M. H. GILL & SON, 50 UPPEE SACKVILLE STEEET.

LONDON AND NEW YORK: BUKNS AND GATES.
1885.
iailjil
W. FORTUNE,
Censor Theologies Deputatus,
Coll. Om . Sanctorum.
Die Hi. Mensis Mail, \%'6'^.
Impiimatur :
Die iv. Mensis Mali, 1885,
GU. CAN. J. WALSH, D.D.,
Vic. Cap. Dublinietuis.
PREFACE.
The following Lecture on the Spoliation of the Propa- ganda is given to the I'eadcr almost rerbatim as it was delivered. It contains, however, in e.rfnino, a translation of a vaUiable document furnished by Monsignor C'onrado, Hector of the Urban College, from the archives of the Sacred Congregation. Some other documents, referred to when speaking, are, for convenience-sake, embodied in the text. Every fact stated has been carefully authenticated ; and the lecturer will be amply rewarded for his pains if the simple .statement he has given serves to make his readers fully acquainted with a great wrong done to one of the most beneficent Christian institutions in the world by the greed and Anti-Christian hate of the Infidel Revolution. /
All Hallows College, Ajml, 188.5.
CONTENTS.
I.— STATE OF THE QUESTION.
Hostility of organized Atheism to the Vicar of Christ, shown since the French Revohitiou — Eecuperative Power of the Papac}- — Action of the Italian Freemasons — Destruction of the Temporal Power — Suppression of Religious Corporations — Illusory "Guarantee Laws" — Forced Con- version of Church Lands into "Yinculated" Italian Bonds — Con- sequences— The Propaganda — Its Means and Destination — Difference between its Funds and the Funds of other Corporations — Its Funds respected by Victor Emanuel — Action of the Italian Ministry after His Death — Decree to convert the Estates of Propaganda into " Vinculated " Italian Bonds — Violation of International Eights in this forced Conversion. — Wrong done to British Catholics by it — Causes why British Statesmen have not insisted on our rights — Ignorance of the Origin, Nature and Purposes of the Propaganda Property — Necessity of Catholics being well informed on this point, in order to be able to show the nature of the wrong they suffer to their non-Catholic Fellow-citizens and non-Catholic Statesmen.
11. —THE PEOPAGANDA FEOM THE BEGINNING.
What is the Propaganda ? — The Propaganda in the Days of St. Peter —St. Paul the First "Prefect " — The Propaganda as carried on afterwards by the Popes — Resources for this work supplied even in the ages of Persecution — Testimony of Monsignor Dupanloup — Conversions in the days of Constantiue aided by the Popes— Palladius and St. Patrick sent by Popes to Ireland and Britain — Missions Organized by ^t Leo the Great— St. Valentinus and St. Severinus — St. Gregory the Great and the Conversion of the Angles— Consequences — Conversions wrought by Irish Missionary Saints and by Saints from Britain, always authorized, directed and assisted by the Popes— Sts. Cyril and ^Methodius— Pope Sylvester II. and the Hungarians — Conversion of Northern Europe the direct work of the Popes — New Missionary Fields opened by the Discoveries of Columbus and Vasco di Gama assiduously cultivated by the Popes— In- crease of Missionary Zeal on their part consequent on the Apostasv of many Nations at the Reformation— The Works of Gregory XIII. —
V CONTENTS.
Necessity for Organized Assistance causes the Formation of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda under Gregory XV. — The Bull of Formation— Powers and Duties of the Propaganda— The Appwiti com- menting thereupon — Its Staff.
III.— THE URBAN COLLEGE.
Foundation of the College eomnienced hy Monsignor John Baptist Vives in the Pontificate of Urban VIII. — Acts and Beneficence of the Pontiff — The Offices of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda formed in the Palace of Vives in the Piazza di Spagna — Foundations for Students by Vives in the Urban College — Foundations by Cardinal Antonio Barberini — Notice of the Foundation of the College by the Hector, Monsig- nor Conrado, taken from the iVi'chives of the Propaganda — Foundations from 1637 to 1883 — Nationalities represented in the Urban College — Proportion of the Irish from the beginning — Privileges granted to Irish Students — Ahmmi of other Missionary Colleges Taught Gratuitously in the Propaganda Schools.
IV.— THE LIBEAEY.
Its Contents — Books in Languages -whose Literatures vrere formed by Propaganda Missionaries — Oriental Literature — Propaganda Linguists — Professors Ciasca., Ferrata, Cardinal Howard.
v.— THE FEINTING OFFICE.
The Vatican Printing Office — The Polyglot Press of Propaganda — Utility for the Spread of the Faith amongst Barbarous Peoples and amidst the various Oriental Eites.
VL— EESOUECES OF THE PROPAGANDA.
Their Origin — Donations of Popes — The Cardinals' Rings — Legacies — Careful Management — Gratuitous Services — Exemption from Taxes under the Popes — Devotion of the Officials Employed — Hard "Work and Small Pay — Instances- Monsignor Agliardi — The Cardinal Prefect, Sec- retary^ and iNIinutanti — Spiritual Advantages, the Chief Reward — Distin- guished Men connected with its present Management.
VII.— WOEK OF THE PEOPAGANDA.
Nature and Commencement of its "Work — Its Care of the Oriental Christians — Successes— Its Work for India, China, Japan and other Asiatic Nations — For America — Its Zeal for the Conversion of Scotland
I
CONTENTS. vi
and other European Nations lapsed into heresy — Consequences — Its Work for Irehand and the Irish People everywhere — Its "Work in England — Its Administration in the Domain committed to its Keeping.
