Letters From Rome on the Council

3

[Cardinal Reisach was absent at the opening of the Council, and died soon afterwards, Dec. 26, 1869, in Savoy. – Tr.]

4

[See Introduction to The Pope and the Council, pp. 1-4. – Tr.]

5

[Cf. The Pope and the Council, p. 6. – Tr.]

6

These fears, as is well known, were not realized at Fulda.

7

The Cardinal's subsequent attitude has not justified this hope. Freppel too, as Bishop-designate of Anjou, has now declared himself for the infallibilists.

8

This design does not seem to have been persevered in.

9

Corresp. de Rome, 1869, p. 384: “L'infallibilité du Pape, décidant en matière de foi ex cathedrâ, c'est-à-dire comme maître de l'Eglise étant déjà admise par tous les vrais catholiques, un décret du Concil fera juste l'effet d'une confirmation d'une chose universellement sue et crue.”

10

“Præsidentia auctoritativa dicitur … insuper cum auctoritate coactivâ compescendi etiam per censuras ecclesiasticas, et alia juris media contradictores et rebelles et contumaces, prout ex constitutione xi. Martini v., etc.”

11

“Juramentum contra utilitatem ecclesiasticam præstitum non tenet.” – Lib. ii. tit. 24, c. 27; Sext. Lib. i. t. 2, c. 1.

12

Cf. “Janus,” p. 230.

13

[The third Lateran Council. – Tr.]

14

The Scotch pronounce Latin much as the Germans do.

15

[Even this must be taken with reserve. – Cf. infra, pp. 174, 175. – Tr.]

16

[Most of the rights originally inherent in the episcopate are now reserved to the Pope, who only allows Bishops to exercise them during good behaviour, by virtue of “faculties” renewed every five years. Cf. “Janus,” p. 422, note. – Tr.]

17

[This must be taken with some reserve, as will be seen further on. – Tr.]

18

“Obligatam hærentemque sanctiori Pontifici velut in pectore Societatem.” – Bolland, Imago, p. 622.

19

[The German College is conducted by the Jesuits. – Tr.]

20

[Archbishop MacHale does not seem to have justified this anticipation. – Tr.]

21

Excommunications latæ sententiæ, as distinguished from excommunication ferendæ sententiæ, are those which immediately take effect on the commission of the forbidden act, without requiring any sentence of Pope or Bishop to be pronounced.

22

When the news arrived from Paris of the abolition of the Pragmatic Sanction, i. e., of the reforms of Basle.

23

[This formula, often mistakenly supposed to occur in the Papal Coronation service, refers to the traditional length of St. Peter's pontificate – twenty-five years. No Pope has yet reigned to the end of his twenty-fifth year, and only one has entered on the beginning of it. Pius ix. completes his twenty-fourth year on June 16, 1870. – Tr.]

24

[This point is forcibly dwelt on by Count Daru in his memorandum, which the Pope refused to lay before the Council. – Tr.]

25

“Animas eorum qui in solo peccato originali, vel mortali actuali decedunt, in infernum descendere, pœnis tamen disparibus puniendas.”

26

“Imprimis itaque fide Catholicâ, tenendum est illorum animas,” etc. The author seems really to believe that the Rationalistic tendencies of the age can be cured with an emetic.

27

[Cardinal Reisach, who was formerly Archbishop of Munich, used to say he had almost forgotten how to speak German. – Tr.]

28

“Supremam ideoque ab errore immunem esse Romani Pontificis auctoritatem, quum in rebus fidei et moram ea statuit ac præcipit quæ ab omnibus Christi fidelibus credenda et tenenda, quæve rejicienda et damnanda sunt.”

29

“Per l'infallibilità, essendo l'Abbate Mastai, l'ho sempre creduto, adesso, essendo Papa Mastai, la sento.”

30

[This reads almost like a prophecy, when we remember how afterwards, and on slighter provocation than is here supposed, hundreds of the Infallibilist Bishops danced like maniacs round the pulpit when Strossmayer and Schwarzenberg were speaking, yelling and shaking their fists at them. – Cf. infr. Letter xxxii. – Tr.]

