But this very triumph of absolutism marks also a new departure. It gave rise to a secession headed by the ablest divines of the Roman Church. It put the Papacy into direct antagonism to the liberal tendencies of the age. It excited the hostility of civil government in all those countries where Church and State are united on the basis of a concordat with the Roman See. No State with any degree of self-respect can treat with a sovereign who claims infallibility, and therefore unconditional submission in matters of moral duty as well as of faith. In reaching the summit of its power, the Papacy has hastened its downfall.
For Protestants and Greeks the Vatican Council is no more oecumenical than that of Trent, and has only intensified the antagonism. Its oecumenicity is also denied by the Old Catholic scholars--Döllinger, von Schulte, and Reinkens --because it lacked the two fundamental conditions of liberty of discussion, and moral unanimity of suffrage. [287] But the subsequent submission of all the Bishops who had voted against Papal Infallibility, supplies the defect as far as the Roman Church is concerned. There was nothing left to them but either to submit or to be expelled. They chose the former, and thus destroyed the legal and moral force of their protest, although not the power of truth and the nature of the facts on which it was based. Henceforward Romanism must stand or fall with the Vatican Council. But (as we have before intimated) Romanism is not to be confounded with Catholicism any more than the Jewish hierarchy which crucified our Saviour, is identical with the people of Israel, from which sprang the Apostles and early converts of Christianity. The destruction of the infallible and irreformable Papacy may be the emancipation of Catholicism, and lead it from its prison-house to the light of a new Reformation.
[263] 'Summo igitur gauaio,' said the five hundred Bishops, 'repletus est animus noster, dum sacrato ore Tuo intelleximus, tot inter præsentis temporis discrimina eo Te esse consilio, ut "maximum," prout aiebat inclitus Tuus prædecessor Paulus III., "in maximis rei Christianæ periculis remedium," Concilium oecumenicum convoces. Annuat Deus huic Tuo proposito, cuius ipse Tibi mentem inspiravit; habeantque tandem oevi nostri homines, qui infirmi in fide, semper discentes et nunquam ad veritatis agnitionem pervenientes omni vento doctrinæ circumferuntur, in sacrosancta hac Synodo novam, præsentissimamque occasionem accedendi ad sanctam Ecclesiam columnam ac firmamentum veritatis, cognoscendi salutiferam fidem, perniciosos reiiciendi errores; ac fiat, Deo propitio, et conciliatrice Deipara Immaculata, hæc Synodus grande opus unitatis, sanctificationis et pacis, unde novus in Ecclesiam splendor redundet, novus regni Dei triumphus consequatur. Et hoc ipso Tuæ providentiæ opere denuo exibeatur mundo immensa beneficia, per Pontificatum romanum humanæ societati asserta. Pateat cunctis, Ecclesiam eo quod super solidissima Petra fundetur, tantum valere, ut errores depellat, mores corrigat, barbariem compescat, civilisque humanitatis mater dicatur et sit. Pateat mundo, quod divinæ auctoritatis et debitæ eidem obedientiæ manifestissimo specimine, in divina Pontificatus institutione dato, ea omnia stabilita et sacrata sint, quæ societatum fundamenta ac diuturnitatem solident.'
[264] 'Quod sane votum apertius etiam se prodit in eo communi Concilii oecumenici desiderio, quod omnes non modo perutile, sed et necessarium arbitramini. Superbia enim humana, veterem ansum instauratura, jamdiu per commenticium progressum civitatem et turrem extruere nititur, cujus culmen pertingat ad coelum, unde demum Deus ipse detrahi possit. At is descendisse videtur inspecturus opus, et ædificantium linguas ita confusurus, ut non audiat unusquisque vocem proximi sui: id enim animo objiciunt Ecclesiæ vexationes, miseranda civilis consortii conditio, perturbatio rerum omnium, in qua versamur. Cui sane gravissimæ calamitati sola certe objici potest divina Ecclesiæ virtus, quæ tunc maxime se prodit, cum Episcopi a Summo Pontifice convocati, eo præside, conveniunt in nomine Domini de Ecclesiæ rebus acturi. Et gaudemus omnino, proevertisse vos hac in re propositum jamdiu a nobis conceptum, commendandi sacrum hunc coetum ejus patrocinio, cujus pedi a rerum exordio serpentis caput subjectum fuit, quoeque deinde universas hæreses sola interemit. Satisfacturi propterea communi desiderio jam nunc nunciamus, futurum quandocunque Concilium sub auspiciis Deiparæ Virginis ab omni labe immunis esse constituendum, et eo aperiendum die, quo insignis hujus privilegii ipsi collati memoria recolitur. Faxit Deus, faxit Immaculata Virgo, ut amplissimos e saluberrimo isto Concilio fructus percipere valeamus.' While the Pope complains of the pride of the age in attempting to build another tower of Babel, it did not occur to him that the assumption of infallibility, i.e., a predicate of the Almighty by a mortal man, is the consummation of spiritual pride.