VIII.— THE PERSECUTION OF THE PPvOPAOANDA.
Persecution from the French Eepublic and Empire under Napoleon — The Students Driven from the Urban College — From Monte Citorio — Return with the Pontiff — Other Missionary Colleges Reopen — Persecu- tion in our Days from the Italian Freemasons in Power — Extract from the London Tablet — The Appunli on the Situation — "Going to Law with the Devil and the Court ,in Hell" — Advantage to the Freemasons more Imaginary than Real — The Rights of Foreigners deeply interested cannot be taken away by an Italian Tribunal acting ultra vires — Injury to British Catholics.
IX.— THE PRESENT STATE OF THE CASE.
Who Endowed the Propaganda ? — Wrong Done to the Founders — Wrong Done to an Irishman, Father Michael Doyle — The Premier's Reply to Mr. O'Donnell, M.P.— Is Father Doyle's Money a "Sub- scription ? " — Other British Donors to Propaganda Robbed by the forced Conversion of the Funds of Propaganda— A Comparison — The Wrong Done to poor Oriental Catholics — The Wrong as Great to British Catholics — Tiie Funds of the Propaganda given for the Administration of the Catholic Church in every portion of the Dominions of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria — If Confiscated, British Catholics forced to make iip the Loss — The United States Government forces the Italians to respect American Catholic Rights less clear than the Rights of British Catholics — The Case of the Proposed Sale by the Italians of the Nortli American College — Peremptory Demand of the United States instantly Respected — Confusion of English Residents in Rome — Certainty of our non-Catholic Fellow Citizens sympathizing with our Wrongs, if rightly informed, as we would in theirs.
X.— MEASURES TO I^IEET THE DIFFICULTY. '
Necessity of fully informing our Rulers and the Nation of the Wrong' done us in the forced Conversion of the Propaganda Funds — The Fallacy of Hopes in Italy being Realized by England- — Italy's ultimate Policy unfavourable to England — Opinion on the Question by the late Mr, A. M. Sullivan.
SPOLIATION OF THE PROriGANDA.
STATE OF THE QUESTION,
Having treated, as fully as I could in one lecture, of the nature of that secret and powerfully organized Atheism, which now for over a century has waged a fierce and sleepless war with the Church of Jesus Christ, and which means not only to destroy that Church but every form of Christianity and Christian civilization, I come this evening to speak, according to my promise, of a special feature in that war ; namely, its intense hostility to the Vicar of Jesus Christ, and its determination to deprive him of every human means of exercising his divine mission with the view of thus preventing the government of the Church and the extension of the Kingdom of Christ in the world. This feature in the Anti-Christian war of Freemasonry and its attendant sects, has, as we have seen, been manifest from the very commencement. Scarcely had its adepts obtained power at the period of the first French Revolution, when they aimed and dealt, too, a deadly blow at the temporal power of the Pope, hoping thereby to cripple and eventually to terminate his spiritual ministrations. The blow was repeated under Napoleon, attempted frequently after the Eevolution of July 1830, and again dealt wdth the effect of banishing the Pontilf from his See by the Italian Conspirators of 1848. The Papacy, however, with that perennial elasticity which marks its history since the
2 SPOLIATION OF THE PROPAGANDA.
days of St. Peter, returned to Rome, and made good in a short time the evils which its absence had created. The Revohition seeing this, seems to have no longer determined to drive Christ's Vicar from the Vatican ; but, while permitting him to remain there, practically a prisoner, to deprive him of every means necessary or useful for the exercise of his ministry for the benefit of the millions committed to his keeping by God. Power having come into the hands of the Freemasons of Italy, by means which I shall glance at further on, they have taken, step by step, possession of his temporal kingdom, until finally, in violation of every right, human and divine, they seized forcil^ly upon the City of Rome, and confiscated to their own purposes even its religious treasures. They promised at the time to respect such Institutions and persons in that City as all Catholics knew to be necessary for the government of the Church spread not only in Italy, but throughout the whole earth. For instance, though by law, the Religious Orders were suppressed in Piedmont, in the rest of Italy, and in some other countries fallen unfortunately into the power of the Atheistic secret sectaries, they were not suppressed with us, nor, geographi- cally speaking, in the greater part of the world. Now, the Pope is sole Superior of all Religious Orders in the Catholic Church. They are all instituted to serve him specially and devotedly, and they depend directly upon him. None know this better than the Italian Freemasons, who forcibly took possession of Rome. They declared that though in the rest of Italy, Religious Orders and other Catholic Institutions were by law suppressed, yet even these and everything else needed by the Supreme Pontiff" for the government of the Universal Church, should be sacredly respected by them in Rome. We know how
STATE OF THE QUESTION. 3
they have kept this promise so far as the governing staff of the Kehgious Orders were concerned. They respected the Generals and their assistants by casting them out from their convents upon the streets. They took possession of these convents for secular purposes. They confiscated the whole revenues of the religious, and denied to the successors of the same religious the miserable pensions granted to those whom they brutally and igno- miniously expelled. But we were told that this was to be done only to the religious, and that the rest of the Insti- tutions of Kome necessary for the service of the Pontiff, for his dignity, and, above all, for the government of the Church, should be most scrupulously respected. His person was to be as much honoured, and to be as inviolable as that of the King. The one residence left him in Kome was to obtain the privilege of extra-territoriality, and his means were to be protected on the pledged faith and honour of the Italian King and Parliament. We know how the honour decreed by law to the Supreme Pontiff was respected by the Government, in the miserable insults offered by a body of hired ruffians being permitted, if not more than permitted, to outrage the venerated remains of Pius IX. on their passage at night from St. Peter's to the Basilica of San Lorenzo. The Pope refused, of course, the ostentatious pension his plunderers voted him in lieu of the spoliation of his States. But this gain did not satisfy them. They proceeded, whenever they could, to violate or make null their own laws of guarantee in his regard ; and they succeeded For instance, they made a law by which the real property of the Church should be all sold and converted into the bonds of the new Italian Government. These bonds, at best, are only worth whatever the solvency of the Italian Government may be rated at, upon the markets of Eiirope. But the Church was