31

[Archbishop Darboy's interposition stopped the conspiracy being carried out at the first General Congregation, and four American Bishops disconcerted a second similar plot on St. Joseph's Day, March 19. – Cf. infr. Letter xxxvi. – Tr.]

32

“In specie ne Concilium declaret vel definiat infallibilitatem summi Pontificis, a doctissimis et prudentissimus fidelibus S. Sedi intime addictis vehementer optatur. Gravia enim mala exinde oritura timent tum fidelibus tum infidelibus. Fideles enim … corde turbarentur magis quam erigerentur, ac si nunc demum fundamentum Ecclesiæ et veræ doctrinæ stabiliendum sit; infideles vero novarum calumniarum et derisionum materiam lucrarentur. Neque desunt qui ejusmodi definitionem logice impossibilem vocant et ad ipsam Ecclesiam provocant, quæ ad instar solis splendorem lucis suæ monstrat quidem, sed non definit. Jure denique quæritur, cui usui ista definitio foret, de cujus sensu, modo et ambitu ampla inter theologos controversia est.”

33

[Monsignor Nardi said this totidem verbis to an Anglican clergyman who was inspecting the Council Hall. – Tr.]

34

“Questo puzza di schisma.”

35

[Compare with this account of the freedom of the Council the letters of two French Bishops, published in the Times of May 3, and the Journal des Débats of May 10. – Tr.]

36

Études de Théologie, Janvier 1868, p. 26: – “Le Concile n'imposait rien à notre foi, qui n'eût obtenu à peu près l'unanimité des votes. L'obligation de croire est une chose si grave, le droit de lier les intelligences est un droit si auguste et si important, que les pères pensaient n'en devoir user qu'avec la plus grande réserve et la plus extrême délicatesse.”

37

Is Healthful Reunion Impossible? By E. B. Pusey, D.D. Rivingtons, 1870.

38

[Gratry's four Letters have been translated by the Rev. T. J. Bailey. – (Hayes). – Tr.]

39

[Cf. supr. pp. 90, 91. The Tablet made the same assertions in both cases. – Tr.]

40

Adversus eos qui Sanctissimum R. Pontificis studium et Vaticani Concilii celebrandi necessitatem vituperant. Romæ.

41

[Some idea of it may be formed from the answer made some months ago by a distinguished English Prelate at Rome to an Anglican friend, who had quoted the words of one of the Opposition Bishops, “You need not quote them to me; they are no more Catholics than you are,” – thus excommunicating at one swoop the very flower of the hierarchy of his Church. – Tr.]

42

[The Curtisanen were clerical place-hunters, who came to Rome to beg or traffic for benefices. Cf. “Janus,” p. 341. – Tr.]

43

[The Bull Apostolicæ Sedis. – Cf. supr. pp. 100, 1, 5, 6. – Tr.]

44

“Damnamus perversas eorum cavillationes qui dicere audent externum quidem obsequium, non autem internum mentis cordisque assensum, R. Pontificis judiciis esse præstandum.”

45

It will of course be understood that the 300 boarders (cf. supr. p. 128) are divided among the Prelates mentioned above.

46

Istoria del Concilio de Trente, xix. 15. 3: “Facendosi quelle sole difinizioni nelle quali i padri conspirassero ad un parere.”

47

[Liverani published a striking pamphlet on the abuses of the Curia some years ago. – Tr.]

48

Joshua ix. 21.

49

Purgat. xxvii. 104.

50

“Ove accadesse collisione tra le definizioni del Concilio ecumenico e le leggi dello Stato, queste cesserebbero per ciò solo di avere qualsiasi vigore obbligatorio,” p. 262.

51

So Pius vi., in his Brief of 1791, directed against the new laws of the French Assembly for securing religions freedom. Therein the distinction is still drawn between heathen and Jews on one side and Protestants or heretics on the other, that the former cannot be compelled to receive baptism, but the others, “qui se Ecclesiæ per susceptum Baptismi Sacramentum subjecerunt, cogendi sunt” (Collect. Brev. Pii VI., Aug. Vindel. 1791, i. 34). Benedict xiv. declared the same before in 1749 (Bullar. Mag., Romæ, ed. Coquel, T. xvii. p. 272). And Pius vii. afterwards, in his Brief of 1803 (Kopp, Die kath. Kirche des 19 Jahrh., Mainz, 1830, p. 429). “According to Scripture, Councils and Tradition, heretics remain subject to the laws of the Catholic Church.”

