Letters From Rome on the Council

124

Del Bene, Decreta et Constitt. Pontif. in his De Offic. Inquis. ii. 647.

125

[That this is no mere abstract theory, even in quite recent days, may be seen from Blanco White's account of his mother's agony of mind when she began to suspect his opinions and feared it might become her duty to denounce him to the Inquisition. – Tr.]

126

Decr. v. 7, 9, and Lucius iii. and Alexander iv. in Lib. vi. 5. 2. 4.

127

Ib. 5, 2, 5.

128

Carsetti, Storia del Regno di Vittorio Amadeo di Savoia, Torino, 1856, p. 178. The Pope said it was “cosa da non potersi dir senza lagrime.”

129

Guerra, Pontif. Constit. i. 177.

130

See, e. g., Tartarotti, Apologia del Congresso, etc., p. 176.

131

Decr. ii. 24, 27.

132

D'Achery, Spicileg. iii. 714. [“Vobis et successoribus vestris Regibus et Reginis Franciæ in perpetuum indulgemus, ut confessor religiosus vel sæcularis quem vestrûm vel eorum quilibet duxerit eligendnm, vota per vos forsitan jam emissa, ac per vos et successores vestros in posterum emittenda … necnon juramenta per vos præstita, et per vos et eos præstanda in posterum, quæ vos et illi servare commode non possitis, vobis et eis commutare valeat in alia opera pietatis.” Two cases are reserved, viz., vows of chastity and vows taken to the Pope. – Tr.]

133

Bzov. Annal. Eccl. an. 1555, p. 306, ed. Colon.

134

Dodd, Church History of England, iii. 288; Tractat. Dogmat. et Scholast. de Ecclesiâ, Romæ, 1782, ii. 245.

135

D'Acheray, Spicileg. iii. 721.

136

Acta Sanct. Bolland. Ap. 23, p. 157.

137

Spondani, Annal. Eccl. Contin. ii. 595.

138

Decr. de Transl. c. ii. 3, 4. [Cf. Janus, pp. 55, 56.]

139

Decr. iv. 1, 16.

140

Dist. 81, c. 15.

141

Concil. Gangrens. can. 4.

142

Concil. ed. Labbé, t. xiii. pp. 1322, 3.

143

See Amort, De Indulg. i. 146.

144

D'Argentré, Collectio Judiciorum, Paris, 1728, iii. 297.

145

Clementin. i. 5, De Usuris, tit. 5.

146

[On this subject, as also on persecution, the reader may profitably consult Papal Infallibility and Persecution; Papal Infallibility and Usury. By an English Catholic. Macmillan, 1870. – Tr.]

147

[This had been protested against by the minority. Cf. supr. pp. 327-8.]

148

The text of the speech, as it is now printed in the journals, has been subsequently corrected and toned down.

149

“Il est sans doute de certaines fonctions où, tenant, pour ainsi dire, la place de Dieu, nous semblons être participants de sa connaissance, aussi bien que de son autorité,” etc. – Lemontey, p. 151 (éd. de Bruxelles).

150

1 Cor. ii. 14.

151

Pachym. II. 20, ed. Bonn.

152

According to a letter of his which reached Breslau the 12th July, permission to depart has been refused him.

153

[The same strange confusion of thought seems still to prevail among some fervid infallibilists of the English and Irish Episcopate, to judge from their pastorals issued since the decree of July 18. – Tr.]

154

Meanwhile the Unita of July 15 has already begun to indicate the wholesome political fruits which may be looked for from the dogma of infallibility. Gallicanism, which demanded fixed guarantees against papal decisions, has paved the way, according to Margotti, for constitutionalism and parliamentarism; for after a Pope whose decrees ex cathedrâ are not irreformable, comes a king limited by the Constitution, and then the era of parliamentary revolutions and political storms is introduced. But now the bright example set by the Bishops in their submission to the infallible Pope will restore not France only, but the whole of Europe. From them the nations will learn to submit as children to their sovereigns, the kingdom of unrighteousness will pass away, and the kingdom of God succeed. That is plain speaking; absolutism in the Church will lead to absolutism in the State. Margotti then surrenders himself to the most brilliant hopes, predicts unprecedented miracles, and records those which have been already wrought for infallibility during the Council, or will immediately be wrought. We cannot venture to withhold them from our readers. First, it seemed impossible to attain an agreement of the Bishops on the proclamation of infallibility; all wanted to speak, and the discussion seemed likely to be endless. But the Holy Ghost unexpectedly interposed; above sixty Bishops waved their right to speak, and the Schema was voted and approved. Secondly, a great opposition of all the governments was feared, who only kept quiet while they watched the quarrels of the Bishops themselves in the Council. But scarcely had the Bishops shown themselves unanimous, when the Hohenzollern question turned up, which absorbs everybody's attention, and leaves the Church in peace. The third miracle is still in the future – the dogma will suddenly dissipate the menaces of war, because the word of God, like the Son of God, only comes into the world in the midst of universal peace.

155

The impending war led to its being held earlier.

156

[On the essential connection between the infallibility and the impeccability of the Popes, see Janus, pp. 113 sqq., and Maret, Du Concile Général, vol. ii. ch. 13. – Tr.]

157

[The decree of Constance defines that “every lawfully convoked Œcumenical Council representing the Church derives its authority immediately from Christ, and every one, the Pope included, is subject to it in matters of faith, in the healing of schism, and the reformation of the Church.” It was carried in full Council without a dissentient voice. – Tr.]

158

[That in fact is exactly what Antonelli calls it in his circular. – Tr.]

159

This is emphatically asserted in a sermon preached last year at Kensington by Archbishop Manning, where he says, speaking in the Pope's name, “I claim to be the Supreme Judge and director of the consciences of men; of the peasant that tills the field and the prince that sits on the throne; of the household that lives in the shade of privacy and the Legislature that makes laws for kingdoms– I am the sole last Supreme Judge of what is right and wrong.”

160

These letters are taken from the Journal des Débats of May 6 and 11. The Bishops of Marseilles and Montpellier are said to be the writers.

161

Lire: spartiates.

162

From the Gazette de France of June 28. The Vicar-General of an eminent French Bishop, who had been at Rome, is the reputed author.