THE VATICAN

Rt. Re^EDMOND CANON
• HUGUES DE RAGNAU •

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

DEPOSITED BY THE

LINONIAN AND BROTHERS LIBRARY

THE
VATICAN

Copyright by Underwood and Under-wood
His Holiness Pius X

We
VATICAN THE CENTER OF GOVEKNMENT
OF THE CATHOLIC WORLD

BY

RT. REV. EDMOND CANON HUGUES de RAGNAU

NEW YORK AND LONDON
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1913

Copyright, 1913, by
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

U<ef]

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS PART I
CHAPTER PAGE
I. — The Palace op the Vatican  1
History and Brief Description of the Edifice — The
Personages of the Pontifical Family — The Per
sonnel of the Pontifical Chapel — The Palatine
Administration.
II. — The Pope  27
The Supreme Head of the Church — The Doctrine
of Papal Infallibility — The Election of the Pon
tiff — The Church as a Perfect Society — The
Pontifical Orders — The Life of Pius X— His
Innumerable Occupations.
III. — The Pope's Chief Collaborators  44
The Sacred College of Cardinals: Bishops, Priests
and Deacons — The Cardinal Secretary of State
— The Apostolic Nuncios and Legates — The
Cardinal Vicar — The Cardinal Grand Peniten
tiary — The Cardinal Prefects of the Sacred
Congregations — The Administration of Papal
Finances — Peter's Pence.
IV. — The Roman Curia . .  58
The Reorganization of the Curia by Pius X — The
Office System of the Curia — The Pontifical Min
isterial Departments or Sacred Congregations —
The Ecclesiastical Tribunals — -The Bureaus.
PART II
V. — The Organization of the Catholic World . . 97
The Diocese as a Basis of Ecclesiastical Adminis
tration — The Eastern Church Situation — The
v

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
Growth of the Church — Catholic Missions —
The Secular Clergy — The Diocesan Seminaries
— Parochialism — The Religious Orders.
VI. — The Politico-Religious History of Catholicism 176
The Political Principles of the Holy See — The
Chief Politico-Religious Affairs of Recent
Years in France, Belgium, Austria, Hungary,
Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Russia,
Poland, Germany, the United States, Canada,
Central and South America, Turkey, the Balkan
States and Greece, Scandinavia and Holland.
VIL— The Catholic Faith . . . . . 299
The Preservation and Propagation of the Faith —
Diocesan Councils of Surveillance Nominated by
the Bishops — Principal Dogmatic Problems of
Recent Times — The Old Catholics in Germany
and Switzerland — Americanism in the United
States — Modernism in England, France, Ger
many, Italy and America — An Analysis of the
Encyclical Pascendi Condemning Modernism —
Mariavitism in Poland — The Relations of the
Church of Rome with Dissenters.
PART III
VIII. — Catholicism and Education  349
The Church and Modern Science — Catholic Men of
Science — The Catholic Educational Organiza
tions Stationed in Rome; Academies, Universi
ties, Seminaries and Colleges Belonging to the
Different Nations — The Catholic Universities,
Seminaries, Primary and Secondary Schools in
the World at Large — The Question of Neutral
Schools.
IX. — What the Catholic Church Teaches . . . 394
Scholastic Philosophy — Dogmatic and Moral The
ology — Holy Scripture — Canon Law — Ecclesi
astical History — The Other Sacred Sciences
Emanating from Catholic Doctrine: the Liturgy,
Ascetic Theology, and Pastoral Theology.
vi

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
X. — The Spiritual and Practical Sides of Catholi
cism  433
The Church as Guide in the Practical, Spiritual
and Christian Life of the Faithful — The Holy
Sacraments — The Ecclesiastical Laws Govern
ing Marriage — The Prohibitive and Penal Laws
of the Church: Excommunication; Refusal to
Administer the Sacraments; Refusal to Grant
Ecclesiastical Burial; Opposition to Cremation;
Prohibition of Duels, Hypnotism, Spiritualism;
Regulations Concerning Entertainments.
Conclusion  452

PART I

CHAPTER I
THE PALACE OF THE VATICAN
History and Brief Description of the Edifice — The Personages
of the Pontifical Family — The Personnel of the Pontifical
Chapel — The Palatine Administration.
The Palace of the Vatican is known to the whole
world and is surrounded with the most ardent sym
pathies of all Catholics. It is in fact the official resi
dence of the common father of all the faithful, and
on this account is the center of the Church. Accord
ing to the words of St. Augustine, Ubi Petrus, ibi
Ecclesia, "Where Peter is, there is the Church." But
it does not come within the scope of this work to enter
into a minute description of the Vatican, such as is
found in guide-books for visitors to Rome. It will
suffice for our purpose to give the main outlines of
the history of the famous structure and to touch upon
the ensemble of its chief features.
As soon as Catholicism had obtained relief and
could show itself to the light of day, after the bloody
persecutions of the early centuries, when the new
religion mounted the throne itself in the person of
Constantine the Great, the natural desire of the Popes
was to establish their residence near the tombs of the
Apostles, so venerated by the faithful. Further-
1

THE VATICAN
more, in this way they would show to the world that
they considered themselves the legitimate successors
of St. Peter, over whose tomb they alone kept guard.
It is generally known that the first basilica of St.
Peter of the Vatican was raised by the Emperor
Constantine over the tomb of the Apostle and partly
on the site of Nero's circus. At the north of the
circus was a palace built by Nero himself which had
nearly fallen into ruins three centuries later and
which, it is believed, Constantine restored as the resi
dence of the Pope Melchiades in 312. In fact, ac
cording to the learned Ciampini, Constantine built
two palaces on either side of the basilica, — one on the
north, which was the restored Neronian palace just
mentioned, and which was set aside for the Popes,
and the other on the south to serve as a home for the
clergy. The latter is supposed to have occupied the
site of the present Palace of the Holy Office. In
352, Pope St. Liberius was living in the Palace of
the Vatican; and about a century and a half later, in
498, Pope St. Symmachus restored this palace and
so enlarged it that some authors have made the error
of attributing to him its initial construction. Since
then, the Vatican has become the regular residence
of the Popes, who have often dated their apostolic
letters, Apud sanctum Petrum, "At St. Peter's."
During his sojourn in Rome, Charlemagne appears
also to have inhabited this edifice.
During the following centuries, the Vatican was
enlarged and embellished by a great many Popes.
Among these were Eugenius III, 1145 ; Nicholas III,
2

THE PALACE OF THE VATICAN
1277; John XXIII, who, in 1410, constructed the
gallery which connects it with the Castle of Sant'
Angelo; and Nicholas V, 1450, who wished to make
the Vatican the greatest palace in the world and to
lodge therein the whole body of cardinals and all the
ecclesiastical authorities. He was able, however, to
carry out only a small part of his grandiose scheme.
Alexander VI, 1492, embellished the Papal apart
ment, called after him, the Borgia Apartment.
Sixtus IV constructed the Sistine Chapel in 1473.
Innocent VIII, 1490, built the Villa Belvedere, which
Julius II, 1503, engaged the architect Bramante to
connect with the palace by a long loggia. The same
architect built the loggia of the Damaso Court, which
contains the celebrated paintings of Raphael. Paul
III, 1534, built the Pauline Chapel and Sixtus V, the
Library. The present apartments of the Pope were
finished by Clement VIII, 1592-1605. Urban VIII,
1623, added the grand staircase from plans by Ber
nini; Pius VI, the Rotonda, the Greek Cross Room
and the Stanze of the Muses. Pius VII, 1800,
erected the New Wing, Braccio Nuovo, or the Mu
seum of Sculpture, and, finally Pius IX, 1898, closed
the fourth side of the Damaso Court by covering and
modifying the grand staircase leading to it.
Thus we see that the Vatican Palace is not built
after a single plan. It is, rather, a reunion of many
palaces and buildings of different styles and epochs,
all cleverly joined together by talented architects, so
that the visitor, in going from one to the other, seems
to be always in one and the same edifice. And yet,

THE VATICAN
the Vatican is composed of not less than twenty courts
and over 11,000 rooms, parlors, chapels, et cetera.
The greatest architects, painters and sculptors of the
world have worked upon it and enriched it with their
art. Who has not heard of Raphael, Michaelangelo,
Bramante, Bernini, San Gallo, Perugino, Daniele da
Volterra, Vasari, Giovanni da Udine, John of Bo
logna, the Cavaliere di Arpino, Pietro da Cortona,
Paul Bril, Romanelli, Bronzino, Varese, Giuseppe
della Porta, Fontana and so many other eminent
artists ?
The chief parts of the Vatican, after the palace
itself inhabited by the Pope, as seen in its majestic
ensemble from the Piazza of St. Peter's, are: The
Sistine Chapel, containing the famous frescoes of
Michaelangelo, including the celebrated "Last Judg
ment"; the Loggia and frescoed Stanze of Raphael;
the Pinacoteca, in which has been hung a collection
of the greatest masterpieces of the world, such as the
"Transfiguration," the "Madonna di Foligno," and
other pictures by Raphael, the "St. Sebastian" by
Titian and Murillo's "Holy Family."
Let us glance for a moment at some of the remark
able treasures of the Vatican. There is the gallery
containing the Raphael tapestries, executed at Brus
sels in 1515 from designs made by the illustrious
painter. Seven of these designs were bought in
Flanders by Charles I of England and are now to
be seen in the South Kensington Museum at London.
The subjects are taken from the life of Our Lord
Jesus Christ and the lives of the Apostles. Each
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THE PALACE OF THE VATICAN
tapestry cost more than $3,400, but it would be diffi
cult to estimate what they are worth today.
The Museum of Antiques, perhaps the finest col
lection of its kind in the world, was begun by Popes
Julius II, Leo X, Clement VII, and Paul III. The
principal part is in the Belvedere Court, where,
among other things, are to be seen a Hercules, the
Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoon. In the Pio-
Clementino Museum, composed of eleven rooms, are
the marble biga, or antique two-horse car, the disco
bolus, or quoit player, the sarcophagus of the Empress
Helena, some remarkable heads of Jupiter, a whole
room of animal statuary, the Sleeping Ariadne, the
Barberini candelabra, the largest and most beautiful
antiques of this kind in existence, a cabinet of masks,
a statue of Demosthenes, the sarcophagus of the
grandfather of Scipio Africanus, a head of Neptune,
the bust of the young Augustus, a daughter of Niobe,
a superb Greek work, a colossal statue of the Nile,
et cetera.
Then there is the Egyptian Museum founded by
Pius VII and Gregory XVI, composed of six rooms
full of mummies, sarcophagi and other precious re
mains of Egyptian antiquity; the Etruscan Museum,
created by Gregory XVI, containing eleven rooms
of antiques discovered from 1828 to 1836 at Vulci,
Veii, Chiusi, Toscanella and other Etruscan cities,
consisting of statues, paintings, vases, gold ornaments
and bronze utensils — all of the greatest interest in
the history of Italian art and the study of the enig
matic customs of the Etruscans. 5

THE VATICAN
The Vatican Library is rich in manuscripts; most
of them belong to the Archives of the Holy See.
According to the recent classification of Father
Ehrle, who reorganized the whole collection, the Vati
can possesses about 50,000 mms., 18,000 of which
are still awaiting examination. Of this vast num
ber about 31,000 are in Latin, 5,000 in Greek and
2,000 in Eastern tongues. There are also some
350,000 printed and catalogued works. The libra
rians, among whom have been the learned Cardinals
Mai and Pitra, have always been scholars recognized
as such by the world at large. The whole Library,
except the portion containing the more recent Ar
chives, is thrown open to those who would consult it.
Among its curiosities may be mentioned a Greek
manuscript of the Holy Scriptures said to have been
written by St. John Chrysostom, a second-century
version of the Septuagint, and Henry VIII's book
on the sacraments written before the schism.
The Museum of Christian Antiquities is also most
remarkable, containing as it does objects coming
from the catacombs and early Christian churches —
lamps, glass vessels, ampullae, cameos, statuettes,
paintings, altar-cloths, crosses, et cetera. The di
rector of this collection used to be the well-known and
scholarly archeologist, Giovanni Battista de Rossi,
whose place is filled today by his disciple, Baron
Rodolph Kansler.
The Gallery of Inscriptions must not be forgotten
even in the most summary description of the Vatican.
Here are to be found, arranged by centuries along
6

THE PALACE OF THE VATICAN
the walls from floor to ceiling, thousands of ancient
inscriptions, pagan and Christian, of the first impor
tance from an historical point of view.
This is but a brief and incomplete account of what
the Popes have done, in the midst of their many cares,
for the sciences and the arts, and for the glory of
Italy. Yet the sectaries and the ignorant who give
ear to them, accuse the heads of the Church of ob
scurantism and hostility to all progress of the human
mind! In April, 1909, Pius X, who is a most appreciative
admirer of the masterpieces in the galleries of the
Vatican, ordered collected in seven large and well-
lighted rooms many good canvases which had been
neglected and were badly hung. This new Pinaco-
teca contains 270 pictures arranged by centuries, so
that the visitor may easily grasp the genesis of the
Italian schools of painting. Through the room con
taining the masters of the fourteenth century, he is
conducted to that of the masters of the fifteenth.
Next come the works of the immediate precursors of
Raphael, followed by those of this master of masters,
those of the sixteenth, or the Venetian, century ; after
them, pictures of the seventeenth century ; and finally,
the last room, containing a small number of the repre
sentatives of foreign schools, — Poussin for France,
Sieghels for Holland, Lawrence, with a portrait of
George IV, for England, and a few others. The
installation and excellent order of this new gallery
are due to Monsignor Misciatelli, Sub-Prefect of the
Sacred Apostolic Palaces, who was ably assisted in
a 7

THE VATICAN
the work by a talented young painter, Pietro Achiardi,
who followed that gifted painter, the late Signor Seitz,
the artistic Director of Galleries and Paintings of the
Sacred Apostolic Palaces, to give him his full title.
So interested in this gallery was His Holiness that he
inaugurated it in the presence of all the cardinals and
the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican.
The Vatican Palace is a superb setting for the Holy
Father and the Pontifical Curia which is composed
of the Pontifical Family and the Pontifical Chapel.
The question is sometimes asked by those separated
from the Church: Why is there a Pontifical Court?
Why all this pomp surrounding the Vicar of Jesus
Christ, Who was poor, and Who so despised riches?
Why this waste of money, when the needs of the
Church are so great? To those who do not belong to
the Church, one may put the question : What matter is
it of yours what Catholics do, since they do not ques
tion you about the immense salaries paid bishops and
even simple clergymen in the Anglican and other
Protestant churches, especially in the United States?
As regards the objection that Christ was poor, this,
too, is easily answered. Our Lord Jesus Christ being
God, His state was not so destitute as some would
have us suppose; and if He made no use of these im
mense riches, it was in order to teach us a divine les
son in humility and renunciation. But where in the
Gospels are we taught that He wished Flis disciples
to live in want? What He asks of the faithful is to
be "poor in spirit" (St. Matthew 5:3) — that is, not
to regard wealth as the chief aim of life. As St. Paul
8

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has said, "They that buy, be as though they pos
sessed not." (I Corinthians 7:30.)
Furthermore, for Catholics, Christ is always living
in the Holy Eucharist. Should we not, therefore,
surround the tabernacle and altar where He is with
the most precious things we can obtain? Should not
much be done for the Holy Father who is the Vicar
of Jesus Christ on earth? We do not care to see him
humiliated and poor, as the enemies of Catholicism
would wish. We prefer to have him independent
and surrounded with sovereign state, in keeping with
the lofty authority with which he is clothed. Further
more, glance for a moment at the use which the Pope
makes of the fortune furnished him by his children.
Does he enrich his family? Does he enrich himself?
The niece of Pius IX married a captain of gendarmes.
The nephews of Leo XIII contracted unions in keep
ing with the noble situation of the Pecci family in
the fashionable world, but the Pope did not contribute
to their fortunes. The sisters and other relatives of
the present Pope continue to five in the modest situ
ation which they occupied before Cardinal Sarto was
placed at the head of the Church. It is the rule of
the Popes to employ the revenues of the Church for
the Church and for the poor. The charitable actions
of the present P,ope are known throughout the
Christian world, and the extreme generosity which he
showed at the time of the Messina earthquake is still
remembered. Any other policy than this would lay
the Holy Father open to the charge of nepotism, an
abuse which has indeed stained the Holy See, but
9

THE VATICAN
which the Popes themselves condemned and finally
eliminated. The Pontifical Curia, or the Court of St. Peter, as
we have said before, is divided into the Family
(Famiglia) and the Chapel (Capella). The former
term is applied to those who are most closely attached
to the person of His Holiness, and the very name
itself shows with what absolute and filial devotion
these servitors surround their august master, who is
to them more a father than a sovereign. Standing
first in this group are the two Palatine Cardinals:
the Cardinal Datary, Cardinal di Pietro, whose duty
it is to write all apostolic letters concerned with the
investigation of the fitness of candidates for consis-
torial benefices reserved by the Holy See; the Car
dinal Secretary of State, Cardinal Merry del Val,
the confidential assistant of the Pope, who has in
charge the foreign relations of the Vatican.
Next come the Palatine Prelates: the Majordomo,
the Maestro di Camera, or the Master of the Sacred
Palace, and the Camerieri segreti Partecipanti. The
Majordomo, or chief stewart of the household of His
Holiness, occupies himself with all that concerns the
material and personal side of the Vatican. During
an interregnum he is governor of the Conclave and
has general control of the personnel of the palaces;
all extraordinary religious functions in which the
Pope and the Papal court participate are under
his direction. The Master of the Apostolic Camera
regulates all matters concerning the daily personal
service of His Holiness, is the immediate superior of
10

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all the chamberlains, and arranges for the private and
public audiences of the Pope. Since 1906 these two
posts have been united in the person of the amiable
prelate so well known to all those who visit Rome.
Monsignor Ranuzzi, formerly Bishop of Loreto, and
Counselor of the Papal Nunciature at Paris. The
Master of the Apostolic Palace is Monsignor Alberto
Lepidi, a Dominican. This office has been filled by
a Dominican since 1216 when Honorius III ap
pointed St. Dominic master. It has in charge the
care of the faith in the palace, and the granting of
the Imprimatur, or permission to print books pub
lished at Rome or written by residents of Rome.
The Private Chamberlains, called partecipanti, are
next in order among the Palatine Prelates. The
term private or "secret" at the Vatican means really
"intimate." One of these, the Private Almoner, is
at present Monsignor Sili, Archbishop of Cesarea,
who distributes the Papal charity, which is consider
able, especially at Christmas and Easter. It has al
ways been a pleasant memory at the Vatican that the
well-known French Catholic publicist, the late Louis
Veuillot, related in his book, entitled "Perfumes of
Rome," that, standing in the crowd of poor on one
of these festal days, he, in his turn, received from
the Pope's almoner a paolo — about the equivalent of
a dime — which he had framed as a precious souvenir.
Another chamberlain is the Secretary of Briefs to
Princes, who is always an excellent Latinist. Then
there are the Assistant Secretary of State, the Sub-
Datary, the Secretary for Latin Letters, the Copyist,
11

THE VATICAN
the Secretary of Embassies and the Master of the
Robes. To these are added as Palatine prelates the
Sacristan and the Secretary of Ceremonies. The
Sacristan of His Holiness, who is always of the
Augustinian Order, is the Titular Bishop of Por-
phyreon, Curator of the Sacred Apostolic Palaces.
This prelate, who has attained the advanced age of
ninety-one, was the confessor of Pius IX and of Leo
XIII, and continues the same holy function for the
reigning Pope. In this instance, the designation of
"sacristan" signifies "guardian of sacred things," for
this prelate is charged with the safe keeping of the
relics of St. Peter. In addition, he aids the Pope in
all those ceremonies where His Holiness is required
by the liturgical rules to be accompanied by a bishop.
As a Curator of the Apostolic Palaces, he has an as
sistant, or vicar, who is also an Augustinian. Still
another chamberlain in the Secretary of Ceremonials,
who is the head of the "Protocol," an office which is
found in all courts. It is his duty to regulate all
questions of precedence, et cetera.
The Vatican forms a parish of several hundred
souls comprising all the inhabitants of the palace —
that is, the Swiss Guards, the gendarmes, the domestic
servants of the prelates, the guardians of the mu
seums, and all the other various employes of the
Vatican, many of whom have wives and children.
The Vatican also contains a school and a parish
chapel, the Pauline Chapel, where various church
gatherings are held as well as the usual church
services of an ordinary parish — marriages, baptisms,
12

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burials, Sunday and festival services. Though the
Pope has a private chapel, he often attends Mass in
the Pauline Chapel among his faithful servitors.
The third group of the Pontifical Family consists
of the domestic prelates of the Pope's household, who
are divided into several "colleges," with varying
duties. They do not reside in the Vatican, and most
of them are dispersed in different parts of the world,
where they sometimes discharge ecclesiastical func
tions. The first of these prelatical colleges is that of
the Patriarchs, Archbishops and Bishops Assisting
at the Pontifical Throne. Their duties are to aid the
Holy Father when he celebrates Pontifical Mass.
Then comes the College of the Apostolic Prothono-
tarial Prelates, the most ancient group of these col
leges, since it was founded by Pope Clement, successor
of St. Peter. The prothonotaries are charged with
the drawing up and authenticating of the official
documents sent forth from the Holy See. In ac
cordance with a Motu Proprio, or "spontaneous de
cree" of the Holy Father, dated February 21, 1905,
the prothonotaries are divided into partecipanti, who
live in Rome and perform the duties of their office,
and the "supernumeraries," who are, at the same time,
canons of the three patriarchal basilicas of Rome or
of other prominent cathedral churches outside of
Rome or even of Italy. But these, ad instar
participnntium, enjoy the same privileges as their
prothonotarial colleagues of Rome. The apostolic
prothonotary is, in fact, a "dignitary of the Church,"
inferior, of course, to a bishop, since he is only a
13

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priest, but enjoying from time immemorial the pre
rogatives which were confirmed and regulated by
Pius X. Thus, he may officiate pontifically, though,
naturally, with less solemnity than a bishop; he has
his own private chapel, is habited in violet, et cetera.
The College of Prelate Auditors of the Holy
Roman Rota is a tribunal of appeals consisting of
seven priests appointed by the Pope, each of whom
must possess a doctorate in theology and canon law.
Formerly its members belonged to different Catholic
nations, but they are now all Italians. The functions
of this tribunal have been greatly modified by Pius X.
The College of Prelate Clerics of the Apostolic
Camera is charged with the administration of the
property of the Holy See. It is presided over by a
cardinal prefect, who is also known as the Cardinal
Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, and whose
duties during an interregnum are to convoke the car
dinals and to preside over the Conclave until a new
Pope is chosen.
The Sacred Apostolic Signatura forms another
tribunal, which passes on appeals from the partiality
of an inferior judge or on a request for the interpre
tation of some obscurity in the law. Their deliber
ations used to be held in secret, and each party was
represented by a "referendary prelate," who defended
his client's interests and read his statements. The
sentence of the tribunal was made public and became
operative only when it had been sanctioned by the
Pope, that is, when his signature had been affixed to
the decision. This tribunal, like so many other insti-
14

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tutions in the organization of the Vatican of today,
has been wisely modified by the reigning Pope. It
is now concerned almost solely with the consideration
of appeals versus sentences of the Rota. Among
other changes may be mentioned the fact that it is
now composed of six cardinals only, which in itself
is an elevation of its moral and intellectual quality.
The College of Prelates of the Great Chamber was
so called from the large room in which they met in
the Palace of the Chancery. They were charged with
the preparation of the text of bulls and their engross
ment on parchment ; but Pius X has transferred these
functions to the apostolic prothonotaries. Last come
the prelates who belong to no college, but who are on
an equal footing with their colleagues of the various
colleges, and wear the same violet insignia of office.
They, too, like all the prelates of the Pope's house
hold, hold office for life.
The Pontifical Family still further embraces a body
of chamberlains, who are divided into separate groups
according as their services bring them into more or
less close relation with the person of the Pope. Thus,
there are Secret, or Intimate Chamberlains, Honor
ary Chamberlains and Honorary Chamberlains re
siding outside of Rome — that is to say, those who
perform services near the Pope and those who do not.
The chamberlains' duties are to be ready in the ante
rooms leading to the reception-room of the Pope, to
be ready at his call, and to introduce in their proper
order all callers who have letters of audience. This
body of chamberlains contains both laymen and ec-
15

THE VATICAN
clesiastics. The first are called noble chamberlains,
for they belong to the best families of the various na
tions of the world. Their full-dress resembles that
of the French courtiers under the Valois, with the
cross-hilted sword and the chain ending in two crossed
keys. In undress uniform they wear a black frock
coat and the chain. The ecclesiastics wear a violet-
colored cassock and a long cloak of the same color.
Most of these clerical chamberlains do not live in
Rome, but are scattered over the globe in different
dioceses, and they hold their positions only during
the reign of the Pope who appointed them. Those
of their number who are on duty at Rome are called
participanti and their foreign colleagues are called
"supernumeraries." These latter are under the or
ders of the Master of the Apostolic Camera, a mon
signor, who assigns them their duties.
The military establishment of the Vatican consists
of the Noble Guard, the Swiss Guard, the Palatine
Guard, and the gendarmes. The members of the
Noble Guard take rank after the body of prelates
and the officers of the other three corps after the
chamberlains. The Noble Guard is composed of
about seventy officers who are members of titled
families in Rome and the Italian provinces. Before
the unification of Italy, when they galloped through
the streets of the Eternal City, clad in their beautiful
uniforms, they were the admiration of the populace ;
and today when on occasions of great ceremony at
St. Peter's the measured melody of their silver trum
pets is wafted down from the heights of the cupola,
16

THE PALACE OF THE VATICAN
the crowd below is thrilled with enthusiasm. The
sole duty of the Noble Guard is to protect the person
of His Holiness — to act as his body guard, and their
service does not cease with the death of the Pontiff,
but continues until he is buried. They do not reside
in the palace.
The Swiss Guard is really composed of Swiss, who
are recruited in the Catholic cantons of Switzerland.
This body was organized by Pope Julius II, who
was Bishop of Lausanne, at the very beginning of the
sixteenth century. The soldiers enlist for five years,
after which they return to Switzerland with a little
sum saved from their pay. They number eighty, and
are reengaged on the advent of a new Pontiff, the
occasion of the curious little scene which has given
birth to the proverb, "No money, no Swiss." The
last time it was enacted was on the death of Leo XIII.
Scarcely had the Sovereign Pontiff breathed his last,
when the Swiss Guard formed in line, under the com
mand of their officers, and marched off, their heavy
and jerky step resounding through the lugubrious
solitude of the Vatican. While they were descending
the steps, the Cardinal Camerlengo, as Governor of
the Palace, called out to them from the top of the
landing: "Where are you going?"
"We are going home. Our master is dead."
"No, stay!"
"Who will pay us?"
"I, the Cardinal Camerlengo."
Thereupon, back they came to their old posts.
17

THE VATICAN
The Palatine Guard of Honor do not live in the
palace, but come there to perform their duties at great
religious ceremonies or at the reception of a sovereign.
They are three hundred in number, and belong for
the most part to the humbler families of Rome — small
shop-keepers, artisans, et cetera, "the poor but hon
est," as the phrase goes. This body springs from the
old capotori, a sort of city militia.
The gendarmes number one hundred and twenty
and are lodged at the Vatican with their families.
Their duties are to guard its numerous halls and cor
ridors, and they are most efficient, as the numerous
visitors to the Vatican can testify. They are espe
cially useful in directing the visitor, who so often loses
his way in this modern labyrinth.
The Pontifical Family further includes: the Mas
ter of Ceremonies; the Honorary Private, or Inti
mate, Chaplains, and their honorary non-resident
colleagues; the Private Clerks; the College of Ordi
nary Chaplains, who take the part of altar-boys at
the religious services; the Apostolic Preacher, who
is always a Capuchin and preaches the Advent and
Lenten sermons in the presence of the Pope, who
listens in a screened tribune, and in the presence
of the cardinals and the court; the Confessor of
the Pontifical Family ; the Assistant Sacristan of the
Apostolic Palaces; the Pope's physicians; the head
valet ; the butler and the lower domestics.
The foreign spectator stands amazed before the
variety of the costumes of the Pontifical Family on
ceremonial occasions. The happy mingling of differ-
18

THE PALACE OF THE VATICAN
ent colors is especially beautiful. Red, violet, white,
yellow, black, combined with lace and gold and silver
embroideries, form a most picturesque, vivid and ar
tistic ensemble, which is not surprising, however,
when it is remembered that it was Michaelangelo who
planned the color scheme and who designed the cos
tumes, most of which are very ancient, though some
what modernized by the order of Pope Leo X.
The personages who have a rank in the Pontifical
Chapel and who, in the great Church ceremonies,
surround the throne of the Pontiff rather than that
of the sovereign, are, in the first place, almost all
those who make up the Pontifical Family. The
Pontifical Chapel, therefore, comprises in order; of
precedence: The Sacred College of Cardinals; the College of
Patriarchal Archbishops and Bishops Assisting at
the Throne; the Vice-Camerlengo of the Holy Roman
Church; the Princes Assisting at the Throne (Prince
Colonna and Prince Orsini), who stand on either side
of His Holiness ; the Auditor of the Reverend Apos
tolic Camera; the General Treasurer of the same
office; the Majordomo of His Holiness; the Minister
of the Interior (a post left vacant as a silent protest
against the usurpation on the part of the Italian
government of the Pope's temporal power) ; the Arch
bishops and Bishops; the Apostolic Prothonotarial
Prelates ; the Commendatore of the Holy Ghost, who
was fomerly director of the immense Hospital of the
Holy Ghost at Transtevere; the Regent of the
Chancery; the Abbot nullius of the Monte Cassino
19

THE VATICAN
and the other Abbots nullius, that is to say, Abbots
under the direct jurisdiction of the Pope; the Abbots
General of the Regular Orders; the Generals and
Vicars-General of the Mendicant Orders; the Chief
Magistrate of Rome (now vacant, under the old
order the office of the Mayor of the Eternal City) ;
the Master of the Sacred Hospital (Prince Ruspoli) ;
the Auditor Prelates of the Sacred Rota; the Master
of the Sacred Palace; the Prelates Clerks of the
Apostolic Camera; the Voting and Referendary
Prelates of the Signatura (a tribunal, as has been ex
plained, now composed of cardinals whose members,
consequently, no longer sit among the prelates) ; the
Abbreviators Prelates of the Great Chamber, who,
as has also been explained, are now joined with the
prothonotaries; the Ministers Assisting at the Altar;
the Associate Master of the Sacred Palace, in the
absence of the prelate; the College of Masters of
Ceremonies; the Private and Honorary Lay and
Clerical Chamberlains; the College of Consistorial
Advocates; the Private and Honorary Chaplains;
the Aids of the Camera; the Procurators-General
of the Mendicant Orders; the Apostolic Preacher;
the Confessor of the Pontifical Family; the College
of Procurators and Attorneys of the Sacred Apos
tolic Palaces.
The ministers assisting at the sacred ceremonies,
where they fill their varied functions, are :
The Sacristan of His Holiness, the Canons of the
three patriarchal basilicas, who act respectively as
assistant priest, deacon and sub-deacon at Masses
20

THE PALACE OF THE VATICAN
said in the Pontifical Chapel ; the Choir of His Holi
ness, under the direction of the celebrated Monsignor
Perosi; the Assistant Sacristan of His Holiness; the
Acolytes, Thurifers and Ordinary Chaplains; the
Clerks of the Chapel ; the Master-Bearers of the Red
Rod, so named from the sticks which they hold in
their hands; the Keeper of the Tiaras; the Mace-
Bearers, who are almost all goldsmiths of Rome
(Raphael and Benvenuto Cellini were Pontifical
mace-bearers and the mace which the latter modeled
and engraved for his own use is still preserved) ; the
apostolic messengers and ushers.
It should be explained that very few of this long
list of persons live in the Vatican. They come there
only for the ceremonies. The principal personages,
cardinals, bishops and prelates, assemble in order to
put on their robes in a large room called the robing
hall, which is near the small vestry where the Holy
Father robes himself, and where all preparations are
made for the most striking spectacle that can be
imagined. The great assembly in the cathedral which awaits
the arrival of the Holy Father is one of the most
august in the whole world, composed, as it is, of men
of distinction of such varied kinds, — former nuncios,
diplomats who have treated the gravest affairs with
skill and success; learned theologians, canonists and
historians ; bishops who are surrounded by a thousand
difficulties and who come from every quarter of the
globe ; men of wide experience and skill in the science
of government ; representatives of the most illustrious
21

THE VATICAN
houses of Europe among the lay chamberlains. All
these personages stand chatting together in the
friendliest manner, when suddenly the little door
which leads into the private vestry of His Holiness
opens. The commander of the Noble Guard ad
vances and makes a little sign with the ebony cane
which he holds in his hand ; the subdued conversation
immediately ceases and every eye is turned towards
the door where the Pope appears, smiling, arrayed in
his magnificent robes, his hand raised to bless the as
semblage, which straightway kneels, except the car
dinals, who only bow profoundly. Every heart is
moved; and all the great of the earth incline before
the successor of Peter, the humble fisherman of Gali
lee, before the Vicar of Jesus Christ. It is the
appearance of authority and paternity in its divine
expression. The vast number of employes of different sorts
of work at the Vatican necessitates a special adminis
tration in order that every thing may move smoothly
and regularly. There exists, therefore, a Prefecture
of the Sacred Apostolic Palaces, at whose head
stands, with the title of prefect, Cardinal Merry del
Val, Secretary of State of His Holiness, assisted by
a sub-prefect, who is at present Monsignor Miscia-
telli, one of the most amiable representatives of the
Italian nobility. Next comes the Master of the
Horse of His Holiness, charged with the supervision
of the cavalry, which is much reduced today on ac
count of the economies introduced by Pius X and his
two august predecessors. The Noble Guard now
22

THE PALACE OF THE VATICAN
possesses but a few horses with which to accompany
the Holy Father on his drives through the Vatican
Gardens. In addition, there are a few horses for the
use of the secretary of state and the higher prelates.
The state coaches of the Holy Father, several of them
gifts from crowned heads, stand idle in the stables,
from lack of horses to draw them. At present, they
serve simply as an additional attraction for foreign
sight-seers, though it is hoped that the day may come
when they may be given their proper use.
The administration of the Sacred Apostolic Pal
aces comprises furthermore:
The Master of the House, Maestro di Casa; the
Secretary of the Prefecture and the Majordomoship;
the Auditor of Accounts; the Chief Book-keeper; the
Architect of the Apostolic Palaces; the Provisional
Regent of the Apostolic Hot-Houses, whose duties
it is, with the aid of florists and upholsterers, to dec
orate the rooms and chapels for festivals of all kinds ;
the Assistant Regent of the Apostolic Hot-Houses;
the Legal Adviser, who is always a distinguished
lawyer; the Solicitor, always an advocate; the General
Director of the Pontifical Museums and Galleries,
who is aided by a sub-director, a secretary and a corps
of special directors — an artist of repute in charge of
the department of paintings, the Archeologist of the
Pontifical Museums and Galleries for the Egyptian
and the Christian Museums, and the director of the
Etruscan Museum. The last two are required to be
able scholars. Finally, there is the Chief of the
Guardians of the Museums and Galleries. There is
s 23

THE VATICAN
also a group of officers who manage the interior af
fairs of the Vatican. Here belong the Director of
Hygiene, a physician ; the Attaches of the Tribunal of
the Prefecture, an examining magistrate and his chan
cellor ; and the Police Delegate, who is the captain of
the gendarmes.
The Vatican Library is under the direction of an
officer styled Cardinal Protector, who has under him
the prefect or custodian of the library, a secretary,
writers for the Oriental, Greek and Latin languages,
and several other assistants. The Christian and Pro
fane Museums and the Numismatic Cabinet are also
under the control of the Cardinal Protector. The
Vatican Archives are, if not the richest, at least one
of the richest collections in the world and are open to
scholars from all quarters of the globe. To see the
more recent Archives, however, a special permit is
necessary. The Prefect of the Archives is a cardinal
who is aided by an assistant archivist and several other
assistants. Leo XIII established in connection with
the Archives a chair of paleography.
The Vatican Observatory was made famous by the
work of Father Secchi, whose observations of the sun
are so widely known. It is now under the manage
ment of astronomers who are highly appreciated in the
scientific world and has a director, a sub-director and
several assistants.
There is also a Vatican Printing Office, with a di
rector, and so forth. Two or three years ago it was
renovated in every way and is now a model establish
ment. 24-

THE PALACE OF THE VATICAN
And, finally, in order to complete this review, the
government of the sacred palaces comprises, still
further, the Prelatical Commissions, who decide con
troversies and differences which may arise in the
palatine administration. These commissions exercise
the three degrees of jurisdiction, its members being
judges of first instance, judges of appeal and supreme
judges. The three commissions are united for this
third duty. The members of these commissions are
all prelates, eminent jurists, who are judges in dif
ferent ecclesiastical tribunals.
This hasty glance at the Vatican Palaces, their or
ganization and administration, shows clearly the real
spirit of the Church, so practical and prudent in re
spect to all that she undertakes and manages. The
diverse posts which have just been enumerated, are all
very ancient, and exactly meet the requirement of the
situation. Far from multiplying their number and
rendering them more complex, recent Popes have
wisely striven to reduce their number and to simplify
their functions and modes of operation. In our own
day, Leo XIII and Pius X have brought them down
to what is strictly necessary, making it a point to keep
the outlay within the revenues of the Church. Con
sequently, the Holy See has no floating debt, that
plague of the modern state. But it is hardly to be
expected that this fine example of public economy will
be followed by the nations of today, at least for a long
time to come.
This chapter has described the stage upon which
the life of the Sovereign Pontiff moves. The follow-
25

THE VATICAN
ing chapter will take up the study of the beloved
person of His Holiness, Pius X, as a Christian, as
a devoted son, as head of the Church and providential
Pope, as a father in his private life, so simple, and in
his personal labors, so untiring.

CHAPTER II
THE POPE
The Supreme Head of the Church — The Doctrine of Papal In
fallibility — The Election of the Pontiff— The Church as a
Perfect Society — The Pontifical Orders — The Life of
Pius X — His Innumerable Occupations.
The Pope! Every Catholic, even to the farthest
corner of the earth, is deeply moved at the very sound
of that word. It is because the Pope is the common
father of all the faithful, the Vicar of Jesus Christ,
and, as Christ Himself once was, visible to all eyes.
He has entire authority to teach us the truth which
has been revealed to the Church and to direct our con
sciences; and, as an absolute consequence of that su
preme authority which is accountable only to God, he
is infallible when he is officially exercising the duties
of pastor and teacher of all Christians. What an ab
surd contradiction would exist, indeed, between the
obedience which we owe him, and which is prescribed
by the Divine Saviour Himself, and the possibility
of our being deceived by his teaching. "Thou art
Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
(St. Matthew 16:18.) "Feed my lambs. Feed my
sheep," that is to say, the ordinary believers and the
27

THE VATICAN
bishops (St. John 21:16-17). And speaking to St.
Peter, the Divine Saviour adds: "And thou, being
once converted" (the allusion is to the Apostle's fall
during the Passion) "confirm thy brethren" (St.
Luke 22 :32) ; that is, strengthen them in the Faith.
Here indeed is the summary of the doctrine promul
gated by the Council of the Vatican concerning the
Papal authority in the de Ecclesia Christi, the Con
stitution of the Church of Christ, Session IV, July 18,
1870: 1. The Pope is the head of all the Church, the
father and teacher of all Christians : Jesus Christ has
entrusted to him full power to govern the Universal
Church. 2. His power is immediate and binds all, pastors
and laymen, to hierarchical subordination and to true
obedience as regards faith and behavior, discipline
and the government of the Church, with the object of
maintaining unity of communion and of profession of
faith. 3. His power, far from being prejudicial to the
ordinary and immediate jurisdiction of bishops, recog
nizes and confirms their authority.
4. From this primacy arises the right to freely
correspond with the pastors and faithful, to instruct
them and direct them; no human power can justly
oppose this right, or subject to the approval of the
state the execution of measures prescribed by the Holy
See. 5. As head of the Church, the Pope is also sover
eign judge in ecclesiastical matters; all may appeal

THE POPE
to him, and none can revise or annul his judg
ment. The same council thus defines Papal inf allibility :
"Faithfully adhering, therefore, to the tradition inherited
from the beginning of the Christian Faith, we, with the
approbation of the sacred council, for the glory of God our
Saviour, for the exaltation of the Catholic religion and the
salvation of Christian peoples, teach and define, as a
Divinely revealed dogma, that the Roman Pontiff, when he
speaks ex cathedra, that is, when he, in the exercise of his
office as Shepherd and Teacher of all Christians, by virtue
of his supreme apostolic authority, decides that a doctrine
concerning faith or morals is to be held by the entire Church,
he possesses, in consequence of the Divine aid promised him
in St. Peter, that infallibility with which the Divine Saviour
wished to have His Church furnished for the definition of
doctrine concerning faith or morals ; and that such definitions
of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not in con
sequence of the Church's consent, irreformable."
This definition of the doctrine of infallibility
seemed to many lay persons an attempt to subordi
nate civil society to religious society. So soon as the
proposed decree was announced, the French Minister
of Foreign Affairs entered into negotiations with the
cabinets of Vienna and Berlin and requested that a
special extraordinary ambassador be admitted to the
council "to demonstrate what uneasiness might be
aroused in public by the adoption of maxims which
would prejudice the rights of nations." (Telegram,
February 20, 1870.) The Secretary of State, Car
dinal Antonelli, replied on March 19 :
29

THE VATICAN
"If the infallibility of the Church embraces all that is
necessary for the preservation of the integrity of the faith,
no prejudice can arise therefrom either for science, history,
or politics. . . . The Church, inculcating in her children
the principle of rendering to God that which is due to God,
and to Cassar that which is due to Cffisar, at the same time
lays upon them the obligation to obey conscientiously the
authority of princes. But the latter must also recognize
that if laws contrary to eternal justice are enacted anywhere,
obedience to such decrees would not be rendering to Cssar
that which is due to Caesar, but depriving God of that which
belongs to God. . . ."
After the Council, Pius IX had occasion to declare
to a deputation, on July 20, 1871, that the right of
deposing sovereigns and of freeing subjects from their
oath of fidelity and allegiance, has nothing in common
with Pontifical infallibility, but arises out of a public
right "formerly in vigor." Indeed, in the hierarchy
of the civil sovereignties of the Middle Ages the Pope
occupied the first place above all other emperors and
kings, who, for the greater part, had themselves re
quested such suzerainty and had willingly submitted
to it.
Pius IX in his Brief of November 27, 1871, to the
Swiss bishops also said:
"The council does not attribute any new power to the
Pope. . . . The definition [of infallibility] is a simple expla
nation of an ancient dogma. . . . Things are in the same
state as heretofore. . . . Nothing is altered in the relations
of the head of the Church. . . ."
The election of the Sovereign Pontiff interests the
30

THE POPE
whole world, and it is regulated unto the smallest de
tail by the Pontifical constitutions. It is effected to
day by cardinals only, gathered together in a Con
clave. In 1179 at the third Lateran Council, Alexander
III decided that the person elected must obtain at
least two-thirds of the votes of the cardinals then pres
ent. In 1247, at the Second Council of Lyons, Greg
ory X instituted the Conclave, which places the
cardinals under obligation to keep rigorously within
the building, and to abstain from all communication
with the outer world, during the election. In 1311,
at the Council of Vienne, Clement V decided that ex
communicated cardinals, those who were under sen
tence of interdiction or suspension, should partici
pate in the election in the same manner as the others,
and that no contest should be made afterwards.
Julius I, by the Constitution of January 14, 1505, and
Paul IV, in 1553, enacted penalties against cardinals
who should seek by bribery to obtain the succession to
the defunct Pope. Pius IV, by the Constitution of
October 9, 1502, made a regulation concerning the ad
ministration of the Church during the vacancy of the
See. Finally, Gregory XV by the Constitution
Aetemi patris fiUus, of November 25, 1621, and by
the regulation of April 2, 1622, determined the pres
ent ceremony. Urban VI completed it by the Con
stitution of February 15, 1625, and Clement XII
rendered it still more perfect by a Bull of October 11,
1732. The electoral corps includes all the cardinals pres-
31

THE VATICAN
ent in Rome on the day on which the Conclave opens,
the eleventh day of the vacancy of the Holy See, un
less they send an excuse on the plea of ill health.
Foreign or absent cardinals cannot send representa
tives to replace them, but they may enter even after
the opening of the Conclave. No one can leave with
out the special order of a physician, and under oath of
secrecy. Everyone is eligible with the exception of simoni-
acs and heresiarchs. Nowhere is it written that the
Pope must be a cardinal. Urban IV, 1261-1264,
B. Gregory X, 1271-1276, S. Celestine V, 1292-1294,
B. Urban V, 1362-1370, Urban VI, 1378-1389, were
not cardinals. Neither is it written anywhere that
the Pope must be an Italian, though at the Conclave
held in 1458, at which Pius II had for competitor the
Frenchman D'Estouteville, "all Italians," according
to the declaration of the Florentines to the papal en
voy, "trembled lest the tiara should pass to those from
over the mountains, to the great detriment and dis
honor of Italy." Several Frenchmen have become
Popes: Sylvester II, 999-1003, Urban II, 1088-1099,
Urban IV, 1261-1264, Clement IV, 1265-1268, Mar
tin IV, 1281-1285; an Englishman, Hadrian IV,
1154-1159; Germans, Gregory V, 996-999, S. Leo
IX, 1049-1054, and one Portuguese, John XXI,
1276-1277. The election is effected, either by inspiration, when
upon the nomination of a candidate, all the electors
accept him by acclamation; or by compromise, when
the Conclave unanimously entrusts to a committee
32

THE POPE
composed of an uneven number of members, the duty
of nominating the Pope by a majority of votes; or
by ballots, which is the most usual method. In this
case the Conclave votes twice each day by secret bal
lot, until one candidate has obtained two-thirds of
the entire number of votes. As soon as the Pope-
elect has recognized his election, he becomes the Sov
ereign Pontiff. He receives the pallium and crown
and takes solemn possession of the Lateran Church.
By virtue of a tradition dating back to the sixteenth
century, Austria, Spain, France and the Kingdom of
Naples, while remaining Catholic powers, claim the
privilege of each indicating to the Conclave a candi
date who would not be agreeable to them. But this
was not a real right, and the best canonists have al
ways taught that the veto did not in any way bind
the Conclave which might very well disregard it, with
out vitiating the election.
The Catholic Church is a perfect monarchy and
society. It is a perfect society because, as Leo XIII
says in the Encyclical Im mort ale Dei, of November 1,
1885, "by the express will and by the grace of her
Founder she possesses in herself and by herself all the
resources which are needful to her action." This doc
trine, often enunciated by Pius IX, notably in the
Allocutions Singulari quidem of December 9, 1854,
Multis gravibusque of December 17, 1860, and Maxi
ma quidem of June 9, 1862, appears in the twenty-
ninth proposition of the Syllabus.
The verv fact that the Catholic Church is a per
fect society constitutes her also a juridical society,

THE VATICAN
meaning thereby that she has the right in herself, and
not as a state concession, to make laws and organize
her life as she sees fit. This indicates that this power
of hers is not, as Portalis affirmed at the beginning of
the nineteenth century, "rather a mere ministry than
a properly so-called jurisdiction. . . ." Pius VI con
demned this error by the Bull Auctorem fidei of
August 28, 1794, and Leo XIII repeated in the en
cyclical Immortale Dei that "Jesus Christ has truly
given to His Apostles commands relating to holy
things, and has added the power to promulgate laws
properly so called, as well as to judge and punish
transgressors of those laws."
Therefore, the Church possesses judiciary power,
that is to say, the right of instituting special tribunals
competent in all matters concerning faith and behav
ior, whose decisions are applicable without placet or
veto imposed or opposed by civil authority. The civil
authority has often put forward such pretensions, but
the Church has always protested and maintained her
right. As a perfect society she has, of course, also
the right of property and of free choice of her min
isters, insomuch that laymen cannot interfere except
in virtue of Papal concession or legitimate custom.
Nor can we refuse to admit that the Holy See has
the right of free communication either with bishops
or with lay-people. In France under the ancient
monarchy, as since, under the Organic Articles, the
civil power insisted that such communication be made
through its intermediary; hence the registration of
bulls by the Council of State. Rome tolerated this
34

THE POPE
state of things, but never admitted its justice. And
the famous Organic Articles, added by the state alone
to the Concordat of 1802, never had the approbation
of ecclesiastical authority, which only tacitly tolerated
some of them for the sake of peace — as, for instance,
the obligation of civil marriage before the celebration
of religious marriage.
The right of free intercourse has been well stated
in a letter written to the Spanish nunciature on March
13, 1885, by Leo XIII's under-secretary of state:
"The Council of the Vatican declares that the Roman
Pontiff has the free right of intercourse with the pastors and
faithful members of the Roman Church, . . . that all who
say it is lawful to hinder such intercourse must be reprobated
and condemned. . . ."
These declarations give us the right to conclude that
it is forbidden to all, without distinction, to hinder the
Holy See from treating directly with the faithful or
from defining all things that may affect their rehgious
interests. It is clear also that this right of the Holy
See would be vain if, in the government of their dio
ceses, the bishops were not obliged strictly to conform
to the prescriptions of the Holy See, or if they could
act in a manner other than that which is prescribed.
That the Catholic Church is an absolute monarchy
is plainly shown by her institution and her history.
Her Divine Founder gave her only one head, St.
Peter, who was recognized as such by the other Apos
tles from the very time of the death and the ascension
of our Lord. .One has only to read the Acts of the
35

THE VATICAN
Apostles to realize this. After the death of St. Peter,
history shows us his successors governing the Church
alone, to the exclusion of the successors of the other
Apostles. The See of Rome immediately became the
center of Christendom. Roma locuta est, causa finita
est, "Rome has spoken, the case is closed," used to be
the saying during the first centuries. Again, Ubi
Petrus, ibi Ecclesia, "Where Peter is, there is the
Church." The Church has always been an absolute monarchy
and in the most troublous times no parliament of any
sort sat with the Pope, and imposed laws upon him,
as in our constitutional monarchies. This does not
mean that the Pope acts and speaks, even ex cathedra,
without consulting anybody. On the contrary, he
surrounds himself with cardinals, theologians, histori
ans, exegetes, jurists, scholars of all sorts, and he is in
constant communication with his bishops and person
ages who are most eminent throughout the world.
He is thoroughly enlightened on all matters of doc
trine, morality and government. Supreme decisions
can only come from him; it is his word which Catho
lics throughout the world await and listen to with
respect and submission. This obedience they yield
to no one else; thus are they certain of not being de
ceived and of following as faithful sheep the word of
their Divine Master and Saviour Jesus Christ.
At different periods in history, ecclesiastical authors
have been known to teach that the cardinals were the
delegates of the Universal Church forming a sort of
senate acting with the Pope ; that the bishops gathered
36

THE POPE
in general council had an authority superior to that
of the Pope. Governments have sometimes for in
terested motives maintained these unfounded theories
and even attempted in this manner to create a schism,
such as Gallicanism, with its four articles, under
Louis XIV in France. Nevertheless, such a genius
as Bossuet, after trying, courtier-like, to justify these
errors in a large folio volume, declares at the end, re
penting: Abeat quolibet voluerit questio! "May
the question go to the devil!" And he wrote on the
unity of the Church and the supreme authority of the
Pope a discourse which is a masterpiece of science,
faith and common sense.
What remains today of all those attempts to di
minish the absolute authority of the Pope? Simply
nothing. Never have cardinals, bishops and the faith
ful been more united around the See of Peter;
and the Universal Church, in the Vatican Council,
replied to Gallicanism and to all heretics by proclaim
ing the doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope.
This supreme sovereignty of souls places the Pope,
in spite of everything, in the first rank of the chiefs of
the world. Though deprived of his temporal power,
he is the most powerful among sovereigns; for his
word is met with absolute obedience without the aid
of the bayonet. The united efforts of the adversaries
of Catholicism and of all religions cannot reduce him,
even outwardly, to the status of a mere private
individual. Therefore, all governments, except the
atheistic government of France, recognize him as sov
ereign, often delegate representatives to the Vatican,
37

THE VATICAN
receive those sent by the Pope, and agree to the acts
which he accomplishes in virtue of his uncontested
sovereignty. Among these acts, the most apparent in the eyes of
most people are the distinctions he grants — the in
signia of Pontifical orders and the titles of nobility
by which he rewards services rendered to the Church
and the Papacy. The Pontifical orders are six in
number: The Supreme Order of Christ, which includes only
one class of knights, who wear the decoration of the
order suspended from a special collar;
The Order of Pius IX, which includes four classes,
Commanders with the Badge, Knights of the Great
Ribbon, Commanders and Knights;
The Order of St. Gregory the Great, which is
granted for military or civil services and has two di
visions, civil and military, with each division subdi
vided, as follows: Grand Cross Knights of the First
Class, Grand Cross Knights of the Second Class,
Commanders and simple Knights;
The Order of St. Sylvester, which was especially
designed to reward masters of the various manifesta
tions of art, and has three classes: Grand Cross
Knights, Commanders and Knights;
The Order of the Golden Militia or the Golden
Spur, formerly part of the Order of St. Sylvester,
which was reorganized by Pius X as a separate order
with a membership limited to one hundred ;
The Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which consists
of Grand Cross Knights, Commanders and Knights
38

THE POPE
and was mstituted in order to encourage trips to the
Holy Land by those who might give aid to the holy
places. In addition to these there are minor Papal distinc
tions :
The Pro Ecclesia ct Pontifice. which was estab
lished by Leo XIII in memory of his golden jubilee
in 18S8 and awarded to those who had aided in making
the jubilee a success. It consisted of three classes.
but, in 1906, was reduced by Pius X to one, the Gold
Cross, which is conferred upon those who in a general
way deserve well of the Pope on account of services
rendered to the Church;
The Benemerenti Medals, which were mstituted by
Gregory XVI to reward civil and military daring- and
courage ;
The Medal of the Holy Land, designed by Leo
XIII, which is bestowed by the custodian of the Holy
Land on worthy pilgrims as a testimonial of their pil
grimage. The titles of nobility which the Pope grants are
similar to those in other courts — prince, duke, mar
quis, and especially count and baron. These very
honorable distinctions are either personal or heredi
tary. An understanding of the perfect filial submission
professed by Catholics toward the Pope becomes a
simple matter when one sees such a Pontiff as our
well-beloved Pius X occupying the Chair of St. Peter.
After a study of the constitution of the Church and
the Papacy, it is quite natural that we should seek to
i 39

THE VATICAN
know more of the life of him whom Providence has
given us as chief and father in the troublous times we
are encountering.
Cardinal Giuseppe (Joseph) Sarto of Venice, now
Pope under the name of Pius X, was born at Riese,
in the diocese of Trevise, on June 2, 1835. He was
therefore sixty-eight years of age when he was raised
to the Sovereign Pontificate. Leo XIII was also
elected Pope in his sixty-eighth year.
After his preparatory studies in his native town,
the future Pope became a student of the Seminary of
Padua, where he was ordained a priest on September
18, 1858. Then he filled successively several ecclesi
astical posts — Vicar of Tombola; rector of Salzano;
Canon of the Cathedral and Professor of the Semi
nary of Trevise, where he became Vicar Capitular on
the death of the bishop; and finally, on March 10,
1885, he was made Bishop of Mantua.
In all these posts he was warmly loved and admired
as a holy priest, endowed with a spirit of kindliness
and charity, filled with zeal and possessing a fine in
telligence, as well as an orator and theologian of the
first order. On June 13, 1893, Leo XIII appointed
him cardinal and three days later conferred on him
the difficult post of the Patriarchiate of Venice.
It is a rather curious coincidence that Cardinal
Sarto remained just nine years in each post, begin
ning with his first vicarage. When His Holiness,
Leo XIII, expired on July 20, 1903, Cardinal Sarto
left for Rome to attend the consistory, but with so
40

THE POPE
little thought that he was to be chosen for the great
office, that he actually provided himself with a return
ticket. Dear God decided otherwise, and on the
morning of August 4, 1903, the cardinals in the Con
clave assembled at the Vatican, chose him, on the
seventh ballot, Sovereign Pontiff, he having received
fifty votes out of sixty-two cast. He took the title
of Pius X and, on August 9, 1903, was solemnly
crowned at St. Peter's.
Leo XIII rendered great service to Christianity
and now Pius X, after a few years' reign, is rendering
quite as important service. Thanks to his firm atti
tude, he has saved the faith in France, unmasked all
the political intrigues of the Separation, and grouped
Catholics and bishops in an admirable union. He
maintains the Catholic organizations in a discipline
which will surely lead to victory, in Italy as in all other
Catholic nations. He watches over the sacred deposit
of Our belief, with an attention which nothing can
arrest. The condemnation of Modernists is one proof
of this. He has entirely reconstituted the Roman
Curia on more practical lines for our modern needs;
has ordered the codification of the laws of the Church ;
has simplified the steps to be taken for Christian mar
riage; has requested the bishops to insist upon more
thorough intellectual and theological training for
young clerics in our seminaries; has developed the
teaching of the Catechism; has reformed religious mu
sic; and has increased the fervor of the faithful by
calling them to more frequent communion. Is not
41

THE VATICAN
that in itself enough to mark the reign of a great
Pope? It would indeed be difficult today for anyone
to depreciate Pius X. His name is already recorded
in history, but that concerns him little ; he prefers to
have a place marked for him in Paradise, as his good
parish priest of Tombola said when he was but a
curate. Pius X has altered nothing in his frugal, laborious
mode of life; now that he is the head of the Church
he still adheres to the simple customs which have made
him the model of pastors wherever he has been. The
work which he performs every day is considerable.
Besides numerous audiences in which questions of the
deepest importance to the Christian world are dealt
with, he gives direct and personal attention to all the
principal matters relating to the Holy See, such as
encyclicals, public letters and the Motu Proprio, or
acts issued on his own initiative and drawn up by him
alone in concert with his secretaries, Monsignor Bres-
san and Monsignor Pescini. He also writes his
private letters, telegrams and the outlines of his ad
dresses. However, in spite of his great capacity for work
and his willingness to give his personal attention to
every detail, it would be physically impossible for
Pius X to supervise each of the affairs dependent on
the government of the Catholic world, if he were not
assisted by the cardinals and the Roman congrega
tions. But nothing important is decided without his
approval. This is indicated by the formula often
appended to the text of such decisions: facto verbo
42

THE POPE
cum sanctissimo, "report having been made to the
Pope." Having spoken of the innumerable occupa
tions of the Pope, we will deal in our next chapter
with his chief collaborators, the cardinals.

CHAPTER III
THE POPE'S CHIEF COLLABORATORS
The Sacred College of Cardinals: Bishops, Priests and Deacons
— The Cardinal Secretary of State — The Apostolic Nuncios
and Legates — The Cardinal Vicar — The Cardinal Grand
Penitentiary — The Cardinal Prefects of the Sacred Congre
gations — The Administration of Papal Finances — Peter's
Pence.
According to ecclesiastical authorities the origin
of the Sacred College of Cardinals is traceable to the
chief personages of the Roman clergy during the first
centuries of Christianity. They assisted the Pope,
not only in the administration of his Roman diocese,
but also in the government of the entire Catholic
world. Dating from the ninth century, these first
cardinals — who in all probability did not then bear
that name, derived from the Latin cardo, a hinge —
were assisted by the six suburbicarian bishops, who
were forced to reside in Rome owing to dispossession
from their sees.
At first the cardinals numbered only twenty-four.
By the Council of Basle, 1439, and under Sixtus V,
by the two Constitutions of 1568 and 1587, this num
ber was increased to seventy. It is rare, however,
that all the red hats have titularies, for vacancies oc-
44

THE POPE'S COLLABORATORS
cur rapidly in the ranks of the Sacred College. Since
the accession of Pius X to the Sovereign Pontificate,
thirty-four cardinals or more have passed into eter
nity. The cardinals are divided into three orders: the
order of bishops, the order of priests and the order of
deacons. Around the Pope's throne, they represent
the hierarchy of the Sacrament of Order, crowned by
the Sovereign Pontiff. The deans or heads of each of
these three orders of cardinals reside in Rome, where
they enjoy special prerogatives. For instance, dur
ing the Conclave, they assist the Cardinal Camerlengo
in the provisional government of the Church. The
dean of the order of bishops is at the same time dean
of the whole Sacred College.
Cardinal bishops have all received episcopal conse
cration. The greater number of cardinal priests have
also received such consecration, having been former
nuncios and foreign cardinals provided with a bishop
ric or archbishopric in some part of the Catholic
world. But there are a certain number of the plain
priests in their ranks. The cardinal deacons used in
reality to be only deacons; now, they are all priests.
For very great Pontifical solemnities, the cardinals
wear the costume proper to their degree ; the cardinal
bishops wear the cope; the cardinal priests, the chas
uble, even when they have received episcopal conse
cration; and the cardinal deacons, the dalmatic.
Beyond these distinctions of liturgical and external
precedence, the cardinals have equal rights, especially
as electors of the Pope. They are chosen indiscrim-
45

THE VATICAN
inately by the Sovereign Pontiff to fill the highest
dignities at Rome or throughout the world. Their
nomination belongs to the Pjope alone. He an
nounces his choice by a note written with his own
hand and then proclaims it in a public consistory,
after which he sends them the red biretta, and at an
other consistory he solemnly imposes the red hat.
The Pope selects the cardinals wherever he pleases:
according to custom he always picks some out from
among the religious orders and some from the bishops
in the Catholic world. The Council of Trent, Ses
sion XXIV, Chapter I, requires that cardinals shall,
in so far as possible, be chosen among all nations.
That is the rule followed; but to guard against the
danger of favoring one nation more than another,
the custom has been to settle the number of cardinals
which each nation shall have. France, Austria and
Spain usually have six; the other nations have more
or less, according to circumstances and to the size of
their Catholic population. At the beginning of 1912,
the Sacred College contained thirty-four Italian car
dinals and thirty foreign cardinals. It is, of course,
necessary, for the proper government of the Church,
that there should be a greater number of cardinals in
Rome than elsewhere; for Rome is the seat of the
sacred congregations to whom are referred all matters
concerning the innumerable dioceses throughout the
world. The Pope alone has jurisdiction over the cardinals.
Ordinary censure cannot affect them. The rank of
Royal Princes was given them by the Congress of
46

THE POPE'S COLLABORATORS
Vienna and as insignia of their dignity they wear the
red cap and biretta and the red cassock for ceremonial
occasions ; the red hat has been their distinction since
1245, the red cappa since 1464, and the title of "Em
inence" since 1630. Each cardinal bears the title of
one of the churches in Rome and has jurisdiction over
that church. When such a title falls vacant in Rome,
the cardinal of the same order, that is bishop, priest
or deacon, also residing in Rome, and coming next
to the deceased in standing, has the right to choose
between the title he holds and the vacant one. The
oldest cardinal deacon may choose the last vacant title
among the cardinal priests; and the oldest cardinal
priest may likewise choose that of the last cardinal
bishop. As a result, the oldest member and the pres
ident of the college of cardinals, the bishop of Ostia,
is generally the oldest of all the cardinals.
The Pope summons the cardinals present in Rome
to secret consistories in order to deliberate concerning
important matters; or to extraordinary consistories
that they may proceed to carry out certain acts or
listen to allocutions, called consistorials, on important
events. Among the cardinals, some are active col
laborators of the Pope, by reason of their more im
portant duties, and they are therefore more in view
and better known to the general mass of Christians.
These are : the cardinal secretary of state, the cardinal
vicar, the cardinal grand penitentiary and the cardinal
prefects of the sacred congregations.
In these days the cardinal secretary of state has a
vast amount of work and responsibility. Not only
47

THE VATICAN
are the relations between the Holy See and other
governments his special care, but in reality, all im
portant matters of the Curia pass through his hands,
as well as the granting of Papal honors and titles
and the expediting of Pontifical briefs. He is the
Pope's alter ego, continually associated with all his
interests, even when they are not in any way connected
with diplomacy. This weighty dignity is borne today
by His Eminence, Cardinal Merry del Val, formerly
pro-secretary of the Pope and secretary of the Con
clave. The secretary of state's office, erected and or
ganized by the Constitution Romanum decet of June
22, 1692, especially controls the nuncios and all the
other political representatives of the Holy See abroad.
The apostolic nuncios are assigned to a definite ter
ritory or nunciature as the diplomatic representa
tives of the Pope. They have the same rank and
enjoy the same privileges as other ambassadors of
great nations and, in accordance with the Congress of
Vienna, they are even the heads of the diplomatic
corps in the respective capitals where they reside. At
present there are four nunciatures of the first class — ¦
Vienna, Paris (vacant since 1904), Madrid and Lis
bon; four of the second class — the Swiss (vacant
since 1873), Munich, Brussels and Brazil; two inter-
nunciatures, one of Holland and Luxemburg, and one
of Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay; and several
delegations. In South and Central America there
are five apostolic delegations : Chile ; Colombia ; Costa
Rica; Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru; and San Domingo,
Haiti and Venezuela. 48

THE POPE'S COLLABORATORS
The Papal nuncios are generally diplomats by pro
fession, all invested with archiepiscopal dignity, and
become cardinals at the end of their nunciature.
They are assisted by a prelate, who is auditor or some
times councilor of the nunciature, and a secretary.
Besides their diplomatic mission, they enjoy ecclesi
astical jurisdiction, which they hold direct from the
Pope, in the nation attributed to them. Thus, they
can celebrate marriages and baptisms, and fulfill all
other ecclesiastical functions throughout their land, in
virtue of the powers given them directly by the Pope,
without having to ask for authorization from the
bishops of the different dioceses under their juris
diction. At Madrid, for instance, the nuncio presides
over a tribunal to which appeal can be made from
the other ecclesiastical tribunals.
On important occasions, the Pope sends legates to
represent him. These legates are almost always car
dinals, vested with most extensive powers. They are
divided into ordinary legates; legati nati (born le
gates), whose powers are attached to an archiepisco
pal see (nowadays these are hardly more than
honorary titles) ; and legates a latere, who exercise
by deputation all the privileges which the Pope ordi
narily reserves to himself.
The cardinal vicar, His Excellency Cardinal Res-
pighi, also occupies a very important and very prom
inent post. He is really the Pope's vicar general for
the Roman diocese, where he exercises the same func
tions as other bishops in their dioceses. He it is who
appoints the parish priests, ordains, examines and
49

THE VATICAN
approves the confessors and preachers, watches over
the regular administration of sacraments and the
teaching of the catechism in parishes, sees to the higher
teaching of ecclesiastical sciences in the Roman semi
nary, supervises the religious houses and foreign
priests, attends to the authenticity and preservation of
holy relics, and so forth. As the diocese of Rome is
the model of all dioceses throughout the world, it is
easy to realize how important is the duty of the cardi
nal vicar. His offices for the administration of vari
ous branches of the ecclesiastical organization are very
numerous and occupy a part of the vicar's palace, near
St. Augustine's Church.
The cardinal grand penitentiary, Cardinal Serafino
Vannutelli, has an enormous jurisdiction, for in ques
tions of conscience it comprises the whole world,
regulating all special authorizations for confessors'
dispensations, absolutions in cases of extreme gravity,
commutations, the solving of embarrassing matters of
conscience; all rehabilitations of the inner life are
referred to the Sacred Congregation of the Peniten-
ziaria. The most absolute discretion is insisted upon
and the names of persons being dealt with, are never
divulged. They are merely indicated by initials or
any baptismal names that may seem convenient.
Once a year, during Holy Week, a ceremony takes
place in the Churches of St. Peter, St. John Lateran
and St. Mary Major at Rome, which is of a nature
to impress the minds of the people and to make them
realize the power of forgiveness which Christ has
handed down to His Church. The cardinal peniten-
50

THE POPE'S COLLABORATORS
tiary, in full robes, accompanied by the prelates and
secretaries composing the Congregation of the Peni-
tenziaria, visits each of the three churches four times,
and takes seat on the penitential chair, a wooden
throne which may be seen at St. Peter's to the left of
the Pope's altar, against a great pillar of the cupola.
The people, who love this sight, crowd into that por
tion of the immense building. All who wish to make
their confession ascend the steps to the throne, confess
their sins and go away absolved.
The cardinal prefects of the various congregations
are also very active collaborators of the Holy Father ;
but the busiest among them is most certainly the car
dinal prefect of propaganda, who is at the head of all
the mission-fields, with their numerous bishops. In
a following chapter on Catholic missions throughout
the world, the extensive powers of the cardinal prefect
of propaganda will be discussed, as well as the vast
amount of work he accomplishes. The other cardinal
prefects or prelate secretaries of the various congrega
tions have a special audience with the Pope at least
once a week in which they report concerning the af
fairs of their congregations, and ask his final decision
on matters of importance; there are always a good
many questions to be discussed, for all religious liti
gations or complications throughout the world finally
reach some Roman congregation for solution.
The administration of Papal finances is a matter
of such importance and extent that the Pope also
requires several collaborators in that department.
Formerly Cardinal Mocenni, surnamed "the kind-
51

THE VATICAN
hearted grumbler" and lovingly remembered by all
who knew him, had charge of the Pontifical ledgers.
He laughingly said on one occasion:
"Each jrear I buy a big ledger and on the two first pages
I write 'Receipts — Expenditure.' The second page is
easily filled up in advance: alms, cost of representation of
the Holy See abroad, i. e. nuncios, delegates, etc. ; alms to
missions ; cost of general government of the Church ; grants
to cardinals and members of the various congregations and
Roman courts ; maintenance of palaces and fees to the Vati
can staff of retainers, museum keepers, Pontifical police,
etc. The personal expenses of the Pope are very slight
indeed ; many would be surprised at their insignificance. On
the 'Receipts' side, I jot down the small revenues of the
various chancellors' offices and the sums accruing to the Holy
See from certain livings strewn throughout the Catholic
world. I then put down the principal item, 'Peter's Pence,'
and after that I wait for further developments. Well, would
you believe it? At the end of the year, thanks be to God,
my two pages balance, and sometimes I even have a small
credit balance, the result of greatest economy ; for here in
Rome we cut up our pennies into many fragments !"
The total amount of inevitable expenditure entailed
on the Holy See does not reach six millions of francs
a year. Peter's Pence, an annual contribution paid to the
Holy See by various Christian peoples, is not by any
means a recent institution. It goes back to the volun
tary donations which the Church sent to the Apostles
and which are mentioned by St. Paul (I Corinthians,
16:1 et seq.). In the Middle Ages, Peter's Pence
52

THE POPE'S COLLABORATORS
took the form of a definite tribute paid by England
and a few of the northern nations to the Holy See —
a penny from each householder holding land of certain
value. In 855, King Ethelwulf, after his visit to
Rome, put Wessex under the Pope's protection, in
consideration of a tribute to be furnished yearly by
his kingdom. At the end of the ninth century, the
Moravians, and in 1041, the Polish people also, agreed
to pay tribute to the Pope. In 1059, Robert Guis-
card, ready to conquer the lands which later on con
stituted the realm of the Two Sicilies, promised the
See of St. Peter a payment of 12 pence for each yoke
of oxen. Successively Aragon, in 1063, the King
dom of Kiew, in 1075, Croatia and Dalmatia, in 1076,
the Countship of Montpellier, in 1085, the Count-
ship of Barcelona, in 1091, Tuscany, in 1115, Portu
gal, in 1144, Sweden and Norway, about 1150, the
Kingdom of Cyprus, in 1247, Scotland at the begin
ning of the fourteenth century, Pomerania, in 1331,
the Kingdom of Malvoisia, in 1460 and at uncertain
dates Bohemia, Tarragona, Provence, Hungary and
Denmark accepted the obligation of sending an an
nual tribute to Rome.
The Holy See had special collectors to gather in
these tributes. According to some authorities, the
Knights Templars undertook this task. A certain
chronicle of the thirteenth century quotes 31,000
crowns as the average amount representing the yearly
accumulation of Peter's Pence. Between 1185 and
1188, Cardinal Albinus drew up a list of all the Papal
lands. In 1192 the Camereria Census made a similar
53

THE VATICAN
register, which has been found of late years, and which
contains the names of the Pope's debtors and their
dues, province by province, with the constituent title
of each debt — donation, will, purchase contract, ex
change contract, oath of allegiance, and so forth.
Peter's Pence as it exists has the character of the
voluntary offerings of the Christians. It is entirely
optional and testifies to the profound filial affection
which binds the Catholics of the whole world to the
Supreme Pastor whom all so tenderly call their Holy
Father. This tribute dates from the political crisis
of 1849 which ended in the seizure of the Pontifi
cal States. It was the Abbe Dupanloup, later the
famous Bishop of Orleans, who proposed the rees-
tablishment of Peter's Pence.
When Napoleon I annexed the Roman States to
France, he issued a decree, dated February 13, 1813,
by which a revenue of two millions of francs per an
num was assigned to the Pope. On July 14, 1859,
Napoleon III wrote to Pius IX: "I would ask all
Catholic rulers of nations to contribute to the main
tenance of the Papal throne." Pius IX sternly re
fused such a proposal. In 1860, Napoleon III, fore
seeing the speedy annexation of Umbria by Piedmont,
begged the Pope to abandon his States and accept
a subsidy from the Powers instead. Pius IX replied
that on mounting the throne, he had sworn to pre
serve the rights and possessions of the Holy See intact
and that though he might, perhaps, in an extreme
case, accept a subsidy, it could not be in exchange for
his States, but as a compensation for the ancient ca-
54

THE POPES COLLABORATORS
nonical dues wliich the Holy See used to levy on the
revenues of vacant sees. In May, 1862, after the
annexation of Umbria and the Marches by Piedmont,
Napoleon III proposed for a last time the constitu
tion of a civil list to be paid by the Powers to
the Pope. France would have contributed largely.
Pius IX refused on July 25. Then Monsignor Du-
panloup in France and Monsignor Merode in Bel
gium immediately opened subscription lists under the
title of Peter's Pence. It was on German land, how
ever, that the institution really took official form.
As early as 1860, some eminent ecclesiastics met at
Vienna and determined to form the "Confraternity
of St. Michael*' which Pius IX approved by a brief
dated March ?. 1860. Thence the association spread
through Austria, Germany and Italy. To become a
member of the association it was only necessary to
undertake to recite certain prayers and to pay two
pfennig each month. In most of the dioceses, the
association has agents, each of whom is bound to col
lect payments from ten members, local directors who
receive the money from these collectors, and a dio
cesan committee which transmits the money to Rome.
In other dioceses, at Mayence. for instance, the parish
priest acts as local director, with the assistance of
some reliable parishioners who appoint one of their
number as treasurer: the priest sends the funds to
the dean, who forwards them to the bishop.
At Rome the institution has taken the shape of an
archconfraternity of St. Peter, approved by two
briefs signed by Pius IX and dated October 13 and
^ 55

THE VATICAN
November 4, 1860. The patron of the archcon
fraternity is the cardinal vicar; it is managed by a
board comprising a president, a vice-president, a gen
eral treasurer, eight councilors and a vice-secretary.
The board appoints collectors for each parish, and
every month the collectors meet to give an account
of their receipts. The general treasurers pay the
funds directly to the Pope.
The Roman confraternity has power to aggregate
in all parts of the world, with the bishop's consent,
confraternities of the same name and object. Thus
the work of Peter's Pence in Paris, is affiliated by a
brief, dated June 16, 1868, to the Roman archcon
fraternity, and almost all dioceses in France have fol
lowed the example of Paris in this matter. In
France the cures make collections once or several
times a year for Peter's Pence, and send the funds to
the bishop, whence they are forwarded directly to the
Vatican. A centralized organization was given to Peter's
Pence in 1872 by a circular dated April 22, and signed
by Cardinal Antonelli. The circular proposed that
the bishops should centralize the offerings, order col
lections in all churches in their dioceses on certain
determined days, and then carry the offerings to Rome
every three years on the occasion of their visits ad
limina. They are requested not to send the money
through the post or banks. When the bishop is un
able to take it to Rome himself, he should entrust
it to some ecclesiastic for safe transport.
The Pontifical finances, with their example of regu-
56

THE POPE'S COLLABORATORS
larity, strict economy and real balance between re
ceipts and expenditure — a lesson to many national
budgets — have often been unjustly criticised and de
rided by anti-religious malevolence. Catholics are,
however, impervious to such attacks. These criti
cisms are not confined to our own times alone. In
1520 a French edition of the "Livre des Taxes," col
lected by the Holy See, appeared in Paris and was even
reproduced in a Tractatus Universi juris dedicated
to Gregory XIII in 1583. But the book was placed
on the Index in 1570 and in 1590, and Clement VIII
gave the reasons for this in 1596 : "Because," said he,
"the subject has been misrepresented by heretics."
The Church's enemies have ever made use of similar
weapons. In the following chapter we shall deal with the or
ganization and administration of the Roman con
gregations, tribunals and Pontifical offices; we shall
thus have afforded our readers a true and complete
description of the organs of the government of the
Catholic world, centered in Rome, under the general
name of the Holy See.

