I ' r: A! 
 
 /ON 
 
 BA880 
 
 linn 
 
THE MONKS OF lOlSIA; 
 
 ^ IN- REPLY TO 
 
 "ION A," /^/^ 
 DUKE OF ARGYLL. 
 
 With a review of 
 "THE CATHEDRAL, AND ABBEY CHUKCH OF lONA," 
 
 BY THE RIGHT REVEREND THE BISHOP OF ARGYLL AND THE ISLES. 
 
 TO THE MOST NOBLE 
 
 THE MARQUIS OF LORNE 
 
 BY 
 
 J. STEWART M'CORRY, D.D. 
 
 ^^^^ /v^ss. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 R. WASHBOURNE, 18a, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1871. 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 TO 
 
 THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS OF LORNE. 
 
 My Lord Marquis, 
 
 Allow me to inscribe the following publication 
 on lona to your Lordship, who, like myself, is connected 
 with " The Land of the Mountain and Flood." It refers to 
 that charmed Isle in West Argyllshire, which i« so famed 
 in Scottish story, as well as in the chronicles of European 
 civilization, and which appears to intensify in interest, with 
 the lapse of years. The subject and its religious associa- 
 tions have, during a lengthened period, engrossed the pro- 
 found attention of many distinguished Savants, who 
 recorded their sentiments in unison with their own peculiar 
 bias ; although, in some instances, their judgment has been 
 egregiously distorted, and their narrative grievously at 
 fault. It is, then, devoutly to be d^^^^d "that the present 
 
iv Dedication. 
 
 work may prove not only well timed, but correctly in- 
 formed — that it may foster no fond illusion — invent no new 
 theory — propound no novel proposition — ^but that it may 
 steadfastly aim at an honest exposition of truth alone, that it 
 may stimulate inquiry into the real principles of the Ancient 
 Church, that it may lead to a truer estimate of the Monastic 
 discipline of the Middle Ages, and a juster appreciation of 
 the Monastic glories of Old Catholic Caledonia. 
 
 Meantime, permit me to wish very cordially to you and 
 to your Royal affianced Princess, every spiritual and 
 temporal blessing, while I have the honour to remain. 
 
 My Lord Marquis, with the highest consideration, 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 J. Stewart M'Corry, D.D. 
 
 St. Peter's Basilica, Hatton Garden, Holborn Circus, 
 London, March, 1871. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGR 
 
 I. PREFACE . . . . . . xii 
 
 II. PLEA FOR THE MONKS OF OLD . . .1 
 
 III. APPEAL OF THE MONKS OF lONA AGAINST " MEDLE- 
 
 VAL superstition" . . . .11 
 
 IV. ANCIENT CHRISTIAN ARCHEOLOGY, AND MODERN 
 
 ANGLICAN RITUALISM . . . . 11> 
 
 V. THE SCOTTISH ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, THE DUKE 
 
 OF ARGYLL, AND ICONOCLASM AT lONA . . 3(1 
 
 VI. EDINBURGH SCOTSMAN, AND " DAMAGED AND DECAY- 
 
 ING MONUMENTS AT lONA " . . .31? 
 
 VII. THE author's PILGRIMAGE TO lONA — SUBIACO — 
 
 MONTE CASSINO . . . . .40 
 
 VIIL lONA: BY THE DUKE OF ARGYLL . . .5^ 
 
 IX, COUNT DE MONTALEMBERT AND THE DUKE OF 
 
 ARGYLL . . . . . .81 
 
 X. LAST YEARS OF ST. COLUMBA, FIRST ABBOT OF lONA 
 
 — HIS DEATH — HIS CHARACTER . . . 1()(? 
 
 XI. CATHEDRAL AND ABBEY CHURCH OF lONA, BY THE 
 
 BISHOP OF ARGYLL AND THE ISLES . .125 
 
vi Contents. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 XII. THE "IMPIOUS dogma" OF PAPAL INFALLIBILITY 150 
 XIII. REPLY TO THE BISHOP OF BRECHIN ON THE 
 
 (ECUMENICAL COUNCIL . . . .155 
 
 XIV. ITALIAN REVOLUTIONISTS — ROMAN PONTIFF KING 
 
 — CATHOLIC WORLD . . . .170 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It may not be considered out of place, to offer some 
 preliminary remarks, in regard to the discursive mat- 
 ter of the following pages. It was thought desirable 
 to grapple not simply with the subject, which stands 
 so prominently forward, but to touch upon collateral 
 topics, which are decidedly racy of the times. The 
 individual who excused himself from labouring for, 
 as he did not feel himself iiidebtecl to 2^osterity, might 
 readily be forgiven. But could he be forgiven who, 
 having the opportunity, failed to supply the antidote 
 against the poison which, at the present moment, is 
 industriously being infused into the public mind ? 
 Indeed, the obligation seems so paramount, that 
 mere choice is out of the question. If, then, it be 
 true that each one in social life, should have a care 
 of his neighbour, how much more stringent is the 
 duty, in regard to the life which is religious ? Hence, 
 there can bo no doubt that authors, whatever intel- 
 lectual amusement) they may enjoy in wielding their 
 pen, hold a very responsible position in a moral point 
 of view. They are accountable for their literary 
 lucubrations at the bar of public opinion, not to 
 f5peak of a higher and holier tribunal ! How vitally 
 
X 
 
 Preface. 
 
 contents of the work should not be unexceptionable, 
 and that the statements advanced could not bid de- 
 fiance to contradiction. But how stands the case ? 
 Why we find his Grace of Argyll tripping in the 
 most egregious manner ; we find him taxing the 
 disciples of the great Christian Catholic Abbot 
 Columba with " mediaeval superstition we find him 
 stigmatising the enlightened monks of lona, for 
 transmitting to posterity "monuments of the low 
 and often corrupt monotony of Mediseval Romanism;" 
 we find him arraigning them for following the primi- 
 tive custom of " the most superstitious use of the sign 
 of the Cross f we find him complimenting " devout 
 Roman Catholics " for patronising " pious frauds 
 we find him indoctrinating his readers — young and 
 old, married and single, with the very question- 
 able morality, " that the laws of nature are not 
 with impunity to be disobeyed we find him — but 
 enough has been said, to show how open to attack 
 is this volume, and how urgent is the necessity for 
 a complete expurgation of lona," by the Duke of 
 Argyll ! 
 
 Yet, while we have not been slow in throwing 
 the shield of defence over the Monks of Old, and 
 of disarming their assailant, we do not pretend to 
 say that we have been so successful as could have 
 been desired. We shall not plead the brevity of 
 time placed at our disposal, nor the variety of 
 duties which require to be discharged. We shall 
 not say aught in extenuation of our shortcomings, 
 nor a single word to parry the hostility of criti- 
 
Preface. 
 
 xi 
 
 cism. We have given no quarter to error, although 
 we should superabound in mercy to the erring, and we 
 ask none for our " Monks of lona." During long years 
 it has been our wont to speak' and to write plainly — 
 plainly, it is said, even to a fault. Might we reverently 
 say culpa felix ! Be this as it may, we hope to con- 
 tinue to speak and to write explicitly, but never offen- 
 sively, even to the end. If we know ourselves, and it 
 is now nearly time, we have nothing to gain but truth, 
 we have nothing to lose but truth, and our greatest 
 desire is the dissemination of truth, which alone is Ca- 
 tholic and Roman. While, then, we have transfixed 
 " lona, by the Duke of Argyll," let our own " Monks 
 of lona be transfixed ; let them be criticised, sca- 
 rified, anatomised. All that we ask is simply the 
 opportunity to cicatrize the wounds, and to ad- 
 minister retributive justice to our doughty assailants. 
 We know and we feel the position in which we are 
 entrenched, we know and we feel that we are within 
 the citadel of truth, and we are therefore fearless of 
 all opposition. 
 
 St. Peter's, Hatton Garden, Holborn Circus, 
 London, March 1, 1871. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE ON TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 
 DISSERTATION ON PURGATORY. 
 REPLY TO THE FREE CHURCH ON " POPERY." 
 WAS ST. PETER EVER AT ROME ? 
 PANEGYRIC ON ST. PATRICK. 
 
 THE SUPREMACY OF THE ROMAN PONTIFFS. /-^ 
 
 IRELAND : HER RELIGION AND LEARNING. 
 
 LETTERS ON "A PLEA FOR CHRISTIAN UNION." 
 
 THE JESUIT : RISE, FALL, AND RESTORATION OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 LETTER TO THE SOLICITOR-GENERAL ON THE BIBLE. 
 
 LECTURE ON THE AUSTRIAN CONCORDAT. 
 
 THE KIRK versus THE CHURCH. 
 
 CALVINISM versus CATHOLICITY. 
 
 PLEA FOR DECORATING GOD's TEMPLE. 
 
 FOUR CATHOLIC in answer to four PROTESTANT LECTURES. 
 
 TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS OF ROMAN PONTIFFS. 
 
 LECTURE ON THE LIBERATOR OF IRELAND. 
 
 TEMPORAL POWER OF THE SOVEREIGN PONTIFF. 
 
 FUNERAL DISCOURSE ON THE REV. DR. KEENAN. 
 
 CHURCH AND HER TRIALS, delivered in ROME, 1864. 
 
 PIUS IX. AND NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL WORSHIP. 
 
 MOSAIC COVENANT : CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION. 
 
 THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. 
 
 THE PAPACY. 
 
 THE MADONNA. 
 
 CARDINAL BEATON, WISHART, AND JOHN KNOX. 
 REVIEW: moderator's ADDRESS; 
 BISHOP OF BRECHIN ANSWERED. 
 PROTESTANT PRESS AND VATICAN COUNCIL. 
 
 WASHBOURNE, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
THE MONKS OF lONA 
 
 AND 
 
 THE DUKE OF ARGYLL. 
 
 PLEA FOR THE MONKS OF OLD. 
 
 The following publication proceeds from the Press sooner 
 than could have been desired, but a combination of circum- 
 stances would not brook delay. His Grace of Argyll has dur- 
 ing December, 1870, republished liis beautifully written essays 
 on lona in an elegant volume, which has been applauded to 
 the echo. In this month of February, 1871, another edition 
 has been issued. In vain then should we seek to emulate its 
 purity of style, but its purity of narrative must here and there 
 " hide its diminished head." Hence it has been considered 
 most advisable to reply without delay, thereby taking 
 udvantaofe of the intense interest, manifested throuo'hout 
 Great Britain, in regard to the subject to which it refers, 
 and which the more it is ventilated the more absorbing it 
 becomes. The writer makes this statement, not by way 
 of apology for the short-comings of his work, which are no 
 doubt many, nor with the view of deprecating public criti- 
 cism, from which there can be no escape, but simply to 
 mention the downright fact. He has written, as is his 
 wont, with the utmost freedom, but it is hoped, within the 
 limits of moderation, since he has made it his study — 
 despite the philosophy of plain speaking — to treat his 
 opponents with that respectful courtesy which society neces- 
 sarily demands. Having nothing to disguise, but every- 
 
 1 
 
2 The Monks of lona and the Duhe of Argyll. 
 
 thing to lay open, Le 1ms studiously avoided all diplomatic 
 verbiage, which, according to Prince Talleyrand, is intended 
 to conceal one's thoughts. His greatest solicitude, on the 
 contrary, is to be straightforward — to disarm hostile 
 manoeuvres by candour — to grapple honestly with the ques- 
 tion at issue, and to handle it if possible in accordance with 
 its intrinsic merits. If indeed he should then only partially 
 succeed in vindicating the truth — in removing erroneous 
 misconceptions respecting the belief and discipline of the 
 Monks of old — in reassuring the public mind that modern 
 " Roman " Catholics do not by any means patronize " pious, 
 frauds " — some good, doubtless, shall have been accomplished, 
 and he will then gladly lay down his feeble pen — as, in the 
 days of religious chivalry, the valiant knights hung up their 
 armour — before the shrine of that Holy Church which it i& 
 his joy to serve, and whose interests it is his consolation to 
 promote ! 
 
 Having said this little, let us add another word by way 
 of apologia for the Monks of old. We do not indeed con- 
 template to enter upon an elaborate vindication of the reli- 
 gious life, as time forbids, since we are anxious that what 
 we do write should appear in print before the Royal 
 nuptials in the Ides of March, in which His Grace of Argyll 
 and Lord Lorne are to take so prominent a part. Hence we 
 shall endeavour to grapple hurriedly with the popular objec- 
 tions which are set forth with telling power and plausibility 
 by the Duke in his late classically written work on lona. 
 He speaks to the following effect : — 
 
 " No special value can be set on the customs of religious 
 life in the sixth century as necessarily affording any in- 
 dication whatever either of the doctrine or of the practices 
 of Primitive Christianity. Five hundred years is a time 
 long enough for almost any amount of drift." 
 
 In reply, may we not ask whither are we drifting ? Are 
 we then to become better acquainted with Primitive Chris- 
 tianity the farther down we descend the stream of time ? 
 This seems nothing short of paradoxical. Surely the nearer 
 we approach an object; the more distinct is the view. 
 
Plea for the Monies of Old. 
 
 3 
 
 Surely, also, those who lived in the sixth century had, to say 
 the least, as favourable an opportunity of knowing "the 
 doctrine and practices of Primitive Christianity " as we of 
 the nineteenth century. 
 
 But of course we are living in the age of railways, and 
 electro wires, and balloons, and of necessity we are far more 
 enlightened than those who went before us ! This idea may 
 satisfy our own self-sufficiency, but is it in accordance with 
 Truth, with Justice, and with J udgment ? 
 
 Forgetful of the promises which our Blessed Lord made of 
 the perpetual abidance of the Spirit of truth with hi3 
 Church, and of the absolute impossibility of her going astray, 
 the writer declares that she " enjoyed no miraculous pro- 
 tection against the growth of error !" Pray, was there no 
 declaration that Hell's gates should never prevail against the 
 Church of Christ ? 
 
 The Duke very coolly declares that "the very earliest 
 Christian writings after those of the apostles bear upon 
 their face the unmistakable marks of deviation and decline." 
 
 As this is a wholesale gratuitous assertion, we dismiss it 
 in the language of logicians — " Quod gratis asserituv, gratis 
 negatur!' 
 
 Moreover, he declares that it cannot be " too emphatically 
 repeated, that there are no ' Apostolic Fathers ' except the 
 apostles." Now this averment is also gratuitous, and as no 
 proof is adduced, it would be idle to delay in reply. Mere 
 declamation is unworthy of an answer. 
 
 The Duke now, in his discursive way, turns to consider 
 the claims of a religious life. He says "the life of St. 
 Columba is of special value in enabling us to judge of the 
 intervals that elapsed between certain waves of opinion, 
 which at successive periods were propelled from the ancient 
 centres of Christendom, and which each in turn finally over- 
 spread the whole." 
 
 " The belief in the virtues of a monastic life was one of 
 these. The idea of it was indeed older than Christianity. 
 Jn the far East, many centuries before the Christian era. 
 Buddhism had devoted its thousands to dreamy contempla- 
 
 1—2 
 
4 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 tion. It had found a home also among the sects of Judaism, 
 and the description given b}^ Pliny of the Essenes who re- 
 tired to the deserts of the Dead Sea, seems almost as if it 
 had been drawn from the monks of a later age." 
 
 " In the earliest records of the Church, which are the 
 records of the New Testament, we hear nothing of it. The 
 community of property practised among the few first disci- 
 ples, and the command addressed to the young man of great 
 possessions to sell all and to follow Christ, have indeed been 
 quoted as the beginning of, and the authority for, the life of 
 monks, and certainly if it were true that Christ's life in any 
 way resembled that life, then indeed in the command to 
 follow Him we might see the authority to become an 
 Anchoret or a Cenobite. But there does seem to be an 
 essential difference between the life of Him who went about 
 doing good, and of whom his enemies complained that He 
 ' ate and drank with publicans and sinners,' and the life of 
 men, who stood on the tops of pillars, or hid themselves in 
 the dens of wild beasts." 
 
 We have given this extract in its fulness to show all that the 
 noble writer could say. With reference to the first paragraph, 
 we shall afterwards consider more in detail the celibate and 
 ascetic life of St. Columba, while at present we have simply 
 to remark that " certain waves " of opinion have been " pro- 
 pelled " from the centre of unity, for the immediate establish- 
 ment of a religious community in Argyllshire, and that after 
 the Jesuit type, in the romantic hamlet of Oban ! 
 
 In the second paragraph we waive the consideration of 
 Buddhism and Judaism, and the Essenes, as being extra 
 qusestionem — as well as the Bonzes in China, and the Grand 
 Lama in Tartary ! 
 
 The third paragraph we have now to consider, and before 
 touching on the records of the New Testament, and the 
 counsel of our Blessed Lord to the young man of the Gospel, 
 let us look to the life of Christ himself Is it not true that 
 he himself first began to do, and then to teach ? Is it not 
 true that he practised the evangelical counsels of poverty, 
 chastity, and obedience ? Is it not true that J esus went 
 
Plea for the Monies oj- Old. 
 
 5 
 
 down to Nazarefli with his holy mother Mary and his re- 
 puted father Joseph, and was subject to them ? Is it not 
 true that for the first thirty years of his life he lived in 
 poverty and retirement, and thus lived the life, so to speak, 
 of a cenobite with them, while when he retired into the 
 desert, he lived the life of an anchoret ? During thirty years 
 his life was more or less contemplative, and for three years 
 only was it specially active. Thus then the divine example 
 serves to confirm the argument which it was intended to 
 invalidate, and thus does it prove that our Blessed Lord 
 must especially bless the life of the religious, — since he 
 exemplified it in his own person. 
 
 The great precursor of our Dear Lord prepared himself 
 for his evangelical ministrations by leading an eremitical 
 life. He retired at an early age into the wilderness ; he 
 subjected himself to the most rigorous acts of self-denial ; 
 he practised the penance which he was to preach. His gar- 
 ment was made of camel's hair ; a leathern belt encircled his 
 loins ; his food was locusts and wild honey ; his drink was 
 the mountain stream ; his bed was the earth ; his pillow was 
 the stone ; his roof- tree, the azure canopy of Heaven ! His 
 life was so intensely pure, that it became the theme of divine 
 commendation ; no greater had been born of woman. For 
 this is he of whom it is written, " Behold I send my angel 
 before thy face to prepare thy way before thee." 
 
 But let us take up more pointedly the hap-hazard assertion 
 of the illustrious writer, and examine his own very words. 
 "In the earliest records of the Church, which are the records 
 of the New Testament, we hear nothing of it," viz., a monastic 
 life. " The community of property practised among the few 
 first disciples, and the command addressed to the young man 
 of great possessions to sell all and to follow Christ, have 
 indeed been quoted as the beginning of, and the authority 
 for, the life of monks." Well, the records of the New Testa- 
 ment remind us that the primitive Christians held their 
 possessions in common, and that each one received what was 
 necessary for food and raiment and was content. They re- 
 mind us also of the exhortation given to the young man — "If 
 
6 The Monks of lona and the Luke of Argyll. 
 
 thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, give it to the 
 poor, and come follow me." Surely then the example of the 
 primitive Christians and the recommendation of the Evan- 
 gelical counsels are more than sufficient to demolish the 
 Duke's ingenious sophistry — more than sufficient to justify 
 the establishment of reliojious communities, whose aim is to 
 aspire to perfection by the strict observance of their vows — 
 voluntary poverty, perpetual chastity, and entire obedience ; 
 and who as a general rule endeavour to combine the active 
 life with the contemplative. 
 
 From the cJu'onicles of the New Testament, let us pass to 
 "the earliest records of the Church," and we shall find 
 countless holy souls, who sought after their sanctification 
 by retiring from the world, and yet who neither "stood 
 upon the tops of pillars, nor hid themselves in the dens of 
 wild beasts !" There are, no doubt, certain acts of the 
 Saints which, for ordinary mortals, are more to be admired 
 than imitated. Such are the acts of St. Simeon Stylites 
 and his pillar, and St. Anthonj^ of the desert and his wild 
 beasts. But surely one would seem to have little apprecia- 
 tion of a religious life who can write with satrre about 
 self-denial, and can take exception to men and women relin- 
 quishing the passing blandishments of time, for the lasting 
 enjoyments of eternity; and one would appear to have 
 little knowledge of Christian mortification, who could write 
 that "the laws of nature cannot with impunity be dis- 
 obeyed," when the fact is, that human nature is so corrupt 
 that it must be disobeyed ! The Great Apostle of the 
 Gentiles ran counter to human natui'e — he disobeyed the 
 " laws of nature with impunity." He chastised his body, 
 and brought it into subjection, "lest while he preached to 
 others, he himself should become a castaway." But the 
 austerity of the Gospel maxims, appears now-a-days out of 
 date in some parts of Ai'gyllshire, if not in sundry fashion- 
 able quarters of North and South Britain ! 
 
 Let us then go back to the days of old — let us look to 
 scriptui'al e^-idences, as example is said to be more powerful 
 than precept — let us look to the Prophets, and we shall 
 
Plea for the Monhs of Old. 
 
 7 
 
 "behold Elias flying from the moral contagion of Israel, and 
 leading the life of the celibate and the anchoret of the desert 
 upon the banks of the Jordan. But upon those banks we 
 find, as already said, the most unsullied chastity exempli- 
 fied ; we find the Precursor of our Blessed Lord, St. John 
 the Baptist, who was also a virgin and an ascetic ; we find 
 our Lord's mother, who was pre-ordained from all eternity, 
 to bring forth the Saviour of men, — yet who was the lily of 
 the valley, and the purest of virgins ; we find our Lord 
 himself leading a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience ; 
 we find the dearly-beloved disciple, St. John the Evangelist 
 — the Eagle of the Gospel — who was privileged to lean his 
 head on the bosom of Jesus the night before He suffered, 
 leading a life of virginal purity ; we find that from the 
 Cross of Calvary, the virgin Jesus committed his virgin 
 mother Mary to the special care of his virgin disciple, St. 
 John. We find in the Book of the Apocalypse mention 
 made of the hundred and forty-four thousand virgins who 
 never were defiled — v/ho were bought from amongst men 
 — who sing the new Canticle, which none but they dare 
 ,sing, and who " follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth !" 
 Yet all these " disobeyed the laws of nature !" 
 
 But there are other noteworthy facts at hand. When the 
 Fishermen of Galilee were invited to follow their divine 
 master, they declared " Lord, we have left all things," which 
 necessarily included their wives ; for it is positively stated 
 that they never afterwards cohabited with them. The very 
 words of Simon Peter are — " Behold, we have left all things, 
 and have followed thee : what, therefore, shall we have V 
 Jesus said unto them — " Amen, I say to you, every one thp.t 
 hath left house, or wife, or land, for my name's sake, shall 
 receive a hundred-fold, and shall possess life everlasting." 
 Here, then, there is the reward promised, and to this reward 
 the religious man and woman ought constantly to aspire ! 
 
 Our non-Catholic fellowmen profess profound admiration 
 for the Apostle of the Gentiles. They seem to prefer St. 
 Paul, for obvious reasons, to St. Peter. Let us, then, borrow 
 a leaf out of his book, or rather let us make an extract from 
 
8 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 his First Epistle to the Corinthians, Chapter vii. ; we shall see 
 if the AjDOstle's recommendation does not amply sustain the 
 virginal position of the Monks of Old, while it is calculated 
 to silence, or, if possible, to put to shame the absurd clamour 
 against clerical celibacy. The language is so plain, that it 
 dispenses with all commentary. St. Paul there says : — 
 
 "I would that all men were even as myself ; but every 
 one hath his proper gift from God — one after this manner^ 
 and another after that. But I say to the unmarried, and to 
 the widows, it is good for them if they so continue, even as- 
 I. But if they do not contain themselves, let them marry. 
 Now concernincr virgins, I have no commandment of the 
 Lord; but I give counsel, as having obtained mercy of the 
 Lord, to be faithful. If a virgin marry she hath not sinned : 
 nevertheless, such shall have tribulation of the flesh. . . 
 But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is 
 without a wife is solicitous for the things that belong to the 
 Lord, how he may please God. But he that is with a wife 
 is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please 
 his wife^ and he is divided." 
 
 In regard to this plain speaking of the great Apostle of 
 the Gentiles, we abstain from comment, as any unnecessary 
 observation might weaken what is so emphatically strong, 
 St. Paul's words, however, gain additional corroboration 
 from the counsel which our Blessed Lord has added to his 
 own example. He praised the virginal life as something- 
 approximating nearer to heaven than the married life — as- 
 something more single-hearted and single-minded, and 
 therefore as something more resembling the purity of the 
 angels. In a conversation which he held with the Pharisees,, 
 our Lord declared that in heaven there will be neither 
 taking nor giving in marriage. Thereupon, the Disciples 
 observed — " If the case of a man with his wife be so, it is 
 not expedient to marry." Christ immediately rejoined — 
 
 All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given. 
 For there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs 
 for the kingdom of heaven. — Qui potest capere, caj)iat. He 
 that can take it, let him take it." 
 
Plea for the Monks of Old. 
 
 9 
 
 Let it not be imagined that, while as in duty bound, and 
 from the necessity of our argument, we are obliged to speak 
 in the most glowing terms of the virginal life, that we 
 should thereupon seem to depreciate the matrimonial state I 
 Tliis would be an egregious mistake, because in the Catholic 
 Church matrimony is highly dignified — it is one of the 
 seven sacraments of the New law, and it confers upon the 
 worthy recipients the necessary graces. Virginity is, no 
 doubt, an exceptional state intended for comparatively few. 
 Matrimony, on the other hand, is the ordinary condition for 
 mankind, and it was raised to the dignity of a sacrament 
 at the marriage of Cana, where Christ wrought his first 
 miracle. The state of the religious is the fulfilling of the 
 evangelical counsels — voluntary poverty — perpetual chastity 
 — entire obedience. Under the Christian dispensation, there 
 are counsels as well as commands. Commands are impera- 
 tive, — " if thou wilt enter into life, keep the command- 
 ments." Counsels are merely hortative, and may or may 
 not be accepted. " If thou wilt be perfect — go — sell — give." 
 
 This diff'erence is most clearly drawn out in the conversa- 
 tion which our Lord held with the young man mentioned 
 in the Gospel. He had come to Jesus and had made the 
 inquiry — " Good Master, what good shall I do, that I may 
 have life everlasting ?" Our Lord immediately replies — " If 
 thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." . . . 
 The young man rejoins — " All these have I kept from my 
 youth ; what is yet wanting to m.e T Jesus saith to him — 
 "If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast and give to 
 the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven : and come, 
 follow me." 
 
 Here then are shadowed forth the three evangelical 
 counsels — to denude oneself of temporal possessions — to lead 
 a life of purity after the example of Christ and his disciples,, 
 and to be obedient to him, as he was to his Eternal Father. 
 This recommendation of the Gospel counsels on the part of 
 our Lord, proves not only their perfection, but their practi- 
 cability. They conduce to perfection, and thus commanded 
 they are within the range not only of possibility but of 
 
10 
 
 Tlie Monka of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 practice. If then these counsels were recommended in the 
 Apostolic time, it is most natural to suppose that they must 
 liave been practised. Practised, decidedly they were, as we 
 may gather from the Acts of the Apostles. In that record of 
 Apostolic acts, we read that when St. Paul and St. Luke came 
 to C^esarea — " Entering into the house of Philip the Evan- 
 gelist, who was one of the seven, we abode with him. And 
 he had four daughters, virgins, who did prophesy." Thus 
 the virgin daughters of Philip were engaged in prophesying, 
 and thus consecrated to the service of reliction. 
 
 But let us add another Scriptural passage, which 
 strengthens our position, and illustrates the perfection of the 
 virginal life. In the second epistle to the Corinthians, St. 
 Paul employs a peculiar figure of speech, which would be 
 devoid of meaning, if not founded upon a recognized fact. 
 The spiritual nuptials of Christ, with every consecrated 
 virgin, he compares to the union of the Church of Corinth 
 with God. Thus does he write to the Corinthians — " I am 
 jealous of you, with the jealousy of God. For I have 
 espoused you to one husband — a chaste virgin unto Christ." 
 
 Without detaining by referring to other passages of Holy 
 Writ, permit a quotation from the great bishop and martyr 
 St. Cyprian, who in the third century dedicated a treatise 
 to the virgin spouses of Christ. Thus did he say — Now do 
 we turn our discourse to the viro^ins, over whom our care is 
 all the greater as their glory is more sublime .... no 
 husband is over you, but your Lord and Head is Christ ; 
 your condition is the same as his." 
 
 Tertullian, speaking of virgins consecrated to Christ, says 
 — in his book Ad Uxorem — " They prefer holiness to 
 husbands ; they choose their espousals with God ; they love 
 to be the Lord's handmaids, and to be only beautiful in his 
 eyes, conversing with him night and day, and giving him 
 their prayers for dowries." 
 
 Let this then suffice by way of a very humble apology, for 
 the UTcat and good Monks of the olden time, since our own 
 time presses, and we must needs hurry on. 
 
APPEAL OF THE MONKS OF lONA, AGAINST 
 " MEDIAEVAL SUPERSTITION." 
 
 The republication, then, during last month by the Duke of 
 Argyll of his now much applauded work on lona, induces 
 us to analyze its contents and to scan its beauties and its 
 blemishes. These, it is true, may be found in almost every 
 production, since in every volume there may be much to 
 admire, as well as to condemn. Such is undeniably the 
 •case in the present exquisitely written book. In it there 
 is much worthy of commendation, but there is some- 
 thing which is decidedly objectionable, because it is so 
 gratuitously offensive. The island of lona, which has for 
 his Grace traditional, and for us national and religious 
 associations, would indeed seem to be the most harm- 
 less subject, and one which might be descanted upon 
 in the most unexceptionable way. It might have been 
 regarded as neutral ground, upon which persons of all creeds, 
 or of no creed, could stand together in social fellowship, 
 ^nd breathe that air of " peace to men of good will," of 
 which the atmosphere in former days was redolent, and 
 which the good monks went forth from their cloister and 
 their choir to diffuse through the mountains and glens of 
 Caledonia, as well as through the plains and vales of Northern 
 Anglia. lona, indeed, seemed to be at least one holy spot 
 in the British Isles, which should not be desecrated by the 
 irreverent charge of " mediaeval superstition !" lona appeared 
 the oasis in the surrounding spiritual wilderness, from which 
 the thorny point of polemical warfare should have been studi- 
 ously eliminated. Yet it has unfortunately happened that his 
 Grace of Argyll has compromised his ducal dignity as well as 
 his official position by condescending to language which is 
 unwarrantable, and which is at variance with his usual good 
 taste and judgment, when he speaks of " mediaeval supersti- 
 
12 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 tion, and the corrupt monotony of mediasval Romanism." It 
 would however seem that the venerable memorials of past 
 ages are not even as yet sufficiently appreciated by some per- 
 sons of high social standing, as well as of education and 
 refinement — nay, that they are misunderstood as well as. 
 misrepresented. 
 
 But in truth it cannot be matter of surprise, that they 
 who are strangers to the old Faith of Christendom, should 
 ever and anon misinterpret the Doctrines and the Traditions 
 of the Ancient Church. Just as in former days the Doctrines 
 of the Ancient Church provoked the sneers of the Roman 
 senator, so in the present day the Traditions of the Ancient 
 Church have elicited the derision of the British Peer. 
 
 In the first century of the Christian era, the Doctrines of 
 the Church were denounced as an imina superstitio, and in 
 the nineteenth century the Traditions of the Church are 
 stigmatised as " mediaeval superstition." 
 
 In the first century virginity was laughed to scorn by the 
 lecherous pagans of Greece and Rome, the burden of whose: 
 song was — " Carpe diem !" — " Obey the laws of nature ! !" 
 
 In the nineteenth century the self-denying rules of St.. 
 Columba of lona are reprobated, because, forsooth, " the laws- 
 of nature cannot with impunity be disobeyed while the 
 life-long labours of his monks are wantonly decried, for 
 having left to posterity " monuments of the dull and often 
 the corrupt monotony of mediseval Romanism !" 
 
 By way of answering the first of these charges, the Chris- 
 tian religion tells us, that " the laws of nature must be dis- 
 obeyed," because it is rebellious, and that they who belong 
 to Christ have " crucified their flesh, with its vices and con- 
 cupiscences." In reply to the second, we shall let the old 
 stones answer — let the "monuments of mediaeval Romanism " 
 tell their own tale — let them speak out trumpet-tongued ! 
 
 Surely his Grace of Argyll ought to know, that the fasci- 
 nations of lona are by no manner of means attributable to 
 the present ducal proprietor. They are by no means 
 attributable to the climate, nor to the soil, nor to the rocks, 
 nor to the neighbouring mountains ; they are not attribut- 
 
Appeal of the Monks of lona. 
 
 13 
 
 able to modern architecture ; they are not, therefore, attribut- 
 able to any natural or artificial, but rather to a supernatural, 
 nay, to a celestial agency ! The priceless charms of lona 
 ■are to be ascribed to the incomparable genius of the Catholic 
 religion, which his Grace of Argyll sets down as " mediseval 
 ;superstition and the matchless treasures of lona are to be 
 .ascribed to those devoted men, whose hearts throbbed with 
 tliat heaven-born religion, and whose hands erected to God 
 those beauteous structures which are, forsooth, " the monu- 
 ments of the dull and often corrupt monotony of mediaeval 
 Eomanism !" 
 
 May we be permitted to ask, if it be not true — let us, for 
 the sake of Christian politeness, lay aside the terms, 
 " mediseval superstition, and mediaeval Romanism," when 
 we find, that at the present time many of the most devo- 
 tional and intellectual spirits of the day are seeking for 
 .safety to their souls by entering the communion of the 
 ancient Church ! — is it not true, that it was the religion of 
 the middle ages which alone has thrown the halo of glory 
 around the isle of lona, as well as the isle of Lindisfarne ? 
 Is it not true, that it was the chivalrous religion of the so- 
 called "dark ages" which has lent the enchantment of 
 romance to the now ivy-covered abbeys of Pluscardine, 
 Arbroath, Dunfermline, and Melrose — which summoned into 
 existence those magnificent cathedrals of Kirkwall, St. 
 Andrews, Aberdeen, and Glasgow, not to speak of Salisbury, 
 Winchester, York, and Westminster, of which Scotland and 
 England are so justly proud, and which we, with all our 
 boasted progress and pretentious civilization, are unwilling, 
 if not unable, to rival ? 
 
 Assuredly it is unstatesmaiilike to pander to bigotry — it 
 is unscholarlike to mingle polemics with letters — it is in- 
 congruous to combine archaeology with controversy — it is alien 
 to the man of travel to be bandying questionable names upon 
 religionists, when those who do so, live themselves in glass 
 houses, and should not therefore throw stones ! Hence it is 
 egregiously unwise to conjure up the phantom of " mediaeval 
 superstition," and thus to disturb from their slumbers the 
 
14 The Monks of lona and the Luke of Argyll 
 
 never-to-be-forgotten " mummeries of superstition," which 
 have been sleeping the sleep of death in the caves of Woburn 
 Abbey since the so-called Papal aggression — while it is pre- 
 posterous to upbraid, from the Castle of Inverary, the saintly 
 spirits of lona with bequeathing to posterity " monuments 
 of the dull and corrupt monotony of mediaeval Romanism !" 
 
 Talk of mediseval Romanism " — of " mediaeval supersti- 
 tion " forsooth ! — and this by no less a personage than the 
 literary and intellectual Duke of Argyll ! Here we may 
 be permitted to rehearse a brief conversation which is 
 reported to have taken place between two eminent men,, 
 who had been both members of the Society of Friends. 
 The incident is so striking and so much to the point, that it 
 is not necessary to apologize for passing from "grave to 
 gay." One of these gentlemen, after deep deliberation and 
 fervent prayer, became a convert to the Catholic Church. 
 The reasons which induced him to take this important step 
 he published to the world, which have ever been regarded 
 as perfectly unanswerable. These two distinguished indivi- 
 duals were brothers-in-law, and both at different periods be- 
 came Members of Pai'liament. John Bright was the one,. 
 Frederick Lucas was the other. On the reception of the 
 latter into the Church — ive say Clmrch, because there is only- 
 one — the former is said to have thus accosted him : " Well, 
 friend Lucas, pray tell me how does the old superstition 
 get on T "Ah ! friend Bright, I tell thee, and to thy teeth, 
 infinitely better than the new hypocrisy 1" 
 
 The Great Tribune of the people was petrified with the 
 answer ! He, who in his popular orations could sway the 
 masses, and by his rich and racy elocution could electrify th& 
 British Senate, was thunderstruck with the reply, and would 
 not venture again to sport his joke about old or mediceval 
 superstition ! 
 
 It may not then be out of place to ask, did the Duke of 
 Argyll take really into account how much is implied when 
 he had the questionable taste to speak of the mediaeval 
 superstition of the monks of lona ? Is not this so-called 
 mediaeval superstition, in other words, the religion of the 
 
Aiipeal of the Monks of lona. 
 
 15 
 
 middle ages ? Is it not then the self-same as the ancient 
 religion of Christendom ? Is it not, therefore, the first mani- 
 festation of that celestial religious fire which was to be en- 
 kindled and to illuminate the whole earth — the first emana- 
 tion of those pure waters which were to flow from the very 
 fountain of the Divinity, and to cover the globe ? Was not 
 this mediaeval, or rather primal religion, born in Heaven — 
 the fair daughter of the great King — and was it not to have 
 followers as numerous as the stars in the firmament, or as- 
 the leaves upon the trees ? Did it not then descend from 
 the throne of the Most High — was it not borne on angels' 
 wings when the gladdening tidings of the Saviour's 
 birth were announced to the Shepherds, who in the moun- 
 tains of Judea kept the night-watches over their flocks? 
 Was it not signalized at the same time by the apparition of 
 the extraordinary star to the Kings of the East ? Was it 
 not afterwards preached by Christ and propagated by his 
 Apostles ? Was it not proclaimed by St. Peter in the 
 Roman Forum, and by St. Paul in the Athenian Areopagus ? 
 Did it lead captive the most illustrious sages — the 
 poets, the orators, the academicians, the philosophers of 
 Rome, of Egypt, and of Greece ? Did it not urge on 
 myriads of martyrs to expose themselves in the amphi- 
 theatres, to be devoured by wild beasts, and thus to give 
 their very hearts' blood for the boundless love of their cruci- 
 fied Redeemer ? Did it not stimulate the young virgin and 
 the young man of high and low degree, to long for the sword 
 of the executioner, that professing the Christian faith they 
 might rush to the enjoyment of that endless bliss which 
 awaited them beyond the grave ? Did it not convert the 
 Emperor Constantine, when he left, it may be said. Old Rome 
 as an inalienable legacy to the Roman Pontiff* — which is now 
 enchained by the Revolution — and went forth to found a 
 new Rome at Constantinople ? Did it not bring to a know- 
 ledge of Christianity every king, and prince, and tribe, and 
 people ? Did it not diffuse the light of Catholic truth 
 among the nations sitting " in darkness and in the shadows 
 of death ?" Did it not send the Roman monk Augustine to 
 
16 The Monhs of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 England, as well as the Roman monk Palladius to Scotland, 
 to Christianize the warlike natives of North and Soutli 
 Britain ? Has it not alone, therefore. Christianized the four 
 quarters of the globe, and Australasia besides ? Has it not 
 founded its charitable institutions for every disease which 
 can afflict mankind ? and has it not inspired men and 
 women in every walk of life, to sacrifice themselves as 
 victims on the altar of holocausts for the sake of suffering 
 humanity ? It would be tedious to enter into details with 
 respect to the religious orders ; but in contradistinction to 
 the efforts of modern religionists, by way of comparison 
 with the abortive evangelizing of Bible societies, which send 
 forth missionaries armed with wives and nurses and such 
 unevangelical accompaniments, does not this mediaeval 
 — this primal religion — send forth her anointed celibate 
 ministers — like the Roman monks that landed in Kent 
 with crucifix in hand, and the benison of heaven on their 
 heads — single-hearted priests, who can address themselves to 
 every class of the community ; to the poor and to the rich, to 
 the ignorant and to the learned, to the mechanic in his work- 
 shop and to the gentleman in his club, to the husbandman in 
 his cottage and to the courtier in his castle ; who can speak 
 the same truths to the high and to the low, to the peasant 
 and to the prince, to the House of Commons as to the 
 House of Lords, and who can proclaim in language not to be 
 misunderstood, that as there is but one God in Heaven, 
 there is only one religion of God upon earth ! Yes, this old 
 religion, which was all but banished from the land for three 
 hundred years, is being welcomed back again in North and 
 South Britain, and is already knocking at the doors of the 
 Cathedral Church of Glasgow, and is all but admitted within 
 the Gates of its own gorgeous temple of Westminster ! 
 
 Surely it is time to be just, if not generous — it is time for 
 the minister of the Indian Office, even in his literary lucu- 
 brations, to be more diplomatic in writing respecting the 
 religion of so many millions of her Majesty's Catholic sub- 
 jects. It is more than time for the MacCallum More of 
 Argyll to emancipate himself from the thraldom of early pre- 
 
Aiipeal of the Monks of lona. 17 
 
 possessions, to cast to the winds all narrow-minded preju- 
 dices, to give more scope to liis large heart and noble intel- 
 lect, to view religion and morality through the supernatural 
 rather than the mere natural medium — to range in a field 
 enamelled with Christian flowers, instead of one which is 
 literally bristling with Calvinistic thistles ; to enter upon 
 an earnest investigation of that grand old faith which, for a 
 thousand years and more, was the faith of the kings and 
 princes and people of Scotland — that faith in which they 
 lived and died and were saved, that faith which, despite 
 every unsavoury appellative, is, and shall for ever continue 
 to be, the imperishable faith of Catholic Christendom ! Were 
 this only done, were the Duke of Argyll to examine dispas- 
 sionately the doctrines and the discipline of the ancient 
 Church, it is very possible — for miracles have not ceased — 
 that the pen which he can wield so well would be employed 
 to defend what he now unwittingly condemns. Then would 
 he be led to embrace what he now so indignantly repudi- 
 ates. Then would he also be induced to write, like the great 
 oratorian of Edgbaston, his " Apologia, pro vita sua." Then 
 would he reply, as did the French savant to the taunts of 
 his foolish friends, " I believe, because I have examined — 
 examine in your turn, and you will believe with me !" For 
 he would then see that truth, being one and indivisible, 
 must not be torn in shreds — that truth must be preserved 
 intact and entire, that it cannot become fractional or frag- 
 mentary, that it cannot submit to division or laceration — 
 that Christian truth, in the judgment of reason and religion, 
 must stand or fall together — that it must be accepted or re- 
 jected as a whole — that Christian revelation being essen- 
 tially true, must be essentially one, and that therefore it 
 must be committed to the guardianship of one true, living, 
 unerring, teaching Church of Christ. This Christian revela- 
 tion must therefore be received or discarded by men in its 
 entirety, it cannot be taken in parts, it refuses to be divided. 
 It must stand or fall together. " He that is not for me is 
 against me." There is no via media in religion. One must 
 pass to the right or to the left. There is no medium be- 
 
 2 
 
18 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 tween divine faith and human opinion ; there is no union 
 between light and darkness ; there is no alternative between 
 accepting or rejecting the entire system of Christian revela- 
 tion. Consequently, there is no logical mid-way between 
 Roman Catholicity, on ' the one hand, and universal scep- 
 ticism on the other. 
 
 " Prove to me," said Rousseau, " that Christianity is true, 
 and that moment I declare myself a Catholic." Bossuet 
 said, " The same motives which I have to be a Christian I 
 have to be a Catholic ;" and Fenelon declares, " No Catholic, 
 no Christian." All are right and unanswerable in their argu- 
 mentation. There is no escaping the horns of the dilemma, 
 either a Catholic or an Infidel I If Christianity be true, it 
 must be true under every phase ; it cannot admit the admix- 
 ture of error ; it is the gold which is pure and without alloy ; 
 it must therefore be one, for truth is one, and not multiform. 
 Consequently it must be accepted or rejected in its entirety. 
 Hence all modern religious creeds cannot stand the test of 
 an inexorable logic. They positively decline to be weighed 
 in the scales of the sanctuary. They tremble, and therefore 
 shut their eyes to the inevitable ultimatum. They feel that 
 they are in a false ^^osition ; their policy is not to be dis- 
 turbed ; they want to enjoy life^ as it is said, to ]nake the 
 most of this world, and to face the other when it comes ! 
 
 These so-called religious creeds, we contend, are an illogical 
 compromise between truth and falsehood ; they try to halt 
 between the two extremes of right and wrong ; they attempt 
 to blend elements which are mutually repelling, and to unite 
 personages — Christ and Belial — who are eternally conflicting. 
 The unhappy religious systems of the sixteenth century are 
 fast hastening to their end. In Germany, where they were 
 hatched, a wide-spread school of rationalism, as opposed to 
 revelation, has diflused its poison, which seems to say, 
 " Either the old religion or none — either the total acceptance 
 or rejection of Christianity — for that there is no stepping- 
 stone between being a Catholic and a Latitudinarian !" 
 Protestantism as a system no longer exists. The idea is 
 simply historical. Its body is dead — it never had a soul ! 
 
ANCIENT CHRISTIAN ARCHEOLOGY, AND 
 MODERN ANGLICAN RITUALISM. 
 
 Christian antiquities, at the present moment, are monopo- 
 lizing a large amount of public attention. Without tarrying 
 to write a dissertation upon aesthetics, which may be regarded 
 as the beautiful material manifestation of pure Catholic 
 art, or to expatiate upon antiquities in general, which 
 are all, without exception, Catholic, we may state in parti- 
 cular, that the monastic ruins of the far-famed isle of lona are 
 at length claiming their legitimate share of consideration, and 
 are now all but enforcing the necessity of Government inter- 
 ference to save them from further decay. The London and 
 provincial press, while speaking in indignant terms of the 
 " Vandalism " in lona, and of the sad consequences of lament- 
 able neglect, have directed special notice to a well-digested 
 paper which was read, Dec. 12, 1870, in Edinburgh, before 
 the Society of Antiquaries, upon " Early Monumental Art 
 in the West Highlands," by Mr. James Drummond, R.S.A., 
 and which was reported in the " Scotsman " on the follow- 
 ing day. 
 
 This very circumstance of the daily-increasing interest 
 in Christian archaeology is abundantly significant, and full 
 of happy augury. It reveals an improved state of the 
 public mind, and leads to the hope of the dawn of better 
 days. It is not only by word, but by fact, that our fellowmen 
 in England, and in Scotland too, have begun to study some- 
 thing more than mere Christian antiquities, that they have 
 begun to test the character of Christian aesthetics, that they 
 are no longer content to view the outside of religion, but that 
 they must penetrate within — that they are no longer satis- 
 fied with contemplating the old walls of our venerable 
 cathedrals and ivy- covered abbeys, but that they are push- 
 
 2—2 
 
20 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 ing their inquiries after the doctrines that were preached, 
 and the sacraments that were administered, and the sacrifice 
 that was immolated in the parish church, and the village 
 chapel, during the glorious ages of the faith of our fathers. 
 
 But this is not all, for many of the clergy are taking another 
 step decidedly in advance. They are endeavouring to model 
 their religious services according to the full-blown Roman 
 type. Urged on by the high tide of religious sentiment 
 which has now set in, as well as by their own better feelings, 
 they are cultivating religious art, to a marvellous extent. 
 No longer can they endure the cold and vapid worship as 
 by law established, which has completely lost its hold of 
 pious minds ; they must have something which is warm and 
 animated, something which is imposing and attractive, some- 
 thing that shall touch the heart and impress the soul. No 
 longer can they themselves endure to be regarded as mere 
 state functionaries, as sheer stipendiaries of an institution 
 founded not by the law of heaven, but by the law of the 
 land. They must need rise up to a higher level, and 
 stand upon a nobler platform ; they must assert, but in 
 vain, the prerogatives of Christian churchmen ; they 
 must declare, but to no purpose, that they are the 
 " messengers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries 
 of God !" No longer can they endure to be the butt of lay 
 dictation, to be under the supervision of every Low-Church, 
 Broad-Church, or rather, no-Church warden — to be controlled 
 by the Court of Arches, and concussed by her Majesty's 
 Privy Council. They must proclaim — but it is all moon- 
 shine — the freedom of the gospel, and that they, forsooth, 
 are the lineal successors of the apostles ! Hence they must 
 retrace their steps, but at imminent peril of being silenced, 
 Rome wards, and they must assimilate their services in 
 accordance with the Roman model 1 They must adopt 
 the rites of the Roman Ritual, introduce the feasts and 
 fasts of the Roman Calendar, propound the doctrines of the 
 Apostolic and Roman Church. They must describe all this 
 religious acting and teaching, as primitive and Catholic, but 
 not Roman — and they must protest against Romanism as 
 
Ancient Christian Archceology, (&c. 
 
