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diff --git a/old/54587-0.txt b/old/54587-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3833aab..0000000 --- a/old/54587-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,30979 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Pope, the Kings and the People, by -William Arthur, Edited by W. Blair Neatby - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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 included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: The Pope, the Kings and the People - A History of the Movement to Make the Pope Governor of the World by a Universal Reconstruction of Society from the Issue of the Syllabus to the Close of the Vatican Council - - -Author: William Arthur - -Editor: W. Blair Neatby - -Release Date: April 22, 2017 [eBook #54587] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POPE, THE KINGS AND THE -PEOPLE*** - - -E-text prepared by Marcia Brooks, Steven Giacomelli, Graeme Mackreth, and -the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page -images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/a545521400arthuoft - - - - - -THE POPE THE KINGS AND THE PEOPLE - - - "Take thou the tiara adorned with the triple crown, and know that - thou art the Father of princes and of kings, and art the Governor - of The world."--_Coronation Service of the Pontiffs._ - - -THE POPE THE KINGS AND THE PEOPLE - -A History of the Movement to Make the Pope Governor of the World by a -Universal Reconstruction of Society from the Issue of the Syllabus to -the Close of the Vatican Council - -by the late - -WILLIAM ARTHUR A.M - -Author of "The Tongue of Fire" etc. - -Edited by W. Blair Neatby M.A - -Author of "The Programme of the Jesuits" etc. - - - - - - -London Hodder and Stoughton 27 Paternoster Row 1903 - -Butler & Tanner The Selwood Printing Works Frome and London - - - - -EDITOR'S PREFACE - - -Though I am named as the Editor of the present edition of the late Rev. -Wm. Arthur's _The Pope, the Kings, and the People_, it is right to say -that, by a restriction of my own choosing--for the publishers were -good enough to leave me a considerable discretion,--my editorial care -has been limited to the work of abridgment.[1] It was clear from the -first that in the short time at my disposal no attempt could be made to -verify the multitude of Mr. Arthur's references and quotations, drawn -as they were with a lavish hand from the contemporary literature of -half Europe. Happily, all his readers must recognise how intelligent, -laborious and scrupulous he has been. On the other hand, I had hoped to -add a certain number of footnotes explanatory of allusions to events -and circumstances that are much less fresh in the public memory to-day -than they were twenty-six years ago. I should also greatly have liked -to point out the extent, sometimes remarkable, to which Mr. Arthur's -forecasts have been already verified. But I soon found that if I were -to introduce fresh matter it must be at the expense of portions of -the original edition that were not to be lightly discarded. I have -therefore directed my efforts to adapting the book as far as possible -to the requirements of the present time by the process of simple -retrenchment. - -This process I have carried out most scrupulously. Every word in the -abridgment is Mr. Arthur's own, and in Mr. Arthur's order. I have not -even allowed myself to supply insignificant connecting words, however -convenient they might have been, or however plainly they might be -implied in the original work. This rule has entailed extra labour, but -the gain seems to me immense. Every reader of this abridgment may know -that he is reading Mr. Arthur's _ipsissima verba_, and that he may -safely quote them as such. Not one word is mine. - -And here I may perhaps be allowed to express my opinion that Mr. -Arthur's words deserve to be very widely read and quoted. It would be -hard to find a book that would shed more light on many of the most -urgent questions of to-day. As an _annus mirabilis_ of history, 1870 -may yet take its place with 1453 or 1789. It was the year in which the -Jesuits signalized the triumphant consummation of a struggle, waged -during more than three centuries, for the capture of the Papacy. It -was the year in which the new Vaticanism was formally constituted, -and in which it gave the world notice, plainly and ostentatiously, of -the policy to which it held itself committed. It was also the year of -the Franco-Prussian war, a mighty convulsion which was after all but -an incident in the great drama of Vaticanism, as Mr. Arthur, amongst -others, has clearly shown. - -I have said elsewhere that "the Jesuits, who brought France to the -verge of ruin in 1870, seemed on the very point of completing their -work of destruction a year or two since; and [that] he would be a very -bold man who would dare to say that the peril had passed even yet."[2] -The writer who makes such a statement assumes a grave responsibility; -but if any one wishes to know how abundantly the statement can be -justified he has only to turn to Mr. Arthur's pages. Mr. Arthur -demands from us no confiding trustfulness. Even at some expense to -the flow of his narrative, he wisely made his work a repertory of -contemporary documents, either transcribed entire or quoted with great -fulness. Without resort to _ex parte_ representations of adversaries, -we may thus learn from the Vatican's own organs that clerical -education, which has so signally proved itself the bane of modern -France, is the very groundwork of Vaticanism. And from the impressive -picture of the remorse that embittered Montalembert's last hours as -he looked back on the share he had taken long before in shaping the -educational policy of his country, we may perhaps learn the great -lesson of distinguishing between a false liberalism and the true. - -Never more than in this instance is the history of the past the key to -the present; and no man, unless his acquaintance with Vaticanism is -of quite exceptional extent, can rise from the perusal of this book -without feeling that he has obtained a momentous and far-reaching -addition to his stock of religious and, perhaps even more, of political -knowledge. - - W. BLAIR NEATBY. - - _November, 1903._ - - - - -PREFACE - - -The sources of the information contained in this work are, 1. Official -documents; 2. Histories having the sanction of the Pope or of bishops; -3. Scholastic works of the present pontificate, and of recognized -authority; 4. Periodicals and journals, avowed organs of the Vatican -or of its policy, with books and pamphlets by bishops and other -Ultramontane writers; 5. The writings of Liberal Catholics. - -Of the official documents the greater part have been officially -published. The list of authorities, and the references in each -particular case, will sufficiently indicate where these are to be -found. Besides these, the _Documenta ad Illustrandum_ of Professor -Friedrich are a store of documents of special value, both in themselves -and as throwing light upon those officially published. They came into -his hands as an official theologian at the Vatican Council, and he -published them on his own responsibility. The _Sammlung_ of Friedberg -is a vast store, combining the documents of the Vatican with those of -Courts, public bodies, and important individuals. - -The official history of Cecconi, now Archbishop of Florence, though -professedly that of the Vatican Council, is really occupied with the -secret history of the five years preceding the Council. That very -curious narrative throws a light back on the foregoing years, and a -light forward upon the Council, by aid of which many things otherwise -indistinct become well defined. I have waited in hope that a second -volume would appear, but in vain. The eight superb folios of Victor -Frond come out with an assurance, under the Pope's own hand, of being -preserved by due oversight from error, and with a guarantee of divine -patronage. They contain a life of the Pope, biographical notices of -the Cardinals and prelates, a full account of ceremonies, authentic -portraits of men and vestments, with pictures of "functions," and so -contribute to enable one to set events in their frames, and to invest -them with their colours. Except military annals, perhaps, no history -ever had more colour than this portion of Papal history, and perhaps -in no history whatever has the action been more deeply affected by -the scenery. The _Civiltá Cattolica_ fulfils the invaluable office -of a serial history, in the pages of which official documents and -the chronicle of events illustrate one another, and at the same time -discussions often prepare the way both for documents and for events, -and always follow and elucidate any that are of consequence. The same -office is in a less degree also fulfilled by the _Stimmen aus Maria -Laach_. - -To appreciate the height of authority on which the _Civiltá_ stands, -the reader should bear in mind the fact that in 1866,[3] after it had -already for sixteen years been recognized as the organ, at one and the -same time, of the Pope himself and of the Company of Jesus to which its -editors belonged, his Holiness in a brief and by a declared exercise -of apostolic authority, formally erected _in perpetuity_ the Jesuit -Fathers who composed the editorial staff into a _College of Writers_, -which college should be under the General of the Society of Jesus, -but, it is added, so "as to Us and to Our successors shall seem most -expedient." In this brief the Pontiff recorded, as to the past, the -"exceeding gladness of soul" he had felt in witnessing the labour, -erudition, zeal, and talent with which the _Civiltá_ had "manfully -protected and defended the supreme dignity, authority, power and -rights" of the Apostolic See, and had "set forth and propagated the -_true doctrine_." He also recorded the fact that all this had day by -day more and more merited the "goodwill, esteem and praise," not only -of the hierarchy, but of men of the greatest eminence, and of all the -good. This, coming at a time when the expositions of the Encyclical and -Syllabus given by the _Civiltá_ had awakened among Liberal Catholics -serious opposition and even alarm, was decisive as to what was, at -Rome, held to be the _true doctrine_, and as to who were held to be its -real teachers. As to the future, the Pontiff, adopting the well known -motto of the Company of Jesus, decreed that, _for the greater glory of -God_, the writers should, as we have said, constitute _in perpetuity a -college_ possessing peculiar rights and privileges. As if formally to -claim some share of this glory, the Jesuit editors of the _Stimmen aus -Maria Laach_, when in 1869 commencing a new series, notified on their -title-page the fact that they availed themselves of the labours of -the _Civiltá_--a liberty which no Jesuit durst have taken without the -highest sanction. - -All the numbers of the _Civiltá_ and of the _Stimmen_ being under -my hand, they have yielded a steady light by which to examine -opinions relating to the movement of "reconstruction," whether -those opinions were hostile or sympathetic. The Italian journal, -the _Unitá Cattolica_, and the French one, the _Univers_, written -with a consciousness of the highest favour on the one hand and of an -overwhelming influence among the clergy on the other, comment upon -the operative clauses of official documents--generally intelligible -only to the initiated--in forms more popular than those of the two -great magazines. But it is only by the still clearer comment of daily -narratives and polemics that the elucidation becomes complete. - -The Roman work of the Marchese Francesco Vitelleschi (Pomponio Leto) -has now appeared in English--_Eight Months at Rome_ (Murray). This is -welcome, as enabling one to refer the English reader to his pages, of -which even Ultramontanes in Rome do not impugn the accuracy. _Quirinus_ -is also happily in English. Professor Friedrich's _Tagebuch_ ought to -be, but is not. Those and smaller works by Liberal Catholics, compared -with the sparkling volumes of M. Louis Veuillot and the Ultramontane -serials and pamphlets, and with the Old Catholic writers in the -_Rheinischer Merkur_, the _Literaturblatt_ of Bonn, the _Stimmen aus -der Katholischen Kirche_, and so forth, slowly bring home to our -English understanding the strange principles and wonderful projects -which at first we either fail to apprehend, or else imagine that they -cannot be seriously entertained. - -On those principles and projects four distinct controversies have shed -a steadily increasing light--the controversy on, 1. The Syllabus; 2. -The Vatican Council; 3. The Old Catholic Movement; 4. The Falk Laws. -The last two do not come within the scope of this work, but very much -of the light by which we gradually come to understand the preceding -stages of the movement, is due to the keen discussions to which these -two controversies have given rise. - -Having subscribed for the _Civiltá Cattolica_ for years before the -Syllabus appeared, I was not wholly unprepared for the controversy -which followed. The _Civiltá_ also enabled me to see how Liberal -Catholics connected the Vatican Council with a movement in the past, -dating from the Pope's restoration, and with a plan of vast changes -for the future. While the hopes of the Ultramontanes seemed visionary, -and the fears of the Liberal Catholics seemed exaggerated, it did -nevertheless appear possible that great events might come out of a -deliberate attempt, made by a large and organized force, to reconstruct -the world. Soon after the close of the Franco-German war, a visit to -Paris, Munich, Vienna, Berlin, Brussels, and other centres, supplied -me with much material, casting light on the enterprise in which the -Vatican Council was the legislative episode, and from which the Old -Catholic movement was the recoil. - -It was while engaged in studying such material that I threw off the -translation of the discussion held in Rome on the question whether St. -Peter had ever visited that city. Soon after broke out the controversy -on the Falk Laws. Six weeks spent in a German country town, reading -journals and pamphlets, and also in collecting, added to my light, -and to the means of getting further light. In the course of the time -employed upon the study of growing material was thrown off the review -of the Pope's Speeches, under the title of _The Modern Jove_. - -Though conscious that I had not yet the groundwork for a well connected -account of the whole movement, I began to write, not with any intention -of publishing for a long time, should I live, but under the feeling -that, should I be called away, it would be right to leave behind me -information which had not been gained without cost and labour. After -a while appeared the official history of Cecconi. His authentic if -incomplete disclosure of the secret proceedings of five years was a -stem for many hitherto perplexing branches. A plan now began to shape -itself, and I commenced to recast all I had done. Shortly afterwards -came out the great work of Theiner, the _Acta Genuina_ of the Council -of Trent. This settled many points keenly debated between Catholic and -Liberal Catholic, affecting the rights of kings, of bishops, of the -divinity schools, of the lower clergy, of the laity, and affecting the -relations of all these to the Pontiff. - -While I was working with these additional helps appeared Mr. -Gladstone's _Expostulation_. The great amount of knowledge it betrayed -contrasted with one's previous idea of the state of information on the -subject among our public men. The controversy which followed might have -brought some temptation to haste, had it not also brought proof that it -was even more necessary than I had supposed to beware of assuming that -phrases, modes of conception, and projects, well understood in Italy or -Germany, were at all understood here. Some of those who reviewed Mr. -Gladstone took for strange what in all countries in the south or centre -of Europe would have been taken as familiar, and for doubtful what in -Rome or Munich was as clear as day. Accredited terms and phrases were -treated as inventions; by some as inventions of genius, by others of -animosity. It was often more than hinted that principles and designs -habitually proclaimed at the Vatican were ascribed to priests only by -opponents. Not unfrequently a gentleman would seem to think it more -generous to attribute his Protestant ideas to Ultramontanes, than to -take it for granted that they preferred their own. It was incredible -how political questions pregnant with future controversies, perhaps -with future wars, were evaded as theology! - -The replies to Mr. Gladstone placed the ignorance of the English public -on the subject in a different but a very impressive light. It is -often said abroad, by those who know us, that no nation in Europe is -so liable as we are to treat gravely statements from priests or their -advocates which any reasonable amount of information would render -entertaining. The reviews of these replies showed a growing sense of -the interests involved, but intensified one's feeling that the elements -of clear understanding were wanting. Men did not know the terms, the -facts, the publications, or the political doctrines of the movements -under discussion. Had what has been written in our best journals during -the last twenty years from Italy, or even during the last five from -Rome and Berlin, been well read, it would have led to study, and in -that case Dr. Newman and others would not have had so cheap a laugh -at our ignorance of what is meant because of our false interpretation -of what is said. While this controversy proceeded, a stay of nearly -three months in Rome, employed in seeking material and information, -added considerably to my stores, which were further increased by two -subsequent visits to Munich and one to Bonn. - -I have often been reminded of an incident which occurred in Rome. One -of our celebrated scholars, hearing what I was engaged in, exclaimed -"Oh, Theology!" Of course, he was fresh from home. Not many minutes -before, a resident diplomatist, in whose house this took place, -having heard me say "I began the study of this subject as a religious -question, _but_--" smiled and said, "Yes, _but_--you find it is all -politics, and the further you get into it the more purely political -will you find it." - -The controversy which had sprung up at home showed that a book written -as this one had been begun would be frequently misunderstood. In that -controversy it was often taken for granted that when an Ultramontane -disclaims Temporal Power, he disclaims power over temporal things; -and that when he writes Spiritual Power, he means only power over -spiritual things; that when he writes Religious Liberty, he means -freedom for every one to worship God according to his conscience; that -when he writes the Divine Law, he means only the Ten Commandments -and the precepts of the Gospel; that when he writes the Kingdom of -God, he means righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost; and -that when he writes the Word of God, he simply means the Bible. One -reasoning with false interpretations like these in his mind must reason -in such a fog as Dr. Newman, in his letter to the Duke of Norfolk, -cleverly depicts. Ambiguity similar to that now indicated prevails -over the whole field of phraseology--theological, political, and -educational. English Ultramontanes are doubtless in part responsible -for these misapprehensions, but only in part. If their writings are -_studied_, they will be seen to use such terms differently from their -fellow-countrymen. But certainly the Papal Press of Rome, and even that -of France, is not in any degree responsible for our illusions, but has, -on the contrary, left us without excuse. - -The consequence of all this is that in this book, where a mere allusion -would have been made, a fact is now often related; where the sense of -some particular utterance would have been condensed, that utterance is -verbally recited; and where one sentence would have been culled out, -more are given. Very often, where a statement of the principles of the -Papal movement would have been accompanied only by a reference to a -contemporary authority, that authority is made to speak for himself, -and occasionally at some length. Terms and phrases, which might have -been left to the chance of being understood, are either coupled with -narratives or discussions, to bring out their sense, or else they -are explained. When I do give explanations, let me not be trusted, -but watched. Much will be found of the language both of Catholics -and of Liberal Catholics, and with it the reader can confront my -strange-looking explanations. In the end he will be able to do what, -thank God, every Englishman is inclined to do--form an opinion for -himself as to the real sense in which the speakers employed their own -words. - -It need not be said that this change of method rendered necessary a -larger book than was at first planned. It was also unfavourable to -the flow and unity of the narrative. Perhaps it compensated for that -disadvantage by more fully showing the grounds on which statements -are made, and by bringing the reader frequently, almost continuously, -into communication with Italian, Frenchman or German, each expressing -his own views, whether those of statesman or priest, of journalist or -magistrate, of Catholic or of Liberal Catholic. - -My thanks are due to many who have forwarded my researches. The -kindness of Count Cadorna, then Italian Minister at our Court, procured -for me valuable facilities in Rome. My true gratitude was deserved by -the distinguished Minister of Education, Signor Bonghi, especially for -his personal introduction of me to the great library of the Collegio -Romano, not then open to the public. Our own Ambassador, Sir Augustus -Paget, and the German Ambassador, Baron Keudell, both rendered me -real service, with all possible courtesy. The Marchese Francesco -Nobili-Vitelleschi, himself author of a history on which I must often -draw, took pains to procure for me valuable material. Among many -benefits received from our own countrymen, I must specify that derived -from the vast information on all Italian matters possessed by Mr. -Montgomery Stuart, and also that arising from the constant kindness of -the Rev. H.J. Piggott. Those two gentlemen have kindly read on the spot -certain sheets containing local observations. Two German scholars were -constant and practical friends, Dr. Benrath and Dr. Richter. - -In Munich the National Library, with its clear catalogue and good -collection, contrasted with the great libraries of Rome. The kindness -of Dr. Döllinger was great and eminently practical. He had kept all -pamphlets, bearing on the subject, which had come into his hands. -He not only gave me free access to this collection, but, where he -had duplicates, presented me with them. Dr. Reusch, Professor of the -University of Bonn, with a collection at least equal, though without -duplicates, gave me similar facilities. The lists thus procured, -and the energy of the German booksellers, enabled me to get almost -everything contained in either collection, including Italian and Latin -publications which I had in vain sought in Italy, and even French ones -which I could not find in Paris. - -The weakness of my own eyesight has increased the obligation which, in -any case, I should have felt to my two valued friends. Dr. Moulton and -Dr. H.W. Williams, who have kindly read the proofs. Dr. Moulton also -compared the translation of the speech of Darboy with the original, and -suggested improvements. Dr. Karl Benrath, of Bonn, whose long residence -in Rome and whose study of the subject lent to his judgment a special -value, has laid me under great obligation by examining every sheet as -it passed through the press. - -The very frequent translations rendered necessary by the plan of -letting men speak for themselves are as close as I knew how to make -them. Even where marks of quotation are not used, and yet I profess to -give the sense of some utterance, those who can go to the originals -will find that the language, though condensed, is preserved, and, in -any important matter, closely rendered. - -Reversing the ordinary practice as to quotations, where the italics -were in the original, I generally mention that it was so. It would have -been tedious to say that they were my own in every case where they -seemed necessary to direct attention to a phrase or a term having a -meaning different from ours, or to one the full significance of which -might easily escape notice. - -Nothing but a conviction that the movement here traced is of an -importance for which ordinary terms are not an adequate expression -would have justified me, in my own view, in giving to the study of -it years of a life now far advanced. If the authors of the movement -are not deceived, the generations that will come up after I am no -more will witness a struggle on the widest scale, and of very long -duration, during which will disappear all that to us is known as modern -liberties, all that to Rome is known as the Modern State, and at the -close of which the ecclesiastical power will stand alone, presiding -over the destinies of a reconstituted world. Not at all believing in -the possibility of this issue, I do not disbelieve in the possibility -of the struggle. To avert any such repetition of past horrors, to turn -the war into a war of thought, a war with the sword of the writer and -of the orator, instead of that of the zouave and the dragoon, is an -object in attempting to serve which, however humbly, a good man might -be content to die. Had I at any time during my preparations seen the -same work undertaken by some one whose position or whose name would -have commanded a degree of attention to which I have no claim, gladly -should I have buried the fruit of my labour. Such as that fruit is, -I now submit it to the public, in humble hope that the very absence -of titles to consideration by which a work on the subject should have -been recommended, will turn to a plea for more indulgence in weighing -the only claims I have to put forth, those of hard work and honest -intention. - -May He who has given to our nation the blessings of free prayer, free -preaching, free writing, free speech, and free assembly, with their -wholesome fruit of equal laws, tempered power, and moderated liberty, -grant that this humble labour may in some measure contribute to make -those inestimable boons dearer than ever to the hearts of our people, -and that it may contribute also to place them in a position more -readily to foil every endeavour to snatch those boons or to steal them -away from us and from mankind! - -CLAPHAM COMMON, 1877. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 1: Considerably more than a fifth of the original matter has -been omitted. Whenever a quotation has been abridged, the usual marks -have been employed to indicate the hiatus.] - -[Footnote 2: _The Programme of the Jesuits_, Preface, p. v.] - -[Footnote 3: See _Civiltá_, Serie VI. vol vi. pp. 5-15.] - - - - -POSTSCRIPT TO THE PREFACE - -_June 6, 1877_ - -ON CARDINAL MANNING'S "TRUE STORY OF THE VATICAN COUNCIL" - - -Had not the time occupied in bringing out this work far exceeded my -expectations, it would have appeared as early as the first portion of -Cardinal Manning's "True Story of the Vatican Council," in the pages of -the _Nineteenth Century_. As it is, I have been able to read the fourth -paper, in which the Cardinal concludes his narrative of the Council -itself, though he intimates an intention of hereafter adding comments -on extraneous matters. I cannot but feel that, in more respects than -one, the appearance of the _True Story_ immediately before that of this -book is an advantage. The general reader is thus supplied with means -of checking many of my statements, and of estimating the value of my -authorities. Although this advantage is limited to such ground as is -common to the _True Story_ and to my history, that ground is a portion -of sufficient importance to afford some criterion for judging of the -whole. One of my fears, arising from the way in which, both in recent -controversies and in former ones, authorities have been dealt with -before the English public, was that we might find it soberly intimated -that Cecconi was not a writer of high credit, that the _Civiltá -Cattolica_ was a private magazine, that the _Acta Genuina_ of Theiner -was a publication brought out in an obscure place, and so on through -the list. Now, however, the reliance placed by Cardinal Manning on -authorities which supply essential features of my narrative, and the -importance unwillingly assigned by him to others frequently cited by -me, will act as a restraint on those who might have made light of them. - -Another considerable advantage is this. It almost seemed as if it -would prejudice Englishmen against a writer to state what from time to -time it was needful to intimate--how histories issued from official or -semi-official sources systematically withheld information on the points -of chief importance. Such points, so far as the Council was concerned, -were the actual differences of opinion between prelate and prelate, the -tenor of the debates, the arguments employed on one side or the other, -the written memoranda of bishops on the questions disputed, their -printed pamphlets, their speeches, their truly important petitions, -recording complaints against the Rules of Procedure imposed upon them, -and against the disabilities under which the Pope had placed them. -Those petitions recorded, further, their personal disbelief in the new -dogma, with the fact that they had always taught in opposition to it, -and that they anticipated from its adoption grave perils of collision -between Church and State. Other matters kept out of view comprised -interesting facts credibly alleged and circumstantially detailed -relating to personal acts of the Pope, to proceedings of the Curia and -of the Presidents of the Council. Still more interesting, and of graver -import, were the reasons assigned by Ministers of State and others, for -regarding with more than ordinary jealousy the projected changes in -the Papal system. It seemed even more invidious to note the practice -of adopting, in order to cover all these suppressions of facts, and of -alleged facts, an air of giving information by entering into details -of ceremonies, enlarging on unimportant matters, telling, as if it was -of great moment, how many meetings of this sort were held, how many of -that, how many spoke, at what time this Decree was proposed, and how -many votes were taken on another, without in all this allowing a word -to transpire of what was said or thought. I am now relieved of all fear -about those features of my narrative. Any one who has a relish for the -curiosities of literature may match, and perhaps overmatch, what I -have told of French priests and Italian Jesuits, by what an Englishman -has done. - -I had never, however, to accuse the Italian Jesuits of keeping out of -sight the political, or, as they generally say, the social aspects of -the movement, and of covering them up in theological disquisitions. -They did, indeed, use wondrous theological phrases with political -meanings, but any one who studied their writings soon penetrated -that veil. They also invariably used theology as the motive power -of all their politics. But from 1850, when the movement which has -characterized the present pontificate began, to 1870, when it reached -its legislative climax, they set forth prominently as their object -the reconstruction of society, on the model of what, in their own -dialect, they call the Christian civilization. They loudly proclaimed, -as the elements of that Christian civilization, the revocation of -constitutions, the abolition of modern liberties, especially those of -the Press and of worship, with the subjection to canon law of civil -law, and, above all, the subjection to the jurisdiction of the Pope -of all nations and their rulers, whatever the title of those rulers -might be. They justly conceived the ills they had to repair, as, having -begun with the bad teaching of John Wyclif, in which his doctrine of -"dominion" was the head and front of all his offending, and of that of -every succeeding age. As he had striven for the emancipation of kings -from the Pope, of legislatures from the ecclesiastical powers, and of -the individual from the priest, so did they set themselves to bring -back again the dominion of the priest over the individual, the dominion -of the ecclesiastical authorities over lawgivers, and above all, the -dominion of the Pope over kings. Of this the reader will meet with -evidence from their own lips, at almost every stage of our narrative. -Those Italian Jesuits did not expound the Syllabus, according to the -new and _naive_ notion of Cardinal Manning, as a code containing very -little to which "any sincere believer in Christian revelation would, -if he understood the Syllabus, object." The Italian Jesuits, ay, and -even the German ones, on the contrary, made a boast of its diametrical -opposition to every form of Liberalism, and in particular to Liberal -Catholicism, of its efficacy as an instrument for overturning the -Modern State, and of its solidity as the foundation-stone on which was -to be reared the fabric of reconstructed society. In all their writings -society was taken as meaning, not families, nor Churches, but nations, -and each one of the nations was to form a province within a Church -ruling over it and over all other nations in every one of their laws -and public institutions. - -In speaking of the idea that all believers in revelation would accept -nearly all of the Syllabus, I have assumed that Cardinal Manning, -writing for an English audience, uses the term "Christian revelation" -in the English and not in the Papal sense. To a sincere believer in -Christian revelation in the Papal sense, the Syllabus, if not in -form, yet in substance, is an infallible and "irreformable" portion -of that revelation. And so it would very simply come to pass that a -sincere believer in Christian revelation would admit, not merely most -of it, but all of it so far as it contains any teaching. And to such -a believer the kingdoms of the world will never become the kingdom of -God, and of His Christ, but by ceasing to be kingdoms at all in any -independent and proper sense, and by merging into provinces under the -Priest and King, or, as in phrases still more mystic they style him, -the Shepherd-King of the Vatican. - -Now a _True Story_ of the Vatican Council, in which, to the -apprehension of an ordinary reader, all these topics are kept out of -view, though to an adept they are not wholly kept out, seems to me -like a _True Story_ of the civil war in the United States which should -largely dwell upon State rights, forgetting all about slavery, or -speaking of it only in an esoteric dialect. - -The _True Story_ affords us some foretaste of what history is to be -after dogma has completed the conquest over it which has been promised. -Had my narrative been written after its appearance, the topics totally -ignored, and those virtually ignored, in the _True Story_, might -easily have been thrown into stronger relief. As it is, however, the -succession of events necessarily brings them again and again into view, -and perhaps the effect of the outline may be rendered more distinct to -the English reader through the contrast with the _True Story_. - -Of the prelates on this side of the Alps, Cardinal Manning was not the -one from whom we should have expected that in an account of the five -years preceding the Vatican Council, with a brief retrospect of the -whole of the present pontificate, and a history of the Council itself, -scarcely one clear utterance should be made as to the bearing of the -movement on those governments, liberties and institutions which to the -Vatican are very evil and to us are very dear. It was not so in 1867 -and 1869. In both of those years the Cardinal indicated the political -relations of the movement in words of warning which, if only echoes -of those of the Jesuits in Rome, were perhaps more intelligible and -vehement than those of any other prelate on this side of the Alps. - -Statements of mine will frequently be found to conflict with statements -made in the _True Story_. In most of those cases--I hope in all--the -materials from known sources furnished to the general reader will -suffice for a not unsatisfactory comparison, while the authorities -indicated will enable the scholar to form a judgment. In very many of -these cases statements of Cardinal Manning, made in previous works and -virtually amounting to the same as the most material of those made in -the _True Story_, will be found side by side with the statements of -other authorities, with official documents, or with facts no longer -disputable. Of these statements, one to which the Cardinal seems to -attach much importance is his assertion that none of the prelates, or -at most a number under five, disbelieved or denied the dogma of Papal -infallibility, and that all their objections turned on questions of -prudence. This is not a slip, nor a hasty assertion, and it is very -far from being peculiar to Cardinal Manning. It is now the harmonious -refrain of all that hierarchy of strange witnesses of which he has made -himself a part. The point is one on which illustrations will occur -again and again, in events, in words, and in those documents which, in -spite of all precautions, have been gained to publicity. - -Notwithstanding the method adopted in the _True Story_, the fact -crops out at every turn that the modern strife of the Papacy is not -to make men and women, as such, godly and peaceable, but to bring -kings as kings, and legislatures as legislatures, and nations as -nations, into subjection to the Pope. It crops out sufficiently, at -least, to be obvious to all who know the difference, in the Cardinal's -phraseology, between the two sets of terms employed to indicate those -two distinct objects. For instance, what an excellent description -of that _Catholic Civilization_ which, in the great contest of the -Vatican, is ever signalized as the goal, does the Cardinal give -when, picturing the "public life and laws and living organization of -Christendom" in the times when all these, according to his ideas, -were "Christian," he says, "_Princes and legislatures and society_ -professed the Catholic faith, and were _subject to the head_ of the -Catholic Church." Cardinal Manning does not here use the word "society" -in the domestic but in the political sense. He means, not families -or social parties, but nations--as the Jesuit writers almost always -do. Any one may, therefore, possess himself of a key to the true -meaning of many pious phrases which occur in the following pages, if -he will first of all clearly realize in his own thoughts just what -it would involve for England; and for us were the conditions stated -by the Cardinal fulfilled by our princes, our legislature, and our -"society." One seeking to do this must realize the fact that the prince -and the legislature not as individuals, and the "society" not in its -separate members, but the prince as a prince, the legislature as a -legislature, and the nation as a society, shall _profess the Catholic -faith_. Ordinary Englishmen do not realize all that is meant by that -formula. But beyond that, the prince as a prince, the legislature as -a legislature, the nation as a society, are not only to believe in -the Pope, but to be _subject to him_. What fulness of meaning that -formula possesses will gradually open up to the reader as the narrative -unfolds. He will often hear ecclesiastical politicians of the school to -which Cardinal Manning belongs, talking in their native dialect, not -modulating their voice to win the are of Protestants. This national -_profession of the faith_, and this subjection of kings, lawgivers, and -nations to the Pope, constitute in one word the _Civiltá Cattolica_ -(the Catholic civilization); or, in plain English, the Catholic civil -system; or, in other terms, the true Catholic constitution, the reign -of Christ over the world, to establish which in all nations the Vatican -is to move heaven and earth. - -In his first paper Cardinal Manning seeks to impress us with the belief -that the raising of Papal infallibility to the rank of a dogma was not -a chief object of the Pontiff, much less his only one, in convoking the -Vatican Council. On that point the narrative will often incidentally -present the expressions of prelates, official writers, and others, -so that the reader will be able to form an opinion of his own. In -his second paper the Cardinal shows that throughout the whole of the -present pontificate the dogma has been kept in view as an essential -object. Of that position illustrations will frequently occur. In the -second paper, also, the Cardinal repeats his old allegation that it was -Janus who invented "the fable of an acclamation." The course of the -tale will tell whether it was or was not Janus who originated the talk -of a design to get up an acclamation, and whether that talk was or was -not a fable. - -The Cardinal, while attempting to justify, though for the most part -keeping out of sight, the disabilities imposed upon the bishops by -the Pope, disabilities of which they loudly complained, glances at -one out of many of the real ones. He says that the Commission which -was empowered to say whether any proposal emanating from a bishop -was worthy to be recommended to the Pope for consideration, without -which recommendation it could not come before the Council, was "a -representative commission." The fact is that it was a selection of -prelates made by the Pope, who excluded from it all who had avowed -themselves opponents of his infallibility, and included in it creatures -of his own, who had nothing of the bishop but the orders and the pay -which the favour of the Court had given to them. - -The Cardinal, after ample time for correction, repeats his old -declaration that in the Vatican Council "the liberty of speech was as -perfectly secured as in our Parliament." That assertion has the merit -of being free from all ambiguity, and moreover is one on which plain -men can judge. As I have told the story, the readers will over and over -again meet with facts, equally free from ambiguity and equally patent -to plain men, which will show whether the assertion is true or not. - -On the great question of secrecy the Cardinal risks a statement which -exceeds what Italian Jesuits, if writing for a periodical of the rank -of the _Nineteenth Century_, would be likely to hazard. He says: "At -the beginning of the Council of Trent this precaution (of secrecy) was -omitted; wherefore, on February 17, 1562, the legates were compelled to -impose the secret upon the bishops." The Cardinal would seem to imagine -that there was at least a substantial agreement, if not an actual -identity, between the acts by which silence was enjoined, and also -between the extent of the silence demanded in Trent and at the Vatican; -and that indeed from February 17, 1562, forwards, the Council of Trent -was laid under a bond something like that by which the Vatican Council -was from the beginning fettered. Was it so? Was there a substantial -agreement in the two acts by which silence was enjoined? Was there a -substantial agreement in the extent of silence imposed? Was there at -Trent a formal decree? Was there an oath imposed on the officers? Was -there an exclusion of the theologians from debates, and of the public -from the debates of the theologians? Was there any vow required, any -threat held out? And does even Cardinal Manning fancy that there was at -Trent a new mortal sin made on purpose for the benefit of the bishops? -Of all this there was nothing. The act of the legates was simply what -it is described as having been by Massarellus, the Secretary of the -Council, who says: "The Fathers were admonished not to divulge things -proposed for examination, and in particular Decrees, before they were -published in open session."[4] - -The Cardinal is apparently also under an impression that the extent -of silence imposed in the two cases was at least substantially the -same. Was that so? Did the legates censure the admission of laymen -to hear the theologians argue? Did they censure the permission given -to theologians who were not bishops even by the fiction of a see _in -partibus_, to dispute in presence of the Council? Did they censure -any remarks made out of doors on speeches, opinions or projects? Did -they censure anything but the one indiscretion of circulating proposed -Decrees, or other things proposed, while yet the formulae were, "so -to speak, unshaped," but were in their inchoate condition made public -as if they had been passed? Did the legates suggest that the duty of -secrecy extended further than that of not publishing such tentative -formulae, of not sending them out of the city, and of forbidding -persons attached to the households of bishops to commit those -indiscretions? At Trent there were faults and causes of complaint in no -small number. But what Cardinal Manning calls "the secret" which would -shut up every mouth as to all subjects proposed, as to all opinions -expressed, as to all speeches made, as to all designs mooted--"the -secret" which forbade men to print their own speeches, to read the -official reports taken of them, to read those of their brother bishops, -and other extravagances besides, of which the _True Story_ has not one -syllable to tell--that "secret," or any such, is not hinted at in the -a monition of the legates at Trent. The extent of silence imposed at -the Vatican would seem to have been as original as the mortal sin there -invented. - -Still further, the Cardinal would appear to be under an impression that -the reason why at Trent certain inconvenient publications occurred was -because that, at the outset, the strict precautions had been there -omitted which at the Vatican were not only taken in time, but, with -manifold forethought, were, before the time, as our story will tell, -tied and bound by edict and by oath. As to disclosures, however, that -occurred at the Vatican, which most Romans would tell any Englishman, -except a priest or a convert, would be certain to occur, namely, that -the "pontifical secret" would be dealt in as a thing to be sold. Did -the precautions omitted at Trent, but adopted at the Vatican, prevent -so much from transpiring as compelled the Pope to loose from the bond -four selected prelates, including the eminent author of the _True -Story_, in order that they might disabuse the outside world? Did it -prevent the famous canons which opened the eyes of Austrian and French -statesmen from making a quick passage to Augsburg and to Printing House -Square?--of which canons, by the way, as of most essential matters, the -_True Story_ tells not a word. - -It would be very tempting to select for remark other assertions of -the Cardinal, but this may suffice to do all that I here wish to do; -that is, to set the reader upon intelligently watching and sifting -statements of my own; for what is to be desired on this subject is that -the public shall cease to be easily contented with what is said on one -side or the other. My statements, like those of others, are sure to -contain a fair proportion of mistakes, but when all these are winnowed -away, there will remain a considerable peck of corn. - -Not content with formally vouching, in his title, for his own -truthfulness, the Cardinal formally impeaches that of others. Both -of these proceedings would be perfectly natural in a priest in Rome, -and especially in one attached to the Jesuit school. Had I foreseen -the cautious beginning of such habits that was so soon to be made by -high authority, certainly I should not have so far yielded to the -repugnance one feels to put specimens of priestly imputations into our -language--a language which had for ages, up to the date of the _Tracts -for the Times_, been steadily acquiring an antipathy to all the arts -of untruthfulness, and consequently to all the forms in which other -languages habitually insinuate or openly allege it. But I cannot regret -that my story purposely excludes full specimens, and only by force of -frequent necessity admits morsels, of the style in which in Rome every -shade of untruthfulness, from suppression and equivocation to the worst -kinds of perjury and forgery, is on the one hand charged upon heretics, -on Liberal Catholics, on statesmen, and is on the other hand in return, -and with extreme good will, charged upon bishops, cardinals and popes. - -The veracity of Pomponio Leto--that is, as all Italy knows, of -the Marchese Francesco Vitelleschi, brother of the late Cardinal -Vitelleschi--is openly impugned by Cardinal Manning. We already know, -on more points than one, the opinion of Vitelleschi as to the eminent -author of the _True Story_; and retaliation would have been natural -had it only been fair. If Vitelleschi wrote English, and if he cared -to compare his truthfulness with that of such a competitor, it would -be interesting to hear him fairly fight out the question, Which of -us two has, to the best of his power, tried just to tell what he -knew, inventing nothing and concealing nothing? It does not seem at -all certain that the Englishman would bear away from the Italian the -palm of straightforwardness. The Cardinal is evidently not aware that -certain alleged particulars of the famous Strossmayer scene, which he -ascribes to Pomponio Leto, are not in his description of it either in -the Italian or in the English version. From where the Cardinal gets -them I do not know. But his picture of Schwarzenberg "carried fainting -from the _ambo_ to his seat," his idea that Pomponio professes on -that day to have been outside the Council door and to have seen "the -servants rushing," and his other idea that at the fourth session -Pomponio professes to have been inside and consequently forgot that -many of those who were outside could see through the great door which -was wide open, are all alike. He certainly did not get any of them from -Vitelleschi. As it is after stating these errors, that his Eminence -cries, "Such melodramatic and mendacious stuff!" we must imagine how -Vitelleschi will smile at this new display of certain qualities which -did not escape his keen eye. - -Professor Friedrich is slightingly spoken of by the Cardinal. Here -again retaliation, if fair, would have been natural; for Cardinal -Manning has already felt the steel of Friedrich. Judging from my own -impression that under the slashes of Friedrich what the Cardinal had -employed as if he took it for argument appeared perfectly helpless, I -should expect that it the learned professor should think it worth while -to try his strength on the sort of history, theology, and logic which -the Cardinal thinks may pass in England, they would in his hands, at -almost every debatable point, fly to pieces. As to veracity, however, -Friedrich has already, on that score, as our story will show, crossed -swords with more bishops than one; and whether on that or other -matters, certainly he is not the man to turn his back on Cardinal -Manning, whose measure he has long ago taken, as, even under the eyes -of the Papal police, he did not fear to show. - -Cardinal Manning occupies pages with imputations, and with quotations -which he apparently thinks warrant the imputations. Does he, or do the -witnesses he calls, disprove any of the specific facts alleged? Yes, -he does disprove one. Vitelleschi, in describing the great session of -the Council, said that Cardinal Corsi and other discontented Cardinals -pulled down their red hats over their eyes. Now, Cardinal Manning -properly says that on that occasion they had no hats of any colour, -meaning that they wore the mitre. Therefore a real blot is hit. And it -is curious how exactly this is the same kind of blot as the Jesuits -of the _Civiltá_ were able to hit in the early part of Vitelleschi's -book, when, like the _True Story_, it first appeared in a periodical. -They clearly convicted the author, then unknown even to them, of saying -that in certain solemnities the robes were red, whereas in fact they -were white. We must, however, do the Roman Jesuits the justice to say -that from this tremendous error they did not attempt to prove that the -writer was given to "mendacious stuff," though they did argue that he -was wanting in reflection. - -But it is a well-known fact that grave matters--very grave -matters--were with sufficient particularity alleged against the Pope, -against the Presidents, against the Rules of Procedure, against -the authorized Press, against the favourites of the Court among -the bishops, against the secret way in which "the Council was made -beforehand," and above all against the political designs which were -entertained; and, one must ask, with what single fact of all these is -any manly attempt made to grapple by the Cardinal, or by the bishops -whom he cites in his support? Besides these facts, of which some were -amusing, some absurd, some discreditable, there were others which -for all good men except Papists, in the proper sense, were seriously -alarming, and these were alleged by Catholic and Liberal Catholic, -by men in opposition and by men in all places of authority up to the -highest--by Vitelleschi, by Friedrich, by Veuillot, by Guérin, by Frond -and his contributors, by _Ce Qui se Passe au Concile_, by Hefele, by -Kenrick, by Darboy, by Rauscher, by Place, by Dupanloup, by the hundred -and thirty bishops who signed the protest against even discussing -infallibility, by the groups of bishops who signed that against the -Rules of Procedure, by those who signed the solemn one against the new -Rules, by those who petitioned for the A B C of deliberative freedom, -by the scores who signed the historical petition of April 10, 1870, by -those who protested against the unfair and arbitrary attempt of July 5, -and by those fifty-five who, the day before the final session, placed -in the hands of the Pope their protest, saying that if they voted in -the public session they could only repeat, and that with stronger -reasons, their previous vote--that is, of _Non placet_; a protest of -which Cardinal Manning has taken a strangely inaccurate and misleading -view. Such facts were alleged by _La Liberté du Concile_, by _La -Dernière Heure du Concile_, by Mamiani, by Bonghi, by Beust, by Daru, -by Arnim, by Acton, by Montalembert, by Döllinger; and still more by -the _Civiltá Cattolica_, the _Stimmen aus Maria Laach_, the _Univers_, -the _Monde_, and the _Unitá Cattolica_; and most of all were they -embodied in the words and official manifestoes of Pope Pius IX. What -one of these alarming or discreditable or equivocal facts is disposed -of by the passages which Cardinal Manning in his need has cited? He -cites Hefele to prove that people who were outside of the Council told -falsehoods as to what passed inside. But with the wonted sequence of -his logic, what he proves out of the mouth of Hefele is that people -who were inside of the Council sold the secret, though in doing so -they incurred the pains of mortal sin. The proof is quite as apposite -as many of those relied upon by Cardinal Manning, and it is no wonder -that such a habit of reasoning should have landed him where he is. He -cites of all men Ketteler. Now supposing that Ketteler was the person -to invalidate serious testimony, what particular fact is disproved by -the passage cited? The only one it affects to touch is the question as -to whether, in substance, the anti-infallibilist doctrine of Döllinger -was not also that of the majority of the German bishops. That question -is not faced in front. Ketteler only raises a side issue. He denies -that on some certain occasion, certain bishops had in a certain way -made a statement to that effect. Cardinal Manning has not lived so long -in Rome, and learned so much there, without knowing something of the -value of such contradictions. But if he means--as, however reluctantly, -one must take him to mean--to use Ketteler to prove to Englishmen that -the majority of the German bishops were not, before July 1870, opposed -to that as a doctrine which is now a dogma of their creed, then let -Ketteler by all means stand on one side, but pamphlets, memoranda, -speeches, petitions, votes, protests stand on the other. Ketteler -is cited against Döllinger, and agreeably to the all but infallible -felicity of the Cardinal's logic, about the most definite thing -Ketteler says against the Provost is that _Janus_, for falsification -of history, can hardly be compared to anything but the Provincial -Letters of Pascal. Had the Cardinal cited the whole body of the German -bishops, he might, indeed, with English Catholics have gained some show -of authority; but how would it have been with the fellow-countrymen of -those prelates? or with any who, like their fellow-countrymen, had, -in the two Fulda manifestoes of 1869 and 1870, and in other words -and deeds of those mitred diplomatists--words and deeds which cannot -be erased--learned at what rate to prize statements signed by their -episcopal crosses? There are in Europe few bodies of functionaries -who stood in sorer need than did these German bishops of something -to rehabilitate the credit of their Yea and Nay; not that even yet -it seems to have fallen quite so low as that of their superiors of -the Curia; at least, not quite so low in matters of purely personal -reputation, when no official obligation exists to make a public -impression which is contrary to the facts, and when dissimulation, -if practised, arises from a habit partly professional, partly -personal, and one sometimes indulged in as an exercise of cleverness. -Cardinals hardly do prudently to raise on English soil questions about -truthfulness; for the English public will not much longer be content -to take information at haphazard or at second-hand, but will go to the -fountains, and learn about things in Rome as things in Rome in reality -have been. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 4: Theiner, _Acta Genuina_, i. 686.] - - - - -LIST OF WORKS QUOTED OR REFERRED TO AS AUTHORITIES - - -_The titles and editions being here given, the references in each -particular instance will be no longer than is sufficient to identify -the work._ - -Some works cited only once are not here entered, their titles being -given at full in the body of the book. The few English writers quoted -are not inserted here. - -Acta et Decreta Sacrosancti OEcumenici Concilii Vaticani. Romæ Impensis -Paulini Lazzarini Typographi Concilii Vaticani: 1872. - -Acta et Decreta Sacrosancti et OEcumenici Concilii Vaticani cum -permissione Superiorum. _Friburgi Brisgoviæ_: Herder, 1871. Contains -the Encyclical and Syllabus of December 8, 1864, and some other useful -documents not published in the Roman edition; but does not contain its -brief historical notes of the public sessions. - -Acta Genuina SS. OEcumenici Concilii Tridentini, nunc primum integra -edita ab Augustino Theiner. _Zagrabiæ Croatiæ_: 2 vols, small folio, -1874. Always referred to as _Theiner_. - -Acta Sanctæ Sedis in Compendium Opportune Redacta. Romæ S.C. De -Propaganda Fide. A volume has appeared annually since 1865. - -Actes et Histoire du Concile OEcuménique de Rome, 1869, Publiés sous la -direction de Victor Frond. Paris: Abel Pilou. 8 vols, large folio, with -numerous illustrations. A brief of the Pope warrants to the Editor the -"counsel and approbation of the Holy Apostolical See;" and also gives -him the Apostolic Benediction "as a guarantee of the divine patronage." -The references are always to _Frond_. - -Acton, Lord--Zur Geschichte des Vaticanischen Conciles. München: -1871.--Sendschreiben an einen Deutschen Bischof des Vaticanischen -Concils. Nördlingen: September, 1870. - -Annuario Pontificio, 1870. Roma Tipografia della Rev. Cam. Apostolica. - -Bibliothèque Universelle et Revue Suisse. Lausanne. Montalembert's -L'Espagne et la Liberté is contained in Nos. 217-21, from January to -May, 1876. - -Ce Qui se Passe au Concile. Paris: 1870. Condemned by the Council. - -Cecconi, Eugenio (now Archbishop of Florence)--Storia del Concilio -Vaticano scritta sui documenti originali. Parte prima Antecedenti -del Concilio, Vol. I. Roma: A Spese di Paulini Lazzarini, _Tipografo -del Concilio Vaticano_, 1873. The official history of the secret -proceedings of five years. - -_Civiltá Cattolica_ (_La_), Anno Vigesimottavo. Serie X. vol. i. -Quaderno, 641. Firenze: 3 Marco, 1877. This is the title of the latest -number. It has appeared fortnightly since the year 1850. It is quoted -as _Civiltá_ (e.g.) X. i. 5--the first numeral noting the series, the -second the volume, the third the page. - -Concile du Vatican, le, et le Mouvement Anti-infaillibiliste en -Allemagne. 2 vols, octavo. Brussels: 1871. - -Concile OEcuménique, le. Par Mgr. l'Evêque de Grenoble. Paris: 1869. - -Dernière Heure du Concile. München: 1870. Condemned by the Council; -said by Quirinus to be by a member of the Council, possessing "almost -unique opportunities." - -Desanctis, L.--Roma Papale descritta in una serie di Lettere. Firenze: -1871.--Il Papa, osservazioni Dottrinali e Storiche. Firenze: 1864. - -Deschamps, Archbishop of Malins (now Cardinal).--Réponse à Mgr. -l'Evêque D'Orléans. Paris: 1870. - -Documenta. _See_ Friedrich. - -Documenti (i) Citati nel Syllabus edito per ordine del Sommo Pontifico -Pio Papa IX. Preceduti da Analoghe Avvertenze. Firenze: 1865. Like the -French _Recueil_, contains the documents cited in the Syllabus, but -with Italian notes, and without any translation. - -Döllinger, D.--Erwägungen für die Bischöfe des Concilium's über die -Frage der päpstlichen Unfehlbarkeit. München: October, 1869.--Die neue -Geschäftsordnung des Concils und ihre theologische Bedeutung. Augsburg: -1870.--Erklärung an den Erzbischof von München-Freising. München: 1871. - -Dupanloup--Lettre de Mgr., L'Evêque D'Orléans au clergé de son Diocése -relativement à la définition de l'infaillibilité au prochain Concile. -Paris: 1869. The original is reprinted with the English version of -Vitelleschi. Eight Months at Rome.--Réponse de Mgr. L'Evêque D'Orléans -à Mgr. Deschamps. Paris: Duniol, 1870.--Réponse de Mgr. L'Evêque -D'Orléans à Mgr. Spalding, Archevêque de Baltimore, accompagne d'une -lettre de plusieurs Archevêques et Evêques Américain à Mgr. l'Evêque -d'Orléans. Naples: 1870. - -Fessler, Dr. Joseph, Bishop of St. Pölten--Das letzte und das nächste -allgemeine Concil. Freiburg-in-Brisgau: 1869. - -Friedberg, Dr. Emil, Professor, Leipsic--Sammlung der Aktenstücke -zum ersten Vaticanischen Concil. Tübingen: 1872. Always quoted as -_Friedberg_. - -Friedrich, Dr. J., Professor, Munich--Tagebuch während des -Vaticanischen Concils geführt. Zweite vermehrte Auflage. Nördlingen: -1873.--Documenta ad Illustrandum Concilium Vaticanum, anni 1870. Both -the first and second Abtheilung are of Nördlingen, 1871. Quoted as -_Documenta_.--Der Mechanismus der Vaticanischen Religion. Bonn: 1876. - -Fromman, Theodor--Geschichte und Kritik des Vaticanischen Concils. -Gotha: 1872. A Protestant writer, therefore scarcely ever cited. - -Frond, Victor--Actes et Histoire, etc. 8 vols. fol. _See_ "Actes," etc. - -Gury, P. Joanne Petro--Compendium Theologiæ Moralis, S.I. editio in -Germania Quarta. Ratisbon: 1868.--Casus Conscientiæ in Præcipuas -Quæstiones Theologiæ Moralis editio in Germania prima. Ratisbon: 1865. - -Guérin, Mgr. Paul, Chamberlain to Pius IX.--Concile OEcuménique du -Vatican son Histoire ses décisions en Latin et en Francais. Professes -to give all the documents, but gives only a portion even of those -officially published. Bar-le-Duc: 1871. 2nd ed. - -Gregorovius, Ferdinand.--_Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Miltelalter vom -V. bis zum XVI. Jahrhundeyt._ Zweite Auflage: 1869. 8 vols, octavo. - -Hefele, Carolus Josephus Episcopus Rottenburgensis--Causa Honorii Papæ. -Neapoli: 1870. - -Hergenröther, Dr. Joseph, Professor, Würzburg--Katholische Kirche -und Christlicher Staat in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwickelung und -in Bezichung auf die Fragen der Gegenwart. Freiburg-in-Brisgau: -1873.--Kritik der v. Döllingerschen Erklärung vom 28 Marz d.I. -Freiburg-in-Brisgau: 1871. - -Holtgreven, Anton, Königl. Preuss. Kreisrichter--Das Verhältniss -Zwischen Staat und Kirche. Berlin: 1875. - -Kenrick, Archbishop of St. Louis in America--Concio Petri Ricardi -Kenrick, Archiepiscopi S. Ludovici in Statibus Foederatis Americæ -Septentrionalis in Concilio Vaticano Habenda at non Habita. Neapoli: -1870. This invaluable pamphlet is reprinted with Friedrich's -_Documenta_, and is always cited as there found, the pamphlet itself -being within the reach of but very few. - -Ketteler, von, Wilhelm Emmanuel Freiherr, Bishop of Mainz--Das -Allgemeine Concil und seine Bedeutung für unsere Zeit. Mainz: -1869.--Die Unwahrheiten der Römischen Briefe vom Concil in der -Allgemeinen Zeitung. Mainz: 1870. Several other pamphlets by Bishop von -Ketteler not referred to are of value. - -Langen, Dr. Joseph, Professor, Bonn--Das Vaticanische Dogma in seinem -Verhältniss zum Neuen Testament, etc. Bonn: 1873. - -Liverani, Monsignor Francesco, Prelato Domestico e Protonotorio dell -Santa Sede.--Il Papato, L'Impero e Il Regno D'Italia. Firenze: 1861. - -Maret, Mgr. H.L.C., Bishop of Sura, Dean of the Theological Faculty of -Paris--Le Concile Générale et la Paix Religieuse. 2 vols, octavo. Paris -1869. - -Martin, Conrad, Bishop of Paderborn.--_Omnium Concilii Vaticani Quæ ad -doctrinam et Disciplinam pertinent Documentorum Collectio._ Paderbornæ: -1873. A very incomplete collection, but very useful.--_Katechismus des -Römisch-Katolischen Kirchenrechts._ Zweite Auflage: 1874. - -Menzel, Professor--Ueber das Subject der Kirchlichen Unfehlbarkeit (als -Manuscript gedruckt). Braunsberg: 1870. - -Menzel, Wolfgang--Geschichte der neuesten Jesuitenumtriebe in -Deutschland. Stuttgart: 1873.--Die Wichtigsten Weltbegebenheiten -vom Prager Frieden bis zum Kriege mit Frankreich (1866-70). 2 vols. -Stuttgart: 1871. - -Michaud, L'Abbé--De la Falsification des Catéchismes Francais. Paris, -1872. Many other works of Michaud, not cited, are of great value. - -Michelis, Dr. F., Professor, Braunsberg.--_Kurze Geschichte des -Vaticanischen Concils._ Constanz: 1875.--_Der Neue Fuldaer Hirtenbrief -in seinem Verhältniss zur Wahrheit._ Braunsberg: 1870.--_Der häretische -Charakter der Infallibilitä Islehre. Eine Katholische Antwort auf die -Römische Excommunication_, 1872. - -Observationes Quædam de Infallibilitatis Ecclesiæ Subjecto. Vindobonæ: -1870. Cardinal Rauscher (_see_ Friedberg, 1111). Also published in -Naples, without name of printer or publisher. - -Phillips, George--Kirchenrecht. 7 vols, octavo. Regensburg: 1855-72. - -Pope Pius IX--Discorsi del Sommo Pontefice Pius IX Pronunziati in -Vaticano ai fedeli di Roma e dell' Orbe; raccolti e pubblicati dal P. -Don Pasquale de Franciscis. Roma: 1872; and the second volume, 1873. It -is to be regretted that these curious and instructive volumes are not -translated into English. - -Recueil des Allocutions Consistoriales Encycliques et Autres Lettres -Apostolique des Souverains Pontifs Clement XII, Benoit XIV, Pie VI, -Pie VII, Léon XII, Grégoire XVI, et Pie IX, citées dans l'Encyclique -et le Syllabus du 8 Décembre, 1864. Octavo, p. 580. Paris: 1865. -Every document cited in the Syllabus is given at full, with a French -translation. - -Reform der Römischen Kirche an Haupt and Gliedern. Leipsig: 1869. - -Reinkens, Dr. Joseph Hubert. Bishop--Revolution und Kirche Beantwortung -einer Tagesfrage mit Rücksight auf die gegenwärtige Tendenz und Praxis -der Römischen Curie. Bonn: 1876.--Ueber päpstliche Unfehlbarkeit. -München: 1870. - -_Rheinischer Merkur._ Erscheint jeden Samstag. Köln. A weekly journal, -organ of the old Catholics. Now published in Munich as the _Deutscher -Merkur_. - -Sambin, Le R.P. de la Compagnie de Jesus--Histoire du Concile -OEcuménique et Général du Vatican. Lyon: 1871. - -Schrader, P. Clemens, S.I.--Pius IX als Papst und als Koenig. Wien: -1865--Der Papst und die Modernen Ideen. Wien: 1865. - -Sepp, Professor Abgeordneter--Deutschland und der Vatikan. München: -1872. - -Soglia--Septimii M. Vecchiotti, Institutiones Canonicæ ex operibus -Joannis Card. Soglia excerptæ et ad usum seminariorum accommodatæ. -Editio decimasexta ad meliorem formam redacta et additamentis -focupleta. In 3 vols, octavo. Turin: 1875. Sold at Milan, Venice, -Naples, and Romæ apud Tipographiam de Propaganda Fide. - -Stimmen aus der Katholischen Kirche München. A series of pamphlets -containing writings of Döllinger, Friedrich, Huber, Schmitz, Reinkens, -Liano, and others--of great value. - -_Stimmen aus Maria Laach, Katholische Bläter_--Freiburg-in-Brisgau. The -first number appeared in 1865, after the publication of the Syllabus; -the Neue Folge, commenced in 1869, has on the title "Unter Benützung -Römischer Mittheilungen und der Arbeiten der Civiltá." - -Summi Pontificis Infallibilitate Personali (de). Naples: 1870. -Friedberg (p. 111 says that this tract was distributed by Cardinal -Prince Schwarzenberg, but written by the Cistercian Franz Salesius -Mayer.) - -Tarquini, Camillo E., Societate Jesu (Cardinal)--Juris Ecclesiastici -Publici Institutiones. Editio quarta. Roma S.C. de Propaganda Fide. -1875. - -Theologisches Literaturblatt. Erscheint alle 14 Toge. Bonn, -herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. F.H. Reusch. A fortnightly publication, of -great value to all who wish to understand the literature of the modern -phases of Romanism, and also of the old Catholic movement. - -_Unitá Cattolica_, edited by Don Margotti, appears daily in Turin. -Holds in Italy a position similar to that of the _Univers_ in France. - -_Univers_, edited by M. Louis Veuillot, appears daily, Paris. Veuillot -is a layman. - -Veuillot, Louis--Rome pendant le Concile. 2 vols, octavo. Paris: 1872. -Contains important matter dating from 1867. - -Vitelleschi, Marchese Francesco--Otto Mesi a Roma durante il Concilio -Vaticano per Pomponio Leto. Firenze: 1873. An English translation has -now appeared entitled _Eight Months at Rome_, by Pomponio Leto. Always -referred to as _Vitelleschi_. The real authorship of the work is no -secret in Rome, nor is it treated as such. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - BOOK I - - FROM THE ISSUE OF THE SYLLABUS TO ITS SOLEMN CONFIRMATION, - DECEMBER 1864 TO JUNE 1867 - - CHAPTER I - - The First Secret Command to commence Preparations for a General - Council, December 6, 1864--Meeting of Congregation--All but - Cardinals sent out--Secret Order--Events of the 8th--Solemn - Anniversary--A historical _coup de soleil_ 1 - - CHAPTER II - - The Encyclical _Quanta Cura_, December 8, 1864--Causes of - the Ruin of Modern Society: rejection of the "force" of the - Church--Religious Equality--Pretensions of Civil Law and of - Parents to Control Education--Laws of Mortmain--Remedies--Restoration - of the Authority of the Church--Connecting Links between Encyclical - and Syllabus--Retrospect of Evidences that all Society was in - Ruins--The Movement for Reconstruction 5 - - CHAPTER III - - Foundation of a Literature of Reconstruction, Serial and - Scholastic--The _Civiltá Cattolica_: its Views on Education - and on Church and State--Tarquini's Political Principles of Pope - and King--Measures Preparatory to the Syllabus 14 - - CHAPTER IV - - Further Measures Preparatory to the Syllabus--Changes in - Italy since 1846--Progress of Adverse Events--A Commination - of Liberties--A Second Assembly of Bishops without Parliamentary - Functions--The Curse on Italy--Origin of the phrase "A Free - Church in a Free State"--Projected Universal Monarchy 28 - - CHAPTER V - - The Syllabus of Errors, December 8, 1864--Character of the - Propositions condemned--Disabilities of the State--Powers of the - Church 43 - - CHAPTER VI - - The Secret Memoranda of the Cardinals, February 1865 57 - - CHAPTER VII - - A Secret Commission to prepare for a Council, March 1865--First - Summons--Points determined--Reasons why Princes are not - consulted--Plan for the Future Council 62 - - CHAPTER VIII - - Memoranda of Thirty-six chosen Bishops, consulted under Bond of - Strictest Secrecy, April to August, 1865--Doctrine of Church and - State--Antagonism of History and the Embryo Dogma--Nuncios - admitted to the Secret--And Oriental Bishops 65 - - CHAPTER IX - - Interruption of Preparations for Fourteen Months, through the - consequences of Sadowa--The French evacuate Rome--Alleged - Double Dealing of Napoleon III--The _Civiltá_ on St. - Bartholomew's--Change of Plan--Instead of a Council a Great - Display--Serious Complaints of Liberal Catholics 70 - - CHAPTER X - - Reprimand of Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, for disputing the - Ordinary and Immediate Jurisdiction of the Pope in his - Diocese--Sent in 1864 Published in 1869 76 - - CHAPTER XI - - Great Gathering in Rome, June 1867--Impressions and - Anticipations--Improvements in the City--Louis Veuillot on - the Great Future 83 - - CHAPTER XII - - The Political Lesson of the Gathering, namely, All are - called upon to recognize in the Papal States the Model State - of the World--Survey of those States 87 - - CHAPTER XIII - - Solemn Confirmation of the Syllabus by the Pope before the - assembled Hierarchy, and their Acquiescence, June 17, 1867 110 - - - BOOK II - - FROM THE FIRST PUBLIC INTIMATION OF A COUNCIL TO THE EVE - OF THE OPENING, JUNE 1867 TO DECEMBER 1869 - - CHAPTER I - - First Public Intimation of the intention to hold a Council, - June 26 to July 1, 1867--Consistory--Acquiescence in the - Syllabus of the assembled Bishops--The Canonized - Inquisitor--Questions and Returns preparatory to Greater - Centralization--Manning on the Ceremonies--O'Connell on - the Doctrines of the Papists--The Doctrine of Direct - and Indirect Power 113 - - CHAPTER II - - Six Secret Commissions preparing--Interrupted by - Garibaldi--A Code for the Relations of the Church and Civil - Society--Special Sitting with Pope and Antonelli to decide - on the Case of Princes--Tales of the Crusaders--English - Martyrs--Children on the Altar--Autumn of 1867 to June 1868 131 - - CHAPTER III - - Bull of Convocation--Doctrine of the Sword--The Crusade of - St. Peter--Incidents--Mission to the Orientals, and - Overtures to Protestants in different Countries--June 1868 - to December 1868-69 143 - - CHAPTER IV - - Princes, Ministers, and their Confessors--Montalembert's - part in the Revival--His Posthumous Work on Spain--Indignation - against the New Assumptions--Debate of Clergy in Paris on - the Lawfulness of Absolving a Liberal Prince or Minister--Wrath - at Rome--True Doctrines taught to Darboy and his Clergy 153 - - CHAPTER V - - What is to be the Work of the Council--Fears caused by - Grandiose Projects--_Reform of the Church in Head and - Members_--Statesmen evince Concern 164 - - CHAPTER VI - - Agitation in Bavaria and Germany--The Golden Rose--Fall of - Isabella--The King of Bavaria obtains the opinion of the - Faculties--Döllinger--Schwarzenberg's Remonstrance 176 - - CHAPTER VII - - Intention of proposing the Dogma of Infallibility - intimated--Bavarian Note to the Cabinets, February to April, - 1869--Arnim and Bismarck 182 - - CHAPTER VIII - - Indulgences--Excitement--The Two Brothers Dufournel--Senestrey's - Speech--Hopes of the Ruin of Germany--What the Council will - do--Absurdity of Constitutional Kings--The True Saviour of - Society--Lay Address from Coblenz--Montalembert adheres to - it--Religious Liberty does not answer--Importance of keeping - Catholic Children apart from the Nation--War on Liberal - Catholics--Flags of all Nations doing Homage to that of the Pope 186 - - CHAPTER IX - - Publication of _Janus_--Hotter Controversy--Bishop Maret's - Book--Père Hyacinth--The Saviour of Society again--Dress--True - Doctrine of Concordats not Contracts but Papal Laws--Every - Catholic State has Two Heads--_Four National Governments - condemned in One Day_--What a Free Church means--Fulda - Manifesto--Meeting of Catholic Notables in Berlin--Political - Agitation in Bavaria and Austria--Stumpf's Critique of the - Jesuit Schemes 197 - - CHAPTER X - - Conflicting Manifestoes by Bishops--Attacks on - Bossuet--Darboy--Dupanloup combats Infallibility--His relations - with Dr. Pusey--Deschamps replies--Manning's Manifesto--Retort - of Friedrich--Discordant Episcopal Witnesses 215 - - CHAPTER XI - - Diplomatic Feeling and Fencing in Rome, November 1869--Cross - Policies on Separation of Church and State--Ollivier, Favre, - De Banneville--Doctrines of French Statesmen ridiculed at - Rome--Specimens of the Utterances approved at Court--Forecasts - of War between France and Prussia--Growing Strength of the - Movement in France for Universities Canonically Instituted 231 - - CHAPTER XII - - Mustering, and Preparatory Stimuli--Pope's Hospitality--Alleged - Political Intent--Friedrich's First Notes--The Nations cited to - Judgment--New War of the Rosary--Tarquini's Doctrine of the - Sword--A New Guardian of the Capitol--November and December, - 1869 239 - - CHAPTER XIII - - Great Ceremony of Executive Spectacle, called a Pro-Synodal - Congregation, to forestall Attempts at Self-Organization on - the Part of the Council--The Scene--The Allocution--Officers - appointed by Royal Proclamation--Oath of Secrecy--Papers - Distributed--How the Nine had foreseen and forestalled all - Questions of Self-Organization--The Assembly made into a - Conclave, not a General Council--Cecconi's Apology for the Rules 249 - - CHAPTER XIV - - The Eve of the Council--Rejoicings--Rome the Universal - Fatherland--Veuillot's Joy--Processions--Symbolic - Sunbeams--The Joy bells--The Vision of St. Ambrose--The - Disfranchisement of Kings 262 - - - BOOK III - - FROM THE OPENING OF THE COUNCIL TO THE INTRODUCTION OF THE - QUESTION OF INFALLIBILITY - - CHAPTER I - - The First Session, December 8, 1869, or Opening - Ceremony--Mustering--Robing--The Procession--The Anthem and - Mass--The Sermon--The Act of Obedience--The Allocution--The - Incensing--Passing Decrees--The _Te Deum_--Appreciations - of various Witnesses 271 - - CHAPTER II - - First Proceedings--Unimportant Committees and All-Important - Commissions--No Council if Pope dies--Theologians discover - their Disfranchisement--Father Ambrose--Parties and Party - Tactics--Were the Bishops Free Legislators?--Plans of - Reconstruction--Plan of the German Bishops--Segesser's Plan--New - Bull of Excommunications 308 - - CHAPTER III - - Further Party Manoeuvres--Election of Permanent - Committees--Bull of Excommunications--Various opinions of - it--Position of Antonelli--No serious Discussion - desired--Perplexities of the Bishops--Reisach's - Code suppressed--It may reappear--Attitude of Governments 333 - - CHAPTER IV - - First open Collisions of Opinion--Pending Debate--Fear of an - Acclamation--Rauscher opens--Kenrick--Tizzani--General - discontent with the Draft--Vacant Hats--Speaking by - Rank--Strossmayer--No permission to read the Reports, even - of their own Speeches--Conflicting Views--Petitions to Pope - from Bishops--Homage of Science--Theism 358 - - CHAPTER V - - The Second Public Session--Swearing a Creed never before - known in a General Council--Really an Oath including - Feudal Obedience 379 - - CHAPTER VI - - Speech of the Pope against the Opposition--Future Policy - set before France--Count Arnim's Views--Resumed - Debate--Haynald--A New Mortal Sin--Count Daru and French - Policy--Address calling for the New Dogma--Counter Petitions - against the Principle as well as the Opportuneness 391 - - CHAPTER VII - - Matters of Discipline--Remarks of Friedrich on the Morals of the - Clergy--Also on the War against Modern Constitutions--Morality - of recent Jesuit Teaching--Darboy's Speech--Melcher's Speech--A - Dinner Party of Fallibilists--One of Infallibilists--Gratry--Debate - on the Morals of the Clergy 411 - - CHAPTER VIII - - Church and State--Draft of Decrees with Canons--Gains - Publicity--Principles involved--Views of Liberal - Catholics--The Papal View of the Means of Resistance possessed - by Governments 431 - - CHAPTER IX - - The Courts of Vienna and Paris manifest Anxiety--Disturbances - in Paris--Daru's Letters--Beust moves--His Despatches--His - Passage of Arms with Antonelli--Daru's Despatch and - Antonelli's Reply--Daru's Rejoinder--Beust lays down the - Course which Austria will follow--Arnim's Despatch--The - _Unitá_ on the Situation--Veuillot on the - Situation--Satisfaction of the Ultramontanes 442 - - CHAPTER X - - Personal Attack on Dupanloup--Attempts at a - Compromise--Impossibility of now retreating--Daru - Resigns--Ollivier's Policy--Feeling that the Proceedings - must be Shortened--The Episode of the Patriarch - of Babylon--Proposal for a New Catechism--Michaud on - Changes in Catechism--The Rules revised--An Archbishop - stopped--Protest of One Hundred Bishops--Movement of Sympathy - with Döllinger--The Pope's Chat--Pope and M. de - Falloux--Internal Struggle of Friedrich 457 - - - BOOK IV - - FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF THE QUESTION OF INFALLIBILITY TO THE - SUSPENSION OF THE COUNCIL - - CHAPTER I - - Joy of Don Margotti--New Feelers for an Acclamation--Suggested - Model of the Scene--Its Political Import--A Pause--Case of the - Jesuit Kleutgen--Schwarzenberg out of Favour--Politics of - Poland--Döllinger on the New Rules--Last Protest of - Montalembert--His Death--Consequent Proceedings in Rome 479 - - CHAPTER II - - Threat of American Prelates--Acclamation again fails--New - Protest--Decrees on Dogma--Ingenious connexion of Creation - with the Curia--Serious Allegations of Unfair and Irregular - Proceedings of the Officials--Fears at the Opening of the New - Session--The Three Devotions of Rome--More Hatred of - Constitutions--Noisy Sitting; Strossmayer put down--The Pope's - Comments--He compares the Opposition to Pilate and to the - Freemasons--He is reconciled to Mérode--The Idea of - Charlemagne--Secret Change of a Formula before the Vote 490 - - CHAPTER III - - Important Secret Petition of Rauscher and others--Clear - Statement of Political Bearings of the Question--A Formal - Demand that the Question whether Power over Kings and Nations - was given to Peter shall be argued--Complaints of Manning--Dr. - Newman's Letter--The _Civiltá_ exorcises Newman--Veuillot's - Gibes at him--Conflicts with the Orientals--Armenians in Rome - attacked by the Police--Priests arrested--Broil in the - Streets--Convent placed under Interdict--Third - Session--Forms--Decrees unanimously adopted--Their - Extensive Practical Effects 504 - - CHAPTER IV - - To the end of the General Debate on the Decrees _De Ecclesia_, - June 3--Temporal Benefit to the Curia of Spiritual - Centralization--Spalding's Proposals--Impatience of the Pope - and Veuillot--Outcry against _Ce Qui se Passe au Concile_--All - other Subjects to be Postponed, and Infallibility to be brought - on out of its order--Renewed protest of Minority--Open Change of - Dispute from one on Opportuneness to one on the Merits of the - Dogma--Anecdotes of Bishops--Violations of Rules--Private Notes - of Bishops on the Dogma--Doubts cast on the Authority of the - Council--Formula of New Decree--How it will Work 525 - - CHAPTER V - - The Great Debate--Bishop Pie--The Virgin Mary on - Infallibility--Cullen claims Ireland and MacHale--Kenrick's - Reply, and his Account of the first Introduction of the Doctrine - into Maynooth--MacHale speaks--Full Report of Darboy's - Speech--The Pope gives Signs of Pleasure at Saldanha's Assault on - the King of Portugal--New Date fixed for the Great - Definition--Manning's Great Speech--Remarkable Reply of - Kenrick--McEvilly ascribes Catholic Emancipation not to the - Effect of Oaths, but to that of the Fear of Civil - War--Kenrick's Retort--Clifford against Manning--Verot's - Scene--Spalding's Attack on Kenrick--Kenrick's - Refutation--Speeches of Valerga, Purcell, Conolly, and - Maret--Sudden Close of the Debate 546 - - CHAPTER VI - - To the Close of the Special Debate on Infallibility, July - 4--Proposal of the Minority to resist--They yield once - more--Another Protest--Efforts to procure Unanimity--Hope - of the Minority in Delay--Pope disregards the Heat--Disgrace - of Theiner--Decree giving to Pope ordinary Jurisdiction - everywhere--His Superiority to Law--Debate on - Infallibility--Speech of Guidi--Great Emotion--Scene with the - Pope--Close of the Debate--Present view of the _Civiltá_ - as to Politics--Specimens of the Official Histories--Exultation 573 - - CHAPTER VII - - To the Eve of the Great Session, July 18--A Fresh Shock for the - Opposition--Serious Trick of the Presidents and Committee--Outcry of - the French Bishops--Proposal to Quit the Council--They send in - another Protest--What is Protestantism?--Immediate War not - foreseen--Contested Canon adopted--The Bishops threatened--Hasty - Proceedings--Final Vote on the Dogma--Unexpected Firmness - of the Minority--Effect of the Vote--Deputation to the Pope--His - incredible Prevarication--Ketteler's Scene--Counter Deputation - of Manning and Senestrey--Vast Changes in the Decrees made - in a Moment--Petty Condemnations--The Minority flies 597 - - CHAPTER VIII - - Grief of M. Veuillot--Final Deputation and Protest 624 - - CHAPTER IX - - From the Great Session to the Suspension of the Council, - October 20, 1870--The Time now come for the Fulfilment of - Promises--Position and Prospects--Second Empire and Papacy - fall together--Style of Address to the Pope--War for the - Papal Empire Foreshadowed--Latest Act of the Council--Italy - moves on Rome--Capture of the City--Suspension of the - Council--Attitude of the Church changed--Last Events of 1870 646 - - CHAPTER X - - How far has the Vatican Movement been a Success, and how - far a Failure?--As to Measures of the Nature of Means a - Success--As to Measures of the Nature of Ends hitherto a - Failure--Testimony of Liberal Catholics to the one, and of - Ultramontanes to the other--Apparatus of Means in Operation - for the Ultimate End of Universal Dominion--Story of Scherr - as an Example of the Minority--Different Classes of those who - "Submit"--Condition and Prospects of the Two Powers in - Italy--Proximate Ends at present aimed at--Control - of Elections--Of the Press--Of Schools--Problem of France - and Italy--Power of the Priests for Disturbance--Comparison - between Catholic and Non-Catholic Nations for last Sixty - Years--Are Priests capable of fomenting Anarchical - Plots?--Hopes of Ultramontanes rest on France and - England--The Former for Military Service, the Latter for - Converts--This Hope Illusory 671 - - APPENDIX A - - The Syllabus with the Counter Propositions of Schrader 713 - - APPENDIX B - - Relation of the Church to the Baptized, and especially to Heretics 733 - - APPENDIX C - - The Constitutions "_Dei Filius_" and "_Pastor Æternus_" 757 - - APPENDIX D - - The Pope personally preparing Children for War 752 - - INDEX 753 - - - - -_BOOK I_ - -_FROM THE ISSUE OF THE SYLLABUS TO ITS SOLEMN CONFIRMATION_ - -(_December 1864 to June 1867_) - - - - -CHAPTER I - -The First Secret Command to commence Preparations for a General -Council, December 6, 1864--Meeting of Congregation--All but Cardinals -sent out--Secret Order--Events of the 8th--Solemn Anniversary--A -historical _coup de soleil._ - - -On December 6, 1864, Pope Pius IX held in the Vatican a memorable -meeting of the Congregation of Rites. That body consists of some -eighteen or twenty cardinals, with a few prelates and a number of -consulters. It holds a prominent place among the congregations, or -boards as they would be called at our Court, which, taken collectively, -may be said to constitute the Roman Curia. It determines not only -questions touching the canonization of saints, and the patron saints -of towns and countries, but also questions touching relics, rubrics, -and the title of sacred images to worship. The all-important matters of -robes, adornments, and precedence, are said by different authorities to -be regulated by it, and by the smaller Congregation of Ceremonies. The -pontifical masters of the ceremonies have a seat at both boards. - -The day in question fell within three months after the signing of -the convention of September, by which the new kingdom of Italy had -succeeded in binding Napoleon III to withdraw his troops from the -Papal States, at the close of 1866. It was, therefore, at a moment -when thoughts were forcibly directed to the contingencies which might -arise to the Papacy should it be left alone with Italians. It was, -moreover, only two days before the occurrence of an incident which has -already grown into an event, and was designed to mark a new era in -society at large. To that era the proceedings of the six years which we -are about to trace were to form the introductory stage, up to a grand -inauguration both legislative and ceremonial. - -We have no information as to the business for which the meeting we -speak of had been convened. It was, however, opened as usual by the -reading of a prayer. After the prayer, the Pontiff commanded all who -were not members of the Sacred College to withdraw, and leave him alone -with the Cardinals. The excluded dignitaries interchanged conjectures -as to what might be the cause of this unusual proceeding, and hoped -that on their readmission they should be informed. But the Pope did not -condescend to their curiosity; they found that the Congregation only -went on with the regular business, and when events cleared up the doubt -it proved that not one of them had guessed the truth. - -In the short but eventful interval, Pius IX had formally communicated -to the Cardinals his own persuasion, long cherished, and now quickened -to the point of irrepressible action, that the remedy for the evils of -the time would be found only in a General Council. He commanded them to -study the expediency of convoking one, and to send to him in writing -their opinions upon that question. - -The above incident is the first related in the sumptuous volume of -Cecconi, written by command of the Pope, who, after it appeared, -conferred on the author the archbishopric of Florence. That volume -exclusively narrates the secret proceedings of the five years which -intervened between this meeting and the opening of the Vatican -Council. But, while telling us what took place on December 6, the -Court historian passes in dead silence over the eighth. On that day, -however, the Vatican launched manifestoes which had been for years -in preparation, and which have been mentioned every day since. These -summed up all the past policy of Pius IX, and formed a basis for the -future government of the world. They furnished to the Vatican Council, -still five years distant, the kernel of its decrees, both those passed -and those only presented. They are, in fact, printed with the Freiburg -edition of its _Acta_ as preparatory documents. - -December is to Pius IX, as it is to the Bonapartes, a month of solemn -anniversaries. On the eighth of that month, ten years previously to the -time of which we are writing, surrounded by two hundred bishops, he -proclaimed the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary as a doctrine -of the Church. In his own imagination, this act formed an epoch of -glory, to the lustre of which three distinct triumphs contributed. -In the first place, a darling bye-belief was lifted from the humble -posture of pious opinion, to that of a dogma binding on all, who must -admit changes into their creed with every change of Rome. In the -second place, a new and mighty advance in the power of the Papacy was -achieved, for a formal addition to the creed was made without the -sanction of a General Council. Those bishops who attended manifestly -acted, not as members of a co-ordinate branch of a legislature, but as -councillors of an autocrat. The absent were placed under the necessity -of accepting the _fait accompli_, or of attempting to undo it in the -face of the Pontiff, the Curia, and the majority of the prelates. -"Gallicanism," said the _Civiltá Cattolica_, "was, in fact, bruised -under the heel of the Immaculate, when Pius IX., by his own authority, -laid down the definition."[5] Thirdly, an impression of the personal -inspiration of Pius IX was conveyed, with embellishments, so as to -prepare the way for the recognition of his infallibility. - -When he was in the act of proclaiming the new dogma, the beams of -the sun streamed gloriously upon him; the fact being that his throne -was so fixed that this must take place if the sun shone at the time. -Nevertheless, the visible rays were hailed as evidence of the light -which makes manifest things not seen. The Pope sought, in the great -fresco of Podesti, to popularize and perpetuate his own conception -of this event, which is called, in French guide-books to the Vatican, -the _coup de soleil historique_. That picture, filling an entire side -of a chamber, near to the renowned frescoes of Raffaele, represents -the Virgin looking down from celestial glory upon Pius IX, and, by the -hand of an angel, who holds a cross, pouring a stream of supernal light -on his enraptured eye. Hence may the faithful gather that this is the -light by which he reveals the truth to men. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 5: Serie VII, viii. p. 668.] - - - - -CHAPTER II - -The Encyclical _Quanta Cura_, December 8, 1864--Causes of Ruin of -Modern Society: rejection of the "force" of the Church--Religious -Equality--Pretensions of Civil Law and of Parents to Control -Education--Laws of Mortmain--Remedies--Restoration of the -Authority of the Church--Connecting Links between Encyclical and -Syllabus--Retrospect of Evidences that all Society was in Ruins--The -Movement for Reconstruction. - - -The tenth anniversary of the auspicious day of "The Immaculate" -being now at hand, Pius IX had, as we have seen, chosen its fore-eve -for setting in motion the preparations for his General Council. He -reserved for the day itself the great deed of publishing the Encyclical -_Quanta Cura_ and its accompanying Syllabus of Errors. It is said -that the inception of those documents dates back to a point not very -long subsequent to the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception, and -that the first Special Congregation named to prepare them spent more -than five years without agreeing, after which it was dissolved by his -Holiness, and a second named, which completed the task. - -The keynote of the Encyclical is that of an alarm, in the martial -sense; not a panic cry, accompanied by a throwing away of arms, but a -note of danger, with a call to take them up. - -The cause assigned for alarm is the ruinous condition of society--that -word being used in its political, not its domestic sense. The very -bases of society were shaken by evil principles, which had spread on -all sides and raised a "horrible tempest." Before proceeding to the -errors to be now condemned, the Pontiff is careful to connect with them -those other "principal errors of our sad times" which he had already -condemned in previous encyclicals, allocutions, and letters apostolic. -He thus lays the logical foundation for the collection of them in the -Syllabus. He first reminds the bishops how he had stirred them up to -war against these errors, and how he had also commanded the children -of the Church to abhor and shun them. Secondly, he enumerates certain -additional errors, condemns them in turn, and commands his sons to -shun them likewise. Condemnations pronounced in this formal manner are -judicial and sovereign. The Pontiff does not speak as a mere teacher, -but as the supreme tribunal of the Church. The judgments pronounced are -not for the guidance of individuals merely, but are a rule for every -officer of the Church. Every such sentence fixes the state of the law. - -After many generalities, the first token of ruin in modern society -particularized is the design manifested to check and set aside the -salutary _force_[6] which ought always to be exercised by the Church, -not only over individuals, but also over nations, both "peoples" -and sovereigns. The second token of ruin is the prevalence of the -error that the State may treat various religions on a footing of -equality--the error that liberty of worship is in fact a personal -right of every man, and that the citizen is entitled to make a free -profession of his belief, orally or by the press, without fear of -either civil or ecclesiastical power. This is condemned as being the -"liberty of damnation." The next token of ruin is hostility to the -religious orders, which were established by their founders only by -the inspiration of God. Another token of ruin is the belief that all -the rights of parents over their children arise out of civil law, -especially the claim to control their education. The Pope would seem to -think that this notion is the ground for denying the right of priests -to take the control of education out of the hand of parents, or the -ground for claiming the protection of civil law for the natural and -Scriptural right of the parent against the alleged right of the priest. -Such denial of the right of the priest is dilated upon as a further -token of ruin. The existence of laws of mortmain is an additional -token. After these civil and ecclesiastical matters, one theological -point is adduced, with formal yet fervent language, as if it were some -new plague, broken out in our own times--the denial of the divinity of -our blessed Lord. This seems to be the only question in theology proper -directly raised in the document. The errors now signalized are all -condemned, and formally added to those previously condemned. - -Just as the Emperor Nicholas of Russia, before undertaking the campaign -that led to the Crimean war, found his sick man and pointed out his -symptoms, so had Pius IX done. In the former case, the sick man was -only one wide-spread but despotic empire. In the latter, it included -everything that could be called, in the dialect of the Vatican, the -Modern State. - -Proceeding from his enumeration of the evils which mark the ruin of -contemporary society to the remedies by which it is to be repaired, his -Holiness once more wraps up much of what he may mean in generalities. -When he does come to particulars, the hierarchy are directed to teach -that kingdoms rest on the foundations of the faith; that kingly power -is bestowed, not only for the government of the world, but still more -for the protection of the Church; that nothing can be more glorious -for rulers than to permit the Catholic Church to govern according to -her own laws (i.e. canon law), not allowing any one to impede her free -action, and not setting the regal will above that of the priests of -Christ. Here is touched the great question in government. The Modern -State had not only emancipated the throne from the supreme tribunal -of the Church, that is, the Pope, but it had also emancipated the -civil courts from the external tribunal of the Church, that is, the -ecclesiastical court. The latter as well as the former evil must be -redressed. To such prescriptions for the healing of society is added a -proclamation of indulgences, and then follows an exhortation to pray -both to God and to the Blessed Virgin, "who has destroyed all heresies -throughout the world"--whatever that may mean in history, theology, or -rhetoric. "She is gentle and full of mercy; ... and standing at the -right hand of her only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, as queen, in gilded -clothing, surrounded with variety, there is nothing which she cannot -obtain from Him." - -This curious document was a necessary introduction to the Syllabus. -The external connecting link between the two was formed by a covering -letter of Cardinal Antonelli conveying the Syllabus to the hierarchy by -direct command of the Pope, "that they might have all the errors and -the pernicious doctrines which have been condemned by him under their -eyes."[7] The internal link lay in the title of the Syllabus, which -recited the language of the Encyclical referring to the antecedent -judgments of the Pontiff. It is not a syllabus of errors _in general_, -nor of errors merely disapproved and abhorred by Pius IX in particular, -nor of errors rebuked and denounced by him only in sermons, speeches, -or briefs; but a syllabus of _The Principal Errors of our Times, set -forth by him in Consistorial Allocutions, Encyclicals, and other -Letters Apostolic_. - -Before proceeding to consider the Syllabus as the new foundation laid -for the reconstruction of society after its ruin, we may for a moment -glance at the facts which might seem to prove to observers, looking -from the Vatican, that it had been reduced to a ruinous condition. - -Coming to the throne in 1846, Pius IX inherited the sovereignty of -States which had long been in a condition of chronic disaffection. -The state of things is described as follows by Monsignor Liverani, a -learned but seemingly disappointed prelate, who wrote hoping to redeem -the glory of the Papacy by the re-establishment of a Holy Roman Empire -with an Italian head, after the example of that interval between -the line of Charlemagne and that of Otho, when Guido of Spoleto, -his brilliant son Lambert, and Berengarius wore the imperial title. -"The people," says Liverani, "have spoken for forty years, groaning, -agitating, shaking off the yoke by frequent revolutions, accompanied by -crimes and continuous misfortunes, by slaughters, wars, bombardments, -banishments, and desolations."[8] - -Nevertheless, prelates from the north, coming to pay their homage to -the new Pontiff, on reaching the last spurs of the Alps, might embrace -in the glance of their mind all thence to Ætna, and say, Happy land! -the throne of his Holiness in the centre, the faithful Bourbon on the -south, the Hapsburg on the north, with Tuscany under a branch of the -Hapsburgs, and Piedmont under the House of Savoy--what a spectacle of -Catholic power! Holy land! not a heretic temple; not one teacher but in -communion with Peter: blessed scene of Catholic unity! - -A poor representative of the oft-extirpated Waldenses might say in -silence--for such words durst not then disturb the Catholic unity of -Italian air--You forget a few teachers in the valleys behind you, who -never left the word of God to turn lords either of the earth or of the -faith. Before you there is not a pulpit with the Bible, nor a man who -ever drinks the cup of Christ, excepting priests alone; not a temple -with God's commandments on its walls, but many a decalogue altered by -the authority of a man who, making the law of God reformable, claims -that his own shall be irreformable! - -Beyond the limits of the Pope's temporal dominions soon arose -commotions which spread over the principal seats of his spiritual -power. In Switzerland the Jesuits provoked the war of the Sonderbund, -and were foiled. Beyond the Atlantic a considerable portion of Mexico -passed into the hands of the Protestant United States. Portugal was -plagued with revolt. A famine thinned and dispersed the Roman Catholic -population of Ireland. France drove away her good king. The Emperor of -Austria was compelled to abdicate, and the empire was not saved from -dismemberment without aid from Russia. The King of Bavaria also had to -lay down his crown. The sovereigns of Tuscany and Naples were compelled -to fly; as was, alas! the Pontiff himself. Spain and her Queen were -seldom heard of, except for an insurrection or a scandal. Only two -Roman Catholic countries were thriving--Belgium, with a Protestant -king, and a constitution which the Church had solemnly and vehemently -condemned; and Piedmont, which, worse than Hannibal, had opened the -passes of the Alps to religious liberty. - -This was the first sweep of the hurricane. During its prevalence, those -portions of the world which lay without the Papal circle enjoyed as -much rest as was to be looked for beside such troubled waters. Both -schismatical Russia and heretical England were stable and expanding. -Prussia was for a time seriously disturbed, but, nevertheless, was -manifestly advancing to the first place in Germany. Holland, Denmark, -and Sweden held on their way; and the United States were growing apace. - -From his exile the Pope called on the Catholic powers for armed aid. -Austria crushed and held the Emilia. Spain took Fuimicino and the -cities on the Tyrrhenian shore. Naples conquered Frosinone and the -south up to Palestrina, but was driven back at Velletri by Garibaldi. -Finally, France declared herself ready to terminate the war; and, after -failing for weeks before the slight defences of Rome, ultimately took -the city.[9] - -Indebted for a welcome restoration to the unwelcome hand of a -Bonaparte, Pius IX, on re-entering his States, found himself -permanently dependent for possession of the capital on the sword of -France, and for that of the provinces on the sword of Austria. Under -their protection he enjoyed some years of struggling sovereignty. This -could hardly be called a restoration of the temporal power, for a power -is not really restored till it can again stand alone. Instead of being -an opponent of the Jesuits, a Liberal, and a Reformer, as he had been, -the Pope was now transformed into a violent reactionary, and had fallen -entirely under the influence of the Jesuits. His admirers proudly point -to his acts from that time forward as evidence that they have been -uniformly aimed at one end. That end, viewed on its negative side, -they call combating the Revolution, and, viewed on its positive side, -the reconstruction of society. In the introduction to his Speeches, -his peculiar mission is said to be that of reconstruction. This -reconstruction was to begin with the restoration of ideas, and was to -proceed to the restoration of facts. - -It is this movement that we are about to trace. First, we shall take -a brief retrospect from the time of its inception at Gaeta up to the -appearance of the Syllabus, which, as the ostensible ground-plan of -a cosmopolitan code, was meant to be the charter of reconstruction. -We shall then, from that stage onward, as far as our materials enable -us, detail the progressive steps of the movement up to the end of -the Vatican Council, which was meant to complete the constituent -arrangements of the new theocratic monarchy. We shall see unfolding a -movement for dominion as distinctive as was that of Leo III when he -linked the fortunes of the Papacy to those of a new Western Empire; -as distinctive as was the movement of Hildebrand when from political -dependence he lifted up the Papacy to unheard-of domination; as -distinctive as was the movement of the Popes after the Reformation, -when through war and the Inquisition they restored in several countries -of Europe their spiritual ascendancy. We shall witness the rise of a -curious and powerful literature--scholastic, serial, and popular--which -has steadily swollen in volume, and now acts with ever accelerating -force on the religious antipathies of many nations, pointing to future -wars on a scale unheard of, fixing the aim of those wars, and hinting -at the disappearance of all existing institutions but the Church. -We shall see a well-sustained endeavour, in the name of freedom of -instruction, to take all schools and universities out of the hands of -parents and of States, and to put them into the hands of priests. We -shall see such rights in matters ecclesiastical as in the Church of -Rome had still survived to the laity, the priests, and the bishops, -gradually suppressed in action till the way was prepared for their -abolition in law. We shall see the subordination of the civil law -to the canon law, and the subjection of the civil magistrate to the -"ecclesiastical magistrate" insisted upon as the essence of social -order. We shall see all the inherited rights of kings and rulers, -within their own dominions, to put limits upon the action of the Pope -of Rome, first impugned, then contested, then defied, and finally, -as far as the Church could do it, legislated out of existence. We -shall see all kings and rulers challenged to accept the Pontiff as -their head, and even as their judge in all matters involving moral -responsibility. We shall find it taught and taught again that all -Catholic countries have two rulers--the universal and the national one, -the universal one superior, the national one subordinate; and that -every citizen of those countries is more the subject of the Pope than -of his prince. We shall see the relation between the civil and the -ecclesiastical authorities as existing within the Papal States solemnly -and repeatedly declared to be the normal relation of those two orders -of authority, and to be the only example of their proper relative -position extant in all the earth. We shall see the Papal States -earnestly held up as the model for the new theocracy in the entire -world. - -Further, we shall see, for five successive years, secret proceedings -of the Court of Rome sufficiently laid open by official divulgence -to enable us to note the slow, sure steps devised for depriving -kings of all their rights in self-defence against the Pope; for -depriving bishops of all their powers of checking or restraining the -Pope; for depriving theologians of any voice in the councils of the -Church; and for depriving the parochial clergy of their individual -and collective franchises. We shall at almost every turn hear modern -laws and constitutions--liberty of worship, liberty of the press, -liberty of meeting, with representative legislatures and responsible -governments--denounced as the curse of mankind in all the varying -accents of a strange dialect, or a dialect happily strange to us. We -shall witness the preaching of a new crusade, on a cosmopolitan scale, -with considerable art, making the bearing of arms for St. Peter to -appear, pre-eminently, the life of the Cross, and dying in arms for -St. Peter to appear as the martyr's end, the fairest of deaths, and -the most enviable. We shall see how the most jealous and obstinate -oligarchy in the world were led on from step to step of subjugation -till they were made the instruments of reducing their collective body, -when in Council assembled, from a co-ordinate branch of a legislature -to a mere privy council to the Bishop of Rome, and of reducing the -members of their body, when dispersed, from the position of real -diocesan bishops to that of prefects of the Bishop of Rome. - -Still further, we shall see evolved under our eyes the process -by which opinions are elevated into doctrines, and doctrines are -erected into irreformable dogma. We shall see how the bishops, while -dispersed, were induced, in order to facilitate the making of a new -dogma, to discredit their acknowledged standard of belief, tradition, -substituting for it the general consent of the Church; and how, when -the passing of the dogma was secured, the assembled bishops were -induced to disavow the consent of the Church as unnecessary. We shall -see ecclesiastical magnates prostrate and petitioning the Bishop of -Rome for the elementary liberties of a legislature, and petitioning in -vain. We shall see how such magnates in secret petitions represented -the principles about to be erected into dogma as contrary to their -traditional belief and constant teaching, as fraught with peril to the -State, and as certain to bring discredit on the loyalty of any sincere -believer in such dogma; and how the same magnates afterwards in public -documents affirmed the opposite in all these respects. We shall see how -renowned champions of the Papacy complained late in life that they had -been used for its glory and deceived as to its principles. Finally, we -shall see set in motion an immense apparatus of means for effecting, in -a course of ages, the complete social, political, and ecclesiastical -reconstruction of all society, which reconstruction will culminate only -when the spiritual and the temporal powers meeting as in an apex in -the Vicar of Christ, he shall be by all men regarded as not only High -Priest, but as King of kings and Lord of lords; when, all authority and -dominion, all principality and power, being put under him, there shall -in the whole earth exist only, as we should express it, one master and -all men slaves, or, as he would express it, one fold and one shepherd. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 6: The word is _vis_, which both the _Civiltá Cattolica_ -and the French _Recueil_ translate by "force." But not so the German -_Stimmen aus Maria Laach_, which makes it "influence"--_einfluss_ (Heft -i. p. 10). Such a difference in versions meant for Germans, Englishmen, -and Americans is not rare.] - -[Footnote 7: _Recueil_, end of preface.] - -[Footnote 8: _Il Papato_, etc., p. 188.] - -[Footnote 9: The Pope, in the Allocution of April 20, 1849, says -that Spain first stirred up the other Catholic nations to form a -league among themselves for his restoration (_Recueil_, p. 228). -His description of the Holy City during his absence was, "a thicket -of roaring beasts"--_silvam frementium bestiarum_ (Id. 224). His -description of himself at the same time was "being counted worthy to -suffer shame for the name of Jesus, and being made in some measure -conformable to His passion" (Id. p. 234).] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -Foundation of a Literature of Reconstruction, Serial and -Scholastic--The _Civiltá Cattolica_: its Views on Education and -on Church and State--Tarquini's Political Principles of Pope and -King--Measures Preparatory to the Syllabus. - - -With the year 1850 was commenced a magazine, at the instance of -the Jesuits, and under their direction, bearing the title Catholic -Civilization (_Civiltá Cattolica_), in opposition to modern -civilization. We may here say that the daily organ of the same -complexion bears the title of Catholic Unity (_Unitá Cattolica_), in -opposition to Italian unity. Above one hundred volumes of the _Civiltá_ -have been published; and it must ever be named in connexion with -Pius IX as the intimate organ of his policy, and the most complete -store of his published records. Perhaps its place in the history of -literature is unique. Considering the number of books, serials, and -journals, in different languages, of which it is the inspiring force, -and considering the modifications it has already succeeded in bringing -about in the ideas and even in the organization of the whole Catholic -society, they can scarcely be charged with vain boasting who call it -the most influential organ in the world. The Jesuit Fathers forming its -editorial staff reside close to the Pope's palace, and work under his -immediate direction. Dr. Friedrich, during the Vatican Council, told -some bishops that if they would understand the Council, they must study -it with the _Civiltá_ in their hands. For our part, before reading that -remark we had applied the same principle to the entire movement. - -The leading idea of the _Civiltá_ is expressed, says the article -on the programme, in its title. _Catholic Civilization_ is flag, -device, and profession of faith.[10] The substance is civilization, -the quality Catholic. Civilization is not polish, but organization -in community, under rule. Civilization, after the Catholic ideal, -had continued steadily to grow up to the fifteenth century, but was -broken in the sixteenth by Lutheranism; was again enfeebled in the -seventeenth by Jansenism; yet again was it undermined in the eighteenth -by Voltairianism, and now in the nineteenth it is lacerated by -Socialism. The evil has actually entered Italy, and even heterodoxy -itself threatens to invade the Peninsula. Heresy is, in fact, likely -to become connected with that aspiration after national unity by which -the people are misled. _Almost everything having been overhauled in -heterodox spirit, almost everything must be reconstituted from the -foundation._[11] These words express the mission of the new periodical, -and of the restored Papacy. They are the original announcement of a -policy ever since pursued without flagging. - -To reconstitute society according to the Catholic ideal is the single -object set forth. "On the brink of social dissolution," the one -necessity felt, pressed, reiterated, is that of re-establishing on the -Catholic ideal the notion of civilization--that is of the civil system; -and of leading back the movement of civilization to that Catholic ideal -from which it had been departing for three centuries.[12] - -The essential point in this fabric is "the idea of authority." But -the idea of authority cannot be restored except by quickening it, and -reinforcing it by the Catholic conception. When the divine authority -was shaken, men would no longer hear of the human (i.e. when the Papacy -was rejected, civil government fell into contempt). The Catholic -ideal is idly reproached with absolutism. But, among Catholics, -pure monarchy, if not limited by certain conventional checks, is -tempered by a higher law, not abstract, but practical, active, and -operative. Absolutism in the sense of despotism is the creation of -Protestantism and Voltairianism, and if it may sit on the throne of -a king, it is more frequently found in constitutional chambers or -democratic assemblies.[13] Therefore the one sufficing remedy is the -restoration in ruler and subject of the notion of authority according -to the Catholic ideal. For this the new organ calls for _a salutary -conspiracy, a holy crusade_;[14] two phrases that mean all that has -since taken place, and all that has yet to come. - -The very first article of the _Civiltá_, after that upon the programme, -is on education: "the question which holds all the future destinies of -the European nations struggling within its ballot-boxes." With this -appreciation of its theme, it takes ground which has since become -familiar to Europe, and enunciates principles which have now frequently -been reproduced in our own discussions; so that a slight sketch of its -reasoning will not be without interest to English readers. The interest -is increased by the fact that its aims have steadily gained ground in -France. In England, some of them, if not recognized as principles, have -been, to a considerable extent, practically embodied, as undetected -principles are apt to be. - -Beginning with the theme of Freedom of Instruction, it denounces -the tyranny and monopoly of the University of France. Had not the -spirit of Catholicism, it says, broken the chain, it would soon have -become unlawful for one man to tell another the right road, unless -he had a bachelor's degree, for doing so was a sort of instruction. -The line properly limiting freedom of instruction it finds in the -line which divides the truth from falsehood. They who demand liberty -of instruction do so in order to teach the truth. But in excluding -the teaching of lies, it may be even "necessary to protect children -betrayed by the barbarous apathy of their parents." - -The writer then asks, But who is to determine what is the lie? -Governments? "Until a government can show itself infallible, it must -renounce all pretensions to regulate instruction and opinion." The -pretension on its part to do so is tyrannical, because interference -here is trespassing on the sanctuary, where the truth alone bears rule. - -The position that it belongs to a government to fix the limits -of freedom of opinion is denounced as having originated in the -Reformation, as being Protestant, and, further, as being destitute -of foundation. The Church is the moderator of instruction, precisely -because she is the infallible moderator of opinions in all that relates -to the moral order. Consequently there is in existence a competent, -effectual, and revered tribunal. Then follow taunts at journals which -complain of communal authorities for giving up their educational rights -to the clergy. These are succeeded by jeers at such statesmen as doubt -if the liberty of communal authorities extends so far as to give them -the right of surrendering their liberty. - -The objection is then faced, that liberty may be as justly claimed by -the non-Catholic as by the Catholic. Of course, replies the _Civiltá_, -the only case in which that question can become a practical one for -Catholics is where they form the majority. Is it to be supposed that -a majority shall be bound, for the sake of a minority "to pass a law -opening all the pits of hell for its fellow-citizens?... With Catholics -the liberty of dissidents cannot be a natural right." - -The position taken by statesmen, that the Church is not infallible in -politics and economy, and that therefore these subjects must be under -the control of the State, is first laughed at. It reminds the writer of -a musketeer who should say to his general, "I see that your artillery -is of no avail against these Alps; let us open upon them with our -rifles." After this comes the principle. The assertion that politics -and economy ought to be under the control of the State rests on one or -other of three errors: (1) Politics and economy do not belong to the -moral sciences; or, (2) The moral sciences are not subject to moral -laws; or, (3) The Church is not the authentic exponent of moral law. -The first of these errors is refuted by every university in Europe, in -all of which politics and economy are classed among the moral sciences. -The second is a contradiction in terms. The third is a heresy in every -Catholic ear. - -It will help to a clear understanding of many expressions which must -occur hereafter, if the reader, at this stage, will set before his -mind's eye the scope of the three principles here asserted. Phillips, -a modern lay doctor, quoted by the humblest polemic and the mighty -_Civiltá_, in his seven volumes on ecclesiastical law (_Kirchenrecht_), -discusses the relations of Church and State at great length. He shows -that the Church is supreme and the State subordinate, in all things -that come under the _divine laws_. Holtgreven, a Catholic judge, and an -opponent of the Falk laws, explains this clearly: "To the divine laws, -in this sense, belong, not only the ten commandments, but also the -canons of the Church, as the Council of Trent shows. The things subject -to the divine laws include all such worldly things as are _connected_ -with morality."[15] - -This much is conceded by the _Civiltá_, that, if danger to the public -interests should arise from false teaching of any _material_ science, -the government may interfere, as it would in a case of adulteration of -food. The Church is not infallible in material instruction. - -The article, it will be seen, claims the right to take the teaching of -the child out of the hand of the parent, and that of the subject out of -the hand of the State.[16] The latter may mix itself up in the matter -as to material things, not as to moral. Royal supremacy, in university, -college, seminary, or primary school, must not be allowed. It has -the twofold evil of setting the authority and responsibility of the -parent for his child above that of the priest, and of setting the local -authority of the national ruler above the all-embracing authority of -the universal one. The State is not only welcome to appear in school, -but ought to appear in its subordinate capacity, finding money, secular -status, and instruction in _material_ things. But in all that part -of schooling which may be called education in the higher sense, of a -father, a Christian, or a king, the State is not to have a word to say. - -It would seem difficult to ask a community to do an action involving -a more serious disregard of moral considerations than to find money -and power for schools and colleges, and not have a word to say as -to the principles taught in them. We are far from ascribing such a -disregard of moral considerations to a devout Ultramontane. On the -contrary, he is persuaded that the State, in committing its money and -authority to the Church, takes not only the highest human guarantee, -but a truly divine one, for the protection of every moral interest. The -motto of the article is a sentence intimating that, all over Europe, -the question of the future must be the establishment of universities -canonically instituted.[17] - -In order to the _restoration of ideas_ now undertaken, as preparing -the way for the _restoration of facts_, it was a practical necessity -to establish an invariable association between the two ideas of the -only Judge of true and false, the only Arbiter of right and wrong, and -the one holy Roman Church. This association could not be established -so well by any arrangement as by making each school an arena on which -every day the authority of both the parent and the State should be--not -pranced upon, not even trampled upon, but serenely and devoutly walked -over, by what M. Veuillot calls the crushing sandals of the monk. - - * * * * * - -Another article in the first volume of the _Civiltá_ gives such -expression to the principles which underlie the whole struggle ever -since conducted, that some account of it will do more to put the reader -in possession of certain of those principles than formal explanations. -It is on the central question of the relations of Church and State; -or, as the _Civiltá_ puts it, of the separation of Church and State--a -phrase which, like almost every other, has a different meaning in its -pages from what it has with us. The following headings give an idea of -the drift of the article: "6. The nation is a part of the Church." "7. -The part ought to be subordinate to the whole." "8. Because the Church -has authority." "9. The authority of jurisdiction."[18] - -_I believe in the holy Catholic Church_, in the Apostles' Creed, is -thus interpreted: "I believe that every Catholic individual and nation -forms a part of the Catholic society, and that only by virtue of its -being a part does it partake of the benefit of the whole, through being -subordinated to the laws of the whole." - -On the point of jurisdiction, the writer first unearths "the -serpent," which is the notion that the Church may judge about sins, -virtues, doctrines, rites, and such-like, but must not touch temporal -jurisdiction. This serpent he proceeds to kill. First, he solemnly -appeals to the faith of the reader. "Do you believe that the Church -is infallible in dogmatic Bulls, at least, unless they are formally -rejected by the episcopate?" After this, he resorts to pleasantry: -"Come close to me, and I will tell it in your ear. The Bull of John -XXII condemned John Gianduno and Marsilius of Padua as heretics, -because they denied to the Church the right of punishing by corporal -pains, and it declared that she could inflict pains even unto -death.[19] But I tell you this in secret, solely that you may know what -is the doctrine of the Catholic Church, which you profess--doctrine -put in practice through very many centuries, down to the last Council -(Trent), which fulminated I know not how many penalties, and material -ones, even against counts, marquises, princes, and emperors. Woe to -us if they should hear us!" Thus jauntily did those who had only just -been reinstated by foreign arms treat the neo-Catholic doctrine, or, -as it has since been called, the Liberal Catholic one. "I tell you -plainly," adds the writer, "that if the Church cannot rule her sons, -even in material things, the Church is lost; at least, the Catholic -Church. She might survive as that invisible Church which was discovered -by Luther among the ruins of the middle ages, and, reconstructed as the -_amphitherium_ and _palæotherium_, were discovered in the geological -strata, and reconstructed by Cuvier." - -Addressing kings, the writer solemnly counsels them to bring forth -all their codes, and pass them under a careful examination. But the -light by which such examination is to be conducted must be that "of -pure Catholicism, to which all other legislation must be subordinated. -Restore every article of your code, according to the articles of your -creed, not only in what relates to the duties of subjects, but also in -what would seem to diminish the rights of rulers. And that the Catholic -influence, which modifies codes, may shine in all its fulness, _let it -not be ministers or legists, but bishops and the Pontiff, who shall -minutely search into your legislation for every anti-Catholic element_." - -The theocratic Papal polity might have been almost intentionally -framed to contrast with the first principles of the Mosaic theocratic -polity. The latter, put in one word, seems to be this: God as the -general Father is the great right-holder, and He identifies the -rights of every creature with His own, identifying at the same time -their welfare with His own glory. Therefore He leaves no creature to -the care of a Vicar, no province to any departmental divinity. Every -act done for the benefit of our fellow-creatures He reckons as a -tribute to Himself. Every infringement of their rights He treats as an -offence against Himself. Every man was taught to see, not an abstract -principle, but a great Father standing beside the gleaning widow, the -supperless hireling, the pauper forced to pawn, and having no second -coat--was taught to hear this common Father saying for these to happier -neighbours, "I am the Lord." Every man tempted to lie, cheat, steal, -oppress, seduce, or strike, saw the same great Father rising up against -him, and saying, "I am the Lord." - -It was of the essence of this theocracy that all who held authority -did so by and under a written law in the vulgar tongue. Of this law -every father in his own house was made the guardian, and in it he was -the responsible instructor of his children. Every prophet professing -that he bore a fresh message was to be brought to the test of this -written law. Those who were to apply the test were the men of the -whole community. Every one who claimed to bear a special commission -was bound first to conform to the law, and secondly, to show signs of -special divine power. It was a theocracy of direct divine government, -not of government by a Vicar; a theocracy of written law, not of -arbitrary will styling itself authority; a theocracy of private -judgment, not of a veda shut up from the low caste, to be read and -interpreted only by the twice-born Brahman. Finally, it was a theocracy -in which whatever came from God became its own witness by benefits to -God's children not to be mistaken, and obvious to all. - -The statement made in the _Civiltá_ as to the guidance under which -the reactionary policy in Austria was devised, gives light upon the -duties then engrossing nuncios and confessors at the various Courts -where Papal influence was powerful. All that appeared to the world -was, that at every one of those Courts a cold current of reaction set -in and ran strong. The Jesuits took it for a tide, and the bark of -St. Peter was to sail cheerily over all the shoals. But the Liberal -Catholics were proportionably disquieted as to the prospects of the -Church. The first days of Pius IX had fired them with hope that Rome -might yet be fit to face three things of which she was shy--the Bible, -History, and Freedom. But the advent of the Jesuits to power caused -serious forebodings, which soon began to be realized. To quote the -memorable words of Montalembert, "Who could have thought that the -clergy, after crying out for liberty in Belgium, would turn round as -they did in 1852, till we found them beating down all our liberties and -privileges--in fact, all our ideas--as held in times preceding Napoleon -III?"[20] - -We now find that at the time when the Pontiff was using his clergy to -help kings in taking away constitutional rights from their subjects, he -was himself preparing to take from the kings what they indeed looked -upon as rights, but what he regarded in the light of constitutional -concessions, infringing the higher rights of their divinely appointed -suzerain. When the Italian government took possession of the _Collegio -Romano_, it was found that the Jesuits had left in the great library -of the establishment little belonging to the present pontificate. One -pamphlet is of some significance. A manuscript note on the title-page -proudly tells how his Holiness wished to have it circulated as widely -as possible. It also adds that on February 1, 1853, when the fathers -of the _Collegio Romano_ stood before his Holiness, he singled out the -author, Father Camillo Tarquini, in presence of the other Jesuits and -of the Court, and addressed him thus: "Father Tarquini, I am delighted; -bravo! well done! I confirm it, and confirm it with all my heart."[21] -This was an early foretoken of the purple in which Tarquini died. He is -the writer to whom Cardinal Manning appeals, as softening the doctrine -of Bellarmine and Suarez to a temper fitter for our times. The pamphlet -signalized by this display of favour aims at proving the wickedness -of kings in subjecting the bulls, briefs, or any acts whatever of the -Pope, to a _placet_, _exequatur_, or other form of royal assent, before -recognizing them as having the force of law in their States. This is -one form of the error of regalism. - -The power of the Pontiff, argues Father Tarquini, is this--What he -binds on earth is bound in heaven. But if the king, stepping in, says, -To bind implies the force of law, and your acts shall not acquire -the force of law without my _placet_, how then? Why, the Pontiff -becomes the one really bound. The king refuses to allow the pontifical -judgments to take effect of themselves. It is not with him "said on -earth and done in heaven." His _placet_ must intervene. - -It is competent, indeed, he admits to the Pontiff, to _grant_ a right -of _placet_; but such a right, founded on the grace of a Pope, cannot -be confounded with one inherent in the crown. We quote the following -in full:--"You say that the _placet_ is a real right, demanded by -justice, and essential to political government. The Church condemns -it by a series of judgments, perhaps without parallel in her history, -extending from her foundation down to Pius IX. She expressly defines -it, with Leo X, Clement VII, Clement XI, and Benedict XIV, as opposed -to all justice, as indecent, absurd, rash, scandalous, as insufferable -depravity, and worthy of eternal pain. Therefore she punishes it with -the greatest of penalties, the anathema. - -"In this matter there is no middle course. You must either lay aside -the mask of Catholicism, which no longer becomes you, and boldly avow -that the Church has defined good as evil, justice as injustice, an -inherent right of the crown as an absurdity and a wrong, and done so -in a judgment perpetuated from her foundation to our own day; or you -must, on the other hand, confess that you are in an error not to be -tolerated." - -Thus it seems that what with a Christian minister would only be a -claim to announce the belief and the moral precepts which he found in -the Holy Scriptures, becomes with the Roman Pontiff a claim to put -his decree on any matter which he deems conducive to the good of "the -Church" into the form of law, and to set it up without, or in spite -of, but anyhow above, the national law, be it republican, royal, or -imperial. This boundless pretension--for boundless it is--will often be -found gently expressed as the right of the Pontiff _to communicate with -the faithful_. - -The writer then asks what, from his point of view, would seem to be a -natural question. Would kings like the Pope to demand that his _placet_ -should be required before their laws came into force?[22] He replies -that some of them have so far unlearned "Christian doctrine as to say -that, in case the Pope did so, he would usurp sovereign rights in their -States." But such a proposition is heretical, pronounced to be so by -the Holy Office in 1654, with the approbation of Innocent X.[23] By -virtue of this, even our children know that the Church presided over -and governed by the Vicar of Christ is a kingdom which has the ends of -the earth for its bounds. Therefore it belongs to the Vicar of Christ -to make laws in all parts of the world for her welfare and for her -government. - -Liberal Catholics trembled for the consequences to Church and State -of Jesuit Court confessors and far-aiming but short-seeing plans. -They knew that the devout Jesuit calls upon all to regard the Papal -government as the model for the whole world; and that if statesmen -and jurists could be replaced by Jesuits at the various Courts, a -combination of plan and an unity of action might be secured everywhere -for a great movement to establish the dominion of Christ in a higher -degree than the Thirty Years' War did in Austria and Bohemia. - -There is a point illustrated in this pamphlet which seems to enter into -the English head more slowly than any other. We mean the conscientious -view of a true Ultramontane as to what constitutes religious liberty, -or violates it. Englishmen sometimes not only transfer their own views -on this subject to Ultramontanes, but betray the feeling that they are -generous in doing so. It is never generous, or even just, to ascribe -views to a man which he religiously condemns. If the Englishman will -clearly set before his mind the first postulate of the Ultramontane, -that God has appointed a vicar upon earth, to whom He has committed -all power, surely he will see that religious liberty must principally -consist in the freedom of that vicar to do all which he conceives it to -be in his province to do, and in the freedom of those who receive his -commands to carry them out, exactly according to his intentions. If any -king or nation limits his freedom to act and command, "the Pope becomes -the one really bound." The Englishman may say that, on this principle, -no guarantee is left for any liberty but that of the Pontiff, or of -those who represent authority derived from him. But that is precisely -what the Ultramontane does not believe. - -On the contrary, he holds that the highest guarantee for all legitimate -liberty lies in the complete freedom of the Pontiff. No liberty can -be legitimate that consists in exemption, or assumed exemption, from -divine authority. And further, the authority of the Vicar of God, being -exercised under unfailing guidance, is not liable to commit violations -of any right. - -We thus see begun the movement for the restoration of ideas, as -preparatory to the restoration of facts. Ranke has traced the course of -the "ecclesiastical restoration," which was rendered necessary by the -damage inflicted on Rome by the Reformation, without being careful to -mark the principles or to track the processes by which "restoration" -was effected in Bohemia, Austria, Spain, Italy, and France. That -restoration, however, had been real and momentous. A second restoration -had taken place after the wreck of the French Revolution, when the -Papacy had been smitten by its own sons. It was the pride of the clergy -to cite the fact that the rulers of England and Prussia had co-operated -in that restoration, as proof that the Papal throne was even in -Protestant eyes the central point of order. Now a third restoration was -to be effected--one which would do all that had been left undone by -the other two. The Pope's throne was not only to be reared up again in -Rome, but was to be gradually elevated to a spiritual supremacy equal -to the highest claimed in former Bulls, and to a temporal supremacy as -complete as when Hildebrand triumphed at Canossa. - -The first of these restorations had been fought out with the weapons -of the Inquisition and the war-plots of the Jesuits. The second had -been fought out with the weapons of the Liberal Catholics, borrowed -from the Reformation and the Modern State. When the Jesuits had pushed, -not too far, but untimely far, they were for the day disowned; not, -however, as inimical to the Church, but as hateful to the nations, -and as, therefore, lowering the credit of the Church with the outside -world. Now had come the moment when the Liberal Catholics, having done -their work, were in turn to be disowned; but on other grounds. They -were to be cast out as children of the world, infected with principles -subversive of the "kingdom of God," of that polity in which the priest -of God is the king of men, and the affairs of an erring race are -unerringly guided by consecrated hands. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 10: _Civiltá_, vol. 1. p. 13.] - -[Footnote 11: Ibid. p. 15.] - -[Footnote 12: Ibid. p. 13.] - -[Footnote 13: Ibid. pp. 20, 21.] - -[Footnote 14: Ibid. p. 14.] - -[Footnote 15: _Holtgreven_, p. 9.] - -[Footnote 16: _Civiltá_, vol. i. pp. 25-51.] - -[Footnote 17: Ibid.] - -[Footnote 18: Vol. i. p. 647.] - -[Footnote 19: Cardinal Tarquini (_Institutiones_, p. 35, ed. 4th), -whom Cardinal Manning, in his reply to Mr. Gladstone (p. 94), names -as teaching differently on such points from the earlier Jesuits, -Bellarmine and Suarez, quotes this case, saying that the Bull in -question "more particularly attributes to the Church that which is the -special property of a perfect society, the power of coercion, even to -the use of material force; but Marsilius, who denied this, was on that -account condemned as a heretic." His words are, "_Quod maxime proprium -est societatis perfectæ, jus potestatis coactivæ etiam quoad inferendam -vim materialem; Marsilius autem, qui hæc ipsa negabat damnatur eam ob -rem ut hæreticus_."] - -[Footnote 20: Letter quoted in _Unitá Cattolica_, March 10, 1870. -_Friedbergh_, p. 120.] - -[Footnote 21: _Del Regio Placet_: Dissertazione del P. Camillo -Tarquini, D.C.D.G. ... Estratto dagli Annali delle Scienze Religiose, -Roma, 1852. Tipografia della Rev. Cam. Apostolica. - -The note in manuscript on the title-page is as follows: "S.S. Pio IX -Voile che presente dissertazione si diffondesse quanto più si potea; -e nel di, 1 Febbrajo, 1853, veduto l'autore dissegli alla presenza -della sua corte e degli altri Padri del Collegio Romano. P. Tarquini me -rallegro, bravo, bene. Confermo, e confermo di tutta volonta."] - -[Footnote 22: "It would be very natural that the Church which makes -laws from God Himself should demand of the State that it should make -no law for her subjects to which she had not previously given her -approbation."--_Phillips_, ii. 577.] - -[Footnote 23: "In 1644, the Holy Office, in a decree approved by -Innocent X, condemned as schismatical and heretical the proposition -which asserts that, when the Pontiffs promulge their decrees in places -subject to the dominion of other temporal princes, they promulge laws -in territories that are not theirs."--_Civiltá_, Serie VII. vol. vi. p. -292. Tarquini says 1654 (_Inst._, p. 159), the _Civiltá_ 1644.] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -Measures preparatory to the Syllabus--Changes in Italy since -1846--Progress of Adverse Events--A Commination of Liberties--A Second -Assembly of Bishops without Parliamentary Functions--The Curse on -Italy--Origin of the phrase "A Free Church in a Free State"--Projected -Universal Monarchy. - - -Being notoriously deficient in theological training, Pius IX was -not unnaturally seized with a desire to reduce the rebel nations by -raising contested doctrines to the rank of dogmas. When the reactionary -movement in politics had attained its full momentum, he called an -assembly of bishops, whose splendour, surrounding his throne, might -restore to it some of the departed _prestige_. At the same time, -summoning the bishops for consultation and for ceremonial purposes, but -not at all for parliamentary ones, would be a secure step of progress -in the absorption of the power of the collective episcopate into the -Papacy. In the midst of two hundred prelates, as we have already seen, -he proclaimed the Immaculate Conception, in 1854. As a display of -absolute authority in the highest realm, that of dogma, this act did -more to advance the proper ideas than an immensity of writing. We have -already quoted the assertion that it crushed Gallicanism. But ideas -were only stepping-stones to facts. Professor Michelis asserts that -even during the gathering of 1854 an attempt was made in some large -assembly of bishops to induce them to proclaim Papal infallibility as a -Catholic dogma.[24] - -The prelates, who, on their way to Rome in 1846, had looked with joy on -the spectacle of unity, now found that spectacle slightly blemished. -One heretic temple stood in Turin--a proof that after all the -extirpations of the Waldenses, a root had still lurked in the ground. -This temple had no images, and had the Bible in mother-tongue. It bore -outside, in words that any cowherd might read, if he could read at all, -a verse of Jeremiah: "Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old -paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest -for your souls." And this was not only suffered, but done by the House -of Savoy! - -As the prelates went south, whispers might reach some of them that -in Tuscany the police, now and then, discovered secret bands of -Bible-readers, somewhat as in old times the Lollards were unearthed -in England. The historical name of Guicciardini was implicated in the -offence, and a number of vulgar people. Even at Rome, Luigi Desanctis, -parish priest of St. Maria Maddalena, had abandoned as fair prospects -as erudition, character, and favour could well give to an ecclesiastic. -He had quietly withstood flattering and influential efforts to bring -him back. First he had sheltered under the British flag; but, finding -that the flag of Savoy really shed upon Italian soil the all but -inconceivable right of freedom to worship God, he had taken refuge -under it. He was now devoting his clear, keen, learned pen to teaching -Italy the religion of Christ as he found it in the New Testament. Even -in writing for Italians he found it needful to say that it was only -by living in Rome, and by knowing Pope, Cardinals, and Curia, that -they could come to a clear understanding of the religion of the city. -The great cause of this difficulty he found in the three separate -circles of doctrine in which that religion was wont to be taught, which -he called (1) the official, (2) the theological, (3) the real.[25] -The official doctrine was that for use with heretics, the doctrine -presented by Bossuet and Wiseman; the theological doctrine was for use -with men of culture; the real doctrine was for practical use among the -people. The eloquent Barnabite, Gavazzi was now thundering against the -Papacy. Nay, even the threshold of the Inquisition had been crossed by -the force of Protestant unity. A priest, avowing heresy, who once had -held good preferment, had been seized after the French took the city. -At the urgent instance of the Evangelical Alliance, General Baraguay -d'Hilliers put on such hard pressure that even in sacred Rome a -renegade priest walked out of the palace of the Holy Office a ransomed -man. - -The confidence that the Virgin would reward her new exaltation by -corresponding exaltation of him who had procured it, was often -expressed in language picturesque and ardent. But scarcely had the -incense of the fresh offering cleared away when premonitory symptoms -appeared of the storm rising again. Meantime, many Catholics became -anxious when they found the Pope's favourite organ treating even such -writers as Bellarmine, Suarez, and St. Thomas Aquinas, as too much -inclined to Liberalism. Liverani, in referring to articles of this -kind, says that Bellarmine had been "the author of the Night of St. -Bartholomew," and he thinks that Italian Catholics in the nineteenth -century might be allowed to be Liberals up to the standard of -Bellarmine and Suarez. - -In 1855, Piedmont, sending a force to the Crimea, took her place beside -France and England. The next year, at the Congress of Paris, Cavour -lifted up his voice among the representatives of Europe, and protested -against foreign occupation in Italy. Mexico abolished the external -tribunal of the Church, the ecclesiastical court; abolished tithes, -offered protection to all of either sex who might choose to forsake -their convents, and declared its resolution not to submit its acts to -the supreme authority of the Apostolic See. Other nations of South -America met the aggressive ecclesiastical movement by asserting the -supremacy of civil law, even in matters directly ecclesiastical.[26] -Three years later, the same hand which upheld the Pope in Rome took -Lombardy from Austria, and gave it to Piedmont, in exchange for -Savoy and Nice. Tuscany, Parma, and Modena banished their dukes; the -Romagna cast off the Papal yoke; and all these, uniting themselves to -Piedmont, formed the kingdom of Italy. - -These events were met, on the part of the Vatican, by more stringent -denunciations of modern liberties. In the _Civiltá_ these were -inveighed against under the name of the principles of 1789. Liverani -says (p. 160) that the _Civiltá_, in a Catechism of Liberty, hardly -left a man the use of air and water. The article so alluded to gives -what the writer of it calls a Litany, which ought to be repeated with -the refrain, Good Lord, deliver us.[27] - - "Liberty of conscience is a perverse opinion diffused by fraudulent - endeavours of infidels. - - "It is a corrupt fountain, a folly, a poisonous error. - - "It is an injury to the Church and the State, vaunted with - shameless impudence as becoming to religion. - - "It is the liberty of error and the death of the soul. - - "It is the abyss, the smoke whereof darkens the sun, and the - locusts out of which lay waste the earth. - - "The liberty of the press is an evil liberty, never sufficiently - execrated or abhorred. - - "It is an extravagance of doctrines, and a portentous monstrosity - of errors, at which we are horrified." - -It would be incorrect to suppose that these principles exclude all -possibility of toleration in fact, though not by right. Toleration may -be allowed, but never on principle; never but as the means of avoiding -a greater evil. If more harm to the cause of _religion_ would result, -in any given country, from intolerance, than from toleration, the -latter becomes lawful to the prince of the country. Otherwise it cannot -be so. Even this qualified admission of a mere _de facto_ toleration of -heretics was not left uncontested. Priests of the Appolonare in Rome -about this time, publicly maintained the thesis that "it will never be -possible to imagine reasons which should induce a Catholic prince to -grant liberty of worship to heretics." They maintained other theses, to -the effect that unlimited freedom of worship, and civil rights, granted -to heretics, laid the prince open to suspicion of heresy, apostasy, or -atheism.[28] This doctrine, cries Liverani, would require the Catholic -king of Saxony, with two millions of Protestant subjects, and fifty -thousand Catholics, to exterminate the former by means of the latter. -It is, he says, putting this alternative--the creed or the stake. Yet -this debate was held in presence of the Pope's vicar, Cardinal Patrizi, -and was noticed with commendation by the _Civiltá_. - -Montalembert proposed that the voting in the Romagna on the question of -annexation to Italy should take place under the eye of French troops. -Liverani, a native of the Romagna, prelate as he was, replied, "If the -French army left, without being replaced by a strong force to guard the -lives of the clergy, at the end of a week all the priests and friars -would be exterminated, so wild and savage is the public indignation -against the government of these last years" (p. 46). - -On March 26, 1860, in the famous and terrible Letters Apostolic _Cum -Catholica_, all the actors and abettors of the territorial changes -were placed under the greater excommunication. The Pope[29] expressly -decreed that no hand but his own, or that of his successors, should -have the power of releasing any one of the countless offenders from -the ban, except in the article of death. He proceeds on what seems -the fair principle that the dominion of the Pontiff, though in its -own nature temporal, takes on a spiritual character because of its -spiritual design, as giving to the Head of the whole Church a position -independent of any one nation. Therefore, robbing him of it becomes a -spiritual offence. If he is the representative of God upon earth, it -is hard to see how rebellion against him can fail of being a spiritual -offence. If he is not the representative of God upon earth, he has -altogether misconceived his own position, and, like any other ruler, -may be judged by his merits, not by his pretensions. - -Before the publication of the Pope's speeches we were exposed to -manifold interpretations of the spiritual import of this anathema. -It was even possible that we might find letters in the _Times_ -assuring us that the Church never curses. But on June 23, 1871, Pius -IX uttered language which put his view of the spiritual import of his -own action beyond cavil. He had the words afterwards reprinted, with -the explanation that the allusion to Peter referred to the death of -Ananias and Sapphira. "True," said the Pontiff, "I cannot, like St. -Peter, hurl certain thunders which turn bodies to ashes; nevertheless, -I can hurl thunders which turn souls to ashes. And I have done it by -excommunicating all those who perpetrated the sacrilegious spoliation, -or had a hand in it."[30] - -But if to the spiritual eye of Pio Nono his curse had strewn Italy with -the ashes of millions of blasted souls, his Bulls were, in a temporal -point of view, as powerless as his dogmas. In the autumn of 1860, the -Pontiff saw Umbria and the Marches wrested from him by the new kingdom, -to which also the whole of the Neapolitan territory was added by -Garibaldi. After this, Europe grew impatient of the French occupation -of Italy, and that last stay of his temporal power became painfully -insecure. - -The Parliament in Turin proclaimed that Rome was the capital of Italy; -and now we have to note the birth of one of those phrases which, -becoming watchwards, grow into appreciable forces in history. Cavour, -in a speech, alluding to Montalembert, said great authorities had shown -that liberty might turn to the profit even of the Church. Montalembert -addressed to him a reply, in October, 1860, in which he made use of -the words, "A free Church in a free State." Five months later, when -the Turin Parliament set up the claim to Rome, Cavour used the same -phrase. Montalembert, with literary jealousy, publicly claimed it: "You -have done me the unexpected honour of using the formula I employed in -writing to you a few months ago." And, doubly to secure his patent -right, as late as August, 1863, in a Catholic Congress at Malines, he -declared that it was by the example of Belgium that he had been taught -a formula that had now become famous, "which has been stolen from us -by a great offender." He printed his address under the title, "A Free -Church in a Free State."[31] - -The French father of the phrase lived to write what showed that he had -employed it without having defined its terms in his own mind. Had its -Italian foster-father, who repeated it in death, lived to govern with -it, he would have learned, in the school of action, to select some one -of the many interpretations which it invites, or else to discard it as -a formula, applicable, indeed, to a Church proper, and a State proper, -but incapable of application to a mixed institution like Romanism, -which, however much of a Church, is still more of a State. - -The loss of Rome, to which political symptoms now pointed as impending, -was a calamity to be warded off by all the weapons of the Papacy, -sacred and profane. A great assembly of prelates was projected, to -surpass in splendour even that of 1854. It was to be equally well -guarded against any parliamentary character. In June, 1862, three -hundred bishops from all parts of the world were actually collected -around their chief. The ceremonies during this assembly displayed -a gorgeous pomp, which even Rome, accustomed since the days of the -Emperors to government by spectacle, was fain to recognize as an -effort, and a success in its kind, worthy of the historical stake in -dispute. The ostensible object was the canonization of certain Japanese -martyrs; but the real anxiety of the moment was so absorbing that the -new constellation in the heavens seemed to rise only to rule and decide -questions pending as to boundary lines on the earth. - -In these turbulent and pitiless times, said the Pope, when the Church -is pierced with so many wounds; when her rights, liberties, and -doctrines are so miserably violated, especially in Italy, "we urgently -desire to have new patrons in the presence of God," by whose prevailing -prayers the Church, buffeted with such a horrible tempest, as well as -civil society, may obtain the much-longed-for repose.[32] The aid of -the new patrons was that to which faith and hope pathetically turned, -in the concluding prayer put up on Whit-Sunday by the Pontiff: "Regard -Thy Church, now afflicted with such calamities: take not away Thy -mercy from us; but for the sake of these Thy saints, and through their -merits, cause Thy Church," etc., etc.[33] - -Besides the influence to be exerted by the exalted Japanese on behalf -of the temporal sovereignty, valuable results might attend a solemn -declaration from the episcopate of the whole world. This would at all -events silence priests who had dared to think amiss, and would affect -not only the calculations of statesmen, but also the complexion of -public opinion. The faith of Romanists in a display is, to all who -have been trained not to take an impression for a reason, absolutely -incomprehensible. Lamartine, in relating the perplexities of Mirabeau -when the gusts of the Revolution had begun to appal even him, exactly -pictures what is the outcome of their sensuous training. "He would save -the monarchy by a royal proclamation and a ceremony to make the king -popular." - -A declaration was made by the assembled bishops with all possible -gravity and force. The language chosen by Pope and prelates was the -strongest to be found. They were not content with pledging themselves -to the temporal dominion as a good, useful, helpful, or urgently -desirable thing. Staking the future for the present, as well as the -spiritual for the temporal, they declared that it was "necessary" in -order to the exercise of the full pontifical authority over the whole -Church. If this is so, there has been no proper exercise of authority -over the whole Church since 1870, nor can there be any till the Pope -again finds some few hundred thousand of Italians calling him king. -If it is not so, the collective hierarchy, and the Pope with them, -erred in setting forth a doctrine, touching the Head of the Church, for -the guidance of all mankind. The Pope himself not only said that the -temporal power was necessary, but that it had been given by a matchless -counsel of Providence. The reason he gives for its necessity is the -stock one, that the Pope may not be a dependent of any prince, as if -he had not been the helpless dependent of Napoleon III. The bishops, -forgetting both this dependence and the sanguinary measures by which -the temporal power was upheld, actually used such words as "noble, -tranquil, and genial liberty."[34] - -Besides their testimony to the necessity of the temporal power, the -bishops put on record words well adapted to prepare the way for the -dogma of Papal infallibility--words often afterwards recalled to those -of them who opposed that dogma in 1870. "Thou art to us the teacher of -sound doctrine, thou the centre of unity, thou the quenchless light -of the nations, set up by divine wisdom. Thou art the rock, and the -foundation of the Church herself, against which the gates of hell shall -not prevail. When thou speakest, we hear Peter; when thou dost decree, -we yield obedience to Christ."[35] - -But the new saints of 1862 did not turn the tide any more than the -"Immaculate" of 1854 had done. Italy held together, though Cavour -was gone. The effort of the two Catholic emperors to secure Mexico -for the Church, by placing a monarch of approved principles on the -throne, ended in a tragic failure. The grief felt everywhere at the -fate of Maximilian of Hapsburg was intensified for Pius IX, because, -as it is expressed by Professor Massi, the promises made to the -Pope by Maximilian, when he came to Rome before taking the reins of -empire, "were to remain void."[36] Finally, in 1864, the Convention of -September brought home to the Pope the fact that, unless the Virgin -should work a miracle for him, he was to be abandoned by the foreign -auxiliaries whose presence he hated, but the terror of whom was the -only shade in which he could rest. Perhaps he remembered how soon after -the foreign Emperor had held the Pope's bridle, the Italian Lambert -called him "My Lord," as he would have done to any other baron, and -drove him to hard straits. - -It was in this position of affairs that the seers of the Vatican beheld -all human institutions as if reduced by a cataclysm to a dark and -roaring chaos. And on their principles chaos it was. Not only had kings -and lawgivers withdrawn themselves from under the authority of the -supreme tribunal, not only had civil courts been withdrawn from under -the authority of the external tribunal, but almost all governments -had ceased to enforce by law the attendance of their subjects on -the internal tribunal of the Church which they thus degraded to the -level of a voluntary confessional. In each of the three circles of -all-embracing authority, therefore, order was now disrupted, and chaos -had broken in. The seer could see but one remedy. Society must be -RECONSTRUCTED, and that upon the basis of one world-wide monarchy. - -It is but slowly that minds accustomed to judge by ordinary standards -learn to attach a precise meaning to such expressions as the above, in -the language of the Vatican. Even after having learned how definite -is the meaning, we do not soon begin to associate ideas of deliberate -plan and serious expectation, with what would seem to be only dreams -of the cloister. We therefore give a few clear sentences from _Il -Genio Cattolico_, a publication praised by the authoritative _Unitá -Cattolica_.[37] It describes the true ideal of the Papacy as being -"an immense variety of languages, traditions, legislations, letters, -commerce, institutions, and alliances, under the moral and pacific -empire of a single Father, who, with the sceptre of the word, upholds -the equilibrium of the world. The Papacy is not, as German jurists call -it, a State within the State, but is a cosmopolitan authority, the -moderator of all States, the supreme and universal standard of law and -justice. It is a world-wide monarchy, from which all other monarchies -that would call themselves Christian derive _life_, _order_, and -_equilibrium_." - -Coupling this distinct conception of the appointed place of the Papacy -in the human commonwealth with the equally distinct conviction that -modern society is in ruins, the writer proceeds: "What is the remedy? -The recognition of a common father, who shall teach subjects to obey -as sons, and sovereigns to rule as fathers; a _supreme judge, to -declare and give sanctions to the rights_ of the one and the other. -Without this, how can the want of balance in the conflicting forces be -redressed?" - -With views thus radical and all-comprehending did the Court of Pius IX -proceed to build up, after a very ancient ideal, an empire over all -peoples, nations, and languages, the test of which should be acceptance -of the religious symbol set up by the autocrat. In the projected -reconstruction the _ultimate end_, the restoration of facts, would -always include these cardinal points. Every man and every woman in -Christendom, and, by a due extension of "the kingdom of God," every man -and every woman living, must be bound by law to appear, at the least -annually, in the internal tribunal of the Church, the confessional. In -order to this, every civil magistrate must be set in obvious and in -practical subordination to the ecclesiastical magistrate or bishop, -by the subjection of the civil court to the external tribunal of the -Church, the ecclesiastical court. In order to this, every king or -lawgiver must be set also in obvious and in practical subordination -to the supreme tribunal of the church, the Pope, by a restored state -of international law, giving to the Pontiff, or, to speak accurately, -recognizing in the Pontiff what God had given to him, full power to -deliver sentence as supreme judge upon the rights of all kings, and -upon the merits of every law. - -We for the sake of clearness, say three tribunals, though technically -they are only two, the Pope being in both supreme. Whether the -subject enters by the _foro externo_ or by the _foro interno_, by the -ecclesiastical court or by the confessional, both in the ultimate -instance conduct him to the one bar, that of the Judge of judges. -The supreme tribunal is he, in all causes not purely material, in -all causes whereinto enters any moral or religious consideration. -Protestants would seem generally to imagine that the ecclesiastical -court is a higher tribunal than the confessional. Not so. When a -conflict arises between the sentence of the external tribunal and that -of the internal, the suitor at the bar of God's kingdom is bound by the -judgment of the internal tribunal![38] - -In Carleton's _Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry_, where the -only symbol of any tribunal is a rickety chair standing on an earthen -floor full of holes, the priest of God has no sooner put on robe and -stole than "the tribunal" is as truly constituted as when in the palace -of Charles V sat Domenico Soto with the imperial penitent kneeling -before him, and said, "So far you have confessed the sins of Charles, -now confess those of the Emperor." In that tribunal has the peasant -bride to learn, and has the Queen to learn, that not the husband is -the head of the woman, but the priest of God. In that tribunal has the -shoeless Connaught child and has the imperial prince to learn that not -the parents are the head of the children, but the priest of God. In -that tribunal has the debtor and has the creditor, the executor and the -legatee to learn that not the law of the civil bench obliges, but the -law pronounced by the priest of God. In that tribunal have all these to -learn that not even the law which falls from the ecclesiastical judge -in the external tribunal is to be taken, but that which in the internal -tribunal, in holy secrecy, between the conscience alone and the judge -alone, falls with full force of binding and of loosing from the lips of -the priest of God. So in the other, the external tribunal, has every -citizen to learn, and every public servant, that not the magistrate -is the head of the town, and not the chief magistrate is the head of -the city, but that the bishop is head of both one and the other, for -he is the head of the priests of God. Finally, at the supreme bar have -the princes, the governors and captains, the judges, the treasurers, -the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to -learn that not the president, not the grand duke, not the king, not -the emperor, is the head of the nation, but the thrice-crowned King of -kings, the Great High Priest of God. - -This kingdom, it is held, with some stretching of the facts, did in the -Ages of Faith prevail, and it is to be restored. - -The restoration of facts could not be effected without a foregoing -restoration of the idea of Hildebrand. Constantine had founded a -State Church. Leo III, with Charlemagne, had founded what Mr. Bryce -accurately describes as a Catholic State, with the Pope as spiritual -and the Emperor as temporal head. Cardinal Manning points out that in -this Mr. Bryce makes the holy Roman Empire a two-headed monster.[39] -Nevertheless Mr. Bryce gives the true human history, though doubtless -Cardinal Manning, following Boniface VIII, gives the correct Papal -doctrine. According to that doctrine, the dualism of a double-headed -State amounted to a sort of Manicheism. History, which is guilty of -tainting many with one heresy or another, must bear the fault of Mr. -Bryce's Manicheism. But Hildebrand would abolish all dualism. The whole -world must have one head. Constantine's idea of a State Church had its -merit of unity, but it was unity by perversion of rights. The true idea -was that of a Church State, embracing the whole world, and placing -all mankind as one fold under one shepherd. This true idea was to be -restored. - -We shall in its place, be taught how we err in calling power over -temporal affairs temporal power. More accurately, does Cardinal -Manning speak of "the supreme judicial power of the Church in temporal -things."[40] He speaks of "the indirect spiritual power of the Church -over the temporal State,"[41] thus showing the error of the notion that -spiritual power means only power over spiritual affairs. He speaks of -"the Christian jurisprudence in which the Roman Pontiff was recognized -as the Supreme Judge of Princes and People, with a twofold coercion, -spiritual by his own authority, and temporal by the secular arm."[42] - -The turn of phraseology in the last sentence is probably not -undesigned. Had it been employed by a Protestant, Ultramontanes, _if -writing in Italy_, would have cried out, Ignorance and inaccuracy! -Does the Cardinal mean that the authority whereby the Pope through the -secular arm applies temporal coercion is not his own authority? No, -assuredly. Yet he leaves us in a position to slip into some such idea. -In such coercion as that of which he speaks it is not that the secular -power acts of its own authority, but that it acts with its own arm, -but with the Pope's authority. The interesting doctrine of the Brahman -as sprung from the Creator's head, and the King-caste as sprung from -his arm, reappears in the Papal system, in which the priest anointed -on the head and the prince anointed on the arm symbolize respectively -the authority that gives law and the force that carries it out.[43] -But Cardinal Manning's definition of _Christian_ jurisprudence as that -wherein the Pope is recognized as supreme Judge of Prince and People is -not only strict, but it also explains a whole set of terms--_Christian_ -government, _Christian_ law, _Christian_ order, _Christian_ -civilization, and so forth. - -It was obvious that to effect in Europe such a restoration as these -claims implied, a lengthened preparation of ideas must go before the -restoration of facts; and that restoration of ideas it was which we now -see undertaken. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 24: _Kurze Geschichte des Vaticanischen Concils_, p. 9.] - -[Footnote 25: _Roma Papale_, p. 7.] - -[Footnote 26: _Allocution of Dec. 15, 1856._ _Receuil_, p. 382.] - -[Footnote 27: _Civiltá_, Serie IV. vol. iv. p. 430.] - -[Footnote 28: _Liverani_, p. 163.] - -[Footnote 29: _Receuil_, p. 400.] - -[Footnote 30: _Discorsi_, vol. i. p. 158.] - -[Footnote 31: See the whole narrative in _Unitá Cattolica_, March 17, -1870. Also Mrs. Oliphant's Life of Montalembert.] - -[Footnote 32: Schrader, _Pius IX, als Papst und als König_, p. 21. -Idcirco summo pere optamus novos apud Deum habere patronos, qui in -tanto rerum discrimine validissimis suis precibus impetrent ut, tam -horribili discussa malorum procella optatissimam Catholica Ecclesia et -Civilis Societas assequatur pacem.] - -[Footnote 33: _Papst und König_, p. 23.] - -[Footnote 34: _Civiltá Cattolica_, Serie V, vol. ii. p. 721. Their -words are: "In nobili, tranquilla, et alma libertate catholicam fidem -tueri," etc. - -Monsignor Nardi proudly referred Mamiani, in the summer of 1869, to the -folio volumes in which 835 bishops had inscribed their adhesion to the -necessity of the temporal power. (_Stimmen, Neue Folge_, v. p. 153.)] - -[Footnote 35: _Civiltá_, Serie V. vol. ii. pp. 719, 723. "Tu populis -lumen indeficiens.... Tu Petra es, et ipsius ecclesiæ fundamentum.... -Te loquente, Petrum audimus, Te decernente, Christo obtemperamus." The -text even of the Vulgate is changed in the words, Tu Petra es.] - -[Footnote 36: _Life of Pius IX._ Frond, vol. i. p. 102.] - -[Footnote 37: Il Genio Cattolico Periodico Religioso--Scientifico, -Litterario, Politico di Reggio Nell' Emilia, 1873.] - -[Footnote 38: This is briefly and well put in the _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_ -(V. 146), where an article of the _Times_ on the bull of convocation of -the Vatican Council is belaboured through twelve pages of double-column -Latin. That journal had the audacity to set up conscience against -Pope, and to name Luther. "What do you understand by conscience? -for it is solemnly held by Catholics that we may not and cannot act -contrary to conscience. Indeed, we confess that, in point of fact, -we may be bound to act even against the sentence pronounced by an -ecclesiastical authority, seeing that the external tribunal, as we -say, does not always concur with the internal tribunal, and whenever -the internal tribunal is in opposition to the external tribunal, we -are bound to follow the internal. On this point consult our Catholic -authors when they treat of moral theology. Immo fatemur, posse in re -facti contingere, ut agere teneamur contra ipsam latam auctoritatis -ecclesiasticæ sententiam; quandoquidem forum externum, ut loqui -solemus, non semper cohæret cum foro interno: et quoties forum internum -in oppositione sit cum foro externo, primum sequi tenemur. De qua re -consulendi sunt auctores nostri Catholici de morali theologia agentes."] - -[Footnote 39: _Vatican Decrees_, p. 67.] - -[Footnote 40: Ibid. p. 82.] - -[Footnote 41: Ibid.] - -[Footnote 42: Ibid. 84.] - -[Footnote 43: "Since Jesus of Nazareth, ... the anointing of princes -is changed from the head to the _arm_; but the sacramental anointing -is still maintained upon the _head_ of the bishop, because he, in his -episcopal office, represents the person of the Head. There is, however, -a distinction between the anointing of the bishop and of the prince, -because the head of the bishop is anointed with the ointment, but the -arm of the prince is rubbed with oil, that it may be shown what a -difference exists between the authority of the bishop and the power of -the prince."--_Phillips_, ii. 621--quoting Bennetti's _Priv. S. Petri -Vindiciæ_. - -"Now, here are two things to be noted. First, that the emperor holds -an office of human creation--the Pontiff an office of divine creation. -Secondly, that the office of divine creation is for a higher end than -the office which is of human origin."--_Cardinal Manning, "Vatican -Decrees_," p. 68.] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -The Syllabus of Errors, December 8, 1864--Character of the Propositions -condemned--Disabilities of the State--Powers of the Church. - - -To ordinary readers the Syllabus would rather appear to be a -destructive instrument than a constructive one. Its authorized -expounders, however, with remarkable unanimity, treat it as the -foundation for the enduring fabric of reconstructed society. Its form -accounts for the first impression on the part of the outside world. -It is a series of _condemned_ propositions, drawn from official and -authoritative utterances of Pius IX--a syllabus or collection of -errors, condemned in judgments pronounced by him as supreme judge of -Christendom. These, taken collectively, form a politico-ecclesiastical -system. - -The eighty propositions range over most subjects. As all stand under -the head of _condemned errors_, each proposition is, logically, -to be read with the prefix, "We reprove and condemn the following -proposition." Some of these sentences express the beliefs of infidels, -and some those of all Christians but Romanists; some the crudest -notions of socialists, and some the fundamental principles of free -States, or the maxims of all thriving communities; some the crotchets -of obscure theorists in philosophy and ethics, and some the postulates -of all free science. These heterogeneous beliefs and disbeliefs are -strung together and delivered over, before the universe, to eternal -anathema. - -Passing from abstract to concrete, embodiments of evil are condemned, -whether the body is a Church, a Bible Society, a Freemasons' lodge, a -pack of communists, or even such clandestine gangs as were known in -Christendom only to the territory of the Pope and his favourite Italian -princes. - -Perhaps the eventual importance of this manifesto was, at the time, -exaggerated at the Vatican, and is exaggerated even yet. "In this -century," says the _Genio Cattolico_, already quoted, "rises up the -sublime and gigantic figure of Pius IX, another Hildebrand. He is -charged by divine Providence with the erection in our day of a new -edifice upon the débris of the religious and political revolution, as -in former times Gregory VII was commissioned to reconstruct a similar -edifice upon the scattered remains of tyranny. Gregory had his Dicta; -Pius IX has his Syllabus." - -The _Civiltá Cattolica_ has never ceased to glorify the Syllabus. A -periodical, expressly devoted to expounding and commending it to the -Germans, and making it the basis of a new social condition in that -country, was commenced at a Jesuit monastery near Bonn, under the -title of _Stimmen aus Maria Laach_. Catholic journals spoke of the -universal scope and pregnant consequences of the Syllabus in terms -at which men of the world were more inclined to smile than to take -warning. The views taken of the document by learned Catholics not of -the Ultramontane school are briefly put by Michelis: "Constitutional -freedom, equality before the law, liberty of the Press, all the -foundations of modern civilization, were all at once pronounced to be -hostile to the Catholic faith."[44] Hints were not wanting that it -might introduce a conflict which would rage through centuries, and -perhaps leave nothing standing but the Church. Still, for the time, -politicians were rather annoyed than alarmed, and perhaps no Protestant -statesman thought the matter serious enough to feel even annoyance. - -Protestant statesmen were still somewhat in the state of mind expressed -by Ranke: "What is there that can now make the history of the Papacy -interesting and important to us? Not its peculiar relation to us, -which can no longer affect us in any material point; nor the anxiety -or dread which it can inspire. The times in which we had anything to -fear are over; we are conscious of our perfect security. The papacy -can inspire us with no other interest than what arises from its -historical development and its former influence." This prognostic, -the shortsightedness of which the Germans have been painfully taught, -obviously sprang out of a confusion of ideas, expressed immediately -afterwards, where Ranke identifies changing professions and claims -diplomatically presented with fixed maxims, with objects and claims -founded on cherished dogma, and felt to be inalienable. As to the -Papacy, Ranke says, "Complete metamorphoses have taken place in its -maxims, objects, and claims."[45] - -In contrast with the indifference founded on this supposed change was -the view of the _Civiltá_ in surveying the events of 1864. The year had -been, according to it, one marked by that silent preparation of ideas -which brings around great events. To the unobserving this preparation -was unseen; but the process was going on and the issue certain. Casting -a glance around the world, the _Civiltá_ showed that everywhere what -it calls the revolution, what we call representative government, was -becoming ruinous, and the old Catholic ideal of government regaining -its place in the mind of the thoughtful. In Belgium, it had come to -that pass that an important paper declared that the tyranny of a -majority was worse than that of an autocrat. By a manifest Providence, -that immense Babylon the United States, founded on the principles of -the revolution, was broken up and undone. The new Mexican empire had -all the more promise of stability, as it would retain, at least in -part, Catholic principles. - -This historical article proceeded to say that the greatest merit of the -past year lay-- - - In the highly important pontifical documents with which it had - been so solemnly closed. The Encyclical of his Holiness Pius IX of - December 8, and the Syllabus accompanying it, speak clearly enough - of themselves, and need not our comments. Those exceedingly grave - utterances of pontifical wisdom and fortitude are already perused - in every tongue spoken by Catholics, that is, by the civilized - world. Nor do Catholics alone read them; even Liberals do so - too. And already we begin to hear a distant echo of the fear and - wrath felt by the Liberals. They, who themselves change moment by - moment, cannot understand that the Church should never change, - in her principles or in her doctrine. They, who would conciliate - everything--and, when they can do no more, conciliate fact with - law--by the stupid word _fait accompli_, cannot be at peace, - because the Church will not be reconciled to impiety and absurdity. - They do not believe with divine faith in the potency of the - pontifical word; but they do believe by an instinct of terror, as - the devils also believe and tremble. Hence the stream of filth now - vainly flowing against those documents from the Italian and foreign - journals. The Liberals tremble at this warning, and cannot restrain - their vexation, because so many hypocritical efforts to mask their - Liberalism under Catholicism are at last brought to nought. They - are now compelled to lay aside the mask more and more. No longer - can they deceive the simple. They must now declare themselves open - enemies of the Church and of her definitions.[46] - -Though the Syllabus is not even in profession a proclamation of the -glory of Christ, or of the Christian verities, or of the mission of -the Church to turn sinners from their sins to God, but is formally -a charter of ecclesiastical dominion over civil society, the first -fourteen of its eighty propositions are named as if drawn from the -domain of philosophy and theology. They, however, lay the doctrinal -basis for the political claims that follow. - -The fifth proposition illustrates the difficulty of judging of the -practice of the Church of Rome by her theory, or vice versa. She -condemns the following: "That divine revelation is imperfect, and -therefore subject to a continuous and indefinite progress, which -corresponds to the progress of human reason." Persons not of her own -communion would say that, except for the last clause, this might -express the ground on which the fabric of Roman doctrine, properly -so called, is built. Believing too much almost always springs from -believing too little. He who believes enough about one God does not -want assistant divinities. He who believes enough about one Mediator -does not want to multiply the number. He who believes enough about one -revelation does not want new revelations. Both the Councils of Trent -and of the Vatican keep up the theory of only developing revelation. -Practically their proceedings are pervaded with this principle, "That -divine revelation is subject to continuous and indefinite progress." -The popular effect of this is that new _quasi_-revelations are of -frequent occurrence.[47] - -It is, however, at the fifteenth proposition that the framers of -the Syllabus emerge into their natural element. In it the opinion -condemned is that every man is free to embrace and profess that -religion which he may esteem true, following the light of reason. This, -with the few other propositions under the head of Indifferentism and -Latitudinarianism, prepare the way for a section, in which communism, -clandestine societies, and Bible societies are bound into one bundle. -This again introduces the two great sections, that on the Church, and -that on the State. These together comprise thirty-seven propositions. A -section on ethics and one on marriage follow. Marriage is treated not -at all in respect to the morals of wedded life, or to the sanctities of -the connubial and parental relation, but in respect to those questions -which affect ecclesiastical authority and its relation to the civil. -The concluding sections treat of the temporal sovereignty, and of -modern Liberalism. - -Who would look for Liberalism under the improbable heading of -_Naturalism_? yet both the _Civiltá_ and the _Stimmen_, proceeding on -lines laid down by Bishop Pie of Poictiers, elaborately showed how the -_fundamental heresy_ of all those condemned was Naturalism, because, -viewed in the light of the Encyclical, all those errors converged in -the "denial of the supernatural character of the Church." - -Under the section treating of the Church, the first proposition affirms -the important principle as to the Church being a perfect society. Yet -this is put into a sentence containing explicitly or implicitly a -number of propositions, some negative, some affirmative, and nearly all -of great ambiguity. The error condemned is, "The Church is not a true -and perfect society completely free, nor is she invested with rights -proper to herself and permanent, conferred by her divine Founder; but -it belongs to the civil power to define the rights of the Church, and -the limits within which those rights are to be exercised" (prop. 19). -This, be it remembered, is the proposition condemned. Keeping in view -the ambiguity of the several predicates, the following points are to be -noted--1. The Church is a perfect society. 2. The Church is completely -free. 3. The Church has the direct authority of Christ for her rights. -4. The State cannot define the rights of the Church. 5. The State -cannot even limit the exercise of those rights. - -The broad denial of the right of the State to define or limit the -rights of the Church, without distinction, is meant to cover, and, to -Vaticanists, does cover, the right of the Church to define the limits -of her own authority as to its domain and as to its exercise, and -consequently the right to define the limits of the authority of the -State, both as to its sphere and its exercise. - -Yet, what is, at first sight, simpler to superficial readers than -denying the right of the State to define the rights of a Church? It is -a right of a Church to believe, to pray, to worship, and to preach. Is -the State to define such rights? It is a right claimed by one Church -to pray any day to "new patrons," whom, as Moses said, "Thou hast not -known, thou, nor thy fathers"; yet is the State to assume the function -of defining such rights? But one Church also claims the right of -employing mercenaries and foreign auxiliaries to force a few millions -of men of a fine race, in a fine country, to submit to her chief pastor -as their king. She also claims the right to set her priests, in any -country, before the princes of the nation; and the right, not merely -to ask for an alteration of the law of the land, but to declare it -void--the right even to tell subjects when and where they may lawfully -break law.[48] Now, both classes of claims are covered by the one word -"rights," and the State is confidently warned off from a fort, or -from the pamphlet of a seditious bishop, as if that ground was lawful -Church ground; indeed, as if it was holy, like the shrines of faith and -worship sanctified by our Lord and His apostles. - -Father Bucceroni may be taken as fairly conveying the whole effect of -the Syllabus on the relations of the State to the Church, when he says -that "Catholic civil society is bound to yield to the Church, even in -temporal affairs, if the advancement of a spiritual end calls for it"; -and "religion should be so positively protected that the _judgments of -the Church should never be obstructed_." - -In resenting the prohibition of Napoleon III to promulgate the -Syllabus in France, the _Civiltá_ spoke thus of the error which misled -politicians-- - - It proceeds from the belief that it is the civil authority - which permits the Church to exercise within its territory her - jurisdiction over the faithful. Nothing is more false. The - faithful, wherever found, are subject to the Church by the will of - Christ, and not by the will of the State. They must necessarily be - governed by two authorities, by the civil and the ecclesiastical, - each freely acting within its proper circle; yet the first in - subordination to the second, as the interests of the body are - subordinate to those of the soul. The Christian people, to whatever - nation they belong, be they Italians, Germans, or French, if - subjects of the Emperor as to things temporal, are also subjects of - the Pope as to things spiritual, and more of the Pope than of the - Emperor. - -Laughing at M. Langlais, who in the French Courts argued that the Pope -in treating of the very foundations of political institutions had gone -beyond his proper sphere, that of faith and morals, the _Civiltá_ said-- - - According to our weak way of thinking, the legitimate argument - would have run thus: The Pope has a right to give a decision only - within the moral order: the Pope has given a decision as to such - and such propositions; therefore those propositions belong to the - moral order.[49] - -In reading the following abstract it is to be remembered that we aim -not at giving a complete but a summary view of the effect of the -Syllabus on the relations of Church and State, and that we do not -necessarily disapprove of each separate claim specified. Of course -neither the disabilities of the State nor the powers of the Church here -indicated are embodied in the existing institutions of any country. -They are only the disabilities on the one part, and the powers on the -other, which would be embodied in the institutions of every country -did the tribunal of the Pope acquire the supremacy which it claims. -We need hardly remind careful readers that denying a proposition -does not necessarily mean asserting its _contrary_. But it does at -least imply asserting its _contradictory_. Schrader indeed says that -it is the contradictory of the condemned proposition that is to be -maintained. But his own counter-propositions do not adhere to that -rule. What they assert is sometimes the _contrary_ of the condemned -proposition. To explain these technical terms--One asserts that all -Englishmen are shopkeepers. You deny it. That denial does not pledge -you to assert that no Englishman is a shopkeeper; which proposition -is the _contrary_ of the other. But it does pledge you at least to -assert that some Englishmen are not shopkeepers; which proposition -is the _contradictory_. Two contraries may be both false; of two -contradictories one must be false and the other true. - - - _SUMMARY OF POINTS ASSUMED IN THE SYLLABUS AS TO THE DISABILITIES - OF THE STATE, AND THE RIGHTS AND POWERS OF THE CHURCH_ - - DISABILITIES OF THE STATE - - (N.B.--The numbers attached to the respective propositions indicate - the Articles of the Syllabus in which they are contained.) - - The State has not the right to leave every man free to profess and - embrace whatever religion he shall deem true. (15.) - - It has not the right to define the rights of the Church, nor to - define the limits within which she is to exercise those rights. - (19.) - - It has not the right to enact that the ecclesiastical power shall - require the permission of the civil power in order to the exercise - of its authority. (20.) - - It has not the right to treat as an excess of power, or as usurping - the rights of princes, anything that the Roman Pontiffs or - OEcumenical Councils have done. (23.) - - It has not the right to deny to the Church the use of force, or - to deny to her the possession of either a direct or an indirect - temporal power. (24.) - - It has not the right to revoke any temporal power found in the - possession of bishops as if it had been granted to them by the - State. (25.) - - It has not the right to exclude the Pontiff or clergy from all - dominion over temporal affairs. (27.) - - It has not the right to prevent bishops from publishing the Letters - Apostolic of the Pope, without its sanction. (28.) - - It has not the right of treating the immunity of the Church and of - ecclesiastical persons as if it were a privilege arising out of - civil law. (30.) - - It has not the right, without consent of the Pope, of abolishing - ecclesiastical courts for temporal causes, whether civil or - criminal, to which the clergy are parties. (31.) - - It has not the right of abolishing the personal immunity of the - clergy and students for the priesthood from military service.[50] - (32.) - - It has not the right to adopt the conclusions of a National Church - Council, unless confirmed by the Pope. (36.) - - It has not the right of establishing a National Church separate - from the Pope. (37.) - - It has not the right of asserting itself to be the fountain of all - rights; or of asserting a jurisdiction not limited by any other - jurisdiction, say that of the Pope. (39.) N.B.--_The absence of any - distinction between legal rights, of which the State alone is the - fountain, and natural rights, of which the laws that create legal - rights are but the recognition, is characteristic and pervasive._ - - It has not the right even of an indirect or negative power over - "religious affairs." (41.) - - It has not the right of _exequatur_, nor yet that of allowing an - appeal from an ecclesiastical court to a civil one. (41.) - - It has not the right of asserting the supremacy of its own laws - when they come into conflict with ecclesiastical law. (42.) - - It has not the right of rescinding or annulling concordats or - grants of immunity agreed upon by the Pope, without his consent. - (43.) - - It has not the right to interfere in "matters pertaining to" - religion, morals, or spiritual government. (44.) - - It has not the right to judge any instruction which may be issued - by pastors of the Church for the guidance of consciences. (44.) - - It has not the right to the entire direction of public schools. - (45.) - - It has not the right of requiring that the plan of studies in - clerical seminaries shall be submitted to it. (46.) - - It has not the right to present bishops, or to depose them, or to - found sees. (50, 51.) - - It has not the right to interfere with the taking of monastic vows - by its subjects of either sex, or to fix any limit to the age at - which it may be done. (52.) - - It has not the right to assist subjects who wish to abandon - monasteries or convents. (53.) - - It has not the right to abolish monasteries or convents. (53.) - - It has not the right of determining questions of jurisdiction as - between itself and the ecclesiastical authority. (54.) - - It has not the right to separate itself from the Church. (55.) - - It has not the right to provide for the study of philosophy, or - moral science, or civil law eluding the ecclesiastical authority - (57). N.B.--_Moral science includes politics and economy._ - - It has not the right to proclaim or to observe the principle of - non-intervention. (62.) - - It has not the right to declare the marriage contract separable - from the sacrament of marriage. (66.) - - It has not the right to sanction divorce in any case. (67.) - - It has not the right to prevent the Church from setting up - impediments which invalidate marriage. It has no right to set - up such impediments itself. It has no right to abolish such - impediments already existing. (67.) - - It has not the right to uphold any marriage solemnized otherwise - than according to the form prescribed by the Council of Trent, even - if solemnized according to a form sanctioned by the civil law. (71.) - - It has not the right to recognize any marriage between Christians - as valid, unless the Sacrament is included. (73.) - - It has not the right to declare that matrimonial causes, or those - arising out of betrothals, belong by their nature to the civil - jurisdiction. (74.) - - - RIGHTS AND POWERS OF THE CHURCH - - N.B.--_In many cases, the propositions under this head show the - powers of the Church directly corresponding to the disabilities of - the State expressed under the previous head._ - - She has the right to interfere with the study of philosophy, and it - is not her duty to tolerate errors in it, or to leave it to correct - itself. (11.) - - She has the right to require the State not to leave every man free - to profess his own religion. (15.) - - She has the right to be perfectly free. She has the right to define - her own rights, and to define the limits within which they are to - be exercised. (19.) - - She has the right to exercise her power without the permission or - consent of the State. (20.) - - She has the right to bind Catholic teachers and authors, even in - matters additional to those which may have been decreed as articles - of belief binding on all. (22.) - - She has the right of requiring it to be believed by all that - no Pope ever exceeded the bounds of his power; also that no - OEcumenical Council ever did so, and further, that neither the one - nor the other ever usurped the rights of princes. (23.) - - She has the right to employ force. (24.) - - She has the right to maintain that whatever temporal power is - found in the hands of a bishop, is not beyond what is inherent in - his office, and has not come from the State, and therefore is not - liable to be resumed by it. (25.) - - She has the right to claim dominion in temporal things for the - clergy and the Pope. (27.) - - She has the right to make bishops promulge the Pope's decrees - without consent of their rulers. (28.) - - She has the right to require it to be believed of all, that the - immunity of the Church, and of ecclesiastical persons, did not - arise out of civil law. (30.) - - She has the right to require that temporal causes, whether civil - or criminal, to which clergymen are parties, should be tried by - ecclesiastical tribunals. (31.) - - She has the right to alter the conclusions of a National Church - Council, and to reject the claim of the Government of the country - to have the matter decided in the terms adopted by such National - Council. (36.) - - She has the right to prevent the foundation of any National Church, - not subject to the authority of the Roman Pontiff. (37.) - - She has the right to reject any claim on the part of the State to - either a direct and positive or an indirect and negative power in - religious affairs, and more especially when the State is ruled by - an unbelieving prince. (41.) - - She has the right to reject the claim of the State to exercise a - power of _exequatur_, or to allow appeals from ecclesiastical to - civil tribunals. (41.) - - She has the right to exclude the civil power from all interference - in "matters which appertain to" religion, morals, and spiritual - government. Hence she has the right of excluding it from - pronouncing any judgment on instructions which may be issued by any - pastor of the Church for the guidance of conscience. (44.) - - She has the right to deprive the civil authority of the entire - government of public schools. (45.) - - She has the right to refuse to show the plan of study in clerical - seminaries to civil authorities. (46.) - - She has the right to fix the age for taking monastic vows both for - men and women, irrespective of the civil authority. (52.) - - She has the right to uphold the laws of religious orders against - the civil authority; the right to deprive the latter of power to - aid any who, after having taken vows, should seek to escape from - monasteries or nunneries; and the right to prevent it from taking - the houses, churches, or funds of religious orders under secular - management. (53.) - - She has the right of holding kings and princes in subjection to her - jurisdiction, and of denying that their authority is superior to - her own in determining questions of jurisdiction. (54.) - - She has the right of perpetuating the union of Church and State. - (55.) - - She has the right of subjecting the study of philosophy, moral - science, and civil law, to ecclesiastical authority. (56.) - - She has the right of enjoining a policy of intervention. (62.) - - She has the right to require the sacrament of marriage as essential - to every contract of marriage. (62.) - - She has the right to deprive the civil authority of power to - sanction divorce in any case. (67.) - - She has the right to enact impediments which invalidate marriage, - the right to prevent the State from doing so, also the right to - prevent it from annulling such impediments when existing. (68.) - - She has the right to require all to receive the Canons of Trent as - of dogmatical authority, namely, those Canons which anathematize - such as deny her the power of setting up impediments which - invalidate marriage. (70.) - - She has the right of treating all marriages which are not - solemnized according to the form of the Council of Trent as - invalid, even those solemnized according to a form prescribed by - the civil law. (71.) - - She has the right of annulling all marriages among Christians - solemnized only by civil contract. (73.) - - She has the right of judging all matrimonial causes, and those - arising out of betrothals, in ecclesiastical courts. (74.) - - She has the right to require that the Catholic religion shall be - the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all others. - (77.) - - She has the right to prevent the State from granting the public - exercise of their own worship to persons immigrating into it. (78.) - - She has the power of requiring the State not to permit free - expression of opinion. (79.) - -The importance of questions affecting marriage and betrothal is -threefold. (1) Immense revenues accrue to the Court and bureaucracy -of Rome from the system of dispensations for marrying within the -degrees forbidden in any one of the three separate scales of -consanguinity, affinity, or spiritual affinity, i.e., affinity -contracted by sponsorship at baptism or confirmation. (2) The grant, -every five years, of a QUINQUENNIAL FACULTY to the bishop to issue -such dispensations as affect those distant degrees within which -dispensations do not pay a tax, or to the poor who cannot pay, holds -the bishop in perpetual dependence on the Curia. (3) The whole system -of impediments and dispensations subserves the end of extending the -control of the priesthood over domestic life through the reluctance -felt in families at the time of a marriage, as at that of a death, to -cause scandal by a difference with "the clergy." - -Phillips says (ii. 639) that in modern times the union of Church and -State is frequently compared to wedlock--not an inapt figure, but one -calling for care lest it be taken in a wrong sense. "That would be the -case if in this union the female partner was taken for the Church, and -the male partner for the State. If we employ this simile, we must think -of the relative positions as just reversed." This seems reasonable. The -legal position of a married woman, a _feme covert_, would appear not -ill to correspond with that of a State bound to the husband, who calls -himself a mother. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 44: _Kurze Geschichte_, p. 10. It will be seen that here, as -in the _Civiltá_, the meaning of civilization is concrete, the civil -system.] - -[Footnote 45: _History of Popes_, Engl. tran. 2nd ed., p. 19. The -learned author, forty years after he wrote the above, in publishing his -sixth edition, referring to these words, says that they expressed the -view of the epoch, "but I cannot conceal from myself that a new epoch -of the Papacy has commenced."] - -[Footnote 46: _Civiltá_, Serie VI., vol. i. p. 172, 173.] - -[Footnote 47: Friedrich, in his _Mechanismus der Vatikanischen -Religion_, p. 12, says that these revelations no longer need to come -from God, but may come from other persons, especially from Mary.] - -[Footnote 48: "It is not allowable either that the temporal authorities -should make a law, in reference to an ecclesiastical subject, on which -the Canons have not determined anything; or, that through their law -they should change Canons that are in existence. Every law of the kind -opposed to ecclesiastical rules, or enacted in addition to them, if -not desired by the Church, or expressly recognized by her, is hence in -itself invalid."--_Phillips_, ii. 563.] - -[Footnote 49: VI. i. 652-3.] - -[Footnote 50: The word is generally translated "clergy" in English. But -it is not _cleri_ but _clerici_, which includes divinity students, and -is commonly translated in Italian by _chierici_. In Italy the class -which would have been exempted under cover of the student's right would -have been very numerous.] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -The Secret Memoranda of the Cardinals, February 1865. - - -The Cardinals who, in the beginning of December, were commanded to -prepare notes on the expediency of holding a Council, did not hurry, -but by the beginning of February fifteen such notes were in the hands -of the Pope. Their Eminences discussed the subject under four heads: 1. -The present condition of the world; 2. The desirableness or otherwise -of resorting to the ultimate remedy of a General Council; 3. The -difficulties in the way of holding one, and the means of overcoming -them; 4. The subjects of which a Council might treat. - -The most eminent consulters, or, as our historian loves to call them, -the purpled (_i porporati_), showed how the present age was remarkable -for progress in invention. This formed its favourable side. But then -such progress served only temporal ends. The "Christian government of -the world," as it existed in former ages, had given place to a system -based on the principle that society, as such, had nothing to do with -God. The points in the sad spectacle of this "social apostasy," which -most distressed the Cardinals, were as follows--Education was withdrawn -from the supreme vigilance of the Catholic Church, and consequently ran -into manifold errors; the doctrines of naturalism, rationalism, and -various forms of pantheism prevailed, from which sprang socialism and -communism. - -Coming to political affairs, some of the writers mourned over the -prevalence of revolutionary principles in general, some over freedom of -worship and of the Press in particular, and some over the tyranny of -the State, which controlled education and charitable institutions--thus -appropriating to itself all the social forces. Some, again, lamented -the violation of the rights of the Church in regard to laws affecting -marriage, to those on the holding of land, to the temporal sovereignty -of the Pope, to the religious orders, and similar topics. - -The practice of magnetism, clairvoyance, and spiritualism is -deplored by their Eminences as one great plague and shame of our -epoch. Freemasonry, viewed "in its true aspect," not as a benevolent -association, but as an institution having for its ultimate aim the -erection of a pretended church universal of humanity on the ruins of -all religion, is said by several of the consulters to be the arm which -carries the modern theories into practice, and therefore is viewed as -one of the most potent enemies of the Church. - -The next point noted is the influence exerted even upon Catholic -teaching by the Reformation and by rationalism. It is shown that in -philosophy, as taught in some countries, the ancient system of the -schools had been set aside, and, as all sciences are affected by -philosophy, it not unfrequently occurred that authors and professors -attacked the pure doctrines of the faith. Some of them even evinced -a disposition to regard Rome as being ignorant of the relations of -Catholic science to heretical and rationalistic science, or, at least, -as not appreciating the necessities arising out of such relations. Nay, -they even displayed some unreadiness in submitting to her authority. - -On the second point, that of the desirableness of holding a Council, -nearly all the Cardinals were agreed. "In the present confusion -of principles and systems, the whole episcopate assembled in -Council, pointing out the way of eternal salvation to nations and -sovereigns, and also the true relation between the natural order -and the supernatural order, with the rights and duties of governors -and governed, would be a luminous beacon scattering the darkness -that covers the world. Perhaps in the presence of such a spectacle, -heretical and schismatical societies would lay aside old prejudices, -and would be drawn to a reunion." - -However, the unanimity of the Cardinals was not complete. One advised -that the calling of a General Council should be reserved for times when -some great difference within the Church demanded a settlement. A second -thought that the delicacy of some of the points to be handled, and the -want of that external support which the Church formerly possessed, -outweighed any prospect of advantage. A third could not pronounce -between advantages and disadvantages, but gladly left the decision with -the Sovereign Pontiff, whom God always assisted with special light. - -Cecconi's statement as to the general agreement of the Cardinals -appears to clash with that made by persons in Rome, who ought to be -well informed, and who affirm that, at first nearly all the Cardinals -were opposed to the Pope's desire, and only yielded to his ungovernable -longing to have his own infallibility proclaimed. Lord Acton says -the Cardinals gave their counsel against the project, and that the -Pope proceeded heedless of their opposition.[51] Both statements may -be correct; for even if the Cardinals had opposed the project when -informally talked about, they might yield when the official initiative -taken by their wilful sovereign convinced them that it was to be. One -of the counsellors of Ali, the fourth caliph, when rebuked by Abdullah -Abbas for giving bad advice in contradiction to good, previously -given and rejected, replied, "When a person, either through folly or -obstinacy, is found to reject counsels which are obviously salutary, he -must expect to receive counsels of a complexion precisely the reverse." - -On the third point, namely, that of the difficulties in the way of -holding a Council, the Cardinals held that great prudence would -be required. The decrees of the Council would be received with -indifference by the ungodly and the worldly, or would be made the -pretext for new trespasses against the Church. Then, as to governments, -would they permit the bishops to attend? Would they not prohibit -the execution in their territories of decrees not conformed to the -interests of those who held the power of the sword? Again, what would -be the use of new canons if the civil power would not further the -execution of them, or would even thwart it? And besides all this, the -political horizon was clouded, and the Council might be interrupted. So -far for external difficulties. - -As to internal ones, points noted were, the long absence of the bishops -from their flocks, the risk of dissensions in the Council, and of -consequent scandal--a risk which appeared the greater as the thorny -character of some of the questions to be treated was considered. The -Cardinals also felt that there was some danger that a desire might -arise on the part of the bishops to extend their own privileges, -already too great, so much so as even to be hurtful to the practical -uniformity of ecclesiastical government, as well as to the firmness of -ecclesiastical discipline, and to the union of the bishops with the -head of the Church. - -On the most important point of all, the subjects with which the Council -should deal, the summary of the notes given by Cecconi is so meagre as -to suggest the idea either that the views of their Eminences must have -been crude, or that they did not care to put on paper such views as -were matured; always supposing that the summary really represents the -whole of the contents. After a few generalities, the first particular -subject named for condemnation is the liberty of the Press, after which -are named civil marriages, impediments to marriage, mixed marriages, -and such like, with questions of ecclesiastical property, and the -observance of fasts and feasts. - -Only two of the Cardinals mentioned the subject of Papal infallibility. -A third named Gallicanism and the necessity of the temporal -sovereignty. Only one mentioned the Syllabus. - -The omission to name the Syllabus in this instance is one of a series -of acts of reticence in respect of that document which are at least -curious. It is not mentioned in the Encyclical which accompanied it. It -is not mentioned by the official historian at the time of its issue; -and when, as we shall hereafter see, the Pope solemnly confirmed it -in the presence of five hundred bishops, the act was not mentioned by -the Court organs. Further, the Syllabus was not mentioned even in the -very document by which the collective hierarchy expressed their solemn -adhesion to it. Nor was the adhesion to it by letter of the prelates -then absent mentioned till, as our tale will show, all this was brought -out by the friction of events. - -Points in these notes to be borne in mind, as throwing light on the -future of our history, are, that those who desired a Council hoped it -would be a short one, and were of opinion that the powers of bishops -were too great; and that the relations of the supernatural order and -the natural order must be regulated, i.e. reduced to rule. These two -commonwealths, commonly called the Church and State, had hitherto -adjusted their relations, at least wherever Rome represented the -supernatural order, by the rough method of trials of strength and -skill. The object of reducing their relations to rule would be to -restore that harmony of action which, according to the Curia, formerly -existed in happy ages, but had been lost in the changes of time. -Naturally, this desired harmony could only be restored by each abiding, -according to rule, in its own place--the lower under the higher, and -the higher above the lower. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 51: _Zur Geschichte_, etc., p. 3.] - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -A Secret Commission to prepare for the Council, March 1865--First -Summons--Points determined--Reasons why Princes are not consulted--Plan -for the Future Council. - - -In March, 1865, Cardinals Patrizi, Reisach, Panebianco, Bizzari, and -Caterini were appointed a secret commission to make preparations for -the proposed Council. It was in the deepening grey of an evening in -Lent that the red coaches drove down the Via della Scrofa carrying -those Cardinals to their first meeting, in the palace of the Vicariate. -Rome did not know that this represented the first move in the -preparation of one of those world-representing displays which had some -part in bringing on her ancient decay, and a greater one in gilding -it over: displays which, while changing in the accidents of form, -have retained the essential character of a sense-subduing pageant, -and retained also the purpose of binding the city to an autocrat. The -significance of the display now contemplated was to consist in showing -both Quirites and Italians that the world bowed down to the tiara, and -so to bind Rome to the Pope for ever. - -At this first meeting of the Commission, Giannelli read a memorandum -intimating his belief that France, Italy, and Portugal would prohibit -their bishops from attending a Council,--more particularly Italy; but -as Germany, England, America, Spain, and others, would not do so, -a considerable number would be able to assemble. This indicates a -consciousness that political distrust of Rome was felt most strongly in -Roman Catholic countries. - -After hearing this memorandum the Cardinals proceeded to consider the -following questions, and gave to each the answer indicated-- - -1. Is the summoning of an OEcumenical Council under the circumstances -necessary, and opportune? - -Affirmed. - -2. Should Catholic princes be previously consulted? - -Negatived. Nevertheless, when the Bull of Convocation has been issued, -it would be well and becoming for the Holy See to adopt suitable -procedures with the princes. - -3. Should the Sacred College be consulted before the issuing of the -Bull of Convocation, and if so, how? - -Affirmed; but in the manner to be determined by the Most Holy--or, in -common speech, in such manner as the Pope may please.[52] - -4. Should a Special Congregation be appointed to direct affairs -relating to the Council? - -Affirmed. - -5. Should the Directing Congregation, after the publication of the -Bull, consult some bishops in different countries as to the subjects -proper to be treated, both in doctrine and discipline, regard being had -to the variety of countries? - -Affirmed. - -The reason which led the Cardinals to negative the idea of consulting -the Catholic princes is supposed by Cecconi to have been a fear lest -obstacles to the holding of a Council might be raised, and also lest -the proceeding might be interpreted as a recognition of the supremacy -of the State (p. 29). - -On the 13th of March these resolutions of the Commission were reported -to the Pope, by whom they were approved with one slight modification. -Instead of a consultation of certain select bishops after the -convocation of the Council, he appointed that it should take place -before. - -The first step in carrying out these resolutions was the appointment -of a Directing Congregation, which was composed of the Cardinals of -the Commission, with a few others, the number eventually being nine. -That body was in existence two years and a half before the hierarchy -generally received an intimation, in a Secret Consistory, of the -intention to hold a Council. - -At the meeting of the Directing Congregation on March 19, the sketch -of a plan for the labours of the Council was presented by one of -its members, not named. He proposed that the work should be divided -into four branches, and that each should be assigned to a different -committee. - -1. DOCTRINE, to be committed to the Inquisition, presided over by -a Cardinal of the Inquisition, the committee to be enlarged by the -addition of some members not attached to the Holy Office. This -committee could be subdivided into sections. - -2. ECCLESIASTICAL-POLITICAL AFFAIRS, to be committed to the -Congregation for ecclesiastical affairs, enlarged by consulters and -others. - -3. MISSIONS AND ORIENTAL CHURCHES, to be committed to the Propaganda -and the Congregation of Oriental Rites. - -4. DISCIPLINE, to be committed to the congregation for bishops and -regulars, with the addition of consulters, canonists, and theologians. - -Each committee was to be presided over by a Cardinal, and all were -to report to the Directing Congregation, with which should rest the -ultimate authority.