546 Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites.

Noster Pius Papa IX. Litteris Apostolicis in forma Brevis datis die II aprilis anni 1869. omnibus Ecclesiis Capitularibus et conventualibus Urbis et Orbis praeter consetam Conventualem celebrandam qualibet Feria V. injunxit, et de Collecta de eodem Spiritu Sancto ir Missis quotidie addenda, sequentia Dubia Sacrorum Rituum Congregationi exhibita fuerunt, nimirum :

“Dubium I. An praedicta Missa votiva de Spiritu Sancto debeat esse cantata vel lecta?

Dubium II. An huic Missae addi debeat Gloria et Credo? "Dubium III. An haec Missa omittenda sit in octavis privilegiatis Paschatis et Epiphaniae, itemque Nativitatis et Ĉorporis Christi, praesertim si est lecta?

"Dubium IV. Qua hora haec Missa celebrari debeat ? "Dubium V. An in hac Missa unica Oratio vel plures ut in Missis votivis dici debeant ?

"Dubium VI. An sit onus impositum Canonicis vel potius Ecclesiae?

"Dubium VII. In Ecclesiis praesertim Sanctimonialium, in quibus attentis temporum circumstantiis una Missa vix potest celebrari, quid fieri debeat? quaenam omittenda ?

"Dubium VIII. An collecta de Spiritu Sancto debeat omitti in diebus primae et secundae Classis?

"Haec autem dubia quum subscriptus Secretarius retulisset in Ordinariis Sacrorum Rituum Comitiis subsignata die ad Vaticanum habitis Emi ac Rmi Patres Sacris tuendis Ritibus praepositi, audito prius voto alterius ex Apostolicarum Caeremoniarum Magistris scripto exarato typisque evulgato rescribendum censuerunt :

“Ad. I. In omnibus Cathedralibus et in Collegiatis ubi quotidie canitur Missa Conventualis, cantari debet etiam Missa de Spiritu Sancto: in aliis Ecclesiis in Brevi Apostolico designatis, haec Missa debet legi vel cani prout legitur vel canitur Missa Conventualis.

"Ad II. In casu tam in Missa cum cantu quam in Missa sine cantu addatur Gloria et Credo.

“Ad III. Standum est praescriptioni Brevis, ideoque singulis Feriis V. in quibus non occurrat Duplex primae vel secundae Classis, est celebranda, etiamsi celebretur lecta.

"Ad IV. Cantetur, aut legatur post Nonam, et etiam post omnes Missas a Rubricis eadem die praescriptas.

"Ad V. In casu dici debet una tantum Oratio tam in Missa cum cantu, quam in Missa sine cantu.

“Ad VI. Est onus Ecclesiae, et haberi debet ut pars servitii choralis.

"Ad VII. Moniales non comprehendi.

"Ad VIII, Negative et in Festis primae Classis dici debet sub unica conclusione; in Festis vero secundae Classis cum

propria conclusione. Atque ita rescripserunt. Die 3. Julii

1869.

"Facta autem per me infrascriptum Secretarium de praemissis Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Pio Papae IX. relatione, Sanctitas Sua Sacrae Congregationis responsa approbavit, confirmavit ac servari mandavit. Die 8 iisdem Mense et Anno." C. EPISCOPUS PORTUEN. ET S. RUFINAE CARD. PATRIZI, S. R. C. PRAEFECTUS. Dominicus Bartholini, S. R. C.

Secretarius.

DOCUMENT.

SANCTISSIMI DOMINI NOSTRI PII DIVINA PROVIDENTIA PAPAE IX. ALLOCUTIO HABITA IN CONSISTORIO SECRETO. (25th June, 1869).

VENERABILES FRATRES.

Novam, et catholicae Ecclesiae, eiusque immunitati, libertati, et iuribus, ac vel ipsi civili societati maxime infestam legem a Subalpino Gubernio editam, ac promulgatam cum summo animi Nostri dolore in hoc amplissimo vestro consessu deplorare cogimur, Venerabiles Fratres. Atque hic Nos loquimur de lege, qua idem Gubernium, post tot ac innumeros fere ausus, et iniurias Ecclesiae, eiusque sacris ministris, rebusque illatas, Clericos militari conquisitioni subiicere non dubitavit. Ecquis non videt quam damnosa, et quam hostilis Ecclesiae sit haec lex, quae Ecclesiae ius ab ipso Christo Domino ei tributum impedit, et coarctat eligendi idoneos, ac necessarios ministros, qui ab eodem Christo ad divinam suam religionem tuendam, propagandam, ad animarum salutem usque ad consummationem saeculi procurandam constituti fuerunt; quaeque potissimum eo unice spectare videtur, ut in hac infelicissima Italia, si fieri unquam posset, catholica Ecclesia funditus deleatur et exterminetur ?

Nobis certe verba desunt ad eiusmodi legem denuo improbandam ac detestandam, Quisque noscit, Nos pro Apostolici Nostri ministerii munere haud omisisse Nostro officio studiosissime perfungi, et omnes Venerabiles Fratres sacrorum in

Italia Antistites cum summa eorum nominis laude iustissimas suas fecisse querelas, reclamationes, et expostulationes, ut huiusmodi lex nunquam locum haberet. Atque utinam hac occasione abstinere Nos possemus, Venerabiles Fratres, a lugendis gravissimis malis et damnis, quibus sanctissima nostra religio nunc in Austriaco etiam Imperio et Hungariae Regno miserandum in modum affligitur ac divexatur. Notitiae autem, quae de Ecclesiae rebus ex Hispaniarum Regno ad Nos perveniunt, nullam consolationem, quin immo tristitiam et moerorem Nobis afferunt.