 21 
 
 well as against Protestantism ! Hence they no longer can 
 tolerate the negative designation, "Protestant;" they must, 
 " per fas aut nefas," be affirmative — they must be out-and- 
 out Catholic. Catholics must be Romanists, or by courtesy, 
 " Roman " Catholics ! They must, therefore, in their lately- 
 fledged zeal, be more Catholic than the Catholics themselves. 
 They must outstrip the quiet old religionists of eighteen 
 hundred years' standing, and in this sensational age, they 
 must create by their recently adopted rites, the most extra- 
 ordinary sensation ! 
 
 No longer are they therefore content with weekly, they 
 must have daily services ; they must have so many fast days 
 and feast days, so many, and so varied, Ritualistic observances. 
 They must have so multiform religious emblems at the Church 
 door, and so diversified decorations on the chiirch walls. 
 They must have so many lamps burning in the sanctuary ; 
 so many candles lighted at the altar ; so many celebrations 
 during the mo]'ning ; so imposing vesper services in the after- 
 noon. They must have divers confessionals, with the names 
 of the confessors emblazoned, due notice being given that 
 confessions shall be heard on Fridays and Saturdays, as well 
 as on the vigils of all Feasts. They must still have so many 
 genuflections, despite the Court of Arches, and such profound 
 prostrations, in defiance of the Privy Council. They must have 
 fuming of the sweetest incense, and such ringing of the altar 
 bell, and the vesper bell, and the angelus bell, and, doubtless, 
 by-and-bye, of the curfew bell ! They must have beauti- 
 fully organized processions, headed by the cross-bearers, 
 composed of guilds, and societies, and confraternities, and 
 sisterhoods and brotherhoods, with banners aloft, and vocal 
 and instrumental music, all which have utterly astounded 
 " our own correspondents," and taken the city of London by 
 surprise, if not by a holy kind of violence ! 
 
 Now it must in very truth be said, that those rites, how- 
 ever admirable — those religious demonstrations, however 
 beautiful in themselves — nay desirable in public worship, 
 when legitimately employed, are by no means congenial 
 to the nature of the Anglican Establishment which repels 
 
22 The Monks of Jona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 them, moreover condemns them, by the law officials, and 
 which declares that they who use them do so at their peril ; 
 and that they are guilty of a high crime and misdemeanour 
 against the Church of England. For these Ritualistic cere- 
 monials are altogether alien to the National Church, as they 
 are unmeaning in that Church's service ; they are counterfeit 
 imitations of the Catholic and Roman Ritual. They are not 
 the current coin of the Anglican religious realm ; they are 
 not in " use and wont " in the various temples of their fellow 
 religionists. They are no doubt so far successful endeavours 
 in the aesthetic order, but they are transparent fallacies ; 
 they are nugatory efforts in the supernatural order, to dress 
 out the corse of the Anglican religion, and to try to re- 
 suscitate the body, when the soul has fled ; they are dis- 
 ingenuous devices in the mystical order, to employ those 
 spasmodic influences by way of inducing the simple-minded 
 to believe that there is after all some spark of life in that 
 religious system, by laiu established, when in reality there is 
 nothing but death and decomposition ! 
 
 For these Ritualistic Churchmen seem to lay the flattering 
 unction to their souls, that the Anglican Establishment is a 
 brancli of the old Catholic tree — this theory being long ago 
 exploded — or at all events, that the Anglican Church is in a 
 very long trance, from which she must be stirred by certain 
 rites and exorcisms ; that from this lethargy she must be 
 aroused by sound of trumpets, and beat of drums, and all 
 kinds of instrumental accompaniments, as well as by the 
 most imposing processional appliances ; that men must at 
 length know and acknowledge that the Ano-lican Church 
 
 O O CD 
 
 is the Church of the people— the Church for the people, 
 and that, therefore, her services must be so imposing and 
 demonstrative as to make the most solemn impression on 
 the people ! 
 
 We have put the hypothetical case strongly, and we have 
 referred to the measures resorted to, in order that by 
 appealing to the senses, the public mind and heart may be 
 dexterously influenced. 
 
 We would regret indeed if what we write should appear 
 
Ancient Christian ArcJiceology, <&;c. 
 
 23 
 
 to be exaggerated in description, but the Examiner, 
 January 7tli, 1871, bears us out iu reporting what took place 
 the previous Sunday afternoon at St. Alban's, Holborn. 
 " The selection from the ' Messiah,' accompanied by trum- 
 pets, drums, and fiddles, was harmless enough ; but after it 
 occurred a procession of the six guilds, established to pro- 
 mote the ' growth of a Christian life among their members, 
 more especially the graces of Truth, Purity, Godliness, a.nd 
 Courage.' Five hundred and more true and courageous 
 persons took part in it. Incense bearers and acolytes, ban- 
 ners of the Sacred Heart and of the Blessed Sacrament, 
 superiors in embroidered surplices and white satin vest- 
 ments, sisters of mercy and veiled virgins walked" thus 
 in solemn procession. This graphic account might seem to 
 describe one of our own grand Catholic ceremonials, which 
 is verily the embodiment of the soul of religion, but when it 
 is attached to a Ritualistic procession, we have indeed reason 
 to marvel, and to ask what next ? 
 
 Far be it from us to say anything unkind, or that would 
 savour of levity in regard to the religious action of our 
 fellow men. We simply lament that so many good souls 
 are enamoured of the shadow, without enjoying the sub- 
 stance ; that they are content with the shell without having 
 the kernel of " religion pure and undefiled." If therefore we 
 speak at all, we must speak plainly — it is the duty of the 
 Christian Ministry to preach in season, out of season — as St. 
 Bernard said, " I fear to be silent, and to preach I am com- 
 pelled." We are compelled then to be honest in our speech, 
 and we declare advisedly that all this religious acting is 
 mere child's play, or rather it is far worse. It is the disastrous 
 play of gentlemen, or, if you will, of so-called clergymen, 
 when there is question of the salvation of immortal souls ! 
 
 It is indeed not only a foolish, but a dangerous game in 
 which to be enlisted. It serves, however, a purpose ; it acts 
 as a blind over the eyes to prevent the earnest-minded from 
 seeking their way to the true Church, while the siren voice 
 assures them that they have got in Anglican Ritualism, 
 whatever they could find in the functions of Rome. 
 
24 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 Ceremonies, without doubt, in religion are an indis- 
 pensable necessity, because we are men and not angels, and 
 we must worship as visible creatures, and not as if we were 
 disembodied spirits. Ceremonies have ever been employed 
 in all the mystic sacrifices of the Old Law, and a fortiori in 
 the unbloody sacrifice of the Christian dispensation. But 
 these ceremonies must be sanctioned by legitimate ecclesias- 
 tical authority, and not grafted upon her worship by the 
 pious enthusiasm of this or that other devotional individual. 
 
 These ceremonials have been tried before during the 
 Oxford movement, and came to nought. These Patristic 
 dreams about being connected with the Ancient Fathers of 
 the Church, shared the same fate. Those who laboured most 
 strenuously at the oar found, to their amazement, that the 
 Anoiican Establishment was water-loofo^ed ; that she was 
 utterly swamped, and that no earthly power could raise her. 
 They therefore abandoned the wreck, and sought for safety 
 to their souls in the barque of Peter, which is the lifeboat of 
 Jesus Christ, and the ark of God himself ! 
 
 Let them then speak for themselves, and rehearse their 
 own experiences, or rather let one who was the head and 
 front, the heart and soul of the Oxford movement speak for 
 them all. Let the old oratorian of Edgbaston, who is now 
 in the " sear and yellow leaf," speak his sentiments in his 
 own matchless way. His incomparable Apologia is before 
 the world, and in it he declares the " change that came over 
 the spirit of his dream," as soon as he was received into the 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 " I cannot tell how soon there came upon me — but very 
 soon — an extreme astonishment that I had ever imagined it 
 to he a loortion of the Catholic Church. For the first time I 
 looked at it from without, and (as I should myself say) soav 
 it as it luas. Forthwith I could not get myself to see in it 
 anything else than what / had so long fearfully suspected 
 from as far back as 1836 — a mere national institution. As 
 if my eyes were suddenly opened, so I saw it — spontane- 
 ously, apart from any definite act of reason or any argu- 
 ment ; and so I have seen it ever since. I suppose the main. 
 
Ancient Christian Archceology, dx. 
 
 25 
 
 cause of this lay in the contrast which was presented to me 
 by the Catholic Church. Then I recognized at once a 
 reality, which was quite a new thing with me. Then I was 
 sensible that I ivas not making for myself a Church by an 
 effort of thought ; I needed not to make an act of faith in 
 her ; I had not painfully to force myself into a position, but 
 my mind fell back upon itself in relaxation and in peace, 
 and I gazed at her almost passively as a great objective fact. 
 I looked at her — at her rites, her ceremonials, and her pre- 
 cepts — and I said, ' This is a religion and then when I 
 looked back upon the poor Anglican Church, for which I 
 had laboured so hard, and upon all that appertained to it, 
 and thought of our various attempts to dress it up doctri- 
 nally and sesthetically, it seemed to me to he the veriest of 
 nonentities ! 
 
 " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity ! How can I make a 
 record of what passed within me without seeming to be 
 satirical ? But I speak plain serious words. As people call 
 me credulous for acknowledging Catholic claims, so they 
 call me satirical for disccvoiving Anglican pretensions ; to 
 them it is credulity, to them it is satire ; but it is not so to 
 me. What they think exaggeration I think truth. I am 
 not speaking of the Anglican Church with any disdain, 
 though to them I seem contemptuous. To them, of course, 
 it is ' aut Cgesar, aut nullus,' but not to me. It may be a 
 great creation though it be not divine ; and this is how I 
 judge of it. Men who abjure the divine right of kings 
 would be very indignant if, on that account, they were con- 
 sidered disloyal. And so I recognize in the Anglican Church 
 a time-honoured institution, of noble historical memories, a 
 monument of ancient wisdom, a momentous arm of political 
 strength, a great national organ, a source of vast popular 
 advantage, and, to a certain point, a witness and teacher of 
 religious truth; . . . hut that it is something sacred, 
 that it is an oracle of revecdecl doctrine, that it can claim a 
 share in St. Ignatius or St. Cyprian, that it can take the 
 rank, contest the teaching, and stop the path of the Church 
 of St. Peter, that it can caU itself the ' Bride of the Lamb,' 
 
26 Tlie Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 — this is the view of it which simply disappeared from my 
 mind on my conversion, and which it would be almost a. 
 miracle to reproduce ! ' I went by, and lo ! it was gone ; I 
 sought it, but its place could nowhere be found.' " 
 
 With truth it may be said — should the comparison be 
 allowable — that as well mio-ht the citizens of Munich induls^e 
 the fond dream, that by some incantation or another their 
 deceased friends, who are laid out in state in the large glass 
 rooms attached to their beautiful cemetery, could be brought 
 alive again when the vital spark has fled, as for the Ritualists 
 of Great Britain to entertain the hope that the English and 
 Scottish Episcopal Establishments could be restored anew to 
 life, by rites and ceremonies and chaunts and processions, when 
 they are both spiritually and irrecoverably dead. In Germany 
 we have seen the deceased laid out in the most approved st3de 
 — all is smart and unexceptionable. They are dressed as if 
 preparing for the assembly, and quite ready when awakening 
 to mingle in the gay world — the bell rope being placed in each 
 one's hand to be pulled as the signal of returning animation. 
 The attendants are on the watch, to give refreshments to 
 them at once after their lono^ slumbers. Nothins^ is wantino- 
 but the breath of life and that want no power on earth 
 'Can supply. Alas ! there they remain, day after day, sleep- 
 ing the " sleep that knows no waking" until tlie fatal signs 
 of decomposition set in, which force the survivors to despair 
 of vitality, and who must, therefore, consign them to their 
 parent earth. So it is with the Anglican Establishment ! 
 The High Church party would fondly make the world believe 
 that the National Institute which has ever been regarded as 
 the mere creature of the State, and which never for a moment 
 breathed the breath of heavenly life, had of late years, by a 
 newly invented process of supposed patristic inhalation, at 
 length received indubitably the Divine afflatus ! Alackaday, 
 the truth must be told in London as in Munich, for the case 
 is somewhat similar, if not identical. The Anglican Church 
 is spiritually dead. The corpse may be laid out in an alb, or 
 rather shroud, of spotless linen — a cincture may gird the 
 loins ; the maniple may be placed on the arm, and the stole 
 
Ancient Clivistian Archceology, Sc. 
 
 27 
 
 on the neck; the most costly chasuble of silk or satin or velvet 
 and decked with gold and silver and precious stones, may 
 envelope the body — nothing is wanting but the breath of 
 life, which no act of parliament can supplement — nothing is 
 wanting, but the living soul, which king, queen, lords and 
 commons are utterly baffled to create — nothing is wanting 
 but the heaven-born assurance that the "poor Anglican 
 Church" has not gone the way of all flesh, and is not to 
 moulder in its parent dust ! But who is to speak thus in 
 the name of Heaven, and to comfort the disconsolate 
 mourners ? Who is to " pity the sorrows " of the well-inten- 
 tioned Ritualists, who have come to grief in what they con- 
 sider the best of all causes ? It is not the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, who has repaired to the continent with Mrs. 
 Tait and family, in quest of health, and which we hope he 
 may obtain both for soul and body. It is not the Arch- 
 bishop of the other province of York, nor yet the so-called 
 Bishop of London, nor all the Canons of St. Paul's, who can 
 satisfy earnest inquirers with the undoubted assurance that 
 the "poor Anglican Church" is only in a swoon, and that 
 all shall yet be well. Who then is to speak ? Where is 
 the voice to say that, like the daughter of J airus, the Angli- 
 can Church only sleepeth ? Where is the hand to be stretched 
 forth, and the tongue to command, as it did the son of the 
 widow of Naim — young man, I say to thee arise ? Where 
 is the Mighty Conqueror of death, to groan and trouble him- 
 self — to recall from the grave him who was dead and buried, 
 and whose soul was in Limbo, and to cry out in a voice 
 which must Heeds be obeyed, Lazarus come forth ! Believe 
 us or not, the Anglican Establishment is human, not divine 
 — it is the work of the creature, and not the creation of the 
 great Creator ! It is the handicraft of Henry and Elizabeth, 
 and not the Church of our Blessed Lord and the Prince of 
 the Apostles ! 
 
 What then is to be done in this frightful emergency ? 
 What is to be done in this disastrous moment when all is 
 over — all is lost ? What is to be done with an insensate 
 Establishment, when the essence of religion is wanting — 
 
28 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 when it lias no true altar, no true priesthood, no true sacrifice 
 — shall we say, no true sacraments ? Why Baptism, at the 
 famous Gorham lawsuit, was declared an open question. 
 Confirmation, accordino- to Anoiican teachinor is not sacra- 
 mental ; Penance has but the name ; the Eucharist is a 
 shadow ; Extreme Unction is unknown, Orders are invalid, 
 and Matrimony is a civil contract ! Why then should this 
 establishment any longer cumber the ground ? 
 
 What, therefore, is to be done under those circumstances, 
 unless to pray, and to weary Heaven with prayer, that they 
 who appear to be standing at the very threshold of the 
 Church may have the grace to enter, to enjoy the substance 
 of religion of which at present they have only the shadow. 
 The enemy of mankind is ever awake — he transforms him- 
 self into an angel of light in order to deceive. He permits 
 the Greek Church and the Russo-Greek Church to be per- 
 fectly Catholic and Roman in doctrine, except in the pro- 
 cession of the Holy Spirit and the supremacy of the Roman 
 Pontiff" — he permits these Churches to employ all the rites 
 and ceremonials of the Greek Orthodox Church without ex- 
 ception — yet these schismatical Churches are in "the 
 shadow of death !" Thus does he permit the High Church- 
 men of Scotland and of England to resort to the most ap- 
 j)roved Ritualism, to flatter the belief that they are right when 
 they are grievously wrong ; to cherish the delusion that they 
 are in the Church when they are out of the Church ; to 
 fancy that they are in the Church of their baptism, when 
 all who are baptised are baptised in the faith of Christ, and 
 in union with his one Catholic Apostolic Roman Church — 
 as if God would make two churches directly opposed to each 
 other, and two baptisms standing in diametrical antagonism ! 
 
 If the so-called Ritualists be sincere, let them humble 
 themselves and let them pray. Humility of spirit is abso- 
 lutely requisite for the reception of Faith — " God resists the 
 proud and gives his gTace to the humble." Let them pray 
 as the blind man at Jericho — " Lord that I may see." If 
 they be weU disposed, there is every hope of their con- 
 version. Sooner than leave souls in darkness that wish to 
 
Ancient Christian Avchceology, dx. 
 
 29 
 
 "be enlightened, the Holy Fathers declare that the Almighty 
 would send to them from above, even one of his ministering 
 angels ! 
 
 To the most superficial observer it is too apparent that 
 Ritualists cannot remain in their present abnormal position. 
 They cannot possibly continue to minister in the Anglican 
 Establishment, which naturally has no sympathy at all with 
 their so-called Romanistic proclivities. They must of neces- 
 sity, if consistent, either walk in the broad way of Anglican- 
 ism, or in the narrow way of Catholicity. They must, if con- 
 sistent, hold by the Establishment of the sixteenth century, 
 or enter into the communion of that one — that only true 
 Church of Christendom which is coeval mth the existence 
 of Christianity — which is Catholic and Roman — which 
 walks under Apostolic guidance — which attaches a meaning 
 to every rite, and which breathes the breath of life into the 
 least as well as the greatest act of religion. Apart from this 
 Catholic Apostolic Roman Church, these mystic rites are dead 
 — these religious ceremonials are devoid of vitality — these 
 gorgeous vestments are a snare — these confessionals are a 
 sham — these celebrations are a delusion of the wicked one, 
 and the whole system of sacramental acting in the present 
 Ritualistic Churches is an egregious hallucination which may 
 please but not satisfy ; which may amuse but not console — 
 which is superficial and not substantial — which is a painted 
 cobweb devoid of all reality — which perhaps may not un- 
 happily be assimilated to those deceptive apples which grow 
 with such luxuriance on the banks of the Dead Sea, that are 
 beautiful without, but utterly empty within ! 
 
 This indeed is a most disastrous state of things for im- 
 mortal souls. Prayers earnest and persevering have been 
 long offered to bring about a change — that change, blessed 
 be God, has come. The dove with the green branch of hope 
 has returned to the ark, signifying that the deluge of heresy, 
 which for 300 years had inundated the whole island, is 
 rapidly subsiding. The times, therefore, are full of augury 
 — " Coming events cast their shadows before." An altar for 
 Ion a, and High Mass in Westminster Abbey ! 
 
THE SCOTTISH ANTIQUAKIAN SOCIETY, THE 
 DUKE OF ARGYLL, AND ICONOCLASM AT 
 lONA. 
 
 With these observations,-wliich may not be out of season 
 at the present time, when Great Britain is in such a state of 
 Ritualistic excitement, let us turn attention to the interest- 
 ing paper which was read, on the ruins of lona, before the 
 Antiquarian Society in Edinburgh. That society, which 
 numbers amongst its members many of the most cultivated 
 spirits of the day, has been established for many years to 
 watch over and to report on the religious and national an- 
 tiquities of Scotland. It has been eminently successful in 
 its endeavours, and has brought within its walls a rare col- 
 lection of highly-valued relics. Many of them, it is true, 
 do not belonof to Saints — as since the relio^ious revolution of 
 the sixteenth century, such are not found amongst us in the 
 calendar — they are the relics of the most notorious sinners, 
 such as Knox and Co. Still the feeling which dictates the 
 conservation of the memorials of the past, is akin to that 
 which induces Catholics to respect the relics of the Saints 
 and Martyi's. This sentiment is most natural and praise- 
 worthy, and extends itself to kindred objects — to the ruined 
 cathedral, the dilapidated monastery, and the desolated 
 cemetery. 
 
 Mr. Drummond, R S.A., read the notes of his autumnal 
 excursion as follows : — 
 
 " I finished my last autumn peregrinations by revisiting 
 lona. On board the steamer from Oban, I foregathered 
 with my former landlord on the island, who informed me 
 that I would find matters very difierent from what they 
 had been on my previous visit; that last summer the 
 Duchess of Argj^U had lived ten days on tlie island, that 
 even the Duke himself had been there at the same time, and 
 
The Scottish Antiquarian Society. 
 
 31 
 
 that the Marquis of Lorne had taken up the matter of pre- 
 servation keenly — in short, everything was in the way of 
 being reformed. In the evening after landing, I sauntered 
 up towards the ruins of the Cathedral, and was surprised in 
 passing to find the gate of St. Oran's Churchyard standing- 
 open. This was not promising, after the glowing account I 
 had heard on board the steamer of the careful manner in 
 which the antiquities were now looked after. On going in, 
 and looking over the various monuments which I had seen 
 a couple of years ago, placed within two enclosures, and 
 surrounded by an iron rail, I was astonished to find one of 
 them amissing. This was the memorial slab to the four 
 Priors, thought by many to be the finest specimen of Celtic 
 art in the cemetery. Opinions difier as to this, but certainly 
 it is the most elaborate and perfect ; but I am afraid it 
 will not long continue so, as I found it between the two 
 enclosures, and over it every tourist now walks on his way 
 to the Chapel. 
 
 -X- ^ -K- ^ -x- -jf 
 
 " In St. Oran's Chapel is a richly-decorated stone, having 
 sculptured on it the figure of a Prior under a canopy. This 
 was carried off" a lon^ time ago from lona, and used as his 
 family tombstone by a proprietor near Scoor, in Mull. It 
 goes by the name of " the stone of the boll of barley," such 
 havino- been the bribe to the ignorant boatman who com- 
 mitted the theft. It may be satisfactory to know that the 
 barley was lost in a storm as the boat was crossing the 
 Sound of Mull. Misfortunes overtook this family, and the 
 old lady who represented it attributed their calamities to 
 this tombstone, and, under this superstitious feeling, had it 
 returned a few years ago. Now, surely this system of ap- 
 propriation ought to be put a stop to, and that by the strong 
 hand. 
 
 •X- -x- ^ -Jf ^ -x- 
 
 " Let us glance at the Cathedral, and the state of matters 
 there. Think of the sacred precincts in connection with 
 it being now let to the innkeeper to graze his cattle ! . . 
 . . . In the grounds surrounding the cathedral stands 
 
32 Tlie Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 the magnificent St. Martin's Cross. This is considered a 
 model of handsome proportion." 
 
 This lamentable account of lona having been given, the 
 following conversation took place : — 
 
 " Mr. Skene thought that after the very strong statement 
 Mr. Drummond had made as to the state in which he found 
 the monuments in lona, it was the duty of the Society once 
 more to make a representation to the Duke of Argyll. He 
 did not think they should allow his Grace to suppose that 
 the islands were managed as he no doubt thought they 
 were. Last summer ho (Mr. Skene) spent a week in lona, 
 at the time when the Archbishop of Canterbury was in the 
 island. The Duke sent his chamberlain to conduct the 
 Archbishop over the ruins. On entering the Cathedral, the 
 first thing the Archbishop asked was if there were no re- 
 mains of the chapter-house. The chamberlain conducted 
 them to the place, and the first thing they found was six 
 inches of cow dung in the bottom of it. On asking the 
 cause, it turned out that the innkeeper had the pasture 
 of the field in which the ruins were. The ruins were 
 divided from the innkeeper's ground by a low dry-stone 
 wall, and he was in the habit every year of pulling 
 down a portion of this wall, and letting his cattle graze 
 
 among the ruins He (Mr. Skene) had no 
 
 doubt the Duke of Argyll was exceedingly anxious that the 
 ruins should be properly taken care of, and if the Society 
 were to put before him any practicable scheme they would 
 find him perfectly willing to give eflfect to their views. He 
 believed the chamberlain was equally anxious, but there 
 seemed to be in his case a deficiency of perception of what 
 was required for the preservation of such monuments. 
 
 " Mr. Stuart said it was not the first time that the Society 
 had approached the Duke of Argyll, both directly and in- 
 directly, on this subject. Some years ago, along with the 
 late Sir James Simpson, who was a personal friend of the 
 Duke, he waited on his Grace, when in Edinburgh, to repre- 
 sent the state both of the ruins and of the monuments. 
 The Duke said he had enclosed a certain number of the 
 
The Scottish Antiquarian Society. 
 
 33 
 
 monuments, so as to prevent the continual treading of 
 visitors. But when one saw how very small was the number 
 enclosed, the steps taken did not seem to show much per- 
 ception of what was required. It was represented to his 
 Grace that a system of chipping and destroying the inscrip- 
 tions was going on, and it was suggested that the govern- 
 ment would be willing to put the ruins in order, and to 
 keep them in order if his Grace would permit it, and with- 
 out depriving him of the property. The Chief Commis- 
 sioner of Works, who was in Scotland at the time, seemed 
 perfectly willing to take charge of the island. The Com- 
 missioner went on a visit to Eoseneath, and he (Mr. 
 Stuart) afterwards heard that the matter was likely to be 
 arranged. 
 
 " Last year, when Mr. Drummond called attention to the 
 disgraceful state of the monuments, a notice appeared in the 
 papers and came under the eye of the Duke, who stated to 
 Sir James Simpson his displeasure, and indicated that he 
 thought the Society were too hard upon him. This, with 
 various other things, made him (Mr. Stuart) believe that 
 his Grace was in rather a touchy humour on the subject 
 just now; and it would therefore require very delicate 
 handling. If anything was to be done, it would be more 
 successful if Mr. Skene, as a personal friend of the Duke, 
 were to draw his Grace's attention to the subject. 
 
 "Mr. Skene said that what he pointed at was not that 
 they should make a proposal to the Duke, but merely that 
 the facts Mr. Drummond had put before them should be 
 represented to his Grace by the Society. He could per- 
 fectly understand that the Duke might not very much 
 relish the proposal to transfer the custody of the monu- 
 ments to the Government, because, curiously enough, not- 
 withstanding aU the want of necessary care, it so happened 
 that his Grace was particularly proud of being both the 
 owner and custodian of the ruins." 
 
 Apart then from religion altogether, it is deeply to be 
 lamented that the Duke does not manifest more patriotic 
 feeling, in the endeavour to conserve the national monu- 
 
 3 
 
34 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 ments of days long gone by, which are an ornament to the 
 country, and a source of intense delight to the traveller. 
 
 The Scotsman, however, quickly follows up the charge, 
 and in a leading article four days after the meeting, 
 December 16, 1870, rushes to the rescue. It is significantly 
 headed 
 
 "THE DAIVIAGED AND DECAYING MONUMENTS 
 AT lONA." 
 
 " It is to be hoped that the appointment by the Society of 
 Antiquaries on Monday evening of a Committee to repre- 
 sent to the Duke of Argyll the neglected state of the 
 venerable ecclesiastical remains in the Island of lona may 
 lead to some practical result. It must be noted, however, 
 that it is not in the absence of warning and remonstrance 
 that things have been allow^ed to get into a condition which 
 pains every intelligent visitor of those inestimable memorials 
 of the advent of Christianity in those remote island re- 
 treats. So far back as 1854, a writer in our columns drew 
 attention to the matter as foUows : — 
 
 " ' The ruins are, I am sorry to say, sadly out of repair. 
 The walls of the cathedral are riddled and cracked in the 
 most alarming manner, and unless something be done very 
 speedily to counteract the natural course of their decay, the 
 venerable structure will soon be little better than a shape- 
 less mass of fallen stone and mortar. Far be it from us to 
 desire that any rash restorer should touch the sacred pile, 
 but a decent mason, with a trowel and a hodful or two of 
 good lime, might do it such simple service as future genera- 
 tions would have reason to be deeply grateful for. It is a 
 duty to hand down to our children a monument of this 
 kind — architecturally and ecclesiastically interesting in 
 itself ,and round which the halo of so much fine sentiment 
 and fine writing has been cast by Johnson, Wordsworth, 
 and a host of humbler men — in as good condition as pos- 
 sible ; but there is evident risk that even the ruins of the 
 Cathedral of lona will soon be numbered among the things 
 that were, or, at all events, that their more valuable features 
 
The Scottish Antiquarian Society. 
 
 35 
 
 will be irreparably obliterated. The Duke of Argyll is, I 
 believe, the proprietor of the island, and if his Grace will 
 brook assistance in the good work, surely many will be 
 eager and glad to aid in stopping up the loopholes through 
 which the frosts and rains threaten to creep to the over- 
 throw of the brave old aisles and towers of lona. The 
 ornamentation of the building is now almost totally de- 
 cayed and effaced, and the uninitiated visitor who desires 
 to know its design and character, must trace it in the clear 
 and beautiful sketches — partaking largely as they do, in 
 some points, of the character of restorations — of Mr. 
 Billings, who, by his vivid pencil, illumines features other- 
 wise difficult now to trace upon the veritable building.' 
 
 " Four years afterwards I'.^e returned to the charge ; from a 
 leading article which appeared in our impression of August 
 12, 1858, we reprint the following passages : — 
 
 " ' Can nothing be done for lona V asks a correspondent. 
 ' I visited it again a few days ago, and was — I cannot say 
 surprised — but certainly I was greatly grieved to see tlie 
 change a few summers have wrought on the venerable pile 
 and its sacred monuments. More windows have been built 
 up with the rudest masonry — surely a rough method to 
 prevent them tumbling to the ground. The floors are still 
 covered with offensive rubbish of divers kinds, and docks 
 and thistles grow rank over the reputed resting-places of 
 saints and abbots. But, worst of all, the old carved stones 
 are still trodden under the iron hoof of the careless tourist, 
 who, having gone the round himself, has no thought of 
 those who may follow. Where, on our last visit, the island 
 cicerone pointed to the names and dates on the stone as 
 evidence of his story, he now bids us believe they were once 
 there, though so worn by the constant tramp of the visitors 
 as to be no longer visible. Even he is beginning to fear 
 that the stones may not last his time, and conjures the 
 stranger, " by the advice of the noble proprietor," to walk 
 somewhere else than on the carved memorials of chiefs, 
 priests, and kings, ' 
 
 " No very large sum of money seems necessary to put the 
 
 3—2 
 
36 The Monhs of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 place in decent repair, and to preserve it from further 
 dilapidation. All that is wanted is to clear out the rubbish 
 (in which process probably many interesting remains of 
 antiquity might be found) ; to remove the recent walls and 
 erections that cover and conceal structures and carving of 
 ancient date ; and to strengthen by appropriate stone or 
 iron work such parts of the building as are insecure. In 
 regard to the monuments on the ground, they should either 
 be set up, so that they could no longer be trodden upon by 
 every idle stranger ; or, if there are objections to removing 
 them from the tombs they cover, why not protect them by 
 a simple railing or iron cage, permitting them to be seen, 
 but preserving them from injury ? All this would require 
 but little money. As national monuments, it might seem 
 the duty of the nation to preserve them. But, unfortu- 
 nately for lona, it has been made over to a private indi- 
 vidual, and there is no longer the right, even were there the 
 will, to expend public money on its restoration. To 
 this we fear there is no reply, so that if lona is to be pre- 
 served, we ourselves and the general public must do the 
 work. And we naturally look to the Society of Antiquaries 
 to take the initiative in such a matter. Could not they, 
 or some of the well-known leaders of the body, make ar- 
 rangements with the proprietor, the Duke of Argyll, to be 
 allowed to take the necessary steps for the repair and pre- 
 servation of the monuments ? When this is accomplished, 
 let them open a subscription for the funds required, and we 
 doubt not that in this age of worshippers of mediaeval tra- 
 ditions and ' builders of the tombs of the prophets ' these 
 will be forthcoming. Even men who think more of the 
 present than the past would not grudge their mite to 
 preserve remains associated w^ith feelings that never can 
 grow old. 
 
 " Further irreparable damage and ruin have come to the 
 Cathedral and its monuments since things were thus de- 
 scribed ; and those suggestions — which are very much the 
 same as were made on Monday evening — thrown out as to 
 means of checking continued deterioration and mischief 
 
The Scottish Antiquarian Society. 
 
 37 
 
 " The neglect of those monuments is the more inexplicable 
 that the Duke of Argyll has himself made the island and 
 its remains subject of careful study, and has written at some 
 length upon them. His papers, originally published in 
 Good Words, have just been reprinted in a volume — lona: 
 by the Duke of Argyll — abundantly illustrated. His Grace 
 dwells, it must be allowed, more upon the ecclesiastical 
 history of the island, and its pictorial and geological features, 
 than on the character and interest of its architectural 
 remains, the comparatively modern date of which he alludes 
 to in rather disparaging terms : — 
 
 ' In the Irish annals there is preserved a short but distinct 
 chronicle of events connected with the monastery of Hy, 
 carried on from year to year. For the date of A.D. 794, 
 there is this ominous entry : ' Vastatio omnium insularum a 
 gentilibus' (Devastation of all the islands by the heathen.) 
 From this time forward, during a period of no less than 300 
 years, lona was frequently ravaged — its churches and monas- 
 teries burned, its brethren murdered by the savage North- 
 men. The bones of Columba were carried to safer places — 
 to Kells in Ireland, and to Dunkeld in Scotland. It must 
 have been towards the close of that period that the church 
 was rebuilt by Margaret, the devout and devoted queen of 
 Malcolm Canmore. And now, once more, the memory of 
 St. Columba was to re-assert its ancient power even over 
 the heathen spoilers. lona was the only place spared by 
 Magnus, King of Nor way, in his great predatory expedition 
 of A.D. 1098. And if St. Oran's Chapel be indeed the 
 building erected by Queen Margaret, it is not without 
 interest to think that in that low round archway, which 
 still remains, we ma^y see the door from which the fierce 
 King Magnus is said to have recoiled with awe when he had 
 attempted to enter the sacred building. 
 
 " ' But already we have been carried down the course of 
 centuries far — too far — from the time in which all the real 
 interest of lona lies. Or if it be indeed part of that interest 
 to look on the ruins of St. Oran's Chapel, and to think that 
 it may possibly be the very building erected by the wife of 
 
38 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 Malcolm Canmore, at least let us not forget that the long, 
 long period of 500 years lay between that date, which now 
 seems so old to us, and the date of Columba's ministry. 
 The grey tower of the Cathedral, standing 'four square 
 to all the wind that blow,' ancient and venerable as it looks, 
 is of still more modern dates. The oldest portion of it may 
 belong to the close of the twelfth century — that is to say, 
 more than 600 years nearer to us than Columba's day. All 
 these buildings before us are the monuments, not of the fire, 
 the freshness, and the comparative simplicity of the old 
 Celtic Church, hut of the dull and often the corrupt mono- 
 tony of mediceval Romanism! 
 
 " It may be submitted, however, that between seven and 
 eight hundred years is so very respectable an antiquity 
 that any remains of that time which may happen still to be 
 left us are well worth paying a little attention to. The 
 Duke seems to concede this as regards the sculptured crosses, 
 of which he thus speaks : 
 
 " ' The fame of Columba's supernatural powers attracted 
 many and strange visitors to the shores on which we are 
 now looking. Nor can we fail to remember, with the Reilig 
 Odhrain at our feet, how often the beautiful galleys of that 
 olden time came up the Sound laden with the dead — " their 
 dark freight a vanished life." A grassy mound not far from 
 the present landing-place is known as the spot on which 
 bodies were laid when they were first carried to the shore. 
 We know from the account of Columba's own burial that 
 the custom was to wake the body with the singing of 
 psalms during three days and nights before laying it to its 
 final rest. It was then borne in solemn procession to the 
 grave. How many of such processions must have wound 
 along the path that leads to the Reilig Odhrain ! How many 
 fleets of galleys must have ridden at anchor on that bay 
 below us, with all those expressive signs of mourning which 
 belong to ships when Kings and Chiefs who had died in 
 distant lands were carried hither to be buried in this holy 
 isle ! From Ireland, from Scotland, and from distant Norway, 
 there came, during many centuries, many royal funerals to 
 
The Scottish Antiquarian Society. 
 
 39 
 
 its shores. And at this day by far the most interesting 
 remains upon the island are the curious and beautiful tomb- 
 stones and crosses which lie in the Reilig Odhrain. They 
 belong, indeed, even the most ancient of them, to an age 
 removed by many hundred years from Columba's time. 
 But they represent the lasting reverence which his name 
 has inspired during so many generations, and the desire of a 
 long succession of chiefs and warriors through the middle 
 ages and down almost to our own time, to be buried in the 
 soil he trod.' " 
 
 These " curious and beautiful tombstones and crosses," the 
 Scotsman pointedly observes, being left to be trodden under 
 foot, and effaced by tramping tourists, does not say much 
 for our "lasting reverence" for them, or the memories they 
 were intended to preserve ! 
 
 It is then doubtless sheer affectation to be talking about 
 the past glories of lona, unless they to whom it necessarily 
 belongs, should take vigorous action, to preserve those vene- 
 rable ruins, from the continuous ravages of time, and the 
 unscrupulous pilfering of tourists. If his Grace of Argyll 
 should fail to be the custodian of those ecclesiastical anti- 
 quities, which in a certain sense must be regarded as public 
 property, then Government should interpose, and at the 
 expense of the nation, preserve carefully the remains of those 
 sacred buildings, which the antiquarian contemplates with 
 rapturous delight, and the Christian with profound venera- 
 tion. Property, it should be remembered, has its duties, as 
 well as its rights, since there is here a decided reciprocity of 
 obligation. Granted that the old Catholic Isle of lona has 
 become an appanage in the non-Catholic hands of the Duke 
 of Argyll, it is his duty, if he should claim the right of pro- 
 perty, to watch over, with jealous care, those glorious monu- 
 ments of bygone ages, while it is a reproach to the present 
 generation to have allowed them to become so shamefully 
 dilapidated. The very stones make their appeal for pre- 
 servation — clamant lapides ! 
 
THE AUTHOR'S PILGRIMAGE TO lONA. 
 
 Before entering on onr Special Review of the Duke of 
 Argyll's elaborate work on lona, we may be permitted to 
 refer to a kind of pilgrimage which, some short time ago, we 
 had the pleasure to make to that celebrated island. This very 
 circumstance must serve to show the deep interest which we 
 have taken in the subject of which we wi'ite, and that we 
 have made ourselves acquainted with sundry details of 
 which we would wish to speak. 
 
 It was during the month of July, 1869, that we took 
 occasion to fulfil an engagement which in the previous year 
 had been urged upon us, by the worthy pastor of Campbel- 
 town, Argyllshire, who is a native of the Eternal City, and 
 therefore an out and out Roman Priest. The reverend 
 gentleman had invited us to sp^ak in his church of St. 
 Kieran. We did so, at the midday and evening services, 
 and we were pleased to find that many non-Catholics were 
 present, among others one of the leading law ofiicials of 
 Scotland. The honourable gentlemen of the wig and gown 
 we have been gratified to meet on divers occasions. We 
 freely acknowledge our indebtedness to them for the solution 
 of sundry knotty points of the law of the land, and we 
 venture to express the hope that they may reciprocate their 
 obligations to us for our straightforward exposition of the 
 law of the gospel ! With them, it is true, that we have 
 broken a lance in polemics — perhaps not unsuccessfully — 
 although, may it be hoped, that we have not broken the 
 peace. In defence of Holy Church have we had to enter into 
 the arena, not only with a redoubtable lawyer — the historian 
 and antiquarian of Forfarshire, who could " wondrous tales 
 unfold" of Cardinal Beaton, George Wishart, and the noto- 
 rious John Knox; but with a learned occupant of the 
 
The Authors Pilgrimage to lona. 
 
 41 
 
 judicial bench in Perthshire, who in his exuberant zeal 
 published a famous essay on " Christian Union," in which 
 he invited Christians of all denominations to join together 
 against the " man of sin," whom he politely designated as 
 a " Superannuated Bedlamite ;" as well as with the late 
 Solicitor General for Scotland, who, when elevated to the 
 Bench, delivered a valedictory address to the members of the 
 Perthshire Bible Society, in which he laid the flattering unc- 
 tion to their souls that in the interpretation of the New and 
 Old Testament, they required not the intervention of Pope, 
 Bishop, or Priest ! For many years have we observed a 
 disposition on the part of sundry professional gentlemen of 
 the long robe, to expound the laws both human and Divine. 
 Now, if it would be incongruous for the clergy to dream of 
 becoming lawyers, equally incongruous is it for the lawyers 
 to dream of becoming preachers ! 
 
 The church of St. Kieran is of comparatively recent 
 erection, being tastefully decorated by the present incumbent. 
 Father Celetti. It was, however, originally built through 
 the exertions of the indefatigable, learned, and disinterested 
 priest. Father Condon, of St. Lawrence's Church, Greenock, 
 which he dedicated to the memory of his zealous com- 
 patriot St. Kieran, who, as second to St. Patrick, watches 
 over the cathedral church of Armagh. This great servant 
 of God came from Ireland in the sixth century, and after a 
 laborious and successful apostolate in Cantyre, departed in 
 peace, hallowed with the benedictions of a converted people. 
 His remains were deposited in the neighbourhood of Campbel- 
 town, and the place is still pointed out and held in singular 
 veneration, although sadly neglected. 
 
 On Monday morning, at an early hour, we started with 
 the public conveyance, and after a pleasant drive of some 
 forty miles along the coast, we arrived at Tarbet, to join the 
 steamer for Ardrishaig. There were many passengers on 
 board, and among other notable personages the Very Rev. 
 Moderator of the General Assembly, Dr. Norman Macleod, 
 lately returned from India, and who enjoys a wide-spread 
 popularity. Little did the ladies and gentlemen think, when 
 
42 Tlie Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 "we sat down to dinner in the saloon, that there was another 
 indi^-idual present (who chanced to be invited to take the 
 head of the table) who was verily engaged in a polemical 
 conflict with the worthy doctor — that he had mercilessly 
 taken to pieces the late famous address delivered before the 
 General Assembly, and that he had actually the proof sheets 
 of his rather caustic review in his pocket ! 
 
 The reverend gentleman had egi-egiously committed him- 
 self by a gratuitous onslaught upon the Ancient Churchy 
 which he denounced in the plainest terms as being " corrupt." 
 He also had his fashionable " fling " at " mediaeval 
 Romanism;" he declared that the Kirk of Scotland had 
 raised its voice against Roman superstition! "We asked 
 what was the Scottish Kirk as compared with the Church 
 of Christendom ? He said that he and his brethren " pro- 
 tested, and would continue to protest" against the Roman 
 Church, and we told him to leave the Roman Church un- 
 touched, for that the stone on which that Holy Church was 
 built, woidd ere long cmsh his Kirk and the General 
 Assembly to boot. As to the truths of revealed religion, we 
 assured him that he was an utter strang^er — that he was no 
 theologian — that he should continue to superintend Some 
 Words" — to re-edit his amusing tales, and to write no more 
 anti-Catholic platitudes I 
 
 Passincr throuofh the Ciinan canal, which is remarkable 
 for its natural and artificial beauties, we step into another 
 steamer, at the southern extremity of the peninsula of 
 Ci-aignish, and saluting as we sailed along the varied group 
 of islands, we arrive at Oban, which is magnificently situated 
 in a semicircular bay on the Sound of KeiTara. It appears 
 that of late many new buildings have started into existence, 
 which serve to beautify the \T.llage, but what of ever}nhing 
 else was wanting is now to be supplied — a temple to God 
 for the holy sacrifice of the mass. 
 
 In company with a reverend Jesuit Father, who had pre- 
 viously been a clerg^Tuan of the Church of England, we 
 paced the ground which has been acquired for this purpose, 
 on the west side of the Great Western Hotel The position. 
 
The Author's Pilgrimage to lona. 4S 
 
 which fronts the bay, is every way eligible, and we felt grateful 
 to Heaven that another altar was to be raised, and that the 
 spirit of the monks of lona, after the long lapse of hundreds 
 of years, had descended to overshadow other religious men, 
 the devoted sons of Loyola, who are now to rejoice in a 
 marine residence in that romantic locality. 
 
 Next morning we embarked in the Mountaineer steamer, 
 on our pilgrimage to the far-famed isle, and steered our 
 way round the island of Mull, by the north-east coast. We 
 stop not to describe the diversified scenery which flitted 
 before our eyes, and therefore we leave Dunolly Castle, and 
 Artornish, and Dunstaffhage and a whole world of picturesque 
 spectacles to their slumbers in the guide books, and to be 
 awakened by the tourists, as the case may be, at early 
 morn, or late at eve. But our devotedness to the Madonna 
 induces a passing notice of the interesting hamlet of Tober- 
 mory — or rather Tober Mary — which means Mary's well. 
 This village derives its name from a celebrated well, with a 
 small chapel, now in ruins, which was dedicated to the blessed 
 Virgin Mary. This, however, is only one of ten thousand 
 different instances of places in Scotland, which were put under 
 the patronage of the Holy Virgin, during the ages of Faith. 
 
 Meanwhile our dashing Mountaineer dances over the 
 waves, as we rapidly pass by one islet and then another, till 
 we approach the famous basaltic island of Staff a, which re- 
 minded us of the mural caves and columnar cliffs and tesse- 
 lated pavement of Old Ireland's Giant's Causeway. 
 
 These curious phenomena — the lusus naturae — we leave 
 to the antiquarian and geologist, while we hasten on by 
 
 *' Ulva dark and Colonsay, 
 And all the group of islets gay, 
 That guard famed Staffa round." 
 
 In company with our fellow travellers we however landed 
 under the escort of Ulva boatmen, on this wonderful island 
 of Staffa. Its points of interest — the Clamshell Cave — the 
 Buchaillie or Herdsman — the great Colonnade and Causeway 
 — the Boat Cave — MacKinnon's Cave, and Fingal's famous 
 cave — we stop not to describe. We are content with the 
 
44 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 simple expression of our feelings in the glowing words 
 spoken by the late Sir Robert Peel in his speech at Glasgow : 
 " I have stood on the shores of Stafia ; I have seen the 
 ' temple not made with hands I have heard the majestic 
 swell of the ocean, the pulsations of the great Atlantic 
 beating in its inmost sanctuary, and sounding a note of 
 praise nobler far than any that ever pealed from human 
 organs." Let then this magniloquent peroration serve as the 
 embodiment of what we also saw, and felt, and heard I 
 
 When the steamer gets under weigh again, the holy island 
 of lona is visible on the horizon, distant about nine miles to 
 the south of Staifa. As we approach, the objects increase in 
 bulk — the small become larger and the large, larger still. 
 Then, of what we long heard, we now at last behold — the 
 venerable cathedral — the dilapidated walls of the monastery 
 and the various crosses that heavenward rise — the ruins of 
 St. Oran's chapel and the Conventual Institute. Had we 
 yielded to our religious emotions we should have knelt upon 
 the deck, and exclaimed — Salve sancte parens, insula sanc- 
 torum salve! — Hail holy parent house — island of saints, 
 all hail ! We contented ourselves by uncovering when we 
 stepped on the island, and by breathing an aspiration that 
 Holy Church — for the salvation of souls — might once again 
 resume her pacific and spiritual sway over the mountains 
 and glens of Argyll. We stop not now to describe— what 
 has been already so frequently done — the objects before us. 
 We ambition not to write an architectural or archseological 
 disquisition — our aim is not material but rather ethereal. 
 We wish to wing our flight upwards — to breathe a more 
 rarified atmosphere than this little world affords. We wish 
 to commune not so much with the present as the past — 
 with the spirits of the saintly dead, but whose souls now in 
 glory surround the throne of the Eternal. Still we must 
 confess that the objects before our eyes speak a language 
 peculiarly their own, and impress the mind and the heart 
 far more powerfully than the most graphic delineation. For 
 seeing is certainly more telling than hearing. The eyes 
 have a wider range than the ears, and those who listen in 
 
The Authors Pilgrimage to lona. 
 
