ROMAN" CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



615 



can a General Council proclaim doctrines in 

 contradiction to the principles of justice, to 

 the right of the state and its authorities to 

 culture (Gesittung), and the true interests of 

 science (Wissenschaft), or to the legitimate 

 freedom and well-being of nations. * * * Neither 

 need any one fear that the General Council 

 will thoughtlessly and hastily frame resolu- 

 tions which needlessly would put it in antago- 

 nism to existing circumstances, and to the 

 wants of the present times ; or that it would, 

 in the manner of enthusiasts, endeavor to 

 transplant into the present times, views, cus- 

 toms, and institutions, of times gone by." 



In reply to an insinuation that there would 

 not be the fullest liberty of debate, the bish- 

 ops say : "the bishops of the Catholic Church 

 will never and never forget at the General 

 Council, on this most important occasion of 

 their office and calling, the holiest of their 

 duties, the duty of bearing testimony to truth; 

 they will, remembering the Apostolic vow, 

 that he who desires to please men is not the 

 servant of Christ, remembering the account 

 which they will soon have to give before the 

 throne of the Divine Judge, know no other 

 line 'of conduct but that dictated by their faith 

 and their conscience." With admirable wisdom 

 the bishops succeeded in so framing their letter 

 as to receive the approval of both parties. 

 The principal organ of those urging the pro- 

 mulgation of infallibility, the Cimltd, Cattolica 

 of Rome, warmly recommended the letter, 

 while the opponents of promulgation received 

 it with great joy as a momentous testimony 

 against an opinion which they contended was, 

 among the Catholics of Germany, extremely 

 anpopular, and as an indication that, as mem- 

 bers of the Councils, the great majority of the 

 German bishops would be found among the 

 earnest opponents. 



In October the bishops began to arrive. The 

 first were from the East, who had set out 

 early. The European and Western bishops 

 began to pour in only in the latter portion of 

 November. By the first of December, fully 

 five hundred had arrived, and the week that 

 followed saw two hundred more. Every courte- 

 sy was shown them. Asa train crossed the 

 frontier into the Pontifical States, an officer 

 ascertained the names of all the bishops, tele- 

 graphed the information to Home, and, on 

 their arrival, they found other officials ready 

 to welcome them, and to escort them in car- 

 riages to their several destinations. 



On December 2d, the Pope delivered to the 

 bishops then in Rome, assembled in the Sistine 

 Chapel, an allocution in preparation for the 

 Council ; and they received printed copies of 

 an apostolical letter, dated November 27th, 

 settling some matters for the good order of the 

 Council and the dispatch of business. (See the 

 text of the allocution of December 2d, and of 

 the apostolical letter of November 27th, in 

 PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.) With a copy of this let- 

 ter, the bishops also received pamphlets con- 



taining the forms of prayers to be used, and a 

 detailed account of the ceremonial to be fol- 

 lowed, all based on an extract from the cere- 

 monials of the ancient councils. The follow- 

 ing is a translation of the last-named docu- 

 ment, issued by Aloisius Ferrari, Prothonotary 

 Apostolic, Prefect of Ceremonies : 



On the fourth day of the week, the 8th of Decem- 

 ber of the year 1869, the Feast of the Immaculate 

 Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at half-past 

 8 A. M., the celebration of the (Ecumenical Vatican 

 Council will be solemnly begun with devout prayer 

 in the chapel over the portico of the Basilica of St. 

 Peter. 



At the appointed hour all will meet at the Apos- 

 tolic Vatican Palace. 



The most Eminent and most Eev. Lords the Car- 

 dinals, and the most Eev. Lords the Patriarchs will 

 vest in the Aula Paramentorum; the most Eev. Lords 

 the Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and Abbots 

 who have place in the Council by privilege, both of 

 the Latin and Oriental rites, will assume the vest- 

 ments proper to their order and rite in the Musceum 

 lapidarium, viz., those of the Latin rite ; white vest- 

 ments and mitres of linen ; Cardinals, mitres of silk ; 

 those of the Oriental rites will wear their usual vest- 

 ments : all will then immediately proceed to the 

 chapel over the portico of the Basilica of St. Peter to 

 await the coming of our Most Holy Lord Pope Pius 

 the Ninth. 



The senior of the Cardinal Priests, the two Cardi- 

 nal Deacons who assist the Pope, the Cardinal Deacon 

 appointed to sing the Gospel at the opening of the 

 Council, the two Bishops assisting the Supreme 

 Pontiff with the Book and Candle, the Apostolic Sub- 

 deacon Auditor of the Eota, will also put on white 

 vestments in the Pauline Chapel, the Cardinal Priest 

 excepted, who will put on a cope ; and all will await 

 His Holiness, together with two Prothonotaries Apos- 

 tolic in cappas, and the acolytes. 



The Supreme Pontiff having vested and put on the 

 mitra pretiosa, or precious mitre, will go to the be- 

 fore-mentioned chapel ; and, after the first verse of 

 the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus has been sung, a pro- 

 cession, with prayers, will be begun and finished in 

 the manner prescribed in the urdo and Methodun 

 celebrandi Concilium. 



The Most Holy Father, on entering the Basilica, 

 will descend from the Sella, G-estatoria (or platform 

 on which he has been carried), and, after adoring the 

 most august Sacrament exposed at the high altar ? at 

 the end of the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus, will sing 

 the versicles and prayers, and will then go to the 

 Hall of the Council, and the Mass of the Immaculate 

 Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with the 

 prayer of the Holy Ghost, will be celebrated by the 

 Most Eminent ana Eev. Cardinal Dean of the Sacred 

 College. 



When the prayer Placeat has "been said by the 

 Cardinal Celebrant at the end of the Mass, the Most 

 Eev. Lord Archbishop the preacher, after asking for 

 an Indulgence from the Supreme Pontiff, will address 

 the Fathers from a pulpit, and will then publish the 

 indulgence. 



The Supreme Pontiff having given the benediction, 

 will put off the cope, and will put on all the sacred 

 vestments, just as if he were going to celebrate a 

 solemn Pontifical Mass. 



Then, after the performance of the usual homage, 

 the praters of the Council will be begun, and, after 

 the versicle Benedicamu^ Domino, all and every- who 

 have not the right of being present at the Session of 

 the Council will go out of the Hall, and the door will 

 be shut. 



The formal opening of the Council* took 



* The following account is abridged from a letter of the 

 Rev. Father Hecker to the Catholic World of New York, 

 and published by that periodical February, 1870. 



