Chapter I: Preface

The following pages have been written to show the difficulties experienced by Roman Catholics in assenting to the doctrine of Papal Infallibility. No attempt is here made to write a complete account of the Vatican Council. Indeed, many subjects discussed in that Assembly are entirely omitted. Our interest is with one doctrine alone. What is attempted is, simply to sketch the inner history of Roman opposition to the dogma in different countries and several centuries, until and after the memorable Decree of 18th July 1870. We are simply concerned to show the process by which a very considerable section of Bishops, priests, and laity in the Roman Church were constrained to pass from one belief to its opposite.

The literature of the subject is, of course, immense. A considerable part of the details here recorded have never appeared in English before. They lie buried in enormous German treatises, or in the vast official Acta of the Council; or in the documentary collections of Cecconi, Von Schulte, Friedrich, Friedberg, and many others; or in scattered pamphlets and periodicals to which access is now by no means easily obtained.

The materials for a history of the opposition to the doctrine have of recent years largely increased. All the principal actors in the Vatican disputes have, by this time, passed away; and a large series of biographies have placed at our disposal private letters never published while they lived.

But it will be obvious that an Ultramontane biographer of a Bishop who vehemently opposed the doctrine may be gravely perplexed between the conflicting claims of history and of edification. His loyalty to truth, his reverence for the personage of whom he writes, his regard for living authority, with its tremendous powers to revise, cancel, or condemn, his proper disinclination to scandalise the faithful by rigorous records of episcopal unbelief, or to reveal the family disunions before an incredulous world--are elements which, when they coexist, may, even in the sincerest mind possibly blend together in very various proportions. At any rate the biographies of certain great French Bishops of the Vatican struggle manifest marked reluctance and hesitation in recording fully the facts. And even when the facts have been fairly fully recorded, the English translator has--for whatever reasons--condensed them, we had almost said mutilated them, beyond recognition.

The recently published selection of Lord Acton’s letters has increased our knowledge of his attitude toward the Infallibility Decree; but the entire omission of correspondence during ten most critical years of the struggle suggests, what other considerations endorse, that there is yet considerably more remaining unrevealed.

Still, with whatever drawbacks, the resources at a writer’s disposal to-day are vastly greater than they were some years ago.

Accordingly the following pages are written under a strong sense that the material is ample, that the history of the minority has never yet for English people been fully told, and with a desire to supply the omission.

It should be added that the adverse criticisms herein repeated are almost entirely derived from Roman Catholic sources, and are, as far as possible, given in the actual words. Protestant criticism has been systematically excluded. The object being simply to describe how the doctrine of Pontifical Infallibility appeared; what difficulties, intellectual, historic, and moral, it created; what fierce and desperate strife its increasing ascendency awakened; how, and with what results, moral and intellectual, it was finally regarded, not by the outer world, nor by other religious communions, but by clergy and laity within the limits of the Roman Catholic Church.

Since these pages have passed through the press, Turmel’s _Histoire du Dogme de la Papauté_ has been placed upon the Roman Index of prohibited books (5th July 1909). It is therefore among that lengthy list of modern writings which no member of the Roman Obedience may “dare to read or retain.” The interests of edification are conceived by Authority as incompatible with those of historical research. Such procedure deprives the historian of that freedom to report results without which history cannot be written.

The author desires to express his deep indebtedness to the kindness of the Reverend Darwell Stone, Librarian of the Pusey House, who has read through the proof sheets of this book. He is of course in no way responsible for its contents; but it has been the greatest privilege to have the encouragement and aid of so critical and learned an adviser.

* * * * *

NOTE.--The number of Bishops who, though resident in Rome, absented themselves from the Vatican Council on the day of the Decree is variously given on page 268 as 91, on page 271 as 70, and on page 281 as more than 80. It will be noticed that these variations are due to the authors quoted; the first being that given by Quirinus; the second by the letter of the Opposition to the Pope; the third by Dr Newman.

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

The following list of books has been compiled, partly to show the editions to which references have been made, and partly as a help to study. It is, of course, needless to say that such a list has no pretensions whatever to completeness.

