The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, April, 1865.

In the lonely hours of his exile at Rheims, whither he had been banished by Napoleon for having refused to assist at the imperial marriage with Maria Louisa, Cardinal Consalvi found employment in tracing from memory an outline of the great affairs which had occupied him during his ministry as Secretary of State. It was no self-love nor mean desire of praise that induced the man of action thus to become the historian of his own deeds. To the same zeal which had nerved him in his conflicts for the cause of the Church, do we owe the truthful record he has left us of the fortunes of these conflicts in which the Holy See was so audaciously attacked and so successfully defended. The thought that, perhaps, one day his words might be of advantage to the interests of religion, or might supply weapons for its defence, was a motive strong enough to influence him to undertake the task under circumstances the most unfavourable that can well be imagined. "I have drawn up these memoirs", he writes, "at most critical moments; how critical, may well be imagined when I mention, that as soon as I have finished a page I must hide it at once in a safe place, so as to secure it from the unforeseen perquisitions to which at all times we are exposed.... I am without notes either to guide or to confirm my reminiscences. I have not the leisure, nor the tranquillity, nor the security, nor the liberty which I require, if I would enrich my [302] narrative with comments and becoming ornaments.... If God grant me life and better days, I hope to give to my work all that perfection of form and style which is at present beyond my power".

But, whatever the narrative may lack in perfection of form and style, is abundantly compensated by the interest attaching to the events it describes. It sets before us a picture of the movement of European society during the stirring period of the Cardinal's administration. The intrigues, and schemes, and falsehoods of diplomacy; the art of masking ambitious designs under generous language, and laying snares for a rival's unwary feet; the dishonourable selfishness, the detestable hypocrisy—in a word, all that goes to make up the strategy of modern statecraft, is laid bare in its pages by a master hand. And what lends fresh interest to the subject is the contrast it offers between the baseness of courts and the loyal rectitude of the Holy See, between the plotting which on the world's side exhibits nought but the cunning of the serpent, and the honourable prudence on the part of the Church which tells also of the simplicity of the dove. On the one hand we have a web of intrigue, each thread of which is meant to secure some perhaps undue advantage; on the other, a straightforward policy placing religion above everything, and worthy of the Pontiff who is vicar on earth of that Lord who loves souls. That the voice of such a policy should be heard at all, is due under Providence to the temporal sovereignty of the Holy See. The folly of those who would wish, for the sake of religion, to see the Pope a subject rather than a sovereign, cannot be better shown than by the history of the relations between the Holy See and the courts of Europe during Consalvi's administration. During that period Naples, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Russia, Malta, and France had each of them separate negociations to conduct with the Holy See on matters affecting the liberty of the Church and the interests of religion. It was a time when the interests of different states crossed each other in a thousand ways, and if the Pope had been the subject of any one of these kingdoms, it would have been simply impossible, humanly speaking, to carry on the government of the Church. Statesmen would have at their hand the ready pretext that the decisions of the Holy Father were coloured by undue national prejudices, and this pretext would serve to excuse their own encroachments upon the liberties of the Church in their own territories. Besides, that jealousy of the Church which has ever impelled statesmen to fetter its action, would certainly influence the sovereign who might claim the Pope as his subject to interfere with the liberty of so formidable a rival. The success which followed Cardinal Consalvi's management of affairs was due, no doubt, in great [303] part, to his surpassing abilities; but these abilities required, as the condition of their exercise, the vantage ground of independence. Speaking from the steps of a throne, with all the liberty which that position secured to him, the Cardinal Secretary had an influence which could never belong to the mere ecclesiastic raising a suppliant voice at the footstool of some haughty sovereign.

The relations of France with the Holy See in the beginning of this century were such as to demand the unceasing attention of the Papal minister. We have already given the history of the negotiations concerning the Concordat with the First Consul; we are sure that the Cardinal's narrative of other transactions between Napoleon and the Pope will prove not less interesting to our readers.

It is not a little singular that the earliest negotiation between Pius VII. and France was precisely similar to the latest, and that the name of England held a prominent place in both. It is not at all singular, however, that the Pope followed in the latest the self-same principles of conduct which he professed in the earliest, even though this faithful adherence to his duty cost him his throne, and his liberty. Soon after his arrival in Rome, from Venice, there was some reason to fear lest the French army might proclaim once more the Roman Republic, and thus deprive the Holy Father of his dominions. All anxiety was soon dispelled by the proclamation issued by Murat to his troops, then about to march upon Naples through the Pontifical territory. In this proclamation he commanded his soldiers to observe strict discipline in passing through the friendly territory of the Holy See. This recognition of the papal sovereignty was a joyful surprise to all those who heard of it. But among those who did not hear of it was a Mgr. Caleppi, just named as Nuncio to the Brazils, who had become acquainted with Murat at Florence. Filled with zeal for the Pope, Mgr. Caleppi, without having received any orders from Rome, hurried after the general and overtook him at Florence. He there induced Murat to agree to a treaty, securing the integrity of the Papal territory on certain conditions, which he promised would be at once carried to Rome and gladly accepted by his Holiness. The treaty was short, but contained one article which plunged the Holy Father into a most embarrassing position. This article declared that the Pope would close his ports against the English and all other enemies of France. Nothing could be more opposed than this to the view the Pope took of the duties of his position as common Father of the faithful and minister of peace. He had resolved to maintain a strict neutrality in the great struggle that was going on, hoping by this conduct to preserve the free exercise of his spiritual sovereignty, even in the countries [304] against whose sovereigns France was waging war. The indiscreet zeal of Mgr. Caleppi placed him in the alternative of either breaking through his fixed rule of conduct, or of making a declaration of neutrality at a time when such a declaration was sure to be attended with the most disastrous consequences. He resolved not to ratify the treaty. In a short time Murat came to Rome, and by his frank and loyal character, won for himself the esteem of Consalvi. When they came to treat of the convention, and when the Cardinal disavowed the proceedings of Mgr. Caleppi, Murat gave a signal proof of his affection for Pius VII. It was in his power to insist on the ratification of the treaty, and to inform Bonaparte of the Pope's refusal; but he preferred to lose the credit he could have won for himself by such an act, and after employing many arguments to shake the Pope's resolution, he at length exclaimed: "Well, then, since this treaty is a source of so much trouble to the Holy Father and to you, let us throw it into the fire, and say no more about it".

Soon after this occurrence Consalvi went to Paris to negociate the Concordat. After the ratification of the French Concordat came the discussion of the Italian Concordat for the kingdom of Italy. What the organic laws were to the French Concordat, the decrees of the President Melzi became to the Italian one. The Emperor's decrees—which, while they appeared to revoke those of Melzi in deference to the Pope's opposition, in reality confirmed them—completely frustrated the good effects of the Concordat. The difficulties of these two negociations were hardly over when the marriage of the Emperor's brother Jerome was a source of fresh trouble to the Holy See. Napoleon urged the Pope to declare null the marriage his brother had contracted in America without the consent of his mother or his brother. Cardinal Fesch, the Emperor's uncle, was charged with the management of this affair, and spared no importunities to extort from the Pope the desired decision. The whole question hinged on this: could the Emperor prove that the decrees of the Council of Trent had been published at Baltimore, where the marriage was contracted? If proof of this were forthcoming, the Pope would at once declare the marriage null and void; but if it could not be proved, then the marriage was perfectly valid, seeing that the defect of the consent of the parents was not an impedimentum dirimens , but only a civil disability in the eyes of the French law. The Cardinal relates that in the many letters written by the Emperor to the Pope during the course of this affair, he frequently insisted, and with extreme energy, on the fact that his brother's spouse was a Protestant, and he censured in the most abusive language the Pontiff, who, as he said, was desirous of maintaining a heretic in a family every member of which was destined to mount a [305] throne. The Pope's reply was, that although this difference of religion rendered the marriage unlawful, yet it did not make it invalid. After these letters, who could believe that as soon as the ecclesiastical authorities at Paris had declared the American marriage null and void, the Emperor would make Jerome marry another Protestant, the daughter of the King of Wurtemberg, and afterwards Queen of Westphalia?

Next came the great event of the journey of Pius VII. to Paris, to officiate at the coronation of the Emperor. One day a letter came to Rome from the Cardinal Caprera, then legate at Paris, containing an announcement as unexpected as it was important. The Legate stated that the Emperor had summoned him to an audience, and had represented to him that all orders of the state, and the best friends of the Church, believed it likely to be of service to religion that he should be crowned by the Pope under his new title of Emperor of the French; that this was also his own opinion; that the state of France made it impossible for him to co to Rome to receive the diadem there, and that consequently the ceremony could not be performed unless the Pontiff should consent to come to Paris for the purpose, as some of his predecessors had done; that, by reason of the advantages which would accrue from it to religion, the Pope would remain satisfied with his journey beyond all his hopes; that the matter should be laid at once before the Holy Father; and in case he consented, that the government would forward a formal invitation with all the solemnity and pomp befitting such a guest and such a host.

The imperial representations were backed by the Cardinal Legate's own remarks. He added that he was in a position to declare that great benefits would follow the Pope's compliance, whilst the worst consequences might be speedily expected from a refusal; that a refusal would be felt very much, and would never be forgiven; that excuses based on the health or the advanced age of the Pope, on the inconveniences of the journey, etc., would be looked upon as mere pretexts; that a tardy reply would be equivalent to a refusal; and that it was idle to raise objections on the etiquette of the reception and sojourn at Paris, for the writer knew, on the best authority, that the reception of the Holy Father would equal, and even surpass, in magnificence all former occasions; but the Emperor was not willing to undergo the humiliation of binding himself by a formal treaty to do that to which his own heart naturally inclined him.

This proposal was of a nature to require the most careful consideration. The impetuous character of Napoleon made it easy to foresee what disastrous consequences might spring from a refusal; and on the other hand, the state of European feeling towards [306] the Emperor was such as to convince any one that to accept the invitation was to provoke the indignation both of governments and of individuals. What was the Holy Father to do in such a crisis? He did what the Popes have ever done; calling to mind that human wisdom is weak at its best— cogitationes mortalium timidae et incertae , as he expressed it in his allocution—he implored from God light and help to the end that he might discover which of the two courses would better promote the honour and the interests of religion. He set aside all earthly influences, and refused to take counsel from human motives. He convoked the Sacred College, and laid before it the letters of the Cardinal Legate and of Cardinal Fesch, who, as French Ambassador at Rome, had been charged by his government with the negotiation. The Cardinals gave their opinion in writing, and by a majority declared that the invitation should be accepted. The Emperor had formally pledged his word that the journey would be productive of much good to religion, and it was thought the Pope could not refuse an invitation so expressed. A refusal would throw all the blame of the consequences on the Holy See, and it was of the last importance that no pretext for these calumnies should be afforded to the enemies of that See. Besides, all the Catholic powers of Europe, and many besides, had already recognized the new empire. In addition to these general reasons, there were two to which special weight was attached. The organic laws, and the installation of constitutional bishops, who had not retracted their errors, were two outrages upon religion in France, which caused perpetual grief to the Holy Father. The formal promises of Napoleon, coupled with the advantage of the Pope's presence in Paris, gave good grounds to hope that these two evils could be remedied if the Emperor's invitation were accepted. It was not thought prudent, however, to accept the invitation in the dark, as it were, nor did the Emperor's verbal promises to the Legate, nor Cardinal Fesch's vague generalities on the good of religion, inspire confidence enough. Before the Pope would give his final consent, he determined to reduce to something tangible and obligatory these vague indefinite promises of the French government. Cardinal Fesch advised that the Pope should exact, as a condition of his consent, the restitution of the three Legations which France had torn from the States of the Church. But the pure soul of Pius VII. revolted against the idea of admitting any thought of temporal advantages; not only did he reject the Cardinal's well-meant suggestion, but positively forbade him ever again to make mention of it. He refused to give his consent unless the French government would promise to withdraw the organic laws, and to abandon those of the constitutional bishops who should refuse to make [307] a public and sincere retractation. It took four or five months of negotiation to extort these promises from Napoleon. During that period Consalvi had daily conferences with Cardinal Fesch, whose warm temper frequently led to lively debates. At length M. de Talleyrand addressed an official note to the Cardinal Legate, in which it was expressly declared that as to the organic laws the Emperor would treat directly with the Holy Father, whose representations should be attended to in such a way as to give his Holiness the most complete satisfaction. The Emperor was ready to do even more than the Pope had asked; and it was insinuated that he would be happy to listen with favour to any requests the Pope should make concerning his temporal interests. Touching the intruded bishops, M. de Talleyrand made large promises, but their tenor was so vague that the Holy Father did not remain satisfied until he held in his hand a written promise that the constitutional bishops should make their retractation in the Pope's hands in the form prescribed by him, and that any who might refuse to do so should be forced to resign their sees. This point having been arranged, it was thought that the due regard for the majesty of the pontifical dignity demanded some other precautions. The Holy Father felt that he ought not to expose his high office to insult or irreverence, and this consideration urged him to request some information as to the manner in which he was to be received at Paris by the Emperor. In his reply to the inquiries made on this point Talleyrand employed these remarkable words: "Between Pius the Seventh's journey to France, his reception there, his treatment, and the results which are to spring from it, and Pius the Sixth's journey to Vienna, there shall be as much difference as there is between Napoleon I. and Joseph II.". Another precaution judged necessary by Consalvi regarded the coronation itself. The later notes of Cardinal Fesch were remarkable for a strange variety of expressions. Instead of the word coronation ( incoronazione ), employed in the original invitation presented by the Cardinal Legate in the Emperor's name, the Cardinal Fesch had commenced to use the word consecration ( consecrazione ). Consalvi at once demanded the reason of this change, and Cardinal Fesch replied: "Beyond all doubt, the Pope is to crown the Emperor, but I believe there is to be a double coronation, one in the Church by the Pope, the other in the Champ de Mars by the Senate". The Pope at once sent a despatch to the Legate at Paris commanding him to signify to the Emperor that the Holy Father could not allow his Majesty to be crowned by other hands after he had been crowned by the Pope; that a second coronation would be an insult to the dignity of the Head of the Church; and that, consequently, if it were intended that the Emperor should be twice crowned, the [308] Holy Father would not go to Paris at all. Talleyrand replied in an official note that the Emperor set too high a value on his coronation by the Pope to wish to receive a second diadem from the hands of others.

The choice of those who were to form the suite of the Pontiff next came under discussion. The French government was anxious that the Pope should take with him twelve cardinals and a corresponding number of prelates and of Roman nobles. The Holy Father resolved to bring only four cardinals and four bishops, besides the prelates attached to his immediate service, such as his maggiordomo and his maestro di camera . The two Roman princes who commanded the noble guard were to follow him. However, in deference to Cardinal Fesch's requests, he added to this little court the two cardinal deacons, Braschi and de Bayane. The other four cardinals were Antonelli, de Pietro, Borgia, and Caselli.

