EESE LIBRA
RSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
N
W&r/
• • f
THE GROWTH
OF
THE TEMPORAL POWER
OF THE
PAPACY.
THE GROWTH
OF
THE TEMPORAL POWER
OF THE
PAPACY
A HISTORICAL REVIEW, WITH OBSERVATIONS
UPON THE « COUNCIL OF THE VATICAN 1
BY
ALFRED OWEN LEGGE
PASSIAMO PRESTO, E SULLA PUNTA DEI PIEDI, QUEL MACCHIO DI FIMO
E DI SANGUE CHE SI CHIAMA PAPATO.'— Guerrazzi.
(university)
macmillan and co.
1870
[All rights reserved]
OXFORD:
BY T. COMBE, M.A., E. B. GARDNER, E. P. HALL, AND H. LATHAM, M. A.
PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY.
iu>(
TO
MY MOTHER,
THE TEACHER OF MY YOUTH,
THE TRIED AND FATTHFUL COUNSELLOR
OF RIPER YEARS,
I DEDICATE
WITH PROFOUND AND REVERENT LOVE
MY FIRST ESSAY
IN LITERATURE.
&<?^S-/
UNIVERSITY
California
PREFACE.
The present volume has no pretensions to be a History of the
Papacy. That great subject, as a whole, has been ably dealt with
by numerous writers ; the separate aspect which is here presented,
and which possesses a special interest at the present time, has not,
so far as I am aware, received that adequate but concise treat-
ment which I have felt to be a want in popular literature. With
great diffidence I have ventured to attempt to fill this gap.
The reader will therefore not find here much that he would
naturally look for in a History of the Papacy. That history,
prolific in characters uniting with every degree of intellectual
power the most degrading vices or the most sublime piety, has
been the subject of occasional side glimpses ; the main object
proposed being to present, in a succinct form, the processes by
which the primogenial simplicity and unworldliness of the early
Christian Church have been exchanged, under the fatal influence
of a worldly ambition, for a corrupt and idolatrous faith, a tem-
poral sovereignty, and a lordship over the human conscience
which grows with the advancing years.
I do not affect to be unacquainted with what early or modern
writers have contributed to history on this subject. Here and
there I have drawn freely upon these valuable resources. But in
every case where the conclusions of other writers have been
accepted I have, where unacknowledged in the usual way, at-
tempted to express opinions so adopted in phraseology of my
own, and claim the credit at least of independent thought and a
fair amount of industrious research. Materials for my work have
been gathered from various sources, most of them readily ac-
cessible. I desire, however, to make special acknowledgment
of the courteous assistance which I have received on several
occasions from the gentlemen in attendance at the Reading
Room of the British Museum. Notwithstanding this valuable
assistance, I have found not a little of the labour of my work to
Vlll PREFACE.
consist in extensive reading, which has only been ascertained to
be useless after the labour has been performed.
It is with a feeling of diffidence, approaching to awe, that I
now offer the results of my reading to the public. A careful
endeavour to avoid diffuseness in the narration of familiar pas-
sages of history has consciously exposed me to the danger of
superficiality. In so far as this danger has been avoided, the
directness and compression at which I have aimed will, I believe,
be appreciated in this intensely practical age.
The rapid march of events in connection with the so-called
(Ecumenical Council might induce me to modify some of the
opinions expressed respecting this remarkable phenomenon ; but
where the scene changes so unexpectedly from day to day, I have
felt it imprudent to postpone the publication for the sake of a
more confident exposition of what is, after all, a subsidiary inci-
dent of my narrative. The question of the Fall of the Papacy is
indeed one of the very deepest import ; but though it may be
precipitated by the event which Pope Pius I X believes ordained
of God for its full development and glory, the real causes of its
decay have been long in operation, and can neither be eradicated
nor greatly aggravated by the foregone conclusions of an assem-
bly, however august, without freedom of debate or power of
administration, and sworn to ratify the decisions of him who
' alone receives the plenitude of power neither from the Apostles,
nor from Councils, but immediately from Christ ! '
A. O. L.
Fakenham Grove, Patricroft,
March 19, 1870.
(university)
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The subject stated. Dual nature of government. Temporal sovereignty
coveted by the Pontiffs. On the titles ' Pope ' and ' Pontiff.' Abolition
of the right of popular election of the Roman Pontiff. Foundation
of the Christian Church in Rome. Relics of St. Peter. The title and
office of Bishop. And of Clergy. Origin of the Surplice. Renuncia-
tion of secular avocations by the Clergy. The Primacy of St. Peter
unknown to the early Church. The Bishops of Rome advance their
claims to supremacy. .Spread of Chris1,ianity. Baptism of Constantine.
The first Christian Church a Basilica. Gifts and legacies to the State
religion receive legal sanction. The Church enriched at the cost of.
right and justice. Ulterior objects of the Bishops of Rome in the acqui-
sition of landed estates. Struggle for supremacy between the rival
Churches of Rome, Alexandria, and Constantinople. Traditional han-
kering after territorial sovereignty revived in Gregory the Great. Decay-
ing power of the Byzantine Empire In Italy. Recognition of the
supremacy of the Roman. Pontiff by the Emperor Phocas. The Incono-
clastic Controversy. Gregory II withdraws his allegiance from the
Emperor,, .and is elected by the Romans to be their temporal ruler.
Enters into "alliance with the Frankish Kings. Pepin subdues the
Lombards and transfers the conquered territories to the successors of
St. Peter. Papal prerogatives imperfectly defined. The alleged dona-
tions of Constantine p. i
CHAPTER II.
The political influence of the Pontiff extended on the assumption by
Charlemagne of the Imperial dignity. The Synod of Frankfort. The
Decretal Epistles. Calamities supervening upon the dismemberment of
the Empire. Degradation of the Papacy. Otho the Great employs
measures to secure his legitimate control over the election of the
Roman Pontiff. Commencement of the struggle between the Empire
and the Papacy. Deposition of JohnXII. Conflicting claims of the
Emperor and the Pope. Effects uporTtlie Papacy of the destruction of
the Carlovingian Dynasty. JnjrnJfc-YJ contests with Hugh Capet the
superiority of the Pope over a Council. Dissensions'ln Rome. Dis-
cordant claims of Pope and Emperor. Hildgbrand resolves to free the
Popedom from its subordination to the Empire. Persuades Leo IX to
submit the validity of his claim to the Tiara to the free decision of the
CONTENTS.
Romans. Effects an alliance with the Goths. Transfers the right of Papal
election to the College of Cardinals. Elected Pope. Henry IV takes
umbrage at the election of Hildebrand. Grounds of hostility between
the Emperor and the Pope. The Celibacy of the Clergy. The right of
Investiture. Results of the contest. Death p£ G reg ory VII. Summary
of his services to the Papacy. The CoiMtess Matilda. Urban II, a.d.
1088. Cripples the power of the Emperor in Italy . "'"". — ' p. 28
CHAPTER III.
Urban II and the Crusades. Urban continues the controversy re-
specting the right of Investiture. Calixtus H I. The Concordat of
Worms. Issue of the controversy. The territorial sovereignty of the
Popes called in question, Adrian IV . The development of the spiritual
Power of the Papacy synchronizes with the decay of the temporal
Power. Renewal of the struggle with the Empire. Triumph of Pope
Ale x a nder I H, Condition of the Papacy at the accession of T pnnr.pnt J TT.
His imperious policy, and its effects upon the status of the political
Papacy. Innocent III was the practical founder of the Papal States.
Disputed succession to the Imperial throne. Innocent excommunicates
the Emperor Otho. Death of Innocent. Establishment of the Inquisi-
tion. The prolonged struggle for supremacy destructive of the power
alike of Pope and Emperor. Rudolph elected Emperor, a.d. 1273.
His policy towards Rome. Surrenders the disputed bequests of the
Countess Matilda. New era in the history of Papal claims. Independ-
ence of the Empire acquired by the Papacy destructive of the ancient
and imposing theory of Church and State. The free Republics of Italy
a thorn in the side of the Papacy. Schism of the Eastern Church.
Disorders in Rome. Quadruple struggle for the sovereignty of Rome.
The administrative system of the Papal Court. Guelphs and Ghibellines.
The Power of the Papacy extended by the recognition of its right of
arbitrament in the feuds by which Italy was torn. Curious complica-
tions attending the elevation of Prince Charles to the Sicilian throne.
The 14th and 15th centuries undistinguished in the political annals of
the Papacy p. 47
CHAPTER IV.
Character of Boniface VIII . His quarrel with Philip IV. Benedict
XI, a.d. 1303. His death by poison. Philip IV secures the election of
Bernard de Got, who assumes the title of Clement V, His subserviency
to Philip. Transfer of the Papal residence to Avignon Clement grants
Philip a tithe of the Church property in France. The contest for
supremacy revived on the accession of Henry VII. Growing power of
the Church. The Diet at Frankfort, a.d. 1338, disallows her presump-
tuous claims. Consequences of the abandonment of Rome by the Popes.
Gregory VI returns to Rome, a.d. 1376. St. Catherine of Sienna.
Character of the Pontiffs of the 14th century. Insurrection in Rome on
the death of Gregory XI. State of the city. Contrasted with Imperial
Rome. The populace demand the election of an Italian Pontiff.
Urban VI. Clement VII, Anti-Pope. Commencement of the Great
Schism. Distraction of Christendom. The dawn of light . p. 65
CONTENTS. XI
CHAPTER V.
The 15th century a transition period. Impatience of Europe at the
prolonged Schism. Council of Pisa. Three rival Popes. Council of
Constance, a.d. 1414. Purpose of Sigismund in convening the Council.
Its imperfect realization. Widespread infidelity. Immorality of the
Clergy. The Church brought back under one Head. Character of
Martin V. Declares the supremacy of the Pope over a Council. Enters
Rome in triumph, a.d. 1421. The imperious assumptions of Martin re-
open the controversy respecting the Papal supremacy over a General
Council. The Council of" Basle, a.d. 1431, asserts the supremacy of a
Council. Deposition of Eugenius IV. Eugenius summons a rival Council
at Ferrara. And transfers it to Florence. The Byzantine Emperor
declares in favour of the Council of Florence Disingenuous conduct of
the Pope. Altercations with the Greek Clergy. Equivocal union of the
Eastern and Western Churches. Universal recognition of the supre-
macy of the Roman Pontiff. Proceedings of the Council of Basle. The
Tiara offered to Amadeus the Ex-Duke of Savoy. Who takes the title of
Felix V. The last Schism. Felix V. resigns the Tiara. The Schism
healed. Pretensions of the Pontiffs. Exaltation of the Papacy under
Nicholas V. Failure of the Council of Basle to promote ecclesiastical
reforms. The Pontiffs of the 15th century . . . . p. 80
CHAPTER VI.
Decrepitude of the Papacy. The Church presents the only medium
for intellectual distinction. Rising resentment of her lordship over the
human conscience. Julius II, a.d. 1503, resuscitates the waning glory of
the Papacy. His absorbing patriotism. Political complications. The
Council of Pisa. The Holy League. The Council of the Lateran.
Reconciliation of Julius with Louis XII. The League of Cambray.
Vicissitudes of the Venetian Republic. The treachery of Julius towards
Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara. Complex character of the Pontiff . p. 98
CHAPTER VII.
Leo X, a.d. 1513. His ambitious projects, Popularity with the
Romans. Charles V abolishes the practice of rendering homage to
the Pontiff. The Reformation. The nepotism of the Popes the chief
hindrance to the consolidation of the Papal Power. Unfavourable influ-
ence upon the national aspirations of the division of Italy into numerous
petty States. Decline of the Imperial authority in Italy. Inherent
weakness of the Papacy. Clement VII glories in the humiliation of
Italy. Spread of the Reformed Faith. The Holy Alliance. The Sack
of Rome. The Treaty of Cambray. Coronation of Charles V. The
temporal sovereignty of the Pope confirmed. Disputes concerning
Parma and Placentia. Italy again the theatre of War. Paul IV refuses
to recognise the succession of Ferdinand to the Imperial throne. Sup-
ports the French in attacking Naples. Ambitious projects of the
Guizes. Alva at the Gates of Rome. Blind superstition of Philip II. He
tTNIVERsi'j
Xll CONTENTS.
falters at the threatened exercise of the spiritual Powers of the Church.
Restores the Cities taken from the Pontiff. Treaty of Cateau' Cambresis,
a.d. 1559. The Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Sixtus V a great tem-
poral Pope. His public works. And foreign policy. The liberty of
Italy extinguished. Decline of the Papal supremacy in Europe. Sixtus V
mainly concerned for the aggrandizement of the spiritual power of
the Papacy. The Papacy not susceptible of reform . . p. in
CHAPTER VIII.
The annals of the Papacy during the seventeenth century barren of
political interest. Urban VIII, a.d. 1623-1644. His objection to the
Spanish marriage. Seeks the conversion of James I to the Catholic
faith. Threatening attitude of Spain and France. Richelieu in alliance
with the Huguenots. His treachery. Negotiates a peace with Spain.
Urban VIII unites the two Powers in a league against England. The
projected invasion. Buckingham commands the English Squadron. His
Assassination. Consequences to the Huguenots. The Due de Nevers
succeeds to the Crown of Mantua. Intriguing policy of Urban VIII.
The Thirty Years' War. Resuscitation of the struggle for supremacy
between the Empire and the Papacy. Pusillanimity of the leading
actors in this drama. Causes which led to the overthrow of the prepos-
terous claims of the Papacy. The Italian policy of Urban and its results.
His melancholy end. The Peace of Westphalia. Continued decay of
Papal power. The Gallican Church asserts its independence of Rome.
Indifference of Europe to the Papal Agony. The Peace of Utrecht. The
Quadruple Alliance. Limitation of the power of Austria in Italy.
Paramount influence of France in the States of the Church. Benedict XIV.
Clement XIV. Contrasted characteristics of the Pontiffs and the secular
rulers of Europe at the close of the eighteenth century. Voltaire, p. 132
CHAPTER IX.
The purpose of Napoleon in encouraging the spirit of revolt in the
Papal States. He threatens the overthrow of the Papal power. Obliges
Pius VI to purchase an ignominious peace. Dismemberment of the
Papal States and occupation of Rome by a French army. Further
humiliation of the Papacy. Pius VI taken prisoner. A Republic pro-
claimed in Rome. Death of Pius VI, a.d. 1799. The French driven
from Rome. Election of Pius VII. Brighter prospects. Napoleon re-
solves upon the restoration of a national religion in France. The ideas
of • religion ' entertained by the First Consul. Negotiations with Rome.
The Concordat. The Gallican Church, in its servility to Napoleon, for-
feits its vaunted liberties. Napoleon compels the Pope to sequestrate
the sees of the Bishops who rejected the civil constitution of the French
clergy. The way thus prepared for the extension of Ultramontanism.
Elation of the Pontiff at the conversion of France. Napoleon com-
mences preparations for his Coronation. Cardinal Consalvi opposes the
solicitations of Napoleon for the presence of the Pontiff. Napoleon is
too powerful to be thwarted. His ideas concerning the proper relation
of the Church to the State. The Coronation, December 2, 1804. Illu-
CONTENTS. Xlll
sions of the Pontiff. Disingenuous conduct of the Emperor. Asserts his
supremacy as Emperor of Rome. Threatens to deprive the Pope of his
temporal sovereignty. Dignified attitude of Pius VII. The forces of the
Emperor beleaguer Rome. Napoleon's reasons for postponing the occu-
pation of Rome. Formal annexation of the States of the Church to the
French Empire. Arrest of the Pontiff . . . . p. 150
CHAPTER X.
Napoleon offers Pius VII the appurtenances of a Court in the south
of France. The Pope, declining to hold intercourse with the sacrile-
gious monarch, is removed to Savona. And thence to Fontainebleau.
Rome is declared the second city of the French Empire. The object of
Napoleon in despoiling the Papacy of its temporal dominions. Universal
sympathy extended to the Pontiff. Effects of his rigorous treatment.
The Pope induced to sign the Concordat, whereby he formally renounced
his claims to temporal sovereignty. Napoleon's triumph. Pius VII
retracts his assent. The Emperor proposes his liberation. Napoleon's
downfall and abdication. Protestant Powers instrumental in the rein-
statement of the Pope in the territorial sovereignty. Enthusiastic recep-
tion of the Pontiff in Italy. His conciliatory disposition. Restoration
of the Papal territory. Grasping spirit of the Papacy exemplified in the
demands of Pius VII. Puerile demonstrations against the French in
Rome and Piedmont. Hatred of Napoleon shared by the allied Sove-
reigns and the petty rulers of Italy. Hence the restoration of the political
Papacy. Restoration of the Order of the Jesuits. And of the Holy Office
of the Inquisition. The States of the Church. Extension of the power
of Austria fatal to Italian freedom. Unlamented decline of Papal power.
Pius VII unequal to the emergencies of the times . '. p. 167
CHAPTER XIV
State of society in the Papal States under the recent Popes. Fatuitous
obstinacy of Gregory XVI in rejecting the counsel of the great Powers.
Disaffection of his subjects and consequent disorganization of society.
Election of Pius IX. A reforming Pontiff. Enthusiasm of the Romans.
The Priest before the King. The Council of State. Illusions dispelled.
Alienation of the advanced Liberals. The ' Moderates ' adhere to the
Pontiff. Piux IX a traitor to Italian freedom. Cardinal Anton elli.
Count Rossi. Flight of the Pope. The Republic proclaimed in Rome.
Rivalry for the honour of reinstating the Pope. The proffered assist-
ance of Piedmont declined. The distracted condition of Austria affords
Louis Napoleon the opportunity of securing the honour to France Ex-
cesses of Republican Demagogues at Leghorn. Antonelli's antipathy to
French intervention. General Oudinot disembarks his troops at Civita
Vecchia. Enters Rome on 29th of June, 1849. Return of Pius IX to
Rome. Disaffection of the people. Dependence of the Popedom upon
France. Growth of the Kingdom of Italy. Schemes of Napoleon
powerless against the contagion of the national sentiment. Invasion of
XIV CONTENTS.
H^»
the States of the Church. Garibaldi's lofty patriotism. Annexation of
the States of the Church to the Italian Kingdom. Aspromonte. The
Government of Pius IX wanting in all the elements of popularity.
Government by Ecclesiastics an anachronism in the nineteenth century.
Incompatible with the freedom and unity of Italy. Results of twenty
years' struggle with the Revolution. The temporal sovereignty not con-
ducive to the dignity of the Holy See, or to the interests of Catholic
Christendom p. 182
CHAPTER XII.
Injurious effects of the French occupation of Rome. The Pontifical
Sovereignty dependent upon French protection. Probable effects of the
loss of the temporal Power upon the Popedom itself. Increase of the
Papal armaments. The CEcumenical Council. The inordinate preten-
sions of the Papacy exhibit the danger to the peace and unity of Italy
involved in its prolonged existence as a temporal Power. The tenacious
grasp of temporal Sovereignty threatens the destruction of the Papacy.
Napoleon declared the temporal Power to be fatal to religion. M.
Rouher's ' Never.' Pius IX deposed by the French. Louis Napoleon
anxious to withdraw from the embarrassing position consequent upon
French intervention. Hostility of the Papacy to the enfranchisement of
the human mind. Its influence extended by its intolerant presumptions.
Based on the accepted principle of authority. Illustrated in the posi-
tion of Dr. Newman. And in the servility of the Catholic press.
Characteristics of the Roman Church. Credulousness of the Roman
Catholic laity. Increasing influence of the Papacy. How explained.
Romanism attractive to the morbid and the sentimental. The sufferings of
Pius IX have awakened a universal sympathy. Excesses of sympathy.
' Pius the Great.' The growth of Papal assumptions. Their probable
effect upon the Papacy. The Council. Objects of Pius IX in convening
a General Council. The 'brief and compendious rule.' Infallibility
claimed by Pius IX when elected Pope. And after his restoration in 1849.
Why, then, is a Council necessary to declare it ? Characteristics of the
ast Councils of the Church p. 198
CHAPTER XIII.
Considerations upon the Council. Its constitution. Devoid of
organic continuity with its predecessors. The early Councils. First
recognition of the infallibility of General Councils. Convened by the
Emperors. Co-equal rights of the Pope and the Episcopate. The
Council of Nicea. The attitude assumed by Constantine. The first
Council of Constantinople. The Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon.
The Quinisextine Council. The second Council of Nicea. The first
seven Councils summoned by the Emperors. Gradual usurpation of
the right by the Pope of Rome. The Council of Lyons. The second
Council of Constantinople. The Council of the Vatican not CEcumenical.
CONTENTS. XV
Essential conditions of (Ecumenicity. An CEcumenical Council 'has
become a chimera/ Protestants not invited. The invitations to the
Eastern Church. The verdict of posterity. Attitude assumed by the
lay Catholic Powers. Organizing of the Pope's opposition. The pro-
test of Austria against the 21 Canons. Count Daru's despatch. The
French claim to representation in the Council. Antonelli's reply.
Unanticipated protraction of the Council. Motives assigned for its
convocation. Their inadequateness — how explained. The theory of
Pius IX. Proceedings of the Council veiled in secresy. Parties in the
Council. Threatened secession. The preponderance of Italian bishops
a ground of protest. Analysis of the Council as a representative
assembly. Is the opposition ' melting like snow in the glance of Pio
Nono ? ' Anticipated docility of the Fathers not realized. Means
adopted to commit the bishops beforehand to the dogma of Papal
infallibility. Early indications of divergent opinions. And of resolute
opposition. Undaunted firmness of the Pope. Measures adopted for the
suppression of the opposition. The Anti-Infallibility address. Protest
of German and Hungarian bishops. One-half of the members of the
Roman Catholic Church represented by the opposition. Irritation of
the Pontiff. Desperate attempts of the Infalliblists to silence the oppo-
sition and recover lost ground. The Catholic world placed on the
defensive . . . p. 212
CHAPTER XIV.
Range of observations proposed. Unlimited pretensions of the
Roman Curia. Opinion of the Civilta Cattolica upon the validity
of civil laws contrary to the decrees of the Council. The dogma
of the Temporal Power. Its definition improbable. Its discussion
a strategical art of the Curia. The connection between the Tem-
poral and Spiritual Estate 'prescribed by the law of God.' The
assumption of the Virgin. The Syllabus. Remonstrances of Louis
Napoleon. Duple reply of Rome. The alleged consistency of the
Pope in adhering to the principles avowed in 1846. Will France
withdraw her claims to representation in the Council ? The Tablet^
on the claims of France. The propositions of the Syllabus designed
to secure to the Ultramontanes the retention of their present power.'
Papal Infallibility. Reason assigned for its definition. Spirit of inde-
pendence developing in the Council and in Catholic countries. Delusive
promises of freedom of debate. The Abbe Laborde. New regulations.
The Schema Constitutionis de Ecclesia Christi. The 21 Canons. Upon
whom do the curses of the Church descend? The lay Sovereigns
of Europe, whilst conceding liberal constitutions, cannot countenance
Roman intolerance. Article of the Schema defining Infallibility. Infal-
libility not a new doctrine in the Roman Church. A fundamental
question. Having a political as well as a religious aspect. The alleged
necessity of a Council to propound dogmas suggests the fallibility of the
head of the Church. Infallibility involves supremacy. Fallibility versus
Infallibility. France and Austria opposed to the fanatical pretensions of
the Ultramontanes. Will Italy regain her capital ? Effects of the supre-
XVI CONTENTS.
macy involved in Infallibility. Objects of the Council re-stated. • Terrible
Revolutions' predicted by the Civiltd Cattolica. The dogma of Papal
Infallibility fraught with danger to the Church. How received in Spain.
In Switzerland. In Germany. Dr. Sepp's address to the Vatican
Council. Father Hyacinthe's letter. The protest of Count Montalem-
bert. The fascinating influence of this doctrine. The impulse given by
the Council to the spirit of inquiry. The probable effect upon Christen-
dom of a dogma disannulling the decrees of earlier Councils. Abroga-
tion of the famous canon, Quod semper etc. Illimitable spiritual power of
an infallible Pontiff. Severe testing of the fabric of the Roman Catholic
Church. The teachings of Popery. The response of Christendom to
the Papal challenge. Insufficiency of the reasons assigned in the Syllabus
for the convocation of a General Council. Characteristics of Pius IX.
Archbishop Manning's definition of 'modern civilization.' The prin-
ciples of authority and of the right of private judgment in conflict.
Triumph of light over darkness p. 254
■:#•##■€:■
THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE
PAPACY.
CHAPTER I.
The temporal power of the Roman Church is at
the present time a subject of engrossing interest to
every thoughtful mind. Viewed either as an Italian
or as a religious question, it involves principles which
demand the attention alike of the politician and the
Christian in every land, and which passing events
surround with a special interest.
I propose briefly to trace the development of that
power through the ages in which the Church has been
successively subject to the Roman Emperors, the
Ostrogoth kings of Italy, the Eastern Roman Emperors,
and lastly to France.
Everywhere, and in all time, history exhibits com-
munities of men, living under the constant influence
of two orders of things. These, whether we call them
civil and ecclesiastical, human and divine, political and
religious, or Church and State, are just the expression
of man's own dual nature, and are as inseparable as
body and soul. Inseparable, and yet distinct, they
each exercise a beneficent influence upon the other,
and a combined and potent effect upon society, in
proportion as the distinct mission of each, and its
B
2 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP,
harmonious but independent modes of operation, are
clearly recognized. Such is not the theory of the
Roman Church. Trampling upon the eternal law of
love, of which it claims to be the infallible exponent,,
this Church has struggled through long ages, and with
untiring energy, for the acquisition and retention of
political power, which it has with equal consistency
perverted into spiritual despotism.
For a thousand years the temporal has been associated
with the spiritual power of the Papacy, and, since the
arrogant assertion of Hildebrand, c The Pope is the
sun, the Emperor the moon which shines with borrowed
light/ it has remained, though not unchallenged, a
cardinal feature of Papal rule. Allied to the spiritual
power of the Pontiff, it is held to have conferred a
dignity and lustre upon the Court of Rome to which
no secular power could aspire, and to have justified the
exclamation attributed to a successor of Hildebrand,
c How profitable hath this fable of Christ been unto us. 5
Of the titles Pope and Pontiff, by which the supreme
head of the Roman Catholic Church is usually desig-
nated, it may be remarked that, until the time of
Gregory VII, the title of Pope, c Papa,' was given to
all bishops alike. This title, which, amongst other
fantastical explanations, has been derived from
c Poppcea/ from the proverbially short life of each
Pope; from c Pa/ for pater j or again, c Pa' (Paul),
and c Pe ' (Peter) ; from c Papos ' (keeper) ; and
1 Pappas ' (chief slave) \ signified then, as it does still
in our own language, Father, and was applied indiffer-
ently to every teacher. Gradually the title came to be
applied specially to bishops, and as in process of time
1 Dean Stanley's ' Eastern Church.'
I.] OF THE PAPACY.
it grew yet more restricted in its signification, if not
in its use, the bishop to whom it was pre-eminently
applied was not the bishop of Rome, but, as we shall
presently see, of Alexandria. The Patriarchs of the
Eastern Church retained this title until near the close
of the eleventh century ; that is, for as long a period as
it has since been specially applied to the Pope of Rome.
It was not until a.d. 1076, that Gregory VII decreed
that it should be thenceforward ascribed to none but
the Roman c Papa,' prefixing at the same time a
c sanctus,' whence came the modern style c His Holi-
ness the Pope,' though the word then signified nothing
more than c Reverend,' and is thus preserved in the
English Church, in the title c Most Reverend Father in
God/
In the Eastern Church, the same title, c Papa ' (Pater
patrum), was employed to designate the Primate. Down
to the time of Heraclas, a.d. 230, the Bishop of
Alexandria, being the sole Egyptian bishop, was called
c Abba' (Father), and his clergy c Elders.' From his
time more bishops were created, who then received the
title of Abba, and consequently c Papa/ c that strange
and universal mixture of familiar endearment and of
reverential awe, extended in a general sense to all
Greek Presbyters and all Latin Bishops, was the special
address which, long before the names of Patriarch or of
Archbishop, was given to the head of the Alexandrian
Church 1 .' It is curious to note that in the Roman
Church the word, in its original signification — Father —
/ continues, as at the first, to be applied to all holding
the office of teacher or priest ; whilst its Syriac equiva-
lent, c Abba,' now applied to the heads of monastic
1 Dean Stanley's ' Eastern Church.'
B 2
4 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
institutions, has never been appropriated by the Bishop
of Rome.
The title c Pontiff,' derived, not from the Jewish
High Priest, but from the Roman Emperors, carries us
back to those days of 'muscular Christianity 3 when
work, which conduced to the public weal, was inti-
mately associated with religion. The c PontifexMaximus 5
was a high Pagan dignitary who lived in a public
residence at the north-east corner of the Palatine, the
chief of the College of Pontiffs, or c Bridgebuilders g
and the Bishop of Rome received, through the emperors,
the title of c Pontifex,' because entrusted, amongst other
duties, with the construction and repair of bridges.
Thus Milton, picturing Satan as building a bridge over
chaos to get to this planet, calls it c a work pontificial V
Under the old Roman constitution, everything pertain-
ing to religion was placed under the jurisdiction of the
College of Augurs, an institution which the Caesars
took almost entirely into their own hands; Augustus
and his successors to the time of Constantine, as Presi-
dents of the College, assuming the title of Pontifex
Maximus. The duties of the office were to conduct all
public sacrifices ; to inflict the punishment of death by
scourging upon any who insulted the Vestal Virgins;
to preside at the assemblies and games ; to witness the
religious ceremonies of marriage ; and to arrange the
calendar 2 . Thus the very name which expresses the
1 Dr. Griesinger gives posse et facere — to do and to be able —
as the derivation of this title, and adds that the ancient Romans
had a kind of ministry of public worship, the president of which
was entitled Pontifex Maximus. In either case the Christian
Popes assumed the heathen title without any compunction as to
its origin.
2 Dean Stanley.
l] of the papacy. 5
highest ecclesiastical character of the Roman Pontiff,
exhibits the secular origin of his primacy.
Until the close of the ninth century the Popes were
elected by the people. The popular right of election
was abolished by Hildebrand, who transferred it to the
. College of Cardinals, less numerous then than now,
although the number varied with the will of the Pontiff,
until Sixtus V limited it, as Ranke informs us, to
seventy; c as Moses chose seventy elders from the
whole nation, to take council with them j' or perhaps,
as affirmed by other Roman Catholic historians, that
being the number of Christ's disciples.
The Christian Church in Rome was founded by the
Apostle Paul during his two years' imprisonment in
that city. It is unnecessary to enter into the contro-
versy respecting the claims of the Apostle Peter to this
honour ; for, however strongly tradition may affirm the
claim, the fact of his ever having visited Rome rests
upon tradition alone. It is, at least, very singular that
no reference is made to an event of so much importance
to those who claim to be regarded as his spiritual
successors, either in the Acts of the Apostles, which
record so many of his journeys, or in any of the
Christian writers of the first two centuries. The only
passage in the writings of this Apostle from which the
fact can be deduced \ would identify the seat of the
Papacy as the spiritual Babylon, — a means of proof
1 i Peter v. 13. It is a curious fact that both Protestant and
Roman Catholic partizans have insisted that ' Babylon,' whence
St. Peter dates his first Epistle, was only a metaphorical name for
the metropolis of heathendom ; the former from a wish to identify
the Roman Church with the Babylon of Revelation ; the latter
in order to establish the connection between the Roman Church
and the Apostle to whom our Lord committed the keys.
6 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
upon which the Roman controversialist would probably
not insist. Many relics of this Apostle are still shown,
and receive the adoration of the faithful in Rome, such
as the chains he wore during his incarceration; a
portion of his fishing-net, originally believed to have
been kept in the cloisters at Westminster; his bones
and teeth ; his toe-nails, which at one time were so
abundant it is said they would have filled a sack ; the
.pillar upon which he suffered martyrdom ; and, to
complete the catalogue, one of his bulls is still extant !
His head also, — we must suppose whole and entire,
since it is the head, and not a fraction of it, which
is adored in each fane, — reposes, encased in silver, at
St. Peter's, St. John's of Lateran, and again at
St. Praxedes 1 . Less absurd are these than many of the
innumerable relics of the saints which enrich every
church in Rome ; such as the chemise of the Holy
Virgin, the swaddling-clothes of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the three thorns of the crown of thorns, which
close inspection has shown to be made of iron; and
less revolting than c the phial full of milk of the most
blessed Virgin Mary;' and again, c a phial full of the
precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Until the
1 With the exception of St. Matthew and St. Thomas, all the
Apostles, with many of the first Christian martyrs, have left
behind them at least two bodies, which are preserved and
venerated in divers parts of Christendom. * Sainct Matthew and
Sainct Thomas/ says Calvin, ' have remayned the most poorest.'
After his crucifixion, the remains of St. Peter are said to have
been placed in the catacombs of the Vatican, whence they were
afterwards transferred to the church of St. Sylvester. In the
middle of the fourth century the body was divided, one-half being
remitted to its original resting-place, and the other deposited
in the church of S. Paolo fuori le Mura.
I.] OF THE PAPACY. J
latter part of the seventh century the seat used by the
chief of the Apostles was conspicuous amongst these
relics; but unfortunately, in \66i, the chair needed
repair, when, on the removal of the outer covering, an
elaborately carved image of the Labours of Hercules
was discovered, revealing the truth, unwelcome as it
was unexpected, that it had been made in honour of a
heathen divinity ! Notwithstanding this exposure, the
faithful still view, with awe-stricken reverence, the-
indent in the rock against which one of the soldiers,
whilst conducting the Apostle to his dungeon, struck
his head, proving it the sterner stuff. The impression
is guarded by an iron grating, above which is the
appropriate inscription — prodigio. The marble slab upon
which, as an altar, St. Peter said mass, and another
bearing the impress of the Saviour's feet, and comme-
morating the alleged fact of his having arrested the
Apostle in his attempted flight from Rome, apparently
fail to suggest the enquiry whether the Roman highways
were indeed paved with marble (which the Romans did
not adopt in their architecture until after the fall of
Sicily), or, if so, why the imprint of a footstep remains,
where all the traffic of old Rome has failed to leave a
trace behind.
The President, or Chief Elder of the Church, early
received the title of Episcopus. This title, however
illustrious, and consequently coveted, invested him with
no peculiar prerogative, but was employed simply to
distinguish him from his colleagues in office. Its
nearest anti-type in the present age is, perhaps, to be
found amongst the Dissenters of this country— as in
the c Chairman ' of the Congregational Union ; the
' Moderator ' of the Presbyterian Synod ; or the ' Presi-
(UNIVERSITY,
8 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
dent ' of the Wesleyan Conference. The office, however,
was in all probability a permanent one. This we infer
from the title, c Angel of the Church/ employed in the
Apocalyptic letters. We shall presently see that this
broad ground of the Christian equality of all the chief
pastors of the Church, was not lost sight of until the
close of the sixth century, when a bishop, canonized by
the Roman Church, cited the words of Christ to show
the impiety of a claim to supremacy, or to the posses-
sion of authority transmitted from St. Peter, — a figment
not referred to in the canons of the earlier councils, or
in the writings of the early Christian centuries. The
co-equality of the early Christian Churches, and of their
chief pastors, is unimpeachably evidenced in that
invaluable document, the first Epistle of St. Clement to
the Corinthians, a.d. 70. The opening paragraph,
c The Church of God at Rome, to the Church of God
at Corinth,' frankly recognizes the fact, as yet unques-
tioned, of perfect equality. St. Clement attempts to
exercise no authority, nor to assert any degree of
superiority, and c most singularly for a Roman bishop,
in speaking of St. Peter and St. Paul, he names St. Peter
first, indeed, but passes briefly over him, to enlarge
with far more emphasis and exaltation upon St. Paul, —
as if St. Paul had really been the principal founder of
the Roman Church, and St. Peter merely his associate V
The Chief Elder of the Church at Rome, upon whom
a merely honorary precedence had been conferred, not
one of peculiar privilege — much less of universal juris-
diction—soon came to be regarded with distinguished
reverence by the provincial communities. And, indeed,
1 See Appendix to Lord Lindsay's '(Ecumenicity and the
Church of England.'
I.] OF THE PAPACY.
the honour was a perilous one, and the men who suffi-
ciently prized the service of the Church to accept it,
were, during the first two centuries, worthy of the
reverence which was voluntarily accorded them, but
which, as time advanced, they did not hesitate by
deliberate and strenuous efforts to court, and upon
occasion to demand. Such reverence seriously
endangered the spiritual equality which distinguished
the members of the new faith. And so it came to pass,
that the honour voluntarily accorded to individual
bishops for their piety, virtues, and courage, was, by
degrees, claimed as properly due to the episcopal office
itself; until, in the third century, the claim of the
bishops to be regarded as God's peculiar priesthood or
portion — Kkrjpos — as distinguished from the common
people — Acuos — secured to them the distinctive title of
clergy. A distinctive dress was also adopted, and its
use enforced under a penalty of a month's confinement,
on a diet of bread and water. Probably, however, the
dress, like that of the Friends in our own country,
became distinctive only inasmuch as it was permanent,
and did not accommodate itself to an ever-changing
fashion ; for the white gown, which has always been
the ordinary dress of the Popes, was, in fact, the
common costume of the early Christians — the common
classical dress of all ranks in Roman society. To this
costume c the early Christians adhered with their usual
tenacity, partly to indicate their cheerful, festive
character, as distinct from mourners, who went in
black ; partly to mark their separation from the peculiar
black dress of the philosophical sects, with which they
were often confounded V In this, and as Dean Stanley
1 Dean Stanley.
IO THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
has shown \ in a vast variety of customs, some of
them of great interest in their bearing upon the
religious controversies of the present day, the Pope
alone preserves the practices of primitive Christianity,
which have perished on all sides of him. The intro-
duction of the tonsure was probably not anterior to the
sixth century. Before the close of the third century,
secular avocations were wholly renounced, and, whilst
the severance between the clergy and the laity became "
every year more distinctly marked, tokens of respect
toward the former were not only voluntarily accorded,
but positively required by ecclesiastical law »,
The Chief Elder of the Church at Rome claimed
special dignity from the position of that city as the
metropolis of the civilized world; from the fact of its
alleged Apostolic foundation, and of its being the mother
church of nearly all the provincial communities.
The figment of Apostolic descent was, as we have
already seen, the invention of a later era. No such
claim to supremacy was affirmed by the Roman
Presbyter, or Episcopus, in the ante-Nicene period.
However early the tradition of the martyrdom of
St. Peter at Rome may have been received, it is certain
that the churches of the first four centuries were igno-
rant of his alleged primacy, and authority over the
other Apostles, and likewise of the transmission of
that authority to his successors.
The simplicity of the Bishops of Rome was corrupted
by their increasing authority ; the pride of precedence
early begot a lust for power, and they suffered no op-
portunity for asserting their supremacy to pass unim-
1 'Good Words/ 1868.
2 Riddle's ' History of the Papacy.'
I.] OF THE PAPACY. II
proved. So early as the close of the second century, in
a controversy respecting the day upon which Easter
should be observed, Victor, then Bishop of Rome,
threatened to refuse to hold communion with those
Churches of Asia which proclaimed the duty of cele-
brating the mystery of the Resurrection of our Lord
only on the day of the Lord. He did, in fact, publish
letters declaring the heterodoxy of all such. Yielding,
however, to the unanimous desire of the Asian bishops,
and the eloquent pleading of Irenseus, — whose character
as a peace-maker so well answered to his name, — that
he would not occasion schism in the Church of Christ
upon a subject respecting which Polycarp, who himself
had observed the sacrament with the Apostle John, had
left the Church a conspicuous example of toleration,
he withdrew them *. The failure of his unworthy efforts,
whilst it evinces the rising spirit of the Papacy, estab-
lishes the fact that at this time the Bishop of Rome
was not regarded as the universal head of the Churchy
The unity of the Empire favoured^ the spread of
Christianity, and the persecution of its early professors,
who went everywhere preaching the word, secured its
extension, and had already conferred upon it a firm
organization. The constancy of faith, and the purity
of life, which marked the adherents to Christianity,
contrasting with the superstitions and abominations of
Paganism, gradually brought the latter into contempt.
Constantine professed himself a Christian, and as the
Emperors had always presided over the Pagan system,
and had found it an important engine of State, the
same patronage was now transferred to Christianity 2 .
The conversion to Christianity of the Emperor Con-
1 Eusebius. 2 ' Compend. of Univ. Hist.,' Jarrold and Sons.
12 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
stantine marked an important era in the history of the
Christian Church. Although prompted by motives of
policy, rather than by religious conviction, or a genuine
moral sympathy, his baptism at the hands of Sylvester,
the then bishop of the Church of Rome, was fraught
with momentous consequences. c Many judge of Con-
stantine,' says Niebuhr, c by too severe a standard,
because they regard him as a Christian ; but I cannot
look upon him in that light. The religion which he
had in his head must have been a strange jumble
indeed . . . He was a superstitious man, and mixed up
his Christian religion with all kinds of absurd super-
stitions and opinions. When certain Oriental writers
call him cc equal to the Apostles," they do not know what
they are saying, and to speak of him as a saint is a
profanation of the word.' Constantine himself appears
to have been sufficiently alive to the fact. Believing
that complete purification could only be once obtained
through baptism, he deferred the ceremony which should
give him a right to the continuance of that prosperity
in a future life which he had enjoyed in the present, to
the last moment that was consistent with perfect
security *. It was the settled policy of Constantine to
make the service of the Church more profitable than'
that of the State. He accordingly showed a singular
fertility of resource in devising means whereby men of
rank and influence were induced to enter the Church as
a profession. It is worthy of notice, in passing, that
the introduction of lights in the Christian worship is
attributable to Constantine. Originally they were no
part of the ceremonial — no c essential ' representation
1 ' History of the Intellectual Development of Europe,' by
Dr. J. W. Draper, 2 vols. 8vo.
I.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 3
of doctrine, The display of lights was a heathen
custom, and was adopted by Constantine, not as an
emblem, but for the purpose of attracting the heathen
to the Christian worship.
Through the influence of courtly.example and patron-
age, the despised sect now became rich and powerful.
No patriarch had as yet enjoyed more than an honorary
supremacy, and the right of the Emperor, in virtue of
his office as Pontifex Maximus, to intermeddle in re-
ligious affairs was readily conceded. The clergy,
c preaching the duty of passive obedience now, as it
had been preached in the days of Nero and Diocletian,
were well pleased to see him preside in councils, issue '
edicts against heresy, and testify, even by arbitrary
measures, his zeal for the advancement of the faith and
the overthrow of Pagan rites V
Constantine, by his own munificence, enabled the
Christians to restore their edifices, which had been
destroyed during the persecution under Diocletian, and
the property of many heathen temples was made over
to the Church. Not a few of the existing churches in
Rome claim the first Christian Emperor for their
founder. The most distinguished of these is St. Peter's,
the site of which tradition affirms to be the spot on
which the Apostle suffered martyrdom. The Lateran,
an imperial palace, was also granted to the Christians
as an episcopal residence, — the first c patrimony of
St. Peter's. 5 It is a significant fact that the origin of
the Papal power, which has always relied for support
upon the weapons of this world, was thus purely secular.
The first church was not a temple, but a c Basilica,' —
a Roman court of justice, accommodated to the pur-
1 'The Holy Roman Empire,' by James Bryce, B.C.L.
14 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
poses of Christian worship. c If the Pope/ says Dean
Stanley, c were to be regarded only as the successor of
St. Peter, his chief original seat would, of course, be in
the Basilica of St. Peter, over the Apostle's grave. But
this is not the case. St. Peter's Church, in regard to
the Pope, is merely a chapel of gigantic proportions,
attached to the later residence which the Pope opened
under the Vatican Hill. His proper see and cathedral
is the Basilica of St. John cc in the Lateran," that is, in
the Lateran palace, which was the real and only
bequest of Constantine to the Roman Bishop ... In it
accordingly is the true Pontifical throne, on which are
written the words H<ec est papalis sedes et pontificalis.
Over its front is inscribed the decree Papal and Im-
perial, declaring it to be the mother and mistress of all
churches. In it he takes possession of the See of Rome
and of the government of the Pontifical States.'
By the celebrated edict of Constantine, a.d. 321, gifts 1
and legacies to the State-religion received legal sane- ,
tion. They immediately poured in abundantly from
every quarter, begetting a thirst for wealth, which was
constantly stimulated by the success of the artifices
through which it was secured. We have the authority
of one of the most prominent of contemporary clergy-
men in the English establishment, for stating that the
reign of Constantine was the beginning of the decline
of Christianity in spiritual things, quite as much as it
was the beginning of its rise in temporal grandeur.
An early ecclesiastical writer informs us that the Roman
clergy c made it their special business to be duly in-
formed of any noble ladies, widows especially, who
may be accessible to "pious influences," such ladies
would then receive no lack of ecclesiastical visitors ;
I.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 5
and if one of the good fathers greatly admired any of
the household appurtenances, or pretty jewels of the
mistress, what could she do but beg him to accept, in
the name of the faith, the trifle which had found favour
in his eyes/ Nor did the clergy scruple to commend to
such as betrayed an unwillingness to part with their pos-
sessions, the example of the devout Christians who had
shown themselves c accessible to pious influences.'
c The ignorance and superstition of the times,' re- 1/
marks the author of the c Universal History,' already
quoted, c favoured the claims of the priesthood, and as
the efficacy of gifts for the expiation of offences was a
principle generally admitted in the Dark Ages, liberal
donations of land and other property augmented their
power and influence,' whilst they laid the foundation of
the temporal sovereignty of the Popes. The property
of orphans was shamefully tampered with, and no
wealthy penitent was suffered to die in peace at Rome,
until the Church was assured of a large share of his
possessions. Thus, at the close of the fourth century,
the Bishop of Rome c lived in a dignity and pomp
much more befitting a wealthy and luxurious earthly
potentate, than a spiritual teacher and shepherd of
souls. The choicest viands, the richest vestments, the
rarest steeds for his chariots, a crowd of servile attend-
ants to do his bidding ; a bishop's staff summoned all
these things into existence for the holder, whose court
almost vied with the Emperor's own. We can scarcely
be surprised that the governor of Rome, who was still
attached to the old faith, replied when his conversion
was attempted, "Make me bishop of Rome, I'll turn
Christian directly 1 ."' Contemporary writers concur
1 'The Mysteries of the Vatican,' by Dr. Theodore Griesinger.
1 6 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
in their testimony, that this wealth had been almost
wholly procured through the devout offerings of the
noble dames of Rome; or wrung from wealthy peni-
tents on their death bed, by the exercise, on the
part of the priesthood, of an arrogated authority, en-
forced by harrowing appeals to morbidly excited con-
sciences. Therein lay the vital germ of Papal wealth.
c The Roman bishops enriched themselves at the cost
of right and justice, by the hands of their female
penitents, who, amid the luxury and immorality
of the fast collapsing Western Empire, had often a
heavy list of sins to atone, and were but too ready
to make their peace with heaven, when earth had
no more pleasures to offer, by a liberal bribe to the
Church.'
But a new ambition, — in comparison with which
gold and costly jewels, and even ecclesiastical supre-
macy, however prized, were as nothing, — was already
looming upon the horizon of the Roman Bishops. The
patronage of the sovereigns, whose kingdoms were of
this world, was a good thing; but the union, in the
sacred person of the Bishop of Rome, of the representa-
tive upon earth of Him whose kingdom is not of this
world, with royal prerogatives, and a temporal sove-
reignty, whose lustre, derived from the double source
of spiritual and secular jurisdiction, should eclipse the
glory of every other government upon earth, was an
object worthier of ambition. From the middle of the
fourth century, when religion had given place to the-
ology , and Christendom was absorbed in controversies,
the inevitable issue of the futile decisions of Coun-
cils, this object was persistently kept in view. The
acquisition of lands was more eagerly sought, and
I.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 7
there is abundant evidence that when these were not |
attainable either by gift or legacy, recourse was had to
forged wills and fraudulent title-deeds. But these pos-
sessions remained the private property of the Church, and
conferred no rights of temporal sovereignty. They
were, however, valued for the influence which always
attaches to the possession of landed estates, and which
must at length become overwhelming when they are
held by a corporation which may always receive, and
can never alienate; which is always renewing itself,
and can never die.
The history of this period is the record of the struggle
for supremacy of the three great sees — of Rome, Alex-
andria, and Constantinople. In this contest Rome
possessed all the advantages accruing from the prestige
conferred by historical associations, and a precedence
which was universally conceded ; whilst the removal of
the seat of empire to Constantinople had relieved her
from that imperial observation and control to which 1/
the rival Churches, weakened, moreover, by their own
intense rivalry, were more immediately exposed.
The supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, first, though
unsuccessfully asserted, a.d. 109, in the controversy
respecting Easter, appears to have been recognized in
numerous appeals from distant Churches throughout the
second and third centuries. Advantage was taken of the
corruptions and dissensions which prevailed, to proceed
from giving advice to interference in the arrangement
of the affairs of those Churches, chiefly in Italy, which
thus appealed to the authority of Rome. The Papacy,
it has been well said, c is a worm which breeds in
spiritual corruption, and fattens upon Christianity when
turning to decay.'
1 8 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
The supremacy, so pertinaciously asserted, was not
suffered to remain unimpugned. At the Council of
Carthage, a.d. 254, St. Cyprian boldly affirmed that the
precedence conceded to the Roman Bishop, on account
of the political position of his see, did not imply the
recognition of any authority over Christians out of his
own diocese. c None of us, 3 he said, c ought to set himself
up as a bishop of bishops, or pretend tyrannically to
restrain his colleagues. 3 By degrees, however, Rome
emerged from this equality. Hitherto the bishops of
Rome had not aspired to the exercise of either of the
three powers — the legislative, the administrative, nor
the judicial — which are the proper attributes of sove-
reignty. The first opportunity for attempting to assert
the latter was afforded by the Council of Sardica, a.d.
343. In their zeal for carrying their point against the
favourers of Arian tenets, the bishops were willing to
sacrifice even their own independence, and invested
the Pope, Julius, with the character of universal umpire
or judge ] , authorized c to appoint judges for a bishop;
in the second instance to hear the cause on the spot,
with the assistance of a Roman legate, and, in the
event of a further appeal, to pronounce sentence him-
self - .' Both the Eastern and the African Churches,
however, protested against c this arrogant claim,' nor
had it any practical effect, until the fabrication of the
Isidorian Decretals imparted to it an important and
dangerous significance.
The controversies which rent the Church during the
fifth century were constantly^ refer red t othearbitration
of the Roman See^ It was in vain that, at the Council
1 Riddle's ' History of the Papacy.'
2 ' The Pope and the Council,' by Janus.
I.j OF THE PAPACY, 1 9
of Chalcedon, a canon was passed to the effect that the
supremacy of the Roman See was not in right of its
descent from St. Peter, but because it was the bishopric
of an imperial city. The Church which teaches the in-
fallibility of the decisions of Councils, and pronounces
them binding upon the conscience of Christendom,
hesitated not to refuse her recognition of the validity
of a canon hostile to her pretensions ; and her supre-
macy became more and more distinct.
The divisions between the Eastern and Western
Churches, arising out of matters essentially frivolous,
often placed the Popes in an embarrassing position.
Their power and wealth continued to increase, not-
withstanding j and at the close of the sixth century the
Pope was the richest landowner in the Peninsula.
Appealing to the undefined traditions of antiquity, to
the religious superstitions of the age, and to the un-
questionably great services which the bishops had
rendered, in the protection of Rome from successive
barbarian invasions, the Pontiffs contrived to increase
their influence, and to invest it with a superstitious awe.
The imperious mind of Gregory (the Great), a man of
no ordinary gifts, and the last true Roman Pastor,
chafed under the humiliating vassalage in which he
stood to the decaying Byzantine Empire. He craved
the long-coveted possession of sovereignty, which he
believed to be within his grasp, if he dare but put forth
his hand and seize the prize. To Gregory, however,
we can appeal for an . authoritative refutation of those
Roman Catholic historians who, in their zeal to estab-
lish the original supremacy of the Roman See, affirm
that it was generally recognized at a much earlier date.
In the year 588 the Patriarch of Constantinople claimed (
~ OP THE
UNIVERSITY
20 THE TEMPORAL POWER
CHAP.
for himself and his See a pre-eminence both in power
and holiness. In reply, Gregory published a vigorous
protest, in which these significant words occur, — c This
I declare with confidence, that whoso designates him-
self cc Universal Pastor," or, in the pride of his heart,
consents to be so named, he is the forerunner of Anti-
Christ K a Again, quoting the words of Christ, c Call
no man your father on earth, 3 he adds, — c What then,
dearest brother, will you say in that terrible trial of the
coming Judge, when you have sought to be called by
the world not only Father, but General Father ? '
The determined resistance of Gregory to the preten-
sions of the See of Constantinople has, by some historians,
been assigned to a jealous fostering of the generally re-
cognized supremacy of his own See. In this view I find
it impossible to concur. The moderation of his pre-
tensions in the exercise of his spiritual functions con-
trasts strangely with his ambitious schemes for exalting
the Papal office by the union of temporal power with
his spiritual jurisdiction. But the fact is there, attested
by unimpeachable evidence running through the thirteen
years of his anxious and active Pontificate. c Peter, the
prince of the Apostles, 5 he says, c never assumed to be
universal bishop. O tempora ! O mores ! In considera-
tion of the primacy of Peter, that title was offered to
the Bishop of Rome by the synod of Chalcedon ; but be
it far from every Christian heart to admit of a title so
blasphemous/ Again, in a letter to the Patriarch of
Alexandria, this Pontiff, whom the Church has signally
honoured by according to him the title of c Great/
and the honour of canonization, made use of these words,
which we commend to the Infalliblists now assembled
1 ' The Eighteen Christian Centuries/ by Rev. J. White.
I.] OF THE PAPACY. ■ 21
in Rome, — c You say that you have obeyed my com-
mands. Pray do not use such expressions. I issue no
commands. I know myself and you ; you are my brother,
and I only recommend what seems to me good for the
Church. You give me the title of Universal Bishop,
which dishonours me in diminishing the dignity of the
order to which I belong. You know it was offered to
my predecessors by the Council, but none of them
would accept it. 5 It must, however, be admitted that
in the exercise of the spiritual jurisdiction which he
conceived to belong to his See, c in virtue of the autho-
rity of the prince of the Apostles, Peter/ Gregory not
unfrequently infringed the moderation of his claims.
His Pontificate was distinguished for the promotion of '
ecclesiastical rites and ceremonies ; for the enforcement,
with a strictness amounting to severity, of ecclesiasti-
cal discipline; and pre-eminently for his missionary
spirit, in illustration of which the mission of Augustine
to this country will suggest itself to the reader.
The greater part of the Peninsula was at this time
subject to the Byzantine Empire, and was governed by "
Exarchs from Constantinople. Their position was in-
vidious. Deriving little assistance from the power
which they represented, and which, after a succession of
feeble monarchs, was tottering to its fall, they were
constantly exposed to the danger of aggression on the \y
part of their vigorous neighbours, the Lombards. This
position of affairs afforded Gregory the desired oppor-
tunity. He offered the Emperor both money and men J
to check the movement, already initiated by the Lom-
bard king, to unite all Italy under his sceptre ; the con-
dition imposed being that Gregory, now styled the Pope,
should be invested with the full legal jurisdiction of his
21 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
landed possessions, and with the right of presentation
to all civil offices within the patrimony of the Church.
His death, a.d. 604, occurred whilst the negotiations
were in progress. In the same year, Phocas was raised
to the imperial dignity by an insurrection in the army.
Without committing himself to a recognition of the
claims of the late Pontiff to civil jurisdiction within
the territories now belonging to the Church, he acknow-
ledged those of Sabinian, the successor of Gregory, to
ecclesiastical supremacy. Henceforward the Bishops of
Rome were regarded as, beyond dispute, the ultimate
depositories of authority concerning all matters and
persons ecclesiastical— a position long coveted and still
alleged to have been divinely bestowed. History, how-
ever, points to the man, whom she also describes as
c a monster of vice,' as the bestower of this pretended
supremacy, and of c the diadem of gold/ the first in
order of the three crowns.
The iconoclastic strife brought matters to a crisis.
The worship of images had become so prevalent that
the Emperor Leo attempted its forcible suppression.
Gregory the Second strenuously supported the idolatrous
practice, and, in 727, withdrew his allegiance from the
Emperor, whilst the Romans unanimously elected him
their temporal as well as spiritual ruler. The die was
now cast. No Pontiff heretofore had headed a purely
political movement ; but Gregory boldly dissolved the
ties which bound him to the Emperor; and the prize
for which the Roman Bishops had longed, and vainly
diplomatized, for four hundred years, was grasped.
The triumph did not afford unmixed satisfaction. The
exasperated Emperor retaliated by violently wresting
from the Papal See the rich patrimonies scattered over
I.J OF THE PAPACY. 2$
the Peninsula and Sicily, undeterred by the proud self-
consciousness which inspired Gregory II to protest that,
by all the nations of the West, he was regarded as a
God upon earth. A more fatal result to the Church
was the loss of that unity which had been so firmly
secured. She had substituted for the pastoral superin-
tendence of her First Elder, deliberating in council
with his brethren of other Churches, the despotic rule of
an absolute temporal sovereign, claiming privileges and
rights alien to the spiritual interests of the Church — to
its early traditions, and to the profound convictions of
its most distinguished prelates.
Convinced of the folly and peril of leaning for sup-
port upon a power which had so often betrayed them,
Gregory and his successors entered into alliances with
the Frankish monarchs. With the most barefaced de-
fiance of all political morality, Pope Zacharias, who
succeeded to the chair of St. Peter, a.d. 741, sanctioned,
for his own worldly advantage, the act of violence and
usurpation by which Pepin appropriated the crown of
Childeric. This was the first occasion upon which the
Holy See had been invoked as an International Power ; /
and it was an ill-omened employment of its newly-ac-
quired rights. Pope Zacharias crowned Pepin king of
the Franks, and the king proclaimed the successors of
St. Peter sovereign Pontiffs, and lords of the city and
territories of Rome. The Bishop of Rome became the
sovereign of a temporal kingdom, which must hence-
forward be supported by the same methods and arts
whereby secular governments are everywhere main-
tained. The complex organization of the Roman Curia
was the work of ages, but it had its nucleus in that fatal
act whereby the ecclesiastical and political administra-
24 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
tion of the Papacy became so intertwined that the har-
monious working of the system was for ever at an end.
The Western Church was now freed from its sub-
serviency to the Empire of the East; but now also
began that connection between Rome and France,
which has proved fruitful of so much misery, and
which remains, after eleven centuries, the insoluble
problem of European politics; whilst the prolongation
of the French occupation is, in the present state of
Italy, an insult to that renovated country. More than
this, it is a danger to Europe, and a source of weak-
ness to France, whose ruler thus proclaims his recanta-
tion of the noble principles in defence of which, in
early youth, he took up arms and witnessed the heroic
death of his brother fighting against a Pope for the
liberties of Italy.
Zacharias was succeeded by Stephen II, who, through
the aggressions of the Lombards, and the apparent
indifference of Pepin, was in no small danger of losing
all that his predecessor. had acquired. Pepin, however,
found it convenient to allay the misgivings which some
tender consciences among his subjects entertained, con-
cerning the legitimacy of his title to the Gallic crown.
For this purpose he sought absolution from the Pope
for his perjury to Childeric ; undertaking in return to
subdue the Lombards and secure the safety of Rome.
This done, he returned to France, when the Lombards,
under their King Aistulph, again marched upon Rome.