4 SPOLIATION OF THE PEOPAGANDA.
not to be permitted to have the advantage of ordinary bond- holders. These latter could sell out their bonds at market value. The Church was not permitted to do this. The bonds purchased by the sale of her farms and houses were made a debt of the Italian Government, it is true — but a State debt due to the Chmxh only — a debt apart, which could be dealt with at pleasure, and regarding which any dealing the Italian Parliament might think well to apply, could not in any sense affect the solvency of the nation in the markets of Europe. Regarding the payment of these bonds the Church has to depend absolutely upon the word of a body of men who have broken faith with her constantly, and whose promises were made, only to be broken at the first favourable moment. ISTo man, therefore, values much the security of the money of the Church, depending upon the will of the Italian Masonic Parliament, for the payment of interest.
Now, amongst other necessary Institutions, the Pope had, for several centuries, in Rome, a well known and most beneficial corporation, endowed by the piety of the Pontiffs, and of Churchmen and pious laymen of every rank and nationality in the world. Its funds were destined not for Italy, but for us, and for the Catholics of every English-speaking land, and for the maintenance of the Faith and the extension of Christianity and civilization in all parts of the world, where as yet these blessings had not penetrated. If any funds could be secured from the grasp of the Masonic Italian Government, those funds ought. If any fidelity was to be kept in the observance of the laws which guaranteed the independence and free exercise of the universal spiritual mission of the Supreme Pontiff', it should be shown, by respecting scrupulously the funds of this institution. The very worst of the Italians, on enter-
STATE OF THE QUESTION. 5
ing Eome, protested loudly that the guarantees were real, and they pointed out the inviolable condition of the Propa- ganda as an instance of how sacredly these guarantees were regarded. There might be some confusion of ideas regarding the property of the religious orders in Rome, but regarding the Pro2)aganda there could not be that confusion. They continued to point it out for years, to every stranger, as a proof of their fidelity. Victor Emmanuelj bad enough, in all conscience, respected it. In his lifetime it could not be touched. That would prove too flagrant a violation, even for him, of the guarantees given by himself and his Parliament. But the moment he passed away, the mean, sordid cupidity of the governing sect in Italy mani- fested itself, and an attempt was made, almost before the dead King was cold, to subject the real estate of the Propaganda to that law of conversion to which the property of every Italian ecclesiastical corporation was subjected.
Two millions sterling Avas too much to remain unmolested by the Italian "Left" in power. It was too much for their weak fidelity to principle. It meant the sale of desirable lands which those sectaries who made *'an honest penny" somehow, by the change of affairs in the country, wanted to buy. It meant the addition to the not overstocked exchequer of the country, of money which Ministers could disjDose of as they best knew how. It meant, finally, a profit to the revenue of thirty per cent, on the sale — a profit taken by various machinations of the Italian Fiscal laws for the benefit of the " Department of Finance." It meant the reduction of that great Institution to the condition in which the finances of the smallest Italian Diocesan, or other Chapter, is reduced by the forced sale of its real estate and the conversion of its money into " ^inculated " Italian Government bonds — bonds that
6 SPOLIATION OF THE PROPAGANDA.
cannot be sold, and may be any day discarded by the Italian Parliament.
This, in brief, is the condition to which the estates of the Catholic Propaganda have been reduced by the action of the Italian Government. It is a veritable spoliation which not only reduces the actual revenue of the Institution to a great extent, but which imperils the very existence of the rest of that revenue. Now this confiscation would be bad enough, if it were only a violation of pledges solemnly made to the Supreme Pontiff. But it is worse. It is a violation of international right, and no people in the world are more concerned in the maintenance of that international right than the Roman Catholic subjects of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. We are in fact the principal sufferers in this act of spoliation, for not only are our religious rights, most justly acquired, interfered with, but the making good of the damage which the Freemasons of Italy have done the Institution, will practically fall on our shoulders. The Propaganda for us means the actual exercise of the authority of the Vicar of Christ in our regard. By means of its funds it has carried out and borne the whole expense of the care and government of the Church in our midst for over two hundred years. It has done much for our ancestors, as we shall see. It has done much more for ourselves. We cannot do without it, so far as we. are concerned, and then neither can we be, nor are we, insensible to that which it does for others. For us — for the Catholics of the world — the Propaganda is all that which the whole circle of richly endowed, zealously advanced " Missionary Societies," " Bible Societies," and " Evangelical Societies," are for the Protestant world. Our honour is connected with its maintenance, and we cannot without a supremo struggle
STATE OF THE QUESTION. . 7
permit it to perish. Nor shall we. But there is no reason that we should have to do this if our Government be willina" to protect our interest, and if that Government has not taken any steps to protect us, I am perfectly sure it is because they have not comprehended the wrong that is done us. In fact, the Propaganda has discharged its onerous duties so noise- lessly by the side of the Vicar of Christ, that we ourselves came to look upon the beneficent effects, which we experi- enced from it, as we look upon the light of the sun or the air about us. We did not advert to the means which piety had, in the past, placed at its disposal, and of which we and our fathers received the fruits. It is the loss which causes us to know, to the full, the value of the benefit — a benefit, I say, so great, and so much a matter of course to us, that even we ourselves remained ignorant of the sources from wdiich it was derived. When, then, even amongst ourselves there is not a full knowledge of what its history, nature, and the nature of its resources now endangered, are, how can we expect that our statesmen, who are not Catholics, can know these things? It is, therefore, to enlighten them as well as ourselves ; to inform, in fact, our fellow citizens of every denomination, of the great international wrong- done to us, and thereby awaken true sympathy and co-oj^er- ation, that I have undertaken the task of entering, this evening, as fully as the time at my disposal will permit, into the whole question of the spoliation of the Propaganda — into the nature and history of that noble institution doomed to perish by local greed, it is true, but still more by the anti- Christian hate and jDolicy of those ruthless sectaries whose one aim is to destroy — root and branch — everything not only that advances, but that even fosters Christianity in the slightest degree. Their hate is not less for Pro- testantism than for CathoHcity. Their aim is to eradicate the
