THE SYCAMORES BRAMHOPE.
Nr. LEEDS LuwEE Harris, l.r.i.
LIBRARY ST. MARY'S COLLEGE
LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
LEO XIII
AND
ANGLICAN ORDERS
H ll>9
BY
VISCOUNT HALIFAX
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97232
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK, BOMBAY. AND CALCUTTA
1912
LIBRARY ST. MARY'S COLLEGl
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Introductory
CHAPTER II
Letters— 1890, 1891, 1892, and part of 1893 ... 40
CHAPTER III
Correspondence— July 1892 to July 1894— The Abb^ Portal's Pamphlet, Les Ordinations Anglicanes — Its Division into Three Parts : (1) Le Bite, (2) Le Ministre, (3) Le Sujet . 69
CHAPTER IV
The Abbe Portal's Visit to England— His Summons to Rome . 88
CHAPTER V
Cardinal Vaughan's Address at Preston— The Abb6 Portal's Visit to Rome— His Second Visit to England and his Interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury . . . . • 105
CHAPTER VI
Correspondence with the Archbishops of Canterbury and York — Cardinal Vaughan's Letter to the Archbishop of Toledo — Draft of Letter which it was suggested the Pope might write to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York — Mr. Athelstan Riley's interview with Cardinal Vaughan . . . .127
vi LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
CHAPTEE VII
PAGE
Address on Reunion delivered at Bristol by Lord Halifax, 14th
February 1895— Letters of English Bishops . . .180
CHAPTER VIII
Visit to Rome— Audience with Leo xiii. — Letter of Leo xiii. Ad Anglos — Its Reception in England — Letter from Constantine Pobi^donostzeff (Chief Procurator of the Russian Holy Synod), to Mr. W. J. Birkbeck ...... 197
CHAPTER IX
Correspondence arising out of the Letter Ad Anglos — Letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury, published in the Times, 30th August 1895 — Cardinal Vaughan's Speech at Bristol, 9th Sep- tember—Norwich Church Congress and Sermon of the Arch- bishop of York— Letters from Mr. Birkbeck as to Reunion with the Russian Church— Letter from the Prince of Wales (King Edward vii.) as to the Visit of the Bishop of Peterborough to Russia— Coronation of the Czar, 1896 .... 226
CHAPTER X
Visit to Paris, and Correspondence up to March 1896 . 247
CHAPTER XI
Appointment of Commission to investigate into the Validity of English Orders— The Abbe Portal's Visit to London— Letter of the Archbishop of York to the Abb6 Portal— The Rev. T. A. Lacey and Father Puller's Arrival in Rome — Correspondence up to April 24th ....... 271
CHAPTER XII
Mr. Gladstone's Soliloquium — The Abbe Duchesne's Degree at Cambridge — His Visit to Mr. Gladstone, in company with Father Puller ....... 296
CHAPTER XIII
The Encyclical Satis Cognitum — The Abb6 Portal's Address delivered in London on the 14th of July— Letters to Cardinal Parocchi and Cardinal Rampolla ...... 323
CONTENTS vii
CHAPTER XIV
Issue of the Bull ApostoUcae Curae — Triumph of Cardinal Vaughan —Correspondence up to the end of 1896— Summary of the Bisposta by Mgr. Moyes and Abbot Gasquet in reply to the De Be Anglicana by the Rev. T. A. Lacey . . . 354
CHAPTER XV
After Thoughts — Hopes for the Future .... 383
APPENDIX I
Extracts from Letters {a\ (&), (c), (d), written to the Abbe Portal in 1897, referring to subjects treated in the Correspondence, and dealing with the Vindication of English Ordinations sent by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to Leo xiii. — (e) Ex- tracts from letters written to Lady Halifax from Rome, June 1903 423
APPENDIX II
Extracts from —
(a) Bossuet on the Sacrifice of the Mass.
(b) Letter from the Abbe Portal in reference to the preceding.
(c) Sermon by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Newport on the
same subject, delivered in May 1908.
(d) Bishop Challoner's Meditations for Every Day in the Year.
(e) Cardinal Newman on the Real Presence.
(/) Dr. Pusey's Letter to the Author of The Christian Year, on
the meaning of the term ' Transubstantiation.' {g) Two Verses from the well-known and popular Hymn by the
late Rev. W. Bright, D.D. . . . . .436
APPENDIX III
Letter from Mr. Wilfrid Ward, ..... 443
Index, -t • • • • . 447
LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS. CHAPTER I
Introductoey
For a long time past I have hesitated whether or not to attempt a record of the events which took place in the years 1894, 1895, 1896 and 1897, in connection with the controversy about the validity of the Orders conferred by the Church of England, by the pubUcation of documents and correspondence which should place the facts beyond dispute. No one is in a position to give so complete an account of those facts as I am. Much misapprehension existed both as to the facts themselves, and as to the motives of those to whose initiative these events were due, and such misapprehension could only effectually be removed by a publication of the correspondence. The efforts undertaken in the interests of peace in the years 1894, 1895, and 1896 seemed to have completely failed. Those responsible for that effort stood convicted in popular estimation of having made an egregious blunder, a blunder which, moreover, had had the effect of throwing fresh diffi- culties in the way of peace. Nevertheless, I hesitated, and for the following reasons.
I was indifferent as to the judgment passed upon myself : I knew my own motives, I knew what I had said and done, and saw nothing to be sorry for, nothing to retract. I was afraid, too, lest I might, unconsciously, be unjust to others in anything I wrote, and whether in some cases I might not create difficulties for those whose interests I was bound to consider. Moreover it was not certain whether I should get leave to pubhsh all the letters necessary for
A
2 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
telling the whole story, and a partial account would be useless. I also shrank from the pubhcity of much that was private and personal, but without which my intimacy with the Abbe Portal and my correspondence with him would not have been inteUigible. Above all, I was afraid of say- ing anything which might embitter controversy, which might misrepresent my feeUngs as to individuals, and which might incidentally prove a stumbUng-block in the way of that reunion of Christendom and the heahng of the breach between England and Rome which I so ardently desire.
These reasons for a long time determined my silence, but circumstances have altered. Nearly fifteen years have elapsed since September 1896. Leo xm., Cardinal Vaughan, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, to mention no other names, have passed to their account : the Hves both of Archbishop Benson and Cardinal Vaughan have been pubHshed : time has dispelled the irritation fatal to fair judgment. Events to be judged as a whole must be seen from a certain distance, what has occurred is gradually assuming its true proportions, and as it does so, we are enabled to form a juster judgment of the past, and of the prospects of reunion in the future. I have come to think that a narrative of the facts will help the cause of reunion instead of hindering it, that it will be useful to those who take up — as will surely be done — the work which the Abbe Portal and I attempted to do, and that the failure which attended our efforts may, in fact, prove a step in God's Providence towards that reunion of Christendom so earnestly desired by all those who have the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the objects for which He died at heart.
I propose to allow the letters and documents, so far as possible, to speak for themselves, merely prefixing to them such a summary of the events described in the correspon- dence itself as will make the story told in that correspondence inteUigible. I shall add, when the story is told, a few observations on some of the questions suggested by the narrative, which I hope may do something to clear the issues, and so to promote the interests of peace.
