Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1875-03-19
.]1ort0 obofro Gimes
POI L TOB eco:
Friday Morning, March, 10, ......- 1875.
An American Cardinal.


come to pass and has been topic for com
ment during the past week. Archbishop
McCloskey, of New York, together with
DR.. Manning, Archbishop of Westminis-
ter, in England; Count Ledochowski,
Archbishop of Posen, in Prussia: Mgr.
Deschamps, Archbishop of Mechlin, in
Belgium; Mgr. Giannelli, Archbishop of
Sardia, and Mgr. Bartolini, Consultor OF
the Roman Court,) has been elevated to the
Cardinalate. Archbishop McCloskey was
born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1910, was
educated at Emmitsburg in this State, was
ordained priest in 1884, and appointed in
1874 Bishop and Co-adjutor of the do
cese of New York, then Bishop of Albany
until 1864, when he succeeded to the arch
diocese of New York on the death of Arch
bishop Hughes. Since which time he has
devoted himself to the affairs of the large
diocese over which he presides, and has
In that capacity won the respect of all
with whom he has come in contact. He
IS man of persuasive eloquence, gentle
manners, and of large erudition. If this
hIgh ecclesiastical honor was to be con-
ferred upon an American it was singular
~ appropriate that the venerable metro
politan of the large and wealthy diocese
of New York should be its recipient
Though not versed in matters of this sort
we believe that the appointment will in
no way affect the present position OF Dr.
McCloskey, but that he will remain the
Archbishop of New York and exercise as
heretofore all his functions as such. 1t
will, we believe, give him precedence over
all other Bishops, except perhaps the Arch
bishop Of Baltimore, who is the Primate
of America, and in virtue of this position
takes precedence ofall other prelates, being
the more immediate representative of the
Pope. Indeed the exact social rank of a
Cardinal has always been more or less a
subject of discussion in the different courts
OF the world in proportion as the wearer
of 1.-The red hat" was disposed to be AFRO
giant or meek. Some Of them have assum-
ed that they were entitled to precedence
over princes Of foreign families present at
any royal court, because they claimed that
not only were they princes of the Roman
State, but partners in the royalty of Rome
However this may be, we know that Car
dinal Wiseman, who was not only wise in
name, but in nature, and who felt himself
obliged to maintain the dignity of his high
position, was often very much embarrassed
on the subject. We presume our new
Cardinal will scarcely have any trouble of
this sort here, inasmuch as every citizen
of this country is "a sovereign and for
the additional reason that the Pope has
now no temporal royalty or State. since
Victor Emanuel has hiftcffy relieved him
of all these troubles, so that he can devote
his entire time to that kingdom which lis
not of this EARTH and perhaps this is one
cause why the venerable Pontiff has reach
ed SO great an age. The exact origin of
the Cardinalate is involved in the obscurtv
of ages and therefore a matter of dispute
among historians, though doubtless the
traditions of the Church on the subject are
satisfactory to its members. We find that
in the year 1859 Nicholas II issued his
bull, IN which he proclaimed that the
choice of Pope appertains first to the Car
dina1 bishops, and then to the Cardinal
clerks" and the rest of the clergy and peo-
pie acquiesce in the election. Alexander
Eli introduced the rule, which has ever
since prevailed. that two-thrls vote of
the College of Cardinals should be neces-
sary to the election of Pope. We sup
pose that perhaps it was from this source
that the Democratic party adopted the
wise rule of requiring two-thirds vote of
the National Convention to nominate a
candidate for the Presidency. Ifthis party
should be as permanent under the opera
ton of this rule as the hierarchy of Rome
has been, the country would not drift again
into Radicalism shortly, at least not in our
day and generation.
At the death of the Pope the College of
Cardinals meet and proceed to elect his
successor, whom we need not say is gener-
ally taken from themselves, though not
necessarily so, for there is nothing we be-
heve either in the principles or practice
of the papacy which prevents the election
of any prelate outside of the Conclave or
in any part of the world. Gregory X, who
was the Pope in 1872, when the Council
of Lyons promulgated the Constitution
which was to regulate the College in its
election, was not Cardinal at the time but
was simply Theobald Visconti, Archdea-
con of Liege, in Flanders. We may be
mistaken, but we think there may be other
similar instances. However this may be,
the selection has generally been and is
likely to be confined to the Sacred College
and made from among the Cardinals resi-
dent in Rome and on some one perhaps
designated by the Pope whose successor
he may become
In the earlier ages of the Church the
Cardinals were regarded somewhat as the
Council of the Pope, and hence their APP
pointments were confined pretty much to
those who were Immediately around the
person of the Pope, or within easy access
If him Indeed this has continued down