Stephen despatched three embassies in succession, im-
ploring Pepin to return and c root out these lawless
devils, the Lombards.' The last embassy carried an
autograph letter from St. Peter, written expressly for this
occasion, and which is still in existence, though we
1.] OF THE PAPACY. 2$
have no record of the manner of its conveyance from
Paradise to the Pope. The letter, a fabrication, which
for strangeness and audacity has never been exceeded,
is written in Latin, and runs thus: — c Pepin, the
princes his sons, the Frankish nobility, and the Frank-
ish nation, in the name of the Holy Virgin, the thrones,
dominions, and powers of heaven, in the name of the
army of martyrs, of the Cherubim and Seraphim,
of all the hosts gathered round the throne, and under
threat of utter damnation, not to let his peculiar city
Rome fall into the hands of the hell-brand Longobards.'
There was little ground for apprehension of any critical
examination of this extraordinary document at the war-
like court of Pe£in, who of course obeyed the behest.
His army once more crossed the Alps, and repelled the
encroachments of the Lombards ; and true to the re-
ligious motives which had prompted him to undertake
the expedition, he transferred the recovered territories
to the successors of St. Peter. With his own hands
Pepin deposited on the tomb of the Apostle the deed by
which they were surrendered to him and his successors;
thus establishing a valid claim to St. Peter's powerful
intercession for the Divine forgiveness of his unjust
seizure of the Frankish kingdom. A portion of southern
Tuscany was also secured to the Church; and Pepin
received from the Pope the title of c Protector of Rome
and of the Roman See/ But although Pepin laid the
keys of the conquered towns upon the altar of St. Peter's,
by which act, says Ranke, c he laid the foundation of
the whole temporal power of the Popes,' the latter could
exercise no real authority in them. The revenues of
the lands were theirs ; the supreme authority over them
was retained by the Frankish kings, and the limits
2,6 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
between the Imperial and Papal authority were never
very distinctly drawn.
It was long affirmed by the authorities of the Romish
Church, that these territories were originally presented
to the Roman Bishops by Constantine l * There was a
time when to doubt this assertion was a grave theo-
logical error, only to be atoned by the severest penal-
ties ; and some of the earliest martyrs to Roman
intolerance, were those whose heresy consisted in
questioning the genuineness of Constantine's alleged
donation. Even Dante believed the fable, and wrote
in the bitterness of his noble, pious heart : —
' Ah ! Constantine ; to how much ill gave birth,
Not thy conversion, but those rich domains
That the first wealthy Pope received of thee ! '
But this attempt to ante-date the temporal sovereignty
of the Popes is now universally acknowledged to be
opposed to historical fact 2 . The Christian Church,
1 The famous ' Donation of Constantine' was a forgery concocted
at Rome in the middle of the eighth century. ' The forgery,' says the
author of 'The Pope and the Council,' 'betrayed its Roman author-
ship in every line ; it is self-evident that a cleric of the Lateran
Church was the composer. The document was obviously intended
to be shown to the Frankish king, Pepin, and must have been com-
piled just before 754. Constantine relates in it how he served the
Pope as his groom, and led his horse some distance. This induced
Pepin to offer the Pope a homage, so foreign to Frankish ideas,
and the Pope told him from the first that he expected, not a
gift, but restitution from him and his Franks.' The object of
this forgery was to establish the right of the Popes, as the suc-
cessors of the Roman Caesars, to the territory of all Italy.
2 If the forthcoming CEcumenical Council executes the pro-
gramme of which we have already the official intimation, it will
undertake the correction of hitherto prevalent estimates of history,
I.] OF THE PAPACY. 27
however, had become essentially c a kingdom of this I
world/ Its doctrines were corrupted; its worship
was mere ceremonial ; its ministers were a c sacrificing
priesthood/ and its chief elder a sovereign Pontiff.
The Roman Church had become the Roman Court.
and it will again become heresy to question the alleged donation
of Constantine.
CHAPTER II.
The assumption of the Imperial dignity by Char-
lemagne, and the re-establishment of the Western
Empire, confirmed and extended the ecclesiastical
supremacy and the political influence of the Roman
Pontiff. The undisputed possession of territorial
sovereignty was still delayed • the Bishops of Rome,
in common with all other bishops, receiving confirma-
tion in their office from the Emperor, who regarded
them still in the light of subjects.
The infallibility of the Pope, in matters of faith,
was far from being universally recognized, notwith-
standing the reverential and even servile language in
which it had long been the custom with all bishops to
approach him. The support accorded by Gregory II and
his successors to the doctrines of the second Nicene
Council concerning image worship, had begotten a
widespread aversion to the Pontiff's claims to infallible
dictation, and a reluctance to acknowledge his supre-
macy over all the Churches of the West. The decrees
of the second Council of Nicsea were condemned by
the Synod convened by Charlemagne, at Frankfort,
whose deliberations were conducted under the personal
direction of the Emperor. Not only the worship, but
even the veneration of images was prohibited ; whilst
the tone of superiority which Charlemagne affected
over the Pope, and his despotic interference in eccle-
siastical matters, secured him the pseudonyme of Epis-
THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY. 2$
copus episcoporum. But the Pope was now too powerful
even to contemplate the possibility of a check in the
progress which had been so rapidly made towards that
universal dominion to which the Papacy steadily as-
pired. The ignorance which generally prevailed, and
the consequent necessity of employing ecclesiastics in
the highest secular offices, favoured resort to one of
-those stratagems which Rome has always so well known
how, and when, to employ, in tightening her grasp upon
the human conscience *.
c Suddenly there appeared a professed collection of
Epistles of Romau Bishops, from the time of the
Apostles to the beginning of the seventh century, in
which the doctrine was distinctly and forcibly laid down
that the Roman Pontiff was the supreme head, lawgiver,
and judge of the whole Church, without whose appro-
bation and concurrence the acts of neither metropolitans
nor councils could possess any validity. These ancient
and venerable documents, said to have been collected
in the seventh century by the celebrated Isidore, bishop
of Seville, and now published under the title of " De-
cretal Epistles," but in reality very different from the
1 From the middle of the fifth century the pretensions of the
Papacy had been supported by a course of systematic fabrications.
Of these, perhaps the most important (from the fact of its being
afterwards incorporated in the Isidorian Decretals, and so lending
to the latter the stamp of authority) was the interpolation of the
original list of Roman bishops, which became the foundation of
the Liber Pontificalis . The object of this forgery was to confirm
existing legends of Roman martyrology, and of the Popes and
Emperors, such as the baptism of Constantine ; and to supply a
basis for the belief, designed to be elevated into dogma, that the
Popes, from St. Peter downwards, had acted as legislators of the
(whole Church.
$0 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
collection under the name of that writer which had be-
come known in the course of the eighth century, —
appeared to possess an authority beyond the reach of
cavil or of doubt ; and that respect and submission to the
Roman See which had hitherto been regarded by some
as a matter of opinion, or as the necessary conclusion
from certain premises, or which others had supposed
to have been founded only in prescription, from long
usage and ancient custom, was now proclaimed and
accepted as involved in the very constitution of the
Church from the beginning V
The success of this forgery was complete, and had
a lasting effect, far beyond what its author contem-
plated, upon the future history of the Papacy. It was
the first step — palpably false and fraudulent — in that
strange but complete transition from the Catholicism of
the Fathers to that of the modern Popes, and effectu-
ally changed the whole constitution and government of
the Church. Here and there a voice was raised against
the Decretals 2 ; but the great authority of the Roman
Pontiffs served to invest them with such a pomp of
authenticity, that it was seldom any one dared to in-
1 Riddle's ' History of the Papacy.'
2 A singular illustration has been recently afforded in the work
of Monseigneur Maret, ' Du Goncile General et de la Paix Reli-
gieuse,' of the permanent effects of these forgeries in giving a
retrospective colouring and interpretation to the entire field of
Christian antiquity, and to the evidence adduced, even by the
moderated tones of Gallicanism, in support of the pretensions of
Rome. Here is a prelate, honest enough to disavow the whole
collection of forgeries and interpolations, who, notwithstanding,
betrays an unconscious bias — the inevitable result of their en-
during effect on the thought of Rome — towards the traditions of
which they are the source, a profound attachment toward the
disturbing theories which they have systematized.
II.] OF THE PAPACY. 3 1
sinuate a doubt of their genuineness, until the sixteenth
century, when Erasmus demonstrated their spurious
character. But notwithstanding the lapse of three cen-
turies since their exposure, the honest but perilous
doubt of the Protestant sceptic on the subject of
miracles performed eighteen hundred years ago, is held
as infamous, where an unreasoning adherence to a
system whose very life is permeated with principles
based upon fraud and chicanery, occasions little sur-
prise and less censure.
Upon the dismemberment of the Empire, at the death
of Louis le Debonnaire, a dark, anarchical period fol- <-<"
lowed ; perhaps the darkest in the annals of the Papacy.
Contending factions of the nobles assumed to them-
selves the power of electing occupants for the chair of
St. Peter, which had become their prey and plaything,
whilst the Papal territory was reduced to utter in-
significance.
During the first half of the ninth century the Papacy
sank back into utter confusion and moral impotence.
Three dissolute women, Theodora, and her daughters,
Marogia and Theodora, contrived to bring the whole
patrimony of St. Peter under their sway, and disposed
of the tiara at their pleasure. Crimes, too odious to
narrate, and before which murder pales, were perpe-
trated to gratify their lusts. Laymen of infamously
notorious character filled the chair of the Apostles,
which was bought and sold like a piece of merchandise.
The Papal palace became a vast seraglio ; the very
churches echoed to obscene songs and bacchanal fes-
tivities. This degradation of the Papacy culminated
in the person of John XII, son of Marogia, who, elevated
to the Papal throne at the early age of eighteen, dis-
/
UNIVERSITY)
3 2 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
tinguished himself as the most profligate, if not the
most guilty, of the infallible heads of the Church, who,
agreeably to the theory of Isidore, confirmed by two
Roman Synods, must be held to inherit innocence and
sanctity from Peter 1 . Then it was that Otho the
Great, from whom Beranger held the kingdom of Italy
in fief, learning the true state of affairs in Rome, re-
solved to terminate so great a scandal by a more un-
equivocal exercise of his own authority, and of his le-
gitimate control over the election of future Pontiffs. In-
vited by the Pope to come to his aid against Beranger,
Otho undertook his expedition into Italy, with a view to
obtain the real sovereignty of the country, and received
the crown at the hands of the Pontiff. The jealousy of
John was presently awakened, and he entered into
traitorous alliance with the son of Beranger.
This contest between the Emperor and the Pope is
worthy of notice, both as a curious episode in the his-
tory of the Papacy, and as the first in that long series
of struggles between the two powers, which theo-
retically were but one, the World-Priest and the World-
Monarch, claiming to represent upon earth the simili-
tude of the Divine unity. John shut himself up in
Rome, but not daring to encounter a siege, fled into
the Campagna. The city was thus open to the occu-
pation of Otho, who convened a council in St. Peter's
to enquire into the character of the fugitive Pope, him-
1 Two centuries later this holiness of all the Popes, of which
he affirmed that he had personal experience, was made by-
Gregory VII the foundation of his claim to universal dominion.
' Every sovereign,' he said, ' however good before, becomes cor-
rupted by the use of power, whereas every rightly-appointed
Pope becomes a saint through the imputed merits of St. Peter.'
II.] OF THE PAPACY. 33
self presiding in the capacity of temporal head of the
Church. Strange were the accusations which were
brought against this c Holy Father ! ' He had drunk
the devil's health ; had ordained a deacon in a stable ;
had put out the eyes of his spiritual father, Benedict ;
had invoked the help of Jupiter in throwing the dice ;
defiled the Pontifical palace by his vices ; and, most
heinous offence of all, was addicted to hunting ! Otho
despatched a summons to John to appear before the
Council, and clear himself from this formidable array of
accusations. His reply was sufficiently brief to quote
in full. c John the bishop, the servant of the servants
of God, to all the bishops. We have heard tell that
you wish to set up another Pope; if you do this, by
Almighty God I will excommunicate you, so that you
shall not have power to say the mass or to ordain no
one.' Otho replied to this singular Apostolic epistle
in a bantering reproof of the Pontiff's bad morals and
bad Latin ; but the messenger by whom his missive
was despatched, failed to find the sporting Pontiff, who,
undeterred by the scandal which the practice of his
favourite vice had occasioned, was following the chase.
Otho immediately demanded of the Council the con-
demnation of the Pope, and Leo VIII was elected to
fill the Papal throne, which they had declared vacant.
The Emperor now claimed an absolute veto upon Papal
elections. He regarded the new Pope simply as the
first in dignity amongst his subjects; c the creature of
his own will; the depository of an authority which
must be exercised according to the discretion of his
sovereign/ He obtained from Leo the distinct recog-
nition of these claims.
After the death of Leo VIII the troubles of the
34 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
Papacy were redoubled. The Papal pretensions,
however, to the right of disposing of the Imperial
crown, were strengthened through its acceptance by
Otho at the hands of John XII, and by the alleged
necessity of recognizing the superiority of the Em-
peror over all other princes, as possessing autho-
rity conferred by God through the instrumentality of the
, ^pe.
I The destruction of the Carlovingian house, a.d. 987,
left the territories of the Church a prey to the Italian
princes. Of the twenty-four Popes who occupied the
Apostolic throne during the century and a half which
followed, two were murdered, five were driven into
exile, four were deposed, and three resigned. Some
attained the tiara by arms; some by money; others,
again, by the influence of princely courtesans, whilst
one, at least, was self-appointed. One of these heirs
of St. Peter entered on his infallibility before he had
attained his twelfth year. This was Benedict IX, who,
a few years later, fell in love, and, in order to marry,
sold the Popedom to the arch-priest John, who took the
name of Gregory VI. Disappointed in his hopes of
marriage, Benedict again claimed the tiara which he
had just sold. Meanwhile, some of the nobles had
elected a rival, who took the name of Sylvester III;
and it is curious to observe that HiJdebrand, and others
of the high church party whose lives were to be spent
in warring against simony, decided the claims of the
three rival Popes by supporting him whose only right
was that of purchase. Another Pontiff of this period
received a posthumous sentence of deposition, his corpse
being disinterred for the purpose ! Another, Judas-like,
received a bribe to recognize the Patriarch of Constan-
II.] OF THE PAPACY. $$
tinople as universal bishop 1 . But the world would
assuredly have condoned the simony involved in so
useful an employment of his infallibility, if only the
supremacy of the Church which he bartered had been
transferred to the purer communion.
The Pontificate of John XVI acquired importance
from the successful struggle in which that Pontiff was
engaged with Hugh Capet, on the question of the
Pope's jurisdiction over bishops. The Pope took his
stand upon the authority of the forged Decretals, in
which all matters relating to bishops were expressly
reserved to the judgment of the Pontiff, whilst the
French clergy contested the Papal claims, appealing to
ancient canons, and to the practice of the Church
during eight centuries, in favour of the co-extensive
jurisdiction of a Council. John defended the rights of
the Holy See against the king and the bishops of France.
A second Council met at Rheims, and declared it to be
a law of the Church that the office of a judge over
bishops belonged to the Pope alone. The victory for
the Papacy was a most important one. But whilst John
thus succeeded in establishing his spiritual jurisdiction
at home and abroad, the increasing power of the Roman
aristocracy involved the Papacy in troubles from which
it sought to escape by calling in the aid of the Em-
peror Otho III. . c It was not,' says Dr. Dollinger,
c until Otho III appointed his cousin Bruno, and after-
wards, a.d. 999, the celebrated Gerbert, as Popes, and
protected them by an armed force, that the Papacy
could once more obtain and exercise its influence and
authority in ecclesiastical affairs 2 . 5
• ' ' Ty Essays on Ecclesiastical Biography,' by Sir James Stephen.
2 ' The Church and the Churches/ by Dr. Dollinger.
D 2
$6 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
A long period of dissension and anarchy followed,
during which the Papacy lost much of its dignity;
whilst a succession of Pontiffs emulated the vices and
enormities of John XII and the Popes of the ninth
century. The Papal chair was often vacant. ' It
seemed,' says a modern writer, c as if the cardinals
wanted to show the world by a rare irony how easily
the Church could get on without him from whom, in the
new theory, all her authority was derived.'' Southern
Tuscany was lost ; and nearly the whole of the Papal
territory fell into the hands of contending factions.
The wide and undefined claims of the Popes and the
Emperors were adhered to with equal tenacity by either
party. These claims were mutually destructive, and
involved principles so entirely adverse, that all com-
promise was impossible. The idea of compromise was
indeed eschewed by Pope and Emperor alike.
Throughout five successive pontificates (a. d. 1048-
1083) the master-mind of Hildebrand, c the Pope-
maker 1 ,' continued to direct the affairs of the Papal
See. During this period the influence of the clergy
was greatly increased, and the ecclesiastical power of
the Popes was carried to its height. It was the settled
policy of this ambitious diplomatist to consolidate the
secular sovereignty of the Pope, to make the Roman See
independent of the Empire, and to increase the power
of the clergy. The convulsions which shook the Em-
pire during the minority of Henry IV favoured his
projects. The Papacy was now as closely allied with
the German Emperors as it had ever been with the
Emperors of Rome ? or the successors of Charlemagne.
1 Domnus Domni Papa was the nickname applied to Hildebrand
in the time of Alexander II, his fifth nominee.
II.] OF THE PAPACY. 37
Hildebrand resolved to free the Popedom from this
political subordination, and soon found means for the |
attainment of his object.
Leo IX, after assuming the Pontificate at Worms,
passed through France with the title and insignia of
his office, until, arriving at Clu£ny, he made the ac-
quaintance of the distinguished monk, whose willing
vassal he was thenceforth to be. Hildebrand easily
persuaded the Pope of the impiety and degradation in-
volved in receiving the Pontifical office at the hands
of a layman, albeit that layman was the Emperor. He
also induced him to make a public declaration that he
could not regard the nomination as valid until it was
endorsed by the free election of the Romans. Rejoicing
in this aggrandizement of the Papacy at the expense of
the Imperial authority, Hildebrand accompanied the
new Pope to Rome, where he was duly elected.
Thus one most important principle was established.
Before we proceed to notice the development of the
plans which Hildebrand had now matured for the exalta-
tion of the ecclesiastical power of the Pontiffs, we must
glance briefly, and in its chronological sequence, at per-
haps the most important service which he rendered to the
purely secular authority of the Holy See. For a period
of half a century, the Goths, who had originally come
from France at the invitation of the Italian nobles, to
root out the Greeks and Saracens, had been a thorn in
the side of the Papacy. In 1053, Leo IX, who had
taken the field against them in person, was taken w
prisoner, and compelled to recognize their right to
those possessions of the Church which they had already
seized 1 . The far-reaching mind of Hildebrand per-
1 Riddle's ' History of the Papacy.'
38 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
ceived the danger to the temporal power, arising from
the incessant disputes which followed, and he resolved
to effect an alliance with the formidable foe. Nicholas
II now filled the Papal chair, and, by the advice of
Hildebrand, he formally invested Robert Guiscard, the ]/
Norman chief, with Apulia and Calabria, as a fief of
the Roman See, with the title of Duke, and also with
Sicily, then in the possession of the Saracens.
c By this arrangement Guiscard recognized the Pope
as his feudal chief, and undertook to pay a yearly
tribute to the Roman see, and to defend it against all
its enemies, upon the demand of the Pope. The Pontiff
had thus gained a titular supremacy over the Romans ;
and, besides this, he had consolidated a power in Italy
which he might advantageously employ as a check upon
either the nobles and towns of Italy, or the forces of the
Empire, as occasion should require V
Hildebrand now turned his attention to further
efforts for the stability and extension of the dominion
of the Holy See, by securing its greater independence
of the Emperor. Hitherto the occupant of the chair of
St. Peter had been elected by the Roman nobility, the
people also having at least a nominal share in the
election ; whilst the Emperor claimed the right of con-
firming or putting a veto upon their choice. The
election was always made in the presence of Imperial
commissioners. Thus the Popes were little better
than the vassals of the Emperors, who, of late, had
even claimed to exercise the right of sole nomination.
In proportion as the Papacy increased in power and
dignity, this right became invested with a grandeur
which constituted it the most prized of the imperial pre- \
1 Riddle's ' History of the Papacy.'
II.] OF THE PAPACY, 39
rogatives. The voice of the clergy was almost wholly
excluded in a Papal election, and the power of the
Emperor interposed an effectual barrier in the way of
that universal dominion towards which the Papacy was
steadily progressing.
c It was doubtless with a view to obviate these ill
consequences that Nicholas II published a decree,
which he had caused to be confirmed by a Roman
Council in 1059, to the effect that in future neither the
nobility nor the people should take any part in the
election of a Pope, but that the right of election should
belong properly to the clergy alone, who, however,
should exercise this right not altogether in a mass, but
only by means of their representatives. He thus con-
stituted a college of electors, consisting of the chief
and most influential of the Roman clergy, who, under
the name of cardinals, had, for some time past, taken a
leading part in the affairs of the Church V
As a salve to the Imperial dignity, it was provided
that the Emperors should exercise the ancient right of
confirming the election, c if they should have previously
sought and obtained it from the Holy See;' a privilege
for which an Emperor was quite unlikely to sue. The
success of this bold innovation was destined to be soon
put to the test, and it resulted in the triumph of Hilde-
brand, and the freedom of the Papacy.
Nicholas died in 1061, and the Roman nobles de-
clared themselves in favour of receiving a Pope at the
hands of the Empress, who was now Regent, rather
than from the cardinals. Two Popes were consequently
elected; but political events, supposed to have been
brought about by the secret machinations of Hilde-
1 Riddle's ' History of the Papacy.'
40 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
brand, favoured his plans. Hanno, Archbishop of
Cologne, who had become the guardian of the young
Emperor, declared himself in favour of Alexander, the
nominee of Hildebrand, who, in 1062, was recognized
as Pope.
Hildebrand, who was now Cardinal-Archdeacon, had
more than once an opportunity of himself stepping into
the Papal chair. The conviction that he could best
serve the interests of the Church by securing the elec-
tion of suitable men, induced him to sacrifice his per-
sonal interests. Certain it is that his power in Rome
was so great that no intrigues on his part were requisite
to secure the Papal dignity *. When, on the death of
Alexander II, his election took place, he acquiesced with
a reluctance which it is impossible to regard as feigned,
however much he triumphed in witnessing the complete
success of his new regulations concerning Papal elec-
tions. c When he heard it/ says Ranke, c the venerable
Archdeacon was sore afraid, and rushed to the pulpit,
wishing to quiet the people. But Hugh the White
prevented him, and thus addressed the people : cc Men
and brethren, ye know how that from the days of our
lord, Pope Leo, this Hildebrand it is who has exalted
the Holy Roman Church, and has freed the city;
wherefore, since we have none better, nor one like
unto him, whom we can choose for the Roman Pontifi-
cate, we have chosen this man, one ordained in our
Church, known unto you and unto us, and in all things
approved." And when the cardinals, bishops, . . . and
the clergy of lower rank had, as the custom is, shouted
together, " St. Peter has chosen Gregory Pope," he was
1 Niebuhr.
II.] OF THE PAPACY. 4 1
seized upon and drawn along by the people, and against
his will was enthroned at St. Peter ad Vincula/
Hildebrand was elevated to the Papal throne about
the same time that the Emperor, Henry IV, began to L^
exercise his Imperial rights.
It was but natural that Henry should resent the
insult which he conceived to have been offered to the
Imperial crown by the election of Hildebrand, now .
Gregory VII. For this opposition Gregory was pre-
pared. But he possessed the tact to avoid a contest,
and obtained from the Emperor a formal recognition of
his election, choosing, from motives of policy, to allow
once more the exercise of this disputed right.
Gregory was now at liberty to devote all his energies
to the accomplishment of the great objects of his life;
— -the deliverance of the Roman See from all secular
control, and the prosecution of the ecclesiastical re-
forms already initiated at his instance.
Before his election he had boldly intimated to the'
Emperor that, as Pope, he must infallibly assume a
hostile relation to him. This hostility was mainly di-
rected to the accomplishment of three objects, with the
simple enumeration of which I must content myself.
These were, the celibacy of the clergy ; the destruction
of the monster evil of simony ; and the great contest
respecting investiture.
The success which attended his bold denunciation of
the Emperor, and the King of France, for the open and
organized traffic in ecclesiastical offices that disgraced
their respective courts, and cast discredit upon the
Roman See, and the craven submission of these sove-
reigns, encouraged him to proceed with a high hand to
the decisive measures which he had matured in his
42 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
long monastic contemplations. By the introduction of
celibacy, which he rendered compulsory, in spite of the
most formidable opposition, and of the tears and im-
precations of those whom he forced to break the
tenderest of all ties; in spite also of a canon of the
Church \ which threatened with excommunication all
persons who should declare a married priest disqualified
for the performance of divine offices, he succeeded in
converting the whole body of the clergy into a kind of
monastic order. By providing that no clerical office
should, in future, be conferred by a layman, under
penalty of excommunication 2 , he transferred the allegi-
ance of the clergy from the Emperor to the Pope.
The real question at issue in this controversy re-
specting investiture, was the limits of the power of the
Roman S^e, whose ordinances Gregory determined to
enforce against all sovereigns who disputed them 3 .
1 Passed at the Council of Gangra, in the fourth century, and
incorporated in all collect'ons of canon law.
2 Ranke.
3 Gregory borrowed one main pillar of his system from the
False Decretals. Isidore had made Pope Julius (about a.d. 338)
write to the Eastern bishops : * The Church of Rome, by a sin-
gular privilege, has the right of opening and shutting the gates of
heaven to whom she will.' On this Gregory built his scheme of
dominion. How should not he be able to judge on earth, on
whose will hung the salvation or damnation of men ? The
passage was made into a special decree or chapter in the new
codes. The typical formula of binding and loosing had become
an inexhaustible treasure-chamber of rights and claims. The
Gregorians used it as a charm to put them in possession of every-
thing worth having. If Gregory, who was notoriously the first
to undertake dethroning kings, wanted to depose the German
Emperor, he said, ' To me is given power to bind and loose on
earth and in heaven.' Were subjects to be absolved from their
II.] OF THE PAPACY. 43
The Emperors were no less determined in the assertion
of their right to exercise control over the hierarchy.
The strife was mortal. The ends sought by both the
antagonists were unattainable. It was not until this
fact had been forced upon them by sufferings as sad as
they were unnecessary, that the real question, only then
reduced within the bounds of its apparent dimensions,
rendered an accommodation possible. Meanwhile, the
long and haughty contest upon which Gregory VII had
entered with the Imperial power, plunged both the
leading actors in the drama into the extreme of misery
and degradation. The Pope, before whom the mightiest
prince of Christendom had been humiliated to the last
degree; who, himself enjoying the luxuries of the
Countess Matilda's castle at Canosa, had kept the
royal penitent standing barefoot on the snow for three
days and nights, until satisfied with the completeness of
his own triumph and the irretrievable disgrace with
which the crown, so abased, was overwhelmed; — the
proud Pontiff, who had so sternly asserted the absolute
superiority of the spiritual over the secular power, died
in exile at Salerno, a.d. ] 0%% exclaiming, c I have
loved justice, and hated iniquity, therefore I die in
exile !' Twenty years later, the Emperor, after a long
reign, extending over half a century, died of a broken
heart, the prisoner of his own son.
oaths of allegiance?— which he was also the first to attempt, — he
djd it by virtue of his power to loose. Did he want to dispose of
other people's property ? he declared, as at his Roman synod of
1080, 'We desire to show the world that we can give or take
away, at our will, kingdoms, duchies, earldoms, in a word, the
possessions of all men ; for we can bind and loose.' — ' The Pope
and the Council,' by Janus.
44 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
But although his end was ignominious, and the
means by which he sought to attain the great objects of
his life were unworthy of admiration, Hildebrand's
genius and courage, his services to the cause of civili-
zation, — perhaps even to that of true religion, and J
certainly of the Roman Church, the lofty claims of
whose hierarchy he so effectually established, — are un-
questionable. c He found the Papacy/ says Sir James
Stephen 1 , c dependent on the Empire- he sustained
her by alliances almost commensurate with the Italian
peninsula. He found the Papacy electoral by the
Roman people and clergy- he left it electoral by a
college of Papal nomination. He found the Emperor
the virtual patron of the Holy See; he .wrested that
power from his hands. He found the secular clergy
the allies and dependents of the secular power ; he con-
verted them into the inalienable auxiliaries of his own.
He found the higher ecclesiastics in servitude to the
temporal sovereigns; he delivered them from that yoke
to subjugate them to the Roman Tiara. He found the
patronage of the Church the mere desecrated spoil and
merchandise of princes ; he reduced it within the do-
minion of the supreme Pontiff. 5
As a Pope, Hildebrand stands alone. Strength of
will, combined with exalted genius, have characterized
few in the long succession of Roman Pontiffs. Arro-
gance and ambition have been the characteristics of
many. But in either trait Hildebrand was, is, and will
remain unequalled. Believing himself called of God to
the accomplishment of a great work, he performed it
with a zeal, inspired by a devout sense of responsibility,
1 ' Essays on Ecclesiastical Biography/ by Sir James Stephen.
II.] OF THE PAPACY. 45
which was all the more admirable by reason of the
cautious and far-sighted policy by which it was regulated.
The limits of this narrative forbid the attempt at
anything beyond a passing reference to the romantic
story of the Countess Matilda, the bold and successful
supporter of all the pretensions of the most arrogant
and ambitious of Pontiffs. She twice obtained the
sanction of Gregory VII to a divorce from uncongenial
marriages, in order that, with undivided energy, and
with all the influence which her unequalled wealth, as
the possessor of the richest territories in Italy, secured
to her, she might devote herself to the furtherance of
his ambitious projects. Her indomitable spirit enabled
her to wield the sword of justice in behalf of the Church,
not metaphorically only, in the tribunal, but with
masculine energy as a warrior on the battle-field. In a
voluptuous and superstitious age she lived austerely, and
subdued her tastes for the devotional abstractions of
the cloister^ that she might consecrate herself wholly
to the duties of her chosen vocation. It would be
interesting to trace the history of her bequest to the
Church of those rich Italian possessions \ which became
the subject of so much virulent contention during a
period of fifty years, at the expiration of which they
passed into the possession of the Emperor. It is
impossible to deny the apparent justice of the Imperial
claim to these territories, which were held by Matilda
1 ' Her great domains comprised the Duchy of Tuscany, extend-
ing along the Tuscan sea to within a few miles of the city of
Rome, and including Perugia and Imola within its limits ; on the
north it embraced the Duchy of Modena, to which had been
added the district of Parma ; while in the south with these
territories she united the Duchy of Spoleto, and the Marquisate
of Ancona.'— Butt's ' History of Italy.'
4<5 THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY.
under feudal tenure, and consequently without power of
alienation. After the lapse of a century they again
reverted to the Church, together with other territories
for which forged deeds of gift, bearing date four
centuries back, were produced by the unscrupulous and
cunning Innocent III. But with this history our narra-
tive is not concerned.
After the death of Gregory VII, two successive
Pontiffs of his own nomination were chosen to fill the
vacant See. These were Victor III, who died after a
brief Pontificate, and Urban II, who succeeded him in
1088. By a double stroke of policy this Pontiff effec-
tually crippled the power of the Emperor in Italy.
Persuading the Countess Matilda to marry the son of
the Duke of Bavaria, whose enormous wealth and
influence were by stipulation employed to harass the
Emperor, and by instigating Conrad, the Emperor's only
son, to rebellion against his father, he placed Henry IV
in a position in which his whole and undivided energies
were absorbed in the struggle to secure his German
dominions. It would be difficult to overrate the
importance of the service thus rendered to the Papacy
in the height of its contest with the Imperial power,
by a Pontiff whose self-confidence was a source of equal
power as the greater genius of a Hildebrand.
'For they can conquer who believe they can 1 .'
1 Virgil.
CHAPTER III.
It was impossible that so astute a man as Urban II
(a.d. 1088-99) should fail to perceive the opportunity
presented by the prevailing fanaticism of the age for
directing it to the accomplishment of quite other ends
than those upon which it was immediately set. He
only pursued the policy of Gregory VII, of whom he
was in every respect a fitting successor, in encouraging
the mad enthusiasm of Christendom for effecting the
deliverance of the Holy Land from its infidel posses-
sors j — a religious sentiment which, hostile to the
opponent of ecclesiastical claims, became a powerful
accessory to the Holy See, which had blessed the pro-
ject 1 . The leadership in the holy wars of necessity
devolved on the Popes.
Urban's first employment of the prestige which he
thus secured, was the assumption of a more imperious
bearing towards the crowned heads of Europe, concern-
ing the disputed right of investiture, than had been
adopted even by Gregory VII. His haughty rebuke,
1 'A Council was called at Clermont, by Pope Urban II, A.D.
1095, with a view to the recovery of the Holy Land ; and the
princes of Europe eagerly undertook the enterprise. ... An
armed force of six hundred thousand, commanded by Godfrey de
Bouillon, was reduced to a t tenth part of its number before
reaching Jerusalem; but succeeded in taking the city a.d. 1099.
Palestine was afterwards subdued, but the conquest was not
permanent.' — ' Compendium of Universal History,' Jarrold and
Sons.
t,
university)
4-S THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
and threatened excommunication of William the Con-
queror, will be familiar to every reader of English
history.
For twenty years after the death of the original
actors t in this drama, the contest continued between
the Emperors and the Pope, with varying success.
In the person of Calixtus III, the Papal chair was
filled by a man lacking the high moral qualities and
administrative tact of Gregory or of Urban. The
nobles and bishops concurred in demanding a reconci-
liation, and Calixtus, too feeble in resources to parry the
ill will of the clergy, as his great predecessors had done,
by diverting it into another and a counter channel,
acceded to the celebrated concordat at Worms. The
vital principle of the controversy was surrendered, by
this Council, on the miserable compromise that the
Emperor should exercise the right of investiture with
the sceptre only, and not with the crozier and ring.
The long assertion of the high Papal pretensions was
attended, however, with one result, which the Emperor,
in his triumph, was powerless to avert. The repeated
and successful exercise of the spiritual powers of the
Church, and especially of the terrible power of excom-
munication, more formidable now than ever, had sur-
rounded the Papal throne with an awful dignity and
power, which availed to compensate the loss of in-
fluence-involved in the surrender of the right of inves-
titure. It was clearly impolitic to jeopardize this
awful power by the prolongation of a struggle, from
which even a Hildebrand might have shrunk.
During the ensuing century Republican institutions
made such progress in Italy that the civil power, both
of the Popes and Emperors, became greatly curtailed.
III.] OF THE PAPACY, 49
The Popes were frequently obliged to flee from Rome,
and their right to the exercise of any other than a
purely spiritual authority was boldly canvassed K In
North Italy daring heretics arose, who proclaimed that,
in becoming territorial lords the Popes had forsaken
the principles of the Christian religion. Foremost
amongst these was Arnold of Brescia, who declared
that c neither bishop, priest, nor monk could be saved
if clogged, the former with regal or lordly power, the
latter with worldly wealth or goods/ He shortly after-
wards expiated at the stake the offence of an alliance
with the Emperor.
Adrian IV (a.d. i 154-59), a poor English scholar,
whose abilities had raised him to the highest dignity of
the Church, succeeded, by fomenting the jealousy which
the Emperor entertained towards the Romans, in re-
covering undisputed possession of Rome, but was
powerless to prevent the devastation of the surrounding
territory by the King of Italy. The disputes between
the Pontiff and the Emperor had now degenerated into
mere punctilios, such as the duty of the Emperor to
hold the stirrup of his Holiness when dismounting from
his horse ; and that of the Pope to refrain from double
entendre in his correspondence with the Emperor.
Yet — and would that Rome would learn the lesson
to-day — this period of the decadence of the temporal
1 It is a curious fact that in the twelfth century one of the
famous maxims of Gregory VII, ascribing personal holiness to
every rightly-elected Pope, was suffered to drop. ' There was
danger of the want of holiness suggesting the invalidity of the
election ; and therefore the decretal books, while upholding the
rest of Gregory's postulates, were silent about this.'—' The Pope
and the Council,' by Janus.
E
/
$0 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
power of the Roman See, was that of its most exalted
spiritual power, and of the acquisition of an influence, in
other countries, far surpassing that of which it had
been despoiled in Italy; whilst the right to dispense
crowns was never so little questioned as now, when the
spiritual head of the Church claimed no right to wield
the sceptre of a temporal kingdom. We need not go
beyond the history of our own country for confirmation
of these assertions respecting the ideas of the Papacy
which characterized the age. In regard to the first, it
is sufficient to mention the name of Beckett; and as
regards the second, the very charter of the English pos-
session of Ireland proceeds on the assumption { that all
islands which are illuminated by Christ the Sun of
Righteousness are a portion of the patrimony of St.
Peter and the Holy Roman Church K' In asking for
Ireland as a gift from the Pope, Henry II deliberately
recognized the superiority which the Pontiffs claimed
.over all Kings, and their power of dispensing crowns,
his own not excepted. Innocent IV declared his
readiness to abandon the Donation of Constantine,
upon which his predecessors based their claims to
sovereignty, which he maintained was derived directly
from Christ, and extended to the entire world, and all
that it contained. Secular power was only to be
tolerated, as secular princes avowedly exercised it, by
commission from the Pope.
The alliance between the Emperor and the Pope,
sealed by the blood of Arnold, was of short duration.
c By the grace of God,' said Frederick, c I am Emperor
of Rome. If Rome be entirely withdrawn from my
authority the Empire is an empty name/ And
1 Bull of Pope Adrian IV. •
III.] OF THE PAPACY. 5 1
Adrian was fain to appeal for protection to those very
republicans of Brescia and Milan of whom he had been
the cruel oppressor. His sudden death alone prevented
the fulmination of a bull of excommunication against
Frederick, who, to meet the injurious and insulting
claims of the Pontiffs to the possession of a supreme
power, whose sanctity eclipsed that of the purely
secular, added the epithet c Holy' to the accustomed
title c Roman Empire.'
The schism which ensued upon the death of Adrian
produced a more momentous conflict, in which the
rival of the Pontiff nominated by Frederick (Alexander
III) won a signal triumph over the Emperor. The vic-
torious armies of Frederick had been decimated by the
fevers of Rome. The Lombard cities, whose arms the
Pope had blessed, rallied to the summons of Alexander.
The strife was full of peril, when, by the mediation
of the Doge of Venice, the Pope and the Emperor were
induced to meet at St. Mark's. A slab of red marble
still marks the spot upon which Frederick knelt in
humble submission to the Pontiff, who raised him, with
tears of joy, and imprinted upon his forehead the kiss of
peace. Frederick thus withdrew from the contest to
which his life had been devoted — his rivalry with the
Pontiff for the chief place in Christendom.
At the close of the twelfth century the Popes had no
settled territory in Italy. But in the person of Innocent
III, who entered upon his Pontificate in the full vigour
of manhood, a restorer was at hand, who proved no
exception to the common rule, that, to a man of en-
terprizing spirit, opportunities will always present
themselves for the exercise of his talents. Nor did
he suffer the grass to grow beneath his feet. On the
E %
52 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
first day of his Pontificate he invested the Prefect of
Rome with the insignia of his office, and compelled
him to take the customary oath of allegiance to himself,
rather than to the Emperor. Thus, by one well-timed,
well-directed blow, he shattered the only remaining
link which connected the Imperial sovereignty with
Rome. Innocent III was the first Pontiff to lay down
the theory, so often repeated by his successors, that, in
the punishment of offences against the civil law, the
Pope has the power to interpose with his judgment and
annul the decisions of the civil tribunal. His entire
Pontificate was characterized by the same imperious
policy. Of this we have an illustration in the rebuke
which he administered to the Tuscan States, which,
whilst pledging themselves to the support of the Papal
See, and to the recognition of no Emperor who was not
approved by the Pope, at the same time recognized the
supremacy of the Imperial power. Innocent reminded
these reactionists that there were two great lights in the
social heaven, having their seat in Italy, the lesser of
which, the Imperial authority, received its light from
the greater, the Papal See.
Innocent III successfully asserted his claim to the
patrimony of St. Peter, and to all that was included in
the donation of Matilda. Southern Tuscany again
reverted to the Church, and the Pontiff obtained from
the Emperor the recognition of his claim to the ab-
solute sovereignty of the city and territories of Rome.
This crafty and ambitious man, possessing all the
daring, but lacking all the dignity of Gregory VII,
was practically the founder of the Papal States, the
cities of which, now weary of the German yoke,
hastened to recognize and welcome his authority.
III.] OF THE PAPACY, 53
Events in Germany having brought upon the stage
two competitors for the Imperial crown, Innocent de-
termined to assume the right which Adrian III had
vainly asserted, of nominating the Emperor. With
that insinuating craftiness of which he was so great a
master, he claimed, not the absolute right of nomina-
tion, but the right and duty of assisting the electors in
such a state of affairs as the present, when they were
unable to perform the functions which, he allowed it to
be supposed, he regarded as their inherent right. The
competitors for the vacant throne were Philip, brother
of the late Emperor Henry VI, and Otho, formerly
Duke of Saxony and Bavaria. The craftiness of Inno-
cent led him into the fatal error of delaying too long to
recognize the claims of either candidate. Philip made
the most splendid overtures for his support, the very
offer of which was a gain to the Papacy. But whilst
Innocent coquetted with Philip, hoping to secure
equally valuable concessions from Otho, his plans
were frustrated by the assassination of the former.
Otho was fully aware how little he was indebted to
Innocent III for the adherence which he now secured,
and opportunities for the manifestation of the malevo-
lence which he entertained towards the Pontiff' soon
presented themselves. He seized the castles and for-
tresses which Innocent had recently annexed to the
patrimony of St. Peter, conferred the Duchy of Spoleto
upon one of his German nobles, and despoiled the
Church of some portion of the inheritance of the
Countess Matilda.
Innocent, now determined to compass the Emperor's
fall, fulminated against him a sevenfold bull of ex-
communication, and, by means of emissaries in Ger-
54 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
many, created a rising in which the King of Bohemia,
the Duke of Bavaria, and other princes, both lay and
ecclesiastical, took part in favour of the pretensions to
the Imperial crown of Frederick, the young son of
the Emperor Henry VI, whom, five years earlier, he
had employed measures to exclude, in favour of the
rivals, Philip and Otho. Innocent died, however, A.D.
1 21 8, before the complete overthrow of his adversary
was accomplished. The tremendous influence which
the Papacy had now acquired again finds striking illus-
tration in the history of our own country. The dispute
between Innocent and King John, respecting the elec-
tion of Stephen Langton to the See of Canterbury,
terminated in the excommunication and complete
humiliation of the King, who unconditionally surren-
dered his crown, with all the insignia of royalty, to the
Roman legate, that he might receive them back as the
free gift of the Pope, and hold his kingdom thence-
forward as a fief of the Roman See. The subsequent
absolution of the King from the oaths he had sworn at
Runny mede, and the advice tendered him to annul the
charter he had so reluctantly conceded, are matters
familiar to the readers of English history.
Innocent III was the first Pontiff who employed
armed forces for the suppression of heresy, and to him
the Papacy is indebted for one of its most powerful
engines of propagandism, — the Inquisition ; designed
to put an end, not only to all public teaching, but to
private thought. The unprotesting acquiescence of
Europe in the imposition of the abominable code of
the Inquisition affords humiliating and signal proof of
the unlimited and arbitrary power exercised by the
Popes. Their claim to sovereign dominion of life and
III.] OF THE PAPACY. $$
death over all Christians was no idle vaunt. Every
departure from the teaching of the Church was now
made punishable by death in its most appalling form,
viz. by fire. The object proposed by Innocent in the
establishment of the Inquisition, and pursued by every
succeeding Pope for three centuries, was the complete
uprooting of every difference of belief. Hence there
ceased to be any distinction between heresies. It
sufficed that a man differed in any respect from the
common way of life of the multitude to attach to
him the charge of heresy. c The earlier laws of the
Roman Emperors had distinguished between heresies,
and only imposed severe penalties on some on account
of their moral enormity, but this distinction was given
up after the time of Lucius III, a.d. 1184. Complete
apostacy from the Christian faith, or a difference on
some minor point, was all the same. Either was
heresy, and to be punished by death K
It was during the Pontificate of Innocent III that
the most important attempts were made to recover the
holy places from the Turks ; for Innocent, as treasurer
of the crusades, and as generalissimo of the Christian
forces, was quite alive to the opportunity which this
European folly presented for the aggrandizement of the
Papacy ; and it is not surprising that he was the most
strenuous patron of the movement. It is said that of
the immense wealth which poured into his coffers from
all quarters, not a little remained there • whilst he
augmented the revenues of the State by retaining cer-
tain taxes levied at first for the purpose of carrying on
the holy war 2 . The principles which governed his
1 ' The Pope and the Council/ by Janus.
2 ' British Quarterly Review,' vol. xiv.
56 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
actions found apt expression in the maxim which he
proudly adopted, that c the Pope, in virtue of the
plenitude of his power, might dispense even with
rights.' For a period of fifty years, and through a
succession of short Pontificates, the Roman See being
more than once vacant, the contests between Pope and
Emperor continued ; the grounds of quarrel being
generally frivolous, often absurd, whilst the result was
prejudicial to the power of each.
Rudolph, the founder of the Hapsburg dynasty, was
elected to fill the Imperial throne, a.d. 1273. The
misery which their Italian possessions, and ecclesias-
tical quarrels, had entailed upon his predecessors, de-
termined him to pursue a policy of non-intervention
with regard to Rome. By a formal deed he resigned
all pretension to the territories claimed by the Church,
and to the long-disputed bequests of the Countess
Matilda. It is said that in his horror of coming into
collision with the power which had consumed so many
German kings, he unintentionally surrendered by this
deed territories belonging to the kingdom of Italy,
to which the Papal See could show no title 1 . This
grant comprised all those districts which at the com-
mencement of the Pontificate of Pius IX formed the
States of the Church, and by a subsequent compact,
Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily were included in the
original grant.
From this point begins a new era in the history of
the Papal claims. The Papacy had acquired a signal
triumph in its establishment of the independence of
the Emperor, but it clearly severed the links which had
made the Holy Roman Church and the Holy Roman
1 Butt's < History of Italy.'
III.] OF THE PAPACY. 57
Empire one and the same thing in two aspects, a mystic
dualism, corresponding to the two natures of its founder.
c As divine and eternal, its head is the Pope, to whom
souls have been entrusted ; as human and temporal, the
Emperor, commissioned to rule men's, bodies and acts.'
Such was the theory of the Holy Roman Empire • the
self-consistent scheme of the union of Church and
State. But the Emperor and the Pope were the cham-
pions of opposite systems, and the Papal independence,
which was the result of their frequent collisions, severed
the links which bound together the world-monarchy and
the world-religion. Thus c the very triumphs in which
the Papal power asserted its separate and distinct
sovereignty, were the destruction of that venerable
polity by which its framers intended that all the
Western world should be united in one great con-
federation of Church and State. When the Emperor
resigned all power in Rome, the Holy Roman Empire
survived only as a name 1 .'
' Men are we, and must grieve when even the name
Of that which once was great has passed away ! '
Although the Pontiffs were now free from all com-
petition with the Imperial power, their sovereignty was
little more than nominal. The republics continued
free, and the feudal lords not only retained their
virtual sovereignty, but in some instances obtained a
confirmation of it, as the price of their recognition of
the supremacy of the Pope.
The power of the Church in relation to the State was
visibly declining. In the conflicts in which the Pope ^
and the Emperor were soon again involved, and in
1 Butt's ' History of Italy.'
58 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
the contest for supremacy between the Greek and the
Roman Churches, much that had been gained by Inno-
cent was again lost. The Roman people had come to
regard the Pontiff as merely their titular sovereign - y and
although the temporal authority of the Pontiffs varied
according to their personal character, their sovereign
power was brought within the narrowest limits, whilst
the schism between the rival Churches became perma-
nent. The struggle for the gradual recovery of power
was, though intermittent, long and embittered. By
slow degrees it was accomplished, but not until the
insatiable ambition of the Pontiffs had weaned from
them the respect and the willing obedience of their
subjects, and greatly impaired the Papal authority in
its most essential particulars. The whole secular and
religious literature of Europe grew intensely hostile to
the Papacy. What used to be called the Roman Church
had become the Roman court. Enlightened men had
long foreseen the change, and lifted up their warning
voice in vain. Shade of Hildebrand ! the fatal power
with which you endowed the Church has transformed
her into a mass of corruption, selling the souls of the
elect for the sake of filthy lucre. The simony against
which you warred is now exalted in high places, so that
c the little finger of the curia presses more heavily on
the Church than ever the arm of Kings ! ' The hatred
and contempt of the world troubled not those who were
secure in the service of such a power, neither were they
moved by such strange prophecies as that of the highly
honoured St. Hildegard, who, as early as a.d. 1170, had
uttered the following remarkable prediction of the
Popes, which is preserved in the collections of Baluze
and Mansi : — c They seize upon us, like ravening beasts,
III.] OF THE PAPACY. 59
with their power of binding and loosing, and through
them the whole Church is withered. They desire to
subjugate the kingdoms of the world, but the nations will
rise against them and the too rich and haughty clergy,
whose property they will reduce to its right limits. The
pride of the Popes, who no longer observe any religion,
will be brought low ; Rome and its immediate neigh-
bourhood will alone be left to them, partly in conse-
quence of wars, partly by the common agreement of
the States. 5
The court of Rome, corrupt from its cradle, and in :
susceptible of reform, was strong in proportion as the
ignorance of the people was great. In its new conflicts
with the Empire, ending in that arrangement which
Catholic historians have called, with a mixture of
pathos and irony, c the Seventy Years' Captivity,' it
learned that the ignorance engendered by superstition
is not illimitable.
The authority claimed by the Emperor was not the only,
nor indeed the most formidable, obstacle against which
the Popes had to contend. The people of Rome mani-
fested a growing dislike both to Papal and Imperial
rule, and a preference, which upon occasion they did
not fail to avow, for a republican form of government.
And yet more formidable was the antagonism of a proud,
restless, and ferocious nobility, many of whom boasted
of their lineal descent from the great families of an-
tiquity. Commanding the services of numerous and
disorderly bands of retainers, they waged incessant
warfare against each other, and against the constituted
authorities. Taking possession of the ancient monu-
ments of Rome, such as the Mausoleum of Adrian, the
Colosseum, and the theatres, which Popes and Em-
6o THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
perors alike suffered to fall into unregretted decay,
they converted them into strong fortresses, which
enabled them to defy the supremacy claimed by the
Papal and Imperial powers.
Four influences were now contending for mastery at
Rome — the Empire, the Pope, the feudal Barons, and
the Republicans. True, the long-disputed claim of the
Pontiff to the sovereignty of Rome had been conceded
by the Emperor ; but the Popes, being unable to control
either the lawless violence of the nobles, or the repub-
lican independence of the city, it was but too likely
that plausible pretexts would be found for the renewal
of Imperial intervention. The Roman Constitution
itself, fixed by a charter of Celestine III, a.d. 1191, re-
cognized the existence of Republican institutions, and
thus afforded ground for investing such interposition
with at least a show of legality. The c Senate' of Rome
had conferred their authority upon one individual,
under the title of Senator, who, like the Podesta of
other towns, was armed with almost dictatorial powers.
We have seen that Innocent III obliged the Senator to
take the oath of allegiance to himself rather than to
the Emperor. Since the death of Innocent, the Re-
publican institutions had maintained their authority
independent of that of the Pope, and there was nothing
to hinder the investiture of the Emperor himself with
the office of Senator, thereby securing him a legal right
to exercise his power in the capital of Christendom.
r" The election of Charles of Anjou to the office of
\ Senator removed this source of danger, but it neither
\ curbed the republican spirit nor checked the disorders
[_to which the city was a prey.
It will be convenient, at this point, to glance briefly
III.] OF THE PAPACY. 6 1
at the administrative system of the Papal court, as con-
stituted in the thirteenth century. The sacred college
was composed of three orders of cardinals ; cardinal
deacons, cardinal priests, and cardinal bishops. The
first of these were, originally, seven in number (after-
wards increased to fourteen), their number and the
duties of their office answering to the Apostolic insti-
tution. The cardinal priests were the chief priests of
the principal churches in Rome, and enjoyed the same
rank as the cardinal deacons, with whom, in early
times, they formed the presbytery of the Bishop of
Rome. In the ninth century the highest order of car-
dinals, the cardinal bishop, was created. Originally
these were the bishops of the seven dioceses nearest to
Rome, but in course of time the number was greatly
extended, and the bishops of distant, and even of foreign
Sees, were admitted to the order. These three orders
of cardinals constituted the Pope's Privy Council, and,
with other high ecclesiastics, who assisted in the ex-
ecutive administration, formed the Roman curia. Lay-
men were not wholly excluded. Amongst the large
number of Papal officers, — especially in the cum-
bersome machinery for the administration of justice,
composed of three separate courts, one only of which
was limited to cardinals of the Church, under the per- •
sonal presidency of the Pontiff,— we occasionally find
subordinate departments presided over by a layman.
From the executive government the laity were wholly
excluded. The Papal treasury was enriched by a traffic
in those minor offices which were open to laymen, and
which conferred the importance — divested of the re-
sponsibility of power which alone constitutes the value
of office to the statesman — attaching to a member of
6z THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
the Roman curia. Such was the court of Rome. Its
head an infallible priest ; his advisers all ecclesiastics,
partaking the characteristics of the ecclesiastics of the
times, ignorant, haughty, selfish; pledged to the root-
ing out of all independence of thought, of all civil
liberty. And against it was arrayed the equal pride
and obstinacy of the nobles ; the growing ambition and
restless activity of the Republicans ; the crushing power
of the Empire.
A conspicuous feature of the annals of the Papacy
during the thirteenth century is the famous dispute
between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, the latter the
supporters of the Emperor, the former 1 contending for
the independence and supremacy of the Church. The
effects of the evil spirit of discord thus engendered,
may be traced in the history of this period in every
state, and in every city, of Italy. The merits of these
feuds are, for the most part, so involved, that the task
of seeking to unravel them would be tedious and vain.
Contemporary historians, in their endeavours to eluci-
date them, betray, in their mutual criminations, their
own strong prejudices, and consequent untrust worthi-
ness. The scenes of turbulence to which these feuds
gave rise, whether occasioned by differences as to the
forms of government, or by more contemptible but not
less mischievous causes, had an important bearing upon
1 The party names of Guelph and Ghibelline had been known
in Italy at a much earlier date. The Ghibellines were the Im-
perial nobles, the aristocracy of the social body. The body of
the people were Guelphs, who, when the civil and ecclesiastical
powers were in antagonism, named themselves after the party pro-
fessing attachment to the Church, only because the Papacy was
in opposition to the Empire. See ' Trollope's History of the
Commonwealth of Florence.'
III.] OF THE PAPACY. 6$
the extension of the Papal authority ; .the Pope being
often appealed to as arbiter ; and although only a tem-
porary compromise might thus be effected, the recog-
nition of the right of Papal intervention was an element
of power, to which Rome was not indifferent.
The elevation of the house of Anjou to the Sicilian
throne was an inestimable advantage to the Papacy,
the most formidable danger to the independence of
which lay in the union of the kingdom of Naples with
the Imperial crown. The influence of the Guelph party
was now transferred to the royal family of France, who
speedily acquired a predominant influence in the Pen-
insula. But the Sicilian prince, who was Senator of
Rome, aspired also to become her master ; and although
his ambitious projects were defeated, the triumph which
the Pope had achieved in wresting the Sicilian crown
from the Emperor was attended with disastrous con-
sequences to the Papacy itself. An attempt was made,
by the extensive nomination of cardinals, which Charles
was able to accomplish, to bring the Pontificate ex-
clusively into French hands. Opposed, however, to the
projects of this Franco-Guelphine alliance, was a
powerful party closely allied with the leading families
of Rome. The election of Boniface VIII, a.d. 1294
(of whom it has been said that he was c the last of the
Popes,' in that sense in which Brutus and Cassius were
the last of the Romans), who was sworn to uphold the
temporal and spiritual supremacy of the Roman See,
and to rescue the Papacy from the entanglements in
which it was becoming involved, brought this Roman
party, who were entirely hostile to France, into alliance
with the patriotic Guelphs. The consequent confusion
in ecclesiastical disputes was great ; but the deliverance
6\ THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY,
of the Papacy from the troubles and dangers inseparable
from the threatened French domination, was an in-
calculable boon.
From this period, to the close of the fifteenth century,
a long and undistinguished interval occurs. It was,
indeed, an age of advancement ; and though uninterest-
ing as regards the development of the Papal power, was
in many respects highly brilliant. Whilst the discovery
of printing gave, throughout Europe, a tremendous im-
pulse to intellectual cultivation, Italy displayed an in-
tellectual superiority unequalled since the overthrow of
the Roman Empire; but, says Hallam 1 , c Her political
history presents a labyrinth of petty facts'so obscure and
of so little influence as not to arrest the attention, so
intricate and incapable of classification as to leave only
confusion in the memory. The general events that are
worthy of notice, and give a character to this long
period, are the establishment of small tyrannies upon
the ruins of Republican government in most of the
cities, the gradual rise of three considerable states,
Milan, Florence, and Venice, the naval and commercial
rivalry between the last city and Genoa, the final ac-
quisition by the Popes of their present territorial
sovereignty, and the revolution in the kingdom of
Naples under the lines of Anjou and Aragon7
1 'History of the Middle Ages,' vol. i.
CHAPTER IV,
The ecclesiastical disputes, to which reference was
made in the last chapter, were embittered by the
personal quarrel between Philip IV of France and Pope
Boniface VIII. This Pontiff, who in his mad ambition
styled himself c Pontiff and Emperor,' assumed the
second crown of the Tiara ; the third, completing the
symbol of Pontifical dignity, as High Priest, Emperor,
and King, being added twenty years later by John XXII.
' Boniface was in the habit of appearing in public bearing
the sword in one hand and the keys of St. Peter in the
other ; nor did he scruple to declare that the Pope was
exalted by God above monarchs and monarchies, held
the first rank upon earth, and was gifted with miracu-
lous power. His conclusion from these premises had at
least the element of consistency. c The secular autho-
rity,' he affirmed, c was merely an emanation from the
ecclesiastical; the double power of the Pope was an
article of faith, and submission to the Roman Pontiff
NECESSARY TO SALVATION.'
Had Boniface possessed the subtlety of Innocent III,
he would have conducted his quarrel with the wary and
cautious king with greater prudence. He chose the
most objectionable instruments to support his arrogant
assumptions at the French court, and the dictatorial
and threatening tone which they adopted towards
Philip entirely defeated the object of their mission.
Not content with administering reproof to the King
F
66 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
for the delinquencies of his past life, and haughtily de-
manding reformation for the future, Boniface now pro-
ceeded to convene a Council in Rome, charged with the
duty of reforming all the abuses that existed in the
court and kingdom of France 1 . To this Council the
; French clergy were summoned, and the King himself
\ was cited to appear and answer the charges preferred
against him. Herein Boniface plainly overstepped the
limits of prudence. His motives are obvious. To have
placed Philip at once under an interdict would have
been a more congenial method of procedure to the im-
perious Pontiff. But the spiritual weapons of the
Church had been too frequently employed by the later
Popes, and often in circumstances in which it was im-
possible that they should be followed by their intended
consequences. In the isolated instances in which they
had been operative, they had occasioned inconveniencies
so wholly disproportioned to the evils for which their
chastisement was imposed, that the jealousy of govern-
ments and nations was aroused. Measures were every-
where devised to counteract their consequences. Ex-
communications and interdicts had begun to lose their
force, and were, in fact, already regarded as mere for-
malities, dependent for their efficacy upon a concurring
public opinion. No one was more cognizant of this fact
than Boniface. Hence his resort to the expedient of a
Council, the King's refusal to appear before which, and
submit to the judgment of God and of the Pope, might
involve him in a quarrel with his own subjects. The
way would thus be prepared for an interdict which,
deriving its force from the religious instinct of the
nation, would be invested with all its primogenial
1 Riddle's ' History of the Papacy.'
IV.] OF THE PAPACY, 6 J
terrors. But Boniface had too much presumed upon the
waning powers of the Papacy. Philip, determined te-i
show the real strength of his opposition, immediately \
assembled a large parliament in Paris, who unanimously
affirmed that in temporal matters they owed fealty to
none but God and their King ; and the French clergy
were prohibited from attending the Council.
