{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_38751/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_38751","id":"gutenberg_38751","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38751","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - British","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Catholic Church -- Ireland -- Periodicals","Catholic Church -- Periodicals","The Irish Ecclesiastical Record"],"text":"The Irish Ecclesiastical Record\n\n                                Volume 1.\n\n                              November, 1864\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nThe Holy See And The Liberty Of The Irish Church At The Beginning Of The\nPresent Century.\n   I. From Mgr. Brancadoro to Father Concanen, O.P., Agent at Rome for the\n   Irish Bishops. Dalla Propaganda. 7 Agosto, 1801.\n   II. From the same to the same. Dalla Propaganda, 25 Settembre, 1805.\nA Recent Protestant View Of The Church Of The Middle Ages.\nThe Mss. Remains Of Professor O\u2019Curry In The Catholic University. No. II.\nThe Destiny Of The Irish Race.\nLiturgical Questions. (_From M. Bouix\u2019s __\u201c__Revue des Sciences\nEcclesiastiques__\u201d_).\nDocuments.\n   I. Condemnation Of Dr. Froschammer\u2019s Works.\n   II. Decree Of The Congregation Of Rites.\nNotices Of Books.\nFootnotes\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE HOLY SEE AND THE LIBERTY OF THE IRISH CHURCH AT THE BEGINNING OF THE\nPRESENT CENTURY.\n\n\nAll students of Irish Catholic affairs must feel, at every moment, that we\nare at a great loss for a collection of ecclesiastical documents connected\nwith our Church. The past misfortunes of Ireland explain the origin of\nthis want. During the persecutions of Elizabeth, of James the First, and\nCromwell, our ancient manuscripts, and the archives of our convents and\nmonasteries, were ruthlessly destroyed. At a later period, whilst the\npenal laws were in full operation, it was dangerous to preserve official\necclesiastical papers, lest they should be construed by the bigotry and\nignorance of our enemies into proofs of sedition or treason. Since liberty\nbegan to dawn on our country, things have undergone a beneficial change,\nand recently great efforts have been made to rescue and preserve from\ndestruction every remaining fragment of our ancient history, and every\ndocument calculated to throw light on the annals of our Church. We are\nanxious to co\u00f6perate in this good work, and we shall feel deeply grateful\nto our friends if they forward to us any official ecclesiastical papers,\neither ancient or modern, that it may be desirable to preserve. Receiving\nsuch papers casually, we cannot insert them in the RECORD in chronological\norder, but by aid of an Index, to be published at the end of each volume,\nthe future historian will be able to avail himself of them for his\npurposes.\n\nTo-day we insert in our columns two letters never published before, as far\nas we can learn, in their original language. They were addressed, in the\nbeginning of this century, by the learned Archbishop of Myra, Monsignore\nBrancadoro, Secretary of the Propaganda, to a distinguished Dominican,\nFather Concanen, then agent of the Irish bishops, who was afterwards\npromoted to the See of New York, and who died at Naples, in the year 1808,\nbefore he could take possession of his diocese.\n\nThe first letter, dated the 7th August, 1801, refers to certain\nresolutions adopted by ten Irish prelates, in January, 1799, at a sad\nperiod of our history, when Ireland was in a state of utter prostration,\nand abandoned to the fury of an Orange faction. In such circumstances, we\nare not to be surprised that the Catholics of Cork, Waterford, Wexford,\nand many other parts of Ireland, in the hope of preserving their lives and\nproperty, should have petitioned to be united to England; or that Catholic\nprelates, anxious to gain protection for their flocks, should have\nendeavoured to propitiate those who had the power of the government in\ntheir hands, by taking into consideration the proposals then made\u2014that the\nstate should provide for the maintenance of the clergy, and that a right\nshould be given to the state to inquire into the loyalty of such\necclesiastics as might be proposed for the various sees of Ireland.\n\nThe celebrated Dr. Milner, treating of the resolutions just referred to,\nobserves in his _Supplementary Memoirs_, p. 115, that they had nothing in\ncommon with the veto which was afterwards proposed by government in 1805,\nand several times in succeeding years, and adds, that the prelates\n\u201cstipulated for their own just influence, and also for the consent of the\nPope in this important business.\u201d\n\nAccording to the wise determination of the prelates, the matters they had\nagreed to were referred to the judgment of the Supreme Head of the Church.\nA speedy answer, however, could not be obtained. At that time the great\nPontiff, Pius the Sixth, was a captive in the hands of the French\nRepublicans, and soon after died a martyr at Valence in France. The Holy\nSee was then vacant for several months, until, by the visible\ninterposition of Providence, Italy was freed from her invaders, and the\ncardinals were enabled to assemble in conclave to elect a new Pope. Soon\nafter his promotion, Pius the Seventh occupied himself with the affairs of\nour Church, and the secretary of the Propaganda received instructions to\ncommunicate through Father Concanen to the Irish Prelates the wishes of\nhis Holiness.\n\nThe substance of the official note of Monsignore Brancadoro is, 1. That\nhis Holiness is thankful to the British government for the relaxation of\nthe penal laws to which Catholics had been so long subjected, and for any\nother acts of liberality or kindness conferred on them. 2. That the Irish\nprelates, whilst manifesting their gratitude for the favours they had\nreceived, should prove, by their conduct, that it was not through a\nfeeling of self-interest, or through hopes of temporal advantages, that\nthey inculcated on their flocks the necessity of obedience to the laws and\nthe conscientious fulfilment of the duties of good citizens; but that they\ndid so through a spirit of religion, and in conformity with the dictates\nof the gospel. 3. That to prove how sincerely they were animated with\nthose feelings, the Irish prelates should refuse the proffered pension,\nand continue to act and support themselves as they have done for the past,\nthus giving an example of Christian perfection which would not fail to\ngive general edification.\n\nThe second letter is also from the secretary of Propaganda to Father\nConcanen, and is dated 25th of Sept., 1805, in which year Dr. Milner had\njust brought under the notice of the Holy See some new projects of\ngovernment interference with the Catholic clergy, which had lately been\nintroduced into Parliament by Sir John Hippisley, at that time a supporter\nof Emancipation, but who afterwards gave proofs of a great desire to\nenslave the Catholic Church.\n\nIn the second letter Monsignore Brancadoro states the apprehension felt by\nthe S. Congregation, lest the moment of the Catholic triumph should prove\nthe one most dangerous to the purity and stability of the Catholic\nreligion since the Reformation; that it would be no injustice to suspect\nthe British Government of being influenced by designs to that very effect;\nthat the Bishops should, therefore, as a general principle, renounce all\nidea of advancing their own proper interests, or of securing any temporal\nadvantages, lest through human frailty they should inadvertently be\nsurprised into any concessions which in course of time might prove\ninjurious to the interests of religion. The Secretary then goes on to say\nthat the S. Congregation found serious difficulties, more or less, in all\nthe plans which, as Dr. Milner had reported, had been proposed by the\nstatesmen of the day in England. These plans were:\u20141. The pensioning of\nthe clergy. 2. State interference in the nomination of Bishops. 3. The\nrestoration of the Hierarchy in England. 4. The concession to the ministry\nof the right to examine the communications which might pass between the\nEnglish and Irish Catholics and the Holy See.\n\nAs to the plan of pensioning the clergy, Monsignore Brancadoro points out\nthe dangers to which its adoption would expose them. If they accept a\npension from government, the offerings of the faithful will be undoubtedly\nwithdrawn, and the priesthood will be left quite dependent on the caprice\nof those in power. He recalls to Father Concanen\u2019s memory, that in his\nprevious letter of the 7th of August, 1801, he had announced to him the\nPope\u2019s wish that the Irish clergy should decline all pensions from the\ngovernment, and mentions that the Irish Bishops, in reply, had stated that\nthey willingly renounced all temporal advantages in order to preserve\nreligion uninjured.\n\nThe secretary of the Propaganda next reminds his correspondent that Pius\nVI., in a brief of 20th March, 1791, had condemned a decree of the\nNational Assembly of France, by which the clergy of that country were made\npensioners of the state; and he adds that the Holy See had resisted a\nsimilar attempt of the English government in regard to the clergy of\nCorsica, when that island had fallen into their hands.\n\nExamining the various vetoistical plans mentioned by Dr. Milner,\nMonsignore Brancadoro quotes the authority of the great and learned\nPontiff, Benedict XIV., to show how decidedly opposed the Holy See has\nalways been to every project directed to vest Catholic ecclesiastical\nappointments in the hands of a Protestant sovereign. This question is\ndiscussed in a brief of that Pope addressed to the Bishop of Breslau on\nthe 15th of May, 1748, and his words are as follows: \u201cThere is not\nrecorded in the whole history of the Church a single example in which the\nappointment of a bishop or abbot was conceded to a sovereign of a\ndifferent religion\u201d. He adds \u201cthat he would not, and could not, introduce\na practice calculated to scandalize the Catholic world, and which, besides\nbringing on him a dreadful judgment in another world, would render his\nname odious and accursed during life, and much more so after death\u201d.\n\n2. The learned writer then proceeds to examine the various plans of\ngranting to government certain powers in regard to the nomination of\nbishops, and explodes them all as replete with danger to religion, and\nwell calculated to enslave the Church.\n\nThe plans proposed to lessen the Pope\u2019s unwillingness to grant to the\nsovereign the right of nomination were the following:\u2014Some thought that\nthe nomination should be limited to a certain class of persons who should\nhave been approved of by the episcopal body after an examination and\ntrial. Such a body might be the vicars-general, of whom two should be\nappointed for each diocese. The government was to be bound to choose the\nbishops out of this body. This plan was rejected, first, because it would\nreally amount to vesting the nomination of bishops in a non-Catholic\nsovereign; and secondly, on account of difficulties created by the\ncircumstances of the time and place.\n\nOthers proposed to give the government the right of excluding from the\nepiscopal charge those obnoxious to itself. Monsignore Brancadoro says of\nthis plan, that unless this right of exclusion were restricted by limits,\nit would be equivalent to a real power of nomination. But even so, even\nafter due limitation, it was an absolute novelty in the Church, and no one\ncould tell what its consequences might be. Besides, it was uncalled for,\nsince the experience of so many centuries ought to have convinced the\ngovernment that the ecclesiastics appointed to govern dioceses were always\nexcellent citizens. Besides, it was the custom of the Holy See not to\nappoint to a vacant diocese until it had received the recommendation of\nthe metropolitans and the diocesan clergy. This was a safeguard against\nimproper appointments.\n\n3. With respect to the restoration of the Hierarchy in England, Monsignore\nBrancadoro blames the motive which induced the English nobles to petition\nfor such a change of church government, namely, the desire they felt to\nhave bishops less bound to the Holy See. He declares that, although\ndiffering _quoad jus_, bishops and vicars-apostolic did not differ in\nreality, and that the Holy See was equally well satisfied with the bishops\nof Ireland, and the vicars-apostolic of England and Scotland.\n\n4. The Secretary condemns, as worst of all, the plan of giving to the\nministers the right to examine the communications that pass between the\nHoly See and the British and Irish Catholics. Such a right has never been\nallowed, even to a Catholic power, much less should it be allowed to a\nProtestant government. The case of France was not to the point, for there\nthe right was limited to provisions of benefices alone. The government has\nno reason to be afraid: the Holy See has expressly declared to bishops and\nvicars-apostolic, that it does not desire any political information from\nthem.\n\nThe two official notes we insert will be read in their original language\nwith great interest. They are noble monuments of the zeal of the holy\nPontiff, Pius VII., and of the vigilance with which the Holy See has\nalways endeavoured to uphold the rights and independence of our ancient\nChurch. Undoubtedly the wise instructions given in those letters had no\nsmall share in arousing that spirit with which a few years later our\nclergy and people resisted and defeated all the efforts of British\nstatesmen to deprive our Church of her liberties, and to reduce her to the\ndegraded condition of the Protestant establishment. The notes of the\nsecretary of Propaganda are a fine specimen of ecclesiastical writing,\nillustrating the maxim _fortiter in re, suaviter in modo_.\n\n\n\n\nI. From Mgr. Brancadoro to Father Concanen, O.P., Agent at Rome for the\nIrish Bishops. Dalla Propaganda. 7 Agosto, 1801.\n\n\nInformata la Santit\u00e0 di Nostro Signore del nuovo piano ideato de Governo\nBrittannico in supposto vantaggio della ecclesiastica Gerarchia dei\ncattolici d\u2019Irlanda, non ha punto esitato a manifestare la pi\u00f9 viva\nreconoscenza verso la spontanea e generosa liberalit\u00e0 del prelodato\nGoverno, cui professer\u00e0 sempre la massima gratitudine, per l\u2019assistenze, e\nfavori, che accorda ai mentovati cattolici de\u2019 suoi dominj. Tenendo poi la\nSantit\u00e0 Sua per indubitato, che la sperimentata fedelt\u00e0 di quel Clero\nCattolico Romano al legittimo suo Sovrano derivi interamente dalle massime\ndi nostra S. Religione, le quali non possono mai esser soggette a verun\ncambiamento, desidera il suddetto Governo resti assicurato, che i\nMetropolitani, i Vescovi e il Clero tutto della Irlanda conoscer\u00e0 sempre\nun tal suo stretto dovere, e lo adempir\u00e0 esattamente in qualunque\nincontro. Brama per\u00f2 ad un tempo vivissimamente il S. Padre, che\nl\u2019anzidetto Clero seguitando il plausibile sistema da lui osservato finora\nsi astenga scrupolosamente dall\u2019 avere in mira qualunque suo proprio\ntemporale vantaggio, e che dimostrando sempre con parole, e con fatti la\nsincera invariabilit\u00e0 del suo attacamento, riconoscenza, e sommissione al\nGoverno Brittanico, gli faccia vieppi\u00f9 conoscere la realt\u00e0 di sua\ngratitudine alle offerte nuove beneficenze, dispensandosi dal profittarne,\ne dando con ci\u00f2 una luminosa prova di quel costant\u00e8 disinteresse stimato\ntanto conforme all\u2019 Apostolico zelo dei ministri del Santuario, e tanto\ngiovevole, e decoroso alla stessa cattolico Religione, come quello che\nconcilia in singular modo la stima, e il respetto verso dei sagri\nministeri, e che li rende pi\u00f9 venerabili, e pi\u00f9 cari ai fedeli commessi\nalla loro spirituale direzione.\n\nTali sono i precisi sentimenti che la Santit\u00e0 di Nostro Signore ha\nordinate al Segretario di Propaganda di communicare alla Paternit\u00e0 Vostra\naffinch\u00e8 per di Lei mezzo giungano senza ritardo a notizie degli ottimi\nMetropolitani, e Vescovi del regno d\u2019Irlanda, nel quale spera fermamente\nSua Santit\u00e0, che come ad onta dei pi\u00f9 gravi pericoli si \u00e8 gi\u00e0 mantenuta in\npassato, cosi manterassi pur anco in avvenire affatto illesa da ogni\nbench\u00e8 menoma macchia la nostra cattolica Religione.\n\nLo scrivente pertanto nell\u2019 eseguire i Pontificj comandi si rassegna nel\nsuo particolare colla pi\u00f9 distinta stima ec.\n\n\n\n\nII. From the same to the same. Dalla Propaganda, 25 Settembre, 1805.\n\n\nREVERENDISSIMO P. MAESTRO CONCANEN,\n\nLa lettera del degnissimo Monsig. Milner, Vicario Apostolico del distretto\nmedio d\u2019Inghilterra, diretta a V. P., la cui traduzione ella, per ordine\ndel Prefetto stesso, ha communicata all Arcivescovo di Mira, Segretario di\nPropaganda, ha fatto entrare la Sacra Congregazione nello stesso timore,\nche manifesta l\u2019 ottimo Prelato, che il momento della fortuna dei\ncattolici nel Parlamento sia il pi\u00f9 pericoloso alla purit\u00e0, e stabilit\u00e0\ndella nostra santa Religione, che sia mai avvenuto dopo la pretesa riforma\ndi quel regno, e non si farebbe ingiuria al Governo acattolico, se si\nsospettassero appunto queste mire: E perci\u00f2 dovranno i Vicarj Apostolici,\ned i Vescovi di quel dominio abbandonare ogni mira di proprio vantaggio,\ned interesse temporale, da cui, indebolito il loro cuore potrebbe\nfacilmente, senza avvedersene, essere sorpreso a condiscendere in qualche\ncosa, che recher\u00e0, col tempo, del pregiudizio alla Religione.\n\nQuesto spirito di disinteresse si scorge gi\u00e0 luminosamente in Monsig.\nMilner dal tenore della sua lettera: e perci\u00f2 chiede egli saviamento della\nS. C. delle istruzioni, colle quali regolarsi nella trattativa, in cui si\ntrova impegnato. Ma la S. C. trova delle difficolt\u00e0 gravi, pi\u00f9 o meno, in\ntutti i progetti, ch\u2019 egli narra, fatti da quei politici.\n\nEd in primo luogo, riguardo al progetto di assegnarsi stabili pensioni sul\npubblico erario ai Vescovi, ed al Clero di quel dominio, la Santit\u00e0 di N.\nS. espresse gi\u00e0 i suoi sentimenti, per mezzo di un biglietto dell\u2019\nArcivescovo, che scrive, diretto a V. P, in data dei 7 Agosto 1801, il\nquale essendo stato da lei comunicato ai metropolitani, e vescovi\nd\u2019Irlanda, essi risposero, che rinunziavano volentieri a qualunque\nvantaggio temporale, per conservare illibata la cattolica Religione. Sar\u00e0\ndunque opportuno di spedire a Mons. Milner la copia di quel Biglietto, che\nsi d\u00e0 qui annessa.\n\nE per verit\u00e0, accettandosi dal clero le pensioni, cesseranno immantinente\nmolti fondi di sussistenza, che ora ritrae dalla piet\u00e0 de fedeli;\nresteranno le pensioni per quasi unico mezzo di sostentamento. Ora chi non\nvede a quali gravissime tentazioni non si esporrebbero gli ecclesiastici,\ndi condiscendere, in qualche cosa pregiudiziale alla s. Religione, alla\nvolont\u00e0 di un Governo di religione diversa, che pu\u00f2 in un punto ridurlo\nallu mendicit\u00e0 col ritenere le pensioni? Per questa, ed altre ragioni,\nessendosi adottata la massima di dare le pensioni al clero dell\u2019 Assemblea\nNazionale di Francia nella Costituzione civile del clero, la Sa. Me. di\nPio VI. la riprov\u00f2 nel suo breve dei 20 marzo 1791. pag. 61, e seg. Ed\navendo la stessa corte di Londra, quando entr\u00f2 in possesso della Corsica,\nfatto il medesimo progetto, vi si oppose la S. Sede, e quella Real corte\ndesist\u00e8 dall\u2019 impegno.\n\nRiguardo all\u2019 influenza, che si vorrebbe, del potere civile nella nomina\nde\u2019 vescovi, cosi varj progetti, che si sono fatti, per regolare una tale\ninfluenza, \u00e8 in primo luogo da avvertirsi, che la nomina assolutamente non\npotr\u00e0 accordarsi al Sovrano, come acattolico. Al qual proposito baster\u00e0\nriportare i sentimenti di Benedetto XIV. Questo gran Pontefice in una sua\nlettera scritta al vescovo di Breslavia li 15 maggio 1748, si espresse ne\u2019\nseguenti termini.