The pall from the body of the blessed Peter : a pledge for the unity of the Catholic faith Iilv' c ! La »r*4« hvc THE SPALL n>:/ l FROM THE BODY OF \THE BLESSED PETER BRSJfl - -- ^ PLEDGE FOR THE UNITY OF THE CA THOLIC FAITH m T;?*l i VT.B H Sermon PREACHED AT THE CHURCH OF THE LONDON ORATORY (August 1 6, 1892) Hrm. AT THE SOLEMN INVESTITURE OF SC. The Most Rev. HERBERT VAUGHAN ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER I® ^ if By DOM F. AIDAN GASQUET, D.D., O.S.B. i® Author of u Henry VIII. and English Monasteries “ The last Abbot of GlastonburyA &c. JOHN HODGES BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, LONDON Price Sixpence. i V ’ ^ hi 'W' BY FRARCIS A1DAN GASQUET, D.D., O.S.B. Henrv VIII. and the English Monasteries. Attempt to Illustrate the History of their Suppression, wit Appendix and Maps showing the Situation of the Kclig Houses at the Time of their Dissolution. 2 vo 12s. each. Mav tUo be had in 2 vols., with 34 pa^e illustrations and 5 maps, bound Herein morocco, top edge gilg 3 °*- The illustrations scpara. 5> The Sixth Edition 'is now being issued in Monthly Shilling P I. to XIV. ready. Edward VI. and the Book of Common Prayer. 1 Origin Illustrated by hitherto Unpublished Documents. \YI 4 facsimile pages of the MS. Demy 8vo, I 3S. {Third lhousa MVe cannot refrain from expressing our admiration of the methw j which the author has conducted his whole inquiry, t h“' f circulation, for it contains by far the bcst^account hare eitr seen of j changes introduced in Edward \ I. s reign. Guardian. A Sketch of the Life and Mission of St. Benedi With an Appendix, containing a complete list “J lll £ “N. dictine Churches and Monasteries in England, with the Ef of their Foundation. 1 bird fhousand, is. A Chronicle of the English Benedictine Monks, fr< Renewing of their Congregation in the I >avs of Queen MaQ the Death of James II.; being the Chronological Notes of 1 I Bennett Welldon, O.S.B., a Monk of Pans. Edited fro) Manuscript in the Library of St. (iregorys I nor\. ownij Demy 4to, 12s. 6d. The Great Pestilence, a.d. 1348-49, now commJ known as 'the Black Death. Demy 8vo, 7s. 6d. Richard Whiting, the Last Abbot of Glastonbj and bis Companions. Demy 8vo, 7s. 6d. The Pall, from the body of the blessed Pete Pledge for the Unity of the Catholic Faith. A bel preached at the Church of the London Oratory, at the Sd Investiture of the Most Rev. Herbert Vaughan, Archlnsl .1 Westminster. Price Sixpence. ' Any of the above post-free on receipt of the price. JOHN HODGES, Bedford Street, Strand, LONDOJ DercMRfed THE PALL. Et (Eliseus) levavit pallium Elioe, quod ceciderat ei ientes autem filii prophetarum .... dixerunt : Requievit ritus Eliae super Eliseum.” 1 -And he ( Eliseus ) took up the mantle of Elias , that fell from i ... . and the Sons of the Prophets .... said ; The spirit Elias hath rested upon Eliseus ,} (4 Kiags ii. 13-1 5). J\ Y LORDS, Right Reverend and Rev. Fathers, and dear Brethren,—Under the old law God ide known His will to His people by a succession ' witnesses—the Prophets. He left these chosen es, however, free to listen or not to listen to their rds, or rather His words through them. In fact, s messengers were most frequently a sign to be itradicted, as in the case of the Prophet Elias aself. Under the New Law, though the form be •ied, there is continuity in the dispensation—in ' method of God’s dealing with man. The Divine ssage now indeed, no longer destined for a single •pie, is addressed to all nations of the earth ; and • Lord in founding His Church has established an 4 Ube pall* abiding and unfailing witness to bear testimony throughout the world to the one Divine Truth, and to point out to men the way of salvation until His second coming. But, as under the Old Law, man was at liberty to listen to the teaching or to turn a deaf ear to it, so is it under the New. Our God demands still the exercise of faith, the sacrifice of the willing heart. And as with individuals so is it with nations. They may hear and may hearken to the Divine message, which comes through the Church, they may follow it gladly, perhaps for centuries, and then at their will they may turn away and reject it. So for ever might they continue in their refusal to listen to God’s voice, unless, in His mercy, He preserves the flock of His chosen few, in lowliness and obscurity, until in His own good time the word comes to them, as it came of old to the prophet Elias : “ Go forth, and stand on the mount before the Lord.” The ceremony at which we are assisting may well recall this characteristic of God’s dealings with men. In particular are we to-day reminded of the fact that after He has so long suffered our own country and people to reject His witness on earth, the Holy Church, He has again brought about, at a time when all hope, humanly speaking, seemed lost, a revival of Catholicity in England. When the history of this restoration comes to be written three great events must be recorded with prominence on Ube pall. 5 its pages—Catholic Emancipation, the Be-establish- ment of the Hierarchy, and this, the first public reception of the Archbishop’s Pall in England since our country finally renounced its place in Christen- dom. By the first, Catholic life—the public exercise of the Catholic religion—became once more possible for Englishmen. The natural development of that life, no longer crushed by penal laws, made necessary the second—the orderly disposition of the Church under the government of an established hierarchy of Bishops. And this again implies the appointment of a Metropolitan, or chief of this episcopal college, upon whose shoulders must rest the sacred Pall, the symbol of his jurisdiction and the badge of his union with Borne, the Mother and Head of Churches. To- day, then, this solemn and public act, about to be performed, marks yet another stage in the history of religion in our country. For, although two eminent Archbishops have already occupied the Metropolitan See of Westminster, this token of jurisdiction and power was taken by each from the “ body of the Blessed Peter,” in the Eternal City itself, and thus to-day we are met together to witness, after a lapse of three centuries and a half, the renewal of what took place age after age in this land of England, in the case of every occupant of the throne of St. Augustine, so long as the Church of Canterbury remained faithful to the Church of God* Now, first let us understand what this Pallium • 6 XT b e pall. (the Umbra Petri ) is. You know, my brethren, that it is the common practice of the Church, follow- ing in this the example of Our Lord Himself, to use the simplest means, and, in the eyes of the world, the commonest and meanest objects, for the loftiest and most solemn ends. In itself, then, nothing can be more simple than this mere narrow fillet of woollen cloth, which we call the Pall ; neither do the crosses marked upon it, nor the jewelled pins, with which it is ornamented, serve to give it, as the precious things of this