To conduct these negotiations to a happy issue was a task of immense difficulty. The Cardinal writes that while they were proceeding he had to bear what was almost intolerable, and what only his zeal for the interests of the Holy See could have made him brook. At length the decisive yes was spoken, at first confidentially, because no formal invitation was to be delivered until such time as all arrangements were completed. The French government at once announced the Pope's intended visit, in order that the publicity thus given to his promise might make any change of purpose impossible or very difficult. Having thus made himself sure of the presence of the Roman Pontiff at his coronation, Napoleon all at once changed his tone, and made the Pope feel how little respect be really had for the Head of the Church. Indeed, it was Cardinal Consalvi's deliberate opinion—and after events show that he was correct in his judgment—that the French government was fully determined never to carry out the promises which the Pope's minister had extorted from it. The formal invitation was couched in language that fell far short of the ancient formula used on similar occasions, and which the government had promised to employ. Then, instead of deputing ecclesiastics or great dignitaries to present the Emperor's letter to Pius VII., Napoleon sent through Brigadier-General Caffarelli a note so mean in every respect that the Holy Father was inclined to refuse to accept it. But as he had undertaken the journey for the good of the Church, he resolved to bear with calmness and patience whatever slights might be put upon him. He soon found abundant occasions for the exercise of these virtues. In the first place, he was forced to set out on his journey with a precipitate speed that was equally unbecoming his dignity and injurious to his health. He left Rome on 2nd November, 1802, [309] in order to arrive at Paris on the 27th or 28th; and during this long journey he was allowed to rest only twice—once at Florence for a day or two, and again a day at Turin—a few hours of repose being with difficulty permitted him at other places on the road. Besides, he was not even consulted about the day to be fixed for the ceremony, although common politeness should have suggested this mark of deference. "I will say nothing", says Consalvi, "of all the Pope had to suffer from the disrespect shown him in the capital; I will not speak of the manner in which Napoleon made his first appearance before his Holiness at Fontainebleau, in the midst of a pack of fifty hounds, as if going to or returning from the chase; I will not tell how the Pope was made to enter Paris by night and in silence, in order that no eye might see the Emperor at the Pontiff's left, for being in his own carriage he was forced to yield the right to his guest. I will be silent as to how and why, on the day of the consecration, Napoleon made his Holiness wait a full hour and a half seated on the throne near the altar, and how all the arrangements which had been agreed on for the ceremony were set aside; I will not tell how the Emperor himself placed the crown on his own head, having rudely snatched it from the altar before the Pope stretched out his hand to take it up; I will not tell how at the imperial banquet on that day the Pontiff was made to sit in the third place at the table where sat the Emperor, the Empress, and the Prince Elector of Ratisbon; nor will I say a word of the second coronation which, contrary to solemn pledges, took place in the Champ de Mars, nor of the way in which Napoleon, although as it were in his own house, took the right of his Holiness on all occasions when they made their appearance together in public, nor of the little respect he showed him. He never paid him those marks of veneration which so many great kings and emperors have been proud to pay to the Sovereign Pontiffs. Finally, I will be silent about the humiliations which Pius VII. was made to undergo during the whole period of his sojourn. I have but enumerated these sufferings, to the end that all may understand how much virtue, moderation, and goodness the Pope had need of to follow the magnificent examples of self-abasement which the God whose vicar he was here below, has bequeathed to the world. I have wished, likewise, to expose conduct on which I will not allow myself to pass judgment, for I could not do so with becoming coolness and self-respect".

These insults would have been more sweet to the Holy Father if he had been able to realise all the good he had promised himself to achieve for religion at the price of his condescension. But here, too, he was disappointed. After many memorials on the subject to the Emperor, and after many interviews, he was [310] forced to surrender all hopes of seeing the organic laws abolished. Napoleon was simply false to his solemn promises. Nor would the government fulfil its engagement to force the constitutional bishops to a retractation. But what the power of the state would not do, the force of the Pope's gentle virtues happily effected. He called the bishops several times to an audience; and his affectionate manners, his kind language, and the charm of his goodness, made such an impression on their minds, that they avowed their schism, and made a solemn retractation in the form prescribed by the Holy See. Nor did any one of them ever afterwards, by word or deed, give sign of their ancient errors. The Pope thus had the unspeakable delight of having, by his journey, extinguished that dangerous schism, to effect the destruction of which he had before agreed to the Concordat.

We must pass over the other indignities which the Pope had to endure before he could effect his departure from Paris. It was while the Pope was his guest that the Emperor changed the Italian republic into the kingdom of Italy, taking formal possession of the three Legations, and adding the pontifical keys to his coat of arms. He was also disrespectful enough to neglect his duties as host, by setting out for Italy before the Pope left his palace. He even compelled his Holiness to follow him, and wait at every post for the use of the horses which had been employed to draw the imperial carriages. He was too jealous to allow the Pope to officiate in public at any religious ceremony, even on Christmas Day, on which festival the Sovereign Pontiff had to go to the parish church to say a low Mass. Even the presents which he gave in return for the magnificent gifts which Pius VII. had brought from Rome, where Canova had selected them, were disgracefully mean, with the exception of a costly tiara, of which, however, the most precious jewel was a diamond taken from the pontifical tiaras under Pius VI., to pay the exactions of Tolentino. The newspapers were filled with the description of a wonderful altar, two rich carriages, and other splendid presents; but these objects never found their way to the Pope.

On his way home Pius VII. had the consolation of receiving back into the Church the famous Mgr. Ricci, whose name is so well known in connection with the Synod of Pistoia. This prelate made before the Pope a full and sincere retractation of all his errors. At length the Holy Father arrived at Rome amidst the enthusiasm of his subjects, who so soon were to be torn from him by the very man to do honour to whom he had undertaken and suffered so much.

THE UNITED DIOCESES OF CORK AND CLOYNE.

As early as the year 1326, Pope John XXII. gave his sanction to the contemplated union of the Dioceses of Cork and Cloyne. The Pontifical letter conveying this sanction bears date the 2nd of August, tenth year of his pontificate. The motive alleged by King Edward III. when soliciting this union, was the poverty of both sees. Cork is described as having a revenue of only sixty pounds per annum, and it is added that both sees "adeo in facultatibus et redditibus suis tenues et exiles sunt, quod earum praesules singulariter singuli ex eis nequeunt juxta episcopalis status decentiam commode sustentari". Nevertheless, this contemplated union was not carried into effect, and for more than one hundred years we find a distinct and regular succession of bishops in each see. It was only in 1430, when both sees happened to be vacant at the same time, that Jordan, chancellor of Limerick, was appointed by Pope Martin V., first bishop of the united dioceses of Cork and Cloyne.

Thirty years later intelligence was conveyed to Pope Pius II. that this bishop, weighed down by the burden of eighty years, was no longer able to exercise his episcopal functions, the more so as he was subject to frequent infirmities, and suffered from an excessive weakness of sight. Hence, on 27th of May, 1461, we find William Roche ( alias De Rupe ) appointed auxiliary bishop of Dr. Jordan, with right of succession to the united sees. In the brief of appointment he is styled "Archdeacon of Cloyne, of noble lineage, distinguished by his zeal, prudence, and learning": "aliarumque virtutum donis quibus eum Altissimus insignivit" ( Monument. Vatic. , pag. 430). This prelate, however, was not pleasing to the aged bishop, whilst he was specially distasteful to the English monarch: and to restore peace to our southern see, Rome found it necessary, in the following year, to relieve Dr. Roche of the duties of auxiliary bishop.

On the 31st of January, 1462-3, Gerald Fitzgerald was appointed by the Sovereign Pontiff bishop of the united sees, vacant by the resignation of the aged Bishop Jordan. Many efforts were subsequently made to set aside this appointment; however, it was irrevocably recognized by Rome. The chief difficulty arose from the former coadjutor, Dr. Roche, who, finding the see now vacant by the resignation of Bishop Jordan, claimed it as belonging to him by that "right of succession" which had originally been accorded to him. It was only in December, 1471, that this controversy was finally closed, when a letter was addressed by Pope Paul II. to the Archbishop of [312] Cashel, commanding him to put Gerald Fitzgerald in full possession of all the temporalities of the united sees. Peace being thus restored, Dr. Fitzgerald remained in undisturbed possession till his death in 1479. William Roche, by his submission to the former decisions of the Holy See, merited to be appointed his successor; thus all rival claims were happily adjusted, and Dr. Roche for eleven years continued to administer this see. When at length he resigned the arduous charge, Thady Mechar or Maher was appointed the next bishop in 1490. Most of the temporalities of the see, however, were seized on by the Fitzmaurices and other southern chieftains; so much so that Pope Innocent VIII. was obliged to issue a brief on the 18th of July, 1492, commanding these parties under the usual penalties to desist from their iniquitous usurpation. The Pontiff's letter thus begins:—

"Dudum Corkagensi et Clonensi Ecclesiis invicem canonice unitis, tunc certis modis vacantibus, nos illis de persona Ven. fratris nostri Thadei Episcopi Corkagensis et Clonensis, nobis et fratribus nostris, ob suorum exigentiam meritorum, acceptâ, de fratrum eorumdem consilio apostolica duximus auctoritate providendum.... Cum autem, sicut non absque gravi animi displicentia accepimus, nonnulli iniquitatis filii videlicet Mauritius comes de Simonie, ac Willelmus Barri, ac Edmundus Mauritii de Gerardinis et communitas civitatis Corkagiae necnon universitas civitatis Yoghilliae Clonensis Dioecesis ipsorumque comitis et Willelmi ac Edmundi fratres eorumque ac civitatis et universitatis praedictorum subditi, necnon Philippus O'Ronayn, clericus Corkagensis Dioecesis, nescitur quo spiritu ducti, ipsum Thadeum Episcopum, quominus possessionem regiminis et administrationis ac bonorum dictarum Ecclesiarum assequi potuerit atque possit, multipliciter molestare et perturbare, Dei timore postposito non cessaverint", etc. ( Mon. Vatic. , pag. 506).

The temporalities of Cork and Cloyne were in great part gifts and grants from the various branches of the Geraldine family, and hence it was that these southern chieftains were now unwilling to see them pass into the hands of a stranger. The death of Bishop Thady put an end to the controversy. He himself had been in Rome when the decree of Pope Innocent was made: and on his journey homeward he was seized with a mortal distemper, which, in a few days, hurried him to his grave in the month of October, 1492, in the town of Eporedia, now Ivrea, in Piedmont, where his mortal remains were deposited in the chapel of St. Eusebius. As great miracles were performed by his intercession, he is venerated at Ivrea as Blessed.

His successor's name was Gerald, but we only know of him that he was implicated in the rebellion of Perkin Warbeck, for which he received a pardon from the crown in 1496. He resigned his bishopric in 1499, and John FitzEdmund was next [313] appointed to these sees, by brief of 26th June the same year. During twenty-one eventful years he continued to administer the united dioceses, and on his death we find the following letter addressed from Dublin by the Earl of Surrey, lord deputy, to Cardinal Wolsey, who was at this time at the zenith of his power in the court of King Henry:—

"Pleaseth your Grace to understand that the Bishop of Cork is dead; and great suit is made to me to write for men of this country. Some say it is worth two hundred marks per annum, some say more. My poor advice would be that it should be bestowed on some Englishman. The Bishop of Leighlin, your servant, having both, methinks he might do good service here. I beseech your Grace let none of this country have it, nor none other but such as will dwell thereon, and such as are able and willing to speak and ruffle when need shall be". ( State Papers , vol. ii. page 43).

This letter is dated Dublin, 27th August, 1520, and whatever may have been the cause, another recommendation was transmitted in the following month by the same lord deputy in favour of Walter Wellesley. Both these recommendations, however, were without success, and we meet with a Bishop Patrick , whose name sufficiently indicates the land of his birth, holding these sees in the year 1521. His episcopate was short: as Cotton remarks, "he probably sat only for a year or two". In the State Papers Cork is again described as vacant on the 25th of April, 1522: and before the close of that year John Bennett was appointed by the Holy See, successor of Saint Finbarr. He chose for his place of residence the collegiate establishment of Youghal, which had originally been founded by his family, and at his death he too endowed it with a great part of his own paternal property. Brady in his Records has registered several interesting memorials connected with this ancient Collegiate Church of Youghal. The catalogue of its books, drawn up in the year 1490, especially deserves attention, as it reveals to us what was the literary store treasured up in an humble religious house in a country town of our island at a supposed period of ignorance and barbarism. Besides several books of devotion and tracts on the decretals and canon law, there were eight Missals, five of which are described as "missalia pulchra pergameni". There was also the Life of Christ, by Ludolf of Saxony, now so rare, the Letters of St. Jerome, the Works of St. Gregory the Great, the Summa of St. Thomas, and a number of treatises by St. Bonaventure, the Master of Sentences, St. Antoninus, and others. The Sacred Scriptures had a specially prominent place; there were five psalters for the use of the choir, and twelve other copies of the Bible. One of these is entitled "Una Biblia Tripartita, et alia parvae quantitatis": another was the Old and New Testament, [314] with the gloss of Nicholas de Lyra, "in five volumes"; and then there are "quatuor Evangelistae, glossati, in quatuor voluminibus", and "unum volumen in quo continentur parabolae Salomonis, libri Sapientiae, Canticorum, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus", etc. Some of the works of this little library, if now preserved, would be invaluable for illustrating the antiquities of our island. There was one "antiquum martirologium"; also a volume called "Petrus de Aurora, artis versificatoriae", is described as "mire exauratum": again, "Apparatus Magistri Johannis de Anthon super constitutiones Ottoboni": whilst another small volume was enriched, amongst other things, "cum quibusdam historiis provinciae Hiberniae". An addition was made to this library in 1523, consisting, probably, of the Books of Dr. Bennett. It will suffice to mention two of these works, viz., "Liber meditationum sancti Bonaventurae cum aliis meditationibus et chronicis Geraldinorum", and "Biblia de impressione, in rotunda forma, in manu Joannis Cornelii" ( Records , etc., London, 1864, vol. 3, pag. 319, seqq.).

Dr. Bennett died in the year 1535/6, and at his death enriched the chantry of St. Mary's with some ancestral lands in Youghal and its neighbourhood ( Ulster Journal of Arch. , April, 1854). Henry VIII. appointed Dominick Tirrey to the vacant see, but the reigning Pontiff refused to recognize this nomination, and chose a Franciscan named Lewis MacNamara as successor to Dr. Bennett. The brief of his appointment to Cork and Cloyne is dated 24th September, 1540. This prelate, however, soon after his consecration was summoned to a better world, and on the 5th of November, the same year, another brief was expedited appointing John Hoyeden, (which name is probably a corruption for O'h-Eidhin, i.e. O'Heyne ; see O'Donovan, Book of Rights , pag. 109), a canon of Elphin, bishop of the united dioceses. From the consistorial acts we learn that he was impeded by the crown nominee from taking possession of the temporalities of his see, and hence on the 25th February, 1545, he received the administration of his native diocese. The following is the consistorial record:

Die 20º Feb., 1545. "S. Sanctitas providit Ecclesiae Elphinensi de persona Joannis Episcopi Corcagiensis et Clunensis (sic) qui regiminis et administrationis Corcagensis et Clunensis Ecclesiarum invicem unitarum possessionem eo quod a schismaticis et iis qui a Catholica fide defecerunt occupatae detinentur assequi non potuit, nec de proximo assequi speret: ita quod, propter hoc, eisdem Corcagensi et Clunensi Ecclesiis praesse non desinat sed tam Elphinensi quam Corcagensi et Clunensi Ecclesiis hujusmodi ad sex menses a die habitae per eum pacificae possessionis seu quasi regiminis", etc. (sic).

