In a conversation which took place to-day between two leading men of the opposite parties, a Belgian and a Frenchman, the former said, “Je veux que l'on discute à fond tous les textes et tous les faits.” The Frenchman answered, “Je souffre de penser que le Saint Siége va être discuté et disséqué de la sorte!” That is, in truth, a serious anxiety. To begin with, no discussion among the Fathers can be dreamt of so long as the Council Hall in St. Peter's is kept to, for the speeches made there already for the most part were not understood at all, or only by very few. What is heard is waves of sound, not words and sentences. But even if at last a room better suited for human voices and ears is found, the question of Infallibility would never be submitted to a regular and really free discussion. How would the Romance majority of Spaniards and Italians, who are the slaves of the Curia but the masters of the Council, and whose whole intellectual outfit is based on the scholasticism of the seminaries—how would they receive it, if an audacious German or Frenchman were to throw the light of history and [pg 134] criticism on the rambling Infallibilist evidences of, e.g., a Perrone? What scenes should we witness! The offenders would be reduced to silence, not only by the throats but the feet of the majority.[30] Either the discussion will be broken off, when it is begun, or it will never be allowed to begin. And therefore so many favour the plan of acclamation; and it is related how Archbishop Darboy assured the Cardinal de Luca that such an attempt would be followed by the immediate departure and protest of a number of Bishops.[31]
Ninth Letter.
Rome, Jan. 9, 1870.—The Opposition has become exceedingly troublesome. The successive gradation of Roman judgments about it is noteworthy. First, it was said that the Council ran like a well-oiled machine; that all were of one mind, and only vied with each other in their devotion to the Supreme Head. Then the local correspondents of foreign papers reported that something which looked like opposition was manifesting itself, but it was a mere drop in the ocean. So said the London Tablet and Weekly Register. Next they allowed there was certainly an Opposition, but it was already demoralized, or, as Antonelli said, must speedily fall to pieces. In diplomatic circles it was said that they were good people enough, but one must wait a little till the impressions of Fulda had worn off, and they had imbibed the spirito Romano; “il leur faut deux mois de Rome, et tout le monde sera d'accord.” One [pg 136] month more, January, has to pass, and then in February conversions and desertions will begin. Meanwhile, Simor, Primate of Hungary, Tarnóczy of Salzburg, and Manning, are favourites for vacant Hats. It is hoped that the first will split up the harmony of the Hungarian Bishops, and bring over some with him as trophies into the Infallibilist camp.
Cardinals Schwarzenberg and Rauscher—that is now become perfectly clear—have not budged an inch; both of them feel thoroughly as Germans, and are nowise minded to desert, cowardly and despairing, into the great Romance camp. Schwarzenberg has circulated an excellently composed treatise, which speaks out very judiciously on the real needs of the Church, and certain reforms which are become urgently needed, and emphasizes the perversity shown in the demand for the Infallibilist dogma.[32] Cardinal Rauscher has [pg 137] done the same, and his treatise against Infallibility is now in circulation. Something more has occurred also: on the 2d of January, 25 Austrian and German Bishops, with Schwarzenberg at their head, subscribed a protest, drawn up by Haynald, Ketteler, and Strossmayer, which is said to have been read and talked over fifteen times before it gave entire satisfaction. They appeal to their inherent rights, not dependent on Papal grace, but on Divine institution; ready as they are to guard the rights of the Head, they must also demand that the rights of the members shall be preserved and respected; the forms and traditions of the Tridentine Synod should not be so far departed from. The tone of the document is dignified. Rauscher has not subscribed though he thoroughly agrees with it, it is said from considerations the force of which the other Prelates acknowledged. The petition handed in by 15 French Prelates for an alteration of the order of business the Pope has answered by a mere dry refusal. We shall soon see whether the Germans will meet with similar treatment; in the eyes of these Italians the most modest criticisms and demands are open rebellion. To many of the German and Hungarian Bishops even this Protest seemed too bold and audacious, and they [pg 138] have prepared another representation, with forty signatures, expressed in much more moderate terms. They entreat the Pope to be graciously pleased to allow them to inspect the stenographic reports, and to let the Bishops print their treatises on the questions laid before them without the censorship, for the information of their colleagues. Posterity will marvel at the humble submissiveness of these Bishops, and the wisdom of the Roman policy, which, after two years' preparation for the Council, provides a hall where all discussion is impossible, and furthermore prohibits the Bishops from inspecting the stenographic reports of their own speeches.
Some ten of the leading Bishops of different nations have formed themselves into an International Committee, so as not, for the future, to ask concessions of the Pope in the name of one nation only—the French or German. They wish that every Bishop should be admitted to speak in Congregation according to the order of inscription, irrespective of hierarchial rank or age, and that the speeches should be at once printed, and distributed to the Bishops before the next Session; and finally, that the Papal Commission for revising motions, which holds the whole Council in its hands, [pg 139] should be increased by the introduction of members freely elected. Some further requisitions which I am not acquainted with are said to be added.