world go, distinction. The material is afforded by the fleeces of chosen lambs, blessed at the Mass on St. Agnes’ Day, and kept with care until the shearing time, when the wool is woven by the hands of nuns in the cloisters of a convent. Then, on the Vigil of SS. Peter and Paul, in June, these new- made Pallia are carried to the Altar of the Confes- sion, in St. Peter’s, where, after the First Vespers of the Feast, they are solemnly blessed, if possible, by the Pope himself. For one night they are left lying upon the shrine, and are then kept until re- quired in a silver coffer, near to the relics of the Prince of the Apostles, so that when bestowed upon a newly appointed Archbishop, the Pall—this woollen fillet—may be truly said to be “ taken from the body of St. Peter.” This is not the occasion to discuss the origin and early history, of the Archbishop’s Pall. (1) As in the case of so many ecclesiastical symbols or rites, Ube palL 7 nothing certain is known as to its first adoption. As a sacred vestment, it claims an antiquity of 1500 years, (2) and by the time of St. Gregory the Great,, before the close of the sixth century, it had undoubt- edly become a well-recognised symbol of jurisdiction, bestowed by the Sovereign Pontiff on those appointed by him to be “Vicars ofthe Apostolic See,” of Rome. (3) It concerns us little indeed that we should possess full and accurate knowledge of its origin. What does concern us, is to understand and realise what the symbol means, and what it is to us. Just as the most fundamental doctrines of our faith, the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation, for ex- ample, were not perceived in all their bearings, still less enounced in all their fulness, in the earliest ages of the Church, but were unfolded in the course of the centuries ; so did the organisation ofthe Christian Church, with the hierarchy in its gradations and subordinations, slowly proceed from the simplest elements and relations of primitive times, and grow to the full measure of that perfect body, which com- prises all, from the lowest official in the humblest Christian community to Christ’s Vicar upon earth, the Homan Pontiff. And this sense of the essential and necessary unity of all Christians in the Church, and of the relations in which all stand to the Head of the Church, once present, it could not fail at length to express itself by symbol. Such a symbol, full of import and meaning, is this sacred Pall, for which 8 ft be palL by long-established usage every Patriarch, Primate, and Archbishop, who rules a province of the Church immediately under the Supreme Pastor, is bound to supplicate from the Pope, “ earnestly, more earnestly, most earnestly,” as the sign of his jurisdiction. (4) The meaning of the symbol is best conveyed by the words of the solemn blessing said over it. It is the symbolum unitatis, the token of unity, since it is the bond by which the hierarchy of the Church are united together under one head, and signifies that the chief pastor has bestowed a special measure of jurisdiction upon the recipient. It is the tessera communionis perfectce cum Romana Sede, the pledge of perfect communion with the Homan See, implying the due subjection of every chief of a province to the successor of St. Peter, and thus becoming a surety for the unity of the Christian faith ; and it is the vinculum caritatis \ uniting the Archbishop who wears it, and through him the bishops and clergy and lay folk, to the one Supreme Head of the one Holy Church on earth. (5) The grant of the Pall, then, is the proof and token that Peter, to whom is committed Our Lords King- dom on earth, has imparted jurisdiction and power of ruling to the prelate upon whom is laid the burden of administering some portion of that kingdom. For jurisdiction comes not with ordina- tion or consecration to the episcopal office. This high dignity confers upon the Bishop no authority XT be pall. 9 over the souls of others. The charge of some particular part of the flock must be given by a direct commission of the chief shepherd. So true is this, that even after consecration, or translation to a metropolitan See, the Archbishop-Elect cannot exercise his highest functions until he is possessed of the sacred Pall. (6) It is thus the title of his authority over others, and in every quarter of the globe is the sign and token of the universal bond which draws all hearts and souls to Pome, the only centre of living unity, the only sure foundation and guardian of the Christian faith. From the coming of St. Augustine and the first establishment of the Church of the English, no fact is more clearly marked in the history of our country than the intimate union which existed between the Church of this land and the Holy Apostolic See. When at St. Gregory’s command Augustine is “ consecrated Archbishop of the English people,” this is performed by the Pope’s Vicar, the Bishop of Arles, in which city, be it remembered, British Bishops 300 years before had, by solemn synodical act, shown how they recognised the practical import of St. Peter’s primacy among the Apostles. The ceremony of to-day carries back our thoughts to that month of June in the year a.d. 601 , when nearly 1300 years ago, by the authority of Pope St. Gregory, the first hierarchy of English Bishops was established, and “ the Pallium of honour from IO Zhc the holy and®Apostolic See ” was sent bv the hands of Paulinus and Mellitus to Augustine as the first Archbishop. It was from Pome that his jurisdic- tion came: “We give you no authority over the Bishops of Gaul/' wrote Gregory to his new Vicar, when sending him this symbol of his power ; “ but all the Bishops of Britain we commit to your charge, that the ignorant may be taught, the weak con- firmed, the perverse corrected by authority.” And as we review the centuries of Saxon rule, and note how each occupant of St. Augustine’s Chan* sends, or himself goes, to Pome for that sign of pre-eminence, first conferred on the Church of Canterbury, we recognise how to our English fore- fathers the Poman Pall ever was the pledge and symbol of “the Catholic faith, of unity, and of subjection to the Poman Church,” as writes St. Boniface, the English Apostle of the German people, to Archbishop Cuthbert of Canterbury. Even in the dark and stormy days of the tenth century, in spite of the dangers and hardships of a journey from England to Italy, (7) almost every successor of St# Augustine, including St. Odo, St. Dunstan, (8) and St. Elphege—those three glories of our English Church —made that weary pilgrimage, in order that he might bow his head before the Poman Pontiff, and at his command and concession take from the shrine of the Apostles this sacred [sign of his jurisdiction. No difficulties could turn these sons of England Ube pall. 1 1 from testifying their loyalty to the Holy See. Of one Bishop—Alfsin of Winchester—we read, that designated to succeed St. Odo on the throne of Canterbury, “ according to the custom (more solito ) he set