 45 
 
 vain to the most solemn or terrific appeal, are often overcome 
 by the sense of sight. Let ns look for example at the effect of 
 seeino^ in our own travels — or in those of others — in Great 
 Britain and Ireland, or upon the continent of Europe. Who 
 that has visited the Lions of the day, as they are called — 
 the Scottish lakes, the lakes of Killarney, and the lakes of 
 Cumberland — who that has wended his way to Pompeii, Her- 
 culaneum and Psestum — who that has stood in the Pantheon 
 or the Forum, or in the amphitheatres of Rome, Tusculum, 
 Albano, or Verona — who that has sailed through the isles of 
 Greece, or coasted the Mediterranean and passed through 
 the Straits of Gibraltar and seen Africa, as it were, within 
 gunshot, and steamed past Spain and then Italy, and came 
 round by Messina into Venice, which is the ocean's lovely 
 queen, but must feel the inadequacy of all human language 
 to do justice to such magnificent spectacles — and must it not 
 be declared how much more sensibly one is impressed with 
 what falls under the eye, than any account which can be 
 furnished, however graphically descriptive ? 
 
 Cicero spoke the simple truth, then, when in his Book — 
 De Legibus — he wrote these words : " We are moved, I know 
 not how, by the very places themselves, in which are found 
 the footsteps of those whom we love or admire. Even our 
 own Athens doth not delight me so much by its magnificent 
 works, and the exquisite arts of the ancients, as by the 
 remembrance of the illustrious men who dwelt here and 
 held their conferences together — even their very tombs with 
 the utmost interest do I contemplate." 
 
 Thus, every man of travel must appreciate what was 
 written by the great orator and philosopher more than 1800 
 years ago ; and, therefore, it cannot be matter of surprise if 
 the same sentiment should be uppermost in the heart, and 
 re-echoed by the lips of those who came and saw, and were 
 literally conquered by their feelings at the contemplation 
 of the ruins of lona ! 
 
 Even the imperturbable English moralist, Dr. Johnson, in 
 his " J ourney to the Western Islands," seems to have been 
 impressed beyond measure — nay, inspired with the most 
 
46 The Monks of Zona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 sublime sentiments, and carried away by the warmest emo- 
 tion, on his \dsit to lona's Holy Isle. He pictured to his 
 mind the scene striking, but no less true, of days long gone 
 by, when St. Columba and his companions, in the sixth 
 century, bidding a long adieu to old Ireland, steered, under 
 heaven's pilotage, their adventurous course, in their rude 
 coracle to the Western Isles of Caledonia. They came, not 
 as men now-a-days generally are induced to travel, either 
 for pleasure or for profit — they came as Apostles of Cal- 
 vary's Cross to seek and to save — they came thereby to 
 increase their own sanctification and to sanctify others — 
 they came to teach and to refine — to teach the salutary 
 truths of Catholic Christianity, and to refine rude, unculti- 
 vated mountaineers. They cast anchor on lona's lonely 
 shore, at a small creek, as is recorded, called Portsea 
 Curaich, on the south-west side of the island. On landing, 
 they cast themselves on bended knees, and with outstretched 
 arms they gave thanks to heaven ; then did they lower 
 their heads and kiss the gi'ound, while they took possession of 
 that desolate strand in the name of God and the holy E-oman 
 Church. They hastily built up some rude altars, on which 
 the eucharistic sacrifice could be sung or said ; and ruder 
 cells did they also build for shelter to themselves against 
 the inclemency of the seasons. They prayed and worked ; 
 they worked and prayed. They tilled the ground and re- 
 claimed the waste land ; they spent long years in alternate 
 labour, meditation, and prayer. Before the sun rose, they 
 had risen to praise God; and when the sun went down, 
 they were stiU encircling the altar. Their fasts were great 
 — their \T.gils were prolonged — their lives were one con- 
 tinuous act of self-denial — their flesli was brought under 
 by constant mortification — they observed with the utmost 
 scrupulosity the three solemn vows of poverty, chastity, 
 and obedience — they were severe to themselves, but they 
 were gentle, oh, how gentle were tliey to others ! At stated 
 times they went forth like the apostles of old, two by two, 
 through the length and breadth of Caledonia, as well as 
 through Northern AngUa, to celebrate the divine mys- 
 
The Author's Pilgrimage to Zona. 47 
 
 teries, and to explain to the young and to the old, to the rich 
 and to the poor, the consoling doctrines of Holy Mother 
 Church. In the fastnesses of the mountain and in the 
 corries of the Glen, they raised the voice of Catholic truth, 
 which was then heard and welcomed, and which, after the 
 lapse of so many centuries, is now to be re-echoed from 
 West Oban's beautiful bay, by the devoted sons of Ignatius 
 of Loyola ! 
 
 But, instead of continuing our own narrative, let us hear 
 the old English Doctor himself speaking in his well-known, 
 stately, and majestic elocution — "We were now treading 
 that illustrious island, which was once the luminary of the 
 Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving bar- 
 barians derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings 
 of religion. To abstract the mind from all local emotion 
 would be impossible if it were endeavoured, and would be 
 foolish if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from 
 the power of our senses^ — whatever makes the past, the 
 distant, and the future predominate over the present — ad- 
 vances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me 
 and from my friends be such frigid philosophy as may con- 
 duct us, indifferent and unmoved, over any ground which 
 has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. That 
 man is little to be envied, whose patriotism would not gain 
 force upon the plains of Marathon, or whose piety would 
 not grow warmer among the ruins of lona !" Then he adds, 
 which is not without significance : " Perhaps, in the re- 
 volutions of the world, lona may be some time again the 
 instructress of the Western Regions." 
 
 These are flowing, and said to be amongst the most beau- 
 tiful sentences in the English language. It would, there- 
 fore, be wise in us to pause, and to allow the combined 
 harmony of sense and sound to pass away before one can 
 patiently listen to far less tuneful cadences. Be this as it 
 may, we do ask entreatingly what is it that, among the ruins 
 of lona, makes one's piety grow warmer ? What is the genius 
 of the place ? The Guardian Angel of the Isle ? Is it not 
 the sanctifying influence of religion ? Is it not that divine 
 
48 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 religion whicli Holy Cliurcli alone communicates to her 
 followers, and which urges them to deeds of heroism " above 
 all Greek — all Roman fame?*' Is it not the sacrament and 
 the sacrifice of the Christian altar, where the Lord Jesus 
 is enshrined in the tabernacle, and which exercises so mys- 
 terious an effect on the heart of the devout Catholic, — ^which 
 can induce men and women, young and old, rich and 
 poor, to relinquish the works of the flesh, the blandish- 
 ments of the senses, — to die to themselves that they may 
 live to God, to take up their abode far away from human 
 habitations, to burv" themselves in solitude, in islands and 
 deserts, — to consecrate themselves unreservedly to the 
 divine ser^-ice, to make a total surrender of every created 
 object, which Solomon declares is after all " vanity and vexa- 
 tion of spirit," and to embrace, as their only true inheritance, 
 the way of Calvary and the Cross, which is the right road 
 that leads to their great Creator, who is alone good and 
 blessed for ever ! 
 
 It was the sacramental power of the CathoHc faith, the 
 inspiring genius of divine religion, which spoke to the 
 heart of young Columba, as spoke the spouse in the Can- 
 ticles to her betrothed — " Hearken, 0 Daughter, and see and 
 inchne thy ear, and forget thy people and thy father's house, 
 and the King shall greatly desire thy beauty, for he is the 
 Lord thy God." 
 
 Yes, Columba forgot his people and his Father's Royal 
 House, and sought the Lord God alone as the portion of his 
 inheritance 1 He was a child of promise," says his his- 
 torian Adamnan. Like Samuel, he was devoted to the 
 sanctuary from his infant years. According to some Irish 
 writers, his proper name was Corinthian, but he was usually 
 called by his companions Columba, or the Dove, on account 
 of his prayerful disposition. Adamnan contends that this 
 name was given by a special pro\ndence, as the fulfilment 
 of an ancient prophecy. He was also called Columb- 
 Kille, or Columba of the Church, for he was wont to steal off 
 from his companions when they were at play, and visit some 
 one or other neighbouring chiux-h. On his return, they 
 
The Author's Pilgrimage to lona. 
 
 49 
 
 would run joyfully to meet him, shouting till they made 
 the welkin ring: " Here comes Columba from the church !" 
 
 This " child of promise," in accordance with a prevailing 
 custom in Ireland, was placed under the care of a holy 
 priest. His biographer, Adamnan, tells us that he after- 
 wards resided with the saintly Bishop Finnian of Moville, 
 in county Down. On a certain festival day, when the 
 bishop was about to celebrate mass, it was observed that 
 wine was wanting for the altar, which was forthwith mira- 
 culously supplied by the prayers of Columba. Like St. 
 Lawrence, who as deacon assisted Pope St. Xystus, St. 
 Columba as deacon assisted St, Finnian in the sanctuary. 
 From the north he went to the south of Ireland to perfect 
 himself in knowledge and piety, and took up his residence 
 at Clonard College, in the province of Leinster, which was 
 resorted to by the most eminent sages and saints of the 
 day. 
 
 We are told by Venerable Bede, by Alcuin, and others, 
 that students from every nation repaired to the schools of 
 Ireland, and that Irish religious were often summoned from 
 their monasteries to take part in the councils of kings and 
 princes. In fact, Camden, in his Britannia, tells us it was 
 a common saying in those days, when any man of literary 
 renown had disappeared from other countries, that he had 
 gone to prosecute his studies in Ireland. His words are — 
 " Amandatus est ad disciplinam in Hihernia" 
 
 It is said — although gravely contested — that Scotland 
 gave St. Patrick to Ireland, but it is very certain that Ire- 
 land gave St. Columba to Scotland. His good deeds are, as 
 it were, written upon, the trees and sculptured on the rocks, 
 while his memory is embalmed midst the islands and moun- 
 tains of Argyllshire. Certain it is, that as long as the waves 
 of the Atlantic lave the shores of lona., so long shall his name 
 be enshrined in grateful benediction. He had, according to 
 prophecy, been promised to Erin. " In the last days of the 
 century," said Mavateus, " a child shall be bom, who will be 
 called Columba, and whose name shall be famous in all the 
 isles of the ocean ; the last years of the world shall all be 
 
 4 
 
50 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 enlightened with his glory, for he shall be dear to God, and 
 of great merit before him." St. Patrick himself beheld 
 him in the future, and announced his birth. On a certain 
 occasion, while on a visit, he was dispensing blessings upon 
 the members of a noble family, and had blessed the elder 
 brother, whose name was Conall. The younger brother 
 Fergus came up in his turn, when the holy prelate first 
 prayed and blessed the boy with especial devotion, laying 
 his hands for a long time upon his head. 
 
 The elder brother, we are told, seemed aggrieved at this 
 apparent partiality, but the saint consoled him, saying, " I 
 have blessed thy brother, on account of the holy son, who 
 is to be born of his race ; for his son Fedhlemir will beget 
 a son, who shall be called Columba, because from his mother's 
 womb he will be filled with the Spirit of God. He shall be 
 rich in the treasures of science and wisdom ; he shall be a 
 shining light in his generation, and shall merit the title of 
 prophet of the Most High." 
 
 Some time afterwards St. Patrick marked out the place 
 where Columba should take up his residence. "Arriving 
 at the banks of the Foyle, near Deny," says Jocelyn, "as 
 the river was wide and deep, and there was no boat, he 
 prayed, and the river opening left him a passage. Under 
 his blessing the waters divided, so that it became fordable, 
 and at the same time the fish multiplied at that spot." 
 When St. Patrick's disciples expressed their astonishment 
 at these wonders, he answered — " In a great many years a 
 son of life shall be born, called Columba ; he shall dwell 
 here, and these prodigies are wrought in his favour." 
 
 In the Legendary History of Ireland, written by Professor de 
 Barneval, whose ancestors migrated about two hundred years 
 ago from Ireland to France, in the days of persecution, and 
 who claims honourable connexion with the Barn wells of 
 County Wexford, we find sundry most interesting incidents. 
 We are told upon the authority of the monk Cummeus, and 
 by other biographers of St. Columba, that previous to his 
 birth, his mother had a dream in which was foreshadowed 
 the glory of his future career. We stop not at present to 
 
The Author's Pilgrimage to loiia. 51 
 
 examine the value of visions, or dreams, or legendary lore, 
 because in this hypercritical age, while legends are at a 
 discount, the miracles of the gospel are not safe from 
 scepticism. The gospel miracles are even reputed by 
 Kationalists as myths, and pious illusions. We, however, 
 do not belong to the Rationalistic school, and we take things 
 as we find them. We merely repeat the story, as narrated 
 by the simple-minded old chronicler, which can be admitted 
 or rejected by the test of evidence. An angel, it is said, 
 appeared to his mother during the night, and presented her 
 with a veil of wonderful beauty. It soon escaped from her 
 hands, and soaring upwards seemed to spread itself out 
 over mountain and valley. As the mother mourned the 
 loss, the angel said — " Be consoled ; a son shall be born of 
 thee ; all virtues shall shine in his soul like the flowers in 
 the web of this beauteous veil ; and he is predestined by 
 God for the salvation of souls." Columba was, in accor- 
 dance with this prediction, born at Gartlaw in Donegal, in 
 521. It is recorded that he was of royal pedigree, both in 
 paternal and maternal descent. His father was one of the eight 
 sons of O'Neill or O'Donnell, of the nine hostages, supreme 
 monarch of Ireland, and his mother was a daughter of the 
 royal house of Leinster. O'Curry in his " Lectures on the 
 manuscript materials of Ancient Irish History," says that 
 the eight great races of Ireland are — O'NeiU and O'DonneU 
 in the north ; O'Brien and M'Carthy in the south ; O'Moore 
 and O'Byrne in the east ; O'Connor and O'Rourke in the 
 west. This union of noble races, combined with piety and 
 education, gave Columba extensive influence. In due time 
 he was ordained a priest^ and began to labour with the most 
 apostolic zeal. In his twenty-fifth year he founded the 
 monastery of Derry, and in 553 that of Durrow. Before 
 his departure from Ireland, Usher says that he founded 
 one hundred monasteries, and O'Donnell raises the number 
 to three hundred. All the ancient writers concur in declar- 
 ing that he accomplished wonders, while he is reported to 
 have wrought numerous miracles — in a word he was regarded 
 as a second St. Patrick^ the heir of his virtues, the imitator 
 
 4—2 
 
52 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 of his austerities, the standard-bearer of his faith, and the 
 proclaimer of his discipline. 
 
 His birth-place has long been renowned as the resort of 
 pious pilgrimage. It is said that the Irish immigrants to 
 Australia and America wend their way thither, before leav- 
 ing their native land, to breathe a farewell prayer in memory 
 of the great missionary who relinquished his home and his 
 country for the love of God and the salvation of souls. 
 This devotion to Fatherland, which still lives in this touch- 
 ing national usage, is represented in an old Irish poem, 
 attributed to St. Columba, in which he speaks of the rapid 
 speed of his coracle — from Erin to Alba — from Ireland to 
 Scotland. Aubrey de Vere, the distinguished convert poet, 
 has furnished the translation — 
 
 Farewell to Arran* isle, farewell! 
 I steer for Hy, my heart is sore ; 
 The breakers burst, the billows swell, 
 'Twixt Arran Isle and Alba's shore." 
 
 Count Montalembert, in his exquisite life of St. Columba, 
 says — " Like most Irish saints, and even monks, whom 
 history has kept in mind, he had a passionate love for 
 travelling." He was not, as we would now-a-days say, a 
 slow coach, who was afraid to go beyond the vision of the 
 fire-side, and who would tremble beyond the precincts of 
 his own magic domestic circle. He was certainly, to use 
 American phraseology, of the go-a-head school — his 
 heart was marvellously expansive — his energy indomitable. 
 The island of Erin was too circumscribed for his zeal — and 
 he must seek in another land and amongst another people 
 sufficient elbow-room for the propagation of the Christian 
 Catholic religion — we say Christian Catholic religion, for the 
 one is identified with the other. 
 
 The famous warrior who regretted that he had not another 
 world to conquer, reminds us of the chivalrous devotedness 
 of Columba, who must have lamented that he could not 
 so difiuse himself as to convert all the nations of the earth 
 to the worship of the one living and true God. How much 
 * On west coast of Ireland. 
 
The Author's Pilgrimage to lona. 
 
 53 
 
 must he have been moved at the time he intimated his 
 intention to his disciples that he was about to leave his 
 home and the land of his birth, to betake himself to another 
 country and another people ; when the young monk 
 Mochanna, son of the provincial king of Ulster, cried out — 
 " I swear to follow thee, wherever thou goest, since thou 
 hast led me to Christ, to whom thou hast consecrated me.'* 
 When Columba put obstacles in the way, and represented 
 that he ought not to leave his father and mother, and native 
 country, the young prince cried out — " It is thou who art 
 my father, the Church is my mother, and my country is 
 where I can gather the largest harvest for Christ." How 
 striking the exemplification of the words — " He that loveth 
 father, mother, sister, or brother more than me, is not worthy 
 of me !" We are told by St. Adamnan that St. Columba was 
 in the vigour of manhood when he established himself at 
 lona, being forty-two years of age. All testimonies agree 
 in celebrating his personal beauty, his remarkable height, 
 his sonorous voice, the cordiality of his manner, and the 
 gracious dignity of his deportment. These external advan- 
 tages, superadded to the fame of his austerities, and the 
 inviolable purity of his life, made a singular impression upon 
 the pagans, who were thus predisposed to receive him. 
 
 But let us give the following graceful outline from the 
 Examiner of January 7, 1871, in its able review of the 
 Duke's lona, and which so far represents the London Press. 
 
 "More than thirteen centuries have passed since St. 
 Columba, the Apostle of Caledonia, landed on the shores of 
 lona.; ' that illustrious island,' as Dr. Johnson describes 
 it, ' which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, 
 whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the 
 benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion.' It is 
 not difficult to determine the causes which induced Columba 
 to select a remote and rocky island as the centre of those 
 missions which ultimately converted and Christianised the 
 unconquerable land of woods, the 'Ultima Thule' which 
 had even defied the legions of Imperial Rome. An exile 
 from his beloved Ireland, at the age of forty-two, and 
 
54 Tlie Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 accused of having occasioned the shedding of Christian 
 blood, he sought some great work for the benefit of his 
 fellows. But there burned within him the passionate love 
 of the Irish Celt for his native land, and as the Duke of 
 Argyll remarks : * it is most true to nature — that which is 
 related in the memories of his race — that he could not bear 
 to live out of Ireland and yet within sight of her shores.' 
 Embarking, with his twelve companions, in one of those 
 osier barks covered with hide, with which the Celtic nations 
 navigated their stormy seas, he sailed on his voyage north- 
 wards. Tradition relates that he first landed upon the 
 island of Oronsay, but that, having climbed a hill near the 
 shore, he still saw his beloved country risiag from the dis- 
 tant horizon. Again he took to liis boat, and sailed on 
 through the Hebridean Archipelago, gazing back upon 
 Ireland with a longing look, and sa^-ing in the words of an 
 old Erse poem attributed to him : 
 
 * My Tision o'er the brine I stretch 
 From the ample oaken planks ; 
 Large is the tear of my soft gray eye 
 TVhen I look back upon Erin.' 
 
 The next island he touched was lona, which he has made 
 his ovTi. There he founded the monastic capital of Scotland, 
 and the centre of Christian ci%'ilisation in North Britain ; 
 there he lived, and laboured, and died. But his melancholy 
 patriotism never faded out of his heart. ' Death in faultless 
 Ireland,' he exclaims, ' is better than life without end in 
 Albyn.' In one of his elegies he plaintively regi'ets that he 
 cannot now sail on the bays and lakes of his native land, nor 
 listen with his friend Congall to the song of the swans. 
 He laments that he cannot go back to the dear monastery 
 at Durrow with Cormac, and ' hear the wind sigh among 
 tiie oaks, and the song of the blackbird and cuckoo.' How- 
 ever, in his newly-adopted country he set himself to estab- 
 lish, on the double basis of intellectual and manual labour, 
 the new commimity which was henceforth to be the centre 
 of his activity. 
 
 " On the most elevated spot within the monastic enclosure 
 
The Author's Pilgrimage to lona. 
 
 55 
 
 Oolumba dwelt in a hut built of planks, and there up to an 
 advanced age he slept upon the hard floor, with only a stone 
 for a pillow. Thither he returned after performing his share 
 of out-door labour with the other monks, and there he 
 patiently transcribed the sacred text of Scripture. There he 
 received the crowds of visitors who, attracted by the renown 
 of his sanctity and virtues, flocked over from Ireland, from 
 North and South Britain, and from the shores of the heathen 
 Saxons. There, too, he blessed chieftains and ordained 
 kings. According to Scottish national tradition, he conse- 
 crated Aidan as King of the Caledonian Scots, upon a great 
 stone called the Stone of Fate, which was afterwards carried 
 to Scone Abbey, and from thence to Westminster by 
 Edward I. He also crossed that central mountain range 
 which separates the counties of Inverness and Argyll, and 
 carried Christianity and civilisation among the hills and 
 glens, the islands and mountains, of Northern Caledonia. 
 In the frail skiffs of the period, Columba and his monks 
 sailed from isle to isle in the Hebridean Archipelago. They 
 even sought for solitude in the unknown northern seas, 
 wishing, as Adamnan, the biographer of Columba, says, 
 ^desertum in pelago intransmeabili invenire.' And thus 
 they discovered St. Kilda, the Faroe islands, and even 
 reached the distant Iceland. Thus the great Apostle of the 
 Caledonians laboured for over thirty years, bearing to the 
 Picts and Scots justice, truth, and light. The particulars of 
 his last days and death have been preserved by Adamnan, 
 and are as interesting as they are aff'ecting, even at this 
 remote period. After visiting and blessing the monastery, 
 he bade farewell to an old and faithful servant — his white 
 horse. He entered his cell, and began the work of tran- 
 scribing the Scriptures for the last time. When he had 
 come to the thirty-third Psalm and the verse, ' Inquirentes 
 autem Dominum non deficient omni bono,' he stopped, and 
 said, ' Baithen will write the rest.' On the next morning 
 he rose, and hastened before the other monks to the church, 
 and knelt before the altar. There he died peacefully, bless- 
 ing all his disciples, on the 9 th June, 597. 
 
56 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 " Such, according to the records and fables recounted by 
 the Duke of Argyll, were the life and labours of Coluniba, 
 saint and poet, whose posthumous glory was greater than 
 the glory of his life, and whose miracles and virtues have 
 caused the little island of lona, to be revered and visited by 
 pilgrims from many distant lands." So far the Examiner. 
 " To us," says Montalembert, " looking back, he appears a per- 
 sonage as singular as he is loveable, in whom, through all the 
 mists of the past, and all the cross-lights of legend, the man 
 may still be recognised under the saint — a man capable and 
 worthy of the supreme honour of holiness, since he knew how 
 to subdue his inclinations, his weakness, his instincts, and 
 his passions, and to transform them into docile and invincible 
 weapons for the salvation of souls and the glory of God." 
 For two centuries after his death lona was the most 
 venerated sanctuary of the Celts, the nursery of bishops, 
 and the centre of learning and religious knowledge. Seventy 
 kings or princes were brought to lona (or I-Colm-Kill, as it 
 was also called) to be buried at the feet of Columba, faithful 
 to a traditional custom, the remembrance of which has been 
 preserved by Shakespeare. " Where is Duncan's body ?" 
 asks Rosse in " Macbeth." Macduff replies, 
 
 " * Carried to Colmes-Kill, 
 
 The sacred storehouse of his predecessors, 
 And guardian of their bones.' " 
 
 So St. Columba, historians tell us, came to Scotland from 
 Ireland in 565. Having converted to Christianity the 
 Northern Picts, with Bridius their king, he received a grant 
 of the island of Hy or lona. Ritson, in his Annals of the 
 Caledonians, says that " the real benefactor of the holy 
 man was Conal MacCongail, King of the Scots." 
 
 In the introduction of the Monasticon Hibernicum, it is 
 stated that " The order of Columba was one of the most 
 extensive, for it had above an hundred monasteries and 
 abbeys belonging to it, in all the British Islands. The 
 principal house, or head of the order, was, according to some, 
 at Armagh ; according to others at Derry, now Londonderry ; 
 
The Author's Pilgrimage to lona. 
 
 57 
 
 and according to the most received opinion in the island 
 of Hii, Hij, or lona, which was afterwards called Colomb 
 Kill, situated to the northward of Ireland, at a small dis- 
 tance from Scotland ; that saint having preached the gospel 
 to the Picts, converted great numbers of them, and built 
 churches. He was so much honoured as apostle of that 
 country, that in the time of Bede, viz., about the year 731, 
 by a very extraordinary sort of discipline, all the bishops of 
 the province of the Picts were subject to the jurisdiction 
 of the priest that was abbot of Colomb Kill, because St. 
 Colomb, the apostle of the nation, had been only a priest 
 and religious man." 
 
 St. Columba died in 597, and was succeeded by St. Earthen, 
 alias Comin, who died in 601. 
 
 Bede records that when St. Aidan went from Zona to 
 preach to the Northumbrians in 634, Segerius was the fourth 
 abbot from St. Columba. 
 
 St. Adamnan, sixth abbot, adopted the Roman time of 
 celebrating Easter. In his life of St. Columba, he tells u& 
 that the aged priest, being now very infirm, ascended a little 
 hill, shortly before his death, which overlooked the^ 
 monastery, and standing on its summit he lifted up his 
 hands to Heaven, and blessed his long adopted home, pro- 
 nouncing the following prophecy on its future fame : " Unto 
 this place, though small and poor, great homage shall yet be 
 paid, not only by the kings and people of the Scots, but by 
 the rulers of barbarous and distant nations, with their 
 people also. In great veneration, too, shall it be held by the 
 holy men of other churches." 
 
 In bidding farewell to lona, on return from our pilgrim- 
 age, our very heart sunk within us, that no altar was there 
 for the Eucharistic sacrifice — that no sacraments were 
 administered — that no rite of Christian burial could be em- 
 ployed — that the poor people, from the cradle to the grave, 
 were living without the graces, and dying without the 
 blessings of true religion ! No wonder that we should have 
 exclaimed : — " How long. Gracious and Just, how long ?" 
 
lONA," BY THE DUKE OF ARGYLL. 
 
 We had glanced over three papers, which appeared in 
 successive numbers of that anti-Catholic monthly, miscalled 
 Good Words — and which is edited by Rev. Dr. Norman 
 Macleod. We have said before that this periodical bears 
 a misnomer. " Good words " ought to be true words : 
 as a rule the words written in this publication in reference 
 to the old religion of Christendom are not true, and there- 
 fore are not good, as we have had occasion to show. 
 These papers, now reprinted, have been furnished by 
 the Duke of Argyll, who, apart from his territorial desig- 
 nation, and his son's royal alliance, is well known in the 
 world of politics and letters. They were reprinted in a neat 
 volume in last December, which in this month of February 
 has been reproduced. They no doubt are ably written, and 
 smell of the lamp ; but there is a certain parade of historical 
 reading foisted into the narrative which strikes us as quite 
 irrelevant, while there is also a certain smack of humptiouS' 
 ness — if we be pardoned the significant term — in laying down 
 the Presbyterian law, and rushing full tilt against the 
 Catholic code, that reveals no small amount of intellectual 
 self-sufficiency. For the pride of intellect — instance Lord 
 Brougham and Lord Macaulay, not to speak of so many 
 living examples — so antagonistic to the humility of the 
 gospel, is the besetting sin of the present day, and lays hold 
 of the peer as well as the peasant. For every unfledged 
 scribe who can flourish his quill, must needs write dogma- 
 tically on men and manners — on philology, philosophy, and 
 religion — and must record his crude pronouncement through 
 the press, with all the assurance of the Delphic oracle. We 
 
" lona" by the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 59 
 
 do not say all this in reference to the present work, but 
 rather in regard to the penny-a-liners of the day ; for while 
 there has been a great clamour against the r eal infallibility 
 of the Pope, there has been none against t he assumed infafli - 
 bility of the Press ! But let us, without further preamble, 
 proceed to our review. 
 
 At the outset his Grace of Argyll introduces his readers 
 to Staffa as well as lona. He very truly says : " No 
 two objects of interest could be more absolutely dissimilar 
 in kind than the neighbouring islands — Stalfa and lona — 
 lona dear to Christendom for more than a thousand years ; 
 Staffa known to the scientific and the curious only since the 
 close of the last century. Nothing but an accident of geo- 
 graphy could unite their names. The number of those who 
 can thoroughly understand and enjoy them both is probably 
 very small. There can be no doubt which is the more 
 popular of the two. The aspects of nature will always be 
 more generally attractive than the history of them. It 
 requires no previous knowledge, and no preparation of the 
 memory, or of the imagination, to be impressed by Fingal's 
 Cave — with lona it is very different. Its interest lies alto- 
 gether in human memories." Now this is perfectly correct, 
 and very well put. Staffa, with its caverns, and cliffs, and 
 stupendous hall of columns, stands out in proud relief con- 
 trasted with the modest and unobtrusive little island of 
 lona. The one, so to speak, with its native boldness, is 
 emphatically the handwork of God; the other, under God, 
 with its religious associations, is the handwork of man. 
 The sanctity of Columba has thrown the sweet odour of 
 Catholicity around the isle of lona, and the apostolicity of 
 Columba has diffused its aroma throughout Northern Anglia 
 ^nd ancient Caledonia. Time, which swallows up in its 
 vortex the greatest actions of men, seems to have cast an 
 additional halo of glory around the memories of St. Columba 
 and his holy monks. The celebrated Count de Montalembert, 
 in company with his friend the Earl of Dunraven, lately 
 visited, like ourselves, this sacred and historic isle, and in 
 his most elaborate work — " The Monks of the West" — ^has 
 
60 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 . drawn with masterly pencil the living portrait of the great 
 j and good old abbot. He has done for lona what the author 
 I of Waverley has done for the " land of the mountain and 
 I flood." By the way, the centenary of Sir Walter Scott is 
 / this year to be celebrated in Edinburgh, when " his own, his 
 native land," shall rejoice in universal jubilee. As his 
 grand-daughter has succeeded to Abbotsford, and is a child 
 of Holy Church, high mass may possibly be celebrated in 
 that classic abode, in thanksgiving for the past, and implora- 
 tion for the future ! 
 
 Montalembert ^ has then in a very special way opened 
 out the genius of the place, and exhibited in glowing 
 colours its former sanctified inhabitants, while he has 
 produced several volumes of intense interest, based upon 
 facts, which read like a romance, although they are true to 
 the very letter. He has brought to bear in this labour of love 
 a most religious spirit, together with an honesty of purpose 
 and a perspicacity of criticism truly wonderful. He has 
 now passed away, and may the Lord God grant refreshment 
 to his noble soul ! His tomb is enshrined in the Requiem 
 of Religion — his memory is embalmed in literary, artistic, 
 and scientific renown. Instead of the funeral panegyric, 
 j which in France is usually delivered at the grave, the 
 ] chivalrous Cath olic Count expressly desired that the prayers 
 ^ of the Church should be the last words rehearsed over his 
 tomb ! Requiescat in pace ! 
 
 No flower then can be taken off* his mausoleum with im- 
 punity, and hence, by way of parrying the heavy blow of 
 the Duke of Argyll, we must say another word or two in 
 reference to this illustrious personage, whose equal we seek 
 in vain to find amongst the celebrities of the present times. 
 He was a most accomplished scholar, a brilliant orator, a 
 consummate statesman, a perfect enthusiast for civil and 
 religious liberty, a devoted admirer of British Institutions, 
 a discriminating archaeologist, a lover of mediaeval art, a man 
 of the most refined taste, the purest morals, the soundest 
 
 t judgment — add to this that he wa s an out and out Catholic 
 worthy of the middle ages, an indomitable knight of Christ,, 
 
" lona" by the Dv^ke of Argyll. 
 
 61 
 
 / 
 
 sm uncompromising defender of the Faith — to use the very 
 words of Pope Pius IX., " e un vero campione" — that he was 
 literally the standard bearer of the Church. In the Chamber 
 of Peers, where infidelity was rampant, and where Christi- 
 anity and Rationalism were brought face to face, he thus 
 wound up one of his magnificent perorations — " We are the 
 sons of the Crusaders ; we will not yield before the sons 
 of Voltaire !" 
 
 This great man of the old family of Montalembert, in 
 Poitou, France, but whose mother was of Scottish origin, 
 was born in London in 1810, and baptized Charles Forbes 
 de Tyron Count de Montalembert. His early education was 
 superintended by an English tutor, and he was then sent to 
 the College Bourbon. His intense love of study enabled 
 him to take the first place amongst his fellows, and his 
 thorough classical education facilitated the attainment of the 
 various European languages which he spoke with fluency 
 and elegance. Having passed through the usual curriculum 
 of education, he spent a year at the Court of Stockholm, 
 where his father was ambassador, and published an " Essay 
 on Constitutional Liberty in Sweden." Soon after he paid 
 a visit to Der r ynane Abbey, where he enjoyed the hospitality 
 of the Liberator, who recounted to him the suflferings, the 
 struggles, and the triumphs, of the Catholics of Ireland. 
 
 Of this most illustrious publicist, the Duke of Argyll 
 writes as follows — 
 
 "The most recent description of lona, and perhaps also 
 one of the most eloquent, is altogether misleading, and gives 
 the traveller a very imperfect idea both of what he ought 
 to remember and of what he may expect to find. And yet 
 no one perhaps ever visited the island who was in some 
 respects better qualified to rejoice in its associations than the 
 distinguished author of the ' Monks of the West.' But an 
 indiscriminate admiration of mediceval superstition, and the 
 absence of all endeavour to sift fact from fiction, in the 
 narrative we possess of Columba's life, mar the reality of the 
 picture which Montalembert gives us of the past. Nor 
 does the present fare better in his hands. His disposition 
 
62 The Monks of Zona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 to extol the self-sacrifice of his hero, coupled with the inca- 
 pacity of every Frenchman to understand any form of natural 
 beauty, except those to which he has been accustomed, com- 
 bine to make his description of Columba's adopted home in 
 the highest degree fanciful and erroneous." 
 
 After this slashing animadversion on the part of the 
 Duke, one would naturally suppose that the Count had 
 egregiously committed himself, and that it would be an 
 easy matter to expose his fallacies. But this we do not 
 find; on the contrary, we find his pages redolent with 
 sweetness and truth, and illustrated with graphic descrip- 
 tions of religious chivalry. His Grace talks of mediaeval 
 superstitions, but he does not tell his readers what these are 
 supposed to be ; he speaks of the " absence of all endeavour 
 to sift fact from fiction," but he does not give us any data 
 to substantiate his averment ; he says that the " narrative 
 mars the reality of the picture of Columba's life," which 
 seems passing strange, since it is avowedly drawn from the 
 authentic life of the saint by one of his successors, the 
 Abbot Adamnan. He seems to be mortified that the present 
 mournful condition of lona should contrast so unfavourably 
 with its past religious glories. The Duke appears to find 
 fault with the Count for " his disposition to extol the self- 
 sacrifice of his hero !" Pray, was he to sit down to depre- 
 ciate him, and to undervalue his meritorious life and ser- 
 vices to his fellow-men ? Now who could write in this 
 strain but one who seemed to make little account of self- 
 denial, which is so necessary in the warfare of Christian life, 
 and to have little appreciation for Christian heroism ? Then 
 the sweeping allegation of " the incapacity of every French- 
 man to understand any forms of natural beauty except those 
 to which he has been accustomed," defeats itself by its own 
 inherent extravagance ! The assertion is so utterly prepos- 
 terous that it cannot bear examination. 
 
 We are glad to find that we are backed in what we have 
 written by the "Illustrated Keview" of December, 1870. 
 After complimenting the Duke of Argyll for giving " a 
 pleasant account of that most interesting island, lona," the 
 reviewer very justly observes — " He is somewhat harsh on 
 
" lona" hy the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 63 
 
 Count Montalembert, whom he accuses of having ' an indis- 
 criminate admiration of mediaeval superstitions' — though 
 later on in the book he says that ' Montalembert repeats all 
 his narratives without letting us clearly understand whether 
 he accepts all, or only some ; or whether he narrates them 
 simply as part of the belief of the times — as such and no 
 more.' On the latter supposition, it seems the reverse of 
 just to accuse one of the most candid, most diligent, and 
 most able of modern writers of an ' indiscriminate belief in 
 superstitions.' On the other hand, he allows that Monta- 
 lembert is right in boasting that in Columba's life we have 
 proof of the practice of auricular confession, and of sundry 
 doctrines to which a much later date is usually assigned." So 
 far the reviewer, in his judicious strictures. Let us here say 
 one word of ourselves, and it is this — that we believe all that 
 the Count believed, and, were it possible, even more. We 
 f should like, then, to be informed, wherein we are guilty of 
 superstition, which under every aspect we thoroughly repu- 
 diate. The Duke ought to perceive, that he is egTegiously 
 compromised by this helter-skelter animadversion ! 
 
 Oh, but, says the Duke, the Count's " description of 
 Columba's adopted home is in the highest degree fanciful 
 and erroneous." 
 
 At last we have something tangible, and no longer are we 
 left in idle space to beat the air. The grave charge now is, 
 " the fanciful and erroneous description of Columba's adopted 
 home." Can this be sustained ? Let us refer to Montalem- 
 bert's history, where we shall find a graphic description of 
 the island and all its ancient religious monuments, while he 
 appears transported out of himself at the contemplation of 
 the past religious glories of lona. Very true, says the Duke, 
 but the Count takes exception to the climate, with its fre- 
 quent rains and storms — the Count declares the northern 
 sun " pale," and the isles denuded, and that the mountains 
 are enveloped with mists. 
 
 Pray, why should he not ? why not record his impressions 
 when he is sketching to the life, and literally describing the 
 normal state of the Hebrides ? The Count and his friend, 
 
64 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 the Earl of Dunraven, to say nothing of ourselves, did not 
 set sail from Oban, to round the island of Mull, to visit an 
 islet called lona simply because it was one of the Hebrides. 
 No, it was not the material island that drew us and so many 
 other tourists to its lonely shores — it was not simply the isle 
 of lona that attracted us and others to examine the present 
 state of its few hundred inhabitants — no, but it was the 
 religious associations of lona which induced our long-contem- 
 plated pilgrimage to Columba's holy shrine and Adamnan's 
 blessed home. Why, then, should one — and such one as 
 Montalembert — be set down even by my Lord of Argyll as 
 an "incapable" for speaking his impressions of wind and 
 weather, of mountain scenery and island desolation ? Surely 
 the traveller from the continent of Europe, should he hail 
 even from France, may be allowed freely to record his im- 
 pressions of the British Isles, as we Britishers are not slow 
 in making our pronouncements in regard to other countries ! 
 
 Well,*notwithstanding this indignant expression of feeling, 
 his Grace has the candour to admit, " It may well be, how- 
 ever, that different minds should find themselves attached 
 by very different ties to the recollections of lona, and that 
 there should be a corresponding difference in the form which 
 these impressions take." Now this is the language of good 
 common sense, and if his Grace had given that tone to his 
 papers, it should have relieved us of the necessity of our 
 present animadversions. 
 
 Self-condemned by his verdict of condemnation against 
 those who take opposite views, and receive from lona and 
 its surroundings very widely different impressions, the 
 Duke proceeds — 
 
 " From a rapid view of Columba's time, let us pass to a 
 closer inspection of Columba's home. . . . Nothing, there- 
 fore, can be more certain than that, when we look upon 
 lona, or when we range even the wide horizon which is 
 visible from its shores, we are tracing the very outlines 
 which Columba's eye has often traced, we follow the same 
 winding coasts, and the same stormy headlands, and the 
 same sheltered creeks, and the same archipelago of curious 
 
" lona" hy the Duke of A rgyll. 
 
 65 
 
 islands, and the same treacherous reefs, by which Columba 
 has often sailed. . . . All the great aspects of nature upon 
 and around lona must be the same as they were thirteen 
 hundred years ago. 
 
 " What, then, are those aspects ? To Montalembert they 
 are all mournful and oppressive. He paints the landscape 
 in the gloomiest colours. Its picturesqueness, he says, is 
 without charm, and its grandeur is without grace. The 
 neighbouring isles are all naked and desert. The mountains 
 are always covered with clouds, which conceal their sum- 
 mits. The climate is one of continual mists and rains, with 
 frequent storms. The ' pale sun of the north,' when it is 
 seen at all, gleams only upon dull and leaden seas, or upon 
 long lines of melancholy foam." 
 
 Well, granted that the Count has written in substance all 
 this — which many doubtless believe to be substantially true 
 — we do not see why the Duke should be so irate as to 
 denounce his incapacity of "understanding any forms of 
 natural beauty except those to which he had been accus- 
 tomed." To understand and to appreciate the beauties of 
 nature are mere matters of taste, although it might be diffi- 
 cult to come up to the Duke's standard. But the Duke 
 himself speaks of treacherous reefs and stormy headlands, 
 and we ourselves can speak, while in Argyllshire, of naked 
 isles, and mists and rains, and cloud-capped mountains. 
 Why should not the Count, then, be permitted to speak of 
 the "pale sun, and leaden seas, and melancholy foam ?" The 
 Duke himself admits that " the climate of the Hebrides is a 
 wet one," but by way of indemnification to humidity, he 
 adds that " the verdure is perennial and flourishes to the 
 very summits of the hills." 
 
 Let us, however, from these minor points, which are very 
 secondary indeed, proceed to something far more vitally im- 
 portant — to Columba himself and his monastic home at 
 lona. We shall not load our pages with learned lore, nor, 
 like the Duke of Argyll, sketch out the leading contempo- 
 rary events which occurred during tlie lifetime of Columba. 
 We have nothing at present to do with ancient Roman his- 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 tory, nor with the disasters which followed the irruptions of 
 the Goths and Yandals in Italy. We pass over in silence 
 Justinian and Belisarius, and Olaric and Theodoric, and all 
 the calamities which marked the footsteps of the barbarians 
 from the North. These seem to us quite out of place, and 
 yet, strange to say, the writer takes the author of Columba's 
 life, to task for not making a record of those continental 
 revolutions. Thus does he speak — "And yet no sound of these 
 calamities is heard in the calm narrative of Columba's life, as 
 recorded by Adamnan. The petty quarrels of some Irish tribes, 
 and the obscure battles which they fought, seem more import- 
 ant in the eyes of this biographer, as fixing the date of the 
 transactions he records, than the most famous contemporary 
 events affecting the most famous countries in the world." 
 
 We must say that this captiousness is exceedingly ludi- 
 crous, and to us it betrays the want of an impartial judg- 
 ment. Adamnan undertakes to write the history of Columba, 
 and the Duke of Argyll would have wished him to associate 
 with it, the history of the Roman empire ! Let us adduce a 
 somewhat parallel case. Would, for example, the Duke, in ad- 
 dition to our present strictures on his work, wish us to enter 
 upon a dissertation of this late most calamitous war between 
 France and Prussia, and give an account of its origin and its 
 progress ? Would his Grace wish us to record our own im- 
 pressions, apart from popular belief, that the Almighty has 
 scourged both countries, the victors and the vanquished, for 
 their past fearful iniquities, and for their daring impiety in 
 I raising up statues to Voltaire in Paris, and Luther in 
 Worms — to those miserable men who have been the ruin of 
 countless souls — to those bad men whose memory therefore 
 should be held in everlasting execration ! Assuredly time 
 would be wanting to us, and judgment would be at fault, 
 were we to attempt writing a disquisition, on matters so 
 complicated and so foreign to our present purpose. 
 
 What, however, Adamnan undertook he accomplished, 
 and he left behind him, the inodel history of a model man ! 
 If he makes passing allusion to " the petty quarrels of some 
 Irish tribes, and the obscure battles which they fought," it 
 
The Author^s Pilgrimage to Suhiaco. 
 
 07 
 
 must simply have been because such things took place in 
 the land which gave Columba birth, and with the interests 
 of which he ever felt himself so closely identified. 
 
 We are glad, however, when the Duke introduces into his 
 narrative some kindred subject with which we can cordially 
 sympathise ; and this he has successfully done in his refer- 
 ence to the order of St. Benedict— 
 
 " And here we come upon another point, at which lona 
 touches the general history of the Church. Columba repre- 
 sents one of the earlier forms of monastic life, which seems 
 to have materially differed from that which it assumed in 
 the great orders of mediaeval times. And yet the first of 
 these great orders was founded in his day. As Columba 
 was a contemporary of J ustinian, and of Gregory the Great, 
 so also he was a contemporary of the famed St. Benedict. 
 Twenty-six years before Columba's birth, this remarkable 
 man, then a youth of fourteen, flying from the corruption 
 of Rome, had taken refuge in the caves of Subiaco. There 
 he had moulded into a lasting form the Rule out of which 
 arose the first great orders of the West. Thirty-five years 
 later, when Columba was still a child, Benedict had removed 
 from holes in a precipice to the summit of a mountain — fit 
 emblem this migration of the larger prospects which had 
 opened to his gaze, and of the wide dominion which his Rule 
 was destined to subdue. On the sunny ridge of Monte 
 Casino, which rises above the valle}^ of the Liris, and com- 
 mands a splendid panorama among the hills of Samnium, 
 and over the valleys of the Campania, he had founded in 
 494 that retreat which for more than 1300 years has been 
 one of the most famous monasteries of the world." 
 
 It would be idle to say that we make this extract with 
 peculiar pleasure, as it reminds us of our last delightful visit 
 to Italy during 1863 — 4, after an absence of many long 
 years, since our collegiate curriculum. In reviewing the 
 scenes of our youthful student days, it was our good fortune 
 to make a kind of pilgrimage to St. Benedict's Cave at 
 Subiaco with some most intelligent friends, who for several 
 years had been travelling over Europe, and from whose 
 
 5—2 
 
68 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 beautiful seat in Essex, by a curious coincidence, we now 
 have the singular pleasure to write. 
 
 Having arranged to visit the celebrated shrines of the 
 Madonna at Tivoli and Vicovaro, on our way to Subiaco, we 
 set out on our journey from Rome. We stop not to speak 
 of the sacred nor yet the classical associations of Tivoli — 
 its churches — its temples — its villas, and its rare antiquities 
 — nor yet of Vicovaro, the ancient Varia, an interesting 
 hamlet picturesquely perched upon an eminence, and distin- 
 guished by the old baronial castle of the Bolognetti family, as 
 well as by the remains of the polygonal walls. We wended 
 our way t o Subia co, the ancient Sublaqueum, which derived 
 iSsnameTrom the artificial lakes of the villa of Nero, below 
 which it was built — sub lacum. The town is remarkable 
 for the matchless beauty of its scenery ; the rapid falls of 
 the river below ; the old castle on the hill above, which for 
 ages had been the summer residence of_the Popes ; the 
 magnificenl forests of the valley, and the religious and 
 monastic institutions which fill up so many pages in the 
 ecclesiastical history of the middle ages. All these serve to 
 enchant the tourist, whether he has come for piety or for 
 pleasure, as well as the artist who journej'-s along to sketch 
 or depict scenes which surpass each other in indescribable 
 loveliness. On a hill above the river, the ruins of Nero's 
 villa may be traced. Tacitus and Philostratus record that 
 in this villa the cup of the tyrant, while he was drinking, 
 was struck by lightning, and that the table was tumbled 
 over by the shock. Not far from this spot stands the 
 glorious monastery of St. Scholastica, founded in the fifth 
 century. AJDOut one mile further up the mountains, we 
 arrive at the sacro speco, the world-renowned monastery of 
 St. Benedict. The ascent is very precipitate, and the scenery 
 so gorgeous as to baffle conception. In early youth, Bene- 
 dict retired from the seductive fascinations of the world. 
 He was a native of Norcia, in Umbria, beinof born about the 
 year 480. His father was Eutropius, his grandfather Justi- 
 nian. He was sent by his family to Kome to attend the 
 public schools. Observing that some of his youthful com- 
 
The Aitihor's Pilgrimage to Suhiaco. 
 