It was probably impossible for Dr. O'Heyne to obtain possession of the temporalities of his see till the accession of Queen Mary. Even then he must have held them only for a little while, as the royal letter granting these temporalities to Roger Skiddy is dated 18th of September, 1557. A curious record of the period gives us an accurate idea of the possessions of the religious houses in the vicinity of Cork: it is a pardon granted to William Bourman for alienating the property of the house of the Friars Preachers, situated in the suburbs of Cork, and the property thus alienated is described as "the site, circuit, and precinct of the monastery, the church, belfry, closes (perhaps this is for clausura ), halls and dormitories, castles, messuages, lands, buildings, gardens, mills, and other hereditaments thereunto belonging, an orchard, three gardens, a water-mill, a parcel of meadows containing half a stang, a fishing pool, a salmon weir, three acres called the half scaghbeg , ten acres in Rathminy, and twenty acres in Galliveyston" ( Morrin , i. 374).

The next Bishop appointed to the united sees of Cork and Cloyne was Roger Skiddy, who for some time had held the dignity of Dean of Limerick. Queen Mary's letter ordering the restitution of the temporalities to him, is dated the 18th of September, 1557, and it adds that her Majesty "had addressed letters commendatory to his Holiness the Pope a good while since in his favour, and it was hoped he should shortly receive his Bull and expedition from his Holiness" ( Ib. , i. 377). Letters patent granting the temporalities to him were issued on 2nd November the same year ( Ib. , i. 373, and Brady , Records , iii. 46), and it is probable that the Bulls from the Holy See were expedited during the interval; for, in an original memorandum preserved in the State Paper Office, London, the remark is made that "the Queen's letters were sent to the Bishop of Rome, and the Bulls were returned thence for the bishoprick of Cork" ( Shirley , pag. 115). Nevertheless, this Bishop was not consecrated, neither did he receive possession of the temporalities during the life-time of Queen Mary, although her death did not take place till the 17th of November, 1558. For some time after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, no mention was made of the See of Cork and Cloyne, till on 31st of July, 1562, her Majesty wrote to the Earl of Sussex and the Lord Chancellor, "directing the admission of Roger Skiddy to the bishopricks of Cork and Cloyne, to which he had been previously elected" ( Ibid. , 472); accordingly, on the 29th of October, 1562, this dignitary was admitted to possession of the temporalities, and a mandate was issued for his consecration, bearing the same date. In his writ of restitution to the temporalities was inserted a retrospective clause, that he should have possession of them from the time of his first advancement [316] by Queen Mary. Whether Dr. Skiddy was actually consecrated or not, no record has been preserved to us, and his consecration in virtue of such a royal mandate would be wholly uncanonical and schismatical. No doubt, however, seems to be entertained of his orthodoxy and devotedness to the Catholic faith: and in 1567, unwilling to lend his name to the religious novelties which the government of the day wished to propagate in the kingdom, he resigned the bishoprick and retired to Youghal, where for several years he devoted his undivided attention to prepare for a happy eternity.

Nicholas Landes was appointed bishop of this see in consistory of 27th of February, 1568/9. The consistorial entry is curious, as it omits all mention of Dr. Skiddy, and describes the see as vacant by the death of Dr. John O'Heyne.

"Die 27º Februarii, 1568: referente Revmo. Cardinali Alciato S. Sanctitas providit Ecclesiae Corcagiensi et Cloinensi invicem unitis, per obitum bonae memoriae Joannis Jadican, ultimi Episcopi vacanti, de persona Rev. D. Nicolai Landes, Hiberni et litteris Episcoporum Catholicorum ejusdem Provinciae atque etiam testimonio Reverendi Patris Wolf S. I. commendati cum retentione rectoriae cum cura donec possessionem Episcopatus adeptus fuerit".

A suggestion has been made that the name Landes is a corruption for some other original name. Such errors in names are certainly very frequent in the consistorial entries of our Irish Bishops: still, two distinct copies of the consistorial acts (viz., the Corsinian and the Vallicellian ) retain the present name without variation; and what is still more important, the Brief appointing his successor, Dr. Tanner, in 1574, describes the see as then vacant per obitum Nicolai Landes . Moreover, the name Landey was no novelty in the ecclesiastical records of Ireland in the sixteenth century, an Abbot Landey having held the monastery of St. Mary's, Dublin, during Henry VIII.'s reign, as we learn from the first volume of Morrin's Records .

Dr. Edmund Tanner was next appointed to Cork and Cloyne by brief of 5th November, 1574. There are some peculiar passages in this brief, which merit our attention. Thus it describes Dr. Tanner as "in Theologia Magistrum, de legitimo matrimonio procreatum, in quinquagesimo aetatis anno et presbyteratus ordine constitutum, que fidem Catholicam juxta articulos dudum a Sede Apostolica emanatos professus fuit, cuique de vitae munditia, honestate morum, spiritualium providentia et temporalium circumspectione, aliisque multiplicum virtutum donis fide digna testimonia perhibentur". Subsequently, addressing the clergy and faithful of the united sees, the brief continues:

"Dilectis filiis capitulis et vassallis dictarum Ecclesiarum et populo [317] Corkagen. et Clonen. civitatum et Diocesium, per Apostolica scripta mandamus, quatenus capitula tibi tamquam patri et pastori animarum suarum humiliter intendentes exhibeant tibi obedientiam et reverentiam debitas et devotas: ac clerus te pro nostra et sedis Apostolicae reverentia benigne recipientes et honorifice pertractantes, tua salubria monita et mandata suscipiant humiliter et efficaciter adimplere procurent: populus vero te tamquam patrem et pastorem animarum suarum devote suscipientes et debita honorificentia prosequentes, tuis monitis et mandatis salubribus humiliter intendant. Itaque tu in eis devotionis filios, et ipsi in te per consequens patrem benevolum invenisse gaudeatis".

Moreover, this is the first occasion on which I have found the following clause inserted in the Bull of appointment to the Irish Sees:

"Volumus autem, ut occasio et materia tibi auferatur vagandi, quad extra Corkagen. et Clonen. civitates illarumque Dioeceses etiam de licentia Episcoporum locorum ordinariorum Pontificalia officia exercere nequeas, decernentes irritum et inane quidquid secus per te actum et gestum fuerit" ( Ex Secret. Brevium Romae ).

Dr. Tanner was consecrated bishop in Rome, and subsequently tarried during the winter months in the Eternal City, laying up spiritual treasures for his future mission. On the 10th of April, 1575, special faculties were granted to him, and he was, moreover, empowered to exercise them not only in his own united Dioceses of Cork and Cloyne, but also "throughout the whole Province of Dublin, of which he was a native ( universae provinciae Dublinensis ex qua exoriundus ), as well as throughout the whole province of Munster, so long as the various Archbishops and Bishops were obliged by the fury of the persecution to be absent from their respective sees (Ex. Sec. Brev. ). About the middle of May the same year, he set out from the Seven Hills to assume the charge assigned to him, and the great Pontiff Gregory XIII. wished to accompany him with the following commendatory letter, dated 12th of May, 1575:—

"Universis et singulis Episcopis atque aliis Praelatis ad quos hae nostrae litterae pervenerint, salutem et Apostolicam benedictionem.

"Ut Nos commendatissimos habemus viros eos quos pietate atque integritate praestare intelligimus, sic cupimus eos nostris in Christo fratribus ac filiis esse summopere commendatos, huncque animum cum omnibus pietate et virtute praeditis tum vero venerabilibus fratribus Episcopis ut ordine ipso sic charitate Nobis conjunctissimis Nos debere cognoscimus. In his est venerabilis frater Edmundus Episcopus Corcagiensis qui a Nobis discedit ut in patriam revertatur. Erit igitur Nobis gratissimum, si eum in hac peregrinatione quam commendatissimum habebitis, vestroque ubi opus esse intelligetis favore complectemini: Datum Romae apud S. Petrum sub annulo Piscatoris die 12 Maii 1575, Pontif. Nostri an. tertio". ( Theiner , Annals , ii. 133).

This worthy bishop, during four years, endured the toils and sufferings of his perilous ministry. The Vatican list of 1579 represents the see "Corchagiensis et Clonensis" as still presided over by a canonically appointed bishop; and another list of the clergy who were then engaged in the exercise of their sacred ministry in Ireland presents first of all the name "Reverendissimus Edmundus Epus. Corchagiensis, pulsus tamen Episcopatu". In this last named list we also find commemorated: "Thomas Moreanus Decanus Corchagiensis": and again, "P. Carolus Lens et P. Robertus Rishfordus, ambo Societatis Jesu, qui in variis locis docent litteras sub cura et mandato Reverendissimi Corchagiensis". Soon after, however, on the 4th of June, 1579, Dr. Tanner was summoned to receive the reward of his zeal and labours.

His successor was Dermitius Graith , who was proposed for the first time in the consistory of 7th October, 1580, and whose election was definitely confirmed on the 11th of the same month. The following is the consistorial entry:

"Die 11º Octobris, 1580, Cardinalis Ursinus praenunciavit Ecclesias Corkagien. et Cloinen. invicem unitas in Provincia cuidam principi Catholico subjecta, pro Hyberno scholari Collegii Germanici".

In the list of the Irish clergy above referred to, under the heading "qui sunt extra Hiberniam", is mentioned Darmisius Craticus , who is described as studying in Rome, and in his thirtieth year. He is subsequently again mentioned among those who might be destined for the Irish mission, and it is there added that he was a native of Munster, and though he was skilled in both the English and Irish languages, he was more conversant with the Irish: "melius loquitur Hibernice". From the consistorial acts we further learn that he applied himself to sacred studies in the illustrious college which had been founded a few years before for the purpose of supplying missioners to Germany and other countries suffering from the oppression of heresy, and among his companions in its hallowed halls was Nicholas Skerrett, who was destined to be sharer of his missionary toils and perils as Archbishop of Tuam.

Dr. Graith was one of the most illustrious missioners who laboured in our Irish Church during the sixteenth century; and, as Peter Lombard informs us, was at one time the only bishop in the province of Munster. Soon after his arrival in our island, the agents of heresy mainly directed their efforts towards his apprehension, and so chagrined were they at his escape that they even accused Sir John Perrot of having secretly favoured him and thus baffled their designs. In a memorial presented to government in 1592, "Doctor Creagh, Bishop of Cloyne and Cork", appears first on the list of those who in Munster were [319] enemies of the Elizabethan rule, having lived "in the country these eleven or twelve years past, without pardon or protection, consecrating churches, making priests", etc.; and it is further added that "he did more evil", that is, he was more zealous in propagating our holy faith, even " than Dr. Sanders in his time " (see Essays , etc., by Rev. Dr. M'Carthy, pag. 424). Another State Paper, being a letter from the Lord Deputy to Lord Burghley, in England, dated 17th May, 1593, gives us the following particulars:—

"We have laboured with all possible endeavours with the Earl of Tirone, as well by private conference as by our sending letters, for the apprehension of the titular bishops remaining in these parts; yet can we by no means prevail, though it is very well known to us that the earl might have done great and acceptable service therein, on account of the friendship between him, O'Donell, and Maguire—Maguire being cousin-germain, and altogether at his service, and, as report goeth, either hath or is to marry the earl's daughter. And as in this I made bold, I humbly pray your lordship's pardon, to state what little success hath followed of the great shams of service made by the Archbishop of Cashel and Richard Power, rather in regard for their own benefit and to serve their own turns, than for any performance of actions at all. Upon the Archbishop's coming over they pretended a plot, both for the getting of great sums of money for her Majesty and for the apprehension of Dr. Creaghe, to the second of which we rather first hearkened, but in the end nothing was done more than to spend so much time, and an open show, as it were, made to the world how that traitor was sought and laid for, whereby the other traitorous titular bishops might take warning to be the more wary upon their keeping" (S. P. O.).

The accusation which is here made against the unfortunate Miler MacGrath, Protestant Archbishop of Cashel, had probably more foundation than the Lord Deputy imagined; and whilst much noise was made for the arrest of our Bishop Dermitius, intelligence of all such schemes was communicated to him by Miler himself. One letter of MacGrath to his "loving wife Any" is preserved in the S. P. O., dated from Greenwich, the 26th of June, 1592, in which he writes: "I have already resolved you in my mind touching my cousin Darby Creagh, and I desire you now to cause his friends to send him out of the whole country if they can, or if not to send (to him) my orders, for that there is such search to be made for him that unless he be wise he shall be taken".

On the 31st of October, 1595, a brief was addressed to "Dermitio Episcopo Corcagiensi", commissioning him to grant some ecclesiastical livings to Owen MacEgan, who a few years later became illustrious in the annals of our church as Vicar Apostolic of Ross.—(See Irish Ecclesiastical Record , vol. i., p. 110). In [320] 1599 Dr. Graith was visited by the Franciscan Father Mooney, who in his History of the Order, commemorating this visit, describes the bishop as "vir valde prudens et in rebus agendis versatus". This must have been a period of harrowing anxiety for the worthy bishop. His diocese was laid waste by fire and sword, the Irish chieftains driven to arms by the iniquitous policy of the agents of Elizabeth, having made the southern districts of Ireland the theatre of their struggle. Dr. Graith shared the perils of their camp, ministering to them the comforts of religion. One of his hair-breadth escapes is thus described in the Hibernia Pacata , pag. 190:

"The Earl of Thomond, Sir George Thornton, and Captain Roger Harvey, with their companies, following the direction of their guide, were conducted to Lisbarry, a parcel of Drumfinnin woods. No sooner were they entered into the fastness, than presently the sentinels who were placed in the outskirts of the wood, raised the cry which it would seem roused the Earl of Desmond and Dermod MacCraghe, the Pope's Bishop of Cork , who were lodged there in a poor ragged cabin. Desmond fled away barefoot, having no leisure to pull on his shoes, and was not discovered; but MacCraghe was met by some of the soldiers clothed in a simple mantle, and with torn trousers like an aged churl, and they neglecting so poor a creature, not able to carry a weapon, suffered him to pass unregarded".

It was on the 30th March that year, that O'Neill and the other Irish princes addressed a letter in common to the Sovereign Pontiff, unfolding to him the miseries which laid desolate our island, attesting too their resolute desire to combat for the Catholic faith, and to promote the interests of Holy Church, and petitioning in fine, that the vacant sees of the province of Munster might be filled by those who were recommended by the Bishop of Cork and Cloyne: they add that the only bishop then in the southern province was "Reverendissimus Corcagiensis et Cloanensis qui senio et labore jam paene est confectus"; and as a special motive why the Holy See should not delay to make these appointments to the vacant dioceses, they write: "Hoc eo confidentius petimus quia qui electi conservati et ad nos dimissi fuerunt a vestra sacrosancta Sede, ad vacuas his in partibus sedes occupandas, a nobis pro viribus, in iisdem Dei gratiâ defenduntur, ut gregibus sibi commissis tuto invigilare queant".— Original Letter in Hib. Pacat. , page 311.

The next notice that we find of our aged Bishop is in the appointment of Luke Archer to administer the see of Leighlin during the absence of its Bishop Ribera, on whose death, in 1604, the same Luke Archer was constituted Vicar-Apostolic of that see. From the words used by Harty when registering [321] this appointment made by our Bishop, we may conclude that Dr. Graith, as his predecessor, had received special faculties from Rome not only for his own diocese, but also for the province of Leinster. "Dermitius Chrah (he writes), Corcagiensis et Clonensis tunc Episcopus apostolica auctoritate qui fulserat ".