out to Borne to obtain his Pall ; ” but, as his saintly predecessor had in vision warned him, he was destined never to wear it, and he perished of the cold amid the snows of the Alpine passes before he set his foot in Italy. - Let us pass quickly onward. From the Norman Conquest to the reign of Queen Mary seven-and- thirty Archbishops of Canterbury received the sacred wool as successors of St. Augustine and in token of their union with and subjection to Borne. To obtain it many, like their Saxon predecessors, journeyed to Italy ; whilst to others it was sent, “ by reason of the perils and dangers of the road,” by the hands of Papal delegates. And as they knelt before the altar to receive the token of their jurisdiction, most of the long line of prelates were sworn upon the Holy Gospels, “ from this hour forward to be faithful and obedient to St. Peter, to the Holy Apostolic Boman Church, and to my lord the Pope and his successors.” It was the profession of the Church of England by the mouth of its appointed head and by this solemn act of men like Langton, Peckham and Courtenay, Arundel and Bourchier and Morton—men no less illustrious as churchmen than as champions of English great- 12 XT be ip all. ness—was the Church of the land linked with the Church of Christ, and by the Apostolic yoke of the pall was it bound to Rome the centre of ecclesiastical unity. And as we meet this day to witness once more the reception of this token of jurisdiction, the memories of similar scenes in the past history of our country come crowding to our minds. We seem to see a vision of a long line of monks and clergy passing through the streets of Canterbury. At the close of the procession walks the tall ascetic figure of Archbishop St. Anselm, who goes with feet bare to meet the legate Walter bringing his Pall from Rome. There is a sense of triumph in his soul, for at last that which William Rufus has kept from him during two years, is to be his. Nay, there is more than this ; for even with this symbol of spiritual authority already in England, William had tried to force the saint to receive it from his royal hands as his gift, and only by a final struggle had Anselm won the concession that he should take it from the altar of his Cathedral church, “ as if from the hand of St. Peter himself.” It was thus more than a picturesque ceremony at which the multitude assisted. It was the assertion of a great and necessary principle : that jurisdiction over souls came not from the Crown ; but from the grant of Peter’s successor. And this the assembled throng of spectators—nay, co-actors—in the scene, knew Ube pall. i 3 full well, as one by one, headed by the Cardinal Legate, they knelt at Anselm’s feet and raised the sacred ornament to their lips in solemn profession of loyalty to the supreme spiritual authority of Rome. Again we seem to be at Canterbury, as St. Thomas a Becket—the great champion of the Church’s liberty—like every recipient of the Pall in England, goes barefoot in reverence to the gift and giver, (9) and taking the symbol of his authority from the altar presents it for the homage of the attendant clergy. And, as we ponder on all that this narrow strip of wool “ taken from the body of blessed Peter,” was to him in his combat for the freedom of the Church in England, once more the scene changes, and our thoughts are borne on to the days of the last Henry, when another Thomas—Thomas Cranmer—recived his Pall from the hands of Bishop Longland. (10) It was at Westminster on the very day of his consecra- tion—March 30, 1 533—that upon his shoulders was placed this symbol of subjection and loyalty to the See of Peter. Already whilst taking his oath “ to be faithful and obedient ” to the Roman Pontiff, he had protested, in words that on such lips, and on such an occasion, could only mean a meditated treachery, that he thereby intended nothing “ contrary to the law of the land, the King’s prerogative or the Statutes of the Kingdom.” Then, before the recep- tion of his Pall, renewing his protest, he again swore upon the sacred Gospels his obedience to the Pope, 14 Ubc pall. from whom he received his title to jurisdiction in the See of St. Augustine. With the words of loyalty to Home fresh upon his lips, he once more swore to the King his rejection of the gift, declaring that he “ took and held the said archbishopric immediately and only of Henry, the King, and of none other/’ (11) But to-day let us not dwell upon the thoughts this scene of sacrilege and perjury calls to the mind. fret us turn rather to another and a brighter memory of that day when for the last time an Archbishop of Canterbury was invested in the honoured svmbol of fealtv to St. Peter, which had then, in those days of heresy, become the pledge of orthodoxy also. It was on Lady Hay, 1556, that the Pall was received in Bow Church by Cardinal Pole. Son of a mother whom we venerate anions the saints, he was a man, the beauty and elevation of whose gentle soul, the growing light of historical research is but now making known to us, and whose high qualities bring him so near to his contemporaries, the Blessed John Fisher and the Blessed Thomas More. On this occasion, pressed at the last moment to preach to the assembled multitude, the Cardinal spoke from his heart words worthy of the sacred cause he was called on to represent. Telling his audience of the oreat dicmitv of this sacred Pall© © and of the all-important truth of which it is the sicm, he concluded in words that will find an echo in© 7 ZTbe pall. !5 many hearts to-day. “ Would that ye but knew,” he cried ; “ would that ye but knew what God grants you by the mission of this peace ”—-ay, indeed, brethren, it was a true sacrament of peace, the one still existing hope of maintaining the inherited religious unity of our nation, the rejection of which has banished that unity from the land, perhaps for ever. With Pole’s death came the great breach between England and Christendom, and from that day to this the Pall—the sacred, emblem of unity—has never been received publicly in this land. The history of the Church, which took the place of the ancient Catholic Church of this realm, is written in unmistakable characters in the annals of the six- teenth century. On the very surface it is evident that the religion then established was founded on a denial of all that was Catholic, and the more deeply we investigate the story of its origin, the more surely do we find that this, its obvious characteristic, is the real and only reason of its existence. Its formularies of doctrine were conceived and framed, not as the result of some unhappy accident, but with a deliberate and set purpose to destroy Catholic life and practice, and its Liturgy was purposely designed to obscure and obliterate the ancient Catholic worship and service of the Almighty. (12) There are many now to whom this is a grief. They cannot, though they gladly would, blot out such painful facts from this page of history. They can but try to forget. Ay, gladly