ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



G09 



Britain were in 1869 (as compared with 1868) 

 as follows : 



The Directory gives the number of Roman 

 Catholic peers in 1869 as 33 against 30 in 

 1868, the additions being the Marquis of 

 Bute, the richest nobleman in Great Britain, 

 who joined the Roman Catholic Church, and 

 the Lords Howard and Acton, who in 1869 

 were elevated to the peerage. The number of 

 Roman Catholic baronets was therefore 48 

 against 50 in 1868. The number of Roman 

 Catholic members of the House of Commons in 

 1869 was 36, all except one (Sir John Simeon) 

 from Ireland. 



The Pope having by a bull of June 29, 



1868, convoked an (Ecumenical Council to 

 meet in Rome, on the 8th of December, 



1869, and also having by letters dated Septem- 

 ber 8 and September 14, 1868, invited the 

 bishops of the Oriental Churches to attend the 

 Council, and the Protestants to return on this 

 occasion to the Catholic Church, the most 

 active preparations for the opening of the 

 Council were carried on throughout the year. 

 In order that when the prelates should come 

 they might not be detained too long from their 

 dioceses (as was the case at Trent), it was 

 deemed advisable to establish preparatory 

 committees of chosen theologians to study 

 maturely such questions as it was thought 

 would probably come up or be proposed in the 

 Council. The chief direction of all the prep- 

 arations was in hands of a special congrega- 

 tion of seven cardinals, all Italians, except one, 

 Cardinal de Reisach, a German by birth, and 

 formerly Archbishop of Munich. t To this 

 congregation were added seven consultors, 

 four of whom were Italians, one (Mgr. Talbot) 

 an Englishman, one, Prof. Feije, of the Univer- 

 sity of Louvain, a Belgian, and one, Prof. 

 Hefele, of the University of Tubingen (sub- 

 sequently elected Bishop of Rottenburg), a 

 German. The special committees, each under 

 the presidency of a cardinal, were to occupy 

 themselves with politico-ecclesiastical affairs 

 with the affairs of the Eastern Churches, with 

 religious orders and congregations, with ques- 

 tions of dogmatic theology, and with points 

 of ecclesiastical discipline. The dissertations 

 and essays of the committees were printed for 

 the private use of the bishops. 



The north arm of the transept of St. Peter's, 

 which stretches toward the Vatican Palace, 

 was selected as the place for holding the ses- 



* The number of priests for 1869 does not include 



Sriests who are retired or who are at present unattached, 

 f the stations, many are served only occasionally. The 

 decrease of priests and churches in 1869 may therefore 

 only be apparent. 



t Cardinal de Reisach died in December, 1869. 

 VOL. ix. 39. A 



sions of the Council, and the principal archi- 

 tects of Rome were engaged to fit it up with 

 appropriate decorations and suitable furniture. 

 Other places were prepared for the General 

 Congregations (committees of the whole, as 

 as they would be termed in the United States), 

 and for particular congregations (special com- 

 mittees). 



The bishops of the Eastern Churches did not 

 respond favorably to the Pope's invitation to 

 attend the Council (see EASTERN CHURCHES 

 and GREEK CHURCH). Only a few were re- 



Eorted to have expressed a desire to accept the 

 ivitation, which they, however, felt unable to 

 gratify on account of the contrary disposition 

 of the heads of these Churches. 



In the Protestant world a few demonstra- 

 tions took place in reply to the Pope's letter 

 addressed to Protestants. Considerable at- 

 tention was attracted by the acts of the Rev. 

 Dr. Cumming, of London. This well-known 

 Presbyterian minister wrote a letter to the Arch- 

 bishop of Westminster, inquiring whether he 

 would be permitted to plead the cause of 

 Evangelical Protestantism in the assembly of 

 Rome ; and, when the archbishop replied that 

 he was not authorized to answer the question, 

 Dr. Cumming addressed the same question 

 to the Pope himself, and expressed his readi- 

 ness to appear in Rome if permission to ad- 

 dress the Council should be given to him. This 

 letter called forth the following reply of the 

 Pope, addressed not to Dr. Cumming, but to 

 Archbishop Manning, of Westminster, in which 

 the permission asked by the doctor to plead 

 the cause of Evangelical Protestantism in the 

 Council at Rome was refused. 



Pope Pius IX. to our Venerable Brother Henry 

 Edward, Archbishop of Westminster. 



VENERABLE BROTHER: Health and the Apostolic 

 blessing. We have seen from the newspapers that 

 Dr. Cumming, of Scotland, has inquired of you 

 whether leave will he given at the approaching 

 Council for those who dissent from the Catholic 

 Church to put forward the arguments which they 

 think can he advanced in support of their own 

 opinions, and that, on your replying that this is a 

 matter to be determined by the Holy See, ho has 

 written to us upon the subject. 



Now, if the inquirer knows what is the belief of 

 Catholics with respect to the teaching authority 

 which has been given hy our Divine Saviour to His 

 Church, and therefore, with respect to its infallibility 

 in deciding questions which belong to dogma or to 

 morals, he must know that the Church cannot permit 

 errors which it has carefully considered, judged, and 

 condemned, to he again brought under discussion. 

 This, too-is what has already been made known hy our 

 letters. For when we said, " it cannot he denied or 

 doubted that Jesus Christ Himself, in order that He 

 might apply to all generations of men the fruits of 

 His redemption, built here on earth upon Peter His 

 only Church, that is, the One, Holy, Catholic and 

 Apostolic Church, and gave to him all power that 

 was necessary for preserving whole and inviolate 

 the deposit of faith, and for delivering the same 

 faith to all people's, and tribes, and nations," we 

 thereby signified that the primacy, both of honor 

 and of jurisdiction, which was conferred upon Peter 

 and his successors by the Founder of the Churchj is 

 placed beyond the hazard of disputation. This, in- 



