The Irish standard., 1897-03-27
independence of the church itself.

range themselves on this vital question
with those to whom the Father Of Chris
tendon is always the Scarlet Woman"
and the tyrant of the dark ages. Let
us have the truth, the whole truth, land
nothing but the truth, by all means, but
when the character of a pope is attacked
let us be very careful rot to pass upon
it without knowledge OF facts.
What manner Of man was Nicholas
Breakspeae, known in history as Pope
Adrian w.? We know but little OF his
youth, but that little has a significance
which is invaluable in the present dis
cussion. Whether he was Il swineherd
or what is known in Ireland as a poor
scholar" is immat2rial; his name "a
compound of two Saxon words, "brec-
can and "spere"), condition and every
thing we know about him prove that he
was an "Anglo-Saxon." In his boyhood
the Norman invasion was not half a CEN
tuTy old, and it i, interesting 20 note the
relations between the conquerors and
the conquered people at this period
Speaking of the reign OF William Rufus,
Eadmer, the Saxon chronicler says:
"God knows how unjustly this miser
able people s dealt with" Things were
equally bad in the reign Of Stephen, the
immediate predecessor Of Henry H.
Never did England" says Lingard,
present such a scene of misery.
By the flight of the husbandmen from
the neighborhcod of castles, the lands
were left barren. The fugitives
usually retired to some of the ecclesiasti-
cal establishments, where they built
their miserablt novels against the walls
of the church and begged scanty pit
tance from the charity of the celrgy or
monks" The author of the AnglO-SaXOn
Chronicle, published by Giles, after de-
failing the cruelties inflicted by the Nor
mans on the helpless people, adds: The
bishops and clergy were ever cursing
them, but this to them was nothing, for
they were all accursed, and forsworn
and reprObate.' =:
This Is what Nicholas Breakspeare, the
CHI Id Of AnglO~SaXCn parents, mem ber
of the oppressed race, saw in his own
country when a boy, aud yet we are
asked to believe that he afterWard
handed ireland over to the Normans DE
cause ile was an Englishman! The
theory is Simply preposterous. Now
what was Atlrian's character as man
and pope? Pope Eugenius III, the
friend and disciple Of the great st. Ber-
nard is q biograpner good enough for
any one During his reign BreakspeAre,
who had previously sat under Marianus.
celebrated Irish scholar, in Paris, was
superior Of the monastery of Ruf. near
Avignon. He had worked with great
zeal to reform his community, and when
his refractory monks appealed against
him to Rome The pope retOrted: so vile
flock shall no longer possess SO great
man." Braakspeare was Immediately
afterward called to Rome, made a car
dinal, elevated to the bishopric Of AL
bano with the unanimous consent Of tine
bishops then in Rome. and after some
time sent as lesate 20 Norway and the
neighboring countries, where his labors
produced such fruit and his character
was held in such esteem that he became
known as the "Apostle of Norway and
Denmark" Baronius, quoting an an
| cient writer, says that his subsequent
election to the papacy was unanimous,
he himself being the only one who re-
sisted, and that the people broke out into
shouts of Joy when the result became
known.
This is not the sort Of man that we are
apt to consider "the pope that sold Ire
land" But, in truth, the more We know
of this ''much maligned pontiff,' as he is
called by Cardinal Moran, the more diff
ticult we find it to believe that he could
be the author of the "blui.' Let it be
borne In mind that lhe scope of the all
legged document is to hand The church
and her possessions over to Henry. Con-
trary to the universal belief, the bull
really confers no sovereignty on Henry.
The pope is supposed to say that he will
take it as pleasing and acceptable ser
vice. that Henry should go into Ireland
to restore morals, extend "the boundaries
of the church." ETC., ETC., and that the
people should receive you with honor
and venerate you as lord (dominus). But
the title "dominus'' was merely honor
airy. Henry himself had a lord in the
person of the. king of France, and We
know how little that really meant. Il
We have seen already that Adrian was
not likely to favor Henry, because he
was an Englishman, and we have given
clear evidence that in church discipline
he was adisciplinarian. Let us. now look
at his record as pope for some tndica-
ton Of the spirit which might be sup
posed to prompt the concession of &C.
clesiastical authority to a vicious young
layman, whose family were notorious
as oppressors of church liberty. In the
.sPatrolgia" Of Migne (vol. cixxxvifi) we
find two hundred and forty seven docu-
ments supposed to emanate from him,
and. wonderful to relate, with the soli
4tary exception Of this supposed buAl TO
CONTINUED on second page.)