would they forget—nay, brethren, gladly would we too forget were that only possible. But in such vital matters forgetfulness cannot be, neither for them nor for us. Still in a measure eyes may be closed to the whole reality. Many of you, no doubt, will have noticed in recent years an increasing tendency among Pro- testant writers to minimise the religious changes of the sixteenth century. They seek to confine discussion of the great revolution of that time to its political aspects—or, as they are so fond of saying, they would have it regarded merely as a quarrel with Rome. But, indeed, they themselves, and all men of sense and knowledge, who allow them- selves to reflect, must know the movement was in reality a rejection of the faith and the religion, of the piety and the practice, of previous generations of Englishmen, and a declaration of war against the soul of every Catholic. It has been sometimes suggested that, after all, even whilst England was still Catholic, there was not that union of the country with Rome, or that complete and full acknowledgment of obedience to the Holy See, which we claim existed for well-nigh a thousand years in the ancient Church of this realm. Difficulties and misunderstandings are fixed upon as ample evidence that the Church of our ft be pall. 17 Catholic forefathers owned no subjection to the See of Peter, and did not recognise in the occupant of Peter’s Chair the earthly head of the one Church of God. Difficulties indeed there were, at times dis- putes : and it must needs be that such difficulties arise in its administration so long as the Church is made up of men with human wills. But none of these difficulties ever touched the reality, the neces- sity, of the bond which united each and all to the Holy See. My brethren, the one fact that every occupant of the throne of Canterbury, from Augus- tine to Pole, sought so earnestly for the sacred Pall, the token of union with Borne, and at its reception so many pledged themselves so deeply to loyalty and obedience to the See of Peter, is the best and surest evidence of their true spirit. To turn to another point, of which the ceremony of this day reminds us. The special phase ofAnglican controversy at the present moment may be summed up in a word so often used — Continuity. Apart from other considerations, in these days, when every institution, however venerable, is examined, when every claim and title is called in question, and when the words disestablishment and disendowment are on the lips of politicians, there is a special interest attaching to this word, Continuity. We cannot wonder if the present possessors of the wealth of the ancient Catholic Church in England should manifest a solicitude as to any flaw in their title-deeds, and B Z be pall.18 if men, with any foresight at all, should come to feel that a change of religion is a flaw indeed. But this is no care of ours. We, brethren, have long accustomed ourselves to the dispossession of an inheritance which yet remains in proof of the piety of our forefathers in religion. Nay, dear to us as are the walls of many an ancient fane that still graces the land—dear in a way which those who are not Catholics can never understand—yet even these are no objects of envy to us, for we know, feeble flock though we may be, that the faith that erected these glorious piles is still alive in us, and that if God gives His blessing, and we be true to Him, the glory of the later temple may be greater than that which our forefathers knew. We may not live to see it, but our part is to work in faith, and if any should be disposed to account this a mere empty dream, this very building in which we are gathered is surely evidence to give courage to the faint and faithless heart. Who a short half-century ago could have imagined that a church like this would be erected by the zeal, the courage, the self- sacrifice of Englishmen ? Well may we think, brethren, that the perfect devotion of those who have gone before us, Martyrs, Confessors, in the days of persecution and fiery trial, has been rewarded. Not alone have they preserved Catholicity for us, but their faith and zeal have been the means whereby God has brought into the XT be pail I 9 fold of the Church men who were the very salt of the Anglican Establishmen t. That great generation is passing away, and as we look we see that their work has been accomplished. They have brought home to every mind in England the existence of Catholicity, living, working, acting throughout the length and breadth of the land. For, we must beware of measuring the influence of our faith merely by the multiplication of our churches or the increase of conversions. The resurrection of the Church is shown on all sides by the change which the fact of its very existence has wrought, even within the pale of the Established Church of Eng- land. Look around vou : is it not the case that %j there is hardly a spot in this country, no matter how remote, where the effort is not now being made to imitate the rites and practices of the Catholic religion, even down to minute details and to charac- teristics of its very inner life ? It is only too obvious that Anglicans do not draw all this from their own past. As with a similar though less marked movement, in the days of King Charles I., induced by the same causes, it is done avowedly with the object of preventing people becoming Catholics. And if the Anglican Church is being, as they declare, Catholicised to-day, it is through the pressure which we Catholics, by our very pre- sence, bring to bear upon it, making Protestants themselves the very witnesses against their own past 20 XTbe pall. words and deeds. Truly the proscribed religion of our God has here its Divine revenge, for it subdues the souls of men and turns them to love and bless that which their forefathers cast out from their midst. That, my brethren, which the founders of the Established religion in this country rejected, has been preserved happily for us. Ours is an inheri- tance above all price that none can take from us. That inheritance is continuity indeed—the only con- tinuity worth contending for ; a continuity of faith and practice. The possession of family title-deeds does not prove descent ; the occupation of stone walls, the using of historic names, the publication of lists without a break—none of these are evidences of true continuity, in the presence of recorded his- tory. When Cranmer rejected the authority of Dome, which his sixty-six predecessors in the See of Canterbury had acknowledged, and declared that he accepted his office from the King “ alone and no other,” and that his authority as Primate was derived from the Crown as that of previous occu- pants of the See had been from thePope ; (13) and when Henry, on April 8, 1541, by his Poyal Letters Patent, “ created ” the archiepiscopal See of Canter- bury, and granted to it “ the insignia of an arch- bishopric,”^ common sense, no less than the evidence of subsequent events, tells us that here