The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-01 00:00:00

and obligations have been long ago broken up and
buried. The powers of Christian Europe looked on
in silence. The principle of modern nationalism,
after rending asunder the fair political order of the
Christian world, has reached at length to the order
of the Christian church. It has for three centuries
assailed its unity. It now assails its authority. It
rent nations from its body; it now aims at its head.
Christendom must be silent because its centre is in
Italy. But its circumference traverses all nations ;
and all are equally near to their common centre.
Italian nationalism is more sacred to the statesmen
of to-day than the unity and authority of Christen-
dom, or the purity and freedom of the church. The
inspirations of the revolution have poisoned their
counsels and paralysed their action. The sacred
diplomacy of Christendom is effaced from the laws
of nations. Christian unity must give way before
national isolation ; and the decomposition of Chris-
tain Europe is to be accomplished. The work of
the revolution, that is of society without Christ and
without God, is to be supreme. "The kingdom of
this world" was the kingdom " of our Lord and His
Christ." (Apoc., xi., 15.) But the civil powers
of the world are now desecrating themselves one by
one ; and the temporal power of the Vicar of Jesus
Christ is, therefore, intolerable to them. It reminds
them whence they are fallen, and it must be de-
stroyed. And there is no human power to stay the
hand uplifted to destroy it. It remains then for us,
dear children in Jesus Christ, to turn to the only
power which never forsakes His vicar upon earth ;
the only Sovereign whose intervention never fails to
come when the time is full. He suffers the moment
to linger that our faith may be tried. God works
slowly, but He works surely. Eighteen hundred
years of Divine protection, and perpetual restora-
tion of justice, assures us that the end is not yet.
God is a jealous God. He will not work till men
have refused to serve Him, lest it should seem to be
their hand not His which has restored the rights of
His church and the order of the world. There is
nothing new in the conflict and peril of the Holy
Father. It is the inheritance of the Pontiffs to bear
in chief, and almost alone, the whole brunt of this
battle between God and the world. As the highest
tree draws the lightning to itself, so the spirit of
antichrist smites first and last the Vicar of Christ.
When Mahometanism almost surrounded Christen-
dom, and seemed to hold it in its grasp, the faithful
prayed to our divine Lord through the prayers of
His immaculate mother, and the hosts and the fleets
of the infidel were scattered to return no more. The
revolution now descends from the north, as Maho-
metamism then came up from the south, and seems
to have the Holy See in its grasp, But God's
strength is made perfect in weakness. Prayer will
do again what prayer has done before. The rosary
is stronger than weapons of war, and processions
of little children than legions of men. It was on a
Rosary Sunday that processions went about the
streets of Milan when the plague smote it. S. Charles
foretold that before Christmas the plague should be
stayed; and it was so. Pray then, dear children
in Jesus Christ, that before December runs out the
hand of God may deliver our beloved father and
Pontiff out of the hands of his enemies. Reverend
and dear brethren offer, each one of you, next Sun-
day, or as soon as may be, the holy sacrifice at least
once for this intention. Let the faithful offer their
communions and their prayers, their penances, their
mortifications, and all they suffer or do, to obtain
the same great grace. There is already a turn in
the hearts of men. They are beginning to see that
the Vicar of the Son of God, and the head of the
church of all nations, can be subject to no national
power ; that he who is the head of all can be the
subject of none. Men who believe in Christianity
begin to see that the very unity of Christian na-
tions demands that they should be all equal before
their common head, and be superior to them all.
As teacher, judge, and guide, all must be less
than he ; and he greater than all. They begin
to see that the freedom and purity of their own
religion requires the full and free exercise of his
spiritual office, and that this demands his per-
sonal independence of all temporal powers ; and
that this personal independence can be peacefully
secured only by the possession of a sphere within
which he may dwell alone, into which no other so-
vereign or superior may intrude. What is this but
the narrow patrimony of S. Peter, given by Divine
Providence before as yet a royal house which reigns
in Europe existed? No empire, kingdom, or state,
of all which are now so mighty and so lordly, had
come into being when the Vicars of Christ reigned
in Rome. Their patriarchal sovereignty was the
source and exemplar of all Christian kingdoms.
What God has called into existence He will pre-
serve. Century after century the powers of the
world have passed by and gone their way ; and men,
from age to age, have been exulting over the ap-
proaching downfall of the Pontiff-King--and yet he
has reigned on in the midst of prophecies. The line
of Pontiff-Kings is not yet broken. It has endured
changeless and immovable. But where is the
Europe upon which S. Leo 111., S. Greg. VIII.,
or even Pius VI. and Pius VII. gazed ? Pass over
the mutations of centuries. In the last 70 years
alone more than 40 reigning families have been
driven out by their people ; at least thirty thrones
have been overturned. The example of insubor-
dination which princes set to their people fostered
and emboldened the revolution. The storm has
beaten hard upon the Pontiffwsillbuitt
be
has swept the
earthly thrones away. So
hard to kick against the goad, harder still to smite
themselves against the rock.
fall upon that stone shall be again. It is
whomsoever it shall fall it will
dash '
rWhosoever
md ;to
a n
pieces."
e upon
phe
soa
(Luke xx. 18.) We are assisting at a great judg-
ment of justice. Right and weakness against might
and wrong stand face to face. The pleadings have
been heard, and silence is made for the award. The
right by which the Vicar of Jesus Christ holds the
city of Rome is complete and sacred beyond that by
which any crowned head on earth holds the capital
of his kingdom. The pontiffs have there
oin-
tained themselves through the whole duration
of Christianity. For three hundred years they
held Rome as martyrs, for five hundred
years as the chief and only authority re-
siding within its walls, for a thousand years as
its sole and supreme rulers. If possession and pre-
scription can consecrate the right of sovereigdty the
Popes hold Rome and its provinces by a title which
surpasses all, and is the example of all the kingdoms
of the world. If such a possession and prescription
be not sacred, let those who invade, or slight it, look
to their own titles and rights. The violation of the
right of the Sovereign Pontiff is a dangerous prece-
dent. The Hebrews called the law of tithes " the
fence of property." The rights of the Sovereign
Pontiff are the fence of the laws of international
and political justice, which if violated will sooner or
later be avenged by the recoil of revolution. But
more than this, the rights of the Vicar of Christ are
not human and political, they are under the
protectiononly of a higher and diviner law. Rome and
its provinces are offerings sacred to God and His
church. the usurpation of them is not robbery
alone, but sacrilege. Such is the cause.now before
a judgment higher than that of conference and con-
()Tess. The Sovereign Pontiff is invited to abdicate,
or at least to cede his divine right of sovereignty,
that he may receive it back by human concession,
and on sufferance ; that is, to be no more master
but tenant at will. Ile has answered, " We can-
not ;" the cause is heard, and sentence must be given.
But we shall not perhaps see the event. If Rome
were occupied to-morrow by armed bands, and the
Vicar of our Lord were in exile, this would not be
the award but the wrong upon which judgment is
prayed. It may tarry for awhile, but it will surely
come. Whether by the scourge of revolution, or
by the wasting of intestine strife, or by the con-
ionft e Er
vuernotpi
oe
na n wof a r
vv
iuslisbi
loen
or by more direct and
God we know not ; but
that the spoliation will be followed by restitution
we surely know. The same flood has already swept,
again and again, over the Holy
en
submerged even for years, hasalwlt h
The
' again, even more powerful than ever. lislaes arisenb
e
lint See.
king-
doms and empires which now surround it will be a
page in history when the sway of the Pontiffs shall
yet be young. For this we may be derided as
dreamers; butso were co temporaries of Clement VII.,
S. Gregory VII., S. Leo 11(I. ; and so were the
companions of the apostles, and so were the dis-