\u2014\"Non ritrovasi in tutta la storia Ecclesiastica verun\nindulto conceduto da Romani Pontefici ai Sovrani di altra comunione, il\nnominare a Vescovadi, ed Abbadie\u2014soggiungendo, che non voleva, ne poteva\nintrodurre un esempio, che scandalizzarebbe tutto il mondo cattolico, e\nche, oltre la gravissima pena, la quale Iddio gli farebbe scontare nell\u2019\naltro mondo, renderebbe il suo nome esoso, e maledetto in tutto il tempo\ndi sua vita, e molto pi\u00f9 in quello che avrebbe a decorrere dopo la di lui\nmorte. La stessa difficolt\u00e0 sussisterebbe ugualmente, ancorch\u00e8 il diritto\ndi nomina fosse limitato tra una classe di persone, esaminata prima, e\npreviamente sperimentata, ed approvata dal corpo dei Vescovi, come quello\nde\u2019 Gran-Vicarj, da stabilirsene due in ogni Diocesi, e Distretto. Ma\noltre a questo, il progetto de\u2019 Gran-Vicarj involve gravissime difficolt\u00e0\nper le circostanze locali. Perciocch\u00e8, lasciando anche stare il pericolo\ndell\u2019 ambizione degli ecclesiastici presso de\u2019 Vescovi, e Vicarj\nApostolici per essere dichiarati Gran-Vicarj, quando che ora, scegliendosi\ni soggetti da promuoversi dal ceto degli operaj, s\u2019 impegnano anche gli\nambiziosi a faticare a pr\u00f2 delle anime: \u00e9 chiaro ancoro, che in tanta\npenuria di ecclesiastici, ch\u2019 \u00e8 in tutto cotesto dominio, se si tolgono\ndue Gran-Vicarj per ogni Vicario Apostolico, o Vescovo, mancheranno\naffatto gli ecclesiastici per la cura delle anime.\n\nIl semplice diritto di esclusiva involverebbe minori inconvenienti\nintrinseci, purch\u00e8 fosse limitato; giacch\u00e8 altrimenti, a forza di\nescludere si otterrebbe per indiretto una vera nomina. Ma questo diritto \u00e8\naffatto nuovo; e l\u2019 introdurlo per la prima volta, non si sa a quali\nconseguenze potrebbe condurre. Ma siccome tutti questi progetti si fanno\nper assicurare il Governo, che non sia promossa persona, che non gli sia\ninvisa, dovrebbe bastare l\u2019 esperienza di tanti secoli, ad assicurare il\nGoverno, stesso della somma premura, che ha sempre avuta la S. Sede, che i\nsoggetti da lei promossi, non solo non siano invisi, ma siano anche\ngraditi del Governo stesso. Eo V. P. pu\u00f3 di fatto proprio attestare della\nsomma industria, attivit\u00e0, e segretezza usatasi, qualche tempo fa, della\nS. Sede, per escludere persona, che sospettava potere riuscire men gradita\nal Governo, bench\u00e8 ape poggiata da forti raccomandazioni, ed includesse\naltra persona, cha sicuramente fosse di sua soddisfazione. Oltre di che\nessendo solitquesta S. C. di attendere per gli promovendi gli attestati, e\nle postulazioni, o le informazioni de\u2019 Metropolitani, o degli altri Vicarj\nApostolici, ed anche del clero della rispettiva Diocesi, prima di proporre\nal S. P. i soggetti, da questi certamente sapra quali siano quelle\npersone, che possano essere poco accette al Governo, per escluderle\nsicuramente.\n\nQuanto al desiderio de\u2019 Magnati, di avere vescovi, in vece di Vicarj\nApostolici, in se stesso considerato \u00e8 santissimo, ed analogo alla\ncostituzione della Chiessa Cattolica; e se n\u2019 \u00e8 trattato altre volte in\nInghilterra. Dispiace solamente il fine, per cui si fa un tal progetto,\ncio\u00e8 per avere Prelati meno aderenti alla S. Sede. Ma la S. Sede nulla\navrebba a temere da siffata innovazione, sull\u2019 esempio de\u2019 vescovi d\u2019\nIrlanda de quali \u00e8 ugualmente contenta che de\u2019 Vicarj Apostolici d\u2019\nInghilterra, e di Scozia. Senza che, la constante esperienza dimostra, che\nquantunque in diritto sia diversa la condizione de\u2019 Vicarj Apostolici de\nquella de\u2019 Vescovi; pure in fatti non porta effetti diversi. Solo devrebbe\nrifflettersi alle circostanze de\u2019 tempi, ed agl\u2019 incovenienti che\npotrebbero esercitare il cosi detto Club Cisalpino, per evitarsi al\npossibile ogni innovazione.\n\nPi\u00f9 di tutti sarebbe fatale quel progretto, che per altro Monsig. Milner\ndice essere di alcuni pochi, che ogni communicazione de\u2019 cattolici colla\nS. Sede debba soggiacere all\u2019 esame de\u2019 ministri di S. M. Questo diritto\nnon si \u00e8 mai riconosciuto dalla S. Sede in alcun principe cattolico: e l\u2019\nesempio che si cita, della Francia, era dai concordati limitato alle sole\necclesiastiche proviste. Ma quanto sarebbe pi\u00f9 pericoloso in un Governo\nacattolico, con cui non \u00e8 possibile di convenire nelle massime religiose.\nSi spera per altro, che quei pochi, che propongono, un tal progretto, non\ntroveranno seguito: e che quel Governo, che si vanta di lasciare una piena\nlibert\u00e0 ai suoi sudditi, non vorra imporre loro una catena negli effari\npi\u00f9 delicati, che riguardano la coscienza, per gli quali soltanto i\ncattolici, communicano colla S. Sede: giacch\u00e8 la S. C. nel questionario\nstampato, che manda a quei Vescovi, e Vicarj Apostolici per norma della\nrelazione delle loro chiese, nel primo articolo si protesta espressamente\nche non vuole di loro alcuna nuova politica.\n\nMolto consolante \u00e8 poi, riuscito alla S. Congr. la nuova, che sia\nriuscito, allo stesso Monsig. Milner di ottenere un\u2019 assai pi\u00fa grande\nlibert\u00e0 per gli soldati cattolici nell\u2019 esercizio della S. Religione; e\nche abbia ben dispositi gli animi, per fare riconoscere validi nella legge\ncivile i matrimonj contratti avanti un sacerdote cattolico. V. Paternit\u00e0\ngliene faccia i pi\u00f9 vivi ringraziamenti, per parte di questa S. C.\n\nIn fine l\u2019 Arcivescovo, che scrive, con piena stima se le rassegna.\n\n\n\n\n\nA RECENT PROTESTANT VIEW OF THE CHURCH OF THE MIDDLE AGES.\n\n\nThe history of the Church in the middle ages has ever forced upon\nProtestant minds a difficulty which they have met by many various methods\nof solution. The middle age exhibits so much of precious side by side with\nso much of base, so much of the beauty of holiness in the midst of\nungodliness, so much of what all Christians admit as truth with what\nProtestants call fatal error, that the character of the whole cannot\nreadily be taken in at first sight from the Protestant point of view. Some\nthere are who dwell so long on the shadows that they close their eyes to\nthe light, and these declare the medieval Church to have been a scene of\nunmitigated evil. To their minds the whole theology of the period is\nuseless, or worse than useless, harmful. They connect the middle ages with\nwickedness as thoroughly as the Manicheans connected matter with the evil\nprinciple.\n\nOthers there are who honestly admit that these ages, especially their\nearlier part, are not Protestant, but at the same time contend that\nneither are they favourable to Roman doctrine. These believe that facts\nabundantly prove that in the bosom of the Church which was then, the two\nChurches were to be found, which afterwards disengaged themselves from one\nanother at the Reformation. This is the philosophy of medieval history\nwhich, as we learn from the preface to his collection of _Sacred Latin\nPoetry_,(1) has recommended itself to Dr. Trench, the present Protestant\nArchbishop of Dublin. \u201cIn Romanism we have the residuum of the middle-age\nChurch and theology, the lees, after all, or well nigh all the wine was\ndrained away. But in the medieval Church we have the wine and lees\ntogether\u2014the truth and the error, the false observance and yet at the same\ntime the divine truth which should one day be fatal to it\u2014side by side.\u201d\nFor such thinkers the sum of all the history of that period amounts to\nthis: a long struggle between two Churches\u2014one a Church of truth, the\nother a Church of error\u2014a struggle which, however, ended happily in the\ntriumph of the Church of truth by the Reformation, in which the truth was\npurified from its contact with error.\n\nIt is not without its advantages to know what views the occupant of an\nIrish see so distinguished, is led to take, of the Church to which\nseventy-seven out of every hundred Irishmen belong, with all the\nconvictions of their intellects, and all the love of their hearts. It\nseems to us that his theory is not likely to satisfy any party; it goes\ntoo far to please some, and stops short too soon to be agreeable to\nothers. But what strikes us most of all in it is the fatal inconsistency\nof its parts. Of this the very book to which it serves as preface is proof\nenough. Dr. Trench\u2019s position is this. He tells his Protestant readers\nthat whereas in the medieval Church there was a good church, and an evil,\nall the good has found its resting place in Protestantism, all the evil in\ntyrannical Rome. Whatever of good, of holy, of pure, has ever been said or\ndone within the Church, Protestants are the rightful inheritors of it all.\nFrom the treasury of the Church before the Reformation he proposes to\ndraw, and to collect in this work what his readers may live on and love,\nand what he is confident will prove wholesome nourishment for their souls.\nHe would set before them the feelings of the Church during these thousand\nyears of her existence, and would summon from afar, from remote ages,\n\u201cvoices in which they may utter and embody the deepest things of their\nhearts\u201d. Such, he assures them, are the voices of the writers whose poems\nhave found a place in his book. Now, if we are to understand that the two\nante-Reformation Churches stood out quite distinctly, one from the other,\nin open antagonism, like Jerusalem and Babylon, each having its own\nposition more or less clearly defined, we should naturally expect to find\nin Dr. Trench\u2019s book the thoughts and words only of the Reformers before\nthe Reformation, of the men, that is, who never bent the knee to Baal, but\never cherished in their hearts the true doctrine of salvation. If his own\ntheory be worth anything, he must have recourse for his present purposes,\nto that one of the two Churches which alone has been perpetuated,\nvictorious after conflict, in Protestantism. Where else shall he find\nsympathies that answer to those of Protestants? But he does not do so. For\nin the beginning of his preface he tells us that he has not admitted each\nand all of the works of the authors whose productions he inserts. He tells\nus that he has carefully excluded from his collection \u201call hymns which in\nany way imply the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation\u201d, or, \u201cwhich\ninvolve any creature-worship, or speak of the Mother of our Lord in any\nother language than that which Scripture has sanctioned, and our Church\nadopted\u201d, or which \u201cask of the suffrages of the Saints\u201d? These certainly\nare not the doctrines which have been perpetuated in Protestantism.\n\nHis own practice, therefore, is inconsistent with his theory, if that\ntheory means to assert the existence of two Churches in the middle age,\ndistinctly antagonistic, one to the other.\n\nThe only escape from this tangle is to reply, that Dr. Trench, although he\nmay find two Churches in the bosom of the middle-age Church, does not,\nhowever, place between them a separation so sharp as to suppose the Church\nof good absolutely without evil, nor the Church of evil altogether\ndestitute of good. In each there is good and some mixture of evil: error\nrelieved by a vein of truth. His favourite authors, by whose labours he\nwishes to make his readers profit, are, in this last hypothesis, men who\nare subject to the influence of both Churches; men who belong partly to\neach in turn, whose doctrines are a pitiable admixture of truth with\nfalsehood\u2014who, in one word, are visited both by \u201cairs from Heaven and\nblasts from Hell\u201d. At times they say what all, even Protestants, may\ntreasure up in their hearts, to live on and love; at times, again, they\nare made to utter what all should reject and condemn, as so many snares\nfor unwary feet. We shall say nothing of the difficulty the mind feels in\naccepting such a description of the position of these writers, nor of the\ntask we have to persuade ourselves that those who teach belief in deadly\nheresies to be essential to salvation, can be, at the same time, the\nchosen tabernacles wherein the pure spirit of real piety can ever take up\nits abode. Such was not the feeling of the ancient Church. We ask,\ninstead, who are the men upon whose writings Dr. Trench would sit in\njudgment, \u201cto sunder between the holy and profane\u201d, to distinguish between\nthe errors and the truth, to decide what we are \u201cto take warning from and\nto shun, what to live upon and love\u201d. With the exception of the two, Alard\nand Buttmann, all are men highly honoured by the whole Catholic world, and\nall, without exception, are praised for their excelling virtues by Dr.\nTrench himself. Among the twenty-three names we read with reverence those\nof Saint Ambrose, Saint Bonaventure, Venerable Bede, Saint Bernard, Saint\nPeter Damian, Thomas a-Kempis, Peter the Venerable, Jacopone, and others\nof great reputation for sanctity and learning. These are the men whose\nwritings Dr. Trench is to parcel out into two portions; this to be\nvenerated as sacred, that to be condemned as profane. It needs great faith\nin the censor, to accept readily his decision in such a case. What test\ndoes he undertake to apply? what criterion is to influence his choice? Why\ndoes he cast away the poems which celebrate St. Peter as Prince of the\nApostles, and approve of those that extol St. Paul? Why should he style\nAdam of St. Victor\u2019s hymn on the Blessed Virgin an exaggeration, and quote\nas edifying his _Laus S. Scripturae_? Why are St. Bonaventure\u2019s pieces in\nhonour of Mary visited with censure, and his lines _In Passione Domini_\nmade the theme of praise? Dr. Trench gives us his reasons very plainly.\n\u201cIf our position mean anything\u201d, says he (page x.), \u201cwe are bound to\nbelieve that to us, having the Word and the Spirit, the power has been\ngiven to distinguish things which differ.... It is our duty to believe\nthat to us, that to each generation which humbly and earnestly seeks, will\nbe given that enlightening spirit, by whose aid it shall be enabled to\nread aright the past realizations of God\u2019s divine idea in the wise and\nhistoric Church of successive ages, and to distinguish the human\nimperfections, blemishes, and errors, from the divine truth which they\nobscured and overlaid, but which they could not destroy, being, one day,\nrather to be destroyed by it\u201d. That is to say, we, as Protestants, in\nvirtue of our position as such, are able by the light of the Holy Spirit\nto discern true from false doctrine, the fruits of the good Church from\nthe fruits of the evil Church. This enlightening Spirit will be given to\neach generation which humbly and earnestly seeks it. But, we ask, what are\nwe to believe concerning the working of the same enlightening Spirit in\nthe hearts of the holy men whose exquisitely devotional writings Dr.\nTrench sets before us? Were they men of humility and earnestness? If they\nwere not, Dr. Trench\u2019s book appears under false colours, and is not a book\nof edification. And if they were, as they certainly were, who is Dr.\nTrench that he should take it on himself to condemn those who enjoyed the\nvery same light which he claims for himself? And why should we not then\nrather believe that as these holy men had, on his own showing, the spirit\nof God, Dr. Trench, in condemning their doctrine does in truth condemn\nwhat is the doctrine of the Church of the Holy Spirit.\n\nThe theory is therefore as inconsistent as on historical grounds it is\nfalse. Such as it is, however, the conclusions we may draw from it are of\ngreat importance.\n\n1. Dr. Trench declares that, both by omitting and by thinning, he has\ncarefully removed from his selection, all doctrine implying\ntransubstantiation, the cultus of the Blessed Virgin, the invocation of\nsaints, and the veneration of the cross. Now, as the great bulk of the\npoems he publishes belong to the middle ages, strictly so called, it\nfollows, on Dr. Trench\u2019s authority, that these doctrines of the Roman\nCatholic Church were held long before the Reformation, and that the Church\nwas already in possession when Luther came.\n\n2. Since he tells us (page vi) that he has counted inadmissible poems\nwhich breathe a spirit foreign to that tone of piety which the English\nChurch desires to cherish in her children, it follows that the spirit of\npiety in the Church of old is not the same as that in the present Church\nof England. Now in such cases the presumption is against novelty.\n\n3. Dr. Trench (page vii) reminds his readers that it is unfair to try the\ntheological language of the middle ages by the greater strictness and\naccuracy rendered necessary by the struggle, of the Reformation. A man who\nholds a doctrine _implicitly_ and in a confused manner, is likely to use\nwords which he would correct if the doctrine were put before him in\naccurate form. This is a sound principle, and one constantly employed by\nCatholic theologians, when they have to deal with an objection urged by\nProtestants from some obscure or equivocal passage of a Father. It is\nsatisfactory to be able for the future to claim for its use the high\nauthority of Dr. Trench.\n\n4. A special assistance of the Holy Spirit is claimed for all those who\nhumbly and earnestly invoke him. This assistance is to enable those\nblessed with it to distinguish between error and divine truth. Is this\nhappy privilege to be exercised either independently, without the\ndirection of the ministers of the Church, or is it one of the graces\npeculiar to the pastoral office? In the former case, every fanatical\nsectary may judge in matters of religion as securely as if he had the\nwhole world on his side. In the latter case, it would be interesting to\nknow how much does this privilege differ from the infallibility claimed by\nthe Catholic Church.\n\n5. Finally, the contradictions inherent to the whole theory are most\nclearly to be seen in the following passage about the noble lines which\nHildebert, Archbishop of Tours, in the beginning of the twelfth century,\nplaces on the lip of the city of Rome:\n\n\n    \u201cI have not inserted these lines\u201d, says Dr. Trench, \u201cin the body\n    of this collection, lest I might seem to claim for them that\n    entire sympathy which I am very far from doing. Yet, believing as\n    we may, and, to give any meaning to a large period of Church\n    history, we must, that Papal Rome of the middle ages had a work of\n    God to accomplish for the taming of a violent and brutal world, in\n    the midst of which she often lifted up the only voice which was\n    anywhere heard in behalf of righteousness and truth\u2014all of which\n    we may believe, with the fullest sense that her dominion was an\n    unrighteous usurpation, however overruled for good to Christendom,\n    which could then take no higher blessing\u2014believing this, we may\n    freely admire these lines, so nobly telling of that true strength\n    of spiritual power, which may be perfected in the utmost weakness\n    of all other power. It is the city of Rome which speaks:\n\n    Dum simulacra mihi, dum numina vana placerent,\n      Militi\u00e2, populo, moenibus alts fui:\n    At simul effigies, arasque superstitiosas\n      Dejiciens, uni sum famulata Deo;\n    Cesserunt arces, cecidere palatia divum,\n      Servivit populis, degeneravit eques.\n    Vix scio quae fuerim: vix Romae Roma recordor;\n      Vix sinit occasus vel meminisse mei.\n    Gratior haec jactura mihi successibus illis,\n      Major sum pauper divite, stante jacens.\n    Plus aquilis vexilla crucis, plus Caesare Petrus,\n      Plus cinctis ducibus vulgus inerme dedit.\n    Stans domui terras; infernum diruta pulso;\n      Corpora stans, animas fracta jacensque rego.\n    Tunc miserae plebi, nunc principibus tenebrarum\n      Impero; tunc urbes, nunc mea regna polus.\n    Quod ne Caesaribus videar debere vel armis,\n      Et species rerum meque meosque trahat,\n    Armorum vis illa perit, ruit alta Senat\u00fbs\n      Gloria, procumbunt templa, theatra jacent.\n    Rostra vacant, edicta silent, sua praemia desunt\n      Emeritis, populo jura, colonus agris.\n    Ista jacent, ne forte meus spem ponat in illis\n      Civis, et evacuet spemque bonumque crucis.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE MSS. REMAINS OF PROFESSOR O\u2019CURRY IN THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY. NO. II.