was a new beginning. The throne of Augustine, founded by XL be ©all. 21 Gregory, after enduring for 940 years, was cast down in the dust, and in its place Henry established another for Thomas Cranmer, the first Archbishop of the Protestant See of Canterbury. Nor is this all : as it was with Canterbury so was it with the archiepiscopal throne of York. When, in 1544, Edward Lee, the Archbishop, died, the King not only translated Robert Holgate from Landaff to the northern Metropolitan See, giving him power to ordain, hold synods, make visitations, and gene- rally granting him “ all spiritual and ecclesiastical jurisdiction,” (l5) but by Royal Letters Patent he bestowed upon him an Archbishop’s Pall, directing Cranmer to invest him with it. (16) This the Arch- bishop of Canterbury did in January, 1545, at Lambeth, when he composed a blessing for this new English Pall, and by a solemn parody of the old Catholic form of investiture, placed it on Holgate’s shoulders : “In honour of God, of the Blessed Virgin, of all the saints, and of the most illustrious and serene Prince, Henry VIII.” (17) If continuity there be here, surely it is but a continuity of names. But I see before me to-day evidences of something more real—of a continuity which comes not from the mere abiding in temples made by hands, mere stones heaped up ; but from a faithful continuance in that ancient Church founded by our Lord Himself, built up of living stones, the souls of faithful men—stones made precious and worthy of 22 Ube IP all* God’s sanctuary by long years of persecution. I see before me those who bear names honoured, and rightly honoured, in the story of our country, but more honoured still by unswerving fidelity to the faith of their fathers. Yes, when our holy religion was driven out from Lincoln and from Canterbury, from St. Albans and Durham, it took refuge in the upper rooms of many a country mansion and many a sheltered farmstead. And there in obscurity, in fear for life, was maintained in continuous, unbroken existence, the Catholic faith, the Catholic practice, the Catholic life of England. Although the sacred and most necessary rites of religion were banned and proscribed, and the very offering of Holy Mass was visited with death, still, thanks be to God ! there never failed those who preferred death in this mortal body to the dying out in our country of this most sacred lamp of Faith. In these heroic souls was blended the most sublime devotion which can fill the heart of man—love of God and love of country. For tell me not these were not ardent lovers of their native land. If the exercises of the Catholic religion were proscribed in England, abroad —in foreign lands—they might still be obtained ; but these men chose to suffer the loss of worldly goods, to be stretched on the rack, or to die the death of felons, that England should not be robbed of its Catholic inheritance. Thanks be to God ! their efforts, their self-sacri- fices, in a cause which seemed desperate, has been Zh e pall. 23 blessed, for it is through them that we can rejoice to-day in that true unbroken continuity of the living' souls of men united in the living Church of God. To all of you will doubtless occur the names of many a house that has never fallen from the ancient faith —each one is a living evidence of this sacred continuity. And to-day two names especially — those of our own Archbishop and of him who has brought the sacred Pall from Peters shrine—must instinctively rise up in the minds of all, as telling of unvarying, unbroken fidelity to one and the same Holy Eoman Catholic Faith* Nay, speaking before this great assembly, I know not whether I may express all that fills my mind, but this habit which I wear—all unworthy that I am—tells me—tells you, brethren—if indeed material evidence be asked, that we and we alone possess that true continuity of Catholic life which others now would fain enjoy. For from the day when Augustine first landed in England to the present hour, the Order of St. Benedict, proscribed as it was, ruined, scattered, was never driven from the land. Ay, this too is a witness of a continuity which carries us back even beyond the days of the See of Canterbury, but carries us back like it only to the See of Pome and the Chair of Peter, whence at the command of Peters successor thirteen hundred years ago the children of St. Benedict came as the apostles of the English race. Thoughts such as these make us realise the true 24 Ube pall. import of this day’s ceremony, whereby our own Archbishop becomes the heir and representative of that illustrious line of prelates of the Church of Canterbury whose succession runs back more than two centuries before the foundation of the Enodish, or, if you will, Saxon, monarchy. Has not West- minster been created in the place of St. Augustine’s See by the same authority which first called Canter- bury into existence ? Yes, this Pall, this narrow strip of woven wool, blessed by the hand of Peter’s successor, is the witness and the true title to unex- tinguished rights. The* jurisdiction which, through it, St. Gregory conferred on St. Augustine by the word of Leo, successor of Gregory, now descends to you, my Lord Archbishop, as heir to the faith and authority of the first Apostle of our race. One word more. This morning, my brethren, as our voices join in the joyous Te Deum , let all our soul go out with heartfelt thanks to our God, whose loving-kindness has preserved in us the faith ofthose glorious English saints, Augustine and Dunstan, Anselm and Thomas of Canterbury, and has kept us loyal to Pome, the centre of all Unity, the only sure foundation of Catholic truth. To Him, then, “ to the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen ” (1 Tim. i. 17). APPENDIX. (1) The origin of the Pall is involved in much obscurity. Some writers see in it a Christian adaptation of either the ephod or the rational used by the Aaronic priesthood in the service of the Temple (Exod. xxviii. 6-9 ; xxxix. 