Part 6

Les faits que j’ai rappelés établissent comment j’ai été amenè à considerér le décret de 1844 commé étant le seul décret définitif rendu à mon égard. Quant à ce decret, il renferme, entre autres, les expressions suivantes: “Pauca quaedam loca in opere quod a cl. viro G. C. Ubaghs anno 1844 Lovanii editum est et inscribitur _Theodiceae seu Theologiae naturalis elementa_ adnotanda esse videntur, ut doctissimus auctor, additis quibusdam illustrationibus, obortas circa eiusdem operis intelligentiam difficultates e medio tollere possit……――“In his omnibus mens doctissimi auctoris paulo clarius explicanda videtur, ne quis inde occasionem sumat vim elevandi argumentorum quae Dei existentiam demonstrant……――Plura alia eiusdem generis ibi obvia sunt quae contra mentem auctoris forte in alienos sensus torqueri possent”.――Ces termes me firent supposer que la S. Congrégation n’avait pas voulu me signaler des erreurs de doctrine à corriger, ni des principes faux à abandonner, mais qu’elle me demandait seulement des éclaircissements et des explications propres à faire mieux comprendre ma pensée. C’est là ce qui explique le langage que j’ai tenu dans la préface de ma Logique en 1844 et dans une lettre récente à Son Eminence le Cardinal Altieri, Préf. de la S. Congrégation de l’Index.

En 1845 je remis à Monseigneur Pecci, Nonce Apostolique, deux exemplaires de la nouvelle édition de la Logique et de la Théodicée, en priant Son Excellence de vouloir bien les faire parvenir à Rome, afin que la S. Congrégation pût juger si les additions et les changements introduits répondaient entièrement aux voeux exprimés par elle. A plusieurs reprises je reçus des assurances qui me persuadérent que j’avais fait ce qui m’était demandé. Les documents dont je veux parler n’ayant pas été approuvés par la S. Congrégation ni surtout par le Souverain-Pontife, ils n’ont de valeur que pour justifier ma bonne foi; aussi c’est à ce titre seul que je les invoque. Parmi ces documents qu’il me soit permis de transcrire ici la lettre que m’addressa, en 1846, le T. R. P. Degola, secrétaire de la Congrégation de l’Index. La voici:

REVERENDE DOMINE,

Quamquam scio id Tibi ab aliis iam nuntiatum, quod ego his litteris dicturus sum, attamen ut postulationi tuae, nec non Em. Card. praefecti mandato morem geram, libenter significo, declarationes illas atque varietates, quas monente S. Congregatione in novissima tuorum operum _Logicae_ ac _Theodiceae_ editione fideliter abundanterque effecisti, voto ac sententiae eiusdem S. Congregationis prorsus respondisse. Quam ob rem docilitati tuae, prout par est, gratulor, et ut de sacris humanisque doctrinis, pro tuo excellenti ingenio et religioni, bene mereri pergas, plurimum opto. Vale.

Romae kal. Septembris 1846.

Humill. devotis. servus FR. TH. ANTONINUS DEGOLA, O. P. S. C. I. Secret.

Finalement, je le déclare de nouveau, j’aurai le plus grand soin de me conformer scrupuleusement aux décrets émanes du Saint-Siége, et je m’empresserai de corriger, le plus tôt possible, mes ouvrages selon les prescriptions de ces décrets.

J’ai la confiance, Eminence Révérendissime, que les explications dans les quelles je viens d’entrer suffiront pour montrer que je n’ai jamais varié dans mes sentiments de soumission absolue aux décrets du Siége apostolique, l’oracle de la vérité.

Comme Votre Eminence a été chargée de me communiquer les susdits décrets, je serais heureux qu’Elle daignât aussi me servir d’intermédiaire pour faire parvenir aux pieds du Vicaire de Jésus-Christ l’expression de ma soumission la plus respectueuse et la plus complète.

Véuillez agréer, Monseigneur, l’hommage des sentiments de profond respect avec lesquels j’ai l’honneur d’être.

Louvain, le 14 November, 1864.

De Votre Eminence le très-humble et très-obéissant serviteur, (Signé) G. C. UBAGHS.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

I.

_Acta ex iis decerpta quae apud Sanctam Sedem geruntur, in compendium opportune redacta et illustrata._ Romae: Typis Polyglottae officinae S. C. De Propaganda Fide, Eq. Petro Marietti, ejusdem S. C. Socio administro edente, 1865. 8vo. pagg. 26.

