliothecae</hi>, of which he +names expressly the <hi rend='italic'>Book of Lecan</hi>, the <hi rend='italic'>Leabhar na Huidre</hi>, and +the <hi rend='italic'>Book of Lismore</hi>. VIII. The lives of saints in Irish and +<pb n='101'/><anchor id='Pg101'/> +Latin. Of these he quotes no less than thirty-one. From this +list it will be seen that almost all the literature of the early Irish +Church has helped to enrich the pages of the <hi rend='italic'>Martyrology of +Donegal</hi>. And since <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>norma orandi legem statuit credendi</foreign>, we +could scarcely find a nobler monument of the faith and practice +of our forefathers. The Church that places on her list of saints, +bishops, and priests, and abbots, and consecrated virgins, and +hermits, possesses in that very calendar a mark deep and broad +enough to distinguish her from all the sects that belong to modern +Protestantism. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<head>II.</head> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Lectures on Modern History, delivered at the Catholic University +of Ireland.</hi> By Professor J. B. <hi rend='smallcaps'>Robertson</hi>; cr. 8vo, p.p. +xvi., 528. Dublin: W. B. Kelly, 1864. +</p> + +<p> +The lectures included in this volume were delivered in the +Catholic University of Ireland, on various occasions, in the years +1860 to 1864, and their purport has been well expressed in the +author's own words. Speaking in reference to all his literary +labours, <q>I devoted</q>, says Professor Robertson, <q>my feeble +powers to the defence of God and His holy Church against unbelief +and misbelief; and of social order and liberty, against the +principles of revolution, which are but impiety in a political +form</q>. In these words we have the key-note of the entire work. +The <q>History of Spain in the Eighteenth Century</q> forms the +subject of two lectures. To these is added a supplement of +more than fifty pages, in which the late Mr. Buckle's <q>Essay +on Spain</q>, contained in his <q>History of Civilization</q>, is severely +but most deservedly criticised, and, we may add, is refuted by +solid and convincing arguments. +</p> + +<p> +In four lectures our author discusses the <q>life, writings, and +times of M. de Chateaubriand</q>, involving, much of the internal +history of France, especially as regards literature and religion +under the first Napoleon and the succeeding governments down +to the Revolution in 1848. These lectures are full of interest. +But what must be considered as by far the most important portion +of this volume is that in which Professor Robertson treats +of the <q>Secret Societies of Modern Times</q>. In two lectures he +traces the origin and progress of the Freemasons, the Illuminati, +the Jacobins, the Carbonari, and the Socialists; and in an appendix +adds a <q>brief exposition of the principal heads of Papal +legislation on Secret Societies</q>. +</p> + +<p> +Such are the contents of the work. The style is agreeable +and clear, the diction felicitous, and above all, the sentiments +just, equally characterised by extensive information, political +<pb n='102'/><anchor id='Pg102'/> +sagacity, and a profound reverence for divine faith. The professor +has happily avoided both the tedious exhaustiveness of the +German, and the brilliant flippancy which so often charms us in +the French. Nor has he been unmindful of the more laborious +students who would not shrink from the toil of research after +further information. For these he has provided such an array of +authorities, on each of his subjects, as must greatly facilitate the +progress of those who would engage in diligent historical investigation. +We know not where else there could be had so intelligible +an account of the secret societies which have been so +active in all the political convulsions of Europe, from 1789 to the +present time. We need not advert to the part which secret +societies have had in producing the present deplorable state of +Italy. To the readers of the <hi rend='italic'>Civiltà Cattolica</hi> such reference +would be unnecessary. To those who have not the advantage of +regularly reading that most instructive periodical we would recommend +Professor Robertson's lectures, as containing, in a +moderate sized volume, a most perspicuous summary of what is +requisite to be known concerning those dark conspiracies and +their objects. If it were only for this, the volume would be a +most welcome addition to our historical library. +</p> + +<p> +The book has been brought out with the utmost elegance of +paper, type, and printing. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<head>III.</head> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>La Roma Sotterrana Cristiana descritta ed illustrata</hi> dal Cav. +G. B. de Rossi. Publicata per ordine della Santità di N. +S. Papa Pio IX. Chromolithografia Ponteficia Roma, 1864. +vol. 1. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Christian Subterranean Rome, described and illustrated</hi> by Cav. +G. B. de Rossi. Published by order of His Holiness Pope +Pius IX., vol. 1. +</p> + +<p> +In 1861 Cavalier de Rossi published the first volume of his +<hi rend='italic'>Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae seculo VII. antiquiores</hi>. On +to-day we announce the appearance of the first volume of his +long expected work on Subterranean Rome. In the introduction +the author passes in review all that has been done to explore +the Catacombs, from the fourteenth century to our day. Pomponius +Laetus, Pauvinius, Ciacconius, and especially Bosio and +Bottari, claim his attention in turn. After a sketch of the results +of the labours undertaken in the eighteenth and nineteenth +centuries, Cav. de Rossi shows what yet remains to be done, and +what part of this he himself proposes to accomplish. +</p> + +<p> +The second part of the volume is entitled <q>Remarks