Year: 1875

The Madrid correspondent of the London
Standard writes


The change of ministry, the war, the fate
OF King Alfonso, and in fact every other
thlng that could concern the future of the
nation, have been sunk inte oblivion by the
popular indignation against the circular
presumed to be written by Cardinal Anto-
nelli but ostensibly Issued by the Pope's
nuncio in Madrid in the form of nuncia-
torial letter to all the bishops of Spain. The
telegraph has already given you it's essence,
but, as likely to have bearing on coming
events OF Importance concerning the rela-
LIONS between Spain and Rome, am happy
70 be able, thanks to the editor of Senior
Sagasta's paper, La Iberia. to give you this
remarkable document entire. Its audacity
has aroused universal Indignation, and there
are 1umors that the government are at such
loggerheads with the nuncio on the subject
that he may have to ask for his passports.
1t is affirmed that he himself has broken the
Concordat by issuing his circular to the
bishops without the previous ereguatur of
the government. The press of every color
save the neO- Catholic is up in arms, and
this circular is the one topic of public dis
cussion. Here it is


"Nunciatura Apostolica, Madrid.-To the
Rey. Bishop of -: The project Of consti-
tuition proposed to be presented to the fu-


IRE Spanish Cortes having been brought to
the knowledge of the Holy See the atten-
tion OF the Holy Father could not fail to be
called to article eleven of the same, relative
to toleration of worships (tolerancia de cul-
tosj. In consequence the most excellent
cardinal, the Papal Secretary of State, in
the name of the Holy See has addressed to
the Spanish government, by means of its
ambassador at Rome, a reclamation, and
has ordered me at the same time to commu.
nj no ar &ax .
do without loss of time


Paragraphs two and three of the said
proposed article eleven are as follows:


NO persons shall be molested in Spanish
territory for their religious opinions, nor for
the exercise of their respective worships,
saving the respect due to Christian morals.


"The form and foundation of these para
graphs could not escape being matter of
preOccupation and even of omplaint on the
part of the Holy See, whether considered in
their relation to the Concordat of 1851,
which has still the force of law in the
domnions of his most Catholic majesty or
whether considered in the light of the sad
consequences the proclamation of such a
constitutional article would bring upon the
Spanish nation, which from time immemo.
rial has been in pOsses ion of the precious
jewel OF Catholic unity. 1t must be noted
before everything as point beyond dis
cussion that neither the government nor
the Cortes, nor any other civil power in the
Spanish kingdom, has a right to alter or
modify any of the articles of the Concordat
without the previous consent of the
Holy See. This maxim of right
ought to be strictly observed in
all matters which have been the object of
an agreement tcOnuenio). With all the
more reason should this rule be observed in
fundamental points such as religion. the
principal base of all well organized society.
Well, the projected new Spanish constitu-
tlon is conceived in such way that at the
very first sight there appears grand diff
ference between it and what is prescribed
in article one of the Concordat. The latter
says: THE Roman Catholic Apostolic re-
hgion, which, to the exclusion of any other
worship, continues to be the only one of
the Spanish nation, shall be maintained for
ever in the dominions of her most Catholic
majesty with all the rights and preroga-
tives it ought to enjoy, according to the
law of God and the disposition OF the sacred
canons.'


consequently, if the exclusion of all
other worships had not entered into the
views and the obligations understood be-
tween the high contracting powers, they
would have omitted the part referred to Of
the article, for nothing analogous to it ap-
pears in the COncOrdats between the HOLY
See and the other Catholic powers in whose
territory existed, de facto, freedom, or at
any rate, tolerance, of worship, and who
therefore could not consent to the express
prohibition of nom Catholic worship.


"Article one of the Concordat is not the
only one affected by the project of the new
Spanish constitution. Article two, as a se-
quence of article one, disposed that 'eduoa-
ton in the public and private schools of
every description should be in all matters
conformed to the doctrines of the Catholic
religion For this purpose it was agreed
that the bishops and other diocesan pre-
lates, whose ministry was to watch over
the purity of faith aud habits of the people,
and over the instruction of the young,
should encounter no impediment of any
kind in the exercise of this their right and
duty. Let it not be forgotten that
the want of recognition of religious unity
on the part OF Spain's previous governments
has been one of the causes of the civil war,
still sustained in some of the provinces of
the kingdom. For this and all the other
reasons exposed, and in view of the sad
consequences involved, the Holy See be-
lieves it is acting up to its strictest duty in
proffering these considerations to the Span
ish government, and imploring it moi to
permit the introduction of the aforesaid
article eleven into the projected new constl-
tuition, for by so doing the desired harmony
between the Holy See and the Spanish gov
ernment might be compromised