[265] After describing, in the stereotyped phrases of the Roman Court, the great solicitude of the successors of Peter for pure doctrine and good government, and the terrible tempests and calamities by which the Catholic Church and the very foundations of society are shaken in the present age, the Pope's Encyclical comprehensively but vaguely, and with a prudent reserve concerning the desired dogma of Infallibility, defines the objects of the Council in these words: 'In oecumenico hoc Concilio ea omnia accuratissime examine sunt perpendenda ac statuenda, quæ hisce præsertim asperrimis temporibus majorem Dei gloriam, et fidei integritatem, divinique cultus decorem, sempiternamque hominum salutem, et utriusque Cleri disciplinam ejusque salutarem solidamque culturam, atque ecclesiasticarum legum observantiam, morumque emendationem, et christianam juventutis institutionem, et communem omnium pacem et concordiam in primis respiciunt. Atque etiam intentissimo studio curandum est, ut, Deo bene juvante, omnia ab Ecclesia et civili societate amoveantur mala, ut miseri errantes ad rectum veritatis, justitiæ salutisque tramitem reducantur, ut vitiis erroribusque eliminatis, augusta nostra religio ejusque salutifera doctrina ubique terrarum reviviscat, et quotidie magis propagetur et dominetur, atque ita pietas, honestas, probitas, justitia, caritas omnesque Christianæ virtutes cum maxima humanæ societatis utilitate vigeant et efflorescant.'
[266] 'Omnes Christianos etiam atque etiam hortamur et obsecramus, ut ad unicum Christi ovile redire festinent.' And at the end again, 'unum ovile et unus pastor;' according to the false and mischievous translation of John x. 16 in the Vulgate (followed by the authorized English Version), instead of 'one flock' (mia poimne, not aule). There may be many folds, and yet one flock under one Shepherd, as there are 'many mansions' in heaven (John xiv. 2).
[267] The Patriarch of Constantinople declined even to receive the Papal letter from the Papal messenger, for the reasons that it had already been published in the Giornale di Roma; that it contained principles contrary to the spirit of the Gospel, the doctrines of the oecumenical Councils, and the holy Fathers; that there was no supreme Bishop in the Church except Christ; and that the Bishop of Old Rome had no right to convoke an oecumenical Council without first consulting the Eastern Patriarchs. The other Oriental Bishops either declined or returned the Papal letter of invitation. See the documents in Friedberg, l.c. pp. 233-253; in Officielle Actenstücke, etc., pp. 127-135; and in the Chronique concernant le Prochain Concile, Vol. I. pp. 3 sqq., 103 sqq.
[268] The Evangelical Oberkirchenrath of Berlin, the Kirchentag of Stuttgart, 1869, the Paris Branch of the Evangelical Alliance, 'The Venerable Company of Pastors of Geneva,' the Professors of the University of Groningen, the Hungarian Lutherans assembled at Pesth, and the Presbyterians of the United States, took notice of the Papal invitation, all declining it, and reaffirming the principles of the Protestant Reformation. The Presbyterian Dr. Cumming, of London, seemed willing to accept the invitation if the Pope would allow a discussion of the reasons of the separation from Rome, but was informed by the Pope, through Archbishop Manning, in two letters (Sept. 4, and Oct. 30, 1869), that such discussion of questions long settled would be entirely inconsistent with the infallibility of the Church and the supremacy of the Holy See. See the documents in Friedberg, pp. 235-257; comp. pp. 16, 17, and Offic. Actenstücke, pp. 158-176. The Chronique concernant le Prochain Concile, p. 169, criticises at length the American Presbyterian letter signed by Jacobus and Fowler (Moderators of the General Assembly), and sees in its reasons for declining a proof of 'heretical obstinacy and ignorance.'