As regards the precise period of Dr. Graith's death, no record has come down to us. Mooney, the Franciscan annalist, merely attests that "he lived for some time subsequent to 1599". Dr. Matthews, who was consecrated bishop of Clogher in 1609, reckons him amongst the bishops who survived Elizabeth, and lived for some years "aliquibus annis" under James I. This would lead us to conclude that his life was prolonged till the year 1605. O'Sullivan Beare, writing in 1618, leaves us in a like uncertainty, as he refers his death in general terms to the first year of the seventeenth century, after an episcopate of more than twenty years. The eulogy, however, passed upon this bishop by O'Sullivan Beare deserves to be cited in full:—

"Catholicorum infelicitati adscribendum est", he writes, "quod sub id tempus fato functus sit vir integerrimus atque clarissimus Dermysius Mac Carrhus, Corcaghae et Clueniae Episcopus, qui annos viginti et amplius in hac insula in fide retinenda magnopere insudavit, dumque bellum hoc gerebatur, movendis Catholicorum animis, ut Christianam pietatem armis defenderent, multum studii et laboris impendit: cujus interitu Ibernorum concordia non minima parte elanguit. Quae ob merita in Dei ecclesiam et Iberniae regnum collata, cum ejus caput Angli diu frustra impetiverint, tandem illius interfectori vel deprehensori grandem pecuniae summam constituerunt, quin etiam tam inexpiabili odio eum prosequuti sunt ut illius etiam consanguineos labefactare non destiterint. Ex quibus Thomam MacCrachum antistitis nepotem ex fratre Thoma deprehensum ad fidem Catholicam deserendam cogere et praemiis et terrore sunt conati: qua spe dejecti magni et maxime Catholici animi virum securi percusserunt. Sed quoniam in episcopi mentionem incidimus, illud ejus magnum atque rarum mirum nequeo silentio praeterire quod chirographum vix male effingeret, aliam vero ne litteram quidem unam visus sit unquam scribere, cum tamen adeo disertus atque sapiens evaserit ut doctor in utroque jure creatus sacram Theologiam Lovaniae annos aliquot publice sit professus, quippe tanto ingenii acumine tamque felici memoria pollebat ut ne discipulus quidem necesse habuerit lectionem notis excipere, et de doctrina Christiana libellum Ibernice scriptum posteris reliquerit, cujus praeceptis in hunc usque diem juventus in ea insula excolitur" ( Hist. Cath. , pag. 223).

We may now inquire who were the individuals chosen by Elizabeth to hold the temporalities of Cork and Cloyne during this interval. The first Protestant bishop of these sees was Richard Dixon, a chaplain of the Lord Deputy Sydney. The [322] see in 1568 had received a Catholic appointment, but it was only on the 17th of May, 1570, that Elizabeth wrote to the Lord Deputy: "We are pleased that Richard Dixon, being by you very well commended for his learning and other qualities, shall have the bishoprics of Cork and Cloyne"—( Morrin , i. p. 539). Nevertheless, the prelate thus warmly commended was, on the 7th of March, 1571, sentenced by a royal commission to perform public penance in the Cathedral of Christ Church, Dublin, which penance, adds the government record, he went through in hypocrisy and pretence of amendment ; wherefore, on the 7th of November following, the same commission proceeded to depose him from his Protestant episcopal functions, declaring him guilty of public immorality and other crimes.—(See Brady Records , iii. 47). Mathew Sheyn, or Shehan, was the next episcopal incumbent chosen by Elizabeth: only two events are commemorated to mark his episcopate: 1. that in 1575 "he leased away the whole see of Cloyne for ever for five marks per annum"; and 2. that in October, 1578, he made public display of his impiety by consigning to the flames at the high cross of Cork a statue of St. Dominick, long held in veneration by the faithful of that city ( Ibid. , pag. 49). The next Protestant Bishop, William Lyons, combined in his commission the sees of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross. We have already spoken of this dignitary under the head of Ross ( Record , vol. i. pag. 110-1): we will now only add that his chief enmity seemed directed against the faithful of Timoleague. Already in 1589 he had destroyed a portion of its venerable monastery to erect a house with the materials. In 1612 he resolved to complete his work of destruction; for intelligence was conveyed to him that a large concourse of Catholics had assembled there to assist at midnight Mass on the great Christmas festival. Though advanced in years, he set out with a troop of soldiers to punish these offenders; however, he had proceeded only a little way from the city when he was seized with such violent pains throughout his whole body that he was obliged to desist from his undertaking. During the five remaining years of his life he displayed less violence against the Catholics, and to his dying day he retained a lively memory of his Christmas excursion to Timoleague—(Mooney's MS. Hist. , p. 49).

THE CHURCH AND THE BIBLE.

II.

We have seen in a former article that the Catholic Church was the careful guardian and zealous propagator of the original texts of the inspired volume. We now proceed to show that her missionaries and her most devoted sons were most earnest in communicating its sacred truths to all the faithful, by diffusing throughout the various nations of Christendom untainted and authentic versions of the Holy Scripture. This assertion must be proved not by theory but by facts. In producing these facts our task will be comparatively easy, on account of the many able and interesting essays which have already been published, in illustration of this subject.

At the very time that Luther and his followers were engaged in declaiming against Holy Church, and in withdrawing so many of her children from the hallowed fold, the words of a Prophet were first echoed on the shores of a new world; "quam pulchri pedes evangelizantium pacem, evangelizantium bona". The losses of the Church in Europe were more than counterbalanced by her gains among the new nations of America, whose fervour and faith formed a striking contrast to the frenzy and irreligion of the sophists of Germany. Now no sooner were these western children summoned to the bosom of the Church than versions of the Sacred Scripture were made for their use, in their yet uncouth and unpolished tongues, by the missionaries of the Cross. "Benedict Fernandez, a Dominican Friar (writes the Protestant Horne), being appointed Vicar of Mixteca, in New Spain, translated the Epistles and Gospels into the dialect spoken in that province. Didacus de S. Maria, another Dominican and Vicar of the province of Mexico (who died in 1579), was the author of a translation of the Epistles and Gospels into the Mexican tongue, or general language of the country. The Proverbs of Solomon and other fragments of the Holy Scriptures were translated into the same language by Louis Rodriguez, a Spanish Franciscan Friar; and the Epistles and Gospels appointed to be read for the whole year were translated into the idiom of the western Indians, by Arnold a Basaccio, also a Franciscan Friar" ( Introduction , vol. ii. pag. 120). Besides these various Mexican versions, there were others which escaped the researches of Mr. Horne. Thus, for instance, within the past years was printed the "Evangeliarium, Epistolarium, et Lectionarium Aztecum", composed nearly three centuries and a half ago by a Spanish Franciscan named Bernardine Sahagyn. This zealous religious entered on his missionary career in Mexico about the year 1520, and for sixty [324] years devoted himself to the spiritual culture of that new vineyard of God. He was not inattentive at the same time to the literature and ancient monuments of the Aztec race, and his name is well known to Mexican antiquarians for his researches regarding the language, history, and antiquities of the New World. Lord Kingsborough, in the seventh volume of his great work, published the Historia Universal de las Cosas de Nueva Espana , composed by our Franciscan about the year 1550, and his version of the Sacred Scripture, when first announced to the literary world, was thus described by M. Beltram: "J' ai une trouvaille a vous montrer, la plus interressante, je crois, de toutes celles que vous avez déja vues ... on y voit un beau reste de l'illustre philanthrope et moine Bernardino de Sahagun" ( Le Mexique , vol. ii. pag. 167. Paris, 1830). Nevertheless, this version was destined to remain still thirty years a hidden treasure, and it was only in 1858 that its publication was commenced in Milan by the accomplished Mexican scholar Biondelli. From the introduction of the learned editor we learn that Bernardino's version comprised almost all the New Testament and a portion of the Old, and that its date was anterior to those commemorated by Mr. Horne, the manuscript from which the text was printed having been copied in the year 1530. ( See Evangeliarium, etc., ex antiquo codice Mexicano nuper invento depromptum. Milan, 1858, 4to, page xlix. 576).

Returning to the old continent, the first country which we meet is our own beloved land. Now was the Bible a sealed Book in our Catholic island, and were our sainted fathers enemies of, or strangers to, its inspired truths? Oh! ask the great apostle of North England, St. Aidan, whose disciples, as Bede informs us, "whether they were of the clergy or of the laity, were bound to exercise themselves either in reading the Scriptures or in learning the Psalms" ( Hist. Eccl. , iii. 5). Ask St. Livinus, "who", as his ancient biographer relates, "was trained up from his youth by his holy Master, Benignus, in singing David's Psalms, and reading the holy Gospels". Ask St. Columbanus, in whose "breast the treasures of the Holy Scriptures were so laid up, that within the compass of his youthful years he set forth an elegant exposition of the Book of Psalms" ( Vita, cap. 2); or ask the Northumbrian King Alfred, of whom Bede again writes that, "residing in Ireland, he imbibed there celestial wisdom in his attentive soul, and became a man most learned in the Scriptures: having left his native country and his pleasant fields, that in diligent exile he might learn the mystery of godliness". St. Furse, from his youth, was taught to drink in heavenly wisdom at the sacred source of the inspired volume. [325] St. Columbanus expressly exhorts his disciple Hunaldus to its diligent study: "Sint tibi divitiae, divinae dogmata legis" ( epist. ad Hunald. ); St. Patrick himself teaches us that "meditation on the Sacred Scriptures gives strength and vigour to the soul"; "St. Kieran", as Dr. King learnedly writes, "when thirty years old, went to Rome and spent there twenty years reading the Divine Scriptures and collecting copies of them" ( Ch. Hist. of Irel. , i. 323): and as to St. Columba, we may adopt the words of the Campleton minister, who in his life of that great saint says: "His passion for studying the Scriptures was most intense, when the other parts of ministerial duty allowed him to indulge it. Thus we find him sometimes engaged for whole days and nights in exploring dark and difficult passages of Scripture, and accompanying his study and application with prayer and fasting" ( Life, etc. , by J. Smith, pag. 113). It was in the Latin version that all these saints usually meditated on the heavenly truths, and Bede does not hesitate to say that, though the Irish, Britons, Picts, and Angles had their own peculiar languages, yet, "by the meditation of the Scriptures", the Latin tongue became common to them all ( Hist. Eccl. , lib. i. cap. i.). How many noble monuments, too, remain to attest, at the same time, the artistic taste and the devotion of our Catholic fathers, in adorning and illustrating the books of Holy Writ! The Domhnach Airgid is well known to the students of Irish Ecclesiastical antiquities; it is a MS. copy of the Latin text of the Gospels, described by Petrie as "perhaps the oldest copy of the Sacred Word now existing" ( Trans. R. I. A. xviii. Antiq. , pag. 17), and which, as Eugene Curry adds, "we have just reason to believe, was the companion in his hours of devotion of our Patron Saint, the apostle Saint Patrick" ( Lect. , pag. 321). This venerable text is encased in three distinct covers, the first or inner one being of yew, and probably coeval with the manuscript itself; the second of copper plated with silver whose interlaced ornaments indicate a period between the sixth and twelfth centuries; whilst the third or outer one, of the fourteenth century, is of silver plated with gold, being decorated with relievos of the crucifixion, of the Blessed Virgin, and the other Patrons of Ireland. Thus are all the ages of faith in our island, anterior to the Reformation, linked together in a holy union, to proclaim with one accord the love and devotion of our Catholic fathers for the inspired text. The Cathach , or vellum Book of Psalms, handed down from St. Columbkille, with its rich case of solid silver, is scarcely less interesting; and what shall we say of the Book of Kells, i.e. , the Latin Gospels of St. Columba, "a manuscript (as Petrie remarks) which for beauty and splendour is not surpassed by any of its age known to exist" ( Round Towers , pag. 203), and of which [326] Westwood thus writes: "Ireland may justly be proud of the Book of Kells: it is unquestionably the most elaborately executed MS. of early art now in existence" ( Palaeog. Sac. ). Besides these, there are Dimma's Book and the Gospels of MacDurnan, the Psalter of St. Ricemarch, the Evangeliarium of St. Moling, Bishop of Ferns, and the fragments of several Gospels, rivalling in point of ornament and accuracy the most precious MSS. of the Continent ( Ibid. ). There is one copy of the sacred text which it is sad to miss from the collections of our Christian antiquities. It is the so-called Book of Kildare, which was publicly destroyed by the fathers of Protestantism in this country, but which has happily been described by Giraldus Cambrensis, a writer whom none will suspect of bias in favour of our Irish Church. We will give the original text of his description, which may not, perhaps, be easily accessible to the reader:—

"Inter universa Kyldariae miracula nil mihi miraculosius occurrit, quam liber ille mirandus, tempore virginis Brigidae (ut ajunt) Angelo dictante conscriptus. Continet hic liber quatuor Evangelistarum juxta Hieronymum concordantiam, ubi quot paginae fere sunt, tot figurae diversae variisque coloribus distinctissimae. Hic majestatis vultum videas divinitus impressum: hinc mysticas Evangelistarum formas: nunc senas, nunc quaternas, nunc binas alas habentes, hinc aquilam, inde vitulum, hinc hominis faciem, inde bovis, aliasque figuras pene infinitas, quas si superficialiter et usuali more minus acute conspexeris, litura potius videbitur quam ligatura; nec ullam attendens prorsus subtilitatem, ubi nihil tamen praeter subtilitatem. Sin autem ad perspicacius intuendum oculorum aciem invitaveris, et longe penitius ad artis arcana transpenetraveris; tam delicatas et subtiles, tam actas et arctas, tam nodosas et vinculatim colligatas, tamque recentibus adhuc coloribus illustratas notare poteris intricaturas, ut vere haec omnia Angelica potius quam humana diligentia jam asseveraveris esse composita. Haec equidem quanto frequentius et diligentius intueor, semper quasi novis obstupeo, semperque magis ac magis admiranda conspicio" ( Topogr. Hib. , ii. 38, pag. 730).