INTRODUCTORY 3
My thanks are due to His Majesty the King, who has graciously allowed me to pubHsh a letter written by His Majesty King Edward vii., when Prince of Wales, as to the visit of the Bishop of Peterborough to Russia in May 1896. I have, in the next place, to thank the Archbishop of Canter- bury, who has allowed me to print a letter of his written in the spring of 1895. I have also to express my gratitude to all those who have kindly permitted their letters to appear, amongst whom I must mention the name of Mr. Wilfrid Ward, so many of whose letters occur in the correspon- dence. More particularly I have to thank Mr. W. J. Birk- beck, the Rev. T. A. Lacey, and Father Puller, S.S.J.E., who have revised the proofs, and given me quite invaluable assistance in all that concerns the contents and arrange- ment of this book. My best thanks are also due to Mr. Edmund Gosse, who has been good enough to go through the proofs, and to whose suggestions and advice I am deeply indebted. I have to thank Miss Christian Burke for the great trouble she has taken in compiling the Index, and last, but not least, I have to tender my warmest thanks to Miss WeUington, to whose help and unwearied assistance in preparing this volume for the press, I owe more than I can express.
The desire for reunion with the Holy See is no new thing in England. How indeed is it possible for any intelligent and loyal member of the English Church not to desire the restoration of the ancient relations which once existed between Canterbury and Rome ? Our Lord, as the bishops assembled at the Lambeth Conferences have more than once reminded us, did not intend the members of His Body to be outwardly separated from one another. Belief in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, and in the Communion of Saints is incompatible with acquiescence in the divisions of Christendom. To be indifferent to the associations which connect themselves with the Apostolic See, and with the long Hne of Popes who in their persons sum up so much of the history of the Church, is to be out of harmony with the whole current of Christian tradition. Some of the greatest glories of the Church of
4 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
England connect themselves with the days when her rela- tions with the Roman See were uninterrupted. All must surely desire to hasten the day when the members of the one Church shall again be at peace with one another, and united in the external bonds of one visible Communion. Ever since the beginning of the schism this desire for peace and reconciliation has from time to time found expression. It will be found in varying form and intensity throughout the whole history of the Church of England since the separa- tion, and the Oxford Movement in this, as in so much else, did but bring into prominence principles inherent in the position claimed by the Church of England, and desires inevitably resulting from those principles. Those principles, and desires for reunion with the ApostoHc See accentuated themselves strongly in the years between 1857 and 1870. It was in 1857 that the Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom was founded. Dr. Pusey's Eirenicon was pubHshed in 1865. His visit to France for the purpose of interesting the French Episcopate in the cause of reunion took place about the same time. The Bishop of Brechin's book on the Articles, to which Dr. Pusey wrote a preface, and which he had hoped might have won a hearing from the EngHsh Roman CathoUcs, was pubhshed in 1868, and, later again, before the opening of the Vatican Council in 1870, other steps, chiefly associated with the names of Bishop Forbes (of Brechin), Mr. Gerald Cobb, the author of the Kiss of Peace, and the Bollandist, de Buck, were taken, to see if something more formal might not be attempted in the direction of peace.
For some time great hopes were entertained. Mgr. Darboy, the Archbishop of Paris, so soon afterwards to be murdered under the Commime, admitted that the relations which had grown up between Rome and the Episcopate were very different from what they had been in earher times. Dr. Newman wrote that no one was bound to beheve that the Pope outside of a General Council was infallible, and Father Lockhart, in the Weekly Register, suggested that reunion on the basis suggested by Dr. Pusey was better than perpetual schism. Dr. Pusey, in thanking the
INTRODUCTORY 5
editor, asserted that the Council of Trent demanded nothing which could not be explained to the satisfaction of Enghsh Churchmen.
To Archbishop Manning, however, and many who thought with him, such attempts at peace seemed nothing less than disastrous. Dr. Pusey's pacific intentions were denied. He was represented at Rome as only desiring to attack the Roman Church and prevent conversions. Writing to Mgr. Talbot, Archbishop Manning declared that the Asso- ciation for Promoting the Unity of Christendom was part of a system 'which was deceiving many CathoHcs and would give much trouble if it were not cut down to the bone.' And again, in reply to Mgr. Talbot, who, in refer- ence to Dr. Newman's letter to Dr. Pusey on the subject of the Eirenicon, had expressed the opinion that 'Dr. Newman's spirit must be crushed,' he wrote :—
' What you say about Newman is true. He has become the centre of those who hold low views about the Holy See, are anti- Roman, critical of Catholic devotions, and always on the lower level. It is the old Anglican patristic hterary Oxford tone transplanted into the Church, in a word, it is worldly CathoUcism. ... Mr. Ward and Faber may exaggerate, but they are a thousand times nearer the mind and spirit of the Holy See than those [Newman and others] who oppose them. Between us and them [Newman, etc.] there is a far greater distance than between them and Dr. Pusey's book [the Eirenicon']. . . . What makes me the more anxious,' Manning added, 'is that there is a similar school growing up in France.'
Eventually, owing to Cardinal Manning's influence, the Association for Promoting the Unity of Christendom was condemned, the Memorandum addressed to Rome on the subject being evidently determined by the same kind of considerations as those which were urged at Rome in 1894, 1895, and 1896 in reference to the question of the validity of Enghsh Orders. The Vatican Council, for which pre- parations were then being made, still further emphasized the difficulties in the way of peace. Dr. von DoUinger, writing to the Bishop of Brechin in 1868, in reference to the
6 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
Bishop's book on the Articles, pubUshed in the interests of reunion, had said : —
I do not think the younger generation of EngUsh clergy will be prevented from adopting views which under God's gracious dispensation may lead to a future reunion. On the other hand, if that consummation, devoutly to be wished, is to be made possible, several important changes and reforms must take place in the Roman CathoUc Church of the West. I could wish that our friend Pusey had mentioned more distiuctly these serious stumbling-blocks, for the Ultramontane party, particu- larly in France and England, refuse to see the beam in their eye, and talk constantly as if they were invulnerable and im- maculate, and as if the Oriental and Anglican Churches had only to say with contrite heart and mien, ' mea culpa,^ and to submit unconditionally to every error of theory and every abuse in practice. The approaching Council fills many reflecting sons of the Church with dismay, for there is a mighty power at work which intends to use the Council as an engine for the corrobora- tion of their favourite views. My hope and consolation is that a small but resolute body of bishops who will make resistance is quite sufficient to frustrate their designs, but there must be some moral courage. ^
* Cf. with the following letter from the Bishop of Durham (the Rt. Rev. Brooke Foss Westcott) to me, dated 27th February 1895 —
' Allow me to thank you for the copy of your Address [delivered at Bristol, 14th February 1895, p. 183], which I have read carefully with very deep interest.
' I need not say that I sympathise most heartily with your main object. The experience of the Mission Field, to which my thoughts are con- tinually turned, constrains me to seek with most ardent desire the imity of Christendom, and I am often led to beheve that the way to imity will be opened to us from that larger world outside. We must, I thmk, look beyond the West, and when we do so, union with Rome assumes a new aspect. Union with Rome unreformed would, I believe, be fatal to the greater hope. The hope of unity has, I himibly trust, been committed to our English Church, and if we are faithful to her mission it will in good time be realised. Our danger Ues in the not unnatural haste of many with narrow views, as I venture to think, to adopt Romish corruptions. Our strength lies in simple loyalty to our own formvdaries and ritual.