\n\n\n_Prayer of St. Aireran the Wise, ob._. 664.\n\n\n    [In the first number of the RECORD we published from the\n    manuscripts of the late Professor O\u2019Curry the Prayer of St. Colga\n    of Clonmacnoise. We now publish another beautiful devotional piece\n    from the same collection.\n\n    Speaking of ancient Irish religious works now remaining, O\u2019Curry\n    says (at page 378 of his great work): \u201cThe fifth class of these\n    religious remains consists of the prayers, invocations, and\n    litanies, which have came down to us\u201d. The Prayer of St. Colga,\n    published in our last number, is placed by O\u2019Curry in the second\n    place among these documents, which he sets down in chronological\n    order.\n\n    \u201cThe first piece of this class (adopting the chronological order)\n    is the prayer of St. _Aireran_ the Wise (often called _Aileran_,\n    _Eleran_, and _Airenan_), who was a classical professor in the\n    great school of Clonard, and died of the plague in the year 664.\n    St. Aireran\u2019s prayer or litany is addressed, respectively, to God\n    the Father, to God the Son, and to God the Holy Spirit, invoking\n    them for mercy by various titles indicative of their power, glory,\n    and attributes. The prayer consists of five invocations to the\n    Father, eighteen invocations to the Son, and five to the Holy\n    Spirit; and commences in Latin thus: \u2018O Deus Pater, Omnipotens\n    Deus, exerci misericordiam nobis\u2019. This is followed by the same\n    Invocation in the Gaedhlic; and the petitions to the end are\n    continued in the same language. The invocation of the Son begins\n    thus: \u2018Have mercy on us, O Almighty God! O Jesus Christ! O Son Of\n    the living God! O Son, born twice! O only born of God the Father\u2019.\n    The petition to the Holy Spirit begins: \u2018Have mercy on us, O\n    Almighty God! O Holy Spirit! O Spirit the noblest of all spirits!\u2019\n    (See original in APPENDIX, No. CXX.)\n\n    \u201cWhen I first discovered this prayer in the _Leabhar Buidhe\n    Lecain_ (or Yellow Book of _Lecain_), in the library of Trinity\n    College, many years ago, I had no means of ascertaining or fixing\n    its date; but in my subsequent readings in the same library, for\n    my collection of ancient glossaries, I met the word _Oirchis_ set\n    down with explanation and illustration, as follows:\n\n    \u201c \u2018_Oirchis_, id est, Mercy; as it is said in the prayers of\n    Arinan the Wise\u2019:\u2014Have mercy on us, O God the Father Almighty!\u201d\n    See original in APPENDIX, No. CXXI.\n\n    \u201cI think it is unnecessary to say more on the identity of the\n    author of this prayer with the distinguished _Aireran_ of Clonard.\n    Nor is this the only specimen of his devout works that has come\n    down to us. Fleming, in his Collecta Sacra, has published a\n    fragment of a Latin tract discovered in the ancient monastery of\n    St. Gall in Switzerland, which is entitled \u2018The Mystical\n    Interpretation of the Ancestry of our Lord Jesus Christ\u2019. A\n    perfect copy of this curious tract, and one of high antiquity,\n    has, I believe, been lately discovered on the continent.\n\n    \u201cThere was another _Airenan_, also called \u2018the wise\u2019, who was\n    abbot of _Tamhlacht_ [Tallaght] in the latter part of the ninth\n    century; but he has not been distinguished as an author, as far as\n    we know\u201d.\n\n    It seems to us that there are three things specially worthy of our\n    consideration in this beautiful prayer.\n\n    In the first place, we find in it an explicit and most clear\n    declaration of the Catholic Faith regarding the Blessed Trinity,\n    especially the distinction of three persons, and the Divinity of\n    each of these Divine Persons. \u201cO God the Father Almighty, O God of\n    Hosts, help us! Help us, O Almighty God! O Jesus Christ! Help us,\n    O Almighty God, O Holy Spirit!\u201d\n\n    We are in the next place struck by the extraordinary familiarity\n    with the Holy Scripture which the writer evinces. There is\n    scarcely one of the epithets which is not found in the sacred\n    pages, almost in the precise words used by him, beginning with the\n    first words, addressed to the Eternal Father, \u201cO God of Hosts\u201d,\n    the _Deus Sabaoth_ of the Prophets, and going on to the last\n    invocation of the Holy Ghost, \u201cSpirit of love\u201d, which comprises in\n    itself the two inspired phrases: \u201c_Spiritus est Deus_\u201d, and \u201c_Deus\n    Charitas est_\u201d. We may also remark the coincidence between Saint\n    Aireran and the liturgical prayers of the Church, especially in\n    the invocations of the Holy Ghost found in the office of\n    Whitsuntide and in the administration of the Sacrament of\n    Confirmation, \u201c_Tu septiformis munere: Digitus Paternae\n    dexterae_\u201d. \u201cO Finger of God! O Spirit of Seven Forms\u201d.\n\n    In fine, we find our Irish saint applying to the Son of God the\n    vision of the Prophet Ezechiel regarding the four mysterious\n    animals: \u201cO true Man! O Lion! O young Ox! O Eagle!\u201d The prophecy\n    is commonly interpreted of the Four Evangelists. Saint Augustine\n    and Saint Jerome are quoted as authorities for this\n    interpretation. But it is worthy of remark, that Saint Gregory the\n    Great, whilst giving the same interpretation, applies the\n    mysterious vision also to God the Son.(2) And Saint Aireran, by\n    adopting this opinion, seems to afford us another proof of the\n    great familiarity of our Irish scholars with the writings of the\n    great Pontiff and Father of the Church. And this familiarity is\n    rendered still more remarkable, and serves to give another proof\n    of the constant communication between Rome and Ireland, from the\n    close proximity of the times of our Saint and of Saint Gregory.]\n\n\nO Deus Pater omnipotens Deus exerce tuam misericordiam nobis!\n\nO God the Father Almighty! O God of Hosts, help us.\n\nO illustrious God! O Lord of the world! O Creator of all creatures, help\nus.\n\nO indescribable God! O Creator of all creatures, help us.\n\nO invisible God! O incorporeal God! O unseen God! O unimaginable God! O\npatient God! O uncorrupted God! O unchangeable God! O eternal God! O\nperfect God! O merciful God! O admirable God! O Golden Goodness! O\nHeavenly Father, who art in Heaven, help us.\n\nHelp us, O Almighty God! O Jesus Christ! O Son of the living God! O Son\ntwice born! O only begotten of the Father! O first-born of Mary the\nVirgin! O Son of David! O Son of Abraham, beginning of all things! O End\nof the World! O Word of God! O Jewel of the Heavenly Kingdom! O Life of\nall (things)! O Eternal Truth! O Image, O Likeness, O Form of God the\nFather! O Arm of God! O Hand of God! O Strength of God! O right (hand) of\nGod! O true Wisdom! O true Light, which enlightens all men! O Light-giver!\nO Sun of Righteousness! O Star of the Morning! O Lustre of the Divinity! O\nSheen of the Eternal Light! O Fountain of immortal Life! O Pacificator\nbetween God and Man! O Foretold of the Church! O Faithful Shepherd of the\nflock! O Hope of the Faithful! O Angel of the Great Council! O True\nProphet! O True Apostle! O True Preacher! O Master! O Friend of Souls\n(Spiritual Director)! O Thou of the shining hair! O Immortal Food! O Tree\nof Life! O Righteous of Heaven! O Wand from the Stem of Moses! O King of\nIsrael! O Saviour! O Door of Life! O Splendid Flower of the Plain! O\nCorner-stone! O Heavenly Zion! O Foundation of the Faith! O Spotless Lamb!\nO Diadem! O Gentle Sheep! O Redeemer of mankind! O true God! O True Man! O\nLion! O young Ox! O Eagle! O Crucified Christ! O Judge of the Judgment\nDay! help us.\n\nHelp us, O Almighty God! O Holy Spirit! O Spirit more noble than all\nSpirits! O Finger of God! O Guardian of the Christians! O Protector of the\nDistressed! O Co-partner of the True Wisdom! O Author of the Holy\nScripture! O Spirit of Righteousness! O Spirit of Seven Forms! O Spirit of\nthe Intellect! O Spirit of the Counsel! O Spirit of Fortitude! O Spirit of\nKnowledge! O Spirit of Love! help us.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE DESTINY OF THE IRISH RACE.(3)\n\n\nThat God knows and governs all things\u2014that whatever happens is either done\nor permitted by him, and that he proposes to himself wise and beneficent\nends in all he does or permits\u2014are truths which lie at the foundation of\nall religion. The wicked may refuse to obey his commands, but they cannot\nwithdraw themselves from the reach of his power. While their wickedness is\nentirely their own, _God_ makes them, however unwilling or unconscious,\ninstruments to work out his ends.\n\nIt is thus that individuals and nations have each a peculiar destiny. Not\nthat there is a blind fate, such as Pagans imagined; but that an\nall-seeing and all-governing God proposes to himself certain objects,\nwhich he is determined to attain, despite the perversity of man.\n\nTo learn the purposes of God in the development of human events, to trace\nhis hand in the complicated movements of society, to see him overruling\nand directing all to his own great ends, is one of the most sublime\nobjects to which the study of history can be applied. Frequently, indeed,\nwe may be unable fully to comprehend the designs of his providence in the\nmoral, as in the physical world. Fancy, or pride, may easily have a great\npart in suggesting our theories. But, if we confine ourselves to certain\nfacts and undoubted principles, we can often trace the design in both\norders, and admire in it the wisdom, the power, the goodness\u2014all the\nattributes of God. Nay, all these shine more brightly in the moral than in\nthe physical order.\n\nThe history of his chosen people is an example of this. We find empires\nrising and falling, at one time to punish, at another time to try, at\nanother to deliver his people. The good and the wicked, the weak and the\nstrong, become in turn his instruments. The whole history of that people\nis but a record of the acts of his overruling providence, directing all\nthings to the accomplishment of the designs which he had announced.\n\nThis is, indeed, so evident in this case that it may not be considered a\nfair instance to prove my general position. For it is admitted that God\u2019s\nprovidence over the Jewish race was quite extraordinary. Still, it proves\nthat God does so intervene in human affairs, and it illustrates many of\nthe principles that must be kept in view in these investigations. It\nshows, for example, that many, unconscious of the fact\u2014nay, with quite\nanother object in view, acting perhaps from avarice, hatred, or ambition,\nare yet instruments in the hand of God for the accomplishment of his wise\npurposes. It shows how things, and persons, considered as of little or of\nno value, according to human views, may, in reality, be the pivots on\nwhich the destinies of vast empires turn, connected, as they may be, with\nthe accomplishment of purposes which weigh more in the scales of Heaven\nthan the mere temporal condition of all the empires of the Earth.\n\nIt is in this view that many Christian writers assert that the Roman\nempire obtained universal sway, that civilized nations being thus brought\nclosely together, an easier way might be prepared for the spread of the\nGospel. The generals and statesmen of Rome had no doubt a very low idea of\nthe poor fishermen of Galilee, and of the tentmaker of Tharsus. It may be\nsafely presumed that they did not even allow their names to divert their\nthoughts, for a moment, from the grand projects of conquest and government\nby which they were engrossed. Yet, in the designs of God, it was, most\nprobably, to prepare a way for the work of those fishermen, and of that\ntentmaker, and their associates, that wisdom had been vouchsafed to their\ncounsels and victory to their arms.\n\nThe endless invasions of the Roman empire by northern tribes is another\ninstance of whole races being used by God for his own purposes, without\ntheir having any idea of the work in which they were employed. They came\nto punish those who had revelled in the blood of the saints, and to supply\nfresh material for the great work of the Church of God.\n\nTowards the close of the fifteenth century, an Italian sailor, led by some\nastronomical observations and some half understood, or rather\nmisunderstood, tales of ancient travellers, to believe that there must be\nanother continent far away beyond the western waters, wandered from court\nto court, in Europe, in search of means to fit up an expedition to\ndiscover it, and he finally succeeded in making known a new world. It\nrequires little faith in divine Providence to believe that it was God who\nwas impelling him thus to open a new outlet for the energies of the\nancient world, which were then about being developed on a gigantic scale,\nand, still more, to prepare a field for a more extensive spread of the\nGospel, in which the Church might repair the losses she was about to\nsustain in the religious convulsions impending in Europe.\n\nNumberless similar instances might be quoted. These designs of God are\nsometimes manifest, sometimes hidden; sometimes they are far-reaching,\nsometimes limited. Ignorance and pride may mistake or pervert them. But\nthey always prevail; they are always worthy of their Author; and let me\nadd, that the salvation of men being the object most highly prized by God,\nit is not only rightfully considered the most noble, but it is that to\nwhich his other works may be justly accounted subordinate.\n\nIt is under the light of these principles that I undertake an\ninvestigation of the purposes of God regarding the Irish race. These\npurposes seem to me no longer matter of speculation; they may be\npronounced manifest; for they are written in unmistakable characters in\nthe development of events.\n\nThe history of Ireland is, in many respects, peculiar. Few nations\nreceived the faith so readily, and no other preserved it amidst similar\nstruggles. St. Patrick first announced the Gospel to the assembled states\nof the realm at Tara. He received permission to preach it, unmolested,\nthroughout the length and breadth of the land. By his indomitable zeal and\nheroic virtue, he succeeded in winning over the natives so effectually,\nthat at his death few pagans remained in Ireland. Not a drop of blood was\nshed when Christianity was first announced. Heroism was displayed only by\nthe exalted virtues of the Apostle and of the neophytes. Nowhere else did\nthe Gospel take root so quickly and so firmly, and produce fruits so\nimmediate and so abundant. Catholic Ireland soon became the home of the\nsaints and sages of the Christian world. To many of the nations of the\ncontinent her apostles went forth, charged with the embassy of eternal\ntruth. In every realm of Europe her children established sanctuaries of\npiety and learning; and to her own hospitable shores the natives of other\nlands flocked to receive education, and even support, from her gratuitous\nbounty. Homes of virtue dotted her hills and valleys; and thus were laid\ndeep the roots of that strong attachment to the faith, which, later, was\nto be exposed to trials the most severe.\n\nWe thus find God preparing Ireland for a future, then hidden to all but\nHimself. For the day of trial came at last. She was reposing in peace,\nunder the shadow of the Gospel, when the barbaric invasion, that swept\nbefore it every vestige of learning and religion in many parts of Europe,\nreached her shores. Ireland was the only country that rolled back its\nwave. But she did this at the cost of her life\u2019s blood. For two centuries\nthe Dane trampled her sons under foot. His cruelties yet re-echo in the\nnational traditions. But the Irish race at last arose in its might, and\ndrove the barbarian from its shores. The churches of the country had been\npillaged, its monasteries plundered, its institutions of learning\ndestroyed\u2014everything that the sword could smite, or fire consume, had\nperished; but the Irish race came out of the ordeal preserving its own\nintegrity, and the jewel which it prized above all else\u2014its glorious\nfaith.\n\nNot long after this deliverance, and before Ireland had succeeded in\nobliterating the traces of Danish cruelty, another invader set his foot on\nher shores. Availing himself of the discords naturally arising from the\ndisorganized state of society, he succeeded in gaining a foothold. By\nfanning these discords, he kept possession and gained strength. The rule\nof the Saxon became thus almost as severe a calamity as had been the\noppression of the Dane. To the hatred, which is generally greater in the\noppressor than in the oppressed, were added, in time, religious fanaticism\nand the desire of plunder, which became its associate and assumed its\ngarb. The _mere_ Irishman, who was hated under any circumstances on\naccount of his race, was now hunted in his own country as if he were a\nwild beast. The property of the Catholic people was confiscated, and most\nstringent laws were enacted to prevent its renewed acquisitions. Priests,\nwherever found, were put to death, and the severest penalties were\ninflicted on those who would harbour any that escaped detection.\nExtermination by fire and sword was ordered in so many words, and was\nattempted. When this failed, a system of penal laws was established, which\nwere in full force until lately, and which a Protestant writer of\ndeservedly high repute (Burke) calls a \u201cmachine of wise and elaborate\ncontrivance, and as well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment, and\ndegradation of a people, and the debasement in them of human nature\nitself, as ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man\u201d. Upon the\npartial abandonment of this form of oppression, a system of proselytism\nwas adopted, and is yet in full vigour (for it has become an institution,\nand the best supported institution in Ireland), which, by bribes to the\nhigh and the low, appeals to every base instinct to draw men away from the\nfaith.\n\nYet neither confiscation of property, nor famine, nor disgrace, nor death\nin its most hideous forms, could make Ireland waver in that faith which\nour forefathers received from St. Patrick. There were, of course, from\ntime to time, and there are, a few exceptions. Did not these occur, the\nIrish must have been more than men. But, as a general rule, the places\nthat could not be procured or retained, except by apostacy, were resigned.\nThe rich allowed their property to be torn from them, and they willingly\nbecame poor; the poor bore hunger and all other consequences of wretched\npoverty; and though every Earthly good was arrayed temptingly before them,\nthey scorned to purchase comfort at the price of apostacy. During the four\nyears from 1846 to 1850, nearly two millions either perished from hunger\nor its attendant pestilence, or were forced to leave their native land to\nescape both. In the midst of the dead and the dying, proselytisers showed\nthemselves everywhere, well provided with food and money, and Bibles, and\nevery one of the sufferers felt, and was made to feel, that all his\nsufferings might have been spared had he been willing to barter his faith\nfor bread. Yet the masses could bear hunger and face pestilence, or fly\nfrom their native land; but they would not eat the bread of apostacy. They\ndied, or they fled; but they clung to their faith.\n\nIn vain, I think, will history be searched for another example of such\nvast numbers, generation after generation, calmly, silently facing an\nunhonoured death, without any support on earth but the approving voice of\nconscience.\n\nThis fidelity can be predicated with truth of the whole Irish race,\nnotwithstanding the numbers of those in Ireland who are not Catholics. For\nthese, besides being a minority of the inhabitants, are but an exotic,\nplanted in Ireland by the sword. They were imported, being already, and\nbecause they were, of another faith, for the purpose of supplanting that\nof the inhabitants. Many of them adopted the faith of the old race, so\nthat the names that indicate their origin are not a certain test of their\nreligion. But so steadily has the old stock adhered to its faith, that an\nIrish \u201cO\u201d, or \u201cMac\u201d, or any other old Celtic name, is almost sure to\ndesignate a Catholic. Indeed, such names are usually called \u201cCatholic\nnames\u201d. Whenever an exception is found, it is so rare an occurrence that\nthe party is considered a renegade from his race as well as from his\nreligion.