Diplomacy was not, in those days, characterized by
the modern refinements which darken counsel; and
Philip did not hesitate to rebuke the presumption of
Boniface in such words as these, — c There were Kings
in France before there were bishops, and he would rule
within his realm in total disregard of what such a
blinded, fraudulent, demoniacal pretender could say. 5
The quarrel had now become a mortal one. At the
parliament which Philip had assembled in Paris, a series
of resolutions were passed, denouncing the Pope as a
heretic, simoniacal, corrupt, and a pretender. Boniface
had already entered into a new alliance with the
Emperor, whom he hoped to persuade into a declara-
tion of war with France. Encouraged also by the
devotion manifested by many of the French clergy, — no
less than four archbishops, thirty-five bishops, and seven
abbots having repaired to Rome in spite of the prohibi-
tion of Philip, — he took the only course open to him,
and excommunicated the King. Philip forthwith con-
fiscated the property of the recalcitrant bishops, and \
proceeded to summon a second assembly of the States
General at Paris, which sanctioned the adoption of
measures for convening a general Council that should
have power to judge and depose the Pope. A proceed- _
ing at once so irregular and unprecedented can hardly
have been seriously entertained by Philip. It has been
(UNIVERSITY
68 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
suggested that his object was c to take precaution
against any act of the Pope in deposing himself, and
absolving his subjects from their allegiance ; a measure
which he adopted in the form of an appeal to the pro-
r jected Council, and to the new Pope whom that Council
\ should elect, — an appeal which speedily received the
\ adhesion of all communities and classes of men through-
out the kingdom.'
*" The bull of excommunication was to have been pub-
lished on the eighth of September. On the seventh the
Pope was attacked by a troop of banditti, taken
prisoner, and conveyed away on a miserable horse with
his face to the tail. He was rescued and conveyed to
Rome, only to be again seized and imprisoned. His
death, the cause of which must ever remain a mystery,
occurred within a month from the date of his first im-
prisonment/]
Benedict Xr, who succeeded Boniface, a.d. 1303,
commenced his reign by fulminating threats against
Philip, to which the King responded by distributing
large sums of money amongst the cardinals. A strong
French party was by this means established in the con-
clave ; and Philip looked forward with confidence to the
next vacancy of the Pontificate for the desired opportu-
nity of bringing his long quarrel with the Holy See to a
successful issue. It occurred sooner than was expected.
One evening, whilst the Pope was at supper, a girl,
closely veiled, presented a basket of figs. In an un-
guarded moment the Pontiff partook of them ». without
the customary precaution of having them first tasted,
and it is to be hoped that the King's pious wish, c that
he was in heaven,' was fulfilled, for, ere morning, the
Pope was dead. Philip was prepared. He had secured
IV.] OF THE PAPACY. 69
from Bernard de Got, Archbishop of Bordeaux, a man
low born, mean-spirited, and of dissolute life, a pledge
of complete subserviency if he were elected Pontiff. A
command was despatched to the servile conclave, and
Bernard was elected, assuming the title of Clement V.
We have now reached one of the most important
epochs in the history of the Papacy. The relationships
subsisting between Clement V and the French King,
and the momentous bearing of these upon the temporal
power of the Papacy, are well described in the follow-
ing passage which I quote from a work that is only too
little known 1 : — c Of all the concessions to the demands
of Philip which were made by Clement, at the very
commencement of his Pontificate, the most compre-
hensive and important was that of enacting that the
Papal residence should be fixed within the limits of
France. By this means the King of France had the
Pope completely in a state of dependence upon himself,
and henceforward it became his policy, and that of his
successors, not to work the complete overthrow of the
Papal power, but to perpetuate and uphold it, so far as
it could be made instrumental in favour of; France ; but
the new Pontiff carefully concealed, as far as possible,
his state of dependence on the French crown. His
obligation to reside in France was kept for some time
as a profound secret, even from the French party among
the cardinals, and when the continuance of his sojourn
in that country, during several successive years, began
to give rise to suspicion, the circumstances of the times
were pleaded in excuse, not without some effect. At
first no particular place of residence was chosen, but
1 ' The History of the Papacy to the Period of the Reforma-
tion,' by the Rev. J. E. Riddle, M.A. 2 vols. 8vo. Bentley, 1854.
70 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
Clement removed with his court from one town or
monastery to another. At the end of about five years,
however, the intentions of the Pontiff, and his real
position with regard to Philip, could no longer be con-
cealed, and Clement fixed his residence at Avignon,
which was in the territory of the Count of Provence,
and as part of the kingdom of Burgundy, was nominally
under the protection of the German Emperor. Im-
mediately upon his accession Clement granted Philip
the tenth of all Church property in France for the
space of five years; he also nominated ten French
cardinals.'
During the nine years of his Pontificate Clement
remained the obsequious tool of the unscrupulous King,
whilst Italy, abandoned by both Emperor and Pope, fell
a prey to disorders fomented by the contests between
the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Both Philip and
Clement died a.d. 13 14.
The new Emperor, Henry VII, had resolved upon
recovering the ancient Imperial rights in Italy, and, in
spite of the opposition of the Guelphs, prevailed upon
the Pope to perform the ceremony of coronation. Bu*
as Henry advanced his claims, it soon became apparent
that he would encounter the stern and uncompromising
opposition of the Pontiff, who, after some parleying,
pronounced against him the sentence of excommunica-
tion. The old contest for supremacy was thus resusci-
tated j but the early death of the Emperor terminated
the struggle, and contributed to uphold the influence
of the Holy See. Although the name survived, the
Imperial power in Italy terminated with the life
of Henry VII. The advantages to the Papal preten-
sions resulting from the struggle for supremacy which
IV.] OF THE PAPACY, J I
the Popes maintained against Louis of Bavaria, must
be assigned to the effeminacy of the Emperor. The
Popes still claimed the right of confirming Imperial
elections, and of receiving upon his coronation an oath
of fealty from the Emperor. The claim, however, was
contested, and it was expressly disallowed by a Diet
held at Frankfort in 1338, which established c as a
fundamental principle that the Imperial dignity de-
pended upon God alone, and that whoever should be
chosen by a majority of the electors became immedi-
ately both king and emperor, with all prerogatives of
that station, and did not require the approbation of the
Pope V
For seventy years, during which Italy was torn by the
contests of Guelphs and Ghibellines, of rival Popes and
rival Emperors, the seat of the Papacy remained at
Avignon, Rome being abandoned to the vicarial
government of a legate, whose authority was merely
titular. Seven Popes in succession reigned in this
luxurious, but dissolute and corrupt retreat, until a.d.
1376, when the promise, often repeated and long de-
layed, was fulfilled, and Gregory XI returned to Rome.
Nine years earlier, Urban V, instigated by the indig-
nation of Europe at the abandonment of the tomb of
St. Peter, had, to the great joy of the Romans, trans-
ferred the Papal court to Rome. Since the days* of
Adrian IV, no such recognition of the supremacy of
the Roman Pontiff had been exacted, as was then
accorded by the Emperor Charles IV, whom the
astonished citizens beheld in solemn procession leading
the Pope's horse from the Castle of St. Angelo to the
church of St. Peter's. But Urban V cared less for the
1 Hallam's < Middle Ages.'
J 2 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
exaltation of the Papacy than for his own sensual in-
dulgence. After remaining in Rome hardly more than
two years, he declared, to the utter astonishment of his
subjects, that c regard to the general good of the Church
rendered it his duty to return to France.' The people
were incensed ; — the old Ghibelline sect, which, forty
years earlier, had been instrumental in elevating Louis
of Bavaria to the Imperial throne, and procuring the
deposition of John XXII, — reappeared, strengthened
by recruits from every province and town in the Ponti-
fical States. In Rome they encountered only the
feeblest opposition, the French legates having called
into existence a formidable combination hostile to the
power of the Church.
It was to suppress these disorders, and in obedience to
the summons — c In the name of God ' — of St. Catherine
of Sienna, that Gregory XI returned to Rome in 1376.
This extraordinary fanatic, the fame of whose sanctity
was coextensive with the profession of the Christian
faith, had performed a pilgrimage on foot from Florence
to Avignon, that she might personally plead with the
Pope, and entreat him to restore peace to troubled
Italy, by again taking possession of his See. The
narration by this simple, pious woman, of the atrocities
which were being perpetrated in Italy in his name, and
the reproaches of some of the bishops by whom her suit
was sustained, appear to have touched the conscience of
Gregory. In spite of the opposition of the cardinals, to
whom the prospect of exchanging the licence of the
Papal court at Avignon, for the sterner morals and
more arduous duties of Rome, was anything but accept-
able, Gregory set out for Italy. As he sailed up the
Tiber he was greeted with enthusiasm • but the Romans,
IV.] OF THE PAPACY. J 3
mindful of the brief sojourn of Urban V in his capital,
received him with indifference. Their distrust was
well founded, for it was only the sudden death of the
Pontiff in 1378 that prevented his emulating the ex-
ample of Urban and returning to Avignon. The
mission of St. Catherine, however, had been successful.
The Pope had been restored to Rome • there too he had
died ; and there, in accordance with immemorial custom,
the conclave must assemble to elect his successor.
In forsaking an Imperial city, the source of all their
claims to sovereign authority, for a foreign provincial
town, the Pontiffs had exchanged supremacy for subor-
dination. And this was done at a time when the Im-
perial power was least able, and least disposed, to con-
test the claim, in asserting which so many of the
representatives upon earth of the Prince of Peace had
expended, without compunction, the blood and treasure
of their subjects. As the power of the Pontiffs was
crippled, their characteristic vices were unfolded.
Haughtiness, greed, and sensuality polluted the Papal
chair; whilst Europe smiled contemptuously at as-
sumptions which were simply ludicrous in the person
of the captive at Avignon. It should, however, be
borne in mind that, however much the transfer of the
Papal court to Avignon was the act of the French
King ; however much its prolonged sojourn there cor-
roborates the testimony of history to the dissolute
characters of the Pontiffs, who practised, there, vices
which would not be tolerated in Rome ; or reflects
upon the courage and fidelity of the chief shepherd of
the Church upon earth, in pusillanimously forsaking the
post of duty and of difficulty, for the luxury and ease of a
secure and profligate retreat ; it was in no small degree
74 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
attributable to the freedom it enjoyed from the con-
tending factions which, in Rome, had constantly dis-
turbed its serenity, and endangered the recognition of
its authority. In one respect, at least, the world was
a gainer by the result, for the Papacy never did, and
never will, recover the hold which it lost upon the
minds of men.
A universal insurrection ensued upon the death of
Gregory XL Almost every town in the Papal States
rose to assert the freedom of the people from the
tyranny of the French legates. In Rome anarchy
reigned triumphant. Bereft of the wealth which, as
the seat of the Pontifical court, Christendom had
poured into its lap, the city had nothing to sustain its
greatness. Piety attracted no pilgrims ; nor did the
museum of the world bring visitors, whose lives and
persons were at the mercy of lawless violence. No
industry there found a centre. The arts were not culti-
vated ; and it is said that the population had dwindled
to 1 7,000, whilst grass grew in the streets ! And this
was the Rome of the Caesars! This, the once proud
mistress of the world, whose palaces , under the Empire,
were more numerous than its Inhabitants under Gregory
XI j whilst its amphitheatres, constructed to seat
80,000 and 100,000 spectators, were too limited to
accommodate the crowds which thronged them, until the
Circus Maximus, enlarged from time to time, to meet
the requirements of the public, finally afforded accom-
modation to 385,000 spectators, or more than twenty
times the number of the entire population of the city
under Gregory XL The extent of the population of
Rome, under the Empire, has been a subject of much
vexed controversy. The above-mentioned fact is in
IV.] OF THE PAPACY. 75
itself sufficiently suggestive of its enormous extent,
and after a careful study of much that has been written
on the subject, I hold it within the region of proof that,
inclusive of both sexes, it must have reached and most
probably exceeded 5,000,000 souls K
The contrast between Imperial Rome and the in-
significant town under the priestly rule of a libertine
Pope, with its mixture of licence and superstition, of
pomp and humility, of luxury and fasting, of tyranny and
subserviency, is too glaring to be easily realized. Ages
since her glory had departed, and how utter was her
degradation! In the fourteenth century, c Rome/ says
Ranke, c was become a city of herdsmen ; its inhabitants
were not distinguishable from the peasants of the
neighbouring country. The hills had long been aban-
doned, and the only part inhabited was the plain along
the windings of the Tiber ; there was no pavement in
the narrow streets, and these were rendered yet darker
by the balconies and the buttresses which propped one
house against another ; the cattle wandered about as in
a village. From S. Silvestro to the Porta del Popola, all
was garden and marsh, the haunt of flocks of wild
ducks. The very memory of antiquity seemed almost
effaced ; the Capitol was become the Goats' Hill (Monte
Caprino), the Forum Romanum^ the Cows' Field (Campo
Vaccino). The strangest legends were associated with
the few remaining monuments/
It is impossible to fix the precise date at which the
site of the ancient city became deserted; but it is
certain that early in the ninth century there were,
1 An admirable resume of this controversy is given by Mr.
Story in an Appendix to the second volume of his ' Roba di
Roma.'
7 6 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
within Rome itself, cultivated lands of considerable
extent^ a circumstance for which the calamities which
befel the city during the sixth, seventh, and eighth
centuries would account. c An earthquake,' says Lord
Broughton, c shook the Forum of Peace for seven days in
the year 408, but such were the convulsions of nature
during the succeeding century that Gregory the Great
naturally supposed the evils of which he had himself
been the witness to be the principal cause of the ruin
around him. To the earthquakes, tempests, and inun-
dations, he attributed not only the depopulation of the
city but the fall of her dwellings, the crumbling of her
bones. The rise of the Tiber is specified as having
overthrown many of the ancient edifices. Pestilence
and famine within the walls, and the Lombards with-
out, had reduced her to a wilderness, and it is to be
believed that the population shrunk at that period from
many spots never afterwards inhabited/ And again, c A
scarcity in the year 604, a violent earthquake a few
years afterwards, a pestilence in or about the year 678,
five tremendous inundations of the Tiber from 680 to
797, a second famine in the Pontificate of Pope Con-
stantine, which continued for six-and-thirty months, a
pestilence in the last year of the seventh century, and
the assault of the Lombards for three months under
Astolphus in 755, — these are the events which compose
the Roman history of this unhappy period V
The almost total demoralization of the Romans had
not; however, wholly obscured the memory of their past
greatness. The indications of national feelings and
aspirations were faint and partial ; their incapacity for
self-government was notorious ; but not less so was
1 Lord Broughton's 'Visits to Italy,' 1816-1854. 2 vols.
IV.] OF THE PAPACY, J J
their antipathy to foreign intervention, and pre-emi-
nently to that of France.
On the demise of Gregory XI, the populace sur-
rounded the palace in which the conclave was assem-
bled to elect his successor, and clamoured, with threats
and imprecations, for the election of a Roman, or at
least an Italian Pope. They even menaced death to
the cardinals if they did not immediately give them a
Roman Pontiff. c A Roman Pope! A Roman Pope!'
was the cry to which the streets of Rome echoed
throughout the night; whilst the tumult in the con-
clave, if less loud, was hardly less angry. c If, ' cried
the excited populace, c ye persist to do despite to
Christ, if we have not a Roman Pope, we will hew
these cardinals and Frenchmen in pieces V French
influence, however, was in the ascendant. Constrained
by the threatening attitude of the Roman people, the
electors did not, indeed, dare to nominate a Frenchman,-
but resorted to the artifice of fixing upon a temporary
Pontiff, who promised not to avail himself of their
nomination, and took, merely for form's sake, the title
of Urban VI. But the new Pope, full of national sym-
pathies, determined upon reducing the influence of
France among the cardinals, and employed his first
exercise of Apostolic authority in freeing himself from
the oaths which he had taken. The astonished and
affronted cardinals proceeded forthwith to the election
of a rival from amongst themselves, on the plea that
the election of Urban was invalid, having been effected
under the pressure of intimidation. The Pontiff offered
to submit the validity of his election to the decision of
a General Council, but the cardinals, who were now
1 Milman's ' Latin Christianity.'
78 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
protected at Anagne by the presence of French troops,
declined all negotiation, and proceeded to elect Robert
of Geneva, who assumed the title of Clement VII
(Anti-Pope). France, Scotland, (then in alliance with
France,) and Naples accepted the Frenchman, whose
highest qualification for the tiara was that he was
reputed a sagacious and experienced politician ; whilst
the greater part of Christendom, including England,
adhered to his Italian rival \
Clement VII established his court at Avignon, whilst
Urban VI remained in Rome. There was now there-
fore a Pope and an Anti-Pope. Thus commenced the
great schism, which for eight-and-thirty years scandal-
ized Europe. c Two popes,' says Macaulay, c each with
a doubtful title, made all Europe ring with their mutual
invectives and anathemas. Rome cried out against
the corruptions of Avignon ; and Avignon, with equal
justice, recriminated on Rome. The plain Christian
people, brought up in the belief that it was a sacred
duty to be in communion with the head of the Church,
were unable to discover, amidst conflicting testimonies
and conflicting arguments, to which of the two worth-
less priests, who were cursing and reviling each other,
the headship of the Church rightly belonged V We are
1 The qualifications which recommended the Cardinal of
Geneva, were rather those of a successor to John Hawkwood
or to a Duke of Milan, than of the Apostles. ' Extraordinary
activity of body and endurance of fatigue, courage which would
hazard his life to put down the intrusive Pope, sagacity and ex-
perience in the temporal affairs of the Church; high birth,
through which he was allied with most of the royal and princely
houses of Europe : of austerity, devotion, learning, charity,
holiness, not a word.' — Dean Milman's ' Latin Christianity.'
2 Macaulay's ' Miscellanies,' vol. ii.
IV.] OF THE PAPACY. 79
told by Maroni that, in order to avoid the penalty of
excommunication through rejecting the true Vicar of
Christ, good catholics reserved their obedience for which-
ever was the canonical Pope !
Each Pontiff had his partizans in every country of
Europe, and the bitterness thus engendered amongst
courts and peoples, who cared little for either Pontiff,
and were impatient of the growing scandal, soon
begot a hatred of both; whilst, here and there, a
dislike of the Popedom itself was awakened. The
inextricable labyrinth in which the adherents of Papal
infallibility were involved was insupportably perplexing.
c Their belief/ remark the authors of c The Pope and the
Council/ c necessarily implied that the particular indi-
vidual who is in sole possession of all truth, and
bestows on the whole Church the certainty of its faith,
must be always and undoubtingly acknowledged as such.
There can as little be any uncertainty allowed about
the person of the right Pope as about the books of
Scripture. Yet every one at that period must at bottom
have been aware that the mere accident of what country
he lived in determined which Pope he adhered to, and
that all he knew of his Pope's legitimacy was that half
Christendom rejected it.'
The Papal supremacy was openly assailed by the
Lollards, as a corruption of Christianity; and in
England and Bohemia, though Wycliffe died early,
and Huss and Jerome perished at the stake, the stream
of light,
1 a rivulet, then a river/
had begun to flow, which was destined, in the Provi-
dence of God, to grow with ever-increasing splendour,
until all lands were enlightened by it.
CHAPTER V.
The fifteenth century was a transition period both
in the political and the religious history of Europe. It
belongs neither to the Middle Ages nor to modern his-
tory. We cannot here trace the transition from the
feudalism of the Middle Ages to the independent forms
of monarchy which, as the century advanced, became
established in Europe ; but the fact should be borne in
mind, as we come to consider the altered, and other-
wise inexplicable, relationships of the Papacy to the
secular powers, especially during that direful struggle
for supremacy between France and Spaing which ended
in the subjugation of Italy to the latter powen
It was a fortunate circumstance that no questions of
religious dogma were involved in the schism which was
wearying the patience of Christendom. But the im-
portunate entreaties, and even threats, of the civil
powers, and particularly that of France, failed to make
any impression upon the obstinate selfishness of the
rival Pontiffs. The abdication of both Popes, and a
new election to the Papal throne, were the only means
whereby peace could be restored to the Church. Of
this, even the cardinals who had adhered with unbend-
ing obstinacy to their respective chiefs, at length be-
came convinced. Wise in their generation, they re-
cognized and controlled, as a means of securing harmony
to the Church, that public opinion which, whilst be-
lieving in the necessity of its existence, insisted upon
THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY. 8 1
its purification, and clamoured for the limitation of
Papal despotism. Hence originated the Council of
Pisa, which, failing to command the universal recog-
nition of Christendom, only embittered the schism by
the introduction of a third pretender to the tiara.
The famous Council of Constance was brought to-
gether at the instance of the Emperor Sigismund,
a.d. 1414, for the avowed purpose of healing the schism,
of extirpating heresy, and of reforming the Church, in
her head and in her members. This Council, which
asserted itself to be under the direct inspiration of the
Holy Ghost, continued its profitless labours for four
years.
It was hard necessity only which had driven Pope
John XXIII into a close alliance with the Emperor,
who had determined to heal the schism by summoning
a General Council from which it was at least possible
that John l might emanate a private man. Such, how-
ever, was the hard but necessary condition of the
powerful and all-important alliance. When, therefore,
John XXIII had determined to submit to the inevitable
Council, he firmly resolved not to trust himself within
the dominions of the Emperor. His indignation was
stirred when he learned that his commissioners had
agreed with Sigismund to select the Imperial city of
Constance for the meeting-place of the Council. He
now determined to take the negotiations into his own
hands, and arranged a personal interview with the
Emperor at Lodi, trusting to his powers of persuasion
to overcome the obduracy of Sigismund, and to win his
1 ' The worst and most abused man to be found, when his bad-
ness had been thoroughly exposed in the Council at Constance.'
UNIVERSIT
OF
82 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
assent to the nomination of some Italian city, where
the independence of the Council would be less secure.
But although the discussion of this sore point was con-
ducted with an ostentatious display of mutual respect,
Sigismund was immovable in his decision. Imperial
letters and a Papal bull were issued, summoning the
General Council 'of Christendom to meet at Constance
in the following year. The Pope and Emperor then
proceeded together to Cremona, where an incident
occurred which not only nearly prevented the meeting
of the projected Council, but threatened also a tre-
mendous crisis in the history of the Papacy. Fondoli,
the lord of Cremona, who entertained his illustrious
guests with sumptuous hospitality conducted them to a
lofty tower to survey the captivating prospect presented
by the outspreading plains of Lombardy. Subsequently,
upon his death-bed, Fondoli confessed the design, which
he avowed that he bitterly repented having failed to
carry into execution, of hurling both Pope and Emperor
from the summit of the tower, thus securing for himself
immortal fame 1 .
It is unnecessary to follow, in their detail, the pro-
ceedings of this famous Council, which the writings of
the late Dean of St. Paul's have familiarized to every
reader of ecclesiastical history. The results may be
thus summarized. They deposed two Popes and obliged
a third to resign. By the deposition of John XXIII,
and the election of Cardinal Otho di Colonna in his
room, they brought the Church back under one head.
They launched a fatal blow at the advancing tide of
belief in Papal infallibility, by declaring, without a
single dissentient voice, that in matters of faith the
5 Milman's ' Latin Christianity/ '
V.] OF THE PAPACY. 83
Pope is subject to the Council, which derives its au-
thority immediately from Christ. They burned John
Huss and Jerome of Prague, and condemned the
writings of Wycliffe to the flames. But they igno-
minious ly failed, as completely as the fathers who had
assembled at Pisa, a.d. 1409, in their attempt to reform
the Church, or to mitigate the corruptions of the times,
which cried aloud for heaven's vengeance. In Italy the
vices of the Church had produced a widespread atheism,
in which the clergy and laity were alike participators.
c Scepticism was so general,' says Mr. Dyer, that c the
Council of Lateran thought it necessary to decree, in its
eighth session, that the soul of man is not only immortal,
but also distinct in each individual, and not a portion
of one and the same soul. Erasmus knew of his own
knowledge that at Rome the most horrible blasphemies
were uttered by the priests, and sometimes in the very
act of saying Mass ; and he relates, among other things,
an attempt made to prove to him, out of Pliny, that
there is no difference between the souls of beasts and
men. Such of the Italian ecclesiastics as were scholars
prided themselves on the purity of their Latin style,
which they were fearful of corrupting by a study of the
Bible. They altered the language of Scripture to that
of Livy or Cicero: Jehovah became Jupiter Optimus
Maximus ; Christ, Apollo or ^Esculapius ; the Virgin
Mary, Diana. Cardinal John de Medici, afterwards
Leo X, was not only a Platonist, but, if he had any re-
ligion at all, rather a pagan than a Christian, and he
seems to have inoculated the Romans with his own
opinions, for on the breaking out of a pestilence at;
Rome, during the Pontificate of his successor, Adrian,
a bullock was sacrificed on the ancient Forum, with
g 2
84 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
heathen rites, conducted by a Greek named Demetrius,
to the great satisfaction of the people V Hardly a writer
of the fifteenth century fails to denounce the infidelity,
ignorance, and profligacy of the ecclesiastics in every
part of Christendom. c In England the priests petitioned
parliament, a.d. 1449, to be pardoned for all rapes com-
mitted before June next^ as well as to be excused from
all forfeitures for taking excessive salaries, provided
they paid the King a noble (6s. 8^.) for every priest in
the kingdom. The petition was granted, and the
statute made accordingly. In a.d. 1455 ^ ie Archbishop of
Canterbury issued an order denouncing the vices of his
clergy, their gluttony, drunkenness, fornication, ig-
norance, pursuit of worldly lucre, dec. It appears from
a decree of the eleventh session of the Council of
Lateran, that some ecclesiastics derived an income
from the stews ; and Innocent VIII found it necessary
to renew by a bull, published in April, a.d. 1488, the
constitution of Pius II, forbidding priests to keep
butcheries, taverns, gaming-houses, and brothels, and
to be the go-betweens of courtesans 2 .'
The Council of Pisa had resulted in the creation of
three infallible heads of the Church, instead of two, and
the abortive and simulative labours for reform of its
successor at Constance, prepared the way for the Re-
formation.
The new Pope assumed the title of Martin V, and
was recognized by all Europe. Martin was an accom-
plished man of the world. The Council soon discovered
that, by electing a man of character, they had given
themselves a master to whom it was less easy to dictate
1 Dyer's ' Modern Europe,' vol. U
2 Ibid.
V.] OF THE PAPACY. 85
than to a John XXIII. Martin, by his firmness and
decision, succeeded in rendering nugatory the measures
which the Council had adopted for the reform of abuses.
The Council was at the Pope's mercy. He dismissed
the assembled Prelates with the bland assurance that
their work was accomplished j but not until he had
published a bull, which he caused to be read in the
Council, declaring all appeal from a Pope to a Council
unlawful and prohibited. Further, by the election of a
Pontiff capable of reviving the waning reverence of
Christendom, the Council of Constance, which had
threatened to shake the Papal supremacy to its founda-
tions, had really confirmed and strengthened its au-
thority ; and both the Emperor, who chafed under the
consciousness that he had sunk to a subordinate position,
and the assembled Prelates, who felt themselves baffled,
and fallen under the incontestable supremacy of the
Pope, were as anxious to be released from their irk-
some imprisonment, as Martin V was to release them 1 .
After a slow progress through Italy, Martin entered
Rome in triumph, a.d. 1421, as the absolute sovereign
of the city, and quietly asserted all the unrevoked
authority which had been conceded to Innocent III.
The currency, which for three hundred years had borne
the arms of the Senate, now displayed the effigy of the
sovereign Pontiff. But the spirit of republicanism sur-
vived, and the Pope was not master of a single city in
the Papal territory besides Rome. The doctrines of
Huss had now obtained a firm footing in Germany ; and
the indignation which was felt at the perfidy of Sigis-
mund, in violating the safe-conduct which had induced
him to appear before the Council, intensified the de-
1 Milman's ' Latin Christianity.'
86 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
mand for a final settlement of the great question at
issue ; — whether the long-endured and still agressive
tyranny of Rome might not be overridden by the de-
cisions of a General Council.
Throughout Christendom dissatisfaction was felt at
the issue of the Council of Constance; and the assump-
tion, by Martin V, of all the haughty demeanour and
language of former Pontiffs ; his interference in the
disposal of wealthy benefices in Germany; his insulting
usurpation of the undisputed primacy of the Archbishop
of Canterbury, and vigorous efforts to suppress the
growing spirit of independence in England ; his denun-
ciations of Henry V for his aggression on the Church,
particularly in enforcing the Statute of Premunire,
which subjected all persons bringing Papal bulls into
the kingdom to perpetual imprisonment ; by which c ex-
ecrable statute the King of England has so entirely
usurped the spiritual jurisdiction, as if our Saviour had
constituted him his vicar;' — these assumptions of the
imperious Pontiff gave new energy to the cry for a final
settlement of the question of Papal jurisdiction. Hence
originated the famous Council of Basle, a.d. 1431, the
last of the three great Councils of the fifteenth century,
which, by reasserting the supremacy of the decisions
of a General Council, even over a Pontiff, contributed
the most powerful check to the usurpations of Rome.
Martin V lived only to see the opening of the Council
whose decrees were so fatal to his assumptions. A
stroke of apoplexy introduced him to the majority be-
fore its deliberations had commenced.
The new Pope, Eugcnius IV, of course dissented
from a decree which endangered the recognition of his
infallibility, and made him the creature of the Council,
\\] OF THE PAPACY, 87
whose members, however, proceeded to enforce their
decision by declaring his deposition.
Eugenius had summoned the Council sorely against
his will, apprehending that negotiations might be
opened with the Hussites, a growing disposition to
which had been recently manifested ; but the resolution
of all sections of the Church, both lay and ecclesiastical,
backed by the will of Sigismund, constrained him to
compliance. Thrice he issued an edict of dismissal,
c on account of the fewness of those present/ threaten-
ing anathemas in the event of disobedience ; but the
reverend Fathers refused to disperse, alleging that they
constituted the one true (Ecumenical Council, whose
powers had been already declared c superior to the
Pope/ Eugenius denounced the reverend Fathers as a
Synagogue of Satan. The negotiations with the Greek
Emperor respecting the reunion of the Churches
afforded him the desired pretext for convening a rival
Synod in Italy ; he therefore declared that the Council
sat only by his permission, and derived from him its
limited authority, and determined to summon a rival
Council at Fcrrara. A Papal legate appeared at Basle
to propose the removal of the Council to one of the
great cities of Italy, of which the Pontiff offered the
choice of seven. By a majority of two-thirds the
Council rejected the proposal, well knowing that all
hope of reforming the Church would be lost in a
Council which, assembling on Italian soil, would be at
once flooded with local bishops and the officials of the
curia. Hence they were prepared to adopt the extremest
measures, and received with indifference the protesta-
tions of Eugenius. The rival Council quickly assembled
at Ferrara, and as the feud became more violent and
88 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
irreconcilable, it was transferred, for greater con-
venience and security, to Florence. Here it declared
that, c It alone, inasmuch as it had been summoned by
the Pope, constituted a true (Ecumenical Council, whilst
at Basle sat a beggarly mob, mere vulgar fellows from
the lowest dregs of the clergy, apostates, blasphemers,
rebels, men guilty of sacrilege, jailbirds, men who,
without exception, deserved only to be hunted back to
the devil, from whom they came.' The Council at
Basle was nothing daunted by the insults and anathemas
of its rival, which it returned with interest, and boldly
declared Eugenius a simonist, perjurer, and irredeem-
able heretic- a firebrand of discord; a waster of the
goods of the Church ; a rebel against God. They cited
Eugenius to appear before them at Basle, within sixty
days, and answer for his acts. At the expiration of this
term they declared the Pope contumacious, and, after
some delay, in solemn convocation they pronounced his
deposition 1 .
The factitious importance with which the question of
the union of the Eastern and Western Churches had be-
come surrounded 2 , afforded Eugenius a pretext for again
insisting upon the selection of some Italian city as the
seat of the Council. The Byzantine Emperor, John
Palseologus, whose c empire 7 now consisted of the city of
Constantinople, was fain to accept the aid of the West
at any price. In his hesitation whether to close with
1 ' The Mysteries of the Vatican,' by Dr. Griesinger.
2 It was the question of questions for Eugenius. ' If he could
meet the efforts of the Synod of Basle by producing the testi-
mony of the re-united Eastern Church on his side, it would
greatly strengthen his case in the public opinion of the whole
West.' — ' The Pope and the Council.'
V.] OF THE PAPACY. 89
the emulous invitations of the Council or of the Pope,
with both of whom he entered into negotiations, his
sole consideration was to secure the most powerful ally
against the Ottomans, who threatened to wrest from
him the last vestige of the Empire. The Patriarch
Joseph, though he yielded with reluctance to the prin-
ciple of a foreign Council, and did not share the Em-
peror's illusion that the West would lay itself at his
feet, elect him the successor of Sigismund, and thus
bring about a reunion of the great Christian Common-
wealth under one sovereign ] , concurred with him in
the policy of accepting the invitation of the Pope, in
preference to that of the Council. Joseph, however,
nourished illusions of his own, which encouraged him
in the difficult task of persuading the heads of his
Church to enter into the dangerous enterprise. c When
the Eastern Emperor should behold the pomp of the
Pope, the lowly deference paid to their ecclesiastical
superiors by the great potentates of the West, he would
take lessons of humility, and no longer mistake the
relative dignity of the spiritual and temporal sove-
reign 2 .'
The Greeks soon had occasion to suspect that Euge-
nius was more bent upon his own aggrandizement than
upon the vaunted union of the Churches. The artful
attempts which they witnessed to degrade the Patriarch
from his absolute co-equality with the Pope, aroused
their jealousy ; and the concessions of the Patriarch,
whom they conceived to be the tool of the Emperor,
called forth their bitter reproaches. Some of the
bishops contrived to effect their escape, and returned
1 Milman's ' Latin Christianity.'
2 ' Syropulus.' Quoted by Dean Milman.
90 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
to Constantinople, for which act of contumacy the
indignant Patriarch commanded their suspension, and
sent home orders that they should be ' soundly flogged.'
Whilst these miserable disputes were raging, the
Emperor was too much amused with his hunting to
expedite their suppression. When, at length, the
Council was formally opened, c it was skilfully contrived
that, while there was the most irreverent confusion
amongst the Greeks, the Patriarch was treated with
studied neglect, the Emperor himself with reluctant
and parsimonious honours, the Pope maintained his
serene dignity ; all the homage paid to him was skil-
fully displayed V
We must not linger over the theological discussions
of the Council of Florence, which were long and
furious. Before their conclusion, the Emperor Sigis-
mund and the Patriarch Joseph had died. Eugenius
survived to dictate his own terms. An act of union
between the two Churches was agreed upon, and
heaven and earth were summoned to rejoice over the
event. But, like every attempt which the world has
witnessed to impose uniformity of belief upon the
minds of men, involving the subversion of the civil
and religious liberties of the people, it was labour lost.
The Patriarchal theory was wholly alien to the system
of Rome, and every overture for union, during two
centuries, had encountered the uncompromising hostility
of the Greek hierarchy. The spirit which animated
their response to John XXIPs demand for their sub-
mission still survived. c Thy plenary power over thy
subjects/ they had said, c we firmly believe ; thine im-
measurable pride we cannot endure, and thy greed
1 Milman's ' Latin Christianity.'
V.] OF THE PAPACY. 9 1
we cannot satisfy. With thee is Satan, with us the
Lord/ The act of union was indeed published with
the most imposing solemnity in the cathedral of
Florence, where now rested the remains of the Pa-
triarch, whoSe remonstrant voice death had silenced.
But it was a dead letter, the only abiding effect of
which was a more bitter and radical estrangement
between the rival Churches. c The Emperor,' says
Dean Milman, c with the Greek clergy, returned to
Venice, and, after a long and fatiguing navigation, to
Constantinople, there to be received, not as the sa-
viour of the Empire from the sword of the Turks,
not as the wise and pious reconciler of religious dis-
sension and the peacemaker of the Church, but as a
traitor to his own imperial dignity, as a renegade and
an apostate/
The Council of Florence thus ended in an appre-
ciable confirmation and extension of the power and
dignity of the Pontiff. Again quoting Dean Milman,
c He, of all the successors of St. Peter, had beheld the
Byzantine Emperor at his feet, had condescended to
dictate terms of union to the Greeks, who had ac-
knowledged the superior orthodoxy, the primacy of
Rome. The splendid illusion was kept up by the
appearance of ecclesiastical ambassadors — how com-
missioned, invested with what authority none knew,
none now know — from the more remote and barbarous
Churches of the East, from the uttermost parts of the
Christian world. The Iberians, Armenians, the Maron-
ites and Jacobites of Syria, the Chaldean Nestorians, the
Ethiopians, successively rendered the homage of their
allegiance to the one supreme head of Christendom V
1 Milman's ' Latin Christianity.'
92 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
This success of the Pope greatly intensified the
hostility of the Council of Basle. Undeterred by the
defection of the temporal princes, who shrank from
the growing democratic tendencies of the Council, or
by the tumultous altercations which disgraced its pro-
ceedings, they had already proclaimed the deposition
of Eugenius. The Council was not unanimous in pro-
ceeding to this extreme measure, but such feeble
opposition as was offered,
1 A bitter and perplexed " What shall we do ? " '
was quickly silenced, in this fashion: c You do not
know us Germans,' exclaimed the Archbishop of Aqui-
leia, when this step was condemned by the Cardinal
of Palermo. c If you go on thus, you will hardly
come off without broken heads.' The Council was
now almost wholly composed of the clergy of inferior
rank. Not one Spanish, and but one Italian, bishop
remained to give a show of validity to its proceedings.
Their places were filled by archdeacons, provosts, and
priors, who were present to the number of four hun-
dred. In place of the absent bishops, relics of famous
saints were collected, and placed in the hall of Council.
At this solemn appeal to the saints in bliss, we are told
that c a transport of profound devotion seized the as-
sembly ; they all burst into tears '.' The edict for the
deposition of Eugenius was soon after passed, and the
Council, which contained only one legitimate elector,
proceeded to the election of his successor.
A proposition was made to Amadeus, the ex-Duke of
Savoy, to accept the questionable honour of the tiara.
After some demur, the Duke signified his acquiescence.
1 Dean Milman.
V.] OF THE PAPACY. 93
The difficulties which he had raised were not such as
betokened a mind capable of dealing with the implac-
able hatred which would, of necessity, be aroused by
the assumption of the functions of an Anti-Pope. The
loss of his hermit's beard appears to have been the
sacrifice most reluctantly made, and only assented to
after his public appearance as Pope, when his ducal
mind seems to have apprehended the unseemliness
of the spectacle presented by a thick-bearded Pope,
surrounded by a throng of closely-shaven ecclesiastics.
Schism was now once more established. Again, and
for the last time, we see a Pope and an Anti-Pope hurl-
ing their spiritual thunders against each other. But we
also see, what we have not seen before, the indifference
of Christendom to the squabbles of two very common-
place Italian priests, aspirants to an office shorn, by its
unworthy occupants, of the dignity and lustre with
which the great Pontiffs of the bygone centuries had
surrounded it.
'Oh! they are fled the light! those mighty spirits
Lie rack'd up with their ashes in their urns,
And not a spark of their eternal fire
Glows in a present bosom V * •
Schism, however, was an odious offence to Christen-
dom, which resented with scornful reproaches these
results of a system which was felt to be out of harmony
with the spirit and the requirements of the age. The
rival Popes might wage a warfare with the pen, and
amuse or harass themselves, whilst they excited the
disgust of Europe by their puerile hate and harmless
anathemas. The days were for ever past when such
1 Johnson.
trarivERs
CiAt x. *
94 THE TEMPORAL POWER \CHk£.
a condition of things could occasion any apprehension
for the peace of the world.
Amadeus assumed the title of Felix V. The fact of
his being a layman, the father of a large family, and
the rightful sovereign of one of the kingdoms of this
world, being urged as favourable rather than disad-
vantageous to his election as Pope. One of the de-
baters in the Council which elected Amadeus to the
Papal throne, clenched his arguments in favour of the
union of the spiritual and temporal powers by a clumsy
and imperfectly veiled apology for the profligate lives
of the Pontiffs. It was, he maintained, an advantage
to the State when the Pope had sons of his own, whose
natural vocation it would be to resist the attacks of
tyrants. In three days the ex-Duke received all the
orders of the Church, and was ordained Priest, Bishop,
and Sovereign-Pontiff. History thus records a Pope
amongst the lineal ancestors of the present King of
Italy.
Felix was denounced by Eugenius as a c hell-dog 5
and c Antichrist,' a c golden calf and a c Mahomet j'
and the Council at Basle as c devils disguised as men,'
who had set up the idol Moloch. The reader will
observe that these Christian epithets were employed
not by the Anti-Pope, who, having usurped the chair of
the Apostles, had no infallibility to violate ; they are
the words of the canonical Pope, the successor of the
Apostles, the Vicar of Christ. They have, therefore,
an important bearing upon Christian ethics. The only
Church in Christendom which claims to be infallible
is chargeable, in the person of its supreme head, with
the abrogation of St. Paul's injunction that a bishop must
be c of good behaviour, . . . patient, not a brawler. 5
V.] OF THE PAPACY. 95
Felix V continued to discharge the functions of
Pope for a period of ten years, when, in order to heal
the schism, and restore peace to the Church, he re
signed the Pontificate as voluntarily, and probably more
gladly, than he had relinquished his ducal crown. This
result was brought about by the new Emperor, Frede-
rick III, who had been won over to the side of Euge-
nius, and, in March, a.d. 1446, proposed conditions
for a reconciliation between the Pope and the Council,
which the former, in substance, accepted.
Eugenius died in the following year, and Nicholas V,
who succeeded him, immediately notified his assent to
the terms of reconciliation. By this means the autho-
rity of the Pope was upheld against the Council of
Basle, and a Concordat was concluded between Felix
and Nicholas ; the latter confirming in their offices the
cardinals nominated by Felix, annulling the' Papal
censures against the Pope and the Council, and con-
ceding the decrees of Basle as concerning promotions
and appointments in Germany. At the same time the
Pope maintained his right, when occasion should re-
quire, to act without regard to the provisions of the
Concordat. His successor, Calixtus III, openly asserted
the same claim, declaring to the Emperor that a Pope
could not be bound by the terms of any compact, and
that, in so far as he observed the Concordat, it must be
regarded as a pure act of generosity and liberality on
his part.
Nicholas V was now, as Pontiff^ a great Italian
potentate ; and it was his ambition to lay the founda-
tion of his power in the hearts of his people — in an
honourable claim to the gratitude of Italy — and in this
he succeeded. When Italy was distracted by intestine
i)6 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
war, he kept no large army in his pay, and protested
that he would never employ any arms but those of the
Cross of Christ. Yet, not only did he preserve his own
territories from aggression, but he became the pacificator
of Italy. To secure to Italy that undisturbed peace which
should be favourable to the moral influence of the
Papacy, and to the cultivation of the arts, which he
encouraged with lavish generosity, was the laudable
ambition of Nicholas V. The Jubilee which occurred
during his Pontificate, favoured his projects, as it also
extended his fame. Pilgrims, from the highest ranks of
society, swarmed into Rome from every country of
Europe, and they carried back with them the praises of
the Pontiff" who, by his personal dignity, the munifi-
cence of his patronage of the arts, his irreproachable
life, and his successful mediation in the conflicts to
which Italy had been so long a prey, had resuscitated the
majesty of the Roman Pontificate. It was the year of
Jubilee, and the pleasing illusion was cherished that one
virtuous and gifted Pontiff could re-establish, through-
out Christendom, the waning power of the Papacy.
' Some there be that shadows kiss,
Such have but a shadow's bliss 1 .'
In the matter of ecclesiastical reform, the Council of
Basle effected no more than its predecessor at Con-
stance. The abuses of the Papacy were more mon-
strous at the close of the fifteenth century than at any
earlier period; whilst Pius II, in a bull bearing date
a.d. 1460, condemned the principle sanctioned by both
Councils, that a Council is superior to the Pope ; and
Julius II annulled altogether the decrees of the Council
of Basle 2 .
1 Shakespeare. 2 Riddle's ' History of the Papacy.'
V.] OF THE PAPACY. 97
I have already wandered, however, too far from the
subject of this monograph, which is concerned only with
the development of the temporal power of the Papacy,
and must pass by that important era in the internal
history of the Roman Church, in which the Papal
monster who assumed the title of Alexander VI, and
whose scandalous immorality and injustice aroused the
horror of awakening Europe, held sway in Rome.
These traits were not, indeed, monopolized by Alex-
ander VI ; but however much they may have character-
ized other Popes of his time, he occupies, in one
respect at least, a unique position. Far from regard-
ing the vicious practices of his predecessors as stains
upon the Papal escutcheon, to be withdrawn from the
public gaze, he practised them without attempt at con-
cealment, and was the most notorious profligate of
Europe, discarding the conventional, if shallow, tribute
to virtue, which led other Popes to term their offspring
nephews^ he openly acknowledged his children (of whom
the famed and too severely censured Lucrezia Borgia
was the youngest and most beloved), whose aggrandize-
ment was the chief object of his solicitude; the end,
for the attainment of which every species of crime was
held permissible.
H
CHAPTER VI.
During the latter part of the fifteenth century there
was no well-organized government in Rome. The
character of the Popes had become degraded by the
political strifes in which they were perpetually engaged.
c The veil woven by religious awe/ says Hallam, c was
rent asunder, and the features of ordinary ambition
appeared without disguise.' The discovery was fatal to
Papal authority. As, throughout Europe, the covetous-
ness and profligacy of the clergy had lowered their
character and influence, so the same qualities, more
flagrantly exercised by their head, undermined the
respect which was essential to the exercise of his tem-
poral sovereignty. Towards the close of the fifteenth
century, the profligacy of the Pontiffs, c more notorious
than could be paralleled in the darkest age that had
preceded 1 ', must be regarded as the foremost amongst
those general causes which heralded the decrepitude of
the Papacy.
Insignificant nobles and tyrants, hereditary governors
of provinces, were able to set the temporal power of
the Pope at defiance.
Throughout the two centuries which had elapsed since
the death of Innocent III, the struggle on the part of
the Church against the State had been concerning its
immunities and property; its attempts to extend its
1 Hallam's < Middle Ages.'
THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY. 99
legal jurisdiction in criminal matters ; and especially
to secure for ecclesiastics freedom from the jurisdiction
of civil courts. It had undoubtedly acquired, both in its
ecclesiastical and civil relations, a splendour and an
appearance of strength greater than it had ever enjoyed
before, notwithstanding the curtailment of its territorial
possessions and power under the later Popes.
The human intellect had as yet dreamed of no road
to distinction and power save through the medium of
the Church. The historians, the poets, the philoso-
phers of the fifteenth century, had their domicile in
the cloister. Not only were the monks the canon
lawyers, but, c as far as it was known, or in use, the
teachers and professors of the civil law V Education
was their exclusive privilege, jealously guarded, and ex-
tended over the whole domain of the human intellect.
The Church, therefore, attracted to itself the intellect
of the age. To an aspiring mind no other career was
open. As the Church grew in wealth and power, the
career which it offered to men gifted with intellectual
capacity, vied with the tawdry honours of a decaying
nobility ; whilst to the younger sons of noble, and even
princely families, and to the illegitimate offspring of
Popes and kings, its service presented an irresistible
attraction. Qualifications for their holy calling were
not insisted upon according to nineteenth-century
notions ; though it is but just to remark that, in many
cases, these aspirants to ecclesiastical distinction were
characterized by high intellectual capacity, austere
morals, and genuine piety. Where these traits were
wanting, that which Rome valued more highly was
secured. By drawing the religious teachers from every
1 Dean Milman.
H 2
IOO THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
class, not excepting the highest, they were on equal
terms with every class ; by the inscription of famous
names in the roll of her priesthood, the attachment of
powerful families was secured, which thus c welded
together, as it were, the Church with the State 1 .'
There was not a kingdom in Europe in which educa-
tion and public opinion were not moulded by ecclesi-
astics, bound in canonical obedience to the Pope at
Rome. Their intellectual superiority and undisputed
pre-eminence in the administration of secular affairs
rendered them the indispensable coadjutors of the
temporal sovereigns. It is not their intellectual supe-
riority alone which accounts for this. ( It resulted/ says
Dean Milman, c from their almost exclusive possession
of the universal European language, that they held and
retained the administration of public affairs. No royal
embassy was without its Prelate, even if the ambassa-
dors were not all Prelates, for they only could converse
freely together without mutual misunderstanding of
their barbarous jargon, or the precarious aid of an
interpreter. The Latin alone was as yet sufficiently
precise and definite in its terms to form binding
treaties; it was the one language current throughout
Europe; it was of necessity that of all negotiations
between distant kingdoms tf
Here and there we catch an ominous whisper of the
rising moral indignation inspired by this universal
lordship of the human conscience. The higher in-
tellects of this age, the men who were the real leaders
of European thought, sneered at those ceremonies and
beliefs which, as princes or as prelates, they were paid
1 Milman's ' Latin Christianity.' 2 Ibid.
VI.] OF THE PAPACY. IOT
to maintain l , A condition of things so shocking to
the deep instincts of spiritual men, who mourned over
the degeneracy of religion, emboldened those cries for
reform which emanated from every corner of Christen-
dom and found an echo even in the Vatican itself. The
blind opposition of Rome to this moral sentiment was,
indeed, the cause of her fall ; but there is no greater
proof of the power of the Papacy at the close of the
fifteenth century, than the triumph she achieved in this
universal sacerdotal domination. Throughout Christen-
dom the vast fabric of the hierarchy stood unshaken.
Under the vigorous rule of Julius II, c the warrior
Pope' (a.d. 1503)3 the domains of the Church, which had
been lost by his predecessors, were recovered ; and the
sovereignty of the Pontiff was established over all those
territories which, down to the period of the French
Revolution, constituted the States of the Church. The
acquisition of the Legations, however, cannot be said
to have extended the sovereignty of the Pontiff over
these districts. The Pope contented himself with im-
posing a Legate, who occupied the highest place in the
government, transmitting the revenues of the subject
territory to Rome. The original power of the nobles,
and the independent corporations of the cities and
monasteries, remained unmolested. In the intoxica-
tion of his first success, Julius caused a medal to be
struck, representing himself, with the tiara on his head
and a whip in his hand, driving the French before him,
and trampling under foot the escutcheon of the Valois.
This fact, however commonplace, is interesting as
affording an illustration of the character of the Pontiff
who, with the vanity and ambition worthy of a Boniface,
1 Forbes, Bishop of Brechin, * On the XXXIX Articles.'
102 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
united a fiery and vindictive temper, of which the medal
was emblematical.
It has been said of Julius, that nature made him a
warrior, and destiny a priest. He himself saw no in-
consistency in the union of the two professions in his
own person. Believing himself divinely commissioned
to effect the restoration and extension of the temporal
dominion of the Church, he heroically devoted himself
to its achievement, and succeeded. And if there is
something shocking to modern ideas in the spectacle of
a Christian priest, of threescore years and ten, armed
with cuirass and helmet, leading his soldiers in person
to an assault , sharing with them the hardships and
dangers of a campaign, and dragging reluctant cardi-
nals to his quarters, directly exposed to the fire of the
enemy, we can at least admire the patriotism which
was the source alike of his intrepidity and ambition,
and should remember that he lived in an age when
warlike skill and personal courage were considered as
essential for a bishop, as we deem them to be for a
commander of armies ; when a Pope was held to be no
more consistently engaged in offering Mass, than in
leading an army against the enemies of the faith, — that
is, of the Roman Church. To free his country from a
foreign yoke was the dream of this valiant Pontiffs
life, and in this he occupies a unique position in the
long line of the occupants of St. Peter's chair. His
indignation was stirred by the subversion of the Repub-
lican constitutions of Genoa and Tuscany. A cardinal
having, on one occasion, remarked to him that the
kingdom of Naples was always under the dominion
of strangers, the irate Pontiff, striking his staff upon
the ground, passionately exclaimed that, if heaven
VI.] OF THE PAPACY, IO3
spared his life, he would soon free Naples from this
reproach 1 .
Always victorious in war, Julius used his success
with moderation. Devoid of the nepotism which
characterized the Pontiffs of his age, he remained con-
stant to one idea, and fought to aggrandize, not him-
self, but the Church ; conferring the blessings of good
government upon the peoples whom he subjected to
her rule. The continual changes in his alliances, with
which he has been reproached, testify to his absorbing
patriotism. He abandoned the alliance of France, of
Venice, and of Spain, so soon as he thought that these
powers offered any impediment to the success of his
Italian projects 2 . His proud and intolerant spirit
could endure even humiliation, in the cause of Italy.
In the hope of detaching the Emperor Maximilian
from his alliance with Louis XII, he submitted to the
coarse insolence of the Bishop of Gurk, the Imperial
envoy commissioned to open the abortive congress at
Mantua, which was designed to secure the Italian
conquests of the Emperor ; a result, in the estimate
of Julius, less injurious to the Papacy than the alliance
of Germany and France. Although it was evident at
the commencement of the negotiations that the dif-
ferences between the Emperor and the Venetians on
the one hand, and those of the Papacy with France and
with the Duke of Ferrara on the other, were, at this
stage, incapable of a peaceable solution, Julius was so
bent upon effecting the humiliation of the French king,
that he patiently endured the effrontery of the haughty
1 ' Sismondi,' vol. ix.
2 Van Praet's ' Essays on the Political History of the Fifteenth,
Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries.'
104 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
prelate, whose hatred of the Venetians inspired him
with a determined antagonism to the Pontiff. The
bait of a cardinal's hat was powerless to curb the in-
solence, or to sway the obstinacy, of the bishop. The
projected congress failed, and hostilities were resumed.
The alliance between Maximilian and Louis XII was
cemented, and the Emperor dreamt of nothing less
than restoring to himself and his successors all the
prerogatives exercised by Charlemagne.
To the Bolognese, whose city, with the wide extent
of territory over which its dominion extended, was one
of the earliest conquests of Julius II, the Pontiff
granted a constitution which secured to them, in har-
mony with submission to the Papal See, no inconsider-
able degree of real independence. This they continued
to enjoy down to the period of the French Revolution ;
though Bologna ceased henceforward to be reckoned
amongst the sovereign states of Italy. The inconstant
and ungrateful Bolognese were little mindful of these
benefits. No sooner had Julius withdrawn from the
city, after the collapse in the negotiations for the
Congress of Mantua, than the citizens, with the pea-
sants from the mountains, joined the French in an
attack upon the Papal army, which they completely
routed ; whilst a colossal statue of the Pope — one of the
finest works of Michael Angelo — was pulled down and
destroyed with every mark of contempt l .
In the last year of the Pontificate of Julius II, Louis
XII of France, making common cause with the Em-
peror Maximilian I, summoned a General Council at
Pisa, with the view of imposing a check upon the
growing power of the Pontiff, and the inflated dignity
1 Dyer's ' History of Europe.'
VI.] OF THE PAPACY. 105
and influence with which he was surrounding the Papal
See. Their efforts resulted in total failure ; no more
than half a dozen cardinals, two archbishops, and a few
abbots comprising the assembly, which Louis himself
characterized as a comedy. The illness of the Pope, at
this time, inspired the erratic Emperor with the sin-
gular idea of becoming himself a candidate for the
tiara. He assumed the Imperial title of Pontifex
Maximus, and, by pawning the Imperial jewels, raised
the sum of 300,000 ducats for distribution amongst the
cardinals at the anticipated conclave. It is curious to
observe how the princes of this period seemed to have
exchanged parts: c Maximilian wished to be a Pope
and saint, and Louis XII was holding a Council • while
the Pope himself, aping the name and deeds of the
greatest of the Caesars, and covering his white hairs
with a helmet, led a body of old priests under the
cannon's mouth V
The Pope recovered, and the only important result
of the Council of Pisa was the alliance, called the Holy
League, concluded by the Pope, the King of Spain, and
the Republic of Venice ; with whom were afterwards
associated the Emperor, and Henry VII of England.
Its professed object was the protection of the Church
from the sacrilegious attacks threatened by the Council
of Pisa. The accession to the Holy League of the
Emperor Maximilian I, after his defection from the
French alliance, proved that the suspicions with which
Louis XII had regarded its formation were well founded.
Julius II, apparently anticipating that the Council
would command a larger measure of support from the
French clergy, resolved to parry this blow at the Papal
1 Dyer's ' Modern Europe.'
I06 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
supremacy, by convening the rival Council of the
Lateran; which, having the sanction of Papal autho-
rity, was of course regarded by the orthodox as the only
genuine one. Before his death the Pontiff had the
satisfaction of receiving not only the support of all the
temporal powers, but that also of the Emperor himself,
who abandoned the Council of his own creation.
Louis XII was already the victim of remorse for
having taken up arms against the head of the Church,
and was prepared to humiliate himself for the sake of
peace. His submission only had the effect of firing
the ambition of the Pontiff, who would be satisfied
with nothing less than the expulsion of the French
from Italy, and the ruin of the Duke of Ferrara.
Any notice of this remarkable Pope, which pretends
to impartiality, would be incomplete and unveracious
which failed to chronicle, with merited censure, the
intriguing part which he played in the affair of the
League of Cambray, and his subsequent treachery to
Alfonso, its principal concocter. Here his characteristic
moderation entirely forsook him- his patriotism was
obscured in craft and lust of power. The principal
object of the League was the dismemberment of the
Republic of Venice. Romagna, including the im-
portant cities of Ravenna, Faenzi, and Rimini, were
the share of the spoil apportioned to the Pontiff. It
would occupy too much space to enter into the history
of the struggle with the proud and valiant Republic.
Anxious to avoid the calamity of war, the Venetians
offered to surrender to Julius some portions of their
possessions in Romagna. But the ambitious Pontiff
was inflexible- and, single-handed, the Venetians
entered into the conflict with the formidable alliance.
VI.] OF THE PAPACY. I07
Misfortunes at home, and the tremendous power
leagued for their destruction, soon brought them to
the verge of ruin, and so overwhelmed them with
dismay, that they were willing to surrender all those
possessions which were coveted by the allies, if only
the unmolested retention of Venice and the Lagunes
were guaranteed to them 1. On two occasions the
Senate offered to give up the whole of Romagna to the
Pope j whilst to Spain, and to the Emperor, they made
overtures involving similar sacrifice.
The overbearing pride and insatiable ambition of
the Pontiff proved the salvation of the Republic. As
the war progressed, however, Julius gradually succeeded
in recovering and establishing his rule in every city of
the Romagna.
