The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-02-20
1rrrER FROM RolGE.

interesting letter given below, "nion NO
,.oo;yed within this last week from MS
brother, the Right Rev. DR.. Gibbons vicar
Anostolic of the State Of North Carolina
now attending Che Council in Rome:
ROME, Jan. 10, 1870.
Dsar yohn-Your letter reached me while the
hishops of the Catholic world are engE"SSe" Wy
the great Vatican Council.
'n TX T. the 6rst week or two after the solemn
;nanonrntion of the 9Th of December,' tne Dusi-
ness transacted in the Coun 4ha J Fathera were
occnpied in electing various Committees "nu
in arranging other preliminary. matters.
But since the public discussions n Lays lie
menced, the majestic concilary hall seems i Tx
a defunct body into which new life mas oeeu III
fused. It is impossible to conceive mort
magnificent spectacle on this eartn Oh oussS,
than the assembly of some 800 prelates arouseu
nv the thrilling eloquence of one OF their peers
Certainly, for Intelligence and virtue and 1or
nnre and lofty motives, this Christian Congress
Y You have in this vast assembly, representa-
tives not only from different paris OF Sa'n 10
ton, but from every nation on the globe.
Each bishop brings with MN from t n,s u" =;
Council his individual stock of experience anu
while he imparts of his own knowledge to me
Fathers, he is overloaded in return py snS
gushing, streams of information daily poured
into his mind by contact with these iear 1es,
apostles of every nation. You have before you
the world in nutshell c.,
The prelates arranged in tue Couhcii
chamber not according to nationality, but &C
cording to their promotion to the ep!scopaIe.
The consequence is that you may see sitting on
the same bench the long bearded bishop OF
Tunis, in Africa, and the bishop of Adelaide,
in Australia the primate OF hungary cohVeIs-
ing with the Archbishop of Baltimore, ana @
prelate who halls from the river Ganges se19-a-
tete with a prelate from the Mississippi. Ihls
familiar minglipg of nations creates and fosters
a brotherhood of feeling and more information
is obtained by half hours conversation WIN
a living voice from distant nation, than~by
weeks spent in it's study over books. On my
right, have by a mere chance, an American,
the only one in a large circle who speaks Eng
lish. On my left is noble Hungarian, ike all
the prelates of his country, fond of indepen-
dence and with heart as big as mountain.
We talk in Latin of which the Hungarians are
perfect masters as ~ recently inns Was 'neal
ticed Il mustached Turk-a Turk of course In
nation, not in faith. Mussulman would be
sadly out of his element in SO orthodox an as
sembly as ours Another close neighbOr Is q
Dominican bishop with the usual white cassock
of his order, who comes from a remote part of
China. When this holy man first went as a
ago, before the steam engine and telegraph
wire were brought into requisition, he CON
sumed twelve whole months in completing the
voyage from Europe to China!
The Council is i'll no small measure indebted
to the material progress of the nineteenth CEN
tury. For without the aid of steam, how could
CHINA, the antlpOdeS De represented, not 10
speak of our own country, and the whole Amer
lean continent. Thus we see that all things
contribute to the glory of God. "God works
in mysterious way his wonders to perform"
The Church, it was often predicted, would be
crushed by the mighty march of modern me-
chanical inventions, and 10! she makes them
the willing landmarks of her apostles.
We have in the Council another Chinese
bishop, who told me that to reach the city of
Rome he had to travel p, 00epmiles, q distance
almost>eq to the circumference of the earth.
ly judging that such an appendage, though in
dispensabie according to Chinese etiquette,
would hardly suit the tastes of Europeans.
His motto was, "when you live in Rome, do as
Rome does"
There is the most ample liberty of discussion
in the Council. No matter how much speaker
in the chamber may tire his audience, lie is
patiently heard to the end of the chapter.
Those that desire to speak have only to notify
the president the day before. 1t is true you
will not hear fifty bishops shouting at the top
nor will yon hear Mr.. President bringing
down" his hammer, and making confusion
more contounded. You will not see bishops
proving the liberty of the Council by taking
the liberty of throwing ink-bottles at their
brothers on the opposite side. You will OBJ
serve no bishop trying to assert his independ-
ence by reading New York Herald in hori-
zontai position. Such exhibitions. fortunately
for the reputation of the Vatican Council, are
hardly essential to true freedom of debate.
Most of the speeches are read Some of the
memory. All, of course, speak in Latin. Be-
fore n speaker has finished the first sentence,
we can immediately tell, from the popularity
of his pronunciation to what country he be-
longs. Shorthand writers take down all the
speeches, and they are all examined by the
proper committees.
Some of the speeches master pieces of
oratory. One of the most effective was made
by Archbishop Titzani who is stone blind, and
who has to be led to the Council chamber like
a child. Perhaps we liked the speech because
w tsIf thu f.,r .x>c
and of countenance, for sweetness and clear
.ness of utterance, for the happy choice of words
and ideas, where dignity blended with
modcsty, freedom aud moderation, Cardinal
SwartzenburS has certainly far carried off
the palm. Cardinal 8. is only prince of
the Church, but comes from II prince.iy family
III Germany. He is also one of natures noble
men.
AS nation, perhaps the Huugarians have
exhibited the most mastery eloquence and the
most familiar knowledge of the Latin Ian
guage, which, till recently, was their mother
tongue.
The London Tines correspondent with his
usual inaccuracy, has repeatedly said that
speech can be heard in the chamber-that it is
por ct prGterea nihH." Every bishop is dis
tnctly heard no is blessed with "a good voice
and distinctness of utterance. If some are not
well heard it is the fault of the organ of
speech, not of the hall. This correspondent,
who is seldom correct even by accident, and
who is an unfortunate guesser, after saying
that nobody hears the speaker, seemed to for
get In the next sentence what he had lust
written. For he told us that the president
called the speaker to order. Now the president
is at one end of the hall, and the pulpit at the
other extremity. How could the speaker be