[53] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 52: "_Juxta modum a Sanctissimo statuendum._"--_Cecconi_, p. -29.] - -[Footnote 53: _Cecconi_, p. 322.] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -Memoranda of Thirty-six chosen Bishops, consulted under Bond of -Strictest Secrecy, April to August, 1865--Doctrine of Church and -State--Antagonism of History and the Embryo Dogma--Nuncios admitted to -the Secret--And Oriental Bishops. - - -On April 10 his Holiness sanctioned a letter to thirty-six select -bishops of different countries, intimating under the most binding -secrecy his intention of holding a Council in the Holy City, at some -time yet undetermined, and requesting them to communicate their views -as to the subjects proper to be treated.[54] - -In August, nearly all the answers had arrived. Out of the thirty-six, -only three bishops cast doubts on the wisdom of the project; all the -others were rejoiced. - -The letters of the thirty-six, according to Cecconi, expressed views -on the present condition of society coinciding with those of the -purpled in Rome. The thirty-six generally remarked on the absence of -any special heresies. When we come to particulars, the subjects which -our author finds specified are: the right of the Church to hold land; -her independence of the State; her right to control education; her -right to judge what promotes and what hinders religion. Among other -matters noted, the chief are: the obligation of the faithful to adhere -to the decisions of the Church, and in particular to those of the Holy -See, and the necessity of the temporal sovereignty of the Pope, with -"similar points." - -After Cecconi has apparently concluded his summary of the suggestions -of the thirty-six, a sentence is slipped in, saying, that among the -verities which ought to be propounded by the Council, some mentioned -Papal infallibility--"a doctrine admitted in all Catholic schools, -with a few exceptions." Hereupon departing from his general rule, -and adopting marks of quotation, he gives the words of one particular -bishop, without naming him. These bear directly on the point most -agitated before and during the Council. Such English readers as know -much of the controversy, will probably risk a guess as to the author, -and it may be that persons in Munich will hardly stop at guessing, but -will say they know. It plainly was no Bavarian, not even a German, -neither of whom would fall into such an expression as "Munich in -Bavaria." "At present there are but few who impugn this prerogative -of the Roman Pontiff; and they do so, not from a theological point of -view, but the better to assert and maintain the freedom of science. It -would seem that a school of theologians has sprung up with this object, -at Munich, in Bavaria, in whose writings the principal aim is to lower -the Holy See, its authority and its mode of government, by the aid of -historical dissertations, and to bring it into contempt, and above all -to combat the infallibility of Peter teaching _ex cathedrâ_." - -This language intimates that the science for which especially freedom -was claimed at Munich was history, which wants no other freedom than -that of learning the truth and telling it, that of detecting lies -and forgeries and exposing them. Even the Court historian feels the -significance of this announcement of the mutual antipathy existing -between history and the embryo dogma. - -Among the "isms" designated for anathema by the chosen thirty-six, -those which have any bearing on divinity proper could be named by -most ordinary readers. One "ism" to be condemned is regalism, or the -doctrine that the king is supreme in his own country; another is -liberty of conscience and of the Press; and of course the bishops -no more forget magnetism, somnambulism, and freemasonry, than their -purpled superiors of the Curia. - -Two points brought out under the head of discipline, are, the -mobilization of the clergy, and the educational rights of the Church; -strong condemnation being levelled against mixed schools. - -After the secret preparations in Rome had been continued for nearly -twelve months, the circle of confidential advisers was further -extended. On November 17, 1865, the Cardinal President of the Directing -Congregation communicated the intention of his Holiness to the nuncios -in Paris, Vienna, Munich, Madrid, and Brussels; and requested them to -name canonists and theologians of sound principles, exemplary life, and -distinguished learning who might be called up to Rome to serve on the -preparatory committees. - -The next extension of the circle was to the Oriental bishops, who -were consulted by Cardinal Barnabò, the Prefect of the Propaganda. -They hailed the prospect of a Council, hoping that it might at length -remove barriers which held the East in separation from Rome. Of these -barriers they name both ancient and modern instances. Among the former -the worst appears to be "national spirit," and among the latter we -find Protestantism and the everlasting Freemasons. "Nationalism" is a -trial to the Papal Church in the west as well as in the east. Cardinal -Manning, in the Pastoral issued just before the Council met, said-- - - The definition of the infallibility of the Pontiff, speaking _ex - cathedrâ_, is needed to exclude from the minds of Catholics the - exaggerated spirit of national independence and pride, which has, - in these last centuries, so profoundly afflicted the Church. If - there be anything which a Catholic Englishman ought to know, it is - the subtle, stealthy influence by which the national spirit invades - and assimilates the Church to itself; and the bitter fruits of - heresy and schism which that assimilation legitimately bears.[55] - -The clearest instance of the national spirit invading and assimilating -the Church to itself occurred in decaying Rome. The military and -absolutist spirit of the empire supplanted in the ministry and -organization of the Church the original spirit of humility and -brotherhood. The spirit of the national pomps supplanted the primitive -superiority to sensation and display. The spirit of the governing -classes set up side by side with the simple code of Christ a new code, -meant avowedly to restore the old Roman domination of law, under the -form of a spiritual empire. The spirit of that domination claimed -to impose upon other churches the will of the Church of the capital -and did not scruple to call her the mother-church, and to support -her claims with lie and forgery oft repeated. But after the Pope, -conspiring with the minister of the Frankish king, and rising with him -against their two sovereigns, had erected himself into a petty prince, -the national spirit of the empire began to narrow down to the municipal -one of aboriginal Rome. Ever since that time the municipal spirit has -increasingly become the spirit of the Papacy. Whatever that power has -effected, it has never been able to make itself a nation. Aiming at -a universal empire, the spirit of its rule has become more and more -close, local, bureaucratic as that of any wee Italian republic of the -middle ages. Men must not only act and move, but must also think and -speak, according to rules excogitated by certain guilds within the -Aurelian walls. - -There is a curious but striking contrast between this professedly -supernatural institution and one which scarcely claimed a regular place -among natural institutions. Coming up amid the decline and corruption -of an empire older, richer, and more populous than had been the empire -of Rome, the East India Company, in a couple of generations, made a -nation out of some hundreds of States among which had raged yearly -conflicts. That nation still contains many thrones, but within its -circle, and in spite of their jealousies, no less than two hundred -and forty millions of men, a family immensely greater than Rome ever -cursed with war or blessed with law, now live in peace and freedom -such as were unknown to the ages which had aforetime passed over their -country. On the plains around the presidential cities of India, where -a century ago Mahratta, Moslem, and Rajpoot were wont to ravage, now -reigns peace at seed-time and peace at harvest. Security sits and sings -on every tree, and Industry, building her nest in every bush, sends out -broods that, free from fear, busily cover the land. What a contrast -with the endless whirl of war which in what are called the Ages of -Faith--ages when the spells of the chief priest in Rome had power over -semi-barbarous chiefs--ever eddied on the plain around Rome, a glorious -plain, growing waste and more and more waste, while kings came, now -to be crowned, now to put a Pope in prison, and while Italians and -foreigners rose and sank by turn in the alternating surges--foreigners, -however, most frequently coming into the fight at the call of a -self-asserting but mongrel and parasitical government, which claimed to -be the heaven-sent superior, not only of commercial corporations like -the East-India Company, but also of the very kings and emperors whom -it played off against one another, and on whom it had always to rely. -A national spirit indeed! Such a national spirit as we see in reformed -countries, and as was once in an inferior degree seen in the Gallican -nation, is large, tolerant, and magnanimous compared with the tight, -pretentious municipal spirit unconsciously depicted by Liverani when -he enumerates the small men from small towns, puffed up with the name -of cities, who, in the Curia, swelled themselves out with notions of -world-commanding importance--notions rendered possible only by their -own helpless narrowness. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 54: _Cecconi_, p. 324.] - -[Footnote 55: _The OEcumenical Council_, p. 52.] - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -Interruption of Preparations for Fourteen Months, through the -consequences of Sadowa--The French evacuate Rome--Alleged Double -Dealing of Napoleon III--_Civiltá_ on St. Bartholomew's--Change of -Plan--Instead of a Council a Great Display--Serious Complaints of -Liberal Catholics. - - -It was on May 24, 1866, that the Directing Congregation held its -third meeting, Monsignor Nina acting as secretary in the absence of -Giannelli, who was indisposed. But, soon afterwards, dark clouds -enveloped the Vatican, and ere the Congregation could again meet -fourteen months had passed away. - -On July 3, 1866, a shell burst at Sadowa which struck in three -different directions, and in each case the blow was heavy. Austria fell -from the primacy of Germany, and from her place among Italian States. -Italy, acquiring Venice, entered into full possession of herself, Rome -alone excepted. The disjointed members of Germany moved to union under -Prussia, like bone coming to its bone. - -These were deplorable reversals of Papal policy, unfriendly both to -the temporal dominion at home and to the spiritual dominion abroad. -By the instrumentality of France and Austria it had been possible, -for ages, to keep Italy and Germany parcelled into small States, -easily played off against one another, inimical to great national -organizations or high national sentiment, and glad of an alliance with -a small State possessing an organization by which it could interfere -almost everywhere, and in almost everything. The long-continued success -of the policy directed to this end seemed to stamp it as almost -miraculous. Had Germany united under the Hapsburgs, ready to keep -Italy disunited, it would have mattered less to Rome. But her uniting -under the Hohenzollerns, and aiding Italy to become one, was doubly -dangerous. Reconstruction as going on in Italy and Germany must be met -by reconstruction on a universal scale. - -On November 4, 1866, the people of Venetia carried their suffrages to -the feet of King Victor Emmanuel, while Austria and France sullenly -acquiesced. The king said, "Italy is made if not completed"--a hint -which the Vatican both understood and resented. Five weeks later, -at four o'clock on the morning of December 11, Mr. Gladstone, whose -name had already left a beneficent mark on the history of Italy, was -watching by the gaslight from a window in Rome as the French troops -wound round the corner of a street, and he felt that the seed of great -events lay in that evacuation![56] That day the flag of red, white, and -blue which for seventeen years had cast a light on the Vatican and a -shadow on the Tiber, was lowered at St. Angelo. The Pope felt that it -would soon be succeeded by the red, white, and green. So that as if by -a historical parody on the old furor of the circus, the rage of parties -in Rome was once more lashed up by the blue and the green respectively. - -"Do not deceive yourselves," said the Pope to General Montebello, when -he presented himself to take leave; "the revolution will come hither: -it has proclaimed it: you have heard it, you have understood it and -seen it." - -The _Civiltá Cattolica_, alluding to the "soporifics" administered at -this irritating moment by French journalists and diplomatists, asked -whether France would hold the same language to Italy, now menacing the -Pope, as she had held to Austria and Spain when preparing to assist -him, namely, that "any departure from the principle of non-intervention -would involve a war with France." She had not so spoken to Italy, and -would not do so, for had not Billault said, "It is not possible to turn -French bayonets against Italy." This being the case, France might hold -her peace and not tease the respectable public with soporifics.[57] - -When Napoleon III, in the discourse from the throne, alluding to the -fear of Rome being taken from the Pope, said that Europe would not -permit an event which would throw confusion into the Catholic world, -the _Civiltá_ bitterly exposed his double dealing. Some would take this -language as a pledge to uphold the temporal power, but others would see -that it was only a shuffling of the responsibility off the shoulders of -France on to those of Europe. Had he said France will not stand it? No, -but that Europe will not allow it. - -It would be about this time that Viscount Poli and Arthur Guillemin, -a lieutenant of zouaves and a zealous crusader, sitting over a cup of -coffee, saw five gentlemen enter the coffeehouse who were not Romans, -but superintendents of a railway then being constructed. One of them -laid on the table a nosegay, so arranged that the colours formed "the -cockade of a king hostile to the Pontiff"--doubtless red and white -camellias, forming, with their green leaves, the colours of Italy. -Guillemin, who was in uniform, heard remarks which showed that the -gentlemen knew what the flowers signified. He rose, seized the nosegay, -dashed it to the ground, and trampled it to pieces. Then, as the others -grumbled, he drew out his revolver, laid it by his side, and went on -sipping his coffee, and chatting with the Viscount.[58] - -The _Civiltá_ was at this time publishing a series of articles on the -massacre of St. Bartholomew's, sometimes calling it "the slaughter" and -sometimes "the executions of Paris"; and calculating that there might -have been some two thousand Protestants put to death in the capital, -and, say, eight thousand in all France! - -Among his other crimes, Bismarck stayed the preparations for the -Council by the campaign of Sadowa. The most reverend Court historian -evidently has no sense of any need for giving the world other reasons -for the total interruption of those preparations than the political -troubles. Yet one who learned Christianity at the feet of Christ would -not readily see why the studies of holy men in the mysteries of divine -revelation should depend upon a battle in Bohemia, or on the flitting -of a French garrison. Surely, divines might go on searching into -naturalism, rationalism, pantheism, somnambulism, and freemasonry, -whether Germany was uniting or splitting up again. Nevertheless, -studies in regalism and Caesarism in the regular subordination of -the natural order to the supernatural, and in the best measures for -replacing the political system of Europe on the _divine basis_, or, as -we should say, for subordinating civil and restoring ecclesiastical -jurisdiction, were liable to be influenced by the flights of the -eagles. And the augurs who were tracing the lines for the foundations -of the reconstruction, found in the movements of the eagles of Prussia -and France omens that counselled delay. - -According to the original design, the Council was to be opened on the -day observed as the eighteenth centennial anniversary of St. Peter's -martyrdom. But, owing to these sad interruptions, when 1867 approached -the secret preparations were not sufficiently advanced. Such, at least, -is the only reason given by Cecconi why the Council was postponed. - -The Pope, however, was resolved to cover St. Peter's day with glory. -So his own thrice sacred anniversary, that of "the Immaculate," and -of the Syllabus, was once more signalized by the issue of letters to -the bishops of the whole world, citing them to Rome for the 29th of -the ensuing June. They were not only to celebrate the centenary of -Peter's martyrdom, but to take part in the canonization of some twenty -additional saints, and also to attend certain consistories. The second -name upon the list of the "new patrons in the presence of God" about -to be created was that of PETER DE ARBUES, "Spanish inquisitor and -martyr,"[59] of whose canonization we shall hear again. This invitation -was dated three days before the French evacuated Rome. As trusty -bayonets were failing, additional celestial powers were to be called -into the firmament. - -All this time the Liberal Catholics were becoming increasingly uneasy -at the prospect of the dangers on which the Church was drifting. They -had hoped to see her first embrace and then dominate modern culture -and liberties. This was a dream of O'Connell, of Lammenais, and of -Gioberti. At this aimed the erudite and steadfast German Catholics. -But every new utterance of the Court, whether in official document or -inspired organ, showed that it was determined upon dragging the Church -in an opposite direction. According to the policy to which it had fully -committed itself, the Church was to conquer, not by adopting the modern -age, but by restoring the middle ages. The dominion of the Pontiff over -the whole earth as spiritual despot and temporal suzerain was the ideal -to which everything must give way. Montalembert, who had been flattered -by the opening career of Pius IX, as sailors say they are flattered by -what they call foxy weather, expresses himself as follows: "I began as -early as 1852 to wrestle against the detestable political and religious -aberrations summed up in contemporary Ultramontanism." He showed that -when in 1847 he defended the Jesuits of the Sonderbund against Thiers, -as he did with equal eloquence and want of foresight, he did not utter -one word of the modern doctrines, and that for a good reason, because, -he says, "No one had thought of setting them up when I entered on -public life." Indeed, he affirms that, in 1847, Gallicanism was dead, -but that it had been revived through the encouragement given to extreme -pretensions during the pontificate of Pius IX. He then quotes an -important letter addressed to himself, in 1863, by Sibour, at that time -Archbishop of Paris-- - - The new Ultramontane school is conducting us to a twofold - idolatry--idolatry of the temporal power and idolatry of the - spiritual power. When you, like myself, made a splendid profession - of Ultramontanism, you did not understand things in this fashion. - We defended the independence of the spiritual power against - the usurpations and pretensions of the temporal power; but we - respected the constitution of the State and the constitution of the - Church. We did not sweep away every intermediate power, or every - gradation of order, nor yet every legitimate resistance, nor all - individuality and spontaneity. The Pope and the Emperor were not - then--the former the whole Church, the latter the whole State. - -Montalembert goes on to say that the old Ultramontanes had recognized -the right of the Pope, in a great crisis, to rise above all rules; -but they did not confound the exception with the rule. These cares and -apprehensions were for the time concealed, and were only brought to -light by the anguish of that moment when the final leap downward was -about to place a gulf that could never be re-crossed between Rome and -all things free and equal. But when the expression did come, it bore -with it the record of previous irritations. - - "The Ultramontane bishops," said Montalembert,[60] "have pushed - everything to the extreme, and have argued to the utmost against - all liberties, those of the State as well as those of the Church." - - "If such a system was not of a nature to compromise the gravest - interests of religion, in the present, but much more in the future, - we might content ourselves with despising it; but when one has the - presentiment of the ills which are being prepared for us, it is - difficult to be silent and resigned." - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 56: _Quarterly Review_, No. 275, p. 293.] - -[Footnote 57: _Civiltá_, Serie VI, vol. ix, p. 126.] - -[Footnote 58: _Civiltá_, Serie VII. iv. 418.] - -[Footnote 59: _Cecconi_, p. 133.] - -[Footnote 60: Letter quoted in the _Unitá Cattolica_, March 10, 1870. -_Friedberg_, pp. 118-121.] - - - - -CHAPTER X - -Reprimand of Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, for disputing the Ordinary -and Immediate Jurisdiction of the Pope in his Diocese--Sent in 1864, -Published in 1869. - - -Within a twelvemonth of the issue of the Syllabus, letters of -significance were passing between Paris and Rome. One of those letters -throws light on the steps taken to grind down any bishop who dared to -assert, as bishops used to do, some authority for their own office, -independent of the direct and universal meddling of Rome. That some -prelates were still tempted to this offence we have seen hinted by the -Cardinal consulters, in the original notes upon the question of holding -a Council. - -One of the most considerable figures in the hierarchy was Darboy, -Archbishop of Paris, to whose name a historical death has given tragic -immortality. When the preparations for the issue of the Syllabus must -have been far advanced, in 1864, he had drawn upon himself letters -of censure from Rome. To these he had replied both publicly in the -senate, and privately, in a manner which showed that some remnants -of old French doctrines yet survived the modern influence in primary -schools and episcopal seminaries. And wherever any sense of the -ancient office of a bishop did survive, there was constant irritation -in the condition of dependence to which the system of _quinquennial -faculties_ reduced the men who, bearing the old name, held the modern -post under the bureaux in Rome. Only a few weeks before the Magna -Charta of reconstruction was promulged, on October 26, 1864, a letter -was addressed to Darboy which fills no less than ten octavo pages of -small type in the documents of Friedberg.[61] Besides its solid value -as instruction, this epistle has the interest of a sharp lecture. -Furthermore, its very language coloured the most important of the -Vatican decrees. - -The quarrel arises on the old subject of the "exemption" of the -regulars from episcopal control, and the direct action of the Curia in -a diocese, over the head of a bishop and under his feet. Readers of -Church history will be tempted to think lightly of the Pope's candour -when he speaks of Darboy's complaint as a new one, but however this -suspicion may touch those who furnished the materials for the letter, -it does not attach to the Pope personally, for he is not usually -supposed to read history, though he often sets it to rights. - -If inaccurate in his facts, Pius IX is orthodox in his policy, for -just as bishops must be independent of the government of the country, -so must the regulars be independent of the bishops, that power to set -wheels in motion may be carried from the engine-house in Rome into the -midst of a nation by two perfectly independent shafts. When the Church -is a national one, a bishop has some stake in the country, though -slight compared with his stake at the Vatican; and he must, at all -events, keep up relations with the authorities. The former circumstance -brings temptations to a "national spirit"--one of the standing evils -cried down by the Curia. The latter circumstance may make it convenient -that the bishop should not always know what is really the course of -action being prepared. In both points of view the regulars can be -utilized. Darius took care to have three separate powers in each -province, all directly dependent on the Imperial Court alone.[62] And -from his days highly organized Asiatic governments have had, besides -the apparently omnipotent lieutenants, confidential agents in every -province, depending directly on the metropolitan authorities. - -The Pontiff commences his letter by reminding his venerable brother -that he made professions of devotion to the Holy See on his elevation -to that of Paris. Then he tells him that certain of his letters -replying to animadversions of the Pope, show him to hold views opposed -to the divine primacy of the Roman Pontiff over the whole Church. -Darboy had asserted that the power of the Pope, in a diocese other -than his own, was not _ordinary_ and _immediate_, but such as should -be interposed only as a last resource, in cases of manifest necessity. -He had represented the intervention of the Pope, by the exercise of -_ordinary_ and _immediate_ jurisdiction, as turning a diocese into a -mission, and a bishop into a vicar apostolic. Moreover, he had said, -in the French senate, that when such intervention took place at the -private instance of individuals, it rendered the administration of the -diocese all but impossible; and he had added that regulars, Nuncio, -and Curia all aimed at bringing about such intervention as an ordinary -thing, and that he would resist it and call upon the bishops and people -to do so. He had even spoken of submitting letters apostolic to the -government, and of having recourse to the lay power; nay, he had gone -so far as to mention the _Organic articles_, though he could not be -ignorant of how the Holy See had always protested against them. - -The Pope could scarcely believe that his venerable brother had uttered -such things, and was moved with wonder and anguish at finding him -avowing the condemned opinions of Febronius, which a bishop ought to -abhor. In denying the "immediate and ordinary" jurisdiction of the -Pope, he had denied the decree of the fourth Lateran Council. The words -"feed My lambs, feed My sheep" mean that believers all and singular -are to be subject to Peter and his successors, as to the Lord Christ -Himself, whose vicar upon earth the Roman Pontiff truly is. Every -Catholic would reply to the charge as to a diocese being turned into -a mission, and a bishop into a vicar apostolic, by saying that it was -as false as it would be to say that prefects, judges, or provincial -magistrates were not ordinary magistrates, because a direct, immediate, -and ordinary power was held by the king or emperor. - -St. Thomas Aquinas, continues the letter, had said "the Pope has a -plenitude of pontifical power, as a king in his kingdom, but bishops -are received into a share of the solicitude, like judges set over -particular cities." As a Catholic bishop, Darboy ought to know that -all had a right to appeal to Rome, none to appeal from her. Such a -complaint as that the interference of Rome rendered the administration -of a diocese almost impossible had never been made either in past -ages or in the present one. When Darboy spoke of appealing to bishops -and people, he ought to have known that the same had been done by -Febronius, and that it was an offence against the divine Author of the -constitution of the Church. - -The Archbishop had not been informed against, proceeded the Pope, -by the regulars, but, from other quarters the fact came before his -Holiness that the Archbishop had exercised the right of visitation -over them, on which he had been admonished, and of this admonition he -had been pleased to speak, in the senate, as of a sentence delivered -without the cause having been heard. It was hardly to be believed! The -Archbishop knew the Decretals, and knew how, in all ages, the Popes -had written in the same manner to bishops when they became aware of -something in their sees which was not quite right. - -As it was a question of the visitation of regulars, it must be -remembered that the right of exemption had long been enjoyed by the -Jesuits and Franciscans in Paris, and that the Apostolic See had -exercised its own special or "privative" jurisdiction. Darboy had -alleged that, by the law of the Council of Trent, regulars could not -have canonical existence in any diocese without consent of the bishop, -which consent had never been received by the monks in question. But, -having been long on the ground, they had acquired a prescriptive right, -by virtual, if not by express, consent of successive bishops. And as -to the fact that the civil law forbade them to possess land, of what -use were such laws in ecclesiastical administration? In these most -turbulent and miserable times of noxious, odious rebellion, civil law -might even deny to bishops their civil standing. - -The Pontiff cannot dissemble his extreme surprise and annoyance that -his venerable brother had attended the funeral of Marshal Magnan, the -Grand Orient of the Freemasons, and had given the solemn absolution -while the insignia of freemasonry were on the bier, and brethren of -the condemned sect wearing its orders were present. The sect aimed -at corrupting all minds and manners; at destroying every idea of -honesty, virtue, truth, and justice; at diffusing monstrous opinions -and abominable vices, fostering detestable crimes, and undermining all -legitimate authority; yea, at overturning the Catholic Church and civil -society, and at expelling God from heaven. - -His Holiness cannot pass over the fact that it has come to his ears -that an opinion has been expressed to the effect that acts of the Holy -See do not compel obedience unless the civil government has given -authority to carry them out. This opinion is pernicious, erroneous, and -injurious to the authority of the Holy See and to the interests of the -faithful. Furthermore, the Pope's venerable brother had incorrectly -asserted in his speech that Benedict XIV in his Concordat with the -King of Sardinia had agreed that the royal sanction should be required -before pontifical acts were carried into execution; and that according -to the instructions annexed to the Concordat, they were to be submitted -to the senate, except when they dealt with matters of dogma or morals; -which false assertion the venerable brother would not have made had -he weighed the words of the instructions. The letter concludes with -protestations of the Pope's affection for his venerable brother and his -flock. - -This epistle, after being long held in reserve, was launched into -publicity at a time when Darboy's influence was threatening to be -inconvenient in the Council, and when the French government had -requested a cardinal's hat for him.[63] - -It is, perhaps, not superfluous to remark that the terms "plenitude -of power" as denoting the prerogative of the Pope, and "_received_ -to a share of the solicitude," as denoting the origin and nature of -the bishop's authority, are not merely happy phrases, but scientific -terms fitted to express the Papal theory of the Church constitution as -opposed to the Episcopal theory. The Episcopal theory, holding that -the office of all bishops is of divine institution, regards the Pope, -not as the source of episcopal authority, but as supreme and ultimate -arbiter. According to the Papal theory, the authority of the bishop is -an emanation from that of the Pope, who, as monarch, unlimited by any -co-ordinate authority, retains in his own hands not only extraordinary -but ordinary, not only ultimate but immediate jurisdiction over every -subject within the bounds assigned to a bishop. The latter is a -prefect, not only liable to be discharged or imprisoned, but liable -while retained in office to have any matter taken out of his hands and -settled contrary to his views. This is the theory which, like a scourge -of not small cords, is employed to flog Darboy, while the incongruous -epithet "venerable brother," dangles at the handle--a vestige of a -past age and an exploded theory. An emperor does not call his prefect -"venerable brother." - -A portion of the letter which will well repay study is that indicating -the attitude of the Curia to all authority not immediately within its -own hands, even if in the hands of its "prefects." Against any such -authority it will receive the reports of its private agents, and treat -those reports as having the status of a legal appeal. It will act, if -need be, without hearing the accused, and maintain that none shall -appeal from it, though all may appeal to it. This is the case even -with the episcopal authority; what, then, is the case with the civil? -It is swept aside as an unclean thing; "of what use are such laws in -ecclesiastical affairs?" If Archbishop Darboy, strong in his character, -strong in his see--the largest in the Roman Catholic world--and strong -in his influence at the Tuileries, is thus treated when complained of -by the Jesuits, what must be the case with small prelates who venture -to provoke their power? - -As to the Freemasons, one is tempted to wish to be in their secret, for -then one would possess a rough test of Papal infallibility. If they do -not aim at overturning all government, and expelling God from heaven, -infallibility does not carry far. - -The time for the great assembly was now approaching, and, meanwhile, -the Papal organs were enlivened by the prospect of a war between France -and Prussia, on the question of Luxembourg. When this hope was deferred -the readers of the _Civiltá_[64] were informed that nevertheless every -possible preparation for war was being pushed forward by the French on -the largest scale, and with greatly improved arms. - -On the 9th of May, 1867, the deputies Angeloni and Crotti were called -up in the Italian Parliament to take the oaths and their seats. -Angeloni did so; but Crotti, a well-known member of the Ultramontane -aristocracy, after pronouncing the words, "I swear to be faithful -to the king and constitution," added, "saving always divine and -ecclesiastical laws." This formula was at once recognized as being -that which had been published in Rome by the _Penetenzieria_, with -the declaration that the repetition of it was the only condition on -which Catholics could accept seats in the Italian chambers. Called -upon to take the oath in the form prescribed by the law of the land, -Count Crotti stood firm by the higher law of the _Penetenzieria_, and -the Chamber disowning his _salvis legibus divinis et ecclesiasticis_, -refused to admit him. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 61: _Aktenstücke_, pp. 257-67.] - -[Footnote 62: Rawlinson's _Ancient Monarchies_, vol. iv.] - -[Footnote 63: _Ce qui se Passe au Concile_, p. 16.] - -[Footnote 64: Serie VI. vol. x. p. 384.] - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -Great Gathering in Rome, June 1867--Impressions and -Anticipations--Improvements in the City--Louis Veuillot on the Great -Future. - - -The whole earth had been moved in the hope of not only exhibiting a -pageant outshining former ones, but also of carrying the dogma of Papal -infallibility by an ecclesiastical _coup d'état_, or, as it is called, -by acclamation, without the delays of a discussion.[65] Had this been -accomplished, the legislative form of a General Council would have -been rendered futile for the time to come, or at the most, would have -been but a grander method of working the institution of "consultative -despotism," to adopt the strict definition of Montalembert. The -invitation had been enthusiastically responded to. The spectacle of -the Papacy menaced with the loss of Rome was touching, and the belief -was cherished that a great demonstration of the interest felt by the -Catholic world on its behalf would contribute to ward off the peril. -Besides these motives, another in full activity was the ever powerful -one, especially powerful with Romanists, the desire to see a pageant; -and this sight was to surpass all the former displays of Rome. - -The city put on its best, the churches were newly embellished, the -streets decked in festive array. Bishops came from all the ends of the -earth, till the thoroughfares were mottled with the toilets of five -hundred. Priests crowded in till, it is said, twelve thousand breathed -the sacred air of the city, every one of them proud to tread that spot -of our unruly earth, where the priest was king of men. - -Besides the clergy, came such multitudes of pilgrims that, according -to Cecconi, the population of the city was almost doubled. The -Romans saw their familiar rite, the worship of the statue of St. -Peter--_l'adorazione della statua di San Pietro_--performed on a -prodigious scale. In modern as in ancient Rome, adoration has its -degrees; all worship does not imply the ascription of supreme, but -only of celestial, honours. No Pontiff in the days of the Republic -ever pretended that Quirinus was creator of the world and father of -eternity. He was the protecting divinity of Rome, but with very limited -powers in comparison with Peter, carrying no sceptre equal to the keys. - -Such of the visitors as had seen the city in former times, if not -too much pre-occupied with the sanctity of the place to observe such -matters, would find several improvements. Side pavements had been -allowed in the main streets. Gaslight had, after long and painful -efforts, been admitted. - -Railways had entered the walls. The personal liberality of the Pope -had effected several improvements, both in public works and charitable -institutions. The French had done a great deal for the cleansing of the -streets, although the filth of some of them, and the indecency of some -of the bye ones, were still beyond belief to any one from England. The -Pope's army, which as late as 1860 was an odd-looking array, was now a -sightly and active force, composed mainly of foreigners, in large part -French. And, finally, it had become possible to tell the time of day. - -Formerly, midday had been one of the mysteries of Rome. It seemed as if -the right of private judgment, banished from the churches, had taken -refuge in the steeples, for each particular clock went off at some -mysterious impulse, and struck twelve at the noon of its own. Thus -for good part of an hour, they do say often longer, the air continued -thrilling with the tidings that it was just noon of day. Naughty Romans -ascribe the change to General Baraguay d'Hilliers, while in command -of the French garrison. Having vainly endeavoured to get a standard -of time established, he presumed, with French audacity, to carry the -case by appeal from the sacristy to the sun. Placing a gun on Fort -St. Angelo, with a burning-glass upon it, he stole the tidings from -another world which were not to be got from the temples at hand.[66] - -One of the most powerful of the pilgrims was M. Louis Veuillot, who as -editor of the _Univers_ had for very many years done much to second -in literature the work done in schools, of reviving antipathies and -superstitions which were in danger of dying out in France. His notes of -this visit form part of his two octavos. As soon as he reaches the foot -of the Alps, at Susa, he begins to scold Italy and the Italians, takes -every opportunity of doing so, and goes out of the country scolding -worse than when he came in. - -But if Italy and the Italians were exceedingly evil in the eyes of M. -Veuillot, he found compensation in the perfect loveliness of Rome and -the Romans. The very cabmen are loudly praised, and the cabs carry -"ideas;" the Press, especially the _Civiltá_, is of course far above -the French level. But the Pope was the grandest spectacle of all. As he -entered the Basilica, preceded by a train of five hundred prelates, it -made an impression of power greater than if four millions of men had -defiled past, armed with the most perfect artillery.[67] - -Naturally, however, the imagination of M. Veuillot was most fired with -the prospect of that historical future which was about to open on the -human species. Darkness still covers the chaos after the cataclysm, -but the breaking of the light draws nigh. The news of a projected -Council has reached the ears of M. Veuillot. His first word is, "Rome -is officially taking the reins of the world into her hand." Other -expressions scattered up and down his animated pages are as follows-- - - The day that the Council is convoked the counter-revolution will - commence.... Pius IX will open his mouth, and the great word, Let - there be light, will proceed out of his lips.... It will be a - solemn date in history; it will witness the laying of the immovable - stone of Re-construction.... At the voice of the Pontiff the bowels - of the earth will be moved, to give birth to the new civilization - of the Cross.... Here is the great reservoir whence the future will - pour out and overflow the human race.... These days in Rome are a - revelation of the state of the world, and the starting point of a - renovation.... The pilgrimage of Catholic Europe to Rome in 1867 - will have consequences of which the _Moniteur_ [alluding to remarks - in that journal] will be informed hereafter, and of which the world - will become aware when the _Moniteur_ would wish them to be unheard - of.... For centuries Rome has not seen the Pope in such splendour, - nor has he so manifestly appeared in his character as head of the - human race. - -M. Veuillot is of course one of those who look on the modern liberty of -the press as a great curse. We may insert here what came to hand long -after these pages were written, as an illustration of the kind of Press -that is to be quenched. The _Times_ of January 26, 1876, in the letter -of its Paris correspondent, gives a morsel from the _Univers_, in the -style of M. Veuillot. The _Times_ had said something about an interview -of the Marquis of Ripon, as a new convert, with the Pope. The _Univers_ -devotes to that article "a column and a half of invectives," and thus -winds up: "The _Times_ is now the giant of the Press, and prospers -in both hemispheres. But the day will come when the two worlds will -want no more of its agony column, or of its bad literature; and its -last compositor, inactive before his immense poison machine, suddenly -idle, will wait in vain for copy which will never come." Will the -compositor look out of the top window in Queen Victoria Street to see -if Macaulay's New Zealander has arrived on London Bridge? - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 65: Acton, _Zur. Ges._, p. 14.] - -[Footnote 66: This was first told me by a Roman tradesman, in presence, -among others, of a very good-natured canon, who joined in the general -laugh at my innocent surprise. This year (1875) an ex-officer of the -Pope's service added, "Ay, but the priests bribed the artillerymen -to steal half the charge of powder, and to turn the gun toward the -Campagna, so that the report should scarcely be heard." Probably -the last statement is a mere rumour, not representing any actual -transaction, but indicating, really enough, the state of mind of the -people as to what their masters were likely to do. I have heard it said -that Sir James Hudson used to declare that when first appointed to -Turin he could walk all round the city while it struck twelve o'clock.] - -[Footnote 67: _Rome pendant le Concile_, vol. i. p. 35.] - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -The Political Lesson of the Gathering, namely, All are called upon to -recognize in the Papal States the Model State of the World--Survey of -those States. - - -"_Opportuneness of the Centenary of St. Peter for reviving the True -Idea of the Political Order among States_," is the heading of an -article in the _Civiltá Cattolica_ for 1867. The first words are, "He -who comes to Rome finds St. Peter become a king"; a proposition of -which we should modify the predicate, saying, He who comes to Rome -finds a king, professing to be St. Peter. "He (i.e. Peter) has joined -the tiara of the Pontiff to the crown of the Prince." Why did not the -writer say the "tiara of the Apostle"? That would be too great an -offence against antiquity. It is the tiara of the Pontiff, as if Peter -had taken over that office from Nero. - -However, these are but the introductory notes. The writer proceeds to -expound the political effects of baptism. Christianity has not changed -the civil power as to its substance, but as to its relations, by making -a change in the subject of power. That subject is no longer mere man, -but man made Christian by baptism. This doctrine--which frequently -reappears as the theological basis of reconstruction--is more fully -stated by M. Veuillot: "They will not deny that the true human race is -baptized humanity.... It is, then, baptism which constitutes humanity, -and all that has not been introduced into the Church by baptism is, in -reality, only a sort of raw material, which as yet awaits the breath -of life" (p. cxii.). In order to prevent any conflict between baptized -man and the law of the Church, the _civil power must be subject to the -Church_. Suarez is quoted to the effect that as a man would not be -rightly constituted unless the body were subject to the soul, neither -would the Church be rightly established unless the temporal power were -subject to the spiritual. And hence, the political conclusion is firmly -drawn: "The idea of such a subordination is realized in the pontifical -government. Because, owing to the peculiar character of him who here -holds the temporal power, it cannot rebel against the spiritual power, -civil law can never here set itself against evangelical law, nor is any -political act possible which should offend against morals." - -The last affirmation will appear boldest to those who best know what -political acts have been done in the Roman States, and in the present -reign. No one of these acts could offend against Christian morals! for -the all-sufficing reason that Peter had become the king, and Peter does -no wrong. Thus we find infallibility, as received in the court creed, -covering measures of taxation and police, as well as lotteries and -monopolies--an abuse of the doctrine made still more obvious by what -follows, in which the infallibility of the Government is grounded on -its immaculate conception, and consequently perfect nature. Since in -the Pontifical States "the laws must be sanctioned by him who holds -the place of God on earth, him whom God has given to us for guide and -teacher, they can never be in conflict with the divine will.[68] The -infallible Depositary of evangelical interests can never sacrifice them -to earthly ones. Though in such a government the two powers [spiritual -and temporal] are distinct in form, they are in complete harmony and -duly co-ordinated one with the other, presenting to lay States the -perfect example of the Christian civil power." - -It is granted that lay States can never equal this example, but they -ought to imitate it. By their very conception they can never be free -from the original taint, owing to which it becomes possible for "the -temporal power to rebel against the spiritual power." Not only is -it possible, but, by their nature, they are predisposed to that sin -of sins. But all rulers of lay States are to know that in becoming -subjects of the Church the subjects of civil power have been changed, -though the substance of civil power has not been changed. We do not -stay to inquire what may be the substance of civil power, after its -subjects have been lifted above obedience to it by another human -power, higher than itself in all things wherein the two may come into -collision. - -In conclusion, the faithful are told that the centenary of St. Peter, -by bringing together people from all parts of the world, will give to -them the opportunity of beholding "a State in which peace, morality, -and justice reign. It is like an oasis amid the desolation of the -desert; and it is so because the political order is in full harmony -with evangelical law." - -The approaching pilgrims, in comparing the oasis into which they were -about to enter, with the deserts from which they had emerged, would -be able to judge by the experience of centuries as to whether, where -Peter reigns, the lifting up of the subject above lay government -into the supernatural order had led to the elevation of the laity to -supernatural goodness, or to the lowering of the clergy to the level of -political officials. - -Two writers, as dissimilar as Addison and Edgar Quinet, had, in some -degree, anticipated the comparison here challenged, each speaking -from a point of view suited to his own day and mode of thinking. The -Englishman remarks how great is the difference between Roman Catholic -populations where they touch upon reformed countries and where they are -under the unbroken influence of the Papacy. Ignorance, superstition, -and crime gradually deepen till the Alps and the Pyrenees are passed, -when all these become strikingly worse. - -The Frenchman says that there was only one model country in Europe. -This was correct; for France had never cast out the influence of the -Reformation, or made away with all the Protestants; and had, moreover, -been the hotbed of what Quinet calls the philosophers. Italy, again, -had always been a stronghold of the so-called philosophers, although -all the Protestants had been consumed. In Spain, however, as he points -out, the Inquisition had really fulfilled its mission; both Protestants -and philosophers having been annihilated, schools and letters having -been reduced to order, and the whole nation having been made to move -for more than two hundred years on the Papal lines. The consequence -was the total ruin of religion in the country.[69] - -The comparison to which strangers were challenged by the Curia had -the great advantage of being a comparison of good, not of evil. If -the Papal States are to lay States as the oasis to the desert, proof -actually lies before us of something more than human superiority--of -something amounting to a higher dispensation. If the Papal States are -but moderately superior to others, proof of any higher dispensation -fails; but proof of human superiority remains. If they are only -equal to lay States even proof of human superiority fails. If they -are inferior, proof fails both of divine commission and of human -superiority, and proof arises of the presence of greater human fault. - -The only true book of Positive Philosophy yet (we do not say of -Positive Science) is the blessed old Books of books. It brings -everything to the test of fruits. It puts the extraordinary man to the -test before ordinary men. He who refuses the ordained appeal to the -Word, and to fruits, and to the verdict of every man's conscience, -writes his own description as a false prophet. - -We shall not, therefore, set out to compare evil, but good. We shall -not inquire if there are more waste acres in the Papal States, more -filthy huts, more wretched villages, more mean little towns called -cities, more blighted prospects, talents thrown to waste, and families -brought to decay, more liars, thieves, drunkards, blasphemers, and -libertines, more depraved homes, more guilty conspiracies, more -strikers, robbers, and assassins, more beggars in the streets, more -idlers and extortioners in office, more wretches in prison, and more -dead men in graves dug by the law, than, say, in our own far from -immaculate or infallible England. We shall only look for the opposite -of all these, and more of it--so much more as would furnish proof of a -special dispensation of God's loving-kindness to men. - -In one particular, such of the pilgrims as had heard of the desolation -of the Roman Campagna would feel surprise, somewhat similar to that -often felt by travellers in the Desert of Sinai. The latter, expecting -to find extended plains of burning sand--a Sahara--find a country -like another, only that it has no vegetation. So when pilgrims on the -Campagna found green plains basking under a lovely sky, they would -wonder how men could call it waste. Only by degrees would they realize -the fact that there were no farm-houses, no labourers' cottages, no -hamlets. In Arabia vegetation has failed, and with it animal existence. -This region is a degree less desert: the herb enjoys life and supports -the beast; only man has failed. - -A trained observer seeing the plain forsaken and the villages in -military positions on the heights, would at once say, as he would -in Syria: The land has not learned what rest is! It has not yet -experienced, for any continuance, that lot of conscious security in -which the family suffices to itself, the lonely house is safe, and -the village needs neither wall nor steep. The valleys of Tuscany or -Piedmont tell a better tale of law and government. - -When, at wide intervals, an inn or what is called a _Tenuia_ occurs, -perhaps it is announced by a few fine children, ill-clad and begging. -The house has an expression of fear. The windows are few and small, and -the yard, instead of a fence or low wall, is defended by a high one. -There are no stack yards, no farm store and treasure spreading securely -and ornamentally around as if conscious of strong, benign protectors. -There is no grass-plot, no gravelled or flagged walk, no flower-bed -before the door, no flower pot in the window, no garden. The house -has never blossomed into the home. It is, after all these ages, but a -shelter from weather and violence. - -Entering, you find dirt to a degree neither easy to believe nor -pleasant to describe, which grows worse and worse the longer and -more minutely you observe. The furniture consists of a few stools, -a rough table or bench, with a sack or two of straw for a bed. The -few utensils, whether of earthenware or metal, are, like the stools -and bench, poor in quality, rude in form, and ill-kept. Scarcely -ever is there against the walls a print or photograph, an engraved -sheet, a clock or plaster bust. You look in vain for book, periodical, -or journal. The idea of children's picture-books, or of a cottage -library, is out of the question; and the Bible is not to be seen. -If there be a picture of the Madonna or the patron saint, it is, -in point of art, far below the pictures which often light up the -cottage of our humblest labourer. If there is a book, it is a wretched -dream-book teaching how to succeed in the lottery. No polished chest of -drawers, no white dresser, no fire range bearing witness of taste and -"elbow-grease," no pretty crockery, no easy-chair. You may perhaps see -a man asleep on the bare bench and another on the floor. - -As you let the picture print itself, with all its inevitable comments, -upon your mind, it calls up comparisons with what you have seen in -the unlettered countries of the world--not with the homes that grow -up around a family Bible. Here the arts which bring Art home to the -multitude have found no entrance. Engraving, printing, carving, -ornamental work in metal, wood, or pottery, gardening, or artistic -husbandry, are graces that have not crossed this dirty threshold. The -aesthetics, which have had some part in the government of the country -have never developed the blessed aesthetic of home. - -Physically, you find a race of great capacity. The frame, if wanting -the compactness of the French and the solidity of the English, is large -and shapely; such as after a few well-fed and well-housed generations -would probably be one of the finest in the world. There is a certain -sluggishness, which is generally called laziness. Perhaps it is not so -much laziness as a lack of that physical elasticity which comes with -successive generations of hopeful effort and good condition, but sinks -away under hopelessness, or the effects of poor food and bad air. The -natural intelligence is quick, and the manners generally polite, often -winning. The pleasant word and the obliging act are both ready. But -when did these carters and labourers wash? Was anything ever done to -cleanse these garments, partly of goatskin with the hair attached and -partly of heavy cloth? We do not call raids now and then to keep vermin -under, an effort at really cleansing. And the heads of the women and -children! Whatever the prevalent aesthetics have accomplished, they -have never awakened the sacred aesthetic of the human person, which is -not to be confounded with the lower aesthetic of dress. - -Turning towards the villages, the observer is again reminded of Syria, -where he may have been led on by the prospect of a beautiful city set -on a hill, and found a squalid village. Self-defending construction, as -in the case of the lone house on the plain, reappears here. No outlying -cottages before the village, no detached ones within it, no gardens -or orchards behind. The backs of the houses form a continuous high -wall, pierced with small windows, constituting an irregular but not -despicable work of defence. Again you find the absence of any bit of -green, or of flower-beds before the house, or of flowers in the window. -The gardens of Nottingham alone would put those of all the Papal States -to shame, excepting such as are attached to palaces. - -Before entering the houses one feels as if it would be unfair to -compare them with those of English villages in our more cultured and -sunny counties. But we may take a Yorkshire manufacturing village, near -collieries. There the ground is dirty with coal slack; the air dirty -with coal smoke and heavy with damp vapours; the houses are of the -colour of baked mud, called brick; the sky is low, and more brown than -grey. Nature and art seem to have combined to make the house dirty. -Here, on the contrary, the ground is as dry as a board, the air bright, -the walls of warm-coloured stone, the sky lofty, luminous and blue. -Nature has done everything to suggest cleanliness, and also to reward -it with such brilliant effect as we can only see in the brightest -moments which summer lights up within our English homes. And as to -manufacture, its grimy fingers have never touched the place. - -Yet under the unfavourable conditions you find tidy women, with tidy -children, by tidy firesides. The floor, seats, tables, drawers, -dresser, walls, all show that the domestic arts of ornament, in however -humble a style, are represented. The cottage child sits with its book -on its knee, and you are not afraid to look into the corners. The Bible -and hymn-book are probably upon the shelf; and if you do not know that -the scene of the cotter's Saturday night is actually enacted there, -you feel that it might be. - -Under the favourable circumstances, on the other hand, floor, stairs, -wall, furniture, utensils, and the persons of the women and children -are kept in such a style that one of the women from the Yorkshire -cottage would not like to pass a night in the place. And you must not -look into the corners. Any stray picture which may be on the walls, -only serves to remind you, by contrast, of the wonderful development -of illustrative art in England, Germany, and America, and of its -penetrating influence in the homes of the remote and poor. Here, -sometimes, you may find, even in the village church, prints and dolls, -the former of which in England would be considered poor, and the latter -tawdry in the village shop. Yet in the same church there may be some -real work of art, which has for generations had every opportunity of -forming the public taste. - -The land in these Papal States, like the people, is nobly capable; but -our present inquiries turn, not upon the future, but upon proof of -immaculate and infallible government, for the last thousand years or -more. - -Fixing, then, our attention on the works of man, we find cause -repeatedly to wish that we had some measure for exactly determining how -much progress has been made, amid these lovely scenes, by the human -mind since it passed from under the dominion of Pagan Romanism into -that of Papal Romanism. At present we have not the means of accurately -settling this question, and perhaps we never shall have, though honest -research may yet sufficiently elucidate it for a practical judgment. -So long as Christianity worked by its legitimate forces, those of -the Spirit alone, with its legitimate instrument, the Word alone, it -cast out the cruel and obscene spirits of paganism, silently, but not -slowly. In individuals and in families real Christians were made. This -continued so long as the ministers of Christ ministered like their -Master, reading the Word of God, and preaching it, but no more thinking -of performing "functions," like the heathen, than He did; so long as -they had neither place nor name in the posts graded and rewarded by -human powers; so long as they enjoyed no consideration but what was won -through wisdom, goodness, and spiritual fruitfulness; so long as their -whole inheritance was not a profession, but a calling, which renounced -the world, not by cutting God's holiest human ties, but by abandoning, -for life, every hope of title, pomp, or power. So long as this spirit -reigned, and whenever it again reappeared, they could point to numbers, -whom they found vile but left created anew in Christ Jesus unto good -works. - -But from the time when Christianity became a public power, the -courtier, the priest, and the crowd began to flow into the Church, -and carried part of their heathenism in with them. When the device -of the Emperors was parodied--and as they had assumed the office of -Pontiff to confirm the civil dictatorship, the Roman Bishop assumed the -temporal supremacy to confirm the spiritual dictatorship--all the three -paganizing forces of statecraft, priestcraft, and popular superstition -came more vigorously into play; with the result stated by Gregorovius: -"So that Church which arose out of the union of Christianity with the -Roman Empire, drew from the latter the system of centralization, and -the stores of ancient language and education; but the people utterly -corrupted, could not yield her the living material for the development -of the Christian ideal. On the contrary, it was just they who in -early times defaced Christianity, and permeated the Church, scarcely -yet established in the Empire, with the old heathenism."[70] It was, -however, on the new system of conversion that the people could not -yield the material for developing Christianity. On the old one they -had done so. When the Church waits for converts till the Spirit of God -brings her penitents, she will always find material (often raw and -foul, but capable) for doing all her work. - -But we find the first step in an inquiry as to the progress which has -been accomplished challenged by the Vatican philosophy, which decries -modern improvements like the railway, telegraph, steam engine, and -so on, as "material progress." When we ordinary mortals say "mental -progress" we mean a progress of mind; but when the Pope says "material -progress," does he mean a progress of matter? No; then what does he -mean? Perhaps to suggest some such idea as the progressive ascendancy -of matter over mind; but if so, it is unfortunate for him, as a -philosopher, that the inventions he despises represent the advancing -ascendancy of mind over matter. And very unhappy is it for mankind that -all his influence goes to employ matter in colour, form, and movement, -to make man a creature of sensation, and to stay the operation of -reason and of faith, exchanging reason for sentiment and faith for -sight. - -Suppose that an observer before passing from the valley of the Sacco -into that of the Anio looks at a historical place like Palestrina, -situated on one of the noblest heights of the land; a point whence -Pyrrhus and Hannibal, in succession, looked with the longing of -warriors across the Campagna to the distant Rome; and whence the -Temple of Fortune, emulating Egyptian proportions, and overspreading -a whole hillside, dominated the plain, and held forth its lights to -the far off sea. This city has a Cardinal Bishop, and a palace of the -great Papal-princely family of the Barberini, and yet is what a homely -Englishman would call a nasty village. If such a one had to pick his -steps up the alleys that serve for streets, in the afternoon, when -the issue of the cow-houses is flowing down them, he would rather be -at home. The people are civil and apparently industrious, but the -energy of the children goes out in begging. The decay and dirt which -conquer all, furnish to an English eye a plain instance of material -progress--matter gaining upon mind. The palace is neither kept up -nor abandoned as a ruin, but, as if to set the town an example of -thriftless filth, it is used partly for an aesthetic exhibition, -containing as it does one wonderful mosaic, with frescoes and portraits -of the Pope and Cardinals of the family, and is partly given up -to--matter. Just as confidently as a skilled observer would conclude -that Middlesbrough or Cincinnati bore witness against any claim to -great antiquity, would he conclude that Palestrina bore witness -against any claim to supernaturally good government. How much lower was -the place when it was heathen? - -From the ridge between the two valleys, by Civitella, the stranger has -one of those prospects of which no previous travel blunts the charm, -and no subsequent travel blunts the memory. Here he finds well-made -men ploughing, and women with busts worthy of Sabine mothers carrying -stones. Looking at the plough, he finds it only a few degrees stronger -and better than that used by the ordinary Hindu ryot. It is very far -behind the improved ones to be seen in northern Italy, and would be a -real curiosity to Bedfordshire or Lincolnshire ploughmen. - -If the observation of implements is extended to those of the -handicrafts, it confirms the impression of want of taste made by those -of agriculture. But tools are not things to make a show, and the noble -aesthetic of labour has not been fostered. Labour is not part of the -supernatural order, only of the natural; it serves but temporal ends. -And who made the natural? And who dares to teach man, created in the -image of God, that the daily duty appointed to him--duty to himself, -his family, his country, and his race--serves but temporal ends? If -neglected, are only temporal ends frustrated? When our Father sends us -what fills our hearts with food and gladness, is He working nought but -temporal ends? For what is helpful to sanctification commend us even to -the stones on the head of the female hodman, rather than to the beads -at the waist of the novice nun! Albeit the former is a coarse toil not -to be seen without a blush by man born of a woman, yet is it a real -lift at the load of life--a load natural and therefore divine; whereas -the other is neither work nor play, not tending either to lift the load -of life or to cheer on the labour of lifting it, but tending only to -weaken all the powers by rendering the mind a slave of charms. Least of -all is it spiritual or supernatural. It is simply manipulation applied -by the master with sensational skill, and in the subject suspending -thought on sensational routine. - -How far do the villages of the thrice beautiful Sabina exceed those of -our Lake District or of Wales in that poetic property of all villages, -"innocence"? The last thing we should do is to set up our own as a -standard. But if you hear the friars talk of the villagers, and the -villagers of the friars and police, the townsfolk of the countryfolk, -the doctor of his practice, and the priest of the refractory, you will -hear mention made, with incidental ease, of crimes which, if committed -in the Lake Districts of England, or in the tourists' haunts in Wales, -would fill the journals for weeks. And how often here does scandal name -the priest before all others! - -Do the towns in Papal territory contrast with those in "lay States" as -the oasis does with the desert? Suppose the observer to stand before -Subiaco, seated amid Sabine peaks in the smiling valley of the Anio--a -favourite haunt of artists, and worthy of their favour. A marble arch -marks the entrance to the town; a summer palace of the Pope crowns it. -A little way off stands the sacred cave where Benedict first taught. -That is the Lupercal of Roman monasticism. There arose the institution -which became the one grand public institution of Papal Italy--arose -out of purposes not only pure, but lofty, though upon plans departing -from those both of Moses and of Christ. These made the love of God in -the individual a spiritual force to leaven the family, and made the -family the basis of all institutions. The monasticism of the further -east made spiritual life a dainty too delicate for the fireside. The -Christian system made each new convert a moral agent acting within the -social fabric. When Christians adopted the Oriental system, each new -convert was abstracted from the social fabric, was taught to turn his -or her back on the family, and to call being in the family being in the -world, and renouncing the family renouncing the world. Out of a life of -three-and-thirty years spent among men, our Lord has left us scarcely -another trace of thirty of those years than this, that He spent them in -the family.[71] This convent of Benedict still preserves its celebrated -gardens, boasted of as a beauty for the whole earth--including the bed -of roses, the lineal descendants of those which were transformed from -thorns by miracle. - -On the principles of Christianity, if this place has for ages enjoyed a -spiritual government free from religious error, and a temporal one free -from moral fault, and has, in addition, been blessed with the presence -of the representative of God upon earth, we shall without fail find it -a scene of enlightenment, righteousness, and bliss. It must in these -respects be far before places where frail human nature has been in the -hands of churches liable to err, and of governments which commit faults -every day. If, on the other hand, they who have here been stewards of -the unrighteous mammon have employed it ill, who will entrust to them -the true riches, who will give to them the keeping of his soul? - -At the entrance of the city, on a morning in May, the sound of chanting -floats down the street, and a procession of clergy moves along, passes -under the marble arch, and proceeds to a church in the suburbs. Then -the priests bless the fields to secure good crops, as is done by the -priests in India. - -The streets of the city paraded by this procession are not beautiful, -and had they been steeped for a few years in a smoky, moist Lancashire -atmosphere they would be exceedingly ugly. They are not clean but -dirty, below the condition of any country town in the Protestant -parts of Ireland. They are not busy, but have a listless air, as if -people had little to do and not much heart in doing it. The signs of -enterprise and of improvement which in towns under good governments -silently tell the tale, are not to be seen--signs which already, in -1867, might be traced in most of the towns of the New Italy. The -well-dressed portion of the people is small, and the proportion of -those poorly but tidily dressed extremely small. A gala costume even -of the poor is fine, for whatever is for effect is studiously done. -Many men and women, evidently not in abject poverty, but capable of -dressing up for a state occasion, are not tidy, but badly the reverse. -The number of ragged adults is great, and that of ragged children very -great; it is hard to estimate that of the beggars, for even young -women employed and not very miserably dressed, will take advantage of -a passing stranger to seek a penny; and as to the children, begging -appears to be a recognized branch of street life. - -A young gentleman from Rome, tall and handsome, on the point of getting -into a carriage with his companions, anxiously inquires if the road to -Palestrina is safe. Have there not been attacks of brigands lately? -The fact is not denied, though he is assured that all will be well. -In any talk about quarrelling, the use of the knife--that is, the -dagger-knife--is alluded to as a common incident. When any occurrence -illustrates the amount of confidence felt by the people in the honesty -or truthfulness of one another, it seems generally low on the first -point and almost _nil_ upon the second. - -If the working classes show no sign of having been blessed with a -government better than that of all mankind, does any sign of it appear -among the trading classes? Beginning at the upper strata of finance and -commerce, a merely English eye would look in vain for tokens of their -existence. Coming down to the shops, perhaps an episcopal city in the -"oasis" would so impress Roman Catholic shopkeepers from Thurles or -Tuam that they would think a comparison profane. Their evil lot has -been cast in a lamentable portion of the "desert," the misdeeds of -whose rulers, and the wrongs of whose pastors and people, have often -made the hearts of the devout in Italy to bleed. Protestant shopkeepers -of Munster and Connaught would not be so awestruck but that they -could make a comparison. They would not find under the fairer sky, -and the theocratic rule, what they would take for symptoms of divine -superiority. The shopkeepers of Enniskillen and Portadown, not blessed -even with a heretic bishop, would smile at the comparison. - -As to the professional classes, they are nearly absorbed in the clergy; -for this is a state in which the only way to "found a family" is to -begin by taking vows of celibacy, and the only way to bequeath coronets -is to begin by renouncing the world. The one unworldly profession -counts, among its prizes, a triple crown, scores of princedoms, -ministries of state, of finance, and even of war, embassies, exceeding -many palaces, honours surpassing those of nobility, gorgeous uniforms, -lofty titles, revenues of enormous amount, with powers and dignities -bearing a double value--one measurable by the standards of the world, -and one immeasurable in the eyes of the faithful. The bulk of the land -has passed into the possession either of corporations of clergy or of -families founded by priests successful in their profession. - -The Mosaic economy is generally taken to be more carnal than the -Christian; but Moses, leaving Egypt, where the king and the priests -were the only landowners, enacted that the priests should not hold -land, and though married men, should have only a house and "a cow's -grass." Here, on the contrary, the priest, though renouncing the world -in some spiritual sense, comes a hundredfold more into possession of -it in a material one. If mind shows its dominion over land and sea, -over adamant and wind, over time and space, the feat is labelled for -contempt as "material progress." If ministers of the Gospel become -immersed in the management of manors, provinces, taxes, lotteries, and -even of brigades, the fall is certificated for reverence as "spiritual" -ascendancy. In Israel the royal tribe was one "of which no man gave -attendance at the altar," and the priestly tribe one of which none came -to the throne. Here the priest is king, and the temporal prince kisses -his foot. A favourite image is that of the mystic David, pastor and -king in one. Here is the cure of _political_ NATURALISM. - -The clergy of the Pontifical States included the two widest extremes -of professional life to be found in Christendom--that of show and -dressiness beyond what our courtiers or soldiers display, and that -of personal meanness and social degradation to which no professional -class among us approaches. Society seemed to avenge itself for the -humiliations it had to suffer from the court priest, by the contempt -with which it treated the clown priest. We once asked an advocate if -all the priests did not read the _Unitá Cattolica_, and we give his -reply, not as describing what priests are, but as showing what men of -education may say of them--"All?" said the Dottore; "well, nearly all -that can read." "But you do not mean to say that there are priests who -cannot read?" "Well, not precisely; but there are many that could not -read a journal intelligently, so as to enjoy it." - -The co-existence of fear with hatred of a dominant priesthood may be -observed in any country where priests have been the governing class, -and perhaps, after the Pontifical States, may be best observed in -India. The Brahmans, however, have not in the popular eye so direct a -command over the lot of the departed as Rome has secured for her own -priests, nor have they any such pecuniary profit out of the faith of -the survivors. On the other hand, no class of Brahmans sinks so far -below the average of respectability, among their countrymen, as do the -lower clergy of the Roman and Neapolitan States. - -But the contempt of the Italians for the priesthood is no more thorough -than is their reverence. The man who will not introduce a certain -priest to his daughters, will pay him to save the soul of his mother -out of the pains of purgatory. To the Monsignore Don Juan, to use a -term of Gregorovius, he will manifest profound respect, while in his -heart he scorns him. To the not worse but less successful priest he -will manifest contempt and spend some wit upon his vices, and yet, in -his heart, will fear his occult power over the souls of his departed -kindred. - -The worldly professions have no such lot as the sacred one. Except -the show corps for inglorious pomp around the sovereign, the military -sphere for Romans is narrow, foreigners taking the lead. _Letters are -no profession._ The civil service is principally in the hands of the -priests. The law exists, and there are men with the titles of advocates -and judges. But if we drew any idea of the status and "chances" -belonging to such titles, from England, it would be altogether -misleading. - -Chief Justice Whiteside has shown how wide the difference is, and he -spoke of the great city. In the little one of which we now speak, two -English gentlemen, who could not find room in the inn, were directed to -the house of an advocate, who played my host with assiduity and good -humour, and charged four francs each for dinner, bed, candles, and -service. The doctors seem most like men with a professional standing; -and if they keep from politics, they have a fair chance of leading a -quiet life in obscure usefulness. - -Yet is the whole world called to take this state of things as the model -of the subordination of the layman to the priest. "The idea of that -subordination," we are told, "is realized in the Papal government." The -ideal! This absorption, then, of the State into the so-called Church, -this suppression of king, nobles, and people under the priest, is not -an abnormal and monstrous _lusus ecclesiae_, but is the ideal of the -new "political order." Any one can understand it--the king merged -in the prince-bishop or else a vassal of the priest; the noble the -retainer and jewelled ornament of the priest; the people the helots of -the priest. That is the model. Here is realized for us the ideal of -_the one fold and one shepherd_. - -The English labourer knows that his son may, like James Cook, walk the -quarter-deck, or, like Robert Stephenson, sit in the legislature. The -Roman noble knows that the utmost his son, if not a priest, can rise to -is to wear pearls and stars at the court of a priest, and kiss his foot -when he makes a great show. - -The kindly monk who, at Subiaco, shows a stranger over the Sacred Cave -of Benedict, glories in far-famed gardens, which any peasant from -Appenzell could tell him might be equalled in some private houses in -such a village as Heiden. Fame sometimes draws out the dying notes of -her trumpet unaccountably long. The monk is careful to enlist your -admiration for several meritorious works in painting and sculpture, but -to Protestants one gem is shown only by request. It is a portrait of -the devil painted on the wall, in dark passages, and not visible except -when a light is flashed upon it. This done, it appears for a moment, -or longer, as the operator pleases, through one opening, fitted with -real iron gratings, athwart of which the demon glares out of the gloom -upon the spectator. Such a picture is capable of being put to uses -that would meet the strongest views of those who call for something to -strike the senses, and through them to affect the feelings. - -As long ago as the days of the man of the land of Uz, the monotheistic -way of depicting a spiritual presence was, "I could not discern the -form thereof"; and, surely, even in that remote time, the aesthetic was -higher than that of the Sacred Cave. - -Following the smiling valley from Subiaco to Tivoli, one would, in -1867, probably see youths in the uniform of the zouaves, lounging on -a bank, near one or both of the towns. Foreign mercenaries! would the -Italians say. Foreign, certainly, and some of them mercenaries; but -some, even in the dress of a private, would unmistakably show the -gentleman--no mercenary, but a crusader who, in answer to the cry -raised after Castelfidardo, has come from afar to fight for St. Peter, -to "die for religion." - -Even in this mountain valley the villages still keep to the heights. -Where is the squire and his generous hall?--no room here for his -magisterial office or commanding influence! Where is the farmstead, -full and cozy, warm nest of fruitful brood sure to store a land with -golden eggs? When the squire was quenched under the mitre of the -abbot, the farmer was smothered in the cowl of the friar. Where are -the parsonages and manses, homes where thought-culture is generally -at the maximum, and external show often at the minimum, Christian -families rooted in nature, blessed by divine ordinance, where woman -is doing what the Mother of our Lord was doing at the head of her -house--families holier a hundred times than the "religious" family, -artificially substituted for nature and gospel? If from the list of -bright names written up in England since the Reformation were blotted -all that were first inscribed in the family Bible of parsonage or -manse, that list would be more shortened than most men would imagine. - -From the Villa d'Este at Tivoli, with its grandiose, ill-kept gardens, -the prospect across the Campagna, when the distant city and its unique -dome are limned against the sunset sky, is one of rare enchantment. -Suppose that on these Sabine or on the Alban Hills you ask some -intelligent inhabitant if these are not the Delectable Mountains, the -summits of the true Celestial Empire, where no act of moral wrong has -been done by the authorities for, say, the last ten hundred years. -Perhaps you might hear such a statement as we once heard. It was from -a gentleman in the pay of the government; but he knew that he had -not to speak either to a priest or to that denationalized creature -which Romans soon detect under the English form, a _convertito_. The -statement may not have been correct. But it was such as under our -unblessed lay government is never heard. It was such as under a good -government could never be invented. Such a statement, professing to be -made from a man's own knowledge, one never heard in Europe, except in -Naples under the last two kings; but one might hear such in Egypt, and -one could easily hear such, many years ago, in the Mysore, from old men -talking of the times of Hyder Ali. - -The desolation of the Campagna is the true and terrible material -progress. Here physical impediments to health and life have conquered, -not being encountered by moral and mental force. What natural riches -are here! If England has wealth in its coal, how much has Italy in -its sunshine? How much has that saved in the last thousand years in -clothes, bedding, and fuel? How much in the wear and tear of buildings, -and of implements? How much has it given in ripening what we can never -ripen, and in ripening quickly and perfectly what we can ripen but -slowly and in part? How much has it both saved and given in diminishing -the physical temptation to intemperance? This soil, this sun, and in -addition the tribute of nations, poured out here for ages in all the -endless forms of Peter's gain--where is all that wealth gone? Here -we are amid the riches of nature, to which successive centuries have -brought riches of tribute, and yet are we wrapped around by silence, -vacuity, and fear. Sleep not here! whispers every friendly voice. -Wealth of matter, poverty of man! The Papal government is sometimes -accused of bringing the malaria. No; it only let it come and let it -stay. Like many who will not believe in invisible mind, it would not -believe in invisible matter. The miasma was the hand of God, and was -not to be fought against. - -The Papal government is also accused of bringing all the foreign hordes -who wasted this once glorious plain. It did not always bring them. It -only brought them so often that had it been done by any faction in -the heart of a country not being priests, mankind would have sunk the -memory of the faction under eternal disgrace. Now, the sickly Campagna -labourer, the thing like a Fijian hut which to him is home, and the -buffalo, seem a meet monument to the memory of Saracen and Lombard -destroying, and of Cardinals plundering, till only the grass was left. -Who would have the heart to ask himself, Is this the proof that the -oasis of priests amid the desert of lay States, is a garden planted of -the Lord? - -Roughly speaking, Rome is about the size of Dublin. All the Catholic -world sighs over the woes and desolations inflicted on Ireland by -Protestant cruelty. Where has Rome set up a suburb like Kingstown, -Dalkey, or Bray? Where sown a tract of country with rich smiling homes -like those which spangle the emerald from Dublin to the Wicklow hills? -Where in the oasis could a bishop on returning to Belfast point to a -creation of wealth and beauty made in Papal times equal to Holywood, -or the Antrim shore? And could his colleague of Cork dare to make the -people who look on the lone banks of the stream from Rome to the sea -mourn for those who hang their harps by the "pleasant waters" that -flow within sound of the bells of Shandon? Had the Roman Curia reigned -there, the vale would now be insecure; a wretched village or two, with -skeletons and clouts by way of relics in tawdry churches, would crown -the heights; instead of villas, mansions, and cots, a monastery or two -walled up to heaven would hold the best points on the hills, inviting -artists, but perhaps ill rewarding them, while nursing idlers within -and beggars without. And had Rome less reigned at Cork than she has -done, a scene many degrees livelier and richer than that which now -surrounds the fair city would have noted the response of intelligent -industry to the boons of a very bountiful Providence. - -Inside the capital of the oasis!--capital of a region where for a -thousand years, at the very least, no act morally wrong has been done -by authority, true bower of a peerless Eden! Let no Englishman say that -these pretensions are not to be treated seriously. We should all have -said so thirty years ago. But now men from any nation in Europe, some -blaming us, some vaunting over our return, will tell us that of late -years more has been done to accredit these pretensions by a portion of -the English clergy than by any educated class in Europe, and that more -to adorn and sanction these pretensions has been done by a portion of -the English aristocracy than by any privileged class in Europe. This is -one instance more of the fact that not interests but principles are the -safeguards of mankind. - -Is the city, then, morally the perfection of beauty? Is it so rich in -the Christian graces as to accredit the claim to be the central seat of -an infallible power, the one spot on earth where it is directly touched -by a divine authority? The priest at once tells you how holy the -city is: there are eight basilicas, more than four hundred churches, -and more than two hundred convents. Yes, but perhaps the "religious -family" fabricated by teaching woman that her holy place is not the -family which God founded, and in which every man has his own wife and -every woman her own husband, may not in operation have proved a better -thing than the Christian family. Poor creatures put into an artificial -family where duties ordained by God are made void, and ties set by -Him as strings in the harp of nature to make holy melody, are rudely -unstrung--a "family" in which many of the things called _good works_ -are neither virtues nor graces, but vain repetitions of fantastic -forms--a family where the obedience called for is not obedience to -any natural authority or to any divine law, but to arbitrary will; -communities of poor creatures such as these, we say, may not in the -long run have proved centres of holiness. When we ask if the city is -holy, we mean nothing about basilicas, or churches, or convents; but we -mean, are the people like Jesus Christ, like a people prepared as a fit -population for a sinless heaven? - -We shall in reply give nothing but a statement on one side from the -_Civiltá_, and one on the other from the prelate Liverani, so that -neither heretic nor foreigner, nay, not even a layman, shall disturb -the testimony. The _Civiltá_,[72] after the occupation of the city by -Italy, showed that one of its characteristics had been the perfect -subordination of all civil arrangements to evangelical law. _Christ -reigns, Christ governs._ This motto had in Rome a worthy and complete -application. Not only individuals, but the family, the city, laws, -policy, all social institutions, felt the salutary influence. In the -metropolis of Christianity, marriage, education, instruction, the -administration of justice and charity, public and private manners, had -to be regulated by Christian laws and evangelical principles:-- - - Such to a nicety was Rome. It was called the holy city, that is, - the city more than any other consecrated to God and forming the - expression of the kingdom of God upon earth. And the effect of - this Christian order was seen in the very virtues of the civil - population. The Roman people was not second to any other in piety - towards God, and in propriety of conduct; and not only so, but it - seemed the most dignified, the gravest, and the furthest removed - from vulgarity and tumult. - -The prelate on the other hand says--and we begin at the Vatican (p. -87):-- - - Thus came it to pass that at the Court of Rome, that is, the - house of the lieutenant of Him of whom it is written, "_The evil - shall not dwell with Thee, neither shall the unjust remain within - Thy sight_," turned into a sink of scandal and a sewer of every - foul iniquity (p. 87).... It was always to me a mystery how the - Roman clergy, rich in gold and lands till most of the Agro Latino - is in their hands, with their splendid temples and sumptuous - ceremonies, with their retainers diffused among all classes, - with control of the charities, the pulpit, the confessional, the - confraternities--how it is that with all these elements of power - in their hands I hear from one end of Rome to the other the cry, - Death to the priests! (p. 87).... The particulars hitherto related - disclose [in the Court] an iniquity only too deeply rooted, and - even turned into blood and nature; they disclose sores both - inveterate and envenomed, hard to cure and hard to eradicate. It - was this that made Clement VIII say to Bellarmine, "I have not - strength to contend with such a flood of bad habits; pray to God to - release me soon, and to shelter me in His glory." Also the brave - Marcellus II was accustomed to repeat a sentence of Onofrio, which - I do not wish to copy (133). - -As to the people, we shall give but one word. Liverani, remarking on -objections raised against modern Italian rule by the "good Press," -because certain houses existed in the cities, says:-- - - It reminds me of a pleasantry of the old rector of the parish of - St. Angelo in _Pescheria_, who one day said to me that when he - took charge of the parish he found one house bad and one not so, - turn and turn about; but he soon found that they were all alike. - This editor is ingenuous and innocent as if he wrote in a land of - angels, instead of in the place where not long ago a prelate-judge - abused his office to the point of using violence with arms in his - hands against the sister and daughter of the convicts, so that he - was prosecuted before the Vicar and before the Holy Office, and - removed from the bench; but after a few years, the good nature - of the prince being overcome by powerful intercession, he was - reinstated in another judicial office. - -We shall not go further into this subject than to add that one of the -bitter reproaches cast upon the Italian senate by the _Unitá_ was that -when the most noted and most respected living man in Italian literature -and politics, Mamiani, said, speaking on the conscription, that at all -events the morals of the barrack-room were better than the morals of -the convent, the senate received the statement with loud applause. - -However correct or incorrect may be the views of the several witnesses -from whom we have heard a word, there can be no hesitation in -pronouncing that any attempt to show evidence of divine superiority -utterly fails--so utterly as to be more than ridiculous. But if there -is not divine superiority, there must have been false pretensions. The -one or the other is inevitable. If the States of the Church have not -for the last thousand years been ruled by the representative of God, -they have been ruled by one who was himself deceived and a deceiver of -others. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 68: "I have no need to declare myself ready to repel and -reject that which the Pope cannot do. He cannot do an act contrary to -the Divine law."--_Cardinal Manning_, _Vat. Dec._, p. 41.] - -[Footnote 69: _Ultramontanism et la Société Moderne._] - -[Footnote 70: Vol. i. p. 14.] - -[Footnote 71: The principle here alluded to is elucidated in an -instructive manner in _Nazareth and its Lessons_, by the Rev. G.S. -Drew.] - -[Footnote 72: VIII, i. 132.] - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -Solemn Confirmation of the Syllabus by the Pope before the assembled -Hierarchy, and their Acquiescence, June 17, 1867. - - -The twenty-first anniversary of the accession of Pius IX occurred -shortly before the day for which the great assembly of 1867 was -convened. As the Court historian omits all mention of the Syllabus -when first issued, so does he also omit to say a word of its definite -confirmation by the Pontiff on June 17, 1867, and of its formal -acceptance by the episcopate. We are indebted for the details in this -case to an author who published before the events of 1870. Important -as the transaction was, we cannot find that at the time any of the -ordinary organs of the Vatican notified it to the world. Many of the -learned disputants in the controversies which were soon to arise took -ground which showed that they were unaware of this decisive event. - -It was Archbishop Manning who related how Mass was celebrated in the -Sistine Chapel, and how the Pope retired, at its close, to robe in -the Pauline Chapel. Here the Cardinal Vicar, Patrizi, followed by the -whole of the Sacred College and the bishops, presented an address of -congratulation, concluding with hopes for many years of additional -life to Pius IX, that he might behold the peace of the Church, and her -triumph. - -As recorded by the Archbishop, the terms employed by his Holiness in -reply were of historical importance.[73] It will be remarked that the -watchwords, deprecated by the Pope, are not those of heretics, but of -statesmen--Unity and Progress; and no Italian or German could doubt -what were the unity and progress decried-- - - I accept your good wishes from my heart, but I remit their - verification to the hands of God. We are in a moment of great - crisis. If we look only to the aspect of human events, there is no - hope; but we have a higher confidence. Men are intoxicated with - dreams of unity and progress, but neither is possible without - justice. Unity and progress based on pride and egotism are - illusions. God has laid on me the duty to declare the truths on - which Christian society is based, and to condemn the errors which - undermine its foundations; and I have not been silent. In the - Encyclical of 1864, and in what is called the Syllabus, I declared - to the world the dangers which threaten society, and I condemned - the falsehoods which assail its life. That act I now confirm in - your presence, and I lay it again before you as the rule of your - teaching. To you, venerable brethren, as bishops of the Church, I - now appeal to assist me in this conflict with error. On you I rely - for support. When the people of Israel wandered in the wilderness, - they had a pillar of fire to guide them in the night, and a cloud - to shield them from the heat by day. You are the pillar and the - cloud to the people of God. - -Here the bishops learned, with the full weight of pontifical authority, -that the Syllabus was "the rule of their teaching." Some explained the -Syllabus as affecting discipline, and therefore liable to alteration. -The _Civiltá_ and the _Slimmen_ had always asserted that it was purely -doctrinal, and therefore above all change. In pronouncing it the "rule -of teaching" the Pope settled that vital point. Some, again, had been -tempted to think that the Syllabus might be laid up, like an ancestral -weapon; they were undeceived, and given to know that it must be tested -in war. Such were placed in the dilemma of having to offer resistance -to the sovereign thus surrounded, or of having to observe a silence -which must ever after carry the effect of consent. Even if they did -not feel with the Pope, that the foundations of universal society were -crumbling in unprecedented decay, they did keenly feel with him that -the foundations of his own temporal power were crumbling. Every doubter -held his peace, and the Pope's act became virtually what, as we shall -see, in a few days it became formally,--the act of the whole episcopate. - -The Pope is not fortunate in quoting Scripture, often showing that he -takes glosses for the text. He imagines that the "cloud by day" was not -a pillar before the host, but an extended field of clouds overshadowing -the wide-spread multitudes and not merely the tabernacle. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 73: _Centenary of St. Peter_, p. 6.] - - - - -_BOOK II_ - -_FROM THE FIRST PUBLIC INTIMATION OF A COUNCIL TO THE EVE OF THE -OPENING_ - -(_June 1867 to December 1869_) - - - - -CHAPTER I - -First Public Intimation of the intention to hold a Council, June 26 to -July 1, 1867--Consistory--Acquiescence in the Syllabus of the assembled -Bishops--The Canonized Inquisitor--Questions and Returns preparatory -to Greater Centralization--Manning on the Ceremonies--O'Connell on the -Papist Doctrines--The Doctrine of Direct and Indirect Power. - - -June 26, 1867, was the day of the Secret Consistory, to which not -less than five hundred bishops from all regions of the earth lent -their splendours. The Pope in his allocution deplored the evils which -had overtaken the Church, and, as he supposed, in equal measure had -overtaken all society. And now, at length, did he reveal his intention -of convoking such an assembly as had not been witnessed for three -hundred years. He had firm hope that from a General Council the light -of catholic truth would shine forth and scatter the darkness which -enveloped the minds of men; and that the Church, like the battle-array -of an unconquered host, discomfiting her enemies, rolling back their -onset, and triumphing over them, would spread abroad over the earth the -dominion of Christ. - -Though journalists and bishops at the time bravely reproduced this -martial figure, the Jesuit historian Sambin (p. 13), writing after the -battles of 1870, makes the Pope say that the Church would gain her -fairest triumphs by converting her enemies. - -The very name of an OEcumenical Council, uttered in the tones of -Pius IX, instinct with personal and official hope, caused among the -assembled prelates a movement of effusive joy. They felt that such a -council would prove a "marvellous source of unity, sanctification, -and peace." On July 1, assembling in the great hall over the portico -of St. Peter's, with all possible accessories of form, they presented -to his Holiness what they called a Salutation. This had been drawn -up by Archbishop Haynald of Colocza, assisted by Bishop Dupanloup, -Archbishop Manning, and others. It had been proposed to proclaim Papal -infallibility in the document itself; but this set the French prelates -up in arms.[74] Though stopping short of that goal, the bishops go far -in their approaches to it. - -"May the unmeasured benefits assured to society by the Roman -Pontificate," say the bishops, "be, by this deed of Thy providence, -once more displayed to the world, and may the world be convinced of -the powers of the Church, and of her mission as the _mother of civil -humanity_!" They were persuaded that a Council would have the effect -of showing that everything tending to consolidate the foundation of a -community, and to give it permanence, is fortified and consecrated by -the example of authority, and of the obedience due thereto, presented -in the divine institution of the Pontificate. Princes and peoples -would not, "in the face of such a display, allow the highest sanction -of all authority, the august rights of the Pope, to be trampled upon -with impunity, but would see him secured in the enjoyment both of the -liberty of power and the power of liberty."[75] - -The words in which the bishops confirm their testimony of 1862, to -the "necessity," of the temporal power are few and firm. They then -proceed to cover the space between that time and the present. "With -grateful feelings do we recall, and with fullest assent do we commend, -the things done by Thee subsequent to that time, for the salvation of -the faithful and the glory of the Church." This is a waymark showing -that the old doctrine still ruled the practice of the Court, though -long banished from its theory. The acquiescence of the bishops was -practically necessary to give the ultimate sanction to the acts of the -Pope. - -Then comes the solemn adhesion of the assembled hierarchy to the -condemnations collected together in the Syllabus--"Believing Peter to -have spoken by the lips of Pius the things which have been spoken, -confirmed, and pronounced by Thee, for the safe keeping of the deposit, -we also declare, confirm, and announce; and we reject with one heart -and voice those things which Thou hast adjudged to be reprobated and -rejected, as being contrary to divine faith, the salvation of souls, or -the good of human society."[76] - -So it was done. The Pope had called for the express submission of -the episcopate to his own acts, hitherto variously understood and -discussed, and they had given it in round terms. Dr. Manning, in -characterizing their document as "The Address or Response, in which -they united themselves in heart and mind to their supreme Head,"[77] -might well speak of "the gravity and moral grandeur of that act," for -with him vastness always seems to prove grandeur, and an act of vast -moral consequence this surely was. We shall hereafter see the fact -tardily come to light that absent prelates were called upon to give in -their adhesion by letter, and did so. - -On either the Papal or the Episcopal theory, the Syllabus had now the -status of Church law, and had become to all the clergy "the rule of -your teaching." On the Papal theory, because it was the formal act of -the Pontiff for the teaching and ruling of the whole Church; and on the -Episcopal theory, because the collective hierarchy had not only tacitly -acquiesced but openly accepted it. - -Yet it is worthy of special remark that the Syllabus is not mentioned -in this Salutation. More than two years later, however, the _Civiltá_ -said, "There is no doubt that the prelates had the Encyclical and -Syllabus in view, since in these two documents are contained all the -things which the Pope has _spoken_, _confirmed_, _announced_, and -_reproved_ in matters of doctrine."[78] And even as early as one year -from the time, we shall find that the double authority of the Bishop of -Rome, and of all other bishops, was declared to be outraged by Darboy -when he practically disowned the Syllabus. - -The next point touched by the prelates was one lying near to the heart -of the Pope. They had been moved with joy on beholding the loyal faith, -love, and reverence of the Roman people for their most indulgent -prince. "Happy people and truly wise"--_Felicem populum ac vere -sapientem_.[79] So, whoever had doubted as to the Model State, it was -not the five hundred. Were they sincerely ready to make the people of -their respective nations "truly wise" by bringing them to look on that -government as the model? - -The bishops evidently knew that they were initiating a movement which -would test the combative qualities of both Pope and prelates. Every -discerning man among them must have felt what Archbishop Manning -expressed, "This event may be taken, I believe, to be the opening of a -new period, and to contain a future which may reach over centuries."[80] - -Under anticipations so serious do these old men, addressing a very old -one, thus conclude-- - - Courage, most Blessed Father! Guide the bark of the Church with a - firm hand, as has been Thy wont, certain of gaining the port. The - Mother of divine grace, whom Thou hast saluted with fairest titles - of honour, will defend Thy course, by the aid of her intercession; - she will be to Thee the star of the sea.... Thou wilt have the - celestial choirs of the saints favouring Thee; those whose glory - Thou hast, with diligence and apostolic toil, sought out, and also - hast proclaimed to the exulting world, both aforetime and in these - recent days. May the princes of the Apostles Peter and Paul stand - by Thee!... At the helm now held by Thee once stood Peter. He will - intercede with the Lord that the bark which, by the aid of his - prayers, has for eighteen centuries traversed the deep sea of human - life, may under Thy command enter the celestial haven, all sail - set, and laden with richest spoil of souls immortal.[81] - -It is to be remarked that in this passage Peter is not honoured, like -his successor, with capitals to all his pronouns. Again, he and Paul -are coupled together as if they might have been somewhat on a level. -Perhaps in both points the bishops made an unconscious concession -to history, but in the state of things now initiated, such jots and -tittles were to become symptomatic. - -One allusion in the Address, which would pass with a smile in England, -had great significance for the mind of Pius IX. It is that made to his -claim to peculiar aid from the Blessed Virgin, because of the higher -exaltation which he had procured for her, and also to his claim upon -new saints whose titles he had made out. In the case of the Japanese -saints, we have already seen how practical were his views. He was -fighting for the territory of his predecessors, and, finding that he -had not hosts enough on earth, he reversed the ordinary process of -binding on earth and leaving it to be ratified in heaven, and now bound -in heaven, by creating "new patrons in the presence of God," leaving it -to be ratified on earth by a corresponding increase of forces. - -The vision of these new heavenly auxiliaries dazzled the imagination. -Even the professor of history in the university speaks of the awful -moment when the Pope raised them to their thrones as "the sublime rite, -during which heaven and earth hung upon the lips of the Pope."[82] The -expressions of confidence in these new-made powers, as champions in the -thickening struggle for that patrimony which, though costing so much -blood, forgery, and intrigue, so much dependency on foreign arms, so -much slaughter of Italians, had been retained through evil report and -good report, irresistibly remind one of Licinius when menaced by the -advance of Constantine, under the auspices of one God only. Licinius -feels the advantage he has in the numbers of gods on whom he can rely. - - "This present day," he, as reported by Eusebius, says, "will either - declare us conquerors, and so most justly demonstrate our gods to - be the saviours and true assistants, or else, if this one God of - Constantine's, who comes from I know not whence, shall get the - better of our gods, which are many, and at present do exceed in - number, nobody in future will be in doubt which God he ought to - worship, but will betake himself to the more powerful God, and - attribute to Him the rewards of victory. And if this strange God, - who is now a _ridicule_ to us, shall appear to be the victor, it - will behove us also to acknowledge and adore Him, and to bid a - long farewell to those to whom we light tapers in vain. But if our - gods shall get the better--which no person can entertain a doubt - of--after the victory obtained in this place we will proceed to - bring a war upon those impious contemners of the gods."[83] - -Even if this does not describe what Licinius really said, it does -represent the view of the early Christian, as to the heathen mode of -thought, putting confidence in a multiplicity of celestial patrons, in -the lighting of tapers and such like. - -The name of Arbues, the Spanish Inquisitor, has been mentioned as being -second on the list of those now to be canonized. Professor Sepp, of -Munich, long known as a Catholic theologian and Oriental traveller, -says in his _Deutschland und der Vatican_ (p. 52)-- - - Nothing was more calculated to degrade the Church, and render her - unpopular, or to bring a flush of shame to the cheek of every - Catholic, than this revival of the most disagreeable recollections - of history. Had Arbues contended against the burning of heretics, - we should have welcomed him, in the name of God, as a saint. - But history gives us no information about the man except that - he discharged the odious office of a Torquemada, and that the - long-persecuted Jews brought him to an untimely end. The most - that can be said for him is that he died for the idea of the - Inquisition; and for that he is to be set up on our altars. - -Many another Liberal Catholic blushed with Sepp. Baron Weichs, in -Vienna, cried, "A single example will show you the difference between -the spirit which reigns here and that which reigns on the banks of -the Tiber. While here we speak of abolishing the penalty of death, -there they canonize an Inquisitor, covered over with the blood of the -victims whom he had immolated because they worshipped God in their own -way." The _Civiltá_ exclaims, "And men of this sort are to be reputed -Catholics, and to make laws for Catholics. _O tempora! O mores!_"[84] - -The Cardinals of the Holy Office had drawn up a list of questions on -points of Church discipline, which was delivered to the bishops while -in Rome, and afterwards sent to many, probably to all, of those who -were absent. Lord Acton points out that these questions do not touch -the depths of existing wants.[85] And Michelis seems to look upon them -as a blind, to cover the real point at which the Council was to aim. -They are, however, clearly framed to elicit facts bearing on uniformity -of discipline, and especially on points of administration in mixed -questions--that is, questions wherein both civil and ecclesiastical -authority are concerned; for instance, schools, mixed marriages, civil -marriages, domestic relations, and the like. The returns which the -answers would supply would be of great value in the study of plans for -reconstruction, and would seem to be of more practical importance than -Lord Acton imagines, for the purpose of governing a mobilized clergy -through bishops turned into prefects, by orders from one bureau, and -of impressing through them a uniform movement on both institutions and -families, in matters affecting national law. - -The five hundred bishops soon dispersed to the four corners of the -earth, carrying into their respective spheres enthusiastic descriptions -of the beautiful, the grand, the splendid, the superb, the glorious, -the unutterably majestic ceremonies which they had just witnessed, and -no less enthusiastic hope of "the greatest event of the age," when the -princes of the Church should assemble around her head to overawe her -enemies and build her up anew. We do not use the epithet "divine," but -it is perhaps right to say that the _Civiltá_ described the appearing -of the Pope "upon the portative throne, in all the majesty of his -divine rank ... the Pope-king, the supreme representative of the -two-fold authority which rules the nations in the name of God."[86] It -of course celebrates the "standards which represented the glory of the -Princes of the Apostles," and does not forget the "twenty thousand wax -candles."[87] - -Archbishop Manning reminded his clergy that in the solemn adherence -of the bishops to those acts of the Pontiff, they did not confirm -those acts as if needing confirmation, or accept them as if needing -acceptance, or imply that they had been "of imperfect and only -inchoate authority until their acceptance should confirm them." ... -"They did not add certainty to what was already infallible."[88] The -infallibility, he contended, belonged to all the approbations and -condemnations alike--not, as some "blindly say," by virtue derived -from canons, councils, or ecclesiastical institutions, "but from the -direct grant of our Lord Jesus Christ, before as yet a canon was made -or a council assembled." This is a somewhat crude statement of the -doctrine which all the Irish and French Catholics we ever knew in our -younger days resented, when ascribed to themselves by Protestants. They -called it the doctrine of the "Papists," and contended that Protestants -wronged all such Roman Catholics as were not Papists, by calling them -so, indiscriminately. What we call "temporal authority," what the -Jesuits have taught Rome to call "spiritual authority over temporal -affairs," was one point, and the infallibility of the Pope was a second -point, on which the Papist was at issue with the Liberal Catholic. In -this sense Montalembert and O'Connell were not Papists. The latter -says-- - - I am sincerely a Catholic, but I am not a Papist. I deny the - doctrine that the Pope has any temporal authority directly or - indirectly in Ireland. We have all denied that authority on oath, - and we would die to resist it. He cannot, therefore, be any - party to the Act of Parliament we solicit, nor shall any Act of - Parliament regulate our faith and conscience. In spiritual matters - too the authority of the Pope is limited: he cannot, although - his conclave of Cardinals were to join him, vary our religion - either in doctrine or essential discipline in any respect. Even in - non-essential discipline the Pope cannot vary it without the assent - of the Irish Catholic bishops. Why, to this hour the discipline of - the General Council of Trent is not received in this diocese.[89] - -The utterances of Archbishop Manning, though sweet to the ears of those -who had the dispensing of the purple in Rome, were, nevertheless, hard -on those who, as children, had learned that such doctrine was no part -of their creed. In his day Alban Butler had proudly said, "But Mr. -Bower never found the infallibility of the Pope in our creed, and knows -very well that no such article is proposed [propounded] by the Church, -or required of any one."[90] - -Dr. Manning went on to declare that he had received the Syllabus at -the first "as a part of the supreme and infallible teaching of the -Church."[91] In this he proved how far he went before most prelates of -experience on this side of the Alps and Pyrenees, although he coolly -credits them, every one, with having done likewise.[92] - -Just as the episcopate had been committed in 1862 to the temporal -power, so was it committed in 1867 to the Syllabus. Whether a bishop -believed that his assent had any constitutional effect or not was -now a matter of comparative indifference, for his future action was -bound; and the Syllabus was to prescribe the decrees and direct the -deliberations of the future Council--in fact, to be its basis and its -guide. - -The language of Manning was treated by many Catholics as the menaces -of a zealot; but the zealot knew that he spoke for the Pope and the -Jesuits. During the conflict now on the point of breaking out, many -honest men fought against the supposed design that the Syllabus -should receive "doctrinal authority" from the Council, while in the -mind of those in whose hands lay their future faith, the Council was -under the doctrinal authority of the Syllabus. The Council might -contribute to administration by turning the propositions into canons or -constitutions, but could not add to their authority. - -The anticipation of Archbishop Manning as to the political effect of -the doctrinal change then impending was clearly recorded, and in terms -never to be forgotten-- - - "Civil governments, so long as their Catholic subjects can be - dealt with in detail, are strong and often oppressive. When they - have to deal with the Church throughout the world, the minority - becomes a majority, and subjects, in all matters spiritual, become - free. We are approaching a time when civil governments must deal - with the Church as a whole, and with its head as supreme; and a - General Council which makes itself felt in every civilized nation - will powerfully awaken civil rulers to the consciousness that - the Church is not a school of opinion, nor a mere religion, but - a spiritual kingdom, having its own legislature, tribunals, and - executive."[93] - -Some seven years after sounding this note, preparatory to a powerful -awakening of civil rulers, the Archbishop, having seen some beginning -of the results of that policy to which he was helping to hurry on his -Church, could say, "I must add that they who are rekindling the old -fires of religious discord in such an equal and tempered commonwealth -as ours, seem to me to be serving neither God nor their country."[94] - -The language of O'Connell, as above quoted, was not employed loosely. -He spoke as a Catholic, and as a lawyer; but, above all, as a -politician. Had his declaration with regard to the spiritual power been -less explicit, that upon the temporal power might, though not without -violence, have been open to an Ultramontane interpretation. It might -have been said that he only meant that the Pope had no authority in -Ireland, which either directly or indirectly sprang from a temporal -origin; for, in the language of the Ultramontanes, temporal authority -does not mean authority over temporal affairs, but authority of -temporal origin. His statement on the spiritual authority however, -precludes any such interpretation. Even the spiritual authority -he declares to be limited, both in doctrine and in discipline: it -cannot "vary" doctrine, and cannot even vary the essential points of -discipline, without the consent of the Irish bishops. If spoken to-day, -this reserve in favour of the bishops would involve nationalism; and -O'Connell's denial of the Pope's infallibility, without the consent of -the bishops, would be heresy. Archbishop Manning, with a great many -others, sought to prove, before the Council sat, that the latter -position was proximate to heresy. So O'Connell and Montalembert must -always lie under the brand of having lived and died as proximate -heretics. The elect champion of the Pope's faith to-day may, if he -refuses to change, be the butt of his anathema to-morrow. - - -NOTE - -DR. NEWMAN ON THE SYLLABUS - -It was eight years after the Syllabus had been formally confirmed -by the Pope, and after its ratification by the collective hierarchy -had been officially communicated to the Papal clergy in England by -Archbishop Manning, that Dr. Newman treated of it in his letter to the -Duke of Norfolk, in reply to the "Expostulation" of Mr. Gladstone. The -assertions in that reply are among the most unaccountable known to the -history of our literature. Still, such as they are, they have been made -in a pamphlet bearing the name of an English duke on its title-page, -and that of an English gentleman at its end. Moreover, they were -received by our Press--and the fact is known throughout Europe--with -perfect gravity. - -Dr. Newman (p. 78) asks and answers an important question as follows-- - -"Who gathered the propositions out of these Papal documents, and -put them together in one? We do not know." After no more than three -sentences he adds: "The Pope has had the errors, which at one time -or other he therein condemned, brought together into one, and that -for the use of the bishops." On the next page he asks: "Who is its -author? Some select theologian or high official, doubtless; can it be -Cardinal Antonelli himself? No, surely; anyhow, it is not the Pope." -First he tells us that we do not know who put it together, then that -the Pope has done it, or has had it done. Again, in the same manner, -he first tells us that it is not Cardinal Antonelli's, and then more -than once calls it Cardinal Antonelli's (p. 91), as if his authorship -of the document was an established point on which arguments might be -grounded. Dr. Newman in this manner procures for himself a double set -of premises, which he employs throughout, with frequent shifting. His -argument now assumes the affirmative, namely, that the Syllabus is the -work of the Pope; and now it assumes the negative, that the Syllabus is -not the work of the Pope; and this is what the English Press with, so -far as we know, unanimity agrees to call logical. - -"But," asserts Dr. Newman, "the Syllabus makes no claim to be -acknowledged as the word of the Pope" (p. 80). The very heading of -the Syllabus sets up the claim to be accounted the word of the Pope; -ay, and his word in official, public, and teaching acts. The heading -is, "The Syllabus of the Principal Errors of our Time set forth in -Consistorial Allocutions, Encyclicals, and other Letters Apostolic, by -our most holy lord, Pope Pius IX." This claim is not incidental, but -formal and capital, incapable of being either overlooked or put aside. -No man's judgments are here introduced but those of Pope Pius IX, and -of his judgments not one here recited is less official than are Letters -Apostolic. - -"The Syllabus, then," further asserts Dr. Newman, "has no dogmatic -force. It addresses us not in its separate portions, but as a whole" -(p. 81). The affirmative is true, the Syllabus addresses us as a whole. -The negative is not true, namely, that the Syllabus does not address us -in its separate portions. - -Does Dr. Newman mean that there is a single one of the eighty -propositions which does not bear the Papal brand, "error"? It is very -wide of the mark--no man in England better knows _how_ wide of it--to -talk about different brands, some more and some less damnatory, such as -"heretical," "false," "impious," or the like. - -"There is not a single word in the Encyclical to show that the Pope -in it is alluding to the Syllabus" (p. 82). This is said to refute -an allegation of Mr. Gladstone, which Dr. Newman calls "marvellously -unfair." That allegation is, that the Encyclical virtually, _though not -expressly_, includes the whole of the errors condemned. It will be seen -by any one who refers to our own remarks upon the Encyclical (pp. 5-7), -that had Mr. Gladstone read it as we do, he would not have written -what he did. He would have written instead of it something to this -effect, that the Encyclical includes the whole of these condemnations, -not by reciting them, but by clearly expressed reference. What he did -say, instead of being unfair, comes short of what is required by the -evidence contained in the documents. The reference in the one to the -other is formal. "In pursuance of our apostolic ministry, and walking -in the illustrious footsteps of our predecessor, we have lifted up our -voice, and in several published Encyclical Consistorial Allocutions, -and other Letters Apostolic, we have condemned the errors of our sad -times." This language proves that Mr. Gladstone in saying that the -whole of the Pope's condemnations were virtually though not expressly -included in the Encyclical, was within the limits of the evidence. They -are expressly referred to, and those additional ones contained in the -Encyclical itself are linked on to the previous ones as a complement, -making them a whole. In itself the point is of no consequence whatever, -but Dr. Newman has chosen to make it important, and for _his_ theory it -may have some importance. - -"All we know," says Dr. Newman, "is that by the Pope's command this -collection of errors is sent by his Foreign Minister to the bishops" -(p. 78). That is not all we know. We also know that the Foreign -Minister did not, by the Pope's command, send it as the work of -Cardinal Antonelli. We know that he did send it as the work of Pope -Pius IX. We know that he recited in one and the same note, once for -all, the language common to the two documents. 1. As regards what is -condemned--"the principal errors of our times." 2. As to who it was -that condemned them--the Pope. 3. As to the official acts in which he -did condemn them, namely, Allocutions, and so on. - -The next assertion we have to note is made in a strong interrogative -form. "How can a list of errors be a series of pontifical -declarations?" (p. 84). We reply, how can it be otherwise? What does -an error mean in the language of such a document? It means errors -declared to be such by the Pontiff; a list of such "errors," therefore, -is simply a list of pontifical declarations. Dr. Newman knows as well -as he knows his own name, that every clause of the Syllabus is a -pontifical declaration that the words there written express an error. - -Alluding to the forty-second of the condemned propositions, namely, -that in the conflict of laws, civil and ecclesiastical, the civil law -should prevail, Dr. Newman says this is a universal, and the Pope does -but deny a universal. A universal may be denied in two ways. First by -its contradictory, which may amount only to saying in popular language -that the rule is not without exceptions. But there is another way of -denying a universal, namely, by its contrary; that is, asserting that -the rule is just the contrary of what some one has stated. - -Now if Dr. Newman believes that when the Pope denies that, in case of -conflict, the civil law should prevail, the Pope means no more than -that there are exceptions to that rule, he believes what is in flat -contradiction to the whole tenor of the Pope's language, and that of -his organs year by year--language cast in forms as forcible as the -case admits of. If he does not mean that, his repeated statement about -denying universals is, in a technical sense, incorrect, and, in a -popular sense, misleading. - -Dr. Newman's treatment of the Sentence (24) which condemns those -who say that the Church has not the right to employ force, is very -instructive. First, he says (p. 89), "Employing force is not the Pope's -phrase, but Professor Nuytz's." And what then? Is this phrase, "It is -an error to say the Church has not a right to employ force" Professor -Nuytz's or the Pope's? Next Dr. Newman says that what the Pope means -is, "It is an error to say with Professor Nuytz that what he calls -employing force is not allowable to the Church." And what then? What -does Professor Nuytz call force but force? Schrader translates it -"outward force." Dr. Newman does not venture so far as to translate it -"spiritual coercion." The whole sentence is about temporal power and -the use of force--_Vis inferendae--potestatem temporalem_; it never -glances at spiritual censures in the popular sense. - -At the next step, Dr. Newman professes to "set down what the received -doctrine of the Church is on ecclesiastical punishments" (p. 89). -Does he do so, or make any straightforward attempt to do it? Not by -any means. "Ecclesiastical punishments" is a term of wide extension, -embracing great varieties of penalty, from the deposition of an Emperor -to the paltry penance of a nun. In all this range of inflictions, the -single point touched by Dr. Newman is that of corporal punishment. The -selection of this one point proves that he was perfectly aware that -both Nuytz and the Pope meant force when they said force; and this fact -reduces the talk about Nuytz's sense of that term to what it is. - -But having selected corporal punishment as the whole of ecclesiastical -punishment, how does Dr. Newman set down the received doctrine -regarding it? By quoting a passage which, under the appearance of -surrendering something, really claims something additional, according -to a common usage with Papal writers (p. 89). Cardinal Soglia, as -quoted by Dr. Newman, makes a merit of giving up on behalf of the -Church "the corporal sword by which the body is destroyed, or blood is -shed." This, however, the Church _formerly_ never claimed to hold _in -her hand_, but _only in her power_ and _at her beck_, in the hand of -the temporal ruler. But, in giving up the corporal sword, Soglia is -not contented to claim for the Church in her own hand what the bull -_Unam Sanctam_ claims; that is, the spiritual sword. He does of course -claim that, but he further claims that the same hand should have and -hold also the corporal instalments "of lighter punishments," such as -imprisonment, flogging, and beating with sticks--anything "short of -effusion of blood." The last penalty is the stroke of the corporal -sword, and is left to the temporal arm. The Church did not in past time -claim two swords in her own hand, the spiritual one and the corporal. -She only claimed a spiritual sword according to Boniface VIII; and -according to Dr. Newman she claims also a cat, a cudgel, and a rack. - -Neither in what he writes, nor in what he quotes, on this subject does -Dr. Newman allow even an allusion to appear to the question whether the -corporal sword is or is not _in the power_ of the Church. He cannot -be unaware that untrained Englishmen, in reading the statement of his -authority to the effect that the corporal sword is by some writers -withdrawn from the Church, would suppose that they taught that it is -not in her power. Dr. Newman knows that such an impression upon their -minds would be a false one. He knows that Cardinal Soglia does not give -any hint that the corporal sword is a weapon which the Church may not -employ. Dr. Newman himself does not give any such hint. To ordinary -readers, indeed, he seems to resent the assertion that she may employ -it; but even in seeming to resent it he does not venture to affirm -that she may not do so. Much less does he say, in plain English, that -such is the received doctrine. He engages us in chat about flogging -and thrashing, and forgets all about where his Church keeps her -corporal sword--the only one we care about. Not that we like even the -instruments of flogging and thrashing, much less the instruments of -other corporal pains which fall short of the "effusion of blood." - -Dr. Newman, at one time, says that the Syllabus does not address us -in its separate portions; and at another, shows that every one of its -portions refers to an original document, in which that portion is to -be found. These documents, he admits, _are_ authoritative; but the -Syllabus, which culls out the really authoritative parts of them, -is not authoritative. We can hardly credit Dr. Newman with making a -distinction of the following sort: that one is to feel bound by the -Pope's judgments when they lie buried in a clumsy document, and not -feel bound by them when they have been culled out by himself, and put -simply before us. If Dr. Newman feels free to teach in opposition to -any one of the eighty sentences as read from the Syllabus, though bound -to teach according to it when read in the original document, what he -has written on the subject may have some kind of serious meaning for -himself, though incomprehensible to other people. - -One other point we would notice. "When we turn to these documents which -_are_ authoritative," says Dr. Newman, "we find the Syllabus cannot -even be called an echo of the apostolic voice." We certainly do not -profess to find that it is so. It is an echo of a voice very unlike an -apostolic one. But Dr. Newman means the Pope's voice. Of that voice the -words in the Syllabus are not an echo, because they are its own words. -Dr. Newman says that, as uttered in the Syllabus, they are not an exact -reproduction of the words of the Pope; meaning by that, as found in the -original documents. The words in the Syllabus are the exact words of -the Pope used on a second occasion, and sometimes slightly varied from -those he originally did use. - -Dr. Newman has a passage in his own history which is not to be -forgotten, and which ought to have made it difficult for him to stand -on points about a variation of language made by a Pope, objecting that -it impairs the authority of solemn documents. - -There was a moment in the life of Dr. Newman when he still retained -the freedom of a Christian man to teach the Catholic faith, ancient, -strong and true. But he was on the point of parting with it--in the -very act of swearing away that blessed birthright of his soul. He had -already recited the form of sound words called the Nicene Creed, and -had come to the point where the plunge must be made from the rock of -Scripture, on which it builds, into the quicksands of tradition. In the -modern form of oath which, at that dark moment, he was venturing to -take upon his conscience, the first sentences, after parting from the -language of the Catholic Church, the first that are the work of Rome, -shift to another foundation from that laid under the old, scriptural, -abiding verities. The true and noble old words, "the life of the world -to come," built on the living Rock, are immediately succeeded by such -preparation for modern inventions as the following: "I most firmly -admit and embrace the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions, and the -other practices and statutes of the said Church. I do also admit the -Holy Scripture according to that sense which holy Mother Church has -held and does hold, to whom it belongs to judge as to the true sense -and interpretation of the Holy Scripture; nor shall I ever receive or -interpret it except according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers." - -This new thing in a creed was said by the Pope to have been ordained by -the Council of Trent. If Dr. Newman had taken the trouble to see how -far the terms to which he had to swear were an "echo" of those of the -Council, he would have found that there was a discrepancy, considerable -in words, but, in practice, monstrous. The Council decreed that no one -should interpret Holy Scripture against the unanimous consent of the -Fathers. That decree was confirmed by the Pope. It had thus acquired -all the warrant of infallibility, and the most solemn guarantee for -being irreformable that Rome had it in her power to give. This decree -was "of faith." How long did it continue to be "of faith"? Only until -the Pope prepared his Bull, collecting the dogmatic decrees into a -novel creed. Then it was altered. The men who, henceforth, were to be -the priests of Rome found themselves called upon to take oath, not as -the Council willed it and worded it, that they would never interpret -Holy Scripture against the unanimous consent of the Fathers, but that -they would never interpret it except according to the unanimous consent -of the Fathers. This was another will and another wording altogether. -The latter amounts to little less than an oath that they would never -interpret it at all, except on very few points. - -To make the scope of this alteration clearer, let us suppose the case -of Dr. Newman himself, while yet in the enjoyment of that ministry of -the English Church which he afterwards threw away. Had he then been -required not to preach anything contrary to the unanimous opinion -of the bench of bishops, he might have felt tolerably free. But had -he been required never to preach anything except according to the -unanimous opinion of the bench of bishops, he would have felt--Why, I -can hardly preach at all. Yet this vast change is made in a creed while -its articles are passing through the process of being culled from the -original documents, and presented in a collected form. In this form -it was imposed by oath upon the consciences of men for ever. One and -the same Papal hand signed its infallible certainty and irreformable -permanency in one shape, in a little time afterwards altered its tenor, -destroyed its certainty, reformed its scope, and then signed its -infallibility and its irreformable permanency in the new shape. And an -Englishman who swallows this camel in the creed stands between us and -the light, straining out a gnat that he says has got into the Syllabus. - -But what is the real teaching, as to the use of physical force, of -Cardinal Soglia, who is soberly put forward by Dr. Newman before the -English public as justifying him in crying out against Mr. Gladstone -for accusing the Church of claiming the right to use force? Page -216: "The Church, exercising her power in the external tribunal, has -been long accustomed to chastise offenders even with prison, exile, -confinement in monasteries, whipping or flagellation, with fine, and -other similar penalties; which, inasmuch as they affect the body, -are commonly called corporeal." Page 219: "We affirm that in the -inherent authority of the Church, by which she can coerce offenders -with salutary penalties, is certainly contained the right of awarding -such temporal penalties as consist in fine, exile, prison, whipping, -and other things of the same kind." Page 222: "If a case occurs in -which severer punishment appears necessary, the ecclesiastical judge -may not himself resort to it, but he is to hand over the delinquent -to the secular power to be punished according to its will. Besides, -it is evident that the crime of heresy itself was brought under the -cognizance of the ecclesiastical tribunals up to the point when the -heretics, being convicted, and found obstinate, were first punished by -ecclesiastical censures, and afterwards, being subjected by the lay -power to capital penalty, were exterminated." Page 222: "The Church -never pronounced a sentence of blood. Even the Inquisition smote -heretics with the spiritual sword, and prison, but the lay princes -subjected them to the last capital penalty." Page 217: "Perhingius -believes that the Church does possess the right of inflicting capital -punishment, but that she is not accustomed to exercise it, or to -carry it out by ecclesiastical ministers and judges, but through lay -ones, and by means of the temporal power, because the latter is more -becoming, and more appropriate to the claims of the Church." What -follows would, by internal evidence, seem to be added by Vecchiotti, -but no intimation is given to that effect. Page 217: "He [Cardinal -Tarquini] held that there is no kind of penalty with which the Church -may not in her own right punish offenders; and thus temporal goods, -reputation, rights of office and of heritage, and life itself, are -subject to the ecclesiastical power. Otherwise the Church could not -compel disobedient rebels, or avenge herself for their crimes, nor -could she cut off rotten and noxious members from the body." Soglia, or -rather his continuator, speaking of the moderns, Tarquini and "other -doctors," and their doctrine of physical force, says (p. 217), "They -derive it from the character and constitution of the Church herself, -or from the nature of a perfect society and its end. Hence, just as in -a perfect civil society the right of execution _jus necis_ belongs to -the lay power for the good of the commonwealth and of the citizens, -so do they assert that none can deny that by stronger reason the same -right resides in the ecclesiastical power for the spiritual good of the -faithful." - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 74: Acton's _Zur Geschichte_, pp. 13, 14.] - -[Footnote 75: _Acta_ (Freiburg edition), p. 35.] - -[Footnote 76: _Acta_ (Freiburg edition), p. 33.] - -[Footnote 77: _Centenary of St. Peter_, p. 5.] - -[Footnote 78: Serie VII. vol. vii. p. 587.] - -[Footnote 79: _Acta_ (Freiburg edition), p. 34.] - -[Footnote 80: _Centenary of St. Peter_, pp. 12, 13.] - -[Footnote 81: _Acta_ (Freiburg edition), p. 36.] - -[Footnote 82: _Frond_, i, p. 82.] - -[Footnote 83: Eusebius' _Life of Constantine_, lib. ii. c. 5.] - -[Footnote 84: Serie VII. vol. vii. p. 23.] - -[Footnote 85: _Zur Geschichte_, p. 4.] - -[Footnote 86: Serie VI. vol. xi. p. 165.] - -[Footnote 87: Ibid. p. 234.] - -[Footnote 88: _Centenary of St. Peter_, pp. 33, 34.] - -[Footnote 89: _The Select Speeches of O'Connell._ Edited by his son, -1862. P. 447.] - -[Footnote 90: Life prefixed to the _Lives of the Saints_, vol. i. p. -14. Ed. of 1836.] - -[Footnote 91: _Centenary of St. Peter_, p. 38.] - -[Footnote 92: Ibid. p. 34.] - -[Footnote 93: _Centenary of St. Peter_, p. 95.] - -[Footnote 94: _Vaticanism_, p. 155.] - - - - -CHAPTER II - -Six Secret Commissions preparing--Interrupted by Garibaldi--A Code -for the Relations of the Church and Civil Society--Special Sitting -with Pope and Antonelli to decide on the Case of Princes--Tales of the -Crusaders--English Martyrs--Children on the Altar--Autumn of 1867 to -June 1868. - - -While in the provinces the bishops were kindling enthusiasm for the -coming assembly, and for the movement of reconstruction in general, in -Rome six Commissions were at work, under the Directing Congregation, -making secret preparations for the Council. Each of these Commissions -had of course a Cardinal at its head. The first, that for Theology, -was under Cardinal Bilio, a monk, and a native of Piedmont, only -forty years of age, and but lately raised to the purple.[95] Rightly -or wrongly, as Vitelleschi says, he is credited with the principal -share in the preparation of the Syllabus. Others, however, are named -for the same honour. We ourselves heard a member of the original -Congregation for the preparation of the Syllabus assert that it -was Passaglia who first suggested it. Passaglia was a great Jesuit -theologian, who lost position by declaring against the temporal power. -The second Commission, for Ecclesiastico-Political Affairs, was under -Cardinal Reisach, a man of sixty-five, an accomplished Bavarian, but -so denationalized in manner and spirit, that his countrymen sometimes -accused him of affecting to have almost forgotten German. For some -years he left Rome to hold high place in his native country. As -Archbishop of Munich he did much to supplant the old national faith -by the Vatican one, and to unsettle the previously existing relations -of Church and State. Under his eye the popular catechism of Canisius -was changed. The answer, "The Pope by himself is not infallible," had -done good service for centuries; but now it had to make way for a new -one; and eventually the whole book was transformed by the French Jesuit -Deharbe.[96] - -The Commission next in importance was that on Ceremonies. If the -theological one had to formulate the principles on which the world -was to be governed, and the ecclesiastico-political one had to draft -the rules and frame the executive machinery by which those principles -were to be carried out, the Commission on ceremonies had to devise -the scenic effects with which the movement should, to use a frequent -expression of Roman, French, and even of German Catholic writers, be -put upon the stage--the _mise en scène_. - -Oriental Affairs, the Religious Orders, and Ecclesiastical Discipline, -were the subjects committed to the other three Commissions. - -A seventh, of which the official history makes no mention, was, -according to Vitelleschi (p. 26), an object of great public attention. -It was for Biblical matters, and the revision of the Index. Its -President was Cardinal de Luca. But it inclined to a more liberal -procedure in regard to the Index, gave offence, and after a few -meetings, was discontinued. The official organs, as the same author -says, buried it in oblivion, though its labours were of great public -interest. - -The renewed preparations had not proceeded long before they were once -more interrupted by political events. From August to December the -Directing Congregation could hold no meeting. General Dumont had been -sent back to Rome, by Napoleon III, to inspect and harangue those -French soldiers who now formed a principal part of the so-called -Pontifical, or OEcumenical army. The national Italian party was excited -by his presence and his speech. France forced them to feel that foreign -occupation was discontinued only in name. Garibaldi, supported only -by feeble forces, moved upon Rome with the reckless valour which had -succeeded in Sicily. The movements of the Italian Government to -restrain him were altogether inefficacious. The efficiency and zeal -of the little army of "Crusaders" had been utterly underrated by the -Italians. The Dutch, English, Swiss, German, and French youths who -fought for the Crown of martyrdom were a different material from the -soldiers of Ferdinand or from those of the old Papal corps. They faced -great odds, and did right daring deeds. But they were too few. The -ready French were once more called in. On November 3 they secured -for Pius IX another respite by the battle of Mentana; but the Pope's -own historian does not even name the French. For all that is said by -Cecconi, not a foreign mercenary might have been in the Pontiff's pay, -not a foreign regiment might have been sent to his relief. Indeed -the word "foreigner," as applied to any baptized person bearing -arms for the Pontiff, is offensive language--another fruit of this -degenerate age. In opposition to certain "ill-advised" Catholics, who -thought it a pity to have recourse to foreign arms, the _Civiltá_ -cries: "Foreigners?--the word is a great and odious lie! At Solferino -the French were foreigners; at Mentana they were in their father's -house."[97] So does the one belief that the Pope is the appointed lord -of the world change the lights that fall on every national movement. We -only saw the fact that at Solferino the French killed Teuton invaders -of Italy, and that at Mentana they were the invaders who killed -Italians. We shall find French mothers of "martyred" counts calling him -for whom they fell, "our King." - -When the lance of Garibaldi was thus, for the second time, shivered -against the shield of France, who would have said that when next lifted -it would be in her defence, after the armies that had for twenty years -upheld the temporal power had gone into captivity? - -The martial value of the religious motives and principles which -animated the Crusaders, as contrasted with the Garibaldians, became -a favourite theme for sacred pens. The Crusaders showed by their -bearing that they were "conscious of serving the majesty of the God of -battles." They lost no passing opportunity of renewing their strength -at the altar. - - The proud lads, in full equipment of war, bowed the knee before - the altar, offered up their lives to God, and consecrated their - bayonets to St. Peter; or hastily receiving the Sacrament, they - arose with joy and seized their pieces, which had been laid down by - the rails of the sacred table. Happy he who with his eyes beheld - such elevation of thought, such constancy of purpose, such sanctity - of Christian war march triumphantly through the Roman territory.[98] - -On October 8, the correspondent of the _Times_ at Berlin stated that -Napoleon III had bound himself to leave Victor Emmanuel free as to -Rome, provided the latter would help him in case of war with Prussia. -Earlier than this, in the month of September, the Austrian bishops -found themselves menaced with an abolition of the Concordat, and had to -make a formal appeal to the Emperor against such a step. - - "We have at this time of day," said Baron Weichs, "to decide - whether we shall be an independent State, or whether, as in Japan, - we shall have two sovereigns; the one, subordinate, residing at the - Burg in Vienna; the other, the omnipotent Master, having his throne - in Rome, at the Vatican, or, more properly speaking, at the Jesuit - establishment." - -The _Revue des deux Mondes_ had spoken of these words as wise, even as -very wise, and the _Civiltá_ replied, "To us they seem to be nothing -but buffoonery."[99] - -In November, Napoleon III proposed that the European Powers should meet -in a Congress, to decide upon some solution of the Roman question. -After this proposal had failed, his Minister, M. Rouher, pronounced, in -the Assembly, his celebrated "Never!"--the French would never permit -Rome to be occupied by the Italians. This exclamation is often printed -by the "good Press" in the largest capitals. - -A fortnight after the day of Mentana the activity of the Commissions -was resumed, and invitations were sent out to the theologians already -selected in different countries, to come to Rome and enter on their -labours. The Nuncio at Munich had not recommended any one from the -renowned faculty of that city, but had sought his men at Würzburg. -England was represented by Monsignor Weathers, and the United States -by Monsignor Corcoran. On October 2, Cardinal Caterini wrote to -Bishop Ullathorne of Birmingham, instructing him, in the Pope's name, -to invite "the priest John Newman." Three weeks later the bishop -replied, enclosing Dr. Newman's answer, which, however, is not printed. -According to the bishop, Dr. Newman said that a journey to Rome would -be perilous to his life, and though deeply touched with the kindness of -the Holy Father, he believed that the latter would not desire him to -come at the risk of his life, especially as nothing would be advanced -by his presence in an august solemnity of such moment, unskilled as he -was in matters of the sort.[100] - -The language of Dr. Newman, as reported in this correspondence, shows -that he had but faint light on the part which mere divines were to play -in the Council. Probably he was misled by history into supposing that -their part would be public and considerable. His place, had he gone, -would have been upon an unseen commission; his share probably anything -but an important one; and, as likely as not, his opinion might have -been asked only in writing, and upon a question of Oriental affairs, -instead of upon theology, as was that of his famous fellow oratorian -Theiner. Of the very few German scholars invited to Rome who were not -of the Jesuit school, one was Haneberg, who, according to Michelis, was -so little consulted that he was soon back in Munich, to avoid idling -away his time. - -In March the Pope intimated his intention of issuing in June the Bull -of Convocation; and then the purpled had to consider who should be -summoned. The most serious doubt arose as to those useful fictions -called _bishops in partibus_. They have much of what goes to make a -bishop--the orders, robes, title, and consequence, everything but the -office. Their want of this is delicately expressed by Cecconi--they -have no determinate flock; which in lay language means no flock at -all. The number of these Court followers have been so increased that -Sepp illustrates the case by that of a government creating a batch of -peers to carry some measure. - -But such peers do not depend for their living on the men who want their -votes. Even the Cardinals had not the courage to assert that creatures -like these had a _right_ to sit in the Council. They did raise the -question of right, and left it formally unanswered; but their next -question was, Is it expedient to invite them? They boldly affirmed that -it was expedient. - -In May 1868, it was decided that the only proceeding to be observed -with respect to Catholic princes was that of communicating a copy -of the Bull of Convocation to each Court. But should the princes be -invited to attend? This question "was much debated among the purpled -consulters, and was negatived."[101] - -The decision thus taken was logical, for no one is a Catholic prince -"as such" who does not place the law of his land under canon law; -or, in proper language, who does not maintain "harmonious laws," -recognizing politics as lying in the domain of morals, and therefore -as being under the spiritual authority. When the controversy on the -Syllabus began, the _Civiltá_ had enjoyed a triumphant laugh at M. -Langlais, a distinguished French advocate. M. Langlais had argued -that the Encyclical would not have transgressed its proper boundary -had it treated only of faith and morals, but that having touched -the foundations of political institutions, it had transgressed that -boundary. The _Civiltá_ cried-- - - There exist then, according to M. Langlais, foundations of - political institutions outside of the circle of morals! outside, - consequently, of the circle of manners; or maybe, outside of the - circle of human actions.... His argument assumes that the political - order cannot be at the same time moral, or at least founded in the - moral order, and assumes further that it must be separate from it, - else he could not say that the Pope, simply by entering upon the - political order, had gone out of the moral order (VI. i. 652-53). - -It is not said that Antonelli in particular took alarm. But it is -said that fears arose lest the "novelty" resolved upon should prove -perilous; therefore the subject had to be reconsidered in the presence -of the Secretary of State. The danger that might follow the brusque -exclusion of princes was so felt that the former decision was on the -point of being reversed. This shows Antonelli's ascendant. But his -colleagues had a resource. Only six days before the date fixed for -publishing the Bull, a special summons, not from Giannelli, but from -Antonelli himself, called together the Commission at a quarter past -eight o'clock in the evening, to a meeting to be held "in presence of -the Most Holy" (_coram sanctissimo_)--i.e. before the Pope.[102] - -Before the Most Holy! Thus are we placed in presence of the Eleven, -and the kings are on their trial. The Nine are joined by the two men -so dissimilar and so indissoluble, Pius IX and Antonelli, in whom, -as an official biographer puts it, he early discerned "the man of -God," appointed as his succour and stay in his divine office. At the -head of the Eleven sits the portly, good-looking Pope, the beau-ideal -of an important squire in a remote place--full of will, spirit, and -self-confidence, with more art in governing than he has got credit for, -at least in that domineering and deluding which avails with priests. He -would be as hilarious as a squire who never put to death anything more -precious than a pheasant, and never cursed even a gamekeeper with any -intention that his curse should be bound in heaven. - -Pius IX would now feel all the weight of his office. He was sitting -as supreme Judge, to decide upon the claims of the kings of the -earth. Were they worthy or were they not worthy to be received into -the Council which was to lay "the corner-stone of reconstruction," -the Council in which the prerogatives rightfully claimed by his -predecessors of blessed memory, but from which the Church, slow of -heart to believe, had hitherto withheld her former sanction, were at -last to be openly acknowledged in his person? - -No one could doubt what view Pius IX would take. The kings were clearly -guilty. They had consented to the voice of their people against the -voice of the Church. They had abolished harmonious laws. The internal -tribunal was reduced to a voluntary confessional; the external -tribunal, in most places, was removed, and everywhere subordinated. -Even as to the Supreme Tribunal, who hearkened to the words, "Know that -thou art the Father of princes and of kings, and the Governor of the -world?" - -When the call for Trent went forth, the only doubtful crowns were two -lying away between civilization and Cimmerian night in England and -Sweden. Now on every hand the word was, There are no Catholic princes. -That old English crown was now represented by two monsters of power, -the British Empire and the United States. Two other monsters had come -up, Prussia and Russia. Spain was fallen, Poland was extinct, Italy was -hostile, Austria was enfeebled, France was strong but not sound--there -were no Catholic States. The social system was indeed in ruins. It was -only by clearing away that the foundations for reconstruction could be -properly laid; but clearing away was attended with danger. The princes -were not to be invited, but they were to be allowed to claim admission. -The Bull was then and there altered in this sense.[103] - -Meanwhile symptoms of the coming conflict began to appear. Catholics -of all classes looked forward to great events for the Church and the -nations. Those who did not share the hopes of the hidden Council, or -who recoiled from the dogmas likely to be decreed, felt anxious. The -Press began to pour out pamphlets and reprints, enabling all to read up -on the question of Councils. - -"The Crusaders of St. Peter" was the title of historical tales now -regularly appearing in the _Civiltá_, which continued for years. The -object was to make the blood of Mentana the seed of a great oecumenical -army. Every incident was described with vivid conception and boundless -faith in the destiny of the Papacy, with faith too in the duty of all -to rear up sons for the Crusade, and faith that those who fell escaped -purgatorial pains and found direct entrance among the beatified. - -The following are passages scattered here and there-- - - It was a sight to rejoice the angels in heaven, that of these brave - men laying down the carabine to perform the little office of the - Virgin, and then turning from the little office of the Virgin to - take up the carabine.... On the march fatigue was lightened by - reciting the prayer which had so often conquered the foes of the - Church, the rosary.... The masters of war know that on the field - of battle the last army to deserve ridicule is an army fresh from - confession and communion.... A young gentlewoman gave birth to her - first-born. "How long it will be," she said, "ere he can carry a - musket! But Pius IX can do anything. He can make a zouave even now - of my Eugenio." Melted by such faith, the Pope wrote a benediction - on a paper "consecrated to him" by the infant. The venerated word - was placed in the domestic sanctum, and in return for it "the - zouave at the breast will do a soldier's service." Some weeks - later, on receiving from him a first oblation, the Pope again wrote - a word for "his soldier in swaddling clothes." The family were - overjoyed at being permitted within five months to kiss two Papal - autographs. The mother wrote, "Eugenio was asleep. I ran to put the - Papal benediction on his head and forehead. He immediately broke - out in a smile, and to me he looked like an angel. I could not - restrain my tears. He still slept, but bounded for joy as long as I - kept the blessed letters on his little head.... Should the avengers - of Mentana try their hand, the zouave will lisp his first word - crying _Viva Maria_!" - -Arthur Guillemin said to his crusaders as he led them to the attack at -Monte Libretti, fresh from absolution, "You are all in the grace of -God; do not count them, they will fall into our hands." They marched -into battle, some with the rosary round their neck, some with the -Carmelite scapular on their breast, and some with the cord of St. -Francis round the loins, just like that model of a crusader St. Louis. -The young Count de Quélen, who fell heroically at Monte Libretti, had -just received a letter from his mother. "If thou art to die, my good -Urban, die like a hero, like a soldier of God." After his death she -writes to a friend in Rome-- - - "My beloved son is dead--died for his God. Oh what a comfort - is that thought amid this desolation! He fell like the brave, - defending the Church and our venerated Pontiff. Was it not a signal - favour granted to him by that Lord who is so good that He put it - into his heart to shed every drop of his blood for Him, and by this - very means to bring him to paradise, where Urban henceforth--yes, - I dare believe it--enjoys the vision of his God, and is beatified - for all eternity, with beatitude unmixed?" [Thus it was plain that - having fallen in battle he had, as the writer of the story says, - "seized the palm of martyrdom, as he, following St. Louis, called - it," and so had escaped the pains of purgatory.] "If," continues - the mother to her friend, "you go to a reception of our holy and - venerated Pontiff and King, assure him, I pray you, that I am happy - that my son has shed his blood for him." - -When the body arrived at Quimper, two hundred priests and a crowd -uncounted from the surrounding Breton villages came, "rather to -venerate than to pray for the departed." The houses were draped in -black, the black was decked with the French and the Papal flags; on the -coffin lay his sword, twined with laurels and crowned with vermilion. -The bishop pronounced the panegyric "magnifying him as a martyr for -religion." Mrs. Stone, a volunteer sister of charity, went from Rome to -Nerola to visit the wounded prisoners in the hands of the Garibaldians, -and especially Alfred Collingridge. The dying crusader said, "The Lord -has given me the favour I asked--to die for the Holy Father. Oh, yes, -may God accept of my death and my blood for the triumph of Holy Church -and for the conversion of England!" He complained that his rosary had -been taken away, and Mrs. Stone supplied him with her own. Alfred -Collingridge, from Oxford, "was the first of the English who laid down -his life in the Crusade of St. Peter." The writer prays, "May this -first English blood shed on Roman soil rise up before God, and descend -again in a dew of mercy on the land of Britain!" Of Alfred's countrymen -were present, his own brother George, two Watts-Russells, David Shee, -and Oswald Cary, "all soldiers of St. Peter" (VII. v. 155 ff.). The -father hearing from George of the death of Alfred, had only one regret, -that he could not himself step into his vacant place. - -When Arthur Guillemin fell he was unhappily consigned to a grave in -common with Garibaldians; because it "was not then possible to separate -in the grave the friends of God from His enemies." Six months later, -Fathers Wilde and Gerlache, with others, piously sought the body of the -martyr to restore it to his native Aire-sur-la-Lys, by express desire -of Pius IX. Canon Druot had come to Rome to claim it in the name of the -family, the country, and the Church of Guillemin's birth. The seekers -of the relic included an O'Reilly, a Le Dieu, a Bach, a Loonen, and -a Mimmi. "You will find him," said a peasant, "with a Garibaldian at -his feet." The first object recognized was a Carmelite scapular. "It -is like mine," cried an officer; "two both alike were given to him and -me by the Countess Macchi!" Soon was seen the end of the cord of St. -Francis, worn by the deceased in imitation of St. Louis of France. -As the corpse was borne off to Rome, the people pressed around and -cried _Evviva_!--Long life to him! This cry "strange around a bier," -expressed a "profound sense of the marvellous," and threw "a glittering -light upon the idea formed by Christians of those who fall fighting -in the modern crusade." At Rome, in the great Church of St. Louis of -France, the bier was surrounded by ambassadors, prelates, and officers, -including the Minister of War. At home, the "precious deposit" was -received in an illuminated chapel, decorated, not with symbols of -death, but of glory. "The crowd of pilgrims from the whole of northern -France" thronged the town. The bier was adorned with symbols of -victory, the work of Roman artists. The coffin was borne by the youth -of the town, emulous by changes to come under the coveted burden. A -party of pontifical zouaves in uniform attended. From the corners -of the hearse rose trophies of the pontifical flag "garlanded with -triumphal laurel." While yet the corpse lay in the illuminated chapel, -a new-born nephew of Arthur was borne in by the mother, who "piously -laid him upon the coffin, as used the ancient Christians to lay their -little ones on the sepulchres of the martyrs. A thrill of reverence -went through the assembly." During the funeral procession, the eyes -of the multitude "were fixed with devout curiosity on a piece of his -uniform spread out upon the bier, in which was seen the rent made by -the wound" (VII. iv. 415). - -Aire-sur-la-Lys is not very far from our own shores, beyond Calais. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 95: _Cecconi_, p. 62.] - -[Footnote 96: An interesting account of this change is given in -Sepp's stirring speech in the Bavarian Parliament on the Mering case, -_Deutschland und der Vatican_, pp. 182-85.] - -[Footnote 97: VII. iii. 559.] - -[Footnote 98: _Civiltá_, VII. x. 161.] - -[Footnote 99: Serie VII. vol. vii. p. 22.] - -[Footnote 100: _Cecconi_, pp. 370, 371.] - -[Footnote 101: _Cecconi_, p. 122.] - -[Footnote 102: _Cecconi_, p. 382.] - -[Footnote 103: _Cecconi_, pp. 121-24.] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -Bull of Convocation--Doctrine of the Sword--The Crusade of St. -Peter--Incidents--Mission to the Orientals, and Overtures to -Protestants in different Countries--June 1868 to December 1868-69. - - -It was on St. Peter's Day, June 29, 1868, that the Bull of Convocation -was issued. According to the Pope's promise, the Council was to meet on -the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1869. - -The language of the Bull was diplomatically vague as to the objects -of the assembly, but awfully explicit as to the authority by which it -was convened. Not in an _obiter dictum_, but in legislative language -jointed to bear the strain of ages, a claim is set up, as Sepp points -out, to exercise the authority of the whole Trinity, and, indeed, we -may add, whatever further authority Peter and Paul can lend. "Confiding -in and supported by the authority of Almighty God Himself, Father, -Son, and Holy Ghost, and of His blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, -_which we also exercise upon earth_."[104] It ought to be remembered -that M. Veuillot writes down the date of this Bull as the day on which -the middle ages died. The indication of objects, though vague to us, -sufficed for the initiated. _Ce qui se Passe au Concile_ says (p. 9)-- - - The Pope repeatedly intimates that the Church has the right "to - redress the errors which turn _civil_ society upside down, ... - to preserve the nations from bad books and pernicious journals, - and from those teachers of iniquity and error to whom the unhappy - youth are confided whose education is withdrawn from the clergy; - ... to defend justice, ... to assure the progress and solidity - of the human sciences." This somewhat confounds things spiritual - and temporal; but those political allusions drowned in the usual - digressions of Pontifical documents, passed unobserved. - -If they passed unobserved in Roman Catholic countries, where -journalists did know a little of the modes of pontifical speech, how -much more in countries like England and America, where at that time it -was considered unintelligent to speak or write upon the subject from -knowledge, the proper thing being a serene superiority to study, and a -judicious expression of opinions caught in the air. - -To obviate the objection that the assembly would be only a synod of the -Western Church, and not an OEcumenical Council, the Bull was followed -by Letters Apostolic addressed to all prelates of the Oriental Churches -not holding communion with Rome.[105] Until the Vatican Council these -were regarded only as schismatics, not as heretics. Therefore the Pope -invited them to come, and by submitting to the See of Rome to complete -the union. This invitation was dated September 8; and on the 13th of -that month a "paternal letter" went forth, to Protestants and other -non-Catholics. All these, from Anglican Ritualists down to the smallest -sects, were grouped together, not being called to take any part in the -Council, but to seize the occasion of joining the Pope's Church by -renouncing their heresies and submitting to his authority. - -Although the approach of the Council excited little attention in -Protestant countries, it began to be discussed in Roman Catholic ones -with an interest which rapidly warmed to excitement. The tremendous -significance attached by Ultramontane authorities to the Bull, -especially to the non-invitation of princes, and to the coming struggle -with the Modern State, was enough to rouse Catholics who did not -sympathize with the aims indicated. The _Civiltá_ put the alternative -as between the end of the world or its salvation by the Council. -"Either, in the inscrutable designs of God, human society is destined -to perish, and we are close upon the supreme cataclysm of the last day, -or the salvation of the world is to be looked for from the Council and -from nothing else."[106] Language like this is not to be smiled at -when it goes to the heart of perhaps half a million of ecclesiastics, -each one of whom transmits the impression through a wide circle. The -following passage in the same article may be laid to heart. A good part -of it is quoted by _Janus_, with the remark that it needs but a step -further to declare the Pontiff an incarnation of God. - - The Pope is not a power among men to be venerated like another. - But he is a power altogether divine. He is the propounder and - teacher of the law of the Lord in the whole universe; he is the - supreme leader of the nations to guide them in the way of eternal - salvation; he is the common father and universal guardian of - the whole human species in the name of God.... The treasures of - revelation, the treasures of truth, the treasures of righteousness, - the treasures of supernatural graces upon earth, have been - deposited by God in the hands of one man, who is the sole dispenser - and keeper of them. The life-giving work of the divine incarnation, - work of wisdom, of love, of mercy, is ceaselessly continued in - the ceaseless action of one man, thereto ordained by Providence. - This man is the Pope. This is evidently implied in his designation - itself--The Vicar of Christ. For if he holds the place of Christ - upon earth, that means that he continues the work of Christ in the - world, and is in respect of us what Christ would be were He here - below, Himself visibly governing the Church.... It is, then, no - wonder if the Pope, in his language, shows that the care of the - whole world is his, and if, forgetting his own peril, he thinks - only of that of the faithful nations. He sees aberrations of mind, - passions of the heart, overflowing vices; he sees new wants, new - aspirations; and holding out to the nations a helping hand, with - the tranquillity of one securely seated on the throne given him by - God, he says to them, Draw nigh to me, and I will trace out for you - the way of truth and charity which alone can lead to the desired - happiness.[107] - -Such divines as held that the proper work of a General Council was to -heal schisms or combat heresies, remarked on the absence of both. Such -as were unwilling to see the Church straining after temporal power, and -placing herself in antagonism to freedom and light, could ill conceal -their anxiety. But the Jesuits everywhere hailed the dawning of a -wonderful day. - -On Saturday, October 17, 1868, the Abbé Testa, accompanied by three -other priests, went to the palace of the Patriarch of Constantinople, -bearing the Pope's letter to the Oriental bishops. The Vicar-General -received the four Latin priests, and introduced them to his Holiness -the Patriarch, whose hand they kissed. The Patriarch, on his part, -embraced them, and expressed his pleasure at seeing them. The Abbé -Testa then drew a richly adorned little book from his pocket and -offered it to the Patriarch, while one of his brethren told his -Holiness, in Greek, that they had come to invite him to attend the -OEcumenical Council, and begged him to receive the letter of invitation. - -His Holiness motioned to the Abbé Testa to lay the little book down -near him, and said, "Had not the _Giornale di Roma_ published the -letter whereby his Holiness summons us to Rome to a Council, which he -calls oecumenical, and had we not thus learned the object and contents -of the letter, and also the principles of his Holiness, we should have -received a communication from the Patriarch of old Rome with the utmost -pleasure, in hope of finding some change in his mode of thinking. As, -however, this invitation is in the journals, and as his Holiness has -proclaimed views in direct opposition to the principles of the orthodox -Churches of the East, we declare to you, Reverend Fathers, with grief -and at the same time with sincerity, that we cannot receive either such -an invitation or such a letter, which only assert principles opposed -to the spirit of the Gospel and to the declarations of the OEcumenical -Councils and of the Holy Fathers." - -The Patriarch proceeded to refer to the Pope's former advances, and -delicately hinted that when they had objected that he held principles -which were to be regretted, his reply showed that he was so much pained -that it was better not to put him to grief a second time. "In short, we -look for the true settlement of the question to history. Ten centuries -ago there was one Church, confessing the same faith in East and West, -in old Rome and new Rome. Let us go back for that period, and let us -see who has added and taken away. Let us suppress innovations, if -such there are, and then shall we imperceptibly find ourselves at that -point of Catholic orthodoxy from which Rome was pleased gradually to -diverge in the earlier centuries, ever widening the gulf of separation -more and more by new dogmas and definitions which depart from the holy -traditions." - -The Abbé Testa asked what principles his Holiness spoke of. - -"Without entering into minute points," replied the Patriarch, "we -can never admit that wherever the Church of our Saviour extends upon -earth any Chief Bishop exists in the midst of her except our Lord, or -that there is a Patriarch who is infallible whenever he speaks _ex -cathedrâ_, who is exalted above the OEcumenical Councils, to which -alone infallibility attaches, seeing that they always held to holy -scripture and apostolic tradition." - -The Abbé referred to the Council of Florence, and received a full and -courteous answer. The Patriarch at last said, "If you would see that -union realized which we all desire, place yourselves on the ground -of history and of the General Councils; or, if that is too hard upon -you, let us all pray to God for peace to the world and prosperity and -union to the Church. For the moment, we declare, with pain, that this -invitation is fruitless and this circular of no effect." - -The four Latins urged that prayer alone did not suffice; if one was -sick we not only prayed but employed means of cure. "When the sickness -is spiritual," replied the Patriarch, "the Lord alone knows who is the -sick man, how he suffers, what is the root of the malady, and what the -real cure. I say again there is urgent necessity for ceaseless prayer -to the Lord of the whole earth, that He may guide all to conclusions -well pleasing to God." - -The Patriarch then directed the Vicar-General to hand back the little -book, and the four abbés took their leave, accompanied to the stair by -the Vicar-General.[108] - -Speaking of this interview, the _Stimmen aus Maria Laach_ said, -"Neither by his words nor his deeds did the Patriarch manifest polish, -theological science, or ecclesiastical education."[109] - -The invitation was rejected by the Metropolitan of Ephesus, and the -Bishops of Varna and Thessalonica. The Metropolitan of Chalcedon -wrote upon it _Epistrephete_--"Be converted"--and returned it. The -Patriarch of Antioch sent the letter back, and his ten bishops did -the same. So also the orthodox Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem and his -bishops (_Friedberg_, p. 70). The Bishop of Thessalonica assigned four -reasons, the last of which called forth a laboured reply from the -Jesuits of Laach. "The Pope is a king," said the Oriental, "and wields -the sword, which is contrary to the gospel." The reply was that the -existence of the small but heroic army of the Pope was not due so much -to any will of his as to the nature of his office as chief shepherd -of the universal Church. The army and the temporal power, "without -which this office cannot exist," were manifestly necessary. But then -the "schismatical bishop" asks if bearing the sword is not contrary to -the gospel. No; for in the very words of the gospel Christ allowed the -apostles to bear two swords. - -Having reached this practical point in the teaching of Boniface VIII, -the writer goes on to show that Peter was not told to cast his sword -away, but only to put it up into the sheath; which clearly meant that -he was to bear it. If he was reproved for using it, that was because, -though he had asked permission to do so, he had not yet received it; -for, in fact, at that point of time, the supreme power promised to -Peter had not been actually bestowed upon him. But seeing that he was -told to keep the sword, are we to suppose that when he did become -ruler, he and his successors for all time were to keep it hanging -at their sides, as a useless weight? Certainly not; "he beareth not -the sword in vain." The writer would probably have called any one an -infidel who expected a literal fulfilment of the words "all they that -take the sword shall perish with the sword." - -In reviewing the reception given in the East to the Bull, consolation -was drawn from the fact that the Armenian Patriarch in Constantinople -had raised the brief to his forehead. But the Catholikos of the same -Church in the See of Etschmiazin rejected it with decision. The -ill-success of these overtures displeased the "good Press." Pius IX had -been flattered into the belief that he had in great measure "restored" -the ascendancy of the Pontiff over the East. Even Archbishop Manning -had said enough in print to show that he came back from Rome in 1867 -with some such idea, and prelates of more experience had done the same. - -Representations as to the readiness of Protestants to submit, had led -to the letter to Protestants. Bishop Martin of Paderborn had strong -hopes of those in Germany, and set store by some odd letters, said -to be from Protestant clergymen, which, however, seem to be either -spurious, or from men not likely to lead anybody.[110] Archbishop -Manning, after several sentences coloured by a pontifical imagination, -had said, "The Council of Trent fixed the epoch after which -Protestantism never spread. The next General Council will probably date -the period of its dissolution."[111] - -Between the date of the Bull of Convocation and that of the invitation -to the Orientals, the Pope performed two journeys to the Alban Hills, -which were celebrated by Court journalists. At Rocca di Papa, where -Hannibal is said to have pitched his tents, the little army of his -Holiness was, after modern usage, encamped. The Pontiff went on purpose -across the Campagna and up the hills, passed through the ranks of his -defenders, and himself celebrated Mass for their benefit. When his next -birthday was celebrated, the zouaves made a special display in the -Piazza of St. Peter's, of which the _Civiltá_ gives a long but lively -description. The last formation mentioned is to us new in military -evolutions. The zouaves "formed so as to make the letters composing the -august name Pius IX."[112] - -Ever since 1860 the preaching of "taking up the cross," of the glory -of "dying for religion," and of the pure, bright martyrdom of falling -on the field for St. Peter, had been rather heavy work. Now the gleam -of victory at Mentana lighted up the future. Vistas long and luminous -led the eye of the fighting sons of Loyola away to other scenes, -where John VIII as Admiral, or John X as General, or Pius V rejoicing -over Lepanto, with other martial glories of the Papacy, paled before -what the Virgin and St. Michael were about to bring to pass. Loud and -ringing sounded forth to the faithful the call to the crusade of St. -Peter. The youth of the Catholic world were assured that not the fall -of Richmond nor the capture of Sebastopol, not Solferino nor Sadowa, -had moved human society as did the tidings from Mentana. Stories true -and often very touching were mixed with fables and with ecstasies. - -The tales were those of youths from the noblest houses and from the -lowliest cots. The young Duke de Blacas "dedicated his sword to the -tomb of St. Peter, as his forefathers dedicated theirs to the tomb of -Christ." In his death youths are to see the martyr palm for which it -is noble to pant, and mothers are to see a privilege which they might -well seek in prayer. Peter Jong, a poor Dutch lad, only son of his -mother, a widow, who gave him up rejoicing as if God had granted her -great grace, fell, it is said, after having slain fourteen Italians. He -receives this tribute: "For St. Peter he inflicted many just deaths; -for St. Peter he worthily met his own." It is told how the King of -Holland keeps Jong's photograph in his portfolio, and shows it to other -intending crusaders as an encouragement. Another Dutch youth writes: -"Mamma, blessed is he who sheds the last drop of his blood. The martyrs -of all the centuries descend to meet him and to conduct him to heaven." -This, though Protestants may not know it, is spiritual warfare! for -"to defend the Church of Christ is a spiritual object." One proof -constantly alleged that bayonet and ball used for St. Peter are to -re-establish truth and righteousness is, "This is the victory that -overcometh the world, even our faith." - -The young Duke de Blacas, not having been in action, seemed in dying to -think that he should not escape purgatory. Care, however, is taken, -in a studiously written biography of a Goldoni who also died before -battle, to show that in point of martyrdom, as to the old crusaders, no -difference was made by St. Bernard and St. Catherine of Siena between -those who died in battle and those who died in the service. Also, that -no difference had been made between these two classes of the crusaders -of St. Peter by Pius IX. He had comforted a father who regretted that -his son had not fallen in battle, by telling him that he had "the -supreme" consolation, because the son had died in the service of the -Holy See. And he had, in his solemn Allocution, compared both classes -alike to the martyred Maccabees. The father of Goldoni, pictured as a -devout and humane physician, is represented as often putting up the -prayer for his only son, "Oh that God would inspire him to take up the -cross!" Young Goldoni was a diligent reader of the _Unitá Cattolica_ -and the _Civiltá_, from which "sources of religious and of pure -intellectual culture he drew a generous and daring spirit." Though he -died unhappily before battle, his biographer sees him seated among the -celestial martyrs, between the Duke de Blacas and the Count Zileri de -Verme, with whom do rejoice and glory others who died at a distance -from the fight. When Goldoni received his "call" to the crusade, he -started in haste. "It seemed as if the Spirit of God carried him." -The Archbishop of Modena specially blessed "our young crusader." He -then received the Sacrament, and so "heart to heart with Jesus Christ -consecrated his life to Holy Church." Moreover, in parting, "the young -cavalier of Jesus Christ put upon his bosom, as if a breastplate, an -image of Mary." The night before leaving home he, "in the manner of -the old crusaders," knelt at his father's knee and asked his blessing. -While the father "shed upon him the holy water and the prayer," Antonio -burst into weeping. - -Arrived in Rome, Goldoni sought a Jesuit to "govern his soul." The -Jesuit made allusion to the dangers of his new life. "I have made up -my mind to be a martyr for the Holy See," replied Goldoni. "The Holy -Father has declared the temporal power necessary to the spiritual. -Therefore, fighting and dying for the temporal power, I should -indirectly be a martyr for our holy religion." The Jesuit was overcome -at hearing these generous sentiments from a youth so superior. Two days -after, the Jesuit and Goldoni met "in the tribunal of penitence." - -Goldoni soon caught a fever, and in the hospital often confessed. On -the Feast of St. John Berchmans[113] he declared that he had obtained -from the saint the grace to be with him in Paradise on the day of the -Assumption of the Virgin. He reiterated that he should on the day of -the Assumption go to heaven to see the Madonna and St. John Berchmans. -His good father, called from Modena, arrived in time to bless and pray -for his departing Antonio. At the last moment he left him, for it -would seem that those around thought that the presence of the earthly -father would come between him and the heavenly Father. So he lay, with -his lustrous eyes fixed on heaven, as if, says the chaplain, "he was -awaiting the appearance of his John Berchmans, who was to present him -at the throne of the great Virgin." At seven o'clock on the morning of -the Assumption he passed away. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 104: _Acta_, p. 6.] - -[Footnote 105: Archbishop Manning gave reasons for looking upon the -motive here assigned as "a transparent error."] - -[Footnote 106: Serie VII. vol iii. p. 264.] - -[Footnote 107: Serie VII. vol. iii. pp. 259, 260.] - -[Footnote 108: _Friedberg Aktenstücke_, pp. 250-53.] - -[Footnote 109: _Neue Folge, Erstes Heft_, pp. 72, 73.] - -[Footnote 110: These productions are published by -Friedrich--_Tagebuch_, p. 453 ff.] - -[Footnote 111: _The Centenary of St. Peter, and the General Council_, -p. 90.] - -[Footnote 112: _Civiltá_, Serie VII. vol. v. p. 234.] - -[Footnote 113: Technically, Berchmans seems to be only a beatified, not -a saint.] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -Princes, Ministers, and their Confessors--Montalembert's part in the -Revival--His Posthumous Work on Spain--Indignation against the New -Assumptions--Debate of Clergy in Paris on the Lawfulness of Absolving -a Liberal Prince or Minister--Wrath at Rome--True Doctrines taught to -Darboy and his Clergy. - - -In proportion as this Popery of physical force came into view, did the -mental stress of Catholics who had put their faith in finer forces -increase. - -Chateaubriand, who played a brilliant part in the Catholic reaction -which followed the great French Revolution, especially in that phase of -the movement which aimed at linking together, in the imagination, Rome -and ideas and hopes now dear to mankind, left a work, at his death, -which he called _Memoirs from Beyond the Grave_--_Memoires d'outre -Tombe_. Montalembert, who played a still more brilliant part in the -Catholic reaction which followed the Revolution of 1830, also left -behind him a work, to appear after his death. In that work we can trace -the pains of a representative mind, showing what must have been those -of multitudes at the time of which we now write. - -Montalembert saw, in "the absolutist politics, the retrospective -fanaticism, the embittered hostility to all modern ideas and -institutions, flaunted everywhere by the religious press,"[114] not -only a blot on the cause, which had been his life-passion--a passion -of feminine flame but of masculine vigour--but also a personal -wound. It made his past look like a well-played hypocrisy. He had -enthusiastically and victoriously argued for Catholicism under plea -of liberty. "I neither can nor will," he cries, "keep silence, as -to the monstrous articles published this very year (1868) by the -_Civiltá Cattolica_ against liberty in general, and precisely against -those Liberal Catholics who, like me, have had the _naïveté_ in the -Parliamentary tribune to assert the rights of the Jesuits, and cause -them to triumph in the name of liberty."[115] - -On the second anniversary of that mysterious Thursday in February -1848, when King Louis Philippe, of the Tuileries, suddenly changed -into Mr. Smith in a street cab on the way to exile, Montalembert and -Thiers pleaded in the National Assembly for "freedom of instruction" on -behalf of the Jesuits. "It was only," says our orator, "in the name of -liberty, of modern constitutions, of modern liberty, of the liberty of -conscience, of the Press, and of the tribune, that we made the claim." -He adds that the victory was won only by Thiers brandishing the text -of the Republican constitution in the face of the furious Mountain, a -constitution proclaiming equal freedom of worship and association to -all. The italics are his own-- - - "We were all wrong, it is clear. In sound theology M. Renan alone - was right--he and the like of him who maintained that Catholicism, - and above all, the Jesuits, were absolutely incompatible with - liberty. Only--we ought to have been told it _then_. It was _then_, - and not now, that they ought to have taught us that liberty was a - _plague_, instead of taking advantage of it, and that by our help, - in order, twenty years later, to come insulting and repudiating - both it and us, at one and the same time. - - I have long passed the age of disappointments and passionate - emotions, but I declare on reading these bare-faced palinodes - I have reddened to the white of my eyes, and shivered to the - ends of my nails. I am no longer child enough to complain of the - inconsistencies of men in general, or of Jesuits in particular, but - I loudly say that this tone of the puppy and the pedant (_ce ton de - faquin et de pédagogue_), employed towards old defenders, all of - whom are not dead, and in respect of old struggles, which may be - renewed to-morrow, does not become either monks or reputable men. - It may be perfectly orthodox. In matters of theology I am no judge, - but I think I am a judge in a matter of honour and decency; and I - declare it is perfectly indecent." - -We give but one more extract from this unconscious palinode of the -high-souled Montalembert, who could not even then see that the Liberal -Catholicism of his ideal was a generous phantasy, irreconcilable -with the Popery of Rome, as much so as was his beloved parliamentary -system in politics with the Second Empire. No more could he see that -Pope and Jesuit were true to themselves in urging their old and -fixed principles, and had been equally true to themselves in using -instruments like him so long as they struck or stayed their hand at -"the beck of the priest," and in disowning them so soon as they set up -to keep a conscience for themselves, "as if the rod should shake itself -against them that lift it up." He and his friend Lacordaire carried to -Rome the large ideas of a great people, and bathed the quaint figures -of the Curia, and the quaint objects of the city, in the tropical light -of their own genius, just as Lamartine had done with the withered -remnants of the East. After such pictures as Montalembert had drawn in -his books, and his speeches, of his ideal Catholic Church, it must have -been mortifying to have, in age and sickness, to write as follows-- - - "Certainly, a strange way has been invented of serving religion, of - making the modern world accept, comprehend, and love it. One might - say that they treat the Church like one of those wild beasts that - are carried about in menageries. Look at her, they seem to say, and - understand what she means, and what is her real nature! To-day, she - is in a cage, tamed and broken in, by force of circumstances. She - can do no harm for the present; but understand that she has paws - and tusks, and if ever she is let loose you will be made to know - it" (p. 641). - -As he wrote this sad passage, in all probability there would rise -before his imagination one of the most memorable scenes in the life of -any orator. When glorifying the return of the Pope to Rome, restored -by French force, and deprecating any attempt at a conflict with the -Church, he said that from any such conflict only dishonour could -result, as to a strong man would result dishonour from a combat with -a woman. And then, turning upon his audience, he said, "The Church is -more than a woman; the Church is a mother," with a gush and a power -which produced such a scene as perhaps has hardly ever been witnessed -in any parliamentary assembly. And both ideals were quite sincere. The -Church of Montalembert's imagination was a mother; the Church of the -_Civiltá Cattolica_ is a dam, holding to her young while they continue -in sheer dependence, treating them as strangers when they can take -care of themselves. His Church is the dream of an exceptional few, the -Church of the _Civiltá_ is the strong reality. - -The articles which called forth this protestation of Montalembert, -were among the most curious even of the _Civiltá_. They dealt with -France--Paris and Darboy. On February 5, 1868, the Archbishop of Paris -held a conference of his clergy in the Church of Saint Rocque, and -there argued the following case of conscience. By some exceptional feat -of the worst of all evil genii, Publicity, the discussion, and its -result, were reported in the _Patrie_; and this indiscretion caused -the world for once to gain a real peep into the consultations in the -judges' chambers, behind the _internal tribunal_. - - "A man engaged in politics," says the case of conscience, "declares - to his confessor that he has no intention of renouncing the - doctrines which prevail among modern nations, the principal points - of which are, liberty of worship, liberty of the Press, and the - action of the State in mixed affairs. The confessor asks if he is - to grant absolution to a penitent in this state of mind, or to deny - it."--_Civiltá_, VII. ii. 151. - -The reasoning ascribed to the supposed penitent is the following-- - - You, as my confessor, have not the right to lay on me as you - would on a private man, the duty of devoting a certain day, and - of adopting certain means for the conversion of this or that - person. Doubtless, I ought, by word and example, to lay myself out - for the conversion and edification of my neighbour; but it rests - with me as a free agent to select the means and to discern the - opportunity. In like manner, you cannot order me as politician, - legislator, or prince, to take, this very day, this or that - measure, against blasphemy for example, or Sunday labour, or the - licence of the Press. Lay it upon me to attend to the propagation - of righteousness and truth; but leave it to me to judge of the - opportunity, and to choose the means. And, I pray you, consider - the grounds of my opinions. In the first place, whenever we speak - or act, we have on one side the truth and right, which certainly - ought to be respected; but on the other side we have fitness and - opportunity, of which also we must take account, if we would speak - to good purpose. Now, in this respect, I know better than any other - what I can do, and what I cannot, in my family, or in a political - assembly, or in the nation. In the next place, perhaps you do not - see the absurdity which would follow the opposite opinion. It - would follow that you had the right to decide and _regulate all - my actions_, because into every one of them _morality may enter_; - and every one of them may be connected with religion. You would be - able to dictate my will, to tell me what vote I ought to give, to - determine whether I am to declare peace or war. Mere trifles, you - say. But what, in that case, would temporal power be, but a passive - instrument of the spiritual power, and a mere machine? These are - the reasons why I stand to my old notions on this point, and have - no thought of changing them for others. - -In this case, as thus put, and in the ensuing discussion, we see the -confessor of a king or minister preparing to meet his "penitent." In -the language of Montalembert, we see the feeling of a politician in -facing the "tribunal," under an Ultramontane confessor; and in the -papers of the _Civiltá_ we see the glaring eye of Rome searching out -every movement of the one and the other. - -The case being thus stated, both as to its substance and as to the -reasoning of the supposed penitent, the discussion began. Abbé -Michaud, of the Madeleine, maintained that the confessor ought to -grant absolution. Abbé G----, a Dominican, maintained that he ought -not to do so. Archbishop Darboy now and then interfered, to moderate -the opposition of the latter. The Abbé Falcimagne interrupted the -Archbishop, declaring that he would deny the absolution, for the -supposed penitent was unworthy of it. Finally, the Abbé Hamon, Curé of -Saint Sulpice, read out four conclusions, which were fully accepted -by the Archbishop, and which allowed the confessor to grant the -absolution. The _Opinion Nationale_ and other journals said that this -conclusion showed to how little the condemnations of the Syllabus -amounted. - -Both the conclusion and the grounds on which it was rested gave huge -offence at Rome. The _Civiltá_ was not content with less than five -long articles, making ninety octavo pages. It is in these that the -things are set forth which fired the embers of Montalembert's true -love of liberty, and damped his dying hope of ever seeing his ideal -Catholicism and actual Popery seated on the same throne. We need not -quote the passages which are echoed in his indignant repudiation; but -we give a few others, which show that, strongly as we have seen him put -the case, he was not guilty of any injustice. The Abbé Michaud said -that the liberty condemned was not moderate liberty, but unbounded -liberty.[116] The _Civiltá_ took it for granted that he could not have -been sincere. - - "Similar to liberty of worship, is that worst of liberties, - never sufficiently execrated or abhorred--liberty of the Press, - which some dare to invoke and promote with so much clamour." It - continues--"In respect of religion and the Press, it is idle to - distinguish between two sorts of liberty, one wise and the other - unbridled, as the Abbé did. In such matters, all liberty is a - delirium and a pestilence. There is no healthy man's delirium; - all delirium is that of a sick man. There is no praiseworthy and - harmless plague; every plague is deadly.... Hence, it is never a - decent thing to introduce such liberty into a civil community. It - is only permissible to tolerate it in certain cases, in the same - way that a pest is tolerated" (p. 160). - -The Abbé Michaud had said that, in mixed questions, the State -interfered by _the same right as the Church_! Such an utterance -savoured of our bad times. It was infected with the idea of the -independence of the civil power in regard to the ecclesiastical. This -idea was born with Protestantism; but it has been received by some -Catholics, sincere, it is true, though not discerning. - - It is true that the temporal prince is invested with supreme power - and authority, in his order; but from this it follows only that - he is not subject to any other earthly power. It does not follow - that his authority, sovereign in its order, cannot be subject and - is not subject to another authority of a more perfect order; that - is, the spiritual.... It is necessary that whoever holds power, - even sovereign, for temporal rule shall be regulated by the Roman - Pontiff (pp. 161-63). - -So far for the independence of the State. Now as to its right of -intervention in mixed questions, and above all, as to the defining of -limits between the two powers-- - - The State ought first to learn, from the Church, what are mixed - questions, that it may not take spiritual matters for mixed ones, - confounding both the one and the other with those which are called - temporal ones. Each separate kind of corn must be tied up into a - separate sheaf. The State ought to arrange with the Church every - time it puts a hand to what is temporal in these mixed matters, in - order that it may not violate what is spiritual. - -The _Civiltá_ quotes M. Renan, where he shows how the Syllabus has -proved his assertion of 1848. "The Syllabus is a luminous demonstration -of the proposition I maintained, that Catholicism and liberty are two -things incompatible." The _Civiltá_ adds that, in order to know this -fact, M. Renan did not need to be a profound theologian, but only -needed to read the works of any author sincerely Catholic. It points -out that the Liberal Catholics fancy that the Popes, in condemning -liberty of worship and of the Press, only spoke of part of the subject, -that is, of some sorts of liberty; and that it was, therefore, some -liberty, not all, that they called madness, poison, and pestilence. But -the Popes, asserts the _Civiltá_, on the contrary, thought that all -liberty of worship and of the Press bore those characters (p. 314). - -The Abbé Falcimagne insisted (p. 316) that the supposed penitent should -be at once treated as a sick man, and as being not of sound reason-- - - He comes to submit himself to my tribunal, and at the same time - rejects my authority. To see how far I can yield to his spiritual - infirmity I must see how far the authority of the confessor over - the penitent extends. On this point, I shall cite the words of - Domenico Soto, who, after hearing the confession of Charles - V, said, "So far, you have confessed the sins of Charles; now - confess those of the Emperor." Soto at least thought that the - actions of his penitent, although they belonged to the political - order, nevertheless came within the cognizance of his tribunal. - Our patient is of a diametrically opposite opinion. He will not - recognize in me the right of judging him in what touches doctrine - and morals indirectly. But I hold that, as confessor, I have a - right to judge my penitent, be he a legislator, or even a prelate - of the Church, in things pertaining to dogmas and morals, and - to prohibit what is contrary to either, whether directly or - indirectly. So I can command him to cease from holding presumptuous - tenets. - -The Archbishop then asked the Abbé Falcimagne, requesting him to give -a direct answer, if he had a right to order his penitent to leave a -hundred thousand francs in his will to be distributed among the poor. -To this the Abbé Falcimagne made no reply. He said the point now was -to know whether the penitent, who would not renounce his modern ideas -as to liberty, was or was not guilty of presumption, _temerarius_. -"Guilty of presumption," replied the Archbishop, "is that confessor -who lays his hands on temporal things, assessing what he has no right -to assess." "But," retorted Falcimagne, "I have the right to judge my -penitent as to his disposition; and if he comes to me, and says that he -wishes to maintain his principles, and declares that I have not a right -to judge him, I tell him that his pretensions are illegitimate; that -his reason is disordered by modern principles; and that, if he will not -renounce those principles, I cannot absolve him." - -The _Civiltá_ thinks that, at this point, they came to the heart of -the matter. On one side they began to allege that the confessor could -not require his penitent to renounce his opinions unless they were -heretical, or were opinions condemned by the Church. A very false -doctrine! exclaims the oracle; for, in addition to heretical opinions, -a true Catholic must renounce many others--those, for instance, which -are proximate to heresy; those which are presumptuous, scandalous, -and all indeed that are offensive to pious ears. The teaching power -of our Church is not merely infallible, and not only does it define -with infallibility when defining articles of faith, but also when -defining any truth, scientific or practical, political or historical, -which is connected, in any manner whatever, with dogma and morals; and -whoever would be a sincere Catholic must conform not only in respectful -silence, but with interior assent of the intellect (p. 318). - -The _Civiltá_ proceeds to quote the opinions of the "good journals" -of Italy, laying stress on the point that the opinions held by the -supposed penitent could not be probable opinions--being in fact those -which were already condemned in the Syllabus. It proceeds with great -vigour to maintain that the Syllabus was the decree, not only of the -Pope, but also of the five hundred bishops who had adhered to it -last year (1867). Of these, the _Civiltá_ correctly says that Darboy -himself was one. It next contributes an important item of information, -which completes the evidence of the perfect and formal ecclesiastical -authority of all the condemnations of the Syllabus, on either theory -of the constitution of the Church, the Papal or the Episcopal. After -the address of the five hundred bishops present in Rome, all the absent -ones, asserts the _Civiltá_, sent in their adhesion by letter, which -they hastened to forward to this Roman chair, where, with the living -Pontiff, resides the "spirit of truth" (p. 324). Hence it draws the -inference, which is a just conclusion, if we may say so, in the face -of a hundred English writers who, following an old tradition, when -reviewing what Dr. Newman put upon paper on this subject, called it -logical. - - "This penitent (says the great organ of the Vatican), openly - opposes the teaching power of the Church, whether that teaching - power is considered as being exercised by the Bishop of Rome alone, - or as being exercised by him in conjunction with all the bishops of - Christendom. That teaching power has pronounced in the one mode and - in the other, and has proscribed those opinions. In both ways has - it condemned opinions, not imaginary or belonging to bygone times, - but opinions which to-day, and under our eye, are pertinaciously - maintained and reduced to practice" (p. 324). - -Returning with intense earnestness to this point, it says (p. 543)-- - - The universal Bishop has spoken alone, and further, he has spoken - conjointly with the bishops of the particular Churches. To - contradict after this, is in effect to separate oneself from the - whole of the pastors, and from him who is supreme among them all. - -This is not enough. Some pages later, hesitation, on this question so -vital to practical government, is again censured, in replying to the -plea that the supposed penitent might be worthy of absolution on the -ground of invincible ignorance-- - - We shall never tell him that ignorance consists in this, namely, - that after he has read the Encyclical and the Syllabus, and re-read - them, he could not understand that the modern opinions, which - he retained, have been truly condemned, or that they have been - condemned rightfully. This is not ignorance. It is an error and a - pertinacity proper to a man not far removed from heresy. In this - case, we once more repeat, confession is not the thing wanted. The - first elements of the faith, and of the Catholic profession, have - to be set straight in this man's head (p. 547). - -It would almost seem as if Montalembert was personally pointed at in -the two later articles. It is not a little curious to learn here that -his bosom friend, Lacordaire, long the charm of the French pulpit, was -called to Rome in 1850 to answer for his doctrine. The points on which -he had to set himself right with Rome were anything but, in our sense, -religious ones: (1) The coercive power of the Church; (2) The origin -of sovereignty; and (3) The temporal power of the Pope. He did set -himself right. Father Jandel, the General of the Dominicans, exulting -over his answer on the question touching the coercive power, says, -"It avenges his memory from the suspicion of complicity with certain -opinions which some Catholics would fain shelter under the authority of -his name."[117] Avenges his memory! It proves that whatever Lacordaire -believed, he submitted to write as his own the doctrine of Rome, -that the Church has power to "employ external force," and to inflict -bodily pains. And so France sees the memory of her Bossuet held up -to reproach, and the memory of her Lacordaire yoked by the Dominican -General to his beloved Inquisition. She sees her Montalembert driven -from public life, assailed, yea, reviled, while living, preparatory to -being insulted when dead. - -Any one acquainted with the high spirit and immense emotional force of -Montalembert, can imagine his reddening and shivering at finding the -following among the citations from Renan to prove that the sceptic -understood the doctrine of "Catholicism" better than its professed -friends in France-- - - The remedy applied by the Church of Rome to the liberty of worship - and liberty of thought is the Inquisition. The Councils have - established and approved the Inquisition, the Fathers and bishops - have counselled and practised it. The Inquisition is the logical - outgrowth of the whole orthodox system, and the quintessence of the - spirit of the Church.[118] - -Strongly as our sympathies are with Montalembert and Darboy, we feel -that, so long as the Jesuits have to prove that persecution is the -doctrine and has been the practice of the Church, they have it all -their own way against the Liberal Catholics, till they creep up to the -early ages. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 114: _L'Espagne et la Liberté._ Bibliothèque Universelle de -Lausanne, 1876, p. 626.] - -[Footnote 115: Ibid. p. 635.] - -[Footnote 116: _Civiltá Cattolica_, VII, ii. p. 150 ff.] - -[Footnote 117: Serie VII. vol. iii. p. 65.] - -[Footnote 118: Serie VII. vol. iii. p. 56.] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -What is to be the Work of the Council--Fears caused by Grandiose -Projects--_Reform of the Church in Head and Members_--Statesmen evince -Concern. - - -Curiosity as to what the particular work of the Council was to be -grew all the more rapidly, because no authoritative indication of -it was given. Were the Jesuit tenets of Papal authority and Papal -infallibility to be raised into dogmas? Was the Pope to make another -offering to the Virgin by proclaiming as an article of faith, that her -body had been carried to heaven? By the repetition of such questions, -tens of millions partially awoke to the consciousness that they -belonged to a religion which knew not what might be its standard of -faith next year, much less did it know to what particular tenets it -might be committed. - -Then, as to the position of the bishops, were they to be only -councillors, or also judges? If the latter, they would first hear the -doctors, as did their predecessors at Trent; would next deliberate, -and finally would formulate decrees, which decrees without alteration, -would be confirmed by the Pontiff. But if the bishops were no longer -judges of the faith, but simply councillors of the one judge, their -place would be to argue points, as the doctors had done at Trent, while -the decree should be that of the Pope, and they would merely assent. - -Again, as to the composition of the Council, were the bishops _in -partibus_ to be members? Was Darboy, whose diocese counted two millions -of souls, to be balanced by some Court creature with a title from -Sardis or Ecbatana? or was Schwarzenberg, with Bohemia at his back, -to be balanced by an instrument of the Curia, who, independently of -his patrons, had not a month's bread to call his own? Were those who -represented ancient and numerous churches, and who were as far free -agents as men under Rome can be, to be voted against, man for man, -by vicars apostolic, without churches, or with only new and ignorant -ones--men depending on the Propaganda even for their travelling -expenses and board? - -Finally, as to the mode of procedure, were the bishops, as they did at -Trent, to agree upon their own rules of procedure, to evolve by mutual -consultation the questions demanding solution, and to discuss them till -all were ready to vote? Or could there be truth in the suspicion that -everything was being cut and dried beforehand, and that the Court would -impose ready-made rules of procedure, and allow no one but itself to -introduce any subject for discussion? - -As to the burning question of moral unanimity, would projected formulae -be passed from hand to hand, as was done at Trent, examined in meetings -of groups, retouched, and, if need be, remoulded till a form was -arrived at in which all but two or three acquiesced? Or was it possible -that formulae for new articles in a creed prepared behind the backs of -the bishops would be imposed on millions and for ever, by a majority -made up with the help of the bishops _in partibus_? - -All this time, the nine determined men forming the secret Directing -Congregation, were coolly looking at the same questions, and, step -by step, as we shall see, when events bring out the secret plans, -were settling those questions in the sense most dreaded, and going -to lengths not, we believe, suggested in any of the anticipatory -expressions of fear. - -Earnest theologians who had not been converted by the infallibilist -propaganda of recent years, were thrown into consternation. Some -bishops, able administrators, saw no essential difference between Papal -infallibility as a doctrine taught in many of the schools, and believed -by great numbers if rejected by others perhaps greater, and the same -opinion as an article of faith. In such a view, the men of thought saw -the superficial glance of "practical men," as they call themselves, who -never discover anything but by feeling it, and who live by acting out -to-day what others thought out in time gone by. - -Little difference! thought the men of foresight. We are going to -be compelled to alter our catechisms and creed in the face of the -Protestants; going to be compelled to teach the opposite of what we -have always taught; going to part with immemorial safeguards against -altering the conditions of salvation, or further narrowing the terms -of membership in the Church--to part with the necessity before every -such change of the open and formal process of a General Council! The -proposed dogma is unlike any now in the creed, in the all-important -point of being self-multiplying. If it is adopted, we shall be liable -to have eternal obligations laid upon our souls, without a week's -warning. - -Beside fears like these, others perhaps more general were those of -quiet Catholics wishing to live in peace and serve their respective -nations loyally, who being conscious that even now they were liable to -suspicion of a divided allegiance, feared that if the Jesuit tenets -became the creed, their political relations would be less comfortable, -and their prospects of office not so good. "At the Vatican," says _Ce -qui se Passe au Concile_, speaking of the mystery and the uneasiness -of this moment; "At the Vatican they spoke in low tones of grandiose -projects that were to transform the world, and by exalting Pius IX were -to confound the enemies of the Church." It was those grandiose projects -which made good citizens fear for their own future political standing. - -Even feelings of this sort, as represented by _Holtgreven_, ought to -touch us, being those of silent millions awaiting in the dark the -sentence of their lords in Council. He says-- - - When we left the gymnasium, soon after the year 1860, there was no - pupil who could say that, even by hint, he had been taught there - that the Pope was infallible by himself, and without the consent - of the Church. The answer 128 in Martin's _Handbook of Religion_ - is still too fresh in the memory of all; an answer which affirms - that the grace of infallibility belongs only to the collective body - of bishops, as successors of the Apostles.... Persons in office - and out of it, clergy, laity, and exalted Church dignitaries, - agreed that the pretensions of the Pope to power over kings and - nations, in matters of allegiance and such like, were not part of - their religion, but arose out of the state of the civil laws in - the middle ages.... Thus does the Catholic teacher teach in his - lectures on Church history, thus does the student learn; and this - view, which captivates the youth, putting his German heart at rest, - and rejoicing it, still gives him repose and removes every scruple - when, as a man, he lifts up the hand to swear allegiance to the - laws of the fatherland.