The daily gazette., 1877-06-05
From, the AsW York World.
THE POPE'S JUBILEE.

THE POPE'S JUBILEE.
The fiftheth annivers sary of any priests
| entry into his vocation is q notable and
| touching event if during the half century
which II closes the man has led blame
less and useful life. The fiftieth ami
versary of the conservation of Plus TX
to the episcopate Is an event of world
wide interest Much more than half of
the Christian Churches recognizes him
as its head. The great Byzantine and
Anglican communions, though they de.
ny his papacy and his supremacy, reog-
nize the validity of his ordination, and
see in the Bishop of Rome the incum-
bent of the Oldest and most illustrious of
all the episcopates. And all Europe and
| all America, all of what is even in name
ChristendoG,, must be affected by an oc-
casion which calls to their attention SO
limpressively the most ancient and august
and perhaps still the most potentof ex-
listing human institutions. aoau n.
Many ny 9ta sarogst r9Sg resbe1s sbS we We reforming
Pope" uttered when Cardinal Ferri TIL /,
just become Pope Plus, in the flush of
his early enthusiasm set to work TO make
so much of the Catholic Church as could
be influenced by its heal absolutely
worthy Of its history and its pretensions
|
to us he must have been, was man or
fifty-four, and this was a whole genera
ton ago. The papal reforms were well
under way before the revolutions of 184S
,rocked Europe The events of that
eventful year might have persuaded al
most any man in the position of Pope
Plus that the time was not ripe for Pa
pal reform, if they did not convince him
that the scenes which were but the out
come of the liberal and enfranchising
policy,upon which he had entered. What
ever his motive may have been he did
not afterwards appear as a progressive
Pope. The expulsion from Rome was
the end of that episode in his career. 1t
is hard tor this generation to magazine
the "prisoner of the Vatican" the hero
and ideal of Young Italy. as during that
,episode he was; blessing the standards OF
the Roman volunteers, and looked up to
by the enthusiastic youth of the Peninsu-
la as the leader beneath whose benedic
ton Italy should march upon the detest-
ed "Tedesco," and drive him forever
back beyond the Alps! In those days
Pope Plus was as popular with Protest.
ants and Radicals as he is now with Cath
olics and Conservatives. His portrait,
hung on the study walls of New England
ministers and in the workshops OF Paris
ian men of the blouse.
Between the return from Gaeta and
the proclamation of the dogma of In
fall bility a century seems to have rolled
J away, so crowded were the intervening
years with great events. The elevator
of an early Carbonar0 to the imperia
throne of France; the war in the Grimes
striking down the military supremacy o.
. schismatic Russia over the Europear
continent; the expulsion of Austria ano
y, rfNi ~
of the Papal throne; the triumph OF the
Evangelical House of Hohenzollerr
over the Apostolical House of Haps-
burg;-all these political changes and de
,velopments gradually threw the Churcl
J of Rome more and more completely
, back upon its own reserves OF Spiritua
y auth hority and iRf3sence. And when IL
the early spring of 1870 Pope Plus, sur
rounded by the august pomp of grea
Gcumenical Council, reasserted for the
Church its absolute primacy aud domin
lion over the spiritual affairs of the world
the contrast between the Pope of Coun
Rossi and the Pope of Cardinal An
,, tonelh was so striking and impressive
|, that it is hard to find a parallel for it IL
? the career of any one man in history
) Since that time the pretensions of tn,
Papacy have been brought into SHARP
9 and actual conflict with the new princi
palities and the new powers now do
minant In the earth. France has beer
driven, like Austria, from the Eterna
r CITY, and Italy, united from the Alps tC
t the Sea, has constituted herself, as SHE
l says, the guardian, but as the Vatican
l maintains, the .jailer, Of the Church. Th'
House of Hohenzollern has won the
- crown of empire, and is avengine
Canossa upon the hierarchy of Germany
l The trials and the duties laid upon th'
Z Head of the Roman Church since thu
: day of Sedan would of themselves hav'
4 sufficed to make Rapacy memorable
and Pope historical. g.
n But it is not of these things that mos
= people will care to think on this day o
}. the Pope's jubilee. They will turn from
the prince to the priest; from the head o
a great ecclesiastical organization pas
: sing through unparalleled tempests AM
confronting mighty social and pOlitica
pillows, to the gentle humane and SINGER
heart which has beaten as steadily ant
5 with as noble pulses on the throne OF Re
ter as it did within the walls of tn
modest seminary of Tata Giovanni or IL
I the humble chapel of the mission am0nl
! the Andes. Pope Plus TX. has so born
D himself through all the marvellous Gil
D oumstances of his long career-throug
all that he has attempted, all that he ha
n done and all that he has suffered-as T.
earn and to receive the respect of a
men. The notions which many worth
people cherish of the Pope of Rome a
Z The "map of SIM" and of his administrs
ton as the chief of abomi nations, gro'
ridiculous and contemplate in the ligh
which shines from the face of one of til
5 mildest, most benignant and most beaut
ful of old men. Thousands of Protestant
who cannot join with Rumon Catholic
in the pledges of allegi iance the renew tt
day to Pope Plus, will join with them
rendering hearty human homage an
: honor to Mastai Ferretti.