Chapter VIII

Indulgences--Excitement--The Two Brothers Dufournel--Senestrey's Speech--Hopes of the Ruin of Germany--What the Council will do--Absurdity of Constitutional Kings--The True Saviour of Society--Lay Address from Coblenz--Montalembert adheres to it--Religious Liberty does not answer--Importance of keeping Catholic Children apart from the Nation--War on Liberal Catholics--Flags of all Nations doing Homage to that of the Pope.

On April 11, 1869, was issued another of those Bulls proclaiming indulgences on which the world has almost ceased to look as one of the forces of history. Nevertheless each of them is a monument to an authority obeyed by disciplined millions, as holding executive power both in this world and the other. Once more were long Latin sentences filled out to tell the faithful that he who had power to bind and to loose proclaimed to them, on the occasion of the Council, full remission of their sins, and indulgence, on condition of their visiting certain basilicas, and saying certain prayers.[142] "This pardon," says the Archbishop of Florence, "was to extend not only till the opening of the Council, but through the whole of its continuance."[143] Millions were thus put under the necessity of imbibing the conviction, that sin against our neighbour and our God admits of being cancelled in such a way, or else of seeming to believe what they did not believe, or of bowing and not asking themselves whether they believed it or not.

About this time was inaugurated, with great display of dignitaries, military and spiritual, a monument to two brothers Dufournel, who lie in S. Lorenzo. The monument bears all the emblems of martyrdom which the art of the catacombs can supply. Instead of the usual request to pray for the repose of the soul, into which Romanism fell from Christianity, stands the word of the early Christians, "They rest"--here applied because martyrdom had merited what grace was no longer believed to give. Emmanuel Dufournel, on meeting the Garibaldians, shouted to his men, "Here, lads, is the spot to die; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, forward!" When expiring, he said, "I am pleased to see my blood flow from fourteen wounds for the glory of Holy Church." The people of Valentano, where he died, said to his men, "Let us kiss the bier; we do not come to pray for his soul, but to commend ourselves to him" (VII. vi. 547). "Such"--adds the reverend writer--"such is the Christian instinct which distinguishes between combatants in any other cause, however just, and the heroes of the Christian religion." To develop instincts of this sort, it is impossible to conceive writing more skilfully adapted. And these are the men who, at every breath, call the Italians Mussulmans!

The other brother, Diodato Dufournel--young, handsome, polished, rich--soon after the death of Alfred, met Father Gerlache at daylight entering St. Peter's: "I go to say a mass for our dead on the Apostle's tomb." "I go too," replied the Captain, and they entered the crypt. The priest asked the zouave what had caused his strange absorption in prayer. "Father, I was praying to the Virgin for the favour of dying for Holy Church." Ten days afterwards he fell mortally wounded during the Garibaldian disturbance in Rome. When the white-headed father arrived, it was too late to see either son alive, but he was instantly received by the Pope. The sovereign tried to fasten on his breast the order of the Piano, but was blinded by his tears. Maria, the sister of Diodato and Emmanuel, came between the two weeping old men, and, guiding the hand of the Pope, fastened the decoration on the breast of her father. The writer concludes by representing the ladies of the house hereafter as pointing out to their little ones the glove, the sword, the fatal ball, and other relics, the victor palm and the exulting angels, and saying, "Their souls are in paradise, lovely and resplendent, and are interceding for us. Children, kneel down and pray to God that none of our family may degenerate from the example of Diodato and Emmanuel Dufournel!"

Bishop Senestrey, of Regensburg, known as a pupil of the Jesuits and an ardent Ultramontane, made a speech at Schwandorf, which has not yet been forgotten in Bavaria, and was soon heard of in other parts of Germany. He said--

We Ultramontanes cannot yield. The antagonism can have no issue
but in war and revolution. A peaceable settlement is not possible.
Who makes your temporal laws? We observe them only because a force
stands behind which compels us. True laws come from God only.
Princes themselves reign by the grace of God, and when they have
no longer a mind to do so, I shall be the first to overturn the
throne.[144]

To the Germans, who were just rising to a consciousness of their unity, the threats of breaking them up again were cruel, especially when coming from within. "The foreigner," said Sepp, "has always counted on the internal splits in the German oak, to drive in his wedge, and rend us to pieces."

The scorn with which talk of recognizing Italy was treated at this proud moment, may be judged from the words of the _Unitá_ for January 27, in an article headed, _Dying with Italy or Living with the Pope_. The Marquis de Moustier, it remarks, having promised to study a _modus vivendi_, proposed by Menabrea, was seized by mortal illness. In a similar way Morny, Wallewsky, Petri, and Billault were struck with death, by urgent study of means for making revolution live side by side with the Pope.

