The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-29
Father Hyacinthe.

rum Ite LONdOH Sdtuf00Y heOtetD
Father Hyacinthes protest, it is said, may
be-and from Protestant point of view is
a very fine and noble one; but what right has
he to deliver it Are we to understand that
he has become, or intends to become, Pro-
testant? If SO, well and good. He would,
according to one section of his critics, vindi-
cate his position as a consistent apostate; ac-
cording to the other as an enlightened Chris
tian. But how can he, as a Roman Catho-
lie, venture to question the possible DEGREES
of the forthcoming Council, and to imply that
they may be such as he will not consent to
be bound by? Is not the infallibility of the
Church and its Councils part and parcel of
Catholic belief? Yet he certainly does imply
that the Council of next December may go
wrong. Now we must confess that we do not
see the relevancy of this question. Father
Hyacinthe may intend to become Pro-
testant though there is no sort of indica-
ton of any such design in his letter, and
it may be true, as some of his critics
have suggested, that it would be a very fine
thing if he did But with that we are not
concerned here. No sensible man will sup
pose. at all events, that the considerable
party which he represents are likely to turn
Protestants en- mdSS6; and it becomes there
fore a matter of some interest, when we
reflect on the critical influence they may here
after exert on the destinies of q communion
including more than half the Christian world
to inquire whether we ought to tell them that
if they do not they can only vindioats their
consistency, not to say their honesty, by re-
lapsing into Ultramontansm. Let it then be
granted at once that O belief in the infall-
bility of Councils is universal, or all but uni
versal, among Catholics, though we are not
aware of any authoritative document of their
Church which defines it. Does it therefore
follow that they will be bound on their
ever, however little in accord with
Scripture or ancient tradition, which
may emanate from the assembly of
next December? Surely there is a previous
questioned to be determined first. Whether
we maintain with them, that General Coun-
ellis are infalible, or say, with the Thirty-nine
Articles, that ''forasmuch as they be COM
posed of men, etc, they err, and sometimes
have erred, even in things pc rtaining unto
God, We still have to ascertain, in the first
place, what is General Council? One con
dition always laid down is that it should be
lawfully convoked and universally received in
the Church; and here at once room may be
given for much variety of opinion in this OF
that particular case. Nor can it be said that
such questions, however possible in the alb
stract, do not really affect the practical re-
suit A glance at Church history will con-
vince us of the reverse. About the authority
of the first seven General Councils assembled
before the division of East and West, no
question has ever been raised 10y Catholic
divines but there the unanimity ends. The
number of General Councils of the Latin
Church since the separation is variousy
stated by different theologians, and those
who agree upon the number do not
always make it up in the same way. The
first Council of Lyons G245) and the Council
of Vienne 131l) are, with abundant reason,
excluded from the list by many theologans,
and none but extreme Ultramontanes would
reckon Leo KS fifth Synod of Lateran (15l7)
as Gcumenical Objections, only less strong,
may be urged against several more. On the
other hand, Ultramontane writers have openly
assailed the claims of the Councils of Pisa
and Basle, and some recent Jesuit divines
| like the authors of the tStimnlell aus Maria
| LGdch, without venturing directly to assail
| the Council of Constance, have quietly drop
| ped it out of their list. Yet these three were
| the most largely attended, the most weighty
and influential on every moral ground, as well
as in fact, of all the medieval Councils, and
their DEGREES received the express appro-
| baton of the Pope, if we except the
| later sessions of Basle, whose authority
no one defends. More than this,
when the illusory union with the
Greeks was being patched up at the Council
! of Florence it was formally styled the Eighth
Gcumenical Council, thus passing over with
wet sponge the ten or eleven, according to
| the ordinary Latin reckoning, which had met
since the second of Nice. On this ground
alone, therefore, it cannot fairly be urged
that Father Hyacinthe is inconsistent in hold
ing his allegiance to the decisions of the
future Council of the Vatican in suspense,
while accepting as infallible the decisions of
4 Nice OF Ephesus or Chalcedon, especially if it
should en- DIN belief inconsistent (say) with
the decisions of Constance, by which he is
already bound. 1t yet remains to be seen
how far the forthcoming DEGREES will receive
the assent of the Church The refusal OF
such assent has always been held conclusive
against the claims of, c. a., the Arian Synod
Of Rimini, and the Eutychian decisions of the
So called L0tlOciBiUm of Ephesus.
But there is another consideration of fully
equal magnitude dwelt on by Father Hya
cinthe in the concluding paragraph of his
letter, and urged at greater length by Senol
Liano in the pamphlet lately reviewed in oul
columns. Theologians and canonists main
tain, in obvious accordance with the dictates
Of common sense, that freedom of discussion
at a Council is an indispensable condition Of
the validity of its DEGREES. Indeed when thi
condition is absent it is the merest mockery
10 speak of it as an Qlcumenica Council a
all, or as in any real sense representing The
Church. 1t is one thing to say--what, We
presume, would be the ordinary Catholic view
that the Holy Ghost may be expected so tc
''order the unruly wills and affections Of sin
ful men" in a council, as eventually to bring
out true decision even from the mos
passionate and prejudiced wranglings o
rival parties. 1t is quite another thing to say
tLat He will guarantee the infallibility OF
decisions which are not, properly speaking
II - III