Peter's See, it was inevitable that I should speak on the subject of Gallicanism; but I endeavoured so to do it as to avoid wounding, by the lightest word, the profound Catholic instincts of our brethren in France. Many of its most eminent sons, both ecclesiastics and laity, have so spoken to me of what I then said as to assure me that my words gave them no cause to think me wanting in heartfelt veneration and affection for the Church in France, glorious in all its history for martyrs, confessors, and saints; fruitful in all deeds of fidelity to the Holy See, and of charity to all mankind. I should not only grieve, but I should hold myself guilty of a high crime against humility, charity, and justice if I had so spoken; and I desire here and now, if any word of mine shall seem to be wanting in veneration and admiration for the Church and people of France, hereby to disclaim all fault, except for the want of skill in dealing with a delicate but inevitable subject. I make this declaration now by way of preface to what I am about to add. In the Pastoral of 1867 I was recalling to your mind the history of Gallicanism, and my words were these:—'The boldness or the unconsciousness with which Gallicanism is sometimes put forward as an opinion which Catholics are free to hold without blame, and as a basis on which Churches are to unite under the shelter of Bossuet, and as a
both Anglicanism and the revolutions which have destroyed it; so also the despotism of certain French monarchs paralysed the liberty of the Church, and produced both Gallicanism and the revolutionary reaction which has effaced Gallicanism in France. It is a little daring, and hardly respectful, to tell us that the martyred clergy of 1799 died for Gallicanism.
