deciding matters of faith and morals have been solemnly proclaimed by the last General Council; and all the Catholics of the world, from the rising to the setting sun, have rejoiced in a decision which has not only condemned heretical doctrines, but has put an end to Gallicanism, and to the pretensions of other parties that tended to weaken the authority of the Church, by keeping up dissensions within her own bosom.

The Holy Fathers who illustrated the Church and edified the world by their virtues and their writings, were no less explicit in maintaining the prerogatives of the Holy See. Thus St. Jerome, the great commentator and translator of the Scriptures, writes to Pope Damasus :

"I hold fast to the Chair of Peter, upon whom the Church is built. I shall declare to the whole world, if any person is firm in his allegiance to the Chair of Peter, he is of my mind. I hold with the successor of the fisherman. He that does not gather with you, scatters—that is, he that is not of Christ is of Antichrist."

St. Peter Chrysologus, the eloquent Bishop of Ravenna, thus writes to the heresiarch Eutyches:

"We entreat you to hearken especially to the decision of the Pope at Rome, and to abide with all readiness by his final decision, because Peter, who lives and rules in his own See, returns to those who consult him the answer of truth."

Passing over innumerable other authorities, we shall merely quote the following words, in which the great St. Bernard, a special friend and admirer of our own St. Malachy, in his work, De Consideratione, addresses the Pope :

"Thou art the Sovereign Pontiff, the head of the ecclesastical hierarchy, the Prince of Bishops, the heir of the Apostles. Thou art like Abel in thy primacy, like Noah in thy government, like Abraham in thy patriarchate, like Melchisedeck in thy priestly character, like Aaron in thy dignity, like Peter in thy power, like Christ in thy unction. The other bishops are indeed shepherds, each having charge of a particular portion of the fold; but thou art the only one who feedest the entire fold of Christ. For thou art the Shepherd of the shepherds. Others possess a partial jurisdiction, thou the plenitude of power. The jurisdiction of others is confined within definite limits, thy jurisdiction extends over all. Thine is the indefeasable title acquired by Peter when Christ delivered to him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and entrusted him with the care of his flock."

The doctrines thus proclaimed by the holy Fathers and

defined by General Councils were always held in Ireland, from the days of St. Patrick, the great apostle who was commissioned by the Holy See to preach the gospel of salvation to our forefathers, down to the present time.

Indeed, an ancient canon enacted by St. Patrick himself provides "That should any grave controversies arise in this island, they shall be referred to the Apostolic See.

This canon was always acted on in Ireland, and the famous controversy regarding the time of celebrating Easter was decided in conformity with it, by an appeal to Rome. Letters of the learned St. Cummian upon the paschal question are still extant, written about the year 634, in which he founds his arguments upon the authority of the Pope. When his opponents objected to him the teaching of some holy Irishman, who had defended a discipline contrary to that of the Universal Church, St. Cummian, adopting the words of St. Jerome, says :-"An old authority rises up against me. In the meantime I shout out with Jerome, whoever is joined to the chair of St. Peter, with him shall I be."-(Apud Usher, Syl. Epist. p. 20).

The ancient liturgy of Ireland teaches in a similar way the great power of St. Peter. In the celebrated Missal of St. Columbanus, in the Mass of the chair of St. Peter, that Apostle is said to have received all "authority over both Jews and Gentiles," and his are declared to be "the keys of heaven, the dignity of the pontifical chair; so great a power that what he binds none can loosen, and what he looses shall be loosed also in heaven; a throne of exalted dignity, where he shall sit in judgment on all the nations of the earth."

The Collect of the Mass is still more explicit. "O God! who, on this day (it says) didst give to St. Peter, after Thyself. the lordship of the whole Church, we humbly pray Thee, that as Thou didst constitute him pastor for the safety of the flock, and that Thy sheep might be preserved from error, so now Thou mayest save us through his intercession."

From these few quotations, it is evident that our ancient and venerable Church never raised the standard of rebellion against the Holy See, and had nothing in common with modern Protestantism; though some recent writers and lecturers, shutting their eyes against the known truth, have had the hardihood to pretend that the heresies of Luther and Calvin were preached by St. Patrick and his disciples in this Island of Saints. Not a shadow of foundation is 1 See Dr. Moran's Essay on the Ancient Irish Church, p. 96.

there for such assertions; on the contrary, all the canons of our Church, its liturgy, its discipline, the lives of our saints, the continual pilgrimages to Rome, and other practices of our forefathers, the labours and preaching of our missionaries in pagan lands, which they placed in communion with Rome, all afford the strongest proof that Ireland, from the earliest ages, was most closely connected with the Apostolic See, and was ever guided by its authority in all questions of doctrine and ecclesiastical discipline.

Our great countryman, St. Columbanus, writing about the year 600 of our era, was able to state that there was no Jew, no schismatic, and no heretic in Ireland. Unhappily, we cannot make a similar assertion in our days, but we may boast that our poor country, more fortunate in preserving the faith, has been less ravaged by heresy and infidelity than most other kingdoms. Undoubtedly, this privilege is to be attributed to our continued obedience and attachment to the great centre of unity. In their difficulties, and doubts, and troubles, the Catholics of Ireland have always turned to St. Peter, and the influence of the words of the Fisherman of Galilee has ever brought peace and consolation to their hearts, banishing heresy, putting an end to schism, dissipating every fear, calming every anxiety, and filling faithful hearts with the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit.