\n\nIt would, however, be not only unfounded to flatter ourselves that this\nstability in the faith is the result of anything peculiar in the Irish\nnature, but it would be, I may say, a blasphemy to assert it. God alone\ncan preserve any one in the paths of truth and virtue; how much more must\nwe attribute to Him the fidelity of a whole race, under the trying\ncircumstances here enumerated?\n\nSuch grace may have been given, as many believe, in reward of the\nreadiness and the fulness with which our ancestors first received the\nfaith of the Gospel, and it is hoped that God will to the end grant the\nsame grace of fidelity to their descendants. Our great Apostle is said to\nhave asked this favour from God for the nation which so readily responded\nto his call. Let us unite our prayers with his, and, like Solomon, ask for\nour race not riches, nor power, but true wisdom, which is, above all and\nbefore all, allegiance to the true faith. This was the prayer, no doubt,\nwhich the millions of our martyred ancestors poured out. They themselves\nsacrificed property and liberty; they gave up everything that man could\ntake away, that they might preserve this precious jewel. They believed\nthat in doing this they were following the dictates of true wisdom, and,\nin their fondest love for their remotest posterity, they wished and prayed\nthat similar wisdom might be displayed by them. May their prayer be heard\nto the end.\n\nThis prayer has been heard, or at least this grace has been granted, up to\nthe present. When the sons of Ireland on this day return in thought to the\nhomes of their fathers, they may indeed look back upon a land inferior to\nmany in the elements of material greatness. They may behold her castles\nand rich domains in the possession of the stranger. They may view the\nmasses of their race with scarcely a foothold in the land of their\nfathers, liable to be ejected from the farm, and driven out on the public\nhighways, and from the highways into the crowded town, and from the hovels\nof the crowded town into the poorhouse, and even at the poorhouse denied\nthe right of admission. But amidst all the miseries of those who yet dwell\nin the old land\u2014in spite of the wiles of unscrupulous governments, and\nheartless and tyrannical landlords, and hypocritical proselytizers\u2014in\nspite of open violence and covert bribes, their undying attachment to the\nfaith remains unaltered, unshaken\u2014a monument of national virtue more\nhonourable than any which wealth or power could erect, or flattery devise.\n\nBut all this is a grace, a great grace of God. It reveals a purpose of\nHeaven more bountiful in regard to this people than if he had raised them\nto the highest place in material power amongst the nations of the Earth.\n\nTemporal prosperity, in its various forms, though a favour from God, is\nnot his most precious blessing. He himself selected the way of the Cross.\nIn abjection and suffering he came into the world; he lived in it despised\nand persecuted, he died amidst excruciating torments. To those whom he\nloved in a special manner, he says, \u201cCan you drink the chalice which I am\nto drink, and be baptized with the baptism with which I shall be\nbaptized?\u201d and when they reply, they can, the promise that this shall be\nfulfilled, his leading them to follow him in the way of the Cross, his\ncalling them to suffer for righteousness, is the best pledge of his\ngreatest love.\n\nThis grace he has given to Ireland. Her children have received and\naccepted the call; they have reaped the reward. Indeed, I have found the\nopinion entertained by many clergymen of extensive experience, that there\nis not probably a people on this Earth of whom more, in proportion to\ntheir number, leave this world with well grounded hopes of a happy\neternity. They do not, it is true, display a boastful assurance that they\nare about to ascend at once into Heaven. But vast masses serve God with\nhumble fidelity in life, and, at death, acknowledging and sorry for their\nsins, doing all they can to comply with his requirements, they throw\nthemselves, with resignation to his will, into the arms of his mercy.\n\nWere nothing else apparent in the purposes of God, we might stop here. We\nwould find a great and worthy object for all that Ireland has suffered,\nand cause to thank the Almighty Ruler for having given her the grace to\nsuffer in union with and for the sake of his Son.\n\nBut God\u2019s graces are often given for ulterior purposes; and it may be\nasked whether the extraordinary preservation of this nation\u2019s faith has\nnot another object in his wise and merciful counsels.\n\nIt appears to me that this is now clear in the case of Ireland. But, to\nunderstand it properly, we must reflect more closely on her connection\nwith England, and on the condition of this latter country.\n\nIn the sixteenth century England abandoned the faith to which she had\nadhered for a thousand years. Her apostacy, though consummated by degrees,\nmay be said to have become at last complete. The blood of her best sons\nflowed at Tyburn. The priests that were not of the number were banished,\nor forced to seek safety in hiding places. The same price was put on the\nhead of a priest as on that of a wolf. The property of Catholics was\nconfiscated, their children were taken from them, and educated in the\nreligion of the establishment. These and analogous measures produced their\neffect at last. Were it not for these things, a great part of that nation,\nif not a majority, would be Catholic to-day. Though they desired no share\nin the plunder of the Church, and had no fancy for the new theories of the\nReformers, they were weak enough to yield to a pressure, under which\ncompromise first, and then apostacy, afforded the only means of escaping\nconfiscation and the loss of every social advantage, frequently the only\nmeans of escaping death. The old faith stamped, indeed, its mark on the\ninstitutions of the kingdom in a manner that could not be blotted out. It\nleft its memorials everywhere throughout the land. The noble universities,\nthe gorgeous cathedrals, and the splendid ruins scattered over the surface\nof the country, are witnesses of its departed power; but it is itself\neffectually blotted out from the hearts of the people. Though the most\nnoble kings and princes of the land had delighted in honouring\nCatholicity, though England had sent her apostles and her saints into many\na clime, though her hills and valleys had re-echoed for centuries with the\nsweet songs of Catholic devotion, her people now know nothing more hateful\nthan the faith under the auspices of which their fathers were civilized.\nThey nickname it \u201cPopery\u201d, and the name expresses that which is to them\nmost hateful.\n\nYet this England, this Catholic-hating England, has become one of the\ngreatest nations of the Earth in the material order. Her fleets are\nmirrored in every sea; her banner floats on every continent. It has been\ntruly said that the sound of her drums, calling her soldiers from slumber,\ngoes before and greets the rising sun in its circuit around the globe.\n\nBut what is most remarkable, and certainly not without some great purpose\nin the order of divine Providence, England has become in our day the great\nhive from which colonies go out to people islands and continents in\ndistant parts of the world; lands which were before vast wastes, tenanted\nonly by the wild beast, or by the savage scarcely less ferocious. Indeed,\nshe is the only nation in our day that seems to have received such a\nmission.\n\nAnd is it then to an apostate nation exclusively that God has given the\nmission to fill up these wastes? Is it a corrupted faith only which is to\nbe borne to these savage nations, and to be planted in those vast regions,\nwhich God has made known to civilized man in these latter days? Were this\nthe case, we might tremble, though we should adore it as one of the\ninscrutable judgments of God, dealing with nations in his _great_ wrath.\n\nBut is such the fact? It would indeed be the fact were it not for faithful\nIreland. But, united as England is with Ireland, the result is quite\notherwise. The very ambition and desire for gain which impel England to\nextend her power and plant her colonies in the most distant countries of\nthe globe, become the instruments for carrying also the undying faith of\nIreland to the regions which England has conquered.\n\nSaul went to seek Samuel, thinking only of finding his father\u2019s asses. God\nwas sending him to be anointed king over his people. England sends her\nships all over the world, thinking only of markets for the produce of her\nforges and her looms. God is sending her that she may spread everywhere\nthe faith of the Irish people.\n\nUnder the \u201cUnion Jack\u201d, on which the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew\nare blended, but so blended as to prevent any Christian symbol being\nrecognized (a fit emblem of the effect of the union of jarring sects, each\nprofessing to proclaim Christianity, but between them only obscuring and\nobstructing it)\u2014the Irishman, too, is borne to the distant colony. He\ngoes, probably, before the mast or in the forecastle, but he bears with\nhim the true faith; and when he lands he hastens to raise its symbol. This\nmay be at first over a rude chapel. But it is a signal to other\nway-farers, and they gather under its shade to offer up the sacred\nmysteries. As soon as his means permit, even before he can build a good\ndwelling for himself, he takes care that the house of God be, in every\npossible degree, worthy of its sacred character. And so the Church creeps\non and grows, and regions that sat in darkness are now blessed by the\noffering of the Adorable Sacrifice and the announcement of the true faith.\n\nThe Irishman, generally speaking, did not leave home through ambition, or\nfor conquest. He departed with sorrow from the shade of that hawthorn\naround which the dearest memories of childhood clustered. He would have\nremained content with the humble lot of his father had he been allowed to\ndwell there in peace. But the bailiff came, and, to make wider pastures\nfor sheep and bullocks, his humble cottage was levelled, and he himself\nsent to wander through the world in search of a home. But in his\nwanderings he carries his faith with him, and he becomes the means of\nspreading everywhere the true Church of God.\n\nIt is thus that the tempest, which seems but to destroy the flower,\ncatches up its seeds and scatters them far and near, and these seeds\nproduce other flowers as beautiful as that from which they were torn, so\nthat some fair spot of the prairie, when despoiled of its loveliness, but\naffords the means of covering the vast expanse with new and variegated\nbeauties.\n\nIt is thus that the famine, and the pestilence, and the inhuman evictions\nof Irish landlords, have spread the faith of Christ far and near, and\nplanted it in new colonies, which, when they shall have grown out of their\ntutelage, will look back to the departed power of England and the undying\nfaith of Ireland as, in the hands of Providence, the combined causes of\ntheir greatness and their orthodoxy. Macaulay\u2019s traveller from New\nZealand, who will, on some future day, \u201cfrom a broken arch of London\nBridge, take a sketch of the ruins of St. Paul\u2019s\u201d, may be some Irish \u201cO\u2019\u201d\nor \u201cMac\u201d on a pilgrimage to the Eternal City, who passes that way\u2014having\nfirst landed on the shores from which his ancestors were driven by the\n\u201ccrowbar brigade\u201d, and visited with reverence the hallowed graves under\nwhose humble sod lie the bones of his martyred forefathers.\n\nIt is thus that the Catholic faith is being planted in the British\ncolonies of North America; it is thus it is carried to India, and to\nAustralia, and to the islands of the South Sea. Thus are laid the\nfoundations of flourishing churches, which promise, at no distant day, to\nrenew, and even to surpass, the work done by Ireland in the palmiest days\nof faith, when her sons planted the Cross, and caused Christ to be adored,\nas he wished to be adored, in the most distant regions of the earth.\n\nThe magnitude of this work is not to be measured even by the importance of\nthese transplanted churches at the present moment. The countries to which\nI have alluded are but in their infancy. We can see on this continent the\nrapid strides of such infant colonies. Within three quarters of a century\nthis country has advanced in population from three to over thirty\nmillions, and in most other elements of greatness in still grander\nproportions. If it continue to increase, as it has done regularly from the\nbeginning, at the end of this century, or soon after, it will have a\npopulation of over one hundred millions\u2014that is, as great as is now the\npopulation of France, and Spain, and Italy, and Great Britain combined. If\nthis be expected in this country in forty years, what will the case be in\none or two hundred, in this and so many others similarly situated?\n\nAustralia starts with all the advantages of this country, and some\npeculiar to itself, and is following it with giant strides. It may\novertake it before long, if not outstrip it. But the position of\nCatholicity there is very different from what it was at the commencement,\nor even at an advanced period, in the United States. The Catholics in\nAustralia occupy a position of practical social equality with others. They\nwill grow with the growth and strengthen with the strength of their\nadopted country, and have their fair share in its importance.\n\nEngland herself, from which the Catholic name was thought to have been\nalmost blotted out, has been deeply affected by this exodus of Irish\nCatholics. In her cities, and towns, and hamlets, the Cross has been\nraised from the dust. At the side of the ancient monuments which remind\nEngland of her apostacy, humble spires rise in every part of the land, and\ntell that nation that the faith which they thought destroyed still lives,\nand is ready to admit them again to its wonted blessings. They stand\nthere, and betoken the unity and stability of that faith of which they are\nthe symbols\u2014of that faith which reclaimed the fathers of that people from\nbarbarism, and continued to be the faith of the land for a thousand years,\nand is yet a faith, and the only faith, in which men of every tongue and\nevery clime are united. The English people see its unity and stability,\nwhile they are forced to witness the ever shifting and clashing forms of\nthe religion that was substituted for it. For, in the name of the one\nChrist and the one Bible, altar is everywhere erected against altar,\npulpit thunders against pulpit, the teaching of to-day is contradicted in\nthe same pulpit on the morrow; yet each one proclaims his own device as\nthe plain teaching of Scripture.\n\nThis confronting of unity with confusion, of steady adherence to truth\nwith the ever varying shifts of error, of the mild but bright glory of an\neverlasting Church with the frivolities of the proudest inventions of men,\nis a grace, and a great grace, which God grants. It is a grace for the use\nof which that people will give strict account. And oh! may that use be,\nthat they will make it fructify to their salvation. For while we\nappreciate the blessings granted to ourselves, we have no other feeling in\ntheir regard than a wish that they, too, may share in these blessings, and\nbe like unto us in everything \u201cexcept these chains\u201d.\n\nBut whether well used or abused, whether unto \u201cthe ruin\u201d or \u201csalvation\u201d of\nmany in that country, this grace is given chiefly through the Irish\nemigration.\n\nI am not unaware of, nor do I undervalue, the importance of the faithful\nremnant that has in England steadfastly continued in the faith once\ndelivered to the saints, nor of the accession made to their numbers by the\nconversion of so many noble souls, to whom God gave light and strength to\novercome the many difficulties that would have fain prevented their\nfollowing that light. But of both we might not inaptly ask, \u201cWhat are\nthese amongst so many?\u201d They are like those few tints that gild the skies\nhere and there, when the sun\u2019s light has all but departed; or like those\nstars that pierce at night the cumbered heavens\u2014bright, indeed, and\nbeautiful\u2014but only showing forth more clearly the dark outlines of the\nheavy and murky clouds that shroud the horizon. They make us feel only\nmore sensibly, and keep fresh in our memory, the loss of the sun that has\nset.\n\nIt is the Irish emigration that has chiefly supplied the multitudes who\nflock around English altars, that has made churches and schools spring up,\nthat has finally called for the restoration of a numerous hierarchy; and,\nas if to mark this fact, and point out the great part that Ireland had in\nrestoring Catholic life to England, God has so arranged it that the first\nhead and brightest ornament of that new hierarchy should be the son of\nIrish emigrants; for such is the great and illustrious Cardinal Wiseman.\n\nAnd even in these United States, let people say what they please, has not\nthe Irish race held the first place in planting the cross throughout the\nlength and breadth of the land?\n\nIn this, and wherever else I speak of the Irish race, I do not, of course,\nconfine myself to those born in Ireland. The work which a race is called\nto do is to be done by those who now live, and by their children and their\nchildren\u2019s children, wherever they happen to be born. Indeed, it would be\na contradiction in terms to consider the father and son, wherever born, as\nbelonging to different races. Be it for weal or for woe, be it unto honour\nor unto shame, the fathers cannot disown the children nor the children the\nfathers. If it depended on feeling or wishes, I, for one, would be very\nglad to dissolve connection with any one who insists that he owes nothing\nto the race that gave him a father or a mother. I would readily leave such\na one to his proud claim of owning no paternity but the land on which he\nvegetates, and I only regret that he will scarcely bring to it much credit\nor advantage. He who is unwilling to acknowledge the father that begot\nhim, or the mother that gave him suck, is not a prize worth contending\nfor. But whatever we or he may wish, whatever be the results to us or to\nhim, he is flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. What God has united,\nneither he nor we can put asunder.\n\nIt is not that we should form separate classes or castes, or that we claim\nother rights or privileges, or have other duties than those of other\nraces; but the one to which each man belongs has been fixed by the\nAlmighty Provider in the very act of giving him being, and he who would\nfain conceal, or disown, or be ashamed of his race\u2014that is, of the order\nof Providence to which he owes his existence\u2014could succeed in nothing else\nbut in proving himself unworthy the esteem of men of any race.\n\nI know and gratefully acknowledge the important services rendered to\nCatholicity in the United States by persons of other races. There was,\nfirst of all, the Maryland colony, with whose noble history that of few,\nif any, of the other colonies can compare. By their justice and humanity\nin treating with the native tribes, by similar justice and fair dealing\nwith other colonists, of every religion and every race, by their domestic\nvirtues and patriotic course, the men of that colony deserved and received\na high place in the esteem of their countrymen and of the world.\n\nBut their number is small, too small\u2014indeed. Would that they were more.\nWere they all put together they would not form one average diocese of the\nforty-six now existing in this country.