ACTA. _Concil. Vaticani. Collectio Lacensis._ T. vii. 1892.
ACTON. _History of Freedom._
” _Sendschreiben an einen Deutschen Bischof._ 1870.
ALZOG. _History of the Church._
ANONYMOUS. _Pourquoi le Clergé Français est Ultramontane._ 1879.
” _Ce qui se passe au Concile._ 1870.
AQUINAS. _Opuscula Selecta._ Paris. 4 vols. 1884.
” _In Sententiis._ 3 vols. Parma Edit.
ARGENTRE, D’. _Elementa Theologica._ Paris. 1702.
AUGUSTINE. _Works._ Gaume’s Edition.

BARRAL. _Defense des Libertés de l’Eglise Gallicane._ 1817.
BAUNARD. _Hist. du Card. Pie._ 2 vols. Paris. 1886.
BAUSSET, Card. _Histoire de Bossuet._ 4 vols.
BELLARMINE. _De Controversiis._ Works. 11 vols. Paris. 1874.
BERGIER. _Dict. de Théologie._ 12 vols. Paris. 1876.
BERRINGTON & KIRK. _Faith of Catholics._ 1830.
BILLUART. _De Ecclesia._
BONNECHOSE. _Hist. C. Constance._
BOSSUET. _Works._ Ed. F. Lachat. 30 vols. Paris. 1864.
BOTALLA. _Infallible Authority of the Pope._
BOURGEOIS ET CLERMONT. _Rome et Napoleon._ 3 vols. 1907.
BRYCE. _Biographical Studies._
BUTLER. _Historical Memorials of the English Catholics._
_Cambridge Modern History_--_French Revolution._

CARSON. _Reunion Essays._ 1903.
CECCONI. _Histoire du Concile du Vatican._ French transl. 4 vols.
1887.
CHAUVIN. _Le Père Gratry._ 1901.
CHOUPIN L. _Valeur des Decisions Doctrinale._ 1908.
CHRISMANN. _Regula Fidei Catholicæ._ 1854.
CHRISTOPHE. _Histoire de la Papauté, pendant le XIV. Siècle._ 3 vols.
1853.
CLIFFORD, Lord. _Letters to the Earl of Winchelsea._
COBB, G. F. _Few Words on Reunion._ 1869.
CONSALVI, Card. _Mémoires._ 2 vols. Cretineau-Joly. 1864.
_Correspondant._ 10th Feb. 1906. Articles by Thureau
Dangin.
CYPRIAN. Ed. Hartel. 3 vols.

DECHAMPS. _L’Infallibilité et le Concile Général._ 1869.
DENZINGER. _Enchiridion._ 1854.
DÖLLINGER & REUSCH. _Die Selbstbiographie des Cardinals Bellarmin._
” . _Declarations and Letters._
DUCHESNE. _Beginnings of the Temporal Power of the Pope._ 1908.
DUPANLOUP. _Observations._ 1869.
” . _Lettre sur le futur Concile Œcuménique adressée par Mgr.
L’Évêque d’Orléans au clergé de son Diocese._ 1868.
” . See Chapon. _Mgr. Dupanloup et la Liberté._ 1889.
and _Revue du Clergé Français_. 1st May 1909, p. 375.

FESSLER. _True and False Infallibility._ 1871.
FLEURY. _Histoire Ecclesiastique._ Avignon. 1777.
FOISSET. _C. de Montalembert._
FOLLENAY. _Vie de C. Guibert._ 2 vols.
FOULON. _Darboy._ 1889.
FRANZELIN. _De Traditione._
FRIEDBERG. _Aktenstücke._ 1876.
FRIEDRICH. _Documenta ad illustrandum Conc. Vat._ 2 vols. 1871.
” _Döllinger. Sein Leben._ 3 vols. Munchen. 1899.
” _Tagebuch._ 1871.

GALLITZIN. _Defence of Catholic Principles._
GARNIER. _Liber Diurnus._
GASQUET. _Lord Acton and his Circle._
GERSON. _De Auferibilitate Papæ ab Ecclesia._
” . _Life by Schwab._ 1859.
GHILARDI. _Torquemada De Plenitudine Potestatis R. P._ 1870.
GLADSTONE. _Vaticanism._
GOSSELIN. _Temporal Power of the Pope in the Middle Ages._
Transl. by Kelly of Maynooth. 2 vols. 1853.
GOYAU. _L’Allemagne religieuse._ 5 vols. 1905.
GRANDERATH. _Vatican Council._ 3 vols.
GRATRY. _Letters._
GREGOROVIUS. _Roman Journals._
GRISAR. _Lainez-Disputationes Tridentinae._ 2 vols. 1886.
GUERANGER. _De la Monarchie Pontificate._ 1870.
GUETTÉE. _Histoire de l’Eglise de France._ 12 vols. 1856.
GUILLERMIN. _Vie de Mgr. Darboy._ 1888.