 69 
 
 panions were yielding themselves a prey to the voice of the 
 charmer, and therefore too literally " obeying the laws of na- 
 ture," which the Duke of Argyll says cannot with impunity 
 be disobeyed, he determined to go beyond the reach of out- 
 ward temptation, and to guard his purity from danger. 
 Leaving the city privately, lie wended his way to the dis- 
 tant mountains. An intimate friend, who loved him dearly, 
 went in pursuit. Benedict eluded the search, and under the 
 escort of his guardian angel, journeyed alone to the rocky 
 mountains of Sublacum, called by the Italians Subiaco, 
 where in the valley there is a river and lake. He happened 
 to meet a monk of a neighbouring monastery, named 
 Romanus, who ascertaining his pious dispositions gave him 
 the monastic habit. As the young Benedict was desirous to 
 lead a life of the strictest retirement, Romanus conducted 
 him to a deep narrow cave, overhanging the river, which 
 was almost inaccessible. In this cavern, now called the 
 Holy Grotto, the youthful hermit took up his abode. 
 Romanus, who was pledged to secrecy, brought him at cer- 
 tain times some portions of food which he retrenched from 
 his own meals, and let them down to this child of God by a 
 rope, to which he had fastened a bell to draw his attention. 
 In this manner did he live for three years, but heaven de- 
 sired that the light which was thus hidden in the grotto 
 should diffuse itself abroad. It so happened that a certain 
 good priest having given instructions, for what we now-a- 
 days would call a jolly dinner for Easter Sunday, after the 
 strict fast of Lent, heard a voice which seemed to say to 
 him, You are preparing a sumptuous banquet, while my 
 poor child Benedict, a t Bubla cum, is pining away with 
 hunger." The priest immediately set forth in quest of the 
 hermit, whom at length he discovered. Surprised as was 
 the recluse at the appearance of the stranger, he beckoned 
 to him to kneel in prayer before entering into conversation. 
 They then discoursed together on God and heavenly things. 
 Having thus feasted their souls with this spiritual refection, 
 the priest invited the saint to partake of some refresh- 
 ments which he had brought with him, stating tliat as 
 
70 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 Easter day was pre-eminently the day of joy, it was not be- 
 coming to continue the Lenten fast. 
 
 Benedict replied that he was not aware of the great 
 solemnity ; neither can it be matter of surprise, that he 
 should not understand the Lunar Cycle. 
 
 So indignant was Satan at this self-denying life, and of 
 the possible good which Benedict might afterwards accom- 
 plish, that he broke the bell, in order that the poor youth, 
 not hearing the chime, might literally be starved to death ! 
 
 The Broken Bell is still shown in the sacristy, and the 
 pious legend is still repeated. Now, it is very probable 
 that we may be set down by many as an arrant simpleton 
 for giving credit to monkish stories. We have merely to 
 reply, by way of palliating the charge of simplicity, that 
 we have knocked about through many lands ; that we have 
 mingled in all circles ; that we have visited the most cele- 
 brated places of resort in Europe ; .that we are not aware of 
 any sinister object to serve; that we are peradventure not over 
 credulous ; that despite the enlightened 19th century, which 
 regards the mysteries of revelation as sheer myths, ignoring 
 the personality of the fallen angel, and that place, the men- 
 tion of which would be offensive to " ears polite," as well as 
 the eternal judgment to come ; that we are weak-minded 
 enough to believe in the existence of God and of the Devil, of 
 heaven and of hell, of the particular and of the general judg- 
 ment ! We, moreover, believe, in all sincerity, that as God is 
 pleased with the good, so the Devil is displeased, and that the 
 " roaring lion " may get permission to break hells, to raise 
 storms, to breed disturbances, and to wage the Anglo-Rus- 
 sian and the Franco-German wars ! Let it be observed, how- 
 ever, that they who denounce Catholic credulity, are 
 wretchedly credulous themselves. Instance, the votaries of 
 table-turning, spirit-rapping, witchcraft, and the second-sight! 
 
 Some time afterwards certain shepherds were wandering 
 through the mountains, and approaching the cleft in the 
 rocks in which was the cave, they heard a voice singing 
 — we may suppose — the vesper chaunt of the Church. They 
 were startled to behold what appeared as a human being. 
 
Tlie Authors Pilgrimage to Suhiaco. 
 
 71 
 
 covered with the skins of wild animals, issuing from the 
 cavern, and quite skeleton-like, so emaciated in face and 
 hands. After some friendly greeting, they entered into 
 mutual explanation, and learned from himself the marvel- 
 lous history of his life. He told them what he was, whence 
 he came, and why he had sequestered himself in that soli- 
 tude ; his whole object being to escape from the fascinations 
 of the world, and to save his soul. Still, he admitted that 
 he had not been free from inward temptation, for that his 
 mind had been haunted with impure images, till he armed 
 himself with the sign of the Cross. Again he had been 
 assailed by the sting of the flesh, when he cast himself into 
 a thorny bush, which piercing his body, the blood gushed 
 in streams. Tradition goes to say, that the bush still exists, 
 and that the thorns became roses, which luxuriantly flourish. 
 We have seen the bush ; we accept the legend ; we 
 were permitted to pluck from it a rose, which v^e greatly 
 prized. 
 
 The austerities which he underwent, and the limpid 
 purity of his life, were now quickly noised abroad, so that 
 many were induced to seek out his solitude. It is recorded, 
 that the monks of Vicovaro, on the death of their abbots 
 chose Benedict as his successor. He was most unwilling to 
 retire from his beloved solitude in the rocks, where, aloof 
 from every creature, he was in unbroken communication 
 with the Creator, and to assume the responsibility of go- 
 verning others. They were, however, so importunate as to 
 listen to no refusal. He told them that he should make 
 trial, feeling satisfied, at the same time, that his strictness 
 of discipline would not consort with the tastes of some of 
 the brethren. And so it fell out, for certain sons of Belial 
 in the monastery, becoming indignant at the severity of the 
 new regime, concerted a plan to destroy his life by mingling 
 poison with his drink. In this, however, they failed, for Bene- 
 dict making, as was his wont, the sign of the Cross over the 
 vase which contained the liquid, it burst in twain, as if 
 a heavy stone had fallen upon it. The Saint, who in all 
 things recognised the hand of God, was not at all discon- 
 
72 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Arcjyll. 
 
 certed, but meekly cried out "an enemy hath done this — may 
 the Lord forgive him ! " 
 
 He thereupon resigned his position, and withdrew from 
 Vicovaro to his much-loved solitude at Subiaco. His 
 saintly reputation increased now da}^ by day, so that multi- 
 tudes flocked thitherto place themselves under his direction. 
 He built twelve monasteries in the neighbourhood, not un- 
 like the monasteries and churches in the far-famed Glenda- 
 lough, county Wicklow — which, of course, we have also 
 visited — placing in each, twelve monks, with a superior. 
 
 We need not tarry by giving the names of these respec- 
 tive monasteries, as they were subsequently incorporated 
 with the grand Mother House, called after Benedict's sister, 
 St. Scholastica. This is a most magnificent establishment — 
 everything so orderly, so beautifully clean, so sweetly de- 
 votional. Idle would it be to say how deeply we were 
 touched, when visiting the monastery, with the humility of 
 the young English monk and priest — a London convert, 
 by the way, destined to return to Ramsgate — who went 
 down before the superior, upon bended knees, in the public 
 gateway, asking permission to accompany our party, and to 
 show us the Lions of the place ! 
 
 Time forbids us to enter into details however inviting, 
 but let us make passing allusion to the pretty village, Sara- 
 cinesco, just in sight, which is perched on the summit of a 
 conical hill, and which, with its curious history, contri- 
 butes to the romance of the landscape. It is recorded 
 that the valley of the Anio, was laid waste by the 
 incursions of the Saracens about the year 876, and that a 
 party of the invaders settled down on this spot. Among 
 the curiosities preserved in the monastery of Santa Scholas- 
 tica at Subiaco, there is an inscription of the year 1052, 
 under the name of " Rocca Sarracenisca " — the Saracene 
 rock. Certahi it is that many of the villagers have Arabic 
 names, such as Almanzor, and that their vivacious expression 
 of countenance indicates Asiatic origin ! 
 
 During the winter several of these Saracenic moun- 
 taineers, in most picturesque costumes, came to Rome, and 
 
The Author's Pilgrimage to Subiaco. 73 
 
 loitering about the Trinita dei Monti, in the Piazza cli 
 Spagna, offered their services as models for the artist. 
 
 The Church of St. Scholastica is most beautiful, and very 
 tastefully ornamented. The monastery was particularly 
 famous for its library, and was rich in diplomas and manu- 
 scripts. It has acquired especial celebrity in its historical 
 typography, as being the very first place in Italy, in which 
 the printing press was established by two Germans, Sweyn- 
 heim and Pannartz. Their edition of Lactantius was the 
 first issue, which appeared in 146 5, and a copy is still pre- 
 served as an historical curiosity, long before the Reforma- 
 tion was cradled ! 
 
 St. Benedict's Cave, as has been said, is about a mile dis- 
 tant further up the mountains. The monastery was rebuilt 
 in 847 ; the lower church in 1053 ; the upper church in 1066 ; 
 the cloister in 1235. This sacred retreat abuts against the 
 rocky hill, on nine arches of great elevation, and consists of two 
 long corridors. The Cave is converted into a chapel, where 
 we had the happiness to say mass on Thursday, April 7 th, 
 1864, as is recorded in our note-book. It is identified by some 
 antiquaries with the oracle of Faunus. It contains the most 
 beautiful statue of St. Benedict by Bernini. The two 
 chapels in communication with it were painted by one of 
 the early Italian masters, in 1219, who has left his name, 
 " Conxiolus pinxit.'* The painting in the Sacristy, of the 
 Holy Family is attributed to Correggio. The garden is still 
 notable for its plantation of lovely roses, which, according 
 to tradition, are .descended from those, which the chaste 
 young Benedict cultivated with his own hands. The oppo- 
 site bank of the river is picturesquely covered with horn- 
 beams. On the slopes of the mountain, are the ruins of a 
 Nymphseum, supposed to belong to Nero's Baths. 
 
 The fame of St. Benedict's sanctity was talked over in 
 the fashionable circles at Rome, and several illustrious per- 
 sonages were induced to go and ask. his blessing and 
 prayers. Many of the first families of the Eternal City 
 brought their young sons with them, and imitating the 
 sacrifice of Abraham, placed them under his guidance to be 
 
74 The Monks of lona and the Buke of Argyll. 
 
 trained to purity and knowledge, and thus taught to resist 
 " the laws of nature " from their very infancy ! Among 
 others, two wealthy senators, Equitius and TertuUus, com- 
 mitted to the paternal care of Benedict their two sons, 
 Maurus, then twelve years old, and Placidus, who was still 
 younger. 
 
 The great adversary of mankind, who, as St. Peter says, 
 goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may de- 
 vour, and who is constantly whispering to men, women, and 
 children, that the " laws of nature cannot with impunity 
 he disobeyed," stirred up a grievous persecution against the 
 saint. It originated in a quarter the least expected. It 
 proceeded from one who had received holy orders, but who 
 was unworthy to minister in the sanctuary. Flore ntius 
 was the name of this unhappy ecclesiastic, who, gnawed by 
 a secret jealousy, spread abroad the most infamous slanders. 
 Mindful of the blessings bestowed on those who suffer per- 
 secution for justice sake, Benedict bore all with meekness, 
 but in order to disarm the malignant hostility of his adver- 
 sary, he resolved to retire from Subiaco for a time, and to 
 go forth to the Neapolitan territory with the view of 
 laying a monastic foundation on Monte Cassino. 
 
 There was a smaU town of that name, built on a lofty 
 mountain, where existed an old temple of Apollo, in 
 which idolatrous sacrifices were offered. The Saint preached 
 against these abominations, and, by the miracles which he 
 wrought, he converted many to the faith. Thus did he pre- 
 pare the foundations for that monastic institute, which has 
 become so celebrated in Europe. At that time he was in his 
 forty-eighth year — Felix IV. was Pope — Justinian Em- 
 peror — and Athalaric King of the Goths. His patrician 
 friend, Tertullus, came on a visit to the Saint to see his son 
 Placidus, and assigned, for the benefit of the monastery, 
 several lands which belonged to him in the neiglibourhood, 
 as well as a valuable estate in Sicily. St. Gregory the 
 Great mentions that he governed also a convent of nuns 
 not far distant from Cassino, and also a monastery for men 
 at Terracina, while he sent his disciple Placidus into Sicily 
 
The Author's Pilgrimage to Monte Cassino, 75 
 
 to arrange about another foundation, to subjugate the 
 natural man ! 
 
 He was not, it is true, an adept in secular knowledge, but 
 he had studied what is much better, the knowledge of the 
 saints. He had not, perhaps, made many scientific and astro- 
 nomical observations, but he had sought after the narrow 
 — may it be called the milky — way, which leads to life 
 everlasting. He had not contemplated to shine in society 
 by his polished address, and elegance of speech, for his whole 
 solicitude was to serve God, and to save his soul. He did 
 not dream of starring it, amongst his fellow creatures, and 
 of stamping his name on the century ; he simply wished 
 that it should be recorded in the book of life, never to be 
 effaced. Hence, the republic of letters was little to him, 
 whose great alphabet was the crucifix, whose great litera- 
 ture was Calvary, whose great triumph was " to disobey 
 the laws of nature !" Of him St. Gregory says that he 
 was " learnedly ignorant and wisely unlettered " — 
 Scienter nesciens et sapienter indoctus. 
 
 Yet, although not, perhaps, coming up to our highest 
 standard in science and in art, still has he surpassed the 
 best amongst us, in that knowledge which maketh wise 
 unto salvation. Being the great master of a spiritual life, 
 he conducted numberless souls in the sublime paths of 
 Christian perfection, and drew up a code of rules which 
 for wisdom and discretion could not be surpassed. These, 
 for long years, were religiously reduced to practice by all 
 the Monks of the West ; their characteristic feature being- 
 silence, meditation, humility, self-denial, obedience. When 
 these virtues are observed by men, it is no wonder that 
 heaven should be peopled with saints ! 
 
 There is an episode in the life of St. Benedict, which is 
 specially worth rehearsing, since it is illustrative of the 
 present disastrous times. When Belisarius, the General-in- 
 chief of the Emperor, had been called back to Constanti- 
 nople, Totila, the Arian King of the Goths, pushed forward 
 with his troops to the plunder of Italy. Having heard of 
 the wonderful sanctity of Benedict, he was solicitous to put 
 
76 Tlie Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 it to the test. Accordingly, he sent a message to this man 
 of God J that he was desirous to pay him a visit. Instead, 
 however, of going himself, he commanded one of his 
 courtiers to personate him, having in his train a suitable 
 retinue. When he approached the gates of the monastery, 
 the venerable abbot thus addressed him — "My son, why 
 dost thou act this false part ? Put off those robes, they are 
 not thine !" 
 
 The mock king was thunderstruck, and fell prostrate at 
 his feet, as if overtaken by the judgment of heaven. On 
 his return, he reported in trembling accents the scene which 
 had occurred. Totila was now resolved to go himself, and 
 coming into the presence of the Saint, bowed profoundly 
 before him. Then it was that Benedict, rising up with the 
 imposing grandeur of the occasion, thus addressed the bar- 
 barous invader : — 
 I " Thou, Totila, hast done great evil, but I foresee thou 
 I wilt do more. Thou wilt take Eome ; thou Avilt cross the 
 / sea, and reign nine years longer; but death will over- 
 : take thee in the tenth, when thou shalt be arraigned before 
 the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of thy ini- 
 quities." 
 
 Thus spoke Benedict to Totila — thus spoke the late Pope 
 Gregory XVI. to the late Emperor Nicholas, whom he up- 
 braided for his atrocities to the Polish people, and thus 
 speaks Pius IX. from his prison in the Vatican — like St. 
 Peter in the Mamertine — to the excommunicated Victor 
 Emanuel and his infatuated son, whom he denounces for the 
 sacrileges which they have accumulated on their devoted 
 heads ! 
 
 In a religious house some distance from Monte Cassino, 
 Benedict's sister Scholastica was Abbess. It was permitted 
 her to receive a visit one day each year from her brother. 
 Upon this occasion their pious conversation had been pro- 
 tracted till the shades of evening were closing. Her brother 
 reminded her that as the da}^ was far spent, it was his duty 
 to return forthwith to the monastery. She entreated him 
 to prolong his stay, which he declared was impossible. 
 
The Author's Pilgrimage to Monte Cassino. 77 
 
 Thereupon urged, doubtless by some supernatural impulse, 
 she buried her face in her hands, and prayed most earnestly. 
 All of a sudden the heavens became overcast ; the most 
 violent tempest arose, which made it impossible for him to go 
 forth, when he exclaimed — " Oh, my sister, what have you 
 done ? " " Ah, my brother, do you not see that what you 
 would not grant, our good God has granted, and we must 
 therefore continue our heavenly converse 
 
 This appears to have been the last occasion they met 
 upon earth, as St. Scholastica died soon afterwards. Bene- 
 dict himself departed this life about the same time, and in 
 the year, after his interview with Totila. He foretold his 
 death to his disciples, giving instructions to have his grave 
 opened six days previously. He then became indisposed, 
 and on the sixth day he desired to be carried into the 
 church, where he received the Holy Viaticum. Surrounded 
 by his sorrowing monastic brethren, who were reciting the 
 prescribed commendation of the departing spirit, his gTcat 
 soul winged its flight to heaven, on the 21st March, 543, 
 from his sacred retreat at Monte Cassino, where he had 
 spent fourteen years, and when he was in the sixty-third 
 year of his age. Thus passed away the Saint of Saints ! 
 
 In the same month, 1864, was it our good fortune to 
 spend some time in this magnificent religious establishment, 
 with the highly accomplished inmates. We shall not at- 
 tempt to describe our emotions when we were privileged 
 to celebrate mass in the subterranean crypt under the high 
 altar, where the sacred remains of Benedict and Scholas- 
 tica repose ! We have made a jotting in our diary, which 
 it is not necessary to transcribe. Suffice it to say that Monte 
 Cassino is the glory of monastic Italy. It has been not in- 
 appropriately designated the Sinai of the Middle Ages ! Its 
 venerable antiquity, its interest as the home of St. Benedict, 
 and so many other saints and sages, its Literary treasures, the 
 high birth, the learning, the culture of the fathers, the pure, 
 moral, religious, as well as physical atmosphere which is 
 breathed, all mutually contribute to render it one of the 
 choicest spots in creation. Besides the gentlemanly bear- 
 
78 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 ing of the monks, their unbounded hospitality, their ex- 
 treme attention to their guests, have left charming and 
 ineffaceable recollections on our memory. Hence, it is 
 labour of love, to put on record the tribute of gratitude 
 which we personally owe, but which we seek in vain to 
 repay ! 
 
 Dante himself commemorates the glories of Monte Cas- 
 sino in his Paradiso : — 
 
 Q,uel monte, a cui Cassino e nella costa. 
 
 The monastery is a glorious massive pile, more palace- 
 like than conventual. The entrance is through a rocky pas- 
 sage, where the founder had his cell. The courtyards, to 
 which this conducts, communicate with each other by arcades. 
 In the great area before the Church a fountain is constantly 
 playing, which is ornamented with gigantic statues of St* 
 Benedict and St. Scholastica. 
 
 A broad flight of marble steps leads to the upper quad- 
 rangle, where rises the temple of God in all its simplicity 
 and loveliness. Time forbids us to attempt the description 
 of the gorgeous beauty of the interior, which far surpasses- 
 all expectation. In gTacefulness of outline, and costliness 
 of decoration, it seems to stand second only to St. Peter's 
 at Rome. The floor is of Florentine mosaic, the marbles are 
 of the richest and most varied character, and the paintings 
 are of surpassing excellence. Then, as we have said, the 
 monastery is the grandest institute of the kind in Europe. 
 Its antiquity, the interest attached to it as the home of St. 
 Benedict, the parent house of so many saints and sages, the 
 depository of such sacred and classical treasures, its museum, 
 its library,its archives, the whole establishment is magnificent 
 beyond conception. Every object of interest was exhibited 
 to us with that cheerful frankness, and refined cordiality 
 so characteristic of the religious orders. What struck us 
 was the huge volumes in which visitors were invited to 
 record their names, and in which we also were requested to 
 adhibit our signature. We glanced over with intense in- 
 terest the pages, and observed so many notable signatures, 
 to which sundry observations were frequently attached. 
 
Tlie Authors Pilgrimage to Monte Cassino. 79 
 
 Among others our eye fell upon the name of the great ora- 
 torian of Edgbaston, Dr. Newman, who, with his friend St. 
 J ohn, had visited Monte Cassino shortly after his conversion, 
 and before writing his name, he wrote as follows : — 
 
 " 0 Sancti Montis Cassinensis, nnde Anglia nostra, olim 
 rivos Catholicse doctrinse saluberrimos hausit, orate pro 
 nobis, jam ex hseresi, in pristinam vigorem, expergiscen- 
 tibus." 
 
 The notorious Kenan had also visited here in the days 
 when he was a Christian. He also wrote : — " Porro unum 
 est necessarium, Maria optimam partem elegit !" 
 
 But we must reluctantly tear ourselves away from these 
 delightful reminiscences, and resume our prosaic encounter 
 with his Grace of Argyll, who thus refers to this magnificent 
 monastery : — 
 
 " But rapid as was the spread of the great monastic order 
 which poured forth its legions from this centre — Monte 
 Cassino — more than a century elapsed before they reached 
 the distant shores of Britain. For aught we know, Columba, 
 though he survived him m^ore than fifty years, never 
 heard of the Rule of Benedict. What, then, was the 
 monastic system in which Columba himself lived, and which 
 he brought with him to lona ?" ^ ^ 
 
 As regards the theology of Columba's time, although it 
 was not what we now understand as Roman, neither as- 
 suredly was it what w^e understand as Protestant. Monta- 
 lembert boasts, and I think with truth, that in Columba's 
 life we have proof of the practice of auricular confession, 
 of the invocation of saints, of confidence in their protection, 
 of belief in transubstantiation, of the practices of fasting 
 and of penance, of prayers for the dead, of the sign of the 
 cross in familiar — and it must be added — in most supersti- 
 tious use." Now, we submit that nothing could be more 
 Roman and less Protestant than the very doctrines here 
 enumerated, and which were taught and practised so sedu- 
 lously at lona. " On the other hand, there is no symptom 
 of the worship or ' cultus ' of the Virgin, and not even 
 an allusion to such an idea as the universal Bishopric of 
 
80 Tlic Jlonl'S of lona and the Buhe of Argyll. 
 
 Eome, or to any special authority as seated there." This fi*ee 
 and easy style in reference to the Holy Virgin, who under 
 divine inspiration declared that all generations should call 
 her blessed/' reminds us of a little incident which may not 
 be out of place. It may vary the scene, but still bears 
 home on the subject. Let us, then, pass for a moment fi*om 
 grave to gay," and enliven our narrative by the rehearsal 
 
 The scene lay in Perthshire, when the wi-iter was Priest 
 of the city of Perth. A worthy man from the famous Carse 
 of Gowrie, who rejoiced in being the Precentor of Kilspindie, 
 had called upon his reverence upon some business. The 
 conversation turned upon religion, and the Precentor, whose 
 duty it was on the " Sabbath " to sing the Psalms and 
 give out the text, appeared to be on the most familiar terms 
 with the Holy Apostles. He called them Peter and Paul, 
 and just as some would s})eak of Ai*gyU and Lome. We 
 were really anxious to give a poser to our friend of Kil- 
 spindie, and in the best humour possible, we said "Mr. 
 Precentor, of the Kirk of Kilspindie, if you have not the 
 religious feeling to call the Holy Apostles St. Peter and St. 
 Paul, have at least the politeness to call them Mr. Peter and 
 Ml". Paul ! His Grace of Argyll may perhaps learn a lesson 
 from Kilspindie." 
 
 Well, cn^nted that there is no reference to the Cultus of 
 the Blessed Virgin, nor yet to Papal Supremacy, we ought 
 to remember that St. Adamnan was not writing a disserta- 
 tion on the Christian religion, but simply narrating the life 
 of the Abbot of lona, and tha t it did not com e in his way 
 to speaE'upbEf those su bjects, no more than upon the great 
 cotemporary events which occurred under the Roman Ejn- 
 pire, and which forsooth his Grace, has found fault with him 
 for not recording. Besides, at the very most, th is is merely 
 a negative argument, and cannot be adduced as proof 
 positive against either of these doctrines. 
 
MONTALEMBERT AND THE DUKE OF ARGYLL. 
 
 MoNTALEMBERT began liis political career in 1830. De- 
 scended from ancestors of great military renown, it was his 
 wont to say that he was the first of his family who ex- 
 changed the sword for the pen — when with De Lamennais 
 and Lacordaire he started the L'Avenir, bearing the motto : — 
 
 " God and Liberty : the Pope and the People." 
 
 Of him, Lacordaire, then a youthful barrister, wrote : " He 
 is a most fascinating young man, and I am as fond of him 
 as though he were a plebeian ! Sure I am, that if he lives 
 his destiny will be as pure as a Swiss lake among the moun- 
 tains, and equally celebrated !" 
 
 In regard to the forthcoming journal, Montalembert re- 
 ports what was contemplated : — " It was meant, according 
 to the views of its founders, to regenerate Catholic opinion 
 in France, and to cement the union between it and liberal 
 progress. I hastened to aid in this work, with the ardour 
 of my twenty years, from the west of Ireland, where I had 
 just seen O'Connell at the head of a people, whose invincible 
 attachment to the Catholic Faith had weathered the storm 
 of three centuries of persecution, and whose religious emanci- 
 pation had just been achieved by the liberty of speech and 
 the freedom of the press." 
 
 The Count, with Lacordaire and De Coux, determined to 
 test the liberty of education, which the Government had ex- 
 clusively monopolized. They opened, therefore, on their 
 own account a school for children in 1831 — having given 
 due notice to the Prefect of Police — and resolved to take the 
 initiative by becoming schoolmasters themselves for a time 
 in this struggle for educational freedom. Just as in those 
 
 6 
 
82 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 evil days of bitter memory, when Catholic education was 
 wantonly proscribed by the British Government, there 
 started into existence throughout Ireland what were caUed 
 the hedge schoolmasters, who, being denied aU school-room 
 accommodation, taught the poor children where there could 
 be no obstruction, in the morasses of Connaught — under the 
 hedges of Ulster — amidst the bushes of Tyrone, and by the 
 lakes of Killarney and Connemara. The old hedge school 
 master, David Mahony, had the high honour to teach to the 
 then young child, Daniel O'Connell, the first letters of the 
 alphabet ! Such was the disastrous state of matters in Ire- 
 land when the Liberator was born ! Yet the Irish have 
 been taunted with ignorance, when education was regarded 
 as a felony ! 
 
 For this daring attempt to open a free school for free edu- 
 cation, irrespective of Government interference, Montalem- 
 bert was cited before the public tribunal. He appeared 
 accordingly, but he protested against being arraigned before 
 the House of Representatives, and demanded as his right to 
 be tried by the Chamber of Peers. When asked for his 
 designatioD, he astounded the French noblesse by his extra- 
 ordinary answer — " Charles de Montalembei*t, schoolmaster, 
 and peer of France 1" 
 
 Then it was that he rose to deliver his maiden and never- 
 to-be-forgotten speech, in which in a strain of lofty elo- 
 quence, which perfectly electrified the house, he advocated the 
 liberty of the subject — the liberty of thinking — the liberty 
 of speaking — the liberty of teaching — the liberty of con- 
 science ! The Government part}^, while paralyzed, was, liow- 
 ever, imper^dous to reasoning, however conclusive, and to 
 arguments perfectly irresistible. The chivakous young 
 Count was fined the nominal sum of one hundred francs, 
 but, notwithstanding, he virtually carried the day ! 
 
 In 1833 he was associated with other devoted young 
 Catholic gentlemen in founding the Society of St. Yincent 
 de Paul, which had for its object to look after the poor, 
 both as to temporal and spiritual matters. It has since 
 been difiused throughout Europe and America, and has 
 
Montalemhert. 
 
 83 
 
 thereby effected a world of good. Withdrawing himself 
 now for awhile from the arena of political contention, he 
 went to reside in Germany, and wrote in the most exquisite 
 style, the life, beautifully illustrated, of St. Elizabeth of 
 Hungary, from whom his wife, the Countess de Merode- 
 Westerloo, was lineally descended. 
 
 In May, 1835, he took his seat again, midst tumultuous 
 •acclamation. The celebrated De Sainte Beuve describes 
 him as having " the right to say all, to dare all," by means 
 of that elegance of speech and gracefulness of delivery, 
 which were pre-eminently his own. He could urge with 
 unbounded freedom, in the most impassionate accents, the 
 defence of that liberty which was his youthful day-dream ; 
 he could propound those lofty theories which, proceeding 
 from any other, would have been scouted as romantic, but 
 by him they, were invested with all the charms of practi- 
 <3ability. At one time he could be keen and sarcastic ; at 
 another he could speak with daring firmness to the monarch, 
 while he would lay the unsparing lash of criticism on the 
 members of the cabinet. 
 
 He revisited England in 1839, and delivered a magnificent 
 oration in London, at the meeting of the Society of the 
 Eriends of Poland, when the Duke of Sussex was in the chair. 
 
 In 1840 he wrote from Madeira his celebrated paper " On 
 the duties of Catholics on the question of liberty of teach- 
 inof." About this time was oro^anized the Comite electoral 
 de la liberie religieuse, of which De Montalembert was 
 appointed president, and De Vatimesnil — formerly minister 
 of Public Instruction — the vice-president. 
 
 The noble speeches which he pronounced during 1844, 
 elicited from the highest personages in France the most 
 flattering encomiums. The elite of the Erench youth, so 
 generous and so appreciative, gathered together in a body of 
 three hundred, and marching to the Count's house in the 
 Rue du Bac, St. Germain, offered him the most splendid 
 ovation. They presented him with an enthusiastic address, 
 and so likewise did the students of the great university of 
 Louvain. 
 
 6—2 
 
84 The Monks of lona and the DuJce of Argyll 
 
 During the revolution of 1848, the archbishop of Paris, 
 Z ^R^ - -AiFre, displayed heroic fortitude by mouffting the barri- 
 cades with the olive branch of peace to appease the combat- 
 ants. He fell there^ mortally wounded by a stray bullet, 
 and expired in the arms of his vicar-general with the words 
 of charity dropping from his dying lips — "The good 
 shepherd giveth his life for his sheep !" Montalembert him- 
 self was in the thickest of the fray, and exposed to imminent 
 peril by carrying despatches between General Cavaignac 
 and the Assembly. Regardless of danger, his whole solici- 
 tude was to turn the Revolution to his country's good, and 
 the Church's well-being. 
 
 About this time the Pope had been obliged to retire from 
 Rome to Gaeta. The Republic, under General Cavaignac, 
 sent the French troops to i-estore order, and the Holy Father 
 returned in triumph. When a motion had been proposed 
 to continue the French army in the Eternal City, it was 
 violentl y opposed by Victor Hu go and the othgr Reds in 
 furious and abusive declamatlonT Muiitalembert rose to 
 reply, when a scene followed, seldom or ever equalled in the 
 annals of forensic or parliamentary display. Fearless and 
 self-possessed, master of the occasion, and rising superior to 
 the conflict of passion, presenting a front like the rocks of 
 our island to the storms of the ocean, the noble Count, having 
 still a more noble cause, opened wide the flood-gates of the 
 most majestic elocution, and, sweeping all opposition from 
 before him, carried along, by his fervid eloquence, the great 
 majority of the Legislative Assembly. It would be too 
 lengthy to give details, and a few sentences must therefore 
 suffice. After a desperate conflict with sundry speakers, he 
 is reported to have spoken to this effect — 
 
 " I have been asked to answer the orator. It is my desire 
 to do so — it is my right — it is my duty. -^^ It is, 
 
 however, difficult to follow a discourse so vehement, so 
 passionate, as that you have just heard — (murmurs) — with- 
 out being carried on not to attack the person of the orator. 
 Nothing can be farther from my wish — (interruption) — but 
 to address him such remarks as his speech deserves." After 
 
Montcdemhert 
 
 85 
 
 an elaborate and most eloquent! defence of the Papacy, 
 Pius IX., and of the French Expedition to Rome, delivered 
 amid continual clamorous interruptions, the great Catholic 
 orator continued — " But what must strike every mind, even 
 the most prejudiced, even the least sensible to the pre- 
 possession, which, at this moment, you suppose possesses 
 me, it is not only the discredit and disrepute, which sooner 
 or later is attached to those who fight against the Holy See, 
 but it is their inevitable defeat ! Yes, remark it well ; I 
 repeat, failure is certain ! 
 
 " And why is failure certain ? Pray now pay attention to 
 this : because there is between the Holy See and you, and 
 all who fight against her, inequality of force. And remark, 
 this inequality is not for you, but against you. You have 
 500,000 men, fleets, cannon, all the resources that material 
 strength can supply. That is true. And the Pope has 
 none of all this, but he has what you have not, he has a 
 moral force, an empire over consciences and over souls to 
 which you can have no pretension, and this empire is im- 
 mortal. (Immense cheeringf on the Right amid murmurs of 
 dissent from the Left.) You deny it ! you deny the faith, 
 you deny the empire of the pontifical authority over souls, 
 this empire which has overcome the greatest Emperors ! 
 Well, be it so ; but there is one thing you cannot deny — 
 the weakness of the Holy See. But, understand, it is this 
 weaknes::! which is her insurmountable strength against you. 
 Yes, truly, for there is no greater spectacle in the history of 
 the world, or a more consoling one than the embarrassment 
 of strength at war with weakness. (Strong cries of assent 
 from the Right.) Allow me a familiar comparison. When 
 a man attempts to fight with a woman — were she the basest 
 of creatures — she can brave him with impunity. She says 
 to him : Strike me, but in so doing you dishonour yourself 
 and do not conquer me. (Hear, hear.) Well, the church is 
 not a woman, she is more than a woman, she is a Mother 1" 
 (Hear, hear ! bravo, bravo ! A triple round of applause 
 greets this expression of the orator.) ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 This speech was afterwards scattered by hundreds of 
 
86 Tlie Monks of Iotw. and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 thousands throughout France, and welcomed as the ver}' 
 masterpiece of eloquence, and one of the imperishable 
 glories of the French tribune. 
 
 In 1850 the " Sons of the Crusaders," of whom Monta- 
 lembert was now the acknowledged chief, succeeded ao^ainst 
 the " Sons of Voltaire," in winning the desperately fought 
 battle for liberty of teaching. A measure was carried, by 
 which " a radicaFreform of primary education, the freedom 
 of the little seminaries, the liberty of religious congregations 
 were obtained : the bishops were to be members of the 
 Council of Education, and the superintendence of govern- 
 ment over educational institutions was restricted to the 
 securing of public order." 
 
 The next movement, always in the right direction, was 
 the report which Montalembert drew up for the better 
 observance of the Lord's day, in which was demanded " the 
 restitution of what was due to the majesty of God, and the 
 dignity of the poor." 
 
 In 1852 he published his "Catholic Interests in the 
 Nineteenth Centur}'." It is described as a true hymn of 
 liberty, a plea for Parliamentary government, a satire against 
 absolute power, and a diatribe against those CathoUcs who 
 rallied round the new-fledged Imperialism. 
 
 He crossed the Chaimel again, and was received through- 
 out Great Britain with the most respectful consideration — ■ 
 Catholics and non-Catholics rivalling each other to do him 
 honour. Among divers marks of distinction the University 
 of Oxford conferred upon him the dignity of Doctor of Laws. 
 On his return to France, he published his elaborate essay on 
 the " Political Future of England," in which he reviews the 
 glories of the past, the labours of the present, the prospects 
 of the future. Montalembert was thus not simply the grand 
 promoter of liberty and education ; he was the glorious 
 standard-bearer of religion. 
 
 About this time a vacancy occurred in the French Academy 
 which numbers only forty members. The claims of Monta- 
 lembert, in an artistic, scientific, literary, oratorical, political, 
 diplomatic point of view, were fav too paramount to be 
 
Montalemhevt 
 
 87 
 
 overlooked. He was elected with acclamation, and the 
 oration which followed was the very masterpiece of eloquent 
 reasoninjx, but the most tremendous invective as^ainst the 
 Imperial policy. In 1857 he was elected president, and in 
 this position he had to preside at the yearly meeting of the 
 whole Institute of France, when he spoke with such brilliant 
 effect on the decline of moral and intellectual life, under the 
 Napoleonic regime.' 
 
 He was pre-eminently the man of Faith — of Hope — of 
 Charity. Like the great O'Connell, ]ie was another lay 
 apostle — without holy orders, he was the veritable Cham- 
 pion of the Church. His noble heart yearned after the 
 blessed immortality of his fellow creatures. He groaned in 
 spirit that so many pious souls in the British Isles, should 
 continue to be deluded, with the unchristian systems of 
 Luther, Calvin, and Knox ; that they should still be 
 hoodwinked with the fanatical ravings of Glass, Wesley, 
 and Irving; that they should still be kept in religi- 
 ous leading-strings by those whom the usages of society 
 alone, induce us to call Eeverend, Very Reverend, Right 
 Reverend, and Most Reverend ; but who, before God and 
 high heaven, have no right to preach, to teach, or to bap- 
 tize; who have no orders, no jurisdiction; who can dis- 
 pense no sacraments, offer no sacrifice ; who have no mission 
 from God, and no commission, except from her gracious 
 majesty the Queen ; who, according to Catholic teaching, 
 are simply laymen, according to Catholic theology, rank 
 with Coran and Abiron, who although of the tribe of Levi, 
 paid a dismal penalty in opposing Moses and Aaron ; and 
 w^ho, according to Catholic tradition, are not the Pastors 
 of the Lambs and Sheep of Christ 1 No wonder, then, that 
 knowing and feeling that the Church sighs after the return 
 to the fold of unity, of every wandering nation as of every 
 wandering creature — urged on, likewise, by the spirit of 
 religious chivalry to exert his utmost, to make conquest of 
 souls for God ; fired also with patriotic ardour for the 
 salvation of those among whom he was bom, — no wonder, 
 indeed, that Montalembert should force his very pen to 
 
88 
 
 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 write, and his tongue to speak, in the following glowing 
 accents : — 
 
 "The Church wants England, and England wants the 
 Church 1 What would not England have done if she had re- 
 mained faithful ? With her indefatigable activity, her 
 unconquerable energy, the unlimited power of her com- 
 merce and her fleets, the munificent contributions which she 
 lavishes on error, what strength, what support, what abun- 
 dant harvest would not the Roman Church have found in 
 this race, which gave, in ancient times, to ecclesiastical 
 liberty S. Anselm, S. Thomas, and S. Edmund, who are 
 amongst the most valiant champions she ever knew ; and 
 who, at the present time, devotes to the propagation of an 
 erroneous Christianity so many treasures and such perse- 
 verance ! * * * * But Catho- 
 licity has taken immense strides in the British Empire 
 since emancipation was gloriously achieved by O'Connell 
 a quarter of a century ago. Not only in Ireland, in Eng- 
 land, and even in puritanical Scotland, and especially in her 
 immense extent of colonies, has the number of dioceses, 
 parishes, churches, monasteries, and Catholic congTCgations 
 incessantly increased in regular proportion. ^ -Jf -k- 
 England was Catholic for a thousand years, that is three 
 times longer than she has been Protestant, and Catholicity 
 has engrave37 in. inefiaceable marks, a thousand vestiges of 
 Tier dominion. Her most venerable institutions, her most 
 popular glories, are traceable to Catholic times. Trial by 
 jury, Parliaments, the Universities, date from" the time 
 when England was the submissive daughter of the Holy 
 See,_-It-JBKaa Caiholic barons and bishops who wrested 
 Magna Charta from King John ; Catholic Irishmen consti- 
 tuted a large portion of her army in the Peninsula and the 
 Crimea. Her people have preserved the memory of her 
 Catholic monarchs — Alfred, Edward the Confessor, Richard 
 Coeur de Lion, Edward III., and Henry V. Her cathedrals, 
 churches, and ancient castles, which she restores or pre- 
 serves with such pious reverence, are exclusively the work 
 of her Catholic ancestors. The fervent devotion of the 
 
Montalemhert. 
 
 89 
 
 converts finds Heaven peopled witli English Saints from 
 S. Alban to S. Thomas of Canterbury. These form the 
 patrimony, the treasury, of the English Catholics." 
 
 But the desperate coujp d'etat of December sounded the 
 death knell of Montalembert's political life. On re-entering 
 the Corps Legislatif, he ranged himself in the ranks of 
 opposition, till his final retirement from Parliament in 1857. 
 In a letter under date November, 1869, he thus describes 
 his feelings : — " My protests and writings against the ignoble 
 Caesarism of the Second Empire have condemned me to a 
 living tomb, and to silence ; have made me descend from 
 the political tribune at forty years of age, when most men 
 ^re just mounting it." 
 
 In October, 1858, Montalemhert furnished a brilliant 
 article for the Correspondant, headed " The English Parlia- 
 ment," which is an extraordinary effort of genius. He 
 ■extolled the British at the expense of the French Govern- 
 ment, in so pungent a manner as to involve him in a govern- 
 ment litigation. Though defended by the magic eloquence 
 of the veteran Berryer, who entranced his audience in a 
 magnificent harangue of two hours' duration, sentence 
 was given against his illustrious client. 
 
 At the period of the Congress of Paris, which was con- 
 vened after the Crimean war, he issued a manifesto — " Pius 
 IX. and Lord Palmerston," in which he defended, in the most 
 uncompromising manner, the inalienable rights of the Holy 
 See, and denounced in unsparing terms the crafty Italian 
 statesman, Cavour, for " having outraged, betrayed, and de- 
 spoiled the Sovereign Pontiff." 
 
 In 1861 he paid a visit to Poland, for which he felt the 
 deepest sympathy, and on his return to France, he awoke 
 the most indignant emotion against Russia by his work the 
 " Nation in Mourninof." 
 
 In 1863, a grand Congress was held at Mechlin, which 
 was attended by more than a thousand bishops and priests 
 and seven thousand laymen. The chivalrous Son of the 
 Crusaders was there, and his masterly address was received, 
 as usual, with enthusiastic acclamation. 
 
90 Tlie Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 In 1864 the great grief of his life overtook Montalembert. 
 It was the death of his bosom friend the Pere Lacordaire, 
 who having been a brilliant advocate at the bar, became the 
 saintly orator of the pulpit. The memoir of the great 
 Dominican Father is surpassingly beautiful and touching, 
 and might be regarded as the Count's chef d'oeuvre. 
 
 And now, passing over various other items, we come to 
 the crowning literar}:- effort of Montalembert's life — his- 
 " Monks of the West." In regard to this voluminous and 
 magnificent production, it is by no means too much to say 
 that it is the most splendid tribute to monasticism, that was 
 ever penned by a layman. He tells us plainly the object 
 which he had in view in embarking in so gigantic an under- 
 taking. 
 
 He was desirous " to plead in favour of the religious orders 
 by an exposition of the facts ; to restore the halo of glory to 
 these old forgotten saints, who were the very heroes of our 
 histories ; the blessed ancestors of all Christian people ; the 
 patriarchs of all faithful races ; the immortal models 
 of the life of the soul ; the witnesses and martyrs of the 
 truth." 
 
 He then makes allusion to his work in these terms : — " I 
 flatter the hope, that the reader patient enough to follow me 
 to the end, will rise from this study, with his soul calmed 
 by the sweet influence of the purest virtues, and in- 
 flamed by the love of all that strengthens and exalts 
 human nature, and with aversion for all that could stifle 
 and abase it." 
 
 Such were the sentiments which were awakened in the 
 soul of this great man, at the contemplation of the lives of 
 the monks of old. Their lives were modelled upon Christ 
 crucified — they died to themselves, that they might live to 
 God. Not only the commandments did they make it their 
 study religiously to observe, but the evangelical counsels 
 became with them, of their own free accord, matters of obli- 
 gation. They vowed their vows to God, and to Holy Church, 
 to observe with Heaven's help — poverty, chastity, and obedi- 
 ence. These are now styled " dead virtues " in this fast and 
 
K on-Catholic Clergy. 
 
 91 
 
 fashionable age, by popular and accomplished authors, who 
 write sensual and sensational romances for the masses, and 
 who thus pander to the prurient tendencies of the " laws 
 of nature !" As the spirit is opposed to the corruption of 
 the flesh, so is monasticism opposed to the sensuality of 
 the times ! 0 temjjora ! 0 moves ! 
 
 For what is the dominant vice, or as it is called the social 
 evil of the day ? What are those vices which are acting as 
 a gangrene upon societ}^, and which are eating away the 
 vitality, both of the mind and heart ? We have high autho- 
 rity for declaring that all that is in the world is "the con- 
 cupiscence of the eyes, the concupiscence of the flesh, and 
 the pride of life." In other words that avarice, voluptuous- 
 ness, and self-sufficiency are the dominant vices of the age. 
 What then are to be the counteractinof agencies, and who 
 can supply them ? Is it the Non-Catholic Church, and the 
 Non-Catholic clergy ? No, most assuredly, because both 
 one and the other belong to the world, and against the 
 world and its follies they cannot successfully combat ! 
 
 Non-Catholic Churches may be, and doubtless are, highly 
 respectable human institutions, and the non-Catholic clergy 
 may be, and, as a rule, are, excellent fathers of families, and 
 estimable members of society. But that non-Catholic 
 churches have been created by God, or that the non-Catholic 
 clergy have been ordained by the Holy Ghost, is an idea the 
 most chimerical, as it is the most calamitous fatality, under 
 the sun ! 
 
 Therefore, whatever good these gentlemen, whom, from 
 the usages of society, we designate " Reverend," may ac- 
 complish in a social way, is beside the question ; no substan- 
 tial good can they accomplish from a religious stand-point. 
 They are not of God ; they have no authority to speak in 
 the name of God; they are not the delegates of Jesus 
 Christ; they are not the anointed servants of the divine 
 Spirit ; they can produce no heaven-sealed credentials for 
 their mission ; they are the lineal descendants, in their own 
 ministry, of Luther, Calvin, and Knox ; they are utterly 
 ignored by the Apostles of Christ, and their successors ; they 
 
92 The Monks of lona and the Duke of A rgyll. 
 
 are simply the messengers of the Queen or of the People, who 
 may induct them into their respective charges ; they are 
 appointed by lay authority, and by lay authority can they 
 be deposed. Instance the case of Rev. Mr. Yoysey, who, in 
 this very month of February, is condemned to forfeit his 
 living on account of heresy — on account of exercising the 
 right which the reformed Churches proclaimed, of indi- 
 vidual judgment in matters of religion ! Spiritual authority 
 they have none — absolutely none. In the volume upon 
 which we are commenting, the noble author tells the 
 €lergy of the Kirk of Scotland, and of the Church of Eng- 
 land, that they are not Apostolic Fathers, whatever else they 
 may be, because there are, forsooth, " no Apostolic Fathers, 
 except the Apostles." 
 
 Having, then, no divine commission to teach, preach, 
 baptize; having no orders, no jurisdiction; leading lives as 
 other respectable gentlemen of the world; having gene- 
 rally large families that they must educate and provide 
 for ; having to introduce their sons and daughters into 
 society, to marry and get married ; having to take legiti- 
 mate recreation in due season, to cast the fly for the 
 salmon ; to sport the rifle for the grouse or the Deer ; to 
 follow the hounds and to beat up the fox, having after break- 
 fast, upon the returning Sabbath — as it is mis-named in 
 Scotland — or Sunday, to read or to recite some pious prayers, 
 to deliver an elaborate essay on ethics, such as Plato or 
 Socrates might have spoken ; to pronounce a homily — " The 
 religion of e very-day life," for example, by Rev. Dr. Caird, 
 and published at the instance of the Prince Consort ; or 
 "War and Judgment," by Rev. Dr. MacLeod, preached 
 before the Queen, and published by her majesty's command, 
 — having to do these things, and such like things as these, 
 which any gentleman of education and intelligence, could 
 easily accomplish, they can sit themselves down — they can 
 " rest and be thankful" 
 
 But that they can be the regenerators of mankind, and 
 the co-operators in the salvation of immortal souls ; that 
 they can lift up the fallen, and minister the gi'ace of perse- 
 verance in virtue; that they can grapple with irreligion, 
 
JS'on- Catholic Clergy. 
 
