THE ABBE PASSAGLIA.'S PAMPHLET.* TEre Holy Father may well cry
out, "Save me from my friends !" It seems, after all, as if the temporal power of the Roman See were de- stined to fall, not at the hands of Victor Emanuel nor of Garabaldi in Italy, nor by the efforts of Messrs. Spooner, Newdegate, and Whal- ley amongst us here, nor by the battering-rams of Lord Shaftesbury and his Exeter Hall volunteers, but by the home-thrusts of one of the most learned and able of its own spiritual children, and the staunchest possible defender of very many of its theological dogmas and of all its strictly spiritual and ecclesiastical pretensions. The Abbe Passaglia is no Protestant or tract-distributor, no half-hearted waverer in his religions convictions; he is a learned commentator of the Holy Scriptures ; he has published " Spiritual Conferences," a treatise "On the Eternity of Future Punishment," and "A Com- ' mentary on the Prerogatives of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles ;" he has edited the theological works of the great master of Roman dogma, Petavius; and in 1854-5 he gained from the authorities at Rome the highest possible praise for his "Defence of the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception," as then recently defined by his Holiness.
Under these circumstances, whatever the Abbe Passaglia has to say -upon a subject so thoroughly within his own province, and on which he must be able to bring so much special knowledge to bear, must be well worthy of consideration, to say the least ; and as his evidence goes directly against the temporal interests of his order, it is so much the more cogent and free from suspicion. Habemus confErs/em rests ; and we need scarcely add that the testimony of a culprit who turns "Queen's evidence" is generally the very sheet anchor of a prosecution.
The first portion of this remarkable pamphlet is not, perhaps, very interesting to English readers, consisting, as it does, of a summary of the chief theological arguments adduced by Catholic writers in favour of the unity and sanctity of the Church, and a somewhat diffuse and common-pram proof of the obvious position that bishops ought to be veritable pastors and fathers of their flocks, and that their mission in olden times was limited to spiritual duties—the preaching of the gospel, the teaching of Christian morality, and the inculcation of Christian love by precept and example. He then proceeds to con- sider the present position of the Italian kingdom, which, he urges, whether founded in injustice and violence or not, must be accepted by the bishops of Italy and the Court of Rome as its fait accompli, if they do not wish to bear the odium of perpetuating a disgraceful and scandalous schism, and would avoid falling into the awkward pre- dicament of finding themselves in the position of spiritual parents without children, and spiritual pastors without a flock to feed. The Church, he urges, consists not of the bishops and clergy only, but of the laity over whom they have been set by authority. But if the clergy persist in taking up an attitude of hostility to their flocks, and
pro Celikki Italica ad Episcopal Catholicos, auclore Presbyter° Cathoiico. Flo- Iranian, tiros F. Le Nonnier. 1861.
not only hold aloof from them, but visit them with severe spiritual censures, because the latter throw in their lot with Victor Emanuel and desire the regeneration of their country, he warns them that the
latter will desert their pastors, and asks them emphatically, if this be so, then where is the Church ? Assuredly, under such a condition of
things, the very essence of the Church evaporates, for its existence is impossible without mutual concord and unity. "An anti-national clergy is a solecism, a contradiction in terms ; and the clergy never
can go hand-in-hand with the people unless they confine themselves to their own legitimate sphere, and cease to assail the rights of their people, and to menace and combat the hopes and liberties of the nation, and seek once more their own true greatness in the religious discharge of their Apostolic duties." But it will bel pleaded, adds the Abbe, that this new kingdom of Italy is not founded on right but on might, and that therefore the Catholic clergy are justified in still adhering to the exiled sovereigns,
and denouncing all who join the cause of Victor Emanuel. Bnt, em- phatically asks the eloquent pamphleteer, "who constituted the Pope
and the Bishops of Italy, or of any other country, the judges of the
forms of government adopted by the several nations of Europe ?' Their authority, he urges, was not given them to judge in political and secular matters, but in spiritual things only. Then, with a fatal home-thrust, he reminds his Holiness, not merely that the acknow- ledged canonists and theologians of his own Church have constantly held and taught that the right of choosing their own special form of government belongs to the people in the natural order of things, and that it is the duty of the rulers of the Church to accept any and every de facto regime which the voice of the nation may successively es- tablish, but following up the blow by a still more creel eat, asks him whether he forgets the conduct of his own predecessors in the See of Rome, who have acknowledged monarchies and republics in turn, and have not refused one day to anoint the head of a despot, and the next to bless and sprinkle with holy water trees planted in honour of liberty. The following testimony, to say the least, is very decisive as to the real feeling of the Italian people in favour of Victor Emanuel and against the exiled monarchs : " What we see with our eyes," writes Passaglia, " what we hear with our ears, and what we touch with our hands, all plainly show that the king- dom of Italy is a fact, and, indeed, is already consummated ; for, from the provinces which lie at the foot of the Alps down to the parts about Sicily, the name of Victor Emanuel is now the one sound that strikes the ear; all provinces, cities, and villages are ruled beneath his united sway; almost all the Italian race is re- presented in the National Assembly and passes laws for the public benefit ; there is one administration to which alone all taxes are paid; everywhere it is the united prayer of all men that Italy may flourish in its new political unity, and may grow independent and gather strength thereby. If," he adds, " you imitate the wisdom of Christ, and ask whose is the image and superscription' on every coin in Italy, there will be but one answer from all, namely, that the money is stamped with the image of Victor Emanuel, King of Italy; you will find that there is one united army which looks to the internal tran- quillity and to the external defence of the realm, and finally that Eng- land, France, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, America, and other noble and powerful nations, already treat the new Kingdom of Italy as a new and fortunate star, auguring for her a bright and happy future, associating with her on the terms of diplomatic intercourse, and allying themselves with Italy by those ordinary bonds which the use and law of nations has rendered venerable and sacred. Either, then," he concludes, "nothing in the world is certain, or else it is more than certain that the Kingdom of Italy is no longer a visionary and distant scheme to be longed for and desired, but an actual and inexorable fact."