\n\nGod has sent us many illustrious men from France, and Belgium, and Italy,\nwho have occupied the foremost ranks in the ministry, whose heroic virtues\nand zealous works are even now as beacon lights to all who labour for\nGod\u2019s glory. But as to the people from these countries, they are not many\nmore than those from the Maryland stock. Germany has sent many of her\nhardy sons to labour with the steadfastness of their countrymen in\nbuilding up the walls of the sanctuary. These are, indeed, a most\nimportant element, and are destined to become more and more important\nevery day. They may yet exercise a greater influence on the destiny of the\nChurch in this country than the Irish race. But so far, I think, no one\nwill claim that they can be compared with it in numbers, or as to the\nresults hitherto obtained. Of the converts in this country we may say the\nsame thing as of those in England.\n\nGiving all, therefore, what belongs to them\u2014for there is not, nor should\nthere be here, any room for jealousy\u2014I think it will be admitted that it\nis above all others to the sons of Ireland and to their children that the\nspread of Catholicity is due in this land. No matter who ministered at the\naltar (though there, too, the sons of Ireland have had their share), in\nthe body of the church you will find that, in the majority of places, they\nconstitute the bulk, and in many the whole of the congregation. Their hard\nearned dollars were foremost in supplying means to buy the lot and raise\nthe building from which the Catholic faith is announced. The priest, no\nmatter what his own nationality, was nowhere more confident of finding\nhelp and support than among the Irish emigrants or their children.\nWherever a railway, or a canal, or a hive of industry invited their sturdy\nlabour, the cross soon sprang up to bear witness to their generosity and\ntheir faith.\n\nEven the old Maryland colony, though consisting chiefly of English\nCatholics, seeking here a freedom of conscience denied them at home, had\nits Irish element, and that not the least noble in deeds nor the least\nconspicuous in virtue.\n\nWhen at the period of the Revolution the noblest men of this land stood\ntogether, shoulder to shoulder, and issued that Declaration of\nIndependence to which they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their\nsacred honours, it was a Catholic of the Irish race who affixed his\nsignature for Maryland. In doing this he pledged an honour as pure, and a\nlife as precious as any of the rest, but he staked a fortune equal to, if\nnot greater than, that of all the others put together. When he signed his\nname, one standing by said, \u201cThere go some millions\u201d. Another remarked,\n\u201cThere are many Carrolls; he will not be known\u201d. He overheard the remark,\nand to avoid all misconception, wrote down in full, \u201c_Charles Carroll, of\nCarrollton_\u201d.\n\nYet this noble scion of the Irish race, for so many years the pride and\nthe ornament of his native state, while fulfilling all the duties of an\nillustrious citizen, was not ashamed of the race from which he sprang.\nInstead of selecting amongst French _villes_ or English _parks_ or _towns_\na name for his princely estate, he stamped on it a title with the good old\nCeltic ring. He called it after a property of one of his Irish ancestors,\n_Doughoregan Manor_, thereby telling his posterity and his countrymen that\nif they feel any pride in his name, they must associate him with a race\nwhich so many affect to despise.\n\nLet all the sons, and the sons of the sons, of Ireland be, like him,\nfaithful to their duties as citizens, ready to sacrifice their all for\ntheir country, whether that all be little, or as great as was his vast\nwealth; just and respectful and charitable to men of all races and creeds,\nnot anxious either to conceal or obtrude their own, but rather to live\nworthy of both; determined, in a word, faithfully to discharge all their\ncivil and Christian duties, let them be earnest in elevating the one by\ngreater fidelity to the other. Acting thus, they will imitate Charles\nCarroll, of Carrollton, and fulfil all I would wish them to do out of\nfidelity to their country, their religion, and their race.\n\nIt was also one of the Maryland stock, but of this same Irish race\u2014another\nCarroll\u2014who was chosen the first bishop, and the founder of the hierarchy,\nof the young American Church; as if Providence here too wished to indicate\nfrom which race the chief strength of Catholicity was to be derived in\nthis land.\n\nWould it be overstraining matters to say, that a hint of this was also\ngiven by Providence in the Irish name of the future metropolitan see of\nthe United States\u2014the first in time, and always to be the first in\ndignity? The word _Baltimore_ is an Irish word, and, through the founder\nof the colony, was derived from an Irish hamlet, which from the extreme\nsouth-west coast of Ireland, is looking, as it were, over the waters of\nthe Atlantic to this continent for the full realization of its name. The\nword, in the Irish language, means \u201cthe town of the great house\u201d, and it\nwas beyond the Atlantic that Baltimore, in becoming the chief see of a\ngreat church, has truly become \u201cthe town of the great house\u201d, for the\nchurch, or house at the head of which it stands, extends probably over a\nwider surface than any other church or churches amongst which any one\nbishop holds pre-eminence, excepting only the church governed by the Vicar\nof Jesus Christ, to whom is committed the care of _all_ the sheep and\nlambs of God\u2019s fold, that is, the whole of Christ\u2019s Church. In names,\nwhich God has given, or permitted to be given, he has frequently\nforeshadowed the destinies of individuals and races. Would it be\nsuperstitious to suppose that in the Irish name of this American\necclesiastical metropolis\u2014the only important city in this country that has\nan Irish name\u2014Providence pointed, on the one hand, to its future position\nin the Christian hierarchy, and on the other to the character of the chief\nportion of the family of that house or church?\n\nBut, be this as it may, it was a scion of the Irish race who was the\nfounder of the new American hierarchy. For some time he held the crozier\nalone. The whole country was his diocese. But he did not depart until he\nsaw suffragans around him forming a regular hierarchy, that was destined\nto multiply and, mainly on Irish shoulders, carry, everywhere, the ark\nthat would spread blessings throughout the land.\n\nThe work that has thus been commenced is no doubt destined to prosper. It\nis not without a motive that in this country the lines are drawn, and the\nfoundations laid by Providence for a noble church. Its beginnings (for we\nmay say it is yet in its infancy) bear many of the marks of the process by\nwhich the work was effected, It is destined to grow, and may it grow,\nparticularly in the mild beauty of Christian virtue, and win, by love, the\nhomage of all the children of the land, that all may receive through it\nthe graces of Heaven, and even their Earthly prosperity be consolidated\nand become the means of their acquiring higher blessings.\n\nBut whatever be said of the United States, the Irish race is certainly\nalmost alone in the work of diffusing Catholicity in the various other\ncountries in which the English language is spoken.\n\nThe sufferings of Ireland were, therefore, the means, and evidently\nintended by God as the means to preserve her in the faith, to give her its\nrewards in a high degree; and this preservation of her faith was as\nevidently intended to make her and her sons instruments in spreading that\nfaith throughout the English-speaking world. This is, therefore, what I\nclaim to be, in the counsels of God, the DESTINY OF THE IRISH RACE.\n\nDid we endeavour to draw this conclusion by far-fetched arguments, we\nmight fear the delusions of fancy, but I think it is plainly written in\nthe facts to which I have alluded, when looked at with faith in an\noverruling Providence. The diffusion of the true faith enters too closely,\nand is too primary a thing in the designs of God, to suppose it for a\nmoment to be the work of accident. It is his work first of all. Where it\nexists it exists because he so willed it. The instruments that effected it\nmust be those which he has chosen and placed to the work with this very\nview. When, therefore, the results obtained, and those we see in the\ncertain future, and the means by which they are obtained, are a matter of\nintuition, rather than of reasoning, the conclusion drawn seems to me to\nhave all the force of demonstration, and in no way liable to be considered\nthe product of fancy or of national pride.\n\nThis interpretation of the facts of history will, by some, be considered a\ncomplicated theory, and therefore unworthy of God. But the simplicity of\nGod\u2019s operations by no means excludes multiplicity and combination of\nagents in themselves most inadequate or discordant. Our inclination to\nexclude these, though we imagine the very contrary, is the result of the\nconsciousness of our own weakness, which we would fain attribute to God.\n_We_ may, indeed, be overwhelmed, or at least embarrassed, by many\ninstruments; and therefore we think it wise to avoid their use. But, it is\nas easy for God to use and direct many as few, or to produce results by\nhis own immediate action. Nay, though sometimes he performs wonderful\nworks in a moment, he is more often pleased to act through numerous and\nfar-reaching instruments, which, at times, seem even to work in opposition\nto his designs, and by overruling and directing them, to prove that he is\nRuler and Master over all things in action, as well as the Author of their\nbeing.\n\nBy one word he made the Earth produce \u201cevery green herb\u201d and \u201cevery\nfruit-tree yielding fruit according to its kind\u201d; but he is now pleased to\nmake the fertility of the earth, and the various ingredients of the air,\nand the heat and light of the sun, labour through a whole season to\nproduce the flower, that for a few days wastes its fragrance on the\nmeadow. At one time he sends his angel to strike down in one night myriads\nof the enemies of his people; at another he is pleased \u201cto hiss for the\nfly, that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the\nbee that is in the land of Assyria\u201d (_Is._, vii. 18), that they may come\nand be the instruments of his vengeance. At one time he rains down bread\nfrom Heaven to feed a whole multitude; at another, he sends his angel to\ntake the prophet by the hair of his head from Judea, even unto Babylon,\nthat he may supply food to his servant.\n\nIt is not for us to prescribe ways to Providence, but to study His design\nin the events which we witness, and to bow down and adore his Power, his\nWisdom, and his Goodness.\n\nTo give power to an apostate and persecuting nation, and the grace of\nfidelity to another; to use and even to create the material resources of\nthe first as the instrument of his design over the latter, may appear a\ncircuitous course, but it is only another instance of that unity of\npurpose and multiplicity, variety and apparent incongruity of means, which\nwe witness in almost all his works.\n\nWhen the people of God were carried away into captivity, \u201cthe priests took\nthe fire from the altar, and hid it in a valley where there was a pit\nwithout water\u201d. There \u201cthey kept it safe\u201d, while the Gentile hosts reigned\ntriumphant in the land. But \u201cwhen many years had passed\u201d, and the people\nreturned, they sought the fire, but found only \u201cthick water\u201d. This they\nsprinkled on the new sacrifices that were prepared, and \u201cwhen the sun\nshone out, which before was in a cloud, there was a great fire kindled so\nthat all wondered\u201d. (II. _Mach._, i. 19, 22).\n\nAn analogous phenomenon, methinks, has been presented in Ireland. That\ncombination of frenzy and irreligion, which men have called \u201cThe\nReformation\u201d, swept before it almost every vestige of faith from many of\nthe northern countries of Europe, and seemed in a special manner to have\nenveloped in darkness the islands of the West. Men were like \u201craging waves\nof the sea, foaming out their own confusion\u201d, boasting of liberty and\nlight, but treating the faithful with savage cruelty, and showing their\nown inability to hold fast any positive principles which they proclaimed\nas truth. The ancient faith of these islands, overwhelmed in the waters of\ntribulation, seemed hidden in the hearts of the Irish people, saddened by\npersecution and sufferings of every kind.\n\nBut the day has come for pouring forth this water on nations. By their\nsufferings, the Irish race, driven into many lands, mingles with the\nprogeny of its oppressors. The sun of God\u2019s grace, which seems under a\ncloud, is now shining forth, and a great fire is enkindled and is\nspreading its light and its heat far and near. The Church of God is\neverywhere showing itself again in its pristine beauty. English-speaking\nnations that were the ramparts of heresy, are beginning again to fall into\nthe ranks of Catholic unity, and, as happened once before, the light of\nfaith that took refuge in the most distant island of the West, is, from\nthat sacred spot, sending forth its beams and gladdening the Church by\ngiving her whole people as her children.\n\nSo far we are led, I may say, by the mere logic of facts. Were we to\nindulge in speculation, but in a speculation quite in conformity with the\nbeneficent designs of God, we might expect still more from these effects\nof the steadfastness of Ireland.\n\nNotwithstanding all the faults of England, the Catholic heart throughout\nthe world has never lost its interest in that land, once so faithful.\nOther nations, once as Catholic, have been lost, and they are almost\nforgotten. The land where the Saviour Himself lived is, indeed, remembered\non account of the sacred spots which he trod; but no hopes are entertained\nfor the conversion of its people. The Churches planted by the Apostles\nhave been destroyed. We cherish the memory of the holy confessors and\nmartyrs who adorned them; but despair of their return to the truth is the\nonly feeling in their regard that we can discover in the Catholic world.\n\nBut in one way or another the Catholic heart seems never to have despaired\nof the return of England. Opinions and expectations which are, probably,\nnothing more than an expression of the intensity of this feeling, are\neverywhere to be met. They exist among the learned and the high, as well\nas amongst the humble children of the Church, and are found to be\ncherished in different lands. England, with her long catalogue of saints,\nseems to be considered, not as an outcast, on whom the sentence of\nspiritual death has been executed, but rather as the prodigal, who in a\nmoment of thoughtlessness demanded, what he called his own share, and\nwandered from his father\u2019s house. The father is looking out, expecting\nevery day to see the wayward one return, and is ever ready to kill the\nfatted calf, and to call on his friends and neighbours to rejoice and be\nmerry, for \u201che that was dead is come to life again, and he that was lost\nis found\u201d.\n\nBut, alas! there is much reason to fear that such joy is not to be\nexpected. We know of no instance of a whole nation once fully and\ndeliberately apostatising from the faith ever again returning. The grace\nof faith, if lost by individuals by formal apostacy, is seldom recovered.\nIt has never yet been recovered by any nation that once enjoyed its full\nlight, and deliberately abandoned it. It is not for us, to be sure, to\nplace bounds to the mercies of God. Who knows but that in these latter\nages God may do a work which he never did before? and, now that the Church\nhas encircled the globe, and announced the Gospel to every nation under\nthe sun, God may send her back on another mission more glorious than the\nfirst, showing forth his power in giving new life to fallen nations as he\ndid before in converting those who knew not his name. His first work might\nbe compared to that which he performed when he took the clay and breathed\ninto it the breath of life; this, to his raising up the dead already\nmouldering in the tomb. But he has done both in the physical, and he may\ndo both in the moral order.\n\nWithout having recourse, however, to this extraordinary dispensation, the\nhope of which would be unwarranted by anything we have yet seen, may not\nthe hopes to which I have alluded, and which could scarcely have existed\nwithout some influence of the divine Spouse of the Church, be realized in\nthe conversion of the children, rather than in that of the mother? May not\nthe expectations of the Catholic world be realized by a return of\nEnglish-speaking brethren in the various colonies which the mother country\nhas planted? May _they_ not receive the graces which the latter has cast\naway, and thus more than compensate the Church for the loss of that one\nisland?\n\nSuch results would be no anomaly in the experience of the Church. Several\nnations first learned Christianity under a heterodox form, and some of the\nmost Catholic to-day are their descendants. Their errors were not their\nown faults, _as nations_, and God had pity upon them.\n\nWe may say the same thing of this, and of several other countries, where\ngreat and independent peoples will be found one day as they now are here.\nThis nation has never apostatised from Catholic truth, simply because it\nnever possessed it _as a nation_. At its birth it was already entangled in\nthe meshes of heterodoxy, and it found the Catholic Church in its midst,\nwith few adherents. Yet, at its very birth, it struck off the shackles by\nwhich she was bound. Several circumstances, it is true, aided this course\nof justice. But, who will say that these existed otherwise than by God\u2019s\nProvidence, and for the nation\u2019s benefit, as well as for ours? This course\nof justice, moreover, was adopted cordially and fully by the founders of\nthe country\u2019s independence, and that at a time when the Church was so\ntreated by few even of those nations on whom she had the best claims.\nBigots, it is true, were not wanting, then, or since. But it is a great\nfact, that this nation, _as a nation_ and as a Government, has always,\nsince its birth, treated God\u2019s Church with justice.\n\nA cup of cold water, given in the name of Christ, shall not be without its\nreward. Do we exaggerate in hoping that this mode of proceeding towards\nhis Church shall have its reward from her Heavenly Spouse\u2014that it will\nplead for this nation with the Divine Mercy, as the alms of Cornelius\nobtained for him the knowledge of Gospel truth and a share in its\nblessings? The grace of faith, with these blessings, is the greatest which\nGod gives to man, nor is it the less valuable because it is not now\nappreciated or is even spurned. It is God\u2019s grace that gives a hunger for\ndivine things, as it is by Him that the hungry are filled.\n\nYes, I do not only desire, and send up the prayer, but I candidly avow the\nhope, that the light of faith is yet destined to shine brightly here, even\namongst those who now look on it with contempt or hostility. In this I am\nstrengthened by the desire for a knowledge of truth, which,\nnotwithstanding the bigotry of many, is so widely spread. I am\nstrengthened by the growth of the Church itself, which bears the marks of\na higher purpose on the part of God than the mere preservation of those\nwho came Catholics to our shores. I am strengthened by the very losses\nwhich the Church sustains in the falling away of many of her children. For\nsurely God did not permit them to be driven hither by persecution that\nthey might perish. He sent them forth to battle, in doing which, though\nmany may be lost, he will grant victory to his own cause. I am\nstrengthened by the very dangers by which we are surrounded; nor would my\nhope be shaken even if storms should impend. For it is according to the\nways of God to reach his ends amidst contradictions.