8 SPOLIATION OF THE PKOPAGANDA.
very Cliristian idea from the minds and the hearts of man- kind. Now all this we shall proceed to see by a consider- ation, first, of the history and natm^e of the sacred Institution, and, secondly, by a review of the means taken to destroy it. From both, to-night, I am sure, all here, will come to the conclusion that it is a clear duty of om^ own Government to take some action for the preservation of the rights of British Catholics, and that in any case it is a sacred obliga- tion on the part of Catholics in every land, but especially in countries benefited by its ministrations, not to let the great work of the Propaganda perish.
THE PROPAGANDA FROM THE BEGINNING. 9
11.
THE PROPAGANDA FROM THE BEGINNING.
The Sacred CongTegation known as that of the Propaganda Fide, is formed, at present, Kke all the other Congregations of Rome, of a number of Cardinals, Prelates and officials, presided over by a Cardinal Prefect. They form a Corporate Body, and their duty is to conduct what we might call the foreign department in the vast administration of the Vicar of Christ.
At one period, at the very commencement, the Propaganda was conducted in person by St. Peter and his successors. It remained during nearly the whole of the first Po]:)e's lifetime his own principal occupation. He had to convert both Jews and Gentiles before he had a Church of any great extent to rule. He had, however, it must be confessed, a very excellent "Prefect of the Propaganda" in St. Paul, who carried out the work the Sacred Con^re- gation now sees to, both by himself and his numerous companions and disciples. St. Paul died a Bishop of no particular locality — he was, so to speak, very like many of his successors and his present one. Cardinal Simeoni, an episcopus in partihus mfidelium. He did great and lasting work, but on his death the successors of St. Peter had to find out other means to carry on the evangelization of the world. And they succeeded wonderfully from that day to this. We see them ruling with admirable wisdom, sanctity, and authority the vast empire left them mainly by the exertions of St. Peter and St. Paul ; never forgetting the peculiar labours of the one or the other. The evangelization of the nations as well the government and teaching of the Church was never omitted bv any one of them. From
10 SPOLIATION OF THE PROPAGANDA.
their side, principally, went forth those crowds of holy men who continued to prosecute the work of the evangelization of the world, until from the extreme limits of this then British Province, to the sands of the Great African Desert, and from the Pillars of Hercules to the frontiers of Persia, the persecuting Roman Empire had the followers of Christ in the army, in the navy, in every department, and even in the Courts of the terrible, anti-Christian Emperors them- selves. They caused Christians to fill the towns, and spread at last to the remotest villages of the Empire, and then to be found far beyond its borders. And when the whole East and West, after ten terrific struggles, at last embraced the Cross, the successors of St. Peter with renewed zeal and increased resources attempted the evan- gelization of all then known, barbarous nations.
I say increased resources, for even in these times of persecution the Roman Pontiffs were not destitute of temporal means. The generous piety of the faithful recognised their immense responsibility, and supplied the means which heartless infidelity now strives to deprive them of The Roman Pontiff, even when compelled to lay hidden in the Catacombs, was the father of the orphan, and of the widow, and of the poor. From the cr}^3ts of the Catacombs, as well as, afterwards, from the portals of the Vatican, he sent forth a never ceasing stream of apostolic men who at his bidding, and with his blessing, and with his authority, went forth to the very ends of the earth for the evangelization of the heathen, and the consolation of the people of God.
On this point you will allow me to quote a passage from the writings of a great French Prelate, Monsigneur Dupanloup, whom our present Holy Father has character- ised as " the glory and the consolation of France " in his
THE PROPAGANDA FROM THE BEGINNING. 11
day. No one who recollects his history will doubt for a moment the weight of his authority. He says :
" Mother and Mistress of all Churches, the Church of *' Rome was from that time what she ought to be, viz., the " richest, the most powerful, and also the most generous " in her gifts. The Faithful throughout the world vene- " rated her as the centre of Catholicity ; and lavished their " wealth upon her, together with their obedience and their " love. They did not wish the head of their religion and *' the Vicar of Jesus Christ to be unequal to the immense ** calls of his spiritual administration ; they wished the " Pope to have sufficient to meet all the requirements of *' the universal mission which had been confided to him, *' the enormous disbursements that he was obliged to make " for the welfare of so many people confided to his care, " and also for the nations which were still infidel, to whom ** it was his duty to send the light of faith, by bishops, " priests, deacons, and apostolic missionaries. Hence the " riches of the Roman Church from the time of the per- " secutions ; hence the considerable possessions which she *' enjoyed a long time before Constantine ; hence also the " generous liberalities which she lavished upon the world, " as Eusebius tells us, for the maintenance of a large " number of the clergy, of widows and of orphans, and of the "poor as well as for the propagation of the faith, and the " foundation of Christianity in the most distant countries. " Eusebius cites Syria and Arabia, and our own histories " add the Gauls and the Spains to these countries. This " was not all ; it was necessary that while buried still in " the Catacombs, the Papacy should maintain apostolic " notaries to keep the acts of the martyrs, and to be ever " ready to reply to the questions for consultation almost " daily addressed by all the Churches, whilst at the same