[119] - -Those of the French clergy whose education had been carried beyond the -usual round of Latin, logic, and manners, began to manifest misgivings -as to the effect of the impending change on men of enlarged culture. It -was in March, 1869, that the _Unitá_ published the Pope's famous letter -to the Archbishop of Paris, described in a former chapter. The Paris -correspondent of that journal, commenting upon it, calls the dignitary -who, in the eye of the world, would be his metropolitan and ordinary, -"a pretty fellow"--_bel soggetto_--whom no one would any longer look -upon as a candidate for the rank of Cardinal. In the same letter he -says that war against Prussia must break out, whether the occasion be -the Belgian railways, or complaints that Prussia violates the treaty of -Prague. - -Fears as to coming changes, in their effect on men of culture, were -felt still more deeply in Germany, where the general education of -the clergy was higher than elsewhere. Both the German clergy and the -nobler of the French were unprepared for what they began, in secret, -to call Pius-cult, as it appeared in the language employed by the -favoured organs. One word in the prayer for the Pope, recommended by -the _Unitá_, on March 12, grated not on Protestant ears only. The _Ave -Maria_ was for a week to be followed by these petitions: "Eternal -Father, defend Pius IX! Eternal Word, assist Pius IX! Holy Spirit, -glorify Pius IX!" - -Perhaps none of the publications now flowing from the Press excited -greater attention than one which was announced as being from the pen -of one of the best known of the Austrian clergy. It was entitled -_The Reform of the Romish Church in Head and Members_. Not only does -this author oppose the attempt to restore laws enforcing unity of -creed, but he actually does so on principle, as well as on the ground -of expediency. The longing of Rome for the subjection of the States -of the world, and for power again to employ the arm of the State in -her service, is, he contends, a delusion which will lead only to her -overthrow. Moreover, he lays down the startling principle that the -Church has nothing to ask but liberty to act in her own sphere _like -any private society_. This last position is utterly irreconcilable with -all the ordinary theories. He holds that anything granted to the Church -by the State beyond what is given to any other private society is an -evil, and also that every case, in the past, wherein Church and State -have joined hands in order to help one another to gain their respective -ends, has turned out ill for both of them. In modern times his ideal of -the normal relation of Church and State is that existing in America, -which he imagines works favourably for Romanism. - -The author of _Reform in Head and Members_ looks on the system of -lower seminaries for boys and higher ones for young men, in which the -future clergy pass their youth separated from all society, leading an -unreal life, pursuing narrow studies and without knowledge of men, or -the possibility of acquiring any breadth of mind, as producing only -a race of priests unfit to lead an educated age. He declares that in -France, Italy, and Spain the system of close seminaries has destroyed -theological science among Catholics. He manifests the ordinary -contempt of German scholars for the showy and wordy pupils of the -Roman seminaries, and contends that Catholic theology does not bear -any comparison, as to talent and learning, with Protestant theology -in any country except Germany, where the priests have to study at the -universities. He further believes that the lamentable moral condition -of the Romish clergy is not a little to be ascribed to the seclusion -and unreality in which their youth is passed (p. 161). - - The young priests in whose hands the guidance of the people is - to be placed, squander the fair and precious years of youth in - enclosures shut off from the world, and out of them do they go - forth into life without experience of men or of the world. Then - does the world, with all its charms, allurements, delights, - and seductions, rush in upon those narrow, inexperienced young - clergymen; and alas! only too many of them sink in a sea which to - them is new, strange, and untried. - -He demands a thorough reform of this system, insisting that the -contempt shown by all respectable Italians for the priesthood is not to -be accounted for except on the ground of this wretched system and of -its wretched moral and religious results. - -Another demand boldly made by this Austrian priest is for the -abolition of the vows of celibacy, so far as they are either perpetual -or obligatory. He would admit of vows that were both voluntary and -temporary. The corrupting effects of celibacy evidently leave him no -hope that it is capable of being rendered consistent with tolerable -morality. He treats this institution as purely local and Romish, -regarding its imposition upon the Catholic Church as a great public -evil, impossible to be justified. At page 117 he says, "Upon the law -of the Romish Church fall back all those moral abominations, beyond -measure and beyond number, which have arisen out of it, and which will -stain the Church as long as that law remains in force." When the writer -approaches the subject of bureaucratic centralization, the Catholic -rises against the Romanism which has fastened itself on the Churches -of other nations. This system of centralization as carried out by the -Curia is much too narrow legitimately to claim the name of national. -Our author wants to see an end of the system. He wonders what may be -the annual revenue paid into Rome from all quarters of the globe for -indults, dispensations, indulgencies, remissions of sins, and the fees -gained by all the inventions for what he calls selling poor parchment -and bad writing very dear. He does not, like many writers when they -touch this subject, break out into a passion against the huckstering of -their religion, but manifests a cold contempt, feeling that the system -is low and hollow. - -The modern contrivance for making a bishop a tenant on a short lease is -calmly exposed. Formerly, as the author points out, a bishop used to -rule his own diocese; now he is no more than a delegate. He is allowed -to distribute such dispensations for the smaller sins against Church -law as do not pay any money tax, but his power to do this, as also his -power to perform several other of the acts essential to his office, -is no longer conveyed to him with the office itself. On the contrary, -for that power he is dependent upon a lease, never given for more than -five years, called the QUINQUENNIAL FACULTIES. If at the expiration of -one of these terms the Faculties are not renewed, he becomes a mere -lay figure in his chair, and would be at once exposed to his clergy -and people as under disgrace. By this means is he kept a perpetual -pensioner on the favour of the Curia, and in addition to the periodical -expiration of the ordinary lease, he is a tenant at will, liable any -day to have his Faculties withdrawn by the Holy Father. - - The centralizing of the government of the Church in the See of - Rome, to effect which it was necessary to destroy the rights of - metropolitans and to curtail the jurisdiction of bishops, is a - state of things so unjustifiable and ruinous, that the well-being - of the Church urgently demands its removal. This absorption of all - the powers and rights of Church government is not to be justified - either by pleading the necessity of preserving the unity of the - Church, or by pleading the supreme hierarchical power, which - belongs to the See of Rome. The very necessity of manifesting - unity presupposes a number of persons entrusted with independent - functions of government; and if the incumbent of the highest - power of the Church strips the subordinate functionaries of all - authority, he makes himself the sole seat of power in the Church. - -This writer would restore worship in the mother tongue. - -Statesmen began to feel concern, at least such as did not belong to the -class finely laughed at by M. Veuillot, who do not think it necessary -to inform themselves on "the small affairs of the Catholic Church," -although speaking, legislating, and perhaps writing on matters of which -those affairs form a considerable element. - -Naturally such fears were sooner and more seriously felt by Roman -Catholic statesmen than by Protestant ones. Though _Von Lutz_, -Minister of Worship in Bavaria, spoke after the event, he tersely -expressed the apprehensions felt at this time-- - - "The Church lays down the principle that the Pope is Prince of - princes, and Lord Paramount (_Oberherr_) of all States. Do you - think it possible that States will put up with that? That the State - will quietly stand by while the bishop orders the parish priest to - preach against the law of the land, and while he deposes him if he - will not comply? Or must the State itself drive the parish priest - out of his home for refusing to misuse the pulpit, against the - State?"[120] - -Bishop Fessler, of St. Pölten,[121] in a lengthy manifesto, gave a -clear intimation that the infallibility of the Pope would probably be -defined by the Council. This set many Catholics in Germany on preparing -to combat the intention announced, and set still more on saying that -as Fessler had been the first to face the German public with this -intimation, his fortune was made at Rome. - -Bishop Dupanloup, of Orleans, put forth his best literary power in -what was called, by the _Constitutionnel_, an attempt to bring about a -reconciliation between the Council and the principles of 1789.[122] He -urged that they greatly erred who looked upon the approaching Council -as a menace against modern society, or as a declaration of war with -progress. On the contrary, freedom, fraternity and progress, so far -as they were true and good, had nothing to fear from this "senate of -humanity." - -Bishop Von Ketteler, of Mainz, declared that the forthcoming Council -was the greatest event of our age[123]-- - - At least (added this doughty pupil of the Jesuits), in the work of - reconstruction; for as to destruction, certainly, there have been - greater events. As God provided for the Church and the world in - the century of the so-called Reformation, by means of the Council - of Trent, so has He in our century, which, still sadder to say, is - the century of Revolution, the century of demolition and universal - destruction, inspired the High Pontiff with the supreme remedy, the - convocation of the Vatican Council. The work of destruction is - manifestly hasting to its end. It is time to commence the work of - reconstruction, on the ancient foundation laid by Christ once for - all. This is precisely the work to which the Council is called. - -These words we quote from the _Civiltá_, to which the whole document -seemed highly laudable.[124] But its translation is strong. Ketteler -did not use the term "reconstruction" for his German audience, but -"construction." He did not say that God had inspired the Pontiff, but -that the Spirit of God again assembled the General Council, the highest -Court of Judgment for the Truth on earth. This last form of words had -the merit of which our English tongue has within the last few years -presented some examples of all but incredible skill--the merit of -suggesting to a Protestant an idea that would not awaken his political -fears, and yet of representing to the Jesuits of the _Civiltá_ the -true doctrine. The Pope himself began to take part in the controversy -now gradually rising. The Abbé Belet had translated into French the -work of the Jesuit Father Weninger, published in New York. The Pope -wrote a brief to thank him, taking occasion at the same time harshly -to censure the great Bossuet, as a bishop who, in order to flatter the -civil power, contradicted his own proper opinions, and contradicted the -original doctrine of the Church.[125] - -Pleasant to the military palate of Pius IX were the words of brave -Colonel Allet, in a soldierly order of the day, issued in December, to -his zouaves. After recounting in terse, strong terms, their services -against the Garibaldians, he says-- - - Soldiers! all is not over. Great dangers still threaten the Church. - Remember that in your regiment you stand, not merely as soldiers - marching side by side; you also represent a principle before the - world, the principle of the voluntary and disinterested defence - of the Holy See. You are the nucleus around which will unite in - the hour of danger the prayers, the succours, and the hopes of the - Catholic world. Be, then, true soldiers of God. You have not merely - duties, you have even a mission, and you will not fulfil it without - union, discipline, moral conduct, and military instruction. A third - battalion is formed. Your swelling ranks assure to you a larger - part in future struggles. We shall march together to the cry of - "Long Live Pius IX!" - -Funereal solemnities on behalf of the fallen are proudly recorded as -having been celebrated in France, England, Germany, etc. - -To these military consolations were added such as a crown and a nation -once great could now bestow. Queen Isabella strongly recommended from -the throne, and her Cortes almost unanimously voted, that the forces of -the nation, acting in alliance with the Emperor of the French, should -be ready to defend the Holy See.[126] What was more important, the King -of Prussia, in reply to Ledochowsky, spoke clearly in support of the -temporal power. It was also told with satisfaction how, at banquets, -both at Malines and Namur, the health of the Pope was drunk before that -of the King of Belgium, and how pleasantly the Nuncio gave the health -of the local and subordinate sovereign after that of his master, as the -Lord Paramount, had received its meed.[127] - -It is not easy for us, whose faith has always rested on the fixed -standard of God's Word, to enter into all the feelings of suspense -which are to be read between the lines of a lecture by Professor -Menzel, then of Braunsberg, now of Bonn, printed for private -circulation among his former pupils.[128] He is teaching them the -doctrine of _Church_ infallibility, but not, as he had hitherto -done, in the twofold confidence of persuasion and personal security. -Persuasion abides, reinforced by fresh study and animated by assault. -But security is gone. The consciousness that he may never more be -allowed to teach this doctrine weighs upon all he utters. Before -another session, should his own faith not change, that of his chair -probably will. The Church which he had served, as permitting the -membership of those who denied the infallibility of the Pope, had been -catholic enough for him. But now, after pausing since the Reformation, -she had actively resumed the process of narrowing the terms of -membership by dogmatizing new shibboleths. One had been already added -in his own day. Another now hung overhead, still more momentous, -because it not only altered the doctrine of the Church, but altered the -standard of doctrine, and was moreover self-propagating--a seed bearing -fruit after its kind. - -"This complete subversion of the old Catholic principle, _everywhere, -always, and by all_," cries the poor Professor, "has found its most -doughty champions in the Jesuits of the _Civiltá Cattolica_, with -their branch at _Maria Laach_, and in the Archbishops of Malines and -Westminster, Deschamps and Manning."[129] In the struggling argument of -the Teacher of this year, we cannot help hearing, by anticipation, the -sighs of the excommunicated of next year; excommunicated for holding -fast what he had always taught, with the sanction of the Church, and -from one of her chairs! And as the iron enters into his soul, he -evidently feels it hard that an English hand should be one of the -foremost in driving it home. - -Professors looked from the chair on their classes not knowing what -they might have to teach a twelvemonth hence. Preachers looked from -the pulpit on their congregations weighted with the same uncertainty. -Editors wrote that the Catholic faith was thus and thus, feeling -that, perhaps, soon they must write the reverse, or else drop the -pen. Heads of families were perplexed as to what they should say to -their children, if compelled to believe what they and their fathers -had always resented as a false accusation against their religion. -Jurists wondered if they must either break with their clergy or -begin a campaign for reinstating canon law over civil. Kings whose -forefathers had compelled nations, by the sword, to wear the yoke of -Rome, chafed to think that their religion was to be "changed over -their heads." But all this time the silent arbiters of the Catholic's -destiny were patiently framing the decrees. Men moved and combined -to prevent new fetters from being forged for their souls next year; -but link was being already noiselessly added to link, by old, -cool, and resolute masters. The Emperor set to defend the Gallican -liberties for the millions of France, and the Emperor set to uphold -the Josephine safeguards for the millions of Austria, had no access to -the subterranean forge _Antra Ætnaca_ where chains and thunderbolts -were on the anvil, away from the ears of men. Turnus had not less -power over the island cave where the arms by which he was to fall were -being tempered. But, on the other hand, the Vulcan of the Syllabus -had more than one Venus at the Court of each potentate, wooing in his -interests, and pleading for his will. The truth, however, was to dawn -upon their subjects from behind gorgeous clouds of their beloved pomps -and ceremonies. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 119: _Holtgreven_, pp. 4, 5.] - -[Footnote 120: Menzel, _Jesuitenumtriebe_, p. 119.] - -[Footnote 121: _Das Letzte und das Nächste Concil_, p. 59.] - -[Footnote 122: _Lettre sur le futur Concile OEcuménique._] - -[Footnote 123: _Das Allgemeine Concil und seine Bedeutung für unsere -Zeit._] - -[Footnote 124: Serie VII. vol. vi. p. 93.] - -[Footnote 125: _Friedberg_, p. 487.] - -[Footnote 126: _Civiltá_, VII. i. pp. 228-30.] - -[Footnote 127: Id. 622.] - -[Footnote 128: _Ueber das Subject der kirchlichen Unfehlbarheit._ (_Als -Manuscript gedruckt._) Braunsberg: 1870.] - -[Footnote 129: P. 7.] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -Agitation in Bavaria and Germany--The Golden Rose--Fall of -Isabella--The King of Bavaria obtains the Opinion of the -Faculties--Döllinger--Schwarzenberg's Remonstrance. - - -The proximity of Bavaria to Italy on the one hand, and to Protestant -Germany and Switzerland on the other, had assisted in giving to the -schools of Munich a juster appreciation of the effect to be expected -in the world at large, from new additions to the dogmatic burden -which Catholics must carry. For a considerable time a conflict had -been silently growing up between the theology of the German schools -and that in recent years imported direct from Rome by the new type -of priests there trained. The catechisms--even those prepared by the -early Jesuits--had been gradually altered, till first the denial of -Papal infallibility disappeared, and secondly the statement of Church -infallibility was so obscured as to prepare the way for further change. - -Jesuit establishments had been springing up in defiance of the law. The -Ultramontane Press had raged against the unity of Germany under the -leadership of Prussia, writing so as to lead foreigners to believe that -France had only to invade Germany and she would find the Catholics on -her side. A _littérateur_ named Fischer being arrested at Landeck in -June, 1868, a letter was found from Count Platen, saying, "A league of -the small states with France, for the common end of breaking the power -of Prussia, is the duty of all."[130] - -The feelings of the educated classes generally resented such attempts -with indignation. We have seen how Sepp spoke of the canonization -of Arbues. The painter Kaulbach executed a picture of an _auto da -fe_ celebrated under the eye of this new celestial patron. A priest -preached against the sale of the engravings; and Kaulbach wrote a -letter, which was printed in the _Cologne Gazette_, hailing such -reproach as an honour, and appending a sketch of the Roman twins -drinking in the milk of the she-wolf. Of his Romulus and Remus, one -wore the crown of imperial France, and the other the tiara.[131] - -German writers assert that Napoleon III induced Queen Isabella of -Spain, in the spring of 1868, to pledge herself to send into Italy -forty thousand men to protect the Pope, in case he should be obliged -to withdraw his troops by entering on a war with Prussia. Other -authorities say that it was to be in case of a war with Italy. At -all events, the most select favour the Pontiff had to confer on the -worthiest lady of his Church, the golden rose, was sent to her most -Catholic Majesty. This distinction placed Isabella on a level with the -Queen of Naples and the Empress Eugènie, the only two lambs in all -his fold hitherto held worthy by Pius IX of this pontifical seal of -stainless whiteness. But to the daughter of Queen Christina the golden -rose proved to be the last rose of her summer. In September 1868 this -elect lady, after outliving more insurrections than any sovereign -in Christendom, was compelled to flee. An expression fell from the -_Catholique_ of Brussels on the news that the crown of Isabella was -threatened, which throws light on the Ultramontane dialect: "Spain -will be lost to Catholicism, lost to the cause of order in Europe, -and _the last Christian government_ will have disappeared from the -Old World."[132] This drew from Montalembert the remark: "To wish -modern society, or any Christian born in that society and destined to -live in it, to esteem the condition of Spain under Isabella II more -highly than that of England under Victoria, and to wish this in the -name of the Catholic Church, in the name of the party of order in -Europe, is to impute to that party and to that Church the saddest of -responsibilities, and the most menacing."[133] - -But all Catholic political personages were not as good Papists as Queen -Isabella. - -Montalembert, full of thoughts suggested by the questions rising in -the Church, saw in her fall but an incident of the decay of Spain, -which, again, was but the most striking example of the condition of -most Roman Catholic countries. He wrote what, as we have seen, appeared -only after his death. Confessing that the reign of Isabella had lasted -"too long," he traced the ruin of the country to "despotism, spiritual -and temporal, absolute monarchy, and the Inquisition." After showing -that both municipal and parliamentary liberties had been well developed -in Spain in the days when she struggled, rose, and took the lead, -he dates the beginning of her fall from the combination of Church -and State, under Charles V, to work unitedly in quenching civil and -religious liberty. Though no advocate of the separation of Church and -State, he says, "A thousand times better the fullest separation with -all its excesses, than the absorption of the State by the Church, or of -the Church by the State." No better expression could have been chosen -than the former of these phrases to designate the effect of the Jesuit -polity of Church and State just about to be adopted by Rome. - -He takes the social and political effects of the Inquisition to have -been disastrous--"That monstrous institution ceased to act only when -it had no more to do, when it had substituted emptiness, death, and -nothingness for the life, the force, and the glory of the first nation -of the middle ages, the one which we may justly call the pearl of the -Catholic world." Aiming a two-edged thrust at Bonapartist legislatures, -and at the character of the coming Council, he says that the -"ill-omened" Charles V was the inventor "of consultative despotism," or -representative absolutism, of which the Napoleons are wrongly accused -of being the originators. For one who had spent his life in battling -for the Papacy, but always with the hope of reconciling it to liberty, -it was bitter, when death was in view, to write: "There is not in the -history of the world a second example of a great country so ruined, -so broken down, so fallen, without foreign conquest or civil war -having materially contributed to the result, but by the sole effect of -institutions of which it was the prey."[134] - -Had the Prime Minister of Bavaria at the juncture in question been a -Protestant, he would have been slower in seeing the political bearings -of what was taking place. One of the three brothers of Prince Hohenlohe -was a cardinal, and otherwise his means of information had been good. -Besides, though Bavaria had often served the Papal cause to the hurt of -Germany, it had never, like Prussia, given up its _placet_ and other -guards of the royal supremacy. The Prime Minister submitted questions -for the formal opinion of the two Faculties of Theology and Law, in the -University of Munich, as to the effect which the definition of Papal -infallibility as a dogma would have upon the relations of the civil and -ecclesiastical authorities. - -The Faculty of Theology, in its reply, after referring to the work of -Schrader, and quoting some of his propositions, says-- - - Should these or similar conclusions be adopted (i.e. the conclusion - of the Syllabus against freedom of religion, of the Press, etc.), - it would lead to great confusion. The counter principles are so - established, both in the theory and practice of all European - constitutions, that anything contrary to religious equality and - freedom of opinion can scarcely again obtain a footing. Were - it laid upon Catholics, as a duty of conscience, to repudiate - those principles, undeniably collision between their civil - and ecclesiastical obligations would result, and in certain - circumstances consequences would ensue, burdensome and hurtful - both to the individual members of a national Church and to the - collective body.[135] - -The statesmen had asked the divines what was meant by speaking _ex -cathedrâ_. The Faculty replied that among those who asserted the -doctrine of Papal infallibility, there were some twenty theories on -the subject, none of them authoritative or generally received, and -all arbitrary; "because here it is impossible to frame a theory from -Scripture and tradition."[136] - -The Faculty of Law said-- - - Should the propositions of the Syllabus and the Papal infallibility - be made dogmas, the relations between State and Church hitherto - subsisting would be altered in their very principles, and nearly - all the legislation fixing the legal position of the Catholic - Church in Bavaria would be called in question.[137] - -The chief of the Theological Faculty was Dr. Döllinger, whose aged but -erect head was to every scholar in the University a crown of glory. The -professors were proud of him, and of their attainments made under his -eye. In common with the scholars of other Catholic seats of learning in -Germany, they habitually manifested contempt for the _Doctores Romani_, -the imported pupils of the Jesuits from the _Collegium Germanicum_ or -other seminaries in Rome--a feeling which they extended to the great -bulk of the men of the Curia. - -Döllinger had been a firm Tridentine Romanist, devoutly bearing the -burden of the new dogmas which the Council of Trent bound up and laid -upon men's shoulders. But being profoundly versed in antiquity, he was -not disposed for more accretions of the same sort, and he had long been -detested by the Jesuits, as standing in the old paths and resisting -their innovations. Superstitions newly carried over the Alps did not -thrive under his eye. As a historian he had not feared to narrate and -censure the enormities of Popes. - -While these agitations were arising in the provinces, the secret -preparations in Rome were being pushed forward. The fact became known -that the six Commissions were at work. The names of those serving upon -them no sooner transpired than a cry arose that only favourites of the -Jesuits were appointed. So few names from Germany appeared that offence -was given, even in a national point of view. This feeling increased -when it appeared that celebrities of whom the Catholic faculties were -proud had been passed over, and that inferior men, known only for -devotion to the Curia, had been selected. These feelings were partly -theological, partly personal, and yet more strongly patriotic. The -Germans knew that a double peril for the Fatherland lurked in the -anti-unionist policy of Rome--peril of disruption from within, and of -invasion from France. - -Dissatisfaction must have run tolerably high when Cardinal Prince -Schwarzenberg wrote to Cardinal Antonelli, formally remonstrating as -to the selection made. The fact, he submitted, that all those selected -belonged to one well-defined theological school, was in itself open to -objection. As to the reputation of the favourites, he said, "I have had -fears lest their qualifications should not prove equal to their weighty -responsibilities." He names Munich, Bonn, and Tübingen, as Universities -where fit men were to be found as well as at Würzburg, and goes so far -as to mention names, among them that of Döllinger. - -This letter was politely answered by Antonelli, after a couple of -months. He said that Döllinger would have been invited only that his -Holiness had learned that he would not accept the duty.[138] - -One of the theologians at whom the innuendo of Cardinal Schwarzenberg -was aimed was Hergenröther. Yet Archbishop Manning wrote to -_Macmillan's Magazine_, and, after speaking of the men of Munich as -if they were of little more account in the esteem of students than in -that of ecclesiastical courtiers, told us that if we wanted to learn -anything of the true relation of Catholics to national law, we must not -go to them, but must study Hergenröther.[139] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 130: Menzel, _Weltbegebenheiten_, Band i. p. 123.] - -[Footnote 131: Menzel, _Jesuitenumtriebe_, p. 21.] - -[Footnote 132: Quoted by Montalembert, _Bibliothèque Universelle_ 1876, -p. 194.] - -[Footnote 133: Ibid. p. 195.] - -[Footnote 134: _Bibliothèque Universelle de Lausanne_, 1876, p. 27.] - -[Footnote 135: Friedberg, _Aktenstücke_, p. 300.] - -[Footnote 136: Ibid. p. 302.] - -[Footnote 137: Ibid. pp. 313-23. Archbishop Manning places the time -when these questions were put "about the month of September 1869," -being "about" half a year too late, as he places the publication of -_Janus_ about a year too early.--_Vatican Decrees_, p. 114.] - -[Footnote 138: Both letters are given in _Documenta ad Illustrandum -Concilium Vaticanum_, I. Abtheil, pp. 277-80.] - -[Footnote 139: No. 183, p. 259.] - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -Intention of proposing the Dogma of Infallibility intimated--Bavarian -Note to the Cabinets, February to April, 1869--Arnim and Bismarck. - - -It was in February, 1869, that the fears and hopes which had long -been more or less distinctly directed to a given point, were both -quickened by fresh light. The _Civiltá Cattolica_, in the letter of -its French correspondent, published suggestions that the Council -should sit for but a short time, that it should proclaim the doctrines -of the Syllabus, and that the infallibility of the Pope should be -adopted by acclamation. It was at once alleged that the finger of Pius -himself gave this sign. The suggestions thus made explain what the -Cardinals consulted in the first instance meant when they hoped that -the Council would not last so long as some might think. They had in -1854 induced the bishops to acclaim a new dogma, and in 1867 to accept -the Syllabus without demur, and surely they could get any portions -of that document which it was necessary, for greater clearness, -to formulate into decrees, passed in the same delightful way; and -this would be still more desirable for the dogma of infallibility. -Archbishop Manning treated the idea of an intended acclamation as a -pleasantry; but he charged the ventilation of it on a wrong time and -on a wrong publication. "_Janus_ first announced the discovery of the -plot."[140] It may have been _Janus_ who first clearly indicated a -certain English prelate as the man chosen by the party of acclamation -to give the signal. But he was long behind the first to announce the -plot. The laity generally were offended and alarmed, at least those -north of the Alps, and many bishops who were ready to vote for the -Curia did not feel flattered at having the whole world informed that -they were not wanted in Rome as judges of the faith, but as adornments -of a grand pageant. The translation or assumption of the body of the -Virgin was also suggested in the same article, as a doctrine which it -was desirable to make into a dogma. - -As time wore on, the excitement became more intense. In France, the -action of the government, as in most things under the Second Empire, -was ambiguous. It seemed to dread the impending innovations, and -every now and then what appeared to the world as a menace was half -uttered. Yet it was plain that the Curia was not disturbed. Nothing -can be more tranquil than the letters in the _Civiltá_ from its French -correspondent. There is an apparent sense of solid support, such as -no gusts of the popular winds will seriously shake. M. de Banneville, -the acceptable representative of France in Rome, continued in his -post. When the question of the presence of princes in the Council was -to be faced, Cardinal Antonelli had the comfort of treating it with -this trusty friend. It was comparatively easy to convey to him the -intimation which, in a few words, represented, as M. Veuillot had -showed, a radical revolution in Church and State. _There were no more -Catholic States._ The term "Catholic arms" continued to be applied, -by official writers, to those of France and the other countries which -had reconquered the lost States of the Pope. But arms are perhaps, -like gold and silver to the Brahmans, substances which never contract -pollution. The monarchs were outside the door. Even France, whose flag -at Civitá Vecchia was the only protection of the temporal power, was -told that she was no longer a Catholic State--she, the eldest daughter -of the Church; she whom the Pope, in parting with General Failly, had -for love of her chassepots--the "prodigious chassepots," as they were -called--blessed as the "most Christian nation!" The Curia knew that -the hold of the Pope on the priests and schools was stronger than that -of the Bonapartes on army and nation; and they were rearing up their -champions, while the Empire was wearing out its own. - -The same number of the _Civiltá_ which records the death of Antonelli -states the case in the following terms. The Pontiff could not invite -powers "of which one, like Italy, was in open hostility to the Church; -of which another had, like Austria, of her own motion, torn up the -Concordat; and another had, like France, a turncoat and a perfidious -traitor to the Holy See upon the throne." - -The Ultramontane priests enjoyed this disfranchisement of kings; but -they were not yet all prepared to find that the Order of Priests was -also to be disfranchised. Not a man of them was to be allowed to plead -in presence of the Council. The Cardinals, in their close and still -Commissions, were preparing to put, not only laymen, but priests and -bishops too, more on the footing of a marching army than ever before. - -On April 9, 1869, Prince Hohenlohe addressed a circular to the -European Cabinets in the name of Bavaria. It was not to be believed, -he said, that the Council would confine itself to purely theological -questions, of which, in fact, none were pressing for solution. The -only dogmatic point that Rome wished the Council to decide was that of -Papal infallibility, for which the Jesuits in Germany and elsewhere -were agitating. "This question," added the Prince, "reaches far beyond -the domain of religion, and is in its nature highly political; for the -power of the Pope in temporal things over all princes and nations, even -such as are in separation from Rome, would be defined, and elevated -into an article of faith." - -The smooth reply of the German Jesuit organ was that something of the -kind had been said before in the _Augsburg Gazette_. But the circle -of Church authority would remain the same, whether the organ of that -authority should be the Pope singly, or the Pope in conjunction with -the bishops; just as the powers of a national government would be the -same in extent, whether in the hands of a monarch or of a republican -executive. - -This is characteristic. The discussion was not about any proposal to -enlarge or contract the theoretic circle of Church power, but about -a proposal to declare that the Pope alone, without the bishops, was -the depositary of that power. If the theory of Rome was correct, no -extension of the circle of power was possible, but the depositary of -power was now to be changed. - -If, among ourselves, it was proposed to give the power of life and -death to the Crown, without judge or jury, we might be told that the -power of life and death was the same whether exercised by royal warrant -or through the traditionary courts. The circle of power would not be -extended. - -The Bavarian note did not elicit a practical response from other -Cabinets. The reply of Austria was, perhaps, influenced by the fact -that Count Beust, then Prime Minister, was a Protestant. His despatch -bears marks either of non-appreciation of the import of terms and -acts, proceeding from the Vatican, such as would be natural in one -not trained to watch them, or of a desire to evade the gravity of the -question. He thought it best to wait and to be on his guard.[141] On -behalf of Prussia, Bismarck also took up an attitude of observation, -but with more insight into the reasons for the suggestion of Prince -Hohenlohe. The Italian Government had expressed itself in favour of -common action, but practically let things take their course. England -naturally declined to interfere. As to France, she thought herself -protected by the Concordat against all eventualities--another proof -that her statesmen handled affairs without mastering ideas. Perhaps not -one of them had read what Rome had lately been teaching as the true -doctrine of Concordats. - -The _Unitá Cattolica_ (June 23), however, put this tranquil attitude of -France in a different light-- - - Hohenlohe is sold to Prussia, and torments the Catholics of Bavaria - to push them to throw themselves into the arms of Prussia, where - Catholicism enjoys the utmost liberty, thanks to the fox-like - policy of Bismarck. This is known in Paris, and hence Napoleon - is said to have looked darkly on the perfidious proposals of the - Bavarian Minister. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 140: _Priv. Pet._, Part III. p. 37.] - -[Footnote 141: _Friedberg_, pp. 325-28.] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -Indulgences--Excitement--The Two Brothers Dufournel--Senestrey's -Speech--Hopes of the Ruin of Germany--What the Council will -do--Absurdity of Constitutional Kings--The True Saviour of Society--Lay -Address from Coblenz--Montalembert adheres to it--Religious Liberty -does not answer--Importance of keeping Catholic Children apart from the -Nation--War on Liberal Catholics--Flags of all Nations doing Homage to -that of the Pope. - - -On April 11, 1869, was issued another of those Bulls proclaiming -indulgences on which the world has almost ceased to look as one of -the forces of history. Nevertheless each of them is a monument to an -authority obeyed by disciplined millions, as holding executive power -both in this world and the other. Once more were long Latin sentences -filled out to tell the faithful that he who had power to bind and -to loose proclaimed to them, on the occasion of the Council, full -remission of their sins, and indulgence, on condition of their visiting -certain basilicas, and saying certain prayers.[142] "This pardon," says -the Archbishop of Florence, "was to extend not only till the opening of -the Council, but through the whole of its continuance."[143] Millions -were thus put under the necessity of imbibing the conviction, that sin -against our neighbour and our God admits of being cancelled in such a -way, or else of seeming to believe what they did not believe, or of -bowing and not asking themselves whether they believed it or not. - -About this time was inaugurated, with great display of dignitaries, -military and spiritual, a monument to two brothers Dufournel, who -lie in S. Lorenzo. The monument bears all the emblems of martyrdom -which the art of the catacombs can supply. Instead of the usual -request to pray for the repose of the soul, into which Romanism -fell from Christianity, stands the word of the early Christians, -"They rest"--here applied because martyrdom had merited what grace -was no longer believed to give. Emmanuel Dufournel, on meeting the -Garibaldians, shouted to his men, "Here, lads, is the spot to die; in -the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, forward!" When -expiring, he said, "I am pleased to see my blood flow from fourteen -wounds for the glory of Holy Church." The people of Valentano, where -he died, said to his men, "Let us kiss the bier; we do not come to -pray for his soul, but to commend ourselves to him" (VII. vi. 547). -"Such"--adds the reverend writer--"such is the Christian instinct which -distinguishes between combatants in any other cause, however just, and -the heroes of the Christian religion." To develop instincts of this -sort, it is impossible to conceive writing more skilfully adapted. And -these are the men who, at every breath, call the Italians Mussulmans! - -The other brother, Diodato Dufournel--young, handsome, polished, -rich--soon after the death of Alfred, met Father Gerlache at daylight -entering St. Peter's: "I go to say a mass for our dead on the Apostle's -tomb." "I go too," replied the Captain, and they entered the crypt. -The priest asked the zouave what had caused his strange absorption in -prayer. "Father, I was praying to the Virgin for the favour of dying -for Holy Church." Ten days afterwards he fell mortally wounded during -the Garibaldian disturbance in Rome. When the white-headed father -arrived, it was too late to see either son alive, but he was instantly -received by the Pope. The sovereign tried to fasten on his breast the -order of the Piano, but was blinded by his tears. Maria, the sister -of Diodato and Emmanuel, came between the two weeping old men, and, -guiding the hand of the Pope, fastened the decoration on the breast -of her father. The writer concludes by representing the ladies of -the house hereafter as pointing out to their little ones the glove, -the sword, the fatal ball, and other relics, the victor palm and the -exulting angels, and saying, "Their souls are in paradise, lovely and -resplendent, and are interceding for us. Children, kneel down and -pray to God that none of our family may degenerate from the example of -Diodato and Emmanuel Dufournel!" - -Bishop Senestrey, of Regensburg, known as a pupil of the Jesuits and -an ardent Ultramontane, made a speech at Schwandorf, which has not yet -been forgotten in Bavaria, and was soon heard of in other parts of -Germany. He said-- - - We Ultramontanes cannot yield. The antagonism can have no issue - but in war and revolution. A peaceable settlement is not possible. - Who makes your temporal laws? We observe them only because a force - stands behind which compels us. True laws come from God only. - Princes themselves reign by the grace of God, and when they have - no longer a mind to do so, I shall be the first to overturn the - throne.[144] - -To the Germans, who were just rising to a consciousness of their unity, -the threats of breaking them up again were cruel, especially when -coming from within. "The foreigner," said Sepp, "has always counted on -the internal splits in the German oak, to drive in his wedge, and rend -us to pieces." - -The scorn with which talk of recognizing Italy was treated at this -proud moment, may be judged from the words of the _Unitá_ for January -27, in an article headed, _Dying with Italy or Living with the Pope_. -The Marquis de Moustier, it remarks, having promised to study a _modus -vivendi_, proposed by Menabrea, was seized by mortal illness. In a -similar way Morny, Wallewsky, Petri, and Billault were struck with -death, by urgent study of means for making revolution live side by side -with the Pope. - -Parliamentary government, hateful everywhere, was viewed as monstrous -in Italy. The _Civiltá_ cannot "accurately study" the proceedings in -Florence, because of "the ineffable weariness, the disgust, the disdain -with which the mind is seized, on reading those speeches, often vulgar, -and running over with sophism and effrontery."[145] It proceeds to -say that the famous boons of 1789, _liberty of worship_, _liberty of -meeting_, _liberty of the Press_, and _liberty of instruction_, led in -practice "to the triumph of irreligion, to the tyranny of the State, -to unbridled licence in handling through the Press the most sacred and -inviolable rights, and to the barbarizing of the young by more infamous -ignorance." Yet, at the same time, it records with satisfaction efforts -of its own friends to obtain liberty of instruction, after their ideal; -that is, the State giving up to the priest the control of what is -taught to its subjects with its own money. - -The _Civiltá_ gloried in the disappearance of the Liberal Catholic -priests, utterly extinguished, as it held, by the Syllabus and by the -prospect of the Council. There might still linger some slight remnant -of Liberal Catholics among the laity. But Catholics in Italy were now -to be noted for their hope, their joy, and their perfect withdrawal -from political life. They were no more to be found seeking situations -from the government, but were all ardently drawing close to Pius IX. -Since he uttered the "prophetic word," Let us wait upon events, above -all since the Council was summoned, they had betaken themselves to -pious works and to waiting on the hand of the Almighty.[146] - -In the same publications which struggled against unity of nations, the -loss of another unity was bitterly deplored. "Catholic unity" in Spain, -hitherto existing by law, alas! exclaims the _Stimmen_, exists in -fact no longer. By religious unity is meant the state of things which -forbids men to worship God except under direction of the Pope. Massimo -D'Azeglio exclaimed as to Italy, Religious unity is the only unity we -have left. We should say, No wonder! - -The attempt to place the unity of Christians not in faith in Christ -and manifestation of His spirit, but in subjection to one human being, -has had just the same results as had the attempt to place the unity of -mankind in obedience to one sovereign, treating all who did not yield -as enemies. Human unity is larger and nobler than one throne will ever -shadow, and so is Christian unity. The lust of uniformity that erected -the Inquisition, fettered the Press, sentenced free opinion and free -speech to death, reformed the Decalogue, and laid bonds upon the Bible, -has never given a nation rest, and has only been an endless source of -division and scepticism. Azeglio, in the same breath in which he speaks -of this "unity," calls Italy "the ancient land of doubt," where even at -the time of the Reformation people thought little of Rome and nothing -of Geneva. And the _Stimmen_ says that those Spaniards who had broken -down "religious unity" were "not Protestants but sceptics."[147] So -that in both Italy and Spain the result of that uniformity which is no -unity, was scepticism in religion and decay in politics. - -To the race the bond of unity lies in a common Father, and to the -Church in a common Lord. In the one case and in the other the -maintenance of unity consists not in putting down variations, but in -treating them with brotherly regard. - -Very great political significance was lent by all the Papal Press to -festivities in honour of the Pope's fiftieth year of priesthood. The -demonstrations of devotion to him at this moment were fervent and -grand, and the supplies of money laid at his feet were immense. Great -care was taken by the _Civiltá_ to ridicule the idea of the _Opinione_ -that these manifestations had nothing to do with politics. On the -contrary, cried the leaders of the "good Press," humanity, bewildered -and almost in despair, was hastening to the feet of the only deliverer. -All society needed a saviour, as every rational creature knew. "The -Pontiff is now almost alone in the world, the representative of truth, -justice, and good sense." And hence, the poor world, swimming in error, -fraud and absurdity--"the world sees in Pius IX a true master, a true -judge, a true sovereign, and it cleaves to him as the bulwark of -society." The Syllabus suffices to prove that the Pope alone declares -the truth: "the Syllabus which burst like a thunderbolt out of a serene -sky, both illuminated and blasted." The nations seem to be saying, -To whom _should we go_, but to the Supreme Pastor of the Christian -flock?--_thou hast the words of eternal life_. Pius IX, by rejecting -the counsels of the prudent, "now has become morally the strongest -support of order in the world, so that those who have fallen, and -those who wish not to follow them, lean upon him." And not only so, but -the - - new queen of the world, Public Opinion, is now altogether in favour - of the Roman Pontiff, and protects and saves him, almost of herself - alone, against every violence and every intrigue, so that it now - may almost be said that all those in the world who are not with - Pius IX from love are with him by force (VII. vi. pp. 310-11). - -The writer then goes on to argue that the people can never understand -how one and the same person can have two consciences, one as a -constitutional king and the other as a man. This, however, is a -necessary condition of a constitutional king, but it is not the case in -the Pontifical States, where nobody would ever suppose such a condition -of things possible. - - The Pope has only one conscience, and neither majority nor - universality of votes and suffrages would ever lead him to sanction - that which is contrary to morality, to justice, to equity, and to - the well understood interests of his subjects and of the flock. The - Pope can say with truth, "Although all, not I"; and on this account - the eyes and the hearts of all in the world who hate fictions and - impostures, and who love truth and rectitude, are turned to the - Pope thus reigning and governing (p. 312). - -We make no attempt to inquire how many consciences a Pope may have. -The _Civiltá_ contends that he cannot have more than one. We have -heard Romans contend that one is above the number. Liverani (p. 140), -alluding with much personal respect to Father Mignardi, the Jesuit -confessor of Cardinal Antonelli, who, though not Pope, had much to do -with the perfect model of government above commended, evidently thinks -that a director of Antonelli's conscience held a sinecure. He asserts -that no one knew that his Eminence had a conscience till April 2, 1860, -when he declared the fact in a despatch to Count Cavour! And this is -the language of a prelate! - -The more distant prelates were already bidding their flocks farewell. -The Bishop of Montreal, in doing so, cited the example of the valorous -Canadian youths, who had enrolled themselves among the zouaves to -defend the Pope at the cost of their blood, exhorting his clergy with -similar courage to contend against the errors pointed out by the -Pope.[148] From Jerusalem five priests wrote to announce that they -would commence a concert of prayer, on the slopes of Calvary: 1. For -the happy result of the Council; 2. For the union of the Oriental -schismatics; 3. For the conversion of erring priests. At the same time -that it announces this fact, the _Civiltá_, quoting from the _Tablet_, -says that in Russia, "under the appearance of _external unity_, there -is great division of religious sects"; and that there is some desire -for union with Rome.[149] - -In June 1869 the Catholics of Coblentz presented an address to the -Bishop of Trêves, protesting against the innovations proposed by the -_Civiltá Cattolica_, and suggesting reforms in a spirit contrary to -that of the Syllabus. Great interest was excited by the warm adhesion -of Count Montalembert to the address. His services, both to the -spiritual and temporal power, had been conspicuous. He was now in the -grip of a mortal disease. France will always respect his piety and his -genius, but she will increasingly have cause to deplore the direction -of his influence, as the slow but sure results of priestly power in -education develop themselves. - -"Twice within the last few weeks," he writes, "have I touched the brink -of the grave." So he feels that he may speak of this world as one whose -personal interest in it is as nought. - -Speaking of the address, he says: "I cannot express how much I have -been moved and charmed by that glorious manifesto, flowing from the -reason and conscience of Catholics.... At last I seemed to hear a manly -and a Christian tone, amid the declamations and adulations wherewith -we are deafened." He would have signed "every line" of it, but he felt -somewhat humbled that it did not proceed from French Catholics, with -whose antecedents it would have harmonized, as well as with those -convictions which made them, in the early part of this century, the -champions of religious liberty on the Continent.[150] - -It was hard for the Jesuits to own that Montalembert stood in their -path, to be pitilessly struck down. For the present they tried to -reason. Like him, many, especially in Belgium, had imbibed the -conviction that civil and religious liberty were good in themselves, -and might be made to work favourably for the Church, which they thought -incurred great danger by setting herself in opposition to both, and -by using her spiritual engines for the overthrow of constitutional -government. Such men argued that the perfect liberty existing in -England, the United States, and Belgium had many advantages for the -Church. - -To reasoning of this sort the _Stimmen aus Maria Laach_ replied by -first of all uttering encomiums on religious liberty, and also on -those excellent Catholics who favoured it, thinking it might prove -best for the Church. But though this view of the case had its noble -aspects, there was another side to it. Experience proved that under -such a system the losses of the Church were deplorable. Not to speak -of Europe, the case of the United States would suffice. As much as -thirty years ago, Bishop England, of Charleston, had said that whereas -the Catholics ought to have six millions of the population, they -really had less than two. And this terrible loss was aggravated at the -present day, for considering the enormous immigration of Catholics -and the addition of Mexican territory in the meantime, they ought now -to number fifteen millions; but in fact they did not dare to claim -more than six. A good authority had showed that the Church lost more -souls in the State of Wisconsin in a single year, than she gained in -the whole Union. The loss among the children of the Irish was greater -than among those of the Germans. This the writer attributes to "the -pestiferous air" of non-denominational schools, and complains that the -system prevailing in America deprives children of a well-ordered and -continuous Catholic education, such as would protect them, among other -dangers, from the necessity of learning English.[151] - -This anxiety to keep up the German tongue in America illustrates the -cry raised in the German Press against that tongue being put out of -the schools, both in Posen and in the Tyrol. "Liberty of instruction" -had been so used that whole districts, once speaking German, had been -educated into the use of Polish in the one case, and of Italian in the -other. In both these countries the same reason which in America made it -desirable for Rome to keep up German, turned the other way. In America, -the German tongue would enclose a people, in the heart of the country, -walled off and apart from the nation. In the other cases, that tongue -would be a channel connecting the people with the ebb and flow of the -national mind. Even a comparatively small population, kept well in -hand, inaccessible to the common thought, and ready to obey every touch -of the leaders, may be made a formidable political power. Had Wales -been in the hand of Rome![152] - -Among the causes of chagrin to Montalembert would be a recent article -in the _Civiltá_, directed against the Liberal Catholics by name, -and plainly meant to thwart any influence with which they might have -hoped to approach the Council. A pamphlet being taken as a text, the -positions of the Liberal Catholics are stated, as--1. That modern -nations deserve more liberty than ancient ones; 2. That liberty of -worship should be conceded, as now inevitable; 3. That "the distinction -between Church and State" is not now to be got rid of, and has its -advantages; 4. That Catholics ought to avail themselves of all -liberties. On the first point it is replied that modern society has -made only material progress, but gone back in faith and morals, and -therefore deserves not more liberty than ancient society, but less. -On the second point, resenting an allusion of the Liberal Catholic -to the fact that Pius IX had himself granted a constitution at the -opening of his reign, the _Civiltá_ alleges, first, that it was -conceded _in circumstances of imperious necessity_; and, secondly, -that it was free from the essential faults which would deservedly -brand it as Liberal--"it lacked the criminal principles of liberty of -worship, of the Press, and of meeting." Moreover, it issued in the -exile of the Prince, "which seems to be the inevitable result of modern -constitutions." So the Pontiff was obliged to revoke it, and to condemn -it to oblivion. - -The Liberal Catholic writer had quoted passages, even from Jesuits, -to prove that it was lawful for princes, in given circumstances, to -tolerate liberty of worship. Certainly, replies the _Civiltá_, it is -lawful to tolerate it, if imperious circumstances render it necessary -in order to avoid a greater evil. But that is one thing, and admitting -liberty of worship as a principle is another. "What meaning have -the words of the present Pontiff when he declares that liberty of -conscience and of worship is madness, and the pest of the nations?" -What did he mean when he condemned President Comonfort for admitting -religious liberty into Mexico? Did Gregory XVI and Pius IX talk to the -middle ages? Did they tell the present generation what was suitable or -not suitable for the middle ages? Catholics may not be able to change -the state of things where liberty of worship already exists, but it -is in their power to prevent its entrance where it does not, and to -demonstrate its criminality, and its moral and social balefulness. As -to Catholics availing themselves of all liberties, that idea is no -patent of _Liberal_ Catholics. Of course Catholics avail themselves -of all liberties of which they can make use. But to take part in the -elections of a kingdom like that of Italy, formed by iniquity, and -binding up in itself a perpetual sacrilege, is impossible. The words of -the Bull which hurled an excommunication against king and people, are -paraded, and the unfortunate Liberal Catholic is reminded that those -words apply to _adherents_ of the spoliation.[153] - -A London correspondent of the _Civiltá_ told how the journals had at -first affected to ignore the Council, but now began to speak of it. -The Anglo-Catholic party were discussing projects of union, and he -gives an account of a meeting for that purpose, not naming time or -place, but making the Rev. Edward Urquhart prominent. It is said, he -adds, that one bishop will go to the Council; and the Ritualists think -that many of their party will do so. There is much cause for hope. -Some persons of high station have publicly said that they would submit -to the Council, and many say so privately. They do not feel safe in -Anglicanism. - -The prelate who replaced the Bishop of Montreal in his absence, -delivered an address, from which the _Civiltá_ repeats these words, -that Pius IX had a mission, and his mission was to recall, to confirm, -and to defend in the world, the law of the "Most High," the essential -principle of authority, and thus to "save at once both the Church and -Society."[154] But as a while ago we heard of toasts in which the Pope, -as universal king, was put before the national king, so now on British -ground is held up to admiration the trophy of banners in the Church -of St. Sulpice as the fairest tribute of "New France," as Canada is -called. The flags of all the societies in Montreal, and also those of -all nations, were gathered together "_in homage to the standard of Pius -IX, to express the obedience of the Catholic nations to the supreme -authority_."[155] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 142: _Acta_, p. 18. Freiburg edition, p. 62.] - -[Footnote 143: _Cecconi_, p. 144.] - -[Footnote 144: Menzel, _Jesuitenumtriebe_, p. 173.] - -[Footnote 145: Serie VII. vol. vi. p. 234-5.] - -[Footnote 146: Serie VII. vol. vi. pp. 226-27.] - -[Footnote 147: _Neue Folge_, Heft iii. p. 75.] - -[Footnote 148: _Civiltá_, Serie VII. vol. vi. p. 229.] - -[Footnote 149: Ibid. p. 229.] - -[Footnote 150: _Friedberg_, p. 88.] - -[Footnote 151: _Stimmen_, _Neue Folge_, Heft iv. pp. 59, 60.] - -[Footnote 152: Curious examples of this use of education are given by -Menzel, _Jesuitenumtriebe_.] - -[Footnote 153: Serie VII. vol. vi. pp. 445 ff.] - -[Footnote 154: Vol. vi. p. 488.] - -[Footnote 155: Ibid. p. 488.] - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -Publication of Janus--Hotter Controversy--Bishop Maret's Book--Père -Hyacinthe--the Saviour of Society again--Dress--True Doctrine of -Concordats not Contracts but Papal Laws--Every Catholic State has -Two Heads--Four National Governments Condemned in One Day--What a -Free Church means--Fulda Manifesto--Meeting of Catholic Notables in -Berlin--Political Agitation in Bavaria and Austria--Stumpf's Critique -of the Jesuit Schemes. - - -Little more than three months remained before the opening of the -Council, when the intellectual movement respecting it received a new -impulse. A book under the title of _The Pope and the Council_, by -Janus, issued from the German press; and conjecture at once ascribed -the principle authorship to no less a person than Döllinger, although -it was assumed that he had availed himself of aid. The profound -impression made by this work may be accounted for, partly by the -excitement in the midst of which it appeared, and partly by its own -force. It combined a minute knowledge of the inner history of the -Church, with comprehensive views of the questions, both doctrinal and -constitutional, which were now raised. - -After a few clear passages from modern utterances of authority. Janus -strikes the keynote rather higher than he is prepared to sustain -it--"So they find themselves under a delusion, who believed that in the -Church, the spirit of the Bible, and of old Christianity, had got the -upper hand of that spirit of the middle ages according to which she was -a penal establishment, able to send men to prison, to the gallows, or -to the stake." - -Beginning with the _Magna Charta_ which Innocent III condemned, while -he excommunicated the Barons, Janus cites case after case in which -the establishment of free institutions, and especially of freedom of -worship, brought down the solemn condemnation of the Pope. The case -of Austria in 1868 is the latest. With the quietness of scientific -knowledge, he states what at the time would have required from an -English writer arguments and proofs in detail, namely, the simple but -most important fact that the oft-quoted word of the Apostle, "We must -obey God rather than men," means, in the Jesuit sense, We must obey -the Pope as the representative of God upon earth, and the infallible -interpreter of the Divine will, rather than any civil superior, or any -law of the State (p. 33). - -The tone of Janus is calm and scholarly, without being cold; and -the acuteness of his analysis is such as is found only where clear -intellectual insight is united to trained habits of weighing language -with reference to possible interpretations by such casuists as are -formed by the Curia and the Jesuits. - -He clearly proved that the Church was on the eve of one of the greatest -constitutional changes ever effected in any commonwealth. If, in the -past, the forged Decretals of the pseudo-Isidore had facilitated -inroads upon the constitution of the Church, how much more would an -authentic article of the creed, containing in itself the power of -making any number of other articles, and assuming as its basis the -unlimited authority of the Pope, pave the way to far-reaching civil and -ecclesiastical encroachments! When Archbishop Manning said of Janus -that by some it was "regarded as the shallowest and most pretentious -book of the day" (_Priv. Pet._, iii. p. 114), he greatly moderated -the tone of his Continental friends. Most bad things that could be -said against a book, or its writers, were said in very bad language. -The Archbishop himself could not let it pass without twice calling it -"infamous," and that in a pastoral. - -The excitement in Germany now reached a point at which the bishops -began to be alarmed. The "good Press" undertook to extenuate the -importance of the changes dreaded, and threw doubts on the probability -of their being adopted. The perplexity became greater when, in France, -appeared a book in two volumes from the pen of Monsignor Maret, said -by some to be the most learned prelate in the country, and who, at -all events, was Dean of the Theological Faculty of the Sorbonne. He -combated the proposed innovations with French tact and skill, raising -a voice, if not for the old Gallican doctrines as a whole, at least -for some remains both of them and of the liberties with which are -identified the names of the most renowned Churchmen in France since -the Reformation.[156] The book made a profound but passing impression. -It was called _Religious Peace and the General Council_; but the -Jesuit historian Sambin (p. 47) styles it a brand increasing the -conflagration. The question raised was that between a constitutional -but oligarchical government and a personal one for the Church. Maret -holds that in her constitution a check upon the monarch was provided -by the "aristocracy," that is, the bishops (vol. ii, p. 107). The -democracy is formed by the priests and the laity. But we may point -out that this is very loose language. _Democracy_ means a people with -power, not a populace excluded from all functions of government. The -people in the Papal Church are absolutely stripped of all part in -government. They are a mere populace. The clergy are disfranchised -officials. That Church is a society with a populace, but without -a democracy. Before the Vatican Council, it had a constitutional -aristocracy. Since then, the bishops are nobles without any but -delegated power. Maret clearly states the familiar fact, that in the -earlier centuries both clergy and laity took part in the election of -bishops. But when he comes to speak of the part taken by kings in their -election, the facts glide out of sight, as noiselessly as writers of -his school generally say that they are wont to do in the hands of a -Jesuit. A reader might imagine that kings first got the idea of a right -in the election of bishops by some grant of the Church; whereas even -the Bishops of Rome were for a long time elected on imperial or royal -order, coming from Greek or Goth, from Arian or orthodox prince, as the -case might be. - -Maret quotes Cardinal de la Luzerne as saying that a General -Council, in which the order of priests was not represented, would be -illegitimate though not invalid (vol. i. p. 125); and gives it as the -general opinion of theologians that their presence was _necessary_. He -also admits that the presence of laymen in the Councils is attested by -a large number of documents. - -Von Schulte reviewed this work in the _Literaturblat_ of Bonn (v. -pp. 2 and 54). Looking at it in a popular sense, Schulte thought it -was a book to mark an epoch. It was likely to produce a great effect -among the clergy, little among the laity. Time has not justified this -anticipation. The fact is, all the younger clergy had been educated -out of French ideas and sympathies, and such of the young laity too as -had been brought up by priests. Men were but beginning to find how the -Christian Brothers, and convent schools, and episcopal seminaries had -changed France. - -The _Civiltá_, in reply, objects even to Maret's formula, _the Pope -with the bishops superior to himself alone_. Such an objection implies -that in Council all the bishops add to the Pope nothing at all. So -many mitres without any heads in them would add at least as much. We -believe, indeed, that great thinkers have doubted whether a judge with -his wig is not superior to the same judge without his wig. But the Pope -with all the bishops is not superior to the Pope without any bishop! -The Jesuit writer says that he thinks he expresses the mind of Maret -with exactness when he puts it thus, _The supreme power resides in the -Pope together with the bishops; in the Pope as supreme, whose strict -duty it is nevertheless, to obey; in the bishops as subordinate, who, -nevertheless, have the right to command_ (_Civiltá_, VII. viii. p. 257 -ff.). - -The choicest auditories of Paris had often crowded noble Notre Dame, -quaffing with delight the sparkling eloquence of the Carmelite preacher -Hyacinthe. Now the ear of the country was thrilled for a moment, by -a cry from that eloquent voice. "By an abrupt change," he wrote to -the General of his order on September 20, 1869, "for which I blame -not your own feelings, but a party in Rome, you now accuse what you -did encourage, and blame what you did approve, commanding me to hold -a language, or to preserve a silence, which would not represent my -conscience." - -Placed in this difficulty, he must forsake General, order, and convent. -He continues: "My profound conviction is, that if France in particular, -and the Latin races in general, are delivered over to social, -moral, and religious anarchy, the principal cause is, not assuredly -Catholicism itself, but the manner in which it has been understood and -practised for a long time."[157] - -St. Peter's Day, always a great day in Rome, was, of course, of -surpassing importance in the year of the Council. The _Civiltá_ -celebrated it in an article very like one of the Pope's Speeches. -This article yields an example of a dualism in the government of -the universe which must glide in as the unconscious but inevitable -complement of the doctrine into which Papal writers fall, in explaining -away what to others seems the blight of Providence on whatever they -rule according to their own principles. They begin by separating the -God of Providence from the God of grace. They end by turning the -bounties of Providence into the bribes of the evil one. It will be seen -that in what follows national prosperity comes from the devil. The -increase of our fields, the blessing in our basket and our store, are -in reality a curse. This, though unseen to the poor Pope who teaches -such things, presents a true and a very hurtful form of Manicheism. It -is another proof that they who readily forge and hurl bad names are not -safe from the errors which those names when correctly used denote. - -In June the Curia had to set up a strong resistance to the movement -originated in Austria for the abrogation of the Concordat. That -instrument, which had formed the diplomatic triumph of Cardinal -Rauscher and had crowned the professional reputation of Schulte, -had legally restored to the Papal Church much of what it calls its -liberties; but the clergy complained that they never practically got -all that was promised upon paper; In the _Frond_ biographies of the -Cardinals, that of Rauscher describes the condition of the Church in -Austria, under the Josephine laws, as deplorable! Instead of leaving -her, like Protestant Prussia, to manage her own affairs, without having -defined either what "manage" or "her own" meant, Austria, knowing -how Rome interprets, had taken a different course. There was left, -according to our authority, no canon law, but only such legislation as -was imbued with Febronianism and Caesarism. Bulls, briefs, rescripts, -and even the pastorals of bishops were subject to the royal _placet_. -Marriage was withdrawn from under the control of the Church. The -State pushed into everything, "and the Catholic Church had none of -the liberties claimed by the tolerance of the age for all religions." -Rauscher had succeeded in getting these grievances redressed, but -now the national spirit was rising against his work. His Concordat -bound Austria to concede to the Church "all rights and privileges to -which by the divine order and by canon law she is entitled." Probably -the Emperor but imperfectly comprehended what that implied. Rauscher -comprehended it. He was as honest a man as any Papal priest is likely -to be. He was the adviser of the Emperor, and his sworn personal -friend. Any one may tell what such friends do for princes who will only -master what Rauscher managed to bind his sovereign to. The minister, -Von Hasner, put the plea for the abrogation of the Concordat on ground -exceedingly offensive to the Pope and those around him. When the -Concordat was contracted, said Hasner, Rome was an independent State. -Now, it has ceased to be so, and is sustained only by foreign arms. -The reply from the Vatican was: So long as the Pope is sustained by -Christian arms, he can never be sustained by those of foreigners. -The reply of the politician would have been that in 1855, when the -Concordat was concluded, the Papal State was as much dependent upon -foreign arms as in 1867, the only difference being that at the former -time the arms holding a great portion of it were those of Austria. - -On the anniversary of the Pope's accession, his speech, addressed to -the Sacred College, contained the following passage: "The two societies -of which the world consists," said his Holiness, are, first, the Tower -of Pride, i.e. Babel; secondly, the society whose prototype is seen "in -the upper room, on the day of Pentecost, where Peter, the Apostles, -and thousands of the faithful of different nations, heard one and the -same language and understood it." Those who wish to form a clear idea -of what these two organs of two hostile societies are--the Babel tongue -and the Pentecostal tongue--must just keep their eyes open as we go on. -(_Civiltá_, VII. vii. p. 130.) - -The Pope, on June 25, calling governments before "his tribunal," and -sitting in judgment, pronounced censure on the governments of Italy, -Austria, Spain, and Russia. Italy was discussing a law to subject -students even for the priesthood to the conscription. Austria was -miserably wronging and injuring the Church. Spain was doing likewise, -or worse. And Russia was persecuting the Polish bishops and sending -them into exile. The high spirits of the Court at this moment appear -in the comments on these sentences. We give a few specimens from the -_Civiltá_ (VII. vii. p. 135, etc.)-- - - From no other lips could those words burst forth, save from those - of him who is set by God as ruler of His Church, with divine power, - above all human powers.... Only the Pope can thus menace, reprove, - and instruct, because he only is set in a region above all human - greatness between heaven and earth.... When science gloried in - being Catholic, and authority in being derived from God, both were, - when they spoke, echoes of the word of the Pope. But science and - authority have become unchristianized. The Pope has remained what - he was--the herald, the oracle of the Lord. - -The article proceeded to show that the Pope had menaced in the same -breath one republic, Spain; two constitutional monarchies, Italy and -Austria; and one absolute monarchy, Russia. This could not be done -unless the Pope was king. Then follows a specimen of history as it -flourishes under Pius IX. The Roman Emperors used to imprison the -Popes, in order to reign in Rome; and Constantine, _not wishing to -imprison_ the Pope, abandoned Rome. But a king not Pope, and a Pope not -king, never were able to live here together, and never will be able to -do so. (_Civiltá_, VII. vii. p. 131 ff.) - -Great attention was awakened by the prominence given by the _Civiltá_ -(p. 210) to a publication of Bishop Plantier, of _Nimes_. It was -"splendid and profound." Plantier spoke of the suggestion that the -two doctrines of Papal infallibility and the assumption of the Virgin -should be defined by acclamation. He alleged that such a mode of -definition could be conveniently and infallibly adopted, and asked -if the Council should adopt it, what would be the harm? He ridiculed -the idea that the assistance of the Holy Spirit would be given to a -decision by vote and not to one by acclamation. The appearance of this -in the _Civiltá_, after all that had passed, quickened the fears of the -anti-infallibilists and also of the anti-opportunists lest the Pope -should be determined to carry through the definition by acclamation. - -Early in September the bishops of Germany met at Fulda, and issued -a collective pastoral. They solemnly deprecated the rumours spread -abroad as to the intentions of the Council. The bishops went on to -asseverate that the Council would never define any new doctrine which -was not contained in holy writ or in tradition, but would define -only principles which were written "on all your hearts by faith and -conscience" (_Friedberg_, p. 276). The Catholics of Germany took this -solemn language in its apparent meaning; and the persuasion that their -bishops would stand fast, and that the Curia would not ride roughshod -over such a body, tranquillized most men. Only ecclesiastics appear -to have suspected that the assurance might amount to little more than -carefully dovetailed words. - -The German bishops, in giving the assurance that nothing but what -the faithful believed would be defined, probably hoped that the fact -of their having to give such an assurance would weigh at Rome, as a -hindrance to the plans in contemplation. If so, they only furnished -one more proof of the truth which we in England have been told by Dr. -Newman, that _no pledge from Catholics is of any value to which Rome is -not a party_.[158] - -If the German bishops read as little as Dr. Friedrich says they do, -they perhaps do not read the _Unitá Cattolica_. There is no doubt that -it, at least, speaks language agreeable in the highest quarters. In its -number for the preceding 1st of May, it commented on the same assurance -as having been flung before the French people. "If the Council," says -this real echo, "should only define what all believe, the Council would -be useless, for in points which all believe all are agreed." To say, -it proceeds, that an OEcumenical Council should express what all the -faithful think, is to confound the Teaching Church with the Learning -Church. "The pen falls from our hands, and we have not courage to -contend against such nonsense." - -After having put this assurance before their nation, certain of the -bishops felt it necessary to address a private appeal to the Pope, -drawn up by Dinkel, Bishop of Augsburg, representing the great danger -to the Church in Germany which the proposed alterations would involve, -and praying him to abandon "the far-reaching projects which were -ascribed to him."[159] A similar appeal was sent to his Holiness by -the prelates of Hungary, in which country a notable commencement had -been made in restoring the laity to a part in the management of Church -affairs.[160] - -In June 1869 a remarkable meeting of Catholic notables was held in -Berlin; with an account of which Sepp opens his book. The chair was -filled by Peter Reichensperger, since noted for his Ultramontane zeal, -and Herr Windhorst, now the Ultramontane leader in the Reichstag, was -present, with even Dr. Jörg, of Bavaria, whose allusion, in the winter -of 1874, to the attempt of Kullman on the life of Bismarck called forth -a remarkable speech from that statesman. These gentlemen, thinking, or -professing to think, that their bishops would defeat what the Curia had -planned, adopted an address expressive of confidence in them, and of -their hope that the threatened collision between the Church and their -governments and nation might be averted. - -Sepp himself went to Prague to present the document to Cardinal Prince -Schwarzenberg. The latter read it slowly, thought it over, and said, -"It is far too weak. With Rome you must hold very different language -from that." In further conversation Sepp said to the Cardinal, "You -have in Prague the first canonist in Germany (Schulte), the man who -drafted the Austrian Concordat, and surely he can be employed in -similar work for the Council." The reply was: "You have in Munich the -greatest Catholic theologian in Germany, and the gentlemen in Rome will -not hear of his being invited" (_Sepp_, p. 4). - -Large numbers of priests had been returned to the Bavarian Parliament, -all burning with zeal against Prussia, and against union under it. In -1868 the clerical agitation had gone so far that, in November of that -year, President Badhauser, when closing the Landsrath, addressed the -members in unwonted language-- - - When the government of the country and its organs, the chamber - which represents the people, and the new laws, are daily held up to - suspicion, mockery, and contempt, when the peasantry are excited - against the townspeople, and when men, throwing off all patriotic - shame, feed themselves with hopes of foreign intervention, - threatening our German warriors with the chassepots, then must - every honourable man condemn such proceedings; for the venom daily - instilled will, in time, poison the honest country people, as - occurrences in Upper Bavaria already show.[161] - -Secret associations for Ultramontane objects were formed even among -children. Those of the clergy who would have warned the authorities -were still kept still by secret terrorism. The meeting of the Council -and the necessity of overthrowing Prince Hohenlohe were closely -connected with this turmoil. And the Liberals plainly said, "The whole -Catholic world is to be fanaticized, to enable the great Catholic -powers, after crushing Prussia, as they hope to do, to carry out a -grand reaction."[162] - -The _Vaterland_ went so far, when Napoleon III took his last -_plébiscite_, as to tell its readers that a French intervention in -Germany would soon follow, that it was eagerly looked for, and that -all would join France to break the hated yoke of Prussia. Morally, -Prussia was already at an end, but it was for France to put an end -to her physically. "Who can tell if we shall have any North German -Confederation, Zollverein, or Prussian monarchy in 1871?"[163] Similar -hopes of great events often pointed to the year of the Council, or the -year after. The _Civiltá_ did not scruple to tell Napoleon III that he -owed the new _plébiscite_ to Mentana. So far from concealing the Pope's -direct action in a question affecting the stability of a throne, his -confidential writers exaggerated his influence. - -In Austria a struggle had set in against the supernatural order. Laws -on civil marriage, education, and registry of baptism were passed by -the legislature, and tardily assented to by the Emperor. The Bishop of -Linz issued a manifesto saying that he would not acknowledge the new -illegitimate laws--of course under the plea of obeying God rather than -man. Turning on the Emperor, he said that he had pledged his faith -to the Concordat as a man and as a kaiser. Other prelates, in milder -language, set Papal above Austrian law. Finally, as we have already -seen, on June 22, 1868, the Pope himself laid the new laws under his -condemnation. - -A Catholic meeting against the school law was being held in the church -at Schlanders, and while the curate was making a speech Count Manzano, -the local authority, declared the meeting closed. Cries of "Down with -him! kill him!" were raised. He was thrown to the ground, beaten on the -breast, and barely escaped to the barracks of the gensdarmes. - -When the Council was closely approaching, great excitement broke out -in Austria against the religious orders. The spark which kindled the -blaze was the discovery of a nun confined in the Carmelite convent of -Cracow. She had been kept in one cell for twenty years, with incredible -privations and in bestial filth. The rage of the public forced the -government to go as far as some show of action. Orders were issued for -the inspection of convents. Sentences of bishops condemning priests to -confinement in ecclesiastical prisons were declared invalid unless the -culprit voluntarily consented. The bishops were also required to give -in lists of the voluntary prisoners. - -These measures were resented as an "insult to the episcopate." The -Bishop of Brünn won himself an honourable mention in the _Civiltá_ by -a circular in which he repelled the pretensions of the government, -refused the list required, and told the superiors of monasteries to pay -no heed to the orders. While this second government was set up, beside -that of the country, the voice of Rome cheered it on in taking the -upper hand. The same voice railed against the constitutional ministers, -the parliament, and the laws. - -The combative Bishop of Linz, in a great meeting, said that he did not -cast any doubt on the religious feeling of the Emperor, but he was now -nothing more than a constitutional sovereign. Instead, therefore, of -merely saying that they had confidence in the Emperor, they must come -to his aid. This was repeated in Rome, with the explanation that it -had been said that the bishop in this appeal for aid to the Emperor -was only uttering the sentiments of his Majesty as expressed to the -bishop. Thus were bishops commended by the organ of the Papal Court for -breaking the laws of their country, and credited with influencing the -mind of the sovereign in a sense hostile to the constitution.[164] - -The Ultramontane party had frequently, during the year (1868) been -encouraged by correspondents in Paris to expect a war of France against -Prussia. On March 10, the _Unitá_ contained a letter expressing fears -that Austria and Italy might agree to remain neutral, but quoting a -passage from the _Volksbote_ in favour of French invasion of Germany. -On April 23 it was said that for a year past the Emperor had allowed no -opportunity of rousing the war spirit to pass. A week later a crusading -significance was given to the approaching anniversary of Joan of Arc. -It was announced that more than twelve archbishops and bishops would -attend--among them Cardinal Bonnechose--and that the Empress would -grace the scene. On May 1 the fact that the appearance in Paris of -Benedetti, the French ambassador at Berlin, was officially said to have -no connection with political prospects, was noted for a smile. On -the 13th the display at the festival of Joan of Arc at Orleans, with -a great array of prelates, was described as "one of the noblest ever -connected with war and religion, well adapted to excite a nation which -aims at uniting the cross with the sword." On June 19 it was said that -the mission of General Fleury to Florence was with reason taken as a -sign of approaching war. - -Yet, while the Emperor of the French was looked to as leader against -the foe whom the Church had marked out for the first victim, every sign -of discord in France, every outbreak or disorder was eagerly paraded -as proof of the anarchy to which all countries must come under any -régime but that of the Church. At the same time every crime, riot, or -difficulty in Italy was magnified and dwelt upon with the same moral. -"Let the Chamber invoke the authority of the Council, and proclaim its -canons as the laws of the State," was the demand of the _Unitá_ eight -months before the Council met (March 21). Another saying was, There are -three Italys--the Italy of Pius IX, which prays; the Italy of Mazzini, -which conspires; the Italy of Menabrea, which trembles (March 27). -Menabrea was then Premier. Again-- - - The Council is drawing near, and Babylon is trembling, hell is - blaspheming, and before long the world will hear the infallible - word of truth and righteousness. Hallelujah!... The revolution - which for nine years has been bent on marching to Rome is - disgraced, senseless, divided. The traitors are betrayed, the - robbers plundered, and the rebels plotted against by rebellion. - Hallelujah! (March 28). - -The _Unitá_ found that the threefold opposition of governments, -rationalists, and heretics showed itself most strongly in May, the -month of Mary, which only means that the Immaculate has set her heel on -the three heads of the Hydra. Here the mention of governments as one -head of the Hydra is no slip of the pen, that is, governments which -dwelt in Babylon, as we have just read, or in the tower of Babel, as -it is more frequently expressed. Three days later (May 23) the _Unitá_ -cries, "It is time for Catholics to be up in defence of the Council. It -is the only plank of safety for shipwrecked society." The _Memoriale -Diplomatique_ says that "governments are less and less disposed to -interfere in religious questions, unless their rights are infringed; -but such reserve is war against the Council, which _being infallible -cannot infringe any right_." The italics here are our own; and would -that we could print the words on the mind of every rising man in -England. That would save vast waste of words. - -The courage of the _Civiltá_ was stimulated by the French elections -in the summer, and its hatred of United Italy boiled over. The ever -faithful _Univers_ had given the watchword to the electors. "The -temporal power, and liberty of higher instruction!" In the cry "liberty -of higher instruction," we have the popular side of the original -call of the _Civiltá_ for universities all over Europe, canonically -instituted. One hundred and twenty deputies were pledged to the -program, and the French electors ought to be proclaimed as having -deserved well of Catholicism. "The illustrious Louis Veuillot," as the -_Civiltá_ styles him, had shown that what the Voltairians wanted was -the separation of Church and State, from which would follow the decay -of Christian worship to such a point that it might be feasible to -annihilate it. - -Noble, Catholic, chivalrous France is contrasted, by the _Civiltá_, -with vile Italy. The latter, in a serious catalogue of crimes, is said -to have "reduced the bishops to the extreme of poverty, has at its own -caprice impeded the divine word, and showed more than sixty dioceses -widowed of their pastors." The French voters had said, "We go to the -urn as the delegates of the universal suffrage of Christendom." "The -monstrous edifice of Italian unity must crumble," says this Romanist, -who was no Roman. It is founded on the ruins of the temporal power of -the Pontiff, which cannot perish. (VII. vi. 611 ff.) - -The plea of the Liberal Catholics for freedom of conscience became more -and more offensive to the Catholics. The Fathers of Laach, in censuring -the address of the laymen of Coblentz, went so far as to say that the -treatment of the Jews in Rome "showed no want of humanity or civil -tolerance." These educated laymen well knew that the proper condition -of heretics, according to the same principles, ought to be much worse -than that of the Ghetto Jews. The latter, not being baptized, were -theoretically not subject to the jurisdiction of the Church, but the -others, as Bellarmine shows, _though not of the Church, belonged to the -Church_. Stumpf, writing in the Bonn _Literaturblatt_, did not content -himself with questioning the intolerant doctrine of the Jesuits; he -directly attacked it. He took an important step further--one, indeed, -which seems like a new life in the Roman Catholic intellect. He told -the Jesuits plainly that their exclusive principle of one _fold_ -rendered religious freedom and unity impossible. Here he touched the -distinction between the grand and the huge, which Romanists carefully -keep out of sight, and which the sincerest advocates of liberty in -their ranks had hitherto overlooked. They took for a grand conception -of the unity of Christians, as consisting in submission to one human -head. That conception is narrow and illusory. It fails of grandeur by -monstrous disproportion. Stumpf goes on to declare that the absolute -dominion of the Church over the State, although the favourite doctrine -as he admits, in Rome, is in contradiction to the fundamental principle -of Christianity. He would no longer be content, as a Liberal Catholic, -to plead for freedom of conscience merely as a compromise. He says, We -now represent a principle. The theocratic principle menaces society, -and that principle will never be satisfied till the acknowledgment of -civil rights is made to depend upon the profession of the Catholic -faith. He adds that a promise to compromise _till we had the power_ -would content no one, because the modern world has learned that nothing -is settled till the principle is settled. He says, We are determined to -have the Church a Church, and the State a State. But this a postulate -which demands, as its condition, individual freedom. According to him -it was Christ that introduced among men the idea of independence, and -that of a limit existing to the power of the State, by distinguishing -His own kingdom of love and grace from that of law and compulsion. -"When the Church authorities," says Stumpf, "do admonish the rulers -of the State, their first counsel should be to consider it their -highest duty to protect freedom of conscience. They ought to warn them, -before any other kind of unrighteousness against the use of force, -for or against any form of religion which is not inconsistent with -the maintenance of moral law"; and he adds, what we shall emphasize, -"_privation of civil equality is an employment of force_." Such, he -says, was the counsel given by the early Christian teachers; and though -later teachers reversed it, their course is not to be justified before -the law of Christ. - -The _end_ of the State, as viewed by Stumpf, is much loftier than -that assigned to it in the Papal theory. In the great collection of -families called by men a State, he does not see a body politic without -a moral mission, existing, according to the ruinous theology of Rome, -only for temporal ends--a body politic which would be unworthy of God -or man. According to Stumpf, the end of the State is _the maintenance -of general moral order_. This theory does not bind the families of a -country acting in their collective capacity, to prescribe the creed -and cult of individuals. No more does it bind them, on the other hand, -to resign all moral aims, leaving every moral question to be decided -for them without any appeal to the common conscience, to fruits or -to the Bible, by a power which would strip the State of every moral -quality, and would also prescribe the creed and cult of all. The -theory of Stumpf holds that the collective authority of the nation, in -the affairs common to all the families of that nation, is called to -regulate action so far as action affects the common good, but does not -hold that it is called to regulate belief. Claiming for the Church the -full right of asserting and urging moral principles, Stumpf, with great -solemnity, claims for the legislator freedom to frame law according to -his own conscience, and to his belief in what tends to the maintenance -and the perfecting of moral order. This he has to do without the -direction of any ecclesiastic, but knowing that he must give account to -God. _No omnipotent word of Church authorities can or shall deter us -from this work._ Then he interjects, Would it not be pleasant to have -to consult the theologians of the _Civiltá_ and the _Stimmen_? The -Jesuits, he alleges, had no conception of any exercise of moral power -upon one another but in the way of commanding and obeying. The Church -in the middle ages, by her influence in secular affairs secularized -herself, and lost her moral influence, which was never recovered -to Christianity till the States had done what the Jesuits call -apostatizing from Christ, and so opened the way for a return of true -moral Christian influence. The early Church, he truly and nobly points -out, was able, in the face of the omnipotent heathen authorities, to -pervade society with her true moral influences; and he contends that -nothing can give back to the Church her position as the first force in -culture, but the recognition of the independence of the State. - -One very curious part of this grave and forceful essay is the protest -of the layman against the twisting of Scripture by the Jesuits. He puts -together a number of the texts upon which they ring the changes, making -them prove their own ideas by the simple process of putting those ideas -into them, and reiterating them again and again. The first of the texts -which he quotes is, "Teach all nations." He, apparently, is not aware -that this is now as handy a weapon with those theologians as "obey God -rather than man." In their lips "teach" means "make laws," and "all -nations" means, not _every creature_, but, collectively, all States. -Therefore the words "_teach all nations_" are, in the lips of the -Jesuits, a commission to the Pope to give laws to all countries, or, -in highflown language, "to exercise the supreme magisterial office." -The Jesuits had saucily told the laymen of Coblentz to ask the nearest -theologian for an explanation of the relations between the natural -order and the supernatural. But this particular layman gave them as -good as they brought. When men write as he does, they have begun to be -Catholics, have ceased to be Papists, and are, however unconsciously, -in process of ceasing to be Romanists. - - * * * * * - -The Allocution of June 22, in which the constitution and new laws of -Austria were condemned, had proved as distasteful to Liberal Catholics -as it had been agreeable to the Jesuits. "The Curialistic notion," -says the author of _Reform in Head and Members_, "that the law of the -Church must be the inviolable rule for all laws and statutes, and -for all and every kind of activity in the life of the State, runs -through it like a black thread. The Austrian _Magna Charta_ of civil, -political, religious and scientific freedom was called a sacrilegious -law. Moreover, the Pope," he proceeds to say, "had declared that these -laws themselves, together with _all that should arise out of them_, are -and ever will be invalid and of no effect.... Every enlightened person -among the Catholics of Germany and France concealed himself in silence -and in mourning at this rude opposition of Rome to the public law of -the entire Western world." Count Beust, in a despatch dated about ten -days after the Allocution was delivered, said that "the Holy See had -extended its animadversions to subjects 'which we by no means can allow -to be under its authority.'" We shall hereafter see how clearly and -completely Count Beust had now grasped the question as between the -Papacy and the life of nations. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 156: Monsignor Maret boldly quotes Eusebius as saying (Book -II. cap. xiv.) that Peter was not only the greatest and strongest of -the Apostles, which is like what he says, but that he was the prince -and patron of them all, which he does not say. That is said for him by -the Latin translator. The one word προἡγορον, "spokesman," or -champion, of Eusebius is deliberately turned into the two, "prince and -patron"--_Principem et patronum_.--_Maret_, vol. i. p. 97.] - -[Footnote 157: See the original, _Vitelleschi_, p. 266.] - -[Footnote 158: _Letter to the Duke of Norfolk_, p. 14.] - -[Footnote 159: _Friedberg_, p. 19.] - -[Footnote 160: See Lord Acton, _Zur Geschichte_.] - -[Footnote 161: _Weltbegebenheiten_, 336.] - -[Footnote 162: Ibid. i. 327.] - -[Footnote 163: Ibid. 340.] - -[Footnote 164: _Civiltá_, VII. viii. pp. 209 ff.] - - - - -CHAPTER X - -Conflicting Manifestoes by Bishops--Attacks on -Bossuet--Darboy--Dupanloup combats Infallibility--His relations -with Dr. Pusey--Deschamps replies--Manning's Manifesto--Retort of -Friedrich--Discordant Episcopal Witnesses. - - -In November 1869 the Bishop of Versailles, writing of Bossuet, said -that the fame of the Eagle of Meaux was from day to day declining -(_Friedberg_, p. 81). This was but a symptom of the new war against -nationalism. Professor Ceccucci, though writing for a French audience, -did not scruple to say, "If Bossuet escaped excommunication, he owed it -to the benign and paternal indulgence of the Holy See" (_Frond_, iv. p. -112). Bishop Dupanloup soon took occasion to show that Innocent XI sent -Bossuet two briefs congratulating him on having written in a manner -calculated to win back heretics and increase the propagating power of -the Church.[165] If the Church, even before infallibility had been -proclaimed, began to be so conscious of its narrowness that it could -hardly contain Bossuet, what will it be when a few centuries more have -passed over it? - -As the opening of the Council drew nearer, feeling grew warmer in -political and religious circles. Archbishop Darboy sketched the -impending dangers in a pastoral-- - - "You have been told that articles of faith which hitherto you have - not been bound to believe, are to be imposed upon you; that points - affecting civil society and the relations of Church and State are - to be treated in a spirit opposed to the laws and usages of the - age; that a certain vote is to be carried by acclamation; that the - bishops will not be free, and that the minority, even if eloquent, - will be treated as an opposition, and will soon be put down by the - majority.... It must be owned that much has been done to spread - these alarms by writers taking different sides."[166] - -Bishop Dupanloup, when about leaving home for the Council, published -a memorable letter. He seemed to regard the desire of the French -clergy for centralization as the origin of the cry for a dogma. The -change, however, from a national to a Papal spirit was natural. Was it -likely that youths from the schools of the Christian Brothers, passed -through an episcopal seminary, would comprehend the national spirit -and episcopal convictions of Darboy or even of Dupanloup?[167] The -lower education of the country had been just long enough in the hands -of Rome to begin to bear fruit. Dupanloup meant no ill to France when -he succeeded in binding Louis Philippe to Gregory XVI, by inducing him -to give the priests their way in schools, in return for forbearance in -baptizing the Comte de Paris, as the son of a mixed marriage, and of a -mother who refused to abjure her Protestantism. But he then did one of -the most hurtful deeds to France, and to the future of European peace, -that man could have done. - - This letter, cries Sambin, gave an episcopal head to the revolt; - ... the objection was pointed against the opportuneness of - defining the dogma of infallibility, but it was hardly possible - to be deceived--the principle of infallibility itself seemed to - be attacked.... The acts of the sovereign Pontiff were presented - in a light so far from the truth, that a feeling of profound - astonishment passed through the ranks of pastors and people. They - were grieved to see the paling away of the triple halo which had - hitherto hovered around the author's brow (_Sambin_, p. 49). - -This was published in France in 1872, after Dupanloup had "submitted," -and rendered new and conspicuous service to the Papacy. As Dupanloup's -pamphlet will be hard to find hereafter, and as it is a representative -document, we may give a general idea of the argument it presents. - -For two years, says Dupanloup, thousands of printed papers have been -circulated in the streets, containing a vow to believe in the personal -infallibility of the Pope. Agents have got them signed by persons who -did not understand the first word of the question. - -He contrasts the confidence and freedom of speech granted to the -_Civiltá_ and the _Univers_ with the secrecy observed toward bishops. -Naming Manning and Deschamps as the leaders in the agitation for the -new dogma, he adds, "I say new, because for eighteen hundred years the -faithful have not, on pain of ceasing to be Catholics, been bound to -believe it." Alluding to the freedom which, it was said, the bishops -would have in the Council, he asks what freedom was left to them even -now, when any who expressed an unwelcome opinion were denounced in the -papers, beforehand, as schismatics or heretics.... "After having taught -for eighteen hundred and seventy years, the Church is now to come and -ask in a Council, Who has the right of teaching with infallibility?... -When the oak is twenty centuries old, digging to find the parent acorn -under the roots is the way to shake the tree." - -The Bishop proceeds, with tact and great earnestness, to plead for -the necessity of moral unanimity in defining new dogmas. He relates a -fact of interest, and one very closely affecting the person of Pius -IX. We have seen that, in 1864, the Pope formally initiated official -preparations for the Council; that he had long before 1867 decided -important questions as to its constitution and procedure; that he had -set commissions to work, consulted bishops in different countries, and -ordered nuncios to select theologians; and that it was only political -perplexity which prevented the assembly of 1867 from being the General -Council. - -Yet Bishop Dupanloup, whether then aware of these facts or not, makes -the following statement-- - - I well remember, and more bishops than one who were present in - Rome in 1867 can recall, the fact that one of the most serious - anxieties of Pius IX, before deciding on holding the Vatican - Council, was, lest questions should arise calculated to provoke - stormy discussions, and divisions in the episcopate. But the Pope - remembered the sagacious conduct of the Council of Trent and of - Pius IV, and proceeded, in the hope that it would not be forgotten - at the future Council. - -One of Dupanloup's solemn sayings is, "I have read and read again the -catechism of the Council of Trent, on purpose to find if it spoke Yes -or No about the infallibility of the Pope; I have ascertained that it -does not say a word about it." - -Again, he states that in 1867 one hundred and eighty-eight Anglican -ministers wrote to the Pope asking for the basis of a union. In -his reply, the Pope spoke of the authority of the Church and the -supremacy of the Pope, but he did not speak of his infallibility. Yet -journalists, screening themselves behind his name, tried to shut the -mouths of bishops by attacks full of violence and gall. This was meant -for M. Veuillot, who was not slow to reply. - -As to Greeks and Protestants, Dupanloup points out that what is -proposed amounts to telling them, "A ditch now separates us; we are -going to make it an abyss.... Two years ago. Dr. Pusey said to me in -Orleans, 'There are eight thousand of us in England, daily praying for -a union.'" ... When Pitt thought of relaxing laws against Catholics in -England and Ireland, he asked several learned bodies what was the real -doctrine of the Roman Church on the power of the Pope. "I have under my -eyes the replies of the Universities of Paris, Douay, Louvain, Alcala, -Salamanca, and Valladolid." They all "answer expressly that neither the -Pope nor the Cardinals, nor yet any body or individual in the Roman -Church, hold from Jesus Christ any civil authority over England, any -power to release the subjects of his Britannic Majesty from their oath -of fidelity." Such doctrine was calculated to reassure Pitt, as against -the contrary doctrine, professed in celebrated Bulls by more Popes than -one. But what if the Pope be declared infallible? - -As to Catholic governments, their standing jealousy of the -ecclesiastical power would be increased. Had not Boniface VIII -taught that the temporal sword also belonged to Peter, and that the -spiritual power had a right to institute and judge the temporal? Had -not Paul III released all the subjects of Henry VIII from their oath -of allegiance, offered England to any one who would conquer it, and -given all the goods of the dissident English, real and personal, to the -conqueror? Was not that Bull a great misfortune to Christendom? "I am -sad--and who would not be sad?--in recalling these great and painful -historical facts; but they force us to it--those whose levity and -rashness have stirred these burning questions." After the dogma shall -have been proclaimed, he contends that from the point of view occupied -by governments, "all civil and political rights, like all religious -belief, will be in the hand of a single man." The journals which claim -to be purest in their Romanism "treat the doctrine, so strongly held by -the Catholic sovereigns, as well as others, that each of the two powers -is independent in its own sphere, as tainted with atheism." - -The following passage in the Bishop's argument suffices to show that -there may be more senses of the statement that Catholics do not owe any -divided allegiance, than plain English folk ever dreamed of in their -philosophy-- - - We lately read, as quoted with praise in a French paper, the - following, which compares those to the Manicheans who deny that - the two swords are in the same hand: "Are there two sources of - authority and power, two supreme ends for the members of the same - society, two different objects in the intention of the Being who - orders all and two distinct destinies in one and the same man, who - is both member of a Church and of a State? Who does not see the - absurdity of such a system? It is the dualism of the Manicheans if - not atheism." - -We ought to interject the remark that "the two swords in the same hand" -is not strict but popular language. The two are in the same _power_, -but only one is in the spiritual hand. Again, the taunt of Manicheism -frequently falls from Jesuit pens. Boniface VIII set the example of -calling people something like Manicheans, if they believed in any -supreme power in princes on a level with that of the Pope. - -Coming to the crucial question, What is speaking _ex cathedrâ_? -Bishop Dupanloup shows that the diversity of doctrine on this point -is almost endless, and perplexing beyond belief. The lay Professor of -Theology in the seminary of the Archdiocese of Westminster, Dr. Ward, -formerly an Anglican minister, goes beyond the great majority. They -hold that a condition necessary to an infallible utterance is that the -Pope shall address the whole Church, but Dr. Ward thinks that this is -not necessary. The majority think that the intention of binding the -belief of the faithful must be clearly expressed, but Dr. Ward again -thinks that it need not be so. Phillips, the German doctor, holds that -the Pope need not consult a Council, the Roman Church, the Cardinals, -or any one; nor is it necessary that he should maturely deliberate -or carefully study the matter by the light of God's written word and -of tradition, or even that he should put up a prayer to God before -pronouncing sentence. "Without any one of these conditions," says the -Bishop, "his decision would not be less valid, authentic, or obligatory -on the whole Church, than if he had observed every condition dictated -by faith, piety, and good sense." He adds the words of Phillips, that -the definition _ex cathedrâ_ may be verbal or written and with or -without anathema, but must be given by him to all believing Christians -as Vicar of Jesus Christ, in the name of the Apostles Peter and Paul, -or in virtue of the authority of the Holy See, or in other similar -terms. The Church, he says, according to Phillips, has no right to fix -any condition or restriction whatever. - -Citing the cases of Popes Stephen VI, Honorius, and Pascal II, -Dupanloup shows that heavy facts obstruct the historical path to the -new dogma. - -He proceeds to point out that the difference between the universal -infallibilists and the dogmatical infallibilists is very grave. The -former argue that the dogma, if adopted in the sense of the latter, -would involve a peril. A Pope infallible in some cases and fallible -in others is, they think, a contradiction. If, as a private teacher, -the Pope should err in doctrine, might he not impose his error on the -Church? If this is not possible, you have either a Pope who thinks -one thing and defines another, or a perpetual miracle! And why -distinguish, ask the universal infallibilists, when Christ has not -distinguished? "That thy faith fail not"--that means the faith of Peter -in every sense, personal and pastoral. These theologians contend that a -Pope could not, even if he would, fall into an error, public or private. - -As to the effect of the change on the episcopate, Dupanloup contends -that Councils will be rendered superfluous. Hitherto, the bishops -have been judges of the faith, real judges, though in union with the -Pope--co-judges, as was said by Benedict XIV. But if the proposed -change is made, their judgment before or after will be of little -account; as Monsignor Manning has said, the Pope can determine "without -the episcopate, and independently of it." The bishops, he proceeds, -are now Doctors, not mere echoes. With the Pope they constitute the -Teaching Church. After the change they will not be a voice, only an -echo. - -Drawing a glowing picture of the services of the French bishops to the -Papacy, he says-- - - "Ah! I dare to affirm that so much devotion to Rome and to the - Catholic world gives to the Church of France the right to be - trusted, to be heard." He adds, anticipating his arrival in Rome, - "I shall no sooner touch the sacred ground, no sooner kiss the tomb - of the Apostles, than I shall feel myself in peace, out of the - battle, in the midst of an assembly presided over by a father and - composed of brethren. There the noises will all die away, the rash - interferences will cease, the indiscretions will disappear, the - winds and waves will be calmed down." - -The statement, frequently repeated, that Bishop Dupanloup in this -letter admitted the doctrine, and contested only the opportuneness of -defining it, is incorrect. This was pointed out at the time by Dr. -Reusch, of Bonn, in the _Literaturblatt_. Dupanloup once or twice -says that he will not touch the question of its truth, one way or the -other. He never, directly or indirectly, indicates belief in it. Many -of his arguments more than indirectly oppose the very substance of the -doctrine. He plainly feels that it is unscriptural, uncatholic, and -unwise; but he knows that it is and has long been gospel in Rome. - -Bishop Dupanloup was replied to by Archbishop Deschamps, of Malines. -Monsignor Deschamps was following the straight path to the purple. -He roundly lectured Dupanloup. "Why should not that trouble me which -rejoices the enemies of the faith and of the Church?" "You have -committed an error, Monsignor," he says, repeatedly. He correctly -states that Dupanloup has not confined himself to the question of -opportuneness. "You have handled the principal question, ... your -fears have disturbed your vision."[168] Dupanloup prepared a rejoinder -to Deschamps, but was prevented from publishing it by circumstances -which taught him that in leaving France for Rome he had not passed -from disturbance to tranquillity, but from regulated conflict to -all-triumphant violence, compelling inaction, unless action was on -its own side. In Rome, where any movement of an ecclesiastic is often -accounted for by the prospect of some ribbon, robe, or perquisite, it -was freely said that Napoleon had promised Dupanloup the archbishopric -of Lyons if he would head the Gallicans. An English paper repeated this -Roman scandal, fathering it on well informed circles. Certain circles -are always well informed as to the motives of men who oppose them. - -The pastoral from the banks of the Thames forms a contrast to that -from the banks of the Loire. True, Archbishop Manning no longer speaks -of the extinction of Protestantism, or the restoration of the Pope's -dominion over the East, as probable effects of the Council. He even -shows some dawning consciousness that the war which he had announced -in 1867 with a light heart, would not be carried through so lightly. -In the earlier part of his treatise he more than once coolly speaks of -the bishops as being unanimous in the belief of Papal infallibility! -Before the conclusion, Bishop Maret's work extorts the admission that -he must now call that doctrine Ultramontane, which two years before, he -had asserted to be Catholic. He none the less eagerly presses for the -carrying out of the programme. The Church is far too large. She permits -differences of belief, which are not only unseemly, but dangerous. -After an outbreak of questioning thought and conflicting will, such as -had been occasioned by a simple demand for only one or two new dogmas, -tighter and tighter binding up seems to Dr. Manning to be not merely -becoming, but even necessary. - -While panting for additional fetters for his own Church, he speaks -of Protestants as sighing for something beyond insular narrowness. -In fact, it would seem as if he had no perception of the difference -between a big sect and a large creed, or of the possible harmony -between a local organization and a universal brotherhood. There is -no insular narrowness, much less Pontine-Marsh narrowness, in the -definition of a Church given by the English Church, whereby she -marks her relation to all other Churches. That definition is large, -catholic, and scriptural. It leaves the English Churchman free from -any obligation to unchurch other Christians, and therefore he may rest -and be thankful, when others feel bound, by the narrowness of their -sect, to unchurch him. The Church of Christ was catholic when she could -number only one hundred and thirty adherents in the whole world. She -will never become more catholic than she was then. No sect can increase -its catholicity by adding millions of ignorant and bigoted people, and -calling them Christians. - -Dr. Manning resented, as a sort of rebellion, objections taken -against multiplying terms of membership, and adding new conditions of -salvation. To him every increase of narrowness seemed an increase of -unity. If there are men in the English Church sighing in a similar way -for bonds and anathemas which, thank God! our island does not forge, -they are not the men inspired by the catholic creed of their own -Church, but men infected by the municipal creed of the Popes. - -Like Dupanloup, Archbishop Manning made an attack and provoked a -retort. He denounced the historical school of theologians in Germany, -and especially in Munich, and was pitilessly cut up by Friedrich, -in the _Literaturblatt_. The Archbishop, like Auguste Comte, had -reached a point in the development of theory when it was necessary -that it should conquer history. Preparatory to the attack on the -Catholic Faculty of Munich, he writes in mother English matter like -the following (p. 10): "_The day is past for appeals to antiquity._ -If Christianity and the Christian Scriptures are to be maintained in -controversy against sceptical criticism, the unbroken, world-wide -witness of the Catholic Church must be invoked." - -A number of equally exposed positions are taken up in face of the -Liberal Catholic scholars, and that with all the contempt which -official power often feels for reasoning power-- - - "They who, under the pretensions of historical criticism, deny the - witness of the Catholic Church to be the _maximum_ of evidence, - even in a historical sense, likewise ruin the foundation of - moral certainty in respect to Christianity altogether" (p. 125). - "No historical certainty can be called science except only by - courtesy. It is time that the pretensions of 'historical science' - and 'scientific historians' be reduced to their proper sphere - and limits. And this the Council will do, not by contention or - anathema, but by the words 'It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost - and to us'" (_id._). - -However confused in his ideas of catholicity and of historical -authority the Archbishop had become, the struggle he had done something -to occasion and to exasperate already began to awake him to the -difference between an ordinary addition to the creed and that change of -base which he was moving heaven and earth to procure-- - - There is a difference, also, between a definition of the - infallibility of the Pope and that of any other Christian doctrine. - In the latter case the authority of the Church may be sufficient to - overcome any doubt. In the former _it is this very authority, the - principle and foundation of all certainty in faith_, which is in - question (p. 31). - -These portentous words tell where Dr. Manning had placed himself--in -pupilage to a power which, having left the divine "fountain of all -certainty in faith," was disputing as to what cistern, of all the -cisterns it had hewn out, was the one into which the true spring -overflowed. Where will the dogma be found to conquer the history made -by the Archbishop's own hand when he wrote those words--history proving -that after he had been for years flourishing before Anglicans his Papal -Society as affording absolute certainty in faith, he himself declared -her to be in the throes of a combat as to "the principle and fountain -of all certainty in faith"? Where will a dogma be found to conquer -the history made at the moment when his Papal Society, in accordance -with his wishes, adopted an unchangeable decree, which, _if true_, -proves that for all the time of her existence, she had not only been -fallible, but had indeed failed, and that right grievously--failed as -to the doctrine of her head, by withholding from him the recognition -of his attributes and rights? If from the beginning the Popes were -infallible, the Church, which never consented to recognize them as such -till 1870, had up to that year failed in the doctrine of her head, and -failed in opposition to her head. If they were not from the beginning -infallible, she in 1870 failed in the doctrine of her head, and failed -in conjunction with her head. The decree of 1870 fixes her in the fork, -and out of it she cannot wrestle: if the decree was true she had been -in a fault of faith up to that day; if it was not true, she committed -that day a fault in faith. - -Archbishop Manning did not fail to hold out once more a warning to the -governments. For some months past the tone of the Vatican Press had -been that of men who felt that they now held the internal peace of many -a nation at their mercy; being able to menace almost any government -with serious unrest, and some with overthrow. The habit of insinuating -such threats seems to be native to the bad air which Dr. Newman truly -speaks of as hanging around the foot of the Pope's rock.[169] But the -following is too close a copy of those revolutionary vaticinations for -the banks of the Thames-- - - The Catholic Church now stands alone, as in the beginning, in its - divine isolation and power. "Be wise now therefore, O ye kings; be - instructed, ye judges of the earth." There is an abyss before you, - into which thrones, and rights, and laws, and liberties may sink - together. You have to choose between the Revolution and the Church - of God. As you choose, so will your lot be. The General Council - gives to the world one more witness for the truths, laws, and - sanctities which include all that is pure, noble, just, venerable - upon earth. It will be an evil day for any State in Europe if it - engage in conflict with the Church of God. No weapon formed against - it ever yet has prospered (p. 130). - -The last words might be enough to account for Cardinal Manning's -dislike of history. They flatly contradict it, and it flatly -contradicts them; for by the Church of God is here meant the Church -of the Pope. The weapons which have most prospered from the days of -the Reformation to this day are those that have been turned against -the Pope. The nations that have most prospered have been those that -have declared him a pretender; and in these nations the reigns that -have been distinguished for prosperity have been the most decidedly -Protestant. England was long ago put to the choice between the -Reformation and the Church of the Pope, and happily chose the good -part, and as she chose, so, ever blessed be the God of nations, has -been our lot. We will repeat the choice of our fathers, and the lot -of our children shall be better and better. And they will have to -pity, even more than we are called to pity, those who, having rejected -reformation, have placed themselves under a continual terror and a -liability to a periodical outburst of revolution. - -Friedrich, in the _Literaturblatt_ (v. p. 164), replied to the attack -on the historical theologians of Munich. He said that the abuses of -the middle ages had crept in through the total neglect of history. On -the other hand, Protestant theology had risen up and had matured as a -strictly historical theology. Baronius had attempted to win this weapon -back to the service of Rome, and the Munich scholars had followed in -his steps. If archives and original works were to be wrested out of -their hands, it meant nothing more nor less than laying down their arms -in the presence of their antagonists. Friedrich would not allow the -ambiguous expression "the witness of the Church" to cover anything more -than her infallible utterances. - -He said that the Archbishop had a false idea of the way in which a -Council should proceed, because he seemed to think that the Church -might speak without first using all human means to ascertain the -truth. If he thought so, he was under a delusion of which a careful -study of the history of the Councils might cure him. The statement of -Manning, "I have already said," that the proofs of Papal infallibility -outweighed those of the infallibility of the Church without the -Pope, provoked the remark that as the Archbishop had adduced only -his own authority, "I have already said," we might still doubt the -infallibility of the proofs until he had produced his credentials as -one inspired. Friedrich says that while blaming others for attempting -to influence the Council, Manning himself tried to impose his authority -upon it, in such a manner that it might be fancied that the Council was -not to utter the words of the Holy Ghost, but those of the Archbishop -of Westminster. Thus he indignantly flings back in the face of the -prelate the assertion that it was an attempt to interfere with the -freedom of the Council when the Theological Faculty of Munich gave an -opinion to the king of the country in answer to questions put by him. -The Archbishop, he protests, has no title to deprive theologians of -their calling, or of their right to investigate historical evidences or -to give their views, so long as the Church has not spoken. - -He reminds the Archbishop that, severe as he is against those who do -not go as far as himself, even he does not go far enough, for his -allies now begin to require people to say, that the Church may define -dogmas without having any support in the Bible and tradition, and that -indeed when nothing but apocryphal documents are in favour of the -definition. And, moreover, that the authority of a General Council (as -distinguished from that of the Pope) is only human authority. These -innovations, says the sturdy German, we abhor; and then he leaves the -Englishman to the care of his Jesuit allies with these words: "If what -everybody here says" (he writes in Rome) "is true, that the Archbishop, -at every opportunity, declares we have only one school to fear, the -historical school, I grant to him and grant to his allies that they -have the light of history to fear." - -With various feelings the bishops now set forth to bear witness as to -the faith of their respective Churches. This was the most dignified -of the professed duties of a bishop in Councils as they used to be. -It had some show of a foundation so long as the rule of "apostolic" -tradition was adhered to. Of course, however, that became antiquated. -So "ecclesiastical" tradition was set up side by side with apostolic, -as what was so called had been set up side by side with the Word of God. - -Darboy set out, from his diocese of two millions of souls, to bear -witness that the doctrine of Papal infallibility was not the faith, -and never had been, on the banks of the Seine. Manning set out to -testify that it was the faith and the tradition on the banks of the -Thames. Clifford set out from Clifton to declare that it was not the -faith on the Avon. Deschamps went to prove that it was the faith in -Malines. Dupanloup went to prove that it was not, and never had been, -the faith in Orleans. Cullen left Dublin to demonstrate that it was, -and ever had been, the true faith of Ireland. MacHale left Connaught, -bracing up his fourscore years, to go and bear witness that it was -not the faith he had learned, no, nor any of his coevals. Spalding -embarked from Baltimore to testify that it was the ancient faith in -America. Kenrick set forth from St. Louis to protest that this was the -reverse of the truth, and to prove that he had never been taught it -in Maynooth, and even to tell of the first time when the doctrine was -broached within the walls of that college. Rauscher left Vienna and -Schwarzenberg Prague; Haynald left Hungary and Strossmayer Croatia; Von -Scherr left Munich, Melchers Cologne, and Förster Breslau, to testify -that the faith and tradition of their Churches had not ignored, but had -withstood, the new doctrine. They had to add that the conscience of the -people was so set against it that it was as much as the authority of -the Church was worth to attempt to impose it upon them. Von Ketteler -left Mainz to testify loudly, but with so uncertain a sound that no -ordinary man could "know what was piped or harped." - -On the other hand, the bishops of Spain, Italy, and South America -almost unanimously sallied forth to testify that in their Churches the -new dogma was an old doctrine. - -Their testimony was reinforced by some from more ancient sees. Hassun -set out from New Rome, as the Orientals call Constantinople, to bear -witness, as Patriarch of Cilicia, that the City of Paul, and the -Churches planted by him, had always held the faith and tradition of -Papal infallibility. Valerga turned his back on the Mount of Olives, on -Sion, and on Bethlehem, to give evidence, in the sight of God and man, -that the Church of Jerusalem had always held the faith, and conserved -the tradition, that the Roman Pontiff was infallible and his decrees -irreformable. - -Darboy, in his farewell pastoral, said to the Catholics of Paris, "In -these matters, bishops are witnesses who prove, not authors who invent." - -Had the contest lain between these two forces, the weight of talent, -character, and supporting Churches would have decided it in favour of -the _status quo_. But bishops sailed from Jaffna in Ceylon, and Jaro -in the Philippines, from India, China, and Siam, from Swan River and -New Caledonia, to swamp with their traditions those of Bishops from -Churches which might pretend to have a tradition. The fact that theirs -could not set up any such claim was one objection urged against their -votes, another being that they were dependent on the Propaganda. With -these came also a number of Oriental bishops, in the same financial -position, of whom Vitelleschi says that they brought the finest -wardrobes and the steadiest votes. In aid of these a thick growth of -bishops _in partibus_ sprang out of the well-warmed conserves of Court -patronage. - -Roughly stated, the result was, that out of Italy and Spain old and -educated Churches, when represented by prelates trained in their own -bosom, generally declared in opposition to the new dogma. Where they -did otherwise, they were often represented by prelates trained _in -Rome_, and, like Cullen and Manning, specially selected to imbue the -National Church with the municipal theology of Rome, and, in case -of need, to impose it upon the clergy. Those from really ancient -cities, like Jerusalem, who supported the Curia, were dependents of -the Propaganda. With these came the occupants of sees created by Pius -IX, most of which, from Westminster to Oceania, were represented by -witnesses in favour of infallibility. - -Many of the bishops had for travelling companion a small pamphlet. It -was called _Considerations_ (_Erwägungen?_), and put the case against -Papal infallibility in a form and compass seldom equalled, in any -composition, for clearness, depth, fulness, and compression. It was no -secret that the author was Döllinger, but he had not chosen to put his -name on the title. - -In this manner was prepared for the world a drama of many scenes, which -has left permanently in the eye of history four great spectacles--(1) -How an ancient aristocracy, claiming to be the senate of humanity, was -made the instrument of destroying its own legislative rights; (2) How -masters of ceremony, habituated to employ it for both political and -religious ends, were made its victims, ceremony being brought into -operation to carry away surreptitiously their constitutional forms, -and with them their legal privileges; (3) How they who had declared -"ecclesiastical" tradition to be as good a foundation for doctrine as -the Word of God, went through the process of building on the sand; (4) -How a Head of the human species, a King of kings and Lord of lords, was -erected by priests, and humiliated by Providence. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 165: Letter as printed in _Otto Mesi_, p. 413, and now (but -also in French) in _Eight Months at Rome_, p. 277.] - -[Footnote 166: _Friedberg_, p. 287.] - -[Footnote 167: The author of _Reform in Head and Members_ says (p. -156): "The theological lecture-rooms of the Sorbonne are empty, and -the fame and splendour of France in theological science, in which -she once took so high a place, have been extinguished, since the -clergy began to receive their education--that is, as much education -as was indispensable--in the smaller episcopal seminaries, and their -theological training in the greater ones. There is no theological -science at all in France now." He supports this broad assertion by -details given by Bouix, a well-known Ultramontane writer.] - -[Footnote 168: _Stimmen_, _N.F._, vi. p. 57.] - -[Footnote 169: _Letter to the Duke of Norfolk._] - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -Diplomatic Feeling and Fencing in Rome, November 1869--Cross -Policies on Separation of Church and State--Ollivier, Favre, De -Banneville--Doctrines of French Statesmen ridiculed at Rome--Specimens -of the Utterances approved at Court--Forecasts of War between -France and Prussia--Growing Strength of the Movement in France for -Universities Canonically Instituted. - - -Those who arrived in the autumn months in Rome, perhaps with the hope -of preventing the dreaded proposals from being brought forward, or with -the intention, if they could not succeed in that, of organizing an -opposition to them, found to their surprise that the tone of the Curia -was very gentle. The Cardinals and Monsignori, for their part, really -did not care about infallibility. Indeed, the subject might have been -passed over in silence had not such false rumours as to the designs of -Rome been set afloat. Lord Acton names Cardinals Antonelli, Berardi, -and De Luca, and also Bishop Fessler, the Secretary of the Council, -as declaring that the utterances of the _Civiltá_ were not to be -relied upon, and that if the idea of proposing infallibility had been -entertained, it was given up. He also quotes a letter written home by -a bishop, afterwards known among the Opposition, saying that there was -no ground for the idea that in Rome they meant to make infallibility -a dogma. That seemed to be an imagination, spread abroad with no good -design. Still, after the agitation which had taken place the Council -could hardly pass the matter over in silence. The Holy See would not -curb the zeal of the bishops if they resolved to give effect to their -persuasion, but would not itself take the initiative. But if anything -was done, it would be some moderate measure, that would satisfy all, -and give no pretext of a party triumph. - -Lord Acton further says, what is confirmed from many quarters, that -Cardinal Antonelli feared that the Pope was about to bring upon himself -difficulties similar to those which beset the earlier years of his -pontificate. Some treat Antonelli's apparent coldness as a _ruse_. -But, Englishman-like, Lord Acton takes the hypothesis that requires -least dissimulation, crediting the foresight of Antonelli with real -apprehensions. - -Lord Acton expresses a belief that there might have been some idea of -finding a substitute for infallibility in the suppression of freedom -of faith and conscience; with the expectation that the most prominent -hindrance to the new dogma would be removed so soon as the Inquisition -should be recognized as having one and the same legal position with -Catholicism itself. He thinks that a great step in that direction -would have been taken if the proposition of the Syllabus had been -confirmed which condemns the assertion that the Pontiffs and Councils -had ever transgressed the bounds of their power, or usurped the rights -of princes. As to usurping the rights of princes, a writer like Lord -Acton is at a disadvantage, compared with one like Professor Ceccucci, -who wrote the history of General Councils, for the voluminous work of -Frond. Ceccucci settles the point with an ease of which Lord Acton has -no idea. The Church "never did usurp political power; that possessed by -her has always been the most legitimate on earth" (_Frond_, vol. iv. p. -358). - -But one point stated by Lord Acton is that infallibility had been -looked upon as a means to an end; and this is the kernel of the matter. -Just as, logically, the doctrine of infallible judgment was developed -out of that of unlimited power, so, practically, unlimited power must -be exercised by an infallible judge. Admit that God has given all power -upon earth to one man, and surely you will not deny that, in mercy to -His creatures, He will make that man infallible. Admit, on the other -hand, that the judgment which bids the secular arm smite this and -shield that is infallible, and surely you will own that the secular arm -should obey. Liberal Catholics were, not unnaturally, incensed at the -writing in the _Civiltá_ at a moment when those in power might have -been expected to set an example of moderation. The Freemasons were told -that the reason why they dreaded the Council was that they would be -condemned, and that no respectable persons would join them after that. -And the Liberal Catholics were told that their reasons for dreading -the Council were much the same. They professed similar principles with -those of the Masons, which were sometimes called Principles of '89, -sometimes Principles of Modern Society, or Toleration, or Liberty of -Conscience and the Press, or Modern Constitutions, or the Rights of -Science, or the Boons of Progress, or Liberalism. No wonder that men -who had championed the Church of Rome as the Catholic Church, should -tremble when they saw her sinking into a sect so strait as to put all -these principles under ban (_Civiltá_, VII. viii. p. 285). - -On November 9 the Pope received the Marquis of Banneville, newly -returned to his post as ambassador of France. After many signs of -vacillation, the Emperor had finally decided not to ask for the -admission of an ambassador. This policy met the views both of the -Papal party and of those who desired the entire separation of the -Church and the State. The latter had adopted the notion that they -took a step towards separation by leaving the Church, while still an -establishment of the State, to legislate for the nation over the head -of the State. As early as July 10, 1868, M. Emile Ollivier, in the -_Corps Législatif_, dwelling on the fact that the Pope, in his Bull, -did not name the Emperor, and that he held all those addressed in it -bound by it simply through its being posted up in Rome, said: It is -declared that, by the simple fact of its being issued in Rome, every -bishop in France is bound and must betake himself to Rome, on pain of -disobedience. The Emperor or the civil power is not thought of. It is -the gravest act accomplished since 1789. It is the separation of Church -and State, proclaimed, for the fist time, by the Pope himself. - -On April 9, 1869, Ollivier again raised the subject, protesting -that the abstention of the government from the Council amounted to -an abrogation of the organic articles of the Concordat. Jules Favre -said that it was the separation of Church and State, and as such he -gratefully accepted it. These consequences were denied by the minister, -M. Baroche, who asserted, "After the Council, the rights of France will -remain entire." - -This boast passed in France, but not so at the Vatican. The _Unitá -Cattolica_ for April 14 showed that the usual ambiguity of the -Bonaparte policy marked the replies of the ministers on this critical -occasion. The bishops were to go to the Council with "their conscience -in full liberty," and yet "after the Council the rights of France -were to remain entire." "What," asks the _Unitá_, "does that mean? -Does France want to be free either to relieve or to oppose what the -Council will define? After having permitted her bishops to take part in -an assembly which every Catholic must believe to be infallible, does -Napoleon III mean to hold himself free to prosecute them if they preach -the doctrines defined, and enforce the discipline enjoined by the -Council?" - -This straightforward question shows that M. Picard hit nearer to the -point than either Ollivier or Favre; for he cried, "It means a Church -free in a State not free."[170] Even that is not quite the truth; which -strictly is, A State not free in a Church which is free; for the State -is part, and the Church whole; or, to recall the image from the early -pages of the _Civiltá_, the State is the leg and the Church the man. -We have seen it roundly asserted by the _Civiltá_ that the Church free -means canon law free. That being so, for any man to speak of the State -being free, in any modern sense, is trifling. In its expositions of -the Syllabus the _Civiltá_ had laid down the true doctrine as follows: -_The first condition of an efficient alliance of the laws of the State -with the laws of the Church, is the application in every case wherein -spiritual penalties are insufficient of the means of coercion whereof -the State disposes._ The voice of the pastor has not always efficacy -sufficient to drive away the rapacious wolves from the fold of Christ. -Therefore does it appertain to the prince invested with the authority -of the sword to arm himself with its force, in order to repel and put -to flight all the enemies of the Church (VI. ii. 137). Refusing to -stand in this position is, in the esoteric sense, separating the State -from the Church. To a conscientious Ultramontane it is absurd to say -that a State in this manner subject to the Church is not free, as it -would be to say that a body ruled by its informing mind is not free. -That is the figure of speech which recurs at every turn of discourse on -the subject. - -After it had been determined to ratify the policy censured by Picard, -De Banneville had his interview. Most writers describe him as a willing -tool of the Curia, and as doing all he could to lead France in the way -which it might trace out for her. Lord Acton regards him as honestly -hoping to compose a difference between the Italian and German schools -of theology, by the moderating weight of French influence.[171] -Banneville's despatch, on the occasion now in question, would rather -seem to countenance the former opinion than the latter.[172] But the -Pope in the interview did not say a word indicating his personal -opinion as to the questions to be decided. He did, however, say -that all must be left to the wisdom of the Fathers--as if all had -not been prepared, and doubly prepared. He further said that the -rash conjectures of hasty spirits--in manifest allusion to the -_Civiltá_--were to be regretted, as also the premature discussion of -questions which would have been better reserved to the Council itself. - -It is not probable that this deceived M. de Banneville as to the -past, for he well knew how the Pope had encouraged the "premature -discussions"; but he might take it as the covering of a retreat from a -position found to be too advanced. But a wary man might have felt that -perhaps the retreat was only a feint. - -The despatch of M. de Banneville shows that Pius IX, like every -Italian, knows how to keep his own counsel. Even his renowned saying, I -am tradition--_La tradizione son io_--is no more than what M. Veuillot -had said in proving that the Pope could not be an innovator--"Peter can -no more be an innovator than the Holy Spirit, which reveals tradition -to him."[173] - -The tranquillity of the Curia on this occasion was that of perfected -preparation. The dissimulation would not provoke a remark from a -Roman. The effect of both was to prevent the anti-infallibilists from -organizing any opposition. - -Some examples of the points kept before readers arriving at the -Holy City at this particular time may be of permanent interest. The -Canadian Bishop of St. Hyacinthe was quoted as writing, "Sublime -assembly, in which the eye of faith contemplates with wonder, poor and -simple mortals who, sitting as judges, do not hesitate _to impose the -responsibility of their decisions and judgments on the Holy Spirit_, -because they know and believe that they form together with Him one -tribunal." The emphases are given as we find them.[174] - -A Latin pamphlet on the crisis, by a layman, was ridiculed, and one -point, which seemed most comical to the reviewer, was that the author -proposed two such queer anathemas; first, if any one offends against -charity, let him be anathema; secondly, if any one begins war, let him -be anathema. - -The Archbishop of Lima, being ninety-four years of age, was unable to -come in person, but sent his pastoral staff as a present to the Pope. -It was of pure Peruvian gold, and of the value of two thousand pounds. - -From the thrice-blessed Republic of Ecuador came the Archbishop of -Quito, presenting a chalice of gold, rich with precious pearls. He bore -valuable gifts in addition. That "illustrious Catholic," the President, -Garcia Moreno, had, on a public occasion, been presenting prizes to -students, when they joyfully laid down their medals to send them as -an offering to the Holy Father. On seeing this, the President took -from his breast a medal of rare value, all studded with gems, which -had been presented to him by the government for distinguished services -to the country. This he added to the tribute of the youths, and the -Archbishop had the joy of laying the united oblation at the feet of the -Pontiff.[175] - -From Venezuela the Archbishop brought more than three thousand pounds -in money. His people had also laden him with their valuables, ladies -having taken off earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and rings to send, as -tokens of their devotion to the impoverished Pope. - -Had our English journalists devoutly pondered the elaborate description -given at this cheerful juncture of a bell designed by a priest, and -presented for the use of the Presidents in the Council, they would not -have wasted so much criticism as they did on the rhetoric of a speech -reported in the _Daily News_, in 1875, as having been made by the -Pope, censuring Mr. Gladstone. His Holiness spoke of that gentleman as -a viper attacking the bark of St. Peter, or something of that sort. -Now the bell in question was described as being symbolic, within and -without. The clapper of it was the ship of Peter, round the hull of -which was coiled a serpent attempting to board the vessel, but it was -finally precipitated with its head down, and the three-forked tongue -shooting out. - -The doubt of our men of letters as to whether the Pope could use a -metaphor describing a snake attacking a bark, illustrates, in general, -what Cardinal Manning said of those gentlemen on the particular -occasion of the Council--"When English Protestants undertake to write -of an OEcumenical Council of the Catholic Church, nothing less than -a miracle can preserve them from making themselves ridiculous."[176] -It would require a miracle to prevent any one from making himself -ridiculous who should criticize the Speeches of Pius IX, assuming that -his metaphors must have been subject to some rule.[177] - -We find the revolution called by the _Civiltá_ "the executioner of the -Church"; and it is said that the Pontiff in his distress is rendered -more and more like Christ upon the Cross, whom he represents, and with -whom he can repeat, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" (Id. -p. 514). - -The Word of God is shown to be the source of human redemption, and then -the following applications are made of this principle--[178] - - "The State indeed must be civilized and modernized by separating it - from the living Word in the Church, that it may die.... The laws - must be civilized and modernized by putting them in opposition to - the laws of the Word, that they may be laws of death.... Some would - wish the Word to reconcile Himself with Satan.... Schools must be - civilized and modernized by separating them from the schools of the - Word, that they may be schools of death. Wedlock must be civilized - and modernized by separating it from the consecration of the - Word, that it may be the wedlock of death. Public speech must be - modernized and civilized by separating it from the influence of the - Word, that it may be the speech of death. Everything, in fine, must - perish, since everything must be secularized, or torn away from - that God who _upholdeth all things by the Word of His power_.... - The modern revolution, inspired by Satan, would find that all its - weapons directed against the Vatican were destined to have no other - effect than that of multiplying the victories of the Word of God, - who reigns there in the humble person of His Vicar" (pp. 522-26). - -The Court, if we may judge by its organs, was deeply affected at the -want of faith displayed by many Catholics, who expressed fears lest the -Council should define anything that it ought not to define. Did they -not know that the Holy Ghost would preserve it unerring? Why then all -this solicitude? Could they not trust a body so guided to go right, -without their advices and warnings? They treated it "as an ordinary -human assembly." This sounded like mockery to those who had any idea of -how much Rome had done in employing _art and man's device_ to prevent -the Council from going wrong and to forestall all possible impulses in -any direction not predetermined. Had they only known of the long labour -and the jealous precautions which we shall see gradually coming to -light, the retorts they did make would have been much more indignant. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 170: _Friedberg_, pp. 93, 94.] - -[Footnote 171: _Zur Geschichte._] - -[Footnote 172: _Friedberg_, p. 330.] - -[Footnote 173: Vol. i. p. cxxi.] - -[Footnote 174: _Civiltá_, VII. viii. 335.] - -[Footnote 175: Under Moreno, Ecuador attained the distinction of being -often mentioned, with solemn commendation, as the one and the only -_Catholic State_ in the world; the one in which the principles of the -Syllabus were applied.] - -[Footnote 176: _Priv. Pet._, iii, p. 3.] - -[Footnote 177: _Civiltá_, VII. viii. 490. The inscription on the bell -in question is as follows-- - - Invocata--Immaculata - Pius Nonus--Pastor bonus - Per Concilium--Fert auxilium. - Mundus crebris--tot tenebris - Implicatus--obcoecatus - Per hoc Numen--et hoc Lumen - Extricatur--illustratur.] - -[Footnote 178: The term _verbo_ is employed, which in Italian has about -the same effect as _logos_ would have in English writing.] - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -Mustering, and Preparatory Stimuli--Pope's Hospitality--Alleged -Political Intent--Friedrich's First Notes--The Nations cited to -Judgment--New War of the Rosary--Tarquini's Doctrine of the Sword--A -New Guardian of the Capitol--November and December, 1869. - - -While the chiefs of the Curia and the leading prelates were testing -their diplomatic skill, and the former were, on that field, meekly -winning the prizes, the rank and file of the hierarchy were flocking in -from all the winds of heaven. The Roman nobles in many cases gave up -their palaces to the Fathers of the Council. With his habitual personal -liberality, the Pope freely offered hospitality to all who would accept -it. This simple act, natural to his station, and still more to his -disposition, was smiled at as a good bid for votes. About three hundred -bishops made themselves, in whole or in part, dependent for their daily -expenses on the bounty of the man upon whose exaltation they were to -decide. The _Civiltá_, as if to emphasize their dependence, told how -they were lodged, supported, and assisted by him in all the necessaries -of life. Hence the mocking name of the "Pope's boarders," which greeted -any manifestations of opinion on their part. It is said that his -expenses for the entertainment of the bishops amounted to one hundred -pounds per day. - -A case of history repeating itself is suggested by these allegations -as to the diplomatic value of the Pope's hospitality. Dr. Karl -Benrath has restored to his place among Italian worthies one of the -most picturesque figures of the many-hued life of that nation in the -sixteenth century. This was Frà Bernardino Ochino, the all-eloquent -General of the Capuchins, whom the blot of the Inquisition had covered -from the common eye for three centuries. Ochino, who became a guest -of Cranmer and a prebendary of Canterbury, wrote on the banks of -the Thames, among other works, one called _The Tragedy_. Conceiving -of the Papacy exactly as all modern Italian Protestants do, as the -anti-Christ, and the masterpiece of Satan, he traces the rise of this -dread power. Besides supernatural sources of ascendancy, he alleges the -fact that in early ages the Bishops of Rome entertained bishops out of -the provinces when they fled to the capital from persecution, or came -from other causes, and thus the Roman prelates acquired great influence -over the others. Their object then was "Primacy," out of which -infallibility was in our day to come. Ochino puts into the mouth of the -secretary to the Emperor, after he has discovered the Pope's yearnings, -the following words: "O Lord God, that there can be so much ambition in -the heart of a man! it is no marvel that he entertains in so friendly a -manner all strangers who come to Rome." - -Besides bishops came a mixed multitude--the devout Catholic, the -keen politician, the commonplace tourist from every country, the gay -sightseer, the American politician, the artist, the charlatan, the -Indian civilian on furlough, and the learned official theologian. -Few, but intent, came a new class of spectators--Italian Protestants, -watching with eyes as open to all priestly arts as men of the sixteenth -century, but with a readiness to affiliate each part of a Roman show -on its Pagan original, much beyond what was even then common among our -countrymen. - -The Count Henri de Riancey, beholding the hierarchy pressing to the -sacred walls, exclaims-- - - Open then thy gates, metropolis of the world; open thine - everlasting gates, that the Queen of glory may come in! And who is - this Queen of glory? It is the Church.... Make way, then, for the - angels of the Churches, spoken of by St. John. Make way for the - divine hierarchy, the ranks of which are moving, with order, force, - and holiness, terrible as an army with banners (_Frond_, vol. i. p. - 9). - -One of the theologians has published a diary (_Tagebuch_), which -will always remain one of the original sources of information on the -Council. Its accuracy, like that of the _Letters of Quirinus_, has been -assailed, and with not dissimilar result. Strong general assertions -and weak proof, except on such minor points as show that the substance -is unassailable, leave its accuracy but slightly impeached, and its -truthfulness not at all discredited. The author states things which, -by our standard, would be held private; but however that may be by the -standard of his own country, the things, when once published, take -their place among the materials of history. - -Dr. Friedrich, a professor of Munich, was appointed theologian for -the Council to Cardinal Hohenlohe. He began his diary before leaving -home. He found that it was vain to seek in the palace of Archbishop -Von Scherr for such works in the original as a set of the Fathers, -or a collection of the Acts of the Councils. The Reverend Secretary -said, "You know little of bishops if you think that those people study -anything." This gentleman, who was to be the Archbishop's theologian -at the Council, himself read only pamphlets. When Friedrich was on the -railway platform, observing the two Archbishops of Munich and Bamberg, -taking their departure for the Council, the confidential servant of the -latter came up to the Professor and said, "You are not surely coming to -Rome as a spy?" Answering not the man but the master, he replied: "Let -bishops take care that they do not betray the Church, for just as they -are bound to speak to the best of their knowledge and conscience, so am -I as a theologian." - -Thus Friedrich evidently expected to have to speak, as it would seem -that Newman also did. He did not know how the secret plans had put -aside all such possibilities. But if surprises awaited him as to the -new part reserved for the doctors, there were surprises for the bishops -also. - -Friedrich remarked that, as he travelled farther south, less and less -respect was shown to the clergy, till in Italy the difference, as -compared with Germany, became painful. At Trent, a scholar warned him -to beware of poison, and said that it was well that Döllinger had not -gone to Rome, as he would never have returned. - -The theologian, full of the lore of Munich, standing in the quaint -Alpine city, on the Adige, with the image in his mind of the doctors -who, three hundred years ago, there disputed before the bishops and -before the world, would naturally form an exalted idea of the work -awaiting him in the grander assembly on the banks of the Tiber. The -church of St. Maria Maggiore would swell, in his anticipation, into St. -Peter's; the listening prelates to a threefold or fourfold array. The -struggle itself was to be much more concentrated, turning on one vital -point. It was not now merely a question as to what was to be taught, -but as to who was the divine teacher. It was not a dispute about one -doctrine or more, but about the very fountain of doctrine. It was not -any question between the Church and her enemies, but one between the -Church and her head. It was to be decided whether the oracle was the -whole Church, or the Pope without the Church. The dispute was awkward. -Raising it showed Protestants that Rome, while claiming infallibility, -had not yet settled where it lay. - -After a narrow escape of being murdered on the railway near Terni, -Friedrich reached the Holy City. Such was the throng, already, that -he had to pay ten francs for the use of a room for a while in the -afternoon, before going to his home in the Palazzo Valentini with -Cardinal Hohenlohe. That palace stands in the Piazza of the Twelve -Apostles, full of reminiscences of days when Alberich and his -descendants ruled the city, and held the Popes, sometimes in prison, -but always in subjection to the chiefs springing from Theodora and -Marozia. - -On November 28, a discourse was delivered in St. Peter's, by Father -Raimondo Bianchi, Procurator-General of the Dominicans, which was -thought sufficiently important to be printed with the Freiburg edition -of the _Acta_ (p. 130). If good preaching lies in saying much and -suggesting more, in the least time, this sermon is perfection; for it -occupies less than four octavo pages. A note which we have already -heard delicately touched by Archbishop Manning, a note at that time -as often sounded as any in the episcopal scale, was given forth with -full power: "Be wise, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the -earth."[179] - -On December 4, the Dominicans appeared again. The Pope, departing from -the usual course, had appointed Father Jandel as their general; some -say selecting him that he might amend the theology of the order, the -members of which were known to be weak Immaculatists, and suspected -of not being sound Infallibilists. Father Jandel now broke out in a -circular, which twenty years ago we should have smiled at as at new -_gri-gri_, but which now seems to be more like to the red cross of -the Muster. We shall presently see how scientifically Tarquini had -demonstrated that the right of _directly_ wielding the temporal sword -did, in spite of all denials, belong to the Pope and a General Council, -and we have already seen with what fascination popular pens were -surrounding the life and death of the "soldier of the Cross." - -"We hasten," exclaims Jandel, "to announce to you the joyful tidings, -and we make speed to convey to you the pontifical brief which grants -new indulgences for the recitation of the rosary during the whole -continuance of the Vatican Council." The brief thus heralded looks -as if the inspiration of St. Peter Arbues, "first inquisitor of the -kingdom of Aragon," was beginning to operate. The Pontiff informs -the faithful that St. Dominic, armed with this rosary, as with an -invincible sword, crushed the infamous heresy of the Albigenses. -Therefore, in the present crisis, equipped with the same armour, and -_with the authority of the Vatican Council_, they will be enabled to -"overthrow and extirpate the manifold monsters of error that prowl -around." To invite all to arm themselves with this holy weapon, -special indulgences are granted to those who will daily recite ten -rosaries, so long as the Council lasts. We believe a rosary consists -of one Paternoster, ten Ave Marias, and one Gloria; so that each week -seven hundred prayers to the Virgin, seventy to God, with seventy -doxologies, would have to be repeated. The Pope strongly expresses his -simple faith in the efficacy of this expedient.[180] - -All who know what has been going on in Europe of late years know that -the time for smiling at rosaries is past. A charm or a _chupattie_ -ceases to be a trifle when it becomes the symbol connecting devotion -with deeds of blood. At a time when millions upon millions of children -are in the hands of those who, with gentle manners and profoundly -conscientious views, instil antipathies which time can scarcely -extract, charms become formidable when to such antipathies they are -the symbols of--as the _Civiltá_ puts it--a pure conscience, a sublime -cause, and an immortal hope. - -The significance of these demonstrations was greatest for those who -had watched the doctrines which were being elaborated by the Jesuits -and diffused both through periodicals and such scholastic books as -that of Tarquini. The doctrine of Boniface VIII, that the material -sword was not in the hand of the priest, but only at his beck, was -being replaced by a higher one. Boniface accused those of Manichean -dualism who did not confess that both swords were in his _power_. But -it proved that he had himself leaned too much towards dualism, for he -denied the material sword to the priest's own hand. This doctrine would -no longer do. Cardinal Tarquini, who, it must not be forgotten, is set -before us by Cardinal Manning as the modern example of teaching milder -than that of Bellarmine and Suarez, goes beyond the theology of former -times, and claims the _direct_ right of the sword, even in war, for the -_hand of the Pope and a Council_, though still denying it to inferior -ecclesiastical authorities. - - I admit, says Tarquini (p. 39), that the Church is a spiritual - society as to its end; I deny that it is so as to its - substance--that is, as to the members composing it, since they are - not mere spirits but men. I admit that it ought to use spiritual - means--that is, means _which are adapted to the attainment_ of - the spiritual end. I deny that it should use only means which are - spiritual in themselves and in their nature. Every one who is not - a simpleton knows that men (in whom soul is joined with body) are - to be moved, corrected, and coerced; hence they cannot be led to - an end, even a spiritual one, by purely spiritual means. But the - matter, quality, and proportion of the means is to be determined by - the requirements of the end. - -As to the words of our Lord, that His disciples shall not exercise -lordship as the kings of the Gentiles do, he admits that they bind the -Church to shun dominion _so far as that means a spirit of ambition -whereby any one might subject others to himself for his own glory or -advantage_; but he denies that they require her to shun dominion in so -far as it means the office of ruling, and that of administering means -contributing to the attainment of her end. - -He labours to meet the objection against the use of force by the -Church, drawn from her own doctrine, that men are to be called to her -bosom freely and without compulsion. He asserts that liberty here means -freedom from _intrinsic necessity_, but not from _extrinsic necessity_, -or coaction. This coaction or compulsion does not prevent either merit, -or the attainment of the spiritual end; indeed, when applied by the -Church, greatly promotes them. He admits that compulsion is not to be -used towards infidels--that is, unbaptized persons--but denies that it -is not to be used towards baptized persons. - -As to the objection founded on 2 Tim. iv. 2-5, that "the weapons of the -Church are altogether confined to exhortations and tears," he simply -says, I deny it. Then he argues that the words of St. Paul in this -place rather weaken than support those who oppose the use of force; -because the terms he employs are both _general and sharp: reprove, -rebuke, be instant in season and out of season_. All means which -necessity may call for are included. He admits that longsuffering and -doctrine are to be employed, if necessity demands no harsher means; -but denies that they are to be employed exclusively. He demands that -the character of the times in which these texts were written shall -not be forgotten, namely, times in which the Church, being under the -unfriendly government of the heathen, _was not able to put forth the -fulness of her power_. But it cannot be proved by any arguments that -this right (_jus gladii_) may not be _immediately_ exercised by the -supreme magistracy of the Church, if necessity call for it; for the -contrary indeed may be demonstrated from natural law, since the Church -is a Perfect Society; and no passage can be cited from positive divine -law in which it is really prohibited, for Matthew xxvi. 52 is quite -inapplicable, where Christ says to Peter, _then a private man_, "Put up -again thy sword into its place"; and 2 Cor. x. 4, where Paul, declaring -the might of his own power, says, "_The weapons of our warfare are not -carnal_ (that is, are not fragile or futile), _but are mighty through -God to the pulling down of strongholds_." - -The fact that the meaning of carnal weapons is coolly assumed to be -fragile or futile ones, is not to be overlooked. It would naturally -follow that the chassepots at Mentana, which were neither fragile -nor futile, were not carnal weapons. Of course Tarquini would have -said that though in their proper nature carnal, when serving a purely -spiritual end they took on a spiritual character. But we cannot forget -that the "strongholds" which the weapons of Paul were mighty to -pull down were "imaginations," and the captives they led bound were -"thoughts." That is a sphere in which the proper weapon is not either -shot or fetter, but the word and the works of men whom God makes wise -to teach and holy to charm. There is one symbol which the Vatican never -sees, that of the true and only Head of the Church, with no sword in -His hand, much less two, but one sharp sword with two edges proceeding -_out of His mouth_. That alone is the weapon that is not carnal but -mighty through God. - -We now begin to see the grounds cropping out on which Mr. Bryce's -doctrine of two heads to the Catholic State, one civil and one -spiritual, was condemned. The days of dualism and Manicheism in any -form were numbered. - -With their complaints that the Jesuits, both in the confessionals and -in their text-books, corrupted Catholic morality, the Liberal Catholics -mingled loud and bitter complaints that they sought to make the people -superstitious and to keep them ignorant. It was often alleged that -even their schools, or those under their virtual if not ostensible -control, were themselves preserves of ignorance and superstition, -keeping the scholars from an education, according to their capacity, -for one "suited to their position," and at the same time preparing -them to receive all kinds of fables and "lying wonders,"--a term not -infrequently quoted by Liberal Catholics. Those fables and wonders -would open a field so large, and one lying on a level so low, that -we have not cared even to glance at them. As found in local clerical -papers, or books of what is called "devotions," they are so gross that -a writer could hardly repeat them without incurring loss, not only in -the respect of others, but in self-respect. Liberal Catholics, however, -know that they are a real power in Jesuit hands, one of the powers in -the future war against science, the Press, and free government, and -through these, against Protestantism. One specimen of the higher order -we may give, from which some opinion may be formed of those vented in -small places, by ignorant men, through low publications. - -We speak of the great _Civiltá_,[181] of the "metropolis of the -Christian world," and of a deliverance of the Capitol itself. The plan -of the Garibaldians, insists the _Civiltá_, in October 1867, was to -seize the Capitol and to ring the great bell, at the sound of which -all over Rome their hordes were to rise. But Anna Maria Taigi, who had -died thirty years before, in the odour of sanctity, had seen prophetic -visions of Rome wasted with fire and sword, and dreadful with heaps -of unburied corpses, breeding dire pestilence. Some thought that 1849 -might have been the fulfilment of the vision; others that it was -the attempt of 1867. But by the special "devotion" to this saintly -woman, such dread event was to be averted. On the evening when all -felt that the shock was coming, but no one saw whence or how, a priest -of ninety years old, "well known to all in Rome," said to another, -"I feel assured that the venerable Anna Maria will defend the city; -and her image must at once be carried to the Capitol, for that is the -point they will aim at; the Capitol once saved, Rome belongs to the -Pope." The other priest objected that the hour was late and the streets -unsafe. The old man insisted, reassured him, blessed him, and sent him -away with the image, charging him to place it on the highest point. -As the priest, bearing the image, reached the steps of the Capitol, a -friend from a window, perceiving him, earnestly warned him to go home. -Trembling, yet resolute, he pressed up the hill. All was silent as a -desert. Having reached the utmost height under the bell-tower, he was -fixing up the image, when he heard people move, and a door opened. A -woman appeared. "I came," said he, "solely for the purpose of setting -up an image." It would appear that it was a picture, for he had brought -wafers with him to fasten it. Carlotta (for that was the woman's name) -looked at the image, and cried, "Why, that is the venerable Anna Maria -Taigi; I also practise devotion to her." The priest withdrew in silence -and in haste. Meanwhile a priest from Bologna went in to visit the -nonagenarian devotee of Anna Maria. "Don Pedro," cried the old man, -"the Venerable has taken possession of the Capitol in the name of the -Pope, and she will defend it from the Garibaldians." The attempt on the -Capitol was almost immediately made and failed. Those who remember the -tale of the Capitol when Brennus was the Garibaldi will be tempted to -ask how great is the present elevation of faith above that of the days -of the sacred geese. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 179: Bryce (p. 177) quotes from the second excommunication -of Henry IV by Hildebrand as follows: "Come now, I beseech you, O -most holy and blessed Fathers and Princes, Peter and Paul, that all -the world may understand and know that if ye are able to bind and -to loose in heaven, ye are likewise able on earth, according to the -merits of each man, to give and to take away empires, kingdoms, -princedoms, marquisates, duchies, countships, and the possessions of -all men."--_Holy Roman Empire._] - -[Footnote 180: _Guérin_, pp. 61, 62; _Friedberg_, p. 82.] - -[Footnote 181: VII. vii. 432 ff.] - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -Great Ceremony of Executive Spectacle, called a Pro-Synodal -Congregation, to forestall Attempts at Self-Organization on the part -of the Council--The Scene--The Allocution--Officers appointed by -Royal Proclamation--Oath of Secrecy--Papers Distributed--How the Nine -had foreseen and forestalled all Questions of Self-organization--The -Assembly made into a Conclave, not a General Council--Cecconi's Apology -for the Rules. - - -The event now to be described was called a Pro-Synodal Congregation. -Being designed to give parliamentary effect to secret decisions of -the Court, it was in reality a Ceremony of Executive Spectacle. Such -a description seems obscure, but the official name is misleading. -_Congregation_ is the word used in Councils for deliberative sittings, -in which measures are proposed and debated, in contrast to _Sessions_, -which mean only grand public solemnities, where decrees already voted -are formally adopted. Therefore the word Congregation would suggest -deliberation and some sort of consultative participation, by the -bishops, in the proceedings. - -This prelude to the Council was not a vain show, but had been contrived -by the best diplomatic and artistic skill of the Curia. After the -Directing Congregation had spent nine months in elaborating rules -of procedure to bind the bishops neck and foot, the Nine began to -see that, should the Council meet before it was organized, it might -fall into the temptation to organize itself. Some one skilled in -parliamentary forms might move to elect officers, and to have, as in -former times, open discussion, in order to hear questions of theology -argued by the doctors, before they, the judges, began to frame their -sentence. Some one might even suggest that they should agree upon their -own rules of procedure. Now, all these points had been irrevocably -settled beforehand against the episcopate by its superiors, and any -attempt to discuss them might cause the greatest confusion. If some -spirit, perhaps like Darboy, as is gravely said, "excessively enamoured -of liberty," should once stir such questions, the records of Trent were -there to show that it might cause trouble to settle them. Therefore -the Nine were disquieted. Such possibilities must be forestalled. - -Moreover it had been resolved that, to take time by the forelock, the -all-important Rules should be printed in advance, and should, before -any possible self-action of the Council, be distributed during the -grand public ceremonial of opening. Doubtless, when first adopted, this -resolution seemed not only satisfactory, but far-seeing. It was not -till as late as the month of August that some one pair of eyes among -the Nine caught sight of the fact that, the opening ceremony being -legally a Session of the Council, some "advanced spirit" might take -advantage of that circumstance to assert that the Rules, being issued -in a sitting of the Council, were an act of the Council, and therefore -were liable to revision by it. That would never do. Therefore, at two -sittings, on August 16 and 22, the former resolution was rescinded, -and the ingenious expedient was devised of the Ceremony of Executive -Spectacle now to be described. The Rules could be issued as part of the -ceremony, and thereby would every pretext for declaring them an act of -the Council be forestalled. - -The Sixtine Chapel, connected in the imagination of the Fathers with -all the glories and sanctities of their Church, was specially fitted up -for the event. From every region under heaven gathered prelates richly -attired, each feeling the splendour of the scene, and consciously -augmenting it. Their susceptibilities of spectacle were vividly awake. -As boys, those susceptibilities had been trained and forced. As men, -they had themselves trained and forced the same susceptibilities in -others. Now, in old age, they came to have the art of government by -spectacle practised upon themselves; practised by masters to whom -their consciences, sympathies, and imaginations taught them to look -up. Under the skilled touch of those masters were they now about -to let drop, without a word, and for the most part unconsciously, -privileges of their order, which had been guarded by their predecessors -as carefully as they would themselves guard their episcopal rings. The -place, the men, the scene, the coming displays, and the dawning future, -big with events, were, for the moment, all in all to them. It was the -historic eve of the day of days; and deep feeling fluttered under their -silk and brocade and gold. - -Before their eyes spread the wonderful painting of Michael Angelo, in -which, according to M. Frond he "reproduced" the scene of the last -judgement. It is a monument to the power of genius, even when driven -to work on what the true aesthetic of the painter told him should be -left to the imaging of the spirit, and should not be attempted by -the pencil. There, again, stood the vacant throne, waiting for him -who, when he first ascended it, had, as the reader will remember, -these words solemnly impressed upon his ear, in the house and by the -ministers of God: "Know that thou art Father of princes and of kings, -and art Governor of the World." The Cardinal Priests and Cardinal -Bishops were on the right of the throne, the Cardinal Deacons on -the left. Near it stood Patriarchs, Primates, and Archbishops, in -regular gradation, and after them in regular gradation came Bishops, -Abbots, and Generals of Orders. Every brilliant figure in that throng -was standing, except the Cardinals. Through a door, preceded by his -household, was see entering the form of him who holds the place of -God upon earth. The Sacred College stood up, all clad in violet, with -rochette, mantelleta, and mozzetta. Then all cast themselves down upon -their knees. The Pontiff, blessing his prostrate vassals, moved to the -throne, seated himself, and, with beaming visage looked paternally -down on the rulers of docile millions--rulers whose many-tinted -splendour was but the effluence of his own majesty. - -Now, in his hale, ringing voice, the Pope read an allocution. It -expressed much affection for his venerable brethren, and solicitude -for the success of their approaching deliberations. To those who had -come up full of confidence in the moderation of the Curia, all that -they heard was reassuring. To those who had been troubled with fears -of hazardous innovation, the bearing and words of the initiated had -been soothing, and so was all that now fell from the throne. Still, the -few who really studied would look in vain for light on the questions -which had been agitated. Those who had such questions in their minds -did not know that from December to the middle of October the Nine had -been engaged in answering them, and had already taken care that every -seam through which any constitutional liberties might leak in should be -tightly caulked.[182] Nor did they know that they were to-day gathered -together for the very purpose of having many of these questions laid -so deep that they should never rise again. Had they known the whole -plan, was there one of them man enough to defeat it? Mighty against -civil authority, were they not weak as water against a higher and more -domineering priest? - -Even the few would hardly have time to realize the fact that the -paternal and cordial allocution gave no light upon practical matters, -when lo! Cardinal Antonelli on the right of the throne, and Cardinal -Grassellini on the left! And, presently, Cardinal Clarelli, the -Secretary of Briefs, comes forth and proclaims-- - - Our Most Holy Lord Pius IX, Pope, for the good ordering of things - to be done in this Council, as more largely contained in the - Letters Apostolic to be forthwith distributed, hath elected and - named Presidents of the General Congregations, to preside over the - same in his name and with his authority, the Most Reverend Lords - Cardinals Charles de Reisach, Bishop of the Sabina, Antony de - Luca, Joseph Andrew Bizzarri, Aloysius Bilio, and Hannibal Capalti - (_Acta_, p. 30). - -This was immediately followed by the proclamation of the name of Bishop -Fessler as Secretary, and the names of other high officials. Upon this -announcement the Pope solemnly gave the pontifical benediction. Without -the Council, and before the Council, he had bound on earth the question -of presidents, of secretary, of officers, and of rules. But his first -deed was not bound in heaven. Reisach, proclaimed by him as chief -president of the Council, was never to behold it. - -As the Fathers took their seats, the master of the ceremonies led in -Prince Orsini in the insignia of Prince-in-Waiting. The temporal prince -kissed the sacred foot, and then took his place on the steps of the -throne. - -Now a long line of dignitaries was presented, and going down on the -ground, formed a crescent of beautiful kneeling figures before the -sovereign. Two Cardinal Deacons brought out the volume of the Holy -Gospels, and, standing close to the Pontiff, held it above his knees. -Monsignor Jacobini then read out as follows-- - - We, elected by your Holiness officers of the General Vatican - Council, promise and swear upon the Holy Gospels, faithfully to - discharge the duties required of us respectively, and moreover not - to divulge or disclose to any one outside of the bosom of the said - Council, any of the matters proposed for examination in the said - Council, nor yet the discussions, nor the speeches of individuals, - but on all these, as also upon other matters committed to us, to - observe inviolable secrecy.[183] - -Thereupon, each one rising in turn, and advancing in front of the -priest-king, laid his right hand upon the book, held by the two Princes -of the Church, and then said: "I, N.N., promise, vow, and swear, -according to the tenor of the words just read. So help me God and these -God's Holy Gospels!" He then kissed the book and the sacred foot.[184] - -About the middle of the long succession rose John Baptist de Dominicis -Tosti, and stood to take the oath as one of the promoters of the -Council. Suppose that a voice had at that moment cried: "Some two years -hence, this de Dominicis Tosti and Prince Chigi shall sit side by side -with two ministers of the Reformed Faith, as joint presidents over a -public discussion, in this city, on the question whether Peter ever -visited Rome, between Catholic priests on the one side, and Evangelical -ministers on the other." What an anathema would have burst from the -disgusted prelates! No such shadow of an impossible shade dimmed the -brilliancy of the scene. - -While under the various charms of that scene, the beauty of the -colours, the perfection of the postures, and the grace of the men, -few would remark that the form of oath, binding, as it did, to strict -secrecy on the very subjects discussed, and even on speeches, turned -their forthcoming assembly from a General Council into a Roman -conclave. A few indeed might see, but the overwhelming majority would -not see, that several points which Councils had settled for themselves, -even when they met under Emperors, were now being splendidly settled -for them beforehand--in their presence, indeed, but without their -co-operation, and scarcely with their consciousness. How could they -think of such commonplace affairs in a moment like that? What with -the glorious garments of the Sacred College, the stars and ribbons of -Prince Orsini, the beauty of the enthroned Priest-King, the crescent -of kneeling dignitaries before him, and the touching symbol of the -temporal prince kissing the priestly foot and reverently waiting at the -priestly throne, there was enough to dazzle men less under the spell -of robes. True, the temporal prince was here but a pale reminiscence -of better days--of those days which some of them had called to the -mind of the people since the gathering of 1867; days when kings, ere -they received the crown, lay prostrate before the altar, and swore on -their knees to administer canon law; days when they had, moreover, to -take both sword and sceptre from the hands of the bishop.[185] Still, -this temporal prince served to assert rights which had never been -renounced, and was a comforting token of brighter times after the -Council. - -No sooner was the swearing of the officers over, than the Pope took his -departure. Then came the master of the ceremonies, and distributed some -papers to the Fathers.[186] - -They proved to be the Allocution just delivered, the Program of -Ceremonies for the opening of the Council, and another document, -Letters Apostolic--longer, and seemingly duller, than the Program. -But this, too, was distributed by the master of ceremonies. At Courts -where government by spectacle is preferred to government by reason, -ceremonies enclose a wide area. What was the right of proposition, or -the right of definition, or the right of public discussion, or the -right of printing, or the right of meeting, in comparison with the -proper places, forms, and postures? Did not Article 136 direct that -the sacred pallium was to be taken off the Holy Father by the Cardinal -Deacon, and to be delivered over to the Sub-Deacon Apostolic? Did not -Article 39 direct that the Sub-Deacon Apostolic, accompanied by two -judges of the High Court of the Signet, should bear the slippers to -the throne; and Article 40 direct that the Pontiff should put them -on?[187] Probably for one bishop who after retiring looked first into -the fateful Rules, ninety would look into the Program. - -It was two days after the issue of these documents that Professor -Friedrich arrived in Rome. He found the Archbishops of Munich and -Bamberg and the Bishop of Augsburg with the Program in their hands, -and also the Rules of Procedure. They were full of confidence that -the Curia did not intend to propose anything dangerous. But Friedrich -wanted to learn what were the subjects to be proposed, on which point -the bishops knew nothing. The members of Commissions had all been -bound by oath to conceal, even from their own diocesans, what was -prepared for them to vote. It was to be presented to them with this -alternative: Vote it, or become marked men! - -On reaching the Palazzo Valentini, Friedrich found that all that was -known by Cardinal Hohenlohe as to the subjects which he would have -to vote upon amounted to this--a few days previously Cardinal de -Angelis had asserted that nothing would be done beyond condemning the -principles of 1789. This proves that the purple, at least of Cardinal -Hohenlohe, was kept as far aloof from the secrets of the Nine as the -black of Friedrich. Quirinus says (p. 77) that the most distinguished -theologian in Rome, Cardinal Guidi, was not only kept in perfect -ignorance of all that was being prepared, but was never admitted to an -audience with the Pope after he had expressed to him his own views. -Another notability is said by the same author to have been also out -of the circle of the trusted, and many writers share this view; this -was Father Beckx, the General of the Jesuits. Words ascribed to him -by Quirinus are these: "To recover two fractions of the States of the -Church they are pricking on to a war against the world; but they will -lose all." - -Friedrich found that the decision of constitutional points of vital -importance was to be wrapped up in a gay gauze of ceremonies. The -very form to be given to the Decrees was slipped in among the items -of the pageant. The conciliar formula used at Trent was replaced by -that of Papal Bulls. The collective hierarchy were not to be permitted -to say, It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us; nor to say, This -Holy Council ordains and decrees. The name of the Pope alone was to -appear as decreeing, and the only words in the decree indicating the -existence of any Council were "The Holy Council approving." Matters -like this, affecting not only the framework of the Church, but the seat -of dogmatic authority, were settled without a note of preparation, in -a program of ceremonies, among directions about faldstools, incense, -and the Pope's slippers. It was as if the Lord Chamberlain, when the -Queen was about to open a new Parliament, should put out a program -of precedence, costumes, and ceremonies, foisting in a few clauses -indicating that Her Majesty would promulge a statute or two, with the -approbation of the assembled Lords and Commons. It would be no trifle -if he did so of his own motion, but would become tremendously serious -if it had been done with full cognizance of the monarch.[188] - -No wonder that the keen-eyed Professor was driven from the Program to -the Rules of Procedure. But the fact that the other was the document -first read, even by him--a man in whom the decorative element is -evidently too feeble for a useful priest, and the critical element too -strong--indicates the direction which the studies of gentlemen like -his archbishops and bishops would take; gentlemen, who knowing that -they had been jealously kept in the dark respecting what they were to -be called to vote upon as the faith of their Church for ever, were -nevertheless satisfied, by a few bows and smiles, that it was to be -something of no importance. - -Friedrich was deeply moved by what he found in the Rules, coupled with -what he considered the ignorance of the bishops. - - Every adept, he cries, must see that virtually the form here used - in propounding decrees contains Papal infallibility. It is the - Pope, and he alone, that defines and decides. Infallibility is - even now attributed to him, and not to the Council, and then, - seeing that this formula is to be acted upon in the first session - (or public ceremony), it is the Pope who formulates the decree - without having taken even the advice of the Council, and without - any discussion on its part. It is not so much as known what are to - be the subjects of the Decrees which the Council will adopt; and - yet Decrees containing definitions are announced for the 8th. What - can this mean? Are we really to have Papal infallibility carried - by acclamation, as the _Civiltá_ suggested, or shall we only have - a Decree, as they had at Trent, declaring the Council open, and - regulating the mode of life of its members? Who can tell? For my - own part I am uncommonly disquieted (p. 10). - -This disquietude of Friedrich represented the first shock of collision -against sunk fences, which had cost the Nine long labour. According to -their faithful historian, the "most arduous and thorny of their tasks -was that of settling the procedure." - -It was admitted by the Nine that, even in the fifth Lateran Council, -the question was put to the Fathers, whether the Rules drawn up were -acceptable. It was also feared that the bishops might be offended -if the Pope settled the Rules without hearing their opinion. But, -on the other side, there were three arguments: first, the danger of -"interminable" discussions; secondly, the danger of "some spirit -excessively enamoured of liberty, and of too advanced opinions"; and, -thirdly, the history of former Councils (p. 148). So in June it was -finally determined that the Council should not be permitted to have a -word to say to its own rules and forms of procedure. And in August, as -we have seen, the perfect plan of forestalling all attempts to say a -word upon them was contrived. - -One possible objection was brought under attention, by the history of -previous Councils, namely, that there might be a danger of the Pope -restraining the rightful liberty of the bishops. This idea, however, -was dispersed by the light logic which passes at Court. "It would be no -less a folly than an insult to think that a pontifical law could aim at -lessening the liberty of the Council" (p. 147). In this happy sentence -the now mitred historian refines on the words of M. Veuillot, who was -content to say that all would be free because the Pope would be free. - -The consultations of the Nine must have been serious upon the critical -point of denying to the Council the right of introducing proposals. -The course finally decided upon called for boldness in the deed, -combined with art in the drapery. It was first settled that the right -of proposition _belonged_ to the Pope alone. Then it was argued that -if this right was _granted_ to the bishops, "it would turn the Council -itself into a constitutional assembly"--which was just what, with all -their faults, the earlier Councils had been, and even that of Trent, in -an inferior degree. - -The serious question of excluding all members of the Church but those -constituting the Council had to be faced. Cecconi cannot conceal that -at Trent the entrance to the Council Hall, during the discussions of -the Doctors, was free. Massarellus, the indefatigable secretary of -that Council, in his minute of those present at the first session, -gives more names of laymen than of archbishops. The insertion of their -names means more than that they were in the building--they had seats -of honour.[189] The number of the order of priests present at that -first sitting far exceeded that of the bishops. True, they had no vote; -but they had a most important office, that of discussing points of -doctrine, in the presence of the bishops, before the latter themselves -began to do so. They were the Bar, the prelates, the Bench. Massarellus -himself, secretary from the beginning, was only a doctor, till the -Council reached the days of Pius IV, who made him a bishop.[190] - -All the dragooning of the middle ages had not taught men that it was -right for millions to sit outside in the dark, while a few priests -consulted, and determined how their creeds, catechisms, ordination -vows, marriage obligations, parental rights, and national duties were -to be altered. The vast changes consummated at Trent had not yet -done their work in reducing the human mind to servility. The Bible -had not been shackled by a General Council. The Press had not been -scientifically gagged. Authors and booksellers had not felt the -scourge of the Index. Schools and colleges had not been shut up against -discussion and free inquiry, in any such degree as was then introduced. -Consequently the Western Catholic of that day, though in a sense Roman, -was by no means that passive creature of priestly authority into which -three centuries of the sway of the Tridentine Decrees, administered -by a monarch never checked by a public legislature, have moulded the -modern layman. - -At Trent the people were present to hear what was said. At the Vatican -their political position and religious belief were both to be decided -upon by decrees not reformable, like all that men do; but irreformable, -as if God had made them. Yet the presence of the people was looked -upon as "the interference of persons from without," and this, it was -felt, would be "a deplorable inconvenience," notably aggravated by the -temper of the times because of the enormous diffusion of the Press. -The journals could not be prevented from writing about the Council; -but means were sought to keep the subjects under discussion from the -knowledge of the "democracy," as Maret calls priests and people. They -should learn the tenor of Decrees adopted only when they were ratified -(_Cecconi_, p. 253). To this end, three points were resolved upon: -first, the General Congregations (that is, the deliberative sittings) -should be altogether private; secondly, the public Sessions (that is, -the grand solemnities for adopting and promulgating Decrees already -framed and voted) should be open only in the liturgical part, the -legislative part being strictly close; thirdly, all the Fathers and -officers should be bound to the deepest silence (p. 254). - -We are far from saying that the bishops of the time before Trent would -have accepted a Roman conclave like this, in lieu of a General Council -of the Catholic Church; but if they had done so, the laity of that -time, from Emperor to burgher, would not have suffered it. The laity -then did not represent the offspring of ten generations successively -confined in the Tridentine cribs. Their rights, though roughly defined, -were readily asserted, and sturdily maintained. - -The Directing Congregation, having now existed for nearly five years, -had preordained all that was to come to pass in the Council. It had -held fifty-nine formal meetings, very many of which were devoted to -the Rules of Procedure. Beyond the purpled Nine, not a soul was ever -admitted, save only Monsignor Giannelli, their secretary. Five of the -Nine were the destined Presidents of the Council. So that, of the -whole College of Cardinals, only four besides the Presidents were in -the secrets of this body. Just at a few of the last meetings, Bishop -Fessler, the secretary of the Council, was called in. It is not needful -to say that the Directing Congregation was in constant official -communication with the Pontiff.[191] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 182: _Cocconi_, p. 161.] - -[Footnote 183: _Acta_, p. 32. Also _Civiltá_, December 1869, p. 740. -Cecconi, _Documenta_, lix.] - -[Footnote 184: _Frond._] - -[Footnote 185: A picture of this scene, full both of regrets and latent -desires, will be found drawn since the Council in Manning's _Four Great -Evils_, p. 87.] - -[Footnote 186: _Stimmen aus Maria Laach, Neue Folge_, Heft vi. pp. -154-55. _Civiltá_, Serie VII. vol. viii. pp. 739-40. _Frond_, vol. vii. -pp. 64-71.] - -[Footnote 187: _Signaturae Votantes_; see _Frond_, iii. p. 10.] - -[Footnote 188: Theiner, speaking of the relation of the three Popes -under whom the Council of Trent sat, to that Council, says: "It is -as clear as the sunlight that these Pontiffs were not Dictators but -Approvers of the laws which the Fathers, in conjunction with the -Legates, framed." In support of this he cites two letters, one from -Paul III and the other from Pius IV. They both faithfully promise to -confirm whatever the Council adopts. The former says, Even though it -may somewhat conflict with the decisions of former Councils, or with -the privileges of the Holy See. When this was read in the Council, -the Bishop of Fiesole cried out: "Let it be without prejudice to the -universal authority of this Council." (_Acta Genuina_, vol. i. pp. xvi -and 154.)] - -[Footnote 189: "Post praelatos sedent nobiles, si qui -adsunt."--Massarellus, _Acta Gen._, i. 5.] - -[Footnote 190: _Acta Genuina_, vol. i. 29, 30. Licet sub Paulo III, et -Julio III, essem tantum utr. jur. doct. et protonotarius apostolicus, -sub Pio autem IV, eram episcopus Telesinus.--_Acta Gen._, i. p. 5.] - -[Footnote 191: _Cecconi_, p. 268.] - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -The Eve of the Council--Rejoicings--Rome the Universal -Fatherland--Veuillot's Joy--Processions--Symbolic Sunbeams--the -Joybells--The Vision of St. Ambrose--The Disfranchisement of Kings. - - -The _Civiltá_ described how, in beholding prelates daily arrive, the -joy of Rome rose higher and higher; joy resembling but surpassing that -of the great events of 1854, 1862, and 1867. Not only prelates came, -but champions of the sword, the pen, and the tribune, ready to face the -world in the cause of the Pope-King. Count Henri de Riancey begs pardon -of Rome for indulging, at such a moment, in a word for France. Yet his -heart does not turn to France, except on account of what she has done -for the Pope. - - Let Rome, the fatherland of all fatherlands, permit to us this - flash of patriotism. It is France which has the honour of guarding - the last fragments of the pontifical dominions ... She has loved - righteousness; and that is the reason why she is anointed with the - oil of gladness above her fellows (_Frond_, vol. i. p. xix.). - -Poor France! that love of righteousness, which had made her slay so -many Italians to keep up the temporal power, was not to avert from her, -"in the year of the Council," a baptism other than that of the oil of -gladness. - -Ordinary Christians would not catch the reference in the above -quotation. To them, "loving righteousness," especially when connected -with the person of the Messiah, is not identified with, but in holy -opposition to, the idea of setting Christian ministers in rank before -secular princes, and in power above kings. But "He loved righteousness -and hated iniquity" stands upon the tomb of Hildebrand, who sought to -establish the "dominion of Christ," the "kingdom of God," the "reign -of righteousness," or as many similar expressions as you please, by -subjecting all the kings of the earth to the Priest of God. Pius IX is -frequently spoken of as the founder of the lordship of the Pope over -the whole earth in the future, as Hildebrand was the founder of his -lordship over it in the past. Therefore the sweetness felt by a good -Ultramontane in connecting the two together. - - I am bewildered with joy, cried M. Veuillot. I try to depict that - joy, to swim in life. There is an unspeakable gladness in men's - souls. People feel an aurora. I picked up a number of journals, - and was going to answer a lively article against myself, in the - _Gazette de France_; but the author has no idea how all his - eloquence falls short of a man who, in one and the same day, has - seen Pius IX, Rome, and the Sun. - -Pius IX had not admitted M. Veuillot to kiss the sacred foot for merely -literary service. The devoted advocate laid at the feet he kissed -three thousand pounds in money, collected, through his paper, for the -expenses of the Council. M. Veuillot scolds M. Taine grandly, for -having made some comparison between Rome and Paris--Paris, stretching -from the field of Pantin on one side, to the Follies Belleville on the -other; and Rome, which has no limits but those of the world, and does -not accept those--Paris, which gives birth to M. Rochefort; and Rome, -which directs the nineteenth OEcumenical Council! Had M. Taine seen -Rome yesterday, full of processions of all colours, and bishops of all -countries, he would have said it was more lovely than Paris. - -The processions of all colours were no fancy stroke. Nine days of -solemn service in honour of the approaching anniversary of the -Immaculate, and at the same time of the Council, gave an opportunity of -showing to strangers all the confraternities of Rome. They marched to -the various basilicas, especially to St. Peter's; the ostensible object -being to worship the sacred relics which, with uncommon magnificence, -were exposed to their veneration. - -The clergy of all lands saw and were seen with wonder and delight. -"When therefore," said Eusebius, speaking of Nicaea, "the Emperor's -order was brought into all the provinces, persons set out as if for -some goal, and ran with all imaginable alacrity, for the hope of good -things drew them, and the participation of peace, and lastly a new -miracle, to wit, the sight of so great an Emperor."[192] Dr. Friedrich -does not express himself so prettily as Eusebius on the appearance of -the assembled clergy. The Asiatic cries, "And one city received them -all, as it were some vast garland of priests, made up of a variety of -beautiful flowers." The Bavarian says, "The clergy of every country -have sent a strong contingent, from the proud monsignore to the -dirtiest village priest." - -The importance of sunny weather for public events, great everywhere, -is perhaps exaggerated in Rome. Pius IX is believed to be peculiarly -susceptible to sunbeams. Three of his most memorable days are, by his -adorers, connected with a sunburst which shone for him especially. -Professor Massi relates how, on the day of his taking "possession," the -_apostolic cortège_ followed the "brilliant carriage" of the new Pope -from the Via Sacra up the Coelian Hill, the Cardinals being mounted on -"steeds richly adorned"--doubtless worthy to be compared with those -Sicilian steeds which bore Gregory the Great, of whose stud Gregorovius -soberly says, "We scarcely doubt but that Pindar would have thought the -apostolic horses worthy of an ode."[193] The day was overcast--which -omen had a damping effect--but just as the new Pope approached the -Lateran, a glorious rainbow spanned the east, gladdening all with the -certainty of a reign of peace. In like manner, Professor Massi tells -of that proud April evening when the Pontiff, after a long exile, once -more looked down upon the earth from his own Olympus. The clerical -writers do not exactly call it heaven, but content themselves with -speaking of the figure of the Pope so exalted, as "standing between -earth and heaven," or as a spectacle which reminds us of the Divinity -(_Frond_, p. 16). The secularizing of sacred terms, till we come down -to "apostolic cortèges" and "apostolic horses," and the materializing -of spiritual terms, till "the kingdom of Christ," sometimes means the -temporal power, is a process which must go on until the heaven of the -materialized imagination will be levelled to the height of the noblest -dome, and to the beauties of the best decorator. The peerless piazza of -St. Peter's was, on the day in question, filled with French uniforms. -At the foot of the great staircase rose a platform covered with purple, -and decked with flying banners. The heavens, all day covered with -clouds, suddenly turned azure, and the setting sun poured his beams on -the dome of Michael Angelo, on the cross of the Obelisk, and on the -statues which adorn the Colonnade, just as Pius IX "raised his paternal -hand to bless the arms which had avenged his throne." The third day on -which the sun shone expressly for Pius IX has been already mentioned, -that of the Immaculate Conception. - -It was not only, as some say, the nuns, but also priests and -_littérateurs_ who took it as both indispensable and certain that -St. Peter's should be bathed in the brightest gold the skies could -send on the day which was to unite three glories--the anniversary of -the Immaculate, the opening of the General Council, and the probable -acclamation of Pius IX as infallible. - -On December 7, when the midday gun was fired from St. Angelo's, a -peal of joybells rang out from more than four hundred churches. From -the distant Coelian came the deep note of the Lateran, floating over -Coliseum and Capitol; from the Esquiline came that of Santa Maria -Maggiore, floating over the Quirinal. These two met the boom of St. -Peter's swinging across the Tiber, and, blending with it, formed, in -that sea of sound, a rolling base for the billows, on whose crests -every variety of bell-note clashed and sparkled. Far beyond the gates, -the lone and beautiful St. Paul's lifted up its voice, as if bidding -the untilled plains to tell the unfrequented shore that there was joy -in the cloister capital. - -Hints from Jesuit pens lead us to see some of the Order standing on -the Janiculum, by S. Pietro in Montorio, drinking in the view of the -renowned panorama, while the impressions of years would be brought to -a focus by the sensations of a moment. Every thrill would be taken -either for a proof or a promise. Things done by the Order were being -glorified, things to be done were being assured by the voice of many -churches. Before memory would rise the figures of Hildebrand, Dominic, -Ignatius, illuminated by the imagination of the past. Before hope -would rise the figure of the new Hildebrand, with his now unlimited -sceptre, and new Loyolas and Dominics, illuminated by the imagination -of the future. Other German Henrys would be seen standing in penance, -other English Johns signing away their supremacy: and surely if at -Ingolstadt the Order had trained a Ferdinand II, another could now be -trained, and the Virgin and St. Ignatius would not fail to raise up a -more successful Tilly, and a more faithful Wallenstein. "Be wise now -therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth," would -seem ringing with articulate speech from the tongue of every bell. - -As the _Ave Maria_ sounded in the sunset, the guns of S. Angelo saluted -the happy eve. The Pope rode in state to the Church of the Twelve -Apostles, and the crowd lined the entire way. The Jesuit writers heard -enthusiastic cheers at every point. Some partial illuminations were -attempted, but the weather was unfavourable. This, however, damped not -the spirits of any one, for there was to be a glorious illumination -on the morrow, when the rain was bound to cease. M. Veuillot, buoyant -as were his spirits, admitted that, with all his love for Rome, he -could not deny that it rains there in winter. But hope was exulting, -enthusiasm unbounded. The preparation of ideas had, it was thought, -done its work; the restoration of facts was now not far off. The -_Civiltá_ asks, Did ever Council meet under such a Pope, with his -graces and his virtues, his rich experience, his burden of palms won -in incessant victories over the enemies of Christ; the restorer of the -hierarchy in two nations, the founder of many dioceses; the conqueror -of the fallacies, hypocrisies, and fraudulence of the politicasters of -our day, the glorifier of the Virgin, who "sensibly" covers him with -her mantle, and takes delight in twining roses with the thorns whereof -the tiara that crowns him is altogether composed?[194] The words of -a French layman equal those of the Italian Jesuit. It is again the -Count Henri de Riancey who cries, "The Father of the Fathers, Sovereign -Pontiff of the Bishops, refuge of the bishops; he is the Universal -Patriarch, the Prefect of the house of God, the Guardian of the -vineyard of the Lord. He it is who confirms the faith of Christians; -he is Abraham in his patriarchate, Melchisedek in order, Moses in -authority, Samuel in jurisdiction, Peter in power, Christ in unction" -(_Frond_, i. p. xxx.). - -It was St. Ambrose's day. M. Veuillot, in imagination, saw the saint -"appear on the threshold on which the eyes of the human species are -fixed, full of hope," But M. Veuillot seldom meets with a saint, dead -or living, but a political end soon appears. This was, he cries, a -felicitous rencounter. What made it so? When Ambrose had become bishop, -he excommunicated the Emperor Theodosius for the crime of inhumanity. -His image in this act is to M. Veuillot evidently the prototype of -Pius IX leaving the kings out of the Council. But it is one thing to -refuse the Communion, which was open for the humblest believer, to -the greatest potentate alive, because his word has wantonly handed -his subjects over to death; and it is another thing to refuse to all -believers in existence a place, even as hearers, in the chamber where -new laws binding them and their children for ever are to be decreed. - -The scene at Milan, and that at St. Peter's, similar to the ardent -Ultramontane, would strike us rather by contrast. On the former -threshold we see a Christian pastor guarding the Lord's Table. On the -latter, a king, and an aspirant after universal political supremacy, -guarding the secret of his own counsels. Outside the Milan threshold -we see one sinner in purple, while the common Christians are free to -approach. Outside the Vatican are all members of Churches whom the -king in purple and scarlet acknowledges as members of his own Church. -The people are disfranchised with the princes at their head. The -priests had long been losing their franchise in the election of their -bishops. More recently they had been losing their freehold in their -parishes. When the Jesuits obtained possession of Pius IX, the parish -priest had a life interest in his parish subject to good behaviour. -But this formed too much of a tie to the nation. The parochial clergy -had to be mobilized. So, gradually, they had been put into berths -only by temporary appointment, and held the place _ad nutum_, at the -nod of the bishop. They had been glad that the sword _in the hand_ of -the king should not be in his power, but at the nod of the priest. It -was scarcely so pleasant that the parish, in the hand of the priest, -should be at the nod of the bishop. The making of it so had already to -a large extent been accomplished. It was now to be completed; but those -tyrannous kings might attempt to check the move by what they would call -protecting the lower clergy, what the Vatican would call destroying the -liberty of the Church. - -The whole spirit of the Jesuit Press at this period indicated that -the Modern State had so wearied out the Vatican that the only chance -for kings to make their peace with it would lie in separating their -cause from that of parliaments and constitutions. If they meant to -be tolerated long after the Council, they must not only reign but -govern--govern Catholic States under the Syllabus. A ruler by divine -right--which among the baptized means one instituted by the Pope and -corrected by him--is the essence of the matter. "THE POPE AND THE -PEOPLE!" is the last exclamation of M. Veuillot, on the eve of the -day when the nations were to come to judgment--on the eve of the day -when the salutary conspiracy recommended by the _Civiltá_ with its -first breath was to hold its crowning conclave, when the holy Crusade, -heralded with the same breath, was to receive both its legal warrant -and its world-wide impulse. A triumphal arch was to mark the completion -of a stage of toil and the entrance upon a stage of transformation. -"THE POPE AND THE PEOPLE. I believe that these words are invisibly -written on the door of this Vatican Council, which door forms the -entrance to a _new world_; rather is it a triumphal arch erected on the -rediscovered highway of the human race."[195] - -That triumphal arch and that rediscovered way of the human species -which, to M. Veuillot, made the entrance to the Vatican Council -sublime, invested it, to the eyes of Liberal Catholics, with clouds -of doubtful omen. The triumph vaunted was real and even stupendous, -but it was a triumph over the principles in the name of which -Liberal Catholics had fought and won the battles of the Church. The -rediscovered way was no other than the broad road of clerical dominion -over spiritual and temporal things which, in the ages before the -Reformation, had led the Church down to a degree of corruption now -denied by none--a broad road, which had since then been swept and -mended, but to which had in the meantime been added the countless -sidepaths of Jesuit morals. If all those sidepaths should by authority -be opened for the winding and the straying of human guile and passion, -what would the Catholic nations come to? Studious Liberal Catholics -were aware of the two sides of the Jesuit system of morals, whereof -Protestants generally were cognizant only of one. These knew, indeed, -that a lawful end renders the means to it lawful; but Liberal Catholics -knew that it was also taught that an unlawful end did not infect with -guilt the means by which it had been reached, provided only that in -themselves those means consisted of acts not necessarily unlawful. Thus -on both sides--that of seeking a lawful end by unlawful means, and that -of employing lawful means for an unlawful end--was the gate made wider, -the road broader, and the way more smooth for guile to creep or passion -to roll downward, but attended all along by the comforts of absolution, -and sprinkled with holy water.[196] - -And as to the new world to which the Council was to be an entrance, -Liberal Catholics had seen the Pope's special _college of writers_, -in the _Civiltá_, dwell upon the act whereby Alexander VI drew a -line from pole to pole, and gave to Spain all regions that should be -discovered to the west of it, and to Portugal all those that should -be discovered to the east of it; and contend that the Pope, in saying -of those regions, I _give_, _concede_, and _assign_ them to this king -and to that, acted simply as the Vicar of Christ; nay, that by that act -the autonomy of the Indians was not in the least offended; and that, -moreover, what in the jargon of infidel and of heretics was called the -pretensions of Rome, was nothing else but the exercise of a clear and -sublime right, resorted to by the Pope in seeking a solid protection, -in new countries, for the autonomy of nations and of individuals, when -otherwise, to the offence of religion, it might have been violated by -barbarians.