CHAPTER IV
THE ROMAN CURIA
The Reorganization of the Curia by Pius X — The Office System
of the Curia— The Pontifical Ministerial Departments or
Sacred Congregations — The Ecclesiastical Tribunals — The
Bureaus.
Before the Pontificate of Sixtus V, 1585-1590, the
consistory, a reunion of the whole body of cardinals
presided over by the Pope, was the only organized
tribunal of the Sovereign Pontiff, which, conse
quently, had to consider the whole enormous mass of
suits and disputes referred to the Holy See. It is
probable that this consistory was the continuation
of the ancient Presbyterium, or college of priests and
deacons, who, from the early days of the Church, sur
rounded the Roman Pontiff. On January 22, 1587,
Sixtus V issued the Bull Immensa, establishing or re
organizing fifteen distinct congregations, with a view
to simplifying and expediting Church procedure.
Though it is true that some of these congregations
disappeared with time, and others have been created
to meet new needs, the organization of the Roman
Curia, or Pontifical administration, has continued
down to the present day substantially as planned by
this great Pope. Yet the fabric had become very
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imperfect in many details, and numerous complaints
of its defects were made by the bishops to Popes Leo
XIII and Pius X. It was evident that some of the
congregations had lost their raison d'etre, while others
were over-charged with work. The jurisdiction of
each congregation was not clearly established, so that
the same case might be judged by several of them.
What concerned the judiciary power of the Church
was not always separated from what concerned the
legislative power. It was this state of things which
led Pius X in an endeavor to remedy conditions, to
issue on June 27, 1908, the Constitution Sapienti
consilio, a bull followed by several regulations, some
of which were issued on the same date and others on
September 29 of the same year.
To give the reader a clear idea of the meaning and
extent of this voluminous bull, the text of this chapter
has been almost wholly based either on its exact words
or on a general resume of its various articles. The
document opens with an enumeration of the reasons
which led His Holiness to undertake this complete
reform of the Roman Curia, and it then continues in
these words:
"Therefore, after consulting several cardinals, we have
decided and decreed that, outside of the ordinary sacred con
sistories, the only congregations, tribunals and bureaus to
which can be referred the business of the Universal Church,
are those prescribed by the present constitution, and that
their number, order and competence are defined and estab
lished by the articles of this bull."
His Holiness then enumerates thirteen congrega-
59

THE VATICAN
tions, three ecclesiastical tribunals and six bureaus,
to which are added several special commissions.
The thirteen congregations are as follows :
I, The Holy Office; II, The Consistory; III, The
Sacraments; IV, The Council; V, The Congregation
of Rehgious; VI, Propaganda; VII, The Index;
VIII, Rites; IX, The Ceremonial; X, Extraordinary
Ecclesiastical Affairs; XI, Studies; XII, The Con
gregation of Loreto; XIII, The Congregation of the
Fabric of St. Peter's.
The tribunals are:
I, The Sacred Penitentiaria ; II, The Sacred Roman
Rota; III, The Apostolic Signatura.
The bureaus are:
I, The Apostolic Chancery; II, The Apostolic
Dataria; III, The Apostolic Camera; IV, The Sec
retariate of State; V, The Secretariate of Briefs to
Princes; VI, The Secretariate of Latin Letters.
Cardinalitial commissions are either connected with
the congregations or under the direct authority of the
Sovereign Pontiff. They are enumerated further on
in this chapter.
Before taking up for brief consideration each one
of these congregations, we must first give the rules
laid down by Pius X which govern their clerks and
employes, and are characterized by so much wisdom,
justice and consideration that they might serve as
models for the governmental departments of any na
tion in the world. They form a veritable body of
functionary statutes.
His Holiness first lays down some general princi-
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pies. Thus, one and the same person may not fill
several posts at one and the same time, "so that he
who wishes to enter a new post must resign from the
old one." Near relatives may not be employed in
the same dicasteria, that is, in the bureau of an office
devoted to the same class of affairs. The promotion
of clerks of the lower offices is based on the law of
seniority in the Papal service. This rule is not ob
served, however, in appointments to the higher posts.
Before entering upon their duties, both classes of
clerks must take an oath in the presence of the prelate
who presides over their bureau "to faithfully perform
their duty, not to accept gifts even if spontaneously
offered, and to observe professional secrecy." To
this oath, common to all clerks, is added another for
candidates for the higher posts. Some of the other
rules may be given.
Office hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.,
every day except Sundays and holidays. During
these hours, every clerk is expected to be at his desk,
to arrive on time and not to leave before time, except
in the case of those who are authorized to do their
work at home. However, superiors may grant a
clerk one or two days' vacation each month, provided
this does not interfere with the work of the office.
Likewise, every year or every two years, clerks are
granted a few days, but never more than a week, for
spiritual purposes. If illness or any other cause pre
vents a clerk from appearing at the office, he must
inform his superior. Except in the case of higher
officials and those whose duty makes it necessarv, no
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THE VATICAN
clerk may receive a visitor during office hours. No
clerk is permitted to perform the work of another,
to be replaced by or to replace another, except by
direction of a superior. Dispatch and care in the
transaction of business must be the rule of the offices.
When there is a press of business, the hours given
above may be lengthened and should be properly re
munerated. Superiors will call the attention of the
Sovereign Pontiff to the names of those clerks who
distinguish themselves by their intelligence, their ap
plication and ability in the business of the office, and
by their general good conduct. No clerk may act as
an agent or advocate in any affair which comes up in
his own or another bureau, except in the single case
of an affair of canonization, when the interests of the
future saint may be defended by any clerk who is not
employed by the Sacred Congregation of Sacred
Rites. A delinquent clerk may be suspended or dis
charged, according to the nature of his fault. The
accused may present his defense in writing. Sus
pension or discharge from office must be approved by
His Holiness. Aged public servants are properly
cared for.
The rules governing solicitors or agents are not
less notable. These persons are the recognized inter
mediaries for all affairs which come before the con
gregations, tribunals, or bureaus at Rome and which
have been confided to them by bishops or the faithful
in all parts of the world — for every Catholic, let it be
stated, has the right to appeal to the Holy See. But
these solicitors are not allowed to send out circulars
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offering favorable conditions or to ask too much for
their services. A rate of payment has been fixed by
the Holy See, and any violation of it is severely pun
ished. If the appellant, whether a private person or
a worthy institution or association, be poor, his ex
penses will be reduced one-half, or even no charge
will be made, and he will be expected to pay only the
actual cost of his affair. These facts are a sufficient
reply to the charges of the enemies of the Church who
often dwell on "the rapacity of Rome," and who
sometimes insinuate that by the use of money one may
obtain all that one wants.
The Roman congregations are composed of cardi
nals appointed by the Holy Father. One of them is
called the prefect of the Pope, and his duty consists
in seeing that the cases are properly prepared for the
consideration of the congregation and are properly
decided. In this work he is aided by an ecclesiastical
secretary of the congregation, whose important work
is generally compensated at the end of a certain num
ber of years by an appointment to a cardinalate.
Besides these officials, the congregations are provided
with a number of "consultants" (bishops, prelates or
religious), clerks and employes, who are divided into
two categories, superiors and inferiors. The con
sultants and superior clerks, separately, examine the
cases laid before the congregation, and then meet in a
congresso, which is presided over by the prelate secre
tary, where they examine, together, the cases, which,
after these preliminary examinations, are laid before
the cardinals united in a body. 63*

THE VATICAN
We will now take up in turn each one of the con
gregations, give some little account of their origin
and purpose, and then describe more in detail their
administration as affected by the constitution of
Pius X.
I. The Holy Office. This congregation has ex
isted in its present form only since the 16th century.
But in the Middle Ages, Innocent III, 1198-1216,
had already established at Rome an Inquisitorial
Tribunal, whose purpose was to suppress the Albi-
gensian heresy and other innovations from the south
of France. In 1251, Innocent IV confided the direc
tion of this tribunal to the Dominican Friars. The
Sapienti of Pius X contains, as we have already said,
the latest regulations concerning this congregation.
Thus, we are informed that its meetings are held
under the presidency of the Holy Father himself and
that its duties are "to safeguard doctrine in its relation
to faith and customs." Consequently, this congre
gation alone judges cases of heresy and other offenses
which offer a suspicion of heresy. To it is referred
also the whole question of indulgences, "both doc-
trinally and practically." Although a special con
gregation concerning the discipline of the sacraments
is established by this Constitution Sapienti, yet the
Holy Office "reserves to itself the full and entire right
to take cognizance, besides, of doctrinal questions re
lating to marriage and of the privilege known as 'the
Pauline Privilege,' as well as of impediments to mar
riage because of disparity of rehgion and mixed
religions." 64

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The Pauline Privilege is also called "the Apostolic
case," because it was promulgated by St. Paul in the
First Epistle to the Corinthians, 7:12-15,1 and con
cerns the marriage of infidels. If one of the contract
ing parties is converted to the true faith and the other
refuses to live with the one who has become a Chris
tian, or vexes him or her, endeavors to force him or
her, as the case may be, to renounce the faith, or speaks
ill of rehgion — for any of these causes the marriage
can be annulled.
The decrees of the Holy Office are always sub
mitted to the Pope for his approval, and if he ap
proves of them in particular, in forma specifica, they
are no longer the acts of the Holy Office, but become
an act of Papal authority, the whole judicial responsi
bility of which is assumed by the Sovereign Pontiff;
it is a law of the Pope himself.
II. The Consistory. Formerly, the oldest cardi
nal was prefect of this congregation ; but for a century,
the Pope himself has assumed this post and still con
tinues to hold it. This has always been a very im
portant congregation. Pius X divides it into two
distinct sections; the first prepares the matter which
i "If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she consent to
dwell with him, let him not put her away.
"And if any woman hath a husband that believeth not, and he con
sent to dwell with her, let her not put away her husband.
"For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife; and
the unbelieving wife is sanctified hy the believing husband; otherwise
your children should be unclean; but now they are holy.
"But if the unbeliever depart, let him depart. For a brother or sis
ter is not under servitude in such cases. But God hath called us in
peace.''
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THE VATICAN
is to be treated in consistory and designates, in those
countries which are not under the authority of the
Congregation of Propaganda, new dioceses and chap
ters, both cathedratic and collegiate. This congre
gation may, further, divide when necessary dioceses
already established; elect bishops, apostolic adminis
trators, and the coadjutors and auxiliaries of the
bishops; prescribe canonical inquiries concerning the
candidates for these posts and weigh the results of
these inquiries. But if all these various powers are
to be exercised in countries lying outside of Italy,
these duties are transferred to the Secretaryship of
State, which will be described further on in this chap
ter. The second section of this congregation has to do
with everything pertaining to the administration of
all those dioceses not under the authority of the Con
gregation of the Propaganda. It will see to the
faithful accomplishment of duty by the ordinaries,
will examine the written reports of the bishops con
cerning the condition of their dioceses, will prescribe
apostolic visits, will order any measures judged nec
essary and opportune, and, finally, will have the
general management of the business and intellectual
side of the seminaries.
This congregation settles any conflict of powers
which may arise between different congregations.
Some of its recent decisions may be given as examples
of its work. Thus, on November 12, 1908, it decreed
that the Colleges of North America, Ireland and
Scotland, established at Rome, should be subject to
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the direction of the Consistorial Congregation; on
January 27, 1909, that the bishops residing within a
radius of one hundred miles of Rome should be in
vited to the ceremonies attending; the canonization of
Blessed Clemens Hofbauer and of Blessed Joseph
Oriol, celebrated at Rome on Ascension Day of that
year, and prescribed the vestments of the bishops at
these ceremonies; on March 16, 1909, it decreed that
the Pope should elevate the parochial church of Jatiba,
formerly Setablis, of the Diocese of Valencia, Spain,
to a collegiate church, with a certain number of canons
presided over by an abbot, this being done to honor
the memory of Popes Calixtus III, 1455-1458, and
Alexander VI, 1492-1503, who were baptized in this
edifice, and, as the decree reads, "in memory of its
glorious past"; on June 22, 1909, that to the episco
pal title of Bayonne, France, might be added that of
the suppressed bishoprics of Lascar and Oleron,
though the Bishop of Bayonne may not, at the same
time, assume the title of First Baron of Beam, which
title belongs to the Navaills family; on July 7, 1909,
that the Bishop of Adria should reside thenceforth
at Rovigo and transfer his episcopal Curia thither,
but must keep the title of Bishop of Adria, and cele
brate High Mass on grand occasions "in his cathedral
there"; on July 20, 1909, that, in order to facilitate
the religious services of the region, the parish of St.
Eusebius, Stamford, Canada, be united to that of St.
Callixtus, Somerset; and on July 28, 1909, that the
pensioning age of Auditors of the Rota be fixed at
seventy-five. 67

THE VATICAN
III. The Discipline of the Sacraments. This new
congregation is composed of nine cardinals, one of
whom is given the title of prefect. The prelate secre
tary has under him three assistant secretaries, who
direct three distinct bureaus charged with the business
of the congregation. The first of these bureaus at
tends to all matters concerning impediments to mar
riage; the second, all other questions concerning
marriage ; and the third, everything concerning disci
pline outside of marriage. The Constitution Sapienti
consilio goes into these matters in considerable detail
and in an interesting manner. Thus, we are informed
that "to this congregation is confided all legislation
relative to the discipline of the seven sacraments,
without prejudice, however, to the rights of the Con
gregation of the Holy Office," as given above, "or
those of the Congregation of Rites, in so far as con
cerns the making, administration and reception of
the sacraments." The constitution then goes on to
say that to this same congregation is assigned every
thing which, up to the present, other congregations,
tribunals and bureaus had been in the habit of consid
ering as their own, concerning both matrimonial disci
pline, such as dispensations from civil tribunals, the
Sanatio in radice, revalidation, dispensations relative
to non-consummated marriages, the separation of
married persons, the legitimization of children; and
everything concerning the discipline of the other sac
raments, such as dispensations accorded to candidates
for holy order (saving, however, the rights of the
congregation which has to do with the affairs of reli-
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gious persons) , the regulation of what concerns their
ordination, dispensations relative to the place, time
and conditions of the Eucharist, the celebration of
the Holy Sacrifice, the reservation of the Blessed
Sacrament, and everything else of this nature. With
out infringing on the prerogatives of the Holy Office,
this congregation also treats all questions concerning
the validity of a marriage or of holy orders, and every
thing relating to the discipline of the sacraments.
But if there are cases which the congregation thinks
would best be treated by judicial procedure, these are
handed over to the Tribunal of the Sacred Roman
Rota. This congregation, as is also the case with all those
mentioned hereafter in this chapter, is presided over
by a cardinal prefect, aided by a secretary and other
necessary officials. The members of the congregation
are all cardinals appointed to these duties by the
Sovereign Pontiff. The duties of the prefect are
thus enumerated by the constitution of Pius X — to
grant the following permissions: to preserve the
Blessed Sacrament in those churches and chapels
which are not so authorized by common law; to cele
brate Holy Mass in private chapels with care that
decorum reigns in such chapels ; to celebrate Mass in
these chapels on Maundy Thursday and the three
Masses of Christmas at midnight accompanied by the
distribution of the Holy Eucharist ; to erect altars for
celebration in the open air ; to regulate celebration be
fore sunrise or in the afternoon ; to wear a calotte or
wig during the celebration of the holy mysteries or
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THE VATICAN
in distributing the Holy Eucharist; to a blind or
almost blind priest the right to celebrate the Votive
Mass of the Holy Virgin ; to celebrate the Holy Sac
rifice on ship-board; to consecrate a bishop on other
days than those established by the Roman Pontifical;
to confer holy orders extra tempora, that is, on other
than the usual dates; to exempt the faithful and re
ligious congregations, whenever it is considered neces
sary, from the Eucharistic fast.
IV. The Council. The Council of Trent in its
twenty-fifth session asked the Holy Father to provide
a means of clearing up the difficulties and doubts
born of the interpretation and the application of the
decisions of the Council. Hence, on August 2, 1564,
in the Bull Alias nos, Pius IV charged a commission
of eight cardinals with the execution of the decrees
of the Council and reserved for himself the interpre
tation of the text of these laws. Pius V and Gregory
XIII enlarged the powers of the new congregation,
but it solved only the more simple cases of interpreta
tion, leaving the more difficult ones to the Pope him
self. Sixtus V, in his Bull Immensa, charged the
congregation with the interpretation of the discipli
nary decrees of the Council, reserving for himself
the interpretation of the dogmatic chapters. Since
then, the Congregation of the Holy Council has be
come a sort of arbiter of all ecclesiastic discipline.
The Constitution Sapienti enumerates the present
functions and powers of the Congregation of the
Council. In the first place, to it is confided affairs
relating to the general discipline of the secular clergy
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and of Christian peoples. Under its authority come
questions of fasting, tithes, the observance of festivals,
the rules concerning vicars and canons, pious associ
ations and unions, pious bequests, charitable societies,
the honoraria of the Mass, benefices, clerkships, ec
clesiastical property, pecuniary matters, diocesan
taxes, clerical immunity, modification of the condi
tions required for obtaining a benefice where the
granting thereof belongs to the ordinary, and the
holding and revising the work of councils, episcopal
assemblies and conferences.
This congregation is also a competent and legiti
mate tribunal for the examination and decision of all
cases relating to the affairs which come under its
supervision, when it judges best to treat them in a
disciplinary manner, or, to employ the regular term,
in linea disciplinari. Cases of another nature are re
ferred to the Holy Roman Rota.
V. The Congregation of Religious. Sixtus V
made this congregation distinct from that which at
tended to the affairs of the bishops. But in 1601,
Clement VIII united these two congregations in a
single one, which he called the Congregation of
Bishops and Regulars. Its jurisdiction was im
mense, as it had to treat matters of episcopal adminis
tration in all the dioceses, differences between the
bishops and the religious or between different reli
gious houses, and also all the affairs of religious
persons. Pius X separated the Congregation of
Regulars from all the others and fixed in these terms
its jurisdiction and its powers:
6 71

THE VATICAN
"This congregation has a unique jurisdiction over all that
concerns religious persons of both sexes who take vows,
either solemn or simple ; those who, though they may not have
taken vows, nevertheless live in common like religious ; and
the secular Third Orders. The congregation exercises au
thority whether the matter interests the religious alone or
in relation with others. Consequently, this congregation
regulates all questions which arise either between the bishops
and religious of the two sexes or between the religious per
sons themselves. It is a tribunal competent in all cases of
a disciplinary nature, whether the religious be plaintiff or
defendant. Other cases, except those which concern the
Holy Office, are referred to the Holy Roman Rota. This
congregation may also accord dispensations to religious sub
ject to the common law."
The following are specimen decrees issued by this
congregation :
January 19, 1909. The Decree Perpensis, issued
by Leo XIII on May 3, 1902, extends to all convents
of women the very wise rules imposed on all men's
religious orders by the Decree Neminem latet of
March 19, 1857, concerning the final admission of a
female candidate to a religious institution. Accord
ing to these decrees, a full year of novitiate is neces
sary, followed by three years of the simple vows,
before permission is given to take the solemn vows;
and also before vows are actually taken, the bishop
should question the Sisters and make himself sure of
their real wishes in the matter, and that they are per
fectly free in their choice. This is called the canonical
examination. The Sacred Congregation was asked
whether it was necessary to repeat this canonical
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examination before the second profession when the
solemn vows are taken; after laying the matter be
fore the Holy Father himself, the congregation re
plied in the affirmative.
July 30, 1909. The congregation prescribes these
rules concerning debts and pecuniary obligations as
sumed by religious families: No local or provincial
house, or mother-house may go into serious debt
without the informal authorization of its council and
the approval of its superior council. Serious indebt
edness means a sum ranging from one hundred to
two hundred dollars for a local house, and two hun
dred to one thousand for a provincial house, and from
one to two thousand dollars for a mother chapter.
If greater indebtedness than this is to be incurred,
over and above the consent of the superior council
of the institution, the express permission of the Holy
See must also be obtained. A new foundation can
not be begun unless there is in bank enough money
to complete it. Funds given for Masses may not be
employed for this purpose, unless all the required
Masses have been celebrated. The dowry of a reli
gious must be kept intact so long as the Sister lives.
For the alienation of even a single dowry, the per
mission of the Holy See must be obtained.
September 7, 1909. Religious destined for the
priesthood should be versed not only in theology,
philosophy and Latin, but should also have completed
courses in primary work and the humanities as taught
in the well-organized seminaries of their country.
The superiors should give them, before ordination,
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THE VATICAN
certificates for all these studies, stating the time they
have devoted to them, the schools which they have
attended and the marks received at their examinations.
VI. Propaganda. Propaganda has jurisdiction
over the greater part of the world ; that is to say, all
the mission countries, or, in other words, all those
regions where an ecclesiastical hierarchy is not yet
regularly organized. Consequently, it has authority
over all Asia, except the Bishopric of Goa (the Portu
guese possessions in India) ; all Africa, except Al
geria and the Dioceses of Carthage and Angola; all
Oceanica, except the Philippines; a part of South
America, Central America, several islands of the
Antilles, Mexico and Alaska. In Europe, it has
under its care the Catholic dioceses of Russia, the
Balkan States, a part of Germany, Gibraltar and
parts of Switzerland.
Since its foundation by Gregory XV, by the Bull
Inscrutabili divina providentia, June 22, 1622, the
Propaganda has carried on all its work gratuitously
and even provided funds for poor missions. In order
that it may be in a position to meet all these expenses,
the Popes and cardinals have vied with one another
to provide money for it. The congregation was
nearly ruined by the French occupation of Rome at
the end of the eighteenth century. But during the
nineteenth century, the congregation nearly rebuilt
its fortunes, thanks to the aid of Catholic Christianity
at large and especially to the organization known as
the Propaganda of the Faith, created at Lyons in
1822, and that of the Holy Infancy, established in
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THE ROMAN CURLA
Paris in 1843. But in 1884, the Italian government
threatened its existence.
The law passed on June 18, 1873, by the Italian
Parliament, required the ecclesiastical organizations
of Rome to convert their real estate into Italian state
bonds, and in 1880, the Italian government advertised
for sale all the property of Propaganda, The con
gregation protested, declaring that this property, by
the nature of its origin and the objects for which its
revenues were to be employed, belonged to Chris
tianity. A law suit followed, wliich was finally lost
by the congregation in January, 1884. Then it was
that Signor Ruggero Bonghi, the author of "The Law
of Guarantees," which confirmed the Pope in the
rights and prerogatives of sovereignty, et cetera, with
a loyalty and a clearness of vision, alas, too late,
wrote: "In paralyzing and retarding the activity of
Propaganda, harm is done to humanity, civilization
and Italy.'" Thereupon, protests poured in from all
parts of the world. These were bound together in
two large volumes and laid before the Italian govern-
ment, which, however, paid no attention to this disap
proval of its course by the Christian world. But the
persecution of the government did not stop here. No
gift or legacy can be made to Propaganda without the
authorization of the Italian government, and when
this permission is given, the money must be paid into
the Royal Treasury and converted into state bonds.
Thus, in order to have free control of these funds
received from the Catholics of the world, and to escape
Italian supervision, the Propaganda has established
75

THE VATICAN
twenty-three proxies outside of Italy. The Papal
nuncios, the bishops and the vicars apostolic central
ize in their hands all the gifts and legacies intended
for the congregation. There are eleven of these
agencies in Europe, three in Asia, one in Africa, seven
in America and one in Australia. The income of
Propaganda is now estimated to be about $120,000 a
year, a very small sum when we bear in mind all the
expenses of this congregation. For instance, its
Urban College at Rome, where young ecclesiastics
are educated for mission work, alone costs some
$34,000. The missions of the Oriental Rite are also
a heavy charge for Propaganda. It furnishes those
countries the priests they need, pays their expenses
to and from Rome, provides for their sojourn in Rome
while they are studying, and in addition furnishes
them with money for charitable purposes. This spe
cial and general work absorbs each year more than
the income of Propaganda.
In order to expedite the business of Propaganda,
the congregation is divided into two principal sec
tions, one having to do with the countries of the Latin
Rite and the other with those of the Oriental Rite.
The recent constitution fixes in these terms the powers
of Propaganda:
"The jurisdiction of this Sacred Congregation is limited
to those countries where, the Sacred Hierarchy not having
been established, the mission state continues. But in the
case of several countries provided with a hierarchy where
the new organization is only at its beginning, Propaganda
still has control. But the following regions are henceforth
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withdrawn from the authority of Propaganda and subjected
to the common law of the Church: in Europe, the ecclesi
astical provinces of England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland and
the Diocese of Luxemburg; in America, the ecclesiastical
provinces of Canada, Newfoundland, and the United States.
Henceforth, the affairs of these regions are to be distributed
among the other congregations, according to the nature of
such affairs."
The constitution then goes on to settle many details
of the relations of this congregation with the other
congregations. VII. The Index. From the very beginning of
its existence, the Church condemned the writings of
the heresiarchs and all bad books. But the invention
of printing having multiplied the evil effects of bad
books, the situation called for still greater attention
of the Sovereign Pontiff in this direction. So, in
order to protect the faithful from these evil publica
tions, several catalogues or indexes of these publi
cations were drawn up since the appearance of the
first one prepared by the Holy Office in 1557 under
orders of Paul IV. The constitution of Leo XIII,
Officiorum de numero, January 25, 1897, established
the rules which reformed the code of penalties of the
Index and the modus operandi of the condemnation
of books. Greater powers are now given to the
bishops in this matter. On September 27, 1900, the
new catalogue of prohibited books was promulgated
at Rome by the Brief Romani pontifices. These are
the words of His Holiness Pius X, defining the duties
of the present Congregation of the Index:
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THE VATICAN
"Henceforth, this congregation will examine with care all
the denounced books to which its attention has been called;
it will, if possible, proscribe them ; it will grant dispensa
tions in this connection; it will take the initiative in the
attempt to find the best way to discover all kinds of publica
tions likely to deserve condemnation; it will remind the
ordinaries of their important duty to proceed with vigor
against all dangerous writings and to denounce them to the
Holy See in accordance with the constitution of January 25,
1907, given above. As the chief aim of the interdiction of
books is the defense of Catholic Faith, which is the reason
for the existence of the Congregation of the Holy Office, we
decree that in future, as regards everything pertaining to the
prohibition of evil books, and for that alone, there be con
sultation between the cardinals and other officials of the two
congregations, and, furthermore, that all parties act with
secrecy in these matters."
VIII. Rites. As the rites and the ceremonies of
the Church reflect its dogma and its faith, it is very
essential that they be watched over and be brought
into unity in so far as possible, just as faith is one in
the Church.
The Constitution Sapienti thus enumerates the
powers of the Congregation of Sacred Rites :
"The Sacred Congregation examines and regulates every
thing closely associated with the sacred rites and ceremonies
of the Latin Church, but is not concerned about those things
which only indirectly affect the rites, such as, for example,
the rules governing precedence, etc. Its care is chiefly to
see that the sacred rites and ceremonies are faithfully ob
served in the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice, the administra
tion of the sacraments, and the celebration of divine service, —
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in a word, in everything concerning worship in the Latin
Church. It may, further, accord necessary dispensations,
grant honorary tokens or privileges, whether personal and
temporary, or local and perpetual, which are connected with
the sacred rites and ceremonies, and it will have a care that
no abuses enter into this matter. And finally, it should
occupy itself with everything which in any way whatsoever
concerns the beatification and the canonization of saints, and
everything which concerns sacred relics."
In order to bring about unity in the music of church
ceremonies, Pius X ordered that the Vatican Printing
Office bring out an official edition of the liturgical
books, that is, of the Gradual for Mass and the Ves-
perall for the canonical hours. Publishers in all parts
of the world will follow, in their edition of these litur
gical books, the Vatican edition, both as regards text
and music.
The beatification and canonization of saints imposes
great labor on the Congregation of Sacred Rites.
Its prudent deliberation in this important matter is
proverbial. It will be found interesting to give
briefly the slow stages through which an act of canon
ization has to go before the glorious end is reached.
In the first place, the person proposed for canoniza
tion is most closely scrutinized in every particular.
The Church has confided this grave task to a prelate,
who throughout the whole examination acts the part
of the "Devil's Advocate," or the "Promoter of the
Faith." The whole proceeding is conducted in ju
dicial form, with the aid of learned men. In the
second place, a strict inquiry is instituted by the ordi-

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nary in the country where the candidate died, and all
the papers bearing on this inquiry are sent to Rome
and verified by the Congregation of Sacred Rites. If
this examination is favorable, the demand is recog
nized and the candidate is accorded the title of Vener
able. Then the first formal process begins. The
question for decision is: Whether the Venerable has
ever been an object of public veneration; if so, this
alone would suffice to check the whole affair. This
step is called the process of non cultu, and is immedi
ately followed by the process concerning the candi
date's general reputation for holiness. Then comes
the more solemn and formal process concerning the
Venerable's heroic exercise of the private virtues, fol
lowed by the first "ante-preparatory" congregation
in the presence of the cardinal ponent, or advocate,
who supports the candidate's claim; then the congre
gation called "preparatory," when the consulters, a
body of officials connected with the congregation, ex
plain their votes in the presence of the cardinals ; and
finally, the general congregation, with the Pope pre
siding, when the cardinals, as well as the consulters,
declare their votes. A month later, the Sovereign
Pontiff himself makes known his opinion. But this
is not the end of the case.
A fourth process is now begun, the most thorough
of all, in which the question of the nature and value
of the miracles performed by the Venerable is exam
ined, who, in order to be beatified, must have per
formed at least two well- authenticated ones. This
all-important question is weighed at three meetings of
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the body of cardinals — at the ante-preparatory, the
preparatory, and the general coram sanctissimo, which
takes place in the presence of the Holy Father. If
the Pope again favors the candidate, a plenary con
gregation is again held in his presence, when for the
last time the question is asked whether it is perfectly
safe to proceed to the beatification of the Venerable.
This is called the de tuto congregation, when, a month
later, the Pope, who has not pronounced his final
opinion, approves the measure, and the ceremony of
beatification follows. But in order to secure canon
ization, two more miracles must be proved, which are
again examined as before by the Congregation of
Rites in a new series of meetings, ante-preparatory,
preparatory and general, closing with a de tuto. But
before the canonization takes place, two consistories
must be held in which in the intervals between the
ceremonies, an advocate pleads the cause of the pro
posed saint, and the bishops present at Rome for the
second consistory give their placet. Then, and only
then, is it that the Holy Father himself solemnly in
scribes the Blessed in the catalogue of saints.
At the time of the beatification of Joan of Arc,
there was considerable comment apropos of the re
quired miracles. It should be stated in this connection
that the Church is very severe in the matter of mira
cles : They must be unquestionable. There are seven
conditions which must be fulfilled: 1. The disease,
in the case of a miracle performed on a sick person,
must be grave, inveterate, incurable, or at least diffi
cult to cure by means of remedies, and then only after
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a long lapse of time. 2. The disease should not have
reached its decline so that the cure cannot be attrib
uted to natural development. 3. No remedies must
have been previously administered, or if any have
been administered, it must be proved by time and
circumstances that these remedies had no influence on
the cure. 4. The cure must be sudden; the signs of
the illness must not diminish with time and by de
grees, as in a natural sickness. 5. The cure must be
entire and complete. 6. It must not result from a
crisis or a sudden change which could of itself produce
the result. 7. The cure must be permanent, and
there must be no return of the disease. These re
quirements show the prudence and rigor which the
Church displays in its effort to authenticate miracu
lous cures.
We may add that the impressive ceremonies attend
ing beatification and canonization are held in St.
Peter's, which is magnificently decorated on such
occasions. It should be noted, by the way, that the
Catholic Church alone dares canonize saints and say
to the world : "See, these are the best of my children,
whom I place on the high altar, that you may admire
them and borrow from their beautiful lives what is
lacking in your own ; for as they have lived in accord
ance with the principles and the faith of Catholic
morality, they are worthy to be your models."
IX. Ceremonies. This Sacred Congregation, says
the Constitution Sapienti, "continues to enjoy the
rights which have always belonged to it, that is, to
regulate the ceremonies which should be observed in
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the Pontifical chapel and court, as well as in the sacred
functions which the cardinals perform outside of the
Pontifical chapel; and to settle questions of prece
dence either among the cardinals or among the am
bassadors from foreign nations to the Holy See."
X. Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. The
scope of this body is thus defined in Pius X's consti
tution: "It has to do only with matters which the
Sovereign Pontiff refers to its examination through
the cardinal secretary of state; especially with the
most important diplomatic problems between the
Vatican and the governments of the world."
XI. Studies. "To this congregation is confided
the organization of the curricula in the Catholic uni
versities and schools of all grades. It examines and
approves or rejects, as the case may be, all proposals
for the foundation of new institutions, and confers
the right to grant degrees, which it may itself grant
in the case of remarkable personages."
XII. The Congregation of Loreto. This congre
gation has in its care the famous sanctuary of Our
Lady of Loreto near Ancona, Italy. Its business is
transacted by the Congregation of the Council, and
its prefect is that of the council. Its former exten
sive jurisdiction over the Holy House of Loreto and
its property has been much restricted so that it is now
chiefly concerned with the restoration of the basilica,
and the supervision of pilgrimages to the shrine.
XIII. The Congregation of the Fabric of St.
Peter's. This congregation originated with the plan
of Julius II for building the new basilica of St. Peter's
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with Bramante as architect; and a special congrega
tion under this title was formed by Clement VIII to
carry on the great work. The new constitution of
Pius X provides that its administration shall consist
only in the care of the property and the maintenance
of the basilica.
The constitution of Pius X also, as we have already
said, established three tribunals of the Curia:
I. The Sacred Penitentiaria. The jurisdiction of
this sacred tribunal has been limited to jurisdiction in
internal matters only. Dispensations from matri
monial impediments in relation to external jurisdic
tion have been confided to the Congregation of the
Sacraments. But this tribunal accords absolutions,
dispensations, commutations, validations in matters of
impediments and condonations, and also examines and
decides cases of conscience. For instance, a decree
of this tribunal, issued on January 16, 1909, granted
ample powers to the bishops of France to deal with
the numerous cases of conscience occasioned by the
sale of ecclesiastical lands in connection with the re
cent separation laws.
II. The Sacred Roman Rota. The Tribunal of
the Rota is very ancient. In order to lighten the
labors of the consistories, the Popes, long before the
creation of the congregations, entrusted some of
the cases which were laid before them to chaplains
occupying a rank in the Roman Curia immediately
after cardinals. These cases were examined and
when ready for consideration were laid before the
Pope, who passed judgment. Thus was established
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a tribunal or court, which, to distinguish it from that
of the cardinals, was called the Rota, probably from
the round table (rota) at which the judges sat. The
Tribunal of the Rota, especially during the sojourn
of the Popes at Avignon, 1309-1377, played the im
portant part of a court of justice, several of whose
decisions, mserted in the "Corpus Juris," have the
force of law. It is generally admitted that, accom
panied in all cases by the reasons which caused the
decisions to be made, they form one of the richest
treasures of jurisprudence which exist. Pius X
refers to it as having been "loaded with praise in the
past" (anteactis temporibus omni laude cumidatum),
and several Popes — Sixtus IV, Clement X and Alex
ander VIII — call it "The Supreme Court of the
Christian World." It has also been surnamed "The
Refuge of Justice," and recourse is had to it from all
parts of Christendom. Thence, doubtless, comes the
usage of selecting its judges from the different Chris
tian nations.
Little by little, the Roman congregations have
found themselves charged with the cases which used
to be examined by the Tribunal of the Rota, while to
the latter were left matters pertaining to the old Pon
tifical States. But as these States ceased to exist in
1870, the once busy tribunal was left with almost
nothing to do. But the Constitution Sapienti has
restored this venerable body to a part at least of its
old activity. "Basing our action on that of our prede
cessors, Sixtus V, Innocent XII and Pius VI, we
order and ordain that all contentious matters, both
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civil and criminal, which call for judicial action, with
witnesses, testimony, et cetera, be referred to the
Tribunal of the Rota"; and in the appendix of this
constitution is a special law which regulates the re
organization of the Rota. "The Sacred Roman Rota
is composed of ten prelates, called auditors, chosen by
the Roman Pontiff. They must be priests and of
mature age, doctors of at least theology and canon
law, notable for the dignity of their lives, their pru
dence and their juridical knowledge. At the age of
seventy-five, they become emeriti and cease to be
active judges. The body is presided over by a dean,
who is only the first among equals. Auditors who
violate secrecy or who, through culpable negligence
or deceit, cause injury to the contesting parties, are
required to make good this damage; and they may
be punished either on the demand of the injured party,
or by the Apostolic Signa tura (which is described
below), the sentence being confirmed by His Holi
ness." All the officers connected with this tribunal
are also subjected to a similar severe control. "The
Sacred Rota dispenses justice in two ways — either
three judges sitting in turn, or the whole tribunal
sitting. The opposing parties may appear in person
to defend their cause before the tribunal." These
various stipulations give evidence of the ardent desire
of the Church that its justice be above reproach, as
it really is.
III. The Apostolic Signatura. This was formerly
a supreme court made up of voting prelates and
referendary prelates, both named by the Pope; and
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was divided into two chambers, the Papal Signature
of Justice and the Papal Signature of Pardons. The
first was a real tribunal ; the second, more like a com
mission which gave its opinion on pardons and favors
to be conceded by the Pope. Since 1870, it has had
very little to do, but remains a very distinguished
body, being composed exclusively of cardinals. Its
jurisdiction remains the same today as in the past,
that is to say, it still forms a court of appeal from the
Tribunal of the Rota, in grave cases specified in the
recent constitution.
In the important reforms of the Roman Curia as
described in the Constitution Sapienti, Pius X has
scarcely touched the bureaus or offices charged with
expediting the affairs of the congregations and the
tribunals. He has done little else than simplify the
formalities, some of which were very antiquated, as,
for instance, the special form of writing employed for
the bulls, which necessitated a transcription into
modern style. But these modifications enable the
six bureaus to transact their business much more
promptly than formerly.
I. The Apostolic Chancery. The chancery, which
prepares and sends out the most important Pontifical
documents, is a very ancient institution of the Church.
It occupies itself especially with the Papal bulls. It
may be explained, by the way, that the word bull
comes from the lead seal, bulla, in Latin, attached to
the thick parchment on which the document is written.
This seal displays the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul,
separated by a Latin cross. The direction of this
7 87

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office is in charge of a cardinal named the chancellor,
who, in accordance with a very ancient custom, acts
as notary or proctor in the Sacred Consistories. The
Palace of the Chancery, built by the distinguished
Italian architect Bernini (1598-1680), is one of the
finest in Rome and is connected with the beautiful
Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso.
II. The Apostolic Dataria. The Dataria or
Datary is especially the organ for the distribution of
indulgences, or — the term is still used — "a tribunal
of pardons." It acts sometimes as a "tribunal of
justice" to settle difficulties arising from the grant
ing of these indulgences. In early times, its sen
tences, considered as coming from the Pope himself,
were without appeal. It was instituted in the thir
teenth century, under Honorius III, and then formed
only a division of the chancery, receiving petitions and
dating the apostolic concessions in reply to these re
quests, whence came the name, Datary. The cardi
nal who presides over this bureau holds office during
the whole reign of the Pope who appoints him. On
the death of the Pontiff, the cardinal's term of office
ends and the offices of the Datary are closed until the
election of the new Pope. To give the reader an idea
of the amount of work performed by this bureau, it
suffices to say that the petitions in the archives of the
Datary from the Pontificate of Martin V, 1417, to
that of Pius VII, 1823, fill 6,690 volumes!
The constitution of Pius X thus defines the duties
of the Datary today :
"Henceforth its only charge is the examination of the
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fitness of candidates for non-consistorial benefices reserved
for the Apostolic See, that is to say, ordinary benefices, such
as a cure, or a canonry, whose nomination belongs to the
Pope; to draw up and send out apostolic letters relative to
these appointments ; to dispense with the required conditions
for obtaining these appointments; and to see that the pen
sions and charges which the Sovereign Pontiff imposes on
the beneficiaries are paid from their revenues."
III. The Apostolic Camera. At the beginning of
the seventh century, St. Gregory the Great, who, it
is said, in speaking to the Emperor, referred to Rome
as an inheritance and to Italy as his land, established
a college of seven Defensores, who replaced the an
cient Arcarius, or treasurer of the Palace of the
Lateran, and who were to have charge of the Patri
mony of St. Peter. These Defensores, following the
example of the Camera, or Imperial Chamber of
the Treasury, took, during the eighth and ninth cen
turies the title of Clerks of the Chamber, their di
rector being called Camerarius, and later, in the
twelfth century, Camerlengo, — names which are still
used today. In 1845, Pius IX established ministerial
departments analogous to those found in modern gov
ernments and placed a clerk of the Apostolic Camera
at the head of each section or bureau of the Interior
Department or Ministry, — archives, moneys and seals,
arsenals, roads and water-ways, sanitation and the
corps of public servants. But as the Camera had no
property to administer after the changes of 1870, it
had become scarcely more than a name when Pius X
gave it new life by restoring to it its ancient func-
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tions: "It has the care and administration of the
property and the temporal rights of the Holy See";
so it has charge of the Pontifical Palaces and its Car
dinal Camerlengo is confirmed in old and important
duties. He it is who officially announces the demise
of the Holy Father, assigns a clerk to duty in the
different offices of the Apostolic Palace, directs the
obsequies of the dead Pope, arranges for the new
Conclave, directs all the police arrangements of this
important meeting, and to him is confided the fisher
man's ring and all the seals of the deceased Pope,
which are broken when the cardinals come together.
He even has the right to coin money.
The Vice-Camerlengo, the most important person
age of the Curia after the cardinals, has charge of
the doors of the Conclave and the keys of the chamber
and the towers, which afford access to the world with
out. At the general councils, the Camera and the
Prothonotaries Apostolic, have charge of all the ma
terial apparatus of voting; every year, too, they pre
sent, for the benediction of the Pope, the Golden Lady
Rose, which is then sent by the Pontiff to a queen or
to some great lady who has merited well of the
Church. IV. The Secretariate of State. This office is di
vided into three sections. The first section has to do
with extraordinary affairs which are submitted to
the examination of the congregation of that name.
All the other business which comes to this office is
distributed among the other congregations in accord
ance with their character. The second section attends
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to ordinary business. Among other things, it confers
honorary insignia, on ecclesiastics or civihans. The
third section attends to the sending out of the apos
tolic briefs handed in by the different congregations.
V and VI. The Secretariates of Briefs to Princes
and of Latin Letters. Their distinction arises from
the usage introduced by the Sovereign Pontiffs of
sending letters or briefs to princes, bishops and per
sons of consequence whom they wish to honor. After
having submitted the minutes to the Holy Father, the
two prelate secretaries, always chosen among the best
Latinists of the Curia, write the briefs on parchment
and the letters on special paper. The former are
signed by the Pope, and the latter receive the stamp
of the fisherman's ring and the signature of the secre
tary. The sealed envelopes are then handed to the
Secretary of State, who sends them to their desti
nation by nuncios or special messengers. Sometimes
the Pope writes these letters with his own hand; but
such communications are very rare and are a great
honor to him who receives one. The writing paper
used by the Holy Father has a special water-mark, —
the portrait of the Pontiff, which may be seen very
easily when the sheet is held up to the light.
In this connection, we may give this paragraph from
the constitution of Pius X: "Henceforth, in all the
apostolic communications sent out hy the chancery or
the datary, the year will no longer begin with the In
carnation of the Lord, that is, March 25. but with
January 1." This shows the modern and business
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These two paragraphs may also be given from the
same great document:
"The congregations, tribunals and bureaus men
tioned in this constitution constitute henceforth the
Roman Curia.
"In all the congregations, tribunals and bureaus
mentioned above, care will be taken to do nothing of
extraordinary importance without first informing us
and our successors after us."
This Pontifical act will certainly be one of the most
effective of the reign of Pius X, and will remain, dur
ing long years, the law of the Roman Curia. The
similar act of Sixtus V, which established the first
congregation, January 22, 1588, has been respected
as a whole during more than three centuries and has
rendered immense service to the Church. These
facts well illustrate the remarkable continuity and
conservatism, in the best sense of the word, of the
Roman Catholic Church.
The details given in this chapter, new to many even
among Catholics, throw a fresh light on the character
of the Holy See and show what a vast work it is
charged with by the faithful the world over. The role
of the Holy Father and his cardinals at the Vatican
is perceived to be not only that of pious servants of
the Cross engaged in religious devotion, but also that
of busy executives and able functionaries transacting
the important business of a great temporal and spirit
ual state. It will be seen that the Vatican is the
center of the Catholic world, the main-spring and
regulator of all that occurs therein ; and this great fact
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will make even a deeper impression as we examine, in
the second part of this volume, the physiognomy of
the Church in the different countries of the world.

