Before the Conference broke up (16th inst.), Dr. Dollinger made
a very strong speech against the doctrine of Purgatory. He said it was unknown till the time of Gregory the Great. Before that, the only belief had been that the soul passed through a period of purgation, in which prayer on earth was an assistance to it, but Gregory added the idea of actual fire. This idea was enlarged by the schoolmen in order to circulate the doctrine of Indulgence, sometimes for a few sins, at other times for all, until at last, under Pius V., any body "could carry his indulgence about in his pocket, round his neck, or in his button-hole." The Old Catholics were not favourable to purgatory, as he wished the Oriental Churches to see. This is, we believe, quite a new development of Old Catholicism, and will tend to separate it still further from Romanism in the public eyes. No debate appears to have been taken upon the subject, and indeed there was nothing to debate about, the Greeks believing as Dr. Dollinger now believes, and the English High Churchmen, we suppose, accepting much the same view. The latter, however, did not get their Orders formally recog- nised, except by Dr. Dollinger—the Greeks "being prejudiced by imperfect information "—and seem to have been a good deal tried by the President's fluency. Two hours of German every morning and two hours every afternoon, with endless remarks, rejoinders, expositions, and "vivacious interjections" all from one man, cer- tainly justified the remark of the Guardian's correspondent, that the Doctor was "not only the soul, but the body" of the Conference.
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