\n\nLet it not be said that the humble condition or the faults of many of the\nchildren of the Church, forbid such a hope as this. God\u2019s ways are not as\nour ways. It is not by the great or by the mighty that his truth is\npropagated. Flesh might otherwise glory in His sight, and men might say\nthat, by their wisdom and their efforts was His kingdom established. So\nfar from this being an objection, when other things inspire hope, the hope\nis strengthened by the humble form in which the Church presents itself.\nOur hope of its diffusion is better founded when we see it borne to our\nshores by humble labourers, than if it had come recommended exclusively by\nproud philosophers, cunning statesmen, or by men loaded with wealth.\n\nWhat we hope for this nation, we may hope with greater reason for the\nother nations yet reposing in their infancy, or growing in giant\nproportions under British rule. I say, with greater reason, because in\nmost of these the foundations of Catholicity are laid even more deeply\nthan they are here. While it would be a great thing for God\u2019s honour and\nglory, there is nothing to forbid the hope that these may one day be\nunited in the true fold of the everlasting Church. The blood of Ireland\nand of England will mingle in their veins; and, while they will look back\nwith shame on the apostacy of the sixteenth century, as a disgraceful\nchapter in the history of their forefathers, they will glory in the\nrecollections of the saints and the heroes of religion who, for a thousand\nyears, adorned both their mother countries. With feelings analogous to\nthose with which we look back to the tyrants of the first centuries and\ntheir victims, they will set off the martyr heroes of one portion of their\nancestors to the apostacy of the other, and the apostasy itself will be,\nin their history, but an episode proving how far human nature may stray,\nwhile their own conversion will be a standing monument of the power of the\ncross.\n\nIf these hopes be realized, the Irish race and its sufferings will have\nbeen the instruments in the hands of God by which the grand result will be\naccomplished; but whether they be realized or not, the main point which I\nhave endeavoured to dwell upon seems to me to be established beyond\ndoubt\u2014that is, that this race has been preserved by God in the true faith\nin an extraordinary manner, for the purpose of spreading that faith\nthroughout the English-speaking nations which now exist, or which are\ncoming into being.\n\nAs Ireland owes the preservation of her faith to her being destined as the\nleaven of that mass, it is but assigning to God a purpose worthy of His\ngoodness to say, that England owes her power to her mission to spread that\nleaven throughout so many vast regions. It will not, I presume, be\nconsidered rash to say that God, permitting her to acquire power, proposed\nto himself some higher object than that other nations should have cheap\ncotton or woollen fabrics, or that they should learn how to travel forty\ninstead of four or ten miles an hour. In his goodness he designed that\npower for some purpose worthy of Heaven; and this purpose may be\naccomplished whether England herself will it or not, or even though she\ndesire the very contrary. I have said before, that most learned and grave\nwriters consider the Roman power to have been intended, in the counsels of\nGod, to prepare a way for the diffusion of the Gospel. The rulers of Rome\ndespised the Gospel and its heralds. Still Rome most probably owed to them\nher greatness, and but for this mission, she might have remained what she\nwas in the beginning\u2014an obscure village, a place of refuge for the thieves\nof the surrounding country. England may despise the Irish Catholic. Like\nRome, she may look upon the professors of Catholicity as the great\nplague-spot of her system. Yet, in the designs of God, she most probably\nis indebted for her power to the part she is made to act in the diffusion\nof their faith. It is certain, at least, that the highest use of that\npower she has yet been allowed to make, is the carrying of frieze-coated\nPapists to distant shores, and the clearing of the forests where they are\npropagating, and are yet to propagate more extensively, the true faith. If\na higher design in her behalf exist in the arrangements of Providence, it\nis yet to be made known. But for this she might have remained, as the poet\ndescribed her, \u201ca naked fisher\u201d on her rock, and when she shall have ended\nher usefulness as an instrument for accomplishing this object, she may\nreturn \u201cto her hook\u201d, still musing, perhaps, her senseless \u201cNo Popery\u201d,\nwhile the churches which she has unwillingly assisted to plant, will be\ngrowing up in beauty and praising God in one harmonious voice with the\nother children of his family throughout the world.\n\nThe value and importance of this great mission cannot be overrated. It is\nawful to think what would have been the condition of the English-speaking\nraces, in a religious point of view, if Ireland had shared in the English\napostacy. Scarcely a Catholic voice would be heard amongst those seventy\nor eighty millions now using that language, who occupy so large a portion\nof the Earth, and in another century, according to the ratio of their\ngrowth, may become two or four hundred millions, or even more. The very\nremnant that has continued faithful in England might have followed in the\nwake of their predecessors, had not the influence of Ireland caused the\nsword of persecution to be sheathed, and civil intolerance to cease at\nlast, and thus the temptation to be removed which had proved fatal to so\nmany. In that vast empire, or the empires that may rise out of its\nfragments\u2014for, in more than one place are foundations of empires laid\nwhich would grow with giant growth, even though the power of the mother\ncountry were paralysed to-morrow\u2014the holy sacrifice would not be offered\nup, and thus the prophecy not fulfilled, which foretold that a clean\noblation would be offered from the rising of the sun to the going down\nthereof. That union of the Christian family for which the Saviour prayed\nbefore he suffered, and which he left as a mark by which men would know\nhis followers, would not be exhibited to the world. Christianity would be\nconfounded with the products of these latter ages of so-called \u201clight\u201d,\nand be thought, like the appliances of steam and the contrivances of\nmachinery, to owe its power to the genius of the Anglo-Saxon race, instead\nof deriving it from Him who died on Calvary. For their Christianity, by\nits very name, would proclaim that the work of Christ had failed, until\nthe press and the \u201cmarch of light\u201d had come to its aid. Religion, in a\nword, instead of being a divine institution, would appear and be amongst\nthem but a brilliant work or invention of man, and, therefore, in the\nsupernatural order, but a brilliant delusion, not an institution which the\nmercy of God transplanted from Heaven, and made to stand, and to grow, and\nto bless, and produce fruit, in every age and in every form of society.\n\nBut, in preserving the faith of the Irish race, God has provided a leaven\nof truth for these masses. By the side of systems of religion which men\nhave devised, stands the everlasting Church\u2014that Church which, as Macaulay\nremarked, is the only connecting link between the civilization of the\nancient and modern worlds\u2014the Church which taught the name of Christ to\nevery nation that knows him, even to those who afterwards fell from the\nfullness of truth\u2014the Church which Augustine brought to England, and\nPatrick to Ireland\u2014the Church that raised the dignity of the poor, and\nhumbled the pride of the high, placing all on the level of the Gospel\u2014the\nChurch that claims no new inventions, but is itself an invention of God,\ninfinitely surpassing all inventions of man, holding out nothing to the\nnineteenth, which it did not present to the first, to the tenth, and to\nevery other century, but presenting to all the faith and institutions of\nGod, able to save all, to elevate all, to bring all into one fold, that\nall may be united in one happiness in Heaven.\n\nIs not this great result worth all the sufferings which Ireland has\nendured? The ways of God appear often circuitous. But in their circuitous\ncourse they are everywhere fraught with blessings. The children of Ireland\nsuffered; yet, even in their sufferings they were blessed. He himself\npronounced \u201cblessed those who suffer persecution for justice\u2019s sake\u201d; for\nin their trials they redeemed their own souls. But they were doubly\nblessed, because they were preserving the ark of God, and carrying it\nthrough the waters of tribulation to bless more amply unborn and numerous\ngenerations. The ways of God are circuitous, and though, like the course\nof the planets, they sometimes seem to us to retrograde, they are always\nonward. The sufferings of Ireland at a time seemed without a purpose, or\neven the very contrary to what we might have expected for so faithful a\npeople. But, who knows what might have been the result, if justice and\nhumanity had marked the course of the English nation towards Ireland? Who\nknows but the temptation to the latter to be drawn into apostacy would\nhave been too powerful? Had Apostate England dealt generously or justly\nwith Catholic Ireland, who knows if, in the alliances that would have been\nformed, she would have been equally steadfast in her faith? And though for\na long time confiscations, and plunder, and persecution, and slaughter,\nand even now, harsh treatment condemning her sons to famine and\nbanishment, have been the effects of the English connection; if these have\nbeen the means of creating a barrier that prevented the spread of heresy\namongst her sons, has too great a price been paid for the \u201cpearl\u201d that has\nbeen bought? When, particularly, the cross borne by the children of\nIreland shall have been erected in the Western and Southern Hemispheres,\nand flourishing Churches in Catholic unity established under its shade,\nwhere, but for the fidelity of our fathers, heterodoxy alone would have\nhad sway, shall we not say that little indeed were their sufferings\ncompared to the value of such an Apostolate of Empires?\n\nWhat is any Earthly mission compared to this? What is even the spreading\nof civilization with its highest privileges, compared to the spreading of\nthe saving institutions of the Gospel? Even in this world virtue is a\nthing infinitely superior to mere physical power. The man who does God\u2019s\nwill, whose soul is adorned with grace, is an object of complacency with\nhis Maker, and enjoys his esteem infinitely more, than he who can control\nthe hidden powers of nature, and make them subservient to his will, but\ndoes not make his own will conform to the great law that should govern\nit\u2014subjection to the will of God. When Earth, and all that is of Earth,\nshall have passed away, the proudest human achievements will be seen to\nhave been as nothing, while those who shall have caused God\u2019s name to be\nglorified, shall shine as bright stars \u201cunto perpetual eternities\u201d.\n\nThis mission, however, has its duties as well as its dignity. What will it\navail us to be the sons of martyred sires who sacrificed all for God, if\nwe barter the faith for which they died, for some paltry bauble, or fail\nto transmit it to those under our charge? Will not the constancy and\nsufferings of our fathers be a reproach to us before God and man? Will\nthey not pronounce judgment upon us if, while we honour their heroic\ndeeds, we ourselves display nothing but pusillanimity? And even though we\npreserve our faith, will not this be rather to our shame, if we do not\nendeavour to practise the virtues which it teaches? When the salt has lost\nits savour, it is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be\ntrodden on by men. The higher the vocation of God, the lower will be the\ndegradation of those who fail to correspond. They will be despised, and\njustly despised, by God and by men.\n\nWe can see in the fate of other nations the consequences of infidelity to\na noble mission. Spain and Portugal were once great powers. They achieved\ngreat things at home and abroad. The sails of their commerce whitened\nevery sea. The most distant lands acknowledged their might. They, too,\nwere missionary nations. They carried the faith to the East and to the\nWest, and in both hemispheres planted the cross on continents and islands\nwhere Christ was before unknown. God may be said to have given them power\nfor this purpose. It was mainly through their agency that the missionary\nwork, which repaired the losses of the Church in Europe, was carried on\nfor two hundred years.\n\nBut the rulers of these countries listened to wicked counsels. On _one and\nthe same_ dark day did Spain, on another did Portugal, command the most\nstrenuous heralds of the cross to be seized and bound in chains. The\ngalleons that were wont to bear over the deep the treasures of Asia and\nAmerica, and pour them into the laps of the mother countries, or to carry\ntheir commands and the means of enforcing them to the most distant lands,\nwere now spreading their sails over every ocean and sea, in the inglorious\nwork of conveying to home prisons, or into exile, the truest missionaries\nof the cross. On that day these nations renounced their noble mission, and\nthe power that was given to enable them to carry it out soon departed.\n\nThe immediate agencies producing their downfall, as well as those that\ngave rise to their power, may, indeed, be seen in operation before the\nexistence of the causes to which I have attributed them, but not before\nthese were known to God. Now, he frequently prepares, by a long process,\nthe instruments both of his rewards and his punishments, and holds them\nready to be conferred on the virtuous, or poured forth on the head of the\ncriminal, long before the fidelity of the one be tested, or the guilt of\nthe other be consummated. Spain and Portugal thus fell, if you will, by\nimmediate agencies long in operation, but by agencies over which God\nruled, and which He directed according to his own wise counsels. They\nfell, and in their humbled condition, mocked by the remains of ancient\ngreatness, they teach all the important lesson, that the greater the high\ncalling given by God, the greater the punishment of those who prove\nuntrue.\n\nWere we also to prove faithless to the mission which God has assigned us,\nwe know not what punishment may await us, even in this world. The trials\nthrough which our race has passed, and is passing, may seem severe; but,\nthey are trials permitted by a loving father. May we never deserve that he\nshould scourge us in his _great_ anger. We might then find, like the\nJewish people, that to suffer for righteousness\u2019 sake from the hands of\nmen, is sweet, compared to the gall and wormwood mixed in the cup of those\nwho fall into the hands of an avenging God.\n\nOn this day, when the Church calls on us to commemorate the heroic virtues\nand the glorious deeds of our great Apostle, I would fain say to every son\nof Ireland\u2014to every one in whose veins Irish blood flows, no matter where\nhe himself was born: Let us live worthy of our ancestry, of an ancestry\nwhich is the same for all, and is a noble one, noble in that which is the\nnoblest thing man can rejoice in\u2014virtue and fidelity to God. We ourselves\nare called in a special manner to do honour to our faith by spreading it\namongst nations that are destined to occupy the highest position in the\nsocial scale. Let us be faithful to our calling. Let us show ourselves\nworthy sons of the martyred dead. Let us make sure, like them, whatever\nelse we fail in, not to fail in transmitting the faith to those entrusted\nto our charge, never exposing it to danger for any advantage, much less\nfor the trifling things that may be gained here by want of fidelity.\nTransmit, carefully, the faith, first of all, but with faith spare no\neffort that you yourselves, and those committed to your care, grow also in\nevery other virtue. Nay, endeavour so to live that _all men_ may learn to\nlove the faith which is the spring of your actions, and thus glorify and\nlove that God who is the \u201cAuthor and Finisher\u201d of that Faith.\n\n\n\n\n\nLITURGICAL QUESTIONS. (_FROM M. BOUIX\u2019S __\u201c__REVUE DES SCIENCES\nECCLESIASTIQUES__\u201d_).\n\n\n1. Is it lawful or obligatory to insert, at the letter N, in the collect\n_A cunctis_, the name of the patron of the locality (if there be one) when\nthe titular of the church is the Blessed Virgin or a mystery of our\nSaviour?\n\n2. Is it right to place on the corner of the altar the finger-towel, which\nin some churches is fastened to the altar-cloth, from which it hangs\nsuspended?\n\n3. Is there any obligation to ring the bell at the Sanctus and at the\nElevation, even when there is no one at Mass?\n\n4. Is it lawful for a priest to use a cincture of the kind generally used\nby bishops?\n\n1. The name of the titular of the church in which the Mass is said is that\nwhich ought to be inserted at the letter N in the collect _A cunctis_. In\nthe application of this general rule various cases may occur; the title\nmay be a mystery of our Lord or of our Blessed Lady; or it may be a saint\nalready named in the collect\u2014for example, Saint Peter or Saint Paul; or\nMass may be said in an oratory which has no titular saint. The following\nare the rules to be observed in such cases:\n\n1o. That it is the name of the titular saint which is to be inserted at\nthe letter N is clear from the following decrees:\n\n\n    1 DECREE. _Question._ \u201cIn missali romano praecipitur, ut post\n    nomina Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, in oratione _A cunctis_, etc.,\n    dicatur nomen patroni praecipui illius ecclesiae, seu diocesis. In\n    Hispania est praecipuus illius regni patronus B. Jacobus apostolus\n    et ex concessione Apostolica in ecclesia dioecesi Guadicensi est\n    patronus specialis S. Torquatus, B. Jacobi apostoli discipulus, et\n    ejusdem ecclesiae et civitatis primus episcopus. Quaeritur: An in\n    praedicta oratione _A cunctis_ debeat dici nomen B. Jacobi\n    apostoli, an B. Torquati?\u201d _Answer._ \u201cIn oratione _A cunctis_ post\n    nomina sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli, nomen Torquati\n    tanquam Ecclesiae cathedralis Guadicensis Patroni dumtaxat\n    ponendum esse\u201d. (Decree of 22 January, 1678, No. 2856, q. 8.)\n\n    2 DECREE. _Questions._ \u201c... 15. S. Jacobus est patronus\n    universalis regnorum Hispaniae, sancti vero martyres Stemeterius\n    et Caledonius fratres sunt patroni particulares ecclesiae\n    cathedralis, et totius dioecesis Santanderiensis rite electi, et\n    novissime approbati a S. R. C. Quaeritur igitur: Quis ex his\n    patronis debeat nominari ... in oratione _A cunctis_, quando in\n    missis haec oratio dicitur in ecclesia matrice et in caeteris\n    dioecesis? 16. In casu, quo ob dignitatis praestantiam nominari\n    debeat S. Jacobus, quaeritur an ... exprimi etiam possint nomina\n    SS. Stemeterii et Caledonii in praedicta oratione ..., praecipue\n    in ecclesia matrice ubi sacra eorum capita ... venerantur? Et si\n    negative, supplicatur pro gratia ad promovendum cultum qui ipsos\n    decet in ecclesia cathedrali ac tota dioecesi ratione sui\n    specialissimi patronatus\u201d. _Answer._ \u201cAd 15. In qualibet ecclesia\n    nominandum esse patronum seu titularem proprium ejusdem ecclesiae.\n    Ad 16. Provisum in praecedenti\u201d. (Decree of 23 January, 1793, No.\n    4448, q. 15 and 16.)\n\n    3 DECREE. _Question._ \u201cAn patronus nominandus in oratione _A\n    cunctis_ intelligi debeat patronus principalis loci?\u201d _Answer._\n    \u201cNominandus titularis Ecclesiae\u201d. (Decree of 12 November, 1831,\n    No. 4669, q. 31.)\n\n\n2o. If the titular of the church has been already named in the collect _A\ncunctis_, no name is to be inserted at the letter N. The same holds if the\nMass happens to be that of the same saint. This rule depends on the\nfollowing decision:\n\n\n    \u201cQuis nominandus sit ad litteram N. si patronus vel titularis jam\n    nominatus sit in illa oratione, aut de eo celebrata sit missa?\u201d\n    _Answer._ \u201cSi jam fuerit nominatus omittenda nova nominatio\u201d.\n    (Ibid.)