 9S 
 
 and stem the torrent of immorality which has poured out 
 like a deluge over the land ; that they can cicatrise the 
 wounds which are festering in the members of almost every 
 class of society ; that they can teach more eloquently by 
 their example than by their words, and thus in their own 
 persons " renew the face of the earth." — Oh, this most 
 decidedly is beyond their reach, because it is beyond the 
 capabilities of the non-Catholic Church and the non- 
 Catholic clergy ! 
 
 And what Church — what clergy are to surmount these 
 all but insuperable difficulties'? Wliy, no other but the 
 Catholic Church and the Catholic clergy; shall we say 
 specially the religious orders ? These may be regarded as 
 the legitimate successors, as they are the successful rivals, 
 of St. Columba and his self-sacrificing monks of lona ! The 
 world represented by the men and women of fashion, do not 
 believe in lip service. They believe theoretically but not 
 practically in precept, while they cannot possibly refuse to 
 believe in example. They admit most readily the pre- 
 vailing vices of the age, that the world is very evil indeed. 
 
 They admit that the world is avaricious — they want an 
 antidote; they find it alone in the religious orders, which 
 proclaim voluntary poverty ! 
 
 They admit that the world is impure — they want an 
 antidote ; they find it in the religious orders, which proclaim 
 perpetual chastity ! 
 
 They admit that the world is proud — they want an anti- 
 dote ; they find it alone in religious orders, which proclaim 
 entire obedience ! 
 
 The Apostle St. James has left us in no doubt about his 
 opinion of the world, which is already condemned. In the 
 very first age of the Church he has left recorded in that old 
 Book — which is now being mangled again by non-Catholic 
 revision — that all " that is in the world is the concupiscence 
 of the eyes, the concupiscence of the flesh,and the pride of life." 
 These words, so ancient and yet so true, are as suitable now 
 in the nineteenth, as when they were written in the first 
 century of the Christian Era ! 
 
94 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 Let us now inquire what are the consequences — natural 
 and unavoidable — of these prevailing vices ? They are Irre- 
 ligion, Infidelity, Atheism, Socialism, Communism, and the 
 like. Why it stands to reason that men and women who do 
 not live in the fear of God, would naturally wish that no God 
 should exist. It stands to reason that men and women who 
 scoff at the idea of the particular or general judgment after 
 death, must laugh to scorn the eternity of hell's torments. 
 It stands to reason that men and women who wish to 
 abandon themselves to their animal propensities — " to the 
 laws of nature " — must necessarily oppose that holy insti- 
 tute alone, which is the only representative of the Super- 
 natural Order ; which is the only oracle of divine revelation; 
 the only palladium of true religion — the only guardian of 
 pure morality ! 
 
 Pray, is not this the case at the present moment ? What 
 is seen throughout Europe, but a general convulsion in 
 politics, and an universal corruption in morals ? The laws of 
 nations are trampled under foot ; the inviolability of treaties 
 is utterly disregarded; the patrimony of the Church is 
 pounced upon by godless revolutionists ; the moral code is 
 ruthlessly set aside ; religion is cast to the winds, for brute 
 force is everywhere dominant. The tide of iniquity has 
 .spread itself over the continent, and, by a judgment of 
 heaven, is permitted to rise to its greatest height in the 
 Eternal City. The storm of licentiousness has lashed itself 
 into seething foam, and is at this instant dashing its 
 malignant spray against the rock of Peter. The abomina- 
 tion of desolation has entered the Holy City, and shameless 
 harlots under escort, have been literally imported in myriads 
 to corrupt the unfortunate Roman youth ! 
 
 In the London Tablet of Saturday, February 11 — a 
 journal, by the way, which, in scholarship and ability, is 
 second to no other — we find an able article headed "An 
 Italian Diplomatist in London on the Roman Question," 
 which reveals the desperate state of affairs in Italy at the 
 present moment. 
 
 It has reference to the report lately published in Tlce 
 
Neio York Commissioner. 
 
 95 
 
 World, which is one of the principal New York news- 
 papers. The outspoken declarations of their commissioner, 
 Mr. Thompson Cooper, whom the proprietors of that journal 
 ■had sent to Italy, to chronicle the real state of the case, are 
 >certainly worth recording. There is no apparent disposition 
 to lean to one side more than to the other. The candid 
 statement which he makes, in the most unvarnished way, 
 tells its own tale, and commends itself to the consideration 
 of every honest-minded man. He says — "I have lent a 
 patient and attentive ear to the statements of the partizans 
 of the King of Italy and of the partizans of the Pope of 
 Rome. If at the outset my mind was biassed at all it was 
 ■against the Ultramontane faction, as I could not bring 
 myself to believe that the assertions so confidently made by 
 the London Tablet and other organs of the Clerical Party 
 had really any sound foundation in fact. However, I de- 
 termined to take nothing upon second-hand testimony, but 
 use my own ears, my own eyes, and my own common sense 
 in order to ferret out the truth. 
 
 "At the outset I had the good fortune,'under circura.stances 
 which it would be imprudent to specify in print, to form 
 .the acquaintance of a gentleman who holds a responsible 
 position in the Italian Legation at the Court of St, James's. 
 He spoke to me with a candour which he would probably 
 not have displayed had he been aware that he was in the 
 company of one of those dreaded individuals — a newspaper 
 correspondent. This gentleman said — Italy had occupied 
 the States of the Church in obedience to the national mil. 
 Rome was absolutely necessary to complete the unification 
 of Italy, for Rome was the natural capital of Italy. I here 
 suggested the argument of the Ultramontanes, that Rome 
 belongs not to Italy, but to tlie whole Catholic world. 
 * That is utterly beside the question,' he replied. ' Italy 
 cares nothing about the Catholic world. She wanted Rome; 
 she has seized it, and phe means to keep it. As for what 
 you call the Catholic world,' he added, 'it is powerless. 
 France is prostrate, and has not the power to do anything 
 for the Pope, even if she had the will. Prussia certainly 
 
96 The Monks of lona and the Buhe of Argyll. 
 
 will not raise her finger to restore the Temporal Power. 
 Austria has quite sufficient to do without again assuming 
 the championship of the Holy See, while the "faithful" 
 in Belgium, Holland, England, and Ireland can do no more 
 than vent their fury in empty protest. There may be, as 
 you say, a good many Catholics in the United States, but 
 the United States do not interfere in European politics.' 
 
 " At this point I enquired whether the Italian government 
 intended to confiscate the property of the English, Scotch, 
 Irish, and American colleges in Rome. The British govern- 
 ment, I observed, has addressed a communication on this 
 subject to the government at Florence. 
 
 " ' If,' responded my diplomatic friend, ' the colleges of 
 which you speak are " religious corporations," they will most 
 assuredly be seized by our government, because, according 
 to the law of the land — which is sacred, and cannot be 
 violated even to please the most influential powers — the 
 property of all religious corporations in Italy is vested in 
 the state. If, however, the colleges you allude to are not 
 religions corporations, in the technical sense of the phrase, 
 they will not be interfered with.' 
 
 " I ventured to enquire how it was possible to establish a 
 modus vivendi between the Pope and the King. To this 
 query my informant was good enough to reply with a 
 candour which I confess completely staggered me, and also 
 an orthodox Anglican clergyman, who happened to overhear 
 the conversation. 
 
 " ' The Pope,' he said, ' is as free as ever he was, so far as 
 his spiritual functions are concerned. We do not wisli to 
 interfere with his spiritual independence in any way. At 
 present he is sulky, and persists in shutting himself up in 
 the Vatican, but we are extremely anxious that he should 
 come out and assist as usual in the grand functions of the 
 Church. Our troops have received orders to show him all 
 the honours due to a sovereign prince. All this, however, 
 he added with the greatest coolness, ' is only intended to 
 pacify the Catholic countries of Europe, for we mean in the 
 end to take away all independence from the Pope, and to 
 
Italian Diplomatist. 
 
 97 
 
 paralyze the influence of the Catholic Church, which is 
 totally opposed to the grand efforts of the civilization of the 
 nineteenth century ! The Church must either conform to 
 the requirements of modern progress or perish/ 
 
 What was ' modern progress ?' " I timidly asked. 
 " * To give but one example/ he replied, * it is obvious to 
 •every man of the world that prostitution is necessary to 
 the welftire of every civilized community. Now, the 
 Church, ivlth culpable obstinacy, refuses to recognize prosti- 
 tution as a social institution. Consequently the Church 
 must either be swept away or compelled to conform to the 
 tendencies of the age. Every man has a right to all tlie 
 enjoyment he can obtain in this world, and no Pope, Prelate, 
 or Priest has any right to curtail the amount of his enjoy- 
 ment. Until the recent occupation by the Italian troops, 
 there was no freedom in this respect in Rome ; but noiv 
 ^very man may do as he likes. If a man is just and honest 
 during business hours, no power on earth has a right to 
 censure him for what lie may do afterwards." 
 
 After indulging in some further confessions, which, un- 
 fortunately, are not fit to be printed, my informant remarked : 
 " I am as good a Catholic as the Pope, and, probably, a 
 great deal better one, but I claim the liberty to do as I like. 
 I decline to be controlled. I am a Catholic of the school of 
 the learned Professor DoUinger of Munich, and of the cele- 
 brated Lord Acton, both of whom so zealously contested 
 the impious dogma of infallibility of the Pope." 
 
 I merely report faithfully, and certainly without exagge- 
 ration, the remarks made by the Attache of the Italian 
 Legation at the Court of St. James's. I abstain from any 
 comment." 
 
 "We also shall abstain from all comment. We must how- 
 ever say that it is intensely amusing to find our Italian 
 Diplomatist extolling his special Catholicity, even at the 
 expense of the Holy Father ! His sublime spirituality is 
 literally transcendent — he claims the liberty to do as he 
 likes! So did Lucifer — so did Adam and Eve — so did 
 Herod and Pontius Pilate — so did the Heresiarchs and 
 
 7 
 
l)8 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 Schismatics of the middle ages, and so do the Carbonari and' 
 Revolutionists of the nineteenth century ! 
 
 The Diplomatist boasts of being of the school of Dr. 
 Dollinger, which is indeed a very questionable recommen- 
 dation. The learned Professor we had the honour to meet 
 at Munich, on our return from Rome, when we spoke our 
 mind freely to him, upon Roman and German religious 
 affairs. 
 
 The Diplomatist associates himself also with Lord Acton, 
 who had been formerly a pupil of Dr. Dollinger. We rejoice 
 to find that his lordship, from his speech at Kidderminster, 
 is much more healthy in his politico-religious creed, than the 
 sickly state in which he had been long represented. 
 
 The Diplomatist speaks of " the impious dogma of the 
 Infallibility of the Pope," which shall afterwards engage 
 our consideration. Meanwhile be it observed that the 
 whole Catholic world believes, as one man, this consolatory 
 article of Christian revelation, and that he who refuses to 
 accept this doctrine, cuts himself off, i^^.so facto, from the 
 communion of the Church. So much for our distinguished 
 Diplomatist, who, whatever may be his external profession 
 of Catholicity, is most certainly not a Catholic, and with 
 whom, therefore, in sacris, Lord Acton can hold no com- 
 munication, however obsequious he may be in his gratuitous 
 attentions to his lordship ! But let us return to Montalembert. 
 
 Born in London, among those whom he ever loved 
 for their boundless hospitality to his countrymen after the 
 Revolution, and who are manifesting similar generosity in 
 this hour of need, to poor France, which is now passing 
 through a crucial ordeal, he loudly proclaimed the sterling 
 natural qualities of the English people, their high-minded- 
 ness, their straightforwardness, their honesty of purpose, 
 their love of fair play. He pointed out the immense ad- 
 vantages which they enjoy, under a responsible Parliament- 
 ary Government, which echo and re-echo the sentiments 
 of the nation. It was, therefore, his great solicitude that 
 precisely similar institutions should be established in the 
 noble country with which he was paternally connected. As. 
 
Montalemhert. 
 
 99 
 
 his first prayers, doubtless, were said when kneeling by the 
 side of his Scottish mother — although it is stated that she 
 was Irish, of the Granard family — so the last touches of 
 his magic pen, were employed to record the marvellous actions 
 of Columba, the medi£eval apostle of his maternal country ! 
 
 For some years he had been a martyr to bad health, but 
 he accepted all with quiet patience, and humbly adored 
 the dispensations of Divine Providence. He watched with 
 intense interest the progress of religion throughout Christen- 
 dom, and contemplated with profound admiration the great 
 event of the century, the gloiious assemblage of Bishops at 
 the Vatican General Council. Although he, with some 
 other distinguished laymen, regarded the definition of 
 Papal Infallibility as inopportune, still did he know that it 
 belonged not to the laity to judge in spiritual matters, 
 regarding opportunities or definitions. Hence, was he ever 
 the most obedient child of the Church, and hence did he ever 
 recognise the voice of Him who sat in the Chair of Peter, as 
 the voice of Christ himself! It was not, indeed, permitted 
 that he should live to hear promulgated the infallible decree 
 of the unerring Pontiff", when speaking ex-cathedrd on faith 
 and morals. For, on Sunday morning, March 18, 1870, the 
 angel of death was sent to bear him away to his reward. 
 The sad news flew like lightning through the then beautiful 
 city of Paris. Every heart was touched, every eye grew 
 dim, every head was bowed down, every tongue cried out, 
 " May the Lord have mercy on his soul ! " 
 
 On the same afternoon, when the noble Lenten preacher, 
 Pere Felix, at Notre Dame, mounted the pulpit of the 
 Metropolitan Cathedral, and intimated the sorrowful event, 
 it fell like a thunderbolt on the audience. A cry of wail 
 arose, and the " De profundis " was simultaneously recited. 
 The illustrious Jesuit preacher himself could not suppress 
 his emotions. When the first excitement of grief had par- 
 tially subsided, the following tribute of grateful feeling, he 
 laboured in broken accents to enunciate — " The Church is 
 not ungrateful ; she will remember him, who so valiantly 
 defended her, and whom he delighted to call his mother ! 
 
 7—2 
 
100 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 All Catholics will feel the loss we have sustained in the 
 person of this great man, and you wdll not fail to pray for 
 the repose of his soul, now that lie is in the presence of his 
 Redeemer." Many prayers indeed were offered, and many 
 masses said, in behalf of this indomitable champion of the 
 Church, knowing that it is a holy and wholesome thought 
 to pray for the dead, that they may be released from their 
 eins. So thought the Maccabees — so thinks the Church of 
 Jesus Christ ! 
 
 The funeral service took place in the church of St. 
 Clotilda, the only modern one in Paris, of the mediseval 
 style. It was often before its altars, and under its pointed 
 arches, that the noble Count, during health and sickness, was 
 wont to pray. By his special request a simple low mass 
 was celebrated during the obsequies, and no funeral oration, 
 as is usual in France, was pronounced. His whole mind was 
 absorpt, not for the vain breath of adulation, but for eternal 
 refreshment to his soul. Like the saintly Monica, when 
 lying on the bed of death at Ostia, the sea-port near the 
 mouth of the Tiber, who called her sons Augustine and 
 Octavius to her bed-side and said — "My children, I have 
 only one request, and it is this, that wherever you may be, 
 you make remembrance of your mother at the altar of God !" 
 — In like manner did the dying Count Montalembert ; he 
 wanted prayers and sacrifices for his soul. He cared not 
 for public honours nor for civic distinctions — he desired no 
 magnificent funeral — no display of pompous pageantry — no 
 exhibition of armorial bearings — no elaborate panegyric, 
 long or short, to recapitulate what he did, and what he 
 wished to have accomplished, for the good of Holy Church, 
 and the w^ell-being of his fellow men. His dying petition 
 was that " the prayers of the Church should be the last 
 words recited over his tomb." 
 
 Such is a faint portrait of the late Count de Montalembert 
 — such an imperfect outline of this great and wise and good 
 man. No layman in modern times, with the exception of 
 Daniel O'Connell — and Montalembert was frequently styled 
 the French O'ConneU — has rendered such signal services 
 
Montalemhevt. 
 
 101 
 
 to tlie Church as the noble Frenchman whose career, alas, too 
 prematurely came to an end. Before attaining to his majority 
 he acquired distinction as a Catholic publicist ; before age per- 
 mitted him to take his hereditary seat in the senate of 
 peers, we have shown how at the bar of that house, he 
 vindicated the rights of the Church and the liberties of 
 Catholic education. During his whole life he devoted un- 
 interruptedly his indomitable energies, both as a writer and 
 a speaker, to promote the sacred interests both of the 
 Creator and the creature. 
 
 As a statesman Montalembert held the highest place ; as 
 an orator he was second to none ; as a diplomatist he would 
 have been signally conspicuous. As a Christian Catholic 
 he was worthy of the middle ages ; he had the chivalry of 
 the crusaders, the gentleness of the knights of old. He 
 was enthusiastically devoted to the " ages of Faith ho 
 prized Catholicity as the pearl of the gospel; he wished 
 that its diamond lustre should irradiate every land. Yet 
 he was eminently tolerant. While with consummate dexterity 
 he could beard ultra-Gallicanism — poignard Voltaireianism, 
 and unmask the pliant policy of political adventurers, 
 he comported himself in the most refined circles of 
 ladies and gentlemen of all religions, or of no particular 
 religion, with the grace of the courtier, and the easy deport- 
 ment of the travelled man of the world. In society, people 
 meet on the broad platform of universal philanthropy and 
 toleration. In the Senate and in Parliament — in the 
 pulpit and in the press, there is room amply sufficient for the 
 development of all kind of views on religion and politics — 
 on philosophy and ethics. But to obtrude — in season or 
 out of season — one's peculiar crotchets upon others, whether 
 they will or not, is of all nuisances the most insufferable. 
 The greatest annoyance which can be encountered in the 
 canting world is the religious bore. Montalembert knew 
 nothing of humbug — on the contrary, he made himself all 
 to all, to gain all to Holy Church ! 
 
 Besides, he was free from aU kinds of cant. Firm 
 as the rock in his religious principles, he did' not force 
 
102 Tlie Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 his convictions, much less parade before others unnecessarily 
 the " Faith our Fathers held of God." Firm also in his 
 political principles, he was not disposed cameleon-like to 
 change them for place or pension; but having truth alone 
 as his motto, he nailed, so to speak, his colours to the mast, 
 and determined at all hazards to sail only in that barque of 
 Peter which must ever weather the storm ! Hence was he 
 remarkable for his firmness of speech, his clearness of rea- 
 soning, his abliorrence [of tergiversation, while intense feel- 
 ing animated his rounded periods, and gave zest to his 
 ojlowinor and masculine elocution. 
 
 The interesting memoir of his life and writings, by Mr. 
 White, and published by Mr. Washbourne, Paternoster Row, 
 to which, in our hurry, we are much indebted, thus winds 
 up the character of this great and good man. 
 
 " Well versed in classical learning, and possessing a rare 
 acquaintance with the literature of the chief nations of 
 Europe, he spoke their dialects with wonderful fluency. 
 He possessed, moreover, very great theological knowledge, 
 and made profound researches in history. Indeed, he came 
 to the tribune like an ideal orator of Cicero, 'peritus 
 omnium artium atque scientiarum.' His orator}^, in gesture 
 and mode of delivery, was more English, or rather Irish 
 than French, and it is said that he took Burke for his 
 model. One of its most salient features was the skill with 
 which he brought his immense historical learning to bear on 
 every topic, religious or political, he had occasion to handle. 
 His opponents declared he overwhelmed them beneath the 
 torrent of facts, examples, illustrations, anecdotes, dates and 
 precedents, from every period of history. In fine, we cannot 
 bestow higher praise on him than by afiirming that at the 
 age of thirty he surpassed in eloquence the most consum- 
 mate orators, and that in his ' Monks of the West,' he rivals 
 the historical researches of Hurter. And to conclude, in 
 the words of one of his most virulent political adversaries : 
 " ' He always made war at his own expense,' which is a 
 great virtue now-a-days even for a rich gentleman. That 
 with his name, his position, and his parliamentary antece- 
 
Montalemhevt. 
 
 103 
 
 dents, he never accepted either place, decorations, or honours, 
 is indeed rare. He had the great merit, at a time when so 
 many political men desert the progress of ideas, and take 
 refuge in gross sensualism, to preserve that ardent love and 
 lively ardour for his principles which indicate a truly ele- 
 vated mind.' " 
 
 As His Grace of Argyll has written in rather a cavalier 
 style respecting this illustrious publicist, we are desirous in 
 the following chapter, to afford our readers the opportunity 
 of pronouncing upon the merits of the author of " the 
 Monks of the West." It strikes us that the Duke himself, 
 despite his censoriousness, is not a little indebted to the 
 laborious industry of the distinguished Count. Let the Life 
 of St. Columba, as written by the respective authors, be 
 placed in juxta position, and judged accordingly. 
 
 We must here, however, give an extract from the Duke's 
 lona, which it behoves us to correct : — 
 
 Long after the death of Columba, the community he founded in 
 lona, seems to have ordained and sent forth Bishops under circumstances 
 which look very much as if their mission was conferred by the collective 
 authority of the Brethren. If any Bishop was present at the consecra- 
 tion, which is a matter of inference only, he appears to have been re- 
 garded as the mere organ of the supreme authority of the Abbot and of 
 the body over which the Abbot presided. All these things have been 
 terrible scandals to later ecclesiastical historians, and have much exer- 
 cised the ingenuity of Presbyterian and Episcopal controversialists." 
 
 Now at the present moment, we have neither time nor 
 space to enter upon an elaborate critique of this extract, 
 which betrays ignorance of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Be 
 it known then to the " Presbyterian and Episcopal contro- 
 versialists," that all the Priests of lona, together with the 
 Abbots, could ordain no Bishop whatsoever, nor yet appoint 
 him to any See — not even to Timbuctoo ! — as the late witty 
 Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral — Sidney Smith — would have 
 told his Grace of Argyll. The consecration of every Bishop 
 must be by another Bishop ; and the bulls of consecration 
 can alone be issued by the Holy Roman See, which is the 
 centre of Apostolic unity, power, and jurisdiction! 
 
COLUMBA'S LAST YEARS— HIS DEATH— HIS 
 CHARACTER. 
 
 " When King Aidan brought his children to him, and 
 spoke of his anxiety about their future lives, he did not 
 content himself with seeing the eldest. ' Have you none 
 younger V said the abbot ; * bring them all — let me hold 
 them in my arms and on my heart I ' And when the 
 younger children were brought, one fair-haired boy, Hector 
 (Eochaidh Buidhe), came forward running, and threw him- 
 self upon the saint's knees. Columba held him long pressed 
 to his heart, then kissed his forehead, blessed him, and pro- 
 phesied for him a long life, a prosperous reign, and a great 
 posterity, 
 
 " Let us listen while his biographer tells how he came to 
 the aid of a woman in extremity, and how he made peace 
 in a divided household. One day at lona he suddenly 
 stopped short while reading, and said with a smile to his 
 monks, ' I must now go and pray for a poor little woman 
 who is in the pains of childbirth, and suffers like a true 
 daughter of Eve. She is down yonder in Ireland, and 
 reckons upon my prayers, for she is my kinswoman, and of 
 my mother's family.' Upon this he hastened to the church,, 
 and when his prayer was ended returned to his brethren,, 
 saying, ' She is delivered. The Lord Jesus, who deigned to 
 be born of a woman, has come to her aid ; this time she wiU 
 not die.' 
 
 " Another day, while he was visiting an island on the 
 Irish coast, a pilot came to him to complain of his wife, who- 
 had taken an aversion to him. Tlie abbot called her and 
 reminded her of the duties imposed upon her by the law 
 
Columha. 
 
 105. 
 
 of the Lord. ' I am ready to do everything,' said the 
 woman — ' I will obey you in the hardest things you can. 
 command. I do not draw back from any of tlie cares of 
 the house. I will go even, if it is desired, on pilgrimage to 
 Jerusalem, or I will shut myself up in a nunnery — in short,, 
 I will do everything except live with him.' 
 
 " The abbot answered that there could be no question of 
 pilgrimage or of a convent so long as her husband lived ;. 
 * but,' he added, ' let us try to pray God, all three, fasting — 
 you, your husband, and myself.' 
 
 " ' Ah,' said the woman, ' I know that you can obtain 
 even what is impossible from God.' However, his proposal 
 was carried out — the three fasted, and Columba passed the 
 whole night in prayer without ever closing his eyes. Next 
 morning he said to the woman, with the gentle irony which 
 he so often employed, * Tell me to what convent are you. 
 bound after your yesterday's projects V ' To none,' said 
 the woman; 'my heart has been changed to-night. I 
 know not how I have passed from hate to love.' And 
 from that day until the hour of her death she lived in a 
 tender and faithful union with her husband. 
 
 "But Columba fortunately was connected with other house- 
 holds more united, where he could admire the happiness of 
 his friends without feeling himself compelled to make 
 peace. From his sanctuary at lona his habitual solicitude^ 
 and watchful sympathy followed them to their last hour. 
 One day he was alone with one of the Saxons whom he 
 had converted and attached to his community, and who was- 
 the baker of the monks. While this stranger prepared his- 
 bread, he heard the abbot say, looking up to heaven, 'Oh I 
 happy, happy woman ! She goes into heaven with a guard 
 of angels.' Exactly a year after, the abbot and the Saxon 
 baker were again together. ' I see the woman,' said 
 Columba, ' of whom I spoke to thee last year coming down 
 from heaven to meet the soul of her husband, who has just 
 died. She contends with powerful enemies for that dear 
 soul, by the help of the holy angels : she gains the day, she 
 triumphs, because her goodman has been a just man — and 
 
106 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 the two are united ao-ain in the home of everlasting conso- 
 lation.' 
 
 " This vision was preceded and followed by many others of 
 the same description, in which the blessed death of many 
 bishops and monks, his friends and contemporaries, were 
 announced to him. They seem to have been intended to 
 give him a glimpse of that heaven into which God was 
 shortly to call him. Nor was it only at lona that these 
 supernatural gTaces were accorded to him, for he did not 
 limit his unwearied activity to the narrow enclosure of that 
 island, any more in the decline of his life than in the earlier 
 period of his emigration. Up to old age he continued to 
 have sufficient strength and couraore to return to the most 
 northern regions where he. had preached the faith to the 
 Picts; and it was in one of his last missionary journeys, 
 when upon the banks of Loch Ness, to the north of the 
 great line of waters which cuts Caledonia in two, at a dis- 
 tance of fifty leagues from lona, that he was permitted to 
 see the angels come to meet the soul of the old Pict, who, 
 faithful during all his life to the law of nature, received 
 baptism, and with it eternal salvation, from the great mis- 
 sionary's hands. 
 
 " At this period the angels, whom he saw carrying to 
 heaven the soul of the just and penitent, and aiding the 
 believing wife to make an entrance there for her hus- 
 band, continually appeared to him and hovered about him. 
 Making all possible allowance for the exaggerations and fables 
 which the proverbial credulity of Celtic nations has added 
 to the legends of their saints, no Christian will be tempted 
 to deny the verified narratives which bear witness, in 
 Columba's case as well as in that of the other saints, to 
 supernatural appearances which enriched his life, and 
 especially his old age. Those wonderful soldiers of virtue 
 and Christian truth needed such miracles to help them to 
 support the toils and live through the trials of their dan- 
 gerous mission. They required to ascend from time to time 
 into celestial regions to find strength there for their con- 
 tinual struggle against all obstacles and perils and con- 
 
Columba. 
 
 107 
 
 tinually renewed temptations — and to learn to brave the 
 enmities, the savage manners, and blind hatreds of the 
 nations whom it was the aim of their lives to set free. 
 
 " ' Let no one follow me to-day,' Columba said one morn- 
 ing with unusual severity to the assembled community : ' I 
 would be alone in the little plain to the west of the isle.' 
 He was obeyed ; but a brother, more curious and less obe- 
 dient than the rest, followed him far off, and saw him, erect 
 and motionless^ with his hands and his eyes raised to 
 heaven, standing on a sandy hillock, where he was soon 
 surrounded by a crowd of angels, who came to bear him 
 company and to talk with him. The hillock has to this 
 day retained the name of Gnocan Aingel — the Angels' 
 Hill. And the citizens of the celestial country, as they 
 were called at lona, came often to console and strengthen 
 their future companion during the long winter nights which 
 he passed in prayer in some retired corner, voluntarily ex- 
 posed to all the torments of sleeplessness and cold. 
 
 " For as he approached the end of his career this great 
 servant of God consumed his strength in vigils, fasts, and 
 rigorous macerations. His life, which had been so full of 
 generous struggles, hard trial, and toil in the service of 
 God and his neighbour, seemed to him neither full enough 
 nor pure enough. In proportion as the end drew near he 
 redoubled his austerities and mortifications. Every night, 
 according to one of his biographers, he plunged into cold 
 water and remained there for the time necessary to recite 
 an entire, psalter. One day, when, bent by age, he sought, 
 perhaps in a neighbouring island, a retirement, still more 
 profound than usual, in which to pray, he saw a poor 
 woman gathering wild herbs and even nettles, who told 
 him that her poverty was such as to forbid her all other 
 food. Upon which the old abbot reproached himself bit- 
 terly that he had not yet come to that point. ' See,' he 
 said, ' this poor woman, who finds her miserable life worth 
 the trouble of being thus prolonged ; and we, who profess 
 to deserve heaven by our austerities, we live in luxury!' 
 When he went back to his monastery he gave orders that 
 
108 The Monks of lona and the Luke of Argyll. 
 
 he should be served with no other food than the wild and 
 bitter herbs with which the beggar supported her existence ; 
 and he severely reproved his procurator, Diarmid, who had 
 come from Ireland with him, when he, out of compassion 
 for his master's old age and weakness, threw a little butter 
 into the caldron in which this miserable fare was cooked. 
 
 " The celestial light which was soon to receive him began 
 already to surround him like a garment or a shroud. His 
 monks told each other that the solitary cell in the Isle of 
 Himba, near lona, which he had built for himself, was 
 lighted up every night by a gTeat light, which could be seen 
 through the chinks of the door and keyhole, while the 
 abbot chanted unknown canticles till daybreak. After 
 having remained there three days and nights without food, 
 he came out, full of joy at having discovered the mysterious 
 meaning of several texts of Holy Scripture, which up to 
 that time he had not understood. When he returned to 
 lona to die, continuing faithful to his custom of spending a 
 great part of the night in prayer, he bore about with him 
 everywhere the miraculous light which already surrounded 
 him like the nimbus of his holiness. The entire community 
 was involuntarily agitated by the enjoyment of that fore- 
 taste of paradise. One winter's night, a young man who 
 was destined to succeed Columba as fourth abbot of lona 
 remained in the church while the others slept ; all at once 
 he saw the abbot come in, preceded by a golden light which 
 fell from the heiofhts of the vaulted roof, and lio-hted all the 
 corners of the building, even including the little lateral 
 oratory where the young monk hid liimself in alarm. All 
 who passed during the night before the church, while their 
 old abbot prayed, were startled by this light, which dazzled 
 them like lightning. Another of the young monks, whose 
 education was specially directed by the abbot himself, re- 
 solved to ascertain whether the same illumination existed 
 in Columba's cell ; and notwithstandino- that he had been 
 expressly forbidden to do so, he got up in the night and 
 went groping to the door of the cell to look in, but fled im- 
 mediately, blinded by the light that filled it. 
 
Columba. 
 
 109 
 
 " These sigrns, which were the forerunners of his deliver- 
 ance, showed themselves for several years towards the end 
 of his life, which he believed and hoped was nearer its 
 termination than it proved to be. But this remnant of 
 existence, from which he sighed to be liberated, was held 
 fast by the filial love of his disciples, and the ardent 
 prayers of so many new Christian communities founded or 
 ministered to by his zealous care. Two of his mouks, one 
 Irish and one Saxon, of the number of those whom he 
 admitted to his cell to help him in his labour or to execute 
 his instructions, saw him one day change countenance, and 
 perceived in his face a sudden expression of the most con- 
 trary emotions : first a beatific joy, which made him raise to 
 heaven a look full of the sweetest and tenderest gratitude ; 
 but a minute after this ray of supernatural joy gave place 
 to an expression of heavy and profound sadness. The two 
 spectators pressed him with questions which he refused to 
 answer. At length they threw themselves at his knees, and 
 begged him, with tears, not to aflSict them by hiding what 
 had been revealed to him. 'Dear children,' he said to 
 
 them, ' I do not wish to afflict you 
 
 Know, then, that it is thirty years to-day since I began my 
 pilgi-image in Caledonia. I have long prayed God to let 
 my exile end with this thirtieth year, and to recall me to 
 the heaveidy country. When you saw me so joyous, it was 
 because I could already see the angels who came to seek my 
 soul. But all at once they stopped short, down there upon 
 that rock at the farthest limit of the sea which surrounds 
 our island, as if they would approach to take me, and could 
 not. And, in truth, they could not, because the Lord has 
 paid less regard to my ardent prayer than to that of the 
 many churches which have prayed for me, and which have 
 obtained, against my will, that I should still dwell in this 
 body for four years. This is the reason of my sadness. But 
 in four years I shall die without being sick ; in four years, 
 I know it and see it, they will com6 back, these holy angels, 
 and I shall take my flight with them towards the Lord/ 
 " At the end of the four years thus fixed he arranged 
 
110 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 everything for his departure. It was the end of May, and 
 it was his desire to take leave of the monks who worked 
 in the fields in the only fertile pai*t of Zona, the western 
 side. His great age prevented him from walking, and he 
 was drawn in a car by oxen. When he reached the 
 labourers he said to them, ' I greatly desired to die a month 
 ago, on Easter-day, and it was granted to me ; but I pre- 
 ferred to wait a little longer, in order that the festival might 
 not be changed into a day of sadness for you.' And when 
 all wept he did all he could to console them. Then turning 
 towards the east, from the top of his rustic chariot he 
 blessed the island and all its inhabitants — a blessing which, 
 according to local tradition, was like that of St. Patrick in 
 Ireland, and drove, from that day, all vipers and venomous 
 creatures out of the island. 
 
 " On Sunday in the following week he went, leaning on 
 his faithful attendant Diarmid, to bless the granary of the 
 monastery. Seeing there two great heaps of corn, the fruit 
 of the last harvest, he said, ' I see with joy that my dear 
 monastic family, if I must leave them this year, will not 
 at least suffer from famine.' ' Dear father,' said Diarmid, 
 ' why do you thus sadden us by talking of your death V 
 ' Ah, well,' said the abbot, ' here is a little secret which I 
 will tell thee if thou wilt declare on thy knees to tell no one 
 before I am gone. To-day is Saturday, the day which the 
 Holy Scriptures call Sabbath, or rest. And it will be truly 
 my day of rest, for it shall be the last of my laborious life. 
 This very night I shall enter into the path of my fathers. 
 Thou weepest, dear Diarmid, but console thyself; it is my 
 Lord Jesus Christ who deigns to invite me to rejoin Him ; 
 it is He who has revealed to me that my summons will 
 come to-night.' 
 
 " Then he left the storehouse to return to the monastery, 
 but when he had gone half-way stopped to rest at a spot 
 which is still marked by one of the ancient crosses of lona — 
 the monument called Maclean's Cross. At this moment an 
 ancient and faithful servant, the old white horse which had 
 been employed to carry milk from the dairy daily to the 
 
Columba. 
 
 Ill 
 
 monastery, came towards him. He came and put his head 
 upon his master's shoulder, as if to take leave of him. The 
 eyes of the old horse had an expression so pathetic that 
 they seemed to be bathed in tears. Diarmid would have 
 sent the animal away, but the good old man forbade him. 
 ' The horse loves me/ he said, ' leave him with me ; let 
 him weep for my departure. The Creator has revealed to 
 this poor animal what He has hidden from thee, a reason- 
 able man.-* Upon which, still caressing the faithful brute, he 
 gave him a last blessing. When this was done he used the 
 remnants of his strength to climb to the top of a hillock 
 from which he could see all the isle and the monastery, and 
 there lifted up his hands to pronounce a prophetic benedic- 
 tion on the sanctLiary he had created. ' This little spot, so 
 small and low, shall be greatly honoured, not only by the 
 Scots kings and peoples, but also by foreign chiefs and bar- 
 barous nations ; and it shall be venerated even by the saints 
 of other Churches.' 
 
 " After this he went down to the monastery, entered his 
 cell, and began to work for the last time. He was then 
 occupied in transcribing the Psalter. When he had come 
 to the 33rd Psalm and the verse Inquirentes autem 
 Dominum non deficient 'omni bono, he stopped short. ' I 
 must stop here,' he said ; ' Baithen will write the rest.' 
 Baithen, as has been seen, was the steward of lona, and 
 was to become its abbot. After this the aged saint was 
 present at the vigil service before Sunday in the church. 
 When he returned to his cell he seated himself upon the 
 naked stones which served the septuagenarian for bed and 
 pillow, and which were shown for nearly a century near his 
 tomb. Then he intrusted to his only companion a last mes- 
 sage for the community : ' Dear children, this is what I 
 command with my last words — let peace and charity, a 
 charity mutual and sincere, reign always among you ! If 
 you act thus, following the examples of the saints, God who 
 strengthens the just will help you, and I, who shall be near 
 Him, will intercede on your behalf, and you shall obtain of 
 Him not only all the necessities of the present life in suffi- 
 
112 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll 
 
 oient quantity, but still more the rewards of eternal life, 
 reserved for those who keep His law.' 
 
 " These were his last words. As soon as the midnight 
 bell had rung for the matins of the Sunday festival he rose 
 iind hastened before the other monks to the church, where 
 he knelt down before the altar. Diarmid followed him, but 
 iis the church was not yet lighted he could only find him 
 by groping and crying in a plaintive voice, ' Where art thou, 
 my father V He found Columba lying before the altar, and, 
 placing himself at his side, raised the old abbot's venerable 
 head upon his knees. The whole community soon arrived 
 with liglits, and wept as one man at the sight of their 
 dying father. Columba opened his eyes once more, and 
 turned them to his children on either side with a look full 
 of serene and radiant joy. Then, with the aid of Diarmid, he 
 raised, as best he might, his right hand to bless them all ; 
 his hand dropped, the last sigh came from his lips ; and his 
 face remained calm and sweet like that of a man who in his 
 ssleep had seen a vision of heaven." 
 
 Such was the life and death of the first gTcat apostle of 
 Oreat Britain. We have lingered, perhaps, too long on the 
 grand form of this monk, rising up before us from the midst 
 of the Hebridean sea, who, for the third part of a century, 
 spread over those sterile isles, and gloomy distant shores, a 
 pure and fertilising light. In a confused age and unknown 
 region, he displayed all that is greatest and purest, and, it 
 must be added, most easily forgotten, in human genius : the 
 gift of ruling souls by ruling himself To select the most 
 marked and graphic incidents from the general tissue of his 
 life, and those most fit to unfold that which attracts the 
 modern reader — that is, his personal character and influence 
 upon contemporary events — from a world of minute details 
 having almost exclusive reference to matters supernatural 
 or ascetical, has been no easy task. But when this is done, 
 it becomes comparatively easy to represent to ourselves the 
 tall old man, with his fine and regular features, his sweet 
 and powerful voice, the Irish tonsure higli on his shaven 
 
Columba. 
 
 113 
 
 head, and his long locks falling behind, clothed with his 
 monastic cowl, and seated at the prow of his coracle, steer- 
 ing through the misty archipelago and narrow lakes of the 
 north of Scotland, and bearing from isle to isle and from 
 shore to shore, light, justice, and truth, the life of the con- 
 science and of the soul. 
 
 " One loves above all to study the depths of that soul 
 and the changes which had taken place in it since its youth. 
 No more than his namesake Columbanus of Luxeuil, the 
 monastic apostle of Burgundy, was he of the Picts and Scots 
 a Columba. Gentleness was of all qualities precisely tlie 
 one in which he failed the most. At the beginning of his 
 life the future abbot of lona showed himself still more than 
 the abbot of Luxeuil to be animated by all the vivacities of 
 his age, associated with all the struggles and discords of his 
 race and country. He was passionate, bold, a man of strife, 
 born a soldier rather than a monk, and known, praised 
 and blamed as a soldier — so that even in his lifetime he was 
 invoked in fight ; and continued a soldier, Insulanus miles, 
 even upon the island rock from which he rushed forth to 
 preach, convert, enlighten, reconcile, and reprimand both 
 princes and nations, men and women, laymen, and clerics. 
 
 " He was at the same time full of contradictions and con- 
 trasts — at once tender and impetuous, rude and courteous 
 ironical and compassionate, caressing and imperious, grate- 
 ful and indignant — led by pity as well as by wrath, ever 
 moved by generous passions, and among all passions fired to 
 the very end of his life by two which his countrymen 
 understand the best, the love of poetry and the love of 
 country. Little inclined to melancholy when he had once 
 surmounted the great sorrow of his life, which was his 
 exile ; little disposed even, save towards the end, to contem- 
 plation or solitude, but trained by prayer and austerities to 
 triumphs of self-sacrifice ; despising rest, untiring in mental 
 and manual toil ; born for eloquence, and gifted with a voice 
 io penetrating and sonorous that it was thought of after- 
 guards as one of the most miraculous gifts that he had re- 
 ceived of God ; frank and loyal, original and powerful in 
 
 8 
 
114 The Monks of lona and the Luke of Argyll. 
 
 his words as in his actions — in cloister and mission and 
 parliament, on land and on sea, in Ireland as in Scotland, 
 always swayed by the love of God and of his neighbour, 
 whom it was his will and pleasure to serve with an impas- 
 sioned uprightness. Such was Columba. Besides the monk 
 and missionary there was in him the makings of a sailor, 
 soldier, poet, and orator. To us, looking back, he -appears a 
 personage as singular as he is lovable ; in whom, through all 
 the mists of the past and all the crosslights of legend, th 
 man may still be recognised under the saint — a man capable 
 and worthy of the supreme honour of holiness, since he 
 knew how to subdue his inclinations, his weakness, his in- 
 stincts, and his passions, and to transform them into docile 
 and invincible weapons for the salvation of souls and the 
 glory of God." 
 
 Let us extract the following compliments to Columba and 
 his native land : — " Ireland had never been subdued by 
 the Roman arms, and its early Church thus came to occupy 
 a somewhat isolated position in the world. It did not move 
 under the same influences of development which determined 
 the ecclesiastical system in other countries. In the time and 
 in the country of Columba the Celtic monasteries were not 
 only the great missionary colleges of the Church, but they 
 seem to have embraced and absorbed almost all that existed 
 then of an ecclesiastical organization. Something of a 
 Clan Connection under the rule of hereditary families is dis- 
 cernible in the different foundations, and the innate propen- 
 sity of the Irish Celts to tribal feuds seems to have made 
 these bodies, in a very literal sense indeed, active members 
 of the Church militant. And yet their religious zeal after 
 its own type and fashion seems to have been of a genuine 
 kind. The study of the Seri'ptiiTes was universal, and the 
 tramcri'ption of them was a passion. Manuscripts still re- 
 main which are believed on probable evidence to belong to 
 this time, and tradition ascribes the exile of Columba to 
 fierce contentions for a favourite copy. Nothing altogether 
 like those old monasteries existed elsewhere then, or have 
 existed anywhere since that time. There were among the 
 
Golumha. 
 
 115 
 
 brethren members capable of discharging ^uhatever varieties 
 of function had as yet become distinctively assigned to the 
 different branches of the Christian ministry." 
 
 This unlooked-for tes^. nony in favour of the Irish mo- 
 nastic institutes is so fai so well, and serves as an answer 
 to the flippant charge of monastic idleness. For, to the 
 laborious industry of the Monks of Old are we indebted 
 for so many beautifully-illuminated transcripts of Scripture, 
 for so many written copies of the Divine Word, as also for 
 so many of our Greek and Latin classics. 
 
 The Duke says that " there is another aspect of Columba's 
 religious life which is thoroughly mediaeval, and that is the 
 atmosphere of miracle by which it is surrounded." Now, 
 this is a stumbling-block to his ill-starred Calvinism, which 
 ignores miracles simply because it cannot effect them. It is 
 true that Calvin once attempted something in the super- 
 natural order. He induced an unfortunate man to feign 
 himself dead, and that he, John Calvin, Apostle of Geneva, 
 would come in due time to raise him up to life. Many were 
 invited to contemplate the marvellous resuscitation, *but 
 when the Reformer proceeded to call him by name, and to 
 command him to rise and walk, the wretched creature was 
 literally found a stark corpse ! So much for Calvin's abor- 
 tive attempt at miracle-working. No marvel, then, if Cal- 
 vinism should scoff at the idea of miracles, since it is beyond 
 its power. Catholics, on the other hand, believe that the 
 arm of God is not shortened, and that He can work miracles 
 through the instrumentality of his servants in the sixth and 
 nineteenth century as well as in the first. But Catholics 
 are by no means called upon to believe in all the " signs and 
 wonders " attributed to the Saints. They are to exercise 
 their own judgment, and to believe or not, according to 
 the amount of evidence adduced. It ought to be known 
 that in regard to miracles, the most scrupulous examination 
 is authoritatively instituted to test their truthfulness, and 
 that none are admitted unless fortified by the most unexcep- 
 tionable evidence. 
 
 Adamnan, we are told, wrote his biography within a hun- 
 
 8—2 
 
116 The Monks of lona and the DuJce of Argyll. 
 
 (Ired years of the old abbot's death. In his youth he had 
 associated with the very monks who lived with St. Columba, 
 and he rehearsed with the utmost simplicity the miracles, 
 the prophecies, and the inspired sayings of the Saint ! Our 
 noble critic denounces some of the stories as utterly incre- 
 dible, and has the coolness to ask if Adamnan himself believed 
 them. He says that Montalembert repeats them, but does 
 not tell his readers whether he accepts them all in whole or 
 in part. He talks about " pious frauds," and has the 
 modesty to insinuate that such are patronised by " devout 
 Roman Catholics." 
 
 Now let us canvass the merits of these respective items 
 separately. Be it observed that Adamnan had the best op- 
 portunities of ascertaining the various details of Columba's 
 life. He narrated them, accordingly, in the most unsophis- 
 ticated style, without turning to one side or the other. He 
 seems to say to his readers, Here are the facts, take them or 
 leave them ; they are facts which have been furnished by 
 the most credible witnesses, facts wliich have been attested 
 by those who could have no end to serve except the cause 
 of truth. Now, it is a maxim in Ethics — nemo gratis fit 
 malus — which may be popularly rendered, that no one be- 
 comes a rogue without a reason. What reason, then, in the 
 name of common honesty, could Adamnan have to act a dis- 
 creditable part ? And what are we to think of the unwar- 
 rantable question which is gravely asked, if he really be- 
 lieved uhat he wrote ? 
 
 But let us adduce something in point by way of illustra- 
 tion. At the present moment, here in London, a very dis- 
 tinguished member of the "Pious Society of Missions," 
 who is well known for his literary and archseological labours, 
 is publishing the wonderful life of an eminent servant of 
 God, who certainly can stand on the same platform with St. 
 Columba. The wiiter well knew the saintly priest, whose 
 life he records — he had lived with him in the same religious 
 community — he had seen him by day and by night — he 
 had been associated with him in the works of the ministry 
 — he had been his apostolic alter ego — he had accompanied 
 
Columha. 
 
 117 
 
 him in his various missions in Italy, and he had been dele- 
 gated by him to found the Pope's special church in London, 
 the Basilica of St. Peter, Hatton Garden, Holborn Circus. 
 