PART II

CHAPTER V
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CATHOLIC WORLD
The Diocese as a Basis of Ecclesiastical Administration — The
Eastern Church Situation — The Growth of the Church —
Catholic Missions — The Secular Clergy — The Diocesan
Seminaries — Parochialism — The Religious Orders.
The diocese forms the basis of the organization and
division of the Catholic world. It must form a com
plete entity and be self-sufficient under the govern
ment of the bishop, assisted by his vicars general and
surrounded by his canons. The diocese is subdivided,
according to the needs of the faithful, into parishes,
administered by a parish priest or rector assisted by
his curates. According to ecclesiastical law the rec
tors who are members of the secular clergy may be
permanent, whereas those who belong to a religious
order can be revoked at any time by their own su
periors. The bishop has the entire responsibility of his dio
cese; he must govern it according to the laws of the
Church, in submission to the instructions of the Pope,
to whom he must account regarding his adniinistra-
tion, every five years. One of his chief duties is to
publish throughout his diocese the utterances of the
Sovereign Pontiff — letters, bulls, encyclicals, et cet-
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era — and to enforce their prescriptions. His power,
within the limits of his diocese, is ordinary, in that it
is a direct effect of his position as bishop, and is not
merely delegated; that is to say, the bishop does not
act merely in the name of the Pope though subject
to his control and authority. In many cases, how
ever, which exceed the ordinary powers of a bishop,
inasmuch as they deal with the general discipline of
the Church, the bishops are given special powers as
Papal representatives. The supervision of exempted
monasteries, that is, monasteries which depend di
rectly upon the Papal authority and are not subject
to diocesan control, is a case in which such special
powers are delegated to the bishop. The grouping
of several dioceses constitutes an ecclesiastical pro
vince under the direction, formerly effective, now
rather nomical, of an archbishop.
The primate formerly supervised to a certain ex
tent several ecclesiastical provinces belonging to the
same nation. At present, however, the title has be
come merely an honorary one, like that of patriarch, —
except in the East here the patriarchs of the Uniat
Eastern Churches still possess real authority over
their suffragans.
There are now throughout the world — according
to official lists (Gerarchia Catolica, 1909) published
with the approval of the Vatican — ten patriarchal
sees, oriental or Latin, now filled either by oriental
titulars who really reside in the Orient and exercise
their office there, or by Latin titulars who simply
bear an honorary title; and 1,316 bishops or prelates
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
not consecrated as bishops, but residential, that is
to say, governing a diocese or some equivalent
ecclesiastical circimiscription, such as a vicariate
apostolic, and residing within its limits. There are,
moreover, 457 titular bishops, bearing the titles of
suppressed bishoprics, who have received episcopal
consecration, but who have for the time being no dio
cese. We have therefore 1,783 bishops or prelates
forming, in union with the Sovereign Pontiff, Su
preme Fastor of all, the teaching and governing
body of tlie Church.
The ecclesiastical constituencies provided with a
residential bishop or prelate, are distributed as fol
lows :
966 Latin bishoprics, including archbishops and pa
triarchs ;
92 Greek Uniat or oriental bishoprics, including
also archbishoprics and patriarchates:
21 abbeys and prelatures nullius, or ecclesiastical
jurisdictions bearing the title of bishoprics but inde
pendent of the ordinary hierarchy, and directly sub
ject to Rome only;
12 delegations apostolic;
160 vicariates apostolic;
62 prefectures apostolic.
The last two ecclesiastical administrations hardly
exist outside foreign missions. Vicariates apostolic
are organized verv much on the model of dioceses:
prefectures apostolic are only in the growing stage
as regards formation and organization, or they are of
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As has been seen by the above table, we may dis
tinguish in the Church, three portions, rather ficti
tious than real: the Latin Church, the Greek Eastern
Church, and the Missions, which are for the most
part attached rather to the Latin than to the Eastern
Churches. But, at the bottom, these different parts
all go to form the one Catholic Church, having the
same faith, the same sacraments and the same su
preme pastor, the Pope.
The great division of the Church into Latin or
Western and Greek or Eastern, has existed ever
since the beginning of Christianity. Several histori
ans pretend that the reason for such division was the
extraordinary prolongation of the life of St. John,
the well-beloved disciple of Jesus, who governed the
Eastern Churches until the year 102. St. John be
queathed to his subjects different customs and rites
from those observed in Rome, but maintained unity
of faith and the primacy and supreme authority of
the Pope, sole successor to St. Peter. Thus it hap
pened that the first general councils though held in
the East at Ephesus, Nicea and so forth, were com
posed of both Latin bishops and Eastern bishops,
presided over by a representative of the Roman Pon
tiff. The Greek Church, before her deplorable schism
in 1504, was very brilliant. Her patriarchs were
known and honored throughout the Catholic world.
They were Epiphanius, Athanasius, Chrysostom,
Basil, and so forth — fathers and doctors of the
Church, whose works are ever a treasury of inesti-
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
mable value to us all. Since the separation first at
tempted by Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople,
and consummated by one of his successors, Michael
Cgerularius, the splendid Greek Church, now for the
most part heretic and schismatic, though calling her
self Orthodox, has lost her freedom and energy. She
is dominated by temporal powers. And while Rome
has produced, in every century, a brilliant band of
saints, pontiffs, doctors, founders of religious orders,
and missionaries exciting admiration throughout the
world, the Eastern Church has been content to live
on, rich but enslaved, lacking the breath of life to
arouse men capable of drawing new peoples to the
Faith of Jesus Christ. And if the development of
the Greek Orthodox religion has been relatively con
siderable in Russia, we may find the reason in that
it followed the growth of the Empire itself. The
religion of the conquerors imposed itself upon the
vanquished nations, even if need were, by armed
force. The Greeks, who have remained united to Rome,
and Catholics belonging to other Eastern Uniat
Churches: Copts, Melchite- Greeks, Syrians, Maron-
ites, Chaldeans, Armenians and so forth — are only
a shadow of what they used to be. They form alto
gether a group of only 6,423,678 persons. Moreover,
they are oppressed by the Turks. Yet they have
the great merit of having remained faithful for
centuries, in spite of every obstacle, to their faith
as to their nationality, thus giving to the world an
admirable example of perseverance in the midst of
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trials. Rome is very anxious that they should pre
serve their particular rites and customs, first in order
not to scare away from conversion those among them
who are still separated and schismatic, and secondly
to safeguard those priceless documents of Christian
antiquity, manifest proofs of the immutability of our
Catholic faith.
Among their customs that which causes most sur
prise and sometimes troubles the occidental mind
is the marriage of their priests. As regards this mat
ter, it is well to correct a very current mistake. It
is often said that Rome allows priests of the Eastern
Churches to marry. This is quite untrue. No Greek
Uniat priest, or priest belonging to an oriental
Catholic Church, has ever married after becoming
a priest. The Church admits to priesthood men who
are already married, which is quite different. If
their wives die later, the priests cannot marry again,
and if they themselves die first, their wives cannot
remarry and are received into women's convents,
without, however, being forced to take the veil. The
ecclesiastical discipline concerning the marriage of
priests has never altered, and the celebrated Dr. Dol-
linger, instigator of the Schism of Old Catholics, but
an historian of incontestable value, affirmed this to
a fallen French priest seeking to justify his fault.
In a letter quoted in a recently published book, "A
Married Priest in the Nineteenth Century," by M.
Herdin, Dollinger authoritatively affirms that at
no period in history do we find the marriage of
priests tolerated or practiced in the Catholic Church.
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Among the Apostles, the Gospel mentions only St.
Peter as having been married. It will be remem
bered that Our Saviour miraculously healed his
mother-in-law (St. Mark 1:30-31). According to
some authors, St. Petronilla was the daughter of St.
Peter; her chapel, founded by the French Govern
ment, may be seen in the Basilica of St. Peter at the
Vatican. The statistics of the faithful of the Catholic Church
in the world is very comforting. According to the
most likely estimates, there are on the whole earth one
billion and a half of inhabitants, divided up, among the
various religions, as follows:
494,250,000 Christians, of whom 240,000,000 are
Catholics; 150,000,000 Protestants of all denomina
tions; 100,000,000 Orthodox Greeks.
Other religions: 10,000,000 Jews; 200,000,000 Ma-
homedans ; 200,000,000 Buddhists ; 220,000,000 Hin
doos; 340,000,000 Disciples of Confucius; 24,900,000
Schintoists; 157,000,000 Fetich adorers.
The remaining human beings cannot be accurately
classed, at any rate from the religious point of view.
We see, therefore, that the Catholics form the most
important portion of the religious denominations.
The number of their priests is estimated at about
400,000. The Catholic Church is constantly progressing.
The missions and other countries of the Latin Rite
recruit each year an average of 900,000 faithful and
2,000 priests, and build 1,800 churches or chapels.
Two new dioceses are created, on an average, each
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year. It must be noted that under the rule of Leo
XIII and of Pius X that average has been greatly
exceeded. Leo XIII during his lengthy Pontificate
created 218 dioceses or vicariates and prefectures
apostolic, an unheard-of thing in history. His Holi
ness Pius X in six years' reign has already created
seven archbishoprics, fifteen bishoprics and two prela-
tures nullius, twelve vicariates apostolic and prefec
tures apostolic, in all fifty.
At no period has the Church been more flourishing
and vigorous than now ; she need not, therefore, quail
before the predictions launched forth by her adver
saries announcing her approaching end. That they
are, unfortunately, capable of doing harm in too many
parts of the Christian world, does not give them the
right to shout out, "Victory!" They lose sight of,
or pretend to ignore, the entire extent of the Catholic
world, an organization which spreads over the whole
globe and has nothing to fear from their opposition,
which is in most cases mere bravado. The Church
has often been compared to a majestic vessel bearing
the salvation of the world within it. The Pope is
at the helm; following his orders, the bishops pass
on instructions to the priests who man the ship, as
sisted by a number of passengers — the faithful. In
spite of contrary winds and raging waves this splen
did vessel moves fearlessly toward her eternal des
tiny, whereas around her vainly struggle and vanish
in the deep, those imprudent beings who refuse to
embark on her and those who seek to arrest her course.
A picture, dating from the sixteenth century and at-
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tributed to the Jesuits, reproduces this striking alle
gory with consummate art.
The Catholic missions constitute, in themselves, an
important part of the Church; they contain 222 vicari
ates or prefectures apostolic. They are the vast field
in which are sown and cultivated the promising har
vests of the future. As a consequence, the Sacred
Congregation of Propaganda in Rome, which gov
erns them, is one of the most important institutions
there, and its cardinal prefect is possessed of most
extensive powers.
The missionaries of the first centuries were volun
teers, generally priests and bishops, who offered
themselves to the first Roman Pontiffs and were sent
by them into countries which were still heathen, to
convert the natives and organize new ramifications
of the Church in distant lands. Such was the origin
of most of the dioceses in France and elsewhere in
Europe where these first Apostles are honored as
saints and often as martyrs. But as time went on,
Rome, to ensure the regular recruiting of mission
aries and to give greater continuity and stability to
her first foundations, was brought to entrust the mis
sions to religious orders and to permanent congre
gations, such as the Paris Society of Foreign Mis
sions. As early as the seventeenth century the
missions in China and Japan were organized and
evangelized by Jesuits and Dominicans. The Jes
uits were even famous in the Celestial Empire for
their creation of the observatory at Peking and for
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Today, the religious orders, the Benedictines,
Augustinians, Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits, et
cetera, assisted by numerous new orders and congre
gations, are conducting most successful missions in
the five parts of the world. The societies most widely
engaged in foreign missions are: the Congregation
of the Holy Ghost and the Immaculate Heart of
Mary, the Congregation of the Mission (Lazarists),
the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the Society of
Mary, the Oratorians and Oblates of St. Francis de
Sales, the Redemptorists, the Paulists, the Congrega
tion of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and the
Priests of the Foreign Missions.
The Salesians of Don Bosco, so recently founded,
have already flourishing missions in many countries
of the world where they are doing wonderful work.
Their first mission in the United States was opened
in San Francisco in 1898 and since then they have
opened two more in that city, one at Oakland, and
two in New York.
The Marist Fathers, the Society of Mary, were
definitely organized by the Holy See in 1836 as mis
sionaries for Oceanica, but since then their field of
labor has come to include parts of France, the Brit
ish Isles, the United States and New Zealand, as
well. In the United States they have two training
houses at Washington, District of Columbia, six col
leges in Louisiana, Utah and Maine, eighteen parishes
in various states and missions in West Virginia and
Idaho. The priests of the African Mission of Lyons, es-
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
tablished by Monsignor Marion of Brevillac in 1856,
are scattered throughout Africa, as also the White
Fathers, or Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa, at
Algiers, founded by Cardinal Lavigerie about the
year 1872.
The Fathers of the Holy Ghost also work with
marvelous success on the vast Black Continent, in
the French colonies and at Madagascar. In Senegal
one of them, Monsignor Berthat, vicar apostolic, was
a veteran of the mission, where he had spent thirty-
five years. During bis visit to Senegal, M. Andre
Lebon, then Minister of Colonies in France, paid a
generous tribute to the works and devotion of the
Fathers of the Holy Ghost, one of whom, Father
Lemoine, at the beginning of 1900, celebrated the
fiftieth anniversary of his arrival in Senegal. He
never returned to France and, like a modern Gregory,
having found at Joal an entirely heathen town, he
had the consolation of rendering it entirely Christian.
In the French Congo, the vicar apostolic is Mon
signor Audouard, who lives at Brazzaville. This
vicariate includes six mission-centers, dotted along the
Congo and Ubanggi Rivers. The Vicariate of the
Holv Familv at Ranzires extends along the Shari
to Lake Tchad, about 2,000 kilometers inland.
These missions are served by two little steamboats,
the Diata-Diate and the Leo XIII, which have also,
especially lately, rendered important services to the
French authorities and to the various expeditions
sent to the Tchad district, and to Bar el Ghazal. The
brave vicar apostolic was decorated with the Legion
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of Honor and offered the civic crown. The reward
was well deserved, for there are many dangers to be
faced by those who work among these savages.
Father Severin of the Banghi Station and a mission
child were murdered not long ago by the Bodjos.
The body of the latter could not be found, having
no doubt formed part of the horrible banquets in
which those natives delight.
In the Upper-Ogowe district, at Franceville, the
missionaries are very practical. Father Bichat has
given his Christian converts regular instruction in ag
riculture, which has resulted in the development of
a large plantation of cocoa-trees. In the same mis
sion they have tamed a young elephant which now
does the work of twenty men in transporting wood
and other goods. The Fathers of the Holy Ghost are
the first who have managed, since the times of the
Romans, to tame an African elephant, for on the
East Coast the King of the Belgians, who had sent
for a herd of elephants, three of which were already
tamed, failed in his efforts to domesticate them.
It is a fact that the Lazarists were employing 457
priests in missions at the very time when one of the
deputies of the ministerial majority declared in the
French Chamber of Deputies that they had nothing
to do with missions. These religious orders possess
seven large missions in China1 and Monsignor Favier,
the illustrious Bishop of Peking, was one of their order,
as were also M. Hue Gabet and the erudite Armand
David. M. de Lapparent, the well-known French savant,
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
in an article on the scientific labors of M. Armand
David, the Lazarist priest, says :
"M. Blanchard of the Institute was speaking of this travel
er when he stated before the whole muster of the Learned
Societies at the Sorboune : 'Naturalists have greatly ad
mired the work accomplished in the Extreme East by M.
Armand David, and have felt a feeling of national pride at
sight of the immense number of specimens sent by the brave
missionary to our museum.' His testimony was confirmed in
1876 by that of the naturalist Hartland, who declared that
in the realm of botany, zoology and geology in China, M.
David's merit was beyond all comparison. Nor did he hesi
tate to proclaim, Protestant and Prussian though he be, tliat
the 'missionaries have every right to be called the pioneers of
civilization.' "
And again, it is well known that Monsignor Favier
was at his post in Peking, encouraging all those
around him in August, 1900, at the time when the
French contingent of the expedition delivered him
and all the Christians who were besieged by the
Chinese in the Petang quarter of the town. Had
their deliverers tarried, they must all have perished.
No sooner, however, was Monsignor Favier delivered
than he wrote to Father Fiat, Superior General of
the Lazarists and of the Sisters of Charity, in the
following terms: Peking, August 16, 1900.
"Yesterday, the troops returned to Peking. This morning
we were delivered by the French. During the siege which has
lasted two months, 2,400 shells and bullets fell on the Pekang
quarter ; everything is much damaged ; the Church must be
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rebuilt; mines were fired killing a great number of our peo
ple ; others have perished from hunger and bullets. We had
only two days more to live, cutting down rations to two
ounces per person! We have eaten every animal, all the
leaves off the trees, roots, etc. ; more than 120 children
are dead and 51 perished in an explosion ; we have 400
graves in the garden ! However, our 3,000 Christian men
and women are safe. Not one Sister died in the mission."
On January 21, 1901, Count de Mun paid a high
compliment to the valiant Bishop, stating in the
tribune of the French Chamber of Deputies :
"When the great tragedy of Peking was ended, when the
curtain fell over all that ghastly story, a figure stood forth,
that of a man in perfect union with the French minister,
joining him in peril and in struggle, as he had joined him the
day before in negotiations and in peace ; it is the figure of
Monsignor Favier. None here, none indeed beyond these
walls, can have forgotten that great day of August 16, a
year ago, when responding to the sight of the tricolor flag
flying on the summit of the cathedral and to the notes of
'Pere Bugeaud' sounded by the Christians' bugles, the blue-
coated soldiers burst suddenly into shouts. It was the Ma
rine Infantry led by Major Darty. And the Bishop, re
lating the events of that day, closes his tale with the words :
'We embraced one another, tears streaming down our cheeks ;
we were saved, and saved by French soldiers.' In those
words he expressed not only the joy of unexpected salvation,
but the joy of satisfied patriotism."
The Lazarists are not alone in their devotion to
Christ's cause out in China. The priests of the Paris
Society of Foreign Missions have been at work there
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
in the most dangerous posts, and have given numer
ous martyrs to the Church. This famous Society,
whose headquarters are in Paris, was founded be
tween 1658 and 1663 with the approval of Pope
Alexander VII and legally recognized by the French
Government. The Seminary of Foreign Missions
had for its special object the conversion of the heathen,
not alone by preaching the Gospel, but by the forma
tion of native clergy. This object has not been modi
fied during the two centuries which have now passed
and today, as in the first days of the Society's ex
istence, all young men received at the Seminary of
Foreign Missions are sent, without exception, to
work among heathen nations.
From its foundation until 1899, the Seminary of
Foreign Missions has sent to the countries in the
Far East 2,320 missionaries, of whom 1,925 set out
between 1840 and the present day. Among them,
seventeen were condemned to death by heathen tri
bunals and shed their blood for Our Lord Jesus
Christ. Eight among them were declared Venerable
and nine Blessed, together with forty priests or lay
men of the Cochin-China, Tong-king and Chinese mis
sions. The ceremonies of their beatification were
celebrated in 1900, during the month of May in Rome,
and during June, in Paris. Moreover, sixty mis
sionaries of the society were murdered without pre
vious condemnation, by the heathen in various places
and in different manners.
The Society of Foreign Missions, in its annual re
port for 1908, gives the following statistics: The So-
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ciety at present numbers in its 32 missions of India,
Indo-China, China and Japan 37 bishops and 1,371
missionaries, 305 lay brothers and 4,075 nuns. We
should note that these missionaries, brothers and
nuns, are all French with the exception, of course,
of native catechisers and nuns. It is well known,
moreover, with what affection those apostles who
spend their lives and energies abroad for the propa
gation of the Gospel, remember their earthly home
and teach the inhabitants of the Far East to love that
land also.
But to really understand how far below the demand
those figures are, it suffices to remember that, tak
ing only the missions entrusted to the Society of
Foreign Missions, the heathen population amounts
to approximately two hundred and fifty million souls ;
thus we see that there are barely seven priests for one
million of infidels. In spite of this dearth of apos
tolic laborers, the Society of Foreign Missions is able
each year to register on an average 40,000 to 50,000
baptisms of adult heathens (in 1898 the figure
reached 72,700) and from 160,000 to 200,000 bap
tisms of pagan children in peril of death; while
religious assistance is given to 1,200,000 native
Christians spread here and there in the midst of idola
ters. The Jesuit Fathers have a still greater number
of missionaries in their numerous missions; they
amount to more than 3,000. Their vast colleges in
India contain a great corps of religious.
The Capuchins number eight hundred religious, of
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
whom 628 are priests distributed in the various mis
sions established all over the world.
Having presented the evangelical laborers, it will,
perhaps, be mteresting to consider the countries where
they expend their zealous efforts, and the difficulties
and victories wliich they have met there. But a study
of each of the Catholic missions would require not one,
but many volumes. We must, therefore, he content
to study only the chief missions, that is to say. those
of Australia, India, Indo-China, China and Japan.
AUSTRALIA
The mission which developed most rapidly, so rap
idly indeed as to become part of the regular hierarchy
of the Church within the space of a few years, is that
in Australia. There are at present on that continent
one million Catholics, four archbishops, nineteen
bishops, twelve hundred priests, over thirteen hundred
churches, six hundred teaching brethren and six
thousand, five hundred nuns teaching one hun
dred and twenty thousand children. Associated with
them up to the time of his death, in August, 1911,
was Cardinal Moran, Archbishop of Sydney. Deal
ings between religious and civil powers here are cour
teous and friendly. Thus, in August, 1909, on the
occasion of the visit to Sydney of sixteen American
vessels, Cardinal Moran, accompanied by bishops and
priests, went to the town hall and welcomed the
American sailors in a speech wliich was received with
great enthusiasm. On Sunday one thousand offi
cers, one thousand, five hundred non-commissioned
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officers and sailors were present at Mass celebrated
in Sydney Cathedral by one of the chaplains of the
American fleet. These marvelous results have been
obtained in less than a century.
The first awakenings of Catholicism in Australia
were more than modest. It is well known that this
colony, which has now become practically self-govern
ing under the sovereignty of England, was at first a
penal colony. When seven hundred and fifty convicts
landed at Port Jackson in 1788, an Irish priest of
fered to accompany them, but he was refused. Dur
ing the next eleven years other consignments of
convicts were deported, but never a Catholic priest
among them to help them with the comforts of re
ligion. In 1799 numerous political prisoners were
sent to Australia; these were the men who had taken
part in the Irish insurrection of 1798. A few priests
were among the number, but they soon disappeared,
either through death or because they were taken back
to their own land; so that from 1810 to 1820 the
Australian continent did not contain a single Catholic
priest. All who asked to be allowed to go to the as
sistance of the unfortunate convicts were pitilessly
repulsed by the British government.
It was only in 1820, when tolerance began to pre
vail in the United Kingdom, that the Colonial Office
determined to send two priests to Sydney, with full
authorization to exercise the duties of their religion.
Father Therry and Father Connolly were appointed.
In Sydney as in London, the Anglican Church alone
was officially recognized; Catholicism was tolerated,
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
but within the strictest limits possible. It was in the
eyes of the government an evil to be eradicated, if
possible, but in any case to be cautiously circum
scribed. The obstacles to be fought against would
have worn out the courage of less zealous men, but
Fathers Therry and Connolly were not to be driven
back by difficulties. They divided the vast field which
they were allowed to cultivate; Father Connolly went
to Hobart in Tasmania and Father Therry remained
at Sydney.
Father Therry's labors, in the very center of the
colony, surrounded by a population of ten thousand
Catholics, proved particularly beneficial. His first
care was to build a church. The very year after his
arrival, 1821, he laid the first stone of a humble sanc
tuary dedicated to the Holy Virgin, which has since
been replaced by the Cathedral of Saint Mary at
Sydney, the metropolitan church of Australia. But
it was only fifteen years later that the Catholic
Church in Australia began seriously to develop.
The Church Act of July 29, 1836, marks a never-
to-be-forgotten date in the history of Australian
Catholicism. By that law the Anglican Church
ceased to be the official religion of the land; the vari
ous denominations were all placed on an equal foot
ing and the annual grant, which had hitherto been
given only to the Anglican Church, was divided up
between all religious bodies in Australia, in propor
tion to the number of their adherents and to the ex
tent of their needs. At the very moment when liberty
of religion was thus proclaimed to be a fundamental
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law in Australia, an episcopal see was established
at Sydney; its first titulary was an English Bene
dictine, the Right Reverend John Bede Polding.
Fifty years later, so great was the progress ac
complished that the Holy See was forced to consider
the advisability of endowing the Australian Churches
with a uniform system of legislation. Two Synods
were held, one at Sydney in 1844, the other at Mel
bourne in 1869, where the question had already been
mooted. These first efforts had remained ineffectual
and Pope Leo XIII considered, in 1885, that the
propitious moment had arrived for a solemn ratifi
cation of all that had been accomplished hitherto.
He therefore raised the Archbishop of Sydney, Mon
signor Moran, to the rank of cardinal, and charged
him with the task of summoning to the metropolitan
city all the bishops of Australia, for the purpose of
holding a council over which Monsignor Moran him
self was to preside.
The Council of Sydney fixed the boundaries of the
various dioceses, decided on the mode of election of
the bishops, and the erection of parishes, introduced
uniform celebration of the Divine Office, determined
which should be the feasts of obligation, drafted the
law concerning fasting and exceptional cases of ex
emption, the administration of the sacraments, the
administration of ecclesiastical property, the founda
tion of seminaries, and so forth. The decisions of
this council form a veritable charter of the Australian
Church. Australian Catholics have justly given great care
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
to the matter of primary education, which bears so
intimate a relation to the life of the Church. In
1899, Dr. Carr, Archbishop of Melbourne, described,
in a magnificent speech delivered at Maynooth Col
lege, Ireland, what sacrifices the Australians had
generously accepted in behalf of their schools and
what fine results had been obtained.
"Up till twenty-five years ago," said he, "the schools in
Australia were, practically speaking, denominational. A
grant was made by the government of each colony to the
schools of all denominations without distinction.
"Then a great change took place. Government grants
were withdrawn from denominational schools and the various
religious bodies had either to submit to the state system or
to build and maintain schools at their own expense. The
Catholic clergy were alone in Australia to resolve on build
ing and maintaining private schools rather than to allow
Catholic children to frequent schools where entirely secular
instruction was given. ... I need not tell you that such
a decision was instinctively taken — by an instinct of faith —
and it was decided to erect schools and to maintain them at
any cost, without shrinking from the sacrifices which such
a course would entail. . . . During the past twenty-five
years no less than half a million sterling has been spent
in buildings by Victoria alone, which is certainly by far the
smallest of the Australian colonies, and a similar sum has
been necessary for the teaching staff, so that the Catholics
of Victoria have spent on their schools more than one million
pounds sterling.
"And besides maintaining their own schools they are
obliged to contribute towards the maintenance of official lay
schools. They have protested and still continue to protest
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against this injustice, and I am happy to »ay that their
remonstrances have not been without effect.
"But if this measure has been unjust and often prejudicial
towards Catholics, I do not think that any greater blessing
could have fallen on the Catholic people of Australia than
the necessity of building and keeping their own schools at
their own expense. It has drawn Catholics in closer union;
it has strengthened the Catholic interests in the country and
has drawn upon us divine graces in proportion to the sacri
fices which have been necessary. . . ."
INDIA
The missions of India are also full of promise for
the Church. India, properly so-called, is under the
dominion of England. That old cradle of civiliza
tion, more ancient perhaps than the sanctuaries of
ancient Egypt is now the scene of a tremendous social
evolution. The Brahman has come forth from his
legendary contemplation of the ethereal spheres; he
now mixes with the rest of the world; he is fast be
coming judge, doctor, lawyer, and embracing all the
liberal professions which lead to honors and fortune.
Following him the upper castes have taken the same
trend; administrative offices, warehouses, railway
stations are filled with Indian employes who can both
speak and write in English. But the Indian soul has
not been truly affected; caste divisions and prejudices
are still very lively, old superstitions are still practiced
in every form, and ancient customs, though constantly
fought against, are very far from dead. The great
mass of the people, poor and ignorant, have remained
riveted to their labor, their fields, and their customs,
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
feeding on a few grains of rice, covered with rags,
cringing before the conqueror whom they do not love,
and who lays heavy taxes on them in spite of their
poverty. And what of Catholicism in the midst of this motley
population of 250,000,000 souls? It makes but slow
progress if we consider the enormous and compact
mass of humanity which it must convert ; but it moves
rapidly, on the contrary, if we cast our eyes back
over a period of one hundred years and realize the
meagerness of the resources at the disposal of the
missionaries and the obstacles against which they
must fight.
A century ago, all India had only seven bishops,
two of whom dwelt in Portugal, twenty-two Eu
ropean missionaries, most of them old and infirm, to
whom must be added three or four hundred Genoese
priests, very ignorant of ecclesiastical discipline and
more zealous in the cause of rest than in that of labor.
There were hardly 500,000 Catholics in the land, the
greater number of whom were without instruction and
inclined to be superstitious. There was not a college,
only a very few elementary schools, and no hospitals,
no dispensaries, no orphanages which might com
fort the body as well as the soul, and shed over
Catholicism the consoling rays of charity.
All this has wonderfully changed within the past
hundred years. Today there are in India : one apos
tolic delegate, 8 archbishops, 20 bishops, 4 prefects
apostolic and three vicars apostolic for the Syriac
Christians. The staff of workers, manifestly insuffi-
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cient to cope with the needs and aspirations of the
people, is composed of 800 priests in the Portuguese
dioceses, 760 missionaries belonging to 10 European
congregations and having as auxiliaries more than
700 Indian priests. To these figures we may add
more than 3,500 monks and nuns of all orders and
all nationalities. The efforts of this well-organized
army of missionaries have been crowned with success.
The number of Catholics in India has increased by
more than one million in a century. In 1800 they
numbered 475,000; at the beginning of the twentieth
century they have grown to nearly two millions.
The Catholics of India belong for the most part to
the poorer classes. The preaching of the Gospel at
the beginning converted mostly those whom the world
despised. The imprint which was then given to the
Catholic teaching has never been effaced. But,
nevertheless, there are among the faithful a certain
number of rich families, well-to-do doctors, engineers,
lawyers and high officials. Even in the pagan courts
are royal councilors who, by their high position, their
good services and their intelligence, bring the Catho
lic religion into good repute in the eyes of Hindoos
and Mussulmans.
Catholics are more numerous in the southern part
of India than in the northern. Thus, except in the
Archdiocese of Calcutta where there are 86,000
Catholics, the dioceses of the northern regions do not
contain 10,000 Catholics each. But if we cast our
eye over the statistics of the southern dioceses we find
that Pondicherry contains 143,000 Catholics, Madura
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
200,000, Colombo 205,000, Quilon 116,000 and so
forth. There are several reasons to account for this dif
ference, the chief one being that Mahomedanism is
much more widely spread in the countries of Agar,
Lahore and the neighboring regions. Now, if it is
an exaggeration to say that grass never grows on the
ground which has been trodden by a Mussulman
army, it is certainly true that the followers of Ma
homet are never converted. It has been proved over
and over again. Perhaps the reason is to be found
in the easy morality of the Prophet; but we do not
think that can be the root of the matter; we think that
the true reason for this strange and enduring obsti
nacy is to be sought in the love which the Mussulmans
have for their doctrine and the rare and partial truths
wliich it affords them.
Certain circumstances aided the apostolic laborers
in the southern dioceses, in their success in rapidly
increasing the number of the faithful. One of the
chief of these circumstances is the famine which for
twenty-five years has so often ravaged India. Dis
pensing, in the midst of the distress, their own private
resources as well as the resources of their mis
sions, the bishops fed, sheltered and saved from
death thousands and thousands of starving creatures.
Brought face to face with such boundless and ever
increasing charity, hearts have been softened, spirits
have been enlightened and numerous conversions have
rejoiced and enlarged the Church of God. Hence
it is that in the Diocese of Pondicherry more than
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100,000 faithful have been baptized since 1880, more
than 50,000 in Madras, and a considerable number at
Vizagapatam. Catholics, we admit, are not alone in making for
ward strides in India during the past century,
or rather during the last few years. Protestants of
all denominations have also made rapid progress.
According to the statistics which they publish from
time to time, their numbers now exceed 1,000,000.
But their strength is to be accounted for less by their
numbers than by their educational enterprises. They
have more than 50 large colleges where about 60,000
pupils are educated ; professional, industrial and agri
cultural schools, and hundreds of orphanages and hos
pitals. We do not seek to deny their activity, nor the zeal
shown by many of their number; but that they have
been able to accomplish great things is chiefly owing
to the fact that they have enormous resources to back
their labors. The great reproach the Catholic mis
sionaries have to make against them is that they lead
their cultured adherents to skepticism. A Protes
tant peasant still believes in something ; but a former
pupil of one of the Protestant colleges of Bombay,
Madras, Calcutta or elsewhere, no longer believes
in anything; his heart is dried up, his soul withered,
his intelligence no longer sees beyond the things of
this world.
Those who are not familiar with the things of India
and who have not visited the country cannot have any
idea of the importance which education has attained
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there during the last fifty years. This is largely due
to the fact that a university degree is now an essential
condition for any youth aspiring to public employ
ment. Therefore the Indian has cast himself, head
foremost, we might almost say, into the schools, not
for the love of knowledge, not with a desire for in
tellectual and moral improvement, but merely as a
means to obtain remunerative positions and honor.
To seek to hinder this fantastic onward movement
would be to oppose the most lively aspirations of the
country and to entirely paralyze the missionaries in
their efforts. The Church of India would sign her
death warrant if, as a French bishop so aptly said,
she did not know how to turn to good account for the
progress of her labors, the ruling events of each cen
tury, the changes which occur in the nations in the
midst of which she is situated. We may deeply de
plore the excesses and new needs which are thus
aroused, but our complaints will not stop their onward
course. There is but one remedy: to go forth and
meet them boldly.
The establishment of Catholic schools capable of
attracting the heathen children is one of the chief
tasks which the Church in India must undertake. In
that resides the greater part of her future success.
If she cannot offer to the heathen youth the means
of qualifying for public offices, she must submit to see
them drift away from her and ask the Protestant
denominations for that teaching which she is power
less to give.
To meet these needs, the missionaries have there-
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fore founded large and numerous colleges. Thus
the Jesuits have a college at Trichinopoli where they
can accommodate 1,800 pupils, another at Bombay
for 1,400 pupils; the Paris Foreign Missionary So
ciety is the owner of Cuddalore College where 1,300
boys receive education, and of the Bangalore College
which accommodates 700 students ; the Oblates of Mary
have a college for 500 boys at Colombo. These figures
are significant. The eagerness of the pupils is also
astounding. Not alone young men, but married men,
fathers of families, hasten to follow the curriculum of
English universities. Adjoining the colleges stand
flourishing printing-houses whence come the clas
sical books, philological, devotional and controversial
works, which are bought in large numbers and read
with eagerness.
It is easy to understand how great is the anxiety
of the English authorities confronting this intel
lectual transformation of India, accompanied as it is
by constant symptoms of rebellion which the British
Empire is too often called upon to suppress. What
will happen when, sooner or later, the Hindoos like
the Japanese, shall be acquainted with our scientific
discoveries, possessed of our culture, our modern in
ventions, and above all, when they come to forget their
personal dissensions and join forces? Will they
prefer to remain an English vice-royalty or to become
a great self-governing nation in that Eastern land
which day by day shakes off the lethargy of centuries?
God alone knows.
Let us conclude this picture of the state of the
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Church in India by a short description of some of
the charitable institutions there. In the Archdiocese
of Agar, there are sixteen orphanages accommodating
1,300 children. Allahabad owns six orphanages with
595 children. Bombay has an Institute for the Deaf
and Dumb, and a leper settlement. The Madras dio
cese owns four hospitals, while those of Mysore and
Coimbatore boast of four hospitals and six dis
pensaries where more than 200,000 patients are
treated each year. To sum up, there are 102 orphan
ages with 6,150 children and a hundred hospitals, ref
uges for the aged, and shelters.
There is certainly much still to be done in those
missions, but it cannot be denied that much has already
been accomplished and fine results obtained. But the
Indian soul, as we have already stated, is not yet
reached by religion, in anything like a correct pro
portion to the efforts which are being made to win
these people to Christ. One proof of this is to be
found in the superstitions which still persist in every
class of society. Perhaps the strangest of these su
perstitions, an occasion for great festivities and con
siderable traveling, is the immersion in sacred rivers,
which is considered absolutely necessary for regenera
tion and sanctification. Regarding sin as a material
stain, the Indians look upon these ablutions as a most
efficacious means of washing it away. Those accom
plished in certain privileged rivers, such as the Gan
ges, the Indus, the Godavari, the Cauvery, et cetera,
are considered to purify the soul and body from all
stain and all sin. When, on account of the distance,
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a Hindoo is unable to go to those rivers, it suffices
to journey thither in imagination, and to fancy him
self bathing in the sacred waters. The effect is the
same, in Hindoo eyes.
This purifying virtue is also attributed to numerous
springs and lakes venerated in India, which possess
these qualities only at certain times of the year. The
lake in the vicinity of Kumbhakonam, Tan j ore, is
invested with this property but once a year, and more
especially every twelfth year. Nothing is stranger
than the ceremonies held at Kumbhakonam on that
occasion. The town, inhabited by Brahmans and
other heathen Hindoos, is full of multi-colored pa
godas, lakes and baths of all sorts. The pious-minded
rush there each year from all parts of India to offer
their homage to the gods and to bathe in the regener
ating waters which cleanse them not only from sins
which they have committed, but also those which they
foresee that they will commit in future. This occurs
in March when the constellation of Makha rises above
the horizon. But when Jupiter, revolving round the
sun happens to meet the moon, the great feast of
Mabamakham is celebrated. This occurs once in
every twelve years.
A popular legend relates that the nine divinities
who preside over the nine rivers of India complained
one day to Kailasopathi, master of Kailasa or Para
dise, that, being ever occupied in washing away the
sins of the whole human race, they were really too
weary and overworked. They therefore begged him
to find some easier method of attaining the same ob-
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ject. Kailasopathi then pointed out Lake Kumbha
konam to them, saying that there all sins might be
washed away en masse; and he promised that he him
self, with his wife and children Avould go to the lake
every twelve years, at the time when Jupiter joining
the moon, should be in the presence of the Makha
constellation. When these blessed epochs draw near, the stations
are crowded with people, wild rushes are made for
the trains, and even the freight cars are filled with
a countless mass. The high roads, too, are crowded
to overflowing with an inextricable quantity of carts
drawn by horses and oxen, with women and children
seated everywhere, even on the shafts, while the men
walk by the side of the vehicles carrying children on
their backs and shoulders. Other carts are laden with
the pans in which the traditional rice is to be cooked.
All hasten forward, anxious, eager, breathless, towards
the same goal. It is a human wave which, towards the
end of the journey, becomes so compact in the neigh
borhood of the lake that it would be impossible to
arrest it. On reaching the banks of the lake, the pil
grims wait until the signal is given by the master of
ceremonies and then all together, men and women,
plunge into the water, shouting wildly and forming
an indescribable mass of whirling, twisting, writhing
human beings. It is rare that in the midst of such
confusion, some persons are not crushed and others
more or less wounded. But the Hindoos say they are
fortunate to lose their lives thus, for they will immedi
ately obtain a higher place in the land of felicity.
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The English have had much trouble iri stamping
out other superstitions of a cruel nature, such as the
voluntary immolation of widows on the funereal pile
of their husbands, that we need not here go further
into this curious subject, but simply point out, in
closing, that the contrast is striking between the intel
lectual culture which the Hindoos seek with such
eagerness and these almost savage rehgious prac
tices. INDO-CHINA
To the south and west of the great Chinese Empire
which alone occupies one-third of the whole expanse
of Asia and whose doors, both political and commer
cial, are being too slowly opened to Western civiliza
tion, to the east of India which British cleverness
has subjected to its laws, stretches a vast peninsula
which receiving civilization, institutions, religion, et
cetera, from the two principal countries which it
touches, has also taken from them the name of Indo-
China. Politically this country is divided between France
and England. The latter possesses, or rather pro
tects, Burmah, all the stretch of land known as the
Straits Settlements with Singapore as capital, and
the small states governed by rajahs in the Malay Pen
insula. The French possessions comprise the an
cient Kingdom of Annam, divided into the provinces
of Annam, Tong-king and Cochin-China, a large part
of the Me-Kong Valley and the ancient Kingdom of
Cambodia which appears to have formerly ruled the
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whole peninsula and which in the days of its splendor
built the monuments of Angkor Tom, whose extensive
ruins are, to the astonished traveler, a proof of van
ished civilization. Between the French and English
possessions stretches the Kingdom of Siam, coveted
by its two neighbors with whom it coquettes alter
nately, hoping by this wavering policy to maintain its
independence. The total population of the peninsula amounts to
about forty-five millions. It is composed of very
different elements Avhich geographers have more or
less arbitrarily separated into four groups: 1. The
Annamites and Thais, subdivided into Chams, Lzo-
tiens, Siamese, which all appear to belong to one race
related to the Chinese; 2. The Burmese and Cam
bodians who are more like the Indians ; 3. The Mois,
or Muongs, and all the savage tribes inhabiting the
valleys of Me-Kong, Meinam, Salonen and Irawady ;
4. The Malays and the tribes of the Malay Peninsula.
Among these indigenous populations dwell numerous
representatives of other foreign races brought there
by chance, by commercial enterprise, or in the hope
of making their fortunes. Among them are Euro
peans of all nationalities, Chinese from the eighteen
provinces and Cingalese, Madrasis and natives of
Calcutta. The vicariates apostolic and the dioceses, to the
number of sixteen, have grown up gradually in these
regions since the sixteenth century, by dint of un
wearying patience, and at the cost of indescribable
efforts and tbe generous shedding of Christian blood.
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It is in the Siamese mission at Bangkok that we
find the large College of the Assumption. It was
founded and is managed by missionaries and accom
modates more than 400 students. A few years ago
when M. Doumer, then Governor- General of Indo-
China, visited it, he offered warm and well deserved
congratulations to the superior, Father Colombet, on
the success of the work there. Not long ago the King
of Siam ordered a public competition between the
pupils of the various royal or other schools of Bang
kok. The conditions of this competition were pub
lished; the prize, to be divided equally between the
first two competitors, was a sum of 2,500 pounds
sterling. One of the professors at the palace school,
a former pupil of the missionaries' college, obtained
permission to compete, and the college also presented
three candidates meeting the required conditions.
The competition, which lasted five days, was attended
by about thirty persons. The palace school professor
stood first and the pupils of the college obtained
second, third and fourth places. The second com
petitor, a young boy of seventeen and a Catholic of
an old family, went to London to complete his train
ing at the King's expense.
In 1898, the mission of Siam built a large hospital
for Europeans. Father Romien, a missionary, was
its architect and designed the whole establishment
with its dependencies in such an excellent manner as
to win general admiration. In fact, a Protestant
paper even said: "If we did but consider Bangkok
and its European community, we might say that the
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hospital is perhaps too luxurious. But it is dedicated
to Saint Louis, who declared that nothing can be too
magnificent for the suffering members of humanity."
On his return from a visit to England, made a few
years ago, the King, Chu-la-long-Korn, in welcoming
the missionaries, spoke to them concerning the im
pressions of his journey, and stated that His Holiness
Leo XIII had interested him above everybody else.
In fact, :he portrait of the Holy Father, which had
been handed him by the apostolic nuncio in Paris,
occupied a place of honor in his palace. He liked to
repeat: "I was cordially received everywhere, bet
ter even than I had dared to hope; but all that was
official. Only at the Vatican did I find a father's
soul. One feels that there is something divine in that
heart." In the Burmese mission we find one of the most
admirable instances of Christian charity, — a fine es
tablishment recently founded for lepers by Father
Wehinger, of the Paris Foreign Missions. In a large
enclosure, eight pavilions, four for men and four for
women, have been erected, where 250 patients have
already found a home. The staff is composed of
two missionaries, six Franciscan Missionaries of
Mary who went out in 1897, one catechist, one school
master, a clerk, and four servants.
Several other missions also keep up leper settle
ments, where missionaries and religious women sacri
fice their lives generously in the heroic exercise of
deeds of charity. They cannot forget the fact, that
sooner or later they will be attacked by the terrible
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malady which science is yet powerless to cure. But
their reward is in Heaven, and meanwhile they live
on, knowing that they are serving Jesus Christ in the
persons of their poor patients, whom the world holds
in horror, and that they are doing much to preserve
from this terrible scourge thousands of human lives
which would certainly be infected beyond the enclos
ure walls by contact with these poor wretches whom
they have gathered around them and separated from
their fellow-citizens.
The districts of Tong-king, of Annam and of
Cochin-China now enjoy religious peace under the
government or protectorate of France. They con
tain eight vicariates, in charge of the Society of For
eign Missions, and three others intrusted to the Span
ish Dominicans. The number of Catholics exceeds
800,000. These are marvelous results when one
looks back over the thirty years since the French oc
cupied the land. One shrinks with horror as one
remembers the unutterable persecutions which once
afflicted those ill-fated missions. From 1883 to 1886
more than 50,000 Catholics were massacred, and hun
dreds of Christian stations were burned. Even to
day the missionaries have to fight against the powerless
hatred and the falseness of the cultured classes and
the mandarins who sometimes, unfortunately, have
good excuses for their unrighteous dealings, in the
conduct of Europeans towards them.
A passing tribute should be paid to him who was
perhaps the greatest of these Indo-China missionaries,
and it should be recorded that the Catholic religion
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C AT1I0 L1C O H ( J AN 1Z AT ION
suffered a great loss in July, 1898, by the death of
Father Six, who bad then reached the age of seventy.
lie was undoubtedly one ol' the most remarkable na
tive priests oi the vicariate, and indeed of all Indo-
China. First confessor ol' tlie faith, then rector of
Phat-Diem, Father Six was ever a striking example
of piety and practical common sense. Wondrous are
the works which he undertook and carried through
with unvarying success: embankments to finally win
from the sea those lands which bit by bit were being
undermined; churches and chapels which the visitor
cannot fail to admire for their elegant and bold de
signs; homes for the poor and wandering, and shelters
for children, all these he undertook and executed
simultaneously. At the same time he was careful to
give to all religious ceremonies the solemn and grand
effects which please the faithful and which enhance
the dignity of our Holy Church in the eyes of pagans.
Well versed in Annamite jurisprudence, he soon
came to be the most respected arbiter of tbe region,
and consequently enjoyed great personal influence.
The highest officials of the country were delighted to
be counted among his acquaintances, and the official
representatives of the Protectorate were always ready
to acknowledge tbe great services he rendered to tbe
French cause, which had become indeed the nation's
cause. In appreciation of all these services, he was
fittingly made a Knight of the Legion of Honor.

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CHINA

China, with her enormous population of about
430,000,000 pagans, has long attracted to her soil the
best of our Catholic workers. But, alas, in spite of
centuries of effort, in spite of untold expense and of
rivers of blood shed in almost every province, the re
sults obtained are meager. In all the Empire there
are barely one million and a half of Christians. The
cause of this lack of success must be sought in the
antipathy or rather the hatred of the cultured classes
and mandarins towards Europeans, in the love of the
Chinese for material things, the slight attention they
pay to supernatural questions and above all, to the
total absence of religious liberty, although there is
a sign that this will be changed under the new re
gime. At various dates China signed treaties securing
considerable privileges to the missionaries and mis
sions. Such were, for instance, the treaties of 1844,
negotiated by M. de Lagrene, French plenipoten
tiary; that of Tientsin, May 27, 1858; and of Peking
in 1860; and more recently, after the last armed in
tervention of the European powers, and the taking
of Peking, the Decree of March 15, 1899, obtained by
M. Pichon, French Minister to China, and Monsignor
Favier, Vicar Apostolic of Peking. But one thing
is certain, these treaties have done little to abolish the
resistance of the Celestials, nor have they diminished
their antipathy for strangers.
After the signing of these treaties and before the
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decree of March 15, 1899, what terrible disasters
we have to register. There is not a single mission
which has not cruelly suffered. Christian communi
ties have been pilfered, churches burned, presbyteries
ruined, missionaries massacred, and faithful Catholics
imprisoned or exiled. The provinces of Szechwan
and of Kwangsi rank first in the numbers of Chris
tian martyrs. Here we find the names of Fathers
Mabileau, Rigaud, Hue, Berthollet and Mazel.
Kweichou mourns for Fathers Neel and Muller;
Yunnan has lost Fathers Baptifaud and Terrasse;
Kwangtung was the scene of Father Chanes' tragic
death; Tientsin was overwhelmed by the horrible
drama of 1870 ; Kansu, by the death of Father Jean
de Triora; and Hupe by that of Father Delbrouck,
who at the end of 1898, was slaughtered and horribly
mutilated along with 83 Christians.
And what has been and is still the life of those
other missionaries? Lost in a little village in the
mountains or in a large city with only a few Chris
tians round them, thousands and even millions of
pagans ever watching them, they are subjected to
calumnies of all sorts. The more absurd the tales
brought against them, the more readily are they be
lieved. Sometimes these calumnies are spread in
good faith by men who believe them, sometimes they
are invented by the cultured, the mandarins, the first
comers. Anonymous posters, infamous hand bills,
accuse the missionaries of having committed the most
heinous and extraordinary offenses, for the odious
imputations invented centuries ago are still believed
10 135

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by the people. They readily believe that missionaries
tear out the eyes of dying men, or use children's brains
to make strange remedies for various diseases. Jour
nalists falsely announce that during a certain night,
at a stated hour, some church was burned, some pres
bytery sacked, and thus the hatred of the pagans is
stimulated. They are urged to imitate these imagi
nary exploits; while at the same time the false news
spreads alarm in the ranks of the Christians and
obliges the missionaries to be ever watchful.
Can one realize what it is to live ever a prey to
anxiety, less on one's own personal account than for
the precious institutions of which one has the charge,
or for well-beloved spiritual children? Can one
imagine the weight which crushes the heart and the
band of iron which presses on the mind? And that
is the life of many missionaries in China. Not every
where, of course, does this condition prevail. There
is a sensible difference between the existence of the
priests stationed in the coast-towns, and open ports,
such as Shanghai, Hangchow, Peking, and that of
the Gospel preachers inland, in Kweichau, Kwangsi,
Hunan, Szechuen, et cetera. In the provinces where
the Europeans are little known, where the cannon
has never been heard, where steamboats have not
penetrated, Catholic priests enjoy only a minimum of
freedom. They cannot build an elevated church, or
install a convent of Chinese nuns, or call European
nuns to their assistance, or even openly visit a girls'
school; and it would be difficult for them to appear
commonly in the cassock worn by missionaries in Man-
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
- -^
churia. The difference between these two categories
is seen at first glance.
Go into the North— to Mukden, Tientsin, Peking,
Shanghai — and you will see fine churches with grace
ful spires, decorated with massive towers, constructed
in the midst of populous cities or on high hills domi
nating immense plains. In Canton you will admire
that superb granite cathedral built by Monsignor
Guillemin. Go then to Szechuen, Kweichau, Hunan,
Kwangsi, Shansi and you will, as a general rule, find
humble oratories hidden behind walls and looking
outwardly like ordinary dwelling-houses. At Kwei-
yang, where for a time the Catholics enjoyed a certain
liberty, they dared to add a Chinese tower to their
oratory, but they would have hesitated to put up a
Gothic or Roman tower.
Certain rights which our priests have obtained in
principle and which, are necessary to apostolic action,
are preserved with great difficulty. We will quote
merely one example. In 1865 a French minister
plenipotentiary in China, .M. Berthemy, wished to
determine one of the articles of the treaty of Peking
and entered into an agreement with the Celestial Em
pire by which missionaries were allowed to purchase
property, lands or houses, without obtaining an au
thorization from the mandarin. The agreement was
observed fairly well for a few months; but soon the
provincial authorities refused to recognize it and in
sisted on an authorization being first obtained; and
naturally small and great mandarins all hastened to
refuse such authorization. Things came to such a
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point that M. Gerard, then French Minister to China,
was obliged to take up the matter again and in a
series of able communications at length forced the
Tsung-li-ya-men to clearly define the terms of the
first agreement and to give orders enforcing its ob
servance. Nevertheless, in spite of all obstacles Catholicism
is progressing in China, especially in places where re
lations are more frequent with Europeans. At Pe
king, for instance, and in Kiang-nan not alone the
poor and humble come to seek the true God, but also
merchants, landowners, agriculturists, and even men
of wealth, or at least those who are well-to-do. For
greater developments, we must trust in the future,
which seems fairly secure, thanks to the decree of
March 15, 1899, and to the recent political change.
This decree recognizes that the Catholic religion
and worship are spread throughout all the provinces
of China and, to avoid conflicts and insure harmony
between the population and the Christians, determines
the manner in which official relations shall be estab
lished between imperial representatives and mission
aries. The official text runs as follows:
"Should any serious difficulty arise, in whatsoever province
it may be, and should it be impossible for the missionaries
and mandarins to agree amicably as regards the matter in
dispute, the bishop and missionaries of that place must re
quest the intervention of the minister or consul of the power
to which the Pope has intrusted spiritual protectorates."
These words contradict all idea of the nationaliza-
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tion of missions ; they indicate and officially affirm that
the Protectorate regime is and shall remain the system
under which dealing may be established between the
Chinese State and the Catholic Church. The power
alluded to in the decree is not indicated more ex
plicitly; but by virtue of the treaties concluded with
the Chinese Government, confirmed by long practice
and by very numerous testimonials of gratitude on
the part of Propaganda and of the missionaries them
selves, France is the nation which is called upon in all
the forty vicariates apostolic of China, that is to say,
in all, with one single exception, to defend religious
interests. In this same decree the bishops are declared to hold
equal rank and dignity with the viceroys and govern
ors, which appears to be a mark of very high esteem ;
the vicars general and archpriests "rank with the
treasurers, provincial judges and stewards"; and the
other priests "with prefects of the first and second
class." All matters of etiquette are provided for.
The missionaries of different degrees in the Catholic
hierarchy are authorized to "request to see" the Chi
nese functionaries of similar rank and to treat in
friendly manner with them concerning religious mat
ters; while the mandarins are enjoined to "negotiate
without delay in conciliatory manner and to seek a
solution to difficulties."
Does this mean, as has been alleged, that hence
forth, the liberty of Catholicism, her preachers and
her faithful will be complete? Certainly not. Even
those who obtained the decree cannot believe it; yet
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it is a great forward step, at which we must truly re
joice, while hoping that the new state of things in the
Chinese Republic will still further benefit the Church.
Let us leave the future now and look at the present,
and also on the past. That which strikes us most in
the work of missions in China and in the missionaries'
labors is the great number of pagan children who have
become Christians. The Chinese, as is well known,
are rather willing to forsake their children, especially
the girls. Our priests and nuns have been ingenious
enough to organize "baptizers" of both sexes who go
into town and village to confer the sacrament of re
generation on these poor little forsaken beings, and
to found orphanages where they receive and educate
the little waifs whom death has spared. The three
missions of the province of Szechuen in particular
have always been remarkable for this work of spiritual
and corporeal salvation. Thus, each year in those
provinces more than 100,000 children are baptized;
there are also some in the northern part of Chang-
tong and in many other missions.
European nuns have come successfully to the aid
of the missionaries. The Sisters of St. Vincent de
Paul are at Peking, at Tientsin, Ningpo and in other
towns. The Franciscan missionary Sisters are set
tled at Tche-fou, at T-chang, and have even pene
trated into the interior of China and into Mongolia,
while nuns of various other orders are scattered in all
the chief towns. The Little Brothers of Mary man
age most of the European schools in China, whether
at Peking, Shanghai, T-chang, or Ou-tchanfou.
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They teach French to the children and students, as
the Lazarist missionaries, the Jesuits and the priests
of the Foreign Missionary Society do also. Besides
these European religious, native catechists, tertiaries
and religious women lend most important help in the
good work. They all labor together in the various
institutions, orphanages, hospitals, dispensaries, phar
macies, where they exercise great influence over the
natives. To sum up, there are in China about 800 mission
aries belonging to ten congregations, administering
thirty -nine vicariates apostolic; forty, if we count
Thibet. More than 600 of these are French. Let
us hope that the era of persecutions will be closed with
the advent of these valiant pioneers of civilization and
Christianity, and the foundation of the new govern
ment, and that God will soon allow His emissaries to
gather the fruits of then* arduous labors.
KOREA
The history of the mission in Korea is eventful.
Persecutions which ravaged the kingdom until 1880,
led to the martyrdom of twelve bishops, or French
missionaries, three of whom perished in 1839 along
with hundreds of Catholics, and nine in 1866. From
1878 to 1880 a bishop, Monsignor Ridal, and a mis
sionary, Father Deguetta, were imprisoned at Seoul.
But since then, treaties signed by Korea with the
United States, Japan, England, Germany, and
France, and then the Sino-Japanese war which en
tirely opened up Korea, have put an end to the anti-
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religious tyranny in that land. The new political
state of Korea, under Japanese protection is a guar
antee of greater stability, peace and religious liberty.
The consequence is that the number of adult bap
tisms increases steadily and represents all classes of
society, even the highest in the land.
By a singular coincidence, it has been given us to
see in Korea that which rejoiced the heart of the
Apostle St. Paul in Rome. Even as the great Apos
tle had converted some members of Nero's imperial
family, as he tells us in his Epistle to the Philippians,
4:22, so also in Korea the mother of the King, the
wife of the greatest persecutor of Catholics in the
realm, secretly embraced the Catholic faith. Prin-
cesse Marie had been a Christian at heart for many
years. Since the sinister days when the Regent
strove to exterminate the very name of Christian from
the land, she had been studying the Catechism and
Catholic prayers by his side. She was long held back
and chained, so to speak, by participation in acts of
idolatry and superstition, which the evil events of
those times and her position rendered it almost impos
sible for her to give up. When she had broken all
these bonds and felt herself free, she begged for the
grace of regeneration. Monsignor Mutel had the
great consolation of baptizing her and giving her
the sacrament of confirmation in October, 1896. A
little later he saw her again to hear her confession
and give her Holy Communion. It was to be their
last meeting on earth. A few months later she fell
ill, and did not again leave her bed. The profound
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
secrecy which enveloped her conversion rendered it
impossible to give her the last sacraments, but up to
the very end she was attended by one of her waiting
women, a Christian, also, who upheld and comforted
her by means of sign words which they had agreed
upon, but which the people who surrounded them
could not understand. Princesse Marie died on
January 8, 1898.
A singularly encouraging symptom for the future
of Catholicism in Korea is the love of the religious life
which manifests itself among the young women of
that country. Hardly had the Sisters of St. Paul
of Chartres been settled at Seoul and Chemulpo after
the persecution, when they were asked to open their
ranks to young Korean maidens and soon eleven na
tive nuns and twenty-eight novices or postulants
joined the European nuns. They continue to seek
the veil, which proves that there exists among the peo
ple a desire for religious perfection and an elevation
of Catholic sentiment which had not been dreamt of.
Such is the present state of Catholicism in that
country, where, thirty-five years ago, no missionary
could show himself without being immediately thrown
into prison and expelled, if he escaped beheading.
JAPAN
Japan astonished the old world less than ten years
ago by a sudden revelation of her intellectual gifts,
her activity and her technical knowledge of military
matters. The war which she waged successfully
against Russia raised her with one bound to the rank
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of one of the most important nations of the world.
From a religious point of view, too, although minds
move less quickly in Japan than in many other coun
tries, progress has been relatively considerable.
The history of the Japanese missions during the
nineteenth century, comprises four periods. The
first extends from 1832 to 1858, and is a period of use
less attempts at evangelization, which ended by the
signing of treaties with the principal nations of Eu
rope. The second, from 1858 to 1872, revealed the
existence of old Japanese Christians, who had pre
served, in spite of the lapse of time, in spite of mis
fortunes and the absence of any priests, that faith
which the missionaries of the sixteenth and seven
teenth centuries had taught to their fathers. At the
same time, the period is marked by numerous perse
cutions. The third, from 1872 to 1884, though
marked by a lull in the persecutions, restricted liberty ;
for the missionaries, as foreigners, were not allowed
to go any distance from the harbors without special
authorization and were forbidden to settle inland,
which of course implied the impossibility of construct
ing churches, opening schools, orphanages and hos
pitals, and founding parishes. Their activity was re
stricted to a small number of towns which were all,
with the exception of Tokyo, situated on the coast.
Gradually, however, about 1887, a few missionaries
were able to obtain recognition as professors and thus
got permission to reside in the towns of the interior
where they taught languages and the sciences. Since
1873, the Sisters of St. Maur, those of the Child
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
Jesus from Chauffrilles and of St. Paul of Chartres
were allowed to settle at Tokyo, Kobe, Hakodate, to
open schools, work shops, orphanages, and also to
establish a pharmacy and dispensary. Then it was
that Rome divided Japan into two vicariates apos
tolic, with two bishops, one ruling over Northern
Japan and her islands, the other over Southern Japan.
The fourth period opens in 1884 with a decree
dated August 12, declaring that the Shintoist and
Buddhist priests are no longer state functionaries, and
that the nomination and dismissal of the chiefs of the
temples are henceforth effected by the authorities of
either religion. Nevertheless, the rules concerning
the labors of the different sects had to be submitted
for approval to the Minister of the Interior. Owing
to this decree, the two ancient religions of Japan be
came autonomous and there was no longer a state
religion. Nevertheless, Shintoism was still the sov
ereign's religion and the ceremonies of that religion
were obhgatory for a number of functionaries. But
there was now ground to hope that entire religious
liberty would finally be proclaimed, which really hap
pened a few years later when, in 1889, absolute
monarchy became constitutional. Article 28 of the
new constitution declared: "Japanese subjects shall
enjoy religious liberty in all that is not prejudicial to
peace and good order, nor contrary to their duties as
subjects of the king."
Great was the effect produced by this declaration
in Rome. Leo XIII had already created, in 1888,
a third vicariate, that of Central Japan, and he now
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proceeded, on April 17, 1891, to establish a fourth,
and a few weeks later, on June 15, 1891, he estab
lished the Catholic hierarchy in Japan, raising Tokyo
to the dignity of an archbishopric, with three bish
oprics for suffragans at Nagasaki, Osaka and Hako
date. Since then the four dioceses, directed by an
archbishop and three bishops, assisted by 112 French
missionaries have made rapid strides in the develop
ment of charitable institutions and in the number of
converts to Christianity.
Among these institutions, the first in importance,
is the creation of a band of native clergy. History
will be unable to criticise the new missionaries in
Japan, as Rohrbacher criticised the former mission
aries, for not having tried to form a body of native
priests. The institution is working well; nearly forty
native priests have been ordained, along with a body
of auxiliary catechists, whose training is less difficult
to effect, and whose aid is very useful. They number
about three hundred.
In order to reach the higher classes of society, the
bishops of Japan appealed to the Marianists, well
known for their College Stanislas in Paris, and begged
them to found, in the chief towns, colleges where
sound instruction and moral and refined education
could be given. The first religious of this order
reached Tokyo in 1887, with the Abbe Heinrich at
their head, and were highly recommended to the Japa
nese authorities by the French Minister in Tokyo.
Having obtained permission to establish a college in
the capital, they hired a temporary building and
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
opened school with sixty pupils. Each year the num
ber has increased, and in 1894 the school opened with
142 pupils. At the end of the school year, one hun
dred and twenty scholars were still present, eighty-
five boarders and thirty-five day-scholars. Monsig
nor Osouf gave out certain statistical details on this
occasion which show what various elements went to
make up this interesting institution. He said:
"Of these hundred and twenty pupils, thirty-one are
Cathobcs, fifteen are Protestants, fifteen catechumens, two
Jews, and fifty-seven pagans or without any known religion.
The variety is still greater if we consider nationality. Thus,
there are forty-three Japanese boys, twenty-three English,
fourteen French, twelve German, five American, five Italian,
three Spanish, three Flemish, three Swiss, three Chinese,
two Portuguese, two Danish, one Austrian and one Scottish ;
altogether, fourteen nationalities represented in a college of
one hundred and twenty pupils."
When the school reopened in 1896, there were 160
pupils, one-third of whom were Japanese; a second
third were European and the others, half-castes.
Towards the end of 1891 the Marianists founded
a second mission at Nagasaki, close to the old Chris
tian establishments, in order that they might have not
merely a school but a novitiate. This establishment,
called the School of the Star of the Sea, was soon
followed by the opening of another at Osaka, called
the Bright Star. Another Marianist college, the
School of the Morning Star, has been officially recog
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Catholic charitable institutions of all sorts are also
flourishing in Japan. The girls' orphanages shelter
1,500 children; the boys' orphanages contain even
more. The Sagi-Kirchi House at Tokyo is popu
larly called the professional school, on account of the
numerous trades taught to the young men when they
leave the elementary classes. An agricultural or
phanage is established at Hakodate. Several Cath
olic hospitals exist with a great number of patients.
Admirably organized are the leper settlements at
Gotemba and Kumamoto. In the latter, the Fran
ciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary devote themselves
to the alleviation of suffering. In 1897 and 1898
Cistercian nuns and monks settled in the diocese of
Hakodate, where ever since they have been doing
much good.
The Trappist monks at first occupied the attention
of the press during several months. They were first
introduced to the Japanese public by an important
Tokyo paper which described them as "the strange
foreigners." The writer then went on to say:
"Strange, indeed, in this band composed of French
men, Flemings, Englishmen and Italians. Strange
their mode of life, their costume, their practices.
Whence do they derive their means of support?
Mystery! They say they are monks; but may they
not be spies in Russian pay, or the crew of some whal
ing craft wrecked on our coast?"
Public opinion was aroused. The Emperor re
quested one of his chamberlains to gather information
concerning them, and to distribute alms among them
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
if they were really destitute. But all doubt disap
peared on reading the announcement wliich Father
Ligneul published concerning the Trappists. One
of the Sapporo papers printed it as a fly-sheet, fol
lowing a most favorable report drawn up after the
official inquiry. Thus ended, to the honor of these
monks, all the disturbance which had been made about
them. The Cistercian monastery in Japan also occupied
the attention of the papers, especially those printed
in English, which expressed great pity for the inter
esting victims of the cloister and blamed those who
had imprisoned them "in a hfe which is no longer in
accord with our modern ideas," and even accused tlie
monks of downright cruelty. But these polemics
ceased so soon as these false allegations had been tri
umphantly refuted.
The press has great influence in Japan, and there
fore a certain number of apostolic workers have
turned their attention to journalism. Our Catholic
friends in Japan have published more than fifty vol
umes in Japanese, dealing with rehgious matters.
Since 1S80 they have carried on. under various names,
a review in which the most important theological,
philosophical and scientific subjects are discussed, and
in which are to be found interesting details of reh
gious and Catholic life in Japan. It bears at present.
the name of Tenchijin. The Universe, and is published
in Tokyo. A weekly paper of more modest propor
tion, is printed at Kioto. The Voice.
The Catholic education of girls has made great
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progress in Japan, and yet it was a very difficult
problem to solve. One must know Japan well to
understand how hard it is to conduct a school appro
priate to the education of Japanese girls, especially
a boarding school kept by European Sisters. It
means two entirely different worlds, enclosed and
mingling under the same roof, for nothing is said or
done in a family in Japan in the same way as in a
European one. The problem to be solved was this:
the community, in order to maintain its proper char
acter, must live in its customary manner, observing
its rules and customs; while the Japanese must be
brought up according to the customs of their country
as they are to continue to live in it ; and yet, between
Japanese and French, the relations must be such that
the contact of the former with the latter shall tend to
draw them towards the Christian religion, while re
maining Japanese children. In theory nothing seems
easier, but in practice nothing is more complicated.
This result has been obtained by the Sisters of St.
Maur, who after a long experimental period, have at
length made remarkable progress, thanks to their
wonderful spirit of abnegation. Their pupils are
daily showing the fruits of this teaching.
Another successful effort made by the same Sisters,
was the opening at Tokyo of classes for arts and lan
guages, intended for persons of the best Japanese
society who are often absolutely in need of this com
plement of a European education. The first result
for these young ladies who showed great devotion to
their studies, was their discovery of quite another na-
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
tion in the same country. It may be said, indeed,
that persons of the upper classes in Japan have prac
tically nothing in common with those who fill our
orphanages. The refined young girl, or young woman
in Japan is exquisite in politeness, delicacy, modesty
and distinction. Unfortunately, however, she is, as
a general rule, excessively timid. The Japanese de
sire that their women shall be taught firmness of
character and such accomplishments as they require,
without troubling about any other feminine virtues.
This difficult task demands, on the part of teachers,
a great many rare qualities, and, above all, much tact
and patience. The beginnings of such an undertak
ing were naturally surrounded with obstacles, and
the first steps were slow and laborious, as well as
costly. But the results already obtained are com
forting and encouraging. These valiant nuns now
have under their charge something like 2,000 pupils,
including the children who attend the elementary
schools. We must not, however, shirk the fact that there
are numerous and powerful obstacles to the conver
sion of the Japanese to Catholicism. Besides the
ordinary obstacles to be met with in all forms of
paganism and the difference in customs and habits,
the missionary is confronted wTith opposition on the
part of the bonzes, and then opposition is perhaps
more strenuous in Japan than anywhere else, because
they use modern arms in fighting against Catholicism :
schools, pamphlets, reviews, newspapers, unceasing
propaganda both in the interior and abroad, even in
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Catholic countries, the better to ruin the credit of
apostolic laborers.
Besides these obstacles, it seems that another great
hindrance to the action of the missionaries is the
esprit de corps which unites the members of a family,
of a village, of a corporation and the pride of race
which causes the Japanese to consider as humiliating
the acceptance of a religion which they would not
have the right to prune down to their own likes and
dislikes, and finally the skepticism, resulting from
the intercourse between Japan and Europe, which
threatens to overthrow everything.
One of the causes which has contributed not a little
to give rise to skepticism and develop it, is the multi
plicity of Protestant sects. Some of these churches
are only Christian in name; for, on account of the
principle of free interpretation, they have come to
such a point that some of these sects do not even be
lieve in the divinity of Jesus Christ, and even question
the spiritual nature of the soul its very existence, and
the very existence of God. Of course, all Protestant
sects do not go so far, and such advanced theories are,
fortunately still a rare exception. But the existence
of such a large number of different churches leads the
Japanese to imagine that Christianity, like Buddhism,
is so divided up that truth is to be found neither on
the one side nor the other, and that there is, in fact,
no true religion.
Protestant mission churches are numerous in Japan.
As soon as the first treaties threw open the doors of
the Empire, American and English missionaries has-
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
tened to settle there. In 1900, the entire country
contained 36 different sects, with a staff of 652 for
eign missionaries (men and women), 302 ordained
ministers, 580 native preachers not ordained, called
assistant preachers, and 299 female catechists to whom
was intrusted the propagation and explanation of
the Bible. They then numbered 40,578 adherents,
and these figures have certainly increased since then.
To this enumeration must be added the Russian
schismatics, represented in Japan by one archbishop
and several priests sent out from Russia, and a native
clergy, with catechists and 23,856 adherents.
Such is the present state of Catholicism in Japan.
If we consider that complete religious freedom dates
back only some ten years and that in 1872 hundreds
of Christians were lying in prison on account of their
faith, one is forced to admit that progress has been
real and relatively rapid.
This naturally much abridged description of our
missions as a whole shows that the Catholic Church
may rightly find great consolation and much hope in
the work going on in Japan. Nevertheless, if we
consider the enormous number of souls to be con
verted, we can but repeat the words of Our Lord:
"The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are
few." (St. Matthew 9:37.) Indeed, it is only too
true that the priests at work in Japan are not suffi
ciently numerous and we urge Christian families to
send forth more of their sons and daughters, since it
is of course in such homes that the sacerdotal vocation
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The clergy, both in the old Catholic countries and
in the mission field, is God's army, working and fight
ing everywhere for the glory and extension of His
reign. We should have, therefore, a very incom
plete and imperfect idea of the actual state of the
Church in the world at large, if we were not made
acquainted with the clergy, their mode of life, their
organization, and the hierarchy of Roman Catholi
cism. At the heads of these men of God is the Pope, who
holds them all in the hollow of his hand and who can
ask of them anything and everything, even to the
sacrifice of their lives, which they will promptly make
if they are what they ought to be. The Popes have
been the first to set the example of the most absolute
devotion to the cause of Christ. Of the two hundred
and sixty-four Popes who have governed the Church
up to our day, thirty-four are martyrs, forty-eight
saints of the faith, and five are numbered among the
Blessed. Under the Pope's jurisdiction the bishops form, in
struct, direct and utilize the clergy, assigning each
of its members to his special place and function, and
conferring on them the spiritual powers necessary for
the salvation of the Christian peoples. We explained
at the beginning of this chapter the character and
function of the bishops. It remains for us, there
fore, under the name of clergy, to describe the priests,
both secular, that is to say, those living in the world,
and regular, that is to say, those having taken the
three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Then
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
we will take up the body of religious who are not
priests. The formation of a priest is a long and laborious
task, to which the Church attaches the greatest im
portance. The Church instructs with care and directs
towards piety the children who intend to take up the
sacerdotal life. For this purpose, recourse is had to
the seminaries where the future priest enters, gen
erally in the "little seminary" in his twelfth year.
The Church has always openly claimed the right to
perfect freedom in this delicate and all-important
task. Pius VII, in a document dated August 18,
1819, entitled "Exposition of Sentiments," and ad
dressed to the princes of the German Confederation,
reminds them that it is the bishops' privilege not
merely to teach the people, but to teach theology and
the other sacred sciences to future ecclesiastics, either
personally or through masters whom they themselves
shall choose ; and that the civil power can neither hin
der nor limit that right. Leo XIII develops the
same thought in his Encyclic of January 6, 1886, ad
dressed to the Prussian bishops.
The Church first exercised this right under the
form of episcopal schools, the most illustrious and an
cient of which is the Patriarchum of the Lateran at
Rome, which was in operation as early as the fourth
century; for there it was that St. Eusebius studied.
The second and fourth Councils of Toledo, 531 and
633, also mention these episcopal schools, which are
called episcopia. One of Charlemagne's capitula
tions of 789, recommends their development. A
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council of Rome, 825, decrees the foundation of an
episcopal school at the seat of every bishopric, and
another council held in 850 assigns the titles of
magister, professor and doctor for those schools.
Finally, Alexander III, at the Lateran Council of
1179 introduces the teaching of grammar and decrees
that the schools shall be free.
The first precise mention of seminaries was at the
Council of Trent, Session XXIII, Chapter 18. The
council had recourse to the seminaries as the best
means of resisting the attacks of Protestantism. It
was decided that every bishop must have a seminary,
and if he had none, he must erect one. The foun
dation of a seminary does not consist in the purchase,
assignment, or construction of a special building for
this purpose, but in the organization of a college, that
is to say, the establishing of a college in a single build
ing, under the special discipline determined by the
Council of Trent, for the purpose of educating young
men who intend to become priests. A bishop may
not close his seminary. The Sacred Congregation of
the Council, by a decision dated July, 1840, prevented
the Archbishop of Spoleto from closing his seminary
on account of the crushing debts he had incurred to
maintain it. According to the decision of the congre
gation, he had simply to impose new taxes or to re
duce the expenses. The seminary ranks after the
cathedral church. In accordance with the terms of a
letter of Leo XII, dated June 30, 1828, several dio
ceses can, if they are too poor, unite their funds for
the establishment of a common seminary; and the
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
Council of Trent provides for the division of the semi
naries into as many sections as the bishop shall judge
right; hence the "great" and the "little" seminaries.
A letter of Cardinal Antonelli's, dated June 28, 1859,
in the name of Pope Pius IX, declares:
"When it is considered better to separate the pupils, and
create two different establishments, the one called 'little'
seminary and the other 'great' seminary, this disposition in
no way modifies the prescriptions of the Council of Trent,
because the two separate establishments really form but one
single seminary, as the council has ordained, and because by
this means the pupils are brought up, from their early years,
in the spirit of their future state."
The direction of diocesan seminaries is by right re
served to secular priests, as these establishments are
entirely under the control of bishops. But religious
may be called upon to direct them, though only with
the permission of the Holy See and on the express
condition that the bishop's jurisdiction shall remain
intact and that all his rights shall be respected.
In the administration of his seminary the bishop
is assisted by two committees, one for spiritual and
the other for temporal matters, composed both of
canons and priests. The bishop nominates the su
perior or rector and the directors. The confessor or
spiritual director is the most important person of the
seminary because he knows the real thoughts of all
the students. To prevent abuses and indiscretions,
Leo XIII decided, through the Holy Office, on July
5, 1899, that the functions of spiritual director are
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incompatible with those of rector or vice-director of
the seminary. In all these prescriptions, one recog
nizes the consummate wisdom of the Church.
The curriculum in the small seminaries is as com
plete as that of the best primary and high schools.
In the lower classes, the elements of learning and
literature are taught, then the sciences with all their
modern developments, history, rhetoric, and ancient
and modern languages. After six or seven years of
solid study, the young candidates for holy orders enter
the great seminary where they continue for five years,
studying scholastic philosophy, according to the last
prescriptions of Leo XIII and Pius X, dogmatic and
moral theology, the exegesis of the Holy Bible, apolo
getics or the defense of religion and the refutation
of those modern systems which attack it, canon law,
the history of the Church, and mystical science, or the
direction of souls, while at the same time, they apply
themselves to the exercises of piety and the regular
course of life which should sanctify them and render
their sacerdotal careers more and more perfect.
About 1850 the study of the classics was much dis
cussed among Catholics. It was questioned whether
in the little seminaries classics, and above all pagan
classics, might be studied. Pius IX in his Encyc
lical Inter multiplices of March 21, 1853, encouraged
the teaching of classics as well as the excellent works
of the Holy Fathers and the most famous heathen
authors, after careful expurgation — ab omni labe pur-
gatis. With such a complete course of studies, it
is not surprising that a high standard of intellectu-
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
ality is maintained among the Catholic clergy and
that many remarkable men are found in their ranks;
"For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge,"
say our Holy Books (Malachi 2:7).
The Congregation of Studies at Rome watches over
the teaching and maintenance of traditions which are
the strength of all such studies. Thus it was that
recently the congregation censured the too frequent
use of national languages in the theological and philo
sophical lectures and the tendency to neglect the
Latin tongues, in which are written the masterpieces
of the Holy Fathers and theologians, and the litur
gical formula? of the sacraments, which makes it pos
sible for Rome to enter into easy communication with
the pastors throughout the world, in spite of their
different nationalities, and modes of speech.
A Catholic theological student becomes a clerk
when received into holy orders. These orders are of
two classes. The first, called hierarchical or major
orders, are the episcopate, priesthood and diaconate,
to which is added the sub-diaconate. The second con
sists of four orders called minor which include door
keeper, readers, exorcists and acolytes. The power
to confer orders belongs only to bishops, the right to
the special bishop having jurisdiction over those to
be ordained. Ordination, we may add, is the occa
sion for the most beautiful and most touching cere
monies of the Church.
Clerks can have two sorts of powers : those of holy
orders which are conferred on them by ordination
and the powers of jurisdiction necessary to legiti-
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mately exercise their powers of holy orders and to
govern their flock. The hierarchy of jurisdiction
comprises: the Pope, who has jurisdiction over the
whole Church and from whom flows all other juris
diction; bishops, who have ordinary jurisdiction over
the dioceses entrusted to them by the Pope; priests
and deacons, who have jurisdiction over the faithful
according to the functions which are entrusted to them
by the Pope or by the bishops.
Parish priests do not represent a special order in
the hierarchy of jurisdiction. The opposite doctrine,
called parochialism, nearly divided the Church into
two parties. Parochialism appeared with Arius, the
heresiarch, who was the first to teach that priests hav
ing charge of souls, since called rectors or parish
priests, are equal to the bishops. In the thirteenth
century the Doctors of the Sorbonne, then considered
as the light of the world, taught that priests hold
their jurisdiction from bishops, perhaps even from
God directly and that, in any case, they cannot be de
prived thereof. Pope Alexander IV condemned that
doctrine, in 1255, as found in the writings of Guil
laume de St. Amour, and John XXII did the same
in 1344, as found in the writings of Jean de Poliac.
But the Sorbonne did not accept this declaration.
At the beginning of the fifteenth century it taught
that parish priests were divinely instituted and had
the right to judge with a deliberative voice in the coun
cils. In 1408, the Sorbonne forced the Franciscan, Jean
Gorel, to subscribe to the formula, that "parish priests
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are, within the Church, minor and hierarchical pre
lates by the institution of Christ." In 1429, they
forced the Dominican, Jean Sarrazin, to subscribe to
this formula: "To hold that the inferior prelates,
whether bishops, or parish priests, receive their right
of jurisdiction immediately from God, is an evan
gelic and apostolic truth." The Council of Trent,
Session XXIII, Chapter 7, also condemns parochial
ism: "If anyone says that the bishops are not su
perior to parish priests, or that they have not power
to confirm and ordain, or that such power is given
them in common with the parish priests, such a one
is anathema." Parochialism reappeared again in
the eighteenth century. In 1786, at the diocesan
synod convened by Ricci, the Jansenist Bishop of
Pistoia, the theory was again put forward that the
parish priests should have the right to sit in councils
with a deliberative vote. Pius VI condemned this
thesis and in the Bull Auctorem fidei of August 28,
1794, declared it to be "false, rash, opposed to epis
copal authority, subversive of the hierarchical re
gime, and favorable to the Arian heresy."
Today the best authority rejects, as is right, this
spirit of parochialism. It is now held that parish
priests are not divinely instituted, nor even of apos
tolic origin, seeing that the parishes appeared at the
very earliest in the second and fourth centuries.
Parish priests are not the successors of the seventy-
two disciples, as is supposedly deduced from a formula
of Pope Leo IV introduced in the Roman Pontifical ;
for this formula applies to priests as priests, but not
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to parish priests. The parish priest is not a pastor,
properly speaking, because, according to the tradition
of the first centuries, the word pastor was always em
ployed as synonymous with that of bishop. Parish
priests do not form the third degree of the divine
hierarchy; for, as parish priests, they are an ecclesi
astical institution. Parish priests are not prelates,
for prelature supposes an honorary grade with ex
ternal jurisdiction. Parish priests have no external
jurisdiction, such for instance as the right to make
laws, to judge contraventions to such laws and to
punish infractions of such laws. Parish priests have
not the power to excommunicate. These are the
views of such an authority as M. Andre Mater.
Besides the powers of order and jurisdiction, the
Church has "dignities." All power of order or of
jurisdiction entails a certain dignity in proportion
and correspondence with those powers. But above
and beyond this hierarchy of dignities are others,
sometimes superior to those powers and sometimes
merely honorary. A cardinal, for instance, high as
is his dignity, is not always a bishop and may be only
a priest or even a deacon. A bishop or abbot, who is
merely titular, or who has resigned his charge, can have
no jurisdictionary powers. A prelate of the Roman
court or an honorary canon may enjoy rights of prece
dence and other privileges but can have no power of
jurisdiction. The situation is similar to that in the
army. A general officer may be without a commis
sion and therefore have no jurisdiction to exercise
power, while an inferior officer may be provided with
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
a commission which gives him, accidentally, a juris
diction higher than his real substantive rank. For
example, a colonel may be called upon, ad interim,
to perform tlie duties of a brigadier-general.
Bishops have to account to their own consciences
for the ordinations which they confer before God and
before the Church. They have, therefore, the right
and it is also their duty to examine carefully the
candidate for ordination in order to be sure he is not
unworthy to receive the sacrament of holy orders, and
that there is nothing irregular about his candidature.
For instance, ordination is radically null if conferred
on unbelievers, those who are not baptized, on women,
or if imposed by force. An ordination is irregular.
that is to say illegal, though not invalid, if conferred
on illegitimate children, slaves, married men or on
candidates who are too young. The canons or rules
of the Church fix, as their lowest age. fourteen years
for the minor orders, twenty -one for the sub-diaeo-
nate, twenty-four for the priesthood and thirty for
the episcopate. The Holy See alone can modify
these age limits. Ordination is. furthermore, irregu
lar if conferred on maimed persons, or the insane,
the uncultivated, the bigamous, bad characters guilty
of having caused the death of men, neophytes, persons
condemned by the court, those who have been twice
baptized, schismatics, heretics, apostates, those who
have paid to be ordained, those who have exercised
a hio-her order before havino- been advanced to that
orrade. as. for instance, a minor cleric who should
have exercised the functions of a deacon, et cetera.
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Clerics who have been legitimately ordained ac
quire privileges which they cannot renounce: 1.
The privilege of the canon law, by virtue of which
whoever assaults a priest or a monk incurs by that
very fact an excommunication reserved for the Pope.
That penalty is applicable to violence on the part of
clerics as well as on the part of laymen. The Sacred
Congregation of the Council condemned, on May 16,
1733, a parish priest who had grossly insulted a young
ecclesiastic in his service, and had even lifted his hand
against him. 2. The privilege in virtue of which the
ecclesiastical tribunals alone have the right of judging
clerics, to the exclusion of civil tribunals. Pius IX
condemned the contrary opinion in the Acerbissi-
mum allocutions of September, 1852, and Nunquam
fore of December 15, 1856, which occurred in the
thirty-first proposition of the Syllabus. 3. The privi
lege of immunity, by virtue of which ecclesiastics
are exempted from certain charges or dues: military
service, lodging troops, communal functions, tutelary
duties, labor duties, taxes in the form of carting, et
cetera. 4. The privilege by which if their property
is seized a necessary minimum for subsistence must
be excepted.
The civil laws of some nations, and even of Catho
lic nations, do not always recognize these ecclesiastical
privileges, and the Church, in the interests of peace,
does not insist on their application. However, she
does not renounce them but simply postpones to the
future the decision of the question.
If ordination confers privileges on clerics, it also
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
imposes duties. They must, by very reason of their
condition, practice ecclesiastical virtues, and notably
chastity; abstain from secular affairs such as exer
cising the professions of doctor, surgeon, district at
torney, lawyer, soldier, et cetera ; and must not under
take any commercial enterprise without permission of
the Holy See, which permission is granted only in very
exceptional cases, as for instance, when it is necessary
to maintain a business in the family during the minority
of the younger brothers of the ecclesiastic. Clerics
must also abstain from secular amusements, such as
dancing, theater-going, gambling, visiting wineshops,
et cetera. They must be decent in their behavior and
wear the special costume indicated by diocesan rules.
From the sub-diaconate upwards, they must recite
daily the Breviary office, distributed into seven parts
or canonical hours. The present tendency leans
toward the substitution of the Roman Breviary for
diocesan Breviaries. And finally, every priest is
obliged to celebrate Mass at certain times, at least a
few times in the year. Generally priests say Mass
every day.
Between secular and regular priests, or religious,
there is but a slight difference in ordinary duties and
in their ministry of the souls of men. A priest who
is a rehgious but for some special reason cannot con
tinue to five the religious life, and is obliged to leave
his convent, is none the less a priest and must submit
to the jurisdiction of his bishop. The difference is
more marked in the case of religious who are not
priests. 165

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Religious orders rightly hold a very large place in
the administration of the Church, and their work has
been throughout all the centuries so brilliant and so
useful that it would be impossible in such a volume
as this not to devote to them enough space to give
the reader an exact and precise idea of the subject.
Monastic institutions are divided into orders and
congregations. The religious orders properly so-
called are voluntary associations of persons of the
same sex who agree to observe under a common rule,
the three solemn vows of chastity, obedience and pov
erty. Theoretically, religious do not belong fully
to the order of clerics, for the promise to seek perfec
tion by observance of the three evangelical counsels
of poverty, chastity and obedience, does not neces
sarily imply entrance into holy orders. During the
early centuries of Christianity many monks remained
laymen. But at present a great number of religious
are also in holy orders, and they all, whether priests
or laymen, are subject directly to bishops or to the
Pope, and form a part of the clergy.
Vows may be defined as promises made to God to ac
complish things agreeable to Him, but to the observ
ance of which one is not otherwise compelled. Since
the time of Boniface VIII, vows have been divided
into simple and solemn vows, according as the Church
recognizes them as such. The dispensation from, or
rather the commutation of, solemn vows is exclusively
the privilege of the Pope. One cannot enter a re
ligious institution under the age of sixteen. The
Council of Trent, however, directed that girls be ad-
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
mitted at the age of twelve. On the other hand, Pius
IX in the Decree Romani Pontifices of January 25,
1858, insists that the solemn profession of a man shall
not be considered valid if he is under nineteen. More
over, the parents must consent to their children's tak
ing the step; but in case of a refusal without any mo
tive, the bishop may decide whether the matter shall be
carried further. In the same way, a married person
must obtain the consent of husband or wife, as the
case may be.
After entering a religious order, a religious has five
years in which to impugn the validity of his profes
sion on the plea of constraint or violence. The Coun
cil of Trent insisted that the bishop or his delegate
shall inquire twice before the candidate takes the
habit, and once before profession, as to whether the
candidate is acting on his or her own free will.
Admittance to religious orders is regulated by the
Council of Trent, Session XXV, Chapters 17 and 19,
a circular of the Sacred Congregation on the State of
Regulars of March 19, 1857, a decree of Pius IX of
January 25, 1858, a brief of February 7, 1862, and
several Pontifical letters and acts of His Holiness
Pius X. First the candidate is subjected, as postu
lant, to a preparatory trial, within the convent walls,
during a period which varies according to the statutes
of each order. He then takes the novice's habit after
having shown a declaration signed by the bishop tes
tifying to his birthplace, residence, age, habits, vo
cation, position, education and degree of instruction.
He must furnish proof that he has no debts or pe-
13 167

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cuniary obligations, no judicial accusation against
him, that he has never incurred any canonical cen
sure, irregularity or hindrance whatsoever. After
the novitiate, which must last at least one full year,
the young religious pronounces his vows according
to the rules of his order.
The solemn vow of poverty in one of the great
orders suppresses all right of property for the re
ligious. He must make his will two months before
pronouncing the solemn vows, after which he can ac
cept neither legacy, donation nor property of any sort
without special authorization from the Holy Father.
Entrance into religion confers several privileges.
It enables illegitimate children to receive sacerdotal
orders; it breaks all obligations formerly contracted
by a simple vow; it dissolves betrothal promises.
The vow of obedience obliges the religious first of all
to observe the rule of the order concerning the common
life, food, clothing and, above all, enclosure. Enclo
sure is the prohibition to admit within the convent, any
person of the opposite sex, and to go beyond the walls
of the convent without permission from the superior,
renewed on each occasion, and accompanied by some
companion whom he shall appoint. "They may not,"
says the Council of Trent (Session XXV, Chapter
4) "leave their convents, even on the pretext that
they are going to see their superiors, if the latter have
not sent for them or ordered them to go out; and
whosoever shall be found without written permission,
shall be punished by the bishop of the locality as
having broken the rule." 168

CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
The religious are governed by a hierarchy of su
periors, each of whom directs one establishment or a
group of several establishments. At present, most
of the principal orders are divided into nations, which
are subdivided into provinces, each containing several
establishments, houses or convents. A general gov
erns the order, a provincial governs the province, an
abbot, conventual-prior, provost, rector, warden, or
superior, governs each separate establishment. Ab
bots, being fully ordained priests, and having re
ceived episcopal blessing, can give minor orders to
their religious.
Religious congregations for women are now very
numerous. The members of these institutions are
called Sisters, and take the three simple vows of pov
erty, chastity and obedience, sometimes but tempo
rarily. They devote their lives to some special ob
ject, such as the education of children, nursing the
sick, et cetera; they wear a special costume and live
in community. The Council of Trent, Session XXV,
Chapter 9, thus regulated the relations of religious
women, with regard to the bishops: "Women's
monasteries which are immediately subject to the
Apostolic See shall be governed by the bishops, as
delegates of the Holy See, notwithstanding anything
to the contrary, and those governed by deputies of
the general chapters or by other regular ecclesiastics,
shall be left to their care and conduct."
But Leo XIII modified these relations of depend
ency by the Constitution Conditio? of December 8,
1900, in which we read; "Bishops, in so far as pos-
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sible, rather than found or approve a new congre
gation, should seek the assistance of one chosen from
among those already approved and which have a sim
ilar object." When such congregations have spread
beyond the limits of their original diocese this rule
is laid down: "From the fact that they exist in
several dioceses and that they everywhere apply the
same rule and live under an uniform law, it results
that the bishop's authority as concerns them must
be diminished and limited." Here are the most im
portant of these diminutions: "Bishops shall not be
permitted to change or temper the authority granted
by virtue of the constitutions either to the heads of
the whole congregation or to those of each house.
The administration of property owned by each con
gregation belongs to the superior general and the
council. The revenues must be administered accord
ing to the rules of each congregation, and when
a congregation has received from Rome its final ap
probation, the bishop cannot insist on an account be
ing rendered to him."
Several important monastic congregations have
Third Orders connected with their religious life and
participating in their spiritual favors. Leo XIII
defined the Third Order in the Bull Auspicate of
September, 1882, as "a simple association comprising
persons of all ages, both sexes and all conditions of
life, who live in the world without belonging to the
world, and who strive together to faithfully prac
tice the commandments of God and the Church, and
all the Christian virtues, loving peace and charity,
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
showing moderation in food and dress and eschewing
the dangerous seductions of dancing and thea
ters." A Third Order is not a religious order properly
so-called; neither is it a simple confraternity, for the
system comprises a novitiate, a profession and a spe
cial habit. The foundation of the first Third Order
probably dates from the time of St. Norbert, who
died in 1134. Benedict XIV again approved of it
and gave it new rules in 1751. The most widely
spread Third Order, known under the name of the
Seraphic Third Order, was founded by St. Francis
of Assisi, approved by Honorius III, in 1221, by
Nicholas IV on August 17, 1289, and confirmed by
Leo XIII on September 12, 1882, and May 30, 1883.
The Dominic Third Order was the next to be founded,
and was approved by Gregory IX on December 22,
1229. The Servites founded another, which Martin
V approved in 1424; the Carmelites were approved
by Nicholas V, in 1452, and Sixtus IV, in 1476; the
Augustinian by Sixtus IV, 1471-1481, and finally,
Francis de Paul founded the Third Order of Minims,
which was approved by Alexander VI, in 1501, and
Julius II, in 1506. The Sacred Congregation of the
Council decided on May 10, 1727, that thereafter the
foundation of Third Orders should be reserved for
the Holy See.
The rules of the tertiaries are drawn up by the
founders or superiors of each order. But Leo XIII
took upon himself the revision of the rules of the
Third Order of St. Francis. The rules must always
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contain a clause declaring that they do not bind mem
bers under penalty of sin.
There are several kinds of tertiaries. There are
those who live in common and those who continue to
remain in the world, without wearing the religious
habit, which they nevertheless have a right to wear
and in which they generally ask to be buried. They
often belong to a group called a fraternity which can
be organized only with the permission of the bishop.
All secular Catholics can belong to these fraternities
which are centers of great piety. To be admitted,
one must receive the habit from a priest specially
nominated for that purpose and one must accomplish
a novitiate of at least one year. Then one must make
a profession in the presence of the superior of the
order or a priest indicated by him. The director of
these fraternities is the superior of the order and the
chaplain is a priest delegated by the superior. The
visitor is a member of the order and his duty is that
of an inspector. The regular tertiaries promise to
wear a special habit which is blessed, to practice
certain mortifications, generally observing days of
fasting and abstinence over and above those pre
scribed for ordinary Catholics, to recite the Divine
Office daily, or to say corresponding prayers either in
private or in company.
We may close this brief sketch of the religious
orders with the following condensed list of the orders
under which the religious have been organized :
Monks. Benedictines of Monte Cassino, Basilians, Vallom-
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
brosans, Cistercians, Trappists, Mechitarists, Camal-
dolese, Sylvestrines, Olivetans, Carthusians.
Canons Regular. Canons Regular of the Lateran, Pre-
monstratensian Canons, Canons Regular of the Holy
Cross.
Mendicant Orders. Franciscans, consisting of the Friars
Minor, the Friars Minor Conventuals, the Friars Minor
Capuchins; Dominicans or Friars Preachers; Carmelites;
Hermits of St. Augustine; Servites; the Lesser Orders —
Minimo, Third Order Regular of St. Francis, Capuchins,
Discalced Carmelites, Discalced Trinitarians, Order of Pen
ance or Scalzetti.
Military Orders. Knights of Malta, Order of Teutonic
Knights, Knights Templars. (These orders were organs
ized in the twelfth century in defense of the cause of Christ
by force of arms.)
Redemption of Captvoes. Trinitarians and Mercedarians.
(These orders are mendicants and follow the rule of St.
Augustine.)
Hospitaller Orders. Order of St. John of God, Cellite
Brothers, Brothers Hospitallers of St. Anthony. (These
orders are devoted to the relief of bodily infirmities.)
Clerks Regular. Theatines, Barnabites or Regular Clerics
of St. Paul, Clerks Regular of Somascha, Camilians, So
ciety of Jesus (also Mendicant).
The Institutes of Simple Vows.
The Eastern Orders. Monks of St. Anthony, Monks of St.
Pachomius, the Basilians.
Such is the magnificent array of religious men who
enrich the Church with their devotion and efforts,
often of a heroic nature, especially in the missions
where they work side by side with the secular clergy.
There may be some surprise at the great number
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of these orders and religious congregations. But
this is due to the diversity of work which they under
take and the purpose for which they were founded.
With the needs of Christianity and the extension of
the faith, each century and especially the nineteenth
has produced a new blossoming of devotion. To this
long list of monks should be added the religious con
gregations for women, still more numerous and liv
ing for the most part under the rule of one of the
great orders.
What is the total number of these religious men
and women? The statistics have not yet been drawn
up. But if we start with the admitted number of
400,000 priests or thereabouts, both regular and
secular, throughout the whole Church, we would not
be far wrong in fixing the number of religious who
are not priests at about the same, while the number of
religious women is almost double. Therefore we may
say there are about 400,000 monks and 800,000 nuns.
If these be added to the priests, we have a grand total
of one and a half millions of persons consecrated to
God. A religion producing such a harvest of virtue,
self-sacrifice and devotion to the Divine Master, Jesus
Christ, is not a dead religion or even a decadent re
ligion as our enemies would have us believe.
Another reflection, suggested by the multiplicity
and ancient character of the greater number of these
large religious families, is admirably developed by
Montalembert in his work, "The Monks of the West,"
viz., that monasticism does not die out. On the con
trary, it shows vigor fully explicable only by admitting
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CATHOLIC ORGANIZATION
its divine origin. Like the oaks in the forests, these
humble religious stand forth, braving the tempests and
attacks of time as well as the buffets and insults
of men. If persecution hews them down, they spring
up from their uninjured roots, stronger than ever.
The love of Christ and of the Church which courses
through their veins conquers even death.
With such collaborators supporting the secular
clergy, the Church can fearlessly meet all the diffi
culties which the world opposes to her divine mission.
These obstacles are numerous and are ever present;
and in the two following chapters we will examine
those which she has been called upon to overcome dur
ing the latter part of the nineteenth century, while,
at the same time, we shall throw light on the pacific
victories gained by the Vatican, victories worthy of all
praise.