The jealousy of the Pope had been excited by the
intimacy which existed between Alfonso, Duke of
Ferrara, and the French king. A coolness ensued,
which rapidly developed into animosity. Julius con-
sidered himself entitled to the gratitude of Alfonso,
the only feudatory of the Church whom he had spared ;
and, unable to find a just cause of quarrel in his sub-
serviency to Louis XII, he was at no loss to create one
on another ground. He accordingly claimed, as the
property of the Holy See, those castles in Romagna
which Lucrezia Borgia had brought to Alfonso as her
dowry 2 . Alfonso resisted these and other equally un-
just demands. Louis XII in vain attempted to arrange
an accommodation between his ally and the haughty
1 An interesting narrative of this struggle is given by Mr.
Gilbert in his recently published and most attractive biography
of Lucrezia Borgia.
2 Dyer's ' Modern Europe.'
108 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
Pontiff, who responded to these overtures by dismiss-
ing the ambassadors of the French king, as well as
those of the duke, calling upon the latter to renounce
his adherence to France.
When the French had been driven from Italy, and
the League practically dissolved, the position of Alfonso
became critical in the extreme. He well knew the
fiery and vindictive temper of the Pontiff, and wisely
resolved upon opening negotiations, with a view to a
reconciliation. It was not his first attempt. On a
former occasion he had employed the celebrated poet,
Ludovico Ariosto, as envoy for this purpose. His
reception by his Holiness is thus narrated by Mr.
Gilbert: — c On his arrival at Ostia, where the Pope
was then residing, he requested an audience with the
Pontiff. His request was complied with, and Ariosto
was ushered into the presence of his Holiness. He
had scarcely been introduced to him when the Pope
sternly told him immediately to leave his presence, or
he would order him to be thrown out of the window ] . 5
On this occasion he selected as his ambassador, Fabrizio
Colonna, an able general in the service of the Pope,
who, at the siege of Ravenna, had fallen into Alfonso's
hands as a prisoner of war. The respect and friendship
which he had received at the hands of his victor had
converted the quondam foe into a staunch admirer and
friend. Insisting as the condition upon which his good
offices should be given, that Alfonso should recognize
the supremacy of the Pope, and consent to leave the
cities of Romagna in his undisputed possession, Fa-
brizio proceeded to Rome. His mission appeared to
2 ' Lucrezia Borgia,' by William Gilbert. Two vols. Hurst and
Blackett.
VI.] OF THE PAPACY. IO9
be entirely successful, the Pontiff agreeing to a recon-
ciliation upon the easy condition of Alfonso appearing
at the Roman court, publicly expressing his regret for
his offences, and promising obedience to the Church
for the future. Alfonso accordingly appeared at Rome,
threw himself at the feet of his Holiness, and ex-
pressed his contrition. Julius appeared moved by his
submission, and expressed the satisfaction it afforded
him. He then informed Alfonso that he had en-
trusted to a committee of six cardinals the duty of
arranging the terms of a peace, and he had no doubt
they could be easily and satisfactorily adjusted.
The Pontiff had presumed too far upon the peni-
tence of his contrite foe. When the terms upon which
the Holy Father was willing to extend his friendship
to the humble suppliant were declared, they were in-
stantly and indignantly repudiated. They may be
briefly stated; and the arrogance which they display,
combined with the perfidy which Julius was even then
practising towards the man whom he received as
an ally, constitute the darkest passage in his life.
The city of Ferrara, with all the territory of the
dukedom, were to be surrendered to the Church. Al-
fonso and his family were to retire into private life,
pledging themselves never to return to Ferrara, which
thenceforward was to be considered a Papal province !
Alfonso, after he had rejected these terms, without
any pretence of deliberation, immediately commenced
preparations for his return to Ferrara. Various pleas
were urged for his not quitting Rome in such im-
petuous haste; and when the hour for his departure
arrived, he found himself a prisoner, — his house sur-
rounded with Papal guards. Nor was this all. On
( UNIVERSITY i
IIO THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY.
the day of his arrival in Rome, and before the ne-
gotiations with the Pope had commenced, a Ponti-
fical army had entered his own territory, and was
now rapidly approaching Ferrara, where the Duchess,
better known as Lucrezia Borgia, was acting as Regent,
in Alfonso's absence.
We cannot further follow the eventful history of
Alfonso. The romantic story of his escape and return
to Ferrara, by the aid of Fabrizio Colonna, is well
told by Mr. Gilbert in his interesting work, to which
reference has been already made. The episode claims
allusion in this place in illustration of the character
of this great Pontiff. It is an instance, of which
history affords so many — the moral of which lies
upon the surface — of the union, in the same character,
of exalted genius, benevolence, and burning patriotism,
with relentless enmity, meanness, and perfidy. C A
double-minded man is unstable in all his ways/
It has been said of Julius II, that he was a Pontiff
worthy of imperishable glory, had he worn any other
crown than the tiara 1 . The proviso, we think, was
unnecessary • for however his great idea of making the
Papacy the instrument of Italian liberation 2 may be
considered incompatible with the proper vocation of
the Holy See, the Pontiff who possessed, in that age,
the daring to conceive so lofty an enterprize, and
made such stupendous efforts for its realization, estab-
lished an unimpeachable claim to the gratitude and
admiration of his countrymen throughout all time.
1 Guicciardini. 2 Dyer's ' Modern Europe.'
CHAPTER VII.
Leo X succeeded to the Pontificate a.d. 1513. His
father, Lorenzo the Magnificent, by creed a Deist, had
chosen the Church as a vocation for his son, with a
view to the rich emoluments which it was in his power
to secure to him. It is not improbable that the horizon
of Lorenzo's paternal schemings was illumined by the
hope of crowning his son's career by the acquisition
of the tiara.
Through his father's influence with the French court
and the reigning Popes, Leo, before the completion
of his seventeenth year, enjoyed the revenues of six
rectories, fifteen abbacies, one priory, and one arch-
bishopric. He had not yet attained his thirty-eighth
year when the same influence secured for him the
coveted tiara.
Leo X shared the ambition, but was destitute of
the patriotism, generosity, and personal courage, which
distinguished his predecessors. Foiled in his endea-
vours to dissuade Louis XII (now in alliance with the
Venetians, whom the arrogance of Maximilian had
alienated from the Holy League) from his projected
enterprize for the recovery of Milan, he entered into
alliance with the Emperor, and formed the bold design
of again driving the French out of Italy and of bringing
the whole Peninsula under the authority of the Roman
See. Seven years later, when, owing more to the hatred
112 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
which the Milanese bore to the haughty and imperious
French general, than to the valour of the Papal army,
the French were compelled to evacuate Milan, Leo
died from intoxication of joy at the French humiliation.
Not, however, until he had witnessed the accomplish-
ment of his darling project, — the recovery to the
Church of Parma and Placentia which had been seized
by Francis I on his conquest of Milan.
Extravagant eulogy has been expended upon this
Pontiff as the munificent patron of the fine arts. But
this patronage was far more that of the Pontiff than
of the man. Rome has always taken care to turn to
account her patronage of the fine arts to the inculcation
of her doctrine and the increase of her power. The
tones of Pius IX still linger on our ears when, at the
opening of the Roman Exhibition, he spoke of religion
as the inspirer of great works of art. Singling out
three of the great art treasures of Rome, the Last
Communion of St. Jerome, by Domenechino, the Moses
of Michael Angelo, and St. Peter's, he said, c It was
religion which guided the pencil to which we owe the
portraiture of the Great Doctor, it was religion which
governed the chisel which put something divine into
the head of the great Lawgiver of the people of God,
and religion herself seems to have held the compass
which traced the lines of the most magnificent temple
in the world. 5 True ; but so also says the Romish
priest to the ignorant devotee to whom he points out
the c divine' frescoes of, let us say, the Campo Santo,
Pisa. c Here we have represented the most ghastly
cartoons of Death, Judgment, Purgatory, and Hell ; we
behold angels and devils fighting for the souls of the
departed, snakes devouring, fiends scorching, red-hot
VII.] OF THE PAPACY. II3
hooks tearing their flesh. Those on earth can, so
say the priests, rescue their unfortunate relatives from
this melancholy position by giving donations to their
spiritual fathers, who will then pray for their escape.
We read in the New Testament that the rich enter
heaven with difficulty ; but it is they, according to the
Church of Rome, who enter easily, whilst the poor are
virtually excluded 1 .'
Though not unmindful of his Pontifical dignity and
duties, and conspicuous for his munificence and liberal
patronage of the fine arts, the political ambition of
Leo X habitually subordinated these to his regal as-
sumptions. Rome, under his government, was tranquil
and prosperous. The impartial administration of justice
promoted the happiness and security of the people, who,
fully appreciating these blessings, decreed a perpetua-
tion of their remembrance by erecting a statue to the
Pontiff. But whilst it was the glory of Leo X thus to
see the Imperial city advancing, under his sway, in
dignity, in opulence, and in the culture of the arts,
he failed to perceive that the foundations of the Papacy
had been so severely shaken by the spirit of enquiry,
aroused by the teachings of Wy cliff e, Huss, and Luther,
that, however great the charm of the Papal pretensions,
as asserted by Julius II, respect for the Papacy in the
minds of the people was a thing of the past.
In the hope of securing the homage of the Emperor,
prescribed by long - established custom, Leo, though
greatly chagrined at the election of Charles V, hastened
to recognize an act which he had been powerless to
avert. But Charles was already determined not to
1 'The Rule of the Monk,' by Garibaldi.
I
114 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
gratify the Pontiff's pretensions, and the practice was
never afterwards followed.
The Anti-Papal stir which began to agitate Europe
by reason of the corruptions of Christianity, and the
pretensions of Papal Rome to make men purchase
heaven with gold instead of virtue ; the bold defiance
of Luther at Wittemberg, when he pronounced that
c Enough' which instantly resounded throughout Europe;
the rapid spread of the reformed doctrine in Switzer-
land, — all failed to convince Leo X of the danger
which threatened the Papacy. His restless intriguing
spirit clutched at two Italian towns, revelled in the
abrogation of the liberties of the Gallican Church 1 —
the attempt to recover which forms an amusing episode
in the relations of Napoleon with the Papacy — and
defied the spirit of revolt, which he neither understood
nor feared. C A11 the good that has ever been said of
Leo X,' says Mr. Blunt, c amounts to this, that he was
a munificent patron of the arts, though his patronage
was neither more nor less than the encouragement of
Pagan instead of Christian art. He was as secular in
his tastes as any Emperor of Rome, and his episcopal
office was treated by him merely as one of the accidents
of his position 2 /
1 These liberties, which honourably distinguish the Gallican
Church from other members of the Roman Communion, were
based upon two maxims, — one that the Pope possessed no tem-
poral authority, the other that his spiritual jurisdiction could
only be exercised in conformity with such parts of the Canon
Law as were received by the kingdom of France. It followed
that Papal bulls were without validity in France, unless endorsed
by the approbation of the King. See Hallam's ' Middle Ages,' vol. ii.
2 * The Reformation of the Church of England,' by the Rev.
J. J. Blunt.
VII.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 1 5
During the two succeeding centuries, the authority
of the Popes gradually consolidated itself. One by one
the cities and territories which Julius II had suffered
to retain their independent government were brought
into more complete subjection to the Holy See ; some
by intrigue; some by voluntary compact, induced by
the prospect of good government; and others, again,
by the extinction of the legitimate line of their ducal
sovereigns, when the Pope claimed the reversion in his
right as feudal lord. This claim was not always affirmed
in the interests of the Church, much less in that of the
people, whose allegiance to the rulers imposed upon
them was given or withdrawn without so much as
a thought of their being consulted.
The chief hindrance to the consolidation of the
Papal power in these centuries, was that plague which
had characterized the Popedom for ages — the nepotism
of the Popes themselves, who made the Papacy sub-
servient to the elevation of their kindred. Mingling
in the dark conspiracies of the most corrupt age, they
acquired new territories only to bestow them upon
their own kinsmen at the expense of the Papal States.
Ranke informs us that, in the fifteenth century, it was
held to be a matter of conscience that a Pope should
provide for his own family and promote their interests.
In illustration of this he quotes a letter addressed by
Lorenzo de Medici to Innocent VIII, in which, after
some laudatory observations upon c the retiring deli-
cacy' evinced by his Holiness, he says, c Zeal and duty
lay it on my conscience to remind you that no man
is immortal. Be the Pontiff as important as he may
in his own person, he cannot make his dignity nor
his importance hereditary; he cannot be said abso-
1 2
T I 6 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
lutely to possess anything but the honours and emolu-
ments he has secured to his kindred/ It should,
indeed, be borne in mind, that Lorenzo had given
his own daughter in marriage to an illegitimate son
of the Pope. But his letter, so far from being con-
sidered scandalous, was declared by the potentates of.
Italy to be replete with sound sense and honourable
feeling 1 .
The contest for the Empire of Germany between
Charles V and Francis I had been terminated by the
unanimous election of the former. The prostration
and division of Italy had, for centuries past, been re-
garded by the Roman Pontiffs (with the notable ex-
ception of Julius II) as a first necessity for the proper
exercise of Papal domination. Nothing could be more
unfavourable to the development of any ideas of
national independence than the nature of the petty
governments, whether republican or otherwise, into
which Italy was divided. Long deprivation of the
habits of freedom had extinguished its very spirit,
which survived only in the minds of a few. After
the vicissitudes which marked that period of the Pon-
tificate of Clement VII, antecedently to his recon-
ciliation with the Emperor (effected by the treaty of
Barcelona, June 29, a.d. 1529), this traditional policy
of the Roman Pontiffs was adopted and unscrupulously
pursued by this Pope; and never did Pontiff enjoy
more secure and undisputed possession of his temporal
power. His rule was detested, and the process by
which its stability had been secured begat the abiding
hatred of his subjects.
But Clement was no longer the helpless tool of in-
1 Gilbert's ' Life of Lucrezia Borgia.'
VII.] OF THE PAPACY. 117
constant allies, nor even of the unscrupulous and jealous
Imperial government which, antecedently to the Spanish
union, had been so uncompromisingly hostile to that
aggrandizement of the temporal power, which had
become the absorbing ambition of the occupants of
the Papal throne. The Papal See had, now, become
wholly independent of Imperial control. This was
not owing to any vitality in the power or authority
of the Pontiff, but to the jealousy with which the
great European powers regarded the Italian policy of
the Emperor, and to the decline of the Imperial
authority which, previous to the election of Charles V,
was reduced within the narrowest limits. The au-
thority of the Papacy, though still sufficient to neutral-
ize the reality of Imperial control, was equally di-
minished. The progress of the Reformation had shaken
its influence throughout Europe, and its dependence
upon the support of the secular governments was openly
avowed.
Italy, now divided into small states, incapable of
resisting the hostility of any great power, had lost
even that vestige of liberty which she had enjoyed
for two hundred years, and was prostrate beneath the
deadly yoke of Spain. Her humiliation was the glory
of the priest who claimed to represent upon earth,
Him, whose mission it was c to proclaim liberty to
the captives and the opening of the prison to them
that are bound !' But under the stillness of this pros-
tration the germs of a new life were forming. Francis I
was espousing the cause of the Protestants of Ger-
many, whilst Henry VIII had pronounced the definitive
separation of England from the supremacy of Rome.
Charles V, alive to the dangers of a union of the Pro-
1 1 8 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
testants with the King of France, vainly strove to
effect a compromise which, under a specious show of
concession, should be more fatal to the spread of the
Reformation than the uncompromising resistance which,
experience showed, only aggravated and strengthened
the movement 1 . His projects failed, and the Emperor
abandoned the hope of living at peace with the Re-
formers. The ambition of Clement VII to supplant,
in Italy, the power to which he owed entirely his own
elevation, induced him to enter into the project of a
holy alliance whose avowed object it was to neutralize
the power of the Emperor. The latter was indeed
the sworn foe of the Reformers in Germany, whilst
Francis had espoused their cause; but his humiliating
defeat at Pavia, and the jealousy which was felt
throughout Europe at his pretensions to interfere in
the religious disputes of Germany, had corrected such
heretical proclivities. A greater danger threatened the
Papacy in the inordinate ambition and pretensions of
the Emperor. It was important that the Holy League
should obtain a decisive victory over the Imperialists.
Once more the sovereign Pontiff vindicated his true
apostolical descent in a ready appeal to the sword 9 ;
little anticipating that he himself would so soon ex-
perience the fulfilment of the judgment threatened to
1 Van Praet's ' Essays on the Political History of the Fifteenth,
Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries.'
2 ' And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he
said unto them, It is enough.' — Luke xxii. 38.
' One of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand
and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and
smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up thy sword
into his place : for all they that take the sword shall perish with
the sword.' — Matt. xxvi. 51, 52.
VII.] OF THE PAPACr. 119
the rashness of the Apostle. France did not gain her
anticipated victory. On the contrary, Rome was taken
and sacked by the Imperial troops, and the Pontiff
himself made prisoner.
Charles V was too astute a ruler to incur the risk of
favouring the religious movement in Germany by pro-
longing a struggle with the Holy See, and he set the
Pope at liberty after a brief confinement. Both parties
were. now anxious for peace, and the treaty of Cambray 1
at length delivered Italy from the devastation in which
the long Franco-Spanish struggle for ascendency had
plunged her ; but without effecting any material altera-
tion in the territorial arrangements.
In 1530, Charles received the Imperial crown at the
hands of the same Pontiff, who, five years earlier, had
attempted to form another Holy League to resist his
ascendency. And now the sovereign Priest exulted at
once in the new security in which he held his temporal
power, and in the fatal blow inflicted upon Italian
freedom. The Emperor still styled himself King of
the Romans ; but the reality was gone as completely as
at the accession of the Tudor family, the claims of our
own sovereigns to the title of Kings of France had
lapsed. The Pope was the independent sovereign of
the Roman States, and Charles V was the last of the
German Emperors who went through the form of coro-
nation either at Milan or at Rome.
The nepotism of Paul III (a.d. 1534-50) occasioned a
renewal of the miseries which the French and Spanish
contests had so long inflicted upon Italy. Paul had
obtained the sanction of the Emperor to the alienation
1 Galled ' Paix des Dames' from its being signed by Louisa of
Savoy, and Margaret of Austria, aunt of Charles V.
ISO THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
of the territories of Parma and Placentia (which, as we
have seen, Leo X had devoted the energies of his life
to recover to the Church) in favour of his natural son,
Peter Luigi Farnese. The succeeding Pontiff disputed
the claim of the new Duke of Parma, and endeavoured
to resume the grant. The young duke appealed to
France for protection. Before the dispute was settled
Charles V had abdicated, and the Pontiff was himself
an applicant for the alliance of France in an attempt
to drive the Spanish power out of Italy. The dispute
respecting Parma and Placentia was forgotten - y but the
young duke maintained his rights. For two centuries,
and until the family became extinct, their hereditary
succession was uninterrupted.
The Duke of Guise crossed the Alps with an army of
20,000 men, and for three years Italy was again devas-
tated by the occupation of two gigantic foreign hosts.
We have only to note as an historical incident,
having but a remote bearing upon our narrative, the
assembling, during this Pontificate, of the Council of
Trent. It was in December, a.d. ] 545, when the Pope,
who had long withstood the desires of the Emperor for
the convocation of a General Council, believing that
he had discovered indications of the intention of
Charles V to exercise the ancient Imperial right of
convocation, resolved to run no longer the dangers of
delay. c Then,' says Ranke 1 , c the old loiterer, Time,
did at length bring the wished-for moment.' With the
discussions of this Council, so long desired, twice dis-
solved, extending over a period of just eighteen years,
and so utterly subservient to the Papacy, we have no
concern. Discordant opinions met and combated at
1 ' History of the Popes/ vol. i. p. 161.
VII.] OF THE PAPACY. 121
Trent, but the real diplomatists of the Council were in
Rome and at the courts of the lay sovereigns. The
PontifF in whose reign the Council closed (Pius IV)
declared that the Papacy could no longer exist without
the aid of temporal princes. Let him have the praise
of being that Pontiff' by whom c the tendency of the
hierarchy to oppose itself to the temporal sovereigns
was deliberately and purposely abandoned 1 .'
Paul IV (a.d. 1555-59), asserting the now almost
obsolete pretensions of the Roman See, had refused
to recognize the abdication of Charles V, declaring, in
full Consistory, that he had no right to take such a step
without the consent of the Holy See 2 . Philip II in
vain attempted to overcome the obstinacy of the
PontifF, who refused to give audience to the ambas-
sador commissioned to notify the accession of Fer-
dinand to the Imperial throne, and to solicit his
coronation at the hands of the Pope. Ferdinand
assumed the title of Roman Emperor Elect, and was
recognized by all the crowned heads of Europe, except-
ing only the Roman PontifF. This was the occasion
of the discontinuance of the practice of Imperial coro-
nations by the Pope, to which reference has been
already made.
Paul IV was old enough to remember the freedom of
Italy. He was in the habit of comparing the Italy
of his youth to a well-tuned instrument, of which
Naples, Milan, the Papal States, and Venice were the
four strings 3 . Animated by a bitter hostility to
Charles V, to whom he ascribed the successes of the
Protestants, he adopted the policy of his predecessors
with a view to deliver Italy from foreign dominion,
1 Ranke. 2 Dyer's ' Modern Europe.' 3 Ibid.
122 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
and supported the French in an attack on the kingdom
of Naples. But the Duke of Guise had objects of per-
sonal ambition in view, which he contrived to conceal
from the Pontiff, and to which he was willing enough
to postpone even the interests of France. As represent-
ative of the house of Anjou, he watched for the oppor-
tunity of asserting his own claim to the Neapolitan
throne; whilst his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine,
aspired to the tiara. Paul IV was advanced in years,
and as the probability of an early vacancy of the Pon-
tifical throne appeared imminent, the Guises designed
to facilitate the deliberations of the conclave by the
presence of an overpowering French army 1 .
Success attended the Spanish arms. The Duke of
Alva penetrated to the very gates of Rome, and held
the Pontiff in his power. But Paul IV well knew how
to wield a power more terrible to the bigoted super-
stitious Philip II than 1 0,000 men of war.
In the bull, Cum ex Apostolatus officio^ he boldly asserted
his authority to depose every monarch, and hand over
his country to foreign invasion. The following are a
sample of the propositions which, c out of the plenitude
of his Apostolic power/ Paul IV, with the assent of his
cardinals, defined in this famous bull : —
c The Pope, who, as cc Pontifex Maximus," is God's
representative on earth, has full authority and power
over nations and kingdoms ; he judges all, and can in
this world be judged by none/
c All princes and monarchs, as well as bishops, as soon
as they fall into heresy and schism, 'without the need of
any legal formality^ are irrevocably deposed, deprived for
ever of all rights of government, and incur sentence of
1 Dyer's ' Modern Europe.'
VII.] OF THE PAPACY. I 23
death. In case of repentance, they are to be imprisoned
in a monastery, and to do penance on bread and water
for the remainder of their life. 5
c None may venture to give any aid to an heretical or
schismatical prince ; not even the mere services of common
humanity ,• any monarch who does so, forfeits his do-
minion and property, which lapse to princes obedient
to the Pope/
As a preliminary step the irate Pontiff, with a stroke
of his pen, ordained the suspension of Divine worship
in Spain, an act which bewildered the superstitious and
irresolute monarch, and arrested the march of Alva.
Whilst Philip wasted his time in consulting the theolo-
gians of Alcala, Salamanca, and Valladolid upon the
legitimacy of his campaign against the head of the
Church, the Duke of Guise concentrated his forces
upon Rome. His sudden recal to France by Henry II
afforded Philip the opportunity of opening negotiations
with the Pope. Paul IV insisted that Alva c should
repair to Rome to ask pardon in his own name, and
that of his sovereign, for having invaded the patrimony
of St. Peter, and to receive absolution for that crime.'
The haughty Spaniard was forced to comply. At the
threshold of the Vatican, Alva fell upon his knees and
kissed, with real or simulated veneration, the foot of
the bitterest and most inveterate foe of his sovereign
and country 1 .
Italy now ceased to be the chief theatre of war.
Fortuitous circumstances had secured to the Papacy
advantages which her arms, even when strengthened
by the French alliance, were powerless to command.
In the treaty of peace with Alva (Sept. 14, a.d. 1557) it
1 Dyer's 'Modern Europe.'
124 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
was stipulated that the Spanish troops should be with-
drawn from all the States of the Church, and that all
places taken by Spain should be restored.
The treaty of Cateau Cambresis (a.d. 1559) restored
the peace of Europe ; and, during the remaining half of
the sixteenth century, the history of the Papal See is
devoid of political interest. Paul IV died congratulat-
ing the Church upon such a champion as Philip II,
and upon such a bulwark as the Inquisition.
The only overt act of the Roman curia during this
period which occasioned political ferment, was the
publication, during the Pontificate of Pius V, of the
bull In Ccena Domini. This famous bull, published
with great solemnity, a.d. 1568, was the work of many
successive Pontiffs. We do not look for beatitudes in
a Papal bull, and assuredly they are not to be found
here. Promulgated as a law binding upon Christendom
throughout all the ages, — imposed upon all bishops and
priests to be impressed in the Confessional upon the
consciences of believers, and, for two hundred years,
annually published in Rome upon Maundy Thursday, —
this precious document bristles with anathemas reflect-
ing the spirit of the system from which it emanated.
It served at least one useful purpose, in demonstrating
that in Catholic Europe there existed a limit to Papal
encroachments. Sovereigns and parliaments forbade
its publication. The French parliament ordained that
all who promulgated the bull should be held guilty
of high treason. Philip II forbade its introduction
into Spain. Rudolph II protested against its pub-
lication in Germany. The bishops themselves op-
posed it in the Netherlands ; whilst, two hundred
years later, c so rigid a Catholic as Maria Theresa '
energetically repulsed a Papal decree which c encroaches
VII.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 25
on the independence and sovereign rights of States in
the imposition of taxes, the exercise of judicial authority,
and the punishment of the crimes of clerics, by threaten-
ing with excommunication and anathema those who
perform such acts without special Papal permission V
The supreme care and duty of the Pontiffs of this
period was the extirpation of heretics ; a work in
the prosecution of which they acquitted themselves
right valiantly, pressing into their service fire and
sword, — in short, every mode of assault which a cor-
rupt and vindictive, a fierce and fanatical theocracy
could bring to bear upon the vindication of the Roman
Catholic faith against all assailants. This policy cul-
minated in that most awful of all crimes that stain the
page of history, — c that largest and most deadly mani-
festation of the evil passions of man's heart, that
masterpiece of treachery and cruelty, that huge bath
and mighty banquet of blood, which has never had,
and never will have, fellow or rival, the Massacre of
St. Bartholomew — the long and deliberately planned
slaughter of 30,000 Protestants by fellow-countrymen
with whom they had recently contracted amity, of sub-
jects by a government that had lately and solemnly
pledged them its protection, and of guests by hosts
who had given a special invitation and afforded an
ostentatious hospitality. This great work of aggres-
sive and vengeful Romanism, in which all the con-
spicuous champions of the Roman Church concurred,
which Philip II encouraged, which Catherine de Medici
directed, at which Charles IX, Henry of Anjou, and
Henry of Guise assisted, received the benediction of the
sovereign Pontiff 2 .'
1 ' The Pope and the Gouncil,' by Janus.
2 ' The Papal Drama,' by Thomas ¥USHh
(university
126 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
The sixteenth century closed under the Pontificate
of Sixtus V, a type of Pope not unlike him who first
assumed the tiara, — a great temporal Pope, who, found-
ing his power upon terror, clung to it as a heaven-
bestowed trust, profoundly convinced that in all his un-
dertakings he possessed the immediate favour of God 1 .
The gigantic nature of his projects, in which he per-
suaded himself that, when his own resources failed,
God would supplement them with legions of angels,
commanded the admiration of Europe. There is but
too much reason to believe that the indulgence of the
iconoclastic tastes of Sixtus V has deprived Rome of
many of the choice treasures of antiquity, in which he
possessed neither the comprehension nor the sympathy
to perceive anything but c ugly antiquities.' Happily
the vandalism which marked his passion for architec-
tural pursuits was checked by the necessity of building
as well as of levelling, and many of the sublime monu-
ments of the Republic which had been destined to
destruction, as c ugly antiquities,' escaped. He de-
signed to employ the enormous wealth, of which the
extraordinary system of finance then in vogue at Rome
gave him the control, in the execution of public works
worthy of the city which, under his rule, once more
assumed the aspect of the capital of the world. Most
conspicuous amongst these were the colossal aqueducts
by which he supplied the city with pure water. c He
brought the Aqua Martia from the Agro Colonna, a
distance of two-and-twenty miles, to Rome : and this
in defiance of all obstacles, carrying it partly under-
ground and partly on lofty arches. How great was the
satisfaction with which Sixtus beheld the first stream of
1 Ranke.
VII.] OF THE PAPACY. 127
this water pouring its bright wealth into his own vine-
garden (vigna) ; still further did he then bear it onward
to Santa Susanna, on the Quirinal. From his own
name he called it the " Acqua Felice," and it was with
no little self-complacency that he placed a statue by
the fountain, representing Moses, who brings water,
streaming from the rock, at the touch of his staff 1 .'
In this grand enterprize he declared to the architect
that he designed to produce a work whose magnificence
might compete with the glories of Imperial Rome,
c alarmed by no difficulty, and deterred by no cost/
Assuredly Sixtus V vindicated his claim to the title of
Pontiff 2 . He governed with great ability, and revived
the waning influence of Roman diplomacy. How he
lent all the power of the Roman See to stir up the
fierce democracy of France in its contest with Henry
of Navarre ; how, in his person, he assailed the prin-
ciples of legitimacy, and, after citing Henry III to
appear in person at the court of Rome, and answer for
the murder of Cardinal Guise, he hurled against the
nonconforming monarch a fierce bull of excommunica-
tion; how he frantically rejoiced in the subsequent
assassination of Henry, attributing it to the immediate
intervention of God that the king had been struck
down by the hand of a poor monk ; finally how, when
Henry of Navarre, a Protestant, whom he had excom-
municated, assumed the title of King of France, he was
deterred only by his impatience of Spanish domination
in Italy from helping to establish it in France, — these
things are familiar to every reader of that sad but
interesting episode in French history, the religious
wars of the sixteenth century.
1 Ranke. 2 See page 4.
128 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
The liberty of Italy was now completely extinguished
by her subjection to foreign domination. The authority
of the Papacy, also, which for a brief interval seemed
to have recovered much of the power it possessed in
the eleventh and twelfth centuries, had fallen. Of this
fact a significant illustration had been furnished early
in the sixteenth century, in the resentment of Fer-
dinand II of Naples, at the pretensions of the Pontiff
to interpose in his kingdom. The days were passed
when the potentates of Europe trembled before that
spiritual power which was able, when wielded by a
Hildebrand or a Boniface, to repel the proudest preten-
sions, and baffle the haughtiest designs. Learning that
a Papal messenger had brought a bull into his kingdom
without the royal sanction, Ferdinand thus wrote to his
Viceroy at Naples : — c We are equally surprised and
displeased with you that you likewise have not resorted
to violent means, and sent to the gallows the messenger
who presented you with that brief. . . . You must use
all possible diligence to seize the messenger if he be
still in the same kingdom ; if you can get hold of him,
he must retract the presentation which he made you of
the brief, and renounce it by a formal act, after which
you will have him immediately hanged ».' More than a
century had elapsed since, in England, the promulga-
tion of the Statute of Praemunire had called forth the
bitter invectives of Martin V. But now almost every
European government had passed similar laws in con-
tempt of the pretensions of the Holy See.
Sixtus V, the Pope who c kept the world in perpetual
movement/ whilst entertaining exaggerated conceptions
1 Letter of Ferdinand II to the Neapolitan Deputy. See
Butt's ' History of Italy,' vol. i.
VII.] OF THE PAPACY. 1^9
of the dignity of his position, was mainly concerned
for the aggrandizement of the spiritual power of the
Papacy. In the height of his contest with Henry IV,
the victory which this Pontiff desired was the victory of
Catholicism ; the restoration of the universal supremacy
of the Roman Church. When rebuking the Venetians
for their congratulation of the heretical monarch on
his accession, he thus addressed the Venetian ambas-
sador : — c I beseech you to recall at least one step.
The Catholic king has recalled many because we
desired it, not from fear of us, for our strength, as
compared with his, is but as a fly compared with an
elephant j but he has done it from love, and because
it was the Pope who had spoken, the 'vicegerent of Christ,
who prescribes the rule of faith to him, and to all others?
And when, shortly afterwards, Monseigneur de Luxem-
bourg, bearing a charge from the Catholic peers attached
to Henry IV, was admitted to an interview with his
Holiness, and expatiated upon the personal qualities,
the courage and magnanimity of the king, c the Pope, 5
says Ranke, c was quite enchanted with this descrip-
tion. " In good truth," he exclaimed, cc it repents me
that I have excommunicated him." Luxembourg de-
clared that his lord and king would render himself
worthy of absolution ; and, at the feet of his Holiness,
would return into the bosom of the Catholic Church. u In
that case," replied the Pope, cc I will embrace and con-
sole him V '
Sixtus was less concerned to assert his prerogatives
as a temporal prince than to vindicate those of the
neighbouring secular powers, whose privileges he
sought to uphold and extend. He abolished entirely
1 Ranke's * History of the Popes/ vol. ii.
K
130 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
the Congregation taking cognizance of ecclesiastical
jurisdiction in foreign countries, whose interposition
had been the occasion of most of the disputes between
the Holy See and the Empire. This voluntary conces-
sion of contested rights, however much it insulted the
infallibility of his predecessors, was consistent with
the whole scope of policy pursued by Sixtus V. How
completely had the aspects of the Papacy changed when
an arbitrary, impetuous, and powerful Pontiff could
thus voluntarily divest himself of the trammels of
secular power ! c He that abaseth himself shall be
exalted.' Sixtus V enjoyed the fruits of his magna-
nimity. c He received an autograph letter from the
King of Spain, who informed him that he had com-
manded his ministers in Milan and Naples to receive
the Papal ordinances with obedience no less implicit
than that paid to his own. This moved the Pope even
to tears, u That the most exalted monarch of the world
should," as he said, cc so honour a poor monk V '
An important enactment of this Pontificate was the
limitation of the number of cardinals to seventy, c as
Moses,' said Sixtus, c chose seventy elders from among
the whole nation, to take counsel with them.' He has
also the credit of having fixed a high standard of
personal character as the indispensable condition of
admission to this high and sacred office. Men, they
must be, c of true distinction, of morals most exemplary,
their words oracles, their whole being a model and rule
of life and faith to all who behold them ; the salt of
the earth, the light set upon a candlestick *.' Shades
of Luther and Melancthon ! see ye not in this Roman
Church, presided over by a Chief Pastor of Apostolic
1 Ranke, vol. i. 2 ' Bullar,' quoted by Ranker
VII.] OF THE PAPACY. IJI
humility ; whose hierarchy, in theory at least, had at-
tained so high a standard of purity and excellence;
beloved at home, respected abroad ; disentangling itself
from political strifes and ambition ; devoting itself to
the reform of abuses, and to the advancement of re-
ligion, — see ye not here the signs, in which ye would
not believe, of its Divine Seal as the true Catholic,
Apostolic, and Infallible Church! The limits of this
narrative do not admit of our examination into the
principles upon which the Roman Church, at the close
of the sixteenth century, contemplated the c advance-
ment of religion. 5 It must suffice us to state that the
hopes, inspired by the character of Sixtus V, of a new
era in the history of the Papacy, in which, abandoning
the traditions of eight hundred years, it should vin-
dicate its claims to the reverence and obedience of
Christendom, as an essentially spiritual institution,
whose purity and unworldliness certified its Divine
origin and authority, were not destined to fulfilment.
K 2
CHAPTER VIII.
The annals of the Papacy during the seventeenth
century are interesting in their internal characteristics,
as they are barren of political significance. Pontiffs
of every variety of character occupied the Papal throne ;
but the moral weight of the Papacy was reduced to its
lowest point. Baffled in their attempts to extend their
Italian territory, the Popes wisely devoted themselves
to energetic struggles against the spread of the Re-
formed faith, and to the enlargement of their spiritual
dominion.
The long Pontificate of Urban VIII (a.d. 1623-44)
is alone distinguished for its political importance. The
part which this bold schemer played in the European
complications which issued in the Thirty Years' War,
was neither dignified nor successful. On his accession
he confirmed the dispensation, granted by his prede-
cessor, for the marriage of Prince Charles Stuart with
the Infanta of Spain. Not, however, until guarantees
had been secured from the heretical King of England,
— who, to quote his own words, c was not a monsieur
who could shift his religion as easily as he could shift
his shirt when he came in from tennis/ — for securing
freedom for the exercise of religion to the Infanta and
her household. Nor was this all. The Pontiff had set
his heart upon the conversion of England 1 . One great
1 See Gardiner's ' Prince Charles and the Spanish Marriage.'
THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY. 1 33
objection urged against the proposed marriage, at the
Court of Rome, was that it would bring about increased
facilities of communication between England and Spain,
which might be c detrimental to the purity of religion '
in the latter country. When, therefore, the marriage
was conceded, the cardinals set themselves to secure
that the increased communication between the two
countries should be to the advantage of Roman Cathol-
icism. Overtures were accordingly made to James I
to induce him to emulate the courage and piety of
Henry IV of France, and return to the bosom of the
Roman Church ; or at least to encourage the Prince
of Wales to embrace the faith of Rome. But, finding
that the king valued his crown and his religion above
the Spanish union, they contented themselves with
securing the repeal, or at least the suspension, of the
penal laws against the Catholics, and exemption from
secular jurisdiction to the ecclesiastics of the Infanta's
household.
On the accession of Urban VIII, the two great
Catholic powers were at open feud, each arming for
the struggle which must result in the destruction of
one or the other. The Emperor Ferdinand II, ortho-
dox and victorious, was pledged to the rooting out
of Protestantism from the Imperial dominions. The
destinies of France were in the mighty grasp of
Richelieu who, jealous of the preponderating power of
the Emperor, had entered into that European com-
bination which brought him, Cardinal of the Roman
Church though he was, into alliance with the Huguenots.
He was bent upon the destruction of the Spanish-
Austrian power, — of that power to which the Papacy
owed the Catholic reaction.
134 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
In March, a.d. 1626, Europe was startled by the intel-
ligence that France had concluded a peace with Spain.
The too-confiding Huguenots, whom Richelieu had
employed for the furtherance of his own purposes, then
discovered the perfidy to which their confidence had
blinded them. Already had their betrayer negotiated
with Spain measures for their destruction.
The dangers to Catholicism which Urban VIII had
anticipated from the feud between the two great
Catholic powers had now disappeared. The oppor-
tunity was favourable for the accomplishment of a
design which the Pontiff had long entertained. This
was none other than the formation of a league with
the two powers for an attack upon England, c to wrest
the crown from a prince who, as a heretic before God,
and regardless of his word before men, was altogether
unworthy to wear it 1 .' Ireland was the portion of
booty which was to fall to the Holy See ; but his Holi-
ness was recommended c to allow no word to transpire
on the subject, lest it might appear that his suggestions
had been actuated by worldly views.' It was not dif-
ficult to persuade either of the contracting powers of
the feasibility and advantage of the scheme. The
articles of the treaty were drawn up by Richelieu, and
ratified April 20, a.d. 1627.
It was impossible that plans of such magnitude as
were involved in a projected invasion of England
should pass unobserved. Within three months from the
signing of the treaty, the allies were themselves at-
tacked by England. Buckingham, at the head of a
magnificent fleet, appeared off' the coasts of France in
July, a.d. 1627. He summoned the Huguenots to arms.
1 Ranke.
VIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 35
After some hesitation they responded to his call ; but the
war was conducted with little energy, and resulted in
disaster to the Protestants. Thus, although thwarted
in his designs against England, Urban had the satis-
faction of witnessing the triumphs of Catholicism.
The assassination of Buckingham left the destinies
of the Huguenots in the hands of Richelieu who, in
the following year, reopened negotiations with Spain
for a combined attack upon England.
But events were already transpiring in Italy which
affected the relationships of France and Spain, and
once more brought the Pontiff, as an Italian prince,
and as the head of Catholicism, into a prominent posi-
tion. Vincenzo II, Duke of Mantua, had died without
issue. His next of kin, the Duke de Nevers, was
a Frenchman. Apprehension of the jealousy with
which Austria and Spain might view the acquisition,
by a Frenchman, of sovereignty in Upper Italy, induced
Nevers to adopt a line of action which brought about
the very evils from which he sought to escape. Before
the death of Vincenzo, he proceeded secretly to Mantua
and procured the old duke's recognition of his claims.
One other step only appeared necessary to ensure
to Nevers the peaceable possession of his crown. In
a convent school at Mantua was a young girl, great-
granddaughter of Philip II, the only remaining repre-
sentative of the direct native line. A marriage with
this princess was speedily arranged, and solemnized
in the palace, before intelligence of Vincenzo's death
reached Vienna or Madrid. This ill-advised procedure
drew upon Nevers the vengeance of the two powers
which he had vainly thought thus to elude, and, says
Ranke, c It will be readily admitted that they were
I36 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
calculated to exasperate and embitter these mighty
sovereigns, whose pleasure it was to assume a character
of religious as well as temporal majesty, to have a kins-
woman married without their consent, nay, without
their knowledge, and with a sort of violence; an
important fief taken into possession without the slightest
deference to the feudal sovereign 1 !'
The part which Urban VIII designed to take in
these complications was soon made apparent. The
marriage of the young duke with his cousin could only
be completed by a Papal dispensation. c The Pontiff
granted this without having consulted the nearest
kinsmen of the lady — Philip of Spain and the Emperor ;
and it was besides prepared precisely at the moment
required V As the proceedings of Austria grew more
threatening, the Pope turned of his own accord to
France. It was for this that Richelieu waited. He
at once proceeded with alacrity to bring his boldest
plans . to bear against Spain and Austria, when thus
invited by the Roman Pontiff. c The king,' said
Urban, c might send an army into the field even before
the reduction of La Rochelle was effected ; an expedi-
tion for the assistance of Mantua would be quite as
pleasing to God as the beleaguering of that chief
bulwark of the Huguenots. Let the king only appear
at Lyons and declare himself for the freedom of Italy,
and the Pope on his part would not delay to bring his
forces into action and unite himself with the king 3 .'
Thus recommenced the war, in which nearly all
Europe was speedily embroiled. The personal charac-
1 Ranke's ' History of the Popes,' vol. ii.
2 Ibid.
3 * Bethune's Despatches,' quoted by Ranke, vol. ii.
VIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 137
teristics of its leading actors, and the momentous
interests at stake, constituted it one of the most
interesting incidents of modern history. I am com-
pelled to assume the reader's familiarity with the
history of the gigantic struggle, and can here only
glance at its bearings upon the temporal power of the
Holy See.
It was inevitable that recollections of the ancient
supremacy of the Emperors should be recalled, and that
the secular rights of the Emperor, as opposed to those
of the Holy See, should be insisted on. It might be
expected that the interest of the war would centre in
the respective heads of the two powers, — in the re-
suscitated, struggle for supremacy between the Papacy
and the Empire, — and that, albeit the two leading
powers of Catholic Christendom were opposed to each
other in arms, the struggle would resolve itself into
a religious war. It was far otherwise. We must look
elsewhere, even to the champion of Protestantism, and
to his strange ally, Richelieu, the consummate schemer,
for the heroes upon whom the gaze of Europe was
intently bent. Both Emperor and Pope were men of
vacillating purpose, the slaves of expediency; and
though obstinate, ambitious, and brave, incapable as
generals, — mere charlatans in statesmanship. Thus
Ferdinand, when he had conquered Mantua (and again,
when his distinguished general Wallenstein, who had
raised an army of 50,000 men \ had defeated the King
of Denmark, and held in check the practised warriors
who had threatened the Emperor's overthrow in Ger-
many), might have made himself master of Italy. On
the former occasion he resigned the Duchy to Nevers,
1 ' Compendium of Universal History.' Jarrold and Sons.
I38 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
with the single condition of the empty formality that
he should sue for pardon. On the latter, he yielded to
the jealousy of his other generals, and to the importu-
nity of the German princes, and deprived Wallenstein
of his command. With the dismissal of this brave and
able general who, on a suspicion of treason, the Emperor
subsequently assassinated, his hopes of obtaining the
mastery of Italy vanished.
Thus, too, the Pontiff — at war with that power by
which the Catholic restoration had been most zealously
promoted ; in alliance at once with Gustavus Adolphus
and with Richelieu, the most inveterate hater of the
Protestants — found himself a promoter of political
changes in direct opposition to the interests of the
Church. Foreseeing the necessity of a change in the
Papal policy, as the victorious Swedes swept over
Bavaria, took Munich, and advanced towards the Italian
borders, he yet refused to recognize the war as one
of religion; bewailing that the Papal treasury was
exhausted, and affirming that ke could do nothing. c The
members of the curia j says Ranke, c and the inhabitants
of Rome were amazed. " Amidst the conflagration of
Catholic churches and monasteries," — thus it was they
expressed themselves, — cC the Pope stands cold and rigid
as ice. The King of Sweden has more zeal for his
Lutheranism than the holy Father for the only true and
saving Catholic faith 1 ." ' Yet so strangely perplexed
was his policy that, whilst Urban thus incurred obloquy
for his defection in the guardiancy of the interests of
the Church, in theory he clung tenaciously to the last
rag of his Pontifical claims, even such as were most
palpably untenable. Thus, for instance, in the first
1 Ranke, vol. ii.
VII J.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 39
attempt to negotiate a general peace, a. d. 1636,
c the hands of the legate were tied, precisely in regard
to all those important points on which everything was
absolutely depending 1 / It excites a smile to read that
the legate was enjoined to oppose the restitution of the
Palatinate to a non-Catholic prince ! What the Pope
effected was a demonstration of the impracticable
character of the Popedom, and its divorcement from
the living and actual interests of the world. Thus,
when a peace was concluded upon principles which
Urban had condemned, which dissolved the c Catholic
League ' and the c Evangelical Union/ by the conces-
sion of a full equality of political rights to the Roman
Catholics, the Lutherans, and the Calvinists, secured
the territorial rights of the German princes, and defined
the powers of the Emperor 2 , the Papacy found itself
under the melancholy necessity of — protesting.
The articles relating to ecclesiastical affairs, in the
Peace of Westphalia, c were opened by a declaration
that no regard should be paid to the opposition of any
person, be he whom he might, and whether of temporal
or spiritual condition 3 / Thus was the death knell
sounded of those dreams of universal conquest, in which
the Papacy had for ages indulged. The causes which
led to the check now imposed upon that august power
which had planned, and even executed, enterprizes
involving the most extravagant assumptions, are so
plain that he who runs may read them. They may
be summed up in this : — The practical abandonment by
the Roman pastor of his spiritual functions, in the pur-
suit of the incompatible gewgaws of secular sovereignty.
1 Ranke.
2 ' Compendium of Universal History.' ^ 3 ■ F. a nk g.
CJNIVERSIT
I4O THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
Urban VIII did not survive to witness the limitations
imposed upon Papal claims by the Peace of Westphalia.
But the very malady of which he died (a.d. 1644) was
brought on by the distress of mind he experienced in
signing the Peace of Castro. Strong in his misguided
confidence that c God and the world would be on his
side/ Urban had put forth all his strength to wrest
Parma from its duke. But in this attempt he found him-
self arrayed against God and the world ; for the Italians
viewed with jealousy the repeated extensions of the
ecclesiastical territory, and also the increasing power of
France, of which country Urban was regarded as the
determined ally. The growing resolution of the
Italians to resist the encroachments of the Pontiff, at
length compelled him to think of peace. The country
was burdened with the most oppressive imposts. Bread,
salt, wine, firewood, every article in fact of indispens-
able necessity, was heavily taxed ; and the cost of the
war had already reached 12,000,000 of scudi 1 . The
treasury was exhausted.
In the failure of the expedition against the Duke of
Parma, it was obvious that the Papacy, already humbled
in its loss of influence in European affairs, had suffered
a signal defeat at home. The proud Pontiff, without
an ally, his resources exhausted, his enemies trium-
phant, the spiritual weapons of the Church contemned,
had reached an extremity which moves the beholder
to pity. But the gradations of anguish in which his
life terminated were the natural and inevitable result
of a career which, the more it is studied, the clearer
grows the duty of moderating that c harmful pity' which
1 Ranke.
VIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 141
enervates the moral sentiments and blinds the judg-
ment : —
'This too much lenity
And harmful pity must be laid aside.
To whom do lions cast their gentle looks ?
Not to the beast that would usurp their den.
Whose hand is that the forest bear doth lick?
Not his that spoils her young before her face.
Who 'scapes the lurking serpent's mortal sting?
Not he that sets his foot upon her back.
The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on ;
And doves will peck, in safeguard of their brood V
Few were the Italian hearts which throbbed with
pity for the dying Pontiff, plunged though he was into
a gulph of bottomless misery; an awakened conscience
adding the tortures of remorse to his experience of
bitterness. He died, praying that c Heaven would
avenge him on the godless princes who had forced him
into war.' The life of this c Vicar of Christ'' had been
in such strong contrast with that of our blessed Lord,
that the contrast in the dying prayer seems consistent
and natural.
The treaty of Westphalia, a.d. 1648, which closed
one of the most terrible dramas of European history,
extinguished the religious element which had coloured
the policy and the wars of Europe for nearly a century.
c It closed, 5 says a modern writer, c a very great and
awful act in the history of the world. The battle of
the Churches, as far as it was a matter of swords, as
far as soldiers and statesmen had to do with it, was
over ; that is, it was over as a great European business,
as a great scene in history 2 .'
1 Shakespeare.
2 ' The Papal Drama,' by T. H. Gill. Longmans.
142 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
From the Peace of Westphalia to the close of
the seventeenth century, the Papacy continued to
sink into deeper ignominy and decrepitude, both as
a spiritual and temporal power ; nor were the personal
characters of the Pontiffs such as to command the re-
spect or the sympathy of Europe. The eldest son of
the Church, the arch-persecutor of Protestants, insulted
and humiliated the Power in whose name he persecuted
heretics. In a.d. 1664, Louis XIV sent an army into
Italy, and exacted a humiliating reparation from Pope
Alexander VII, for an affront alleged to have been
offered to his ambassadors at Rome. Twenty years
later he humiliated his successor, Innocent XI, by cur-
tailing the episcopal power in France, and claiming
the right to appoint to vacant benefices. . In vain
Innocent launched bulls and briefs against bishops who
had accepted benefices at the king's hands. c In a.d.
1682 the clergy of France assembled, confirmed the
right of presentation claimed by the king, and under
the inspiration of Bossuet, drew up the four famous
articles which denied the Popedom all temporal juris-
diction in foreign states, declared a General Council
to be above a Pope, recognized in the canons and
customs of the French Church, and other Churches,
limitations of the Papal power, and pronounced the
Papal decisions, even in matters of faith, liable to
alteration, unless confirmed by the consent of the whole
Church 1 /
The quickened intellectual life of France wielded its
might against the Papal power and the Roman Church.
The Papacy languished and dwindled, and the secular
powers of Europe looked on with indifference.
1 'The Papal Drama/ by T. H.Gill.
VIII.] OF THE PAPACY. I43
The War of the Spanish Succession, the history of
which is too familiar to require recapitulation, after
disturbing Europe for thirteen years, was terminated by
the Peace of Utrecht. The provisions of this treaty
were favourable to Austria; but the peace which it
promised did not last. Spain was excluded from Italy j
but, by the advice of his bold and ambitious minister,
Cardinal Alberoni, Philip V claimed the possessions in
Italy, which, by the treaty of Cateau Cambresis, had
been settled on the Spanish crown. He further claimed
the Duchy of Parma, in right of his wife, Elizabeth
Farnese, a descendant of the natural son of Paul III,
for whom the duchy had been originally created. To
resist these claims, the quadruple alliance was formed,
between England, France, Holland, and the Emperor.
The extinction of the reigning line of the Farnese
family was imminent, and the parties to this alliance
offered to the Spanish Bourbons the reversion of the
Duchies of Parma and Tuscany. These terms were
eventually accepted.
New causes of contention soon arose. As the
Imperial power diminished, the independence of the
sovereign princes was augmented, and it was not until
a.d. 1749, that any permanent settlement of the terri-
torial divisions of Italy was arranged. By successive
treaties the power of Austria was crippled, until, by
that of Aix-la-Chapelle, she had nothing left in Italy
except the Duchies of Milan and Mantua. Parma was
surrendered to the Emperor Francis I, Tuscany to the
Duke of Lorraine, who, in exchange, assented to the
surrender of his hereditary estates in France. The
claims of Spain were allowed to the kingdoms of
Naples and Sicily ; the Duke of Savoy surrendering his
144 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
claim to the latter in exchange for the island of Sar-
dinia, with its kingly title. Hence the princes of his
house have been since known in European history as
Kings of Sardinia. These arrangements continued un-
disturbed up to the period of the French Revolution.
After the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, French influ-
ence was paramount in the States of the Church,
and sycophancy to the dominant power became the
recognized pathway to the occupancy of the chair
of the Apostles. The Popes coquetted with
Austria, but they feared France. It was an era of
weakness and decline in Papal rule. Political and
intellectual life there was none. Brigandage throve.
The population of all the principal towns, Rome,
Bologna, Ferrara, Imola, and others, dwindled to an
extent that appears incredible. Education was neg-
lected, and a priest-ridden people accepted the tram-
mels of a priestly and oppressive, though not tyrannical,
government 1 .
Singularly this era was likewise distinguished by a
line of Popes remarkable for their pureness of character,
their learning, and personal greatness. Prominent
amongst these stand forth Benedict XIV and Clement
XIV, the former the wisest and best of the Popes.
His wisdom displayed itself in a frank recognition of
the insignificance of Papal power; and his goodness
in disregarding pretensions which had become ridicu-
lous, and in adapting his policy to the requirements
of his time. c He detested and discouraged persecu-
tion, not merely from his accurate discernment of the
1 In a.d. 1740 the Counsellor de Bosses wrote : — 'The Papal
government, although the worst in Europe, is at the same time
the mildest.'
VIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 45
time in which he lived, but by reason of a most gracious
and benignant nature • he connived at the escape of
some suspected heretics ; he remonstrated with Maria
Theresa against the oppressive acts of her troops in
occupation of Genoa, oppression which provoked the
heroic uprising of the Genoese and the ignominious
expulsion of the Austrians on December 2, a.d. 1746,
the noblest manifestation of Italian energy during the
eighteenth century. He deprecated the persecuting
practices of the vehement members of his own Church,
and interceded for the oppressed Protestants in Lan-
guedoc V He commanded the admiration and respect
of Protestants as well as Catholics throughout Europe,
and received the eulogy of the great assailant of Chris-
tianity — Voltaire.
The other conspicuous occupant of the Papal throne,
towards the close of this century, to whom I have
referred — Clement XIV — was a man too saintly, toler-
ant, and enlightened, for a Pope ; conspicuous, not as
a ruler, but for sanctity of life, and elevation of per-
sonal character. His Pontificate was distinguished by
the suppression of the Order of the Jesuits ; an act
which they caused him to expiate by a lingering and
torturing death from the effects of poison.
The Popes were pious, but feeble; the sovereigns
of Europe — and particularly of France — were feeble
too; they were also vicious, superstitious, and bigoted.
But a mighty mind, which scorned all despotism, and,
pre-eminently, the sovereigns who then so unworthily
exercised it ; which held in abomination not only vice
and superstition, but religion also, swayed the intellect
of Europe. Voltaire may be said to have prepared the
1 < The Papal Drama,' by Thomas H. Gill.
L
146 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
way, not in France only, but also in Germany and
Italy, for that upheaving of the nations, symptoms of
which were already apparent. Before he had tasted,
in prison and in exile, the power of the existing
governments to perpetuate the intellectual thraldom
from which he aspired to awaken Europe, Voltaire
rejoiced to leave all that he held dear in Paris, to
enjoy for a season the invigorating freedom of the
Hague. Monarchs contended to secure his presence
to grace their courts. But, says his biographer \ the
baubles of vanity do not satiate souls impelled by the
ambition of reigning over the minds of men — they do
but supply new arms. The spectacle which Amsterdam
presented of political freedom, honest commerce, and
a hard-working population, had more attraction for the
soul of Voltaire than the splendour of courts, and the
flattery of sovereigns. At Amsterdam, he said, c No-
body is seen who has to pay his court to anybody else ;
there people do not form a line to look at a prince
passing. Industry and modesty alone are known at
Amsterdam.' No doubt the suppression of the c National
Epic, 3 which he had designed to publish under the
patronage of Louis Quinze, envenomed his hatred of
that prince; and the fact that Louis was influenced
by the Cardinal Dubois, on the ground of the fiery de-
clamations against the Inquisition with which the Epic
abounded, was at least not calculated to increase his
love for the Church. His courage and his generosity
were the dread of the oppressors who long had feared
and hated him for his writings. Whatever the nation
in which any striking injustice occurred — any act of
bigotry, or insult to human nature — Voltaire carried it
1 Condorelt.
VIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 147
before the tribunal of public opinion of Europe ; and
c who knows/ exclaims Condorelt, c how often the fear
of this sure and terrible vengeance has withheld the
oppressor's arm ! '
We have to do with Voltaire as a politician and not
as a controversialist. Whatever injury he was instru-
mental in inflicting upon true religion lies at the door
of that Church, whose awful corruptions and implacable
persecutions fired his soul with an inexorable hatred.
The intensity of his indignation at the crimes of in-
tolerance, and his fervid love for liberty of conscience,
have secured for him the fame — to which it is impossible
to concede his title — of having invented toleration. But
for him, it has been said, the religious freedom of the
nineteenth century would still have been but the dream
of Utopian philosophers. All history gives the lie to
such a notion. Rousseau himself was no less ardent
an advocate of religious toleration, however incon-
sistent his theories of freedom, as propounded in his
c Contrat Social, 3 may appear with the whole tenour of
his life, and with the mould that he impressed upon
the French Revolution, which, it has been said, c he
had the fatal honour of forming in his own image V
Still more conspicuous was the ardent and enlightened
love of liberty which breathes in the remarkable speeches
of Mirabeau, and Rabaud-Saint-Etienne, in the National
Assembly, who denounced the crimes and misfortunes
caused by a State religion, and demolished the sophisms
opposed to liberty of worship. These words of Mira-
beau might serve as a motto for the Liberation Society,
c I do not come/ he cried, c to preach toleration. The
1 ' The Church and the French Revolution/ by E. De Pressense,
D.D.
L 2 .
I48 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
most unlimited liberty of religion is, in my eyes, so
sacred a right, that the word toleration, which tries to
express it, appears to me, in some manner itself tyr-
rannical, since the existence of the authority which has
the power to tolerate, infringes on liberty of thought
by the fact that it does tolerate, and that thus it might
have the power not to tolerate. 5 Before we award to
Voltaire the praise of having invented toleration, we
must blot out the memory of Scottish Covenanters and
English Puritans, and ignore the Holy Experiment of
William Penn. In spite of the successful attempt of
the Bishop of London to insert a clause, claiming
security to the National Church, in the charter con-
ferring those wild mountainous tracts which Charles
Stuart christened with the Quaker's name, Penn in-
scribed Religious Liberty at the head of his consti-
tution. Every man, he said, in his provinces should
enjoy liberty of conscience.
Surely it was the misfortune of France that her great
apostle of toleration drew his inspiration from the evils
inseparable from the fatal union of civil and religious
despotism. The Church had already entered the arena
wherein the great battle of progress — of humanity —
was to be fought. To every aspiration which stirred
the pulse of awakening Europe it opposed the obstacle
of invincible intolerance. No wonder that the liberal
cause was proclaimed to be antagonistic to religious
faith. The greatest crimes of history had been perpe-
trated in the name of that holy religion against which,
in terrible earnestness, an emancipated age was now
in arms.