A brilliant writer has left a well-known sketch of the life and bustle of the Appian Way in the days when pagan Rome was ruler of the world. That great highway――leading from the capital to the Eastern provinces――was ever thronged by a ceaseless crowd of men, engaged in the varied business, and swayed by the various interests, that centre in the seat of a mighty government. Through the chair of St. Peter, Christian Rome has been made the seat of an empire surpassing that of pagan Rome, by as much as the power of religion surpasses that of the sword. Each line of the network of railways and telegraphs with which modern progress has girded the globe, is in itself a new Appian Way, by which some distant country communicate, on its spiritual concerns with Rome; and there is this difference between the pagan and the Christian governors, that, whereas the acts of the former were of but passing interest, those of the latter are laws forever; and while the former concerned only individual powers or states, the latter become directing principles for the entire Christian world. The acts of the several congregations which assist the Holy Father in the ecclesiastical government of the world, are of great importance to the Church, and a knowledge of these acts must be of the utmost value to those who govern dioceses or parishes. Hence, all will hail with pleasure the appearance of the first number of the monthly periodical we have now before us. The title declares that it is not intended to publish in it a full report of all the ecclesiastical business transacted at Rome. A very large share of that business, of its very nature, demands secrecy from its close connection with matters of conscience; many other cases are of no interest except to the parties immediately concerned; but, after these exceptions, there still remains an ample supply of decisions which throw light upon the practice of the Church in many things, and show how the laws of the Church are applied to novel cases that occur as time goes on and events progress. The _Irish Ecclesiastical Record_ has aimed at keeping its readers acquainted with new decisions of this kind. The work before us proposes to effect this for all, and to effect it fully and completely. It will do even more than this. Besides a brief, yet clear statement of the facts of each case, it will furnish the heads of the arguments adduced _pro and contra_ before the Congregation, either _ex officio_ by the secretary of the Congregation, or by the advocates engaged upon the case; and finally, it will give the authentic decision of the Congregation. Besides, it will draw attention to such theoretical or practical principles as may be of use in dealing with similar cases whenever they may occur, and in explanation of difficult points will add such remarks as may be necessary. Such documents as have been directly published by the Holy See will be given in full whenever they regard Canon Law; in those not directly published by the Holy See, the names of persons and places will be thoroughly suppressed or altered, and the substance of the fact only will be given in the way in which moral cases are usually proposed.

The contents of the first number are as follows. After the preface there is a full discussion of the important practical question touching _missarum iterationem_, _applicationem missae pro populo_, _et receptionem eleemosynae_. This discussion, with the decision of the Congregation, etc., we have given above.

Next follows: _Circa nullitatem matrimonii ratione, raptus_.

Next follows: _Juris funerandi et restitutionis emolumentorum seu causa orta, occasione publici coemeterii noviter erecti_.

Next comes an appendix, _quod jus funerandi_ (_pag. 24_).

We shall have frequent occasion for the future to recur to this valuable collection.

II.

_Grammar of Gregorian and Modern Music._ Originally compiled by the Very Rev. L. F. Renehan, D.D., late President of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. New and enlarged edition, containing numerous exercises, the Gregorian Chants for High Mass and the Divine Office; Litanies of the Blessed Virgin, instructions regarding the use of the organ, etc. By the Rev. Richard Hackett, Professor, Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Dublin: James Duffy. 1865, xxiv.――297. 12mo.