CHAPTER VI
THE POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF
CATHOLICISM
The Political Principles of the Holy See — The Chief Politico-
Religious Affairs of Recent Years in France, Belgium,
Austria, Hungary, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal,
Russia, Poland, Germany, the United States, Canada, Central
and South America, Turkey, the Balkan States and Greece,
Scandinavia and Holland.
The enemies of Catholicism and many persons in
different to church questions or not well informed
on the subject are apt to imagine that the Vatican
is, above all things, a political center, and that the
principal occupation of the Holy Father and his
cardinals is to construct and reconstruct political com
binations, to interfere in the home affairs of states,
to embarrass governments, to try to impose every
where their ideas and even their preferences, and all
this for the purpose of becoming the real masters of
the world under the cloak of religion in accordance
with the old adage, Divide ut regnes. But nothing
is farther from the truth.
On the other hand, it would be quite as false to
imagine that the Vatican has nothing to do with poli
tics; it is obliged to take politics into consideration.
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POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
Having in charge the Catholic Church, it must defend
the institution. This is its mission and duty, so that
it must, consequently, occupy itself with all anti-re
ligious legislation, with any administrative persecu
tion of parties, and with all sectarian personalities,
whose avowed aim is often the destruction of Catholi
cism. The Vatican is, therefore, absolutely forced
to intervene in political affairs and to fight for the
liberty, and it may be for the very existence, of the
Church, by seeking the support of the Catholics of
each nation, encouraging them, directing their efforts
and inspiring them.
But this aggressive course is pursued only tempo-
rarity. When calm has been restored, and the Church
is no longer opposed in the accomplishment of its
divine mission, Rome is only too happy to lay aside
a poficy of opposition and to enter once more into
pleasant relations with the constituted authorities, a
state of things which generally prevails. The Vati
can is then quite ready to confine itself to its proper
part, that of watching over the purity of the faith,
encouraging good and aiding in its development, and
providing the different dioceses with worthy pastors.
It may be said that history teaches that this was not
always the case, and the critics of the Church may de
clare that at times, as under Gregory VII, Rome as
pired to dominate the world, while at another period she
exercised the worst sort of tyranny, as in Spain. But
true students of history do not suffer themselves to be
blinded by such prejudices. They know that the po
litical cruelties of some princes, who pretended to be
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acting in the name of religion, should not be laid at
the door of the Papacy, and that the Vatican has al
ways vigorously protested against being held re
sponsible for the massacre of St. Bartholomew in
France, the bloody repressions of the Inquisition in
Spain, and the base persecutions of the Jews in
various parts of the world. The Inquisition never
held an auto-da-fe in Rome, and there the Jews lived
in security and peace.
It should never be forgotten that during the Middle
Ages and especially under Gregory VII, the social
organization was quite different from that of today.
The feudal system then existed, with the Pope uni
versally recognized as its supreme head. Kings them
selves requested him to sanction their rights and
accepted him as their suzerain. The Kingdom of
Hungary, the Holy Roman Empire, the King of
Rome, et cetera, were in fact Pontificial creations.
In response to complaints of the people the Pope, as
suzerain, exercised against culpable monarchs the
same rights of remonstrance, blame, and, if necessary,
coercion and deprivation of power, as those exer
cised by them against their own vassal lords. This
was the public law of the epoch. And just as certain
powerful nobles reprimanded by their suzerain re
fused to submit, and took up arms against him, so
on several occasions kings and emperors were un
willing to recognize the suzerain authority of the Pope
and defended their pretensions by force. But in gen
eral the people supported the Pope, their only pro
tector against royal tyranny; and finally, after a
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POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
troubled period, the conflict came to an end by an
agreement or by a Canossa.
This we learn from impartial history and the study
of that remarkable collection known to all scholars,
the "Regesta Pontificum Romanorum" of the Ger
man historian Jaffe, the official acts and documents
emanating from the Sovereign Pontiffs during the
period about which we are now speaking.
Consequently, it would be a great mistake to judge
the policy of the Holy See in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries by likening it to that of the Middle
Ages. In one of his first encyclicals, Leo XIII
points out very clearly the principles of the present
policy of the Church, — respect for civil authority,
established by God for the temporal good of peoples ;
respect for the Church, also established by God for
their spiritual good; reciprocal aid and accord of the
two powers in order to attain more surely their aim
and to fulfill more completely their mission; liberty
of action for the two powers, each in the sphere prop
erly assigned to it, showing a kindly spirit in the case
of any conflict.
In the examination which now follows of the
principal politico-religious matters that have arisen
during the last half of the last century in the differ
ent quarters of the globe, it will be found that the
Church has always been faithful to the principles
enumerated above, even when her pacific intentions
were misunderstood and she was unjustly attacked
and robbed by her enemies. We shall now take up
these matters country by country, beginning with
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France, which was until recently the first Catholic
Power of the world. FRANCE
In France, the state has recently separated itself
violently from the Church, breaking away without
the participation in the act of the other contracting
party and putting an end to that solemn diplomatic
act, the Concordat, which had regulated for a century
the relations between the two powers. The result of
this method of bringing about this separation is that
France finds herself in a peculiar situation: the Con
cordat not having been regularly abrogated, a change
of opinion in the French Parliament would make it
possible to restore the old order of things by a simple
vote of both houses and without its being necessary
to enter into any new diplomatic negotiations or the
drawing up of another Concordat.
These Separation Laws have been accepted neither
by the Pope nor by the French Catholics, who have
shown themselves in this crisis admirably united to
their bishops and the Holy See. This unanimity is
all the more remarkable because it was preceded by
a short moment of hesitation. Some Catholics, very
faithful, however, to the Church — the "Green Cardi
nals" they have been called, because most of them were
members of the French Academy, the prevailing
color of whose official uniform is green — issued a pub
lic letter advocating the acquiescence in that portion
of the new law calling for the formation of Public
Worship Associations on the part of the faithful,
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POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
which were to manage the religious affairs of the
parishes and the dioceses and take over the property
and edifices belonging to the Church. But when the
Pope raised his voice and condemned this anti-re
ligious legislation, pointing out the true duty of all
good Catholics, these distinguished sons of the Church
immediately obeyed like the most humble. By taking
this ground, His Holiness Pius X raised himself high
above any care for material things and stood firmly
for the conservation of the faith in its purity and
its integrity. "The Pope is the supreme guardian
of the faith," His Holiness has said, "and of the con
stitution of the Church as it was established by its
Divine Founder. It was Christ himself who declared
that the Church was based on St. Peter and the
Apostles, the Pope and the bishops. This holy hier
archy cannot, in consequence, be modified or de
stroyed without modifying or destroying the very re
ligion of Christ. But these Separation Laws brush
aside the Pope and the bishops and recognize only
the priests and the curates. This is not Catholicism;
it is simply Presbyterianism."
How it could have been expected, therefore, that
the Pope would accept such a modification of the
existing state of things? His resistance must not be
attributed to a spirit of obstinacy; it was absolutely
necessary for him to take this position. In fact, the
worst enemies of the Church, after having loaded him
with insults, finally admitted that he had saved it by
his firmness.
In a word, the separation of Church and state in
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France was brought about in such a manner that the
conscience of all Catholics revolted at it. That it
was accomplished in this way is explained by the fact
that the leaders in the act were unbelievers and athe
ists, who, without even consulting the interested party,
arrogated to themselves the right to regulate the faith
of this party, to modify the traditional form of the
Church, to deprive it of its property, which had been
acquired, however, in conformity with anterior laws,
to change the object for which this property was given
to the Church and even to annul pious funds left in
favor of the dead and estabhshed under the care and
protection of the state. All this has appeared most
tyrannical to French Catholics, especially when they
compared this arbitrary and vexatious legislation
with the liberal and considerate legislation concerning
Catholics which prevails in other countries where they
are not even in the majority. It is in France only
that Separation has this iniquitous character. In the
United States, Brazil, England and Germany the
Catholic Church is treated in the most amicable man
ner. Certain powers are even officially represented
at Rome, and all welcome to their capitals a repre
sentative of the Holy See. Though in some cases
the Catholics of those countries may ask for certain
ameliorations of their state, they enjoy great liberty
and do not seriously complain of their lot.
It is the hope of the Vatican that in the near future
those who govern France will understand better the
true interests of the nation and instead of keeping
alive, by their vexatious acts, in the mass of the Catho-
,182

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
lie body a state of irritation that is harmful to the
country, they will show a spirit of peace and wisdom
by turning to an amicable compromise with the Holy
See, as did Germany when she put an end to the Kul-
turkanipf. BELGIUM
Although Belgium is the immediate neighbor of
France, her pohtico-rehgious affairs do not at all re
semble those of the latter country. During the last
quarter of a century, since 1884. it has had a Catholic
government, which the electorate seems disposed to
continue, notwithstanding the efforts of the enemy to
overthrow it. The coimtry moves on in a state of
moral and material prosperity that is enviable. It is
a very notable fact tliat the Catholic ministries owe
this long lease of power largely to the social organiza
tions for which Belgium is famous. These organiza
tions, therefore, call for some description.
In the front rank among them should be placed the
A u moiti ers du Travail, a society composed of priests
and founded by Monsignor Doutreloux, Bishop of
Liege, whose aim is the amelioration of the condition
of the working classes. The members of this society
are scattered all over the country and always stand
ready to come to the material and spiritual aid of
workmen. To this society is due the creation of the
Hot cileries Ouviicres, a sort of popular "shelter,"
which are very much appreciated by the working
classes. The one at Marchiennes is on a large scale,
and though simple, is exceedingly comfortable; it is.
for instance, lighted with electricity and is provided
13 188

THE VATICAN
with bath-rooms. To many workingmen this estab
lishment is a veritable palace, though the cost is kept
within the possibilities of the most modest purse, since
one is lodged and fed, with clothes washed and
mended, for twenty-two francs a fortnight, a little
over four dollars and much under a pound. At the
restaurant of this Hotellerie, the dinner costs 60
centimes (about 12 cents or sixpence), the supper 35
centimes (7 cents or three pence halfpenny), and the
breakfast 20 centimes (4 cents or twopence).
Another very popular semi-charitable organization,
founded by the Abbe Mallerts, is the Boerenbond, or
Peasants' League, whose aim is to buy on easy terms
for the peasant farmers the things which they need
for the cultivation of their land — chemical manures,
implements, et cetera. The league is also very use
ful as an intermediary in all matters of insurance.
Nearly five hundred societies are affiliated with this
league, with a membership of more than 20,000 fam
ilies. An average of 2,000,000 francs a year is spent
in purchases of various kinds and from two to two
thousand five hundred insurance policies are taken
out through this organization. In connection with
the league are loan banks, which have proved to be
of great aid to the agricultural class. The annual
deposits surpass 2,000,000 francs and the loans
500,000 francs.
Le Foyer de VOuvrier, founded at Liege, aids work
men to become the owners of their homes. It is a
very prosperous organization. Up to the present
time it has bought houses to the value of about
184

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
3,500,000 francs, while it has loaned to workmen for
this purpose more than 2,000,000 francs.
The Cooperative Dairies of Luxemburg offer an
interesting example of what can be accomplished by
proper association. Belgian Luxemburg, which used
to suffer from the poor quality of its pastures and, in
consequence, from the inferiority of its dairy products,
is today one of the richest and best countries in this
respect. Founded in 1895 by the Abbe Couturiaux,
parish priest of Ortho, and the Abbe Crousse, director
of the St. Joseph College at Virton, this association
aids farmers in the sale of their milk and teaches them
the best methods of production. Its membership is
over 15,000, who enjoy through its means an increase
in profits amounting to a round two million francs
per year. The organization also embraces 250 syndi
cates whose business it is to buy manures and fodder
for cattle. The Luxemburg League, the creation of
Dr. Jacques, Mayor of Florenville, has brought about
the federation of these syndicates. The leading
Catholics and the priests of the Province of Luxem
burg have been most devoted in their support of this
popular movement, giving their time and money
without stint, and there are instances where parish
priests have turned farmers in order to show the
peasants how to get all that is possible from coopera
tion. The Abbe Cype has devoted himself to the interests
of the seafaring population of Belgium. Through his
efforts buildings have been erected in which is taught
the best method of preparing fish in various ways.
185

THE VATICAN
He has also founded on a model boat a school for in
struction in fishing and everything pertaining thereto.
Among other social and popular organizations in
stituted in Belgium by lay Catholics and the clergy
may be mentioned the Apostelhuizen, the creation of
the Abbe de Meerleer, rector of Notre Dame at St.
Nicolas, a pleasant village composed of cottages
each one of which shelters an old married couple who,
under ordinary circumstances, in poverty and sickness,
would be separated in the public hospitals, but who
are here kept together to the end. Then there is the
Maleken, an association of from 600 to 700 fathers
who receive each Sunday, at a very low price, clothes
for themselves and their children, as well as tobacco,
whence the name "Tobacco School," by which it is
known among the people.
La Mater nite de Ste. Anne, the lying-in hospital
founded by M. Leon Somzee, and inaugurated by the
Cardinal Archbishop of Malines, is under the pat
ronage of the aristocratic ladies of Belgium, with the
Princesse de Croy as president. It is housed in a
large building near the Lake of St. Josse, at Brus
sels. All the rules of the best modern hygiene are
observed in this model establishment, which contrib
utes greatly to the comfort and happiness of the young
mothers of the working classes.
This account, incomplete though it be, of the social
work in Belgium of the Catholic priesthood and lay
men suffices to explain the affection which the people
feel for the Catholic Party and the fidelity with which
it is supported on the hustings. Rome has been
186

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
struck by this Belgian activity in things social, and
several priests engaged in this work have been called
to the Eternal City to give the numerous theological
students there the benefit of their experience and to
teach the Belgian methods.
In 1909, on the occasion of the celebration through
out Belgium of the completion of the first quarter of
a centurv of Catholic government. M. Schallaret,
head of the cabinet then in power, dehvered at Liege
a spirited speech in which he rightly attributed the
vitality of the Catholic government to the interest
which it has shown in evervthing which affects the
well-being of the people. In a word, the Belgium of
today, so flourishing with and because of Catholicism,
naturally enjoys the most amicable relations with the
Holy See. which was not formerly the case under the
anti-Christian government of M. Frere-Orban.
AT7STBIA
Austria is also a country where the state is tradi
tionally Catholic, and where the Church is respected
and loved by the people as well as by the court. But
the Church has had to battle for the preservation of
its independence and its acquired rights, and, in doing
so. has been eloselv associated with the history of the
Austrian Monarchy. It will be remembered, for in
stance, that the injudicious meddling of Joseph II
in the details of the ceremonies of the Mass caused
him to be called by Frederick the Great, "My Brother
the Sacristan," and brought about a conflict with
Rome. But the present Emperor. Francis Joseph,
1ST

THE VATICAN
who has no liking for the Voltairean and bureau
cratic spirit of Josephinism, concluded with Rome
the Concordat of August 18, 1855, which guaranteed
the liberty and the autonomy of the Catholic Church,
sanctioned the canon law in matters pertaining to
marriage, recognized ecclesiastical jurisdiction in cer
tain cases, and provided for schools which were to be
Catholic in their teachings and were to be under the
direct control of the Catholic clergy. But this com
pact has never been carried out in all its articles, and
is in fact practically annulled today. The enemies
of the Church having gained a stronger and stronger
foothold in the Austrian Parliament have succeeded
in passing a series of laws which more and more re
strain its provisions, until the Concordat is now little
else than a memory.
Thus, Articles 15 to 17 of the bill passed on De
cember 21, 1867, recognize the Church's jurisdiction
only in its own interior affairs and take away from
the clergy the direction of the schools. The law en
acted on May 25, 1868, permits the opening of non-
sectarian schools and denies the Church further
action in matrimonial cases. The only participation
of the Church in school affairs, as provided in this law,
is in the matter of religious instruction. Children
of different religions sit together on the same benches
and the school-master may be Catholic, Protestant or
Jew. In fact, he is sometimes anti-Christian and
even an atheist.
In 1870, when the dogma of Papal infallibility was
proclaimed, the Austrian Minister of Foreign Af-
188

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
fairs did not hesitate to send the Vatican a dispatch
in which he declared that the Concordat now fell of
itself and was abrogated, because one of the contract
ing parties was no longer what it was at the moment
the compact was made, as though it could be held that
Papal infallibility extended to all the acts of the Pope
and was not limited to questions of the faith and of
Christian morals. But it was, nevertheless, thought
best to declare the abrogation in a formal law, which
was done on May 7, 1874; yet this bill maintained in
force all the concessions made by the Pope in the
Concordat, such, for instance, as the necessity of the
ecclesiastical authorities having the government's ap
proval for all nominations to curacies and benefices.
Finally, the endowment of the clergy was regulated
by the bill which became law on April 19, 1885, and
against which the Catholic episcopacy, which had not
been consulted thereon, protested in vain.
The patience of the Austrian Catholics was now
exhausted. Weary of the tyranny of the anti-cleri
cals and free masons, irritated at seeing the useless-
ness of their protests, the Catholics decided to organize
themselves for the struggle with the same arms as
their opponents, and consequently turned all their
efforts towards Parliament. Two great Catholic
parties were formed, which soon counted several hun
dred thousand supporters, — the Popular Catholic
Party, Katholische Volkspartei, and the Christian
Social Party, Christlich Sociale Partei. The conse
quences of this line of policy soon began to show
themselves, the first sign being the naming, in Oc-
189

THE VATICAN
tober, 1898, of Baron Despauli, chief of the Popular
Catholic Party, to the post of Minister of Commerce,
in place of a so-called Liberal, that is, the anti-clerical
Dr. Baernreither.
In the meantime, the other Catholic party was
hard at work, and the Christian Socialists succeeded
in getting the majority in the Vienna Municipal
Council and in placing their leader, Dr. Lueger, at
the head of the municipality as mayor of the capital
of the Empire. He was an intelligent and energetic
man, and devoted his time and his energies to his
post. The all-important question in the eyes of the Cath
olics was to free public instruction from the yoke of
the anti-clerical Liberals and the atheists. In 1898,
the Vienna Municipal Council passed by a very large
majority a resolution calling for the transformation
of the non-sectarian primary schools into sectarian
and Christian institutions. A powerful association,
whose purpose was the reform of the school legisla
tion — the Katolischer Schulverein fur Oesterreich —
soon counted a membership of 50,000, with subscrip
tions amounting to some $80,000 per year, which en
abled it to found at Vienna a Catholic Normal School
and to multiply the non-state schools.
The Austrian state universities all have a Catho
lic Theological Seminary, that of Innsbruck Uni
versity, where the faculty is composed of Jesuits,
being particularly celebrated. But the instruction
given in the other universities is saturated with
Liberalism and even atheism. So the efforts of the
190

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
Catholics were directed towards the foundation of a
non-state Catholic university and an association was
formed for this purpose, the Katholischer Universi-
tdts Verein, which soon brought together nearly a
million of francs, and the university was established
at Salzburg.
It will be seen, therefore, that the ardor and perse
verance of the Austrian Catholics have not been
sterile and their excellent example might be followed
by the Catholics of other nations where there is just
ground for complaint. Religious peace was, conse
quently, gradually returning in Austria, when, only
a few years ago, Catholicism suddenly found itself
plunged into other unexpected difficulties. This
happened when the Pan-Germanic agitation was at
its height. A very bold political party dreamed of
uniting all the German-speaking lands into a single
confederation, which meant the incorporation of Aus
tria, or at least the German-speaking part of it, in
the German Empire. It was held by these visionary
agitators that the chief obstacle in the way of the
realization of their scheme was the Catholic religion,
whose followers remained more firmly attached to
their traditions and to Austrian autonomy than was
the case with their Protestant fellow-citizens. Hence
the first duty of these enthusiasts was to make Austria
Protestant. So they set to work, and soon the inter
national press, which was hostile to Catholicism, began
to announce that Catholics were going over in vast
numbers to Protestantism. The evil was not so great
as was pretended, but it is true that in certain parts
191

THE VATICAN
of the country, these ardent partisans did succeed in
detaching a large number of Catholics from their old
faith. The nuncio at Vienna at this moment was
that very distinguished diplomat, Monsignor Taliani,
who later became a cardinal, and his very prudent
course largely contributed to cairn the public mind.
The Pan-Germanic movement gradually weakened
and finally disappeared, at least in so far as hostility
to Catholicism was concerned, and most of the new
recruits of Protestantism finally returned to the old
faith. HUNGARY
As regards religious matters, Hungary is in a po
sition peculiarly its own. At the request of its Duke,
St. Stephen, Pope Sylvester II made Hungary a
kingdom, and the Duke became its first king, enjoy
ing extraordinary privileges in the matter of the ad
ministration of ecclesiastical property and in the
nomination of the different posts in the Church.
These privileges are now centered in the Emperor
of Austria, who, as is well known, is the apostolic
King of Hungary. But the two sovereignties and
the two nations are quite distinct. According to the
Stephanie Constitution — Stephen I was the first king
— the ruler of Hungary must be a Roman Catholic;
he must be crowned by the primate of Hungary, the
Prince Archbishop of Gran Esztergom, or, in his
absence, by the Archbishop of Kalocsa-Bacs. The
Queen is crowned by her chancellor, the Bishop of
Veszprem. When, in 1867, Francis Joseph was
crowned King of Hungary, the crown — the same as
192

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
that worn by St. Stephen — was placed on his head
by the primate and the prime minister. The cardi
nal-primate is ex-officio legate of the Holy See, a
member of the House of Magnates, chancellor of the
king, prefect of the Comitat, first baron of the king
dom and takes precedence over all other dignitaries.
These titles and honors demonstrate how high the
Church stands in Hungary and how intimately it is
associated with the administration of the state. The
prerogatives of the King in Church matters show the
same thing. He keeps an eye on the ecclesiastical
and the school endowments; he may return to the
state livings which are declining; he may permit the
alienation and mortgaging of Church property; and
he administers vacant bishoprics. The close associa
tion of the King and Church is also seen in another
field. The invasion of the Mongols, and, later, that
of the Turks, caused the disappearance of a number
of bishoprics and abbacies. But the titles were pre
served and the King bestows them on members of the
clergy or of religious orders who, on account of these
titles, have a right to the mitre, the pectoral cross and
the seal ring. These nominations are not submitted
to the Holy See for approval, because these prelates
are not consecrated bishops. But the nomination of
residential bishops administering a diocese is always
submitted to Rome, which alone preconizes them.
The Hungarian episcopate enjoys considerable
revenues and consequently demands nothing from
the state treasury. In fact, the state charges it with
the support of many charities. And still another tie
193

THE VATICAN
which binds the Church to the state is the fact that
all the bishops and some abbots are members of the
House of Magnates, where they often play an im
portant political part.
Some years ago a movement was begun in Hun
gary to deprive the Church of some of its temporal
privileges. Thus a law passed in 1894 took away
from the clergy the keeping of the birth, marriage
and death registries. Up to that time every subject
of the kingdom had to declare himself a member of
some denomination accepted and recognized by the
state. But today, a Hungarian is free to belong to
no church. Article 53 of the bill passed in 1868 and
article 32 of that passed in 1893 establish the reli
gious status of minors and leave the parents no choice
in the matter. Thus, where the father and mother
belong to the same religion, the children are to be
brought up in that rehgion. But when the parents
belong to different religions, accepted and recog
nized by the state, boys follow the religion of the
father and girls that of the mother. When the
parents belong to no denomination, the children are
to be brought up in one of those recognized by the
state. But persons belonging to different religions
may, before marrying, stipulate concerning the reli
gion of any future children, this stipulation to be
drawn up in due form before the proper civil officer.
This rule especially concerns Catholics, for Rome
does not permit mixed marriages except on the formal
engagement to bring up the children in the Catholic
faith. 194

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
The relative strength of the Catholic and allied
faiths in Hungary is demonstrated in the following
table based on the census of 1906 :
Latin Catholics   9,919,913 or 50.99%
Uniat Greek Church  1,854,143 „ 9.76%
Orthodox Greeks  2,815,713 „ 14.93%
Lutherans  1,288,942 „ 6.86%
Calvinists  2,441,142 „ 12.71%
Unitarians  68,568 „ 0.35%
Israelites   815,378 „ 4.35%
Other Denominations  14,760 „ 0.05%
No Religion  16

Total 19,218,575 100%
Though the Catholic is the state rehgion in Hun
gary, all other denominations enjoy the greatest
liberty. The state reserves to itself the right to in
spect the establishments of the Orthodox Greeks and
the Protestants, who otherwise are left almost entirely
to themselves. GREAT BRITAIN
If, in spite of everything, Austria and Hungary
are profoundly Catholic nations and are always con
sidered among the finest jewels of the Church's crown,
the same tiling cannot be said of Great Britain, which
still remains officially a Protestant country. How
ever, out of a population of 45,057,000 souls in the
United Kingdom, 5.500,000 are Catholics, 2,190,000
being in Great Britain and 3,310,000 in Ireland. If
we examine the whole British Empire, the Catholic
outlook is still more brilliant, for we find 12,053,000
195

THE VATICAN
Catholic subjects of the King. The episcopal hier
archy charged with the governing of these millions
of faithful scattered over the whole surface of the
globe also bespeak the importance of the Catholic
Church in the English world. There are no fewer
than thirty archbishops, two of whom are cardinals,
one hundred and eight bishops, thirty-four vicars
apostolic and twelve prefects apostolic.
Though, as has just been said, the Empire is of
ficially Protestant, the governments of England and
the colonies treat the Church in a spirit of friendli
ness which contrasts strongly with the conduct of the
authorities of some Catholic countries. The English
are too practical a people to harass unnecessarily
more than twelve million loyal subjects and thus keep
up at home a permanent cause of discontent which
could only check their expansion in the world.
The history of the rupture between England and
the Holy See in the time of Henry VIII is too well
known to necessitate consideration here. The last
Catholic bishop of the old hierarchy was Thomas
Goldwell, Bishop of St. Asaph, who died in Rome in
1585. From that time until 1850 England had no
episcopacy, and though the Anglican Church was
organized with bishops and archbishops, the Vatican
does not recognize the validity of their ordination,
so that the titularies are not called to the general coun
cils at Rome, as is the case with the Orthodox Russian
bishops, true bishops, though they be schismatical.
In Ireland, however, the regular succession of bishops
has never been interrupted. 196

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
It was not until 1850, that Pius IX created a new
Catholic hierarchy in England, when' he appointed
three residential bishops. In 1878, Leo XIII did
the same thing for Scotland, which excited, in uncom
promising Protestant circles, a momentary agitation
against the Vatican.
After the long and rigorous persecution which fol
lowed the Reformation — as late as 1769 a priest was
condemned to perpetual imprisonment for having
administered Communion to a sick person — the
Catholics of England finally, in 1778, succeeded in
obtaining the right freely to exercise their religion.
Notwithstanding the scenes of Protestant fanaticism
known as the Gordon Riots, the Catholics then began
to open chapels in several parts of London. A few
years later, nearly forty bishops and about 10,000
priests arrived from France, driven from home by
the French Revolution and seeking an asylum in
Protestant England. Many of these refugees were
in a state of utter destitution, and collections were
taken up for them in all the Anglican churches of the
archbishoprics of Canterbury and York, producing
the handsome sum of over 40,000 pounds. At the
same time, Pitt's government accorded the exiled
priests a monthly subvention of 8,000 pounds. Sub
jected to the severest penalties less than fifteen years
before, the Catholic religion now suddenly found
itself not only a Church recognized by the state, but
actually subventioned by it! Whatever may have
been the political motives underlying this action, the
fact remains that this generosity on the part of official
197

THE VATICAN
England should be warmly recognized by every
Catholic even today, for few things so largely con
tributed to the uplifting of the Church in that coun
try. Many of these emigrant priests, indeed, re
mained in England after the storm in France had
blown over, and by their admirable charity and vir
tues won the sympathy of broad-minded Protestants
and so did much to remove British prejudice against
"Popery" and prepare English public opinion for
that great movement in favor of religious toleration
which finally brought about the reparative legislation
of 1829.
The final abolition of the Test Act, on February
13, 1829, marked the beginning of a new era for the
Catholic Church in England. Henceforth, Catholics
could aspire to any public post except those of Lord
Chancellor and Viceroy of Ireland, and soon all the
old cause of strife and division was forgotten. To
day, forty-two Catholics sit in the House of Lords
and eighty-one in the House of Commons. A Catho
lic has been Lord Mayor of London and another has
been Chief Justice of England ; there are some fifty-
two Catholic barons, seventeen lords who are not
peers and twenty members of the Privy Council. It
can well be understood, therefore, that at the time of
Queen Victoria's Jubilee, Cardinal Vaughan cele
brated with gratitude the astonishing progress of
Catholicism in England during the Victorian era and
glorified "the regime of civil and religious liberty"
guaranteed by the English constitution which ren
dered such happy results possible. The eminent
198

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
prelate added: "We recall these facts not in the
spirit of foolish boasting but with feelings of thank
fulness for the kindly reception which England has
given us and with gratitude to God who alone re
builds the walls of Zion."
A word has already been said about the controversy
concerning the validity of the ordinations in the
Anglican Church. In the Bull "Apostolical Curae,"
Leo XIII, after a careful examination of the whole
subject, including most minute historical researches,
declared such orders null and void and in no way
attached to the old Catholic hierarchy before the
Reformation. The Pope has proved beyond ques
tion that the first Anglican bishops were not conse
crated by a true bishop and so they could not confer
holy orders on their priests and the episcopacy to
their successors. This declaration of the Holy
Father awakened a lively polemic in the United
Kingdom, where the Anglican bishops held that they
were the veritable successors of the prelates of an
cient England. In 1898, the Anglican archbishops
strove, in a reply to the bull, to justify their position,
which called forth a counter-reply from the Catholic
bishops of England. The discussion created con
siderable agitation in theological circles in the United
Kingdom. The document of the Catholic prelates, who made
an eloquent appeal to "our separated brethren" for
unity in the Church, closed with this remarkable pas
sage: "It is a real pleasure to us to find in the concluding por-
14 199

THE VATICAN
tion of your document so many things to which we can also
subscribe. You desire, for instance, that 'all should know
the intensity of your zeal and devotion to the cause of peace
and unity,' and you pray that 'from this very controversy
may spring a greater knowledge of the truth and a more
universal desire for peace in the Church of Christ, the Saviour
of the World.' In reading these lines, we recall that, under
recent and more solemn circumstances, you declared that
'the Divine plan of the visible unity among Christians is an
article of revelation,' to which statement we should all seize
every occasion to draw attention. Here at least is a common
ground on which we can meet. We go further than you,
perhaps, in firmly maintaining that this visible unity is neces
sary not only for the well-being but for the very existence
of the Church; and we are quite in accord with you in con
sidering how important it is not to let one be guided by one's
personal tastes or one's national temperament, but 'to turn
towards Our Lord Jesus Christ and to study patiently what
he meant by the establishment of the ministry of his Gospel.'
May that happy day soon come when you will understand
with us that the secret of this visible unity cannot be found
in that system which during a relatively short existence, has
engendered only division and ruin, but that it resides much
more in that unchangeable system— the Papacy — which,
throughout the ages, has bound the nations together in such
a brilliantly visible unity that it wins admiration even where
it cannot conquer obedience."
This discussion did not prove to be "a brand of dis
cord," as some feared. Quite the contrary. On
both sides, it removed many prejudices, enabled both
parties to become better acquainted and prepared the
way for that visible unity which the Anglican bishops
200

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
themselves declared to be "an article of the Refor
mation." Primary education is also one of those questions
which very rightly deeply concerns English Catho
lics ; for, although the position of Catholicism in Eng
land as regards its own schools is so much better than
it is in France, where obstacles of all kinds are thrown
in its way, still the matter causes considerable anxiety
to those who bear the responsibility of the future of
Catholicism in the former country. The principal
source of anxiety is of a financial nature, as was stated
not long ago by the English Catholic hierarchy in the
following words:
"The Catholic Church in England is no longer made up of
the rich classes of the country. Its following is now prin
cipally among the poor. It long ago lost all its landed
property. It is wholly supported by private offerings, com
ing mainly from those who work for their daily bread. But
few English Catholics are found among the landlord class
or in the liberal professions. With funds thus procured, the
Catholics of England keep up all their religious and chari
table institutions, the education of a clergy constantly grow
ing in numbers, the building of school-houses, chapels and
churches, and the foundation of associations of all sorts.
For all these establishments the English Catholics have no
invested funds, no regular income. All must be done by
private subscriptions paid in by wage-earners, for the most
part, who, though poor, are generous."
This statement of the Catholic bishops on the
school question was given to the world through the
medium of the London Times, November 16, 1895,
201

THE VATICAN
which fact in itself shows the high position now en
joyed in Great Britain by the Catholic portion of the
population. Like so many other things in England, the pri
mary school system is rather complicated and must
be explained in some detail in order that the reader
may clearly understand its bearing on Catholicism
in that country. For a long time, the English state
held entirely aloof from the matter of the primary
education of the nation. But the Ballot Reform
movement of 1832, which meant the entrance into
English political life of the lower middle classes, sud
denly brought to the fore the burning question of
pubhc instruction. In 1833, a first subvention of
20,000 pounds was carried through Parliament to aid
in the building of new schoolhouses. This was soon
followed by 500 pounds for the ragged schools.
These appear small sums today, but such was not the
case almost a century ago. At the same time a state
office of public instruction was established, but it may
be said that primary instruction in Great Britain was
not organized in a complete manner until the passage
of the Forster Act in 1870. This law, however, did
not aim to establish an entirely new system, nor did
it pretend to accomplish a final, perfect and unmodi-
fiable work. On the contrary, its first object was to
utilize the existing system and to change it only where
public opinion and modern methods demanded a
change. By the Forster Act, the country was divided into
a certain number of school districts, which were to
202

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
be inspected by the proper state official in order to see
if each district was sufficiently provided with schools
in accordance with the provisions of the law. Fur
thermore — and this is the provision that particularly
interests the reader — every school, regardless of its
religious character, would be recognized as a primary
school provided it was disposed to place itself under
the surveillance of royal inspectors for everything
except religious instruction, and provided it did not
make this religious instruction obligatory. If it was
found that the district was sufficiently supplied with
schools, no change was made in the existing system.
But if the contrary was the case, then the state was
to proceed to the formation of a school board chosen
by the taxpayers of the district and charged with the
exclusive care of primary education. This board
would establish new schools wherever needed, which
were to be known as board schools, or official schools,
while the denominational schools recognized by the
state were to keep their old name of voluntary schools.
Both, furthermore, were declared to be equal in the
eyes of the state, an interesting fact in connection
with the subject of this book. While voluntary
schools were left quite free in matters of religion, the
board schools were to give a religious instruction
limited almost everywhere to a simple reading of ex
tracts from the Bible without comment. This is the
system which still prevails in England.
The funds of the English primary schools come
from two sources: 1. State money distributed about
equally among all the schools recognized by the gov-
203

THE VATICAN
ernment, whether they be public or private, as the
term would be used in America. This is more ad
vantageous to the private schools, since an ingenious
provision of the law of 1897 permits the giving of
more money to the poor than to the rich school, the
private schools generally being poorer than the others.
2. Money coming from the local special school-tax
for the public schools, and voluntary subscriptions for
the private schools. The first category of schools
generally receives twice the amount obtained by the
second category. But this inequality is partially
compensated by the new mode of distributing these
state school funds.
In a word, if one considers the whole English school
system, one finds two sorts of schools forming part
of one and the same scheme of public instruction, both
equal in the eyes of the state, both giving the same
kind of education, and differing only in the matter
of religious instruction. In school affairs, the Eng
lish legislator professes to favor no religious body,
which is the more remarkable from the fact that, at
the same time, the Anglican Church is recognized as
the official state religion. But if the English do not
permit a "Godless education," which would offend
freedom of conscience and parental rights, neither
do they accept obligatory religious instruction. This
explains why the state in England warmly accepts the
cooperation of individuals or associations in the diffi
cult task of enlightening the popular classes; and if
these private parties or these independent bodies are
willing to teach what is required by the Department
204

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
of Public Instruction, the state even offers to bear
the cost of this lay instruction as if it were given by
its own schools.
Since the last general elections, which sent up to
the House of Conmions a large nmnber of members
belonging to the advanced parties, some of whom
have even become ministers, the whole aspect of the
question of primary instruction in England has been
profoundly modified. The Radicals, supported even
by the government, would make the English schools
like those of France, that is to say, place the monopoly
of primary instruction in the hands of the state, the
schools to be non-religious, with obligatory attend
ance, and would exclude all rehgious education. A
bill of this kind was carried in the House of Com
mons and created deep agitation in the country. The
Anglican Church, Dissenters and Catholics are all
united in opposing this measure and tlie majority of
the people of tlie United Kingdom support them in
this opposition. Fortunately, the House of Lords
threw the bill out, but the Radicals have not given
up hope of forcing their views on the nation, and the
English Cathohcs stand ready to continue the
struggle. While admiring the energy and vitality of the Eng
lish Catholics, who have had such a large measure of
success in their efforts of a political, religious, edu
cational and economic nature, it is natural to ask
who were the organizing and directing spirits that
led them to victory. Four names, honored through
out the world, should be mentioned in this connection,
205

THE VATICAN
O'Connell, Newman, Vaughan and Wiseman, and
especially the last of the four. The life of this
great cardinal, which has been written by Mr. Wilfrid
Ward, son of the celebrated convert, is really the his
tory of the awakening of Catholicism in England,
that great movement to which he gave irresistible
force. In 1840, at the age of thirty-eight, Wiseman was
appointed titulary Bishop of Melipotamus and coad
jutor of Dr. Walsh, Vicar Apostolic of the Midlands
of England. He left Rome after a residence there of
twenty-two years to take up his apostolic labors in
England. His chief aim consisted in creating in the
Anglican Church a state of mind favorable to Rome,
and with this end in view, he held aloof from all irri
tating polemics and even praised the generous efforts
of the High Church party to give a Roman Catholic
stamp to Anglicanism and thus to bring about a re
union of the two faiths.
In a memorable letter addressed in 1841 to Lord
Shrewsbury, Wiseman said:
"Another prayer for 'the unity of the sacred Church' has
been printed at Lichfield in Latin and English by Father
Wackerboth. A fine letter written by a young member of
the University of Oxford, which appeared some time ago in
the Univers, declares in the name of several others, that this
same ardent desire is the object of prayers and fasts during
the most solemn period of the year. Such are some of the
public manifestations of the sincere desire on the part of in
fluential men in the English Church to bring about unity. It
is not necessary to ask you whether you think one should
206

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
respond thereto by other than sentiments of sympathy and
kindness and in another manner than by the assurance of our
cordial cooperation. Should one remain indifferent when such
feelings are expressed around us? On the contrary, we
should extend a kindly hand to those who are in trouble and
encourage them."
This sympathetic attitude was soon destined to pro
duce fruit. Wiseman early entered into correspond
ence with the chief leaders of the movement at the
powerful University of Oxford. What followed is
well known. In 1845, Newman, Ward, Dalgairns,
and Christie left the Anglican Church and carried
with them into Catholicism the elite of the Oxford
movement. It was then perceived that there was a
definite change in the religious life of the country.
All eyes were now turned towards the Catholic
Church. To those who had not followed the Oxford
controversy, the news caused a veritable stupor. It
was the first time since the Stuarts that England
found herself so near to Rome. A complete reunion,
however, was not to be accomplished. But good seed
had been sown. Henceforth, thanks to the fame of
the new converts, English Catholics were to count in
the public life of the country; and this result, from
the purely human point of view, was chiefly due to
Wiseman. For a new situation, new institutions were neces
sary. Then it was that Pius IX conceived the proj
ect of reestablishing, not the ancient hierarchy which
existed before the Reformation, but a new territorial
jurisdiction whose sees should not be exactly the same
207

THE VATICAN
geographically as those of the Anglican bishops.
The Pontifical bull proclaiming the erection of the
new hierarchy appeared on September 12, 1850, ac
companied by a pastoral letter from Wiseman, who
had just been created Cardinal Archbishop of West
minster. The English government was prepared for
this action, but not the English public. It created
great agitation in Protestant circles. Catholic
priests were insulted in the streets. The Pope was
burned in effigy in all the large cities of the kingdom
and the most influential newspapers, with the Times
at their head, echoed the popular fury. The Prime
Minister, Lord John Russell, who at first showed
himself favorable to the reestablishment of the hier
archy, suddenly changed his position and sent a
famous letter to the Anglican Bishop of Durham in
which he denounced not only Roman Catholicism but
the clergymen of the High Church "who were con
spiring with Rome" by adopting certain Catholic
doctrines and practices. At the Lord Mayor's ban
quet, the Lord Chancellor was still more violent in
his speech, and the excitement reached such a point
that when the cardinal arrived in England, stones
were thrown at his carriage and his friends feared
for his life.
Wiseman grasped the dangers of the situation.
Instead of complaining to the head of the ministry
about an agitation for which the government was
partly responsible, he resolved to make a bold move
and address himself directly to the English people.
This was the first time since the Reformation that a
208

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
Catholic prelate thus made a direct appeal to public
opinion. This brave attitude won over to the cause
of tolerance all that was young and generous in Eng
land, and while the old Whig Party passed a Draco
nian law against the holders of ecclesiastical ter
ritorial titles not conferred by the Crown, that is,
against the Catholic clergy, the cause of liberty was
eloquently defended by two young members of the
House of Commons, who were destined to become
great statesmen — Gladstone and Disraeli.
Although this law was voted by both houses of Par
liament, it remained a dead letter. But, although
Catholics escaped this material persecution, they were
for a long time the victims of ostracism on the part
of that power which is always very powerful and
often very tyrannical, known as "English Society."
In a country where the aristocracy has been able to
preserve intact all its influence and privileges, the
drawing-room holds a considerable place in national
life. After the passage of the Emancipation Bills,
there seemed to be for a moment a relaxation of this
spirit of condemnation and Catholics were seen in
some of the most exclusive houses of London. But
after the events of 1850, English cant got the upper
hand again and for more than thirty years Catholics,
some of whom were members of the oldest aristocratic
families of England, were shut out from the best
society. Wiseman, as was later the case with Manning and
later still with Vaughan, clearly understood that,
while in Ireland the Catholic clergy should preserve
209

THE VATICAN
its more popular character, in England it must above
all things seek social standing; for if it would reach
the people, it must have prestige, which could be ob
tained only through the aristocracy. This conquest
of the English drawing-room, nearly complete today,
was the slow fruit of partial victories. The private
letters of Wiseman show his vigilance in matters so
cial; how he seized the slightest chance to penetrate
into "society," and how, once there, he quickly became
a past master in the ways of the polite world. He
conversed with the same ease and authority on ques
tions of politics, business, art, letters and history.
No subject was foreign to him. He preferred to
frequent learned circles and everywhere the supe
riority of his mind was recognized. He has some
times been criticised by English Puritanism as being
rather too ostentatious. But the truth is that he was
far removed from that "high and mighty" type so
often characteristic of the Anglican prelates. If he
did not hesitate to appear in the London streets in
a gala coach and receive insults and stones in conse
quence; if he dispensed the very largest hospitality
at York Place, all this sumptuousness was practiced
with a purpose; it made easier his relations with the
high cosmopolitan society of the metropolis. In this
way, to cite but one example from many, he laid the
foundation for a lasting friendship with the future
Emperor Napoleon III.
In a word, Wiseman had traits which were peculiar
to him, reminding one of those great prelates of the
ante-Reformation period, and though it is true that
210

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
he sometimes caused an irritation in Protestant circles
at a time when Catholics were scarcely tolerated in
England and the Church had only just escaped from
a period of persecution, still, it must be admitted that
his personality was very attractive and his conduct
very politic. In fact, events more than once proved
that his attitude was the right one. On the frequent
occasions when it was necessarv for English societv
to interest itseK in Catholic affairs, Wiseman showed
himself an admirable mediator amid the anger and
hatred momentarily awakened thereby. He was not
frightened by the most violent opposition. In the be
ginning, he forced himself on the attention of his
fellow-eountrymen, then won their respect and ended
by gaining their affection. So when he died in 1865,
an enormous concourse of people followed his coffin
to the grave, the London lower classes rubbing shoul
ders with the members of the aristocracy and the rep
resentatives of foreign sovereigns. The Times itself
admitted that such a funeral had not been seen in
London since that of the victor of Waterloo.
The part which Wiseman played in interior Church
affairs was not less remarkable than that which he
took in external matters. In the first place, he found
it no easy task to establish concord between the faith
ful who were born Catholics and those who were re
cently converted to the faith. The former were too
apt to mistrust the latter, not believing their abju
ration perfectly sincere and considering them too bold
in their demands. The latter, on their side, found the
born Catholics too apathetic and lacking in zeal, de-
211

THE VATICAN
daring that they had got so habituated to servitude
during the period of persecution, that they did not
care to be released. After succeeding in calming
down these animosities, the Cardinal had to intervene
in the controversy which soon sprang up between
Ultramontanism and the Liberal Catholics. By his
tact and his ability, he prevented a schism, which, in
the critical situation in which the Church then was in
England, would have been very prejudicial to the
future development of Catholicism in the United
Kingdom. To sum up, it may be said that if Wiseman's work is
to be judged by results, it appears almost superhuman.
In fact, he was more than a great bishop, a great
thinker, a great scholar. He was indeed the elect of
God Himself. It has been truly said by the Abbe
d'Egremont in his "Religious Annual" for 1898, that
if Newman was the veritable leader of the religious
revolution which transformed England towards the
middle of the last century, Wiseman played the not
less difficult role and not less glorious one of having
"organized victory."
What progress has been made since those great
days of heroic struggle ! Now, not only do Catholics
become more and more numerous in England, but,
far from being persecuted, they are often treated in
a most sympathetic manner by public opinion. This
was plainly visible during the Eucharistic Congress
held in London in 1908, presided over by His Emmi-
nence, Cardinal Vincent Vannutelli, the Special
Envoy of the Holy Father. Catholic demonstrations
212

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
of such a character were never seen before in the
streets of the capital. A procession of more than a
hundred thousand persons marched calmly and in the
greatest order in the midst of a vast concourse of re
spectful and pleased spectators. It is true that the
Prime Minister, Mr. Asquith, would not permit the
carrying of the Holy Sacrament in the procession,
but the benediction of the Holy Sacrament was given
to the people, massed on the square and in the streets,
from the top of the steps of the cathedral. This pro
hibition drew the attention of English Catholics to
their civil and political disabilities and decided them
to endeavor as never before to remove such unjust
discriminations. Will they succeed in this effort?
For the present, the question seems doubtful. As
the government did not think it politic to take the
initiative in the proposed reform, a private member
of the House, Mr. Luddon, and on his death, Mr.
William Redmond, undertook the task. But, as is
generally known, it is very difficult to have a private
bill placed on the English statute book. In Febru
ary, 1909, the first reading of the bill was carried,
which, however, is little more than a form of polite
ness, which means that the bill will be printed and
distributed to the members. When the second read
ing is reached, the real debate will begin.
This bill contains four articles, which are as follows :
1. Henceforth, Catholics may fill two posts, which
the Act of Emancipation of 1827 withheld from them,
viz., the Lord Chancellorship of England, and the
Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland. 213

THE VATICAN
2. The religious orders established in England,
which now have but a precarious existence, will be
given a legal status and will be authorized to hold
property. 3. The King, on the day of his coronation, will no
longer repudiate, as "blasphemy and idolatry," tran
substantiation and the worship of saints ; he will swear
simply to maintain Protestantism.
This bill certainly meets with the approval of the
average English opinion. The Anglican Church,
which, taken as a whole, leans towards Rome, ap
proves it. But the Nonconformists respond thereto
with fresh manifestations of their old anti-Papist
prejudices, while the ministry, forced to deal with
the Irish Catholics, finds itself in a difficult position.
The members of the cabinet are divided on the ques
tion. Mr. Lloyd-George, under a legal exterior, is
a Methodist at heart, while Mr. Birrell is a Baptist,
though Lord Morley, whose daughter is a nun, leans
more and more towards Rome. Hence it is that on
this question, the Cabinet cannot present a united
front and leaves its members free to take what posi
tion they like. Mr. Asquith, speaking for himself,
has come out in favor of the bill. He squarely ac
cepts the idea of throwing open to Catholics the posts
of Lord Chancellor and the Lord Lieutenancy; in
fact, he advocated this measure as early as 1890, along
with Gladstone, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannermann
and Lord Morley. Even now a Catholic could be
Prime Minister, and so dispose of all the benefices of
the Anglican Church; consequently no justification of
214

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
the proposed measure is really necessary. The decla
ration of Mr. Asquith has done much to break the
force of the Protestant assault, led by the Manchester
Unionist, Mr. M'Arthur. It is in vain that he dwells
on the tyranny of principles and the crimes of the
Jesuits; these phantoms of the past only call forth
smiles. Lord Edmund Talbot, brother of the Duke of Nor
folk, the Nationalist Healy, the witty Mr. Belloc, the
most French of the members of the House of Com
mons — his father was a Frenchman and he has served
in a French artillery regiment — support the other side
of the question. By a vote of 133 to 123, the House
of Commons decided to consider the articles of the bill
in full session and not to refer the bill to a small com
mittee, which decides on the third and final reading
of bills emanating from private members. In reality
this decision endangered the existence of the bill, and
if the government does not give it a place in its pro
gramme, does not, so to speak, adopt it, it dies of itself
and all has to be begun over again. But the firm
attitude of Mr. Asquith gives ground for hope of the
final success of the measure.
To sum up the whole situation in Great Britain, it
may be said that the Catholic religion there is in a
prosperous state which the future will render more
and more brilliant. ITALY
Is what has just been said of England, true also
of Italy? Yes, in so far as the people are concerned,
who are so strong in their attachment to the faith
15 215

THE VATICAN
and in their fidelity to the Pope. But what dark
clouds are elsewhere on the Italian horizon!
The capital question which has been weighing on
the destiny of the Italian nation for the past two score
years is that of the temporal power of the Popes. It
harasses the minds of the people and will disturb the
unity of the nation, so dear to all Italian hearts, as
long as it is not definitely settled. Many amateur
diplomats, rendered all the bolder by the fact that
they represented only themselves, have tried to find a
solution of the problem and have presented numerous
remedies, some of which were most ingenious, but
none of wliich has contributed an iota towards the
accomplishment of the object in view.
In the eyes of the Catholics, not only of Italy but
of the whole world, some very clear principles and
some indubitable declarations spring from these dis
cussions and dominate the conflict. In the first place,
the Vatican and the whole Catholic world hold that it
rests with the Sovereign Pontiff alone to come to a
decision in so grave an affair concerning his own inde
pendence and that of the Church itself. Secondly,
under no circumstances can this independence of the
Pope in the government of the Christian world be
compromised in any way or the exercise of his rights
curtailed. Thirdly, the 265,000,000, more or less,
of Catholics scattered over the surface of the globe,
cannot detach themselves from this question and for
get that Rome is their religious center, where resides
the living and respected authority who directs their
conscience, where, also, are found, at the Vatican, the
216

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
precious archives of Catholicism and, in the churches
and catacombs, those thousands of testimonials of
their history and their faith, called the relics of mar
tyrs and saints.
Furthermore, it is known by everyone that the
Sovereign Pontiffs, Pius IX, Leo XIII and Pius X,
have protested most energetically against the spoli
ation of the States of the Church ; they have prohibited
all faithful Italian Catholics from voting or being can
didates for the legislative elections, and this general
prohibition has never been withdrawn, though reports
to the contrary are circulated from time to time; and
they ignore the Italian Law of Guarantees passed in
the Pope's favor and making him, as it were, an
honorary sovereign.
Such are the unquestioned elements of the problem ;
and every Italian who loves his great and beautiful
land must desire in his heart a solution which would
satisfy all parties, the Vatican as well as the state.
If this could be accomplished, it would greatly aug
ment the esteem and sympathy for Italy throughout
the civilized world.
Besides the question of temporal power, other
serious difficulties for the Church have been created
by the Italian government. During the whole Crispi
ministry, the Papacy and religion were forced to sub
mit to a most shameful administrative persecution,
which took the form of endless annoyances and humili
ations of the Holy See. This policy was pushed so
far that on several occasions Leo XIII publicly an
nounced his intention of leaving Rome, which created
217

THE VATICAN
considerable excitement throughout the world, and the
newspapers of all nations busied themselves in examin
ing the question where the Holy Father could take
refuge and live in liberty and peace. In France,
Avignon and Pau were mentioned, and the restoration
of their famous castles was considered in this connec
tion, it being pointed out that this would not be the
first time in the history of the Vatican that the Papacy
had resided in the former city. Monaco and Malta
were also mentioned, and the hospitality of the United
States was considered.
While attacking the Holy See, the Crispi ministry
also showed a leaning towards the most advanced and
questionable socialistic ideas, especially in the large
Italian cities, a senseless policy which profoundly
afflicted and disquieted the very large class of upright
and thoughtful citizens. They sowed the wind and
reaped the whirlwind. This Crispi ministry which
was so harmful to Italy, both from a religious and
political standpoint, with its megalomaniac ideas —
from a military standpoint, with its Abyssinian policy,
and from an economic standpoint, especially at Rome,
by an exaggerated development of the city — finally
gave way to the Rudini cabinet, which began at first
in an atmosphere of peace, during which relative calm
a great awakening of Catholic spirit showed itself
throughout the Peninsula. The religious associations
and charitable organizations renewed their old activ
ity, especially in social matters and in public mani
festations of faith and piety in which the popular
classes indulged. It was a new proof of the healthy
218

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
state of the masses when an appeal was made to that
religious sentiment so profoundly rooted in the Ital
ian soul and a fresh evidence of the indefectible vitahty
of the Catholic spirit which, in order to produce its
best effects, needs simply to have its rights respected
if not protected. And the government found its own
policies aided thereby. This fine Catholic movement
proved an indirect auxiliary in the municipal elec
tions, even in the large cities, by banishing from the
polls all subversive ideas. But, unfortunately, in
order to strengthen its position in the Parliament, the
Rudini cabinet sought the support of the Radicals,
who finally dominated it, especially after the death of
the moderate Minister of Justice, Signor Corta.
ZanardeUi, who replaced him at the end of 1897, was
the leader of the sectaries and the regular protector
of Radicalism. When the cabinet entered upon this
new line of policy, a series of famous circulars were
issued, one after another, aimed at the Catholic asso
ciations, which stirred up much indignation and such
a spirit of protest that they had no effect for some
time. But the fury of the anti-Cathohcs continued,
and they went so far as to declare the associations dis
turbers of the peace and even a danger to the state.
But it was soon seen that the danger was not in this
direction. The Italian government was suddenly
awakened as if from a dream by a formidable ex
plosion of socialistic and anarchist disorder in both
northern and central Italy, with Milan as the center.
The Vatican view of this outbreak was well summed
up in this passage of a letter addressed to Cardinal
219

THE VATICAN
Ferrari, Archbishop of Milan, by Leo XIII : "The
evil grain sown for a long time and with impunity
throughout the Peninsula, perverting popular ideas,
corrupting morals and prejudicing the public mind
against religion, could not but produce bitter fruit."
The governmental repression was worse than the
popular revolt. More than 60,000 troops were quickly
called to arms; martial law was declared in entire
provinces ; regular battles were fought. This was the
case at Milan, where not only rifles, but even cannon,
were used. Such, in a word, is the history of this ter
rible incident, so full of warning to the enemies of re
ligion and good government. Its immediate effect
was to kill the Rudini cabinet, discredited by the ex
cesses of Signor Zanardelli against the Catholics,
which was succeeded by the cabinet of General Pel-
loux. But the new Prime Minister's past political
career and the colleagues whom he called into his cabi
net connected him so closely with the supporters of
Zanardelli and Crispi that the persecution continued,
and the sectaries, who were still very powerful, per
sisted in publicly accusing Catholics as agitators and
as authors of the troubles which had just covered Italy
with blood. Leo XIII repelled these calumnies in
an encyclical dated August 5, 1898, and addressed to
the bishops, clergy and people of Italy, a remarkable
document, extracts from which are given below.
After recalling the origin of the troubles, His Holi
ness went on to say:
"We think, however, that in seeking the initial causes of
this riot and fraternal conflict, those who have the direction
220

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
of public affairs will admit that these causes spring from the
baneful but natural seed which has been so plentifully and for
such a long time sown broadcast throughout the Peninsula.
We believe that, perceiving the effect and the cause, and
profiting by the terrible lesson wliich they have just received,
our public men will return to the Christian rules of social
organization by whose aid nations gain new strength lest
they perish from off the face of the earth; and that, con
sequently, our ruling class will honor the principles of
justice, probity and religion, whence chiefly come the material
well-being of a people. We should imagine that if they
wished to discover tlie real authors and the accomplices of
these up-risings, they would bethink themselves to look for
these authors and these accomplices among those who hold
Catholic teaching in aversion and who excite tlie souls of
men of every kind of covetousness awakened by the teachings
of scientific and political naturalism and materialism, — among
those, in a word, who hide their culpable intentions in
shadowy sectarian assemblies where are sharpened arms
against the order and the security of society. In fact there
are in the enemy's camp elevated and impartial minds who
understand and have the praise-worthy courage to publicly
proclaim the true cause of these lamentable disorders.
"But great was our surprise and our pain, when we learned
that, under an absurd pretext, badly hidden by artifice, public
opinion was purposely misled into believing that CathoUcs —
a foolish accusation — were the disturbers of order, and on
them was laid the blame and harm of the seditious movements
of which some parts of Italy were the theater. And our pain
was increased when these calumnies were followed up by arbi
trary and violent acts. Some of the best known and ablest
Catholic journals were suspended or suppressed; diocesan
and parochial committees proscribed: Catholic congresses
221

THE VATICAN
dispersed; some of our institutions rendered powerless and
others, even those among these whose sole aim is the develop
ment of charitable objects among the faithful or the carrying
out of public or private acts of benevolence, threatened with
a like treatment. A very large number of inoffensive and
meritorious societies were dissolved and so the patient, chari
table and modest labor of many long years and of many noble
minds and generous hearts was destroyed in a few hours of
tempest. "By having recourse to these base and intemperate meas
ures, the authorities, in the first place, placed themselves in
contradiction with their previous assertions ; for, during a
long period, they had been saying that the people of Italy
were at one with them in their revolutionary course and in
their hostility to the Papacy. But now, on the contrary,
they suddenly had to admit that this was not true, by having
recourse to exceptional means to smother numerous associa
tions scattered all over Italy, whose only crime was attachment
to the Church and to the cause of the Holy See.
"In the second place, these measures wronged above all the
principles of justice and the smooth and natural working of
existing laws, in virtue of which Catholics, as well as all other
Italian citizens, are permitted freely to unite their common
efforts to promote the moral and mental welfare of those
around them and to enjoy the practices of piety and religion.
It was, therefore, an arbitrary act thus to dissolve many
Catholic charitable societies which in other lands enjoy a
peaceful and respected existence, and all this without there
being any proof of culpability, without any preliminary in
quiry, without any document in hand showing that they had
participated in the unexpected disorders.
"Furthermore, this action was a special offense towards
us, who had organized and blessed these useful and pacific
222

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
associations, and towards you, my Venerable Brothers, who
had carefully watched over their development and manage
ment. Our protection and your vigilance should have ren
dered them still more worthy of respect and shielded them
from all suspicion.
"Nor can we pass over in silence the perniciousness of such
measures for the interests of the people, for social conserva/-
tion and for the real good of Italy. The suppression of these
societies increased the moral and material misery of the people
whom they strove to elevate by all possible means ; it took
away from society a powerfully conservative force, for their
organization and the diffusion of their principles were a dyke
against the subversive theories of socialism and anarchy ; and,
finally, it made still more bitter the present religious differ
ences, which all men who are free from sectarian passion
consider as extremely harmful to Italy, whose force, unity
and harmony are lowered thereby.
"We call the attention, to this state of things, of our sons
of Italy and those of other nations, to both of whom we de
clare, however, that though our sorrow is great, not less great
is our courage, not less firm our confidence in that Providence
who governs the world, and who watches constantly and with
love over the Church which is identified with the Papacy,
according to the beautiful expression of St. Ambrose: Ubi
Petrus, ibi Ecclesia. Both are divine institutions that have
survived every outrage, every attack, and, without ever being
shaken, have seen the centuries pass and have drawn from
misfortune itself increased force, energy and constancy."
It was not in exaggerated terms that the Holy
Father denounced these sectarian persecutions and
called attention to the large number of their victims.
The statistics of the Vatican, which if not absolutely

THE VATICAN
complete come as near as possible to the truth, prove
that, within the short space of one and a half months,
that is, from the beginning of May until the middle of
June, 1898, there were blotted out not less than four
Catholic "Regional Committees," 70 Diocesan Com
mittees, 2,600 Parish Committees, 600 "Sections," 20
Catholic Young Men's Christian Associations, 5 Uni
versity Clubs, 300 general religious associations, and
numerous rural banks, friendly societies, et cetera,
whose purely economic character should have pro
tected them from violence; but they were dissolved
simply because they were Catholic. In a word, nearly
4,000 Catholic associations of one kind or another were
thus summarily dispersed ; not one of them in a regu
lar legal manner, nor was a single one of them found
guilty of the anti-state machinations, which were
charged as a whole against all these organizations.
The aim of this Draconian measure was plain. The
government wished to strike a blow at Catholic in
fluence in general in Italy and thus reach the very
head of the Church himself.
Since that epoch, death has sadly afflicted the
Church by taking away Leo XIII ; and the state, by
the assassination of King Humbert I. In a general
way, the struggle between the sectaries and religion
has gone steadily on, with alternations, however, be
tween moments of calm and storm. Even at the mo
ment of the terrible catastrophe of Messina and
Reggio this spirit of hatred did not disappear. The
admirable devotion and abnegation of the Catholic
clergy was scarcely noticed by the anti-clerical press,
224

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
a fact which the Pope plainly stated in one of his
encyclicals. It is only too evident, therefore, that
the Church has many difficulties to contend with in
Italy, and everything, unfortunately, points to the
conclusion that their solution will not be effected in the
near future. SPAIN
Another classic land of Catholicism, Spain, is also
very keenly attacked by the free-thought canker
and by the most advanced anti-Christian political
parties. But the Court and the lower classes are
strongly attached to religion, while the bishops enjoy
greater liberty of speech in Spain than is generally the
case elsewhere.
Everybody knows the unfortunate events which de
prived Spain of her two fine colonies of Cuba and the
Philippines, but what is less known, and what was
revealed some years ago by a spirited polemic be
tween the Catholic and the anti-Christian press, is the
part which the secret societies played in the insurrec
tion in those colonies. The Vatican has been in
formed that at that time there were as many as eighty
masonic lodges at Havana alone, while it is a historic
fact that for some three hundred years, the monks,
invested with true administrative powers, gave peace
to the Philippines. The disorder which finally over
turned Spanish government in those unhappy islands
was due to masonic intrigues.
In Cuba, Freemasonry was introduced from Phila
delphia, and close relations were kept up between the
American and Cuban lodges. The "Patriotic Com-
225

