Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-11-18
POPE LEO'S GREAT WORK.
The Reconciliation of the Oriental dMt
Latin Churches.

The Reconciliation of the Oriental and
Latin Churches.
Leo XIII. is practical pope. He over
comes the greatest difficulties. One of the
hardes papal problems has been the recon-
Citation of the Latin and the Oriental
churches. The Oriental church rites are so
national that they have invariably refused
to discard them. The priests have repre-
sented Rome as an enemy to these
rites and to the people who cling to
them. It was a knotty question. No
pope has understood it as quick as Leo
Kill, and no one was more ready to do
justice. The Oriental liturgy really rests
on the holy fathers who spread the faith
and the gospel in the East. Hence Leo
XIII. last year sanctioned the alteration of
st. Cyrilius and Methodius by the Orien-
tai chuches, and engrafted it on the Latin
church. This glorifcation of these saints
pacitied the communions separated from
Rome. 1t gave the lie to the enemies of
the Latin church, who alleged that Rome
wanted to tyranniZe the consciences of the
Oriental communions, destroy their lawful
traditions, and abolish their ancie Mt rites.
The establishment of several colleges in
Mesopotamia and Syria for the education
Of Oriental priests is another good step
taken by the pope toward the reconcilia-
ton of the two churches. But the master
step is the re-establishment of the Greek
in those Occidental churches where such
rite has fallen into disuse. Such was the
case with the celebrated abbey of Grot-
taferrata, near Rome. This abbey was
| E., Id y~~C III .L-lI Il L
Greek rite just as it is observed by the Ba-
silian monks of lower Calabria. Right
here may say that there are several COM
munities in Italy and Sicily who worship
in Greek, using the Greek rite, and who
are united with Rome.
The monastery at Grottaferrata gradu-
ally fell into the hands of Italian monks,
and became surrounded by Italian wor-
shippers. The Oriental liturgy suffered
great alteration. Greek ornaments gave
place to Latin ornaments, and many of the
prayers were read in Latin. The edifce
itself underwent many changes and was re-
constructed in the worst modern style.
His holiness has now ordered the restora-
ton of the old basilica to its former style
of architecture, the re-establishment of the
iconostasium, the erection of a new altar
in the sanctuary, and the complete readop-
ton of the Oriental rite for public worship
The first solemn celebration was lately
held in the basilica in the presence of six
cardinals, with the assistance of all the
pupils of the Greek college at Rome, and
of those favoring the Greek rite and study
in the lpropaganda. The service was rem
dered all the more impressive because the
celebrant and assistants were mostly
Italians aud members of the Latin charch.
The epistle and gospel were sung in Greek
and Latin, too, according to the privileges
of the old abbey.
The new policy of his holiness is Great
ing ferment in the Greek church. The
Oriental people are pleased. The pope's
action will open the eyes of many who
have been led to regard Rome as the
enemy of their traditions and of the11
beautiful and majestic rights.