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the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, we by these letters indict, announce, convoke, and ordain that the sacred Œcumenical and General Council be held in this our mother city of Rome in next year, 1869, to begin on the 8th day of December, sacred to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, mother of God, and to be continued, and, by God's help, to be completed and ended for the glory of God and the salvation of all Christian people.

Then follows a paragraph of great moment:—

In this confidence we hope that God, in whose hands are the hearts of men, will, by his ineffable mercy and grace, bring it to pass that all sovereign princes and rulers of all peoples, above all such as are Catholic, seeing more clearly every day that the greatest benefits flow from the Catholic Church into the society of men, and that it is the firmest foundation of empires and kingdoms, will not only not hinder our venerable brethren from coming to the Council, but also earnestly favour and give them help, and studiously in all things, as becomes Catholic princes, co-operate with them in all things which may tend to the greater glory of God and the good of the Council.

Given at Rome at S. Peter's in the year of our Lord's incarnation 1865, June 29. In the twenty-third of our Pontificate.

It seemed well to quote thus much from the text of the Bull of Indiction. If any man would ask why was the Council convened, here he has his answer. If any think that Pius the Ninth desired to be assured of his supreme power, he need only see with what apostolic boldness he asserts it here, and with what authority he wields it over the episcopate of the Universal Church.