8-18). Others assign its origin to the supposed donation of a portion of the imperial costume by Constantine to St. Sylvester ; or, at any rate, by one of the first Christian Emperors to the head of the Church, the Pope. Those interested in the history of the Pall are referred to a pamphlet by Fr. Thurston, S.J., published by the Catholic Truth Society ; or to the republication of a series of articles from the T'ablet , by Canon Moyes. A third theory was advocated by Mgr. Vespasiani, in a tract entitled Be Sacri Pallii Origine , reviewed at length in the Rambler for July 1856. This author points out that from the earliest times the scholars of the heathen philosophers used to adopt the dress as well as the principles of their masters, and the actual mantle, or pallium , of a teacher was regarded as symbolical of his spirit and as conveying his authority. The history of Elias and Eliseus, recorded in the Book of Kings (iii. and iv.), shows how the latter was called to the service of God by being touched by the cloak of Elias, and how he received the spirit of his master through his mantle falling upon him. In early Christian times St. Athanasius gave his mantle to St. Anthony, and when St. Paul, the hermit of Egypt, was, at his request, buried in it, St. Anthony took the hermit’s cloak and ever afterwards wore it on all great solemnities. St. Ignatius, patri- arch of Constantinople, is said to have worn over his other epis- copal vestments “ the venerable cloak of St. James, the brother of our Lord,” brought from Jerusalem, which he had received “ as though he had recognised in it its former apostolic owner.” Other early examples are even more important, as involving the principle of succession to an office by one on whom the mantle of the previous holder of it was bestowed. Thus at Alexandria the pallium of St. Mark was religiously handed down as the symbol of succession to the office of Patriarch. Mgr. Vespasiani consequently suggests that the probable origin of the Homan pallium is the mantle, or cloak, of St. Peter him- 2 6 Zbc pall. self. For this theory the author suggests several pieces of con- firmatory evidence. For example : one of the earliest testimonies to the use of the pallium occurs in a sermon on the Epiphany, commonly attributed to Eusebius of Caesarea. In effect this dis- course says that the Pall is the most ancient of the episcopal vest- ments ; that it took the place of the Jewish ephod ; that it was first worn by Pope St. Linus, in token of his plenary jurisdiction ; and that it was this Pope who gave it its name and symbolical character. The writer of the sermon adds that this account of the origin of the Pall was given “ by ancient writers.” Other venerable authorities mention practically the same tradition as to its origin, and this token of succession to the chair of St. Peter appears to be thus carried back to the chief of the apostles himself, Further from the earliest times the Pall was described, as at the present day, as pallium de corpore S. Petri ; it has always been blessed on the festival of his martyrdom, the day when virtually, if not literally, its first transfer was made, and it was assumed by each successive Pontiff at the place of the martyrdom, even when the church of St. Peter’s had not become the chief church of Lome. The writer of the review of this work in the Rambler concludes his notice with the following remarks : “It only re- mains to add to Yespasiani’s very learned and valuable disquisi- tion an important fact from the ancient Christian monuments of Rome, with which he does not seem to have been acquainted—viz., that the history of Elias leaving his mantle to Eliseus is repre- sented both in the paintings of the catacombs, and in the sculp- tures of Christian sarcophagi, belonging to the fourth and fifth centuries; and it seems certain, both from the form arid features of the figures themselves, and also from the whole tenor of our present argument, that they were intended to represent nothing else than the appointment of St. Peter to be the visible head of the Church in the place of our Lord'—a fact which is otherwise represented in the same monuments under the figure of Christ transferring to St. Peter the rod of sovereignty or power, where- with He Himself had previously been raising the dead to life, changing the water into wine and performing other miracles, but which afterwards is seen in the hands of St. Peter apprehended by the Jews and of the same St. Peter under the character of Moses, the dux novi Israel , striking the rock whence flow the spiritual waters of grace and the sacraments of the new law. The most ancient of the monuments of Elias and his successor, to which we have alluded, is a painting in the catacomb of SS. Nereus and Achilles, in which, however, the heads of the two figures have been unfortunately destroyed by a grave that was cut through them at a later period, but the horses of the chariot, and other access- ories, remain uninjured.” After mentioning five other early ex- amples of this subject the writer continues : “ In these it is Our XT be fl> all. 27 Lord, who is going up to heaven under the figure of Elias and St. Peter, to whom He is leaving His mantle ; and St. Peter, not deeming himself worthy to receive it, holds forth his hands only under the covering of his cloak. The identity of the persons is un- mistakable, and the theological conclusions to be drawn from it too obvious to need explanation ” [Rambler, New Series, vi. p. 70). (2) The earliest mention of the Pall as a sacred vestment is probably that by Anastasius Bibliothecarius. Writing of Pope St. Mark, who died a.d. 336, he says: “hie constituit ut Episcopus Ostiensis, qui consecrat episcopum urbis (sc. Bomse) pallio uteretur et ab eodem episcopo ( leg : Episcopus) urbis Bomse consecraretur ” {Vitas Pont. 49). We learn from St. Austin that it belonged to the Bishop of Ostia to consecrate the Bishop of Borne, and it would seem that Pope St. Mark gave the use of the Pall to this bishop whenever he should be called upon to exercise this privilege. (3) In the sixth century Pope Vigilius granted the Pall to Alexanius, bishop of Arles : “ because we think it proper that the ornatus pallii should not be wanting to one acting in our stead ” (Migne, Patrol. Lat. 69, p. 27). Pope Pelagius sends it to another occupant of the same See, and for the same reason ; since the Archbishop of Arles was acting “ as Vicar of the Apostolic See in the whole of Gaul ” [Ibid. p. 405). St. Gregory’s works contain many letters sent to various bishops with the grant of the Pall, and the same condition is generally implied and often expressed. (4) In 1293 the Church of Canterbury asked for the Pall of Pope Celestine V. for Bobert Winchelsey, the Archbishop Elect, in the following form : “ Postulat devota vestra filia Ecclesia Christi Cant, concedi pallium de corpore beati Patri sumptum electo suo, consecrato, ut habeat plenitudinem officii (Wilkins, ii. 199). Even in the time of St Gregory the Great the sacred symbol of authority was only granted upon urgent request. Thus the Pope refuses the Pall requested by Brunichild, because the person who came for it was reputed to be tainted with error, and “ maxime quia, et prisca consuetudo obtinuit ut honor pallei nisi exigentibus causarum meritis etfortiterpostulanti dari non debeat ” (ii. Ep. xi.). It is certain that the grant of the Pall was considered as a concession on the part of the Pope. No right of the Archbishop elect to it was supposed to exist. In a.d. 1060 Pope Nicholas, in sending it to Archbishop Aldred of York and stating the days on which it might be used, says : “ Denuntiamus praeterea, ut nullus tuorum successorum vel quisquam in toto mundo Episco- 28 Ube palL porum, hoc, quod in te misericorditer dispensative potius quam auctoritate gessimus, in exemplum auctoritatis sibi assumere au- deat vel deinceps ad tale aliquid aspirare prsesumat ” (Surtees Soc. Liber Pont. C. Bainbridge, ed. Henderson, p. 384). In the same way Pope