Against these things, which make the Pope very irritable, two principal remedies are adopted. In the first place, an attempt is made to prevent any number of Bishops meeting together, either by direct prohibition or by announcing the displeasure of the supreme authority against those who take part in such separate deliberations, which are said to be revolutionary. And next, the Bishops are worked upon individually, and every one is watched and taken stock of, on the assumption that everybody has his price, if one could only discover what it is. Two examples of this may be cited here. One of the most distinguished German Bishops, who is free from the usual clerical vanity, and could neither be bought with titles nor with the cut or colour of a vestment, was quite lately accosted by the Pope—in full consciousness of his Vicarship of Christ—with the question, asked in the most affectionate tone, “Amas me?” What inference was attached to an affirmative answer need not be specified. The other case occurred somewhat earlier. Lavigerie, Bishop of Nancy, came to Rome coveting some striking mark [pg 140] of distinction. It seemed worth while to bind him closer to the Curia, and so an article of ecclesiastical dress was hit upon, which he and no other Bishop of the Western Church was to wear. It was called a superhumeral, and is described as a somewhat broader stole, thrown over the shoulders, and adorned with fringes, with two maniples of the shape of shields hanging down from it. The effect is said to have been enormous, and of course since then Mgr. Lavigerie is a profoundly convinced Infallibilist. “C'est avec de hochets qu'on mène les hommes,” said the first Napoleon; but it moves one's pity to look at Bishops who let themselves be led by the nose by these childish toys.
Very instructive considerations may be formed here on the representation of particular nations and national Churches at the Council. Frenchmen and Germans must practise themselves in the virtues of humility and modesty, and learn how insignificant they are in the Catholic Church, in all that concerns doctrine and legislation. There is the diocese of Breslau, with 1,700,000 Catholics, but its Bishop has not been chosen for any single Commission, while the 700,000 inhabitants of the present Roman States are represented by 62 Bishops, and the [pg 141] Italians form half or two-thirds in every Commission. For the Kingdom of God, wherein the least is greater than John and all the Prophets, lies, as is well known, between Montefiascone and Terracina, and whoever first saw the light in Sonnino, Velletri, Ceccano, Anagni, or Rieti, is predestinated from the cradle “imperio regere populos.” It is true the 62 Bishops of this chosen land and people have not succeeded in restoring the most moderate standard of morality in their little towns and villages; there are still whole communities and districts notoriously in league with brigands—but the Council has no call to trouble itself with matters of that sort. There are the Archbishops of Cologne with 1,400,000, of Cambray with 1,300,000, and of Paris with 2,000,000 Catholics, but any four of the 62 Neapolitan and Sicilian Bishops can out-vote these Bishops with their 5,000,000 Catholics at their back. Thus the 12,000,000 Catholics of Germany Proper are represented at this Council by fourteen votes. Their relative positions may be expressed in this way: in Church matters twenty Germans count for less than one Italian. And should a German indulge any fancy that his nation, with its numerous theological High Schools, and its learned theologians, might reasonably [pg 142] claim some weight at a Council, he only need come here to be cured at once of that notion. There is not in all Italy one single real Theological Faculty, except in Rome; Spain gets on equally without any higher theological school or any theology; yet here at the Council some hundreds of Italians and Spaniards are masters, and are the appointed teachers of doctrine and dictators of faith for all nations belonging to the Church.
Count Terenzio Mamiani has lately observed, in the Nuova Antologia, published at Florence, that in Italy there are not so many religious books printed in half a century as appear in England or North America (or Germany) in one year. And we must remember too that the theological literature published in Tuscany and Lombardy might almost be called copious in comparison with the nearly absolute sterility of the States of the Church. Here in Rome you may find a lottery dream-book in almost every house, but never a New Testament, and extremely seldom any religious book at all. It seems as though it were a recognised principle that, the more ignorant a people, the greater must be the share their hierarchy have in the government of the Church. And thus we have the question of nationalities within the bosom of the Church. Everything done here is but [pg 143] the expression of one idea and the means to one end, and this idea and end are that the spiritual domination of the Italians over the other nations, especially over the Germans and French, should be extended and confirmed. Above a hundred Spaniards have come from both sides of the ocean to let themselves be used as instruments of the Italians at the Council. They have no thought, or will, or suggestion of their own for the good of the Church. It is difficult to form a notion of the ignorance of these Latins in all historical questions, and their entire want of that general cultivation which is assumed with us as a matter of course in a priest or bishop. And up to this time I have always found here that the predilection for the Infallibilist theory is in precise proportion to the ignorance of its advocates. It has been deemed necessary still further to help on this immense numerical superiority, and so the Pope, as I am informed, has appointed during the two years since the proclamation of the Council 89 Bishops in partibus, whose flocks are in the moon or in Sirius.