52

Job xiii. 7.

53

The idea is thrice repeated; “fideles tam seorsim singuli quam simul omnes officio … veræ obedientiæ obstringuntur,” is said once again in the Schema.

54

Correspondance, Paris, i. 247.

55

[A writer in the Cologne Rheinischer Merkur of May 14, a newly started organ of Liberal Catholic principles, conducted entirely by priests, learnedly discusses the question “whether St. Thomas Aquinas taught Papal Infallibility,” and comes to the conclusion that, in spite of the influence of these forged authorities on his mind, he did not. – Tr.]

56

Navagero, Relazione, p. 389 in the Venetian Collection, ed. Alberi, i. 7.

57

“Ammantar la pigrizia di superiorità, sottrarsi alla noja d'esaminar le quistioni col disprezarle, sono vezzi troppo communi in Italia, e il beffarsi di questi pesanti Tedeschi, che vanno a cercare la fin dei fini. Ma in tal caso rassegniamoci a vederci trattati, da questi di negligenza e di spensierataggine quando accettiamo a occhi bendati carte, falsificate da tristi speculatori o da sbadati raccoglitori,” etc. —Archivo Storico Italiano, 1860, xii. 19.

58

[It was originally intended for public use also, and is still recited publicly by Cathedral Chapters and religions communities. Some portions of it, as Vespers and Compline, are often used in parish churches also, especially in France. – Tr.]

59

[Cf. “Janus,” pp. 60-62, 275-8. – Tr.]

60

The proposal of two Rhenish Prelates for a common declaration against Döllinger's paper on Infallibility was rejected in the meeting of German Bishops. The chief opponents were Hefele, Eberhard, Raynald, Strossmayer and Förster, who maintained that, certain arguments apart, Döllinger represented in the main the views of most German Bishops on the subject. It was further insisted, in express repudiation of the stand-point of mere “inopportuneness,” that the addresses already signed by the Infallibilists were directed in principle against the doctrine of the Church. The two Prelates declared nevertheless that they would not separate themselves from their colleagues who had signed those documents.

61

Tac. Annal. xv. 53.

62

I take this opportunity of observing that the Mémorial Diplomatique, which has the credit of supplying the world regularly with methodical fictions from Rome, has also given a spurious reply of Antonelli's to Beust's note. Perhaps one of your Paris correspondents can explain the rare persistency of that journal in habitually making game of the French with lies and inventions which are immediately exposed. Here in Rome many are disposed to seek the authors of them in the office of the Civiltà or in the Gesu.

63

Pastoral on Infallibility of the Roman Pontiff (Longmans), p. 126.

64

It is also quoted in the Journal des Débats of March 12. [This same Bishop opened the debate on the Schema de Romano Pontifice by arguing that the Pope must be infallible, because St. Peter was crucified head downwards. Cf. infr. Letter xlvi. – Tr.]

65

The Unita Cattolica of March 12 makes its Roman correspondent say that to-day the Bishops are signing in crowds a Petition to the Presidents of the Council, demanding that the discussion of the article on infallibility may take precedence of all other business, because they long to put an end at one blow to the scandal of the Liberal Catholics and Gallicans. But Margotti's journal at the same time urges patience on its readers, because decorum must be preserved, as far as may be.

66

[It seemed better to give the Letter itself, as published “by permission” in the Standard of April 7, rather than to translate the secondhand, though remarkably accurate, paraphrase given in the German text. It addressed to Bishop Ullathorne. – Tr.]

67

[Archbishop Errington was Cardinal Wiseman's coadjutor with right of succession, but was arbitrarily deprived of the post by the Pope, on his declining to resign it. His name was the first of the three sent to Rome by the Chapter of Westminster for the vacant Archbishopric on Cardinal Wiseman's death, the other two being Clifford and Grant. All three were passed over in favour of Dr. Manning. – Tr.]