* Bishop Barrington, in the Charge which you quote, insists on the neces- sity of reform in the Roman Church as a preUminary to imion. The reform is even more necessary now when fresh metaphysical deductions are imposed on the consciences of men, and I can see no encouragement in the Pope's Encyclical. He requires submission, as Rome has always required it ; that, for the sake of Christendom and for the sake of Apostolic Truth, we could not yield. To speak of reform in Rome seems to be indulging in dreams, but with Gk)d all things are possible, and we can
INTRODUCTORY 7
The fears entertained by Dr. von Dollinger and others were but too well founded. The issue of the Council seemed to shatter the hopes of the possible reunion which he and Dr. Pusey had nourished. To Archbishop Manning, on the other hand, the assertion of the Pope's infallibihty ^ ' personalis separata et absoluta ' seemed to be the triumph of the principles he had set himself to assert.
At the Council itself it had been objected that the defini- tion would be productive of many evils, and amongst these that it would hinder conversions. The Bishop of Orleans ^ had said : ' I shed tears of blood at the thought of the souls which will be lost.' Archbishop Manning had replied that the concentration of the supreme authority of the Church in the hands of the Pope was essential in the interests of society, and the most efiicacious step that could be taken against the dangers with which the Papacy was threatened in Italy, that the infaUibihty of the Head followed logically from the infaUibihty of the Body, that Anglicans rejected the former because they rejected the latter, and that many would join the Church if the infalH- bility was declared.
The proclamation ^ of Papal infaUibihty, however, did not check the progress of the Revolution in Italy, or produce the harvest of individual conversions Archbishop Manning had anticipated ; but this had yet to be seen. At the moment it appeared to have made all attempts at reunion hopeless ; but time, which tests aU things, has modified a judgment which once was general. The lapse of forty
pray for an issue which, as we beHeve, answers to the will of God. There is no promise to which I turn more often, and strive to direct others, than that which assures us that ''in our patience we shall win our souls." Trust- ing to this I can make my own all that you say in your last paragraph. If we offer oiu-selves without reserve to Christ, He will use us in His loving wisdom.'
^ 'Nullum dubium de Pontificis infallibilitate personal!, separata et absoluta, aut ipse [Archbishop Manning] habet, aut aliis ut habeant per- mittere vult. Eam doctrinam esse fidei asserit ' (the Archbishop of St. Louis's account of Manning's speech at the Vatican Council). — Life of Cardinal Manning, vol. ii. p. 456. 2 Mgr. Dupanloup.
^ The definition of Papal infallibility was proclaimed on the 18th July 1870. On the 19th July, the day after the definition, war was declared between France and Germany, and two months later the Italians took possession of Rome, which they have retained ever since.
LIBRARY ST. h\m'S COLLEGE
8 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
years has shown that the efPects of the definition of Papal infaUibihty were not to be all that its promoters wished, or that its opponents feared. If it could be shown that Papal infaUibihty was not something distinct from the infaUibihty of the Church, then a door was left open for explanations, and with the possibihty of such explanations the duty of attempting them, in the interests of peace, was manifest.
Amongst the last words which feU from Dean Church, the scholar, the historian, the friend of Newman, the briUiant chronicler of the Oxford Movement, the Dean who preferred St. Paul's and his studious hfe to the highest place in the Enghsh Church, were these : —
If anything is certain, it is that a temper which loves, which honours, which desires peace is the essence of the Christian character. Do we realise this enough ? Do we consider what we may do to promote peace ? Or are we so immersed in our own affairs, so httle careful of the highest interests of the Gospel of peace, that we are content to leave all thought and hope of the reunion of Christendom to some future day which may dawn in heaven, but is never likely or intended to be reaUsed on earth ?
It was under the inspiration of such a hope that the endeavours to prepare the way for reunion between England and Rome, the account of which is given in the foUowing pages, were entered upon. The circumstances that led to those endeavours must, however, be related.
We were advised somewhat suddenly at the end of 1889, for the sake of my eldest son, who had had a violent attack of pleurisy, to go to Madeira for the rest of the winter. We started two or three days before Christmas, and arrived at Funchal at the close of December.
We had occasion — I forget now the reason, but I think it was in connection with some of their poor — to visit the House of the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. We met there a French priest belonging to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a Lazarist, who had been given work in Madeira for reasons of health. That priest was the Abbe Portal, and that accidental meeting was the beginning of an intimacy which has given me a friend such as few men possess.
INTRODUCTORY 9
I do not know if the Abbe guessed our anxieties and thought he might help us. I beheve his superiors permitted the intimacy in the hope that it might lead to my sub- mission to the Roman Church. I see the Abbe himself alludes to something of the kind in a letter to which I shall have occasion to refer, but in any case I was attracted by the Abbe, which will not be a matter of surprise to any one who has the pleasure of his acquaintance — he, perhaps, was also attracted by me. We used often to walk together in leisure moments, and once or twice when he happened to have a spare day we made expeditions into the hills together. In those walks we naturally talked of the objects which interested us both, and among them the position and teaching of the English Church had a large place. I found him as ignorant of that history and teach- ing as are the generality of foreigners, and, with a view to his enhghtenment on that subject, I remember lending him a Latin edition of the Praj^er Book, and pointing out how largely the revision of the Breviary by Cardinal Quignonez had influenced the Enghsh Offices for Mattins and Evensong, and, apart from the dislocation of the Canon, the practical identity of the service for Holy Communion in the Enghsh Prayer Book with the form for saying Mass in the Roman Missal. The facts were entirely new to him, and they led to discussions on the contents of the Prayer Book and the Articles which excited his interest. They also led to our talking of the reunion of Christendom, the subject which, ever since the pubhcation of Dr. Pusey's Eirenicon, and indeed before, had been nearest to my heart ; and I can remember now as if it were yesterday saying how much I believed might be done with good will on both sides — we were talking of England and Rome — to prepare the way for a better understanding, with a view to eventual reconcihation, how infinitely grievous it was to see the indifference of Christians on the subject, and how little they seemed to realise the injury our divisions did to the cause of truth and the spread of the Gospel. I remember also adding how impossible it seemed to me to read the seventeenth chapter of St. John's Gospel without being
10 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
on fire to do what little we could to promote the fulfilment of the prayer offered by our Lord for His Church before His Passion. ' Did not,' I said, * the whole state of the world and of the Church cry out for such an endeavour ? And was it not a cause almost of despair, and certainly of the deepest grief, to reaUse how much indifference, ignorance, and prejudice had to do with keeping Christians apart ? '
Conversations such as these, the consideration of the subject and of the temper of men's minds on both sides, convinced us that if anything was to be done in the interests of peace, two things were indispensable : First, to kindle and spread the desire for imion ; secondly, to discover some definite object which should not only excite those desires and give expression to them, but should provide a point of contact, if the authorities on both sides desired it, which might naturally lead on to other and further discussions.
Such a point of contact we came eventually to think could best be found in the consideration of the Enghsh Ordinal. It was certain that the Church of England had nothing to lose from the fullest and frankest investigation into the facts of the case. It was certain that foreign ecclesiastics and theologians were, as a rule, very im- perfectly informed on the subject,^ as on other points con- nected with the claims and position of the Church of England ; and it was no less certain that if an examination of the question could lead to a reconsideration of the exist- ing Roman practice of treating Anghcan Orders as invahd, a great step in the direction of peace would have been taken. Nothing, indeed, was so likely to appeal to the members of the Enghsh Church, and to create a willingness
1 The late Lord Bute, writing to me on the 24th October 1895, said : * On an archaeological expedition with the Archdeacon of Brindisi, I spoke incidentally of the daily services of the Anglican cathedrals, and he re- marked that their worship differed fundamentally from Catholic worship, since that of AngUcans was essentially based upon a sermon, while that of Catholics was based upon the idea of Prayer and Praise ; and I remem- ber once reading to the Duke of Norfolk some of the Book of Common Prayer, and his remarking that that was all very well, but that I must not take a Ritualistic Manual based upon Catholic sources such as I was reading as giving an utterance of the Anglican Church.'
