ROMANCE 



6673 



ROMANCE 



opposition to the recognized hier- 

 archy, as the Donatists in Africa, 

 were held guilty of schism, or sect- 

 making. ^ ' 



The Church thus guided, in 

 union with Rome, continued ever 

 the same, Semper eadem, in belief 

 and observance, while Gnostics, 

 Manichaeans, Arians, Nestorians, 

 MonophySites rose, passed over the 

 scene, and disappeared. But the 

 sacrament of unity enabled the 

 central Christian society to triumph 

 over the sects, to survive the fall 

 of the Western Empire, to convert 

 the barbarians, and to save civil- 

 ization. Papal Rome victoriously 

 withstood the Moslem onset ; by 

 its Catholic enthusiasm Spain, after 

 centuries of combat, won back 

 freedom from the Moors, and 

 planted religion in the vast 

 American territories from Mexico 

 to Paraguay. 



We read in Gibbon's great work 

 that the bishops made France, as 

 bees make their hive. The crusades, 

 inspired by popes, kept Saracens 

 and Turks out of Europe, until the 

 Greeks, quarrelling with Rome, 

 lost Constantinople and enslaved 

 themselves. In 1517, Luther opened 

 the era of the Reformation, which 

 led, wherever Rome's authority 

 was denied, to national Churches, 

 and then to sects beyond reckoning. 



On the other hand, research has 

 discovered more and more the pro- 

 found identity subsisting between 

 the papal organism now extant, 

 and its earliest forms. Its de- 

 velopments in doctrine, life, and 

 worship are seen to follow the in- 

 evitable lines upon which it 

 started. Catholic Rome, said New- 

 man, who was deeply read in Pat- 

 ristic literature, is " ancient Anti- 

 och, Alexandria, Constantinople," 

 brought down to the latter days. 

 Tyrrell has called it " a religion of 

 the whole man, body, soul, and 

 spirit," adapted to every level, 

 but above them all. 



""Continuity of Doctrine 



In other words, say her repre- 

 sentatives, Rome has kept the 

 deposit committed to S. Peter and 

 his fellow Apostles, and the Catho- 

 lic Church is, thus, in substance 

 the religion which Christ taught. 

 Rome is the dogmatic principle in- 

 carnate, holding to Bible, Sacra- 

 ments, the Mass, the Hierarchy, 

 and S. Peter's Keys, without 

 change throughout the ages. 



As computed, there may be three 

 hundred millions all told who look 

 up to the bishop of Rome as their 

 spiritual father. In every nation 

 some are to be found. Of Churches 

 calling themselves Christian, un- 

 doubtedly by far the largest is the 

 Roman. Her votaries cover the 

 whole of what was once the Western 



Empire, save that in Britain they 

 are few ; but Ireland, like Poland, 

 must be added, with small uniate 

 bodies in the Near East. Under 

 the Stars and Stripes more than 

 ' 23,000,000 dwell ; Lower Canada is 

 French Catholic ; and nearly the 

 whole of Central and SouthAmerica 

 belongs to the same communion. 

 In the British Empire twelve 

 millions are reckoned altogether. 

 Catholic missions nourish in Africa, 

 especially in Portuguese, French, 

 and British territories. They have 

 long been at home in India, China, 

 and Polynesia. 



This multitude of nations and 

 peoples come under the jurisdic- 

 tion of some 1,600 bishops, arch- 

 bishops, and patriarchs, appointed 

 by the pope ; and is directed by a 

 numerous clergy, the secular or 

 diocesan, subject to local bishops, 

 and others belonging to religious 

 orders bound by special vows. 

 Both diocesan and religious take 

 upon them the lifelong obligation 

 of celibacy. The orders of monks, 

 friars, and various other denomin- 

 ations were founded by S. Bene- 

 dict, S. Francis, S. Dominic, or 

 follow the rule of S. Augustine, or 

 are Jesuits from S. Ignatius of 

 Loyola, to whose general method 

 of life many more, springing up 

 since 1600, have conformed. 

