The Irish standard., 1896-07-18

udyC %0uVWA AE5A1OA GkA1S -iA&l
treating of the case am not surprised that
the free thinking editor Of the IT ruth
Slayer" misrepresents the facts. s4s
| With your permission and for the bene-
fit Of your readers ] will give an anthem
tic sketch Of this great Irishman and OF
his trouble with the Pope on account oi
his scientific opinions. l.,:'z5S h s..
He was born in Hibernia and was 81
illustrious descent. His parents we're vir.
tuo11s as they were noble, and gave him
a. superior education He became "a
prodigy Of genius and learning, and ex-
celled in mathematics and philosophy
His virtues developed themselves with
his talents, and in due course OF time 4 he
was raised to the priesthood and ap,
pointed abbot Of Aghaboe' in the queen s
county. Having resolved to devote his
life to the propagation of the faith IN
foreign lands, he left Ireland in the veal
TAG in company with a bishop named
Dobda and priest named Sidon1us, and
selected Germany as the theatre OF his
n.issi onary labors. He visited France be.
fore 749, and Pepin received him With
every mark of esteem because OF his
scholarship The province of Bavaria
being the subject to Pepin, that mon
arch procured favorable reception fol
Virgilius and his companions from
Odilo, the duke of that country. st. %Boli-
iface at that time was looked upon as a
great apostle of Germany and the three
Irish missionaries placed themselves
under his jurisdiction. While engaged
in their ministerial duties an accident
occurred that brought the theological
opinions of Virgilius and Boniface into
conflict. 1t was concerning the formula
used in baptism. To settle the dispute
they sought the decision of the Pope,
and he decided in favor of Virgilius.
About two years thereafter Virgilius
went to Rome, where he was received
with much cordiality by the Pontif:
After his return rumOrs reached the
ears of Boniface that the Irishman was
boasting OF his grand reception IN
Rome, and that he was aspiring to q
bishopric as soon as a vacancy by death
occurred in Bavaria. St. Boniface was
also told that |Virgilius was trying to sex.
cite tlissension between himself and the
duke, and worse than all, that he caught
q new and heretical doctrine In oppost-
ton to the Bible, to the effect that an
other world, illuminated by another sun
and moon, existed with another race OF
men. Other distorted statements were
made regarding Virgilius and his the
ory, and the result was that charges
against his orthodoxy were forwarded to
Rome, the envoy on the occasion being
st. Burchard, the bishop of Wurtzburg.
Pope Zachary wrote to Boniface say
ing: is
Regarding the false doctrine that Vir-
gilius promulgated, both against God
and his own soul, that under the earth
another earth and other men exist; that
there exist another sun and moon; if he
shall be proved to have held these 0pin-
ions, having called a council, expel] him
as an SunbelieVer from the church, de-
priving him also of the honor of the
priesthood. But we writing to the duke
send admonitory letters concerning this
Virgilius that he be sent to us and sub
jected to a rigorous examination, so that
if he be found in error he may be con-
demned according to the canonical de-
crees. For those that SOW sorrows reap
Them ....
Virgilius visited Rome and explained
his theory SO satisfactorily that he es-
capped the threatened condemnation Of
the Holy See He did not receive a
mitre, however, as related by Father
Burke, but through the influence of Pepin
he was elevated to the episoopacy by
Zachary's successor four years. later. He
governed his diocese for % years and
died Nov.s27, ~7S5, and was buried in the
monastery of st. Peter. When that .sa-
cred edifice was undergoing repairs in
1871, the. body of Virgilius was found.
and many miracles took place, the fame
of which. caused Pope Zachary TX. in
1888 to enroll the holy and learned Irish
bisop in the calendar Of saints. The day
of his feast is Nov. ~; and he is hon,
ored as the apostle OF Corinthia.
The Irish saint was. falsely accused OF
heresy for teaching the sphericity of the
earth and the existence of the antipodes.
but on explaining the matter at Rome he
was fully exonerted by Pope Zachary.
The fact is, that though the earth''s
rotundity was not believed by, his con-
temporaries, it had been taught before
the time of st. Basil, St. Gregory of Naz-
ianzan, St. Gregory Of Nyssa, st. Athanr
asius and others; and some of the early
fathers Of the church, such as St. Glenn
ent, ST. Hilary and Origen. mention the
antipodes in their writings a fact which
goes to show the falsity of modern as.
scrtions concerning the hostility Of the
church to those researches which arr
within the legitimate province of SET
ence, and which in no possible way in
validate fhe trl1fh of divine faith j.. 4@