rHE TA
A W eekly N ew sp a p e r a n d R eview .
W ITH SUPPLEMENT.
Voi. 35. No. 1570. L ondon, May 14, 1870.
P r ic e sd. Stam p ed 6d [R eg iste r ed for T ransmission A broad.
C hronicle of t h e W eek : The
Council— S. Joseph, Patron of the Church— The Committee on Convents — The Plebiscite — Paris Riots— The State o f France— The Church in Spain— Insurrection in Italy— The Massacre in Greece— The Route to India— The Ballot— Nominations at Elections— Importunate Guests—The “ Pall M a ll” Redivivus— The Red River—The Opium Trade— &c., &c. 605 »Leaders :
The Work of the Vatican Council. 609 Committee on Conventual Institu
tions ............................................ 610 Real and Apparent Progress . 611 P o s i t i v i s m .................................... 612
CONTENTS.
R eview s :
Histoire de la Religion Chrétienne au Japon ..... 613 Harmonized Gregorian Masses . 615 L o th a i r ............................................ 615 S hort N otices : Theologia Moralis
— Praìlectiones Theological — De Virtute Religionis. deque Vitiis oppositis, nominatim vero de Mesmerismi, Sonnambulismi, ac Spiritismi recentiori superstition e — Compendium of the Stimma o f S. Thomas.............................................. 616 C orrespondence :
A Common Cause for the Catholics of Different Nations . . . 616 The Division List on the Convent
Q u e s t i o n ......................................617 A Rural View of the Convent
Q u e s t i o n ......................................617
Correspondence (continued) :
The Defence o f the Rights and
Immunities o f Conventual Life unavailing on Inadequate Grounds .... Catholics in the British Navy Mgr Strossmayer . P a r l ia m en t a r y S ummary . L e t ter s from R ome ; The Coun
cil—The Revolution—The Zouaves -T h e Roman Exhibition-Theatres In Rome—The Neapolitan Royal Family — Brigandage — Naples— Lay Address to the Holy Father —Latest. . . . The General Council : The Cate
chism—The Infallibility. D iocesan N ews : Westminster . . . . . . 623
617 618 618 618
620 . 622
D io cesan N ews (continued) :
S o u t h w a r k ................................624 Beverley........................................624 Nottingham ..... 624 Scotland.—Western District . . 624 I r e l a n d ............................................624 F oreign N ews :
Russia : The Proposed Lieu
tenancy— Count Stackelberg— The German Question— Affairs in Poland— Exhibition . . 624 M em oranda : >'
Religious Educational Scientific Fine Arts Weather. G en er a l N ews
. 625 . 624 . 626 . 626 . 627 . 627
TH E COUNCIL.
C H R O N IC L E O F T H E W E E K .
T'H E Roman correspondent of the Morning
Tost suggests, in Thursday’s paper, a difficulty respecting the wording of the
Dogmatic Constitution. He contrasts the expression o f the H o ly Father, “ We define,” with the Tridentine formula, “ This CEcumenical Council, lawfully assembled in the Holy ■ Spirit, defines,” and he seems to be perplexed by the apparent difference. The Revue du Monde Catholique o f the roth, in an article on the Constitution Dei Filins, supplies the following solution :•— “ This formula (namely, We, Pius, &c. with the approbation of the Sacred Council) is anything but new ; we find it in the Acts o f the Councils o f the Lateran, notably in those o f the third, the fourth, and the fifth ; also in the Acts o f the Councils of Lyons, Vienna, and Florence ; that is to say, in the Councils over which the Popes presided in person. Is it not very natural that in a monarchy, the King, after the vote o f the Chambers, should himself promulgate the law in giving to it his supreme sanction ? But, it is said, why does he not speak in the name o f the Council ? I t is because he does not hold his authority from the Council, that is to say, from the other Bishops. He is the K in g and, as King, he is judge. His presence at the Council does not in any way diminish his supremacy over the other judges o f the Faith. H e is the Head and the Teacher o f the whole Church, of the Episcopal body as well as of the faithful, and he naturally cannot be silent to let others sp eak ; especially as it is from his voice that the decisions o f the Council derive their principal authority, inasmuch as it is only by his voice that they become complete and definitive. This formula, besides, does not signify