12 SPOLIATION OF THE PROPAGANDA.
*' time, the Roman Climx-h was sending nnmbers of ships " across the sea laden with alms. Such was even before " the peace of the Church, the temporal power with which " the faith of Christians surrounded the Apostolic See, and " of which the charity of the Popes made so noble a use "for the Avelfare of nations, ISIonuments and the most " celebrated facts teach us that the Roman Church, in " order to supply so many wants, not only possessed "vessels of gold and silver and a great number of move- " able goods, but also, considerable capital. The Pagans " sometimes respected, sometimes carried off, these pos- " sessions. Constantine ordered, says Eusebius, that " restitution should be made to the clergy of the houses, the *"' possessions, fields, gardens, and oilier goods of ivhich they ^'had been unjustly depriTed. What a strange thing ! that " Paganism should recognise that the Church had a right " to property, and yet this is in the present day contested "by nations which call themselves Christian."*
With the resources here so eloquently indicated, the Popes, even in the earliest ages, provided for the evangeli- zation of the most distant nations. Indeed, we scarcely meet with a single Pontificate, not illustrated with this blessed characteristic of the Apostolic ministry — a charac- teristic which became more marked as time rolled on. Just as the Church had attained its first triumph, the Pope, who had most to do with the conversion of Constantine, and with the splendid works of that Monarch for religion, was consoled by the conversion of the Il^erians near the Black Sea, and of the Abyssinians beyond the distant, southern confines of ancient Egy]^)t. The Popes aided the terribly tried Christians of Persia, under the long persecutions of
*lIonsigneur Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans, on ths "Temporal Sovereignty of the Popes." Paris, 1849.
THE rrvOPAGANDA FROM THE BEGINNING. 13
Sapor and his successors, just as Leo XITI. aids the persecuted Christians of China as I speak. We know of the sohcitude of St. Celestine in selecting and sending Palla- dius, a dignitary of the Eoman Curia, to convert the Irish and Picts. Then came the mighty Mission of St. Patrick, received at Rome from the same Holy Pontiff, and solemnly confirmed by his successor. Soon after, St. Leo the Great sent St. Valentinus, to carry the glad tidings of Pedemption to those tribes once so formidable to Roman power, who inhabited the forests bordering on the Danube and the Rhine. St. Severinus, authorized by the same authority, Avas contemporaneously carrying the faith to Panormia and Norica, The Rhetians and the faithful Tyrolese received, through the solicitude of Pope Leo, the grace of the faitli, also from St. Severinus. Besides those absolute and direct conversions, by saints from the very side of the Roman Pontiff, every national conversion made, was helped on, and had to be watched over, by his fatherly, evangelical care. The conversion of Clovis and the Franks, and other barbarians ; the destruction of Arianism amidst the fierce tribes who embraced that heresy, and brought it with them on their conquests ; the care of the Faith amongst the ever-fickle Catholics in the East ; the ecclesiastical formation of new realms, gained over by the Apostles despatched for the purpose, constantly exercised the zeal of the Sovereign Pontiffs in those days. Who does not know the love and care manifested by St. Gregory the Great for the desolate Anglo Saxon ancestors of the people now inhabiting England, and so strangely in many instances forgetful, or worse than forgetful, of the debt of gratitude they owe the Popes ? It w^as not so with the ancient Catholics of that land. The intercourse betw^een them and then far off Rome, was greater than it is
14 SPOLIATION OF THE PROPAGANDA.
to-day, with all our modern appliances for swift and easy travelling. But then, not as now, it was love of God and not of travel,'that brought the crowds of Anglo- Saxon pilgrims to Rome. They loved to see Christ's Vicar, to visit the tombs of the Apostles and Martyrs, and to manifest the gratitude of their nation at the Shrine of the real Apostle of England, Pope St. Gregory the Great. The same Pontiff was as zealous and as successful in converting all that remained of the Donatist heretics in Africa as in evangelizing the people of Britain. The care of his succes- sors for the vast conversions wrought by the multitude of Irish missionary saints amongst the Pagans during the early middle ages, and of missionary saints like St. Boniface and St. Willibrord, who came from England, is just as remark- able. The connection of the Popes with SS. Cyril and Methodius, the Apostles of the Bulgarians, the Moravians, and the Bohemians, has been recently brought very promi- nently before the world of our day, by our present Holy Father who has just built a church to honour their memory, over the remains of St. Cyril, one of the two, who died in Rome. Pope St. Nicholas the Great and Pope John VIII. sent bishops, priests, and ample assistance to the same evangelic labourers, who are the Apostles and civilizers not only of the nations before mentioned, but also of Moravia, Silesia, Bosnia, Circassia, Russia, Dalmatia, Panoramia, Dacia, Carinthia and several neighbouring nations. Under Pope Sylvester II. the great warlike nation of the Hunga- rians became converted by the zeal of their truly apostolic King, St. Stephen ; and to this day the crown sent by the Pope to that Monarch, is used in the coronation of the Kings of Hungary (now the Emperors of Austria), who retain with just pride the privilege to have the Cross borne before them, and to take the title of Apostolic Majesty,
THE PROPAGANDA FROM THE BEGINNING. 15
both given by the Pope. With every conversion which afterwards took place in the North of Europe or elsewhere, the Popes had the same intimate connection, and their Apostolic zeal never flagged until a still wider field than ever opened out for it by the discovery of America, and the coming of that unfortunate torrent of heresy and schism from which all our present religious misfortunes flow, and which is known under the name of the Reformation.
