THE TABLET xd W e e k ly N e w s p a p e r a n d R e v i e w
DUM VOBIS GRATULAMUR ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS V E S TR IS CONSTANTER MANEATIS
From the Brief of His Holiness Pins IX to The Tablet, June 4,1870.
V ol. 15g. No. 4,782.
L ondon, Jan u ar y 2, 1932.
Six pen c e .
R esisterei) at the Generai, P ost Office as a Newspapeb
Page
News and Notes . . .
A Hardy New Year
" L u x Veritatis” . . .
Next Week ..............
An “ Ex-Monk’s ” Letter 6 Reviews : The Background of the
Gospels ..............
A Scots Chronicler in
France ..............
More from Ferdynand
Goetel ..............
A French Sailor Poet 9
1
5
6
6
8
8
9
CONTENTS
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New Books and Music . . . 10 Chess .............. ... ... 11 1931 : A Survey 12 Palmers Green : The New
H a l l .............. ... ... 14 Obituary 14 From The Tablet of Ninety
Years Ago ...
Coming Events ... ... 15 Books Received 15 Corre spondence
Home (Our Own Corre
spondent’s Weekly Letter from) ......................... 17
15
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Two New B is h o p s .............. 20 Et Cte t e r a ......................... 21 Catholic Education Notes . . . 22 School Sports .............. 22 Father Davis, S.J., on
Birth Control .............. 23 Progress at Westminster
Cathedral ......................... 23 Episcopal Engagements . . . 23 London Intermediate Exam
inations ......................... 23 Orbis Terrarum :
England, Scotland and Wales ......................... 23
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Orbis Terrarum ( Gontd.) :
Ireland .......................... 23 Albania ......................... 24 A r g e n t i n a .......................... 24 Canada .......................... 24 China .......................... 24 France ......................... 24 Italy 26 Japan ......................... 28 Palestine .......................... 28 Poland .......................... 28 Syria 28 U.S.A......................................... 28 Social and P ersonal . . . 28
NOTANDA The Sovereign Pontiff’s Christmas Allocution. W h y H is Holiness did not utter the demanded word on Disarmament (p. 17).
A great Encyclical. In a Letter beginning with the words L u x Veritatis, H .H . Pius X I builds a theological monument to the Ephesian centenary ( p . 6 ) .
Tw o new Bishops : a successor to Dr. Burton at Clifton, and a Coadjutor fo r Shrewsbury (p. 20). The past work o f the Bishops-designate (p. 21).
The Treaty Oath in the Irish Free State. Has Mr. de Valera gone backward, in a mischief-making direction ? (p. 4).
Tw o sets o f weights and measures. A Leicestershire illustration (p. 4).
The Decline and Fall o f the Establishment’s Book o f Common Prayer (p. 2).
Another o f the “ Ex-M onk’s ” letters reproduced by photography (p. 7).
1931. Some events o f the year summarized; together with figures showing the further progress o f the Catholic Church in England and Wales (pp. 12-14).
NEWS AND NOTES S IX TEEN pages further on in this week’s Tablet will be found an English version o f the Sovereign Pontiff’s Allocution in reply to the Christmas greetings o f the Sacred College. From the standpoint o f a newspaper such as ours, which deals with world-affairs, the most noteworthy passage in the discourse of His Holiness is that which speaks o f Peace.
In these Notes we have often explained to nonCatholics some of the reasons why the Church does not often associate herself with “ Peace Sundays ”
N e w S e r ie s . Vol. CXXVII. No. 4,181.
and similar observances. We have shown that, as Peace has been a constant preoccupation of Holy Church and is regularly ‘ prayed for in Her liturgy, we cannot fairly be expected to repeat “ sp ecia lly ” what we have been doing ordinarily for well-nigh two thousand years. In his Allocution, the Sovereign Pontiff takes the same line. Anticipating the complaint that his Christmas discourse does not contain una parola per la pace, per il disarmo, His Holiness replies that he does not just now utter any such word because he and his predecessors in the Chair o f Peter have uttered it innumerable times already. Moreover, it is the perennial, ordinary utterance of the Church. The angels of the Nativity chanted i t ; and it was spoken again and again by il Re della pace, I’inerme Re della pace, VOnnipotenza inerme : “ the King o f Peace, the un-armed King of Peace, the un-armed Omnipotence.”
Continuing, the Pontiff explained that papal utterances on World-Peace have often been seized upon by partisans and factious persons in fashions which have made less for peace than for discord. Pious generalities on Peace, as we have pointed out in the foregoing paragraph, do not need to be re-uttered by the Holy Father. But, whenever a Pope moves from the general to the particular and alludes to any concrete case, his words are pounced upon as proof that he favours one nation against another. We were sorry to read only last week a sneer at the Pope by an Anglican dignitary whom we refrain from naming because he is not a chronic offender. This dignitary wholly misconceived the functions of the Pope. His Holiness may be willing to act as arbitrator between disputants who place themselves in his h ands; indeed, many of us remember such an arbitration in the time of Pope Leo X I I I . But no Catholic theologian would claim that papal decisions in arbitrations partake of Infallibility. Like any other judge, the Pope could make a mistake. His Infallibility is restricted to defining the contents of that Divine Revelation