INTRODUCTORY 11
to enter into conference upon other and confessedly more difficult subjects.
To pursue this subject would be to anticipate the corre- spondence. I will merely add that the Abbe left Madeira in company with the Bishop of Funchal for a tour in Italy in May 1890. We ourselves left Madeira in June. My son died the following September. Lady Halifax was seriously iU all the autumn and winter of 1890, and the early spring of 1891. We were ordered abroad in the summer of 1891, and again in the spring and summer of 1892. In the April of that year I spent a few days with the Abbe Portal at the Grand Seminaire at Cahors, where I made acquain- tance with various members of the French clergy, and was presented to the bishop. On those occasions I saw a great deal of the Abbe, with whom aU along I had kept up an active correspondence. I see by a reference to our letters that we had discussed at some considerable length the question of the validity of the Orders conferred by the Enghsh Church. He had also been reading the history of the Vatican Council by Mgr. Cecconi, which brought to his notice what had been attempted at that time by Father de Buck, one of the BoUandists, in the interests of reunion. The result was that he urged me strongly to write something on the subject of the English Ordinal, with a view to its circulation abroad. In a letter dated the beginning of 1892, he says : —
Why not lay the matter before the Roman authorities ? It has the advantage of involving merely questions of fact, not of doctrine, and only to enter into a discussion would mean the beginning of negotiations, and in such a matter, as in so much else, it is the first step which is the great difficulty.
Other letters in the same sense passed between us, with the result that in a letter of mine to the Abbe in the summer of 1892, I told him that I had been working at a paper on the Enghsh Ordinal, and that I had seen Cardinal Vaughan on the subject. I see from my diary that on the 4th July I called upon the Cardinal, in the hope of obtaining his help on behalf of a serious effort in the interests of reunion.
12 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
I insisted how much might be done by a friendly and sympathetic attitude on the part of the authorities of the Roman CathoHc Church to bring back the Church of England into communion with the Holy See, how much the Cardinal could himself do on that behalf, that nothing was so great a cause of irritation as the attitude adopted by those authorities in regard to the Orders and Sacraments conferred by the Church of England, as he might understand by putting himself in our position, and that if an investigation into the facts led to a reconsideration of that attitude on the part of Rome, a step, the importance of which could not be exaggerated, would have been taken in the interests of peace. I urged as another reason for such a course that in regard to Holy Orders there was no doctrinal difference between England and Rome, as might be supposed to exist in other cases, as, for example, in the relation of the Holy See to the whole Church, but merely a question of fact : had the Church of England, or had it not, preserved the succession, and what was admitted on both sides to be necessary for the transmission of a vahd priesthood. No doubt, an admission of the vahdity of EngUsh Orders would be but one step in the way of reunion, but it would be a very important and far-reaching one : there would always remain the crucial question of the relation of the Holy See to the rest of the Church, but on this point I ventured to say the Roman position was less clear than on many others ; it was certain that it was more difficult to substantiate modem Papal claims on the basis of the ''quod semper, quod vhique, quod ah omnibus,'' than it was, for example, to make good the Cathohc doctrine of the Eucharist, that it was a wise pohcy to begin with easier matters first, and to reserve the more difficult ones to the last, inasmuch as agreement upon the first would facifitate an agreement upon the second, and that for these and many similar reasons I earnestly entreated him to take the matter in hand and further a movement which might be fraught with such untold blessings to the Christian world.
To this the Cardinal rephed that the question of Rome was the crucial question, that it was the question which
INTRODUCTORY 13
would have to be settled in the end, and that it was there- fore better to begin with it — exactly the opposite course to that which I had advocated.
I mention this because it is a proof that from the first I had been anxious to take Cardinal Vaughan into counsel, to secure his assistance, and to work with and through him, and that the attitude he assumed, then and later, was not due in any degree to a desire on my part, or on that of the Abbe Portal, to put him and those he represented on one side.
Lady Halifax was ill in the summer of 1892, and we were again abroad. In 1893 we had other domestic troubles and losses, and though the Abbe and I continued our correspon- dence, I was able to do but Httle literary work myself. Eventually, despairing of obtaining from me such a paper on the EngUsh Ordinal as we had contemplated, the Abbe pubHshed his own treatise on the Ordinal. That pamphlet, which appeared in a separate form in February 1894, resulted in a double movement which in fact corresponded with the double object of the pamphlet. On the theological side, the theologians, who wondered a little at the revival of the controversy on the validity of EngKsh Orders, which outside England was well-nigh forgotten, discussed the weight of the arguments and expressed contradictory opinions in regard to them. It was, however, obvious to those who were the least conversant with the subject, that the real object of the pamphlet had been to raise the question of reunion between England and Rome, and, in consequence, while the theological discussion was in progress, others, such as writers in the Univers, took up the question of reunion. In regard to the subject of the pamphlet, the intervention of the Abbe Duchesne, who declared himself formally in favour of the vahdity of EngHsh Ordinations, was useful and important : the letter of Cardinal Bourret, the Bishop of Rodez, on the subject of reunion was less so : it had, however, the great advantage of provoking a reply from the Bishop of Salisbury.
This, then, was the state of affairs in July 1894 : the subject had been taken up, the press in France was inter-
14 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
ested in the question of reunion, and the double object of the Abba's pamphlet had been secured. The desire for reunion was further promoted by the EncycUcal of Leo xm. on the Union of the Churches, which appeared at that moment, and by the overtures the Pope was making to the Eastern Churches. All this encouraged a favourable reception of the idea of reunion, while the neighbourhood of England, what was known of Cardinal Newman, Cardinal Manning, and the interest taken in the general results of the Oxford Movement, all helped the disposition in France to take up the question.
What I and others felt on the subject may be gathered from the following extracts ^ of a letter from myself to the Abbe on the 11th July 1894 :—
What is certain is that if God grant us life and is willing to make use of us, we are going to work with all our heart and soul for the reunion of the Church of England with the Holy See. Even to think of such a thing is a joy, and as Lord Lothian,^ a friend of mine, said the other day : ' The idea of putting an end to the schism of the sixteenth century is so splendid and en- trancing, that it is hard to picture to oneself what its reaUsation would be.' . . . What we have to do in the interests of such reunion, without compromising the truth, is to put the most favourable construction on aU that has been done in the past, and all that is being done in the present. I am con- vinced that as between us there is nothing touching the doc- trine of the Sacraments upon which agreement would not be easy, if both sides were ready to offer explanations, and to insist only on that which is de fide, leaving people free to believe more or less about everything which was not such. As an illustration of what I mean, the Greeks and the Latins both make use of the term ' Transubstantiation ' to express the doctrine of the Real Presence. The manner in which the Greeks and Latins treat the Blessed Sacrament ' extra usum ' is abso- lutely different. Allow other matters to be treated in an analo- gous manner, and at one stroke you would have got rid of three- fourths of the obstacles which now stand in the way of reunion. Experience and the lapse of time show that words and formularies
1 "nie complete letter appears in its place in the correspondence, p. 88. * Schomberg Henry, ninth Marquis of Lothian. Died 17th January 1900.