 Church Discipline 



Orders of women, cloistered and 

 contemplative, teaching and nurs- 

 ing, have grown rapidly, and are 

 on the increase. Discipline is 

 severe throughout the Church, and 

 is often thought by.strangers to be 

 the secret of its power. But 

 Catholics declare the secret to be 

 a universal and utter belief in the 

 supernatural treasures of which 

 clergy and hierarchy hold the 

 guardianship. The gift which the 

 Church offers to the faithful is 

 Christ Himself, not merely instruc- 

 tion or example, but the Holy 

 Eucharist, absolution from sin, 

 intercession at the altar, assist- 

 ance by prayer and good works 

 during life and after death. 



All the elaborate machinery of 

 government is only a means to- 

 wards holy living and dying, of 

 which the path and goal are set out 

 in books, such as The Imitation of 

 Christ, The Spiritual Exercises, 

 and countless others which might 

 be quoted as illustrations of a 

 striking fact, viz. that the most 

 detailed Canon Law and unwearied 

 episcopal vigilance lead us into a 

 region where the spirit is all in all. 

 Saints and their wonderful works 

 are the ever-present aim of Catholic 

 teaching ; there is no age but 

 yields a harvest ; and the pope 

 who canonises them calls himself 

 " servant of the servants of God." 



Bibliography. The End of Re- 

 ligious Controversy, J. Milner, 1818 ; 

 Mores Catholici, K. H. Digby, 1845- 

 48 ; Lectures on the Difficulties of 

 Anglicans, J. H. Newman, 1850 ; 

 Faith of our Fathers, Cardinal 

 Gibbons, 1871 ; Development of 

 Christian Doctrine, Cardinal New- 

 man, new ed. 1878 ; Short Studies : 

 Philosophy of Catholicism, J. A. 

 Froude, new ed. 1883 ; Our Christian 

 Heritage, Cardinal Gibbons, 1889 : 

 Monks of the West, C. F. R. de 

 Montalembert, Eng. trans. 1896 ; 

 Essays Critical and Historical, 

 Cardinal Newman, new ed. 1901 ; 

 Historical Essays and Studies, Lord 

 Acton, 1907. 



Romance (Old Fr. romanz, 

 from late Lat. romanice, in the 

 vulgar tongue). Primarily signi- 

 fying a work in one of the 

 Romance dialects derived from 

 the Latin language, especially 

 early French and Proven9al, the 

 word romance soon came to de- 

 note specifically the chronicle of 

 adventure, narrated in verse or 

 prose, to which this vernacular 

 literature was mainly devoted. 

 Of fiction of this kind, epical in 

 its essence, the Odyssey of Homer 

 was the prototype, and its natural 

 development was the picaresque 

 romance exemplified in the litera- 

 tures of Spain, France, and 

 England by Don Quixote, Gil Bias, 

 and Tom Jones. Occupying a place 

 between the medieval legendary 

 romance, concerned chiefly with 

 action, and the modern novel, 

 concerned chiefly with the dra- 

 matic presentation of ideas, ro- 

 mance, in the general acceptation 

 of the term, makes use of properties 

 of both the one and the other ; and, 

 in addition, has qualities peculiar 

 to itself that not only invest its 

 literary expression with glamour so 

 distinctive as to constitute a 

 separate art form, but create an 

 atmosphere in which the facts of 

 common life appear glorified. 



The evolution of romance as an 

 art-form can be studied in this 

 Encyclopedia in the articles on 

 the literature of the various coun- 

 tries in which it was brought to 

 high perfection, and hi those on 

 the great writers who were its best 

 exponents. Here, the essential 

 nature of romance is alone under 

 consideration. The secret of its 

 being is to be found in the source 

 of that glamour which is its dis- 

 tinguishing attribute, and which 

 makes its appeal irresistible to 

 young and old alike in all ages 

 and in all countries " In a sense 

 there is neither youth nor age in 

 romance," said William Sharp 

 himself, in his other personality of 

 Fiona Macleod, a master of the 

 art of pure romance " it is the 

 quintessence of the most vivid 

 emotions of life," and a man need 



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