f

T H E

T A

B L E T

A W eekly Newspaper and Review. Dum vobis gratulamur, animos etiam addimus ut in incceptis vestris constanter maneatis.

From the B r i e f o f H is Holiness to The Tablet, Ju n e 4, 1870,

Vol. 44. No. 1799. London, October 3, 1874.

P r ic e sd. B y P ost s J^ d

[ R e g is t e r e d a t th e G en e r a l P ost Offic e a s a N ew spaper

C h ro n ic le of t h e W e e k : —

Page

Mr. Gladstone on Ritualism and Catholics.—The English Martyrs. —Church Music.—The Thorpe Accident.—Russia, Spain, and ■ Germany.—Germany and Denmark.—The Expulsion of Danes from Sleswick.—German View of The Sleswick Question.-The Duke •of Parma and the French Succession.—German Intervention in Spain.—The Carlist War.—The Maine-et-Loire Election. — The other Three Elections.—The Napoleons in Corsica.—M. Thiers .and the Republic.—M. Gambetta’s Manifesto.—The Orénoque.—The Bishop of Paderborn.—The Persecution in Geneva, &c........................417

CONTENTS.

L e a d e r s :

Page

The College for Higher Studies .. 421 Mr. Gladstone on Ritualism .. 421 Trinity College, Dublin .. .. 422 Pius IX . and the Breach of Porta

P i a .................................................. 423 The Centenary of O’Connell .. 424 Old English Pilgrimages.—(VI.)

St. Thomas of Canterbury . . 425 The Future of Non-Catholic

C*

Devotion to the Sacred Heart .. 429 N ew M usic :

Short Masses for Small Choirs .. 430 Literary, Artistic, & Scientific Gossip 430 C orrespondence :

Plain Chant ir. England .. . . 430 Ecclesiastical Music . . . . 431 The Bonn Conferences .. . . 431 R ome :—Letter from our own Cor­

*=

Christianity . . . . . . 426 Our P ro t e stant C ontemporaries :

Good Englishmen .. . . . . 426 R ev iew s :

The Fortunes of the Fletchers . . 428 Country Architecture . . . . 429 S hort N otices :

Words from the Poets . . . . 429 Mary Desmond . . . . . . 429

respondent • . . . . .. 433 The late F. Theiner .. . . 434 R ecord of G erman P ersecution :

Catholic Meeting at Mayence .. 435 Persecution of the Catholic Press 435 Persecution of Priests . . . . 435 Letter of the Holy Father . . 435 D io cesan N ew s : - t

The See of Nottingham . . .. 436

f f

Page

Beverley Hexham and Newcastle .. . . 436 Liverpool Nottingham .. . . 436 Salford I reland:

Letter from our Dublin Coi rrespondent

•• 437

Cardinal Cullen on the Opera • • 438 Foreign N ews :—

Prussia Austria Russia

Civil War in Spain ..

Memoranda :—

•• 439

.. 440

Religious Educational .. Cricket General N ews

CHRONICLE OF THE W EEK .

AND •CATHOLICS. T

MR. GLADSTONE ON RITUALISM

'H E Contemporary Review for October contains an article by Mr. Gladstone on “ Ritualism and Ritual,” which has been communicated by anticipation to the daily papers. Elsewhere will be found at greater length some of the reflections which it has suggested to us, but we may sum up our impression of it here by saying that although the article refers to a matter •which is a subject of legislation, it is anything but a .•statesmanlike document, as it deals with the aesthetical side of Ritualism, rather than with that which it is supposed to signify. And the tests which Mr. Gladstone would apply are couched in questions some of which are so vague that they would receive a contradictory answer from the two contending parties. Is a practice complained of “ legally binding ” ? into which enquiry the “ element “ of desuetude ” comes in ; is it “ favourable to devout and intelligent adoration ? ” “ Will it increase or limit the ■“ active participation of the flock in the service ? ” “ Is it conformable to the spirit of the Prayer-book?” “ Is it ■“ agreeable to the particular congregation ? ” “ Is it adapted to their religious and mental condition ? ” and so forth. But the article contains an onslaught on Catholics which they are not likely to forget. It reminds them too forcibly of a ■ certain famous Durham letter.