We have neither time nor space to record here the historical argu- ments by which Passaglia proves his case against Pio Nono from the conduct of his predecessors, nor do we think that so antiquarian and retrospective a chapter of the pamphlet would bear as strongly upon English readers as upon his Holiness himself, who must find himself sadly fettered by the plea of Papal infallibility and immutability, taken in conjunction with the recorded acts of those who have sat before him in the chair of St. Peter, and who, we venture to think, must have sat somewhat uneasily in his chair in the Vatican when he found himself reminded that the usurper Phocas had been endorsed by no less a Pope than Gregory, when he thus congratulated the de facto monarch, though his claim was no better than that of Victor Emanuel: " Gloria in excelsis Deo, qui, juxta id quod scripture est mutat tempora, et transfert regna." But even if such had not been the case, urges the Abbe, the infalli- bility of the Papacy extends only to matters of faith and morals, and not to secular and political interests, and therefore his Holiness is not tied to the dicta of his predecessors in dealing with the question of a United Italy. The policy of the Papal Court is not drawn from the sacred Scriptures, or from Catholic tradition, or in any sense part and parcel of the Christian faith, but temporal, secular, and human, and therefore it can be changed, and ought to be changed when occasion arises. " Igitur vel Pontificite declarationis, etas crebrb repetitte, naturam prteferunt mutabilem, adjunctaque rerun exiatre possunt ut non mode sine vitio sed etiam non sine laude maantur."
Such being the case, what is the present condition of Italy ? He replies that by the suffrages of all good and prudent men, such is the state of the Papacy, and so far has the Italian nation advanced in its progress to freedom, that without the greatest confusion and loss both to Church and to State, the former state of things cannot be re-
called, nor the onward progress of events be stayed, nor the full and perfect unity of Italy be deferred any longer. " If," he adds, in words of terrible warning, "you try any one of these courses, you will stir up against you the whole of Europe ; you will inflame wars both at home and abroad ; you will render the Church, and the clergy too, an object of hatred ; you will tear up by the roots all harmony between Church and State, and by all your efforts you will only degrade Italy and Italian society to a lower point in the social scale than that where it stood before." He then warns his Holiness that adherence to a line of policy which is shown to be wrong is not constancy and firm- ness, but fatal obstinacy ; and reminds him that unless he set the example by withdrawing his censures from the new state of things, the rest of the bishops cannot stir hand or foot : " etenim contingere nullatenus potest ut episcopi in rem Italiesun Italiteque regnum benevolos induent animos, nisi Romanus Pontifex ab exsuscitando antes desierit, pacemque tamdiu exoptatam Italise genii concesserit." " Wherefore," he concludes, " the earnest prayers of all men ought to be directed to one single end : that the Pope of Rome may throw off his present spirit of hatred and hostility, and adopt a milder frame of mind, and, bent by the cries of Italy and the prayers of all peoples, may at length grant that peace which has been so long denied to the nation."
What, then, is the solution offered by the Abbe Passaglia to " the Italian difficulty ?" It is short and simple : a free Church and a free State. Count de Montalenibert, we presume, will be willing to lend the Abbe his powerful aid in working out this problem, and we should hope that among the educated Roman Catholics of this country whose ancestors have suffered under the restrictions of penal laws, some few at least will be found to echo back the cry which has reached our ears from the fair city of Florence in the shape of Pas- salgia's Pro awed Italia. Time will show. One word and we have done. Among other arguments which in- duce the Pope to hold out against the new state of things, is the old objection, drawn from the oaths of his predecessors, and of himself, that they will never give up the "patrimony of St. Peter," the cele- brated "non possumue" which has been so often urged of late on be- half of the Papal policy. The Jesuits, as is well known, are rather lax in their estimate of the value of oaths and promises, and they find great comfort in the doctrine of mental reservation. Accordingly, the Abbe urges with some force, that now, if ever, there is room for applying that doctrine, and that oaths taken under certain circum- stances are no longer valid or binding, when the circumstances under which they were taken are changed, and especially that they can have no validity whatever when taken against the direct interests of society, and cannot, of course, be executed when a superior force forbids their fulfilment. Such, he urges, is the doctrine held and taught by no less an authority than St. Augustine, and he reminds him that the special oaths, taken by successive Pontiffs, to maintain the integrity of the Papal States, were merely instituted by Pins V. and Urban VII. to prevent the incumbents of the " Holy" See from making donations of their estates to their bastard sons and unworthy nephews. Oaths which were meant to exclude all chance of gratifying personal and family ambition, at the expense of the Church at large, ought not surely, one would think, to be pleaded in bar against an act which would restore unity to Italy and peace to Europe—the voluntary absorption of the temporal power of the papacy in the Kingdom of United Italy. That event cannot be far off; but whenever it does happen, the Abbe Pass' aglia may re- flect that he has contributed not a little to such a consummation of a noble and glorious work.
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