Parliamentary government, hateful everywhere, was viewed as monstrous in Italy. The _Civiltá_ cannot "accurately study" the proceedings in Florence, because of "the ineffable weariness, the disgust, the disdain with which the mind is seized, on reading those speeches, often vulgar, and running over with sophism and effrontery."[145] It proceeds to say that the famous boons of 1789, _liberty of worship_, _liberty of meeting_, _liberty of the Press_, and _liberty of instruction_, led in practice "to the triumph of irreligion, to the tyranny of the State, to unbridled licence in handling through the Press the most sacred and inviolable rights, and to the barbarizing of the young by more infamous ignorance." Yet, at the same time, it records with satisfaction efforts of its own friends to obtain liberty of instruction, after their ideal; that is, the State giving up to the priest the control of what is taught to its subjects with its own money.

The _Civiltá_ gloried in the disappearance of the Liberal Catholic priests, utterly extinguished, as it held, by the Syllabus and by the prospect of the Council. There might still linger some slight remnant of Liberal Catholics among the laity. But Catholics in Italy were now to be noted for their hope, their joy, and their perfect withdrawal from political life. They were no more to be found seeking situations from the government, but were all ardently drawing close to Pius IX. Since he uttered the "prophetic word," Let us wait upon events, above all since the Council was summoned, they had betaken themselves to pious works and to waiting on the hand of the Almighty.[146]

In the same publications which struggled against unity of nations, the loss of another unity was bitterly deplored. "Catholic unity" in Spain, hitherto existing by law, alas! exclaims the _Stimmen_, exists in fact no longer. By religious unity is meant the state of things which forbids men to worship God except under direction of the Pope. Massimo D'Azeglio exclaimed as to Italy, Religious unity is the only unity we have left. We should say, No wonder!

The attempt to place the unity of Christians not in faith in Christ and manifestation of His spirit, but in subjection to one human being, has had just the same results as had the attempt to place the unity of mankind in obedience to one sovereign, treating all who did not yield as enemies. Human unity is larger and nobler than one throne will ever shadow, and so is Christian unity. The lust of uniformity that erected the Inquisition, fettered the Press, sentenced free opinion and free speech to death, reformed the Decalogue, and laid bonds upon the Bible, has never given a nation rest, and has only been an endless source of division and scepticism. Azeglio, in the same breath in which he speaks of this "unity," calls Italy "the ancient land of doubt," where even at the time of the Reformation people thought little of Rome and nothing of Geneva. And the _Stimmen_ says that those Spaniards who had broken down "religious unity" were "not Protestants but sceptics."[147] So that in both Italy and Spain the result of that uniformity which is no unity, was scepticism in religion and decay in politics.

To the race the bond of unity lies in a common Father, and to the Church in a common Lord. In the one case and in the other the maintenance of unity consists not in putting down variations, but in treating them with brotherly regard.

Very great political significance was lent by all the Papal Press to festivities in honour of the Pope's fiftieth year of priesthood. The demonstrations of devotion to him at this moment were fervent and grand, and the supplies of money laid at his feet were immense. Great care was taken by the _Civiltá_ to ridicule the idea of the _Opinione_ that these manifestations had nothing to do with politics. On the contrary, cried the leaders of the "good Press," humanity, bewildered and almost in despair, was hastening to the feet of the only deliverer. All society needed a saviour, as every rational creature knew. "The Pontiff is now almost alone in the world, the representative of truth, justice, and good sense." And hence, the poor world, swimming in error, fraud and absurdity--"the world sees in Pius IX a true master, a true judge, a true sovereign, and it cleaves to him as the bulwark of society." The Syllabus suffices to prove that the Pope alone declares the truth: "the Syllabus which burst like a thunderbolt out of a serene sky, both illuminated and blasted." The nations seem to be saying, To whom _should we go_, but to the Supreme Pastor of the Christian flock?--_thou hast the words of eternal life_. Pius IX, by rejecting the counsels of the prudent, "now has become morally the strongest support of order in the world, so that those who have fallen, and those who wish not to follow them, lean upon him." And not only so, but the

new queen of the world, Public Opinion, is now altogether in favour
of the Roman Pontiff, and protects and saves him, almost of herself
alone, against every violence and every intrigue, so that it now
may almost be said that all those in the world who are not with
Pius IX from love are with him by force (VII. vi. pp. 310-11).

The writer then goes on to argue that the people can never understand how one and the same person can have two consciences, one as a constitutional king and the other as a man. This, however, is a necessary condition of a constitutional king, but it is not the case in the Pontifical States, where nobody would ever suppose such a condition of things possible.

