off relations with Rome, and ceased to be a Catholic nation: The chief records to be examined for such a purpose are the acts of the Pope's Consistory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
And farther on—p. XII—he says:—
"The episcopal succession in Irish Sees was maintained without interruption down to existing times. And this succession may be traced in Consistorial records, although with several interruptions, from 1409 to 1697. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Penal Laws against Catholics were so severely carried out by Elizabeth and James I. that the Holy See endeavoured as much as possible to secure secrecy in the despatch of Bulls or briefs, for the appointment of Irish Bishops. With this end in view, the Pope sometimes gave orders, that the provisions made in Consistory to Irish Sees should not be published in the ordinary way, nor mentioned in the Consistorial Acts, and sometimes such appointments were altogether referred to the Congregation of the Holy Office. In spite of all the efforts made in Rome, to ensure secrecy in this matter, the British agents frequently succeeded in obtaining early intelligence of Papal appointments; and many Bishops, on attempting to take possession of their Sees, were arrested and thrown into prison. The State Papers, still preserved in London, afford abundant illustrations of the severity practised upon Catholic Bishops who thus fell into the hands of the English Government, and who were either tortured, put to death, or sent into exile."
Again he writes:—The public Consistories are generally held in one of the large halls of the Vatican. The decrees, or Acts of the Consistory, are recorded and kept by special officers. The modern Consistorial minutes or documents are registered in the Consistorial Secretariat in the Palasso della Cancellaria. The more ancient records are deposited in the muniment room or Archivio Consistoriale in the Court of S. Damasus in the Vatican. The latter Archivio is strictly private, and admission to it is rarely applied for, and still more rarely granted. It contains besides the Consistorial Acts, the Acts or records of the Conclaves, which cannot be inspected by any person except during Conclave, and then only by special order from the Cardinals themselves. The Consistorial Acts, which now remain in the Vatican, date only from the year 1409, the more ancient volumes having been lost or destroyed during the frequent disturbances and revolutions to which Rome has been exposed (p. vii., vol. I.)