I will close this chapter with a quotation from a
work to which frequent reference has been made. A
VIII.] OF THE PAPACY. I49
man so rare among his species— in whom the enthusi-
asm of humanity was a real passion, is thus aptly por-
trayed : — c Voltaire was pre-eminently the assailant of
Papal Christianity, — the distinctive doctrines of the
Roman Church were those upon which the mighty
mocker was most lavish of his scorn ; the crimes and
cruelties of the Roman Church were those upon which
the great hater of oppression poured forth his intensest
wrath. The supreme horror of history was his supreme
horror; he shuddered at the Bartholomew business as
though he had witnessed it; the butchery of Thorn,
which in a.d. 1724 had stirred his youthful indignation,
he remembered fifty years after in extreme old age with
undiminished abhorrence. He fiercely denounced and
most earnestly strove to arrest the horrible barbarities
still now and then inflicted in France in the name
of the Roman Church. ... It was mainly the deeds
of the Roman Church which made him mighty, which
breathed into his imperial scorn its sovereign bitterness,
and its awful power. . . . Foes of Christianity have
sprung up in Protestant lands; but these men at the
most gained a few followers and gave birth to a con-
troversy; while the arch-mocker whom France bred
and whom Rome provoked, became a great power and
hastened on a great convulsion. The long reign of
Voltaire was most disastrous to the Papacy; and his
hand was felt in that terrible Revolution which so
vengefully smote the French Church and the Roman
See V
1 ' The Papal Drama,' by Thomas H. Gill.
CHAPTER IX.
When the storm of the French Revolution burst
over the Papal States, revolt was chronic, and received
the powerful support of Napoleon, who readily con-
nived at every act which was calculated to dismember
the ecclesiastical territory, or to cripple the power of
Austria, hitherto in full possession of the dignity and
prestige of the Holy Roman Empire ; occupying the
most important fortresses in the States of the Church,
and mistress of the destinies of Italy.
The news of Napoleon's approach to Rome threw
the Council of the Vatican into great alarm. The
First Consul appears to have revelled in his power of
frightening these old gentlemen. He wrote in harsh
terms threatening to crown his victories by the over-
throw of the Papal power, which the Directory regarded
as the irreconcilable enemy of the Republic. c We
find the martyr's crown more brilliant/ exclaimed the
Pontiff, c than that which we wear on our head -* and
with something like dignity he refused the terms of
peace offered by Napoleon, which included the with-
drawing of the briefs by which Pius VI had condemned the
civil constitution of the clergy of France. These clauses
Napoleon, who was now anxious to terminate his Italian
campaign, ultimately withdrew. A shameless peace
was purchased by the surrender of the Legations, and
the renunciation of the Pontiff's pretended rights over
THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY, 151
Avignon- the forfeiture of large quantities of stores,
and a war contribution of six million dollars. One
hundred of the richest works of art, the contents of the
galleries which Pius VI had beautified and enriched,
were also surrendered, and to this day they constitute
the greatest wealth of the Louvre ; whilst a French
army took possession of Rome.
The Directory were even more bent than was the
First Consul upon the overthrow of the temporal power
of the Papacy. Napoleon, as we shall presently see,
had other aims in view. The treaty proved only a truce.
Pius VI not only refused to ratify it, but, in conjunc-
tion with the forces of Austria, engaged in open hostili-
ties with France. He committed himself to an unequal
struggle. Napoleon, who had just vanquished the whole
power of Austria, contemptuously crushed the feeble
forces of the Pope, and forced him to accept, in the
Peace of Tolentino, terms deeply humiliating to the
Roman See. The city, the Patrimony, and Umbria,
constituted all that was left to the Church of that fair
domain secured to her by the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle •
and of this Napoleon appears to have thus early con-
ceived the idea of despoiling her.
The Pope had passed the age of four-score years and,
being afflicted with a dangerous illness, Napoleon
generously awaited his demise before proceeding to
establish a Republic in Rome, on the same model as
that of France. His calculations were disturbed by
the unexpected recovery of the Pontiff. Napoleon was
then in Egypt, and the Directory, supreme in France
during the First Consul's absence, dissatisfied with his
Italian policy, and irritated by the intractable Pontiff
who had recovered when they were impatiently await-
152 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
ing his death, ordered General Berthier to march upon
Rome. The Vatican was occupied by French troops,
and Pius VI taken prisoner. The old man entreated
his captors to let him die where he was. They scorn-
fully replied that he could die anywhere, and proceeded
to plunder the room in which he was seated, and his
own person, taking even the ring from his finger. The
Roman Republic was then proclaimed. Pius was at
first allowed to find a shelter with the Grand Duke of
Tuscany, but was afterwards carried captive into
France, where he died, August 22, a.d. 1799; anc ^ ^ ie
world believed that the Papacy had for ever fallen.
The Republican government at Rome was short-
lived. Within one month after the death of the Pope,
the King of Naples, supported by the English and the
Austrians, compelled the French general to capitulate,
and Rome was garrisoned by Neapolitan and Austrian
troops.
After some delay, the cardinals, being unable to
meet at Rome, assembled at Venice, and elected a new
Pontiff, who took the title of Pius VII. The sovereigns
who held Rome invited him to take up his abode at the
Vatican, but he declined to reside there in any other
capacity than as Rome's rightful and sole sovereign.
Austria, anxious to recover her lost hold upon Italy,
demurred ; a compromise was at last effected, and, four
months after his election, Pius VII entered Rome (July,
a.d. i Hoo), and assumed tne government- whilst the troops
of Austria and Naples garrisoned the city. The elec-
tion of Pius VII was due to the influence of Cardinal
Consalvi, whom he immediately nominated Secretary
of State. To his wise and temperate administration,
in circumstances of unparalleled difficulty, the Papacy
IX.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 53
was indebted for internal quietude and stability and,
after the downfall of Napoleon, for the consideration it
received at the hands of the Protestant courts.
A policy of conciliation now served the purposes of
Napoleon. The battle of Marengo had changed the
position of Austria towards the Papacy, and had re-
established the power of Napoleon in the Peninsula,
and disposed him to acquiesce, for the present, in the
continuance of the Pontifical government at Rome.
Having resolved upon the restoration of a national
religion in France, he made overtures to the Pope on
the subject. Such a step, in the moment of his greatest
triumph, captivated the heart of the Pontiff, who saw, in
the restoration of the Catholic religion in France, the
renewed subjection of that country to ecclesiastical
authority. Never doubting that Napoleon was a sincere
Catholic, and probably ignorant that, just a year before,
the young hero had similarly cajoled the Ulemas of
Egypt, by professing, with equal complacency, his con-
version to Islamism, Pius VII and his cardinals rejoiced
in the adhesion of the great conqueror who had made
himself master of France, and France mistress of Italy.
By Napoleon religion was always regarded exclusively
from a political point of view, and employed as a means
of attaching its votaries to himself. Hence, whilst he
was yet a Republican general, he praises the priests in
Italy, who served his purpose by advocating the estab-
lishment of Republics in the Peninsula. c Such priests,'
he says, c who have acknowledged that the political
code of the Gospel is summed up in the liberty and
sovereignty of the people, are the finest present that
heaven can make a government.' After events proved
that it was not their republicanism that Napoleon
154 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
loved, so much as their docility. Only four months
after he had employed these words he thus wrote to the
Bishop of Malta : — c I do not conceive a more respect-
able character, nor one more worthy of the veneration
of men, than a priest who, full of the true spirit of the
Gospel, is persuaded that his duties require him to render
obedience to the temporal power •, and to maintain peace in
his diocese.' The re-establishment of Catholicism in
France was, in the eyes of Napoleon, a purely secular
affair. Let him be judged by his own words. In
familiar conversation, towards the close of a.d. 1800, the
First Consul thus spoke : — c The people must have a
religion j this religion must be in the hands of the
government. Fifty emigrant bishops, paid by England,
to-day lead the French clergy. We must destroy their
influence; the authority of the Pope is necessary for
that. He dismisses them, or makes them give in their
resignation. It is declared that the Catholic religion
being that of the majority of the French, the exercise of
it ought to be organized. The First Consul nominates
a hundred bishops, the Pope institutes them ; they
nominate the parish priests, the State pays them. They
take the oath. The priests who do not submit are trans-
ported. It will be said I am a Papist. I am nothing. I
was a Mahomedan in Egypt ; I shall be a Catholic here,
for the good of the people. I do not believe in religions,
but in the idea of a God V
The negotiations with Rome were now pressed for-
ward. c I ha*ve need of the Pope,' said the First Consul ;
c he will do what I wish.' c You wish,' answered La-
fayette, to whom these words were addressed — c you
wish to have the little phial broken over your head.'
1 ' Mcmoires sur le Consulat,' quoted by De Pressense.
IX.] OF THE PAPACY. 155
c We shall see — we shall see/ replied Napoleon. The
sagacious courtier had gauged the true origin of the
Concordat. The man who aimed at despotic power in
a religious country could not afford to be indifferent to
religion. Whether that religion were Islamism, or
Roman Catholicism, was a matter of profound indif-
ference to Napoleon. But he recognized the fact that
France was Catholic at heart, and accordingly resolved,
by a wise agreement with the Holy See, to consecrate
his civil government by allying it with religion, and to
attach to his person the whole body of the clergy. c We
have never seen/ he said, c a State without religion,
without worship, without priests. Is it not better to
organize the worship and to discipline the priests, than
to leave things as they are? Rather than exile the
priests who preach against the government, is it not
better to attach them to one's self? A Pope is neces-
sary to me, but a Pope who brings together instead of
dividing, who conciliates minds, reunites and gives
them to the government that has issued from the Re-
volution. And for that there is necessary to me a true
Pope — Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman.' Such were
the views with which Napoleon entered upon the
negotiations for the Concordat. It would be easy to
multiply quotations from the recorded words of the
First Consul 1 , to show that the revival of religion
was, in itself, a matter of perfect indifference to him.
His central thought was to secure a functionary clergy,
as an engine of support to his administration. c What
we are doing,' he said, whilst the negotiations with
Rome were still pending, c is inflicting a mortal blow on
Popery.'
1 See ' Memoires sur le Conseil d'Etat,' c. xi.
156 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
Into the history of these negotiations I cannot enter.
The Pope and his counsellors were animated by the
desire of securing the great extension of the spiritual
power which the Concordat promised, and the restora-
tion of the temporal power of the Church in its ancient
limits, for which they trusted to the gratitude of the
First Consul. The capital of the Holy See, they
reasoned, c was no longer in proportion to the provinces
which it still possessed.' By showing himself agreeable
to the First Consul, the Pope might hope to obtain
from his benevolence, either the principality of Sienna,
or the restitution of the Legations, or an increase
towards the Marches of Ancona; c for it is the First
Consul who to-day parcels out Italy.' c Let us conclude
the Concordat which he desires,' added other counsel-
lors of the same party; c they will know when it shall
be ratified, all the immensity of its religious importance,
and the power which it gives to Rome over the epis-
copacy in all the world 1 .' The negotiations had not
advanced many stages when these sanguine anticipa-
tions were discovered to be illusions. Napoleon valued
the temporal power of the Pope only as the instrument
of perpetuating his dependence upon France; and as
the political interests of the Papacy were antagonistic
to those of France, the French clergy must be separated
from their head, subordinated to the ruling power in
Paris, — dominated, watched over, incessantly restrained
by it.' Such was Napoleon's notion of the extension
of the spiritual and temporal power of the Papacy, as
regarded France.
The Concordat was signed on the 1 5th July, a. d. 1801.
Whilst recognizing the sovereignty of the Roman
] De Pressense, ' The Church and the French Revolution.'
IX.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 57
Pontiff it subordinated his authority to the ruling power
in Paris, and widened the breach between the French
clergy and the head of Christendom. The political
engagements of the new French bishops were reduced
to a simple oath of fidelity to the government, to whose
approval must be subjected all nominations to the cures
of their dioceses.
The independence of Rome which the Gallican
Church thus dearly purchased was destructive of its
liberties. Its servility to the throne, in the seventeenth
century, alone rendered possible that triumph of the
League in France, which culminated in the revocation
of the Edict of Nantes. The emasculated system
retained nothing but the name in common with the
Gallicanism which, in the fifteenth century, had dared
to assert the independence of the French Church, and
to set limits to, and exercise control over, the usurpa-
tions of the Papacy. Its vaunted liberties were now
placed beneath the foot of the ruler who was supreme
in spiritual as in temporal matters. The oppressive and
vexatious intervention of the temporal power in spi-
ritual interests naturally resulted in that preponderance
of Ultramontanism which we now witness in France,
so long distinguished as the home of a diametrically
opposite principle. It became an object of solicitude
with the French clergy to take precautions against the
usurpations of the civil power. Their spirit of opposi-
tion to the Holy See, softened by the dangers which
they recognized in the restriction of its rights, gradually
disappeared ; and Napoleon himself — prompted by his
overbearing animosity to the bishops who had rejected
the civil constitution of the French clergy, condemned
by the court of Rome — compelled the Pope to scqucs-
-£iEfcE LIBR/,
" OFTHF
I$H THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
trate their Sees. By a single stroke of his pen, Pius VII
deprived of their dignity thirty-seven French bishops
who had refused to resign, whilst at the same time he
abolished all the episcopal churches for ever, and erected
ten Metropolitan Sees and fifty Bishoprics 1 . A proceed-
ing so arbitrary and unprecedented justifies the charge
of the absolute and despotic power which the Roman
Pontiff never fails to exercise when unrestrained by fear.
Napoleon had now unintentionally sacrificed to the
interests of the Papacy the ancient constitution of the
Church. He placed the French episcopate at the dis-
posal of the Roman Pontiff, and thus furnished one of
the most powerful incentives to the dissemination of
those Ultramontane principles which he held in such
intense abhorrence. c A thing done,' say the Italians,
c has a head ;' and it was in vain that Napoleon sought
to neutralize this radical error in the stringent pro-
visions of the Concordat which, in effect, confirmed
and perpetuated it.
It was to the negotiator of this Concordat that
Napoleon gave his celebrated instruction, c Remember
to treat the Pope as though he had 200,000 men at his
command.' His usual penetration had preserved him
from repeating the mistake of the Directory in their
dealings with Pius VI, and convinced him that civility,
and a semblance of deference, were better calculated to
promote the object he had in view, than vainglorious
threats of spoliation and schism.
The gentle and conciliatory Pontiff interposed few
obstacles, glad to maintain even a nominal possession
of his principality, and to win back again to the faith
the infidel nation whose apostacy, during eight years,
1 Dollinger.
IX.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 59
had made her as formidable a foe to the Church as, in
the days of her subserviency, she had proved to the Pro-
testants of her own and other lands.
In the autumn of a.d. 1804, Napoleon commenced the
preparations for the important solemnity of his coro-
nation. The prescient jest of General Lafayette was
to have its accomplishment, and the c little phial ' to be
brought into requisition. He was well aware that
c with a large proportion at least of the rural population,
the consecration of his authority by the ceremony of
coronation was an essential particular, and that to all,
of whatever latitude of opinion, it was of great political
importance to prove that his influence was so un-
bounded, as to compel the head of the Church himself
to officiate on the occasion. The Papal benediction
appeared to be the link which would unite the revo-
lutionary to the legitimate regime, and cause the
faithful to forget in the sacred authority with which
he was now invested the violence and bloodshed which
had paved his way to the throne. Napoleon for these
reasons had long resolved not only that he should be
crowned according to the forms of the French monarchy,
but that the ceremony should be performed by the head
of Christendom V The overtures which he presented
to the court of the Vatican abounded with a profusion
of simulated respect for the successor of the Apostles,
and with vague promises of benefits which should
accrue to the Papacy, from the compliance of the
supreme Pontiff with the solicitations of the eldest son
1 Alison's ' History of Europe,' vol. viii. I am disposed, how-
ever, to the opinion that Sir Archibald Alison errs in assuming
that Napoleon ever contemplated receiving the crown at the
hands of the Pontiff.
l6o THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
of the Church. To these solicitations Cardinal Consalvi
had offered all the opposition in his power. As the
representative of the Pope in negotiating the Concordat,
he had already discovered the meanness and falsehood
which, in the character of Napoleon, were blended
with the highest genius. When, after endless debates,
the terms of the Concordat had been settled, and
Napoleon had consented to withdraw the Gallican
doctrines which were so offensive to the Papal court,
Consalvi had detected an attempted fraud, which was
only too characteristic of the First Consul. At the
moment when he was about to sign, the cardinal dis-
covered that Napoleon had artfully substituted a docu-
ment containing the obnoxious clauses, for the one to
which he had agreed \ It is not, therefore, surprising
that in the solicitations of Napoleon, Consalvi suspected
a covered design of effecting the humiliation of the
Pontiff. But the Emperor elect was now too powerful
to be refused. He never intended to receive his crown
at the hands of the Pope, nor was he allowed to officiate.
With his own hands the Emperor placed the crown
upon his head. The presence of the Pontiff only was
desired, to adorn and consecrate the ceremony, and to
render it more imposing. The relation which the
Emperor had determined that the Church should sustain
to the Empire, was thus shadowed forth — probably with
design — that, namely, of an imposing and useful but
always subordinate appendage.
The ceremony of coronation took place with every
possible magnificence on the 2nd December, a.d. 1804.
The Papal suite shortly afterwards returned to Rome,
1 'L'Eglise Romaine et le Premier Empire, 1800-14.' Par
M. le Comte D'Haussonville. 3 vols. 8vo. Paris, Levy, 1868.
IX.] OF THE PAPACY. l6l
charmed with their visit, and sanguine, with the con-
fidence which a long-cherished desire too often inspires,
as to the full realization of the important and durable
benefits which the too credulous Pontiff expected to
accrue to the Papacy from his condescension in cross-
ing the Alps to sanction the coronation of the Emperor
with the authority of the Church. Cardinal Caprera,
the Papal legate at Paris, was largely responsible for
these exaggerated anticipations. His appointment to
this post had been insisted on by Napoleon, and
M. D'Haussonville convincingly shows that he acted
throughout these negotiations rather as the minister
of the Emperor than of the Pope. Misguided by his
representations, Pius VII was confident that, at the
least, the three Legations ceded by the Peace of
Tolentino would be restored. The flattering atten-
tions which he had received from the Emperor, who
used the same bait which had inveigled him into the
Concordat — expressing the most liberal views, but
abstaining from any definite pledge — encouraged these
illusions.
Amongst the able statesmen who formed the Pope's
cabinet, not a few were doubtful and anxious. Accord-
ingly, and shortly after his return to Rome, Pius VII
despatched a memorial to Napoleon, recounting the
losses which the Holy See had sustained in the late
war, and strongly urging him to imitate the example of
Charlemagne, and restore these possessions. It is
curious to note the fascination wrought upon the
Pontiff, as upon all who personally approached
Napoleon ; and the affection, which subsequent events
and his own cruel sufferings failed to obliterate, which
Pius thenceforward entertained towards his unscru-
M
l6l THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
pulous oppressor. The evasive reply of Napoleon was
followed, within a year from the date of his coronation,
by the forcible seizure, and occupation by his troops,
of the most important fortress in the ecclesiastical
territory. To the Pope's expostulations the Emperor
replied in disdainful terms, which, indicating the prin-
ciple upon which he intended to act with regard to the
temporal power of the Papacy, speedily destroyed all
illusions. In this reply Napoleon asserted that all Italy
must be subject to his law ; that the Pope's situation
required that he should pay the Emperor the same
respect in temporal which he rendered to him in
spiritual matters. c You,' he said, c are sovereign of
Rome, but I am its Emperor.' To Cardinal Fesch, the
French minister at Rome, he thus wrote: — f To the
Pope I am Charlemagne, because, like Charlemagne, I
unite the crown of France to that of the Lombards, and
because my Empire extends to the boundaries of the
East. I expect, therefore, that his conduct towards me
should be regulated upon this principle. If good
conduct is maintained, I shall not change the outward
appearance of things ; if not, I shall reduce the Pope to
be only Bishop of Rome. In truth, nothing can be so
unreasonable as the court of Rome V
For two centuries, as we have seen, the struggle
between the Popedom and the Empire had been less
for supremacy than for existence. The Holy Roman
Empire had fallen, and the Popedom seemed to be
expiring, when by the new Emperor of the West the
old struggle for supremacy was thus haughtily revived.
The days were now past when, like Hildebrand, the
Pontiff could imperiously claim the submission of the
1 D'Haussonville, vol. ii. p. 78.
IX.] OF THE PAPACY, J 63
Emperor on the ground of his responsibility for the
souls of all men ; and the self-constituted heir of
Charlemagne, aspiring to rule all Europe from Paris,
was little likely to tolerate any independent exercise
of the secular power by his puppet at Rome. The
contest, indeed, was at an end; but about the resig-
nation of the Pontiff there was a dignity which con-
trasted finely with the coarse threats, littlenesses, and
treachery to which Napoleon was ever ready to stoop.
In a despatch to his Nuncio at Paris, 31st of July, a.d.
1806, referring to the Emperor's threat that if Rome
and the States of the Church were once in his hands,
they would never come out of them, he says: — c His
Majesty may easily believe this and persuade himself of
it, but I reply frankly that if his Majesty has a right to
be confident that power is on his side, I, for my part,
know that above all monarchs there reigns a God, the
avenger of justice and innocence, before whom every
human power must bend/ His course, he declares, is
irrevocable. c Nothing can change it ; neither threats
nor the execution of those threats.' These sentiments,
he declares, are his c testament,' which he is willing to
sign with his blood. c But/ he adds, after instructing
his Nuncio to convey them to Napoleon, c tell the
Emperor he still has my affection, and that I have
every wish to give him every proof of it which is in my
power, and to continue to show myself his best friend ;
but what is demanded is out of my power to do V
Events now marched rapidly. On the 1.0th of
January, a.d. 1808, Napoleon wrote thus to his brother
Joseph:— c There is no end of the impertinences of the
court of Rome ; I am anxious to have done with it. I
1 D'Haussonville.
M %
164 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
have dismissed its negotiators. I wish you to assemble
at Terracina a column of 2000 Neapolitan troops,
infantry and cavalry, a French battalion of from 800
to 900 men, a cavalry regiment of 400 men, four
Neapolitan and six French pieces of horse-artillery,
which will make 3000 men and ten pieces of cannon.
You will do all this quietly. You will put this column
under the orders of a brigadier-general, who will wait
at Terracina for orders from General Miollis,, under
whose command the column is to be. General Miollis
is collecting 3000 men at Perugia, and General
Lemarrois as many at Foligno. With these 6000 men
Miollis will march towards Rome, as if he were going
to rejoin the army of Naples. When he has reached
Rome, he will take possession of the Castle of St.
Angelo, and assume the title of Commander-in-Chief
of the troops in the Papal States, and he will send
orders to your division at Terracina to join him in
Rome as soon as possible. You feel that this expedi-
tion must be kept very secret 1 .'
Rome was thus beleaguered with a force of 9000
men, and its occupation, though delayed a whole year,
might have been effected at any time without fear of
opposition. But Napoleon, having thus made the Pope
to feel his power, was willing to conciliate the Catholics
of France by a show of forbearance. Concessions on the
part of the Pontiff, which might be flaunted in the eyes
of Christendom as the voluntary renunciation of unten-
able claims, would have been of far greater value to the
Emperor than any which he could extort at the point
of the bayonet. But the Pontiff was firm in his
1 ' Napoleon's Correspondence with King Joseph,' vol. i. No.
350.
IX.] OF THE PAPACY. 165
irrevocable decision to yield nothing but to force,
which he was powerless to repel. His one answer to
every overture involving the concession of one iota of
his Pontifical claims being, c What is demanded is out
of my power to do/
On the 2nd of February, a.d. 1809, the French troops
took possession of Rome, and, within three months,
a formal decree proclaimed that the territories of the
Pope were united to the French Empire. The words
of this decree, revoking c the donations which my pre-
decessors, the Emperors of the West, have made/
again curiously reveals the determination of Napoleon
to be regarded as the successor of the Western Roman
Emperors. Pius protested, but in vain; and though,
either from generosity, or from motives of policy, —
for the Emperor had declared that the Pope who should
presume to denounce him to Christendom would cease
to be a Pope in his eyes, — Pius VII shrunk from pro-
nouncing the threatened personal excommunication of
the Emperor, he issued a brief, which recounted the
penalties to be pronounced upon those who presumed
to invade the possessions of the Church. But the Papal
interdict had lost its terrors; and Napoleon replied
by sanctioning the arrest of the Pontiff.
Thus, just one thousand years after the establishment
of the temporal power of the Popedom by Pepin and
Charlemagne, France was the instrument of despoiling
the Church of its own gifts. Originally the price of
a base prostitution of religion, they had wrought in-
calculable mischief to the Church, which, for their
possession, had abnegated her office as a teacher and
pattern of morality. It had been well for the Church,
fot Italy, and for Christendom, had the allies, after
1 66 THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY.
Napoleon's downfall, been less blindly determined to
reverse his acts in every detail ; and if, recognizing
the wisdom at least of his Italian policy, they had
suffered the Italians to enjoy that freedom from the
oppressions of ecclesiastical rule which he had conferred
upon them.
CHAPTER X.
It was from Vienna, in the spring of a.d. 1809, that
Napoleon issued his decree annexing the territories
of the Pope to the French Empire, c by virtue of his
right as the successor of Charlemagne.' He afterwards
protested that he was not privy to the actual seizure of the
Pope ; which occurred, perhaps, sooner than he intended,
but certainly had his entire approval. Preparations for
the arrest of the Pontiff were made with sufficient
secrecy to conceal the intention from the people of
Rome. At three o'clock on the morning of the 1 6th
of July, a body of soldiers, under General Radet, scaled
the garden-wall of the Vatican, got into the palace by
a window, broke through the locked doors opposing
their advance, disarmed the Swiss guard, and so made
a forcible entrance into the sleeping chamber of the
Pontiff. Arousing the Pope from his slumbers, they
demanded from him a categorical declaration that he
would renounce all temporal pretensions, and withdraw
the bull of anathema. Pius refused, protesting that
he would rather accept the worst fate in store for him,
than sign such an abdication; whilst he threatened
General Radet with the anathema of the Church if
he dared lay hands on the successor of the Apostles.
The General appears to have felt very little concern
about these obsolete threats. He caused the Pope to
be made fast in the arm-chair in which he was seated,
1 68 THE TEMPORAL POWER CHAP.
and so lowered through the broken window into the
street, where a close carriage was in waiting. The
prisoner, with Cardinal Pacca, who was allowed to
accompany him, was placed in this conveyance. The
horses dashed off at full speed ; and whilst the citizens
were yet asleep in their beds, the cortege passed through
the gates of Rome.
Napoleon offered the Pope the appurtenances of a
court in any city he might choose in the south of France,
with a revenue of two million francs ; but Pius VII
refused to hold intercourse with one under the ban.
He was, accordingly, removed to Savona, on the shores
of the Gulf of Genoa, and guarded as a prisoner. Here,
through the medium of pamphlets clandestinely printed
at Lyons, he continued to assail the Emperor's acts,
and particularly his divorce from Josephine. To put an
end to this factious opposition, and for greater security,
Napoleon, after detaining his captive three years at
Savona, caused him to be removed to Fontainebleau.
Meanwhile, the Emperor had issued a decree con-
firming that of Vienna of the 2nd April, a.d. 1809, and
providing for the government of the States of the
Church. By this decree Rome was declared to be the
second city of the French Empire, and was to give the
title of King to the Prince Imperial. It was also
enacted that the future Emperors, after their corona-
tion at Notre Dame, should be also crowned at St.
Peter's at Rome \
According to his own acknowledgment, the object of
Napoleon, in despoiling Pius VII of his dominions, was
to effect the transfer of the Papal court to Paris — to make
it a French and Imperial institution, — and by means of
1 Dyer's ' Modern Europe.'
X.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 69
an ecclesiastical puppet and his Nuncios, to sway the
conscience of Europe, as effectively as he already
domineered over its politics through generals and diplo-
matists. He thus hoped to surmount the most for-
midable obstacles which impeded the accomplishment
of his c destined career 1 .' But these acts of the
Emperor redounded to the advantage of his victim,
by producing a reaction of respectful devotion to the
afflicted head of the Church. Thus, again, we see the
despot who, determined to bend everything to his own
iron will, had sought to supplant the Pope's supremacy
in France, preparing public opinion for the revival of
Ultramontanism.
Adversity had obliterated the amiable tractability
which had characterized the Pope ten years earlier. He
was aware of the sympathy which was extended towards
him by millions who hated his captor ; whilst such of
them as were Catholics, lamented not only the indig-
nities to which the Vicar of Christ was subjected, but
the interference, thence arising, with the ministrations
of religion in every land. His own sense of dignity
and duty never entirely forsook him. The blandish-
ments and threats of the Emperor were alike powerless
to induce him to relinquish his Italian possessions.
The rigorous treatment to which he had been subjected
at Savona was relaxed at Fontainebleau ; but it had
produced lamentable effects, both mental and physical,
1 ' What I have hitherto done is nothing,' he said one day at
the camp at Boulogne. ' There will never be peace in Europe
except under one chief — an Emperor, whose officers should be
kings ; who should distribute kingdoms to his lieutenants, making
one King of Italy, another King of Bavaria/ &c— ' Memoires de
Comte Nicot de Melito.'
I70 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
from which he never wholly recovered. Indications are
not wanting that his sufferings had weakened the in-
tellect, as, for instance, the frequent occupation of his
time in darning stockings 1 j but pre-eminently in his
falling into the snare of the Emperor in signing the
fatal Concordat, by which he renounced his temporal
power. f The one error, 5 says Cardinal Wiseman, c of
his life and Pontificate. For there came to him men
"of the seed of Aaron/ 3 who could not be expected
to mislead him, themselves free and moving in the
busiest of the world, who showed him, through the
loopholes of his prison, that world from which he was
shut out, as though agitated on its surface, and to its
lowest depths, through his unbendingness ; the Church
torn to schism, and religion weakened to destruction,
from what they termed his obstinacy. He who had
but prayed and bent his neck to suffering, was made
to appear in his own eyes a harsh and cruel master,
who would rather see all perish than lose his grasp
on unrelenting, but impotent, jurisdiction. He yielded
for a moment of conscientious alarm, he consented,
though conditionally, under false but virtuous im-
pressions, to the terms proposed to him for a new
Concordat V
The Emperor was overjoyed at the complete success
1 Perhaps knitting stockings, — an occupation for charitable pur-
poses to which the aged of both sexes are much addicted in Italy.
As recently as the 5th of May last the Roman correspondent of
the Morning Post writes : — ' Count Gaetano (a brother of Pope
Pius IX) is an old bachelor, and very charitable to the poor of
his native town, for whom he passes many peaceful hours in knit-
ting stockings— an innocent amusement now getting rather out
of fashion, but still practised in Italy.'
2 ' The Last Four Popes,' by Cardinal Wiseman.
X.] OF THE PAPACY.
of this coup-de-main. c Next morning/ says the historian
of the French Revolution, c decorations, presents, and
orders were profusely scattered among the chief persons
of the Pope's household; the joyful intelligence was
communicated to the bishops. Te Deum was chanted
in all the churches of France, all the restrictions upon
the personal freedom of the Pope were removed ; Mass
was allowed to be freely celebrated in the palace of
Fontainebleau ; a numerous body of cardinals soon after
joined his Holiness from their different places of exile.
The Concordat was solemnly published as one of the
fundamental laws of the State, the Emperor loaded the
Pope and all the members of his court with that
gracious and insinuating kindness which, when it suited
his purposes, he could so well assume ; and in the ex-
uberance of his satisfaction, even gave orders for the
liberation of his indomitable antagonist, Cardinal Pacca,
from his long and painful confinement amidst the snows
of Savoy V
In permitting the Pope again to surround himself
with his cardinals, Napoleon had not calculated the
effect which the support of their presence and counsel
would inevitably produce upon the Pontiff. Their re-
monstrances were earnest and importunate; and the
weak-minded Pope perceived how completely he had
been overreached by the specious arguments and clever
artifices of the Emperor. With bitter remorse, and
'Tears from the depth of some divine despair,'
he acknowledged his mistake. But it was too late.
Tears and imprecations were alike without effect upon
the astute and exultant Emperor.
1 Alison's ' Europe,' vol. xvkCec 77c
(university)
172 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
On the 24th of March, 1813, Pius VII solemnly
retracted his signature to the Concordat, which he
declared to be anulled, ascribing his compliance to
the weakness of the flesh; and protesting that the
concessions made were unjustifiable in the sight of
God and man. The Emperor, not deigning to notice
the recantation, forthwith published the Concordat as
the law of the Empire, and obligatory upon all Arch-
bishops, Bishops, and Chapters. Pius VII was soon
avenged. His prolonged captivity, and his obstinate
refusal to ratify the Concordat, had become a matter
of serious embarrassment to Napoleon, who, after the
fatal battle of Leipsic, in November, T813, determined
to assent to his liberation. Renewed but unsuccessful
efforts were made to induce the Pontiff to purchase his
freedom by concessions which might save appearances.
He was removed from Fontainebleau to the south of
France ; but, under one pretext or another, his journey
towards Rome was impeded, Napoleon apparently
cherishing the hope that a return of fortune to his
arms might enable him to detain so valuable and
illustrious a prisoner. .
But the Emperor's downfall was now at hand. At
that very Fontainebleau where he had cajoled the en-
feebled Pontiff" into signing the fatal Concordat, the
allied powers compelled him to sign his own abdica-
tion. One of the earliest acts of the provisional
government was to pass a decree expressing sympathy
with the Pope, and charging the civil and military
authorities to remove every obstruction to his journey,
and to accord him all the honours due to his rank.
It is worthy of remark that, whilst three of the four
allied powers to whom Pius VII owed his freedom were
X.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 73
non-Catholic, it was to these three Protestant powers
alone 1 that the head of that Church, which had so
often strained every resource to effect the destruction
of Protestantism, both in England and on the con-
tinent of Europe, now first expressed his desire of
being reinstated not simply in those territories which
Napoleon had, by his Vienna decree of April 2nd,
a.d. 1 809, annexed to the French Empire, but his hope
of recovering the provinces ceded to France by the
Peace of Tolentino.
As a steadfast sufferer, Pius VII received the sym-
pathy and respect of the population in every town
through which he passed. On approaching Reggio, the
carriages that escorted him formed a long line of pro-
cession, followed by multitudes of horsemen and per-
sons on foot. As the procession entered the town,
the horses were removed from the Pontifical carriage,
which was drawn through the streets amidst the en-
thusiastic shouts of the populace 2 . His return to
Rome was, in fact, a grand triumphal progress in
which, however, the demonstrations of joy probably
sprang rather from a sentiment of commiseration on
account of the persecutions which the Pontiff had en-
dured, than from any respect for the tiara.
Wearied of the changes and tumults of the Revolu-
tion, there was a general disposition amongst the
people of the Roman States to welcome a settled
government, albeit not one of the people's choice.
The conciliatory disposition of the Pope had been
signally evinced at an embarrassing interview which
he had held with Murat at Bologna. In the discussion
1 Ranke.
2 Butt's ' History of Italy,' vol. ii.
174 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
which then took place on the subject of the restoration
of the Papal territory, the wily Murat had insisted that
the desire of the Romans was to be delivered from the
temporal sovereignty of the Pope, and to be incorpo-
rated with one of the secular Italian States; and he
placed in the Pontiff's hands a petition, numerously
signed by the inhabitants of Rome, of which this was
the prayer. The Pope, perceiving that the original
signatures were attached to the petition, calmly con-
signed the document to the flames, remarking that as
he wished to know no enemies in Rome, he would not
acquaint himself with the names of his rebellious sub-
jects. The report of this generous conduct had reached
Rome before his own arrival, and won the hearts of
thousands, and of not a few even of those who had
signed the petition. The return of Pius VII to his
capital was celebrated by demonstrations of tumultuous
rejoicing, the nobles fraternizing with the citizens and
stimulating their mirth. The Duke Borghese, it is
said, entertained the mob at a banquet which cost him
^48,000 !
By the treaty of Vienna, the whole of the Papal
States, with the exception of a small district north
of the Po, were restored to the Church. But Pius VII
was far from satisfied with the simple restoration of his
Italian crown. He demanded from the allied sove-
reigns the full and complete restoration of the former
power of the Church ; the reconstitution of the dissolved
monasteries, with all their revenues; and the re-estab-
lishment of the bishops with their lands and preroga-
tives ; c Protestant rulers, especially, to yield up all the
ecclesiastical lands which had accrued to them by the
treaties of the last thirty years; above all, France to
X.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 75
give back the principality of Avignon and the Comte
of Veneissau to the apostolic throne, or incur the worst
of all crimes, the crime of sacrilege/ The princes at
Vienna were, however, unwilling, at the bidding of a
Pope, to plunge Europe into the darkness of the middle
ages; and Pius, with a solemn protest against all
arrangements injurious to the interests of the Church,
and the patrimony of St. Peter, eagerly clutched the
prize of his restored sovereignty.
Pius VII was not behind the other minor sovereigns
who recovered their paltry crowns, and were reinstated
on their thrones by the treaty of Vienna, in his en-
deavours to obliterate all memory of French domina-
tion. In the pious but weak-minded Pontiff we are
not surprised at any intensity of hatred towards the
ruler who had been the spoliator of the Church, and
his own unrelenting persecutor. But it is well-nigh
incredible that the government of Rome should have de-
scended to so ignoble a manifestation of their hatred of
the French nation as to direct that the public clocks, —
which had been bestowed on the city during the French
occupation, and marked the division of the day on
the system prevalent throughout the civilized world, —
should have their dials either effaced or adapted to the
effete practice of former days, the first hour commenc-
ing at nightfall, and so on until sunset. It is also said
that the authorities proposed to abandon the practice
of lighting the streets at night, because it had been
inaugurated by the French. An edict was actually
issued to suppress the public lamps, and although the
endurance of the citizens was not tested by its being
suffered to remain long in force, it did, for a while,
leave them dependent for the illumination of their
176 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
streets, upon torches which blazed at the doors of
private houses, and the farthing candles burned at the
images of saints. These freaks are illustrations of the
petty and spiteful hatred which had their counterpart
in Piedmont where Victor Emanuel I, determined to
obliterate even the memory of his absence, issued a pro-
clamation on the day after his return to Turin, by which
all the laws of a.d. 1776 were restored. It is said that
a court almanac of a.d. 1795 was handed to the king,
who at once issued a warrant reappointing to their
former offices all those whose names appeared in its
lists. The grim monster, Death, had not forsaken
Piedmont during the king's involuntary absence, and
the result of course was that many persons, long
since in their graves, were reappointed officers of
State !
Throughout Italy the Code Napoleon was superseded
by the intricate and semi-barbarous provisions of the
German laws. The taxes imposed by the French were
retained; but instead of being partly expended in
making roads and other useful public works, in pro-
moting education and encouraging manufactures, the
whole found its way to Vienna. Such were the
c benefits' the people derived from the c deliverance'
which they celebrated with unreasoning enthusiasm.
Nor was this blind hatred of Napoleon peculiar to
the petty sovereigns who, after his downfall, recovered
their thrones. It was shared equally by the restorers.
Though by nature a despot, Napoleon had unwittingly
conferred a priceless boon upon the Italians, by the abo-
lition of the temporal sovereignty of the Pope ; by the
overthrow of the Bourbon despots of the South, and
the hated Hapsburg dynasty in the North; thus de-
X.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 77
monstrating to Europe that the Italians were capable
of self-government. It sufficed that he had done this^.
For no other reason was the political Papacy restored
by the Protestant powers of Europe, and the Italians
doomed to languish for another half- century under
Papal, Hapsburg, and Bourbon misgovernment and op-
pression.
Europe was too intently occupied in the attempt to
undo the work of the revolution, to take cognizance
of a momentous act of the restored Pontiff destructive
of the work for the accomplishment of which European
statesmen had intrigued and toiled for half a century.
Scarcely was Pius VII securely seated upon his Pon-
tifical throne when, in defiance of the wishes of the
lay sovereigns of Europe, he published a bull reviving
the order of the Jesuits, that secret militia of Rome
which, amid all the vicissitudes through which it had
passed during the three centuries that had elapsed since
its institution, had so marvellously fulfilled the design
of its founder; insinuating its principles, and influ-
encing courts and peoples by a hidden omnipresence.
The order, as we have seen, had been repressed by
Clement XIV in 1773. It is curious to note the name
of D'Azeglio in the roll of the first reception of novices
which took place at Rome. This was the brother of
Massimo D'Azeglio, the man who perhaps, more than
any contemporary statesman, contributed by his writings
and his extensive influence to create in Italy that
mental independence and civil liberty which Jesuitism
abhors, — that atmosphere of free thought which is fatal
to its existence. But it must be said that the Jesuit
Marquis was as imperfect a Jesuit as he was upright,
liberal, and patriotic as a man. Insisting upon the
N
178 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAR.
absolute obedience due from believers to the head of
the Church, he nevertheless boldly affirmed that when,
as sovereign of Rome, the Pope addressed his subjects,,
his decrees must be discussed at the tribunal of public
opinion- and be examined and judged by the law,,
which is the same for those who govern and those who
are governed, and the observance of which constitutes
the common justice of civilized nations 1 .
The re-establishment of all the monastic orders fol-
lowed, in quick succession, the revival of the order of
the Jesuits j and the Holy Office of the Inquisition was
resuscitated. The system of government by ecclesi-
astics was completely restored, and the spirit of freedom
and nationality in the Papal States, as throughout Italy,
was crushed.
The territories which constituted the States of the
Church were distributed into five great divisions ; — the
District of Rome, and the Four Legations. These five
divisions were subdivided into provinces ; the provinces
again into governments; and the governments into
communes. In the District of Rome were included,
besides Rome and the country immediately adjacent,
three provinces : — Viterbo, Civita Vecchia, and Orvieto.
The four Legations were 1 —
I. Romagna, comprising four provinces : — Bologna,
Ferrara, Forli, and Ravenna.
II. The Marches, comprising six provinces : — Urbino
and Pesaro, Macerata with Loreto, Ancona, Fermo,
Ascoli, and Camerino.
III. Umbria, comprising three provinces: — Perugia,
Spoleto, and Rieti.
1 See ' The Court of Rome and the Gospel,' by the Marquis
Roberto D'Azeglio.
X.] OF THE PAPACY, 1 79
IV. Marittima and Campagna, comprising three pro-
vinces: — Valletri, Frosinone, and Benevento 1 .
At the restoration of Pius VII the whole of these
districts were subject to his despotic sway, and were
declared to be the inalienable possessions of the Papal
See. The collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, and
the overthrow of Napoleon, relieved the Papacy of
that rivalry of the secular with the spiritual govern-
ment which, during a period of eight hundred years,
had occasioned so many vicissitudes to both. There
remained, however, the power of Austria, the most
abominable despotism in Europe, which, by the arrange-
ments of the treaty of Vienna, had acquired increased
influence in Italy. With the extension of the fatal
grasp of Austrian power the last vestige of Italian
policy disappeared from the States of the Church.
Upon Austria the Papacy now leaned for support.
Her troops were indispensable for the preservation of
order. Her intervention was sought in every province
in which the flame of liberty still flickered. The
clerical party came back to power, her avowed instru-
ments, pledged to maintain the maxims and the insti-
tutions of the Middle Ages, and thus to plunge Italy
into a state of thraldom.
I have said that Italian policy had disappeared. So
also had the policy of the Popedom. The great con-
tests for Papal prerogatives of which Christendom, with
bated breath, had been through long ages the interested
spectator, are forgotten. The imperious voice of Rome
in the council-chambers of foreign Courts is silent.
Bullied by Austria, the feeble Pontiff, who clutched
more convulsively at the shadow of power as the
1 ' The Church and the Churches,' by Dr. Dollinger.
N 1
l8o THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
substance eluded his grasp, avouches his subserviency.
How are the mighty fallen! Had Pius VII possessed
the daring to embrace the liberal opinions which he
was powerless to smother, he might now have assumed
the leadership of Italy under circumstances more favour-
able than ever Roman Pontiff enjoyed. We can only
speculate upon the later glory with which he might have
surrounded the tiara. But he failed to appreciate the
destinies of Italy ; and this failure precipitated the in-
glorious and rapid decline of that effete system, which,
though galvanized into new life by the will of the Allied
Sovereigns, was antagonistic to the interests of Italy and
of the world. c Praise,' said Lord Byron, c is the reflection
of virtue.' c Gratitude, 5 said Seneca, c is so easy a virtue,
that the sluggard may be grateful without labour.' But
the Papacy had established no claim to the praise or
the gratitude of Italy; and it languished, dishonoured
and unlamented.
Pius VII quailed before that cry for liberty in which,
favoured by the prevailing public opinion, he might
have firmly rooted the power and enhanced the glory
of the Roman See. The opportunity came, and went ;
and returned no more. Sycophancy to Austria was his
only policy. Doing her bidding, he sanctioned poli-
tical inquisitions and condemnations which deprived
him of his most worthy subjects. And, most fatal error
of all, he sanctioned the formation of a political sect
in support of his tottering power. Lending the name
of religion to an association, unnatural, irreligious,
and antinational, this act proclaimed the utter incom-
patibility of Papal rule with the true happiness and
prosperity of Italy.
Here we pause. The politico-religious sects which
X.] OF THE PAPACY. l8l
divided Italy, and especially the States of the Church,
at the commencement of this century, were the natural
outgrowth of the system of terrorism wherewith the
head of the Roman Church vainly sought to arrest the
rapid decay of his temporal power. For a short account
of some of these c sects," and their influence upon the
social and political life of Italy, the reader is referred
to the Appendix.
CHAPTER XL
With the settlement of the treaty of Vienna and
the restoration to the Roman See, under Pius VII, of
those territories of which Napoleon had despoiled the
Church, my allotted task is completed. It is my pur-
pose to narrate the vicissitudes of the Papacy under
the eventful Pontificate of Pius IX in a separate
work, which, if the exigencies of a busy life allow, I
hope to offer to the public at no very distant day. I
shall here confine myself to a brief narration of those
events of the present Pontificate, issuing in that large
restriction of the temporal power which seems to
herald its speedy abolition.
The Pontificates immediately preceding that of Pius
IX were amongst the most unpopular on record. The
power of ecclesiastics in temporal matters was infinitely
greater than it had ever been before ; the spy system
was increased • the press was completely gagged • feuds
between the rival sects of the Sanfedists and the Car-
bonari disturbed the peace of every town ; political
assassination was not accounted a crime, and the hands
of the adherents of both parties had been freely imbued
in blood : but the former sect, instituted in aid of the
government, and now openly allied with it, was tri-
umphant. Every man who was suspected of Car-
bonarism was dogged day and night by the police;
evidence against such was collected with secrecy, and,
THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY. 1 83
<on the testimony of irresponsible and unknown in-
formers, hundreds of peaceable and inoffensive citizens
were arrested and placed in irons. The prisons afforded
insufficient accommodation; convents, and even pri-
vate dwelling-houses, were rented by the government
to receive the accused. Abortive conspiracies con-
tributed to embitter and intensify the alienation be-
tween the Popes and their unwilling subjects.
Gregory XIV and his notorious minister, Bernetti,
turned a deaf ear to the expostulations and advice of
the Great Powers who, after the suppression of the in-
surrection by which his Pontificate was inaugurated,
and again after the ill-fated rising at Rimini, urged
upon the Pontifical government the necessity of con-
ceding the reforms which it had been the object of
these insurrections to secure. A chronic condition of
revolution was only held in check by the threatening
attitude of Austria and a large increase in the Swiss
mercenaries in the pay of Rome. But the disaffection
of the people was complete. Political assassinations
were of frequent occurrence, and, by a necessary con-
sequence, the governments became more persecuting,
espionage more prevalent, and the political sects more
bitter in their mutual antagonism. By means of
military commissions which imprisoned and shot
offenders at pleasure, and of the dreaded tribunal of
the Inquisition, the government contrived to suppress
revolt, whilst it imbued the whole population with the
hatred engendered by despair.
Such was the condition of things when, on the 16th
of June, 1846, Pius IX was raised to the Papal throne.
His election was a good omen for Italy. The great act
of grace by which he inaugurated his reign sent a thrill
184 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
of joy throughout and beyond his dominions, for the
amnesty restored liberty to one-tenth part of the active
population of the Papal States, who were either exiles
or languishing in the Papal dungeons.
The apparent earnestness and sincerity with which
Pius IX set about the reform of abuses won the hearts
of the most inveterate haters of the Papacy. He became
the idol of the populace, whose adulations were so ex-
travagant that wise men trembled for the result, and
the Pontiff himself counselled moderation. If noble
qualities of heart, alone, constituted a good sovereign,
undoubtedly the subjects of the newly-elected Pontiff
were singularly blessed in their ruler. But it soon be^
came apparent that Pius IX was bent upon converting
the infatuated devotion of his people into an instru-
ment for securing and extending the prerogatives of a
priestly government. For a while the Romans, dis-
appointed at the inactivity of the government, and the
weary postponement of the promised reforms, vented
their indignation upon the ministers of the Pope, and
refused to believe in the unwillingness of the popular
idol to confer that full freedom which they deemed con-
sistent with the Papal prerogatives.
The projected Council of State, in which the Romans
saw the germ of an elective and representative assembly,
was a reform of the Pontiff's own conception, and com-
manded the enthusiastic commendation of the people.
But when, at the first meeting of the Consulta, Pius IX
declared that his purpose in convening the members in
a permanent Council was to hear their opinions c when
necessary,' and that in relation to these he c should
consult his conscience and confer on them with his
ministers of the Sacred College ;' when he denounced
XI.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 85
as Utopian the views of those who saw in the Council
c the germ of an institution incompatible with the Pon-
tifical sovereignty/ the confidence of the multitude, and
of those especially who were adverse to constitutional
government, was rudely shaken. It was impossible
that what the Pope offered could content the great body
of the people. It was from Rome that the oft-repeated
lesson of history was again proclaimed to the purblind
despots who then, as now, refused to perceive that the
gift of a sham liberty to a people aroused by long pri-
vation to demand freedom, is a more dangerous expe-
dient than undisguised and unmitigated despotism.
The line of policy pursued by the Pope in the war
with Austria alienated the great body of the liberals,
who now saw in Pius IX only the Priest-King, jealous
of his prerogatives, and willing, for their retention, to
barter the freedom of Italy.
From this period the faith of the people in Pius IX,
as the renovator of Italy and the reconciler of estranged
factions and antagonistic institutions, declined, and
has never revived. A large section of the liberals,
distinguished by the appellation of Moderates, did in-
deed still profess their respect for the Pontiff, their
faith in the successful working of the constitution
which he had reluctantly conceded, and their preference
for the established order of things to the Republican
institutions advocated by the Giovine Italia. This party
was of great numerical strength, and embraced many
adherents of whose names Italy is still justly proud.
They adhered to the Pontiff with a tenacity which their
more ardent compatriots could neither comprehend nor
respect. But when, at last, the Pope stood revealed, a
traitor to Italian freedom, declaring that he would do
1 86 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
nothing for Italy which would injure the priesthood or
weaken the Popedom, when it became apparent that
the realization of the national aspirations had but one
obstacle, the Papacy, Pius found himself deserted by the
men who alone possessed sufficient influence with the
people to support a form of government which was
utterly detested. It is noteworthy that this severance
between the Pope and his subjects was coincident with
the advent to power of that remarkable man who, for
a period of twenty years, has been the true Pope of
Rome, Cardinal Antonelli, designated by his country-
men c il Cardinale Diavolo. 3
On the 1 6th of September, 1848, Pius summoned the
distinguished, but unfortunate, Count Rossi to form an
administration. To a Supreme Pontiff, as to ordinary
mortals, wisdom often comes too late. Rossi had great
claims upon the respect, the gratitude, and the con-
fidence of the Italians ; but it was now inevitable that
the man chosen by Pius IX for such an office should
immediately fall under popular suspicion. Rossi, more-
over, had been the representative of monarchical France
at the Papal Court, and the intimate friend of M.
Guizot. Such credentials rendered his name odious
to the Republicans. Political assassinations were now
of frequent occurrence at Rome, as elsewhere, and were
hardly accounted a crime. To the eternal disgrace of
the party of action, as they were termed, — composed of
the dregs of the volunteer regiments, whose insubordi-
nation in war had proved Austria's best ally, and who
had now returned to their dishonoured homes to cause
fresh misery in Rome, which became a hotbed of sedi-
tion and tumult, — Rossi fell before the stiletto of an
assassin. This foul murder was honoured with festi-
XI.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 87
vities and illuminations throughout and beyond the
limits of the Papal States.
Ten days later, the Pontiff, terrified by the threaten-
ing attitude of the multitude,, quitted Rome in disguise
in the dead of night; Antonelli and the Bavarian
Ambassador alone being privy to his purpose. Pius IX
found a safe and a hospitable asylum at Gaeta. In
this pleasant retreat, free from the anxieties and cares
of government, he acquired, it is said, that obesity of
person which has since characterized him, and was at
leisure to fulminate the anathemas of the Church
against the authors of c the sacrilegious and miserable
attempt' to establish a Republican government at Rome.
It was impossible that the Catholic powers of Europe
could acquiesce in the permanent establishment of a
Republican government in the capital of Roman
Catholic Christendom. Its duration was only a ques-
tion of time, dependent upon the settlement of the
rivalry amongst these powers for the honour of re-
instating the Pope upon his throne. Austria, anxious
to re-establish the relations broken up by the Italian
war, was jealous of the claims of France, as the eldest
son of the Church, to prop up by her bayonets the
tottering power hated by every Italian. Antonelli,
consistent through life in his hostility to France, in-
clined to accept the assistance of Austria, and stead-
fastly opposed the overtures of the Moderate Liberals in
Rome for a reconciliation with the Pope. In vain
they urged the possibility of his return to Rome
with dignity, and with proper securities against
the risk of having again to quit his capital. In vain
they pleaded that if the Pope believed it essential to
his dignity to return to Rome with 3_sJaojv_of force
(universitt!
1 88 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
that should strike terror into the hearts of the anar-
chists, he should seek that assistance from Italy rather
than from any foreign power, and that Piedmont was
ready, and even forward, to render such service to the
Holy See. The Holy Father, the Servant of Servants,
the Vicar of the Prince of Peace, replied that c nothing
but force would serve to restore effectually his authority,
spurned as it had been by a most audacious faction. 5
And Antonelli was resolved that that force should be,
if not Austrian, at least not Italian.
On the 7th of February, 1849, a consistory of
cardinals was held at Gaeta, when it was resolved
that Piedmont should be struck out of the list of Ca-
tholic powers whose aid would prove acceptable to the
Pope, and that the armed assistance of Austria, France,
Spain, and Naples should be immediately solicited.
The Republicans of France were not entirely devoid
of sympathy with their brethren in Rome. They
desired that the Pope's restoration should at least be
preceded by a manifesto, promising moderation, if not
the restoration of a liberal government. Hence arose
prolonged and embarrassing negotiations at Gaeta.
But the great aim of Louis Napoleon in sanctioning an
interference in the affairs of Rome, was to secure the
instrumentality of France in the restoration of the
Pope, and thus to prevent the recovery by Austria of
her former prestige in Italy; and the latter power,
however reluctant to yield her hold upon Italy, was
fully occupied with Venice and Hungary.
Whilst the Court at Gaeta was wearied with
protracted negotiations and diplomatic wranglings,
the selfish and unpatriotic squabblings of the vain-
glorious sectarians who polluted the very air of the
XI.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 89
Tuscan cities unexpectedly solved the difficulty, and
brought upon Italy the double bane of riveting the hold
of Austria upon Tuscany, and opening the way for the
French occupation of the Papal States. Leghorn had
become the refuge of all the Tuscan adherents of the
Republic whose love of tumult inspired them to resist
the restoration of the constitutional ruler upon which
the state was determined. The wild excesses of these
demagogues were more serviceable to the despotic
governments than a powerful army. Louis Napoleon,
anxious to get into Italy without the danger of lighting
up a European war, was now enabled to accomplish his
purpose. Tuscany was surrendered to Austria, whilst
that power in return allowed France the boast of that
share in the Catholic crusade upon which Louis
Napoleon had set his heart. The consent of Anto-
nelli was reluctantly accorded ; and the ground of his
objection is indicated in an anecdote which appears
worthy of credence. When intelligence of the sail of
the French expedition reached Gaeta, Pius IX, who
was at dinner with his royal hosts and some cardinals,
filled his glass c to the safe arrival of our friends/ c Say
rather,' interposed Antonelli, c of our masters!'
On the 24th of April information arrived in Rome
that the French government had despatched an arma-
ment to the Roman States. On the following day
General Oudinot disembarked his troops at Civita
Vecchia. French intervention, long threatened, had
now become an accomplished fact, and the Italians
soon learned the true objects of that expedition which
M. Drouyn de Lhuys had affirmed, and Oudinot had
reiterated, was projected in the interests of Italy, to
facilitate a reconciliation with the Pontiff, the only
190 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
hope to the Romans of avoiding an unconditional
restoration.
I cannot enter here into the story of the two months'
siege of Rome, which I hope to narrate in detail
hereafter. On the night of the 29th of June, 1849,
the French troops entered Rome, and ten months later,
April the 12th, 1850, Pius IX re-entered his capital,
escorted by a body of French troops under Baraguay
d'Hilliers and a squadron of Neapolitan cavalry.
Flowers were strewn in the pathway of the Pontiff;
banners waved over his head ; but the accents of
triumph were uttered in a foreign tongue. The' city
wore a look of sullen discontent, but the military at
least performed their allotted part with an enthusiasm
which was well calculated to inspire dismay in the
breasts of Republican plotters. An attempt to fire
the Quirinal on the very night of the Pope's entry
would suggest to any mind, but that of Mr. Cochrane,
that the ecclesiastical government which was thrust
upon the Romans at the point of French bayonets was
as hateful to the people as when, eighteen months
earlier, they had celebrated with wild enthusiasm the
flight of the Pontiff whose rule was abhorred, and whose
possession of a temporal principality they believed to
be hurtful to the interests of religion, and fatal to the
freedom and prosperity of Italy.
With the process by which the restoration of the
Pontifical government was established we are not here
concerned. France had recovered her lost hold upon
Italy, her supremacy at Rome. The Popedom had
become that which the first Napoleon had designed to
make it — an institution, not indeed French and Im-
perial, but dependent for its existence upon the support
XI.] OF THE PAPACY. 191
of French bayonets • the least intimation or rumour of
the withdrawal of which sends at once dismay into the
inmost recesses of the Vatican, and a thrill of exultant
hope through Italy.
The history of the transformation of the little State
of Piedmont into the Kingdom of Italy is too familiar
to require even a passing notice. It is well known
that the people of Central and Southern Italy had no
special love for Piedmont, but the aspiration after
Italian unity was universal, and overbore every ob-
stacle which local jealousies interposed. The Emperor
Napoleon's scheme for a kingdom of Central Italy,
though appealing to the municipal jealousies which
have so long proved the source of weakness and divi-
sion to Italy, could not withstand the universal passion.
However bitter the disappointment throughout Italy at
the supposed treachery of Napoleon in concluding the
inglorious peace of Villa Franca, Italians did not forget
the appeal made to their patriotism in the Emperor's
proclamation when the glorious victory of Magenta
had rescued Milan from the Croats. That proclama-
tion concluded with these words : c Animated by the
sacred fire of patriotism, be soldiers to-day, that to-
morrow you may become the free citizens of a great
country !' The appeal was made to the Italian troops,
but it awakened a responsive echo in every Italian
heart. The transfer of the crown of Lombardy from
Francis Joseph to Victor Emanuel ; the union of Tus-
cany with Piedmont, after the second flight of her
Grand Duke ; the brilliant campaign of Garibaldi in
Sicily j the complete success of the revolution, under-
taken and accomplished against the will of the King
and of Cavour j the yet more brilliant success of the
192 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
quondam-Republican general's attack upon Naples in
the teeth of the remonstrances of Louis Napoleon and
of his sovereign, whom he desired to make the un-
fettered monarch of a free and united Italy, only in-
tensified the longing of the populations of the States of
the Church to become participants in the common joy
of Italy.