[197] But was this supreme power to dispose by sentence of -the lot of nations, even though unknown, without in so doing offending -in the least against their rights, to be exalted into eternal dogma? If -so, and if mankind would endure it, well might the door of the Council -be regarded as the entrance to a new world. But whether future ages -will reckon it as the entrance to a new world or not, we are about to -see that it was indeed the entrance to an arena on which was to be -witnessed a process of revolution from above and a struggle of priest -with priest,--a process as instructive, a struggle as curious, as any -that our age has produced, among its many transformations of polity and -redistributions of power. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 192: _Life of Const._, lib. iii. cap. 6.] - -[Footnote 193: _Geschichte der Stadt Rom._ ii. p. 60.] - -[Footnote 194: Serie VII. vol. ix. p. 21.] - -[Footnote 195: Vol. i. p. 14.] - -[Footnote 196: See Gury, especially his _Casus Conscientiæ_. A small -duodecimo _Doctrina Moralis Jesuitarum_ (Celle, 1874), gives copious -extracts from Jesuit authors with a German translation. For the English -reader, Mr. Cartwright's work on the Jesuits supplies a good outline.] - -[Footnote 197: VI. i. 662-80.] - - - - -_BOOK III_ - -_FROM THE OPENING OF THE COUNCIL TO THE INTRODUCTION OF THE QUESTION OF -INFALLIBILITY_ - - - - -CHAPTER I - -The First Session, December 8, 1869, or Opening -Ceremony--Mustering--Robing--The Procession--The Anthem and Mass--The -Sermon--The Act of Obedience--The Allocution--The Incensing--Passing -Decrees--The _Te Deum_--Appreciations of various Witnesses. - - -At dawn, on Wednesday, December 8, 1869, the guns of Fort St. Angelo -saluted the long looked for day, while from the other side of the Tiber -those of the Aventine replied. The bellowing of these beasts of war -awoke the city to witness a Council of the ministers of peace. As the -sounds reached the ear of peasant, monk, and nun, already plodding in -the dark from places outside the walls, the sky was low, and pouring -down a truly Roman rain. Unlike towns round which smiling homes are -sown broadcast outside of the bounds, Rome, when approached by most of -the routes, first shows the city walls, and not till a good while later -does it show the beginning of habitations. The poor suburbs which lie -outside a few of the gates are less dreary than the space inside, where -lonely roads, shut in by blank walls, lead amidst crumbling mementoes -of rulers of the world, and marks of the actual reign of drones not -able to master ordinary difficulties. Every now and then comes a -church, or one of the two hundred and more convents and nunneries which -sanctify the place. But scarcely any of these have an outline such as -to yield, in twilight, the effect of either Gothic spires or Moorish -minarets, or even of good Grecian colonnades. - -Many a cowled figure struggled under the drenching rain along these -desolate ways. One would pass the spot where Peter was arrested by -his Master, when the Fisherman uttered the famous "Lord, whither -goest Thou?" and was turned back to Rome to die. Another would pass -by the vale of Egeria and he might well wonder if Numa ever had to -seek inspiration there in such dismal gloom. Crossing the open ground -about the Lateran, some of the monks might think of the terrible morn -when Totila, in mercy, halted his troops inside the gates, sending the -clang of his trumpets through the dark, all over the city, to give the -wretched Romans the chance of flight. - -Other monks coming from St. Agnese, and entering by the Porta Pia, -would reflect upon the adornment of that gate by the Holy Father, and -upon its happy name which links it both with Pius IX and with its own -founder. Its founder, Pius IV, signed the Creed of the Council of -Trent, and Pius IX was to sign the new Creed of the Council of the -Vatican. This beautiful coincidence would, with the monks, make the -gate an emblem of the Church, against which the gates of hell should -never prevail. If they only happened to recollect that its old name -_Nomentana_ marked it as the Mentana Gate, the encouraging impression -would rise almost to the brightness of a revelation. The day, only two -years before, when the conquering crusaders marched in, and the welkin -rang with shouts of "Long live Pius IX!" "Long live the zouaves!" -"Long live the Crusaders!" "Long live Catholic France!" would return -to memory as the pledge of mightier Mentanas. Had an invisible hand -drawn aside the veil, and shown them that gate, some nine months later, -admitting the Italian troops, followed by the dog Pio drawing a little -cart full of Bibles; and then shown, still later, the residence of a -British Ambassador to the King of Italy inside the gate, and on the -outside the residence of Garibaldi, the monks would have vowed by all -the saints, old and new, that the vision came from a lying spirit. - -Some, again, crossing the Tiber by the Milvian Bridge, would, in spite -of the blinding rain, see the figure of Constantine victoriously -dominating the heights, and that of Maxentius being hurled into the -stream. A while afterwards, when passing near the Broken Wall, where -St. Peter himself had kept watch, and with his own hand had blinded and -routed the Goths, they would feel that now when his successor was to -be at last duly exalted, the Apostle would surely keep the city more -jealously than before; and if there was need of a Belisarius to crush -the Italian barbarians, the Lord would raise him up at the intercession -of Peter. - -As they came further inwards, the crowds of the city were already in -motion. Down from the Coelian and Esquiline were they pouring past the -Coliseum, reflecting men delighting in the thought that all high things -which exalt themselves against the Church would fall into her power -just as the Coliseum had done; for the "high things" of the Romanized -imagination are naturally material ones. The Arch of Titus, darkly -outlined in the morning grey, would be the prophetic pledge that the -Jews, however stubborn, would yield to the Pontiff at last. But where -was the golden candlestick--where the temple vessels? After Genseric -carried them off, had they ever returned? The ruinous Palatine would -symbolize woes coming to modern Caesars, as sure as those which had -crushed the ancient ones. Indeed, it is not impossible that some would -see visions like those seen by monks of yore, who beheld the soul of -the great Theodoric dragged into the crater of Stromboli. - -From the Aventine, where Peter resided with Priscilla and Aquila, and -which is now little but a site for monastic establishments, many would -come, passing by the place where once stood the Circus Maximus. The -thoughtful would there have in their eye the grand spectacles of Pagan -Rome. It was by a spectacle that Romulus allured the Sabines to unity -by violence; and it was by a spectacle that Pius IX was now wooing -the world to wedlock with the Papacy--ready, if only able, to take -short measures with the coy. But what were the shows of the old rude -times to this? What if three hundred thousand pairs of eyes did gleam -together on the spectacles which, with bread, made up the earthly all -of the Roman _plebs_? They never had looked upon such an array of holy -bishops, from the whole earth, as would be seen to-day. The colours for -which they went mad, their idolized blues and greens, were but few, and -ill-combined, compared with the colours now about to be displayed. The -ancient cry, "Bread and Spectacles!" was indeed still kept alive by -Roman authorities, but was to-day to be satisfied in a Christian style -glorious beyond Pagan example. - -Along the Via Sacra few foreigners would appear, but from the -Capitoline Germans would set out. It is natural to think of some -student, fresh from the pages of Gregorovius, his imagination vividly -setting face to face the ancient Rome and the actual. He would think of -the exclamation, "Renowned, queenly, immeasurable Rome, a sea of beauty -surpassing all power of speech!" Where were the glory and the beauty -now? Inside the churches and palaces indeed were masses of decoration -and artistic stores of wealth, but the city viewed, on that dismal -December morning, as a city, was poor and ill-kept. The glory which -once compelled men at this central point to call her Golden Rome was -departed. What now represented the Temple of Jupiter--its pillars on -gilded bases with gilded capitals, its gates of gilded bronze, and its -roof of tiles of gilded brass? There stands the Church of the Aracoeli; -Jupiter is succeeded by the Bambino, a doll, carved by St. Luke, which -is driven in a stately carriage round the city to the beds of the dying. - -Crossing the Bridge of Sixtus the student might see vividly, as -students do, the scene of that sacrilegious morning when the lone old -stream, with no Horatius now, was swarthy boatmen swinging the oar with -the stroke of the rover, and as each galley shot out of the bend of the -Aventine, the chief, from under his turban, eyed the opening prospect -of plunder with the glance of an Ishmaelite. When they rifled the -grave, would the student say, if they found anything of the Fisherman, -certainly they did not leave anything. If the ashes of Peter ever -did rest there, were they not sent by the Saracens to await those of -Wycliffe in the sea? - -A pamphlet, by a Hebrew, with the title of _The Ghetto and Rome's -Great Show_, reminds us that from under the flank of the Capitoline -some would come out of the pen in which the Popes had, for ages, shut -up the children of Israel. No doubt some travelled Rabbi would do so. -Such a man would have mentally dwelt all his life among the ancients, -and personally he would have seen the Pyramids and Thebes, the Tomb -of Abraham, with Jerusalem, Baalbec, and probably the Remains upon -the Euphrates, if not those on the Tigris. To him Roman dates were -modern, and Roman monuments, though great for Europe, were on a scale -comparatively small, not equalling in magnitude those of Asia, not -approaching in grace those of Hellas. In his eye all the princes of the -ancient monarchies laughed at the notion of Gregorovius, that the idea -of a world-empire originated with the Romans--nay, no more than did the -idea of the Trojan War. - -Towards Pius IX personally the feeling of the Jew would be rather -kindly, for he, like Sixtus V, had relieved the Hebrews from some of -the severities to which they had long been subjected by preceding -Popes. But this would not prevent the whole tormented past from rising -in memory before the Rabbi and stirring him to hope that he might now -be going to witness the last show ever to be exhibited by one of the -cruel race of the Pope-Kings. The pen in which his people had been shut -up, the distinguishing badge, the differential taxes, the religious -worry, and the manifold enormities committed upon them in the name of -Christ who loved them, of Peter who lived for them, and of Paul who -gave himself repeatedly to death for them, had long helped to set him -and his on hating Christ, and Peter, and Paul. "Hard as their lot was -under the Caesars," says our pamphlet, "it became harder still when the -ecclesiastical Head was crowned by Pepin Le Bref king of the States -of the Church, and actually ruler of the world." The day was now past -when the Corso, in carnival-time, rang with the shouts of so-called -Christians, hailing the spectacle of Jews naked, except a girdle round -the loins and ropes round their necks, forced to run races against -riderless mules, and asses, and buffaloes. For a long time this -service had been performed for the sacred city by riderless horses, -goaded by spiked balls slashing into their sides. Nevertheless, those -former days would rise up before the Rabbi's eye, as would also the -price paid for ransom. As he passed along, between him and the Corso -stood the one pile still entire which to memory represented the Pagan -Romanism under which his first ancestors in the city had suffered, and -to the eye represented the Papal Romanism under which their descendants -had continued for so many ages to groan. Dedicated by Agrippa to Cybele -and all the gods, it had been rededicated by Boniface IV to Mary and -all the martyrs. Though still best known as the Pantheon, its name in -Rome is St. Mary of the Rotunda. - -Our Rabbi would naturally, on such an occasion, compare it as it had -been and as it now is; for the associations of the day would suggest to -his mind that gathering of the provincials in the plain of Dura, when -some of his forefathers had to bear witness against the longing natural -to those who imagine themselves heads of the human species, to set up -new idols, and to insist on unity by means more urgent than godly. That -was the first clearly recorded scene in the fiery drama of Catholic -Unity; a unity bending, breaking, or burning all nations, peoples, and -tongues into religious and political submission to one human head. -Probably the Rabbi would admit that there was some ground of justice in -the words of _Joseph de Maistre_, that the Pantheon had been devoted -to all the vices, and now was devoted to all the virtues. Thus far the -Christian element in Papal Romanism had asserted its moral superiority. -But the Rabbi would feel that there was exaggeration upon both sides of -De Maistre's assertion. The gods of the Pagans were not all personified -vices, any more than are now all those of the Hindus. Many of them were -so, and that is enough. On the other hand, not all the saints of the -Papal Pantheon represent personified virtues, judged by any code but -the sad one of the Popes themselves. The Rabbi would hardly recognize -St. Peter Arbues, red with the blood of thousands of the seed of -Abraham, as one of the Virtues, any more than as one of the Graces. -He would, however, recognize the correctness of Joseph De Maistre's -estimate of the kind of change made by the Popes in the Pantheon. He -would also admit the good judgment of M. Fisquet in selecting the -following passage of De Maistre, when describing the ceremonies of Rome -for Frond's history--[198] - - It is in the Pantheon that Paganism is rectified and brought - back to the primitive system, of which it is only a visible - corruption. The name of God is exclusive and incommunicable. - Nevertheless, there are many _gods_, in heaven and in earth. - There are intelligences, better natures of deified men (_hommes - divinisés_). The _gods_ of Christianity are the _saints_. Around - God are assembled ALL THE GODS, to serve Him in the place and order - assigned to them. - -The Rabbi might say, The Law pulls down the word "gods," by applying it -to magistrates, thus making it mean little; but these ignorant priests -lift it up to mean something more than the Pagans ever did mean by it, -as if the latter had imagined that each god was a supreme being, or -something near it. De Maistre, however, had more sense. He knew that -"saints" was another name for gods, only they were not to be vicious, -which was no doubt the original idea.[199] - -By this time the dull and dripping air would begin to vibrate with the -roll of carriages. Both in the rain and under cover, the throng was -pouring towards one point. From the poor streets, where once stretched -the glorious Fora of the Caesars, from the old Suburra, from the -regions covered by the gardens of Sallust, from the spot where the -persecuting name of Diocletian and a splendid church are now locally -associated, from all the flanks of the Quirinal, would the stream -come pouring towards the old Field of Mars. Bishops, artists, and the -models of the artists, priests and beggars, quaint peasants, handsome -artisans, well-dressed tradesmen, pressed in slush and silence past the -lone pillar of Trajan, nobly sad, standing amidst memories of might and -signs of impotence. - -In the crowd speckled by ecclesiastical and peasant costumes, many an -English figure, both home and colonial, steadily made way, and many an -American one, and a few of the swarthy South Americans. At least one -Scotch bonnet and plaid pushed through the throng.[200] And he who wore -them saw the well-known cap of the German student. Though, in general, -not much addicted to attend solemnities, the Roman shopkeeper would on -this occasion be well represented. His motto had hardly been "Bread and -Shows," but rather "Shows and Bread." The city had, to a considerable -extent, lived upon its exhibitions; and every grand one designed by the -priests raised them in the eyes of shopkeepers, lodging-keepers, and -cabmen.[201] - -The grand Piazza of St. Peter's would have been at its grandest that -day had the sky been true to the Papacy. Nothing but the heavens -failed. From every opening into the Piazza flowed the eager crowds. -They passed the two hundred and eighty columns, natives sheltering -under their umbrellas, strangers compelled by admiration to look -up. They passed the Obelisk, those who had history in their memory, -thinking of Nero and of the scenes by him enacted. They passed the -Inquisition, perhaps wondering what priests were imprisoned now, and -if there were any bishops, and who; perhaps thinking how strange it -was that side by side should stand the memorials of Nero and the -chambers of the Inquisition. Then up the steps and across the Portico. -At the same time, the coaches of the great swept to the right into the -Vatican. About three hundred of these were splendidly horsed, gilt -round the top, gilt at all available points, hung high on springs, -with four or five servants, in yellow and blue, red and green, -embroidered, powdered, and in cocked hats. The few pensive monuments -of retrospective royalty that still clave to the skirt of the Pontiff, -formed the first line of this array. Then came the thrice-splendid -princes of the Church. Each rode in his state carriage, followed, says -Frond (vol. vii. p. 91), by a second carriage, "less sumptuous." and -if a prince--we presume by birth--followed by a third. Then came the -nuncios, ambassadors, bishops, and notabilities with starry breasts, -and ribbons like streamers among the stars--stars that dazzle Romans -far more than all the constellations in the sky. The Roman nobles, -always splendid, were that day in their fulness of gold, and pearls, -and costly array; and their equipages are said to have counted several -hundreds. No less than five hundred private ones and some two thousand -street carriages completed the train. Roman ecclesiastics could not -help remarking, even in print, that from a one-horse hackney coach -might be seen alighting a couple of bishops, and four from a two-horse -one; a sight which they contrasted with the princely splendour of -Constance and of Trent. At the bridge of St. Angelo, and at other -important points, rose up in the rain the mounted figures of the -Papal dragoons in their long white cloaks. A plentiful display of -soldiers, said to amount to about six thousand, increased the variety. -Black-clad Barnabite, and brown Franciscan, broad-hatted Jesuit and -white Camaldolese, with all the costumes of the barrack, the convent, -the nunnery, mingled with those of the drawing-room and the village -festival, spangled the thickening crowd. - -The clergy of the city had early assembled in sufficient number to -line the whole course of the procession, until it reached the statue -of St. Peter. Within, the crowd is not represented by any writer as -having been excessive. Some say that the church was full, some that -it was not quite so. The people arrived in wet clothing, and as none -of them, least of all the monks, were given to excessive ablutions, -even the correspondent of the _Stimmen aus Maria Laach_ alluded to -the quality of the air. So also did the Special Correspondent of the -_Times_; but he remarked that "incense covers a multitude of perfumes." -In the various side chapels, Masses were being celebrated, each priest, -as he came up to the altar, or retired from it, being preceded by two -soldiers under arms, and followed by one. There were upon duty in that -temple of peace, opened for a great council of peace, one battalion of -zouaves and one of the line. - -The soldiers of Diocletian and Galerius, when beginning their work one -February morning, while the two Emperors watched them from their palace -windows in Nicomedia, would not have been so much at a loss had they -entered a temple like St. Peter's, as they found themselves in the -Christian church into which they then broke. "They searched in vain," -says Gibbon, "for some visible object of worship. They were obliged to -content themselves with committing to the flames the volumes of the -Holy Scriptures." They could have found no Bible in St. Peter's to -burn, unless they had taken to a sumptuous book, in a dead language, -containing portions of the Gospels. But they would not have searched -in vain for visible objects of worship. Just as even Father Abraham -had been turned into chief idol in the Caaba by the heathen Arabs, so -here the chief of the images set up was Peter. But never had he been -so dressed in Galilee or Jerusalem, in Antioch or Babylon, with alb, -girdle, stole, and tiara. The Popes might have ill copied the living -Peter, but the bronze Peter had well copied the Popes. The Fisherman -would have been surprised at his own pluvial. As clerical writers -would blush not to tell, it was of red silk, striped with gold. On his -breast was a golden cross; on his right hand a golden ring, with a -large ruby, and a circle of "flashing brilliants," and the left hand -held a golden key all decked with precious stones. Before him burned -a lamp, and four superb wax candles painted like the illuminations of -books. As all men honour their gods with what they value most, the -Vatican honours Peter by feeding the jeweller and laceman in his soul -with marrow and fatness, and by the sight of men kissing his feet. -Peter had his faults, but he never deserved to be so paganized. True, -he did forget himself when he got into the palace of the Jewish priest, -but not in the same way as the bishop on the Tiber forgot himself -when he got into the palace of the Roman Pontiff. That, however, was -Peter before he was converted. Peter, after he was converted, passed -the threshold of a Roman. Then, he strengthened his brethren, not by -lording it either over their persons or their faith, but by teaching -a lesson in action, to the effect that no human being should ever -degrade his person before a fellow-man, and that the forms of worship, -as well as the spirit of it, are to be reserved for Him whom alone it -is lawful for the offspring of God to adore. Peter would not break the -commandment that said, "Be not ye called rabbi: for one is your Master, -even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon -the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye -called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ" (Matt. xxiii. -8-10). - -There in a nutshell lies the whole theory of a direct government as -against one by proxy; of a father's government of adult sons, as -against a master's government of slaves through upper servants; of one -all-watching love, and one all-working care, as against an imperial -reclusion that leaves affairs to departmental divinities. "Our Father -which art in heaven," deeper is Thy love to the least of us, more -tender and closer far than could be that of any patron whom we might -set up! In numbering the hairs of our heads, no Vicar dost Thou employ! -In drawing near to Thee, no interest of Thy freedmen do we require, -for we are no longer slaves, but in Thy love, the love of a Father, -dost thou invite every one of us to the adoption and therefore to the -access of sons! - -He, who had once shaken his brethren, did not afterwards strengthen -them by telling them that they must all accept him as rabbi, father, -and master in the absence of their Lord, while to him there was but one -Master, Christ. Just as Peter was ready, in his own person, to keep the -commandment, "Be not ye called masters," so would he have been the very -first to uphold the corresponding commandment, "Call no man master." He -well knew that this applied pointedly and particularly to the ministers -and disciples of the religion of Christ as such; for he was one of -the first to teach both due reverence and due obedience to that civil -authority which the Popes live to make little more than a sword under -their own power. - -The Italian Protestant and the Rabbi would both watch the thousands -performing the adoration of St. Peter. The Italian Protestant would -think of rites to Romulus, or perhaps to Hercules, whose local story -was still more mythical. The Rabbi would think with scorn of the -impossibility of such a spectacle in a synagogue over a dressed-up -image of Aaron, for the Jews had never reformed the decalogue. He would -mentally quote Jeremiah: "The stock is a doctrine of vanities. Silver -spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the -work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder; blue and purple -is their clothing, they are all the work of cunning men."[202] Educated -Hindus are now often to be seen in Rome. Any of them who witnessed -this scene, and heard priests complacently point out the distinctions -by which simple Westerns are lulled into the notion that this is -theoretically a different kind of worship from that paid to lesser gods -and to images by Brahmans, would take the distinctions in his supple -fingers and snap them as easily as he would so many threads of the -finest Dacca looms. The Pundits were in this, as in many things, elder -and abler brethren of the priests. - -Friedrich, in his Doctor's robes, formed one of the promiscuous crowd; -for mere theologians in Rome did not pass for much. No one has told -us where Quirinus stood, or what was his toilet. It is not even clear -whether his spirit was vested in a German or an English frame, although -probabilities are in favour of the latter. Vitelleschi was there too, -with his Roman familiarity with men, forms, and projects. And there -was Lord Acton, the Roman Marchese, brother to a bishop, soon to be a -Cardinal; the English Baron nephew to a Cardinal. M. Frond would be -in exceedingly great glory. M. Veuillot, frightened, _he says_, by -the rain, was in his rooms by the Piazza di Spagna, describing to the -_Univers_ what he calls "the moral of the ceremony"--a fact which he -states long afterwards (i. p. 73). He acknowledges that he did not -smell the odour of the crowd; but not on that account is he to be told -that he did not see the first session. He went to the top of the Pincio -about noon, saw the dome and the Vatican wrapped in fog and rain, and -the sky laden as if with storms for all time. But he saw the Council -as one ought to see it, and as history will see it; and never on the -sunniest morning did the hill of Peter, the mountain where God dwells, -appear more luminous to him. - -Correspondents of the _Civiltá_ published on the spot, of the _Stimmen_ -published on the Rhine, of distant journals in America and the East, -were revelling in the Catholicity and brilliancy of the spectacle, -and preparing to transmit across the Alps and across the seas some -vibration of the transports by which every now and then they were -themselves thrilled. The untonsured but inevitable correspondents of -the profane Press were there, odious in forms unknown. - -Liberal Catholics from different countries were there in numbers, -striving to hope against hope, now thinking of the courage of their -national bishops, now of the moderation of the Pontiff; and now -exercising faith in the good stars of the Church, but trusting that, -somehow or other, credit to the Catholic cause would result from the -Council, instead of Jesuit fighting, followed by disaster, which they -had too much ground to fear. - -On the other hand, the Jesuits were quietly exulting in the knowledge -that the days of the Liberal Catholics were numbered. "Weighed and -found wanting" were words often upon their lips at that time. - -The feeling of the Protestants, of all classes, was chiefly that of -curiosity. Such of them as believed that Rome yet retained enough of -the Christian element to be capable of reform wished that the Jesuits -might fail. Those, on the other hand, who believed that at Trent Rome -had written upon herself the doom _irreformable_, thought that the -only thing now before her was to go down deeper into her own errors, -and to make herself formally what she long had been virtually, the -religion simply of the _fait accompli_, a system in which each error -once committed must enter into the blood, and even form abnormal bone. -Perhaps the words "judicial blindness" were never so often quietly -uttered by charitable men as then, and during the months ensuing. - -The tomb of Peter shared with his statue in the honours of the morn. In -the ray of its lamps knelt many a figure of "fair women and brave men." -The men hoped to rise braver for the coming struggle. The words of the -Pontiff were vividly in the memories of the devout--words uttered to -five hundred bishops. "We never doubted that a mysterious force and -salutary virtue emanated from the tomb where repose the ashes of Peter, -as a perpetual object of religious veneration to the world; a force -which inspires the pastors of the Lord's flock with bold enterprises, -noble spirit, and magnanimous sentiment."[203] Pius IX would hardly -have seen the force of an inquiry, should any one have dared to make -it, whether there was any known case in which one of the Apostles had -in Jerusalem sent even the most ignorant of Christians to the tomb of -the proto-martyr, ay, or to the tomb of tombs, in order there to seek -some blessing that could not be found by going into his own closet, and -praying to his Father who seeth in secret. - -The _Civiltá_, however, gave a more intelligent turn to this Papal -suggestion-- - - It is to be hoped (it said) that this Council, announced on the - centenary of St. Peter, convoked by a Bull dated on the day of St. - Peter, and assembled round the wonderful tomb of St. Peter, will - be _par excellence_ the Council of St. Peter. That means the most - obsequious to the prerogatives of Peter, whose divine authority, - the centre and foundation of all social authority, is at the same - time that which is most combated by the spirit of the world, - according to the words of the Saviour, "The whole world lieth in - wickedness" (1 John v. 19). - -While the people waited, the bishops were robing in the Julian -corridor, and the patriarchs in one of the adjoining apartments. Over -the grand portico of St. Peter's is a hall, well known on Holy Thursday -as the place where the twelve apostles celebrate the Supper--the hall -in which the five hundred presented their salutation in 1867. This -had been converted into a chapel, by the erection of an altar. Here -assembled the members of the procession. Each prelate, on completing -his costume, made for the hall, but was not permitted to have any -attendant. It being the Day of the Immaculate Conception, the colour -of the vestments was white; a rule, however, which did not bind the -Orientals. The cardinals were robing in a room apart. Each of them -having done so, entered the hall followed by his train-bearer. Bishops, -prelates, and cardinals waited while the Pope robed. This he did in -the Pauline Chapel, attended by three cardinals, two bishops, the -sub-deacon apostolic, two protonotaries, and a few minor officials. -They adorned him with amice and with alb, with girdle and with stole. -Then did the cardinal-priest in waiting bring the censer, and the Pope -put the incense on. Then did they further array him in the "formal," -the pluvial, and the precious mitre. At about half-past nine o'clock, -Pius IX, in all the glory of gems and garments, entered the hall, -where between seven and eight hundred bishops stood before the altar, -awaiting their royal head. He did not wear either the tiara or the -usual golden mitre, but a special _precious mitre_ made for the -occasion, "This" says, Vitelleschi (p. 3), "was to indicate a certain -equality with the other bishops, which, however, is confined to these -little accessories of the ceremonial." The white pluvial was fastened -on his breast by an enamelled clasp, about which clerical writers are -particular. The clasp was set with jewels in the form of a dove, with -outstretched wings, surrounded by a halo of rays, and _representing the -Holy Ghost_. The Pope passed among the Fathers holding out his fingers, -in the usual manner, on this side and on that, giving them what is -grotesquely called the _pontifical_ benediction. Then kneeling at the -faldstool he took off his mitre and prayed. Two cardinals, approaching -the kneeling Pontiff, placed a book before his eyes. He looked upon it, -lifted up his aged but resounding voice, and sang-- - - Creator Spirit, come! - -This strain was taken up by the choir, and the first verse was sung, -all kneeling. The Pontiff then rose, put on his mitre, and was seated -in his portative throne. - -The portative throne is a contrivance for exhibiting a dignitary to the -gaze of a multitude, which does not remind one of anything to be seen -elsewhere in Europe, but does strongly remind one of the way in which -a great Guru is carried in India. It is a gorgeous litter, on which is -placed a gorgeous chair, under a gorgeous canopy, called a Baldachino. -In the chair is seated the Pontiff. Men robed in crimson bear the -litter; others bear the canopy on long gilded decorated poles, and -beside it others bear gigantic fans of peacocks' feathers. - -Even in a secular procession, more serious than an election triumph, -this sort of chairing would be of doubtful taste; but in a religious -act, above all an act done in the house of God, it would be impossible, -except where the aesthetic of faith had expired, and the aesthetic of -thought had long surrendered to the aesthetic of sensation. As the -Pontiff was set on high a shot fired from St. Angelo told the waiting -multitude that the procession was formed. - -We have said that the clergy of the city lined the whole course of the -procession on either side. This extended from the door of the hall, -through some of the apartments of the Vatican, down the celebrated -Royal Staircase, through the magnificent portico of St. Peter's, up -the nave to the statue of the Apostle, then to the altar at his grave, -and finally, to the right of that altar, into the hall of the Council. -As the head of the procession emerged from the hall, the manifold -costumes of the clergy formed the skirting of the lofty walls, in the -apartments through which it slowly swept. The most noticeable of these -was the Royal Hall, _Sala Regia_, where frescoes, suggestive of more -swords than one, appealed, by Papal memories, to Papal hopes. There -was Gregory VII giving absolution to the penitent emperor Henry IV. -There was the attack upon Tunis in 1553, there the massacre of St. -Bartholomew's, the League against the Turks, and Barbarosas receiving -the benediction of the Pope in the Piazza of St. Mark. From the Royal -Hall descends the Royal Staircase _Scala Regia_. All down its two -flights the reverent clergy lined the way, as the "Church Princes" -swept by. In the lower flight the Ionic capitals of the colonnade -gracefully lengthened out the perspective, while the stately march -of mitres glanced between the shafts. With a supreme sense of the -importance of the act did the train pass down the noble stair; each -prelate no less sustaining the dignity of the moment because just then -the eye of the outer world beheld them not. In the view of a real -Vaticanist a great procession is a good in itself, and a very high -good, apart from its uses; or, perhaps more properly, it is felt that -its effectiveness for use wholly depends upon the sense of discipline -in its members. - -Finally the foot of the stair was reached. The portative throne passed -the statue of Constantine, the first who ever drew sword for the -Church. It swept round and faced the statue of Charlemagne, the first -upon whose head the Church ever set imperial crown. Each stood at an -end of the magnificent vista formed by the portico--grand watchers at -the door of the Pontiff, ever telling that the kings whom his Church -wants are not merely nursing fathers but champions in fight. As the -sight of their uplifted monarch burst upon the people, and that of the -people upon their king, the heavy guns from the Aventine were firing -alternately with those of St. Angelo, while all the bells were trying -to exceed the joypeal of the preceding day. Before his Holiness reached -this point, the procession had already entered the nave in slow and -gorgeous order. - -In front came chamberlains, chaplains, and officials of sixteen -ascending grades. After these came the Fathers of the Council,--first -the generals of orders, next mitred abbots, and then followed bishops, -archbishops, primates, and patriarchs, in succession of still ascending -rank, every man in appropriate splendour. The Orientals outshone their -western brethren even more than usual; for the robes of the Latins, -being confined to the white of the day, were at a disadvantage beside -the eastern coats of many colours. The Senator, as the incumbent -is called of a quaint old office under the Papal government, which -we might call that of honorary mayor of Rome, marched between the -prelates and the throne in golden robe of rich variety. He was -accompanied by the conservators, whom we might call something like -honorary councilmen, and also by the commandants of the three orders -of guards--the noble, the Palatine, and the Swiss. Finally, sitting -aloft, with the fans and the bearers, and the poles and the canopy, -came the Pontiff. The moving throne was followed by a lengthened rear -procession, formed of sundry officials, and closing with the priests, -who had for some time been practising shorthand, in order to act as -reporters. - -The faithful from east and west gazed with enraptured eyes. Many were -proud to recognize their own bishops; some still prouder to see their -own gifts in robe or gem shining among the adornments of the day. Any -Hindu present, looking at priest and soldier, might have exclaimed -in the words of the _Bhagavad Gita_: "Many a wondrous sight, many a -heavenly ornament, many an upraised weapon; adorned with celestial -robes and chaplets; anointed with heavenly essence, covered with every -marvellous thing."[204] - -From early morn, "_the holiest_," to use the term of one of the -priestly descriptions, had been exhibited upon the altar; but out -of tenderness to the throng had been veiled till the procession -approached. As it entered the temple, every member of it uncovered -to "_the holiest_." Those who were not members of the Council, -after reaching the high altar, defiled to the left. The Fathers of -the Council approaching the altar, each in his turn bent the knee -before the Host; and then turning to the right, beheld the front of -the Council Hall erected between two of the piers which sustain the -great dome of Michael Angelo. Over the door was a picture, professing -to represent the Eternal Father. The door was kept by the military -figures of the Knights of Malta and the noble guards. Each prelate, -in turn, entered the hall, bowed to the cross erected upon the altar, -and was shown to the place assigned to him, according to his rank -and seniority; for care was taken that the bishops should not group -themselves either according to nation or according to opinion. There, -standing and bareheaded, they awaited the Holy Father (_Frond_, vii. p. -98). - -After the procession had been for some time moving up the nave, a -whisper, "The cross, the cross," passed from lip to lip. The cross was -borne immediately in front of the Fathers of the Council. Priest told -priest of its choice beauty and immense costliness. Designed in the -Gothic of the thirteenth century, and rich with gems, it represented -Christ, not in His passion, but crowned, as conquering Lord, in glory. -Among the expressions of delight, the proudest was, "It is a present to -the Pope from the English convert, the Marquis of Bute." - -The Pope did not, on this occasion, as he usually does, pass up the -whole of the nave on his portative throne--a process which guide-books -describe as representing the Lord of Glory entering Paradise. He now -alighted at the entrance of the basilica, and, with deliberate step -and thrice radiant smiles, his head alone mitred while all others were -uncovered in presence of the "holiest," he marched among soldiers, -priests, and subjects, a sovereign _in excelsis_. Before him went his -hundreds of lieutenants, in attire which would have dazzled ancient -Pontifex, Flamen, and Augur. Every one of them was prepared to contend -with princes in his cause, to set his name before that of their king, -and to claim, in their respective countries, a supreme sway for his -sceptre. Not a few of them had endured prosecution or prison to uphold -his law against that of their country, and no note of the lyres that -sounded the praises of the day was sweeter than that which commemorated -the name of any martyr-bishop, hero of the kingdom of God, against the -naturalism of the age. - -The Cardinals had not followed the bishops into the hall. They now -stood near the high altar. Two bishops were at the faldstool, with book -and candle. At the altar itself stood the officiating Cardinal, with -a priest, a deacon and sub-deacon, a master of the ceremonies, five -acolytes bearing candles, and three clerks of the chapel. On arriving -at the altar the Pontiff bowed upon the faldstool. Then the last -strophe of the _Veni Creator_ was exquisitely sung by the choir. To use -the words of a priest, written, not for Spaniards or Brazilians, but -for Germans: "Every member of the historical procession cast himself -upon his knees before our God and Saviour in the form of bread, before -whom all kings bow."[205] - -After the adoration of the Host the Pope, still kneeling, recited -aloud the prayer, "Look upon us, O God our protector!"--_Protector -Noster Aspice Deus_--and for some time he continued reciting prayers -in alternation with the choir. "Rising up," says Monsignor Guérin, "he -recited a prayer to the Holy Sacrament, another to the Holy Spirit, a -third to invoke the aid of the Holy Virgin and that of the Apostles St. -Peter and St. Paul, a fourth to God" (_Guérin_, p. 76). - -The Cardinals, with their train-bearers, now turning to the right, -entered the Hall of the Council, where the bishops had been waiting for -some time. - -As the Pope advanced to the eventful enclosure, two former comrades -in one lawyer's office held the corners of his pluvial--the Cardinals -Antonelli and Mertel. If these ministers deserved half of the ill that -was said of them by the common voice of Rome, or even by a writer like -Liverani, who shuns private scandal, and only treats of public acts, -Pius IX was not at that moment to be congratulated on the character of -his companions. Confiding in the patronage of her whom he had set on -high, he once more passed among the ornate hundreds of his mighty but -docile servants. Approaching the altar he offered up a prayer; then -passing to the throne at the far end of the Hall, he, in the words of -Sambin, "dominated the whole assembly, and appeared like the teaching -Christ" (p. 55). - -The German Jesuit who wrote for the _Stimmen_ said, "The bloodless -offering was being presented on the altar, and soon must the _invisible -Head of the Church be present in form of bread_. Opposite sits His -representative upon a throne; below him, the Cardinals; around, the -Catholic world, represented in its bishops" (_Neue Folge_, vi. p. 162). - -This localized presence, not yet actual, but to come at the word of the -priest, was the same as that "divine presence" which Cardinal Manning, -when leaving home, said many in the English Church were sighing for as -having formerly been in their churches. The early Christians saw the -most sublime token of God's presence in that absence of any similitude -which perplexed the heathen soldiery at Nicomedia, which, in India, -first perplexes and then awes the Hindu, and which to spiritual -worshippers says, in the deep tone of silence-- - - Lo, God is here, let us adore! - -At this point, rather more than twenty of the particulars set down -in the program had been got through, but there were one hundred and -forty-eight of them in all. It would be well worth while for any -merely philosophic politician to follow them one by one, marking the -directions by which every act, posture, and prayer, whether audible or -silent, was prescribed. The science of government by spectacle really -deserves study by men of sense, because the practice of it is so mighty -with all who take an impression for a reason. The program is in the -_Acta_, and those who choose to read it will find a prescription for -each minutest move. - -The Archbishop of Iconium, whose real office was that of Vicar of -St. Peter's, approached the throne, holding his mitre in his hands; -he made a profound obeisance, then drawing near, he kissed the -Pope's knee. After this, mounting the pulpit, he preached, in cope -and mitre, a sermon unlike that of Father Bianchi. It was long and -tame, and hardly had the true Infallibilist ring. He felt that they -were entering upon an untried and thorny path. "Tribulation," he -said, "will arise, bitter days and innumerable sorrows" (_Acta_, pp. -204-214). After the sermon the Pope rose and gave the benediction, -during which the cardinals and bishops stood, the abbots and generals -of orders kneeling down. "It is," says Monsignor Guérin, "the Moses -of the new law, with his shining brow." He then offered up a prayer, -with invocation of the Church triumphant and of all saints, "the -formidable army which is drawn up around the Pope and the Council, -and which assures victory to the Church," as Guérin expounds it. The -preacher then published the indulgences from the pulpit. Now came -an interlude preparatory to a transaction of grave importance. To -prescribe the action of the interlude, it required all the articles -of the program from thirty-seven to fifty. To perform that action -took up in a Christian place of worship probably a full half-hour of -the time of seven hundred bishops, of several thousand clergymen, of -Knights of Malta, of noble guards, Palatine guards, Swiss guards, of -some two thousand soldiers, and of probably twenty thousand people. -Two bishops, with book and candle, draw near to the throne. The -Pontiff recites _Quam dilecta_, etc. The sub-deacon apostolic, who is -a judge of the high court of the Rota, called the Supreme Tribunal of -the whole Christian world, advances. He is accompanied by two judges -of the high court of the Signet, to which even the Rota, in spite of -its title, is subordinate.[206] The three judges solemnly bear to the -throne in a scarf of silver cloth the apostolic stockings and slippers -trimmed with gold lace. The Pontiff puts on stockings and slippers. -Monsignor the Sacristan takes his place at the altar ready to give out -the robes. The two judges of the high court of the Signet stand at the -altar ready to take the robes from Monsignor the Sacristan, and to -hand them to the cardinal deacon. Then the cardinal deacon approaches -the throne. The senior cardinal priest ascends the steps of the throne -and takes the ring from off the Pontiff. The judges of the high court -of the Signet bring the robes to the throne. Then the senior cardinal -priest, assisted by the cardinal deacons, takes off from the Pontiff -the mitre, takes off the formal, the pluvial, the stole and the girdle; -after which he puts on the cord, the pectoral cross, the fanon, the -stole, the tunic, the dalmatic, the gloves, and the white chasuble -wrought with gold. The sub-deacon apostolic now bears the pallium to -the throne, and one of the judges of the high court of the Signet -accompanies him, bearing the pins. The cardinal deacon then puts upon -the Pontiff the sacred pallium, takes the mitre and replaces it on the -Pontiff. Finally, the senior cardinal priest again ascends the steps -of the throne and puts on the ring which he had before taken off. And -seven hundred bishops, and several thousand priests, and a couple of -thousand soldiers, and some twenty thousand people, all were agreed -that this was imposing, impressive, divine. - -This public toilet was in preparation for what Cecconi calls "the -sublime and moving rite called the Obedience"; the homage of the -vassals to the ruler of the world. First the Cardinals one by one -arose, slowly approached the throne, performed an obeisance, and kissed -the hand of the sovereign. Then patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops, -approaching in their turn, made low reverences before the steps of the -throne, and, slowly drawing nigh, kissed the Pope's right knee. Abbots -and generals of orders knelt before reaching the steps of the throne, -rose, drew nigh, knelt again, and kissed the king's right foot. For an -hour and a quarter this act of homage was continued. From the banks of -the Thames and of the Seine, of the Ganges and the Hudson; from the -Alps and the Andes; from historic lands of Asia, whence the light of -history had long faded; from emerging countries in the New World, on -which its first beams were beginning to strike--came forward lordly -figures of men accustomed to command, and sometimes to domineer. Each, -with chosen and awe-struck movement, drew near to the king of his heart -and conscience, and rendered up his homage, like gold and frankincense -and myrrh. - -Vitelleschi, in a vein generally Roman, alluding to these "five -quarters of an hour" spent in bowing, kneeling, and kissing; says, -"What strength of memory is necessary for him who being humbly entitled -the Servant of the Servants of God, had to keep that modest formula in -mind during the whole ceremony!" But if the scene at this particular -point might tax the memory of the Pope, it would surely cheer the hopes -of those "august minds" that, having adapted their code to the views of -confessors, were now idle spectators of the Council, while other kings -were on their thrones. The ex-sovereigns of Naples, Tuscany, and Parma, -looking on that display of widely-extended power, and viewing through -the stained windows of a Catholic imagination the political forces -represented by it, might be both excused and commiserated if they saw -signs of happy days returning. - -The Jesuits said, "Surely those non-Catholics who witnessed this action -must have perceived that Catholicity, like unity, is found only where -Christ lives, speaks, and reigns--in Peter; that is, in the Roman -Church, of which Pius IX is now Peter." But we may quietly ask, Could -even those writers fancy Peter, at the only Apostolic Council, seated -upon a throne somewhere on Mount Zion, while John, James, and Paul -came up in the presence of the assembled Church and kissed his knee, -and Philip, Barnabas, and others knelt and kissed his foot? Far as the -aesthetics of those Jesuits had descended, by a long materializing -process, they must surely have read enough of the Holy Scriptures to -feel that the scene enacted in St. Peter's, though a fine edition of -a Durbar, was a sad fall from an Apostolic Council. You promise the -pupils of Plato a higher wisdom than they ever knew in the Academy, and -they find for wisdom the gewgaws of Freemasons. Such a scene was bad -in manners, bad in politics, and bad in religion. In manners, it tended -to make men servile in a lower position and arrogant in a higher; in -politics, it tended to make them either slaves or despots; in religion, -it tended to make them either unbelieving or superstitious. Is it part -of the penalty of Rome that barbaric forms should linger at its Court, -when the spirit of Christianity has banished them from the Courts of -Christian kings? Our own monarch, at the head of her two hundred and -eighty millions, is too good a Christian to make her subject Rajahs, -as a spectacle for her commons and her troops, come and fall down and -kiss her foot. The words which commanded the followers of Christ not -to exercise over one another the kind of lordship which the kings of -the Gentiles exercised over them were, with pompous action, publicly -trampled upon in this scene of "the obedience," and that both in the -spirit and in the letter. He who complacently sat and acted out that -scene in the house of God for an hour and a quarter, might better claim -to represent many known in the history of ambition, than the lowly Lord -of Peter. - -Up to this time only sixty-seven articles of the program had been -performed. Thirty more were exhausted by postures, manipulations, -and devotions. The officiating cardinal-priest then came forward, -bearing the reeking censer. He waved it before the enthroned priest, -around whom swelled up the clouds till subject eyes looked up to him -through a sacred haze, and till he looked down on his subject creatures -from a sky of fragrant mist. This ceremony fulfilled, all took their -seats with their mitres on, and the Pontiff, rising, delivered his -allocution. It overflowed with joy and hope. It clearly pointed out -the enemy to be destroyed. "A conspiracy of the wicked, mighty by -combination, rich in resources, fortified with institutions, and using -liberty for a cloak of maliciousness." Obviously this enemy was not a -theological but a political one. Vitelleschi, who naturally heard with -Italian ears, says that the language, though _using a cloak_, was plain -enough to show what enemy was meant. - -As the Pontiff drew to the close of his allocution, he, with a burst -of feeling, put up two invocations, one to the Holy Spirit, the -other to the Blessed Virgin. After this, with contagious intensity -of emotion, he threw up both hands to heaven. At a bound, the whole -assembly stood up. Then he poured forth the final invocation with the -fullest resonance of his wonderful tones--tones which might have served -in chanting from Gerizim to Ebal. He invoked angels and archangels, -Peter, Paul, and all the saints, more particularly those whose ashes -were venerated on that spot. This speech from the apostolic throne, -exclaims Monsignor Guérin, beginning with the liveliest joy, afterwards -expressing divine agonies, concluded with firm and tranquil confidence! - -Now followed another round of ceremonies, at the close of which the -master of the ceremonies proclaimed, "Let those who are not members of -the Council withdraw." The royal and noble spectators left the scene; -the doors were closed. The Knights of Malta and the noble guard stood -sentry between the faithful, who were to receive the creed as it might -be shaped, and the Fathers, who were to decide for them what their -creed should be. What would take place before those doors should be -opened again? Persistent rumour had said that the extreme party meant -to attempt an acclamation. Therefore many believed it possible that in -one brief sitting the basis of infallibility might be shifted from that -of an infallible Church to that of an infallible man. - -Other rumours asserted that some French prelates had let it be known -that if any attempt at getting up an acclamation should be made, -they would leave the Council. But what might take place behind those -charmed walls, who could tell? All that could be said with certainty -was that now, for the first time in the history of man, one hundred -and seventy millions, perhaps two hundred millions, were standing idle -spectators of the process of altering their creed. They had not a -single representative; not one channel of expression, not one possible -resort in appeal. What used to be a general council was now a conclave; -sitting behind a guard of armed men. King and priest, councillor of -state and doctor of divinity, were equally shut out. The Catholic -multitude appeared indifferent. The few who were not indifferent were -powerless. They had all been parties to narrowing the idea of the -Church to that of the clergy. That idea was now, without the consent of -any one being asked, formally narrowed from that of the clergy to that -of the bishops and Court prelates. It might further be narrowed from -that of the Episcopate to that of the Pope. It appears to us not very -easy to call men fanatics who have done so much with mankind, when they -propose and expect to do still more! - -The point at which we now stand in the program of the day is the 109th -Article, which is the first of several prescribing a ceremony with -a substance. Bishop Fessler, Secretary of the Council, and Bishop -Valenziani of Fabriano, approached the throne. The Secretary handed a -document to the Pontiff. The Pope handed the document to Valenziani, -who thereupon, ascending the pulpit, turned towards the throne, made a -profound obeisance, took off his mitre, and read out as follows--"Pius, -the Bishop-Servant of the Servants of God, with the approbation of the -Holy Council." Having now pronounced the title of the decree, he again -put on his mitre, seated himself, and proceeded to read the substance -of the Decree. This consisted of one sentence, declaring the Council -opened. In that ill-constructed hall few heard what was read; and many -were wicked enough to hint that, if ill-constructed, the hall was not -ill-contrived. Once more laying aside the mitre, Bishop Valenziani rose -and asked, "Is the Decree now read agreed to?" The bishops were seated -in their mitres, the abbots standing bareheaded. There was no formal -vote. Those who understood what was said, cried _Placet_, and others -repeated the cry. No one dissented. This result was communicated to the -sovereign, and he from the throne proclaimed--"The Decree now read is -agreed to by the Fathers, none dissenting; and we decree, enact, and -sanction it, as read." - -These forms were exactly repeated, and a second Decree was passed. -Like the first, it consisted of a single sentence, which fixed the -next public session for January 6. The two Promoters of the Council, -as they were called, now advancing, first knelt on the lowest step of -the throne, and then addressed the notaries, saying, "We pray you, -Protonotaries here present, to draw up an authentic document, recording -all and singular the acts done in this public session of the all-holy -OEcumenical Vatican Council." The senior protonotary then appealing to -the Majordomo and the High Chamberlain, who stood on the right hand of -the throne, said, "We shall draw it up, ye being witnesses" (_Frond_, -vii. p. 119). - -The constitutional crisis had come and gone, and very few were aware -of it. Those who had thought of the program as anything more than -the order of a pageant, must have observed that the signification of -those acts amounted to no less than putting aside the conciliar form -of Decree, and adopting in its stead that of the Papal Bulls. We have -already seen that Friedrich, as a Church historian, saw this at a -glance. It need not be said that the ancient Councils, representing -the whole Church, spoke in their own name, themselves _decreeing_ -and _enacting_. As to the only Council "over" which Pontiff Peter I -"presided," it would not do to cite it as an example.[207] As late as -Trent, every Decree bore upon the face of it the words, "_This holy -Council enacts and decrees_." All the statutes of the Council of Trent, -without alteration of a word, were immediately confirmed by the Pope, -he having beforehand promised, in writing, to do so. The formula then -used was, of course, liable to the interpretation that it indicated the -superiority of the Council to the Pope. That interpretation had been -actually put upon it by schools in the Church, at one time, including -whole nations. - -The Decrees now passed had never been before the Council for -deliberation, but were handed from the throne ready made. The Pope, -according to the formula, did not merely sanction, but _decreed_, -_enacted_, and _sanctioned_--that is, he took the part of both -parliament and crown. - -The Council is only mentioned as "approving" of this absorption of -its own powers into those of its head. The part thus allowed to this -so-called OEcumenical Council, this Senate of Humanity, in framing -Decrees, is less than the part allowed to the College of Cardinals in -the framing of Bulls. Take, for instance, the Bull of Convocation. It -expressly says that, in issuing it, the Pope acts not only with the -consent of the Cardinals, but by their counsel. - -This expresses more than "with the approbation." All, therefore, that -the collective episcopate did for the College of Cardinals was somewhat -to curtail its relative legislative importance. Alone, both its counsel -and consent were recognized. When united with all the bishops, only -its consent. This looked like telling the bishops that their counsel -was superfluous. In the Bull history conquered dogma. The counsel and -consent of the Cardinals was the memento of the historical fact that -the Bishop of Rome originally spoke with authority only when he spoke -as the mouthpiece of the local clergy. In the Decree dogma conquered -history. The Bishop of Rome alone was to appear as speaking with -authority, and all other bishops were to appear only as approving, -but neither as counselling nor confirming; as for the clergy, they -were no longer of the Teaching Church. The substance of the Decrees -passed was perfectly innocent. They had, moreover, the advantage of -exactly copying the acts done in the first session at Trent, while -destroying the forms there employed. In the _Acta_ of that Council two -resolutions, declaring the Council opened, and fixing the day for the -second public session, were entered as constituent acts, before the -heading given to Decrees of the constituted body began to be used. The -two constituent resolutions were not even headed by the name of the -Council, while the name of the Pope does not occur in the heading of -any of the Decrees, much less does it stand as the sole legislative -authority. - -At Trent it was not a private member of the Council, like Bishop -Valenziani, but the first presiding legate, Cardinal De Monte, who read -out the draft of a resolution, in the form of a question declaring -the Council opened. To this question the Fathers "all with one consent -answered, _Placet_." The second resolution was put in the same form. -Both, as we have intimated, were entered without the heading of -Decrees, and stand as the acts of a body organizing itself, but not as -legislative acts of that body when organized. Every subsequent Decree -is a real legislative act, and therefore bears the formal heading, "The -All-Holy Council of Trent, in the Holy Ghost lawfully assembled ... -ordains and decrees."[208] - -The formula adopted in the Vatican Council had the advantage of -determining, once for all, what that Council was to be, namely, -a secret consistory of bishops, to give an approval to Papal -Constitutions. Its Presidents were Cardinals, an office unknown to the -Christian Church--princes simply of the Court of Rome, though most -of them bear the orders of priest. Of the members of the Council a -vast number, though called bishops, were really no more than mitred -equerries and chamberlains. In the means it took to deprive the -diocesan bishops of their inherited powers in Council, the Curia knew -its men. Brought up in the sentiment that an effective "function" is -the sublimest stroke of civil or ecclesiastical government, it would -have been a revolt against all their instincts to disturb a pageant -so unrivalled as the one in which they that day had the felicity of -bearing a part. The Curia placed them in this dilemma: Either they -must rise up amidst that blaze of splendour and resist the act of the -sovereign at whose feet they had just bowed, or they must learn at a -later stage, if they should then challenge the Rules of Procedure, -that the moment for objection was past. The success of the Curia was -complete. The general drew out his men for a review, and turned the -Thermopylæ of the opposition without having ever seen a Spartan. Those -who had come up resolved to oppose changes in their creed soon found -that the one pass that might have been held against overwhelming odds -was already in the enemy's rear. The Nine had not spent nearly ten -months on the Rules of Procedure for nothing. - -When this brief episode in the drama of the day had passed over, the -doors were thrown open, and the spectators who had been excluded -resumed their places. Many of the priests outside would feel -disappointed that they had not heard the hall resound with the voices -of an acclamation. That would have told that Papal infallibility was -adopted without discussion. Friedrich lets it appear that he felt -relieved at the opening of the doors before there had been any exulting -sound, and doubtless many shared his feeling. - -Rumours, persistently kept up, declared that Archbishop Manning -would propose the dogma, and that the majority, breaking out into -acclamation, would bear down all opposition. If such a design was ever -entertained, it had been thought--some say it had been found--that -it would prove wiser not to proceed so hastily. The passing of two -Decrees in the form of Papal Constitutions was enough to carry "the -forms of the house," while the issuing of the Rules of Procedure as a -Bull, before the Council was opened, had taken away every pretext for -alleging that they were open to revision by the Council itself, as -being its own acts. - -Archbishop Manning, on his return to England, in a pastoral, treated -the rumour of an intended acclamation as if it was only laughable. -A reason which he assigns for this is that Rome had had enough of -acclamations, seeing that many who acclaimed infallibility in 1867 had -openly turned against it. The rumours, however, were too consistent, -and too well supported by the hints of the _Civiltá_ and by the plain -words of Monsignor Plantier and others, to be prudently dismissed -with a smile--at least, anywhere but in England. They were not what -Dr. Manning represents them, rumours of an acclamation without a -definition, but of a definition carried by acclamation, as in the case -of the Immaculate Conception. On the other hand, Archbishop Manning's -thrust at those who had in 1867 signed language that might seem to mean -everything included in infallibility, without themselves intending to -express that doctrine, is natural in one who had not wholly unlearned -the Protestant worth of words. Nevertheless, of all grounds on which -the prefects of the Pope should begin to trip one another up, the -ground to be selected by preference is scarcely that of finesse in the -interpretations they put on what they say. As to the part assigned to -Dr. Manning personally, it is possible that the rumour represented no -more than the fact that both they who hoped for an acclamation, and -they who feared it, mentioned the name which occurred to them as that -of the most likely instrument of such a procedure, and both happened to -pronounce the same name. As if to justify this instinctive selection of -both parties, Dr. Manning, on his return home, said that if the Council -"had defined the infallibility at its outset, it would not have been an -hour too soon; and perhaps it would have averted many a scandal we now -deplore."[209] - -A Roman noble thus notes the zeal of Dr. Manning-- - - No one is so devoted as a convert. Having himself erred for half - his lifetime did not restrain him from becoming the most ardent - champion of infallibility. This circumstance raised a presumption - of a deficiency, on his part, in that traditional ecclesiastical - spirit which is never fully acquired but by being early grounded - and by long continued usage--a presumption which was justified by - his excessive and intemperate restlessness. This seemed a cause - sufficient to lessen his authority with the Conservative portion - of the ecclesiastical world, which judges with more calmness and - serenity.[210]--(_Vitelleschi_, p. 35.) - -The real work of the day was now done. It was time to sing the _Te -Deum_. The Pontiff sounded the first note, and was followed by the -Fathers of the Council, by the choir, by the thousands outside in the -Basilica. The strain was caught up in nave and aisles, in every chapel -and every gallery; it mounted aloft into vaults and dome, till all who -were beneath the gorgeous roof thrilled under that returning swell of -exulting sound; and many felt as if the world was falling, overwhelmed -with harmony, at the feet of Pio Nono. - -The eighteen articles of the program still remaining contained little -beyond unrobing, re-robing, and dissolving. - -The people had been for seven hours in the Cathedral. It still -rained in torrents. The clerical organs said the providential -rain had prevented mobs in different places from making hostile -demonstrations. During the time spent in the Cathedral, the people had -not heard--except so far as some of them could make out the Latin--a -sentence of the Word of God or of the words of man. The seven hours -of the twenty thousand had been spent in an intermitting gaze. All -went away, not only praising the pageant of the day, but extolling -it. Friedrich quotes a diplomatist who said it was "superb." The -correspondent of the _Times_ said: "It has been my fortune to see many -pageants in Rome, but none of them equalled, in majestic solemnity, the -scene presented by the procession of bishops from all countries in the -world."[211] Monsignor Guérin cried: "It offered the most majestic and -enchanting spectacle which it was ever given to mortals to behold here -below." M. Veuillot said that bishops were there from the rising to the -setting of the sun--men who would invade regions as yet closed against -them--the light-bearers and the God-bearers.[212] These old men, he -added, would overthrow darkness and death, and the day would break -(vol. i. p. 12). Vitelleschi remarked that there was indeed a bishop -from Chaldea and one from Chicago, but the former did not represent a -Catholic Chaldea, nor the latter a Catholic Chicago. Even, he added, in -countries called Catholic, what proportion of the population are really -of their flocks? He might have further added, And if their teaching -is true, what proportion of their flocks are really Catholics?--for -they teach that a doubt on any single article of faith propounded by -their Church, or a doubt on one of her interpretations of a text of -Scripture, taints one with heresy. How many Italians were, on the day -of the opening of the Council, free from that taint? - -We are reminded of an Englishman whose name, when he was only thirty -years of age, gained for him distinguished attention at the Vatican. -His Protestantism was much influenced by his early study of the -corruptions of Christianity at the centre of them. Had John Milton -witnessed that pageant we know exactly what he would have said. First -he would have shown that when the filial spirit of Christianity had -been lost, the servile spirit of Paganism supervened. When men ceased -to come to God as children to a father, they sought circuitous access -through upper servants. Then followed what he describes in a sentence -with a strong flavour of the Phædrus-- - - They began to draw down all the divine intercourse betwixt God and - the soul, yea, the very shape of God Himself, into an exterior and - bodily form, urgently pretending a necessity and obligement of - joining the body in a formal reverence, and worship circumscribed; - they hallowed it, they fumed it, they sprinkled it, they bedecked - it, not in robes of pure innocency, but of pure linen, with other - deformed and fantastic dresses, in palls and mitres, gold and - gewgaws fetched from Aaron's old wardrobe, or the flamin's vestry: - then was the priest set to con his motions and his postures, - his liturgies and his lurries, till the soul, by this means - of over-bodying herself, given up justly to fleshly delights, - bated her wing apace downward: and finding the ease she had from - her visible and sensuous colleague the body, in performance of - religious duties, her pinions now broken and flagging, shifted - off from herself the labour of high soaring any more, forgot her - heavenly flight, and left the dull and droiling carcase to plod on - in the old road, and drudging trade of outward conformity.... They - knew not how to hide their slavish approach to God's behests, by - them not understood, nor worthily received, but by cloaking their - servile crouching to all religious presentments, sometimes lawful, - sometimes idolatrous, under the name of humility, and terming the - piebald frippery and ostentation of ceremonies, decency.--_Of - Reformation in England, first book._ - -A writer in the _Stimmen_ thought that if those who were separated from -the Church had only been present they might have been won back. It -would be an easy way to settle the merits of a religion, if it could be -done by the simple experiment of what body had the grandest building -for a display, or the greatest number of richly dressed men to perform. -We do not presume to say whether Peter ever did visit Rome or not; -but, supposing that he did, the question between him and the sovereign -Pontiff of the day, as to the value of their respective religions, -would soon have been settled in favour of Nero, if it had gone by -buildings, statues, robes, and retinues. Probably the poor itinerant -preacher was so conscious that, as Milton would say, his religion "to -the gorgeous solemnities of paganism, and the sense of the world's -children, seemed but a homely and yeomanly religion," that he would not -have challenged comparison with the purpled Pontiff on that ground. Any -writer who could imagine that the tendency of a "function" performed in -the manner of the one we have described is to convince Protestants that -the Church of Rome has in her forms much likeness left to the Church -of Christ, must be unaware of the first elements of a comparison. When -we search the Scriptures daily to see whether these things are so, the -estrangement of the Papacy from the Christianity of Christ, and its -affinity to the Romanism of the Pagan Pontiffs, become more and more -impressive. - -The feeling in St. Peter's did not permit guards to be dispensed with. -It transpired that extreme precaution had been taken to prevent the -Basilica from being blown up. At the time, the general impression -appeared to be that some of the National party had played upon the -fears of the priests, hoaxing them with hints of such a design. But -after what occurred in Paris during the reign of the Commune, one can -hardly think it impossible that some of the violent and ignorant may -have entertained wild plans. In 1867, a startling example of what might -be done had been shown in the blowing up of a barrack of the zouaves. -When populations which have long been governed by spectacle, set out -for a political sensation, they sometimes go dreadful lengths to find a -stirring one. - -The city was to have been grandly illuminated, but the drenching rain -would have mocked all effort to keep in the tender life of the lamps. -Let us hope, said the clerical writers, that the blue sky of Rome will -smile on the close of the Council, and that then the eternal city will -glow brighter even than Ephesus in 431 (_Stimmen_, N.F., p. 166). - -In addition to human helps to faith, it was announced that divine -helps had been vouchsafed. On this ever-memorable day the bones of the -martyrs at Concordia had distilled water, which in that part of Venetia -was a recognized presage of a joyful future. This is announced in the -organ of that Court which was soberly undertaking to inaugurate a new -era for all the societies of men (_Civiltá_, VII. ix. 104). - -The same periodical in the very next sentence gave samples of -_fanatical_ English Protestants. Citing the _Pall Mall Gazette_, it -told how a series of meetings had been held in Freemasons' Hall, at the -suggestion of Dr. Merle d'Aubigné, to pray for the Council. It went on -to say that the Chairman, Mr. Arthur Kinnaird, had told how similar -meetings for prayer were to be held all over the world, and even among -the Protestants of Italy. It quoted two of the petitions said to have -been offered up. Canon Auriol prayed _that all the machinations of Rome -might be turned to confusion_, and Dr. Cumming that the _day of her -imagined triumph might prove to be that of her prophesied ruin_. - -It was much pleasanter work to tell of the Anti-Council of the -Freethinkers at Naples. Praying Protestants are to be hated and -extinguished. But vaunting infidels are to the Jesuits what fires -are to insurance offices--their apparent foes, but their only real -supports. That assembly spent a couple of days in vague and sometimes -vast talk. It abused the Pope, and the Jesuits say it blasphemed God. -It proposed to find a code of morals without religion, those flowers -without any stems which are the holy grail of such knights errant. -Finally, it attacked the French Emperor and the Italian monarchy, and -was dissolved by the police. Demonstrations of a somewhat similar -kind were attempted in a few other cities of Italy. In France, on -the contrary, the following cities were illuminated, and were -lauded not only in their local clerical journals, but in the great -_Civiltá_: Lyons, Bordeaux, Marseilles, Toulouse, Limoges, Clermont, -Saint-Etienne, Laval, Moulins, Nismes, Auch, "and others." Even in -Paris many convents illuminated their facades. (_Guérin_, p. 78.) - -At Vienna a meeting of the nobility, gentry, clergy, and officials -composing the Catholic Societies, and numbering, it is said, four -thousand, was held to celebrate the day. The only Italian city -specified as having made any favourable demonstration was Brescia; -and the account amounted to no more than that of an attendance of -some Society of young men at Mass, and of the sending of a promise of -adhesion to the Council. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 198: _Frond_, iii., p. 254. M. Fisquet is author of the work -_Gallia Christiana_, in fifty volumes.] - -[Footnote 199: The Hindu _Bhagavad Gita_ thus represents the -distinction between God and the gods. "I behold, O God! within Thy -heart the _dews_ (gods) assembled, and every specific tribe of beings. -I see Brahma (the creator, only a god) sitting on his lotus throne, all -the Reeshees, and heavenly Ooragas.... I see Thee without beginning, -without middle, and without end.... The space between the heavens and -the earth is possessed by Thee alone, and every point around.... Of -the celestial bands, some fly to Thee for refuge; whilst some, afraid -with joined hands sing forth Thy praise. The Maharshees holy bands hail -Thee"; and then follows an enumeration of various orders of celestials, -who "all stand gazing on Thee, all alike amazed."(a) - -(a: Wilkins' translation, Garrett's ed., pp. 34, 55.) - -While thus Hinduism long anticipated either Pagan or Papal Romanism, -in a system of inferior worship to inferior powers, it more logically -attached inferior paradises to such worship. "Those who worship the -_Devatas_ (gods) go unto the Devatas; those who worship the Patriarchs -go unto the Patriarchs; the servants of the spirits go to the spirits; -and they who worship me go unto me."(b) That is sensible as a polity, -if fallen as a religion. But it may be doubtful whether those who -worship the Inquisitors would like to go to the Inquisitors. - -(b: Ibid., p. 46.)] - -[Footnote 200: Dr. Philip, author of _The Ghetto and Rome's Great -Show_.] - -[Footnote 201: _See_ Liverani at full.] - -[Footnote 202: Chap. x. 8, 0.] - -[Footnote 203: _Allocution_ of June 26, 1867.] - -[Footnote 204: Wilkins' translation, Garrett's triglot edition, -Bangalore, p. 53.] - -[Footnote 205: _Stimmen_, _Neue Folge_, vi. p. 116.] - -[Footnote 206: _Frond_, iii, p. 10.] - -[Footnote 207: In the list of Popes, the name Peter is repeated only in -the case of one, and he was an anti-pope.] - -[Footnote 208: The form of the opening resolutions and of the Decrees -is found in any edition of the Canons and Decrees of the Council; the -full account of the proceedings, taken down at the time by Massarellus, -the Secretary of the Council, in Theiner's _Acta Genuina_, vol. i. 28, -29.] - -[Footnote 209: _Priv. Petri_, Part III. p. 36.] - -[Footnote 210: This version, made before the publication of the English -translation, differs from it only in immaterial points. (See _Eight -Months_, p, 22.)] - -[Footnote 211: _Times_, Dec. 14, 1869.] - -[Footnote 212: "_Les portes-lumiéres et les portes-Dieu._"] - - - - -CHAPTER II - -First Proceedings--Unimportant Committees and All-Important -Commissions--No Council if Pope dies--Theologians discover their -Disfranchisement--Father Ambrose--Parties and Party Tactics--Were the -Bishops Free Legislators?--Plans of Reconstruction--Plan of the German -Bishops--Segesser's Plan--New Bull of Excommunications. - - -The day following the wonderful Wednesday, of which the proceedings -filled up the last chapter, was not too much for rest, and probably, -indeed, was too little for the bishops to tell how effective the -function had been. On the Friday, however, they had again to meet -for the first General Congregation, or deliberative sitting. This -was presided over by the Cardinals appointed, whereas the Pope -in person presided over the Public Sessions, or solemnities, for -formally promulging Decrees. Cardinal De Reisach, Chief President, -was not in his chair, but upon his death-bed. As we have seen, he had -superintended the drawing up (it is believed that with his own hand he -had drawn up) the first code of laws to regulate the relations of the -Church to civil society; but his code has never met the public eye. - -From this first General Congregation, writes Friedrich, even the -theologians were shut out. - -The occupation of the day for nearly eight hundred bishops was to elect -two committees of five each: one to examine applications for leave of -absence; and the other to settle contests as to precedence, and similar -matters, which contests at Trent often proved to be serious, indeed -ere now the streets of Rome have witnessed bloodshed arising out of -disputes of this sort between bishops. The members of these committees -were called respectively Judges of Excuses and Judges of Complaints and -Disputes. The mode of election was simple; every one wrote five names -on a card. It proved that Fallibilists must not expect the smallest -share of office. Cardinal De Luca took the chief place, and opened -the Congregation with a few simple sentences. These were translated -by interpreters for the Orientals who did not understand Latin. The -prelate who on this occasion celebrated Mass at the opening of the -sitting was the Bishop of Osimo, afterwards Cardinal Vitelleschi, to -whom some have ascribed the authorship of the work of his brother, -which we often quote.[213] - -The real business of the day, too important to be left to the -episcopate, had been done without them. It consisted in appointing the -Commission of Proposals. Twelve Cardinals, twelve archbishops, and two -bishops were announced as the men whom the Pontiff had put in charge -of the rights of their brethren. Prelates with titles from Antioch, -Jerusalem, Thessalonica, and Sardis; one from Chili and one from -Baltimore; one from Spain, one from Westminster, two Italians, and a -few others, were empowered to say whether the men who ruled the sees -of Paris, Lyons, Munich, Cologne, and Milan, and those of Hungary and -Portugal, were or were not to be recommended to the Pope for permission -to bring forward any proposal. The Commission could not grant them -leave to do so, but it could report to the Pontiff, who alone could -determine. - -As some seven hundred and fifty bishops found all their hopes of -proposing anything placed at the discretion of these twenty-six men, -it was not for them to reason why: it was for them simply to read in -the names now announced the record of past services and the fate of -future suggestions.[214] They had not stayed the proceedings when they -found that the Pro-synodal Congregation had been used to fasten upon -them an edict which took away their right of self-organization, and it -was now hopeless to attempt to recover that right. The three youngest -archbishops on the list were Giannelli, Manning, and Deschamps; the -secretary of the Nine, and the two hottest Infallibilists--all three -on the way to the purple, which they have since received at one and the -same time. - -But the sensation of the day, perhaps brought about at this moment -to divert attention from the painful inroad just made upon episcopal -rights, was a Bull determining the course to be taken should the death -of the Pontiff occur during the Council. This edict determined that -the bishops must not, in that case, elect a successor or transact -any business, but that the Council must be held as suspended till -another Pope should be duly elected by the Cardinals alone, and till -it should be again called together by him. Pius IX ordained that this -law should endure for ever, as the rule in all similar cases. This -measure made the Council an appendage to the person of the Pope, not -capable of sustaining its existence without him, and consequently -having no imaginable power over him. It also made it inferior to the -College of Cardinals--an abnormal body, composed of "creatures" of the -crown, without any pretence to a constitutional place in the Christian -Church--"Princes," and some of them, like Antonelli, not even priests. -"Pivots," as their name imports, true "pivots"[215] of the Court, which -has turned a religion into a school of costume, policy, and arms, they -have, we repeat, as Cardinals, neither name nor place, neither order -nor office, in the known constitution of the Catholic Church. When -men who held that bishops were successors of the Apostles allowed the -right of all the bishops in the world to choose their own head to be -confiscated by an edict in favour of these Court officers, they were -not likely afterwards to be strong supports of any true authority, only -of that arbitrary will which finds all the sanction of its acts in -itself. The Cardinals may well denounce nationalism, since to uphold -their pretensions the mitres of all nations must bow to the hat of a -prince in the suite of one little king. It would be unreasonable to -think less of a man for wearing a scarlet hat and scarlet stockings, -if his position in life calls him to it; almost as unreasonable as -to think more of him for it. But to put a prince into that grotesque -Court dress, and then turn him, by virtue of his Court position, into -a titular bishop, or archbishop, and to expect his irregular office to -be recommended by his incongruous attire, is a proof of the unlimited -faith of the Curia in costume. - -The experience of the day taught two lessons. First, the hall proved to -be utterly unfit for deliberation, as every architect or public speaker -must have known that it would prove, though about twenty-four thousand -pounds had been spent in adapting a space within the Cathedral. But the -second lesson of the day's experience was of a different kind. It had -become plain that Fallibilists and Infallibilists were to be parted off -from one another by a hard official line, and that no distinction would -be made between Fallibilists and Inopportunists. The Curia, instead of -showing any fear of the minority, was evidently resolved on letting it -be known that Rome was not the place to form an opposition. The Rules -had in fact already disposed of the minority. - -We have intimated that possibly theologians came up to the Council -with no more knowledge of what awaited them than the bishops. This -was at least the case with Friedrich. On the Monday after the opening -ceremony, accompanied by Kagarer, theologian to his Grace of Munich, -he waited on the Secretary of the Council. I knew, says the Professor, -that at Trent every theologian was not entitled only, but bound, to -take part in the labours of the Council, by preparing papers and -publicly discussing questions. But, he adds, "we were undeceived with -a witness." The Secretary told them that the duty of theologians in -connexion with the Council was "nothing." They were only to give -information or advice to their respective bishops, as it might be asked -for. - -The decision thus announced to the doctors had been taken eleven -months previously. The Nine, at their meetings of January 24 and -31, (_Cecconi_, p. 205) had determined that there should be no -congregation of inferior theologians, as the doctors were called, -in opposition to the bishops, the superior theologians. The open -discussions which had given light to the people on the one side and -to the prelates on the other were thus quenched. The people were no -more to have any means of ascertaining what was being done with their -creed, nor even, when something had been done, were they to have means -of ascertaining what were the processes by which the new dogmas had -been established. All that they were now to learn was to be the _fait -accompli_, henceforth to become the standard of faith for all and -in all. The order of priests was to be shorn of its last vestige of -representation in the Councils of the Church. The bishops, on the other -hand, were not to be allowed to know what could be said for or against -a proposed dogma, before they were called upon to close it up for ever. -This one turn of the screw wrung even from Cecconi a mild but distinct -expression of doubt. He feels (p. 205) that "the Fathers generally -lost a mighty assistance in the discharge of their high office." He -ventures to quote Pallavicino, the Jesuit historian of Trent, whose -language shows that the old Jesuits had broad views compared with -those now ruling. Pallavicino's words remind us of the cry of poor -Monsignor Liverani: "We might be allowed to be Liberals up to the mark -of Bellarmine"-- - - Many of the bishops were learned in the science of theology, but - the most eminent, as is the case in all sciences, were the private - theologians, since they had not been diverted by public cares from - regular study, without which eminent prudence is often acquired, - but not eminent erudition. - -But Pius IX had no intention of allowing bishops to satisfy their -consciences by hearing all that could be said on both sides before they -gave a judgment. - -It would be hard to find a neater specimen of the terms in which the -abolition of a venerable franchise may be couched than in the words -of Cecconi. He lets us know that on the 4th of July, 1869, the Nine -resolved to "confer on the theologians of bishops the right of being -eligible to be called to serve the committees of the Council." It would -be only in keeping with a system of quotation regularly practised if -this statement of Cecconi should be, hereafter, used to prove that -the theologians at the Vatican Council did not suffer any curtailment -of their rights, but received an increase of them. But exclusion from -the right of pleading before "my lords" was not all the degradation -awaiting the unfortunate doctors. Bishop Fessler told them that they -were free to give information or advice each to his own bishop, but, -adds Friedrich, _only to him_. We wonder what man was not free to -give private advice if asked for it. They were not to be allowed _to -attend meetings of the bishops; not even to meet among themselves to -consult in common upon questions affecting the Council_.[216] Friedrich -was not the most to be pitied of the theologians. Father Ambrose, a -Carmelite, had been brought up from Germany by his general, a Spaniard. -At the first interview the general told him that the all-important -question was that of Papal infallibility. Father Ambrose declared -himself a Fallibilist, and produced a work which he had prepared on -the subject. He at once lost his post; and the general wished to send -him off to Malta. Cardinal Hohenlohe pleaded for his restoration, but -in vain. The general feared that the order would be utterly put to -shame if in addition to the scandal of the Cracow nun, and that of -Father Hyacinthe's defection, a theologian of the Order brought up to -the Council should be known as a Fallibilist. The poor man had even to -go to Cardinal Hohenlohe, and to beg of him to give him back a copy -of his little work which he had presented to his Eminence. This the -Cardinal refused to do, saying that even if the general had ordered -it, he had nothing to say to a Cardinal. Ambrose was permitted to -return to Würzburg, and before he started a prelate said to him, "I -should rejoice if any one recalled me or sent me home. We bishops have -been ordered here to the Council without being told what we were to -deliberate upon, and now that I know it, I could gladly turn my back -upon the Council and Rome." - -Another minute touch of Friedrich at this moment shows how he heard a -devoted Roman adherent of the Papacy say that an officer had sent him -twenty scudi (about four pounds) as an offering to Peter's Pence; but -he had returned the money, telling his friend he would do better to -spend it on his family. "His conscience had dictated this course," for -he knew how Peter's Pence were spent. - -The correspondent of the _Stimmen_ must have been under the triumphal -influence of the opening, when he informed his German readers that -wonderful unanimity reigned, and that what might be called the -Opposition was daily shrinking up into nothing, and would soon reward -only microscopical research.[217] The _Unitá Cattolica_ of January 1 -alleged that the _Français_, in using the expression, "A fraction of -malcontents," might possibly be right, if it meant an almost impalpable -fraction; but if it meant anything more, it was false. The alleged -discontent, it went on to say, was spoken of as if it related to the -Commission of Proposals appointed by the Pope. Some were said to wish -that the Council itself should have had the selection of a committee. -It was false; no one complained. It could not be disputed that the -Pontiff, having the right to convoke, rule, and guide the Council, -had also the right to determine what questions should be submitted -to it. Pius IX had, indeed, himself confirmed this in the Bull by -which he settled the Rules of Procedure. This is not conscious but -unconscious irony. It reflects the course of the Papacy, displaying -its administrative force and its logical infirmity in one word. A -right is first desired, then secretly assumed, next insinuated in -indirect forms, and finally embodied in an act assuming it as already -ascertained; after which, this very act is taken as proof that it was -previously established. When the Nine met, they confessed that it was -questionable if the right existed to lay down rules for a General -Council of the Catholic Church by a sub-committee of the Cardinals. -But they assumed the right as unchallenged, embodied the assumption in -an edict, and now turned to that edict as proof of the pre-existing -right. A few days later, the correspondent of the _Stimmen_ again said -that, while the intelligence furnished to the ordinary journals was -absurd, one thing might be relied upon, namely, that what was called an -Opposition was daily diminishing.[218] - -Another Jesuit, writing after the Council, did not confirm these -statements of the inspired organs, but followed the profane journals, -whose intelligence was at the time decried-- - - Behold, says Sambin, two camps face to face! On one side, Rome - and her Sovereign Pontiff, surrounded by a vast majority of the - bishops, displaying the banner of the Church as set up by her - divine Redeemer. On the other side, an uncertain number of men - belonging to all ranks of the hierarchy, seduced by illusory - appearances or frightened by the danger of attacking modern ideas - in front--men who fancy that the Church ought to parley with the - notions of the age.[219] - -The orthodox view on this point was expressed by the _Civiltá_ in -its first number after the Council was opened. "The Press and public -meetings are the two mainsprings by which the spirit of the age, or -Masonry, or, to give things their proper names, Satan, moves public -opinion for his own ends."[220] At that moment Satan was busy not only -with the Italian and German Press, but with the _Standard_, _Saturday -Review_, and other English papers. - -Another aspect of the Council was exhibited, not in the secular -newspapers, but in the clerical periodicals. Eight days after the -opening session, the _Stimmen_ was informed how, on an afternoon as -mild as summer, the grounds of the Villa Borghese were enlivened by -a review in honour of the Fathers of the Council. The troops were -much commended, not omitting the _Squadriglieri_, whom the Italians -profanely charged with having been recruited from the brigands but -whom the Jesuits described as excellent Catholics. The _Civiltá_ was -really edified by this display. In the military review, it says--and -we repeat word for word--the profane spectacle was dominated by the -thought of the _new crusaders_ defiling before so many bishops, -spectators and a spectacle no longer witnessed at a military review. It -was well and truly said that this _review_ looked like a _function_ in -St. Peters'.[221] - -A few days later, the faithful, whose supply of news never related -to either doctrine or discipline, were edified by an account of a -performance in a military casino, in honour of the Austrian and Swiss -bishops. It is inferred that the Pope's foreign troops must be highly -educated, because the beautiful scenery had been entirely painted -by the soldiers. The curtain represented St. Michael the Archangel -overcoming the _first great rebel_. The first great rebel, by some -wonderful prolepsis, was clad in a red shirt, and wore the features of -Garibaldi. No writers so well know as the Jesuits how to make fun of -Garibaldi's bit of ritualism, with his red shirt and poncho. A German -war-song of the middle ages, addressed to St. Michael, was sung with -loud applause, and sung _encore_. Cardinal Prince Schwarzenberg, the -Archbishops of Salsburg and Cologne, the Bishop of Mainz, and the -Prussian Military Bishop, with a retinue of counts and one prince, -hallowed and graced the performance.[222] - -In spite of these diversions, and the protests and assertions of -perfect unanimity made by the clerical writers, the indications which -had for some time been making themselves obscurely felt of a Court -party and an Opposition party, had at last emerged into painful -consciousness on both sides. The idea of a sovereign above any party -was too lofty for the place. One party, as we have seen stated by -Sambin, was Rome and her Pontiff, while the other was an opposition, -not against the opinions of Infallibilists, or the plans of a Cabinet, -but against the Sovereign. Both sides had been very reluctant to -acknowledge the reality of such antagonism, even long after its -existence began to be tolerably evident. The Curia had nursed the hope, -as we shall see, of all but unanimous adhesion to its preconcerted -plans. It reckoned on the ascendant of the Pope when in presence, on -that of the Sacred College, on the sympathy of numbers, the witcheries -of ceremony, the baits of promotion, and, if need should arise, on -wholesome fear. - -On the other hand, even the prelates who most feared what was about -to be done, disliked the idea of being in opposition, not only to -the Curia, but to the Pontiff, and that on a personal question. They -flattered themselves, moreover, that the good feeling of the Pope would -lead him to moderate his prompters, and would not allow him to expose -bishops to difficulties with their flocks and their governments, which -they clearly foresaw. The men hoped that the general would modify his -plans, and would win the campaign by strategy, without forcing them -against stone walls. - -Even before the opening, a painful feeling, according to Friedrich, had -seized upon some of the bishops, when studying the Rules of Procedure. -Fessler, he states, had told Dinkel, of Augsburg, that some dogmatic -Decrees would be forthcoming on the opening day. Yet not a hint had -been given as to what these Decrees might be; and such secrecy on -matters so solemn was taken ill.[223] So far as the Curia was preparing -a counter revolution, it acted only like any other political body in -keeping its plans hidden. But it was a different matter to make secret -preparations for effecting changes in a creed that men had taught until -they were grey-headed, and then to expect them to face the alternative -of either accepting the change or ruining their official prospects. - -Scarcely had the opening session passed, when an address was signed by -fourteen French prelates and the powerful Croatian Bishop Strossmayer, -representing to the Pope in humble yet clear terms the danger of any -restraint on the liberty of the Council. They did not rise in their -places and move that the Council itself should frame its Rules of -Procedure; they did not even move to accept the Rules laid before it -in the Bull _Multiplices Inter_, with certain specified amendments. -Nothing short of this would have asserted the freedom of their -Assembly. On the contrary, like all men trained under absolutism, -they did not know how to maintain their inherited rights against -encroachment and at the same time to abide loyal and true; but -submitted, grumbling at their wrongs, and groping for some opening in -the wall which shut them in. Had they attempted to bring forward such -a motion as we have supposed, it would soon have been seen whether -the assertions were or were not true which were made by English and -American bishops about the Council being as free as the Senates of -their own nations. Any one attempting to make such a proposal would -have been informed that in the Pro-Synodal Congregation the Rules had -been issued as a Papal Bull, and that in the first session the forms -therein prescribed had been acted upon; so that those Rules, not being -an act of the Council, but of the Pope, were not subject to revision by -the Council; and, furthermore, that the Council had already practically -adopted them. In fine, the prelates stood to some ideal Council in some -such relation as we stand in to the Parliament; we cannot propose a -motion, but we can send in a petition. Yet our petition would go to the -House itself, not to the Cabinet. It would be named in the hearing of -the House, and noted on its records. The petition of the poor bishops -could not be presented in the Assembly, no trace of it is in the -_Acta_; its only open way was to the steps of the throne. It was never -answered, never mentioned in the official documents, and the faithful -who sought information in the accredited organs that rang with charges -of misrepresentation against worldly ones, never received a hint of any -such transaction. - -"Unless the thoroughness of examination and the perfect freedom of -discussion are as clear as day," say the fifteen prelates, it is to be -feared that the effect will be to lower religion in public esteem and -to aggravate the troubles of the Church.[224] The first point on which -the petitioners fastened was the right of proposition. Yet, simple as -this right was, they had not the courage to claim it. Perhaps even they -were deceived, as Quirinus and many other writers evidently were,[225] -at the first glance, by the way in which the denial of that right was -veiled over in the Rules of Procedure. The mode of putting it is one -often employed in the documents of the Roman Court. When some serious -restriction is to be announced, you may find at first a sentence or -paragraph which conveys an impression of something different, perhaps -opposite to what is to be the conclusion. Indeed, practised Liberal -Catholics sometimes write as if with them it was a tacit canon of -interpretation that when in Jesuit teaching you find a principle -affirmed in the opening of a paragraph, that is the principle which -is to be rendered nugatory by qualifications ere you reach the close; -and when you find a principle disclaimed, that is the principle which, -under veils and covers, is to be set up. - -In the Rules of Procedure the section on proposals did not say that -no Bishop should be permitted to propose anything in the Council, -which was the thing meant. To plainly say what was meant, would be to -copy the Tower of Babel, the wicked modern Parliament. The section -said that though the right of bringing forward proposals belonged to -the Pope alone, he wished the bishops freely to exercise it. This -sufficed to set many writing good news home. They did not wait to weigh -the following words. These showed that the right of proposition, -handsomely announced to the Fathers of the Council, was just the right -which everybody in the world possessed, that, namely, of forwarding a -suggestion to the Pope. Curiously enough, even that common right was -granted here only in a circuitous way, for the Pope himself named a -Commission to receive propositions from the bishops, to consider them, -and to report to him. If, after such report, he should wish any of -them to come before the Council, he would send them forward. Most of -the bishops, being unused to Parliamentary forms, began only by slow -degrees to realize the fact that thus they had no right of proposition -whatever. It was a good while before they became aware that they were -simply in the position of private people. Anybody in Rome, or in -Calcutta, could forward a suggestion to the Pope without going to a -Royal Commission. - -The address of the fifteen bishops requests that authors of proposals -shall be admitted to a hearing before the Commission, and also that -the latter shall be required to assign reasons when it reports against -any proposal. But the bishops do not even ask leave to put their -suggestions upon the books. That would, at least, have given members -the right of letting their fellow members know what they wished to see -done. The idea of entering a notice of motion would of course have been -in that atmosphere not liberty but licence. They do, however, venture -to suggest that some members of the Commission might be elected by the -Council. They also point out that secrecy cannot be really maintained. -The address, as we have said, was not even answered. - -Hergenröther, the writer on whose authority Cardinal Manning requires -us to rely, devotes some strength to this question. He begins by -affirming that in Trent there was no fixed order. His proof for that -assertion is that there is no written Code of Procedure, the record -showing only the course actually followed from time to time. He also -asserts that the bishops in the Vatican Council _had perfect liberty_ -of proposition. He moreover informs those who learn from such as he, -that in all great assemblies the right of the President includes that -of proposition, at least so far as to give him the decision, as to the -order in which the proposals are taken.[226] Hergenröther, moreover, -affirms that Friedrich wished to deny the right of proposition -to the Pope--a blunder arising from not distinguishing between a -right and an exclusive right. The Directing Congregation made a -distinction as singular as was this failure to distinguish on the -part of Hergenröther. It held that the Pope had the direct right of -proposition, and the bishops the indirect right. But the fact was that -they had no right of proposing to the Council whatever. They had no -right beyond that of making a suggestion to the Pope, which, we repeat, -anybody in the world could do; the only difference being that the one -suggestion went before a Royal Commission, while the other did not. - -The Directing Congregation had been first of all inclined to let -the Fathers choose a committee of their own, but finally determined -that the Pope himself should appoint a commission. This was an -arrangement open to objections which even they did not wholly fail -to see; but the Court historian finds a perfect answer by saying -that if a good proposal should rest unheeded the author of it would -have the satisfaction of having done his duty, and he must trust to -divine Providence, which would never fail the Church.[227] Clouds of -words were raised about this simple matter. The Catholics made solemn -asseverations that the bishops had as perfect liberty of proposition as -the members of any public body. The Liberal Catholics protested that -they had not. They were cried down as slanderers. - -Hefele, a learned German, gave confused and even contradictory advice -as a consulter; first contending that the bishops should have a right -of proposition, and then suggesting the very arrangements finally -adopted. Sanguineti, a Roman consulter, plainly stated what was to be -aimed at, namely, that the Pope alone should have the right of public -proposition, leaving to the bishops what he calls the right of private -proposition; as the directing Congregation calls it, of indirect -proposition, or, as we call it, of suggestion.[228] - -The result, then, was that the bishops could not bring in any -substantive motion, could not move for a subject to be taken into -consideration, could not put a notice of motion on the books, could -not move an amendment on what the President proposed, could not move -the previous question, could not move to decline taking the matter -into consideration, could not move to postpone it. All that they could -do was to speak to what the President proposed, to send suggested -amendments before a committee, and finally to vote Yea or Nay upon the -question, in the form into which that committee ultimately put it. -No minutes of proceedings were printed, or even read day by day. No -knowledge was allowed to speakers even of the reports taken of their -own speeches; no sight of the reported speeches of others. - -Notwithstanding all this, bishop after bishop returned from the Council -to denounce in pastorals those who had said that they had not the -liberty of proposition. Even our English tongue had to make itself the -vehicle of such statements for two mighty nations. Bishop bore witness -to bishop, and they were true and all men were liars. Archbishop -Manning told how bishops "of the freest country in the world" had _said -truly_, "The liberty of our Congress is not greater than the liberty -of the Council."[229] We fear that American bishops might have quoted -similar declarations from English ones. It is for members of Congress -and of Parliament to judge. - -_La Liberté du Concile_ is a tract which, Friedrich says, if not -written by Darboy, was inspired by him.[230] Only fifty copies were -printed during the Council, for distribution exclusively among the -Cardinals, and with the strictest injunctions of secrecy. The whole -is given in the _Documenta ad Illustrandum_.[231] It is introduced by -an article from the _Moniteur_ of the 14th February, 1870. One of its -earliest sentences compresses the secret history of Cecconi into a few -words. "The first unhappy thought, and that from which the Council now -suffers, was the wish, so to speak, to make the Council beforehand, -and to make it without the bishops." It is right to mention that M. -Veuillot says that this writer recounts ill, reasons worse, and draws -inferences worst of all.[232] - -For two years, complains this writer, the bishops had been refused -any programme. They had not been afforded any possibility of studying -questions about to be raised, or of preparing themselves to discuss -them.[233] It would seem that the writer did not know that the -preparations had extended over five years instead of two. He says -that the Council had not made its Rules of Procedure; the Pope had -imposed them. It had not chosen one of its officers, not even a -scrutineer; the Pope had selected them all beforehand. The reason -for the restraints imposed on the liberty of the bishops was stated -by M. Veuillot as being to take away the liberty of evil, which the -writer considers an insult to the bishops. We may remark that this -is a principle which, had it been acted upon by the great government -above us all, would have precluded every question as to the origin of -evil. This tract affirms that the Commission for Proposals was composed -exclusively of declared partisans of the Court. That statement is not -quite accurate. Rauscher was a mighty instrument of the Curia in its -ordinary aggressions on the civil power, but too sensible to approve -of its present projects. Cardinal Corsi also, though at last he voted -with the majority, was all along reputed as averse to the definition -of infallibility. The next complaint is that the Committees for the -important subjects of Dogma, Discipline, the Religious Orders, and -Oriental affairs, are permanent, chosen once for all, and chosen by a -strictly party vote, excluding every Fallibilist. Thus, is it urged, -only ninety-six bishops out of nearly eight hundred would ever know -anything of those real deliberations which principally determine the -results of the Council. These Committees would have to decide upon all -alterations to be made in Drafts of Decrees after the first Drafts -had been discussed by the bishops generally. They would have the sole -responsibility of bringing them forward in the definitive shape in -which they must be voted upon, Yea or Nay. Thus, he repeats, seven -hundred out of eight hundred are absolutely excluded from a share, at -any time whatever, in the most important operations of the Council. The -indignation of the author would not have been lessened had he known -that this particular point had been carefully weighed by the Nine. -They at first resolved to allow the Council to elect, as had been done -at Trent, committees for each particular matter as it arose. It was, -however, subsequently foreseen that this regulation might open the way -to the election of men who were not safe. After a discussion, a man -who had displayed ability in treating the matter in hand might be -elected on the committee for that reason alone! If, on the other hand, -committees were chosen once for all, it would be easy to secure the -exclusion of wrong names in that one election, and no opportunity of -changing them would ever arise.[234] - -The writer of _La Liberté du Concile_ proceeds to say that a number -of bishops urgently requested the Pope, in order to ensure a wise -selection of these all-controlling committees, to direct that the -Fathers should be divided into groups, and should in these discuss -pending questions separately, on the plan adopted in the _Bureaux_ of -the French and Italian Chambers. Thus the Fathers, who for the most -part were perfect strangers to one another, would in a little time -learn who were the capable men, and would be in a position to make -a proper selection. This appeal, probably the one we have already -mentioned, was not even answered. - -The lords of wide dioceses, accustomed to rule their clergy with -military authority and to face statesmen with considerable pretensions, -were now reduced to struggle for very small liberties. They attempted -to form themselves into groups, by nation or by language. So far as -the French were concerned, this arrangement failed. Each of their two -Cardinals, De Bonnechose and Matthieu, received a group in his own -house. Cardinal De Bonnechose would not consent that all the French -bishops should meet together. Even when they divided, he went for -advice to Antonelli, who intimated that they ought not to meet in -_larger groups than fifteen or twenty_. The effect of all this was, -that when the time for making arrangements for the election of the -committees came, they had no concert among themselves; and the writer -states that after that election, the annoyances confronting Cardinal -Matthieu were so great, that he felt obliged for a time to leave Rome. -Hereupon the bishops who had previously met at his house resolved to go -to that of Cardinal De Bonnechose, who had, for once, to receive them; -but he again consulted Antonelli, and declared that this first general -meeting should also be the last. - -The bishops desired to select the best men of their own nation to be -nominated as members of the permanent committees. The Curia, however, -had provided for all that. The "ticket" of Cardinal De Angelis, as -it would be called in America, was the counter move. The German and -Hungarian bishops had shown more cohesion than the French. They met -together, and made a selection of the principal men from their own -number; but that resulted in nothing. The Curia had selected those -whom it preferred, setting aside the men who stood high with their -fellow-countrymen, and putting forward those who with them would -have had no chance. An official list was prepared bearing the name -of Cardinal De Angelis. Of course the bishops _in partibus_, the -missionary bishops, and all the mere dependents of the Court, voted -for the official list; and thus the whole of the four permanent -committees were composed, as the secret preparatory commission had -been, exclusively of the nominees of the Curia. The Jesuit Press -gloried over this result. M. Veuillot said that the Committee on Faith -was an echo of the great commission appointed by the Pope. Sambin -recorded the triumph, with satisfaction, for permanent history. The -result showed that the Court could count on about 550 votes.[235] De -Angelis was appointed to the vacant post of Chief President, in room -of Reisach. Cardinal Schwarzenberg was not on any committee, Hohenlohe -was out of the question. Even the Archbishop of Cologne was only on a -petty committee for granting leave of absence. But Bishop Senestrey, -of Regensburg, the author of the throne-upsetting speech, was on the -all-important committee for dogma. - -This manoeuvre excited strong indignation amongst all shades of -the marked men. They found themselves shut off from such a part in -deliberations as would have been granted by any worldly cabinet to an -honourable Opposition. Then, the mode of securing the result by the -expedients of a political election caused bitter recollections of -frequent admonitions, given both verbally and in the Press, not to -reason about the Council as an ordinary human assembly, but to evince -a worthy confidence in the all-guiding power of the Holy Ghost. The -_Rheinischer Merkur_ remarked that the Romans had a saying, that at -the beginning of a conclave the devil reigns, then the world carries -all before it, and only at the last does the Holy Ghost turn both out -and regulate things according to His own will. This genuine specimen -of Roman mockery is applied to the Council by the _Merkur_ saying that -as yet the third stage had certainly not set in.[236] The selection, -said the _Merkur_, of committees was one-sided and narrow-minded. -The Archbishop of Paris and the Bishop of Orleans saw themselves -thrown aside, and nominal bishops put in the places they ought to -have occupied. The German bishops, who had strongly confided in the -moderation of the Curia, found that no amount of trimming would avail; -nothing short of a sound profession on the question of infallibility. -Vitelleschi says that the clearest, most sincere and disinterested -opposition was that of the German bishops. They knew what they meant, -and also knew that they expressed the collective sense of their people; -besides, they always acted with moderation. He ascribes this moderation -to two causes, namely, the fact that they consciously did express the -views of their people, and that they were, more or less, influenced -by Protestant modes of thinking. We confess that we see little proof -that any German bishops but the Curialistic ones were clear. We should -rather have said that they were at sea. As to the moderation, however, -Vitelleschi adds that no such moderating influence of Protestant -opinion appeared in the case of the English prelates. "Several bishops, -with Manning at their head, more Catholic than the Pope, are noted for -their Ultramontanism" (p. 45). He adds, that even the Irish bishops -were less uniformly Infallibilists than the English. Of the Belgians, -he says that some naturally took the more liberal direction. De Mérode, -well known in Rome as a Court prelate, placeman, and speculator, -like Dupanloup, had been a champion of the temporal power, but now -proved to be an anti-infallibilist. _Et tu, Brute, fili mi!_ exclaims -the Roman. As to the Spaniards, Vitelleschi says that they had been -trained in the school of Torquemada; and if they were content with -being only Ultramontanes, that was something gained. These are the -divines of whom Quirinus says that if ordered by the Pope to vote that -there were four persons in the Trinity, they would do it. Vitelleschi -remarks that the prelates of the United States were simpler than their -brethren, and less practised in ecclesiastical politics. Their want of -any political importance at home, he believes, had predisposed them to -warmer sympathy with Curialistic views than might have been expected -from them. Nevertheless, it proved in time that, under the forms of -ecclesiastical discipline, the spirit of citizens of a free country did -now and then make its appearance among them. Another of his remarks is, -that, with the exception of Portugal, most of the bishops from small -countries were in the interest of the Curia. Speaking of Mermillod, -from Geneva, Quirinus says that he "rivals Manning in his fanatical -zeal for the new dogma." Of course the Italian bishops, with very few -exceptions, were Infallibilists, and those from South America were all -upon the same side. The bulk of the Opposition bishops were German, -Hungarian, and French, reinforced by some of the older ones from -Ireland, a few of the English, a good many of the North American, and -only about twenty of the entire body of the Italian. - -The various groups had now everything to stimulate them to put their -proposals into shape. Those of the Curia were in shape already. They -naturally took the old direction of conforming the creed to innovations -in practice. At Trent this was done with many innovations, which must -either fall into discredit or be lifted above dispute. In this way was -the demand for a reform of the Church to raise her to the level of the -creed, met by a determination to bring down the creed to the level of -the Church. The two movements were confronted. Reformation, on the -one side, renovating the condition of the Church; and Conformity, on -the other side, adulterating the creed. Both together resulted in the -wide separation which has been witnessed ever since. The necessity now -pressing sprang from different causes. No party had arisen to challenge -the primacy of the Pope, even in the form of all but unlimited -monarchy, into which, under cover of the gentle word "primacy," it had -been monstrously developed. On the contrary, indeed, of late years -the faithful had shown increasing submissiveness, proportioned to the -dangers surrounding the Pope. But the Papacy itself was moving for -constitutional powers which demanded a new dogmatic basis. - -In comparison with the magnificence of the scheme of one fold and one -shepherd, the notions of the German bishops, as disclosed by Friedrich, -are an illustration of how administrators putter when immense issues -press for solution. While the architects were designing a new coliseum, -the joiners and stone-cutters were great upon cusps and corbels. In -answer to the seventeen questions issued in Rome at the centenary of -St. Peter, the German bishops had deliberated at Fulda for five days. -Marriage, as a mine yielding richly to the local authorities in fees, -and to the Curia in dispensation taxes, and also as a means of power -over females, and over the education of children, was naturally one of -the main points. Another point included the offences for which parish -priests should be liable to deposition. On this the bishops advised the -addition of two offences to the list--notorious fornication and open -concubinage. - -Hints were thrown out about abolishing all benefices, as they were -said to be feudal. The clergy could not be fully mobilized but by the -abolition of permanent appointments. The whole effect of the questions -was to bring out the existence in Germany of too great toleration of -intercourse with Protestants; intercourse to a degree not consistent -with the militant footing on which things were to be put. This applied -to christenings, weddings, burials, and other events of life, where -the milk of human kindness sometimes will overflow, and men will -forget that they belong to a society which scarcely regards those who -are not of it as morally entitled to existence. The bishops naturally -desired that the number of _causae majores_, or reserved cases, should -be curtailed, as that would increase their own freedom and power. They -also expressed a wish that censures should not be enforced against -Catholic judges who found themselves obliged to pronounce sentences -adverse to the canon law. This they advised in order to avoid the -exclusion of Catholics from the judicial bench. They moreover suggested -that unreasonably contracting debts and habitual drunkenness should be -added to the list of causes warranting the removal of a priest. They -did touch a few minute points of a properly religious kind, connected -with the forgiveness of sins, ordination, and other questions. - -Friedrich remarks that these ideas tended to the omnipotence of the -bishops by sacrificing the parish priests. This object, however, was -a natural complement of the sacrifice of the bishops to the Curia. -If the bishop is himself an absolute dependent on the Court, all his -subordinates must be left to his mercy. The Curia knew how to lure on -the bishops to the forfeiting of their own franchises, by using their -love of power against the franchises of the priests. - -Friedrich gravely says that the movableness of the parish priests would -not cure the moral evils complained of. It is not by outward correction -that a man becomes morally better, but by the ennobling of the inner -man, which, alas! is so little aimed at among the clergy. When a French -bishop can say in the Senate, "My clergy are a regiment; they are bound -to march, and they do march," he only shows how the Christian spirit -has evaporated from among the hierarchy. A few weeks before Friedrich -left home he had conversed with Döllinger upon the seventeen questions, -and he says that they were the only points respecting the Council -on which they did converse together. What the aged provost said, -observes Friedrich, will always remain in my memory. "On one occasion, -Windischmann remarked in my presence and that of others, 'If I was -compelled to answer according to the contents of the ordinary's book, -whether celibacy should be abolished or not, I should have to speak -unconditionally for its abolition.'" - -We have seen, in a previous chapter, that some of the lower clergy had -indicated plans of considerable range, but they pointed in a direction -in which Rome was incapable of going. Great attention was attracted by -a project, appearing with the name of a learned layman in Switzerland, -Dr. Segesser.[237] His charter had no less than twelve points, which -are well worth a moment's notice. - -1. He held that the Church, in having, for the first time in her -history, declined to invite the co-operation of governments with the -Council, must now declare for the separation of Church and State. - -2. The Council must be a Reform Council in the fullest sense of the -word. - -3. It must certify the freedom of its members to the world. - -4. It must be declared that all who believe in the redeeming work of -Christ belong to the Christian communion. - -5. No dogma must be added unless urgently called for, not only by -theologians, but by the faithful. - -6. The primacy being divine, but the Papacy being only a joint product -of Roman jurisprudence and theology, the dogma of the pontifical -infallibility of the Pope, which would lead back to theocratic ideas, -would set the Church and State on a war of mutual annihilation. -Therefore it is the absolute duty of the Church to declare herself -completely released from the theocratic ideas of the great Popes of the -middle ages. - -7. The question of infallibility must not be passed over in silence, -but must be solemnly declared to be in opposition to the right idea of -the constitution of the Church. - -8. In mixed questions, such as those of the Church and State, laymen -should have some voice. - -9. The temporal power must be treated as a local Roman institution, -and not confounded with the affairs of the universal Church. - -10. Freedom of teaching, of organization, and of worship, and equality -with all other communions, must be proclaimed; and the Church would -do well if she gave up all claim to the immunity of her property, and -placed it entirely under the control of the common law. - -11. The Index to be given up. - -12. We give this in full: "The Christian State was a great ideal, but a -yet greater is a State of Christians. To attain to the last the Church -must not domineer, but must possess freedom, and give it." - -The language of this Liberal Catholic, brought up among German -Protestants on the one hand and Swiss ones on the other, would sound -altogether alien to the ears of the Cardinals, and would only deepen -their painful impression of the evil influences of Protestant teaching -upon the children of the Church. Enough occurred at the Council to show -that, even among the bishops, there were one or two who would have -dared to propose some of the points in Dr. Segesser's scheme, had the -members of the Council been permitted to make proposals. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 213: _Acta Sanctae Sedis_, vol. v. p. 279.] - -[Footnote 214: Ibid. p. 18.] - -[Footnote 215: The popular explanation "hinge" is quite correct; the -ancient hinge was a pivot inserted in a mortise, on which the door -turned.] - -[Footnote 216: Compare _Quirinus_, 86, and _Tagebuch_, 25.] - -[Footnote 217: _Stimmen_, N.F., vi. p. 170.] - -[Footnote 218: Id., p. 172.] - -[Footnote 219: _Sambin_, p. 41.] - -[Footnote 220: VII. ix. 6.] - -[Footnote 221: _Civiltá_, VII. ix. 103.] - -[Footnote 222: The first number of the _Civiltá_ for 1876 (p. 104) -contains an account of an audience in which the Pope made a speech to -pilgrims from Brittany. Among other things, calling to mind how, on -the day of Pentecost, the mockers said that the disciples were full of -new wine, he went on to say that there were not wanting leaders of the -revolution shameless enough to call by such names as a gang of topers -the "respectable and truly Christian youths who, forsaking domestic -comfort, came to expose themselves even to blood in defence of this -holy see." Liverani, as Canon of Santa Maria Maggiore, lamented his -good opportunity, as living near barracks, of estimating the Christian -virtues of the "OEcumenical Army." He says very hard things of them; -and as to drunkenness makes no scruple of describing the Irish members -of the force, in particular, as being not unmindful of home traditions -that are no rule of faith, and a bad rule of practice.] - -[Footnote 223: _Tagebuch_, pp. 13, 14.] - -[Footnote 224: _Documenta ad Ill._, Ab. II, p. 380. The exact date is -not given, but only as "before the 10th of December."] - -[Footnote 225: See _Quirinus_, p. 62.] - -[Footnote 226: The statement of this writer is no worse than that -of many bishops made in pastorals. It is this: _Den Bischöfen war -vollständig ein Propositionsrecht zugestanden, welches nur der Controle -der dafür be stimmten Deputation unterlag, ähnlich wie das auch zu -Trient geschehen war_.--_Katholische Kirche und Christlicher Staat_, p. -50.] - -[Footnote 227: _Cecconi_, p. 162.] - -[Footnote 228: _Cecconi_, p. 160. Hefele, when recommending that the -bishops should have the right of proposition, quotes what occurred at -the Council of Trent, when the Archbishop of Capaccio-Vallo, on May -10, 1546, repelled the claim of the Legate, Cardinal De Monte, to the -exclusive right of proposition. The Archbishop cried, "What am I to -do if anything occurs to me which ought to be proposed in this holy -Council?" To this De Monte replied, that if either his Grace or any -other prelate wished to propose anything, they must submit it to the -Legates, who would bring it forward, if they thought well. But should -the latter unjustly, or without cause, refuse to bring it forward, -then the author, whoever he was, should himself do so. But Hefele does -not point to the fact that De Monte made this concession only after -being driven to it by force of opposition. Earlier in the very same -day, he had asserted the exclusive right of the Legates to propose, -and had been confronted by the Cardinal Archbishop of Trent with the -plump declaration that he did not want to take the right of proposition -from the Legates, but he thought he also might propose what seemed to -him right. Then the Legate and the Cardinal, who had been for some -time engaged in a passage of arms, apologised to one another. That, -however, did not prevent De Monte from again attempting to establish -the claim of the chair to the exclusive right of proposition, by once -more asserting it. It was on this second attempt that the Archbishop of -Capaccio-Vallo reclaimed, and then the Legate had, with ill grace, to -give way. (See _Acta Genuina_, vol. i. pp. 100, 101.)] - -[Footnote 229: _Priv. Pet._, Part III. p. 32.] - -[Footnote 230: _Doc. ad Ill._ ii. p. vi.] - -[Footnote 231: I. 129.] - -[Footnote 232: I. p. 275.] - -[Footnote 233: This complaint is ably put in the _Rheinischer Merkur_, -first number.] - -[Footnote 234: _Cecconi_, pp. 181, 182.] - -[Footnote 235: _Acton_, 68.] - -[Footnote 236: Vol. I. p. 2.] - -[Footnote 237: Reviewed in the _Literaturblatt_, vol. v. p. 157.] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -Further Party Manoeuvres--Election of Permanent Committees--Bull of -Excommunications--Various Opinions of it--Position of Antonelli--No -serious Discussion desired--Perplexities of the Bishops--Reisach's Code -suppressed--It may reappear--Attitude of Governments. - - -Authors differ as to the actors in an incident which marked the second -General Congregation, on December 14. Quirinus and Fromman say that -Darboy and Strossmayer (Friedrich says that Dupanloup and Strossmayer) -attempted to speak on the Rules of Procedure, but were stopped by -Cardinal De Luca, on the ground that what the Holy Father had decreed -could not be discussed. The official writers at the time said not a -word of the incident, nor is it named in the _Acta Sanctae Sedis_, nor -in _Frond_. - -Thus the bishops had now ascertained their position, but too late. -Quirinus naturally says that had the assembly been, in some measure, -prepared for the Rules, there would have been opposition; but good care -had been taken that the assembly should not be prepared, and should -not have any chance of offering opposition. The first gleam of hope, -adds this author, excited by the announcement that the bishops would -be allowed to propose measures, had speedily vanished. Lord Acton says -(p. 63): "The bishops felt themselves in an entangled position. Some -began to speak of going home. Some complained that the Rules foreclosed -questions involving divine rights, and said that they felt bound to put -even the existence of the Council to stake." - -The election of the Permanent Committee on Dogma was the great work of -the day. Archbishop Kenrick's Latin note[238] states that lithographed -lists were distributed some days before the election, with the -inscription, _To the honour of Mary, conceived Immaculate_; and that -these lists were recommended by the name of Cardinal De Angelis. Four -hundred of the votes sent in gave the list entire. It was by these -tactics that every Fallibilist, without exception, was excluded from -the committees. But Canon Pelletier, who wrote what in _Frond_ passes -for the history of the Council and is a good history of the ceremonies -and the dresses, declares that the election proved the perfect freedom -of the Fathers, for though all the names on the official list were -chosen, they were not brought in according to the order in which they -stood on that list. The French prelates of the minority were especially -incensed, both against their leaders and against those whose superior -tactics had frustrated their unskilful attempts to unite. Every -Frenchman felt that all who represented the traditions and the spirit -of the Roman Catholic Church in France were now, in Rome, placed under -a species of ostracism. The Fathers left this exciting sitting with -another Bull in their hands. Again Letters Apostolic to the present! -The _Acta Sanctae Sedis_ affirm that the work of preparing this Bull -could not be got through in time to send it to the Fathers before the -Council. Its title was gentle. It was a Bull to Limit the Censures of -the Church. Quirinus mentions a mission undertaken by Cardinal Pitra, -a Frenchman, with the intention of bringing the prelates of his own -country into accord with the Curia. This he followed up by a similar -attempt with the German bishops. Pitra began by describing Dupanloup to -the latter as "a mischievous teacher of error," but he was stopped, and -told that the Germans agreed with Dupanloup. - -A favourite topic of conversation now was the chance of disorganizing -the Opposition. The first checks appeared to have had the effect of -consolidating it, but the resources of the Court were generally assumed -to be efficacious. Over and over again was it asserted that the hope -of a robe of some distinguishing hue, or of a title on the list of -domestic prelates of the Pope, would win over almost any bishop, an -assertion which proved not to be correct.[239] Quirinus, in common with -German writers generally, speaks of the honour of being on that list -as one that ought to be coveted rather by menials than by dignitaries; -and Italians may often be heard saying much the same thing. Again, -faculties enabling a bishop to give absolution, or dispensations, in -certain reserved cases, yield to him both power and fees. "Nine bishops -out of ten want favours"--an assertion of Quirinus--seems bold, but it -was written in Rome. - -The Bull professing to limit the censures of the Church, was found -to be another case of a winning title to a dreadful document. The -censures with which it dealt were only a portion out of Rome's store, -those, namely, under which one falls by the very act of committing -the offence, without any need of trial or sentence. They are called -offences _Latae Sententiae_, or judged already. He that confesses to -one such act is, _ipso facto_, excommunicate, or, in the less heinous -cases "suspended." The Bull, as we have said, professed to limit the -number of these cases; many of which represent multitudes in all Roman -Catholic countries, who must either shun the confessional, knowing that -in that tribunal they are judged already, or must go to it to find -themselves pronounced outside of the kingdom of grace, and incapable of -restoration except by special powers granted from Rome, which always -imply special fees. - -It was freely said, This is a re-issue of the Bull _In Coena Domini_, -the terrible syllabus of excommunications, at one time annually -published; a custom which had ceased since the days of Clement XIV. -This cessation was often cited as indicating greater mildness in -the spirit of the Roman Court. In the new Bull _Apostolicae Sedis_ -these excommunications reappeared. They were under different heads. -Three classes were reserved to bishops, so that no ordinary priest -could release from them. Twenty-nine classes were reserved to the -Pontiff, so that no bishop could release from them. Four classes were -not reserved to any one.[240] Some bishops declared that they found -excommunications here of which they had never been aware up to that -moment. Vitelleschi said that if some found in old books were omitted, -the Bull re-enacted all of the penal code of the Church that was -in force. According as men looked at this document, from a fiscal, -hierarchical, or monarchical point of view, their appreciation of -it varied. Beyond excommunicating all heretics and heretical books, -with the readers, abettors, and so forth, it dealt with few matters -which any true theologian would not gladly banish from his bounds, as -trespassers. - -The hierarchical aspect of the Bull was striking. More than one of its -sections pronounced excommunication upon the sin of appealing from -any act of the Pope to a future General Council. This was the mortal -blow to the doctrine that a Council could judge, and even depose, the -Pope, as Councils had done. Being issued in the face of a General -Council actually sitting, no alternative remained but that of conflict -between the Council and the Pope, or else final abandonment of this -once vigorous doctrine. The defiant crowings of the Gallican cock were -for ever hushed by this one grip in the claws of the Vatican eagle. -This Bull, as compared with the action of the Council of Constance, -which deposed two Popes and itself elected one, served to measure the -decline of the episcopal and the growth of the pontifical power in the -Church. Many of the bishops were old enough to have maintained the -doctrine that the Council was above the Pope, against Protestants, -who innocently accused all Roman Catholics of being Papists. If any -one of them thought of standing by the old flag, what was he to do? -To put a notice of motion on the books? That was not permitted. To -send a suggestion to the Twenty-six? It might as well go into his own -wastepaper basket as into theirs. To speak upon the point? That would -be out of order, for bishops were to speak only on matters proposed, -and nothing was to be proposed but what the Pope proposed. Moreover, -even if in speeches irrelevant matter should be allowed, such matter as -that now contemplated would be at once pronounced rebellion. It would -be an attempt to discuss what the Holy Father had already decreed. -Thus the question of the relative judicial powers of the single Bishop -of Rome, and of all the other bishops of the world collectively, was -settled by an arbitrary sentence, uttered in the face of all the -bishops assembled in conclave; and their assembly, though called a -General Council, had no liberty to canvass the decision! - -It was a hard dilemma for a man to be placed in who had a sense either -of human rights or of a divine office to defend. But the hand of power -was over the bishops. No man who opposed even embryo Decrees could -ever reasonably hope for a hat; and he who should venture to attack a -Bull actually issued must expect to see his mitre reduced to an empty -dignity by the withdrawal of his faculties. So the bishops saw a Bull -which "thrust the souls entrusted to them by thousands out of the -Church"; and what could they do? "The more excommunications, the more -perplexed and tormented consciences," cries Quirinus--reminding us -of what might often be heard in the old times from thoughtful men in -Rome. The whole effort of the priests, they would say, is to keep the -conscience in agony, or at least in unrest; for this drives people to -the confessor, and hence no end of gains. - -A diplomatist regarded the political aspects of the Bull as -serious.[241] Excommunicating men for an appeal to a General Council -was, as he took it, both the forerunner and the application of the -dogma of infallibility. Excommunicating all who should punish bishops, -or higher officers of the Church, without making an exception for -any breach whatever of law, and, moreover, excommunicating any who, -directly or indirectly, should obstruct the execution of Papal -mandates, were not only blows but stabs at all civil authority. The -diplomatist argued that the way in which the Pope abolished privileges -granted by his predecessors was a poor pledge of the value of any -engagements into which the Papacy might enter. The diplomatist ought to -have known that the immunity of the clergy from lay jurisdiction was an -essential part of the restoration to be accomplished. He ought also to -have known that "the free communication" of the Pope with the faithful, -or his right to promulge in all countries his decrees as their highest -law, was equally essential. The excommunication, not only of heretics, -but of all who should harbour or defend them, ay, or should even read -their books, led Vitelleschi to raise a question for young theologians, -whether the Pope has not excommunicated himself and his own government, -seeing he had done more than harbour heretics in an inn, by allowing -them a church outside the _Porta del Popolo_. - -The Bull, said some, is only one of a series of measures to be framed, -assuming the infallibility of preceding Popes. The dispute as to Bulls -which taught any dogma in theology or morals must for ever end. The -very points which Liberal Catholics had alleged to be without binding -force must be beyond appeal bound on earth, and of course ratified in -heaven. A little circumstance not without significance was the fact -that, in publishing this document, the _Civiltá_ did not, as it usually -does with official documents, furnish a translation of the Latin; and -the _Stimmen_, for Germany, followed the example. - -In Germany or other Protestant countries an unfavourable impression -might be taken of the means to be resorted to for restoring Papal -ascendancy when, in the terrible category of offences judged already, -without power to remit the sentence being _reserved to any one_, -even to the Vicar of God, were found the following deeds, which many -Christians would do with as cool a sense of duty as that with which -under slavelaws they would have befriended a fugitive slave: "Injuring -or intimidating Inquisitors, informers, witnesses, or other ministers -of the Holy Office; tearing up or burning the papers of its sacred -tribunal; or giving to any of the aforesaid aid, counsel, or favour." -If the day ever comes for attempting to put this law in force on the -now happy soil of England, blessed among her sons or daughters will -that one be who first has grace to endure the torments of the Holy -Office rather than not break the wicked law! - -The fiscal bearing of the Bull would be the one first to strike and -most to occupy the Romans. Among men of the different orders, it -would occasion many a chat over questions of sin, sacraments, crime, -communion, dispensation, remission, and redemption from purgatory, and -of the fees flowing from each respectively. Quirinus represents the -Jesuits as beholding both the present and the future in rosy hues. The -bishops would not be able to give absolution in the reserved cases, but -the Jesuits, in very many of them, would have _plenary power_. Hence -the bishops and the parochial clergy would suffer both in fees and -influence, while the confessionals of their powerful rivals would be -thronged. "So, each of those multiplied excommunications is worth its -weight in gold to the Order, and helps to build colleges and professed -houses."[242] Against the complaints which greeted the Bull, the -_Civiltá_ alleged that it contained nothing new, and above all that it -had been posted up in the customary places in Rome, and was therefore -already the law of the Church universal. It was, on the other hand, -boldly alleged that there were many new cases of suspension, interdict, -or excommunication. Cardinal Antonelli, however, said that there were -three hundred excommunications which were not included in the Bull. -Lord Acton (p. 70) quotes a passage from the organ of the Archbishop of -Cologne, which shows that a good many more will have to be added before -all actions are placed under perfect control. The Bull, it is said, -does not prohibit "the works of Jews, since Jews are not heretics; nor -does it prohibit heretical pamphlets and journals, for these are not -books; nor is the hearing of heretical books when read aloud forbidden, -since hearing is not reading." - -Some doubt hangs round the feeling of Cardinal Antonelli as to the -Council. It was often asserted that he had been opposed to it from -the first, and was still decidedly so. This seems very probable. A -worldly-wise man, capable of amassing a colossal fortune amid the ruins -of a petty State, was hardly likely to believe that the _à priori_ -fabric of Tarquini and the other Jesuits, and the hot-headed schemes -of the Pope, were solid enough to bear what was to be built upon them, -or would lead to anything but defeat of the Papacy, and misery to -the nations. But in contradiction to this view, Quirinus says that -Antonelli was too good a statesman and financier not to see the gain -that would flow from the new dogma in power and revenue. The new dogma -would doubtless enormously increase the power of the Curia within the -Church and over all her organizations. It would thus increase the -facility of bringing pressure to bear on a government by threats of -disaffection and agitation; but it would at the same time arouse all -statesmen, and eventually all intelligent men, except real disciples, -against this sacerdotal empire. The most likely explanation of any zeal -Antonelli may have shown for the new order of things would perhaps be -that while retaining his own view of the risks about to be run, he knew -that what was to be was to be, and determined to make the best of it. - -Papers immediately preceding the Bull in the pages of the -_Civiltá_[243] seemed to indicate steadiness in the purpose either to -bend the States or to break them. One article rang the changes on the -old theme of the royal _placet_ or _exequatur_, "the crime whereby -ecclesiastical judgments are submitted to lay examination." "The -Church," it adds, "is not a foreign power, and hence concludes that the -State has no right of precaution _jus cavendi_, in respect of her." The -internal power on which the Curia counts, in any country, being that of -threatening political agitation, the denial to the State of all right -of precaution is essential to the full application of the principle -of the Pope's "free communication" with all his subjects. A physical -impediment to the promulging of a Bull was, in old times, not more a -precaution than is, in our day, the principle that the law of the land -is supreme. Just as the physical impediment was unlawful, so is the -legislative one; both stay the free course of "the divine word." The -old dukes, kings, and emperors, knowing that in the popular conscience -the law of the Pope ranked above all civil law, put a check upon the -promulgation of his Bulls. We say, Promulge what you please, but the -law of the land is the only law in the land. "Here is the ground on -which the future battle is to be fought out." - -Just between this article and the catalogue of excommunications came a -discussion on unfulfilled prophecy. The Jesuit Father, Soprano, had, -by comments on the prophecies of Balaam, Daniel, and the Apocalypse, -clearly proved (according to his reviewer) that the city of Rome was -destined of God to be in perpetuity the centre of the Catholic Church. -The war against the kingdom of Christ was to fail, because "she" could -not lose her empire. But certain points as to the issue of the war now -raging between the innovators and the kingdom of Christ, were open to -inquiry--"What dynasties will survive, what forms of government will -prevail, what end will such and such kingdoms come to? Finally, we -may ask whether the Holy City, the mount of God, the capital of the -Catholic world, Rome, may _for a time_ fall under the power of sinners -and parricides, to be outraged by fire and sword, and defaced with -crimes." But, on the other hand, as to Rome being the stable domicile -of catholicity, we might doubt of that only if the mount which cannot -be moved could be levelled with the ground. - -This expositor is true to the old interpretation that the Babylon of -the Apocalypse is Rome, but that was the Pagan Rome, which "fell with -the victory of Constantine." It will be observed that he takes the -possibility of a temporary fall of the sacred Rome into the hand of the -enemy as but an episode in a war that is to continue through a long -series of years. - -Since 1870, such forecasts as the above, when uttered, have not the -same triumphant tone. Nevertheless, they are now as clearly expressed -as ever. But at the time of which we speak, if the bishops only read -what was written for their learning they could not doubt as to the -kind of service which was expected of them in the future. Friedrich -intimates that they did not read it, when he relates that, in trying -to enlighten one of them, he told him that the only way to understand -the Council was to study it with the _Civiltá Cattolica_ in one's hand. -But some of them showed a solicitude that could not be explained on -any ground short of a perception of the dangers on which the Pope was -running the hierarchy. They evidently did not take the view either of -those who thought that the Pope, erected into a vice-God, was about -to become the real as well as the titular governor of the world, or -the view of those who looked on such dreams as matter to laugh at. The -calculations which produced the Crusades and the Thirty Years' War, -were dreams; but could the Church afford the indemnity which mankind -would exact for the miseries of such another struggle? - -December 16 marked the second failure in the organization of the -Council. The first was the irremediable one of the absence of -Cardinal Reisach, and now, before serious discussion had begun, the -third General Congregation had to be postponed from the 16th to the -20th,[244] because nobody could be heard in the hall. So six days -passed without a sitting. Debates were actually to take place--a thing -which had neither been desired nor expected. The hall was a good place -for spectacle, but a bad place for a parliament. In vain do bishops -frown and editors sneer at the writers who said that the Curia had not -expected much discussion. Cecconi comes to the support of the "liars," -as in official indignation they were called who told just what there -was to tell (p. 180)-- - - It was a deeply-rooted belief of the Directing Congregation that - but rarely would anything have to be referred to the committees - of the Council, because the Directing Congregation so well knew - how profound had been the attention given by the Preparatory - Commissions, that it seemed extremely difficult to believe that the - Drafts so prepared should not be received with general favour by - the Fathers. - -This, in fact, is the excuse put forward by the Nine for not having -given the bishops a word to say to the Drafts of Decrees before they -were confronted with them, as being already in a form to be voted upon. -The practice at Trent had been to state the question as a question. -Then it was first discussed by the doctors in the presence of the -bishops, who after that appointed a small committee of their own number -to put resolutions into shape. The Council proceeded to discuss the -Drafts so prepared, amending and again amending them, until they were -in a form on which (if the subject was doctrine) almost every one could -agree. - -It was now, however, coolly assumed that so complete had been the -work of the secret commissions that the bishops would not raise any -difficulties. - - Great variety of opinion, say the Nine, would probably be rare, - seeing that the matters to be treated would be already prepared, - with great accuracy, by the special Commission, formed by - his Holiness, in conjunction with the Directing Congregation - (_Cecconi_, p. 180). - -Cecconi repeats that the great confidence felt in the excellence of the -work of the theologians had generated in the majority of the members -of the Directing Congregation this conviction. He is candid enough to -give the reason for bringing the Drafts ready made into full assembly, -which was to prevent them from being exposed to the influences which -a restricted number of prelates might exert. That amounts to saying -that the able men whom a free assembly would have chosen to consider -and digest its forms of resolution, were not to be allowed any chance -of unitedly studying the forms prepared in secret for them. The Court -would bring its own plans, with all their details and complex notes, -before the full assembly, which could never thoroughly sift them, and -in which the majority was assured. - -While in almost everything else the rejection of parliamentary forms -was commended, as becoming an assembly which had to contend against -both the principles and results of parliamentary government, the -practice of our own Houses in bringing in Bills ready drawn was pleaded -in favour of the course taken in preparing extended drafts of dogmatic -decrees. But our Parliament has never yet been called together to vote -that laws are as good if issued by the Crown, without the advice of -Lords and Commons, as with it. Nor has it ever been asked to pass a -measure which neither it nor any succeeding Parliament could recall. -Our Parliament is never asked to discuss a Bill without first having -the right to say whether it shall or shall not be brought in. It -never finds a Bill before it which, if it pleases, it may not refer -to a special committee. Any member can move the rejection or the -postponement of the whole, can move the omission or amendment of any -part, and can take the sense of the House. None of these things could -be done at the Vatican Council. The bishops could make Latin speeches -in a row, first on the Draft as a whole, and then, in a second row, -on the parts. But only twenty-four of their number could ever put a -hand to the amending of the proposed statute. With those twenty-four -were associated irresponsible persons, non-members. As that mixed body -finally shaped the propositions, must the Fathers vote upon them, with -a Yea or Nay that sealed the creed of their churches for ever. - -It was not wonderful that the Curia should believe in the perfection of -the Roman theology, since they took their own government for perfect, -and the capital for a model city of the saints. The German estimate of -the Court theology is indicated by Quirinus when he says that "though -the Pope had four hundred theologians, theology is now rare, very rare, -in Rome." He goes on to assert that if one should say that ability to -read the Greek Testament and the Greek Fathers in the original was a -necessary qualification of a theologian, "he would be ridiculed." As to -the divinity even of the bishops, the evidence of Quirinus is little -more flattering than that of Friedrich; but the discussions yet to -come will show that men of real power were not wanting. - -The first Scheme or Draft of Decrees on dogma now appeared. It was -nothing less than a book of one hundred and forty quarto pages, -containing eighteen chapters and fifty-four paragraphs. Frond makes it -folio and of 131 pages. - -The _Rheinischer Merkur_ quotes a Catholic journal which in admiration -of this masterpiece says that when adopted by the Council it would form -a text-book. Yet this mass of divinity, any phrase, almost any word -of which might affect the vital truths of religion, was put before -the bishops with only a few days to study it, and they were expected -to vote it as an irreformable creed, to be ready for promulgation, as -bound on earth and bound in heaven, on January 6, the day decreed in -the first session! Friedrich, looking at this bulky pamphlet, cries, -All through we have the language of the schools; any one familiar with -the Jesuit writings sees at once by whom it has been prepared. - -Graf W., a Roman prelate, paid Friedrich a visit arrayed in all his -vestments and decorations. Surprised at such a display by a stranger, -Friedrich asked himself, Does he want to make an impression upon me, -or to excite a longing for similar clothes? The conversation turned -upon infallibility, and the Count Monsignore said that it would be -carried through; for when the Curia had committed itself to anything, -it was not to be balked. Friedrich, saying that for his part he had -nothing to do but to speak according to his conscience, and that as a -priest he knew well what must be his course when once the point was -decided, went on to state that, not having his eye on a canonry or a -bishopric, and being happy in his independent position as a professor -in the university, he felt free. This surprised the Curialist, but -Friedrich in turn was still more surprised when the man in soft raiment -and living in kings' houses said that it was otherwise with him. He -belonged to the Roman prelacy, and if he meant to continue in it, he -must do what he was bid. - -The German doctor was struck by hearing people assure him that life -was tolerably safe in Rome if you were sure of your cook, your doctor, -and your chemist (p. 30). - -The German bishops had not, like the French, asked permission to meet -among themselves, but their place of meeting had been cared for. -Monsignor Nardi, a slashing writer, and a conspicuous member of the -Curia, spared no pains to secure them for his own house. Cardinal -Hohenlohe offered his for the purpose, but he scarcely received a civil -answer. Even German bishops said as much as that they should compromise -themselves by being identified with him. They began to feel their -position very delicate. As they were assembled on December 22, with -Cardinal Schwarzenberg in the chair, they were joined for the first -time by three favourites of the Curia--Senestrey, Martin, and Leonrod. -But when Senestrey found that they were discussing the propriety of -petitioning the Pope for a relaxation of the Rules, he remembered that -business required his presence elsewhere. We may be ready to smile at -men, holding professedly the position of members of a Council, who -durst not rise in their places and insist on having liberty to propose -what their consciences dictated; and who, when refused that liberty, -instead of declining to take part in the mock Council, went into a -caucus, and drew up a petition to the autocrat who had snatched away -their rights. - -But their position was very difficult. If they attempted in their -places to speak on the matter, the fatal sentence fell upon them that -what the Holy Father had decreed could not be discussed. What then -could they do but decline to take part in the Council? This would -be coming into direct collision with the Pope. The moral education -of their lives had aimed at fixing in their own minds, and they, in -their action upon others, had aimed at fixing in their minds, one -conviction--that the crime exceeding and comprehending all others was -to break with the Pope. They were so placed as to have no alternative -but either "disobedience" or the surrender of their individual and -collective rights. They seem, indeed, to have thought that it was -rather a spirited proceeding to send in a petition. - -Archbishop Haynald of Hungary proposed that they should request the -Pope to divide the Fathers into eight national groups. This was -suggested with some idea of counter-balancing the fictitious majority -made up by titular bishops and vicars apostolic. Had one nation been -allowed to balance another, the effect no doubt would have been -considerable; but how these venerable men could imagine that this -scheme had any chance with the Pope, we cannot tell. The bishops _in -partibus_, and the missionary bishops, being mostly Italians, would -have been well nigh lost in such an arrangement. The Curia well knew -that it had been tried at Constance, and was not to be caught. - -What Friedrich heard of the opinions of the prelates as to the Draft -Decrees, was unfavourable. Cardinal Rauscher was reported to have -said that he would allow the paper to be read in his seminaries as -the work of a student, but that to propose it to a German Council -was too bad (p. 35). Many of the bishops said that its condemnations -were untimely, and that it was unworthy of the dignity of a General -Council. It was said to be the work of the Jesuit Fathers Schrader and -Franzelin; but instead of the latter, Kleutgen was often named. The -Dominicans spoke slightingly of it. The Bishop of Ascoli, a Carmelite, -said he had only patience to get through half of it, and then he threw -it away. Strossmayer said to Friedrich, Why must the Council at this -time of day pronounce condemnations as to squabbles heard of only in -the schools, and worn out even there? (p. 37). Kagerer told Friedrich -that the bishops had agreed not to tell their theologians what passed -at their private meetings; on which Friedrich remarks that the bishops -were right, for the chaplains and secretaries by whom they were served -could not be properly described as theologians. He then gave a sigh -for Hefele. Meanwhile, he said, it was hard to listen to the talk of -men, like Kagerer, who had come up without preparation, who were not -furnished with books, and who drove a trade in theology by guesswork. - -Monsignor Nardi's hospitality to the German bishops had not a smooth -course. After having met at his house for the greater part of December, -when they alighted one night in the Piazza Campitelli, they found the -servant of Cardinal Schwarzenberg posted there to send them back again. -The Cardinal had received from Nardi a request to be relieved of their -further presence, giving so short notice that there was no means of -meeting the case but that of setting the servant to turn the bishops -away from the door. Thenceforth they found a German host, Cardinal -Rauscher.[245] - -The General Congregation of December 20, after learning the names -chosen for the Permanent Committee on Faith, had been occupied with the -election of the Permanent Committee on Discipline; but as the _Acta_ -contain no records of any transactions of the Congregations, beyond the -bare lists of the committees elected by them, the strictly official -means of ascertaining what passed are all but _nil_. The _Acta Sanctae -Sedis_ may be fairly considered as official in a looser sense; and it -is strange how the brief but clear occasional notes of particulars -which they contain, almost invariably confirm the profane writers -in statements denied, or apparently denied, at the time by faithful -ones. Deputations, including among others Strossmayer, went hither and -thither in search of a hall to meet in. Quirinus thought that the one -in the Vatican by the Sistine Chapel would not be of good omen, on -account of the picture of St. Bartholomew's massacre. Had any real wish -existed to find a place in which seven hundred gentlemen might sit and -speak, it could easily have been done; but the wholesome exhalations -from the tomb of St. Peter would not have been so potent anywhere else, -even in Rome, as in the Vatican. One-third of the space in the hall was -now curtained off. The debates were to open on December 28, that is, -after twenty days had been lost. - -News of the death of Cardinal Reisach destroyed the hope that his -influence might prevent the Germans from standing with the Opposition. -The preparations for a code regulating civil and ecclesiastical -relations, on which he had spent years, were not to see the light. -It had already been resolved not to present to the Council the Drafts -prepared by his Commission on Ecclesiastico-Political Affairs. Cecconi -(p. 266) thinks that probably the absence of the Cardinal "contributed -to the shipwreck" of his proposals. The subject was "thorny"; and -again, it was not decorous to make inoperative laws, or expedient -to make combative ones. It would seem that the supreme cause of -the shipwreck was the practical consideration that nowadays civil -governments, "which form an essential element in such matters," oppose -ecclesiastical laws, instead of taking charge of their execution. The -official historian, however, is of opinion that the failure of this -first attempt to indite a code of ecclesiastico-political law is not -final. A time, he thinks, may come when it can be renewed, with hope of -success--a declaration full of instruction as to the future. The time -for renewing the attempt to prepare such a code will, according to the -Archbishop of Florence, - - arrive when this rapid and ceaseless movement, political and - social, going on under our eyes, and making us daily spectators - of great and often of unlooked-for events, shall have reached its - ultimate period, to which will certainly succeed (unless the last - days succeed) an entirely new era in the history of the human - species. When that day comes, I know not what portion of the old - institutions will remain standing; but sure I am that one of - them will have survived, though peradventure externally bruised - and lacerated. She alone will be mistress of the field that day, - and the princes (if indeed the sound of that name will still be - heard), but certainly the nations, having then, after long and - cruel experience, made up their minds that out of her there is no - well-being, either in this life or beyond the tomb, will demand - from her the laws of tranquil repose, together with the earnest of - eternal happiness (p. 301). - -This language is the more significant as having been written since -the war in 1870, and even since the outbreak in Germany of imperial -resistance to the movement for priestly domination. With regard to -princes, it seems to breathe the threat which was screeched out by the -Jesuit organs in 1869 and 1870, that if they were not to sink in the -coming struggle, they must make peace with the Church. - -As to the nations and the laws of the Church, it adroitly represents -the nations, not as submitting to receive the law at her dictation, but -as demanding from her the laws which give repose. The ever-recurring -alternative of submission or disturbance, if not destruction, is -smoothly but gravely put. Still, the historian seems as if he wrote -thus rather by official duty than by personal impulse. But, like all -the "inspired" writers, he takes it for granted that the Church holds -the "repose" of nations in her power. Cardinals count on the effect -of thorns planted in the pillows of statesmen. They know how to teach -principles that form a people within the nation ready to obey a foreign -word of command, and they know how and when to give the word. They -always--so say men in Italy--know how to find an Ahithophel, and how a -Delilah! - -Fears were often expressed lest an attempt should be made on December -28 to carry Papal infallibility by acclamation. The bishops, however, -seem to have had backbone enough to determine upon a formal protest -should this occur. Friedrich tells how those dignitaries who make -little of denouncing the laws of their respective countries were -very anxious in Rome to find some mode of giving expression to their -complaints and desires without printing, which in the Model State they -durst not do. - -He also states that on the day before the opening of the discussion the -Pope was greatly depressed. It may have been a diplomatic depression. -What bishop could be so heartless as to make speeches that would weigh -on the spirit of the Holy Father, and in fact to call in question -Draft Decrees prepared by his authority and proposed in his name? -What bishop, by obstructing their adoption, could occasion a risk -that the day fixed by Decree for the second session should arrive -without any Decree being ready? One of Friedrich's statements, which, -before Cecconi published, seemed the most improbable of all, was that -Cardinal Bilio, the President of the Preparatory Commission on Dogma, -had reckoned on the Draft being carried with scarcely any discussion. -Much as we knew of the displacement of the idea of conviction by that -of submission, this statement seemed too monstrous. But the Archbishop -of Florence appears unconscious of anything strange in the case. If -Italian novelists and journalists, with whom the indifference of the -national mind to religion is a favourite idea, had combined to give -an illustration of that indifference, they could hardly have invented -anything so expressive. A Cardinal taking it for granted that seven -hundred bishops could hastily adopt for ever as doctrine binding upon -themselves, their successors, and their Churches, a considerable -work, every single phrase of which any serious man would weigh before -he accepted it for his own creed, but would weigh ten times more -carefully before he imposed it upon others--before he took it upon -his soul to curse all who did not accept it, and to declare them cut -off from the kingdom of God! Yet it is plain that not only Bilio, but -the Curia generally, expected the passing of the Draft as almost a -matter of course. In their minds the idea of submission to the Papal -authority had first displaced, and then completely replaced, the idea -of religious conviction. - -The first Vatican Decree passed after the Council had been declared -open, fixed the feast of Epiphany (January 6) as the day of the -second session, in the expectation that this Draft, or a portion of -it, would by that time have been adopted. But, like the first Vatican -appointment, the first Vatican Decree had been not ratified in heaven. -The _Civiltá_ said (VII. ix. 227), "As the discussion on the Draft -proposed is not terminated, no Decrees will be published in the second -session." The _Acta Sanctae Sedis_ curtly wrote, "No Decree was -published because none was ready."[246] - -Meantime the relative attitudes of the Council and of the Catholic -governments had become more clearly defined. Following France, and -rejecting the view of Bavaria and Portugal, the governments had -determined not to interfere. Portugal had sent to her minister his -credentials as ambassador to the Council, but finding that he should be -alone, Count Lavradio did not present them. France, which for the last -ten years had been abused by the Papal organs, was now loudly praised. -Even M. Veuillot said that she was more liberal and more Christian than -the other nations, for her bayonets were at Civitá Vecchia to restrain -the violence of the Italians, and God would not forget it to her. True, -French statesmen every now and then did show some apprehension as to -what might come to pass if every child in France should learn in his -catechism that the Pope was infallible, and if most of them should grow -up under teachers who would gently show how the Modern State rebelled -against the divine constitution of the world as implied in that -fundamental truth, for the government of the nations. It was even said -that Darboy plainly declared that should infallibility be proclaimed, -the French troops would no longer remain in the Papal States. However -that might have been, all that fell from the inspired pens was pervaded -with quiet reliance on France. It seemed as if the writers believed -that, just then, events depended more on one Spanish lady, in the -Tuileries, than on all the Frenchmen in Paris and the departments. - -It cannot be said that the compliance with the wishes of the Curia -shown by politicians, was repaid by a milder attitude. The new Bull, -technically called _Apostolicae Sedis_, popularly called the new _In -Coena Domini_, was menacing. The grave _Civiltá_ (VII. ix. 134) said-- - - Whom would the people obey? God and the Church, or the State?... As - it is evident that the Church assembled in Council can only repeat, - and that more strongly than ever, that as between God and men, - as between the Church and the State, obedience is to be rendered - to God and the Church instead of to man and the State, and as it - is evident that in Catholic and civilized countries, in spite of - all the efforts of sects, respect for the Church endures, and - increases, while all respect for States and governments diminishes, - it is clear that the Liberals, who are dominant almost everywhere, - tremble at the Council, which is bound to proclaim more loudly than - ever, We must obey God rather than men. - -Even the little review at the Villa Borghese set M. Veuillot reflecting -on the restoration of that "Christian order" which consists in the due -submission of the natural to the supernatural order-- - - If we only think that the Council has to re-establish the Christian - order without restoring the ancient aristocracy, irremediably - fallen, and has to replace the social laws in a position where - property and liberty shall be freed from the grasp of democracy, - which is no more than an administrative aristocracy, we shall - conclude that the task is not a trifle, and that the seed to be - sown is not of a kind to ripen in a day. - -In most Papal countries, indeed, the ancient aristocracy has fallen, -and, much as priests like titles and stars in their train, they like -broad acres still better, and legislative power even better still. Even -when barons held lands in fief under prince-bishops and abbots, they -were frequently tempted to insubordination. And in the Model State, -the career open to a lord was as nearly as possible that which in our -chaotic state is open to a lady. So, the aristocracy were not to be -restored. But in the new Christian order both freedom and property -were to be taken out of the hands of the democracy. This had been well -done in the states of the Church, and partly done elsewhere, in the -middle ages. In the formula, "The Pope and the People," people does -not, we repeat, mean democracy, but subject populace, with a ruling -priesthood and nobody to come between priest and mob. Matters would -be greatly simplified if both an aristocracy and an administrative -democracy were removed out of the way. But, true to the far-aiming -plans of the school, M. Veuillot was thinking of the seed-time, knowing -that the harvest was as yet far off. When the prize is no less than the -supremacy of the world, a year may well be counted for a day. - -M. Veuillot, alluding to those profane creatures the correspondents -of worldly newspapers, said he had had to do with government spies, -but Press spies made him respect the former. The Press spies detested -respectable men, seeming to think that they spoiled the profession, and -prevented it from enjoying all the hatred and contempt it merited (i. -33). M. Veuillot could afford to assume this attitude. The _Univers_ -was sanctified by the Pope's blessing, and certified by his brief. This -high-caste scribe had not, however, said a word about the device by -which the election of committees had been carried, though he gloried -in the choice of men. He had not mentioned the electoral tickets, -nor alluded to the prohibition of collective meetings of the French -bishops, nor to the petition sent in by some of their number for a few -morsels of liberty. He had, however, told the faithful that none of the -bishops had any desire to be put on the committees, and that a prelate -from South America, on finding himself elected, wept and said, "What do -you mean? I am not fit. I know nothing." Writing on January 20, after -the division of parties had become clearly defined, M. Veuillot said -that should an Opposition group be formed, as some feared would be -the case, it would only be small, and would be rather outside of the -Council than in it. "Outside," said a bishop to me yesterday, "there -is some room for the spirit of man; inside there will be no room for -anything but the Spirit of God; and though unanimity is by no means -necessary, it will nevertheless seldom fail." It was, at this time, -still hoped that the "pontifical secret" would leave no chink by which -the tenor of the debates could leak out. "How," exclaims M. Veuillot, -"will this assembly be able to distribute its incalculable labours, and -carry them to an end? Immense questions arise on all sides. It is the -human species that has to be set in march. Nature feels its infirmity." -Still, it will prove, he asserts, that the Council can more easily make -decrees for centuries, than modern governments can make constitutions -to last a few months. - -An address to the Holy Father, from the Society of Catholic Italian -youth having its headquarters in Bologna, declared that in answer -to the infernal fury of the enemies of the sacred Council, they -protested their resolution to obey its Decrees as the holy gospel, -as the decrees of God Himself, and to defend its disciplinary acts -as the acts of God Himself. In conclusion, they call the Pope, among -other titles, the living Peter, the infallible mouth of the Church -and of Christ Himself, the Vicar of God, "whose word for us and the -Catholic universe is the truth of God which endureth for ever."[247] -A strong force of equally well-trained youths in every country would -do something to give substance to the dream of universal empire, by a -Crusade of St. Peter. - -To say that the _Civiltá_ and the _Unitá Cattolica_ contradicted nearly -all the facts reported by the journals of Europe, would be a tame -statement of the case. They not only gave the lie, but did so with all -sorts of aggravating epithets. The Italian papers were most belied, -because they, feeling no respect for the men of the Curia, did not -care to put on any, but tore off false covers relentlessly, and even -with mockery. According to an ordinary Italian saying, respect for the -Curia begins outside the walls of Rome, and increases in proportion -to distance. Still, the French, German, and English papers, though -more respectful--the last, in comparison, deferential--were denounced -as lying and lying again. This went smoothly till the lie-givers -descended to particulars. Even then it answered, to some extent, -till time brought facts to the test. Now, it is sad to look at these -contradictions, and compare them with documents registered in the -same pages, or with facts which even there are no longer disputed. -Any one who wants a lesson in the art of giving the lie may go to an -article in the _Civiltá_ (VII. ix. p. 327), and succeeding ones. After -studying them an Englishman would be more charitable to Romans when -they say that if the Jesuits contradict a thing well, they begin to -think it must be true. But he would discover that, under an apparent -contradiction, there is often preserved a possibility of saying that -there was no real one. A statement has been made containing one main -fact, which was perfectly true, but with two or three accidental -appendages, some one of which was not true, and the whole is treated -as false. For instance, the whole tale of Nardi dismissing the German -prelates is to appearance ridiculed, because one journal says that -Nardi had made a secret door, at which he played the eavesdropper. Of -course it was an Italian journal--_La Nazione_--which thought that a -probable action for a monsignore of the Curia. - -The _Nuova Antologia_, a review of high standing in Italy, published -articles on the Council, which formed the basis of Vitelleschi's book. -The _Civiltá_ assigned them to Salvatore de Renzi, spoke of them as -being not more inaccurate than others, and after general charges came -to particulars. The author's "want of reflection" appeared in his -supposing that though abbots and generals of orders both had seats, -only the former had votes. Moreover, he had said that in the sessions -the Fathers always wore the read pluvial and mitre; whereas in the -first two sessions they had worn the white ones, and the statement as -to the mitre was _falsissimo_, as false as could be, for in Rome, and -in the presence of the Pope, they always wore one of white silk or -cloth. When all Catholics were in serious excitement, when they knew -that hands were laid on their creed to alter it for them and their -children, it was such matters as the above which weighed upon the minds -of the Jesuits, and justified outcry against men who strove to get and -give some little information. - -The first article of professed intelligence in the _Civiltá_ after the -Council had really got to work, spoke of giving only the _external_ -news, which was what all the "good Press" professed to give. What it -gave was indeed external. A person turning to these official pages -in hope of learning what he would have to believe by-and-by, found -paragraphs about "clothes" (VII. ix. 99). "We have told our readers -of the vestments worn by the Fathers in the public session. They -will be pleased to have a translation of the notice appointing the -ceremony to be observed in the Congregations"--the ceremony meaning the -ceremonial garments. The men who were undertaking to change for the -priests and people the conditions of their membership in the Church, to -revolutionize their relations with their neighbours and even with their -nations, were yet persuaded that while all this was going on, priests -and people must be thinking of how the gowns of the Fates were dyed, -and not of what threads they were spinning. So, with conscientious -exactness, the faithful were informed that the Most Reverend and Most -Eminent Lords the Cardinals would wear the red and violet mozzetta -and mantelletta over the rochet; and the Most Reverend Patriarchs the -violet mozzetta and rochet, etc., etc., etc. - -A touching incident of private life came to soften the feelings of -the Fathers on the eve of the struggle. The son of De Maistre, the -champion of the pen, and the daughter of Lamoricière, the champion of -the sword, had, four months previously, been married. "Two such fair -names," exclaims M. Veuillot--yes, two stately figures, bending in vain -to stay a falling oak. The young wife was smitten with death, and the -widow of the hero could only reach Rome in time to close her daughter's -eyes. The whole city united in sorrowing over the mingled tears of the -houses of De Maistre and Lamoricière. Noble Lamoricière! During the -four dreadful days of June, 1848, in Paris, his chivalrous sword formed -a shield behind which thousands sat in safety. None who were of the -number, as we were, can ever without gratitude think of him, or of the -stainless Cavaignac. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 238: _Documenta ad Illustrandum_, i. 245.] - -[Footnote 239: Of those domestic prelates the _Annuario Pontificio_ for -1870 gives above two hundred and thirty names; the list in 1875 is over -four hundred, in the _Gerarchia Cattolica e la Famiglia Pontificia_.] - -[Footnote 240: Though issued during the Council, this Bull is not, like -the others, printed in the _Acta_. It is in the Freiburg edition, p. -77; and also in _Acta Sanctae Sedis_, v. p. 287.] - -[Footnote 241: _Tagebuch_, p. 32.] - -[Footnote 242: _Quirinus_, p. 106.] - -[Footnote 243: VII. ix. p. 189.] - -[Footnote 244: _Tagebuch_, p. 27] - -[Footnote 245: _Tagebuch_, 47.] - -[Footnote 246: V. 323] - -[Footnote 247: _Civiltá_, VII. ix. 238.] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -First open Collisions of Opinion--Pending Debate--Fear of an -Acclamation--Rauscher opens--Kenrick--Tizzani--General discontent -with the Draft--Vacant Hats--Speaking by Rank--Strossmayer--No -permission to read the Reports, even of their own Speeches--Conflicting -Views--Petitions to Pope from Bishops--Homage of Science--Theism. - - -The moment had come at last when it was to be seen whether the -parliamentary proceedings of a discussion suspended in the Catholic -society for three hundred years, was actually to be revived; or whether -the bishops, justifying the confidence in their gravity and wisdom -which the Curia would fain have cherished, would now set the world an -example of magnifying authority, by adopting the all-comprehensive -dogma of Papal infallibility by acclamation, without running the risk -of any debate. That once done, minor points would settle themselves, -whether in the Council or out of it. The fears of a scheme to organize -an acclamation were strong, not to say feverish. Cardinal Schwarzenberg -wrote, "In case a demonstration is attempted for an acclamation, a -formal counter demonstration is already provided for."[248] Before the -commencement of the sitting, Cardinal De Luca, now Senior President, -gave an assurance that no acclamation would be attempted; adding, -however, that he could only give the pledge for that one sitting. -Strossmayer, relating this fact the next day, in the house of Cardinal -Hohenlohe, added that, should it be attempted hereafter, the bishops -of the minority would put in a protest, in the name of Christ, of the -Church, of their rights, of their people, and of sound reason.[249] - -Lord Acton's picture of the scene before the sitting is more distinct -than that of the other writers. It is Darboy whom he describes as -demanding an assurance that there would be no acclamation. When the -promise for the first sitting was coupled with a statement that there -could be no guarantee for the future, he said a hundred bishops were -resolved, in case that proceeding was resorted to, that they would -leave Rome, and "carry the Council away in their shoes."[250] - -The uncertainty which had hung over everything but dress was so great -that some prelates had prepared their votes, thinking that, owing -to the determination to have some Decree ready for promulgation at -Epiphany, a division would be pressed on that day.[251] - -In print, the tribune, or desk, prepared for the Council, is a -laudable specimen of Roman art. To look at, it is what we must call a -commonplace pulpit. It was carried from place to place--more than one -writer says, carried all round the hall--to try to find a spot in which -it would be possible for a speaker to be heard. When the desk was at -last fixed, two priests, as reporters, took their place in front of -it.[252] Cardinal Rauscher, Archbishop of Vienna, was the first who -ascended. Behind him he saw his own achievement--that Concordat by -which he had secured for Rome the abolition in Austria of the Josephine -Laws. Before him lay the Draft of Decrees, for the most part, as it was -believed, the handiwork of Schrader, whom he had himself installed as a -professor in the University of Vienna, and who was doubtless a fit man -to make it what it was--a dogmatic reflection of the earliest portions -of the Syllabus. The sagacity of Rauscher told him that the success of -these proposed Decrees would be the doom of the Concordat. Hence, he -rose, not to support the theology of his nominee, but to save his own -diplomatic achievement. - -So the discussion opened with a brilliant address, as Friedrich calls -it, delivered in the round, rough Latin pronunciation of the Germans. -Darboy soon left the hall, saying that it was undignified to sit -professedly listening to speeches which one could not make out. What -with the mocking of the echoes and what with the pronunciation foreign -to all but Germans, none could understand but the few in whose favour -combined all the advantages of keen ears, a good position, and some -familiarity with German intonation. - -All that we know of the discourse of Cardinal Rauscher has become known -in spite of the silence of every official organ; and it amounts to no -more than the fact that he opposed the Draft Decrees with firmness and -ability. The strict Church régime assured by his Concordat to Austria -had not been followed by the halcyon days which such a régime was said -to guarantee. Loud complaints were made that the moral statistics -of Vienna, previously very bad, had, under the new law of marriage, -become worse. However that might be, there was no doubt that under the -Concordat Austria had undergone both Solferino and Sadowa. If, after -all this, new fetters were to be forged, Rauscher was well aware that -the chain would snap. - -After Cardinals, Archbishops! So the Irish-Latin of Archbishop Kenrick, -of St. Louis, succeeded to the German-Latin of Rauscher. The voice from -the Mississippi joined that from the Danube in making light of the -theological performance of Rome. The next who followed was Tizzani, -nominally Archbishop of Nisibis, really Chaplain-General of the Papal -army. A blind old man, he did not mount the desk, but, speaking from -his place, he was the first who gave forth the Latin in the clear, -full pronunciation, which must be nearer to the natural one than the -others. He said that the Draft was words, words, and nothing but words. -Three other Italians followed on the same side. It was still the turn -of the Archbishops; and Connolly, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, closed -the discussion of the day. There are two versions of his concluding -innuendo. One is, that the Draft was to be honourably interred; and -the other, that it was not to be amended but erased. _Cum honore esse -sepeliendum ... non esse reformandum censeo sed delendum._ Fourteen -names had been entered, but when seven had spoken, it was one o'clock, -and the weary work of attempting to hear was brought to an end. The -old men had been already four hours in the hall. - -The _Giornale di Roma_ and the _Civiltá_ gave the names of the -speakers, but not a syllable of information as to what they said. The -same course was taken by all the "good Press." It professed to give -information only of the exterior of the Council. Even the _Acta Sanctæ -Sedis_, in its Latin veil, does not utter a hint of what view any -speaker took. It does, indeed, say that no one replied to observations -for, against, or beside the proposals of the Decree, thus confirming -the common remark that there was no real debate.[253] Among all the -charges of lying, shameless lying, lurid lying, and so on, brought -against the lay Press, we do not remember any attempt to contradict -the particulars circulated as to this day's proceedings, unless indeed -it be Cardinal Manning's general treatment of all that had been said -respecting an intention to get up an acclamation, as ridiculous rumours. - -Cardinal Bilio, as President of the Commission on Dogma, from which -the Draft had emanated, would naturally be, as Friedrich says he was, -downcast; and we may well believe the same witness, that the Cardinals -generally were disconcerted. On the other hand, Cardinal Schwarzenberg -said, "It has gone excellently"; and Archbishop Scherr, of Munich, -thought that it was as if one had heard "the rushing of the wings of -the Holy Ghost"--one of the expressions in which that sacred name was -often lightly taken during the Council, and which, from hints found -elsewhere, seems to have fallen on this occasion also from other lips. -Strossmayer was by no means so elated, knowing that the Curia was in a -position to hold its own. - -This discussion raised the spirits of the minority, and filled them -for a while with illusory hopes. It seemed as if the one liberty left, -that of making Latin speeches, might turn to great account. Meanwhile, -according to Lord Acton, speculation ran on the possible effects of -fifteen vacant hats, which were supposed to have the power of doing -wonders, and which the genuine Romans would certainly expect to turn -episcopal heads in whatever direction they might happen to be held. -Darboy said, "I have not a cold in the head: I do not want a hat." - -Quirinus points out the bearing of such multiplication of anathemas -as was aimed at in the Draft on the ascendancy of the Jesuits. These -anathemas would supply abundant matter for accusation, and so enable -the Jesuits to keep men belonging to other orders in constant fear of -being charged with heresy. This would tend to make other theologians -dependent upon their order. He adds, moreover, that if the Draft -Decrees should be passed, scarcely any professors of Old Testament -exegesis would escape the charge of heresy. - -Two days later the debate was resumed. The archbishops were still in -possession; but after one more of them had spoken came the turn of -the bishops. Rank carried it against the rule that in council all are -equal. Athanasius the deacon, and Constantine the layman, were both -outside the door. And outside the door were also the "presbyters" -who alone at Nicæa represented Rome. Unity had come to mean a sharp -separation of the Church into the _Teaching Church_ and the _Learning -Church_. The _Teaching Church_ consisted of the Pope and bishops; the -_Learning Church_ consisted of priests and people. - -Those who desired to speak entered their names at least one day -beforehand; and of those so entered Cardinals spoke first, Patriarchs -next, then Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, and Generals, according to -their grade. - -The first bishop who rose was Strossmayer. As he had before attempted -to speak upon the Rules, so did he now attack the heading of the -Decree, namely, the formula "Pius IX., with the approbation of the -Council," instead of the Tridentine formula, "This Sacred Council -decrees." He was called to order by Cardinal De Luca. That point, he -ruled, was not to be discussed, for it had been settled in the Rules -of Procedure, and also in the form used in the opening session. No -one supported Strossmayer in his objection, and, in point of form, -the President was doubtless right. The bishops had allowed their -birthright to be taken away, and it was now too late to reclaim it. -True, if they had been united, they might have alleged that the taking -of it away had been done both violently and stealthily; but still, it -had been done before their eyes. - -Strossmayer's speech gave to modern Rome a sensation strange to her, -though familiar to ancient Rome--the feeling caused by the echoes -of impassioned reasoning in favour of freedom. And this time it was -freedom commended by the voice of a bishop! The degree of freedom -advocated was, indeed, only such as anywhere else would have been -a minimum. The reports given of the eloquence of the speaker were -exciting, and it would appear that even those of opponents were often -laudatory. Lord Acton gives the following passage-- - - What do we gain by condemning what has been already condemned? - What end is promoted by proscribing errors which we know to have - been already proscribed? The false doctrines of sophists have - vanished like ashes before the wind. They have corrupted many, I - confess, and infected the spirit of the age. But can we believe - that the contagion of corruption would not have taken effect had - errors of this sort been smitten down with anathema, by Decree? - We have no means given to us beyond cries and prayers to God, - whereby to defend and conserve the Catholic religion, but those - of Catholic science in complete agreement with the faith. The - heretics assiduously cultivate science unfriendly to the faith, and - therefore true science friendly to it should be cultivated among - Catholics, and advanced by every effort. Let us stop the mouth of - opponents, who cease not falsely to impute to us that the Catholic - Church represses science, and restrains all free thought, so that - within her bounds neither science nor any liberty of intellect - can flourish or exist. Further, it has to be shown, and that both - by words and deeds, that in the Catholic Church there exist true - liberty for the nations, true progress, true light, and true - prosperity.[254] - -This proposal to fight thought only with thought, and to allow -institutions to be tested by their fruits, was well fitted for any soil -where the Bible was the statute-book, but was untenable ground in Rome. -The excitement was great. - -Ketteler embraced Strossmayer as he came down. Senestrey, on the other -hand, stated that he had said things for which he must have been called -to order in any assembly. Dinkle said he had spoken on his own account, -and showed no inclination to share risks with him. - -The first French prelate who came to the desk was Ginoulhiac, of -Grenoble, who also spoke against the Draft. What he then said we know -not. What he had just previously published under his own hand we do -know. Resisting the idea of an acclamation, he said-- - - To insist upon dispensing with previous examination, because of the - immense importance of the question, or because the subject of the - question was that which in the Church is greatest, would be not - merely to depart from the practice of all ages, but it would also - be to commit a most serious error, and to awaken in all grave minds - just suspicions of the decision which might be arrived at. In past - times nothing was so feared as the appearance of not devoting to - important decisions sufficient time, and of not giving sufficient - satisfaction even to the minds of the prejudiced (p. 43). - -Speaking of the liberty essential to a real Council, he had said (p. -46)-- - - Little does it matter whether the liberty of deliberation and of - vote be violated in one way or another, whether by fear or by - guile, whether the violence exerted is physical or moral; so soon - as liberty is gravely hampered, the Church no longer recognizes - herself as truly represented. - -Friedrich tells how Strossmayer, the day before, had said that he -would write out his speech and send it in; for the reporters were so -unskilful that their manuscripts were of little use. But we do not see -how he could do more than guess what their reports were. At the same -time (it was in the house of Cardinal Hohenlohe), he said that now, -since he had been in Rome, he could understand how both the Reformation -and the Greek Schism had originated. It was in his view a real crime -for the Pope to claim to be the successor of Christ instead of the -successor of Peter; the way in which bishops were driven was, he -added, inconceivable, when one remembered that it was they that kept -up the dignity of the Pope, and prepared the minds of the people to -acknowledge it. - -A prelate of different views was he to whom Friedrich had said that, -in order to understand the events of the Council, one must read -the _Civiltá_, further adding that had he been Prince Hohenlohe -in Bavaria, he would have answered the _Civiltá_ by expelling the -Jesuits from Regensburg. "They are innocent people," said the Bishop. -"Individually," replied the Professor, "they may be innocent people, -but they represent an order which propagates doctrine dangerous -to the State." He tells also how it was found that the French, -German, Austro-Hungarian, and American bishops had an International -Committee of three; but that the Pope, regarding this as savouring of -Nationalism, and of a revolutionary spirit, forbade it. Lord Acton (p. -52) mentions another prohibition scarcely less significant, namely, -that the printed Rules of Procedure of the Council of Trent were, -with the utmost strictness, withheld from the members of the Vatican -Council. These rules, and the real minutes of that Council, had at -that time never been published, and only saw the light in 1874, by -the private efforts of Theiner. Of course, the Decrees and Canons had -long been before the world. Among the many denials we do not remember -any attempt to deny this specific allegation. An argument could be -easily constructed, on the principle now accepted, to prove that it was -no interference with liberty to deprive the bishops of the physical -possibility of informing themselves of the extent of rights which they -had inherited from their predecessors at the latest General Council. - -Lord Acton says that one effect of the determination to keep the -discussions secret was that it led the bishops to express themselves -more strongly than they would have done had they expected their -words to be read at home and conned over by Protestants. At the same -time, much leaked out. All agree that the inhabitants of Rome took -little interest in the discussions, while, in the religious aspect -of the question, the Italians generally took scarcely any; and this -indifference reacted on the interest they might have taken in its -political aspects. They committed the error of despising their enemy. -Knowing the men and their communications, they allowed their own -estimate of the worth of priests to affect their calculation as to -their influence. - -There is a well accredited story of Lord Acton going to Florence, full -of the burning questions which were to affect the future of every Roman -Catholic. Dining with a relation in the very centre of the political -circle, and meeting several members of the Cabinet, he naturally -expected to find them taking some interest in the cosmopolitan politics -then under treatment by the Senate of Humanity, the Supreme Legislature -of the Human Species. But the Italians were buried in some passing -question of grist, or the like, and had no ear for the principles -which were to shape the future of nations. They saw little in the -proceedings more than that the Pundits of an expiring caste were -passing resolutions to adjourn the nineteenth century and to conserve -the eleventh. - -German and English Catholics were not capable of thus treating -principles as husks. Whether Fallibilists or Infallibilists, they -knew that the destiny of that Society, which both agreed to call "The -Church," was now at stake, and that, at least, the repose of nations, -if not their destiny, was also implicated. The Liberal Catholics, -holding that the attempt to restore a theocracy would only lead to -wars, and that humanity would avenge itself on the Papacy for again -fomenting bloodshed, hoped that somehow God would save the Church from -the blindness of the Curia. The Catholics, on the other hand, equally -aiming at _ultimate_ peace, and even regaling their imaginations -with a vision of millennial repose, so soon as all nations should -have accepted the Vicegerent of God as the representative of Christ -Himself, were in the meantime profoundly convinced that the only way -to obtain that repose was through the very conflict from which their -faint-hearted brethren shrank. - -The Infallibilists could not harbour the idea of the Church failing in -the struggle. That was to them like supposing that the gates of hell -should prevail. To the Liberal Catholics the Jesuits were conspiring -against humanity and all its franchises. To the Jesuits, on the other -hand, the Liberal Catholics seemed to be risking the loss of such an -opportunity as might never recur, of putting the Church in a position -to constrain governments to accept the principles by which alone -nations could be saved. Therefore did they look upon any shrinking from -the struggle as indicating worldly fear rather than foreseeing care for -the Church. If Liberal Catholics looked upon the Jesuits as conspiring -against humanity, the Jesuits looked upon the Liberal Catholics as -agitators against divine authority. No wonder that in such a state of -feeling, what Lord Acton describes took place, "The word-war of the -hall was always fought over and over again outside, with the addition -of anecdotes, epigrams, and inventions." - -It was on Sunday, January 2, that two petitions were sent in to the -Pope. The first was signed by forty-three prelates, headed by Cardinals -Schwarzenberg and Rauscher, and the Primate of Hungary.[255] This was -no Bill of Rights, not containing even a challenge of that exercise -of prerogative which it sought partially to relax. The privileges for -which two princes and forty-one magnates petitioned, "prostrate at thy -feet," were-- - - (1) That the Fathers might be distributed into, say, six groups, - in which Draft Decrees could be considered in the principal living - languages before being brought on for discussion in Latin, in the - General Congregation. (2) That speeches delivered in the General - Congregation might be printed for the exclusive use of the members - of the Council, and under the same bond of secrecy as that under - which the Draft Decrees were communicated to them. (3) That the - Draft Decrees on faith and discipline might all as soon as possible - be laid in a connected form before the Fathers, and should not - any longer be presented, as hitherto, piecemeal. (4) That the - Fathers, after having in the vernacular meetings considered the - Draft Decrees, might be allowed to send a couple of delegates from - each group to the committee to represent their views. (5) That - the Fathers might be allowed to print, in addition to speeches - delivered in the General Congregation, writings in which questions - could be treated more thoroughly; these however to be printed - subject to the same bond of secrecy as the Draft Decrees. (6) - "Prostrate at thy feet, we crave the apostolic benediction for - ourselves and the faithful committed to us." - -We do not know that even the last of the six things here prayed -for was granted, for the petition never received an answer. These -dignitaries clearly state to their royal master the grounds on which -they petitioned for some of the elementary rights of human creatures. -They say that Decrees cannot be really sifted by speaking a dead -language in an assembly of seven hundred persons from all parts of -the world, unless, first, in companies speaking living languages, the -Fathers have had the opportunity of examining their contents. And -further, that however well acquainted with Latin all might be, there -were many prelates who did not speak it. Moreover, the petitioners, -admitting that the Council Hall was admirable as being so near the tomb -of St. Peter, state that in the first General Congregation, though -some of the speakers had excellent voices, not one of them could -make himself heard by all. Even since changes had been effected, the -greater part of the members could not hear all the speakers. Another -of their points is this: Although men well worthy of confidence--_viri -fide dignissimi_--had assured them that the reports of the speeches -should be distributed to the Fathers in print, so that they might -read what they had not been able to hear, "in this hope we have been -disappointed." - -They appeal thus to their master, "Most Blessed Father, by thine -excelling wisdom, wilt thou perceive that, as the Fathers can -neither hear what is spoken, nor read it, proper consultation is not -possible."[256] They go on to urge that even if the discussions were -held in a place where men with the weakest voices could be heard, it -would still be desirable that the members should be in a position to -look over what had been advanced in successive sittings. "Matters of -weightiest moment," they add, "are being treated, and frequently the -addition, omission, or change of a single word may adulterate the -sense." If, say they, the Fathers had the opportunity of explaining -their views in writing, they could lay many things before their fellow -members which could not be brought into speeches. As to obtaining an -understanding of the proposals, they urged that, in questions of -doctrine, one thing so connects itself with another, and discipline -is so much affected by doctrine, that they are not in any position -to give a judgment on Draft Decrees, obviously forming but part of a -scheme, while as yet other parts of it are kept from their knowledge. -The relation between the unknown parts and the parts before them is an -element in any judgment to be formed. - -The second petition, dated on the same Sunday,[257] was signed by -twenty-six prelates, including several of those who had signed the -other, and a few additional ones, such as Kenrick of St. Louis. -Cardinal Rauscher did not sign it, but Cardinal Schwarzenberg did. -It set out by indirectly asserting more in principle than the other; -but it ended by asking less in practice. It seemed both to assume the -right of proposition on the part of the prelates, and to imply that -the taking of it away would deserve blame; but it had not the courage -to say that it had been taken away. Those are not wanting, say the -petitioners, who interpret the Rules as not recognizing the right of -the Fathers to propose in the Council what they may think conducive to -the public good, but as conceding it only exceptionally and as a matter -of grace. This may be a diplomatic way of indicating what the Rules -said without confessing the fact that they did say it. But what they -did say was too plain for any such finesse. The prayer of the petition -is confined to two points: that some members of the Commission on -Proposals should be elected by the Committee, and that the authors of -proposals should have access to the committees, and thus have some part -in the treatment of the particular matter in which they were interested. - -These petitions say more than all the assertions of the much -contradicted Liberal Catholics about the want of freedom in the -Council, and the want of the old spirit of bishops in the men who -composed it. According to Friedberg, the first of the two was drawn -up by Cardinal Rauscher (xli.). No name of an English, Irish, or -Colonial prelate is attached to either petition. Nearly all the names -are those of Germans and Hungarians, the only American one being -that of Kenrick. His signature proves that the English-speaking group -knew of the petitions, and the absence of all other names belonging -to that group would seem to indicate that members of the hierarchy -from America, the British Isles, and our Colonies did not approve of -bishops of their Church being entrusted with such extensive liberties -as those for which their brethren petitioned. It is pretty certain that -the American archbishop who signed this petition was not one of the -prelates who told the Archbishop of Westminster that their Congress -was not freer than the Council. Do senators and members of the House -prostrate themselves at the feet of the President, petitioning for -leave to meet in a place where they can hear and be heard, for leave -to read reports of one another's speeches, and for leave to print -memoranda--for leave even to elect a few members of a committee which -decides what may and what may not be recommended to the President, -to be proposed should he approve of it? If they do not, we must only -believe that America sends some citizens to Europe whose information -as to the institutions of their country is not to be relied upon. Did -Ginoulhiac, whose observations on the necessity of perfect freedom -in a Council we have lately seen, consider legislators free who had -to petition for such things? Outside of the number of Cardinals -resident in Rome, could even a Cardinal have been found beforehand to -assert that liberty would not be gravely hampered, in any legislative -assembly, whenever those who were called legislators were compelled to -indite petitions such as we have described? We doubt if even a resident -Cardinal would beforehand have dared in terms to deny that when, in a -professed Council, liberty is gravely hampered, the Church does not -recognize herself as represented. Now, it is easy to turn the point of -all such arguments. Peter the Infallible has only to say what rights -James and John, Thomas and Paul shall enjoy, and in exercising them -they possess all the freedom that God has been pleased to grant to them. - -The allusion in the petition to the ease with which the sense of a -speech may be altered seems like a remark of Strossmayer, quoted by -Friedrich, that reports which were under no check but that of the -Curia, and which even the speakers themselves were not allowed to -inspect, could not be of any use. To this Friedrich adds, How much -would the weight of the remark have been increased after an incident -on July 9, "when the majority of the Council, and a committee of the -Council, did not scruple formally to deceive the minority." - -The prayer of the petitioners for a sight of the whole scheme, as -prepared, before they should be called upon to erect part of it into -irreformable Decrees, was doubtless caused in part by the obvious -relation between the Drafts already brought to light and the Syllabus. -That compendium was not mentioned any more than it had been in many -other public instruments, but the first Draft fitted to its first -sections, just as the Encyclical which accompanied its issue had done -to the whole document. Notwithstanding its authority, its form made it -of doubtful interpretation, and these Decrees aimed at giving statutory -form to its sentences. An _Index Schematum_, or List of Drafts, had -come to light,[258] which let the bishops see that what had hitherto -been produced was but the first instalment of projected legislation -covering all the ground occupied by the Syllabus. The first Draft -treated only the philosophical and theological portion of the subjects; -but how were the principles enunciated to be applied, when the sections -on Church and State should be arrived at? The somewhat obscure teaching -in the Draft on the elevation of man into the supernatural order, -would, to mere politicians, look like theological nebulae, and, to mere -theologians, like ill-digested divinity. To men versed in the esoteric -dialect, it was clearly intended to prepare the way for the doctrine of -the elevation of man by baptism above the control of civil law, in all -that affects his loyalty to the supernatural order of the Church, whose -Decrees had, by that regeneration, become his supreme statutes, her -courts his supreme tribunals, and her priests his supreme magistrates. -It was the dogmatizing of the principle which has already passed under -our eye, that in baptism the subjects of the civil power are changed. -Another principle now habitually underlies that one, namely, that man -by redemption through Christ is raised above the government of the -natural order, and placed under that of Christ, through His Vicar. -The studious among the Liberal Catholics knew that under the name of -Naturalism their principles were condemned. - -On the Monday following the day of the petitions, when the Congregation -opened, after the prayers had been read, Cardinal De Luca rang the -bell, and solemnly addressed the Fathers. Here, for once, we are able -to give the very words that sounded in that hall of concealment, and -this time not from an unofficial publication of official documents. It -is the _Acta Sanctae Sedis_ that now actually give us a speech. But -it is a speech about the dead. The Cardinal is not so confident as -to their happiness as were the writers of the Crusaders of St. Peter -respecting that of those who fell in the Crusade. But he presents the -two forms of the Papal worship of and for the dead, which differs from -both the Chinese and the Brahminical. We see the two sides of it--the -patronage of the living by the dead, and the patronage of the dead by -the living. The Cardinal said-- - - MOST REVEREND FATHERS,--It is known to you that since the opening - of the OEcumenical Vatican Council four Fathers have passed away - by a death precious in the sight of the Lord, namely, the Most - Eminent Charles Augustus de Reisach, Bishop of the Sabina and First - President of the General Congregations; the Most Eminent Francis - Pentini, Deacon of St. Mary _in Portico;_ the Most Reverend Anthony - Manastyrski, Bishop of Przémysl of the Latin rite; and the Most - Reverend Bernardin Frascolla, Bishop of Foggia. The Christian - virtues and the shining merits towards the holy Church of God and - this Apostolic See, wherewith they were most largely adorned, - inspire us with a sure and pleasant hope that their souls already - enjoy rest eternal in the embrace of the Lord, and that in the - presence of God they patronize our labours by their intercession. - Since, however, human frailty is such that they may even now stand - in need of our suffrages, let us not neglect earnestly to commend - them to the divine mercy. - -After this De Luca announced that in place of Reisach had been -appointed Cardinal De Angelis. Thus one who, just before the Council -opened, knew, or professed to know, so little that he told Cardinal -Hohenlohe that nothing was to be done beyond condemning the principles -of 1789, but who had served the Curia by the device of an election -ticket, took the first seat, in which elevation the Opposition saw the -reward of service in the elections. Next was announced the appointment -by the Pope of Cardinal Bilio as President of the Committee on -Faith, and that of Cardinal Caterini as President of the Committee -on Discipline. The committees were not allowed to choose their own -chairmen, nor yet was the Council allowed to name the chairmen of -its committees.