 The case of Adamnan, biographer of Columba, enables 
 us to refer to this other biographer, and to condescend upon 
 some particulars. For we have been privileged to examine 
 the manuscript of this highly-interesting volume which is 
 now issuing from the press. It is the life of that well- 
 known holy Roman priest and venerable servant of God, 
 Father Vincent Pall otti^ and it is the work of an eminent theo- 
 logian, the Very Rev. Doctor Raphael Melia. Were it per- 
 missible to refer to what is personal, we should put oii_ 
 record, as a reminiscence'oF former years, that when study- 
 ing at Propaganda, we ourselves remember the present 
 writer as Vice-Rector under the eminent Cardinal Reisach, 
 and the venerated subject of his memoir as one of the 
 Saintly Confessors of the Urban College. It is, then, in- 
 tensely interesting for us to read over what we have seen 
 and what we have heard long years ago, in those charming 
 pages which are teeming with instruction, which are brimful 
 of the most edifying narrative, and to the truth of which 
 we can yield unsought-for corroboration. Besides, the work 
 in question is a labour of love; the subject beyond measure 
 interesting ; the treatment eminently successful. What can 
 be more delightful than to trace the outlines of the most 
 perfect Christian character, as exemplified in one, with whom 
 the writer was for years thrown into daily contact — to invite 
 his readers to contemplate the practical illustration of every 
 Christian virtue, as personated in that most holy priest, 
 who lived alone for God and his fellow creatures, and thereby 
 to stimulate tepidity by presenting the unvarnished record 
 of that saintly life, which is delineated with graceful sim- 
 plicity, and without the slightest semblance of exaggeration. 
 The author traces the subject of his memoir from his birth 
 at Rome, in 1795, to his death in the same city, in 1850. 
 He recounts with graphic pen the varied narrative of his 
 apostolic career — his labours — his tribulations — the institu- 
 tions which he founded, as also the well- attested miracles 
 
118 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 wrought during his life and after his death. He describes 
 his burning zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of 
 souls — his intense ardour to propagate the faith and to en- 
 courage all authorized devotions. In his inflamed desire 
 to scatter broadcast the seeds of the holy Catholic re- 
 ligion he suggested to his Eminence Cardinal Wiseman 
 the foundation of that foreign missionary college which is 
 now an accomplished fact at Millhill. He himself, how- 
 ever, took the initiative by setting on foot something of a 
 kindred character. He paved the way and furnished a good 
 portion of the means for the erection of that noble structure 
 St. Peter's Church, Hatton Garden, London, which was 
 reared under the special sanction of the Holy See, which is 
 served by those devoted priests, who are aggregated to the 
 holy institute, " The Pious Society of the Missions," and 
 which had been established by Father Pallotti himself It 
 may not be amiss to observe that this church — modelled 
 after the Roman Basilicas — is open from morning till night, 
 "and that confessions are heard in the various European lan- 
 guages. 
 
 Now, in truth it may be said, to use the language of the 
 Duke of Argyll, " that there is another aspect of Father 
 Pallotti's religious life, which is thoroughly mediaeval, and 
 that is, the atmosphere of miracle by which it is surrounded," 
 for his whole existence, from the cradle to the grave, was 
 nothing short of a living miracle. We have known him, 
 we have often gone to our confession to him, and now that 
 he is in heaven, we ask the charity of his prayers. 
 
 Well, from heaven let us walk on the earth, and make our 
 appeal to the honest common sense of our fellow men. We- 
 ask then, advisedly, what motive can the writer have in 
 view in recording the wonderful narrative of Father Pal- 
 lotti's life, unless he believed all that he has committed to 
 writing ? And what object have we to serve in endors- 
 ing the contents of the volume, unless feeling certain 
 that they are beyond contradiction ? Are we and so many 
 others to be set down as miserable simpletons, or peradven- 
 tui'e something far worse, for testifying to the truth of what 
 
Columba. 
 
 119 
 
 has been said and done 1 May it be hoped that the varied 
 attainments of the learned author of Father Pallotti's life, 
 and that our own very decided ^castigation of the Duke of 
 Argyll's Zona, liiay yield evidence of something more than 
 credulous simplicity ! If we say so much of ourselves, how 
 much more should be said of Adamnan, the biographer of 
 Columba ? 
 
 After the outline, then, which we have furnished of the 
 sterling honesty of the Count de Montalembert, we need not 
 say more than to remind the Duke that in our courts of 
 jurisprudence every one has a right to be regarded as inno- 
 cent until he is proved guilty. Montalembert must be 
 credited vsdtli believing all that he narrates in his Monks of 
 the West until his disbelief be demonstrated. 
 
 Now, then, what are we to say with regard to " Pious 
 Frauds " which are patronised by " Devout Homan Catho- 
 lics ? " Why, the less said the better. The charge is so 
 despicable as to be beneath contempt. Had it been made 
 by some half-educated Free Kirk minister in the un- 
 Catholic isle of Skye, or some drivelling Anti-Catholic Elder 
 at Johnny Groat's House, it might have been treated with 
 dignified derision ; but that it should be made at the pre- 
 sent moment, and under the present circumstances, by one 
 of her Majesty's cabinet ministers, and a distinguished 
 member of the House of Lords, is assuredly out of all rule, 
 as it is in bad taste, and in worse judgment ! 
 
 The charge is so utterly, so preposterously false ; it has 
 no foundation, in fact ; it is a thorough-paced illusion. We 
 need not call it the chimera of a disordered religious brain. 
 Why, a " pious fraud " is a contradiction in terms. Fraud, 
 disguise it as you will, is not pious but impious. Then, to 
 say that it is patronised by " devout Roman Catholics " 
 implies that it is not patronised by the indevout, and 
 thereby to insinuate that they are far more enlightened 
 than the unfortunate Roman devotees ! 
 
 Let us assure his Grace in all sincerity that frauds are 
 ever infamous, and never allowable ; that he has only to 
 make an honest inquiry into the nature of the Catholic re- 
 
120 The Monks of lona and tlte Duke of Argyll. 
 
 ligion, and he shall then find that everything good is com- 
 mended — everything evil is condemned. In all charity, we 
 urge the examination for his spiritual and eternal well- 
 being. 
 
 The Duke now is in high dudo^eon at the idea that a crook 
 or staff, which had been accidentally left on tlie shore of 
 lona, should have been wafted across the channel by the 
 prayers of St. Columba, and should have been ready at hand 
 for him wlien he landed in Ireland. We answer that such 
 narratives may be classified among legendary tales, which 
 may or may not be accepted. They must stand or fall in 
 proportion, as the evidence is for or against them. Let the 
 evidence in this hypercritical age be examined, and let the 
 judgment be formed accordingly. Milman, in his " Latin 
 Christianity," voL I., p. 415, writes : — " History to be true 
 must condescend to speak the language of legend. The 
 belief of the times is part of the record of the times." 
 Let us not suppose, for humility sake, that all wisdom is 
 concentrated in our times, and that there was little else 
 but credulity, when Adamnan wrote, in the days of the 
 Duke of Argyll's "Mediaeval Superstition." 
 
 If the Duke would only believe it, the times in which 
 Columba lived, were the ages of Faith, and he himself was 
 emphatically the Man of Faith. Doubtless, he remembered 
 the miracle which our Blessed Lord wrought in favour of 
 the lunatic, as is recorded in the Gospel of St. Matthew xvii., 
 when the Disciples complainingly asked why they could 
 not cure him. " Jesus said to them : Because of your un- 
 belief For amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain, 
 of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, remove from 
 hence thither, and it shall remove ; and nothing shall be 
 impossible to you." Again, in St. Luke xvii. 6, " And the 
 Lord said : If you had faith like to a grain of mustard seed, 
 you might say to this mulberry tree, be thou rooted up, and 
 be thou transplanted into the sea ; and it would obey you." 
 Hence, we conclude, that with man these things are not 
 possible, but with God all things are possible ! 
 
 Let us, however, leave for a time the pure region of Faith, 
 
Columha. 
 
 12V 
 
 in which those separated" from the Church cannot breathe 
 the breath of life, and descend to the platform of facts 
 which one can see with his eyes, and touch with his very- 
 hands. It is in such a position alone that the Duke is at 
 home, and let it be said that he is here not a little happy, 
 in as far as historical research is concerned. In the fol- 
 lowing words does he pay a tribute to Columba's his- 
 torian : — 
 
 " The imperishable interest of Adamnan's book lies in the 
 vivid though incidental touches of life and manners which 
 he gives us in the telling of his tales — of life and manners 
 as they were in that obscure but most fruitful time, wiien 
 the light of ancient history had died away, and before the 
 light of modern history had arisen. As regards Scotland, 
 we get behind the age of history, and not only behind it, 
 but behind it by many centuries. The history of Scotland, 
 properly so called, begins with Malcolm Canmore ; and 
 before he was born, Columba had been gathered to his 
 fathers for more than 400 years. Those who are very 
 rigorous in the definition of history, and who demand for it 
 as essential the existence of contemporary records, will find 
 a much wider gap to be filled between the days of Columba 
 and the beginning of Scottish history. Fordun and the 
 other chroniclers, who are considered the fathers of that 
 history, lived no less than 700 years later than the great 
 apostle of the Picts. In the days of Adamnan, Scotland 
 was not Scotland, but "Albyn." "Scotia" was then the 
 familiar name for that island which """weT now call Ireland. 
 In like manner, England was not yet England, and the yevy 
 foundation of its national life had not yet been laid. 
 
 " It is in close contact with this dreamland of our national 
 annals, this legendary and almost mythic age, that we find 
 in Columba's life, not only the firm foothold of history, but 
 the vivid portraiture of an individual man. In regard to 
 many contemporary events of the deepest interest, we have 
 to grope our way to nothing better than probable con- 
 clusions, through the obscure data of philological research. 
 Not one historical character of the time, in connection witli 
 
122 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll, 
 
 any one of the races contending for the mastery in Britain, 
 is in any similar degree known to us. On one spot, and one 
 spot only, of British soil there shines in this dark time a 
 light, more vivid even than the light of common history — 
 the light of personal anecdote and of domestic narrative. 
 When we land upon lona we can feel that we are treading 
 in the very footsteps of a man whom we have known in 
 voice, in gesture, in habits, and in many peculiarities of 
 character; and yet, of a man who walked on the same 
 ground before the Heptarchy, when Roman cities still stood 
 in Britain, and when the ancient Christianised Celts of 
 Britain were maintaining a doubtful contest with Teutonic 
 heathenism." 
 
 To whom, then, may we ask, are we indebted for all this 
 knowledge, if not to the very writer, whom the Duke 
 previously accused of mixing up facts if not with fiction, at 
 least with stories " not only childish hut utterly incredible" 
 But let us proceed with another extract : — 
 " From a rapid view of Columba's time let us pass to a 
 closer inspection of Columba's home. We have seen the 
 place which his age occupied in the histor}^ of the world 
 and the character of those events in which he bore a part 
 or of which he must have heard the fame. Let us now 
 visit the island which is sacred to the memory of his illus- 
 trious life, and look upon the landscape which was familiar 
 to his sight." His Grace then proceeds to describe the cha- 
 racteristic features around lona ; its sky ; its sea ; and its 
 neighbouring mountains. Upon these subjects we do not 
 dwell, as they concern mere matters of taste ; but we may 
 observe that the selection of a suitable site has always been 
 a special object with the founders of religious houses. Thus, 
 Millman, the erudite historian of '"'Latin Christianity," 
 speaks of the beautiful situations which were uniformly 
 chosen by the Benedictine Monks for their monasteries in 
 England. 
 
V 
 
 "THE CATHEDRAL AND ABBEY CHURCH OF 
 
 lONA." 
 
 By the Right Rev. the Bishop of Aegyll and the Isles. 
 
 Having reviewed in a hasty and therefore rather perfunc- 
 tory way, the Duke of Argyll's elaborate work on lona, 
 which, despite its beauties of style, is disfigured by sundry 
 ungracious blemishes, we proceed to examine a still more 
 pretentious volume, the name of which heads this chapter. 
 It is, we submit, a public service which is rendered to the 
 community at large, to expose unwarrantable mis-state- 
 ments, and to present an honest and straightforward narra- 
 e which challenges contradiction. For there are always 
 two sides of a picture — the light and the shade — and, as is 
 artistically said, it becomes one's duty to look to this side 
 and then to that. There are, therefore, two modes in treat- 
 ing any given subject, the right and the wrong ; one method 
 is, therefore, truthful and the other is the reverse. It has, 
 with great reason, been declared, that without the pale 
 of Catholic communion, the history of the Church and 
 of Churchmen, as generally presented, is everything else 
 but truthful — nay, to speak more plainly, is an arrant 
 conspiracy against truth. Take up at random any of 
 our non-Catholic periodicals, and shall we not find them, 
 from the daily fly-sheet to the ponderous folio, brimful 
 of fabrications ? Church history is strangely travestied ; 
 the doctrines of the Church are wantonly falsified ; the 
 discipline of Churchmen is industriously mis-represented. 
 Look at the very case before us. Look at this book by way 
 of example. Why, it is literally a curiosity in its way — it 
 
124 Tlie Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 is an ignis fatuus of deception ; it runs counter to all our 
 ancient ecclesiastical records ; it is at variance with all our 
 most authentic antiquarian researches. Yet the author of 
 this literary phenomenon is reputed as far from being igno- 
 rant or dishonest ; on the contrary, he is regarded as highly 
 honourable and erudite — nay, as even an authority in 
 archaeological studies and antiquarian traditions ! 
 
 Moreover, he does not live by his pen, but is independent; 
 he does not bear the character of romancing, but is sup- 
 posed to be stating the broad truth. He is not one of the 
 penny-a-liners of the day, who must -write with precipita- 
 tion ; he is not connected with the metropolitan or provin- 
 cial press, and constrained to throw off a slashing leader at 
 a sitting, or, it may be, to get up another racy editorial 
 article, at the spur of the moment, on the present European 
 complications, which possibly he may be called upon to con- 
 tradict upon the morrow. He is not contributing to some 
 ephemeral periodical which exists for the hour, and which 
 under its confidential aegis, shelters the names of its writers, 
 good, bad, or indifferent. 
 
 On the contrary, the title-page tells its own tale ; it points 
 to a Right Eev. Prelate, who courts me utmo^st publicity, 
 who has wielded his pen, yet perverted his talents for too 
 obvious a purpose. His elaborate dissertation, dovetailed 
 together with too transparent a design, and superintended 
 by a kindred spirit, the Rev. Rector of Gatton, is unde- 
 niably the deplorable result of distorted historical manipu- 
 lation ; yet forsooth, he desires to pawn it upon public 
 credulity, as if it were a text-book in regard to the Monks 
 and the Abbey Church of lona. No doubt it has issued 
 from the London press in very attractive guise, not unlike a 
 golden pill which contains a deadly poison ; and by this 
 time it also may have tainted the minds of its readers, 
 since it may possibly have found its way into the fashionable 
 drawing-rooms and elegant boudoirs of the United Kingdom. 
 When one looks at the title-page, and finds that the writer 
 is not an unknown scribe, but a popular divine ; that he is 
 not some humble country curate, wliose lot is east on tha 
 
" The Cathedral and Ahhey Church of lona" 125 
 
 banks of the Tay or the Tweed, the Dee or the Don, but 
 a grave dignitary of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, who 
 rejoices in the imposing designation of "The Bishop of 
 Argyll and the Isles," the natural inference follows that the 
 volume should be reputed as a standard work, and that 
 the statements therein contained are so thoroughly vera- 
 vcious as to defy contradiction ! How grievous then must 
 be the public disappointment when the reverse of all this 
 is the case ; how mortifying the feeling when the book in 
 question is everything but reliable, when it cannot pass un- 
 scathed through the ordeal of examination ; and when the 
 calmest judicial inquiry evolves, that it conflicts egregiously 
 with our ancient historical annals. 
 
 Without stopping at this moment to indulge in criticism, 
 however legitimate, let us be permitted to refer to a 
 brief editorial notice in the Duhin Review, which in a few 
 words scans the worth of the volume, and pronounces a 
 very true but a most emphatic judgment upon the demerits 
 of the author, and the merits of the architects. For the 
 book is composed of Two Parts — the first is Archaeological, 
 by Bishop Ewing ; the second Architectural, by the Messrs. 
 Buckler. 
 
 The volume is entitled " The Cathedral and Abbey Church 
 of lona." Day and Son, Gate Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. 
 
 The Reviewer says : — " It is a pity that this useful and 
 beautiful book is disfigured by the addition of ' an account 
 of the Early Celtic Church, by the Right Rev. the Bishop 
 of Argyll and the Isles,' in which Dr. Ewing, who adopts 
 this swelling title, although he has neither the confidence of 
 those who inhabit Argyll and the Isles, like the Presby- 
 terian ministers, nor the mission of the Church, nor even, 
 like the English bishops, that of the Queen, retails (together 
 with many of the facts of St. Columba's life) all the absurd 
 fictions with which Anglican controversialists have en- 
 crusted it. In spite of the Doctor, however, the work of 
 the architects is highly to be praised and recommended ; 
 and Dr. Eiuing's nonsense, while it gives him a good deal 
 of pleasure, will probably do no one any harm." 
 
12G Tlie Monhs of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 Now, this outspoken criticism is, no doubt, sufficiently 
 incisive, and cuts away the gi'ound from under the Right Rev. 
 Prelate's very pretentious disquisition. It tells what every 
 Catholic already knows, that Dr. Ewing and the other official 
 superintendents of the Episcopal Church in Scotland are 
 mere laymen ; that even their Christianity is questionable, 
 since their baptism is in question ; seeing that they would 
 receive conditional baptism in the event of being admitted 
 into the Church. It tells that they have no true ordina- 
 tion, no valid consecration, that therefore they have neither 
 mission nor j urisdiction ; it tells that, according to Catholic 
 theolog}", they have no right to preach, to teach, nor to bap- 
 tise ; and that the mere conventionalities of society induce 
 us to give them any prelatical designation whatsoever. 
 Hence, in speaking of our Right Reverend opponent as 
 bishop, it must be understood that we merely conform to 
 the usual courtesies of social life, without recognising in 
 the slightest degree his enjoyment of the least spiritual 
 prerogative. 
 
 While the Reviewer charitably supposes that '^Dr. 
 Ewing's nonsense," as he rather bluntly says, wiU, pro- 
 bably, do no one any harm, we may perhaps be allowed to* 
 ask what good wiU it do ? What good will a repetition of 
 unfounded statements effect ? What good will reckless as- 
 sertions,, devoid of all proof, accomplish ? Instance, in the 
 first place, his extraordinar}^ assertion, which is at utter 
 variance with all historical records, respecting a supposed 
 mitigation of rule among the self-sacrificing followers of 
 St. Columba. In his volume on lona is made an unblushing 
 statement respecting these holy men who took the three 
 solemn vows of poverty, chastity, obedience — men whose 
 study it was by night and by day to be continent in their 
 every thought, and to crucify the flesh with its vices and 
 concupiscences — men who became eunuchs for the King- 
 dom of God and the salvation of souls — men who living 
 in the flesh, lived as angels lived, apart from the blandish- 
 ments of sensuality; yet, notwithstanding this publicly 
 authenticated fact of their self-denying mode of living, as 
 
"The Cathedral and Abbey Church of lona" 127 
 
 we shall presently see fully attested by no less authority 
 than the Venerable Bede himself, Bishop Ewing, without 
 any apparent scruple of conscience, without giving a single 
 proof, or referring to even a solitary authority, has the 
 ineffable hardihood to declare — " Oh," says the Prophet, 
 20 Kings i. 2 : — " Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the 
 streets of Ascalon, lest the daughters of the Philistines re- 
 joice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph !" 
 And we also say. Tell it not in Argyll, publish it not in the 
 Western Isles, lest the Free Kirk of Scotland rejoice, lest 
 the established Kirk of Scotland triumph ; that a so-called 
 Christian Bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Communion 
 should propagate the wanton charge against the Monks of 
 lona, that in the lapse of years they had so far degenerated 
 from the self-denying spirit of their chaste founder, as to 
 yield their loins to the grovelling seductions of concupis- 
 cence ! Look to the thirty-second page of his book, and 
 mark it well, where the untruthful accusation is made. 
 
 " In later times, if not from the beginning, celibacy was 
 not imperative," and " matrimony became the rule among 
 the followers of Columba !" 
 
 Now, we must protest at once against this fabrication. 
 It is impossible to allow it to pass current without denounc- j 
 ing it as a libel upon the memory, and an outrage upon the 
 chastity of the saintly monks of lona; while we may pic- 
 ture to our mind those blessed spirits looking down, as it 
 were, with astonishment from their thrones of glory upon 
 the Bishop of Argyll and the Isles ! 
 
 The animus of this reckless assertion is too transparent to 
 be misunderstood. It is a left-handed thrust at the celibacy 
 of the Catholic clergy, while it is an ingenious apology for 
 marriage of the Clergy non-Catholic. 
 
 Now be it known to all who are interested in the matter, 
 that we Catholic Ecclesiastics do not object in the least to 
 
 the non-Catholic clergy, for entering into the state of wed- [ ^ 
 lock, simply because we regard them all, without exception, I 
 as mere laymen, and therefore we hold that they have the 
 same rights as other laymen. As far as we are concerned. 
 
128 The Monks of Zona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 they may marry, and when widowers, if they choose, marry 
 aojain, even to the third and fourth o^eneration ! That is 
 their business and not ours — but our business is to defend 
 ^he spiritual, as the indomitable Zouaves defend the temporal 
 interests of Holy Church. Hence in the name of the 
 ^Church of the middle ages, we raise our indignant protest 
 against the unfounded assertion, that any rule ever existed, 
 permitting the followers of St. Columba to be ensnared 
 within the network of Matrimony ! We moreover declare 
 that the Right Rev. Prelate is unable to adduce the shadow 
 .of a shade of proof to substantiate his gratuitous averment, 
 ,and therefore, from respect for the old monks of lona, we 
 Ncall upon the author to make, in the next edition of his 
 work, a formal retractation of the unwarrantable charge ! 
 
 We have referred to the distinguished Archseologist Dr. 
 Reeves, who although not a Catholic, has proved his honesty 
 .of purpose, by editing so well Adamnan's Life of Columba. 
 In the chapter ' De Disciplina,' we read : — 
 " Though St. Columba was desirous to promote conjugal 
 happiness, and he was held in veneration by the other sex, 
 there can be no doubt that celibacy was strictly enjoined on 
 liis community, and the condition ' virgo corpore, et virgo 
 jnente,' held up for imitation — virgin both in mind and 
 body !" 
 
 Do not, however, let us be misunderstood, while we vindi- 
 cate the chastity of the monks of old. Do not let it be 
 .supposed, for a moment, that the Catholic Priesthood has not 
 the greatest reverence for the married state. Why we of 
 .^11 others, maintain the indissolubility of the matrimonial 
 bond. We denounce those legal monstrosities called divorces, 
 ■^which tend to immorality, and therefore to the corruption 
 of society. We proclaim the gospel truth, that what God 
 -has joined together, no man should tear asunder, and we 
 declare, despite all state enactments, in the language of St. 
 J ohn, the Baptist, to Herod — non licet — it is not lawful in 
 the eyes of the Church to marry again, during the lifetime 
 of the separated party. Hence we hold marriage in the 
 iiighest estimation — because we regard it as one of the 
 
" The Cathedral and Abbey Church of Zona" 129 
 
 1 ^sacraments of the Church, but a sacrament which can be 
 received only by those who are free to enter into wedlock, 
 and not by those who are previously bound by sacred and 
 irrevocable engagements, and have been invested already 
 with the sacrament of Holy Orders. While then we exhort 
 our people to marry, and to look after their wives and their 
 children, we who are their spiritual Fathers in Christ, have 
 chosen the " better part," spoken of in the Gospel, and with 
 hearts undivided, as St. Paul says, "can look after the things 
 of the Lord, how we may please God." It was this " better 
 part," — and the very perfection of this better part, that the 
 calumniated monks of lona aspired to, in their sacred vows 
 of " poverty, chastity, and obedience," despite the flippant 
 and untruthful accusation of the uxorious Bishop of Argyll ! 
 
 Come we now to a special review of certain other excep- 
 tionable passages, which we must say, cannot stand the test 
 of historical criticism. Let us refer to the laboured chapter 
 — " Transit of Christianity from the East to the West.' ' 
 The object of this chapter is so transparent, as to become 
 like " darkness visible." It is a flagrant attempt to cut off 
 the stream of truth from the fountain head — it is an auda- 
 cious but abortive effort to ignore the supremacy of the 
 Holy Roman Church, which is the mother and mistress of 
 all Christian Churches, and it is to rush in antagonism 
 with all historical evidence, when it is so coolly announced 
 that the blessings of revealed religion were carried to the 
 shores of Great Britain and Ireland by certain messengers, 
 not from Rome but Jerusalem ! For what else can be the 
 meaning of the words, " Transit of Christianity from the 
 East to the West," but that this Western world of ours is 
 not indebted to Christian Catholic Rome for the blessings of 
 religion ? 
 
 ^ Pray, let us ask, what would Pope Celestine say, who sent 
 Patrick to Ireland and Palladius to Scotland to christianise 
 the natives, to the unblushing audacity of this unfounded 
 assertion ? What would Gregory the Great, who sent Augus- 
 tine and his fellow monks to England, make answer to a 
 mendacious statement which stultifies all history and sets 
 
 9 
 
130 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 common sense at defiance ? We need not repeat what thejr 
 would inevitably declare to so ridiculous an untruth. 
 
 Let us, however, jocularly reply to this gigantic fabrica- 
 tion in the language of a good Irish Priest, who had been on 
 missionary duty in England. At that time a report was 
 industriously circulated that St. Patrick had been a Protest- 
 ant ! This idle piece of gossip was too much for his Rever- 
 ence, who could not endure the idea that the beloved apostle 
 of Ireland should be classed with the heresiarchs Arius, Euty- 
 ches, and Macedonius, v/ho were Protestants in as far as they 
 protested against tlie doctrines of revelation ! Hence in utter 
 amazement at the bare-faced slander, and in the richest 
 Munster brogue, which charmed the hearts of his hearers, he 
 
 i declared aloud, " that the magnitude of the lie carried along 
 
 I with it its own refutation !" 
 
 Somewhat after this fashion did the House of Commons 
 treat the preposterous statement, by one of the most elo- 
 quent Conservative members in Parliament. The honourable 
 gentleman was defending the lately defunct Irish Protestant 
 Church, and declaring that it was the original Christian 
 Church in Ireland, when the House, utterly impatient to 
 
 I listen to assertions without proof and at utter variance with 
 
 ; all historical evidence, laughed outright, so that the orator 
 was obliged to wind up with his ludicrous rodomontade. 
 
 After what has been said, it would be tedious to enter 
 into minor details. We prefer another line of tactics, if we 
 may so express ourselves in these military times, by bringing 
 two living non-Catholic Bishops into the field of contest, and 
 allowing them to fight literally our own battles ! We point 
 to their respective publications which have lately issued 
 from the press. Both of these Prelates are highly esteemed 
 by their co-religionists, and both hold prominent positions 
 in the republic of letters, as well as in the department of 
 Archaeology. The Bishop of Argyll and the Bishop of 
 Brechin are now regularly pitted against each other, in 
 regard to the annals of Ecclesiastical History, and we shall 
 presently see who is most likely to carry off* the palm of 
 victory. Of course, truth must prevail, and the Bishop of 
 
"The Cathedral and Abbey Church of lonay 131 
 
 Brechin, who in this instance has espoused the cause of 
 truth, must necessarily triumph over the Bishop of Argyll. 
 
 We have referred to the reckless assumption of the Bishop 
 of Argyll, about the transit of Christianity from the East to 
 the West. This assertion is without proof, and consequently 
 falls to the ground. 
 
 Let us now hear what the Bishop of Brechin has written 
 on this self-same point. In a very erudite preface to the 
 new edition of the missal of Arbuthnott, Bishop Forbes 
 speaks as follows. It may be permitted to us to say that 
 we gladly avail • ourselves of the opportunity of speaking 
 highly of the benevolence of character, and of the distin- 
 guished acquirements of the Right Reverend Prelate. We 
 do so the more readily as we have had occasion, to expose 
 also his fallacies in regard to doctrinal matters. 
 
 "The Scottish Archaeologist, recognising in the fact that of 
 all the utterances of a nation's thought the noblest must be 
 the expression of its devotional life, will hail with pleasure 
 this exhibition of the ancient religious forms of his country. 
 The student of ritual and other cognate subjects will be 
 glad to possess a copy of the almost solitary specimen which 
 time and the strong feelings of a later age have left us of 
 the Liturgy of a certain period, in the Ecclesiastical History 
 of Scotland. 
 
 " We cannot attain to any certainty as to the Liturgy used 
 in Scotland in the early ages. The question is not a simple 
 one, but involves the consideration of the manner in which 
 the country was evangelized. In the almost absolute dearth 
 of documentary proof it is impossible to say more than that 
 there seems to have been several waves of Christian civiliza- 
 tion, which century after century extended themselves over 
 the country The earliest record we have of the con- 
 
 version of Scotland is the place in Tertullian: " Britan- 
 norum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo vero subdita." The 
 Christian religion had penetrated recesses into which Roman 
 arms and civilization had failed to make their way ; Roman 
 civilization carried along with it Christianity ; in the Roman 
 towns and Castra Stativa, there must have been the profes- 
 
 9—2 
 
132 The Monks of Tona and the Luke of Argyll. 
 
 sion of Christianity, after the Roman type; the zeal and 
 expansive power of the true faith had announced the gospel 
 
 among the native Kelts beyond the walls Whatever 
 
 religion they had, must in form and ritual have been 
 Roman." 
 
 Let us merely observe here the desperate home-thrust of 
 the Bishop of Brechin, against the unfounded assertion of 
 the Bishop of Argyll, that Christianity came to the British 
 Isles from the East and not from the West — from Jerusalem 
 and not from Rome ! 
 
 Again, "The first advent of Christianity, of which we 
 have any authentic account, is the mission of St. Ninian. 
 Nothing is recorded by St. Aelred, his biographer, of the 
 form of his Liturgy. We are, therefore, left to speculation, 
 and may infer either that his connection with St. Martin of 
 Tours may have induced him to use the Gallican office of 
 the Ephesine family ; or, on the other hand, his relations 
 with Pope St. Damasus, the Patron of St. Jerome, may 
 make it possible that the office of Whithern, as used by the 
 Southern Picts, was Roman. Bede expressly speaks of 
 St. Ninian as ' Qui erat Romse regulariter fidem et mysteria 
 veritatis edoctus and though he couples this with his 
 veneration for St. Martin, it must be recollected that that 
 saint's influence was so predominant over all the west that 
 his name was put after those of the Apostles, into the 
 Canon of St. Gregory's Sacramentary. This probability is 
 heightened by the record of the visit and consecration at 
 Rome of St. Finnan of the same succession, in the year 
 503." 
 
 " The same reasoning would apply to the next mission to 
 Scotland — that of St. Palladius from Pope St. Coelestine to 
 those Scots who already believed in Christ — ' Ad Scotos in 
 Christum credentes ordinatur a Papa Coelestino PaUadius 
 et primus Episcopus mittitur.' We must infer that he 
 would introduce the Roman ordo into the Church of For- 
 dun. As a general rule, we may hold it for certain that 
 the missionaries introduced that office to which they had 
 been accustomed. Thus St. Columba brought his Irish 
 
" The Cathedral and Abbey Church of lona." 133 
 
 office with him to Bobio." Now, we must remark that the 
 Irish office in question could have been no other but the 
 office which St. Patrick brought from Rome, and which St. 
 Columbanus received from St. Patrick's successors. 
 
 The Bishop of Brechin, who is well versant in his sub- 
 ject, thus proceeds : — " The intimate connection between thq 
 Scoti in Ireland and in Scotland, and the fact that St. 
 Columba came to us as a missionary from the Church of 
 Ireland, make it important to our present purpose to de- 
 termine what Liturgy was used in that Church, as it can 
 hardly be doubted that it must have been the same in both 
 islands. 
 
 ^ -jf -K- -jf -jf 
 
 " Palmer, after giving some account of the Stowe MS. as . 
 described by Dr. O'Connor, which he considered to be ' the 
 only document in existence which can be referred to the 
 Liturgy of Ireland, before the jurisdiction of the Homan 
 Patriarch was established in that country,' says : — ' It 
 seems that this Liturgy accorded very nearly with the An- 
 cient Roman ; and it would, in fact, be probable, antece- 
 dently to a knowledge of this fact, that the Irish used the 
 Roman Liturgy from the time of Patrick.' The Aberdeen 
 Breviary, in the Lectio of St. Patrick's day, says that the 
 name of Patrick was bestowed upon him by St. Coelestine." 
 
 It is, then, too obvious that the Bishop of Brechin has 
 completely demolished the theory of the Bishop of Argyll, 
 in respect to the introduction of Christianity into these 
 islands. Bishop Ewing says, that we are indebted to Jeru- 
 salem and not to Rome for the Christian faith. No doubt, 
 Jerusalem, the once holy city of God, may be regarded as 
 the cradle of Christianity, as there it was born, and there 
 it began to grow. But every one conversant with ecclesias- 
 tical history knows that after the Ascension of our Blessed 
 Lord, St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, having estab- 
 lished his Episcopal See in Antioch, remained there for 
 seven years, till he removed his residence from Asia to 
 Europe. He knew fuU well, as being appointed the visible 
 Head of the Church, Christian and Catholic, that its grand 
 
134 The Monks of Zona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 mission was for the world at large. Hence, did he transfer 
 in the year 42 his primatial see to the Metropolis of the 
 Roman Empire, which also was the most central position of 
 the civilized world. E-ome was thus to become the centre 
 of the solar system of truth, from which the divine rays of 
 revealed religion were to radiate on every side, although a 
 sad eclipse has now come over the disk of the Eternal City, 
 since the forcible entrance of the Piedmontese troops ! In 
 as far as the British Isles are concerned, it is a well-known 
 fact that the truths of the Catholic and Roman religion were 
 first carried to our shores by the Roman soldiery with their 
 Eagles, for there were then many zealous Catholic Christians 
 in the army of the Roman Empire, as there are now in the 
 army of Great Britain. Just as in our own day, the doc- 
 trines of the Church are borne to the hills and plains of 
 Australia, to the prairies and backwoods of America, to the 
 hamlets and towns and cities of England and Scotland, by 
 those faithful followers of the Cross, the God-fearing and 
 God-loving children of Ireland ! 
 
 We are told by Dion, the historian — Lib. Ixxi. — that on 
 a memorable occasion the prayers of the Christian soldiers 
 saved the Emperox. Marcus Aureli us and the Roman army 
 from destruction in the mountainous passes of Bohemia. 
 No doubt, he attributes the miracle to Mercury the Heathen 
 Deity, but the letter of the Emperor to the Senate states 
 that, having implored in vain the assistance of all the gods, 
 he commanded the Christian soldiers to invoke their Deity, 
 and aid was immediately at hand. The letter of the Em- 
 peror is extant, and Tertullian appeals to it, in his apologia 
 for the Christian religion : — " Wherefore, says the Emperor, 
 since the prayers of this people are so efficacious with the 
 most poiverful God they adore, let us grant to the Christians 
 full liberty of professing themselves such, lest they employ 
 their prayers against us. My will is that their religion be 
 no longer considered a crime in them. On account of religion, 
 therefore, let none of them be henceforth accused, punished, 
 or molested. Such is my will. My wiU, likewise, is that the 
 Senate immediately form a decree to this effect — that the 
 
" The Cathedral and Ahhey Church of lona." 135 
 
 /| said decree be fixed up in the forum of Trajan, and a copy 
 of it sent to all Governors of Provinces throughout the 
 / Empire." Christians, be it remembered, in those days were 
 / exclusively Catholic, as Protestant Christians were un 
 I known till the sixteenth century ! 
 
 I This prodigy is commemorated on the Antonine column, 
 which stands in the Piazza Colonna at Rome. The Chris- 
 tian soldiers, whose prayers were thus rewarded by God's 
 visible interposition, were called the Thundering Legion, 
 
 -and were, so to speak, the fearless and indomitable Zouaves 
 
 •of the Church in the second century. 
 
 i The edict of the Emperor against the continued persecu- 
 tion of the Christians was followed by beneficial results to 
 jL-eligion. The Christian faith penetrated far and wide 
 throughout the Roman Empire, and cleaved its way even 
 to the remotest provinces. Great Britain having also 
 become tributary to the Roman arms, the Christian 
 faith winged its flight to our island with the Roman 
 soldiery. From the reign of Claudius to that of Commodus, 
 there was much intercourse with Rome, and many Britons 
 who journeyed thither, returned home, deeply imbued with 
 the sacred principles of Catholicity, which they sought 
 jzealously to propagate. ^ 
 
 St. Timotheus, the son of Pudens, the Roman Senator, , 
 and of Claudia, a British lady, of whom St. Paul speaks in 
 ^ his epistle to Timothy, received ordination at the hands of 
 / ^ Pope Pius I., and was commissioned by the Holy Father to 
 preach the Christian Catholic faith in Britain. It is worthy 
 of remark, that his virgin sisters were St. Praxedes and St. 
 Pudentiana, under whose patronage two of the most an- 
 cient Roman churches are dedicated to God. 
 
 In the Church of St. Praxedes, among other sacred relics, 
 is the pillar at which our Lord was scourged ; in the Church 
 of St. Pudentiana are some interesting frescoes connected 
 with her father's senatorial family. It should not be for- 
 gotten that the late illustrious Archbishop of Westminster, 
 who was so remarkable for versatility of talent and univer- 
 sality of acquirements, derived his cardinalitial title from this 
 
136 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 ancient Apostolic Church, in which tradition declares that 
 St. Peter himself said mass, and in which we also had the 
 happiness to celebrate. 
 
 Among the Roman soldiers who marched into North 
 Britain, there were, doubtless, many Christians, and these 
 seem to have been the pioneers of the Christian religion in 
 the land of the " mountain and flood." When they drew 
 near the ancient capital of Scotland, the fair city of Perth, 
 of which the writer as solitary pastor kept ward and watch 
 for upwards of ten consecutive years ; and while halting 
 on the now classic hill of Moncrieff to contemplate the 
 gorgeous scene before them — the meandering River Tay and 
 its picturesque surroundings, with Shakespeare's Birnam 
 wood in the distance, and the cloud-capped Grampians in the 
 background — they cried out in rapture, Ecce Tiber, Ecce 
 Campus Martins ! Behold the Tiber ; behold the Campus 
 Martius ! 
 
 But other soldiers not of the sword but of the Cross — 
 not enlisted under the standard of the Pagan Roman Em- 
 peror, but under the banner of the great Neapolitan Saint, 
 Alphonsus Liguori — not engaged for territorial conquest, but 
 for heaven's aggrandisement — have planted themselves on 
 a lofty eminence on the adjoining hill of KinnouU — which 
 is literally another Monte Cassino — and who, in their mis- 
 sionary expeditions throughout the length and breadth of 
 Caledonia, are entreating the poor forlorn wanderers in the 
 shades of heresy, to look at length to Rome's martyred 
 Pontiff for guidance, and to Rome's holy religion alone for 
 sterling Christianity. For many years did we raise our 
 voice on the banks of the Tay to disturb the slumbers of 
 the Arch Reformer, John Knox, and to try with heaven's 
 help to undo his disastrous work ! We need not say what 
 we have done ; but it is a consolation to think that during 
 our missionary career in Scotland, we have been used in 
 the hands of holy Providence, as if the humble pioneer for 
 the religious orders, — for the Redemptorists at Perth — the 
 oblates of Mary Immaculate at Leith — and the Jesuit 
 
" The Cathedral and Abbey Cliurch of lonar 137 
 
 Fathers at Dalkeith, of which missions we had in succession 
 respectively charge. 
 
 St. Marcellus, also of British origin, and afterwards 
 Bishop of Treves, was sent upon a similar errand. It is 
 also recorded, that St. Joseph of Arimathea, with eleven 
 others, had been delegated on an apostolic mission to Britain, 
 and had established themselves in a place called Avallonia, 
 where Glastonbury now stands. Whatever may be said to / 
 the contrary, certain it is, upon most reliable authority, that ! 
 the Christian faith had found its way into Britain before the 
 reign of King Lucius. 
 
 Now Lucius, surnamed Pius, was the son of Coclus, who 
 in the year 123, reigned under the Emperor Trajan. Having | 
 much intercourse with Christians, Lucius became favourably \ 
 impressed with the doctrines of Christianity, and was \ 
 inclined to embrace them, which as King he could do so j 
 without let or hindrance. Besides the late Roman edict for j 
 religious toleration on the part of the Emperor Aurelius \ 
 removed every obstacle. He thereupon authorized two of \ 
 his subjects, named Elnan and Meduan to repair to St. Eleu- 
 therius, at Home, entreating his Holiness to send priests into 
 Britain. Two priests were accordingly deputed, whose names 
 were Fugatius and Damianus. But we must not dwell on 
 this subject, however inviting. 
 
 Let us, however, for the sake of our learned readers, make 
 an extract from the erudite Neapolitan Ecclesiastic, Julius 
 Laurentius Selvaggio, who in his elaborate volumes : Anti- 
 quitatum Christianarum Institutiones, thus speaks of the 
 early Christian mission to the British Isles. Liber I. Cap. 
 IV. Num. VIIL " Josephum ab Arimathea nobilem Decu- 
 rionem, comite Aristobulo, qui unus fuerat ex LXX. Christi 
 discipulis, Britanniam Evangelii fulgore collustrasse vetus 
 fert Britannica traditio, apud Baronium ad an. 35. 
 Pearsonium de tribus Angli conversionibus, Michaeleoe. 
 Alfordum Ann. Ecclesise Britannicse ad an. 53 aliosque 
 complures Britannicos Archseologos. Theodoretus in 
 Ps. 116. Insidis quce in marl jacent utilitatem adtulit 
 Hsec sane Theodoreti verba de Britannicis oris intelligenda 
 
138 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 clarius videntur, quam ut demonstrari possit: prsesertim 
 quum Venantius Fortunatus, qui vi. seculo floruit, lib. iij. 
 de Vita S. Martini de eodem Apostolo canat. 
 
 Transiit Oceanum, vel qua facit insula ijortum, quasque 
 Britannus hahet terras, quasque ultima Thule, Idem quoque 
 suhindicat S. Clemens Romanus. 
 
 Easy would it be for us to continue to illustrate this sub- 
 ject, but time forbids. Enough, however, we submit, has 
 been said to demolish the crude and preposterous theory of 
 the Bishop of Argyll and the Isles. We have, however, to 
 offer our best thanks to the Bishop of Brechin for his learned 
 dissertation, by which he has cut the ground so completely 
 from under the feet of his Episcopal Brother of Argyll that 
 he has not left him a single stand-point. 
 
 But it is good for us to back our statements in reference 
 to the discipline of the Holy Roman Church, by testimonies 
 of the most irrefragable character. We have mentioned the 
 "modus Vivendi " of the monks of old. 
 
 We have said that it was not too much to suppose, that 
 Columba and his monks, who in Ireland had vowed their 
 vows to God — of poverty, chastity, and obedience, should 
 observe those vows most religiously, when they settled down 
 in the island of lona. 
 
 We are not, however, left to idle speculation upon this 
 most important point ; since we have at hand, proof posi- 
 tive and incontestable, and which puts the question at issue 
 beyond all possible dispute. 
 
 Venerable Bede thus writes, in his Ecclesiastical History, 
 -chapter iv. — " In the year of our Lord 565, when Justin the 
 younger, the successor of Justinian, had the government of 
 the Roman Empire, there came into Britain a famous priest 
 and abbot, a monk by habit and life, whose name was Co- 
 lumba, to preach the word of God to the provinces of the 
 JS'orthern Picts, who are separated from the southern parts 
 by steep and rugged mountains ; for the southern Picts, who 
 dwell on this side of those mountains, had long before, as is 
 reported, forsaken the errors of idolatry, and embraced the 
 truth, by the preaching of Ninias, a most reverend bishop 
 
" The Cathedral and Abbey Church of lonar 139 
 
 and holy man of the British nation, who had been regularly 
 instructed at Rome, in the faith and mysteries of the truth ; 
 whose episcopal see, named after St. Martin the bishop, and 
 famous for a stately church (wherein he and many other 
 saints rest in the body), is still in existence, among the 
 English nation. The place belongs to the province of the 
 Bernicians, and is generally called the White House, — Can- 
 dida casa — because there was built a church of stone, which / 
 was not usual among the Britons. 
 
 Columba came into Britain in the ninth year of the reign 
 of Bridius, who was the son of Meilochon, and the powerful 
 King of the Pictish nation, and he converted that nation to 
 the faith of Christ, by his preaching and example ; where- 
 upon he also received of them the aforesaid island for a 
 monastery. His successors hold the island to this day ; he 
 was also buried therein, having died at the age of seventy- 
 seven, about thirty-two years after he came into Britain to 
 preach. Before he passed into Britain he had built a noble 
 monastery in Ireland, which, from the great number of 
 oaks, is in the Celtic tongue called Dearm-ach — Derry — the 
 Field of Oaks. From both which monasteries, many others 
 had their beginning through his disciples, both in Britain 
 and Ireland ; but the monastery in the island where his 
 body lies, is the principal of them all. 
 
 " That island has for its ruler an abbot, who is a priest, to 
 whose direction all the province, and even the bishops con- 
 trary to the usual method are subject, according to the 
 example of their first teacher, who was not a bishop, but a 
 priest and monk ; of whose life and discourses some writings 
 are said to be preserved by his disciples. But whatsoever 
 he was himself, this tve Jcnoiu for certain, that he left succes- 
 sors renoivned for their continency, their love of God, and 
 observance of monastic rules. It is true they followed 
 uncertain rules in their observance of the great festival, as 
 having none to bring them the synodal decrees for the 
 observance of Easter, by reason of their being so far away 
 from the rest of the world ; wherefore they only practised 
 such works of piety and chastity as they could learn from 
 
140 Tlie Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 the prophetical, evangelical, and apostolical writings. This 
 manner of keeping Easter continued among them for the 
 space of 150 years, till the year of our Lord's incarnation, 
 715. 
 
 But then the most reverend and holy father and priest 
 Egbert, of the English nation, who had long lived in banish- 
 ment in Ireland for the sake of Christ, and was most learned 
 in the Scriptures, and renowned for perfection of life, came 
 among them, corrected their error, and reduced them to the 
 true and canonical day of Easter; the which they neverthe- 
 less did not always keep on the fourteenth moon with the 
 Jews, as some imagined, but on Sunday, although not in the 
 proper week. For, as Christians, they knew that the resur- 
 rection of our Lord, which happened on the first day after 
 the Sabbath, was always to be celebrated on the first day 
 after the Sabbath ; but being rude and barbarous, they had 
 not learned when that same first day after the Sabbath, 
 which is now called the Lord's day, should come. But 
 because they had not laid aside the fervent grace of charity, 
 they were worthy to be informed in the true knowledge of 
 this particular, according to the promise of the Apostle, say- 
 ing, ' And if in anything you be otherwise minded, God 
 shall reveal even this to you.' 
 
 Gile s, of Oxford, in his translation of Bede, remarks — 
 It has been erroneously supposed that the dispute be- 
 tween the British and Saxon Clergy respecting the Easter 
 ^]t,^J^^ [festival was the same as that which disturbed the peace 
 ff t.^^/-^ \ of the Church in the time of Polycarp ; and consequently 
 j assumed, that the former were Quarto-decimans 
 
 J ! who observed it, at the Jewish passover, the fourteenth 
 
 ^iA^CVvY^ j Nisan. But this was never the case, except when 
 
 M \ that day happened to fall upon a Sunday. It was owing\ 
 ftT\Ji f ^ disturbed state of Britain in the fifth century, \ 
 
 is I that the Irish and British Clergy were . unacquaijxtfid — | — 
 
 r / \ ^ with the improved cycle of nineteen years observed at j 
 ♦ I Eome, in the time of Pope Hilarius — A.D. 463; but con- 
 ^(5uMk>A^ tinned to use the ancient but incorrect cycle of eighty-four 
 
 years. Dr. Smith, in his appendix to Bede (No. ix.) observes. 
 
"The Cathedral and Abbey Church of lona." 141 
 
 ' that it ought to be particularly borne in mind, that those 
 who think that the Britons were taught the paschal rite by 
 the Orientals, or Eastern Church, and not by the Roman or 
 Western Church, give way to a very great error.' " 
 
 Without touching upon collateral questions, we have 
 here Venerable Bede distinctly telling us, " we knew for 
 certain that Columba left successors renowned for their 
 continency — their love of God, and observance of monastic 
 rules." 
 