ciples of our Divine Master. For near twenty years
Pius IX. has stood inflexible in the midst of menace
and of temptation. Every kind of compromise and
concession has been proposed to induce him to betray
his twofold trust. The sovereignty both spiritual
and temporal committed to him is the embodiment
and the guarantee of the Christian social order, and
of the consecration of the civil powers of the world.
To separate them would be to desecrate the govern-
ment of nations. Therefore the whole weight of the
assault is made upon him. If only he would abdi-
cate his contact with the temporal government of
society, the last bond between Christianity and
society would be dissolved. For this cause all
visions of imaginary good are set before him. All
who aim at excluding the action and supremacy of
the Christian faith and of the Christian Church
from the sphere of government labour to overthrow
the temporal power of the Pope. But God does not
return upon His steps, nor will He suffer His
Church to be turned backward in its mission to the
world. Its destinies are as yet only in part accom-
plished. The 'Vicars of Jesus Christ will not with-
draw from contact with the nations of the world,
nor from the direction of their corporate life. They
have only begun their toil in guiding the Christian
order of Europe, as the centre of a vaster common-
wealth of nations which shall hereafter touch upon
the sunrise and the sunset. But this moment is
once more a time of danger and of conflict; and
your prayers are needed to sustain the hands of
our guide and head, which are always lifted up in
intercession for the Church and for the world. We
therefore appoint as follows :-1. On Rosary Sun-
day let the chief mass, if possible, be offered in
behalf of the Holy Father and for his intentions;
and let each priest, on that or the first free day,
offer the holy sacrifice once, and the faithful offer
their communion with the same intention. 2.
Let the Blessed Sacrament be exposed after
the chief mass, and the Miscrere and Litany of the
Saints be recited. 3. In the afternoon or evening
let the Rosary be recited by the whole congregation,
and be followed by procession and benediction. 4.
Let the faithful be instructed by the priests at the
chief mass as to the intentions of this solemn act of
intercession. Finally, we commend you to the
prayers of the immaculate Mother of God, through
whose ever-prevailing intercession we hope to obtain
from the sacred heart of her Divine Son the accom-
plishment of this our fervent desire and trust. And
may the God of Hope keep you always in his holy
fear and in the multitude of peace.