INTRODUCTORY 15
have not always the precise force which at one time was attri- buted to them, and that there may be room for explanations which at one time seemed absolutely excluded. For example, if the Decrees of the Vatican Council are open to the interpre- tation that the Pope is only infallible when he has taken all necessary means to inform himself as to what is the teaching of the Church, and when he is declaring what that teaching is, it is obvious that there is a possibility of agreement in regard to a matter upon which not so long ago agreement appeared im- possible. And what is true of this is true of other matters. No doubt, from a human point of view, almost insurmountable difficulties stand in the way of reunion. There are a thousand things in our present condition which must shock you terribly, but with God everything is possible, and if Leo xiii. would seriously take the work of reunion in hand, it is impossible to exaggerate how great might be the result of such an attempt.
The summer of 1894, in fact, led to important develop- ments. The Abbe had met at Paris many who were inter- ested in the question, with whom he had not previously been personally acquainted. He had spent a good part of August in England (see pp. 95-101), and in September he was sum- moned to Rome by Leo xiii., in consequence of communica- tions made from Paris to Cardinal RampoUa. A few days later he returned to England to acquaint us with the wonder- ful news of the wishes and hopes of the Pope. I never can forget the impression that news produced. Things had moved with a rapidity which no one could have expected, and to those who were concerned in them, it was impossible not to feel that it was not they but a Power behind them which was controlling events.
The Abbe came straight back from Rome to England without stopping. He arrived at Hickleton on the 24th September, and on the 28th I took him down to Devon- shire to see the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Abbe gave a full account of what had passed at Rome. He spoke of his interviews with Cardinal Rampolla, and of his audiences with the Pope. He explained that the letter addressed to him by Cardinal Rampolla was an indirect step to make sure of the friendly dispositions of the heads of the English
16 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
Church, and that, if the Archbishops could indirectly give him such assurance, direct overtures in the interests of reunion would be made to the Archbishops by the Pope. For this purpose it was suggested that a letter might possibly be written to me ' analogous to the one written to the Abbe by Cardinal Rampolla, which I might take to Rome.' The Archbishop's attitude was not encouraging. The proposal was in any case startUng to one unprepared for it, and it was clear the Archbishop felt himself in a difficult position. A direct communication from the Pope, he said, would have spoken for itself, a private, indirect com- munication was liable to be misinterpreted ; that in his responsible position he had to guard against the possibiHty of misrepresentation, and the dangers which such mis- representation might produce. He objected that the communication emanated from Cardinal RampoUa, and not from the Pope, that the change of plan at the Vatican, after the interval of a few days, threw doubts upon the Pope's intention to make any direct communication to the heads of the EngHsh Church. He also alluded to the atti- tude of Cardinal Vaughan as directly contradicting what was represented to be the friendly feeHng at the Vatican, to the responsibihty resting on him as the head of the English Church, and to the need of caution in a matter which, if misrepresented, was so likely to produce division at home. He agreed, however, to consider the matter very carefully, and to write after he had done so.
More than a fortnight elapsed without my hearing from the Archbishop, and on the 18th of October I wrote to him, begging for such a letter as I desired, enclosing a short statement of the facts and the draft of such a letter as I thought the Pope might write without provoking the dangers of which the Archbishop was apprehensive. My letter crossed one from him, dated the 15th, which eHcited another from me dated 22nd of October (see Correspon- dence, p. 138), in which I ventured to suggest certain modifications in his letter of the 15th, asking whether it would not be possible for him to confer with the Archbishop of York on the subject.
INTRODUCTORY 17
I was expecting to receive such a modified letter as I de- sired from the Archbishop when, following Cardinal Vaughan's speech at Preston, there appeared in the Times a letter from him to the Archbishop of Toledo, in which he abso- lutely denied the validity of the Orders conferred by the Church of England, and talked of the English Church as a Protestant sect, subject to the civil power. How greatly the Cardinal's attitude increased the difficulties of obtaining such a letter as I was hoping for from the Archbishop of Canterbury was obvious. Writing to Mr. Wilfrid Ward on the 30th October I pointed out what an impediment that action was in the way of all that was being attempted, and how little calculated it was to further the Pope's wishes.
Other correspondence ensued with the result of further delay, but towards the end of the year, having heard from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and influenced by a very generous letter from the Cardinal himself in reference to the Toledo incident, I begged Mr. Athelstan Riley, who was well acquainted with the Cardinal (being unwell myself), to call on him, and explain fully all I was hoping might be done at Rome, and again to beg his assistance in promoting the cause of reunion. A memo- randum of the interview between Mr. Riley and Cardinal Vaughan will be found in its proper place in the corre- spondence. How little these representations availed may be seen from the Cardinal's own account of his action on his arrival in Rome early in 1895.^
^ Cardinal Vaughan told the Pope that there was no chance of corporate reunion, that they should only look for individual conversions, that a letter addressed to the Anglicans might easily be used as a ground for keeping back such conversions ; it would be said, ' The Pope is by degrees coming to terms, we must remain where we are.' He told the Pope of the effect produced already in this direction by the report that he was going to write to the Protestant Archbishops, that the only anxiety was to strengthen the Anglican position in order to keep waverers from Rome, and that in England all were opposed to the Papal supremacy. To Cardinal Rampolla he insisted on the mischief that was being done by ' those Frenchmen in taking up matters they do not properly understand.' He impressed on the Roman authorities that ' Halifax and his party are anxious to get some kind of recognition, anything that can suggest a hope of recognition will serve their purpose. They are also most anxious to get some kind of assurance about their Orders, at least a stateipent that
B
18 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
Meanwhile, in pursuance of the original idea of promoting discussion on the question of Orders and other contro- verted points, and of informing the minds of foreign ecclesi- astics as to the principles and position of the EngUsh Church, Mr. Denny and Mr. Lacey wrote their dissertation De Hierarchia Anglicana, It was pubhshed in Latin, with a preface by the Bishop of SaUsbury. With the same object, and in order to draw out an expression of opinion in favour of reunion at home, I endeavoured in an address dehvered to the members of the English Church Union at Bristol early in 1895 to give a detailed account of the previous attempts at reunion both in England and abroad.
I allude to that Address because the letters ^ it ehcited showed how deeply the question of reunion appealed to men's hearts, and how favourably any proposals for con- ferences on disputed questions were likely to be received.
In March 1895, Mr. Birkbeck and I went to Rome. When we had the honour of being received by the Pope shortly after our arrival, I had an opportunity of presenting him with a copy of the De Hierarchia, and also with a memoran- dum to which certain letters in reference to my speech at Bristol and to the subject of conferences between theolo- gians on both sides were appended. In that Memorandum, after reciting the result of the Abb6 Portal's interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Archbishop of Canterbury's reception of Cardinal RampoUa's letter, I expressed the opinion that though no doubt it would be unjust to make Cardinal Vaughan responsible for the hesitations of the Archbishop, the Cardinal's attitude had certainly largely contributed to them. I also ventured to say that the result of the letters submitted to His HoUness seemed to me more than sufficient to assure him of the favourable reception which would be given in England to any direct proposals from Rome for conferences between
they are possibly valid. But this again is to keep souls back from sub- mission to the Church. ' I have,' the Cardinal added, ' my hands quite full with pressing these facts on people here.' — Life of Cardinal Vaughan, vol. ii. p. 177, and following pages. 1 See correspondence, p. 187.
