the conscience of the Church instinctively rose, and the Council of Constance is the act of this uprising by the Churchmen of the day, in rescue of the institution they cherished, from what were felt to be exceptional evils requiring exceptional remedies. Accordingly, in this assembly, which restored peace to the Church, and the proceedings of which have been recognised without the sound of protest as legitimate by the authorities of the Church, two Popes, who then divided the world—John XXIII. and Gregory XII.[1]—and whose elections, let it be borne in mind, were originally so little impeachable in form that they have both continued to figure as Popes on the list put forth by the Roman Church-were solemnly compelled to abdicate, and in their stead a new Pope, Martin V., was created by a special constituency formed for that occasion, so as to secure for him a broader title than under the deplorable Circumstances of the schism could be furnished by Cardinals alone, all of whom had more or less participated actively in its incidents. It is this acknowledgment
- ↑ In putting these two Popes' names together, there is no intention of ranging them on a level as to legitimacy—a most vexed question in Church history.
