The Irish standard., 1904-12-17
So Said the Abbot Gasquet Head Of the Eng
lish Benedictines on Recent Visitto
this Country.
An Investigation led to a Unanimous Decision
of the Cardinals Against Their
Validity.

During the recent visit to this coun-
try of Abbot Gasquet, head of the
English Benedictines, he gave an in
formal talk to the seminarians of st.
Joseph's seminary at Dunwoodie, In
which he told some unpublished his
tory about Pope Leo Kills letter on
Anglican orders. The following ac-
count Of what he said is furnished by
an ecclesiastic who was present at
the lecture and made notes of what
Abbot Gasquet said, says the New
York Sun:
lord Halifax, the leader of the
High Church party in England, went
to the Canary Islands to see his son,
who was dangerously i'll there" said
Abbot Gasquet. "There he met
French clergyman, the Able Quartet.
They became very close friends, so
much so that Lord Halifax invited the
abbe to visit him in England.
= "Iyheir close friendship aroee from
the fact that they were of sympathetic
mind with regard to the existing con-
ditions Of the validity Of the Anglican
orders. Lord Halifax desired to show
the Able Quartet that the High Church
party in England was practically Cath
olic and that the only difference be-
tween them and the Roman Catholics
was submission to Rome.
"'Even tllis,' said Lord Halifax,
might be brought about were it not
for the unsympathetic attitude of the
English Roman Catholics
''rhe Able Quartet came to England
with Lord Halifax to witness, examine
and judge for himself the ceremonies,
rubrics and customs of the High
Church party. He was carried away
with them and his enthusiasm knew
no bounds.
'"rhc nbbc returned Immediately to-
Paris and wrote book on the subject.
This book very likely would never have
received much recognition had not the
we'll known Catholic historian, the
Able Duchesnc, written an extended
favorable review of the book
I'm this review he took occasion to
criticize the attitude of the English
Roman Catholics toward the High
Church party, seeming to favor the
view that there was some foundation
for the validity Of Anglican orders.
Great notoricty resulted from the criti-
cism.
'"The next thing to happen was that
the Able Quartet went to Rome and
| through the French ambassador was
presented to Cardinal Rampolla, then
cardinal secretary Of state, who Sc
cured him an interview with Leo XIII.
The Able Quartet gave the Pope a
very encouraging description of the
High Church party in England and
gave the Holy Father to understand
that if he would write personal let
ter to the archibshops of Canterbury
and York they would at once submit to
the Holy See.
LEO at last saw the dream of his
life realized and the unifcation of the
Christian world under his rule n fact.
He promised to write the letters at
| once.
'"ihe Able Quartet tclcgraphcd the
news at once to London. The stir it
created among the church people on
both sides was amazing There was n
hurrying hithcr and thithcr and pri-
vate talks were INDUCED in, mad then
everybody sat back to await the per-
sOnal letters Of the Pope to the arch.
bishops.
"At this time there was in the High
Church party a very warm and close
friend of mine who came to me and
said: ...
Gasquct, is this true that Leo is
going to write personal letter to
the archbishops of Canterbury and
York asking them to come into the
fold and submit to the successors of
st. Peter? 1, for one, know positively
that the archbishops Of Canterbury
and York have as much intention of
submitting to Rome as 1 have
"'I know nothing about the affair."