How different, alas! is the condition of those amongst us who have separated themselves from the true Church; how sad is their unhappy state. Poor wanderers! they are tossed to and fro on the dark abyss of doubt and speculation, by every wind of doctrine, with no guide but an erring judgment, no directing light but meteors that seduce them to destruction, no principle of union, except an inveterate hatred of the one true Church, the spouse of Jesus Christ. Oh! that they may see the errors of their ways, that they may retrace their steps; taking refuge in the ark of salvation, may they place themselves under the guidance of the successors of the Prince of the Apostles, so that there may be but one fold and one shepherd.

The authority of St. Peter was never more necessary than at present to preserve us from the contagion of error, and from corrupting and dangerous opinions. Undoubtedly, the time appears to have come, described by that Apostle, where he says: "There shall be among you lying teachers, who shall bring in sects of perdition, and deny the Lord who bought them; bringing upon themselves swift destruction: and many shall follow their riotousness, through whom the

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way of truth shall be evil spoken of, and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you. Whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their perdition slumbereth not."-(2 Pet. ii. 1.)

How many instances, indeed, could we not quote of lying teachers, who deny our divine Lord, and bring in sects of perdition. What efforts are made to promote Atheism, Pantheism, Socialism, Communism, and every opinion hostile to religion, and destructive of human society? A Protestant missionary bishop assails the inspiration and veracity of the Scriptures, whilst professors and writers, even in our own Catholic city, reject the doctrine clearly laid down in the gospel, that the wicked will be punished with eternal torments, because, in their view--which forsooth is to be preferred to the gospel-that doctrine jars with the civilization of the nineteenth century! It is not necessary to refer to other pestiferous opinions, and especially to the wild, revolutionary, and communistic theories which are now so widely spread, and which are directed to the destruction of the foundations of society, and of all authority, human and divine. Whilst errors of every kind are thus defended by public writers and lecturers, and propagated by the press, we ought all to endeavour to protect ourselves against them by solid study, by cultivating a profound respect for the decisions of the Church, and placing ourselves under the guidance of the infallible authority of the See of Peter, to whom Christ has given the power of feeding his lambs and sheep, driving them away from the noxious pastures of error and heresy and leading them to the springs of everlasting truth.

I shall now conclude this letter by recommending to your generosity the collection to be made on the Sunday within the Octave of SS. Peter and Paul, 6th July, in aid of the Association of St. Peter's Pence. You are all aware that His Holiness has been stripped of the inheritance with which the piety of past ages had enriched his predecessors, in order to enable them to maintain the independence of the Church, and to provide for its administration, and that he is now a prisoner in the hands of his wicked enemies. In the midst of his trials and persecutions the Pope has never ceased to defend our holy religion, and to uphold all its rights, and at the same time he has displayed the greatest patience, humility, constancy, firmness, courage, and charity; so that all Catholics have reason to thank God for having given them such a Pontiff in those difficult times, whilst his enemies have been obliged to admire and extol his noble virtues and the sanctity of his life.

As long as the Pope is in so sad a condition, it is the inte

rest and the duty of all his children to assist their pastor and spiritual father. In this spirit, within the last few years, the Catholics of almost every country have made great exertions to provide for the wants of His Holiness; thus giving a proof of their faith in the supreme and infallible authority of St. Peter, and of their love for the spiritual guide of their souls.

The Catholics of this diocese, in their poverty, have not yielded even to those who were richer and more powerful, in their sacrifices and generosity. I trust that this year they will manifest the same spirit as for the past, and that they will show their love and their reverence for the Vicar of Christ, the successor of St. Peter, their divinely-appointed guide and father, by administering to his wants, and supplying him with the means of discharging the onerous duties committed to him by Christ for the welfare of our souls, and of preserving and defending the rights and the liberty of the Catholic Church.

May the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul intercede for and protect all those who stretch out their hands to relieve the Vicar of Christ; may they watch over and preserve the faith of Ireland, which has been always, in weal and woe, so sincerely attached to the successors of St. Peter, and so obedient to their words.

NOTES FROM CHURCH HISTORY,

No. II.-WHAT PROTESTANTISM HAS DONE FOR REASON.

PROTESTANTISM claims for all men immunity from ex

ternal authority in interpreting the words of Holy Scripture. This is its vital and fundamental principle. Hence the difference between faith and simple opinion gradually disappears. Faith is reduced to the level of mere human conviction, for every man's weak judgment is made the measure and exponent of Revelation. Nay more, the authority of human reason thus considered, is raised above that of the Gospel; for those who profess to commit themselves to the guidance of the Gospel, arrogate to themselves the right of rejecting what portions of it they please. Thus abandoned to the guidance of reason in matters beyond the sphere of reason, men fall into quagmires of doubt, and doubt ends in unbelief. The rays which reach the wanderer from the distant light of truth become fainter and more faint. Yet they struggle onward through prejudice and error until at length the starless night of infidelity