Louis Napoleon was strongly opposed to the advance
of the Piedmontese army beyond the Papal frontiers.
His opposition, however, gave way when it became
apparent that the invincible Garibaldi, with his volun-
teers, would respect no Royal, much less Imperial
decrees ; that the question of the invasion of the Papal
States was already decided, and that which alone ad-
mitted of solution was, whether the invasion should be
that of Napoleon's ally or of the army of the revolu-
tion. c The invasion of the Papal States by a Sardinian
army,' says Mr. Dicey 1 , c was the master-stroke of
Cavour's political genius. It had become imperatively
necessary to stop Garibaldi's progress to restore Sar-
dinia to the position of leader of the Italian revolution.'
The advance of Garibaldi to Rome would have added
greatly to the embarrassments of Napoleon's position,
and not less so to that of Victor Emanuel. c We are
forced to act,' Cavour wrote to Baron Talleyrand on the
10th of September, i860. c If we are not at Cattolica
before Garibaldi we are lost ; the revolution will invade
Central Italy.' On the 29th of September Ancona was
captured; and, the heart of Italy united to the new
Italian kingdom, Garibaldi, addressing the population
of Naples from the balcony of the palace, could say,
c All the provinces enslaved by the Pope are free ! '
1 * Life of Cavour.'
XI.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 93
There is something touching in the noble patriotism
which — unhurt by the opprobrium cast upon him by
diplomatists, and without a trace of jealousy that the
honour of effecting this liberation had been snatched
from his hands — cordially rejoiced in the issue, careless
as to who were the instruments of its accomplishment,
and had only words of congratulation and eulogy for his
c brethren of the Italian army. 5 c The valiant soldiers
of the North/ he said, c have passed the frontier and
are on Neapolitan soil. Soon we shall have the good
fortune to clasp their victorious hands/
The stereotyped c non possumus ' of Pius IX could not
avert that catastrophe of the Papacy which made Italy
radiant with joy — the formal annexation of the States
of the Church to the Italian kingdom. Italy was one,
and the heart of the nation sent up a triumphant shout
of gratitude to heaven for the deliverance it had
granted them. It was impossible but that the fond
dreams of an exultant and impulsive people should lead
them to expect, and even demand, the withdrawal of
the French troops from Rome, as the last and necessary
act in the drama of liberation. The calamity of As-
promonte was necessary to dissipate these illusions.
Pius IX has never recognized the alienation of those
States which now constitute a part of the kingdom of
Italy, and still pleases himself with an annual anathema
of the c Sub- Alpine king/ But the obsolete and per-
functory non possumus of an Italian priest is powerless to
arrest the progress of events — the march of Italian
unity. The September Convention must prove equally
futile. Without Rome, unity is for ever menaced,
liberty jeopardized, and constitutional government pro-
claimed incapable for the task of working out Italy's
o
194 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
regeneration. c To the common Italian mind/ said
Cavour, c the idea of Italy was inseparable from that of
Rome. An Italy of which Rome was not the capital
would be no Italy for the Italian people. For the exist-
ence^ then, of a national Italian people, the possession of
Rome as a capital was an essential condition'
But are the people of Rome hostile to the govern-
ment of the Pope ? Are they for Italy, or for Pius IX ?
It is the question of questions for Italy. That to a
certain extent the benign and good-natured Pontiff has
recovered the popularity which he enjoyed before his
great act of treason to Italy, is no doubt true. But
what does this imply? Most assuredly not the ac-
quiescence of the Romans in the perpetuation of Italy's
humiliation, or in the priestly government to which
they are subject. The bourgeoisie are benefited by the
maintenance of the Papal court at Rome \ and the
appearance of the Pope in public is attended with
acclamation ; but his government is entirely wanting
in all the attributes of popularity. A feeling of in-
security pervades all classes. Full well does a Roman
know that a careless word may jeopardize his liberty,
and that the overcrowded state of the prisons affords
him no hope of an unwillingly accorded immunity.
The characteristic reply of Antonelli to the official who
1 Such, at least, is the prevailing opinion. But it is impossible
to ignore the fact that immense relief would be afforded to the
citizens by such a diminution of the number of the priesthood as
would inevitably result from the acquisition of Rome as the
capital of Italy. In a population of 170,000, no less than 10,000
human drones are to-day supported out of the common funds.
* Every sixteen lay citizens— men, women, and children — support
out of their labour a priest between them.' — Dicey 's ' Rome in
i860.'
XI.] OF THE PAPACY. 1 95
represented to him this difficulty, — c Well, we have the
catacombs left,' — has dissipated any hope based upon
such a foundation. It is essential to the liberty and
even to the life of a Roman to be on good terms with
his cure, who is imbued with the spirit of priestly pre-
tension to hold absolute sway over the intellect and
life of every individual. The rigours of an ecclesiasti-
cal government are reserved for the intelligent — for the
man who reads and thinks, and deports himself as a
man; especially for such as presume to allow their
speculations to touch the sacred domain of politics.
But politics is the absorbing passion of the Roman. He
thus finds himself at war with a government between
which and himself there can be no sympathy.
A temporal government in the hands of ecclesiastics
cannot be liberal, while its despotism is so petty as to
expose it to contempt, so exacting as to constitute it
an object of hatred and fear. The Pontifical sovereignty
is an antiquarian relic of no mean interest, and in the
ages that are gone, and with which have perished
systems as efFete as itself, it has played a conspicuous
and important part in the drama of the world's history.
Its vitality has survived its use. Its continued ex-
istence is only pernicious and, its chief advocates being
witness, is incompatible with liberty and with Italian
unity. At the accession of Pius IX the Pontifical
sovereignty was tolerated by a people who had not
then been aroused by the stirring events of his Ponti-
ficate, and who, in their degradation, preferred the
profits accruing to the guardians of a museum to the
noble but grave responsibilities of a free nation. Now
all Italy re-echoes the words which Napoleon haughtily
addressed to Pius VII, c The ancient Romans conquered
o %
lg6 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
the world by their arms ; the Popes have taken advan-
tage of the ignorance of nations, and Rome still holds
the sceptre and the censer. But formerly there was,
at any rate, political talent and intelligence, but now
there is nothing but ignorance, inactivity, and folly.'
The twenty years' struggle which the Papacy, as a
temporal power, has waged with revolution, has pro-
claimed its defeat, and its inability under a mild and
benevolent ruler to produce those fruits of love and
obedience, of contentedness and prosperity, which it
is the incumbent duty of a government to secure to
the governed. It has created only mistrust and bitter-
ness, and has proved that c neither can cannon destroy
ideas, nor police and spies eradicate opinions V Every
tittle of historical evidence bearing on the subject
proves the temporal dominion of the Papacy destructive
of its spiritual interests. Those who affirm that the
maintenance of the temporal sovereignty is essential
to the dignity of the Holy See, and to the interests
of Catholic Europe, would do well to recall the words
of Italy's greatest bard —
'Say thou henceforward that the Church of Rome,
Confounding in itself two governments,
Falls in the mire and soils itself and burden 2 .'
To affirm the essential union of the two powers it is
necessary to ignore the fact that for seven centuries
of the Papacy the temporal power, however coveted,
eluded the grasp of the Pontiffs, and that until the
close of the twelfth century, when Innocent III ob-
tained from the Emperor a formal recognition of his
1 Hemans' ' Catholic Italy.'
2 Dante, ' Purgatorio,' xvi. 127-9.
XI.] OF THE PAPACY. 197
claims to territorial sovereignty, the Popes could not
be said to reign. They were the nominees of the
German Emperors, who levied tribute to the Imperial
exchequer, and whose effigy was stamped upon the
Roman coinage. Nor when the Popes seized upon
the Imperial jurisdiction was it from any alleged con-
cern for the interests of Christendom, but simply the
gratification of a long-cherished political ambition,
which the disorders of the age and the weakness of
the Imperial power placed within their reach. The
interests of Catholic Europe are now much what they
were in the twelfth century, and the attempt to justify
the union of the two powers on any such theory is
one of those curiosities of ignorance which provoke a
smile.
CHAPTER XII.
The French occupation of Rome has but confirmed
the evils of a government which was, and will ever
remain, powerless to prolong its own existence. It
has at the same time thrown vexatious hindrances in
the way of the consolidation of that union after which
Italy aspires, and has robbed France of the gratitude
of a powerful and impassioned nation — her natural
ally — numbering 24,000,000 souls. Italy is charged
with ingratitude towards the man who made her a
nation • but granting that French arms won Lombardy
from the Croats, Italians may well disavow all pretence
of gratitude for the attempted subversion of their
country's destiny, in order to the fulfilment of the
Napoleonic dream of an Italian federation, so arranged
as to convert the Holy See into a French bishopric.
In spite of Papal denunciations and French rebuffs,
the cry, Italia una ! still rises above the din of diplo-
matic wrangling ; and hatred of the French ruler who,
unthanked by the Pope and execrated by the nation,
persists in propping up the tottering power of Rome,
is the universal sentiment of Italy.
France still defends against all comers the temporal
power of the Roman Pontiff, which she re-established ;
but the day that her protection is withdrawn the Pon-
tifical sovereignty will expire. That this will favour
the spiritual interests of the Papacy, it is impossible
THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY, 1 99
to question. It was when the Roman Church had her
spiritual interests alone to look after, that she placed
those interests always in the ascendant, and established
her supremacy throughout Europe. As the things of
earth yield their present precedence over the things
of heaven, the spiritual power of the Papacy, now
shaken to its foundations, will doubtless acquire new
vitality. The religion of Rome, now tolerated in the
land of its birth, and of its most fanatical ascendency,
will recover the hold which it is losing upon the hearts
and consciences of men ; and the Papacy may again
enjoy that dignified calm which centuries of vain am-
bition, and of undignified effort to maintain a false
position by the basest subserviency to France or Austria,
have forfeited. Rome must learn the lesson, that if
the temporal prerogatives to which she so tenaciously
clings cannot make, they most assuredly can destroy
a Church ; whilst that which alone can truly establish
or render it durable against all the attacks of time, or
of earthly foes, is the Truth which that Church con-
tains, its fidelity to that truth, and its zeal in propa-
gating it in all its native purity.
All history testifies to the fact that the temporal
sovereignty of the Pope makes him in reality the most
dependent man in Europe. Out of limited resources
he is compelled to maintain the dignity of a sovereignty
which the world is expected to recognize as the most
august in the universe ! He is thus constrained to fall
back upon foreign armaments for the police of his terri-
tory, and at once to insult the national sentiment, and
to place the spiritual no less than the temporal power
which he wields, in the hands of a foreign potentate.
Meanwhile, the increase of the Papal troops, the
200 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
cannon which are being accumulated in Rome, and
the fortifications that are constructed out of all pro-
portion to financial means and to political necessities,
and in direct contravention of the September Conven-
tion, indicate an intention on the part of the Pontifical
government of making due preparation for contin-
gencies that are foreseen, but with which the power
which we instinctively feel to be the most glaring
political solecism of the nineteenth century, will as-
suredly be powerless to cope. Coincident with this we
have recently witnessed the assembling of a so-called
(Ecumenical Council, convened to define the dogma of
the personal infallibility of the Roman Pontiff; in other
words, to declare him the privileged representative of
the Divine will, of a nature superior to our common
humanity, possessed of truth absolute and complete.
The revival of these inordinate pretensions of the
Papacy will but bring new conviction to the minds
of Italians of the incompatibility of the temporal and
spiritual powers, and of the tremendous peril to Italy
involved in the recognition of their union in the person
of a priest enthroned in the Vatican, — the puppet of
a foreign and, of necessity, hostile power.
Sooner or later this fanatical and tenacious grasp of
the temporal power must condemn the Papacy to the
humiliations and calamities which it suffered at the
hands of the first Napoleon. It renders it at once
indispensable and impossible that the supreme head of
the Church should observe strict neutrality in those
political complications, into which he cannot throw
himself without imperilling his spiritual authority, and
abandoning the claim to a universal charity, covering
with its wings the whole of Christendom. But as
XII.] OF THE PAPACY. SO I
a temporal prince the Roman Pontiff cannot, even with
his present shred of territory, escape the contingencies
and responsibilities of his position. As in a.d. 1806, it
will again prove the vulnerable point which will en-
danger the very existence of the Papacy in its ancient
seat. Napoleon, always ready to adapt his arguments
to the exigencies of his political ambition, thus aptly
expressed the radical defect of the Papal pretensions : —
c Jesus Christ, born of the blood of David, never would
be king. For centuries the founders of our religion
were never kings. There is not a single doctor or
faithful historian who has not admitted that temporal
power has been fatal to religion. The Pope, as head
of Christianity, ought to have an equal influence all
over the world; nevertheless this influence ought to
vary according to the political circumstances of States.
No personal interest ought to impede spiritual affairs ;
and yet how could it be otherwise when the interests
of the Pope as sovereign and those of the Pope as
pontiff are contrary ? a My kingdom is not of this world"
said Jesus Christ, and by this doctrine he for ever con-
demned the mixture of religious interests with worldly
affections.' The Emperor's reasoning was admirable !
But it was the possession of a temporal sovereignty
which presently placed Pius VII in the power of Napo-
leon, who was not slow to discover new arguments,
sufficiently convincing for his purpose, showing the
necessity for its being respected.
That Pius IX and his ministers will not read the
plain lessons of history furnishes only a new illustration
of the familiar proverb, c gj/em Deus vult perdere prius
dementat? The famous and emphatic c never' of M.
Rouher may but veil the intentions of his Imperial
UNIVERSITY
202 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
master. c Italy shall never go to Rome;' the Gari-
baldians c never ' insult the throne of the holy Father.
So said the now discredited minister of Napoleon III.
The Pope, then, is deposed, and France rules in Rome
as Austria ruled in '48. It is not the Italians who
depose him of the authority which rests exclusively upon
French chassepots. The Italians wish but to regulate,
in conformity with the interests of a great nation and
of advancing civilization, a deposition already accom-
plished j and maintain with reason that the Pope can
never be more subject to foreign pressure than he is at
this moment 1 . Public indignation is excited in France
at the clerical policy of Rome, and however determined
the Emperor or his quondam minister may be that the
Revolution shall not triumph, the former at least,
whilst yielding to popular pressure at home, is not
likely permanently to place himself in conflict with all
that is intelligent and living in Europe, all that is
earnest and true in France, by constituting her the
guard and bailiff of a Pope who answers his advice
with haughty surprise, and maintains towards him an
attitude of studied neglect.
It may be that the Emperor is willing to let the
court of Rome so compromise itself towards Italy, and
discredit itself before Europe, as to hasten the termina-
tion of an intervention which has been the cause of
much embarrassment, and that the pretentious assump-
tions and fanatical decrees of the so-called (Ecumenical
Council may herald the fulfilment, in regard to the
Papacy itself, of the prediction of Holy Writ, c A stone
was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon
1 See Taine's ' Italy — Naples and Rome.'
XII.] OF THE PAPACY. 203
his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to
pieces/
But it must be acknowledged that the signs of the
times point in quite another direction. Every attempt
which has been made to reconcile Rome with modern
progress, whether in religion, in politics, or in science,
has encountered the uncompromising hostility of the
pretentious theocracy which recognizes no note of
harmony, no point of agreement, between modern
civilization and historic Christianity. The following
travesty of Liberalism appeared in a recent issue of the
Civilta Cattolica^ which the Pope, by special decree, has
appointed official journal to the Church: — c As the
Church teaches that God created man, the Liberals
will not believe it, and maintain they descend from
apes. They have chosen that animal for their pro-
genitor because Satan, the first conspirator, the first
revolutionary, and the first Liberal that ever lived, was
the ape of the Deity. Further, they have observed that,
as the ape is notoriously impudent, malicious, and
above all prone to theft, he possesses the same qualities
as themselves. The Liberals are the apes of the Church
and of God, and follow in that the example of the
devil, their lord and master. From this come their
hatred and animosity to the Church. Does the Pope
summon an (Ecumenical Council at Rome? The
Liberals propose at Naples an assembly of free-thinkers.
In short, Liberalism is only a grand piece of aping/
Whilst Liberalism is thus traduced, science is pro-
scribed as the insurrection of godless intellect against
the Bible, and constitutional government as the last
lure of Satan whereby nations are tempted to their
ruin. And so great, even in its senility, is the in-
204 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
fluence of the Papal See in the Roman Catholic world,
that it appears strengthened rather than jeopardized by its
intolerant presumption, never more dangerous than
when the central power is weak, nor more aggressive
than when it has lost all strength but in the credulity
and infatuation of zealots. To a dreamy imagination,
whether that of a marquis, a curate, or a sentimental
belle, the mysticism of Rome offers a natural aliment ;
her intolerance and presumption are but evidences of
her Divine authority. It is hardly surprising that, even
in Protestant communities, dreamy and restless spirits
occasionally c take refuge from their own scepticism in
the bosom of a Church which pretends to infallibility,
and, after questioning the existence of a Deity, bring
themselves to worship a wafer V This principle of
authority once admitted, the power of the Church can
be jeopardized by no presumptions, however intolerant
and absurd. Hence we see the finest intellects, the
learned and most truly honest divines of the Roman
Church, however lively and often painful the interest
with which they receive every novelty coming from
Rome, take meekly the rebuke which their liberal
tendencies draw down, and with humble submission
to Mother Church, continue to throw their energies
into the Papal cause. A signal illustration of this
phenomenon is furnished in the painful position of an
English divine — one of the brightest ornaments of the
Roman Catholic Church in these or any other realms.
Dr. Newman, a theologian as conspicuous for refine-
ment of taste as for genius and learning, reluctantly
avows that he deprecates the affirmation of Papal
Infallibility and the measures by which some persons
1 Lord Macaulay.
XII.] OF THE PAPACY. 205
are advocating its definition. But, however bitter the
struggle, Dr. Newman will humble himself, and pros-
trate his reason before the one authority which cannot
err. The Tablet comes to his rescue with the casuistry,
•in which it is so great an adept, but which his refined
taste and honest mind will assuredly spurn, and suggests
that the learned Doctor's disapproval of some persons,
and some measures, does not include any mode of solicit-
ing the definition ! Simultaneously we have the follow-
ing avowal of the Editor of the Uterarische Handtuetser
of Munster, an influential literary organ of Germany.
A formal profession of belief in the dogma of Infalli-
bility is followed by a distinct enunciation of the
inopportuneness of the definition. c But,' he adds, c if the
Council should proclaim the dogma, I shall renounce
immediately, and regret as an error ^ my opinion of its
inopportuneness.'
The Church of Rome, never more haughty than
when in the lowest depths of humiliation, grows stronger
and wins heartier homage, as its head is most bent on
crossing the currents of thought and of life which flow
most strongly. The only alternative of the malcontents
is to start a schism, with the moral certainty that they
would not be followed or supported by their flocks who,
whether in France, Italy, Germany, or Spain, know
little, and care less, as to what may or must be
believed, and, trained in the school of Romanism,
regard religion in the light of an undertaking to ac-
cept whatever may be prescribed by the head of the
Church. c Catholicism,' it has been said, c is less a
doctrine than a resolution, or, if you like the term
better, an attempt to believe; the Catholics of the
present age are much less followers of a fixed creed
206 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
than believers in a general sense, and you find many of
them rather candidly inclined to think that the more
they succeed in believing, the more Catholic they are.'
The fact is incontrovertible that the Papacy, under
Pius IX, has recovered the hold upon Catholic Chris-
tendom which, at his accession, was purely theoretical ;
and that no Pope has for three centuries been regarded
with an affection and interest so great as the present
Pontiff commands. It is foreign to my purpose to
attempt, in this place, any exhaustive enquiry into
the reasons which may be held to explain this pheno-
mena. I can but glance at some of those which lie
upon the surface. It has been said that we are witness-
ing the last leap of the flickering flame before it dies.
It may be so ; at least it is not wise for the impartial
observer to discard an opinion so strongly corroborated
by facts; and pre-eminently by the sensational expe-
dient by which the holy Father now seeks to galvanize
an effete system into spasmodic and artificial life —
simply because it has been propounded in former crises
which the Papacy has survived. Passing by the fact
that modern Romanism presents a charming quietism,
the fit asylum for the morbid, and the natural refuge
of a shallow sentimentalism, we readily detect, in more
transient causes, one element at least of the present
power of the Papacy. As the sufferings of Pius VII
aroused the sympathy of entire Christendom, and caused
Napoleon to tremble for its effects, so the sufferings of
Pius IX, and the loss of his temporal dominions, have
awakened an almost universal sympathy and respect,
which his personal character has enhanced ; thus con-
solidating the influence of the Papacy in a far larger
degree than can be effected by the semi-comic spectacle
of an GEcumenical Council.
XII.] OF THE PAPACY. 20J
In the sympathy thus extended to the Pontiff,
'The tears most sacred, shed for others' pain,'
it is forgotten that the cry for freedom, so long vainly
uttered by three million oppressed Italians — raised to
the pitch of frenzy as they witnessed the noble effects
upon their compatriots in Piedmont of that freedom
which they coveted for themselves, and at length changed
into a shout of triumph — was essentially a cry of justice.
Pius IX may hurl his annual anathemas at the head of
the 'King of Sardinia,' but in no sense can Victor
Emanuel be called the spoliator of the Church. His
part has been but to assist these down-trodden and
unwilling subjects of the Pope to reclaim the rights of
which the Church had despoiled them, and which, with
purblind fanaticism, it still seeks to reassume.
Of the many illustrations which crowd upon us of
the growing popularity of the Pontiff, perhaps the most
singular is the proposal, of which we have recently
heard, to confer upon him the title of c Great;' a dis-
tinction shared by two only of his 256 predecessors.
The past year, with a jubilee at its commencement,
and an QEcumenical Council at its close — the most
memorable in his long Pontificate — has witnessed the
growth of Papal assumptions in a degree which severely
tests the toleration of Christendom. Excited by the
homage offered to him, the condition of mind into
which the Pope has worked himself differs only from
the mental state of visionaries like St. Francis, in that
the language which expresses it is that of a later era ;
and although the title c Pius the Great' can hardly be
regarded as due to his acts, his courage, or even his
virtues, the present occasion will probably be seized
for surrounding his name and his Pontificate with
208 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
a lustre which may dazzle the vulgar, but to which the
nineteeth century will assuredly not recognize his claim.
The pretensions of the Papacy have ever been the
source of its decadence ; and so, in the interests of
religion and of freedom, we must hope that it will be
again. Pius IX has already successfully accomplished
the unprecedented attempt to enunciate a new dogma
on his own unaided responsibility, after having simply
consulted the dispersed members of the Episcopacy. It
is not then surprising that he has proceeded to convene
a General Council, charged, if semi-official reports speak
truly, to define dogmas the acceptance of which would
plunge Europe into the darkness of the fourteenth cen-
tury, and cause the Papacy itself to be execrated by
every Catholic power.
Pius IX believes that he has a mission to replace the
obnoxious principles of the Revolution of a.d. 1789 by
those of the Syllabus which simply proclaim a pure
theocracy antagonistic to, and destructive of, the civil
and municipal law, and would bind Europe once more to
accept the absolute rule of the priest. The Council is
expected to pronounce the Syllabus canon law. c The
guidance of the Holy See,' Pius IX tells us, c is the
brief and compendious rule whereby we may persevere
in the profession of Catholic truth.' In his Encyclical
addressed, on the occasion of his exaltation to the Pon-
tifical throne, to the bishops of the universal Church
(November q, a.d. 1846), we read, c Hence it clearly
appears how great is the error of those who, abusing
reason, and dealing with the oracles of God as if they
were a human work, rashly presume to explain and in-
terpret them according to their own judgment, although
God himself has established a living authority to declare
XII.] OF THE PAPACY. 209
the true and legitimate sense of His Divine revelation,
to confirm it securely, and to terminate by an Infallible
judgment all controversies of faith and morals ; lest the
faithful, being circumvented by error, should be carried
away by every wind of doctrine through the wickedness
of men. Which living and infallible authority exists
only in that Church which was built by Christ our Lord
upon Peter, the Head of the whole Church, the Prince
and Pastor whose faith he promised should never fail,
having always, without interruption, its Pontiffs de-
riving their origin from the same Peter, placed in his
chair, and both heirs and defenders of the same doc-
trine, dignity, honour, and power. And since where
Peter is, there is the Church, and Peter speaks by the
Roman Pontiff. ... it is evident that the Divine
oracles are to be received in that sense which this
Roman Chair of the Blessed Peter held and holds. . . .
We, therefore, who, by the inscrutable judgment of
God, are placed in this chair of truth earnestly exhort,
Sec'
In the Encyclical to the Bishops of Italy, on the 8th
December, a.d. 1849, Pius IX thus expresses himself: —
c Let your faithful people remember that here, in this
See,'lives and presides in his successor, Peter the Prince
of the Apostles, whose dignity is not removed even
from one who is unworthy to be his heir. Let them
call to mind that Christ our Lord established the
foundation of his Church In this Invincible chair of Peter.
. . . Hence it follows that it is by communion with,
and obedience to the Roman Pontiff, that the nations
have a brief and compendious rule by which they may per-
severe In the profession of Catholic truth?
Nothing can be clearer than the teaching conveyed
P
210 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
in these words. The only feeling of surprise which
they awaken is, that the Pope, who thus claimed by an-
ticipation all the prerogatives which the Council in its
wildest flights could confer upon him, , should have
thought it worth while to encounter the risks insepar-
able from its convocation.
c It might have been supposed,' says Dean Milman,
c that nowhere would Christianity appear in such com-
manding majesty as in a Council, which should gather
from all quarters of the world the most eminent prelates
and the most distinguished clergy- that a lofty and
serene piety would govern all their proceedings ; pro-
found and dispassionate investigation exhaust every
subject; human passions and interests would stand re-
buked before that awful assembly - y the sense of their
own dignity as well as the desire of impressing their
brethren with the solemnity and earnestness of their
belief, would at least exclude all intemperance of manner
and language. Mutual awe and mutual emulation in
Christian excellence would repress, even in the most
violent, all un-Christian violence ; their conclusions
would be grave, mature, harmonious, for, if not har-
monious, the confuted party would hardly acquiesce in
the wisdom of their decrees; even their condemnations
would be so tempered with charity as gradually to win
back the wanderer to the still open fold, rather than
drive him, prescribed and branded, into inflexible and
irreconcilable schism. History shows the melancholy
reverse. Nowhere is Christianity less attractive, and,
if we look to the ordinary tone and character of the
proceedings, less authoritative, than in the Councils of
the Church. It is in general a fierce collision of two
rival factions, neither of which will yield, each of
XII.] OF THE PAPACY. 211
which is solemnly pledged against conviction. In-
trigue, injustice, violence, decisions on authority of a
turbulent majority, decisions by wild acclamations
rather than after sober inquiry, detract from the rever-
ence and impugn the judgments, at least of the later
Councils. The close is almost invariably a terrible
anathema, in which it is impossible not to discern the
tones of human hatred, of arrogant triumph, of rejoicing
at the damnation imprecated against the humiliated
adversary V
1 ' History of Latin Christianity.'
P 2
CHAPTER XIII.
None but the man who, twenty-four years ago,
flattered himself that he could organize St. Peter's
Patrimony into a Constitutional State, could now have
persuaded himself that it was for the Pope's interest to
summon an (Ecumenical Council. This bold act of
the Pontiff suggests a train of reflections upon some of
which a few remarks may be appropriate. I select the
following : — The constitution of the so-called (Ecu-
menical Council. The position, in relation to it,
assumed by the lay governments of Europe. The prob-
able nature and bearings of some of its decisions.
I dismiss, as improbable, the vague rumours with
which the special correspondents oP certain newspapers
have made us familiar, to the effect that the perplexing
questions which are pressing for solution will necessi-
tate an early and indefinite prorogation, and that the
last actual session of the Council will be held before
Easter. History furnishes no precedent for a course so
completely at variance with the traditions of the Roman
See, which never forgoes a claim she has once put for-
ward ; whilst the ambition of the Pontiff, the unyield-
ing obstinacy of c that insolent and aggressive faction,'
who have elicited the protest of Dr. Newman against
the definition of the Dogma of Infallibility, and the
actual majority of the Fathers, certain now, but at the
least doubtful in the future, who may be relied upon for
obsequious obedience, are guarantees that whilst so
THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY. 21 3
many good things are upon the anvil, Pius IX will
strike hard and long.
The question of the constitution of the Council is
one of considerable interest and importance. By an
(Ecumenical Council we understand a Council repre-
senting the whole of Christendom, and preserving, in
harmony with the law of progress, the evidences of
organic continuity with the great Councils of antiquity
to which by common consent the title of c (Ecumenical'
has been accorded. The first thing which strikes us is
the revolutionary character of a Council representing
neither the governments of Roman Catholic countries,
nor the various branches of the Christian Church
separated from the communion of Rome, — devoid,
therefore, of all organic continuity with those which
have preceded it. With that utter disregard of histo-
rical facts which has marked every encroachment of
the Church of Rome, it is now contended by high
dignitaries of the Church that c the Pope alone enjoys the
right of convening an (Ecumenical Council.' None
know better than the legislators of the Roman Church the
value of a bold assertion in entangling the understand-
ing and perverting the judgment. Presuming then to
discard Archbishop Manning's dictum, that c to appeal to
history is both a heresy and a treason,' let us bring this
unblushing assertion of the Bishop of Orleans to the
test of historical fact, — remembering that it is the
pivot upon which hangs the fulfilment of those condi-
tions which constitute the validity of the Council now
assembled at Rome.
The first Councils of which we have any authentic
record were brought together for the settlement of the
paschal question, at the close of the second century.
214 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
But neither these, nor the more systematic Provincial
Synods of the third century, have any claim to (Ecu-
menicity. No one has claimed for them any inherent
authority binding upon the conscience of Christendom.
Their convocation was regarded in the light of expedi-
ency rather than as a matter of right and duty 1 .
The fourth century witnessed the rise of General
Councils and the firm establishment of the principle
that their decisions were infallible. These Councils
tuere convened and presided over by tke Emperor (without
any consultation with the Bishop of Rome) ; or, in his
absence, by a Commissioner or Patriarch chosen by
himself irrespective of rank ; nor was any Bishop of
Rome selected for this distinction prior to the Council
of Chalcedon, a.d. 451. From this period one hundred
and thirty-six years elapsed before any Roman Bishop
presumed to claim the privilege in right of his See. It
is evident that no such priority amongst the Apostles
was claimed by St. Peter, inasmuch as not he, but
St. James, presided at the Council in Jerusalem. The
Councils were attended by Imperial Commissioners
whose duty it was to maintain discipline, and regulate
the whole business according to the will of the Emperor.
The (Ecumenicity, and consequently the dogmatic
authority, of these Councils depended on the co-equal
concurrence of the Pope and the Episcopate.
Glancing briefly at the Seven General Councils
which preceded the disintegration of the Roman
Empire, we find that the first — that of Nicea, a.d.
325 2 — 'was summoned by the Imperial mandate^ whilst the
1 Riddle's ' History of the Papacy,' vol. i. p. 101.
2 I have been furnished with the following mnemonic doggrel,
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 215
presence of the Emperor gave its chief weight and
dignity to the assembly. It was the first time that an
(Ecumenical Council had been possible, for never until
now had the East and West been united under a
sovereign professing the Christian faith. The mandate
for the convocation of the Council necessarily eman-
ated from the Emperor, who alone possessed the requisite
authority ; and the principle of placing these assemblies
under the control of the State was firmly established.
The appearance of Constantine in the Hall of
Council was welcomed by the bishops as an unpre-
cedented condescension, the whole assembly rising to
do him honour as he advanced to the golden seat pre-
pared for him. In the traditional pictures in the con-
vent of Mount Athos, the Sacred Dove hovers over the
head, not of the bishops but of the Emperor 1 . The
Emperor was assiduous in his attendance at the meet-
ings of the Council which were prolonged over a period
of two months. Whilst abstaining from direct partici-
with which Continental Catholics recall the previous Councils of
the Church.
Ni-Co— E—
Chal— Co— Co—
Ni— Co— La-
La — La — La —
Lu— Lu— Vi—
Pi— Con— Ba—
Flo— La— Tri.
These syllables stand for Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalce-
don ; then Constantinople twice ; Nice again, Constantinople
again, Lateran four times ; Lyons — that is, Lugdunum — twice ;
Vienne, Pisa, Constance, Bale, Florence, Lateran, and Trente
(Tridentinum).
1 See Article on the CEcumenical Council. ' Edinburgh Review/
0ctober ' ,869 • y^^Tum^.
f OF THE r \
(university)
2l6 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
pation in the acrimonious metaphysical discussions, he
listened with patience, softening asperities by a judi-
cious exercise of his authority, countenancing those
whose language tended to peace and union, and con-
versing familiarly, in the best Greek he could com-
mand, with the different prelates K He thus contrived
to exercise a most important control over the theolo-
gical conclusions at which the Council ultimately
arrived, and was regarded as the highest judge in all
causes. The Bishops of Rome c considered it a distinc-
tion to be allowed to plead for themselves before his
Council, after the example of St. Paul V
The second (Ecumenical Council (the first of Con-
stantinople), A.D. 381, ivas summoned^ controlled^ and
eventually dismissed by the Emperor Theodosius. This
Council, as is well known, was convened for the re-
establishment of Trinitarianism as the doctrine of the
East j and although the bishops, in the following year,
sent an account of their proceedings to the Western
bishops assembled at Rome, it was to solicit their co-
operation in carrying their decrees into effect, not at
all as recognizing any necessity for their ratification
by the Bishop of Rome 3 .
The third (Ecumenical Council assembled at Ephesus,
after the lapse of half-a-century, a.d. 431 ; and twenty
years thereafter, a.d. 451, its successor met at Chalcedon,
In the former, summoned by the Imperial mandate^ the
Count of the Imperial Domestics was present through-
out, and exercised his rightful prerogatives ; whilst it
is clear that the Bishop of Rome claimed no right of
precedence, as he sent his legates to the Council,
1 Milman's ' Latin Christianity,' vol. i.
2 Robertson's ' History of the Christian Church/ vol. i.
3 Riddle's ' History of the Papacy.'
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 217
knowing well that the Emperor had delegated the Bishop
of Alexandria to preside. In the latter, although the
Bishop of Rome was represented by two legates, the
Emperor Marcian presided^ and reserved to himself the
right of ratifying its decrees. It is worthy of notice
that the formulary of faith finally adopted by this
Council tuas brought forward by the Imperial Commis-
sioners l ,
After the lapse of 240 years Justinian II summoned at
Constantinople the Council which has been denominated
the Quinisext — its object being to complete the acts of
the fifth and sixth Councils previously held. The theo-
logical opinions promulgated in the Canons of this
Council at the instigation of the Emperor and of
Theodora were highly offensive to the Church of Rome;
the timid Pontiff welcoming the sudden death which
relieved him from the imperious commands to receive
the Decrees of the Quinisextine Council 2 .
The lapse of another century brings us to the seventh
and last truly (Ecumenical Council of the Church — the
second of Nice, a.d. 787 ; if indeed this Council, whose
decrees were not received in the West 3 , can be rightly
considered (Ecumenical. Summoned by the Empress
Irene to decide the great question of image worship,
the decrees of this Council bear the impress of the
ambitious mind, deeply tinged with superstition, of
the crafty but omnipotent woman who, by the restora-
tion of image worship, thought to secure the blessing
of the Virgin and the saints, whom she thus honoured,
upon her schemes of power.
Up to this period, then, the right of assembling
General Councils was recognized as belonging to the
1 Milman's ' Latin Christianity/ vol. i. 2 ibid.
3 Riddle's ' History of the Papacy,' vol. i. p. 326.
2l8 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
Emperors alone, and to them, or to their envoys, were
assigned the first places of dignity in the Council
chamber. The right of the Popes came in gradually,
and, like most of the Papal usurpations, was supported
by supposititious credentials; but from first to last
every Council claiming to be (Ecumenical, has at least
contained within itself the representatives of the
secular governments. At the third Council of Con-
stantinople, and the four Lateran Councils, the sove-
reigns of Europe ivere represented by their ambassadors^
whilst at the former the Emperor took a prominent
part in the discussions.
The Council of Lyons, a.d. 1245, witnessed the
discomfiture of the great Innocent at the hands of the
intrepid Thaddeus of Suessa, the principal Proctor of
the Emperor who, with calm dauntlessness, unmasked
the insincerity of the Pope, and forced upon him that
fourteen days' adjournment of the Council which, but
for the pusillanimity of his master, might have averted
the bitter struggle between Pope and Emperor — that
dire fatality which thereafter hung over the house of
Hohenstaufen, and the implacable hatred of the Papal
See, extinguished only in the blood of its last repre-
sentative on the scaffold at Naples.
The Council of Constance, a.d. 14 14, was once
more summoned by Imperial edict^ and presided over in
person by the Emperor Sigismund ; whilst at those of
Pisa, Basle, and Trent, the presence and active influence
of the Emperor and the ambassadors is likewise a matter
of history.
In the face of these historical facts it is now gravely
asserted that the Roman Pontiff alone has the ancient
and indefeasible right to summon a General Council !
Not only without concert with a single European
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 2ig
sovereign, but in spite of such warnings as the attitude
of hostility assumed by the lay governments; the
defection of the intellect of Roman Catholic Chris-
tendom, as indicated by the cautious but significant
protest of the German prelates assembled at Fulda,
who declared that c a General Council never can and
never will proclaim new doctrines j' the strong re-
monstrance, echoed back almost from the grave, by
that fervent Catholic and distinguished patriot and
statesman, the late Count Montalembert, expressing
his adhesion c to the manly and Christian' manifesta-
tions of the liberal Catholics of Germany, as c a ray of
light shining in the night ^ the hardly less significant
letter of Father Hyacinthe to the General of his Order,
announcing his retirement from it in consequence of
the censures of the Vatican, — Pius IX has presumed to
convoke, in his own palace, an assembly in which no
lay representative has place or voice, and to insult the
intelligence of Christendom by denominating it an
(Ecumenical Council !
An essential condition of the (Ecumenicity of a
Council is that it shall embrace all sections of the Christian
Church. The (Ecumenicity of the important Council
of Sardica, a.d. 433, is disallowed on the express ground
of the secession of the Eastern bishops. The (Ecume-
nicity of the first Council of the Lateran has similarly
been challenged on the ground of the imperfect repre-
sentation of the Oriental thrones. The Greeks, con-
tending that the representatives of their communion at
the Council of a.d. 869 were impostors, with forged
credentials l , to this day reckon the Synod of Constan-
tinople, a.d. 879, as the eighth General Council. At
the first Council of the Lateran, the precedent set by
1 Robertson's < History of the Church/ vol. ii. p. 353.
220 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
the earlier Councils of inviting the representatives of
each of the two great sections of the Christian Church
had been adhered to. The tinge of heresy was ac-
counted no ground of exclusion. But if this adherence
to precedent was needful to maintain the semblance of
unity in the Church in the ninth century, how much
more so has it become in the nineteenth, when all the
intellect of Christendom is Protestant, and the Greek
Church, after a thousand years of schism, maintains its
ancient antagonism! The rupture of the Reformation,
however much it may have increased, did not create
the difficulty of a combination of all Christendom in a
cosmopolitan Synod. If it be said that the possibility
of intercommunion between the different sections of
the Christian Church no longer exists, this is but to
echo the opinion of one of the ablest modern apologists
of the Papal theory 1 , that c in these days an (Ecume-
nical Council has become a chimera.' A better illus-
tration of the correctness of this judgment could not be
afforded than is presented by the assembly now sitting
in Rome. Summoned by a Pope, confined to eccle-
siastics, and restricted to one of the three great
divisions of Christendom, it proclaims itself a merely
Provincial Synod, or at best a General Council of the
Latin Church, strictly forbidden to decide controverted
points of belief, and devoid of all constitutional identity
with the Councils of the early Church.
c All such a Latin Council can do is to condemn what
it considers to be error, and to recognize or enounce
"pious opinions," in matters de fide ; but it cannot
legitimately impose acceptance of its decrees even on
the communion it represents, and much less on the
(Ecumenical world, as articles of faith necessary to
1 Joseph de Maistre.
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 221
salvation. All its decisions are subject to revision,
either in confirmation or rejection, by a genuine
(Ecumenical Council, when such may meet. And
if it oversteps its powers, the responsibility of any
scandal or schism that may ensue, arising from the
violence done to the consciences of men, will lie ex-
clusively at its own door, and that of those who pro-
mote and carry it through V
There is a widely prevailing popular belief that an
invitation was addressed by the Pontiff to the Pro-
testant Churches of Christendom, if not to take part in
its deliberations, at least to grace the Council with the
presence of their representatives. It is wholly devoid
of foundation. Without distinction of Church or sect,
they have been excluded as outside the pale of salvation,
and insulted by a warning to repent of their errors and
to seek admission to the true fold.
The case of the Eastern Churches is somewhat
different. An invitation to the Council — not general,
but addressed to some of the Churches — was given
with much unctuosity. But the invitation was con-
veyed in terms which rendered its acceptance impos-
sible, and drew from those whose authority it thus re-
cognized an unanswerable condemnation of the Pope's
presumption. Whilst the Patriarch of Alexandria
laments that c whatever views we share in common
stop short at the desire to effect the union of all the
Churches of Christ, 5 he emphatically adds, c all beyond
is delusion and discord/ Eschewing controversy he
states in plain and convincing terms three principal
objections to the Papal programme. c In the first
place, it overthrows and abolishes the equality which
exists among the Holy Churches of God, and their
1 Lord Lindsay's ' (Ecumenicity and the Church of England.'
Z22 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
individual independence proclaiming withal that Rome
holds uncontrolled sway and sovereign dominion over
the other thrones equally self-governing and inde-
pendent — a pretension evidenced by the mode adopted
for convoking this General Council; whilst, as is
universally known, the honour of precedence is all
that was conceded to the Pope of Rome by the Holy
and (Ecumenical Synods, and not the dominion over
other Churches ; so that he, of his own authority, has
no right to convoke General Councils without the
previous consent of the other most holy Patriarchs. In
the second place, his Holiness the Pope also gives us to
understand that salvation is to be found exclusively in
Rome, that there alone Divine grace operates effectually,
that there alone is the centre of ecclesiastical verity —
in virtue, as he affirms, of the privilege conferred on
the blessed Apostle St. Peter by our Saviour; whereas
the grace of God, through the divine energy of the
Church of Christ, is not restricted to Rome, or to any
definite place, but has operated, and continues to
operate, throughout the habitable globe, and has
expanded itself and shed abroad its radiance to the
ends of the earth. In the third place, he intimates
that he convokes the General Council to assemble on
the Festival of the Immaculate Conception of the
Mother of the Lord, a dogma, be it said, wholly un-
known to the Church — a recent invention, therefore,
and by no means a solitary one/
The Patriarch of Constantinople observes that c the
(Ecumenical Councils were convened in other fashion
than as his Holiness has convened this,' and proposes
the adoption of an expedient which has at least the
merit of simplicity ; —
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. %%9>
c Since it is manifest that there was a Church in
existence ten centuries back, which held the same
doctrines in the East as in the West, in the old as
in the new Rome, let us each recur to that and see
which of us has added aught, which has diminished
aught therefrom ; and let all that may have been added
be struck off, if any there be, and wherever it be ; and
let all that has been diminished therefrom be re-added,
if any there be and whatever it be; and then we
shall all unawares find ourselves united in the same
symbol of Catholic orthodoxy from which Rome, in
the latter centuries having strayed, takes pleasure in
widening the breach by ever new doctrines and insti-
tutions at variance with holy tradition/
Those of the Eastern bishops who treated the Papal
briefs with less of contumacy than was bestowed upon
them by the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Jerusalem,
and Alexandria, took care to affirm that it was because
they viewed them in the light of private communi-
cations; and that they equally rejected the appeal of
the Pope who, c with the two arms of crucified love'
had opened to non-Catholics c the bosom of living
unity,' by inviting them to his (Ecumenical Council 1 .
The Times of the 15th September, 1869, has the
following remarks upon the attitude assumed by the
Eastern bishops : —
c On the 29th of June, 1868, the bull of the indic-
tion of the Council was duly promulgated. This was
followed on the 8th of September of the same year
by an apostolic letter addressed to all the bishops of
the Oriental rite not in communication with Rome,
inviting them to be present at the Synod, "even as
1 See Father Felix's 'Conferences' in Notre Dame.
224 THE TEMPORAL POWER [i
CHAP.
their ancestors had been present at the second Council
of Lyons and that of Florence," where they were not
allowed to vote, and had to sit apart. Abbate Testa
was delegated to deliver these missives personally to
the schismatic bishops or patriarchs. Finally, on the
13th of September, that apostolic letter to all Pro-
testants and other non-Catholics was indited, which
exhorts them to "embrace the opportunity of this
Council" (occasionem amplectantur hujus concilii). We
remarked at the time that the effect upon the schis-
matic mind of the East was scarcely to be called
encouraging. The Greek Patriarch would not look
at the letter, though it was handsomely bound in red
morocco and emblazoned with gold letters bearing his
own name. He had read all about it in the news-
papers, and did not see how the Council could do
aught but lead to further strife. The peace once
arrived at by the two Churches had long fallen to
the ground. His mind was perfectly easy on the
subject. And so the gorgeous volume was taken from
the divan and handed back to the delegate, who was
bowed out, and departed in peace. The Metropolitan
of Chalcedon returned the Encyclical, with the simple
but graphic " Epistrephete," which might be freely
rendered "Avaunt." The Bishop of Varna did not
see how he could accept what his master had refused,
and so he sent back the Encyclical. The Bishop of
Salonica had no less than five reasons for his declining,
to wit — 1, What would his Patriarch say? 2. Why
at Rome, why not in the East ? 3. Because the Pope
wants to get us into his grasp. 4. The Pope wears
a sword, which is against Scripture; let him put it
down and disband his army. 5. Let him give up the
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 11$
"Filioque" and there will be no more disunion be-
tween Greeks and Latins — which last proposition, all
things considered, is very delicious. Yet there were
some exceptions, which the official Roman press calls
cc consoling." One schismatic bishop returned the letter,
yet with the promise that he would think about it for
himself; and another, the venerable Bishop of Trebi-
zond, well stricken in years, seems to have been quite
overcome, and received the (Ecumenial with the most
profound tokens of reverence and admiration, pressed
it to his forehead, then to his bosom, looked at it from
all sides, for, alas! he knew not the mystery of Latin
characters, and exclaimed from time to time, "Oh,
Rome! oh, Rome! oh, Holy Peter! oh, Holy Peter!"
But, adds the official account quaintly enough, it was
utterly impossible to get anything else out of him —
notably, whether he meant to come to the Council
or not/
It is difficult to arrive at any other conclusion than
that the venerable Churches of the East were excluded
from participation in the Council of Pius IX as de-
liberately, in spite of these specious negotiations, as
were the whole body of the Protestant Churches who
were not invited at all. But the recognition of their
right to participation condemns by anticipation the (Ecu-
menicity of a Council from 'which they are absent. The
Council may not be without importance. Everything
indicates that it will prove pregnant of the most im-
portant results to the Roman Catholic Church; and
we rejoice both in the Council and in the claims on
which it is based, inasmuch as both combine to show
priestcraft in its true colours. It is, however, only
in pure ignorance or perversion of the historical sig-
Q
226 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
nificance of the name that the Council can be called
(Ecumenical.
However impressive the splendours of its ceremonial,
or however pompous its claims to speak with authority
upon the various questions by which the Christian
society of the age is convulsed; however imperious
the restraints it may impose upon the free utterance
of opinion; however malicious and all-embracing its
anathemas ; or however momentous the decrees it may
embody in formularies binding upon its adherents, the
disdainful apathy with which it is universally regarded
to-day reflects the verdict of posterity, who will treat
its pretensions with scorn, — softened perhaps with a
touch of sympathy for the aged Pontiff whose baffled
ambition has exposed him to the contempt of the
scoffer, and to the hatred of those who, with himself,
he has made the laughing-stock of Europe.
The attitude assumed towards the Council by the
lay-Catholic powers is significant rather for what is
implied, than for what is said, in the recondite utter-
ances from which alone it can be gathered. If, aban-
doning its pretensions to (Ecumenicity, the Council
had busied itself only upon matters of ecclesiastical
discipline and matters of doctrine, such as were indi-
cated in the series of propositions originally submitted
by the Roman curia to the Roman Catholic Bishops,
the secular courts of Europe would have disdained
interference in such controversies. But as the pre*
tensions of the Roman Sse became more apparent, and
the rumour — first vague and improbable, but soon sur-
rounded with such a pomp of circumstance as to remove
all doubt — was circulated of the avowed intention to
elevate the syllabus of a.d. i 864 into a dogma, a chal-
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY, 227
lenge was thrown down which it was impossible for any
Catholic power to ignore ; and here and there an
appeal on behalf of more moderate counsels was ad-
dressed to Rome. That of Prince Hohenlohe, the
Prime Minister of Bavaria, and himself the brother
of a Cardinal, will be remembered. When Rome,
overstepping the limits of ecclesiastical jurisdiction,
threatened to impose ordinances upon her clergy which
conflicted with the civil laws of other lands, the govern-
ments of such countries were at once placed on the
defensive, and from all quarters we hear the echo of
the same word — Hold !
True it is that three centuries have elapsed since
Europe has been agitated by the question of the Pon-
tifical right to absolve subjects from allegiance to their
rulers ; but the bull Coena Domini, to which reference
has been made, and which claims this power as properly
belonging to the Holy See, is still in force, and though
obsolete, so long as it is not formally repealed, remains
a source of danger to the peace of the world, and justi-
fies the jealous scrutiny of every new Papal pretension
by the lay governments of Europe.
But if the promulgation of the doctrines of the
Syllabus is thus fraught with danger, much more is
there cause for alarm in the projects, no longer con-
cealed or apologised for, of dealing similarly with such
matters as the Temporal Power and the Personal In-
fallibility of the Pontiff. Pius IX boldly declares him-
self the enemy of modern civilization, detesting from
his heart all that the broad stream of modern thought
assumes to be good and true, whilst his pleasure will
certainly be law to an immense majority of the assembled
prelates. Hence the justifiable alarm of the French and
Q %
238 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
German bishops, and the attitude of hostility assumed
by their respective governments. Whilst the two
leading Catholic powers, Austria and France, hold the
same views, German and American prelates, with many
distinguished Italians, are united in their approval of
a policy of common-sense, as opposed to the projects
of the Ultramontanes. The Berlin correspondent of
the Times makes the following statement in reference
to the position assumed by Germany towards the pre-
tensions of Pius IX : —
c On the subject of infallibility it is becoming more
and more evident that all German sovereigns and many
German bishops are arrayed against the Pope. Not to
speak of conscientious scruples, the bishops are ob-
viously afraid that to declare the Pope a god will
outrage the feelings of every civilized being among
their flocks, and cause many hitherto accommodating,
though perhaps somewhat indifferent, members of the
Church to desert, renounce, and attack it. As to the
sovereigns, they have no wish to assist the Pope in
arousing a religious movement which might go any
length, and which, should it attain serious proportions,
would be sure to extend to Protestantism also. In
Germany, religious apathy — the prevailing feature of
the age — is accompanied with so much downright op-
position to all that has been hitherto considered ortho-
dox, that for the Pope to treat this country on a footing
of intellectual equality with Italy, Spain, and France,
and desire the Germans to adore and idolize him in
the same way he asks others, is to let off squibs over
a barrel of gunpowder. They need not necessarily
ignite the inflammable material over which they fly
and crack, but they may do so. Already Protestant
Xril.] OF THE PAPACY, 229
Liberalism is preparing for such an event In
the meantime, two more Catholic professors of theology
have publicly declared against infallibility, viz. Pro-
fessor Michelis, of the Clerical Seminary of Braunsberg,
in East Prussia, and Dr. Schulte, one of the most re-
nowned professors of canon law at the University of
Prague. In addition to these literary announcements
of opinion we have to record an address sent by the
leading ecclesiastics of the diocese of Paderborn to
their Bishop, the notorious partisan of the Pope in the
Council. The address declares against infallibility^
and entreats the Bishop to conform his attitude to the
wishes of his chapter and flock.'
The publication of the Twenty-one Canons, to which
I shall refer more particularly hereafter, afforded the
Governments of France and Austria the opportunity,
of which they were not slow to avail themselves, of
energetically protesting against the definition of the
threatened dogmas. In a despatch remarkable alike
for its candour, dignity, and conciliatory tone, the
Foreign Minister of Austria pointed out to the Court
of Rome the complications and dangers likely to arise
from a struggle between Church and State. In a com-
munication addressed by Count Beust to the Austrian
Ambassador at Paris, of which the following is an
abstract, he lucidly states the reasons for the firm
attitude of remonstrance assumed by the government
of Francis Joseph : —
c The Catholic Powers, and more especially Austria
and France, being anxious to leave the Church at
liberty to conduct its own concerns, have not inter-
fered with the arrangements for the Council and re-
signed the right properly belonging to them of sending
23O THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
representatives to that assembly. In thus abstaining
from all interference they had been actuated by a wish
to show their respect to the Church, and likewise by
a recognition of that principle of modern civilization
which accorded full and unrestrained liberty to Church
and State within their respective spheres. For France
it had been more easy to adopt such a course than for
Austria, the former, by her treaties with the Pope,
being entitled to stop the promulgation on her terri-
tory of any objectionable ecclesiastical decrees, a right
which the latter, by her own Concordat, did not
possess. In view, therefore, of what was preparing
at the Council, and remembering the protests a short
time ago couched by the Austrian bishops against the
new school and marriage laws, and the agitation to
which their resistance bad given rise, Austria could
not but feel uneasy concerning the future. It was
not, indeed, the intention of the Council to enact
Papal Infallibility that disquieted her, for he trusted
that this doctrine, if proclaimed at all, would be ex-
pressed in a mild and merely theoretical form, similar
to the one adopted by the Florentine Council, and,
therefore, without much practical influence on the
course of events. Nor had the State a right to object
to the proclamation of other purely religious dogmas,
such as the immaculate conception and glorification
of the Virgin Mary. But it was different when the
Church was about to claim a permanent and com-
prehensive supremacy over the State, and to arrogate
to herself the right of deciding which of the laws laid
down by the secular powers were binding on the subject
and which not. Unfortunately, this was the stand-
point assumed in the Twenty-one Canons submitted
to the Council, and warmly advocated by certain
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 23 1
parties. But, not content with establishing so unac-
ceptable a principle, the canons proceeded at once to
make use of the prerogative claimed, and declared
many of the fundamental laws of all modern and civi-
lized states to be unsound, invalid, and, in short,
accursed. The canons, for instance, anathematized
liberty of religion, liberty of the press, liberty of in-
struction, civil marriage, the amenability of the clergy
to the criminal code, and a variety of other statutes
asserted in them to be contrary to the laws of God
and Holy Church. Now, supposing these Schemata to
be really passed by the Council the danger to France
would be very small, as the principles denounced had
been the law of the land for nearly a century, and were
likely to be upheld by the common consent of society.
But in Austria legislation had only recently begun to
recognize the necessity of enacting the laws long intro-
duced in France, and the consequences resulting from
clerical opposition to the new statutes would, therefore,
be much more unpleasant. For this reason the Austrian
Government had applied to Rome, and pointed out the
disastrous results likely to arise from a struggle between
Church and State. Whatever might be enjoined by the
Church, the Austrian courts of law would not be in-
duced to look leniently on those that broke the laws
or incited others to break them. Add to this that the
majority of the Austrian Bishops were opposed to the
canons, and in the event of their being passed would
be subjected to the cruel alternative of either not pub-
lishing them or of doing so against their better judg-
ment, and it could not be denied that there were
many reasons for apprehending an undesirable issue.
Rome should beware of throwing down the gauntlet to
the civilized world.' ^< >^
(university)
232 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
The protest of Count Daru, conveyed in his now
famous note of the 20th February, is yet more emphatic
than that of the Austrian minister. Nothing can be
more explicit than the language in which he commends
the firm attitude of the minority of the bishops who
oppose the adoption of the Syllabus and the promulga-
tion of the dogma of Infallibility ; and significantly hints
that an imprudent persistence in this course would
imperil not only the Concordat, but the protection
which alone has rendered the meeting of the Council
possible. c People cannot be so blind as to suppose
that the maintenance of our troops would be possible
the day after the dogma of the Infallibility should be
pronounced. We might be willing to leave them in
Rome, but we should not be able/ It is true that His
Excellency has recently been represented as so uncom-
promisingly hostile to the project for the withdrawal
of the army of occupation, that he has threatened to
resign his portfolio sooner than accede to it. However
plausible the reasons assigned for the reversal of the
policy sketched out in Count Daru's note of the 20th
of February, it is difficult to believe that the cabinet of
the Tuileries can have so misjudged the temper of the
French nation, or miscalculated the endurance of Italy,
as to commit the egregious folly of adopting a policy
distasteful to c that generous French nation, 5 — recently
eulogized by Pius IX to the disparagement of their
ruler, — hostile to Italy, and subversive of the Septem-
ber convention. However this may be, it is unques-
tionable that the issues raised by the publication of
the Twenty-one Canons, appeared to the French
government so to modify the position of neutrality
which it had originally taken up, as to warrant the
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 233
claim to representation in the Council by a special
envoy.
It is stated that an attack of gout, especially affect-
ing the hands \ accounts for the dilatoriness of Cardinal
Antonelli in replying to the French note. That reply
however, has now reached the Tuileries ; and the con-
flicting rumours concerning its import suggest that,
consistently with all the diplomacy of Rome, it is
ambiguous and indecisive. The Patrie of March 26
says: — c The reply of Cardinal Antonelli is lengthy,
and very skilfully framed. The most remarkable facts
to be noted are — first, that it does not dispute the
authenticity of the text of the canons as published by
the Gazette d'Augsburg ; and, secondly, it opposes to
the demand of direct intervention on the part of the
French Government in the Council a series of obstruc-
tive reasons which do not go so far as to offer a
definitive and categorical refusal. The cardinal takes
pains to show that a signification and consequences
have been attributed to these canons such as the court
of Rome has never understood to be ascribed to them ;
that in such matters it is essential to distinguish be-
tween the absolute and theoretical and the relative and
practical sides ; that, the Church being a spiritual and
divinely constituted society, it is its duty to offer to
men's consciences solutions of all the problems which
human life encounters ; but the note adds that the
exercise of this spiritual right in no way implies an
intention on the part of the Church to meddle with
political questions ; and that in all cases, with regard
to nations with which she has concluded Concordats,
1 It is a well-known fact that Cardinal Antonelli is in the habit
of writing his own despatches.
234 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
the Church will always remain faithful to the clauses
of the treaties to which she is a party. In conclusion,
Cardinal Antonelli expresses a hope that the explana-
tions contained in his despatch may appear sufficient to
the Cabinet of the Tuileries, and that they will induce
it not to insist upon the demand conveyed in the note
of Count Daru. We know not what resolution will be
adopted by the Cabinet of the Tuileries in consequence
of this Roman despatch, the effect of which, however,
must previously have been made known by M. De
Banneville. We have reason to believe, however, that
at the moment we write no determination has been
arrived at.'
