The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-04
GCUMEN1CAL COUNCIL.

they have taken 10 us ana lnls llOly Oec, uuu Vi
holy obedience, and under the penalties by law
or custom dccrced against those who fail to APP
pear at the councils. We vigorously ordain ana
prescribe shat they shall be bound to attend this
sacred council, unless withheld by some Just
impedimcnt, which, however, must in all cases
be proved to the synod by the intermediary oil
Legitimate proxies.
1--WE cherish the hope that God, in whose
hands arc the hearts of men, showing Himself
favorable to our desire may grant that by Ills
incffablc mercy and grace, all the suprerAe
princes and governors, more especially Catholic,
of all nations, growing daily more conscious of
the immense benefits which human society
derives from the Catholic Church, and knowing
that the Church is the most stable foundation Of
empires and Kingdoms, not only will not inn
pede our venerable brethren, the Bishops and
others, from attending this Council, but will
rather aid and favor this object, and cooperate
zcalously, as becomes Catholic princes, in all
that may result to the greater glory of God aud
the benefit of this council.
"Obligcd to devote, without intermission, our
thoughts and our cares to the salvation of all
those who acknowledge and adore Jesus Christ,
our eyes and heart are turned towards those
churches which, formerly attached to the Apos
iollc Church by the bonds of unity, were so
Hourishing by the merit of sanctity and divine
knowledge, producing such abundant fruits for
tho glory of God and the salvation of souls, and
which to-day, by the Internal arts and machina-
tous of him who plotted in heaven the first
schism we find, to our great grief, eloined and
separated from that holy Roman Church which
IL spread throughout the whole world.
at is for this reason that, from the beginning
Of our POntifcate, we have addressed you, in
the funess of our heart, words of peace and
charity And, Though we have not had, by
any means, the success we so ardenty desired
neve rthcless we have never been without hope
that our humble and fervent prayers would some
day be layorably received and heard.
'Now, as lately, with the advice Of our
venerable brothers, the Cardinals of the holy
Roman Church. we have indicated and con-
yoked an Hcumenical Council. We address our
ia toN Won oynin MI nn Nvar md nntr rna of
you, with all the earnestness that we are capable
of, to come to this same General Assembly, as
did your ancestors at the Council of Lyons,
held under the blessed Gregory Y, our prcdo-
cessor of venerable memory, and to the Council
of Florence, celebrated by Eugenius' ", also
our predecessor of happy memory, to the end
that, renewing the laws of ancient love, and re-
storing to its vigor the peace of our fathers,
that celestial and salutary gift of Jesus Christ,
of which, in time, we have lost the fruits, we
may see, at last after u long period of grief, in
which darkness aud division preyailed-wc may
see arise the brilliant and pure morning which
VIC have so long prayed for"
who Compose the Council.
Among those entitled to n scat in the council,
and therefore included in the Papal invitation,
are the cardinals, bishops, abbots, and generals
of religious orders. Bishops are entitled to u
scat by divine right; cardinals in case they are
not at the same time bishops, abbots and gene
rails of religious orders, by ecclesiastical law or
privilege.
The number Of those who have been invited
Is considerable. According to the Annuario
PontIfciO for 1868, the official Papal Almanac,
the Roman Catholic Church had ut the begin
ming of the year 1868, II Patriarchates, 1872
Archbishoprics OF the Latin rite and Arch
bishoprics of Oriental rites; 45l BishOprics of
the Latin rite and G3 Bishoprics of Oriental
rites; giving q total of S65 dioceses OF these
about 100 are vacant leaving $50 prelates who
have been invited to the council. The College
of Cardinals had in 1865, 25 members who were
not bishops. The number of generals of reli-
gious orders, according to the Papal Almanac,
is about 50. The number of mitrcd abbots is
also considerable.
The following details to the Catholic her-
archy will not be without interest: That body is
composed of the Pope, as supreme head, the
cardinals, patriarChs, archbishops and bishops.
BY the rules there ought to be seventy-six cardi-
nails but that number is rarely attained. At this
moment, for example, the Sacred College is
composed of only lifty-nine members, including
two hats reserved, an pettO, for persons un-
known. That is to say, in fact, that these princes
of the Church are only tifty-seven. The Oldest
of these high dgnitaries is eighty-nine, and a
Spaniard and the youngest forty-two, q French
man. Prince Lucien Bonaparte. Among them
are four over eighty, thirteen more than seventy
twenty-five who have passed sixty, ten over fifty,
and five between that age and forty. Cardinal
Antonclli, Secretary of State is siXty-four. Like
Prince Bonapartc, he received the purple very
young at about fortv-one.
With respect to the proportion in which these
spiritual pastors, exclusive of prelates IN parti
bus, are distributed over the surface of the
globe, there are in the States Of the Church six
archbishops and IS bishops; England, Ireland
and the colonies, 10 and SIS; Austria, 10 and ~
Bavaria, 9 and 6; Belgium, and ,; Brazil, anC
Ii Bolivia and 5; Chilli, l and 3; Argentine
Confederation, / and 5; Two Sicilies 26 and 92
German Duchies, and 3; Equator, and 3
Spain and her colonies II and 81; United States
2 and 40; France and her colonies, Is and u
Greece, and 6; New Grenada. and I; Guatc
mala, and d; Hayt and 4; Hanover has n
archbishop bat two bishops; Holland, and
Mexico, 8 and l5 Modena, l and 4 Parma, n
archbishop but three bishops; Peru, and
Persia has one archbishop but no bishop; Por
tugal, 4 and 23 Prussia, 9 ana 6; Russia . aR
l2;, Kingdom of Sardinia and the Lombardo
Venetian provinces, and SO; Switzerland,
bishops, without any archbishop as yet, athoug
the Pope Is going to create an archbishop G
Fribourg; Tuscany and 49, Turkey, and
Venezuela / and 4. Total, 13j archbishops an
6S1 bishops. The Italian reformers certain
have some reasonable foundation for their desir
to diminish the number of bishops nthc ne
kingdom, as it results from the preceding cat,
logue that Italy furnishes exactly third Of a
the archicpiscopal sees in the world, and fra
ton more than n third of all the episcopal see
while the quOndam kingdom of Naples alOI