748 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



loved son, it is evident that we can in no way 

 approve of those opinions which sometimes are 

 included under the name of Americanism. If, in- 

 deed, by that word is meant certain qualities of 

 mind which distinguish the people of America, 

 as other nations are distinguished, and in so far 

 as the expression applies to the Constitution of 

 your States and your laws and customs, there 

 is not assuredly the smallest reason for us to 

 think that it should be rejected. But if it is used 

 not only to describe, but also to justify the errors 

 we have already pointed out, what doubt can 

 there be that our venerable brethren the bishops 

 of America will be the first to reject and condemn 

 it as injurious to themselves and the whole na- 

 tion?" 



In accordance with the custom instituted by 

 Pope Boniface VIII at the end of the thirteenth 

 century of promulgating a solemn secular jubilee 

 to mark the end of each one hundred years, his 

 Holiness on May 11 issued a bull marking the 

 year 1900 as a holy year, and endowing with 

 extraordinary indulgences those who should make 

 a pilgrimage to Rome in the year of jubilee. 

 Tradition declares that a similar summons was 

 issued in the early ages of the Church, and the 

 custom has been followed uninterruptedly at the 

 end of each century except the last, when Pius 

 VI, then a prisoner of Napoleon, died at Valencia 

 in 1799. The last solemn jubilee, which Leo XIII 

 mentioned in his bull as having personally wit- 

 nessed, took place in 1825, and was accompanied 

 with the solemn ceremony of the opening of the 

 holy door. The holy year proper, according to 

 the papal promulgation, was to begin on the 

 feast of the Nativity, Dec. 25, 1899, and extend 

 to Dec. 25, 1900. The special indulgences for the 

 jubilee were extended only to those who should 

 make a pilgrimage to Rome, and should visit on 

 ten several days the four great basilicas of St. 

 Peter, St. Paul, St. John Lateran, and St. Mary 

 Major. From those obliged to visit Rome to gain 

 the jubilee indulgence were excepted the members 

 of religious committees and those who, beginning 

 the pilgrimage, should through illness be pre- 

 vented from completing it. In November the 

 Pope issued two further decrees, the first sus- 

 pending for the holy year the usual indulgences 

 and the second formally constituting the jubilee 

 indulgence to be gained by a pilgriihage to Rome. 

 He also extended to the ordinaries of the Church 

 the unusual privilege of permitting the celebra- 

 tion of midnight mass on the evening of Dec. 31 

 of the years 1899 and 1900. 



The Pope on Christmas Day inaugurated the 

 jubilee with the solemn ceremony of opening the 

 holy door. This ceremony, which is usually per- 

 formed but once in a century, originated in the 

 year 1500, in the papacy of Alexander VI. At 

 that time, among other extensive preparations 

 made for the accommodation of pilgrims, the 

 street leading from the bridge of San Angelo to 

 St. Peter's, now known as the Borgo Nuovo, was 

 widened to allow the processions to pass to the 

 basilica with more freedom, and the custom of 

 reserving a special entrance into the church, to be 

 opened with solemn ceremony for the jubilee year 

 became a law from this time forward. The four 

 principal churches of Rome have each five portals, 

 one of which, called the porta aurea or porta 

 sancta, is ordinarily closed by a wall of solid 

 masonry, and opened only for the celebration of 

 the jubilee, probably to symbolize the special 

 spiritual privileges to which the Church gives ac- 

 cess on that occasion. There is an altar inside 

 the holy door, and on it mass is celebrated on 

 Christmas Day in conjunction with the opening 



and closing of the jubilee gate and the holy year. 

 In the ceremony of opening the holy door! i lie 

 Pontiff proceeds in solemn procession to the /**/// 

 a urea of St. Peter's, and strikes the wall at the 

 entrance thrice with a golden mallet, after which 

 it is immediately opened by workmen who stun. I 

 on the inside. Three cardinals at the same lime 

 perform a similar ceremony, using silver ma lifts 

 for the opening of the porta aurca of St. Paul, 

 St. John Lateran, and St. Mary Major. 



Although in January the Russian ambassador 

 to the Holy See presented to his Holiness the 

 programme of the disarmament conference, yet, 

 owing to the adverse influence of the Italian <;<>\- 

 erninent, the Holy See was not invited to the con- 

 ference itself. The question of the Pope's right 

 to be represented, which the Czar had taken for 

 ' granted, was brought up by the Quirinal early in 

 February when Admiral Canevaro, Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs in the Rudini Cabinet, notified 

 the Russian Government and that of Queen \Vil- 

 hclmina that the Poj>e ought to be excluded. 

 M. Beaufort, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the 

 Low Countries, was disposed to accede to Italy's 

 demands; Russia and England protested, saying 

 that the exclusion of the Pope would he regard*] 

 in an unfavorable light by Christendom; but the 

 Cabinet at Berlin clinched the point for Italy 

 by declaring that if the Quirinal would decline 

 the invitation to the conference Germany al-o 

 would withdraw. The Holy See was accordingly 

 not invited. 



The Pope took occasion, however, at his rcrep- 

 tion to the Sacred College, to express his entire 

 approbation of the Czar's initiative, and, in order 

 to remove any feeling of constraint in the Italian 

 delegates, had Mgr. Tarnassi, the papal inter- 

 nuncio at The Hague, absent himself for >>me 

 weeks from the capital of the Ixnv Countries. 

 The influence of the papal chair in peace councils 

 was nevertheless recognized by a letter from 

 Queen \\ illirlmina to his Holine-^. dated April .">. 

 asking the Poj>e's moral co-operation in the work 

 of the conference. To this the Pope replied, as- 

 suring the Queen of his highest sympathy and 

 co-operation. 



Among the public documents issued by his 



Holiness were a commendation of the Civilta 

 Cattolica on the occasion of its fiftieth anniver- 

 sary and a concession of indulgence in honor of 

 St. Mathildis. The Civilta Cattolica, which \\as 

 established in the pontificate of Pius IX by the 

 Jesuits, was by this papal brief practically < in- 

 firmed as the personal organ of the Pope, and the 

 commendation was considered an unusual appro- 

 bation of the teaching and methods of the Jesuit. 

 order. An apostolic letter was issued on May 2.~>. 

 consecrating the human race to the Sacred Heart. 



At a private consistory held on June 19 the 

 following appointments were made: Mgr. Ihiayck 

 to be Patriarch of Antioch for the Syro M;u<>- 

 nites; Mgr. Macaire, Patriarch of Alexandria for 

 the Copts. To be cardinal priests: Mgr. Casali del 

 Drogo, Latin Patriarch of Constantinople: Mgr. 

 Casseta, Latin Patriarch of Antioch: M-r. l'>n.i 

 nova, Archbishop of Reggio, Calabria: Mgr. Kran- 

 cica, Nova di Bontife, Archbishop of Catani.i and 

 Nuncio Apostolic at Madrid; Mgr. Ciasca, O. v \ 

 titular Archbishop of Larissa and Senctary 

 of the Congregation of Propaganda: Mgr. Ma- 

 thieu, Archbishop of Toulouse: Mgr. IJespighi, 

 Archbishop of Ferrara; Mgr. Richelmy. Arch- 

 bishop of Turin: and Mgr. Missia. Archbishop of 

 Gorz. To be cardinal deacons: Mgr. Trombetta 

 and Padre Calasanzio da Slevaneras. O. S. F. C. 



By a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Kites 

 the new litany in honor of the Sacred Heart \\a- 



