"CONSILIUM DELECTORUM CARDINALIUM."

(Vol. ix., pp. 127. 252.)

I have before me a copy of this very interesting document, together with an Epistole Joannis Sturmii de eadem re, ad Cardinales cæterosque viros ad eam Consultationem delectos, printed at Strasburg ("ex officina Cratonis Mylii Argentoraten.") A.D. 1538. The report of the Committee had reached Sturmius in the month of March, 1537-8; and his critique, addressed especially to Contarini, bears the date "tertio Non. Aprilis." As it is a somewhat scarce pamphlet, two or three extracts may not be unacceptable to the readers of "N. & Q."

"Rara res est et præter omnium opinionem oblata occasio, pontificem datum orbi talem, qui jurejurando fidem suorum sibi ad patefaciendam veritatem astrinxerit, ut si quid secus statuatis quam religio desideret vobis ea culpa non pontifici præstanda videatur."—C. 2.

"At si diligenter et cum fide agatis, vestra virtute, florentem Christi rempublicam conspiciamus; si negligenter et cupide, ut cujus rei adhuc reliquiæ nonnullæ supersunt, illæ continuo ita tollantur, simul ac calumniari ac male agere ceperitis, ut ne vestigia quidem ullius sanctitatis apud vestras quidem partes posteris nostris appareant."—C. 4.

He then passes to other topics, where he has to deplore the little sympathy evinced by the Cardinals for Luther and his party, e.g. on the subject of indulgences:

"Quid de illa ratione quam pœnitentibus præscribitis, nonne falsa, nonne perversa, nonne ad quæstum magis et ad tyrannidem quam ad vitæ emendationem, et correctionem spectans? Et qui remedia contra hos morbos quærunt, eos vos ea ecclesia ejiciendos putatis, et condemnatis hæreseos, qui restituere pristinam puritatem religioni conantur; eos illam tollere, qui ceremonias purgare, eos perflegare qui auctoritatem ecclesiasticam recuperare atque confirmare, eos imminuere et labefactare clamatis."—D. 4.

Charles Hardwick.

Had Mr. Woodward's remarks come sooner under notice, they should have received, as well deserving, a quicker reply. It is in one sense rather annoying that he should have mistaken so widely the publication under question, and spent so much time in confirming what few, if any, now doubt, of the Papal origin of the Consilium Delectorum Cardinalium. (See Gibbings' Preface to his Reprint of the Roman Index Expurgatorius, p. xx.) The title of the tract (so to speak) commonly attributed to the same quarter, but the justice of which is questioned, is, Consilium quorundam Episcoporum Bononiæ congregatorum, quod de ratione stabiliendæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Julio III. P.M. datum est. This is the Consilium to which Mr. Woodward's attention should have been confined; and which he will find in the same volume of Brown's Fasciculus, to which he has referred me on the real Consilium, pp. 644-650. It appears in English also, translated by Dr. Clagett, in Bishop Gibson's Preservative, vol. i. p. 170. edit. 8vo.; and is also included (a point to be noticed) in the single volume published of Vergerio's Works, Tubingen, 1563.[[3]]

Mr. Woodward has no doubt frequently met, in Protestant authors, with the quotation from this supposed Bologna Council (Consilium being taken for Concilium), recommending that as little as possible of the Scriptures should be suffered to come abroad among the vulgar, that having proved the grand source of the present calamities. Now the very air of this passage, and of course of many others rather less disguised, is of itself sufficient to prove that this Bologna Council is a piece of banter; the workmanship, in fact, of Peter Paul Vergerio. Would any real adherent of Rome so express himself? "N.& Q." (Vol. ix., p. 111.) supplies a ready answer, in the communication from F. C. H. on the so-called Catholic Bible Society.

Would a real adherent of the Papal Church again express himself in the following unimpassioned manner?

"Nam Apostolorum temporibus (ut verum tibi fateamur, sed silentio opus est) vel aliquot annis post ipsos Apostolos, nulla vel Papatus, vel Cardinalatus mentio erat, nec amplissimos illos reditus Episcopatuum et Sacerdotiorum fuisse constat, nec templa tantis sumptibus extruebantur, &c.: æstimet ergo tua sanctitas quam male nobiscum ageretur, si nostro aliquo fato in pristinam paupertatem humilitatem et miseram illam servitutem ac potestatem alienam redigendi essemus!"

Again:

"Deinde ubi Episcopi Sacerdotum palmas tantum inungunt, jube illos internam atque externam manum, ad hæc caput ipsum et simul totam faciem perungere. Nam si tantulum illud oleum sanctificandi vim habet, major certe olei quantitas majorem quoque sanctificandi vim obtinebit."

To be sure! Who can doubt it?

Mr. Woodward will, I apprehend, readily agree that these sentences come from no one connected with the Roman Church. And they are quoted in the hope that Protestants will cease to cite this supposed Bologna Council as any valid or genuine testimony to Romish proceedings and sentiments.

Novus.

Footnote 3:[(return)]

See an account of him in M‘Crie's Hist. of the Reformation in Italy, pp. 77. 115. &c.