THE VATICAN
mittees" were founded by the masons and were given
attractive names. The signal for an outbreak was
always given by these organizations, which should
have been suppressed long before, in accordance with
government orders. The Spanish bishops, conse
quently, vigorously opposed these associations, and
the Bishop of Plasencia went so far as to blame in
a public letter, published on February 20, 1898, those
ecclesiastics who in Spain itself voted for, and used
their influence to get others to vote for, unworthy
candidates for Parliament, who were affiliated with
the various so-called Liberal Parties, whose pro
gramme meant "the destruction of national unity."
French influence is naturally strongly felt in Spain.
So the separation of Church and state in France was
sure to have imitators on the other side of the Pyre
nees. But the effort will probably fail in Spain, as
the agitators have with them neither a majority in the
Cortes, nor public opinion, nor the Court.
PORTUGAL
The religious history of Portugal has been most
brilliant and glorious. Its universities have given to
the Church a galaxy of learned men in all branches
of ecclesiastical science, and its sturdy missionaries,
following in the wake of its famous navigators, and
conquerors, were among the first to carry the light
of the Gospel into Africa, India and Japan. The
religious orders, then very flourishing in Portugal,
were most distinguished in this pacific crusade and in
this ardor for the saving of souls.
226

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
In Portugal, the lower classes, especially in the
northern provinces, are profoundly Catholic. One
or two examples of this may be given from a large
number. Thus, it was by a pilgrimage to the
mountains of Sameiro, where since the year 1854 the
Immaculate Conception is especially honored, that
a great number of the workmen of Oporto and Braga
celebrated Labor Day in 1899. When the constitu
tional regime was estabhshed in Portugal, it was
considered best, in the interest of honest elections,
to have the voting take place in the churches. But,
later, so much irreverence and so many crimes re
sulted, that the Catholic Congress of Oporto approved
the request of the religious papers that this custom
be abandoned. This has not yet been done, and the
fact that the custom was ever instituted shows the
manner in which Catholicism has penetrated into the
heart of the Portuguese nation.
But today, because of the activity of the masonic
lodges and the revolutionary parties, religion has lost
much of its old influence in governmental circles, and
that terrible crimes, such as the assassination of the
King and the Crown Prince, which horrified the
world a few years ago, could take place, sadly reflects
the new state of mind in the Portuguese political
world of today.
The decline of the Catholic spirit in Portugal dates
from the violent persecution of the religious orders
in 1834. The expulsion of the Jesuits in the pre
vious century from all the Portuguese dominions,
carried out by the Marquez de Pombal in 1759, had
227

THE VATICAN
already done much harm to the Portuguese colonies
and to the Christians of India. But towards the end
of the nineteenth century, the relations between the
ecclesiastical and the civil authorities were, happily,
considerably ameliorated and a slow but perceptible
progress is now seen in all the various kinds of Church
work. The return of this religious spirit began about
the time that Father Miel of the Congregation of
the Mission commenced his labors at Lisbon. This
excellent priest, who was accompanied by Sisters of
Charity when they came to the aid of the yellow fever
victims during the epidemic at Lisbon in 1857, laid
the foundation in Portugal of all the pious and
charitable work which characterizes the Catholic
spirit of this century. Since then, the government
has permitted rehgious orders to reestablish them
selves little by little in Portugal, until today are
to be found there three colleges of the Jesuits, the
Priests of the Holy Spirit, of the Lazarists, et
cetera; Franciscan, Benedictine and Dominican con
vents; ordinary schools and industrial schools of the
Salesian Fathers, and some nunneries. The gov
ernment has even gone further in its reparative policy.
Wishing to make amends for the abolition of the re
ligious orders in the colonies, a commission was ap
pointed, with the valiant missionary, Dom Antonio
Barrozo, the present Bishop of Oporto, at its head,
to study the most practical way of increasing the
missionary seminaries. From the suppression of
the religious orders in 1834, until recent years, Portu
gal has had but one royal missionary seminary, that
228

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
at Sarnache do Bom- Jar din, for the training of mis
sionaries for the colonies under royal patronage. If
it had not been for the very important services of
several religious orders and the aid officially asked
for and given during many years, by the Fathers of
the Holy Spirit, in the Province of Angola and West
Africa, the Portuguese colonies would, today, be
quite neglected in the matter of religion.
The charity work carried on by the Church grew
in a remarkable degree and the immense good which
it accomplished was largely due to the example set
by Queen Marie Amelie, who never wearied of suc
coring the poor and unfortunate. At Her Majesty's
suggestion a committee was formed at Lisbon to
gather the funds necessary to found hospitals and
asylums for consumptives, and the Castle of Ontao,
near Lisbon, which then belonged to the Royal family,
was generously given for a sanitarium for scrofulous
children. In a word, though the sectarian press was
indefatigable in its attacks on religion and its institu
tions, a policy, by the way, which sometimes resulted
disastrously for the papers (A P atria was suppressed
on account of its attacks on the Franciscan Hospital
Sisters) thanks to the admirable devotion and activity
of the religious press, the future of the cause in Portu
gal was very bright.
It is true that the seminaries and the rank and file
of the clergy were not all that could be desired. But
it is certain that the zeal of the bishops would eventu
ally have overcome these difficulties and shortcom
ings; for the bishops in Portugal held a strong
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THE VATICAN
position. They were, for instance, ex-officio mem
bers of the House of Peers, which gave them a real
influence in governmental affairs. Then again, they
came together annually in a sort of national council
to examine into the state of the Church and to provide
better measures for its defense and administration.
In order to improve the teaching body and the general
education in their seminaries, several of the bishops
handed all these matters over to the religious orders
and the Vatican seconded these efforts by founding
under the immediate care of the Holy See a Pontifical
Portuguese Seminary. This institution was estab
lished in 1900 at his own expense, by Leo XIII, who
chose as its superior, Monsignor Sinibaldi, for
merly professor of scholastic philosophy at the Uni-.
versify of Coimbra. The Pope also gave instruc
tions that all the Portuguese dioceses on the Conti
nent and in the colonies should send to Rome at least
two of their members. As a result of these wide meas
ures it was hoped that the Church would flourish
as of old in this classic land of Catholicism.
But an unexpected political catastrophe suddenly
ruined all these bright hopes. The revolution which
drove King Manuel from the country was also the
most anti-Catholic and sectarian uprising that has per
haps ever occurred. The whole Portuguese Church
was also overturned. The bishops were driven from
their sees and the priests from their parishes. A large
number of nuns and Catholic laymen were thrown
into prison. All relations with Rome were broken
off and violent persecution ensued. If all this was
230

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
most disastrous to the best interests of the Church,
there were, at the same time, consolatory circum
stances connected with the calamity. Faith was
awakened in the people. The faithful grouped them
selves around their bishops, listened to their voices
and began a brave fight against their persecutors,
who were surprised and disconcerted. The Holy
Father has encouraged and blessed the episcopacy
and the faithful in their admirable struggle, which he
directs with as much firmness as prudence; and the
bishops of several Catholic countries have sent col
lective public addresses, full of sad sympathy and
ardent admiration, to their harassed colleagues of
Portugal. In the meanwhile, there is every reason
to hope that calm will soon follow this severe storm
and that the Portuguese Church will once more as
sume the brilliant position which it has always held
among Catholic nations. RUSSIA
If, from the old Latin countries of southern Eu
rope, we pass to the north, we shall find there that
the condition of the Church, after having been rather
critical, is now relatively good. Until recent years,
Catholicism in Russia was looked upon as a "foreign
religion," and only in Russian Poland was to be found
a regular Catholic hierarchy and a diocesan organiza
tion. Russian Catholics, disseminating throughout
the immense Empire of the Czar even to the shores
of Behring's Strait, were all attached to the Arch
bishopric of Mohileff , which, being the metropolitan
16 231

THE VATICAN
see, was the head of the largest diocese in the universe.
But today, Russia proper has six sees, viz., the ancient
one of Mohileff, the metropolitan, and five suffra
gans. Polish Russia has one archbishopric, Warsaw,
and six suffragan bishops. The illiberal laws which
formerly affected Catholics have been annulled, and
an era of religious liberty is finally dawning in Holy
Russia, which was so long and so violently opposed
to Catholicism and Rome. The Czar now keeps up
diplomatic relations with the Holy See, by means
of an Envoy Extraordinary and a Minister Pleni
potentiary, assisted by a secretary of legation, who
reside at Rome. POLAND
Poland is a nation which is united as regards
Catholicism, but divided, as everybody knows, po
litically into three parts, Russian, Austrian and Prus
sian Poland. Russian Poland, a land which has suf
fered greatly from religious persecutions in the past
and from anarchical disturbances in recent years, is
now entering upon an era of peace. The heroic
courage of the faithful finally wearied their perse
cutors. Among these valiant souls, the first place
must be given to the Uniats, Ruthenians belonging
to the United Greek Church, Catholics, consequently,
and for this called Uniats. The Russians of the
Orthodox Greek Church, who are schismatics, looked
upon these Uniats as renegades and, on account of
the external similarity of their rites, tried to separate
them from Rome and incorporate them in the Ortho
dox Greek Church. Persuasion, in the first place,
232

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
followed by force, prison, the knout, the deportation
of their bishops and priests, and the exile, en masse,
of the population of whole regions, — nothing was left
untried to attain this base end. But all was in vain.
An imposing number of recalcitrants still refused to
participate in the services of the official Orthodox
faith, which brought down on their humble heads the
severest punishments. But still they would not
abandon their Church. At last, forced to admit that
it was impossible to vanquish the opposition of this
noble people, nearly all of whom were peasants, and
also influenced by the public reprobation of all civi
lized Europe, which was astonished at this cruel
treatment of loyal subjects of the Empire, the
Russian government, weary of the hopeless struggle,
permitted the Uniats to practice the Latin Rite, thus
ending where they should have begun. This order
was given in the ukase, dated July 14, 1898, which was
spoken of in this wise by a friend of the Vatican:
"It is quite true that this concession is not so complete as
one would like, as it was made on the condition that the Greek
Rite should be abandoned because of its resemblance to the
Orthodox Rite. But it is permitted these Polish Catholics,
as they belonged to the United Greek Church, to profess
Catholicism henceforth by going over to the Latin Rite. In
this connection some official formalities had to be fulfilled, as,
for instance, changing the entry concerning religion on the
birth registers, where, during the period of persecution, the
Uniats were inscribed as belonging to the Orthodox faith.
It is a mistake, however, to say, as has been said in some
quarters, that these formalities could be carried out only
233

THE VATICAN
after the direct permission of the Czar. This is the very
point of difference between the old and the new arrangement
in this matter. Under the old, the exception in favor of the
Uniats who would remain Catholic was granted very rarely
and was accorded in fact by the Czar in each particular case,
whereas, today, it is the general rule that all Uniats, pro
vided they give up the Greek Rite, may demand and will be
granted permission to profess Catholicism, if the above-
mentioned formalities are fulfilled, without asking it as a
special favor from the Czar."
This was a marked victory for liberty of conscience.
Piety is one of the most striking traits of the Polish
character. Even in the midst of persecution, and
still more since that time, the Third Order of St.
Francis, which calls the faithful to a more perfect
Christianity, has wonderfully developed in that
country. Whole villages strictly obey the rules of
the Seraphic Brethren, and nowhere else is Christian
life more intense. The higher classes are the first
to set the example and it is not uncommon to see the
names of the greatest families borne by simple monks,
as, for example, Brother Augustin Czartoryski of
the Salesians and Don Bosco and Dom Benedict
Radziwill of the Benedictine Order.
In Austrian Poland, the Church enjoys complete
liberty and its various activities flourish unrestrained.
The city of Leopol, or Lemberg, the second capital
of Austrian Poland, offers, for instance, a curious
example of diversity of rites in unity of faith. Thus,
there are three archbishoprics and chapters in this
one city, the diocesan capital, at one and the same
234

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
time, of Latin Catholics, United Greeks and Ar
menians. This adds greatly to the splendor of the
rehgious ceremonies, as was seen at the funeral of
Cardinal Sylvester Sembratovicz, Ruthenian Arch
bishop of Leopol. The Latin episcopate made a
special point to honor the memory of this eminent
member of the Sacred College, whose sacerdotal vir
tues won universal respect. The magnificence of the
Oriental Rites; the procession of the monks of St.
Basil, the faithful guardians of the integrity of the
faith among the Greek Catholics; the imposing cor
tege of the bishops of the different rites; the civil
authorities in their robes of office ; the Ruthenian and
Armenian Polish clergy following the hearse of the
regretted cardinal, — all this conspired to make a pro
found impression on the silent multitude, who thus
witnessed the triumph of the union of Rome, ce
mented in life and death.
It has often been asked why the Armenians have
an archbishop at Leopol. The reason is because the
city is situated on the commercial route leading from
the shores of the Black Sea to those of the Baltic, and
was formerly an exceptionally important center for
oriental trade. So the Armenians used to congre
gate there in such numbers that it was found neces
sary on this account to create a special diocese, which
is small today on account of the falling off in this
trade. But the religious hierarchy remains the same
as of yore.
In Prussian Poland, the condition of the Church
is less satisfactory. It has, among other difficulties,
235

THE VATICAN
to struggle against Protestant proselytism, which en
deavors to strengthen its position in Posen by coloni
zation and the spreading of the German language,
and by the erection of Protestant churches and hos
pitals where the nursing is done by deaconesses.
GERMANY
The German Empire, the majority of whose popu
lation is Protestant, may be called the very fortress
of the Reformation spirit; yet, at the same time, it
must not be thought that the Catholics are in a small
minority. In a population of 64,903,423 souls, as
given by the census of 1905, there are 22,094,462
Roman Catholics and 15,152 Greek Catholics, making
a total of 22,109,614; that is to say, a little more
than a third of the whole German Empire is Catho
lic, a rather formidable figure. Yet, oddly enough,
their numerical strength has not always been recog
nized, as it should have been. The old uncompromis
ing spirit of Huguenotism is accountable for more
than one unfriendly action aimed against Catholi
cism, which culminated in what is known as the Kul-
turkampf, that religious warfare provoked by Prince
Bismarck, who violated the most sacred rights of Ger
man Catholics, exiled their bishops and priests, and
broke up their religious charitable institutions. The
complete history of this unworthy action is best given,
perhaps, in two French works: Goyau's "L'Allemagne
Religieuse," and Count Lefebvre de Behaine's "Leon
XIII et Bismarck."
But Prince Bismarck's declaration of war did not
236

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
cause the German Catholics to lose heart; quite the
contrary. They began immediately to organize a
serious political and parliamentary resistance. At
the polls, they showed a strict party discipline that
carried everything before it and won the admiration
of the world. They forced their way into the Reich
stag, where they formed a compact group called the
Center, which eventually reached a membership of
more than a hundred and finally forced upon parlia
ment the recognition of Catholic rights. This group
showed great cleverness in parliamentary tactics by
casting their solid vote first with one faction of the
opposition and then with another, thus threatening
the existence of any ministry which refused to recog
nize the legitimate demands of the Catholics. Not
withstanding the repeated efforts of the government,
this united Center could never be shaken, an admir
able example of discipline and fidelity to a principle
which might be followed with advantage by the Catho
lic members of other parliamentary bodies.
But all the Catholic members of the German Reich
stag are not found in the Center. The deputies from
Alsace-Lorraine and Prussian Poland form a total
of some twenty-five Catholics, and the Catholic con
tingent is rendered all the more imposing by the
presence as deputies of from twenty to twenty-five
priests. Nor is the Center solely a religious body.
Besides the demands for justice to Catholics, its
platform contains a well-thought-out series of po
litical and social reforms. Politically, it champions
in particular universal suffrage and the strict main-
237

THE VATICAN
tenance of the federal character of the Empire.
Socially, the Center has aided efficaciously in the pas
sage of bills protecting the working classes, such as
the prohibition of Sunday labor, shortening the hours
of work for women and children in the factories and
mines, and the insurance of employes against accident.
The Center has always urged the passage of measures
protecting agricultural and small industrial interests,
and especially advocates the obligatory organization
of labor corporations. For these reasons, the Center
is a popular party in all the best senses of the term,
and of all conservative groups is the most success
ful in combating the pernicious doctrines of Social
ism, so widely spread in Germany. In fact, the Ger
man Catholics exercise a most healthy social influence
throughout the nation not only religiously, but by
the large number of excellent institutions of all kinds
due to their initiative, such as information bureaus,
working-men's societies, et cetera. It should be
noted, by the way, that the socialist deputies, with
three or four exceptions, are generally elected in
districts where Protestants are in the majority.
The manner of nominating Catholic bishops in
Germany differs in different states of the confedera
tion. Thus, in Bavaria, the sovereign, who is a Catho
lic, enjoys, in virtue of the Concordat of June 15,
1817, the right of nomination similar to that exercised
by the executive authority in France previous to the
separation of Church and state. In the German
states governed by Protestant rulers, the nominations,
after a preliminary understanding with the Holy See,
238

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
are made up in the following manner : the chapter of
the cathedral draws up a list of candidates which is sub
mitted to the government. The latter has the right
to eliminate the names it does not like, and it is from
this revised and approved list that the chapter finally
decides, in accordance with canonical rules, who
should occupy the vacant seat. It goes without say
ing that the bishop thus chosen receives the canonical
investiture from the Vatican.
But the ill-will of the government sometimes ren
ders illusory this right of election on the part of the
chapter. A good example of this was given during
the closing years of the last century at Freiburg, in
the Grand Duchy of Baden. For more than a year
and a half after the death of Monsignor Roos, in
October 22, 1896, the see was vacant because the
Baden government refused to return the list of can
didates presented by the chapter. Finally, after long
and difficult negotiations, an agreement was reached
with the name of Monsignor Komp, Bishop of Fulda,
a prelate who was seventy years old. This happened
on March 21, 1898. But the difficulty did not end
there. Monsignor Komp showed no enthusiasm to
accept the post, and it was only on receipt of a formal
order from the Vatican that he started for Freiburg.
Nor did this act of obedience close the complication.
Divine Providence seemed to intervene. The noble
prelate died on May 10 at Mainz, while on the way
to take possession of his new post.
These relations between the civil and ecclesiastical
authorities are not the same in all the states of the
239

THE VATICAN
Empire. The only country with a Concordat is Ba
varia, where, nevertheless, Catholics have many com
plaints to make about the annoyances occasioned
them by the civil administration, and especially the
unjust meddling of the government in the matter of
religious education. In the other states of the Em
pire, the rights enjoyed by Catholics are accorded
them by the governments; there is no Concordat, no
agreement between the two parties. The constitu
tion of the Empire contains almost nothing on the
subject. Article 2 prohibits "any limitation of civil
or political rights because of differences of religion."
Beyond this, each state is left quite free to regulate
its own religious questions. Legally, the state in
Germany recognizes the free exercise of the Catholic
religion, except in the Grand Duchy of Mecklen
burg and in the Duchy of Brunswick, where there is
a Protestant state church and where Catholicism is
tolerated, under many restrictions, by a special con
cession which may be revoked at any time by the chief
of state. The number of Catholics in these two
duchies is 21,600 in a total population of 1,043,000.
The Prussian constitution guarantees in Article
12, "liberty of conscience, liberty of forming re
ligious associations and liberty to exercise any re
ligion, publicly or privately." Article 22 reads, fur
ther: "Any one is free to teach and to establish or
direct educational establishments, provided he satis
fies the authorities as to his moral and intellectual
fitness therefor"; and Article 24, "Religious in
struction in the primary schools is given by the compe-
240

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
tent ecclesiastical authority." But it should be added
that these articles were modified or suppressed at the
time of the Kulturkampf by a series of laws which
still exist in part. All the efforts of Catholics to re
establish the rights guaranteed by the constitution
have so far proved ineffectual. Consequently, re
ligious orders in Prussia exist only at the will of the
government and their authorization may be revoked
at any moment. Religious instruction in the pri
mary schools is not given the importance which it
deserves and is not provided by the ecclesiastical au
thorities. The Catholic bishops are not free to train
and appoint priests, and their disciplinary powers are
restricted. The administration of Church property
is controlled by the state. These are only some of
the disabilities from which the Prussian Catholics suf
fer. The establishment of Catholic institutions of vari
ous kinds is prohibited constitutionally in Saxony
and Hesse, and in the other states it depends on the
good-will of the government. Men's monasteries
are prohibited everywhere, and the placet of the au
thorities is necessary for most of the acts of ecclesi
astical bodies in Saxony, Wurttemberg, Baden and
Hesse. Such is the precarious and humiliating situation of
Catholicism in the different states of the German Em
pire at the beginning of the new century.
The religious situation in Alsace-Lorraine is rather
complex. The Imperial legislation which excludes
certain rehgious orders, the Jesuits, for instance, is
241

THE VATICAN
exercised at the same time as the provisions of the
Concordat of 1802 and other French religious legis
lation, which the government finds very useful when
it would molest the Catholics. Quite contrary to
law, the Catholic primary schools are subject to
state supervision. They must follow the state pro
gramme of studies, be opened to the state inspectors
and all teachers must be approved by the govern
ment. To sum up, while it is true that in a general way
religious liberty is assured by the laws and constitu
tions of the different states of the Empire, it is not
less true that these laws are a dead letter in most parts
of the nation and that the liberty of the Catholic
Church is largely denied everywhere, while all govern
mental affairs are for the evangelical churches and
their members. The German Empire, reformed un
der the hegemony of .Prussia, is first, whatever may
be said to the contrary, a Protestant country. Thus,
when it is proposed to "Germanize" Poland and
Alsace-Lorraine, this simply means that the powers
that be are striving to Protestantize them.
It is not only the Catholic Church, as a Church,
which is persecuted in Germany, but 'the members of
this Church are also wronged. The simple fact that
a good and loyal subject is a Catholic places him in
an inferior position to his fellow countrymen, not
withstanding the texts of the constitutions of the vari
ous states. The high administrative and judicial
posts in the state service are almost invariably given
to Protestants. Catholic office-holders may, by long
242

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
and faithful service, work up to a high grade, but
they seldom get their reward. The private library
of the Vatican contains a very complete statistical
study of this subject under the title of, "Parity in
Prussia," which clearly proves that Catholics are sys
tematically pushed aside in order that Protestants may
be advanced. Thus, in the Rhenish Provinces, where
the Catholic population is three times as great as
the Protestant, almost all the chief court judges and
Imperial district attorneys are Protestants, though
in the lower courts the number of Catholic judges
outnumbers the Protestant ones. The same thing is
true in Westphalia and Silesia, where the Catholic
population is predominant. In the ordinary civil
service, this policy is still more noticeable. In Prus
sia, there are 70 Catholic sub-prefects to 424 Prot
estant ones, four departmental secretaries to 123,
three prefects to 31, one provincial governor to 11.
Can this state of things be said to be due to chance
in a country where Catholics form one-third of the
population? It should be added, however, that there
has been an improvement in this particular during
the past ten years, due largely to indignant protests
from Catholics made in their journals and in the
Reichstag. But if, notwithstanding the fanaticism of Prot
estants and their malevolence of government, Catho
lics are beginning to exercise a growing influence
on the march of affairs in Germany, the power which
the Catholic Center exerts in the federal Reichstag
does not find its counterpart in the state legislatures ;
243

THE VATICAN
consequently, many laws contrary to the liberty of the
Church have yet to be removed from the statute-books.
Furthermore, because of the pecuhar constitutional
regime which prevails in Germany, the Reichstag can
do nothing to remove these objectionable laws unless
the government concurs. For example, during a
single session of the legislature, the Reichstag, by a
very respectable majority, four times voted the ab
rogation of the law against the Jesuits; but the gov
ernment paid no attention thereto.
In Germany, the month of August is annually de
voted to great Catholic meetings. A simple enumera
tion of these gatherings for one year, 1908, gives a
good idea of their number and variety. Thus, on
August sixth, the Sixth Congress of the German So
ciety of Christian Art met at Ravensburg, in Wiirt-
temberg; on the twelfth, at Hanover, the Twenty-first
Congress of the Association of German Catholic Mer
chants ; on the thirtieth, at Wiirzburg, the Third Con
gress of the Presidents of the Young Men's Catholic
Associations, et cetera. The most important of
these assemblies was the Forty-fifth Congress of
German Catholics held at Crefeld, the most success
ful of these gatherings. There were several thou
sand delegates, much enthusiasm was displayed,
great harmony prevailed, and the meeting through
out was characterized by an admirable spirit of disci
pline. These assemblies have been happily called
"the grand maneuvers of Catholicism." Parlia
mentary leaders and lay notables make it a point to
attend. Political, religious and social questions are
214

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
examined and discussed by special committees ap
pointed for that purpose, while every evening large
public meetings are held where the best speakers are
heard. A very original "and happy creation of the Volks-
Verein, a popular Catholic association for combating
Socialism, is the Praktischer Socialer Kursus, or
Practical Sociological Courses, which since 1892 have
spread all over Germany. This "popular ambulatory
university," as the institution has well been called,
has accomplished much good work. It is evident
that the complex social question cannot be thoroughly
examined in lectures extending over a few days. But
this is not the purpose of these courses; their more
modest aim is to popularize fundamental facts, to
start on right lines those who wish to study social
problems more deeply and to stimulate the ardor of
all thoughtful people. The Rector Magnificus of
this university is the Abbe Hitze, professor at
Munster University and member of the Reichstag,
who is well known for his knowledge of economic and
social matters. Though not a good orator, the Abbe
Hitze knows how to present clearly and vivaciously
the dryest statistics. The most brilliant speaker of
the group is unquestionably Father Heinrich Pesch,
who, with remarkable logic and precision, has pre
sented the history of contemporary Socialism.
In France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Holland and
Poland a similar practice has been established known
as "Social Week." One of these Catholic gatherings
was that held at Bordeaux, in August, 1909, under
245

THE VATICAN
the presidency of Cardinal Andrieu. It was the
sixth of its kind held in France. The idea first took
shape at Lyons, in 1904, when a group of young men,
priests and laymen, ardently devoted to work among
the people and feeling, at the same time, the need of
some authority over their activity, decided to base
their labor on the solid foundation of a well-established
doctrine. The idea responded to the desires of the
more thoughtful rising generation and to the parish
priests, who longed for a union of soul and mind,
and it spread rapidly.
Today these Social Weeks are Catholic reunions
which last eight days and are devoted to the ex
amination of various grave social problems. The sub
jects are presented in the form of lectures delivered
by well-known theologians, lawyers and political
economists. These meetings are blessed by the Pope,
encouraged by the bishops and are more largely at
tended every year. Whatever may be one's ideas,
conceptions and beliefs, nothing appears more worthy
of respect and sympathy than the disinterested efforts
of these young men, full of confidence in the power
and fecundity of their faith, who, in the midst of the
troubles of the age, would guide and enlighten the
minds of the laboring classes and devote themselves
generously to this service. They perceive, as does
the Vatican, that we are living in the midst of the la
borious birth of a new time and a new regime. The
social conceptions of the past century and the political
organization which was their expression will not give
way at a single blow. The regime goes to pieces little
246

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
by little until a sudden and unexpected shock precipi
tates it with a crash.
The all-powerfulness of wealth and the absolute
rule of the materialistic upper middle-class are being
gradually undermined. This is the capital fact of
our time, and interests Catholics, long attracted by
the problems of social evolution, much more than cur
rent pohtics. The number of such Catholics increases
daily. A quarter of a century ago, they were but
a handful; today, they can be counted by the thou
sands. "They are the men of tomorrow," says a
distinguished and warm supporter of this part of the
Vatican's policy, M. de Mun of the French Academy,
"whose eyes are turned toward the future. They are
unfettered by prejudices and the rules of a dying
social system. They are determined not to die with
it, nor permit their country to be precipitated into the
yawning gulf which otherwise awaits us. And, while
many about them suffer themselves to be carried
along by the current, these valiant ones, notwithstand
ing the persecution which checks them at every step
and would turn them from the right course, strive
that the torrent may enrich rather than devastate the
land." These men, in a word, believe firmly and pro
foundly in the virtues of Christianity. They know
that, rising above the passions which divide men, in
dependently of all governments and political parties,
this Christian doctrine can, without fear of failure,
let corrupt societies be swept away in order to give
place to new societies, as when centuries ago, the
Church baptized barbarians. This is the simple
17 247

THE VATICAN
policy of the friends of the "Social Weeks," this was
the ruling idea at Bordeaux and this is the pro
gramme that the Vatican approves.
But to return to Germany, where public instruc
tion is such an important concern of state and people.
Of course, German Catholics are much concerned
about the whole subject, especially as practically no
teaching of any kind is done outside of the state. The
German government monopolizes primary and sec
ondary education. The institutions which appear to
be independent of the state are only primary schools
established by private individuals and whose teachers
and programme of studies must be approved by the
state. The primary schools of Germany are really sec
tarian, but the secondary schools are non-sectarian.
The pupils of the latter are separated for religious
instruction, which instruction is obligatory in both
grades. Of the twenty-one state universities of Ger
many, seven have Catholic theological seminaries,
which all who aspire to be priests must attend. In
addition, there are seven secondary Catholic schools
and eight seminaries, all reserved exclusively for the
education of priests. So, though Protestants are
very active in the field of theological instruction,
Catholics are creditably organized in the same depart
ment. They are still further strengthened in this
direction by the Goerres Society, a very widely spread
association, whose object is to promote instruction in
Catholic Germany. Ten years ago, at the time of
the annual meeting at Wiirzburg, it counted a mem-
248

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
bership of 10,000. Such vigorous effort is producing
good fruit and must produce still more.

THE UNITED STATES
Though the majority of the population of the
United States is Protestant, Americans understand
liberty in a larger manner than the Germans, and the
Catholic Church can only congratulate itself on the
pleasant relations existing between it and the authori
ties. The Church is given every facility to develop
and organize as it pleases provided is respects the
general laws to which all the citizens are subject.
There are in America no laws to which the Church
is especially subjected. As everybody knows, there
is no state religion in the Union. All sects are equal
in the eyes of the law, which does not mean, however,
that the state declines to recognize them and even ig
nores them, as is the case in France, for instance. Far
from it; though the government has no diplomatic
representative at the Vatican, the Holy See accredits
to Washington an apostolic delegate, who is assisted
by an auditor and a secretary; and this envoy is re
ceived with marked esteem.
The reception given, at St. Paul, Minnesota, to
the recent apostolic delegate, Monsignor Martinelli,
Archbishop of Ephesus, demonstrates the generosity
with which the Catholic Church is treated in the
United States in the person of the Pope's official
representative. For this reason, a few details of this
visit may be given here. Ab uno disce omnes.
249

THE VATICAN
A committee of one hundred leading citizens was
formed to arrange the details of the reception. A
large room of the city hall was richly decorated for
the occasion and the two thousand persons who filed
through it to shake the hand of the delegate repre
sented all circles of the city. The line was two hours
in passing before the guest of the day, and its ad
vance was checked only by an occasional special pre
sentation by Archbishop Ireland of some personahty,
such as the governor of the state, judges of the su
preme court, Protestant bishops, et cetera. This
fact shows that the Pope's representative was wel
comed not only by the Catholic element of the popula
tion but by the whole body of citizens irrespective of
creed. In fact this was dwelt upon in the address
of welcome delivered by one of the leading advocates
of the city, to whom Monsignor Martinelli made a
reply, which should be quoted in part, as it brings
out clearly the state of Catholicism in this great re
public. "An observing mind cannot fail to be struck by the fact
that the progress made by the Catholic Church in this country
is due not only to the principles and doctrines of the Church
itself, but also to the liberty which it enjoys in this part of
the world. Since my arrival on these shores, I have seen
with my own eyes the greatness of this land of which I had
often heard spoken. I have naturally been astonished at the
rapid advance made by this young nation not only in civil
and political directions but also in economic fields. But I
often ask myself why one should be astonished at this when
it concerns a country where such free rein is given to the
250

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
energies of the human mind that it can develop in a fruitful
manner? "I have also observed with natural joy and satisfaction
that along with social progress, the Church whose action is
here left quite free, has not made less progress in its sphere.
I hear this said with pleasure on every hand, and I notice
that its work as a civilizing and educative power is every
where fully recognized and praised even by those who are not
members of our Church, and by those who do not yet under
stand the power and spirit of divine action. Nowhere else
have I found a stronger and clearer confirmation of all this
than here in Minnesota. I have visited most of your educa
tional and charitable institutions and I know whereof I
speak. "It is impossible to explain satisfactorily such progress
as this unless we first admit the intrinsic virtue of the prin
ciples and inspirations of the Church of Jesus Christ. Fur
thermore, everything in this country aids the action of the
Church. In fact, no land is better prepared than your
America to receive the holy seed confided to her. May you
long remain a model people for all other nations in this
matter of Church and state."
There are many other examples of this spirit of
large tolerance and scrupulous justice which charac
terizes the Americans when they have to do with re
ligious questions. Reports of this kind reach the
Vatican frequently and are always warmly welcomed
there. One or two more examples of this sort may
be given here.
At the West Point Military Academy there was but
one church erected by the state and but one chaplain
who presided over it, a Protestant. The Catholics
251

THE VATICAN
naturally complained of this, and without asking for
a Catholic chaplain in an institution whose pupils are
so largely Protestant, they requested permission to
erect on the reservation a Catholic chapel where the
Catholic cadets could attend service. So on June 29,
1898, a bill to this effect was introduced into Congress
and passed the Lower House by 134 to 25, and finally
became a law, by which any religious body, with the
approval of the War Department, may erect at West
Point churches or chapels. But everybody knew
that the Catholics alone would take advantage of this
permission. It was, therefore, a double triumph for
the cause of religious toleration.
In the State of Illinois, a question, important to
Catholics, was taken before the courts for decision.
The question was to know whether a Catholic parish
could be considered a civil person in a position to re
ceive legacies which were to be used for the celebration
of Masses for the repose of the soul of the testator.
The circuit court of Chicago had declared such a testa
ment to be invalid; but the supreme court of Illinois
reversed this decision of the lower court and pro
nounced such a will valid. This happened towards
the end of the last century and was the first time that
the question was examined by so high a judicial body
in the United States. It offers a good example of
the fair treatment accorded to Catholics by the Ameri
can tribunals and was highly appreciated at the Vati
can. The full text of the decision will be found in the
New York Freeman's Journal of February 29, 1898.
It is evident from what has been said that Catholi-
252

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
cism does not suffer persecution in the United States.
It lives and labors there in perfect security, and has,
in consequence, developed in a wonderful fashion. A
few proofs of this fact may be given here. Thus,
Cardinal Logue, Archbishop of Armagh, after a visit
to the United States, sent some interesting data to
the Vatican. He pointed out in an address in Ireland
that in 1808 there was one single Cathohe bishop in
the whole United States, whereas in 1908, a century
later, there were 14 archbishops, 90 bishops, 14,444
priests, 11,584 churches and chapels and twenty mil
lions of Catholics in a total population of 84,216,433.
These figures are confirmed by a letter in the London
Times of January 27, 1908, to which the attention of
the Vatican has been called. It is there said that
the United States proper contains 14,235,451, the
colonial possessions 8,238,989, the grand total being
22,474,440. An article by Cardinal Gibbons, which
appeared in the Catholic Minor in January, 1898,
and which is filed at the Vatican, puts at 30,000 the
annual conversions to Catholicism in the United
States, and the Vatican archives would seem to indi
cate that this number is much larger today.
Catholic instruction at all stages has been perfectly
organized by the American episcopate, and the edu
cational system is crowned by the well-known Cathohe
University at Washington, whose annual expenses
exceed $140,000, which is provided by generous do
nors. But the number of students is not so large as it
should be when one takes into account the pecuniary
sacrifices made for the maintenance of the institution.
253

THE VATICAN
The chief cause of this has been pointed out in a
pastoral letter by Archbishop Ireland, — parents are
too much disposed to send their sons to the universi
ties in their own states. Four-fifths of the Catholic
youth of America who attend college are found in
the universities where their faith is weakened and
where indifference to religious influences has even
affected the Protestant students. It is a common
remark in educational circles in America to say, for
instance, that you have simply to send a boy to the
Presbyterian University of Princeton to take away
his Presbyterianism, or to the Baptist University of
Chicago to wean him from his Baptist faith. So of
course for our Catholic young men attendance at such
institutions is still worse. Even if their belief is never
directly attacked or put in a false light, though this
frequently happens, nothing is done to impress on
their growing minds the great truths of Catholicism.
The conditions are rendered still worse by the moral
dangers which surround these American collegians,
where the teachers have no care of their pupils' pri
vate life. Another fault committed by Catholic
parents in America is their doing next to nothing to
remove these objections in the state universities, which
they help to support by their taxes. Here they have
rights which they should make use of. Why do they
permit, without protest, clergymen to be sometimes
put at the head of the state university? Why do
they pay the public library tax without seeing what
kind of books are bought by the librarian and forcing
him to buy Catholic books also? Would Protestants
254

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
and others leave him in peace if he failed to put on
the shelves the works which they want?
This ensemble of higher education in the United
States is completed, especially for the ecclesiastical
sciences, by the American Pontifical College at Rome,
where future priests are educated. In June, 1909,
the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of this insti
tution was celebrated at Rome, the festivities being
especially notable for the great number of bishops
and alumni who were present from the United States
and who thus showed their respect and love for this
honored seat of learning. On this occasion, Mon
signor Keiley, Bishop of Savannah, a graduate of the
college, read to His Holiness, Pius X, a fine address
in which he pointed out the great freedom enjoyed by
Catholics in the United States, and the happy conse
quences springing therefrom. This passage espe
cially pleased the Pope: "In our country, Most
Holy Father, the Church is free and our religion is
respected; consequently, our spiritual pastors can,
with the greatest success, occupy themselves with the
saving of souls. The development of the Catholic
Church in the United States has been astounding, and
this is due to God and Rome. All of us are Ameri
can citizens; but above all, we are Catholics."
This broad liberty which the Cathohe population
of America enjoys today has been secured by the
vigorous efforts of the Catholics themselves ; for, from
colonial times and until after the War of Inde
pendence, even during the first half of the nineteenth
century, the people of the United States, in great
255

THE VATICAN
majority Protestant, stirred up many difficulties for
their Catholic fellow-citizens which often presented
clearly the character of an organized and threatening
persecution. However, little by little, a powerful
sentiment of toleration and reciprocal respect, engen
dered by a prevailing love of liberty, dissipated these
dangers and brought about a spirit of peace and good
will. In fact, the American Catholics had simply to
take their stand on the constitution of the country,
and keep its provisions clearly before the public eye,
demanding that these provisions be applied to them,
in order to defeat the purposes of their adversaries.
By a ceaseless demand for liberty based on the funda
mental law of the land, and, at the same time, showing
themselves to be good and loyal American citizens
strongly attached to the national institutions, they
forced the putting aside of all ill-will and suspicions
of every kind. But American Catholics were not con
tented with vain protestations and empty complaints.
Instead of passing their time in inveighing against
their opponents, telumque imbelle sine ictu, they made
the most of the scraps of liberty which were within
reach, defending themselves therewith, winning the
sympathy of their neighbors, and making friends of
all those who were not blinded by mere passion.
They showed themselves to be good citizens by zeal
ously taking part in public affairs, so that by not
sulking in their tents, they often, on great public
occasions, were able in their own persons to give a
prominent position to the Church which they repre
sented. The Vatican cannot too strongly recom-
256

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
mend this course to its faithful in certain other lands.
How often have American Presidents, themselves
Protestants, recognized publicly the patriotism and
loyalty of Catholics. For instance, in June, 1909,
President Taft showed the spirit of cordiality which
exists in America between Cathohcism and the civil
authorities. It was at a meeting of Catholic mission
aries held at the Catholic University, that the Presi
dent was introduced to the assembly in these words
by Father Doyle: "It is with great satisfaction that
we welcome you here, Mr. President. We are Catho
lics in everything and for everything, but at the same
time we are American citizens, for a good Cathohe
is surely a good American. Wlien you were, Mr.
President, in the Southern States of this Union, re
cently, you were called the Grand Harmonizer, and
it is this same title, too, which we would give to you."
President Taft's reply was from beginning to end
a signal proof of the remarkably friendly relations
which exist in the United States between the Catholic
Church and the federal government. He began by
speaking of the great advantages which accrue from
the contact and association of the representatives of
the political and the ecclesiastical authorities ; referred
to the fact that the Catholic chaplains of the army and
navy were on the best of terms with the civil and
military powers; recalled his official mission during
the Roosevelt administration for the settlement of
Cathohe interests in the Philippines, when those
islands passed from Spanish to American rule; re
minded his hearers of his trip to Rome in this con-
257

THE VATICAN
nection, of his audience with the Pope, Leo XIII,
"one of the greatest Pontiffs, of highest character
and broadest intellect," of his discussions and negoti
ations with Monsignor Guidi and the Archbishop of
Manila, Monsignor Harty, which ended in such a
satisfactory fashion for all parties, so that today there
are no Church complications in the annexed islands;
and he closed with these very remarkable words : "I
do not hesitate to affirm, my dear friends, that if this
visit of mine to Rome had been made forty or fifty
years ago, it would have sufficed to bring down popu
lar and congressional blame on any administration
which had assumed the responsibility of it."
When the report of this meeting between the Chief
Magistrate of the Great Republic and this assemblage
of humble missionaries reached the Vatican it pro
duced a most favorable impression. How happily
the times have changed, was the comment heard on
every hand. And it should be pointed out, as a com
pliment to American Catholics and as a suggestion
to Catholics in some other countries to take their
American brethren as models, that if official and pub
lic opinion has changed in the United States in the
last half -century, as stated by the President, this is
largely due to the wisdom and intelligence of the
American Catholics, who have shown that they knew
how to utilize the liberty which prevails in the United
States with a perseverance and a tact that has never
failed them. They saw very clearly that the freedom
of the Church must be won by a struggle; that it
could come only after a frank, constant, vigorous and
258

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
enthusiastic effort, supported by love of God and love
of the Church; that it was not simply a matter of de
fending oneself but of securing a triumph. It is this
necessity of constancy in energy and effort, without
truce or repose, which seems, alas ! to make too many
otherwise good Catholics of the Old World hesitate.
The education of American womanhood has also
been an object of solicitude on the part of the Catho
lic clergy of the United States. With this end in
view, it has been the custom for several years to have
the teaching Sisters follow lectures on the science of
pedagogy given during the long vacation. The num
ber of sessions have grown and the attendance on the
lectures increased. For instance, the meeting at Chi
cago, in 1898, the last which has been well reported
to the Vatican, was especially notable, as a dozen dif
ferent congregations took part in it. The Sisters
listened to lectures by former inspectresses of state
schools and by ecclesiastics. In some dioceses, the
bishops themselves presided over the ceremonies in
connection with these courses.
This American method was tried in France, but
failed after having caused quite a polemic even in
the episcopacy itself. It is true that Sister Marie of
the Sacred Heart, the promotress of this movement,
wished to go much further than the Americans, and
in her book on "The Teaching Nuns" proposes the
founding of normal and high schools exclusively for
nuns, taking those of the state as models. To justify
such a new departure, the friends of the measure did
not hesitate to declare that the nuns of today are only
259

THE VATICAN
half educated. This was too severe a criticism, as is
proved by the success of the nuns' pupils at the vari
ous public examinations in which they take part.
But the great objection to the measure was the ne
cessity for the young nuns to leave their convents for
a term of years in order to attend these schools, where
they would be far from their superiors, in very dif
ferent surroundings from those they were accustomed
to, and in daily contact with other young companions
coming from institutes and convents having different
rules and usages. It was felt that all this could not
be favorable to the religious building up of these
young women, and the authorities of the Vatican con
demned the measure. But approval was given to the
establishment in the great teaching communities of
courses in pedagogy and kindred instruction, where
the best professors of the universities delivered lec
tures. But the recent persecution in France of the
religious teaching bodies has caused, for the time
being, the disappearance of these excellent institu
tions. CANADA
Canada, which was discovered and first opened up
by Frenchmen, now forms, as everybody knows, a
part of the British Empire. Its population, which
is about six millions, is nearly half Catholic. An ad
mirable spirit of tolerance and peace reigns between
Protestants and Catholics, due largely to the prudence
of the episcopacy, a fine example of which is given in
these words, as reported to the Vatican, by Monsignor
260

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
O'Connor, Archbishop of Toronto, when he took pos
session of his see in 1899 :
"There are three things which are apt to disturb the
harmony which should always prevail between the citizens
of the same city and same country, — an uncompromising
holding to one's opinions, political discussions and religious
controversies. Without doubt, Catholics should know what
their rights are and then stoutly claim them, though these
claims need not be absolutely inflexible, as this might be the
cause of grave injustices. In some cases, it is necessary to
take into account contrary opinions and to be ready to sacri
fice a part of our rights in order to keep peace and contribute
to the social solidarity. All my efforts shall tend to soften
asperities which exist or which may be born later, and to show
all our fellow-citizens of every faith that we entertain for
them only the friendliest feelings.
"Political discussions are frequently the cause of dissen
sion even among good citizens. Though I am proud of my
country and have a lively interest in its happiness and pros
perity, I am not a party man, so that I never become em
broiled in political squabbles. I always respect the convic
tions of those who think they can best serve their country
under this banner rather than under that one, and all I ask
of government is to extend its benefits to all without distinc
tion of creed or politics. This is the way in which God
governs, and all those who exercise a parcel of his authority,
whether religious or civil, are unfaithful to their trust if
they do not make their acts conform to the teaching of thc
Divine Master.
"The third brand of discord which we should try to pro
vide against is to prevent so-called religious controversies,
which are as useless as they are fruitful in acrimonious dis
putes. That Catholics should believe firmly in the teachings
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THE VATICAN
of their Church, which is the Church of Jesus Christ, — this
cannot be ground for discussion. But just as we respect
the beliefs of our other fellow countrymen, so we have the
right to expect from them the same respect for our belief.
But we do not think that any religious interests can be
advanced by irritating debates on this subject."
The Vatican was pleased to perceive that these
excellent words, so just and so appropriate to the
occasion, produced an admirable impression. The
English and Protestant press was unanimous in its
praise of the moderation and breadth of view of the
new archbishop, and the first results of this apostolic
prudence was to calm down the virulent agitation
then going on between the Orangemen and the Catho
lics, which had been a discredit to Toronto for many
years. In 1900, the Archbishop of Montreal gave another
example of the excellent sort of Catholic spirit which
reigns in Canada, much to the satisfaction of the
Vatican, and because of this approval, it will be well
to give here a portion of this address, the main object
being that Catholics throughout the world may thus
see what does and what does not please the Holy See.
"We live in the midst of a mixed population and I
am happy to say that we all get on well together.
But, while our social relations are characterized by
a friendly spirit, it is rare that religious questions are
the subject of conversation. The consequence is that
among a great many of our fellow-countrymen this
custom has given rise to misunderstandings and views
which I should like to see removed." This was ac-
262

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
complished in the main and this is the part of the
archbishop's policy which is especially worthy of atten
tion — by inviting both Catholics and Protestants to
the large Cathedral of St. Patrick where Catholicism
was explained in a series of interesting lectures. All
this had the effect of rendering the venerable bishop
highly respected and of giving him considerable in
fluence, even among the Protestants themselves, as
was evidenced on several important occasions. When
Monsignor Falconio, the apostolic delegate to the Do
minion, arrived in Quebec in 1899, he was surprised
by the grandeur of the reception which was accorded
him. At the dock to meet him were the civil and
rehgious authorities, the lieutenant-governor and the
vicar general of the archbishop, accompanied by two
hundred priests and monks, and a large concourse of
citizens. As soon as he had landed, the delegate
blessed the multitude and was then welcomed by the
authorities ; and, followed by a throng, all started for
the Church of Notre Dame, the buildings along the
line of march being profusely decorated with flags
made of the Pontifical colors and with Sacred Heart
pennons. The delegate was received at the entrance
to the church by Monsignor Beqin, Archbishop of
Quebec; the letter instituting him delegate was read
at the altar and then a grand religious ceremony fol
lowed. Here is another striking example of the high esteem
shown for the Church in this part of the world. Some
ten years ago, the workmen of the Quebec region of
Canada engaged in the leather industries went on a
18 263

THE VATICAN
strike. Wiser and better inspired than is generally
the case in most parts of the Old World, the owners
of the tanneries, et cetera, requested the Catholic
archbishop to arbitrate the differences. This deli
cate task was promptly accepted. Monsignor Beqin
had to guide him the principles so admirably formu
lated in the Encyclical "Rerum Novarum." In fact,
it was by following the rules and directions laid down
by Leo XIII, that Archbishop Beqin formulated his
own judgments, which may be given here as a model
in matters of this kind and as a fine example of the
wide scope of the Catholic organization, which thus
embraces spiritual as well as mundane affairs. The
text of the archbishop's decision and recommendations
runs as follows :
"I have carefully examined the constitutions and by-laws
of the shoemaker and leather unions, which I cannot approve
of unless they undergo a certain number of modifications.
If the articles and clauses which I find open to criticism,
were enforced to the letter, it is certain that in many cases
they would infringe on personal liberty, liberty of conscience
and justice in general. To meet the difficulties and inconven
iences pointed out in the statements and other documents that
have been presented to me by the masters and workmen, I,
in my quality as arbiter chosen by the two interested parties,
do establish what follows as a plan for the settlement of all
disputes which may occur in the future concerning the aug
mentation or the diminishing of wages, the hiring or dismiss
ing of workmen, the duration of hours of labor, all matters
concerning the introduction of new machinery, apprentices,
and any other causes of dispute.
"Committees of Complaints and Conciliation. In order to
264

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
settle differences promptly and, so far as possible, privately,
the workmen will form a Committee of Complaints, composed
of three members named by them. The masters, on their
part will name a Committee of Conciliation made up of three
manufacturers selected by them. The members of these two
committees will be elected every year, and may be reelected.
In case one of the members of the said committees should
be prevented by some grave cause from performing his duties,
the committee to which he belongs will choose some one else
to serve temporarily in his place. If one of the members
should die, the committee will select another in his stead for
the rest of the year.
"When a workman has a complaint to make against a
master, he will put it in writing, will have it signed by
two of his companions and will send it to the Committee
of Complaints, with the request that it be transmitted to
the Committee of Conciliation. Then the members of these
two committees will examine, conjointly, the case in hand,
and endeavor to bring about an understanding. But if this
is impossible, the Committee of Complaints will immediately
carry the case before an Arbitration Tribunal.
"When the complaint comes from a manufacturer, he
should address himself directly to the Committee of Concilia
tion, which will immediately inform the Committee of Com
plaints of the master's communication, and will strive to
bring about an arrangement. But if this is impossible, the
Committee of Conciliation will refer the matter to an Arbi
tration Tribunal.
"The Arbitration Court. This tribunal will be permanent
and be composed of three members, one of whom, represent
ing the masters, will be chosen by the aforesaid Committee
of Conciliation; the second member, representing the work
men, will be chosen by the aforesaid Committee of Com-
265

THE VATICAN
plaints, and the third member will be named by the two
arbiters just mentioned. If it should happen that these two
arbiters cannot agree on the third, they will request that he
be named by the judge of the Superior Court or by the
Archbishop of Quebec.
"The election of these judges will take place every year
and they are eligible for reelection. In case one of the ar
biters be prevented by sickness or other grave reasons, or
because he is personally interested in the matter that is to
be arbitrated, from performing the duties, the committee
which chose him will name a temporary substitute. If one
of the arbiters should die, the committee which chose him
will name his successor for the rest of the year.
"If possible, the arbiters will have appear before them
the parties in the case or their representatives ; they may call
for all the papers bearing on the subject before them, cite
witnesses, bring in experts and artisans, accept affidavits,
visit workshops, and, in a word, obtain any written or oral
information which can throw light on the question submitted
to them for arbitration. They should give their decision
with as little delay as possible, and this decision will be final.
As long as the matter is under examination, the master may
not close his shop or the workmen cease work. The arbiters
may have a secretary of their own choosing and the cost of
the case will be borne by the condemned party or by all the
parties concerned, at the discretion of the arbiters.
"The establishment of such a tribunal of arbitration is in
conformity with the directions of the Sovereign Pontiff
Leo XIII as set forth in his encyclical on this subject, in
which he says, among other things: 'Let the rights and
duties of the masters be perfectly conciliated with the rights
and duties of the workmen,' and if one or the other of the
two parties complains that these rights are infringed upon,
266

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
he may express the desire that there be chosen prudent and
upright men who shall be charged 'with settling the dispute,
as arbiters thereof.' By proceeding in this manner, the
rights of each party will be respected and the relations be
tween employers and employes will never cease to be amica
ble. In fact it is from a spirit of justice and Christian
charity that society may hope for peace and prosperity."
The effect produced by this action of the bishop
was most excellent. Both Protestants and Catholics
were satisfied and accepted the bishop's view. The
Vatican was especially pleased at the outcome of this
admirable effort to improve the relations between
capital and labor.
A very interesting portion of the population of
Canada, that of Acadia or Nova Scotia, is made up
of the descendants of the early French colonists, who
are models of fidelity to their traditions and native
language, though, at the same time, loyal subjects of
the Dominion. This region, as has just been said, is
also called Nova Scotia, because a little colony of
Scotchmen settled there in 1622. Though the Aca-
dians form the majority of the population in certain
dioceses, as in Chatham, for instance, they have never
seen a priest of their nationality elevated to the epis
copal dignity, and the Acadian parishes are filled with
Irish and Scotch priests. They have often protested
against this ostracism and refuse to be Anglicized.
Hence arise many causes of dissension, some of them
a hundred years old. But these faithful Acadians
are not at all inclined to refuse to recognize episcopal
authority; they have simply submitted their com-
267

THE VATICAN
plaints to the apostolic delegate, calling his attention
to inconveniences arising from the handing over of a
French population to a body of priests who do not
know the French language. But these differences
are but trifles, and Canada, as a whole, is a source
of nothing but great satisfaction to the Vatican.
Great results for the religious future of Canada
are expected to spring from the National Catholic
Council held in Quebec in September, 1909, under
the presidency of Monsignor Sbarretti, delegate apos
tolic. This was the first plenary coundl of the
Church of Canada, and it was attended by eight arch
bishops, twenty-one bishops and five vicars apostolic,
all busily engaged in examining the questions which
interested their various dioceses.
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
The religious situation in South America resembles
in no respect that of the United States. Sprung
from Spanish and Portuguese colonization, the South
American republics are very Catholic even though
their people may, at times, become very superstitious,
as was shown by the temporary success in Brazil, in
1897, of the false Messiah, Conseilheiro. The Catho
lic hierarchy has long been well organized in that part
of the world. The number of archbishops and bishops
is considerable, and the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro,
Monsignor Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, is
a cardinal. Yet, the governments of these republics,
taken together, are far from being always favorable
to the Church. The activity of the secret societies
268

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
and free thinkers, who are for the most part disciples
of Comte's positive philosophy, is very marked in
South America, and they often succeed in putting in
power persons who are openly hostile to the Church.
Consequently the peace of the Church is often dis
turbed in different parts of the continent, much to
the regret of the Vatican, and the good works of the
Catholic organization is greatly checked, until the
day when a wiser government succeeds the fanatical
one and the Church regains her old liberty and privi
leges. This changeable existence is in itself harmful,
causes an incoherence in the rehgious poficy of the
state, and, in moments of political crises, breaks off
relations with the Holy See, which are renewed when
peace comes. This has been the condition of late
years in Ecuador, Chili and Brazil. At the present
moment, the Vatican has nuncios or delegates apos
tolic in Brazil, Chili, Colombia, Central America,
Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, the Argentine Republic,
Paraguay and Uruguay.
From May 28 to July 9, 1898, a council of the
bishops of Latin America convoked by the Pope was
held at Rome. The Eternal City had not seen a re
union of this kind since the unhappy dispersion of
the Vatican Council in 1870. Of course, on this oc
casion it was not the meeting of an ecumenical council.
But this assemblage of 53 bishops representing the
episcopate of all Latin America had a high signifi
cance, both because of the number of ecclesiastics who
attended, the importance of the subjects discussed,
the good results expected therefrom and the marked
269

THE VATICAN
proof of love and attachment for the Holy See shown
by South America. This comes out clearly and
touchingly in the following passage from the letter
of Leo XIII convoking the council: "We left to
you the choice of the place in which this council should
be held, and you yourselves chose Rome, a great proof
of your affection for the Apostolic See." The Sov
ereign Pontiff then went on to express his satisfaction
at seeing finally realized a project which he had con
ceived at the time of the celebration of the fourth
centenary of the discovery of America and from which
he hopes may come the greatest good for the Latin
world, "which covers more than half of the western
hemisphere." "Reunions of this kind," His Holiness
then went on to say, "draw more closely together na
tions that are of the same family or races very closely
allied, and maintain among them the unity of ecclesi
astical discipline, true Christian habits and a spirit of
concord among all good men."
The meetings were held in the Pio-Latino- Ameri
cano College, where the Jesuits educate the future
South American priests. The bishops asked the
Holy Father to designate a cardinal who should act
as their chairman during the sittings; but the Pope,
in order to leave them greater liberty, preferred that
they should choose their own presiding officer. It
was finally decided that each of the archbishops should
preside in turn and that the duration of each chair
manship should extend from Sunday to Wednesday,
or from Thursday to Saturday. Each of the regular
sittings had as honorary chairman a Prince of the
270

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
Church. The preliminary sitting was immediately
followed by a Mass, and this custom was continued
for over a month. A cardinal sat on his throne in the
choir during this Mass, which was said by one of the
South American bishops. On three sides of the
chapel, which was richly decorated by the employes
of the Vatican, sat the bishops in rows, in cope and
mitre, with their secretaries behind them. In the sec
ond row were the minor members of the council, —
three theological and canonical counselors of the Holy
Office, twelve notaries, et cetera. In the center of the
square were the students of the college, representing
the future hopes of the South American Church. In
order to add to the solemnity of the first sitting, the
Pope sent the choir of the Pontifical Chapel, with the
celebrated Abbe Perosi at its head, who, on that occa
sion, assumed for the first time his new function as
chief. The soul of the congress was one of the coun
selors, Father Joseph Calasauz, a Capuchin, today
Cardinal Vives y Tuto. He had been prepared for
this part by his long sojourn in South America, and
he astonished the members of the congress by his
prodigious memory of all matters pertaining to law
and canonical jurisprudence and won their affection
and admiration by his great good sense and the ardor
of his apostolic soul. He was made a cardinal dur
ing the sittings of the congress, and thereupon, the
members requested the Pope to allow him. to be their
honorary presiding officer to the end of the conference.
The proceedings of the congress were carried on
with much order and in an admirable spirit of har-
271

THE VATICAN
mony. In fact, there was but one slight jar, which
was quickly quieted, and which is mentioned here to
show with what difficulties the Vatican is always sur
rounded. The correspondent of a leading New York
paper reported that there was friction between a
group of bishops who leaned towards Americanism
and another group who were more friendly to Latin-
ism. The correspondent produced a pretended con
versation which he had had with the Bishop of Bogota,
who was the guest of Monsignor O'Connell, ex-rector
of the North American College ; but the bishop stoutly
denied the conversation and even declared that he had
never seen the journalist in question. This incident
offers a good example of the policy approved by the
Vatican, for prelates not to speak with journalists and
always to avoid the publicity of the newspapers.
The most important fact in the history of this
memorable congress was the examination, the discus
sion and, in most cases, the passage of eleven hundred
decrees, which form the most precious collection in
existence of canon law as applied to the distant peo
ples of the New World. Another memorable inci
dent of the meeting was the closing session, which
was presided over by Cardinal di Pietro and was fol
lowed by a general reception by the Pope of the whole
body of bishops, who had previously been received
singly and in private. His Holiness had a kind word
for each and embraced each at parting. And thus
ended this plenary council of Latin America, one of
the most important acts in the religious history of
those vast lands, and a most striking example of the
272

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
tact, broad-mindedness and wide influence of the Vati
can. The difficulties -which tlie Churdi encounters in
these South American countries has already been
toudied upon. The keeimess of tlie struggle between
Catholics and tlie partisans of the secret societies or
positivism has often been the occasion in South Amer
ica for superb manifestations of fiddity to the Church.
Take, for instance, tlie debate a few years ago in tlie
Lower House of the Chilian legislature over the
Church budget, when an anti-clerical member, Senor
Pleitado, seized tlie occasion to make a violent speech
against the idea of God, religions in general and thdr
ministers. Thereupon, a Catliolic member, Senor
Macaria Ossa, doquently protested against these
words and dosed his mudi-applauded speedi as fol
lows: "I adore Jesus Christ and I prodaim Him
King and Lord of all tliat exists and Soverdgn of
the nation." The courageous orator was warmly re
cdved by the people of Santiago when he left tlie
capitol, and the Ardibishop of Santiago sent him a
public letter of felicitation and a gold reliquary en
riched with precious stones.
Here is another example of Catliolic fervor in high
places in South America. When tliat eminent diplo
mat. Monsignor Vico, now cardinal, presented his
credentials as delegate apostolic to Colombia, tlie
president, Senor Michel Caro, spoke of his ardent
Catliolic faith and congratulated himself on the fact
that Colombia rejoiced "in the inestimable benefit of
the unitv of the faith," and called attention to the fact

THE VATICAN
that "state public instruction is placed under the in
spection of the ecclesiastical authorities in everything
concerning faith and morals, and that in all the states
of the republic, a large part of the education is given
by the Catholic institutes and the teaching bodies of
the congregations."
The Italian governmental sheets, the newspapers
opposed to the Vatican, were struck by the courteous
manner in which the representative of the Pope was
received in Colombia at the time of the Italian- Colom
bian imbroglio, — which fact offers the best argument
in favor of the contention of the Vatican that the
Holy See should be quite independent of any tem
poral power, that is, that the Italian government
should have no authority whatsoever over the Pope.
After the revolution in Brazil and the formation
of a republic in that country, there was a period when
the religious relations between Rome and Rio de Ja
neiro were very strained. The Positivists, who had
control of affairs, broke off diplomatic relations with
the Holy See and brought about the separation be
tween Church and state. But the Brazilian republic
was more just than the French republic in this mat
ter. The Brazilians did not seize Church property
and did not pass special laws against monks and the
clergy. In fact, the successors of the first and more
aggressive body of politicians have grown wiser in
their relations with the Church, and Brazil now lives
on good terms with Rome. In fact, the government
has asked that the Pope send Brazil a nuncio. This
was done in the person of Monsignor Bavona, Arch-
274

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
bishop of Pharsala, who was formerly delegate apos
tolic to Ecuador, and has since died as nuncio at
Vienna. There was a time when ecclesiastical discipline and
the morals of the dergy left much to be desired in
South America. But, thanks to the untiring efforts
of the episcopacy in the various states, well seconded
by the authorities of the Vatican, the condition of
things is greatly improved today. The advent of the
monks and nuns exiled from France and the Salesians
coming from Italy have exercised a happy influence
on the clergy. Though Freemasonry is still powerful
in Brazil, the rising generations count among them
many good and faithful Christians, and the future,
after violent political and rehgious dissensions, an
nounces an era of prosperity and peace.
TUREJEY
The Catholics of the Ottoman Empire do not all
bdong to the same rite, being distributed among the
Latins, United Greeks, Copts, especially in Egypt,
Armenians, Maronites, and several other little Chris
tian communities. Each one of these rehgious divi
sions corresponds to a different nationality and is
governed by a patriarch, who is both their spiritual
and civil chief, and who consequently receives from the
Sultan a sort of investiture after his canonical investi
ture at the hands of the Pope.
It is a well-known historical fact that the Turks
have always repelled fusion with peoples who do not
profess Islamism. In fact, the Turk is prohibited

THE VATICAN
from organizing and directing an administration
based on other principles than those inculcated by the
Koran; and this interdiction fell in perfectly with
their legendary indolence in everything pertaining to
administrative affairs and with their slight respect for
the rights and interests of the rayas. Consequently,
the Sultans found it much more simple to hand over
to the different patriarchs all temporal power over the
Christians in their respective jurisdictions. But in
thus making the patriarchs the absolute masters of
the lot of their co-religionists, the Sultan made them
responsible for the general conduct of these co-re
ligionists and for all their obligations and duties
towards the government. Much can be said as to the
advantages and disadvantages of this system, a state
of things that is unknown in occidental countries.
One of the largest and unquestionably one of the
most interesting parts of the United Greek Church
is that established in Syria and Lower Egypt, and
consequently in the very regions where Christianity
flourished in the time of the Apostles themselves.
These regions correspond to a part of the old patri
archates of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem.
The uninterrupted history of Catholicism in those
three patriarchates is still to be written, and, for many
reasons, would be exceedingly interesting. But can
this history ever be written? Probably not. The
innumerable and terrible invasions which have ravaged
Egypt and Syria, the disgraceful Turkish domination,
the not less terrible perturbations caused by the great
heresies, and, later, because of the schism, the almost
276

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
complete cessation, during a very long period, of any
relations with Rome and with western civilization in
general, — all these things have destroyed in those un
fortunate countries most of the historical documents
left by Christian antiquity and have prevented the
production of new ones. Consequently, we scarcely
know and probably never will know what was the
religious condition of a long series of Christian gener
ations who lived there plunged in a most lamentable
state of misery and ignorance.
A very decided return to Catholic unity is notice
able in the Coptic Church since Leo XIII reestab
lished the ancient patriarchal unity. The Copts,
found especially among the natives of Upper Egypt,
who lived scattered and schismaticaUy, were kept away
from Rome through fear of losing their nationality
if they became Roman Catholics. But they soon per
ceived that this was not the Pope's aim; he was quite
ready that they should guard intact their nationality,
as well as their rites. These Catholics are not what
we have been led to think. They said to themselves,
"We, too, were formerly Catholics, and our great
saints, Paul, Anthony and Cyril, were likewise. Catho
lics ; so by becoming Catholics, we will not cease to be
Copts." The most unfortunate and most persecuted of the
oriental Churches, even within very recent years, has
been the Armenian. No one can forget the horrible
massacres of the Armenians by the Turks, — the most
ferocious of Turks, the Druses and the Kurds, on the
pretext that the Armenians meant to revolt against
277

THE VATICAN
the Sultan's rule and to establish a republic, with the
pretended support of some western Power. Rivers
of blood and tears were the consequence. By this foul
action, the Turks showed that they were far below
the level of modern civilization, though, it must be
admitted to their shame, that the accomplices of their
crimes were European Powers who pride themselves
on their lofty culture and their broad humanitarian-
ism. Not one of them dared come forward to stop
these horribly savage deeds, giving as a reason that
no one should interfere in the home affairs of another
nation, as if, the moment their own selfish interests
commanded it, these same nations did not intermeddle
in the interior matters of colonial peoples in order to
enlarge boundaries by unjustifiable acts.
The Vatican has a right to be proud of the part
which its subordinates played at this tragic moment.
After these terrible disasters, the Catholic Armenian
patriarchate was able, with generous aid from the
west, chiefly from Rome and France, and by con
tinuous labor on its own part, to lift up the unfortu
nate nation from a state of ruin to which history pre
sents no parallel since the days of Genghis Khan.
All the facts bearing on this revolting episode and the
admirable relief work which followed are found in a
report addressed by Monsignor Azarian to Monsignor
Charmetant, the original of which is deposited in the
archives of the Vatican. An abridgment of the sad
story is given below.
In the first place, it was necessary to feed the starv
ing population and furnish them with clothes and
278

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
shelter. The churches and schools were sacked and
often utterly destroyed, so that much money had to
toe spent in rebuilding or restoring these edifices, in
order that religious exercises could be held once more
and the education of the children be continued. "The
lack of funds," says the writer, "those we had being
required for more pressing material needs, has per
mitted us to erect scarcely more than modest sheds
where once stood sacred edifices, now crumbled to
pieces or burned to the ground." For those refugees
who could work, the patriarch furnished the necessary
tools and implements; and to those who, terrified by
the danger, had fled to foreign parts, money was given
for their repatriation, — a very costly proceeding.
Another large sum was necessary to rebuild the homes
of the missionary monks and nuns. Then there were
the thousands of orphans of both sexes, uncared for
and dying of hunger, for whom a home was built at
Constantinople. In this relief work, no distinction
was made on account of religion, though the Protes
tant missionaries, provided with considerable money,
did not hesitate to seize the occasion, and often with
success, of mingling proselytism with their charity.
"But, thank heaven," says His Beatitude, "not a sin
gle Armenian Catholic has so far been won over."
Since this terrible massacre, a state of relative peace
has existed and the political revolution which occurred
in Turkey a few years ago gave ground to hope that
the Young Turks, now in power, would put an end to
these crimes. But such has not been the case. Their
old enemies have again pounced upon the defenseless
19 279

THE VATICAN
Armenians, with the result that 40,000 dead are men
tioned, though the Turkish government admits "but
4,000," which, however, is a terribly large figure as it
stands. It should be added that this time the Con
stantinople parliament was moved, ordered an investi
gation and severe punishment for the guilty ones, and
also voted an appropriation for the sufferers. The
future will tell us whether these tardy measures are
adequate amends for all that poor Armenia has suf
fered. These abominable massacres were the occasion, as
always happens, of heroic acts on the part of Catholic
missionaries. An account of one of these may be
given here as a sample of all. In one of the buildings
belonging to the French Jesuit Fathers were gathered
together nearly seven thousand Armenian fugitives.
The Father Superior was temporarily absent, and his
place was taken by Fathers Sabathier and Rigal.
Notwithstanding the terrible risks, they did not hesi
tate an instant to throw wide their doors to the fleeing
victims. A little farther away were three thousand
more gathered in the nunnery of the same order. The
Fathers were exceedingly anxious about these Sis
ters, for while they knew that their own building was
strong enough to withstand an attack, such was not
the case with the more fragile structure of the Sisters'
home. Consequently, Father Sabathier decided to go
immediately to their aid. Partially disguised, he
went forth into the dangerous streets, where bullets
were flying in every direction, and before he finished
his journey he had been wounded in the right side.
280