Even the continental libraries retain many Scriptural monuments of the Irish Church, though the designation of Anglo-Saxon MSS. commonly given to them, has withdrawn them from that careful investigation which they otherwise would have obtained from our antiquarians: such are, for instance, the Psalter of St. Ouen, at Rouen; the Gospels of St. Gatien, at Tours; of Mac Regol, at Oxford; of St. Germain de Pres; besides the Book of St. Chad, and many others mentioned by Westwood in his Palaeographia Sacra (London, 1845). The Gospels of St. Boniface, in Fulda, are now generally supposed to have come from the Irish school: and equally venerable are the Evangelia of St. Kilian, still preserved in Würzburg. The last page of this precious text is tinged with the blood of this great Irish martyr, and on his [327] festival (8th July) it is still solemnly exposed upon the altar during the celebration of the Holy Mysteries (See Appendix A to Report on the Foedera , published by the Record Commission, for a long notice and fac-simile of the writing of this MS.). In Italy, the Book of St. Silas is preserved in his tomb at Lucca; a fragment of St. Caimin's Psalter may be seen in Rome; and St. Cathaldus's Gospels are enclosed in his shrine at Tarento. The library of St. Gall, in Switzerland, possessed for centuries many old Irish manuscripts, amongst which are mentioned by Von Arx, " Quatuor Evangelia; Evang. S. Joannis; Epistolae S. Pauli; liber Prophetarum ; et plura fragmenta", all which are styled Codicis Scottici in a catalogue of the ninth century ( Monumenta Germ. Historica. tom. 2, pag. 66 et 78). The monastery of Bobbio, however, was distinguished above all others for the richness of its store of manuscripts: it was founded by Irish Religious in the seventh century, and for a long subsequent period was the great literary mart of North Italy, and a cherished resort of Irish pilgrims. From the present of books made to this monastery by an Irish ecclesiastic named Dungall, we may judge how abundant were the Biblical treasures of our island before the tenth century. The ancient list of these books is published by Muratori, and it comprises not only the Evangelium plenarium , and Psalterium , and other Books of Scripture, but also the commentaries of Origen, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great, St. Ambrose, Bede, Cassiodorus, and Albinus; the poems of Fortunatus, Paulinus, Arator, Prudentius, and Juvencus; the Ecclesiastical History of Hegesippus; and one work with the curious title, "librum quendam Latine Scotaicae linguae", which probably means a treatise in Latin on the Irish language (See Muratori, Antiqq. Ital. , iii. 818). Such collections of books, once so abundant in our island, were deliberately pillaged and destroyed, first by the pagan Danes, and again by the Protestant maligners of our country, under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth. In a preceding article, "The See of Cork", we have given a specimen of the Scriptural books preserved in an humble Franciscan convent in Youghal in 1490; and Dr. Reeves, in his Essay on the Culdees, gives us a short notice of another Irish library in the twelfth century, in which the Gospels and copies of other portions of the Sacred Scripture hold their usual place ( Transact. of R. I. A. , Dublin, 1864, pag. 249). Even during the sad era of the desolation of our island, from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, the labours of Irishmen on the continent in illustrating the sacred text, won for them a distinguished fame; whilst the testimonies collected by Boerner ( Le Long , ii. 369) further prove that at home a version of the Sacred Scripture into the Irish language was achieved long before the so called [328] Reformation, being generally attributed to Richard Fitzralph, Archbishop of Armagh, who died in 1360. We must be pardoned, if, as we fear, we dwelt too long on the venerable monuments of our early Church.

England next claims our attention. Forty years ago a member of its Established Church did not hesitate to write that during the Catholic ages, "the Bible was a sealed Book ... there is good reason for believing that the great mass of men never heard that such a book was in existence" (Soames' Hist. of Reformation in England ). Yet surely it was not so in the ages of Bede and Alcuin. The holy Caedmon presented to his contemporaries an Anglo-Saxon metrical paraphrase of the Bible, a portion of which we have seen translated into English and re-issued from the press in our own days. Fragments of many other Anglo-Saxon versions have also been preserved, some of which bear the classic names of Bede , Athelstan , Aeldred , Aelfric , and King Alfred. The publication of these works has long engaged the attention of our antiquarians, from the early edition by Marshall, in 1665, to that of Dr. Thorpe, in 1842. After the Norman Conquest, French and Latin were for three centuries the literary languages of England; no sooner, however, was the English language formed, than we find it employed in presenting to the faithful the teaching of the inspired volume. An old MS. in the Imperial Library of Vienna commemorates an exposition of the Gospels in the writer's possession, "in vetustissimo Anglico, quod vix aliquis hominum jam viventium sufficienter intelligeret" ( Appendix A to Record Commission Report , pag. 232). Usher in his day referred the first English version to the year 1290. Trevisa, who died before 1360, also translated "Biblia Sacra in vernaculam", as Anthony Wood informs us ( Antiq. Oxon. , ii. 95). It was only some years later that Wicleff's version appeared; and though some English writers refer it to 1367, the German Rationalist, Reuss, marks its date as 1380 ( Die Gesch. der Heilig. Schriften , Brunswick, 1853). For an interesting and detailed account of the more recent Catholic translations in English, we must refer to the learned General Introduction to the Sacred Scriptures (Dublin, 1852) by our venerated Primate. At present it will suffice to mention one which is but little known to English biblical readers. It was the work of an Irish Priest, the Rev. Cornelius Nary, who, whilst administering the Parish of St. Michan's in the city of Dublin, found leisure to compose several valuable treatises, and especially to translate the New Testament from the Latin Vulgate, comparing it with the original Greek, and with several ancient translations into other languages. This version was printed in 1718: a few years later the author's [329] name was on the list of those presented to the Holy See by the chapter of Dublin, when soliciting a successor to their deceased Bishop, Dr. Edward Murphy; he died full of years, deeply lamented by his spiritual children, in 1738.

Much might be said on the many versions which were made throughout the continent during the ante-Reformation period. In the French language there is extant a version of the books of Kings and Maccabees , which is referred by Le Long to the eleventh century. Several MSS. of the Psalms are also still preserved, which are placed by Wharton as early as the twelfth century, and Hallam in express terms attests that "we find translations of the Psalms , Job , Kings , and the Maccabees , into French, in the eleventh or twelfth century". Guyars de Moulins, a priest and canon of St. Pierre d'Aire, about the year 1290, translated into French and completed the Historia Sacra of Peter Comestor. This work is not, as Horne describes it, "a popular abstract of sacred history", but comprises the historical and moral books of the Old and New Testament; and we have said that de Moulins completed the work of Comestor, because his version embraces the whole of the sacred writings of the Old and New Testament. It was not, however, a mere translation of the Sacred Scripture; here and there notes and commentaries are added, and these are found to vary in several MSS., as if they were inserted to suit the various controversies which arose in the French Church. The first printed text was the New Testament, which was published in folio, in Lyons, in 1478, being translated into French by two Augustinian friars, Julian Macho and Pierre Farget. A copy of this edition is still preserved in the public library of Leipsic ( Reuss , pag. 446). The version of de Moulins was very soon after also printed in a quarto edition, whilst its Editio Princeps , carefully revised by Jean de Rely, afterwards Bishop of Angers, was published in Paris under the auspices of Charles VIII., in 1487. It passed through fourteen other editions in Paris and Lyons alone, before the year 1546. We may also refer to this ante-Reformation period the version of James Le Fevre, of Estables, who is better known by his Latin name of Faber Hapulensis, and who undertook a new translation of the Bible in 1512. This work, especially with the corrections of the Louvain divines, acquired considerable popularity, and more than forty different editions of it appeared before the year 1700. Even before any French Protestant version of the Sacred Scripture appeared, another French Catholic translation was made by Nicholas de Leuse, a doctor of Louvain, and was printed at Antwerp in 1534. The first Protestant version was published at Neufchatel in the following year.

Perhaps in Germany at least, the native land of Protestantism, [330] the holy Bible was a sealed book to the children of the Catholic Church? No, it was far otherwise. As early as the tenth century Notker Albulus, abbot of the monastery of St. Gallus, translated into German the book of Psalms ; and a century later most of the other inspired books were translated by William of Ebersberg, in Bavaria, and other religious whose names have not been handed down to us ( Reuss , pag. 439). In the succeeding centuries several other translations appeared, so much so, that the author of the Cologne version, printed in 1480, was able to affirm in his preface that he availed himself "of a variety of different versions, which were made and circulated both in Lower and Upper Germany, before printing came into use". The first printed German Bible issued from the Mentz press in two volumes in folio about 1462. Other editions seem to have followed soon after; for, in the next earliest edition which is now known, viz., that of Augsburg, in 1477, the editor was able to commend the accuracy of his version, and eulogize it "prae omnibus aliis antea impressis Bibliis Germanicis". So rapid was the diffusion of the printed text, that from 1477 to 1490, this city of Augsburg alone gave five different editions. The city of Nuremberg gave proofs of equal fecundity, having published distinct editions in 1477, 1480, and 1483. The editor of this last edition laid claim to special elegance of type and accuracy of text, "prae omnibus antea impressis Germanicis purius, clarius, et verius"; and, it would seem, justly, for David Clement, who examined the edition, thus describes it: "I saw that magnificent edition in the library of the Duchess of Nuremberg; the paper, the ornamented letters, the illuminated figures so well drawn and engraved around, all so delightful to behold, giving a most pleasing idea of the degree of perfection to which the art of printing had already arrived, and this only thirty years after the invention of movable types". The other chief cities of Germany, Cologne, Lubeck, Halberstadt, Strasburg, and Mentz, had also their distinct editions; and before the year 1500—that is to say, many years before the appearance of Lutheranism—thirty editions of the entire Scriptures were in circulation in the vernacular language of Germany.

We will give but a rapid glance at the versions of Poland, Spain, and Bohemia, that we may be able to devote more space to one country which is especially dear to every Catholic heart. The first Polish version was made about 1390, by order of St. Hedwige, wife of the famous Duke of Lithuania who was chosen king under the name of Ladislaus IV. About the same time a second translation is said to have been made by Andrew Jassowitz. Another version of the Psalter, and a fragment of a translation of the Old Testament made in 1455, are commemorated [331] by Graesse in his Litter. Hist. , v. 484. Translations of the Bible into Spanish are spoken of by the national writers, during the reign of James I. of Arragon, in the thirteenth century, and again under John II. of Leon, about 1440. The first printed edition appeared in 1478, and another edition, of 1515, is referred by Graesse (loc. cit.) to a Carthusian monk, named Boniface Ferrer. As regards Bohemia, MM. Schaffarik and Palacky commemorate a translation of the Gospel of St. John, made as early as the tenth century ( Böhm. Denkm. , an. 1840). A Bohemian Psalter bears date 1396. Huss in one of his controversial tracts speaks of the New Testament as already extant in the Bohemian language. The translation of the whole Bible into Bohemian was achieved at Dresden in 1410, as Dobrowsky proves ( Slovanka , Th. 2), and we find printed editions at Prague in 1488, at Cutna in 1498, and at Venice in 1506 and 1511. Even Denmark had its translation of the Sacred Scriptures, and a version of the historical books of the Old Testament was made in 1470, as Molbek and Grimm inform us.

If, however, the Catholic Church were hostile to the sacred Scriptures, we should naturally suppose that in Italy, at least, little enthusiasm should have been displayed in the diffusion of the Bible in the vulgar tongue; for Italy was more immediately subject to the influence of the Holy See; in its centre stood the capital of the universal Catholic world—the new Jerusalem of the Church—the See of Peter. Nevertheless, of all European countries, Italy was, perhaps, the most remarkable for the diffusion of the sacred text during the ante-Reformation period. Jacopo de Voragine, Bishop of Genoa, who died in 1298, was the first to translate the Scriptures into the Italian tongue, and thus his version dates before Dante and the other great masters of the language. New translations by Nicholas de Neritono, of the Dominican Order, Pietro Arighetto, Cavalca, and others, followed soon after; and so rapid was the diffusion of the sacred text, that, as Lamy informs us, the archives of Florence alone contain forty manuscripts belonging to the fourteenth century, all presenting various portions of the Bible in the Italian tongue ( De Eruditione App. , page 308, seqq. ). The discovery of the art of printing was hailed in Italy with special delight. Sweynheyne and Paunartz, under the auspices of Cardinal Cusa, hastened thither with the newly-found treasure, and Rome was the first city that welcomed them within its walls. Various editions of the Bible, the classics, and the Fathers, soon appeared; indeed, before the year 1500, almost every city of Italy had one or more printing presses in operation, but, above all, the names of the great Benedictine monastery of Subiaco, and the "Palazzo Massimi" in Rome, record to posterity the religious patronage and princely munificence which welcomed the German [332] artists to the divinely favoured patrimony of the successors of St. Peter.

Three editions of the Bible in the Italian tongue appeared in the year 1471. The first bears the name of Nicholas Malermi, a religious of the Order of Camaldoli. The closing words of the Second volume fix its precise date: "Impresso fu questo volume nel l'alma patria de Venetia nell' anno de la salutifera incarnatione del Figliolo de l'eterno et omnipotente Dio, MCCCCLXXI, in Kalende di Augusto per Vendelino Spira". This version was subsequently repeated in new editions, and is still esteemed for the purity of its language, being described by the latest writer on this subject as written. "vel miglior secolo della nostra lingua" (Vercellone, Dissert. Roma , 1864, pag. 100). The Second Venetian edition of 1471, was printed "per Nicolo Jenson in calende di Ottobre", and by some inexperienced modern observers was supposed to be merely a reprint of the former text: it is, however, quite distinct, and the best judges of the present day are of opinion that this version is from the pen of Cavalca, a Tuscan writer of the golden age, who flourished in the fourteenth century. It is cited 160 times in the last edition of the Crusca (Florence, 1843), under the title Volgarizzamento di Pistole e di Vangeli , and some manuscripts of it are extant, which date back to the close of the fourteenth century (Curioni, " Sui due Primi Volgarizzamenti ", etc., Milan, 1847; and Sorio in Archiv. Eccles. Firenze, 1864, vol. i. pag. 297). A. third Italian version appeared in Rome in the same month of October, 1471, in two volumes folio: many writers have described it as the version of Malermi; but Maffei, who diligently compared both texts, pronounced it to be a distinct and independent version. No fewer than eleven complete editions of these several versions appeared before the year 1500, and more than forty editions are reckoned before the appearance of the first Protestant edition of the Bible in the Italian language. Some of these editions, too, deserve the name of distinct versions, on account of various alterations and improvements made in the text, and all appeared under ecclesiastical sanction; thus, for instance, an edition of Venice, in 1477, bears the name of "Fratre Marino del Ordine di Predicatori, de la sacra pagina professore umile".

An entirely new translation from the original text was made by Sanctes Marmoschini in 1538, and was reprinted in 1546. Another translation, which appeared in 1547, was remarkable for its poetical version of Job and the Psalms . The translation of Antonio Bruccioli attracted still more attention. It was made "de la Hebraica veritá", and was ushered in under the patronage of the French monarch, Francis I., in the month of May 1532.

From that date to 1552, twelve editions of this version appeared; but, though, remarkable for its Tuscan dialect, it was [333] inaccurate in many passages, for which reason it was condemned by the Council of Trent. The first Protestant Italian Bible was printed in Geneva as late as 1562, and was little more than a reprint of Bruccioli's version. About fifty years later Diodati's Bible appeared, which is rather a Calvinistic paraphrase than a version; nevertheless, this corruption of Holy Writ has for two centuries held its place as the great Protestant standard of orthodoxy. Even in later times the Catholic Church has presented a new and accurate Italian version to her children, and Anthony Martini, Archbishop of Florence, by the accuracy of his translation, the purity of his style, and his admirable explanatory notes, merited the congratulations and approval of the illustrious Pontiff Pius VI.: "Beloved Son", writes this great Pope, "at a time when vast numbers of bad books are being circulated, most grossly attacking the Catholic Church, to the great destruction of souls, you have judged exceeding well in exhorting the faithful to the reading of the Holy Scriptures; for these are most abundant sources, whence every one ought to be in a position to draw purity of morals and of doctrine, and to eradicate the errors which are so widely disseminated in these corrupt times. This you have seasonably accomplished, publishing the sacred writing in the language of your country, to be understood by all, especially as you declare that you have added explanatory notes, which, being extracted from the Holy Fathers, preclude every possible danger of abuse, etc. Given at Rome on the calends of April, 1778".

Thus, then, so far from the Church being the enemy of the Bible, she was its watchful guardian, and ever cherished it as a sacred treasure. When heresy introduced corruption into the inspired volume, and substituted the word of man for the Word of God, the pastors of the Catholic fold fearlessly raised their voice, and warned the faithful of the snares which were laid for them. When enemies had poisoned the life-giving stream, the Church permitted not her children to drink the deadly draught. But in no country, and at no period, was the Catholic Church the enemy of the Bible; never was its sacred text a sealed book to the faithful; but, on the contrary, the pastors of the Church, the divinely constituted guardians of the inspired writings, were ever zealous in promoting the study of their sacred truths, and in "disseminating the knowledge of God's written word".