\n\n\n3_o_. If the oratory in which the Mass is said have no titular saint, the\nname of the patron of the locality is to be inserted. This rule is proved\nfrom a decree of 12th December, 1840, No. 4897, No. 2:\n\n\n    \u201cSacerdos celebrans in oratorio publico vel privato quod non habet\n    sanctum patronum vel titularem, an debeat in oratione _A cunctis_\n    ad litteram N. nominare sanctum patronum vel titularem ecclesiae\n    parochialis intra cujus limites sita sunt oratoria, vel sanctum\n    patronum ecclesiae cui adscriptus est, vel potius omnem ulteriorem\n    nominationem omittere?\u201d _Answer._ \u201cPatronum civitatis, vel loci\n    nominandum esse\u201d.\n\n\n4o. If the titular of the church be a mystery of the life of our Lord, or\nof our Lady, authors differ in opinion whether the name of the patron of\nthe locality is to be inserted at the letter N, or whether no addition\nshould be made. M. de Conny is for the latter opinion, and his authority\nis a safe guide for us. The second rule we have laid down is sufficient to\nshow that no name is to be inserted in cases where the title of the church\nis a mystery of the Blessed Virgin, seeing that the august Mother of God\nis always named in the body of the prayer. The words of the conclusion are\nenough perhaps to excuse from the obligation of naming the patron of the\nlocality in cases where the church is dedicated to a mystery of the life\nof our Lord.\n\n2. The usage here alluded to is not only not becoming, but it is also\ncontrary to the Rubric of the Missal. (part i., tit. xx.):\n\n\n    \u201cAb eadem parte epistolae ... ampullae vitreae vini et aquae, cum\n    pelvicula et manutergio mundo in fenestella, seu in parva mensa ad\n    haec praeparata. Super altare nihil omnino ponatur, quod ad Missae\n    sacrificium vel ipsius altaris ornatum non pertineat\u201d.\n\n\n3. The sole reason for ringing a bell at Mass is to give a signal to the\nfaithful. \u201cAd excitandos circumstantes\u201d, says Gavantus (t. i. part i.,\ntit. XX., l. c.), \u201cad laetitiam exprimendam et ad cultum sanctissimi\nSacramenti adhibetur campanula\u201d. Other writers coincide with this opinion.\nIt seems but natural, therefore, not to ring the bell when there are no\nassistants present, and when there is no need of any signal. Besides, it\nis clearly the teaching of authors, and even of the Sacred Congregation of\nRites, that whenever a signal is not required, the bell is not to be rung.\nThus, the following decision forbids the bell to be rung during the\ncelebration of the divine office in the choir, at least in certain\ncircumstances:\n\n\n    \u201cExposito in S. R. C. ecclesiam collegiatam civitatis Senarum\n    habere chorum adeo subjectum oculis populi, et tali loco positum,\n    ut canonici dicto choro pro divinis celebrandis, et praecipue\n    Missae cantatae assistentibus, omnino altaria ejusdem coliegiatae\n    pernecesse inspiciantur, et exposito quoque tempore, quo canonici\n    choro ut supra assistunt, consuevisse in dictis altaribus\n    celebrari Missas privatas et sine scandalo prohiberi non posse:\n    ideo supplicatum fuit pro declaratione: an ipsi canonici in\n    elevationibus quae fiunt in Missis privatis, genuflectere\n    teneantur?\u201d _Answer._ \u201cNon esse genuflectendum, ne sacra, quibus\n    assistunt, per actum privatum interrumpantur, sed ad evitandum\n    scandalum, quod in populo et adstantibus causari possit ob non\n    genuflectionem esse omittendam pulsationem campanulae in\n    elevatione Sanctissimi, in dictis Missis privatis.\u201d (Decret of 5\n    March 1667, No. 2397.)\n\n\nNor, as a general rule, is the bell rung when the Blessed Sacrament is\nexposed, for then it is unnecessary to summon the faithful to adore the\nEucharist. \u201cDuring the private Masses\u201d, says the _Instructio Clementina_,\n\u201cthat are celebrated during the exposition, the bell is not to be rung\u201d.\nCavalieri, commenting on this passage, says: \u201cEx rubricarum praescripto\n... interdicuntur\u201d. He is of opinion that this rule of the _Instructio_\nregards only low Masses, but Gardellini holds that it refers also to High\nMasses:\n\n\n    \u201cNon erat, cur instructio etiam Missas solemnes commemoraret, pro\n    quibus Rubrica, non jubet, ut in privatis, eadem pulsari ad finem\n    prefationis, et ad elevationem Sacramenti. Romae saltem in\n    majoribus ecclesiis obtinet mos etiam non pulsandi, praeterquam in\n    Missis solemnibus pro defunctis: gravis organorum sonitus supplet\n    vices tintinnabuli, et populi adstantis excitat attentionem\u201d.\n\n\nFrom all this it is clear that the bell is not to be rung whenever there\nis no signal to be given. This is certainly the case when there is no one\nto assist at Mass.\n\n4. The cincture for the use of a priest does not differ from that for the\nuse of a bishop. It may be made either of linen thread or silk, but it is\nbetter that it should be of linen. It may be either white or of the colour\nof the vestments. These rules are drawn from two decrees of the Sacred\nCongregation:\n\n\n    1 DECREE. _Question._ \u201cAn sacerdotes in sacrificio Missae uti\n    possint cingulo serico?\u201d _Answer._ \u201cCongruentius uti cingulo\n    lineo\u201d. (22 Jan. 1701, No. 3575, q. 7.)\n\n    2 DECREE. _Question._ \u201cAn cingulum, tertium indumentum\n    sacerdotale, possit esse colons paramentorum; an necessario debeat\n    esse album?\u201d _Answer._ \u201cPosse uti cingulo colore paramentorum\u201d\u2014(8\n    Jun. 1709, No. 3809, q. 4.)\n\n\n\n\n\nDOCUMENTS.\n\n\n\n\nI. Condemnation Of Dr. Froschammer\u2019s Works.\n\n\nVenerabili Fratri Gregorio Archiepiscopo\n\nMonacensi Et Frisingensi\n\nPius PP. IX.\n\nVenerabilis Frater, Salutem et Apostolicam Benedictionem. Gravissimas\ninter acerbitates, quibus undique premimur, in hac tanta temporum\nperturbatione et iniquitate vehementer dolemus, cum noscamus, in variis\nGermaniae regionibus reperiri nonnullos catholicos etiam viros, qui sacram\ntheologiam ac philosophiam tradentes minime dubitant quamdam inauditam\nadhuc in Ecclesia docendi scribendique libertatem inducere, novasque et\nomnino improbandas opiniones palam publiceque profiteri, et in vulgus\ndisseminare. Hinc non levi moerore affecti fuimus, Venerabilis Frater ubi\ntristissimus ad Nos venit nuntius, presbyterum Jacobum Frohschammer in\nista Monacensi Academia philosophiae doctorem hujusmodi docendi\nscribendique licentiam proe ceteris adhibere, eumque suis operibus in\nlucem editis perniciosissimos tueri errores. Nulla igitur interposita\nmora, Nostrae Congregationi libris notandis praepositae mandavimus, ut\npraecipua volumina, quae ejusdem presbyteri Frohschammer nomine\ncircumferuntur, cum maxima diligentia sedalo perpenderet, et omnia ad Nos\nreferret. Quae volumina germanice scripta titulum habent\u2014_Introductio in\nPhilosophiam\u2014De Libertate scientiae\u2014Athenaeum_\u2014quorum primum anno 1858,\nalterum anno 1861, tertium vero vertente hoc anno 1862 istis Monacensibus\ntypis in lucem est editum. Itaque eadem Congregatio Nostris mandatis\ndiligenter obsequens summo studio accuratissimum examen instituit,\nomnibusque sem el iterumque serio ac mature ex more discussis et perpensis\njudicavit, auctorem in pluribus non recte sentire, ejusque doctrinam a\nveritate catholica aberrare. Atque id ex duplici praesertim parte, et\nprimo quidem propterea quad auctor tales humanae rationi tribuat vires,\nquae rationi ipsi minime competunt, secundo vero, quod eam omnia opinandi,\net quidquid semper audendi libertatem eidem rationi concedat, ut ipsius\nEcclesiae jura, officium, et auctoritas de media omnino tollantur. Namque\nauctor imprimis edocet, philosophiam, si recta ejus habeatur notio, posse\nnon solum percipere et intelligere ea christina dogmata, quae naturalis\nratio cum fide habet communia (tamquam commune scilicet perceptionis\nobjectum) verum etiam ea, quae christianam religionem fidemque maxime et\nproprie efficiunt, ipsumque scilicet supernaturalem hominis finem, et ea\nomnia, quae ad ipsum spectant, atque sacratissimum Dominicae Incarnationis\nmysterium ad humanae rationis et philosophiae provinciam pertinere,\nrationemque, dato hoc objecto suis propriis principiis scienter ad ea\nposse pervenire. Etsi vero aliquam inter haec et illa dogmata\ndistinctionem auctor inducat, et haec ultima minori jure rationi\nattribuat, tamen clare aperteque docet, etiam haec contineri inter illa,\nquae veram propriamque scientiae seu philosophiae materiam constituunt.\nQuocirca ex ejusdem auctoris sententia concludi omnino possit ac debeat,\nrationem in abditissimis etiam divinae Sapientiae ac Bonitatis, immo etiam\net liberae ejus voluntatis mysteriis, licet posito revelationis objecto\nposse ex seipsa, non jam ex divinae auctoritatis principio sed ex\nnaturalibus suis principiis et viribus ad scientiam seu certitudinem\npervenire. Quae auctoris doctrina quam falsa sit et erronea nemo est, qui\nchristianae doctrinae rudimentis vel leviter imbutus non illico videat,\nplaneque sentiat. Namque si isti philosophiae cultores vera ac sola\nrationis et philosophiae disciplinae tuerentur principia et jura, debitis\ncerte laudibus essent prosequendi. Siquidem vera ac sana philosophia\nnobilissimum suum locum habet, cum ejusdem philosophiae sit, veritatem\ndiligenter inquirere, humanamque rationem licet primi hominis culpa\nobtenebratam, nullo tamen modo extinctam recte ac sedulo excolere,\nillustrare, ejusque cognitionis objectum, ac permultas veritates\npercipere, bene intellegere, promovere, earumque plurimas, uti Dei\nexistentiam, naturam, attributa, quae etiam fides credenda proponit, per\nargumenta ex suis principiis petita demonstrare, vindicare, defendere,\natque hoc modo viam munire ad haec dogmata fide rectius tenenda, et ad\nilla etiam reconditiora dogmata, quae sola fide percipi primum possunt, ut\nilla aliquo modo a ratione intelligantur. Haec quidem agere, atque in his\nversari debet severa et pulcherrima verae philosophiae scientia. Ad quae\npraestanda si viri docti in Germaniae Academiis enitantur pro singulari\ninclytae illius nationis ad severiores gravioresque disciplinas excolendas\npropensione, eorum studium a Nobis comprobatur et commendatur, cum in\nsacrarum rerum utilitatem profectumque convertant, quae illi ad suos usus\ninvenerint. At vero in hoc gravissimo sane negotio tolerare numquam\npossumus, ut omnia emere permisceantur, utque ratio illas etiam res, quae\nad fidem pertinent, occupet atque perturbet, cum certissimi, omnibusque\nnotissimi sint fines, ultra quos ratio numquam suo jure est progressa, vel\nprogredi potest. Atque ad hujusmodi dogmata ea omnia maxime et apertissime\nspectant, quae supernaturalem hominis elevationem, ac supernaturale ejus\ncum Deo commercium respiciunt atque ad hunc finem revelata noscuntur. Et\nsane cum haec dogmata sint supra naturam, idcirco naturali ratione, ac\nnaturalibus principiis attingi non possunt. Numquam siquidem ratio suis\nnaturalibus principiis ad hujusmodi dogmata scienter tractanda effici\npotest idonea. Quod si haec isti temere asseverare audeant sciant, se\ncerte non a quorumlibet doctorum opinione, sed a communi, et numquam\nimmutata Ecclesiae doctrina recedere. Ex divinis enim Litteris, et\nsanctorum Patrum traditione constat. Dei quidem existentiam, multasque\nalias veritates, ab iis etiam qui fidem nondum susceperunt, naturali\nrationis lumine cognosci, sed illa reconditiora dogmata Deum solum\nmanifestasse dum notum facere voluit, _mysterium, quod absconditum fuit a\nsaeculis et generationibus_(_4_)_ et ita quidem, ut postquam multifariam\nmultisque modis olim locutus esset patribus in prophetis novissime Nobis\nlocutus est in Filio, per quem fecit et saecula_(_5_)_ ... Deum enim nemo\nvidit umquam. Unigenitus Filius, qui est in sinu Paris ipse\nennarravit._(6) Quapropter Apostolus, qui gentes Deum per ea, quae facta\nsunt cognovisse testatur, disserens de _gratia et veritate_(_7_)_ quae per\nJesum Christum facta est, loquimur, iniquit, Dei sapientiam in mysterio,\nquae abscondita est ... quam nemo principum hujus saeculi cognovit ...\nNobis autem revelavit Deus per Spiritum Suum ... Spiritus enim omnia\nscrutatur, etiam profunda Dei. Quis enim hominum scit quae sunt hominis,\nnisi Spiritus hominis, qui in ipso est? Ita et quae Dei sunt nemo\ncognovit, nisi Spiritus Dei._(8) Hisce aliisque fere innumeris divinis\neloquiis inhaerentes SS. Patres in Ecclesiae doctrina tradenda continenter\ndistinguere curarunt rerum divinarum notionem, quae naturalis\nintelligentiae vi omnibus est communis ab illarum rerum notitia, quae per\nSpiritum Sanctum fide suscipitur, et constanter docuerunt, per hanc ea\nnobis in Christo revelari mysteria, quae non solam humanam philosophiam,\nverum etiam Angelicam naturalem intelligentiam transcendunt, quaeque\netiamsi divina revelatione innotuerint, et ipsa fide fuerint suscepta,\ntamen sacro ad hue ipsius fidei velo tecta et obscura caligine obvoluta\npermanent, quamdiu in hac mortali vita peregrinamur a Domino.(9) Ex his\nomnibus patet alienam omnino esse a catholicae Ecclesiae doctrina\nsententiam, qua idem Frohschammer asserere non dubitat, omnia\nindiscriminatim christianae religionis dogmata esse objectum naturalis\nscientiae, seu philosophiae, et humanam rationem historice tantum\nexcultam, modo haec dogmata ipsi rationi tanquam objectum proposita\nfuerint, posse ex suis naturalibus viribus et principio ad veram de\nomnibus etiam reconditioribus dogmatibus scientiam pervenire. Nunc vero in\nmemoratis ejusdem auctoris scriptis alia domanitur sententia, quae\ncatholicae Ecciesiae doctrinae, ac sensui plane adversatur. Etenim eam\nphilosophiae tribuit libertatem, quae non scientiae libertas, sed omnio\nreprobanda et intoleranda philosophiae licentia sit appellanda. Quadam\nenim distinctione inter philosophum et philosophiam facta, tribuit\nphilosopho jus et officium se submittendi auctoritati, quam veram ipse\nprobaverit, sed utrumque philosophiae ita denegat, ut nulla doctrinae\nrevelatae ratione habita asserat, ipsam nunquam debere ac posse\nAuctoritati se submittere. Quod esset toet crandum et forte admittendum,\nsi haec dicerentur de jure tantum, quod habit philosophia suis principiis,\nseu methodo, ac suis conclusionibus, uti, sicut et aliae scientiae, ac si\nejus libertas consisteret in hoc suo jure utendo, ita ut nihil in sea\ndmitteret, quod non fuerit ab ipsa suis conditionibus acquisitum, aut\nfuerit ipsi alienum. Sed haec justa philosophiae libertas suos limites\nnoscere et experiri debet. Nunquam enim non solum philosopho, verum etiam\nphilosophiae licebit, aut aliquid contrarium dicere iis, quae divina\nrevelatio, et Ecclesia docet, aut aliquid ex eisdem in dubium vocare\npropterea quod non intelligit, aut judicium non suscipere, quod Ecclesiae\nauctoritas de aliqua philosophiae conclusione, quae hujusque libera erat,\nproferre constituit. Accedit etiam, ut idem auctor philosophiae\nlibertatem, seu potius effrenatam licentiam tam acriter, tam temere\npropugnet, ut minime vereatur asserere, Ecclesiam non solum non debere in\nphilosophiam unquam animadvertere, verum etiam debere ipsius philosophiae\ntolerare erores, eique relinquere, ut ipsa se corrigat, ex quo evenit, ut\nphilosophi hanc philosophiae libertatem necessario participent, atque ita\netiam ipsi ab omni lege solvantur. Ecquis non videt quam vehementer sit\nrejicienda, reprobanda, et omnini damnanda hujusmodi Frohschammer\nsententia atque doctrina? Etenim Ecclesia ex divina sua institutione et\ndivinae fidei depositum integrum inviolatumque diligentissime custodire,\net animarum saluti summo studio debet continenter advigilare, ac summa\ncura ea omnia amovere et eliminare, quae vel fidei adversari, vel animarum\nsalutem quovis modo in discrimen adducere possunt. Quocirca Ecclesia ex\npotestate sibi a divino suo Auctore commissa non solum jus, sed officium\npraesertim habet non tolerandi, sed pro scribendi ac damnandi omnes\nerores, si ita fedei integritas, et animarum salus postulaverint, et omni\nphilosopho, qui Ecclesiae filius esse velit, ac etiam philosophiae\nofficium incumbit nihil unquam dicere contra ea, quae Ecclesia docet, et\nea retractare, de quibus eos Ecclesia monuerit. Sententiam autem, quae\ncontrarium edocet omnino erroneam, et ipsi fidei. Ecclesiae ejusque\nauctoritati vel maxime injuriosam esse edicimus et declaramus. Quibus\nomnibus accurate perpensis, de eorumdrm VV. FF. NN. S. R. E. Cardinalium\nCongregationis libris notandis praepositae consilio, ac motu proprio, et\ncerta scientia matura deliberatione Nostra, deque Apostolicae Nostrae\npotestatis plenitudine praedictos librus presbyteri Frohschammer tamquam\ncontinentes propositiones et doctrinas respective falsas, erroneas,\nEcclesiae, ejusque actoritati ac juribus injuriosas reprobamus, damnamus,\nac pro reprobatis et damnatis ab omnibus haberi volumus, atque eidem\nCongregationi mandamus, ut eosdem libros in indicem prohibitorum librorum\nreferat. Dum vero haec Tibi significamus, Venerabilis Frater, non possumus\nnon exprimere magnum animi Nostri Dolorem cum videamus hunc filium\neorumdem librorum auctorem, qui ceteroquin de Ecclesia benemereri\npotuisset, infelici quodam cordis impete misere abreptum in vias abire,\nquae ad salutem non ducunt, ac magis magisque a recto tramite aberrare.\nCum enim alius ejus liber de animarum origine prius fuisset damnatus non\nsolum se minime submisit, verum etiam non extimuit, eumdem errorem in his\netiam libridenuo docere, et Nostram Indicis Congregationem contumeliis\ncumen lare, ac multa alia contra Ecclesiae agendi rationem temere\nmendaciterque pronuntiare. Quae omnia talia sunt, ut iis merito atque\noptimo jure indignare potuissemus. Sed nolumus adhuc paternae Nostrae\ncharitatis viscera erga illum deponere, et idcirco Te Venerabilis Frater,\nexcitamus, ut velis eidem manifestare cor Nostrum paternum, et\nacerbiseimum dolorem, cujus ipse est causa, ac simul ipsum saluberrimis\nmonitis hortari et monere, ut Nostram, quae communis est omnium Patris\nvocem audiat, ac resipiscat, quemadmodum catholicae Ecclesiae filium\ndecet, et ita nos omnes laetitia afficiat, ac tandem ipse felixiter\nexperiatur quam jucundum sit, non vana quadam et perniciosa libertate\ngaudere, sed Domini, adhaerere, cugus jugum suave est, et onus leve, cujus\neloquo casta, igne examinata, cujus judicia vera, justificata in\nsemetipsa, et cujus universae viae misericordia et veritas. Denique hac\netiam occasione libentissime utimur, ut iterum testemur et confirmemus\npraecipuam Nostram in Te benevolentiam. Cujus quoque pignus esse volumus\nApostolicam Benedictionem, quam intimo cordis affectu Tibi ipsi,\nVenerabilis Frater, et gregi Tuae curae commisso paremanter impertimus.\nDatum Romaae apud S. Petrum die 11 Decembris anno 1862, Pontificatus\nNostri anno decimo septimo.\n\nPius PP. IX.\n\n\n\n\nII. Decree Of The Congregation Of Rites.\n\n\nThe Roman ritual, speaking of the Blessed Eucharist, prescribes as\nfollows: \u201cLampades coram eo plures vel saltem una diu notucque colluceat\u201d.\nThese lamps are to be fed with olive oil, which the Church has adopted for\nmystic reasons in so many of her sacred rites. But in many countries the\ndifficulty of procuring olive oil is considerable, and the expense greater\nthan small churches can bear. Several prelates of France, moved by these\nreasons, asked permission to burn in the lamps before the Blessed\nSacrament oils other than from olives. The following is the answer:\n\n_Decretum: Plurium Dioeceseum._\n\nNonnulli Reverendissimi Galliarum Antistites serio perpendentes in multis\nsuarum Dioeceseum Ecclesiis difficile admodum et nonnisi magnis sumptibus\ncomparari posse oleum olivarum ad nutriendam diu noctuque saltem unam\nlampadam ante Sanctissimum Eucharistiae Sacramentum, ab Apostolica Sede\ndeclarari petierunt utrum in casu, attentis difficultatibus et Ecclesiarum\npaupertate, oleo, olivarum substitue possint alea olea quae ex vegetalibus\nhabentur, ipso non excluso petroleo. Sacra porro Rituum Congregatio, etsi\nsemper sollicita ut etiam in hac parte quod usque ab Ecclesiae primordiis\ncirca usum olei ex olivis inductum est, ob mysticas significationes\nretineatur; attamen silentio praeterire minime censuit rationes ab iisdem\nEpiscopis prolatas; ac proinde exquisito prius Voto alterius ex\nApostolicarum Coeremoniarum Magistris, subscriptus Cardinalis Praefectus\nejusdem Sacrae Congregationis rem omnem proposuit in Ordinariis Commitiis\nad Vaticanum hodierna die habitis. Eminentissimi autem et Reverendissimi\nPatres Sacris tuendis Ritibus praepositi, omnibus accurate perpensis ac\ndiligentissime examinatis, rescribendum censuerunt: Generatim utendum esse\noleo olevarum: _ubi vero haberi nequeatt remittendum prudentiae\nEpiscoporum ut lampades nutriantur ex aliis oleis quantum fieri possit\nvegetabilibus_ die 9 Julii 1864.