New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-12-24


CoNCoURsE OF PRELATEs-A SUMMONS TO THB
FAITHFUL-THE VIRGIN AND sATAN-AMER-
ICAN GIFTS TO THE PoPE-CoSSEcRArioS
OF CARDINAL - AMERICAN WOMEN IN
ROME-PRoPosED HISTORY OF THE COUNCIL.
IRON OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
ROME Nov. 9-The narrow streets of Rome ara
now almost blocked up by the throng OF foreign
prelates who continue to arrive by every tram and
steamer at the rate of twenty-five or thirty day.
Clad in the regulation costume of long, flowing
black robes and hats threecornered, slouched, and
Blended in q variety of fashions often with Knee
breeches and smooth shining stockings OF worsted
silk with huge buckles in their shoes. there IS moth
ing in their appearance to enable the unassisted
human reason 20 detect their respective natOnaltes
An occasional CLEAN of purple or scarlet now and
then relieves the mOnotOny of solemn black, but
gives no clue to tine special golden can
dlestick from which their light is wont
to radiate The sight of such an army OF the high
est servants of the Catholic Church certainly, pre-
sents siDgularly impressive spectacle not only to
the eye, but to the imagination. Many of them are
aged and venerable men, evidently stricken with
manifold infrmities, who have left their pleasant
familiar seats and made perilous journey In Win
ter time in obedience to the mandate OF the Sover
eign Pontif Others are in the flower and freshness
of early youth, the bloom of boyhood stiH lingering
on their faces, and presenting strange contrast TO
the formal ecclesiastical costume in which they are
arrayed Most of them perhaps, still in the lusty
prime of manhood, with no marks Of times effac-
ing fingers on their stalwart frame and thoughtful
brow with resolute step and earnest expression,
showing themselves alert and vigorous to do bold
battle against the enemies Of the Lord. / must do
Justice to these gallant soldiers of the Church. to say
that in general they prepossessing body OF men,
their looks are adapted to dispel. rather than to
create prejudice many of them have the air OF per-
sons born to command. showing sense Of the official
dignities with which they have been invested, but
always with peculiar amenity Of bearing, and often
with conspicuous signs of intelligence. You VIII
doubtless sometimes remark e certain subtlety OF
expression, o cOuntenance of rare shrewdness and
keenness betrayng an infnty Of practical resources
and indicating the diplomatist rather than the
ecclesiastic, though l believe the functions OF
diplomatist and ecclesiastic are apt to be CON-
bined in the same person among the dignltaries OF
Catholicism. At the same time, have often been
delighted to watch the face of prelate as he was
gliding quietly through the Streets the sweet sane
tty of whose features reminded me of the portraits
of Fenelon rather than of the austere yisage Of St.
Francis, or the military energy of Loyola You can
hardly name the residences of these prelates with
out touching an imaginative chord. They come
from Persia and the Rocky Mountains, from Meso-
potamia and Massachusetts,, from Cafiraria and CALI
fornia, from Peru. Hndostan, and the most distant
archpelagos of the sea- The apostolic vicar of the
Sandwich Islands returns at the call Of the Pope
after an absence from Europe of IS years, making
the journey in less than month which i've years
ago it took year to accomplish.
Many of the official documents which are issued on
occasion of the assembling of the Council, although
impressng the Protestant mind as mere collection
of Understanding phrases, are not without inter-
est as illustrations Of the spirit which the approach
of the grand convocaton calls forth among the faith
full in Rome. One of the most striking of these bull
letins is the Sacred Summons" recently published
by Observation-Disclosures, and of which you may obtain
some idea from few passages which translate. III
there is moment in which Rome, the center OF
the world and of religion is bound in some Sort to
sum up its moral grandeur in single fact.
it is certainly that Of the solemn inaugu-
ration of the Gcumenical Council of the
Vatican, in the glorious light of the
immaculate Conception of the Virgin, the Mother Of
Jesus Christ Under other circumstances, the Apos-
Oc See has accorded to cities of the East and the
West the honor and the advantage of receiving the
General Synods, that were charged with the duty Of
regstablishing the peace of the Church, and the
peace Of the human But now 1t belongs TO the
metropolis of the faith to enjoy this distinguished
honor and precious privilege.
"While the most illustrious cities that were once
the seat of these celebrated councils have disap-
peared from the face Of the earth, or have become
the prey of inidety and heresy, Rome still survives
immortal, and always invunerable in Its faith, in
the midst of the new struggles which crop ont
from hell, it remains to open its gates as the
field for fresh triumphs Menaced herself by
the violences of impiety and disorder, and
garded by the enemy as an inevitable conquest-faI
from succnmhino in the strife-she presents herself
as the repairer OF the evils which mpiety and dis
order have preciptated, to great an extent upon
the whole domain of human society. And Rome still
stands. for the sole reason that she is the place Of
the Stone, the foundation of the mysterious edfce,
which is the work Of the Eternal. and which cannot
be DESTROYED like the works Of man. Rome IL the
center of that divine unity which, of all the churches
of the work., forms the One Holy, Catholic, Apos-
toic Church. of which the faithful of all nations are
the children and to which the generations Of every
age should conform their faith.
20 Rome acknowledge then thy high dignity
How have the just OF Zion and Of Jerusalem ex.
allied the privilege Of their country when the prophet
Isaiah behOlding in spirit symbolic mountain to
which should come all nations that desired 10 find
again the ways of the Lord. heard from far those
tions on their march towards Zion and Jerusalem
cheering one another because it was only from Zion
and Jersusaem that was TO proceed the law for the
restoration of humanity and the word OF revelation
of the divine mysteries. o Rome, that hill which on
the tombs of the Apostles makes visible to the world
the Apostolic Sect is for thee and for all the nations
the new mountain of God thou art the new city,
with better foundations than that ancient one
OH the sacred mountains of the promised land. &c
which come from every quarter OF the earth, souls
penetrated with truth and justice Arise We say to
thee with the same prophet, and more than ever