[259] The next day, after Mass had been celebrated by -Archbishop Manning, again had Cardinal De Luca to announce a death. -It was that of the Bishop of Panama, a Dominican. The statement as to -his sufferings here is plain. But as to his happiness hereafter, the -full confidence felt in the case of the Crusaders, and the qualified -confidence felt in the case of the two Cardinals, and of the two -bishops whose deaths were reported with that of Cardinals, are both -wanting. We have not here the "in peace" which in Rome, before priests -learned to make a commerce of the dead, the poorest Christian wrote, -it might be in the roughest scrawl, over the head of his wife or -child; nor have we here the life and immortality whereof the light -makes the happy believer "rejoice for a brother deceased." Eduardo -Vasques was not a Crusader, and was not a Cardinal, and had not even -the happiness of being reported dead in company with a Cardinal. He -was but a bishop, and, without doubt, in the pains of purgatory; so -De Luca just said that he had died last night, after great suffering, -borne with exemplary patience. "Proper mortuary services will, as soon -as possible, be performed. In the meantime, let us commend him to the -mercy of God, both by the sacrifice of the Mass, and by other works of -Christian charity."[260] - -The day before the second session, a procession moved to the Vatican, -of seventeen carriages, carrying seventeen deputations, each bearing an -address, with signatures, in a richly bound volume, for presentation -to the Holy Father. These addresses conveyed that homage of science -to the Pontiff the appeal for which has been already mentioned. _The -cultivators of science at the feet of Pius IX_, and, _The cultivators -of science at the throne of the Holy Father_, were the titles of -articles in Catholic journals. The way was led by the deputation from -the pontifical academy of the Immaculate, which had initiated this -movement. - -They were received in the Throne Room. A long address to the Pontiff -was read. He sat, unmoved, to hear it. Then, "he lifted his eyes to -heaven with an ineffable expression," and uttered a prayer that the -sentiments conveyed in the address might spread among the multitudes -of scientific men whose false science was ruining society. The Pope -would quote Scripture, as he often tries to do; and his text was -_Captivantes intellectum vestrum in obsequium fidei_--Taking your -intellect captive to the obedience of the faith. Probably he was -thinking of 2 Corinthians x. 5, "Bringing every thought into captivity -to the obedience of Christ," where the Vulgate translates, "Every -thought (νὁημα), every intellect." He then assured them that -pride was the sin of the day, and that it was all a repetition of the -original "_I will not serve_"--alluding to Satan's "Better reign in -hell than serve in heaven." Cold men of science hearing this language -from him who was striving to put all human honours, titles, and powers -below his own, might think that some scientific test of his humility -would not be amiss. The Pope rose, the _savans_ knelt down, and he gave -them the benediction. - -Having then resumed his seat on the Throne, "Here I am," he said, -familiarly; "here I am, to receive your gifts." There was a scientific -test of their professions! The President of the Academy of the -Immaculate advanced, presented his volume containing the address and -signatures, and with it an elegant purse full of gold. The head of -the next deputation followed, presented his volume and his purse of -gold, and so on, until the seventeen had completed their offering. -The Pope had a pleasant word for each. Then saying, "God grant that -your example may be followed by many," he closed the audience.[261] -How different was it now from what it was when "science was the echo -of the Pontiff," or even from what it was when Galileo had to face the -Inquisition, and to argue with Bellarmine![262] At the latter moment, -the two revolted tongues, German and English, with their smaller -kinsmen, Dutch, Danish, and Swedish, were unknown in the schools. Their -libraries were yet to be. They had but lately received into them the -source of their literary life--the Bible. But into them had the Bible -come, not lapped in the languor of the cloister, but instinct with the -life of a great revival. - -Except a few northern schools, which had made themselves a name in -the strife of the Reformation, all seats of learning on the Continent -were on the side of the Pope. Now, how changed! Out of his own Model -State, where were the universities canonically instituted? They had -ceased to be. Meantime, the nations which at the Reformation were but -emerging out of barbarism, had become learned in all the learning -of the ancients and moderns. The two revolted tongues, German and -English, had filled the world with a literature such as the Latin, -even when Augurs and Pontiffs were called Cicero and Aurelius, had -never known. The Portuguese, which had at one time promised to be the -_lingua franca_ of all the ports from Morocco to Japan, had given -place, first, largely to the Dutch, then universally to the English. -The Spanish and French, which had promised to divide between them -North and South America, were sundered, and were both overshadowed by -a dominating growth of English. That north-western tongue, cradled -amid stern winds, was found by the Reformation as the rude but hardy -dialect of some six or seven unlettered millions. Now it had become -the wealthy and flexible, the noble and all-expressing speech of at -least eighty millions. Thirty millions in Europe, with between forty -and fifty millions in America, called it, with a common family pride -and a common family joy, their mother-tongue. In Australasia, a future -Europe promised to call it her mother-tongue. In India it was teaching -the pundit, in China the mandarin, in Japan the daimio, in Africa the -Kaffir chief, the Negro freedman, and the merchant of the Nile. That -single language had now more schools and colleges, more laboratories -and institutes of research, more books and journals, more patronage -and discussion of Art, than all the Papal languages put together. And -as to the German, if the lack of equal liberty had reined the people -in, while the effects of the Thirty Years' War, joined to those of the -chronic splitting up into small States, had prevented their growth and -expansion in a similar measure, they had, nevertheless, with huge and -patient power, piled up a Titanic literature, and in many a movement -in the higher march of intellect their banner led the van. Men of -the Catholic schools of Germany so felt their own superiority to the -science and literature of actual Rome, that the strokes of their -contempt not unfrequently fell even on the reputed sages of the Curia, -sometimes laid on in a fashion more scholastic than scholarly. - -In the General Congregation of January 4, the Curia had the -satisfaction of hearing, not only a diocesan bishop, but a German one, -defend the Draft.[263] It was Bishop Martin, of Paderborn, to whose -eminent qualities official writers bear loud testimony, though in the -eyes of the Liberal Catholics he does not seem to be a prodigy. He -blamed the manner in which the bishops had treated a document proposed -by the Pontiff, which ought to have been handled with reverence, and -rebuked such language as "to be erased." He desired the adoption of the -Syllabus just as it stood. As the way to bring back the stray sheep -to the Holy Father, he enjoined the recognition of his infallibility, -which would reclaim Protestants. Both the expectation of Martin -and Manning that the new dogma would facilitate the conversion of -Protestants, and that of all the Ultramontane leaders that it would -hasten the submission of governments to the Lord Paramount of the -world, lose part of their marvellousness when we find bishops like -Bonjean proclaiming it as of great importance for the conversion of -Hindus. Bishop David, of St. Brieuc, alluding to Martin's warning, said -if he must not say that the Draft was to be erased, he would say that -if it was dead let it rise again; but some bishop must breathe new life -into it. Friedrich says that Cardinal Bilio was particularly hurt by -this speech. - -Bernardou, Archbishop of Sens, read a speech for Audu, the Patriarch -of Babylon. The Chaldean solemnly pleaded against the levelling -proceedings of Rome, maintained the ancient immunities of his Church, -and ventured to throw out a warning against innovations, lest the -Orientals should be altogether alienated. He afterwards received a -message to repair to the Vatican, and to come unattended. About seven -o'clock on that January night, the man of seventy-eight passed the -Swiss guards, in their stripes and slashes of yellow, black, and red, -with their halberds and their helmets, and while lonelily pacing the -corridors, had time to remember how the house of the Inquisition stood -over the way, and how utterly he was in the power of the King of the -Vatican. It will be some time before what befell him comes to light. - -Theiner, the celebrated Prefect of the Vatican Archives, had been long -engaged, as was universally known, in preparing for publication the -_Acta_ of the Council of Trent. He had been arrested in this project. -This was attributed to the instigation of the Jesuits. On January 4 -Friedrich went to Theiner to beg permission to consult the _Acta_ -of Trent. "Theiner told me that he was now forbidden to let any one -even see the _Acta_. All I could obtain from him was this--he showed -me the piles of the copied documents in the distance" (p. 65). There -is a picture for the days of an OEcumenical Council![264] The day -following, another German on the banks of the Spree, was busy with -the Council. To Bismarck the state of things so far was chaotic. "I -should not think it wise," he says to Arnim, "for us to intermeddle in -this misty chaos, where we do not yet see clearly enough to choose the -right basis of operations." He sees that Rome may make aggressions, -but rests in proud repose in the power of the nation to throw her -back within her proper bounds. The continuance of peaceful relations -is greatly to be desired, but it is not for the government to attempt -to give a direction to the events of the Council. It can only cherish -sympathy with the efforts of the German bishops, and, _if they desire -it_, give them its support. Bismarck expressly declines to support -by any diplomatic step the proposal for vote by nations. Such a step -would involve a serious recognition of the pretensions of the Curia. We -must, he says, hold ourselves aloof from the Council, and free to bring -its conclusions to the bar of our laws. He, therefore, does not deem -it wise to attempt a permanent united meeting of diplomatists, with a -view to influence the Council. All that can be done is to encourage the -German bishops, and to assure them that their rights will be maintained -in their own country. But they must be made fully to understand that -serious changes in the organization of the Church would compel the -government to alter its relation to her, both in legislation and in -administration.[265] Had Bismarck known all the plans of the five -preceding years, and all the events that were to follow, it is doubtful -if he could have taken a better course. And had his main object been -to live at peace with Rome, and not merely to do the wisest thing for -Germany, he could hardly have guarded more jealously against undue or -premature interference. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 248: _Tagebuch_, p. 44.] - -[Footnote 249: _Tagebuch_, p. 45.] - -[Footnote 250: _Acton_, p. 73.] - -[Footnote 251: _Tagebuch_, p. 44.] - -[Footnote 252: _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_, v. 316. i.] - -[Footnote 253: Vol. v. p. 316.] - -[Footnote 254: _Acton_, pp. 74, 75, both in German and Latin.] - -[Footnote 255: _Documenta_, i. 247.] - -[Footnote 256: "Consultationem sicut decet haberi non posse."] - -[Footnote 257: _Documenta_, ii. 383; also _Friedberg_, 410-14.] - -[Footnote 258: _Friedberg_, xlv.; _Cecconi_, 483-89; and _Frond_, vii. -p. 263.] - -[Footnote 259: _Acta Sanctae Sedis_. v. 317-18.] - -[Footnote 260: _Ibid._ 319.] - -[Footnote 261: _Civiltá_, VII. ix. 358-9.] - -[Footnote 262: Valuable light has lately been thrown on the two trials -of Galileo by Dr. Reusch, of Bonn; and Signor Berti, ex-Minister of -Instruction in Italy, has published the original record of the trial. -The last I have not seen.] - -[Footnote 263: _Tagebuch_, p. 63.] - -[Footnote 264: This tale of Friedrich may form a pendant to one of -Theiner's own. He relates how, in seeking for Tridentine documents -which ought to have been in the Vatican, but were not, and some of -which were in the library of Lord Guildford, he proposed to make a -journey all the way to England. His brother oratorian, Dr. Newman, -applied to Lord Guildford requesting that Theiner might have access to -them. This was refused. That nobleman could not see why the Prefect -of the Vatican Archives should come so far to examine documents of -which there must be abundance there! Poor Theiner had found poverty, -not abundance. There had been removal, as well as concealment. His ill -success in England did not prevent him from saying that the honour of -first publishing the minutes of Paleotti was due to the Rev. Joseph -Mendham, an Anglican presbyter,--"which, certainly, is not to our -honour or glory" (vol. i. pp. vi. vii.).] - -[Footnote 265: _Cologne Gazette_, April 1, 1874.] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -The Second Public Session--Swearing a Creed never before known in a -General Council--Really an Oath including Feudal Obedience. - - -The same tone of disappointment in which the _Civiltá_ had said that -as the discussion of the Draft was not concluded, no Decree would -be promulged in the second session, pervaded the additional remark -that the world would describe as a vain ceremony the recital of the -creed with which it had been resolved to fill up the day. Writers of -different shades, as if by concert, did describe it as a religious -ceremony,--a mere ceremony, an empty ceremony, a vain ceremony, and a -tedious ceremony. - -So far from taking this session as a vain show, we take it for one -of the most distinctive footmarks left in the deposits of history -by the mammoth which we call the Papacy. Without contrivance of -man--in contravention, indeed, of arrangements made with patient -forethought--the Vatican Council was compelled, under guise of reciting -a creed, to exhibit its bishops as if barons swearing allegiance to a -prince in peril of losing his estates. The creed recited was one never -before seen or heard of in any General Council. An apparent accident -set the faith of the early Church, and the modern composite oath and -creed, before the eye of history in a contrast sharper than any artist -could have devised. - -A cause similar to that which led to this day being employed in setting -face to face the old creed and the new, had at Trent led to the act -that formed the reverse of the medal. At Trent, on the day fixed for -the third session, no Decree was ready for promulgation, just as none -was ready at the Vatican on that fixed for the second. - -Consequently, at Trent, after much reluctance, the Fathers, rather -than let the day appointed pass without a session, consented to fill -up the time in doing what many of them felt would expose them to -ridicule--in reciting the creed. Thus did they create an example which -the Curia now followed. Two unforeseen accidents, linked together only -by the association of precedent, led to the placing of the Catholic -creed as it existed up to the Council of Trent, and the Romish creed -as framed after Trent, side by side in a framework so impressive as to -ensure the exhibition of the two in contrast to all ages. - -At Trent the Fathers said that they would set forth as the firm and -sole foundation, against which the gates of hell should not prevail, -the creed used by the Roman Church, which was the _principium_, wherein -"all who confessed Christ" of necessity concurred,--an expression which -seems as if it was the last breath of catholicity on the lips of the -Papal society. Another slight reminiscence of catholicity appears when -it is said that the creed is given in the exact words in which it is -read "in all churches,"--a terminology proper to apostolic pens, or -to the lips of our glorified Lord, speaking to His servant John, when -the word "churches" was the Christian vernacular, and "church" as a -collective was rarely used, and only in the very largest sense possible. - -Led by a way which they knew not, the Fathers at Trent set up a -memorial of the faith of the Christian Churches as they found it in -the creed. Led also by a way which they knew not, the Fathers at the -Vatican set up an everlasting remembrance of what their predecessors at -Trent had done with the faith. - -The Cardinals arrived on the morning of the Epiphany, dressed in red; -but they changed to the white proper to the day. Patriarchs, primates, -archbishops, bishops, abbots and generals of orders, were all in white, -except the Orientals, who had never surrendered to the primacy of Rome -on the sacred subject of vestments. The Pope entered the hall, as he -had done at the first session, between Antonelli and Mertel. - -After Mass, Dominicis-Tosti and Philip Ralli, the two Promoters of -the Council; reverently drew nigh to the throne, and addressing the -Pontiff, said:-- - - Inasmuch as, by ancient appointment of the Fathers, the sacred - Councils of the Church have been wont to set the Confession of the - Faith in the forefront of all their doings, as a buckler against - every heresy, we, therefore, the Promoters of this Vatican Council, - do humbly pray that profession of the Catholic faith in the form - prescribed by thy predecessor of sacred memory, Pius IV, be made - this day, in public session by all the Fathers of this Vatican - Council. - -The Pontiff replied, "We enjoin and command accordingly." - -Then arose the sovereign from his throne, took off the sacred mitre, -and, with loud and clear voice, recited for the first time in the -history of man, as the belief of a General Council, the creed of Pius -IV. Near the end of it, he came to the clause which swears obedience to -the Roman Pontiff. This he omitted. The conclusion swears to maintain -the faith just recited, and, as much as in the confessor lies, to -enforce it "on all those committed to him." The Pope simply said to -enforce it "upon all," and then he closed according to the regular -form,--"I, Pius, promise, vow, and swear, so help me God, and these -God's Holy Gospels." - -Bishop Fessler, Secretary of the Council, and Bishop Valenziani, now -came to the throne. The Pontiff handed to them the creed of Pius IV, -just as he had handed his own Decrees at the first session. Valenziani, -ascending the pulpit, recited it, in his own name and in that of all -the Fathers. When he came to the portentous obedience clause, omitted -by him who owes no account to man, tribunal, or nation, the bishop, -read, "To the Roman Pontiff, successor of the blessed Peter, prince -of the Apostles, and Vicar of Jesus Christ, I promise and swear true -obedience,"--as if it was an installation in a feudal order. No wonder -that Canon Pelletier, writing in Frond (vol. vii. p. 170), should say -that this act of homage, "in the circumstances of which all are aware, -had an immense importance." Valenziani then concluded the form as the -Pope had done, only, instead of enforcing obedience "upon all," it was -"on all committed to him." - -Patrizi, the Senior Cardinal present,[266] now rose, came to the -throne, knelt, laid his hand on the volume of the Gospels, and lifting -up his voice, said, "I, Constantine, Bishop of Porto and Rufina, -promise, vow, and swear according to the form now read, so help me God, -and these God's Holy Gospels"; and he kissed the book. - -Then Cardinals and Patriarchs, one by one, after them Primates, -Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, and Generals of Orders, in regular -gradation of rank, first two and two, and, later, four and four,[267] -came successively to the throne, and during the space of two hours, -knelt down, laid the hand on the book, repeated the above words, each -inserting his own name, kissed the book, and so swore allegiance to the -King of the Vatican, under the form of a profession of the simple and -loving faith of Christ. The two creeds, recited at Trent and in St. -Peter's, are below, in parallel columns--the one representing what the -Council of Trent found, and the other representing what it left. Future -epochs will have to mark subsequent innovations. We put _the clause -forming the basis of the new dogmas in_ italics. The other italics are -those given in Dr. Challoner's recension[268]:-- - - THE CATHOLIC CREED BEFORE THE ROMISH CREED AFTER THE - THE REFORMATION REFORMATION - - "I, N., with a firm faith, "I, N., with a firm faith, - believe and profess all and believe and profess all and - every one of the things which every one of the things which - are contained in that creed are contained in that creed - which the holy Roman Church which the holy Roman Church - maketh use of; namely-- maketh use of; namely-- - - "I believe in one God, the "I believe in one God, the - Father Almighty, Maker of Father Almighty, Maker of - heaven and earth, and of all heaven and earth, and of all - things visible and invisible: things visible and invisible: - and in one Lord Jesus Christ, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, - the only-begotten Son of God, the only-begotten Son of God, - _born of the Father before all ages_: _born of the Father before all - God of God; Light of light; ages_: God of God; Light of light; - true God of true God; begotten, true God of true God; begotten, - not made; consubstantial not made; consubstantial to - to the Father, by whom the Father, by whom all things - all things were made; who, were made; who, for us men, - for us men, and for our salvation, and for our salvation, came down - came down from heaven, from heaven, and was incarnate - and was incarnate by the Holy by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin - Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and Mary, and was made man. - was made man. Was crucified Was crucified also for us under - also for us under Pontius Pilate; Pontius Pilate; He suffered - He suffered and was buried, and was buried, and the third - and the third day He rose again, day He rose again, according - according to the Scriptures; to the Scriptures; He ascended - He ascended into heaven, sits into heaven, sits at the right - at the right hand of the Father, hand of the Father, and is to - and is to come again with glory come again with glory to judge - to judge the living and the dead; the living and the dead; of - of whose kingdom there shall whose kingdom there shall be - be no end. And in the Holy no end. And in the Holy - Ghost, the Lord and Life-giver, Ghost, the Lord and Life-giver, - who proceeds from the Father who proceeds from the Father - and the Son, who together with and the Son, who together with - the Father and the Son is the Father and the Son is - adored and glorified, who spoke adored and glorified, who spoke - by the Prophets; and (I believe) by the Prophets; and (I believe) - one holy catholic and one holy catholic and apostolic - apostolic Church, I confess one Church, I confess one baptism - baptism for the remission of for the remission of sins, and - sins, and I look for the resurrection I look for the resurrection of - of the dead, and the life of the dead, and the life of the - the world to come. Amen." world to come. Amen. - - "_I most steadfastly admit and - embrace apostolical and - ecclesiastical traditions, and all - other observances and - constitutions of the same Church._ - - "I also admit the holy - _Scriptures_, according to that - sense which our holy Mother, the - Church, has held, and does hold, - to whom it belongs to _judge_ of - the true sense and interpretation - of the Scriptures; neither - will I ever take and interpret - them otherwise than according - to the unanimous consent of the - Fathers. - - "I also profess that there are - truly and properly _seven - sacraments_ of the new law, - instituted by Jesus Christ our - Lord, and necessary for the - salvation of mankind, though not - all for every one; to wit, - _baptism_, _confirmation, - eucharist, penance_, _extreme - unction, orders_, and - _matrimony_; and that they confer - grace; and that of these, - _baptism confirmation_, and - _orders_ cannot be reiterated - without sacrilege. - - "I also receive and admit the - received and approved _ceremonies_ - of the _Catholic Church_, - used in the solemn administration - of all the aforesaid sacraments. - - "I embrace and receive all - and every one of the things - which have been defined and - declared in the holy Council of - _Trent_, concerning _original sin_ - and _justification_. - - "I profess, likewise, that in - the Mass there is offered to God - a true, proper, and propitiatory - sacrifice for the living and the - dead. And that in the most - holy sacrament of the _eucharist_ - there is truly, really, and - substantially, the _body_ and - _blood_, together with the _soul_ - and _divinity_, of our Lord Jesus - Christ; and that there is made - a conversion of the whole - substance of the bread into the - body, and of the whole substance - of the wine into the - blood; which conversion the - Catholic Church calls - transubstantiation. - - "I confess, also, that under - _either kind_ alone, Christ is - received whole and entire, and a - true sacrament. - - "I constantly hold that there - is a _purgatory_, and that the - souls detained therein are helped - by the suffrages of the faithful. - - "Likewise, that the _saints_ - reigning together with Christ - are to be honoured and invocated, - and that they offer - prayers to God for us; and that - their _relics_ are to be held in - veneration. - - "I most firmly assert that - the _images_ of Christ, and of the - Mother of God, ever Virgin, - and also of the other saints, - are to be had and retained, and - that due honour and veneration - are to be given to them. - - "I also affirm that the power - of _indulgences_ was left by - Christ in the Church, and that - the use of them is most wholesome - to _Christian_ people. - - "I acknowledge the holy - catholic and apostolical Roman - Church, _The Mother and Mistress - of all Churches; And I Promise - [and Swear] True Obedience to - the Bishop of Rome_, successor - to St. Peter, Prince of the - Apostles, and Vicar of Jesus - Christ. - - "I likewise undoubtedly receive - and profess all other things - delivered, defined, and declared - by the sacred Canons and - General Councils, and particularly - by the holy Council of - Trent. And I condemn, reject, - and anathematise all things - contrary thereto, and all heresies - which the Church has condemned, - _rejected_, and anathematised. - - "This true Catholic faith, _Out - of Which None Can Be Saved_, - which I now freely profess, and - truly hold, I, N., promise, vow, - and swear most constantly to - hold and profess the same whole - and entire, with God's assistance, - to the end of my life; _and - to procure, as far as lies in my - power, that the same shall be - held, taught, and preached by all - who are under me, or are entrusted - to my care by virtue of my - office. So help me God and these - Holy Gospels of God_." - -Among the seven hundred men who repeated this set of propositions, -unknown to Holy Scripture, we may feel assured that there were not -wanting some who as they approached the end of the old, thought, That -was the faith as it was professed before Luther; and as they entered -upon the new, thought Where was this religion before Luther? - -What a contrast between the old and the new! If ever it was true, it is -here true, that the old is better. Under the old creed, the conscience -is not hampered by any question about the authority of traditions, -either apostolic so-called, or such as were confessedly ecclesiastical. -The conscience is not perplexed with a fear of interpreting Holy -Scripture differently from the unanimous opinion of the Fathers. It -is not weighted with seven sacraments, not contracted with scruples -about mere rites and modes of administration, not burdened by having -to take for gospel every word which some past Council has said on -some specified doctrine; not bewildered by a professed repetition -ofttimes of the sacrifice once offered up forever, full, perfect, and -sufficient; not materialized by transubstantiation of the substance -of the bread and wine, not mystified by taking half a sacrament for a -whole one, and by asserting that the deliberate evasion of Christ's -sacramental command was a true performance of it; not secularized -by the mercantile reckonings of purgatory; not let down from filial -Christianity towards servile polytheism by the worship of saints, -relics, and images; not demoralized by the traffic in indulgences; not -narrowed by the domination of one municipal Church over all others; -not cramped and degraded by identification with the sins and follies -of one human head, much less by an allegiance to that head, as a lord -of the faith and a sovereign of the conscience; not envenomed by -anathematizing all who do not accept every article that we ourselves -accept. - -Trent diminished the comprehensiveness of the Papal Society by many -new and some grotesque conditions. The present Pontiff has added -others, and so far has the shrinking process been now carried that -a _reductio ad absurdum_ cannot be logically far off. Believing too -much, which comes to believing too little, ends in believing nothing. -All these successive submissions of conscience to "authority," of -spiritual inquiry and private judgment to priestly dictation, end in -the paralysis of the believing faculty. They render a man capable of -nothing but submitting. - -The ordinary oath of the Papal bishops has often been shown to be in -substance the oath of a feudal vassal to his liege lord. It has but a -flavour of any evangelical office or work of the soul-winning ministry -of Christ. The Emperor Joseph II clearly saw that any man bound to the -Pope by that oath could not be reckoned as the subject of any other -prince, except by one of those generous fictions which on behalf of -the Pope, by way of exception, governments have admitted. But even that -oath was not enough; the confession of faith in God must, for all the -clergy, be turned into an oath of loyalty to the Bishop of Rome--an -oath to a human head in a creed! - -The process of taking the oath lasted, as we have said, two hours. -The crowd was not great. The session did not raise enthusiasm in any -one. Friedrich, who viewed the act of homage from the gallery for -theologians, said that nothing could be more tedious. He did not feel -flattered with his company in that gallery. Formerly, only doctors were -known at Councils as theologians, and, as we have seen, they had real -work to do. Now, he says, the chaplains and secretaries of bishops, -and even the men who carry the red caps of the Cardinals, figure as -theologians--"an edifying company." Even the _Stimmen_ had only a few -sentences for this session; and the _Civiltá_, though read principally -by persons who may be supposed to have already seen the creed of -Pius IV, filled up room by printing it at full. Quirinus wondered -whether this "profusion of superfluous oaths was reconcilable with the -scriptural prohibition of needless oaths." They had seven hundred and -forty-seven oaths taken. - -Only the genius of M. Veuillot sufficed, so far as we remember, to -cheer the gloom of the day. It was the Epiphany, and in the portions of -Scripture included in the offices of the day, he saw the interpretation -of the ceremony. The royally robed potentates who bowed before the -enthroned priest-king were _the kings of the Gentiles_ prostrating -themselves and worshipping the Church, presenting their gold, and -frankincense and, myrrh. The words of Isaiah, "The nations shall come -to Thy light, and the kings to the brightness of Thy rising," had the -same grand meaning. So he cries (i. 79):-- - - Behold St. Peter's! The throne of the Pontiff and the Cardinal at - the altar, and between throne and altar eight hundred bishops! - Behold the prophecy and behold the fact! - -M. Veuillot remarks that in the galleries were present diplomatists -and princes who had fallen; but the Church abides! In the crowd, he -says, was an Italian "revolutionist, Signor Minghetti, once a subject -and minister of the Pope. He bowed with propriety under the benediction -of his Father and his master, who was betrayed by him; but he abides!" -The fallen princes represented those who, having supported the Papacy, -both temporal and spiritual, had been brought to ruin by its bad -teaching and worse example. Signor Minghetti and his bow represented -those who, rejecting the temporal Papacy, wished to conserve at least -the show of the spiritual Papacy. It is for future time to tell whether -they to whom he will bequeath the tangled undertaking, will take their -place with ex-kings, ex-dukes, ex-princes, and so forth, in the gallery -of failures, or whether they will take their place among the wise men -who, rejecting the spiritual as worse than the temporal Papacy, and -risking all to found States on the principles of the Word of God, have -built up great and happy realms. Italy not does think a principle worth -running any risk for. She thinks it practical to say to the Papacy, We -have found thee unfaithful in the unrighteous mammon, and therefore do -we take it from thee, but we commit to thy trust the true riches. - -The _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_ say that no date was fixed for the next -session. The confidence in the readiness of the Fathers to swallow -a large pamphlet of creed in a few days was shaken. "No one," -is it pensively added, "could foresee when Decrees would be in -readiness, because many Fathers might probably be lengthy in their -discourses."[269] The learned editor seems as if he would fain emulate -the flight of M. Veuillot, but he soars with weighted wing. In a long -apostrophe to Rome, he styles Pius IX "the captain who gloriously -fills the place of thine ancient Caesars."[270] In one of his speeches -made to Roman professors, Pius IX calls himself "the Cæsar who now -addresses you,[271] and to whom alone are obedience and fidelity due." - -It is evident that the Curia left this session under the damping -effects of a disappointment. It is also evident that some of the -bishops felt that they had now performed two sessions, with a month -between them, and that the only distinct impression left upon the mind -was that they had been twice exhibited, before the whole world, at the -feet of a man more richly robed than themselves, seated on a throne -in the house of God, and calling himself Father of kings and princes, -and Governor of the world. Canon Pelletier points out the great -advantage which the Church had obtained by having the Creed of Pius IV -"consecrated" in a General Council. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 266: The Dean of the Sacred College, Cardinal Mattei, was -unable to attend the sittings.] - -[Footnote 267: _Acta Sanctæ Sedis._] - -[Footnote 268: _The Grounds of the Catholic Faith_, p. 3. The obedience -clause in Challoner, not being meant for the clergy, does not contain -the word _swear_. For the same reason is the final clause, which -implies authority, omitted. The translation of that clause given here -is from Mr. Butler's version.] - -[Footnote 269: _Acta S.S._, v. 327.] - -[Footnote 270: "Sub co duce qui locum veturum tuorum Cæsarum gloriose -occupat."--_Ibid._ 324.] - -[Footnote 271: _Discorsi_, i. p. 255.] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -Speech of the Pope against the Opposition--Future Policy set -before France--Count Arnim's Views--Resumed Debate--Haynald--A New -Mortal Sin--Count Daru and French Policy--Address calling for the -New Dogma--Counter Petitions against the Principle as well as the -Opportuneness. - - -On the Sunday following this disappointing session, the Pope received -fifteen hundred persons in a public audience. Even the language of -M. Veuillot does not exaggerate the effect of his speech upon that -occasion. "What he said on the Council will loudly resound through the -Catholic universe." What he said cut the bishops of the Opposition, and -Liberal Catholics generally, to the heart. We quote from the version of -M. Veuillot:-- - - Would-be wise men would have us treat certain questions charily, - and not march against the ideas of the age, but I say that we must - speak the truth, in order to establish liberty. We must never fear - to proclaim the truth or to condemn error. I want to be free, and - want the truth to be free. Pray then, weep, force the Holy Spirit, - by your supplications, to support and enlighten the Fathers of the - Council, that the truth may triumph and error may be condemned. - -After his first version of the speech, M. Veuillot said that a word had -been "unfortunately omitted." The Pope had said that those who opposed -certain measures were - - blind leaders of the blind. Well, if the leaders want not to - lead any but the blind, and cannot see their game, the Church, - preserving her own liberty, will know how to win without them or - against them, the game which they obstinately set themselves to - lose (i. pp. 86 and 100). - -This was treated, not as a mere gust of temper, but as a calculated -appeal through the press to the clergy, and to the devout generally, -against the bishops of the Opposition. Yet the longing of the Pope -for his liberty was natural. He had always believed himself to be -infallible. The Jesuits told him that the full recognition of that -attribute, and the free use of it, were the only remedies for the -misfortunes of the Papacy, and for the troubles of mankind. He read in -the _Civiltá_ how all nations were at this moment looking to him as -the one saviour, capable of lifting them out of the Slough of Despond -into which the Reformation first and the Revolution next had plunged -them. He heard of faithful bishops, learned authors, able journalists, -one after another, intimating in prophetic strains an era of glory to -follow the recognition of his rights. All asked, how could the world -do otherwise than stumble and fall so long as the divinely appointed -guide was not recognized? All asserted that nothing could prevent the -world from rising up, healed and created anew, when the Vicar of God, -acknowledged by the Church, in the plentitude of this authority, should -speak the word, Let there be light, at which chaos would flee away, -and when he should follow it up with the supreme word to kings and -nations alike, which all must learn to obey. Heretics would resist, but -the faithful, under the banner of the Vicar of God, would certainly -prevail. Nothing stood in the way of all this blessing and glory but a -few bishops. - -These bishops were represented as being partly calculating men, -unwilling to get into trouble with their governments; partly cowards, -who actually feared that the standard of his Holiness might fall in the -struggle. Some were represented as jealous priests, paltering about -the little prerogatives of their Sees, instead of merging all in the -glories of the Holy See. If, in a matter so great, the Pope chafed at -delay caused by such inconsiderable men, it was not more than might -be expected from human nature so incensed, and so persuaded, even in -the case of one less vehemently suspected of vanity and self-will than -is Pius IX. He said that some thought that the Council was to set -everything to rights, and some that it would accomplish nothing. "I -am but a poor man, a poor feeble man, but I am Pope, Vicar of Jesus -Christ, and head of the Catholic Church, and I have assembled the -Council, which will do its work."[272] - -M. Veuillot also was becoming a little impatient. He apparently wanted -to see the beginning of the "clearing away" of which he had spoken in -1867. The following passage, tracing out the policy that might save the -Second Empire, is a specimen of skilled writing, clear to his clerical -readers, dim to heedless Parisians. The new minister (Ollivier) must -accept this program:-- - - To break with the Gallican, revolutionary, and Cæsarian prejudice - (which are all one) by frankly recognizing the liberty of the - Church; to assure all liberty by and through the assertion of - this liberty, as mother and mistress; to prepare the accessions - necessary to the honour and the conservation of peace; to permit - men to be made against this perpetual plague of revolution which - exudes only courtiers of the mob, or courtiers of Cæsar; this is - the grand game he has to play. In the interest of the Emperor and - the dynasty, I wish he may win it. Alas! during the last twenty - years the game has been lost, more than once, by the fault of the - chief player! But Providence is pleased to be obstinate, and to - leave the game open, with favourable cards in the same hands (vol. - i. p. 98). - -In the gloaming of these January evenings, two men, might be seen -walking somewhere between the Ripetta and the Via Condotti, and the -tall figure of one of them was that of Count Harry von Arnim. A letter -which he on one such occasion handed to the other was published, -in 1874, by the _Presse_, of Vienna,[273] and bore the date of the -day before the impatient speech of the Pope. To whom the letter was -addressed is not stated. Alluding to the petition of the bishops, -Count Arnim says: "You see they are modest, and organization is as -defective as courage." He feels the want of practical tact in the -bishops. If they had meant to succeed in their opposition, they ought -to have impugned the composition of the Council, and the Rules imposed -upon it. Had they first of all rent the net which the Vatican and the -Gesu [the Jesuit establishment] had cast over the wise but timid heads -of the bishops, infallibility would have fallen through the meshes. -The Count is not sure that the Curia will persevere with the dogma of -infallibility; and does not see of what advantage it would be to them, -when they can at any time call a Council and prescribe to it how and -what it is to speak. Some of the Fathers feel as if they were in some -sort the Pope's prisoners since they have entered on the course into -which they had been drawn. They had allowed themselves to be led so -far in a certain direction during the last twenty years, that it was -only when they saw that it was to be turned to earnest, that they began -to ask how they could make black white at home, and how the Catholic -people would take it. That was the feeling that produced "Fulda." -People belonging to the Curia say that the bishops need a couple of -months in the air of Rome to inspire them with the grand conceptions of -the place; and after that all will be of one mind. He cannot understand -how the German Catholics are going to let five hundred Italians, and -among them three hundred boarders of the Pope, dictate laws to them -in spite of their own bishops. Under the pretence of Catholicity, -exclusive Romish-Italian formulæ are imposed on the Catholic mind of -all nations. - -If Rome resented the obstinacy of the provincials, some of the -provincials began to open their eyes at what they found in Rome. -Friedrich quotes one well acquainted with the Curia, whose words may -be matched out of Liverani. "The Cardinals," said this authority, -"are red-stockinged ... not fit, with the exception of four or five, -to be curates in a village church." Friedrich himself had begun to -think that their principal function was "parading." But at that Court -did not everything depend upon parading? Many of the Cardinals might -be no better men than the tongue of Rome (not a scrupulous one) made -them, and no greater theologians than Liverani and Friedrich said that -they were, but some of them assuredly had great abilities, and all -had shown themselves to be blessed with the faculty of getting on, -which is generally some qualification for ruling. Disgusted by the low -appearance of the monks and their mendicity, Friedrich yet confessed -that, in present circumstances, such swarms of them had an advantage, -as keeping a certain sort of population out of mischief. How different -the view of M. Veuillot! To him the monks were the ideal of Christ's -benefit to mankind. Free from the world, from the care even of a name -or a tomb, the world "must allow their crushing sandals to pass over -the poisons which its pride has sown" (i. p. 223). It remains to be -seen whether the plants springing from seeds that quickly fall from -a free Bible, a free soul, a free pulpit, and a free press, will die -crushed as poison plants under the sandals of the monk, or whether they -will yet flourish like grass of the earth, and the fruit of them shall -shake like Lebanon, when _fakir_ and monk shall together be remembered -among the things that fatally decay in the shade of a growth which, -though at first the least of herbs, becomes afterwards the greatest of -all trees. - -In the street Friedrich met Graf A., doubtless one who then proudly -filled a proud post, but who now unhappily lies under a heavy cloud. -The Count told him that a petition in favour of bringing forward the -question of infallibility, drawn up in Manning's sense was already -signed by five hundred bishops. Another of Friedrich's touches is, that -_Janus_ always lay on Darboy's table, and Hergenröther's _Anti-Janus_ -on that of Ketteler. After calling the latter work very dishonest, he -says "The upshot of this book is, that the Pope alone is invested with -divine authority, and before this Baal of the Jesuits, the majority of -the Council means to bow the knee. Will not that amount to decreeing -the death of the Church? She may lay herself down crying, 'Jesuits, -you have conquered me.'" As a specimen of what bishops even in Council -assembled had come to, he quotes the memorable words of Hergenröther, -"_The bishops have nothing to do but to set the conciliar seal to a -work which the Jesuit Schrader has prepared._" - -"Happy bishops," cries the poor theologian, himself tormented by -opinions, and unable to let others believe for him. "Happy bishops! -you may give dinners, see works of art, take your siestas, parade in -pluvial and mitre, for the Jesuit Father has taken care of all the -rest; and, then, setting to the conciliar seal is not hard work! There -is nothing to do but to say _Placet_, and all is over." Much depended -on the interpretation men gave to their oath. Canon Pelletier (_Frond_, -vii. p. 170) says, not unnaturally, that at the moment when the Fathers -prostrated themselves at the feet of the Pope, the majority was formed. -All who understood "obey" in the sense of the Court, would vote what -the Pope told them to vote. But Ginoulhiac, of Grenoble, soon to be -Primate of France, had taken care, beforehand, to protest against such -an interpretation. Though expressing some fear in citing it, he did -cite the language of Bellarmine, to the effect that so free must a -Council be that the bishops, their oath notwithstanding, must not only -say what they think, but must even proceed against the Pope should he -be convicted of heresy.[274] Such language, in the mouth of Bellarmine, -as contrasted with that of Deschamps, Manning, and the other zealots of -infallibility, marks the progress made by the Papal claims in our day. - -The General Congregations were resumed on January 8, when two new -Drafts on discipline were distributed. The Congregation of the 10th -was remarkable for striking speeches, and for an unforeseen turn of -the debate. Haynald, Archbishop of Colocza, replied to the few who -had defended the Draft, especially to Martin, and Räss of Strasburg. -He charged them with having attempted to deprive the Fathers even of -the liberty left to them by the Rules, for they had reproached them -for discussing what was laid before them. Did not even the formula at -the head of the Decree, for speaking on which Strossmayer had been -called to order, say, "the Council approving"? which surely implied -that it was open to it to disapprove. Martin had said, We shall say -"It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us;" But, rejoined Haynald, -though Martin may know that we are to say so, _we_ do not know it. -This speech was described as one of remarkable power, second in that -respect only to the speech of Strossmayer. Cardinal Capalti, one of -the Presidents, listened with outstretched neck, and both hands behind -his ears; but so skilfully was the discourse constructed, that Haynald -escaped being called to order. He was often applauded, especially at -the conclusion. It is said that Cardinal Bilio, who was responsible for -the Draft, being, for a Cardinal, strong in German, knew three words of -it,--_Deutsche_ (German), and _freie Wissenschaft_ (free science). He -leaned back, often repeating, with an inward shudder, _Deutsche, freie -Wissenschaft_. - -Bishop Maignan, of Chalons, who followed Haynald, did not mount the -pulpit, but stood before the Presidents. His speech was also spoken of -as having been very striking. He attacked the Draft, especially its -phraseology. What, he asked, was meant by _anima est forma corporis_ -(the soul is the _form_ of the body)? The Greek Bishop of Grosswardein -defended the Draft, saying that at first he had doubts, but that the -more he studied it the more he was satisfied. As he had previously -said, in the meeting of German and Hungarian prelates, "I do not like -many dogmas,"[275] when he next appeared among them some one said, -"Greek faith is no faith," and he appeared among them no more. A -Chaldean prelate, Kajat, speaking with a fine, clear voice, said, -"It was scarcely becoming for a General Council to be occupied with -matters so local as the opinions of this or that German professor"; -and repeated the unwelcome words, "Free science," as Haynald and -Maignan had done. The debate now seemed as if it might prove very -searching. The minority had strong, if ill-grounded, hopes, but a -new proof of the way in which the Rules played with deliberation was -now sprung upon them. If a free assembly can close a discussion when -it deems it already ample, it can also continue it so long as the -conscience of its members cries out for a hearing. After the speech of -the Bishop of Grosswardein, up rose the President, and said that, in -pursuance of power given in the Rules, of Withdrawing a Draft Decree -when disputed, the Draft should now be withdrawn from the Council, -and should be remitted to the Committee, to be moulded by it. What! -could not the Council go on with its investigation? Had it not control -over a proposition once laid before it? No; the Twenty-four, with the -theologians of the Court, were now in sole possession of the proposed -measure! - -Had the Council been free to form itself into a committee, or to -select one from among its own members after this discussion, doubtless -some of the men who had shown that they were capable of sifting the -clauses would have been put upon the committee, beside the few who had -defended the Draft. But that was the very danger which the Nine had -foreseen, and against which they had provided by a permanent committee, -elected before the question was argued. This provision was effective -for its end, reducing the part left to the bishops to that of making -Latin speeches in rows, according to rank and seniority. One other -liberty they had--the momentous one of saying Ay or No. Had not the -Council been weighted with creatures of the Court, that single liberty -might have sufficed to stay the great organic change necessary to the -scheme of reconstruction. We do not know whether the sitting we have -just described[276] is the one of which Quirinus stated that Cardinal -Antonelli withdrew from it much disgusted, saying to a diplomatist that -if the Council went on so it would never have done. - -While, therefore, the Curia, disgusted with the bishops, had seen their -perfect work torn to pieces day by day, now the bishops, astounded at -the Curia, saw the future creed shut up in secret even from them! -In its absence, they began on the fourteenth to discuss discipline. -That was a notable day. It witnessed the creation of a new mortal sin. -The _Acta_ do not contain the document by which this was done.[277] -In Councils that were really general, a Christian bishop would have -considered it a duty to tell his clergy and people what he said, and -what he heard others say, about the faith of Christ. But on this day, -Pope Pius IX turned this sacred duty of the bishop into a mortal sin. -Secrecy, the genius of the Papacy, and publicity, the child of light, -now closed for a life and death grapple. Any man of that assembly who -should hereafter tell out of it what passed within it was to be guilty -of mortal sin. The oath imposed before the opening upon the officers, -and the injunctions of secrecy upon the bishops, had not availed. -The step taken by the Pope was a loud acknowledgment that truth had -leaked out. In a surly way this is admitted by the _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_. -Shameless journals--_effrontes ephemerides_--had reported, as having -been spoken and done in the Council, things partly true and partly -false. "This had probably arisen from some one or another, who lightly -held the _pontifical secret_, having given information, so taking -upon himself to ignore the dignity of the Apostolic See in treating -ecclesiastical questions."[278] Vitelleschi, Roman as he is, asks,--If -the Council is a supreme assembly, who is entitled to impose this -penalty of mortal sin? Men of the Curia, accustomed to the making of -innocent acts into sins, and of sins into licensed actions, would -not scruple to read such a document in the face of such an assembly. -Such is their state of conscience, that, far from feeling any shame, -probably they would enjoy the idea of the shame and confusion of -conscience which they were inflicting on the bishops. But men brought -up in England and America could sit there, while this new yoke was -fastened upon them, and say not a word! The bishops were really to be -pitied. They were entangled in the creed. Their oath had shut them -in. There is no hint of a protest having been raised by any one. To -speak of these gentlemen in one aspect as citizens of free nations, -and in another aspect as prefects of the Pope, is scarcely any longer -accurate. It is but by a fiction of the frailest sort that men so -tied and bound by the chain of the foreign potentate can be called -citizens. We have seen that the _Civiltá_ holds it as-beneath their -dignity as ambassadors to the citizens elsewhere than in Rome. Still, -professing to be citizens, they were to be pitied. And if they were to -be pitied, still more was human society to be pitied that had to bear -the influence of seven hundred masters of a multitude whose consciences -had come to such a pass. "A bishop," says Quirinus, "who should show a -theologian, whose advice he wanted, a passage from the _schema_ under -discussion, or who should repeat an expression used in one of the -speeches, incurs everlasting damnation.... A Papal theologian whom I -questioned on the subject appealed simply to the statement of Boniface -VIII, that the Pope holds all rights in the shrine of his breast" (p. -164). - -Count Daru, who now appears on the political stage in Paris, afforded -some entertainment to Don Margotti, who is to Italy what M. Veuillot -is to France, the leading Papal journalist, having, according to a -saying of the _Français_, more power than all the bishops. According to -Quirinus the redoubtable pair are "the two modern Fathers." Count Daru -said, on January 11, that "our national maxims in matters of religion, -the independence of the civil power, and liberty of conscience, cannot -be menaced." This was child's play to Don Margotti. In his view, -France needed the new Pope-Suzerain almost as much as Italy needed -the restoration of the old Pope-King. Don Margotti[279] contends -that the doctrine of modern parliaments is that they are themselves -infallible. This he proves by a text from Emile Ollivier. That oracle -on one occasion had said "We are justice!" but Don Margotti prefers an -infallible Pope to an infallible people. Menabrea, Sella Minghetti, and -such as they in Italy, according to him, represented God, the State. -Margotti, therefore, looks on the _mot_ of Ollivier as - - providential, for it proves the necessity of an infallible Pope The - world absolutely needs a permanent and infallible authority; if the - authority is not the Pope, up starts Ollivier, and ascribes it to - himself. It is time that infallibility should be defined, that we - may have no more such absurdities as Ollivier proclaiming "We are - justice!" Oh, let the dogmatic definition of infallibility speedily - sound from the heights of the Vatican, and free us from modern - justice, which calls itself now Baroche, now Ollivier! - -Freeing us from modern justice and from M. Emile Ollivier are two -different matters, though it is natural for Don Margotti to hail as -providential an opportunity of treating them as one. The assumption -of infallibility by parliaments is rather a favourite notion of -Jesuit writers. They seem to mean that any authority which will not -acknowledge its subordination to the Vicar of God must claim to be -itself infallible. Yet, we might deem our own Parliament wiser than -the Pope and his Curia, and morally superior, and still not think them -anything more than erring mortals, with infallibility some way off. An -English member of Parliament, repeating the Jesuit oracles, says that -our Parliament claims to be infallible.[280] It would seem that no -assertion of the Jesuits is too ridiculous to be seriously repeated by -their Oxford converts, though many are kept back, but for other reasons -than their absurdity. The decree in which the Parliament does declare -its acts irreformable would be a great curiosity. So would even such an -expression as the following, quoted by Don Margotti (January 18) from -the archbishops and bishops of the province of Vercelli:-- - - Most Blessed Father, now and always shall we be found, in obedience - and reverence to your Holiness, approving, and disapproving, - whatever you, from your apostolic chair, do approve and disapprove; - from which chair Jesus Christ Himself speaks in the Holy Spirit to - the bishops and people of the whole world. - -The meeting of the Italian Parliament having been postponed, to give -time to a new ministry to prepare measures, Don Margotti, viewing the -paralysis of the Parliament as a moral effect of the presence of the -Council, said (January 22):-- - - The word of Rome imposes silence at Florence, and the Council of - the Vatican does just as our Lord once did when He closed the mouth - of the Sadducees. Gentlemen, you have talked enough. Now stand - still, and hear the great word of God. Your day is past, the day of - the powers of darkness; and now the days of the Lord will dawn, the - days of truth and light. - -The Address in favour of a definition of the dogma of infallibility -had now become the talk of all. Vitelleschi (p. 85) states that it -was carried round by the Archbishop of Westminster, and the Fathers -of the _Civiltá Cattolica_, as the Jesuits are called who form the -editorial college of the great magazine. A letter, inviting adhesions, -and signed by several bishops, chiefly belonging to the class who had -not any national ties, was circulated with the address. The signatures -to that document itself were headed by the names of Manning, Spalding -of Baltimore, and Senestry. What had been felt from the first was now -openly declared on all hands, although the utterance of it had often -been charged as a great sin upon the Liberal Catholics. We mean, that -the object of the Council was the definition of Papal infallibility, -and that all the rest was manoeuvring. Brief as are the historical -notes in the _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_ they state that we may almost say that -the whole Council was convened for the sake of the fourth session.[281] - -Vitelleschi notes the fact that the citations given in the Address to -prove that earlier Councils had propounded Papal infallibility, were -not apposite. Quirinus says that the Address "bristles with falsehood." -Veuillot, on the other hand, finds its arguments cogent,--indeed, -unanswerable. Vitelleschi remarks that the writers speak with -indifference or contempt of schisms which might arise from the -measures they demanded. Friedrich calls it a compound of untruth and -slander. Veuillot urges that the contradictions to the doctrine had now -reached such a head as rendered its definition absolutely necessary. -Yet all this contradiction had arisen since the personal organ of the -Pope gave the signal for an acclamation. - -That liberty of the Church which existed nowhere else upon this sinful -earth, except in Ecuador, did exist in Rome; and, therefore, all other -liberties were secured; that is, the liberty of doing everything not -forbidden by divine authority. But printing in Rome, except by licence, -was forbidden by the authority that never can be in contradiction -to evangelical law. The Address for making that authority into an -infallible one was, however, circulated in print, without _imprimatur_ -of any sort. This sign was understood on all hands. It was not to be -mistaken. The divine authority asked for signatures. The canvass for -them was keen. - -Vitelleschi relates that the promotors of the Address were charged with -dragging a question forward prematurely, which in the natural course -of things, would have come on for discussion when the prerogatives of -the See of Rome should be considered. To defend themselves, they said -that the step they had taken was sanctioned by the Cardinal Presidents. -This "indiscretion," he proceeds to say, "exposed the Roman Curia -to the reproach of itself begging for its own apotheosis, devoid of -feelings of the simplest propriety." Even the clergy, he thinks, were -disconcerted at this proceeding, except the Jesuits. These were urged -on by a fatality to proclaim "the infallibility of Clement XIV, who -abolished them, and that of Pius IX, who had almost done so too, while -they must find a formula to interpret the judgment of the next Pope who -shall abolish them once more." - -This Roman noble accounts for the strange vehemence of Manning on the -ground that he had been a Protestant:-- - - He had seen his own religion from within, and not from without; - and had seen the Catholic religion from without, and not from - within. In Protestantism he had seen only the infinite internal - divisions and subdivisions; and in Catholicism he had admired only - the magnificent effect of its unity. He had not appreciated the - good results produced by the former, through moderate liberty and - the constant exercise of private reason and conscience; and he had - not felt the dangers which, in the latter, flow from excessive - authority. He is enamoured of authority, as much as the slave is of - liberty. This want of equilibrium, and of a just Catholic feeling - in his dealings respecting the Council, was charged against him, - even by the most faithful and devoted of the clergy in Rome (p. 89; - Eng. ver., 60). - -A counter Address was sent in from German and Hungarian prelates; -one from French, one from Italians, one from Americans, and one from -Orientals. But these, not being in the interest of the Court could not -be printed without a licence, and could not hope to obtain one. Even -Cardinal Rauscher had failed to attain leave to print a short treatise -on the Papal infallibility in Latin, and had to send it to Vienna.[282] -So the Opposition had to dispense with type. Then, what were they to do -with their Address, when complete? The course of their opponents was -clear--they had only to send in theirs to the Commission on Proposals; -and some, in their bitterness, said that that Commission had been -formed for no other purpose than that of receiving and forwarding it. -But these Opposition addresses did not propose anything to be done, but -simply requested the Pope not to have a certain thing proposed. The -bishops had no power to move in the House that the subject should not -be considered, or to move that it should be deferred till the meeting -of the next General Council. Care had been taken that they should not -have "the negative right of proposition" any more than the positive. -Then, what could they do? Nothing whatever, but what they had done -already, namely, petition the Pope. Their former petition, indeed, -had received no answer. Still, that was a request for the recalling -of a _fait accompli_, or, at least, for its modification. This, on -the other hand, was only a request that a thing suggested should not -be done. "Can any more singular relative position be imagined," says -Vitelleschi,[283] "than that of a man who receives a number of people -into his house, with a design of proclaiming his apotheosis, and at the -same time receives from them a pressing supplication to renounce that -honour?" - -None of these various Addresses stated that the signers opposed the new -dogma only on the ground of opportuneness. This ought to be carefully -noted. The opposite is now almost always either asserted or assumed; -but the documents have not perished.[284] Such a position was skilfully -avoided. It is quite true that the only grounds, formally stated in all -the Addresses _but one_, are grounds which might be concurred in by men -who objected to making the opinion of Papal infallibility into a dogma, -though they did not object to it as an opinion. But the German Address -was clearly distinguished from the others. It plainly and forcibly -demurred to the principle, though couching its objections in terms -of great courtesy. After alluding to questions of opportuneness, the -German and Hungarian bishops proceed:-- - - We cannot pass in silence over the fact that other grave - difficulties exist, arising out of the _dicta_ and the acts of the - Fathers of the Church, out of genuine historical documents, and out - of Catholic doctrine itself, which, unless they can be entirely - removed, it would be impossible that the doctrine commended in the - above named address should be propounded to the Christian people as - being revealed of God. Our spirit recoils from the discussion of - these difficulties; and, confiding in Thy benevolence, we implore - that the necessity of such deliberations may not be imposed upon us. - -This is signed by men who speak of themselves as "prostrate at thy -feet." This passage, however, stood in the German Address alone. The -others wished to get as many signatures as they could, and perhaps -fancied that they gained ground with the Curia by omitting plain -objections to the principle. The American Address indicated the -existence of differences on the point of principle, by alleging as its -first reason against raising a discussion on infallibility, that such -a discussion would "clearly show a want of union, and especially of -unanimity among the bishops." The German, French, and Italian Addresses -put forward another point, namely, that the dignitaries belonging as -they did to _the most important Catholic nations_, and knowing the -probable effects of the proposed measures, felt that those effects, -even with the best men, would be damaging to the cause of the Church, -and would supply unfriendly ones with occasion for new invasions of -her rights.[285] The German address, as printed in the _Documenta_, -has forty-six signatures, including two Cardinals and the Primate of -Hungary; one American prelate Mrak, of Sault Sainte Marie, in Michigan, -closed the list. The French Address has thirty-eight names, and among -these are three Portuguese prelates and four Orientals. The Italian -Address has seven names, the American twenty-seven--among which two -Irish Sees, Kerry and Dromore, are represented, and a single English -one, Clifton. The Oriental Address has seventeen.[286] - -M. Veuillot, speaking of the Opposition Addresses as one whole, said -that of all who had signed it, not two, perhaps not one, was opposed -to infallibility in principle (i. p. 149). Later he had the candour -to attack the bishops for having impugned not only the opportuneness -of the definition, but the doctrine itself (i. p. 180). Archbishop -Manning, however, even after the close of the Council, said, "I have -never been able to hear of five bishops who denied the doctrine of -Papal infallibility."[287] This particular statement is advanced as -evidence of a general one, that the question raised among the bishops -"was a question of prudence, policy, expediency; not of doctrine or -truth." A question not of doctrine or of truth! Forty-six prelates in -a petition expressly directed against Dr. Manning's own Address had -put the question as one not only of prudence, but of revealed truth, -alleging against any attempt to define the dogma three classes of -obstacles--those arising out of Catholic doctrine, out of the _dicta_ -and acts of the Fathers, and out of historical documents. Perhaps -we ought, with the forty-six prelates, to say _genuine_ historical -documents. But Englishmen must be forgiven if in their limited -intercourse with the Papacy they have not yet found it necessary to put -labels on such words. The Donations of Constantine, and the Decretals -of the Pseudo-Isidore, are historical documents, and also genuine as -specimens of forgeries. - -The fate of the Opposition petition is wrapped in mystery. Who -presented it? how was it received? what became of it? are questions -to which the satisfactory answer must be left to time. Some asserted -that the Pope refused to receive it. Quirinus says that he returned it -(p. 174). M. Veuillot told how it was delivered at the Vatican by an -ordinary messenger, and that a monsignore received it with ordinary -papers. This public affront to two Cardinals and nearly a hundred -and forty bishops was aggravated a few days later by the remark that -it was not yet known whether the monsignore had ever thought well -to deliver the Address. Still later it was said that the Pope being -consulted as to what was to be done with it, said that it might go to -the Commission on Proposals, he intending, personally, to ignore it -(i. p. 202). At a yet later date, January 28, Friedrich learned that -every one being afraid to present it. Cardinal Schwarzenberg sent it -by his chamberlain, who delivered it to Monsignor Ricci, the Pope's -chamberlain. The Pope was excessively angry, and ordered it to be sent -to the Commission. - -When M. Veuillot trumpeted forth this example of how to deal with -cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, did he mean to suggest that other -Courts might treat them with like neglect,--Courts to which these -officials hold themselves related as citizens only in an inferior -order, an order which "obliges" them only when the higher order does -not contravene? The documents in question bore the signatures of the -Sees of Prague, Vienna, Munich, Cologne, Mainz; those of Milan and -Turin; those of Paris, Rheims, Orleans, and the principal Sees of -Portugal; those of New York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Halifax, and St. -John; those of Kerry and Dromore, and of Clifton; and from ancient -countries the signatures of Antioch, Babylon, Tyre, Sidon, and -Seleucia. Not often in the history of manners have titles representing -so many ancient claims and such considerable modern station been -treated with equal discourtesy. - -The _Univers_ of January 30[288] said that when the minority thought -that the majority were about to come to a decisive vote, they sent -Bishop Freppel, or some one else, to propose conciliation; but when -reassured, they began their opposition afresh. It further said that -Cardinal Hohenlohe acted in Rome in the interests of his brother, the -Minister, and that his theologian, Friedrich, who had been chosen by -Döllinger, was the writer of the letters in the _Augsburg Gazette_; -that Cardinal Hohenlohe, with Schwarzenberg and Haynald, had succeeded -in making an impression at certain embassies; and that the Austrian -ambassador put the petition against infallibility before bishops, and -asked if they had signed it. - -Not content with the far-reaching policy which aimed ultimately at a -cosmopolitan counter-revolution, the party of movement desired to begin -forthwith by a local counter-revolution. Italy was to be reconstituted -as a confederation of four States--the Papal States, Naples, Tuscany, -and Piedmont. This, cries Friedrich, is a new task for a Council,--a -Council called to make a revolution![289] But the bishops knew more of -the world than the Curia. - -Party spirit now ran high. Those who had adopted the tactics of -opposing infallibility only on the ground of opportuneness, while -they really objected on principle, found that they had gained nothing -in point of conciliation, and had lost almost everything in point -of moral power. How could ordinary consciences understand a man -who admitted, or seemed to admit, that a doctrine, affecting the -representative of God on earth, was true, and yet denied that it -ought to be proclaimed? Compared with this position, that of the Pope -was bold sensible and Christian. "We must never fear to proclaim the -truth or to condemn error." Many, as well as Dupanloup, who first -departed from the false line that he had seemed to mark out, found that -they must object to the principle. Even if they had not previously -studied the question at all, the glaring attempts now made to palm off -admissions of primacy for assertions of infallibility opened their -eyes. An ex-Anglican like Manning might easily accept that or grosser -fallacies, but others had been taught to distinguish. The party of -movement, on the other hand, raised a cry for action, which swelled -higher at every sign of opposition. Their allegations are briefly -expressed by Sambin (p. 105):-- - - Pontifical infallibility is the sign to be spoken against. If it - is defined, the question is near to its settlement. The Catholic - social Liberalism of France, and the scientific Liberalism of - Germany, are indeed menaced. It is, therefore, a question of life - or death for Liberalism, as for Gallicanism and Febronianism. - -The opposition to "the divine prerogatives of the Pontiff," says this -author,[290] "had now become so pronounced that it was necessary to -act."[291] Saviours of society always come to that point on the eve of -the _coup d'état_. - -M. Veuillot, who had long endeavoured to smother the opposition by -asserting that no opposition existed, now declared that the opposition -was so grave that it made the proposed definition a necessity. Quirinus -says that the Address in favour of infallibility owes its preponderance -of signatures principally to the three hundred _boarders_ and the South -Americans, while the counter-address represents "the overwhelming -predominance in numbers of souls, in intelligence, and in national -importance" (p. 173). One topic of constant complaint on the part of -the Opposition was the disproportionate number of bishops to people in -Italy as compared with other nations. For the seven hundred thousand -people then in the Papal States there were sixty-two bishops, while -for the twelve million Catholics of Germany there were fourteen. One -million seven hundred thousand in the diocese of Breslau had but a -single prelate, and he was not placed on any committee whatever. The -nine millions of ignorant and superstitious people in Naples and -Sicily had no less than sixty-eight bishops. On the other side of this -question, M. Veuillot played off the name of London. If Paris and -Vienna, Munich and Lyons, Milan and Turin, were on the wrong side, the -Archbishop of London was on the right one. - -Spalding, Archbishop of Baltimore, issued a project for a decree which, -without formally defining the dogma of infallibility, should bind all -to an interior assent to the infallibility of Papal decrees in faith -or morals. He pointed out the evils attendant on a formal definition, -and that in a manner which afterwards enlivened the controversy between -Dupanloup, Deschamps, and himself. The work wherewith Deschamps -regaled his Christmas Day was that of proposing no less than ten -_anathemas_;[292] for if the Fathers could not propose things in -Council, they could send a suggestion to the committee. Ten new -anathemas dated expressly on the Nativity of our Lord by a Christian -bishop! That day Reisach died. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 272: "A French prelate, commenting upon the text of this -discourse, sneered at the simpletons who allowed themselves to be led -by a one-eyed man (_un borgne_). It is well known that the Bishop of -Orleans has lost an eye by study."--_Ce Qui se Passe au Concile_, -quoting the _Moniteur_ of March 24.] - -[Footnote 273: We quote from the _Cologne Gazette_, April 4, 1874, -which, quoting the _Presse_, says, "The Count will remember the walks -in the gloaming, and another by the baths of Diocletian, and so will be -able to tell where the letters come from."] - -[Footnote 274: _Le Concile, etc._, par Mgr. L'Evêque de Grenoble. -Paris, 1869.] - -[Footnote 275: How strong this language was considered in Rome may -be judged from what the _Civiltá_ said of the Minister of Public -Instruction, Signor Bonghi: "In the sitting of May 14, 1873, Bonghi, -then a private member, dared to say, blaspheming like a true son of -Lucifer, 'The Catholic Church has multiplied her dogmas too much'" (IX -ix. 242).] - -[Footnote 276: We have taken the outline of this sitting from the _Acta -Sanctæ Sedis_, and in the filling up we have principally followed -Friedrich.] - -[Footnote 277: The Freiburg edition does, p. 162; also _Guérin_, p. -113; _Friedberg_, p. 461; and the _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_, v. p. 337.] - -[Footnote 278: V. p. 337.] - -[Footnote 279: _Unitá Cattolica_, January 16.] - -[Footnote 280: _Contemporary Review_, February 1876.] - -[Footnote 281: Vol. vi. p. 3: "Cujus causa quasi diceres concilium -ipsum, tanta episcoporum frequentia, fuisse convocatum."] - -[Footnote 282: _Tagebuch_, p. 108.] - -[Footnote 283: P. 91; Eng. ver. 61.] - -[Footnote 284: _Documenta_, i. 250 ff.; _Friedberg_, 473 ff.] - -[Footnote 285: _Documenta ad Illustrandum_, i. p. 251.] - -[Footnote 286: Bishop Martin's _Collectio Documentorum_ gives nearly -the same numbers, but seems to omit the American Address. It give -Schwarzenberg's note fixing the sum at 136. Dupanloup frequently calls -it 140. See his reply to Deschamps.] - -[Footnote 287: _Priv. Pet._, iii. p. 27.] - -[Footnote 288: Quoted _Tagebuch_, p. 155.] - -[Footnote 289: _Tagebuch_, p. 155.] - -[Footnote 290: _Ibid._] - -[Footnote 291: P. 112.] - -[Footnote 292: _Martin's Collection_, p. 91.] - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -Matters of Discipline--Remarks of Friedrich on the Morals of the -Clergy--Also on the War against Modern Constitutions--Morality of -recent Jesuit Teaching--Darboy's Speech--Melcher's Speech--A Dinner -Party of Fallibilists--One of Infallibilists--Gratry--Debate on the -Morals of the Clergy. - - -The Draft Decrees on discipline now in the hands of the bishops -affected their remaining rights. It had taken three hundred years to -develop the practical effects of the legislation of Trent in curtailing -those rights. Paolo Sarpi may say that the prelates entered Trent as -bishops and left it as parsons; but it was long before new regulations -had worn down old procedure so far that an Archbishop of Paris, for -instance, could be treated in the manner in which we have seen Darboy -treated. The bishops, however, now feared, says Vitelleschi, lest their -office should be further mutilated. - -According to Friedrich (p. 88), when, at one of the first meetings of -the German and Hungarian prelates, Strossmayer said that the matter -before them was the resignation of their collective rights and the -centring of the whole in the hands of the Pope, he was ridiculed; -but when he repeated that statement, on Saturday, January 8, it was -received with universal assent. On the other hand, Roman ecclesiastics -were alarmed at the pretensions of the bishops. Two Dominicans begged -Cardinal Hohenlohe to use his influence to prevent the Germans from -speaking as extravagantly as the French. "It is really frightful," -they said; "what is to become of Rome? These bishops want spiritual -decentralization." Friedrich now thinks that he begins to see what is -the religious principle of the Roman clergy--domination, as a means of -existence. The bearing of this remark on spiritual decentralization -rests on the fact that spiritual causes referred to Rome bring money -to the bureaux, and the bureaucracy are the clergy. - -The professional observations of Friedrich on the Drafts touching -discipline give insight into certain interior aspects of Romanism, -which affect not only its own condition, but, through it, affect all -society. We therefore let him speak directly (p. 89 ff.)-- - - The first chapter on the Office of a Bishop closes so abruptly - that only at the end is it said that bishops must be examples for - the flock. It is, however, praiseworthy that they are told to - take the lead of the faithful even in knowledge. Alas for this - pious wish: It will be as it has been! Further on, the words "let - ecclesiastical discipline be maintained" strike the eye, and that - in respect of the _mulieres subintroductæ_, or γυναἱκες σονεἱσακτοι, in - which character the parsonage cooks appear. This - regulation is the most insulting imaginable; the most degrading - for the parish priest, the most lowering and humiliating for the - curates; altogether a dark spot in Church life. No regulation - stands in such glaring contrast with Canons and Councils. It is a - great offence against Christian morality, by which it is forbidden - that any one should be placed in proximate occasion of sin; but - in this manner the independence of a clergyman, and the placing - of him in proximate occasion of sin, are connected together. The - Fathers of the Council must themselves say whether this is or is - not the greatest of cankers in the life of the clergy. They can - tell whether it is necessary to direct the attention of the Council - to this sore spot. One of the Fathers of the Council himself told - me that he once spent a night in a parsonage where the rural dean - (Dechant) and the cook were parents of both curates. It is said - in the Draft, _De vita et honestate clericorum_: "If a clergyman, - unmindful of his own dignity, is given to immodest defilements or - to impure concubinage, or dares either in his house or elsewhere - to have a woman of whom suspicion may be entertained, or to seek - her company, let him be proceeded against, with the penalties - prescribed by the sacred Canons, especially by the Council of - Trent, and that without noise or the forms of a trial, only by - simple inquiry into the truth of the facts." But what will this - avail? Those directions have long existed, yet things go on as of - old, and any such directions must necessarily be insufficient. Why - is not the regulation of the ancient Church once more taken up, and - carried through with a firm hand, according to which every woman, - except nearest relations, was suspected, and was not to be admitted - to the house of a clergyman? If our Church-princes of to-day - will not return to the old regulation, which indeed sufficed not - to hinder all excesses, and if they are incapable of finding new - and better ones, it would be preferable, at all events, and would - involve less responsibility for them, if they allowed their clergy - to marry outright rather than give them up to arrangements which - place their reputation in so ambiguous a light. The fact that this - subject had to be brought forward here in its regular place is sad - enough, and should be taken as proof that we cannot go on in the - present way. Has it not already come to this, in certain dioceses, - that the bishops find themselves obliged to hush up, rather than to - punish? - - Further on, in the same chapter, it is said, "While they preach - to the people due reverence and obedience towards the powers of - this world, let them all with one mind and heart, taking counsel - together and uniting their deliberations and strength, earnestly - maintain the rights of the Church and of this Holy See, so that - their common guard and defence may more perfectly assure the - interests of the common cause; but let them admit of nothing - which will lower the honour and dignity of their rank, and let - them keep the admonitions of the Council of Trent on this point - under their eye." These sentences are doubtless well meant; but, - practically, will be without result. Nothing is gained by such - general propositions. This being self-evident, nothing should be - said in Decrees of a Council beyond the laying down of positive - directions. The conclusion of the chapter is vague, but, perhaps, - very dangerous. "We require princes and magistrates to cover and - protect the sacred chief pastors (antistites) and ministers of - the Church, and their most excellent work, with their powerful - patronage and defence, _that due honour, respect, and obedience - may be paid by all to the ecclesiastical authority_. Knowing that - bishops promote not only the cause of the Church, but also that - of their nations, and that above all the boldness and wickedness - of men who perversely seek to mislead minds and corrupt manners - may be restrained and constrained by them in the exercise of their - pastoral office." - - First of all, what is meant here by most excellent or highest work - (_optimum operant_)? who are included in _by all_ (_ab omnibus_)? - Not only is honour to be paid to the spiritual authority by all, - but obedience. According to the notes, _by all_ includes princes - and nations; that by the Council princes and nations may be moved - to venerate the sacred pastors, and to render them obedience - and reverence. Are we to understand that the unbelievers and - misbelievers in a State are to pay obedience to the bishops? Does - this wrap up the mediæval notion that heretics after all are under - the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, as Bishop Martin lately - gave himself out as the bishop of the heretics in his diocese? - Also that unbelievers have no moral right of existence, and so on? - And what is meant by the concluding words? Do they imply that the - bishops have a right of interfering with the freedom of the press, - of belief, and of conscience as granted by modern constitutions? A - General Council should speak clearly and definitely.[293] - - But who would have believed that in the second chapter on the - Residence of Bishops a condemnation of the constitutional usages - of modern times should be attempted, even indirectly? It provides - that bishops must not be absent from their sees more than two, - or at the utmost three, months in a year, whether continuously - or at intervals. Such absence cannot be allowed even for causes - otherwise admitted as lawful--_alias jure admissis_--except by - express permission of the Pope, or, in the United Greek Churches - without the permission of the Patriarch. One is here compelled - to ask, Could not those cases have been foreseen in which seats - in Upper Houses are permanently connected with many bishoprics. - Why this needless increase of requests for dispensation? But, - according to the _Civiltá Cattolica_, it is only as compelled by - existing circumstances that bishops can properly take part in the - objectionable constitutional life. It is said in the notes that the - necessity of an express apostolic permission is to be remembered - as being even now required by the constitution of Boniface - VIII--_Sancta synodus_--even if there exists one of the four - grounds of absence admitted as legitimate by the Council of Trent - in its twenty-third session. These four grounds were, visiting the - thresholds of the apostles (_i.e._ Rome), attending provincial - synods, attending a General Assembly in which ecclesiastics - are wont to sit, or discharging an office or duty to the State - connected with the Churches themselves. But (says the note) because - the Decrees of Urban VIII contemplate assemblies of a kind which do - not at present exist, mention of this as a just cause of absence - was omitted in the Decree, in which also was omitted, for a similar - reason, mention of discharging an office or duty to the State. - Thus the Chambers which have taken the place of those ancient - assemblies do not exist for the Curia, or it feels bound to ignore - them--quite in harmony with Jesuit fantasies. Should the session of - the Chamber last more than three months, those Bavarian bishops who - are members of the Reichsrath would require an express permission - from the Pope to fulfil their duty to the State. They might receive - from the Pope a prohibition against staying any longer at the - Reichsrath and fulfilling their obligations as citizens. Very - edifying for our governments and States! They, however, would know - how to help themselves, and would simply withdraw such a seat from - the bishop. - -Friedrich then dwells on the new contrivance of centralization by -which every metropolitan is ordered, before publishing the acts of a -Provincial Synod, to send them to Rome. The Curia is not to give them -any formal approbation, but to _correct them_, should anything seem -to call for correction. After this they are to be issued as the acts -of the Provincial Synod. To execute this feat of shaping provincial -decrees within the chambers of the Curia, Pius IX had appointed a -new Board or Congregation. Friedrich calls this a new censorship. -That would appear to mean that whereas formerly only private authors -required an _imprimatur_, now even the collective episcopate of a -province requires one. It would, however, seem to involve more than a -censorship, because the new matter inserted in Rome has to go before -the world under the provincial names. Authors were not compelled -to father the corrections of the censor. They could leave the work -unpublished. - -That sense of impending danger to the Church which, of late years, -had weighed on many Catholics, arose not a little from the moral -teaching of the Jesuits, whose influence, under the smile of the -Pope, they saw gradually rising. Out of regard for the honour of the -Church, many Roman Catholics suppressed the horror they felt at what -they discovered in the books of the Jesuits. Only those who have read -some books--those which reflect the modern phases of their moral -teaching--can appreciate the weight that must have lain on the hearts -of some good men when striving to uphold before their imagination the -Church as the perfection of beauty. Among the disciples of the Church -of Rome are many who hold close to the Christian side of her theology, -and seem to forget its Pagan side; many who avoid what is material in -her cult, and, by aid of that same theology, cherish spiritual worship; -many who turn to the noble morals of the Gospel, from the lower and -ever deteriorating morals of the schools; and many to whom the secular -spirit of the Papacy and the earthly empire aimed at by the Jesuits are -repugnant. - -Friedrich learned, in Rome, that those who confess to the Jesuits are -not to be trusted. Any one who will read even one hundred pages out -of the seven hundred of Gury's _Casus Conscientiæ_ would not think of -trusting--would only think of pitying any creature into whose head -the principles of that bad book had been put. Friedrich evidently -does not repeat any light talk when he says that he heard it stated, -upon good authority, that the Jesuits in Rome were in the habit of -employing women as lures to procure the overthrow of men who stood in -their way, which women would then return to the Jesuit confessionals as -penitent Magdalenes; and this, he adds, the Pope knows right well. When -Vitelleschi speaks of the evils arising from severity against errors of -the intellect, and indulgence to errors of the will, he means what we -should describe as strictness as to Papal principles, and laxity as to -moral practices. - -According to Vitelleschi, Darboy had only to stretch out his hand to -take a Cardinal's hat. The impression that this was the case, and -the terms on which he was known to stand with the Curia, gave great -interest to his first appearance in the desk, which took place on -January 19. How gladly would the Curia have seen him stretch forth his -hand in the direction where the hat hung; but no, he reached it out in -that direction where he had only reproaches to gather.[294] - - We are told that we are not to make long speeches, but I have a - great deal to say. We are told again not to repeat what has been - said by others; but at the same time we are kept shut up in this - Hall, where for the most part we cannot understand one another; - we are not allowed to examine the stenographic reports of our - speeches, and the only answer made to our representations is always - the same, "The Pope wills it." I do not know, therefore, what has - been said by the speakers who have preceded me. - -He then went on to speak of the rights of the bishops, of their -degradation by the Roman centralizing system, of "the caves wherein the -Roman doctors have buried themselves from the light of day," etc. Two -sayings are ascribed to him after this speech. The first, "Like Condé, -I have thrown my marshal's baton into the midst of the enemy;" and the -second, "This Hall is deaf, dumb, and blind." Hard as it was for the -Curia to listen to Darboy, with his diocese of two millions of nominal -Catholics, it is said that they were even more pained by the language -of Melchers of Cologne, whose diocese counted one million, and from -whom animadversions were not expected. The fear of the French troops -forsaking Rome saved the Archbishop of Paris from the tinkling of the -mystic bell; but it arrested the metropolitan of the Rhine Province. - -Melchers strongly objected to the increase of centralization in -Rome, and advocated decentralization. He declared that, as now -employed, dispensations from Rome were not necessary. Cardinal De Luca -interrupted him, and told him that he was not speaking to the point, -and that he must send his proposals to the Commission. He replied that -he had sent his proposals to Rome long ago, and had received no answer; -and then proceeded with his speech. An attack on centralization and on -dispensations, from such a prelate, was a practical matter in Rome, as -much as in Manchester would be a movement to cut off all the customers -in some great county. - -On January 23 and 24, Cardinal Hohenlohe gave two dinner parties--the -first to Fallibilists, and the second to Infallibilists. At the former, -Hefele, who now reappears on the scene, no longer as theologian, but as -Bishop of Rottenburg, complained that he had lost the important sitting -of that morning through an order from Cardinal Antonelli to attend -the baptism of a child of the ex-Duke of Parma, which eleven other -prelates who like him had apartments in the Quirinal were also obliged -to attend, and at which six Cardinals gave their presence. - -Archbishop Melchers of Cologne did not flatter Friedrich by telling -him, what he already knew, that his Grace had forbidden his theological -students to go to the faculty at Munich. His Grace, says Friedrich, -did know the name of Döllinger, but not that of Reithmayer; and as to -those of the younger professors, not the name of one. The Archbishop of -Munich was not able to resist the temptation of telling Friedrich, as -a good story, that when the bishops at Fulda, in the previous autumn, -spoke of recommending Friedrich's Church History to the clergy, as a -work which they ought to procure, his Grace of Cologne confessed that -he did not know the name of the book. The pendant which the author -archly hangs to this tale is, that when the copy of that work which he -had presented to his Grace of Munich fell, after some years, again into -his hands, it had never been opened. - -Bishop Förster of Breslau mentioned how Ketteler was going to propose, -in the meeting of German and Hungarian prelates, that they should -disavow the letters in the _Augsburg Gazette_; but, said Förster, we -stand too high, and besides, the letters contain too many truths. Some -one at table threw out the idea that the best thing to be done would -be to give the Drafts of Decrees to the bishops, and let them go home -and study them for a year or two, and then return and discuss them. -They had come to Rome without books. Points of the greatest gravity in -doctrine and discipline were laid before them for decision, and, as -every one knew, it was difficult to find help in the libraries of Rome. -Even that of the Vatican was closed, not only upon every holy day, but -also on all those days on which General Congregations were held. The -bishops were not allowed to take either books or manuscripts out of -the libraries; still more, both in the Vatican library and the Vatican -archives, the order had been given that nothing bearing on the Council -should be delivered to them. Their regret at this was lessened by the -discovery that the libraries contained scarcely any modern theological -works, especially German ones. In his day, Addison remarked that -books were not the attractions you went to see in an Italian library. -But, of recent years, a real library of books, in addition to the old -celebrated one of manuscripts, had been added at the Vatican. It was -not catalogued, and was not open to the public. Some one in the company -stated that it was now understood that theologians were to be brought -into the Council in order to defend the Drafts of Decrees. So far as -the _Theologi Minores_, or doctors, were concerned, Friedrich thought -this improbable; and as to the higher theologians, or bishops, he -wondered who they were to be. Can any one fancy, he said, such a man as -Senestrey being treated as a theologian? At Trent, with the ideas then -prevailing of what constituted a theologian, he would not have been -dreamed of; but he passes in Rome as learned because he is a pupil and -a favourite of the Jesuits; and by their standard, indeed, adds his -countryman, he may even pass as holy, understanding so well as he does -the principle that the end sanctifies the means. - -As to what Friedrich next relates, we can only say that the ascertained -fact for history, in her present stage, is that the following are -things which a learned professor, with a position and character to take -care of, deliberately publishes, things which the gravest men receive. -Friedrich relates how when Senestrey was seeking the bishopric, King -Maximilian II was in Rome, and often visited Theiner, whose fame all -Germans prized. His rooms in the Vatican, off the _Via dei Giardini -Pontificali_, well known to scholars, are often pointed out to visitors -going up towards the sculpture gallery by the present circuitous -approach. Here the royal visitor would chat with the learned Prefect -of the Archives, and enjoy the landscape. At that time Theiner had no -better friend than Senestrey, who, knowing that Theiner was in bad -odour with the Jesuits, showed himself very hostile to them, so that -even his experienced friend confessed to Friedrich that he had allowed -himself to be deceived. This Roman tale is followed by a Bavarian one. -A person well acquainted with official circles told Friedrich that -Senestrey actually offered his services to the government, saying -that if appointed bishop, in case the other prelates ever entertained -anything disagreeable to the government, he would give information and -do everything to counterwork them. In January, 1872, Friedrich heard -Senestrey named in a company where one was present who had been a -companion of King Maximilian II on his journey to Rome, and who broke -out saying-- - - Yes, that man talked so much in Rome to King Maximilian II and his - suite against the Jesuits and against the misgovernment of Rome, - that the King said, That is the right man! He must be the bishop! - -No sooner was he in the bishopric than it proved that the king had lost -his subject, the government its supporter, Theiner his friend, and that -the whole of Senestrey belonged to the Jesuits. - -The company of the second day, January 24, consisted of Infallibilists. -Before dinner Friedrich was introduced to Senestrey, who looking at -him, said roughly, "So you are Professor Friedrich," and turned his -back. At table Ketteler broke out in loud denunciation of the letters -of Quirinus. This Friedrich knew was meant for him, for although the -bishop has since then laid the sin at the door of Lord Acton, he -seems at that time to have suspected Friedrich. He blamed a statement -that a certain piece of distinctive attire, not worn by any other -bishop in the West, had been granted to Bishop Lavigerie of Algiers -to adorn his shoulders, as a means of winning his vote; as if, said -Ketteler, the whole episcopate was to be bought by a bit of dress! We -do not remember that Quirinus said that they were all to be bought -by it. Our impression is that he only said something to the effect -that it was incredible how far that sort of thing did go with them. -Considering their training and habits, with us the thing incredible -would be that things of that sort should not go far with them. And -their constant study is to make things of that sort go far with all -mankind. But the sally of Ketteler was responded to by the Military -Bishop of Prussia, Namszanowski, who might be supposed to be even more -than others susceptible of colour and decoration. He, evidently not -being well read in Quirinus, missed the point of Ketteler's protest, -and said, "Quite right, brother of Mainz. The same offer was made -to me just at the outset, but I repelled such an imputation with -contempt." This luckless reply probably made Friedrich think of his own -visit from the much-vested Count Prelate W----. The eye of Ketteler -flashed. Friedrich, who sat next to Namszanowski, hinted that he had -missed the point of Bishop Ketteler, who ranted on--_tobte weiter_. -When he had finished his tirade he looked Friedrich in the eye, as -if to see whether he was not well abashed. "But I had no occasion -to fear Ketteler, and looked him in the eye quite as sharply." Just -after coffee the voice of Ketteler made the room ring,--"The chief -advantage of the Council so far is, that the bishops learn to know one -another, and to compare experience. For in his own diocese, of course, -a bishop never hears the truth from his clergy, in consequence of his -immeasurably higher jurisdiction." Friedrich, being the only priest -present, said to Namszanowski, "Ketteler must lead a pretty regiment, -when his clergy dare not tell him the truth. Any one who wants to -hear the truth, and can bear to hear it, will hear it." He added that -were it not for the impropriety of provoking a scene in the house of -Cardinal Hohenlohe, he would indignantly repel this insult to the whole -of the lower clergy. None of the bishops intimated any dissent from the -view of Ketteler, while Senestrey, and Leonrod of Eichstädt, simpered -approbation. But here Friedrich inserts a note saying, Time has shown -that Ketteler knew the lower clergy better than I did. - -Just at this time came another token that the content or indifference -with which the Roman Catholic world watched the impending change in -its Church and creed was broken in exceptional cases. An accomplished -French oratorian, a member of the Academy, Father Gratry, published a -letter on January 18, which in almost any other country than France, -coming from such a man on such a subject, at such a moment, would have -caused, not a passing talk, but a profound impression. All the abuse -was no longer for Döllinger and Montalembert. Father Gratry had a -share allotted to him, sufficient to prove his importance. "Does God -need your lies?" was a question he repeated with solemnity, as he -dwelt on the false decretals and on the falsifications even of the -breviary. His French clearness and point sent these reproaches home so -as to be extremely cutting. It seemed as if accusing "the Church" of -lying and forgery was a sin not to be forgiven. Few things were more -discouraging for those who hoped that moral ground still remained for -a reformation within the Church of Rome, than the perfect ease with -which the benefits of the lying and the forgery were accepted, and the -fury with which the crime of mentioning those incidents was denounced. -"False decretals as much as you like," said Veuillot, "but the sense of -the false decretals is the faith of the Church";[295] so, if God had -not needed the lies the Church had assimilated them. Father Gratry, -said the _Civiltá_, never tires of calling the school which teaches -pontifical infallibility, a school of error. Does he know where that -school has fixed its abode, and holds its chair? If he does not know, -we shall tell him. "Its home is Rome, its chair is that of the Roman -Pontiff, is that of St. Peter."[296] Father Hyacinth said, at a later -time, "God never has need of lies, but lies often have need of God, -and they are never so powerful as when they present themselves in His -name."[297] - -Still, the weight of wrath continued to fall upon the original -offender. The _Unitá Cattolica_ of January 25, in the letter of its -Munich correspondent, called Döllinger a bag of wind and a whited -sepulchre, and suggested that the Archbishop of Munich should prohibit -theological students from attending his classes. The _Unitá_ shows that -Dr. Döllinger in his works "has always hidden a rebellious spirit under -a learning which was often that of a charlatan." - -In the General Congregation of the 21st, as the Cyprian Archbishop who -said Mass used the Oriental rite, the Fathers would have been unable -to follow, but the Master of the Ceremonies, lifting up his voice, -gave a signal for each important movement.[298] In the Congregation of -the Monday, Strossmayer spoke for an hour and a quarter (_Tagebuch_, -p. 133). He insisted that reform was called for, and reform from the -Pope downwards, and moreover that the whole of the canon law should -be reformed. On the following Tuesday, this last proposition was -supported by the Bishop of Saluzzo. On the same day, a speaker not -named regretted that the word "concubinage" should have been used, -as it gave occasion to the world to say that celibacy was a failure. -Friedrich, while vehemently sharing this regret, admits that no means -were suggested for doing away with concubinage or immorality. The -Curia, however, could not be blamed for the scandal caused by the -discussion on this matter of discipline. No one of the official organs -ever breathed a word on the subject. Monsignor Guérin, whose history, -says the preface to the second edition, reproduces the Council entire, -might never have heard of this subject, and the same is the case with -Sambin. The _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_, even in Latin, are equally reserved. -The title of the Draft Decree on the general subject of the life of the -clergy is mentioned in _Frond_. Henceforth we cease to be able to check -the statements of the unauthorized writers by those of the _Acta Sanctæ -Sedis_ as to the names of those who spoke on given days. That amount -of information was no more afforded. One day the record was that five -spoke, another seven, and so forth. Who the speakers were, what they -spoke upon, what they said about it, were matters swallowed up in the -pontifical secret. - -On the same day, the challenge to the College of Cardinals to reform -itself was taken up by Cardinal Di Pietro, who admitted that such a -demand might have been reasonable at Trent, at which time the Cardinals -held many pluralities, but at the present day it was groundless. The -only reform now called for was a financial one, as the revenue of the -Cardinals was not adequate. He told the Fathers that if they only knew -all, the Cardinals were not to be envied. This even Friedrich admits, -saying that not once during the Council had the Pope summoned them to -hear their opinions. - -On January 27, Simor, Primate of Hungary, spoke on the life of the -clergy, and recommended the "common life." Martin of Paderborn also -advised that the cooks[299] should be superseded, and that "common -life" should be resorted to. Martin had appealed to Cardinal Hohenlohe -to support him in a proposal that Protestant clergymen who wanted to -join the Church of Rome should have both marriage and the cup in the -Lord's Supper conceded to them. Verot, Bishop of Savannah, spoke on -the breviary. He urged revision, stating that he durst not, without -subjecting himself to condemnation, say what was in the breviary from -Augustine. Hereupon the bell of Cardinal De Angelis rang loudly, and -Verot was told that the Fathers could not be spoken of in that manner. -As we understand Verot, he had not found fault with the Fathers. The -sons would not allow one another to say what the fathers had said. The -American waited a moment, went on, and said the same thing of Gregory -the Great. Now came a second call to order, and he was told that if -he would not speak on another subject, he must leave the desk. So, -after a few words more, he did leave it (_Tagebuch_, p. 138). The -Prince Archbishop of Olmütz asked if the Primate of Hungary was ready -to lead the "common life" with the canons of his chapter, adding that -he should not object to lead it with his own chapter, but he feared -that the canons of Olmütz would object. The following day, Melchers of -Cologne supported the views of Verot as to the breviary. He censured -the proposal to introduce lay brothers into the parsonages instead of -the cooks. It would be better it the latter could be altogether got -rid of; but as that was scarcely to be expected, it would be well to -require that they should be fifty years of age, or at least forty. On -January 31, Bishop Dinkel of Augsburg is said to have spoken against -concubinage in the strict sense, but allowing it to the clergy in a -wider sense.[300] - -Perhaps, as, about the middle of January, men in the _Englisher -Garten_, or Park, of Munich, lifted their hats to the Provost as he -took his afternoon walks, they might fancy that the spare figure -was weighted with rather more than a scholar's gravity. Neither the -passing carriages, nor the race _of Isar rolling rapidly_; neither the -fine effects of the westering sun behind the steeples of the city, -nor the pleasant view from the brow beyond the river, could fix the -old man's well-lighted eye. That eye was then watching the process -which was putting the faith and labour of seventy years to a cruel -test. The Church he had toiled to rehabilitate before the intellect -of the Fatherland, striving, by letters, to connect her more firmly -with the past, and to equip her more nobly for the future, had been -cast into the cauldron. The very basis of dogma was to be changed. A -new standard was to be set up. The adoption of that standard would -change the relation of the Church to the Bible and to the Fathers, to -General Councils and to the Episcopate, to the people and the king, to -letters and all lights, to liberties, constitutions, and every human -hope. Principles which had been charged upon them by Protestants, and -which they had resented, saying that the accusers confounded opinion -with dogma, were now lifting their heads in a General Council. He had -striven in silence to avert the evil without raising a conflict of -persons or names. But now the Infallibilists felt their conscience -oppressed by having to recognize him, and those like-minded with him, -as Catholics. They could not enjoy the fulness of their own belief as -long as the Church tolerated his creed. And the Infallibilists were the -Pope, the Curia, the Jesuits, and the majority of the bishops, at least -of the nominal ones. If there was yet a hope, it rested in the strong -help which God often gives to the effort of one self-risking man. The -moment was come either to run all hazards and trust to that blessing, -or to float down the stream like one of those winter leaves on the Isar. - -It was on January 19, just when Gratry was issuing the first of his -letters, and when Darboy threw his marshal's baton into the midst -of the enemy, that in the quiet house in Von der Tann Street, the -formidable name of Döllinger was signed to a protest against the -Infallibilist Address. Through the _Augsburg Gazette_, this presently -rang all over Germany, and a little later echoed in every corner of -Europe. "One hundred and eighty millions of human beings are to be -compelled by threats of exclusion from the Church, of privation of -the sacraments, and of eternal damnation, to believe and profess -what hitherto the Church has never believed or taught." So began an -appeal destined to elicit proof that large numbers of educated Roman -Catholics, under all their external quiet, were agitated; and that at -the same time the masses, whatever little opinions they might have, -were as to action completely under the dominion of the priests.[301] - -It was now that Dupanloup wrote a letter to Deschamps, Archbishop of -Malines. Two days after the opening session, Deschamps had published -a reply to the famous pastoral of Dupanloup. It was at once inserted -in the journals of Belgium, France, and Italy. Dupanloup, who had in -France professed to expect in Rome profound tranquillity, found himself -sharply attacked. He had warily reserved the merits of the question for -argument in the secret ear of the Council, treating before the public -only its accidents. But, cried Deschamps, you have pointed out the -difficulties of a definition: how could you have the courage to do so? - -When the brilliant Bishop of Orleans was ready for the press, he found -that the press was in good keeping. - - Father Spada [the censor] told me that an _imprimatur_ was - necessary, and at the same time said that such an _imprimatur_ - would be refused to me. Perhaps, Monsignor, you probably will think - with me that, in these circumstances, all discussion between us is - impossible; and you will feel it natural that I should preserve - the silence befitting the position in which we are placed.[302] - -The French thus saw their own prelates, under their own flag, deprived -of the right to defend opinions identified with their national history. -This fired Gratry, and added fresh bitters to the cup of the dying -Montalembert. - -Quirinus says (p. 201)-- - - The word "freedom" has nowhere so ill a sound as at Rome. Only one - kind of freedom can be spoken of here--freedom of the Church; and, - in their favourite and accustomed manner of speech, by the Church - is intended the Pope; and by freedom, dominion over the State, - according to the Decretals. - -Some weeks later, Dupanloup did print his reply in Paris.[303] You, he -said to Deschamps, ask how I could have the courage to point to the -historical difficulties of a definition of infallibility; but, my dear -Lord, I ask you, how you can have the courage to close your eyes to -them? Repelling the idea of acclamation, and insisting on a thorough -sifting of the matter, he says, and the emphases are his own-- - - The Church in an act so solemn, one which she never recalls, ONE - WHICH PLEDGES HER FOR EVER, ONE WHICH, UNDER PAIN OF ANATHEMA AND - OF DAMNATION ETERNAL, IS LAID UPON THE FAITH OF ALL SOULS FOR - ALL AGES, does not proceed inconsiderately, or without having - elucidated all obscurities and difficulties (p. 8).... As to the - truth of the doctrine, I reserve the discussion of that for the - Council itself, in case the question is brought on (p. 9).... You - belong not to that deplorable school of apologists who fancy that - they are defending religion when they make history lie (p. 15). - -He shows how even Spalding and his associates in their proposal for -a method of establishing belief in infallibility different from an -express definition, said that such a definition would - - extend its effects to all past centuries, would revive all the - disputes heretofore allayed, would afford to Protestant and to - rationalistic science a new battle-field, and would open up to - the enemies, of the Church a discussion upon the whole field of - history, and the whole of the collection of Papal Bulls (p. 14). - Quoting Melchior Canus, he says: Peter has not need of your lies, - or of your adulations.... To no one, my Lord, will it be agreeable - in Rome, and amid the difficult circumstances wherein we stand, to - engage in a discussion as to the common Father, in an investigation - of the most delicate facts of history, and in a dissection of texts - of Scripture before Europe and before the world which are observing - us (p. 16).... The Fathers at Nicæa did not proceed by way of a - summary discussion, much less by way of acclamation written or oral - (p. 17). - -A few other expressions of Dupanloup may be recited-- - - Far from putting an end to the discussions in the press, it - will cause them to break out more terrible than ever.... If the - difficulties, theological and historical, of a definition are - such that simply exhibiting them as I did involves by inevitable - consequence a grave attack on infallibility itself, how could you - say that the difficulties are nothing?... You had the confident - idea that nearly all the Fathers were with you, and were going - enthusiastically to vote the definition off-hand (p. 18).... - Certainly in the Church there must be an infallible doctrinal - authority; but is it necessary that this authority should be the - Pope ALONE? Would it not suffice if it was the authority of the - Pope and the bishops united? (p. 20).... I asked why Pitt thought - it well before taking a step towards Catholic emancipation to - consult the most famous Catholic universities of Europe on the - question of the pontifical power. You have deemed it well to - answer not a word (p. 23).... In the ninth century we lost about - one-half of the Church; in the sixteenth at least a third of the - other half. At the present moment perhaps a half of what remains is - more or less broken in upon (_entamée_). We have to reconquer.... - Would you all at once, as several bishops from America said to - me yesterday, change for the whole of the Catholic clergy who - live in the midst of Protestant populations the entire ground of - religious controversy? (p. 24).... In France, the Parliament, the - Senate, the Legislative Corps, the Councils of State, the public - officers, the bench, the bar, the young collegians, the army, the - navy, commerce, finance, the arts, the liberal professions, the - workmen of the cities, the electors in the country districts, the - great mass of those who with us and elsewhere determine the course - of affairs,--in a word, the nation, assuredly is not with you (p. - 25).... Have you not heard the cry of the bishops of Germany, - Hungary, Bohemia, and of so many others? (p. 25).... Three - centuries ago a wave passed over Germany, a wave over England, - Holland, Switzerland; and at this hour the wave has not subsided, - but is still encroaching on the shore (p. 26).... Brazil is sick, - Mexico is sick, the old Spanish colonies proceed from revolution - to revolution, and it is my mournful conviction that what you, my - Lord, are preparing, will give to the Church in all those countries - a new and terrible shaking (p. 26).... Some say the great evil of - our day is that the principle of authority is laid low. Let us - exalt it in the Church, and we shall save society.... To think that - by proclaiming the infallibility of the Pope you will roll back the - revolution is, to my view, one of those illusions which sometimes, - in human societies, desperate parties make for themselves on the - eve of a supreme crisis (p. 27). - -His statement of the condition of things before he first wrote would -appear to be meant to depict what existed in Rome as he was now -writing-- - - No, it was not unanimity as to the question debated among us which - reigned ere I spoke. It was on the one side violence, and on the - other side astonishment, silent and downcast. If any voice was - raised, speedily was it covered with clamours and insults (p. 31). - -This reply called down from Veuillot many pages of taunts, gibes, and -sneers. - -Means of humiliating the bishops of the Opposition were found by the -sovereign, which seem new in both kingly and parliamentary warfare. -Priests wrote against them, and the Pope sent to those priests -for publication letters of approval, containing sharp cuts at the -unfortunate prelates. To the Jesuit Ramière, the Pope said that he had -set Maret "in contradiction with himself, so that you have constrained -him to demolish the edifice with his own hands" (_Friedberg_, p. 490). -The Vicar-General of Nimes had written against Dupanloup, and forth -comes an epistle of Pius IX praising him for his elegant refutation of -the empty sophisms which had caused a disturbance of minds deplored by -all (_Friedberg_, p. 488). - -Continental Catholic writers generally put Dr. Pusey as one of the -most important promoters of the Church of Rome. Yet they were aware -that he did not belong to it. In his second pamphlet Dupanloup spoke -with feeling of the value of the Ritualistic party, both in England -and America, as pointing to Rome. _Ce Qui se Passe au Concile_ says -(p. iii., troisième éd.),--"In England Dr. Pusey, the originator of -the Ritualistic movement, which has led so many persons, eminent for -intellect to the Catholic religion--Pusey, whose loyal sincerity no one -ever suspected," had written that nothing would be more fatal to the -prospect of reunion than a declaration of Papal infallibility. This -was not likely to make much impression upon the Curia. They knew that -what for England was called reunion, for Rome was called submission; -which Manning told them would be facilitated by definition; and Manning -served them so punctiliously that they were fain to believe him. -Moreover, what Desanctis in that remarkable book _Roma Papale_, had -many years previously described as the plan of the Curia for operations -in England, would be little affected by a doctrine or two more or -less. His account, in one word, was that they would mission England -through the senses, leaving doctrines and arguments in the background. -It was a question of spectacle, not of reason or Scripture. And love -of spectacle was adorned with the name of aesthetics, and sensible -Englishmen were to be led captive by the power of clothes. In this -point of view, one who promoted the use of the chosen means might -better serve the end from the very fact that he did not himself aim so -low. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 293: We should be curious to know if the writer would now -comment on these terms so doubtfully. Further study would probably -have given greater decision. The meaning of the obedience of princes -and nations was as distinct as possible from that of the obedience -of private persons, whether Catholics or heretics. The Church is all -through the movement proceeding, as _mother of civil humanity_, to -secure the obedience of rulers and States.] - -[Footnote 294: _Quirinus_, p. 195.] - -[Footnote 295: Vol. i. p. 235.] - -[Footnote 296: Serie VII. vol. ix. p. 685.] - -[Footnote 297: Letter to the _Débats_, printed in _Le Concile du -Vatican, et le Mouvement Anti-infallibiliste_, vol. ii. p. 63.] - -[Footnote 298: _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_, v. p. 341.] - -[Footnote 299: We use Friedrich's word. Housekeeper is the one -generally employed in languages other than the German.] - -[Footnote 300: _Fromman_, p. 96. As a Protestant author, Fromman is -hardly ever quoted by us; but he is so careful, and in this case so -specific as to date and person, that we do not feel at liberty to -suppress his statement.] - -[Footnote 301: _Friedberg_, p. 495. Also reprinted separately in -_Stimmen aus der Katholischen Kirche_.] - -[Footnote 302: _Friedberg_, p. 87.] - -[Footnote 303: _Réponse de Mgr. L'Evêque d'Orléans à Mgr. Deschamps._ -Duniol, 1870.] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -Church and State--Draft of Decrees with Canons--Gains -Publicity--Principles involved--Views of Liberal Catholics--The Papal -View of the Means of Resistance possessed by Governments. - - -"Informers against the Church," was, in a word, the name now hurled -against the _Augsburg Gazette_ and the _Times_. "Conspirators against -human society" was the retort of the general press of Europe upon the -Curia. The secret labour of five years was ruthlessly exposed by two -unconsecrated offenders. How the "breach of the pontifical secret" had -occurred, of which Cardinal Antonelli complained in despatch after -despatch, may perhaps be known some other day. What we now know is that -publicity took possession of the results, though secrecy had presided -over all the processes. Even the bond of mortal sin had proved too weak -for what Curran might have called the irresistible genius of universal -illumination. The decrees, canons, and anathemas proposed on the -subject of Church and State were now before the world. - -On January 21, the Schema, or Draft of Decrees on the Church, was -distributed to the bishops. Hefele told how a diplomatist laughingly -boasted that he had received one at the same time.[304] This Draft was -to that on faith what the application is to the sermon. It laid down -principles in fifteen chapters, and reduced them to operative shape in -twenty-one canons. Vitelleschi says (p. 85)-- - - Now, on summing up these Canons, what do they amount to? Sole - religion, the Catholic; sole head, the Pope, "who has full and - supreme power"; his laws superior to those of the State, on which - he exercises his judgment "concerning the lawful and the unlawful," - and disposes of permissions and punishments. Dante has imagined an - Emperor and a Pope, who between them shall direct the world; but - if the idea of these Canons were fully carried out with regard to - civil society, there would remain the Pope only. - -This object, the Pope only, which rests in the logical view of -Vitelleschi, as the result of his examination of the Canons, is the -same object which long previously stood before the illuminated vision -of M. Veuillot, whose means of reaching conclusions were not so -circuitous. The Pope only is the object which Archbishop Cecconi even -now sets out as the paramount figure of the future, albeit with no -extatic confidence. And the Pope only is precisely that crowning beauty -in the image of the world-empire which Cardinal Manning reproached -Mr. Bryce with missing in his conception of the Catholic universe. -Mr. Bryce, like Dante, was a dualist. Dualism, however, was to be -done away with, except in the wholesome form of light and darkness, -the two opposed forces. All the labour and the silence of the recent -years had been employed in preparing an inauguration which vulgar eye -was not to disturb till the King should burst forth in his plenitude -of supreme authority with unerring judgment, so arrayed that all the -tribes of Israel would hail the mystic David the one King-shepherd and -Shepherd-king of a world at last unified. - -The description of the effect of these canons given by Quirinus (p. -203) was not so elegant as that of Vitelleschi. He wrote for Germans -menaced with a change; while the Romans to whom the Marchese spoke, -had for ages been themselves delivered from dualism, and could see -in the new measures only an effort to extend to all the human race -that perfect Catholic unity, religious and political, of which their -States had been the sole blameless example. They well knew who was the -_spiritual David_, the one shepherd of the one fold,--shepherd with -sling as well as pipe, shepherd with sword as well as crook,--on whose -future reign over one kingdom the eye of the Jesuit, gazing through the -glass of Ezekiel, dwelt with rapture, expounding: "I will make them one -nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall -be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither -shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.... And -David my servant shall be king over them, and they all shall have one -shepherd."[305] - -Quirinus, writing as one to whom this unity had been perhaps gorgeous -in the distance, but who saw it now in a new aspect, cried: "These -transparent Decrees and anathemas may be thus summed up: the Christian -world consists simply of masters and slaves. The masters are the -Italians, the Pope, and his Court; and the slaves are all bishops -(including the Italians themselves), all priests, and all the laity." -Whether Quirinus had studied Tarquini's _à priori_ system of the -Perfect Society, we do not know; but any one referring to our analysis -of it will see how closely it corresponds with the following, in which -Quirinus sums up the doctrine of these Draft Decrees-- - - Three main ideas run through the Schema, and are formulated - into dogmatic Decrees guarded with anathemas. _Firstly_, to the - Pope belongs absolute dominion over the whole Church, whether - dispersed or assembled in Council. _Secondly_, the Pope's temporal - sovereignty over a portion of the Peninsula must be maintained as - pertaining to dogma. _Thirdly_, Church and State are immutably - connected; but in the sense that the Church's laws always hold - good before and against the civil law, and therefore every Papal - ordinance that is opposed to the constitution and law of the land, - binds the faithful, under pain of mortal sin, to disobey the - constitution and law of their country (p. 204). - -One incidental notice of the Draft by Quirinus is, "regulating all -relations between Church and State, and restoring the Papal supremacy -over the bodies and souls of men" (p. 209). - -The _Rheinischer Merkur_ (p. 22) quotes the Ultramontane _Hausblätter_ -as asserting that the twenty-one Canons had all been long recognised as -part of the Catholic faith. No, says the _Merkur_, some of them were -repudiated as calumnious by the Catholic bishops of England and Ireland -in 1826. On the same page it says: - - We do not want a centralized power of a theocratic complexion, - claiming the right of interfering at will, and disturbing - our political and social relations, and of reducing princes - to vassals--a centralized power claiming that its Decrees - shall bind the conscience as divine.... We do not want this - apparatus of coercion for the Church--_contumaces salubribus - poenis coercendi_--for compelling the contumacious by wholesome - penalties;--we know what that means!... We do not want - under-satraps armed with whips; we do not want despotism, which, as - well as heresy, is one of the gates of hell. Ready to render to God - what is God's, we also wish to render to Cæsar what is Cæsar's, and - we count it a precious birthright to be reckoned as good subjects - by our lawful sovereigns; but just on this account do we regard - Drafts of Decrees, the execution of which would cause us to appear - as enemies of public safety and of dynastic order, in the light - of attacks on our civil existence, and as calculated to bring us - into the same position as that in which our fellow Catholics in the - Russian Empire groan. - -What would these Liberal Catholics have said had Reisach's Drafts -not been "shipwrecked"? The twenty-one Canons place the affairs of -this world so much at the discretion of the Pontiff, that proposals -which alarmed the same men who brought these forward, must have been -startling. In principle, they could hardly have claimed more than is -claimed here; but possibly they contained formulæ for the application -of principle, which might have attracted the attention even of those -politicians who think it wise and practical to ignore principles. In -nothing is Rome stronger than in her consciousness that when once -she has succeeded in getting a principle recognized, she can afford -to temporize as to its application, and for a while to temporize as -to its application, and for a while to compromise as to details. As -the preparations of Reisach had been kept back, and the Canons which -carried the principles were presented, so we shall find that the Canons -were eventually sacrificed, as too much entering into detail, in order -to carry what embraced all. - -The Decrees in question were clearly intended as a vehicle to carry -over the doctrines of the Syllabus respecting Church and State from the -domain of ideas into that of facts. The _Chapters_ would furnish text -for professors and preachers. The _Canons_ would bind the conscience of -every Catholic, on pain of anathema. Nothing further could be wanting -than executive contrivances, such as probably the Drafts of Reisach -were intended to provide. - -The following is an abridged view of the _substance and effect_ of the -twenty-one Canons (_Documenta_, ii. p. 101):-- - - 1. If any man say that the religion of Christ is not made manifest - in a society, let him be anathema. - - 2. If any man say that the Church has no certain and immutable - form, let him be anathema. - - 3. If any man say that she is not external and visible, let him be - anathema. - - 4. If any man say that she is not one body, let him be anathema. - - 5. If any man say that she is not a society necessary to the - obtaining of eternal salvation, let him be anathema. - - 6. If any man say that her intolerance in the condemnation of all - sects is not divinely commanded, or that such sects ought to be - tolerated, let him be anathema. - - 7. If any man say that she may err in doctrine, depart from her - original institution, or cease to exist, let him be anathema. - - 8. If any man say that she is not a final dispensation, let him be - anathema. - - 9. If any man say that her infallibility extends only to things - contained in revelation, let him be anathema. - - 10. If any man say that she is not a Perfect Society, but an - association (_collegium_) which may be subjected to secular rule, - let him be anathema. - - 11. If any man say that bishops have not by divine appointment a - proper power of ruling, which they are freely to exercise, let him - be anathema. - - 12. If any man say that the power of the Church lies only in - counsel or persuasion, but not in legal commands, in coercion and - compulsion by external jurisdiction, and in wholesome pains, let - him be anathema. - - 13. If any man say that the true Church, out of which none can be - saved, is any other than the Roman, let him be anathema. - - 14. If any man say that Peter was not prince of the apostles and - head of the whole Church, or that he received only a primacy of - honour and not of jurisdiction, let him be anathema. - - 15. If any man say that he had not successors, or that the Roman - Pontiff was not his successor in the primacy, let him be anathema. - - 16. If any man say that the Roman Pontiff has only a right of - supervision or direction over the Universal Church, and not a full - and supreme power of jurisdiction, or that his power over the - Churches, taken separately, is not immediate and ordinary, let him - be anathema. - - 17. If any man say that the power of the Church is not compatible - with that of supreme civil power, let him be anathema. - - 18. If any man say that the power necessary to rule civil society - is not from God, let him be anathema. - - 19. If any man say that all rights among men and all authority are - derived from the State, let him be anathema. - - 20. If any man say that the supreme rule of conscience lies in the - law of the State, or in public opinion, and that the judicial power - of the Church does not extend to pronouncing them legitimate or - illegitimate, or that by civil law that can become legitimate which - by divine law is illegitimate, let him be anathema. - - 21. If any man say that the laws of the Church have not binding - force unless confirmed by the civil power, and that it is competent - to the civil power to judge or decree in causes where religion is - implicated, let him be anathema. - -The logical succession of ideas was manifest. The first five Canons -established the principle that the Christian Church is a society -which has Form, Visibility, Unity, and is necessary to salvation. The -next series pronounced this Church to be Intolerant (6), Infallible -(7), Final as a dispensation (8), Infallible in matters not contained -in revelation (9), a Perfect Society not subject to the civil power -(10), ruling by bishops (11) and possessing legislative, judicial, and -compulsory power (12), because none can be saved out of her (13). The -fourteenth Canon, and the two following ones, establish the unlimited -dominion of the Pope over all bishops; while the eleventh establishes -the ruling power of bishops, but leaves the sphere of it undefined, not -even saying that it is over the Church. And this undefined ruling power -of bishops is placed between the independence of the Church in relation -to the civil power on the one hand, and her own compulsory power and -the absolute authority of the Pope over the bishops on the other. - -The seventeenth Canon affirms that the power of the Church is -compatible with civil authority,--which without a doubt it is, so -long as the civil authority abides within the limits traced for it by -the Church. That authority may also, in the sense of Rome, be, in its -order, supreme,--that is, not subject to any other civil authority, -but always subject to the Pope, who is an authority of a higher order -than the civil. The eighteenth Canon bases all civil authority on -divine right. This is capable of more than one interpretation. First, -it may mean that all existing authority is to be viewed as from God, -whether it originated in conquest, prescription, or vote; or, secondly, -it may mean that no civil authority is legitimate which has not divine -sanction; and as among the baptized that sanction cannot be received -except through the Pope, the consequence of such an interpretation -would be obvious. The nineteenth Canon deliberately confounds natural -and legal rights, as if the laws that create and protect legal rights -were not themselves the outgrowth of natural rights. In the same way it -confounds natural authority and legal authority. The twentieth seems -to put civil law and mere public opinion on the same level, and places -both one and the other under the judgment of the Church, and that as -to their legitimacy or illegitimacy. _Judgment_, of course, does not -mean criticism, instruction, remonstrance, or warning. It means what -the word would mean anywhere, in such solemn legislative language, -namely, judicial sentence. _Legitimacy_ or _illegitimacy_, again, does -not mean wisdom or folly, goodness or badness, but means what it says. -Divine law includes Church law, and what it forbids no civil law can -warrant. Therefore the power claimed in this fundamental proposition -is that with which we are already acquainted in the literature of the -movement for reconstruction, that, namely, of declaring what laws of -a particular State are or are not legitimate; every such State being -considered as a province of the universal theocratic monarchy. - -Perhaps no principle embodied in these Canons lies so deep under the -whole movement against free government in religious and civil society -as the principle that confounds civil rights with natural ones, and, -by denying that the State is the source of all rights, covers the -denial of the fact that it is the source of legal rights. As to legal -rights, we, sitting free and thankful amid our books, our friends, and -our blessings, no more know of any source of such rights except that -benign ordinance of our Father in heaven, the civil law, than did the -teacher of Plato, when by law deprived of his natural rights, he sat in -his cell while the deadly cup was being prepared.[306] No, the State is -not the author of rights, but it is the guardian of them. Practically -all our natural rights are but a common for any beast to trample and -to browse upon till the State surrounds them with the sacred fence of -law; then do they turn into garden sward, and well-watched flowers and -fruits exceeding fair. But these principles, which strip the State of -all moral mission, which empty law of all moral character, which rob -society itself, and all the institutions of society, of any aim moral -and eternal, of any but a temporary, material end, and which transfer -all that is noble to the priesthood alone, cover one of the darkest -attempts that art could direct against all the foundations of public -life. The moral mission of the State is written on every page of the -Bible, and the political mission of Christian priests not on a single -one. - -The State in renouncing for itself the right to dictate to men their -faith and worship, does not empty itself of a moral character, but, -on the contrary, takes the highest possible moral ground. In that -renunciation it does not disavow the faith and fear of God, but, on -the contrary, avows its persuasion that the rights which affect the -conscience of His creatures are so sacred as not to be sufficiently -guarded except in His hand alone. Of shallow pretexts for oppression, -none was ever shallower than the assumption that because society as -such says that it dares not to come between God and the soul, therefore -does it say that as society it has nothing to do with God. - -The Court was evidently not disposed to leave politicians under -any delusion. The _Civiltá_ wrote on the politicasters and the -Council,[307] as if to make statesmen feel that they had either to -submit or else to bear the brunt of the revolutionary forces, from -below and from above. A principal object of the Council, says the -article, had avowedly been "the restoration of peace in the orders, -even the political ones, of Christendom." Confessing that statesmen, -or _politicasters_, as it called them, evinced anxiety, the _Civiltá_ -named measures to which they might be tempted to resort. These were -threefold--first, making new preventive laws; secondly, restoring -obsolete ones; thirdly, separating the Church and the State. By -preventive laws must be understood any legal bar set up to impede the -Pope in any exercise of his legislative, judicial, or coercive power in -a given realm. Preventive laws, old or new, it pronounces to be weapons -which would infallibly "burst or break in the hands of governments, if -they attempted to use them." - -The method by which this result would be brought about is indicated in -a way which shows how _divine_ law can loose what civil law binds. - - There are two cases in which a subordinate is not obliged to obey - a superior; the first, when a contrary precept exists of greater - authority; the second, when the superior gives commands in things - in respect of which the subordinate is not placed under him.... - An inferior authority is not to be disobeyed when a superior one - prohibits. Now, the authority of the Church, assembled in Council, - is superior to the authority of the State.... It is superior in - the sense in which the reasoning faculty in man is superior to the - sentient and vegetative faculties.... Since the ecclesiastical - authority is superior to the civil in such wise that, in matters - affecting both, the acts of the civil must be subject to those - of the ecclesiastical, it is manifest that if a collision arose - between the definitions of the OEcumenical Council and the laws of - the State, the latter would cease, by that fact alone, to have any - binding force whatever. - - The same conclusion may be deduced from the words in which the - divine Founder of the Church gave authority to His disciples to - teach His doctrine to all nations. _All power is given to Me in - heaven and in earth. Go and teach all nations._ From the fact - that, in virtue of His divine generation, the Father had conferred - on Him all power, celestial and terrestrial, Christ argued thus, - Therefore, go ye and teach all nations my doctrine; and thus He - clearly demonstrated that His Church was invested by Him with _such - a right of teaching that it would never be lawful for any power - to offer to her opposition_. Therefore, should the State require - obedience to laws contrary to the definitions of the Council, it - would do so without a true legal right. And if, notwithstanding, it - employed force to procure obedience, it would fall into tyranny, - odious to the conscience and ruinous to itself.... By no means - does the authority of governments extend to commanding what the - OEcumenical Council may prohibit, or to prohibiting what it may - command; and if governments should arrogate to themselves the right - of doing so, in vain would they presume upon being able to oblige - Catholics subject to submit; and should they have recourse to - force, they would plunge themselves into tyranny which would not - long serve the interests of those who displayed it. - -The principles are very simple and firmly fixed. While submission to -_legitimate_ authority is a duty, resistance to "tyranny" is a right. -Any authority used in contravention of the decrees of the Church -ceases to be legitimate, runs into tyranny, and is to be disobeyed. -Hence the duty of obedience to civil rulers is taught in the term -"_due_ obedience," and only the Pope can judge when obedience ceases -to be due; but it is judged already that due it never can be, in any -possible case, wherein the civil law contravenes the directions of -the ecclesiastical authority. How States which profess to accept the -corporation which insists on these principles as a true and worthy -teacher, or which look on it as anything but an erring and dangerous -caste, are to escape dissolution, it is not easy to see. - -It is not hard to call the hopes of victory in the impending struggle -monkish dreams, nor easy to dispel the show of probability in the -following argument. Hundreds of examples in the past, where persistent -ecclesiastical agitation triumphed over political instability, -would rise up to the memory of well read Jesuits, as making their -calculations seem like those of positive philosophers, and the hopes of -journalists and members of Parliament like those of enthusiasts, in the -sense of men who look for ends without using means. - - "What would such laws come to in case they were enacted? They - would come to be laws of no validity and no effect in what touches - belief: of no validity because essentially null as to binding - force; of no effect because unable to prevent Catholics from a - full adhesion of mind and heart to the dogmatic definitions of the - Church. And as to external acts and matters of discipline, such - laws would become a dead letter, or a criminal oppression. A dead - letter if the governments did not feel that they had nerve to put - forth the strong hand and enforce the execution of them, in which - case the laws would become a _ridiculous comedy_. Or a criminal - oppression if, feeling themselves possessed of force, they should - employ it to execute laws tyrannical, as being opposed to public - liberty, public religion, and public faith." - -As to separating the Church from the State, the _Civiltá_ proudly -quotes the _Monde_ of Paris:-- - - The Catholics have number and force on their side ... before - apostatising the French government would think twice ... the - government surely would not give the signal for its own fall, and - for a long revolution. - -The separation of Church and State is here spoken of evidently in the -ordinary sense; but the charge of having already separated the State -from the Church was one frequently brought against the government -of France, when the language employed was that of the initiated. In -that language the Draft of Decrees now under consideration described -separation of the State from the Church as the denial of the right or -duty of the State to coerce by the appointed penalties, except so far -as may be demanded in the interests of public peace, those who violate -the Catholic religion.[308] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 304: _Unitá Cattolica_, March 4, quoting _Volksblatt_.] - -[Footnote 305: See exposition of Ezek. xxxvii. 21-24, _Civiltá_, VII. -vi. 293.] - -[Footnote 306: Compare the _Crito_ and the _Phædo_.] - -[Footnote 307: Serie VII. ix. 257 ff.] - -[Footnote 308: Cap. xii. _Doc. ad. Ill._ ii., p. 96] - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -The Courts of Vienna and Paris manifest anxiety--Disturbances in -Paris--Daru's Letters--Beust moves--His Despatches--His Passage of -Arms with Antonelli--Daru's Despatch and Antonelli's Reply--Daru's -Rejoinder--Beust lays down the Course which Austria will -follow--Arnim's Despatch--The _Unitá_ on the Situation--Veuillot on the -Situation--Satisfaction of the Ultramontanes. - - -The fire of small arms from the press only irritated the Curia; but -presently the sound of heavy guns began to be heard, and ended in a -boom, first from the Burg and next from the Tuileries. The two Emperors -who, with the Pope, held a share in the sovereignty of Austria and -France respectively, began to be aware of the fact that they might find -themselves left by their senior partner exactly in the legal position -which we have seen Phillips describe as that of the State in relation -to the Church--the position in law of a married woman as compared with -her husband. It will be remembered that, according to the doctrine -of the _Civiltá_, every Catholic State must have two kings. It will -further be remembered that all the Pope's subjects are bound to observe -his law before that of the nation. If, therefore, the universal ruler -could promulge what laws he pleased, and all these laws were to take -the foreway of any competing laws of the State, it was plain that of -the two kings in each State, the local one was at the mercy of the -universal one. - -On January 18, the very day on which Gratry dated his famous letter, -and on which, probably, Döllinger penned his protest dated one day -later, Count Daru wrote a letter, of which the press got hold: "They -cannot be so blind," said the Foreign Minister of France, "as to -suppose that it would be possible for us to keep our troops there a -day after infallibility was proclaimed." He hoped that the Holy Father -would yield to the counsel of the most illustrious of the French -bishops. A fortnight later (Feb. 5), in a second letter, he expressed -fears that the majority would take advantage of its powers, and said -that he had caused Cardinal Antonelli to be apprised of the truth -through M. de Banneville; but he adds: "It is clear that everything may -be thrown into uncertainty by the conduct of the Italian, Spanish, and -missionary bishops, who seem to live in a world apart." He again speaks -of the impossibility of keeping up a French garrison, and declares -that the Propaganda seems to take no account of the Concordat, and -that perhaps violence may be done to the pact which unites France with -Rome. The revolutionary party, he affirms, is not only conspiring, but -actually moving, and Rome must be blind to put weapons in their hands -by breaking the force of the Conservatives, and compelling rebellion by -the Syllabus. - -This language betrays the weakness of statesmen who rely on Rome, as -if it was a Conservative agency, but it would cause little anxiety -to the Curia. They had forty thousand drilled men in France holding -important places under the State. At this very time the movements of -the revolutionary party in Paris were dwelt upon by Don Margotti in the -tone of an enthusiastic bone-setter, who, hearing of accidents, felt -sure that he must be called in. On February 11 the _Unitá Cattolica_ -said that-- - - "Bonaparte had cause to fear barricades in Paris. He and his - minister had been setting up barricades against the Council, and - so the revolutionists were setting up barricades against him. - The Church always conquered the barricades of Gallicanism, but - Bonaparte may not conquer those of Paris. Some morning we may find - that he has fled. The Emperor would have set his house in order in - a better manner, if, instead of launching into the parliamentary - system, he had declared from the day the Council was announced that - he would submit himself and France in everything and for everything - to its decision...." - -The very next day it is added-- - - "The troubles in Paris are a vengeance of divine justice on - Napoleon for his misconduct in Italy. Had he not prevented the Pope - from sending his cousin, Count Pepoli of Bologna, to the galleys, - he would not have had to imprison Rochefort." - -If the same men who thus detested Napoleon threatened the Italians -with French arms, it was simply from the belief that the Papacy had a -stronger hold upon France than the empire. After saying (February 8) -that modern society is to the Church what the world was to Christ, and -that the first Syllabus against the world was compiled by Christ, Don -Margotti says on the next day to the Italians-- - - You will not go to Rome, because France will always oppose you; - and she does so because, if she did not, the world would. If - the free-thinkers do not believe in miracles, let them see one - in this--that Rome will never be taken from the Pope. Even a - government with Rochefort at its head would defend the temporal - dominion of the Pope-king. - -There is a solemn passage in Vitelleschi where he speaks of the -frequency with which governments find that they have to face some -revolutionary movement at one and at the same time as that in which the -claims of the Church are being pressed upon them. He does not pronounce -that the two facts are in individual cases connected, but he does say -that the frequent recurrence of the two simultaneously is "an organic -phenomenon worthy of the deepest attention" (p. 235). Rechtbaur in -Vienna said, "They threaten revolution if the State does not renounce -its rights"; and a couple of days after it had quoted this remark, the -_Unitá Cattolica_ said-- - - Diocletian left a long tail behind him. His tail consists of those - politicians who protest against the Syllabus as a declaration of - war against modern society. Beust in Vienna, Hohenlohe in Munich, - Ollivier in Paris, were not tranquil like the priest in Rome. - Sooner or later they would all be engulfed in the stormy sea of - revolution--all but the Church and the Pope. The Syllabus would - abide for ever, and with it the Canons of the Vatican Council.... - The Pope has proved by facts that he knows how to govern better - than any other sovereign. We defy any emperor whatever to govern a - country fourteen years as Pope Pius IX has governed Rome. - -The letters of Count Daru, quoted above, caused inquiry in Rome. -Quirinus asserted that the only existing copy of them was in the hands -of the English government. It was known that Lord Acton was a near -relation of the English Minister for Foreign Affairs. Putting this -and that together, the Curia was inclined to say that Quirinus must -be Lord Acton; and it is confidently affirmed that Monsignor Randi, -whose spiritual duties were those of Director of Police, was taken -into consultation with the Pope as to whether it would or would not be -expedient to banish the suspected English nobleman.[309] The _Unitá_ -tried to make capital against Dupanloup out of these letters. It could -not believe that the Bishop of Orleans would write to Daru and tell him -what passed in the Council (March 8). - -The anxiety felt at Courts in Catholic nations had now penetrated the -mind of Count Beust. On February 10 he penned a remarkable despatch, -in which he recited his pacific intentions and his innocent hopes, as -indicated in his treatment of the Council hitherto, and especially -in his rejection of the overtures of Bavaria. He was now, however, -obliged to confess that, in Rome, there was a manifest determination -not to acknowledge, nay, more, not to tolerate, that liberty which -Austria claimed for the State in civil legislation. He now confesses -to "alarm," and affirms that the Decrees of the Church "would dig an -impassable gulf between the laws of the Church and those which govern -the greater part of modern societies." He plainly declares that Austria -would reserve to herself the right of interdicting the publication of -any Act infringing the majesty of the law, and that every person who -should disregard such prohibition must bear the legal consequences. -This despatch was followed by one to Berlin,[310] pointing out how -delicate had been the position of Austria in the present transaction. -The empire was passing through an internal transformation. Hence -arose a special necessity of maintaining the supremacy of law, and a -corresponding expediency of avoiding internal conflict. In addition -to reasons of State for not identifying his policy with that of the -minority of the bishops of the Council, Count Beust alleged that -those prelates found that any interference on the part of governments -turned to an embarrassment for themselves, because they were accused -of being the instruments of the political rulers, and he felt that it -was not the bishops but the Cabinets that must defend the rights of -States. A third despatch was directed to Munich.[311] In this, Count -Beust intimated that Prince Hohenlohe might naturally think that it -would have been better had the Count in time seen the force of his -recommendations. Parrying this objection, he strongly urged united -action, and stated that Austria was now ready to co-operate in a matter -that evidently affected the common interests of all governments. The -effect of all this was a formal visit of Count Trauttmansdorff, the -Austrian ambassador, to Cardinal Antonelli. According to the report -of the Count, the Cardinal had really nothing to say beyond the most -commonplace evasions. The Decrees were still subject to discussion, -and, on the other hand, interdicting the publication of Decrees in a -certain country did not deprive them of their validity. Besides, he -could not see how prohibiting the publication of the laws of the Church -could be consistent with the policy which consisted in giving liberty -to the publication of anything. Moreover, all the world knew that, -while Rome affirmed principles, she would be very reasonable and gentle -in the application of them, and none need to take the least alarm. -Count Trauttmansdorff expresses his satisfaction with the attitude of -the German bishops, but thinks that Austria has lost her influence by -her recent changes of policy, and especially by her attacks upon the -Concordat. He expects, on the contrary, great effect from the exercise -of French influence. - -The reply of Count Beust to this despatch was prompt and clear. True, -he said, Decrees of the Church retain their validity though rejected -by the government; but this was the very circumstance that showed the -gravity of the position. It would become a serious matter, both for the -Church and for Catholic governments, if laws which were valid for the -one, were repudiated by the other. Again, as to the Cardinal's remark -that refusing the Church liberty to promulge her laws was scarcely -consistent with professions of giving liberty to publish anything, -Count Beust thought that this remark could hardly be serious. "Respect -for the law is the basis of all liberty," said the Count, "and liberty -which passes that boundary, becomes licence." But this arrow would fall -blunted from a conscience covered by the buckler of the Vatican. Any -Vaticanist would simply say, Respect for a higher law is not disregard -of law; and whenever Rome has spoken, her word is the higher law, -respect for which is the real basis of order. - -The reply of Antonelli to the despatch of Beust is a singular document. -He is so generally credited with ability as a diplomatist that one -would fear to say, even if one thought, that it is anything but an -able paper, whether viewed in an intellectual or a diplomatic aspect. -He states that the remonstrances of Beust were expressed in "not -very delicate terms," and in weaker and much less courteous forms -puts forward the arguments which we shall presently find employed -in his reply to Daru. So far from accepting the reproach of want of -delicacy, Beust instantly and formally repelled it, and said that -the Pope's Nuncio, when appealed to, could hardly find an expression -in his despatch on which to attempt to sustain the allegation of the -Cardinal. He demanded a copy of the despatch, and, as soon as he had -obtained it, instructed the ambassador at Rome to thank Antonelli for -granting it, and to tell him that he had immediately laid it before the -Emperor.[312] Whether the Emperor thought the despatch respectful to a -power such as his we cannot say. - -The day after that on which Count Trauttmansdorff reported his -interview with Cardinal Antonelli, Count Daru, in Paris, despatched -an important document to the Vatican. According to an analysis of it, -contained in the reply of Antonelli,[313] the Count summed up the -effect of the Canons in two propositions. First, the infallibility -of the Church extends, not only to the deposit of faith, but also -to all that is necessary to its preservation. Secondly, the Church -is a divine and perfect society, and exercises its powers in two -tribunals, the interior and the exterior. She is absolute in the -domain of legislation, judicial procedure, and coercive force; and -moreover exercises her power with full liberty, and in independence -of any civil power whatever. The Count points out that the claims of -the Church are now extended to authority over history, philosophy, -and science, and involve an absolute subordination to the authority -of the Church of the very principles of a national constitution, the -rights and duties of governments, with the political rights and duties -of citizens, both electoral and municipal. They are extended even to -everything included in judicature and in legislation, in respect both -of persons and things; to the rules of public administration, to the -rights and duties of corporations, and in general to all the rights of -the State, not excepting the right of conquest, and that of peace and -war. Is it to be imagined, asks Count Daru, that princes will bow their -sovereignty before the supremacy of the Court of Rome? Considering the -protection granted by France to the Holy See for twenty years past, -she has special duties before the world, and he, therefore, claims -that projects of laws which are to be laid before the Council shall be -communicated to the French government, and that time shall be allowed -to forward the observations that may be deemed desirable before they -are pressed for decision. - -The reply of Antonelli to Daru has been generally looked upon as one of -the ablest specimens of his skill. Unless at the moment the greatest -daring was the greatest skill, we must think the impression of skill -is made chiefly on the minds of those who have not carefully studied -the Vatican dialect. It would seem that Count Daru, or his advisers, -were perfectly aware of the meaning of the document; and to any one -who was so, a more absolute statement of Papal suzerainty can scarcely -be conceived. The technical term "direct" plays an important part in -the various assertions. The Cardinal does not deny the extension of -the Papal authority to any one of the matters pointed out by Daru. He -never denies that that authority is absolute, but always takes care to -couple with the world "absolute" the word "direct"--it is not "direct -and absolute"; and the real meaning of much of the despatch would be -brought out by the simple question, which any ecclesiastical adviser -of the French Foreign Office _who was true to the government_ would -ask, Is it indirect and absolute? Moreover, the blank statement that -the kingly power depends upon the priestly, is, in the form in which -Antonelli puts it, an extension even of the ordinary Jesuit doctrine, -which couples the dependence of the kingly power upon the priestly -with several qualifications, practically not amounting to much, but -theoretically necessary to be kept in view, because they enable men to -seem to deny what they mean to maintain. Commencing by a complimentary -paragraph as to the protection of France and the gratitude of the -Pope, Antonelli goes on to express great surprise that the Canons -should cause so much uneasiness. They only expressed the maxims and -fundamental principles of the Church, published in all forms, taught -in the schools, maintained for ages, and often approved of even by -civil governments. The Church, continues Antonelli, never claims to -exercise a "direct and absolute" power over the political rights of the -State. Having received the mission to lead men, whether as individuals -or as constituted into societies, to a supernatural end, the Church -had received the corresponding authority to judge the morality of all -acts interior or exterior, in respect of their conformity to laws -natural and _divine_. "As no action, whether commanded by a supreme -power or freely performed by a person, can be divested of a quality of -morality or justice, it follows that the judgment of the Church, though -directly turning upon the morality of actions, indirectly extends -_to all matters with which morality is connected_." But this is not -the same as direct interference in political affairs, which, by the -order established by God, and by the teaching indeed of the Church, -belong to the temporal power without any dependence on any authority. -The subordination of the civil power to the religious one is in the -sense[314] of the superiority of the priesthood. Hence the authority -of sovereignty depends on that of priesthood, as human things depend -on divine, and temporal on spiritual. And if temporal felicity, which -is the end of civil power, is subordinate to eternal felicity, which -is the spiritual end of the priesthood, it follows that to attain -the end towards which God would have them respectively tend, the one -power is subordinate to the other; and thus, as between them, there -exists in one of the two a subordination of functions as there exists a -subordination of ends. - -Therefore, proceeds the despatch, if infallibility does extend to all -that is necessary to conserve the faith, no prejudice will, on that -account, arise to science, history, or politics. Of course (we may -interject) the reasoning is, that any subordination arising from a -divinely-appointed order cannot be the cause of prejudice, but only -of advantage. Infallibility, he proceeds, has been exercised in times -past, and princes have had no occasion to disquiet themselves. If the -Church has been constituted by her divine founder a true and perfect -Society distinct from the civil power and independent of it, with a -plenary threefold authority, legislative, judicial, and coercive, no -confusion will arise in the movements of human society, or in the -exercise of the rights of the two powers. The Church does not exercise, -in virtue of her authority, "a direct and absolute" interference in -the principles and constitutions, in the forms of civil power, in the -political rights of citizens, in the duties of the State, and in the -other matters enumerated in the despatch of the minister. - -Almost the only thing not clear in the remarkable State paper in which -Daru replied to this despatch,[315] is the way in which he understood -the last remarks we have quoted from the Cardinal. He speaks of them -as being important, but in what sense? As showing a wish to allay the -impressions made by the Draft of Decrees, which is all the Cardinal -really professes? or as containing any statement properly calculated to -allay those apprehensions? Count Daru had evidently not read hastily, -and had not been without clear-headed interpreters. He could not, for a -moment, think that Antonelli had said that the Church had no authority -to interfere in political matters, when he really had said no more -than that she did not _exercise_ a "direct and absolute" interference, -by virtue of her authority. No more could Count Daru suppose that -saying that she did not do so was a promise that she would not do so, -although, even had such a promise been made, couched in the terms -employed by Antonelli, the word "direct" would have deprived it of any -practical value. Every other portion of Count Daru's Memorandum must -have made the Pope, to whom it was submitted, feel that the Minister of -France understood the intentions of the Vatican. - - The more one examines the doctrine of this document, the more - impossible does it become to overlook the fact that, in the - main, it amounts to the complete subordination of civil power - to the religious society.... Unless we refuse to words their - true and natural meaning, we cannot escape the conviction that - the Draft Decree on the Church has, for its object and end, the - re-establishment, in the entire world, of doctrines which would - place civil society under the empire of the clergy.... Under - the formidable sanction of the anathema, the infallibility and - authority of the Church are to be extended, not only to truths - handed down by revelation, but to all things that may appear - necessary for preserving the deposit of tradition. In other words, - her infallibility and authority have no other limits than those - which the Church may herself assign to them; and all principles of - civil order, politics, and science, fall, directly or indirectly, - within their range. It is on this almost boundless field that - the Church is to exert the right of pronouncing decisions and - promulgating laws, binding the conscience of the faithful, - independently of any confirmation on the part of the political - authority, and even in direct opposition to laws emanating from it. - It is on this domain, the bounds of which, it appears, the Church - alone may fix, that the Canons ascribe to her a complete power, - which is at once legislative, judicial, and coercive, and is to be - put forth in the external tribunal as well as in the internal,--a - power the exercise of which the Church may assure by material - penalties, and Christian princes and governments would be bound - to lend their assistance by chastising all who should attempt to - withdraw themselves from under her authority. - -No wonder that Count Daru draws the inference that "governments would -retain no power, and civil society would retain no liberty, but the -power and the liberty which it might please the Church to leave to -them." The dearest rights of States, their political constitution, -their legislation on property, on the family, and on instruction, -"might any day be called in question by the ecclesiastical authority." -Moreover, it is now proposed that to all this shall be added Papal -infallibility. "_That is to say, after having concentrated all -political and religious powers in the hand of the Church, they will -concentrate all the power of the Church in the hand of her head._" - -As to the artifice, that only principles were to be carried, but that -the application of them would not be enforced, Daru says, No such -statement suffices to reassure us. What, he asks, Are people in the -forty thousand parishes of France to be taught that they are free to -do that which they are not free to believe? He will not even treat -this representation as grave. He gives the Church credit for intending -a serious work, and, therefore, when once she has inscribed a maxim -among the immutable truths, she will try to bring it into practice. The -Pontiff has not assembled the bishops of the whole world to promulgate -sterile laws. - -Antonelli had alleged that the principles in dispute were not new. -That, replied Count Daru, he knew too well, but kings and nations had -never accepted those principles, and the attempt to establish them had -always, even in the middle ages, caused bloody conflict. He concluded -by declaring that if the propositions were adopted, they would have the -inevitable consequence of bringing about grievous troubles. - -The French government declared its intention of demanding that a -special ambassador should be admitted to the Council. This Don -Margotti hailed, first as a victory of the Council, and then as one of -the most splendid victories of Pius IX. The ground of this professed -exultation was that abstinence from the Council meant the separation -of Church and State. "The Lord be praised, who is preparing greater -triumphs for His spouse!" France trembles for her revolution and her -Gallicanism.[316] So can voice and face be changed in a moment. - -Beust, in further despatches, declined any proposal for sending -ambassadors to the Council, on the ground that governments would, -by such an act, make themselves, in some sort, parties to its -proceedings. He had laid down and firmly adhered to the principle of -abiding within the line of purely political action. That principle, he -declared, fully covered the two steps of interdicting all publications -exciting to contempt of the law, and punishing all persons guilty of -any contempt of it.[317] But he instructed Count Trauttmansdorff to -support the French with all cordiality, in the demand that matters -touching political interests, which were submitted to the Council, -should be communicated to France before being enacted. But, on the -part of the State, he could not take up theological arguments or plead -the interests of the Catholic Church. He would take his stand on the -interests of the State only, and tell the Court of Rome that, if it -provoked a conflict, Austria would not give way to its decisions. For -similar reasons, he must abstain from identifying the government with -the bishops of the minority. Approving and sympathizing with their -position, he nevertheless felt that they might come to change their -ground, and accept what the government could not accept. - -The French government applied, also, to the North German Confederation -to support its representatives. Bismarck was deliberate but firm. On -April 23,[318] Arnim sent in a despatch, cordially supporting the -claims put forward by Daru. He said, that the Decrees, so far from -being any vague menace for the future, were rather calculated to -revive, and surround with a new dogmatic sanction, certain pontifical -Decrees sufficiently known, and constantly combated by civil society -in every age, and of every nation. An earnest wish to shun a collision -pervaded the despatch. - -The impression made upon the Curia by these appeals may perhaps -be better gathered from Don Margotti and M. Veuillot than from -Antonelli's despatches. On March 3 the _Unitá Cattolica_ says, France -and Austria have really remonstrated against the proposed definition -of infallibility. They are afraid of the doctrine of Christ. If they -would only adopt the Council and its doctrine, it would restore even -their finances. "Do make an experiment. You have tried a thousand -constitutions in France and Austria: why should you disdain to try -the true Catholic constitution?" Let those two countries faithfully -proclaim the doctrine, accept and spread it among the people, "and in -less than a year you will confess that it is a great salvation for -the French and Austrian empires." This is followed by a letter from a -professor of theology on the opportuneness of defining the dogma of the -personal infallibility of the Pope. He contends first that it would-- - - give a blow to Liberalism, which is the doctrine of human - infallibility; for representative assemblies claim a true - infallibility, because the decrees of such assemblies _are not - reformable by the Church_; but if a single man alone is declared - infallible, they all, whether individually or collectively, become - fallible, and must receive from him their rules in jurisprudence - and legislation, and every institution or ordinance declared by - the Pontiff not to be good is, without appeal, rejected as false - and corrupt. Liberalism, wherever it prevails, converts rulers - into tyrants and subjects into slaves! The spectacle of seven - hundred bishops giving up all to the Pope will restore the idea of - legitimate authority. - -Anticipating the _final_ struggle against the Church, he says, "It is -of the utmost importance that the Church bind up her people in the -firmest unity; for the battle will be sore, and she will escape only by -divine intervention." On March 4, the _Unitá_ says that the Council is -assailed by traitors. The devil always has a foot in good things, but -he has two in the Council. Satan entered into the deputies of Italy, -then into the body of Prince Hohenlohe, then he passed on to Döllinger, -to Père Hyacinth, and to Père Gratry. The devil had entered into the -cabinets of Beust and Daru, and into the palace at Munich, where -Döllinger had been admitted to the same honours as formerly had been -granted to Lola Montez. - -M. Veuillot[319] imagines a conversation between a Catholic and a -Liberal Catholic, of which the following is a condensation. It shows -the kind of information which was granted, and the kind of argument -which was welcome, to the forty thousand educated men on whom largely -depends the fate of all French governments _which attempt to govern -through them_:-- - - The governments are displeased.---- Why?---- Because!---- What - of that?---- You offend common sense. The cause is the dogma of - infallibility.---- But the Holy Spirit?---- It was not the Holy - Spirit that signed the petition for infallibility.---- Did He sign - the other?---- The other is inspired by the highest wisdom.---- So - be it. Both call upon the Holy Spirit and He will come.---- He will - not come.----Why?---- The Rules of the Council are bad, the Hall is - defective, discussion is impossible, the Council is not free.---- - What? the Fathers can read, study, pray, speak, and the Council is - not free!---- No, discussion is physically impossible, and it is - from the shock of discussion that light breaks out just as from - the concussion of flints.---- The Council has no need of that kind - of light which fires powder.---- The governments are up against - infallibility.---- Let them come down.---- They'll make you come - down yourself.---- Allow me, if you speak to me, upon my word of - honour, I am not the Council; and if you speak to the Council, it - will answer, as it always has done to good advisers of your sort. - - I fear God, dear Abner. - -After this comes what with M. Veuillot's readers passes for argument, -In the present state of law in regard to religious liberty, governments -have nothing to do with infallibility but to study the new situation -which it will create, and to conform their conduct to it, as liberty -requires of them. Either they will voluntarily respect liberty, or they -will encounter its defenders and sustain the combat. The governments -ought to know that Catholics mean not to give up anything of their -right, and of the fulness of their life. As to the Church, continues -M. Veuillot, she manages her affairs as it suits her. She looks -beyond governments, beyond generations. She sows for the future, she -constructs for centuries. Although she desires not to put governments -to inconvenience, _it must be allowed that her compassion and her -complaisance towards these foreigners must have their limits_. She -bears the heavy burden of freedom of worship, and she takes the light -advantages of it. - -Further on we find the same sinister reference to disturbances as in -Don Margotti (p. 246):-- - - A letter is talked of from one of our ministers, who, it would - appear, says that the difficulty of the government is not in Paris - but in Rome. While this letter of the statesman is being read in - Rome, barricades are springing up under his feet in Paris, and - barricades are difficulties.... The head of the Church is always a - great statesman, and ends by solving the difficulty. When statesmen - will go to school to the Pope they will do marvels; but the world - must not look for that just yet. - -It is well known, says M. Veuillot, returning to the sore point of -the hints thrown out by Daru about withdrawing the troops, that if -Daru withdraws the French sentinel from the door of the Council, many -sentinels would be withdrawn from other doors in France (vol. i. p. -328). No wonder that Italians speak of the _Univers_ and the _Rappel_ -as kindred, if hostile. Rochefort and Veuillot are the two poles of the -same violent hatred of ordered liberties and moderated power. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 309: _Fromman_, p. 91.] - -[Footnote 310: _Friedberg_, p. 547.] - -[Footnote 311: _Friedberg_, p. 549.] - -[Footnote 312: _Friedberg_, p. 563.] - -[Footnote 313: _Friedberg_, p. 533.] - -[Footnote 314: The expression is peculiar. It is, _E nel senso della -precellenza del Sacerdozio sull' Impero_ a motive della superiorità del -fine dell' uno sopra quello dell' altro; quindi l'autorità dell' Impero -da quella del Sacerdozio dipende, come le cose umane dalle divine, le -temporali dalle spirituali.] - -[Footnote 315: _Friedberg_, 538 ff.] - -[Footnote 316: _Unitá_, March 8 and 9.] - -[Footnote 317: _Friedberg_, p. 557.] - -[Footnote 318: _Ibid._, p. 567.] - -[Footnote 319: Vol. i. p. 239.] - - - - -CHAPTER X - -Personal Attack on Dupanloup--Attempts at a Compromise--Impossibility -of now retreating--Daru Resigns--Ollivier's Policy--Feeling that -the Proceedings must be Shortened--The Episode of the Patriarch -of Babylon--Proposal for a New Catechism--Michaud on Changes in -Catechism--The Rules revised--An Archbishop stopped--Protest of One -Hundred Bishops--Movement of Sympathy with Döllinger--The Pope's -Chat--Pope and M. de Falloux--Internal Struggle with Friedrich. - - -The Villa Grazioli was one of the houses angrily pointed at by the -zealots of infallibility. There resided Dupanloup, too much courted -for the pride of those who thought that any man in Rome who opposed -the Curia ought to be ostracised. We do not remember any public hint -given to the police to watch the villa, such as the _Unitá Cattolica_ -broadly gave as to the Palazzo Valentini, the residence of Cardinal -Hohenlohe (February 26). But the amiabilities of the "good press" were -not denied to the Villa Grazioli. Bishop Wicart, of Laval, wrote to his -local organ, insisting that every word of his letter should be printed, -and saying that the talk about Monseigneur Dupanloup in the diocese of -Laval must be put an end to. "I declare, before God, and in readiness -to appear at His judgment-seat, that I had rather die--fall dead on -the spot--than follow the Bishop of Orleans in the course he is now -taking."[320] - -It was not to this attack exclusively that Dupanloup referred in a -letter to the chapter of his cathedral:-- - - The spectacle will have been exhibited of a bishop who had, during - a life already long, given strong proofs of devotion to the Church - and to the Papacy, becoming all at once the butt for insult and for - those indignities against which you protest, because on a capital - question he said what he believed, and still believes, to be for - the true interests of religion and of the Papacy.[321] - -Ebullitions like this were but a sample of the increasing irritation -on both sides. The majority naturally wanted to have done with the -strife, the result of which was already certain. Vitelleschi says that -the Curia desired that the Council should be merely a great ceremony -for the solemn fulfilment of a pre-arranged program (p. 76). They -bitterly accused the minority of egging on the governments to oppose -the Council, to menace the Church, to insult the Holy Father, or even -to dictate to the Holy Ghost. Every objection to the new dogma was -denounced as rebellion against the Pontiff, hostility to the Council, -disloyalty to Peter, and so forth. Documents such as those of Beust -and Daru were a complete reversal of all that was right. At the moment -when Rome was "officially taking the affairs of the world in hand," -it was insufferable for people representing provinces such as Austria -or France, to attempt to control the Mistress of the world. Strictly -speaking, Beust and Daru did not represent those two provinces any -more than Menabrea represented Italy. They represented only the carnal -and inordinate jealousy of the supernatural order entertained by the -natural order in those provinces. They must be made to learn the -meaning of the commission, "Teach all nations." - -The members of the minority, trained by Rome to rush to statesmen and -importune them for everything that could serve the Church, now that -they believed her to be drifting to a terrible peril, did as they had -been accustomed to do. Personally they were stung by hard words, not -only from the Pope, but from all officials down to small diocesan -editors, emulous of Don Margotti and M. Veuillot. Even priests in their -own dioceses were set against them. As a party, the minority were -irritated by restraint, suspicion, manoeuvres, affronts, offers, and -even by _espionage_. Their one solace was, they felt, a vain one. They -could indeed speak, but they could not really debate. Their one refuge -was vainer still. They could draw up petitions, but they might as well -address them to Julius Cæsar for any answer that was ever vouchsafed. -The air was full of complaints of long speeches. Some proposed that -no more should be read, some that no more should be delivered in any -form; but that they should be written, printed, and distributed among -the Fathers. Some combined the two propositions, suggesting that only -_they_ should deliver speeches who could do so _extempore_, and that -the others should print theirs for those who liked to read them. The -_Unitá Cattolica_ hailed the proposal to have no more speeches; it -would shorten the Council. - -Others, again, tried to form a third party, on the basis of some -compromise which would satisfy the Court by giving it in substance all -the concentration of power it wanted, and yet would save the minority -from the difficulty of accepting Papal infallibility in express terms. -Bishop Vitelleschi was named in connexion with this attempt. They who -made it did not fully realize either the political or the theological -bearing of the points at issue. The whole conduct of future operations -must depend on the ability of the central authority to act at any -moment and in any place, without the remotest fear of hesitation -or delay on the part of the instruments; above all, without any -possibility of that old bugbear, an appeal to a General Council, being -raised up again. - -The pretensions which Pius IX had set up under the veil of secrecy now -began, through publicity, to drag Rome on to her doom. She would not -have dared, at first, to face governments with her present claims. She -had silently spread them in her schools, had excited her fancy with the -echoes of them coming back mysteriously from provincial synods and from -episcopal thrones, had shaped them into formulæ, one part of which her -fears had cast away, and another part of which publicity had put to -shame. Some now asked her to stop when the coach was at full swing down -hill! The attempt to do so would be attended with extreme danger. She -would lose, not only the new authority at which she had been grasping, -but also a considerable part of the old authority, out of which that -was to have been developed. - -The Canons which had been the occasion of the protest from governments -could indeed well be spared, if the supreme authority and infallible -judgement of the sovereign were proclaimed but without that the Canons -would be paper laws in the hand of a discredited administration -The Syllabus, cried M. Veuillot, had lighted a torch, five years -beforehand, by which to study the objects of the Council (vol. i. -p. 55). The Curia had studied the objects during the five years by -that light. For it retreat on the main point was now an absolute -impossibility. Had France really withdrawn her troops, the Curia could -have broken up the Council under the justification of physical fear, -and so would have escaped the dilemma by an intervention of Providence. -But it was not to be. And we may as well here slightly anticipate our -narrative, in order to complete the incident of the French note. Daru -was one of the ministers who resigned on finding out that the Emperor's -professions of setting up a responsible ministry were such as to remind -one of the _mot_ attributed to Dupin, at the very height Napoleon's -power: "It is really too bad: one cannot now believe even the opposite -of what he says." - -It was reported in Rome that, within twenty-four hours, two telegrams -had arrived from Paris. The first read: "Decidedly Daru will not have -infallibility. He announces that there will be a rupture." The second -read: "Daru retires. Ollivier replaces him. The Council free." If -it is true, cried M. Veuillot, it is glorious for M. Ollivier (vol. -i. p. 462). The despatch of Ollivier, on taking over the office of -Foreign Affairs from Daru, would have been thought straightforward -if proceeding from any Court but such a one as that of the Tuileries -then was. After stating that the Emperor had not sent an ambassador to -the Council, and had scrupulously abstained from interfering with its -proceedings, but that recently, when warned by the rumours in Europe of -dangers menacing the cause of religion, he had for a moment stepped out -of his reserve and offered counsel, Ollivier proceeds:-- - - The Holy Father has not seen it right to listen to our counsels, - nor to accept our observations. We do not insist, and we resume our - attitude of reserve and expectation. - - You will not seek or accept, henceforth, any conversation, either - with the Pope or with Cardinal Antonelli, on the affairs of the - Council. - - You will confine yourself to gaining information, and keeping - yourself acquainted with facts, with the sentiments which have - prepared them, and with the impressions which have followed - them.[322] - -So terminated an incident that caused, for a time, a considerable -flutter, and seems to have offered to the Curia the only fair escape -from the dilemma into which it had got. It was now felt that the -legislation necessary to put the new constitution into working order, -must be pressed into as small a space of time as possible. The -restoration of ideas had not advanced satisfactorily since the meeting -of the Council and the restoration of facts had made no progress at -all. The voluminous Drafts had already brought Court theology into -contempt. - -Friedrich had spent an evening and morning in writing to Lord Acton -on the Papal system as developed in the Draft Decree on the Church, -and in expressing his fears that the bishops would not see through -it, when a piece of news reached him, which though at ordinary times -it would scarcely have been talked of in Rome, just then caused some -excitement (p. 143). It was, as he relates, to the effect that Audu, -Patriarch of Babylon, after having spoken in opposition to the Curia, -had, as we have seen (page 107 of _this_ edition), been sent for at -night by the Pope, who allowed no witness of the interview but Valerga, -the so-called Patriarch of Jerusalem, who, however, as Vitelleschi -says, was, previous to his elevation, simply a Roman ecclesiastic. -Valerga acted as interpreter. The Pope raged, commanded the weak -old man to resign his patriarchate, forced a pen into his hand, and -ceased not storming till it was done. Then, to give practical effect -to the resignation, two bishops, not chosen by Audu, were appointed, -and he must consecrate them.[323] Such was the tale. Friedrich took -it as a sample of infallibility in practice even before the Council -had sanctioned it in theory. In itself, the story would seem very -improbable in London, but not at all so in Constantinople or Rome. In -the latter city the reputation of Pius IX is high for fits of rage, -in which his best friends are treated like lackeys. Liverani, who over -and over again calls him an angel, tells nevertheless several stories -of conduct to those about him which, if they could be told of an -English squire, would not get him the name of angel from his stewards -and bailiffs. Even the all but adoring editor of the _Speeches_ gives -a specimen which evidently hammered a deep dint into his Neapolitan -sensibilities. If the tales are true, the rage passes away, giving -place to habitual jocoseness. - -Vitelleschi says that an alternative was set before the Chaldean -Patriarch--either he must submit to the Pope's authority as to certain -appointments, or resign. Being reduced to this extremity by his -imperious brother, the poor old man did resign, and the event "created -a great sensation." To the Roman nobleman the scene presented no -improbability. He does not even hint that it is a rare specimen of the -tranquil waters which lie behind St. Peter's Rock. The noise made by -the rumours forced even so great a person as M. Veuillot to take notice -of them. His usual style of contradiction is very striking, and perhaps -instructive. He will spend, it may be, pages in making somebody, who -has said something, look extremely ridiculous; but, at the end, you -wonder what he has contradicted. On the present occasion, however, M. -Veuillot did stoop to particulars. First, he says that the Patriarch -had himself chosen two bishops, but after the Pope had approved of -them, he refused to consecrate them. This is in direct contradiction of -a statement, on the other side, that the Propaganda had chosen the two -bishops in question and that the Patriarch refused to consecrate them. -The latter version gives a clear cause of dispute, whereas that of M. -Veuillot leaves the resistance of the Patriarch, as he himself says, -inexplicable. But as to what took place, his account is this:-- - - The Pope called the Patriarch into his cabinet, and told him to - consecrate the two suffragans in twenty-four hours, or to sign - his resignation. The Patriarch asked for a delay of three days, - then of two days. The Pope was inflexible; he required that the - Patriarch should forthwith sign the engagement to obey. The - Patriarch took a pen, and began to write; but he stopped, saying - that the pen would not go. The Pope presented him with a penknife. - The Patriarch of Jerusalem, who acted as interpreter, mended - the pen. The Chaldean Patriarch resisted no further. He wrote - the engagement to consecrate the two bishops, or to abdicate in - twenty-four hours, and pushed his precision so far as to affix the - date--half-past seven in the evening. The next morning he performed - the consecration. - -M. Veuillot vehemently denies that the Pope was in a rage, or that he -broke pens with his fist, or that he played the part of a tyrant. He -seems to take it for granted that good Catholics ought to be edified -with his own account of this rehearsal of a scene in the forthcoming -drama of "ordinary and immediate jurisdiction" in all dioceses of the -world. - -We have hinted that Vitelleschi expresses no feeling of improbability -as to the tale of the Chaldean Patriarch. On the contrary, he -immediately follows it up by alluding to rumours of proceedings -contemplated by the Propaganda against certain bishops under its -jurisdiction, who had manifested a want of docility in seconding -its projects (p. 82). These rumours, he says, revived uncomfortable -recollections of the Inquisition, adding that events of this nature -are of common occurrence, and might happen a thousand times without -attracting much notice. But the moment was exceptional. - -The interest of the General Congregations, from the time when the -movement for the definition of infallibility declared itself, centred -in that impending question, and but faintly, and intermittently, swayed -towards any other. The particular matter now on hand was a proposal -to do away with the diocesan Catechisms throughout the world, and to -adopt a uniform one for all. Outside the Church of Rome this would -probably have seemed a natural point of uniformity, but, inside of it, -the determination of the municipal _coterie_ to drive roughshod over -all that was homely or ancient, all that was national or local, roused -the spirit of opposition. It was clearly felt that taking away from the -bishops the right of approving their own Catechisms was a further blow -at their authority. For many years past the Jesuits had been altering -Catechisms, and so gradually naturalizing the doctrine of infallibility -on soil hostile to it, especially through schools conducted by -nuns.[324] They had made the Catechism a great financial success. A new -one for the whole world would be an estate for the Curia. - -The book of the Abbé Michaud, _De la Falsification du Catéchism_, is -a curious study. He expresses the sum of his researches by saying -that Catholicism has been replaced by Popery. The old Paris Catechism -did not use the expression "the _Roman_ Church." It always said, -"the Catholic Church"; and in some Catechisms, in France, the word -"Roman" first came in as late as 1839, and that only in a profession -of faith at the end: "I acknowledge the Holy Catholic Apostolic and -Roman Church." Noting the progressive change in definitions of the -Church, Michaud gives examples, showing that the earliest do not even -mention the Pope, and that the latest speak of nothing but the Pope (p. -23). The early Catechisms call Christ the Foundation of the Church; -succeeding ones give this title to the Confession of St. Peter; next -to the Apostles, then to Peter, and, finally, to the Pope; and some -recent ones even say that the Church is founded on the Papacy (p. -34). The designation the "Head of the Church," is gradually withdrawn -from Christ, to be bestowed upon the Pope. One Catechism, as early -as 1756, said that the visible Head of the Church, being subordinate -to the Invisible one, made only one Head with Him. On the question -of the seat of authority in the Church, a precisely similar process -has taken place; and infallibility has followed in the same track. -Formerly, says the Abbé it was believed that the Pope had no authority -or infallibility but through the Church. Now, it is declared that the -Church has no authority or infallibility but through the Pope. We may -remark that the terms of the Vatican Decrees do not go so far as the -last assertion. The framers meant to do so, but their logic failed -them, and they have left a dualism full of future perplexity. The Abbé -shows that the Catechisms of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, -and many down to the year 1843, always speak of the infallibility -of the Church. Later, the term, "the infallibility of the Teaching -Church," is introduced. That means, of the Pope and the bishops. -Michaud does not quote any with this terminology earlier than 1786. But -that could not suffice for the Romanists. The Abbé says that, at the -present time they teach, not only that the Pope is infallible, but that -he is the source of infallibility. "As the Church was replaced by the -Teaching Church, the Teaching Church has been replaced by the Pope." A -religious and political system shifting in this fashion does not well -bear even that kind of check which is afforded by the existence of -different Catechisms in neighbouring dioceses. It was not quite so easy -to teach at Rouen that the Pope singly is infallible, when at Paris the -Catechism said that the Church was infallible, and at Cologne it said -plainly that the Pope was not infallible. And the fact of this tendency -to change doctrine downward, and further downward, was a reason for a -feeling against one Catechism stronger than could be understood in any -community with a fixed rule of faith. - -The changes made in the application to the Church of the word -"believe," are equally curious. The old form of words as to believing -in one Catholic Church was first changed into believing in the Teaching -Church. Then "respect and obedience to the Pope" began to be inserted, -from the end of the seventeenth century onward. In 1819 an Arras -Catechism claimed "sovereign respect"; but so far there is no mention -of belief in decisions of the Pope. It was in 1834 that the Catechisms -of Avignon and Amiens prepared for the transition from "respect" to -"belief," by teaching the necessity of inviolable attachment to all -that the Pope teaches. The consummation so prepared for was not far -off The St. Brieuc Catechism of 1835, and that of the Abbé Guillois of -1851, taught that it is necessary and Catholic to believe in the Pope -as well as in the Church. - -The transition from "belief" to "the faith" is very easy. Originally, -the _dépôt_ of the faith, which the Church had to guard, and to which -no man could add, and from which no man could take away, was called -The Doctrine of Christ. Then it began to be called The Doctrine of -the Apostles; later, The Doctrine of the Successors of the Apostles; -and, after that, The Doctrine of the Prince of the Successors of the -Apostles; and, finally, of course, The Doctrine of the Pope (p. 76). -The new and uniform shorter Catechism (_De Parvo Catechismo_) was to -be modelled on that of Bellarmine, others being consulted. No hint was -given as to how it was to be prepared, and the bishops raised many -doubts. Should it not be submitted to the Council? Or, if that was not -done, surely it would not be made obligatory, but only recommended. -Others would have twelve bishops elected by the Council itself to -prepare it. Some wished that, when prepared, three years should be -given for the bishops to examine and test it; and then that only after -having been approved by them should it be made binding. None of these -guards against centralization found any favour. - -The complaints about the Rules, and the desire of the majority for -something to expedite business, were to produce some effect at last. -When between two and three months had passed without a single one of -the much-prepared Drafts being homologated, as the Scotch would say, by -the Council, it was time to do something. The plan of shaping Rules for -the Council without the bishops was resorted to once more. New Rules -were given out as an edict, just as the original ones had been, and -were headed _A Decree_, as if the Council itself had framed them. To -allow the conclave to make rules for itself, or to amend those imposed -upon it, would have been a dangerous approximation to ancient conciliar -forms. It had become even clearer than had been foreseen, that a free -Council would be a less docile instrument than the sort of Secret -Consistory which had been so cleverly devised. - -The statement of Vitelleschi, that the Rules provided for the printing -of the speeches and their distribution among the Fathers, is not -correct; and his further statement, that they gave the Presidents -the right of cutting short any speaker, is inexact. All they give is -the ordinary right of calling a speaker back to the question, _ad -propositam quæstionem ipsum revocare_.[325] But it is a different -question, whether the Presidents did not take this as containing the -power of cutting a speaker short. Immediately after its promulgation, -Haynald made a quotation to prove that a Pope had, at the time when the -Breviary was being revised, expressed an opinion contrary to that now -held by the majority, and the President immediately requested him, says -Vitelleschi, to come down from the pulpit. That certainly is much more -than calling him back to the question. Friedrich relates this scene -as one in which signs of impatience, given both by voice and feet, -were general among the majority, even Cardinals making demonstrations. -So Cardinal Capalti seized the bell and called the speaker to the -question. The Archbishop insisted that it was the duty of the majority -to hear him; but Capalti told him that they evidently would not hear -him, and he must stop.[326] - -_La Liberté du Concile_ adds an important particular.[327] Haynald had -been attacked by a Belgian bishop for an opinion expressed by him in a -speech. He immediately asked leave to reply; and, in order to observe -the Rules to the letter, he went to the _bureau_ of the Presidents, and -requested leave to speak on a personal point--the false interpretation -put upon his speech. Leave was refused, but the Presidents told him -that he could take the opportunity of explaining when he should speak -in another debate. He waited for weeks. On the day now in question, -before commencing to speak, he told the President that, after his -speech, he meant to reply to the attack which had long before been -made upon him. He was authorized to do so. But no sooner had he begun -to present his personal defence, than the majority interrupted him -with violent clamour. Instead of enforcing respect for the dignity of -the Council and the liberty of speech, one of the Presidents cried to -the speaker, "You see that they will not hear you." And when Haynald -represented that he had been authorized to defend himself, "Hold your -peace and come down" (_Taceas et descendas_), cried Cardinal Capalti, -who thus took the place of Cardinal De Angelis, the Senior President. - -It was on February 22 that the new Rules were delivered, and on March -1 more than one hundred prelates, of all nations, sent in a solemn -protest to the Presiding Cardinals. This was all they could do, short -of leaving the Council. They begin by pointing out that the new Rules -professed to preserve the liberty due to bishops of the Catholic -Church; but that, in most respects, it seemed as if their liberty was -diminished by them, and even exposed to abolition.[328] The Rules said -that, when new Drafts of Decrees were distributed, the Fathers were to -send in their remarks and suggestions in writing, and the Presidents -would allow a suitable time for so doing. The petitioners represent -that this might do for ordinary matters, but when grave questions of -dogma were to be discussed, the time allowed should be very ample, and -the wishes of those who wanted an extension of it should be met. - -The Rules said that, after the committee had considered such remarks -and suggestions as might have been sent in, they should present the -Draft to the Council amended, and with it a summary report containing -a _mention_ of the remarks and suggestions which had been made. The -hundred bishops say that a mention is not enough. That would leave the -committee free to omit what it pleased. The remarks and suggestions -ought to be given at full, else the committee would become the entire -Council, and, in most things, the only judge.[329] Moreover, the -reasons assigned by authors of remarks and suggestions should also -be given. They request, further, that authors of suggestions should -have the right of explaining them, and, if need be, of defending them -before the committee. The idea of a right of reply, which the original -Rules had completely ignored, had been, after a fashion, introduced -into the new ones. That is, the members of the committee were to have -the right of reply, either at once or on a later day, to any one -speaker, or to a number of them. The hundred bishops do not challenge -this immense power granted to the committee, but they demand that the -speaker so replied to shall have his right of rejoinder. - -The hundred strongly reclaim against a provision for closing a -discussion by a rising and sitting vote. This, they say, is a mode of -voting unknown in Councils, and is liable to haste, to error, and to -the contagion of momentary feeling. It might be quite allowable in -parliamentary proceedings, where a thing done this year may be undone -the next. But it is not admissible in a case where the matters in hand -are so awful and irrevocable as Decrees, which once adopted are never -to be amended or discussed again. They demand that no question should -be closed so long as any one who had not spoken claimed his right to -do so as a witness and a judge of the faith. They demand also that -speakers should be heard alternately, one for and one against any -proposal under consideration; and, moreover, in matters affecting the -faith, that no discussion should be closed so long as fifty Fathers -objected. They strongly urge that, in a General Council, neither -precedent nor propriety requires that many Decrees rashly adopted shall -be preferred to a few thoroughly sifted. - -They then come to the solemn point, as to how many votes suffice to -make a dogma? The new Rules did not require a majority of two-thirds, -as many political constitutions provide in a case of importance. -They left the decision open to a simple majority. This the hundred -bishops treat as a total and astounding novelty. In General Councils, -moral unanimity in matters of dogma had been the rule. It was a rule -accepted, and avowedly acted upon, at Trent, by Pius IV. No other rule -would be consistent with the principle of Vincent of Lerins, "What has -been believed always, everywhere, and by all." Catholic dogmas being -formed by consent of the Churches, it followed that they could not be -defined in a Council except by the consent, morally unanimous, of the -bishops who represent those Churches. They assert that this condition -is the pivot on which the whole Council turns. This condition, they -proceed to say, seems to be the more urgent in the Vatican Council, -because so many Fathers were admitted to vote, as to whom it was not -clear whether they held their title to do so by ecclesiastical or by -divine right. - -Thus indicating the fact that, first, a majority had been made up -largely of men who represented nothing, and that now that majority was -to be used to change, not only the dogmas of the Church, but the very -source and criterion of dogma, they proceed to a sorrowful declaration, -that unless the point as to the numbers voting was conceded, their -consciences would be burdened with an intolerable weight. They should -have fears that the oecumenical character of the Council would be -called in question; that a handle would be given to enemies for attacks -on the Holy See and on the Council; and that thus the authority of -the Council would be undermined among the Christian people, as though -it had been lacking in truth and liberty; and in these troublous -times that would be a calamity so great that a worse could not be -imagined.[330] - - "Thus," cries _La Liberté du Concile_, "you have a hundred bishops - who say, Oppression is couched in these Rules. We have liberty - indeed, but liberty restrained, garrotted; which can be choked - whenever they like. _Imo etiam tolli posse videatur._ They say - more. They say that these Rules contain a grave menace, a flagrant - violation of Catholic tradition, an intolerable oppression of their - conscience, pregnant with the greatest perils for the future, - capable of striking the Council to the heart and of inducing - incalculable misfortunes. That is said by one hundred bishops." - -The foundation formed by such a rule of faith as the consent of the -Churches seemed solid as long as streams were shut off, but now that -the waters were rising the bishops began to feel symptoms of a shaking. -They did not, however, yet know that one rush from a sluice, to be -suddenly opened by the Pope himself, was, ere they rose, to bear that -sand clean away, and to drop them down on to a rotten rock of Roman -infallibility. Even the consent of the Church was to be dispensed with. - -In the meantime, learned bodies in Germany had hastened to support -Döllinger. Public addresses came to him from the universities of Bonn, -Prague, and Breslau, and from colleges in other places, bearing the -best names of German Catholics in letters and science. The towns, -emulating the colleges, joined in the movement; Cologne, Kempten, -Freiburg-in-Brisgau, and other places sending in addresses. Munich -voted to the venerable scholar an honorary citizenship, which he -modestly declined. It was evident that the German people would have -followed in large numbers in the movement thus begun, but the bishops -who, in Rome seemed to be earnest in opposing the Curia, suppressed -all attempts to discourage it on the part of their clergy or people. -They had woven a tangled web at Fulda, and were getting deeper and -deeper into its meshes. On the other side, the Pope, the Curia, and -the Infallibilist bishops did everything possible to bring pressure to -bear upon the bishops of the Opposition, both from the clergy and from -the people. As with Hildebrand, so now, all authority which did not -move at the beck of "Peter," was overturned or overmatched by raising -subordinates at the call of the higher power. Döllinger had said, in -reply to an address, that he had done no more than maintain views in -which, as to the substance, he was at one with the majority of the -German prelates. This was in Rome skilfully turned into a reason for -demands upon those prelates. Signor Aloysi, evidently by commission of -the Pope, proposed to the Archbishop of Munich to disavow Döllinger, -and to procure a collective disavowal from the German bishops. This the -Archbishop declined to do. - -It is hardly fair to conclude that the German bishops made a show of -opposition merely to be able to say to the people, We resisted till -the word was spoken, as you did; but now that it is spoken, we submit, -and so must you. In addition to calculations of this kind there was -probably a consciousness that a mortal struggle was rising between -Rome and all the religion, freedom and light in the outside world, -and that it would go hard with Rome. The only possible counterpoise -to their fear of the Pope would have been a movement on the part of -governments to separate the Church from the State. But the politicians -were as little prepared for that as the bishops were for schism. So, -both the one and the other, however involuntarily, concurred in helping -Rome on towards the catastrophe. Ketteler proposed that the German -bishops should disavow Döllinger, but could not carry his point.