The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-09-07

Napoleon. The more noteworthy fact
that during four of those centuries
that world enjoyed peace such as it
knew neither before nor after has
hardly been impressed on many his
torians even. To be sure, there was
fighting on the borders to subdue or.
later, to repel the outside barbarians;
there were frequent palace revolutions
In Rome itself that affected the sue
cesslon to the throne, but in these
the people had no share, and within
the boundaries Of the empire, till It
began to break up, war was unknown.
Though Rome at first was as AFRO.
CANT and exclusive as the modern Eng
fish, with her expansion she changed
her policy toward conquered peoples
after while; the late Republic took
In the Italians, the Empire all the in
habitants Of the provinces, regardless
of race. color or language. They were
all Roman citizens, Paul of Tarsus as
much as Horace or Cicero. Everything
within the boundaries was Rome ev-
cry one within them a Roman, the
name was no longer restricted to the
city on the Tiber. In the West she not
only ansalgamated the conquered ma
lions but imposed her Latin language
on them, which they retain to the
present day in its varied development;
in the East she accepted the Greek
tongue with the Hellenic culture.
Rome, however, was no longer the
town of Romulus; it was wherever the
seat of government and the Emperor
were. When Constantine chose to
transfer it to the shores of the Bos-
porus his new city became Rome for
Romans and barbarians alike, and the
name has attached itself to the eastern
FRACTION Of the Empire in remarka-
BILE manner. Asia Minor is still Roum
to the Turks; Romania and Rumelia
hold their places on the maps of the
Balkan lands; the Romans of TODAY
call Nauplia in the Peloponnese Napoli
di Romania, an echo Of the crusaders
Latin empire, which probably gave it's
name to the Romany too; Romagna
yet marks the last remnants of Byzan
tine power in Italy.
There is sound historical ground.
therefore, says the New York Sun, for
the contention of Mr.. Daniel Quinn in
the American Catholic Quarterly Re
view that the term Roman Catholic"
has not the offensive or restricted
sense given to it by many Professionals,
but that Roman" is the equivalent of
Catholic with the meaning ''univer-
SAL. For Greeks and Romans alike
the people beyond their lands hardly
existed; they were heather barbarians.
Their own world was the universe.
After Christianity was established as
the religion of the Empire the bishops
of Rome, it is true, lived in different
place from the Emperor which was
the origin Of his political power, hut
he remained the Pontifex Romanus,
the head of not of the city on the
Tiber but of all Romandom, which in
time became all Christendom. "Ro-
man" then meant all the civilized
world. all that the Church or the State
considered, and denoted specifically
what Catholic did abstractly. That
the Pope at Rome, in spite of the
Greek schisms, was for a thousand
years the acknowledged head of all
Christianity, at any rate throughout
the West and in many parts of the
East, is historical fact that is beyond
dispute. That during that time the
term rom n applied to Christianity
was equivalent to catholic" or uni
versal" seems to be equally clear. The
Pope continued to be the Pontifex Ro-
manus even when he chose to dwell at
Avignon. Whatever objections dis
senters may have to the papacy or it's
teachings, both terms apply to the re-
ligion from which they have deviated.