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
When he arrived, he found the house behind that of
the sisters in flames which were already beginning to
attack their home. Two hours later, Father Rigal
followed Father Sabathier. By a miracle, he reached
there in safety at the very moment when the assault
was the most violent and when it was decided to trans
fer the terrified refugees to the stronger edifice of the
monks. So the twenty-five Sisters and the two
monks, forming a living rampart around the trembling
Armenians, led them through this blood-thirsty and
armed mob. The march lasted a long hour. More
than fifteen times the fleeing column was stopped by
the cruel fanatics and broken into parts, which were
brought together again with the greatest difficulty.
Every now and then some unfortunate would fall,
pierced by a ball. Nine were thus killed before the
building of the Fathers was reached. Such is, briefly
told, the story of the heroism of this handful of Catho
lic missionaries of both sexes ; and similar stories might
be related of many other places during those awful
days. On more than one occasion in the past, Mussulman
fanaticism rendered itself odious to the civilized world
by its wholesale massacre of defenseless Christians.
The world has not forgotten the military intervention
of Napoleon III in Syria, which put a stop to the
cruelty to the Druses. The France of that day was
actuated not only by noble sentiments, but exercised
the right of protection of oriental Christians, a right
recognized by the Powers and confirmed by treaties
dating back several centuries. This right has been
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questioned in recent years and a plan has been formed
in Europe for the supplanting of France in this an
cient role of protector of Catholics in these infidel
regions of the East. The idea of robbing France of
this precious source of influence was sure to occur to
wary neighbors who perceived that the French gov
ernment was bent on making anti-clericalism the
key-stone of its policy. Cambetta had well said that
anti-clericalism was "not an article for exportation,"
and after him many French governments strove to
withstand the pressure of the masonic lodges which
would destroy these French protectorates over Chris
tians in distant lands. But it is now too late to re
cover the lost ground. The Vatican sees this clearly,
even if the French government does not. A proof
or two of this fact might be given here. Take the
attitude' of the Berlin government when two German
missionaries were recently massacred in China. The
German Emperor made most pressing efforts to ob
tain from the Holy See the recognition of his right
to protect German missionary workers in distant
lands. Still more recently, also at the suggestion of
Germany, the Sultan wished to accredit an Ottoman
ambassador to the Vatican. In a word, throughout
the whole Orient, from Constantinople to Peking, the
old protectorate rights of France have been thrown
aside, until it is not only all Catholics but all sensible
Frenchmen who lament this belittling of the national
patrimony. For a moment, however, they took heart
again. Cardinal Langenieux made a direct appeal to
the sympathy of Leo XIII by requesting the appoint-
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POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
ment of a National Committee for the Preservation
and Defense of the French Protectorate. "The ruin
of this protectorate," wrote the Cardinal Archbishop
of Rheims, "would surely be for our country a misfor
tune and a humiliation, and it is also very certain that
it would cause much harm to the Church." The Holy
Father replied to the cardinal in a letter of deep sig
nificance. Not only does he highly praise "the happy
thought conceived by the Cardinal of Rheims," but
he recognizes and re-consecrates "the six-times-cen
tenary mandate" which all those should maintain who
have at heart the great interests of religion and the
country. Here is the most important passage of this
letter, copied from the official text in the archives of
the Vatican:
"The matter to which you call our attention comes up at
the right moment, and we trust that great things will come
of it in the near future. France has a special mission in the
Orient confided to her by Providence. It is a noble mission
consecrated not only by long practice but also by inter
national treaties, which has also been recognized in our day
by our Congregation of the Propaganda in a declaration
dated May 22, 1888. In fact, the Holy See does not wish
in any way to infringe upon the glorious patrimony which
France has received from her ancestors and whose preserva
tion she doubtless intends to show herself worthy of by
always remaining equal to her task."
This is the first time that the Sovereign Pontiff
affirms, in a personal and public document, this right
of France, which is a fact of the highest importance.
But unfortunately for the Church and for France,
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since that time the country has been governed by sec
taries who have renounced, de facto, this glorious
right, so that missionaries no longer finding support
and protection from the foreign agents of France,
are obliged to turn toward those of other Christian
governments, who are only too glad to obtain the
prestige and influence that go with this role. It is
true that M. Pichon, the present French Minister
of Foreign Affairs, when questioned, in May, 1909,
in the Chamber of Deputies, concerning the exist
ence or not of this protectorate, declared that France
still maintained it effectively. But is this statement
perfectly exact? The Vatican does not think so.
For, leaving out the question of the Holy See, with
which the French government will now have nothing
to do, M. Pichon gives as the precarious basis of
this protectorate only the old treaties with Oriental
and European Powers, that is to say with the very
Powers which today attack the validity of these
treaties. What reply can France make when Ger
many, England, Italy and Russia say, "Our mission
aries as well as our Catholic subjects complain that
you do not protect them in carrying on their char
itable work. We therefore reclaim our natural right
to protect them ourselves and to defend the interests
of our subjects, in whatever part of the world they
may be found"? And, furthermore, what would be
come of the present absurd French protectorate if
the Pope, weary of this situation, should say to the
Catholics in missionary lands, "Since France has
really abandoned its protectorate rights, you may now
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POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
turn to those who can and will give you aid and pro
tection. You, of course, must live first, primum est
vivere"? It is to such a pass that the narrow and
impolitic spirit of sectaries has brought a great
country. THE BALKAN STATES AND GREECE
The Balkan States and Greece have glorious mili
tary annals which do not at all correspond with their
geographical size or limited population. Thus, if we
except Roumania and Bulgaria, none have a popula
tion equal to the city of London, 4,522,961, or Paris,
2,846,986. Their population is as follows: Greece,
2,433,806; Montenegro, 228,000; Servia, 2,493,770;
Roumania, 5,912,520; Bulgaria, 4,158,409. In the
whole Balkan Peninsula, even including Turkey in
Europe, the Latin Catholics number only 548,028,
with 606 priests. The Orthodox Greeks or schismat
ics are the dominant religious power, and in Turkey
in Europe, the Mussulmans, especially. Catholi
cism is offidally respected, but does not make much
progress. So we need not tarry longer over this por
tion of Europe. SCANDINAVIA
The Scandinavian countries, so religious by nature,
were, until very recent years, firmly closed against
Cathohcism, though they had been, previous to the
Reformation, one of the glories of Rome. But
nearly three centuries of persecution, the absence of
legitimate pastors — priests and bishops were con
tinually being expelled from the country — and the
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circulation of most abominable calumnies among the
people, ended not only in the faith's being forgotten
but also in the implanting of veritable hatred for
Catholicism in the Scandinavian soul. A singular,
and relatively recent, example of this fact may be
given here.
About 1850, two Catholic priests arrived in Ice
land, sent there by the Pope. Their coming caused
such a commotion that they were threatened with the
application of a law which still exists, and which con
demns to the bastinade and proscription any Catholic
ecclesiastic found in the country. It may be added,
however, that the higher court acquitted one of these
priests, while the other, the Abbe Bernard, left the
island. The Abbe Beaudoin, who remained, pub
lished there, in the Icelandic tongue, an apology
for the Catholic faith, which did much good. He
died in 1876, and his place was not taken until
some years after. Yet, before the Reformation,
there were in Iceland twenty-six Benedictine, Au
gustinian and Cistercian convents.
In Sweden, at the time of the triumph of the
Reformation, all the bishops were imprisoned on the
same day and finally expelled from the country, along
with their priests. It was not until 1789, that King
Gustavus permitted Catholics to inhabit the country
and publicly to practice their religion. In 1857, the
first Catholic Church was built in Sweden, and it was
not until 1860, that the law was annulled condemning
to exile and depriving of the right of inheritance all
those who abjured Lutheranism in order to become
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POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
Roman Catholics. It was only in 1899, that Catho
lics finally obtained permission, so long refused them,
to establish a parish at Norrkoping, a good example
of the immense difficulties which the Cathohcs have
had to overcome in Sweden, where completely en
lightened ideas of tolerance do not yet prevail. Thus,
in this same year of 1899, the two vicars apostolic of
Denmark and Sweden, Monsignor van Euch and
Monsignor Bitter, accompanied by two German
priests, wished to examine some Scandinavian re
ligious antiquities. The rumor was spread through
out the country that they had come to hold a Scan
dinavian conclave to increase Catholic influence; the
populace crowded about them in a menacing attitude
and the upper-classes looked on with mistrust. For
tunately, the king, whom they had met at Marstrand,
received them with kindness, and the populace then
followed his example.
When Monsignor Fallize went to take possession
of his apostolic post in Norway, which he still fills
with distinction, Cardinal Manning sent him a kind
letter of encouragement, which well reflects the up
hill work which Catholicism has to do in order to
make progress in Scandinavia. Hence it is that this
excellent letter is given a place here. The text runs
as follows :
"I should caution you against a feeling which may take
possession of you. When, as is sure to be the case, you per
ceive that, in Norway conversions will be made only one by
one, you may lose heart and conclude that your method of
evangelism is defective and lost on such a people. Your
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THE VATICAN
memories of England may be apt to strengthen you in this
belief; for you will say that if, in general, it is difficult to
bring back straying Protestants to the true Church, the
difficulty should be the same in England, where, however,
conversions are very numerous. But in thinking thus, you
make a grave mistake. Catholicism was never extinguished
in England, whereas in Norway, it exists only in the
prejudices of the masses. Furthermore, Anglicanism is
much nearer Catholicism than is Norwegian Lutheranism;
and then again the Catholic Church in England has long had
an episcopacy and many . priests, convents now so numerous
that they cannot be counted and Catholic families as rich
as they are influential, whereas your mission is born of
yesterday, and you a simple priest" — Monsignor Fallize
was made a bishop at a later date — "will find in Norway but
eight stations, all of recent date, with a dozen and a half of
priests, nearly all of whom are foreigners, and a few hundred
Catholics, mostly poor and without influence."
Things have greatly changed in Norway during the
past twenty years. Now, not only does the Catholic
Church there enjoy great liberty, but the spirit of
the Church has almost penetrated into the text of
the laws. On several occasions, Monsignor Fallize
has made his voice heard in the consideration of these
new laws, and his intervention has always been re
ceived with a consideration which shows the broad-
minded liberality which now prevails in Norway. A
few examples of this may be given here.
On April 16, 1898, the Lower House of the Stor
thing was engaged in debating a bill concerning cre
mation after death. One of the articles permitted a
Protestant father to burn the dead body of his son
288

POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
if less than nineteen years old, even if the convictions
of the child were opposed to cremation, and obliged
a child to burn the body of his father if the latter
had expressed this wish. Thereupon, Bishop Fallize
sent the Storthing a letter, which was read before the
assembly, in which he complained that these measures
violated the conscience of Catholics- The articles
were thereupon modified, and the Protestant clergy,
who had not protested, in turn thanked Monsignor
Fallize for having secured their defeat.
Again, Catholic children receiving aid from the
public charities were placed like Protestant children
in Protestant families and brought up in the Lutheran
religion. The bishop asked that this be changed,
which was done.
A still more notable instance of the growing influ
ence of Cathohcism in Norway is seen in the part
which Lutherans take in the Catholic celebration
of St. Olaf, one of the first Apostles of the Nor
wegian nation, whose relics are preserved at Trondh-
jem, the famous city of the north. This celebration
has become a national event, with the warm approval
of the patriotic poet, who, however, is a Lutheran,
Bjornstjerne Bjornson. In 1899, the government
decided that a special liturgical service should be de
voted to the day.
Several causes contribute to the spread of the lib
eral spirit towards Catholicism which exists in Scan
dinavia, and especially in Norway. In the first place,
liberalism and free thought together, strange as it may
seem, contributed to the throwing down of the barriers
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THE VATICAN
jealously raised by the Reformation between Norway
and the rest of the world, in order to keep her safely
in the Lutheran belief. It should be remembered
that formerly Scandinavia was in frequent communi
cation with the center of Europe. At the beginning
of the twelfth century, the "Chanson de Roland" was
sung in these northern climes. But after the Refor
mation foreign ideas were severely proscribed under
the empire of a Lutheran conservatism which easily
took umbrage. But the barriers once thrown down,
the Church quickly profited by the anti-conservative
current which then spread over the country and firmly
established itself at Christiania, then at Bergen and
finally wherever a good opportunity was offered to
do so.
The second cause of this change was the conversion
to Catholicism of several personages, widely known
and highly esteemed, especially the conversion of Dr.
Krogh Tonning, rector of the chief Protestant church
of Christiania. He had long been celebrated in the
north for his works on theology, for the nobility of
his character and the dignity of his hfe. It has been
said of him that he was "a man in the full meaning
of the word." Every book he published, the out
come of an exceptionally honest and unprejudiced
mind, carried him nearer to Rome. The Vatican
long watched this evolution with deep interest. In
1880-1881, he issued a work wherein he examined the
difference between the Catholic doctrine and that of
Lutheranism as regards justification, and reached the
conclusion that the dogma professed by the Catholic
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POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
Church is in conformity with the Gospel, and proved
the necessity of the repenting soul receiving absolu
tion, as the word of God addressed directly to the
soul, of which the Church is the dispenser. In 1898,
his "Dogma of Grace and Reform" caused a sensa
tion. He showed in this book that the Catholic
Church had not varied in its teaching concerning
grace, which was the same as the doctrine formulated
by St. Thomas Aquinas, and that Lutheranism,
abandoning the deterministic doctrine of its founder,
was returning slowly and unconsciously, as it were, to
the Church of Rome.
Finally, in the decline of his life, Dr. Tonning de
cided to leave the Protestant sect, and on February
4, 1900, before a full church, filled with emotion, he
bade farewell to his congregation. It was a touching
spectacle, this passing of a soul from one faith to
another, breaking with his own hands the dearest and
most intimate bonds which united him with so many
old friends. His face showed the anguish within the
heart. He spoke with great feeling, and summed
up his labor and experience in these memorable words :
"Would that all might be one, — one in love and one
in faith; that there might be but one flock and one
shepherd." This, he said, had been his daily prayer,
and that henceforth he hoped the congregation would
never forget it. Then he thanked his parishioners
for fifteen happy years filled with faith and con
solation, and when he had closed, the members of the
congregation, their eyes filled with tears, advanced
to shake hands with him for the last time. Five
291

THE VATICAN
months later, after a retreat, he joined the Catholic
Church. In a letter written after his conversion and
addressed to the poet Bjornson, he laid bare his strong
and tender soul, and dwelt on the happiness which he
felt in at last finding himself "in the truth." He
declared that he had left without regret, his charming,
comfortable old home at Akersbakden, the home circle
which he himself had destroyed, his courageous family
which resignedly accepted his conversion and suffered
uncomplainingly the lessening of its position in the
world. But the chief cause of the growing influence of
Catholicism in Norway is certainly the admirable zeal
of the vicar apostolic, Monsignor Fallize, who is the
soul of the Catholic movement in the North. He is
indefatigable in his labors, makes incessant pastoral
visits which entail long and fatiguing journeys and
is ever printing pamphlets which treat of the burn
ing questions of the hour. He was long aided in
his labors by the Abbe Wang, pastor of the grand
Church of St. Olaf at Christiania. The valiant
bishop is heartily supported by the Norwegian Catho
lics, who concentrate their efforts rather than dis
perse them, as is done so often in other parts of the
world, much to the regret of the Vatican. Thus, in
Norway, every Catholic is a member of some Church
association, and the weekly journal, the St. Olaf,
is their organ. Catholic enterprises of all kinds are
flourishing, especially those of a charitable nature.
The Catholic hospitals are organized with all modern
comforts and have as nurses Sisters of Charity, who
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POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
are much liked by the people. These charitable in
stitutions have done much to destroy popular preju
dices against Catholicism, and arouse sympathy for
the doctrine. The number of Catholics remains, how
ever, excessively small in these Scandinavian coun
tries,— scarcely 40,000 out of a total population of
9,000,000. But when one takes into account the re
markable activity of this little group, the vastness
of the good work which they accomplish, and the large
part which they play in proportion to their number,
one is forced to admire their efforts and even their
relative success. This proves what the Vatican has
so often declared to be the case, that the Catholic
Church needs but liberty in order to blossom and
produce the fruits of grace and salvation, which is
happily the case in Norway and Denmark, and is
beginning to be enjoyed in Sweden also.
In Denmark, Catholics enj oy almost perfect liberty.
Though they still have to contribute to the support
of the state church, the Lutheran, and to the state
schools, they share in all the other liberties of the
Danes. They especially utilize for the advancement
of their interests, the right of association which has
rendered Denmark the country of the world where
societies of all kinds, mutual, cooperative, savings
banks, pension funds, aid societies, charity societies,
et cetera, are most numerous.
The Catholic Church throughout Scandinavia bases
the greatest hopes for the future on her schools.
In Denmark, the Catholic schools are subjected to
government inspection, but otherwise they are left
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THE VATICAN
quite free. Some two thousand children are being
educated in these schools. Ten years ago the boys'
school at Frederiksberg, kept by the Marists, had 102
pupils; today, it has 200. In the school at Reik-
avik, Iceland, are some thirty Catholic children.
For secondary education there is a school at Amager
kept by a converted Protestant clergyman. At Oz-
drup, the Jesuit Fathers have 200 young men in their
charge. At Copenhagen there are two Catholic
schools for girls. At Frederiksberg there are two
orphan asylums, one for boys and the other for girls,
where 200 children are educated in the right faith ; and
a third has been founded at Rauders in Jutland. At
O dense, a priest has founded a secondary school in
which there are about a hundred boys, while about the
same number of girls are being educated in the same
city in a boarding-school kept by the Sisters of St.
Joseph. In Norway, the plan of studies as laid down by the
state is adopted by the Catholic schools. Each church
has its school, kept by Sisters or priests, liberty of in
struction being complete in Norway. The official
inspection of schools is not carried out in reality ; the
children have simply to present a certificate from their
priest showing that they have been given sufficient
religious instruction. Catholics do not have to con
tribute towards the support of the regular state
schools, as these schools are kept up by the bishops of
the official church, which is of course the Lutheran.
It is difficult to give Catholic children, living in the
country districts or in cities without Catholic schools,
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POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
a Catholic education. To remove this defect, two
boys' boarding-schools have been established by the
Norwegian Catholics, one at Christiania and the other
at Hammerfest, which can furnish a complete educa
tion; while the St. Joseph Institute at Christiania
provides secondary instruction for girls.
In Sweden, Catholics are taxed for the state schools
and the Lutheran church. But the law permits teach
ing by those who have no diploma, though the schools
are subject to regular inspections. In non-state
schools no religious instruction may be given, but the
children must show the inspector a certificate of re
ligious instruction signed by their priest. Stockholm
and several of the other chief cities of the kingdom
have Catholic primary schools. In a word, Catholic
instruction is being more and more cared for through
out the three Scandinavian countries.
HOLLAND
From a Catholic point of view, Holland is not
what it is generally supposed to be, — a country that
is completely Calvinistic. Far from it. In a popula
tion of 5,898,429, there are nearly two million Catho
lics. Some dioceses, Roermond, Bois le Due, and
Breda, for instance, are almost entirely Catholic.
At the time of the Reformation, the most unheard-
of persecutions were resorted to against the Catho
lics. The majority of the priests and bishops were
martyred or driven into exile; in fact, the evil work
was done so thoroughly that there remained no vestige
of the Catholic hierarchy, which then embraced an
20 295

THE VATICAN
archbishopric and five bishoprics, the whole abom
inable proceeding being well stated in these words in
the official annual of the Catholic Missions, for the
year 1887, published at Rome by the Sacred Con
gregation of the Propaganda : "Calviniana heresi soe-
viente, ingens in iis regionibus detrimentum Catholica
Fides cepit; ita ut, ejectis occisisve pastoribus, eccle
siastica? hierarchic vestigium nullum superfuerit."
But the Catholics soon recovered from the blow,
and a very large number of them remaining true
to the faith of their Fathers, Pope Gregory XIII
sent to Holland as early as 1583 a vicar apostolic,
who was followed by four other vicars apostolic. But
it was not until 1853, that Pius IX reestablished the
Catholic hierarchy in Holland by sending thither an
archbishop and four bishops, and today, broad re
ligious liberty exists there, though the Protestant in
fluence still dominates in the counsels of the govern
ment and most of the high state officials belong to
the Reformed Church. This regime of liberty has
made it possible for the Catholics of the Low Coun
tries to remove, during the past fifty years, from the
Dutch statute books, one by one, all the anti-Catho
lic laws dating from the Reformation period, and
thus to secure for themselves complete civil liberty.
Hence it is that the Holland of today is very dear
to all Catholics, and anything which even in the re
motest degree seems to threaten its prosperity does
not find them indifferent.
The whole educational system of Holland is un-
trammeled by state influence, except in the matter
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POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HISTORY
of the conferring of degrees. Every township is re
quired to have one or more primary schools. But
in a township where a private school exists and suf
fices, no public school is required. Under certain con
ditions, a private sdiool which has at least twenty-
five pupils may receive financial aid from the state.
In the matter of rdigion, the state schools are neutral,
though not anti-religious. Rehgious instruction is
given to those diildren whose parents ask for it, by
clergymen of then sect. The state aided school is
not necessarily kept by laymen. There are instances
where tlie head of such a school is a member of one
of the Catholic teadiing orders. In a word, there
fore, the opportunity which the Church of Rome has
to educate the youth of Holland is very great and
this opportunity is not lost.
A good idea of the strength of Catholicism in Hol
land today is afforded by the results of the general
dections in that country, held in June, 1909. The
deputies chosen were dassified as follows: 25 Catho
lics, 23 anti-revolutionaries or the Kuyper Party, 12
Historic Christians, 33 liberals, and 7 social demo
crats. That is to say that the Right, whose poficy
is based on Church interests, numbered 60; and the
Left, 40.
Such is today the situation of the Catholic Church
in the various states of the world, and such are the
principal difficulties which the Holy See encounters
among the different nations. Each generation cre
ates new problems for the Church to solve, to take
the place of the old ones which have been disposed
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of. But such has been the history of the Church
since the beginning. There is nothing discouraging
in this state of things. The Catholic Church awaits
patiently the realization of the word of the Divine
Master, "The world hates you, but fear nothing; I
have vanquished the world."

CHAPTER VII
THE CATHOLIC FAITH
The Preservation and Propagation of the Faith — Diocesan Coun
cils of Surveillance Nominated by the Bishops — Principal
Dogmatic Problems of Recent Times — The Old Catholics
in Germany and Switzerland — Americanism in the United
States — Modernism in England, France, Germany, Italy
and America — An Analysis of the Encyclical Pascendi Con
demning Modernism — Mariavitism in Poland — The Relations
of the Church of Rome with Dissenters.
The first care, the greatest source of anxiety of
the Church, is the preservation intact of the Catho
he faith throughout the world. In this matter, the
Church displays the greatest vigilance, for the preser
vation and the propagation of the faith, that is to
say, the ensemble of the revealed truths which the
Church has the guardianship of, is its great mission,
its supreme raison d'Stre, the secret of its life and
force. The faith does not belong to the Church in
the sense that it was created by the Church. It is
a sacred charge confided to the Church by the Divine
Founder of the Church for which the Apostles and
thousands of martyrs have not hesitated to give their
lives. How then could the Church consent to let the
smallest part of it be lost? 299

THE VATICAN
What would have happened to the Church if, in
the course of its long history down the centuries, it
had yielded, now to the pressure brought to bear by
kings, now to the unreflecting impulses of the
peoples, and had modified its doctrines according to
circumstances in order to be agreeable to one party
or another? If this had been its course, nothing
would now remain of the credo of the Apostles, and
long since Christianity, the religion of Christ,
would have disappeared to give place to some human
religious conception. The unity, the integrity, of the
faith are, therefore, the essential condition of the life
of Catholidsm. Everything changes on the earth,
but the Church alone remains the same and immutable
in its doctrines. Is not this fact alone a visible proof
of its divinity? "Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my word shall not pass away," said Christ (St.
Mark, 13:31) with a spirit of confidence that the Son
of God alone can feel, the Sovereign Master of the
world and time. The whole strength of the Catholic
Church lies in those words. Nothing can "prevail
against it" (St. Matthew, 16:18), because it rests
on Christ, that is to say on God Himself.
The guardians and witnesses of the faith in the
world are, in the first place, and in virtue of their
very office, the bishops, under the direction and juris
diction of the Pope, the successor of St. Peter; they
are the successors of the Apostles and are responsible
for the spreading of the faith. "Going therefore,
teach ye all nations" (St. Matthew, 28:19) ; and their
mission is also to rule the Church. "Take heed to
300

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
yourselves and to the whole flock wherein the Holy
Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the church of
God." (Acts, 20:28.)
As soon as a heresy, an error in doctrine, arises,
the bishops first condemn it in order to protect their
flock from its evils, and then denounce it to Rome,
which gives them the support of its sovereign au
thority. Whereupon the Pope solemnly rejects the
new heresy, according to circumstances, in an encyc
lical letter and excommunicates the author or authors
of it; or he may even convoke a council, that is a
gathering of bishops, who examine the question of
how best to arrest the spread of the error and to give
more amplitude to its condemnation.
The bishops are also held responsible for the in
struction given in their seminaries to future priests
and their education in the doctrine, which is safe,
solid and absolutely in conformity with the traditions
of the universal Church. They are perfectly free to
appoint and to remove the professors in these semi
naries. They also keep a sharp eye on the press of
their diocese, and hold regular councils of the best
educated priests, who follow closely the philosophic
and religious movement of ideas in their region,
especially in everything which touches upon new here
sies and the tenets of Modernism. The bishop pre
sides over this council, and prompt and decisive meas
ures are taken to check immediately any tendencies of
this sort. Every five years, the bishops are expected
to go to Rome to report to the Holy Father concern
ing the administration of their dioceses, and especially
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THE VATICAN
to inform him of everything concerning the preserva
tion of the faith in its integrity.
The choice of bishops is, therefore, a very impor
tant element in the organization of the Catholic
Church, for the episcopate is the principal feature
of its government throughout the world. Conse
quently, the Vatican gives the matter grave considera
tion. In a general way, the nomination of bishops is
left by Rome either to the heads of Catholic states,
to chapters, or to a gathering of bishops in the neigh
borhood of the vacant see. This nomination is an
official presentation of one or several candidates to
the Sovereign Pontiff, who then makes the final choice.
But before this choice is made, the future bishop's
whole life, past and present, his qualities, his ideas,
everything concerning him, is submitted to a most
careful examination before he is accepted as a candi
date and given the canonical investiture. Good ad
ministrative rules and respect for personal feelings
require that these inquiries be discreet and that they be
kept private. This is why a preliminary understand
ing between the Vatican and him who is likely to be
nominated always precedes this official nomination.
Just before the separation of Church and state in
France, when pretexts for the rupture were being
sought for, the government put forward this strange
pretension that the "word "nominate" (nominavimus)
did not possess the traditional sense understood by
Rome. In the first place, the French government
suppressed "the preliminary understanding" on the
ground that no mention of such a thing is made in the
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THE CATHOLIC FAITH
Concordat, and tried thus to force the Vatican to
accept candidates without examination. The gov
ernment contended that a nomination gave a candi
date a substantial claim on the vacant bishopric, and
was not simply an official presentation carrying with
it only an eventual claim until the candidate was ac
cepted by the Pope and granted the investiture. If
the Vatican had accepted this view, the government's
nomination would have stood even if the Pope had
not accepted the candidate, and the bishopric, which
was the object of the difference, would have remained
vacant so long as Rome would not yield, that is in
definitely. This was inadmissible.
This conflict, after causing considerable discussion
in the French press and parliament, was suddenly
abandoned as a useless weapon when the moment of
the rupture came, and today, through the habitual
vicissitude of things here below, the Pope now not
only gives his canonical investiture to the French
bishops, but selects and names them without any inter
ference from the French government.
But in spite of all the vigilance of the bishops and
of the Vatican, the "enemy came and oversowed
cockle among the wheat" (St. Matthew, 13:25),
heresies spring up in one part or another of the Catho
lic world, and it is the more recent of these that will
now be touched upon, in order to give the reader a
more complete history of the Church in modern times.
In our day, three heretical attacks have been made
on the purity of the Catholic faith and have caused
the Church some anxiety. They are Old Catholi-
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THE VATICAN
cism, Modernism and Mariavitism. But these eccle
siastical dissidents have not carried the mass of the
Cathohe people with them. The masses have re
mained faithful to the old belief, though here and
there have been some defections of more or less im
portance, which the Vatican has always deeply
regretted. Modernism, if it may be said that it has
become formal heresy, has found its recruits almost
exclusively in the intellectual classes and its ideas
have never penetrated the people. Old Catholicism
presented greater dangers, largely due to the official
support which it received from the public authorities
in Germany, especially in Bavaria, and in Switzer
land. Dr. Dollinger was the soul of Old Catholicism in
Germany. In Bavaria, he enjoyed a reputation for
learning, which was in fact well deserved, but he erred
in not accepting the decisions of the last council of
the Vatican, held in Rome in 1870. He rejected the
dogma of Pontifical infallibility, though proclaimed
by the whole Church, this council being ecumenical.
The publication of the decrees of the council and the
letters of the bishops accepting these decrees, which
soon followed, gave rise to ardent discussions in Ger
many, which, however, would not have reached the
point of bringing about a rupture with Rome if it
had not been for the aid furnished by the Bavarian
minister of state, Lutz, and especially by Prince Bis
marck, both of whom saw in this dissension a means
of weakening the Catholic party in Germany. They
also hoped, perhaps, to fortify German unity by Prot-
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THE CATHOLIC FAITH r
estantizing German Catholics and possibly thus to
succeed in eradicating Catholicism from Germany.
To attain this end, it was necessary to render the new
sect powerful with financial aid, and Bismarck did not
hesitate to declare that those alone would be recog
nized as Catholics who did not accept the council and
its infallibility dogma. The immediate consequence
was that the Church property, which for centuries had
been the patrimony of the Church, was handed over
to the Old Catholics.
But as a convenient instrument of civil power, the
Old Catholics lasted but two or three years. They
were vigorously opposed by the firm opposition of
the Catholic group in the Reichstag known as the
Center. Under the able leadership of the chief of the
Center, Dr. Ludwig Windhorst, a memorable strug
gle began, which ended with the victory of the Catho
hcs, and today old Catholicism in Germany is simply
a wreck. In Switzerland, this error lasted longer and did
more harm. It came to the fore at the period in 1870
when the Swiss radical Protestants were violently
oppressing the Catholic minority. Religious quar
rels were then extremely bitter. The Jesuits had
been forced to leave Valais, Lucerne and Fribourg;
the Catholic bishop of Basle had to quit Soleure, the
capital of his diocese, and take refuge in Lucerne.
Monsignor Merillod, an exile, was wandering, at first
in France, and then over Europe in general. But
the Catholics held their ground stubbornly. There
upon, the federal council decided to go to any extreme
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THE VATICAN
to aid the Old Catholic movement in Switzerland ; for,
like Bismarck in Germany, the Swiss radicals hoped
by transforming the Catholics into Protestants to ad
vance their own political unity by the unity of re
ligious faith.
This was the policy adopted throughout the whole
Swiss Confederation, and it met with some success,
during several years, at Lucerne and St. Gall, until
the number of Old Catholics began to sink little by
little and finally got so low that the state felt bound
to suppress the subsidy and end the possession of the
churches by a mere handful of schismatics without
cohesion or importance. At Zurich, at first the state
hastened to put the Old Catholics in possession of the
church edifice which had for long years been the meet
ing-place of the true Catholics. But nothing was
gained thereby. The Catholics built another church,
and their number soon began to grow, in this the most
industrial center of Switzerland, so that two other
churches were necessary. The last of these was con
secrated scarcely ten years ago. Nor did the Old
Catholics take root at Basle, where the faithful have
three churches, which means that the Catholic group
is in full prosperity. In the canton of Aargau the
schism has had more success, for the Catholic minority
has been oppressed ever since 1814 by a bold Prot
estant majority, warmly backed by the neighboring
cantons of Zurich and Berne, which have for three
centuries been at the head of a militant persecuting
Protestantism. But it is in that part of Switzerland where French
306

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
or Romansch is spoken that the most serious trouble
was occasioned by this violent introduction of the
schism. Not the least outrageous part of this attack
on right and morality was the fact that these sectarian
acts of the local authorities of Berne and Geneva, aided
by the federal authorities, had as thdr theater terri
tories taken from Cathohe France at the time of the
general readjustment of Europe in 1814* — fhe Ber
nese Jura and the new portion of the canton of Ge
neva, Catholic regions from time immemorial, which
were handed over to Switzerland by the Treaty of Vi
enna on the express condition that the rehgion of the
inhabitants should be respected. The conduct of the
canton of Berne in its treatment of the peaceful people
of the Jura was utterly indefensible. Not less than
60.000 Catholics were deprived of their religion.
eighty priests were expelled from the territory of the
canton, bishops were driven into exile, et cetera.
This persecution lasted for fifteen years. But the
resistance of the inhabitants was so energetic, that
finally the Bernese government had to admit itsdf
beaten, and the proscribed priests were given back
their charges. But. although this happened some
years ago, it must not be imagined that all injustice
towards Catholics has disappeared in those parts of
Switzerland. The Bernese government still refuses
to give up some of the Chinch property, our Sisters
of Charity may not establish themselves in the
Bernese Jiura. nor may our religious orders teaeh
there. The authorities were two years in drawing up the
30T

THE VATICAN
bill which was to install the Old Catholics in Geneva,
and when it was finally presented to the people for
their approval or disapproval, the measure was carried
almost unanimously, conservative and liberal Prot
estants alike voting for it. There were in fact but 150
negative votes. In accordance with this law, the
priests were to be chosen by the people. But natu
rally Cathohe citizens would take no part in these
sacerdotal elections, which were of course condemned
by the Pope and the bishops, and were vitiated by this
non-participation of the Catholic element of the popu
lation. In three parishes of Geneva, Protestants and
confessed free thinkers got their names illegally on the
registers and so voted on the choice of Catholic priests.
The number of these illegal voters was very large. In
the rural districts, forty mayors or vice-mayors were
removed because they declined to perform their part
in these farcical elections. So to meet this unforeseen
difficulty of abstention, the government carried an
other bill, which made one quarter of the votes on
the registers sufficient for the choice of a priest, and
then when it was found that this quarter could not
be obtained, a third law was voted which made an elec
tion legal no matter what might be the number of
votes cast!
But Protestant high-handedness in Geneva did not
stop here. Some thirty years before this conflict
began, the Catholics had founded with their own
money a hospital for their sick, an orphan asylum and
three primary schools managed by the Sisters of St.
Vincent de Paul, with charity work attached thereto.
308

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
There were also two boys' schools managed by Broth
ers of the Christian Doctrine and an asylum for poor
girls. All these institutions were suppressed, the
buildings confiscated and the Brothers and Sisters ex
pelled from the country. The church of Notre Dame,
a fine large edifice built with the subscriptions of
Swiss Catholics and those of all the world, was legally
owned by a committee of Catholic citizens. The gov
ernment demanded that the committee be redected.
The vote for this purpose was scandalously fraudu
lent, nearly 500 unknown voters being put on the
register for this purpose. Confronted by such pro
ceedings, victims of a campaign directed by the presi
dent of the state council in person, the Catholics were
sure to be vanquished, which was the case. But a
delegate of the Catholics carried their complaint be
fore the federal council, which admitted that there
was good ground for the complaint, but added that
the council could not act, as the deed was done.
Such is the course that was pursued in the canton
of Geneva for over thirty years by a coalition of radi
cals and sectarian Protestants. It cost a loss of over
seven millions of francs to the Catholic citizens of
Geneva, whose churches and hospitals were confis
cated, the salaries of whose priests were stopped, and
who had now to provide for the payment of these ec
clesiastics and to raise funds for the building of chap
els and presbyteries to take the place of those handed
over to the schismatics. The other expenses of the
service had to be met by them, as, in fact, had always
been the case, whereas the government gave special
309

THE VATICAN
aid to the schismatics and paid each Old Cathohe
priest a salary of 3,000 francs per year. But not
withstanding all this official aid, it early began to be
evident that the schism was making no real progress
in Geneva. The departure of Hyacinthe Loyson and
the other disowned French priests who had come to
his help, gave the movement a fatal blow, especially
as his followers were rather free thinkers than con
vinced disciples. In fact, he did not practice any real
form of rehgion.
Finally, the Cathohe parishes grew tired of keep
ing up churches which were never opened, and by the
end of 1897, the canton of Geneva was forced to listen
to the complaints of the Catholics, who had fourteen
churches returned to them, which reduced the schis
matics to four rural and two urban parishes. Since
then, this stormy religious period has been followed
everywhere in Switzerland by a more peaceful one.
Monsignor Mermillod, returned home, founded the
celebrated Catholic University of Fribourg, and was
given before his death the cardinal's hat. Notre
Dame of Geneva was returned to the Catholics in
virtue of the law establishing the separation of Church
and state, which law, by the way, did not embarrass
the Catholics, who were already self-supporting, but
did deal a final blow to the Old Cathohcs who could
only live by state aid.
A bitter controversy of our times called American
ism, which lasted for nearly ten years in the United
States, although not termed a heresy, caused great agi
tation at the Vatican. It was limited, however, to a
310

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
theological dispute which was almost unknown to the
rank and file of American Catholics, and which had
this good side, in that it brought about a precise defini
tion of Cathohe doctrine on an important point. The
occasion of this dispute was the publication in
America of "The Life of Father Hecker," founder
of the Paulists, by Father Elliott of the same order,
issued with a preface by Monsignor Ireland, and
translated into French in 1898, with an introduction
by the Abbe Klein.
Father Hecker was an ardent and zealous mission
ary, of whom the following letter, addressed by Car
dinal Gibbons on April 14, 1898, to Father Elliott,
gives one a high idea :
'"Father Hecker was unquestionably an instrument of
Providence for the diffusion of Catholic faith in this country.
He accomplished a great good in bringing nearer to us our
non-Catholic fellow-citizens, in weakening the prejudices
against us, in securing for our holy religion the benevolent
attention of the public, to say nothing of the multitude of
conversions due directly or indirectly to him. His spirit
was that of a child obedient to the Holy Church, a Catholic
spirit without restriction and in the full meaning of the
word. His life was graced with all the charms of personal
piety. He was especially ardent in his desire to save souls,
showing in this the zeal of a true Apostle. Though bold, he
was also prudent in this labor, and knew how to be attractive
to Protestants without, at the same time, sacrificing any
orthodox principles. Furthermore, Divine Providence has
been pleased to associate with him a community of men filled
with a spirit as noble as his own. This order of Paulists
will continue the work to which he consecrated his life, the
21 811

THE VATICAN
work of bringing over souls to the Catholic faith. With the
help of God, they have had wonderful success in every field
of Catholic missionary work throughout the United States.
They have especially given a powerful extension to the dis
semination of Catholic writings all over the country, a work
particularly dear to Father Hecker. To this work, as to all
their other ecclesiastical enterprises, they bring, it is scarcely
necessary to say, a respect and a spirit of obedience without
reserve for hierarchic authority. I learn with real pleasure
that the apostolic career of Father Hecker is more and more
appreciated every day in Europe, as his life and works are
better known there."
Yet the life of Father Hecker was keenly discussed
by a certain number of the French readers of the Abbe
Klein's book. The campaign was opened by M.
Charles Maignen in a book entitled: "Is Father
Hecker a Saint?" The author criticises, at one and
the same time, the doctrines and apostolic methods
of the celebrated priest. Next the learned periodical,
L'Ami du Clerge, whose editor was Canon Perriot,
today Monsignor Perriot, apostolic prothonotary,
took up the matter, and what is said in the number for
October 13, 1898, correctly reflects the views of the
Vatican on the subject. Here is an extract from that
article :
"We do not find so very strange the originalities and even
the audacities which abound in the 'Life of Father Hecker,'
for it should be borne in mind that he was an American and
that nothing is done in that country as it is done elsewhere,
a defect or a race characteristic. It would not be very cor
rect for us Europeans to find fault because one thinks and
312

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
acts in the New World differently from the way one thinks
and acts in the Old World, especially so long as agreement
exists on the essential points of the doctrine, where it is
necessary for the Catholics of the whole world to be at one
and to speak exactly the same language."
The critics of Father Hecker saw in his hfe and
work a dogmatic error which they called Americanism,
and which consisted in attributing to the action of the
Holy Ghost on the soul for the development of the
interior life an independence which tends to reduce
and finally to suppress the exterior authority of the
Church. By pushing this error to its extreme conse
quences, one comes to this, that if there should be a
conflict between what one supposes to be the inspira
tions of the Holy Ghost and the decisions of the
Church, there can be no hesitation, one should follow
the inspirations of the Holy Ghost and put aside the
decisions of the ecclesiastical authority. This of
course amounts to the Protestant idea of free examina
tion. The partisans of Father Hecker repelled with
indignation this accusation of heresy and recalled his
own words spoken immediately after the Vatican
Council of 1870, which run as follows:
"The definition of the council completes and fixes forever
the exterior authority of the Church as opposed to the heresies
and errors of the last three centuries. It leaves no doubt
concerning the authority of the chief of the Christians. The
partisans of Dollinger do not see that what they pretend to
desire, viz., the renewing of the Church cannot be brought
about except by the sovereign reign of the Holy Ghost, which
reign presupposes an entire and filial submission to divine
exterior authority." 313

THE VATICAN
The Vatican soon succeeded in calming this dis
cussion by its habitually prudent and clear language.
In a letter, Testem Benevolentia?, to Cardinal Gib
bons, Leo XIII condemned objectively the heretical
propositions denounced by the adversaries of Father
Hecker, but without imputing them to him or to his
Paulist priests.
It also has happened that, carried away by the large
liberty enjoyed by American Catholics, some a little
too enthusiastic minds have imagined that this liberty
extends even to matters of doctrine and have formed a
dangerous and erroneous conception of American
Catholicism, which Leo XIII condemned as a preface
to the condemnation of Modernism. But it should be
carefully borne in mind that the condemnation of
Americanism is the condemnation of a grave error and
not the condemnation of American Catholicism, which
the Holy Father never let pass an opportunity to
praise. In fact, great care should be taken not to
employ too readily the general terms by which the
Church designates certain errors and to use them only
in the rigorous sense defined by the sentence of con
demnation. Thus, it is a mistake when some see, in
the condemnation of Rationalism, the condemnation
of the reason ; in the condemnation of Liberalism, that
of Americanism, and in that of Modernism, that of
the perfectly proper liberty of the American Church
or of the modern world. Each of these terms desig
nates an error or a collection of determined errors,
and it is not right to give them a wider meaning than
that attributed to them by the Pontifical language.
314

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
The error of Modernism has caused and still causes
the Church much more anxiety than any other recent
error. Among ecclesiastics, its chief advocates are
the late Father Tyrrellin England, the Abbe Loisy
in France, the late Father Schell in Germany and the
Abbate Murri in Italy. If some laymen, like M.
Le Roy in France, have come to their support, their
theology is too often faulty to make them such for
midable adversaries as the former, whose ability can
not be denied. A rapid glance at Modernism shows,
however, that the Church has nothing to fear from
the effects of this error on the faithful. Though the
errors of the Abbe Loisy, for instance, at first spread
among the younger clergy in France and in a limited
class of laymen sometimes styled, with a touch of
irony, "the intellectuals," they have not penetrated
into the popular classes.
The public standing of the Abbe Loisy today well
illustrates the careers of the leaders in this error of
Modernism and also shows the ineff ectualness of their
attacks on the true Church. Though deprived of his
chair in the Catholic Institute of Paris, he continued
to defend and propagate these harmful doctrines
through the medium of the press. Though his course
and his books were condemned by the Vatican, he
nevertheless continued to resist until he finally in
curred the punishment of major excommunication,
which, it should be pointed out, is inflicted by the
Sovereign Pontiff personally. But even this warn
ing did not check his determination. His best friends
were loathe to see him continue his sad work and a
315

THE VATICAN
large number of his pupils abandoned him, as had
been the case with Lamennais in the early part of the
last century, — Lamennais who was in every respect
his superior. Though quite outside of the Church, he
was recently named, in odium fidei, in hatred of the
faith, professor of the College of France; but his in
fluence is much diminished, as is shown by the criti
cisms of his conduct made by writers of note. The
Abbe Loisy stands as a warning to those who would
attack the Church, quand meme, as the expressive
French phrase puts it.
In Germany, the leader of the German Modernists,
Father Schell, professor at Wiirzburg University,
who died in May, 1906, had such weight with his dis
ciples that the Modernists are sometimes called Schell-
ians. The Vatican promptly put his works on the
Index. But he did not yield. "It is hoped in this
way to discredit me in the minds of my followers," he
wrote in a letter published a month after his death
and filed in the Vatican archives, "and even to force
me, by my refusing to submit, to separate from the
Church. This would have been the triumph of my
opponents, of the leaders of Separatism and of the
reaction which rules in Rome. . . . My numerous
partisans do not wish to separate from the Church,
in spite of all the measures which the reaction may
take to force them to do so."
This challenge was taken up in Easter Week of
1907 by Monsignor Commer, professor at the Uni
versity of Vienna, who published his able work
entitled, "Schell and Advanced Catholicism," "to
316

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
enlighten and show sincere Catholics," as he himself
said, "the right way in the maze in which the Modern
ists would entangle them." In the first part of this
important work, the author succeeds in rendering in
telligible tlie seemingly, purposely over-subtle argu
ment of Schell; and then, in the second part — the
most valuable portion of the book — he examines the
alarming tendencies which show themselves among
German Catholics, — Reform Catholicism, Progres
sive Catholicism, Radical Catholicism, et cetera.
This work, of which the first edition was sold off in
three months — a second and enlarged edition ap
peared in January, 1908, — stirred up a tempest in
theological centers. Monsignor Commer was called
"a mere pamphleteer," "a theological hyena," said
"to be quite lacking in Christian charity," "not to be
acquainted with German affairs," et cetera. Pius X
encouraged Monsignor Commer in his good work and
sent him on June 14, 1907, a laudatory letter, a copy
of which was also transmitted to the papal nuncio at
Munich, with instructions to communicate it to the
German bishops, that they might reproduce it in the
various Catholic journals and so give it as wide pub
licity as possible. Thereupon, some of the Catholic
clergy of Bavaria addressed a letter of protest to their
bishops against the official publication of this docu
ment, which, they said, contained unjust reflections
on them as good Cathohcs. This letter was given to
the papers on August 6 of the same year and it called
forth replies from laymen who very deftly put these
recalcitrant ecclesiastics in their right place. A few
317

THE VATICAN
days later, at the congress of German Catholics held
at Wurzburg, the president, Herr Fehrenback, ad
dressed them with severity and was warmly ap
plauded: "Once the Church has spoken, the only
thing to do is to accept the decision, whatever it may
be. This may be hard, sometimes, but it is necessary.
Anyway, it is not admissible that theologians and
pubhcists, however devoted they may be to the cause
of religion, should permit themselves to discuss the
decisions of the Index. Such an attitude is intoler
able." All this shows how wide-spread the evil had become
outside of Italy and how necessary it was to condemn
Modernism by an official act of the Pope, — which was
not slow to come, especially as Italy itself was also
suffering from the contagion. Even the novel had
been employed in Italy to spread the pernicious error,
for instance, Fogazzaro's "The Saint." But it was
the Abbate Murri who showed himself to be the most
ardent propagator of the evil. Admonished at first,
then condemned by the bishops, this ecclesiastic was
finally also removed from the Church by a sentence
of major excommunication. Like the Abbe Loisy,
the Abbate Murri persisted in his rebellion, until his
friends, seconded by all the enemies of religion, chose
him to represent a district in the Italian chamber of
deputies. But his career in this new role has not been
a success, and, although the Italian chamber contains
many enemies of the Church, the Abbate Murri has
been coldly received by his colleagues and his speeches
have often met with jeers. 318

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
In the United States, Modernism has not made
much progress. The reason is, probably, because
American Catholics are more practical and less ideal
istic than those of the Old World. Religious dreams,
wliich are hke castles built of cards or philosophical
systems in vogue today and tomorrow replaced by
other systems, appear to Americans scarcely worth
their while and are let pass by almost unnoticed.
Perhaps an article in the North American Review for
July, 1909, an apology for Modernism, is the most
notable instance of the error having attracted much
attention on the other side of the Atlantic. This arti
cle was written by a Protestant and called forth a
reply from Archbishop Ireland, a justification of the
Bull Pascendi, in which Pius X deals so ably with
Modernism, "both from a theological and from a
philosophical point of view, unmasking this Modernist
error and throwing it outside of Catholicism into the
domain of pure fantasy." The Vatican saw with
real pleasure such an able manifestation against this
heresy. South America and the European countries, other
than Italy, France, Germany, and England, have
not been seriously affected by this error, made up as
it is from all the old heresies, as the bull of Pius X
so well points out.
In France, the idea found a redoubtable adversary
in Monsignor Ehe Blanc, the eminent professor of
philosophy in the Catholic University of Lyons,
where he has taught with ability for the past thirty
years. He has pubhshed in his own philosophical
319

THE VATICAN
review, La Pensee Contemporaine, a series of most
remarkable articles entitled, "Concerning the En
cyclical," in which he first aims to show how these
Modernist ideas found their way into men's minds
and crept into almost all Catholic centers in France.
"This is easily explained," he says, "if we remember two
things : the weakness of our old philosophical studies, and,
secondly, the continued and persistent influence exercised on
the minds of the new generation by public instruction. The
universities of France have long been open to all sorts of
doctrines. Its new philosophical systems came from Ger
many or England, or even from other lands, and these sys
tems were received with a sympathetic curiosity. Just as
foreigners of distinction were given a kindly welcome, so were
their ideas, though quite opposed to our national spirit, or
to the genius of our race and tongue, which is so clear and
logical. We even added to the fame of foreign thinkers, and
gave them praise that they did not always deserve. We be
came their translators, their disciples, their popularizers.
Nor did we always stop here ; we sometimes went further than
the originator of the ideas which we made our own. Among
some of our young university professors, it was a sort of
perpetual public competition, and the most audacious won the
palm ; the inventor of the newest, the most original and also
the most eccentric hypothesis was given the crown. It goes
without saying that these hypotheses were of course con
trary to common sense, and, at the same time, to traditional
philosophy and Catholic faith."
Modernism is not simply a single heresy, attacking
but one dogma, one point of Catholic faith ; it is rather
a collection of anti- Catholic theories, combating the

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
affirmations of the Church in every branch of its
teachings. Already, on July 3, 1907, all these hereti
cal propositions had been condemned by the decree
of the Holy Office, Lamentabili, and most of them
had also been condemned by the Council of the Vati
can and by Pius IX. It is very difficult to seize the
general plan because these ideas are spread about at
different epochs and places by men holding different
opinions. It is admitted, however, by every one that
the encyclical which again condemned these theories
contains an admirable synthesis of them which in itseK
is a preliminary refutation of them.
In this solemn act of his sovereign majesty, Pius X
showed himself really aided by the Holy Ghost in
laying bare this Bceotian theory, and in pursuing it
and condemning it in its various transformations.
The Holy Father's immortal Encyclical, Pascendi
Dominici Gregis, dated September 8, 1907, was a
revelation to many Catholics, who, though anxious
over the audacity of the innovators, were far from
suspecting the extent of the ravages which their ne
farious ideas had made in many good souls.
A simple analysis of the Encyclical Pascendi will
show clearly what Modernism really is. The docu
ment is divided into three parts. The first treats of
the Modernist errors and shows the logical link con
necting them all together. The second part indicates
their causes and the third has to do with the possible
remedies for the evils.
In philosophy, the Modernists profess agnosticism,
immanency, and evolution, whose erroneous princi-
321

THE VATICAN
pies they apply to dogma, to tradition, to the creed,
to the Scriptures, to the Church, to history, to apolo
getics, in a word, to the whole of Catholicism, which
they deform and destroy.
Agnosticism, which springs from the doctrines of
Kant and the Positivists, holds that — the quoted
passages are from the text of the encyclical — "human
reason, rigorously confined to a circle of phenomena,
that is, to things as they appear and precisely as they
appear, has neither the faculty nor the right to cross
its limits. Human reason is incapable, therefore, of
mounting up to God and of learning, by human
means, of His existence."
"Let him understand this who can. But one thing is per
fectly clear and settled for the Modernists, viz., that science
must be atheistic, as likewise history, that there is no place
in one or the other for anything but phenomena. God and
the divine are banished therefrom."
Religious immanency, according to them, springs
from a sort of intimate sentiment which itself is en
gendered by the need of the divine. This need of the
divine awakens in "the soul, leaning towards religion,
a peculiar sentiment, which has the property of envel
oping God, both as object and intimate cause, and
uniting Him, as it were, with man." Such, for the
Modernist, is faith, and in faith thus understood is
the beginning of all religion.
"This sentiment, which appears in the conscience, and
God, who manifests Himself in this sentiment, though some-
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THE CATHOLIC FAITH
what obscurely, to the soul, — is this not a revelation or at
least the beginning of a revelation? Since God is both the
cause and the object of faith, if one looks carefully into
the matter, one finds revelation coming from God and bear
ing on God, that is to say, God is at one and the same time
revealer and revealed. Hence the absurd doctrine of the
Modernists that all religion is at the same time both natural
and supernatural ; hence their belief that conscience and reve
lation are of equal value; hence, too, the law which declares
religious consciousness a universal rule, entirely the equal of
revelation and to which everything else should be subjected,
even supreme authority in its triple manifestation, — doc
trine, service and discipline."
But the simple truth is surely clearer than all these
metaphysical obscurities, and the encyclical is chari
table in treating such ideas as "wanderings." It is
easy to see what would become of nature and history
thus presented to the religious consciousness, which
would then depend wholly on itself. The religious
consciousness will transfigure this or that phenomenon
of nature, this or that personage of history, until it
ends by making divine the object so transfigured; but
this same religious consciousness would at the same
time disfigure it. And Modernists do not hesitate to
submit to this destructive method the very person of
Our Saviour. Idealized by religious consciousness,
Jesus Christ would lose-4he reality which history de
mands. Faith would, at one and the same time, have
transfigured him in the religious order, and disfigured
him in the historical order. "This fashion of reason
ing will strike as strange the man of even ordinary
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THE VATICAN
common sense; but this is the Modernist's system of
criticism." According to the Modernists, all natural and super
natural religions spring from the religious sentiment
immanent in man, and the Catholic religion is no ex
ception to the rule.
" 'Its cradle,' say the Modernists, 'was the consciousness
of Jesus Christ, a man of exquisite nature such as never was
before and never will be again.' It is born of no other prin
ciple than vital immanence. One is stupefied at such an au
dacious assertion, at such off-hand blasphemy. Nor is it
the incredulous alone who utter such bold assertions. These
men are Catholics, with many priests among them, who pub
lish these statements to the world with ostentation. To
think that it is with such inanities that they boast that they
will renew the Church ! Nor has this explanation anything to
do with the old error which endowed human nature with a sort
of supernatural power. This innovation is here far out
stripped. In the man Jesus Christ, as well as in ourselves,
our holy religion is only a proper and spontaneous fruit of
nature. Can there be anything that more radically destroys
the supernatural order?"
In the eyes of the Modernist, therefore, faith and
all religion spring from our own "religious ex
perience." Tradition, that is, the authority of the
Fathers, of the councils, of the Popes, has nothing to
do with it. Tradition is simply a communication
made to others by one favored with an original and
extraordinary religious experience.
The third dominant principle of Modernist the
ology is Absolute Evolution or Evolutionism which

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
it has brought from the philosophical domain into the
religious domain. The Modernist holds that every
thing — nature, man, ideas, truth, religions and even
Christianity — is subject to the laws of evolution.
Nothing is more false, for in nature everything is not
subject to evolution, as, for instance, the very essence
of things; and if we consider truth, we find it abso
lutely immutable in itself, so that faith, which is based
on divine truth itself, is, consequently, immutable in
its teachings. Therefore, the sacred person of Our
Lord Jesus Christ has not been subject to any evo
lution; His thoughts have not become more precise
with the lapse of time. He is not unrecognizable;
science and history find in Him something more than
man. Dogmas, and the sacraments are not, there
fore, only symbols; Holy Writ is the word of God,
and the inspiration which produced it is not alone the
need which every believer feels to communicate his
faith by the written or spoken word. The Church is
not only "the fruit of the collective consciousness of
the faithful," but it is a foundation established by
Jesus Christ, and has the right to teach and govern
itself independently of civil power.
As reformers, the Modernists show uncommon pre
sumption. "There .is nothing, absolutely nothing, in
Catholicism which they do not attack," says the en
cyclical. They demand that all the ecclesiastical
sciences taught in the seminaries — scholastic philoso
phy, theology, the history of the Church — be modified
in accordance with their ideas; "that the Roman
Congregations, especially those which have the most
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THE VATICAN
to do with their doctrines, be changed and that the
clergy conform their ideas and acts to Modernist
principles"; and finally, there are among the Modern
ists those "who, echoing the ideas of their Protestant
teachers, desire the suppression of ecclesiastical celib-
acy." "Now," continues the Encyclical, "taking in at one
glance the whole Modernist system, who can be sur
prised that we pronounce it the synthesis of every
heresy? If one were to go to the trouble to collect
all the errors which were ever brought together against
the faith and to concentrate the substance and essence
of them in a single one, they would all be embraced
by Modernism. It is not enough to say that they ruin
Catholicism, for they really destroy all religion. The
Rationalists who applaud these Modernists, do well,
for in them are to be found the most powerful auxili
aries of Rationalism."
The second part of the encyclical is devoted to the
causes of Modernism, and here His Holiness espe
cially points out the pride, ignorance and the zeal
of the Modernists in spreading their theories and
shamelessly defending those of their number who
have been censured by the Church.
In the third and final part of this noble document,
the remedy for all these evils is considered. His
Holiness urges bishops, pastors and professors to
show zeal in denouncing and proscribing these errors.
The professors are directed to devote their attention
in philosophy especially to the doctrine of St. Thomas,
and in theology to lay more stress on theology itself
326

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
than on the history of theology. All those who are
connected with Modernism or who show in their in
struction any trace of the innovation should be forced
to resign their chairs. Theological students with any
such tendencies should not be admitted into holy
orders, and care should be taken to keep away from
them all books favorable to Modernism. Further
more, the bishops should condemn all publications and
hooks of the kind printed or circulated in their dio
ceses and should remove them from the homes of the
faithful. Catholic booksellers should be directed not
to expose for sale or to sell Modernist works under
penalty of having their shops condemned as non-
Catholic. The bishops should .also appoint in all their
dioceses censors whose duty it should be to examine
all manuscripts which may not be printed without
the permission of the ordinary and a doctrinal vigi
lance council whose role is "to follow very attentively
every trace of Modernism found in periodicals or in
the teaching body and to take prudent and efficacious
measures to protect the clergy and youth therefrom."
This council should also have a care for pious local
traditions and the veneration of holy relics.
Pius X closes his encyclical with these beautiful
words: "May the virtue of Jesus Christ, Author
and Perf ecter of our faith, be yours ; may the Immac
ulate Virgin, destroyer of every heresy, aid you with
her prayers. We, as a proof of our affection and as
a pledge of divine consolation for you in the midst
of your adversaries, accord to you, with all our heart,
as well as to your clergy and your people, our apos-
22 327

THE VATICAN
tolic benediction. Given at Rome, near St. Peter,
September 8, 1907, in the fifth year of our Pontifi
cate, Pius X, Pope."
This memorable encyclical, which, from a dogmatic
point of view, is certainly one of the most important
papal documents of recent times, throws such a bright
light into the hidden corners of Modernism as not only
to unmask it, but to successfully refute its many
errors. Pius X has thus saved our Christian faith
from the grave peril of being deformed and destroyed.
He also attaches the greatest importance to this good
work being vigorously followed up and the studious
Catholic youth everywhere protected against its
errors. This, consequently, is one of the dominant
cares of the Vatican of today.
Still another error, this time born of ignorance and
fanaticism, has in our time afflicted the Church in a
country where it was the least expected, in Poland,
among the Uniats, who, as has been seen elsewhere
in this volume, showed themselves veritable heroes
in the defense of their Roman faith against the
persecution of the Orthodox Greeks. We refer to
Mariavitism, founded by Maria Kowalska, whom the
people consider to be "immaculate and a mediatrix
between God and men," quite like the Blessed Virgin
Mary. Several priests, and among them Father
Kowalski, a brother or relative of Mother Maria
Kowalska, have gone over to this absurd heresy, whose
hidden aim is to bring about a separation from Rome
and to create a little religious kingdom for the arro
gant leaders in this incipient schism. In fact, the
328

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
Slavonic Cathohcs are beginning to be seriously wor
ried over the dangers to their faith from this new sect.
Recent statistics show that its followers were 50,000
in number in January, 1907, whereas a year later
they had risen to 138,000. The Catholic apostate
priests who have gone over to Mariavitism are now
thirty-three. The Russian government, which is al
ways hostile to Catholicism, and faithful to the adage,
"Divide that you may reign," shows itself very favor
ably disposed towards the new religion. In fact, in
December, 1908, the St. Petersburg authorities re
ceived very warmly the unfortunate Priests Kowalski
and Prochwieski, and Mother Kowalska, the founders
of the new sect, when they went to the capital to ask
for official recognition of their pretended "church."
Several members of the Douma came to the aid of
the renegades, and a functionary of the ministry of
foreign affairs, M. Rovinsky, went so far as, in the
presence of the two apostate priests and before a
public audience, to pronounce Mariavitism "the finest
flower of Catholicism." He took advantage of the
credulity of his hearers and affirmed that there were
already 200,000 Mariavites and, furthermore, that
more than 300,000 Catholic Poles made no secret of
their sympathy for the new religion. Maria Ko
walska, "Mother and Founder of the Mariavites,"
was called by M. Rovinsky "the Polish Joan of Arc,"
whose condemnation by the Holy See was obtained
by a payment of 15,000 rubles from the bishops, the
Mariavites being unable to offer the Pope more than
10,000 rubles! These lies, it should be noted, were
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THE VATICAN
circulated at the moment when efforts were being
made in Poland and Russia to incite public opinion
against Rome.
In accordance with their statutes, the Mariavites
profess all the dogmas and beliefs of the Catholic
Church. But they felt, for some reason, that they
should be separated from the Roman hierarchy.
Their plan for recruiting and instructing their young
clergy differs, however, from the Roman system.
Thus, a young man who would become a priest, and
whose conduct leads his superiors to consider him
worthy of this career, is first required to pass some
years in parish duties, where he will be formed for
the ministry. After that, he is a novice under the
guidance of a master chosen by the master-general.
Next he studies the constitution, the liturgy and the
asceticism of Mariavitism, and finally becomes a regu
lar priest. We are not told, however, by whom he
is ordained, although Father Kowalski has announced
that the Mariavites will soon have their own bishop,
doubtless some pseudo-bishop, who will be conse
crated by an Old Cathohe or a Jansenist bishop.
The Mariavites have also a congregation of women,
the mother-chapter being at Plock. It is under the
direction of Mother Kowalska herself, and is said to
be in a prosperous condition.
Although the Mariavites pretend to keep intact
the Cathohe liturgy, they have substituted the Polish
language for the liturgical Latin and have instituted
in honor of the Holy Virgin a festival in commemora
tion of the foundation of their sect. The canon law
330

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
has also suffered in their hands, for their superior-
general may accord matrimonial dispensations. A
council composed of three members decides cases of
divorce and authorizes the innocent party to contract
a second marriage. The great latitude left to this
Council of Three on this point is shown in the word
ing of the clause of the statutes bearing thereon,
which is as follows: "Nulhty of marriage may be
pronounced in cases where the union was not con
tracted in accordance with the requirements of the
canon law in vogue among the Mariavites."
The sect affects an extreme austerity of manners,
which, joined to their creation of a number of eco
nomic and social institutions, has gained them many
proselytes among the working and agricultural
classes. At Lody, they have erected workingmen's
houses which can shelter two hundred families. Ref
uges, schools, relief funds, et cetera, exist in every
parish. Their priests go about bare-foot in country
and village, and have penetrated into Lithuania in
the guise of Franciscans.
Naturally, the Catholic Church could not remain
a passive witness of these monstrous errors, so full
of perils to the very faith of the Polish people.
First came an official document from the Bishopric
of Plock, which condemned the Mariavites as heretics
and schismatics, because they repudiated the author
ity of the Pope, announced the birth of the anti-
Christ as an accomplished fact and proclaimed their
founder, Mother Kowalska, "immaculate and the
mediatrix between God and man." Then Rome
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THE VATICAN
raised its voice. A circular from the Vatican, dated
September 4, 1904, denounced the sect. Thereupon,
Kowalski and Prochwieski went to Rome to excul
pate themselves and signed a retractation in their
own name and in that of Mother Kowalska. But no
sooner had they returned to Poland than this retrac
tation was itself retracted ! This example of double-
dealing was answered on the part of the Vatican by
a "reprobation" and an order to suppress the associ
ation of the Mariavites. But as Maria Kowalska and
John Kowalski persisted in their errors, the Sovereign
Pontiff inflicted on them major excommunication.
Thereupon, they published a defense of their conduct,
putting it in the Russian language, which in itself was
a significant fact.
In the opinion of the Vatican the Slavonic Catholic
press has not yet given enough attention to this
Mariavite movement. Too many people have simply
smiled at it. Only a short time ago it was satirized
in a piece at the Warsaw theater. But the visit paid
to St. Petersburg by Kowalski opened people's eyes
to the real significance of the movement and to its
real dangers. At last it was perceived that the Rus
sian government is using Mariavitism as a weapon
against the Cathohe clergy. The movement seems to
point towards a schism, which the politicians are
doing their best to bring about, for a schism would be
a death-blow to Polish nationality.
Fortunately, these modern heresies do not seem
destined to trouble the Church very long and will not
leave behind them very profound traces. American-
332

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
ism was stopped at its very birth. Modernism has
no external organization in the nature of a Church,
that is. a body of faithful, chapels, ceremonies, a
derg}- of its own separated from Rome and practices
springing from faith. Under such conditions, it can
only hope to be perpetuated through the various ex
isting philosophical systems wliich interest philosoph
ical minds alone. Though Old Cathohcism. thanks
to state aid, seemed for a while to have force and life.
it has slowly dedined as this state aid has declined.
until today it is practically dead. And what will be
the outcome of Mariavitism ? It is not probable that
this movement, especially as it is limited to a small
part of Poland, will last very long. It is pretty safe
to say. therefore, that the present attacks on faith
will, in another century, be little else than simple his
torical memories.
Unfortunatdy, this was not the case with the here
sies of the past. The Orthodox Greek schism, Jan
senism, and Protestantism still exist today. It may
be interesting to know the attitude of the Chinch
toward these dissident Christian religions, as well as
toward Judaism, Islamism, the oriental religions, and
the rest of paganism.
As regards heterodox doctrines, the Cathohe
Church is and shoidd be necessarily uncompromising,
since it holds that it alone possesses the supernatural
and integral truth received direct from its Divine
Founder, Our Saviour. Jesus Christ. It has there
fore always condemned and will ever continue to con
demn all opinions contrary to its faith and will ever
S3S

THE VATICAN
strive to preserve intact the supernatural truths of
which it has the guardianship and which all men should
believe, for to it hath the Divine Saviour said, in the
person of the Apostle: "He that heareth you,
heareth me." (St. Luke, 10:16.)
But this uncompromising attitude in matters of
doctrine, the Church easily abandons where individ
uals are concerned. The Church recognizes the fact
that many among the dissidents are honest in their
opinions and sincerely believe that theirs is the real
religion. And because they are baptized, the Catho
lic Church considers them its children, children who,
alas! are separated from their mother, but children
whom this mother should love and whose return to
the only fold of the true shepherd — the Cathohe
Church — may still be hoped for. Among heretics
and schismatics there are some who have preserved
a large number of the truths which form the inviolable
deposit of the faith, and a still larger number of essen
tial practices established by Christ for the sanctifica
tion of souls. They are very near the Church and
the Church hopes to see them return among the first.
Such are the Orthodox Greeks and the Jansenists,
who have preserved the episcopacy, the priesthood,
the essential rites, and consequently, the sacraments
and particularly the Real Presence in the Eucharist.
At the time of their separation from Rome, they had
with them veritably consecrated bishops, who pos
sessed all the powers of their high order. By re
maining faithful to the rites and the purposes of the
Church in the administration of the sacraments, et
334

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
cetera, these bishops could validly consecrate other
bishops, though illicitly, acting, as they did, outside
of the Church. Thus have these sects perpetuated
a veritable episcopacy that has continued, by the
ordination of priests, a regular priesthood. They
enjoy, therefore, Holy Mass, the Eucharist and con
firmation. In Russia, these sacramental graces and
a love for the Holy Virgin keep up among the peo
ple a touching piety. But the Russian priests and
popes are lacking in a dignified life and in education,
so that, if we except the ritual practices which they
perform with exactitude, their faithful are not very
well cared for. The upper dergy, or "black clergy,"
whence come the bishops, lead a life of celibacy and
cultivate the ecdesiastical sciences. This class has
produced some men of mark, who have been highly
praised by the distinguished Cardinal Pitra, so well
known for his valuable historical researches concern
ing the andent Greek church in the libraries of the
old Russian convents.
It is the followers of ihe Greek Rites who have
separated from Rome, who have assumed the title of
"Orthodox." But the truth is that there is but one
way of being orthodox, and that is by union with
Rome, where is alone the veritable doctrine of Christ.
Consequently, the only real orthodox members of
the Greek church are those known as the Uniat
Greeks, or the Cathohe Greeks, who have not broken
with Rome; and they are many. But the other
Greeks are schismatics in the eyes of the Vatican, and,
what is more, are stained by a heresy, since they refuse
335

THE VATICAN
to accept the Roman view of the Holy Trinity, — that
the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son as well as
from the Father, the Western version of the Nicene
Creed. During a recent winter, a prelate of the Roman
court met quite often in an antiquary's shop an Ortho
dox Greek bishop of Russian nationality, a man of
high artistic cultivation and an excellent connoisseur.
Very friendly relations quickly sprang up between
the two prelates because of a common love of antiqui
ties. They never spoke of their differences of reli
gion, and the prelate always addressed the bishop as
"Monsignor" and "Your Grandeur," which evidently
pleased him very much.
"Then you recognize us as being veritable bishops,"
the Russian finally remarked one day.
"Certainly, Monsignor; and are you not really
such? If some day, as I should so much like to see
happen, you should return to Catholic unity and
should ask the Pope to receive you among his chil
dren, not only would he welcome you with the greatest
kindness, but he would assign you a rank, in accord
ance with the date of your consecration, among the
United Greek Catholic bishops. There can be no
doubt about this; for, in 1870, did not Pius IX invite
to the last council of the Vatican, in accordance with
the constant usage of the Church, all the separated
Greek bishops, thus recognizing the validity of their
consecration?" "That is quite true," he responded; "it is too bad
we cannot come to an understanding and that we
336

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
form two churches, which is not in accordance with
the wishes of Our Lord Jesus Christ; for did He not
say in His prayer to His Father, referring to His
disciples, 'That they all may be one, as thou, Father,
in me, and I in thee'?" (St. John, 17:21.)
"You are perfectly right," answered the prelate;
"it would be illogical if it were otherwise, because if
Christ had founded two similar churches, one of them
would have been useless; and if He had made them
different, opposed in doctrine, one of them would
have been false, and Christ would not have been true.
It is impossible that He could have said to the one,
'Believe that I am in the Holy Eucharist,' and to the
other, 'Believe that I am not in it.' Now, Monsignor,
please note the fact that it is not the Roman Catholic
Church which left the Orthodox Greek Church, but
the contrary; it is you who left us, and at an epoch
much later than apostolic times, under the patriarch
ate of Constantinople in 1053. We claim as ours
the ancient and illustrious Greek church which pro
duced such grand men as John Chrysostom, Atha
nasius, and Basil the Great."
"That is all quite true," replied the Russian bishop;
"yet we are separated by so little, that with a slight
effort on both sides, we could easily come to an under
standing and unite again. For instance, though not
submissive to the Pope, we are quite ready to recog
nize him as the successor of St. Peter and the patri
arch of all the West; just as our patriarch of
Constantinople is the successor of St. John and the
patriarch of all the East. Consequently, we would
337

THE VATICAN
be quite willing to recognize the supremacy of Rome.
But why are you uncompromising on the doctrine of
the procession of the Holy Ghost? We cannot admit
that He proceeds from the Father and the Son, when
He proceeds only from the Father."
"You must, however, Monsignor," concluded the
prelate, "admit that the Council of Nicea, which in
order to settle the matter, added to the Credo the
word filioque, represented the Universal Church, —
both the Greek and the Latin. Now, how do you
and I know what really happens in the Holy Trinity?
Have we ever been allowed to contemplate it? No,
of course not. We believe, therefore, simply what
the Universal Church teaches us."
This unscientific argument surprised the good
bishop, who went his way in a very pensive mood.
This conversation brings out very clearly the recipro
cal sentiments of Rome for the Orthodox Greek
church of today, and of that church for Rome. The
Vatican is far removed in this respect from the hos
tility which divides, for instance, Mussulmans and
Christians. Much the same thing is true of the Dutch Jansenist
bishops. It is generally known that the errors of
Jansen, Bishop of Ypres, concerning grace, free-will
and predestination, as contained in his posthumous
work entitled "Augustinus," published in 1640, were
condemned by Innocent X, in 1653, by Alexander
VII, in 1656, and later, by the Bull Unigenitus of
Clement XI, in 1713. After a brilliant existence in
France, owing to the talents and intrigues of Port
338

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
Royal, where were such men as Lancelot, Nicole,
Arnauld, and Pascal, it soon died out and left no
trace behind except an exaggerated austerity in
Christian life and a pronounced indifference for the
sacraments ; and today, even these ideas have quite dis
appeared. But in Holland a certain body was given
to Jansenism by the defection of four bishops and
some of their priests, who set up an independent
church, which still lives, thanks largely to the wealth
of its members. When one of the bishops dies, the
surviving ones choose and consecrate his successor,
inform the Vatican of their action, and receive in reply
a major excommunication. It is a fact, however,
that the bishop is vahdly, though illegally, conse
crated, and the priests whom he ordains, though con
demned by Rome, are also real priests. The Jan-
senists are not a very numerous sect, — some 20,000 at
most. It is seldom that one of them returns to the
true Church. Their bishops have these titles : Arch
bishop of Utrecht, Bishop of Haarlem and Bishop
of Deventer. They do not call themselves Jansen-
ists, but the Ancient Episcopal Church for Catho
hcs. Turning next to Protestantism, we find this heresy
divided into a large number of sects, Lutherans, Cal-
vinists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Quakers, et cetera.
Some of these sects are almost Catholics, as, for in
stance, the Puseyities in England. While Rome
sternly condemns all the dogmatic errors of Protes
tantism, it favors with all its heart their return to the
unity of the faith, and we have seen in another part
839

THE VATICAN
of this book that in some Protestant countries, espe
cially in the United States and England, the Catholic
episcopacy is on the best of terms with Protestants,
the result being that many prejudices are removed
and numerous conversions made, which is a great con
solation to the true Church. The number of Catho
lics who, on the contrary, become Protestants, is very
small, even in Germany, where there is a very strong
effort made in that direction. There exists at Rome
a house given up especially to the neophites, the
Protestants who wish to return to the religion of their
fathers. Another house of this kind is devoted to the
instruction of other dissidents, — to Jews, Mussul
mans, et cetera. Each year, on the morning of Holy
Saturday, in the Lateran Church of St. John the Bap
tist, occurs a solemn baptism of converted Jews and
Mussulmans, performed by His Eminence the Cardi
nal Vicar.
Judaism was the vestibule of Christianity. The
moral prescriptions of the Mosaic law and the dogmas
of the Old Testament, — the existence and the unity of
God, divine Providence, the future life, et cetera, are
elemental truths, confirmed by the divine word of
Christ, the Son of God. The only fault the Saviour
found with the Jews of his time was their having
mixed up the divine precepts with human traditions,
to which they clung more tenaciously than to the law
itself. (St. Matthew, 15:3.) The Apostles and the
first disciples of Christ, they who converted the world,
were Jews, and Our Lord, Jesus Christ Himself,
deigned to descend on earth in the midst of this peo-
340

THE CATHOLIC FAITH
pie. The Vatican feels sure that the day will come
when these erring Jews will recognize their errors and
will return to the faith, in accordance with the words
of the Divine Master, "And there shall be one fold
and one shepherd." (St. John, 10:16.)
It should be noted that the Church of Rome has
never persecuted the Jews, but, on the contrary, has
even protected them. In the Eternal City, they re
sided quietly in the Ghetto, and when a Jew, by his
business capacity had amassed a fortune and was con
verted, the Pope was quite ready to give him a noble
title, often making him a prince, when, aided by a
brilliant marriage, he became an integral part of the
Roman nobility. Such is the origin of several great
Roman families. It is true that in Spain, where the
Inquisition was established by the kings, Jews were
ruthlessly persecuted, and those who, converted
through force and terror, returned to their faith, were
punished most cruelly. But the Vatican was always
opposed to these fiendish practices, and grateful Jews
have sometimes addressed to the Popes messages of
thanks for the protection accorded to them by the
head of the Church. It should be added, however,
that when the Jews succeed in getting the upper hand
in the government of a country, they readily forget
what they owe to Rome and are only too prone to
persecute the Catholic Church. The old hatred of
Golgotha seems to be reawakened in them. They
use their ill-gotten gains in a way unworthy of them
and of the nations where they rule. A curious fact
has just been brought out by the masterly hand of
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THE VATICAN
Monsignor Beniqui, in his studies of Imperial Rome,
that the Jews in the first centuries of the Christian era
treated Christians in this same fashion, and persecuted
them without mercy. By means of their money, they
dominated the public men, corrupted the habits of the
people, and used both to destroy the Christians.
Hence the bloody persecutions which stained Roman
history and horrified the world. But there are many
highly cultured Jews today who do not permit them
selves to be swept off their feet by the prejudices of
their race, and who see very clearly, on the contrary,
the perils of such a course and the terrible and inevi
table reaction which the future has in store for them.
Only a few years ago, the Chief Rabbi of London,
who died soon after, published a political testament in
which he adjured his co-religionists not to consider as
the only aim in life the feverish acquisition of riches,
hut to return to their grand ancestral virtues, to culti
vate the sciences and the arts and everything that
pertains to the human mind; and, as they live dis
persed over the world, to strive to gain esteem and
consideration by the dignity of their lives and the
spirit of wisdom and justice shown in their thoughts
and actions.
The Mussulman has always been much more hostile
to Christianity than the Jew. There lies between
Islam and us the bloody memory of the historic bat
tles of the Crusades and the brilliantly repelled in
vasions of the Moors in Spain and the Turks in the
center of Europe. This hatred of the Christian name
by the Mussulman is also kept up by the cruel f anati-
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THE CATHOLIC FAITH
cism of his behef s and tlie superstitious ignorance in
which he lives. But a transformation of Mussulman
habits and ways of thinking is now in progress which
may bring about an unexpected change in the ideas
of tlie followers of Mahomet. The scientific knowl
edge and material advance of the Western and Chris
tian peoples are more and more attracting their
attention. They are trying to imitate them even in
political institutions. The recent triumph of the
Young Turks at Constantinople, and the constitu
tional liberals in Persia renders Islamism less fero
cious, more accessible to Christian civilization and
consequently more tolerant.
Conversions to Christianity are very rare among
Mussulmans and when they do occur, generally occa
sion some after-disappointment to the converters.
An example or two of this may be given. Thus,
when some twenty years ago there was a terrible
famine in the southern part of Algeria, Cardinal
Lavigerie took under his protection a large number
of native orphans, whom he had brought up by monks
and nuns under the influences of the Christian reh
gion. This magnanimous conduct so struck the heart
and imagination of the natives that they surnamed the
Cardinal "Father of Bread." Cardinal Lavigerie's
idea was to form, later, with these children, once
grown up, a strong Christian center by marrying
them with one another. But the success of the scheme
did not correspond to the effort, and only a village
here and there could be started on these lines. Most
of the children when they had become adults went
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THE VATICAN
back to Islamism and their tents. Mussulmans who
come into contact with Christians fully appreciate
the charity and knowledge of the latter. They at
tend with great willingness the Catholic schools and
universities, like that at Beirut, for instance, and
flock to the Sisters' dispensaries in Algeria. But
their mental state does not change, and they remain
as Mussulman as ever.
If few Mussulmans become Christians, still fewer
Christians go over to Islamism. Proselytism in favor
of the latter faith has been successful only in the
countries of the Far East. A goodly number of
Mussulmans are found in India, China and Japan;
they are also gaining ground in Central Africa, not
withstanding the efforts of the Christian missionaries.
The polygamous negroes and their indulgence in
slavery bring them nearer to a religion which, far
from condemning these habits, gets on very well there
with and even approves them.
Islamism recognizes a single God, personal and
all-powerful. But the other oriental religions, Bud
dhism, Hindooism, the philosophic religion of Con
fucius, et cetera, have a less precise idea of the Divin
ity and in this respect are further separated from us.
Until recent times, the immense regions where these
religions are professed were so closed to Western
civilization, that is, Christianity, that missionaries
could hardly do more than penetrate into them and
acquire a thorough knowledge of them ; even this was
done at the peril of their lives. How many martyrs
have paid with their blood the very slow progress of
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THE CATHOLIC FAITH
Christianity in China and Japan! But today, these
nations are throwing open their doors to European
ideas and are so rapidly equaling us in certain parts
of our civilization that we behold the change with utter
astonishment. It becomes more and more evident
that henceforth Christianity will enjoy greater liberty
and will spread more rapidly in the Far East, which,
it should be remembered, was formerly a very flourish
ing Christian land, especially Japan, until the new
ideas were nearly drowned in the blood of the martyrs.
In this direction, therefore, the future of Christianity
is very bright.
Purely pagan and barbarous countries are becom
ing less and less numerous in the world of today.
The Catholic Church feels for them the sentiments
expressed by Christ in so touching a manner, when
He said of the people eager to hear Him: "I have
compassion on the multitudes." (St. Matthew,
15:32.) The Church sends its missionaries to in
struct them, to civilize them, to organize them, and
to lead them to intellectual as well as supernatural
life. In this hard ministry of charity, the Church
finds great consolation, mingled, alas! with disap
pointments, surprises and sometimes bloody perse
cutions. But the Church is never disheartened, and
continues to advance among these barbarians, blessed
and aided by God. The Annals of the Propagation
of the Faith, complete sets of which are found at the
Vatican, as well as many manuscript reports which
are found in the archives of the Vatican and have
never been made public, give many touching accounts
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THE VATICAN
of these brave struggles and these slow but sure ad
vances. This second part of this work has shown the govern
mental action of the Church throughout the world,
the political and dogmatic difficulties which it has had
to surmount in the course of recent years among all
peoples, and its relation with the adherents of other
religions and with the pagan world. Its more inti
mate action in the rule of souls remains to be exam
ined, and this will form the third part of the volume.