 Again, Bede tells us that they practised "piety and 
 chastity." 
 
 / _ Count Montalembert, in the Life of St. Columba, says : — 
 ^ "A conscientious and attentive examination of all the monas- 
 tic peculiarities which can be discovered in his biography, re- 
 veals absolutely nothing in respect to observances or obliga- 
 tions different from the rules, borrowed by all the religious 
 communities of the sixth century, from the Traditions of 
 the Fathers of the Desert. Such an examination brings 
 out distinctly, in the first place, the necessity for a vow — 
 'votum monachiale voverunt ' — ' votum monachicum de- 
 votus vovit,' Adamnan i. 31 — or solemn profession to prove 
 the final admission of the monk into the community after 
 a probation more or less prolonged; and, in the second 
 place, the absolute conformity of the monastic life of 
 Columba and his monks to the precepts and rites of the 
 Catholic Church in all ages. Authorities, unquestionable 
 and unquestioned, demonstrate the existence of auricular 
 confession, the invocation of saints, the celebration of the 
 mass, the real presence in the Eucharist, Ecclesiastical celi- 
 bacy, fasts and abstinence, prayer for the dead, the sign of 
 the Cross, and, above all, the assiduous and profound study 
 of the Holy Scriptures. Thus, the assumption made by 
 certain writers of having found in the Celtic Church some 
 sort of Primitive Christianity, not Catholic, crumbles to 
 the dust ; and the ridiculous but inveterate prejudice which 
 accuses our fathers of having ignored or interdicted the 
 study of the Bible, is once again proved to be without foun- 
 dation." 
 
142 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 He refers to Venerable Bede, who began his history about 
 a hundred years after the death of St. Columba. Again, he 
 says, page 287 — " Marriage was ahsolidely unknown among 
 the regular clergy viz., the Monks. 
 
 Again, "the eleven first abbots of lona after Columba 
 proceeded, with the exception of one individual, from the 
 same stock as himself, from the race of Tyrconnel, and were 
 all descended from the same son of Niall of the nine 
 hostac^es, the famous King of all Ireland." 
 
 " At lona the abbatical succession was always perfectly 
 regular and uninterrupted up to the invasions and devasta- 
 tions of the Danes at the commencement of the eighth 
 century. From the time of those invasions, the abbots of 
 lona began to occupy an inferior position. The radiant 
 centre from which Christian civilization had shone upon the 
 British Isles grew dim. The head-quarters of the communi- 
 ties united under the title of the Family or Order of 
 Columb-Kill were transferred from lona to] one of the 
 other foundations of the Saint at Kells, in the centre of 
 Ireland, where a successor of Columba, superior-general of 
 the order, titulary Abbot of lona, Armagh, or some other 
 great Irish monastery, and bearing the distinctive title of 
 Coarb, resided for three centuries more." 
 
 Dr. Reeves, in his " Chronicon Hyense, gives the de- 
 tailed Chronology of the forty-nine successors of Columba, 
 from 597 to 1219. 
 
 Another extract we are desirous to make from the Bishop 
 of Brechin's preface to the Arbuthnott Missal. He says : — 
 " Let us now return to the Ritual of the Scottish Church. 
 We have no further notices with regard to it, tiU we come 
 to the reform of St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland. Between 
 the epoch of St. Adamnan and Venerable Bede and this 
 interesting event, the history of Scotland is almost a blank. 
 Great political events occurred — the name and dynasty of 
 the Picts disappeared — the Danes were expelled — the bor- 
 ders of the country were extended from the Forth and the 
 Tay to the Tweed and the Solway. All this could not 
 have occurred without wars and disturbances ; and, accord- 
 
"The Cathedral and Abbey Church of lona!' 14S 
 
 ingly, we find from King David's preface to the Inquisi- 
 tion, about the Church lands of Glasgow, that the inevit- 
 able effects of such events had told most profoundly for 
 evil upon the religious condition of the country. The in- 
 strument under God, for the cure of these evils, was the 
 illustrious Queen of Malcolm, Ceam-mhor." 
 
 On this subject we cannot do better than quote the 
 words of that learned antiquary, the Right Rev. Bishop 
 Kyle : — " The Contemporary Biographer of St. Margaret 
 speaks of various reforms introduced by that saint. Most 
 of these appear to be corrections of various abuses than 
 changes of rite, such as neglect of paschal communion, non- 
 abstinence from servile work on Sunday, and the inatten- 
 tion to the nearer degrees of affinity in contracting mar- 
 riage. We learn from him, however, that the Scottish 
 Church then, as the Milanese Church does to the present 
 day, followed the observance of beginning Lent not on Ash- 
 Wednesday, but on the first Sunday ; and that St. Margaret 
 brought her subjects to conformity with the general dis- 
 cipline of the Church, by the simple argument that they 
 had not, by their arrangement of Lent, forty days before 
 Easter. He tells us also that certain priests in Scotland 
 followed, in celebrating mass, a rite which to him and the 
 Queen appeared barbarous ; which rite she laboured so efiec- 
 tually to abolish, that none in Scotland in his time adhered 
 to it. I suspect that in this last point he was mistaken. 
 For we learn that the Keledei — Culdees — about whom we 
 hear so much and know so little, long after St. Margaret's 
 days, were permitted to observe in their own churches or 
 chapels a rite different from what Was followed by the rest 
 of the Scottish clergy. The rite of the Keledei was pro- 
 bably the same with that which St. Margaret wished to 
 bring into conformity with the general usage of the West- 
 ern Church ; but neither her biographer nor the chronicles 
 of the Culdean observance give us the least hint wherein its 
 peculiarity consisted." 
 
 We make this extract with peculiar pleasure, as it en- 
 ables us to offer the tribute of respect to the memory of 
 
144 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 this venerable prelate, who died lately at Preshome, Banfi- 
 shire, in the 81st year of his age. Born in Edinburgh, he 
 had received the first rudiments of education at the cele- 
 brated High School. Thence he was sent to the College of 
 Aquhorties, which had been recently founded by the great 
 Bishop Hay, on the property belonging to the ancient 
 family of the Leslies of Balquhain, who had clung to the 
 old faith amidst the days of persecution, and who are still 
 most worthily represented. It is by no means too much to 
 ^ay that Bishop Kyle was a perfect classical scholar, an ex- 
 cellent linguist, a profound theologian, especially versant in 
 Scottish archseology, and quite at home in ancient and 
 modern literature. 
 
 Dr. Ewing, the so-called Bishop of Argyll, in the volume 
 upon which the public interests of the community at large 
 imperatively demand that we should animadvert, has directed 
 attention to the following subject, on which so much has 
 been said, and so little, comparatively speaking, understood. 
 He has a brief chapter on the Culdees, whom he dismisses 
 in three sentences and a half — the later portion finishing 
 with an &c., so that his readers are not much indebted to 
 him for enlightenment upon a point which is veiled in no 
 little obscurity. It is true that much has been written upon 
 that vexed subject, but too Kttle properly understood. The 
 generality of writers circulate anew the absurd illusions 
 already entertained, and without instituting a searching in- 
 vestigation, simply content themselves with following in 
 the wake of those who give currency to popular prejudice 
 and popular falsehood. 
 
 Of this the great Count Montalembert, in his beautiful 
 work, " The Monks of the West," complains, when he 
 says — " The name of Culdee leads us to point out, in pass- 
 'ing, the absurd and wide-spread error, which has made the 
 Culdees be looked upon as a kind of Monkish order, married 
 and indigenous to the soil, which existed before the intro- 
 duction of Christianity into Ireland and Scotland by the 
 Roman missionaries, and of whom the great Abbot of lona 
 was the founder or chief. This opinion, propagated by 
 
"The Cathedral and Abbey Church of lona!' 145 
 
 learned Anglicans, and blindly copied by various French 
 writers, is now universally acknowledged as false by sincere 
 and competent judges. The Culdees, a sort of third order 
 (or tertians), attached to the regular monasteries, appeared 
 in Ireland and elsewhere only in the ninth century, and 
 had never anything more than a trifling connection with 
 the Columban communities." 
 
 Now, this well-attested statement is supported by a re- 
 ference to the most erudite Celtic writers of the day, such 
 as O'Curry, Lanigan, and Reeves. Hence, according to 
 Reeves, the name of Culdee or Ceile Dei, answering to the 
 Latin term Servus Dei, appeared for the first time in au- 
 thentic history with the name of Angus, called the Culdee, 
 who was simply a layman and miller of the monastery of 
 Tallach, in Ireland, and who lived in 780. It was after- 
 wards applied to the general body of monks wdio lived 
 in community in Scotland and Ireland. According to 
 O'Curry, the Culdees were laymen, following certain religi- 
 ous rules, under the guidance of the monastic institutes — 
 their first founder being St. Malruain, who died in 787 or 
 792. This statement coincides with Lanigan in his eccle- 
 siastical history, and with the Bollandists in their disserta- 
 tion, Disquisitio in Culdeos ap. acta St. Reguli. According 
 to the continuators of the Acta Sanctorum, the Culdees 
 were not monks properly so called, but pious laymen, who 
 were aggregated for the first time about the year 800, and 
 who seem, as it were, the precursors of the religious con- 
 fraternities associated to every Church. This subject has 
 been amply treated and illustrated by the Rev. Dr. Reeves 
 in a most learned volume, " The Culdees of the British 
 Isles." Dublin, 186 i. 
 
 Let us now refer to Goodall's Dissertation, in Keith's Scot- 
 tish Bishops, page Ixxii. Thus does he write as contributing 
 to throw light on our subject : — 
 
 " But it is with the Monks of lona, the disciples of 
 Columba, that our argument is exclusively concerned ; and 
 to assist the reader in determining whether there be, in 
 
 10 
 
146 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 fact, any reason for believing that these celebrated recluses 
 had a different creed and different notions of Church govern- 
 ment, from the men of their age ; these two points shall be 
 considered separately. But, before entering into particulars 
 on either of these heads, let it be asked whether on general 
 grounds, it be at all probable that, as both the Irish and the 
 inhabitants of the south of Scotland were taught by mission- 
 aries fi^om Rome, of whom the chief were Ninian, Palla- 
 dius, and St. Patrick, there would be any discrepancy 
 amongst the converts, in that illiterate and uninquiring age, 
 respecting the things that they were desired to believe or the 
 usages which they were enjoined to observe. Is it not to be 
 presumed that, to the full amount of their belief and prac- 
 tice, whatever might be the extent of these, the Irish and 
 Picts believed and acted just as the Christians at Rome, as 
 well as those among the Britons, their neighbours, believed 
 and acted at the same period ? There is, indeed no ground 
 to doubt that at the early epoch under consideration, the 
 whole body of Christians in the British Isles displayed the 
 most exact uniformity in their ritual : and amongst an igno- 
 rant people, the ceremonies of religion are the only medium 
 through which can be ascertained the articles of faith, as 
 well as the object and intention of their worship. 
 
 " Now when we reflect that Columba who established his 
 monastery at lona about the year 560, cs^mefrom Ireland, 
 where everything ecclesiastical had been established by St. 
 Patrick on the Bomish model, we are warranted to conclude, 
 unless the contrary can be proved upon sound historical 
 evidence, that he brought with him the same doctrines in 
 regard to faith and discipline which were held by his con- 
 verted countrymen at large. The Christian religion, it is 
 well known, followed in the track which was marked out by 
 the arms of Bome, the missionaries always treading, although 
 at some distance, in the footsteps of the soldier : and no 
 inference surely can be more legitimately deduced from the 
 ordinary laws of human nature and from the general prac- 
 tice of mankind, than that the Roman Priest would commu- 
 nicate to the Britons, Picts, and Scots, the very things which 
 
" The Cathedral and Abbey Church of lona" 147 
 
 he himself believed, and which were believed and practised 
 by those who sent him. 
 
 " It has accordingly been found, that, until the controversy 
 about the proper day on which the festival of Easter ought 
 to be kept disturbed the unanimity of the Church in these 
 Islands, our Christian ancestors hadj nothing on ivhich to 
 differ. Their belief appears to have been uniform and 
 unbroken ; whilst their practice in holy things seems to have 
 been regulated by the same authority, and to have pro- 
 ceeded in accordance with the same ritual, or in compliance 
 with the same traditions. So far, therefore, as is known to 
 the antiquary or the historian, there was not at the time 
 when Columba settled in lona, any difference of opinion 
 among the worshippers of Christ whether in Britain or 
 Ireland, either respecting the limits of their creed, or the 
 mode of their Church government.'' 
 
 We have now to make an extract from Dugdale's Monas- 
 ticon, which gives a beautiful idea of the past, and leads 
 us to hope well of the future : — 
 
 "From Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, the Benedictine 
 Monastery and Cathedral were afterwards removed to 
 Durham. 
 
 " Donald, the fourth King of Scotland, who had embraced 
 the Christian faith, having afforded an asylum to Acca the 
 widow of Ethelfrith king of Northumbria, and to her seven 
 sons, who fled into Scotland, from the wrath of their uncle 
 Edwine, who had seized the throne, first instilled into the 
 minds of these youths the principles of the Christian reli- 
 gion Oswald, the second son of Ethelfrith, left his 
 
 retirement in Scotland, and became king of the Northum- 
 brians, whom he laboured to convert to Christianity. For 
 this purpose he applied to Donald, king of Scotland, for the 
 assistance of some holy man in this blessed undertaking. 
 The first person sent to him, according to Bede, was of an 
 austere disposition ; who meeting with not so much rever- 
 ence and attention as he expected, returned home in disgust. 
 It was proposed then to send in his place some man of more 
 
 10—2 
 
148 Tlic Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 mild disposition, who by gentler manners and persuasive - 
 language might gain the affections of the people. This 
 advice was approved, and the synod immediately appointed 
 to this task, the person with whom it originated, namely, 
 Aidan, a monk of the monastery of Hii, or lona, one of 
 the Islands called the Hebrides. He is supposed to have 
 arrived at the Court of Oswald, about the year 635, where 
 by his strict rules of life, his moderation and persuasive elo- 
 quence, he succeeded in converting the nobles and chiefs of 
 the kingdom, and in a short time the whole, it may be said, 
 of this powerful people. The king granted him permission 
 to fix his residence in any part of his kingdom, and Aidan 
 selected the Island of Lindisfarn, which was thence called 
 afterwards the Holy Island. The character given of this 
 Bishop by Bede is most excellent ; who, after enumerating 
 and dwelling on his virtues, adds, that his doctrines were 
 recommended to the world by his conduct, which strictly 
 corresponded with its precepts. Aidan died in the year 651, 
 the seventeenth of his Episcopacy." 
 
 It is said by Godwin, "that he died of grief for Oswald,, 
 who a few days before had been killed in battle with Penda 
 
 king of the Mercians His successor Finan, who came 
 
 from the same monastery of Hii (lona), began, immediately 
 upon his appointment to this See, to build a Church of timber, 
 and thatched it with reed, which was afterwards dedicated 
 to St. Peter, by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury. He 
 had the happiness of seeing many converts to the Christian- 
 faith, himself baptizing two powerful monarchs, Penda prince 
 of the Mercians, with whom he sent four priests to instruct 
 his people, and Sigebert, king of East Angles. He presided 
 over this See ten years, and appears the whole time to have 
 been assiduous in the promotion of religion and virtue. 
 
 " Colman, who also came from Scotland, succeeded to this 
 Church and Monastery. About the third year of his Epis- 
 copacy a controversy about Easter, and the mode of tonsure 
 was revived. A sjrnod was holden in 664 at Whitby to 
 determine these points. It was determined in favour of the 
 Romish usage." 
 
" The Cathedral and Abbey Church of lona^ 149 
 
 " Tuda succeeded to this See ; he had been educated among 
 the Southern Scottish Clergy, and by them ordained 
 Bishop." 
 
 "Upon the death of Tuda, according to some authors, 
 Eata was appointed to the government of this See, united 
 with that of Hexham; he had been Abbot of Mailros." 
 
 "St. Cuthbert was appointed to this See, in the year 
 685. He was originally,"" it is said, "a shepherd, near 
 Melros, where he had a vision, and beheld the Spirit of 
 Aidan ascending to heaven; which made such an impres- 
 sion on him, that he determined to lead a religious life, and 
 immediately applied to the Abbey of Mailros, where in 651, 
 he gained admittance and initiation under Eata, who, 
 upon his own removal hither, persuaded Cuthbert to accom- 
 pany him, and made him prior." 
 
 From these historical records, let us now proceed to 
 grapple with certain statements, which are passing current 
 at the present moment. We have referred to the conversa- 
 tion of the Italian diplomatist at the Court of St. James', 
 which was held with the Commissioner of the American 
 press. Let us, then, approach the subject with the greatest 
 calmness, and examine it in its various bearings. We do 
 not contemplate, indeed, to write a dissertation upon the 
 question involved, but simply to state the case candidly, 
 and then to face the objections. Let us, therefore, head the 
 following chapter with the furnished startling title, which, 
 if it does not invite consideration, must at least, of necessity, 
 arrest singular curiosity, from its monstrously daring cha- 
 racter. 
 
THE "IMPIOUS DOGMA" OF PAPAL 
 INFALLIBILITY ! 
 
 This, no doubt, is very bold, and, in Catliolic estimation, 
 very blasphemous language. Yet, it is the language of the 
 day, the language of the Press, the language of the clubs, 
 the language which obtains in the most fashionable circles. 
 Yet, it is language which is hollow and deceptive, 
 which is "the sounding brass and the tinkling cymbal," 
 which is vox et prseterea nihil," which is " light as chaff 
 which flits before the wind." What is its meaning, 
 what its drift ? The question at issue does not turn 
 upon science nor art, upon politics nor diplomacy, nor 
 upon those complicated subjects which, during the present 
 session, are to be canvassed in either House of Parliament. 
 The question is not of the natural order, and, consequently, 
 does not touch upon the air we breathe, the bread we eat, 
 the water we drink, or the clothes we put on. The ques- 
 tion does not interfere with the post-office, which, to the 
 horror of some old ladies, is in Catholic hands ; nor with 
 our police establishments, which are in non-Catholic 
 hands. The question has no relation with insurance com- 
 panies, steam engines, railway conveyances, electro wires, 
 halloons, nor even with geology, astronomy, mathematics, 
 metaphysics. The question does not affect our astute 
 lawyers, nor even the sagacious medical faculty. 
 
 The one may issue as many prescriptions as Esculapius 
 himself, and the others, without let or hindrance, may re- 
 edit as numerous editions of Blackstone and Erskine as 
 may satisfy the most voracious legal appetite ! What, then, 
 can be the meaning of all this noise with which our ears 
 
The " Imijious Dogma'' of Papal Infallibility. 151 
 
 are dinned by the press, and which our Dailies, Weeklies, 
 Monthlies, and Quarterlies are industriously keeping up, 
 and thus making " confusion worse confounded." What is 
 it, in reality ? Why, it is simply a rebellion of the natural 
 man against the supernatural — it is bringing the human 
 order into antagonism with the divine order ; it is, there- 
 fore, a trial of strength between Earth and Heaven — if we 
 may be allowed the expression, it is a regular pitched battle 
 between the creature and the Creator ! 
 
 Heaven declares that the Creator speaks to his creatures 
 in his own divinely-constituted way, and. that that way 
 is infallible! The Earth replies that there exists no 
 divinely-constituted, unerring way, and that all infalli- 
 bility here below is moonshine. The children of the earth, 
 the men and women of fashion, the revolutionists and anti- 
 Catholics of the day, indorse the declaration that all infalli- 
 bility — regal, imperial, and, above all, Papal — is absolutely 
 preposterous. They proclaim aloud, in the language lately 
 uttered in the Italian Senate by the Deputy Crispi, and 
 which we transcribe from the unconquerable organ of Ca- 
 tholic opinion, the L'Unita Cattolica of the 25th February, 
 1871, who indulged in preposterous twaddle. 
 
 " Catholicity, like every human institution, has had its 
 
 day Catholicity must come to an end, and 
 
 then Christianity, which false ministers debase, purged of 
 the vices of the Roman Curia, shall re-assume its ancient 
 prestige, and shall easily become the religion of humanity. 
 But as long as the Pope and the Cardinals remain in Rome, 
 so long as in Rome the Pope and the Cardinals have politi- 
 cal power, this reform is utterly impossible ! " 
 
 Hence it follows that for the construction and consolida- 
 tion of this chimera — the religion of humanity — it is neces- 
 sary that the Pope and Cardinals should be driven from 
 Rome, and that Catholicity, as an institution, should be 
 utterly abolished ! 
 
 Now, we listen with the most imperturbable composure 
 to all this contemptible jargon, and we laugh it to scorn ! 
 It is mere idle frothy declamation ; it is beating the air ; 
 
152 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 it is 'dashing itself against the rock of the Church in empty 
 foam ! 
 
 At present we enter not upon the question of the Pope's 
 temporal power, which in the order of things is so neces- 
 sary for the perfect discharge of the spiritual power, but 
 we simply wish to inquire if Heaven can speak to the 
 Earth — if the Creator can speak to the creature — if God 
 can speak to man in an infallible way ? If he has done so, 
 it is a Fact, and against a fact there is no reasonino*. Now, 
 it is a Fact that God has thus spoken, and all Christians 
 are obliged to believe it — if they believe the Scriptures 
 at all ! 
 
 Yes, let it be proclaimed aloud, that God has ever spoken 
 to man in the most infallible way. The great Creator has 
 always addressed His creatures, in the manner in which 
 they could not possibly be deceived. He spoke of old 
 through Moses and the Prophets, and His Prophets were 
 therefore infallible in their inspired utterances. Daniel and 
 Osee — Isaias and Jeremias, were infallibl}^ guided in an- 
 nouncing their divine predictions. The Prophet Balaam, it 
 is true, was to all appearance willing to prophesy falsely, 
 but was supernaturally protected from so great a calamity. 
 In the work of prophecy he was, despite of himself, ren- 
 dered personally infallible. 
 
 When the wicked King Achab attempted to force the 
 Prophet Micheas to prophesy otherwise than what God 
 had made known to him, he cried — " As the Lord liveth, 
 whatever the Lord shall say to me, that will I speak." 
 (3 Kings xxii.) Thus were the Prophets infallible in their 
 prophecies, because they were simply the mouthpiece of the 
 Lord God himself 
 
 Moreover, the priests of the old law were likewise infalli- 
 ble in their utterances, and the people were commanded to 
 learn wisdom from their lips, which mandate could not 
 have been given if their lips had been tainted with error. 
 
 Add to this, that the Synagogue of the Jews was infalli- 
 ble in its teaching, till the very coming of the Redeemer. 
 Our blessed Lord told the people to observe the doctrines of 
 
 » 
 
The Tmplous Dogmcc' of Paioal Infallihility. 153 
 
 J those who sat in the chair of Moses, but not to follow after 
 / their iniquitous example. The Synagogue having fulfilled 
 its mission, went down into the grave at the advent of the 
 Messiah, and then by the hand of the same Master Builder 
 was upraised the glorious structure of the Christian Church. 
 The Christian Church was the perfect realization of all the 
 J types of the old law. If the tv£ es were g lorio us, how 
 much more glorious was that wMch was typiiled. If then 
 infallibility attached to the predictions of the Prophets — 
 to the teachings of the Jewish Priesthood, and to the an- 
 /' nouncements of the Synagogue — how much more should it 
 j attach to the teaching of the Christian Ministry, since the 
 / new law surpasses the old, and the Christian covenant / 
 eclipses all the glory of the Mosaic dispensation 1 
 
 It would be idle to say that onr blessed Lord was infalli- 
 ble, and we need not say that He constituted His Apostles 
 personally infallible in their teaching. He declared His 
 ^ Church to be unerring, and that the Spirit of Truth was to 
 jteach^His Church all truth, and to abide with His Church 
 I alTdays to the consummation of the world. The Apostles 
 were therefore privileged to \)Q personally infallible, and their 
 successors are now collecfcivelv infallible, but their head and 
 chief — the Pope himself — by nature of his primacy and su- 
 premacy — despite all clamour and opposition — is infallible 
 in his public and official capacity. 
 
 If, then, infallible teaching was the rule in the old law, 
 by a stronger reason should it be the rule under the new 
 law, for the children of the Christian covenant are the ob- 
 jects of Heaven's choicest predilections, and this infallible 
 teaching is here manifestly unfolded in the most palpable 
 I way. As no human power could have gathered together the 
 ] assembled Fathers at the Vatican Council, to deliberate on 
 ^ the most important religious questions, so the very fact of 
 their assembly must be attributable to a power which is 
 ^ divine — a fact which proclaims the intervention of a super- 
 \ natural agency, and forces us to exclaim — " Digitus Dei est 
 hie " — the finger of God is here. For this fact is verily a 
 living, palpable argument in favour of the supernatural order. 
 
154 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 No matter what may be said to tlie contrary, the Vatican 
 Council, which represented God's living visible Church, is 
 the most wonderful assemblage, in a moral and religious 
 point of view, that can possibly be conceived. It is an 
 evidence of the universality of the Church, as it is proof 
 positive of the Church's unity. It is a fountain of joy to 
 the Catholic, as it is the reverse to the non-Catholic. It is, 
 however, a beacon light for the distracted wanderers in the 
 wilderness of the world — it is the star of hope for the ship- 
 wrecked mariners who are tossed on the ocean of private 
 opinion — it is the place of refuge for the sheep that have 
 gone astray in the fastnesses of the mountains, and the 
 solitude of the glens ! 
 
 It was prophesied of old, that the advent of the Re- 
 deemer would be for the fall or resurrection of many in 
 Israel, and certainly it may be predicted that this great 
 Council shall be for the salvation or perdition of number- 
 less men and women of the nineteenth century ! Who is 
 there, then, in darkness that should not pray for light ? or 
 who is here that is spiritually blind, that should not weary 
 heaven with prayer, now that another Pentecostal illumina- 
 tion is diffusing itself over the whole earth ? 
 
 What matter, then, to us, as Catholics, that journalists 
 should rack their brains to get up periodicall}^ another rich 
 and racy diatribe against the Pope and the Council. What 
 matter that they should continue week after week in harp- 
 ing on the same chord, and repeating the same lugubrious 
 lament. This we know, and of this we feel assured, that 
 when all those journals shall have been drowned in the 
 waters of oblivion — and all those editorial articles shall not 
 enjoy sufficient buoyancy to float down the stream of time 
 — the imperishable decrees of the illustrious Vatican Council 
 shall be regarded by the children of the Church for ages 
 yet to come as an oasis in the world's desolation, and shall 
 be recognised as so many landmarks to guide their foot- 
 steps through life, lest they should dash them against the 
 cliffs of rationalism, or they themselves should tumble 
 down into the pitfalls of infidelity. 
 
Reply to the Bishop of Brechin. 
 
 155 
 
 Yes ! indeed, as we now speak of the glorious QEcumeni- 
 cal Councils of Nicsea, Ephesus, Chalcedon, Constantinople, 
 and the like, which have taken place in the different ages 
 of the Church, so generations, yet unborn, shall speak of 
 the unparagoned Vatican Council ; and shall declare, in the 
 fulness of their faith, that we of the nineteenth century- 
 were blessed in our days, " to see the things which we now 
 see and to hear the things which we now hear." 
 
 By way of illustrating this subject, we may be permitted 
 to refer to what we have already said, in our 
 
 EEPLY TO THE BISHOP OF BRECHIN ON THE 
 (ECUMENICAL COUNCIL. 
 
 We have expressed our thanks to the Right Reverend 
 Prelate for disarming his Episcopal brother in the arena of 
 historical criticism. Now we must say that we are not 
 slow in offering the courtesies of society to all men — to the 
 Jew and the Gentile — to the Greek and the Barbarian — 
 but when Holy Church is attacked, it is our duty as well 
 as privilege to rush to the rescue, and, like the knights of 
 old who defended our Lord's sepulchre, to give battle to 
 the assailant ! We may refer to an outline of the lecture 
 from the Dundee Advertiser, December, 1869 : — 
 
 " On Sunday, after vespers^ in the Church of St. Thomas 
 of Canterbury, Arbroath, the Rev. Dr. Stewart M'Corry, 
 after sundry prefatory observations, said — Let us resume 
 our conferences on Rome's General Council. The Vatican 
 Council, which was opened with such surpassing solemnity 
 on the 8th instant, is now a patent fact, and adds a most 
 important unit to the number of General Councils recorded 
 in ecclesiastical history. It is another link in that mys- 
 terious religious chain which binds earth with heaven. The 
 memorable Council held in the Apostolic days, at Jerusalem, 
 was presided over by St. Peter, and settled all matters 
 of litigation by the authoritative words : — ' It hath 
 seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.' During the 
 three subsequent ages of persecution — when to be a Chris- 
 
15Q The Monks of lona, and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 tian was to be a martyr — no General Councils could be 
 convened. In the fourth century after the conversion of 
 the Emperor Constantine, and when peace was restored to 
 the Church, she girt up her loins to meet the exigencies of 
 the times. She called together her mitred prelates — the 
 Bishops appointed to rule the Church of God — in one grand 
 consistory at Nicsea, Bithynia, in 325, to bear witness to the 
 divinity of our Lord against the impieties of Arius. From 
 the fourth to the sixteenth centuries, there were convoked 
 eighteen General Councils. The first eiglit were held in 
 the Eastern, the last ten in the Western portion of Christen- 
 dom. The Sovereign Pontiff, as Vicar of Christ and Su- 
 preme Governor of the Church, has alone the right to con- 
 voke General Councils ; to preside over them in person or 
 by his legates ; and to confirm their decrees. These decrees 
 have reference, not to scientific nor artistic — not to sesthetic 
 nor archaeological — not to philosophical nor philological pur- 
 suits, but simply and exclusively to matters connected with 
 faith and morals — to matters which regard the eternal in- 
 terests that lie beyond the grave. With this preamble 
 we proceed to review the deliverance, upon last Sunday 
 evening, by the Bishop of Brechin, in his Cathedral, on the 
 ^Ecumenical Council. The lecture was duly chronicled in 
 the Dundee Advertiser of Monday, and is, therefore, amen- 
 able to criticism. We shall try, for the sake of brevity, to 
 condense our observations as much as possible. Pass we over, 
 as not necessarily requiring notice, the introductory re- 
 marks, and let us proceed to examine what the Right Bev. 
 Prelate has to announce in regard to Councils in general. 
 We give the words as reported. He said — ' When things 
 were at their worst men had always looked to general 
 councils as the great Parliaments of Christendom, as a means 
 of healing the wounds of the Church.' Yes, certainly, 
 general councils, always directed by the Holy Ghost, are, 
 undoubtedly, the panacea for the distempers of Christen- 
 dom. They are the landmarks which are to guide our 
 pathway from time to eternity. Now, we ask, who are to 
 summon these general councils ? We speak to facts, and 
 
Reply to the Bishop of Brechin, 
 
 157 
 
 we unhesitatingly declare — No one but the Vicegerent of 
 Christ, the Roman Pontiff. For it is the fact that the 
 Roman Pontiffs alone summoned every General Council that 
 was ever convened — from the Council of Nicsea in the 
 fourth to the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century ; 
 as it is the Roman Pontiff alone who summoned the Vati- 
 can Council in the nineteenth ! 
 
 "The non-Catholic Bishop of Brechin proceeds to make 
 all the admission which it is necessary to contend for when, 
 he says : — ' Historically (Ecumenical Councils had met the- 
 difficulties of the times.' It was precisely for that purpose, 
 as we say, that they were convoked, as it is for that pur- 
 pose that the great Vatican Council has just now assembled, 
 to meet the emergencies of the times, and to prepare the 
 necessary measures for the future well-being of Christen- 
 dom. 
 
 The Bishop proceeds — ' The Council of Nicsea, on the- 
 occasion of State establishment by Constantine, organised 
 the polity of the Church.' Yes, the Council of Nicsea 
 adopted the requisite means for the transition state of the- 
 Church — the state from persecution to peace — from poverty 
 to comparative wealth. Of necessity a new organisation 
 was demanded for a new state of things. Well, who con- 
 vened this Council of Nicsea ? It was Pope St. Silvester, 
 who had baptized Constantine at Rome, but who, on ac- 
 count of his great age — being unable to travel the distance — 
 appointed Osius, Bishop of Cordova, in Spain, to preside in 
 his stead at the Nicsean Council, assisted by two Roman 
 priests, Vitus and Vincent. The Emperor Constantine, how- 
 ever, was present, stating that ' he sat there as a hearer only^ 
 not as a judge.' 
 
 " The Bishop goes on to say that ' The three succeeding 
 Councils — those of Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon. 
 — determined the mode of existence of Him whom we 
 adore, our Lord and God.' These Councils, be it observed^ 
 were called to proclaim the divinity of Jesus Christ, and to 
 denounce the blasphemous impieties which had been 
 broached by certain crafty heresiarchs, who were the proto- 
 
158 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 types of our modern religious innovators. This action of 
 the Church proves her sleepless watchfulness over the 
 sacred depositum of the Christian faith. 
 
 " Well, who again summoned these Councils ? It was 
 the Roman Pontiff, St. Celestine, who convened the third 
 r General Council at Ephesus, in the year 431, to anathematize 
 the Nestorian and Pelagian heresies. It was the Roman 
 I Pontiff, St. Leo, who convened the fourth General Council 
 I at Chalcedon, in the year 451, to anathematize the Euty- 
 chian heresy, and to excommunicate Dioscorus. It was the 
 Roman Pontiff Vigilius who convened the fifth General 
 Council at Constantinople, in the year 553, to reiterate the 
 condemnation of the Nestorian and Eutychian heresies — to 
 condemn the errors of Origen, and proscribe the aberrations 
 of Theodoret. 
 
 " But we are told by the Bishop of Brechin that ' the 
 fifth Council, of which the acts were lost, controlled the 
 aggression of civil power.' Now, in reply, I have to state 
 that the Church has preserved the acts of the Council, and 
 that we can furnish a detailed account of the Council's 
 proceedings — reference to which having been already made. 
 
 " Come we now to the redoubtable charge — redoubtable 
 in the distance, but not sustainable on examination — the 
 charge which is the sing-song of the day. The Bishop de- 
 clares that ' in the sixth Pope Honorius was condemned by 
 name for heresy.' Now, what is our answer to the charge ? 
 In the first place, we absolutely deny the accusation ; in the 
 second place, we acknowledge extreme forbearance on the 
 part of Honorius in regard to the abettors of Monothelism, 
 but we maintain that he was never compromised with that 
 heresy ; and, in the third place, Anastasius tells us in his 
 history that the heterodox Greeks, who were such adepts in 
 falsifying the original acts of the Council, foisted in the 
 name of Honorius among those who were nominatim con- 
 demned — such as Sergius, Phyrrhus, and others. Time to 
 do even partial justice forbids the examination at any 
 length of this oft repeated, but oft refuted accusation, which 
 would require a long lecture by itself We shall, therefore, 
 
Reply to the Bishop of Brechin, 
 
 159 
 
 meanwliile content ourselves by referring to a triumphant 
 defence of that Pontiff, from the pen of the Rev. Father 
 Bottalla — ' Pope Honorius before the Tribunal of Reason 
 and History,' which has lately been published. 
 
 " The Bishop continues : — ' In the seventh Council it was 
 determined that art might legitimately be consecrated to 
 the service of religion. After that the Councils of the 
 Mediaeval Church were subjected to the influences of the 
 Popes, till, in view of the monstrous corruptions which 
 grew up therefrom, those of Basle and Constance restored 
 the proper tone of the corporate conscience of Christendom. 
 Now, as there is no specific charge, but only the indulgence 
 of mere vague generalities, in this last declamatory sen- 
 tence, we feel ourselves absolved from replying. When the 
 ' monstrous corruptions ' are unfolded, we shall then grapple 
 with them in succession. 
 
 " The right rev. speaker proceeds : — ' The succeeding ages 
 were ages of religious declension ; and the great Council of 
 Trent came too late to prevent the schism.' Now one word 
 by way of answer to these rather flippant observations. We 
 certainly have no intention of vindicating every person and 
 everything during the middle ages — fashionably called 
 dark — much less should we attempt to vindicate all persons 
 and things in the present age. This, however, we are pre- 
 pared to maintain, despite every bold assertion, that the 
 middle ages were ages of Light and Faith — ages of piety and 
 purity — ages of disinterested charity and religious chivalry — 
 ages which therefore contrast most favourably with our own 
 selfish, sordid, grasping, and degenerate age ! Be it so, that 
 the Council of Trent came too late to prevent the schism 
 of Europe : it came, however, in sufficient time to do its 
 work — to fortify the faithful — to confirm the doubtful — to 
 reclaim the erring, while by its heaven-inspired decrees and 
 its imperishable catechism, it has transmitted to posterity 
 two impregnable bulwarks, against wliich heresy and schism 
 must for ever dash themselves to pieces ! 
 
 " The non-Catholic Bishop of Brechin still goes on with 
 his homily — ' And now after 300 years a Council, incorrectly 
 
160 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 called (Ecumenical, was about to be assembled. He used 
 the expression 'incorrectly' advisedly, because that could 
 not be held to be (Ecumenical, in which the invitation ta 
 the Bishops of the ancient Church of the East had been 
 given in a form which was tantamount to an insult — in 
 which the Anglican Hierarchy had been entirely ignored, 
 and the Protestants merely invited to be convinced of their 
 errors.' 
 
 " Pray let us draw breath, after this burst of indignant 
 eloquence, and calmly examine the matter. What, then, is to 
 be said in regard to this tissue of complaints ? Why the 
 Council, pace Episcopi Brechiensis, is literally most (Ecu- 
 menical. No Council was ever more correctly designated — 
 to no Council were ever so many invitations issued — and at 
 no Council were there ever so many dignitaries of the 
 Church assembled. Upwards of 800 Fathers are present, 
 who have come from the four corners of the earth, to wit- 
 ness to its universality. What more can be desired ? 
 
 " The Council is, then, to all intents and purposes, (Ecu- 
 menical, and realises to the very letter its designation, 
 oikoumine, which signifies the habitable world — invitations, 
 or rather citations, having been issued to all bishops in the 
 habitable world, and we see before our eyes the most glori- 
 ous response. 
 
 " But what do we say with regard to the supposed insult 
 to the Bishops of the East ? W^h}^, this must be a dream, 
 which has been dreamed, upon the banks of the Tay, and not 
 of the Tiber ! Assuredly the Papal invitation was never 
 regarded in that light in the Eastern world, and the Holy 
 Father never contemplated anything but paternal respect 
 and kindness in his zealous efforts to consummate a re-union 
 with his wandering children. Listen to the loving terms in 
 which the great Pontiff addressed himself to the Eastern 
 Churches. In the Papal allocution, ' Arcano divinse Provi- 
 dentise,' under date 8th September, 1868, he thus speaks to 
 the Oriental Bishops, who are not in communion with the 
 Apostolic Boman See — 'Once again do we raise our voice, 
 and with all our soul entreat and conjure you to come 
 
Reply to the Bishop of Brechin. 
 
 161 
 
 to this Council, as your ancestors came to the Council of Flor- 
 ence, held by our predecessor, Eugene IV., that the law of 
 our former love may be restored — that the peace of our 
 Fathers — that heavenly and salutary gift of Jesus Christ — 
 which lapse of time has Aveakened, may gain fresh vigour, 
 and that thus, after the long night of affliction, and the 
 -dreary darkness of so long a separation, the peaceful light 
 of long desired union may at length shine upon all/ The 
 allocution continues in the same strain of tenderness and 
 love which was but too well calculated to awaken the best 
 religious emotions in every Christian heart. We are forced 
 then to conclude — and the conclusion we hold to be incon- 
 trovertibly just — that any kind of supposed insult is per- 
 fectly out of the question — that it was never contemplated 
 at Rome — that it was never entertained in the East — that 
 it is simply imaginary — that it must have resulted from 
 some unfortunate day-dream or equally unfortunate night- 
 mare, to which certain non-Catholic ecclesiastics are perhaps 
 more or less liable in these northern latitudes ! 
 
 " In reference to the Churches of the East, it may be in- 
 teresting for you to be informed that all tliose different 
 Oriental Churches, which adopt different rites, and employ 
 different languages, still celebrate the divine sacrifice of the 
 mass. The Oriental rites which obtain are the Greek, Ar- 
 menian, Chaldean, Syriac, Coptic, and Abyssinian. The Greek 
 rite is adopted by the Greeks of Turkey, of the Ionian 
 Isles, and of Greece ; by the Bulgarians, Servians, Walla- 
 chians, Montenegrins, Georgians, and Russians. Now, 
 although these various nations follow the Greek rite, all do 
 not make use of the Greek language in their liturgy. The 
 Catholic and non-united Greeks use the ancient Greek ; the 
 Russians, the Bulgarians, the Servians, the Montenegrins, 
 use the Sclavonic language ; the Wallachians and Georgians 
 use their own. The Ruthenians and the Catholic Bul- 
 garians also use the Sclavonic ; the Catholic Wallachians, 
 the Wallachian or Roumanian, the Melchites or Catholic 
 Greeks of Syria and of Egypt use the Arabic. 
 
 " The Armenian rite and language are employed by the 
 
 11 
 
162 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 i Catholic and by the non-united Armenians of Russia, 
 '( Turkey, Persia, Gallicia, and Venice. 
 
 " The Chaldean is followed by the Nestorians of Turkey, 
 Persia, and Malabar. These, as well as the Catholic Chal- 
 deans of Kurdistan and Persia, celebrate mass in the Chal- 
 dean language. 
 
 " The Syriac rite is followed by the J acobites of Syria 
 and of Mesopotamia. The J acobites employ the Syriac in 
 their liturgies, as also do the Catholic Syrians and the 
 Maronites, whose rite is, however, different. 
 
 " The Coptic rite is followed in the Coptic language by the 
 Catholic and non-united Copts of Egypt. These latter are 
 monophysites like the Jacobites. 
 
 " The Abyssinian rite, in the Gheez tongue, is adopted by 
 Catholic and non-united Abyssinians. The latter also are 
 monophysites. 
 
 " Contemplating these sects in the aggregate they may be 
 classified under three heads — the Nest orian heresy, the 
 iMonophysite heresy^vud theGreek ^sclnsm! They number 
 1 about seventy millions of Christians, spread over Egypt, 
 Palestine, Syria, Greece, Turkey, Persia, and the Russian 
 Empire. These are they whom the great heart of Pius IX. 
 yearns after to restore to the unity of the household 
 of faith ; these are the scattered sheep whom the uni- 
 versal shepherd of the universal sheepfold goes in search 
 of midst their wanderings, with crook in hand, and entreats 
 them in the pathetic tones of Christian endearment to re- 
 turn to the pastures of life eternal. 
 
 " On this subject let me refer to an interesting article in 
 the Ecclesiastical Record of April, 1869, headed ' Prepara- 
 tions in the East.' 
 
 " ' Oh, but,' says the Bishop of Brechin, who feels evi- 
 dently sore upon the subject, and has the weakness to 
 insinuate that injury has been superadded to ' insult,' ' The 
 I Anglican hierarchy has been entirely ignored !' Pray, why 
 Pclid he not also say — ' Ignored likewise have been the 
 Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal communion ! ' The 
 budget of grievances would then be disclosed. 
 
Reply to the Bishop of Brechin. 
 
 163 
 
 "Now let us be plain, however respectful, and let us 
 answer one question by asking another. We ask, then, how 
 could the English or Scottish Bishops expect an invitation 
 to the General Council ? We are not slow in giving to the 
 Eight Rev. Prelates of the Scottish and English commu- 
 nions the respective designations which courtesy and usage 
 award them ; but when we come to close quarters — when 
 we come to examine their pretensions to the Episcopate — 
 'when we come to weigh their claims to the mitre in the 
 scales of the sanctuary, we find that the balance kicks 
 against them — we find that their jDretensions are utterly 
 hollow, and that their claims are devoid of the shadow of a 
 shade of foundation ! All their assumptions, I need not 
 tell you, are repudiated by Christendom. The orders of 
 the Greek schismatical Church, and of the li ttle Janse nisti- 
 cal Church ofJEoUand, are recognised as valid by the 
 Church7l5ut~tlie so-called orders of the Scottish Episcopacy, 
 and of the Anglican Establishment, are devoid of validity, 
 and therefore are utterly discarded. Hence the Catholic 
 Church regards the Archbishop of Canterbury and all the 
 clergy of the Establishment of England as mere laymen, 
 and as mere laymen does the Catholic Church again regard 
 the Bishop Primus and all the other clergy of the Scottish 
 Episcopal communion of Scotland ! No marvel, then, if 
 they should have been ' ignored ' — no marvel if they should 
 have received no invitation — the only marvel is that any 
 one amongst them — knowing that the Catholic Church re- 
 cognises neither their orders nor any jurisdiction — could 
 have dreamed so curious a dream ! 
 
 " Another sore point appears to be that Protestants were 
 merely invited to be convinced of their errors. Now, is it 
 consistent with common sense to suppose that the precious 
 time of the General Council, which is engrossed in deep 
 spiritual legislating for all Christendom, should be wasted 
 in the solution of objections ten thousand times answered, 
 or that the grand Council chamber should be converted into 
 a catechetical class-room to teach neophytes the merest 
 rudiments of Christian revelation. If non -Catholics have 
 
 11—2 
 
164 The Monks ;/ lona and the Luke of Argyll, 
 
 religious difficulties, let tliem apply to the Catholic priest- 
 hood at home or abroad, who are able and willing to give 
 * a reason for the faith that is in them or if they wend 
 their way to the Eternal City, let them consult those dis- 
 tinguished ecclesiastics whom the Holy Father himself has 
 specially appointed for their direction. 
 
 " The Bishop of Brechin becomes now more benignant 
 when he says, ' But still, with every abatement, the assem- 
 blage of so many bishops of the great Latin Church could 
 not fail to be fraught with consequences which told not 
 only on itself but on others ; for a pulse ran through the 
 veins of the whole body of Christ, and even in these days of 
 separation, one member could not suffer without the other 
 suffering also. The Council, therefore, demanded their 
 praj^ers. Already some pious Protestants had made it the 
 subject of anxious prayer ; and his audience could not do 
 better than follow their example.' 
 
 " Now, as a Doctor of Holy Church, I stand here in this 
 pulpit to speak the truth, without qualification or re- 
 serve. While we may give the Bishop credit for his inten- 
 tions and prayers, still must we lament that he can lay the 
 flattering unction to his soul, and cherish the fond delusion 
 that either the English establishment or the Scottish Epis- 
 copal Communion is a member of the mystical body of 
 Christ, which is His one true Church represented by the 
 See of Rome. No ! the Church of Christ cannot be divided. 
 As the branch theory of the Oxford School in the ' Tracts 
 for the Times ' has been found wanting, so the ' pulse ' of 
 the Christian life is wanting to every non- Catholic Institu- 
 tion; for apart from the Church it never can possess 
 vitality. The withered branch cut off from the vine is sap- 
 less — can bear no fruit, and must be cast aside. 
 
 " Come we now to some statements which are, indeed, 
 strange, passing strange. The Eight Eev. Speaker stated to 
 his audience — ' They never could tell how a Council might 
 turn out. The Council of Rimini asserted heresy; the 
 robber Council of Ephesus ended in confusion; while a Synod 
 in the tiny little town of Orange, in France, had determined 
 
Reply to the Bishop of Brechin. 
 
 165 
 
 the doctrine of grace for the whole Church. Be it remem- 
 bered that tlie authority of a Council did not depend on him 
 who convoked it, or on the number of bishops present, or on 
 the subjects treated, but on the after acceptation of the 
 Church. There was an after verdict on every Council.' 
 
 " Now, let us take up these haphazard assertions in suc- 
 cession, and test their worth. 
 
 " First, we Catholics have never any doubt with regard to 
 the results which follow from a General Council, because 
 the divine founder of the Christian religion has promised 
 to send the Holy Ghost to preside over the deliberations. 
 