on ancient +Christian Cemeteries in general, and on those of Rome in particular</q>: +<pb n='103'/><anchor id='Pg103'/> +the whole is divided into three parts. Part I. on the Christian +Cemeteries in general, treats of their antiquity, their divisions into +subterranean and non-subterranean, and the respective marks of +each class. The author here proves that even in the third century, +when Christianity was persecuted to the death, the Christian Cemeteries +had a legal existence recognized by the Emperors. Part +II. is devoted to the documents which illustrate the history and +topography of the Catacombs, and embraces contemporary documents, +historical and liturgical treatises later than the fourth century, +lives of Pontiffs, etc. Part III. contains a general history +of the Roman Cemeteries, arranged in four periods: beginning +respectively, with the apostolic times; the third century; the +peace of Constantine (312); and the fifth century, <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 410. +In the second century the catacombs were of slow growth; in +the third, their extent became most remarkable; after Constantine, +they began to be abandoned as places of sepulture; with +the fifth century set in their decay, leading to the removal of the +relics of the saints to the churches within the walls, whither the +sacrilegious hands of Goths and Lombards, who periodically pillaged +the Campagna, could not reach; finally, after the ninth +century, they were almost forgotten. Part IV. contains the +analytical description of the Christian Cemeteries. The Cemetery +of Callixtus, the most ancient and most celebrated of all, is +described at length. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<head>IV.</head> + +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Vetera Monumenta Hibernorum et Scotorum Historiam Illustrantia; +quae ex Vaticani, Neapolis, ac Florentiae Tabularis +depromsit, et Ordine chronologico disposuit</hi> Augustinus +Theiner, Presbyter Cong. Oratorii, Tabulariorum Vaticanorum +Praefectus, etc. Folio, Romae, Typis Vaticanis, 1864. +One Volume folio, pages 624. +</p> + +<p> +The notice of the See of Ardagh in the sixteenth century, +printed in our opening number, has probably prepared our +readers to estimate the value of the important series of documents +upon which it is founded. We purposed to urge strongly +upon the clergy of Ireland the duty of supporting generously the +distinguished scholar, who in his love of Ireland has undertaken +the costly and laborious work of publishing all the manuscript +materials of Irish history which are preserved in the archives of +the Vatican, and has already given in the opening volume an +earnest of their extent, as well as of their historical value. We +are happy, however, to find that what we had desired and intended, +has already been put in a practical form, and that an +effort has been made to forward among the friends of Irish history +<pb n='104'/><anchor id='Pg104'/> +the sale of this most interesting collection. We cannot, +therefore, we believe, advance more effectually the object which +we have at heart, than by transferring to our pages the following +notice, which has been printed for private circulation:— +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Monsignor Theiner's Collection from the Secret Archives of +the Vatican, of Naples, and of Florence, is unquestionably the +most important contribution to the history of the Church in these +countries since the great historical movement of the seventeenth +century. It comprises upwards of a thousand original documents, +Pontifical Bulls, Briefs, and Letters, Consistorial Acts, +Inquisitions, Reports, etc., ranging from the pontificate of Honorius +III., 1216, to that of Paul III., 1547.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>These papers, in the main, relate to the history of Ireland and +of Scotland, especially of the former country. There is hardly +a diocese in Ireland of which they do not contain some notice, +and in many cases, as, for instance, that of Ardagh, already +noticed by the learned editor of the Essays of the lamented Dr. +Matthew Kelly, but traced in detail in the <hi rend='italic'>Irish Ecclesiastical +Record</hi>, No. I., pp. 13-17, they serve to fill up important breaks +in the existing records, and to correct grave and vital errors in +the received histories.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>But, in addition to the Irish and Scotch documents, the volume +contains many of wider and more general interest; among which +it will be enough to specify a single series—nearly a hundred +unpublished letters of Henry VIII., relating chiefly to the negociations +regarding the divorce, which they present in a light +almost completely new.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>This volume is printed entirely at the expense of the distinguished +editor. It is meant as an experiment; and, should +the sale, for which he must mainly rely upon the countries +chiefly interested, suffice to cover the bare cost of publication, +it is his intention to continue the series from the archives of +the Vatican, down through the still more interesting, and, for +Irish history, more obscure, as well as more important, period of +Edward VI., Mary, Elizabeth, and James I.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Mgr. Theiner has requested his friend, Rev. Dr. Russell, +President of St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, to receive and +transmit to Rome any orders far the volume with which he may +be favoured.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +</body> +<back rend="page-break-before: right"> + <div id="footnotes"> + <index index="toc" /> + <index index="pdf" /> + <head>Footnotes</head> + <divGen type="footnotes"/> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: right"> + <divGen type="pgfooter" /> + </div> +</back> +</text> +</TEI.2> |