The Pope has only one conscience, and neither majority nor
universality of votes and suffrages would ever lead him to sanction
that which is contrary to morality, to justice, to equity, and to
the well understood interests of his subjects and of the flock. The
Pope can say with truth, "Although all, not I"; and on this account
the eyes and the hearts of all in the world who hate fictions and
impostures, and who love truth and rectitude, are turned to the
Pope thus reigning and governing (p. 312).

We make no attempt to inquire how many consciences a Pope may have. The _Civiltá_ contends that he cannot have more than one. We have heard Romans contend that one is above the number. Liverani (p. 140), alluding with much personal respect to Father Mignardi, the Jesuit confessor of Cardinal Antonelli, who, though not Pope, had much to do with the perfect model of government above commended, evidently thinks that a director of Antonelli's conscience held a sinecure. He asserts that no one knew that his Eminence had a conscience till April 2, 1860, when he declared the fact in a despatch to Count Cavour! And this is the language of a prelate!

The more distant prelates were already bidding their flocks farewell. The Bishop of Montreal, in doing so, cited the example of the valorous Canadian youths, who had enrolled themselves among the zouaves to defend the Pope at the cost of their blood, exhorting his clergy with similar courage to contend against the errors pointed out by the Pope.[148] From Jerusalem five priests wrote to announce that they would commence a concert of prayer, on the slopes of Calvary: 1. For the happy result of the Council; 2. For the union of the Oriental schismatics; 3. For the conversion of erring priests. At the same time that it announces this fact, the _Civiltá_, quoting from the _Tablet_, says that in Russia, "under the appearance of _external unity_, there is great division of religious sects"; and that there is some desire for union with Rome.[149]

In June 1869 the Catholics of Coblentz presented an address to the Bishop of Trêves, protesting against the innovations proposed by the _Civiltá Cattolica_, and suggesting reforms in a spirit contrary to that of the Syllabus. Great interest was excited by the warm adhesion of Count Montalembert to the address. His services, both to the spiritual and temporal power, had been conspicuous. He was now in the grip of a mortal disease. France will always respect his piety and his genius, but she will increasingly have cause to deplore the direction of his influence, as the slow but sure results of priestly power in education develop themselves.

"Twice within the last few weeks," he writes, "have I touched the brink of the grave." So he feels that he may speak of this world as one whose personal interest in it is as nought.

Speaking of the address, he says: "I cannot express how much I have been moved and charmed by that glorious manifesto, flowing from the reason and conscience of Catholics.... At last I seemed to hear a manly and a Christian tone, amid the declamations and adulations wherewith we are deafened." He would have signed "every line" of it, but he felt somewhat humbled that it did not proceed from French Catholics, with whose antecedents it would have harmonized, as well as with those convictions which made them, in the early part of this century, the champions of religious liberty on the Continent.[150]

It was hard for the Jesuits to own that Montalembert stood in their path, to be pitilessly struck down. For the present they tried to reason. Like him, many, especially in Belgium, had imbibed the conviction that civil and religious liberty were good in themselves, and might be made to work favourably for the Church, which they thought incurred great danger by setting herself in opposition to both, and by using her spiritual engines for the overthrow of constitutional government. Such men argued that the perfect liberty existing in England, the United States, and Belgium had many advantages for the Church.

To reasoning of this sort the _Stimmen aus Maria Laach_ replied by first of all uttering encomiums on religious liberty, and also on those excellent Catholics who favoured it, thinking it might prove best for the Church. But though this view of the case had its noble aspects, there was another side to it. Experience proved that under such a system the losses of the Church were deplorable. Not to speak of Europe, the case of the United States would suffice. As much as thirty years ago, Bishop England, of Charleston, had said that whereas the Catholics ought to have six millions of the population, they really had less than two. And this terrible loss was aggravated at the present day, for considering the enormous immigration of Catholics and the addition of Mexican territory in the meantime, they ought now to number fifteen millions; but in fact they did not dare to claim more than six. A good authority had showed that the Church lost more souls in the State of Wisconsin in a single year, than she gained in the whole Union. The loss among the children of the Irish was greater than among those of the Germans. This the writer attributes to "the pestiferous air" of non-denominational schools, and complains that the system prevailing in America deprives children of a well-ordered and continuous Catholic education, such as would protect them, among other dangers, from the necessity of learning English.[151]

This anxiety to keep up the German tongue in America illustrates the cry raised in the German Press against that tongue being put out of the schools, both in Posen and in the Tyrol. "Liberty of instruction" had been so used that whole districts, once speaking German, had been educated into the use of Polish in the one case, and of Italian in the other. In both these countries the same reason which in America made it desirable for Rome to keep up German, turned the other way. In America, the German tongue would enclose a people, in the heart of the country, walled off and apart from the nation. In the other cases, that tongue would be a channel connecting the people with the ebb and flow of the national mind. Even a comparatively small population, kept well in hand, inaccessible to the common thought, and ready to obey every touch of the leaders, may be made a formidable political power. Had Wales been in the hand of Rome![152]

