The sun., 1901-11-03


an assertion Of influence which has pro-
voked the recent law against associations,
aimed principally against such teaching
orders as the Jesuits and Passionists. A
blow has been since levelled at the Con-
cordat itself In . vital point by motion,
soon to- be discussed In the Chamber Of
Deputies, that the appropriations hitherto
made for the stipends OF the clergy shall
be withheld. We do not believe that this
motion will be passed. but that II should
be pressed b. a majority Of the Budget
Committee In q striking Sign Of the times.
To understand the present conflict OF senti-
ment and interest between the uphoders
OF Republican government and the Catho-
lie Church In France thorough knowledge
Of the Concordat, which still regulates
their relations, and OF the circumst ances
In which that instrument was constructed.
is obviously indispensable. 1t is. there
fore an important service which DR.. Sloane
has rendered us in the book before US.
It was on the 18th Of July, 1901, that a
little congress of six plcnipotentaries
met in Paris for the purpose Of signing
the Concordat, which had been for some
time the subject Of negotiation. These
Observation-Disclosures were: for France. Joseph
Bonaparte, Bernier and Cretet; for Rome,
Consalvi, Spina and Caselli When the
document TO be signed was examined,
IL proved to be, not an embodiment OF
the agreement ultimately reached, but
a copy OF the First Consul's original de-
mands In an unmodifed form. Consalvi
the Papai Secretary Of State. threw down
bis pen and declared himself the victim
l,,t
Bonaparte's soothing influence. negotiaL
tons were resumed, and the signatures
were affixed at midnight Of July 1918
1901. but not until by mutual consent a
crucial article had been worded rs follows.
THE Catholic worship shall be public,
but In conformity with such police reg ula-
tions as the Government may judge neces-
sary TO the maintenance of the public
peace On the 9th OF August in the same
year the First Consul In person proclaimed
the Concordat to the French Council of
State. The announcement was received
with lev silence. Pope Plus VII. on his
part also met with small encouragement
in the Sacred College, and even with
determined resistance on the part of sew
eral Cardinals. Nevertheless. on Aug. is,
he issued brief, setting forth the motives
OF his act. and on the 18th, in the bull -Ec-
clesia Del. called on the refractory Bishops
Of the French dioceses to resign. The
refractory Bishops were. OF course. those
who had refused TO swear allegiance to
the French republic: those Bishops who
had taken the oath of allegiance. and
therefore. were called sConstitutlonals.'
had already resigned. Ratifcations of
ha Cnnnnrdat hot fu-a
the contracting parties on Sept. 10. but
IL was not until April s. 1902, that all pre-
liminaries for putting the law into execu-
ton were arranged, and the Concordat
was finally accepted by the French Legs-
lature. OF eighty-one Bishops surviving
from the dncien regime forty-fve resigned,
and the rest were deposed by the Pope;
thirteen, however, refused TO acouiesce
In their deposition, and. persisting in the
assertion Of an empty dignity. founded
the so-called Little Church" Dr. Sloane
directs attention to the little-known fact
that. in spite Of repeated efforts by Leo
XII. and Gregory XVI, the schisr Of the
Little Church" was not extinguished
until 1893 by letter of Leo XIII. to the
Bishop of Poitiers. To this day there
exists a little band of Catholic irrecon-
cilables In France who reject the Concordat,
but they have no organization.
The new Bishops for whom the Con-
cordat provided lsixty in number. includ-
ing ten Archbshops), were presented by
the Consular Government. and instituted
by the Pope; DIR. Sloane points out that
OF the entire number only fifteen were
former Constitutionalists. Thereupon the
whole ecclesiastical system. episcopal,
diocesan and parochial. was unified and
Al the close Of service in
every church a prayer for the republic and
the Consuls assembled. Salaries were paid
10y the State To all ecclesisstics. the owner
ship OF Church estates was confirmed to
heir actual possessors, and Plus VII.
granted TO the Consuls all the rights OF
sovereigns. to-wit exemption from the
jurisdiction Of the ordinary. absolution
by their own confessors in cases other
wise reserved TO the Pope. the right Of
visiting monasteries, Of not being eIcom-
without special papal au, horiza-
ion. and Of being Canons in the Church
Of ~ John Lateran in Rome On the other
hand the temporal power OF Plus VII
was recognized, a Nunzio took up his resi-
ienoe in Paris. and a French Ambassador
As sent 90 Rome Thus were he rccipro-
,al obligations embodied In the Conoordat
fulfllei
!, IL. ~ course. understood that, not
vii hrtsnding the Cuncordat betwe-n the
Consular GoNerumrut aud tho papacy.
prrfect federation waS assured 20 Protest
ante. jews aud fr...ihinkers la France
Both ia. Dalyinists and the I.Itherans -
franor W"r" organiz"i into state churches