[331] -He disavowed him on his own account. Senestrey forbade theological -students of his diocese to attend the classes of Döllinger; but Scherr, -Archbishop of Munich, refused to do even this. The press, however, -made amends for the slackness of the Ordinary. M. Veuillot told how -Döllinger's father had said that the devil of a boy had two heads -and no heart, and how, in his Cathedral stall, he did not know how -to handle his breviary, and sometimes read, instead of it, proofs of -his books. Quirinus might, indeed, say, "It is no longer possible to -conceal by any periphrasis the fact that the spirit the Opposition -has to combat is no other than the spirit of lying" (p. 260). But the -writers of the Curia charged upon all Opposition writers, not only -hatred, malice and all uncharitableness, but especially lying, with the -loving and making of lies. - -The Pope, whose jokes and outbursts alternately supplied gossip, is -reported by Friedrich as saying that Döllinger was a heretic, or very -near it, and that Günther was much more respectable, as he had been -quiet for a long time (dead). Some one observing to him that Döllinger -was a harmless old man, he replied, Pretty kind of old man that -receives addresses from every quarter. He made no secret that he took -the Opposition bishops generally for "softheads," but thought they -must have some one behind them. He knew who nodded approval while -Strossmayer spoke, and who pressed his hand when he came down. He said -that Cardinal Schwarzenberg played the part of the sub-deacon in the -manger; that is, the part of the ass in the scene of the Nativity. -Schwarzenberg, he said, had been the only person who declared that the -definition of the Immaculate Conception would draw bad consequences -after it. But "the definition took place on a morning when the sun -shone so wonderfully that I recognized in it the confirmation of my -design." Much more chat of the same quality is given. - -Friedrich has one short paragraph to the effect that it was confidently -asserted that Veuillot had a seat behind the scenes in the Council -Hall. A man deeply initiated in the secrets of the Council did not deny -it (p. 165). If this was the case, it would be curious to compare it -with M. Veuillot's account of his being on the Pincio, instead of in -the Cathedral, on the opening day. That meditation in the rain seemed -rather eccentric. - -The Pope had arranged for an exhibition of Catholic art, and opened it -in person with a speech. The passage which made the greatest impression -was that in which he alluded to a recent saying of M. de Falloux, -a zealous French Catholic politician, and the actual author of the -Education Bill which embodied Montalembert's policy, to the effect -that the Church had never had her '89, and she needed one. The Pope -declared, "I say that is blasphemy." There were many versions of the -utterance, but M. Veuillot, evidently by authority, stuck to this one. -M. de Falloux, after a considerable time, wrote to Bishop Freppel, -saying that he had not used the phrase alleged. Bishop Freppel told -the Pope that M. de Falloux wrote that he had not used it. The Pope -replied that if M. de Falloux had not used it, he had not condemned M. -de Falloux. There the tale is left by Veuillot (i. p. 360).[332] - -A case like this indicates the struggles between old opinion and the -new light of unforeseen circumstances, through which many must, at -this time, have been passing. In the case of Hyacinth and Gratry, the -struggle had come to the surface; in that of Döllinger, it put on the -solemnity of age; in that of Montalembert, the awe of death. From the -oratory at Birmingham to the chambers of the Quirinal, from under the -roof of the Vatican to lone stations in some mission wild, were men -moaning with a conscience-ache. The coming on of an eclipse could -hardly be more awful to a meditative Magus than the advancing shadow of -heresy on the Church herself to one who had believed her infallible. -The dread images of doubt and uncertainty not only haunted, but -threatened many a brave spirit. If the infallibility of the Church was -to be reduced to the level of that of the Popes, in the doctrines and -morals they had solemnly taught; to the level, for instance, of Pius IX -and his Syllabus--alas, alas for the great ideas of the past! And was -it so clear that it had been innocent to lay those under anathema who, -looking away from man to Christ, from Councils to the Bible, had meekly -said, The only infallible guide over life's broad sea is not the church -steeples, but the stars. - -The veil is partly lifted off from one such struggle. Friedrich's stay -in Rome had been harassing. Suspected of being the correspondent of -the _Augsburg Gazette_, he had been denounced in the papers, treated -rudely by bishops, jeered at by the Pope, reported as being banished, -and dogged by police spies even in the house of Cardinal Hohenlohe. -All this would intensify his perception of the moral corruption of -the city, of which many a priest before him had spoken, from Luther -to Liverani, or Lammenais. It would also give a keener edge to the -theological debates which were going on in his own mind. After an -interval of five days in his diary, he writes, under date of February -25 (p. 195)-- - - At last I must once more take up the pen. If the last few days have - been important for the history of the Council, still more important - have they been for my own life-history. A mental struggle within - me has reached its close, one which was hard to undergo, and which - shook my entire mental and physical being. Now all stands clear - before my eyes. I know the end toward which I am to steer. The Lord - has once more led me a stage further in my life-path. It was truly - a melancholy thought for me when, finding for a moment a point of - rest in the midst of this struggle, I looked back upon my peculiar - course. From that decision to become a Jesuit, onwards to this - journey to Rome, an unseen hand has so perceptibly led me, almost - always without design of mine, that even here, in the midst of the - new storms, I have been able to take fresh courage. I stand here in - Rome only through the unseen guidance of the Lord; for it was not - I that ever took a step to come here; indeed, all was done without - me. But I see clearly that even that dispensation was to purify my - views and intentions, and to lead me on towards the sole prescribed - end of my life. - - At one time, how much was Rome for me! How did I, in a sense, - worship all that came from it! Now I see that here reign not only - the most horrid ignorance, but, still more, pride, lies, and sin. - Henceforth my life has its task marked out for two ends. Henceforth - it is devoted to the struggle against the Curia (not primacy), and - to that against the Jesuits. If I fall in it, I shall believe that - the Lord has so willed, and that there can be, and that there is, - a martyrdom for Christ, and for His Church, among the faithful. - If I have had to learn here that the Curialists and the Jesuits - are enemies not less furious than the heathen, I shall openly show - the world that they do not scruple to devise the death of their - enemies. The _Univers_ may erroneously write, "The scandal in Rome - is great," because I am here and am betraying the secrets of Rome; - but one may say with full right, "The scandal in Christendom is - great." - -The bishops of the minority still declared their determination to -resist every attempt to concentrate infallibility in the Pope; but -Darboy said to a diplomatist, What use is it to send in protests that -never receive an answer?[333] The last protest, however, contained -the grave matter in which a hundred bishops pledged themselves to -language casting doubt upon the oecumenicity of the Council. Of no -use for its immediate purpose, that document will always be of real -use in judging of the value of much that has been said by its signers -since the Council. Prominent Infallibilists intimated that the dogma -would not be so defined as to declare the opposite opinion a heresy. -Yes, says Friedrich, they would leave it as Trent left the Immaculate -Conception--in such a position that some day, when the sun shines fair -upon a Pope, it may be promulged as a dogma. Then he adds, what many -may have heard stated in Rome, It is strongly asserted that the very -reason why the Council Hall has been placed where it stands, is that -there at a certain hour the sunbeams fall upon the Papal throne (p. -219). - -Vitelleschi says that the visitors to the Exhibition of Church Art -did not generally exceed the number of the _gendarmes_, and expresses -an opinion that the real Christian arts are better represented in -such international exhibitions as might be seen elsewhere. Anything -less like Christianity than many of the objects which in Rome are -called objects of Christian art, is hard to conceive, or anything -more fitted to turn men into triflers, if once they give themselves -up to such baubles as the great concern of life, either social or -religious. In this exhibition, Friedrich was struck with a statue of -the Pope defining the Immaculate Conception, and with pictures of the -same event, "with the inevitable sunbeams." He was also arrested by a -group of the Risen Christ, with Pius standing before Him in a flowing -pluvial. He says that when one looks at the humble figure of our -Lord, and then at the self-conscious Pius, one is inclined to surmise -that the latter is thinking, "I am not only what Thou art, but much -more. I command all; Thou didst serve all" (p. 220). Quirinus quotes, -without translating it, a saying of an Italian noble, which might -have suggested the very thought: "Other Popes believed that they were -Vicars of Christ; but this Pope believes that our Lord is his Vicar -in heaven" (p. 326). These are the things which the worshippers of -Pius IX call blasphemy, while most Italians smile if you doubt their -legitimacy. Friedrich tells how the auditor of Cardinal Hohenlohe, -an ecclesiastic, expressed the horror that had been caused in Rome -by Friedrich's articles on Manning in the _Literaturblatt_. He added -that Hohenlohe would have been a great Cardinal but for two blunders, -that of visiting Cardinal Andrea when he returned to Rome, and that of -bringing Professor Friedrich to the Council (p. 220). - -The ministry of Prince Hohenlohe, in Bavaria, had fallen under the -hostile influences of the Church party. On the other hand, the recent -action of France and Austria had shown that possibly the Curia, if not -prompt, might meet with more formidable checks than any that could -arise from Bavaria. As to France, the Curia would seem, rightly or -wrongly, to have felt that if Napoleon dared them to the worst, they -could shake him out of his place, if not as easily, yet as surely as -the bearers of the Pope's portative throne could upset a Pontiff. -Daru's demands were officially made known by the reluctant, indeed the -all but recalcitrant M. de Banneville, no earlier than March 1. At -this very time Dupanloup was drawing up, and the French bishops were -preparing to sign, the protest against the new Rules. The adhesion of -the German and Hungarian bishops to this protest was to be foreseen. -The Curia, therefore, took the decision to face both Bonapartes and -bishops, and to throw down the gauntlet. - -The meetings of General Congregations had been suspended to give the -Fathers time for study. On the evening of March 7 a short notice was -sent round to their houses, saying that an additional chapter, to be -called the Eleventh, would be inserted in the Draft of Decrees on -the Church. This new chapter was simply that declaration of Papal -infallibility which had been asked for by the famous Address. So the -die was cast. All uncertainty as to the designs of the Curia was at -an end. Not only was the dogma to be defined, but all who should deny -it were to be excluded from the unity of the Church. Quirinus says -that the Pope gave his sanction to this critical act under great -personal excitement. For four-and-twenty years had he sought the crown -of infallibility, believing himself to be wrongfully deprived of it -by the error and unbelief of mankind. In 1848, when Count Mamiani, -after ceasing to be the Prime Minister of the new Pontiff, met his -friends in Florence, he said, "It is utterly impossible to act as the -constitutional minister of a Pope who is stark mad on the subject of -his own personal infallibility."[334] - -The bishops found that they had only ten days allowed them to send in -their written comments upon the fundamental change now impending in -the constitution of the Church, in their creed, and in their standard -of faith. Vitelleschi remarks that the brevity of the time given -will remain as a testimony to the pressure exercised, and will lower -the impression of the wisdom of men who hurried the Church through -such a transformation.[335] The _Civiltá_ states that the time was -afterwards extended by a week.[336] If it was proposed to give to -Orders of the Queen in Council all the scope and effect of Acts of -Parliament, our Lords and Commons would expect at least one week beyond -ten days' notice before meeting the Court party in the lists, and more -particularly if the right of moving that the Bill should be read that -day six months had been for ever snatched away from them. - -A visit of the ex-Grand Duke of Tuscany, or, as the _Civiltá_ takes -care to call him, the Grand Duke, is formally recorded, as if to show -the proper relations between princes and the Pontiff. On his arrival, -the Grand Duke was waited upon by the majordomo and chamberlain of -the Pope; and next day by Antonelli, as Secretary of State. The day -following, the Grand Duke "went to the apostolic palace to do homage -to the Holy Father." This is the true language of vassalage. To make -it plainer, the Pope, on the same day, "admitted the Archduke Charles -of Tuscany to an audience."[337] It was, however, not encouraging for -the projectors of "a new world" that the only princes who came with -suitable reverence to the door which formed the entrance to it were -princes who represented a world that had waxed old, had decayed, and -indeed had vanished away. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 320: _Friedberg_, p. 112.] - -[Footnote 321: _Friedberg_, p. 114.] - -[Footnote 322: _Friedberg_, p. 138.] - -[Footnote 323: _Vitelleschi_, p. 81.] - -[Footnote 324: _Quirinus_, p. 267.] - -[Footnote 325: _Friedberg_, p. 415; _Acta_, p. 18; Freiburg ed., p. -163.] - -[Footnote 326: _Friedrich_, p. 198.] - -[Footnote 327: _Doc. ad Ill._, i. 164.] - -[Footnote 328: "_In pluribus Patrum libertas inde minui, imo etiam -tolli posse videatur._"] - -[Footnote 329: _Alioquin jam deputatio esset totum concilium et in -pluribus solus judex._] - -[Footnote 330: _Documenta_, i. p. 263. Here _veritas_ seems to mean -reality "quasi veritate et libertate caruerit."] - -[Footnote 331: _Quirinus_, p. 261.] - -[Footnote 332: Strangely enough, in April 1876, the papers spoke of -the excitement caused in France by the fact that Bishop Freppel had -positively excommunicated the zealous M. de Falloux for some breach of -the ecclesiastical law, in a matter connected with Church property.] - -[Footnote 333: _Tagebuch_, p. 219.] - -[Footnote 334: See a very life-like sketch of Pio Nono in the -_Manchester Examiner and Times_ of December 17, 1874, which, in Rome, -is ascribed to the pen of Mr. Montgomery Stuart.] - -[Footnote 335: _Vitelleschi_, p. 177.] - -[Footnote 336: Srrie II. x. 112.] - -[Footnote 337: _Civiltá_, VII. x. 118.] - - - - -_BOOK IV_ - -_FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF THE QUESTION OF INFALLIBILITY TO THE -SUSPENSION OF THE COUNCIL_ - - - - -CHAPTER I - -Joy of Don Margotti--New Feelers for an Acclamation--Suggested Model -of the Scene--Its Political Import--A Pause--Case of the Jesuit -Kleutgen--Schwarzenberg out of Favour--Politics of Poland--Döllinger -on the New Rules--Last Protest of Montalembert--His Death--Consequent -Proceedings in Rome. - - -"The Vicar of Jesus Christ for ever" was the title of the article in -which Don Margotti announced the fact that the Pope had sent in the -proposal of infallibility. Ollivier, said Don Margotti, once stated -that he loved strong powers with confidence in themselves, and as the -Pope always wished to be loved by ministers of Napoleon III, he had -showed them that he was strong.[338] "It is a great spectacle, but it -will be a still greater one when infallibility is proclaimed, and the -Syllabus is proclaimed, in spite of the opposition of governments, of -revolutions, and of all hell." - -But the speedy closing of the question, now formally opened, was -indispensable. The suggestion of an acclamation on the day of Mary in -December had proved vain; but the day of Joseph was now approaching. -The term allowed for sending in written observations on the Draft would -expire on March 17, and the _Unitá_, in its number of the 11th, put up -the following prayer: "O Blessed St. Joseph, grant us the grace that -on the 18th of March may be discussed, and on the 19th, the day of thy -Festival, may be proclaimed, the most pleasant and most wise doctrine -of the infallibility of the Vicar of Jesus Christ." The correspondent -of the _Unitá_ from Rome said, "We hope for the definition on the 19th, -St. Joseph's Day"; and its correspondent at Paris stated that no doubt -existed that the dogma would be proclaimed on that day. Two days before -the one so anticipated, the _Unitá_ published suggestive accounts of -the scenes in 1854, when the Immaculate Conception was acclaimed. It -quoted Canon Audisio, a well-known writer, and one sometimes called a -Liberal Catholic. Just after the noontide bell, when the two hundred -bishops had knelt to repeat the Angelus, as soon as they resumed their -seats, a cry speedily broke out from among them, _Petre, doce nos: -confirma fratres tuos_: (Peter, teach us! strengthen thy brethren!) The -teaching desired was a definition of the Immaculate Conception. The -whole assembly wept. "It was a weeping so cordial and sublime that you -cannot imagine it, and pen cannot describe it." - -After this hint, as to what the scene--always a chief point--on the -19th should be, the principles of polity involved in the scene are -indicated; for in Rome all acting is for the purpose of ruling. Some -prelates, said the _Araldo di Lucca_, as quoted by the _Unitá_, had -thought that the Bull announcing the dogma of the Immaculate Conception -should make mention of the assembly of the bishops; but a prelate from -France, rising _in the spirit of Athanasius_, said, "No; the episcopate -should not decide, but only the chief Pontiff; he alone must speak." -He went on to argue that, by showing obedience to the Pontiff, they -would secure the obedience of the people, and strengthen the principle -of authority. The _Unitá_ significantly adds, "It appears to us, and -it will appear to all, that not only the dogma of the Immaculate was -defined on that memorable sitting of the 24th of November, 1854, but -also that of Papal infallibility." - -While the party of movement was full of hope, the minority were in -dismay. Their chosen ground of inopportuneness had been cut from under -their feet. The Pope and five hundred bishops had decided that the -question was opportune. They now felt that if the dogma should be -suddenly defined, they must either submit or be outside of the Church. -The new Rules permitted the discussion to be closed at the will of -the majority. It was notorious that any discussion whatever, on a -point so immediately affecting the authority of the Pope, not only in -the Church, but also in the world, was hateful to every right-minded -Curialist, and, in fact, that as taking place hard by the tomb of St. -Peter, such a discussion was regarded as a thing all but intolerable. -The suggestions in the _Unitá_ from Rome, Paris, and Turin had not been -put out without high sanction. Was it possible that, on St. Joseph's -Day, all would be ended by an irresistible acclamation? - -Some think that so deep a feeling was now produced in the minority, -and that so clear did they make it that they would not acquiesce in -an acclamation, that they impressed the Vatican for a time. Friedrich -repeats, on the authority of one who was intimate with the Pope, a -saying of the latter, "The Jesuits have set me on this road, and now I -shall go on in it, and they must bear the responsibility." The personal -position of members of the minority became more and more trying, owing -to the increasingly active part taken by the Pontiff in the discussion. -A second brief to the Jesuit Ramière[339] followed the one which -ridiculed Maret, commending another publication of the same author, -in which, alluding to the possibility that some now opposing the -infallibility of the Pope would secede from the Church, Ramière said, -"These form the secret enemy who impedes our march, and, in driving him -from our ranks, the sacred army will obtain the most precious guarantee -of its future success."[340] Friedrich adds, what agrees with much that -is said, or hinted, by other Liberal Catholics, strange as it sounds in -our ears, "Any one who knows the Jesuits can explain the closing words -of the pamphlet, 'Then, truly will the Council have realized the most -ardent desire of the Saviour, and established the conditions on which -this divine Master makes the submission of the entire world to the yoke -of the faith depend.'" - - "That is," explains Friedrich, "the yoke of the Society of Jesus; - for even under the name Jesus, 'we are only to understand the - Society of Jesu.' At the Festival of St. Ignatius Loyola, priests - must repeat the words, with great emphasis, 'At the name of Jesu - every knee shall bow.' The former Confessor of the Pope, now - replaced by a Jesuit, always felt scandalized by this, on the eve - of the Festival, and earnestly wished to have those words removed - from the Mass for Loyola's Day." - -Archbishop Cardoni, being asked what had become of the Draft Decrees -on Faith, said that the committee first examined them, after which -Deschamps, Pie, and Martin, as a sub-committee, partly prepared -a revised form, and finally the recasting of them was completed -by Kleutgen, the Jesuit. What, it was asked, the Kleutgen who was -condemned by the Inquisition? Yes, replied the Archbishop faintly. -This Kleutgen had been a German political refugee, but joined the -Jesuits, and became confessor to a nunnery. One of the nuns, a -German princess, was dying. Her relations, through interest with the -Pope, succeeded in procuring her release. It proved to be a case of -poisoning. The Inquisitors took proceedings, and Kleutgen was somehow -incriminated. The convent was closed, the nuns were dispersed into -other establishments, and the confessor was sentenced to prison for six -years. The imprisonment was changed into reclusion in one of the Jesuit -houses, in a delightful neighbourhood near Rome. Kleutgen found means -to regain favour, and was now remoulding the faith for the benefit of -reconstituted society.[341] - -Cardoni told how he, an Archbishop, had been received the preceding day -by the Pope before Schwarzenberg, a Cardinal and a prince, and it was -added that Schwarzenberg had been obliged to wait a fortnight for his -audience, whereas a Cardinal was entitled to have one after two days. -Cardinal De Angelis alleged that the Pope had seen Schwarzenberg behind -the Vatican smoking a cigar, with a "small hat" on his head. To this -the Germans replied that it was well known that Schwarzenberg did not -smoke.[342] We cannot state what would be the penalty for a Cardinal -convicted of wearing a small hat, but they are a class of "creatures" -whose eternal salvation may, by the will of their lord, be declared to -depend on matters the connexion of which with the Christian religion -it takes a Pontiff to find out. Sixtus V decreed the penalty of -excommunication against any Cardinal who should open a letter bearing -the plain address "Cardinal," without the title "Most Illustrious and -Most Reverend." They were to burn such letters. (_Frond_, ii., p. xiii.) - -Archbishop Ledochowski, whose name has frequently been heard of since -the Council, had been made Primate of Poland by the Pope. This office, -in olden time, carried with it the regency of the country, in the -interregnum between the death of one king and the election of another. -As primate, the Archbishop put on the colours of a Cardinal. Count -L---- told Friedrich that Ledochowski had said that he was right glad -that he had so early joined the Infallibilists, for Rome was certain -to carry through what she had taken in hand, and therefore the bishops -of the Opposition would gradually come over to the right side, and -would cut a poor figure at the last. Count L---- expressed himself as -indignant at this morality. But, said Friedrich, scarcely had the Count -ended, when I read in the _Univers_ that Ledochowski was mentioned -for promotion as a Cardinal. We may here, as illustrating the bearing -of titles and colours on very serious affairs, interject a statement -of what happened later.[343] Ledochowski, after the Council, at once -took up a new position. When the German bishops next met at Fulda, he -would not join them. As Primate of Poland, he said, he belonged to the -tomb of St. Adelbert rather than to that of St. Boniface. He would -no longer admit Germans to his seminary for priests. In places where -preaching had existed alternately in German and Polish, he suppressed -the German. His organ, the _Tyotnick_, related how, during the Council, -the Pope had given him the title of Primate of Poland, but denied that -he _used_ the political powers attached to the title. Nevertheless, the -_Catholic Calendar_ for 1872, published in Thorn, placed the name of -Ledochowski in the list of reigning princes, as Primate of Poland and -representative of the King of Poland. So that, if the powers attached -to the title were not used, the reasons were not far to seek.[344] - -While early converts were joyful, Ketteler continued to be mysterious. -In a meeting of German prelates he declared that, though all his life -he had worked for infallibility, he could not do so now. This Draft -Decree was a crime. But what was to be done? Send in another protest? -All cried out at once, No! no! they have treated us like domestics, and -not even given us an answer.[345] - -On February 27 Don Margotti had said that even a Protestant or a -Mohammedan, a Schismatic or a Jew, would see from the new Rules that no -assembly could be freer. Döllinger, on the other hand, had published a -letter on the new Rules. He took the ground indicated in the protest -of the one hundred bishops. In matters of faith, as he contended, the -Rules shifted the source of authority from tradition to majority. This -he showed to be a direct departure from the doctrine of the Catholic -Church. - -The days which some had fixed upon for the triumph of an acclamation -were passed in excitement of a different kind. A letter appeared in -the _Gazette de France_ and the _Times_, from Montalembert, addressed -to some gentleman who had challenged his present opposition as -inconsistent with his former championship of the Church. The dying -man then delivered his last public utterance. He protested that, in -his early days, the pretensions now put forth were unheard of. In -language already cited he described the incredible change of the clergy -after 1850, and their present shortsighted prostration before the idol -they had set up. He showed that in his speech of 1847 there was not a -word of the doctrine of Papal infallibility. He might have indicated -also the still more celebrated speech on the restoration of Pius IX. -He quoted that remarkable letter of Sibour, Archbishop of Paris, in -which he depicted the difference between the old Ultramontanism and -the new. Montalembert then declared that his whole regret was that -illness prevented him from descending into the arena to join Dupanloup -and Gratry, to contend on his own ground, that of history and of -social consequences. "Then should I merit--and it is my sole remaining -ambition--a share in the _litanies of insult_ daily launched against -my illustrious friends by a portion, too numerous, of the clergy--that -poor clergy which is preparing for itself so sad a destiny, and which -formerly I loved, defended, and honoured, as no one in modern France -had done." The _Unitá_ cried, "Better for Montalembert had he died -a year ago; better indeed had he never been born."[346] While these -words were ringing in the ears of all, came a telegram announcing -that Montalembert was no more. That evening the Pope had one of those -audiences in which he delights; a kind of public meeting, with three -hundred persons present. Of course every one expected that the little -member which in the days of Pius IX has done much to make the Pope an -entertainment for Italians, would not be able to keep off the exciting -topic. "A Catholic has just died," said his Holiness, "who rendered -services to the Church. He wrote a letter which I have read. I know not -what he said at the moment of death; but I know one thing--that man -had a great enemy, pride. He was a Liberal Catholic--that is to say, a -half-Catholic.... Yes, Liberal Catholics are half-Catholics."[347] - -About the time when the Pope was thus speaking of him whose eloquence -had been worth regiments to him, Father Combalot was crying from the -pulpit of Notre Dame Della Valle-- - - "Satan has entered into Judas! There are men who were Christians, - and who on the brink of the grave become enemies of the Pope, and - speak of torrents of adulation, and accuse us of erecting him into - an idol. To speak so is Satanic work. There are three academicians - who do it" [Montalembert, Gratry, and Dupanloup].[348] - -Archbishop De Mérode, brother-in-law of Montalembert, and almoner -to the Pope, arranged that a High Mass should be celebrated in the -Aracoeli on the height of the Capitoline, that is, the church of the -Roman municipality, in which Montalembert was entitled to the honour -of such a solemnity because of the dignity of Roman citizen which had -been conferred upon him for his distinguished services to the Church. -On the 16th a notice was circulated, announcing the intended Mass, in -publishing which the _Univers_ stated that it was known that there -would be no oration--a record which spoiled subsequent fables. Late -that evening, in the great church of the French, a preacher dwelt upon -the memory of Montalembert, inviting the audience to the solemn service -at the Capitoline the next morning. At the same time the rooms of -Archbishop Darboy were crowded. French prelates related what remarks -they had written on the proposal for infallibility. Each one beheld -in his own a great and heroic act. Landriot, Archbishop of Rheims, -had employed a quotation from Bessarion against the curial system, -and expected to be called Jansenist, Gallican, Febronian, and such -like. Friedrich, we suspect, was making prelates understand that if -once they allowed themselves to recommence deliberation under the new -Rules, all hope of successful opposition would be idle, and hinting his -belief that under such Rules the Council had no proper oecumenicity. -Suddenly news came from Mérode. Something was wrong. It proved that -the High Mass for Montalembert had been forbidden by the Pontiff. -What! the departed spirit of the foremost Frenchman in the chivalry -of the Church to be insulted on the Capitoline by the Pope in person! -Among all those Frenchmen, many were old enough to remember the most -brilliant of Montalembert's sallies, and all were old enough to have -witnessed the public disgust when a Court chamberlain turned him out at -the election of 1857, half of the clergy voting against him, and the -other half staying at home. But this beat all. A Cardinal present could -not restrain the confession, "Now I am well ashamed of being a Roman -Cardinal."[349] - -The announcement was too late to reach all, and when the hour for -the service came, some twenty bishops and many French notables -assembled. Father Beckx, the General of the Jesuits, had come from the -neighbouring _Gesù_, thinking, doubtless, of the splendid services to -the Order which had been rendered by the confiding genius of the man -for whose soul he was now to pray. Even Louis Veuillot came, trying -to forget the irritations of recent years, perhaps hoping in part to -make reparation for ingratitude and insolence, and unable now to see -the opponent, seeing only as in old days the "son of the Crusaders," -facing, provoking, and dominating a hostile Parliament, with his -head back and his blue eye flashing, till at some turning-point in -his theme the fountains of a great deep broke up, the deep of his -mighty emotions, and then gushed out a flood which carried all before -it. When they reached the steps of the Aracoeli, an official, who -was one of the subordinates of Mérode, cried out in a French phrase -which he had learned on purpose, that they must go away, that the -Mass was forbidden. It is evident that they were all overcome with -mortification, not to use stronger language. Even M. Veuillot pushed by -and said, "It can do no harm to repeat some paternosters for him."[350] - -Quirinus says that probably it was De Banneville who represented to -the Pope the serious effects that would be produced in France by this -proceeding. So, on the evening of the 17th, instead of arranging -for the acclamation of infallibility, the Pope was making the small -amends of sending a private message to have a Mass celebrated, on -the following morning, on behalf of a certain deceased Charles, in -the Church of Santa Maria Traspontina. No public notice whatever was -given of this service. The bishops were all shut up in a General -Congregation. The Pope went privately, without any suite, sat hidden -in a latticed "tribune," and then had it announced to the world that -he had personally attended a Mass on behalf of Montalembert. When the -exceedingly painful feeling he had caused began to appear, an attempt -was made to turn the occasion to account by throwing the blame on -Dupanloup. It was declared that it had been announced that he would -deliver an oration, and indeed that the proposed function had been got -up by him as a party demonstration. This gave Dupanloup the opportunity -of writing[351]:-- - - This is an outrage at once upon the Holy Father, Monsignor De - Mérode, the bishops, and myself. This entire tale, Sir, is false - from the first word to the last. I did not appoint the service. - I was not to officiate. I have had nothing whatever to do in - distributing cards of invitation. Whatever may have been my - profound and inviolable affection for M. De Montalembert, it - belonged to the members of his family present in Rome, Monsignor - De Mérode and the Count De Mérode, and not to me, to arrange the - details of this religious ceremony. It is within my knowledge that - in doing so they conformed to all the laws and formalities usual in - Rome in similar cases. - -The last statement was made to upset one of the excuses, that proper -leave had not been asked for the service. So those false stories, at -least, were stayed. - -As the news spread in succession from place to place, the imaginations -of Liberal Catholics all over Europe would restlessly wander up and -down the Capitoline, seeing on that historical slope the signal given -for their eternal disgrace in the Holy City. It was given too by an -arrow shot from the Pontiff's own bow, and aimed at the shade of -Montalembert. We do not profess to know what injury the imagination -of such men might picture as having been done to the spirit that was -gone, but those Christians who believe in a God who, not even in this -world, much less in the great hereafter, trusts any child of man, -though the least of all the little ones, to a Vicar--those who believe -in a sacrifice which no man can repeat, prohibit, or buy, when they -heard what had occurred, saw the spirit pass into the true temple, -_and outfly all the arrows of death_. Oh, how benign is that light of -immortality which shows us the spirits of the departed resting in the -hands of their Father, altogether above dependence on the malice or the -compassion, on the liberality or the avarice, on the devotion or the -unbelief of living men; and which, with the same blessed beam, shows us -the living protected from all possible malice, raised into independence -of all possible goodwill of the dead, by a near and solicitous paternal -Watcher. All the traffic of the markets of Purgatory, a traffic as low -and demoralizing as any traffic can be, scarcely exposes the system -which has sprung up around that invention so much as one broil like -that which the traffickers raised around the soul of Montalembert--no, -not around his soul, that was beyond their reach, only around his -memory. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 338: _Unitá Cattolica_, March 10.] - -[Footnote 339: _Friedberg_, p. 491.] - -[Footnote 340: _Tagebuch_, p. 221.] - -[Footnote 341: _Tagebuch_, p. 230.] - -[Footnote 342: _Ibid._, p. 231.] - -[Footnote 343: Menzel, _Jesuitenumtriebe_, p. 297.] - -[Footnote 344: The following passage in the speech made to the Pope -by Ledochowski on his elevation to the purple, is taken from the -_Emancipatore Cattolico_, April 22, 1876:--"And as the persecution -was most bitter in that part of Poland which is now under Prussian -occupation ... the honour of this sacred purple falls like a celestial -dew upon my oppressed and agonised country, and seems silently to say -to her, that if forgotten and abandoned of the world, she is still -loved and blessed by God, of whom your Holiness is the Vicar." The very -next paragraph in the same paper is headed, _The Heresy of Love of -Country_.] - -[Footnote 345: _Tagebuch_, p. 236.] - -[Footnote 346: March 11.] - -[Footnote 347: This is the version quoted from the _Moniteur Universel_ -in _Ce Qui se Passe au Concile_, p. 154. M. Veuillot acknowledged that -the "hard word" was in the speech, and the above version has not been -denied.] - -[Footnote 348: _Ce Qui se Passe au Concile_, p. 155, quoting _Gazette -de France_, March 20. In the _Univers_ of April 4, quoted on the same -page, Combalot acknowledged the words, and said that he was preaching -at the time "by the grace and the mission of the infallible Pontiff."] - -[Footnote 349: _Tagebuch_, p. 259.] - -[Footnote 350: This trait of kindly feeling is given by Friedrich.] - -[Footnote 351: The fullest account of the whole transaction is that in -_Ce Qui se Passe au Concile_. But Friedrich, Quirinus, Veuillot, and -Fromman have all been consulted, and show that the main particulars -admit of no doubt. Dupanloup's letter is both in _Ce Qui se Passe au -Concile_, and in German, in _Friedberg_, p. 110.] - - - - -CHAPTER II - -Threat of American Prelates--Acclamation again fails--New -Protest--Decrees on Dogma--Ingenious connexion of Creation with the -Curia--Serious Allegations of Unfair and Irregular Proceedings of the -Officials--Fears at the Opening of the New Session--The Three Devotions -of Rome--More Hatred of Constitutions--Noisy Sitting; Strossmayer -put down--The Pope's Comments--He compares the Opposition to Pilate -and to the Freemasons--He is reconciled to Mérode--The Idea of -Charlemagne--Secret Change of a Formula before the Vote. - - -"That took effect," wrote Quirinus, for once, in noting a step of -members of the minority. The step so spoken of was a simple one. Four -American prelates sent in a declaration that if any attempt was made to -carry infallibility by acclamation, as had been suggested, they would -leave the Council, go home, and publish their reasons for so doing. - -Whether this proceeding alone, or this together with other indications, -influenced the majority, certain it is that when the General -Congregations were resumed, on March 18, there was no acclamation. St. -Joseph did not avail more for his day than the Immaculate had done for -hers. All that we hear of any attempt to provoke an acclamation is the -statement of Vitelleschi that one prelate tried to get infallibility -carried "by chance," but received countenance only from very few. The -minority gave in their protest against the new Rules to the Presiding -Cardinals. We need not say that neither then nor at any later time did -they receive an answer. The business now placed before the Fathers was -the Draft of Decrees on Dogma as revised. The eighteen chapters had, -under the hands of the committee, the sub-committee, and Kleutgen, -shrunk to four. Even as they now stood, the chapters had to undergo -considerable alteration before taking the shape in which they appear -upon the _Acta_. As they stand there, they are not at first sight -capable of interesting the theologian for their theology, or the -politician for their bearing on politics. At the time, they led many to -wonder why grave men should have spent years in formulating rudimentary -principles, and that not very successfully. The alleged reason was -that everything being wrong in the ideas of the age, the Church must -commence by asserting the existence of a God, and the fact that He had -created the world. An attempt was made to throw some dignity about -this proceeding by quoting a prophecy of some saint, to the effect -that an age would come when a General Council would have to do this. -On the other hand, as Vitelleschi shows, Roman wit said that really, -after sitting four months and a half, the Vatican Council would vote -almost unanimously that God created the world. Friedrich, however, saw -that the Curial system was insinuated in these Decrees, but it took a -theologian to discern it, and one who was not a mere theologian. Yet -when it was pointed out there could be no doubt of the fact. The simple -headings, "God, the Creator of the World," "Revelation," "Faith," -and "Faith and Reason," would to Protestant eyes seem very unlikely -to cover any such purpose. Nevertheless, they are made to serve the -purpose of laying a foundation for the dominion of the Church, over -all science and knowledge, for the dominion of the Pope, ay, even that -of the Roman Congregations, over the Church, and for the lifting of -men out of civil control into the higher sphere of Christian liberty, -or, as the world would call it, for placing them under the dominion -of ecclesiastical law. The process by which this is done is simple, -and had been clearly indicated in the officious expositions of those -judgments of the Syllabus which condemned "naturalism." First, God, -as a personal Being, exists, has created the world, and rules it. -Secondly, He gives a revelation by which man is raised above natural -knowledge and perfection to a higher knowledge and perfection. Thirdly, -this revelation is a deposit committed to the Church, which holds in -charge the Word of God, _written and traditional_; and all things -are to be believed which she propounds as divinely revealed, whether -they are propounded by solemn judgment, or by the ordinary teaching -authority. Hence, naturally, all science must be held subject to this -faith, and therefore subject to this Church; and _all things condemned -in the Decrees of the Holy See_ are to be held as anathema, even though -not specified in the present Decrees. - -The four chapters containing these principles would not fix the -attention of any student if he took them up in a village of the -Campagna or of Connaught as the work of the priest of the parish. He -would be tempted to doubt whether the worthy man who faced Atheism and -Pantheism with these weapons had ever really met with them face to -face in either their ancient or modern forms. He might even be tempted -to think that the intellectual life of the author had been passed -within walls, and that so far as concerns the books and the minds -which really sway contemporary thought in either of the directions -indicated, he had scarcely ever felt their grip. But when we look at -this document as the work of a great society, on the preparation of -which had been employed the leisure of years by a few, and then the -united counsels of a large yet elect number, it certainly does not -exalt our idea of human gifts. But it is not well to let the critical -contempt which German scholars especially have displayed for the Drafts -while under discussion, and for the Decrees when ultimately framed, -blind us to the practical success of this late but adroit creed. For -the purpose of laying a colourable theological basis under a municipal -arrangement for governing mind and knowledge, belief and morals, laws -and institutions all over the world, by a college of Augurs called -Christian priests, it was not a mere superfluity of the professors, -as many seemed to think. Sambin, Guérin, and other writers, not to -mention prelates in abundance, struck a note, which is now taken up in -colleges, seminaries, and schools. These compact chapters, being once -exalted to the level of the Word of God, formed a short and easy method -for connecting the Creator and the creation of the world with the last -edict of the Vatican. - -One of the startling statements in the secret memorandum, _La Liberté -du Concile_, touches this Decree. A conclusion to it was proposed which -to many appeared to include infallibility. This was strongly opposed. -The committee withdrew it, saying that it would be reserved to the end -of the final chapter on Faith. This step was applauded. The next day, -or the next but one, however, the reporter announced that the vote upon -it would be taken then and there. Eighty-three, in voting, demanded -modifications; which, according to the Rules, compelled a consideration -by the committee of the amendments they proposed. The committee finally -resolved, with one dissentient, to substitute a new wording which would -satisfy all. But when the moment came to vote, before the reporter -mounted the pulpit, a communication was put into his hands. This -attracted the attention of the Fathers. He mounted the pulpit, but did -not report what the committee had adopted! He did report what it had -set aside! The vote was instantly called for--no one could speak, the -Rules did not allow it. The majority did its duty; and the wording, -surreptitiously reported, was made "of Faith."[352] - -Strong and circumstantial confirmation of this incredible statement is -given in Kenrick's unspoken speech.[353] Incidentally he says, "The -reporter, while we wondered what was the matter, suddenly recommended -this conclusion, which had been first submitted and then withdrawn." -This he says only on his way to tell Archbishop Manning that if the -sense put by him upon this famous conclusion was the true one, the -reporter was either himself deceived or had, knowingly, deceived the -bishops. Deceiver or deceived, his declaration had won many votes. -To get the clause passed, the reporter said it taught no doctrine, -and was only a conclusion to round off the chapters. But when once -passed, Manning cited it as concluding the question of infallibility, -and making it improper for the bishops to discuss that question any -longer.[354] Kenrick confesses that at the time he feared a trap. -The writer of _La Liberté du Concile_ declares that if the liberty -of the Council was doubtful, this incident proved the liberty of the -committees to be more doubtful still. - -The sitting was opened with evident anxiety on both sides. The minority -feared the threatened attempt at acclamation; the majority feared that -the minority would formally refuse to enter on deliberation under -the new Rules. When, however, instead of action, the paper protest -was given in, and the reporter for the committee, Simor, Primate of -Hungary, had mounted the pulpit, and things had resumed their course, -the majority were evidently relieved. They knew that the minority had -now committed themselves to the new Rules; and that, however they -might recalcitrate hereafter, they would no more be able to shake off -the meshes of the net than they had been in the past to shake off -those of the old Rules. Five speakers had inscribed their names. They -were supporters of the committee. It proved that the acoustics of the -Hall had really been improved by a boarded partition which had been -substituted for the curtain. When three had spoken the bell of the -President rang, and the speaker then in possession was stopped. The -Pope was descending to view the sacred relics, and the Fathers had to -break up to form a procession in his train. Not one of them had been -called to swell that train in the morning when he went, not to see and -to be seen, but to the mass for "a certain Charles." At the close of -this anxious sitting Bishop Pie congratulated Cardinal Bilio, "It has -gone off well." So it had; the minority were now fairly enclosed in the -net. - -M. Veuillot cries, "There are three great devotions in Rome: the Holy -Sacrament, the Holy Virgin, and the Pope. Rome is the city of the Real -Presence, and the city of the Mother of God, and the city of the Vicar -of Jesus Christ."[355] That saying sheds a clear light on the effect -of materializing and localizing the idea of the _divine presence_ by -such notions as that of transubstantiation. The show of constitutional -reforms just then being made in Paris by Napoleon III, contrasting -as it did with what was being done in Rome, naturally disgusted M. -Veuillot. He said that the title of Emperor now seemed grotesque. It -was sad to witness the crown turned into a curiosity of the museum, -or an accessory of the theatre. This was his idea of a constitutional -crown. He consoled himself, however, by the thought that the tiara -remained to us. Happily it was more solid than the crown. Pius IX., -he said, would bequeath it to his successor more brilliant and more -indestructible. Scandal of the world! kingdoms everywhere and no kings! -Here is a king, but no kingdom! Let Liberals come to the Vatican and -attempt to take liberties with the constitution. Let even universal -suffrage attempt it; let it try to make any change here in which the -guardian of the constitution does not concur.[356] - -The noisy sitting of March 22 has had its echoes all over the world. -The contradictions given by inspired writers to the uninspired ones -appear to be even less definite than usual. We may content ourselves -with giving that of Cardinal Manning as the sum of them all:-- - - Having from my earliest remembrance been a witness of public - assemblies of all kinds, and especially of those among ourselves, - which for gravity and dignity are supposed to exceed all others, - I am able and bound to say that I have never seen such calmness, - self-respect, mutual forbearance, courtesy, and self-control, as - in the eighty-nine sessions of the Vatican Council. In a period - of nine months the Cardinal President was compelled to recall - the speakers to order perhaps twelve or fourteen times. In any - other assembly they would have been inexorably recalled to the - question sevenfold oftener and sooner. Nothing could exceed the - consideration and respect with which this duty was discharged. - Occasionally murmurs of dissent were audible; now and then a - comment may have been made aloud. In a very few instances, and - those happily of an exceptional kind, expressions of strong - disapproval and of exhausted patience at length escaped. But the - descriptions of violence, outcries, menace, denunciation, and even - of personal collisions, with which certain newspapers deceived the - world, I can affirm to be calumnious falsehoods, fabricated to - bring the Council into odium and contempt.[357] - -_La Liberté du Concile_ confirms that portion of this statement which -says that the speakers were often allowed to deliver irrelevant matter, -when, in other assemblies, they would have been called back to the -question. It says that no bishop of the majority could be named who was -ever interrupted, although some of them strayed from the question so -far that, in the first stages of the proceedings, they rushed into the -question of infallibility.[358] - -The first speaker in the celebrated sitting of March 22, was -Schwarzenberg. He was not favourable to the Curia, their proceedings, -or their plans. He had not felt an impression in the Congregations -as if a Council was being held. At last the terrible bell was heard. -It was faint, but it was certainly sounding. What! a Cardinal rung -down?--and Schwarzenberg, with his princely rank, his historical name, -his age, and his majestic presence! Even among the Cardinals, it is -said, there was a slight murmur--a greater one among the bishops. -But Schwarzenberg himself heard bravos for the President.[359] But -the stately old man held his own.[360] After two other prelates had -succeeded to the precarious honour in which the Prince Cardinal had -been challenged, Strossmayer mounted the pulpit. - -He attacked the statement contained in the Draft Decrees, that -Protestantism was the source of the several forms of unbelief specified -in that Draft. Strossmayer showed that the worst revolutions and the -worst outbursts of infidelity had not been in Protestant countries, -and that Catholics had not produced better refutations of atheism, -pantheism, and materialism than had Protestants, while all were -indebted to such men as Leibnitz and Guizot. The Senior President, -Cardinal De Angelis, cried, "This is not a place to praise the -Protestants"; and having got so far in Latin, he declined into some -other tongue.[361] No, says Quirinus, it was not the place, being -within some few hundred paces of the Inquisition. The excitement had -now become great. Strossmayer proceeded, amid partial clapping of -hands and general murmurs of disapproval, to demand how they meant to -apply the principles embodied in the new Rules, of making a dogma by -a majority. When he cried "That alone can be imposed on the faithful -which has in its favour a moral unanimity of bishops," up rose Cardinal -Capalti, rang the bell, and, in a voice anything but courteous, as -Vitelleschi says, ordered the speaker to stop. Strossmayer replied that -he was tired of being called to order, and of being thwarted at every -point; that such proceedings were incompatible with freedom of debate, -and that he protested.[362] Then burst out an uproar that alarmed all -who were outside in the church. Strossmayer stood, lifted up his hands, -and thrice cried solemnly, "I protest! I protest! I protest!" Some one -shouted, "You protest against us, and we protest against you." As the -Archbishops of Rheims afterwards related, one of the majority stood up -and shouted to Strossmayer, "We all condemn thee!" Bishop Place, of -Marseilles, cried, "I do not condemn thee." Some one called Strossmayer -a cursed heretic. Some shook their fists, some crowded round the -pulpit, some cried "Pius IX. for ever!" some cried, "The Cardinal -Legates for ever!" and others, as Vitelleschi adds, made noises equally -serious and serene. _La Liberté du Concile_ speaks of the unheard of -violence, of the cries which rang through the basilica outside, and of -the menaces of a large number who rushed to the tribunal and surrounded -it.[363] Friedrich speaks of clenched fists, and of fears lest the -prelates should tear one another's hair. - -The people in the church interpreted the commotion each man according -to his own mind. Some--and that wild interpretation is laid to the door -of the English--thought the Garibaldians had attacked the Fathers; -some, that the long looked for dogma had at last sprung, full armed, -out of the head of the assembly, and that all the uproar was caused by -alarm at the portent. These raised cries of "Long live the Infallible -Pope!" The crowd pressed round the door of the Hall, and there was -danger of a tumult in the church. The servants of the bishops tried to -enter the Council Chamber, fearing that their masters were being harmed -in the disturbance. But the _gendarme_, whom Vitelleschi calls the most -effective instrument of every sort of infallibility, cleared off the -throng, resisted only by the servants, who clung to the door in the -hope of rescuing their masters. - -An American bishop said, with some patriotic pride, "Now I know of an -assembly rougher than our own Congress."[364] Archbishop Landriot, of -Rheims, said he was quite in despair.[365] Even Ketteler said, "It is -too bad, the way they handle us here. I do not know how we shall go -back to our dioceses and exist there."[366] Namszanowski, the Prussian -military bishop, said to Friedrich that he had told an Italian prelate, -"Things are more respectably done with us in a meeting of shoemakers, -than here in the Council." Going on to express his impression that the -only hope for the Church was in the fall of the temporal power, and the -assumption of control over patronage and Church affairs by a temporal -government, which would get rid of the excessive number of clergy, he -continued, "The most humiliating thing for us German bishops is, that -here we are forced to learn that it is the Freemason and Liberal papers -that are correct, and that our Catholic ones, if we must call them -Catholic, _lie_, LIE." - -The Pontiff soon made his voice heard as to the scene of this loud -resounding Tuesday. On the following Friday he had the missionary -bishops, numbering a hundred, assembled in the Sala Regia. There the -pictures of St. Bartholomew, of Barbarossa, and of the League against -the Turks, had time to suggest hopes of future triumph before the -Pontiff made his appearance. No sooner had he done so, than all fell on -their knees. He had gathered them for a practical purpose. The Dorcases -of the Church had been making, not coats and aprons for the widows, -but raiment rich and rare for the prelates, and costly attire for -altars and images. It was to distribute these goodly garments that his -Holiness had now convoked them, but, of course, the great thing was the -speech. Pointing clearly to the Opposition, he said, "We are surrounded -by great difficulties, for some, like Pilate when terrified by the -Jews, are afraid to do right. They fear the revolution. Though knowing -the truth, they sacrifice all to Cæsar, even the rights of the Holy -See, and their attachment to the Vicar of Jesus Christ. Wretches! what -a fault they commit! The warfare of bishops," he went on to say, "is to -defend the truth with the Vicar of Christ. My children, do not forsake -me. Attach yourselves to me. Be with me. Unite yourselves to the Vicar -of Jesus Christ." - -We follow the version of M. Veuillot (vol. i. p. 372). Vitelleschi -reports one of the Pope's expressions as "Be united to me, and not -with the revolution" (p. 129), and asks, Who could have imagined that -the good bishops who had been all their lives fighting the revolution -should now be accused of revolution? He adds, "Rulers who endeavour -to degrade Strossmayer to the level of a Rochefort, not unfrequently -reverse the intended result, and raise a Rochefort to the height of a -Strossmayer" (p. 130). - -"And you, my dear Orientals," said the Pope, "I have ornaments also -for you, but not enough of them. I give you what I have." Then he -tried to calm their fears, excited by recent collisions. He concluded -by the supreme disclosure, "We have in the Council the organs of the -Liberal party, whose word of command is to gain time by opposing -everything, and to wear out the patience of the majority." The allusion -of the Pope was understood. Bitter, indeed, was it for the bishops -of the minority to find themselves thus stigmatized before all men by -the sovereign. But the effect was practical. The day following, ten -Orientals announced their adhesion to the denunciation of Gratry by -the Archbishop of Strasburg. Presently, forty-three missionary bishops -published their concurrence in the profound discovery of Bonjean, of -Ceylon, that the dogma of infallibility would conduce to the conversion -of Buddhists, Brahmans, Protestants, _and other difficult religionists -of the East_.[367] - -As the Pope went to St. Cross of Jerusalem for the _Agnus Dei_, M. -Veuillot heard cries of "The Infallible Pope for ever!" and said that -this was a reply to the objections raised about the heresy of Pope -Honorius. Hefele had unpleasantly brought this heresy into notice -in a Latin pamphlet, which he had been obliged to print at Naples. -Of inopportune things, few had been more inopportune of late than -the appearance in Paris of a new edition of the _Liber Diurnus_, by -Rozière. This ancient monument, with its simple formula? and infallible -evidence, enabled every one to lay his finger on the fact that for -centuries Popes had on oath abjured the heresy of Pope Honorius. But M. -Veuillot heard an answer to all this in the cries of "The Infallible -Pope for ever!" - -But of all that the Pope passed on his route to Holy Cross, that -which most excited the imagination of M. Veuillot was the Holy Stair -and the _triclinium_, where Charlemagne received the sword kneeling. -Charlemagne, he says, ruled only long enough to indicate the place and -form which he wished to give to his throne; but now, after a thousand -years, his conception is one of the victorious apparitions. - - When the world merits to re-enter on the path of unity, God will - raise up a man, or a people, which will be Charlemagne. This - Charlemagne, man or nation, will be seen here, at the Lateran, - kneeling before the Pope, returned from dungeons or from exile; and - the Pope will take the sceptre of the world off the altar, and put - it into his hands.[368] - -M. Veuillot knows better than he here seems to know. Charlemagne's -conception was that of Constantine over again--a State Church; and over -a State Church Charlemagne reigned. The conception of Hildebrand, now -to be acted out, was that of a Church State, for which any Charlemagne -might conquer, but over which no second head should reign. Unity, as -M. Veuillot well knew, was now to comprehend not only one _fold_, but -also one _shepherd_. No more dualism! no more two-headed monsters! We -had come to the dispensation of the spiritual David, Shepherd and King -in one. It is, however, clear that the vision revealed to M. Veuillot, -as in 1867, still disclosed a struggle to come before the victory; -for his Pope, on taking his place as disposing of the sceptre of the -world, comes back from dungeons or from exile. Moreover, Veuillot still -smothers the poor kings in ambiguity. The new and final Charlemagne is -to be a man _or a nation_. - -The sittings which followed the stormy one were remarkably still; and -it is said that Haynald and Whelan from Wheeling were allowed to say -very strong things without interruption. It might be supposed that -a short chapter on God the Creator of the World, could hardly give -rise to a discussion on the Curial system; but when Rome set out to -speak about the Creator, she first of all made mention of herself. The -opening words of the chapter were, "The Holy Roman Catholic Apostolic -Church." To this form exception was taken. One proposed that the word -"Roman" should be omitted, which was, of course, offensive to the -Curia, the municipal spirit always forcing into view the shibboleth, -quite unconscious that it marred the show of universality. Indeed, -it is asserted by many that the extreme Curialists wanted the words -"Roman Church" alone, without Catholic. Others proposed that the word -"Catholic" should stand before "Roman," or at least that a comma should -be inserted between the two. It is a singular fact that a vote of the -Council was actually taken on this question of the comma. On this -great question of the comma the committee for once did not tell the -majority how to vote. _La Liberté du Concile_ thinks that the majority -voted for the comma. The numbers, however, were not reported in that -sitting; and when the next one was opened, and all waited to hear on -which side was the majority, lo! the reporter gets up, and, contrary -to all rule, usage, and decency, quietly sets aside the vote as if it -had never taken place; does not, indeed, mention it! He simply says -that the committee has rejected the comma! Now the majority, knowing -how it ought to vote, did its duty faithfully. So even about a tittle, -in the literal sense, the writer of _La Liberté du Concile_ was highly -incensed, contending that the rights of deliberation were ridden over -roughshod. Finally, the phrase came out as "The Holy Catholic Apostolic -Roman Church." Friedrich thinks that this phraseology compromises the -claim to represent the Universal Church, and must be taken as only -professing to represent the Roman Patriarchate. - -Meantime the minority held anxious deliberations. They doubted whether -they should not require a positive promise that no Decree touching -faith should be carried by a majority, and whether if this was denied -they should not refuse to take part in voting. They finally resolved -that they would reserve their opposition, as completely as possible, -for the all-important question of infallibility. They hoped by this -means to secure the double end of showing a conciliatory disposition in -everything in which they could give way with a good conscience, and of -preventing a precedent from being established for carrying articles of -faith by majorities. The last piece of strategy seemed specious. It, -however, obviously laboured under the infirmity that they were all the -time giving strength to the Rules which established the principle of -majorities. - -The preamble to the revised Draft of Decrees on Dogma contained not -only the passage about Protestantism which Strossmayer had criticized, -but also a clause suggested by the Bishop of Moulins, which virtually -contained the doctrine of infallibility. This was strongly resisted by -the minority, but all attempts to get it withdrawn had proved vain. -In the sitting of the 26th, the order and method of voting, which was -now for the first time to be put in practice, was fully read out. -But before the vote was taken, a paper was sent in to the Presiding -Cardinals, said to proceed from Bishop Clifford of Clifton. The -Presidents left the Hall, and on their return to the surprise of all, -the preamble, instead of being put to the vote, was withdrawn. When it -reappeared, the objectionable passage about infallibility was removed, -and the phrase as to Protestantism was moderated; and so the impending -collision was averted. But the way of doing this showed that majority -and minority were equally far from possessing the guarantees of -legislative freedom. What would a powerful majority in our Parliament -say if, after the clauses in a Bill had been settled in Committee, the -Ministers should retire and decide on altering them, and without a word -present them in a new form to the House for the final vote when no one -could speak? - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 352: _Doc._, i. 176.] - -[Footnote 353: _Ibid._ i. 225.] - -[Footnote 354: Kenrick's words are: Dixit verbis clarioribus, per -illud nullam omnino doctrinam edoceri; sed eam quatuor capitibus ex -quibus istud decretum compositum est imponi tanquam cis coronidem -convenientem; eamque disciplinarem magis quam doctrinalem charactererem -habere. Aut deceptus est ipse, si vera dixit Westmonasteriensis; -aut nos sciens in errorem induxit, quod de viro tam ingenuo minime -supponere licet. Utcumque fuerit ejus declarationi fidentes, plures -suffragia sua isti decreto haud deneganda censuerunt ob istam -clausulam; aliis, inter quos egomet, dolos parari metuentibus et -aliorum voluntati hac in re ægre cedentibus.] - -[Footnote 355: Vol. i. 389.] - -[Footnote 356: Vol. i. p. 398 ff.] - -[Footnote 357: _Pet. Priv._, iii. 27, 28.] - -[Footnote 358: _Doc._, i. p. 172.] - -[Footnote 359: _Tagebuch_, 277.] - -[Footnote 360: _Lib. du Con._, Doc. i., p. 172.] - -[Footnote 361: _Tagebuch_, 278.] - -[Footnote 362: _Vitelleschi_, 128.] - -[Footnote 363: _Doc._, i. p. 172.] - -[Footnote 364: _Quirinus_, 388.] - -[Footnote 365: _Tagebuch_, 278.] - -[Footnote 366: _Ibid._ 278.] - -[Footnote 367: _Ce Qui se Passe au Concile_, 163.] - -[Footnote 368: Vol. i. p. 443.] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -Important Secret Petition of Rauscher and others--Clear Statement -of Political Bearings of the Question--A Formal Demand that the -Question whether Power over Kings and Nations was given to Peter -shall be argued--Complaints of Manning--Dr. Newman's Letter--The -_Civiltá_ exorcises Newman--Veuillot's Gibes at him--Conflicts with -the Orientals--Armenians in Rome attacked by the Police--Priests -arrested--Broil in the Streets--Convent placed under Interdict--Third -Session--Forms--Decrees unanimously adopted--Their Extensive Practical -Effects. - - -The dangers opening in the future defined themselves more and more -clearly to the eyes of the bishops as the import of the constitutional -changes now in progress was more fully apprehended. Reflection, -conversation, and reading had done much since they came to Rome to -clear their views. Even if they read as little of Church history, or -of the current Curial literature, as is intimated in the oft-repeated -laments of Friedrich, and in the less frequent but equally strong -hints of Quirinus and others, they must surely have read something -of the _Unitá_ if not of the _Civiltá_, or at least of the sprightly -_Univers_. Any one of the three, in spite of that pious style of -mystery which Vitelleschi speaks of, would soon have made a very dull -bishop indeed conscious that the world was going to be transformed. - -The sagacious Rauscher put the forecast of the time into the form -of a petition, dated April 10, which states the case of the future -position of Roman Catholic citizens more strongly than some statements -of it in our country, which have been treated as the invention either -of Mr. Gladstone, or at best of Lord Acton, or of some other Liberal -Catholic.[369] The petition is headed as being from several prelates of -France, Austria, Hungary, Italy, England, Ireland, and America. The -editor of the _Documenta_ says that Germany should have been added. -Among the prelates from that country who signed it he specifies the -Archbishops of Munich and Bamberg, the Bishops of Augsburg, Trêves, -Ermland, Breslau, Rottenburg, Maintz, Osnabrück, and the Prussian -Military Bishop. According to this statement, the name of Ketteler was -to this document. When the German bishops met again at Fulda, after -the Council, they put forth the very interpretation of the Bull _Unam -Sanctam_ which is here solemnly treated as both false and absurd. Of -course they were confronted with their own words. Friedrich says, in a -note (p. 349), that Ketteler in the _Reichstag_, and in the well-known -_Germania_ No. 146, for 1872, asserted that no German bishop had signed -the petition, and that, therefore, the word "Germany" was not found in -the superscription:-- - - But all this is vain lying and cheating, such as we are well - accustomed to in the Ultramontane press and its episcopal - inspirers. In No. 242 of the _Germania_ Ketteler himself owns that - two German bishops, not Prussian, signed it. In reference to this, - a theologian, deeply initiated in the secrets of the minority, - writes to me under date June 20, 1871, that there are many Germans - among the signatories. - -Rauscher, and those who signed with him, alleged that the point about -to be decided bore directly on the instruction to be given to the -people, and on the relations of civil society to Catholic teaching. -Disclaiming any thought of accusing the Popes of the middle ages of -ambition, or of having disturbed civil society, and asserting their -belief that what the Pontiffs then did was done by virtue of an -existing state of international law, they go on to say that those Popes -held that our Lord had committed two swords to the successors of Peter; -one, spiritual, which they themselves wielded; the other material, -which princes and soldiers ought to wield at their command. Then -dealing with the attempt to represent this Bull as requiring only that -all shall acknowledge the Pope as the head of the Church, they declare -that gloss to be irreconcilable with love of the truth on the part of -any one who is acquainted with the circumstances as between Boniface -VIII and Philip le Bel; and that, moreover, it is a mode of treating -the subject which puts weapons into the hands of the enemies of the -Church to calumniate her. They add, "Popes, down to the seventeenth -century, taught that power over temporal things was committed to them -by God, and they condemn the opposite opinion." Mark, they do not say -temporal authority, but power over temporal things. With them temporal -authority is authority of temporal origin. - -Now follows a historical statement of great importance. "We, with -nearly all the bishops of the Catholic world, propound another doctrine -to the Christian people as to the relation of the ecclesiastical power -to the civil." They then make the stock comparison of the heavens and -the earth, as indicating the relative dignity of the spiritual and -temporal power, and say that each is supreme in its own sphere. The -ambiguous phrase "supreme in its own sphere," means, in Ultramontane -language, as we have seen, only that the temporal prince is not subject -to any other temporal power. But these bishops evidently meant at -the time to be clear of ambiguities. They added an explanation of -immense significance--"Neither power in its office is dependent upon -the other." This is a formal and total denial of what the _Civiltá_ -had long been preaching, of what Phillips and Tarquini and all the -accredited modern writers taught. The utmost they ever admit is, -that in its _nature_, and in its _origin_, temporal power is, or may -be, independent of the spiritual. But in office all impersonated -authorities must be dependent on the impersonated authority of the -Vicar of God. The next stroke of the petitioners was still bolder. -Admitting that princes, as members of the Church, are subordinate to -her discipline, they affirm that she does not in any way hold a power -of deposing them, or of releasing their subjects from their allegiance. -Still more incisive was the stroke that followed, for it was aimed at -the whole principle of Papal authority over the State. They declared -that the power of judging things, which the Popes of the middle ages -had exercised, came to them by a certain state of public law; and that, -as the public institutions and even the private circumstances which -then existed had changed, the power itself has with the foundation of -it passed away. This was the language which might be used before the -Bull _Unam Sanctam_ had received the stamp of infallibility. It was -language in which the claims founded on the text "Teach all nations," -or "I have set thee this day over the nations, and over the kingdoms," -are met with a downright denial. The fact that the Popes had at one -time acted as supreme judges was accounted for by a state of political -relations, not by a divine right, just, we may say, as the fact would -have been accounted for that the kings of Persia were appealed to as -arbiters by Greeks. Still further, the change which had taken place -was not only admitted, but it was held to have annulled the former -relation between the power of the Papacy and civil society. A careful -consideration of the positions thus stated, and a comparison of them -with matter in the Curial writings of the present pontificate with -which we are already familiar, afford some measure of the distance -separating the Ultramontanes north of the Alps, of the old type, like -Rauscher among the clergy and Montalembert among the laity, from the -new school formed by the development of the Jesuits into what had now -become the Catholic party. We do not say that the old Ultramontanes did -not give the Pope authority irreconcilable with Holy Scripture, and -power dangerous to civil society. All we can say is that the authority -and power which they did give to him was bounded by a frontier -tolerably defined, and therefore capable of being defended. - -The remark of the Pope, carried away from the Vatican by numbers of -bishops and not a few laymen, and repeated in every form of gossip -printed or spoken, to the effect that the bishops of the Opposition -were only time-servers and Court ecclesiastics, is, in Rauscher's -petition, repelled with dignity and force. Their opinions, as just -stated, they declare are not new but ancient. They were those of -all the Fathers, and of all the Pontiffs down to Gregory VII. They -believed them to be the true doctrines of the Catholic Church; for -God forbid that, under stress of the times, they should adulterate -revealed truth. But they must point out the dangers which would arise -to the Church from a Decree irreconcilable with the doctrines that they -have hitherto taught. No one, they affirm, can help seeing that it is -impossible to reform (they do not say reconstruct) society according to -the rule laid down in the Bull _Unam Sanctam_. But any right which God -has indeed given, and any obligation corresponding to such right, is -incapable of being destroyed by the vicissitudes of human institutions -and opinions. If then the Roman Pontiff had received the power of the -two swords, as it is asserted in the Bull _Ex Apostolatus Officio_, -he would, by divine right, hold plenary power over nations and kings; -and it would not be allowable for the Church to conceal this from -the faithful. But if this was the real form of Christianity as an -institution, little would it avail for Catholics to assert that, as -to the power of the Holy See over temporal things, that power would -be restrained within the bounds of theory, and that it was of no -importance in relation to actual affairs and events, seeing that Pius -IX was far from thinking of deposing civil rulers. - -This last statement was directly aimed at Antonelli's habitual mode of -putting the case in conversation with diplomatists, and also as we have -seen in his despatches. But our prelates contend that, in reply to such -assertions, - - "opponents would scornfully say, We do not fear the sentences of - the Pontiffs; but after many and various dissimulations, it has - become evident at last that"--(the italics are our own)--"_every - Catholic, whose actions are ruled by the faith he professes, is a - born enemy of the State, since he finds himself bound in conscience - to contribute, as far as in him lies, to the subjection of all - nations and kings to the Roman Pontiff_". - -On these solemn grounds they formally demand that the question whether -our Lord did or did not commit power over kings and nations to Peter -and to his successors shall be directly proposed to the Council and -examined in every aspect. In order that the Fathers may not be called -without adequate preparation to decide a question the consequences of -which must profoundly affect the relations of the Church and civil -society, they demand further that this point shall be brought on for -discussion before that infallibility. Their petition was not addressed -to the Pontiff in person, but to the Presiding Cardinals. - -No efforts made since, or which may be made hereafter, can erase this -record of the views of the bishops at the time in question. Their -conduct since the Council proves that for themselves, as individuals, -conviction is lost in submission. For the dogma has conquered history. -With the German bishops submission passed beyond silence, and proceeded -as far as deliberately certifying to the public as ancient views -and sincere ones the very views which they had secretly shown to be -innovations and pretences, alien to ancient teaching and to their own -belief. God's two priceless jewels, conscience and conviction, are -here sent to the bottom of the stagnant pool of submission to a human -king. It is by contemplating such a course of conduct in men with a -position to hold in the eye of the sun, that we learn the force of such -words as those of Vitelleschi, when he says that the frequent collision -in Catholic countries between a man's civil conscience and his -ecclesiastical one is the reason why so often there is no conscience -at all. And men such as these German bishops are the moral guides of -millions! and out of millions so guided States have to be built up, -and men have to be fitted for the judgment of Him who requireth truth -in the inward parts! And Vitelleschi evidently thinks that, in a moral -point of view, the German bishops were the best! - -Gossip in Rome spoke of Dr. Manning as burning with impatience at -the delays which had been interposed in the way of the forthcoming -dogma. Baron Arnim told Freidrich how it was said that the Archbishop -prophesied that the governments would be annihilated for their -resistance to it.[370] Quirinus speaks of the Archbishop as expecting -a wonderful dispensation of the Holy Ghost to follow the promulgation -of the dogma, and to smooth the way of the Church in her regeneration -of the nations. Whatever may have been the amount of correctness in -these details, the fact remains that at that moment a mind which had -attracted notice to itself as urging Englishmen to Rome for unity, was -bitterly complained of by Liberal Catholics as being the very genius of -contraction and division, urging their Church either to beat them down -or to cast them out--to make herself too narrow for them, and to tell -them that they should be endured only on new conditions. - -At the same time a cry came from our own shores. It was the voice of -one who had made himself conspicuous by alluring Englishmen towards -Rome for certainty, and on whose spirit the shadow of a new and dark -uncertainty was now settling down--uncertainty as to the future source -of doctrinal truth; uncertainty as to the doctrinal authority of -existing documents; uncertainty, in fine, as to what had been, and as -to what was to be, the oracle; uncertainty as to the future work of -God. At the same moment when Dr. Manning was accused by Roman Catholics -of violating the old terms of unity, Dr. Newman was turned into a -warning to Protestants as a victim of uncertainty. When describing how -he and his party fared when first, after shifting from the rock of -Holy Scripture, they settled on another foundation, which they called -Anglicanism or the _Via Media_, Dr. Newman had said:-- - - There they found a haven of rest; thence they looked out on the - troubled surge of human opinion and upon the crazy vessels which - were labouring without chart or compass upon it. Judge, then, of - their dismay when, according to the Arabian tale, on their striking - their anchor into the supposed soil, lighting their fires on it, - and fixing in it the poles of their tents, suddenly the island - began to move, to heave, to splash, to frisk to and fro, to dive, - and at the last to swim away, spouting out inhospitable jets of - water upon the credulous mariners who had made it their home.[371] - -We can hardly doubt that some English parson who in his youth had for -a moment felt attracted by the notion of unity and certainty, by -the charm of vestments, processions, and banners, thanked God on the -morning after he had read the following letter, when he looked at the -family Bible, that he had not left the solid ground and set up a tent -on what Dr. Newman and his Anglicans told people was solid ground, but -which proved to be the sporting and frisking monster that he himself -described. Ay, and perhaps some Cornish miner, as he went down into his -darkness, happy in his Saviour--a Saviour who seemed to come nearer to -him as day and man, as home and the fair sky, went farther away--so -happy that he hummed-- - - In darkest shades, if Thou appear, - My dawning is begun: - Thou art my soul's bright morning star, - And Thou my rising sun-- - -perhaps this miner put up a prayer for the poor gentleman in Birmingham -who was in such uncertainty about what might be his creed by next -Christmas, and yet knew no better than to beg of Augustine and Ambrose -to prevail upon the Almighty not to let His Church tell out all the -truth about the Vicar whom the gentleman fancied that He had set over -her, but to cause her to practise reserve, or to speak in non-natural -senses. - -To avoid contamination by impure authorities we shall follow only the -_Civiltá_ in its narrative of the Newman incident.[372] The _Standard_ -stated that Dr. Newman, in a letter to his bishop, then absent in -Rome, had called the promoters of infallibility an insolent and -aggressive faction, and had prayed to God to avert from His Church the -threatening danger. The _Weekly Register_ declared itself authorized -by a personal friend of Dr. Newman to give the most absolute denial to -this deliberate fiction. Dr. Newman himself wrote to the _Standard_ -to deny that he had written to his bishop and called the promoters -of infallibility an insolent and aggressive faction. Yet, after Dr. -Newman's method, there were words and words about it. Soon appeared in -the _Standard_ a second letter from him, confessing that he had been -informed from London that several copies of his letter existed in that -city, containing the affirmation which he had denied. He now said -that, before sending his contradiction, he had looked at the notes of -the letter to his bishop, and had not found the words "insolent and -aggressive faction." But he confessed that since learning that several -people in London had those words in their possession, he had looked -again and found them. He added that by the faction he did not mean that -large number of bishops who had declared in favour of infallibility, -nor yet the Jesuits. He meant a collection of persons of different -countries, ranks, and conditions in the Church. - -The _Civiltá_ was careful to remark that Dr. Newman had not withdrawn -his offensive words. Others no less remarked that he had never -confessed to a single point in his own statement till compelled to do -so. He had published a contradiction which to ordinary Englishmen would -seem to carry an almost complete denial of the whole allegation. But -the _Standard_ on April 7 published the following letter, showing that -not only the substance of the allegation was correct, but also its -details:-- - - Rome ought to be a name to lighten the heart at all times, and a - Council's proper office is, when some great heresy or other evil - impends, to inspire hope and confidence in the faithful; but now - we have the greatest meeting which ever has been, and that at - Rome, infusing into us by the accredited organs of Rome and of its - partisans (such as the _Civiltá_, [the _Armonia_], the _Univers_, - and the _Tablet_) little else than fear and dismay. When we are all - at rest, and have no doubts, and--at least practically, not to say - doctrinally--hold the Holy Father to be infallible, suddenly there - is thunder in the clearest sky, and we are told to prepare for - something, we know not what, to try our faith, we know not how. No - impending danger is to be averted, but a great difficulty is to be - created. Is this the proper work of an OEumenical Council? - - As to myself personally, please God, I do not expect any trial - at all; but I cannot help suffering with the many souls who are - suffering, and I look with anxiety at the prospect of having to - defend decisions which may not be difficult to my own private - judgment, but may be most difficult to maintain logically in the - face of historical facts. - - What have we done to be treated as the faithful never were treated - before? When has a definition _de fide_ been a luxury of devotion - and not a stern, painful necessity? Why should an aggressive, - insolent faction be allowed to "make the heart of the just sad, - whom the Lord hath not made sorrowful"? Why cannot we be let alone - when we have pursued peace and thought no evil? - - I assure you, my lord, some of the truest minds are driven one way - and another, and do not know where to rest their feet--one day - determining "to give up all theology as a bad job," and recklessly - to believe henceforth almost that the Pope is impeccable, at - another tempted to "believe all the worst which a book like _Janus_ - says," others doubting about "the capacity possessed by bishops - drawn from all corners of the earth to judge what is fitting for - European society," and then, again, angry with the Holy See for - listening to "the flattery of a clique of Jesuits, Redemptorists, - and converts." - - Then, again, think of the store of pontifical scandals in the - history of eighteen centuries, which have partly been poured - forth and partly are still to come. What Murphy inflicted upon us - in one way M. Veuillot is indirectly bringing on us in another. - And then again the blight which is falling upon the multitude - of Anglican Ritualists, etc., who themselves perhaps--at least - their leaders--may never become Catholics, but who are leavening - the various English denominations and parties (far beyond their - own range) with principles and sentiments tending towards their - ultimate absorption into the Catholic Church. - - With these thoughts ever before me, I am continually asking myself - whether I ought not to make my feelings public; but all I do is to - pray those early doctors of the Church, whose intercession would - decide the matter (Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome, Athanasius, - Chrysostom, and Basil), to avert this great calamity. - - If it is God's will that the Pope's infallibility be defined, then - is it God's will to throw back "the times and moments" of that - triumph which He has destined for His kingdom, and I shall feel I - have but to bow my head to His adorable, inscrutable providence. - - You have not touched upon the subject yourself, but I think you - will allow me to express to you feelings which, for the most part, - I keep to myself.... - -This letter could not, because of Dr. Newman's reputation, be -passed over in silence. The _Civiltá_ well knew how to utilize that -reputation, yet it indicates by its mode of dealing with him that it -does not set Dr. Newman so high, either intellectually or morally, as -his own countrymen do. It treated the whole affair as a temptation of -one of a pious imagination but a sickly judgment. The temptation was -one peculiar to Englishmen--it was low spirits. An Englishman labouring -under that temptation would read the _Civiltá_, the _Armonia_, the -_Univers_, etc., with sombre-coloured spectacles. It was a disease in -the eyes. Those affected by it looked upon the definition of a verity -as a scourge of God, an affliction not merited! Still, as Dr. Newman -did not for himself fear it, he would be able to explain it to others. -But the definition of a truth was to prove a blight for the poor -Anglican Ritualists:-- - - Do you not perceive that it is only temptation that makes you see - everything black?... If the holy doctors whom you invoke, Ambrose, - Jerome, etc., do not decide the controversy in your way, it is not, - as the Protestant _Pall Mall Gazette_ fancies, because they will - not or cannot interpose, but because they agree with St. Peter - and with the petition of the majority.... Would you have us make - processions in sackcloth and ashes to avert this scourge of the - definition of a verity? And if it is defined, when the Fathers - chant _Te Deum_ will some of you intone the _Miserere_? On the - contrary, you too will applaud it.... Dupanloup will not merely be - resigned, he will be a champion of infallibility, and we shall all - together say, Amen, hallelujah! and it also will be a hymn like - the song in the Apocalypse.... Get rid of this ugly melancholy - temptation. It makes you lose your logic and your English good - sense. Even the Protestant journals teach you better, and as one - devil cast out another, a Protestant article may serve to cast out - a temptation. - -The compassionate Jesuits of the _Civiltá_ then proceed to cast the -one devil out of Dr. Newman by the aid of two others, which are -respectively the _Pall Mall Gazette_ and the _Manchester Examiner -and Times_--the former in an appearance of April 8, the latter in -an appearance of April 9. Lest this exorcism should not suffice, it -calls to its aid seven other spirits equally evil--the _Times_, the -_Saturday Review_, the _Telegraph_, the _Daily News_, the _Spectator_, -the _Standard_, and the _Echo_. All these, fallen angels though they -were, had agreed in the opinion that a religious truth had better be -told than hidden, and that a Church which had an infallible head ought -to know it. Though on this one point right, these Protestant journals -had, however, held up the letter of Dr. Newman as a proof of internal -division underlying a vaunted unity. But in this they were illogical. -With this boast the _Civiltá_ fitly couples a declaration of Dr. -Newman, in which the tortured spirit, whose piercing cry had reached -the ear of the world through thick walls, and had been identified -in spite of artful windings, puts on, in presence of Protestants, -another voice, wishing them to become partakers of its satisfaction -and repose! M. Veuillot was not the man tamely to find himself coupled -with Mr. Murphy by one like Dr. Newman, whom, if repute in England set -extravagantly high, certainly he did not. He told how the _Univers_ -had begged four thousand pounds for Dr. Newman and sent it to him, on -the occasion when he was cast in damages for a libel on Achilli, an -ex-censor of the press, at Viterbo, who had become a Protestant:-- - - "The respectable convict," says Veuillot, "received it and was - pleased, but he gave no thanks and showed no courtesy. Father - Newman ought to be more careful in what he says; everything that is - comely demands it of him. But, at any rate, if his Liberal passion - carries him away till he forgets what he owes to us and to himself, - what answer must one give him, but that he had better go on as he - set out, silently ungrateful?"[373] - -Such were the inhospitable jets spouted out upon Dr. Newman by the -floundering creature on the back of which the twice "credulous mariner" -had pitched his tent. Englishmen may smile at finding Dr. Newman -aspersed with the reproach of Liberalism. His puerile spite at the -very name of it, as shown in his writings, thus found its Nemesis. M. -Veuillot, by a link of connexion which is not obvious, confesses that -he too, in youth and inexperience, indulged in dreams of peace. But -his mature ideas were ruled by a manlier spirit. "I dream of a long -war--long, hot, inexorable, and one that will change the face of the -world." - -For some time past the Orientals had been receiving and giving cause -for solicitude. The incident already related of the Chaldean Patriarch -was but a symptom of general uneasiness. The Pontiff had resolved -on abrogating the old right of electing bishops, under which the -communities nominated three persons, of whom the Patriarch instituted -the one whom he preferred. We have seen how the Chaldean Patriarch was -overcome. Jussef, the Melchite Patriarch, refused to surrender his -rights, and it is said that, in an audience before other Orientals, -the Pope went so far as to seize him by the shoulders.[374] The Syrian -Patriarch, on receiving the Pope's command, had taken to his bed, and -had not yet answered. The Maronite Patriarch had refused his consent, -and had, notwithstanding repeated invitations, stayed in Antioch, -instead of coming on to the Council. - -The Armenians, however, excited more attention than all the others. -Their Patriarch, Hassun, had, some time before, surrendered his rights, -and while, in consequence, rising high in favour with the Curia, had -incurred ill-will among his own people. Rome, taking advantage of -his concessions, had made new and exorbitant claims, on which the -yoke of the Papacy was thrown off. Imperative orders to submit were -disregarded. A special commissioner was sent from Rome to allay the -disturbance, but his success was very limited. - -For some time rumours had been floating about the city that two -Oriental bishops had been thrown into prison. These changed to rumours -of an arrest, and an escape. At last the _Univers_[375] published an -account, stating that the theologian attached to an Armenian bishop -had used such language respecting the authorities, that Cardinal -Barnabò, Prefect of the Propaganda, had ordered him to the Convent of -the Passionists. But he refused to go in such terms that the Cardinal -Vicar was obliged to employ force. The theologian was then taken from -the residence of the bishop, and put into a vehicle. He was, however, -so violent that the "agents" let him escape into the house again, and -though they there attempted a second time to take him, they finally -gave way before the opposition of the bishop. - -At the same time the _Univers_ mentions "a much graver fact." The -Pontiff had ordered an apostolic visitation of the convent of the -Armenians, which stands just behind the Colonnade of St. Peter's. The -twelve who once walked among men with the humble name of apostles would -have little thought that an apostolic visitation should come to mean an -inspection by an officer of the King and Pontiff of Rome. The Bishop -Ksagian (_sic_) refused to receive the visitor. The Pope ordered the -bishop to the Convent of St. Sabina. The bishop, however, refused to -go, and appealed to Bishop Place, of Marseilles, to procure French -protection for him. - -_Ce Qui se Passe au Concile_ (p. 144) says that Bahtiarian, an Armenian -Archbishop, had his Vicar-General with him, against whom some one -informed, as having spoken with hostility of Hassun, the Romanized -Patriarch whom we have just mentioned, and of Valerga, the so-called -Patriarch of Jerusalem. Cardinal Barnabò ordered the Vicar-General to -a Jesuit convent, but the Archbishop insisted that he would not allow -him to go, except upon a written order from the Pope himself. We are -not sure whether this represents the first scene in the account of the -_Univers_. - -Some days afterwards, proceeds _Ce Qui se Passe au Concile_, as -Bahtiarian was going to say Mass, his Vicar-General followed him, -carrying the missal, accompanied by another Armenian priest. In the -street the Archbishop passed through a group of police, headed by an -officer. They seized the two priests who were walking behind him, and -dragged them to a vehicle. The Orientals valiantly defended themselves, -and a struggle ensued. Hearing cries, the Archbishop turned back, and -saw his Vicar-General down, and the missal on the ground being trampled -upon. He rushed forward, pointing to the book, and crying, "It is the -Gospel: it is the Gospel of Christ! Do you treat the Gospel like that?" -The officer did not dare to do violence to the Archbishop, who managed -to carry off his Vicar-General, and that day both of them took refuge -in the Armenian Convent. It would seem that now followed the order -for a visitation of the convent, which Archbishop Casangian (as this -account correctly gives the name and title) resisted; and he, in turn, -received an order to go to a convent for "retirement." It is even said -that leave to quit Rome was refused by the police to all the Armenians, -not excepting a bishop who was furnished with a medical certificate -that it was necessary for his health. - -The _Civiltá_ and the _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_ do not mention the arrests. -The one says that Kasangian, as they spell his name, was Abbot-General -by arbitrary election, the other that he was so by tolerance of the -Pope. The visitation was first attempted by a Passionist Father, -delegated by Pluym, a bishop _in partibus_, who had been by the Pope -appointed Visitor-General of the Order. The attempt was resisted. The -document which gives to Pluym his powers calmly says that "_power -divinely conferred resides in the Pope of loosing, by his sentence, -the things bound by sentence of any judges whomsoever_."[376] The -disobedient Archbishop and the local Abbot were both ordered to another -convent, _for spiritual exercises_, as long as the Pope should appoint. -They both refused to go. Fresh letters gave the powers of visitor to no -less a person than Valenziani, the bishop who in the Council read the -Decrees. These letters declared Archbishop Kasangian deposed from the -office of Abbot-General of the Order; declared the office of the Abbot -of the monastery vacant, and all other offices within it whatsoever; -declared that no authority existed in that house but what flowed from -Valenziani, and declared that all pains and penalties he might impose -should be ratified. - -So armed, Valenziani presented himself with consummate address and -admirable suavity. Even according to the _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_, he -declared that his visitation had no object but to lead the Armenians to -fulfil their duty. But the Orientals knew the double tongue. In his own -words, they lent no obedient ear. Others say that they would not allow -the Pope's brief to be read. Defied and defeated in the very "street of -the Holy Office," Valenziani had the once terrible interdict fastened -to the door of the rebellious convent. It was owing, says the _Acta -Sanctæ Sedis_, to the clemency of the Holy See that the _severest -punishment_, such as was due to the offence, was not inflicted.[377] -Others told of different causes. - -The protection of France being refused to the Armenians, the strange -spectacle was seen, as Vitelleschi puts it, of brethren in Christ -being forced to seek protection against His Vicar from a Turk (p. -130). Rustum Bey, the Ottoman ambassador, came from Florence, and, -it is said, was not well received, by Antonelli, who gave him to -understand that, in Rome, all priests were subjects of the Pope. But -the ambassador would not waive the rights of the Porte, which, he -alleged, was obliged to show favour to the Armenians, to prevent them -from throwing themselves into the arms of Russia. The day of unity had -not yet dawned. The poor world had still to suffer from more heads than -one. Finally, after specious attempts of the authorities to get the -Armenians into their power, and wonderful wariness and dexterity on the -part of the Orientals, one morning the convent behind the colonnades -of St. Peter's was found empty--not the first time that a convent had -been left empty in Rome. The monks had somehow managed to take their -flight from a spot only a few yards from the Inquisition and within -rifle shot of scores of convents--in which "retirement" for "religious -exercises" might have been, for them, a very serious matter. It is -said that, before the flight, Rustum Bey told the monks, in case of -need, to hoist the Turkish flag, and threatened that, if any harm was -done to them, reprisals should be taken on Romish convents in Turkey. -Indeed, M. Veuillot goes so far as to assert that they actually did -hoist the Turkish flag, and also the French. He says that they executed -the sentence of excommunication upon themselves (ii. 87). If they did -hoist the Turkish flag, it would have been a curious sight to see the -two emblems of religion and physical force which still survive in -Europe--the crescent, and the keys and tiara--floating side by side, -close by the prisons of the Inquisition and the circus where Nero gave -to unity by physical force, his pontifical sanction. It was asserted -that attempts were made to put the Armenian Archbishop of Tarsis also -into "retirement."[378] - -The exaggerated rumours afloat regarding espionage would be stimulated -by anecdotes like the above. It seems to have been agreed, on all -hands, that during the Council the force detailed for that important -duty had been increased manifold. Friedrich mentions one Papal -officer who said that out of every fifty persons fifteen were spies. -He gave examples of people now living handsomely who were known to -have nothing. One Marchese had set up his carriage. Why, Friedrich -says, even the train-bearer of a Cardinal will give a dinner to the -train-bearers of the other Cardinals in order to spy them out. He -naturally enough remarks that a historian learns a good deal by finding -himself amidst such a state of things. It enables him to understand -many things in history. But, strangest of all, reflects the Professor, -is it to find people looking on this worn-out system as the model for -the whole earth. It is, however, just the fact that such a state of -things was looked upon as the model for the whole earth, that gives a -deep interest to every trait showing what that state of things really -was. - -Friedrich, remarking that the Count De Chambord, as a dispossessed -prince who expected his throne back from the infallible Pope, very -naturally was an Infallibilist, goes on to say that only dispossessed -princes are papistically minded. They were nearly all waiting in Rome, -and he had reason to know that they expected that the declaration of -infallibility, and the things connected therewith, would lead to their -restoration, as the Pope certainly expected that it would lead to the -recovery of his own States.[379] - -April 24 was the day fixed for the third public session. The first had -been devoted to the opening ceremony, the second to the swearing of -the Creed; but this was one for the promulgation of Decrees. Up to -the last it was doubtful whether all the bishops of the minority would -adopt the policy recommended by the leaders, not to cause any division -into majority and minority till the struggle on infallibility itself -came on. Some say that Kenrick and Strossmayer held out so far as to -stay away. But Kenrick voted, although, as we have seen, he expressed -regret at having yielded to others instead of following his own -judgment. The robes for the day were red. The doors of the house were -thrown open, and non-members who had a place in the galleries were not -required to withdraw at the time when the Rules prescribed that they -should do so. When the Decrees were handed from the throne, Valenziani -read them out from the pulpit. Jacobini, the Sub-Secretary, then -ascended it, and called out the name of Cardinal Mattei. "_Absent!_" -cried a voice from near the throne. "_Absent!_" cried a voice from -near the door, at the other end of the Hall. Jacobini then called out, -"Constantine, Bishop of Porto"; and Patrizi, rising, said "_Placet._" -"_Placet_," cried the voice from near the throne. "_Placet_," cried the -voice from near the door, and the scrutineers and officers registered -the vote. It was not long before a test name was called--that of -Schwarzenberg, one of the few Cardinals older than the present -pontificate. He had already advised the policy of concession for -to-day, saying, "We must not blow our powder away." But this was not -known to all the majority, and when the magnificent prince pronounced -his _Placet_, there was a manifest expression of relief. When the -Cardinals had all been called the names were no longer repeated--only -the title of the See. - -Cardinal Manning relates how diplomatists, who had hoped to see -division, were struck as they looked from their galleries, and saw the -leaders of the Opposition, one after another, stand up and pronounce -their _Placet_. Friedrich says that the countenances of the Jesuits -changed from gloom to delight, when Schwarzenberg, Hohenlohe, Darboy, -and others, gave in their votes, and that they manifested a particular -interest in that of Hefele. He also says that the gentlemen who were -with him in the tribune figuring as theologians, but whom he calls -train-bearers, were intensely anxious about the indispensable sunbeams, -which, however, he adds, were for that day cut off from the Hall. Just -as the Pope entered the assembly, the sunbeams did pass the threshold; -and the gentlemen around him cried out, "The sun, the sun!" their -eyes dancing for joy. After the Decrees had been passed, the Pope -pronounced a short allocution, rejoicing in their unity, and saying, -"Our Lord Jesus Christ gave peace to His apostles, and I also, who am -His unworthy Vicar, in His name give peace to you." Friedrich says -that some French bishops hailed this with clapping of hands, but that, -instead of this being general, there were signs of dissatisfaction, and -particularly from the galleries. The first statement is confirmed by -the _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_. - -Friedrich could hardly catch the formula in which the Pope announced -his passing of the Decrees; but it struck him that it was not the same -as that prescribed in the Rules; and on receiving the text as passed, -he found that a change had been made without any intimation whatever -having been given of it. To him the change was nothing, as the new -form only said what he knew the previous one meant, although bishops -had seriously differed with him for saying so. The Rules prescribe the -formula, "We decree, enact, and sanction"; and this was now changed to -the more compact and expressive Papistical formula, "We define, and, -by apostolic authority confirm." The word "sanction" had a flavour of -historic dualism. - -The Curialists boasted, after this session, that they had gained three -points, and the statement of them shows a clear conception of their own -strategy and of the positions to be won:[380] first, the Pope had, for -the first time in three hundred and fifty years, proclaimed Decrees -in a Council in his own name only, merely mentioning the Council as -approving; secondly, the new Rules had been accepted; thirdly, the -final clause of the Decrees carried the conclusion that the former -dogmatic Decrees of the Popes were accepted as of authority. This last -point alone was of prodigious consequence, and vindicates Friedrich's -discernment in tracing the Curial system at first sight in these -apparently elementary and rather feeble chapters. Only one fortnight -earlier, as we have seen, Cardinals and prelates declared that they -and the majority of bishops in great nations had taught in direct -contradiction to the Bull _Unam Sanctam_. But from to-day both that -Bull and, among others, the _Ex Apostolatus Officio_ of Paul IV, the -father of the Roman Inquisition, were of Divine authority! Or, as -Quirinus puts it, "Rules of faith for the whole Catholic world, and -thus it will be taught universally in Europe and America, henceforth, -that the Pope is absolute master in temporal affairs also; that he -can order war or peace, and that every monarch or bishop who does -not submit to him, or helps any one separated from him, ought to be -deprived of his throne, if not of his life" (p. 471). - -The Decrees contain eighteen anathemas! Vitelleschi says, that of those -in the cathedral who paid any attention to the proceedings, none seemed -ever to reflect that, as Catholics, they would lie down that night with -new articles of faith and new declarations (anathemas) weighing on -their intellect and conscience. "Authority" teaches men to admit new -creeds with awful facility, and to utter anathemas almost as readily as -a primitive Christian would have said, God bless you! The Curialists -did not exaggerate the substantial victory which had been won, or -the practical importance of the three points already specified. The -legislative effect of those points upon what little of constitutional -arrangements had still been left in the Romish communion was very -great. They linked all the past dogmatic Decrees of the Popes to the -authority of the Creator of the world. The unfailing interpreter of -the view taken by the Court of the position of affairs, M. Veuillot, -says (i. 472), "The last paragraph confirms all the Constitutions, and -apostolical Decrees, which condemn the errors of the times. Thus have -the condemnations pronounced in the Syllabus received the official -stamp."[381] - -Even the anathemas were pleasant to M. Veuillot's cultured taste. "You -have read the eighteen anathemas against errors pronounced in the old -form of the sovereignty of the Church." Some had said that there would -be no more anathemas, some that they did not want any more. "But there -they are, and there they are for eternity. In my view, the work of -revolt accomplished during a hundred years falls smitten with old age" -(ii. 45, 46). - -Not long afterwards, chiding the _Figaro_, the _Gaulois_, and other -journals, for asking what the Council was doing, he replied, "The -Council is making a wide and deep furrow like the grave of a world. You -will go down into that furrow, and you will not spring up" (ii. 58). As -to the _plébiscite_ then about to be taken in France, he said that he -could not vote Yes, because that would be permanently handing oneself -over to princes who would not take any engagement to the Church; and he -would not say No, for he did not wish to precipitate disasters (ii. 66). - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 369: _Documenta_, ii. 388.] - -[Footnote 370: _Tagebuch_, p. 283.] - -[Footnote 371: _The Tractarian Movement._] - -[Footnote 372: VII. x. 348 ff.] - -[Footnote 373: Vol. ii. pp. 31-34.] - -[Footnote 374: _Tagebuch_, p. 344.] - -[Footnote 375: _Ibid._ p. 304.] - -[Footnote 376: _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_, v. 447.] - -[Footnote 377: _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_, vol. v. 501-7.] - -[Footnote 378: Compare _Tagebuch_ (pp. 304, 324, 325, and 344) with -_Quirinus_ (p. 432) and _Vitelleschi_ (p. 130).] - -[Footnote 379: _Tagebuch_, p. 358.] - -[Footnote 380: _Quirinus_, p. 477.] - -[Footnote 381: The _Civiltá_, without naming the Syllabus, asserts that -by this paragraph the Council itself has put a new seal on all the -acts of the Pontiff condemning erroneous opinions. It says the mouths -are shut of those sowers of tares who would pretend that opinions -not branded as heresies were left free by the Council, because not -separately named (VII. x. 524).] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -To the End of the General Debate on the Decrees _De -Ecclesia_, June 3--Temporal Benefit to the Curia of Spiritual -Centralization--Spalding's Proposals--Impatience of the Pope and -Veuillot--Outcry against _Ce Qui se Passe au Concile_--All other -Subjects to be Postponed, and Infallibility to be brought on out of -its order--Renewed protest of Minority--Open Change of Dispute from -one on Opportuneness to one on the Merits of the Dogma--Anecdotes -of Bishops--Violations of Rules--Private Notes of Bishops on the -Dogma--Doubts cast on the Authority of the Council--Formula of New -Decree--How it will Work. - - -"Who would not gladly pay a handsome sum to be armed with an infallible -decision which will at once crush all opposition and put down all -adversaries?"[382] This was the practical question suggested by the -speculations of Romans. Increased resort to the oracle would certainly -follow the lifting of its Decrees above all dispute. What, indeed, -they might well ask, would not a party in some hot dispute pay for a -Decree that could never be disturbed? and in high affairs of State, -when some Croesus had set his heart on a great enterprise, would he -not make offerings to the oracle, which even a Herodotus might rejoice -to immortalize? Moreover, as Quirinus adds, almost every Roman had a -brother, an uncle, or a cousin, in the clerical circle around which the -profits would be distributed. If bishops, with countries to call their -own, feared the result of the attempt to set up clerical authority -above civil, Roman prelates who had no country, but were only the -political dependents of foreigners, openly declared that they looked -upon the restoration of spiritual authority over temporal affairs as -the one thing called for by the times. So long as this notion was -confined to the Roman prelates proper, one could comprehend it. They -had lived apart from men and affairs, except their own affairs, and -were absolute strangers to the actual age and world. But that bishops -from free countries or great ones should entertain such dreams, or -while not themselves sharing in the illusions, should adopt the -religious expedients by which it was hoped to give them effect, is -marvellous. Perhaps it may be partly explained by that weakening of the -individual conscience and will, through the principle of authority, to -which Vitelleschi so instructively refers; by that complete personal -dependence of bishops on the Curia for consideration, and even for -means, which is noted on all hands; by the unbroken habit of yielding -to Rome, or of being beaten in every attempt at resistance; by old age, -and by the incurable isolation of the men themselves from humanity. -They were men bound, as we view it, only by artificial ties, to a guild -bent upon ruling the world, while they themselves received gold rings -and goodly apparel for bearing their share in the enterprise. Or, as -they viewed it, they were men separated from the world, identified only -with the Church and the clergy, and utterly dependent upon the Vicar -of God. What could they do? A quarrel with a government had hitherto -always brought a bishop glory, but not so a quarrel with the Curia. -In the former case, the Pope took care to make up to the bishop in -professional advantage more than he could lose by political collision. -In the latter case, no government could or would make up to him for -disgrace or ruin. A martyr bishop was one of the most effective figures -in every Church display. A great occasion would be comparatively dull -without one. Governments could make no such use of bishops who might -suffer for loyalty. - -It is curious to find in the Archbishop of Baltimore one of the keenest -partisans of infallibility. Formerly, Dr. Spalding had foretold that -the dogma would only occasion difficulties, and had advised resistance. -The causes of his new zeal were of course discussed in Rome, where -changes of opinion are liable to be assigned to personal rather than to -public motives. Spalding prepared a formula of infallibility to the -effect that all Papal decisions must be received with internal assent. -It is even said that he took this for a mild form compared with the -direct declaration of the doctrine. Two of his American colleagues, on -the other hand, the Archbishops of St. Lewis and of Cincinnati, bore a -distinguished part among the prelates of the minority, as did also the -Archbishop of Halifax.[383] Kenrick, of St. Lewis, left an impression -of force equalled only by few prelates in the assembly. - -The question of infallibility had been a good while in the hands of -the committee before the latter gave any sign of being ready with the -formula. Some thought that the committee was not unwilling to let time -pass before forcing matters to an issue. The minority had now become -anxious for delay, in the hope that the dreaded Chapter XI. would not -be brought on before the heats of the Roman summer should disperse the -Council. They had the whole of the Decrees on the Duty of Bishops, -on the Life of the Clergy, on the Catechism, and ten chapters of the -Decree on the General Constitution of the Church, to discuss before -the critical eleventh chapter would come on. But these hopes of delay -on the part of the minority were perfectly understood by the Curia. -It was determined not to let the patience of the majority be worn -out. The impatience of men like Mermillod may be imagined when even -Bishop Martin is quoted by Friedrich as expressing a wish that the -Garibaldians would come and scatter the Council. But most impatient of -all was the Pontiff. Briefs and speeches equally tingled with the same -excitement. M. Veuillot found it necessary to declare that the Pope -was not impatient, but resolute. Still he let it out that something -had been hoped for even at the last public session (ii. 45). The voice -of the people crying, "The Infallible Pope for ever," had sounded -in Veuillot's ears during the Easter festivities, and again on the -anniversary of the return from exile. But when, oh when would the voice -of God sound? Pius IX would know God's moment, and would take it. As -to the cries which nourished the faith of M. Veuillot, the deaf ears -of Quirinus and Friedrich heard only faint ones--two voices or three. -These writers, at least one or other of them, suggested a calculation -as to how many _baiocchi_, or halfpence, the cries cost. - -The mission of Pius IX was but half fulfilled. He had secured the -Immaculate Conception, but not yet the Infallibility; and this was to -be, and it must be soon. What Quirinus says (p. 526) of the Pope's two -fixed ideas is in harmony with the general belief; they were, first, a -persuasion of the infallibility of all his predecessors; and, secondly, -a persuasion of his own special inspiration by the Virgin. - -Excitement was created in Rome by the appearance of _Ce Qui se Passe au -Concile_. It was believed to be written by the Abbé Gaillard, and said -by M. Veuillot to be at least by a theologian; but he did not hesitate -to insinuate that it was written under the eye of bishops.[384] By all -Liberal Catholics, entitled to be heard, it was and is looked upon as -an undeniable summary of facts. The Council condemned it, the organs -denounced it; but none the less, when you inquire even in Rome for -good information, it is sure to be named, sometimes even by privileged -men. M. Veuillot gives its official character thus: "Lies, calumnies, -defamations, beyond count. Lies double, fourfold, tenfold. The general -lie contains another, and that another, and that yet another, so there -is no end." But many pages of righteous indignation expressed in this -style leave you to ask, what single fact has been disproved by this -gentleman who gives the lie so spiritedly? (ii. 98). Much the same may -be said of the other of "the two modern Fathers," Margotti. - -The day previous to the late public session, a deputation of bishops -had been received with great distinction by his Holiness. They said -that they spoke on behalf of four hundred prelates, and requested that -he would be pleased to order the question of infallibility to be -immediately brought before the Council, postponing other subjects which -had precedence. The Council itself was not able to fix even the order -in which questions were to be taken up. There soon was a sign that the -change of plan thus recommended had actually been adopted. The proposed -Decrees touching the duties of bishops and the life of the clergy were -set aside; and the Decree on the shorter catechism was taken first in -order. The former could well wait. The latter was really an important -element of centralization. But, it may be asked, Was not the Council in -possession of a subject after it had once been proposed and discussed? -The reply must be, No, for such subjects could be withdrawn from its -cognizance at any moment without its leave. - -No sooner were the minority aware of the intention to take the -discussion on infallibility out of its order, than they resolved -on sending a solemn deputation direct to the Pope to make urgent -representations. Purcell, Archbishop of Cincinnati, was to be the -spokesman.[385] But this movement was forestalled by one from the other -side. The _Synopsis of Notes_, written by the Fathers upon the Dogma, -was suddenly distributed. This not only marked the resolution of the -Curia to press forward, but it accomplished a step in the progress. -Either from discouragement, or from a calculation of the futility -of the step, the bishops allowed their intended deputation to fall -through. They resorted once more to a paper protest, which was signed -by sixty-six prelates.[386] The true spirit of an Oriental Court made -them conscious that a petition and a surrender were the measures of -which they were capable. In fact, as will presently appear, they had -passed the stage even of petitioning, and had come to that of hopeless -complaint. - -As if to console themselves by strong words for doing nothing, they -recalled the fact that as soon as the _Civiltá_ hinted that the work -of the Council was to be the proclamation of infallibility, all the -enemies of the Church had exclaimed that the Holy Father, after having -made a pretext of the general good, had really convoked the bishops for -his own exaltation. This they had then treated as a calumny. But if the -weighty matters already laid before the Council were to be put aside, -and nothing was to result from their labours during six or seven months -but the one Decree already adopted, with the second now proposed on -infallibility, they would find on returning home that those calumnies -against the Church would have acquired life and force such as they -could not contemplate without deep sorrow. - -The sixty-six bishops formally announce that they do _not make any -request_. They simply state their convictions. Again, to prefer -requests would, they feel, be no longer consistent with their episcopal -dignity, with their position, or their rights, as members of the -Council, since they have already learned sufficiently, and more than -sufficiently, by experience that any prayers of theirs are so far from -being granted that they are not even answered. - - Nothing now remains to us but to disclaim for ourselves, as far - as may be, all accountability before men, and before the dreadful - judgment-seat of God, for the ill-omened events which, beyond all - doubt, will soon arise, and indeed are already arising; and of - this our disclaimer the present document will abide the perpetual - witness. - - If the Decree to be pronounced _De Ecclesia_, putting aside - controverted points, aimed only at displaying to the eyes of all - men the beauty and majesty of the Spouse of Christ to the greater - glory of God and the salvation of souls, how easily might we set - forth the whole of the doctrine of the Church; and, perhaps, we - might all on the approaching festival of Pentecost, wherein the - foundation of the Church is annually called to mind, celebrate it - together. Then indeed would a right solemn Pentecost shine upon our - Synod, whereof the splendour streaming over the entire world would - fill all Christians with mighty gladness. But, alas! so far is such - gladness from being granted to us, that it would appear that on - the approaching Pentecost we must look forward rather to a day of - mourning than to one of joy. The accountability for this would rest - on those who--no necessity of the Christian commonwealth demanding - it--would, by means of the Council, wave the victor's palm because - certain opinions of the schools had triumphed, not over the enemies - of the Church, but over brothers, and who would thus inflict the - gravest injury upon the Church; injury which, both at the present - time and in view of the circumstances of future times, would give - cause for abiding fear and pain of heart. - - May it please the almighty and merciful God to avert so great an - evil from the Vatican Council, and to lead us all by His heavenly - grace to a sense of true concord and unity! - -Among those who sign are Prague, Munich, Colocza, Cologne, St. Gall, -Maintz, Halifax, Clifton, St. Louis, Paris, St. Augustine in Florida, -Cincinnati, Chatham, Plymouth, Kerry, Milan, and Sault St. Marie in -Michigan. - -For us it is hard to account for the fact that language so strong, from -men representing interests so large, should be deemed not even worthy -of the courtesy of an answer. Why did the bishops not go to the Pope -directly? - - "Sad as it is to confess it," says _La Liberté du Concile_, "the - Pope does not easily grant audiences to bishops of the minority. - Many have been expressly solicited, as to which up to this hour no - reply has been received. We know several of the oldest and most - respected bishops of France, who have been six months in Rome, and - have not yet been admitted to the presence of the Pope. Of those - who have been admitted, to none, with two or three exceptions, has - the Pope given any opening for conversation on the concerns of the - Church, or for exchanging a single word with the Holy Father on the - position of affairs."[387] - -Quirinus represents the Roman prelates as saying that the German -bishops at Fulda had already showed that they felt how unity was to -be preferred to veracity. Thus the Curia had implicit faith in the -feebleness of conviction, compared with the force of the habit of -submission. Only two things would they have feared--a schism on the -part of the bishops, or a separation of the Church from the State on -the part of the politicians. But they confidently reckoned on the -submission of the one, and on the political calculations of the other. - -The pretext that all the objections to infallibility related only to -opportuneness, had been gradually dropped. In fact, neither side could -keep it up, even before the public. It was possible to conceal most of -the speeches, and to deny everything that was reported of them; and -it was hoped that the secret petitions would never see the light, but -tracts and pamphlets could not be so readily hidden. So the Jesuits at -last boldly turned round and accused the opponents of attacking the -doctrine itself. _Observationes Quædem de Infallibilitatis Ecclesiæ -Subjecto_ is the title of one publication, in treating of which the -_Civiltá_ said that opportuneness no longer related to the character of -the times, but to the character of the doctrine. The doctrine itself -was declared to be alien from Catholic tradition,--a new doctrine, and -consequently a false one.[388] Ketteler had brought a pamphlet to Rome, -in Latin, composed under his authority. It was long detained by the -police, but, after vexatious delays, was released. One of the things -which exposed him to the charge of being double-faced was the fact that -he "hawked" this pamphlet about among the bishops, and yet said that it -attacked only the opportuneness of the definition.[389] Hefele said, -"You are a Rhine Frank, and the Rhine Franks are clever people. I am -only a Swabian, and I cannot see it." - -As Bishops Krementz and Namszanowski left Friedrich on April 25, they -met Bishop Martin. He told them with delight how the King of Prussia, -their own monarch, had written to his ambassador not to trouble himself -further with the decisions of the Council. Martin extolled the king to -the skies, and declared that he would now make a Prussian Propaganda. -But Namszanowski replied, "If that is your idea, you are greatly -mistaken. The king at first believed that in Rome one had to do with -reasonable and sensible men; but now, seeing that he was misled, he -says, "Do what you like, and we shall let you do it quietly. If you -adopt conclusions which are injurious to us, we shall draw the sword." -That is the language which the consciousness of power inspires."[390] - -The Congregation of April 29 was occupied in discussing the Decree on -the Catechism. Hefele read a speech of Rauscher. The Cardinal affirmed -that, according to the Concordat, the Catechism in Austria could not be -changed without the consent of the government. He demanded therefore -that the new Catechism should not be declared obligatory. The majority -burst out into loud laughter. Hefele looked firmly and indignantly -at the disturbers. The noise ceased, and he proceeded. A second time -the laughter occurred. At the conclusion, he went to the Presidents -and complained. One of them observed that as a historian he must know -that even at Trent there had been interruptions. Yes, he said, but he -did not know that interruptions were essential to a Council; and he -would call attention to the fact that such proceedings would cause -the freedom of the Council to be called in question, and possibly its -oecumenicity.[391] - -On May 2, as afterwards appeared by a letter found among papers in the -Tuileries, Darboy was writing to Napoleon III stating that the minority -was compact, would do its utmost, and did not despair of victory. On -May 4 the Council came to a vote on the Catechism, when as many as a -hundred voted _Non placet_. Then occurred a recess of several days; -but twenty-four French bishops put in that day a protest against -arbitrary violations of those very Rules which had been imposed upon -the Council by the Pope himself. In the late public session the Rule -that non-members should be excluded during the legislative acts had -been departed from without the Council being consulted. Further, this -day, they add, when the votes on various amendments to the Decree on -the Catechism had been taken, the Rule required that the vote on the -whole should be deferred to another day. But, against the Rule, it was -taken on the spot. Several Fathers, who had counted that the Rule -would be kept, were absent. It is further alleged that no opportunity -of pointing out these irregularities was given; because, say they, -contrary to the rule of all deliberative bodies, it is not allowed in -the Council to speak even to order, unless the name of the speaker -has been inscribed the day before, which of course is impossible in -unforeseen circumstances.[392] - -During the recess the Fathers could study the contents of the notes on -infallibility. The Synopsis of them, as we have already mentioned, had -been put into their hands. Some of these notes are printed entire, some -are abridged; but there does not appear to have been much complaint -that this was unfairly done. The two sides were represented by about -an equal number of memoranda. The Synopsis contained two hundred and -forty-two pages, consisting of one hundred and thirty-nine memoranda. -Sixty-five of these were adverse to the definition. Of these, again, -only thirteen advanced merely the plea of inopportuneness, and -fifty-two opposed the doctrine itself. Yet Cardinal Manning never heard -of five bishops who denied the doctrine of Papal infallibility![393] - -Adepts readily traced many of the anonymous memoranda to their authors, -and, of course, the authors frequently acknowledged their handiwork. -The first memorandum was by Rauscher, the last by Kenrick--two men who -showed as much capacity as any of the minority. In these notes, the -student will find a real source of light on the thoughts and principles -which were then common to all men convened to reconstitute human -society, as well as on those in which they disagreed.[394] They are -almost the only portion of the proceedings which have real interest -for the pure theologian. Attempts have been made since the Council, by -many bishops, to represent the whole amount of difference of opinion -as having been a trifle, touching only the question of opportuneness. -The character of those statements is sealed by these notes. We shall -not attempt to give a general outline of them; but the very first -memorandum, that of Rauscher, is perfectly explicit. He immediately -handles the doctrine, not the prudence or expedience of proclaiming it. -It was fair to treat an objector like Dr. Newman as opposing on grounds -not either theological or moral, but from subtle expediency. Such -men were simply afraid of hurting the credit of their Church, though -admitting that the claims she advanced were warranted. They counselled -a reserve which would have been thought natural for Italians, but -impossible for Englishmen, before the time when Dr. Newman's power of -making the flow of our mother tongue smooth and winning began to be -used, in order to rob it of its good name for straightforwardness. But -Rauscher showed cause. He declared that it had never yet been proved -that the alleged authority which the new claims professed to formulate, -had any existence. He declared that the attempts made to prove it were -partly artifices and partly fallacies. Two positions so distinct as -this simple one of Rauscher and the double one of Newman could not be -confounded, even by men much less apt at splitting hairs than Roman -Catholic bishops. - -"The subterfuges," indignantly writes Rauscher in his first paragraph, -after alluding to the necessity, under which he lay in Germany, of -showing reasons, and tacitly contrasting such a position with the -facility of demanding submission in Rome,--"The subterfuges employed -by not a few theologians in the matter of Honorius, would expose me to -derision. To employ sophisms seems to me unworthy both of the dignity -of a bishop and of the nature of the subject, which ought to be treated -in the fear of God; but prudence itself would put me on my guard -against artifices." What a testimony! delivered in the face of Rome at -that moment, it showed the effect of free enquiry in compelling men to -be truthful, as compared with the effect of what Rome calls "authority" -in making them first supple and then deceitful. It is a testimony of -permanent value in the three spheres of history, morals, and theology. - -His next blow is at a logical trick, which, however, is one employed -by Roman Catholic theologians at almost every step in their attempt -to prove Romanist as distinguished from Christian doctrine--the trick -of begging the question. It is inferred that the Decrees of the -Pope, in matters of faith and morals, must be infallible, because the -power of legislation in faith and morals for the whole Church having -been conferred on Peter and his successors, it is clear that what -was false could not be allowed to enter into such Decrees. Very good -says Rauscher; but this is calling the thing to be proved to give -evidence for the thing to be proved. The question turns on the very -point whether any such power of universal legislation, in faith or -morals, without appeal or revision, ever was conferred on Peter and his -successors. Even here Rauscher assumes as proved what is altogether -incapable of proof, that the Roman Pontiff is the successor of Peter. -That Peter ever was in Rome is not proven; that he ever was Pontiff is -absurd; that he ever was the Christian bishop of the city admits of -scarcely a show of proof, except on those principles of evidence which -have been naturalized in Romish theology by the necessity of supporting -fables and forgeries. - -Not only do men like Rauscher show that they dispute the doctrine -itself, but the memoranda of many who commence by alleging -inopportuneness, end by attacking the substance of the doctrine. For -instance, No. 136 says, "Finally, I cannot find this infallibility in -the acts of the General Councils. On the other hand, it is certain that -three General Councils condemned Honorius for heresy." Yet this prelate -seemed, in his first sentences, only to oppose the opportuneness of -the definition. Kenrick takes the opposite course. He begins by saying -that the doctrine is not so certain that it can be defined as an -article of faith, and then takes up lower ground, that, even if it were -certain, it would not be expedient that it should be defined by the -present Council. We do not wonder at any man who could put upon paper -the last principle, submitting to anything, or concealing anything, or -professing anything, if it is expedient. What, it may be true that, on -earth, God has set up a man as His representative who, whenever he puts -on his full official character, utters the Word of God without error -or possibility of erring, and yet it may not be expedient to tell this -most pregnant of truths by any and every organ possible! How can any -moral foundations exist in men whose whole substance is honeycombed by -principles like these? When they submit, their submission has not the -grace of any real sacrifice. When they affirm, their affirmation has -not the authority of any real conviction. - -This moral obscurity does not prevent Kenrick from clearly seeing -theological points. He boldly says that the doctrine expressed in the -proposed definition is wanting in authority both from Scripture and -from ecclesiastical tradition. We shall not enter into his examination -of the alleged scriptural proofs, but it is well worth the attention -of theologians. He clearly puts the retrospective and prospective -aspects of the new dogma, when contrasting it with an ordinary point of -doctrine like that of the Immaculate Conception-- - - The new dogma not only impairs the rights of bishops, but imposes - on the faithful the necessity of believing that the Roman Pontiffs - never did err in faith, which indubitable monuments of history seem - to disprove; and that they never will err in the future, which we - hope, but are not able to believe with the certitude of divine - faith.[395] - -Kenrick says that, in defining the Immaculate Conception the Pope -proposed the greater glory of the Mother of God, and previously to -doing so consulted all the bishops, and acted on their advice. Now, -however, he proposed his own infallibility, to be defined by a Council, -which seems to have been convened for that purpose, although many -bishops, and those representing the principal Churches of the Christian -world, do not approve of it either in itself or in its concomitants. - -Kenrick embraces under the head of expediency matter very different -indeed from what one would have anticipated. He barely indicates the -social and political dangers likely to arise out of the contemplated -changes in dogma and polity. Having done this, he at once declares that -the authority and oecumenicity of the Council are liable to be called -in question, and will be called in question, on two separate grounds: -first, the composition of the Council, and, secondly, its defect of -liberty. As to its composition, he divides the members of it into five -classes-- - -1. Diocesan bishops having Sees and governing them by ordinary -episcopal authority. - -2. Bishops of the _Ring_--_episcopi annulares_--who have the orders -of bishops, but have neither Sees nor flocks, and who, with few -exceptions, hold offices in the Court of Rome. - -3. Other bishops _in partibus_, who, under the designation of Vicars -Apostolic, preside over missions, and are all of them so immediately -dependent upon the Holy See as to be removable at the discretion of the -Pope. - -4. Cardinals who are not bishops, and Cardinals who, having the orders -of bishops, have no Sees. - -5. Abbots and Generals of Orders. - -Kenrick asserts that out of all the five classes the right of -definition in matters of faith belongs, by a certain and universally -acknowledged title, to diocesan bishops alone. The right of the Bishops -of the Ring to define in matters of faith is a subject of dispute among -theologians. The right of the Vicars Apostolic is disputable, but on -different grounds. They have Sees, yet they are immediately dependent -on the See of Rome, even to the extent of being removable at the will -of the Bishop of Rome. As to Cardinals who are not bishops, with the -Abbots and Generals, there is no doubt. They are confessed by all to -have no right of definition in matters of faith, except as derived from -custom. - -Having thus described the composition of the Council, he adds the -following solemn words-- - - In this Council the subject in hand affects the conflicting claims - of the Pope and the bishops. If the Pope alone is infallible, the - bishops do not exercise the office of judges, and, in a Council, - they are only his councillors. Hence it ought to belong not to the - Pope singly, but to a Council of diocesan bishops presided over by - the Pope, to determine what right properly belongs to the other - four classes; for otherwise the Pope would seem to dominate the - Council. - -How that argument to prove that the proper constitution of a Council -was violated at the Vatican is to be met, it is not easy to see. The -point next touched by Kenrick is one that has been less dwelt upon in -public, but which would probably have some weight in a legal argument. -In the Bull of Convocation it was enjoined upon bishops who should -not be able to attend, to send their deputies furnished with proper -credentials. Forty such deputies actually presented themselves; they -were refused admittance, not by the Council, but by the Pope acting -alone! Now, insists Kenrick, diocesan bishops would appear to have a -strict right to send deputies to the Council when themselves unable -to attend, which right was recognised by the ancient Councils. The -exclusion, therefore, of those deputies from the Vatican Council _by -the sole authority of the Pontiff_, would seem to raise a doubt of -its oecumenicity. Had there been any question as to their title, it -belonged to the Council itself to determine, but permission was not -given to take the opinion of the Council on the point! - -Kenrick further specifies, as a blot upon the authority and -oecumenicity of the Council, the withdrawal from the bishops of -the right of proposition by a mere Papal constitution. He adds the -important fact that, owing to the privation of this right, many Fathers -who wished to take the opinion of the Council on the admission of the -deputies of absent prelates were unable to do so, although they left -no means untried. Yet one at least who was born an Englishman can say -that this Council was as free as our Parliament--a Council that had -not even the right of verifying the titles of its own members! Kenrick -concludes by expressing his persuasion that if the definition of Papal -infallibility should go out in the name of this Council, it would -rather increase dissension than promote peace, and would lead to a -diminution of the rights of bishops and to the dishonour of the Pontiff -himself. - -The Liberal Catholics began, about this time, to notice the frequent -expressions in Curialistic circles anticipating a war, in 1871, between -France and Prussia.[396] The _Univers_ now fixed a new date for the -settlement of the great question--Ascension Day. All that could be -said _pro_ or _con_ had been said, according to this journal, in the -memoranda written by the prelates; and so in the Council there would be -only an exposition of the Decree prepared by the committee, after which -the Fathers would at once proceed to the vote. No doubt the avoidance -of further discussion was a matter of great account with those who were -looking to the future. The effect of the new constitution, at least -its immediate effect, would greatly depend upon the _éclat_ with which -it should be promulged, and on the state of preparation to which the -Catholic populations might be brought. If a tale of Friedrich, at the -expense of Cardinal Capalti, be anything more than a joke, the question -might have been settled by leaving it open. The Cardinal declared -that he should be content with a definition of the infallibility of -the Pope, whether it was infallibility with the bishops or without -them.[397] The circulation of such a tale illustrates an impression -prevailing, that even many of those in high places had not mastered the -bearings of the question in dispute. - -It was on May 10 that the proposed Decrees of Infallibility were -distributed. "I shook all over my body," says Friedrich; "my senses -seemed to forsake me as I read on." What was the amazement of the -Professor to find not only all the mediæval pretensions taken up -again, but the cool assertion made in notes, that all monuments of -antiquity showed that the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff had been -held as a truth divinely revealed. Another assertion which he noted, -is that infallibility could never be disproved by history; but if -any historical facts did appear to conflict with it, in so far as -they did so they must be taken to be false. Again, the conclusions of -any science, even those of ecclesiastical history, if opposed to the -infallibility of the Pontiff, must be held to be errors. This is a -very practical way of carrying out the principle announced by Cardinal -Manning as to the dogma conquering history. - -After reading this sort of matter, the indignant Professor cries, -"Will our bishops dare to return home with such a verdict against -all science, and against all sound reason? Does not this amount to -saying--I believe it because it is absurd?" The Archbishop of Bamberg -gave Friedrich some light on the way in which history was to be kept -right. He said that the Pope was irritated at Hefele's pamphlet on the -case of Honorius, and said, "There must be falsification of documents. -The documents must be in the archives. Let them seek and they will find -them; I am persuaded of it." It was publicly announced that the Pope -had appointed two men to perform this duty. The Archbishop thought that -the Curia would shrink from facing the judgment of the world. He placed -his finger on his forehead, and said, "I cannot understand how a man in -his senses can think of a personal infallible Pope." Archbishop Scherr -having joined them, Deinlein added, "The world must rescue us. Had it -not rescued us, we were already lost, and the Council over."[398] To -this Friedrich adds that Bishops Krementz and Namszanowski are already -thinking of the coming excommunication; and that Hefele had said gladly -would he lay down the mitre and crozier, but what would become of his -diocese? - -Friedrich, wearied out in spirit, now spoke of going home. "You must -stay," said Bishop Namszanowski, "for the historians must sit in -judgment over this perfidious proceeding. It is impossible any longer -to speak of a General Council. I only wonder that the German bishops -have not already jumped out of their skin."[399] - -One of Friedrich's notes is to the effect that the Nuncio in Munich -having reported that Archbishop Scherr in opposing infallibility -commanded no sympathy among his people, the Pope sent for the -Archbishop, and asked him why he took the side of the minority when -he was isolated in his own diocese. The Archbishop asked Friedrich to -tell Döllinger that even at this peculiar audience he had stood by -him. Still he wished Döllinger not to do anything more; it would only -increase the difficulties.[400] - -The proposed Decrees on the Church were wonderfully changed. The -celebrated twenty-one Canons were now omitted. The whole Draft was -compressed into four chapters, with three Canons. Vitelleschi, as -we have seen, cannot understand how governments, especially the -government of France, should attach so much importance to the Canons, -and so little to the dogma of infallibility. The latter, as he well -says, virtually includes them all, and as many more besides as may -spring from the sole and irresponsible will of an individual. John -Lemoinne had hastily said that Infallibility affected France no more -than the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception; but Prévost Paradol -had, with better insight, shown that, on the contrary, it gave the -Pope everything in theory, and left him in the position, step by -step, first to assume and next to acquire everything in practice. The -Immaculate Conception seriously affected France; not the doctrine, but -the proceeding which set up a single master over the faith of France. -That proceeding paved the way for Infallibility, which in its turn was -to confirm for ever and render ordinary a despotic procedure which -otherwise might have been treated as exceptional. - -The _Univers_ of April 29, after asking whether objectors meant to -remain Catholics after the definition, and saying that if they answered -No they were judged already, went on to remark, If they answer Yes they -are preparing themselves for a kind of faith and obedience that is -hardly reasonable; preparing to believe that what was black has become -white through a Council invested with power to make true that which was -false. Poor Montalembert did not live to read that taunt and menace -both in one. Mrs. Oliphant mentions someone who said that the Count had -expressed his intention to submit at last, for he must do so. That is -one thing, and expressing an intention to believe is another. But those -who know how such statements as that quoted by Mrs. Oliphant are made, -would not give much for it if it came only from a female or a priest. - -Bishop Martin related how Friedrich, as he walked on the Pincian the -evening before leaving Rome, said, pointing to St. Peter's, "If only -the lightning fell from heaven and annihilated St. Peter's with all its -glories!" "No," retorted Friedrich, "I never said anything so silly. -What I once did say on the Pincian was, referring to the superstition -of the Pope, 'Nothing can restrain the Pope from the definition, -unless, indeed, at the critical moment, the well-known sunbeam fails, -and some other natural phenomenon comes in its stead.'"[401] - -To understand the line of thought by which calculating men connected -the dogma with the prospect of universal dominion over the world, it is -necessary to recall the primary elements of Church jurisdiction. As a -kingdom appointed to govern the world, which is the ineradicable Papal -conception, the Church rules through three tribunals--the internal, -the external, and the supreme. Technically they are two, internal and -external; the Pope being supreme in both. In the _internal tribunal_ -the Church cites; the cited are all the faithful. The person appearing -is himself accuser and witness; the confessor is judge and jury. This -tribunal, popularly called the Confessional, rules the conscience, -the board, the bed, the purse, the family life, and the action of -the individual in public life. In the _external tribunal_ it is the -ecclesiastical law which cites. Those cited are persons against whom -any one either secretly or publicly complains. The witnesses may -be either secret informer or open witness. The judge and jury are -the ecclesiastical magistrate. This tribunal, popularly called the -Ecclesiastical Court, rules all social questions whatever that have -any moral interest or any colourable connexion with religion. Finally, -in the supreme tribunal the Curia cites. The parties cited are all -against whom any appeal or any information has been laid. The witnesses -are those whom the Curia chooses to call, or its informers. The Pope -is judge and jury. This tribunal, popularly called the Pope, acting -through some Roman congregation or court, settles all points as between -confessor and penitent, as between priest and bishop, as between -magistrates and parties to a process, as between rulers and subjects, -as between State and State, and above all, as between any State with -its ruler and the supreme tribunal. - -These three tribunals between them give a complete control of the -tangled web called the world, excepting only that ill-defined if not -invisible selvage of it which consists of affairs not included within -the domain of morals. And that web, with its cunning shots and all but -invisible devices, is that "large and variegated web," which, when -unfolding its program, the _Civiltá_ showed, would, after lustres had -come and gone, appear as the fabric woven with the simple threads of -its title, _Catholic Civilization_; or the Catholic Civil System. - -Now, in the chaotic condition of recent times, President Moreno -and Queen Isabella were the only two rulers that even seemed to be -dutifully disposed to the Church in her tribunals; and poor Queen -Isabella had already fallen. - -In most countries, one who never entered the internal tribunal, might -conduct a business, indeed he might even write a newspaper, or fill a -professor's chair, ay, might make laws, or occupy a throne. Hence the -crying need of a central authority so strong as to give to the external -tribunal control over every bench, and to make the internal bear rule -in every home, especially in every home wherein dwelt a ruler. - -The proclamation of infallibility would be a complete restoration of -the supreme tribunal, not indeed as to all the facts, but complete -as to the ideas. This would bring about the restoration of facts in -time. It is plain that the great majority of the bishops calculated -hew the supreme judge, when once enthroned and acknowledged, would awe -wayward kings and politicians; how, waiting for favourable political -conjunctures, Nuncios would be able to move the bishops, and the -bishops the clergy, and the clergy the people, till the patient power -of the Church would bow all to her own laws. The hold already acquired -upon schools, especially in France, was the most solid element in the -entire calculation. The progress made within the last thirty years held -out flattering hopes as to the future. The architects forgot that they -had climbed up by a ladder which they had now kicked away. The voice -to which concessions had been made was that of the Liberal Catholics -pleading in the name of liberty, and they and their plea had now been -unblushingly disowned. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 382: _Quirinus_, p. 482.] - -[Footnote 383: _Quirinus_, p. 253.] - -[Footnote 384: "What stupefaction to think that perhaps serious men -have been engaged in getting these things written about themselves!" -(vol. ii. 125).] - -[Footnote 385: _Quirinus_, p. 508.] - -[Footnote 386: _Quirinus_ says by seventy-seven; but we give the -numbers as we count them at the foot of the document in the _Documenta -ad Illustrandum_, ii. p. 392.] - -[Footnote 387: _Doc. ad Ill._, i. 178.] - -[Footnote 388: Serie VII. x. p. 291.] - -[Footnote 389: Printed in _Documenta ad Ill._, i. p. 1-129.] - -[Footnote 390: _Tagebuch_, p. 365. Friedrich adds a note to his -second edition:--"Bishop Namszanowski had this statement denied in -the _Germania_ of 1872, No. 132. This is really disgusting. I declare -here, as I have done already in the _Cologne Gazette_, that the Bishop -himself told me in his own house immediately after the meeting with -Martin. I was so struck with the expression that I entered it under the -heading, 'Certain Notes touching Rome and the Council.'"] - -[Footnote 391: _Ibid._, p. 380; _La Liberté du Concile_, Doc. i. p. -173.] - -[Footnote 392: _Documenta_, ii. p. 391.] - -[Footnote 393: _Pet. Priv._, iii. p. 27.] - -[Footnote 394: _Documenta_, ii. 212-89.] - -[Footnote 395: _Documenta_, ii. 287.] - -[Footnote 396: _Tagebuch_, p. 375.] - -[Footnote 397: _Ibid._ p. 391.] - -[Footnote 398: _Tagebuch_, p. 398. Friedrich in a note says that when -he made this statement in Nuremberg the Vicar-General of Archbishop -Deinlein published invectives against him, but could only say that -such language does not come out of the mouth of the Archbishop--which -Friedrich calls ridiculous absurdity.] - -[Footnote 399: "_Noch nicht aus der Haut gefahren sei._"--_Tagebuch._] - -[Footnote 400: _Ibid._, p., 400.] - -[Footnote 401: _Tagebuch_, p. 423.] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -The Great Debate--Bishop Pie--The Virgin Mary on Infallibility--Cullen -claims Ireland and MacHale--Kenrick's Reply, and his Account of the -First Introduction of the Doctrine into Maynooth--MacHale speaks--Full -Report of Darboy's Speech--The Pope gives Signs of Pleasure at -Saldanha's Assault on the King of Portugal--New Date fixed for -the Great Definition--Manning's Great Speech--Remarkable Reply of -Kenrick--McEvilly ascribes Catholic Emancipation not to the Effect of -Oaths, but to that of the Fear of Civil War--Kenrick's Retort--Clifford -against Manning--Verot's Scene--Spalding's Attack on Kenrick--Kenrick's -Refutation--Speeches of Valerga, Purcell, Conolly, and Maret--Sudden -Close of the Debate. - - -On May 13, began the great debate, if anything that took place in the -Vatican Council may be called by that name. This conflict was to be -the death of real parliamentary debating in all countries. It ranged -over the whole Draft of the proposed Decrees. The scope of them is well -indicated by M. Veuillot, when he calls the Draft the _Schema_ of the -Pontiff. It treats only of primacy and infallibility. The first chapter -treats of the institution of primacy in the person of Peter; the second -treats of its descent through the Roman Pontiffs; the third, of its -nature and scope; the fourth, of Papal infallibility. - -Bishop Pie, of Poitiers, opened this famous field by a discourse -much praised and much ridiculed. He argued for infallibility on the -ground that Providence permitted St. Paul to be beheaded, and not St. -Peter,[402] and on the further ground that Peter was crucified with the -head downwards, to show that the body was to be supported by the head; -but he who supports is infallible, and not he who is supported.[403] -This truly Romish argument evoked, as Vitelleschi intimates, from the -majority enthusiasm, and from the Opposition sarcastic smiles. We do -not know whether any divine put before Bishop Pie the difficulty thrown -in the way of his argument, by the fact that Providence must have -permitted Peter to be beheaded after death, seeing that his head was -with that of Paul in the Lateran, and only his trunk in St. Peter's. - -On the next day, no less a person than the Cardinal Vicar ascended the -tribune to plead for the glory of his chief. By a leap from centre to -circumference, he was followed by the Archbishop of St. Francisco. The -Archbishop of Messina relieved the gravity of the debate by relating -how Peter had preached in Sicily; but when he told the people that he -was infallible they doubted. They, however, sent an embassy to the -Virgin Mary, to ask if she had heard of the infallibility of Peter. The -Virgin replied that she certainly remembered being present when her Son -conferred this prerogative upon him.[404] This speech has caused some -correspondence in the Italian papers, especially touching the letter of -the Virgin, which is still in existence, and has an annual feast all -to itself. Somehow we are not ourselves clear as to the history of the -embassy and of the letter. It is said that the letter was let down from -heaven by the Virgin; but if that be so, where did the ambassadors go -to with their message? But as the events took place before the age of -reconstruction, we shall not digress further. - -The discussion proceeded from day to day, a long and increasing -list of names promising endless speeches. Three Cardinals spoke on -May 18--Schwarzenberg, Rauscher, and Donnet, Vitelleschi reports -Schwarzenberg as having said (p. 159), "It is said that you really -believe in this dogma; but, if that be true, you cannot insist that I -and my companions ought to acknowledge what seems to us absurd; and if -you do insist, be sure that schisms will arise, and abjurations will -follow within the Church of Rome." On May 19 the pulpit was ascended by -Cardinal Cullen, carrying with him the confidence of power in Ireland, -and of favour with the Curia. Coming of "a right noble Irish family," -as the official history says,[405] and trained after the heart of the -Curia, he had well justified their expectations in carrying out the -centralizing system, to which he owed his mitre. He addressed himself -particularly to the task of refuting Hefele's pamphlet on the heresy -of Pope Honorius, contending that it could not be reconciled with what -that prelate had written in his history of Councils.[406] But he also -attacked Kenrick for his memorandum already spoken of. He charged the -latter with impairing the argument for the primacy of the Pope, by -asserting that the other apostles were also called foundations as well -as Peter. Furthermore, Kenrick had asserted that the words "lambs" and -"sheep" in the Vulgate (John xxi. 16, 17) both stood for one and the -same Greek word, and hence he had contended that the stock Curialistic -argument, that the bishops, "sheep," are placed under the Pope as well -as the people, "lambs," had actually not even the show of a foundation -in the passage. This was a sore point, for what would the Papal system -have done before infallibility was proclaimed without this passage? -It was as important as "Obey God rather than man," or as "Teach all -nations." _It is not true_, asserted Cullen, that the two Latin words -in those verses represent one and the same Greek word in the original. -He quoted Oriental versions. _It is not true_, he repeated, with -emphasis. - -As to the word "faith," a word which Rome has, like so many others, -killed, disembowelled, and embalmed, Kenrick had asserted that our Lord -never employed it as meaning a _body of doctrine_, and that He employed -it not more than once or twice as meaning the act by which we believe -in God as revealing Himself; but that He generally employed it as -meaning trust or confidence. This, Kenrick had asserted, was the sense -of the word in the passage on which the attempt was made to build the -infallibility of all dogmas found in the Decrees of the Roman Pontiff. -The words are, "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." That -is, our Lord had prayed that the trust and confidence of Peter should -not entirely fail; and Rome argued that He thereby promised that -everything in the Decrees of the Roman Pontiffs, affecting doctrine or -morals, should be for evermore free from error. Kenrick's exposition -of what our Lord really did say made this argument appear not only -futile but unfair. Cullen met him by declaring that his views savoured -of the Calvinian heresy. The Cardinal proceeded to deny that bishops, -as successors of the apostles, possessed that universal jurisdiction -in the Church which the apostles themselves had received from Christ. -He quoted a work of a deceased brother of Kenrick, formerly Archbishop -of Baltimore, on the Primacy of the Apostolic See. Cullen, moreover, -claimed Ireland and the Irish for infallibility in the teeth of -oaths, catechisms, records, and living memories. In doing so, he was -indiscreet enough to name, as on his side, MacHale, the lion of St. -Jarlath, who had sat silent under the weight of his nearly fourscore -years. - -Kenrick, feeling that Cullen had said things which touched his -honour,[407] prayed for leave to reply, either at once or at the end -of the sitting. This was refused. Archbishops must wait till all the -Cardinals who chose to speak had spoken, and Kenrick must wait till all -archbishops senior to himself had been heard. He prepared a speech, but -the debate was cut short before he had the opportunity of delivering -it. Thereupon he resorted to the expedient of printing. To this -document we are indebted for some of our most trustworthy information -as to the real position taken up by different speakers.[408] - -Kenrick said that Cullen had, in very severe language, charged him with -impairing the argument for the primacy of the Pontiff, by alleging -that the other apostles were called foundations as well as Peter. -That, however, was not his language, but must be laid at the door -of the "divine" Paul and John. Kenrick admitted primacy, but denied -infallibility. He also denied that Christ had made the stability of -the Church dependent on Peter as the foundation. He had provided -for her stability otherwise, by saying. "Lo, I am with you always, -even unto the end of the world." Cullen had further said, and that -repeatedly and with much energy of expression, It is false, because -Kenrick asserted that one and the same Greek word was translated both -"sheep" and "lambs" in the sixteenth and seventeenth verses of John -xxi. But, in so doing, replied Kenrick, the Cardinal had betrayed a -little infirmity.[409] The fact remained, that in those two verses the -Vulgate did translate one and the same Greek word by two Latin ones. -Moreover, in the reading adopted by Tischendorf, there was no word in -any of the three utterances of our Lord which properly represented the -word "sheep"; and the reading adopted by Tischendorf was confirmed by -that which they might see inscribed on the arch of the Vatican Church, -over the throne of the Pontiff.[410] In answer to the assertion of -the Cardinal, that his exposition of the meaning of the word "faith" -savoured of the Calvinian heresy, Kenrick said that perhaps his -Eminence had not weighed the full significance of such language. He -showed that out of twenty-nine places in the Gospels where the word -occurred, in all but two it clearly meant confidence, or else the faith -that works miracles; and that in only two could it be taken for the -theological virtue of believing in God's revelation of Himself. He was -still fully persuaded that its real meaning, in the words addressed by -our Lord to Peter, was that of trust or confidence. - -But Kenrick contended that Cullen had, by his own method of reasoning, -taken away all the force usually ascribed by theologians to the words, -"Thou art Peter." He had said that the privileges given to the other -apostles by our Lord did not descend to their successors. If that was -the case with the other apostles, surely it would be also the case with -Peter. Kenrick, however, firmly contended that apostolic authority did -not emanate from the Pontiff, but was given to the bishops by Christ -Himself, and that the restriction of it to certain localities was -merely by appointment of the Church. - -After showing that the interpretation of the words "Upon this rock," -which was supported by the greatest number of the Fathers, was that -which regards the faith declared in the Confession of Peter as the -foundation on which the Church was to be built, he pointed out that -the word "foundation" has two clearly distinguished and well-defined -meanings. First, the natural foundation, or that to which a wise -builder clears his way before laying a stone--the living rock. -Secondly, the architectural foundation, namely, the first course of -stones laid on this rock. He contended that attention to this simple -fact made the language of both classes of passages perfectly clear; -those in which our Lord alone is called the Foundation, and those in -which the apostles are so called. At the same time it cut away all the -ground on which an argument in favour of the infallibility of the Roman -Pontiff is built, because he is the foundation of the Church. - -As to the testimony of the Church with regard to the proposed dogma, -Kenrick states it thus-- - - The dogma is not contained in the creeds; it is not given in the - Catechisms as an article of faith; it is not found as such in any - monument of public worship. Therefore the Church has not heretofore - taught it as being of the faith; and had it been a doctrine of - faith, she ought to have taught it, and to have handed it down. - - Not only has the Church not taught it in any public standard, but - she has permitted it to be impugned, and not in one place alone, - but in almost all the world, Italy excepted, and that throughout - a great length of time.... To speak of the nations which use the - English tongue, in no one standard or catechetical book of theirs - is this opinion enumerated among the verities that are of faith. In - the United States, as in Ireland, all books of piety and doctrine - were drawn from England till the opening of this century, and - later. In the greater part of those books, the opposite opinion is - contained. In none is this opinion found as being of faith (p. 212). - -He shows that recently a few books had appeared as if to prepare the -people for the new dogma. Alluding evidently to the work of the Jesuit -Weninger, which the Pope had praised, he calls the author a zealous but -unlearned man, and says his work was more calculated to excite ridicule -than anger, and that when the author had applied to himself for some -commendation, he had incautiously promised him the charity of silence. - -As to the use made by Cullen of his brother's work, he said he had -felt as if the dead had been commended in order to rebuke the living. -As to the faith of the Irish, he remarked that a smile had been raised -when Verot, of Augustine, in Florida, said that the Irish believed -even their priests to be infallible. But it was true, for believing -the Church to be infallible, and the priest to be in harmony with the -Church, they believed him to be infallible, and with the difference of -his more exalted rank, it was precisely in the same sense that they -believed the Pope to be infallible. But as to their understanding the -question now agitated, or being able to form an opinion concerning it, -that was too ridiculous to need confutation (p. 216). He even doubted -if a meeting in Cork, over which the bishop of the see was said to have -presided, had understood the question; and indeed it was apparent, from -what had passed in that Hall, that there were bishops there who were -not clear as to what Papal infallibility meant. - -Turning from the populace of Ireland to the prelates and doctors, he -was ready to grant that now, influenced by some distinguished names, -the preponderating opinion might be in favour of Papal infallibility; -on that point, however, he knew nothing more than what he had been -able to learn since coming to Rome. But in the beginning it was not -so. His proof of this was the almost universal applause with which the -writings of Dr. Doyle had been received, and those of the Rev. Arthur -O'Leary. Further, he cited answers given to a committee of the British -Parliament in 1825 by the Archbishops of Dublin and Tuam, Murray and -O'Kelly, as well as by Bishop Doyle. These answers he printed with his -speech, both in the original English and in a Latin translation. He -further cited a manifesto of all the Irish bishops in the year 1815, -addressed directly to the Holy See, which clearly shows that they did -not hold the views embodied in the proposed Decrees. He prints this -document also. - -Next, passing from the Irish prelates to the priests, Kenrick -confidently affirms that they in former times did not differ from -the prelates. Long after the establishment of Maynooth College, the -professors, he declares, came from France, and their treatises were in -the hands of the pupils long subsequently to their own death. He calls -the Archbishop of Cashel as a witness, while he relates how the change -of teaching was first introduced in that college. They were there -at the time as fellow-students. Forty years ago, says Kenrick, John -O'Hanlon was Tutor in Theology, as he is now Moderator of the higher -theological sciences in the college. The text-book _De Ecclesia_ at -that time was _Delahogue_. It contained nothing, says Kenrick, about -Papal infallibility, except a proposition in these or similar words, -"It is not of faith that the Pope is infallible" (p. 218). - -In the year 1831, O'Hanlon gave his pupils, as a theme, the following -proposition: "The Pope, speaking _ex cathedrâ_, is infallible." -O'Hanlon did not indicate any opinion of his own, and did not urge -the pupils in discussing the thesis to take either one side or the -other, but left them to argue for the negative or affirmative at their -discretion. Kenrick was one of those who took the affirmative; but he -adds, Language _so new, and hitherto unheard_ of, did not please all -the professors. One of them, who subsequently became President of the -college, strongly expressed his dissatisfaction to my fellow-student, -now the Bishop of Clonfert, from whom I had the statement. Kenrick -then makes a confident appeal to MacHale, to whom Cullen had made a -presumptuous one-- - - There sits here a venerable man, who many years ere I entered - that college expounded theology within its walls, who is by good - right looked upon as the Nestor of the Irish bishops, for he has - lived with almost three generations of men; one who with eminent - theological learning combined a glory of classic lore, and also - had intimate acquaintance with the prelates whom I have cited, and - with other men of learning whose bright and venerable names are - inscribed on the hearts of the Irish, and among their glories.... - He, with rare moderation, had not given expression to his views on - the matter now under discussion. So that his Eminence of Dublin - did not hesitate to speak for him, and to claim him as being upon - his own side. Those who feel with me, and who had known him, - desiring to see him contending by our side, were grieved to behold - him sitting apart like another Achilles. I was filled, therefore, - with an unlooked-for joy when I heard him say that in judgments on - matters of faith the head ought to be conjoined with the body; not, - as his Grace of Westminster would have it, that the head of itself, - communicating infallibility to itself, should draw the body along - with it, but that head and body, conjointly bearing witness to the - faith delivered to the saints, should declare it with one mind. As - the Archbishop of Tuam descended from this pulpit, I congratulated - him in these words: 'You have vindicated Ireland--_Vindicasti - Hiberniam_.' If witnesses of the faith of the Irish are to be, as - they ought to be, weighed and not counted, the Archbishop of Tuam, - at least in the capacity of a witness, will easily surpass the - other Irish bishops, not even excepting his Eminence of Dublin (p. - 218). - -The above important statement of Archbishop Kenrick shows that the new -dogma, according to which the Bull _Unam Sanctam_ becomes of divine -authority in doctrine, was not kept out of Maynooth very long after the -oaths and denials of preceding years had served their purpose. It was -introduced as early as 1831. - -The day following the speech of Cardinal Cullen--for our light on -which we are indebted to Kenrick's important contribution--the Primate -of Hungary appeared in the pulpit. His position as a member of the -Committee on Faith, his doubtful bearing, and, above all, rumours of a -hat, had made an impression that he had gone over to the side of the -Infallibilists. On the contrary, he now spoke with decision and force -against them. It was after the courage of the minority had been for a -moment revived by this speech, that one ascended the desk, who to most -present was only a feeble old man, but to Irish prelates, and to some -of Irish origin, he represented one who, in the thundering days of -the Liberator, was spoken of, at every wake and "patron," as a mighty -son of hail and storm. It was he to whom Cullen had appealed, on the -previous day, as a witness to the ancient faith of the Irish in Papal -infallibility. But Kenrick has already shown us that John MacHale -stood as a hoary monument of departed principles; and it was when he -came down that Kenrick cried, "Thou hast vindicated Ireland." Leahy, -Archbishop of Cashel, was the next called up; but after the speech of -MacHale he declined to speak.[411] - -The archbishops were still on the roll, so the same day the Archbishop -of Paris had his turn. Here again we get an indisputable glimpse into -the arcana. Like Kenrick's speech, that of Darboy is printed; but -unlike Kenrick's, it was actually delivered.[412] We shall, therefore, -give the principal portions of it, wishing that we were in a position -to do so with a speech from the other side-- - - Most eminent, most reverend Fathers,--I approach the consideration - of the First Dogmatic Constitution, _De Ecclesia_, submitted to - your examination,--a task which would be ungrateful did not love of - the truth and affection and reverence towards the brethren render - it easy and not unwelcome. I will treat the proposed Decree with a - mind, as I trust, free from all party spirit, wishing not to offend - any one, and fervently hoping that you will ingenuously receive - what I am about to say, as I shall ingenuously present it. - - It seems to me that there are three things to be looked at: first, - the origin of this proposed Decree; secondly, its scope and nature; - thirdly, its practical consequences. - - As to the origin of this proposed Decree, and its introduction at - the present time into the Council, I shall state a few self-evident - propositions without discussing them, or rather shall recall to - mind a few facts, from which the reverend Fathers will be able to - judge whether the whole matter has been conducted according to - order, and whether the dignity of an assembly so venerable has been - sufficiently consulted:-- - - 1. It is certain that the pivot on which our proposed Decree - altogether turns is the fourth chapter--that which treats of the - infallibility of the Pontiff. - - 2. It is certain that this question of infallibility has been the - principal object of the Vatican Council--so much so indeed that it - has been indiscreetly said by many that, in a certain sense, it was - the sole object of it. - - 3. It is certain that this principal question of infallibility was - not intimated in the Bull of Convocation, nor in the documents - relating to the convocation of the Council. - - 4. It is certain that this question has been urged forward from - without, that is, by writers lay and clerical, in a way contrary - to ecclesiastical and traditional methods, adopted against all - rules of subordination and decorum; an agitation got up by means - of demagogues, so to speak, in order that the consciences of the - bishops sitting here might be placed under pressure, and that they - might be subjected to fear that, if they resisted they should - not be able to return to their dioceses and govern them without - difficulty. - - 5. It is certain that thus the matter has been brought to such - a pass that the Vatican Fathers, albeit piously and generously - following their own conscience, have been said, nevertheless, to - have conceded more than was meet to these violent manifestations, - and to factitious opinions, when they petitioned for the - introduction of the question of infallibility; and because of - this tumult, which has been raised at the doors of the Council - Hall, the liberty and the dignity of us all have evidently been - somewhat lowered. This is unbecoming, and opens the way to grave - inconvenience; indeed, it is not to be tolerated without injury and - opprobrium to this venerable assembly, which ought to act from its - own impulse, and ought to be not only free, but manifestly free. - - 6. It is certain that the question, as this day proposed, comes - on out of the natural and logical order; and thus occasions some - prejudice which will damage the cause itself. - - 7. It is certain that the premature introduction of the question, - especially with the present inversion of proper order, is of - little service to the Holy See--nay, is detrimental to its - honour; for since, according to the Rules of Procedure, contained - in _Multiplices Inter_, petitions are remitted to a Special - Congregation, which reports upon them to the Pontiff, and since - the Pontiff can freely accept or reject the conclusions of that - Congregation, it follows that the promoters of the petition for - introducing the question of infallibility, and for placing it - first in order, publicly led the Holy Father into the position - of enacting and deciding in his own case, and for his personal - privilege; in doing which--certainly without intention on their - part--they have ill consulted his high dignity, if they may not be - said to have even detracted from it. - - If these seven positions be true--and they seem to be most true--we - cannot approach and determine this question of infallibility, - raised under such circumstances, and introduced in such a manner, - without preparing the way for the cavils of the impious, and for - objections lowering to the moral authority of this Council. This - is the more to be guarded against, because already writings and - documents are in circulation which aim at shaking its strength - and title; so that, far from calming the minds of the people, and - securing the things which make for peace, it would seem, on the - contrary, to be sowing the seeds of new disputations and discords - among Christians. - - If, therefore, I may give a practical conclusion to this portion of - my speech, I would say: (1) They did well who held this question to - be inopportune; (2) They will do well who shall judge it opportune - to abstain from a definition. - - Now, as to the second portion of my speech,--the scope and nature - of this proposed Decree,--I shall indicate a few points, but not - develop them. - - 1. The object of the proposed Decree is not to frame a doctrine - on infallibility, for all know and with Catholic faith believe in - the infallibility of the Church, which has held that tenet for - nearly twenty centuries. Its object is to define, and to propound - as an article of faith, that the chief Pontiff is infallible by - himself alone, and that indeed this privilege of inerrancy extends - as widely as the infallibility of the Church itself. It is to be - noted that the proposed Decree does not treat of the former kind of - infallibility, admitted by all, according to which the invincible - and irrefragable force of Decrees or dogmatic decisions commanding - the faith of all the faithful, as of all pastors, lies solely in - the common consent of the bishops conjoined with the Pontiff. But - this proposed Decree treats of the separate and absolute personal - infallibility of the Pontiff, though it is not openly called so. - - 2. The proposed Decree does not treat of personal infallibility - as a mere opinion, or as recommending a point of doctrine, but as - declaring a dogma of the faith. Heretofore, indeed, there was some - discussion as to the opportuneness and expediency of introducing - this question in the present Council; but that discussion was - closed from the time that the chief Pontiff decreed that the - subject could no longer be passed over in silence. But now the - other part of the question has come to be discussed, namely, - whether or not the personal infallibility of the Supreme Pontiff - can opportunely and expediently now be declared an article of the - faith, and ought to be so declared? This is precisely the matter - and object of the present discussion. - - 3. Further, in order that the object may be rightly carried - through, and may have a successful issue, these three things are - necessary: (1) A formula, or definition of the doctrine; (2) Proofs - of it, both solid and excluding all doubt; (3) Its acceptance by - all with moral unanimity. - - _The first necessity_:--It is necessary to compose a formula or - definition of the doctrine. That this is most difficult is apparent - from the case of those who first drafted the proposed Decree, as - well as of those who revised it. Terms are used which are vague, - and fitted to give rise to endless discussion. What is meant by - exercising the office of supreme teacher of all Christians? What - are the complete external conditions which mark the exercise of - this office? When will it be known that the Holy Pontiff has spoken - in such a character? The promoters of the proposed Decree say that - this will be obvious, as for instance the meaning of the term - "oecumenical" is obvious; but they inflict a wound on themselves. - For a Council is not held to be oecumenical by the faithful - dispersed throughout the world, unless it is received as such by - them perhaps with what amounts to moral unanimity. Hence if the - nature, character, and force of Decrees emanating from the Pontiff - are to be declared and known by the same method, the promoters of - the Decree have accomplished nothing, since the ultimate reason - for admitting infallibility will be the universal consent of the - bishops. Do they or do they not regard the consent of the bishops - as unnecessary in laying down definitions of the faith? If they do - regard it as unnecessary, they do a thing that is new, unheard of, - and intolerable. If they do not regard it as unnecessary, they say - a thing that is old, and received by all, and draw up their battle - array against a foe that is not in the field. In either case they - neither can nor ought to be silent as to the necessity or inutility - of the concurrence of the bishops. Silence on their part in such a - matter, and in such circumstances, would drive the faithful to new - doubts, and would prepare the way for new difficulties. They do - not define the matters to which infallibility extends, otherwise - than by saying that it extends to those to which the infallibility - of the Church extends; but such an indication is altogether - insufficient till the holy Council shall have defined the matters - to which the infallibility of the Church does extend. Hence, again - appears the logical vice from which this proposed Decree on the - primacy suffers through being brought forward before the Decree on - the Church in general. Moreover, when dealing with the Church, we - know that her infallibility is always exercised within the limits - of matters to which it extends, both because we are advised that it - is so by the common consent of the bishops, and also because the - Church is holy and cannot sin. But, on the contrary, when dealing - with the Holy Pontiff, the promoters of the proposed Decree, - whatever they may say, exclude on the one hand the consent of the - bishops, and on the other hand they have not yet attempted to prove - that every Pontiff is holy and impeccable. So far for what relates - to the discovery of a formula. - - _The second necessity_:--A formula of definition having been - found, it is necessary to prove it by solid arguments, excluding - all doubt. Let it then be proved:--(1) That this doctrine of - personal infallibility is contained in Holy Scripture interpreted - always in one sense, as well as in the tradition of all ages;--(2) - That it has always been received by consent of the Fathers, the - doctors, the bishops, and theologians; not only by some of them, - but by so many as amounts to a moral whole;--(3) That it perfectly - accords with all the Decrees and authoritative acts of OEcumenical - Councils, or even with the Decrees passed in the fourth and fifth - sessions of the Council of Constance. Even were the oecumenicity - of those sessions to be denied--which I do not admit--they still - show what was the common opinion of theologians and bishops;--(4) - That this doctrine is not gravely impugned by historical facts, - and that other acts of the Holy Pontiffs are not in conflict with - it;--(5) And, finally, that this is one of those truths which - can be defined by General Councils in union with the Pontiff, as - being demonstrably one of those which had been received by all, - everywhere, and always as revealed truth. - - The proposed Decree does not supply such arguments, and the - Fathers, as you well know, have not had time to weigh it; - therefore we ought to refrain from defining it. In a matter of - this kind, which involves the laying of an irrevocable burden on - the conscience of the faithful, there is grave peril if you act - prematurely, without absolute certainty. But there is no risk to be - run in deciding it to be a matter that requires to be more fully - discussed, and then afterwards determining it with all safety of - conscience. - - _The third necessity_:--It is necessary that this doctrine of - personal and independent infallibility, clearly stated, as we have - said, and solidly proved, should be received by the Fathers with - moral unanimity; else it is to be feared that this declaration - of doctrine will seem to many to be a pontifical Constitution - indeed but not a Decree of a Council. To impose a truth upon all - Christians, to be held as an article of faith, is a duty and a - right so grave that a bishop must not exercise it without great - circumspection. - - Hence, as you well know, the Tridentine Fathers, whatever sophists - may say to the contrary, did not arrive at their decisions in - matters of dogma by majority, but with moral unanimity. - - As to the practical consequences of the proposed Decree, I would - particularly note two points; for this personal infallibility - is not required and proposed as a matter of faith, except in - order that unity in the Church may become closer and that the - central authority may be stronger, and that thus a remedy may be - more effectually applied to every evil. As to unity and central - authority, they ought to exist and to be maintained, not as we may - fancy them, or as our reason may persuade us, but just as our Lord - Jesus Christ instituted them, and as our Fathers hitherto have held - them. For it is not for us to constitute the Church arbitrarily, - and to change the conditions of a divine work. The necessary unity, - that namely of faith and communion under the paternal rule of a - central authority, exists and always has existed among Catholics; - and that unity of doctrine and communion, and that central - authority of the Holy Pontiffs, which flourished without a dogmatic - definition of infallibility, abides unimpaired. - - Let it not be said that this unity would become stricter after the - central authority had been rendered stronger, for the consequence - does not follow. It is not enough to be one, but we must also have - that kind and that degree of unity which are required by the nature - and character of the case, and by the law and necessity of life. - Nay, it may be that a thing shall wretchedly perish, precisely for - the reason that it has been reduced to an overstrained unity; for - in that condition its internal forces cannot exercise themselves - and discharge their vital functions, being broken and crushed by - the bond of an overstrained and exaggerated unity. So in respect of - moral force, the unity of men, when acting freely and with vigour - under law, is looser yet more comely than is the unity of bondsmen - sluggishly existing under tyranny. - - Therefore, let us not separate the bishops from the Holy Pontiff, - nor the Pontiff from the bishops. Let us faithfully hold the - ancient rule of faith and the things ordained of the Fathers, and - that all the more because the proposed definition will give rise to - many and serious inconveniences. - - It can scarcely be doubted that this remedy will be powerless for - healing the evils of the day; and indeed it is to be feared that to - very many it will be injurious. The matter must be looked at not - merely in a theological point of view, but also in its aspects - towards civil society; for surely we do not sit here as so many - head-sacristans, or superiors of little Congregations, but as men - received into a share of his solicitude by the chief Pontiff, who - holds the care of the entire Church. Let us, therefore, prudently - survey the condition of the world. - - Will personal and independent infallibility raise again from the - grave the extinct Churches on the African shores? or will it awake - out of sleep that East which once bloomed with so many talents and - virtues? Will it be easier for our brethren, the Vicars Apostolic, - to bring back Pagans, Mohammedans, and Schismatics, to the Catholic - faith, if they teach them that the Pope is infallible by himself? - Will the definition encourage and animate Protestants, and other - heretics, to draw near to the Roman Church, laying aside all their - prejudices and animosities? So far for distant regions. - - But what of Europe? I say it with grief--the Church is banished - from everything. She is banished from those Congresses in which - peace and war between nations is determined, and in which, in - former times, the authority of the Holy See prevailed; whereas now - decisions affecting that See itself are taken, and it may not give - its opinion. The Church is banished from the legislative bodies in - several kingdoms of the Church; and if here and there some prelates - or priests are found in them, it seems a wonder. She is banished - from the schools where grave errors stalk with impunity; from the - laws which profess to be secular in their nature, and hence are - irreligious; from the family where civil marriage taints morals. - Almost all those who are at the head of human affairs in Europe - either shun us or keep us at a distance. - - Again, in these straits of the Church, what remedy is offered to - the world in travail? The promoters of the proposed Decree wish us - to lay a new and, therefore, heavy and odious load on those who - are already shaking from their indocile shoulders burdens imposed - of old time and rendered venerable by usage of our Fathers. They - almost crush all who are of weak faith, with a new and inopportune - dogma, a dogma never heretofore defined, and to some extent damaged - by wounds received in this discussion, and one to be pronounced - by a Council, of which many assert and declare that its liberty - is less evident than it should have been. It is hoped by this - definition of a personal and separate infallibility to be able - to heal everything, to strengthen faith in all, and to improve - morals. But in vain is it hoped. The world is sick or dying, not - for want of knowing the truth, or the teachers of it, but because - it shuns the truth and will not submit to it. If, therefore, - the world rejects the truth, when it is preached by the whole - body of the Teaching Church--that is, by eight hundred bishops - scattered all over the world and infallible in connexion with the - Holy Pontiff--how much more will it reject that truth when it is - preached by one Infallible Teacher, and that teacher recently - declared to be such! But again: in order that authority may prevail - and effectually operate, it is not enough that it be affirmed; it - must also be accepted. It does not suffice, therefore, to declare - the Pope infallible, personally and separately from the bishops, - but he must be received as such by all, if he is not to exercise - his office in vain. For instance, what avails an anathema when - the authority of him who excommunicates is disregarded? And, most - reverend Fathers, pray permit one instance more. The Syllabus went - all through Europe, and what evil has it healed, even in those - places where it was received as an infallible oracle? At that time - two kingdoms remained wherein religion still flourished, ascendant - not only in fact, but also by law; I mean Austria and Spain. Yet in - those two kingdoms this Catholic order has fallen to the ground, - although commended by infallible authority,--ay, perhaps, at least - in Austria, exactly for the reason that it was commended by it. - - Let us, therefore, look at matters as they stand. The separate - and independent infallibility of the most Holy Pontiff, so far - from removing the objections and prejudices which turn many away - from the faith, is increasing and aggravating them. Very many - even of those who are not hostile to the Catholic religion are - now meditating what they call separation of the Church from civil - society. Not a few of those who lead public affairs lean in this - direction, and they will gladly seize the opportunity, given by - the proposed definition, to carry this separation into effect. - Besides, what will be done in France will soon be imitated more or - less throughout Europe, certainly not without serious loss to the - Church and the clergy. Whether they mean it or not, the promoters - of the proposed Decree are, by their definition, instituting a new - order of things full of risks, and that all the more if they do not - more exactly determine the matters to which personal infallibility - extends; and [if they do not determine] whether it will be possible - to assert that the Pope, when defining in matters pertaining to - morals, does by that act pronounce as to the civil and political - conduct of kings and nations, and as to the laws and rights which - are now reputed to belong to the public authority. No one skilled - in politics can fail to see what seeds of contention our proposed - Decree contains, and to what perils the temporal power of the - Holy See itself is exposed. But to enter into this fully would - be tedious, perhaps indiscreet; for certainly I could not adduce - here all the arguments which come to my hand, without touching - upon several things which prudence counsels me to avoid. I have - relieved my conscience as far as possible. Accept my words for - the worth which your judgment may award to them. I know, indeed, - that disadvantages are attached to any course, and that we are - not always to abstain from acting because disasters may follow; - but I do not ask the venerable Fathers to fall suddenly into my - views, but rather ask that they may maturely consider and balance - the arguments in favour of the one view and the other. I also know - that we are not to make puerile concessions to public opinion, but - no more are we pertinaciously to thwart it. It is wiser and more - adroit to adjust many things with it, and in any case to take it - into account. And, finally, I know that the Church does not need - the temporal arm, but neither does she repel the assent and aid - of civil society; and, as I take it, she did not, in the days of - Constantine, weakly sigh for a renewal of the days of Nero. - -Quirinus says that a suppressed murmur running through the ranks of the -majority as Darboy spoke, seemed to herald coming storms (p. 553). - -On May 23, Ketteler is said to have made a real impression--indeed, -Vitelleschi intimates that he made converts (p. 162)--by a strong -representation of the effect of the proposed Decrees on what remained -of episcopal jurisdiction. On the same day Ginoulhiac, who had been -Bishop of Grenoble, but had just been made Archbishop of Lyons, -did what was looked upon as a deed of high courage by opposing the -definition. - -At the same time an incident occurred which caused all Rome to talk of -the Pope's personal energy in pushing his policy, and to whisper as to -the mysterious connexion of political movements in different countries -with the silent will of Rome. Though Portugal no longer occupied, in -the eye of the world, the place she once held, her importance to the -Papacy was still great. News arrived that the Duke of Saldanha had, -by a military _pronunciamento_, assailed the King in his palace, and -compelled him to accept a new Ministry, with himself for its head. -He was of the clerical party, and immediately found a pretext for -quarrelling with the minister representing Italy. The tidings of these -events no sooner reached Rome than the Pope visited the national church -of the Portuguese in the city. His organ, the _Osservatore Romano_, in -announcing the fact, said that his Holiness had wished to inspect the -restoration of the Church made by the Duke of Saldanha when ambassador -in Rome. The impression made was that the Pope wished, before all the -bishops and princes, to give the Duke the only mark of approbation in -his power. Vitelleschi observes that a _pronunciamento_ is the worst -form of revolution, because it disturbs the highest expression of order -and violates the faith which holds soldiers to their flag (p. 165). -What, however, is revolution when directed against the supernatural -order, is restoration and reconstruction when it favours the sacred -cause. - -The time for the definition was now rather peremptorily fixed by the -authoritative organs. The day of Mary, the day of Joseph, the Epiphany, -and the Ascension, and other very good days, had all in turn failed; -but it was to be on St. Peter's Day, and was not that the fittest day -of all? - -The Archbishop of Westminster, in the name of the committee, spoke, -on May 25, for nearly two hours. Indeed, morning by morning the -committee availed itself of the right of reply granted to its members -exclusively, by setting up one of them to refute the objections -advanced in the previous sitting. Kenrick says that he knew not which -to admire most--Manning's diction, his delivery, his power, of command -and frankness, or his ardour in urging and almost commanding the new -definition.[413] - - "I thought," says Kenrick, "of what used to be said of Englishmen - living in Ireland, that they were more Irish than the Irish - themselves. The Archbishop is certainly more Catholic than all the - Catholics I have known hitherto. He himself feels no doubt as to - pontifical infallibility, personal, separate, and absolute; and he - will not permit others to feel any. He asserts that the doctrine - is of faith, and as such he hardly asks the Council to define it, - but rather predicts that it will do so--perhaps after the manner of - those prophets who strive to bring events to pass by foretelling - them. So far as concerns myself--as one whom sixty years that have - passed over me since I began to learn the rudiments of the faith, - have perhaps left as well instructed on the point in question as - one who joined the Church about twenty years ago--I dare to assert - that the opinion, as it is found in the proposed Decree, is not a - doctrine of faith, and that it cannot become such by any definition - whatsoever, even that of a Council. We are custodians of the - deposit of faith, not lords of it. We are teachers indeed of the - faithful committed to our care, in so far as we are witnesses." - -Manning resented, _graviter illud tulit_, the attempt which had been -made to raise a case of conscience in the mind of the bishops by -asserting that any bishop would incur the guilt of a mortal sin who -gave a vote in favour of infallibility without having duly investigated -the question for himself; because his act would contribute to impose -a new yoke on the faithful. This Manning held to be injurious to the -dignity and the honour of the bishops; as if, says Kenrick, he denied -that bishops could sin, or denied that they would be guilty of mortal -sin if through negligence or idleness they failed rightly to inform -their judgments. - -Manning contended that infallibility was a supernatural -grace--_charisma_--and, therefore, that it properly attached to a -person. He would not hear of conditions being connected with the -exercise of infallibility. He asserted that he who had bestowed this -supernatural grace would also give the means for its due exercise.[414] -Moreover, he took the ground that the Council had already, in the -conclusion of the Decree which had been passed, committed itself to the -doctrine of infallibility, and that it could not now recede. Kenrick -replied that the assertion of Manning was one of several things which -he had heard with stupefaction. They had been assured, he stated, as -we have already seen, in the clearest terms by the reporter of the -committee, that the clause referred to contained no doctrine, and that -it was only a fitting conclusion to the four chapters of the Decree. -Then follows the statement that the reporter had either himself been -deceived or had knowingly deceived the minority. - -In the sitting of May 25, MacEvilly, Bishop of Galway, also referred to -Kenrick's argument, drawn from the fact that the Catholics of England -and Ireland had been admitted to equal civil rights on the faith of -repeated declarations, and even of oaths, to the effect that the -doctrine of Papal infallibility was not binding on Catholics, and that -consequently such edicts of Pontiffs as the Bull _Unam Sanctam_ had not -doctrinal authority. To this MacEvilly replied that the Catholics in -England had been admitted to equal civil rights, not because of their -declarations, but because the English government feared a civil war. -The reply of Kenrick to this straightforward utterance is worthy of -being given word for word-- - - The doctrine of Papal infallibility was always odious to the - English government, and had it been really a doctrine of the faith, - Protestants would have understood Papal doctrine better than - English and Irish Catholics; for they knew that Roman Pontiffs had - claimed the highest power in temporal things for themselves, and - had attempted to drive several English kings from the throne by - absolving their subjects from the oath of allegiance. - - Catholics, by public oath repeatedly made, denied that such power - belonged to the Roman Pontiff in the realm of England, and had - they not done so, they never would have been or ought to have been - admitted to equal civil rights.[415] How the faith thus pledged - to the British government is to be reconciled with the definition - of Papal infallibility may be looked to by those of the Irish - prelate who have taken that oath as I myself did I cannot solve the - difficulty as yet. I am Davus, not Ædipus. Nevertheless those civil - rights were conceded to Catholics by men who through a long life - had strongly opposed that course. They did indeed apprehend civil - war; but they did not dread it in this sense, that a war of that - kind could not be otherwise hurtful to the power of the government - than by causing a disturbance of the peace for a certain time. - - They feared the occurrence of a war, not the result of it, as to - which no sensible man could have been uncertain. Those great men - preferred to yield rather than to conquer by the slaughter of a - brilliant nation, and of a people worthy of a better fate, even in - what seemed to them its errors. Oh that here the same spirit of - moderation which they exhibited may be displayed by the majority - of the bishops who are listening to these words, and that by a - prevision of the calamities which may arise to us from this hapless - controversy, they may, in circumstances calling for consummate - moderation, ward off from us, who are fewer, but who represent a - greater number of Catholics than those who are opposed to us, evils - which it is not possible to anticipate without horror, and which it - would be impossible to repair by a late repentance. - -On the one hand, we cannot but regret that these words, fitly written, -were not actually spoken in the deaf ears of the resolved majority. -On the other hand, we remember that had they been spoken, they would -have sunk into the Vatican archives, and would never have been heard of -more till those graves give up their dead. They now belong to history, -and furnish a living link in a chain of memorable professions and -performances. The denationalizing influence of the Papacy had still -left something of the citizen alive in the soul of Kenrick. During -his stay in Rome, when witnessing the paltry tyrannies that flounced -about under the dependent banner of the Pope, all of the citizen that -was left in him must have turned with fresh respect to the two flags -of the free under which he had spent his days--the flags of England -and America. And yet there were those sitting there, each with all the -rights of a free man in his hands, planning to reconstruct the society -of England and America on the degraded and fettered model of the States -of the Roman Bishop. There is a crime which no code has defined--the -crime, not of breaking one specific law of one's country, but of -contriving, with a foreign pretender, how to overturn everything vital -in a venerable and generous legislation. - -It was not merely by a pupil of Maynooth that the eager ex-Anglican was -considered extreme in his views. Clifford, Bishop of Clifton, spoke -on the same day, refuting the notions of Manning about the favourable -effects to be produced by his beloved dogma in England, and appealing -to him as a witness that an eminent statesman had represented the -influence of the recent course of the Curia upon public opinion in -England as being much to the disadvantage of their own cause, and -greatly to the encouragement of extreme Protestants.[416] - -In the next Congregation, on the 28th, it was Senestrey who took -the post occupied on the last morning by Manning, that of official -respondent against attacks. On that day, a scene was raised by Verot, -of Florida. He declared that they were making innovations in the -Church, and that such an innovation as the personal infallibility of -the Pope was sacrilege. That horrid word applied in the sacred place -to an object so dear to the Pope, touched indeed the apple of the eye. -Sacrilege! The Cardinals de Angelis and Capalti, says Vitelleschi, -quite lost their temper; and a scene ensued which for anger and -excitement is said to have fallen but little short of Strossmayer's -scene in March.[417] The odious, and to well-tuned Curialistic ears -the inconceivable, task of hearing the infallibility of the Pope -denied, and of seeing his pleasure daily thwarted under the roof of St. -Peter's, was not to be endured any longer. The word passed that the -power given by the new Rules to close the debate must be called into -requisition. - -A trusty American was set up in the next meeting, by the committee, to -repair the mischief done by Verot--Spalding, of Baltimore. Here, again, -we are indebted for light to Kenrick's unspoken speech. Referring -to the moral question which had been raised by Kenrick, to which we -have already seen allusions, Spalding said that it called for as -much investigation to justify one in giving a negative as in giving -an affirmative vote on the question of Papal infallibility, and that -in withholding an affirmative vote one would confirm the celebrated -Gallican articles. - -On May 31, Valerga, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, made a vigorous attack -on the minority, speaking cleverly, and hitting hard. Spirited, -_piquant_, and insolent, is the description of Quirinus. Soon -afterwards, another American was in the desk, Purcell, of Cincinnati. -Quirinus says that he affirmed that the Americans abhorred every -doctrine opposed to civil and spiritual freedom; and that the American -sons of the Church loved her, because she was the freest society in -the world. He also took the position that, as kings existed for the -good of the people, so the Pope existed for the good of the Church. On -the same day spoke Conolly, Archbishop of Halifax. He seems to be the -only one in the Council who really related a theological experience, -declaring that he had formerly believed in the personal infallibility -of the Pope, and had come to Rome believing that the _Augsburg Gazette_ -had circulated a calumny in representing the dogmatizing of this -opinion as the real object of the Council. He went on to say that, on -finding what was expected of him, he determined to sift the arguments -of the Roman theologians and the proofs by which they supported them. -He now bore witness to the result upon his own views. All antiquity, -he declared, explained the passages harped upon by those theologians, -in a sense different from theirs. All antiquity bore witness against -the notion that the Pope alone, and separate from the bishops, was -infallible. He further took the ground that to found a dogma on the -rejection of the traditional interpretation of Scripture was pure -Protestantism. I will have nothing, he said, turned into dogma but the -indubitable Word of God. Ten thousand theologians do not suffice for -me, and on the present subject no theologian should be quoted who lived -subsequent to the Isidorean forgeries. To define the dogma would be to -bring the Vatican Council into contradiction with the three General -Councils which had condemned Pope Honorius as a heretic, to narrow the -gates of heaven, to repel the East, and to proclaim, not peace, but -war. In reply to Manning, he protested that no one was justified in -calling an opinion proximate heresy when it had not been condemned as -such by the Church.[418] - -On June 3, Gilooly, Bishop of Elphin, replying to some observation of -Purcell as to the oaths and declarations, said[419] that Catholics had -not denied that they held the infallibility of the Pope as a doctrine -of the faith, but as a dogma of the faith; that is as a dogma defined -by a General Council. To this, Kenrick's unspoken speech replies, -"If that is what was meant, which I do not believe, we might be -reproached, and that rightfully and deservedly, with not shrinking, in -a very grave matter, from the concealment of our meaning by scholastic -distinctions."[420] According to Quirinus (p. 661), Cardinal Bonnechose -prevailed upon Cardinal de Angelis to ask the Pope, directly, if he -would not consent to a prorogation of the Council on account of the -heat, now intolerable to all but Romans, or men from the southward of -Rome. The reply was stern and, according to many, savage. Whatever were -the terms of it, the substance was indubitable--no adjournment was to -be allowed till the Decree of Infallibility was passed. It is said that -when Bishop Domenec, of Pittsburg, in America, began his discourse, he -was greeted with laughter by the majority, and when he made the very -plain and simple statement--one which he might have picked up from any -intelligent or travelled Italian any day in the year--that American -Catholics were not merely nominal ones, as the Italians were, Cardinal -Capalti imperiously commanded silence.[421] Strossmayer had spoken at -length on June 2, and with such moderation as to escape even a call to -order, yet, it is said, with very great force. On the 3rd, Moriarty, -of Kerry, took the side of Purcell, Kenrick, and MacHale, but we have -no particulars of his speech.[422] That day Maret was in the desk -speaking in the loud and labouring tone of a deaf man, arguing, not -only against the convictions and feelings of the majority, but against -their personal detestation of himself. He made a point that either -the Council was to give infallibility to the Pontiff, in which case -the Council must be a higher authority than he, or else the Pontiff -was to give to himself an infallibility which he had not previously -possessed, in which case he would change the constitution of the Church -by his own power alone. Then Cardinal Bilio interrupted, and cried, -"The Council does not give anything, nor can it give anything. It gives -its suffrage, and the Holy Father decides what he pleases."[423] The -representative of all that was left of the once courageous Gallican -liberties asked if he might be allowed to proceed, and did so. The -minority had a long list of speakers still inscribed. Kenrick was -waiting for his turn, and so were Haynald, Dupanloup, and many others; -but a fresh surprise was at this point sprung upon them. The Presidents -produced a requisition for the close of the general debate, signed by -above one hundred and fifty bishops.[424] De Angelis at once called -on those who were for the closing of the debate to stand up. He then -declared, "A large majority have stood up, and by the power conferred -upon us by Our Most Holy Lord (the capitals are official), we close -the debate on the general question." The _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_ say that -about fifty remained sitting. No wonder that, after hearing sixty-five -speakers, the Fathers were weary. Yet, no wonder, on the other hand, -that the minority should allege that, while it was perfectly reasonable -to close a debate in this manner when the object was that of making -temporal laws liable to be unmade, or re-made, a year later, it was -neither reasonable nor fair, and above all, it was not agreeable to any -precedent, to past professions, or to any ecclesiastical principle, to -close a debate upon a dogma while yet there were prelates wanting to -bear witness to the tradition of their respective Churches. According -to all their theologians, dogma was not to be made by mere opinion, but -by evidence of the fact that the opinion in question had been believed -from the beginning. Protestants would naturally say that it was time to -bury this pretence under any heap; but men whose life had been spent -under the illusion of the pretence naturally felt otherwise. They -had not seen that when the Church adopted the principle of tradition -instead of that of Scripture, the Spouse, while professing only to -supplement the word of her Lord, really entered on a course which -must lead to setting it aside in favour of her own word, and that -when she had adopted the principle of general consent, instead of -that of clear apostolical tradition, she had set aside the principle -of antiquity for that of a majority amounting to a moral whole, and -that now she was only proceeding a step further in substituting the -principle of a numerical majority for that of moral unanimity. But one -step more remained, and that was not far off. The Spouse who had put -aside the authority of her Lord to exalt her own, was to find, not -only her authority, but even her consent, formally repudiated before -all men by the master whom she had, in the house of her Lord, set up -in His place. In that house the talk was evermore of her authority, -her wisdom, her infallibility, her glory, her stores of merit and her -streams of blessing, and but rarely was her Lord heard of, except as -having conferred the regency on her. Now drew nigh the day when the -self-asserting Spouse was, before all men whom her loud vauntings had -aroused, to receive on her brow such a stigma from her self-chosen -Master as has seldom in set terms been affixed to a society by its -head. Meantime the blow which had just been dealt seemed fatal to all -the hopes of the minority. So once more they dragged their robes down -the marble way of St. Peter's with defeat behind them, but this time -with annihilation close before, though not till after further strange -experiences. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 402: _Vitelleschi_, p. 158.] - -[Footnote 403: _Quirinus_, p. 532.] - -[Footnote 404: _Quirinus_, p. 533.] - -[Footnote 405: _Frond_, vol. ii.] - -[Footnote 406: _Documenta ad Illustrandum_, ii. 209.] - -[Footnote 407: "_Meum honorem graviter læserunt._"--_Documenta ad -Illustrandum_, i. 189.] - -[Footnote 408: _Documenta ad Illustrandum_, pp. 187-224.] - -[Footnote 409: _Aliquid humani passum esse._] - -[Footnote 410: He showed that Tischendorf read προβἁτια -in both cases, and that other editors had read πρὁβατα in -both. Of course, in the fifteenth verse, the word "lambs"--ἁρνἱα--is -the proper translation.] - -[Footnote 411: _Acta Sanctæ Sedis._ As to MacHale, Kenrick omits what -_Frond_ states, that he was of a "very ancient" family.] - -[Footnote 412: _Documenta_, ii. pp. 415-24.] - -[Footnote 413: _Documenta_, i. 209.] - -[Footnote 414: _Documenta_, i. 223.] - -[Footnote 415: "Quod si non fecissent nunquam ad libertatis civilis -consortium admissi fuissent aut debuissent" (p. 219).] - -[Footnote 416: _Quirinus_, 584.] - -[Footnote 417: _Vitelleschi_, p. 168.] - -[Footnote 418: _Quirinus_, p. 597.] - -[Footnote 419: _Documenta_, i. 215.] - -[Footnote 420: _Ibid._, 215.] - -[Footnote 421: _Quirinus_, p. 661.] - -[Footnote 422: His name does not occur in the _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_ for -the third.] - -[Footnote 423: _Quirinus_, p. 608.] - -[Footnote 424: _Acta Sanctæ Sedis._ _Friedberg_, p. 47, says there were -two hundred and fifty signatures, but this is evidently a mistake.] - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -To the Close of the Special Debate on Infallibility, July -4--Proposal of the Minority to resist--They yield once more--Another -Protest--Efforts to procure Unanimity--Hope of the Minority in -Delay--Pope disregards the Heat--Disgrace of Theiner--Decree giving to -Pope ordinary Jurisdiction everywhere--His Superiority to Law--Debate -on Infallibility--Speech of Guidi--Great Emotion--Scene with the -Pope--Close of the Debate--Present view of the _Civiltá_ as to -Politics--Specimens of the Official Histories--Exultation. - - -Any one who had observed the course of the minority in emergencies -would have probably foretold that, under the new trial, they would -feel indignant, would speak of doing something, and would end with a -protest. So it proved. The very day of the forcible conclusion of the -general debate, the French bishops met, and were favourable to some -determined action.[425] But the next day, eighty congregated in the -rooms of Cardinal Rauscher. The Hungarians, French, and Americans, -with Strossmayer, Clifford, and Conolly, are named by Quirinus as -recommending that the Fathers of the Opposition should cease to take -any part in the Council, reserving themselves for the final vote, and -should then give their _Non placet_. The Germans, however, always -marplots, urged that the better course would be to adopt a protest, -and continue to take part in the proceedings. This counsel prevailed. -Rauscher drew up a form of protest, which was signed by some eighty -prelates, and many of the bishops took a trip to Naples or elsewhere. - -Among the things represented by Quirinus as having been said on this -occasion, one was to the effect that in a Parliament speeches were -of some use, for if they did not influence votes, they did enlighten -public opinion; but in this Council, most of the hearers were, from -their degree of culture, quite incapable of apprehending theological -arguments, not to add that, in a moral point of view, many of them -stood so low that even if convinced they would not act on their -convictions. The ground taken in the protest is clear, namely, that -the right of supporting their votes by a statement of reasons, is one -which, by the very nature of a Council, belongs not only to some of its -members, but to them all, and that such a right could not be taken away -by any vote of a majority.[426] - -The Hungarians now declared that they would take no further part in the -debates. On the other hand, the _Unitá Cattolica_ foretold how those -who had written or spoken as Gallicans would be converted by a miracle -of the Holy Ghost, even in the Council Hall; and as the Galileans had -been constrained to speak in other tongues, so would the Gallicans be -constrained to proclaim in that Hall before the astonished multitudes -the doctrine they had gainsaid. - -The absorbing care of the Curia and its instruments was now directed -to the one end of constraining all to vote _placet_. The victory was -no longer doubtful, but to procure unanimity was of great practical -moment. The Pope himself was indefatigable. His admirers resented such -epithets as "unscrupulous" when applied to his conduct. But they took -good care not to grapple with the details of alleged facts which, if -they could be credibly told about the conduct of one of our sovereigns -in respect to his nobles or to Parliament, would be described in much -stronger epithets than unscrupulous. His tongue was evermore scattering -rebukes or blandishments, and enlivening the city with crackling sparks -of gossip. There were but few bishops of note among the minority whose -portraits, etched by the infallible acid, were not handed round the -_salons_, lay and clerical. His letters were bitter and undignified. -Quirinus quotes the words of a French bishop (p. 627): "There is no -longer any scruple as to what is done to gain votes. It is a horror. -There has never been anything like it in the Church." These words -recall to us a scene in Rome. A remarkable head--one of those heads -which bear on the brow a diploma of gifts and letters--was stooping in -the light of a lamp by which pages had been penned that had been heard -of beyond Italy. The stoop was pensive, and the thinker said, "I saw so -much of what was done during that Council, that it has destroyed all my -faith in anything that ever was done in the Church before." - -It would seem as if, at the last, argument and appeal had begun to tell -on some of those who were of a milder mood among the Curialists. It is -said that even of the chosen three champions, Manning, Deschamps, and -Pie, the last wished to find some formula less offensive than the one -projected. Martin of Paderborn even proposed a note which contained -a recognition of the teaching authority of bishops, though in an -indirect way. On the other hand, the members of the Opposition tried to -discover some turn of expression which would save the Church from the -shame of being publicly disavowed by her wilful lord. Conolly spoke of -proposing, as a formula which would still give her a recognised voice, -words declaring the Pope infallible when he spoke, "as head of the -Church teaching with him." Others again wished to reinstate the formula -of St. Antoninus, of Florence, declaring the Pope infallible when he -acts with the counsel of the universal Church.[427] - -Men now began to realize the full effect of the proposed dogma, both -in its executive and in its retrospective aspects. Many must have -remembered how happy they had been in argument, or in diplomacy, when -the ambiguous state of the case, as it had hitherto existed, enabled -them to evade the charge that such and such were the principles of the -Church. It was so convenient to be able to say No, they have never been -sanctioned by a Council; they are only the words of a Papal Decree. -Now, however, all these words were to have fresh life breathed into -them, and whatever they contained affecting a general principle of -belief, or practice, was to be taken for divine,--was, in fact, to rank -as the word of God. - -Delay now became the forlorn hope of the minority, and expedition -the watchword of the majority. The minority were sure that the Pope -would not be so cruel as to force them to continue in Rome during the -summer heats. Hence, they thought that by delay they were certain of -a prorogation before the fatal deed was done. They forgot the history -of the Pope's prisons and executions. Perhaps they had never read it, -or had used their fatal facility of calling an unpleasant statement a -lie. Antonelli had generally carried away the chief part of the blame -for the blood of the political victims. However, he seems completely -to have escaped reproach for the broiling of the bishops. Whether -the fierce language ascribed to the Pope was correct or not, nobody -doubted its aptness.[428] When even the faithful M. Veuillot said, -Since they have put the Council upon the gridiron, they shall broil -(ii. p. 352), everyone treated him as only echoing the language of his -idol. When once the heats had begun to tell, the feelings of majority -and minority, as Vitelleschi points out, changed. Men from the north, -accustomed to the bracing air and pure streams of Germany, could ill -bear up against the miasma from the Roman marshes and the torrid heats -that were withering the city and making even natives look pale. They -therefore began to long for an escape, and not a few of them took -their way homewards. They received not only ready but glad permission. -Thus every day was diminishing the strength of the Opposition. The -majority, on the other hand, consisting of Italians, South Americans, -and Spaniards, were inured to the heats, if not to the malaria, and -felt that the sun and the marshes were conspiring with them. Apollo -had come to camp shooting over the heads of the natives, but laying low -the men from beyond the sea. - -There was now only one consideration that would make the Pope anxious -for despatch, and that was the daily pressure upon his finances caused -by supporting his three hundred boarders. This certainly had proved a -useful ground of appeal for funds. The sums collected everywhere had -been great. The _Civiltá_ reproaches the Liberal Catholics with not -sending money any more than they had sent men to fight for the Holy -Father, and sets in contrast with their stinginess and want of military -spirit the fact that the _Univers_ alone had sent in more than nine -thousand pounds (234,410 francs).[429] The Holy Father said, "They fear -making the Pope infallible, but they do not fear making him fail."[430] -But M. Veuillot, on the contrary, did not fear making him infallible, -and did everything possible to prevent him from failing. Hence it was -no wonder that he should have briefs to publish which would perform -a service for the exchequer of the _Univers_ similar to what the -_Univers_ performed for the exchequer of the author of the briefs. -The words of the Pope spoken to the deputation of scientific men were -representative words, "Here I am to receive your offerings." - -Theiner, the celebrated Prefect of the Vatican archives, now fell -publicly under displeasure. He had allowed Hefele and Strossmayer, and -perhaps others, to see the order of procedure of the Council of Trent, -and probably had in other ways shown leanings not acceptable to the -Jesuits. He was ordered to give up his keys to Cardoni, who had been -the first chosen secretly to prepare Drafts of Decrees on Infallibility -before intentions were disclosed, and had kept his counsel well. The -archives were actually closed against Theiner. It is said that the -passage into them from his own rooms was walled up. The disgrace of -Theiner, and the honour of Cardoni, sharply symbolized the favourite -saying that the dogma must conquer history. Here again Antonelli -escaped all reproach of a share in the blundering injustice. Cardoni -was one singled out by name in a celebrated letter of Döllinger as -having largely employed falsified authorities. But that charge, to us -so revolting, is a familiar sound wherever the shadow of the Curia -extends.[431] We ourselves once heard a member of the Congregation of -the Index claim, unmindful of the presence of a Protestant, "You must -never trust any edition of any work whatever that has passed through -the hands of the Jesuits." - -The exciting matters now remaining to be treated in the Council were -the all-important particulars of those Drafts which had already been -under a general review. The two chapters teaching the institution -of the primacy in the person of Peter, and the transmission of that -primacy through the Roman Pontiffs as his successors, were speedily -disposed of. Had all the fathers attempted to answer the arguments of -Desanctis on these points, arguments familiar to many Italians, they -would not have found it light work. But the third chapter was one -of immense importance. It defined the scope and nature of primacy, -distending that term till it was made to cover absolute, immediate, -and ordinary control in the whole domain of the Church--control over -bishops and people, control over not only all matters ordinarily -included under the expression "faith and morals," but over all things -held to be necessary for the government or discipline of the Church. -This last expression, as any one acquainted with the views of those in -authority, even so far as they are recorded in our preceding pages, -must know, covers almost every possible question that can arise. The -words of Vitelleschi (p. 174) are well considered. He speaks of the -"supreme jurisdiction, ordinary and universal, of the Pope over all -Churches, singly and collectively, over pastors as well as flocks; from -which doctrine it follows that bishops in exercising any jurisdiction -or authority, only do so as official delegates of the Pope." Dr. Langen -puts it thus: "Seeing that there can be only one bishop in a diocese, -as soon as the Pope is declared to have ordinary jurisdiction in -that diocese, he becomes its Ordinary, and the other person called a -bishop is nothing more than his delegate and representative."[432] Men -who cover a dominion of this sort under the pretext of primacy, and -who advance a claim of primacy in order to deduce from it an absolute -dictatorship, never do anything more sensible than when they decry -reason and relegate Scripture to the tradition-heap; when they call -for pictures instead of books, and processions and fireworks instead -of a free press and free discussion. There was political philosophy in -M. Veuillot's exclamation on witnessing the Easter rejoicings in Rome, -especially the fireworks representing "the heavenly Jerusalem," that -it was impossible not to respect a people for whom such entertainments -were provided. - -The first assertion in the Decree of ordinary and immediate -jurisdiction over all Churches, oddly does not describe that -jurisdiction as belonging to the Pope, but as belonging to the Roman -Church (par. 2). No sooner, however, has principality been ascribed -to the Roman Church than it is instantly transferred to the Pontiff, -and is again instantly affirmed to be a truly episcopal power. This -confusion, in such a document, would be amusing if the matter were not -so serious. That a Church should be a bishop is certainly new; and -that a truly episcopal power should reside in a Church which is not a -bishop, is one of the many mysteries created by the Vatican Council. -But that the source of the Pontiff's authority should in this very -Decree be sought in the Church, is a proof how hard a task is theirs -who determine to make dogma conquer history. In the very language of -the Decree, history conquers the dogma. - -If the document contains this one taint of dualism as between Church -and Pope, it is clear of all reproach of dualism as between the Pope -and Princes. The latter are legislated out of all rights that could -possibly conflict with those of their Lord Paramount. Notwithstanding -the slight dualism as between Pope and Church, the latter is also -legislated out of all her ancient claims; but incidentally she appears -in clauses which, if she was only infallible without the consent of -the Pope, as he is infallible without her consent, might in time prove -very awkward. He has only as much infallibility as she has: that is -a clumsy admission just before the assertion that he is infallible -without her consent. However, wherever the power resides, or springs -from, it is a power over all pastors and all believers, and extends, -as we have said, not only to faith and morals, but to all things -which affect the government of the Church. Thus it includes every -mixed question whatsoever, and all things of any kind which in the -estimation of the Pope of Rome may relate to the interests of that -kingdom of which he is the king. This power, moreover, is immediate, -and as such can act without being legally restricted to any processes, -any agencies, or any forms. Being ordinary, it can never be obliged to -wait until the ordinary jurisdiction has been tried and failed. Being -immediate, it can never be told that it must take this, that, or the -other line of procedure. This language for ever settles the point which -had been contested in the famous passage of letters with Darboy. - -How it could be necessary to add another word after these affirmations -we can hardly see. Even Councils, or the pastors collectively, had -but one office assigned to them--the office of obeying. After this -the abstract proclamation of Infallibility, or Irreformability, or -Inerrancy, could add nothing to a power that was universal, ordinary, -and immediate, and towards which the people or bishops, singly or -collectively, stood in one relation only--that of subjects in presence -of an authority which they were bound absolutely to obey. It naturally -follows that it is in this obedience that Rome finds unity. That is, -in fact, her ideal of unity. Christians are Churchmen, not by being -Christians, but by obeying the Roman Pontiff. Under the Papacy a -Christian is outside the family of God if he does not obey the Cæsar of -the Church. - -Absolute authority over bishops and people having been asserted, next -comes the assertion of authority over princes. This is done in a -paragraph in which only students would see anything of the kind. The -fourth paragraph of the third chapter begins by speaking of the Pope's -right to free communication with the pastors and flocks of the whole -Church. What could appear more natural, or less dangerous? Had we not -seen how much the communications of the Pope amount to, we should have -taken that as a meek and harmless claim. But the close of the paragraph -shows that what the Pope means is the right of giving to his own -edicts the binding force of a higher law in every country, whether the -government consents or does not consent. As primacy means dictatorship, -so communication means promulging laws in regard to which no human -being has the right of reply, inquiry, complaint, or appeal; has, we -repeat, no office whatever except that of obedience. We have seen that -"teach" in our Lord's commission to the apostles means so to give law -to the _nations_ that they can never be justified in resisting. No -prince can have any title to exercise an _exequatur_, _placet_, or any -other form of check upon an edict of the Pope. Every man who denies the -validity of a Papal law, because it is prohibited by the government of -the country, is solemnly condemned; he interrupts the communication -between the authority of the Pontiff and the conscience of his -subjects. Indeed, the condemnation extends to all who even say that his -decrees may be lawfully impeded in their execution. The reason of this -appears in the next paragraph. The Pope is there formally declared the -Supreme Judge of the faithful. Therefore all may justly resort to his -judgment in all matters subject to ecclesiastical inquiry, and none may -appeal from his judgment, for there is no authority greater than his. -Matters subject to ecclesiastical inquiry must always include all those -wherein the interests of the Papacy are in anywise involved. Next, even -the old appeal to a General Council is formally condemned. Yet even -that condemnation is bungled. None may appeal from the judgment of -the Pope to a General Council "as an authority superior to the Roman -Pontiff." Then, will lawyers say, we can only appeal to a General -Council as an authority equal to the Roman Pontiff. - -If these fourth and fifth paragraphs of the third chapter of the -Decree on Primacy were read by a dozen educated Englishmen unused -to Roman Catholic interpretations of Papal laws, nearly all of them -would put aside clause after clause as not being of importance. They -would take the _damnamus_ and _reprobamus_ as so much sulphur, and -let it pass. Far otherwise Vitelleschi. "From a practical point of -view," he says, "the declarations of infallibility could add nothing -to the weight of this paragraph" (p. 177). Vitelleschi looks upon the -express declaration of infallibility, in the next chapter, as no more -than "indulgence in the luxury of self-assertion, to which absolute -principles are prone." Yet when Mr. Gladstone pointed out the true -range of the authority here set up, many of our politicians treated him -as a statesman who had strayed out of his domain into theology. Since -then, specimens of minimizing interpretation have been put into our own -tongue, as curious as any furnished by the history of _finesse_. If -there be one Canon expressing a rule absolute that needs no exception -to prove it, we have it in the words, Rome never minimises. She always -interprets her own documents as a legatee interprets a will, that is, -in her own favour. - -On June 15 the Council disposed of all the matters that stood in the -way of the great question. Seventy-five speakers had entered their -names. Two speeches were actually made on that day by Cardinals -Mathieu and Rauscher.[433] The latter said that he could never assent -to the doctrine of the Draft without mortal sin. "We knew all that -from your pamphlet," cried Deschamps, interrupting. "But you have -never refuted it," replied the Austrian.[434] The following day was -the grand procession of the Corpus Christi. If the "good press" was -parsimonious in information regarding debates and decrees, it was -profuse in description of the spectacles. On the 17th, Pius IX entered -on the twenty-fifth year of his pontificate. This year, according to -Roman tradition, is fatal to the Pontiffs, it being held that Peter -reigned twenty-five years, and that none of his successors was to reign -longer. Vitelleschi declares that the twenty-fifth year proved fatal -to Pius IX, as well as to the rest, because in the course of it he -ceased to be a mere mortal. This phrase from a Liberal Catholic will -seem natural when set beside one of M. Veuillot, on the day on which -Pius IX completed the twenty-fifth year of his pontificate: "We are -reminded of the radiance of Jordan and of Tabor, of the thunders of -the Temple, 'This is my beloved Son, hear ye him'" (vol. ii. p. 468). -On the next page he says, "God has left us His priest, His angel, the -sacred interpreter of His law, the anointed intercessor between Him -and the world ... a second Peter, a second Moses on the threshold of -a new world." It remains to be seen whether the twenty-fifth year of -Pius IX was or was not that of the final fall of the temporal power. If -the speeches on the doctrine and polity of the Church were concealed, -the Pope's speech this day, in reply to the Sacred College, was blazed -abroad. He divided the bishops into three classes--the ignorant, the -time-serving, and the good. So flowed abroad fresh streams from that -fountain which, all the time, was sending forth both sweet waters and -bitter. - -On June 18, the debate on the fourth chapter, that is, on -infallibility, really began. It was a day of Cardinals. Pitra, Guidi, -Bonnechose, and Cullen were the sole orators. Hitherto, what with the -heat and what with the feeling that all was over, no interest had -attached to the renewed debates after the violent close of the general -discussion. But the torpor was suddenly shaken. A speech by a Roman, a -Dominican and a Cardinal (Guidi), came upon the city, says Vitelleschi, -like a sudden thunderclap in a cloudless sky. The Cardinal, like nearly -all the members of the Sacred College, was a "creature" of Pius IX. -According to Vitelleschi, he began his speech as a Cardinal should, -but, according to Quirinus, he offended at the very first. Unhappily, -in a matter of difference of this kind, the writers who enjoyed "the -radiance of infallibility" give us no light. So we are left at the -mercy of those whose assertions were all lies in general, but somehow, -when attacked in detail, generally proved to be truths in particular. -In the present case, we do not remember that even M. Veuillot attempts -to impugn any of the facts stated. However Guidi may have begun, he -affirmed that the doctrine of Papal infallibility, as contained in -the proposed Decree, was unknown to the Church up to the close of -the fourteenth century. Proofs of this doctrine were to be sought in -vain in either Scripture or tradition. As a practical question, when -had the Pope ever defined one dogma alone, and without the Church? An -act, he continued, might be infallible, but a person never. Hitherto -infallible acts had proceeded from the Church, either by counsel of -the Church dispersed, or by a Council. Inquiry was indispensable to -ascertain "what was believed everywhere, and whether all Churches were -in agreement with the Roman Church." After such inquiry, the Pope -sanctioned "finally," as St. Thomas says; and thus only could it be -said that "all taught through the Pope." Quoting Bellarmine, and even -the modern Jesuit Perrone, he showed that "the Popes had never acted -by themselves alone in defining doctrine, or by themselves alone in -condemning heresies." At these words, _Spaccapietra_, an Italian, but -Bishop of Smyrna, led in a disturbance. One bishop cried "Scoundrel!" -another cried "Brigand!" Vitelleschi even speaks of violent gestures -(p. 189). Guidi said he had the right to be heard, and that no one -had given the right of the Presidents to the bishops; but he added, -"You will have the opportunity of saying _Placet_ or _Non placet_." -Hereupon, from all ranks of the Opposition burst out a cry of "_Optime! -optime!_"--excellent! excellent! "Do you agree with us?" asked a bishop -of Manning. "The Cardinal's head is bewildered," was the reply. On -this, says Quirinus, a bishop could not refrain from saying to the -powerful Archbishop of Westminster, "It is your own head, Monsignor, -that is bewildered, and more than half Protestant." If this language -was really used, we must doubt whether it was infallible. - -Guidi went on to advocate a change in the wording of the Decree, to -the effect that the Pope acted with the concurrence of the bishops, -and that after having, at their request, occasioned by prevalent -errors, made inquiry in other Churches, he acted with the consent of -his brethren, or with that of a collective Council. He contended that -this was the doctrine of St. Thomas; that the word "final" implied -something to precede, and that "supreme teacher and judge" presupposed -"other teachers and tribunals." He concluded by proposing two Canons, -the first of which declared Papal Decrees or Constitutions to be -entitled to cordial faith and reverence, and not to be reformable; but -the second said, If any one shall say that, in issuing such Decrees, -the Pope can act arbitrarily without the counsel of the bishops as -testifying to the tradition of the Church, let him be anathema.[435] -On finishing his discourse, he at once handed his manuscript to the -secretaries. - -Quirinus relates that Valerga audibly said, in reply to some question, -"Guidi is misguided." But his neighbour replied that Guidi's speech -contained nothing but the truth. "Yes," rejoined the Patriarch of -Jerusalem, "but it is not always expedient to speak the truth." The -excitement was great. Groups of prelates who had left the Hall might be -seen standing about everywhere in earnest conversation, while within -doors Bonnechose and Cullen were discoursing to a thin audience with -absent minds. It was related that Guidi did not speak as a solitary -individual, but represented fifteen bishops belonging to the Order of -Dominicans. He had gathered them together in the central convent of the -Minerva, where he himself resided. They had considered the question, -and accepted the views which he had now presented to the Council. -This was much against the feeling of Father Jandel, their general, -who was perfectly free from any taint of the episcopal system, a -thoroughly right-minded Papist. Guidi asked how the Cardinals had taken -his speech, and Cardinal Mathieu replied, "With serious and silent -approval." - -Rumours were soon afloat in Rome as to what followed between Guidi -and his royal master. What we now give is traced by Quirinus to the -authority of the Pope himself, who is notoriously fond of telling -the people with whom he chats how he has lectured this or that -dignitary.[436] - -The "creature" was summoned to the presence of his master soon after -the sitting, and was greeted with the words, "You are my enemy. You -are the _coryphæus_ of my opponents. Ungrateful towards my person, you -have propounded heretical doctrine." "My speech is in the hands of your -Presidents, if your Holiness will read it and detect what is supposed -to be heretical in it. I gave it at once to the Under-Secretary, that -people might not be able to say that anything had been interpolated -into it."[437] "You have given great offence to the majority of the -Council. All five Presidents are against you, and are displeased." -"Some material error may have escaped me, but certainly not a formal -one. I have simply stated the doctrine of tradition, and of St. -Thomas." "I am tradition. I will require you to make the profession -of faith anew. _La tradizione son' io, vi faro far nuovamente la -professione di fide._" "I am and remain subject to the authority of the -Holy See, but I venture to discuss a question not yet made an article -of faith. If your Holiness decides to be such in a Constitution, I -certainly shall not dare to oppose it." "The value of your speech may -be measured by those whom it has pleased. Who has been eager to testify -to you his joy? That Bishop Strossmayer, who is my personal enemy, has -embraced you. You are in collusion with him." "I do not know him, and -have never before spoken to him." "It is clear you have spoken so as to -please the world, the Liberals, the Revolution, and the government of -Florence." "Holy Father, have the goodness to have my speech given to -you." - -It was said that the Pope stated afterwards that he had not sent for -Guidi as a Cardinal, but as Brother Guidi, whom he had himself lifted -out of the dust. The saying, "I am tradition," made an impression in -Rome much like the celebrated one of the French monarch, "I am the -State." It simply packed up and labelled the thought that had been -more or less confusedly before the minds of all. Quirinus speaks of -having often had the words "I am the Church" in his thoughts--_l'Eglise -c'est moi_. We do not see that the Pope could have said anything -more sensible or more exactly representing the theology and history -which the favourite champions had put before the world. Quirinus very -properly thinks that this formula fits well with the pregnant saying -of Boniface VIII, "The Pope holds all rights locked up in his breast." -Truths and rights go together. Tradition consists of truths, and the -Pope is all truth. Rights are based upon the truths, and the Pope -holds them all in his own breast. And if the poor old man himself at -last uttered these sad words, it was only after the incense had smoked -around him thousands and thousands of times, hiding the realities of -heaven from him by clouds that were only fumes. For this others were -responsible, at least in part. Under the influence of it, what wonder -if his senses had become confused? Mankind will have reason to be -thankful that one Pope lived long enough to be thoroughly overcome by -the smoke of the sacrifices. The ordinary reason assigned in Rome for -Popes being short-lived is, that it is necessary to prevent the effects -of their power upon themselves. - -The _gravamen_ of Guidi's offence could not be removed by any -subsequent submission. Seeing that the Canon he proposed had emerged -into the light, the record could not be got out of the book of history -that a Dominican, a divine of repute, a Cardinal in high credit, did -up to that last hour of liberty hold that it was a heresy worthy of -anathema to affirm the very doctrine which was soon to be part of "the -faith." The record could not be prevented from going down to future -ages that what was, on June 18, and under the dome of St. Peter's, -liable to be called a heresy, was on July 18 under the same dome, -promulged by the voice of the Pope as truth, and as binding on every -human being who would be saved. Nor can craft ever blot out from -the history of the eccentricities of intellect the instance offered -by the fact that after this had been done, grave and learned men, -even of advanced age and high office, went throughout the civilized -world soberly affirming that the only reason why the dogma was then -proclaimed, was that it had been clearly revealed by our Lord and His -apostles, and had in every age been held as revealed truth by all -Catholics, in all places. - -Vitelleschi is not quite clear as to whether all the incidents reported -of the interview between the Pope and the Cardinal were correct. To -him that is of no importance; Roman-like, he did not want anything to -illustrate the relation of the Pope to his courtiers or to the Church. -A few such scenes, more or less, would to him make no difference -whatever. - -As if to prepare for the deeds directly tending to the restoration -of facts when the Council should have completed the restoration of -ideas, the tales of the _Crusaders of St. Peter_ continued to appear -side by side with the notices of the legislative proceedings in the -successive numbers of the _Civiltá_. To us one episode comes near home. -It was on an April day that a company leaving Rome bore across the -Campagna, with all the solemnity of a relic of the saints, the heart -of one whose body, in the Agro Verano, the cemetery of St. Lorenzo, -slept close by the tombs of the ancient martyrs, and amid those of the -martyrs of Mentana. As the party reached a point on the hill within a -few steps of the village,--a point from which St. Peter's appeared in -the distance,--they saw a block of white marble, surrounded by four -little columns, hung round by an iron chain. "Here," cried some zouaves -who were of the party,--"Here is the spot to which Julian pushed on, -chasing the enemies of God with fire and sword, passing through a -thousand bullets, of which one carried away his cap; and here he fell -shot down at point blank." Above the marble block rose "the cross of -Mentana," and on it was cut the inscription, "Here fell, fighting -for the See of St. Peter, Julian Watts-Russell, pontifical zouave, a -young Englishman of 17 years and 10 months old, the most youthful who -fell on the field of victory, and the nearest to Mentana." In this -"angelic sepulchre," as the courtly historian calls it, the solemn -party deposited their holy relic. Around were grouped the villagers, -with a few zouaves, among whom were Mr. Vansittart, who had come to -take up the arms of his fallen friend, and Wilfred Watts-Russell, the -brother and the fellow-crusader of Julian. The rites were celebrated -by a venerable old man, yet, says the narrator, a new priest, who now, -perhaps, for the first time performed the funeral service. It was the -father of Julian and Wilfred. "As we returned," moralizes the zealous -historian, "we felt that we had committed to the ground the seed of -martyrs."[438] - -After the Guidi incident the debate dragged on. The heats were growing -worse and worse. At length, on July 2, the weary wheels seemed as -if they would go no longer. The list of speakers still inscribed -threatened very considerable detention. Hefele had entered his name -among the earliest, and when he applied for his turn found he was -somewhere "in the fifties," and when he next applied, that he was in -"the seventies." Had the minority foreseen what was hidden behind -clouds, but ready to thunder forth, they would perhaps have kept -the debate open; and so the Papacy would have been saved from the -last fatal step. Just now, by a strange coincidence, appeared in the -_Civiltá_ the tale describing the march of the newly landed French -troops for Mentana in 1867, with their sisters of mercy. "O France!" -cried the literary crusader, "may the angels of God who to a field of -just but terrible vengeance accompanied that host, warring only for -celestial charity, evermore protect the land of generous hearts."[439] -But, not knowing what was so near at hand, the minority at last -reached the point at which men are ready to say, We are fighting in -vain, and therefore fighting without justification. They agreed among -themselves that they might as well give up their right to speak, and -let matters be brought to a crisis. On July 4, when the Council met, -Schwarzenberg and others gave up their right. The formidable name of -Darboy was called. No Darboy was there. So that instead of a final -argument in opposition, there was his conspicuous example in favour -of withdrawing. For a long time every one who had done so had received -marks of approbation both from the Council and from the Presidents, and -every expedient had been used to induce men to abridge the discussion. -It was soon apparent that the leaders of the Opposition had adopted -a common policy. One after another waived his right. A couple of -inconsiderable men claimed their turn, but said little. The bulk of the -men on both sides entered into the general movement, and to the relief -of all, and the delight of the triumphant majority, Cardinal De Luca -announced that the list of the speakers was exhausted, and that the -debate was closed. So, as early as half-past nine o'clock, people saw -the Fathers gliding down the cathedral and dispersing over the city. -They wondered what had released them so early, and, as Vitelleschi -says, little realized the importance of their decisions, either to the -Church or to the world. - -Dated on the very day on which the discussion closed, the _Civiltá_ -issued an article on the Decline of Liberalism, which shows how the -political aspects of the legislation, now nearly completed, were kept -in view.[440] A Catholic gale, says the writer, seems to be passing -over the world, vivifying and gladdening society, corrupted and -worm-eaten by Liberalism. - -A single people, the Roman, finds itself, by the special providence -of God, free from this universal Liberal domination; and this Roman -people alone, still happily governed according to the laws of God, in -contradiction to the great principles of modern society, enjoys the -sweet fruits of true progress, and is the object of admiration and -envy; for of it alone can it be said, Happy is the people whose God is -the Lord. As a drunken slave used to be exhibited to the Spartans to -inspire them with hatred of intemperance, so Providence in almost every -part of Europe has allowed slaves drunk and mad with Liberalism, slaves -of tyrants sprung out of the dung-hill, to be exhibited till Europe, -now weary of Liberalism, could only look to Rome and to her civil and -religious head, not merely the sole guardian and faithful depositary, -but the infallible herald of the principles of universal religion and -truth, civilization and prosperity, even natural and social, among -nations as well as among individuals. We may say that from the first -stage of the movement to the last, it is nations and not individuals -that are kept in view. - -In Bavaria, Belgium, and Portugal, the writer asserts, the Catholics -are escaping from the trammels of the Masons. In Austria the same -process is in preparation. In France they are more resolved than ever -to sustain Rome. In Italy Liberalism is exhausted, despised, divided, -and falling. "Even in Protestant and heterodox countries, Rome, with -her civil and religious prince, stands in much higher credit than Italy -and other Liberal governments apparently stronger." - -Sneering at an allusion of the _Journal des Débats_ to the vaunted -hopes of the Catholics, accompanied by the remark that in spite of -their absurdity it was nevertheless prudent to keep an eye on the -clock which was to sound the return of the hour for great things the -_Civiltá_ says it will not deny that Liberalism has some "bad quarters -of an hour" before it. It equally thinks that now it is neither -imprudent nor rash "to hope, and that within a time not remote, for the -victory of Rome and its Pontiff-king, so far as Italy is concerned, and -for the victory of the social, civil, and religious principles which -that king represents and preclaims." - -The triumph over intellect it holds to be patent and ascertained, and -therefore this hope of a triumph in facts is reasonable. - -Providence, continues the soothsayer, cannot permit the Church to be -long the victim of the devices of the gates of hell, particularly -of those devices with which the States of the Church are now beset. -After making allusion to hopes which had been entertained of the -Pope's death, and asserting his florid health and his prospect of -living many years, he proceeds: "The Pontiff lives and reigns in -Rome more secure, more glorious, more influential, more beloved than -his enemies." Not only is the fact that this potentate was defended -by the arms of France entirely absent from the consciousness of -the writer, but he indulges in jibes clearly addressed to the very -Emperor who had restored the Pontiff and kept him up. "Sound Catholic -principles now seem to politicians the only support of material order -and of economical interests." The writer goes on to show that all the -implements of Liberalism have been employed on behalf of the Papacy, -and that with success--meetings, addresses, collections, votes, -illuminations. - -Writing with an expectation that before its words came under the eye -of his readers (p. 174) they would have already learned that the great -word had been spoken, and that Papal infallibility had taken its place -among revealed truths, the writer proceeds to indicate the range of the -new attribute:-- - - The Roman Pontiff is the Vicar of Christ. Therefore is he the - continuator of the work of Christ in the world. He, standing in His - stead, is the witness to the truth in the midst of us. Christ is - the voice of the Father, and the Pontiff is the voice of Christ. - The Father, in the fulness of time, spake unto us by His Son. The - Son, after His return to the Father, continues to speak to us by - His Vicar. Now, is it conceivable that a lie can ever be found in - such a mouth, in such a word?--and if it could be found, would - not the mission of Christ and the duration of His reign have - vanished _ipso facto_? Affirming the infallibility of the Pontiff, - therefore, means no less than affirming the duration of the reign - of Christ upon earth. - -Many who, on beginning to read this work, would have shrunk from -interpreting language as to the Kingdom of Christ or the reign of -Christ in the Jesuit sense, will by this time be prepared to see how -a fallen faith which in effect brings down our Lord to the level of -the Pope, must impress itself on the language of those who hold it. -Any thoughtful man who will spend a few minutes in calmly setting out -before his mind the ideas here shown to rule the mind of a Jesuit, -will ever after attach a more definite meaning to the language of -Ultramontanes when they speak of the Word of God, the Kingdom of God, -the Christian civil system, or use any other terms, affecting the -relative positions of the Pope and of the rest of the human race. - -The writer of this article gratefully recognizes the surpassing zeal of -France and her title to the first place among nations devoted to the -Church. Those who form exceptions to the general devotion of France -do not belong to her. The Opposition in the Council are called the -new Arians, a clear analogy being discerned between denying to our -Lord His divinity and denying to the Pope his place as the infallible -representative of the Lord. The dogma, continues the _Civiltá_, would -now come forth with the double advantage of an acclamation and a -discussion. The famous petition for the definition, by a vast majority -of the bishops, was indeed an acclamation, and to this had been added -an ample discussion. It asserts that there never had been in the -history of the world so full and exhaustive an examination of any -question. The writer is unconscious of the fact that before changing -a principle of law, or even a fiscal arrangement like a duty on corn, -we slow English sometimes employ as many years as they had employed -months in settling the source of all principles for ever. Not only -so, but with us each new thread shot into the progressive web of the -discussion is laid bare to every eye and to every magnifying glass -that nature and art can lend. The _Civiltá_ puts in even the word -"ventilated" among the epithets denoting the unparalleled winnowing of -this great question. Why, the _Civiltá_ itself, during the progress -of the discussion, readily told, indeed, who celebrated mass, who -died, who received a title, a distinction, or a place, who got leave -to stay away; but it did not even tell who spoke, much less anything -about what was said. It gave not a word of information to the whole -Catholic Church of what was proposed to be done with its creed, or of -what the assembled bishops thought of the proposal. In the very same -volume where these fine words are written, we have this specimen of the -_Civiltá's_ history, with which we connect one from Monsignor Guérin, -as showing what free air will blow around the chairs of history in -our colleges and around the tables of our editors when once dogma has -achieved its Sedan (VII. xi. 237). "Our readers will be gratified"--a -blundering English journalist would have commenced such a paragraph -with apologies for not being able to tell his readers anything worth -knowing, but the accomplished Jesuit begins with congratulating them -on the amount of information he is about to give--"Our readers will be -gratified to have under their eyes a view of how many spoke, or gave up -the right of speaking, in the discussion on the 4th chapter,"--that is, -on the great chapter containing the express statement of infallibility. - - June 15, 1 Reporter and 2 Speakers. - June 18, 3 Speakers. - June 20, 1 Reporter and 4 Speakers. - June 22, 7 Speakers. - June 23, 5 Speakers. - June 25, 6 Speakers and 2 gave up their right. - June 28, 6 Speakers. - June 30, 6 Speakers and 2 gave up their right. - July 1, 6 Speakers. - July 2, 9 Speakers and 14 gave up their right. - July 4, 2 Speakers and 42 gave up their right. - -The excellent Monsignor says (p. 113),--and it is for thoughtful men -to spend a little time in forming a clear idea of what would be the -condition of the world if its information on its supreme affairs was -supplied in this fashion:-- - - There were General Congregations on the 8th of January, the 10th, - the 14th, the 15th, the 18th, the 19th, the 21st, the 22nd, the - 24th, the 25th, the 27th, the 31st, on the 3rd of February, the - 4th, the 7th, the 8th, the 10th, the 14th, the 15th, the 18th, the - 21st, the 22nd. An interruption of the General Congregations for - a month; a resumption of the Congregation on the 18th of March, - (thirtieth Congregation), the 22nd, the 23rd, the 25th, the 26th, - the 28th, the 29th, the 30th, the 31st, the 1st of April, the 4th, - the 5th, the 6th, the 7th, the 8th, the 12th, the 19th. - -We do not know why this instructive method of writing the most -important of histories, that of the process of making laws for the -whole world, is not continued through and through. Vestments and -processions, bulls or Papal briefs, are not in the same manner hidden -behind Arabic numerals. Any one may, at the British Museum, feast his -own eyes on a specimen of such luminous history. The seventh volume of -Frond is the History of the Council. The student will find it a folio -in sumptuous Morocco, with gilt edges, and paper thicker than vellum. -He will find it faultless and very full in matters of rank, precedence, -forms and ceremonies; each cope and favour, each lappet, and each heave -of the censer is well and duly noted. But as to questions respecting -what men thought, said, proposed, deprecated, or took delight in, the -poor student may open three leaves in succession and find both sides -filled with mere numerals, names, and titles.[441] One grave historical -error is confessed in the corrigenda. On a certain occasion even the -pen guided by the "radiance of infallibility" slipped so far as to say -that their Eminences the Cardinals were to be in black stockings. The -correction shows that "black slippers" were the proper words. - -It would for a time have seemed as if the glories once foretold to -follow the dogma had considerably faded from the eyes of the seers -during the wearying months of debate. Now, however, that the goal was -in sight, the vistas reopened, and if translucent clouds rendered the -distant view indistinct, they greatly enhanced its splendour. Still -there was no weak expectation that the great results would be instantly -attained. As centuries were required to bring the Anti-Papal movement -in society to the present pass, so was it calculated that centuries -would be required to bring the counter-movement to its full development. - - It is not to be believed that an event so glorious, and one brought - about by God with dispensations so singular, is to remain confined - within itself. It will be prolific of prodigious effects in every - social sphere for the salvation of the _nations_. God does not - work by accident, or set in motion great means for small ends. We - do not hesitate to affirm that just as the subversive negations of - authority which prevailed at the Council of Basle indicated the - principles of the great politico-religious revolution of modern - times, so the reparative affirmation of all the privileges of the - See of Peter now so solemnly made by the Vatican Council will - indicate the principles of restoration in every public and private - sphere of Christendom. Hence in the series of the centuries this - of ours will be a day blest and magnified as that in which, thanks - to the Council held under Pio Nono, the light again dawned on an - oppressed world wrapped up in the darkness of the Revolution (pp. - 178-9). - -The writer does not overlook us non-Catholics. For us also the great -event was pregnant with blessing, showing us, above all things, "the -divine organization of the Church," and in it showing us the "remedy -for the unbridled excesses of private judgment, the parent of that -Babel confusion in which we are involved." Therefore, - - to Mary, sweet Lady and Queen of this kingdom of Christ, be loving - thanksgivings rendered, for after God to her favour do we trace the - benefit obtained. Scarcely had we read in the Bull of Convocation - that the Council would open its sittings on the day sacred to the - Immaculate Conception of Mary, before we felt a firm and immovable - hope of the definition of pontifical infallibility. It was fitting - that the Pontiff who, amid the applause of the Christian world, had - dogmatically asserted the highest prerogatives of her holiness, - should himself behold the highest prerogatives of his apostolic - ministry dogmatically affirmed (p. 180). - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 425: It seems that the Bishop of Orleans, and most of the -French prelates in opposition, wished to make a solemn protest against -the treatment they had met with; against the advantage taken of the hot -season to weary them; against the want of fairness shown towards them -by the Presidents all through the discussion; and, lastly, against the -excesses, insults, and affronts of which the majority had been guilty -with regard to them. Having made this protest, they proposed to leave -Rome immediately.--_Vitelleschi_, p. 200.] - -[Footnote 426: _Quirinus_, p. 624.] - -[Footnote 427: We have avoided noting the charges of misquotation and -falsification of authorities made on the one side and the other. It -would be endless.] - -[Footnote 428: Quirinus says that he should think it a sin to print it, -but that the Romans freely credited and repeated it.] - -[Footnote 429: Serie VII. xi. p. 94.] - -[Footnote 430: _Veuillot_, ii. p. 389.] - -[Footnote 431: _Friedberg_, 688; or a French translation in _Le Concile -du Vat. et le Mouvement Anti-infallibiliste_, p. 212.] - -[Footnote 432: _Das Vatikanische Dogma_, p. 5.] - -[Footnote 433: _Stimmen_ and _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_.] - -[Footnote 434: _Quirinus_, p. 684.] - -[Footnote 435: _Friedberg_, p. 144.] - -[Footnote 436: _Quirinus_, p. 714.] - -[Footnote 437: The _Difficultés de la Situation_ says that Guidi -replied, "Holy Father, I have spoken to-day what I taught for many -years, in broad daylight, in your College of the Minerva, without -any one ever having found my doctrine blameable. The orthodoxy of my -teaching must have been certified to your Holiness when you selected me -to go to Vienna to combat certain German doctors whose principles were -shaking the foundations of the Catholic faith." Printed in French in -the Appendix III. to _Quirinus_ (p. 848).] - -[Footnote 438: _Civiltá_, VII. xi. 424-5.] - -[Footnote 439: VII. xi. 37.] - -[Footnote 440: _Civiltá_, VII. xi. p. 129.] - -[Footnote 441: E.g. pp. 224, 226, 228.] - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -To the Eve of the Great Session, July 18--A Fresh Shock for the -Opposition--Serious Trick of the Presidents and Committee--Outcry of -the French Bishops--Proposal to Quit the Council--They send in another -Protest--What is Protestantism?--Immediate War not foreseen--Contested -Canon adopted--The Bishops threatened--Hasty Proceedings--Final Vote -on the Dogma--Unexpected Firmness of the Minority--Effect of the -Vote--Deputation to the Pope--His incredible Prevarication--Ketteler's -Scene--Counter Deputation of Manning and Senestrey--Vast Changes in the -Decrees made in a Moment--Petty Condemnations--The Minority flies. - - -It might have been thought that incidents of public interest had now -terminated. On the very next day, however, after the close of the great -discussion, occurred a collision which, had the opposition been morally -capable of saving anything, would have given it the opportunity of -saving the Roman Catholic Church from falling into the condition of a -body without any constitution, except the "inner light" of one man. It -opened their eyes, perhaps not more widely, but once more. It smote -their feelings, excited a momentary effort at action, and ended in a -protest drawn up by Bishop Dinkel. - -One Sunday the Fathers were studying sixty-two amendments proposed on -the second chapter of the great Decree. It seemed awful work to decide -so many points affecting the faith on a single Monday morning! But -behold, in the evening come in one hundred and twenty-two amendments on -the fourth chapter, to be voted upon on the Tuesday! - -The procedure was on this wise. Amendments suggested, after being in -the hands of the Committee, were reported in print, and then put to the -vote. The Sub-Secretary said, The committee oppose the amendment: let -those who oppose it stand up. Or, The Committee accept the amendment: -let those who accept it stand up. So by scores at a time were questions -settled on which men had had no chance of reflecting. Only once, says -_La Liberté du Concile_, did the Fathers succeed in obtaining from -the Presidents a delay. It was on the very occasion just mentioned, -when they showed that the only time permitted to them to read over the -hundred and twenty-two amendments to be despatched on the Tuesday, -would be what would be left of the Monday after they had despatched no -less than sixty-two. They did obtain twenty-four hours' extension of -the time. "You are convoked on purpose to vote," says the writer, who, -be it remembered, printed only fifty copies, for Cardinals alone, "and -you have not time to study not even to read it over again" (Doc. i. p. -175). - -If ever an important act was passed by an assembly it was the Canon -which closes the third chapter of the great Vatican Decree. Quirinus -hardly exaggerates its importance when he speaks of it, if interpreted -by the rules of Canon law, as handing over the bodies and souls of all -men to one. On July 5, the Fathers had in print before them a formula -for this Canon, and three proposed amendments. The Bishop of Rovigo, -as reporter for the committee, broke all rule first by saying that -amendments No. 70 and 71 should not be voted upon, as the committee had -adopted No. 72, with a modification. It would appear that, utter as was -the disregard here manifested even of the Pope's own Rules as well as -of the rights of the proposers of the amendments and of those of the -Council, this was allowed to pass. But soon even that broken-spirited -Opposition was roused. It was plain to some that what the Bishop read -as No. 72 was not what was in print as 72. The Presidents wanted to put -what had been read, but then, according to the _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_, -arose Haynald and protested. Though the Council itself had no right to -shape the amendments, the Rules required that all amendments should be -put before it as they had been shaped by the committee, and it was for -the Council to say Yea or Nay. Darboy also rose, and more fully entered -his protest. The protest could not at the moment be brushed aside. Here -was obviously a proposal differing from that of the committee, foisted -in against all rule, and without notice. For once the prohibition -against speaking to order had been defied. The Presidents, thrown -into confusion, could not conceal the attempted trick; yet they durst -not abandon the spurious Canon. They therefore said something about -inadvertence, and withdrew it for the present, to be submitted to the -committee, then to be printed and voted upon at another time. - -The fact was that the difference between the two forms involved the -whole question of jurisdiction between bishops and Pope. One form had -been withdrawn by the committee, and an amendment had been accepted. -The Pope was incensed. He ordered the third Canon to be altered back -to the form which had been objected to, and even this was greatly -strengthened. He never submitted the alteration to the committee, but -sent it direct to the reporter to be then and there put to the vote -instead of the Canon which stood on the printed Order of the Day. -How great was the difference in the wording of what the Fathers had -before them in print, and what was attempted to be palmed upon them, is -obvious on reading the two-- - - - THE CANON AS IT WAS IN THE CANON AS IT WAS READ - PRINT AND ATTEMPTED TO BE PUT - TO THE VOTE - - If any shall say that the If any one shall say that the - Primacy of the Roman Pontiff Roman Pontiff has only an - is only an office of supervision office of supervision or - and direction, and that his direction, but not plenary and - supreme jurisdiction over the supreme power over the whole - universal Church is not plenary, Church, both in things - but only extraordinary and pertaining to faith and morals, - mediate, let him be anathema. and also in those pertaining to - the discipline and government of - the Church dispersed through all - the earth, or that he has only - the chief portion but not the - entire fulness of this supreme - power, or that this his power is - not ordinary and immediate, - whether over the Churches all - and singular, or over pastors - and believers all and singular, - let him be anathema. - -Meditation on what was involved in these claims to all-absorbing -power was not likely to relieve the bishops of the pain caused by the -stealthy attempt upon their vote. What the Presiding Cardinals and -the Bishop of Rovigo had tried to steal from them, was not trash. It -was all that ancient bishops, even when acknowledging the primacy of -Rome, would have fought for with at least ecclesiastical weapons. Of -the Committee not a man spoke his scorn, and the steady majority was -not shaken. The world accused it of conspiring against the rights -and liberties of mankind. It might full as well have been accused of -conspiring against the rights and liberties of bishops. If the official -organs had often, during the Council, used such language as "lying" and -so forth, they were quiet now, while words like "lying," "cheating," -"deceiving," etc., flew freely about, and, if Quirinus be correct, were -repeatedly used in the meetings of the bishops of the minority. - -But if the majority was not disturbed, a note rang out from the French -minority which might remind any one who has lived in their country -through a revolution, of the _Prend ton sac_--Take thy sack!--the three -sudden taps which at such a time make timid hearts in a house beat as -if they had been hit by the drumstick. - - "1. The hour of Providence has struck," cries this voice, with - the true French ring. "The decisive moment for saving the Church - has arrived. 2. By the additions made to the third Canon of - the third chapter, the committee, _de fide_, has violated the - Rules, which permit not the introduction of any amendment without - discussion by the Council. 3. The addition surreptitiously made - is of importance beyond calculation. It changes the constitution - of the Church. It enacts the monarchy of the Pope pure, absolute, - and indivisible. It carries the abolition of the judicial - rights and the co-sovereignty of the bishops, and with it the - affirmation and anticipatory definition of separate and personal - infallibility. 4. Duty and honour permit us not to vote this Canon - without discussion, as it contains an immense revolution. The - discussion can and may last six months, for it affects the capital - question, the very constitution of the sovereign power in the - Church. 5. This discussion is impossible, because of the pressure - of the season and the disposition of the majority. 6. One thing - alone, worthy and honourable, remains to be done--to demand the - immediate prorogation of the Council till the month of October, - and to present a declaration, in which all the protests already - sent in shall be enumerated, and the last violation of the Rules - shall be set forth, as well as the contempt shown to the dignity - and liberty of the bishops. At the same time, we must give notice - of our intended departure, which can no longer be deferred. 7. - By the departure, on such grounds, of a considerable number of - bishops of all nations, the oecumenicity of the Council would be - at an end, and all acts which it might subsequently adopt would be - null in point of authority. 8. The courage and devotedness of the - minority would produce an immense effect in the world. The Council - would meet in the month of October in circumstances vastly more - favourable. All the questions now only broached would be taken up - again and treated with dignity and liberty. The Church would be - saved, and the moral order of the world."[442] - -Had this energetic advice been adopted, the Roman Catholic Church would -for the time have been saved from the last step in a downward series; -but whether the moral order of the world would have been the better is -another question. Those who seek a moral order higher than could be -given by the men who attempted to palm the new Canon upon the Council, -may well be content to have the lines drawn and the forces defined. The -Council has given to all men an opportunity of knowing, if they will, -what are the morals of the Pope and his officers, and what is order -in their vocabulary. The moral order of the world must now be secured -either under the absolute dominion of the Pontiff, or, as it has been -best secured before, over the remains of his pretensions. - -But the bishops of the minority were not the men to give the Church a -further chance of continuing that confusion of all moral order which -resulted from her old ambiguities. They did now as they had done -before--let her take her way, and sent in a protest stating the main -facts of the deception and breach of Rules.[443] One can almost see the -smiles of the men in power at the sight of one piece of paper more. - -If ever there was a case to justify the hasty saying ascribed to -Burke, that Protestantism is a mere negation, it was that of the -Vatican minority always protesting and never maintaining its ground. -Of course, every protest has its negative side, but that is the -side turned towards him who is protested against. It always has its -positive side; that is, the side of him who makes the protest. He -asserts a right. Dr. Newman, in a moment of sound sense, said, "What -is the very meaning of the word 'Protestantism,' but that there is -a call to speak out?"[444] So, when in a day of mercy, nations, -hearing from heaven a call to speak out, protested against the sins -and follies of the Pontiff, their protest was indeed a mere negation -to him whose pretensions were rolled back; but to those who made -the protest good, it was a positive upholding of existing rights, a -positive recovery of lapsed rights, a positive deliverance from great -evils, and a positive entrance into possession of great and heritable -good. They protested against the doctrinal authority of the Pontiff, -and maintained the doctrinal authority of the Bible. They protested -against the authority of ecclesiastical courts or Councils to fetter -the press, the pulpit, or the private conscience. In doing so, they -maintained a duty imposed, and a right given, by God. The negative -result was to the Inquisition and the Curia. The positive result was -to the Press, the Pulpit, the Civil Court, and the silent tribunal of -the Soul, with its reinstated jury of accusing and excusing thoughts. -They protested against indulgences, purgatory, and all the commerce of -the mass, and maintained the free gift of God's unpurchaseable grace, -the sovereignty of His judgment, the finished and all-perfect sacrifice -of His Son. They protested against sensuous and idolatrous spectacle, -and upheld scriptural worship; protested against colours, scents, and -gorgeous dress, and upheld sound teaching, borrowing all its glory -from spiritual elements, none from physical; they protested against -priestly caste, and upheld a brotherhood, a royal nation of priests; -they protested against progressive conformity to newly-invented -superstitions, against the service of local and subordinate divinities, -and at the same time upheld progressive conformity to the standard of -our Lord and His apostles. They protested against the idea of one fold -or one pen, but upheld that of one flock diversified in its members, -various in its folds, but one in love to the common Lord and in -likeness to the common Father. - -When Darboy and Dupanloup, on July 4, gave up the attempt of averting -the definition by delay, how little did they know that a couple of -days later and the whole prospect of the Papacy would be changed. -When the Pope on the morrow of that day followed up his victory by -the additional blow which the surreptitious Canon dealt at the very -semblance of liberty or rule in the Council, how little did he suspect -that the visions of restoration long floating before his fancy were to -give place to real scenes of fresh disaster. It was only on June 10 -that Ollivier, in the Chamber of Deputies, gave confident assurances -of peace, while on July 6, in the same Chamber, Gramont sounded an -unmistakable blast of war. Even now, human foresight did not measure -the rapidity with which events were to rush to a collision, and then -to a catastrophe. Napoleon III had so often seemed bent on measuring -himself with Prussia, and had so often drawn back, that it was not -unreasonable to hope that, even after bellicose words, he might be -prudent once more. - -The next week following that day which placed in hazard the fortunes -of the restorer of the Papacy and those of the Papacy itself, was -spent in the Council in voting the chapters in their final shape. The -Canon which had been brought surreptitiously forward on the fifth was -produced in the regular manner on the thirteenth, and after all the -outcry it was passed; "the most pregnant article," says Quirinus, -"that had been laid before any Council for six hundred years." It -was now voted by rising and sitting,--which is not to be wondered -at when originally the Presidents had wanted it to be voted without -being even known. We must not blame the minority for not now debating -it. The Rules did not allow of this. It had been adopted by the -committee and must be met with a Yea or Nay. How many voted against -this pregnant act is uncertain. Some say fifty or sixty, some ninety -or a hundred.[445] In that act every shred and tatter of the Gallican -liberties, or any other liberties, except that of doing the Pope's -will, passed from the Papal officers, whom, as Quirinus says, the -Roman Chancery still calls bishops. The chapter to which this Canon -was attached annulled all national rights whatever, whether Gallican, -Josephine, or parliamentary, which might conflict with the supreme -authority. Vitelleschi (p. 202) says that the Secretary of State -appeared very uneasy as to the opinion of governments on this fresh -declaration. The bishops naturally would have similar apprehensions, -but as to them, fear cast out fear. They had good reason to believe -in the gentleness of Liberal governments, and they had no reason to -believe in the gentleness of the Pope. They trusted, says Vitelleschi, -to the tolerance and freedom of thought which has everywhere triumphed -in modern days. With the Papal government, on the other hand, they had -neither tolerance nor freedom to trust to. They knew that if they dared -to provoke it, the stroke of Pius IX would come down hot and heavy. -The oath of a bishop to the Pope, which obviously aims more at feudal -vassalage than at spiritual works, had made the Emperor Joseph II feel -that men bound by it were not citizens in the sense of free men. "It -does not accord with the fidelity or obedience due by a bishop, as a -subject, to his sovereign.... A bishop who feels himself bound by that -oath must become perjured."[446] - -Many writers mention what is clearly stated in a letter of Hefele, -under date of July 9:--[447] - - The intention of the Pope is, in spite of the minority, to proceed - at once to the publication of the new dogma, and forthwith to hand - to every bishop two documents for his signature: (1) A profession - of faith containing the article of infallibility; (2) A solemn - declaration that the Council has been a free one. So you see into - what a position we are brought, and that it does not depend on our - own will whether we shall remain in our places or not. He that - will not sign will instantly be placed under censure. - -According to Vitelleschi, this threat terrified the poor bishops of the -Opposition. If they refused to acknowledge the validity of the Council, -nothing, as he says, was before them but to resign their Sees. If they -meant to impugn the validity of the Council, Rome was not the place in -which to do it, and, what is still more significant, they themselves -"were not the men to do it." - -It proved on the next day that the candidature of a Hohenzollern prince -for the vacant crown of Spain, which had given to France the occasion -for a quarrel, had been withdrawn. But it also appeared that Lord Lyons -had to reproach the Duke De Gramont with a breach of promise, inasmuch -as the Duke had authorized him to assure her Majesty's Government that -if the withdrawal of the prince could only be procured the affair would -be at an end. It was plain that the long-prophesied attack of France -was resolved upon at last. What with the impatience of the majority for -the fruits of their victory and the disgust and discouragement of the -minority, the sufferings from the heat and the solicitude occasioned by -approaching war, the assembly had ceased to be, in any serious sense -of the word, deliberative. Amendments literally by the score were now -produced and disposed of with a haste which was in shocking contrast -with the gravity of the subjects. _La Liberté du Concile_ says that on -the all-important chapters on faith there were proposed two hundred -and eighty-one amendments. The Fathers were called on to vote them by -standing and sitting, and this was done in such haste that they had -not even time to re-read them. The Under-Secretary did not read them -out. He cried, "Number ten, number fifty, or number seventy-seven," -as the case might be, "the committee rejects: those who are in favour -of its rejection stand up." The solid majority stood up, and all was -over. So in another case he cried out, "Number five or fifteen," adding -"The committee accepts: those who are in favour of accepting stand -up"; and the same result. "I do not vote," said one bishop, "because -not only am I unable to form a conviction, but I am unable even to -form a clear idea of what is the point" (_Documenta_, i. 174). And -each minutest point was to be irreformably fixed! We had, says this -writer, four hundred quarto pages on the subject of infallibility, -including notes, remarks, and all, while only a few days were allowed -to study it. So when the Draft Decrees on Faith were for the second -time brought out new cast, with a preamble, four chapters, and eighteen -canons, twenty-four hours were allowed to prepare to discuss them; and -the preparation must be in Latin. Twenty-four hours for an accountable -creature of God to prepare himself to say whether he would take a side -for or against laying upon himself the obligation to pronounce eighteen -curses more against his fellow creatures! - -The hope had been flattered all along that no anathema would be -attached to the dogma of infallibility. But at the very last Bishop -Gasser, of Brixen, one of the keen Curialists, produced the formula -enriched with an anathema against any one who should presume to -contradict it. Quirinus says that Gasser was unwilling to be left -behind by Manning, Deschamps, Dreux-Brézé, and the Spaniards. Finally -the whole was submitted to the solemn decision on that very day on -which the French Chamber, that had so long voted money for the forces -to support the Papacy in Rome, voted five hundred and fifteen millions -of francs to break up united Germany once more. - -On the morning of July 13 the hour had come. Up to the last it had been -asserted that no bishops but two or three would say _Non placet_. Every -form of assurance had been spoken and printed that this would prove -to be the case. The Virgin, the Saints, ay, and even the Holy Spirit, -had been over and over again pledged to procure this result. At last, -Ketteler and Landriot of Rheims made a clever attempt to bring it about -by proposing to the Opposition, with which they had seemed to be at -one, that they should all vote _Placet juxta modum_ (content on certain -conditions).[448] This would have enabled the Court to say that there -were no votes of "non-content." The Archbishop of Milan said, "The -only befitting course for us who are convinced of the falsehood of the -doctrine is to say, No."[449] The Pope, it is said, told Darboy that -not above ten would vote _Non placet_.[450] Certain it is that bets -would have been freely taken in Rome the night before that not a dozen -would do so. The devout were confident because the Virgin would order -it otherwise, and the worldly were confident because they thought the -bishops would not be unmindful of their own interests. - -The Hall once more received its aged senators. Eighteen centuries -called to them to remember what a Church Christ had set up; how pure in -principle, how free in regulations, how plain in forms, how simple in -organization, how far from pomp or dreams of domination, from cursing, -or from use of physical force; how little of a body, how much of a -spirit, was that real Church. It was a leaven moving by the force of -an inward and self-propagating life to leaven the whole lump, in which -for itself it only asked to lie hidden, and by its innate force to -determine the quality of the meal, not stooping to design a mould for -the shape of the loaves, on a model as irreformable as the patterns of -a Hindu artisan. Many bishops had said that they had found themselves -called together to gratify one self-asserting man of ordinary gifts, -and less than ordinary acquirements, by giving him a diploma as the -titular Lord of the world, which would have no practical effect except -that of making him dictator of the Church, and bringing them and -their people into collision with everything bright and noble, which -he, in his infatuation, had set himself to put down. Many of them, at -considerable risk to their own interests, were determined to register -their solemn No! In spite of all hopes previously entertained, the -feeling that the minority were resolved had spread among the majority. -Quirinus tells how Deschamps, who had drafted a set of supererogatory -anathemas, and had only withdrawn them in face of serious threats -from Maret, and who was therefore known as having sought to place -every man of the minority in the dilemma between giving an instant -affirmative vote, or being immediately outside the Church by anathema, -now approached the leaders of the Opposition. "With humble gestures -and whining voice," he entreated them to do as Ketteler and Landriot, -profesedly belonging to them, had proposed, namely, to vote "Content on -certain conditions," and said that really there was a disposition on -the part of the authorities to insert qualifications. "The trick was -too bare-faced to succeed." Darboy called the attention of the three -Cardinals to this attempt to divide the Opposition at the last, and the -bishops said to the new Primate of Belgium, on whose head the gifted -already saw the mitre kindling into the flame-colour of a hat, "It is -unexampled impudence." We shall find hereafter, in the _Acta Sanctæ -Sedis_, what would appear to be an allusion to this scene. - -The voting then began. It appeared that there were six hundred and -one bishops present, showing that many of those who were in the city -had stayed away. Antonelli was not there. Of course all the men -belonging to Rome and the patrimony of St. Peter were for the Pope. So -were nearly all those of the Neapolitan States, and the overwhelming -majority from the other portions of Italy; Spain, South America, and -the missionary bishops, might be said to be as one man. But to the -surprise of every one, several of the Orientals, under the Propaganda -as they were, and terrorized as they had been, had the heart to say No. -Even poor old Audu, Patriarch of Chaldea, dared to say _Non placet_, -knowing, from his experience by night in the Vatican, to what he might -be exposed. Of course Ballerini and Valerga, and other Romans, whose -Orientalism went no deeper than their vestments, were Roman still. When -the important preliminary votes had been taken by rising and sitting, -the Sub-Secretary ascended the pulpit. He called out name after name, -each one replying by the words, _Placet, Non placet_, or _Placet juxta -modum_; that is, Content, Not Content, or Conditionally Content. The -vast majority said _Placet_; but the stateliest of Cardinals, Prince -Schwarzenberg, said No. Milan said No; Paris, No; Munich, No; Vienna, -No; Gran, the Primatial See of Hungary, No; Lyons, the Primatial See -of France, No. In all, no less than eighty-eight living witnesses that -day lifted up their testimony, and sent it on to all after-time, that, -so far as they knew, the doctrine of Papal infallibility had not been, -and was not then, the faith of the Churches which they represented. -Nearly all these did represent Churches, many of them the oldest, the -most educated, and the most numerous in the Papal world. Maret, who was -a bishop _in partibus_, being among the minority, was like a bird in -the wrong flock. - -Strange to say, no less than seven Cardinals then present in Rome -abstained from voting. The abstentions altogether numbered eighty. -Poor Cardinal Guidi, who had been sadly belaboured for his fault, had -been forbidden to receive visitors, and had been made miserable by all -the arts which priests can practise, and to which priests are exposed, -now voted _Juxta modum_; that is, conditionally content. The number -who did the same were sixty-two. A false impression was spread among -the Liberal Catholics that these were all adverse to the definition. -Not so. Some of them did not think the formula now before them strong -enough, and had notable additions to propose. The Contents were, 451; -the Non-contents, 88; and the Conditional Contents, 62.[451] The _Acta_ -of the Council contain not a syllable of this sitting, any more than of -all the others of the General Congregations. - -The effect of this vote in Rome was immense. No class of men had -counted upon it. Even ardent supporters of the minority had shown a -want of any confidence that they would stand fast up to this point. The -impression got abroad, for the moment, that not even Pius IX, little -delicate as he was, would accept an apotheosis, as it was called, -which had been publicly discredited by nearly all the bishops of -great Sees, who were in any sense independent of the Bishop of Rome. -"According to general belief, especially in Rome," says Vitelleschi -(p. 206), "the Church never creates a dogma new in itself; but in -defining a dogma, simply attests some belief which has been always and -universally professed." The Romans saw that both the "always" and -the "universally" were for ever disproved by the vote. They knew how -speedily black could be made white, but they did not see how the device -could this time succeed. There was the vote, saying what had been the -belief of the bishops up to that hour. But probably the Romans soon -corrected their first impression by their habitual estimate of Pius -IX. They never accuse him of pride, although they always accuse him of -vanity and vainglory. A case in which the common voice so sharply draws -the distinction is exceedingly rare in public life. He is not above -accepting anything that is agreeable. Quirinus will have it that he -still declared that the vote of the Opposition would be reversed, and -that these misguided men would be so enlightened by the Holy Spirit, -that they would publicly vote for the right. - -From Munich a telegram was sent to Hefele bearing many names, among -them that of Reithmayer, announcing universal "joyful sensation" at the -vote, and calling for "immovable perseverance," otherwise "incalculable -mischief."[452] - -Nothing further now remained but the great solemnity for promulging -the Decree, and gathering the fruits of nearly eight months' toil. -Only five days' delay was taken--days of intense excitement, and -of incidents striking at the time, and important for all time. The -minority saw how their hopes that the Pope would recoil before a vote -so solemn as that recorded had been vain. The war-horse was prancing -outside the door of the Council, and the fighting sons of Loyola -could already tell what tidings he would bring. Louis Napoleon might -have doubts, but the Fathers of the _Civiltá_ had none. "Everything -is always directed and turned by Providence for the good and the -triumph of the Church." (VII. xi. 379). The crisis, they knew, would -give the Vicar of God an opportunity of intervening, with his newly -certified authority and infallibility, as mediator. This office once -accepted would easily be turned to that of supreme judge. So would -his new reign be grandly commenced. The _Monde_, of Paris, said to -be the organ of the Nuncio, already called the war a religious war -against Protestantism. France had been assured in every form that she -had only to attack Prussia, and all the Catholics of Southern Germany -would join her. Without the miscalculation at the Tuileries caused by -these statements, it is not probable that the French would have been -hurled into the ditch of Sedan. Both the precepts and the prophecies -of the reconstructionists failed. The cry, "The Church," raised by the -Bavarian priests was not so strong as that of "The Fatherland," raised -by the patriots. This fact was still unknown at the Vatican. Though the -inflation manifest before the Council was somewhat reduced, too much -remained. - -The prospect was not so bright to the bishops. They had not been always -cooped up within the walls of Rome. Hints of how thoughts were turning -reached them from home. They knew that men of study and of wisdom were -either hostile to the new Constitution, or painfully solicitous. Some -of the bishops had deep personal convictions, which experience during -the Council had intensified; convictions that the whole proceeding was -neither more nor less than the adoption of a false doctrine to sanction -a fatal policy, and that the error was so fundamental as to involve the -acceptance of a purely human fountain of doctrine for all time to come. -They met and debated whether they should vote in the open session. Only -twenty, according to Archbishop Scherr, were in favour of this course, -and these did not insist on their own views, lest they should divide -the eighty-eight. - -On the evening of July 15, about eight o'clock, a deputation entered -the Vatican, composed of the Primates of France and Hungary, with the -Archbishops of Paris and Munich, and the Bishops of Mainz and Dijon. -They had to wait an hour--a time doubtless filled up with meditations -more ecclesiastical than those which sometimes occupy the moments lost -in the ante-rooms of the Vatican; rooms full of traditional tales of -the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and the sinful lusts of -the flesh; such tales as good men, who had been forced to hear them, -would not easily be forced to repeat.[453] - -They were admitted about nine o'clock. They came from the minority to -urge that the Pope should withdraw the additions made to the third -canon of the third chapter, that canon the attempt to snatch an -unconscious vote upon which had caused so profound an impression. They -also wished the addition of a limiting clause to the definition of -infallibility in the fourth chapter. Quirinus seems afraid to report -the answer given by the Pope, and that for a reason which we suspect -has often prevented English correspondents writing in Italy from -telling true tales. They know that we judge of Popes and Cardinals by -some such standard as that of our own public men, and that therefore -to us the true tale would look like an invention. In the present case -the answer was, "I shall do all I can, my dear sons; but I have not yet -read the proposed Decree, and I do not know what it contains."[454] His -Holiness requested to have the petition in writing. The spokesman, -Darboy, replied, with French tact, that he would have it sent to His -Holiness, and would take the liberty of forwarding at the same time -the proposed Decree, which the Commission and the Presiding Cardinals -had omitted to lay before his Holiness, though it wanted only two -days of the public session, and thus had exposed him to the danger of -promulging a Decree of which he was ignorant. Darboy not only did this, -but also took care that others should know what the Pope had actually -said. He wrote to the Committee on Faith, strongly censuring them for -their neglect in not laying the proposed Decrees before the Pontiff! - -It is curious to observe how all the Liberal Catholic writers who had -come to Rome began by speaking of the Pope with the deference usual on -this side of the Alps, but finally slipped into the habit of calling -him "Pius." They evidently often had difficulty between their sense of -the conventional respect due to a personage whom so many own as their -head, and their feelings as honest men. The latter would have often -prompted them to speak of Pius IX as Italians do, and not as Englishmen -or Germans are wont to do.[455] - -"Pius," continues Quirinus, added that if they would increase their -eighty-eight votes to a hundred he would see what could be done. -Only those who know the opinions entertained by that writer of the -Pope's personal ignorance, and of his habit of speaking as if he knew -everything, can appreciate the statement that his Holiness concluded by -assuring the deputation that it was notorious that the whole Church had -always taught the unconditional infallibility of the Popes. - -Bishop Ketteler now threw himself on his knees before the Pontiff. For -some time he remained in that position, entreating his sovereign to -make some concession, and thus to restore peace and unity to the Church -and to the Episcopate. This was the very scene to please one like Pius -IX. And so the deputation left him with some hopes of concession--"full -of the best hopes," said the Archbishop of Munich.[456] - -Two men speedily sought to undo any impression that might have been -made. Many a Roman Catholic has, in imagination, hovered over that -scene, returning again and again to watch the figures of the agents -of the Committee on Faith as they glided into the presence-chamber. -Such Catholics in their imaginings have scowled at, ay, have cursed -Senestrey the pupil of the Jesuit College _Germanicum_, and Manning -the pupil of Oxford, as the instruments of the Jesuits going at this -moment to harden the heart of the Pontiff, which some hoped had begun -to relent. It is said that this remarkable pair urged that all was now -ripe, that the majority were enthusiastic, and that moreover if the -Pontiff made concessions he would be dishonoured in history as a second -Honorius.[457] This "frightened the Pope," said Archbishop Von Scherr. - -The hopes brought back by the deputation to the minority were speedily -dispelled. In the course of the morning Cardinal Rauscher waited on -his Holiness to thank him in the name of the minority for the gracious -reception of their deputation. The shrewd Austrian pointed out to -his royal master the effects which would flow from the definition as -framed by the majority. "It is too late," said the Pope; "the formula -is already distributed to the bishops and has been discussed. Besides, -the public session is convened. It is now impossible to yield to the -wishes of the minority."[458] On Friday night the Pope said that he -had not seen the formula; on Saturday morning the Pope said that the -formula was already distributed and discussed. And this formula was -unchangeably to determine the fountain of doctrine, of ministerial -authority, and of all power in a so-called Church. Friedrich, on -writing down these words from the lips of his Archbishop, adds in a -parenthesis, "One is ready to go crazed at the measureless frivolity -with which the holiest questions are handled in Rome." - -That same morning a Congregation was held to consider the suggestions -made by those who had given conditional votes. Two Spaniards, according -to Quirinus (p. 804), had made two propositions tending to complete -the repudiation of the collective authority of the universal Church -by the Bishop of Rome. The proposed Decree, as it stood, limited his -definitions to "matters which the Holy See had held from ancient times -in common with other Churches."[459] - -This language, however vaguely, did recognize both antiquity and -catholicity. The worthy Spaniard doubtless felt that the Vicar of God -ought not to be limited by any such things; that he should be left free -to define what he felt called to define. The committee had been of -the same mind, and had adopted the proposal of the Spaniard that the -above-quoted clause should be struck out. The Sub-Secretary cried, "The -amendment proposed to 76 is accepted by the committee: those who are in -favour of accepting it, stand up." Nearly all stood up. Ten or twelve -stood up against it, and away went the antiquity and catholicity as -expeditiously as any Cardinal could desire.[460] - -The inner lights of the Pontiff were thus freed from any restraint -arising out of ancient views, and the local creed of Rome was freed -from any restraint arising out of a common Christianity as between that -city and other Churches. - -Now, however, came to pass a marvel, if anything could be marvellous -there and then. The venerable men seated all around had spent -their long lives in hearing and telling of one thing--the glory, -the authority, the divinity of the Church, and the overwhelming -conclusiveness of her consent. All who did not hear the Church were, -according to them, lost. Even when, in preparing the way for the change -of base which they had foreseen before leaving home, some of them had -appeared to throw tradition altogether overboard, it was only in order -to substitute for it the general consent of the Church. Which of us -would have dared to tell devout Roman Catholics that their own bishops, -when once in Rome under the terror of the Pontiff and the Jesuits, -would disavow the consent of the Catholic Church, and say that without -it the word of a single man was quite as good? They may now attempt to -explain the words "not by consent of the Church," as meaning something -small; or even to say that Popes ever and always formally disclaimed -the necessity of her consent. The world must leave them to do so; but -they know, as well as we do, that had we said that their bishops would -of a sudden put words like these into the creed, they would have called -us calumniators. Yet what came to pass? - -That came to pass which had often been hinted as necessary by the -zealots during the Council, but had always been looked upon as -impossible by most men of the minority, although a few had openly said -that in such a Council nothing was impossible. Another Spaniard, when -he gave his conditional vote, had proposed that the words of the Decree -which said, "The definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves -irreformable," should be amended so as to read, "The definitions of the -Roman Pontiff are of themselves, _and not by consent of the Church_, -irreformable." Vitelleschi says that no information was given as to the -authority at whose suggestion these metamorphic words were approved by -the committee, but approved by the committee they were. So, without -any opportunity of debate, the Under Secretary cried, "The amendment -under number 152, having been modified, is accepted by the committee"; -and reading it, he added, "Let those who are in favour of accepting -it stand up." The great majority stood up. "Let those who are against -accepting it stand up." "About thirty" stood up.[461] Thus were those -ancient men called upon in their episcopal robes to extinguish the -light of that lamp to which they had ministered oil all the days of -their lives. They obeyed like soldiers, and the old, old light of a -catholic consent was quenched for ever. Many of the eighty-eight were -absent, and knew not of this new, swift, and crowning victory of the -guild over the hierarchy. - -Done in a moment! the Romish bishops had effaced from their law, and -from their rule of faith, the consent of the Catholic Church! Talk -of revolutions, of hasty parliamentary votes, of the sudden impulse -of a mob; but where in history is there an instance of breaking with -a long and loud resounding past, in such haste, and so irrevocably; -irrevocably, not by the ordinary law which entails the consequences -of an act upon the future, but irrevocably by the form and intent of -the action itself? We know, alas! what these bishops are capable of -representing; but it is for the unborn to judge the men who did that -act and then faced round, saying that they changed nothing. And these -men are to teach the human species the art of conserving all that -they have "inherited and proved"! The Church of the Popes had long -ceased, in the eye of Protestants, to have a claim to catholicity. -Now, however, in the eye of Liberal Catholics she explicitly rejected -catholicity by statutory and irreformable law. They saw her contract -herself to the sect of one man and his retainers, to a religion made up -of faith in one man, his inner light, and his _faits accomplis_. - -The slow but irresistible operation of principles had at last worked -out its ultimate issue. Liberal Catholics were the first to see that -the religion of the Pope had now really ceased to be Catholic, or -even national, or indeed municipal--that it had in fact become only -palatial. They at once named it the religion of the Vatican. They -did not so soon admit that the principle of one city church--not -the mother, and not a model--being the mistress of all others, and -practically the fountain of their faith, contained in itself the germ -of all that had now come to fruit. - -The sitting which began with deeds so very solemn ended in another -way. For once the poor Pope had been exposed to the plague of -pamphlets in the Holy City. It is pathetic to read the wailing over -the destiny that subjected so holy a being to this in addition to -his other "martyrdoms," "Calvaries," "crucifixions," and such like -words, to win a tear. Many of the vexatious writings were in Latin. -Thus if they had the additional bitterness of being the work often -of bishops, always of priests, they still had the veil of a dead -language. Not a few, however, had been written in living tongues. -Two of the latter, which cut dreadfully deep, were in French--_What -is going on in the Council?_ and _The Last Hour of the Council_. We -are now to see how these are dealt with. It is announced by the First -President that a certain protest will be distributed. So papers are -handed round. During this process the Under-Secretary calls out, Let -the Fathers take notice that the sitting is not over! Then from the -pulpit, in the name of the Presidents, he reads a protest against -false reports in general, and the two pamphlets in particular. They -were stinking calumnies and shameful lies--_putidissimæ calumniæ ... -probosa mendacia_. The Italians and Spaniards, who could not have -read them, cried, "We condemn them." The minority cried, "We do not -condemn them." The President called upon those who did condemn them -to stand up. Sambin says that so few remained seated that, to avoid -exposing them to humiliation, the contrary was not put. Among these -men Friedrich names Rauscher and Schwarzenberg. Two copies of the -condemnation had been handed to every one of the bishops. The President -now read a request that each would return one of them signed with his -own name. This trap, however, was not successful. Haynald said that -if the Presidents would translate _La Dernière Heure_ into Latin, he -and the rest of the Hungarians would be able to see if it was as bad as -their Eminences had said it was.[462] The _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_ make no -mention of any demur, but notes that many prelates said, "Willingly, -with all my heart, yes, even to blood!" But why giving bad names to two -pamphleteers should call forth such heroic resolutions is not obvious. -Thus did an OEcumenical Council spend its last legislative moment in -recording a condemnation of two pamphlets which obviously the bulk of -those who gave sentence could not have read. The presentation to every -man personally of the two papers, and the call to sign, coming from -the chair, was a symptom not calculated to dissipate certain fears -that had got abroad among the minority. It was reported that if they -dared to give an adverse vote in the public session, two papers would -be immediately presented to them, the one being a subscription to the -dogma, the other being the resignation of their sees. If they did not -sign the first, they must sign the second. They knew that in case they -refused to sign both, they were within the walls of Rome. And suppose a -bishop to have signed his resignation and then to find himself in the -hands of the Papal police! And men liable even to the suspicion of such -menaces were free "judges and legislators!" - -So ended the last of the General Congregations, being the eighty-sixth -since the beginning. It will be ever memorable--a monument of despatch -and versatility. It renounced, as lights in doctrine, antiquity, -catholicity, and the consent of the Church, and it denounced two French -pamphlets, and gave to _Ce Qui se Passe au Concile_ and _La Dernière -Heure du Concile_ an immortality in the formal Acts of that assembly -denied to all the petitions, suggestions, deliberations, and votes of -the whole hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in their fourscore and -six anxious and pregnant sittings in General Congregation. - -For awhile the protest against these pamphlets, of which the wording -is named by Vitelleschi as a sample of the violent language common in -the Roman _bureaux_ at the time, is actually printed among the Acts of -the Council, those Acts contain not a word of the votes, proposals, -or discussions of the General Congregations; not a hint of all the -protests put in by the minority, not a hint of the voting in the great -Congregation on July 13, or, in fact, of anything that could give a -knowledge of the processes, or of any other results than the lists of -committees and the formulated Decrees. By processes we do not mean the -ceremonial ones, for they are briefly described, but the legislative -and deliberative ones, which are entirely omitted. The Bulls of the -Pope and the Decrees of the Presidents as to procedure are printed; but -no action of the bishops. When what has passed through the hands of the -bishops becomes a Papal constitution, it of course appears. As to the -historians, they indeed do give the voting on July 13; but we believe -that not one of those who wrote by or under authority gives one of the -documents of the protesting bishops, from the beginning of the Council -to the end, or any indication of where they may be found. Vitelleschi -tells how, on this same day, Cardinal Rauscher himself made a last -desperate effort to impress the immovable Pope, and was received with -scant courtesy. - -That Saturday night a number of downcast old men, each with more or -less of a retinue, took leave of Rome. Some went by the desolate way -to Civitá Vecchia. On reaching that city, and beginning to breathe the -free air of the sea, they might well wonder how long the red, white, -and blue flag would warn away the red, white, and green; how long the -eldest daughter of the Church would help the autocrat to impose his -obscure tyranny on this threadbare patch of land,--a land whereof the -natural lot was neither poverty nor dependence upon the foreigner. -Some of them took the less desolate way towards the North. In the -clear July night they passed by Monte Rotondo, with Mentana not far -off. When would Garibaldi be heard of anew? Or would the next dash at -Rome be left to Garibaldi? Spoleto, Terni, and other places lost in -1860, would suggest the question: Will Ireland and Belgium find men for -new crusades, and if so, will they be more successful? The lamps of -Perugia, high on the hill, would recall tales of slaughter under Pius -IX. Perhaps the prelates had not heard them, or had said that they were -all lies. All of the Frenchman, or of the German, in their hearts would -be drawn in one direction; all of the Papist in another. The Frenchman -would naturally say, He who has repaid the restoration of twenty years -ago, and the support given since then, by deliberate insult of the -greatest names of the Gallican dead, by coarse offences against every -man of mark among the French living that dared to speak a dissentient -word, and by the ostentatious abrogation of all the Gallican liberties, -deserves not that the flag of France should longer shelter his policy. -The German would naturally say, The attempt to undo the unity of -the Fatherland, and once more to expose us through division to the -incursions, the burnings, and the plunderings of the French, is no -less than diabolical; and he that aims at breaking up Germany for the -sake of weakening Italy, should be left to his deserts. But in such -men, after all, the Frenchman or the German represented but the human -instincts, not the drilled, trained thoughts, and the unchangeably -moulded habits. The German, or the Frenchman, represented the boy, but -the Papist represented the man. "The weakening of the individual will -in the priest," of which Vitelleschi speaks, as one of the secrets -of that mysterious zeal to-day for things which were esteemed untrue -yesterday, is scarcely more striking than is the weakening of national -sympathy, except when the interests of the Papacy are supposed to be -connected with those of the nation. - -We may close this chapter with one specimen more of the practical -preaching for the establishment of the new moral order, of the real -Christian civilization, which the scribes of the Court had kept under -the eyes of all who sought, in their pages, for tidings of the great -things which the Council was doing. Our last specimen was that of an -English youth: this is that of a French one. Bravely fighting his gun -at Monte Rotondo, fell young Bernard Quatrebarbes, the son of a Breton -marquis, mortally wounded. When the victors of Mentana delivered the -prisoners, no less than four cousins gathered around the pallet of the -wounded Bernard. At Rome he was joined by his father, his sister, and -other female relations. The day after his arrival in the city, his -humble room in the hospital having been entered by Pius IX, "radiant -with sovereign sweetness," as the writer expresses it, Bernard was -naturally in ecstasy at such an august apparition. The Pope desiring -to see the wound of his crusader, and making the sign of the cross -over it, said, "God will bless thee, my friend, as I bless thee." The -Marquis announced to his wife the departure of her boy in three words, -"Bernard in Paradise." "Words," exclaims the author, unconsciously -signalizing the fall of Rome from Christian hope--"Words worthy of the -primitive Christians." Ay, but, thank God, primitive Christians before -saying over their dead "in Paradise" instead of "in Purgatory," did -not wait till one fell fighting for the royalty of a bishop! Over the -fisher drowned with his nets, over the mother who died in childbirth, -they rejoiced with the joy of hope eternal. It was for later, darker -ages to drag them back again into a dim region where a crowd of -intervening patrons and all manner of priestly spells came between them -and the bosom of a Father, between them and the home where all the -brothers meet. - -Maria Sophia, ex-Queen of Naples, came so often to the bedside of the -dying Bernard, that our narrator says she almost seemed to have taken -up her abode in the hospital, and sometimes she was moved to tears. By -that bedside also did her husband say to the Marquis, "How noble is -your son!" To the Marquis also wrote another expectant exile, the Count -of Chambord, saying that he admired "the short but bright career of -Bernard, and his marvellous end." It was the Colonel of Bernard that -told the father of his departure, and in these words: "I have another -patron in heaven." But above all when the news was conveyed to the -Pope, he said: "Bernard Quatrebarbes is a saint in heaven." At home in -Brittany, while the corpse lay in the chapel of the château, the people -flocked around the bier; but it was "more to invoke the departed than -to pray for him." The new Hermit who preaches the new crusade thus -concludes his memoir:-- - - The death of Bernard Quatrebarbes, who sacrificed to God youth, - fortune, and pleasure, a tranquil life and the joys of home, - in order to march in the defence of the truth, of virtue, - of the Church, will awaken the drowsy soul of more than one - young cavalier. Bernard is already a martyr, and he will be an - apostle.[463] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 442: _Friedberg_, 145; _Quirinus_, 788.] - -[Footnote 443: See Protest with signatures. _Doc._, ii. 400-403.] - -[Footnote 444: _Apologia_, p. 327.] - -[Footnote 445: _Quirinus_, p. 792. The _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_ does not -think it worth while to count;--"fifty or thereabouts," "quinquaginta -circiter patribus dissentientibus" (vi. p. 31).] - -[Footnote 446: _Le Con. du Vat. et le Mouvement Anti-Infallibiliste_, -pp. 6-10.] - -[Footnote 447: _Friedrich_, p. 405.] - -[Footnote 448: _Quirinus_, p. 771.] - -[Footnote 449: _Ibid._, p. 772.] - -[Footnote 450: _Ibid._, p. 773.] - -[Footnote 451: _Civiltá_, VII. xi. 362. _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_ has the -same numbers.] - -[Footnote 452: _Friedrich_, 406.] - -[Footnote 453: When, in 1860, writing _Italy in Transition_, I read, -on the recommendation of an Italian gentleman, a book by a well-known -writer professing to describe the interior life of the Vatican; but -found it too low to allow me even to allude to it, much less to -quote it. What was my surprise when, a year or so later, appeared -the work of Liverani, to find this very book--which even now I do -not care to name--cited with that of About and of others, as a work -the _substantial_ accuracy of which the learned Domestic Prelate and -Protonotary of the Holy See could not deny.] - -[Footnote 454: _Quirinus_, p. 801. This astounding assertion does not -rest upon the sole authority of Quirinus. Friedrich, in reporting the -sayings of the Archbishop of Munich to the Faculty of Theology in that -city on his return, gives the same assertion as repeated by his Grace. -It had been a favourite theory with official writers that Quirinus was -Friedrich, but as the latter left Rome in May, and Quirinus continued -to write to the last, that theory had dropped out of sight. It is a -curious coincidence in the present case that nearly all the incidents -of this interview, mentioned by Quirinus writing in Rome on July 19, -were repeated by Archbishop Scherr in Munich to the Faculty two days -later. The substantial agreement of the two accounts is quite as great -as that in several other cases which have induced men like Hergenröther -to argue that Friedrich and Quirinus were one. The agreement is such as -would be found between two practised writers hearing an account from -the same eyewitness, or from two or three eyewitnesses, and immediately -writing down what they had heard. _Friedrich_, p. 408 ff.] - -[Footnote 455: An instance of the effect of perfect knowledge of Rome -by personal residence, on the style of expression and description, may -be seen in Mr. T.A. Trollope's interesting book, _The Papal Conclaves_, -as compared with the unreal and conventional forms kept up by -Englishmen who know neither the language nor the spirit of the people. -Some of the latter, ever since the days of the _Tracts for the Times_, -provoke smiles, and have gradually been acquiring for our country a -reputation very unlike the old reputation of England for strong common -sense, love of reality, and contempt for shows and fables.] - -[Footnote 456: _Friedrich_, p. 409.] - -[Footnote 457: _Quirinus_, p. 803; also the words of Archbishop Scherr, -as quoted in _Tagebuch_, p. 409.] - -[Footnote 458: Related by Archbishop Scherr to the Theological Faculty -at Munich. _Friedrich_, pp. 409, 410.] - -[Footnote 459: _Quirinus_, p, 804. See the Draft in _Doc. ad Illus._, -ii. pp. 317, 318,--"Quod antiquitus Apostolica Sedes et Romana cum -cæteris tenet perseveranter ecclesia."] - -[Footnote 460: _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_, p. 33.] - -[Footnote 461: The _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_ does not even profess to count -exactly,--"about thirty" (_triginta circiter_).] - -[Footnote 462: _Quirinus_, pp. 806-7.] - -[Footnote 463: _Civiltá_, VII. ix. 542-48 and 664-70.] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -Grief of M. Veuillot--Final Deputation and Protest. - - -Sunday, July 17, was rather more of a fast than of a feast for M. -Veuillot. He says, "War and oppositions are cruel clouds." Bad as -were the rumours of war, those of "rebellion" among the bishops were -still worse. It had evidently become known that the minority were not -to be cowed into gracing the public solemnity with their compulsory -_Placet_. It was even rumoured that the bishops would go into the -open session and disturb the solemnity by saying _Non placet_--ay, -M. Veuillot had heard, by shouting it and outrageously repeating it -in the face of the Pope.[464] While nothing was more desirable than -that, to prove the freedom of the Council, two or three should say -_Non placet_, any serious number doing so would be detestable. The -refusal of the non-contents to vote at all would be only one degree -less bad. M. Veuillot, however, discovered that many whose departure, -"or rather desertion," had been reported were still really in Rome. -But, on the other hand, he saw carriages at the doors of leaders of the -"tormenting and tormented" Opposition; at those of the Archbishops of -Paris and Lyons, and of Cardinals Rauscher and Matthieu. Even the Via -Frattina was visited to note the symptoms at the door of Maret. After -night-fall, Veuillot cries, "Many are gone, and many more are going in -the morning. They will really absent themselves. I cannot help thinking -of a caricature. It represented some seditious fellows in a scare, who -said, 'Now is the moment to show ourselves; let us hide!'" - -As the noontide of that July Sunday blazed upon the Vatican, a -deputation had entered the presence chamber, headed by Darboy and -Simor, Primate of Hungary. They came to make one last attempt to -procure the prorogation of the Council without the promulgation of -the dogma. Their only answer was the old _Non possumus_. Then the -last of the luckless series of protests was solemnly delivered. They -had not heart enough to fight, and had too much conscience to submit. -So they took the middle course, and spoiled for ever the pretext of -moral unanimity except the dead unanimity of form. Their fears, or -their views of unity and reverence would not allow them in public to -withstand the Pope. He had justly calculated the effect upon them of -throne and tiara, with the fear of possible degradation. They had not, -perhaps, sufficiently calculated what might have been the effect on him -of honest men standing up one after another in their appointed place, -and saying before all the Churches, as a wiser than they had done of -a better than he, that he was to be blamed. They would have exposed, -it is true, Pope Pius IX to a temporary check, yet they might have -saved the Papacy from an irrevocable error. But in proportion as the -Papacy had become weak in producing conviction, it had concentrated -its strength on the means of producing submission. Its success in -that art was now to be its own punishment. No Protestant had expected -any effectual resistance from men trained as Romish bishops. Any real -tenacity of conscience shown during the Council, was due to nobler -influences spread abroad in countries where the ascendancy of Rome is -not complete. There is, to our mode of thinking, something not merely -incongruous and grotesque, but a great deal worse, in putting forward -the paltry plea of personal offence, or personal consideration, when -the matter in hand is a dogma that is to mould the religion of millions -for ever. The fact that these prelates do put forward such a notion -countenances the statements often made about men giving as the reason -for their votes that they could not refuse the Holy Father or hurt -his feelings. Vitelleschi thinks that the fear of being required to -resign their Sees or subscribe the dogma was one of the elements in -determining the minority to leave Rome before the definition (p. 212). -If so, seeing them escape from that dilemma would be one of the causes -of the mortification shown by the majority, as expressed by Veuillot. -We give the last of the protests in full[465]:-- - - Most Blessed Father, in the Congregation held on the 13th of this - month we gave our votes upon the proposed Decree of the first - dogmatic constitution of the Church of Christ. - - It is known to your Holiness that there were eighty-eight Fathers, - who, pressed by conscience and moved by love of the Holy Church, - gave their votes in the words _Non placet_, that sixty-two others - voted in the words _Placet juxta modum_, and that, moreover, about - seventy were absent from the Council and abstained from voting. To - these are to be added a number who, from infirmity or other serious - reasons, have returned to their dioceses. - - In this manner, our votes have been made known to your Holiness - and to the whole world, and it has been made evident by how many - bishops our opinion is approved; and thus have we discharged our - office and duty. - - From the time above stated, nothing has occurred to change our - judgment; but, on the contrary, several things have been added, - and those exceedingly serious, which have strengthened us in our - purpose. - - Confirming, then, by this document our votes, we have determined to - abstain from the public session to be held on the 18th. That filial - piety and reverence, which lately brought our deputies to the feet - of your Holiness do not permit us openly, and in the Father's face, - to say _Non placet_ in a case so closely concerning the person of - your Holiness. - - And, indeed, the votes that would be given in the public session - could only repeat those already given in the Congregation. - - We, therefore, return to our flocks without delay, for after so - long an absence we are much needed on account of the rumours - of war, and especially on account of the great spiritual - necessities. We return grieving that, because of the sad juncture - of circumstances, even peace and tranquillity of conscience is - disturbed among the faithful. - - Meanwhile, commending with all our hearts the Church of God, and - your Holiness, to the grace and protection of our Lord Jesus - Christ, we are of your Holiness the most devoted and most obedient - sons. - -Leaving, then, in the hands of the Pope this solemn confirmation of a -belief registered by a formidable array of bishops, that he ought not -to be proclaimed as the infallible representative of God, they turned -their backs on the palace which had witnessed their many humiliations. -Their allusion to the things which had been added since the 13th as -being "exceedingly serious," is another of the many witnesses out of -their own mouths against their subsequent statements. Their clear -statement that did they vote in the session it could only be to repeat -their former vote, seals with the seal of deliberate misrepresentation -many solemn assertions since that day made under mitres. - -It was a grief to the soul of M. Veuillot to learn that the Ambassador -of France had graced with his presence the departure of Darboy. De -Banneville had accompanied the Archbishop to the station, escorted by -Mérode, with Monsignor Vecchiotti, and Father Trullet. The recalcitrant -Archbishop was even placed in "a kind of carriage of honour"; a fact -which reminded the Argus of the _Univers_ that a certain bishop had -said, We go away conquerors, but we leave some wounded on the field. -"This fine carriage seemed to me an ambulance."[466] Thus, poor Darboy -took his way towards the storm-cloud, blackening behind the hills, in -the after clap of which he alone of all the host was to find a bloody -grave. - -The Monday morning dawned heavily over Rome. As the eyes of the last -portion of the fleeing minority were sadly tracing the outlines of -the hills on the upper course of the Tiber, while those of the first -portion were tracing the forms of the outlying Alps and a few were -watching morn as it spread over the waves of the Mediterranean, a -Pope for the first time rose in Rome with the consciousness that ere -sunset he would be infallible, not only in fact, but also in law. -His less happy prececessors had claimed that crown, but never had -received it. Now he was about, with the consent of the Church, to put -on the power to be infallible for ever, "without the consent of the -Church." Had ever diplomacy won such a victory? had ever an oligarchy -so completely signed itself away? Tell him that the temporal power was -of no spiritual value! But could all that have been accomplished except -within the walls of a strong city? As Pius IX looked from the Papal -apartments across the Tiber, the Pincian was gloomy, and the Sabine -Hills were hid in clouds under a threatening sun. But he would remember -the day of his taking possession, and how gloom had turned to rainbow; -the day of the return from Gaeta, and how the sun had opened from the -west at the right moment; above all, the day of "The Immaculate," and -how the sun had seemed glad of the sight. True, the dutiful luminary -had failed on the opening day of the Council, but the Jesuit Fathers -had written that the solemnity would be brilliant at its close, and -that the city would blaze with triumph, as Ephesus had done in the -year 431. And was not the throne so placed in the Council Hall, that, -all being propitious, the beams would fall as they had done on the day -of the Immaculate; and surely the Virgin would not fail to send them. -At all events, it was certain that he would lie down that night not -only the Pope of the Immaculate, but the Pope of the Infallible--the -first human being in the records of the world to whom a number of the -creatures of God had deliberately given the right of telling to them -and to their succeeding generations what they were to believe for ever -and ever. The deifying of an emperor, either in the plains of Babylon -or in the temples of Rome, was a little thing as compared with the -apotheosis now about to be performed. The dogmas of the emperor were -not to be eternal on earth, though he might cause himself to be decreed -immortal in heaven. The word "apotheosis" was perfectly natural to the -pen of Vitelleschi, or of any other Liberal Catholic who dared to speak -what he thought. But it is nevertheless true that deification among -the heathen, whether ancient or modern, involved little exaltation -compared with that now to be given to the Bishop of Rome. A Theseus or -a Rama, an Antinous or an Augustus, had a lowly part in ruling eternal -destinies compared with that to be now assigned to the Count and Priest -Mastai-Ferretti. - -The monasteries and nunneries sent forth a contingent, as on the -opening day; but where were the proud vehicles and the pressing -throngs? Vitelleschi says that two or three houses in the city were -decorated. How dead was the indifference denoted by such language on an -occasion absolutely unprecedented, cannot be conveyed to the minds of -those who do not know what the people of a southern city can do when -they really mean to decorate. As the places for spectators in the Hall -filled up, it was whispered from one to another, "No crowned heads." An -Infanta of Portugal was the lone flower of royalty - - "Where once a garden smiled." - -Even ambassadors failed. France, the eldest daughter, was not there. -Spain, the Catholic, was not there. Portugal, the faithful, was not -there. Austria, the apostolic, was not there. Bavaria was not there. -Poland was dead. Italy was alive again, but her heart and hope were -elsewhere. Belgium and Holland had each sent a consul, the one to -welcome infallibility, with its constitution condemned by the Church, -the other with its heresy. Vitelleschi mentions a representative of the -Principality of Monaco. The _Giornale di Roma_ is not so worldly minded -as to specify any state, but says that members of the diplomatic corps -were present.[467] - -About nine o'clock the Cardinals, Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, -Abbots, and Generals, all in red, began to stream in. Five hundred and -thirty-five seats were soon occupied. It thus appeared that there were -some two hundred less than at the opening. About twenty had died.[468] -Several were ill. Some, in Rome, were absent from disclination to -attend.[469] Of the minority only two now changed sides. Of these, -one was a demonstrative Oppositionist--Landriot, of Rheims. -This conspicuous absence of the minority was a disappointment and a -humiliation, though it was nothing more. Even the _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_ -says that its effect was traceable on the countenances of the Fathers. -They grieved for the obstinacy of their brethren. Indeed, in the -Congregation where the vote was taken, some, with clasped hands, had -implored their friends to give up their false opinion at last. Still -the conqueror had his triumph, though he had not the satisfaction -of seeing the captives follow in his train. It was Cæsar without -Vercingetorix. It would have been a proud moment for the resident -Cardinals had Rauscher and Schwarzenberg made Vienna and Prague bow -down to Rome. Had the sturdy Darboy done homage for Paris, it would -have been a sign to the Curia that the new world of the Jesuit seers -was at last actually above the horizon. The readers of M. Veuillot -can well imagine into what ecstasies he would have fallen, and with -what dithyrambs his pages would have detonated, had his ears been -permitted to hear Dupanloup pronounce his _Placet_. This was not to -be. Those bishops were not the men to stand up in their places and -contend; yet were they not so thoroughly beaten as ostentatiously to -submit. Their paper confirmation of their legislative vote came like -an impertinent parley to tease the conquerors. What ought to have been -either a combat or a _fête?_ was neither. It was a ceremonial of which -even the _Civiltá_ quotes its description from the _Giornale di Roma_, -while M. Veuillot himself is too much affected to write more than a few -lines--as if silence was the vestment which his strong emotions were -wont to put on. In his after touches he often speaks of the glory of -the dogma, but we do not remember that he ever alludes to the glory of -that day. The Protestant _Fromman_, whom we have not been accustomed to -quote, though very glad to consult, called the ceremony tedious; but -that was unpardonable. - -The Pope did not enter on this occasion, as on former ones, -between Antonelli and Mertel, but between Grassellini and Mertel. -Had Antonelli, because of having failed to give his vote in the -Congregation, lost his wonted place on the day when the fruit was to be -plucked? The hall and city, according to Vitelleschi, "wore a cold and -severe aspect." December 8 seemed to have dropped its mantle on July -18. Perhaps, however, ere the moment of promulgation arrived, the Roman -azure would be in the ascendant, and hearts would be gladdened at the -right time. Indeed, the _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_, in contradiction to all -profane authors, states that just before the Pope uttered his sentence -the gloom somewhat cleared up. It does not attempt to say that the sun -shone. - -After the preparatory ceremonies, Fessler and Valenziani approached the -throne. The Secretary handed the constitution _Pastor Eternus_ to the -Pontiff, with its chapters and its canons making a new Church, if ever -a new constitution made a new corps, and making, as Pius IX hoped, the -commencement of a new era for the kingdoms of this world, all of which, -with the glory of them, had been by some one promised to him after -this day. That constitution professed to give to him, or rather to -recognize as inhering in him, authority over all territories on earth, -and over all those actions of man that possessed any moral character. -Over the entire sphere of human accountability henceforth and for -ever it was for him to reign as should seem to him right. Valenziani -ascended the desk, and read out the title of the Decree. He then sat -down, and while the sky grew blacker, the house darker, and the hearts -of men more heavy with an impression of something terrible, he read -chapter after chapter, until at last he reached the close, and the -house echoed back his cadence, with the word of the Pope's self-written -doom, _Irreformable_,--"The definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of -themselves, and not by consent of the Church, _irreformable_." - -After a moment's pause came the sealing Canon, "If any shall presume to -contradict this our definition, let him be anathema." - -The reader ceased. The storm alone was speaking. For a moment no human -tone disturbed the air. But memory was repeating two terrific words, -and imagination kept saying that the winds were whispering. - -Irreformable! Anathema! - -Valenziani rose, and sending his voice athwart the gloom, said, -"Most Reverend Fathers, are the Decrees and Canons contained in this -Constitution agreed to?" - -Upon this he left the desk, and Jacobini, the Sub-Secretary, ascending -it, called out the name of Cardinal Mattei, who was absent from old -age. He then called "Constantine, Bishop of Porto"; and Cardinal -Patrizi, rising, and taking off his mitre, said, _Placet_. The voice -near the throne made the darkening hall to echo _Placet_, and the -voice near the door repeated the echo, _Placet_. Then the scrutineers -recorded the vote. Cardinal Amat was next called, and his _Placet_ and -some five or six others sounded harmoniously in the deepening gloom. -Jacobini then called Frederick Joseph, Archbishop of Prague. The -princely priest who from the age of thirty-three had worn the purple, -and who was to represent the house of Schwarzenberg and the Church of -Bohemia,--that Church imposed by burnings and by blood,--responded not. -There was a moment's pause and a sense of a want. _Absent_, cried the -voice near the throne. _Absent_, replied the voice near the door; and -the influences from without were seconded by a damping influence from -within. The next name was that of Cardinal Corsi, a man of repute for -piety, who was well known to be averse to the definition. According to -Vitelleschi, he and the other dissentient Cardinals drew their scarlet -hats over their eyes and remained silent. But they wore mitres, not -hats. Of the rest, Quirinus asserts that, besides the Cardinal Vicar, -Patrizi, only two put into their _Placet_ spirit enough to stand up, -and they were Bonaparte and Panebianco. Fourth after Corsi came the -name of the senior French Cardinal. "James, Archbishop of Besançon," -cried Jacobini; but Cardinal Mathieu did not respond. _Absent_, cried -the official voice. _Absent_, echoed the fellow official. Even France -seemed failing. Thrice had the tranquillizing _Placet_ cheered the -still deepening shadows, when Jacobini came to the notable name of -"Joseph Othmar, Archbishop of Vienna." But Rauscher was far away, and -once more did the thunderous air thrill with the depressing sound, -_Absent_. Now followed a successive roll of more than twelve _Placets_, -and then came the name of Philip, Archbishop of Bologna. All watched -Cardinal Guidi, who pronounced a _Placet_. The Pope closely eyed him, -and when the creature delivered his judgment before earth and heaven in -favour of the dogma which just one month previously he had, in the same -place, solemnly proposed to lay under an anathema, his royal master -said, "Poor man!" or, as others report it, "Good man!" but Vitelleschi -remarks that in Italian they might both mean the same thing. To Guidi -succeeded two staunch _Placets_, from Bonnechose and Cullen, but next -was called Gustavus of Santa Maria Traspontina. Eyes looked for another -prince-priest who represented the house of Hohenlohe and the feelings -of Bavaria, but there was no response. Hohenlohe, like Rauscher and -Schwarzenberg, was _absent_. - -After the list of Cardinals was exhausted, the patriarchal Sees were -called. Two Sees were especially connected with the tradition of Peter. -After men of genuine Italian name, Antici-Mattei and Ballerini, had, -for Constantinople and for Alexandria, answered _Placet_, was called -the name of Antioch. Its Patriarch was named Jusseff, and the call -evoked no response; so Antioch, the See of Peter, and _absent_, the -sign of disapprobation, were set in men's minds together. Of course -the Roman Valerga said _Placet_ for Jerusalem. Then came the other -city connected with the life of Peter, and when Audu, whose secret -experience after his first audacity in venturing to differ from Pius -IX was known to all, was called to answer for Babylon, all expected -that he would have been overcome like Guidi. But no. Oriental servility -did not equal Rome, and so the reply made for Babylon was _Absent_. -_La Dernière Heure du Concile_ asserts that as Audu had been sent for -by the Pope, so had Jusseff been sent for by the authorities of the -Propaganda, "to know by what right he dared to bear testimony to the -belief of the East without having previously submitted his speech to -revision" (p. 4). Next came the primatial Sees. Where was the Primate -of France? Where the Primate of Hungary? They, too, among the _absent_. -And of the Archbishops, where were those of Paris, of Milan, and of -Munich? Where the Nestor of the English-speaking group, John of Tuam? -These were painful deficiencies. Still, in numbers if not in influence -the roll of _Placets_ from among the Archbishops presented a very -large majority. Among the bishops, the first name called was that of -the very aged Losanna, of Biella, one of the staunchest opponents. So -the first reply, though for an Italian bishop, was _Absent_. Then a -flow of _Placets_, frequently chequered by an _Absent_. In all, says -Vitelleschi, nearly one hundred and fifty bishops were absent, many -of them men who held the most illustrious Sees.[470] The _Acta Sanctæ -Sedis_ confesses to one hundred and twelve absentees from among those -called; which number did not, of course, include men who had already -obtained leave of absence. The number who were present was five -hundred and thirty-five. In this whole list the uniform responses were -either _Placet_ or _Absent_ till the name of the Bishop of Caizzo, a -Neapolitan, was called. The official reported his vote as _Placet_. -Caizzo raised his voice and loudly uttered _Non placet_. Then, again, -to the end, _Placet_ followed _Placet_, alternating with the voice of -the rolling thunder. Finally was called Fitzgerald of little Rock in -America. Thinking that he alone of the Fallibilists was present, he -had begged not to be brought forward; but now that another bishop had -given a negative vote he responded, _Non placet_.[471] This set tongues -agoing. It was roundly asserted that the appearance of the Neapolitan -and the American had been arranged for, in order to give an air of -freedom. Vitelleschi naturally thinks that it is needless to search so -far for motives. Yet, the _Civiltá_ makes a display of these two votes, -saying that without them it would have been alleged that the Fathers -were not free. It tells of a correspondent of some of the "bad" papers -who on hearing the first _Non placet_ was evidently annoyed, and being -asked by a friend the cause of that annoyance said, "This negative vote -spoils all for us."[472] The _Civiltá_ quotes a description of how -Riccio, the Neapolitan, after the definition, went down on his knees -and said, _Credo_, I believe; and how Fitzgerald pressed his episcopal -cross to his breast and said, "Now I believe. Now do I also firmly -believe."[473] When all the votes had been delivered, the scrutineers -and notaries brought to the Secretary of the Council a statement of -the result. The Secretary, followed by the scrutineers and notaries, -advanced to the steps of the throne. There they all knelt down. The -Secretary ascended the steps and read, "Blessed Father, the Decrees and -Canons are agreed to by all the Fathers, two excepted." - -All this time the gloom was deep. "The voice of the Lord" again and -again pealed over the city. Thunderbolts more than once struck close to -the Cathedral. Some glass in the windows of the apse just behind the -throne was broken. Some, according to Jesuit writers, said, Providence -is proclaiming the downfall of Gallicanism. Some, according to the -_Acta Sanctæ Sedis_, said, The demon is disturbed, the storm shows -that this does not please him. This interpretation would seem to have -been that of the learned editor, for he adds, "The thunderbolts which -Jupiter of the Pagans forged did the city no harm." Many said, God is -installing the new Moses upon the new Sinai. This, at least with those -who wrote, was evidently the prevailing interpretation. - -The moment had come. Now was to be spoken the word so oft invoked in -apostrophe, apologue, and prayer,--the word for which many had pictured -a universe in chaos as waiting in blind but agonizing throes,--the word -which so-called Christian journals and Christian ministers had, times -unnumbered, described as the voice of God pronouncing the creative -fiat, Let there be light. But where was the sun? According to many -promises and to careful arrangements, he was at this moment to pour -down upon the Lawgiver while announcing to all people, nations, and -languages, the new law that changeth not, a radiance which would be as -if angels were unfolding their wings above him and around. But the sun -would not! The priest, in his conflict with chaos, was, at the supreme -moment, left to the light of his own beloved wax candles. That light -which his taste tells him adorns the house of God in the eye of day, -and teaches celestial truths to immortal men, became at last of real -use. - -The High Priest arose from his throne. All hearts stood still. He -thought, and they thought, that he was about to proclaim himself -unerring. But had not the wine been spirited away between the cup and -the lip? The faults incident to composing in a committee, and those -incident to amending in a hurry, were both embedded in the Decree. All -it said of the infallibility of the Pope was derived and comparative; -he is possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer -willed that His Church should be endowed in defining doctrine regarding -faith and morals. History had conquered dogma here as it had done in -the chapter on authority. The declaration was not that the Church was -as infallible as the Pope, which would have been the order had the -historical consciousness traced the infallibility of the Church as -derived from that of the Pope. The declaration was that the Pope was as -infallible as the Church,--a proof that his infallibility was derived -from hers, and that historical consciousness dictated that order. This -comparative infallibility was all that was ascribed to the Pope in this -artful but unskilful composition. But to what, according to the same -article, did the infallibility of the Church amount? This was rendered -by the wording the point all essential, and the standard beyond which -infallibility could not extend. The Church was in the same article, -and in words the most positive, dealt with as a body the consent of -which was not to be taken into account. All, therefore, which the -great Word had brought forth, was a declaration that the Pope was as -infallible as a body whose consent was not to be taken into account. -The world may be well content. The crafty were caught in their own gin -when they renounced the consent of the Church. When men have long and -successfully argued in a circle, it is a delicate thing all at once, in -the heat of a July day, to break one half of the circle, and then to -declare that the other half is perfectly round, quite as round as the -whole. Historically, the infallibility of the Church was first of all -made the base and measure of that of the Pope. Then, diplomatically, -the infallibility of the Church was reduced to a nullity. This nullity, -by inexorable logic, falls back on all the infallibilities grown out -of it, or measured by it. So the Decree is chaos in spite of all the -candles. But on one point it speaks not comparatively but positively. -Without comparison with anything on earth or above the earth, the -Decrees of the Pope are pronounced irreformable. That is the one and -the only indisputable result. - -The aspirant after infallibility stood, about, as he imagined, to -pronounce the word. He opened his lips, and by the candlelight read: -"The Decrees and Canons contained in the constitution just read are -agreed to by all the Fathers, two excepted. We, therefore, with the -approval of the Sacred Council, confirm these and those as now read, -and define them by apostolic authority." - -The anathema attached to the definition of infallibility strikes below -the feet of Protestants. It only anathematizes those who contradict -the definition. Protestants do not stoop to do so. They may freely -admit that the Pope is as infallible as the Church which made him -irreformable, and for once they may believe more than the Pope, by -admitting that the Church is as infallible as he. They certainly are -not tempted to deny that the Pope, whether in his Decrees or out of -them, is irreformable. Here, again, they believe more than the Pope. - -The _Civiltá_ states that now burst out a loud acclamation among the -Fathers, accompanied with salvos of artillery. The small crowd of -priests and nuns, and such like, as Vitelleschi says, about the door -of the Hall raised a shout. Quirinus says that the nuns cried "_Papa -mio_"--My Pope. According to the _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_, St. Peter's was -very full of people, who broke forth in such applause that you would -scarcely have believed that you were in the temple of the Prince of the -Apostles, hearing it echo again and again with these unwonted sounds. - -The Irreformable then addressed his Bishops in the following -allocution. In order to do so, according to the _Stimmen_, he had to -make several vain attempts, owing to the repeated applause of the -Fathers; an applause which recalls a sad word of Vitelleschi, that some -are never so jubilant as when they have placed a new yoke on their -necks. At length the thunders of applause were still, and the waiting -world was ready to hear the first utterance of the first human being -ever set up on a throne in a temple, by hundreds of men of full age and -of sound reason, to utter to all the earth words never to be questioned -or amended, much less recalled. Hush! _The Infallible_ gives forth the -first oracle in his now acknowledged plenitude of power. Does it sound -like "the word of God," at whose potent spell a disordered world will -rise to new order and repose, or like that of an old man chiding the -absent bishops who had not adorned the triumph of the day? - - This exalted authority of the Roman Pontiff, venerable brethren, - does not oppress, but assists; does not destroy, but builds up and - often confirms in dignity, unites in affection, and strengthens - and protects the rights of brethren--that is, of the bishops. Let - those who now judge in the earthquake know that the Lord is not in - the earthquake. Let them remember that, a few years ago, holding - different views, they copiously expressed themselves as of our own - opinion, and that of the majority of this great assembly; but they - then judged in the calm. In judging of the same case, can we have - two opposing consciences? God forbid! May God, therefore, enlighten - their minds and their hearts; and as He alone works great marvels, - may He illuminate their minds and hearts, so that all may come to - the breast of their Father, that of the unworthy Vicar of Jesus - Christ on earth, who loves them, who esteems them, and who longs to - be one with them. And so, bound together in the bond of charity, - may we be able to fight the battle of the Lord, so that our enemies - may not deride us, but may rather fear us, and may in time lay down - the weapons of wickedness before the truth; and may we all be - enabled to say with St. Augustine, "Thou hast called me into Thy - wonderful light, and lo, I see!"[474] - -The bishops applauded, and the journals found the allocution divine. -The Liberal Catholics, however, felt that when the Pope said, "I -desire to be one with them," he meant, "I desire to see them submit -to me." The grave point was, that this being the first utterance from -the chair after he had been solemnly declared to be as infallible -as the Church, an utterance made--if ever one could be made--in the -exercise of his office as pastor of the universal Church, it contained -a misstatement of fact and a misconception of doctrine. The Pope, -occupied with the absentees, ventured roundly to assert that they who -now opposed had been a few years ago fully of his opinion and of that -of the majority. If ever a public misstatement deserved to be called -by a strong short name, this one did. Had the language of the Decree, -now lifted to the level of the law that changeth not, been put by a -Protestant, as the doctrine of their Church, before Schwarzenberg and -Rauscher, before Darboy and Dupanloup, before Strossmayer, Kenrick, -Clifford, and MacHale, any day previous to the year 1870, they would -have railed at the Protestant as a slanderer, and perhaps would not -have let him escape without an episcopal curse. Would not Spalding have -sneered at D'Aubigné as a fool and a false witness had he said that the -Pope could make a dogma without either the counsel of bishops or the -consent of the Church? No, the ears of the Pope were full of words of -witness; the bureaux of the Council contained document after document -in evidence that the statement which he now dared to make when none -dared to contradict, was not true, and was known not to be true. Those -bishops, in order to please the Pope, had unwisely, as they now felt, -stretched the doctrine of primacy, which they did hold, till it looked -to unpractised eyes very like Papal infallibility. True, they had done -this in what seemed rather to be addresses of ceremony than formularies -of doctrine; for whenever infallibility itself had been nakedly -presented to them, even without the adjunct of ordinary jurisdiction -in every diocese, and without any repudiation of the consent of the -Church, they had mustered the manhood to oppose it. The Pope neither -stated the facts nor discriminated between opinion and opinion. He did -state as fact what was not fact, and confounded opinions that differed. -Friedrich, with the acute author of the _Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum_, -and not a few others, thinks that he is personally incapable of -understanding theological distinctions, and that he could not explain -what the doctrine of Papal infallibility means. This seems to be -impossible, and yet there is very much to prevent one from pronouncing -it ridiculous. But whether he is capable of distinguishing in such a -case or not is a very slight matter. The fact that remains for us is, -that his first utterance from the acknowledged seat of infallibility -was wholly occupied with the absent bishops, that he insinuated that -they had a double conscience, and that the grounds on which he made -that insinuation were incorrect in fact and inaccurate in thought. Had -the question whether the Papacy was a divine organ of truth, or merely -a contrivance of clever old men, liable to be overseen, like other -mortals, in their words and deeds, been designedly subjected to a fair -test, we can with difficulty conceive of one fairer or more conclusive, -than that first utterance from the recognized seat of inerrancy. There -is nothing divine in it, and the human elements do not rise above a -very ordinary level. - -The city was silent and chill. We can form but a faint idea of how -much, in such a case, mere external impressions sway a community -trained like the one of which we speak. It was as if the salvos from -St. Angelo, the feeble voice of the Irreformable, had been swallowed -up in the salvos of the skies, the voice of the Sole Infallible. The -_Giornale di Roma_ and the _Civiltá_, the _Univers_ and the _Unitá_, -would have spared no epithets in denouncing the man who three months -before should have said that, on the night when the creative word, the -fiat, Let there be light, should be uttered; on the night when the -patient voice of the people and of the priests should be hushed under -"the voice of God" proclaiming infallibility, a noble Roman would -pen what Vitelleschi that night quietly wrote down: "The government -offices, the religious establishments, and a few private houses, were -illuminated; but the rest of the city remained in perfect silence and -profound darkness." - -The concluding words of the Roman writer, in narrating the triumph of -the day, are not wholly indifferent to us in England (p. 221)-- - - History is bound to award to the author and originator of every - work the praise or blame which is due to him. All must remember the - part taken by the Fathers of the _Civiltá Cattolica_, and Monsignor - Manning, Archbishop of Westminster, in promoting the dogma of the - personal infallibility of the Pope, and all know that it was their - mind and their will that carried it. On the day of the promulgation - of the dogma, Monsignor Manning received as a gift from the Society - of the Jesuits, a portrait of Bellarmine, with the following - inscription-- - - Henrico Edwardo Manning, - Archiep. Westmonast. - Sodales Soc. Jesu; - Collegii Civilitatis Catholicæ, - Sessionis IV Concilii Vaticani - Mnemosynon. - -It is said that the portrait was really that of St. Charles Borromeo. - -One other note was often made as to this memorable day. It was the same -day on which was done the deed that irrevocably sealed the fall of the -Second Empire, and consequently the fall of its pendant and _protégé_, -the Papal throne. The declaration of war was delivered in Berlin on the -day following, and must have left Paris that day! - -The reader having already had several specimens, and fair ones, of -_Ce Qui se Passe au Concile_, is in a position, so far as relates to -it, to form his own opinion of its "stinking calumnies," to adopt -the characteristic language of the Most Eminent, Most Reverend, and -Right Reverend Fathers of the Council. But as to _La Dernière Heure du -Concile_ (The last hour of the Council), we may at this point fitly -give a few examples. It speaks of "Rules imposed in violation of the -most manifest rights of the Council, of Commission chosen beforehand, -of illusory votes, of an oppressive tutelage, of discussions without -order and without aim, of modifications of the Rules as arbitrary -as they were multiplied." It asserts that as to the minority public -calumnies were not spared them; that their speakers were more than -once forced to leave the desk without being able to explain, much less -to defend their views; while the majority from the beginning took the -reasons of the minority for insults, and rendered back insults for -reasons; and that the petitions of the minority were not only left -without effect, but without answer. It pictures the Jesuits as meeting -the bishops after three centuries of feigned truce on the ground where -their General Laynez, defeated at Trent, had left them; but as now -coming perfectly prepared for the battle, while the bishops had not -foreseen anything-- - - To-day it is not the episcopate that refuses to hear Father - Laynez, but it is Father Laynez who, master of the field, does - not even deign to listen to the episcopate, and announces to it - that the question has been long decided.... The day that Pius - IX said, There shall be a Council, the Company of Jesus said, I - shall be the Council. We have seen three of its doctors absorb - both the doctrinal power of the august assembly, and its right - of initiative. The bishops have been called to sanction what the - Jesuits have written, and there is the whole history of the Council. - -Speaking of the Propaganda, the writer declares that it holds in its -hands all the Vicars Apostolic, and most of the Oriental bishops. -Taking advantage of its annual grants, it gives week by week to the -prelates who are supported by them that special impulse which shapes -the Council. In winter it set watch before the doors of the poor -Oriental bishops and obliged them to shut their cells against brethren -who came to visit them. Thus it comes to pass - - that the word of two hundred Fathers of the oecumenical assembly - always remains the word of the Pope alone. In fact, hitherto it is - a thing unheard of that a single one of these prelates, sons of the - Propaganda, should have the courage to speak before the Council or - to vote otherwise than it would have them do. This single proof is - of incomparable and demonstrative force, as against the reality of - their freedom; for while all the other Churches, without exception, - have had some independent voices, the Church which I shall call - that of the Propaganda has not hitherto produced one. - -Proceeding to the most tender point of all, the writer says-- - - Above this _surveillance_ of an institution the Jesuits have - contrived another, which is shown more rarely, and is reserved for - great events. This reaches the heads that are loftiest, even when - they are held up, and it makes those who might feel a movement of - independence tremble in spite of themselves. I mean the authority - of Pius IX. Too long it has been sought to keep his action in the - background, in the private history of the Council, by casting into - the shade a figure which is entitled to stand in a strong light. - Hitherto the writers of history have, at each new incident in the - Council, been content to say, It is the work of the Roman Court. - Well, the Roman Court is Pius IX, and history, when the hour comes, - rending the covering of mystery, must let every one bear the - responsibility which belongs to him. It will have to say that it is - Pius IX who would have the Council in spite of the Cardinals, and - who now will have, in spite of them, his personal infallibility. - It is he who required for the Council this hall where one cannot - hear; it is he who became irritated with Audu and tore from him - the abdication of his rights; it is he who refused to receive the - petition of the minority requesting that unhappy debates should be - averted; it is he who violated all rule in bringing on the burning - question; it is he who suddenly smothered discussion when it - became menacing for his pretensions; it is he who from the clergy - of Rome required an address which they had at first refused; it - is he who dismissed Theiner to reward Cardoni; it is he who by a - classification to be much regretted distressed the prelates who on - the anniversary day of his election came to congratulate him; it - is he who called Guidi after his speech to subdue his independent - spirit; is it he who from the Council demands either his personal - infallibility or else the courage to die from the heat of the - sun and of the fever; it is he who will be everything, both the - universal faith and tradition--_La tradizione son io!_ Never was - absolutism seen so near at hand, in an institution which Jesus - Christ had founded free and independent in spite of its monarchical - and indivisible unity. - -The aspect of the case which most distressed the writer seemed to -be that studied humiliation of the bishops which marked the whole -procedure of the Pope, and especially that raising against them of -their own subordinates which bishops probably thought was a measure -reserved only for employment against civil rulers, not against -"Venerable Brethren." Contrasting the present excesses with those of -the Popes of the middle ages the writer proceeds-- - - At present we stand in presence of the Papacy struggling, not - against princes, but against the episcopacy; as if Pius IX could - find on the ruin of his brethren a more elevated throne, or in - their annihilation a more impregnable fortress. O misfortune of - the times and abuse of the most holy institutions! They want to - have only a single real bishop in the world--the Pope; a single - infallible and authorized doctor--the Pope! Let every voice be - silent unless to say what he has said; let no action be performed - but under his episcopal jurisdiction--universal, immediate; let - those who have been appointed by God to govern, renounce their - imprescriptible rights; let them tear the pages of the gospel on - which those rights are graven; we do not any longer want more than - one mouth, one hand, an absolute monarch; then, say they, only - then, shall we have universal order.... At present the Caesars - disappear everywhere and visibly; in vain do I look for a Louis XIV - or a Joseph II; governments are essentially transformed and are - confounded with the country which at least has no courtiers. There - now remains in reality but one Caesar, who is himself everything - both in spiritual matters and in temporal, dispensing his favours - to those who defend him, and making those who contradict him feel - his wrath; and this Caesar is not called either Francis Joseph or - Napoleon III. - - And while this time all temporal powers have scrupulously respected - the liberty of the Council, a single one has hampered it in every - way, has dreaded and destroyed it. I need not name the one. Thus - the Church which had furnished to modern civil societies the model - of a monarchy, in which the aristocratic and popular elements - effectually tempered the excess of the supreme power, the Church - which had first of all given to the modern world the example of - its great assemblies, discussing in freedom the rights of truth - and justice--this Church presents to us to-day the spectacle of a - Council without liberty and the menace of an absolutism without - control. - -This will suffice to account for the displeasure of the Pope and the -Jesuits; but whether it sufficed to warrant the action of the Council -and its language, posterity will judge. In our climate the allusion to -the cruelty of keeping the old men in Rome in what is there called "the -severest season," would seem overstrained. But the danger of attending -a conclave in that season will be found described by Mr. T.A. Trollope -as greater than that of a soldier on the field of battle. And his -details of a conclave held in July to elect the Barberini Pope, gives -frightful corroboration of that serious statement.[475] As M. Veuillot, -looking from the point of view of the initiated, had at once leaped to -the conclusion of the Pope only; and as Vitelleschi, reasoning from -the data furnished by the Canons presented to the Council, inferred -that all that would remain of earthly authority would be the Pope -only; so this writer, starting from the episcopal point of view, and -with difficulty rising above it, at last stands face to face with the -sole figure of authority left, the Pope only; and he finds that while -the spirit of Christianity has been changing Caesars into mild and -patriotic princes, another spirit has changed the Bishop of Rome into a -Caesar, claiming all supremacy in things temporal and spiritual. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 464: Vol. ii. 427.] - -[Footnote 465: _Friedberg_, p. 622; _Quirinus_, 797.] - -[Footnote 466: Vol. ii. p. 436.] - -[Footnote 467: _Civiltá_, VII. xi. 367.] - -[Footnote 468: The names are given in _Friedberg_, p. 149.] - -[Footnote 469: _Vitelleschi_ says that of 157 absent only 38 were -accounted for. The rest represented the Non-contents.] - -[Footnote 470: P. 216.] - -[Footnote 471: _Vitell._ and _Acta Sanctæ Sedis_.] - -[Footnote 472: _Civiltá_, VII. xi. 347.] - -[Footnote 473: _Ibid._, VII. xi. pp. 479, 480.] - -[Footnote 474: _Civiltá_, VII. xi. 366.] - -[Footnote 475: _Papal Conclaves_, p. 312.] - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -From the Great Session to the Suspension of the Council, October 20, -1870--The Time now come for the Fulfilment of Promises--Position and -Prospects--Second Empire and Papacy fall together--Style of Address -to the Pope--War for the Papal Empire foreshadowed--Latest Act of the -Council--Italy moves on Rome--Capture of the City--Suspension of the -Council--Attitude of the Church changed--Last Events of 1870. - - -The reader may perhaps feel that we have now reached a point at which -many prophecies await their fulfilment, and many calculations their -test. The enthusiasts had, on religious grounds, foretold that the -utterance of the "creative word," would be attended with portentous -religious effects. A Baptism of Fire, a New Pentecost, a rapidly -diffused reign of righteousness all the earth over, and other such -expressions, intimated the marvels that were to inaugurate the fresh -era. The calculating men had counted on the display of power and union, -whereof the Papacy was made the centre, to produce a great impression -upon princes and politicians; an impression to which they would, on the -other hand, be predisposed by the fear of revolution. - -Thus, when the consummation should be reached, and a ruler should be -solemnly set up by the bishops of the whole Church before the kings -of the earth, like, to use the favourite simile of the time, the Lord -setting His King upon His holy hill of Sion; and when this king should -be officially declared to have the government upon his shoulders, to be -invested with all authority for the moral regulation of human affairs, -they expected that the princes, bowing down, would accept him as their -supreme judge and arbiter. Indeed, at one time, the confident talk, not -merely of men among themselves, but of the publications most in the -confidence of the guiding men, had been about laying down conditions -to kings and governments on which they might hope to rule in peace. -Hints had not been spared, that only two alternatives could be allowed -to them--the acceptance of the new moral order on the one hand, or the -loss of their places on the other. - -The restoration of society to what was called the Catholic ideal, -its reconstruction on the new divine basis, its deliverance from the -chronic plagues which in modern times had wasted it, were at once to -begin, and moral order was to smile where of late chaos had lowered. -Already these theorists beheld society crying for the Pope as its -saviour. Furthermore, during the days of preparation for the Council, -and during its deliberations, only one among all the nations had been -singled out for solemn blessing and glowing assurances that God would -not forget her services to the Church. Italy had been warned and -cursed. Austria and her new constitution had been formally condemned. -Russia had been laid under every possible anathema. Spain, ever since -her change of government, had shared the same condemnation. As to -the heretical countries, they were generally left, without separate -mention, in the depths to which their sins had sunk them. But the -Ultramontane organs in Germany and France had marked Prussia out for -signal detestation, and denounced the union of Germany under the -leadership of Prussia for the relentless opposition of the Church of -God. France alone was blessed with the withering benediction of the -priest. - -The hour had come that was to show how far the seers had read the -future, and how far the calculators had reckoned well. So far as -related to the great dogma, and the definition of it, all that had been -designed was happily accomplished; indeed, more completely accomplished -than had been proposed in any design avowed up to the eleventh hour. -So far, therefore, both seers and calculators were justified. They had -not seen a false vision, so long as they contemplated the dogmatic -issue; nor had they reckoned without their host, so long as they had -reckoned upon bishops, priests, and friars. Events were now to tell how -far the transformation of Society into the accepted model, how far the -homage of kings, how far the self-surrender of Parliaments, how far the -submission of codes to be remodelled by the Church, and how far the -general consent of the human race to be guided by him who claimed to -hold the place of God among men, were to pass from the realm of hope -into that of experience. - -The progress of the Council, and of opinion contemporary with its -sittings, had dissipated many illusions. Even the bishops had to be -conquered, and were not won. Europe had been awakened and had not been -attached, but alienated. Great as the glories of the spectacles had -confessedly been, and much as they dazzled spectators, they had not -carried legislative effect, except where the artistic legerdemain had -admitted of immediate application. The vote of the minority on July -13 was one symptom of failure. Their final record of dissent, put -into the Pope's own hand, was a more serious symptom. Their flight -from the last public session was more serious still. The absence of -the representatives of the governments from that session was yet far -more depressing. All, therefore, that was now to be hoped for from the -Church was submission; and the very utmost that any calculating man -dared to hope for from governments was endurance. The worst was that -statesmen had learned much more than they were ever meant to learn, -and had seen into matters a deal further than laymen ought to see. And -so the first night of the new dispensation closed in under dull skies, -both physically and morally. - -When the Romans, always curious to see how facts can be dressed for -appearance outside of the walls, looked to the _Giornale di Roma_ for -an account of the session, they found there that all the bishops who -had not appeared--upwards of two hundred--were placed in one class, -"absent from different legitimate and recognized reasons." This was -followed by the assertion that "the great majority of them held the -same doctrine as that which had been defined." Accustomed as the Romans -are to this method of putting facts in vestments, the occasion was -solemn before God and exposed to the eye of man. Vitelleschi wrote -that in these representations the minority might find "a foretaste of -the false statements and judgments they must in future expect." Some -readily account for such assertions by saying that it was hoped that -the documents which proved the contrary would never come to light. -But much is due to the habit of reckoning on the power of a great -organ to set officials upon repeating what it says, till the facts are -forgotten. The _Civiltá_ copied these statements, and yet at a later -date gave a truer account of the absentions. - -It said: Cardinals, 42 _pro_ and 4 _contra_; Patriarchs, 6 _pro_ and 2 -_contra_; Primates, 6 _pro_ and 2 _contra_; Archbishops, 80 _pro_ and -18 _contra_; Bishops, 349 _pro_ and 47 _contra_; Abbots and Generals, -40 _pro_ and only 1, a Chaldean, _contra_. The same article, however, -does not shrink from asserting that "many" of the minority voted -_Placet_ in the public session. - -The heaviest solicitudes of the Curia were now to begin. Events had -been so guided that so long as they were dealing with their own -instruments, the bishops and the clergy, they were left completely -to effect their purpose. Now came the point where they were to -operate upon mankind. That society which they had meant completely to -subjugate, flattering themselves that they were about to restore it, -was now placed face to face with them in an awful aspect, one which -neither priests nor kings could fully interpret. Certain it was, -however, that neither kings nor "peoples" were upon their knees before -the Vicar of God, or were inclined to go down upon them. Some feared -that instead of kings and nations appealing to him to save them, he -would soon be found appealing to some one to save him. The fortunes -of the restored empire of the Bonapartes, and those of the restored -Papacy, had been bound up together. Men now watched and whispered, -saying that as they had been strangely united in their lives, perhaps -they would not be divided in their fall. The 13th of July, the day -of the voting which gave the Pope his fatal majority, was the day of -the incident at Ems. It was the day also on which the Duc de Gramont -informed the French Chambers that, although the Hohenzollern candidate -for the throne of Spain had been withdrawn, that did not close the -dispute. The 18th of July, the day on which the Pope read out by -candlelight the Decree upon his own infallibility, was the day on which -Napoleon despatched his fatal declaration of war to Berlin. A baptism -of fire had been often and pompously foretold as the result of the -great dogma. After its promulgation all that the world ever heard of a -baptism of fire was when Napoleon telegraphed to the Empress, whom the -devout regarded as the true author of the war, telling her, in loud -brag before the nations, how her boy had received his baptism of fire. -That again was but two days before simultaneous sorrows sounded the -knell of the empire and of the throne which sheltered under the shadow -of its wing--the two embodiments of arbitrary will calling itself -authority. - -On August 4, the Pope was chafing at the news that the French troops -at Civitá Vecchia had actually commenced embarkation. On the same day -Bonaparte read the telegram from Wissenberg. On August 6, Count Arnim -on the Capitoline was writing to Berlin to tell his government that -Napoleon had declined an offer of the Pope to mediate between the -belligerents, assigning as the ground that after the declaration of war -negotiations were too late. That same day came upon Napoleon the double -disasters of Wörth and Spichern. The reply of the King of Prussia to -the same offer of mediation on the part of the Pope was to the effect -that if the Pontiff would procure for him assurances of the pacific -intentions of Napoleon, and guarantees against similar violations of -the peace in the future, he would not refuse to receive them from the -hands of his Holiness.[476] The total result then of the first attempt -at political action abroad, in the new character, was a simple failure. -At the same time political embarrassments at home were thickening, as -they had done every day since the fatal July 13. - -It was after Rome had learned that the sun of Austerlitz had not shone -on the fields of Wörth and Spichern, that the first formal act occurred -showing that the Council had neither been dissolved nor prorogued. All -that the Pope had done was to give the bishops a general leave until -November 11. Had everything gone smoothly, this arrangement would -have enabled the men of the Curia to go on as if they were a General -Council. The step to which we allude was merely the formal addition of -certain names to the Committee on Church Discipline, to replace those -who had left Rome. And this is registered on August 13. - -Meantime an intimation was given of the style of adhesion to the Papacy -in its renewed glory which would be acceptable at the Vatican. The -_Civiltá_ selected for publication, "by preference," as it expresses -it, an address from the Society of Catholic Youth in Bologna. It stated -that, as if in recompense of the new and lofty honour to the Virgin -Mary procured by the word of Pius IX, Divine Providence had exalted in -his person the divine dignity of the successor of Peter to the summit -of glory and power-- - - We shall ever keep our eyes fixed on Thee, the mirror of eternal - Truth. We shall ever keep them directed to this Apostolical Chair, - whence the waters of true wisdom and of eternal life perennially - flow. Speak, then, O Infallible Teacher, and we, the youthful - sons of the Catholic Church, will hear Your words as the words - of eternal wisdom; Your judgment shall be for us the judgment of - God; Your definition shall be as the definitions of God; Your - instruction as the instruction of God. In your authority as Vicar - of Christ we venerate the authority of God, and submitting our - mind and our heart to that authority, we have faith to sustain - the dignity of human nature in face of the pretentious tyranny of - haughty intellect spoiled and blinded by guilty passions.[477] - -The historical tales which had for years been carried on in the pages -of the _Civiltá_ under the title _The Crusaders of St. Peter_, from -which we have occasionally given scenes, rather strangely happened, -in the number of the _Civiltá_ for August 24, to come to an end. It -concluded with the list of the immortal dead, as recorded for the world -in a monument which Italy may well preserve. The Pope did not know what -a record of the exotic character of his own power he was putting up. -The ideal of this monument, and of the methods by which the world was -to be made Catholic, is given by the _Civiltá_ in a very few words-- - - It was the conception of Pius IX that, in the Agro Verano, on soil - consecrated by the tombs of the ancient martyrs, should arise the - memorial of the crusaders of the nineteenth century. And another - conception of Pius IX was the colossal group in marble which - represents St. Peter in the attitude of committing the sword to - a warrior in armour, who with the cross bears a flag, with the - legend, _The Catholic World_. Peter is Pius; the warrior is the - Christian army. The idea of the mission of that army glows in the - authoritative action of him who gives the commission, and in the - humble and generous action of him who receives the commission, and - is admirably expressed in two texts of Scripture beneath, drawn - from the Book of the Maccabees: "Take this holy sword, a gift from - God, wherewith thou shalt overthrow the adversaries of my people - Israel.... For victory standeth not in the multitude of the army, - but strength cometh from heaven." - -The names of the martyrs of this crusade are given, and among those -who fell in the Battle of Mentana is only one Italian. France, -Belgium, Holland, England, Ireland, and Germany are all represented, -and Switzerland still more strongly. In the other most considerable -engagement, that of Monte Libretti, there is again but a single -Italian. Among those who perished by being blown up in barracks in -Rome were several Italians, in large part musicians. That record is -certainly worth the keeping of Italy at any cost, and the setting of it -up is only one of the manifold evidences of how blinded the Papacy was -in the last days of its temporal power.[478] Well might the Pope in the -Syllabus condemn the doctrine of non-intervention. - -On August 15, a great "function" was celebrated at Rome, in the Church -of St. Louis of the French, in commemoration of the name-day of the -Emperor Napoleon--that modern Charlemagne who restored the Roman -Catholic Church in France, and whose nephew restored the Pope to his -holy city. Cardinal Bonaparte, the Marquis de Banneville, and all -the French notables attended in state. About the same time a sorely -smitten man, accompanied by his boy, was crossing the drawbridges of -Metz, turning their faces to the rear, amid gibes and nicknames from -the French soldiery. While winding up the heights of orchard and of -vineyard which overhang the beauteous dale of the Moselle, and when -looking on the fair uplands of Lorraine, upon which were sleeping, -in happy obscurity, villages like St. Privat and Gravelotte, like -Rezonville and Mars La Tour, the withered Emperor and his yet unripe -son might see French soldiers marching in retreat, but could not see -the Germans by whom they were being already outmarched. Meanwhile -in Paris the two elect ladies of the Golden Rose--Isabella and -Eugénie--were spectators, the first sighing after a crown already lost, -the second trembling for a regency attained as if only to expedite -the breaking of the sceptre of her husband. Had either of them faith -enough to believe that the Virgin could reward them for services done -to the Holy Father by giving them the necks of their enemies? Our Lady -of Victories, "terrible as an army with banners," to quote a favourite -text with Jesuit writers, was propitiated at least by the Empress -Regent. - -So far the political calculations of the Curia had all been turned to -vanity. Bavaria had not fraternized with the French, much less carried -Würtemburg and Baden with her. The blast of invasion which was to sound -the death-knell of German unity had proved to be its mustering-cry. -Italy up to the present moment had stood in awe of France, but if the -latter should receive another blow or two, matters might reach a pass -at which the Italian government would have more cause to fear Garibaldi -than Napoleon--and then? - -News soon arrived that the Germans, out-marching the French, had met -them in the villages which we have lately mentioned, the names of -which were by that meeting written large on the memory of nations. -The poor Pope saw that Bonaparte, whom he had used and hated, was not -likely to retain power any longer to guard his temporal throne. He knew -that Italy was wiser than the first Bonaparte, who taught the French -that the Pope was to be treated as if he had two hundred thousand -bayonets--a lesson that has cost them dear. Italy adopted the principle -that, in respect of bayonets, the Pope was to be counted as worth just -as many as he could command. Italy would also treat him more wisely as -a teacher. She would not incarcerate, exile, or personally insult him, -but would leave him free to bless or curse as he felt moved, and to be -heeded or disregarded according as every man felt persuaded in his own -mind. - -It was with hearts weighted with the heavy news from the banks of the -Moselle that the Fathers of the Council met in their Congregation on -August 23. How changed that gathering from the proud assembly of last -December, which challenged the homage of all kings, and at the sight -of which the Margottis and the Veuillots spoke of our Parliaments as -puppet-shows! Those whose organs of the Press a few months before wrote -as if neither kings nor presidents had any long tenure of power, except -as they might make their peace with the Church, felt themselves to -sit amid the indifference of mankind, and under the menacing strokes -of Providence. The bishops who had warned them of their ignorance and -folly, but had been crushed, were now far away. In the Congregation, -the Fathers discussed some matters of Church discipline, but as the -shadow of Sadowa had arrested all preparations for the Council during -fourteen months, and that of Garibaldi for three or four, now a darker -shadow, projected from Wörth and Gravelotte, was falling upon the -remaining ecclesiastics, as the evening gloom of the Aventine falls -on late gamblers in what was once the Circus Maximus. They had played -for the certainty of the temporal power, and for the reversion of -the lordship of the world. They had boldly staked all episcopal and -clerical rights. The upshot was that the losers had lost, and that the -one winner was to be a loser too. The next news showed them that, on -the very day when they thus met, was completed the investment of Metz. -Thus did they see the thrice beaten but still coherent army of Bazaine -altogether cut off from the routed and disorganised army of MacMahon. -They had fixed to meet again on September 1. - -The Fathers probably felt that it was doubtful whether the Congregation -fixed for September 1 would meet; but it was highly politic to keep up -the airs of a General Council, because it increased the sanctity of the -city, and made it morally more difficult for Italy to attack. Ere they -met, it became known that at Beaumont, Failly--the faithful General -Failly, the leader of the expedition of Mentana, lauded and blessed for -his "prodigious chassepots"--had met the Bavarians, soldiers of that -king whom the _Unitá_ never wearied of insulting, and that at their -hands Failly had lost his guns, his baggage, and his camp, a large -part of his men, and all his reputation. The Congregation of September -1, did meet, and it was the last. While Bishop Quinn, of Brisbane, in -Australia, was offering up the Mass, the undulating plateaux around -Sedan were reeking with an incense which had, within the last few -years, been invoked with lamentable frequency by the organs of the -Vatican. As the Fathers were rising from their afternoon siesta, tens -of thousands of blue and grey eyes, from all the heights commanding -the city of Turenne, began to dance for joy at seeing the white flag -waving from the old castle lying low down in the hollow--ay, the white -flag waving over the Imperial head of him who to them represented the -traditional devastators of the German Fatherland, but who was, to the -bishops of the Council, the prince who for twenty years had been the -stay of the temporal power. - -No sooner had the news from Sedan reached the Agro Romano, than Curia -and peasant alike knew all that was to follow. One week after that day -the Fathers gathered, on September 8, for the last great ceremony, or, -as it was called, "the last extra conciliar act."[479] The remains of -the world-transforming host of December now speckled the noble Piazza -del Popolo, pressing to the great church of Santa Maria. It was the -Festival of the Nativity of the Virgin. All that the _Civiltá_ tells -of the day is that there were great expectations, and that the Feast -of the Immaculate Conception, then three months distant, would witness -a splendid session. We should say that there was no expectation of the -sort, except indeed among the few who really counted on the Virgin as -being certain at last to work for the Pope the miracles which it had -been so often suggested that she was in gratitude bound to perform. -The majority calculated that she had acquitted all her debts to him by -making him infallible. Desirable as it was to keep up the appearance -that Rome was just then the seat of a General Council, they knew that -though for us and other remote people beyond the mountains that might -have a sacred sound, for the Italians it was not a name to conjure with. - -On the very day when the Fathers were cheerlessly performing this final -ceremony, a notification was sent forward by Victor Emmanuel that he -was unable longer to stay the impetus of the nation, which panted to -take possession of its capital. The letter of the king was weak and -disingenuous. It was more like the work of a priest than of a soldier. -He affected to be a good Catholic, while deliberately dethroning the -Vicar of God. He affected to hope that the Pope would acquiesce in -his own dethronement. The reply of the Pontiff was more worthy of his -position, and more becoming his professions. - -This hostile movement called out a quality in which Popes are surely -infallible, that of appealing to foreigners for armed intervention -against their own countrymen. Of all men, to whom should the Pope now -turn but to the King of Prussia--as if the King of Prussia did not -know at what the Pope and his instruments had been aiming! The date of -the reply of King William was in itself a history. He wrote from the -capital of fair Champagne. Already had the tide of war closed round -the hot infallibilist Räss in his stately Cathedral of Strasburg; -and, rolling on, it had, under the shadow of St. Remy, enveloped the -deserter from the Opposition, Landriot, in his thrice beautiful fane at -Rheims. - -St. Remy sent no sufficing homage by the hand of King William. The -soldier-king quietly declined to undertake any such political -intervention as the priest-king desired. In one word, he dispelled -the idea of the venerable applicant, that the cause of Prussia was -implicated. The matter, said King William, is one "which does not, as -your Holiness appears to think, in any way affect the interests of -Prussia." That calm word would provoke many a vow to make the heretic -feel that the Pope could affect the temper of millions of his subjects, -and therefore the interests of his government. - -Yet one week from the notification of Victor Emmanuel, and on September -15, rode up an Italian staff officer, with all the forms of war, to -the Milvian Bridge--that _Pons Milvius_ ever memorable for the victory -of Constantine and the death of Maxentius. The latest addition to -its history of military incidents, which began with the conspiracy -of Catiline, had been made one-and-twenty years previously, when the -insurgent Romans defeated an attempt to carry the bridge made by the -French under Oudinot. The point of meeting did not, therefore, seem -to be one of good omen for Pius IX. The Italian officer was Colonel -Count Caccialupi, or Chase-the-Wolves. He came from General Cadorna to -demand, in the name of the King of Italy, the surrender of the city. -On behalf of his Holiness, General Kanzler at once gave his reply. The -place was to be defended. General Bixio on that day closed in upon -Civitá Vecchia. - -Meanwhile, Count Arnim, in the hope of averting bloodshed, plied -between the city and the Italian camp. The Pope, however, was resolved -upon resistance. He did, indeed, give orders that it should be -continued only so long as to compel the Italians to open a breach, -in order, as he said, to attest the fact that his capital fell by -violence. That end, we might have thought, would have been equally -well answered, without bloodshed, by surrendering after the first gun. -The forces of the Pope numbered eight thousand, and those of Cadorna -fifty thousand. Rapidly as the temporal power and the Second Empire -were both rushing downhill, it appeared as if they were constantly to -keep step. So did it fall out that on that very September 19, when -the Prussians, defeating Vinoy, closed round Paris, Cadorna, coming -up from the north, sat down before gates of Rome. His lines stretched -from the Salara Gate to the Gate of San Giovanni, thus enclosing that -cemetery of St. Lorenzo, where stood the monument to the Crusaders, -with so many foreign and so few Italian names. Coming up from the -south, General Angiolotti stretched from the Gate of St. Giovanni to -that of St. Sebastiano. Early the next morning Bixio, coming up from -Civitá Vecchia, which he had captured, took post before the Gate of San -Pancrazio, remembered for the contest between Garibaldi and the French. - -With the first light of September 20 did the chambers of the Vatican -begin to rattle with the sound of other artillery than the joy-guns of -St. Angelo. The last time that sound had disturbed those vaults was -when it came as the voice of a French republic, commanding a Roman -republic to make way for the most despotic rule in Europe. Now France -was learning for herself what it is to hear the guns of the stranger -before the gates of the capital; and Rome was feeling what it is to -hear the voice of the Fatherland bidding the stranger depart. Of the -two potentates who in 1849 thundered at the weak walls of poor old -Rome, he who then acted the restorer was now an exile and a captive, -while he who was then an exile panting for return, now sat in the halls -to which he was then restored, but sat feeling in the thud of every gun -that even within those halls he too would soon call himself a captive. - -While the din pained the spirit of the aged Pio Nono, forty of the -Italians attacking and twenty of the foreigners defending were killed, -and a hundred and fifty of the assailants and fifty of the garrison -were wounded. Reports came that the heaviest fire was directed against -the Porta Pia, the gate particularly connected by name with his own -name, adorned and restored by his liberality, and endeared to his -military recollections by the triumphal entrance of his crusaders from -Mentana less than three years before. A letter is published in which -the Pope ordered General Kanzler to surrender as soon as a breach -should be made. But it would not appear that he had really granted him -power to do so; for the _Civiltá_ expressly says that the order to -hoist the white flag was given by the Pope himself, and accounts for -needless bloodshed by the delay which occurred ere that order could -reach the gate that was beleaguered.[480] - -Some five hours had passed since the horrid din began. No Michael -with his legions of angels, no Madonna terrible as an army with -banners, smote the host of the aliens. No Peter struck the barbarians -with blindness. No Dominic, with a cohort of sainted Inquisitors; no -Ignatius, with a celestial "Company," flashed death upon the worse -than Moslems who fought for uprisen Italy. All these things had been -expected. They came not, but instead of them came the news that a -breach at the Porta Pia invited the Italians in. At last the poor old -priest-king made up his mind to stay the futile flow of blood. He -knew the temper of his zouaves. They would have stood and died like -crusaders; but at last the word was given. There on the dome of proud -St. Peter's was the white flag, and there did it float out upon the -September breeze, and waved in the forenoon sun--waved over Pontiff and -Cardinal, over the Circus of Nero and the Inquisition of the Popes. -Was it real? Eyes would be wiped to see if they did not deceive. Eyes, -ay, the eyes of soldiers, would be wiped from thick, hot tears. Could -it be--could it ever be? Come at last! The hour for which ages had -impatiently waited, for which myriads of Italians had died. Italy -one! her arms outstretched from Etna and from Monte Rosa, clasping at -last every one of her children, and even availing by their returning -strength to lift up her poor old Rome from under the load of the priest -and the stranger. - -He who two brief months before had, amid deep darkness at noonday, -read out, by artificial light, the Decree of his own unlimited power -and irreformable law, lay down that night amid a rude and intrusive -glare streaming from across the Tiber into the multitudinous windows -of the Vatican. It came from the lights of Rome all ablaze with -illuminations for the fall of the temporal power. In the piazza below -lay the Pope's little army of foreigners, passing their last night in -the Holy City under shade of the basilica in which they had consecrated -their bayonets to St. Peter, and within embrace of the two arms of -the glorious crescent colonnade. For true it is that stone cupolas, -and stone columns, put up by the distant dead, may be of real avail -as stays of a power after the hearts and hands of willing men have -ceased to hold it up. The soldiers passed the next morning in confused -preparations for a departure. At noon a cannon was fired, and the Pope -appeared on his balcony. He could not conceal his overpowering emotion. -With the retreating steps of these prisoners of war, were about to -vanish mystic visions of martial feats crowned by divine miracle. The -soldiers raised their old cry, _Viva Pio Nono_, in loud and ringing -tones; which, smiting against the basilica and the palace, were from -thence rolled back, and flew across the stream, till the sound of _Viva -Pio Nono_ once more floated along the neighbouring streets of the -capital. Uprisen Italy, quietly sustaining her uplifted Rome, hearkened -in silence to the foreign cheer. Then, for the last time, did the Pope -give to his beloved soldiers what they had so often received, his -benediction. As he withdrew, when the corridors opened lone and long -before him, when the doors closed behind, cutting him off from the only -bayonets on which he could rely, no wonder if he felt that the palace -of the Pontiffs had become a prison. - -The crusaders, turning to the left, passed out of the Gate Angelica; -then winding round under the windows of the Vatican, close by the -garden walls, and along the Janiculum, they finally reached the Gate -of San Pancrazio, where Cadorna and his staff awaited them to receive -the formal surrender. Proud were the men under the red, white, and -green, with the cross of Savoy, as they saw the head of the approaching -column. As the first men of the French legion came up they insulted the -Italian staff. According to the _Civiltá_, Bixio was so incensed that -he reproached Cadorna for having conceded to such troops the honours of -war. The friendly writer extenuates their misconduct by alleging the -irritation cause by affronts received from the rabble in the streets -on the previous day. But when the zouaves came up led by the brave -Colonel Charette, they behaved like soldiers (_Civiltá_, VIII. i. 212). - -When the crusaders of Pio Nono passed away from the Gate of San -Pancrazio, who would have dared to say that the sixty dead and the two -hundred wounded of the day before were to be the last victims of war -provoked by Popes abusing the name of the Prince of Peace? And who -would not feel for the French crusaders, who, led by their priests, and -thinking that they did God service, had for twenty years inflicted upon -Italy, at the behest of the Pope, the miseries of foreign occupation, -and now, in facing their own fair land, were to behold the foreigner -seated in her proudest palaces. - -From that day forth, when the Roman met the priest on the street, he -felt that he was no longer bound, except at the dictate of his own -conscience, to confess to him his sins; that, indeed, he was not even -bound to purchase an Easter ticket, to be produced as evidence that -he had duly presented himself in a tribunal in which, in fact, he had -never set foot. From that day forth, when the friar entered the church -of St. Ignatius, neither the great picture of the torments of the -heretics, nor what, in his dialect, he might call the "divine" _lapis -lazuli_, retained all its old brilliancy; for within those sacred walls -the internal tribunal of the kingdom of God was no longer anything -more than a voluntary confessional. From that day forth disappeared -from the seats of justice on the Seven Hills the ecclesiastical -magistrate, and with him the external tribunal of the Church. From -that day forth appeared for the first time for long and weary ages, -the civil magistrates, sitting in open court under the eye of all, -to administer, with whatever shortcomings, a law which accepted the -Christian principle of even-handed justice to Jew and Gentile; to those -who said, We are of Cephas, and to those who only said, We are of -Christ. In the eye of the Vatican this was the fall of the supernatural -order, the godless triumph of naturalism; but in other eyes it was -the substitution of God's good ordinance for the contrivance of -priestcraft, which, conscious that it was not natural, called itself -supernatural. From that day forth the Roman noble ceased to be a mere -title-bearer and jewel-stand, for now a career in the government of his -country opened before him. From that time forth the people ceased to -be a mere populace, and entered on the dignities of a democracy. Law, -letters, science, politics, diplomacy, and oratory now called upon the -bright-browed child of the working man to come and grace them with his -gifts, and not to sit doomed to the destiny of the incapable, unless he -would put on the frock of the priest. From that day forth the double -office of Despot-Pontiff, answering to the ideal of later Pagan Rome, -was replaced by the mild office of the monarch, reigning at the head of -an aristocracy and a democracy. The priest as a teacher of doctrines, -as a celebrant of rites, or as a practitioner of charms, remained as -free as ever he had been before; but as a power to impose himself upon -all, and as exclusive king of men, his reign had passed away. Italy -said, "For ever"; the priest replied, "Only for a very little time"! - -On October 2 the Italian government took a plébiscite in the Roman -States, to enable the people by a vote to record their own desire as to -whether they would belong to the kingdom of Italy or to the Spiritual -State. According to the _Civiltá_, the voting in the Holy City was -40,835 in favour of Italy, and 46 against. It must not be imagined that -the total amount of dissent was represented by the 46. The partisans -of the supernatural order generally abstained; but probably they would -have done otherwise had they not known that, even if they all mustered, -the majority would be overwhelming. They, as usual, cried out against -bribery, coercion, and similar wrongs. Indeed, to read the Papal -organs at this day, one might believe that ever since the national -movement began, every vote and every battle has been carried against -the preponderating mass of Italians by some few Freemasons, Jews, and -invisible conspirators. - -The Council which was to restore all things still sat. Not even a -prorogation had taken place. Now, however, the Pontiff, though not -intending to dissolve it, determined to suspend it until a happier -time. Exactly a month after Rome had passed into the hands of Italy, -appeared on October 20 the Act by which the Council was suspended. -In the Bull of Convocation the Pope had spoken of his intentions for -the general benefit of society. In the Bull of Suspension it appeared -that the particular society which best knew him and his remedies had -spewed them out of her mouth. After having for many centuries had -experience of his spiritual supremacy and temporal power, Italy had -mournful proofs that they were socially evil. No land in Europe could -produce a record of any dynasty which had so often brought into it -foreign armies, to beat its people down, and to keep them under. No -land in Europe could, from times within the memory of living men, -produce such lists of the executed, the exiled, the imprisoned, and -of those submitted to torture. No land in Europe had a ruling class -among members of which public justice, when once free, had, week after -week, to deal with such vile immoralities as the Courts of Italy had -to punish in members of the priesthood. Italy had made the last trial -of priestly rule with a prince personally free from the social blots -which in the case of many of his predecessors had complicated questions -of the public weal with questions of personal vice. Under Pius IX the -system stood out more fairly to be judged by its principles and by its -fruits. And under Pius IX Italy had rung with accounts of moral wrongs, -of crimes of power, of curses uttered by the subject, such as had long -since ceased to be heard of in other countries of Europe free from -Turkish rule. The monstrosity that called itself a Spiritual State, -and sneered at Lay States, was carnal, and vile to the core. The wave -which, as soon as the breakwater of the Second Empire had been removed, -rolled in at the Porta Pia, was even more a wave of moral scorn and of -social execration than of political hostility. - -The Council met amid florid promises that princes generally, at least -Catholic ones, would accept the Vicar of God as their supreme judge, -mingled with terrible citations of them all to appear before him, -in order to find at one and the same time their correction and their -deliverance in his infallible sentence. All this was uttered with the -haughty spirit that goes before a fall. The fall after the haughtiness -did not tarry, and was strikingly indicated by a phrase under the hand -of the High Priest himself, in the Bull of Suspension: "We have been -brought into such a position as to be entirely under a hostile dominion -and power, God in His inscrutable judgments having so permitted it." -Society had already beheld its self-proffered saviour clinging to the -skirts of Napoleon III, and then crying to King William to save him -from his fellow-countrymen. Now the kings heard their self-proffered -judge himself declare that by a judgment truly supreme the temporal -power had fallen--that power which he and all his bishops had -separately and unitedly assured the Church was altogether necessary to -the proper exercise of his office of universal bishop. - -We heard the _Civiltá_, in September, foretell that when December 8 -should come it would witness a splendid session. Now at last it came, -a waymark noting the end of a very eventful year--eventful in the life -of France, in the life of Italy, in the life of the German nation, and -in that of the Papal Church. But the anniversary of the Immaculate, -of the Syllabus, and of the opening of the Vatican Council, brought -with it no splendid session. They who twelve months ago had met to -sit in judgment on the nations were scattered, and were in various -languages making strange explanations and dexterous appeals to allay -the general disquiet relating to their political plans; and in doing -so were creating in the minds of all who understood what they said, -and who knew what they had done, an impossibility of ever hereafter -trusting to representations of theirs. Meantime, without his seven -hundred bishops, without his adoring crowds, without the glitter of -fallen royalties and of quasi-civic dignitaries, without his beloved -zouaves, yet still guarded by his stalwart and fantastic Swiss--for at -that Court it is ever foreign steel that is true--the Pope, sitting -in a palace of eleven thousand apartments, rich as any king, and free -as any bishop in the world, yet felt and called himself a prisoner. -Therefore when the day of exciting memories came, it was, says the -_Civiltá_, spent in mourning and desolation. But a new offering to the -Virgin was to raise the sacredness of December 8, even in this year -of sorrow, to a higher pitch than ever. Hitherto the patron of the -Holy Church had been St. Michael the Archangel, under whose spear the -first rebel fell--which rebel, as some time ago we saw, prefigured the -latest rebel, Garibaldi. Indeed, after Mentana, St. Michael was, as -military men say, "mentioned" in the Court journal. For the _Civiltá_, -in relating the overthrow of the Garibaldians, did not fail to note -the fact that "it was on the day consecrated to the Prince of the -Angelic Host, to the Patron of the Holy Church, St. Michael," that -the invaders crossed the border. But now the Immaculate, who alone is -terrible as an army with banners, who alone destroys all heresies, was -to be further exalted, by the raising of her husband to that celestial -dignity which had hitherto been borne by the great archangel. It was, -say the reverend college of writers in the ruling periodical, a grand -consolation that amid the mourning and desolation wherein December 8 -was passed, the Decree proclaiming St. Joseph as the Patron of the -Catholic Church was promulged. They add that this Decree was issued to -satisfy the Fathers of the Council, and that it might be considered -as a firstfruit of devotion and piety reaped from the Council. The -Italians said that St. Michael, as captain of the Lord's host, had not -in late years wielded the sword to the satisfaction of the authorities. -Others said that the reason of the slight put upon him was simply -that St. Joseph was the patron of the Company of Jesus. Others again -looked no further for an explanation than to the fact that a form of -religion which now--whatever was imagined and in theory professed--had -in reality no standard of faith left but that of the _fait accompli_, -would naturally seek change for the sake of rest. - -Certain it is that from centre to circumference of the Papal orb, the -devout were besieging the altars of those powers among whom Modern -Rome distributes the affairs of that department which was by Ancient -Rome assigned to Mars. In England, as the _Civiltá_ proudly tells, -was formed "The Prayer League of our Lady of Victories, entirely -composed of innocent children." In Vienna the arch-confraternity of -St. Michael called the citizens to a solemn novena; Belgium moved -in a similar manner, and Spain on December 8 beheld the faithful -thronging to the altars of Mary. "Processions and pilgrimages" added -a "splendid" demonstration, in which Belgium, Germany, and the Tyrol -merited particular mention. The tomb of St. Boniface was besieged with -pilgrims, praying that the tomb of Peter might be redeemed from the -hands of the Italian Islamite. And the tomb of Henry the Emperor Saint, -"fierce defender of the rights of the Holy See," was so beset with -pilgrims on the day two months after the commencement of the captivity, -that the streets of Bamberg resounded with the suppliant song of -_eighty-two_ processions seeking to move the warrior saint. In Munich, -after exhibiting in "functions" within the Churches "all that is grand -in the Catholic cult," the clergy, the archbishop, and the devout, -in crowds said to comprise all Munich, paraded the streets chanting -prayers for the ransom of the Pontiff. - -If St. Michael had not retained his militant position, his -confraternity in Vienna, conscious of where lay the sinews of war, sent -loads of Peter's Pence. So in point after point of Europe the vows -and bonds assumed in favour of Peter's Pence by fresh associations -from Holland to Portugal, and from England to Hungary, are recorded. -In England it was to the ladies that the "work" of raising Peter's -Pence was assigned. The ladies of Vienna claimed it, the ladies of -Madrid followed the example. And a valiant meeting in Belfast, and a -meeting in Galway, resolved largely to swell the tide of Peter's Pence. -The Catholic clubs joined in the movement, not only to console the -Holy Father, but to condemn "the guilty policy of spoliation." Italy -was grievously complained of for having dealt, by law, with certain -Catholic Associations as political bodies, committing offences against -the nation. But the great and splendid "work" of the Pence of Peter -is not enough. The meetings and manifestoes are equally necessary, and -of the manifestoes the spirit is breathed in these words, addressed -to governments: "Do us justice; or if not, to shake you out of your -indifference, we shall avail ourselves of every means which the law -allows." - -One brave claim of German Catholics is this: "As loyal subjects we -demand that our rights and our interests shall be protected even in the -territories of the Church." And politicians, _knowing these things_, -will say and write that men moved from a foreign centre to make such -claims of intervention on their governments are as good subjects as -other men! They well know that such an agitation raised in the midst -of a mortal struggle, if it succeeds, plunges the nation into a second -war; and even if it does not succeed, diverts the nation from its own -defence, and tends to divide it. But these German patriots say that -they will embrace every opportunity that arises of pressing such rights -as those above indicated upon their governments, by the Press, by -"councils," by meetings, and especially by sending men to Parliament -who will have courage to take up the Catholic cause. The _Civiltá_ -characterizes this language as the proclamation "of a vigorous, a -continued, and a legal struggle against all governments which do not -care for the cause of the Pontiff." "What the law allows," would, in -the mind of many an honest Catholic, mean the law of the land; but -on how many of such men could reliance be placed when, after all had -been done which the law of the land allowed, they were instructed by -sacred lips that when it contradicted the "divine" law it ceased to be -binding, and that then the law in the case was God's law, which was -whatever the Church declared it to be? - -Geneva was made a chosen centre of activity, and the names of great -and famous personages were paraded. While the ultimate ends to be -aimed at were fitly expressed as "reinstating the Holy Father in his -temporal sovereignty, and re-establishing the social reign of the -gospel," the proximate ends were, to move the heart of Christ to mercy -by pilgrimages and prayers, to act upon governments, to excite opinion -by the Press, and to procure for the Pope means. Fifty meetings in the -middle of December in the diocese of Fulda alone, while Germany was in -the crisis of the war; the object of those meetings being to plunge her -into a war with Italy! Indeed, it seemed to the _Civiltá_ as if, awoke -from the slumber of ages by the prayers of the Catholics around his -tomb, St. Boniface had gone out anew upon his apostolic pilgrimage, to -rouse up the ancient devotion of the people to the Holy See.[481] - -One new society, which has not its name specified, is said to be -already a great one. It is composed of all who had borne arms in the -crusade of Pius IX. From Holland to Marseilles, from Canada to the -Tyrol, they had bound themselves together in a common bond. We are -not left in doubt as to what that bond might be. Indeed, we are told -that "what it is cannot be obscure; their former enterprise makes it -clear." To us the former enterprise would make the means clear--namely, -war; but not so clear the end. They formerly warred to avert the fall -of the temporal power. Were they now to go to war for the immediate -and local object of "reinstating the Holy Father," and at the same -time for the ulterior and world-conquering object of "re-establishing -the social reign of the gospel"; that is, of forming the world into -Spiritual States, or at least into States under the spiritual reign -of the clergy? The object is prudently veiled in vague language, but -language clear enough for the instructed; "full of warlike ardour in -a meeting of Dutch and Belgians at Lovaine, they said that the aim of -their union was to meet the future wants of the Church, was to conquer -all the forces of impiety."[482] But even in the language put into the -lips of soldiers, and into the resolutions of public meetings, the -object is never defined so as to limit it to restoring the temporal -power, and generally a wide object beyond that narrow one is allowed -to transpire. When old crusaders undertake with "warlike ardour" to -meet the future wants of the Church, we may divine of what kind her -future wants are to be; and when such men undertake to conquer all -the forces of impiety, we may expect a social reign of the gospel, -ushered in by the zouaves--such a social reign of it as some of the -spiritual princes of the Continent re-established when, after their -Spiritual States had been shaken by the Reformation, Catholic leagues -reinstated the prince-bishops in power. As to England, the _Civiltá_, -at a date subsequent to notices already alluded to, names the Duke of -Norfolk as heading a protest against the occupation of Rome from the -noblest of the nation; Lord Campden and "Giorgio Clifford" as leading a -universal subscription of English youth; the ladies as conducting the -"work" of Peter's Pence; R. Martin as forming a league of prayer for -persons of all grades; and Warteton (_sic_) as instituting "the crusade -for Pius IX, a league of our Lady of Victories entirely composed -of children."[483] How many British children are learning in this -much-mentioned league by the inspirations of our Lady of Victories, to -covet their baptism of fire in the projected crusade, we do not know, -nor yet how they are to be taught to select the particular branch -of the "forces of impiety" against which their first arms are to be -proved. But, says the _Civiltá_-- - - there will be a struggle, there will be travails, there will be - sorrows. But the victory is in their [the Catholics'] hands: of - this the proof more than manifest is found in eighteen centuries - of continuous combats and victories of Catholicism. As the great - Matthias, indignant because before his eyes an officer of the king - dared to burn incense to an idol, rose up crying, "Let him that is - true to the law follow me," and commenced those grand struggles - and grand victories of the Maccabees which are known to all, so - the most fervent Catholics, indignant and horrified at the capture - of Rome, pointing out the Revolution, in the meetings at Fulda and - at Malines, at Ghent and at Geneva, as the cause of so much evil, - as the enemy of Christ and of His Vicar, cried, "Let all that are - Catholics at heart rise up and follow us in the fight." Their cry - has been heard, and the general crusade is already begun.[484] - -The development of the _general crusade_ has been slower than the -seers in their many Maccabean visions saw; but at the end of six years -all the preparations for it are in progress, and the two-fold end is -steadily kept in view: first, Rome is to receive back the Pope at the -point of the bayonet; and secondly, the whole world is to accept "the -social reign of the gospel" at the point of the bayonet too, unless -nations, being timely wise, bow the neck and lick the dust where -marches the Vicar of God. So man proposes. But since the day in 1850 -when, as we heard at the beginning, a "salutary conspiracy and a holy -crusade" were formally announced as the two things needful, much that -man astutely planned and firmly proposed has not come to pass according -to man's design, but has been strangely turned to the purposes of a -clearer wisdom, and a kinder will. Even the monument in the cemetery of -St. Lorenzo to the Crusaders, which exhibits Peter, under the effigy -of Pio Nono, giving the sword to the Christian army, and commanding it -to make a Catholic world, now bears, in addition to its texts from the -Maccabees, a fresh inscription: "Ransomed Rome leaves to posterity, -as a lasting sign of calamitous times, this monument, erected by the -theocratic government to foreign mercenaries." - -On the last day of 1870--that year of which the echoes will sound -all down the vale of time, repeating the cry, "Man proposes but God -disposes"--a strange sound was heard in Rome. Floods had brought sorrow -into the city. Victor Emmanuel left Florence, and at four o'clock in -the morning of December 31, for the first time, as king in his capital, -set foot in Rome. In its sovereigns the city was familiar with titles -of Saints, of Great, of Holiness, and of Blessedness, and with ancient -titles noting many a shade of skill and power. But there was a title -which was not only unknown, but seemed alien to all the traditions that -had gathered around the place from the days of Sulla and of Catiline -till now. As the burly king, amid the frantic joy which had marked his -brief visit, was about to enter the carriage to return, a little girl -approached with a nosegay of fair flowers, and said: "Take this, KING -HONEST MAN!" - -If with the expiring hours of 1870 the reign of Craft died in Rome, and -that of Honesty began, it would mark the mightiest of all the modern -revolutions. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 476: _Civiltá_, VII. xi. 760.] - -[Footnote 477: _Civiltá_, VII. xi. 481-2.] - -[Footnote 478: _Civiltá_, VII. xi. 559 ff.] - -[Footnote 479: _Civiltá_, VIII. i. 66.] - -[Footnote 480: VIII. i. 108.] - -[Footnote 481: VIII. i. pp. i. 155-69.] - -[Footnote 482: _Civiltá_, VIII. i. 293.] - -[Footnote 483: VIII. i. p. 288.] - -[Footnote 484: VIII. i. pp. 421-22.] - - - - -CHAPTER X - -How far has the Vatican Movement been a Success, and how far a -Failure?--As to Measures of the Nature of Means a Success--As to -Measures of the Nature of Ends hitherto a Failure--Testimony of Liberal -Catholics to the one, and of Ultramontanes to the other--Apparatus of -Means in Operation for the Ultimate End of Universal Dominion--Story -of Scherr as an Example of the Minority--Different Classes of -those who "Submit"--Condition and Prospects of the Two Powers in -Italy--Proximate Ends at present aimed at--Control of Elections--Of the -Press--Of Schools--Problem of France and Italy--Power of the Priests -for Disturbance--Comparison between Catholic and Non-Catholic Nations -for last Sixty Years--Are Priests capable of fomenting Anarchical -Plots?