INTRODUCTORY 10
Roman and English theologians on the subject of Orders, and other disputed questions, and I added if I might dare to make such a request, that I would beg His HoHness to address a letter in the interests of reunion to the Arch- bishops of Canterbury and York, for presentation to the Enghsh, American and Colonial bishops shortly to assemble at Lambeth on the occasion of the thirteen hundredth anniversary of the arrival of St. Augustine in England. I even ventured to indicate the Hnes of such a letter as would be favourably received by all parties in England, and I went on to express the conviction that if a letter were written on such lines, the effect it would have in England in the interests of reunion would be immense. I also insisted upon the fact, which would not be disputed by any one acquainted with the national character and the loyalty of Enghshmen to the Church of England and to the Anghcan Episcopate, that, on general grounds, and more especially in view of Cardinal Vaughan's recent utterances, any communication from Rome which ignored the heads of the English Church would fail of its object. At the close of the audience I had an opportunity of mentioning the rumour, ^ that the Holy Office was hkely to intervene in the question of the vaUdity of the Orders conferred by the English Church. In reply, the Pope said clearly that this would not be. Some allusion was made to general matters, including the appointment of Bishops in England, and to the possibiHty of conferences on disputed points between theologians on both sides. Then,
^ When Mr. Birkbeck and I arrived at Rome, the rumour was current that the Abb6's pamphlet, Les Ordinations anglicanes, and the review of it by M. Duchesne in the Revue Critique, were Hkely to be referred, or had been referred, to the Holy Office, with the question whether it was a safe opinion to hold the validity of English Orders. Evidently such a question, in view of the existing practice of the Roman Church, could only be answered in one way. This would, indeed, have left the question of the validity of those Orders exactly where it was, but it would have sounded like a condemnation, and it would have had the effect of con- demning as ' temerarious ' the opinions put forward by the Abbe Duchesne. When I came to Rome, it was announced that the Holy Office was about to give the answer desired, even the day for the decision was said to be fixed ; and that the Civiltd, Gattolica, the Jesuit organ, had a series of articles ready to emphasise the decision of the Holy Office so soon as it should bo made public.
20 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
referring to the copy of the De Hierarchia, which I had presented to him, and which the Pope had on his knee, he said he meant to look into the matter himself. The audience was concluded by the Pope giving us his blessing.
Before leaving Rome, I recapitulated in a letter to Cardinal Rampolla (given in the correspondence) the reasons which had prompted the action of the Abbe Portal and myself, emphasizing again how much might be done to further reunion by conferences on disputed points, including the question of Orders, if conducted in a friendly spirit on both sides.
The Pope granted us, including the Abbe Portal, a final private audience on the 17th April, after we had assisted at his Mass. It was impossible to be kinder or more en- couraging. He took our daughter's head in his hands, as we knelt at his feet, and said, ' Mon enfant, il faut revenir me voir.' He gave us several times over his blessing, and told us, as Cardinal Rampolla had told me the night before, to take courage, not to mind difficulties, and to persevere in our work, which would surely bring God's blessing upon us and all connected with it. After leaving the Vatican we all went to St. Peter's to pray before the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, and after that before the altar where St. Gregory the Great is buried. I left for Florence the next day.
The Pope's letter Ad Anglos was pubhshed in the Times on the 20th of April.^ That it was not addressed to the Archbishops directly was due to Cardinal Vaughan, as were also the concluding paragraphs of the letter. The use that was made of those concluding paragraphs may be seen by a reference to the article in the Tim£s of April 22nd, which was a complete transcript of Cardinal Vaughan's mind, and gave exact expression to his wishes. The way, however, in which it was received, even with the concluding paragraphs, more than justified the convic- tion I had expressed as to the welcome which would have
» Cf. with sketch of suggested letter, p. 135.
INTRODUCTORY 21
been accorded to a letter from the Pope to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York drafted on the hnes suggested, and the effect such a letter would have had in the interests of reunion.
There was further discussion during the summer and autumn. Abbot Gasquet and others were employed in collecting materials in support of their contention that the Orders conferred by the Church of England were invahd ; the Pope, in the interests of reunion, was anxious to change what had been the practice of the Roman Church in regard to Enghsh Ordinations, and was undecided whether for this purpose the appointment of a Commission for further investigation was required ; Cardinal Vaughan was urging the Pope to make no change in favour of the Enghsh Church without the fullest investigation, under- taken with the assistance and co-operation of representatives of the Roman Cathohc Church in England, an investigation involving the appointment of a formal commission. Those with whom I was acting were anxious for an investigation, and to that extent in accord with Cardinal Vaughan, though for directly opposite motives, and mainly as an opportunity for conferences in the interests of reunion on disputed points at which both sides should be represent ed.i
On the 9th September 1895, Cardinal Vaughan made a speech at Bristol, in which he defined the kernel of the question of reunion to be the authority of the Pope by divine right to teach and govern the whole Church, and that without any explanation or discussion as to the nature or limits of that authority. The English Ordinal, he said, was compiled with the object of excluding the sacrificial power of the priesthood ; and this also was said without any attempt to explain the doctrine of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The suggestion of corporate reunion, he added, savoured wholly of flesh and blood ; there was no hope for reunion except by individual submission to the See of Peter, and the obstacle to this submission was pride. About the same time the Archbishop of Canterbury
OR oi^^ ^ confirmed by Abbot Gasquet, Leaves from My Diary, pp. 35,
22 LEO Xin. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
published a letter i in regard to which, writing to the Abb6 Portal, I say : —
The utterances of the Cardinal and the Archbishop leave much to be desired. I hope to insist at the Congress at Norwich on the rights of the Pope, jure divino, as successor of St. Peter on the one side, and on the rights of the Episcopate as derived directly from our Lord on the other. These are the two truths which have to be recognised and combined; they indicate, I think, the point where peace can be made. When one reflects upon God's patience with our shortcomings, and more especially with our stupidities, one may well try to practise a little patience oneself. After all, Rome was not built in a day !
The sermon of the Archbishop of York at the Church Congress at Norwich, advocating reunion, and suggesting the possibility of a reconsideration of the Thirty-Nine Articles in the interests of peace was preached in the autumn of that year. In that sermon the Archbishop had made use of such expressions as the following : —
Reunion is in the air ... a voice from Rome has spoken to us ... it breathes from first to last a spirit of fatherly love . . . the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome as understood by St. Gregory in the sixth century or by St. Bernard in the twelfth was widely different from the idea which is now pressed upon us ... a return to the earlier conception is not beyond the bounds of hope ... a Pope of the seventeenth century declared his predecessors were responsible for the loss of England, we may well hope that the day will come when another Pope may be the instrument of reconcihation.