We now take leave of the learned Earl of Clancarty. Would it be too much to expect from his candour that he would withdraw the statement which he has made, since, as we have seen, when viewed historically, it is false and groundless in itself, whilst at the same time it outrages the feelings of the whole Catholic Irish nation?

THE SOCIAL MISSION OF THE CHURCH.

The social mission of the Christian Church is a subject to which none can be indifferent. For eighteen centuries and a half the career of the Church has remained unchanged; and amid the revolutions of nations and the migrations of tribes and peoples, her social mission has ever been to educate, to civilize, and to elevate humanity. The civilization of the east had languished into decay, the greatness of Greece was merged in the universal empire of Rome, and the east and the west groaned under the despotism of the Cæsars. When this new and strange power appeared upon the earth it was a power insignificant in appearance, and far beneath even the contempt of the haughty emperors; yet that little society, these few poor and despised Galileans were destined to crush the colossus of Paganism, and to erect upon its ruins an empire more extended than that of Rome, and a civilization more refined and more enlightened than that of Egypt or of Greece. These few ignorant men were to purify the philosophy of Greece, to humble the greatness of Rome, to arrest the wandering tribes of the desert and the savage hordes of the north, to civilize them and to lead them within the pale of the Christian Church; slavery was to retire before her influence; the dark clouds of ignorance and barbarism were to be dispelled by her light; and arts, learning, and civilization were to flourish under the shadow of her patronage. Her hands were full of gifts to men; to the slave she was the herald of freedom, to the ignorant she was the bearer of knowledge, and to all she was the teacher of a pure and elevated morality, unknown to the pagan world. Such was the social mission of the Christian Church; how nobly has she fulfilled it!

In three centuries, after persecutions the most dire, the Christian Church won her way from the gloom of the catacombs to the imperial throne of Rome. The hand of power sought to check her progress, but in vain; the sword of persecution raised against her fell from the hand of the tyrant; the insidious breath of heresy could not corrupt her purity, nor the splendid teachings of Athens or Alexandria draw her from her sublime mission of truth. She consoled the slave, she cheered and strengthened the martyr, she elevated and purified all; she struggled with Paganism—with its profane and captivating rites—with its proud philosophy and its millions of refined and luxurious votaries. She won disciples from every grade, and class, and nation, until Christianity became the national religion of the proud and persecuting empire of the Cæsars. But now, that very empire which the Church [335] has won is tottering to ruin; new difficulties beset her, and a new mission awaits her. The Goth, the Hun, and the Vandal have seized on the richest provinces of Rome. Her cities lie in ruins, her temples are profaned, and Europe seems again fast sinking into hopeless barbarism; the clash of arms and the yell of triumph has silenced the voice of civilization, and the jargon of her rude conquerors startles the ear in the very streets of Rome; streams of human population pour in from the northern nations—they extinguish the Roman power, and carry into the heart of Europe new traditions, a new mythology, new habits of thought, and new principles of action. And whilst the north was thus violently convulsed by the crash of the western empire, the south was not less violently agitated by the rising greatness of the Saracen. From the Atlantic to the Pacific the sway of Omar extended; and many were the cities ruined, and many were the literary monuments destroyed by these untamed children of the desert. In such perils what is able to save—what spirit could brood over this social chaos and breathe into it order and beauty—what power could move in the track of the desolating host, could collect the half ruined fragments of classic art and construct them again into a still more beautiful temple of learning? What influence could wean that lawless race from the wild ways of rapine and the degrading vices of savage life, and make them rival and excel the polished Roman in all the arts and accomplishments of civilized life? The Church alone could arrest the onward march of barbarism, and restore social order; with prophetic glance she seemed conscious of the perils that beset her, and prepared to overcome them. Augustine, Jerome, Hilary, and Prosper, the last expiring lights of the past civilization, were the devoted children of the Church. In the sixth century, when the schools of the empire were closed, her monasteries were the sole sanctuaries of learning. In them she studied and taught, and opposed an organised resistance to the despotism of the sword, whilst her secular clergy acted, governed, and preserved external order. In this century St. Remus preached with a classic purity, and Avitus of Vienne, the Milton of the Church, sang of the creation and the fall in the thrilling accents of genius. In this period appeared Cesarius of Arles, Gregory of Tours, and Fortunatus of Poitiers, whose learning shed a light upon their age, and whose works marked the birth of a new literature purely ecclesiastical. The learning and sanctity of our own Church relieved the darkness of the seventh century. Columbanus awakened a new spirit in the French Church, he arrested the march of barbarism in southern Germany, and perpetuated the study of antiquity among his numerous disciples. The eighth century marked a new era in letters; Charlemagne and [336] the Church vied with each other; Bede and Bennett adorned England; the Carlovingian schools were organized under the genius of Alcuin, and over the wide dominions of Charlemagne an impulse was given to learning which was felt for centuries. By her Popes, her councils, and her bishops, the Church ever laboured to diffuse knowledge amongst her people. With a willing obedience her monastic institutions responded to her call, and during the eleventh and twelfth centuries awakened a literary activity from the Tiber to the Atlantic. The wonders of the press were yet unknown, but the simple, learned, and laborious monk plied his daily task, and rivalled the press in the extent, variety, and beauty of his labours. These venerable institutions, so often the scorn of the ignorant, were rapidly multiplied over the whole continent of Europe; Clugny and Citeaux spring into life, and each becomes a school of knowledge, a centre of civilization, and a prolific nursery of saintly and learned men. Let the sceptic on this point read Mabillon's book on monastic studies, in reply to De Rancé, the venerable Abbot of La Trappe; let him examine the collection of manuscripts found in the eight hundred monasteries visited by Martini in his literary tours; let him look at the contents of the fourteen volumes folio, compiled by Martini and the illustrious band who accompanied him in his antiquarian researches through the monasteries of central Europe; let him glance at the Titan labours of Mabillon, Montfaucon, and the Benedictines of St. Maur; and then let him dilate on the stupidity and ignorance of the monks of the "dark ages". Thus, by the zeal of the Church, and her monks and her missioners, the Christian faith was again spread over Europe, Saxon England was reconquered to the Church, Clovis and his people entered her fold, Germany was won over to her empire, and the fierce children of the north everywhere bowed to her yoke. Their minds, filled with the dim shadows of their native traditions and the bloody deeds of their ancestors, became awakened to all the beauties of Christianity; they yielded to the softening influence of the more genial climate of their conquered home, they cast off the bonds of their gloomy superstition, they entered the Church, and under her guidance they became the founders of the nations and the authors of the mediaeval and modern literature of Europe. The Church moulded with the same skilful hand the sternness and energy of the north, and the more soft and imaginative races of the south, and united the fierce worshippers of Thor with the followers of the giddy Genii of the east, in one grand struggle for the glory of their common creed. She summoned the spirit of chivalry, then in its youthful vigour; she excited a glow of religious enthusiasm that set Europe in a flame; she appealed to the spirit of warlike enterprise, [337] and gathered round her standard that group, who, quitting home, country, and friends, arose at the call of Urban, and put on the badge of the crusader. Yes, the crusades are a great fact in the history of modern civilization; they stilled the voice of domestic strife, which had been productive of so much evil; they united, elevated, and consecrated the chivalry of Europe, and exhibited to the world the power and the glory of religion. These were days of great excitement and of rapid progress; this was the age of the growth and ascendancy of the scholastic philosophy. The Arabic empire of Spain was in its meridian glory. It was in this age Peter preached, and the Cross was raised at Clermont, and Godfrey and Boemond rushed to the liberation of the sacred city. It was in this age the glorious Hildebrand laboured so successfully to eject feudal influence from the sanctuary, to abolish the baneful right of lay investiture, and to give to the Church ministers worthy of their sublime duties. It was in these days the Italian cities were fostered by the protection of the Papal power, and the leagued towns of Germany under their bishops; and the municipal councils were breaking down feudal tyranny, and opening to the peasant mind the path to political and literary distinction, which they have since so nobly trod. In the ninth century Hamburg was the stronghold of tyranny; in the eleventh and twelfth centuries this same city was the nucleus of a great confederation which for centuries influenced the destinies of Europe. In the thirteenth century the spirit of Bernard and Hildebrand was again revived. The genius, the sanctity, the learning, and the courage of Innocent III. guided the destinies of the Church. Rodolph, with the Cross for his sceptre, ruled in Germany; St. Louis governed France; Spain gloried in Alphonso and Ferdinand, and in the victories of Seville and Tolosa; and England, under a Cardinal of the Roman Church, wrung from her king the charter of her rights. This was the age of St. Francis and St. Dominick; of Albertus and St. Thomas, of Bacon and Bonaventure. In these days Oxford boasted of her thirty thousand students; twenty-five thousand trod the halls of Paris; and ten thousand read law at Bologna. Never was there an age more glorious than this age of Christian faith; glorious in great deeds and historic names; glorious in learning and life of the universities with which the Church had studded Europe; glorious in a noble Christian art and architecture; and glorious too in the sublime genius of its poets. And all these great movements, intellectual and social, all pregnant with such grand results for the happiness and enlightenment of mankind, and for the future greatness and civilization of the nations of Europe, were originated and guided to success by the genius of the Catholic Church. The Church was that mysterious [338] power that moulded the nations, and influenced the social condition of successive generations over the whole continent. In the lawless ages of rapine and violence she stood between the tyrant and his victim, and restrained the excesses of feudalism by the sword of her spiritual authority. She was ever the protector of the weak, and the defender of rational liberty. In the words of an eloquent Protestant writer, "The Church was the great bulwark of order, she perpetuated justice and light, and fought the battle of civilization and freedom. The feudal castle could not screen the oppressor of the poor from her vengeance, nor the kingly diadem save the tyrant of his people from her stern maledictions; the Church presided over mediaeval society; her Pontiff reigned with an universal sway, with which the grateful suffrage of Europe invested him; and never was human power exercised with more justice or with more glorious results for the welfare of humanity". And this is the Church which her enemies would shamelessly brand as hostile to the diffusion of knowledge; this the Church that would restrain the freedom of human thought, perpetuate ignorance, and dwarf the intellect of man; the Church of Nicholas, of Leo, and of Benedict; the Church that presided over the revival of Greek learning, and saved the decaying fragments of classic genius; the Church that before the sixteenth century founded fifty-eight universities in Europe, and from her poverty encouraged learning with a munificence which should shame the nations of our day! The Catholic Church cultivated the mind of Petrarch, she inspired the genius of Dante, and listened to the thrilling tones of Ariosto. Calderon was her child, and Tasso loved to linger in her capital. Yes, this is the Church that would dwarf the human intellect! Gothic architecture is her own creation, and the glories of Italian art were developed in the shadow of the Vatican. The palace of Nicholas and of Leo was the temple of learning, and the gifted of every nation flocked to the city of the pontiffs to live in the smile of his favour and on the munificence of his bounty. In his presence the poet felt a new inspiration, the sculptor breathed life into the marble, and the magic pencil of Italy imparted to its matchless productions a more than divine beauty. The same ear that was charmed with the strains of Ariosto could listen with approval to the researches of Flavio or the sublime theories of Copernicus. The Pope during the middle ages was the great high priest of literature, of science and of art, enthroned by the suffrage of Europe; the learned of the age paid to him the tribute of their grateful affection; and the office of his secretary was for centuries regarded as the prize of genius, which the first scholars of the age claimed as the reward of their intellectual greatness.

LITURGICAL QUESTIONS.

Our reverend correspondents on liturgical subjects will hold us excused if we are not able to answer the several questions kindly forwarded to us, as we deem it our duty, in compliance with the request of several friends, to treat of some questions in connection with the ceremonies of Holy Week, which may be deemed useful for the guidance of the clergy in carrying on the solemn functions of that week.

3. What is to be done in the country parishes where there is not a sufficient number of priests to have high Mass, and where the other ceremonies cannot be observed?

In reply to the first question we beg to say that low Masses are strictly forbidden on the three last days of Holy Week. When there is a sufficient number of priests, the rubrics require that a solemn high Mass be celebrated, and in those churches not having a sufficient number of priests for high Mass the Memoriale Rituum of Benedict XIII. must be used, which prescribes certain solemnities to be observed by one priest, and requires that he be attended by at least three clerics in surplices, in performing the functions of Holy Week. This ceremonial of Benedict XIII. is to be observed only in case there is a deficiency of priests, and hence it presupposes that a solemn Mass is to be said with deacon and sub-deacon when they can be had, as the Memoriale Rituum was published by order of Benedict XIII. solely with the view of enabling the clergy in the smaller churches to carry out the ceremonies of Holy Week, and accordingly, in reply to various questions as to private Masses on those three days, we find that the answer invariably was, that the ceremonies were to be carried out "servata forma parvi Ritualis S. M. Benedicti XIII., ann. 1725, jussu editi".

2. Thus the following answer was given by the Sacred Congregation of Rites (4904):

1. "An in Ecclesiis Parochialibus in quibus nullus extat clerus sed solum Parochus, possit vel debeat iste facere Benedictionem Candelarum, Cinerum, Palmarum, novi ignis, Cerei Paschalis, Fontis Baptismalis et coeterorum hujusmodi, necnon instituere officium Feriae quintae in Coena Domini et Feriae sextae in Parasceve sine cantu et solum privata voce prout celebratur Missa privata?

"Ad 1. Servetur parvum Caeremoniale a sa. me. Benedicto Papa XIII. ad hoc editum. Die 23, Maii, 1846".

This applies to the last three days of Holy Week; but can a low Mass be said on one of these days, such as Holy Thursday? There are innumerable decrees of the Sacred Congregation of Rites on this subject, and it would be impossible to quote all: we shall give one or two. Thus on the 31st August, 1839, the question was proposed:

"An in Ecclesiis ubi Functiones Majoris hebdomadae fieri nequeunt, Feria quinta celebrari possit Missa lecta. Negative".

1. "An toleranda sit consuetudo vigens in quibusdam par[oe]ciis, praesertim in ruralibus celebrandi per parochum Missam lectam Feria V. in Coena Domini quin peragi valeant eadem Feria, et sequenti coeterae Ecclesiasticae functiones praescriptae ob clericorum defectum, vel potius obolenda.

3. "An ad eliminandos abusus, siqui irrepserint, sit consulendum Sanctissimo pro revocatione cujuscumque Indulti celebrandi privatim eamdem Missam, (idest in Sabbato Sancto) firmo tamem remanente singulari privilegio aliquibus Ecclesiis, peculiaribus attentis circumstantiis, concesso unam vel alteram Missam lectam celebrandi post unicam solemnem de die?

"Ad. 1. Affirmative et ad mentem: mens est ut locorum ordinarii quoad Paroecias in quibus haberi possunt tres, quatuorve saltem Clerici Sacras Functiones Feriis V. et VI. ac Sabbato majoris hebdomadae peragi studeant, servata forma parvi Ritualis S. M. Benedicti XIII. anno 1725, jussu editi; Quoad alias paroecias quae Cleris destituuntur, indulgere valeant ob populi commoditatem, ut Parochi (petita quotannis venia) Feria V. in Coena Domini Missam lectam celebrare possint, priusquam in Cathedrali vel Matrice Conventualis incipiat. Et ad D. Secretarium cum Sanctissimo.