This useful book is divided into five parts. The first part (p. 1-68) is a reprint of the _Choir Manual_ published by the late Dr. Renehan for the use of the students of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and republished with additions in 1858 by the accomplished editor, or rather author, of the work under notice. This part contains a complete explanation of the theory and notation of Gregorian music, with some elementary instructions in modern Italian music. The remaining four parts and appendix (p. 69-297) we owe to the Rev. R. Hackett himself. The purpose of his labour has been to supply ecclesiastical students in this country with a complete manual of the principal chants which are sung at High Mass, Solemn Vespers, Benediction, Mass and Office for the Dead, etc. With this view he has collected into the second part an abundant supply of exercises on the intervals ordinarily in use in Gregorian music, together with a selection of easy chants in which these intervals occur. Part the third contains the principal chants of the office for the dead, of the Mass for the dead, and instructions on the method of chanting prayers. It is greatly to be regretted that there should exist a difference between the Roman method of chanting prayers and that in use in some dioceses in Ireland. We hope that, as far as Ireland is concerned, by help of the judicious selection of Roman chants given in this work, we may soon be able to say with Guidetti (quoted by our author at page 134), though in another sense, _semper et ubique sic cantatur_. The present want of uniformity, appears still more unseemly when we learn (p. 158) that the epistle and gospel of the Mass for the dead are often chanted according to the Roman method in many dioceses in which the Irish intonation is used on other occasions. Part the fourth contains chants for High Mass. Part the fifth sets forth the chants for vespers, chants for Holy Week, including those used at the blessing of the oils on Holy Thursday, and miscellaneous chants. A great deal of most useful information is condensed in the five short appendixes which complete the work, respectively headed: directions for the choir and organist at High Mass――use of the organ at solemn vespers――playing of the organ at Mass and the Divine Office, when prohibited――directions for chanting the Divine Office――Office for the Dead――Gregorian and modern music――character of sacred music――instrumental accompaniments and symphonies――vernacular chants. In drawing up these instructions, the author has had recourse to the safest guides. His counsels are in exact accordance with the _Caeremoniale Episcoporum_, the Constitution _Annus qui nunc_ of Benedict XIV., the decrees of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and the teaching of approved writers. The _Grammar_ has one other merit to which we wish to draw attention. Scattered here and there throughout the work, wherever the subject requires or permits, we find passages from the Milanese Councils of St. Charles Borromeo, or from the works of Cardinal Wiseman, or from other sources, which serve to inspire youthful ecclesiastics with a true estimate of the majesty of the Liturgy, and to draw their attention to those treasures of tender grace which it contains. It is pious and wise thus to remind ecclesiastics that it is the _Vox Sponsae_ which speaks from their lips in the Divine Office.

Footnotes:

[1] See _Ex._, iii. 22:――“But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of _her that sojourneth in her house_, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment; and you shall put them upon your sons and upon your daughters, and you shall spoil Egypt”.

[2] It is unnecessary to make any distinction between wives and concubines, because this distinction cannot in any way affect the present argument.

[3] The Hebrew text in v. 18 seems not quite clear. The interpretation we have given is supported by the Septuagint and the English Protestant version. According to the Vulgate, Caleb had but two wives, Azuba and Ephrath.

[4] Aristotle, for example, says that “twins are common in Egypt; even three or four at a birth, not rare” (_Hist. Anim._, vii. 4). And Pliny tells us, that “for a woman to have _more than three children at a birth_ is accounted a portent _except in Egypt_” (_Hist. Nat._, vii. 4).

[5] This is the true reading according to the Hebrew, the Septuagint, and the authorized version. The Vulgate has, “Filius Phallu Eliab”. A similar example however, occurs, I. Paral., ii. 8. “And the sons of Ethan, Azariah”. Here the Vulgate agrees with the other versions.

[6] _An Essay on the Principle of Population._ London, 1826. Vol. i., p. 517.

[7] _Id. Ib._ “Throughout all the northern provinces the population was found to double itself in twenty-five years. The original number of persons which had settled in the four provinces of New England in 1643, was 21,200. Afterwards it was calculated that more left them than went to them. In the year 1760 they were increased to half a million. They had, therefore, all along doubled their number in twenty-five years. In New Jersey the period of doubling appeared to be twenty-two years, and in Rhode Island still less. In the back settlements, where the inhabitants applied themselves solely to agriculture, and luxury was not known, they were supposed to double their number in fifteen years”. He adds in a note: “Speaking of Rhode Island, Dr. Styles says that though the period of doubling for the whole colony is twenty-five years, yet that it is different in different parts, and within land is twenty and fifteen years”. p. 518.

[8] See “Tracts” of I. A. S., vol. ii, an. 1843, pag. 119.

[9] Or _Pierevill_, from the place of his birth in Suffolk.

[10] The Bull appointing him to Ossory is dated “Sexto Kalend. Octobris, 1400”, and the See is described as vacant _per obitum Johannis Epi. extra curiam defuncti_.