Paschal, in a.d. 1 1 03, writes to Archbishop Gerard : “Pallium. . . . plenitudinem videlicet pontificalis officii, ex Apos- tolici sedis liberalitate concedimus ” {Ibid. p. 385). Van Espen says that by “the plenitude of power,” said to be conferred by the grant of the Pall, is not meant that the Pall actually gives it, but signifies that it is given. Without it the elect cannot lawfully assume the name of Archbishop, or exercise the functions of Metropolitan. The grant or refusal was allowed to depend on the Pope. In a.d. 787 Pope Adrian I., for example, raised the See of Lichfield to an Archbishopric, and granted it the Pall ; but in a.d. 803 Pope Leo III. again placed it under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of Canterbury. The limitation to the number of days upon which the Pall might be worn by Archbishops, whilst the Pope always used it in the celebration of Mass, is said to signify the limited jurisdiction of the Metropolitan. On this point Pope Innocent III. (a.d. 1204) writes : “ Sane, solus Romanus pontifex in missarum solemniis pallio semper utitur et ubique quoniam assumptus est in plenitu- dinem ecclesiastic*© potestatis, quae per pallium figuratur. Alii autem eo quod nec semper, nec ubique sed in ecclesia sua, in qua jurisdictionem ecclesiasticam acceferunt certis debent uti diebus, quoniam vocati sunt in partem sollicitudinis non in plenitudinem potestatis.” (5) The words of the solemn blessing are as follows : —“ Deus Pastor seterne animarum, qui eas ovium nomine designatas per Jesum christum filium tuum, Beato Petro apostolo, ejusque successoribus, boni Pastoris typo regendas comissisti, atque ipsis Sacrarum Vestium symbolis Pastoralis curse documenta significari voluisti; effunde per Ministerium nostrum super hsec Pallia de Beatorum Apostolorum Principum Altare sumpta copiosam Benedictionis >$< et Sanctificationis tuse gratiam, ut quam mystice reprsesentant Pastoralis officii plenitudinem, atque excellentiam, pleno quoque operentur efiectu. Humilitatis nostrse preces benig- nus excipe, atque eorumdem Apostolorum meritis et suffragiis concede, ut quicumque ea, te largiente, gestaverit, intelligat se Ovium tuarum Pastorem, atque in opere exhibeat, quod signatur in nomine. Sit boni, magnique illius imitator Pastoris, qui errantem Ovem humeris suis impositam cseteris adunavit, pro quibus animam posuit. Sit ejus exemplo in custodia gregis sibi commissi solicitus, sit vigil, sit circumspectus ne qua Ovis in morsus incidat, fraudesque Luporum. Sit disciplinse zelo dis- trictus, quod perierat requirens, quod alienum reducens, quod IT be palL 2 9 confractum alligans, quod pingue, et forte custodiens. Videat humeris sius impositam crucem, quam Filius Tuus proposito sibi gaudio sustinere non recusavit; sitque illi crucifixus mundus et ipse mundo. Tollat injectum collo suo Evangelicum jugum, sitque ei ita leve, ac suave, ut in via mandatorum tuorum cseteris exemplo et observatione praecurrat. Sit ei hoc Symbolum unitatis, et cum Apostolica Sede communionis perfectae tessera, sit caritatis vinculum, sit Divinae hereditatis funiculus, sit aeternae securitatis pignus, ut in die adventus et revelationi Magni Dei, Pastorum- que Principis Jesu Christi, cum ovibus suis creditis, stola potiatur immortalitatis et glorie.” (6) Pope Nicholas I. in his Responses ad consulta Bulgarorum (a.d. 1866) orders that an archbishop is not to be enthroned and is not to consecrate the Holy Eucharist before he receives the Pall from the Roman See, “ sicut Galliarum omnes et Germanise et aliarum regionum Archiepiscopi agere comprobantur.” Arch- bishops could not hold synods or consecrate bishops till they had the Pall. Thus, at a consecration of bishops at Lambeth on January 5, 1381-2, the archbishop elect of Canterbury, William Courtenay, although present and consecrated, having been trans- lated from the See of Exeter, took no part : “ Dictoque domino Willelmo Courteney, Cantuariansi electo et confirmato, ibidem presente, sed minime consecrante, eo quod palleum non recepit ” (Reg. Courtenay, f. 3). It is worth noting that Wharton in his Anglia Sacra (i. p. 121), as if quoting the MS. Register of Bishop Courtenay, says of this ceremony : “ Prsesente Willelmo, sed manus non imponente.” This change of expression was probably dictated by the writer’s desire to make out that the imposition of hands is the consecration, just as Bishop Stubbs in his Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum always styles the assistant Bishops Conse- crators , in face of the evidence of the Pontificals and the express declarations in all Episcopal Registers that they were only assistant bishops. The Pall is a personal grant, made by the Pope for a special province of the Church. If an archbishop is translated he has to receive another Pall. At death it, and if he has received more than one, they, are buried with him. If it be lost or destroyed another must be procured. Thus the first Archbishop of Sydney, Dr. Polding, O.S.B., obtained three Palls; the two first having been burnt in fires which twice destroyed his cathedral. So, in a.d. 1326, Edward II. sent envoys to Rome to ask for a second Pall for William de Melton, Archbishop of York, because thieves had broken into his private chapel and “ carried away his Pall and other Episcopal ornaments” (Rot. Rom. 19 Edw. II. m. 3). (7) Adam de Usk, in giving an account of his journey towards 3° Ube pall. Rome, in March a.d. 1401—2, speaks of his crossing the Pass of St. Gothard as follows : “ Where I was drawn up in a cart by an ox, half frozen with cold, and with mine eyes blindfold, lest I should see the dangers of the passage.” (8) It would seem that the Pope specially directed St. Dunstan himself to take the sacred Pall from the altar of St. Peter. In the account of Archbishop Dunstan’s Pontifical , now in the National Library at Paris (MS. 973), it appears that upon folio 6 is the following heading: “Epistola privilegii quam jubente Johanne Papa, suscepta benedictione ab eo, Dunstan archiepiscopus a suis manibus accepit, sed pallium a suis manibus non accepit , sed eo jubente ab altari St. Petri Apostoli.” (9) Both at Canterbury and York, when the Pall was brought from Rome, the Archbishop-elect walked barefoot to meet it. According to the direction in the York Pontificals the Archbishop was to be “ nudis pedibus (si tempus non sit pluviosum).” At Canterbury the rubric was : “ Deinde sequatur archiepiscopus pontificalibus indutus, nudis pedibus .... usque ad portam civitatis per quam intrabit, si serenitas temporis hoc permittat.” After the Pall had been venerated by the clergy the rubric continues : “ Quibus expletis, et lotis pedibus archiepiscopi, prseparet se archiepiscopus ad missam celebrandam, &c.” (Masked, Monumenta Ritualia , iii. pp. 297-299). After the Pall had been granted to an Archbishop of Canterbury, and before its reception, the Prior of the cathedral monastery brought the Cross of the Province to London and presented it to the newly elected Metropolitan, using