Speaking myself at the Congress, I said :—
It is not compromise that is wanted, but explanations on both sides. Let me attempt an example of such explanation, and that with reference to the point which the Cardinal tells us is the ' crucial one— the very kernel— the whole question of reunion.' ' What,' the Cardinal asks, ' is the meaning of the reunion of Christendom ? ' And he repUes, ' It means a return to the constitutional corporate union of the head and the members of the Church which existed before the break-up of Christendom
1 See p. 224, also Times, 30th August 1896.
INTRODUCTORY 23
in the sixteenth century. Until then all the nations of Western Christendom were united to the ApostoUc See of Rome. It was a constitutional corporate union of the head and members.'* Reunion, then, must mean a return to the visible union which formerly existed, and the kernel of the question is the admission of the claim that the Pope is head of the visible Church by a distinct act of our Lord Jesus Christ. But to beUeve, as has recently been well said by Canon Everest ^ in his admirable essay on the Gift of the Keys, that our Lord did provide a visible head for His Church, and that this headship was to be the prerogative of St. Peter's successors ; or, with Dr. Dollinger, that a care for the weal of the Church and the duty of watching over the observance of the canons was involved in the gift of the keys to St. Peter, is one thing ; to found upon this prerogative a claim for the successive occupants of St. Peter's chair to be the sole fountain of the Episcopate itself, so that every bishop derives his commission and jurisdiction from them, is another. Or, to put it more concisely, as Mr. Gore ^ states it in his Roman Claims, for the successors of St. Peter to be something which other bishops are not, is surely a very different thing from the successors of St. Peter being to other bishops the source of what they are. In regard to the first, Archbishop Bramhall says : ' Concerning order or interior jurisdiction, I know of no contro- versy between the Church of Rome and us but one — whether the Bishop of Rome alone does derive his jurisdiction immedi- ately from Christ, and all other bishops do derive theirs immedi- ately from him.' And so Thomdike : * I admit,' he says, * a regular pre-eminence for him [the Pope] above all other bishops (which is seen in the recourse had to him before others in matters concerning the whole Church), but deny that infinite power which nothing can be alleged to prove.' But, indeed, when the Cardinal talks of the constitutional power of the Pope, what difference remains which might not be susceptible of ex- planation ? It is not the constitutional claims of the Pope, as possessing a primacy by our Lord's own appointment, which the EngHsh Church rejects, but the apparent stretching of this power so as to absorb the independent rights of the Episcopate, and reduce them to mere representatives of the Pope. Assure
^ Rev. William Frederick Everest, Canon of Truro, the author of the Gift of the Keys and other Essays, 1895.
* Rev. Charles Gore, Canon of Westminster, December 1894, afterwards Bishop of Worcester, translated to Birmingham 1906, and to Oxford in 1911.
24 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
us that this is not the case, and that in the domain of doctrine the separation which some have thought was asserted by the Vatican Council to exist between the Pope and the rest of the Episcopate, so that the former could act without the latter, is no part of the teaching of the Roman Church, and you have gone a long way towards laying the foundation which Cardinal Vaughan has told us is necessary for reunion.
About the same time, at the wish of the Pope and Cardinal Rampolla, the Abbe Portal was transferred by his superiors to Paris, in order that he might be enabled to devote himself entirely to the work he had taken up. In the month of October an association for promoting the purpose of the work of reunion, with a monthly paper, was established, and in the December of the same year the first number of the Revue Anglo-Romaine made its appearance.
In February 1896 I was in Paris for a few days, where I had the opportunity of seeing, at an informal meeting organised by the Abbe Portal, some of the leading clergy and laity. A memorandum giving the names of those present and an account of what passed will be found in the correspondence. I wiU only mention here that amongst those present were the Due de Broglie and the Comte de Richemont, Mgr. d'Hulst, and many of the professors of the Catholic Institute, the Abbe Boudinhon, M. Fonsegrive, M. Viollet, and other members of the Institut de France, the editors of aU the leading ecclesiastical papers, the Abbe Batiffol, etc., etc., and generally, the leading representatives of ecclesiastical thought in Paris.
Mgr. d'Hulst began the conversation by saying they had come for an interchange of ideas for information, and to express their sense of all that was being done in England in behalf of the great cause of the reunion of Christendom. He then alluded to the prospect of reunion, to the difficulties which beset the question, and to the hopes that might be entertained in regard to it : he spoke of the discussion going on as to the validity of English Orders, of the opposition which the possibility of such recognition seemed to excite amongst members of the Roman Catholic
INTRODUCTORY 25
Communion in England, and he asked whether this opposi- tion was due to the fear entertained that such recognition would interfere with individual conversions, such conversions seeming, as Cardinal Vaughan had apparently stated, to be the only way in which reunion was likely to be brought about. I replied by saying that to look to individual conversions as the means of bringing England back to Catholic unity was tantamount to saying such a restoration to unity was hopeless ; that if England was to be brought back into communion with the Holy See, this would only be done through the Church of England, and that, great as the difficulties were in the way of peace, difficulties which, from a human point of view, might seem insurmountable, I believed peace was possible without compromise of principle on either side, if both sides desired it, and were prepared to allow a wide latitude as to everything not strictly de fide, about which, of course, there could be no compromise, though there might be explanations. I begged those present to believe that in bringing forward the question of Orders there had been no desire to strengthen the position of the Church of England as against Rome, but that the question had been brought forward because it afforded a convenient and easy ground upon which to inaugurate discussions and conferences which should have the reunion of Christendom for their object.
I have alluded to what passed at Paris, for it can hardly be doubted that if such conferences could have been brought about between competent theologians on either side, and if sufficient time had been given to allow men's minds to get accustomed to the idea of peace, a great step might have been taken in the direction of reunion. Indeed, for a moment it seemed as if something would be done immediately towards the reahsation of such a hope. On the 3rd March the Pope, in a pubHc allocution, had expressed himself in words which could not fail to touch all hearts : —
Anxious to do all in our power to inaugurate still greater schemes for the reunion of those members of the Christian family who, whether in East or West, are separated from us, our
26 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
whole heart and soul goes out towards them in a sacred vision of peace. It is Christ the Redeemer, Himself, to Whom are known the times and seasons propitious for such attempts. Who urges us forward. The love of Christ constrains us. It is He, the Good Shepherd, the Prince of the shepherds of His flock, Whose example we so earnestly desire to follow by striving each day with increasing eagerness to promote the accompUshment of the prayer which was the last bequest of His love. Although it may not be granted to us to see the complete reahsation of our desires, we have the intimate conviction that at no distant period those desires will be reahsed, under the guidance of God over-ruUng to that end all human affairs. For us it is no small thing to have been allowed to sow the seed of so blessed a peace. . . . And we pray from the bottom of our heart that it may please our Heavenly Father of His infinite mercy to allow nothing to interfere with the work we have set ourselves to accomplish, or to mar the peaceful development of His own kingdom upon earth.
Early in 1896 it was announced that the Pope had determined to appoint a commission to investigate the question of English Orders, and in the middle of March, Mgr. Gasparri,^ Professor of Canon Law at Paris, was summoned to Rome to take part in the inquiry.
On arriving in Rome Mgr. Gasparri found that Canon Moyes, Dom Gasquet, and the Franciscan Father David Fleming, who had been sent to Rome by Cardinal Vaughan with a long case adverse to the claims of the English Church, together with the Abbe Duchesne and Padre de Augustinis, a Jesuit professor at the Roman College, who, in a formal opinion asked for by the Pope, had pronounced for the validity of the Orders conferred by the English Church, ^ were to be on the Commission. Later, Father Scannell, and Father Jose Calasanzio de Llevaneras, a Spanish Capucin, were added to their number.
Mgr. Gasparri, however, was a canonist and theologian rather than a historian, and the Abbe Duchesne was more conversant with the history of the first eight centuries than
* Now Cardinal.
* An abstract of this opinion is published in Mr. Lacey's Roman Diary, pp. 42-46.