[11] Bremond, in _Bullario Ord. Praed._ iii. 64, mentions a “_Richardus Wichelei, Winchelsey_, vel _Wicherlsi_”, who was appointed to our see _anno circiter 1480_. The _Belgium Dominicanum_ fixes the precise date of his appointment as 1479, and we see no reason for excluding him from the list of the successors of St. Canice. He must, however, have resigned the same year, though, perhaps, the title may have been continued through courtesy, even in 1481, as mentioned by De Burgo, pag. 476. Some, however, have supposed that this bishop’s see was _Ossonensis_, to which we find Dominican bishops more than once appointed in the _Bullarium_ above referred to.

[12] “Vocacyon” in _Harl. Miscell._, vi. p. 412, seqq.

[13] Mant, _Hist._, i. 219.

[14] We learn these facts from Bale himself, in the preface to his _Centur. Script. Britt._ Also from Harris’s _Ware_, pag. 416.

[15] Cox, i. 300.

[16] See Prendergast’s _Cromwell’s Settlement of Ireland_, pag. 156 (London, 1865).

[17] The Constitution of 1815 above mentioned.

[18] Mgr. de Ram died in Louvain on the evening of Sunday, May 14th. The funeral obsequies were celebrated on Thursday the 18th, and he was interred on Friday the 19th, at Nylen, near Lieure, where he had his country residence. On the 28th of June there was a second solemn funeral service, at which the Cardinal Archbishop of Malines presided, and the Bishop of Ghent, and the whole professorial body of the University attended. On the 7th of July the Catholic University of Ireland assisted at a solemn Requiem in the University Church, Stephen’s Green, Dublin. The Archbishop of Dublin presided at the Mass, which was celebrated by the Bishop of Limerick; and a funeral discourse in honour of the deceased prelate was read by the Rector, Very Rev. Mgr. Woodlock, at a meeting of the University, on Sunday, July 9th.

Among the tokens of sympathy which it received on this sad occasion, the University of Louvain mentions the address of “condolence with her elder sister from the Catholic University of Dublin”, as well as the condescension of our Holy Father, in graciously sending by telegraph his apostolic benediction to the bereaved University.

[19] Hic est titulus quo indicari solent causao seu dubia quae S. Congregationi Concilii solvenda, ab Episcopis proponuntur quando exhibent relationem status suae Dioecesis S. Sedi.

[20] Excipe festum Nativitatis diem, vel ubi privilegium concessum est, Missam iterandi, die commem. omnium defunct.

[21] Vid. append. I.

[22] Errant itaque auctores illi etiam recentiores, qui docent extra Italiam posse recipi eleemosynam pro secunda Missa, quando reditus tenues sunt qui assignantur pro implemento proprii officii; vel ex vi consuetudinis. Errant pariter cum docent extra Italiam, Parochos non teneri missas applicare pro Populo, vigentibus illis rationibus, ac cum dissimulant Const. Benedicti XIV. _Cum semper oblatas_, utpote ad Italiae Episcopos directam; non distinguentes Constitutiones quae ad aliquam determinatam provinciam ideo diriguntur, ut in ea peculiare ius statuant; ab iis quae, quamvis ad unam provinciam oeconomice dirigantur, tamen _commune ius_ declarant. Et reapse S. C. Concilii, in dirimendis dubiis, circa missam _pro Populo_, extra Italiam exortis, secundum hanc Constitutionem, constanter iudicavit: nec non S. C. de Propaganda Fide, in varias orbis partes, pro opportunitate, veluti legem servandam hanc constitutionem transmisit. Caeterum quilibet in hac repraetextus sublatus est per Constit. regnantis Pontificis quem Deus incolumem diu servet, quae incipit _Amantissimi Redemptoris_.

Aliter est iudicandum, cum agitur de locis Missionum, in quibus _paroeciae, canonice erectae non sunt_. De qua re exponemus suo loco, doctrinam a S. Congregatione de Propaganda Fide, accurate definitam.

[23] See _I. E. Record_, p. 344.

END OF VOL. I.

Transcriber’s Note:

This book was written in a period when many words had not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated below.

Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like this_. Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and were moved to the end of the book. Obvious printing errors, such as backwards, upside down, or partially printed letters, were corrected. Final stops missing at the end of sentences and abbreviations were added. Diacriticals omitted or backwards in French words were corrected.

Tables were reformatted to display in handheld devices.

The following spelling corrections were made:

incorparated: … incorporated with the Hebrew … that: … than those of the present … Petateuch: … Pentateuch itself … FROF: … PROF. UBAGHS … Wultam: … Wultham, and make him successor … Congrégration: … Congrégation l’a apprécié …