Given at Westminster on the Feast of S. Matthew
in the year 1866 ; and ordered to be read in all
churches and chapels of the diocese on Sunday the
30th of September.
;41 HENRY EDWARD, Archbishop of Westminster.
JOHN CANNON MORRIS, Secretary.

Ths Bishop of Southwark on the Pope's
Temporal Power.

A pastoral letter by the Roman Catholic Bishop
of Southwark (Dr. Grant) was read yesterday
morning in the various Catholic churches in his dio-
cese. The bishop pointed out the great dangers and
difficulties by which the Holy Father was surrounded,
and invited the " faithful" to pray earnestly for his
safety on Sunday next, the festival of the Holy
Rosary. "No petitions (he said) will be so wel-
come as those which are accompanied on that day,
by a sincere and contrite confession, and by a de-
vout and affectionate communion. The clergy will
show their filial loyalty to his Holiness by offering
the holy sacrifice for his welfare, and to the end that
he may be freed from all danger, and may regain all
that has been wrested from him. . . . On the day
mentioned the clergy will be pleased to pray at mass
for the protection of his Holiness. Immediately
after rnass the psalm Miserere' and the Litany of
the Saints' are to be chanted or read. The blessed
Sacrament may be exposed during the chant of the
psalm and litanies, and benediction given afterwards
in the usual form. Let the people be instructed in
the duty of praying for the Pope, who bears the
solicitude of all the Churches, and has the charge
of feeding the sheep and lambs of the
vast fold of Christ, and of confirming the breth-
ren, and is continually occupied in providing
for the salvation of immortal souls. Beg them to
hear mass and offer their communions for him as
often as they are able during this time of anxiety.''
In referring to the present critical position of Pius
IX. the right reverend prelate said—" The faithful
children of the Church are full of anxiety when they
think of the position of his Holiness, who is their
spiritual father on earth. They hear, day by day,
of the different plans and calculations that are formed
respecting him and the small span of territory on
which he dwells. But they do not find in those
plans any that promise help or support, or even con-
solation to him. If his children are troubled by these
thoughts, their surprise is even beyond their trouble.
Events have passed so rapidly in our times that their
history seems already to belong to some remote and
ancient period. They who were beginning life 20
years ago hear with wonder that at that date lived a
Pontiff whose first act when he had been, after a
short conclave, given to the Church, was to open the
prisons, and give freedom to those who had been
once, and were to be again, the enemies of his throne.
When his subjects believed that the institutions of
other countries would offer new rules and principles
of government to his States, he yielded with fatherly
confidence in their loyalty and in their justice and
obedience. When he was surroundedby thousands,
and was hailed everywhere with acclamations, his
heart was amongst the poor, who had enjoyed the
chief part of his episcopal revenues; amongst child-
ren, whom he wished to train in virtue and inno-
cence ; amongst the lowly sufferers, who. in Ireland
and in other lands were wasted by famine, ruined
by fires or inundations, or shaken by earthquakes.
Great indeed must be the wonder of those who
hear the story of his reign, and are told that after
he had desired eagerly the happiness of his peo-
ple, had toiled for their prosperity, and had
shown sympathy and tenderness towards all who
were afflicted, he was obliged to become an exile,
and to leave the palaces that had been a home to
every one but himself. Such will be their sur-
prise that gratitude has been forgotten, and that
even pity to wards the vanquished has lost its power,
that they will scarcely be able to believe how the
extremes Of glory and disregard should be con-
trasted in the same reign, and that he whom all once
sought to honour is to be deprived of the little that
now remains to him. But he still retains the affec-
tion of the devoted children of whom he is the
shepherd, and they are encouraged by his confi-
dence in God, and by his hereditary trust in the
powerful intercession of Mary the Immaculate
Mother of God. . . . There have been strange
and sudden changes since we saw him give his first
blessing in 1846, and since we saw him return to
his cathedral in 1850. We must not be disheartened
if the clouds are now dark and deep. The star of
the sea can penetrate this darkness. Mary can urge
her Divine Son to rise up and bid the winds and the
wwraevenslutostbbeeccaoli Our
nnfi.
dentandduutynities thdinerefoprar evid
ent.
We
prayer. We
mustthe
e see
comfort
ko
msolace o
fi n entreating
light and direction for the Vicar of her Son by
addressing supplications and earnest entreaties to
her who never asks in vain."

The Pacific and New Zealand mail packets after
leaving New Zealand for Panama only go near the Pit-
cairn and Galapagas Islands in the Pacific. A coal depot
for the packets is to be established on ono of the latter
islands. Another of the Galapagas is a convict settlement
belonging to the Republic of Ecuador. This Pacific mail
line having been established, a man can now travel round
the world in about 100 days, touching twice at Europe,
once at Africa, twice at Asia, four times at Australasia,
and four times at America. Thirty years ago a mail
packet took forty days to reach America from England;
now a person can travel by sea nearly ten times that dis-
tance in a little more than twice the time.
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