Letters From Rome on the Council. Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger
gulf between this proposition and the Scriptural doctrine that God is Love, and wills all men to be saved, no theologian has undertaken to bridge over. But the Roman Jesuit to whom we owe this Schema really thinks these are just the doctrines best adapted to cure men of this age of the fatal Rationalism they have fallen into.26 This reminds one strongly of Antonelli's saying, that these Fathers have a special talent for ruining whatever they touch.
The death of Cardinal Reisach is considered here an irreparable loss, and above all by the Pope himself, whose confidence he enjoyed more than any other Cardinal. He had the greatest share in preparing the propositions laid before the Council, and had he been able to make his influence felt, he would certainly have given powerful support to the new dogmas. He passed here for a man of comprehensive learning and great penetration. His friends used to commend his friendly and genial nature. For us Germans he was a sort of phenomenon, a show specimen of his kind, so to speak. In him we saw how far a German can go in the process of being Italianized, so radically was his whole being metamorphosed into that of the Italian prelatura, and the peculiar circle of thought in which Roman clerics and dignitaries move had become a second nature to him. What distinguishes a Roman Prelate is, first, that liturgical endowment – that willing absorption in the cæremonia, as the old Romans partly originated and partly borrowed it from the Etruscans – and next, the faculty of calculating quickly and surely what loss or gain in power and influence the settlement of any ecclesiastical question will bring. Reisach was eminent in both respects. No one excelled him in reverence for every line of the rubric and every ceremonial detail, as practised here. And again, in his dislike for German science, literature, and theology, he had become a thorough Italian, so that his ignorance of even the most famous intellectual products of Germany was quite fabulous. To him principally were addressed the denunciations of German works not composed exactly to the taste of the Roman Jesuits, and it was he who arranged with the Congregation of the Index the censures pronounced during recent years on the works of learned Germans.
Thus then there is a niche left vacant in the Roman temple of heroes. Another Reisach will not so easily be found; for it is given to very few men to transmute their originally single nature into the form of the Siamese twins, inhabited by two souls, a German and an Italian.27 If the vacant Hat is not to be the price of desertion from the ranks of the Opposition, but the reward of past services, three German Bishops may put in a claim for it, Martin, Senestrey, and Fessler. In fiery zeal for the good cause, restless activity, and unquestioning devotion, they are on a par, and were all Germany like-minded with this trio, the great sacrifice – “il sacrificio del intelletto” – so variously commended by the Civiltà, would have long since been accomplished, and the Jesuits might hold up the Germans as a model for all nations to follow. Meanwhile for the moment Fessler occupies the most conspicuous position.
Postscript.– I have just learnt that the Pope is not disposed to give up his Council Hall in St. Peter's. Another attempt to hold a General Congregation there is to be made on Tuesday, which can hardly be a success. The natural consequence will be that the second Solemn Session, announced for January 6, will fall through from lack of any decrees ready to promulgate. The protest of a portion of the French Episcopate against the order of business has really been sent in, and this has inspired fresh courage into the German and Hungarian prelates, who have drawn up a protest against the innovations differing so widely from the form of the ancient Councils; they dwell especially on the violation of the right belonging by Divine institution to the Bishops. I need not say that the notorious eight – the Jesuit pupils and the Tyrolese Bishops – declined to join in this proceeding. Meanwhile scruples have arisen among the other pupils of the Jesuits, which again bring the whole affair into doubt. There is a notion among the French of dividing the Council into assemblies, formed according to the different languages, so as to get over the difficulty or impossibility of carrying on a free discussion in Latin. But then it became clear at once that, through the number of missionary Bishops, and Swiss or Belgians of the Romance tongues, the majority would be on the side of the Infallibilist party. And the Pope, who hates all these assemblies of Bishops, has interposed by causing a sort of standing order to be proclaimed, through the curialistic Cardinal Bonnechose, that he will allow no meetings of more than twenty Bishops.