 " Secondly, the Council of Rimini, which was brought 
 together in 359 at the instance of the Emperor Constantino, 
 never was regarded as a proper Catholic, much less a General 
 Council. St. Athanasius places it among the Arian Coun- 
 cils. St. Jerome, according to his celebrated expression, 
 said that the whole world was taken by surprise when 
 Arianism at that Council seemed to have stolen a march on 
 Christianity! St. Ambrose held the Rimini Council in 
 horror; and St. Hilary declared that it was rejected by 
 Christendom. So much for the Council of Rimini and 
 heresy ! 
 
 " Thirdly, one is at a loss to know what is reported to have 
 been said in regard to the "robber" Council of Ephesus. 
 The first Council of Ephesus was held in the year 196 under 
 St. Polycarp. The second Council of Ephesus was held in 
 401 under St. John Chrysostome. These two were simply 
 Provincial Councils. The third Council of Ephesus was 
 held in 431, which was a General Council, and presided 
 over by St. Cyril of Alexandria, by command of Pope 
 Celestine I., in which the Holy Virgin was proclaimed to 
 be the mother of God, and when the heresy of Nestorius 
 was anathematized. 
 
 " Fourthly, the Council Orange was simply provincial, and 
 has no weight compared with a General Council. 
 
 " Fifthly, the authority of every General Council depends 
 on the Pope who convokes it — who presides over it, and 
 who alone can confirm its decrees. The hypothesis that the 
 
166 The Monks of lona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 Ghurcli can be separated from the Pope — that the body can 
 be separated from the head — is preposterous, and cannot 
 for a moment be entertained. ^ Koma locuta — causa finita." 
 Rome speaks — controversy ends. The Pope and the Churcli 
 are one — inseparable — indivisible — infallible ! 
 
 " The non-Catholic Bishop of Brechin continues — ' One 
 had heard with alarm that new dogmas were to be declared ; 
 that a doubtful legend with regard to the death of the 
 blessed Virgin Mary was to be asserted as an historical 
 fact; that some political views, which had hitherto been 
 left free, in consideration of the different measures of civi- 
 lization of different countries, would be condemned ; and 
 that the personal infallibility of the successor of St. Peter 
 • — a doctrine utterly unknown in the early Church — was to 
 be added to the sum of those things which a man must 
 believe on peril of his salvation. It was earnestly to be 
 hoped,' the Bishop said, ' in the interests of our common 
 Christianity, that that would not be effected.' 
 
 " In answer to the various parts of this paragraph, let it be 
 observed that any alarm is altogether idle about the promul- 
 gation of new dogmas. Whatever shall be explicitly de- 
 clared at the General Council has ever been implicitly 
 believed by the Church ; the assumption of the blessed 
 virgin has always been a pious belief of the Church, and it 
 may now receive a more formal and explicit declaration. 
 The personal infallibility of the successor of St. Peter, when 
 speaking ex cathedra, and with all the divine authority of 
 his sacred office, is a cherished belief, and has been main- 
 tained by the fathers of the Church from the earliest ages 
 v/ith one voice. They have declared — TJhi Petrus — ibi 
 Ecclesia — Where Peter is — there is the Church. This pious 
 belief likewise may receive its formal and explicit declara- 
 tion. With regard to the political views of the various 
 nations, these no doubt, ^9er se, shall be left perfectly free, 
 but should these views tamper with the religion and educa- 
 tion of the nations, then the Church, as taking precedence 
 of the State, must draw the line of demarcation. 
 
 "The non-Catholic Bishop of Brechin winds up- his homily 
 
Reply to the Bishop of Brechin. 
 
 167 
 
 in these terms — ' One grieved over anything that widened 
 the breaches in the spiritual kingdom of Clirist, but surely 
 they must trust to the prayers of so many earnest men being 
 heard, and that God the Holy Gliost, who would be so earn- 
 estly invoked at the Council, would overrule to His greater 
 glory the individual aspirations of its members, and that the 
 final results would tend to the corporate union of the Church 
 of God, and that His way might be known upon earth — His 
 savinoj health amono- all nations/ 
 
 " No doubt every one must lament the ' widening of any 
 breach' among Christians. But surely it is far better to 
 see with eyes open any breach, however wide, than to be 
 led blindfold over the precipice. The breach between the 
 Catholic and non-Catholic Churches is not only wide, it is 
 distant as the poles asunder. The CatlK)lic_^hurch isjnost 
 uncompromising— no doctrine caiTBe^ared down — no article 
 of revelation can be~sorfcened away to meet the tastes of the 
 times — no diminution in the sacraments — no alteration in 
 the sacrifice can be made, no matter what the gain, no matter 
 what the loss. The Church is the infallible guardian of 
 eternal truth. 'Heaven and earth shall pass away,' but 
 truth never shall pass away. With heresy and schism, with 
 pantheism and naturalism, with rationalism and indifferen- 
 tism, with socialism and communism, the Cathohc Church 
 never can come to terms. Let tliese vagaries of the mind 
 ^nd heart be relinquished, and then the Church shall hail 
 with delight the return of the erring to the portals of eternal 
 truth. The Holy Father, as representative of Christ and of 
 the Church, shall go forth to meet his poor children after 
 their wanderings; he shall receive them with paternal 
 endearment into his arms ; he shall raise the cry of jubila- 
 tion from earth to heaven, and over each and every one of 
 them he shall tell men and angels to rejoice with exceeding 
 joy, because he who was lost is found — he who was dead has 
 been brought to life again ! 
 
 " Prayers, then, earnest and universal, have been offered up 
 to heaven, for this great (Ecumenical Council. Catholics 
 xire certain, as they are of their own existence, that these 
 
168 Tlie Monks of Zona and the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 prayers have been heard and have been answered. The 
 Holy Ghost, according to divine promise, has descended to 
 preside at the Council's deliberations, and the decrees which 
 shall be promulgated must be regarded as the oracles of God 
 himself. God spoke, when in the General Council of Nicsea 
 the divinity of the Eternal Son was proclaimed — when in 
 the General Council of Constantinople the divinity of the 
 Holy Ghost was defined — when in the General Council of 
 Ephesus the Holy Virgin Mary was declared to be the mother 
 of God — when in another General Council of Nicsea it was 
 ruled that the images of Christ and his Saints should be 
 held in veneration — when in the General Council of Florence, 
 the doctrines of the middle state, of the ' Filioque,' and the 
 supremacy of the Eoman Pontiff, were recorded — and when 
 in the General Council of Trent, original sin, justification, 
 the Sacraments, and the sacrifice of the New Law, were pro- 
 pounded as articles of divine revelation ! God shall speak 
 now again at this great (Ecumenical Council. We shall not 
 venture to anticipate the infallible decisions of the infallible 
 Vatican Council ; but of this we feel assured, as of faith, 
 despite the lectures of non-Catholic bishops, and the prophe- 
 cies of non-Catholic Presbyters, that the voice of God 
 spoken by the Prince of the Apostles, and which resounded 
 of old in the Council Chamber of Jerusalem, shall be echoed 
 anew in the august Vatican Basilica, by the venerable 
 successor of St. Peter, in these words — * It hath seemed 
 good to the Holy Ghost, and to us !' " . 
 
 Since this Lecture was delivered, the grand question, 
 which both within and without the Council, was so keenly 
 discussed, has been finally settled. The infallible Pontiff 
 has pronounced the infallible declaration, which no Catholic 
 can venture for an instant to gainsay. By non-Catholics it 
 may still be denounced as a " hard saying," by non-Chris- 
 tians, it may be stigmatised as an "impious dogma," it is not 
 therefore the less true. As the servant is not better than the 
 master, and as He who k new not sin, was said to be possess ed 
 of a devil, so according to the apostle, through many tribu- 
 lations must we pass, before we can enter into the kingdom 
 
The Catholic and Roman Church. 
 
 1G9 
 
 lof Heaven. Hence do we possess our souls in patience, 
 Idespite the words of blasphemy which are daily spoken and 
 [the scenes of sacrilege which we daily witness. As followers 
 of the God of mercy, his prayer must be our prayer, " Father, 
 forgive them, they know not what they do !" Still it be- 
 hoves us to speak out with regard to existing religious 
 national establishments. We say then, advisedly, that they 
 are not of God — they are not the work of Jesus Christ — 
 they are not guided by the Holy Ghost ! 
 
 If it be asked who it is that has the daring thus to un- 
 church the English and Scottish National Institutions, as 
 by law established, we answer that it is the Church of the 
 Apostles — the Catholic and Eoman Church ! 
 
 If it be, moreover, asked who it is has the hardihood to 
 I impugn the orders of Dr. Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 ' and to impeach the commission of Dr. Norman Macleod, late 
 Moderator of the General Assembly, we answer that it is one 
 who was born also in Caledonia, and who, with Heaven's 
 blessing, is prepared forthwith to demonstrate the invalidity 
 of Anglican, and the nullity of Scottish, ordination ! Far 
 be it from us to suppose that of ourselves, we can do any- 
 thing. Let self be thrown into the background, and let truth 
 alone stand prominently forward. If our sharp-shooters 
 must have a mark — if a target, large or small, must be pre- 
 sented to our rifle brigade, let some living one enter into the 
 arena with Canterbury and Glasgow, and with historical 
 and theological weapons alone gird himself for the conflict I 
 Now, we have made the charge ; we have invited the en- 
 counter ; we are prepared for the result — 
 
 Adsum qui feci, in me convertite ferrum." 
 
 The point at issue is between truth and no truth — between 
 faith and no faith — between sacraments and no sacraments 
 — ^between sacrifice and no sacrifice — between the only true 
 Church of Christ and the untrue Churches of men ! The 
 question thus revolves on its own axis ; it is, consequently, 
 a question of first principles — a question distinctly sepa- 
 rate from the intellectual ability of the respective belli- 
 gerents ! 
 
ITALIAN KEVOLUTIONISTS— ROMAN PONTIFF 
 KING— CATHOLIC WORLD. 
 
 The Italian Diplomatist at the British Court was, as we 
 have seen, decidedly thrown off his guard in his communica- 
 tions with the smart American Commissioner from New 
 York. Little did he dream, that he should be completely 
 victimized by him whom the Scottish poet Burns jocularly 
 caUs — "the chiel takin' notes," and that he would surely 
 " prent them." But as it is commonly said that murder 
 leaks out, so it is providential that the ulterior nefarious 
 machinations of Italian Revolutionists should be made patent 
 to the whole world. Truth and justice are not afraid of the 
 light, whereas falsehood and injustice court the darkness, 
 because their deeds are evil. Let then the case be stated for 
 the benefit of all concerned. 
 
 We are men — we are Christians — we are Catholics. We 
 believe in the supernatural order. We believe in God — in 
 his divine Son — in the Holy Ghost — in the Holy Catholic 
 Apostolic Roman Church. We believe that the Great 
 Creator in Heaven has established for his creatures ilpon 
 earth a divine Institute called the Church. We believe that 
 this organization, constituting the mystical body of Christ, 
 is distributed into two grand departments — the Pastors 
 teaching and the people taught — the Priests, the Lord's 
 anointed, who are the dispensers of the mysteries of God, 
 and the Faithful to whom these sacred ordinances are adminis- 
 tered. We believe that as the Church is composed of men, 
 and not of disembodied spirits, it necessarily presents an 
 external object — that, therefore, it is a visible body, and as 
 this body is complete in all its parts, it must have a visible 
 head. The mystical body of Christ, which is his Church, is 
 one ; therefore the head must be one, but the body is visible. 
 
Roman Pontiff King — Catholic World. 171 
 
 consequently the head must be visible also. Now as the 
 living body requires nourishment and a dwelling-place, so 
 does the Head require nutriment and a home. 
 
 Well, it has ever been the belief of the Catholic world, 
 that Simon Peter was appointed by Jesus Christ as the 
 visible Head of his Church ; but as the Church was to be 
 perpetuated to the end of time, so the prerogatives, which 
 were given to the fisherman of Galilee in the first instance, 
 were to be attached to his high and holy office, and were to 
 be transmitted in their entirety to his legitimate successors. 
 Scripture and tradition prove that Peter was constituted the 
 Head of the Church of Christ, and that He was the first 
 Bishop of Rome, therefore the Roman Pontiffs holding the 
 self-same office, are invested with the self-same powers. 
 
 Now the Sovereign Pontiff" as vicar of Jesus Christ, as 
 successor of St. Peter, is regarded as the venerated father of 
 the great Catholic family — that family which is spread 
 throughout the universe — which is bound, together by the 
 sacred ties of faith, hope, and charity — and which numbers 
 within its communion upwards of two hundred millions of 
 Christians. The visible head of this great religious bod}^, 
 who is for Catholics the representative of heaven upon earth, 
 inhabits a time-honoured homestead upon the banks of the 
 Tiber, where had dwelt for more than eighteen hundred 
 years his apostolic predecessors. That venerable homestead 
 is now being cruelly disturbed by false friends, who, forgetful 
 of their duty to their spiritual and temporal sovereign, have 
 leagued themselves with his bitterest enemies, to persecute 
 him even to death ! Of these he has reason to complain in 
 the plaintive language of the prophet, " Hear, 0 ye heavens, 
 and give ear O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have 
 brought up children, and exalted them ; but they have 
 despised me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his 
 master's crib ; but Israel have not known me, and my people 
 hath not understood." (Isaiah i. 2.) — Yes, the sovereign 
 Pontiffs have for a long series of ages watched over the 
 best interests of Italy with paternal solicitude, and have 
 elevated and refined the Italian people, as the perfection of 
 
172 
 
 Italian Revolutionists. 
 
 the arts and sciences can testify ; yet have they been repaid 
 not unfrequently by the basest ingratitude and the most 
 despicable treachery ! 
 
 The late encyclical letter of Pius IX. from Bome, addressed 
 to all the Bishops of the Catholic world, discloses the sorrows 
 of his bleeding heart. " Cast your eyes around you, vener- 
 able brethren, and you will see and deeply deplore with us, 
 the detestable abominations which now chiefly desolate 
 unhappy Italy. . . . The venerable commandments of 
 God and the laws of holy Church are utterly despised, and 
 impiety uplifts its head unpunished, and triumphs. Hence 
 all the iniquities, all the evils and the injuries we behold with 
 the utmost grief of our soul. Hence these numerous arrays 
 of men who walk in iniquity, serving under the banner of 
 Satan, upon whose forehead is written ' Falsehood,' and who> 
 called by the name of rebels, and turning their mouths 
 against heaven, blaspheme God, sully and contemn every 
 thino^ sacred, and, treading under foot all rio^hts, divine and 
 human, breathe only carnage like rapacious wolves. These 
 are they who shed blood, lose their souls by most serious 
 scandals, and seek most unjustly to profit by their own malice, 
 carrying off" by violence other men's goods, afllicting the 
 weak and the poor, increasing the number of widows and 
 orphans, and showing favour for reward to the impious, 
 while they refuse justice to the just, plundering, and, in the 
 corruptions of their hearts, shamefully glutting themselves 
 with all evil passions, to the very great prejudice of civil 
 society itself. 
 
 " By this race of abandoned men we are at present sur- 
 rounded. These men, animated by a diabolical spirit, desire 
 to hoist the standard of falsehood, even in our beneficent city, 
 near the chair of St. Peter, the centre of truth and Catholic 
 unity. And the chiefs of the Piedmontese Government, who 
 ought to repress such men, do not blush to support them with 
 all their zeal, to furnish them with arms and aU things 
 necessary." 
 
 In these terms does the holy Father give expression to his 
 bitterest sorrow over the land he loves, and the states which 
 
Roman Pontiff King — Catlwlic World, 173 
 
 lie has so long governed with such tender solicitude. That 
 land is now torn to pieces by political adventurers, and the 
 States of the Church have been wrested from the hands of 
 the apostolic successor of Peter. At the present moment the 
 peninsula is in a state of direst agitation. The good liave 
 been overawed, and the wicked have gained the ascendency. 
 In their infatuated phrenzy the revolutionists of Italy, who 
 seem to forget that Christian Rome is incomparably greater 
 than Pagan Rome, are deluded by a fantastic vision called 
 liberty, and have pounced like ravenous wolves upon St. 
 Peter's patrimony. They have despoiled the Sovereign 
 Pontiff of all those temporal possessions, to which he has an 
 imprescriptible right — those possessions which have been 
 consecrated by the tenure of more than a thousand years — 
 which he holds for the Church's universal good, and which, 
 in the circumstances of his august position, are imperatively 
 required for the free and independent discharge of his minis- 
 terial functions. 
 
 For aught these miscreants"seem to care, the Pope might 
 become a fugitive upon the earth ; he might wander, as in 
 the days of persecution, without either " scrip or staff," 
 houseless, homeless, penniless ! The father of the faithful, 
 if left to the tender mercies of those abettors of revolution, 
 might verily say in the language of his Divine Master, 
 " The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests ; but 
 the vicar of Christ hath not where to lay his head." (St. 
 Luke ix. 58.) 
 
 To this sad pass, matters have now almost come, and the 
 great heart of the whole Catholic world is profoundly agi- 
 tated ; an universal shout of indignant feeling has every- 
 where been raised ; energetic action is being taken to grapple 
 successfully with a nefarious conspiracy, which has long been 
 organized in secret, not simply to absorb the States of the 
 Church, but were it possible to undermine the altar and the 
 throne — nay, even the foundations of all society. That con- 
 spiracy has indulged the monstrous hallucination that, if the 
 temporal power of the Pope were once destroyed, the spiritual 
 power would soon totter to its fall ! But this delusion shall 
 
174 
 
 Italian Revolutionists. 
 
 quickly be dissipated ; for the spirit of Christian faith has 
 become manifest in every land. The chivalry of Christendom 
 has awoke to an imperious sense of duty, and the genius of 
 relio-ion which sent out the Crusaders into Palestine in the 
 
 o 
 
 twelfth century to enter the battle-field against infidel Sara- 
 cens, urges now the Crusaders of the nineteenth century to 
 buckle on their holy armour again, and to march forth in 
 spirit to the rescue of the holy city ! 
 
 With truth, it may be averred, that the revolution in Italy 
 in getting possession of Rome would urge the desolating 
 tide of anarchy to sweep, like a torrent, over the whole conti- 
 nent of Europe. Rome, as the revolutionists know full well, 
 is the headquarters of the Christian religion, and Christian 
 Papal Rome is therefore essentially hostile to every kind of 
 abomination. Light is not more opposed to darkness than 
 is Catholic Rome to conspiracy. Anarchy was never taught 
 in her schools, insurrection had no chapter in her ethics, 
 insubordination was not permitted either in theory or in 
 practice. Catholic Rome therefore, as being, so to speak, the 
 prime standard-bearer of the Christian religion, is necessarily 
 conservative of discipline — she must teach lessons of " truth, 
 of justice, and of judgment" to the w^hole world! 
 
 The late encyclical of the Roman Pontiff*, which so as- 
 tounded the perverse policy of statesmen and diplomatists, 
 has proved to a demonstration that might is not always 
 right, and that the logic of events, to use the fashionable 
 parlance of the day, is no guarantee whatever that it accords 
 with religious equity. Rome then has to speak, when the 
 whole world is silent. She has to weigh all in the scales of 
 the sanctuary, and her counsellor can be no other but the 
 Lord of Hosts. She has her high and holy mission from 
 heaven, and not from the earth. Being the mother church 
 of the city and the globe — " mater urbis et orbis "—she is 
 to teach all other churches. To say then that, in any point 
 of view, Rome should abdicate her universally sovereign and 
 religious position is indeed " phrase absurd :" — to dream that 
 Christian Catholic Rome should condescend to be simply 
 the head of a political kingdom is preposterous in the ex- 
 
Roman Pontiff King — Catholic World. 
 
 175 
 
 treme. Why, Rome is the head of the entire Christian 
 commonwealth ! She has received the nations as an inherit- 
 ance, and she is appointed to govern them by her spiritual 
 power and jurisdiction ! 
 
 Rome then never can be degraded as the mere capital of 
 Italy, since Rome is the metropolis of the whole Catholic 
 world. Every Catholic has a life-interest in Rome, for every 
 Catholic feels himself at home, within the walls of the 
 Eternal City. In visiting Rome, the Catliolic visits what 
 has been the residence of the Common Father of the faithful 
 since the establishment of the Christian religion, and which, 
 despite of all adverse prognostications, must, with God's 
 blessing, continue so to remain till the crack of doom ! 
 
 For Rome and the Roman States constitute the patrimony 
 of St. Peter ; they are the sacred heirloom of the Church ; 
 they belong to Christendom ; every Catholic has a vested 
 right in their preservation, and they can no more be touched 
 with unholy hand than could the ark of God itself. Hence 
 the rallying cry of religious chivalry, which is now being- 
 echoed throughout the Catholic world, to rush to the pro- 
 tection of the father of all Christians, and to rescue the 
 sacred tombs of the Apostles from revolutionary desecra- 
 tion, by an appeal to the moral power of every nation ! 
 
 In regard to the patrimony of St. Peter, or the temporal 
 power of the Pope, it is by no means extravagant to con- 
 tend, that the special intervention of Divine Providence has 
 accomplished what has become a luminous and a palpable 
 fact. Assuredly, man was simply an instrument in working 
 out so desirable a consummation, which, no matter what 
 may be said to the contrary, must be attributable to a super- 
 natural agency. The patrimony of St. Peter we hold to be 
 necessary for the per^t independence of the Holy See — the 
 temporal power of the Pope we hold to be necessary for the 
 uncontrolled exercise of his spiritual jurisdiction. This 
 being the case, despite of whatever may be said to the con- 
 trary, it must positively be declared, that the Catholic world 
 shall never rest satisfied until complete restitution has been 
 made, by the Piedmontese government, of all those tcrri- 
 
176 
 
 Italian Revolutionists. 
 
 tories which, despite the laws of nations, it has so shamefully 
 "usurped. The law of annexation can never hold good when 
 annexation is a flagrant sacrilege. It is true that France 
 annexed Nice and Savoy, and, for the sake of geographical 
 boundaries, would willingly have annexed the Rhenish 
 Provinces. It is true also that Spain would be glad to re- 
 claim the rock of Gibraltar, which is the key of the Medi- 
 terranean ; and Malta might eventually desire to be annexed 
 \to the re-established Kingdom of the Two Sicilies; the 
 jUnited States, doubtless, would have no objection to annex 
 the Canadas ; and other contingent annexations could be 
 suggested. But no annexation of any portion of St. Peter's 
 sacred patrimony can ever be justified by any national or 
 international legislation. He who is the living oracle of 
 Jesus Christ Himself; he who speaks from the infallible 
 chair of Peter, as Peter alone can speak ; he who so happily 
 said — Simon may die, but Peter must live for ever ; he 
 whose voice is as authoritative as the voice which promul- 
 gated the law from Sinai, or the voice which preached the 
 Sermon on the Mount ; he to whom the whole world is com- 
 manded to listen ; he, indeed, has proclaimed aloud that at 
 his coronation as supreme Pontiff he bound himself, like his 
 predecessors, by the most sacred engagements to preserve in 
 their integrity the states of the Church ! Yet he has not 
 hesitated to declare that the responsibilities of the civil 
 government are a real cross, which, by nature of his august 
 office, he is obliged to carry, because in the present circum- 
 stances of the times, the temporal power is necessary for the 
 due exercise of the spiritual power, and for the perfectly in- 
 dependent action of the Holy See. This solemn declaration 
 has been re-echoed throughout Christendom by the Bishops 
 and Priests of the Church, and to this declaration has every 
 Catholic heart in every clime beat faithfully responsive ! 
 
 But, to lay aside a line of argument which some cavillers 
 might state to be gratuitous, let us come to facts, which of 
 themselves speak volumes. 
 
 It is a fact then, as ecclesiastical history bears witness, 
 that the Pope and his predecessors have been resident in the 
 
Roman Pontiff King — Catholic World, 177 
 
 eternal city from the clays that Simon Peter, the fisherman, 
 journeyed from Antioch to Rome in the year 42. 
 
 It is a fact that after the conversion of Constantine the 
 Great in the fourth century, he quickly discovered that two 
 supreme rulers, the one spiritual and the other temporal, 
 could not co-exist in the same city ; he therefore left old 
 Rome as the residence of the Pope, and transferred the seat 
 of his empire to new Rome, or Constantinople, which he 
 founded about the year 330. 
 
 It is a fact that after the downfall of the Roman empire 
 in the west, and when Italy became a prey to the invader, 
 Pope John II., in the sixth century, was implored by the 
 Roman senator Cassiodorus, in the name of the Roman 
 people, to assume the temporal administration, as all their 
 interests were utterly neglected by their imperial governors 
 in the east. 
 
 It is a fact that in the eighth century the Roman people, 
 finding themselves totally abandoned by the emperors, and 
 exposed defenceless to the fierce attacks of the Lombards, 
 entreated Pepin, King of France, to rush to their assistance. 
 He forthwith crossed the Alps, and gained a complete victory 
 over those barbarous hordes. When peace had been re- 
 stored two ambassadors came from Constantinople to claim 
 for the Emperor the provinces which had been invaded by 
 the Lombards. Pepin answered that those provinces had 
 been abandoned by their master — that the Franks certainly 
 did not shed their blood for the faithless Greek, but for the 
 love of St. Peter, or as Anastasius the Librarian records — 
 " nisi pro amore Sancti Petri " — that as these provinces were^ 
 now his by right of conquest, he had resolved to handTthem 
 over to St. Peter's vicar, to be held by him in perpetuity 
 for the good of the Church. He caused therefore a deed to 
 be drawn up, which was signed by himself, by the princes 
 his sons, and by all the nobility of the Franks. It was 
 carried to Rome by his ambassadors, and by his command, 
 was it laid upon the holy apostle's tomb ! 
 
 When Charlemagne succeeded, he renews the donation of 
 Ms father Pepin, and in the deed of ratification is inscribed, 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 Italian Revolutionists. 
 
 " To blessed Peter, the cities and territories are given," as we 
 find in Anastasius. When Ludovicus Pius followed as 
 Emperor he confirmed the acts of his sire and grandsire, 
 and in the charter which was registered, and is found in 
 the annals of Baronius, he declares "that the states are 
 guaranteed to St. Peter, and to the Popes as his vicars." 
 
 It is a fact then that for more than a thousand years, the 
 Pope alone has been the temporal governor of Rome, and of 
 the Roman States, which he most legitimately acquired. 
 
 It is a fact that by every law, divine and human, the 
 Pope is the only rightful owner of the Roman States, which 
 constitute St. Peter's patrimony — which he holds for the 
 weal of the universal Church — which he cannot possibly 
 alienate, and which by right of conquest had been handed 
 over to him, by Pepin and Charlemagne, for the independent 
 discharge of his sacred ministry. 
 
 It is true indeed, as we have seen, that the Roman Pon- 
 tiff*, who, for three hundred years, had his abode in the cata- 
 combs or in the caves of Mount Soracte, was not to sit at 
 once in the Lateran or Vatican palace, as the temporal ruler 
 of the Roman States. This change in the destinies of the 
 visible head of the Church of Christ, was to be brought 
 about by a concatenation of^pro^^ It 
 was necessary, first of all, to convince an infidel world of the 
 Church's divine origin, by proving that her apostles and her 
 followers could die for her cause — it was necessary to con^ 
 vince a voluptuous world, by practical examples, that men 
 and women, in embracing Christianity, could become chaste 
 in body and pure in heart and disinterested in mind — it was 
 necessary to convince a material world, which trusted only 
 in the mammon of iniquity, and in that brute force which 
 now reigns paramount, that the Church of Jesus Christ 
 could progress midst poverty and suffering and opposition — 
 that she did not require any adventitious aid to propagate 
 her doctrines — that she could stand forth upon her own 
 spiritual pedestal and commend herself by her own celestial 
 charms, irrespective of gold or silver, or any worldly fascina- 
 tion — that despite every obstacle she could advance, despite 
 
Roman Pontiff King — Catholic World. 179 
 
 all antagonism her children would " increase, and multiply 
 and replenish the earth !" 
 
 Having been steeped, then, in the briny waters of martyr- 
 dom till the year 314 — having had during that period 
 twenty-nine Popes put to the sword — having drunk to the 
 very dregs the chalice of sulFering, and endured for such a 
 lengthened time the agony of the Redeemer's passion, the 
 Holy Ghost, whose divine office it is to watch over the wel- 
 fare of Christ's Church, permitted her to enter upon another 
 and a widely different phase of existence. A new career 
 was opened — a new style of living was now to be her lot. 
 She was to put off the weeds of widowhood, which she wore 
 in the days of her family afflictions, she was to lay aside 
 those garments which were drenched with the hearts' blood 
 of her martyred children, she was to clothe herself now in 
 nuptial robes of surpassing beauty as became the spouse of 
 Christ ! 
 
 A lively faith soon shows itself by generous works. 
 Those who receive the treasures of heaven can willingly 
 share the treasures of the earth. Hence the visible head of 
 the Church soon became possessed of many lands in many 
 countries. The benefactions of the faithful thus enabled the 
 supreme Pontiff to build new churches, to convert the old 
 pagan fanes into Christian temples, to conduct the services 
 of religion with becoming splendour, and to minister to the 
 relief of Christ's suffering poor, both at home and abroad. 
 
 It is very true that the Pope did not as yet possess the 
 civil sovereignty of Rome and of the Roman States. But 
 the day was hastening on apace when he who had a care of 
 all the churches in the world must needs be in an independ- 
 ent position ; that as the Christian world was to be one in 
 faith, hope, and charity, so He as head of the Church, was to 
 be the one ruler of Christendom ; that as he would have to 
 treat with kings and emperors and civil governors in regard 
 to the spiritual interests of their subjects, he must of neces- 
 sity, even in a temporal point of view, be upon a par with 
 them ; that, from the circumstances of the times, and the 
 requirements of the Catholic world, he must cease to be a 
 
 12—2 
 
180 Italian Revolutionists. 
 
 subject, and must needs be a sovereign ; that, therefore, he 
 must be possessed of a state sufficiently large to maintain 
 his dignity and independence, and not too large to create 
 jealousy and apprehension. 
 
 The fall of the Roman empire in the west paved the way 
 for this providential condition of things. Rome had been 
 relinquished by her civil rulers — by Constantine and his 
 successors. Italy for ages had become a prey to the invader 
 — to Goths and Vandals, to Huns and other barbarians. 
 " Odo acer with his Heruli puts an end to the western empire 
 in 575. Soon afterwards the Heruli disappear before the 
 Got hs, and they in their turn give place ^to Lombar ds, who 
 Take^possession of ~llie provinces oFTtaly. What force was 
 it which for more than three centuries prevented all these 
 princes from fixing durably their throne at Rome ? Whose 
 was the arm which drove them to Milan, to Pavia, to 
 Ravenna (De Maistre) " &c. ? These are startling facts 
 worthy of the deep consideration of every statesman, and 
 which serve to show the marked intervention of an over- 
 ruling Providence. For it is an undeniable fact that, from 
 the fourWi century to this very day, a jnerejtemporal prince^ 
 never sat enthroned in old Rome. Kings and emperors had 
 no longer their head-quarters in the once imperial city; 
 they came and left like other pilgrims, but they had no rest- 
 ing habitation in what had been once the city of the Caesars, 
 but what has become the city of the Popes ! Idle would it 
 be, to speak of Rome's present abnormal state ! 
 
 Despite, however, all the disturbances throughout Italy, 
 and even in Rome itself, the sovereign Pontiffs remain at 
 their post. They urge the necessity, it is true, of recogniz- 
 ing the powers that be, and of cherishing allegiance to the 
 Emperors of Constantiple. " But it was in vain ; an in- 
 visible force was endowing the See of Rome with temporal 
 sovereignty, and forming the independent patrimony of St. 
 Peter." 
 
 We have then seen how the Church has been endowed, 
 and how the Church has constantly been exposed to perse- 
 cution. During the first three hundred years of the 
 
Roman Pontiff King — Catholic World. 181 
 
 Christian era eveiy Pope, s ave two, was put to deatli for 
 the faith. Since that time every Pope has been snbjected 
 more or less to the law of martyrdom. To this law the 
 present illustrious occupant of St. Peter's chair forms no 
 exception. 
 
 Hence, in reading the annals of ecclesiastical history we 
 contemplate the career of the Roman Pontiff, chequered 
 with vicissitudes and embittered with tribulation. It is the 
 destiny of the visible head of the Church of Christ, wliich 
 is militant, to be prepared for the battle-field — since that 
 Church which is set up to fight the good fight against the 
 world, the flesh, and the devil, must be compassed around 
 with more than ordinary trials. In every age such has 
 been the case, and such shall continue to the end. Thus^ 
 then, do we find that ever and anon the holy father has 
 been driven into exile by tyran ts and persecutors — by Em- 
 perors of the east and Emperors of the west, by heresiarchs. 
 and [schismatics, by Goths and V andals, by imperial con- 
 querors and infidel r epubl icans, by Carbona ri sec ret societies 
 and traitorous revolutionists ! If, however. His Holiness 
 has been constrained to retire at one season or another from 
 the walls of the eternal city, amidst the sorrows of his 
 people, he was sure ever afterwards to return amongst them 
 amidst their enthusiastic acclaim ! 
 
 At the present moment the same scene of persecution is 
 being enacted again for the hundredth time. The same 
 storm is raging as of old, but the same calm shall surely 
 follow. The chequered history of the Catholic and Roman 
 Church should serve to convince the most incredulous that 
 Rome, in a spintaal ^sense, is utterly imp regnable — that the 
 citadel of her faith never can be taken ; and that Rome, in 
 a temporal point of view, in as far as the perpetuity of 
 civil government is concerned, stands forth without a 
 parallel among the nations of the earth. Lord Macaulay, 
 viewing the kingdoms of the world with the eye of an 
 historian, has left recorded in his eloquent essays — "The 
 proudest royal houses are but of yesterday when compared 
 with the line of the supreme Pontiffs. That line we trace 
 
182 
 
 Italian Revolutionists. 
 
 back in an unbroken series, from the Pope who crowned 
 Napoleon in the nineteenth century, to the Pope who 
 crowned Pepin in the eighth, and far beyond the time of 
 Pepin the august dynasty extends." 
 
 Rome then being thus exposed to endless struggles — as 
 the headquarters of the Church militant — is assailed anew. 
 For the moment, old Pome is in the possession of Victor 
 Emmanuel ! But this sad state of things cannot last. 
 It may safely be predicted that Pome, despite all sinister 
 forebodings, shall never be governed except by the suc- 
 cessor of the old Pontiff of the Vatican. It is a fact 
 worthy of note that, from the days of Constantine the 
 Great, in the fourth century, who was baptized by Pope 
 St. Sylvester, to the days in which we live, no crowned head 
 except the venerable head that wears the Tiara or triple 
 crown, ever remained resident as temporal governor of 
 Rome ! 
 
 It really does seem a divine ordinance that Rome 
 should ever remain as the grand metropolis of the immortal 
 Church of Christendom. 
 
 The Rome of the Caesars is gone — Pagan imjoerial Rome 
 is in ruins, buried in the sepulchre with heathenism and its 
 orgies. 
 
 The Rome of the Popes exists — Christian Papal Rome — 
 the residence of the royal Pontiff, the citadel of the 
 Catholic religion ! 
 
 How monstrous the supposition, that Rome could by any 
 possibility change hands, and groan under a mere secular 
 government, with a mere secular prince. Why, the idea 
 is too agonizing to be entertained for a single moment. 
 It shall not, because it cannot be. When we picture to 
 ourselves to stand, where we liave so often stood, beneath 
 the mighty dome of St. Peter's at Rome, and when 
 we read over the inscription which is emblazoned around 
 it in golden letters — "Thou art Ppter, and upon this 
 Rock I will build my Church, and :he gates of hell shall 
 not prevail against it " — we hold thatjevery Catholic is justi- 
 fied in declaring that the old city, which contains so noble 
 a temple, to which all Christendom has contributed, must 
 
Roman Pontiff King — Catholic World. 183 
 
 for ever be the inalienable heritage of Christ's Vicar upoa 
 earth ! 
 
 It is true that we are not unaware of the platitudes 
 which are enounced respecting churchmen as diplomatists — 
 we are not unaware of the fallacious charge that, in point of 
 statesmanship, Ecclesiastics, by nature of their spiritual 
 duties, are unable to cope with their secular compeers. 
 What answer should we give to such flippancy ?* Why, let 
 the most illustrious statesmen that ever existed return a 
 reply. Let Ximenes of Spain, Mazarin of France, Consalvi 
 of Italy, answer ! Look to facts, they seem to say, and let 
 us be silent. Let the governments which we headed, and 
 the diplomatic councils in which we shared, be our simple 
 reply. But to prescind from the past, turn for a moment to 
 the present. Among living statesmen, who, pray, is supe- 
 rior to his Eminence Cardinal Antonelli ? The science of 
 Roman diplomacy is certainly nowhere surpassed. The 
 Russian Ambassador Italinsky truly observed that " Rome 
 is invulnerable in her dogmas, and it is the only Court in 
 which no complete blunder in politics is ever made." 
 
 But it is not of Rome as a political but a religious centre 
 that we now speak. Rome is pre-eminently the city of 
 God, and therefore Rome never can become the city of 
 mere man ! " Oh, Rome," said Tasso, " it is not thy 
 columns — thy triumphal arches — thy baths that I seek: 
 it is the blood shed for Christ, and the bones scattered in 
 thy now consecrated soil." And poor Lord Byron sang — 
 ^' Oh, Rome, my country — city of the soul ! the orphans of 
 the heart must turn to thee ! " Yes, we feel convinced that 
 God, in his providence, who has so marvellously watched 
 over the city of the seven hills as the residence of His 
 Great High Priest, never shall permit its walls to continue 
 desecrated by the presence of the Sardinian invader, nor 
 yet its piazzas to be polluted with the tramp of the revo- 
 lutionary miscreants of Europe ! 
 
 For here is a city Athich the providence of God has 
 established as the metropolis of Christendom — for Christen- 
 dom has made Rome what Rome is — here is a city which. 
 
184. 
 
 Italian Revolutionists, 
 
 1800 years ago, was taken spiritual possession of by the- 
 fisherman of Galilee, who was the representative of Jesus 
 Christ — a city in which his Apostolic successors have ever 
 since dwelt — a city which is the headquarters of the Chris- 
 tian religion and the home of every Catholic— a city which, 
 of all cities in the world, is the most unearthly, as it 
 savours more of heaven than of the earth ! 
 
 Like some of those aged prelates who had come to Rome 
 from the extremities of the globe, to assist at the Grand 
 Yatican Council, and who had journeyed from the far east, 
 the west, the nortli, and the south of Europe, Asia, 
 Africa, and America, so the old pilgrim of Palestine went 
 forth from the interior of Asia, and transferred his earthly 
 residence from the city of Antioch to the city of Rome ! 
 Are we, then, to regard that journey as merely accidental, 
 and not rather providential ? Regard it as we may, the 
 fact stands out in bold relief The fisherman of Galilee 
 took spiritual possession of the imperial city in his Master's 
 name. He became, specially here, the fisher of men ! He 
 executed to the very letter the heaven-born commission 
 which he in particular, and the other Apostles in general 
 terms, had received from the Redeemer of the world — 
 " Go, teach all nations ! " Constituted, as he had been, the 
 head of the Apostolic college, and, therefore, the head of 
 Christ's visible Church, he was desirous to place himself in 
 the most central and prominent position, that the torch of 
 religious truth which he held in his hand might irradiate 
 the whole Roman empire, and afterwards cast its reflection 
 upon the uttermost parts of the earth. Hence, by a par- 
 ticular inspiration, did he come to Rome ; hence did he 
 plant the standard of the world's redemption in the centre 
 of the Forum; hence did he unfurl the banner of the 
 Christian religion from the proud battlements of the Tar- 
 peian Rock — that banner which, say what you will, was 
 destined to float in the breeze, midst sunshine and storm, as 
 long as time itself should endure"*! 
 
 Here, then, is a city in which he laid down his life under 
 the Emperor Nero — a city in which, during the first three 
 
Roman Pontiff King — Catholic World. 185 
 
 centuries, every one of his successors, to the number of 
 twenty-nine, was put to death for the faith, except St. 
 Pius I., in the second century, and St. Eutychian in the 
 third. Here is a city which was the battlefield where 
 Christianity and Paganism fought the death fight for 300 
 years — a city which, for other 300 and more years, had to 
 contend with Goths, and Visigoths, and Ostrogoths, and 
 Huns, and Vandals, and Lombards, and wicked emperors 
 and princes in the eastern and western world — a city which 
 sheltered the primitive Christians in the catacombs — which 
 is saturated with the heart's blood of myriads of confessors 
 for the faith — which possesses the most venerated relics of 
 the Christian religion — the very crib in which the child of 
 Bethlehem lay — a portion of the house in which he dwelt 
 — the pillar to which our Saviour was bound — the thorns 
 that pierced His sacred head — the nails that penetrated His 
 hands and His feet — the lance which transfixed His side — 
 the towel which wiped His blood-stained countenance — the 
 cross upon which He hung and died ! Here is a city in 
 whose Basilicas are enshrined the bodies of the Apostles 
 and the remains of the martyrs — upon whose innumerable 
 altars is offered up, day after day, the divine sacrifice of the 
 Mass, and from which are dispensed the life-giving sacra- 
 ments to the way-worn pilgrims of every clime. Here is a 
 city which is pre-eminently the Holy City — the city of 
 saints and of sages — of saints, in as far as we regard the 
 perfection to which the many religious communities aspire, 
 as well as the multitudes of devout persons of both sexes 
 that are consecrated to the divine service within its walls — 
 of sages, in as far as we take into account the vast number 
 of learned and scientific men, who combine the greatest 
 practical wisdom with the most varied and profound erudi- 
 tion. Here is the city of all cities — the eternal city of 
 Eome, which^ despite earth and hell, never shall be given 
 over to the desperate myrmidons of revolution, but, on 
 the contrary, shall ever remain Christian Catholic Rome — 
 the metropolis of the Christian Catholic religion — the 
 residence of the regal Pontiff, who is the visible head of 
 the Church, and the vicar of Jesus Christ ! 
 
186 
 
 Italian Revolutionists. 
 
 Let, then, peace come, or let war, we trust in the mercies 
 as in the power of God, and are prepared for every even- 
 tuality. We know and we feel what must be the result — 
 we know and we feel that Rome must ever remain Papal 
 Eome, and, despite all the efforts of the enemies of the 
 Holy See, never again can become Pagan nor yet Sardinian 
 Rome. Let it be proclaimed from the house top, and let 
 the echo reverberate throughout the four quarters of the 
 globe, that Rome must and shall remain for ever under her 
 Pontiff and king — despite all brute force that can be brought 
 to bear against her — despite wars and rumours of wars— 
 despite grape-shot, and needle guns, and Minie rifles, and 
 every other weapon of destruction — despite every tirade 
 from the press, every denunciation from the pulpit, every 
 prophecy from the soothsayer — despite every explosive 
 oration which may burst out in the British senate, or in 
 the French or German chambers, or, last and least, in the 
 mushroom parliament of the ill-starred kingdom of Italy I 
 While the enemies of the Papacy shall be scattered like 
 the leaves of the forest, the Popedom itself shall remain 
 calm in the midst of the hurricane, immovable midst the 
 lashing of the waves, intrepid midst the howling of the 
 winds, fearless of every disaster, and solely relying upon 
 the promises of that Divine Pilot, who ever causes the bark 
 of Peter to ride in the whirlwind and to outlive the storm. 
 Yes, 0 Holy Roman Churchy fear not, God is with thee, no 
 matter who is against thee ! All opposition has hitherto 
 proved unavailing, as unavailing shall prove henceforward 
 all opposition. The language of the royal prophet may 
 well be adapted to the bride of her heavenly spouse — 
 *'Thy enemies shall grow old like a garment, but Thou art 
 always the selfsame, and Thy years shall not fail !" 
 
 But as supplications, earnest and persevering, are required 
 now, as in olden times, when St. Peter was a prisoner in the 
 Mamertine, so may we repeat the touching prayer of the sera- 
 phic Catherine of Sienna for the peace of the Church and the 
 liberation of the sovereign Pontiff now in the Vatican Prison 
 — " Eternal Majesty ! most mighty God ! I cry to Thee, my 
 God and my love, praying Thee in Thy great pity to show 
 
Roman Pontiff King — CatlioUc World. 187 
 
 mercy unto the world. Grant unto it lipjlit to acknowledge 
 liim who is Thy vicar, in the purity of faith ; and do Thou 
 also shed Thy light on him, 0 my God, that all the world 
 may follow him. And since Thou hast chosen him to be 
 Thy vicar, give him wisdom and a courageous heart, and fill 
 him with holy humility. Never, O my God, will I cease to 
 knock at the door of Thy mercy, praying Thee to exalt him 
 and protect him, and to manifest in him Thy strength. Let 
 his heart be filled with undaunted courage, that he may 
 burn with pure, and holy desires ; and let Thy charity, Thy 
 purity, and Thy sovereign wisdom, shine forth in all his acts 
 that thus he may draw after him the entire world. And 
 illuminate his enemies also, who now so wickedly resist Thy 
 Holy Spirit, and oppose Thy designs; and touch their hearts, 
 that they may be converted and may be saved. 0 inestim- 
 able love ! constrain them by Thy charity in this the day of 
 gTace, that they die not in their obduracy of heart ! Let all 
 souls be made subject unto Thee, that they may not perish. 
 Take from us all pride and self-love, and let us one and all 
 humble ourselves before Thee, and obey Thy vicar, the sove- 
 reign Pontiff, as oar common lord and father. Wherefore 
 we pray that both he and we Thy children may find grace 
 with Thee, that all our actions may be directed to Thy good 
 pleasure, and that Thou wilt graciously deign to hear our 
 prayers. To Thee and to Thy Eternal Majesty, be honour, 
 praise, and blessing, now and for ever. Amen." 
 
 Such was the heaven-born petition of Catherine, whose 
 sacred remains, long years ago, we venerated at Sienna — 
 Catherine, who has been constituted by the immortal 
 Pius IX. patroness of Eome — Catherine, who prayed, and 
 still prays so earnestly for the Vicar of Jesus Christ — 
 Catherine, whose name is a tower of strength, and whose 
 supplications, in union with the orisons of St. Joseph, now 
 the publicly recognised guardian of the Church, and of the 
 whole Catholic world, must be heard and granted by the 
 Lord God omnipotent ! Well may the divinely-constituted 
 head of the visible Church of Christ upon earth, while 
 surveying from his watch tower in the Vatican prison the 
 rise and the fall of dynasties — the wars and the rumours 
 
188 
 
 Italian Revolutio nists. 
 
 of wars tliroughout Europe — give utterance to his feelings 
 in the hallowed language of inspiration. Well may the great 
 Pontiff exclaim in the words of the Psalmist, who, contem- 
 plating the vain efforts of persecutors against Christ and 
 his Church, cried out — " Why have the Gentiles raged, and 
 the people devised vain things ? The kings of the earth 
 stood up, and the princes met together against the Lord 
 and against His Christ. Let us break their bon ds asunder 
 and let us cast away their yoke from us. He that dwelleth 
 in heaven shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall deride 
 them. Then shall He speak to them in His anger, and 
 trouble them in His rage. But I am appointed king by 
 him over Sion, his holy mountain, preaching his com- 
 mandment. The Lord hath- said to me : Thou art my son, 
 this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give 
 tliee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of 
 the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt rule them with a 
 rod of iron, and thou shalt break them in pieces like a 
 potter's vessel. And now, 0 ye kings, understand ; receive 
 instruction, you that judge the earth. Serve ye the Lord 
 with fear : and rejoice unto Him with trembling. Embrace 
 discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish 
 from the just way. When his wrath shall be kindled in a 
 short time blessed are all they that trust in him." How true 
 indeed, that history is ever and anon repeating itself The 
 sacrileges now perpetrated in the Holy City, have been wit- 
 nessed before, but never with impunity have they been com- 
 mitted. The Roman Pontiff King, in his day, ever 
 eventually triumphed over his oppressor. Hence are we all 
 confidently waiting God's own good time, when the excom- 
 municated Sardinian Prince must bite the dust, while forced 
 to leave Old Rome, on account of the insulted majesty of 
 the Catholic Apostolic Church, and the indignant protests- j' 
 of the whole Catholic world ! 
 
 THE END. 
 
ii 
 
 II 
 
 IS*!'