The question of the representation of France in the
Council remains, therefore, in abeyance. But it ap-
pears probable that this reasonable claim of the Em-
peror will, eventually, be conceded. Meanwhile, the
Papal court — which has everything to gain by delay —
secures a plausible pretext for adjourning the discussion
of the schema relative to infallibility, from the con-
siderate disposition to give France time to consider her
ways.
The Council, whose duration it was boldly prognos-
ticated would not be longer than that of Chalcedon —
that is, that its labours would be completed within
three weeks, and the promulgation of its decrees form
a fitting close to the most eventful year of the Pontifi-
cate of Pius IX — has now been in session upwards of
four months. The Pontiff', whose inflexibility of pur-
pose sufficed to bring the Council together, has probably
abandoned all hope of witnessing its termination.
The motives for the convocation of the Council,
from which Pius IX anticipates the regeneration of the
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. I^S
world, however transparent, were certainly not specified
with any distinctness in the Bull of Convocation, in
which they were nowhere more clearly expressed than
in the following passage : — c In this General Council,
then, there must be examined with the greatest care,
and established, whatever, above all, especially regards,
in these most difficult times, the greater glory of God,
the integrity of the faith, the dignity of divine worship,
the eternal salvation of souls, the discipline of the
secular and regular clergy, the salutary and solid in-
struction of the clergy, the observation of ecclesiastical
laws, the correction of morals, the Christian education
of youth, and universal peace and concord betwixt all.
It must also be endeavoured with the . most active zeal
that, with God's help, all evils may be kept away from
the Church and civil society, and that unhappy wan-
derers may be called back to the right path of truth,
justice, and salvation ; and that, vices and errors being
once for all extirpated, our august religion and its
salutary doctrine may revive in the whole world,
spreading and governing more and more : so that
piety, honour, probity, justice, charity, and all Chris-
tian virtues may acquire vigour and flourish to the
greatest advantage of human society/
It is self-evident that this programme of the delibera-
tions of the Council is incomplete, as it affords no
justification for bringing together 700 ecclesiastics —
most of them advanced in years — from every corner
of the habitable world, at the cost of personal sacrifices
which it is deplorable to contemplate, and at an ex-
pense of ^1000 per diem to the already exhausted
Pontifical treasury. The solution must be sought in the
extreme elasticity of the phrases employed. Nor can it
2$6 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
be denied that they afford scope for the widest possible
range of interpretation.
In opposition to the materialism of the age, to the
advancing power of science and of unfettered thought,
Pius IX desires to exhibit the moral power of the
Church, of which he claims to be the infallible head ;
to assert for it alone the right and power of leading
the progress of mankind; and to receive the plaudits
of his contemporaries, as well as of posterity, for this
closing act of a Pontificate which, commencing in the
throes of revolution, has presented to Europe the
unique spectacle of a Pope governing upon Constitu-
tional principles; the spectacle, more familiar, of a
fugitive Pontiff \ with a Republic proclaimed at Rome
in his absence; the spectacle of a Pope restored, to
the disgust of his subjects, coerced into submission
by foreign bayonets ; and, finally, of a Pope, despoiled
of four-fifths of his territory, claiming authority, and
gravely asserting spiritual pretensions worthy of a
Boniface, and the first announcement of which Chris-
tendom, Catholic and Protestant alike, received with
incredulous amazement.
The court of Rome is bent upon surrounding the pro-
ceedings of the Council with such profound secrecy that,
not content with imposing the penalty of excommuni-
cation upon any violation of confidence, it has actually
prohibited the publication of the names of the speakers.
It is thus in a position to answer those upon whom we
are dependent for information with the charge of mis-
representation — that frequent resource, with a certain
class of mind, when suffering under the process of
exposure. I shall not attempt to probe unrevealed
mysteries, but rest content with a cursory glance at the
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 237
present position of the two great parties in fhe Council,
and an inquiry into the probable effects of the decisions
which may be expected on some of the leading ques-
tions upon which the Council will have to deliberate.
It is now reported that in the event of the ultimate
disallowance by the Vatican of the French Emperor's
proposal to send a special envoy to the Council, or of
its disregard of the legitimate influence of the lay
governments, the liberal prelates will withdraw from
Rome in a body. It may be anticipated that this
course will either be immediately adopted, or defini-
tively abandoned, as a secession now, it is affirmed,
would imply nothing more than a protest ; whereas, at
a later stage, and after an important division— say, on
the subject of Infallibility — it would amount to a
schism. Would Pius IX congratulate himself on being
thus rid of his opposition ? If the French, the Austro-
Hungarian, and the American prelates, to the number
of two hundred, withdrew from the Council, even
Pius IX must allow, in deference to the precedent
established by the disavowal of the (Ecumenicity of the
Council of Sardica, a.d. 433, that the (Ecumenicity of
the Council of the Vatican is wholly destroyed. It is a
matter of certainty that this plan for nullifying the
decisions of the Council is under the consideration of
those whom it concerns. These prelates inveigh bitterly
against the disadvantageous position in which they are
placed by that peculiar organization of the Roman and
Italian Episcopate, which secures to the Italian prelates
a most unfair and absurd majority of numbers. But
this is the very reason why the Council is necessary to
the Pope. His court, a senate of cardinals, is too ex-
clusively Italian. This source of weakness is appre-
238 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
dated in Rome. It is a scandal which irritates against
her every national sentiment in the world. c It is the
majority of her own subjects that she is now in difficul-
ties with. The boasted majority she has not the
courage to use represents mythical sees, decayed orders,
a multitude of petty bishoprics near home, and purely
official creations of her own temporal power. The mi-
nority represents the people — that is, the majority of the
Roman Catholic communion throughout the world 1 . 5
The merest glance at the representative composition
of the Council suffices to establish the reasonableness
of the grievance alleged by the recalcitrant prelates.
Italy with her population of 27,000,000 is represented
by 230 cardinals, bishops, abbots, and fathers-general
of monastic orders • whilst France, with her population
of 34,000,000 has to content herself with sending
eighty-four reverend fathers to the Eternal City. Nine-
teen million German Catholics are represented by nine-
teen deputies. Spain sends forty, South America thirty,
the Orientals forty-two, China fifteen, Australia thir-
teen. We must cap this list by observing that 3,000,000
of semi-civilized Sclavonians are represented by no less
than twelve docile deputies, all pledged to support the
utmost pretensions of the Holy See. Allowing, in con-
sideration of their more advanced civilization, and
their proportionately-enhanced moral responsibility and
rightful influence, double this proportion of numerical re-
presentation to Italy, France, and Germany, Italy
should have 216, France 264, and Germany 152 de-
legates. The actual numbers are, Italy 230, France
84, and Germany 19 2 .
1 The Times.
2 See letter of the Berlin correspondent of the Times, February
19th, 1870. In Times of February 24th.
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY, - 239
Notwithstanding the statement of so great an au-
thority as Archbishop Manning, that c the ranks of
the opposition are daily melting like snow in the glance
of Pio Nono;' or the assurances of the Tablet that an
opposition has hardly an existence ; we prefer the testi-
mony of facts to the word of an Archbishop, or to the
asseverations of an ultramontane journal pledged to the
demonstration of a foregone conclusion. The courtiers
of the Vatican predicted, with real or simulated con-
fidence, that so soon as the Council met the personal
infallibility of the Pontiff would be voted by acclama-
tion. The programme was imposing, and, while the
Pontiff lent a willing ear, its success was not so utterly
improbable but that Europe listened, with bated breath,
for the firing of cannon and the ringing of bells which
should announce the intelligence to the world. We
were told, and we received the information with be-
fitting credulity, that every bishop attending the
Council would, by his presence alone, have signified
his adherence to the programme laid down by the
Jesuits. The great dogma was to be proclaimed c by
the inspiration of the Holy Ghost;-' and a distinguished
English clergyman, who was in Rome at the opening
of the Council, was told by a high dignitary of the
Church that the non-acoustic properties of the Council
Hall constituted its special recommendation ; c for/ he
naively added, c we don't want any debating!'
The Jesuits had laid their plans with that precision
and adroit organization of which they have ever proved
themselves the most consummate masters. The time
was come, they held, when those who were not with
the Pontiff must understand that they were against
him. The opportunity of the great influx of Catholics
240 • THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
into Rome during the festivities of the centenary of
St. Peter, in 1867, was seized to administer the follow-
ing oath to thousands of both clergy and laity.
c Holy Prince of the Apostles, St. Peter, I, N. N.,
moved by a desire to offer to thee, and in thee to thy
successors in the apostolic chair, a tribute of especial
devotion, which may be, on the one hand, for thee and
for the Church a compensation for the outrages done to
the see of Rome; and, on the other, may bind me
more to honour her, do swear to hold and to profess, if
necessary at the price of my blood, the doctrine already
common among Catholics, which teaches that the Pope
is infallible when he defines in his character of Uni-
versal Master, or as it is called, ex cathedra, what must
be believed in questions of faith and morals, and that
consequently his dogmatic decrees are irreformable and
binding in conscience, even before they have received
the assent of the Church.'
Six hundred and fifteen bishops, we were told, had com-
mitted themselves to teach, support, and defend, usque
ad effusionem sanguinis, if necessary, the dogma of Papal
Infallibility. No debate would be permitted. The
business of the Council was simply to define and en-
force the dogma.
Such were the confident vaticinations of the Jesuits
in Rome. But they did not avail to drown the notes
of discord which heralded the crowning act of the
Pontificate of Pius IX. The astute cardinal who, for
twenty years, has been the most influential of the
PontifFs advisers, foreseeing how the projected Council
would be received by the cismontane Catholics, after
vainly exerting himself to save the Church from a gra-
tuitous peril accepted a qualified disgrace rather than
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 241
give in his adhesion, all at once, to a forlorn project
for framing new bonds of union out of ignorance and
fanaticism. The press of France teemed with urgent
appeals for protective measures against the black de-
signs of the Council. And although thousands of
Catholics in France, as in Italy or Spain, would prob-
ably accept any dogmatical creed propounded by the
Council with that indifference which the comprehen-
sive faith of Roman Catholic Christendom engenders,
it soon became apparent that no encroachments upon
the civil law or political independence of the State
would be for a moment tolerated. But the less com-
prehensive faith of the Germans rebelled against all
dogmatic absurdities. Austria, exulting in the new
life quickened by the adoption of constitutional insti-
tutions which had their birth in the abrogation of the
Concordat, was little likely to tolerate any despotic
encroachments of the court of Rome : whilst in Ba-
varia the Roman Catholic Premier — the brother of a
cardinal — conferred with other German cabinets, and
solicited the opinion of the most eminent Roman
Catholic theological faculties in Germany, upon the
course to be adopted in the event of the Pope's
infallibility being dogmatically promulgated, or the
Ultramontane faction, i. e. the Holy Father, deriving
additional authority in the State, from any decrees that
might be voted by the Council 1 . All doubt was re-
1 The following are the questions which were submitted, and to
which the faculty of Munich replied emphatically in the sense of
the government : —
1. If the theses of the Syllabus and the Papal infallibility are
raised into dogmas at the forthcoming Council, what changes
would arise therefrom in the doctrine of the relation between
R
242 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
moved that the Liberal Catholic party in North Ger-
many, though disapproving equally with Bavaria of the
assembling of the Council, would make a combined
effort with the prelates of Austria, France, and Italy,
who were hostile to the pretensions of the Ultramontane
party, not only to secure free discussion, but also to
Church and State as hitherto held, both theoretically and prac-
tically, in Germany ?
2. Would in that case the public teachers of dogmatics and
ecclesiastical law feel bound to make the doctrine of the divinely
set rule of the Pope over the monarchs, either as Potest as direct a
or indirecta, as binding to the conscience of every Christian, the
basis of their teaching ?
3. Would the teachers of dogmatics and ecclesiastical law con-
sider themselves bound forthwith to receive into their lectures
and writings the doctrine that the personal and real immunities
of the clergy are juris divini, and belong to the province of re-
ligious doctrine ?
4. Are there any generally acknowledged criteria whereby it
can with certainty be decided whether a Papal utterance, ex
cathedra — according to the doctrine of the Council eventually to
be fixed— is absolutely binding to every Christian's conscience?
And if there be such criteria, which be they ?
5. How far might the prospective new dogmas, and their ne-
cessary consequences, exercise an altering influence also upon
popular education in school and church, and further upon the
school-books, the catechisms, &c, now in use ?
' On this last point they give the very decided answer, that
there would, indeed, ensue very considerable changes in the
catechisms, changes which they point out as clearly as may be.
The juridical faculty to whom the same questions have been sub-
mitted has not answered yet, nor has the theological faculty at
Wurzburg sent in their reply. But there is no question about
its purport. Europe in general passes the Council by silently.
Catholic Germany speaks through its highest authorities, and
unconditionally condemns its aims and purports.' — Pall Mall
Gazette.
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 243
wring from the Council an authoritative sanction of
their proposals for the complete separation of Church
and State, the suppression of the Index, and other
reforms for which they had petitioned and agitated \
1 In a lengthy abstract of a paper which, according to the
Wanderer, the Bohemian clergy proposed to submit to the Coun-
cil, we find the following bold suggestions. The paper begins by
saying that in a time like ours, when the fundamental doctrines
of Christianity are being called in question, when doubts are ex-
pressed as to the existence of a God and the nature and immor-
tality of the soul, the Council would be guilty of an error in
tactics if it were to employ its forces against the light troops of
a doubtful ally instead of directing its whole attention to the
attack that threatens the very centre of the fortress. ' The task
of the Council is therefore solemnly to define and proclaim those
doctrines which are calculated to support religion in general,
revelation, and the authority of the Church.' It is advised to
follow the example of the Council of Trent, in avoiding, as far
as possible, a philosophic terminology, as it is liable to be mis-
understood, and thus open up a way for objections. Certain
boundaries, too, must be observed, and even those doctrines to
which true believers are sincerely attached should not be inserted
in the dogmatic code without weighty reasons. ' Thus the Council
should not proclaim the infallibility of the Pope. This is the
sincere wish of the most learned, intelligent, and earnest of the
adherents of the holy chair.' Such a step would only give rise
to ridicule among unbelievers, while for believers it is quite un-
necessary, as their attachment to the Roman See was never
greater than at present. It seems equally unadvisable to make
any further authoritative statements as to the corporal assump-
tion of the Virgin Mary, the state of nature, the cause and means
of supporting grace, the manner in which the body is governed
by the soul, and similar matters. These have already engaged
the attention of former Councils, particularly that of Trent, and
may now safely be left to theology. With respect to the Index
of forbidden books, it is urged that before a work is condemned
the opinion of the bishop in whose diocese it appeared should be
asked - ^££5eTIbr^
R 2 (
(university
\^ California
244 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
In Rome rumours were rife of revolutionary plots,
formed for the purpose of preventing the meeting of
the Council, or of cutting short its deliberations by
assassination and incendiarism. The Council was not
only distasteful to the Mazzinians ; it was opposed by
many of the Italian episcopacy. The Archbishop of
Genoa resigned his see, and retired to Savoy, rather
than consent to attend, and the government deemed it
prudent to employ large bodies of firemen to watch the
erection of the structures in St. Peter's for the accommo-
dation of the members of the Council. Provision was
also made for a large number of fire-engines in different
parts of the cathedral, and for the permanent accommo-
dation of the requisite number of firemen.
It was said that the Jesuits were alarmed, as well
they might be, by such indications of the apprehension
entertained, in official quarters, of an outbreak of
popular disaffection. Certain it is that many of them
would fain have persuaded the Pope to abandon the
Council of which they had been the chief projectors.
But the Pope stood firm. In the course of nature his
Pontificate must soon come to an end ; and there was
nothing he was unwilling to risk for the sake of the
grand spectacle which should close his eventful career.
To every suggestion of expediency or of danger he
turned a deaf ear. The quicksands before which an
Antonelli stood appalled, affrighted him not. As to a
schism upon matters of faith, he cheerily dispersed,
with the ready joke ever upon his lips, the mists of
apprehension and doubt which obscured the intellects,
and paralyzed the hands, of less resolute cardinals.
There is much reason to believe that the infatuated
Pontiff was less prepared than were many members of
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 1<\$
the curia for the determined attitude which was early
assumed by the compact phalanx of a powerful oppo-
sition. The violent and arbitrary measures which have
been adopted for their suppression — as, in addition to
others already mentioned, the prohibition of unofficial
meetings of the bishops even in private houses — have
immeasurably strengthened their position. The most
nervously apprehensive mind amongst the members of
the curia probably little anticipated that, by the pro-
ceedings to which they lent themselves, a machinery
was being called into existence utterly beyond their
power to manipulate.
The information which reaches us of the character
of this opposition is so cumulative and circumstantial,
that it is impossible to ignore its general authenticity,
however it may be challenged in some of its details.
The bold assault of Strossmayer, Archbishop of Bosnia
and Syrmia, on the eighteen propositions brought before
the Council in January, and the censure of Cardinal
de Luca for not stopping the debate ; the threat of the
Archbishop of Paris, supported by many of his brethren,
that in the event of any attempt being made to carry
the new dogma by acclamation, he would leave Rome
and protest against the validity of the Council, are
matters of fact. So also is the following Anti-Infalli-
bility address drawn up by Cardinal Rauscher, Arch-
bishop of Vienna, and signed by a large number of
bishops : —
c Most Holy Father, — We have received the draught
of a petition circulating among the Fathers of the
CEcumenical Council, and calling upon them to declare
supreme and infallible authority to be vested in the
Roman Pontifex when imparting Apostolical teaching
246 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
to all the faithful upon subjects connected with religion
and morals. It is certainly strange that the judges of
matters religious should be asked to decide a question
before it has been discussed, but as thou, most Holy
Father, divinely appointed to attend the flock of Christ,
so piously takest care of the souls redeemed by His
blood, and with paternal compassion lookest upon the
dangers threatening them, we have thought it right to
address ourselves to thee in this matter. The times
are past when the Catholics used to contest the rights
of the Holy See. We all are aware that as the human
body, without the head, is but a mutilated trunk, so
can no Council of the entire Church be held without
the successor of St. Peter ; and we all obey the mandates
of the Holy See with ready willingness. As regards
the authority which the faithful are obliged to concede
to the Roman Pontiff, this has been settled by the
Council of Trent, and also by the Council of Florence.
The decrees of the latter, particularly, ought to be the
more faithfully observed, inasmuch as, having been
enacted with the common consent of Latins and Greeks,
they are destined some day, when the Lord will take
pity on the Orient now oppressed by so many evils,
to become the basis of the reunion of the Church.
Nor must we leave it unmentioned that at a time when
the Church is compelled more earnestly than ever to
wage war against those who denounce religion as a
mere fiction, vain and idle indeed, yet pernicious to
the human race, it cannot be opportune to exact of
the Catholic nations, already exposed to so much seduc-
tion and temptation, heavier duties (majora) than were
enjoined on them by the Council of Trent. It is true
that, although Bellarminus, and with him the whole
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 247
Catholic Church, affirms that matters of faith are to be
chiefly decided by Apostolical tradition and the com-
mon consent of the Church, and although the best way
to ascertain the decision of the Church is to convene
a Universal Synod, yet from the Council of the Apostles
and Elders of Jerusalem down to the Council of Nice
have the innumerable errors of the local Churches been
checked and extinguished by the decisions of the suc-
cessors of St. Peter, approved by the entire Church.
Nor do we deny that while all faithful believers are
bound to obey the behests of the Holy See, there are
pious and erudite men teaching over and above this
that any utterances of the supreme Pontiff on matters
of religion and morality, when formally (ex cathedra)
made and announced, must be held irrefragable, al-
beit lacking the express consent of the Church. Yet
we must not omit stating that grave objections to this
teaching may be based on the acts and utterances of
the Fathers of the Church, — objections supported by
the evidence of genuine historical documents and the
Catholic doctrine itself. Unless the difficulties arising
from this circumstance are entirely solved and done
away with, it is possible that the doctrine advocated
in the above-mentioned petition will some day be
inculcated on the Christian people as one revealed
by the Almighty. We have no wish to dwell upon
this prospect (yerum ab k'tsce discutlendls refuglt animus)^
and confidently entreat thee to obviate the necessity
of such a discussion. We think we may say that per-
forming episcopal functions among the more eminent
nations of the Catholic world, and being by daily ex-
perience well conversant with the state of things in
our respective countries, the enactment of the doctrine
248 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
proposed will only supply fresh arms of attack to the
enemies of religion, and enable them to rouse invidious
feelings even in better and more virtuous men (melioris
not<e vivos) than themselves. We are certain, moreover,
that such an event in one part of Europe, at any rate,
would be taken advantage of by the Governments to
infringe the remnant of rights still possessed by the
Church. Having laid this before thy Holiness with
the sincerity due to the common father of all true
believers, we beseech thee to prohibit the discussion
in the (Ecumenical Council of the doctrine recom-
mended in the above-mentioned petition. Prostrating
ourselves at thy feet, both in our own name and on
behalf of the nations which we have undertaken to
guide to the knowledge of God (ad Deum perducendos)^
we ask for thy apostolical blessing. We remain the
most humble, most obedient, and devoted servants of
thy Holiness/
Hardly less important is the following protest of
the German and Hungarian bishops against the regu-
lations of the Council : —
c Most Holy Father, — All the Bishops of the entire
world, and among them we the undersigned, most
ardently desire that the Oecumenical Council, so hap-
pily inaugurated under the auspices of your Holiness,
may be successfully continued, so that it may supply
the various nations with remedies against the many
new evils oppressing them, and impart to the Holy
Church of God fresh means and strength to fulfil the
mission divinely imposed upon it. In order that this
object may be the more surely attained, we take the
liberty of acquainting your Holiness with the anxiety
we feel concerning a matter connected with the debates
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 249
of this ecclesiastical assembly. In taking this step we are
animated by that devotion to the Holy Apostolical See
always felt by the Bishops of the entire world, and never
more so than at this present time.
c In the rules and regulations of the Council pre-
scribed by your Holiness, the most important clause,
perhaps, is the second, referring to the privilege of the
members to direct the attention of the assembly to
such matters as they may think fit to introduce. There
are those who think that by the clause in question the
right of the assembled Fathers to start any discussion
they may deem conducive to the public weal has been
taken away, its exercise having been made dependent
on a favour to be only exceptionally accorded. Most
Holy Father, we are all firmly convinced that the body
of the Church cannot be strong and healthy unless
possessed of a lofty and powerful head, and that the
proceedings of the Synod cannot be correct and orderly
unless the Divine rights of the Primacy are properly
protected and observed. But if this is undoubtedly
true, it is not less so that the other members of the
mystical body of Christ likewise require to be protected
in their special functions, and that the College of
Bishops, more particularly, must be in a position to
exercise the rights inherent to them by virtue of their
office and character, if the head is to retain its proper
strength, and to act safely and undisturbedly. By God's
ordinance the head and the body are intimately con-
nected and inseparably united with each other. Equally
as, therefore, in the exercise of your Holiness 5 s undoubted
privilege, your Holiness has condescended to lay down
the manner of procedure in the Holy Synod, and pre-
scribe the wisest and most effective rules concerning
25° THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
the manner and order of treatment of the subjects intro-
duced, so the Fathers of the Council, if feeling prompted
to prefer aught connected with the welfare of the
Church, or to make a proposition aiming at the further-
ance of the same, have always justly enjoyed the right
to do so by virtue of their position and office, the only
condition exacted being that they should speak with
the devotion and veneration due to the Head of the
Church. We state this the more confidently, inasmuch
as your Holiness has yourself condescended to exhort us
to express freely whatever we may consider to be cal-
culated to promote the public weal ; and inasmuch as,
in taking this step, we are only following in the foot-
steps of the most celebrated Council of Trent (Sess.
XXIV., cap. 21).
c In our opinion, therefore, there can have been no
intention to infringe our rights by the abovementioned
clause; and we should be greatly strengthened in this
our conviction if your Holiness would kindly permit
that the committee appointed for the preliminary ex-
amination of propositions introduced by members be
reinforced by some Fathers elected by the Council out
of their own midst, and also that members introducing
propositions be allowed access to the said committee,
to enable them to take part in the examination thereof.
c In submitting this, with filial devotion, to your
wise consideration and judgment, we hope, Most Holy
Father, that what, animated by the purest intentions,
we have been prompted to prefer will be well received.
c Prostrating ourselves at the feet of your Holiness,
we are the most obedient servants of your Holiness, —
c Cardinal Schwarzenberg.
c Fiirstenberg, Archbishop of Olmiitz.
XIII.] OF THE PAPACY. 25 1
c Gregor Scherr, Archbishop of Munich.
c Michael von Deinlein, Archbishop of Bamberg.
c Ludwig Haynald, Archbishop of Kolosa.
c Heinreich Forster, Archbishop of Breslau.
c Pancratius Dinkel, Bishop of Augsburg.
c Valentin Viery, Bishop ofGorz.
c Gregor Simonovicz, Archbishop of Lemberg (of the
Armenian Rite).
c Bartholomaeus, Bishop of Trieste.
c Joannes Zirzik, Bishop of Budweis.
c Georg Dobrila, Episcop. Parent.
( Jacobus Stepnisnigg, Episcop. Lavantin.
c Alexander Bonnaz, Bishop of Csanad.
c Matthaeus Eberhard, Bishop of Trier.
c Eduard Jacob, Bishop of Hildesheim.
c Michael Fogarassy, Bishop of Transylvania.
c Joseph Strossmayer, Bishop of Bosnia and Syrmia.
c Stephan Lipovniczky, Bishop of Crosswardein.
c Sigismund Kovacs, Bishop of Fiinfkirchen.
c Ludwig Ferwerk, Bishop of Lemberg.
c Joannes Beckmann, Bishop of Osnabriick.
c Georg Smiciklas, Episcop. Crisiens.
c Hieronymus Zeidler, Abbas Strahoviensis.
c Wilhelm Ketteler, Bishop ofMayence.
c Petrus Kenrick, Archbishop of St. Louis, United
States/
In the face of these events it is impossible to doubt
that the opposition, whilst growing in numbers and in
moral weight, is organizing a consistent policy of re-
sistance, and threatening a crisis for which Rome is
unprepared. Already it has inspired in the Jesuits a
misgiving which is likely to deter them from bringing
forward some of their most monstrous propositions. In
252 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
addition to several cardinals, more than two hundred
bishops are enrolled in its ranks. It is instructive to
note that whilst the members of the Council who are in
opposition to the Pontiff and his Jesuit advisers are a
minority, they represent no less than 80,000,000 mem-
bers of the Roman Catholic Church, whose adherents
throughout the entire world cannot be computed at
more than 170,000,000; a circumstance which invests
the remote chance of schism with a terrible signifi-
cance. The really representative men are in the ranks
of the opposition. The Archbishop of Paris, it has been
said, c represents more Catholics than all the Roman
bishops together. 3
This formidable opposition has awakened the keenest
irritation in the minds of the Papalist party, and of the
Pontiff himself, who denounces them in language as
remarkable for its boldness as for its energy, con-
sidering the recent exposures of c the historical frauds'
upon which Papal pretensions are based. In a recent
letter to an Ultramontane Benedictine his Holiness
denounces the c madness, 3 c obstinacy, 5 c corrupt prac-
tices/ c audacity,' e folly,' and c spirit of hatred, violence,
and artifice,' which distinguish the party represented by
Doupanloup, Strossmayer, and Dollinger. c They un-
dertake,' he says, c to reform even the divine constitu-
tion of the Church, and to adapt it to the modern forms
of civil governments, in order more readily to lower
the authority of the supreme chief whom Christ has
appointed, and whose prerogatives they dread,' employ-
ing in their nefarious work c historical frauds . . . and
sophisms of all kinds.'
A significant illustration has been recently afforded of
the lengths to which these Infalliblists are ready to go
XIII.J OF THE PAPACY. 2$3
in despotically silencing their opponents. The Augsburg
Allgemelne Zeltung informs us that when, at a recent
sitting of the Council, Dr. Strossmayer declared that a
new dogma of faith could not be established without a
moral unanimity of the Fathers, he was ordered by the
President to leave the Council 1 ! The desperate at-
tempts of c this insolent and aggressive faction' to
recover lost ground, and by any means to carry the
dogma upon which their hearts are set, have proved
the occasion of the claim now put forward by France
to send a representative to the Council. At the same
time Baron Beust, on behalf of Austria, asserts the
right, c properly belonging to the Catholic powers,' to
direct representation in the Council, which however
he abstains from claiming out of respect to the
Church, c and a recognition of that principle of modern
civilization which accords full and unrestrained liberty
to Church and State within their respective spheres.'
All the Catholic powers in fact concur in the views of
France, and, although advancing no similar claim, have
resolved mutually to concert measures to insure, by
existing laws, each in its own territory, respect for
those civil rights menaced by the schemata submitted to
the Council.
1 The Roman correspondent of the Cologne Gazette informs
us that when the Bishop began to touch on the question whether
the dogmas should be passed by a majority of votes, or only, as
in former councils, when all the members are unanimous, the
Council lost all patience. Cries of ' Haereticus ! haereticus ! ' and
' Damnamus eum!' were heard on all sides. One bishop ex-
claimed, 'At ego non damno eum,' upon which the others re-
peated ' Damnamus,' and shouted to the speaker, ' Tu es pro-
testans ! taceas ! ab ambone descendas ! '
CHAPTER XIV.
1 shall limit my observations upon the probable
decisions of the Council, and the consequences which
may be expected to flow from them, to the following.
The proposal to elevate the Temporal Power into a
dogma. The definition of the corporeal assumption of
the Virgin — and, as is now added, of St. Joseph. The
Syllabus. And, lastly, the main business of the Council,
the enunciation of the dogma of the Personal Infalli-
bility of the Pontiff in direct contradiction to the
decision of the Council of Constance, which sub-
ordinated the Papal authority to that of a General
Council.
The pretensions of the ecclesiastical politicians by
whom Pius IX has surrounded himself are as unlimited,
and far more utterly in conflict . with the spirit of the
age, than were the wildest dreams of the Gregories and
the Innocents of the Middle Ages. Nor is there any
attempt to veil the fact. The Council, says the Civllta
Cattolica^ c may enact dogmatic decrees or disciplinary
regulations contrary to the spirit of modern times.'
The probability is only too apparent ; and the Civilta
THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY. 255
Cattolica answers by anticipation the enquiry — What,
then, will the civil governments have to say to the
Decrees of the Vatican Council? Will they venture
upon maintaining the majesty of law in their respec-
tive countries at the risk of doing violence to the con-
sciences of their Roman Catholic subjects ? c If they do, 5
says this organ of the Vatican, c they will stand guilty
of criminal tyranny, and their opposition must be
treated by the bishops with contempt/ And again,
c All laws contrary to the Decrees of the Council
will be radically null and void, and will in no way
compel the consciences of their subjects.' Here we
have the very spirit of the Bull Ccena Domini, the
theory of which survives and flourishes more vigorous
than ever.
The erection of a dogma for the belief of the neces-
sity for the Pope's temporal power is assuredly one that
may be embraced in the elastic formulary of c decrees
contrary to the spirit of modern times.' Further, it is
declared in the Syllabus that all Catholics are bound to
hold most firmly that doctrine concerning the Pontiff's
civil princedom which is therein clearly laid down.
The necessity is there affirmed for the temporal power
to secure the Pope that liberty which is required for his
spiritual office; that it is ordered by Divine Pro-
vidence; that all Catholics are bound to unite against
every effort to overthrow it ; that the aggressive acts of
its assailants are de jure null and void ; and that the
spoliation of the Roman territory by Victor Emanuel
was nefarious and sacrilegious. The definition of this
dogma is, however, improbable to the last degree.
However anxious the Roman curia may be to secure
the preservation of the temporal authority of the
256 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
Pontiff, it can hardly be affirmed to furnish the ele-
ments of a dogma. Civil society, moreover, tolerant
of the discussion of doctrinal and disciplinarian ques-
tions, could not afford to overlook a decision pregnant
with danger, and arrogantly disregarding accomplished
facts. At the same time it is apparent that a grave
discussion of the question might afford the Jesuits an
opportunity, of which they would gladly avail them-
selves, to divert and perhaps disintegrate the opposi-
tion by the introduction of a topic upon which they
may be beguiled into fierce controversy, prolific of
rancour and dissension. In this sense the Roman cor-
respondent of the Times has recently remarked : c Upon
this matter of the temporal estate there are few bishops,
even among the foremost in the present opposition,
who have not committed themselves in a manner some,
no doubt, would now gladly know undone, but from
which others (and they are the more numerous) will
hardly dare to recede. Many a hasty and unfounded
word has fallen at times from episcopal lips on this
matter of temporal power which at this moment
threatens to hang like a millstone around the speaker's
neck; for now that things are being pushed to their
logical end, and men on being driven into a corner
have at last to make a stand, it will be found that
between the tenets of Papal Infallibility and the Pope's
indefeasible right to a Temporal Power there is inter-
nal affinity and correlation. If, therefore, at this
moment, when a truly formidable opposition has formed
itself against the dogma of Infallibility, the coherence of
this opposing phalanx could be loosened by the intro-
duction on the scene of that other tenet, the Temporal
Power, with the creation of a divergence of opinions
X IV .] OF THE PAPACY. 257
and the production of dissensions, the move would be
strategically a very good one in the interests of those
who have the chief voice in directing the business of
the Council. 5 It is indeed broadly asserted in the
Schema de Ecclesia Christi, to which I shall presently have
occasion to refer, that the connection between the
Temporal and the Spiritual Estate of the Holy See, is
one c prescribed by the law of God/ from which none
can deviate without risk of salvation, and that it is not
lawful for any one to assert that the lay authority is
called upon to restrict coercive measures against the
violators of the Catholic faith to that which may be
only requisite for the maintenance of the public peace *.
But it is probable that the Council will content itself
with an imposing protest, after the model of those of
1862 and 1867, against the spoliations endured by the
Pope contra sacrilegos ausus et conatus guberni subal-
pinii, &c.
The theological bearings of the Council are beyond
our sphere. Their exposition in the daily papers may
be read ad nauseam, and those who desire to see them
arraigned with the bitterness proper to polemical strife,
may be abundantly edified from the same source, from
platform, pulpit, the hustings, or wherever men do
congregate. True to our motto, then, we will review
c lightly and on tiptoe 5 these topics with which the
subject of this treatise has but slender affinity, although
such as cannot be wholly ignored.
The dogmatic definition of the doctrine of the Cor-
poreal Assumption of the Virgin — to which the Tablet
has added the Assumption of St. Joseph, the third Person
of the earthly Trinity, as it profanely calls him — is the
1 See letter of Times correspondent already quoted.
S
258 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
natural sequence of the c honours' already rendered by
Pius IX to the mother of our Lord. The Commission
of Dogmatic Theology has by a large and decisive
majority pronounced in favour of the definition, and
effective opposition is not anticipated from any quarter.
The great question of the Syllabus, c the banner of
retrogression' as it was termed the other day in the
Italian Chamber, is one upon which the docility of
the assembled Fathers will be severely tried. It is
well known that the errors which the Pope lays
down as worthy of condemnation, are enunciated in
the decrees of Councils held by all Christendom to
have been CEcumenical, which, on the Roman theory,
involves their infallibility. The Syllabus was not com-
posed all at once in 1864, but consists of condem-
nations of modern principles, emanating as well from
other Infallibles as from the present Pontiff. Pre-
eminently it raises the question of the infallible
authority of the Church, in whom it resides, and with
what limits. It is a code which regulates the relations
of the court of Rome with civil society. It raises
amongst other questions, too numerous to specify, that
of the validity of civil marriages ; of the connection of
Church and State; of the right of the ecclesiastical
power to exercise its authority without the permission
and assent of the civil governments. Hence the lively
apprehension evinced by the civil powers, and by
prelates such as the Archbishop of Paris, habituated
to the liberty enjoyed under a Concordat wrung from
Rome when she was anxious, upon any terms^ to gain a
footing in a country where religion had ceased to exist
— a liberty not shared by any other Catholic country.
It is now well known that, exasperated by the
XIV
.] OF THE PAPACY. 2^9
threatened promulgation of the doctrines of the Syllabus,
the Government of Louis Napoleon intimated to the
Roman curia, before the close of last year, that how-
ever great the reverence which his Imperial Majesty
might feel for the spiritual authority of the Holy See,
the Papal pretensions and the narrow system of abso-
lutism upon which the temporal power was conducted,
could not command the sympathy of a constitutional
country. Studiously avoiding any threat of coercion,
but at the same time significantly reminding Pius IX
that the recall of the French troops c is with his Govern-
ment a settled purpose,' the Emperor besought the
c benevolent' Pontiff to have recurrence to the liberal
ideas proclaimed by him in 1846 — in other words, to
emulate the reforms now inaugurated by his Imperial
monitor K
1 The Roman correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette, writing
on March 10, says:— 'Count Daru has charged the Marquis de
Banneville to press again on Cardinal Antonelli the necessity of
an entire reform of the Pontifical Government and the granting
of a constitution to the Roman people. The French ambassador
declares that both England and Prussia urge the Emperor to
make these demands, and that the Imperial Government will be
unable to continue the occupation if they are not promptly com-
plied with. Several French bishops, in obedience to commands
from the Tuileries, have supported the ambassador's counsels,
and among these prelates is the Bishop of Bayeux, to whom
Count Daru addressed his two famous letters. But the Pope,
guided entirely by the Jesuits and the Ultramontane camarilla,
has resolved to meet the propositions of the French minister
with a peremptory refusal. Many of the cardinals and prelates
are in favour of concession, and express a belief that the Holy
Father must ultimately yield. I must not omit to add that
the Marquis de Banneville also asks for a general amnesty for
political offenders. The French Government is believed to have
S %
260 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
c The Catholic religion/ Pius IX recently said at the
inauguration of the Exposition, c loves and cherishes
all the arts of true progress instead of opposing them.''
Such a declaration was calculated to lead the unreflect-
ing to anticipate a favourable reply to the missive of
the Protector of the Papacy. That reply was in two
kinds, the one addressed by Antonelli to the Tuileries,
the other, through the columns of the Civilta Cattolka^
to the Catholic world ; and it is instructive to note the
customary duplicity of all that emanates from Rome,
providing for a specious show of consistency in the
ultimate adoption of that course which may appear the
more expedient. The diplomatist replies that the
abolition of the reforms of 1847 was justified on the
ground that concessions had been shown to weaken the
hands of authority and open the way to revolution and
anarchy; that to grant reforms would be to give
weapons to an enemy; and that his Holiness has
profited by the warnings conveyed in the agitation
that has followed the change of government in Austria,
Spain, and France. But that if the Holy See could put
an end to the dream of Italian unity by recovering its
fixed on Duke Albert De Broglie as its lay representative at the
Council. It would be difficult to choose an ambassador more
distasteful to the court of Rome ; and the views held at the
Vatican about the duke are embodied in a most abusive article
by Monsignor Nardi, in a late number of the Osservatore Cattolico
of Milan. I am assured that the Pope was pointing at the Duke
De Broglie, when, in his speech at the Exhibition, he said that
the Church would never have its '89. The Pope has intimated
that he will receive no more addresses on the subject of Infalli-
bility, whether they favour or oppose the dogma, as this question
is now virtually before the Council, and his reception of addresses
might interfere with the deliberations of the Fathers.'
XIV.] OF THE PAP AC Y. 26 1
lost possessions, then political reforms might be pos-
sible. Widely different is the reply addressed to Catholics
through the Pope's own organ. Here it is contended
that the principles denounced in the Syllabus are the
principles which inspired the reforms with which the
Pontificate of Pius IX was inaugurated, and which won
for him the name of the c Benevolent Pontiff/ He
never changed from what he began, and when Napoleon
exhorts him to return to the counsels of 1847, he
commits himself to an approval of the Syllabus. The
following remarks of the Times correspondent (20th
February) place in a clear light the argument for
consistency put forward by Rome: —
c In the very infancy of his Pontificate, it seems,
Pius IX exposed the great league of unbelief called
Rationalists, who repudiate the light of supernatural
faith, and give the supremacy to proud reason and the
dictates of nature. It was then he raised his voice
against all private interpretation of the Word of God
in contempt of the only legitimate, infallible authority
of the Church of Christ and His Vicar, the Pontiff.
Nor was it to religion and Scripture and the Dogma
that the Pope confined himself. He denounced the
impiety which disregarded the laws of the Church,
but, not less, all contempt of rights and lawful civil
authority. His predecessors had already laid their
anathema on the secret societies vomited forth from
the regions of darkness for the ruin of Church and
State. Pius IX, it seems, singled out for his own
special anathemas the Bible Societies instituted by
heretics for the spread of their secret poison. Under
the same ban he laid religious indifference, the oppo-
sition to religious celibacy, and the establishment of
262 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
a soul-destroying philosophy under the pretence of
education. It was then he warned, the faithful against
the pernicious tracts sown broadcast by wicked hands,
and, in a word, all free thoughts, free speech, and,
above all, the free Press. Certainly it is not amiss
the world should be reminded that it was Pope Pius IX
who did all this; that he did it when he was, so to
speak, a child of the people, and that it passed with
scarcely animadversion — nay more, that the bare fact
may be almost said to be forgotten.
c But the Pope's apologists are not content with the
natural inference that he was always the same man
that he is now ; they must also establish a splendid and
elaborate unity of design. It is a policy that is to be
defended, and the world is triumphantly asked why it
interferes too late with the completion of the edifice it
has had the opportunity of watching from the very
foundations, and seen slowly rising story after story
in a Pontificate providentially prolonged for this very
work. As it is a question that concerns France a good
deal more than ourselves, I need not hesitate to assist
the Pope and his privileged champions in putting it
well before the world. It appears that as early as
November, 1846, the Pope condemned the Proposition
numbered the fourth in the Syllabus, and then, or
shortly after, expressed himself in like manner as to
the Propositions numbered sixth, seventh, sixteenth,
fortieth, and sixty-third in the Syllabus. But the fourth
paragraph is simply a quotation in extenso from the
earlier document, and various letters and allocutions
from January to December, 1847, are referred to, the
titles given, in order to prove that the Syllabus and,
consequently, the Propositions now before the CEcu«*
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 263
menical Council were all anticipated, more or less
literally, on or before the very year 1847 now brought
into question. When, therefore, Napoleon III asks
the Pope to return to the counsels of 1847, it is
nothing more nor less than advising him to return
to the Syllabus — a most needless piece of advice,
inasmuch as the Vicar of Jesus Christ has never de-
parted from those counsels, and is not likely to depart
from them. If, too, it be said that all this refers only
to religious principles, not to those relating to temporal
matters, and that Pius IX has certainly somewhat de-
parted from his first temporal policy, and has shown a
want of fixed principles, an answer is at hand, these
writers inform us. In the first month of 1847 M.
Guizot wrote a series of despatches to the French
Minister at the court of Rome, bringing before the
newly-elected Pope certain articles agreed upon by the
five European Powers in 1831, with a view to the im-
provement of the Papal Government. Pius IX entered
heartily into the programme, and immediately upon his
coronation had the entire series of papers collected,
with all the appended documents, and these he kept
in his own room in the Quirinal, with his private
papers, intending to make the fullest use of them.
When, however, he was driven into exile, these papers,
with many others, were stolen and dispersed or de-
stroyed. The Pope had made no secret of his reason
for collecting the papers, said to have been very bulky,
and lumbering his private room with them. His
intention was to study them diligently, and by their
light to give to the Pontifical Government that com-
pletion which he felt it still needed. Of course, it is a
great pity that the loss of these papers should have
UNIVERSITY
264 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
entirely stopped for twenty years ail reform at the
Holy See; but, for the present, I will return to the
Syllabus, and its growth from the sapling of 1847 to
the GEcumenical Council of 1870. The present argu-
ment worked out elaborately before us that if the world
stood by quietly and watched with approving smiles the
first inception, the scattered anticipation, and the slow
progress of this enormous design, it has no reason to
interfere with the final execution. The argument is
addressed, of course, to those who are directly con-
cerned in the result, and who also had the power
always in their hands. Why did they let the work go
on towards its evil and bitter end ? But the argument
is still liable to the rejoinder — If all that comes of
allowing Pius IX to begin as he did, and go on as he
did, what in the world will not come of letting him
work it out to the very end of all ?'
The famous despatch of Count Daru of the 1 8th of
February, and the subsequent claim of the Emperor's
Government to send an envoy to the Council are the
consistent steps of a policy the ultimate object of which
must soon be placed beyond the realm of conjecture.
It is said that Count Daru is the only member of the
Imperial Government who desires to assert the claim
of direct representation at the Council, and that the
result of the further deliberations of the Cabinet will be
the withdrawal of the demand l . By this means the
1 The Journal of Geneva recently published an analysis of the
note addressed by Count Daru to the Vatican, and of Antonelli's
reply. According to this journal, Count Daru's despatch does
not touch upon the question of the Pope's infallibility so lightly
as was supposed. He claims for the French Government the
right of being heard in the discussion of matters of a mixed
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 265
threatening rupture with Rome may be averted ; but it
is instructive to note the grounds upon which the
Ultramontane press disallows the claims of France. c At
the Council of Trent,' says the Tablet, c the ambassa-
dors represented Catholic sovereigns and stable govern-
ments, whereas now there is not a Catholic government
in Europe — since Jews, Protestants, and Atheists may
be members of any of them/ Quoting with approval
similar remarks from the Pays, the Tablet cannot be-
lieve that the French Government can persist in offering
counsels to. the Head of the Church, or authorize any
kind of ambassadorial agent to present himself in its
name, c in order to talk Latin to the Council.' The
Cabinet, the Tablet thinks, will content itself with
having made a blunder, and will not persist in convert-
ing it into a fault. But if France remains obdurate,
let her know that a French envoy, talking against the
Syllabus, c would be disarmed by the smiles of his
audience, and feel himself crushed with ridicule under
a sense of his own presumption!'
character, but does not insist upon it to the extent allowed at the
Council of Trent. The French Minister for Foreign Affairs
says that the Government would be satisfied to have a French
bishop explaining in the Council the condition and the rights of
the country ; and he concludes by proposing a modification of
the programme of the Council in the above sense, even if it
should be found necessary to prorogue the Council. Count
Daru's despatch does not make any threat in the event of a
refusal being received from the Vatican. Cardinal Antonelli, in
his reply, represents that a bishop could not reconcile the double
duties of an ambassador and a Father of the Council. Neverthe-
less he does not decline to receive observations from France
before the discussion on any particular question, but neither can
he undertake that the recommendations which may be given will
be adopted.
266 THE TEMPORAL POWER [cHAP.
But the Syllabus, as interpreted by the articles De
Romano Vontipce, contains in its eighty propositions the
germ of almost every dogma to be submitted to the
Council, not excepting the Pope's secular right to the
temporal estate. It would identify the constitution of
the Church with a particular domestic establishment,
c notoriously the stone of permanent offence to the
unity of Italy, and thereby to the secular peace of a
most important part of Catholic Europe.' The elabo-
rate tissue of dogmatic propositions , composing this
document, upon which it is sought to set the final seal
of authority, are framed to secure to the powerful party
now dominant in Rome the retention of their power,
and to stifle the uprising of a contrary influence. Very
suggestive upon this point is the following proposition
bearing upon the question of the day : — ' The govern-
ment of the public schools in a Christian State cannot
belong, and ought not to belong, to the civil authority.'
These — and not simply questions bearing upon the
minute points of ecclesiastical discipline cunningly
brought into prominence in the Syllabus — are matters
upon which the Council cannot avoid the responsibility
of discussion. c It is more probable,' says a writer in
the Pall Mall Gazette, c that the bishops will be re-
quested to sanction it in the complex by an open and
unanimous adhesion, and to explain in detail such of
the condemnations as are obscurely worded or errone-
ously interpreted by the public. Such is said to have
been the advice of the majority of the consultors of the
Commission for politico-ecclesiastical affairs.'
Whilst these pages are passing through the press, in-
telligence reaches us of the c unanimous ' voting of the
first Schema de Fide, on the nth of April. According to
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 26 J
the official journal of Rome, 515 bishops voted for the
schema unreservedly, and 83 conditionally. The Ultra-
montane press is triumphant, and wisely reticent con-
cerning the 100 bishops now in Rome who were
conspicuous by their absence from the division.
The Jesuits have undoubtedly achieved a triumph
greater than they could have anticipated, and at which
they have some right to be jubilant. But, amid the
vociferous applause with which it is communicated to
the world, it is well that we should realize what,
stripped of the trappings of polemical bedizenment,
this success really means. It is simply this, that nearly
five months of debate in the Council, which the Civllta
Cattolka prognosticated would be of as short duration
as that of Chalcedon, has produced the nett result of
carrying one of the fifty-three schemata on the Council
programme, and that only in the extremely modified
form imparted to it by Cardinal Bilio's committee, in
deference to the strictures of the opposition in the
preliminary discussions.
That the entire Constitution de Vide will now be
carried no longer admits of doubt. But the tones of
Pius IX, while gladdening the hearts of the Ultramon-
tane bishops, as he pronounces these deplorable articles
of the Syllabus to be the law of the Church, will pro-
nounce the final severance of Rome, with her intolerable
pretensions, from the current of modern thought — the
divorce, final and complete, between reason and faith.
The Consitution de Vide consists of eighteen canons,
distributed under four articles : — Of God, the Creator of
all things ; Of Revelation ; Of Faith ; and Of Faith and
Reason. The first pronounces the curse of the Church
upon all those who encounter metaphysical difficulties
268 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
in their conception of the Creator. c If any one shall
say finite things as well corporeal as spiritual, or at
least the spiritual, have emanated from the Divine
substance, let him be anathema.' How many simple
God-fearing souls will be consigned to perdition for
their c damnable error 5 of failing rightly to comprehend
the mystery of creation, — c the Lord breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living
soul?'
The second article anathematizes all those who
reject as uncanonical c the whole books of Holy Scrip-
ture, with all their parts, as set forth by the Council of
Trent, or deny that they are divinely inspired,' — the
legend of Bel and the Dragon, introducing us to c the
company of the priests with their wives and children^
and the licentious story of Susanna and the Elders
included.
The third article reiterates the curses of the Church
upon all such as receive the doctrine of justification by
faith. And
The fourth pronounces anathema upon those who
accept the teachings of science when in seeming op-
position to revelation, or 'to the sense which the
Church has always attributed to dogmas.'
The period for the discussion of the great question
draws on apace. The papers referring to the Schema
Deuxmano Fontifice, embracing the question of Papal
Infallibility, will, it is said, be distributed to the
Fathers immediately after the promulgation of the
Constitution de Fide. Then we shall learn the real
strength of the opposition, — whether their courage has
evaporated in words, or, being heaven-born, will brave
the consequences of earnest and conscientious protest.
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 269
But it is easy to perceive that, with the present organi-
zation of the hierarchy, it is a hopeless undertaking for a
few, or even for many bishops, to resist the programme
of the Jesuits, supported by the supreme head of the
Church with all the authority with which his Apostolic
chair is now surrounded.
The Church of Rome ascribes many of her misfor-
tunes to the want of accurate definitions. Such is the
justification put forward for the present Council, and
for the great dogma which, in some form or other, will
doubtless be promulgated. The success with which, in
former ages, the Church has addressed itself to the
settlement of complicated theological and speculative
questions, encourages the Jesuits to make light of the
quicksands amongst which they are now moving. They
are as buoyant with hope as are those c perfidious
enemies ' of the Pope that hail the infatuation of the
men who will c cause the Papacy to stultify itself
beyond all cure.'
Speculation upon the vicissitudes of this great question
would be profitless and tedious, and it is unnecessary to
review the history of a controversy which has been
brought to the foreground of all discussion upon the
proceedings of the Council.
The Fathers of the Council demand freedom of speech,
and the Pope has recently declared that he did not
wish any bishop to return to his diocese c without
having said all that he thought it his duty to say/ The
spirit of independence which is developing itself in the
very bosom of the assembled episcopate is reflected by,
or is perhaps itself the reflection of, the same spirit in
their flocks out of doors. In rapid succession, the most
important towns of Germany have declared themselves
270 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
against the dogma of Infallibility. Bonn, Breslau, and
Cologne have united with ultramontane Wurzburg, and
the not less ultra-Roman laity of the city of Munich, in
doing honour to the courageous and orthodox theo-
logian, Dr. Dollinger, for his fearless advocacy of
Catholic freedom, whilst the King of Prussia has ad-
dressed to him an autograph letter thanking him for
those manly theses in which he demolished Rome's
pretensions to infallibility.
Will that freedom of debate upon this crucial ques-
tion, claimed by the bishops 7 and in words conceded by
the Pope, be allowed ? There are unmistakable indica-
tions that anything like free discussion will be sup-
pressed; and the so-called deliberations of the Council,
however protracted, will issue in the formal registering
of the dogma, enunciated, like that of 1854, on the
sole responsibility of Pius IX. Few will be found to
emulate the temerity of those who have presumed to
avail themselves of the promised liberty of debate.
The following warning which has recently appeared
in the Civilta Cattolka^ the infallible echo of Vatican
law, might well disturb the equanimity of the most
resolute of prelates. c What/ it asks, c is the Pope in
relation to the episcopate in council assembled? As
the successor of Peter, he is, according to Scripture, the
corner-stone of the Church, the possessor of the keys of
heaven, the shepherd of the flock of Christ. According
to the Council of Lyons he is the guide of the Univer-
sal Church ; according to that of Florence, he is the
head, the master, the father of all Christianity
These are the relations between the Pope and the
Church, whether the latter be considered in its
isolated and special groups, or as a whole, in corpore, or
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. <ZJI
in council. What, then, tell us these relations be-
tween Pope and Church in their special groups or in
council? Supreme authority and subjection: — the
former vested in the Pope, the latter the part of the assembly
of the bishops /' c No doubt/ observes a writer in the
Pall Mall Gazette , c liberty of speech is an indispensable
prerogative of any council not a sham • but to those
who reckon on the warrant of sacred right to secure
them against despotic encroachments by a holy Father,
we would recount a little fact that happened in 1854.
There was then also a question of promulgating a
dogma, very dear to the heart of its promoters, and the
bishops had been worked assiduously as now, until they
were all as soft as butter. There was then also a so-
called deliberative assembly, professing gravely and
conscientiously to discuss pros and cons, the conclusion
being all the while foregone. And, moreover, there
was then in Rome one, Abbe Laborde, who was in-
nocent enough to believe words were meant to be
taken at their sense, and accordingly begged to be
allowed to state, not at all his dissent from, but merely
the grounds on which he desired further argument in
behalf of, the proposed dogma. Abbe Laborde received
the following reply. He was then and there taken
neck and crop and forcibly expelled from Rome i. 1
1 The Pall Mall Gazette gives the following account of a
'scene' enacted at the latest sitting of the Council:— ' The
amenities of debate were, perhaps, not too closely observed ; at
any rate, two right rev. Fathers, Cardinal Schwarzenberg and
Monsignor Strossmayer, were " called to order." Until we have
had an authoritative denial of the incident, there can be no harm
in saying that, according to our correspondent, the cardinal
attacked the revised scheme De Fide, especially denouncing the
canons which anathematized Protestants as contrary to the spirit
272 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
Already the original regulations of the Council,
which afforded too much scope for the dangerous
eloquence and excessive earnestness of the opposition,
have been modified by a decree requiring the Fathers to
present in writing to the Commissions any objections
which they wish to urge. The substance of these objec-
tions will then be laid before the Council by the Com-
missions, and the debate strictly limited to their defence
or refutation. Further, when the Council shall decide
that any point of doctrine or discipline has been suffi-
ciently discussed, the vote upon it will be taken at once,
the Fathers being allowed to express their opinion
simply by votes of placet and non placet. The Pope has
been much annoyed at the protracted debates upon
schemata which are preliminary to the grand issue, and,
if the Roman correspondent of the Fall Mall Gazette is
to be credited, he has hit upon a novel experiment for
expediting the debates. He declares that the Fathers
of the Gospel. He eulogized the sanctity and genius which
ennoble many Protestants, and declared that such men " could
not be precipitated by words into hell." The cardinal is even
said to have characterized the threats of eternal torment so held
out as " profane and impudent." He then thanked God that the
time for these cursings between Catholics and Protestants was
now passed, never to return. The cardinal is reported to have
closed a remarkably vigorous speech with the declaration that
he longed to begin the great work of religious conciliation, and
he frankly tendered his hand to those Protestants whose benevo-
lence and piety he had so eloquently extolled. The storm which
immediately arose in the Council was not allayed when Monsig-
nor Strossmayer " ascended the tribune, and, amid a profound
silence, delivered the most eloquent panegyric on Protestants
that ever fell from a Catholic bishop." A scene of great con-
fusion ensued, and, as the tumult could not be repressed, the
legates broke up the assembly.'
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 273
can only be taught despatch by their stomachs. The
other day he said to his household, c If they are kept
without dinner till they do something, you will see how
quick the affairs of the Council will proceed.' Accord-
ingly, the supplement to the regulations is to be further
supplemented by a decree that the Fathers are not to
leave the Council Hall till they have agreed upon the
question in debate.
Such are the tactics to which it is found necessary to
resort, in order that the doctrines of the Syllabus shall
not be set aside by an assembly in which the Pope com-
mands a large and faithful majority, made up of Italian,
Spanish, and Missionary bishops, and of the Vicars-
Apostolic, the creatures of the Pontiff. c Bishops/ said
Bossuet, c are pastors in relation to their people, but
sheep in relation to Peter.'
In illustration of the grim fanaticism, as pretentious
in the nineteenth as in the eleventh century, which in-
spires the Roman curia, no apology is necessary for the
introduction of the following series of dogmatic for-
mulas from the Schema Constitutions Dogmatics de Ecclesia
Christi, submitted to the Council at its first session
after Christmas, and which it is believed were the
occasion of the intimation given by the French Govern-
ment of its inability to consider with indifference any
extreme resolutions adopted by the Council. In this
document, which forms a volume of 200 pages, we have
presented the full civil code, as conceived in the nine-
teenth century, of a corporation claiming, under the
direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost, to proclaim the
mind of Christ, whose Church is founded in love and
peace and good-will to all mankind. The second
section of the Schema contains the following twenty-one
274 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
canons, expressing dogmatically a series of propositions
previously developed. .
The Church of Christ.
Canon I.— Whosoever says that the religion of Christ
is not existing and expressed in any community estab-
lished by Christ Himself, but that it can be rightly
held and exercised by each individual for himself, and
without regard to any community which constitutes the
Church of Christ, let him be anathema.
Canon II. — Whosoever says the Church has not re-
ceived from Christ any positive and unchangeable or-
ganization, but that it is, just like any other human
community, mutable and transformable according to
the changes of the times, let him be anathema.
Canon III. — Whosoever says the Church of Divine
Promises is not an external and visible community,
but a purely internal and invisible one, let him be
anathema.
Canon IV. — Whosoever says that the true Church is
not a body in itself, but consists of different and
dispersed denominations, and is diffused throughout
them all • or that the different communities opposed to
each other in their professions of faith, and divided in
their spirit, equally form members or parts of the one
common Church of Christ, let him be anathema.
Canon V. — Whosoever says that the Church of Christ
is not an institution absolutely necessary for reaching
eternal happiness, or that men can arrive at this bless-
ing through the exercise of any other kind of religion,
let him be anathema.
Canon VI. — Whosoever says that the authority with
which the Catholic Church proscribes and condemns
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 275
all religious sects separated from its communion is not
prescribed by Divine right • or that about religious
truths only opinions, not certainties, can exist, and
that therefore all religious sects are to be tolerated, let
him be anathema.
Canon VII. — Whosoever says that this very Church
of Christ can fall into darkness or error, and so deviate
from the Holy Truth in faith and morals, and fall away
from its original institution into depravity and corrup-
tion, let him be anathema.