The Popes of this period dealt with the duties brought upon them by one and the other of these momentous events, as became their traditions and their obligations. The vast fields opened up for Missionary zeal by the discoveries of Columbus and Vasco di Gama were soon occupied by their care. It w^as, after all, but a phase in the kind of evangeli- zation which their predecessors had carried on in one part or another of the world, since the days of St. Peter and St. Paul.
More difficult far became the task of repairing the injury done to many countries by the ravage occasioned by many reformers of many minds and many degrees of hatred for Catholicity. Wars followed fast upon doctrinal differ- ences. The face of whole kingdoms changed. Radical political changes grew apace. The work of the conversion of England, Scotland, Prussia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and several minor German States had to be commenced over again, with the difference that heresy was a far more redoubtable opponent than Paganism of any kind. It was a system of various-phased negations constantly changing, never knowing its own Christian belief, and satisfied only upon some f)oints which it refused to hold in common with the Church of God. Its systems, all made by men, accord- ing to caprice, or logical necessity springing from error, differed one from the other fully as much as all differed from
16 SPOLIATION OF THE PROPAGANDA.
the Catholic faith of as^es. The reasoninq* to be used airainst one sect would not suit against another. On points of the most vital importance all held opposite views. Some would have it that Christ was God, and others that He. was not. Some held for Grace and others for pure Pelagianism. Some admitted the Real Presence, and others regarded that doctrine as idolatrous. One party held out for more or less sacramental efficacy, and others denied it, in part or entirely. So the babel went on, in nothing united save in hatred and opposition to the one, stable, changeless truth of the old religion. In Ireland, in France, in Germany, wars took place between fellow-countrymen on points of doctrine. In England and other countries the party in opposition to Catholicity found out, as they thought, not only that the religion of their forefathers for generations was wrong, but they further considered it to be their duty to deprive such of their fellow-citizens as continued to hold the old Faith, of goods, of liberty, of civil status, and even of life itself. Almost everywhere in Europe, confusion and anger reigned in those sadly troubled times.
None experienced more difficulty in dealing with the perplexing responsibilities arising from the Reformation than the Roman Pontiffs. The business of the Holy See increased to an enormous extent. Several new Congre- gations had to be formed by the action of the Council of Trent alone. Every department of Church adminis- tration had to be remodelled. New Orders arose provi- dentially to meet the needs of the times. These had to be guided and watched over. Contemporaneously with the religious troubles in Europe, new fields for Missionary enterprise were opened up in America, in Asia, in Africa, oven in some of the Isles of the Pacific. Mahometanism,
TilE rK01*AGANDA FIIOM THE BEGINNING. 17
instead of subsiding, began to grow more menacing. England, Scotland, and most of the Northern Kingdoms of Europe ceased to be Catholic. The fires of the sanctuary Avere completely quenched in Denmark, Prussia, Sweden, Norway and several German Principalities. Ireland sustained the full pressure of the power of England to force her — though, thank God, in vain — to abjure the Faith. Prance was in a state of civil war on account of religion. Switzerland was divided, Hungary, Poland, and Bohemia wavered. The work of real Reformation in purely Catholic countries; the repression of attempts at schism from Avithout and disorder from within; occupied the common Father of the Faithful unceasingly. It Avas Avhen the difficulties of his position increased to such an extent^ that it Avas morally impossible for him to attend any longer, personally, to everything required for the purpose of spreading the Faith, that he at last called in the assistance of a special Congregation to assist him in a Avork Avhich his predecessors had at all periods of their preAdous history discharged by themselves alone.
Gregory XIII. filled the Chair of St, Peter at the period Avlien the Avork of the evangelization of the nations pressed lieaAiest. He may be said to have employed himself solely in that Avork. For the Avants of the Germans and Hungarians he had, out of his OAvn re- sources, founded and perpetually endoAved a magnificent College Avliich still subsists in Rome. He formed the English College for the resuscitation of the Faith in Britain ; the Polish College for the Poles ; and for the vast missions then evangelized by the zeal of the ncAvly formed Society of Jesus, he built and endoAved the magnificent Roman College of the Gesu, Avherein he placed no less than three hundred cells for students and twenty auditories for
B
18 SPOLIATION OF THE PKOPAGANDA. .
instruction. Out of this went the men whose eloquence resounded along the banks of the Rhine, and whose holy lives, boundless zeal and great learning won back millions in the German Fatherland to the Faith. Thence, too, went forth the men who penetrated into the heart of the old civilization of China, to the East and West Indies, and to the fastnesses and virgin forests of the newly-discovered tribes of America. Gregory XIII. embraced in his zeal the East as well as the West. He founded in Rome Colleges for the Greeks, and for the Maronites of Mount Libanus. Nor did he forget, in his care for far off nations, the claims of his o^vn See. The Jews of Ghetto and the youth of Rome have to thank his great heart for permanent means established for their care and education. He was the patron of physical science as well as of sacred studies ; and to him, to Gregory XIII. , Hugo Buoncom- pagno, the modern world is indebted for the reformation of the Calendar on a basis more correct than that attempted before him by a man more famous, but not so great in works of real utility, Julius C?esar, the first of the rulers of Imperial Rome.
