Lesbia Newman (1889)/Chapter 47
CHAPTER XLVII.
The Council of London, a.d. 1900.
It was a foregone conclusion. Perish Christianity, but live the Church! our heroine’s dictum to the cardinal, had prevailed, the papacy had comprehended the situation, which, indeed, had become even more formidable for Catholicism than on the day of departure from Rome. For the French Chamber, partly because the exile from Italy looked like the coup de grâce, but partly also because it was influenced by the clever intrigues of Madame Pisa-Vitri, who had brought her talents and her rancour to Paris, suppressed the Budget of Public Worship by a heavy majority; thus the whole clergy of France were thrown at a stroke upon voluntary support for their livelihood, which support, however, flowed in so ungrudgingly that it was doubtful whether the clergy were not in some respects better off than before. Still, their position was now dependent upon their popularity, and the moral effect of the change could not be otherwise than far-reaching.
The Æcumenical Council held in London had lasted nearly a week, and various dignitaries of the Church summoned from the principal Catholic communities of the world, had spoken on the proposed Definition; but it will suffice to translate two of the shorter speeches, one from each side.
The Archbishop of Paris thus addressed the assembly:—
‘Holy Father and venerable brethren in Council,—I regret to raise a dissentient voice, but ought we to take so momentous a step, without knowing what we are about? I shall not take up your time by discussing abstract theology; that has already been done enough during this long and solemn debate; I shall address myself to a single practical aspect of the question. Have you well considered what the promulgation of this dogma of the Godhead of Our Lady will involve? It will necessitate the early ordination of a number of priestesses. Not mere vestals nor acolytes, mind you, but priestesses, women invested with full power to celebrate mass, to hear confession and give absolution, extreme unction, in short, to administer all the sacraments. Our laymen will clamour for it, and our women will see that they are mistresses of the situation, and will command it. Shall we not, think you, find this a little sudden? So far as Catholicism is concerned, our sex will be supplanted and subjugated. So be it, perhaps you will reply; we are willing to bow our necks under that yoke. Very well, but are you sure that when women shall reign supreme in spiritual concerns, they will use their power well? My experience as a Frenchman does not incline me to believe that it will be so in France. We have there too long seen feminine influence enlisted on the side of bigotry; indeed it is well for us priests that it has been so, for without the sustaining hand of Frenchwomen France had ere this ceased altogether to be Catholic. But when I am told that emancipated women will light all the lamps of science, especially sanitary science, will raise art to the place of divinity, abolish war and armaments, and work together without jealousy or egoism for the universal happiness, I can but smile sadly at the sanguine temperament of those who talk thus. I have reason to fear, on the contrary, that the women of the future will prove to be like those of the past, the irreclaimable slaves of inherited prejudices, working for political and social reaction, making class feeling and even personal selfishness the basis of all their actions, and dragging modern civilisation down again into the slough of barbarous antiquity. But, fathers assembled, it will then be too late to retrace the false step we shall have taken; no power on earth, perhaps no power anywhere, will be able to bottle up again the evil genius we shall have let loose; and it is for this reason that I feel constrained to reserve my vote in favour of the Definition, at any rate until the general sense of the Council shall have pronounced decidedly against me.’ It was a relief to Cardinal Power’s feelings that his turn to speak came next. He drew out of the breast of his robe a small statuette of a female figure, presumably a Madonna, and held it on high in his right hand as he faced the assembly.