HALIFAX, Lord. In _Nineteenth Century_. May 1901.
HASENCLEVER. _Das neue Dogma von der Unfehlbarkeit des Papstes._ 1872.
HEFELE. _Conciliengeschichte._ First Edition. 1855.
Second Edition.
French translation. 12 vols. _Goschler and Delarc._ 1859.
English translation. 5 vols. from 2nd edition. 1872.
(By Clark & Oxenham.)
” _Honorius und das sechste Allgemeine Concil._ 1870.
HEFELE’S letters will be found in _Schulte. Altkatholicismus and
Revue internationale de Theologie_ (pp. 485–506). 1908.
HOHENLOHE. _Memoirs._ 2 vols.
HURTER. _Compendium Theologiæ Dogmaticæ._ 3 vols. 5th edition. 1885.
HUSENBETH. _Life of Milner._ 1862.

IRENÆUS. Ed. Harvey. 2 vols. 1857.

JANUS. _The Pope and the Council._ Rivingtons. 1869.
JEROME. _Ad Rufinum. De Script Eccles._
JERVIS. _Hist. Ch. France._ 2 vols. 1872.
” _The Gallican Church and the Revolution._ 1882.
JOURDAIN. _Hist. Univ. Paris._

KEENAN. _Controversial Catechism._ 17th thousand. 1860.
KETTELER. _Le Concile Œcuménique._ Tr. Bélet. (?) 1869.
” _Liberté Antorité, Église._ Tr. Bélet. 1862.
” _Das unfehlbare Lehramt des Papstes._ 1871.
_Knabenbauer in Luc._
KRAUTHEIMER. _Catechism of the Catholic Religion._ 1845.

LAGRANGE. _Hist. de Dupanloup._ 3 vols.
LAMENNAIS. _Œuvres Complètes._ 14 vols. Paris. 1836.
” _Correspondance._ Ed. Forgues. 2 vols. 1863.
LANGEN. _Das Vat. Dogma._ 5 vols. 1870, etc.
LAYMAN (Rom. Cath.). _Reasons why a Roman Catholic cannot
accept the doctrine of Papal Infallibility as defined by
the Vatican Council._ 1876.
LENORMANT. _Les Origines de l’Histoire._
LETO (POMPANIO). _Eight Months at Rome._ 1876.
LICHTENBERGER. _Encyclopédie des Sciences Religieuses._ 12 vols.
LIDDON. _Life of Pusey._ 4 vols.
LIEBERMANN. _Institutiones Theologicæ._ 5 vols. 1831.
LUZERNE, DE, Card. _Works._ Migne. 6 vols.

MAISTRE, J. DE. _Œuvres._ 8 vols. Bruxelles. 1845.
MANNING. _Pastoral._ 1867.
” _Petri Privilegium._
MARET. _Du Concile Général._ 2 vols. 1870.
MARIN. _De l’Infallibilité Doctrinale._ 1870.
MARTIN, CONRAD. _Dogmatik._
MELCHIOR, CANO. _Opera._ 3 vols. Rome. 1890.
MICHELIS. _Der häretische Charakter des Infallibilitätslehre._ 1872.
MILNER. _End of Religious Controversy._ Ed. 2. 1819.
MOZLEY. _Essay on Development._
MURRAY. _Tractatus de Ecclesia Christi._ 3 vols in six parts. 1862.

NEWMAN. _Letter to Bishop Ullathorne_--_Standard Newspaper._
7th April 1870.
” _Letter to Duke of Norfolk._
NIELSEN. _Geschichte des Papstthums._ 2 vols. 1880.

OLLIVIER (EMILE). _L’Eglise et L’Etat._ 2 vols.
ORSI. _De irreformabili Romani Pontificis in definiendis Fidei
controversiis judicio._ 3 vols. Rome. 1739.