Canon VIII. — Whosoever says that the present
Church of Christ in not the last and highest institution
for reaching eternal happiness, but that there is another
to be expected through a new and more complete effu-
sion of the Holy Spirit, let him be anathema.
Canon IX. — Whosoever says that the infallibility of
the Church is restricted only to things contained in the
Divine Revelation, but is not extended to other truths
which are necessary to the integral maintenance of the
Revelation, let him be anathema.
Canon X. — Whosoever says that the Church is not a
perfect institution, but merely a corporation, or that it
is of such a nature, with regard to civil society or the
State, as to be subject to temporal power, let him be
anathema.
Canon XL — Whosoever says that the Church, di-
vinely instituted, is like a society of equals, and that
the Bishops, having offices and duties, possess no
governmental power bestowed upon them by Divine
right and which. they can freely exercise, let him be
anathema.
Canon XII. — Whosoever says that Christ, our
Saviour and Sovereign, has conferred upon the Church
t 2
27^ THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
the power to direct only by advice and persuasion those
who turn aside, not to compel them by orders, by co-
ercion, and by external verdicts and statutory punish-
ments, let him be anathema.
Canon XIII. — Whosoever says that the true Church of
Christ, out of which there is no salvation, is any other
than the holy Catholic and Roman Apostolic Church,
let him be anathema.
Canon XIV. — Whosoever says that the Holy Apostle
Peter was not appointed by Christ as the first of the
apostles, and as the visible head of the whole Church
Militant, or that he had only the honorary supremacy,
but not the true and real jurisdiction, let him be
anathema.
Canon XV. — Whosoever says that it is not according
to Christ's own will that St. Peter has permanent suc-
cessors in his supremacy over the whole Church, or that
the Roman Pope is not the successor of Peter in this
primacy by Divine right, let him be anathema.
Canon XVI. — Whosoever says that the Roman Pope
has only the office of superintendence and direction,
not the highest and fullest power of jurisdiction over
the whole Church, or that this power is not direct and
legitimate over the whole of the various Churches, let
him be anathema.
Canon XVII. — Whosoever says that the independent
Church authority, as established by the Catholic Church
and bestowed upon her by Christ, and the supreme civil
power cannot exist together, so as to preserve the due
rights of both, let him be anathema.
Canon XVIII. — Whosoever says that the power
necessary for the government of a civil State does not
emanate. from God, or that one is not bound by Divine
XIV.] GF THE PAPACY. 2JJ
law to submit himself to such power, or that such
power is repugnant to the natural liberty of men, let
him be anathema.
Canon XIX. — Whosoever says that all rights exist-
ing between men arise from the political State, and
that there is no other authority besides that so consti-
tuted, let him be anathema.
Canon XX. — Whosoever says that the supreme rule
for public and social conduct is in the law of the
political State, or in the public opinion of men, or that
the judgments of the Church concerning what is lawful
and unlawful do not extend to such actions, or that
there may be something allowed by civil rights that is
not allowed by Church rights, let him be anathema.
Canon XXI. — Whosoever says that the laws of the
Church have no binding power, excepting so far as they
are confirmed by the sanction of the civil power, or
that this civil power has the right, consequent on its
high authority, to pronounce judgment or decisions in
matters of religion, let him be anathema.
There is nothing new in the cursing propensities of
a Church whose power, from the days of Gregory the
Great, when her insatiable thirst for wealth and power
obscured the image of her Founder, has been built upon
interdicts and anathemas. But the question presents
itself, Is this indeed c the Rock of unshaken Truth?' is
this c a photograph of the Bride of Christ ?' Let us see
who it is upon whom heaven's wrath is here denounced.
It is well that we are not left to deduce this from the
fevered diatribes of polemical and heretical controver-
sialists. We have before us the deliberate production
of the legislators of the Roman Church, unfettered save
278 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
in their devotion to him whom they regard as its in-
fallible head.
He, then, who receives the Saviour's words c Other
sheep I have which are not of this fold/ is accursed.
He who does not believe that our Saviour erred in
giving his commission to c other seventy* besides the
Apostles, confirming it with those suggestive words c he
that despiseth you despiseth Me/ is accursed.
He who holds with Peter, that God is no respecter of
persons, but in every nation he that feareth Him, and
worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him, is ac-
cursed.
He who, with Paul, recognizing that there is not in
every man the same knowledge, scorns to become a
stumbling-block to a weak brother, is accursed.
He who listens to the admonition of the Apostle
James, c So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be
judged by the law of liberty,' is accursed.
He who does not believe that the Master erred when
He said c My kingdom is not of this world,' is accursed.
He who hesitates to ignore, and when necessary to
deny, historical facts which militate against the Papal
pretensions, is accursed.
Finally, he who accepts that most accursed heresy,
that c Love is the fulfilling of the law,' or believes that
the infallibility of St. Peter himself must not be assigned
to a date posterior to his exhortation to the elect,
c Above all things have fervent charity among your-
selves,' and again, to his antecedent reprobation of the
perverse rendering of the charge c Feed my sheep,' by
himself commenting upon it thus, c Not as lords over
God's heritage/ is accursed.
The curses of the Church extend not only to every
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 2*]<)
man who doubts her most overweening pretensions,
they embrace him also who presumes to doubt the
eternal damnation of the. doubter. Verily, c as troops
of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests
murder in the way by consent.' Thus far the Papal
anathemas apply only to the realm of opinion ; did they
stop here the civil powers would continue to look on
with placid indifference. But these far-reaching curses
consign to perdition every man who dares to accept the
evidence of his senses that civil society can exist apart
from the Roman Catholic Church. They invade the rights
of nations, and pre-eminently of France, by aiming at
the subversion of Concordats, the only safeguards of
Catholic governments against priestly encroachments.
We see, to-day, the Catholic governments of Europe
conceding liberal institutions, in the hope of directing,
as the only alternative of being subverted by, the ad-
vancing and irresistible tide of democracy. Will they,
will France, concede the claim of Rome to propound
laws upon which no lay sovereign may trespass save at
the peril of eternal damnation ? c Thy people are as they
who strive with the priest,' was the bitter taunt with
which Hosea demonstrated the hopelessness of Israel's
controversy with Jehovah. But the day is past when it
shall be said, c There shall be like people, like priest/
Priestcraft is dead ; it remains only to be buried. The
Council which is to proclaim the infallibility of the
chief priest of Rome, has well inaugurated its discus-
sions by this wild utterance of Papal self-inflation,
exhibiting in its true character the corpse which it is
now the business of civil society decently to inter.
The definition of Infallibility to which the Council
will be invited to attach the seal of authority, has
28o THE TEMPORAL POWER [
CHAP.
been recently published as an additional article to the
Schema to which I have referred. It is in the following
terms : —
c Chapter to be added to the decree upon the primacy
of the Roman Pontiff, to the effect that the Roman
Pontiff cannot err in the definition of matters of faith
or morals.
c The Holy Roman Church possesses the supreme and
complete primacy and principality over the Universal
Catholic Church, which it verily and humbly acknow-
ledges to have received, with the plenitude of the power
of the Lord himself, in the person of St. Peter, the
Prince of Apostles, of whom the Roman Pontiff is the
successor.
c And as, above all things, it behoves it to make clear
the truth of the faith, all questions which may arise
upon matters of faith must be determined by its judg-
ment, seeing that otherwise the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ (Tu es Petrus, &c.) would be disregarded.
c That which has been set forth upon this point has
been proved by the results as in the Apostolic See. The
Catholic religion has always been preserved immaculate,
and its doctrine has always been maintained at its ful-
ness [celebratd).
c Consequently, we inculcate, with the concurrence of
the Holy Council, and we define as a dogma of faith
that, thanks to the divine assistance, it is that the
Roman Pontiff, of whom it was said in the person of
St. Peter by our same Lord Jesus Christ, cc I have prayed
for thee/' &c. cannot err when, acting in his quality as
supreme teacher of all Christians, he defines what the
Universal Church must hold in matters of faith and
morals, and that the prerogative of inerrancy or infalli-
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 28 1
bility extends over the same matters to which the in-
fallibility of the Church is applicable. But if any one
should dare — which may God forbid! — to controvert
our present definition, let him know that he departs
from the truth of the faith/
It is easy to comprehend the overwhelming interest
which the court of Rome must take in the authoritative
definition of Papal Infallibility. If, they contend, the
Church be an organic body possessing infallibility, that
infallibility must reside in its head. In the pretension
itself there is nothing new. It is the world, and not
the Pope, that changes; and to this is assignable the
now recognized absurdity of claims, blindly accepted
during the middle ages, and only necessary to vindicate
and enforce by the decisions of a Council when the
advance of freedom and intelligence, the revelations of
science \ and the consequent elevation of opinion, has
snapped the fetters of priestcraft, and proclaimed the
divorce of civil society from that old order of things to
which the Church of Rome tenaciously clings.
By the entire Ultramontane press of Europe the
question of Infallibility is regarded as one altogether
fundamental — touching the essential constitution of
the Church itself. In the Tablet , of the 12th of March,
we read : — c As far as it concerns their immunity from
errors in matters of faith, by providing them with an
1 The first proposition on 'rationalism' submitted to the
Council, and which has elicited such a storm of condemnatory
eloquence from many of its most eminent members, is said to be
this : — ' That the human mind, unassisted by Divine light, is
unable to arrive at truth, and therefore that the conclusions
drawn from history, science, and experiment, if not in accord-
ance with the dogmas of the Church, are to be rejected and
condemned.'
2%2 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
infallible guide, it is a purely spiritual question, affect-
ing the truths of revelation, and our own certainty with
respect to them. But in its bearings on the general
constitution of the Church it has also a politico-
religious aspect which deserves separate attention, and
of which the gravity is apparent even to non-Catholics.'
It is in this politico-religious aspect that the decisions
of the Council upon this and other matters claim con-
sideration here.
To an ordinary understanding it would seem that
the alleged necessity of a Council to propound dogmas,
and to solve doubts, involves the deliberate acknow
ledgment of Fallibility. And this view is consistent
with the history of the Church — not indeed with the
popular creed throughout the darkest period of the
middle ages, but with the repeated decisions of
Councils regarded by Rome herself as CEcumenical,
and their decrees consequently binding upon the con-
science of Christendom.
With infallibility is intimately associated the prin-
ciple of absolute supremacy. The tendency of Rome
towards absolutism we have seen to be of ancient date.
But the dogmatic definition of the Personal Infallibility
of the Pontiff', and by induction of his superiority over
Councils, in the face of repeated decisions of CEcume-
nical Councils in a contrary sense, involves the
absurdity of demonstrating the fallibility of infallible
Popes and Councils. Either the Council of Constance
was infallible or it was not. If it was not, then on the
Ultramontane theory of the Pope's sole infallibility, all
preceding Councils were also fallible, and the Council
of the Vatican cannot be held to constitute an excep-
tion. But Rome has always held that the Council of
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 283
Constance was infallible; the Pope, therefore, who dares
to question the binding power of its decisions incurs the
sin of schism, and the resulting penalty of deposition.
'When Popes damn Popes, and Councils damn them all,
And Popes damn Councils, what must Christians do?
When they each other's laws damn and recall,
How shall we know whose power then was true 1 ? '
But this question of infallibility has also wider
bearings. It will inevitably — in point of fact it does
already — awaken the jealous susceptibilities of govern-
ments from which Rome cannot afford to be alienated.
The recent changes in the home policy of the Emperor
of the French, necessitate his reverting to the original
condition — that of good government — upon which the
French protectorate in Rome was undertaken. It is
impossible for him to promote in France those civil
institutions which, supported by the protection of
French troops, the Pope is trampling under foot in
Rome, without raising suspicions as to the sincerity
of his liberal intentions. The Emperor of Austria is
equally pledged to oppose the fanatical pretensions of
the Pope's Ultramontane advisers, whilst other powers,
both Catholic and Protestant, concur in protesting
against these extravagances. c These governments/
says the Times, c would be all more or less anxious to
prevent the Pope from being invested with an un-
limited and uncontrolled spiritual authority which he
might possibly make use of to create embarrassments
in their respective dominions. The new dogma would
offend a large proportion of Latin Catholics, as intro-
ducing a profound change in the constitution of the
1 Richard Baxter.
284 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
Church, and because, in our times, absolutism in re-
ligion is not more relished than in politics. Oriental
Catholics would take immediate alarm at a dogma
which is directly opposed to their unbounded venera-
tion for CEcumenical Councils, and would render those
solemn assemblies useless in future.'
The position in which Pius IX will find himself,
through the reassertion of the mediaeval pretensions,
is that of his own choosing. Italy waits for her capital,
and the world's plaudits would attend the magnanimity
of the ruler who should say — It is hers !
The supremacy involved in the recognition of infalli-
bility would be complete over the material as over the
spiritual world. It would stamp out the last remnant
of the Gallican school, and of the liberal and consti-
tutional party in the Church of Rome, all over Chris-
tendom, and secure the uncontrolled triumph of the
Ultramontanes, animated by their old proclivities to
tyranniz2 over the rulers and peoples of the earth.
The result might be fittingly embodied in a formulary
which we humbly submit to the consideration of H. £.
Cardinal Antonelli : —
1 This is the Pope,
That rules the Council,
That rules the Church,
That rules the world.'
c The great object of the Council,' remarks an eminent
ecclesiastical historian \ c is to place society and the
Church on what Rome regards as their true basis.
1 British Quarterly Review, April, 1870. Article, ' The Council
of the Vatican.' We can hardly be in error in attributing this
able and interesting article to the pen of the distinguished author
of ' The Church of the Restoration.'
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 285
This basis for the State is a theocracy ; for the Church,
the Pope's infallibility. Thus to confirm the Syllabus,
to proclaim Papal infallibility, to complete the glorifi-
cation of Mary, is the programme elaborated at Rome.'
Throughout the world a conflict between Church and
State will be precipitated, and its issue is not uncertain.
The prescience of Rome descries c terrible revolutions'
as the penalty of civil laws c contrary to the decrees of
the Council.' But Rome has no longer the power to
accomplish the fulfilment of her own prophecies. c For
these u terrible revolutions," indeed, it is difficult to say
who ought to be most anxious to prepare ; for, although
during these last eighty years revolutions have been
only too frequent, we cannot recall one that has arisen
out of zeal for the Papacy, or in defence of Concordats,
or out of resentment for the disregarded decrees and
regulations of a Council. Rather the reverse has
generally been the case. The thread of tyranny
snapped when it was pressed too tightly in obedience
to Papal ascendancy. If the Civilta Cattolica doubt
the fact, let it look at the fallen dynasties, victims of
u terrible revolutions" — those Tuscan, Neapolitan, and
other royal families now crowding the Royal Tribune
at the Council Hall in the Vatican — those dynasties
who cast in their lot with the Pope, and whose lot the
Pope himself partially shared. In this matter of
cc terrible revolutions," it will be well if the warning
which Rome addresses to her neighbours be not lost
upon herself 1 .'
But this dogma, to be defined out of consideration
for c the greater glory of God,' is also fraught with
danger to the Church as a spiritual corporation. There
1 The Times.
286 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
is a limit — and Rome must learn the fact — to the
passive susceptibility whose impotence of resistance
has allowed the definition of the dogma of the Im-
maculate Conception; whilst the spectacle of the
civil governments arrayed in self-defence against the
reviving encroachments of a spiritual power in avowed
antagonism with all that is liberal and progressive in
modern ideas, is little calculated to retard the advance
of rationalism and infidelity which it is the mission of
the Church to arrest.
The discussions of the past sessions of the Council,
wherein language, to which Rome is little accustomed
to listen, has fallen from the lips of prelates of high
degree, may induce the managers of the Council yet
more effectually to seal the lips of the refractory
bishops. But what if Catholics outside, profoundly
believing in the direct superintendence of the Holy
Ghost over the deliberations of the Council, should be
perverse enough to regard such tactics in the light of
an impious attempt to control the mouth of inspira-
tion? What if indignant Catholics, in Germany,
Hungary, Switzerland —even in priest-ridden Spain and
Italy — should clamour for the establishment of National
Churches^ enjoying, at the least, the liberty which France
extorted as the condition of tolerating the Roman
Catholic religion ? These are not visionary dangers.
From Madrid we learn that the Government abstain
from sending a special envoy to the Council on the
ground of the intolerant spirit which prevails at Rome.
This is consistent with the rapid spread of a diametri-
cally opposite principle in Spain, where complete liberty
of conscience is now recognized as the divine right of
man.
xrv
.] OF THE PAPACY. 287
The consequences, as regards the Roman Catholic
laity of Switzerland, of the attempts to check all free
discussion in the Council, are thus described by an
intelligent observer : — c There is some reason to think
that the Roman Catholic laity of Switzerland will set
an example of resistance to the pretensions of the
Ultramontane clergy, which may probably be imitated
in other countries. The position taken up by the Swiss
prelates at the Council, with only one exception, has
been deeply resented by their countrymen. An ad-
dress issued by the Catholics of Aargan represents the
opinion of the public with considerable accuracy. Its
authors denounce the views now in favour at Rome
as contradictory to the teachings of history and science,
and describe the attribution of supernatural powers to
the Pope as a return to the blindness of heathenism.
They hold that the only true remedy must be sought in
a searching reform of the Church, and the complete
subordination of the clergy to the State, with the insti-
tution of diocesan synods, in which the laity must be
largely represented. Their demand, in short, prac-
tically amounts to complete independence of Rome.
The opposition of intelligent laymen is a disturbing
element which as yet has not been sufficiently taken
into account. In Switzerland it is probable that Rome
will provoke a secession. In Southern Germany, where
Austria has lost a golden opportunity of placing herself
at the head of liberal Catholicism, the Jesuits, it is now
seen, have been playing into the hands of Bismarck,
and forcing the ablest thinkers in the Southern States
to look to Prussia as the ultimate safeguard of the inde-
pendent Church of Germany/
An eminent German bishop has declared his convic-
288 THE TEMPORAL POWER [
CHAP.
tion that one effect of the decree of Papal infallibility
would be to make all Germany Protestant. The
German press teems with contemptuous ridicule of
the programme of the Jesuits. The Neue Freie Presse,
an Austrian journal, says: — c The Pope has at length
resolved to make a bold stroke on the question of
Infallibility. On the 25th inst., the Feast of the An-
nunciation, we are told that the (Ecumenical Council
will, in a public sitting, proclaim "the additional
article of the Schema" the Infallibility of the Pope.
Christ, according to the Scriptures,' it continues, c be-
came man and dwelt among us. Pius IX and his
successors are to become God from the 25th of March,
during the short time of their pilgrimage upon earth.
But,' it adds, c the Pope, adorned with his new infalli-
bility, may learn that there are certain things the nine-
teenth century will tolerate just as little as the six-
teenth. 5
As an illustration of the boldness of the language in
which zealous Catholics do not hesitate to denounce the
projects of the Roman Curia, the following quotation
from an address, c to the Vatican Council, 5 by Dr. Sepp,
quoted from the North German Correspondent, is interest-
ing and significant: — c The supreme authority in the
Church will be always respected by Catholics so long
as we hear nothing beyond authority, but the word
"infallibility" is a stumbling-stone and an offence, and
woe to him by whom offences come. " You shall be
as Gods, 55 was not a celestial but a demoniacal sugges-
tion. The deification of the Roman emperors conduced
neither to the welfare of the world nor to that of the
Caesars, and what advantage is to accrue to humanity
from this new and significant dogma of Infallibility ? It
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 289
is surprising how often in history ecclesiastical digni-
taries, especially among the Latin nations, have been
the promoters of temporal despotism. The supreme
Head of the Church must never degenerate into the
Dalai Lama of the West. Never must we recognize in
the Pope a new incarnation of the Logos, an additional
revelation and ecclesiastical oracle. Christ alone, and
not his high priest, must personally be the object of our
faith and trust. The thunders of the Vatican may be
tried to subject the world to the claims of this over-
weening ambition, but a recognition of such preten-
sions cannot be obtained by force. When brought
fairly face to face with the difficulties of the position,
the most devoted adherents of Rome will hesitate and
conscientiously refuse to proceed farther. Such an act
of self-glorification inspires the reflecting Catholic with
horror, and it reminds non-Catholics of some parts of
the book of Revelation. By the virtual institution of
an exclusively Italian Church government, by the as-
sumption of one infallible Head of the Church, deciding
dogmatically in disputed questions, the formation of
independent national Churches is provoked, and in ad-
dition to a Gallican and an Anglican a German Church
may, by the force of circumstances, be brought into ex-
istence. It is not an error to assert that even a hierarchy
cannot rule without a certain popularity. In the course
of a thousand years so many dogmas have not been pro-
claimed as in our times during a single Pontificate, and
no one felt the least longing for them with the excep-
tion of certain gentlemen in Rome. The proclam-
ation of the new dogma would be the first signal for
a new conflict with the Jesuits, and the first step to
their second overthrow/
u
290 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
In France the memorable letter of Father Hyacinthe
to the General of the Barefooted Carmelites at Rome,
revealing as it did, c a pure element of religion aiming
at emancipation from Roman tyranny,' will not soon be
forgotten. Denouncing c the divorce, as impious as it
is senseless, which Rome seeks to bring about between
the Church, which is our mother according to eternity,
and the society of the nineteenth century, of which we
are the sons in a temporal sense, and towards which we
also have duties and sympathies,' he declares himself —
knowing well that he carries with him the sympathies
of millions — c at war with those doctrines and prac-
tices which are called Roman ; ' with that false Catho-
licism to which he attributes the social, moral, and re-
ligious anarchy, into which France is plunged.
In the same sense, and within a fortnight of his
death, we have a kindred protest from the distinguished
historian and statesman to whose letter I have already
had occasion to refer. c A few hysterical words,' says
the Tablet ; but they are words carrying the emphasis
which we instinctively attach to all c last words,' whose
echoes will outlive the pretensions they denounce. Their
significance was at least recognized by the Pontiff, who,
if report speaks truly— though afterwards expressing the
pious hope that the Count had recanted his errors, and
ordering a mass to be said for the repose of his soul —
exclaimed on hearing of the distinguished patriot's death,
c Oh, what good fortune x ! ' Here are the words of this
1 The Tablet would have blushed to attribute to the Pope a
sentiment which even a man capable of feeling it would be
ashamed to avow. But the statement of the generally well-in-
formed correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette, is not less com-
plimentary to the good sense and refined feeling of the Pontiff,
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 29 1
most prominent champion of liberal views : — c Never,
thank Heaven, have I thought, said, or written any-
thing favourable to the personal and separate infalli-
bility of the Pope, such as it is sought to impose upon
us ; nor to the theocracy, the dictatorship of the Church,
which I did my best to reprobate in that history of the
cc Monks of the West," of which you are pleased to ap-
preciate the laborious fabric ; nor to that cc Absolutism
of Rome," of which the speech that you quote disputed
the existence, even in the Middle Ages, but which to-
day forms the symbol and the programme of the faction
dominant among us Therefore, without having
either the will or the power to discuss the question now
debating in the Council, I hail with the most grateful
admiration, first, the great and generous Bishop of
Orleans, then the eloquent and intrepid priests who
have had the courage to place themselves across the
path of the torrent of adulation, imposture, and servi-
lity by which we risk being swallowed up. Thanks to
them, Catholic France will not have remained too much
below Germany, Hungary, and America. I publicly
pride myself, and more than I can express by words, to
have them for friends and for brother academicians. I
have but one regret, that of being prevented by illness
from descending into the arena in their suite, not, cer-
tainly, on the ground of theology, but on that of history
and of the social and political consequences of the sys-
tem they contend against. Thus should I deserve my
than the account of this incident given by his monitor. ' What
he (Pius IX) did say,' says the Tablet, 'was that Montalembert
was one of those liberal Catholics who are only half Catholics.
Here the manner of Pius I X indicated -very emphatically a feeling
of disgust.' /^£esi~LiBR^^
U 1 f OFTHE
'university
california;
292 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
share (and it is the only ambition remaining to me) in
those litanies of abuse daily launched against my illus-
trious friends by a too numerous portion of that poor
clergy which prepares for itself so sad a destiny, and
which I formerly loved, defended, and honoured as it
had not yet been by any in modern France.'
There is no doubt that, to a certain class of mind,
the doctrine of Papal Infallibility possesses a powerful
fascination. It terminates once and for ever those per-
plexing questionings to which few reflective minds are
strangers, and which will wear the heart and brain until
they are resolved by hard, earnest, and honest thought j
or by that which is of infinitely less trouble, an appeal
to infallible authority.
Rome counts, no doubt, upon the implicit acceptance
by all the faithful of whatever decrees the Council may
promulgate. I have already referred to the improba-
bility of a successful schisrn, and to the prevailing dis-
position of the laity in most Roman Catholic countries
to accept, without enquiry, whatever may be prescribed
by the head of the Church. c It is a comfort,' says the
Tablet of the 19th of March, c to anticipate that our
accusers, as soon as the definition is made, will not
only cease from the strife and clamour, but accept it
with as cordial submission of heart and mind as if it had
always been the object of their wishes and prayers/
But Rome has given a mighty impulse to the spirit of
enquiry, and has demonstrated more effectually than all
the learned arguments of Protestant controversialists
which have been launched against her pretensions, that
her vaunted unity is a grand myth — her uniformity,
even, a thing of the past. It remains to be seen whether
in these days, intelligent and liberal Catholics will bow
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY, 293
down their reason with the blind submission of the dark
ages — whether, having unfurled the banner of Christian
freedom, they will lower it under the abject pretext of
submission, and thus c lend their influence towards con-
founding the Gospel of Christ with a system of oppres-
sion which disgusts all upright consciences V
The independent and antagonistic attitude assumed
by so many of the Fathers in the Council, has en-
couraged independent thought amongst their flocks;
and the demonstration of the fallibility of Councils
held to have been infallible, by the reversal of their
decisions in the promulgation of the dogma of the
Infallibility of the Pontiff, will assuredly create greater
consternation amongst the faithful in the nineteenth
century, than did the declarations of Popes contra-
dicting the doctrines of the Church, and their mutually
destructive enunciations, in the Middle Ages. It will
not be forgotten that the very last General Council
imposed limits on the personal Infallibility of the
Pontiff, and declared the voice of the whole Church,
and not the voice of the Pontiff, to be supreme.
The world has now heard more than enough about
one Infallible undoing and denouncing the acts of pre-
ceding Infallibles. The Times has recently remarked : —
c Pius IX has said "Let there be light," and light
there cannot fail to be. Let the upshot of the Council
be what it may, it will require no great effort for
mankind to arrive at the conclusion that the Papal
Infallibility, which so many took for granted, is a
point on which the Church never agreed, and never
can be brought to agree — a point which implied the
1 < British Quarterly Review/ April, 1870, Art. ' The Council of
the Vatican.'
294 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
subjection of the Church to the Pope, and the dis-
cussion of which is by no means unlikely to break up
Papal supremacy and accomplish ecclesiastical emanci-
pation/
The Church makes no new decrees, say the Ultra-
montanes; she does but place in a clearer light an
ancient and primordial truth in opposition to a later
error. The c later error, 5 now to be exploded by the
refulgence of light thrown upon it by the decision of
the Council, is the supremacy of Councils over Popes.
But the demonstration of this c error 5 is the demon-
stration of the Fallibility of Popes and Councils alike
who have decreed and enforced it. The well-known
canon of St. Vincent, c Qjod semper, quod ubique, quod ab
omnibus^ the very charter of the unity of faith and
practice in the Catholic Church — is abrogated.
Remembering how irrational, inconsistent, and even
heretical, some of the Popes have been — and this vast
prerogative, if now declared, must be held to have
applied to all such — it is at least within the region
of hypothesis to imagine a future Pontiff emulating the
religious aptitudes of the first Napoleon, and justifying,
on the ground of expediency, his profession of Islamism.
By a stroke of his pen such an Infallible may substitute
Mahomet for Christ in the creed of the Roman Catholic
Church. His decision being infallible, would consti-
tute an unimpeachable arret; the Christianity recog-
nized at Rome, and from which already Christ is well-
nigh ostracized by the greater honour rendered to the
Virgin, would be blotted out of existence. Whether
or not the world and the Catholic Church would be
gainers by the process, is a subject of discussion not
within our province.
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 295
It is impossible to escape the conviction that the
attempt to cripple all intellectual movement and scien-
tific activity in the Church by establishing the doctrine
of the personal Infallibility of the Pontiff, and the still
more absurd dogma of the corporeal assumption of
Mary and her husband — the principal objects of the
Council, to which the Pope will resist all opposition —
will try the fabric of the Roman Catholic Church as
nothing has tried it for centuries. It will arrest that
sympathy with Roman Catholicism which has developed
into an unreasoning passion with Liberals in Protestant
countries. Protestants may take pride in contrasting
the fearless honesty with which Protestant narrowness
and bigotry have been denounced in England and Ger-
many, with the extreme severity visited upon every
form of Protestantism in Catholic countries 1 . Surely,
however, adopting the language of the Pall Mall
Gazette, the time has now come for a rather different
policy : —
c Popery has in all directions become so vivacious
of late years, and so many circumstances combine to
help it on as a whole, and to give it favour in the eyes
of large classes of our countrymen and countrywomen,
that it is very desirable from time to time to insist
upon the fact that a large part of what it teaches is
paltry and effeminate nonsense, utterly destitute of the
slightest pretensions to the consideration of any serious
man, and deserving of the same sort of unqualified
contempt and disgust with which reasonable people
regard fortune-telling or any other gross delusion. But
1 If the Council declares the propositions of the Syllabus to be
Articles of Faith, religious persecution will become a sacred duty,
obligatory upon every member of the Roman Communion.
2()6 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
it is difficult to imagine a more offensive or degrading
spectacle than that of a number of men, mostly old
men too, meeting together to affirm in the most solemn
way the truth of a matter of fact about which they
neither do nor can know anything at all. If they do
make the affirmation in question, it will be neither
more nor less than a gross falsehood, for what false-
hood can be grosser than that of a person who solemnly
affirms the truth of a matter of fact which he does not
and cannot know to be true ? The falsehood, more-
over, will neither be less false nor less immoral because
it will be told in a deeply religious spirit by very pious
men. It is, indeed, obvious enough that to tell some
such falsehood as this, the more monstrous and baseless
the better, is the very object for which the Council is
convened. The object is to affront and protest against
human reason and the results to which it inevitably
leads, and to set up other standards of truth than those
which all men acknowledge in all other affairs. It is
a conspiracy to force down the real truth by setting up
a sham clerical truth based on mere assertion and sanc-
tioned by anathemas instead of evidence ; and this
appears to us a proceeding as immoral as it is con-
temptible. It is a relief to turn to the vast though
confused answer to the challenge which rises in dif-
ferent accents from every part of the world. We, say
the Pope and his lieutenants, are the sole organs of
moral and spiritual truth. We can announce to man-
kind at large all that they ought to know and believe
on all great subjects ex cathedra and without giving any
sort of grounds for our opinions. The answer is in-
direct and multifarious, but not the less impressive.
Religion, says the Parliament of England, is matter
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 29 J
of opinion. We will have free trade in it, and will
make our laws upon all subjects with less and less
reference to theological principles. The principles of
1789, say the French, express our real belief, and if
we can but settle our political difficulties, you shall
see how much we love you. The Spaniards convey
their criticism through a revolution. The Italians look
forward to the possession of Rome. Southern Germany
is shaking off the Concordat and all its works. Northern
Germany treats the Pope with civil contempt, and
North America leaves very little Popery even in the
Irish of the second generation. All this does not look
as if the world at large believed that the Pope knew
very much even about the Virgin Mary and her bodily
assumption. To be sure he knows just as much about
it as any one else, and a great deal more than the
author of the fourth gospel knew, or, at all events,
chose to tell. This writer — though, according to his
own account, he cc took her unto his own home,' 3 and
ought, therefore, to have been well informed on the
whole subject — says not one word about her except
that she was present at the. crucifixion, and was re-
proved at the marriage at Cana in Galilee.'
A General Council, says Dean Milman, is c unneces-
sary, and could hardly be convoked but on extraordinary
occasions, to settle some questions which have already
violently disorganized the peace of Christendom.' But
from the highest dignitary of the Church to the meanest
cure, there is not one that fails to recognize the insuf-
ficiency of the reasons assigned in the Syllabus of June,
1867, for the convening of an (Ecumenical Council.
No new heresy exists to be combated, no schism to be
anathematized. But whilst the apprehensions of nume-
298 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
rous ecclesiastics respecting the real objects of the
Council are shared by the secular Catholic powers,
whose representatives are excluded from its delibera-
tions, their distrust hardly ventures upon remonstrance
or enquiry. Indeed it is easy to perceive that enquiry
respecting the true aim and the practical regulation of
the Council, would be silenced by the retort that it
is impossible to predict the proceedings of men acting
under the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
Those who have watched the proceedings of the
court of Rome since the close of the Italian war,
must have observed in how marked a degree the in-
stability of purpose by which, for a decade, Pius IX
had been characterized, has given place to that con-
stancy which was an eminent characteristic of his early
life. Constancy in love, unrequited by the fair object
of his affections, converted the youthful soldier into a
priest. Constancy in the duties of his sacred calling
rendered him one of the brightest ornaments of the
Church, both in the mission-field abroad, and in more
responsible offices at home. Constancy to liberal prin-
ciples in an era of corruption and of political disquiet,
secured his election to the Papal throne. Constancy
in friendship, both before and after that event, is the
brightest trait in a character altogether estimable.
1 Rare is true love ; true friendship is still rarer ' ! '
Constancy of purpose enabled him to confront the
most powerful and determined opposition, and to in-
augurate his reign by that great act of grace, the
political amnesty, to which allusion has been made,
1 La Fontaine.
XIV.J OF THE PAPACY. 299
and afterwards to attempt the dangerous experiment
of constitutional rule.
From that period the reins of government have been
held by Antonelli, in whose hands the Pontiff long
remained but a vacillating tool. But the Cardinal who,
if the wisest, is no longer the most influential of the
Pope's advisers, is in disfavour ; and in the same ratio
as his influence declines, the PontifFs firmness of pur-
pose appears to revive.
In the revival, and the unfettered exercise of this
distinguishing characteristic, we see a guarantee for
the accomplishment of the cherished project of Pius
IX; and anticipate that concurrently with the preten-
tious assumptions with which the so-called CEcumenical
Council shall declare him personally the organ of the
unseen Ruler of the world, we may witness the com-
mencement of the last vital struggle for the mainten-
ance of the Temporal Sovereignty ; — the beginning of
the end of that august power which, for fifteen cen-
turies, has committed itself to an internecine contest
with human intelligence and freedom.
The world has long been familiar with the preten-
sions of Rome, but it is not often that they are stated
with greater candour and conciseness, or by one better
entitled to speak with authority, than in the following
sentences from the important address recently delivered
by Archbishop Manning at Kensington : —
'What was the meaning of modern civilization?
The state of political society founded upon divorce,
secular education, infinite divisions, and contradictions
in matters of religion, and the absolute renunciation
of the supreme authority of the Christian Church. Could
it, then, be matter of wonder that when the Roman
300 THE TEMPORAL POWER [CHAP.
Pontiff published the Syllabus all those who were in
love with modern civilization should have risen in
uproar against it ? Or could it be wondered that when
the world, with great courtesy sometimes, with great
superciliousness at another time, and great menace
always, invites the Roman Pontiff to reconcile himself
to Liberalism, progress, and modern civilization, he
should say, "No, I will not and cannot. Your pro-
gress means divorce, I maintain Christian marriage.
Your progress means secular education ; I maintain
that education is intrinsically and necessarily Christian.
You maintain that it is a good thing that men should
think as they like, talk as they like, preach as they
like, and propagate what errors they please. I say
that it is sowing error broadcast over the world. You
say I have no authority over the Christian world, that
I am not the Vicar of the Good Shepherd, that I am
not the supreme interpreter of the Christian Faith. I
am all these. You ask me to abdicate, to renounce
my supreme authority. You tell me I ought to submit
to the civil power, that I am the subject of the King
of Italy, and from him I am to receive instructions
as to the way I should exercise the civil power. I
say I am liberated from all civil subjection, that my
Lord made me the subject of no one on earth, king
or otherwise, that in His right I am sovereign. I
acknowledge no civil superior, I am the subject of no
prince, and I claim more than this — I claim to be
the Supreme Judge and director of the consciences of
men ; of the peasant that tills the field and the prince
that sits on the throne ; of the household that lives in
the shade of privacy and the Legislature that makes
XIV.] OF THE PAPACY. 3OI
laws for kingdoms — I am the sole last Supreme Judge
of what is right and wrong." '
We need not pause to criticize the Archbishop's
definition of c modern civilization.' Whether or not
it will, as alleged, fall to the lot of this English prelate
to become the mouthpiece of his fraternity in praying
the Pontiff to elevate the propositions of the Syllabus
into Articles of Faith, this is certain — that he is in
entire accord with that notorious document which
closes with these words, c They are in damnable error
who regard the reconciliation of the Pope with modern
civilization as possible or desirable.'
The principles of authority, and of the right of
private judgment — in conflict for three centuries —
are now seen preparing for a struggle which, it is ad-
mitted by the advocates of both, must be decisive and
final. The issue cannot be uncertain. That ancient
and crumbling theocracy which, arrogating to itself the
voice of prophecy, c I will make him my first-born,
higher than the kings of the earth,' has asserted a
supreme authority, in the regions both of the spiritual
and the secular, and still, with unabated presumption,
sets itself in opposition to the tide of progress and
of civilization, whilst poisoning Christianity at its
source, must give place to that light which it has striven
to quench in the blood of martyrs — and by atrocities
always on a par with its arrogance — even c the true
Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world.'
1 O that the free would stamp the impious name
Of Pope into the dust ! or write it there,
So that this blot upon the page of fame
Were as a serpent's path, which the light air
302 THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE PAPACY.
Erases, and the flat sands close behind !
Ye the oracle have heard;
Lift the victory-flashing sword,
And cut the snaky knots of this foul Gordian word,
Which, weak itself as stubble, yet can bind
Into a mass, irrefragably firm,
The axes and the rods which awe mankind.
The sound has poison in it — 'tis the sperm
Of what makes life foul, cank'rous, and abhorr'd:
Disdain not, then, at thine appointed term,
To set thine armed heel on this reluctant worm l ! '
1 Shelley.
APPENDIX.
The important events which characterized the Pontificates
immediately preceding that of Pius IX cannot be rightly
apprehended without some degree of acquaintance with the
history of those secret societies in the Peninsula through
whose agency they were brought about.
The history of Italy in the first half of the nineteenth
century is not that of a united people ; for, notwithstanding
its unity of language, the unmistakable similarity of national
character which pervades its whole population, its singularly
advantageous geographical position, the universal aspiration
after liberty, and many abortive attempts to shake off the
yoke of foreign oppression, it had failed to recognize, or at
least to bring into healthy activity, the first elements of
national strength.
The curse of Italy from the twelfth century to the present
time has been the number, the power, and the antagonism
of the ' sects.' From the time of Conrad III, when the rival
sects of Guelphs and Ghibellines were established, the chief
element of discord, the most fatal hindrance to progress,
has been the power of secret societies, of political and
politico-religious sects — the natural offshoots of despotic
governments — which have diverted patriotism and the energy
of the nation from their legitimate aims, and proved the
handmaid to tyranny, division, and irreligion. In Italy, if
anywhere, such associations were justifiable; for here, a
people possessing those qualities — physical, intellectual, and
moral — which fitted them to become a great and indepen-
dent nation, had, through long ages, been held in check by
(UNIVERSITY)
304 APPENDIX.
despotic governments ; until the impossibility of realizing
the high aims to which they aspired, left them a prey to
paltry disputes, and to the finesse of the promoters of secret
societies, which, however, have worked nothing but ill ; and,
when associated with the ruling powers, have brought go-
vernments into contempt, subverted the very principle of
authority, and intensified the alienation of the disaffected.
The most distinguished of these secret societies which
have had their birth within the present century, was that of
the Carbonari. The object of this association was the over-
throw of existing governments, for the accomplishment of
which it relied mainly upon foreign aid, and was ready
to ally itself witrf any power, French, English, or sub-
Alpine, which would take the initiative ; beyond that it was
content to leave to the future to arrange and harmonize the
diverse aims and opinions of its members, who entertained
every possible variety of political opinion, but the great
majority of whom were believed to be Republicans. The
oath which was administered on initiation said nothing as to
the aims to be reached ; it simply enjoined implicit obedience
to the executive, and, if necessary, the sacrifice of self for
the good of the order.
Carbonarism may be said to have had its rise in the
perfidy of the Archduke John, who, in the year 1809, had
promised independence to the Italians.
The name of the society was derived from the woodland
and mountainous districts of Calabria, whither many refugees
had resorted, and where their chief occupation was the
manufacture of charcoal The secret meetings of their order
were called Vendite, or charcoal sales. In its early career
the association received the support of many distinguished
men who aspired after Italian unity. Its establishment in
the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in 181 1, had the approba-
tion both of Murat and of the Minister of Police ; Murat
APPENDIX. 305
sagaciously recognizing, in its extensive and powerful or-
ganization, a valuable auxiliary in carrying out his own
ambitious design of establishing a great independent Italian
kingdom. A year later, Count Nugent, the commander of
the Austrian forces in Italy, with a perfidy which, alas !
England may not censure, played upon the imprudent
credulity of the Italians by issuing a proclamation from
Ravenna, on the 10th of December, 181 2, in which he pro-
mised independence and union. Two years later the sym-
pathetic voice of England encouraged the same delusive
hopes. Lord William Bentinck favoured the movement
which the Carbonari had originated, promising the assistance
of British arms to restore Italy to the position she occupied
in her most brilliant epochs. On the 29th of March, 18 14,
he landed at Spezzia with 12,000 men, unfurled his banners
bearing the inscription ' Independence of Italy/ and issued a
proclamation summoning the Italians to arms j whilst, prob-
ably impelled by the apprehension of Austrian intervention,
immediately upon hearing of the abdication of Napoleon, he
despatched a messenger to Victor Emanuel I requesting him
at once to take possession of his dominions.
In 1815, the insincerity of Murat had been demonstrated.
The infatuated and ambitious king, believing that the mo-
ment had arrived for the realization of his bold design of
bringing the whole Peninsula under his sway, was now in
open alliance with Napoleon ; and, chagrined at the loss of
the English alliance, and his inability to command that
support in Italy upon which his credulity had led him to
rely, he staked the success of his mad enterprise upon the
patriotism of the Carbonari, and excited them to rise and
assert their country's freedom. The allies, however, had
resolved upon the restoration of the Sicilian family to the
throne of Naples ; the Duke of Wellington in an interview at
Ghent with the exile king, Louis XVIII, having declared
x
306 APPENDIX.
that he regarded the restoration of the Bourbons as essential
to the equilibrium of Europe \
At this time Carbonarism had become the ruling power
throughout Sicily and Corsica, and had penetrated into the
Roman States. Its role of members increased with astound-
ing rapidity, and its influence was so far acknowledged that
the adherence and support of the society was courted by the
competitors for power. The promptings which it received
from foreign governments confirmed the inherent weakness
of the association, — its absence of faith in the Italians, and
its consequent subserviency to foreign impulses.
In 182 1, Charles Albert, the heir-apparent to the Sar-
dinian throne, enrolled himself a member of the association ;
a circumstance which, though it inspired great hopes of
conducing to the early and complete realization of the
objects of the society, was in reality a fatal blow to its
success. In 182 1, Charles Albert, the Prince, was a con-
spirator; but in 1 83 1, Charles Albert, the King, had no
liking for a society which aimed at subverting the principle
of monarchy; and his former complicity with the revolu-
tionary association rendered him, as King, its most powerful
and effective antagonist. At this time, Mazzini imforms us,
' the society had reached a degree of numerical strength
unknown to any of the societies by which it was succeeded.
But the Carbonari did not know how to turn their strength
to account. Although the doctrines of Carbonarism were
widely diffused, its leaders had no confidence in the people,
and appealed to them rather to attain an appearance of force
likely to attract those men of rank and station in whom
alone they put their trust, than from any idea of leading
them to immediate action. Hence the ardour and energy of
the youth of the order — of those who dreamed only of
country, the republic, war and glory in the eyes of Europe —
1 Alison, vol. xix.
APPENDIX. 307
was entrusted to the direction of men, not only old in years,
but imbued with the ideas of the Empire— cold precisionists
who had neither faith nor future, and who, instead of
fostering, repressed all daring and enthusiasm. At a later
date, when the immense mass of Carbonari already affiliated,
and the- consequent impossibility of preserving secrecy con-
vinced the leaders of the necessity for action, they felt the
want of some stronger bond of unity, and not having a
principle on which to found it, they set themselves to find it
in a man — a prince. This was the ruin of Carbonarism.'
The insurrections of the Carbonari were successful, but
were invariably followed by intestine discords. In religion,
as in politics, they lacked a definite programme. Repub-
licans in principle, they hailed and supported monarchy for
the sake of associating a royal name with the insurrection,
and openly recognized Charles Albert as a leader — a man
whom they hated and despised. Hating Murat, and dis-
gusted both with the form and the severity of his govern-
ment, they madly threw themselves into his enterprise
against Austria, heedless of the appeals of Nugent \ of the
declared purposes of the brave but unprincipled and despotic
king, and of the condemnation, because of the inevitable
failure of the enterprise, by Napoleon, who prognosticated
that his brother-in-law incurred greater risk in making war
in 1 81 5 than he had done in abstaining from war in 18 14.
Two million of Italians were ready to rise at the call of
their leaders ; but though the necessity of war with Austria
had been foreseen, and even hailed, no preparations had
been made ; and the arms which the people demanded were
refused them. Deserted by Charles Albert, and betrayed by
Murat, ' they fell/ says Mazzini, * not vanquished by superior
1 Count Nugent, who was in command of the Austrian forces in Italy,
energetically warned the Carbonari of the danger of being ensnared by the
specious promises of Murat.
X 2
308 APPENDIX.
forces, which would have left them the honour of combat,
but overthrown by a sophism which they introduced into
their revolutionary programme.' The Pope formally con-
demned and anathematized them, and sanctioned the for-
mation of the rival sect of Sanfedists.
The professed object of the association, which enjoyed
the patronage of a Holy Father, and of all the despotic
governments of Italy, was to defend the Roman Catholic
religion, and the temporal dominion and prerogatives of the
Papacy, both from the plots of the Carbonari and the aggres-
sions of Austria. An unmitigated hatred between the two
sects ensued, and on the pretext of a detected conspiracy,
the Papal Government commenced an organized system of
persecution to which many of the leading Carbonari in the
Papal States fell victims. The number of the proscriptions,
including men in every province, and of every social class —
priests, nobles, soldiers, and peasants — revealed the extent to
which the sect had spread its ramifications, and inspired new
hopes of eventual success. Secret inquisitions were estab-
lished by the Government ; politics took the place of religion
in the pulpits ; the punishment of death was not too severe
for those who were even suspected of Carbonarism. The
result of this Sanfedist persecution was that Leo XII died in
1829 execrated by the great body of his people, whilst many
of the wealthy and educated classes had emigrated to Lom-
bardy and Tuscany, where they contributed to help forward
the liberal movement which was soon to prove the Nemesis of
Sanfedist malevolence.
In early life Mazzini had enrolled himself a Carbonaro.
'While studying the events of 1820 and 1821,' he says, 'I
had learned much of Carbonarism, and I did not much ad-
mire the complex symbolism, the hierarchical mysteries, nor
the political faith — or rather the absence of all political faith
■ — I discovered in that institution. But I was at that time
APPENDIX. 309
unable to attempt to form any association of my own, and in the
Carbonari I found a body of men in whom, however inferior
they were to the idea they represented, thought and action,
faith and works were identical. Here were men who, defying
alike excommunication and capital punishment, had the
persistent energy ever to persevere and to weave a fresh web
each time the old one was broken. And this was enough to
induce me to join my name and my labours to theirs/
Within a few months of his initiation he was betrayed by a
certain Major Cotton, to whom he was deputed to minister
the oath for the second rank of Carbonari. Rifle-bullets, the
formula of the oath, and other treasonable papers being found
upon him, he was at once arrested, and was confined for
some months in the fortress of Savona. Here it was that,
reflecting on the defective aims and organization of Carbona-
rism, he conceived the plan of the association of La Giovine
Italia.
On the accession of Charles Albert to the Sardinian throne
in 183 1, Mazzini resolved to address him through the press.
His address, which has been appropriately described as ' a
flash of divine eloquence, such as never before shone over
Italy,' recalled the hopes awakened in the minds of Italians
by the accession of a prince who had been a Carbonaro in
1 82 1, and exhorted the king to undertake the liberation of
Italy. In a preface to the republication of this letter in 1847,
Mazzini says : ' I do not believe that the salvation of Italy
can be achieved now or at any future time by Prince, Pope,
or King/ And he adds, ' / held these convictions even at the
time zvhen I wrote that letter!
An order for the arrest of Mazzini, should he attempt to
return to Italy, followed the publication of his letter to the
king; and abandoning the hope, which his own words show
that he never honestly entertained, of help coming from
Sardinia, he betook himself to the development of his pro-
3lO APPENDIX.
jected association, the Giovine Italia, or ' Young Italy ; ' and
for the better prosecution of his plans he removed to
Marseilles.
In the association of ' Young Italy' Mazzini aimed at the
development and completion of the fundamental ideas of
Carbonarism. That association concerned itself chiefly with
the work of destruction, and relied upon the harmony, in-
duced by united effort, for the successful guidance of the
revolution which should succeed the insurrection. Mazzini, on
the contrary, believed that the success of the revolution de-
pended upon its having a practical aim. The new society,
therefore, presented a definite programme, and publicly an-
nounced it to their fellow countrymen. That aim was revolu-
tion; but profiting by the experiences of Carbonarism, which
had taught the importance of union in the critical moments
which follow success in action, they would inculcate before-
hand the steps by which- the attainment of their aims must
be accomplished. Young Italy was boldly proclaimed to-be
Republican and Unitarian, whilst it further sought to secure
unity of religious faith. What this faith was is not very clear,
but it was adverse to the Papacy. Mazzini affirms in his
writings at this period that ' liberty and the Papacy are in
direct contradiction and opposed to each other/ and that
' the Papacy is extinct and Catholicism a corpse.'
Instead of admitting heterogeneous elements, as did Carbo-
narism, the society was confined to those who accepted and
believed in its avowed creed, for the elucidation and dissemi-
nation of which a special literature sprang into existence,
and a journal bearing the name of the association was started
towards the close of 1831, and was conducted with amazing
vigour and ability, Mazzini and his Genoese friends being the
principal contributors.
The means which the Giovine Italia proposed to itself for
the accomplishment of its aims were education and instruction;
APPENDIX. 3II
by education was understood the teaching by example, word,
and pen, of the necessity of insurrection. It proposed to
carry on the insurrection by means of guerilla bands, which
should render it universal throughout Italy, and so conse-
crate every foot of native soil by the memory of some great
exploit : * the soil once free, every authority will bow down
before the national Council, the sole source of authority in
the State V The one thing wanting to twenty millions of
Italians desirous of emancipating themselves, was affirmed to
be not power, but faith. ' Young Italy will endeavour to
inspire this faith, first by its teachings and afterwards by an
energetic initiative ; ' and it repudiated alike the assistance and
pity of foreign governments. The government during the
insurrection was to be vested in a provisional dictatorial
power, concentrated in the hands of a small number of tried
and trusted men. The banner of Young Italy, displaying the
colours white, red, and green, was to bear on one side the
words ' Liberty, Equality, Humanity/ and on the other
' Unity and Independence.' Rejecting the complicated
symbols and hierarchical mysteries of Carbonarism, the
members were divided simply into two classes — the Initiators
and the Initiated, and the form of oath, administered upon
initiation, distinctly declared the objects of the society and
the means to be employed for their accomplishment.
Mazzini placed himself at the head of the movement,
which was to have its centre out of Italy, and devoted him-
self, safe in exile, to the framing of plots, and to the work of
forming committees of the association throughout Italy. In
the Pontifical States he found many ready accomplices,
through the vindictive spirit which Papal misgovernment,
and the malignant operations of the Sanfedist faction had
provoked. The sect spread rapidly, enlisting the sympathies
of multitudes who were not enrolled as members, and re-
Life and Writings of Mazzini,' vol.
3 I 2 APPENDIX.
ceiving into its ranks Italian patriots, Polish refugees, and
French Republicans.
The publication of the journal Young Italy had been pre-
ceded by a manifesto, clandestinely circulated, in which the
objects of the association were set forth, and the history of
1 82 1 and 1 83 1 was proclaimed to have consummated and
concluded the separation of Young Italy from the men of
the past ; and therein to have taught a better lesson to the
rising generation than whole volumes of theories. These
publications were designed to supply the place of personal
influence, and, for a while, were easily smuggled into Italy.
But when the attention of the authorities had been thoroughly
roused, and large rewards offered for the seizure of the
papers of the association — whilst non-informants who were
privy to their introduction into Italy were threatened with a
heavy fine and two years' imprisonment — much caution and
ingenuity were requisite to accomplish this end. The mem-
bers of Young Italy, however, outwitted the Government
spies, who dogged them continually; their writings found
their way into Italy as freely as before, and were reproduced
by means of clandestine presses established in various cen-
tral places.
Thus in one year the Giovine Italia became the dominant
secret society throughout the whole of Italy, whilst ' a central
committee existed abroad, whose duties consisted in holding
aloft, as it were, the flag of the association, forging as many
links as possible between the Italian and foreign democratic
element, and generally directing and superintending the
working of the association 1 / Before the year had closed
Mazzini had become the heart and soul of the Italian move-
ment, the recognized ' King of Young Italy,' the undisputed
ruler of a State of his own creation.
Attempts were made, through the medium of agents of the
1 Mazzini.
APPENDIX. 313
Italian Governments, to suppress the publication of Young
Italy in France, and in August, 1832, a decree was issued by
which Mazzini was exiled from the country. He contrived,
nevertheless, to continue to reside, and to superintend the
publication of his journal at Marseilles, for a whole year,
cleverly eluding the unremitting search of the police. On
one occasion, when his asylum was at last discovered, he
persuaded the prefect to send him away quietly under the
escort of his own agents, and succeeded in substituting and
sending to Geneva in his place, a friend, who bore a strong
personal resemblance to him, whilst he walked quietly through
the whole row of the police officers, dressed in the uniform
of a National Guard! Banished from France, proscribed
in Piedmont and Switzerland, he sought refuge from political
persecution where alone it was to be found, in the free soil
of old England.
At this period much odium was brought upon the Giovine
Italia by the atrocious calumnies launched against Mazzini,
charging him not only with sanctioning the odious practice
of assassination, but with the actual personal guilt of the
crime — a charge from which the accused triumphantly vin-
dicated himself. ' I abhor/ he says, ' and all those who
know me well know that I abhor, bloodshed, and every
species of terror erected into a system, as remedies equally
ferocious, unjust, and inefficacious against evils that can only
be cured by the diffusion of liberal ideas/ And again, in his
pamphlet, entitled ' Italy, Austria, and the Pope/ published
in London in 1844, ne savs > 'I firmly believe in the im-
morality of the punishment of death ; and it seems to assume
a colour yet more degrading to our age, when visited on
political offences.'
This association, then, whatever view we take of its claim
to consideration on the ground of moral, social, or political
expediency, or of its appropriateness to the circumstances
Y
314 APPENDIX.
and the character of the Italian people, was in advance of
those secret societies by which it was preceded, and par-
ticularly of Carbonarism, out of which it sprang, and which
it had sufficient vitality to absorb and transform, in these
particulars.
It suppressed all condemnations to death, and in the
punishment of treachery and insubordination substituted
simple expulsion from its ranks for the stiletto of the
assassin.
By announcing a definite programme and political faith, it
afforded a test which enabled its members to rely upon union
in the pursuit of a common object, when the insurrection
should be accomplished.
By its widely-circulated writings it kept the great funda-
mental objects at which it aimed constantly before its mem-
bers, thus educating them to unity of purpose.
By insisting upon unity of religion on a broad basis, it
closed the door at once to ill-timed religious discussion and
to the infidelity which had proved a source of much weak-
ness to Carbonarism.
By limiting the association to the youth of Italy, and ex-
cluding all above forty years of age, it secured a degree of
enthusiasm which was invaluable ; and if this were purchased
by the loss of the wisdom and experience which belong to
age, the limitation further excluded many dangerous men,
deeply imbued with Carbonarism, and hostile to the Re-
publican form of government. And lastly,
By boldly proclaiming that Italy was strong enough to
effect her own deliverance without the aid of foreign govern-
ments, it struck at the root of that pusillanimous fear which,
pointing to foreign alliances as Italy's only hope, had ener-
vated and eventually destroyed Carbonarism.
But it had also this radical weakness, — its centre of autho-
rity was placed abroad. The refugees were to be the real
APPENDIX. 315
soul of the movement. ' This/ says Farini, ' was a recur-
rence to the times and customs of the Middle Ages, when as
often as citizens were banished by their opponents, who had
gained the ascendancy, from those turbulent republics, they
used to apply themselves in exile to raise money and troops
in rival cities, or in intriguing courts, and then attempted
the conquest of their country by stirring up the factions at
home.' And it must be confessed that in the face of power-
ful standing armies, and the secure alliances under which all
the Italian Governments, and particularly that of the Pope,
reposed, the tactics of Young Italy appear quixotic, and ill-
adapted to the attainment of the objects of its lofty and
patriotic ambition.
Another important politico-religious association demands
a reference, on account of the influence which it exercised in
the north of Italy, and particularly in Piedmont. La Catollica
was essentially an institution of the Jesuits ; it took its rise
during the French occupation of Italy at the close of the
eighteenth century, and became affiliated with the govern-
ment of the princes of Savoy, whose territory was then con-
fined to the island of Sardinia. Its avowed objects were the
maintenance of the privileges of the Church, and of the
principles of absolute government ; hence the tenacity with
which it retained its influence over the court and the clergy.
Councillors of State, bishops, and clergy were generally
chosen from its ranks ; whilst the powerful engine of educa-
tion was employed for extending its ramifications throughout
Piedmont, where, at the commencement of the reign of
Charles Albert, its power was practically unlimited, and
secured for prince and people the distrust of the Liberals in
the other Italian States.
316 APPENDIX.
APPENDIX B.
The printed scheme of the dogma of Infallibility has
been distributed. It contains five canons : —
I. If any one should say that the episcopal chair of the
Roman Church is riot the true and real infallible chair of
Blessed Peter, or that it has not been divinely chosen by
God as the most solid, indefectible, and incorruptible rock
of the whole Christian Church, let him be anathema.
II. If any one should say that there exists in the world
another infallible chair of the truth of the Gospel of Christ
our Lord, distinct and separate from the chair of Blessed
Peter, let him be anathema.
III. If any one should deny that the divine magisterium
of the chair of Blessed Peter is necessary to the true way of
eternal salvation for all men, whether unfaithful or faithful,
whether laymen or bishops, let him be anathema.
IV. If any one should say that each Roman Pontiff, legi-
timately elected, is not by Divine right the successor of
Blessed Peter, even in the gift of the infallibility of magis-
terium, and should deny to any one of them the prerogative
of infallibility for teaching the Church the Word of God,
pure from all corruption and error, let him be anathema.
V. If any one should say that General Councils are
established by God in the Church as a power of feeding
the Divine flock in the word of faith superior to the Roman
Pontiff, or equal to him, or necessary by Divine institution,
in order that the magisterium of the Roman Bishop should
be preserved infallible, let him be anathema.
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