‘Domina illuminatio mea et salus mea; quem timebo? Domina protectrix vitæ; a quo trepidabo? Si consistaut adversum me castra, non timebit cor meum; si exsurgat adversum me prœlium, in Hâc ego sperabo. Why does my brother of Paris fear the power of liberated and elevated womanhood? That we do not yet know what it is, I grant; but all the evidence we have on the subject points one way, which is this, that just in proportion as man has raised woman, so she has raised him; and only as he has degraded her has she debased him. The barbarism which the Archbishop of Paris deprecates is the effect and token, not of predominant feminine influence, but of its absence; except, indeed, where that influence has been perverted; then the effects are undoubtedly worse than if it were absent. The slave develops low cunning because it is his only resource, and the status of women in the world hitherto has been a gilded and painted slavery. If there be danger to be apprehended from giving power to women, it is on that account alone; but remove the slave’s habits, and you remove the danger. The Archbishop of Paris, and those who think with him, do not seem to perceive that they are in this dilemma. Either our attempt to set up woman-worship in place of man-worship will fail, or, if it succeed, experience warrants us in expecting from its results the opposite of those which the Archbishop of Paris apprehends. We shall not have unbottled an evil genius, but, on the contrary, brought a good genius to combat the evil one whose course has been a failure and a disaster throughout. But even if this were not so, even if I were to allow that the spiritual emancipation of Catholic women would let loose an evil genius, there would still, after all, remain the great world of non-Catholics and non-Christians, who surely would be strong enough to neutralise the evil. Such fears are therefore chimerical, and I give my vote for the Definition because I believe it to be the only way to save the Church, which is now beset with real and pressing dangers, not merely threatened by a remote and imaginary one like that. As regards the institution of priestesses, I shall welcome that too, because I see in it a prospect of winning to the fold many thousands of souls stronger and more worth having than those who have deserted us.’
Cardinal Power resumed his seat, and was followed by other prelates, whose orations the reader may be spared. The upshot of the Council was a majority so overwhelming in favour of the Dogma, that the Archbishop of Paris and the few who had sided with him thought it best to avoid being marked men in an invidious cause, by waiving their personal objections. The practical unanimity of the Council being thus established, it only remained for the Pope as its president to promulgate formally a bull embodying the decision arrived at, whereof the following is an idiomatic translation:-—
THE BULL PROPTEREA QUOD ANTIQUIS.
We Melchisedec II. by the grace and consecration of Our Divine Lady and the Holy Trinity Vicar of Christ and High Priest of the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church Pontifex Maximus and Bishop of Rome Do hereby ex cathedra and with sanction and mandate of the Sanhedrin and of the bishops and pastors of the Church in solemn Æcumenical Council assembled and speaking with the infallible voice of the Church declare
Thatt Whereas throughout past ages the Divine Wisdom hath allotted to the nations of mankind such religious dispensations as were commensurate with their undeveloped state in things spiritual leading them gradually through the darkness of barbarous cults and afterwards through the dispensation of the Hebrew patriarchs and prophets unto the present phrase of the Catholic Church in the dispensation of Christ our Lord and His successors the Bishops of Rome each preceding dispensation thus giving place to a higher one accordingly as the Church became capable of receiving it And Whereas the culminating dispensation of all could not be given forth from the Divine counsels until the time had come when the eyes of mankind should open naturally to see the truth concerning the Divine Nature and Image as shown in the perfections of womanhood And Whereas this truth hath ever more and more of late years been tacitly recognised in the devotions of the faithful in all lands even to the extent of causing multitudes who are neglectful of mass and confession to come and kneel at the shrines of Our Blessed Lady and to draw with them into the fold many who had kept aloof in enmity And Whereas the weighty pressure of the said devotion to the Queen of Heaven hath come to bear with such force upon the pastors of the Church that they can no longer doubt that it is a mandate and a new revelation from on high fulfilling the words of Christ our Lord that that which hath been told into the ear shall be proclaimed upon the housetops
Therefore be it known unto all men now henceforth and for ever that the Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church shall now and for evermore adore Our Divine Lady as being in Herself the Unity of the Trinity, Supreme God, world without end And Further that the faithful shall be bound to receive and acknowledge such Priestesses of Our Divine Mother as the Church shall see fit to ordain and shall render to them honour and obedience not less than hitherto hath been rendered unto men the priests of the Church.
We command that a solemn office be held and a Miserere mei Dea in observance of this Definition be sung in all the churches of the faithful throughout the world and we bestow upon all persons whatsoever who shall attend this office our apostolic benediction.
Given at our Æcumenical Council of London a.d. 1900.