used a rite now associated with schism. The Italo-Greeks were looked upon as an inferior caste, tainted with schism; they were always suspect of sharing the heretical views of the East on such questions as that of Purgatory and the Papacy. One of the great disputes between Catholics and Orthodox was whether the use of azyme bread for the Eucharist be lawful. The Italo-Greeks were suspect from the very fact that their bread was leavened; though, of course, this does not really imply any wrong view about azyme.
Lastly, the preponderance of the surrounding Roman rite had a tendency to overwhelm that of Constantinople. The Byzantine parishes were few and scattered. It was difficult and annoying for the Italo-Greeks to have to seek a priest of their own rite, or to abstain from receiving Sacraments. It was so much simpler to conform to the common use of the country. So we find always the same story. The bishops put down the Byzantine rite in one place; in another the Latin neighbours protest against it, and suspect its users of all kinds of heresies; in yet another the Italo-Greeks themselves, weary of annoyance and suspicion, petition the Holy See that they may turn Latin. The really curious point to notice in the whole story is how extremely unwilling the Popes were to let these people do so. They could have crushed the whole Byzantine rite in Italy, over and over again, with the greatest possible ease, making all Italy Latin. That is what most Protestants think Popes always want to do. The truth is the exact contrary. In this case, too, Rome was faithful to its traditional policy. The Popes have never made the slightest attempt to Romanize people of other rites.[1] They show always the most complete indifference to the rite a man uses. Indeed, if anything, it would seem as if Popes rather disliked a man turning Latin. At any rate, they keep to the principle that a man should remain faithful to his own rite, not lightly changing it. It is true that there are a few cases in which a Pope confirms what some local bishop has done in abolishing the Byzantine rite in his diocese, or concedes the petition of the people to become Latins. But, on the whole, the situation is the reverse of this. Constantly the Pope, in spite of the local bishop, in spite of the wish of the Italo-Greeks themselves, refuses to allow them to change their
- ↑ I believe this is strictly true; that all cases of the change from another rite to that of Rome have come from persistent demands of the people themselves or, at any rate, from other Latins, not from the Pope. The purifying of the Roman rite from late mediæval accretions is another matter.