--Hopes of Ultramontanes rest on France and England--The Former -for Military Service, the Latter for Converts--This hope Illusory. - - -Before allowing ourselves to form any opinion on the question how -far the attempt to place all authorities under the Pontiff has been -a failure and how far a success, it is necessary that, in our own -thoughts, two classes of measures should be set well apart. If we look -only at measures which the leaders of the movement regarded in the -light of ends, it is easy to pronounce it an utter failure, as most -Italians and many of other nations have done. If, on the other hand, -we look only at measures which the leaders regarded in the light of -means, it is easy to proclaim, as all the voices of the Vatican have -proclaimed, that so far the movement has been a success, wondrous even -to the point of being manifestly divine. - -We think it impossible to deny the complete success of the Vatican -movement in perfecting the measures devised as means. Those Liberal -Catholics who at present loudly pronounce the movement a failure, have -only to read their own writings of 1869 and of the earlier months of -1870, to find that at that time certain advances in the policy of -the Curia were described as unattainable. Those advances have been -accomplished. As to certain measures, it was said that governments, -bishops, clergy, people, would unite to make them impossible. Those -measures are now statutes and ordinances. The Liberal Catholics, -indeed, may pensively say that the gains of the Curia are the losses of -the Church. That may be. Time will tell. The fact now to be registered -is simply this: Certain changes were declared necessary, and at the -same time sufficient for the attainment of the great end of universal -domination. Those changes were pronounced to be revolutionary in the -Church, dangerous to society, and, in fine, impossible. They were -resisted, were urged on, and were triumphantly carried. - -We also think it impossible to deny that up to the present time (1876) -the movement, viewed in relation to ultimate ends, has been a complete -failure. We do not say as much of proximate ends. As we have used the -writings of Liberal Catholics to measure the success in regard to -means, so would we use the writings of the Court party to measure the -failure in regard to ends. It is already familiar to us that in those -writings the moral renovations which were to attend the dawn of the new -era, could not be indicated by any metaphor short of the primal burst -of light on the horror of chaos. It was to be! So soon as the Lord -should manifestly set His king upon His holy hill of Sion, all kings -were to fall down before him, and his enemies were to lick the dust. -Parliaments were to recognize their impotence and expire. Populations, -suddenly illuminated, were to behold the saviour of society, and were -lovingly to bow to his law. As to any possible opposition, it was -described as the heathen raging--as the people imagining a vain thing. -It was only the kings of the earth setting themselves and the rulers -taking counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed. - -Now, in fulfilment of these promises, what has come to pass? The Pope -has fallen from his temporal throne. A long and bloody war, carried on -with a view to place Don Carlos on the throne of Spain, has failed. -Contrary to the fairest promise, hopes of placing the Count of Chambord -on the throne of France have faded away. The tentative federation of -Germany has been consolidated by an imperial crown, hereditary in the -reigning house of Prussia. Austria has persisted in her anti-Catholic -legislation, as it was called, and has extended it by abrogating the -Concordat. Switzerland and Germany have both returned the attacks of -the ecclesiastical power upon the civil power, by laws reasserting -the national supremacy in every sphere of public life. Italy, in the -act of overturning the temporal power, has completed her own unity. -In the act of completing her own unity, she has, in the city of Rome, -violated what the Pope calls Catholic unity, by admitting religious -liberty within the sacred walls. In America no great State has modified -its law in favour of the new theocracy. Several of the Catholic States -have shown a consciousness of its aims, and jealousy of its accredited -agents. In Canada, leading Liberal statesmen have clearly evinced a -rising consciousness of what the Papacy is, and of what it aims at. The -one ideal ruler of the Curia, the one set before the youth of nations -as their model, Garcia Moreno, President of Ecuador, has fallen, openly -assassinated in broad daylight. Thus, at the time when, according to -his seers, the Pontiff was to survey a new cosmos rising out of the -chaos of the Modern State, he, all round the horizon, beholds only -confusion worse confounded. Not one nation has submitted its code -to his revision. Not in one kingdom of the earth has a ruler been -installed to reign under the laws of the Syllabus. - -Does not this statement concede all that is claimed by those who say -that the movement is a failure not redeemed by one success? What it -does really concede is, that of the two ways, in one of which the -ends aimed at were to be accomplished, the first has disappointed all -hope. The ends proposed were so grand that only in one of two ways -could they be realized; and whatever may be said of the enthusiasm of -the projectors, it is not to be denied that they never lost sight of -this fact, and never concealed it. The two ways were either such an -intervention of Providence as would amount to a cosmopolitan miracle, -or else the slow operation of means extending over ages. While the -Pope and his more superstitious followers seemed to expect that the -Virgin and the new-made saints would obtain miraculous transformations, -the more calculating, even at moments when the flow of money and of -friends seemed not only to exhilarate the Vatican, but to intoxicate -it, did not fail to keep in view the fact that centuries might -intervene--centuries marked by many a partial success and many a -temporary discomfiture--between the day when the perfected machinery of -means should be set in motion, and the day when the crowning victory -should lead the head of the human species in triumph to the goal. The -Jesuits are now entitled to point to that fact in bar of any premature -exultation over their disappointment. At the same time, with all their -power of simulating the joy of victory in defeat, they have been unable -to prevent chagrin from tinging much of their later language. The -great spectacle did not operate as a charm. The sublime revelation of -a central authority for all human affairs did not subdue any wayward -institutions. Providence put no seal on the deeds done. The replacing -of St. Michael in his office of patron of the Church, was symptomatic -of considerable dissatisfaction with the departmental divinities in -general. - -On the other hand, this complete failure of supernatural aid, or of -any favouring current in public events, does not alter the fact that -a system of means, contemplated and desired for ages, has at last -been perfected, and that it is now over all the world being gradually -brought into operation. The magnitude of the means indicates the -universality of the ends. The fact that centuries upon centuries have -elapsed since Popes began to claim what Pius IX has now acquired, -that more than three centuries have passed even since, at Trent, the -Jesuit General set up the pretensions which have now, at last, become -the law of one hundred and seventy millions, is a consideration not -lightly to be set aside, particularly when we contemplate the strife -for universal dominion now openly inaugurated as a continuing struggle, -to be handed down from generation to generation of men trained and -consecrated to this very thing. - -The stupendous scope of the ends might well demand as means measures -exceptionally great, and the magnitude of the measures already carried -as means may now well excuse, if not justify, confidence that the -ends after they shall have been steadily pursued for ages will also -be attained. Those ends were not less, when united into one, than the -dominion of the world. - -The Internal Tribunal, seated in every church, in every palace, in -every castle, and at need in every private chamber, would always in -point of authority take precedence of any local law, and would rule -bed, board, purse, family, and all action which conscience determines. - -The External Tribunal, seated in every city, would maintain the -headship of the bishop over the civil magistrate, and the supremacy -of spiritual over civil law and authority, as sacredly as we should -maintain the supremacy of our civil law and authority over military law -and authority. - -The External Tribunal would make the Internal an establishment of the -law. Every man, every woman, ay, every child of a certain age, who -should not appear at least once in the year in that tribunal, would run -into a punishable offence. - -The Supreme Tribunal in the person of the Pope, acting either directly -or through any Court or Congregation he might appoint, would be the -final bar at which would appear contending kings, contending nations, -or other appellants whatever, as also all whom he might, for any cause, -be pleased to cite. From that judgment-seat would fall the sentence -that only the Almighty could challenge. According to the well-known -formula, the Supreme Judge would carry all rights in the shrine of his -own breast. - -Such a universal dominion was the end, the ultimate end in view. The -end was hallowed to the mind of those proposing it by the persuasion -that this dominion of the priest of God is the veritable kingdom of -Christ. It is only by realizing how conscientious is this view of the -spiritual empire, or the Roman Empire in a spiritual form--a view -which, founded on a historic ideal, fascinates the imagination of -Romanists--that we can either be just and charitable to the men who -move for these ends, or can arrive at any reasonable estimate of the -amount of future force in their movement. Mere politicians, say some, -who have no religious feeling! Yes, many such; but these politicians -well know that their power is proportioned to the amount of religious -feeling which they can create and make ready to be acted upon. It is -by putting together the political skill of the one set of men and the -religious feeling of the other, that we obtain means of judging as to -the quality of the directing and the amount of the impelling forces to -be developed in the future struggle. - -After all that they have recently accomplished within the Church, -what can be too hard, they ask, to accomplish outside? They wanted -to make the entire Church an instrument in which every joint, to the -remotest limb, should infallibly respond to the will of the central -director, so that at any given moment, and on any one point, the whole -of its force could be brought to bear wherever resistance might be -encountered, or wherever an advance might promise success. To make it -such an instrument required changes which were pronounced unattainable, -but they laughed the discouragement to scorn. Those changes affected -all the three spheres of organization, constitution, and dogma. In -_organization_ every clergyman had to be made movable at the will of -the bishop, and every bishop had to be made dependent on the will of -the Pope. The franchises of both the parish and the diocese had to be -revoked. It is done. But it could not be done without a constitutional -change. In the _constitution_ the Bishop of Rome had to be made by law -the Ordinary of every diocese in the world, and every other bishop -in the world had to be made by law a mere surrogate of the Bishop of -Rome. That one bishop had to be made by law the sole lawgiver even -when the entire episcopate meets in a General Council, and the whole -episcopate in General Council assembled had to be by law reduced from a -co-ordinate branch of a legislature to what is, in effect, a mere privy -council to the Bishop of Rome. It is all done. But it could not be done -without a dogmatic change. In _dogma_ it had to be determined that the -edicts of the Bishop of Rome embodied in themselves all the alleged -infallibility of the Church; ay, and even the consent of the Church, as -a necessary sanction, had to be in dogma disavowed. We blame not any -Liberal Catholic who said that these things were impossible. But the -impossible is done. The new organization is not a mere administrative -change, but rests firmly on a new legislative constitution. The new -constitution is not a mere legislative change liable to legislative -revision--it rests irreformable on adamantine dogma. - -Thus, then, are the hundred and seventy millions, or two hundred -millions, as they are called, bound into one very compact bundle, to -be thrown into this scale or that by a single hand. Within the Church, -says Vitelleschi, resistance is impossible. No obstruction can now -arrest the current of command from Pope to nuncio, from nuncio to -bishop and regulars, from bishop to canons and parish priests, from -regulars to all manner of confraternities, from parish priests to -unions and to voters. Where governments have one officer the Church -has many. Where the government officer has no time to shape public -opinion, the Church officer has little else to do. Where the lackeys in -government service wear fine liveries, and the lords walk about like -our fellow-creatures, the lackeys of the Church have fine liveries too, -but the lords outshine even the theatre. Where, in Catholic countries, -the officer of government comes into his seat of authority, or returns -into it quietly, care is taken that the bishop shall, at his coming, -appear exalted above all principality and power. In proportion as -States, becoming more Christianized, have risen above show, the Papal -Church, becoming more paganized and materialized, has sunk deeper into -the craft and the love of display. While the officers of government -see that the young are taught the material processes necessary to -future power, the officers of the Church see that they are taught -for what ends it will be good, noble, and martyr-like to employ power -when they shall take their future share in governing the world. Bishop -Reinkens, in a little work that ought to be read by every man who -means to understand the questions that are to come up--_Revolution und -Kirche_--declares that the policy of the Papacy is now revolution. -Certain it is that for effecting a world-wide revolution, never did -instrument exist so generally outspread and so perfectly centralized, -so elaborately ramified and yet so pliant, as will be the society ruled -over at the Vatican when once all the old men who resisted the changes -have died off, and the new generation instructed in the spirit of the -Syllabus has slowly grown up, as the generations formed by Trent grew -up wherever the canons of that Council were received. - -Such a growth is too slow to be waited for before partial results are -secured; and every partial result it is hoped will be a stepping-stone -towards the complete one. Therefore is every agency already named -employed in promoting the organization of forces to bear a part in the -grand struggle when it comes; but meantime in every local struggle. -Associations of children, associations of peasants, associations of -artizans, associations of old soldiers, called veteran associations, -and numerous associations besides, are formed in various countries -and on several models. On the social side clubs and "circles" -contribute the convivial element, and on the devotional side orders -and confraternities contribute the ascetic element to the common -organization. New "devotions," new visions, new places of pilgrimage, -new images, new prayers, new relics, new charms, new waters of virtue, -new shrines, new patrons, new miracles, and new wonders feed the flame. -By tens of thousands, and by hundreds of thousands, men take an oath -of obedience to the Pope. By tens of thousands volunteers pledged to -shed their blood for him are enrolled--"On paper," say the Italians, -mocking; but 1867 showed that the crusaders meant crusading; and if -tens of thousands of such volunteers under leaders such as Charette -are enrolled they are not to be laughed at. The schools have not been -in operation during the last ten years for nothing. Associations -in France bear the portentous names of Jesu-Workman and Jesu-King -(_Jésu-Ouvrier_ and _Jésu-Roi_)--the one aiming at organizing workmen, -the other at organizing courts. The name of Jésu set up on these -associations clearly points to the central organizing Company which -Liberal Catholics with reverent indignation charge with daring to give -a double meaning even to the all-blessed Name, not excepting its use in -the solemn words, "At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow." - -Even after July 18 the Liberal Catholics did not give up the Church -as irrevocably sunk into the hands of the Jesuits. They counted on -the eighty-eight bishops who had voted Nay, and on their promise one -to another not to act separately. Had that promise been kept, it was -just possible that, under favouring circumstances, the fatal steps of -July might have been modified or even recalled, for by all tradition -the acts of any Council were supposed to remain within its power, -and to be open to its revision till it was legally dissolved. The -Curia put this tradition under its heel. It posted up the Decrees on -the doors of the Lateran and in other public places in the city, and -certified the whole world that by this act they had become its supreme -and irreformable law. How did the eighty-eight deport themselves? -They had tamely allowed all manner of revolutionary acts, when done -from above, and they allowed this last one as tamely as the rest. The -erring Peter of the Vatican was not at the head of a community capable -of producing a man who could withstand him to the face, and could -tell him, as one told the erring Peter of Antioch, that he was to be -blamed. Indeed, logically, the bishops seemed to have no ground of -objection. The Decrees did not profess to be those of a Council, but -those of the Pope, a Council having approved of them. If, then, the -Pope by promulging any doctrinal Bull without citing the approbation -of a Council, could give to it the force of irreformable law, unless -it should be rejected by the bishops, how much more was he entitled -to give that force to these Decrees. Even had their tenets afforded -them ground for resistance, the eighty-eight were not the men to avail -themselves of it. From one we may learn the complexion of them all. - -At midnight on July 19, Von Scherr, Archbishop of Munich, who had -throughout the Council acted with the Opposition, re-entered his -city. He came, as the Germans say, without song or chime--that is, in -strict privacy. At first many thought--and Friedrich was one of the -number--that this demeanour was adopted, on the part of his Grace, -to shun any public demonstration which the people might have made in -honour of his attitude in Rome. But the whisper soon crept round, -"Gregory has submitted." - -Presently the Faculty of Theology, with Döllinger at its head, came in -all form to present the Archbishop with an address of congratulation -on his happy return. After the formal reply to the address, his Grace -said, "Rome has spoken: you gentlemen know the rest. We could do -nothing but give in." Friedrich says that he saw how Döllinger was -boiling, while the rest were also moved. "We struggled long," continued -the Archbishop, "and gained much, and we also averted a deal of evil." -This remark, says Friedrich, evidently encountered general incredulity. -The Archbishop then told of the deputation to the Pope--of which he was -a member--on July 15; of the hopes raised by the reply it received; of -how those hopes were dashed by the influence of Senestrey--for he does -not seem to have named Manning; and finally, of the sad disappointment -of Cardinal Rauscher on going the next day to thank his Holiness for -yielding, and on hearing from those lips which to the "Catholic" -world are the fount of truth, that the formula which, on the previous -evening, the Pope denied having seen, was actually distributed among -the prelates, and was declared to be irrevocable. - -At the close of the conversation, Scherr, turning to Döllinger, said, -"Shall we start afresh to work for the Holy Church?" The aged _Probst_ -replied, "Yes, for the OLD one." It was evident that, if Scherr had -just then had any other man before him, his anger would have waxed -hot. He suppressed it, however, and replied, "There is only one Church, -not a new one and an old." Then were the words pronounced by Döllinger, -"They have MADE a new one." The note was sounded. The Archbishop could -only say, "There have always been alterations in the Church and in the -doctrines." This speech played upon the countenances of the Professors, -calling up in each case a look characteristic of the man. "Never shall -I forget," says Friedrich, "the respective bearing of Döllinger and -Haneberg." Döllinger was soon excommunicated; Haneberg was soon in a -bishop's palace, but ere long he died. No one took up the conversation, -and as the Archbishop turned from Döllinger to address some one else, -Friedrich saw tears in his eyes. - -In the hall of the university where the Professors had robed, and where -they now unrobed, they spent a quarter of an hour in talking over -the scene. Döllinger, however, did not stay. Rather early the next -morning, the Archbishop deigned to visit the plain house in Von der -Tann Street. Döllinger plainly told him that he could not receive the -dogma of July 18, being, as it was, in open contradiction to the past -teaching and history of the Church. In that dogma the worst thing of -all was the addition made after the discussion, "not by the consent of -the Church." Here was a surprise for the Archbishop. He knew nothing of -that addition. He had left the field before the last gun was fired. He -had now to learn the shape which his new faith had actually taken, and -to learn it from the lips of Döllinger. The venerable Provost who was -to be excommunicated had to tell the Archbishop who was to do the deed -what the change of creed actually was for not conforming to which he -was to be given over to Satan. That scene might have afforded Kaulbach -another picture. - -Von Scherr at first spoke in Munich of the promise made by the bishops -of the minority to one another not to act separately. By the end of -August he had forgotten all about it. A "highly placed" layman was -informed by the Archbishop that he need not trouble himself with -infallibility, as the Decree would not be promulged in the diocese, -and what was not promulged was not binding. Almost immediately -afterwards it was printed in his own paper. Ere long, Scherr was as -hot for infallibility as if his object had been to make the Curia -forget in his present zeal any unpleasant impressions made by his -former opposition. He was exemplary in protesting, threatening, and -excommunicating. Friedrich gives particulars to prove, in the case of -Scherr, that disregard of truth which is so freely alleged against the -bishops generally, into which we will not enter. - -As we have said, from one of the minority we may judge of all. Neither -Hefele nor Kenrick, neither Dupanloup nor Strossmayer, displayed any -Christian fortitude sufficient to arrest their Church in her downward -course, or indeed displayed anything to give the Curia aught but food -for scorn of the Opposition. Their convictions had been solemnly stated -and ably argued. Those convictions did suffice to cause hesitation. -But the force of conviction only tested the force of habit, and did -not break it. The new submission made them tenfold more than ever the -creatures of that overweening power which they had spent their lives -in exalting, which for a moment they had attempted to moderate, but to -which they now succumbed in its most heinous assumptions. - -The lower clergy have followed the bishops in submission. At one time -it seemed as if many of them would withstand. Except, however, in the -two countries nearest to Italy--Switzerland and Germany--no appreciable -resistance has been offered. In Germany the men in whom the force of -belief overcame the habit of submission were almost exclusively those -whom the elevating influence of university life had lifted above the -ordinary level of the clergy. Their number is not large; but the -valuable writings which they have already produced show that they -have no mean power of influencing the future currents of theological -thought. Spirited France, in spite of its Gallican traditions, was a -pattern of tameness. The striking examples of Loyson and Michaud found -exceedingly few to follow. Gratry "submitted." Throughout the rest of -the world the exceptions have been isolated and without influence. - -Among the laity, again, it is only in Switzerland and Germany that -success has been even chequered. The otherwise uniform submission has -there been broken by numbers considerable to-day, but more considerable -for the future. Yet compared with the mass in submission, those numbers -are soon told. But, on the other hand, that mass in submission is not -of uniform value to the future theocracy. It contains the cordial -adherents who already believed; the dutiful adherents who doubted, but -at the word of the Council said, It is decided, and I now, as in duty -bound, believe; the reckless adherents, who, like most in Italy and -many in France, would as cheerfully have submitted to a dogma declaring -the Popes imponderable, as to one declaring them infallible, and who do -really believe that they are irreformable. Differing from all these are -men who had an intelligent conviction against the new dogma, or against -the new constitution, or against both. These, brought face to face with -the alternative--submit, or bear the curse of the Church; submit, or -survive the rending in twain of every life-tie--did sadly and slowly -submit--submit without attempting to reconcile things to their reason, -as it is said that Montalembert declared he would do. These men may -never make apt instruments of the priests, but they do make their -proud trophies. One strong man silently submitting is a statuesque -monition to many others not to think. A still further element of -unknown extent mingles with the mass. It consists of those who, -without either formal submission or open breach, do not believe the -new dogma, and do not approve of the new constitution. This now inert -bulk may turn to a force bearing in either direction, or may divide -into two portions; one giving the priests control over profession and -appearance, without any corresponding control over belief--which is, -perhaps, of all their triumphs the most practical; and another in which -conviction, growing at last too strong for the habit of submission, -breaks by its divine force the human bond, and throws men upon their -conscience, their Bible, and their God. But when men have once really -believed in a God who leaves the rule over His redeemed offspring -to a Vicar, and have believed in man as a creature whose conscience -another man is to keep, it is hard to find in them foothold for solid -Christian convictions. They are kneaded to the hand of the priest. -If they leave him, they become infidels, who though in feeling his -opponents, perhaps his persecutors, become in argument and action his -practical allies. Joining him in rooting out faith in the Bible and in -primitive Christianity, they urge men to his two extremes of doctrine, -the authority of the Church or Atheism, and consequently to his two -extremes of government, the Papacy or the International. One Auguste -Comte is worth many a monastery. - -It is this "sublime" spectacle of success with hierarchy, clergy, and -laity, which makes the recent past, to the augurs of reconstruction, -a certain presage of a triumph, perhaps distant, but complete, in -the future. No recalcitrating bishop now; or if a few worn-out men -are still secretly of the old inclining, they are rapidly dying off. -The list of the eighty-eight is already a short one. No bishop is -now installed who to the old oath which already made him a vassal of -the Pope does not add the new articles of the Vatican Decrees. No -seminaries are now training priests to deny the infallibility of the -Pope, or his ordinary, immediate, and omnipresent authority. In most -the Jesuit text-books are adopted. No catechisms are now teaching -against Papal infallibility, or teaching ambiguously. The new doctrine -will be couched in terms clearer or less clear, according to political -and theological necessities; but, whether in Prague or Sydney, in -Florence or Liverpool, in Boston or Warsaw, in Berlin or Lima, the -catechism will contain a text from which the friar or priest will put -the same principles of social reconstruction into the minds of boys and -girls. To the view of the Jesuits, the future unfolds like a peacock's -tail, all sparkling with the eyes of the young. The outward loss to -the Church which has been sustained was reckoned upon before hand. -They hold that it is more than compensated by the perfect internal -compactness gained. When once the preparations are complete--and a few -score years are of no account--a generation well trained will be ready -at the call of him who holds among men the place of God, to take up the -cross of St. Peter, to cry, "God wills it," and to march till all high -things that exalt themselves against Christ shall be pulled down, and -the Church alone shall stand, the one all-perfect society embracing the -human species. - -The loss of the temporal power affected all the calculations of the -foregoing period. It came with appalling suddenness. It startled all -men to see the Emperor who had been the sole prop of the temporal -power fall, not like a prince put to the worst amid a loyal people, -but with an unheard-of crash like a log upon ice, while his empire -instantly went under; and to see in another moment the Italian sentries -standing round the Vatican. All efforts had first to be turned to a -restoration. As if to illustrate the weakness which the subjects of the -Pope form for any State, while yet the war was raging King William had -to negotiate with Ledochowsky,[485] and ere yet the blood was dry, a -petition signed by fifty-six members of the Prussian Parliament prayed -the new Emperor of Germany to restore the Pope--which meant to declare -war on Italy. While the Emperor still lay at Versailles a deputation, -headed by three counts, passed through bleeding France to pray the -victor to flesh his sword anew. Emperor William well knew that if all -the powers of the Papacy sufficed for the task, the new empire would -be rent to shivers in a day. The army which had taken Paris did not -march on Rome. France had next to exhibit herself as a suppliant at -the feet of the Holy Father--a Holy Father who wanted her with her -right arm broken to draw with her left and cut down the Italians. She -met this wicked suggestion with humble requests that the Holy Father -would show forbearance and not demand services for which she was not -prepared. Incredible as it may seem, Father Hyacinth Loyson stated, in -the _Journal des Débats_, that French bishops, before thus attempting -to entangle their own government, had actually applied to the invading -Germans.[486] Refused by the invader, refused by their country, they -hated where they could not smite. Germany was marked for destruction; -and France was held to future service when the time should come. -Meantime, every effort was put forth to check and disunite Italy, but -in vain. She has strained the religious toleration which the Pope -abhors so as even to cover overt political hostilities. She has allowed -him to issue all manner of incentives to undo the Italian kingdom by -either domestic revolt or foreign intervention, or if possible by both. -She has allowed him to gather together crowds of hostile foreigners and -to excite them to affront and revile the nation. She has grown stronger -and more solid during the process, laughing equally at the Napoleonic -idea that the Pope was to be treated as if he had two hundred thousand -bayonets, and at the Bonaparte violence which inflicted personal -insult, prison, and exile. At this moment, after six years have passed, -the Vatican as unblushingly asserts that Italy--the real Italy--is -on its side as it did in the years preceding Solferino.[487] Victor -Emmanuel has tried the experiment of letting the Pope play the prisoner -or the freeman, the prophet, priest, or Caesar, the tribune or the -medicine-man, just at his wayward will. The enmity of the Pope has been -good for Italy as for England, Germany, America, and all countries -favoured with it; but if the day comes when the Pope meets the bow of -any future Prime Minister of Italy with a responsive bow, then may we -begin to look for fresh cycles of conspiracy and convulsion. - -The future must be its own interpreter. Meantime in the Vatican sits -a king calling himself a prisoner, though he is free to go where he -will; and in the Quirinal, a king calling himself a good Catholic, -though he is a rebel against the Vicar of God. If the wisdom of Italy -in allowing to the Pope unlimited personal freedom has been great, the -want of wisdom in professing to exalt his spiritual authority, and in -giving in to his sole hand the ancient powers of both the crown and -the people in the election of bishops and clergy, amounts perhaps to -the grossest political folly of our age. When Bonaparte dealt with the -Pope as sole arbiter of the bishoprics of France, he opened a mine -against the national authority whether seated on a throne or on a -president's chair, over which it has never sat securely, and in which -it will one day sink if France goes on as she has done of late, giving -the priests increasing power in education. But when Victor Emmanuel -repeats this blunder in a form more completely providing for future -Papal power, he digs a grave under the feet of his own dynasty. To -Italians, unhappily, a great hypocrisy may be a great triumph of skill; -they smile at principles, admire shifts, and are wondrously clever at -them. In politics, till they found the principle of constitutional -monarchy, they, in spite of all their shifts, floundered between -fruitless conspiracy and repression--never ending, still beginning. In -religion they want what in politics they have found, a principle and a -basis. Ancient scriptural Christianity, the Christianity of the Epistle -to the Romans, would give them the firm rock between the quicksands of -sacerdotalism and the floods of infidelity; a rock on which a nation -might securely rise to take its place with realms which own no other -foundation. But hitherto scarcely a glimmer of light on this matter has -appeared among Italian statesmen. They sadly underrate the power of the -Curia. The Curia know their weakness, and count upon their fall. To -bring it to pass may, they think, take time; but the Pope well knows -how to play upon the king for the undoing of the nation. Any ruler who -does not in his conscience believe the Pope to be a pretender in his -claims to represent God and to rule the universal Church, and who does -not believe him to be the worst and greatest corrupter of the Christian -religion ever brought to light by time, is in constant danger of -risking all by some act of compliance induced perhaps by his religious -sentiments, by the remorse of his vices, by the intrigues of the women -about him, or by the guile of the ecclesiastics who lie in wait. - -For the time being the Vatican is placed at the disadvantage of -complicating the general struggle for supremacy with the particular -one for the restoration of the temporal power. The ultimate end being -now manifestly distant, the whole power of the perfected mechanism is -turned to the gaining in detail of the proximate ends which will lead -to it. These, roughly stated, are, control over elections, control over -the Press, and control over schools. If we take Bavaria and Belgium as -favourable specimens of Roman Catholic countries, the priestly power in -elections has already become a source of bloodshed, and threatens to be -so in continuance. The Catholic and the Liberal parties stand arrayed -as two forces, not representing, like our Conservatives and Liberals, -two tendencies necessary to balance one another, but two hostile -principles one or other of which must perish. In Germany the power of -the Pope in elections has proved to be a real not to say a terrible -one. In France it was found such at the first election after the war as -to be all but sufficient to place the destinies of the country at his -disposal for a time. The last general election showed a decided recoil -from this danger. In Italy it had come to that point that in municipal -elections the moderate party, in several instances, made common cause -with the Papal one. But there, again, the last general election has -given a result in the opposite direction. The terror which the priests -can turn to account in elections is threefold--dread of civil hurt or -loss, for which contrivances are manifold; dread of personal violence, -which of course supposes a strong Catholic party; and dread of eternal -ruin, which the priest of God can inflict for voting against the -interests of the Church. Even on Roman Catholics not brought up in -the schools of priests, these influences are powerful. What will they -become with generations brought up in schools under the new inspiration -of the Syllabus? - -"In every mode and by every means that is not contrary to our -conscience" is the formula expressing the solemn pledges of all -Catholics to war against the revolution, or the Modern State. Not -merely as to the occupation of Rome, but in its very principles, says -the _Civiltá_, will we oppose it-- - - We shall fight it with Catholic associations, we shall fight it - with the Press, we shall fight it in parliament. We shall confront - theory with theory, morality with morality, school with school, the - flag of Christ with the flag of Satan, raised by the revolution. - Catholic societies where they existed are being multiplied, where - they did not exist they are being planted. The number of Catholic - members in the Prussian Parliament has increased beyond hope, and - in Belgium they have drawn closer together. The struggle against - the Austrian ministry which favoured the revolution has grown - hotter, and _obligations in defence of Catholic principles will - be imposed upon the future Members of Parliament of England and - Ireland_. With whom will be the final victory?--there can be no - doubt.[488] - -As to the Press, the "work of the 'good Press'" is one of the most -meritorious of the many "works" in operation for the new celestial -empire. From the great _Civiltá_, the mainspring of the whole, to -the episcopal organ in the remotest diocese, it moves for one end, -whether in the form of review, magazine, journal, pamphlet, or book. -It represents a literature really prodigious, and is in its own eyes -on the high road to supremacy. Of journals it is said that in Germany -alone hundreds are subsidized.[489] How far the assertions are true or -false we know not, which are frequently made, that the most rabid and -blaspheming organs of low and anarchical demagogues are in Jesuit pay; -but those assertions in themselves are a serious symptom. In Italy it -is often popularly said that there are one hundred and eighty thousand -nuns, friars, and priests, all counted. In France of priests alone -there are forty thousand. In Germany, as Schulte has shown, in certain -cities the ecclesiastical persons, male and female, number from ten -per cent. upwards of the _adult_ population. If we extend to the whole -Roman Catholic population of the world calculations of an organization -on a scale somewhat similar, we cannot do otherwise than regard a Press -which controls such a cosmopolitan force as a serious power. - -At the same time a twofold weakness of the "_good Press_" is obvious. -First, it does not carry with it the Press which really leads nations, -though it runs strong in by-channels of its own. And, again, it tends -to change the ignorance of the general Press into knowledge. In Germany -this is already done. There the pious and mystic style of the Vatican -dialect has ceased to be an unknown tongue. Men of letters and jurists -who twenty years ago would have passed over the ecclesiastico-political -phrases of a bishop or cardinal as unwittingly as an English Member of -Parliament, now read them with luminous and searching insight. Even -in England and America a process of self-instruction is rapidly going -on in the best journals. Lord Beaconsfield, in _Lothair_, has shown -that he is awake to the social and scenic aspects of the Ultramontane -movement, and has displayed more insight into the genealogy of its -cult than have the men in this nation to whom the country has a right -to look for something better than slipshod arguments, and well-played -parodies. Mr. Gladstone has shown himself awake to the national and -international, to the moral and political aspects of Ultramontanism. -Mr. Cartwright's work on the Jesuits shows that younger politicians -are beginning to do the best thing they can do, that is, to study at -original sources, and to give solid information. Mr. T.A. Trollope's -work on Papal Conclaves shows that all Englishmen are not able in Rome -to resist the rational tendency to see the place with unveiled eyes, -and to speak of it and its ways in plain English, and that some of -those who thoroughly know it are not disposed to enhance the reputation -which the English of late years have been earning for love of monkish -finery and open-mouthed credence of monkish fables. Perhaps in time -some ecclesiastic of a rank, in the religious world, corresponding to -that of Lord Beaconsfield and Mr. Gladstone in the political world, -may show some grasp of the subject. The relation of our jurists to -the movement is hardly so close as to warrant the hope that they will -be led to such a study of it as is now manifest among the jurists of -Germany. Yet no result is so much to be desired. In fact the whole -question belongs much more to the jurist and the politician than to -the theologian; although theological ideas are throughout employed as -the motive power. - -Desirable as is the control of elections and of the Press, still -more desirable is that of universities, colleges, and schools, for -they now bear within their bosoms the electors and lawgivers, the -writers and readers who will hereafter mould statutes and determine -the temper of armies as well as their destination. The establishment -throughout Europe of universities canonically instituted was, at the -commencement of its career, pointed out by the _Civiltá_ as a leading -object in the movement it projected. When we trace with Ranke the Papal -restoration which in part repaired the great revolt of the sixteenth -century, we find that the greatest results of that movement were not -won till after a generation or two had passed away. It was only south -of the Pyrenees and the Alps that the arms of Charles V and Philip II -effectually stayed the Reformation. In central Europe and in France -the Bible, the school, and the Reformed Churches continued to spread -long after the Council of Trent. When the two princely youths Ferdinand -of Austria and Maximilian of Bavaria were still imbibing the Jesuit -lessons of Ingolstadt, the memory of Alva had long been execrated in -the Low Countries, and the songs of England had long thanked God for -the overthrow of the Armada. At the same time imperial cities on the -Danube, and castles in Austria, Styria, and Bohemia, were becoming -more and more centres of the Reformed doctrine. The decisive check -to the spread of that doctrine was not given till education had -done its work. Education did not supply the check otherwise than by -ensuring the command of the sword. The schoolmaster made the Thirty -Years' War. It was the teaching of Ingolstadt that trained Ferdinand -to the cool, conscientious, adroit, and unrelenting use of physical -force for the greater glory of God. No sooner had the young Archduke -begun to rule, than week after week, in one town or another, Styria -beheld the repression of the Reformed worship, till with quiet but -dreadful strength Ferdinand had shut up every heretical temple, "to -the astonishment of all Germany," as Schiller naïvely says. In this -manner did he kindle the flame; and at the end of thirty years the -Protestantism of Austria, Bohemia, Styria, and other states was no -more. This work went on till the revocation of the Edict of Nantes well -nigh accomplished for France what had been completely accomplished for -Austria by Ferdinand, and for Bavaria by Maximilian. - -The fighting Company of Jesus now looks to a similar process for -results similar in nature, but on a wider scale. Colleges and high -schools are preparing young princes, nobles, and gentlemen to bear -the part of leaders, one at the Court, another in the parliament and -a third in the camp. Elementary schools are training the followers. -All round the Catholic horizon, in the literature of the new dominion, -one object looms up out of clouds of hazy words, dilates before the -imagination of the devout, and towers till others are dwarfed; and this -object is the Crusade of St. Peter. Lads with old blood in their veins -are learning how glorious it will be to lead a charge or to command a -division in the greatest of all Crusades, for the most glorious of all -restorations; and poor lads are learning how they that smite like Peter -Jong will win in death the palm of the martyr. - -M. Veuillot's description of the duty of governments in respect of -education was terse: "To allow men to be made against this perpetual -plague of revolution." To do this, governments must set aside all -other moral authorities but one. The authority of parents may, indeed, -determine for their children questions of diet and of dress, of calling -or of fortune, but the priest is the father of the child's soul, and -must determine the whole of its moral regimen. In keeping with this, -the authorities of a parish or a commune, as representing the parents -of a neighbourhood; a corporation, as representing the parents of a -city; a legislature, as representing the parents of the whole land, can -nowhere else be so effectually shut out from the realm of morals as in -the school. Not, we would once more say, that the devout Ultramontane -believes that by shutting them out he is loosening moral ties, for -he thinks that by ensuring full scope to the sole authority, of the -priest, he best defends every moral right. The object of training -that union of families which we call a State, to regard itself as a -union without any higher end than a material one, having in it neither -divine office nor divine authority, is an object which cannot be so -impressively advanced by any other means as when, at the bidding of -priests, a government by law renounces control over the moral portion -of the training of its own citizens, conducted under its own direction -and paid for out of its own funds. The object of training the laity to -own that it is not for them to have any opinion as to what, in morals -or in faith, is true or false, or for them to assume any responsibility -as to what is right or wrong, saving always the responsibility of -fulfilling the directions of their spiritual guides, can never be more -effectually promoted than when the representatives of the households -of an entire community, having set up schools and provided for their -maintenance, hand over to priests the power to determine whether any -moral training shall be given in those schools or not, and, if any, -what. When all this can be carried out in the normal manner, matters -are so arranged that throughout the days of impressible youth, no -authority shall be heard of, as deciding any moral question, but -that of the priest of God. When circumstances prevent the normal -arrangements from being carried out, the way for them will be best -prepared by whatever compromise leads the State furthest away from -principles opposed to those of the Pontiff, and entangles it in what -is called a practical solution wherein his principles are, if only -virtually, conceded. In preparing such a solution, dangers to be -shunned by his agents are anything that would practically recognize the -right of parents, singly or collectively, to decide moral questions -for their children independently of the priests; anything that would -recognize in the laity a right of moral or religious self-direction; -anything that would, in practice, show that others than Romanists have -the power of uniting for moral and religious purposes; anything that -would allow the Bible to be honoured as a public standard without a -priest; anything that would embody the hateful and condemned principle -of the equality of different denominations before the law. - -Bishop Reinkens has described what is the practical effect of the -training now being given to very large portions of the children in -Europe. It is, he says, to fix in the mind the conviction "that -Roman Catholics have a divinely guaranteed right, under certain -circumstances, violently to overturn existing authorities, and the -chiefs of those authorities, if they have only the power to do so, -and that it is an exercise of virtue to employ all means for that -end." Bishop Reinkens[490] asserts that what formerly was regarded as -a mere theory of the Curia is now its practice, namely, that, in the -language of John Capestrano, the Pope "can abrogate all human rights," -and that "what has the force of law is just what is pleasing to him." -Even already, according to Bishop Reinkens, does the denominational -instruction given in schools in Germany justify the prediction of -Hefele to the effect that, for scholastic purposes, the new exaltation -of the Papal power would be made the primary dogma. The bishop solemnly -adds: "The divine power of the Pope over all human beings perplexes the -children in the schools; they early learn to obey the Vicegerent of God -against the empire and the emperor. In the superior schools, the higher -scholastic clergy attend to the same thing" (p. 8). - -The most urgent question appears to be, How far will the control of -schools in France ultimately enable the priests to determine the -destination of French armies, and how far will their partial control -of schools in other countries enable them to support any movements -of France, so as to sway Roman Catholic governments, and to paralyse -even Protestant ones? The enthusiastic priest strangely exaggerates -the power of his order. The superficial politician no less strangely -underrates it. What we at present know is, not what the clerical party -will be able to accomplish, but the simple fact that the hold which it -now has upon schools in France, Spain, Germany, England, and elsewhere, -assures to it, in the next generation, a vast number of men trained -in the doctrine of the Syllabus, and imbued with the antipathies and -the hopes which, in the eye of a Jesuit, form the cardinal virtues of -a soldier of God. Jesuits are often very unsuccessful in training the -convictions, turning as they do many of their pupils into deadly foes. -But they seldom fail to train the antipathies. Hatred of scriptural -Christianity is almost invariably a ruling passion with both classes of -their pupils, the Papists and the infidels. To all true disciples of -the new school, the holiest of public ends will be the reconstruction -of society in every country under the sky, according to the outline of -the Syllabus. In pursuit of that end all means will to them be not only -fair but meritorious, if adopted with a real intention to the greater -glory of God. And the States of Europe have put it into the power of -priests to train millions for the new school. And England has given -to the effort very considerable encouragement, though doubtless that -encouragement is praiseworthy in such eyes as those of the Marquis of -Ripon and Lord Robert Montagu, both of whom have held high place in our -department of education. - -The _Stimmen aus Maria Laach_ met the first mutterings of discontent -with the Syllabus by saying that when those who, in pride of power, -were resisting its authority, had passed away, those judgments of the -Pontiff would be taught from every chair in the Catholic world. That -forecast is already fulfilled. The politics of the Syllabus and the -morals of teachers like Gury are now everywhere forming the clergy of -the future. And very carefully are the laity being trained in the same -principles, less expanded. To them the ideal of the one commonwealth, -with its one pastor-king, its unity of faith, its glory of ceremonial, -its divine law, and its supernatural magistracy, is made to appear as -the fairest of ideals, as one, indeed, truly divine. Many brave English -boys--heirs, some of them, to what once were noted Protestant names; -boys whose fathers or grandfathers our great schools and noblest -colleges trained up in gross ignorance of the principles that are -contending for the government of the world--are now imbibing from -continental priests principles and passions that will one day appear in -our mess-rooms and our legislature. And what are our great schools and -colleges even now doing to prepare our youth generally to understand -what the pupils of priests approve, what they condemn, and what they -mean when, to innocent Englishmen, they appear to assert one thing and -to deny another? Has the Papal cry for the exclusion of modern history -from national universities been met by any sensible attempt to teach -anything as to the elements struggling in contemporaneous history, -especially the most potent ones? - -In that strange literature to which the Prefects of the Pope give the -name of pastorals, it is in mystic phrases often indicated that the -flocks of the bellicose shepherds are to be prepared for a terrific -combat. Sometimes the veil is dropped and in plain language war is -spoken of as the only means of avenging the Church for her wrongs. Men -called bishops in the vineyard of Jesus Christ speak of the mustering -of the opposed hosts, and of the inevitable collision, covering the -design of raising nation against nation, and of raising the people -against their own rulers, by allusions to the fact that in the -beginning the Church had to act without the kings, and that once more -she will be obliged to throw herself upon the people. In Protestant -countries, or in mixed ones, aged men in sacred vestments will say, -without a blush, that the Pope himself would not make war. But let only -a glimmer of political hope invite, and then kings and queens, ay, -ex-kings and ex-queens, are applied to; and could the Pope only find -bayonets, the same aged men in the same sacred vestments, and again -without a blush, would be heard proving that in making war the Pope was -only fulfilling a painful duty imposed upon him by his office as the -Vicar of Christ! At this day Europe witnesses a stage of the movement -of reconstruction, at which every cope and mitre in the Papal hierarchy -covers a centre of force impelling to a general war. Every grey-headed -bishop is an official promoter of a cataclysm that shall engulf all -that opposes the Syllabus. Every friar schoolmaster and every quiet -nun who teaches school is a trainer for future bloodshed. Even at his -audiences the man of more than fourscore years old fans the flame in -little children dressed as soldiers, sometimes the boys of English -converts; and convert fathers flatter him by hoping that their sons -will yet bear his banner, so are womanhood, childhood, and old age all -fascinated by the war passion of the priest.[491] - -We do not pretend to know how it is calculated that the great struggle -is to be brought on. We should think that, confidently as its approach -is foretold, it must be doubtful to all but those whose faith rests -only on the divine destiny of the Papacy. Yet many who may not believe -that the Pope is about to recover Rome, and then to make Rome the -capital of the world, and who do not even believe that he will succeed -in bringing about a general struggle with a view to those ends, do -nevertheless fully believe that he will succeed in leading forth France -once more against the Italians, and that he will, in some general -complication, be able to find means of unsettling other interests so -as to advance his own. To this it is replied that the Jesuits who -foster these hopes are poor politicians; and that is perfectly true. -Yet they are skilled in intrigue, and versed in the ways of courts -and of cliques. They proudly note their hold upon schools in France, -their growing hold upon colleges, the zeal of General Charette and -his ex-pontifical zouaves, the military preaching of Count Mun, the -adhesion to the dominion of the Syllabus publicly signified by many -French generals whose names are trumpeted with a joyful noise; and with -special pride do they note such an incident as that which occurred at -a recent examination in the great military college of St. Cyr, when, -out of twenty-eight candidates for admission, no less than twenty-two -came from one Jesuit college. They note the clubs and associations -everywhere spreading; that of the Sacred Heart, said to number a -million of members; that of Jesu-Workmen and that of Jesu-King, meant -to organize in factory, workshop, and palace a company of soldiers as -true to the chair of St. Peter as the central Company of Jesus. They -note the numbers of the official class who believe that "moral order" -is to be promoted by the priests. They note the zeal of ladies, and of -the aristocracy. - -Beyond those encouragements openly proclaimed, lies that mystery which, -in Roman Catholic countries, envelopes all Courts. At the time when -Thiers was taking counsel with Louis Philippe for the fortification of -Paris, or even when Guizot was making himself the tool of the court for -compassing the Spanish marriages, who would have dared to tell those -statesmen that both of them would survive to see the day when the fate -of France for peace or war, slipping out of the hands of an exhausted -Bonaparte, would virtually fall into those of one who was then a -Spanish girl in a private station, one whose very name was unknown to -the people of France? To this Court element of strange uncertainty--and -women and priests can weave webs around presidents as well as around -emperors--is to be added the solid fact that even Frenchmen, who hate -the priests and dread their politics, are not healed of the idea that -it is well to have weak neighbours, so divided that, at any time, an -invasion of their territory is more a matter of excitement than of -serious peril. Against all this what have we to set? Humanly speaking, -only the fund of good sense and good feeling which, in spite of all -appearances to the contrary, does exist among the French people to a -degree far greater than they who do not know them well can realize. -And beyond this, the good providence of God; for surely France is not -to become a second Spain, or else to be partitioned, one or other of -which lots would seem to be before her if the priests can drive her as -they hope to do. - -The "good Press" gloats over every prospect of a general broil of -nations. The failure in 1870 of calculations as to what would occur in -the Catholic portions of Germany on the breaking out of a war between -France and Prussia, did not change the current of Ultramontane hope. -Any great conflict, it seems to be assumed, must somehow lead to a -restoration of the Pope. The poor old man has himself all along fed -a belief in the certainty of that restoration. At first he seemed to -emit tentative prophecies giving mystic hints of dates. Time blotted -out the dates hinted at. Then came declarations more general but -perhaps more impressive to the conscience of his disciples. On the -second anniversary of the Roman _plébiscite_, after many promises of -restoration had been long overdue, the aged high priest said to the -nobles of Rome-- - - Yes, this change, this triumph is to come: and IT IS OF FAITH. - Whether it is to come while I am living, while this poor Vicar of - Jesus Christ is living, I know not. I know that it is to come. _The - resurrection is to take place_, and this great impiety is to have - an end (_Discorsi_, ii. p. 82). - -When from the lips of the Pontiff speaking as Vicar of Jesus Christ -fall the words "It is of faith," it is hard to see how the body which -has now bound itself to take the faith from his lips can help accepting -them as a prophecy which that body is bound to see fulfilled. And it -is no insignificant proof of the portentous contents of that one dogma -called Papal infallibility that so soon after it had been adopted, -the creature invested by his fellow-creatures with such control over -them should, in the name of the meek Prince of Peace, commit what they -consider their faith to a temporal throne for a minister of the gospel. - -On the very day on which the nobles received the above prophecy, -the same lips told the youths of the Catholic Association that the -faithful, now passing through the deep, would soon reach the further -shore of the Red Sea, and would cry with Moses, "We will sing unto -the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider -hath He thrown into the sea." So were the Italians to fall, for as the -_Civiltá_ expresses it, "Which is of more account, the greatness of one -human kingdom, or the independence and the liberty of the kingdom of -God?" (X. ii. 143). - -When the Pope said, The resurrection is to take place, he reflected -language used in an address presented to him a few days previously, on -the sad anniversary of the commencement of the "captivity," as it is -called, the second time it came round. The _Piana Federation_ said-- - - Similar in your passion to the God-man of whom You are the Vicar on - earth, the second day of Your mystic burial is fulfilled, amid the - confusion of society and of Your impious guards, destined, in spite - of themselves, and in the day which God shall appoint, to bear - testimony to Your resurrection. In the august sepulchre wherein - those whom You had laden with benefits have confined You, wrapped - in the sweet spices of the lamentation and the love of Your sons, - You also descend into the abyss of society as now existing, and - there does Your voice resound, casting down the demons of sect, and - consoling those who anxious and trembling await the blessed hour - when with You they are to rise again. And the third day is already - commencing; but, as it was not completed for the Divine Saviour, - so have we confidence that no more will it be completed for You, - O Holy Father: the prayers of the blessed Virgin whom You have so - greatly honoured, the prayers of the Saints, Patrons of the Church - and of Rome, with those of so many souls who suffer and who weep - to obtain Your liberation, your triumph, will shorten this day of - utmost anguish, and God, God whom your enemies do with Satanic - impiety unceasingly defy, will not permit the day to close without - having witnessed the fulfilment of the devout desires of Your - sons.[492] - -Notwithstanding these promises, not only did the third "day" run its -course but the sixth has set, with the Satanic guards still standing -around the august sepulchre. For six years Italy has held Rome as -her capital, and Pius IX has confined himself to the Vatican, making -speeches. But at this moment the hope of a general complication, and -of a restoration as the effect of it, is very likely. The present -obscuration of the Papacy is treated as if it were passing and light -as the shadow of an April cloud on the Alban Hills. The shadow will -pass and the hills will abide. Rome, for a moment the mere capital of -a kingdom, is to be the capital of the world. Let but the temporal -power be once restored, and then the steps to the universal theocratic -monarchy can be taken both with deeper secrecy and with greater force. - -Even those who most despise the political influence of the priests must -own that for disturbance their power is great. Taking the sixty years -which have elapsed since the peace of 1815, let us, for a moment, look -at the Roman Catholic countries of Christendom, and at the non-Catholic -ones, in respect of the one blessing of public repose. In those -sixty years the three great Protestant powers--England, Prussia, and -America--have not drawn the sword one against the other. The smaller -Protestant powers have not fought among themselves. No Protestant -capital has undergone a foreign occupation. With the exception of -America, no Protestant State has been desolated by civil war. No -Protestant army has been given to military insurrection, or has, in the -day of trial, proved untrue. No Protestant sovereign has been expelled -by his own people. No Protestant President of a Republic has been -executed, or exiled, or condemned as a traitor. No Protestant monarchy -has been changed by violence into a republic; no Protestant republic -into a monarchy. If we set off as one against the other, the war of -German unity which partly occurred in the one group of States, and that -of Italian unity which occurred in the other group, the only case of -war between Protestant States, in the two generations, has been that of -Prussia and Denmark, and the only case of war between two great powers -non-Catholic has been that of Russia and England, in the Crimea. But -how has it been on the Papal side of the line? - -No leading Catholic power can be named which has not within the sixty -years made war on other Catholic powers as well as on non-Catholic -ones. France has fought with Spain, with the Italians, with Austria, -as well as with Russia, with Prussia, with Holland, and has even gone -away to Mexico to seek a war of which the Vatican spoke as if it were -a campaign of the Church. Austria has fought with Italy and with -France, as well as with Prussia and with Denmark. As to the wars of -Catholic States in America with one another, they have been numerous. -Rome has undergone twenty years of foreign occupation; France has -undergone two; and Austria has had recourse to foreign intervention. -Civil war in Portugal, civil wars in Spain, civil war in Austria, civil -war repeatedly in Italy apart from the great war of unity, civil war -chronically in the American Catholic States, have made that plague -familiar in Roman Catholic countries. The foremost, and the least -priest-ridden of them, France, has had her three days of July, her -three days of February, her four darker days of June, her bloody days -of December, her awful weeks of the Commune. Military insurrections -properly so-called have not occurred in the great Catholic nations -that refused to submit to the disciplinary decrees of the Council of -Trent. But in Spain, Portugal, and the nations of America, military -insurrection, that worst of anarchies, seems to have acquired a sort -of prescriptive place in the Constitution. In Italy, till 1860, the -armies of the princes faithful to the Papacy were largely foreign. -As to conspiracies and risings, it is strange that where they have -occurred out of Roman Catholic States they have often been among the -Roman Catholic portion of the population; and in Roman Catholic States -they have been much more frequent within the circle of countries where -the decrees of Trent had been fully accepted, than in those which, -by Gallican liberties, Josephine laws, or in some other form, uphold -national supremacy. As to thrones in Roman Catholic countries, the -difficulty is to name those which during the sixty years have not been -emptied by violence; Austria and Sardinia, perhaps, exhaust the list, -in both of which, however, an abdication, compelled by misfortune, -has taken place. Twice has a limited monarchy, once an empire, and -once a republic, been overthrown in France by revolution. As to Spain -and South America, it were weary work to count up catastrophes. -The discrowned princes who, like ghosts, haunt Europe, and the -ex-presidents under ban who prowl in America, are nearly all Roman -Catholics. - -Perhaps the entire course of history does not afford an example of any -contemporaneous development of four great Powers, bringing with it in -the aggregate such an increase of territory, population, and strength, -as that which within the sixty years since the peace of Vienna has -occurred in the case of the four non-Catholic Powers, Russia, Prussia, -America, and England. No corresponding development has taken place in -Roman Catholic or in Moslem nations. Italy, indeed, has risen up, but -only by breaking the yoke of the Papacy, and by swimming against a -sulphurous stream of anathemas. - -It would be a curious and not altogether an idle speculation did some -clear-headed and calm economist carefully work out the question, What -would be the effect in the course of three hundred years, upon the -peace of Europe, on the bulk of standing armies, on the stability of -thrones, on the development of arts, sciences, laws, and morals, on the -security of life and property, and on the general spread of charity, -brotherhood, and virtue among men, supposing that by some unseen power -the hundreds of thousands of priests, now working to bring about the -dominion of the Pope over our species, could be instantly changed into -simple ministers of the gospel, without a political head or a political -aim, but each one seeking only to bring the wicked to repentance and to -lead the godly onward, adding virtue unto virtue and grace to grace? -Would the change bring France more wars and more revolutions? Would -the change make the new career opened to Italy more obscure or thorny? -Would the change make Austria feebler, or make Spain less united and -prosperous? Would it bring a blight upon Mexico? and in South America -would it make the rulers less tranquil, the people less obedient to -law, and less attached to order? Would the south and west of Ireland -less strongly attract capital and residence? Would Croatia be less -refined? Would the island of Sardinia be less highly civilized? Would -Sicily be less secure? Would the dominion of Canada be more difficult -to govern? Would the city of New York and other cities of the United -States in which the political power of priests is now formidable be -worse ordered and more corrupt? In Hayti and St. Domingo, would public -affairs be more unstable, would family life be more blameworthy? - -Or conversely: What would be the effect of a change in the opposite -direction? Suppose that at once every Protestant minister could be -changed into a zealous priest, and that the Headship of the Pope -could exert its full influence unshackled by those restraints which -have hampered him ever since the Reformation--partly, indeed, ever -since the large-eyed man of Lutterworth brought into existence that -terrible thing the English Bible--and suppose that with all the -liberty of power and all the power of liberty he could rule over the -whole of Christendom as completely as he formerly ruled over his own -States, what would be the practical effect? Would Scotland produce -more authors, heroes, and worthies, fewer beggars, thieves, rioters, -and assassins, than she does to-day? Would England produce more good -landlords, more comfortable tenants, more honest merchants, more bright -men of letters and science, more deeds of Christian charity, and fewer -civil wars, fewer conspiracies, fewer insurrections, fewer military -revolts, fewer beggared nobles, and fewer ill-cultivated estates than -she does to-day? Would Germany be more united? Would Holland, Denmark, -and Sweden be more stable? Would the United States be more prosperous, -more free, and more peaceable? Would the British Colonies be increasing -tranquil and enlightened? - -With the facts of the past, and the principles of the present which -are to be the plastic forces of the future, before him, a calm -and wide-minded observer, taking long stretches of time and great -varieties of circumstance to illustrate any hypothesis and to test -any conclusion, might form an estimate which would not be without a -properly scientific value. We are often told by one class of writers -that Roman Catholics are as good subjects as Protestants, and by -another that in proportion to their numbers they yield a much greater -amount of illiteracy, of turbulence, of pauperism, and of offences -against the law. These are points which statesmen have no right to -leave to theologians, and on which they have no right to remain -themselves in doubt. Above all, they have no right if not in doubt -about them, but if they have on sufficient grounds a clear opinion, -to keep that opinion back, or to cloud it by ambiguities. Both in -England and in America there are intelligent and loyal men who believe -that they are more burdened and that public law and order are less -well observed in proportion as priests have power over any section of -the population. These are questions of fact capable of a scientific -solution, and it is the duty of statesmen scientifically to solve them. -If the authorities, which are clearly natural and Christian, clearly -both divine and human, are undermined where priests do not rule and -are built up where they do, let statesmen tell mankind that it is so. -If the unnatural, the merely artificial authority of the priest is -proved, on a test of ages, of various races, and of various polities, -to be unfriendly rather than helpful to the stability and vigour of -lawful authority, then let all incumbents of that authority--kings, -presidents, nobles, lawgivers, magistrates, parents, and husbands--lift -up a clear voice, the voice of intelligent conviction, and tell all men -how the matter stands. "The sword of the mouth" is the only sword which -ought to be drawn in this war; and if they to whom God has given real -authority draw that sword against the spurious authority of the priest, -it will prevent the call which otherwise will surely come to draw a -feebler sword but a bloody one. Priestcraft, mighty against artifice, -subtle against force, invincible against compromise and subterfuge, is -strangely weak against a calm and Christian denial of its authority. - -Long since this chapter was written, we find that the Italian journals -while noting the base immorality which week by week is brought to -light among the priests, and pointing to their multitude and the low -repute of many of them as a moral plague, now (1877) fasten upon them -even more than of wont charges of exciting anarchical conspiracies. -The _Emancipatore Cattolico_, the organ of what is called the Italian -National Catholic Church, formed by the priests who belonged to the -Society for the Emancipation and Mutual Aid of the Clergy, writes as -follows-- - - The _red_ International, in appearance with a different end and - program, but in reality in full accord with its _black_ sister, - after the stimulus from the Vatican sets itself in motion, and - lifts up its head.... We ask, Has the alliance of this double - International a probability of success in a future nearer or more - remote? We do not hesitate to reply affirmatively if the powers and - States in the two hemispheres do not agree rather to overthrow the - _black_ international which is the true and efficient cause of the - other, than the _red_ which is the effect.... Christian governments - of Europe, open your eyes! the international that truly menaces - you, and that will undo you if you are not wise, is that of the - Vatican. You accept it and smile upon it because you suppose it to - be the conservator and champion of order and authority; but the - order and the authority which it represents and champions are those - of the absorption of all the social powers into the despotic and - arbitrary will of a miserable mortal who believes himself to be - God, and who as such imposes himself upon the entire universe.[493] - -While these last sheets have been passing through the press, events -have occurred which illustrate many of the hints contained in this -chapter. Many who, when we first began to write this work, would have -seen nothing "practical" in that solemn hint of Vitelleschi when, -speaking of the frequent occurrence of disturbances at the same time -when the Church is pressing some point upon a government, he says that -the circumstance is an organic phenomenon deserving of the most serious -attention, now begin to feel that it is scarcely rational any longer to -be insensible to facts which day after day rise into the view of Europe. - -In March 1877, Pius IX delivered a carefully-prepared Allocution, full -of bitter attacks on Italy, and manifestly intended to raise once more -the Roman Question. A feverish agitation becoming speedily discernible -in different countries, none could help noting the coincidence of the -two events. In Italy broke out an attempt at insurrection in Benevento, -professedly by socialists, but as the Italian papers believed fomented -and directed by priests. This was speedily followed by a vote of the -Italian Senate, by which that body threw out a Bill, that had been -passed by the Lower House, for restraining ministers of religion, -of all denominations, from certain abuses of their office. Italian -journals of different shades intimated their impression that this event -was solely due to the direct action of the Pope upon the king, and of -the king upon a number of courtier senators. - -Shortly afterwards the Prime Minister of France, M. Jules Simon, -explained in debate, with all propriety of language, that the popular -idea about the Pope being a prisoner was unfounded. The Pope, in -that characteristic style which has never risen to the level even of -municipal, much less of national public life, stated that a certain -government had said that the Pope was a liar; and as if to rehabilitate -any one who might have been so impertinent, he added that he did not -know what government it was! Soon afterwards, on May 16, 1877, M. Simon -was abruptly dismissed by Marshal MacMahon, and the Assembly, of which -a majority supported M. Simon, was silenced by an enforced adjournment. -This pale edition of a _coup d'état_ was hailed and claimed by the -clerical papers as a direct result of the interference of the Pope. Its -ill effects in France forced upon many the reflection, how enviable is -the lot of nations in which the influence of the Pontiff is feeble, and -how well would it be with any nation in which that influence should be -_nil_! - -Strange does it seem that the prophets of reconstruction should for -encouragement point more frequently to France and England than to -any other countries. To France they look for military service, to -England for religious converts. The one is to glorify the Church by -a sacred war, the other by an edifying submission. In France they -count upon the schoolmasters, the army, the ancient aristocracy, and -many of the politicians. In England they count upon that portion of -the clergy which they call the Puseyite party, upon a portion of the -aristocracy, upon the ceremonies in the churches, and the teaching -in the denominational schools. Grossly exaggerating, as they do, the -position and the influence of Cardinal Manning, and speaking at times -as if the whole English hierarchy, unable to face him, were trembling -and falling down before him, they also exaggerate the strides actually -made by the Ritualistic party in carrying the whole nation towards -submission to Rome. They boast, in the language of Dr. Newman, that -the English Church is, through that party, "doing our work;"[494] and -they always seem to have taken to heart the principle which he taught -them as long ago as 1841: "Only through the English Church can you act -upon the English nation."[495] They are not much read in our political -literature, and when they meddle with it, often make strange blunders. -But some of them are shrewdly aware of the services done to their cause -by writers who treat Ritualism as a matter of aesthetics, and treat -each particular ceremony as a trifle. - -Looking back on the turns and windings of the movement for -reconstruction, and remembering how little human foresight would have -availed to predict either their successive phases or the results up to -the present hour, it is natural to feel that as to those further turns -and windings which as yet lie out of ken, hidden behind the veil of -an inscrutable Providence, it is not for us presumptuously to divine. -Rather would we, in humble hope, await the future, so far as to us it -may be permitted to witness its unfolding. In the sixty years since -the peace of Vienna the Papacy has passed through two distinct stages, -of thirty years each; the one up to the beginning of the present -pontificate, the other during the course of it. In the first thirty -years the flag displayed was that of Liberal Catholicism. During that -time the Papacy gained emancipation in England and Ireland, a footing -in the schools of France and Belgium, a repute of liberality and other -great advantages; while on the whole it held its ground in Italy, -Spain, Austria, and the minor States. But a true instinct taught the -Curia that temporary gain was preparing final ruin. Since 1849 the -policy has been reversed, and the external results to the Papacy so far -have been disadvantageous. "Catholic unity" has been lost in Italy, -Spain, Portugal, Austria, Mexico, Brazil, and elsewhere. In Poland the -losses to the Church have been immense, whether they may be due to the -persecuting policy of Russia, as the Catholic party alleges, or to the -rebellious excitements of the Pope and the priests, as others allege, -or to both these causes united, as seems most probable. In Switzerland -and Germany the Papacy has had heavy loss, and its future is gloomy. -In France it has made immense gains; in Ireland heavy loss; in England -gain, and that of the kind it values most--gain by the help of the -clergy, of the aristocracy, and of a great university. But still, -while the population of the United Kingdom has much increased, Pius -IX cannot count among the thirty millions now inhabiting it so many -Roman Catholics as he found among, say, five millions less. He has to -note a decrease in Poland concurrently with persecution, and one in -the British Isles concurrently with extended political privileges. The -Curia, if not unconscious of these losses, never confesses to them, -and avers that the increased compactness gained by recent changes -far more than compensates for any increased opposition, and in fact -insures the overthrow of all resisting forces; while the submission of -England--Queen, bishops, lords, and people--is spoken of as a thing -nigh at hand to the eye of faith. Firmly, however, do we believe that -in mercy to this great empire, within which dwells in peace and with -ample privileges a portion of mankind larger than ever before under one -sceptre enjoyed the blessings of free government, and in mercy also -to the whole redeemed race in the midst of which this empire holds a -place so influential and on the whole so beneficent, never will England -justify the promises of submission to the Pope wherewith continental -priests are wont to cheer the courage of their partisans, albeit they -proudly point to men in important places, and boast how the triumph of -the Vatican is being prepared under the patronage of both Church and -State. - -All this notwithstanding, we do not believe that the English -commons are to be reduced into a populace without constitutional -representation; or that the English aristocracy is to be reduced -into an order of nobles without constitutional powers; or that our -magistracy, from squire up to chancellor, is to be put under the -bishops' courts; or that our chairs of philosophy, science, and -literature are to be placed under the tutelage of chairs of theology -filled by Jesuits, or by men of whom Jesuits approve; or that our -universities are to be placed under Romish canon law; or that the -priest, to the exclusion of the State and of the laity, is to be made -as completely moral lord of all the schools in England as he is now of -his denominational schools; or that the works of our authors are to -wait till a Dominican has cut out what he deems amiss, and has written -on the remainder _Imprimatur_; or that our printers are to wait for a -licence from the friars; or that our journals and periodicals are to -be cut down to the proportions which were allowed to the Press in the -Model State; or that our armies are to be composed of men so schooled -that to them the word of the priest shall take the lawful command -out of the lips of the king. No more do we believe that from these -English shores the dear old English Bible is to be driven away as a -forbidden book. Neither do we believe that for these fair fields of -Britain that dark Saturday night is to come after which will no more -dawn the English Sunday morning--a morning when streets thronged and -country lanes enlivened with families wending their way to worship -God, each as led by the voice of conscience, and each jealous for the -religious liberty of its neighbours as well as for its own, present a -more Christian-like and more solid display of unity in variety, and of -catholicity in charity, than ever can be gained by any preciseness of -constrained uniformity. Never will our own happy Sunday morning cease -to shine; never instead of it will a dismal day come when the sound -of the church-going bell shall be the signal of physical force, and -when every one whose conscience will not let him obey the official call -shall be spied out by the familiars of the Inquisition. - -When priests tell Englishmen that such things as are here indicated -are not really embraced within the ultimate objects of their movement, -they well know that they can deceive only those who have not sought -out their principles at the fountain. And under all their illusions, -they must surely have some consciousness that such as have done so can -feel but shame and pity when they see any man, born to the blessings -of English citizenship, sinking to a moral level at which he becomes -capable of attempting to move the noble power of Britain to abet the -crime of once more imposing by fire and sword upon Italy the domination -of the Pontiff; and who, indeed, even to that can add the second crime -of endeavouring to throw back the families of this goodly realm to the -same condition as that in which the people of the Papal States lay -before their yoke was broken. These things would be mournful, but no -more than mournful, did the guilt of them rest only upon one English -soul in which still survived a clear consciousness of how repugnant -they were to religion and to morals, how offensive to humanity, how -subversive of good order; for when conscience still spoke, repentance -might be at hand. But such things become more than sad, they become -really formidable, when conscience itself is so warped that it learns -to acquit them of all guilt--learns even to regard them as actions -in which the violence and bloodshed proposed are sanctioned by -religion, and become works of Christian merit; and in which the changes -contemplated would, if indeed hurtful to nations in things temporal, be -for their eternal weal. - -In this land of manifold privilege hereafter, as in the time gone by, -yea, more than in the time gone by, will the people fear God, honour -the king, and prize the family Bible. They will hereafter, more than -heretofore, send forth into every region under heaven their happy -sons, bearing the glorious gospel of the blessed God, and with swift -feet running to tell to all men the way of salvation. In England, in -Ireland, and in Scotland; in every place where our own blood flows -in the veins of kinsmen; in every broad State of the Transatlantic -Union; in every thriving colony that boasts the British name--may the -Churches dwell together in unity--may the people grow in wisdom, in -virtue, and in faith! May this realm hereafter afford an example of -laws being evermore ameliorated under the leavening influence of the -kingdom which cannot be moved, of manners ever becoming purer, and of -blest contentment growing, year after year, in households over every -one of which shall hover the more than earthly charm of domestic -bliss, hallowed at the family altar! And may the remote descendants of -Victoria and Albert reign, in the love of God and in the love of man, -as Christian princes over a happy Christian people, and age after age -may the throne be established in righteousness! - - -GOD SAVE THE QUEEN! - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 485: See _Civiltá_ VIII. i. 46.] - -[Footnote 486: Quoted in _Le Concile du Vat. et le Mouvement -Infaillibiliste_, p. 62.] - -[Footnote 487: _Civiltá Cattolica_, passim, especially the number of -December 16, 1876.] - -[Footnote 488: VIII. i. 421.] - -[Footnote 489: Italian papers sometimes give the total number of -journals on the Continent pledged to the Pope as 580, and of these 258 -as published in Germany alone.] - -[Footnote 490: _Revolution und Kirche_, p. 5.] - -[Footnote 491: At the last moment of reviewing this chapter, before -sending it to press, months after it was written, we find Italian -and French journals ringing with language ascribed to a Bishop in a -pastoral, which may pass as an example of the work which the officials -styled bishops are preparing for Europe. He describes his entrance -into the Vatican, his finding the Swiss guards and the manners of -another age, and proceeds: "Pius IX is still a king, even in the eyes -of his enemies and of his spoilers. They are obliged to admit that -the unity of Italy is not effected, that the temporal power is to be -re-established, and that after some _profound commotions which, it may -be, will entomb many an army and many a crown_, there will be heard -among the nations, from one end of Europe to the other, a single cry, -Restore Rome to its ancient lords; Rome belongs to the Pope, Rome -belongs to God."] - -[Footnote 492: _Discorsi_, ii. p. 70. The capitals to the "divine -pronouns" are not ours.] - -[Footnote 493: _L'Emancipatore Cattolico_: Napoli, Anno XVI, No. 14.] - -[Footnote 494: _Apologia_, Appendix, p. 27.] - -[Footnote 495: Ibid., p. 313.] - - - - -APPENDIX A - -THE SYLLABUS WITH THE COUNTER PROPOSITIONS OF SCHRADER - -_By reading the latter in the right-hand column the view which the -Church asserts is at once obtained_ - - - SYLLABUS OF THE PRINCIPAL PROPOSITIONS OF FATHER SCHRADER, - ERRORS OF OUR TIME, WHICH being in each case the - ARE STIGMATIZED IN THE CONSISTORIAL logical _contrary_ or - ALLOCUTIONS, ENCYCLICAL _contradictory_ of the - AND OTHER APOSTOLICAL propositions condemned; and - LETTERS OF OUR MOST therefore, being those which - HOLY LORD, POPE PIUS IX.[496] the Church would assert as - opposed to those denied. Schrader - says, "The _contradictory_, - and not the _contrary_, is to be - taken by the Catholic as the rule - to guide his thoughts, words, - and actions, as to the sense in - which the several errors must - be considered as being rejected, - forbidden, and condemned - according to the will and command - of the Pope." Schrader - himself, however, sometimes - gives what is clearly not the - _contradictory_ but the - _contrary_. - - - SECT. I.--_Pantheism, Naturalism, SECT. I.--_Pantheism, Naturalism, - and Rationalism Absolute._ Absolute Rationalism._ - - (_Note of Schrader_.--Absolute - rationalism is that error which - holds that revelation is - impossible.) - - 1. There exists no Divine 1. There is one most high, - Power, Supreme Being, Wisdom all-wise, all-provident, and - and Providence distinct from the divine Being, distinct from this - universe, and God is none other universe of things; and God is - than nature, and is therefore not the same as nature, and - mutable. In effect, God is produced therefore not subject to change. - in man and in the world, God does not actually come into - and all things are God and have existence in men and in the - the very substance of God. God world. All is not God and has not - is, therefore, one and the same the proper essence of God. God is - thing with the world, and thence not one and the same with the - mind is the same thing with world, and hence mind is not the - matter, necessity with liberty, same as matter, necessity not the - true with false, good with evil, same as freedom, truth not the - justice with injustice. same as falsehood, good not the - same as evil, nor righteousness - the same as unrighteousness. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--But God - is in man and in the world, - because He is omnipresent.) - - 2. All action of God upon man 2. All operation of God upon - and the world is to be denied.--(All. the world and upon man is not to - _Maxima quidem_, June 9, be denied. - 1862.) - - 3. Human reason, without any 3. Human reason is not to be - regard to God, is the sole arbiter the arbiter of truth and - of truth and falsehood, of good falsehood, of good and evil, - and evil; it is its own law to itself, without any regard to God. It is - and suffices by its natural force to not a law to itself; and it is - secure the welfare of men and of not sufficient, by its native - nations. powers, to provide forthe welfare - of man and of nations. - - 4. All the truths of religion are 4. All the truths of religion do - derived from the innate strength not flow from the natural force - of human reason, whence reason of human reason; therefore reason - is the master rule by which man is not the highest rule by which - can and ought to arrive at the men may arrive at the knowledge - knowledge of all truths of every of truths of every kind. - kind. - - 5. Divine revelation is imperfect, 5. Divine revelation is not - and, therefore, subject to a imperfect, and therefore is - continual and indefinite progress not subject to a continual and - which corresponds with the progress unlimited progress which would - of human reason. respond to the progress of human - reason. - - 6. Christian faith is in opposition 6. The Christian faith is not - to human reason, and contradictory to human reason; - divine revelation not only does not and the divine revelation not - benefit, but even injures the only is no hindrance to human - perfection of man. perfection, but is serviceable - to it. - - 7. The prophecies and miracles 7. The prophecies and miracles - told and narrated in the Sacred reported and related in Holy - Scriptures are the fictions of poets, Scripture are no inventions of - and the mysteries of the Christian poets; and the mysteries of faith - faith are the result of philosophical are not the sum of philosophical - investigations. In the books of research. In the books of the two - the two Testaments there are contained Testaments there are no mythical - mythical inventions, and inventions, and Jesus Christ - Jesus Christ is Himself a mythical Himself is not a mythical - fiction. fiction. - - - SECT. II.--_Rationalism moderate._ SECT. II.--_Moderate - Rationalism._ - - (_Note of Schrader._--Moderate - rationalism is the error of those - who do not hold revelation to be - impossible, but would have it - subjected to reason.) - - 8. As human reason is placed 8. As human reason may not be - on a level with religion, so placed on a level with religion, - theological systems must be treated theological studies are not to be - in the same manner as philosophical treated exactly as philosophical - ones. ones. - - 9. All the dogmas of the Christian 9. All doctrines of the Christian - religion are, without exception, religion are not, without - the object of natural science distinction, subjects for - or philosophy; and human reason, natural science or for - instructed solely by history, is philosophy, and human reason - able by its own natural strength cannot from its natural powers - and principles to arrive at the and principles arrive at the - true knowledge of even the most knowledge of all, even the most - abstruse dogmas, such dogmas obscure, dogmas, if such dogmas - being proposed as subject-matter be only proposed to reason as its - for the reason. object. - - (_Note of Author of the present - work._--In this proposition - Schrader omits one clause of the - original--_Historice tantum - exculta_. This is evidently a - mere oversight. These words - should come after "human - reason.") - - 10. As the philosopher is one 10. Although the philosopher is - thing and philosophy is another, one thing and philosophy another, - so it is the right and duty of the the former has not only the right - philosopher to submit himself to and the duty to subject himself - the authority which he shall have to the authority which he - recognized as true; but philosophy recognizes as true, but also - neither can nor ought to submit philosophy itself can and must - to any authority. submit to authority. - - 11. The Church not only ought 11. The Church must not only - never to animadvert upon philosophy, sometimes proceed against - but ought to tolerate the philosophy, but she must not - errors of philosophy, leaving to tolerate the errors of philosophy - philosophy the care of their itself, and must not leave it to - correction. correct itself. - - (_Remark of Author of the present_ (_Remark of Schrader._--The - _work._--"Animadvert" is the Church has the right and the - reproduction of the original word, duty of proceeding against false - not the English of it. The French philosophy. She must not tolerate - renders it _sévir_, to act rigorously the errors of his philosophy, but - towards; the German, _vorgehen must expose them to it, and - gegen_, to proceed against; the demand from it that it put itself - Italian,_corregere_, to correct, into harmony with revealed - making it synonymous with "correct" in truth.) - the last clause. Even the maddest - theorist would hardly deny to the - Church the right to"animadvert upon - philosophy" to her heart's content.) - - 12. The decrees of the Apostolic 12. Decrees of the Apostolic - See and of the Roman Congregations See, and of the Roman - fetter the free progress Congregations, do not hinder the - of science. free progress of science. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--Because - the Apostolic See is appointed by - God Himself as the teacher and - defender of the truth.) - - 13. The method and principles 13. The method and the principles - by which the old scholastic doctors according to which the old - cultivated theology are no longer scholastic doctors pursued the - suitable to the demands of the age study of theology completely - and the progress of science. correspond with the wants of our - time and with the progress of - science. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--They have - been frequently quoted by the - Church with the highest - expressions of praise, and have - been earnestly recommended as the - strongest shield of faith, and - as formidable armour against its - enemies, and have been - productive of great utility and - splendour to science, and - perfectly correspond with the - wants of all time and the - progress of science.) - - 14. Philosophy must be treated 14. Philosophy must not be - of without any account being pursued without regard to - taken of supernatural supernatural revelation. - revelation.--(Id., ibid.) - - N.B.--To the rationalistic system N.B.--The errors of Antony - belong in great part the errors Günther for the most part were - of Antony Günther, condemned in connected with a system of - the letter to the Cardinal Archbishop rationalism, which errors were - of Cologne, _Eximiam tuam_, rejected in a brief to the - June 15, 1847; and in that to the Archbishop of Cologne, and - Bishop of Breslau, _Dolore haud_ _Eximiam tuam,_ June 15, 1847; - _mediocri_, April 30, 1860. in the brief to the Bishop of - Breslau, _Dolore_ _haud - mediocri_, April 30, 1860. - - SECT. III.--_Indifferentism SECT III.--_Indifferentism and - --Toleration._ Latitudinarianism._ - - (_Note of Author of the present_ (_Note of Schrader._-- - _work._--The original word is not Latitudinarianism is that error - _toleration_, but, as Schrader gives which although it does not - it, _latitudinarianism_.) declare all religions to be alike - good, yet does not hold the - Catholic Churcht to be the only - one which brings salvation.) - - 15. Every man is free to embrace 15. Every man is not entitled - and profess the religion he to embrace and to profess that - shall believe true, guided by the religion which he may hold for - light of reason. the true one, led by the light - of reason. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--But he - must embrace the revealed truth - in the Catholic religion.) - - 16. Men may in any religion 16. Men cannot find the way of - find the way of eternal salvation, eternal salvation, and obtain - and obtain eternal salvation. eternal blessedness, in the - practice of every kind of - religion. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--For it - is to be held as of faith that - out of the Apostolic Romish - Church no one can be saved.) - - 17. The eternal salvation may 17. The eternal salvation of all - at least be hoped for of all those those who do not live in any way - who are not at all in the true in the true Church of Christ is - Church of Christ. not to be hoped for. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--But only - are we to admit that they who - suffer from ignorance of the - true religion are not held - guilty on that account - before God if their ignorance be - invincible.) - - 18. Protestantism is nothing 18. Protestantism is not merely - more than another form of the a different form of the same - same true Christian religion, in Christian faith; and it is not - which it is possible to please God given to be equally well pleasing - equally as in the Catholic Church. to God as in the Catholic Church. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--But it - is a falling away from the full - revealed truth.) - - - SECT. IV.--_Socialism, Communism, SECT. IV.--_Socialism, Communism, - Secret Societies, Biblical Secret Societies, Bible Societies - Societies, Clerico-Liberal Societies._ Liberal Clerical Associations._ - - Pests of this description are (_Note of Schrader._--Liberal - frequently rebuked in the severest Catholic associations mean - terms in the Encyc. _Qui pluribus_, associations of Italian priests - November 9, 1846; All. _Quibus who are enthusiastic for a free - quantisque_, April 20, 1849; _Encyc. Church in a free State. Such - Noscitis et nobiscum_, December 8 pests have often, and in the - 1849; All. _Singulari quadam_, severest words, been condemned, - December 9, 1854; Encyc. _Quanto_ as in the Epist. Encycl. - _conficiamur mærore_, August 10, _Qui pluribus_, Nov. 9, 1846; - 1863. in Alloc. _Quibus quantisque_, - April 20, 1849; in Epist. Encycl. - _Noscitis et nobiscum_, Dec. 8, - 1849; in Alloc. _Singulari - quadam_, Dec. 9, 1854; in Epist. - Encycl. _Quanto conficiamur - mærore_, Aug. 10, 1863.) - - - SECT. V.--_Errors concerning the SECT. V.--_Errors respecting the - Church and her Rights._ Church and her Rights._ - - 19. The Church is not a true 19. The Church is a true and - and perfect and entirely free perfect society, entirely free, - association: she does not enjoy and possesses her proper and - peculiar and perpetual rights permanent rights granted to her - conferred upon her by her Divine by her divine Founder, and it - Founder, but it appertains to the does not belong to the State to - civil power to define what are the define what are the rights of the - rights and limits within which the Church, and what are the limits - Church may exercise authority. within which she can exercise - them. - - 20. The ecclesiastical power 20. The Church may use her - must not exercise its authority authority without the permission - without the toleration and assent or consent of the State. - of the civil government. - - 21. The Church has not the 21. The Church has the power - power of defining dogmatically dogmatically to decide that the - that the religion of the Catholic religion of the Catholic Church - Church is the only true religion. is the only true religion. - - 22. The obligation which binds 22. The obligation which - Catholic teachers and authors completely binds Catholic - applies only to those things which teachers and authors must not be - are proposed for universal belief limited only to subjects which - as dogmas of the faith by the are propounded to all, to be - infallible judgment of the Church. believed as articles of faith by - an infallible utterance of the - Church. - - 23. The Roman Pontiffs and 23. The Pope of Rome and the - OEcumenical Councils have exceeded General Councils have not - the limits of their power, exceeded the limits of their - have usurped the rights of princes, power. They have not usurped - and have even committed errors in the rights of princes, and in - defining matters of faith and defining doctrines of faith and - morals. morals they have not erred. - - 24. The Church has not the 24. The Church has the power - power of availing herself of force to use external force. She has - or of any direct or indirect also a direct and an indirect - temporal power. temporal power. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--Not minds - merely are subject to the power - of the Church.) - - 25. In addition to the authority 25. Beyond the power inherent - inherent in the Episcopate, further in the Episcopate no other - temporal power is granted to it by temporal power has been conceded - the civil authority either expressly to it by the State either - or tacitly, which power is on that expressly or tacitly, and - account also revocable by the civil therefore not any power which - authority whenever it pleases. the government of the State can - at its pleasure withdraw. - - 26. The Church has not the 26. The Church has an innate - natural and legitimate right of and legitimate right of - acquisition and possession. acquisition and possession. - - 27. The ministers of the Church 27. The ordained servants of - and the Roman Pontiff ought to the Church and the Roman Pontiff - be absolutely excluded from all are by no means to be excluded - charge and dominion over temporal from all control and dominion - affairs. over temporal affairs. - - 28. Bishops have not the right 28. Bishops themselves may - of promulgating even their apostolical publish apostolical letters - letters without the sanction without permission of the - of the government. government of the State. - - (_Remark of Author of the present - work._--Apostolic Letters mean Papal - not episcopal manifestoes; therefore - the expression "their apostolic - letters" is not clear, and is not in the - Latin.) - - 29. Dispensations granted by 29. Graces granted by the Pope - the Roman Pontiff must be considered are not to be regarded as invalid - null, unless they have been if they are not requested by the - requested by the civil government. government of the State. - - 30. The immunity of the 30. The immunity of the - Church and of ecclesiastical persons Church and of ecclesiastical - derives its origin from civil persons has not its origin in - law. civil law. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--But has - its root in the proper rights - of the Church granted her by - God.) - - 31. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction for 31. Spiritual jurisdiction for - the temporal causes, whether civil temporal causes of the clergy, - or criminal, of the clergy, ought both civil and criminal, is not, - by all means to be abolished even by any means, to be abolished, - without the concurrence and against and not without consulting the - the protest of the Holy See. Apostolic See or against its - protest. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--For it - is founded in the proper right - of the Church, and can be handed - over to the temporal tribunals - only through the express consent - of the Pope.) - - 32. The personal immunity exonerating 32. The abolition of the - the clergy from military exemption of the clergy and - service may be abolished without students for the priesthood from - violation either of natural right or military service cannot take - of equity. Its abolition is called place without a violation of - for by civil progress, especially in natural right and of justice; - a community constituted upon and the progress of the State - principles of liberal government. does not demand its abolition, - especially in a State which - is constituted with a free - government. - - (_Note of Author of the present (_Remark of Schrader._--The - work._--Most English translations abolition of the personal - make this apply not to students for exemption of from military - the priesthood, but only to the service violates not only - clergy. The word in the original is natural right and justice, - not _clerus_, but _clericus_, but also the rights of the - which certainly in Rome means not Church. The progress of the State - only a clergyman, but also one does not only not demand it, but - in training for the clerical is opposed to it; and the more - office.) freely a society is constituted, - so much the more must it respect - the personal exemption of the - clergy and the student for the - priesthood from the military - service.) - - 33. It does not appertain exclusively 33. It belongs exclusively to the - to ecclesiastical jurisdiction power of ecclesiastical - by any right proper and jurisdiction, and that of proper - inherent, to direct the teaching of and innate right, to control - theological subjects. theological studies. - - 34. The doctrine of those who 34. The doctrine which compares - compare the Sovereign Pontiff to the Roman Pontiff to a free - a free sovereignty acting in the prince employing his own power - Universal Church in the middle in the Church, is not a doctrine - which prevailed in the middle which prevailed only in the - ages only. middle ages. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--But is - one which corresponds with the - constitution of the Church, - and therefore must prevail in - all times.) - - 35. There would be no obstacle 35. There are grounds which - to the sentence of a General forbid that either through the - Council or the act of all the decisions of a General Council - universal peoples transferring the or the act of all nations the - pontifical sovereignty from the pontificate should be withdrawn - Bishop and city of Rome to some from the Bishop of Rome, and - other bishopric and some other handed over to another bishop - city. or another city. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--Neither - through the decision of a - General Council, nor through the - deed of all nations, can it be - over thrown that the pontificate - is given to the Bishop of Rome - and to the city of Rome.) - - 36. The definition of a National 36. The decision of a National - Council does not admit of any Council does admit of further - subsequent discussion, and the discussion; and the government - civil power can settle an affair as of a State cannot submit any - decided by such National Council. matter to this decision. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--The - decision of a National Council - requires in order to its - validity the consent and - confirmation of the Holy See; - and the government of the State - cannot appeal to the decision - of a National Council as the - ultimate tribunal, but must - appeal to that of the See of - Rome.) - - 37. National Churches can be 37. No National Churches can - established after being withdrawn be erected which are withdrawn - and separated from the authority from the authority of the Pope of - of the Roman Pontiff. Rome, and fully separated from - him. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--National - Churches which are withdrawn - from the authority of the Pope - of Rome, and fully separated - from him, cannot be set up; - because that is no less - than rending and breaking up the - unity of the Catholic Church, and - because the power and manner of - this unity imperatively require - that as the members are connected - with the head, so all believers - upon earth must be united with, - and joined to, the Roman - Pontiff, who is the viceregent of - Christ upon earth.) - - 38. Many Roman Pontiffs have, 38. The excessive and arbitrary - by their too arbitrary conduct, acts of the Roman Pontiffs have - contributed to the division of the had no part in bringing about the - Church into Eastern and division of the Church into - Western. Eastern and Western. - - - SECT. VI.--_Errors about Civil SECT. VI.--_Errors relating to - Society, considered both in itself Civil Society, both in itself and - and in its relation to the Church._ in itsrelations with the Church._ - - 39. The State is the origin and 39. The State does not possess - source of all rights, and possesses as the origin and fountain of all - rights which are not circumscribed rights an unbounded right. - by any limits. - (_Remark of Schrader._--The - State is not the origin and - fountain of all rights, and - hence does not possess - any unbounded right.) - - 40. The teaching of the Catholic 40. The doctrine of the Catholic - Church is opposed to the wellbeing Church is not contrary to the - and interests of society. welfare and advantage of human - society. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--But even - helpful to it.) - - 41. The civil government, even 41. The State has not a direct - when exercised by an infidel and positive nor an indirect and - sovereign, possesses an indirect negative right in religious - and negative power over religious things, and still less when its - affairs. It therefore possesses not power is wielded by an - only the right called that of unbelieving prince. It has - _exequatur_, but also that of the neither the right of _exequatur_ - (so-called) _appellatio ab abusu_. nor the right of _appellatio_ - ["_Appel comme d'abus_."] which is called _ab abusu_. - - 42. In the case of conflicting 42. In case of conflict between - laws between the two powers, the the laws of the two powers, the - civil law ought to prevail. temporal law does not prevail. - - 43. The lay power has the authority 43. The temporal authority has - to rescind, declare, and not the power to revoke solemn - render null solemn conventions or treaties commonly called - _concordats_ relating to the use of concordats, which have been made - rights appertaining to ecclesiastical with the Holy See in respect to - immunity, without the consent the exercise of the rights of - of the Apostolic See, and immunity without its consent - even in spite of its protests. ecclesiastical or against its - opposition, nor the right to - declare or make them void. - - (_Note of Author of the present work._ - --It is noteworthy that while in - Rome the doctrine of concordats, as - taught by Tarquini and in the pages - of the _Civiltá_, was that they were not - bipartite treaties, but laws issued by - the Pontiff at the instance of the - temporal prince, in Austria and - Germany, Schrader and Bishop Martin - (see his _Katechismus des Kirchenrechts_), - in order to uphold concordats, - taught that they were solemn - treaties.) - - 44. The civil authority may 44. The authority of the State - interfere in matters related to cannot interfere in matters of - religion, morality, and spiritual religion or morals, or of - government, whence it has control spiritual government. It cannot - over the instructions for the therefore judge of the - guidance of consciences issued, admonitions which chief pastors - conformably with their mission, of the Church in pursuance of - by the pastors of the Church. their office issue as a rule for - Further, it possesses power to the guidance of consciences. - decree in the matter of administering Also it cannot decide upon the - the Divine Sacraments and administration of the Holy - as to the dispositions necessary for Sacraments nor the dispositions - their reception. necessary to their reception of - them. - - 45. The entire direction of public 45. The entire direction of - schools in which the youth of public schools in which the - Christian States are educated, youth of a Christian State are - except (to a certain extent) in the educated, excepting episcopal - case of episcopal seminaries, may seminaries in some particulars, - and must appertain to the civil cannot and must not be given to - power, and belong to it so far that the State, even so that no right - no other authority whatsoever of any other authority to - shall be recognized as having any interfere in the discipline of - right to interfere in the discipline the school, in the arrangement - of the schools, the arrangement of of studies, in the conferring of - the studies, the taking of degrees, degrees, or in the choice and - or the choice and approval of the approval of teachers can be - teachers. recognized. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--The - supreme direction of public - schools in which the youth of - a Christian State are educated - _pertains to the Church_. It is - her duty to watch over all public - and private schools, so that in - the entire school system, but - especially in what relates to - religion, teachers may be - appointed and books may be - employed which shall be free - from every suspicion of error; - and that thus masters and - mistresses of the most - approved rectitude may behosen - for the schools of the children - and youth in the earliest years. - The Church would act against the - commands of her Divine Founder, - and would be unfaithful to her - most important duty committed - to her by God, to care for the - salvation of the souls of all - men, if she gave up or - interrupted her wholesome - ruling influence over the - primary schools, and she would - be compelled to warn all - believers and to declare - to them that schools out of which - the authority of the Church is - driven, are schools hostile to - the Church, and cannot be - attended with good conscience.) - - 46. Further, even in clerical 46. The direction of studies in - seminaries, the mode of study to clerical seminaries is in no - be adopted must be submitted to way in the hands of the State - the civil authority. authority. - - 47. The best theory of civil society 47. The best mode of regulating - requires that popular schools a State does not demand that the - open to the children of all classes, national schools, which are open - and, generally, all public institutes to all classes of the community, - intended for the instruction in and generally public institutions - letters and philosophy and for destined for the higher - conducting the education of the scientific instruction, and the - young, should be freed from all education of youth, should be - ecclesiastical authority, government, withdrawn from all ecclesiastical - and interference, and should authority, and completely handed - be completely subjected to the over to the direction of the - civil and political power in temporal and political authority, - conformity with the will of rulers and should be conducted according - and the prevalent opinions of the to the pleasure of the government - age. and the standard of current - opinion. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--Such a - corrupting method of instruction - separated from the Catholic faith - and the influence of the Church - already exists, is of great - disadvantage to individuals and - society in respect to learned and - scientific instruction, and to - the education of youth in public - schools and institutions destined - for the higher classes of - society. But still greater evils - and disadvantages spring out of - this method if it is - introduced into the national - schools; and all efforts and - attempts to exclude the influence - of the Church from national - schools emanate from a spirit - extremely hostile to the Church, - as from all the efforts to - extinguish the light of our most - holy faith among the people.) - - 48. This system of instructing 48. Catholic men cannot put up - youth, which consists in separating with a kind of education of youth - it from the Catholic faith and which is entirely separated from - from the power of the Church, and the Catholic faith and the - in teaching it exclusively the authority of the Church, and - knowledge of natural things and which keeps exclusively in view - the earthly ends of social life the knowledge of natural things - alone, may be perfectly approved and the ends of earthly social - by Catholics. life as the great object. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--An - instruction of youth which - imparts only the knowledge of - natural things, and keeps in - view only the ends of earthly - social life, cannot lead youths - to necessary salvation, - but must draw them away from it.) - - 49. The civil power is entitled 49. The State authority is not - to prevent ministers of religion allowed to hinder bishops and - and the faithful from communicating believers from holding free - freely and mutually with communication with the See of - each other and with the Roman Rome. - Pontiff. - - 50. The lay authority possesses 50. The temporal authority has - as inherent in itself the right of not the right of itself to - presenting bishops, and may require present bishops, and cannot - of them that they take demand of them that they shall - possession of their dioceses before enter upon the administration of - having received canonical institution their dioceses before they have - and the apostolical letters of received canonical institution - the Holy See. and the apostolic letters from - the Holy See. - - 51. And, further, the lay 51. The temporal government - government has the right of deposing has not the right to withdraw - bishops from their pastoral from bishops the exercise of - functions, and is not bound to their pastoral office, and it - obey the Roman Pontiff in those is bound in whatever relates to - things which relate to bishops' the episcopate and the - sees and the institution of bishops. appointment of bishops to obey - the Pope of Rome. - - 52. The government has of itself 52. The government cannot of - the right to alter the age prescribed its own right alter the age - by the Church for the prescribed by the Church for the - religious profession both of men taking of vows, whether by men - and women; and may enjoin upon or by women. Nor can it forbid - all religious establishments to admit religious orders to admit any one - no person to take solemn vows to the taking of vows without its - without its permission. permission. - - 53. The laws for the protection 53. Those laws may not be - of religious establishments and abolished which relate to the - securing their rights and duties protection of religious orders, - ought to be abolished; nay, more, and to their rights and duties; - the civil government may lend and the government of the State - its assistance to all who desire to cannot grant support to all who - quit the religious life which they forsake their chosen condition - have undertaken, and to break in any order, and wish to break - their vows. The government may their solemn vows. Also it cannot - also extinguish religious orders, abolish houses belonging to the - collegiate churches, and simple orders, the collegiate churches, - benefices, even those belonging to or their endowments, even when - private patronage, and submit they are subject to a right of - their goods and revenues to the patronage, and cannot hand over - administration and disposal of the their property to the - civil power. administration and discretion of - the State. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--Those - laws which relate to the - protection of religious orders, - to their rights and to their - duties, must not be abolished, - but every government must - far rather grant protection to - the religious orders. If the - government of the State grants - support to those who forsake - their chosen condition in any - order, and wish to break their - solemn vows, it acts against the - spirit and the will of the - Church. If they do away with - the houses of the orders, their - collegiate churches, or private - endowments, even though they are - subject to rights of - patronage, and if they hand over - their property to the - administration and discretion - of the State, they thereby rob - the Church of her legitimate - property, and they fall under - the greater excommunication, - as also under the other censures - and pains which have been - established by the Apostolic - Constitutions, the Holy Canons, - and the Decrees of General - Councils, in particular of - the Council of Trent. Sec. 22, - cap, ii., against the violators - and desecrators, and against the - usurpers of the rights of the - Apostolic See.) - - 54. Kings and princes are not 54. Kings and princes are neither - only exempt from the jurisdiction excluded from the jurisdiction - of the Church, but are superior to of the Church, nor do they - the Church in litigated questions stand higher than the Church - of jurisdiction. in determining questions of - jurisdiction. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--But as - members of the Church they are - subject to the decision of the - pastors, and especially of the - chief pastors. Princes should - much rather remember that the - kingly power has not been - delivered to them only for - the government of the world, but - especially for the protection - of the Church, and what is done - by them for the welfare of the - Church is done for their kingdom - and for its peace.) - - 55. The Church ought to be 55. The Church is neither to be - separated from the State, and the separated from the State, nor the - State from the Church. State from the Church. - - - SECT. VII.--_Errors concerning SECT. VII.--_Errors relating to - Natural and Christian Ethics._ Natural and Christian Ethics._ - - 56. Moral laws do not stand in 56. Moral laws need a divine - need of the divine sanction, and sanction, and it is necessary - there is no necessity that human that human laws should be brought - laws should be conformable to the into accord with natural right, - law of nature and receive their and should receive their binding - sanction from God. force from God. - - 57. Knowledge of philosophical 57. Philosophy and philosophical - things, and morals, and civil laws, ethics, as well as civil - may, and must be, independent of laws, should not and must not - divine and ecclesiastical authority. deviate from divine revelation, - and from the authority of the - Church. - - 58. No other forces are to be 58. Other powers are to be - recognized except those which reside acknowledged besides those - in matter, and all moral teaching found in matter, and the - and moral excellence ought to discipline and comeliness of - be made to consist in the accumulation manners should not be placed in - and increase of riches by the accumulation and - every possible means, and in the multiplication of riches of every - enjoyment of pleasure. kind, and in the enjoyment of - pleasures. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--There are - other powers to acknowledge, - belonging to a higher mental - order than those which are found - in matter, and also morality and - propriety is destroyed - in the mere accumulation and - multiplication of riches, and the - indulgence of evil lusts - according to the words of the - Scripture--"If ye live after the - flesh ye shall die, but if ye - through the spirit do mortify - the deeds of the body ye shall - live.") - - 59. Right consists in the 59. Right does not consist in - material fact. All human duties the material fact. The duties of - are vain words, and all human acts men are no empty name, and all - have the force of right. human facts have not the force of - right. - - 60. Authority is nothing else 60. Authority is something - but the result of numerical more than numbers and the sum of - superiority and material force. material forces. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--Otherwise - fools would form the highest - authority, for it is said of them - in the Scripture that their - number is infinite.) - - 61. An unjust act being successful 61. Unrighteousness, even when - inflicts no injury upon the attended by good fortune, - sanctity of right. tarnishes the sacredness of - right. - - 62. The principle of non-intervention 62. The so-called principle of - ought to be proclaimed non-intervention is not to be - and adhered to. proclaimed and not to be - observed. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--For it - is a fatal principle, and - opposed to the spirit of love - and order.) - - 63. It is allowable to refuse 63. Obedience must not be - obedience to legitimate princes; denied to legitimate princes, - nay more, to rise in insurrection much less must they be rebelled - against them. against. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--For it is - written, "Be subject to every - human creature for God's sake; - whether to the king, who is the - highest, or to his lieutenants as - such, who are appointed by him;" - and he who sets himself against - the ruler with force, he resists - the ordinance of God, and - they that resist shall receive - condemnation.) - - 64. The violation of a solemn 64. The breach of every oath - oath, nay, any wicked and flagitious and every godless and shameful - action repugnant to the action in contradiction to the - eternal law, is not only not eternal laws are not only worthy - blameable, but quite lawful, and of condemnation, but also are - worthy of the highest praise when eternally to be reprobated, and - done for the love of one's country. are not praiseworthy even when - they are done out of love to - one's native country. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--But by - such criminal and perverted - reasonings all propriety, virtue, - and righteousness are entirely - destroyed, and the evil - conduct of the thief and - assassin is defended and - recommended with unheard-of - impudence.) - - - SECT. VIII.--_Errors concerning SECT. VIII.--_Errors relating to - Christian Marriage._ Christian Marriage._ - - 65. It cannot be by any means 65. It is not to be in any way - tolerated to maintain that Christ denied that Christ has elevated - has raised marriage to the dignity marriage to the dignity of a - of a sacrament. sacrament. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--Many - proofs can be brought forward - that Christ did elevate marriage - to the dignity of a sacrament.) - - 66. The sacrament of marriage 66. The sacrament of marriage - is only an adjunct of the contract is not something simply accessory - and separable from it, and to the contract, and to be - the sacrament itself only consists separated from it, and the - in the nuptial benediction. sacrament does not lie simply and - only in the benediction of the - marriage. - - 67. By the law of nature the 67. By natural law the marriage - marriage tie is not indissoluble, bond is indissoluble, and in no - and in many cases divorce, properly case can divorce in the proper - so called, may be pronounced sense be legally pronounced by - by the civil authority. the temporal authority. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--Christian - marriage is truly and properly - one of the seven sacraments of - the evangelical law, instituted - by Christ the Lord. Therefore it - belongs altogether to the - ecclesiastical authority - to decide upon anything which in - ny way regards marriage.) - - 68. The Church has not the 68. The Church has the authority - power of laying down what are to set up impediments - diriment impediments to marriage. invalidating marriage, but this - The civil authority does possess does not belong to the temporal - such a power, and can abolish power, neither does it belong to - impediments that may exist to the latter to annul impediments - marriage. already existing. - - 69. In the later ages, the 69. The Church has not only - Church, when she laid down certain in later centuries begun to set - impediments as diriment to up impediments invalidating - marriage, did so not of her own marriage, and she has done so - uthority, but by a right borrowed out of her own rights, and not - from the civil power. out of rights lent to her by the - temporal authority. - - 70. The canons of the Council of 70. The canons of the Council - Trent, which pronounce censure of of Trent which pronounce an - anathema against those who deny anathema upon those who dare to - the Church the right of laying deny the right of the Church to - down what are diriment impediments, set up impediments invalidating - either are not dogmatic, or marriage are dogmatic in their - must be understood as referring to nature, and are not to be - such borrowed power. understood as of a borrowed - power. - - 71. The form of solemnizing 71. The Tridentine form is - marriage prescribed by the said binding under penalty of - Council, under penalty of nullity, invalidity, even where the - does not bind in cases where the law of the State has prescribed - civil law has appointed another another form and makes the - form, and decrees that this new validity of marriage dependent - form shall effectuate a valid upon it. - marriage. - (_Remark of Schrader._--The State - law is invalid.) - - 72. Boniface VIII. is the first 72. Boniface VIII. has not been - who declared that the vow of the first to declare that a vow - chastity pronounced at Ordination of chastity taken in ordination - annuls marriage. renders marriage null. - - 73. A merely civil contract 73. No true marriage can exist - may among Christians constitute between Christians by force of a - a true marriage, and it is false civil contract, and it is true - either that the marriage contract that either the contract of - between Christians must always be marriage between Christians is - a sacrament, or that the contract always a sacrament, or that the - is null if the sacrament be contract is null if the sacrament - excluded. has been excluded. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--And - thus, therefore, every - connection entered upon between - man and woman among Christians, - by virtue of a civil law, and - without the sacrament, is - nothing else than a shameful and - corrupt concubinage condemned by - the Church. Therefore the - marriage tie can never be - separated from the sacrament.) - - 74. Matrimonial causes and espousals 74. Matrimonial causes and - belong by their nature to causes arising from betrothals, - civil jurisdiction. from their nature do not belong - to the temporal jurisdiction. - N.B.--Two other errors may tend - in this direction upon the abolition - of the celibacy of priests and - the preference due to the state of - marriage over that of virginity. - These have been refuted; the first - in the Encyclical _Qui pluribus_, - November 9, 1846; the second in - the Letters Apostolical _Multiplices - inter_, June 10, 1851. - - - SECT. IX.--_Errors regarding the SECT. IX.--_Errors relating to - Civil Power of the Sovereign._ the Temporal Principality of the - Roman Pontiff._ - - 75. The children of the Christian 75. There is no contention - and Catholic Church are not among the sons of the Christian - agreed upon the compatibility of and Catholic Church in regard to - the temporal with the spiritual the compatibility of the temporal - power. dominion with the spiritual. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--Because - they are persuaded of it.) - - 76. The abolition of the temporal 76. The abolition of the temporal - power of which the Apostolic dominion possessed by the - See is possessed would contribute Apostolic See would not at all - in the greatest degree to the liberty contribute to the freedom and to - and prosperity of the Church. the happiness of the Church. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--The - happiness and the welfare of the - Church will be much more - compromised, if not annihilated, - since it is through a special - decree of Divine Providence that - after the division of the Roman - Empire into several kingdoms and - various territories, the Roman - Pontiff, to whom the government - and care of the whole Church is - entrusted by the Lord Christ, - received the temporal power, - certainly for this reason, that - he might possess that entire - freedom for the government of - the Church, and the preservation - of her unity which is demanded - for the fulfilment of his high - apostolic functions.) - - N.B.--Besides these errors, N.B.--Besides these expressly - explicitly noted, very many others stated errors, many are - are rebuked by the certain doctrine implicitly rejected, through the - which all Catholics are bound statement and assertion of the - most firmly to hold touching the doctrine which Catholics must - temporal sovereignty of the Roman hold with respect to the temporal - Pontiff. These doctrines are dominion of the Pope of Rome. - clearly stated in the Allocutions This doctrine is clearly set - _Quantis quantumque_, April 20, forth in the Allocutions of April - 1849, and "_Si semper antea_," 20, 1849; May 20, 1850; in the - May 20, 1850; Letters Apost. Letters Apostolic of September - _Quam Cattolica Ecclesia_, March 26, 28, 1860; March 18, 1861; and - 1860; Allocutions _Novos_, September June 9, 1862. - 28, 1860; _Jamdudum_, - March 18, 1861, and _Maxima - quidem_, June 9, 1862. - - - SECT. X.--_Errors having reference SECT. X.--_Errors relating to - to Modern Liberalism._ Modern Liberalism._ - - 77. In the present day it is no 77. In our time, it is still - longer necessary that the Catholic essential that the Catholic - religion shall be held as the only religion should be held as the - religion of the State, to the only State religion, to the - exclusion of all other modes of exclusion of all other forms of - worship. religion. - - (_Remarks of Schrader._--The Pope - also demands in those States in - which only Catholics reside, the - domination of the Catholic - religion alone, to the exclusion - of every other form of religion, - and therefore has he in the - Allocution of July 26, 1856, - reclaimed against the violation - of the first article of the - Spanish Concordat; in which the - exclusive dominion of the - Catholic religion in Spain had - been stipulated; and he rejected - the law by which freedom - of worship had been introduced, - and declared it for null and - void.) - - 78. Whence it has been wisely 78. Therefore it was not well - provided by the law, in some that in certain Catholic lands - countries called Catholic, that immigrants should be guaranteed - persons coming to reside therein the free exercise of their - shall enjoy the free exercise of religion. - their own worship. - - 79. Moreover it is false that the 79. It is true that freedom of - civil liberty of every mode of worship granted by the States, - worship and the full power given and permission given to every one - to all of overtly and publicly to publish all manner of opinions - manifesting their opinions and their and views, leads easily to the - ideas conduce more easily to corrupt corruption of manners and of - the morals and minds of the sentiments among the nations, and - people, and to the propagation of to the diffusion of the bane of - the pest of indifferentism. indifference. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--Through - the unbridled freedom of - thought, speech and writing - morals are deeply sunken, - says Pius IX in his Encyclical of - November 9, 1864. The holy - religion has fallen into - contempt, and the majesty of - divine worship is despised; - the authority of the - Apostolic See attacked, and the - authority of the Church contested - and laden with shameful fetters. - The rights of bishops are - trampled under foot, the - holiness of marriage - is violated, every authority of - government is shaken, and thus - many other damages arise both to - Church and State.) - - 80. The Roman Pontiff can and 80. The Roman Pontiff cannot - ought to reconcile himself to, and be reconciled to modern - agree with, progress, liberalism, civilization and progress, or - and modern civilization. compromise with them. - - (_Remark of Schrader._--For those - who defend the righteousness and - the rights of our holy religion - do rightfully demand that the - unchangeable and immovable - principles of eternal - righteousness shall be observed - entire and unimpaired, and that - the power of our salutary and - divine religion shall be upheld. - The faithful shall be led in the - sure way of salvation, and not - upon the downward road of - destruction. The Holy - See is the highest support, - protector, and pastor of the - faithful. Therefore - it cannot connect itself with - liberalism, and with modern - civilization, without the most - serious violation of conscience, - and without the greatest - universal scandal.) - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 496: To give a translation from a Catholic source we use one -issued at the office of the _Weekly Register_.] - - - - -APPENDIX B - -RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO THE BAPTIZED, AND ESPECIALLY TO HERETICS - - -The following passages from the standard work of Phillips indicate -the tenets of Rome on this subject, in the more moderate aspect of -their recent phases. They are all found in the _second_ volume of the -_Kirchenrecht_, and we give the page with each separate citation-- - -P. 435. "By virtue of the supreme powers given to her, the Church has -indeed a dominion over those who are without [not baptized]; but over -these she does not give sentence in the same sense as over those who -through the door of baptism have entered into the Church, and who -through this sacrament have received the indelible token of membership -in the kingdom of Christ. These latter have in baptism sworn the oath -of allegiance; they have sworn _Fidelitas_ and _Homagium_, the oath -of personal believing fidelity [_fidelitas_] and that of the vassal -(_Lehnseid_), of true and active service with the talents which have -been granted to them in fee (_Zu Lehen_)." - -P. 436. "No one is exempt from this obedience--all are confided to the -Church to be guided and brought up for heaven; for all, therefore, -without exception, is the Church an authority instituted by God. The -possibility of attaining to his highest end, that of glorifying God, -which man through disobedience had lost, Christ has given back to him -again; but this end can be attained only in the way of obedience. -Disobedience against the divine Word, the _rejecting or doubting even -of a single one of the divine truths announced by the Church_, puts -the individual human being again in the way of perdition, on which our -first parents entered to their own ruin and that of their posterity, -when they, instead of believing the simply and clearly announced Word, -chose another exposition of the same, which was more agreeable to them." - -P. 438. "Hence in particular must they grievously offend God who -either directly put away from them the faith of the Church, or else -accept it only in so far as it appears to them correct according to -the selection [out of her tenets] which they have made; or, again, who -so break the bond of the unity of the Church as to declare themselves -loose from obedience to the lawful authority which in her has been set -over them by God. Thus are we led to speak of the three ecclesiastical -crimes--apostasy, heresy, and schism." - -P. 440. "As to apostasy, which is the total rejection of the Christian -faith, and the falling away into Judaism, or heathenism, or Islamism, -it is here only to be remarked that in the view of the Church it is -as the crime of insulting the majesty of God. The apostate must be -compelled to return to the Church by force, and a milder judgment may -be pronounced upon him only in the case of one who was compelled to -deny his faith by the unbelievers." - -P. 441. "In opposition to the entire rejection of the Christian -faith, heresy implies the wilful selection of a number from out of -the dogmas of the Church which are to be believed by men in all their -fulness, and the restricting of faith to such selected doctrines as -the man still adheres to; in general to this is added the acceptance -of false articles of faith. In this wider sense, all those are called -heretics who accept only particular doctrines of the Church; but we -must distinguish between such. We must part off error from heresy. -Any man may fall into error, with regard to one or another doctrine -of the Church, against his own will, out of simplicity, or from want -of instruction, or because he has received wrong instruction. Such an -error of the understanding is called 'material heresy'; but proper -heresy, which is called 'formal heresy,' has its seat in the will. The -latter consists in this, that to error is added obstinacy of the will, -which is disinclined to depart from it. If any one announces a doctrine -and then learns that the Church teaches otherwise, thus discovering -that he was in error, he does not fall into heresy if he only ceases -to defend the doctrine which he has set forth, and submits himself to -the teaching of the Church. On the other hand, one who does know that -the Church teaches otherwise, and still affirms that something is an -article of belief which is not so, or, contrariwise, that something -is not an article of belief which is so, doing this in spite of the -fact that the Church has delivered the truth upon the subject, he by -so doing haughtily prefers his own judgment to that of the Church; and -through this obstinacy, the characteristic mark of heresy, he becomes a -heretic in the strict sense of the word. - -"It is not necessary to heresy that the person shall, as a heresiarch, -found a new sect, or that, by free choice, he shall go over to a sect -condemned by the Church; but heresy is already present whenever any -one in the bosom of the Catholic Church departs from only one single -point of the faith, or understands one single passage of Holy Scripture -otherwise than as the Church, with the assistance of the Holy Ghost, -expounds them. For so great is the importance of heresy that through -want of faith even on one point, the proper foundation of faith itself -is destroyed, so that he that makes himself guilty with regard to one -dogma, becomes at the same time guilty as to every dogma of the Church. -Thus not only is he who rejects one of the articles defined by the -Church a heretic, but also he who after such a definition maintains -that the point is still doubtful." - -P. 445. "The Church prays for the return of her separated members, and -she is entitled to proceed to compulsion by virtue of the jurisdiction -over heretics as baptized persons which belongs to her; but she uses, -by prayer and by the instruction which is permitted to all, the only -means by which she can now enter into communication with them, at -least as relations at present stand. - -"She may, indeed, tolerate the heathen, because they err through -ignorance; she may tolerate the Jews as witnesses for the truth; but -she cannot tolerate heresy, because this shakes the foundation of the -entire faith. The synagogue makes way for the Church as a dutiful -handmaid, bringing her the Holy Scriptures. Heresy, however, lifts -itself up as a mistress above the Church, discredits her utterly, sets -itself to judge over her, and would condemn her out of Holy Scripture -according to its self-chosen exposition, closing her mouth like that of -Christ. It commences with the divine Word, but it treats that word like -a lyre, from which every one at pleasure, may draw whatever note will -suit him. - -"The Church pardons error, but she cannot subject herself to the -obstinately erring will, but must destroy its dominion and its tyranny. -She, as the teacher of the truth, cannot conclude a peace with such a -will. She cannot lift it up to the throne beside her, she cannot share -her dominion with it. Understood in its proper and true signification, -heresy is a frightful crime. Do the heathen blaspheme God out of -ignorance? Heresy tears truth to pieces consciously. Did the Jews -crucify Christ according to the flesh? Heresy fastens the Church, -His mystical body, to the cross. Therefore the Church cannot at all -tolerate heresy, because the greatest danger of seduction is attached -to it. The Christian can easily shun the heathen and the Jew, but not -the Christian who by the baptismal vow is connected with him, but by -heresy is separated from him. - -"On these grounds is explained the complete intolerance which -the Church, in all her laws, and especially in the _Bulla Cæna_, -has manifested against heresy. Hence are explained the certainly -hard-sounding expressions with which she speaks of heresy. Hence the -punishments against heretics, the delivering up of the same to the -temporal arm, and the calling upon temporal princes by law and by arms -to come to her help in rooting out heresy. When the Church pronounces -_excommunication_ upon heretics, it is nothing more than a declaratory -sentence of that which had already been announced by the heretics -themselves; for, all the more because these are Christians, must she -separate them from herself, that they may not be accounted as of her, -and that she may not appear as chargeable for their obstinacy. - -"Hence it will be understood that the Church employs all means -to keep her members from being infected with heretical teaching. -She has therefore, with the apostle, forbidden _intercourse_ with -heretics; yet she makes this apply, according to the Bull of Martin -V, _Ad evitandos_, only to those who are personally, and by name, -_excommunicated_ on account of their obstinacy. To a like end the -Church forbids to the faithful the reading of heretical writings, which -still retain that character even when the author perhaps erred only -out of ignorance, and has given his books to the fire. So according -to the diversities of times and circumstances does she require from -her members the assurance of fidelity in making the confession of -faith, causing those who return into her bosom to abjure heresy, and -prohibiting all to preach who have not thereto an express mission, and -forbidding the laity to dispute as to the faith, except in cases in -which especial exceptions are justified." - -P. 451. "_Schism_, in its proper meaning, consists in this, that the -baptized person, while not doubting as to the faith, and while not -intending to separate himself from it, declares himself free from the -authority which God has set over him in the Church. In a looser sense -of the word, schism may refer to one's own bishop, as well as to the -Pope; properly, however, it requires separation from the centre of -Church unity, from the Pope, to constitute a schism, although revolt -against the proper bishop, recognized by the head of the Church, -comprehends in itself separation from the entire Church. And how will -the schismatic, separated from ecclesiastical unity, preserve himself -in purity of doctrine? Does heresy lead to schism? So infallibly does -schism lead to heresy, inasmuch as only through false doctrine can -it be justified. Therefore does the Church regard schism as a crime -just as great as heresy, and in general has dealt with it in the same -manner." - - - - -APPENDIX C - -THE CONSTITUTIONS "_DEI FILIUS_" AND "_PASTOR ÆTERNUS_" - -(_From the "Catholic Directory" for 1871, pp. 55 ff._) - -DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON THE CATHOLIC FAITH - - -Pius Bishop, Servant of the servants of God, with the approval of the -Sacred Council, for perpetual remembrance. - -Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Redeemer of mankind, before -returning to His Heavenly Father, promised that He would be with the -Church Militant on earth all days, even to the consummation of the -world. Therefore He has never ceased to be present with His beloved -Spouse, to assist her when teaching, to bless her when at work, and -to aid her when in danger. And this His salutary providence, which -has been constantly displayed by other innumerable benefits, has been -most manifestly proved by the abundant good results which Christendom -has derived from OEcumenical Councils, and particularly from that of -Trent, although it was held in evil times. For, as a consequence, -the sacred doctrines of the faith have been defined more closely and -set forth more fully; errors have been condemned and restrained; -ecclesiastical discipline has been restored and more firmly secured; -the love of learning and of piety has been promoted among the clergy; -colleges have been established to educate youth for the sacred warfare; -and the morals of the Christian world have been renewed by the more -accurate training of the faithful, and by the more frequent use of the -sacraments. Moreover, there has resulted a closer communion of the -members with the visible head, and an increase of vigour in the whole -mystical body of Christ; the multiplication of religious congregations -and of other institutions of Christian piety, and such ardour in -extending the kingdom of Christ throughout the world, as constantly -endures, even to the sacrifice of life itself. - -But while we recall with due thankfulness these and other signal -benefits which the divine mercy has bestowed on the Church, especially -by the last OEcumenical Council, we cannot restrain our bitter sorrow -for the grave evils which are due principally to the fact, that the -authority of that sacred Synod has been contemned, or its wise decrees -neglected, by many. - -No one is ignorant that the heresies proscribed by the Fathers of -Trent, by which the divine teaching (_magisterium_) of the Church was -rejected, and all matters regarding religion were surrendered to the -judgment of each individual, gradually became dissolved into many -sects, which disagreed and contended with one another, until at length -not a few lost all faith in Christ. Even the Holy Scriptures, which had -previously been declared sole source and judge of Christian doctrine, -began to be held no longer as divine, but to be ranked among the -fictions of mythology. - -Then there arose, and too widely overspread the world, that doctrine of -rationalism, or naturalism, which opposes itself in every way to the -Christian religion as a supernatural institution, and works with the -utmost zeal in order that, after Christ, our sole Lord and Saviour, has -been excluded from the minds of men, and from the life and moral acts -of nations, the reign of what they call pure reason or nature may be -established. And after forsaking and rejecting the Christian religion, -and denying the true God and His Christ, the minds of many have sunk -into the abyss of Pantheism, Materialism, and Atheism, until, denying -rational nature itself and every sound rule of right, they labour to -destroy the deepest foundations of human society. - -Unhappily, it has yet farther come to pass that, while this impiety -prevailed on every side, many even of the children of the Catholic -Church have strayed from the path of true piety; and by the gradual -diminution of the truths they held, the Catholic sense has become -weakened in them. For, led away by various and strange doctrines, -wrongly confusing nature and grace, human science and divine faith, -they are found to deprave the true sense of the doctrines which our -Holy Mother Church holds and teaches, and to endanger the integrity and -the soundness of the faith. - -Considering these things, how can the Church fail to be deeply stirred? -For, even as God wills all men to be saved, and to arrive at the -knowledge of the truth; even as Christ came to save what had perished, -and to gather together the children of God who had been dispersed; -so the Church, constituted by God the mother and teacher of nations, -knows its own office as debtor to all, and is ever ready and watchful -to raise the fallen, to support those who are falling, to embrace -those who return, to confirm the good and to carry them on to better -things. Hence, it can never forbear from witnessing to and proclaiming -the truth of God, which heals all things, knowing the words addressed -to it: My Spirit that is in thee, and My words that I have put in thy -mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, from henceforth and for ever -(Isaias lix. 21). - -We, therefore, following the footsteps of our predecessors, have never -ceased, as becomes our supreme Apostolic office, from teaching and -defending Catholic truth, and condemning doctrines of error. And now, -with the Bishops of the whole world assembled round us and judging -with us, congregated by our authority and in the Holy Spirit in this -OEcumenical Council, we, supported by the word of God written and -handed down, as we have received it from the Catholic Church, preserved -with sacredness and set forth according to truth--have determined to -profess and declare the salutary teaching of Christ from this chair of -Peter, and in sight of all, proscribing and condemning, by the power -given to us of God, all errors contrary thereto. - - -Chap. I. _Of God the Creator of all things._ - -The Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church believes and confesses that -there is one true and living God, Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, -Almighty, Eternal, Immense, Incomprehensible, Infinite in intelligence, -in will, and in all perfection, who, as being one, sole, absolutely -simple, and immutable spiritual substance, is to be declared as really -and essentially distinct from the world, of supreme beatitude in and -from Himself, and ineffably exalted above all things beside Himself -which exist or are conceivable. - -This one only true God, of His own goodness and almighty power, not -for the increase or acquirement of His own happiness, but to manifest -His perfection by the blessing which He bestows on creatures, and with -absolute freedom of counsel, created out of nothing, from the beginning -of time, both the spiritual and the corporeal creature, to wit, the -angelical and the mundane; and afterwards the human creature, as -partaking, in a sense, of both, consisting of spirit and of body.[497] - -God protects and governs by His Providence all things which He hath -made, "reaching from end to end mightily, and ordering all things -sweetly" (Wisdom viii. 1). For "all things are bare and open to His -eyes" (Heb. iv. 13), even those which are yet to be by the free action -of creatures. - - -Chap. II. _Of Revelation._ - -The same Holy Mother Church holds and teaches that God, the beginning -and end of all things, may be certainly known by the natural light of -human reason, by means of created things; "for the invisible things of -Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood -by the things that are made" (Romans i. 20): but that it pleased His -wisdom and bounty to reveal Himself, and the eternal decrees of His -will, to mankind by another and supernatural way, as the Apostle says: -"God, having spoken on divers occasions, and many ways, in times past, -to the fathers by the prophets; last of all, in these days, hath spoken -to us by His Son" (Hebrews i. 1, 2). - -It is to be ascribed to this divine revelation, that such truths among -things divine as of themselves are not beyond human reason can, even in -the present condition of mankind, be known by every one with facility, -with firm assurance, and with no admixture of error. This, however, is -not the reason why revelation is to be called absolutely necessary; but -because God of His infinite goodness has ordained man to a supernatural -end, viz. to be a sharer of divine blessings which utterly exceed the -intelligence of the human mind: for "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, -neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath -prepared for them that love Him" (1 Cor. ii. 2). - -Further, this supernatural revelation, according to the universal -belief of the Church, declared by the Sacred Synod of Trent, is -contained in the written books and unwritten traditions which, received -by the Apostles from the mouth of Christ Himself, or by the Apostles -themselves, from the dictation of the Holy Spirit, transmitted, as -it were, from hand to hand, have come down even unto us.[498] And -these books of the Old and New Testament are to be received as sacred -and canonical, in their integrity, with all their parts, as they are -enumerated in the decree of the said Council, and are contained in the -ancient Latin edition of the Vulgate. These the Church holds to be -sacred and canonical: not because, having been carefully composed by -mere human industry, they were afterwards approved by her authority; -nor merely because they contain revelation, with no admixture of error; -but because, having been written by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, -they have God for their author, and have been delivered as such to the -Church herself. - -And as the things which, in order to curb rebellious spirits, the -Holy Synod of Trent decreed for the good of souls concerning the -interpretation of Divine Scripture, have been wrongly explained by -some, We, renewing the said decree, declare this to be its meaning: -that, in matters of faith and morals, appertaining to the building up -of Christian doctrine, that is to be held as the true sense of Holy -Scripture which our Holy Mother Church hath held and holds, to whom -it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy -Scripture; and therefore that it is permitted to no one to interpret -the Sacred Scripture contrary to this sense, or, likewise, contrary to -the unanimous consent of the Fathers. - - -Chap. III. _On Faith._ - -Man being wholly dependent upon God, as upon his Creator and Lord, and -created reason being absolutely subject to uncreated truth, we are -bound to yield to God, by faith in His revelation, the full obedience -of our intelligence and will. And the Catholic Church teaches that this -faith, which is the beginning of man's salvation, is a supernatural -virtue, whereby, inspired and assisted by the grace of God, we believe -that the things which He has revealed are true: not because the -intrinsic truth of the things is plainly perceived by the natural -light of reason, but because of the authority of God Himself who -reveals them, and who can neither be deceived nor deceive. For faith, -as the Apostle testifies, is "the substance of things hoped for, the -conviction of things that appear not" (Hebrews xi. 1). - -Nevertheless, in order that the obedience of our faith might be in -harmony with reason, God willed that to the interior help of the Holy -Spirit there should be joined exterior proofs of His revelation: to -wit, divine facts, and especially miracles and prophecies, which, as -they manifestly display the omnipotence and infinite knowledge of -God, are most certain proofs of His divine revelation, adapted to the -intelligence of all men. Wherefore, both Moses and the Prophets, and -most especially Christ our Lord Himself, showed forth many and most -evident miracles and prophecies; and of the Apostles we read: "But -they going forth preached everywhere, the Lord working withal, and -confirming the word with signs that followed" (Mark xvi. 20). And again -it is written: "We have the more firm prophetical word, whereunto you -do well to attend, as to a light shining in a dark place" (2 St. Peter -i. 19). - -But though the assent of faith is by no means a blind action of the -mind, still no man can assent to the Gospel teaching, as is necessary -to obtain salvation, without the illumination and inspiration of -the Holy Spirit, who gives to all men sweetness in assenting to and -believing in the truth.[499] Wherefore faith itself, even when it does -not work by charity, is in itself a gift of God, and the act of faith -is a work appertaining to salvation, by which man yields voluntary -obedience to God Himself, by assenting to and co-operating with His -grace, which he is able to resist. - -Further, all those things are to be believed with divine and Catholic -faith which are contained in the Word of God, written or handed down, -and which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by her ordinary -and universal teaching (_magisterium_), proposes for belief as having -been divinely revealed. - -And since without faith it is impossible to please God, and to attain -to the fellowship of His children, therefore without faith no one has -ever attained justification; nor will any one obtain eternal life, -unless he shall have persevered in faith unto the end. And, that we -may be able to satisfy the obligation of embracing the true faith and -of constantly persevering in it, God has instituted the Church through -His only-begotten Son, and has bestowed on it manifest notes of that -institution, that it may be recognized by all men as the guardian -and teacher of the revealed Word; for to the Catholic Church alone -belong all those many and admirable tokens which have been divinely -established for the evident credibility of the Christian Faith. Nay, -more, the Church by itself, by reason of its marvellous extension, its -eminent holiness, and its inexhaustible fruitfulness in every good -thing, its Catholic unity and its invincible stability, is a great and -perpetual motive of credibility, and an irrefutable witness of its own -divine mission. - -And thus, like a standard set up unto the nations (Isaias xi. 12), -it both invites to itself those who do not yet believe, and assures -its children that the faith which they profess rests on the most firm -foundation. And its testimony is efficaciously supported by a power -from on high. For our most merciful Lord gives His grace to stir up and -to aid those who are astray, that they may come to a knowledge of the -truth; and to those whom He has brought out of darkness into His own -admirable light, He gives His grace to strengthen them to persevere in -that light, deserting none who desert not Him. Therefore there is no -parity between the condition of those who have adhered to the Catholic -truth by the heavenly gift of faith, and of those who, led by human -opinions, follow a false religion; for those who have received the -faith under the teaching (_magisterio_) of the Church can never have -any just cause for changing or doubting that faith. Therefore, giving -thanks to God the Father who has made us worthy to be partakers of the -lot of the Saints in light, let us not neglect so great salvation, but -with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our Faith, let -us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering (Hebrews xii. -2; and x. 23). - - -Chap. IV. _Of Faith and Reason._ - -The Catholic Church with one consent has also ever held and does hold -that there is a twofold order of knowledge, distinct both in principle -and in object: in principle, because our knowledge in the one is by -natural reason, and in the other by divine faith; in object, because, -besides those things to which natural reason can attain, there are -proposed to our belief mysteries hidden in God, which, unless divinely -revealed, cannot be known. Wherefore the Apostle, who testifies that -God is known by the Gentiles through created things, still, when -discoursing of the grace and truth which come by Jesus Christ (John i. -17), says: "We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, a wisdom which -is hidden, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which -none of the princes of this world knew; ... but to us God hath revealed -them by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep -things of God" (1 Cor. ii. 7-9). And the only-begotten Son Himself -gives thanks to the Father, because He has hid these things from the -wise and prudent, and has revealed them to little ones (Matt. xi. 25). - -Reason, indeed, enlightened by faith, when it seeks earnestly, piously, -and calmly, attains by a gift from God some, and that a very fruitful, -understanding of mysteries; partly from the analogy of those things -which it naturally knows, partly from the relations which the mysteries -bear to one another and to the last end of man: but reason never -becomes capable of apprehending mysteries as it does those truths -which constitute its proper object. For the divine mysteries by their -own nature so far transcend the created intelligence that, even when -delivered by revelation and received by faith, they remain covered with -the veil of faith itself, and shrouded in a certain degree of darkness, -so long as we are pilgrims in this mortal life, not yet with God; "for -we walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Cor. v. 7). - -But although faith is above reason, there can never be any real -discrepancy between faith and reason; since the same God who reveals -mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the -human mind, and God cannot deny Himself, nor can truth ever contradict -truth. The false appearance of such a contradiction is mainly -due, either to the dogmas of faith not having been understood and -expounded according to the mind of the Church, or to the inventions -of opinion having been taken for the verdicts of reason. We define, -therefore, that every assertion contrary to a truth of enlightened -faith is utterly false.[500] Further, the Church, which, together -with the Apostolic office of teaching, has received a charge to guard -the deposit of faith, derives from God the right and the duty of -proscribing false science, lest any should be deceived by philosophy -and vain fallacy (Col. ii. 8). Therefore all faithful Christians are -not only forbidden to defend, as legitimate conclusions of science, -such opinions as are known to be contrary to the doctrines of faith, -especially if they have been condemned by the Church, but are -altogether bound to account them as errors which put on the fallacious -appearance of truth. - -And not only can faith and reason never be opposed to one another, but -they are of mutual aid one to the other: for right reason demonstrates -the foundations of faith, and, enlightened by its light, cultivates -the science of things divine; while faith frees and guards reason from -errors, and furnishes it with manifold knowledge. So far, therefore, is -the Church from opposing the cultivation of human arts and sciences, -that it in many ways helps and promotes it. For the Church neither -ignores nor despises the benefits to human life which result from the -arts and sciences, but confesses that, as they came from God, the -Lord of all science, so, if they be rightly used, they lead to God by -the help of His grace. Nor does the Church forbid that each of these -sciences in its sphere should make use of its own principles and -its own method; but, while recognizing this just liberty, it stands -watchfully on guard, lest sciences, setting themselves against the -divine teaching, or transgressing their own limits, should invade and -disturb the domain of faith. - -For the doctrine of faith which God hath revealed has not been -proposed, like a philosophical invention, to be perfected by human -ingenuity; but has been delivered as a divine deposit to the Spouse -of Christ, to be faithfully kept and infallibly declared. Hence also, -that meaning of the sacred dogmas is perpetually to be retained which -our Holy Mother the Church has once declared; nor is that meaning -ever to be departed from, under the pretence or pretext of a deeper -comprehension of them. Let, then, the intelligence, science, and wisdom -of each and all, of individuals and of the whole Church, in all ages -and all times, increase and flourish in abundance and vigour; but -simply in its own proper kind, that is to say, in one and the same -doctrine, one and the same sense, one and the same judgment (Vincent of -Lerins, _Common_. n. 28). - - -CANONS. - -I. _Of God the Creator of all things._ - -1. If any one shall deny One true God, Creator and Lord of things -visible and invisible; let him be anathema. - -2. If any one shall not be ashamed to affirm that, except matter, -nothing exists; let him be anathema. - -3. If any one shall say that the substance and essence of God and of -all things is one and the same; let him be anathema. - -4. If any one shall say that finite things, both corporeal and -spiritual, or at least spiritual, have emanated from the divine -substance; or that the divine essence by the manifestation and -evolution of itself becomes all things; or, lastly, that God is -universal or indefinite being, which by determining itself constitutes -the universality of things, distinct according to kinds (_genera_), -species, and individuals; let him be anathema. - -5. If any one confess not that the world, and all things which are -contained in it, both spiritual and material, have been, in their -whole substance, produced by God out of nothing; or shall say that God -created, not by His will, free from all necessity, but by a necessity -equal to the necessity whereby He loves Himself; or shall deny that the -world was made for the glory of God; let him be anathema. - - -II. _Of Revelation._ - -1. If anyone shall say that the One true God, our Creator and Lord, -cannot be certainly known by the natural light of human reason, through -created things; let him be anathema. - -2. If any one shall say that it is impossible, or inexpedient, that man -should be taught by divine revelation concerning God and the worship to -be paid to Him; let him be anathema. - -3. If any one shall say that man cannot be raised by divine power to a -higher than natural knowledge and perfection, but can and ought, by a -continuous progress, to arrive at length, of himself, to the possession -of all that is true and good; let him be anathema. - -4. If any one shall not receive as sacred and canonical the Books of -Holy Scripture, entire with all their parts, as the Holy Synod of -Trent has enumerated them, or shall deny that they have been divinely -inspired; let him be anathema. - - -III. _Of Faith._ - -1. If any one shall say that human reason is so independent that faith -cannot be enjoined upon it by God; let him be anathema. - -2. If any one shall say that divine faith is not distinguished from -natural knowledge of God and of moral truths, and therefore that it is -not requisite for divine faith that revealed truth be believed because -of the authority of God who reveals it; let him be anathema. - -3. If any one shall say that divine revelation cannot be made credible -by outward signs, and therefore that men ought to be moved to faith -solely by the internal experience of each, or by private inspiration; -let him be anathema. - -4. If any one shall say that miracles are impossible, and therefore -that all the accounts regarding them, even those contained in Holy -Scripture, are to be dismissed as fabulous or mythical; or that -miracles can never be known with certainty, and that the divine origin -of Christianity is not rightly proved by them; let him be anathema. - -5. If any one shall say that the assent of Christian faith is not a -free act, but necessarily produced by the arguments of human reason; -or that the grace of God is necessary for that living faith only which -worketh by charity; let him be anathema. - -6. If any one shall say that the condition of the faithful, and of -those who have not yet attained to the only true faith, is on a par, -so that Catholics may have just cause for doubting, with suspended -assent, the faith which they have already received under the teaching -(_magisterio_) of the Church, until they shall have obtained a -scientific demonstration of the credibility and truth of their faith; -let him be anathema. - - -IV. _Of Faith and Reason._ - -1. If any one shall say that in divine revelation there are no -mysteries, truly and properly so called, but that all the doctrines of -faith can be understood and demonstrated from natural principles by -properly cultivated reason; let him be anathema. - -2. If any one shall say that human sciences are to be so freely -treated, that their assertions, although opposed to revealed doctrine, -can be held as true, and cannot be condemned by the Church; let him be -anathema. - -3. If any one shall assert it to be possible that sometimes, according -to the progress of science, a sense is to be given to doctrines -propounded by the Church different from that which the Church has -understood and understands; let him be anathema. - -Therefore We, fulfilling the duty of our supreme pastoral office, -entreat by the mercies of Jesus Christ, and, by the authority of the -same our God and Saviour, We command, all the faithful of Christ, and -especially those who are set over others or are charged with the office -of instruction, that they earnestly and diligently apply themselves to -ward off and eliminate these errors from Holy Church, and to spread the -light of pure faith. - -And since it is not sufficient to shun heretical pravity, unless -those errors also be diligently avoided which more or less nearly -approach it. We admonish all men of the further duty of observing the -Constitutions and Decrees by which such erroneous opinions as are not -here expressly enumerated have been proscribed and condemned by this -Holy See. - -Given at Rome in Public Session, solemnly held in the Vatican Basilica -in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, on -the twenty-fourth day of April, in the twenty-fourth year of our -Pontificate. - - _In conformity with the original_, - - JOSEPH, _Bishop of St. Polten_, - - _Secretary of the Vatican Council._ - - -FIRST DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. - -Pius Bishop, Servant of the servants of God, with the approval of the -Sacred Council, for perpetual remembrance. - -The Eternal Pastor and Bishop of our souls, in order to continue for -all time the life-giving work of His Redemption, determined to build -up the Holy Church, wherein, as in the House of the living God, all -who believe might be united in the bond of one faith and one charity. -Wherefore, before He entered into His glory, He prayed unto the Father, -not for the Apostles only, but for those also who through their -preaching should come to believe in Him, that all might be one, even -as He the Son and the Father are one (St. John xvii. 21). As then He -sent the Apostles whom He had chosen to Himself from the world, as He -Himself had been sent by the Father; so He willed that there should -ever be pastors and teachers in His Church to the end of the world. -And in order that the Episcopate also might be one and undivided, and -that by means of a closely united priesthood the multitude of the -faithful might be kept secure in the oneness of faith and communion, -He set Blessed Peter over the rest of the Apostles, and fixed in -him the abiding principle of this two-fold unity and its visible -foundation, in the strength of which the everlasting temple should -arise, and the Church in the firmness of that faith should lift her -majestic front to heaven.[501] And seeing that the gates of hell with -daily increase of hatred are gathering their strength on every side to -upheave the foundation laid by God's own hand, and so, if that might -be, to overthrow the Church: We, therefore, for the preservation, safe -keeping, and increase of the Catholic flock, with the approval of the -Sacred Council, do judge it to be necessary to propose to the belief -and acceptance of all the faithful, in accordance with the ancient -and constant faith of the universal Church, the doctrine touching the -institution, perpetuity, and nature of the sacred Apostolic Primacy, in -which is found the strength and solidity of the entire Church; and at -the same time to proscribe and condemn the contrary errors, so hurtful -to the flock of Christ. - - -Chap. I. _Of the Institution of the Apostolic Primacy in Blessed Peter._ - -We therefore teach and declare that, according to the testimony of the -Gospel, the primacy of jurisdiction over the universal Church of God -was immediately and directly promised and given to Blessed Peter the -Apostle by Christ the Lord. For it was to Simon alone, to whom He had -already said, "Thou shalt be called Cephas" (St. John i. 42), that the -Lord, after the confession made by him, saying, "Thou art the Christ, -the Son of the living God," addressed these solemn words: "Blessed art -thou, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood have not revealed it to -thee, but My Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee that thou art -Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell -shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the -kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall -be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it -shall be loosed in heaven" (St. Matthew xvi. 16-19). And it was upon -Simon alone that Jesus after His resurrection bestowed the jurisdiction -of Chief Pastor and Ruler over all His fold in the words: "Feed My -lambs; feed My sheep" (St. John xxi. 15-17). At open variance with -this clear doctrine of Holy Scripture, as it has been ever understood -by the Catholic Church, are the perverse opinions of those who, while -they distort the form of government established by Christ the Lord in -His Church, deny that Peter in his single person, preferably to all the -other Apostles, whether taken separately or together, was endowed by -Christ with a true and proper primacy of jurisdiction; or of those who -assert that the same primacy was not bestowed immediately and directly -upon Blessed Peter himself, but upon the Church, and through the Church -on Peter as her minister. - -If any one, therefore, shall say that Blessed Peter the Apostle was -not appointed the Prince of all the Apostles and the visible Head of -the whole Church Militant; or that the same directly and immediately -received from the same our Lord Jesus Christ a primacy of honour only, -and not of true and proper jurisdiction; let him be anathema. - - -Chap. II. _On the Perpetuity of the Primacy of Blessed Peter in the -Roman Pontiffs._ - -That which the Prince of Shepherds and Great Shepherd of the sheep, -Jesus Christ our Lord, established in the person of the Blessed Apostle -Peter, to secure the perpetual welfare and lasting good of the Church, -must, by the same institution, necessarily remain unceasingly in the -Church; which, being founded upon the Rock, will stand firm to the end -of the world. For none can doubt, and it is known to all ages, that -the holy and Blessed Peter, the Prince and Chief of the Apostles, the -pillar of the faith and foundation of the Catholic Church, received -the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and -Redeemer of mankind, and lives, presides, and judges, to this day -and always, in his successors the Bishops of the Holy See of Rome, -which was founded by him, and consecrated by his blood.[502] Whence, -whosoever succeeds to Peter in this See does by the institution of -Christ Himself obtain the Primacy of Peter over the whole Church. -This disposition made by Incarnate Truth (_dispositio veritatis_) -therefore remains, and Blessed Peter abiding in the rock strength which -he received (_in acceptâ fortitudine petræâ perseverans_), has not -abandoned the direction of the Church.[503] Wherefore it has at all -times been necessary that every particular Church--that is to say, the -faithful throughout the world--should come to the Church of Rome, on -account of the greater princedom it has received; so that in this See, -whence the rights of venerable communion spread to all, they might, as -members joined together in their head, grow closely into one body.[504] - -If, then, one shall say that it is not by the institution of Christ the -Lord, or by divine right, that Blessed Peter has a perpetual line of -successors in the primacy over the universal Church; or that the Roman -Pontiff is not the successor of Blessed Peter in this primacy; let him -be anathema. - - -Chap. III. _On the Power and Nature of the Primacy of the Roman -Pontiff._ - -Wherefore, resting on plain testimonies of the Sacred Writings, and -adhering to the plain and express decrees both of our predecessors the -Roman Pontiffs, and of the General Councils, We renew the definition -of the OEcumenical Council of Florence, by which all the faithful of -Christ must believe that the Holy Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff -possesses the primacy over the whole world; and that the Roman Pontiff -is the successor of Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and is -true Vicar of Christ, and Head of the whole Church, and Father and -Teacher of all Christians; and that full power was given to him in -Blessed Peter, by Jesus Christ our Lord, to rule, feed, and govern the -Universal Church: as is also contained in the Acts of the OEcumenical -Councils and in the Sacred Canons. - -Hence we teach and declare, that by the appointment of our Lord the -Roman Church possesses a sovereignty of ordinary power over all other -Churches, and that this power of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, -which is truly episcopal, is immediate; to which all, of whatever -rite and dignity, both pastors and faithful, both individually and -collectively, are bound, by their duty of hierarchical subordination -and true obedience, to submit, not only in matters which belong to -faith and morals, but also in those that appertain to the discipline -and government of the Church throughout the world; so that the Church -of Christ may be one flock under one supreme Pastor, through the -preservation of unity, both of communion and of profession of the same -faith, with the Roman Pontiff. This is the teaching of Catholic truth, -from which no one can deviate without loss of faith and of salvation. - -But so far is this power of the Supreme Pontiff from being any -prejudice to that ordinary and immediate power of episcopal -jurisdiction, by which Bishops, who have been set by the Holy Ghost to -succeed and hold the place of the Apostles,[505] feed and govern each -his own flock as true pastors, that this same power is really asserted, -strengthened, and protected by the supreme and universal Pastor; in -accordance with the words of St. Gregory the Great: "My honour is -the honour of the whole Church. My honour is the firm strength of my -brethren. Then am I truly honoured, when the honour due to each and -all is not withheld."[506] - -Further, from this supreme power possessed by the Roman Pontiff of -governing the universal Church, it follows that, in the exercise of -this office, he has the right of free communication with the pastors -of the whole Church, and with their flocks, that they may be taught -and ruled by him in the way of salvation. Wherefore We condemn and -reprobate the opinions of those who hold that the communication between -the supreme Head and the pastors and their flocks can lawfully be -impeded; or who make this communication subject to the will of the -secular power, so as to maintain that whatever is done by the Apostolic -See, or by its authority, for the government of the Church, cannot have -force or value unless it be confirmed by the assent of the secular -power. And since, by the divine right of Apostolic primacy, the Roman -Pontiff is placed over the universal Church, We further teach and -declare that he is the supreme judge of the faithful,[507] and that in -all causes the decision of which belongs to the Church recourse may be -had to his tribunal;[508] but that none may re-open the judgment of the -Apostolic See, than whose authority there is no greater, nor can any -lawfully review its judgment.[509] Wherefore they err from the right -path of truth who assert that it is lawful to appeal from the judgments -of the Roman Pontiffs to an OEcumenical Council, as to an authority -higher than that of the Roman Pontiff. - -If then any shall say that the Roman Pontiff has the office merely of -inspection or direction, and not full and supreme power of jurisdiction -over the universal Church, not only in things which belong to faith -and morals, but also in those which relate to the discipline and -government of the Church spread throughout the world; or assert that he -possesses merely the principal part, and not all the fulness of this -supreme power; or that this power which he enjoys is not ordinary and -immediate, both over each and all the Churches, and over each and all -the pastors and the faithful; let him be anathema. - - -Chap. IV. _Concerning the Infallible Teaching of the Roman Pontiff._ - -Moreover, that the supreme power of teaching (_magisterii_) is also -included in the Apostolic primacy, which the Roman Pontiff, as the -successor of Peter, Prince of the Apostles, possesses over the whole -Church, this Holy See has always held, the perpetual practice of -the Church confirms, and OEcumenical Councils also have declared, -especially those in which the East with the West met in the union -of faith and charity. For the Fathers of the Fourth Council of -Constantinople, following in the footsteps of their predecessors, gave -forth this solemn profession: The first condition of salvation is to -keep the rule of the true faith. And because the sentence of our Lord -Jesus Christ cannot be passed by, who said, "Thou art Peter, and upon -this Rock I will build My Church" (St. Matthew xvi. 18), these things -which have been said are proved by events, because in the Apostolic See -the Catholic religion has always been kept undefined and her well-known -doctrine has been kept holy. Desiring, therefore, not to be in the -least degree separated from the faith and doctrine of this See, we hope -that we may deserve to be in the one communion, which the Apostolic See -preaches, in which is the entire and true solidity of the Christian -religion.[510] And with the approval of the Second Council of Lyons, -the Greeks professed: That the Holy Roman Church enjoys supreme and -full Primacy and princedom over the whole Catholic Church, which it -truly and humbly acknowledges that it has received with the plenitude -of power from our Lord Himself in the person of Blessed Peter, Prince -or Head of the Apostles, whose successor the Roman Pontiff is; and as -the Apostolic See is bound before all others to defend the truth of -faith, so also, if any questions regarding faith shall arise, they -must be defined by its judgment.[511] Finally, the Council of Florence -defined:[512] That the Roman Pontiff is the true Vicar of Christ, -and the Head of the whole Church, and the Father and Teacher of all -Christians; and that to him in Blessed Peter was delivered by our Lord -Jesus Christ the full power of feeding, ruling, and governing the whole -Church (John xxi. 15-17). - -To satisfy this pastoral duty, our predecessors ever made unwearied -efforts that the salutary doctrine of Christ might be propagated among -all the nations of the earth, and with equal care watched that it might -be preserved genuine and pure where it had been received. Therefore -the Bishops of the whole world, now singly, now assembled in synod, -following the long-established custom of Churches[513] and the form of -the ancient rule,[514] sent word to this Apostolic See of those dangers -especially which sprang up in matters of faith, that there the losses -of faith might be most effectually repaired where the faith cannot -fail.[515] And the Roman Pontiffs, according to the exigencies of times -and circumstances, sometimes assembling OEcumenical Councils, or asking -for the mind of the Church scattered throughout the world, sometimes by -particular Synods, sometimes using other helps which Divine Providence -supplied, defined as to be held those things which with the help of -God they had recognized as conformable with the Sacred Scriptures and -Apostolic Traditions. For the Holy Spirit was not promised to the -successors of Peter, that by His revelation they might make known new -doctrine, but that by His assistance they might inviolably keep and -faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith delivered through -the Apostles. And indeed all the venerable Fathers have embraced and -the holy orthodox Doctors have venerated and followed their Apostolic -doctrine; knowing most fully that this See of Saint Peter remains ever -free from all blemish of error according to the divine promise of the -Lord our Saviour made to the Prince of His disciples: "I have prayed -for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, confirm -thy brethren" (St. Luke xxii. 32).[516] - -This gift, then, of truth and never-failing faith, was conferred by -Heaven upon Peter and his successors in this Chair, that they might -perform their high office for the salvation of all; that the whole -flock of Christ, kept away by them from the poisonous food of error, -might be nourished with the pasture of heavenly doctrine; that, the -occasion of schism being removed, the whole Church might be kept one, -and, resting on its foundation, might stand firm against the gates of -hell. - -But since in this very age, in which the salutary efficacy of the -Apostolic office is most of all required, not a few are found who take -away from its authority, we judge it altogether necessary solemnly to -assert the prerogative which the only-begotten Son of God vouchsafed to -join with the supreme pastoral office. - -Therefore, faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the -beginning of the Christian faith, for the glory of God our Saviour, the -exaltation of the Catholic Religion, and the salvation of Christian -people, with the approval of the Sacred Council, We teach and define -that it is a dogma divinely revealed: That the Roman Pontiff, when -he speaks _ex cathedrâ_, that is, when in discharge of the office -of Pastor and Teacher of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme -Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to -be held by the universal Church, is, by the divine assistance promised -to Him in Blessed Peter, possessed of that infallibility with which the -divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be endowed in defining -doctrine regarding faith or morals; and that therefore such definitions -of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not from the consent of the -Church, irreformable.[517] - -But if any one, which may God avert! presume to contradict this our -Definition; let him be anathema. - -Given at Rome in Public Session, solemnly held in the Vatican Basilica -in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, on the -eighteenth day of July, in the twenty-fifth year of our Pontificate. - - _In conformity with the original_, - - JOSEPH, _Bishop of St. Polten_, - - _Secretary to the Vatican Council_. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[Footnote 497: Fourth Lateran Council, cap. i. de fide Catholica.] - -[Footnote 498: Council of Trent, sess. iv. de Can. Script.] - -[Footnote 499: Second Council of Orange, confirmed by Pope Boniface -II, A.D. 529, against the Semipelagians, can. vii. See Denzinger's -_Enchiridion Symbolorum_, p. 50. Würzburg, 1854.] - -[Footnote 500: From the Bull of Pope Leo X, _Apostolici regiminis_, -read in the viii. session of the Fifth Lateran Council, A.D. 1513. See -Labbé's _Councils_, vol. xix. p. 842. Venice, 1732.] - -[Footnote 501: From Sermon IV. chap. ii. of St. Leo the Great, A.D. -440, vol. i. p. 17, of edition of Ballerini, Venice, 1753: read in the -eighth lection on the Feast of St. Peter's Chair at Antioch, February -22.] - -[Footnote 502: From the Acts (session third) of the Third General -Council of Ephesus, A.D. 431. Labbé's _Councils_, vol. iii. p. 1154. -Venice edition of 1728. See also letter of St. Peter Chrysologus to -Eutyches, in life prefixed to his works, p. 13. Venice, 1750.] - -[Footnote 503: From Sermon III. chap. iii. of St. Leo the Great, vol. -i. p. xii.] - -[Footnote 504: From St. Irenæus _against Heresies_, Book III. cap. -iii. p. 175, Benedictine edition, Venice, 1734; and Acts of Synod of -Aquileia, A.D. 381, Labbé's _Councils_, vol. ii. p. 1185, Venice, 1728.] - -[Footnote 505: From chap. iv. of xxiii. session of Council of Trent, -"Of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy."] - -[Footnote 506: From the Letters of St. Gregory the Great, Book VIII. -30. vol. ii. p. 919. Benedictine edition. Paris. 1705.] - -[Footnote 507: From a Brief of Pius VI. _Super soliditate_, of November -28, 1786.] - -[Footnote 508: From the Acts of the Fourteenth General Council of -Lyons, A.D. 1274. Labbé's _Councils_, vol. xiv. p. 512.] - -[Footnote 509: From Letter VIII. of Pope Nicholas I. A.D. 858, to the -Emperor Michael, in Labbé's _Councils_, vol. ix. pp. 1339 and 1570.] - -[Footnote 510: From the Formula of St. Hormisdas, subscribed by the -Fathers of the Eighth General Council (Fourth of Constantinople) A.D. -869. Labbé's _Councils_, vol. v. pp. 583, 622.] - -[Footnote 511: From the Acts of the Fourteenth General Council (Second -of Lyons), A.D. 1274, Labbé, vol. xiv. p. 512.] - -[Footnote 512: From the Acts of the Seventeenth General Council of -Florence, A.D. 1438. Labbé, vol. xviii. p. 526.] - -[Footnote 513: From a Letter of St. Cyril of Alexandria to Pope St. -Celestine I. A.D. 422, vol. vi. part ii. p. 36, Paris edition OF 1638.] - -[Footnote 514: From a Rescript of St. Innocent I. to the Council of -Milevis, A.D. 402. Labbé, vol. iii. p. 47.] - -[Footnote 515: From a Letter of St. Bernard to Pope Innocent II, A.D. -1130. Epist. 191, vol. iv. p. 433, Paris edition of 1742.] - -[Footnote 516: See also the Acts of the Sixth General Council, A.D. -680. Labbé, vol. vii. 659.] - -[Footnote 517: That is, in the words used by Pope Nicholas I. Note 13. -and in the Synod of Quedlinburg, A.D. 1085, "it is allowed to none to -revise its judgment, and to sit in judgment upon what it has judged." -Labbé, vol. xii. p. 679.] - - - - -APPENDIX D - -THE POPE PERSONALLY PREPARING CHILDREN FOR WAR - - -The _Times_ of Tuesday, February 29, 1876, has the following-- - - "The Vatican _Voce della Veritá_ gives an account of a reception by - the Pope of foreign families, recent converts to the Church, and - mostly English and Americans. The Pope took particular notice of a - little boy, six years old, the child of Mr. William Hutchinson, a - graduate of Oxford. The child was dressed as a Pontifical Switzer, - and offered the military salute. The Pope smilingly took hold of - his _baton_, and said, 'Where is your halberd, Switzer?' To which - the child spiritedly said, 'Holy Father, I hope if God gives me - health when I grow up to carry your Holiness's banner.' The Pope, - stooping down, and imitating the beating of a drum with his hand, - said it was necessary to begin by beating the drum, and added, 'God - bless you, Switzer, and preserve you to defend the Holy See in His - own good time.' He addressed some affectionate words to the parents - and all present." - - - - -INDEX - - - Acclamation, Acton on, 83; - Plantier on, 204; - fears of, at first session, 296; - Manning on, 302; - De Luca on, 358; - again suggested, 480, 481; - checked by American bishops, 490. - - Acton, Lord, on counsel given by cardinals, 59; - on the seventeen questions, 119; - view of Antonelli, 231; - on the views of the Curia, 232, 233; - on secrecy, 365; - on how information leaked out, 367. - - Antonelli, Cardinal, Newman's notion of as to Syllabus, 123; - answers Schwarzenberg, 181; - his position towards the Council, 340; - reply to Beust, 447; - reply to Daru, 448. - - Aristocracy, in Papal States; old not to be restored in new - theocracy, 353. - - Armenians, in Rome, arrests, interdict, and flight from - monastery, 516-520. - - Arnim, Count, to Bismarck; acts as mediator, 657. - - Audu, Patriarch of Babylon, speech of, 377; - ordered alone to the Vatican, 377; - night scene with the Pope, 461-464. - - Austrian bishops refuse to keep the law, 207. - - - Babylon, Patriarch of, _see_ AUDU. - - Baptism, political effects of, 87, 371, 372. - - Bell, for Presidents, mystic symbols on, snake assailing bark of - St. Peter, 237. - - Bellarmine, on bishops opposing Pope, 396. - - Beust, Count, Austrian minister, reply to Hohenlohe, 185; - despatch to Rome, 445; - reply to Antonelli, 447; - defines the position of the State, 453. - - Bianchi, Procurator-General of the Dominicans, sermon in St. Peter's - preceding the Council, 242. - - Bishops, relation of, to the Pope, 77; - his prefects, 78; - bearing discordant testimony to the faith, i., 227; - disabilities of, in the Council, 322, 325, 333, 344, 367, 398, 399, - 400, 404, 418, 468, 470; - memoranda of, on proposed decrees, 534; - their oath, 604. - - Bismarck, to Arnim on relations of Vatican and Germany, 378. - - Blacas, Duke of, the Crusader, his death and exemption from - purgatory, 150. - - Bull, convoking Council, 143; - limiting censures (_Apostolicae Sedis_), 335; - hierarchical, fiscal, and political aspects of this Bull, 336-339; - suspending Council, 663. - - - Campagna, the, 90. - - Canon Law, the common law of a country with or without consent of its - Parliament, 48; - ought to be the law of the State, 209. - - Canons, the famous twenty-one published, and consequent alarm, 431 ff.; - new and all-important one, first proposed by guile and next forced - through, 244. - - Cardinals ordered to write secret notes as to the question of a - future Council, 2; - contents of notes, 57-59. - - Catechism, changes in, 463 ff.; - vote upon the new, 533. - - Cecconi, Archbishop of Florence, subject of his history, 2. - - Church and State, subordination of State, 19 ff., 41, 42, 245, - 340, 439, 451, 580; - ideal of such subordination realized in Papal States, 88. - - Church, right of, to inflict pains and penalties, 20, 41, 50, 29; - Montalembert on, 155; - Lacordaire forced to profess, 162; - embodied in the Inquisition, 234; - consent of, to dogmas declared unnecessary, 615. - - Civilization means the civil system, 15; - Christian civilization means Pope over all princes, 41. - - _Civiltá Cattolica_, commencement of, 14; - its mission, 15; - first manifesto, 15 ff.; - on Syllabus, 43; - quoted, _passim_. - - Clergy, morals and training of, 168, 412, 423, 424 ff. - - Collingridge, Arthur, English Crusader, 140. - - Comma, vote upon, 494. - - Commissions, six secret ones at work, 180. - - Communication of Pope with the faithful, what is meant by, 24, 340, 581. - - Concordats, 201. - - Council, Vatican, first formal preparations, 2; - notes of cardinals upon, 57-59; - of selected bishops upon, 65 ff.; - preparations for, interrupted by Sadowa, 72; - postponed in 1867, 73; - publicly intimated, 113; - objects and composition of, 483; - fears of political effects, 170; - manifestoes preparatory to, 171, 192, 196; - first session, 271-307; - second session, 379; - third session, 520; - fourth session of, 629; - _see_ PROCEDURE, Rules of. - - Creed, that of Pius IV. altered the decrees of Trent, 128; - a new one read at Vatican Council, 381; - old and new together, 382. - - Crotti, Count, refuses to take the oaths to Italy, 82. - - Crusade of St. Peter, efficiency of Crusaders, 132; - religious incitements to, 133; - tales of, 138; - the Pope in camp, 149; - preaching the Crusade, 150; - Crusaders exempt from purgatory, 151; - Allet's order, 172; - France commended for, 588; - to subdue the world, 653; - Crusaders leave Rome, 660. - - - Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, reprimand of, 78; - discusses whether a Liberal prince may or may not be absolved, 156; - refuted at Rome, 156; - his forecast of Perils in the Council, 215; - speaks, 416; - a speech of, in full, 555. - - Daru, Count, minister of France, opinions of, 400; - threatens to withdraw French garrison, 442; - important despatch, 447; - reply to Antonelli, 450 ff.; - suddenly retires, 460. - - Death, good hope in, for Cardinals, 372; - less hope for bishops, 373. - - Decrees, purport of those of Vatican Council, 491; - conclusion to first imposed, 493; - Canon in second imposed, 597; - text of, Appendix C. - - Directing Congregation, secret proceedings of, 165; - deprives bishops of right of proposing measures, enforces secrecy, - holds fifty meetings, 385. - - Direct power and indirect, doctrine of, 449. - - Discussion not anticipated by the Curia, 342-350. - - Döllinger, his position and reputation, 180; - abused by Ultramontanes, 422, 472; - his first open manifesto, 425; - addresses to, 471; - declares that majorities cannot make dogmas, 484. - - Dufournel, two brothers, Crusaders, their martyrdom and honours, 186 ff. - - Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans, his manifesto, 215-222; - lectured by Deschamps, 222; - reply to Deschamps, 427; - refused the _imprimatur_ in Rome, 426; - personal attacks upon, 457. - - - Encyclical of December 8, 1864, 5. - - Excommunication blasts the soul, according to Pius IX, 32. - - - Faculties, Quinquennial, 55, 77, 169. - - Falcimagne, Abbé, contends that a Liberal prince may not be - absolved, 159. - - Florence abused by Veuillot, 85. - - Free Church in a Free State, origin of the phrase, 33; - what Free Church means, 48. - - Freemasons denounced, 79. - - Friedrich, Professor, replies to Manning, 226; - his _Tagebuch_, 240; - his journey, 241, 242; - on program, 317; - on decrees on faith, 347; - on Jesuits, 365; - on Roman monks, 394; - on morals of the clergy, 412 ff.; - his internal conflict, 474; - on decree on infallibility, 476; - on the inevitable sunbeam, 547. - - - German bishops, ambiguous manifesto of, at Fulda, 204; - dismissed by Nardi, 346, 348; - on infallibility, 405. - - German language, put out of priests' schools, 194. - - German notables (Catholic), meeting of, in Berlin, 205. - - Goldoni, the Crusader, his death and exemption from purgatory, 151. - - Governments, proper place of, in education, 16; - warned by Manning, 225; - by _Civiltá_, 352; - their duty as to infallibility, 455. - - Gratry, Father, letters of, 422. - - Guidi, Cardinal, speech of, 583; - excitement caused by, 584; - scene with the Pope, 585; - votes _Placet_, 632. - - Guillemin, the Crusader, anecdote of, 72; - death and posthumous honours, 139-141. - - - Hefele, Bishop of Rottenburg, gives confused advice, 321; - on Pope Honorius, 500; - states the dilemma prepared by the Pope for the bishops of the - minority, 604. - - Hergenröther, among the men whom Schwarzenberg deemed weak, 181; - held up in England as an authority. _id._; - asserts that bishops in Vatican Council had freedom of - proposition, 320; - his Anti-Janus, 395. - - History, official, how written, 592, 593. - - Hohenlohe, Cardinal, his dinner parties, 417 ff. - - Hohenlohe, Prince, minister of Bavaria, his circular to cabinets, 184. - - - Italians, excommunicated, 31; - abused, 188, 211, 402. - - Italy in 1846, 8; - again in 1848, 9; - in 1854, 28; - in 1862, 34; - in 1867, 84, 85. - - Immaculate Conception, effects of the proclamation upon polity, 3. - - Immunity, purport of, 39, 48. - - Indulgences, 186. - - Infallibility, foreshadowed, 182; - address in favour of, 402; - counter address, 404; - opposed on principle, 405; - decision to bring it forward, 477; - new doctrine in many sees, 505; - danger of, to States, hinted by bishops, 508; - to be brought on out of order, 529; - responsibility for, disowned by many bishops, 530. - - Inquisitor, a canonised, 73, 171. - - Instruction, freedom of, illustrated, 16 ff. - - Isabella, Queen of Spain, promises to Pope armed aid, 173; - receives the golden rose, 177. - - - _Janus_, 182, 197. - - Jesuits, morals of, 415. - - Jong, Peter, the Crusader, his martyrdom, 150. - - - Kenrick, Archbishop of St. Louis, on the committees, 334; - speaks, 360; - shows how the conclusion to the first decree was passed, 493; - on infallibility, 536; - questions catholicity of the Council, 538; - refutes Cullen, 549; - on why British government conceded Catholic emancipation, 566; - on oaths and declarations, 569; - describes first teaching of infallibility in Maynooth, 554. - - Ketteler, Bishop of Mainz, his table talk, 420. - - Kings, subordinate to ecclesiastical authority, 20, 21, 23, 39, 41, - 42, 46, 48, 136, 191. - - Kings, subordinate to ecclesiastical authority, 20, 21, 23, 39, 41, - 42, 46, 48, 136, 191; - not to be tolerated after Council, if they do not rightly govern, - 268, 439; - two in every Catholic country, 48, 133, 191; - not to be convoked to the Council, 135, 183. - - Kleutgen, the Jesuit, story of, 482. - - - Lay States deprecated, 88. - - Ledochowski made Primate of Poland and representative of King - of Poland, 483. - - Liberal Catholics, first used and then cast off, 154; - policy of, 74; - denounced, 46, 47, 194, 210, 322; - condemned under the head of naturalism, 47. - - Liberalism condemned, 43, 46, 47, 189, 590. - - Liberty of the Press condemned, 30, 86, 158. - - Liberty, religious, the Ultramontane view of, 25; - is a plague, 30, 160. - - Liverani, Prelate and Protonotary of the Holy See, on Papal States, 9; - on morals of the Court, 108; - and of the City, 109. - - - Majority, as a rule of faith new, 469. - - Manning, Cardinal, his account of the confirmation of the Syllabus, 108; - on the consequences to civil authorities, 121, 122; - his manifesto, 222; - he finds the Papal Church not narrow enough, 223; - replied to by Friedrich, 226; - Vitelleschi on, 302, 308, 403; - his testimony to the decorum and freedom of the Council, 495; - his speech on infallibility, 564; - confuted by Kenrick, _id._; - on deputation to Pope to harden his heart, 613; - present from his fellow labourers the Jesuits, 641. - - Maret, Bishop of Sora, his work, 198; - reviewed by Schulte, 200. - - Margotti, Don, editor of _Unitá Cattolica_, on Ollivier, 400. - - Marriage, a source of revenues and power, 55. - - Menzel, Professor, forecasts of doctrinal change, 173. - - Menzel, Wolfgang, cited in two or three places. - - Michaud, Abbé, takes part in the debate on the lawfulness of absolving - a Liberal prince, 158; - on changes of catechism, 464. - - Military spectacle for bishops, 316. - - Milton on Romish ceremonies, 304. - - Minority, annoyances of, 458; - proposal that they should quit the Council after guile practised - on July 5th, 599; - flight of, 389; - represented more Catholics than majority, 620. - - Montalembert, on the reaction of 1852 and years following, 22, 74; - opposes Italy, 32; - on new Ultramontanism, 74; - his posthumous work, 153; - traces ruin of Spain to absolutism and the Inquisition, 178; - his strong opposition to infallibility, 192; - his dying manifesto, 484; - Pope forbids a high mass for him, 487. - - Moreno Garcia, President of Ecuador, a model ruler, 236. - - Mortal sin, a new one, 399. - - Munich, replies of Faculties of Theology and Law to the questions of - the king, 180. - - - Napoleon III, policy of, 233. - - Nationalism a fault, 77. - - Naturalism a heresy which includes two degrees of Liberal Catholicism, - 47, 87. - - Natural order and supernatural order, illustration of the terms, 58, 59. - - Newman, Dr., on the Syllabus, 123 ff.; - declines invitation to Rome, 135; - his alarm at the prospect of the new dogma, 510; - rallied and exorcised by the _Civiltá_, 514; - retort of Veuillot upon, 515. - - - O'Connell on the doctrine of Papists properly so called, 122. - - Ollivier, Emile, Prime Minister of France, policy of, 233, 234; - his proper course prescribed by Veuillot, 393; - changes the policy inaugurated by Daru, 460. - - Opposition, the existence of, denied, 314; - its existence confessed, 315; - efforts to disorganize, 334; - found so grave that it must be put down, 409. - - Orientals invited to Council, 144; - their response, 145-148. - - - Papacy a universal monarchy, and over all princes, 37, 39, 41, 42, 119, - 145, 192, 451, 452; - crimes of, against Italy, 662. - - Papal States, the model state for the whole world, 87, 189, 589 ff.; - no wrong act can be done in them by authority, 88; - plains of, 91; - dwellings of, 91; - people of, 92; - villages of, 93; - implements, cattle, and towns, 93-100; - classes, 101-103; - moral character of capital, 106. - - Parliamentary government decried, 188, 191, 210, 266, 401, 454. - - Parliament, English and Irish members of, are to have obligations - imposed, 689. - - Perfect Society, the Church a, 39. - - Petitions and protests of bishops of the minority, 317, 367, 369, - 407, 408, 468, 504. - - Pius IX., his States disturbed, 9; - witnesses general commotions, 9; - calls for armed aid, 10; - undertakes to reconstruct society, 11, 37, 38; - his first dogma, 31; - his jubilee of priesthood, 190; - his sayings previous to the Council, 231, 232; - his liberality, 239; - speech against the Opposition, 391; - refuses to receive address of 130 bishops, 406; - writes against bishops, 429; - excites their clergy against them, 458; - his chat, 472; - self-importance, 476; - further letters, 481; - forbids a High Mass for Montalembert, 487; - gives no access to the minority, 530; - approves of Saldanha for rebelling against his king, 564; - severity to bishops as to health, 576; - his tergiversation, 612; - offers to mediate between France and Prussia, 650; - how he likes to be addressed, 651; - appeals to King William for help, 656; - hoists white flag, 659; - foretells his restoration, 699; - re-opens the Roman question, 706. - - Placet, royal, Tarquini's doctrine of, 24 ff. - - Plantier, Bishop of Nimea; favours an acclamation and dogmatising - of the Assumption of the Virgin, 204. - - Politics included in morals, 17. - - Pope, sitting as supreme judge of princes and of laws, 38, 41, - 203, 298; - the Word of God, 238; - Abraham, Moses, and Christ, 266; - Cæsar, 389, 644; - head of statesmen, 456; - intercessor between God and the world, 582; - continues the work of Christ on earth, 591; - head of both spiritual and temporal power, 41, 42; - head of the human species, 86; - fountain of water of life, 651; - has the authority of God, 651. - - Press, is Satan, 315; - correspondents of, lampooned, 352; - contradictions of, 355. - - Priests, disfranchised, 184. - - Procedure, Method of, in the Vatican Council, 344, 362, 363, 398, 467, - 596, 605, 615, 629. - - Pro-synodal congregations, 249. - - Protestantism not a negation, 602. - - Protestants, letters of invitation to, 149. - - Pusey, Dr., valued as an ally by continental priests, 218, 430. - - - Quatrebarbes, Bernard, the Crusader, 622. - - Quélen, Count, the Crusader, 139. - - - Rauscher, Cardinal, opens discussion, 359; - laughed at by the majority, 533; - his argument on infallibility, 534-536, 582. - - Reconstruction of Society, 37, 249. - - _Reform of Church in Head and Members_, 171. - - Regulars, uses of, to Papacy, 77, 78. - - Reisach, Cardinal, head of commission, for ecclesiastico-political - affairs, 131; - his proposed code, 132; - appointed President of Council, 250; - death, 348. - - Renan, his view of intolerance as essential to the Church approved - at Rome, as against that of the Liberal Catholics, 153, 159, 163. - - Rome, changes in, 84; - street lighting a ceremony, 84; - midday in, 84; - as seen by Veuillot, 85; - city of the saints, 106; - moral condition of, 107; - is modern to Orientals, 149; - is the city of three devotions, 494. - - Rosary, its military virtues, 243; - it destroyed the Albigenses, 243. - - - Saints, new, 117. - - Segesser, his plan of reform, 331. - - Senestrey, Bishop of Regensburg, speech of, at Schwandorf, 188; - tales of, 420; - Manning's comrade on the deputation to harden the Pope's heart, 614. - - Schoolmen, their methods for all time, 44. - - Schrader, Father, the Jesuit, his propositions, 713. - - Schwarzenberg complains of the theologians selected, 181; - his reception of Sepp, 205; - interrupted while speaking, 496; - on infallibility, 547. - - Sibour, Archbishop of Paris, on new Ultramontanism, 74. - - Society, the Pope the saviour of, 145, 190, 456, 647. - - Soglia, his doctrine according to Newman, 126; - his real doctrine, 129. - - State, subordinate to Church, 40, 41, 42, 46, 88, 340, 439, 451. - - _Stimmen aus Maria Laach_ on religious liberty, 193. - - Strossmayer, attempts to speak on the Rules, 333; - called to order, 362; - extract of speech, 363; - on the official reports, 364. - - Stumpf on religious liberty and on the freedom of the lawgiver from - the command of the priest, 210-213. - - Subjects more the subjects of the Pope than of their own sovereign, 191. - - Sunbeams, doctrinal value of, 3, 264. - - Sword, doctrine of, 244; - _see_ also CRUSADE OF ST. PETER. - - Syllabus, issue of, 8; - contents of 43 ff.; - summary of its effects, 51; - confirmed by Pope, 110; - accepted by collective episcopate, 114; - Manning's account of its confirmation, 121; - cited by _Civiltá_, 101; - not the work of the Pope according to Dr. Newman, 124. - - - Table-talk, during the Council, 417. - - Taigi, Anna Maria, the new guardian of the Capitol, 247. - - Tarquini, Cardinal, a Jesuit, when a Professor hailed by Pius IX., 22; - his doctrine of king and Pope, 23 ff; - his doctrine of the sword, 244 ff. - - Temporal power of Pope necessary to his spiritual office, 35, 115. - - Theiner, Augustine, Prefect of the Vatican Archives, forbidden to show - documents to bishops or theologians, 377; - his unsuccessful attempt to see Lord Guildford's MSS., _id._; - his dismissal, 340. - - Theocracy, contrast between the Mosaic and the Papal, 21. - - Theologians, excluded from Vatican Council, 311; - forbidden to meet or consult together, 313; - attainments of Roman, 344. - - Third party, attempt to form, 459. - - Toleration, when to be allowed, 31. - - Tribunals, the internal, external, and supreme, 38, 544, 675. - - - Ultramontanism, difference between old and new, 74, 75. - - _Unitá Cattolica_, abuse of Italy, 188. - - Unity, Romish notion of, 189. - - - Veuillot, Louis, editor of _Univers_, a layman, on the grand results - to be expected, 85, 86; - on the press, 86; - wants bishops for Prefects of Provinces, 267; - sees in the future only 'the Pope and the People,' 268; - would not have ancient aristocracy restored, 352, 353; - abuses correspondents of papers, 353; - lays down a policy for France, 393; - gives glory to M. Ollivier, 460; - his _true_ account of the scene between the Pope and the - Patriarch of Babylon, 462; - watches the minority, 625. - - Vicar of Christ, the office described, 591. - - Virgin, the letter of, on infallibility, 547. - - Vitelleschi, origin of his book, 356; - attacked in vain by the _Civiltá_, 356; - his view of the practical scope of infallibility, 509. - - - War, anticipations or threats of, 82, 208, 210, 341, 349, 389, 445, 454, - 500, 539, 610, 669. - - Watts-Russell, the Crusader, 588. - - - Youth, Catholic, manifestoes of, 354, 441. - - -_Butler and Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London_ - - - - - * * * * * * - - - - -Transcribers note: - -Original spelling has been retained. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POPE, THE KINGS AND THE PEOPLE*** - - -******* This file should be named 54587-0.txt or 54587-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/4/5/8/54587 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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