[269] So the Civiltà cattolica (a monthly Review established 1850, at Rome, the principal organ of the Jesuits, and the Moniteur of the Papal Court) defined the programme, Feb. 6, 1869; adding to it also the adoption of the Syllabus of 1864, and, perhaps, the proclamation of the assumption of the Virgin Mary to heaven. The last is reserved for the future. The Archbishop of Westminster (Manning) and the Archbishop of Mechlin (Dechamps) predicted, in pastoral letters of 1867 and 1869, the proclamation of the Papal Infallibility as a certain event. To avert this danger, the Bishop of Orleans (Dupanloup), Père Gratry of the Oratory, Père Hyacinthe, Bishop Maret (Dean of the Theological Faculty of Paris), Montalembert, John Henry Newman, the German Catholic laity (in the Coblenz Address), in part the German Bishops assembled at Fulda, and especially the learned authors of the Janus, lifted their voice, though in vain. See the literature on the subject in Friedberg, pp. 17-21.
[270] Hence the name. The right cross-nave of St. Peter's Church, which itself is a large church, was separated by a painted board wall, and fitted up as the council-hall. See a draught of it in Friedberg, p. 98. The hall was very unsuitable for hearing, and had to be repeatedly altered. The Pope, it is said (Hase, l.c. p. 26), did not care that all the orators should be understood. The Vatican Palace, where the Pope now resides, adjoins the Church of St. Peter. Councils were held there before, but only of a local character. Formerly the Roman oecumenical Councils were held in the Lateran Palace, the ancient residence of the Popes, which is connected with the Church of St. John in the Lateran or Church of the Saviour ('omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput'). There are five Lateran Councils: the first was held, 1123, under Calixtus II.; the second, 1139, under Innocent II.; the third, 1179, under Alexander III.; the fourth and largest, 1215, under Innocent III.; the fifth, 1512-1517, under Leo X., on the eve of the Reformation. The basilica of the Lateran contains the head, the basilica of St. Peter the body, of St. Peter. The Pope expressed the hope that a special inspiration would proceed from the near grave of the prince of the Apostles upon the Fathers of the Council.
[271] As the oecumenical character of two or three Councils is disputed, the Vatican Council is variously reckoned as the 19th or 20th or 21st oecumenical Council; by strict Romanists (as Manning) as the 19th. Compare note on p. 91.
[272] See a full list, with all the titles, in the Lexicon geographicum added to the second part of the Acta et Decreta sacrosancti et oecum. Conc. Vaticani, Friburgi, 1871. The Prelates 'quibus aut jus aut privilegium fuit sedendi in oecumenica synodo Vaticana,' are arranged as follows:
(1.) Eminentissimi et reverendissimi Domini S.E. Rom. Cardinales: (a) ordinis Episcoporum, (b) ordinis Presbyterorum. (c) ordinis diaconorum--51.
(2.) Reverendissimi Domini Patriarchæ--11.
(3.) Reverendissimi DD. Primates--10.
(4.) Reverendissimi DD. Archiepiscopi--166.
(5.) Reverendissimi DD. Episcopi--740.
(6.) Abbates nullius dioceseos--6.
(7.) Abbates Generales ordinum monasticorum--23.
(8.) Generales et Vicarii Generales congregationum clericorum regularium, ordinum monasticorum, ordinum mendicantium--29. In all, 1037.
[273] See the list of names in Friedberg, pp. 376-394.
[274] See the official Catalogo alfabetico dei Padri presenti al Concilio ecumenico Vaticano, Roma, 1870.
[275] Manning says, 'some thirty nations'--probably an exaggeration.
[276] Quirinus, pp. 480, 481 (English translation).
[277] They had to promise and swear to observe ' inviolabilem secreti fidem' with regard to the discussions, the opinions, and all matters pertaining to the Council. See the form of the oath in Friedberg, p. 96. In ancient Councils the people are often mentioned as being present during the deliberations, and manifesting their feelings of approval and disapproval.
[278] Among the irresponsible but well-informed reporters and correspondents must be mentioned especially the writers in the Civiltà cattolica, and the Paris Univers, on the part of the Infallibilists; and the pseudonymous Quirinus, Prof. Friedrich, and the anonymous French authors of Ce qui se passe au Concile, and of La dernière heure du Concile, on the part of the anti-Infallibilists.