The work of what may be called the Foreign Missions Increased to such overwhelming proportions through the snhghtened Christian zeal of thisgreat Pope, that he found himself compelled to call in the assistance of a few Cardinals, and to commit to their vigilance the duty of watching over the Propagation of the Faith. These Cardinals could be scarcely called a Congregation. They were more a kind of committee of vigilance to keep the Pope posted in what should be effected by the centre of unity for the evangelization of the world. But the idea had its origin in the necessity which forced the Pontiff to call them together at all, and it soon produced its fruit. The
Tin: PROPACANDA FK(),M THK BEGINNINC. 19
successors of Gregory Avere forced to advert to it from the impossibility of dealing Avith every case ; and at last Gregory XV., of the famous Bologncse family, of the Ludovisi, determined to found a real, formal, Sacred Con- gregation, for the work which we may call the Foreign Office of the Church. He not only established it, but con- ferred the most ample powers upon it, and gave it large means to commence that beneficent action, which was soon everywhere felt in the immense regions over which it exercised the paternal solicitude of the Vicar of Christ.
Gregory XV. founded the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda by a Bull bearing date July 22nd, 1622. In this he clearly made known, that his intention was to establish a department of Church administration and action which should assiduously attend to the important duty, hitherto discharged by his predecessors alone, without special organized assistance, of extending the Faith in countries where it did not exist, and of restoring it in places where it may have been lost or injured. The duty of the Congregation was, according to the words of this Bull, "to study diligently, that those sheep miserably wandering " away should again return to the Fold of Christ, and " acknowledge the Lord and the Shepherd of the Flock, " to devise the best means by which, through the influence " of Divine grace, they may cease to wander through the " endless pasturages of infidelity and heresy, drinking the " deadly waters of pestilence, and be placed in the pasturage " of true faith and salutary doctrine, and be brought to the " fountains of the water of life."
The Ajypimti or Memoranda published by the Sacred Congregation recently, in reference to the definite sentence of the Italian Masonic Court of Appeal, to which it applied for relief against the action of the Government, state : —
20 SPOLIATION OF THE PROPAGANDA.
"For this end, he (Gregory XV.) wished to depute in " his name a Congregation of Cardinals, who unitedly " should exercise the greater portion of the Apostolic " Ministry, that most noble office, which, up to that time, " his predecessors had discharged by themselves and " without the ministry of others."
The Appimti, afterwards, quote other passages of the Bull of Gregory XV., who thus continues : —
"For even although by the pastoral vigilance, " assistance, study, and exertions of the R-oman Pontiffs, " our predecessors, of happy memory, it was provided that " so many harvests should not be in want of labourers in "the past, and our successors can also do the same, we " have thought it well to commit to the special solicitude " of a certain numl^er of our venerable brethren, Cardinals " of the Holy Roman Church, this particular business, as " by the tenor of these presents we do commit and do give " over to them. Desiring that, congregated together, and "using also the assistance of certain prelates of the Roman " Court, religious men, and a secretary (as we ourselves " have desired, and named them for the first time), they " should consult together, and watch over so great a matter " together with us, and in the best possible manner that it " can be done, attend to a work so holy and so exceedingly ' pleasing to the Divine Majesty. For the more convenient "discharge of which duty let them hold congregations " every month — once before us, and twice at least in the "house of the senior Cardinal amongst themselves — and " there learn and treat of all and every affair appertaining " to the Propagation of the Faith throughout the world. " Let them refer the graver affairs which they shall have " treated in the above-mentioned house to Us, but other "matters let them decide and despatch by themselves,
THE P110PAGA>;!)A FlIO?,! THE BEGINNING. 1^1
*' according to their own prudence. Let them superintend all " missions for preaching and teaching the Gospel and the *' Catholic doctrine, and constitute and change the necessary ''Ministers. For We, by Apostolic authority, concede and "imj^art, by the tenor of these presents, full, free, and " ample faculty, authority, and power of doing, carrying on, " treating, acting, and executing both the above-named, as " well as all and every other matter, even if such should be " a matter which requires a specific and express mention." " But, in order that a business of such moment, in " which great expenses are necessarily contracted by the "happy commutation of temporal with spiritual things, '' may not be retarded by any impediment, and may proceed " more easily and speedily, bej^ond that Avliich we have " already ordered to be supplied from our private means, " and that which is given by the liberality of the pious *' faithful, and that aid which for the future we confide, will " not be wanting, as the affair is our own and that of this " Holy See, we contribute to this work certain revenues for " ever from our Apostolic resources."
The Ajjj^imti commenting on this, say : — " The Pontiff", then, constituting the Propaganda the " organic means for discharging the Apsotolate amongst the " infidel and heterodox, ever fixed to it a sublime ministry " which was a substantial part of the spiritual sovereignty " received for the government of the Church ; and that " to such great extent, that regarding it with respect to ' the territory over which it exercises jurisdiction, it can be " said, without fear of error, that, in four at least out of the " five parts of the world, the government of the Church is " held and administered by the Propaganda. The power is " so great and so unreserved, that all and every matter apper- " taining to the propagation of the Faith in the universal
22 SPOLIATION OF THE PROPAGANDA.
" world, is confided to it by the Vicars of Christ, to the " exclusion of any other organ whatsoever, and this with " such solemnity, that Urban VIII., on the 2nd of August, " 1634, and Innocent X. on the 3rd of July, 1652, ordered " that the authentic decrees of the Propaganda should have " the force of Apostolic Constitutions."
In this way the Congregation started into existence.