\n\nFacta postmodum de praemissis Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Pio Papae IX. per\ninfrascriptum Secretarium fideli relatione, Sanctitas Sua sententiam\nSacrae Congregationis ratam habuit et confirmavit. Die 14 iisdem mense et\nanno.\n\nC. EPISCOPUS PORTUEN. ET S. RUFINAE CARD. PATRIZI S. R. C. PRAEF. LOCO \u2720\nSigni _D. Bartolini S. R. C. Secretarius_.\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTICES OF BOOKS.\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\n\n_Martyrologium Dungallense, seu Calendarium Sanctorum Hiberniae._\n_Collegit et digessit_ Fr. Michael O\u2019Clery, Ord. Fr. Min. Strictioris\nObservantiae. Permissu et facultate Superiorum. 1630.\n\n_The Martyrology of Donegal: a Calendar of the Saints of Ireland_,\ntranslated from the original Irish by the late John O\u2019Donovan, LL.D.,\nM.R.I.A., Professor of Celtic Literature in the Queen\u2019s College, Belfast.\nEdited, with the Irish text, by James Henthorn Todd, D.D., M.R.I.A.,\nF.S.A., Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin; and by William Reeves,\nD.D., M.R.I.A., Vicar of Lusk, etc. Dublin: printed for the Archaeological\nSociety. Thom, 1864, lv.-566 pp.\n\n_The Martyrology of Donegal_ was completed on the 19th of April, 1630, in\nthe Franciscan convent of Donegal. The compilers were Brother Michael\nO\u2019Clery, a lay brother of that convent, with three associates who with him\nare so well known by the name of \u201cThe Four Masters\u201d. Colgan (_Acta\nSanctorum Hiberniae_, tom. 1, p. 5 a.) thus speaks of it: \u201cMartyrologium\nquod Dungallense vocamus, nostris diebus ex diversis tum Martyrologiis,\ntum annalibus patriis collectum est, partim oper\u00e2 Authorum qui Annales\ncommunes, de quibus infra, compilarunt in Conventu Dungallensi; partim\nopera Patrum ejusdem Conventus qui sanctos, qui extra patriam vixerunt et\nde quibus hystorici exteri scripserunt, addiderant\u201d. The Donegal copy of\n1630 was a more complete transcript of a first copy, made by Michael\nO\u2019Clery in the preceding year at Douay. Both copies are now extant in the\nBurgundian Library at Brussels, but circumstances have not permitted Dr.\nTodd to get the first copy also transcribed. Both copies are autographs of\nMichael O\u2019Clery.\n\nThe first to discover the mine of Irish MSS. in Brussels was Mr. L.\nWaldron, M.P., who, in 1844, at the request of Professor O\u2019Curry, examined\nthe library there. By the influence of Lord Clarendon, then\nlord-lieutenant of Ireland, with the government, Dr. Todd procured from\nthe Belgian government, in 1848, the loan of several MSS. of the greatest\nimportance, with the permission to have them transcribed. One of these was\nthe autograph MS. of the _Martyrology of Donegal_, prepared for the press\nby the author, with the approbations of his ecclesiastical superiors. A\ncopy of it was executed by the late Professor O\u2019Curry with the skill and\nbeauty of his unequalled penmanship; and this copy was collated with the\noriginal, whilst it was still in Dr. Todd\u2019s possession. From O\u2019Curry\u2019s\ncopy Dr. Reeves made another for his own use, and from this he made a\nthird transcript for the printers, and the translator, Dr. O\u2019Donovan. This\ntranslation was the last labour of Dr. O\u2019Donovan\u2019s life.\n\nThe contents of the volume are distributed as follows: An introduction\n(ix.-xxiv.) by Dr. Todd is followed by an appendix (xxiv.-xlix.)\ncontaining \u201ca number of memoranda, references to authorities, and\nmiscellaneous notes, which have been written by the author, and others,\nthrough whose hands the MS. has passed, on the fly-leaves at the beginning\nand end of each volume\u201d. Many of them are of great interest. Then come the\n_Testimonia et Approbationes_ (xlix.-lv.) of Flann Mac Egan, Conner\nMcBrody, Dr. Malachy O\u2019Cadhla, Archbishop of Tuam; Dr. Boetius Mac Egan,\nBishop of Elphin; Dr. Thomas Fleming, Archbishop of Dublin; and Dr. Roth\nMac Geoghegan, Bishop of Kildare. The _Martyrology_ proper follows (1-351)\nwith the Irish text on one page and Dr. O\u2019Donovan\u2019s translation on the\nother. The notes appended are but few, and serve merely to explain\nobscurities in the text, to settle the reading, or to correct some obvious\nmistake. For almost all the notes we are indebted to Dr. Todd himself. A\ntable of the _Martyrology_, compiled by the author, and translated by Dr.\nTodd, occupies from page 354 to page 479, and is followed by three\nindexes, compiled by Dr. Reeves, one of persons (485-528), another of\nplaces (529-553), and a third of matters (544-566). These indexes, says\nDr. Todd, \u201cpossess a topographical and historical interest quite\nindependent of their connection with the present work, and are in\nthemselves a most important practical help to the study of Irish history\u201d.\n\nWhat is the value of this work? What position does it occupy among Irish\nEcclesiastical documents? It cannot be regarded as an _original_\nauthority. \u201cIt is confessedly a compilation, and of comparatively recent\ndate, having been completed, as we have seen, in the early part of the\nseventeenth century. But it is a compilation made by a scholar peculiarly\nwell fitted for the task, who had access to all the original documents\nthen extant in the Irish language, the matter of which he has transferred\neither in whole or in part into the present work, quoting in almost every\ninstance the sources from which he drew his information\u201d (Introd., p.\nxiii.). The bare enumeration of these sources will serve to show the value\nof the book. I. _The Metrical Calendar, or Festilogium of Aengus Ceile\nDe_, commonly called the _Felire of Aengus_. Its author was a monk of\nTallaght, near Dublin, in the days when Saint Maolruain was abbot, about\nthe beginning of the ninth century. Dr. Kelly of Maynooth has published a\ntranslation of a portion of this _Metrical Calendar_ in his _Calendar of\nIrish Saints_. II. The _Martyrology of Tallaght_. This is a transcript of\na very ancient martyrology containing the names of the saints and martyrs\nof the entire Church, with the Irish saints added under each day. It was\ncomposed at the close of the ninth or very early in the tenth century. The\nBrussels MS. is an abstract of the ancient copy at Saint Isidore\u2019s at\nRome, but it contains the Irish saints alone, omitting altogether the\ngeneral martyrology. It was from a transcript of the Belgian MS. that Dr.\nKelly published in 1857 the calendar alluded to above. III. The _Calendar\nof Cashel_, which is not now known to exist. According to Colgan, its\nauthor flourished about the year 1030. IV. The _Martyrology of Maolmuire_\n(or _Marianus_) _O\u2019Gorman_, written in Irish verse, in the times of\nGelasius, Archbishop of Armagh, about 1167. Its author was abbot of Knock,\nnear Louth, and the work is taken from the _Felire of Tallaght_, and is\nnot confined to Irish saints. V. _The Book of Hymns_, a portion of which\nhas already been published by the Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society,\nand of which a second portion is in the press, under the care of Dr. Todd.\nVI. Poems, such as the _Poem of St. Cuimin of Condeire (Connor)_, of the\nmiddle of the seventh century, published by Dr. Kelly, with a translation\nby Professor O\u2019Curry; the _Naoimhseanchus_, attributed by Colgan to\nSelbach of the tenth century; the _Poem of St. Moling of Ferns_ (A.D.\n675-695), and several minor poems. VII. Several of the great collections\nor _Bibliothecae_, of which he names expressly the _Book of Lecan_, the\n_Leabhar na Huidre_, and the _Book of Lismore_. VIII. The lives of saints\nin Irish and Latin. Of these he quotes no less than thirty-one. From this\nlist it will be seen that almost all the literature of the early Irish\nChurch has helped to enrich the pages of the _Martyrology of Donegal_. And\nsince _norma orandi legem statuit credendi_, we could scarcely find a\nnobler monument of the faith and practice of our forefathers. The Church\nthat places on her list of saints, bishops, and priests, and abbots, and\nconsecrated virgins, and hermits, possesses in that very calendar a mark\ndeep and broad enough to distinguish her from all the sects that belong to\nmodern Protestantism.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\n\n_Lectures on Modern History, delivered at the Catholic University of\nIreland._ By Professor J. B. ROBERTSON; cr. 8vo, p.p. xvi., 528. Dublin:\nW. B. Kelly, 1864.\n\nThe lectures included in this volume were delivered in the Catholic\nUniversity of Ireland, on various occasions, in the years 1860 to 1864,\nand their purport has been well expressed in the author\u2019s own words.\nSpeaking in reference to all his literary labours, \u201cI devoted\u201d, says\nProfessor Robertson, \u201cmy feeble powers to the defence of God and His holy\nChurch against unbelief and misbelief; and of social order and liberty,\nagainst the principles of revolution, which are but impiety in a political\nform\u201d. In these words we have the key-note of the entire work. The\n\u201cHistory of Spain in the Eighteenth Century\u201d forms the subject of two\nlectures. To these is added a supplement of more than fifty pages, in\nwhich the late Mr. Buckle\u2019s \u201cEssay on Spain\u201d, contained in his \u201cHistory of\nCivilization\u201d, is severely but most deservedly criticised, and, we may\nadd, is refuted by solid and convincing arguments.\n\nIn four lectures our author discusses the \u201clife, writings, and times of M.\nde Chateaubriand\u201d, involving, much of the internal history of France,\nespecially as regards literature and religion under the first Napoleon and\nthe succeeding governments down to the Revolution in 1848. These lectures\nare full of interest. But what must be considered as by far the most\nimportant portion of this volume is that in which Professor Robertson\ntreats of the \u201cSecret Societies of Modern Times\u201d. In two lectures he\ntraces the origin and progress of the Freemasons, the Illuminati, the\nJacobins, the Carbonari, and the Socialists; and in an appendix adds a\n\u201cbrief exposition of the principal heads of Papal legislation on Secret\nSocieties\u201d.\n\nSuch are the contents of the work. The style is agreeable and clear, the\ndiction felicitous, and above all, the sentiments just, equally\ncharacterised by extensive information, political sagacity, and a profound\nreverence for divine faith. The professor has happily avoided both the\ntedious exhaustiveness of the German, and the brilliant flippancy which so\noften charms us in the French. Nor has he been unmindful of the more\nlaborious students who would not shrink from the toil of research after\nfurther information. For these he has provided such an array of\nauthorities, on each of his subjects, as must greatly facilitate the\nprogress of those who would engage in diligent historical investigation.\nWe know not where else there could be had so intelligible an account of\nthe secret societies which have been so active in all the political\nconvulsions of Europe, from 1789 to the present time. We need not advert\nto the part which secret societies have had in producing the present\ndeplorable state of Italy. To the readers of the _Civilt\u00e0 Cattolica_ such\nreference would be unnecessary. To those who have not the advantage of\nregularly reading that most instructive periodical we would recommend\nProfessor Robertson\u2019s lectures, as containing, in a moderate sized volume,\na most perspicuous summary of what is requisite to be known concerning\nthose dark conspiracies and their objects. If it were only for this, the\nvolume would be a most welcome addition to our historical library.\n\nThe book has been brought out with the utmost elegance of paper, type, and\nprinting.\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\n\n_La Roma Sotterrana Cristiana descritta ed illustrata_ dal Cav. G. B. de\nRossi. Publicata per ordine della Santit\u00e0 di N. S. Papa Pio IX.\nChromolithografia Ponteficia Roma, 1864. vol. 1.\n\n_Christian Subterranean Rome, described and illustrated_ by Cav. G. B. de\nRossi. Published by order of His Holiness Pope Pius IX., vol. 1.\n\nIn 1861 Cavalier de Rossi published the first volume of his _Inscriptiones\nChristianae Urbis Romae seculo VII. antiquiores_. On to-day we announce\nthe appearance of the first volume of his long expected work on\nSubterranean Rome. In the introduction the author passes in review all\nthat has been done to explore the Catacombs, from the fourteenth century\nto our day. Pomponius Laetus, Pauvinius, Ciacconius, and especially Bosio\nand Bottari, claim his attention in turn. After a sketch of the results of\nthe labours undertaken in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Cav. de\nRossi shows what yet remains to be done, and what part of this he himself\nproposes to accomplish.\n\nThe second part of the volume is entitled \u201cRemarks on ancient Christian\nCemeteries in general, and on those of Rome in particular\u201d: the whole is\ndivided into three parts. Part I. on the Christian Cemeteries in general,\ntreats of their antiquity, their divisions into subterranean and\nnon-subterranean, and the respective marks of each class. The author here\nproves that even in the third century, when Christianity was persecuted to\nthe death, the Christian Cemeteries had a legal existence recognized by\nthe Emperors. Part II. is devoted to the documents which illustrate the\nhistory and topography of the Catacombs, and embraces contemporary\ndocuments, historical and liturgical treatises later than the fourth\ncentury, lives of Pontiffs, etc. Part III. contains a general history of\nthe Roman Cemeteries, arranged in four periods: beginning respectively,\nwith the apostolic times; the third century; the peace of Constantine\n(312); and the fifth century, A.D. 410. In the second century the\ncatacombs were of slow growth; in the third, their extent became most\nremarkable; after Constantine, they began to be abandoned as places of\nsepulture; with the fifth century set in their decay, leading to the\nremoval of the relics of the saints to the churches within the walls,\nwhither the sacrilegious hands of Goths and Lombards, who periodically\npillaged the Campagna, could not reach; finally, after the ninth century,\nthey were almost forgotten. Part IV. contains the analytical description\nof the Christian Cemeteries. The Cemetery of Callixtus, the most ancient\nand most celebrated of all, is described at length.\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\n\n_Vetera Monumenta Hibernorum et Scotorum Historiam Illustrantia; quae ex\nVaticani, Neapolis, ac Florentiae Tabularis depromsit, et Ordine\nchronologico disposuit_ Augustinus Theiner, Presbyter Cong. Oratorii,\nTabulariorum Vaticanorum Praefectus, etc. Folio, Romae, Typis Vaticanis,\n1864. One Volume folio, pages 624.\n\nThe notice of the See of Ardagh in the sixteenth century, printed in our\nopening number, has probably prepared our readers to estimate the value of\nthe important series of documents upon which it is founded. We purposed to\nurge strongly upon the clergy of Ireland the duty of supporting generously\nthe distinguished scholar, who in his love of Ireland has undertaken the\ncostly and laborious work of publishing all the manuscript materials of\nIrish history which are preserved in the archives of the Vatican, and has\nalready given in the opening volume an earnest of their extent, as well as\nof their historical value. We are happy, however, to find that what we had\ndesired and intended, has already been put in a practical form, and that\nan effort has been made to forward among the friends of Irish history the\nsale of this most interesting collection. We cannot, therefore, we\nbelieve, advance more effectually the object which we have at heart, than\nby transferring to our pages the following notice, which has been printed\nfor private circulation:\u2014\n\n\u201cMonsignor Theiner\u2019s Collection from the Secret Archives of the Vatican,\nof Naples, and of Florence, is unquestionably the most important\ncontribution to the history of the Church in these countries since the\ngreat historical movement of the seventeenth century. It comprises upwards\nof a thousand original documents, Pontifical Bulls, Briefs, and Letters,\nConsistorial Acts, Inquisitions, Reports, etc., ranging from the\npontificate of Honorius III., 1216, to that of Paul III., 1547.\n\n\u201cThese papers, in the main, relate to the history of Ireland and of\nScotland, especially of the former country. There is hardly a diocese in\nIreland of which they do not contain some notice, and in many cases, as,\nfor instance, that of Ardagh, already noticed by the learned editor of the\nEssays of the lamented Dr. Matthew Kelly, but traced in detail in the\n_Irish Ecclesiastical Record_, No. I., pp. 13-17, they serve to fill up\nimportant breaks in the existing records, and to correct grave and vital\nerrors in the received histories.\n\n\u201cBut, in addition to the Irish and Scotch documents, the volume contains\nmany of wider and more general interest; among which it will be enough to\nspecify a single series\u2014nearly a hundred unpublished letters of Henry\nVIII., relating chiefly to the negociations regarding the divorce, which\nthey present in a light almost completely new.\n\n\u201cThis volume is printed entirely at the expense of the distinguished\neditor. It is meant as an experiment; and, should the sale, for which he\nmust mainly rely upon the countries chiefly interested, suffice to cover\nthe bare cost of publication, it is his intention to continue the series\nfrom the archives of the Vatican, down through the still more interesting,\nand, for Irish history, more obscure, as well as more important, period of\nEdward VI., Mary, Elizabeth, and James I.\n\n\u201cMgr. Theiner has requested his friend, Rev. Dr. Russell, President of St.\nPatrick\u2019s College, Maynooth, to receive and transmit to Rome any orders\nfar the volume with which he may be favoured.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n_    1 Sacred Latin Poetry_, selected and arranged by R. C. Trench, D.D.,\n      Archbishop of Dublin, etc. Macmillan and Co., London and Cambridge.\n      1864.\n\n    2 \u201cNihil obstat si etiam in his omnibus et Ipse (Redemptor noster)\n      signetur. Ipse enim Unigenitus Dei Filius _veraciter_ factus est\n      _homo_: ipse in sacrificio nostrae redemptionis dignatus est mori ut\n      _vitulus_: ipse per virtutem suae fortitudinis surrexit ut _leo_....\n      Ipse etiam post resurrectionem suam ascendnes ad coelos, in\n      superioribus est elevatus ut _aquila_. Totum ergo simul nobis est,\n      qui et nascendo _homo_, et moriendo _vitulus_, et resurgendo _leo_,\n      et ad coelos ascendendo _aquila_ factus est\u201d\u2014_S. Greg. Magn., Hom._\n      iv. _in Ezech._\n\n_    3 The Destiny of the Irish Race_: a lecture delivered at Philadelphia\n      on the 17th of March, 1864, by Rev. M. O\u2019Connor, S. J. In order to\n      give to our readers the beautiful lecture of the ex-Bishop of\n      Pittsburgh, we have increased the number of pages in this month\u2019s\n      RECORD.\u2014ED. I. E. R.\n\n    4 Col. 1. v. 26. 1.\n\n    5 Hebr. 1, v. 1, 2.\n\n    6 Joan. 1, v. 18.\n\n    7 Joan 1, v. 17.\n\n    8 1 Corint. v. 2, 7, 8, 10, 11.\n\n    9 S. Joan. Chrys. hom. 7. in 1. Corinth. S. Ambros. de fide ad Grat.\n      S. Leo de Nativ. Dom. Serm. 9. S. Cyril. Alex. contr. Nestor. lib.\n      3. in Joan, 1, 9. S. Joan, Dam. de fide orat. II, 1, 2, in 1, 2, in\n      1 Cor. c. 2, S. Hier. in Galat. III, 2.","title":"The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, November 1864","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":26305}