Seventh Letter
Cardinal Schwarzenberg has been the subject of conversation in Rome for the last few days. He is said to have formally gone over to the Infallibilist camp, and the report will no doubt make the round of Europe. But it is not true, and he himself declares, notwithstanding appearances, that he has not changed, and does not mean to change, his attitude and mind. The circumstance which has given occasion to the rumour is as follows: —
In a combined meeting of German and Hungarian Bishops, it was resolved, on Haynald's motion, to request of the Pope a better representation, and one more accordant with the dignity of the two Churches, on the Commissions. It was hoped that a majority of the French and a considerable number of the North American and Oriental Bishops, and even some Spanish and Italian Prelates, would join in this step. For Haynald's object was to propose that the whole assembly should be divided into eight national groups, and that each of these “eight nations” should be entitled to have two or three members, elected from its own body, – some sixteen or twenty-four in all – added to the four elected Commissions, and to the Commission nominated by the Pope for examining all motions proposed. This, it was thought, would secure a counterpoise to the skilfully disciplined majority which was crushing out all opposition. For it has already become evident that the strength of the Romanist party lies in the number of titular Bishops selected by the Pope, and Vicars-Apostolic or missionary Bishops; in persons, that is, who, having no flocks, or only having them in expectation, represent in fact nothing and nobody, and can therefore bear no testimony to the faith of their Churches, which have no existence. The Germans were greatly elated by this project; they admired and congratulated themselves on having shown so much spirit, and daring to tell the Pope something widely different from the assurance that they were ready to die in absolute subjection to him. Hereupon Schwarzenberg came forward to declare that he would not sign the petition, as he did not choose to compromise himself further with the Pope, and Rauscher of Vienna, and Tarnóczy of Salzburg, sided with him. This caused great consternation, and at the first moment many thought it betokened an entire apostasy, and that in Schwarzenberg's case the Cardinal had triumphed over the German. But he has so emphatically denied this that he must be believed. It is very conceivable that Schwarzenberg, seeing more deeply into the situation at Rome, was led by grounds of expediency to take this course; possibly the mere wish to make as sparing use as they could of the fund of high spirit and courage brought from Germany, and the fear of using it up too quickly, in case the Council should last some time, may have determined the three Prelates to decline subscribing. Already a new demand has been made upon the Bishops, to adopt the Schema the Pope had intrusted the preparation of to the Jesuits.
The contest over this Schema has begun in good earnest, according to the impression made by the General Congregation held yesterday, Dec. 28. The first part of the Schema was the one the speakers dwelt on, – as far, that is, as they could be heard, for the acoustic uselessness of the hall makes itself felt before and behind, and the pulpit had to be carried about all round the room before the right position could be hit upon for it. Meanwhile it had transpired, who were the authors of the Schema which the Pope meant to promulgate, “with the approbation of the Council,” as a binding rule of faith. They were two German Jesuits, Schrader, and another, either Franzelin or Kleutgen. It is remembered how, a year ago, a great deal was made in the newspapers of distinguished German scholars having been summoned to Rome for the preliminary labours of the Council. If several of the names mentioned created surprise from their obscurity, it gave satisfaction to find among those invited men like Hefele and Haneberg. It is now clear that every work of real importance was intrusted to other hands, chiefly to the Jesuits, while Hefele was summoned to Rome to extract the ceremonial from the Acts of the Council of Trent, after which he was dismissed, and Haneberg was commissioned to prepare a report on Eastern monasteries. Schrader has become notorious as the advocate of the extremest Papal system by his book De Unitate Romanâ Commentarius, where he treats all episcopal authority as a mere emanation of the Papal. According to him, every article of the Syllabus
“Imprimis itaque fide Catholicâ, tenendum est illorum animas,” etc. The author seems really to believe that the Rationalistic tendencies of the age can be cured with an emetic.
[Cardinal Reisach, who was formerly Archbishop of Munich, used to say he had almost forgotten how to speak German. – Tr.]