would have subjected the Church completely to the power of the State, and would have compelled the clergy to receive a State education. By one of the enactments of the bill, every priest who would not bind himself by an oath "not to oppose, directly or indirectly, the independent unity of Italy," was to be outlawed; by another the same penalty was to be inflicted on every priest who rejected the State system of education. The speech in which he introduced his motion was listened to with weariness by the Chambers. He declares himself to be a Catholic, and yet denies that he is excommunicated. "Gentlemen," he said, "neither you nor I are excommunicated. It is not man who excommunicates, it is Christ by Peter; and at Rome it is not Peter who has spoken, it is man." "I am not excommunicated, I am not excommunicated," is the cry of the unhappy man; but even the members who listened to him knew, without pitying him in his feeble struggle, that he was at that moment under the ban of the Church. In this same spirit he admitted that the universal Episcopate supports the Pope. "The Catholic Episcopate," he said, "aroused almost to a man, has preached a crusade against us and against our conduct. It has proclaimed us wicked, usurpers, sacrilegious; and that our conduct has been evil, criminal, impious, and worthy of all the judgments of heaven and earth. To this decision, almost universal, of the Episcopate, the voice of no small part of the laity of Europe has joined itself. Yes; it is notorious and indisputable that in France, in Germany, in Belgium, in England, a vast number of the laity have sympathised with their bishops." But with Passaglia the independent unity of Italy was the dominant idea; to this everything, no matter how sacred, was sacrificed. The Church must bow down before his views. He boasted that he had the secret support of eight or ten thousand priests in Italy. He was the head of a rising and influential party. Into the examination of this extravagant and false assertion we will not now enter. It is enough to know that there is a section, though not large, of the clergy in some parts of Italy, and more especially among some of the capitular bodies, which is unfaithful in its allegiance to the Holy See; and which, out of timidity or self-seeking, endeavours to win the good graces of the party hostile to the Church. On the occasion of the national fête, when there was no legal compulsion to sing the Te Deum, this spirit of compromise, or of worse, was conspicuous in some quarters. At Milau, for instance, out of 22 canons and 25 vicars, 5 canons and 10 vicars were present in the Dome to sing the Te Deum. Between the real state of feeling among a section of the Italian clergy and Passaglia's boast of adherence, there is a wide discrepancy in point of numbers. Passaglia's bill, however, was rejected, and the reception he had met with so wounded his vanity that he has since, we understand, never set his foot in the chamber. Of the disorganized state of Italy under the rule of Victor Emmanuel, and of its rapid demoralization, there can no longer be any doubt. The testimony as to open attacks upon religion, and the systematic persecution of the clergy, is too direct and various to admit of denial. At the Congress of Malines, Sgr. Casoni, who had just left Bologna, stated that in Italy 6,000 priests had been driven from their parishes, 1,200 religious houses suppressed, 50 bishops incarcerated or exiled from their sees. To obtain, he said, the blessing of his venerated bishop, before leaving, he had to kneel on the flagstones of a prison. But we can need no better testimony as to the state of Italy than the Encyclical Letter lately addressed to the Italian bishops. This papal letter begins by speaking of the savage and sacrilegious war which is now being waged against the Catholic Church in almost every country of the world, and especially in unhappy Italy, where from day to day it is growing more deadly. It then alludes to the lamentable manner in which the bishops are vexed by all kinds of injustice and violence, torn from their flocks, driven into exile, and even thrown into prison; as also to the consolation which their conduct affords by the way in which, in spite of the persecutions of the Piedmontese government, they defend the cause, the rights, the teaching of Christ, of His Church, and of the Holy See. It dwells on the prevailing demoralization brought about by impious writings, infamous and obscene in character, by theatrical representations, and by other most shameless means of corruption. It speaks of monstrous and horrible errors disseminated far and wide; of the increasing and abominable indulgence in all manner of vice and profligacy; of the deadly poison of indifference and incredulity so widely diffused; of the contempt for ecclesiastical authority, for all holy things and sacred laws; of unjust spoliations and savage persecutions against priests and nuns; and, in fine, of the truly satanic hate which is manifested against Christ, His Church and teaching, and against the Holy See. The Encyclical Letter points out, also, although not with exclusive reference to Italy, as characteristic of the times, that unbridled passion with which so many men, without paying the least regard