PART III

c

CHAPTER VIII
CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
The Church and Modern Science — Catholic Men of Science —
The Cathohe Educational Organizations Stationed in Rome;
Academies, Universities, Seminaries and Colleges Belonging
to the Different Nations — The Catholic Universities, Sem
inaries, Primary and Secondary Schools in the World at
Large — The Question of Neutral Schools.
The Church has received from her Divine Founder
the mission and hence, the right, to teach: Euntes
doccte omnes gentes, "Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations." Her special teaching is the doctrine of the
Gospel which she must make known to the world, ex
plain clearly and defend. But to be able to enlighten
the public mind, to hold discussion with infidels, to
triumph over the unceasing attacks of which she is
the object on the part of her enemies, to meet these
foes in every field, whether it be philosophy, history,
the physical or natural sciences, morality, sociology,
or public law, it is necessary that Catholic apologists
be thoroughly grounded in all branches of human
wisdom. Hence it is that the clergy especially should
cultivate science and learning; for labia sacerdotis
custodient scientiam, "the priest's lips shall be the
guardian of knowledge." 349

THE VATICAN
The Catholic Church has been true to its mission in
this respect ; and even in those times which are called,
with considerable exaggeration, the ages of ignorance,
the Church was the intellectual light of the world,
saving from destruction and oblivion in her monas
teries the literary treasures of Roman and Greek
antiquity and acting as the patient teacher of the
barbaric nations who had spread destruction every
where. Catholicism of today cannot be accused of favoring
ignorance and hindering scientific extension and
progress. History proves the contrary. How many
universities, seminaries, colleges and schools have been
founded by the Church! How many are the truly
Christian men of science whose names shine among
those of the creators of every branch of knowledge,
and not a few of whom are found in the ranks of the
Catholic clergy. In the United States, Father John
Augustine Zahm, of the Holy Cross College, Wash
ington, District of Columbia, has recently published
a volume entitled "Catholic Science and Catholic
Scientists," which has been translated from English
into Spanish, Italian and French, and which shows
what magnificent work Catholics have done in the
intellectual field.
But the old accusation is now often presented under
another form. It is stated that a man who believes
in the Catholic faith cannot become a really eminent
man of science ; that his mind is not free to allow him
to seek after the real truth; that he is fettered by
dogma. Nothing is easier than to show the falsity
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
of this assertion. Any theory which is in contradic
tion with facts cannot be true. Such is the case with
this one.
The astronomers Leverrier and Father Secchi, a
Jesuit; the Abbe Haiiy, the Abbe Moigno, Ampere,
Lavoisier, Chevreul, J. B. Dumas, Antoine Cesar
Becquerel, the Abbe Spallanzani, de Lapparent,
Branly and many others are counted among the first
men of science in the world, and yet they were all
fervent Catholics. Several of them even made most
emphatic and public declarations on the subject.
This is what Cauchy, 1789-1857, one of the greatest
of modern mathematicians, who continued the work
of Laplace, to whom we owe the solution of some of
the most difficult problems of transcendental analysis,
says in his book on the religious orders :
"I am a Christian, that is to say, I believe in the Divinity
of Jesus Christ, with Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, Descartes,
Newton, Leibnitz, Pascal, Grimaldi, Euler, Guldin, Bosco-
wich and Gerdil ; with all the great astronomers, all the great
physicists and all the great geometricians of past ages. I
am even a Catholic, as were most of them ; and if I were asked
for my reasons, I would be perfectly ready to state them. It
would be seen that my convictions are the result, not of
prejudice, imbibed at birth, but of a profound analysis.
Then it would be found how truths, more incontestable in my
opinion than the square of the hypotenuse or the theorem of
MacLaurin are engraved forever in my mind and heart. I
am a sincere Catholic, as were Corneille, Racine, La Bruyere,
Bossuet, Bourdaloue, Fenelon, as were and still are a great
number of the most distinguished men of our times; those
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THE VATICAN
who most eminently honored science, philosophy, and litera
ture, who are the most brilliant minds of our academies.
I share the deep convictions manifested in the words, deeds
and writings of so many great men of learning, such as
Ruffin, Haiiy, Laennec, Ampere, Pelletier, de Freycinet, and
Corioli; and if I do not name those who are still alive, it is
because I do not wish to give a shock to their modesty. But
I can say that I am happy to find the nobility and generosity
of faith in my illustrious friends, in the creator of crystal
lography, in the discoverer of quinine and the inventor of
the stethoscope, in the celebrated navigator who sailed in the
Uranie, and in the immortal author of dynamic electricity."
The well-known Dr. Brownson, 1803-1876, one of
the ablest philosophers of these times, speaking on
this subject in his interesting book, "The Convert,"
wrote :
"I have never, in a single instance, found a single article,
proposition, or definition of faith which embarrassed me as a
logician, or which I would, so far as my own reason was con
cerned, have changed, or modified, or in any respect altered
from what I found it, even if I had been free to do so. I
have never found my reason struggling against the teachings
of the Church, or felt it restrained, or myself reduced to a
state of mental slavery. I have, as a Catholic, felt and en
joyed a mental freedom which I never conceived possible,
while I was a non-Catholic."
The reason why the Catholic scientist is perfectly
free arises from the absolute certainty of dogmatic
truths which can never be in opposition to the legiti
mate conclusions of science. If there be apparent
contradiction, it results from the fact that Christian
352

CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
doctrine has been badly interpreted or that conclusions
are imputed to science which do not belong to it. It
is worthy of note that the chief objects of the faith
deal with mysteries — the Trinity and Incarnation, for
instance, which are outside the domain of science,
whether philosophic or natural. This was very clearly
pointed out by Pasteur and Claude Bernard.
"Experimental science," says Pasteur, "is essen
tially positivistic in the sense that, in its conception,
it never introduces a consideration of the essence of
things, of the origin of the world and its destinies."
And Claude Bernard says : "First causes do not be
long to the domain of science. The science of living
bodies and of raw material are beyond our reach."
At the Congress of German Naturalists, held in
Munich in 1877, Virchow, certainly not a friend of
the Church, pronounced these remarkable words:
"All efforts to transform our problems into doctrinal
affirmations, to make our hypotheses the basis of conceptions
of the human spirit and particularly any effort of that kind
directed against the teachings of the Catholic Church, you
may be sure, gentlemen, will fatally end in wreck; and the
disaster will, at the same time, subject the general solution
of science to the most serious danger."
To say that the Church ever persecuted science or
men of science is pure calumny. Here are the
words on this point of the last Vatican Council, found
in the fourth chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution :
"The Church, far from opposing the progress of human
arts and sciences, helps and encourages them in various ways.
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THE VATICAN
She does not ignore the advantages which humanity derives
therefrom. She does more than this ; she recognizes the fact
that, if the arts and sciences, coming as they do from God,
Author of them all, are properly utilized, they must, with
the assistance of His grace, lead to God."
The greatest universities of Europe are, in their
origin, Catholic, and most of them were founded long
before the Reformation and the Renaissance to which
the progress of thought is so often wrongly attributed.
Oxford and Cambridge, Aberdeen and St. Andrew,
Upsala and Copenhagen, Paris, Toulouse and Mont-
pellier, Leipzig, Heidelberg, Wiirtzburg, Cracow,
Prague, Vienna, Bologna, Naples, Pisa, Turin,
Rome, Salamanca, Seville, Valladolid, Coimbra and
Louvain were, from the Middle Ages, the famous
centers of knowledge, where students gathered in
thousands. These were occasions when one single
university could count more than ten thousand stu
dents on its benches, a figure seldom attained by the
largest schools of today. Every branch of science
and art was taught at these institutions. There we
find in an incipient state many of the discoveries
which later, when developed, awakened admiration
throughout an astonished world; there, finally, to
quote Carlyle, "all the inventions and social institu
tions, by the help of which, even today, our hfe is
truly that of civilized beings, had their origin and the
principles of their development."
Far from persecuting men of science, Rome en
couraged them and sustained them by grants of
money as a reward for their work and to help them
354

CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
to carry on their studies still further. This is abun
dantly proved by the Vatican archives of the six
teenth century. It is another amusing fact, by the
way, that Galileo was subventioned by Urban VIII,
his "abominable persecutor," according to historians
hostile to the Church. It is to be noted, moreover,
that if Galileo suffered for his opinions, the cause must
be sought in his own temerity rather than in the in
tolerance of his examiners. We may conclude, there
fore, that the great men of science in whom humanity
glories, were not impious. "The day is at hand,"
wrote Kepler, "when every man will read truth in the
book of nature, as in the Holy Scriptures, and when
every man will rejoice in the harmony of the two
revelations." Sir Isaac Newton, whose modesty was only equaled
by the greatness of his discoveries, was so impressed
by the sense of his smallness and utter nothingness
when brought face to face with the marvelous works
of God, that he said, shortly before his death: "It
seems to me that I am only a child playing by the
sea shore, and amusing myself by picking up from
time to time a pebble or a shell which is prettier than
its feUows, while the great ocean of truth spreads
immense and unknown before my eyes."
"The true chemist," said the illustrious Sir Hum
phry Davy, "sees God in the multiple forms of
the outer world"; and Linnaeus exclaimed, in a burst
of enthusiasm, "I followed the footsteps of God in
the works of His creation; and in them all, even in
the smallest, in those which approach to nothingness,
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THE VATICAN
what power, what wisdom, what ineffable perfection
there is !"
"Astronomy," says J. Moedler, "comes from heaven ;
and it is worthy of such an origin. It claims to pene
trate into the knowledge of God, when it unfolds
the truths which reveal to us all the greatness of His
deeds ; when it develops the principles which bear the
name of laws of nature. It is right, not that nature
has given laws unto herself, but because it is God's
finger which has written them in creation."
We must beware of those half -wise people better
known for their irreligious professions than for their
scientific discoveries. These modern makers of theo
ries about which so much is said, these numerous fur-
bishers of scientific hypotheses, to whom the ignorant
multitude is too apt to attribute all the progress made
in the physical and natural sciences, are most often
only parasites, living on the works and discoveries of
others, who having appropriated the observations
made by thousands of religious minds, whose penetrat
ing glance has ever perceived the God of nature in His
works, leisurely weave with these observations the tis
sue of their impious and fantastic theories.
The famous Catholic chemist, Jean-Baptiste
Dumas, 1880-1884, long secretary of the French
Academy of Sciences, very pertinently remarked in
this matter that those who simply develop the dis
coveries of others, and never make any for themselves, .
greatly exaggerate their own importance, because
they never encounter the mysteries of nature which
check true scientists. Hence their impiety and their
356

CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
infatuation. The attitude of those who make discov
eries themselves is quite different. They know by
experience how limited is their field, and at each step
find themselves arrested by the incomprehensible.
Hence their religion and their modesty. Faith in
mysteries is easy and natural to them.
In a word, Rome is still faithful to his traditions.
Teaching in every degree is still widely organized by
the Church, and draws to our schools, seminaries, in
stitutes and universities many thousands of students
of all nationalities. Let us consider this organization
as it exists in the Eternal City, and in the Catholic
universities and similar institutions throughout the
world. The last institute founded in Rome by His Holi
ness, Pius X, by Apostolic Brief, Vinea electa, on
May 7, 1909, is the Biblical Institute. To the at
tacks directed each day against our Holy Books in
the name of science, it was necessary to oppose a
school of learning for the scientific defense of the
Bible. This is the purpose of the institute, which
prepares students, in private classes, for academic de
grees, and offers public lectures on biblical questions.
Some years ago the Dominican Fathers founded a
biblical school similar to the institute, which has ren
dered good service. Then there are the Scientific and
Literary Institute of the Pontifical Roman Seminary,
a model of diocesan seminaries, where young clerics
are formed in science and in ecclesiastical duties, and
whose prefect of studies is a bishop, Monsignor Sera-
fini, titular Bishop of Lampsacus, and the Institute
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THE VATICAN
of Higher Literary Studies, founded by Leo XIII,
embracing in its curriculum the thorough study of
Italian, Latin and Greek literatures.
The Pontifical Academies are: the Theological
Academy, with Cardinal Franc as protector ; the Pius
Union of Ecclesiastics of St. Paul, the Apostle, whose
protector is Cardinal Respighi, Vicar to His Holiness,
and at whose reunions moral and conscientious diffi
culties are discussed under the direction of eminent
professors; the Liturgical Academy, whose protector
is also Cardinal Respighi, at the ten annual sittings
of which liturgical difficulties are discussed and
solved ; the Academy of the Catholic Rehgion, whose
president is His Eminence Cardinal Rampolla; the
Roman Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, of which
Cardinal Rampolla is also president; the Romana Ac-
cademia dei Nuovi Lincei, whose protector is His
Eminence Cardinal Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stepano;
the Archeological Academy, of which the learned
commendatore J. B. de Rossi was the oracle for a
long time, but whose present protector is Cardinal
Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stepano; the Academy of
Arcadians, which is a literary gathering whose sit
tings are extremely interesting and whose foundation
was contemporaneous with that of the French Acad
emy. The president, Monsignor Agostino Bartolini,
is well known in Italy for his poetical and other lit
erary works which have become classic; the Tiberine
Academy, whose president is Count Antonelli; the
Academy of the Immaculate Conception, the pro
tector of which is Cardinal Agliardi; and the Acad-
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
emy of the Pantheon Virtuosi, whose regent is Pro
fessor Guido Guidi, a painter of talent.
The seminaries and colleges conducted by the
secular clergy are very numerous in Rome. Here
belongs the academy of Noble Ecclesiastics, whose
protector is Cardinal Ferrata, and whose president
is Monsignor Zongli. Here the future diplomatists
of the Holy See are instructed in ecclesiastical di
plomacy, diplomatic style, political economy, inter
national law, and the French, English and German
languages. Ecclesiastics admitted to this academy
must have completed their theological and philo
sophical studies. They live together in the palace
belonging to the academy, the Piazza del la Minerva.
In this same category belong also the Roman Pontifi
cal Seminary under the control of Monsignor Spol-
verini; the Pius Pontifical Seminary, whose rector is
Monsignor Serafini, and which is a part of a higher
school for the best pupils of the diocesan seminaries
of Italy ; the Pontifical Vatican Seminary, dependent
on the Basilica of St. Peter; the Leonine Pontifical
Seminary, founded for two hundred young ecclesi
astics, studying to become directors and professors
in seminaries.
Institutions intended for foreign Catholic students
and more or less under the direct charge of the differ
ent nations are a feature of Catholic Rome. In this
connection should be mentioned the French Pontifical
Seminary, conducted by the Fathers of the Holy
Spirit. The rector is Brother Le Floch. Here are
received ecclesiastical pupils from all the dioceses in
24 359

THE VATICAN
France, who, after completing their studies and ob
taining their degrees in Rome, return home, well
trained in mind and firmly attached to Rome, the
"center of the faith and of the best Christian tradi
tions," as one of the graduates once truthfully re
marked. '
Here belong also the Seminary of the Blessed
Apostles Peter and Paul ; the Pontifical Seminary of
Saints Ambrose and Charles, whose rector is Mon
signor Caroli; the American College of the United
States, whose rector is Bishop Thomas F. Kennedy,
a native of Pennsylvania and titular bishop of Adrian-
opolis, which institution, one of the most flourishing
in Rome, is frequented by young Americans from all
parts of the Union; the English College and Vener
able Bede's College, the rector of these two colleges
being Monsignor Giles, titular Bishop of Philadel
phia; the Armenian College; two Belgian Colleges,
one conducted by Monsignor T'Carlo De Serclaes and
the other by Monsignor Vaes; the Bohemian College,
founded by His Holiness Leo XIII; the Canadian
College, for the future priests of the Dominion ; and
the Capranica College, which bears the title of Almo
Collegio, and is the oldest of these institutions, having
been founded in 1458 by Cardinal Domenico Capran
ica. Several of the chief dignitaries of the Roman
Church were educated in this college. The list also
includes the Scotch College, for the education of the
future priests of North Britain; the Pontifical- Span
ish College, the Germanic College, the red cassocks of
whose students are one of the picturesque features of
360

CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
the streets of Rome; the Greek College; the Irish Col
lege; the College of Mary Immaculate; the Maronite
College; the Philippine College, founded at Perugia
by Leo XIII for the Marches, Umbria and Romagna,
and transferred to Rome ; the Pio-Latino- Americano
College ; the Polish College ; the Portuguese College,
founded in 1900, with Monsignor Sinibaldi as rector;
the Ruthenian College, founded by His Holiness Leo
XIII ; and the two Teutonic Colleges.
In the Urban College of the Propaganda are edu
cated future missionaries, and it especially welcomes
students from missionary lands. It has the privilege
of granting the canonical degrees of bachelor, licenti
ate and doctor.
Many religious orders also have colleges in Rome,
conducted by their orders. Here may be mentioned
the Roman College or Gregorian University, man
aged by the Jesuits, one of the most famous colleges
in the Catholic world and the most frequented by
pupils and auditors of all those in the Eternal City;
the Seraphic College of St. Francis, conducted by
the Conventual Friars Minor; and the Pontifical Col
lege of St. Thomas Aquinas, entrusted to the Domini
cans. The Pontifical and International College of the
Angelic Doctor, for Dominicans, takes the place of
the former Minerva College. The subjects taught
by a professorial staff composed of Dominicans of all
nationalities, form a most complete curriculum, which
includes the Summa of St. Thomas, canon law, ethics,
natural law> sociology and the history of philosophy,
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THE VATICAN
archeology and geology, Greek and Hebrew, dogma,
theological formulae, the history of the Church, logic,
criticism and ontology, physical science and astron
omy, cosmology, psychology and natural theology,
Christian art, pastoral theology, the institutions of
ecclesiastical public law and their evolution, the his
tory of Christian literature, patrology (study of the
writings of the early Fathers) , a general introduction
to Holy Scripture, the special introduction to the Old
Testament and the exegesis of the New, the institu
tions of private ecclesiastical law, the institutions of
the philosophy of law, practical moral theology, bi
ology, higher mathematics, the methods and sources
of ecclesiastical history, Latin paleography, diplo
macy, Syriac and Arabic.
The other colleges conducted by regulars are: St.
Albert's College, the Carmelites of the Ancient Ob
servance; St. Anselm's College, a beautiful modern
building erected on Mount Aventine, where all the
students are Benedictines; St. Anthony's College, an
international institution for Friars Minor who are
going forth to do missionary work; the College of
St. Alexis Falconieri for the Servites who also de
vote their lives to the mission field; St. Bonaventura
College of Conventual Minors; St. Isidore College
for Irish Friars Minor; St. Monica College, for
Augustinians of all nationalities; the Seraphic Col
lege of the Friars Minor Capuchins, international;
the Discalced Carmelite College, also international;
the College of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
from Issoudun, France ; and the Norbertino College.
362

CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
If to this long list be added that of the Pontifical
primary schools, found in all quarters of Rome, for
the education of the people ; the numerous schools for
secondary instruction and the technical institutes,
where .are taught electricity, mechanics, et cetera, all
under the direction of the clergy, it will be difficult
to accuse the present Papal Rome of being a center
of ignorance. Nor is her educational activity limited
to the purheu of St. Peter's. It is spread throughout
the Catholic world, by means of the universities placed
under the high direction of the Sacred Congregation
of Studies which sits at Rome.
The question of Catholic universities arose in the
nineteenth century, as a principle, on the very day
when the state universities ceased to be denomina
tional ; or, as a matter of fact, from the moment when,
not satisfied with becoming secularized, they ceased
to respect the established religion and revealed doc
trine. For long years the Christian spirit continued
to rule in the universities, and the prudent conduct
of the governments kept the revolutionary efforts of
the masters within bounds, and maintained a certain
modus vivendi which the great mass of Catholics had
to be satisfied with, in default of anything better.
The ideal of the Church is, of course, a state university
with its teaching based on Catholic dogma, wherever
that dogma is touched upon. But when their con
science is at length molested, then the faithful, in spite
of the undeniable disadvantage resulting from seg
regation and the exclusion of outsiders, claim the right
to have special universities for their own followers,
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This question arises in every country, sooner or later,
in accordance with the strength of the nation's
tendency towards laicization.
Some countries, Germany and Austria, for in
stance, have tried to satisfy Catholics by the estab
lishment of Catholic theological schools within their
universities. But this measure is absolutely insuffi
cient, for the Catholic theological faculty is thus found
side by side in the same university with the Rationalist
and anti- Christian faculties, with the result that the
effects of its teaching are constantly checked by the
teaching of the other faculties, by whom every effort is
made to uproot the very principles on which its teach
ing is based. Hence it follows that the only satisfac
tory solution of the difficulty is a free and separate
Catholic University. These facts are well presented
by Monsignor Baudrillart, rector of the Catholic In
stitute of Paris, in his work entitled, "Les Universites
Catholiques de France et de l'Etranger."
The most important of the Catholic universities is
that of Louvain, founded in 1425. In the sixteenth
century it became the "Belgian Athens." In 1797
it was suppressed by a Republican decree, but rees
tablished in 1834, with thirteen professors and eighty-
six students, among whom was the future Cardinal
Deschamps. At present the university has 125 pro
fessors and 2,300 students. It owes its resurrection
to the Belgian bishops who, less than four years after
the proclamation of the national independence of
Belgium, in 1830, reopened its doors with the object
of shaping, as did the old university, "men of learn-
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
ing and good Christians." Since then, Louvain Uni
versity has become an admissible center of intellectual
life, with its five colleges, its three seminaries, its
schools of all kinds, its thirty periodicals, and its seven
teen Conferences of St. Vincent de Paul. If Catho
lics have been at the head of the Belgian government
for the last twenty-five years, this fact is largely due
to the influence exercised by Louvain University.
Eight cabinet ministers, among them being Prime
Minister Schollaert, one hundred deputies, governors
of provinces and high functionaries of all sorts,
proudly hail Louvain as their Alma Mater.
"In the religious hierarchy," wrote the rector, Monsignor
Hebbelynck, "the University of Louvain has presided over
the intellectual training of fourteen bishops or archbishops
now living, among whom are three Belgian bishops and our
cardinal primate, His Eminence Cardinal Mercier, chosen
from our academic corps to occupy the archiepiscopal see
of Malines. Among the former students of this university
are legions of learned priests, who by the extent of their
knowledge and the thoroughness of their training, exercise a
salutary influence over the moral and religious life of their
fellow-countrymen. Brought up in a school which shrinks
before no problem of modern criticism, initiated into the state
of mind and the writings of those who do not share our con
victions regarding Christianity, they also know, according to
the counsels of the great Bishop of Hippo, St. Augustine,
how to reconcile the conflict between different ideas and doc
trines, with the love of humanity, and by their influence in
the ranks of the clergy to ensure the proper defense of the
faith without feeding the flames of discord."
The number of doctors, professors, lawyers and
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distinguished members of the liberal professions, who
were trained at Louvain, amounts to several thou
sands. Its engineers' association contains more than
1,200 members. The honor of the discovery of the
coal mines of Limburg belongs to two professors of
the Louvain Mining College, Guillaume Lambert and
Andre Dupont. "We thank you," said M. Hubert,
the well-known engineer, addressing Andre Dupont,
"for having set this black diamond in the crown of
pearls which embellishes the brow of our Alma
Mater." The equipment for instruction is most complete at
Louvain University. Besides numerous laboratories
for microscopy and cellular biology, human and com
parative embryology, applied electricity, zoology,
paleontology, anatomy, physiology, bacteriology, phy
siological chemistry, are well established courses deal
ing with notarial law, ecclesiastical civil law, social
law, philosophy according to the method of St.
Thomas, contemporary history, philology, modern
Greek, ancient Germanic languages, comparative
grammar, the Latin, Greek and French languages,
the Iranian languages, with classes in Sanskrit,
Hebrew, Syrian and Arabic. The literary and de
bating societies are very flourishing. More recently
courses have been organized in the history of social
theories and experimental psychology with laboratory
practice. Students flock to Louvain from all parts
of the world to follow the classes of the Leo XIII
Institute and the learned men who have been
trained there now occupy important chairs in many
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
countries. The works published by the Louvain
professors are of value and several are numbered
among the classics. The bibliography of their works
alone fills more than five volumes.
Such results cannot be obtained without great ex
penditure. The annual budget of the university
amounts to some 1,200,000 francs. Belgian Catho
hcs, from their leaders, the bishops, down to the
humblest soldier, the workmen and peasants, show
no trace of hesitation or dissension in their ranks.
They want their own special university, and they wish
it to be on a large scale ; so they do what is necessary
to insure its greatness both morally and materially,
supplying both students and equipment the necessary
funds. Cardinal Mercier stated the situation clearly
when he wrote: "The University of Louvain is the
collective work of the Belgian Cathohe zeal; the splen
did product of thousands of gifts, subsidies and parish
collections, in which the halfpennies of the poor mix
with the silver or gold coins of richer worshippers."
Some well-known famihes have endowed a school or
an institute, as for instance the Duke of Arenberg,
who not long ago gave the university funds with
which to open a chemical laboratory.
The celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of
the restoration of the university at Louvain, which
took place from May 9 to 11, 1909, was brilliant and
showed the increasing strength of the institution.
Eight of the present Belgian ministers, and among
them the Prime Minister already mentioned, Mr.
Schollaert, were present. Three other ministers had
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been professors at the university. All joined heartily
in the celebration, which was attended by many dig
nitaries from all parts of the academic world.
The Catholic universities founded in France, at
Paris, Lille, Lyons, Angers, Toulouse, shortly after
the passage of the law of July 12, 1875, establishing
the liberty of higher education, have not played such
an important role, nor exercised such wide influence
as the Louvain University, even taken altogether.
The number of students has not exceeded 700 in Paris,
600 at Lille and Lyons, 250 at Angers, 100 at Tou
louse, a total of about 2,200, a figure slightly inferior
to the maximum of 2,300 attained at Louvain. Of
course, these figures refer to registered students and
not to attendance at university lectures. Even ad
mitting that these 2,200 students constitute an dite,
it is insufficient for a nation of 38 millions of inhabit
ants, especially if we remember that in Paris alone
the state university has some 17,000 students.
Monsignor Baudrillart in his interesting work on
Catholic universities in France also gives these reasons
for this somewhat discouraging abstention of such a
large portion of the Catholic youth of France:
First, the unceasing war on our Catholic universi
ties. The French Catholic universities were insti
tuted at the moment when those who were opposed
to their reestablishment attained political power.
Therefore, very restricted freedom was granted to
these institutions. They are not allowed any inde
pendence in the drawing up of the programmes of
studies leading to degrees, nor the right to confer
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
these degrees. Not only did the law passed in 1880
do away with mixed examining boards and deprive the
institutions of ihe title of university, but any altera
tion in the curriculum was made a pretext for restrict
ing still further the field of action of Cathohe universir
ties. If, in the case of examinations, we cannot com
plain of undue partiahty on the part of the boards, it
must be admitted that when one of our graduates
wishes to enter upon a career, the mere fact of his hav
ing been graduated at a Cathohe university is un
doubtedly looked upon with disfavor. "There must
be no hesitation," says Monsignor Baudrillart, "in
stating that French Cathohcs have not sufficiently
realized their duty in this very important matter.
They lacked courage and the spirit of faith. If they
had sufficient will-power, they would gain the ma
jority in numbers, as surely in the universities as in
secondary schools. 'And to think,' said the Holy
Father, when I handed him the statistics of our uni
versities compared with those of the state, 'that among
the thousands of young men who follow the state
courses, there are many who are Cathohcs and the
sons of Cathohcs. It is truly an aberration!' "
The students' associations have been very slow in
forming. Nor are they sufficiently strong and active,
except in Northern France. They lack that spirit
of initiative and organization which is seen among the
numerous societies of Louvain University. Finally,
political differences must be numbered among the
causes which paralyze the development of our Catho
he universities in France, and prevent them from ob-
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taining all the social influence which they deserve.
These political divisions have exercised their disinte
grating action there as elsewhere, by reason of the
distrust which they spread among the students them
selves. Are we to infer from what has just been stated
that the work of the Catholic universities of France
has not been of value and that they do not hold an
honorable rank among the teaching bodies in the
world? A mere glance at the success obtained by
the faculties of medicine, law, letters, science and the
ology proves the contrary beyond question. In the
first place and in a general way, the Catholic uni
versity centers have done excellent work in protect
ing Christian students from those dangers to which
their faith and the purity of their lives are exposed
during the university course. At Paris, and in other
university towns, young men, separated from their
families, find boarding-houses, clubs, Catholic student
associations and lecture courses which aid them ma
terially in their work.
Each of the French Catholic universities has its
special feature. Thus, Paris has a peculiar prestige
owing to its large corps of professors, lecturers, in
structors, its numerous and varied public lectures, its
classes for young girls, and the brilliancy due to the
teaching of such men as Monsignor d'Hulst, the Abbe
de Broglie, M. Lamarzelle, Monsignor Duchesne, M.
George Lemoine, M. de Lapparent, M. Branly, et
cetera. Lille had been remarkable from the beffinniner for
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
its complete material organization. To the five tra
ditional faculties, it added, as early as 1885, a note
worthy normal school of higher industrial studies.
Then there is the medical school which is frequented
by students from all parts of France and to which
have been added hospitals, clinics and dispensaries.
The university numbers more than one hundred teach
ers, some of whom are widely known for their excel
lent work, and the students are more united and bet
ter organized than anywhere else in France. In
addition to its own lectures, the university sends out
its professors to give lectures in all the large towns
of that part of the country.
The Catholic university has acted chiefly as a
normal school for the departments of the southeast
of France and has devoted itself to that task with the
most indefatigible zeal. Its faculty of sciences has
organized, along with the courses for superior educa
tion, properly so-called, the teaching of applied sci
ences, with a view to preparing its students for the
industrial and commercial careers so numerous and
so much sought after in the Departments of the
Rhone, the Ardeche, and the Loire. The same
faculty has contributed to the foundation and pros
perity of the Lyons La Salle High School for the
technical training of young workingmen. The uni
versity has fifty-three teachers in its four faculties,
who, besides this special university work, conduct free
evening classes, classes for girls and lecture courses
on Fridays.
There is no state university at Angers ; so here the
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Catholic university has an open field. It deserves
attention on account of its forty professors, its four
faculties and its agricultural school, a creation of the
principal land owners of the region, which is doing
good service in that farming district of France. The
Toulouse Catholic University has a dozen literary and
scientific chairs, and has become one of our first
schools for sacred science, which is its distinguishing
feature. The French bishops first turned their attention to
the creation of faculties of law and of medicine. A
medical school was especially desired. Although the
enormous material difficulties and expense have de
layed work in this direction, Lille has been able to ac
complish great results. Her medical school has sent
into the departments of the Nord, the Pas-de-Calais
and several of our provinces, nearly a thousand doc
tors and a hundred and sixty pharmacists. "From
all quarters," wrote Monsignor Baunard some time
ago, "we are asked for doctors, who are offered good
positions, and received with open arms. It would be
the salvation of many country places if we could
supply the demand. But we cannot find sufficient
men for all these posts, and we usually have to reply :
'Begin by sending us students of whom we can make
doctors who will return to you full of science and
faith.' "
Side by side with scientific studies, the charitable
and social work, which is part of the education of a
Christian doctor, has been splendidly developed at
Lille. In ten years more than 500,000 patients have
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
been treated at the Charity Hospital. The two ma
ternity hospitals since the day of their opening have
received more than 16,000 mothers. Since 1877, the
Asile des Cinq Plaies has opened its doors to 1,100
cripples, and the Hospital of St. Anthony of Padua
has received 4,443 children since 1890. The Maison
Ste.-Camille, founded in 1903, has treated 1,333 cases
of mental diseases, and the Maison St. Raphael
has had 5,595 patients since 1899. There have been
more than 700,000 free consultations in the dis
pensaries. This is not a bad showing, and we may
add that the expense of this Cathohe medical work at
Lille, for technical instruction only, from the founda
tion until 1908, amounted to 6,200,000 francs. God
alone knows the amount given by M. Camille Feron-
Vrau, director of the Croix newspaper at Paris.
Nothing done in medicine in the other Cathohe uni
versities compares with what has been accomphshed
at Lille. Angers has been able to open only a first-
year preparatory class ; Lyons has St. Joseph's Hos
pital, with a first rate medical staff; and Paris, with
its hospital dedicated also to St. Joseph, can point
to preventive or preparatory institutions such as the
Laennec lectures, and the Fonsgrive lectures, or the
courses in supplementary medical instruction, recently
founded as the result of an arrangement between the
Cathohe Institute and the Luxembourg Students'
Club. The Cathohe law schools of France have sent forth
into the land a group of business men, advocates and
lawyers who have remained faithful to the Church and
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THE VATICAN
are to be found at the head of all Catholic enter
prises. A goodly number of mayors, general coun
cilors, and deputies are former students of the Catho
lic law schools of Lille and Angers. The Lille law
school numbered 149 students a short time ago. An
gers has graduated 540 licentiates of law and 95 doc
tors of law; Paris, 1,268 licentiates, 211 doctors and
one agrege, the highest degree given in France and
acquired in a most stringent competitive examina
tion. Having founded faculties of medicine and law, the
bishops next turned their attention to the creation
of faculties of letters and sciences. It took some two
or three years to set them on foot. The object aimed
at was to supply young Catholics with the means of
competing and increasing, by superior studies and by
obtaining the licentiate which may be compared to
the master's degree in England and America, those
secondary studies which they had acquired in the ec
clesiastical colleges, and also to prepare good pro
fessors for the non-state high schools.
The law required that even the smallest municipal
college should have only licentiates as teachers. It
was absolutely essential that all who aspired to the
title of professor in non-state secondary schools should
possess this degree. This difficult task was accom
plished, thanks to our Catholic institutes. Long be
fore this, the iScole des Carmes at Paris, the Char-
treaux' School at Lyons, and, since 1871, the ]£cole de
St-Aubin at Angers, had sought to accomplish this ob
ject, and the following figures will show what has
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
been done in this direction. From its opening until
November, 1908, the Catholic Institute of Paris has
produced 1,060 licencies es lettres, 35 doctors and 36
agreges; that of Angers, 330 licencies and 30 doctors;
that of Lyons, more than 300 licencies; and that of
Toulouse, 241 licencies, 10 doctors and 2 agreges. In
the sciences, the figures for Paris are 177 licencies,
and, in accordance with the changes made in 1897,
424 certificates (three of which equal a license), 10
doctorates and 1 agregation; and for Angers 86 li
censes, 169 certificates and 10 doctorates. Since the
day when, by an iniquitous measure, the agregation
was refused to the students prepared at our institu
tion, many have obtained one or other of the diplomas
of higher studies, which form the intermediary pas
sage between license and agregation. That is to say
that during the last 34 years the Catholic universities,
having graduated from three to four thousand licen
cies es lettres or es sciences, have infused new blood
into our colleges. A sign of the transformation ac
complished is seen in the value of the works written
by the clergy.
Theological faculties, including chairs of philoso
phy, of canon law, of Church history, of exegesis and
Christian apologetics, were the last to be founded.
They were not felt to be so urgently needed, owing to
the existence of large diocesan seminaries where the
teaching was, usually, very carefully carried on. It
was from Rome that came, quite rightly, the per
sistent demand for the establishment of theological
faculties. They were, therefore, founded. Their
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THE VATICAN
students are usually young ecclesiastics, sent up by
their bishops. They hve together in a seminary, and
later form quite an intellectual elite in the ranks of
the clergy.
At Paris, the canonical faculties have, in thirty
years, turned out 1,319 auditors (bachelors), 205 lec
tors (licencies), 34 masters (theological doctors) ;
584 auditors, 154 lectors and 14 masters of canon
law ; 864 auditors, 41 lectors and 9 masters of philoso
phy; and have awarded 9 diplomas for Semitic
languages. The entire number of degrees awarded
is therefore 3,238. At Angers, the same faculties
have created 611 bachelors, 113 UcenciSs, and 27 doc
tors. At the Cathohe Universities of Lyons, Poitiers and
Toulouse, the figures for university degrees of all
kinds are proportionately the same as those given
above. In addition to the special classes for the
preparation of the students for the examinations, the
professors in the various branches of theology give
public lectures, to which flock numerous lay-people
of both sexes. These number from four to five hun
dred in Paris. The object of these lectures is the
scientific defense of religion.
And thus, by the very importance of the matter
dealt with, and by the diffusion of their teaching, the
theological faculties, or rather let us say, the faculties
of sacred sdence, so little desired at the beginning,
and which were founded almost with reluctance, have
really become most important of all. We are able
to state that Cardinal Guibert, Archbishop of Paris,
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
shortly before his death, solemnly asserted this fact
to Monsignor d'Hulst.
The fame of the French Catholic universities has
been greatly enhanced abroad, by the personal works
of their professors. At the annual commencements,
a list is pubhshed of the books written by these teach
ers. They number several hundreds each year. At
the World's Fair of 1900, the Paris Cathohe Uni
versity faculty filled a whole book-case, and at the
Angers exhibition in 1895, the Catholic University of
the West, exhibited two hundred volumes from the
pens of her professors and former students. It may
be stated that Rene Bazin, of the French Academy,
is one of the delights and glories of that university,
while Lille is justly proud of the historical works of
Monsignor Hautecceur, the hterary productions of
M. de Margerie, and the writings of Monsignor
Baunard, all of the Cathohe university of that town.
Lyons can point to the extensive and important his
torical works of Canon Ulysse Chevalier, and Paris
to those of Monsignor Duchesne, and to the philo
sophical studies of Monsignor Elie Blanc, whose
monthly, La Pensee Contemporaine, carefully ex
amines all the theories which agitate the intellectual
world. Canon Tisseront, the Abbe Jacquier, Mon
signor du Sparre, Monsignor Delmont, Monsignor
Devaux, and other able thinkers also hail from Lyons
and have written valuable books, while Monsignor
Sauve and Monsignor Pasquier, authors of note, were
once brilliant teachers at Angers. Toulouse boasts
of the literary works of M. Couture, and the remark-
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THE VATICAN
able attainments in chemistry of the Abbe Sander-
ens, while the theological output of the Abbes Por-
talier and Saltet also shed luster on that university.
Toulouse once numbered among its professors the
Abbe Gayraud and the Reverend Father Colonnier,
who founded the Revue Thomiste. Even our ene
mies have been struck by the work done in Catholic
universities in France.
"Religious phenomena," wrote Ferdinand Lot a few years
ago, "have such a preponderating importance in the past and
present life of society, that we cannot understand why the
monopoly of such studies should be left to the clergy, at any
rate in the provinces. It is not by means of jokes and news
paper articles that we shall be able to influence young minds.
We need men of science and specialists to fight against the
new clerical generation which is putting men in possession of
a totally superior degree of education. The government and
the Parliament do not appear to realize the necessity of re
cruiting a staff of teachers capable of fighting on their own
ground, Catholic clergy of today."
Catholic universities flourish as well in the other
parts of the world and are centers for the study of
sacred and profane science. At Dublin, after various
efforts and attempts to establish an institution sepa
rated from Protestant influences, the Catholic uni
versity has at length been founded, thanks to an
impartial spirit of justice and to state assistance.
At Quebec and Montreal, in the Dominion of Can
ada, is established the celebrated Laval University
bearing the name of its founder, Monsignor Laval.
The rector is in Quebec, the vice-rector in Montreal,
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
and each has four faculties. In the two cities are
1,050 students, of whom 370 are theological students,
160 law students, and 290 medical students. At
Montreal is also a polytechnical school attended by a
hundred students. The Laval and Dublin Universi
ties are the only ones in the immense British Empire
which are controlled by Catholics.
In the United States, the Cathohe University of
America is situated at Washington, in the District
of Columbia. Its establishment was discussed as
early as 1866, but it was not founded until 1884, after
the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. In 1889,
by apostolic letter, date March seventh, His Holi
ness Pope Leo XIII granted the faculty the right to
confer the degrees of doctor, licentiate and bachelor.
Within a dozen years, thanks to generous gifts, this
young institution has been set up and endowed in
such manner as to arouse the envy of all Catholic uni
versities and of even the greater number of state uni
versities of old Europe. It comprises schools of the
sacred sciences, philosophy, law, letters and science,
each of which includes several departments ; and since
its foundation numerous colleges whose advanced
students pursue courses in the university, have be
come affiliated with it. The statistics for a recent col
lege year give the number of the teaching body as
32, and that of the students as 210.
The oldest Catholic literary establishment in the
United States, however, is Georgetown University,
which is also in Washington in the District of Co
lumbia. It was founded just after the War of the
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Revolution by the Catholic clergy of Maryland and
since 1805 has been under the direction of the Society
of Jesus. To the original academy have been added
an astronomical observatory, the medical school, the
law school, the university hospital, the dental school,
and the training school for nurses. It is the most
noted of the Catholic educational centers in America,
and exerts wide influence through its various institu
tions and its distinguished alumni, who number nearly
five thousand. As a university it is finely equipped
and according to the statistics of the year 1909 ac
commodated 749 undergraduate students, with a
teaching body numbering 142 professors, lecturers
and assistants.
A third university of note in the United States and
the oldest west of the Mississippi is that in St. Louis,
Missouri. This was founded in 1818 as an academy,
under the direction of the secular clergy, by the
Right Reverend Louis William Du Bourg, Bishop
of Louisiana. But in 1829, owing to the growth of
the school, the secular clergy were obliged to seek the
aid of one of the teaching orders. The Jesuits then
undertook its management and by 1832 it had re
ceived its charter as a university.
At .present St. Louis University comprises the col
lege, the school of divinity, the school of philosophy,
the school of advanced science, the department of seis
mology and meteorology, the school of medicine, the
school pf dentistry, the institute of law, and the school
of commerce and finance. Its faculty numbers 241
and its student body 1,287 (June, 1911).
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
South America has but one non-state Cathohe uni
versity, that of Santiago, Chili, founded fifteen years
ago by Monsignor Casanova. It belongs to the same
category as the St. Louis University, that is to say
both secondary and higher courses are given. There
are four faculties: theology, law, letters and sciences.
As in France, the degrees are conferred by the state,
but the board of examiners, which is not composed of
professors from the state universities, sits at the
Cathohe university, and the students are free to pre
sent themselves for examination on the same condi
tions as their comrades of the state schools.
From young America, let us now pass to the center
of ancient civilization, to the Syrophcenician borders
of the Mediterranean. At Beirut, as at Georgetown
and St. Louis, we find the Jesuits directing one of the
most interesting and original creations of their apos
tolic zeal. In 1881 Leo XIII consecrated the work
already accomplished at Beirut by the canonical erec
tion of the New University of St. Joseph, and by
granting it the right to confer academic degrees.
Beirut College ordinarily numbers 450 to 500 stu
dents, with 70 more at the seminary, who, religiously,
belong to various rites : Syrian, Chaldean, Greek, Ar
menian, Coptic, Maronite and Latin. In 1907, the
college numbered among its alumni 21 bishops, 3 pa
triarchs and 230 priests. The French Foreign Office
used to give 15,000 francs for scholarships for stu
dents chosen by the French consul and brought up in
the college. This subsidy was reduced to 7,000 in
1905, and finally done away with altogether in 1906.
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Gambetta and Jules Ferry were better inspired and
more devoted to the true interests of France when
they came to the support of the medical school, which
was added in 1883, and the faculty of philosophy and
theology. Jules Ferry, then Minister, drew up the
first regulations which were applied in the school, and
recognized it formally as a French institution. Four
years later M. Goblet, then Minister, sent a delegate
to Beirut to preside at the examinations of medical
students; and on October 6, 1888, M. Lockroy, who
had become Minister, officially approved of the cur
riculum and permitted the students to receive the
regular diploma of doctor of medicine, delivered by
his office and signed by the Minister of Public In
struction; and, at the same time, he allowed the school
to assume the title of university. In 1890, the Egyp
tian government officially recognized the Beirut medi
cal degree, and in 1898 the Ottoman government did
the same, on the condition that delegates from the
Imperial University of Constantinople should act as
examiners. In 1908, the Beirut Medical School celebrated its
twenty-fifth anniversary, when the public learned that
during this quarter of a century, the school had edu
cated 361 doctors and pharmacists, now dispersed
throughout the whole Ottoman Empire. At present
the number of students exceeds 230. A preparatory
school was added to the medical school in 1907.
In 1902, the course of higher education in the East
received a new stimulus by the creation of an oriental
department at the university, a philological school,
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
where the study of tlie Arabic language occupies first
rank. Peculiar facilities in this direction are afforded
by the very situation of Bdrut in a country where the
Arabic tongue is used, and by tlie excellent library
of tlie university, 100,000 printed volumes and 5,000
manuscripts, which are exceedingly usefid to students
who intend to fit themselves for the teaching of tlie
Holy Scriptures. Classes have also been formed for
the teaching of Hebrew, Syriac, archeology, epigra
phy, history and exegesis. This department is like
its younger sister, the Practical Sdiool of Biblical
Study, founded in 1890, at Jerusalem, hy die Domin
icans, and so successfully managed by the learned
Father Lagrange. We mav add that the oriental
department of Beirut admits students of all nation
alities and all religions, if they have tlie necessary
intellectual and moral qualifications required of all
students in Catholic universities.
The Fribourg Cathohe University, founded in
1819, is also one of tlie great centers of higher edu
cation which tlie Churdi glories in. It is due to tlie
initiative and intelligent perseverance of State Coun-
dlor Pithon, Director of Public Instruction in the
Canton of Fribourg. assisted by his friend, tlie well-
known sociologist. Deeurtins. It was evident tliat
Fribourg. situated in an entirely agricultural region.
having a population of about 130,000 inhabitants, and
overshadowed by the three neighboring universities
at Berne. Lausanne and Geneva, could not hope to
find a sufficient teaching staff or student body if it
counted on Swiss Cathohcs alone. So M. Pithon
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THE VATICAN
conceived the happy plan of bringing together an in
ternational faculty. Furthermore, Fribourg being
on the very limits of the territories where French and
German tongues and customs meet, he felt that the
new university could be made, as it were, the fusing-
pot of Latin and Germanic civilizations. He, there
fore, formed the faculty on the model of the German
universities, but, at the same time, gave great impor
tance to the French element in the teaching staff.
From that time, Fribourg University may be con
sidered as having been established. It could live, and
enjoyed peculiarities and merits of its own, which,
however, at the same time, gave rise to certain diffi
culties. Among its peculiarities, at least among our
Catholic universities, is the fact that the professors
and students come from every country in the world.
The student body is composed of Germans, Eng
lishmen, Swiss, Frenchmen, Italians, Spaniards,
Poles, and Slavs. Two or three years ago the student
body was made up of 179 Swiss; 98 Germans; 88
Poles and Lithuanians; 66 Frenchmen; 34 Bulga
rians; 25 Italians; 23 Austrians; 21 Americans; 9
Dutchmen; 4 Englishmen; 2 Canadians; and one stu
dent from each of the following countries: Greece,
Norway, Ecuador, Tunis, and Australia. This as
tonishing mixture of nationalities offers certain ad
vantages; for the students are in a meeting ground
of all civilizations, races, tongues and ideas. It is
good also for the professors, and, in addition, awakens
a spirit of emulation that would be unknown under
other conditions. But, on the other hand, numerous
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
difficulties must necessarily crop up, owing to the
competition and to the striving for influence mani
fested, sometimes very strongly, in the ranks of the
professorial staff. But up to the present time, M.
Pithon's wisdom and tact have been able to smooth
away all these difficulties.
The theological school at Fribourg is in the hands
of the Dominicans, who have made it one of the most
brilliant and stable centers of learning in Europe.
There are also schools of law, letters, philosophy and
science. The university's greatest need is a medical
school ; but hospitals and clinics already exist at Fri
bourg. The faculty has more professors than the
Cathohe University in Paris, 71 as against 60, though
fewer than Louvain University. The teaching staff
is divided, as is usual in Germany, into three cate
gories: ordinary professors, extraordinary professors
and privat-docents. The number of matriculated
students is generally about 560, divided among the
different schools as follows: theology, 203; law, 127;
letters, 108; sciences, 131. About 100 non-matricu
lated hearers attend the lectures.
In the shadow of the university, several institutions
have sprung up. There is the old college of St.
Michael, one of the best in Switzerland; the young
college or villa Saint-Jean, for the French, admirably
managed by the Marianists to whom so many exiled
famihes have remained attached; several schools for
girls preparing for degrees; groups of religious or
ders; dormitories for the ecclesiastical students; and
boarding houses for lay students. In a word, Fri-
385

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bourg has become a university town in every sense of
the word. It knows the joys and the troubles of such
cities. The good townsfolk are sometimes disturbed
as are those of Louvain on similar occasions. But all
are proud of the ardent youths who, along with their
sometimes startling costumes and customs, display
strength, honesty, faith, and devotion to the Church,
and who, after all, are perhaps quite justified in not
presenting all these fine qualities on sad faces, as if
carrying the dead to their last resting place.
Within the space of twenty years the professors of
Fribourg University have produced a considerable
quantity of good, intellectual work, which has brought
them very favorably before the great European pub
lic, and has done much to render Fribourg unques
tionably one of the most active centers of Catholicism
in Europe. We may say, in closing, that this univer
sity takes rank along with that of Lille, immediately
after Louvain and Paris.
We have still to deal with the efforts made in Spain
and Italy, towards the foundation of exclusively
Catholic universities. The Spanish Constitution, Ar
ticle 12, recognizes the principle of educational liberty
in every degree. As a matter of fact, no organic law
concerning the liberty of higher education has been
promulgated as yet. Although greater respect is
shown for Christian doctrine in Spanish state universi
ties than in those of any other country, still the situ
ation causes considerable anxiety among the wisest
of our Spanish brethren. Various plans for the modi
fication of this condition of things have been devised
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
within the last few years, but unfortunately, none has
succeeded up to the present time. However, on Oc
tober 31, 1909, a Catholic university-academy was
opened in Madrid, founded by the Bishop of Madrid.
A council of directors, composed of the representa
tives of the highest society in Madrid, heads the under
taking. The president is the Marquesa de Comillas ;
the vice-presidents, the Marques de Pidal and the
Marques de Santillana ; while a Jesuit and an Augus
tinian represent the religious orders. The object of
the institution is to offer to young men who come in
such great numbers to Madrid for study, an intellec
tual center under exclusively Catholic control. There
is a special chair for higher studies in religion and
one for philosophy. The other courses, thirteen in
number, deal with the social and political sciences,
while there are three seminaries, one for social sciences,
one for political sciences and the third for general cul
ture. This effort is worthy of our sympathy and may
be considered as the embryo of a future Catholic uni
versity in Spain.
With the exception of the important Roman in
stitutions which we have already described, and a
dozen Pontifical theological schools in the provinces,
which are, in fact, only examination boards, there is at
present no non-state university in Italy. The law will
not permit such an establishment. But the matter is
under discussion, and the echoes of what is being done
at Louvain and elsewhere, and in congresses of Cath
olic students, have given new strength to the move
ment. 387

THE VATICAN
In the Italian state universities, as in those in Ger
many and France, the reigning spirit is usually
rationalistic, positivistic and materialistic. If they
contain some chairs devoted to the history of religions
or the history of Christianity, these are usually occu
pied by atheists. Priests who have forsaken the
Church are welcomed with great warmth by these in
stitutions. Quite recently, for instance, there was
some talk of conferring on the ex- Abbate Minocchi
a chair of Biblical instruction at the University of
Pisa. Of course, we must not paint the picture in
over-dark colors. The Italian state universities count
among their professors, and often, indeed, among the
most distinguished of these, men who are fervent be
lievers. For example, at Pisa is Professor Toniolo,
who has colleagues in the faculty who share his faith
and have sent forth pupils to teach with great success.
At a recent Catholic university congress, sat side by
side with Professor Toniolo, on the opening day, a
young and brilliant member of the faculty of law at
Genoa, Professor Boggiano, who is an outspoken
Catholic. But taken as a whole, higher education in
Italy bears the hall mark of irreligion. Those stu
dents who would escape that spirit have but one re
source, to seek their education in the foreign Catholic
universities. Some of the bishops of Northern Italy
send every year a half dozen young ecclesiastics to
Louvain, to Fribourg or to Munich, where there are
a few Italian lay students. But this remedy can be
enjoyed by only a small number. Therefore many
Itahan Catholics and the students themselves, long for
388

CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
the foundation of a non-state university, such as exists,
as we have seen, in many other countries, but this hope
does not, unfortunately, appear to be nearing realiza
tion. This study of Catholic universities in Rome and
throughout the world carries with it its own conclu
sion: Cathohcism does not fear the hght of modern
science; on the contrary, it propagates science with
all its strength by the formation of excellent univer
sity institutions. Cathohcism has nothing to dread
from attacks levied against religion in the name of
science. It is now adniirably equipped for defense.
Besides ihe universities for higher education, the
Church provides for secondary education in thousands
of boys' high schools ; and in the primary schools where
Christian masters teach the vast mass of the children
of the poorer classes. Thus, the Church has not
shirked her mission: "Go ye and teach all nations,"
euntes docete omnes gentes.
The question of neutrality in the primary schools is
assuming great importance in many countries at this
time, so that this branch of popular education deeply
interests the Church. There are principles which she
cannot overlook. First of all, it cannot be permitted
that a child should be brought up without any idea
of God or of rehgion, and, which is still worse, in a
spirit of hatred towards God and rehgion. Further
more, it has been proved by experience that the
families of the poorer classes cannot teach their chil
dren themselves, having neither the time nor the means
to do so. It is necessary, therefore, that these chil-
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THE VATICAN
dren should receive religious instruction in public
schools. But only a denominational school can attain
this end. That is why the Catholic Church in every
part of the world, as indeed all dissenting religions,
is demanding denominational schools; or that the
minister of religion, shall at least, be allowed to enter
the public school to see that the children are given
religious instruction, that he shall be respected in the
school, and that in the teaching of other subjects, re
ligious neutrality shall be strictly observed.
But is such a concession possible? Is it possible to
confound neutrality in teaching and scientific objec
tivity? The teacher has, it is often said, no business
to express his preference, or to declare any opinion.
He has merely to lay scientific truth before the chil
dren. He must let facts speak for themselves. He
must be the phonograph of nature and of history.
Thus, and thus alone, will the school be neutral and
the mind left free to form its own judgment. This
apparently simple theory has today many attractions
for certain advanced thinkers. Whether scientific or
not, it is too evident that neutrality so practiced has
certain defects, and is not only inadmissible, but is, in
fact, impracticable. A teacher is not, and cannot be,
a person who merely relates, describes, explains. He
is, even when he thinks he does no more than teach, a
living person who judges, who weighs, who blames,
and who praises ; in a word, who has preferences. As
a matter of fact there is no teaching, however cold it
may be, that does not suggest certain preferences.
Therefore the problem which a teacher has to solve
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CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
is not, How are we to abstain from suggesting prefer
ences? because such abstention is impossible, but it
becomes, What preferences have we the right to sug
gest? This is a very difficult problem for a reasoning
being to solve, because we do not teach what we will;
we do not even teach what we know or what we think
we know ; we teach what we are.
And indeed that is what, at the present time, Cath
ohe parents complain of the world over, rightly or
wrongly. Professor Bongle, who is not a Cathohe
writer, says on this point: "Wrongly? So be it.
But if, just hke you, they wish to show their children
what are their 'preferences,' in the name of what prin
ciple will you refuse them such a natural right?
Should they not also be free to 'teach what they are'?"
Furthermore, the best known enemies of Catholic
teaching have openly declared in the French Chamber
of Deputies that neutral schools cannot exist, that
they are impossible, and that the word neutrality was
put into the law on primary education simply to hood
wink Cathohcs! This explains why, in 1909, the
French hierarchy condemned neutral schools and cer
tain manuals of history and moral science used in the
French pubhc schools, which were of a pecuharly
aggressive nature in their denunciation of Cathoh
cism. It also explains the numerous associations
formed by Cathohe parents, to watch over the teach
ing in the pubhc schools, and to remedy, in as far as
possible, the evils of the atheistic and anti-Catholic
instruction which the law has rendered obhgatory for
Cathohe children in France.
26 391

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To these measures, the French sectarians proudly
reply that they have not to bow before the injunctions
of the bishops, nor to submit to their influence. But
if the bishops are absolutely logical and sane, fighting
against them is fighting against reason and common
sense, and our foes are left in a strange dilemma.
Besides, they have to war not alone with the bishops,
but with all sincere Catholic parents and indeed with
all the honest thinking people who sustain them in
this struggle. They have thus created a political
difficulty, the consequences of which cannot be calcu
lated, for nothing is more persistent than religious
passion, when once aroused.
In this extremely important debate, we have seen
a French minister come forward and utter on the floor
of the House such wretched sophistry, as this : "How
can Catholic parents know anything about and dis
cuss intelligently the merits of these school manuals
against which they raise their voices ? These manuals
have been placed on the Index; if they are good
Catholics, they must not read books which are on the
Index. So they are acting as blind men when they
obey the bishops' injunctions."
Quite so; and they do it in perfect confidence; for
Catholic parents know their bishops and have faith
in them. They know that when their bishops, when
the whole corps of the bishops of France, promulgate
a collective letter, denouncing indignantly the serious
attacks made in the schools against their religion, no
mistake is being made, that only the truth is being
spoken. 392

CATHOLICISM AND EDUCATION
Having discussed what Rome is actually doing for
the diffusion of knowledge, we would leave our work
unfinished if we failed to show what is the true and
special teaching of the Cathohe Church, which we will
take up in the following chapter.

