Page:History of Freedom.djvu/587

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THE VATICAN COUNCIL

543

defeat for Rome. The supplement was an admonition that the constitutions and decrees of the Holy See must be observed even \vhen they proscribe opinions not actually heretica1. 1 Extraordinary efforts were made in public and in private to prevent any open expression of dissent from this paragraph. The Bishop of Brixen assured his brethren, in the name of the Commission, that it did not refer to questions of doctrine, and they could not dispute the general principle that obedience is due to lawful authority. The converse proposition, that the papal acts have no claim to be obeyed, was obviously untenable. The decree was adopted unanimously. There were some who gave their vote with a heavy heart, conscious of the snare. 2 Strossmayer alone stayed a way. The opposition was at an end. Archbishop Manning after\vards reminded them that by this vote they had implicitly accepted infallibility. They had done even

1 Quoniam vero satis non est, haereticam pravitatem devitare, nisi ii quoque errores diligenter fugiantur, qui ad illam plus minusve accedunt, ornnes officii rnonemus, servandi etiam Constitutiones et Decreta quibus pravae eiusrnodi opiniones, quae isthic diserte non enurnerantur, ab hac Sancta Sede ç,roscriptae et prohibitae sunt. 2 In the speech on infallibility which he prepared, but never delivered, Archbishop Kenrick thus expressed himself: .. Inter alia quae mibi stuporern injecerunt dixit Westmonasteriensis, nos additarnento facto sub finern Decreti de Fide, tertia Sessione lati, ipsam Pontificiam Infallibilitatem, saltern irnplicite, jam agnovisse, nec ab ea recedere nunc nobis licere. Si benð intellexerirn Rm Relatorern, qui in Congregatione generali hoc additarnenturn, prius oblatum, deinde abstractum, nobis mirantibus quid rei esset, illud iterum inopinato commendavit-dixit, verbis clarioribus, per illud nullam om nino doctrinam edoceri; sed earn quatuor capitibus ex quibus istud decretum compositum est imponi tanquam eis coronidem convenientem; eamque disciplinarem magis quam doctrinalem characterem habere. Aut deceptus est ipse, si vera dixit Westmona- steriensis; aut nos sciens in errorem induxit, quod de viro tam ingenuo mini me supponere licet, Utcurnque fuerit, ejus dec1arationi fidentes, plures suffragia sua isti decreto haud deneganda censuerunt ob istam clausulam; aliis, inter quos egomet, doles parari metuentibus, et aliorurn voluntati hac in re aegre cedentibus. In his omnibus non est mens mea aliquem ex Reverendissimis Patribus malae fidei incusare; qnos omnes, ut par est, veneratione debita prosequor, Sed extra con cilium adesse dicuntur viri religiosi-brsan et pii-qui maxime in illud influunt; qui calliditati pot ius quam bonis artibus confisi, rem Ecclesiae in maximum ex quo orta sit discrirnen adduxerunt ; qui ab inito concilio ffecerunt ut in Deputationes conciliares ii soli eHgerentur qui eorum placitis fovere aut noscerentur aut crederentur; qui nonnullorum ex eorum praedecessoribus vestigia prementes in schematibus nobis propositis, et ex eorum officina prodeuntibus, nihil magis cordi habuisse videntur quam Episcopalem auctoritatem deprimere, Pontificiam autem extollere; et verborum õ.mbagibus incautos decipere yelle videntur, dum alia ab aliis in eorum explicationem dicantur, Isti grave hoc incendium in Ecclesia excitarunt, et in illud insuffiare non desinunt, scriptis eorum. pietatis speciem prae se ferentibus sed veri tate ejus vacuis, in populos spargentibus.