"Ad. 3. Affirmative juxta votum videlicet—Consulendum Sanctissimo pro revocatione cujuscumque Indulti celebrandi privatim in Sabbato Sancto, firmo tamen singulari privilegio aliquibus Ecclesiis, peculiaribus attentis circumstantiis, concesso, unam vel alteram Missam lectam celebrandi post unicam Solemnem de die prout in dubio, Die 28 Julii, 1821".

With reference to the first decision, it is to be remarked, how the observance of the Memoriale Rituum is inculcated, and that even in case the clerics cannot be had, the parish priest cannot celebrate a low Mass unless he gets permission to do so from the bishop each year (petita quotannis venia), and we may here observe that the only reasons which would warrant the bishop to grant permission for a low Mass on Holy Thursday, are two: first, to give an opportunity to the faithful of making their Easter Communion; and second, to give Communion to the sick. In these two circumstances the bishop can give permission for a low Mass, if he thinks it necessary, on Holy [341] Thursday, but the parish priest, or, much less, any other priest, cannot say Mass even in these circumstances, without the permission sought and obtained every year from the bishop (venia quotannis petita).

Gardellini, in a very valuable dissertation on this decree, has the following words: "Rem tamen noluit in Parochorum ruralium arbitrio relinquere, sed demandavit ut iidem quotannis et peterent et ab episcopo celebrandi veniam obtinerent". In another passage he (Gardellini) quotes the authority of Benedict XIV., who, when Archbishop of Bologna, had granted permission to some of the parish priests to say a low Mass under the circumstances above referred to, and then he adds:

"Praeter parochum in sua parochia, si sacerdos aliquis cujuscumque conditionis aut dignitatis Missam privatam Feria quinta, sexta, ac Sabbato majoris hebdomodae celebrare ausus fuerit, ipsum graviter puniemus et a Divinis etiam interdicemus".

With regard, however, to Holy Saturday, the case is quite different. For a private Mass cannot now be celebrated on that day without a special indult from the Holy See, as appears from a decree of the 11th March, 1690:

"Firmo in reliquis remanente praedicto decreto edito die 11 Februarii nempe in Sabbato Sancto celebrationes Missarum privatarum omnino prohibentur in quibuscumque Ecclesiis et oratoriis privatis, non obstante quacumque contraria consuetudine, et unica tantum Missa Conventualis una cum officio ejusdem Sabbati sancti celebretur".

Gardellini, in his dissertation already mentioned, speaking of this decree, says:

"Quum autem hoc Decretum Summus Pontifex sua auctoritate firmaverit et ope typorum evulgari jusserit, vim habet legis universalis quae relaxari nequit nisi ab eo a quo lata est".

It is plain, therefore, that there is a great difference between Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday, as to the question of low Masses. With regard to Holy Thursday, the bishop may allow it in certain circumstances, but not so on Holy Saturday. This difference is evidenced in the fact, that if a holiday of obligation fall on Holy Thursday, it is to be observed, and some low Masses are permitted, so that the people may fulfil the precept of hearing Mass. But if the holiday fall on Holy Saturday or Good Friday, it is transferred to another day, together with the obligation of hearing Mass, and no private Masses are allowed.

We now come to the last question, which is one of a practical character, and which must be treated as such. The Memoriale Rituum lays down most distinctly all the directions for the due performance of the ceremonies in Holy Week when there is not a sufficient number of priests to carry them on with the solemnity [342] prescribed by the Missal. In the preface it states that it was ordered by Pope Benedict XIII., and published "ut Minorum Ecclesiarum Rectores minime vel perstrictus Parochialium Clericorum numerus detineat, vel insuetorum Rituum anfractus deterreat". Hence in the same preface it charges the parish priest to instruct three or four clerics in the ceremonies, "ut sacrae actiones, si nequeant solemniter, decenter saltem peragantur". This is the first point to be attended to, namely, to appoint three or four youths and train them in the manner of performing the ceremonies. This at first may appear to cause great inconvenience and trouble, but it is well known to those who have tried the experiment how quickly well disposed youths learn such matters, and what taste they even display in arranging the altars, etc., considering the opportunities within their reach.

2. But, as far as we know, the chief difficulty which is usually made is, that they cannot do anything in the country districts in the way of singing the hymns and the psalms. This, no doubt, would be an insurmountable difficulty in many instances; but the Memoriale Rituum of Benedict XIII. does not require music or singing. It requires the priest and the youths to recite, and to do so "aequa vocum concordia" ( vide Memoriale Rituum). If the parish priest could have the singing, it would, of course, be most desirable and very edifying, but not at all necessary.

3. The Memoriale Rituum requires for Holy Thursday an altar set apart from the high altar at which the ceremonies are performed, which is called the altar of repose, and which is to be decorated and adorned with the greatest pomp. There is not much difficulty in complying with this particular, which is clearly pointed out by the Rubrics of the Missal; and we may here observe that we have heard with surprise that the altar of repose on Holy Thursday in some Churches is the same as the high altar, and not distinct from it, where the ceremonies could and ought to be carried out with the greatest solemnity and accuracy.

4. The Memoriale Rituum enters into many details about the function of Good Friday and Holy Saturday, and for this latter day many things are to be procured by the parish priest which are clearly laid down in the Missal and the Memoriale so often referred to. We deem it unnecessary to mention all the details, particularly as while we are writing on these subjects we have been favoured with a copy of a letter of his Grace the Archbishop of Dublin to the clergy of his diocese, which we annex here as confirming our views on these points, and also as a summary of what we have been stating in this article.

Dei et Apostolicae sedis gratia, Archiepiscopus Dublinensis, etc., Venerabili Clero Dublinensi Tam Saeculari quam Regulari .

Maximi momenti esse ut leges ecclesiasticae ad sacras caeremonias peragendas spectent, accuratissime observentur, nemo est qui ignoret. Itaque, cum Nobis relatum fuerit in quibusdum hujus dioecesis Ecclesiis quasdam leges rituales praecipue ad hebdomadam sanctam spectantes, diversam et variam interpretationem accipere, adeoque in omnibus eandem disciplinam non vigere, cum que maximopere optandum sit ut non tantum idem spiritus sed et eadem agendi ratio ubique servetur, nostrim uneris esse existimavimus pauca quaedam que ad unitatem promovendam opportuna videntur, in omnium memoriam revocare, non quasi nova aliqua decernentes, sed eo tantum fine ut quam accuratissime Ecclesiae leges jam latae observentur. Haec vero sunt quae ab omnibus servari volumus:—

1mo. In oratoriis domesticis, missa celebranda non est in Feria Quinta in Coena Domini, neque in duobus sequentibus diebus, neque in die Paschatis.

2do. In Feria quinta praedicta, unica tantum celebrandi est Missa in singulis Ecclesiis, quae solemnis aut conventualis esse debet. In ea vero Missa clerus qui ad ecclesiam spectat, Communionem inter Missarum solemnia a manu celebrantis recipere debet, juxta veterem et constantem Ecclesiae usum.

3tio. Altare in quo reponendum est SS. Sacramentum, quod Feria Sexta in Missa Praesanctificatorum sumi debet a celebrante, omni cura ornandum est. Caeterum, Sacra Hostia includenda est in capsula, seu in sepulchro, ut vulgo dicitur, quod clave a sacerdote custodienda claudi debet, nec licet sacram Hostiam ita exponere ut videatur a fidelibus.

4to. In die Sabbati Sancti unica tantum celebrari potest Missa, que solemnis esse debet, vel celebrata ad normam Caeremonialis Benedicti XIII.

5to. Monendi sunt fideles a confessariis et a Concionatoribus praeceptum quo tenentur sacram communionem tempore paschali recipere, adimpleri non posse nisi in propria cujusque Ecclesia Paroeciali, excepto casu quo habeatur dispensatio ab episcopo, vel proprio parocho.

6to. Die Paschatis, in Ecclesiis, quae paroeciales non sunt, vetitum omnino est Sacram Communionem fidelibus dispensare, sive privatim, sive publice.

7to. Quod vero spectat ad eos qui vivunt in communitate, ut, e.g., in Conventibus et Monasteriis, in Collegiis et Seminariis ecclesiasticis, Communionem Paschalem tam ipsi quam eorum famuli, in propriis sacellis aut ecclesiis sumere possunt.

8to. In singulis Ecclesiis paroecialibus Sabbato Sancto benedicendi sunt fontes baptismales secundum ritum in Missali Romano praescriptum.

9to. Vetera Olea ad eos benedicendos adhibenda non sunt; quare, omnibus cavendum est, ut nova olea die antecedenti, ad eum finem [344] petant. Olea vero sacra a laicis deferenda non sunt, sed a Sacerdotibus, a quibus etiam diligenter in loco tuto et clave obserrato semper custodienda sunt.

10to. Si qua in Ecclesia plures Sacerdotes ad sacras caeremonias peragendas haberi non possint, et unicus tantum adsit, servari debet, in hac hebdomada sancta ceremoniale editum jussu Benedicti XIII., pro minoribus ecclesiis, quod nuper in hac urbe in lucem prodiit ex typographia Domini Jacobi Duffy.

11mo. Organa quae pulsantur dum cantatur Gloria in excelsis in Missa Feriae Quintae in Coena Domini, silere postea debent donec initium fiat ejusdem hymni angelici in Missa Sabbati Sancti.

Caeterum, omnes Parochos et Ecclesiarum Regularium Superiores in Domino rogamus ut, ea que hic praescripta sunt, quam accuratissime observari curent, atque eo zelo quo pro gloria Dei et disciplinae ecclesiasticae observantia flagrant, operam diligentissime navent, ut non solum in hac Sacra Hebdomade, verum etiam per totius anni curriculum, omnes sacrae caeremoniae et ritus ab Ecclesia sanciti, ea qua convenit dignitate et decore, qui domum Dei decet, peragantur.

DOCUMENTS.

Folium primum anni 1843, de quo sermo est in epistola ad Episcopos Belgii ab Eminentissimo Cardinali Patrizi, secretario S. Inquisit. data d. 11 oct. 1864.

R. D. Ubaghs, docet in Theodicea et interdum etiam in Logica sequentes propositiones, quas S. Congregatio Indici praeposita emendandas esse judicat.

I. "Haud posse nos in cognitionem cujusvis externae metaphysicae veritatis venire (nempe quae respiciat ea quae sub sensus nostros non cadunt), absque alterius instructione, ac in ultima analysi absque divina revelatione".

Porro haec doctrina admitti nequit, quia sicut veritates internae et mathematicae cognosci possunt operatiocinii, ut ipsemet auctor fatetur, ita saltem possibile est veritates externas assequi, quotiescumque necessario cum internis connectuntur; aut cum ipsae internae consistere nequeunt non supposita aliqua veritate externa.

II. "Veritates externas metaphysicas demonstrari non posse". Vide Theod. , pag. 220, n. 413 et seq.

Jam vero veritates externae quandoque cum internis necessario copulantur, tanquam effectus cum causa, et ideo per hanc connexionem demonstrari possunt eo genere argumenti quod a posteriori vocatur, cujus certitudo non minor illa est, quae per demonstrationem a priori obtinetur.

III. "Dei existentiam minime demonstrari posse, Deum existere demonstrari posse negamus". Theod. , pag. 73.

Quae importuna doctrina ultro fluit ex opinionibus jam indicatis ipsius auctoris.

IV. "Probationes existentiae Dei reduci ad quandam fidem, aut fundari in hac fide, qua non tam videmus quam credimus, seu naturaliter persuasum nobis est, ideam hanc esse fidelem, id quod evidentia mere interna cernere non possumus". Theod. , pag. 73.

Quae verba significare videntur potius credi quam demonstrari Dei existentiam, quod quidem a vero omnino distat.

V. "Auctor omnes probationes veritatum externarum metaphysicarum reducit ad sensum communem".

Quae doctrina admitti nequit, eo quod aliquae veritates externae demonstrantur a posteriori per veritates internas, absque illa relatione ad sensum communem. Ita habentes conscientiam nostrae existentiae, directe inferimus existere causam quae nobis existentiam contulerit; seu ab una veritate interna deducimus aliam veritatem externam absque interventu sensus communis.

Hae sunt praecipuae sententiae, quae in praedicto libro corrigendae videntur. Monet igitur S. Cong. Rev. auctorem ut nova aliqua editione librum emendandum curet atque interim in scholasticis suis lectionibus ab iis sententiis abstinere velit.

Pauca quaedam loca in opere quod a cl. viro G. C. Ubaghs a. 1841 Lovanii editum est et inscribitur Theodicea , seu Theologiae naturalis elementa , adnotanda esse videntur, ut doctissimus auctor additis quibusdam illustrationibus obortas circa ejusdem operis intelligentiam difficultates e medio tollere possit. Ac 1º quidem memoranda sunt illa quae pag. 73 habentur de Dei existentia: "Deum existere demonstrari posse negamus, sed id certo certius probari etiam atque etiam affirmamus". Omnis certe ambiguitas ex hoc loco tolleretur, si post vocem demonstrari adderetur a priori, quod conveniret cum iis quae tradit auctor in Logica , p. 114, ed. tertia, de demonstrationis divisione, ubi ostendit contra Kantianos demonstrationem a posteriori, jure ac merito veram demonstrationem vocari. Auctor etiam, ibid. p. 105, haec habet: "Demonstrare, si stricte intelligitur, idem est ac probare judicium certo esse sicut effertur". Nemo autem negabit probationes existentiae Dei eam vim habere, ut respondeant notioni strictae demonstrationis quae hic a cl. auctore traditur.

2º Ubi auctor ad examen vocat diversa argumentorum genera, quae ad Dei existentiam demonstrandam afferri solent, quaedam habet quae observatione digna videntur. Theod. , pag. 86, de argumentis physicis loquens ait: "Et licet tum recta ex rationalis naturae impulsu, [346] etc., probari posset eumdem esse potentia et intelligentia vere infinita, illud tamen ex argumentis physicis solis et stricte spectatis secundum leges logicas effici nequit". Pag. 87, de argumentis quae moralia dicuntur ita se exprimit: "In his solis veram Dei infinitatem expresse contentam esse, strictis logicae legibus nondum plane efficitur". Additis porro quibusdam de argumento ex ente infinito, concludit: "Fide naturali et spontanea quadam progressione continua suppleamus in quod ad accuratam Dei notionem concipiendam, et ad veri Dei existentiam plene probandam illi soli probationi logicae, si strictissime acciperetur, deesse videretur". Tandem p. 89 legimus: "Probabiles quidem conjecturas facere de prima causa vel de primis causis (nesciremus utique, utrum una aut plures dicendae essent) deque earum proprietatibus possemus". In his omnibus mens doctissimi auctoris paulo clarius explicanda videtur, ne quis inde occasionem sumat vim elevandi argumentorum quae Dei existentiam demonstrant.

3º Clarissimus auctor, cap. 7, p. 3 Theod. , profitetur se "magis speciatim ac si fieri possit, paulo apertius declarare velle ea quae ad veritatem cognoscendam spectant". Quaedam tamen ibi leguntur, de quorum intelligentia dubitationes oriri possent. Pag. 216, haec habentur: "Veritatem internam immediate cognoscere possumus, externam non sine interposita fide". Et pag. 219: " Necesse est ... ut institutio aliena nobis manifestas faciat veritates quae nec mere animi affectiones sunt, nec sub sensus nostros externos cadunt". Plura alia ejusdem generis ibi obvia sunt, quae contra mentem auctoris forte in alienos sensus torqueri possent, et ad id adhiberi, ut vis humanae rationis extenuaretur, et argumenta quae pro veritatibus externis demonstrandis adhibentur ita infirmarentur, ut certitudinem illam minime afferrent, quae in iis homini omnino necessaria est.