that the Pope alone has judged and decided; it only signifies that he has borne the chief part in the judgment. When the Bishops receive from Rome a Dogmatic Constitution, such, for instance, as the Bull defining the Immaculate Conception, they do not judge it, they form no decision, they adhere to the sentence which has been pronounced. In the Council, on the contrary, they judge, they decide the questions which are submitted to them for examination, they approve certain solutions and they reject others. T o resume, the heading in question is not a new invention of Roman ambition, since it has always been employed, through seven hundred years, in the Councils wherein the Pope has presided in person; it does not in any way lessen the share o f the Bishops in the definition, and it leaves their rights intact as judges o f the faith.” And, in another passage, the Revue says on the same subject:— • “ The authority, in the name o f which the decrees are issued, is the authority conferred by Jesus Christ on S. Peter and on his successors ; that is to say, the Supreme Ecclesiastical Authority, acting in concert with the inferior but real authority which resides in the rest o f the Bishops who are successors o f the Apostles. In consequence these decrees are invested with all possible authority; they are definitive and
N e w S e r i e s . No, 79.
irreformable judgments, against which nothing will be able to prevail, and which will bind the consciences o f all Catholics eternally.”
The immense petition from Great Britain, patronPof containinS between one and two hundred THE ch u r ch , thousand signatures, praying the Holy Father and the Council to place the Church under the special patronage of S. Joseph, was presented by his Grace the Archbishop of Westminster to the Pope two weeks ago. To the signatures o f the faithful were added those o f his Grace the Archbishop, and o f the Bishops o f Beverley, Hexham, Menevia, Northampton, Nottingham, Plymouth, Salford, Shrewsbury, and Southwark. The Sovereign Pontiff was greatly pleased at this manifestation o f devotion on the part of so many thousands, and especially from England. On a former occasion, when he received similar petitions from various parts of France, Italy, and Spain, taking his pen, as a playful expression o f his pleasure he wrote his own name, adding it to one o f the petitions. It is thought that the Feast o f S. Joseph will be kept on the 19th of January, the month of the Sacred Infancy, as a double o f the first class, and that on the 19th of March, and therefore before the Annunciation, the Feast o f his Espousals will be celebrated. Nothing, however, has yet been definitively determined on this point.
On Tuesday, Mr. Gladstone named the SecoMMiTTEE ^ect Committee on Monastic and Conventual L ‘ qN Institutions. The names o f its members will c o n v e n t s , be found in another part o f our columns. Mr.
Newdegate and Mr. Chambers represent the attack, and Mr. Cogan, Mr. Matthews, Mr. Sherlock, and the O ’Conor Don the Catholic element. The member for Windsor, Mr. Eykyn— -probably with a view to Clewer— moved an instruction to the Committee that Anglican and other institutions o f a like character should be included in the enquiry. This instruction was agreed to. Another, moved by Mr. Matthews, and limiting the investigation for the present to the state o f the law, in order that no witness might be brought under the operation of existing penal enactments, was opposed by Mr. Gladstone as unnecessary. Any such witness might claim his privilege and decline to answer ; but Mr. Gladstone gave a further assurance, as did also Mr. Newdegate, that the enquiry would not be conducted in this spirit. Mr. Charley, moreover, pointed out that, according to Sir Erskine May’s Parliamentary Practice, any proceedings against a witness, based on a statement made by him to a Committee o f either House, were treated by that House as a breach of privilege. Mr. Matthews accordingly withdrew his motion ; and Mr. Whalley’s motion, for an instruction to extend the scope o f the enquiry to the increase and character of the institutions, was declared by the Speaker to be irregular.
The voting in Paris on Sunday was got through with a calm which was almost dull. The Irreconcilables appear to have stuck THE PLEBISCITE.