ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



773 



all rights of property, urging the bishops and 

 clergy to labor to instill into the young respect 

 for parental and state authority. The Encycli- 

 cal, l>\ order of the Czar, was read in all the 

 Catholic churches in Kiissia. The reception of 

 a largo deputation of Catholic journalists on 

 I'Vltruury L':M was- a recognition of the power 

 of the pi 



Some of the Oriental churches had been rent 

 by schisms, and on February 28th he addressed 

 an allocution to the Cardinals on the extinction 

 of the schism among the Chaldeans, and his 

 conh'rmation of the election of a new Patriarch 

 of Babylon belonging to that rite. Soon after 

 (March 10th) Kupelian, the schismatic Patriarch 

 of the Armenians, notified the Grand Vizier at 

 Constantinople of his renunciation of all claims, 

 and his submission to the Patriarch Hassoun, to 

 whom the Porte restored the church property, 

 an act which the Pope acknowledged in a let- 

 ter to the Sultan. Kupelian proceeded to Rome 

 and made his submission to the Pope also. His 

 course was imitated by the Bishop of Zaka, and 

 the Chaldean schism ended. On March 24th, 

 by authority of Pope Leo XIII., the ancient or- 

 der of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem 

 proceeded to the election of a Grand Master, 

 a position which had been vacant during the 

 century. 



The condition of affairs in Rome, the capital 

 of the Christian world, where every insult to 

 the Catholic religion was encouraged and abet- 

 ted, induced Leo XIII. to address Cardinal la 

 Valletta, Cardinal Vicar of Rome, March 25th, 

 and establish a commission of prelates and 

 members of the Roman Patriciate to direct and 

 supervise all elementary Catholic schools in 

 Rome. 



On May 12th the Pope made his first crea- 

 tion of Cardinals, admitting to the Sacred Col- 

 lege Julian Florian Deprez, Archbishop of Tou- 

 louse; Louis Francis Desiderius Edward Pie, 

 Bishop of Poitiers; Cajetan Alimonda, Bishop 

 of Albenga; Frederick, Landgrave of Fiirs- 

 tenberg, Archbishop of Olmutz; Louis Hay- 

 nald, Archbishop of Kolocz ; Joseph Pecci 

 and John Henry Newman, priests of the Ora- 

 tory ; Americus Ferreira dos Santos Silva, 

 Bishop of Porto ; Joseph Hergenrother, a Ger- 

 man theologian ; and Thomas Zigliara, priest of 

 the order of St. Dominic. 



On June 1st he addressed a letter to the arch- 

 bishops and bishops of the provinces of Turin, 

 Vercelli, and Genoa on the Italian law of civil 

 marriage, which made the conferring of a sac- 

 rament a crime, and those who conferred and 

 who received it subject to punishment. 



On August 4th he issued an Encyclical Let- 

 ter on the restoration of Christian philosophy 

 in Catholic schools according to the spirit of the 

 Angelic Doctor St. Thomas Aquinas, in which, 

 after reviewing the whole history of philosophi- 

 cal teaching, he concludes : " Wo exhort you, 

 Venerable Brethren, most urgently to restore 

 in full vigor and to propagate as far as possible 

 the priceless wisdom of St. Thomas, for the 



defense and ornament of the Catholic faith, for 

 the welfare of society, and for the advancement 

 of all sciences. We say ' the wisdom of St. Thom- 

 as.' Let teachers, designated by enlightened 

 choice, devote themselves to instilling into the 

 minds of their disciples the teaching of St. 

 Thomas Aquinas, and let them be careful to de- 

 monstrate how far it surpasses all others in so- 

 lidity and excellence. Let the academies you 

 have instituted, or that you shall institute in 

 future, explain and defend this doctrine, and 

 use it in refuting prevailing errors." This En- 

 cyclical met a cordial response from bishops 

 in all parts of the world, and caused a general 

 tendency to lay aside all philosophical text- 

 books which had abandoned the exact system 

 of St. Thomas. Leo XIII. also encouraged the 

 publication of a new and careful edition of the 

 complete works of St. Thomas Aquinas, and, to 

 promote more severe and accurate studies, pre- 

 sided at several disputations on philosophical 

 topics. 



On September 19th, in a second promotion 

 of Cardinals, Pope Leo XIII. elevated to that 

 rank Monsignore Peter F. Meglia, James Cat- 

 tani, Louis Jacobini, and Dominic Sanguigni, 

 the Nuncios at Paris, Madrid, Vienna, and Lis- 

 bon. 



The twenty-fifth anniversary of the defini- 

 tion of the Immaculate Conception was cele- 

 brated with pomp, and the Pope issued an En- 

 cyclical on the occasion. 



In France a bill introduced into the Cham- 

 bers by Jules Ferry, entitled " A project of law 

 relating to the freedom of higher education,'' 

 aimed in its seventh article at the suppression 

 of all schools and academies directed by reli- 

 gious. The Catholic bishops from all parts, be- 

 ginning with Cardinal Guibert and his suffra- 

 gans, protested against such an act, and the Pope 

 encouraged the bishops in a letter. The sub- 

 ject was the topic of discussion in the journals, 

 in pamphlets, and in public debate. The ob- 

 jectionable section was finally rejected by the 

 Chambers early in 1880. 



In Germany the Government enforced the 

 Falk laws with iron severity, so that more than 

 half the dioceses were without bishops (Dr. 

 Martin, Bishop of Paderborn, dying in exile in 

 July), and a vast number of churches deprived 

 of pastors. The negotiations, formal and in- 

 formal, between the Government and the Holy 

 See. continued at intervals, but no definite point 

 was reached, although Falk was compelled to 

 retire from his office. The Government in the 

 same spirit began a series of prosecutions of 

 the clergy and others at Marpingen, who had 

 expressed belief in an apparition of the Blessed 

 Virgin Mary. The course of the Government 

 was so arbitrary and oppressive toward the 

 witnesses that the accused were all acquitted. 



In Italy the Government commenced a prose- 

 cution against the Archbishop of Chieti for act- 

 ing without its recognition, but, after much 

 vacillation, was finally defeated. A law mak- 

 ing civil marriage compulsory, and punishing 