68

[This explanation, that the Requiem “was intended rather as a political demonstration than a religious act,” was elaborately insisted on in the Tablet of March 28, which added the guarded but equally gratuitous statement that “the Bishop of Orleans, it appears, intended to speak at the funeral service;” winding up with the somewhat remarkable comment that “the prudence and the charity (!) of Pius ix. have been equally conspicuous in the affair.” The world hardly seems to see it. – Tr.]

69

Reform der Kirche an Haupt und Gliedern.

70

[The correctness of this prediction was conspicuously illustrated in the coup of June 3. Cf. infr. Letter lii. – Tr.]

71

This word (niederträchtigen) was lately used by a German Bishop.

72

The original text ran: “Quâ sane benignitate ipsius ac providentiâ factum est, ut ex Œcumenicis omnibus Concíliis, et ex Tridentino nominatim amplissima in universam Catholicam Familiam utilitas dimanaverit;” the amendment of Dreux-Brézé runs: “Quâ sane benignitate ipsius ac providentiâ factum est, ut licet omnibus Ecclesiae necessitatibus per ordinarium Summi Pontificis regimen et magisterium satis fuerit provisum, tamen ex Œcumenicis omnibus Conciliis,” etc.

73

[It is understood to have been Bishop Clifford of Clifton. – Tr.]

74

See Times for April 2, 1870.

75

[The English Tablet and Dublin Review have received similar papal commendations. – Tr.]

76

“Relapsum flammi ex lege addixit,” says the Dominican Bzovius in his Panegyric Paulus V. Borghesius, Rome 1626, p. 57.

77

[It will be seen that Simor, with the other Hungarian Bishops, eventually voted among the Non-placets and signed their protest. Cf. Letters lxiv, lxv. – Tr.]

78

“Quoniam vero satis non est, hæreticam pravitatem devitare, nisi ii quoque errores diligenter fugiantur, qui ad illam plus minusve accedunt: omnes officii monemus servandi etiam Constitutiones et Decreta quibus pravæ ejusmodi opiniones, quæ isthic diserte non enumerantur, ab hâc Sanctâ Sede proscriptæ et prohibitæ sunt.”

79

“Schematis de fide catholica conclusio, quæ incipit ab his verbis: Itaque supremi Pastoralis, etc., cum de eâ in ultimâ Congregatione generali non satis explicite actum fuerit, adhuc debet subjici Patrum suffragiis, antequam ad ferenda suffragia de toto Capite iv. procedatur. Ideo monentur Reverendissimi Patres, ut nunc in finem Emendationes de capite quarto hujus Schematis propositas etiam ad proximam Congregationem generalem secum deferre velint.”

80

[Conditional votes, as will be seen, are not allowed in Solemn Sessions, but only a simple Placet or Non placet. – Tr.]

81

[Cf. supr. p. 348. – Tr.]

82

[See an exhaustive article on the subject from a Catholic pen in the North British Review for October 1869. – Tr.]

83

[He refused to do so. – Tr.]

84

This proved to be a mistake.

85

“Elle estime justement qu'elle a le devoir de ne pas favoriser la diffusion de l'erreur ou des attaques contre l'autorité des Vicaires de Jésus-Christ.”

86

The infallibilists are of course luckier. Their writings are readily printed and circulated. At the same time with the writings mentioned above, Archbishop Spalding has published a letter to Dupanloup, emphatically denying that he had spoken against the opportuneness of the dogma in the paper he drew up with several other American Bishops, and declaring himself a zealous advocate for it.

87

[English readers may be referred to Renouf's Case of Honorius Reconsidered. Longmans, 1869. – Tr.]

88

It is now understood to have been written by Dr. S. Mayer under his direction.

89

[See Pastoral on Infallibility of Roman Pontiff. Longmans, 1869.]

90

“Animadvertendum quippe est, quod in publicâ Sessione juxta Litteras Apostolicas Multiplices inter d. d. Novembris 1869 Num. viii., quo modus procedendi in Sessionibus publicis præscribitur, non liceat aliter suffragium dare, nisi pure et simpliciter per verba: Placet aut Non placet, excluso alio quovis modo.”