the following form : “ Pater reverende, nuncius sum summi Regis qui te rogat, mandat et precipit ut ecclesiam suam regendam suscipias, eamque diligis et protegas fide non ficta. In hujus signum nuncii summi Regis tibi vexillum trado ferendum. Accipe libenter et porta fideliter ut cum sanctis predecessoribus tuis ecclesise Cantuariensis patronis gaudeas in eternum.” The arch- bishop took the Cross, kissed it, and handed it to his cross-bearer (MS. Reg. Stafford, f. 3). (10) Cranmer’s Bulls were obtained in Rome by his proctor, who took the oaths in the usual way, in his name, and in his behalf. In England, Cranmer (Jenkyns, iv. p. 116) said that the proctor “ should do it super animam suamf and that he did not intend to be bound by promises made in his name and confirmed upon oath. He accepted the Bulls thus obtained, making the protest on the day of his consecration that he did not intend to bind himself by the oath he was about to take. The Bull of the Pope recited the oath to be taken by Cranmer, and distinctly says that if Cranmer did not take it, both he and the bishop who con- tr be pall. 31 secratecl him without that oath, were suspended and forbidden the administration of their Sees respectively, both in temporals and spirituals : “ Volumus autem et auctoritate prsedicta statui- mus et decernimus quod si, non recepto a te [Cranmero] per ipsum antistitem prsedicto juramento, idem antistes munus ipsum tibi impendere et tu illud suscipere prsesumpseritis, dictus antistes a pontificalis officii exercitio, et tarn ipse quam tu ab administra- tione tarn spiritualium quam temporalium ecclesiarum vestrarum suspensi sitis eo ipso ” (cf. Lewis’ Sander's Schism , p. 89 note). (11) u Knowlaging myself to take and hold the said Arch- bishopricke immediately and oonly of your Highness and of none other ” (Strype. Mems oj Cranmer , App. vii.), (12) See in Edward VI. and the Book of Common Prayer the history and character of these changes. 13. As an example of this the following passage from a letter of Archbishop Cramner may be cited : “ Moreover I do not a little marvel, why he (i.e., Bishop Gardiner) should now find fault, rather than he did before, when he took the Bishop of Rome as chief head ; for though the Bishop of Rome was taken for supreme head, notwithstanding that he had a great number of primates under him ; and by having his primates under him his supreme authority was not less esteemed but much the more. Why then may not the King’s Highness, being Supreme Head, have primates under him without any diminuition ; but with the augmenting of his said supreme authority ” (Parker Soc. Cranmer's Works , ii. 304). That Henry VIII. claimed, as King, Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as well as temporal jurisdiction cannot be doubted by any who will take the trouble to study the documents of this period. Mr. Gairdner, the candid and able editor of the calendar of papers of this period, takes this view. The King, he says, suspended the jurisdiction of the bishops, and through his officers exercised spiritual as well as temporal power (Calendar, vol. ix., preface, p. xvii.). All the spiritual government of the kingdom he placed in the hands of his vicar, Thomas Cromwell {Ibid. vol. vii. p. xxvii.). Cranmer and the other bishops acquiesced in this claim of the King to supreme ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and received “ authority of spiritual jurisdiction by force of instruments under the seal appointed ad res ecclesiasticus," which, on the accession of Edward VI., they were required by the Council to renew (see Edward VI. and the Book of Common Prayer , p. 42). (14) Hot. Pat. 32 M. VIII. pars. 6. m. 1 : printed in Dugdale (Monasticon Anglicanum , ed. 1817, i. p. 106)* 3 2 tlbe pall (15) Eot. Pat. 86 H. VIII. pars 13, m. 16. “ Et omnem juris- dictionem spiritualem et ecclesiasticam.” (16) Eot. Pat. 36 H. YIII. pars 2, m. 42. (17) In the case of a new archbishop, Henry YIII. by Statute (25 H. YIII. c. 20, s. 4) directed that a Pall be given him, “ with- out suing to the See of Eome in that behalf.” Bishop Stubbs writing about the Pall says : “ So important was the matter ( i.e., the reception of the Pall) that even after the breach with Eome, Archbishop Holdegate of York, in 1545, went through the form of receiving one from Cranmer (Const. Hist. iii. p. 318). In the Gentleman’s Magazine for November 1860, the form used on the occasion by Cranmer is printed from that archbishop’s Eegister (f. 309) at Lambeth. It may be of interest to reproduce the form of investiture from this curious document. Traditio Pallii Ad honorem Dei Patris Omnipotentis, Filii et Spiritas Sancti, Intemeratseque Yirginis Marise et totius coelistis exercitus, ac illustrissimi et serenissimi in Christo principis et domini nostri, Domini Henrici Octavi, &c., cui soli et nulli alii obedientiam et fidelitatum debes et Exhibuisti, in decus Ecclesise Anglicanse ac Metropolitans Ecclesise Eboracensis tibi commissse, tradimus Tibi Pallium in plenitudine Pontificalis dignitatis, ut eo utaris in divinis celebrandis, infra Ecclesiam Tuam et omnibus diebus ab antiquo usitatis. Eecipe igitur, frater charissime, e manibus nos- tris pallium hoc humeris tuis impositum, summi, viz. sacerdotii Domini nostri Jesu Christi signum, per quod undique vallatus atque munitus valeas hostis humani Temptamentis virilitas resis- tere et universas ejus insidias solerta et penetralibus cordis tui divino suffultus munimine, procul abjicere, prsestante eoden Domino nostro Jesu Christo, qui Spiritu Sancto in unitate Patris vivit et regnat per omnia sscula sseculorum, &c. PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. LONDON AND EDINBURGH. New Solemn Edition, Basilica. The Origin cribed for Illustrations Society. 8v A Complete Vol. I. The Vol. II. Litur 46 Heroes of the publishing a ser have lived in all aim to be histori 1 will be avoided. Crown 8vo, price, St. Gregory the Great. Christopher Columbu By Mariana Mon The Right Rev. Samue necticut and of“ the D.D., President of th Church. St. Columba : The Story of IN TH1 St. Stephen Harding, Found printed from “ Newman’s SEVERAL O TELEx The Reformation in by the late Dr. Maitland, Ke Author of the “ Dark Ages,” &c This Volume is being publish many readers of the “ Dark admirable Supplement. JOHN HODGES, Bedford ort Sermon Year, founded j.'heologica ” of B.C.L., Rector Preachers,” &c. This valuable , has become very th, realising fancy copy, made by the edition. [ Shortly . m. Egidius Ran- as first published in onastery in Augsburg, /en for every day in the owever, consists in the the Lives. In the New bst effectively reproduced. )tations rather than trans- a Father of the English hslated from the Latin by r iside College. 4 vols. Vol. 3s. 6d. each. Parts I. and Each part will contain One • as seen in St. Osmond’s alisbury. A New and Revised [.Preparing. Sacrilege. By Sir Henry ion, with an Appendix bringing the te, by C. F. S. Warren, M. A. be had separately, price is.