Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-01-04

golden candelabras. The pure whiteness
of the marble, the altar cloths and the wax
candles was unbroken save by the almost
transparent green of the smilax, and glis-
tened like silver mirror under the soft
light of the candles. The service was
solemn high mass, of which the Very Rev.
A. Magnien was celebrant, the Rev. Thos.
Lyons, deacon, and the Rev. T. ]. McKin-
merry, sub deacon. The Rev. P. ]. Dono-
hue and the Rev. J. T.. Whelan, of the
Cathedral clergy, were in the sanctuary
The sermon was by Cardinal Gibbons, and
was on the "Vicissitudes and indestructi-
bility o. the Papacy."
CARDINAL GIBBONS SERMON.
The Cardinal said s.From the days Of
Peter to Leo XIII, two hundred and fifty
nine Roman pontiffs have occupied the
apostolic chair. Of this number seventy
nine Popes are honored on our affairs as
saints, eminent for their holiness of life,
and a large proportion of these died martyrs
for the faith Of Christ. In fact, all the
Popes that have filled the chair of Peter up
to the beginning of the fourth century,
with the exception of three OF four, laid
down their lives in testimony OF their belief
and faith in Christ. And, hence, the man
who was chosen Bishop of Rome in those
DAYS carried his life in his hands.
''The indestructibility of the papacy is an
event truly marvellous, and well calculated
to excite the admiration of every rejecting
mind, especially when we consider the
number and variety and formidable power
of the enemies that were leagued against it.
This fact alone affords conclusive evidence
of the special interposition of Providence
in the preservation of the Holy See. From
the day of Pentecost till the victory obtain
ed by Constantine over Maxentius, period
of nearly three hundred years, the church
and the papacy passed through series of
ten persecut ons unparalleled for atrocity in
| the history of the world. And yet pagan
Rome, before whose standard the mightiest
nations quailed, was unable to arrest the
progress of the church. In a few years we
| find the Roman empire crumbliug to pieces
and the Bishop of Rome dispensing laws to
Christendom in the very capital from
which the Roman emperors Illuminated
their edicts against Christianity.
SIN the seventh century Mohammetan-
ism had it's rise in Arabia, and in the if
! teenth century OoDstsn,inopis was captured
/ nY tbs followers IL the False Prophet, who
/ threatened to subject all Europe to their
sway. For nine centuries Mohammetan-
| ism was standing menace to Christendom,
but at last an event occurred which was to
decide orce for all whether Christianity or
Mohammetanism was to rule the destinies
of Europe and of the world. At the earn
est solicitation of Pope Plus the Fifth an
offensive league against Turkey was en-
| tered into between the kingdom of Spain
and the republic of Venice. The great
naval battle of Lepanto was fought, in
which the Turks were signally defeated,
and if to day the cross instead of the cres-
cent surmounts the temples of Europe,
those nations are indebted in a great
measure for this blessing to the prayers and
vigilance of the Bishops of Rome"
| After abiding to the reformation in the
sixteenth century, the Cardinal went On to
say "Let US now calmly survey the scene
after the din and smoke of battle have
passed away. We find the church stronger
than she was in any preceding period of
her history; the losses she sustained in the
old world have been more than compensated
by her acquisitions in the new, and she has
already recovered good portion of the ter
ritory which was wrested from her in the
sixteenth century. She exists not as an
effete institution, but with all her vitality
and organism unimpaired, more vigorous,
more united, more compact than she ever
was before.
| "Various causes are given to explain the
perpetuity of the Papacy. Lord Macaulay
attributed this phenomenon to ths wonder
full wisdom and foresight and far-reaching
policy of the Popes themselves; others at
tribute it to the learning and tact of the
ministers of the church; others to her mar.
velous organization. But these reasons
are not satisfactory to explain this remark
IL H.
have survived not on account of the wis.
dom, but often in spite Of the folly of her
own children. Her survival must be &C
counted for as vreifcation of the prophecy
of our Lord, who said, The gates of he'll
shall not prevail against her. You ask fol-
q miracle, as the Jews for sign. You
are asked to prove the perpetuity of The
church by miracle, but her very existence
is the greatest of all miracles. If you sa "
delicate maid, with all the weakness Of
humanity, cast into prison, bufIeted and
starved, with her blood sprinkling the
walls of her prison-hGuse, then coming
forth in all the bloom of womanhood, be-
coming the joyful mother of children, and
surviving years and centuries beyond the
ordinary span of life, would not this be q
miracle? Such is the history of the church
She has passed through all these vicissi
tudes: she has tasted the bitterness OF
prison life in every age; her blood has
been shed in every cline, and yet she is as
fnll of life as ever, and the nursing mother
of mum berless children. Are not govern
ments and institutions mortal as well as
men? Why should the church prove an ex
ception to the rule? If this is not a miracle,
do not know what constitutes miracle.
81 would now ask those who are hostile
| 70 ba NJ at mna ne can he Moved
to overthrow an institution which has fol
centuries successfully overcome every op.
position raised against it. Is it by the
power of kings and emperors and prime
ministers that the Papacy can be destroyeds
They have tried, and tried in vain, from
the days of the Roman Caesars to our own
times. Many persons labor under the false
impression that in former times the church
was leagued with the princes of this world
for the purpose of overthrowing the liber-
tics of the people; that the affairs were sus-
tanned by the thrones and that they would
crumble If this protection were withdrawn.
The truth is that, with some honorable ex-
captions, the most unrelenting enemies of
the church and the Papacy have often been
the princes of this world, and so-caled
Christian princes, too. They chafed under
the salutary discipline of the chur Oh, and
wished to be rid of her yoke because she
was the only power on the earth that could
stand between the princes and the people,
and tell the former that if the people have
their obligations, they have their rights
too; that if they should render to Caesar
the things that are Caesars, Caesar should
render to God the things that are Gods"
'But can the church cope with modern
inventions and the great discoveries of the
nineteenth century? Rest assured that the