PALLAVICINI. _Hist. C. Trent._
PASTOR. _History of the Popes._ English translation. 1891.
PERRAUD, A. Le P. _Gratry ses Derniers Jours._ 1872.
PERRON, DU, Card. _Les Ambassades et Negotiations._ Paris. 1623.
PERRONE. _De Traditione._
PHILLIPPS, AMBROSE DE LISLE. _Union Review._ 1866.
PIUS IX. _Brief to Archbishop of Munich._ See ACTA, _Conc. Vat._
PULLER. _Primitive Saints and Roman Church._
PURCELL. _Life of Manning._
” _Life of Ambrose de Lisle Phillipps._ 2 vols. 1900.

QUIRINUS. _Letters from Rome on the Council._ 1870.

REINKENS. _Ueber die Einheit der katholischen Kirche._ 1877.
” _Kniefall und Fall des Bischof Ketteler._ 1877.
REUSCH. _Letters in Schulte Altkatholicismus._
REVIEW. _Dublin._ 1869.
” _Home and Foreign._ 1863.
” _Rambler._ 1862.
_Revue des Deux Mondes._ 1858.
RICHERIUS. _Vindiciæ Doctrinæ Majorum._ 1683.
ROSIÈRE. _Liber Diurnus._ 1869.
RUDIS. _Petra Romana._ 1869.
RUMP. _Die Unfehlbarkeit des P._ 1870.
RYDER. _Idealism in Theology._ 1867.

SALMON. _Infallibility._
SCHULTE. _Der Altkatholicismus._ 1887.
SCHWANE. _Histoire du Dogme._ 6 vols. References to the
French translation of the _Dogmengeschichte_.
SICARD. _L’Ancien Clergé de France._ 3 vols.

_Tablet, the._ 1869.
THEINER. _Acts of the Council of Trent._
THUREAU DANGIN. _La Renaissance Catholique en Angleterre an
xix Siècle._ 3 vols. 1906.
TURMEL. _Hist. Théol. Positive._ 1906.
” _Histoire du Dogme de la Papauté._ Paris. 1908.

ULLATHORNE (Bp.). _Letter on the Rambler._ 1862.
” _Autobiography._ 2 vols.
” _Expostulation._
” _Döllingerites._
_L’Univers._ 1869.

VERON, FRANCIS. _Regula Fidei._ Ed. Sebastian Brunner. 1857.
VEUILLOT L. _Rome pendant le Concile._
VINCENT of Lerins. _Commonitorium._

WARD (BERNARD). _Dawn of the Catholic Revival._ 2 vols. 1909.
” (W.). _Life of Wiseman._ 2 vols. 1900.
” (W. G.). _Essays on the Church’s Doctrinal Authority._
WATERWORTH. _Council of Trent._ 1848.
WORDSWORTH, CH. _Miscellanies._ 3 vols. 1879.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. THE EVIDENCE OF SCRIPTURE 1

II. THE AGE OF THE FATHERS 9

III. THE CASE OF HONORIUS 31

IV. THE SCHOLASTIC PERIOD 48

V. THE AGE OF THE REFORMING COUNCILS 55

VI. THE COUNCIL OF TRENT 66

VII. CARDINAL BELLARMINE 72

VIII. THE SORBONNE 79

IX. BOSSUET 85

X. OPPOSITION AMONG ROMAN CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND 98

XI. ULTRAMONTANISM IN FRANCE 143

XII. DARBOY, DUPANLOUP, MARET, GRATRY AND
MONTALEMBERT 157

XIII. OPPOSITION IN GERMANY--DÖLLINGER 188

XIV. HOHENLOHE AND FRIEDRICH 207

XV. THE IMMEDIATE PREPARATIONS 217

XVI. THE OPENING OF THE VATICAN COUNCIL 229

XVII. THE VATICAN DECISION 238

XVIII. THE MINORITY AFTER THE VATICAN DECREE 275

XIX. THE INFALLIBILITY DOCTRINE 340

XX. WHERE ARE THE INFALLIBLE DECISIONS? 356

INDEX 371

ROMAN CATHOLIC OPPOSITION TO PAPAL INFALLIBILITY