CHAPTER IX
WHAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHES
Scholastic Philosophy — Dogmatic and Moral Theology — Holy
Scripture — Canon Law — Ecclesiastical History — The Other
Sacred Sciences Emanating from Catholic Doctrine: the
Liturgy, Ascetic Theology, and Pastoral Theology.
Though the Cathohe Church cannot remain indif
ferent to any human science which enables her to
confirm and defend the laws of God against the at
tacks constantly made in the name of modern prog
ress, yet she has a special domain of her own, the
sacred sciences founded on revelation. Theology
belongs especially to the Church; she lays down its
principles, develops the conclusions to be deducted
therefrom, determines and enunciates the affirmations,
and thus founds a logical science based on faith.
The study of theology must necessarily be preceded
by that of philosophy, by which the mind is taught to
conquer truth scientifically, and is led by the exercise
of powers of reasoning to acquire a body of natural
truths concerning God, the human soul, morals and
doctrines, which brings it to the threshold of theology
and of revealed religion. Hence the truth of Origen's
declaration that philosophy acts as the prelude to
Christianity. 394

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
The Church has a philosophy all her own: scholastic
philosophy, which Leo XIII and Pius X have brought
into honor again, and have rendered obligatory in all
our theological seminaries. Scholastic philosophy
flourished in the Middle Ages and is particularly em
bodied in the teachings of "The Angel-Doctor," St.
Thomas Aquinas, whose work as philosopher and
theologian is enormous in extent and depth. Scho
lasticism is the philosophy of the Holy Fathers, uni
fied and presented in didactic form. The enemies of
the Church have always distained and despised scho
lastic philosophy, and they succeeded until recent
years, in discrediting it. Thus they sought, by clever
tactics, to deprive the Church of a powerful weapon
against their new doctrines.
We cannot give here a full description of such vast
subjects as scholastic philosophy, dogmatic and moral
theology and the other sacred sciences, exegesis, canon
law, Church history, liturgy, asceticism, et cetera;
but we shall merely say enough on each subject to
give our readers a clear impression of these branches
of Catholic teaching. PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy is the natural and superior knowledge
of things. It is a science, that is to say, a collection
of truths and conclusions, rigorously bound one to the
other. It is not an uncertain idea concerning the un
known, the undetermined, the mysterious ; it is not, on
the other hand, a more or less sustained meditation,
a deep and searching contemplation, a defined and
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THE VATICAN
learned doubt ; it does not consist in raising important
questions, in comparing hypotheses and various solu
tions, in measuring probabihties, in raising numerous
questions without solving them; it does not consist in
offering temporary solutions, or even approximate,
solutions. The highest conclusions and indeed the
most philosophic, if they do not absolutely lead to a
conclusion, are not philosophy. Philosophy exists
only in so far as it firmly asserts a more or less com
plete system of absolute truths.
This shows the difference between scholastic phi
losophy and the philosophy taught in most of the
state universities, which do not give a course on doc
trine, but merely expose the principal philosophical
systems of various authors without approving or
combating them, or which seek to create new methods
of a more or less ingenious nature. Philosophy,
moreover, is a natural science, that is to say, a science
acquired by natural forces alone, by principles and
lights of reason only. There are revealed truths
which are the starting point of reasoned researches;
but the truths in which sacred theology is founded
cannot, as such, become the principles on which phi
losophy is based. It is impossible to confound these
two sciences in spite of their close relationship.
Philosophy, and in its path Christian philosophy, as
serts all its principles in the name of evidence, never
in the name of authority.
And finally, it is the higher knowledge of things;
it seeks first causes, final reasons; it rises even to an
examination of the most general of laws. From this
396

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
point of view it deals with all nature and with all
mankind, soul and body, and with God Himself. Its
object is universal, but it only approaches these con
ditions in a lofty manner, wliich prevents us from
confounding it with the other spedal sdences. To
it are reserved the noblest of all objects, that is to say,
the soul and God.
Nothing is more important than the possession of
tlie phdosophical spirit, whether it be apphed to his
tory, law, pohtics, sdences, letters or doquence.
Cicero dedared that philosophers had taught him
more in the matter of doquence than professional
rhetoridans. It is indeed phdosophy which gives us
just, general and luminous ideas; it elevates and en
lightens everything it deals with; it devdops the habit
of reflection, strengthens the mind and familiarizes
us with the study of laws and causes.
The moral usefulness of philosophy is still more
remarkable. It is philosophy that makes it possible
for us to analyze our own feelings, to understand
those of our neighbors and thus to enter into the
secrets of the human heart. This intimate knowledge
of human nature, observed both from within and
without, this "know thyself" of Socrates, is the first
condition for wise self-government and for governing
others. Philosophy embraces three important sdences:
logic, metaphysics and moral science.
Logic is rational philosophy, that is to say, it is
that part of philosophy that deals with reason itself
examined in its actions and its conceptions, or the
397

THE VATICAN
reflex objects of the mind. Thought as such, and
opposed to reality, is therefore the object of logical
science. To sum up, logical science is the art of di
recting the reason, of exercising it methodically and
easily while avoiding error. It is also called the art
of thinking, the art of good judgment, the science of
reasoning, the science of demonstration.
Metaphysics is that part of philosophy which deals
with the being from the standpoint of the most ele
vated reality. It differs from logical science, which
deals with the ideal being, with reasoning beings,
with the laws of thought and of reasoning ; from moral
science, which deals with the moral being and the
order to which he belongs; from mathematical and
physical science, which deals with the real or possible
being from a less elevated standpoint, his dimensions,
qualities or sensible elements. Metaphysics has to
do with the immaterial ; if it has anything to do with
bodies, it only considers them in a spiritual manner,
that is to say, as beings, substances, natures, causes
and not as measured, counted, divided, acting on the
senses. Metaphysics may be divided into two parts : a gen
eral division which deals with being and all relating
thereto (ontology) ; a special division which deals suc
cessively with the world (cosmology, natural philoso
phy), the soul (psychology), and God (theodicy).
The most elevated matters are studied and solved
by the light of reason which arrives at conclusions in
accordance with the Catholic faith; as, for instance,
in cosmology, the distinction of the world from God,
398

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
and consequently the impossibility of pantheism; the
origin of the world and of creation; the order and
laws of nature; miracles; living bodies, and life.
In psychology are examined the spirituality and
immortality of the soul, the origin of the soul, its
liberty, the soul after death and its extraordinary or
pecuhar states during life, such as sleep, dreams,
somnambulism, hypnosis, et cetera, the qualities and
habits of the soul, the origin of tongues.
In theodicy are considered the existence of God,
nature, one, distinct, simple; the attributes of God,
truth, goodness, perfection, infinity, immutability,
eternity, immensity, science, will, union, justice,
mercy, power, providence.
In morals are studied the morality of human
actions, virtues and vices, the eternal, natural law;
rights and duties; domestic morality; marriage, the
family; social morality; the origin, object and power
of civil society; the relations between Church and
state ; the relations of states among themselves, inter
national law; and the philosophy of history.
It is easy to understand that many distinguished
minds are attracted by such studies and prefer philo
sophical work to any other. In this field is more than
enough labor to occupy a lifetime.
THEOLOGY
Theology is, properly speaking, the special and pe
cuhar science of the Church, being founded on the
formulaa of revelation which the Church claims as
exclusively hers. It is, therefore, the natural science
399

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of God and of things in their relation to Him. It is
divided into dogmatic and moral theology, the study
of which must necessarily be preceded by a prelimi
nary understanding of the true religion — the Church,
her constitution and her authority ; and the theological
sources — tradition and Holy Scripture.
Dogmatic theology deals with revealed truths,
which have been defined by the Church and which we
must believe — the dogmas. It is the scientific expo
sition of the Apostles' creed which contains them all
in substance; and the different divisions of dogmatic
theology will be found to correspond to the articles
of the Apostles' creed :
I. God (De Deo uno et trino). The doctrine of
God as essentially one; His existence, essence and
attributes. The doctrine of the Trinity.
II. Creation (De Deo creante). The doctrine of
the creation of the world, of man, of the angels.
III. Redemption (De Deo Redemptore). a.
Christology. The doctrine of the person of Our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Most
Holy Trinity, b. Soteriology. The doctrine of the
work of the Redeemer which is crowned by His de
scent into Limbo and His ascension into Heaven, c.
Mariology. The doctrine of the Divine Maternity.
d. Grace (De gratia). The doctrine of the absolute
necessity of grace to withstand sin; the forgiveness
of sin ; the sanctification of the soul ; the Holy Ghost.
e. Sacraments (De sacramentis). The doctrine of
the sacraments in general and in particular, f.
Eschatology (De novissimis). The doctrine dealing
400

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
with the death and judgment of the individual, the
resurrection of the dead and the general judgment.
Moral theology deals with the practical truths of
morality, with everything concerning human actions,
for which it is the rule, regula agendorum, enlightened
by faith. Morality is strictly united to faith. As is
given religion, so is given morality. The Christian
faith leads to Christian morality ; Mussulman religion
engenders Mussulman morality; ancient or modern
pagan morality follows naturally in the wake of an
cient pagan religious or present pagan belief. In a
word, what we believe, we practice. Christian moral
ity is recognized, even by the enemies of the Church,
to be the purest and most elevated ; that is to say, the
faith of the Church is also the only true faith.
Moral theology also includes treatises on: human
actions and their morality; the conscience; the laws,
their legitimacy, their binding nature, their divisions —
natural and divine, ecclesiastical, civil, penal, cus
tomary; sins, their nature, their degree, their distinc
tions, inner sins, capital sins — pride, avarice, sloth,
envy, anger, lust; the virtues — faith, hope, charity.
Human virtues grouped under the four cardinal vir
tues, justice, prudence, fortitude, temperance, are
studied chiefly in philosophy. Under moral theology
are also grouped the ten precepts of the Decalogue or
God's Commandments; the seven precepts or com
mandments of the Church; the nature and principle
of justice and law, the violation of law or injustice,
restitution; the general principle of contracts: gra
tuitous contracts and onerous contracts; the special
401

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positions filled by laymen: judges, advocates, pro
curators, ushers, bailiffs, notaries, accusers, witnesses,
doctors, pharmacists, guardians, artisans, workmen;
obligations due to ecclesiastical precepts; holiness of
living; celibacy; the ecclesiastical habit and tonsure;
cohabitation with women; gaming; bearing of wea
pons for war or hunting; trading; special obligations
binding bishops, parish priests, canons ; the privileges
of clerics and of bishops; the benefices of clerics in
the religious state; vocation; vows of poverty, chastity,
obedience; privileges of regulars; the sacraments in
general, their manner and form, the minister, the sub-
ject, the particulars of each sacrament, dealing with
details and practical cases; censure and ecclesiastical
penalties: excommunication, suspension, interdiction,
the Index, cessation of divine worship; the adminis
tration of sacraments, the right to ecclesiastical sepul
ture in a given spot; irregularities, that is to say, the
canonical impediments which prevent a layman from
becoming a cleric, or a cleric from rising to a superior
order, or which prevent an ecclesiastic from exercising
the functions peculiar to his order; indulgences and
jubilees, their concession and their conditions.
HOLY SCRIPTURE
Holy Scripture also belongs to the special domain
of the Church and is the object of a science which she
dominates. It is the word of God, the source of all
theology, the necessary basis of preaching and of
Christian teaching. A careful study of Holy Scrip
ture requires a thorough acquaintance with the sacred
402

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
languages, Hebrew and Greek, and with some living
languages, German and English, in order to derive
the benefit of the various commentaries which have
been published in those languages. One must also
learn biblical geography and sacred archeology.
Finally, before commencing the translation and study
of the sacred books, it is indispensable to become fa
miliar with the general introduction which has for its
object the knowledge of all necessary details con
cerning the origin, authority, history and rules of
interpretation of the books of the Old and New
Testaments. The Bible is the collection of the writings recog
nized by the Church as inspired. These writings are
divided into two principal groups, — the Old and the
New Testament. The Old Testament includes all
those writings which are anterior to the coming of
Jesus Christ, and the New, all those which were pro
duced after His death. The Old Testament com
prises forty-three books, twenty-two of which still
exist in Hebrew. The others were written in Greek,
or else they no longer exist in the original language.
Those which we still have in Hebrew are the only ones
recognized by the Jews today, and are called proto-
canonical; the others are called deuterocanonical.
The protocanonical books are divided by the Jews
into three parts: the law, the prophets and the hagi-
ographers. The Prologue of Ecclesiastes and the
44th verse of chapter 24 of St. Luke give this division.
The commentators generally divide the Old Testa
ment in another manner : into historical books ; didac-
403

THE VATICAN
tic or doctrinal and moral books ; and prophetic books
or those which announce future events.
The New Testament contains: The four Gospels
of Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; the Acts
of the Apostles; the fourteen Epistles of St. Paul;
the Epistle of St. James; the two Epistles of St.
Peter, the three Epistles of St. John, the Epistle of
St. Jude ; and the Apocalypse of St. John, the Apos
tle. "The Bible would be the greatest monument of the human
mind," said Lacordaire, "if it were not the work of God, and
one to which even His enemies are forced to pay homage.
Homer never equalled the recital of the life of the patriarchs
in Genesis ; Pindar never attained the sublime heights reached
by the prophets ; Thucydides and Tacitus are not comparable
as historians with Moses ; the laws of Exodus and of Levit
icus leave far behind them the legislation of Lycurgus and of
Numa; Socrates and Plato were surpassed, even before the
Gospels appeared, by Solomon, who bequeathed us in the
Song of Songs the most admirable chant of divine love in
spired by created lips, and in Ecclesiastes, the eternally
melancholy hymn of fallen humanity; finally, the Gospel,
completing that unique book, placed on it the seal of a
hitherto unknown beauty which, remaining inimitable, has no
term of comparison throughout the world."
The general introduction to Holy Scripture deals
with inspiration, which is the distinguishing character
of the Holy Books. It is a supernatural succor
which, influencing the will of the sacred writer, ex
cites him and determines him to write, enlightening
his understanding in such manner as to suggest to him
404

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
at least the basis of that which he is to say. Such is
the doctrine of the Catholic Church. St. Peter in his
Second Epistle, the first chapter, the twenty-first
verse, and St. Paul in his second letter to Timothy,
the third chapter, the sixteenth verse, declare that the
sacred authors were inspired by God.
The inspiration of the entire Bible could only be
demonstrated by the authority of the Church, con
trary to the opinion expressed by dissenters who seek
to establish it on the intrinsic merits of the Holy
Books. •
A special examination has been conducted of late
years, in the light of the rapid progress made in natu
ral sciences, to see whether the inspiration of the
Bible extends to scientific questions on which it acci
dentally touches. Everyone admits that the object
of the Holy Spirit was not to reveal directly to us
scientific truths, but religious truths. "The inten
tion of Holy Scripture," said the learned Cardinal
Baronius, "is to teach us how to reach Heaven, and
not how Heaven is made." Inspired authors often
spoke according to the ordinary belief of their days;
and one cannot condemn popular phraseology as
reprehensible. The inspired writings cannot be known to us as
such except by the Church's designation. The
Church, therefore, has drawn up a catalogue in which
the inspired books are enumerated. That catalogue
was named canon, rule, and the books contained
therein are called canonical books.
The Council of Trent at its fourth session, in Febru-
405

THE VATICAN
ary and March, 1546, finally promulgated the canon
of the Old and New Testaments which is found at
the beginning of all our Bibles, and admitted, with
out any difference whatever, as canonical and in
spired, in their entirety and in all their parts, the
proto- and deuterocanonical books. Several councils
had already discussed the matter, and the Vatican
Council of 1870 in its third session, chapter second,
renewed the canon of the Council of Trent.
A certain number of books of the Old and New
Testaments are styled apocryphal books or merely
apocrypha. Catholics thus designate those books
which have not been recognized as canonical by the
Church. There are 115 in the Old Testament and 99
in the New. A certain number of these apocryphal
writings of the New Testament were composed with
the laudable intention of edifying and interesting the
faithful. They are poetic or legendary fictions, in
tended to satisfy the curiosity of Christians. But
others were composed with bad intentions by heretics
who hoped by this means to spread their errors broad
cast. Having dealt with the inspiration and canonicity of
the Holy Books, the general introduction next con
siders the original texts and versions of the Bible, and
the rules of interpretation or hermeneutics of the Holy
Scriptures. We must also understand the calendar,
the weights and measures of the Hebrews and must
know the summarized history of the interpretation of
the Holy Books by the Jews and Christians up to our
own time. 406

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
After these preliminary but indispensable subjects
have been mastered, the teaching of Holy Writ next
deals with each one of the books of the Old and New
Testaments proving their authenticity and integrity,
and discussing the scientific questions which are raised
therein. We will give a very brief sketch of this
proceeding, adopting for the Old Testament the di
vision into the historical, the didactic and sapiential,
and the prophetic books.
First let us consider the historical books. In the
Pentateuch, or the first five books of the Old Testa
ment, Moses, the liberator and law-giver of the He
brews about the fifteenth century before Christ,
relates, with the help of divine inspiration, the origin
of the world and the history of God's people until the
moment when they are about to enter the Promised
Land. This book has been violently attacked by
modern scientists, but all the new discoveries in the
domain of cosmogony, Egyptology and ethnography
tend more and more to confirm the text of the Penta
teuch. The discussions deal with Mosaic cosmogony,
the origin and history of the first man, the deluge, the
tower of Babel and the dispersion of peoples, the ex
istence of patriarchs and Mosaic legislation.
The Book of Josue relates the history of the con
quest of the Promised Land, and the division of the
conquered country among the tribes of Israel.
The Book of Judges, which is attributed to the
Prophet Samuel, relates the most salient traits of the
history of the people of God, from the death of Josue
to about the time of Samuel, who estabhshed the first
27 407

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king of Israel. The number of judges or heads of
the people was thirteen or fourteen, according to
whether we count or not among them Abimdech, the
usurper. The Book of Ruth makes known to us the gene
alogy of David, founder of the royal race, and of that
of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The history of a Moabite,
Ruth, provided the sacred historian with an oppor
tunity for relating the origin of the true founder of
the Israelite monarchy. Ruth lived in the days of the
Judges. The Book carries us into a homestead in
Bethlehem, and traces a delightful picture of domes
tic life in those times. It is a charming idyl of in
comparable freshness, quaintly graceful and drawn
with sober, delicate touches which reveal exquisite art.
The first two Books of Kings give the history of
Samuel and that of the two kings whom he conse
crated, Saul and David. The other two Books of
Kings contain the history of 457 years, from the ad
vent of Solomon, 1015 B. C, to the destruction of
the Temple, 558 B. C. It is the history of the sepa
rated kingdoms of Judah and Israel.
The Paralipomenon or Chronicles, which tradition
generally attributes to Esdras, supplements the omis
sions of the Books of Kings.
The second of the two Books of Esdras is also
known as the book of Nehemias. The first relates
the events which occurred from the end of the cap
tivity in Babylon to the time of Esdras and gives us
the edict of Cyrus allowing the captive Jews to return
to Palestine and the return of the exiles to their
408

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
country where they raised up the temple of Jerusa
lem. Next we are told what the Jews did in Je
rusalem under the reigns of Darius and of Artaxerxes.
The Book of Nehemias is a species of autobiography.
Nehemias relates his journey to Jerusalem and all
that he did there, either alone or with Esdras. Esdras
was the first scribe of Israel, a doctor and reorganizer
of the law, the Moses of the return from the Captivity.
Nehemias was the oldest of the scribes who determined
the canon or catalogue of the books of the Hebrew
Bible and laid the foundations of the final institution
of synagogues, bidding the people attend public
meetings that they might be taught the law. From
the time of Esdras, the scribes continued to play the
part of prophets, who explained to the people the
word of God and exhorted them to practice its teach
ing. Their college still existed in the days of Our
Lord Jesus Christ, who speaks of them several times
in the Gospel.
The Book of Tobias is now considered by Protes
tants to be a pious fiction. Catholics, on the contrary,
accept it as a true history, the authors of which were
Tobias, the father, and his son, also called Tobias.
The book forms a whole perfectly coordinated and
disposed with admirable art. It is divided into six
sections, describing the virtues and trials to which
Tobias was exposed, the journeys of Tobias, the
younger, into the country of the Medes, his marriage
with Sara, his return to Ninive, the appearance of
the angel Raphael, and an account of the last years
of Tobias. 409

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As in the case of the Book of Tobias, many modern
critics pretend that the Book of Judith is a fiction;
and yet they have no solid reason for this opinion.
The Book of Judith relates the expedition undertaken
by Holofernes, the general of the king of Ninive's
armies, against the Israelites, the siege of Bethuha
and the patriotic action of Judith, who kills Holofer
nes after a banquet and carries back his head to
Bethuha, thus giving victory to the Israelites.
The Book of Esther is not a parable, as has been
stated by Protestants. It describes feasts which were
long celebrated by the Jews, as for instance, those of
the Purim ; and the pictures of manners and customs
which it gives are in strict accordance with everything
we know concerning the customs of the Persians.
Strangely enough, the name of God is not once men
tioned in the whole Book of Esther, perhaps because
it was written at Susan, in the midst of pagans ; but
if He is not therein named, He appears on every
page. It is His Providence which arranges all events,
and which enabled the Jews to triumph over the wiles
of their enemies. The story occurs in the reign of
Assuerus, who is none other than Xerxes, son of
Darius. The queen, his wife, Esther, was a Jewess.
Aman, the Prime Minister, obtains from his master
Assuerus a decree by which the Jews are to be perse
cuted. Mardochai, Esther's uncle, who had refused
to submit to Aman's arrogant commands, and bend
the knee before him, warns his niece, who appeals to
Assuerus, touches him and obtains a revocation of the
decree, and Aman's disgrace. Racine composed his
410

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
immortal masterpiece "Esther" from this biblical
drama. The Books of Machabees relate the troublous times
and heroic deeds of the family of Machabees, who
energetically fought against the Syrians and estab
lished the independence of their country.
After the historical books of the Bible, we take up
the didactic sapiential books, whose object is chiefly
to teach wisdom, that is to say, the rules and means
of holy living; whence the name of moral books, by
which they are sometimes known. The Hebrews used
the term "poetic" to indicate the Books of Job, the
Psalms and the Proverbs, because those are the three
books of the Old Testament in which the rules of
Hebraic poetry are most constantly and most strictly
observed. Great efforts have been made to class Hebrew
poems in the hterary style known to the Greeks and
Romans, but it is a futile task, for Aristotle's poetic
rules do not give us the necessary form of every kind
of poetry, and the Book of Job, though not a drama
in the Hellenic style, is nevertheless a magnificent
poem. The poetry of the Bible is generally lyrical,
in the sense that the poets of Israel always express
the personal feelings which they experience. The
true character of Hebrew chants is religious. God,
who inspires them, ever occupies the first place, when
He is not, indeed, their sole subject. Hence the en
thusiasm, the lyrical nature of the poets of Israel, and
that peculiar accent which make their songs those of
the Christian universe. 411

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Hebraic poetry has one thing in common with the
poetry in the world, — its language is full of brilliancy
and magnificence. But oriental poets are still more
distinguished for their boldness, their strong figures,
and their rich coloring, and all these characteristics
are prominent in Biblical poetry.
The poetical books of the Bible are written in verse,
and divided very often into strophes. Hebrew verses
are based, not like Greek and Latin verse on the num
ber of syllables, nor, like French verse, on the number
of syllables and rhyme, but on parallelism, which can
be defined as the correspondence of one verse with
another. It is a sort of thought rhyme, a symmetry
of ideas, ordinarily expressed twice or several times
in different terms, sometimes synonymous, sometimes
opposed. Thus in Proverbs, 10 :20 :
"The tongue of the just is choice silver."
"The heart of the wicked is nothing worth."
Hebrew verse is also based either on its prosodic
quantity of syllables, or on the number of words.
Each member of the parallelism forms a verse and the
verse most generally used by the Hebrews is the hep-
tasyllabic verse, or verse of seven syllables. The
Book of Job furnished the best example of these rules.
The object of the Book of Job is to justify Providence
and to solve the problem of evil in the world. It
treats of the troubles that fell upon Job, his great
patience under affliction and the reward which God
sent him as a recompense for so much virtue.
Job is an historical personage who really existed,
412

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
nor has his existence ever been questioned by either
Jews or Christians, in spite of certain unfounded con
tradictions raised by unbelievers. The Greek and
Latin Churches honor him as a saint and celebrate his
feast-day. Job, the patriarch, is held to be posterior
to Abraham, but anterior to Moses, facts which may
be deduced from several passages in the book. He
is not himself supposed to be the author of the book
which bears his name. It is uncertain who was the
writer of it, but, owing to certain peculiarities of lan
guage and style, its composition is usually ascribed to
Solomon. Critics are unanimous in considering the
Book a masterpiece of literature. "The prologue of
Goethe's 'Faust,' " says Lord Byron, "is taken from
Job, which is the first drama in the world, and perhaps
the most ancient. I once thought of composing a
'Job,' but I found it too sublime. There is no poetry
that I can compare to Job's Book." The Apostle St.
James, Epistle 5:11, and St. Gregory the Great state
that this holy patriarch could be compared with Christ
not only because of his words, but because of his
suffering. The Book of Psalms was certainly received by the
Church from the hands of the Jews, not merely as
part of the Bible, but also as a liturgical book regu
larly used in the synagogue at rehgious meetings. It
consists of one hundred and fifty hymns, almost all of
which are headed by a title which shows either who
then author was, the manner in which they were to
be sung, or the historical circumstance for which they
were composed. The greater part of the Psalms were
413

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written by David, that is to say, they date from the
eleventh century B. C. Some are attributed to
Asaph, David's head musician, to the children of
Korea, to Heman and to others. The ordinary sub
ject of the Psalms is God and man, not any particular
individual man, but mankind in general; and when
David speaks in his own name and of himself in par
ticular, he generalizes, making himself the mouthpiece
of humanity. Many Psalms, called Messianic, relate
to the Messias.
The author of the Book of Proverbs was King Solo
mon. They extol wisdom, exhort young men to fol
low the paths of virtue and contain a number of great
truths, figuratively expressed, which regulate the
morals of men. The style is poetical and very clear.
The Holy Fathers have often quoted, but seldom
commented on, this book of the Bible. The author of
Ecclesiastes, or he who speaks to the assembly, was
also Solomon. Towards the end of his life, in his old
age, he composed this species of concrete discourse to
show the vanity of life and of human wisdom, to prove
that man is not master of his destiny, that happiness
is not to be found in riches and in fame, but in ac
cepting things as God sends them. Finally, in the
epilogue, he offers the rule of life, which is to fear
God and follow His commandments.
The Canticle of Canticles is so called because it is
the finest of songs. This book also is attributed to
Solomon, who wrote it on the occasion of his marriage
with the daughter of the king of Egypt. The mysti
cal interpretation refers to the mystical marriage of
414

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
the Saviour with his Church. For many commen
tators, both Jews and Christians, the marriage of
Solomon with the Sulamite is a mere figure, an alle
gory, which is not to be taken as fact, but as meta
phorical. It is God's alliance with his people, the
relation of the soul to God.
The Book of Wisdom is, of all the writings con
tained in the Greek Bible, that where the language
is purest and most remarkable from a literary point
of view. It is supposed to have been written from
150 to 130 B. C. Wisdom is first considered from
the intellectual and moral standpoint and then exam
ined historically.
The title of the Book of Ecclesiasticus, like that
of Ecclesiastes, comes from the use which was made of
the book in the Church, where it was publicly read.
It was the book of the Church, of the assembly. Its
author was Jesus, son of Sirach, who, according to
general opinion, lived in Egypt towards the year 280
B. C, under the Ptolemies. His grandson, Jesus
Ben Sirach, translated his grandfather's work into
Greek about 230 B. C. The Book of Ecclesiasticus,
which is full of the praises of the Creator, of the world
and the saints of the Old Testament, has always been
considered as the most useful of the sapiential books,
furnishing, as it does, aU sorts of precepts for the
conduct of life.
The prophetic books form the third great division
of the books of the Old Testament. The prophet is
the man to whom God reveals His will in a super
natural manner with the mission of communicating it
415

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to men. Prophecy is the manifestation of that divine
will. It, therefore, presupposes revelation and mis
sion. When a prophecy is the announcement of
future events which can only be known to God, it is
also called prediction. Rationalists deny the exist
ence of prophecy; but as they are forced by the power
of evidence to acknowledge the absolute authenticity
of certain prophetic books, such as that of Michaes,
for instance, who predicted the Babylonian captivity
150 years beforehand, when Babylon was not even an
independent state, they are compelled to admit that
in reality there have been such things as prophecies.
Nor can they contradict the Messianic prophecies,
which are incontestably anterior to the events which
they predict, and which are jealously guarded in their
integrity by the very enemies of Christians, the Jews
themselves. They describe in every detail the life and
especially the passion of Our Lord.
The Old Testament contains the writings of sixteen
prophets, properly so-called. Four among them are
spoken of as the greater prophets. These are:
Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel and Daniel. The twelve
others bear the name of lesser prophets because their
prophecies are not so extensive. These are: Osee,
Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, Haba-
cuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias and Malachias.
The ancients wrote them all in a single parchment
or volume, and the Jews counted them in their Canon
of the Holy Scriptures as one book.
The prophets belonged to all classes of society.
Jeremias and some others were of sacerdotal race and
416

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
Amos was a shepherd. Several lived in Jerusalem
and others in the midst of the schismatics of the king
dom of Israel. In general they led a very austere
hfe, wearing only sackcloth. Ehas was covered with
the skins of wild animals. Several of the prophets,
however, were married and sometimes thev had dis-
ciples. Thus Baruch, himself a prophet, acted as
secretary to Jeremias, and Eliseus was the disciple
of Ehas. Most of the prophets suffered persecu
tion at the hands of those whom they threatened in
the name of the Lord and Isaias suffered martyrdom
at the hands of his wicked son-in-law, King Manasses.
Isaias is the greatest of the prophets, on account of
the extent and importance of his revelations, as well
as the incomparable brilliancy of his style. He lived
in those troublous days when the independence of
the race of Jacob was threatened by two rival powers
striving one against the other, for the dominion of
the world, which was then limited to Egypt and As
syria. He continued Moses' work, was the strength
and supporter of his king and of his brethren, and
the bulwark of their nation.
Jeremias is the author of Prophecies and Lamenta
tions. Besides these two books, we have in our Catho
he Bibles, the little book of the prophet Baruch, his
scribe. This Book of Baruch's so dehghted La Fon
taine, the French fabulist, that after reading it he
asked all his friends: "Have you read Baruch? He
was a great genius."
Jeremias appears to us, from the collection of his
prophecies, to have been full of piety, penetrated
417

THE VATICAN
with a deep sense of his own weakness, sensitive, even
impressionable, inclined to be easily discouraged, but
burning with zeal for the law of God and animated
by feelings of the purest patriotism. He seems,
however, unfitted to fulfill a prophetic mission at so
agitated a time as that of the taking of Jerusalem,
and the ruin of the temple of Solomon by Nabu-
chodonosor, the terrible king of Babylon. God
thought otherwise, and Jeremias's prophetic mission
lasted more than forty years. Amid the smoking
ruins of Jerusalem and the Temple, he composed
his immortal lamentations, where his exquisite depth
of feeling is so touchingly manifested. No pen has
produced elegies comparable to those of the prophet
who so greatly loved the city and the hours of God,
yet was unable to save them from destruction. No
prophet ever painted such word-pictures of desola
tion, nor knew how to make sorrow more symbolical.
Ezechiel was of sacerdotal race and contemporane
ous with Jeremias. He was carried a captive to
Babylon, where he died. His style of writing is
simple and without pretense. In his language he
is not so brilliant as Isaias, but he surpasses Jeremias
in elegance.
Daniel was of the royal race of Juda, and was
carried away captive to Babylon and brought up in
the royal palace. His perspicacity in interpreting
Nabuchodonosor's dream and in showing the inno
cence of the chaste Susanna, his prophecy concerning
the Mene, Thekel, and Pheres of the feast of Baltasar
rendered him very famous for his wisdom and knowl-
418

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
edge throughout Babylonia. Under Darius he be
came the first of the three ministers of the empire,
and Cyrus also showed himself well disposed towards
Daniel. He died at Suza. Ezechiel in his prophe
cies mentions Daniel as a model of justice. The last
of the great prophets therefore occupied in the court
of the kings of Chaldea and Persia a situation similar
to that of Joseph at the court of Pharaoh. Ration
alists deny the authenticity of the Books of Daniel
and say they were not written until the time of the
Machabees ; but the tradition of the Church and that
of the Jews themselves is opposed to this theory, at
any rate as concerns the greater part of these writ
ings. The Gospel of St. Matthew and St. Paul's
Epistle to the Hebrews mention the Books of Daniel,
who is also quoted by the Jewish historian, Josephus.
We now take up the twelve lesser prophets. Osee,
or Hosea, who lived at the same time as Isaias, and
prophesied in the kingdom of Israel, and Joel, who
prophesied about the same time in Judea, were real
poets with vivid and fruitful imaginations. Amos,
the shepherd, who prophesied against the kingdom of
Israel, had a pastoral style and all his figures of
speech are drawn from country life and scenes. The
Book of Abdias is the shortest of all, and contains
but twenty-one verses. The Book of Jonas does not
contain any oracles properly so-called. He relates
the mission he was given to preach the Ninivites, and
his miraculous sojourn for three days in the body
of a whale, which is a symbol of Our Lord's three
days' sojourn in the tomb. Micheas's prophecies deal
419

THE VATICAN
principally with the kingdom of Juda. His style
is remarkable for the elevation of thought, the bright
ness of expression and the wealth of images and com
parisons. Nahum prophesied the destruction of
Ninive by the Babylonians and Medes in such vivid
colors that several critics have thought that he must
have seen that town, which, however, is unlikely.
We learn in the Book of Daniel, that when he was
thrown into the lions' den, Habacuc fed him. Haba-
cuc's prayer, in the third part of his prophecy, is
unrivaled for its bold conception, sublime thought
and majestic utterance. Sophonias was a descend
ant of King Ezechias. Aggeus received a mission
from God to urge the Prince of Juda to complete
the second temple. Zacharias was of sacerdotal race
and a contemporary of Aggeus, living about the year
518 B. C. Malachias prophesied towards the year
432 B. C. His book is a sort of dialogue between
God and the people or the priests, in which he an
nounces that God will send a second Elias.
After Malachias there were no more prophets until
the advent of the Messiah. "It was about five hun
dred years before the advent of the Messiah," says
Bossuet in his "Discourse on Universal History";
"God allowed the majesty of His Son to impose
silence on all prophecies during that lapse of time,
that His people might be kept waiting for the Mes-
sias who was to be the accomplishment of all oracles."
The New Testament is composed of twenty-seven
books including 250 chapters and 7,959 verses. The
authors of these books are eight in number, six of
420

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
whom were Apostles: St. Matthew, St. John, St.
Paul, St. James, St. Peter and St. Jude, while the
two last were disciples of the Apostles: St. Mark
and St. Luke. From the beginning, the Church
placed their books on the same footing as those of
the Old Testament. They may be divided into two
categories : the historical books, the Gospels and Acts
of the Apostles, and the doctrinal books, Apostolic
Epistles, and the Apocalypse. The four Gospels
contain the life, doctrine and passion of Our Lord.
They are by St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and
St. John. The Gospel of St. Matthew appeared
first, and was written primarily in Hebrew for the
Christians of Juda between the year 45 and 48
of the Christian Era, and foretold among other things
the punishments of the Jews for their idolatry and the
coming of Christ. St. Mark lived with St. Peter,
who calls him his son, after having first spent some
time with St. Paul. Hence the name of the Gospel
of St. Peter given by TertuUian to St. Mark's Book.
He wrote his gospel shortly after that of St. Mat
thew. St. Luke's Gospel was written after St.
Mark's, probably between 55 and 60, at which time,
Christianity was already established in many countries
of the Empire and most of the Apostles were still
hving. St. Luke was a doctor and a Gentile or of
pagan origin. His book was intended for the Gen
tiles. Dissenting critics, in opposition to Catholics, have
questioned the authenticity of St. John's Gospel.
But they are contradicted by testimony of the great-
421

THE VATICAN
est antiquity, such as that of St. Irenaeus, Theophilus,
seventh Bishop of Antioch in 170, St. Clement of
Alexandria in 180 and Tertullian in 190. According
to St. Irenaeus, the Apostle St. John composed his
gospel on returning from his exile in the island of
Patmos, to comply with the desires of the pastors
and the faithful in Asia Minor. He was then 80
years of age. He undertook this labor to refute the
impious systems of Cerinthus and the Nicolaitans.
The Acts of the Apostles were written by St. Luke
to strengthen the souls in faith and to increase their
fervor. They are divinely inspired memoirs concern
ing the establishment of the Church and its early
development. They are not so much a history prop
erly speaking, as a series of narrations concerning the
works of the Apostles, especially St. Peter and St.
Paul. They complete the Gospels, and are the con
tinuation and culmination of those writings. St.
Luke probably finished the book in Rome, between
58 and 63.
St. Paul's Epistles were addressed to the Romans,
the Corinthians, the Galatians, the Ephesians, the
Philippians, the Colossians, the Hebrews, the Thessa
lonians, and to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. St.
Paul was converted to Christianity about the year 35,
when he was 35 years of age. He commenced his
missionary work when about 45 and was martyred
in 67.
When. St. Paul wrote his first Epistles he was al
ready famous throughout the Church and possessed
high authority. In reading the last Epistles, we per-
422

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
ceive that tlie Mosaic religion still retained great pres
tige. Nearly everywhere he went, the Apostle was
a prey to persecutions on the part of the Jews and
had to beware of their perfidious treatment. The
Churdi of Jerusalem, small and poor by the side of
the synagogue, needed to be upheld, and the Gen
tiles who owed then faith to that Church, helped it
with their alms. The matters which chiefly occupied
the attention of the faithful at that time concerned
legal practices and the prerogatives of the ancient
people. The authenticity of St. Paul's Epistles has never
been seriously contested. The Epistle to the Romans
deals chiefly with the necessity of faith. That to the
Corinthians discusses various abuses which had arisen
at Corinth, decides questions touching marriage,
cehbacy, meats consecrated to idols, the order to be
observed in rehgious assemblies and speaks of super
natural gifts, of the resurrection of the body, and the
money to be collected for tlie faithful in Jerusalem.
In the Epistle to the Galatians, St. Paul writes of
his mission, of his doctrine, which is that of the other
Apostles, and of justification by faith and not by
law; and he exhorts them to persevere in the faith and
all the Christian virtues. In the Epistle to the
Ephesians he dedares the Church to be the only in
stitution founded for the salvation of all men and
gives precepts and counsels for leading a Christian
hfe. The letter to the Philippians is full of con
gratulations and advice; that to the Colossians speaks
of Jesus Christ and the redemption, and contains coun-
23 423

THE VATICAN
sels and exhortations; in that to the Thessalonians,
newly converted, he addresses words of encourage
ment and of advice, and to Timothy, his disciple,
Bishop of Ephesus, he dilates on the duties of his
post. The second letter to Timothy is like the
Apostle's last testament. Advice and exhortation are
here mingled with prophecy concerning the future
of the Church, and the heresies which will arise. It
also contains some details of a personal nature. The
tender feeling and emotion breathed throughout this
letter recall the discourse at the Last Supper and
make us feel that the death of the Apostle is ap
proaching. To Titus, placed by St. Paul at the
head of the Church in Crete, the latter writes a letter
full of exhortations and advice concerning the mission
entrusted to him; to Philemon, a rich Christian at
Colossa, he writes sending back one of his slaves who
had escaped and who had become a Christian. Noth
ing more touching than this letter can be imagined;
nothing more affectionate, more insinuating, better
worded to impress a Christian heart.
The Epistle to the Hebrews is one of great impor
tance. St. Paul discloses that Jesus Christ is the
victim of the whole world, the source of all justice; we
must beheve in Him if we will be saved; Judaism
has had its day; the Christian religion must take its
place and accomplish in a perfect manner for all
peoples throughout the world that which the religion
of Moses began for the children of Israel.
The Catholic Epistles are letters from the Holy
Apostles written to combat nascent heresies and to
424

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
give useful advice for a Christian hfe. They were
designated from early times Catholic or Universal
letters, because they were not addressed to any pe
cuhar people or particular person, but to the faithful
in general.
In the Epistle of St. James the Apostle exhorts
the faithful to persevere, reprimands false teachers
and points out the duties inherent in the various con
ditions of life.
There are two Epistles of St. Peter. The first is
addressed from Rome to the Christians who are
spread throughout the provinces of Asia Minor. Its
object is to strengthen them in the faith and in the
practice of hohness, in spite of their trials. The
greatness of the Christian and the sublimity of his
vocation are extolled, and both people and pastors
are exhorted to seek perfection and to increase their
courage. From this Epistle we gather the fact that
the name of Christian was becoming general as ap
plied to the disciples of Christ. The second Epistle
of St. Peter attacks heretics who deny the necessity
of good works, denounces in advance aU who are
preparing to persecute the Church, refutes their
errors and points out the fatal consequences of their
course. St. John wrote three epistles. In the first, he
strengthens the faithful in their behef in the Saviour's
divinity, and in their conviction concerning the ne
cessity of practicing virtue, especially charity. In
the second, he congratulates Electa on her children's
virtues, and advises them to shun the society of her-
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THE VATICAN
etics. In the third, he tells Gaius of the joy he feels
on hearing such good report of him.
In the Epistle of St. Jude, the Apostle warns the
faithful against the heretical doctrines of the Si-
monians, the Nicolaites and the Gnostics.
The Apocalypse is the prophetic portion of the
New Testament. This book is by the Apostle St.
John, who wrote it during his exile at Patmos, towards
the end of the reign of Domitian. The Apostle first
gives various counsels to the seven Churches of the
province of Asia, encourages the faith of the Chris
tians and rouses their fervor to face present heresy
and future persecution. He next draws a picture
of the events which will precede the general resur
rection, relates prophetic visions dealing with the
various trials which the Church must suffer, and an
nounces the final victory of the Saviour.
Such is a general outline of the character and his
tory of the Holy Scriptures, which supply the bases
of our faith, which can only be authentically and doc-
trinally interpreted by the Church, as she alone is the
depositary of the faith and teacher of nations.
CANON LAW
Canon law may be described as the body of eccle
siastical laws made for the government of the Chris
tian Church and confirmed by the Pope's authority.
Its study is, therefore, an entirely ecclesiastical sci
ence. Hitherto the greater number of these laws were
found in the "Corpus Juris," a very extensive and
rather diffused compilation comprising: Gratian's
426

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
"Decretum," a work by the monk Gratian, a Bene
dictine of the twelfth century; the "Decretals" of
Gregory IX, 1227-1241; the "Sextus" or sixth book
of the "Decretals" of Boniface VIII, 1294-1303; the
"Clementina?," or constitutions, compiled by Clement
V, 1305-1314; the "Extravagantes" of John XXII,
1316-1334; and the "Extravagantes communes," a
collection of constitutions decreed by several Popes.
The word "Extravagantes" means constitutions or
ordinances added to the body of the canon law.
Quite recently His Holiness Pope Pius X ap
pointed a commission to prepare a new edition of the
canon law, divided into chapters and articles like the
Napoleonic Code. This immense undertaking is
now under way and it is expected that it will be com
pleted in 1913. Cardinal Gaspari, formerly pro
fessor of canon law at the Catholic University in
Paris, is directing the revision.
Canon law is taught under three heads : judgments,
ecclesiastical persons, and things in the Church.
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
The history of the Church from the days of Our
Lord until the present time is denominated ecclesi
astical history. It is a most important study, ac
quainting us with the reigns of the Popes and the
principal events of a rehgious, heretical and politico-
religious nature which occurred under their rule.
Ordinary history has been justly said to be an im
mense conspiracy against the Catholic Church. We
refer, of course, to historical books compiled by our
427

THE VATICAN
enemies. Nothing is easier than to deform truth
when writing history, for although a history should
be impartial, in reality, it always reflects the thoughts
and sentiments of the narrator. To give a striking
example of the correctness of this assertion, it suffices
to mention the historical school books put into the
hands of the children attending the public schools in
France which have been justly condemned in a joint
letter signed by the bishops of that country. These
manuals are replete with lies. There is first, "the lie
by omission." The events related have been chosen
with minute care, while other facts, quite as important
and characteristic, have been omitted, because if
stated they would alter the entire physiognomy of
the epoch as set forth in these books. The murder
of Admiral de Coligny, on the night of the Massacre
of St. Bartholomew is spread out in great detail, with
much gusto, and an illustration to heighten the effect,
but nothing is said of the murder of the Duke of Guise
which was arranged by Coligny. Either this fact is
slurred over, or the motive is not given. The first
act is omitted in this political drama of two acts. On
another page it is stated that Clovis attacked the other
people of Gaul because they were heretics: but no
mention is made of the just causes which gave rise
to those wars, and of the fact that Clovis thus brought
about the unity of the Franks, several centuries be
fore Anglo-Saxon or German unity was established,
thus preparing the way for Charlemagne.
These manuals also contain many examples of the
"lie by means of exaggerated effects." The authors
428

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
give to certain events, exactly reported in the main
lines, an importance which they did not possess at
the time when they occurred, so that, taken out of
their natural surroundings and thus laid before us
stripped of the social and moral contemporary frame
in which they were enacted, they assume fantastic
proportions. They relate that St. Louis used to
punish blasphemers by having their lips burned or
their tongues pierced. In similar manner they dis
course about the Inquisition and torture. They do
not invent, but they are careful not to point out that
such customs were universal at that time, and that
nations which were not Christian had still more cruel
laws. Was impalement, for instance, ever considered
legal torture in our civilization? Not only are they
careful not to make such just statements, but they
willfully connect such customs with Christians and
Churchmen. Their perspective is defective; they do
not invent, but they disfigure, and so produce false
results. Then we have the "lie by suppression." Certain
facts are systematically ignored by these authors.
Thus, the vow uttered by Clovis at Tolbiac as a pre
lude to his baptism is not mentioned. The holy names
of saints and their works are overlooked. Even the
great deeds of the patron saint of Paris, Genevieve,
are quite passed over. Much is said concerning the
misery prevalent under the reign of Louis XIV, but
no mention is made of the efforts of St. Vincent de
Paul to alleviate public suffering at this time. Dur
ing the narration of the Religious Wars, these
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THE VATICAN
authors devote many pages to the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, but hardly mention the Protestant
uprisings under Louis XIII, posterior to that edict.
Their systematic "mutilation" of history should
also be noted. In this connection the Church and
priests appear only to do harm. It must be that
they experience great difficulty in explaining the
French history of the Middle Ages, and the influence
of St. Louis. So one of them in his "Manual of
Moral and Civic Education," attributes the St. Bar
tholomew massacre, the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes, and the dragonades to the Middle Ages!
One of these manuals devotes no space to St. Louis,
but when one writes a book, and entitles it "A History
of France," it is inadmissible that such perversions
of the truth should be allowed to stand.
The Catholic Church could not remain indifferent
to many perfidious attacks made in the name of so-
called scientific criticism. Therefore, she has re
quired her learned men to engage in historical re
search in order to discover and divulge original
documents. Nearly all obscure questions are being
cleared up by their remarkable work and by the teach
ing given in our Catholic universities. Consequently,
in the future, historical misinterpretations will not
be so easily invented.
For example, the Abbe Rohrbacher was one of the
first in France to write a complete universal history
of the Catholic Church, twenty-nine volumes in oc
tavo, free from all the fancies dear to the enemies of
Catholicism and of Rome; and many other able his-
430

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES
torical works of a like nature, covering different
countries and various epochs are continually appear
ing.
THE LITURGY, ASCETIC THEOLOGY, PASTORAL THEOLOGY
The other ecclesiastical sciences emanate from Cath
ohe doctrine. The liturgy teaches us the order and
the ceremonies to be observed in divine worship, and
explains and shows us how ritual reflects our belief.
Great efforts have been made by Rome to restore
unity of liturgy, and they have been crowned with
success. Why should there be local differences in
liturgy among Cathohcs, when then belief is the same?
During the first three centuries the Churches used
a Christianized synagogue service followed by ihe
celebration of the Eucharist. From this ceremony
there was gradually developed four distinct liturgies
from wliich all others are derived: those of Antioch,
of Alexandria, of Rome, and of Gaul. In the six
teenth century, nearly all of the local types of hturgy
were abolished by Pius V who endeavored to restore
uniformity of rite as far as possible and published a
revised Roman Missal which was to be used by all the
Churches of the Roman Rite. Again in the nine
teenth century there was a movement in favor of
eradicating many local customs in France and Ger
many. Today, His Holiness Pius X is also laboring
to bring about unity in hturgical chants, and here
again success is near realization. We cannot be too
grateful to the present Pope for this act. One mode
of ceremony, as well as one faith, and one system of
431

THE VATICAN
singing through all the dioceses of the world, will
demonstrate as can nothing else, the true Catholicity
of the Church.
Ascetic theology is that part of the Church science
which relates to the exercises of spiritual life, while
pastoral theology deals with the ministry of souls and
the pastor's duties in directing them according to the
principles laid down by theology.
Such is the entire body of the sacred sciences which
the priest must be thoroughly acquainted with. They
make up the programme of studies in all our large
seminaries, where five years are generally devoted to
their acquisition, — two for scholastic philosophy and
three for theology, while the other ecclesiastical sci
ences are being taught at the same time. But this is
the minimum, for a thorough knowledge of such vast
subjects could easily fill a whole lifetime.
In the next and closing chapter of this work, we
will examine how the Catholic Church watches over
the spiritual and every-day life of the faithful.

CHAPTER X
THE SPIRITUAL AND PRACTICAL SIDES OF
CATHOLICISM
The Church as Guide in the Practical, Spiritual and Christian
Life of the Faithful — The Holy Sacraments — The Ecclesi
astical Laws Governing Marriage — The Prohibitive and
Penal Laws of the Church: Excommunication; Refusal to
Administer the Sacraments; Refusal to Grant Ecclesiastical
Burial; Opposition to Cremation; Prohibition of Duels,
Hypnotism, Spiritualism; Regulations Concerning Enter
tainments.
The Church has received from its Divine Founder,
the mission not only to teach all nations, but also to
guide them in the practice of all the precepts He laid
down: docentes eos servare omnia qucecumque man-
davi vobis. Its supreme end is to lead souls to
Heaven, despite all the obstacles with which their
earthly career is strewn. For that purpose spiritu
ality must be developed within the soul. The great
est care, the most unceasing effort of the pastors of
the Church, is directed toward the cultivation and
increase of spiritual life among the faithful. Such
is the object of public prayers, ceremonies and various
services, besides the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at
which all must be present on Sundays and Holy
Days ; hence also the frequent encouragement and ex-
433

THE VATICAN
hortation to private and family prayer uttered by the
Popes and bishops, their numerous pastoral letters on
matters of piety, and their earnest recommendation
of frequent Communion; hence also the organization
of numerous confraternities, sodalities and pious as
sociations, generally centered in the parish churches
or community chapels, whom the Roman Pontiffs en
courage by granting countless indulgences and spir
itual graces to their members; nor must we forget
the public manifestations of faith and piety organ
ized by the clergy, such as processions and pilgrim
ages. In this expansion of spiritual life, it is necessary
to guard against the danger of false mysticism, which
is unrestrained, easily degenerates into eccentricity
and heresy, and which would bring discredit on re
ligion, if it were not unmasked and repressed in time
by ecclesiastical authority. Therefore Rome and the
bishops exercise active and permanent control over
all matters concerning pious practices, as on all ques
tions of general Church administration. No new
prayer nor devotional publication can be circu
lated without their authorization. Confraternities
and pious associations come into existence only when
they are approved, after an examination of their
statutes; and it often happens that Rome condemns
and prohibits certain formula?, or some artistic re
production of the features of Our Lord, or the
Blessed Virgin, as contrary to tradition and of a
nature to give rise to erroneous interpretations of
doctrine. 434

SPIRITUAL AND PRACTICAL SIDES
The Church accompanies its children in their prac
tical Christian life, from the cradle to the tomb. It
is a most pernicious error to believe that religion con
sists in certain practices which we are willing to sub
mit to, but that it has nothing to do with our pohtical,
commercial or social life. Man is above all things a
moral being and every action in the life of church
men is dependent on Christian ethics. In whatever
circumstances he finds himself, the Christian must act
in such manner as his conscience, enlightened by faith,
dictates, and must likewise avoid doing evil; this ap
plies to his conduct in political elections as well as in
business transactions and social relations. Every
where and always he carries with him his free-will,
but likewise he cannot lay down his responsibility.
Ethics are an integral part of religion. As is the
doctrine, such will be the moral teaching. We must
not, therefore, be surprised that the Catholic religion
should be interested in our every action, and give us
wise prescriptions as the guardian and interpreter of
the moral teaching of Christ. And this the Church
does as a mother, who not only teaches children their
duty, but supplies them with tlie means of accomplish
ing it. In order to do this, she supplies them with
God's grace, by means of the sacraments.
The seven sacraments, all estabhshed by Our Lord
Jesus Christ, notwithstanding anything to the con
trary that may be said by non-Cathohcs, come at
various epochs in the life of a Christian, to bring him
the divine assistance which he needs in the most im
portant circumstances of his existence.
435

THE VATICAN
Baptism, usually conferred at the beginning of
life, makes us children of God and of the Church.
Confirmation, endows us with the grace of the Holy
Spirit whereby we firmly believe and fearlessly con
fess our faith.
The Eucharist, in which we receive the Body and
Blood of Jesus Christ, under the appearance of bread
and wine, is a spiritual nourishment for our souls.
Our Lord Himself declares in the Gospel "Except
you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His
blood, you shall not have life in you." Therefore the
Church lays us all under obligation to receive the Holy
Eucharist at least once a year, — at Easter.
Penance, by which the penitent Christian who has
confessed his sins, committed after baptism, is for
given. Extreme Unction prepares the dying for eternal
life by conferring on them the remission of their sins
and aU grace which may contribute to the salvation
of their souls and even to that of their bodies.
Holy Orders gives spiritual power to all its recipi
ents and supplies priests to our Church.
Marriage indissolubly unites man and woman and
gives them grace faithfully to do their duty. His
Holiness Pius X has recently simplified some of the
marriage formalities. As the teaching of the Catho
lic Church, regarding marriage, is in direct opposi
tion to certain civil laws, it is perhaps desirable to
state what are the general lines of that teaching.
In the eyes of the Church, marriage is a sacrament
and an essentially religious act. It depends on the

SPIRITUAL AND PRACTICAL SIDES
Church alone; only the Church can celebrate marriage
between Christians, lay down its rules, examine and
solve the difficulties which may arise; therefore the
Church cannot recognize civil marriage as valid. Un
til quite recently, and even now in many Christian na
tions, the government yields before the divine right
of the Church in these matters. Thus in many coun
tries the civil registers are kept by the clergy; in
others, marriage celebrated before a priest has only
to be recorded in the books of the registry office to
acquire all the efficacy of a civil act; in other places,
the civil functionary is simply present, in his official
capacity, at the marriage, which is celebrated only by
the priest.
In the eyes of the Church lawfully celebrated mar
riage is indissoluble, according to the words of Christ :
"What God hath joined let no man put asunder."
Quod Deus conjunxit homo non separet. History
tells us that the Church has often borne persecution
on the part of ruling sovereigns whose wishes she
opposed, in order to maintain the indissoluble char
acter of Christian marriage. The Church, therefore,
will not sanction divorce. Thus the Church defends
the very foundations on which human society is
laid. The Church allows separation only, and the reasons
for such separation must be really serious. The
Roman Curia has been accused of inconsistency, for
having sometimes dissolved marriages. This error
is due to a misunderstanding. When the Church con
cludes, after most careful enquiry, that a marriage
417

THE VATICAN
was null at the time when it was celebrated as for
instance in default of the consent of one of the parties,
or through a mistake as to the person ; then the mar
riage is annulled and declared to have never existed.
Therefore the Church cannot be said to dissolve mar
riage or to sanction divorce.
There are fifteen impediments to marriage, which
render it null in the eyes of the Church, from the very
moment of its celebration :
1-2. Error and Condition. The error must be sub
stantial as regards the person, when, for instance, you
think you are marrying Ann and you marry Jane.
As to condition, this only relates to slavery, which no
longer exists in Europe, or only in Turkey. A mar
riage contracted with a slave whose condition is un
known at the time is not valid.
3-4. Vows and Order. This relates to the solemn
vows of chastity pronounced in religious profession,
and the reception of major orders: priesthood, diaco-
nate and sub-diaconate.
5-6. Consanguinity and Affinity. The impediment
of consanguinity is without limit in the direct line:
grandfather, father, daughter, granddaughter; but
only to the fourth degree in the collateral line. In
the same manner consanguinity between brothers and
sisters issued of one father, or of one mother, and
between brothers and sisters, though illegitimate, is a
hindrance to marriage. Spiritual consanguinity is
also an impediment to marriage between the god
parent and the god-child, between the god-parent and
the natural parents of the child, as also between the
438

SPIRITUAL AND PRACTICAL SIDES
minister and the receiver of the sacraments of bap
tism and confirmation.
Legal affinity impedes marriage between a person
and the relatives of a previous consort, as for instance,
between brother-in-law and sister-in-law, between
father-in-law and daughter-in-law, et cetera.
7. Public Repute. This impediment occurs in re
lation to a real betrothal contract, whence arises an
obstacle to the marriage of one of the betrothed with
the relatives in the first degree only, of the other
party. 8. Crime. When one of the consorts commits
adultery or kills the other, on promise of marrying an
accomphce, subsequent marriage is impeded.
9. Disparity of Religion. This renders the mar
riage invalid between a baptized person and an infidel,
but it only constitutes an hindering impediment in the
case of marriage between a Catholic and a heretic.
While seeking to dissuade Catholics from mixed mar
riages, the Church, nevertheless, permits such unions
on condition that the Catholic consort shall not be
hindered in rehgious duties and that the children shall
be Catholics. Authorization for such marriages is
given by the Sovereign Pontiff only.
10. Violence and Fear of such a nature as to para
lyze the wiU.
11. An Already Existing Matrimonial Bond.
Thus a married man, who truly believes his former
wife to be dead, and who, in that belief, enters into a
new bond of marriage, would not be sinning, but the
second marriage would not be valid, and he would be
29 439

THE VATICAN
forced to return to his first wife when he finds out his
error. 12. Age. To be valid, in the eyes of the Church,
marriage must not take place before the age of twelve,
in the case of girls, and of fourteen, in the case of
boys. 13. Clandestinity. According to the law Ne
temere, April 18, 1908, binding on all Catholics
throughout the world, any marriage not contracted
before the parish priest of one of the parties, and in
presence of at least two witnesses is invalid.
In the case of mixed marriages, however, this rul
ing went into effect at the Council of Trent, Session
24, Chapter 1. The council declared further that "it
would become obligatory in each parish thirty days
after its promulgation." But, in order to avoid diffi
culties which would otherwise have arisen, the decree
of Trent was not promulgated everywhere, and until
recently it was admittedly unpromulgated in Eng
land, Sweden, Saxony, Denmark and several places
in Germany and Switzerland. The decree of Janu
ary, 1906, by which mixed marriages between Ger
mans marrying within the German Empire are
exempted from this law, remains in force.
Morganatic marriages of reigning princes are not
clandestine marriages, since they are contracted with
all the formalities required, but they are deprived of
their legal consequences from the civil point of view.
14. Impotentia. This condition invalidates mar
riage, according to natural law, when preceding the
contract, and perpetual. 440

SPIRITUAL AND PRACTICAL SIDES
15. Raptus. If a man carries off a woman from
one place to another with a view of marrying her, the
Church nullifies any marriage between them so long
as the woman is in the man's power.
In theological colleges these fifteen cases of diri
ment impediments are gathered into five Latin verses,
to impress them better on the memory:
Error, conditio, votum, cognatio, crimen
Cultus disparitas, zis, ordo, Icgamen, honestas
Aetas, affinis, si clcmdestimis ct impos
Raptave mulkr, nee parti reddita tufa
Haec socUmda rttant connubia, facta retractant.
To this list must be added that of the f ollowing pro
hibitive impediments which do not annul the marriage
but simply render it ilhdt: marriage of a Cathohe
with a baptized person not a Cathohe; marriage with
out previous publication of banns; marriage without
the parents' consent, which cannot, however, hinder
the marriage in the case of a son who has attained
his majority and observes the dvil law of "respectful
summoning of his parents"; solemnization of mar
riage during Advent, from the first Sunday to Epiph
any indusivdv; during Lent, from Ash Wednesday
to the Octave of Easter indusivdy; simple vows of
chastity, of celibacy, of entering rehgious life or re
ceiving orders.
The Pope can dispense from aU ecclesiastical hin
drances ; in the more ordinary eases he often ddegates
his power to the bishops.
Do men and women enjoy equal rights in mar-
441

THE VATICAN
riage? This is a singular question which has only
lately arisen owing to the progress of the woman
movement. No, their rights are not equal, though
they are equally binding; they correspond to duties
which are not equal, either. All legislation, not that
of the Church alone, recognizes the man as the head
of the family, which does not mean that the woman
is his servant, still less his slave, but his companion
whose right it is to examine with her husband all mat
ters concerning the welfare of their family, and par
ticularly the education of their children, since she has
been specially entrusted with this matter by nature.
Woman's role is sufficiently high, and her ideal suffi
ciently elevated in Catholicism for her to have nothing
to regret ; for she is the delegate of Divine Providence
towards all her family, and her ideal is none other
than the Mother of the Man-God, the Blessed Virgin
herself. Nor do Christian wives complain or consider
themselves ill-treated.
Much has been said also concerning the rights of
children with the object of withdrawing them as much
as possible from family influence and of placing their
educational training in the power of the state, espe
cially. This is the monstrous doctrine of ancient
Sparta, which, carried to extreme limits, allowed the
state, as absolute master of the children, to kill them
if they did not seem sufficiently hardy. The legisla
tion of all civilized lands admits that the child belongs
to his parents, who receive from God Himself, by
nature, the right and duty of bringing him up. The
natural rights of children have no better safeguard
442

SPIRITUAL AND PRACTICAL SIDES
than their parents' affection; and the poor mites who
are deprived of such affection are much to be pitied.
The Church, with motherly love, tries to supplement
that affection in her orphanages. Roman legislation,
under Constantine, made the bishop official guardian
of all the orphans in his diocese.
If the Catholic Church is maternal in her dealing
with the faithful, above all with the suffering and the
disinherited of this earth, she must also be firm in the
maintenance of good order, without which there can
be, among men, no security as to the future. There
fore the Church has established prohibitive and even
penal laws. Chief among these is that of excommuni
cation which places the offender without the pale and
deprives him entirely or partially of the spiritual
blessings which flow from the Church to all the faith
ful. Excommunication is incurred only for grave
faults ; but as soon as the culprit recognizes his iniquity
and begs forgiveness, the Church joyfully receives
him within the pale again, as the prodigal son of the
Gospel. An interdict, or refusal of the sacraments, is an
other form of censure which is sometimes decreed by
the Church. Sacraments must not be given to the un
worthy, according to Our Lord's words: "Give not
that which is holy to the dogs; neither cast ye your
pearls before swine." (St. Matthew, 7:6.)' And,
moreover, would it not cause scandal among the
faithful if they saw a Holy Communion administered
to a public sinner, while living in adultery, for in
stance, to the knowledge of everyone; or to an apos-
443

THE VATICAN
tate who had renounced the faith and become a mortal
enemy of the Church? How, also, could a priest give
absolution to a penitent who refused to return what
he had stolen or who would not renounce his hatred of
another? Nevertheless, a priest, who alone knew the un-
worthiness of a sinner whose crimes were unknown
to the public, could not, in spite of his legitimate
repugnance, refuse to give Holy Communion to that
man if he dared come to the communion rail with
other communicants. (Rituale Romanum: de Eucha
ristia.) The refusal of Christian burial, though excessively
painful for Christian families, is often a necessity for
the Church. It cannot be granted, as will readily be
understood, to infidels, pagans, Jews, Mahomedans
and children who die before baptism, or to apostates
who publicly deny their faith and openly profess
atheism and die without repentance. Lately, espe
cially in France, we have seen sectarians, notorious
atheists, who died impenitent, and yet their friends
sought to force the Church to grant them Christian
burial. The thing is both ridiculous and inconsistent.
Heretics, excommunicated persons, and public sin
ners, cannot be honored with ecclesiastical burial if
they do not return to better sentiments. The same
treatment is accorded to voluntary suicides, that is to
say, those whose reason is not affected by disease;
and likewise to those who die in a duel, if they show
no signs of repentance or if they do not ask for a
priest before dying. (Cardinal Gousset.)
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SPIRITUAL AND PRACTICAL SIDES
Duehng is held in abhorrence by the Church.
Duels are condemned by natural law; for, apart from
cases of legitimate defense, God has given to no one
sovereign power over tlie life of others or over his
own life. They are condemned by reason, for often
it is the man who is in the right who is killed or
wounded by the guilty one ; hence there is no repara
tion. They are condemned, finally, by the most
solemn acts of the Church. The Council of Trent,
Session 29, Chapter 19, calls the duel "a detestable
custom introduced by hell." Clement VIII prohibits
even duels in which the parties can only wound one
another, and Benedict XIV, in 1752, in his Bull
Detestabilim, again condemns duels and enumerates
the cases which would appear to excuse it: honor to
be avenged, military discipline, the fear of being con
sidered a coward, and fear inspired in a badly gov
erned city where it is impossible to obtain justice.
The question of the denial of ecclesiastical burial
brings us to the matter of cremation, which has been
much discussed during the last few years. The
Church does not approve of cremation. From the
beginning, as may be seen in the Roman catacombs,
Christians buried their dead and did not burn them.
Inhumation is, therefore, the ecclesiastical tradition;
such was also the custom of the Jews. Cremation,
moreover, seems to lack respect towards bodies sancti
fied by sacraments which have rendered them temples
of the Holy Ghost. During the burial ceremonies, at
the absolution, the priest, with a feeling of respect,
incenses the dead. It cannot be denied that modern
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THE VATICAN
advocates of cremation were only enemies of the
Church seeking to oppose this pagan custom to
the Christian tradition of inhumation and to per
suade the people that after death all is destroyed
and nothing remains. That is why the Holy Office,
in three succeeding decrees of May 19, 1896, Decem
ber 15 of the same year, and July 27, 1892, con
demned the custom of cremation.
The vigilance of the Church has also examined, in
order to preserve her children from all danger, those
practices which are too apt to be considered inoffen
sive, such as hypnotism and spiritualism.
Hypnotism is a cataleptic sleep which places our
sensations and even our will in the control of another
person. Efforts have been made to apply it in medi
cine, but the results, though sometimes surprising,
have not been durable and have often been stained by
humiliating deceptions. Hypnotism practiced by un
scrupulous persons has often given rise to serious
faults against Christian ethics. This suffices to prove
how dangerous it is. Moreover, reason itself indicates
that we have no right to abdicate our personal will, by
placing ourselves in the hands of another who might
abuse the power thus given him, and even lead us,
by suggestion, to commit a crime.
Spiritualism is yet more dangerous and reprehen
sible. In the minds of those who practice it, it con
sists in entering into communication with the spirits
and souls of those who are no longer in the land of
the living, by means of turning tables and other simi
lar methods. As in the case of hypnotism, certain
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SPIRITUAL AND PRACTICAL SIDES
persons have a special aptitude, singularly developed,
rendering them subject to such influences, and very
sensitive as mediums. Though there has often been
a great deal of underhand play in spiritualism, yet
we are obhged to admit that in many cases cheating
was impossible and there have been intelligent preter
natural manifestations. Then arises the real problem
of spiritualism.
The Church recognizes two sorts of spirits in the
preternatural world, subject to God as is the natural
world : celestial spirits, angels and saints ; and infernal
spirits, demons and damned souls. To these must be
added the souls in purgatory and those of children
who have died without baptism and who cannot con
sequently enter heaven, but who have not been guilty
of anything that should send them to hell. Theolo
gians place them in limbus, where they do not suffer.
That spirits have, by God's permission, appeared
on earth, is certain and is proved by the examples we
find in the Bible. Tobias was accompanied by an
angel, in human form, who made himself known after
having accomplished his mission. We have seen,
moreover, that the devil tempted Our Lord after His
long fast in the desert.
But our faith and our reason rebel at the idea that
the spirits of the blessed departed are at the mercy
of spiritualists and obey their caprices and their fan
cies. The only remaining hypothesis is that, to de
ceive them, the demons come at their call and enter
into communication with them. That which would
lead us to beheve this fact is the anti-Christian and
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THE VATICAN
blasphemous nature of the declarations made by these
spirits. The unusual result of those practices is to
lead those who partake in them away from their reli
gious duties and often to make them lose their reason.
Said the Lord, "Neither let there be found among
you anyone . . . that consulteth soothsayers, or ob-
serveth dreams and omens, neither let there be any
wizard, nor charmer, nor anyone that consulteth
pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeketh
the truth from the dead. For the Lord abhorreth all
these things." (Deuteronomy, 18:10-12.)
The Church also watches over the pastimes of her
people to enlighten them concerning anything that
might be seriously prejudicial to the salvation of
their souls. Far from being an enemy to innocent
entertainments, she herself organizes them for her
children. In all institutions under Catholic patron
age, the youth are entertained by sports and amateur
theatricals. During the summer of 1909 Pius X
graciously welcomed to the Vatican the athletic so
cieties for young Catholics, and was present at their
exercises. The chief entertainments permitted by the Church
are games, the theater and dancing.
Games, even games of chance which are made inter
esting by a stake of greater or lesser importance, so
long as it be within the individual means of the
players, are not forbidden by divine law. But it
sometimes happens that passion steps in and leads
men to commit reprehensible actions. Sometimes
there are disputes and violent quarrels; sometimes,
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SPIRITUAL AND PRACTICAL SIDES
stealing in order to procure the necessary money;
neglect of the most important duties of hfe and the
ruin of families. The Church cannot shut her eyes
to such disorders.
Theaters in themselves are not reprehensible and
the drama can even inspire noble thought and fine
sentiments, such as ComeihVs "Polyeucte." Never
theless, it must be admitted that modern theaters,
especially in France, have become immoral to such a
decree, indeed, that a reaction is now setting in. A
syndicate of well-meaning persons was recently
founded in Paris to deanse the theater and to open,
in that eity, one or two well-regulated theaters, where
fathers and mothers need not blush to take their chil
dren. Several talented artists, ashamed of interpret
ing on the stage immoral conduct of which they dis
approved, joined in this movement. This decadence
of the theater has been severely criticised hy the best-
known playwrights and those least to be suspected of
narrow-mindedness. — among others by Alexandre
Dumas the younger. What can be said in defense
of those theatrical mws. so popular in Paris, in
which the most immoral conversations and mdecent
costumes are shamelessly introduced on the stage?
These are schools of corruption which have con
tributed not a little to lower character and to disgrace
literature itself.
At present, therefore, theater-going is allowed only
to those Christians who attend plays in which morality
is not prejudiced either by the staging, the costumes
or the text. Formerly, in some dioceses of France,
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THE VATICAN
those who attended plays were excommunicated by
the private law of those dioceses. Such censure is
no longer recognized now, according to the Provincial
Council of Reims of 1850.
Dancing is one of the outward expressions of
human joy. Like theater-going and gaming, it is
not prohibited except in special cases where it leads
to the deplorable excesses of public balls, for instance,
where young girls, out of sight of their mothers, are
exposed without defense to a thousand dangers.
There are, moreover, dances of an indecent nature in
themselves, the gestures and attitudes of which are
merely provocations to immorality. Furthermore,
there are persons who are individually subject to such
temptations that dancing is almost always dangerous
for them or at least an occasion of sinning against the
virtue of purity.
The Church can but censure such various excesses
in the dance, but has never prohibited dancing when
purely practiced in Christian families, on the occasion
of certain home celebrations, such as a baptism, a
marriage or even in private receptions between friends
and relatives, where due propriety prevails, and
young girls are accompanied by responsible persons,
whose care it is to watch over them.
Surprise is sometimes expressed at the severity of
provincial parish priests who pitilessly exclude from
their sodalities girls who attend balls. This case is
very different. Since the members of sodalities are
supposed to be models for the parish, their reputation
must be sheltered from all suspicion. Moreover, they
450

SPIRITUAL AND PRACTICAL SIDES
have themselves accepted the somewhat more rigorous
life of a confraternity in which no one obliges them
to remain. And finally, those who know anything
about provincial life, are very well aware that public
dancing, as, for instance, on the occasion of the
patronal feast of a village, is not always free from
danger.

CONCLUSION
The careful investigation detailed in these pages,
bearing on the Catholic Church throughout the world,
considered from every point of view, necessarily calls
for a statement of the conclusions resulting there
from. It is evident to all right-minded men, judging the
matter impartially, that Catholicism occupies the
highest place in the world and exercises the happiest
influence on civilization by its high standard of ethics
and its teaching. Its strong constitution and perfect
organization enable it to repel all the attacks of its
enemies and not to be undermined by the germs of
dissolution which finally destroy all human societies.
The Catholic Church has existed for nineteen hundred
years and is still the same in her doctrine, her hierarchy
and her traditions. There must be something divine
in such an institution, therefore, and the Pope who
presides over its destinies cannot be an ordinary sov
ereign; he is truly the Vicar of Jesus Christ, assisted
by the Divine Master in the government of His
Church in such manner that he cannot lead us into
error. The history of past centuries shows us this,
as clearly as do all the manuals of modern history.
The enemies of the Church, whoever they may be,
atheists, the impious, freemasons, Jews, heretics,
schismatics, are therefore deceiving themselves when
452

CONCLUSION
they imagine that their efforts may end in annihilating
the Church. "Ruunt et stai dum wlvitur orbis."
The Cross, her symbol, remains standing in spite of
the furious waves which dash against it. and while all
the rest of the world changes, that Cross, which shel
tered om- ancestors, spreads its protectmg arm over
us. and will be. unto the end of tlie world, tlie im
movable symbol of redemption and of true civilization.

0)

THE END