The preliminary process with a view to the English U^ 'mate beatification o f the English martyrs is m a r t y r s . now approaching its termination, and it is-hoped that the final session in the presence of the Archbishop may be held in the course of next week. The -evidence concerning the “ fame ” of the martyrs is very copious ; and not only the martyrs whom we have already specified, but all those whose deaths are recorded in Bishop •Chaloner’s M issionary Priests, as well as those who suffered in the reign of Henry V III., are comprised in the process ; their number amounting, we believe, to more than 350. A s soon as the Ordinary process is formally completed, it will be sent to Rome, in order that a decision may be taken as to the existence of sufficient grounds for instituting an Apostolic process of beatifaction.

CHURCH MUSIC.

In another part of our columns will be found a letter from the Very Rev. Canon Oakeley, commenting on a recent article in the Dublin Review on the subject of Plain Chant. Although the letter of our highly respected correspondent is not •directed against any remarks of ours, yet, as we have for some time past been publishing a series of articles expressing strong approval of the reform in church music which is toeing effected in Germany, a few words seem to be required to make our position plain. Canon Oakeley’s main argu-

New Series. Vol. X II. No. 308.

ment seems to be this : As the Church utilizes more than one kind of architecture, so also she turns to her service more than one kind of music, and to prohibit figured music altogether would be to place Palestrina and the Papal choir under an interdict. So far we go with him entirely, as those who have read our articles on the subject will testify. But the question is under what limitations figured music may be legitimately used. For that Canon Oakeley would himself consider some limitations necessary is evident from his condemnation of “ meretricious ornament.” And it is here that the criterion laid down by the St. Cecilia’s Society is eminently useful. It is this : that figurec. music should be constructed on Liturgical principles. That some music which does not satisfy this condition is tolerated by the Church is notorious, but because some such music may be performed in the Canon’s choir in Roman basilicas, and on great festivals in other churches, and because this or that piece may have been admired by great and illustrious ecclesiastics, it does not, therefore, follow that all this kind of figured music is entirely consonant to the mind of the Church as expressed in her solemn decrees; and that she by no means approves all the music which is sung in Rome is evident from the very words of the Holy Father, quoted by ourselves last week. For in the Brief establishing St. Cecilia’s Society he says : “ We can never sufficiently deplore the “ fact that, owing to these excellent masters of sacred music “ having been set aside, a style of music has been intro“ duced into most churches here [i.e., in Rome] as well as “ in other countries, which is only suitable for the stage, and “ is, therefore, forbidden by the canonical laws, our prede“ cessors, and ourselves.” And in a decree, issued by special command of His Holiness in 1856, the Cardinal-Vicar expressly forbids everything suggestive of theatrical pieces, either by the arrangement or by the melody, and also “ too many repetitions, and all changes and “ arbitrary inversions of the words.” Few of our readers, we take it, will have been so fortunate as not to have heard in church music suggestive of the theatre—far more suggestive of it to the laity than to the clergy, who are less familiar with operatic music—and few will be unable to remember occasions on which they have heard the same words repeated over and over again for several minutes, and “ Glorias ” and “ Credos ’’ so transposed as completely to lose the proper sequence of their parts. It is abuses such as these that the reform of church music in Germany aims at rectifying, and we most earnestly wish that the movement would spread throughout the world. To the practical objection that “ the “ execution of Plain Chant in any effective way, with our “ existing materials, is a sheer impossibility,” we should be disposed to reply that there is no more difficulty, if you know how to set about it, in teaching half-a-dozen men or boys to sing Gregorian with'proper rhythm and vigour of accentua-