The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-08 00:00:00

. 7~----~

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION PRO-
CLAIMED IN ENGLAND.

Yesterday was read in the churches and chapels in-
cluded within the Roman Catholic arch-diocese of West-
minster, a pastoral letter from Cardinal Wiseman, dated
at Rome, and promulgating the doctrine of the immacu-
late conception as an article of filth.
The message is addressed thus :—" Nicholas; by the
divine mercy of the holy Roman Church, of the title of
St. Pudentiana, Cardinal Priest and Archbishop of
Westminster, to our dearly beloved brethren and chil-
dren in Christ, the clergy secular and regular, and th•
faithful of the said diocese. Health and benediction in
the Lord."

The Cardinal first enters into the external circum-
stances under which the dogma has been established.
He describes the meeting at Rome of bishops from all
parts of the earth, and then speaks of the interior de-
liberations, lie says :
" It was impossible to behold many of these prelates
without emotion, many venerable for their age and the
long and faithful services they had rendered the church,
some reward for their persecution and sufferings—even
to exile—which they have heroically endured for Christ's
truth ; not a few whose countenances presented to the
beholder the type of holiness which shines in their lives
so as to bo like breathing pictures of eminent saints, but
present evidences of the Church's mark of sanctity ; and
others whose noble features and bearing, on whose mild
and amiable countenances presented varied forms of the
episcopal character. Such was the truly grand assembly
of bishops amidst which we found ourselves standing, to
our own edification, instruction, and humiliation. On
four different days did this truly ecclesiastical assembly
meet, under the presidency of three cardinals distin-
guished for piety, theological learning, and experience,
Brunelli, and Santucci, and attended upon by
a choice assembly of divines, secular and regular. The
bull prepared for its last revision bad been communi-
cated to them, and every portion of it frankly and
acutely discussed. Here was indeed seen the importance
or rather the necessity of a common ecclesiastical lan-
gunge as the organ of religious unity. The bishops as-
sembled in Roma represented 14 different languages, as
used by them in their communications with their own
flocks ; yet here a corismw,tongue united them,- snd,„_x .-
proved that they belonged toll° church which belongs
indeed to the whole earth, but is still of one lip and one
speech. All was now ready, and the great day ap-
proached—a day for ever memorable in the Church's
annals, the day in which the great prerogative of holi-
ness ever conferred on creatures exemption from the
stain of original sin was to be seen dogmatically de-
clared, as it had been firmly to belong to the purest of
beings after Him who chose and fitted her to be His
mother.

The cardinal, anticipating criticism, is careful and
says :—" You will of course understand, dearly beloved
in Christ, that the Church pretends to new revelations,
but claims the unfailing assistance of the Holy Spirit to
guide her into all truth, and the teaching in her of her divine
Founder to the consummation of the world, and, there-
fore, the perfect as3urance that whatever she is found to
be at any time universally teaching, and what the Vicar
of Jesus Christ pronounces to be her doctrine, has been
that of the Catholic Church from the beginning, and
consequently a portion of that deposit of faith, and a
part of the revealed truth, which was entrusted to her
by the Author and Finisher of her faith. It was not,
therefore, to pronounce to the world any new discovery,
nor to demonstrate by arguments a particular theory,
that this venerable assembly was convened in the mag-
nificent basilica of St. Peter, on the memorable Bth of
Dec., just elapsed. It was as successor to him over
whcsa ashes and under the shadow of whose chair he
stands to pronounce a decree of unfailing certainty,
that the immunity of the ever blessed Virgin, Mo-
ther of of God, the eternal Word incarnate and the spot-
legos lamb, had been a doctrine revealed from the be-
ginning, anti if hitherto only received in implicit faith,
hencforth, by virtue of his decree, to he believed by all
with explicit faith, that is, as a distinct and separate
dogma, no longer involved in the general belief of what
the church teac`lep."

A remiarkabla portion of the Cardinal's pastoral
taken up with a graphic description of the scenic fea-
tures of the cereincnial when the doctrine was declared
by the Sovereign Pontiff.
The procession (be says) presented one of the noblest
ecclethstical spectacles ever witnessed, even in St.
Peter's. One hundred and fifty-two bishops in silver
capes, and white mitres, and 51 mitred cardinals in the
embroidered vestments of their respective orders al,
bishops, priests, and deacons, immediately preceded the
Hay Father.

He next describes the heavenly music, but what fol-
lowed, he tells the faithful, was yet more sublime.
"Standing at his throne the Holy Father commenced
the reading of the solemn decree by which, as superior
pastor and visible head of the universal church, as suc-
cessor of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and as
vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, he authoritatively and
dogmatically pronounced that the immunity from
original sin, or, in other words, the immaculate concep-
tion of the ever blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of
God, is a revealed doctrine of the catholic church.
He bad not, however, proceeded far, before his tears
and sobs interrupted his speech, and it was only by
an effort which evidently cost him great exertion,
that he could make his words struggle through the
tide of his emotions, and rise audible above the flood
of his overpowering feelings. He succeeded, indeed,
so that we had the- bebppiaess of 'hearing. *very
word and syllable of his most memorable decree ;
but that flood of tender devotion drew after itself cor-
responding sentiments from the souls of others, so that
scarcely a dry eye was to be seen amongst those who
witnessed this touching scene. The cannon's voice gave
the signal of the happy accomplishment of so many fer-
vent desires to the whole city, and the prolonged peals
of gladness from the olden towers of Basilicas, and the
belfries of modern churche3, represented the acclama-
tion of the earlier and later periods of unchangeable
catholicity. The Cardinal Dean returned before the
throne to return thanks, and accompanied by the proper
official personages, to request that the official deed
should be drawn up of the prooeedings, and the bull
issued containing the decree just pronounced. The mass
then continued, and at the Te Deum, which closed it,
the people joined in with the same overwhelming melody.
as they had introduced into the invocation of the Holy
Ghost."
After describing some subsequent ceremonies, the
Cardinal returns to the doctrine, and exclaims :
" Rejoice, then, dearly beloved, again we say rejoice.
Rejoice in the Lord, who has so graciously bestowed on
his church so signal a blessing, whereby the piety of her
children has been wonderfully excited, and their love for
their Mother in heaven greatly increased. Rejoice that
to her fresh glory has been given, and a new crown, the
brightest that she can wear, that we may hope for new
favours and more abundant graces from her affectionate
and powerful intercession. Rejoice, that through this
glorious event the unity of the church, the peace and
love that reigns among its pastors, their docility to their
head, their attachment to the see of Peter, and the piety
and learning of so many of them, have been most eon-
solingiy exhibited. And though absent in body, yet in
spirit present with you, we rejoice w4h you, and pray to
God that frJra this spiritual joy he will raise more solid
graces—fruits of the blessing which the Holy Father,
through our hands, sends down upon us.
(Signed) " N. Card. WI3EMAN."