Among the causes of chagrin to Montalembert would be a recent article in the _Civiltá_, directed against the Liberal Catholics by name, and plainly meant to thwart any influence with which they might have hoped to approach the Council. A pamphlet being taken as a text, the positions of the Liberal Catholics are stated, as--1. That modern nations deserve more liberty than ancient ones; 2. That liberty of worship should be conceded, as now inevitable; 3. That "the distinction between Church and State" is not now to be got rid of, and has its advantages; 4. That Catholics ought to avail themselves of all liberties. On the first point it is replied that modern society has made only material progress, but gone back in faith and morals, and therefore deserves not more liberty than ancient society, but less. On the second point, resenting an allusion of the Liberal Catholic to the fact that Pius IX had himself granted a constitution at the opening of his reign, the _Civiltá_ alleges, first, that it was conceded _in circumstances of imperious necessity_; and, secondly, that it was free from the essential faults which would deservedly brand it as Liberal--"it lacked the criminal principles of liberty of worship, of the Press, and of meeting." Moreover, it issued in the exile of the Prince, "which seems to be the inevitable result of modern constitutions." So the Pontiff was obliged to revoke it, and to condemn it to oblivion.

The Liberal Catholic writer had quoted passages, even from Jesuits, to prove that it was lawful for princes, in given circumstances, to tolerate liberty of worship. Certainly, replies the _Civiltá_, it is lawful to tolerate it, if imperious circumstances render it necessary in order to avoid a greater evil. But that is one thing, and admitting liberty of worship as a principle is another. "What meaning have the words of the present Pontiff when he declares that liberty of conscience and of worship is madness, and the pest of the nations?" What did he mean when he condemned President Comonfort for admitting religious liberty into Mexico? Did Gregory XVI and Pius IX talk to the middle ages? Did they tell the present generation what was suitable or not suitable for the middle ages? Catholics may not be able to change the state of things where liberty of worship already exists, but it is in their power to prevent its entrance where it does not, and to demonstrate its criminality, and its moral and social balefulness. As to Catholics availing themselves of all liberties, that idea is no patent of _Liberal_ Catholics. Of course Catholics avail themselves of all liberties of which they can make use. But to take part in the elections of a kingdom like that of Italy, formed by iniquity, and binding up in itself a perpetual sacrilege, is impossible. The words of the Bull which hurled an excommunication against king and people, are paraded, and the unfortunate Liberal Catholic is reminded that those words apply to _adherents_ of the spoliation.[153]

A London correspondent of the _Civiltá_ told how the journals had at first affected to ignore the Council, but now began to speak of it. The Anglo-Catholic party were discussing projects of union, and he gives an account of a meeting for that purpose, not naming time or place, but making the Rev. Edward Urquhart prominent. It is said, he adds, that one bishop will go to the Council; and the Ritualists think that many of their party will do so. There is much cause for hope. Some persons of high station have publicly said that they would submit to the Council, and many say so privately. They do not feel safe in Anglicanism.

The prelate who replaced the Bishop of Montreal in his absence, delivered an address, from which the _Civiltá_ repeats these words, that Pius IX had a mission, and his mission was to recall, to confirm, and to defend in the world, the law of the "Most High," the essential principle of authority, and thus to "save at once both the Church and Society."[154] But as a while ago we heard of toasts in which the Pope, as universal king, was put before the national king, so now on British ground is held up to admiration the trophy of banners in the Church of St. Sulpice as the fairest tribute of "New France," as Canada is called. The flags of all the societies in Montreal, and also those of all nations, were gathered together "_in homage to the standard of Pius IX, to express the obedience of the Catholic nations to the supreme authority_."[155]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 142: _Acta_, p. 18. Freiburg edition, p. 62.]

[Footnote 143: _Cecconi_, p. 144.]

[Footnote 144: Menzel, _Jesuitenumtriebe_, p. 173.]

[Footnote 145: Serie VII. vol. vi. p. 234-5.]

[Footnote 146: Serie VII. vol. vi. pp. 226-27.]

[Footnote 147: _Neue Folge_, Heft iii. p. 75.]

[Footnote 148: _Civiltá_, Serie VII. vol. vi. p. 229.]

[Footnote 149: Ibid. p. 229.]

[Footnote 150: _Friedberg_, p. 88.]

[Footnote 151: _Stimmen_, _Neue Folge_, Heft iv. pp. 59, 60.]

[Footnote 152: Curious examples of this use of education are given by Menzel, _Jesuitenumtriebe_.]

[Footnote 153: Serie VII. vol. vi. pp. 445 ff.]

[Footnote 154: Vol. vi. p. 488.]

[Footnote 155: Ibid. p. 488.]