to their neighbour, seek their own ease and profit; that insatiate desire for wealth and power which drives men on, regardless of honesty and justice, to heap up riches, and, forgetful of God, of religion, and their souls, to place all their happiness in the pursuit of these earthly ends. The Encyclical Letter then speaks of the grief which the Holy Father feels in seeing that many of the clergy, secular and regular, in Italy, have so far forgotten their sacred vocation as, even in writings, to spread false doctrines and to excite the minds of men against the Holy See, and to support, by all the means in their power, the worst enemies of the Church. These ecclesiastics, it says, separating themselves from their Bishops and from the Holy See, and protected by the favour of the Sub-Alpine government and its officials, have reached such a pitch of audacity, as, in despite of all ecclesiastical censures and penalties, to set up such detestable societies as the Clerico-liberal Society, the Society for Mutual Succour and for the Emancipation of Italian Priests, and others of a like bad spirit; and although their bishops have justly forbidden them to exercise. their sacred ministry, they have nevertheless not feared to exercise it, intruders as they were, in many of the churches. After condemning all such societies, and exhorting these unhappy priests to do penance and to return to their duty, the Encyclical Letter concludes by passing a high eulogium on the Italian episcopate for the faith and zeal which have added such glory to their names, as well as on the clergy of Italy, who, in being true to the chair of Peter and to their bishops, have suffered with great patience many tribulations, and admirably fulfilled their duty. A like praise is bestowed on the people of Italy, who, filled with Catholic sentiments, and detesting the impious machinations directed against the Church, esteem it a great honour to pay their tribute of filial piety and respect to the Sovereign Pontiff, and never VOL. I.-NO. II. [New Series.] 2 s fail, harassed and hampered as they are, to show, in many ways, the affection and veneration which they entertain for the Holy See. To this just and vivid statement of the sufferings and dangers of Italy, nothing can be added. It is only to be hoped that all Catholics will participate with hopeful confidence in the Holy Father's conviction, that the full triumph of religion, truth, and justice, though adjourned for a time, will not be long delayed; and will thus be brought heartily to unite their efforts for its speedy realization. We had prepared an abstract of F. Vaughan's proposal for the foundation in England of a Seminary for Foreign Missions, as brought before the Congress of Malines, with the approbation of the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, and since published (in French) in a circular, a second edition of which has reached us; but we regret that want of space compels us to defer its insertion. We will only observe that the institution is intended for the education, not of our own countrymen only, but of persons from every nation, even converted heathens,―e.g., Chinese, negroes, &c.,-who may possess the requisite vocation. *** We desire to correct an error that found its way into the article in our last number on the "Work and the Wants of the Catholic Church in England." Among the lesser Catholic colleges, the Jesuit college at S. Beuno's was by mistake included. We regret the oversight, as S. Beuno's, as a house of studies, has a high and peculiar character. COX AND WYMAN, PRINTERS, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LONDON. INDEX. as ABYSSINIAN SCHISM, the, 33-65; deserving attention on several grounds, Acarie (Mme.), par G. de Cadoudal, noticed, 243. Agnès de Jésus (V.), Vie de la, par M. de Lantanges, noticed, 238-240. BENEDETTA Medolago Albani, Memorie di, noticed, 260, 261. Blomfield (Dr. C. J.), a Memoir of, by his son, A. Blomfield, noticed, 256, 257. Bouix (Rev. P. Marcel), Euvres Spirituelles de S. Pierre d'Alcantara, La Solitaire des Rochers, noticed, 550-553. Broglie (A. de), A paper on Universal Suffrage, in Le Correspondant, Burgon (Rev. John W.), Letters from Rome to Friends in England; his CADOUDAL (G. de), Mme. Acarie, noticed, 243. CATHOLIC CONGRESS OF MALINES, the, 482-493; its importance, 482; its a diate effect, 487, 488; M. de Montalembert's speeches: reflections on Cartier (E.), Dialogue de S. Catharine de Sienne, noticed, 545–547. Vie de Fra Angelico de Fiesole, noticed, 542–545. Church Establishment in Ireland, pamphlet on the, noticed, 251, 252. Civilization, ancient and modern, article on, in La Civiltà Cattolica, analysed, Civiltà Cattolica (La), analysed, 262-270, 575–582. Colenso (Dr.) and the Anglican Church, a paper on, in Le Correspondant, by Constitutionalism, Continental notions of, 29, 30, 264. Crema (John of), Cardinal-legate, Dr. Hook's misrepresentations as to the Croiset (Rev. P.), Devotion to the Sacred Heart, noticed, 261, 262. DANCING before the Blessed Sacrament in Spain, 11, 32; in religious cere- Dangers attending the present position of Catholics in England, 160–166. among the saints of the Abyssinian calendar, 40. DOGMATIC PRINCIPLE, the, 458-481; dislike of it among the educated classes, |