Russicum vero Gubernium pergit catholicam insectari Ecclesiam, et ab omnibus fere Dioecesibus suos, vi etiam adhibita, eiicere Episcopos, eosque in exilium pellere, proptereaquod Christi hic in terris Vicarii vocem ac mandata, prout debent, audire et exequi volunt, nec sinit eosdem Episcopos ab illis Imperii finibus egredi, etiamsi maxima Ecclesiae utilitas id omnino postulet. Ac magis in dies omni modo impedit, quominus illi fideles cum Nobis et hac Apostolica Sede libere communicare queant.

Sed inter gravissimas, quibus vexamur, angustias, non mediocri certe solatio Nobis est pastoralis zelus, summopere laudandus, quo Sacrorum Antistites rem catholicam viriliter tutantur, et sanctissimae fidei nostrae principia integra servare et Ecclesiae unitatem propugnare contendunt adversus multiplices insidias et conatus, quibus impii homines suos errores propagare connituntur. Ac futurum confidimus, ut universus catholicus Clerus illustria Episcoporum suorum exempla pro viribus imitari, et aemulari conetur.

Interim istos omnes Christi, eiusque Sanctae Ecclesiae hostes etiam atque etiam monemus, ut tandem aliquando serio considerent quam terribilis sit Deus in suis, eiusque Ecclesiae, hostibus puniendis.

Nos autem non desistamus, Venerabiles Fratres, ferventissimis, humillimisque precibus misericordiarum Patrem orare et obsecrare, ut omnes miseros errantes de perditionis via ad rectum veritatis, iustitiae, salutisque tramitem reducat, utque catholicam Ecclesiam ubique terrarum novis ac splendidioribus triumphis quotidie magis exornet et augeat.

[NEW SERIES.]

THE IRISH

ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.

SEPTEMBER, 1869.

SOGARTH AROON.

Lecture, DELIVERED ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY, 1869,

BY REV. M. O'CONNOR, S.J.

WHETHER we consider this day as dedicated to religion

or to patriotism, the subject on which I intend addressing you appears to me appropriate. Religion is brought home to every one by no agency more powerfully than by that of the priest. Patriotism, I hesitate not to say, has been cherished, strengthened and propagated in Ireland by no body or class more effectually than by the priesthood. The hallowed recollections of this day, therefore, make us turn naturally to him in whom religion and patriotism are embodied with so much power, to our own 'Sogarth Aroon."1 It is unnecessary to speak to you of the feelings of those who know him best-the people, with whom and for whom he lives and labors, whose good opinion is therefore most honorable. To call them respect, veneration, confidence, would be but tame words. We must see the glow of the countenance, the open hand, the warm heart, with which he is met. We must see how the wildest outburst of passion is checked, frequently subdued, how the moral feeling is evoked by his word, and even when not gaining the ascendancy, how it gives evidence of the power that is resisted. We should see what he is able to induce the people to do and to suffer, and this in the untoward circumstances of Ireland.

1 These words signify literally, Priest dear. They constitute the title by which the Irish people express their fond esteem for him.

VOL. V.

37

These feelings are all expressed in the words which I have chosen for the title of my lecture, not so much on account of their literal meaning, as because the feelings that exist have clustered around them and find expression in them, as is the case with many other words which derive significance more from the known character of what they refer to, than from their literal meaning.

It cannot be uninteresting to study the sources of the influence of this priest, so much loved, so much hated, so much prized, so much despised, according to the stand-point from which he is viewed, an influence which nothing hitherto has been able to destroy.

There is no doubt that it has its first root in the people's conviction of the high dignity of the essential character of his office.

The priest acts as the agent of God in regenerating the soul when it first comes into the world, in guiding and protecting it during its whole earthly career, in strengthening it when it is about to go before its God. Religion, with its sublime truths, its saving institutions, its joys, its hopes, and its consolations, is brought home to us in all our trials and necessities, in our various positions in life and in death, through his instrumentality. No wonder that with such associations he should be dear to all who value these things, if he be but true to his calling.

The Irish priest, thank God, has come up to this requirement in an eminent degree. He has been true to the God whom he served, true to the people to whom he ministered. He has been true in adversity, in many toils and stripes; true when calumny blackened him, when the persecutor dogged his steps, when banishment or death stared him in the face. He has been true to them in administering to their spiritual wants, in the discharge of the immediate duties of his calling. He has been true to them in whatever part he took in their public or private affairs. For, though the traitor, worming himself into the people's confidence, and betraying them at the critical moment, has been the great bane of Ireland from the earliest days of her history down to this very year of grace in which we live, I have yet to learn that any such were ever found among her consecrated priests, who retained their position in the Church.

But the attachment of the Irish people to their priests may be said to be special even amongst good Catholics. It must, therefore, have special causes. It is to these that we must

direct our attention to-night.

The habits, and feelings, and principles of nations have