The number of Cardinals, which in the beginning was fixed at thirteen, has been since, from time to time, increased. A Prefect was appointed over them as over other congrega- tions, and subsequently a Cardinal was appointed specially over the finance department. A secretary — subsequently two, one for the Eastern branch, and one for the Western — and writers were added, together with many consulters taken from the foremost religious and secular ecclesiastics residing in Pome. The whole formed a distinct Corporation capable of sueing and being sued. It at once commenced the work confided to it ; and the world has, from that day to this, experienced the benefits of its zealous and always prudent administration. The whole Church, except in the purely Catholic kingdoms of Europe, passed under its con- trol ; and its ministry has become not only valuable, but, in fact, absolutely necessary for the due exercise of the solici- tude of the Vicar of Christ in such an immense area of the world committed to his keeping.
In the Bull by which Gregory XV. instituted the Sacred Congregation, we find it clearly laid down that it should be all this. Moreover, the help which he anticipated from the faithful, came almost immediately. This appears specially in the foundation of the celebrated seminary now known as- —
TI[K rilBAN COLLEGE. 23
III.
THE URBAN COLLEGE.
Through the zeal of John Baptist Vives, one of its consult- ing prelates, the Sacred Congregation came into possession of the necessary property and the buildings which are now occupied by offices attached to Propaganda and by a college for the education of missionaries destined to carry out its principal aim in evangelizing the nations. The immediate successor of Gregory XV. was the celebrated Urban VIII., a member of the illustrious Barberini fjimilv. This areat Pontiff" earnestly resumed the work of his predecessor in the matter of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda Fide. To him, Monsgr. John Baptist Vives, acting, as Moroni tells us, under the direction of his own confessor, Michael Ghisheri, of the Order of Tlieatines, offered his place in the Piazza di Spagna. This residence previously belonged to Cardinal Ferratini, from whom the street called Via Fratina, wdiich at present leads dii'ectly from the Corso to the Propaganda, takes its name. Urban VIII. gladly accepted the offer; and with further aid from Vives, estab- lished the famous college to which he gave his own name — a name it bears to this day — Collegio Urbano de Propa- ganda Fide. Moroni thus speaks of this gift : — "Matters " progressed so far that Monsignor Vives decided to devote " all he had to this purpose (the foundation of the college), " and he employed Father Ghislieri to draw up a plan for " changing his palace into such a college. With these " admirable sentiments the Prelate Vives made an offer of "■ the Palace to Urban VIII. (Barheriiii). This illustrious " Pontiff" being animated with the livehest interest for the " augmentation of the Catholic religion and for the greater
-4: SPOLIATION OF THE PROPAGANDA.
" glory of God, approved of the gift of the good Prelate, " and with the authority of the Bull ' Tmmortalis Dei ' given ''on the Kalends of August, 1627, canonically instituted in " the same palace an Apostolic College or Seminary for " youths of every nation who should be promoted to orders '' after one year, and afterwards to the Priesthood, and he 'placed the College under the invocation and patronage of " SS. Peter and Paul. He put it moreover under the " protection of the Apostolic See, and under the rule and " laws which he and his successors should be pleased to "make for its government. He assigned to it perpetually "the oblation of the well-deserving Vives, consisting of "one hundred and three places on the mountain and other " estates, yielding yearly about seven hundred scudi in "rent, besides other revenues which that Prelate left it at "death. On the principal facade of the building was "placed the following inscription : —
" Collegium de Propaganda Fide Per Universum
Orbem. "And afterwards the same Urban VIII. caused to " be substituted for this another, which was placed beneath "his own arms, and still subsists, and which runs as " follows : —
" Collegium Urbanum de Propoganda Fide." The palace of Monsignor Vives was greatly improved by Urban VIII. , who employed the celebrated Bernini to construct the offices of the Comimtisteria, or finance department, on the ground floor ; the Segretaria, or business portion, on the first floor ; and the Siamperia, or printing office, on the upj^er floor. Alexander VIL, the next successor but one of Urban VIII., carried the buildings on towards the Church of St. Andrea dei Frati. He also built the beautiful College Chapel in the form in
THE URBAN COLLEGE. 25
wliieli it is to be found to-day. He employed in both works the rival of Bernini, Francesco Borromini. Leo XII. removed the printing offices to the ground floor, at the end of the building ; and in the part where these were placed before, he formed apartments for the Cardinal Prefect, so that the latter might be always on the spot for watching over the many important interests of the Congregation. On the highest story were also provided the apartments of the Secretary of the Pro23aganda, and the famous INIuseum connected with the Institution.
Besides the gift of the site and the Palace, Monsigiior Vives provided also ten places in the College for students destined to carry the Gospel wherever the Sacred Congre- gation might send them. Almost at the same time with this gift, came another valual^le donation from Cardinal Antonio Barberini, the brother of Urban VIII. This was the perpetual foundation of twelve places for as many students, who should be taken in the proportion of two from each one of the Persian, Georgian, Coptic^ Nestorian, Jacobite, and INIelchite rites or nations. The zealous Cardinal, elevated the number of students to three of each nation, soon afterwards, making eighteen in all, of his own founda- tion. And from that to this, these far-off peoples have been supplied with a constant stream of well-educated pastors from the centre of Christendom by the zeal of this good Prince of the Church, who was in his lifetime also one of the Cardinals attached to the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda. His zeal did not finish here. Before his death, Moroni tells us, that he founded thirteen places in the Urban College for the nations of Ethiopia, Abyssinia, and Brackmania. Wise regulations were in all cases laid down for the giving of these places, and for the discharge of the obligations of those who profited by them. Urban
26 SPOLIATION OF THE PKOPAGANDA.