II.

RESCRIPT OF THE S. CONG. OF RITES TO THE BISHOP OF ST. BRIEUC ON THE FORM OF SURPLICE TO BE WORN IN ADMINISTERING THE SACRAMENTS.

Praecipuas curas quas Amplitudo Tua religiosissime impendere non cessat ut iterum assumpta liturgia romana in ista tot nominibus commendabili Briocensi diocesei integra servetur, non solum quoad rationem divinorum officiorum et sacrosancti missae sacrificii, verum etiam in reliquis vel functionibus ecclesiasticis, vel sacris caeremoniis, dum SS. D. N. Pius Papa IX. et Sacra Rituum Congregatio cum gaudio comperiunt, Amplitudinis Tuae zelum, et erga hanc sanctam apostolicam Sedem devotionem promeritis laudibus, commendatione, praecipua extollunt. Cum vero impraesentiarum Amplitudo Tua exponat, num, attentis addictissimi tui cleri votis, recedere liceat a prudenter a te decretis de anno 1848 pridie idus decembris quoad vestes adhibendas a sacerdotibus choro interessentibus quin canonicali titulo sint insigniti, [347] itemque in sacramentorum administratione; ac proinde permittere ut utantur cotta cum alis , vel rochetto manicis destituto , Sanctissimus item Dominus, cui fideliter per me infra scriptum Sacrorum Rituum Congregationis prosecretarium litterae Amplitudinis Tuae relatae fuerunt, per particulares hasce litteras Amplitudini Tuae significandum praecepit, ut qua polles religione et eloquio allabores, ut praescripta cotta cum manicis largioribus juxta romanum morem omnino in choro utantur qui non sunt canonici, quam tamen ad extremitates textili pinnato, vel alio ornatu acu picto decorare liceat: verum in sacramentorum administratione cotta cum stola, uti plura exigunt decreta et rituale requirit, omnino adhibenda est.

Dum ita SS. D. N. mentem Amplitudini Tuae aperio, eidem diuturnam exopto felicitatem.

III.

Inter dubia de Translatione festorum , quae N. huic Sacrae Congregationi Indulgentiarum obtulerat enodanda, sequens propositum est:

Utrum Indulgentiam alicui festo adjunctam lucretur quisquis die ipsa juxta Kalendarium Breviarii Romani, vel potius juxta Kalendarium uniuscujusque dioecesis, Ordinis, etc. Item qui sodalitati cuicumque nomen dederunt an Indulgentias acquirant die in qua festum celebratur in Ordine regulari ad quem attinet dicta sodalitas, licet sit diversa a die Kalendarii Romani, vel dioecesani?

Sacra Congregatio Indulgentiis sacrisque Reliquiis praeposita, in generalibus comitiis habitis apud Vaticanas aedes die 29 augusti 1864, praeviis consultorum votis, et re mature discussa, respondit:

"Indulgentiam acquiri a Christifidelibus die fixa et rite constituta in sua dioecesi, a Regularibus Ordinibus die rite constituta in suo Kalendario; a sodalitatibus vel die rite constituta in Kalendario Ordinis cui adhaerent si hujus Indulgentiarum participes sint, vel in Kalendario dioecesis, non tamen in utraque die".

Datum Romae ex secretaria ejusdem Sacrae Congregationis Indulgentiarum die 29 augusti 1864.

IV.

1º. Quei Vescovi che credono espediente far fruire nella prossima Quareisma ai loro diocesani lo spirituale vantaggio del S. [348] tere Apostoliche degli 8. Decembre 1864, possono commutare i tre giorni dell' ingiunto digiuno in altre opere pie; ovvero, ove Giubileo accordato dalla Santità di N. S. Papa Pio IX. con Letper benignità della Santtià Sua è dispensata l' astinenza dalle carni possono ingiungere detta astinenza per tre giorni, non ostante il studetto indulto, e fermo rimanendo il precetto del digiuno ecclesiatico?

2º. Quei Vescovi nelle cui diocesi il tempo del Giubileo andase a cadere durante il tempo Pasquale, possono dichiarare ai loro fedeli che colla Comunione Pasquale resti sodisfatta la Comunione ingiunta pel Giubileo?

3º. Molto giovando a dispore i fedeli all' aquisto delle indulgenze del Giubileo una fervorosa preparazione mercè le Sante Missioni, ed altronde non essendovi in Diocesi tanti Operaj da percorrerla in un Mese; ovvero, stimandolo i Vescovi più opportuno pel bene spirituale dei loro diocesani, possono i medesimi designare diversi mesi pei diversi Luoghi della Diocesi, sempre però dentro l'anno 1865?

4º. Nelle Lettere Apostoliche del 26 Marzo 1860 il Sommo Pontefice riservò a Se, e Suoi Successori l'assoluzione dalle Censure per coloro che mandarono ad effetto la ribellione ed usurpazione dei Dominj Pontificj non che dei loro Mandanti, fautori, cooperatori, consiglieri, aderenti, esecutori ecc. Ora colle amplissime facoltà che si consedono ai Confessori in occasione del Santo Giubileo, di cui parlano le sopraindicate Lettere Apostoliche delli 8. Decembre 1864 e quelle del 20 Novembre 1846 s'intende tolta la suddetta riserva aposta nella detta Bolla del 26 Marzo 1860?

S. Poenitentiaria, facta praemissorum relatione Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Papa Pio IX., juxta Ejusdem Sanctissimi Domini mentem, respondet.

Ad 1 ^um Per jejunium Quadragesimale, etiamsi adsit necessitas utendi lacticiniis, satisfit duplici oneri.

Ad 4 ^um Negative, et recurrendum esse ad Locorum Ordinarios, qui providebunt juxta Instructiones.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Letters to the People of the World on a Life of Pleasures. By V. Dechamps, of the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer. Paris: 36 Rue Bonaparte.

The author of this work draws a picture of the life which those who devote themselves altogether to the pursuit of pleasure are accustomed to lead, and describes the dangerous character of the amusements sanctioned by the pleasure-loving and fashionable society of the present day, which seems to have forgotten the teaching of the Gospel, that any one who wishes to be the disciple of our Lord must deny himself, and crucify his perverse appetites and inclinations.

Probably there are persons who, through levity or want of reflection, allow themselves to be carried too far in the search of earthly amusements, and yet keep up a certain spirit of religion, and occasionally perform good works. However, admitting those exceptions, you will find that in general gentlemen and ladies who enter on what is called a life of pleasure, and who determine to gratify every whim for amusement, if their conduct be closely examined, appear to live as if they had no souls, or as if they were made solely for the purpose of enjoying earthly delights. Forgetting their Creator, never reflecting on our hope of future happiness, never raising their thoughts to Heaven, bent down to Earth, they spend their days in idleness or in useless occupations, and their nights at theatres or in other distracting, dangerous, or corrupting amusements. When they wish to pass away a tedious hour, they may take up a book, but it will be nothing more serious than a novel, or a romance, or something calculated to corrupt the heart or pervert the mind. Like gaudy butterflies, they flit from flower to flower in their hour of sunshine, but do no good, and leave no trace of utility behind them. What a dreadful account will they have to render to their Creator for having wasted away the precious time and the good gifts which he gave them that they might be usefully employed both for this world and the next!

The class of votaries of pleasure to whom we refer is accurately described by the inspired writer of the Book of Wisdom: "Come, say they, and let us enjoy the good things that are present, and let us speedily use the creatures as in youth: let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments, and let not the flower of the time pass by us: let us crown ourselves with flowers before they be withered: let no meadow escape our riot"—( Wisdom , ii. 6).

The consequences of such a life of pleasure are very fatal; those who engage in it think of nothing but self, forget the rights and interests of others, and become cruel and hard-hearted. When the Romans abandoned their ancient simplicity, and became disciples of [350] the effeminate Epicurus, we learn from history that they were accustomed to have gladiatorial combats at their banquets, so that whilst indulging in the pleasures of the table, they might glut their eyes with the sight of unfortunate men murdering one another. It is also related that in the times of the greatest pagan refinement in Rome, masters sometimes put their slaves to death, in order that the muraenas and other fishes which they kept in artificial lakes, might be made more delicate and grateful to their taste by feeding on human flesh. It was also, we are not to forget, in a ball-room, in the midst of pleasures, that a dancing-girl, the daughter of Herodias, petitioned Herod to grant her the head of St. John the Baptist in a dish.

This tendency of those who abandon themselves to earthly pleasures is confirmed by the testimony of the same inspired writer whom we have just quoted. According to him, they say within themselves, "Let none of us go without his part in luxury; let us everywhere leave tokens of joy; for this is our portion and this our lot. Let us oppress the poor just man, and not spare the widow, nor honour the ancient gray hairs of the aged. But let our strength be the law of justice, for that which is feeble is found to be little worth "—( Wisdom , ii. 9). How often are these words illustrated in our own days! Men who throw away thousands on horse-racing, gambling, the theatre, and fashion, frequently persecute the poor, deprive them of their just rights, and envy them not only the smallest enjoyment, but even the necessaries of life. Many political economists go still farther, and endeavour to exterminate the poor altogether, lest their rags and their suffering should offend the eye of the wealthy. Indeed in the present day and among ourselves, " strength is the law of justice ", and the artizan and labourer are looked on as mere instruments to promote the wealth and pleasures of others; "for that which is feeble is found to be little worth ".

Having treated of a life of pleasures in general, the learned Redemptorist examines some of the amusements now in vogue, and treats at considerable length of modern dances, proving that many of them ought not to be tolerated in Christian society. St. Francis de Sales, indeed, and St. Alphonsus, both remarkable for their charity and meekness, admit that dances may be allowed when conducted with Christian moderation and propriety; but where scandal is given, either by immodest dresses, or gestures, or movements, and where there is danger of sin, they prohibit such amusements altogether. Gury, in his valuable compendium of moral theology, having quoted the authority of those saints, adds: "It is clear that dances rendered immodest by the dresses or the nudity of the persons engaged in them, or by the character of their movements or gestures, are grievously unlawful. To this class of dances are to be referred the polka, the waltz, the galop, and other similar modern introductions". He adds: "In practice, as they are generally very dangerous, all dances in which persons of different sexes engage are to be prevented as much as possible. Hence, parish priests and confessors should endeavour to withdraw their subjects and penitents from them".

Our author confirms the teaching of Gury by the authority of several French and Belgian bishops. The venerable Archbishop of Lyons, Cardinal de Bonald, writing on this matter, says: "If you assist at a modern ball, will you not be tempted to inquire whether it is not a pagan spectacle to which you have been invited? Looking round in search of modesty, decency, or even propriety, you will not know where to rest your eyes, in the midst of shameless nudities and of lewd and slippery dances. Such assemblies ought not to be called Christian: they are unworthy of that name.... We are not surprised that the dances referred to have been carried from the great cities even to the remotest villages, for it was to be expected that the powers of Hell would endeavour to propagate a fashion, the origin of many evils, and well calculated to excite passions that cause many bitter but useless tears".

The Bishop of Gand says: "Many who take part in modern fashionable dances justify themselves by the necessity in which they are placed; they must do as others do; they must keep up to the fashion of the day. Let such persons enter into themselves for a moment before the crucifix: there they will learn that Christ has not said, I am the custom or the fashion, but I am the way, the truth, and the life; that He has declared that no one can serve two masters; and that on the last day He will judge us, not according to the laws of fashion, but by the precepts of the Gospel—not by the example of others, but by the promises of our baptism".

The same bishop continues: "I see with grief that a rage for amusement induces Christian mothers to bring their daughters into assemblies where immoral dances are carried on. These same females sometimes exteriorly profess piety, and even approach the sacraments. They pretend that they do so under the direction of their confessors. I cannot believe their statement. No confessor could tolerate such abuses: doing so he would coöperate, by a culpable negligence, in the scandals given by such penitents, and would entail a great responsibility on his conscience before God".

These words of the zealous bishop prove that those who have the care or direction of souls ought to be most active in preventing scandalous dances, which give occasion to so many sins. Certainly those who indulge in such amusements are not worthy to be united to the Immaculate Lamb of God by receiving the sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist, until they determine to abandon their bad habits.

Many who take part in modern dances, and who spend their nights in the excitement of the polka and the waltz, say that they are not conscious of having committed sin, and that they have a right to approach the sacraments. Our author would not believe their assertions or admit their claims. They appear to forget that there is such a sin as the waste of time, such a sin as scandal. Though imagining themselves free from guilt, they may have been the occasion of the spiritual ruin of others by their example, or by their improper dresses, and have a grievous responsibility on their souls. Anyhow, it is not edifying that persons who during the [352] week continually indulged in vanity or impropriety of dress, and in dangerous amusements, should be freely allowed to approach the holy altar on Sundays. Spiritual directors must take care not to render themselves, by their laxity, responsible for the sins of others. Though their penitents say they committed no sins themselves, yet that is not sufficient. It must be seen whether they have not made others commit sin, or at least put them in danger of doing so.

A translation of the work of Father Dechamps into English would serve to give accurate ideas on modern fashions, and to correct prevalent abuses. Indeed, everything ought to be encouraged that tends to check the growth of an effeminate spirit and the extravagant love of costly and corrupting fashions, which cannot fail to bring great scourges on the world.

II.

Obnoxious Oaths and Catholic Disabilities: A Speech of Sir J. Gray, etc. Fowler, 3 Crow Street, Dublin, 1865.

Sir J. Gray deserves great credit for the force and learning with which he has brought the question of obnoxious oaths before the public. Every one is aware that for nearly three centuries the Catholics of Ireland were reduced to a state of thraldom by the operation of such oaths; for unless they consented to renounce upon oath some of the most sacred doctrines of religion, they were excluded from all the rights of citizens. This was the system adopted to propagate and uphold Protestantism, which still pretended to leave to every individual the right of judging for himself. The anti-Catholic oaths have latterly been set aside; but Catholics are still required to take useless oaths, apparently introduced for the purposes of annoyance and insult, before they can occupy any public office. Such useless and offensive swearing ought to be put an end to.

The oaths still taken by Protestants are most insulting to Catholics, and must be the occasion of great remorse to every delicate conscience. The Lord Lieutenant, on arriving in Ireland, is obliged to perform the disagreeable task of insulting those whom he is come to govern, by swearing what he cannot know—that some Catholic doctrines are idolatrous and superstitious, and, moreover, swearing what everybody knows to be false—that the Pope has not any authority in Ireland, where every day he exercises a most extensive spiritual jurisdiction. Other officials of the state and of the establishment take similar oaths, insulting to the Catholics of the whole world, and certainly hurtful to the consciences of those who take them. Every Protestant, when swearing that the Pope has no power in Ireland, must feel that he swears to what is in opposition to the known truth. It is time that such a system of perjury should be done away with. Sir J. Gray deserves well of the country for having placed this question in its true light.

FOOTNOTES.

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD, VOLUME 1, APRIL 1865 ***

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, April 1865

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.

MEMOIRS OF MY MINISTRY.