91

[Cf. Janus, pp. 382-4. – Tr.]

92

[Since, that is, the Lateran synod of 1517 under Leo x. – Tr.]

93

Tac. Annal. ii.

94

Antonelli's, notoriously.

95

“Animés d'un profond respect pour l'autorité légitime du S. Siége, nous sommes obligés d'autre part de préserver de toute atteinte présente ou future les rapports entre l'église et l'état (as lately settled by the Concordat and the Constitution). Nous joignons nos instances aux remonstrances du Gouvernement français et nous nous croyons appelés à le faire d'autant plus, que dans le sein du concile lui-même une grande partie des représentants de l'Église d'Allemagne, dont le dévouement religieux est bien connu, atteste par son attitude que nos craintes sont loin d'être vaines.”

96

“Si, diciamolo altamente, Pio ix. credette aver ricevuto speciale missione di definire la Immacolata Concezione e la infallibilita pontificia.”

97

“Jure tam divino quam humano laicis nulla potestas in ecclesiasticas personas attributa est.”

98

See Raynald. Annal. xix. ann. 1493, 22.

99

“Hæc conditio pro Concilio Vaticano eo magis urgenda esse videtur, cum ad ferenda suffragia tot Patres admissi sunt, de quibus non constat evidenter, utrum jure tantum ecclesiastico an etiam jure divino ipsis votum decisivum competat.”

100

It appears from a passage in Letter lii. that this severe judgment on the Prince Bishop was based on an erroneous report of his conduct in the papers.

101

“Jamvero infallibilitatem S. Ap. Sedis et Romani Pontificis ad doctrinam fidei pertinere ex allatis fidei documentis constat, et contrariæ illi sententiæ a magisterio Ecclesiæ non semel fuerunt improbatæ. Cujuscunque ergo scientiæ etiam historiæ ecclesiasticæ conclusiones Rom. Pontificum infallibilitati adversantes, quo manifestius hæc ex revelationis fontibus infertur, eo certius veluti totidem errores habendas esse consequitur.”

102

“Al male dominante della licenza dei tipi, per cui il giornalismo nega e bestemmia ogni giorno, bisogna contraporre il salutare rimedio del Papa infallibile, che ogni giorno può insegnare, condannare, definire, senza che mai sia licito ai cattolici dubitare de' suoi oraculi.”

103

[The English Jesuit, Father Gallwey, says they will be like “the daily provision of manna” to the Israelites. – Tr.]

104

He should have said “the Italian prelates.”

105

Cf. supr. p. 517.

106

It will be seen from the protest afterwards published that this passage was greatly toned down.

107

Matt. xxvi. 49.

108

Von der Römischen Einheit, Wien. 1866, vol. ii. pp. 444 seq.

109

See the decree of Eugenius in Porter's Systema Decretorum, p. 535, and in Raynaldus.

110

“Ad officium nostrum spectat de quocumque mortali peccato corripere quemlibet Christianum; et, si correptionem contempserit, per districtionem ecclesiasticam coercere.” —Decretal. Novit, c. 13, De Judic. [Cf. Janus, p. 158.]

111

Concil. ed. Labbé, x. 384.

112

Innoc. Epist. ii. 209, p. 473, ed. Paris.

113

Raynald. Annal. xv. 156.

114

Raynald. Annal. an. 1376, 1.

115

See Bull Romanus Pontifex confirmed by Callixtus iii. in 1456 and Sixtus iv. in 1481. – Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, p. 58.

116

See Bull Inter Cæteræ in Raynald. Annal.

117

Raynald. Annal. an. 1493, 19.

118

Harduin. Concil ix. 1756.

119

Baron. Annal. Eccl. an. 1102, sect. 18.

120

Rog. Wendover, Hist. iii. 251.

121

Raynald. Annal. an. 1283-4.

122

Litera Apost. Summorum Pontif. pro offic. S. Inquis., Venet. 1607, p. 3.

123

Ib. p. 39.