INTRODUCTORY 27
with that of the sixteenth. It was obvious, therefore, how important it was in the interests of truth that they should be suppHed with full information as to the facts of the case, and this was emphasized by a request from Mgr. Gasparri to be allowed to communicate with Mr. Lacey, one of the authors of the De Hierarchia Anglicana, ' by telegraph,' as to any points of special historical knowledge he might require in the course of his inquiry. It was arranged, in consequence, that Father Puller of the Society of St. John the Evangehst from Cowley, and the Rev. T. A. Lacey, should go to Rome for this purpose.
Other influences, however, were already making them- selves felt in Rome. No one who is acquainted with the history and the internal condition of the Church of England, its lack of discipHne, and the parties which divide it, can doubt that it is easy to make such a prima facie case against its claims as may cause any hope of corporate reunion to seem an idle and mischievous dream. It was said that Cardinal Vaughan had expressed the opinion that ' corporate reunion ' meant ' corporate confusion ' and it must be admitted that the line taken by such members of the Church of England as the Archdeacon of Liverpool ^ played only too well into the hands of those whose horizon was limited by the desire for individual conversions. A paper circulated among the cardinals by Canon Moyes and Dom Gasquet ^ at the close of the commission, as to the condition of the English Church, gave expression to what was being repre- sented in Rome as the truth about the Anghcan Com- munion. The more favourable opinion and wider hope must have gradually receded before the instances of those whose object it was to impress the authorities at Rome with the hopeless condition of the EngHsh Church, and the mischiev- ous results of the attempts at peace encouraged in the first instance by the Pope, and promoted by the Bevue Anglo- Eomaine. It was, no doubt, owing to such influences that the idea of friendly conferences on disputed points in accordance with the letter of Cardinal RampoUa in 1894 —
1 The Ven. W. F. Taylor.
2 Eipoata alV opiiscolo iniiiolato : De Re Anglicana,
28 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
afterwards endorsed by the Archbishop of York ^ — ^was abandoned, that no AngUcans were allowed to take part in the discussion, and that Dom Gasquet was enabled to say (if the correspondent of the Daily Chronicle then at Rome is to be trusted), that the question of AngUcan Ordinations was one purely internal to the Roman Church, and that the Commission then beginning its discussion was about to meet in order merely to discuss afresh some of the conditions of admission appHcable to EngHsh clergy- men who wished to become priests.
Obviously, the course taken was not the one which had been suggested. Instead of conferences on which both sides would have been represented, a commission had been appointed composed exclusively of theologians in com- munion with Rome. Further, the question, instead of being considered as a point on which both sides could be brought into contact with a view to future discussions in the interests of peace, was being Hmited to a mere inves- tigation into the vahdity of EngUsh Orders, from the point of view of the internal discipline of the Roman Church. The change at Rome from what had been originally intended was unmistakable.
As to what actually passed within the Commission itself, it may be difficult to come to an exact conclusion,^ but circumstances within the knowledge of every one make certain assertions probable. In the first place it seems estabHshed that a considerable part of the time of the Com- mission was taken up with the consideration of the historical question. This may be gathered from the reference to Father Puller and Mr. Lacey for facts and information on the points under discussion. The question arises whether, in the time that remained before the close of the Commission, the Rite was ever submitted to serious inquiry. It may be assumed that the question of the Rite was discussed in general, that is to say, that the Commission discussed what were the essentials for a vahd ordination, but there can also,
1 Letter to the Abb6 Portal, dated 27th March 1896, sent to Cardinal Bampolla.
* The members of the Commission are said to have been bound to secrecy for some years. — Leaves ;from My Diary, by Abbot Gasquet, p. 62.
INTRODUCTORY 29
I think, be little doubt that the fuller and more exact information as to the history of the sixteenth century and the theological opinions current at the time, necessary for the full elucidation of the EngHsh Rite, was lacking in the case of those members of the Commission who were the most inclined towards a decision in favour of the sufficiency of the Rite by which orders are conferred in the EngUsh Church. Father Puller's very careful treatise on the whole subject, to which the Archbishop of York had written a prefatory letter, had not, I beHeve, been read by the Abbe Duchesne. That this was the case may be inferred both from general considerations and more particularly from the fact that scarcely any information on the subject of the Rite or of the intention was asked for from Father Puller or Mr. Lacey. Under these circumstances, and in view of the fact which seems to be definitely ascertained, that no fresh light was thrown upon the Rite during the sessions of the Commission, it seems impossible to suppose that men hke Padre de Augustinis and Abbe Duchesne, who had expressed their opinion in favour of the vaHdity of Enghsh Orders, and Mgr. Gasparri, who held them at worst to be doubtful, should in the Commission have decided for their certain invahdity. Consequently, their conclusions could not preclude the continuance — had the wish been there — of the friendly action in the interests of peace which had been inaugurated in the first instance.
How Httle that wish existed may be inferred from the Riposta,^ circulated by Canon Moyes and Dom Gasquet amongst the Cardinals in answer to Mr. Lacey's pamphlet De Be Anglicana^ (already alluded to), the object of which was to impress the authorities in Rome with the hopeless condition of the Enghsh Church, and with the mischievous results of the attempts at peace en- couraged by the Pope, and to persuade them that the only object of the movement was to secure the recognition of English Orders, without any intention or wish to work further for unity.
The conclusions and memoranda of each member of the
» See p. 360. « A Roman Diary, Rev. T. A. Lacey, pp. 210-239.
30 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
Commission were referred about the 8th of June to a com- mission of Cardinals, who were allowed a month to consider the question. Was any real discussion of the Enghsh Rite allowed by this Second Commission ? Was the decision of 1704 given in Gordon's case, denying its vahdity, allowed to be re-opened ? A doubt may be permitted on the subject in view of the opinions held by an influential school of Roman theology in reference to the decisions of the Holy Office. It will be remembered what appeared in the Tablet of 12th June 1897, in reference to the decision of the Holy Office in regard to the text of the Three Witnesses in the Epistle of St. John (1 St. John v. 7). It was said that the decision, not having been pronounced on a Thursday Session of the Holy Office presided over by the Pope, was no final and definitive sentence. On the principle here imphed, the sentence of Clement xi. in the case of Gordon, concerning the EngUsh Rites of Ordination, which was so pronounced,^ would be considered by the theologians of this school a final and definitive sentence ; indeed, the Bull Apostolicae Curae itself says so : * Every one must see that the ques- tion raised in our time had long before been definitely decided by the sentence of the Apostohc See.' ^
It would result from this that even if the members of the Commission in the course of the discussion expressed any opinion as to the rite, there could be no real and free dis- cussion of a question which was held to have been definitely settled already, and, in the opinion of some, not open to reconsideration.
1 Just before the Commission met, all documents bearing on the attitude of the Roman authorities towards English Orders, which were found in the archives of the Inquisition, were collected and were put at the disposition of the members of the Commission. Dom Gasquet and his friends dis- covered among them certain documents hitherto unknown, which showed that in the Gordon case in the time of Clement xi., the question of the sufficiency or insufficiency of the rite had been considered. Hitherto it had been supposed that the decision in that case had been based solely on the Nag's Head fable, which had been emphasized by Bishop Gordon in his petition to the Pope. The fact that Clement's decision was based, not only on historical, but also on theological grounds, was found very helpful by those who advocated an adverse decision.
* *Non videt nemo controversiam temporibus nostris exsuscitatam Apostolicae Sedis judicio definitam multo antoa fuisse.' — Bull, Apoatolicae Curae*
INTRODUCTORY 31
On the 16th July 1896 the Commission of Cardinals was convoked : the question was put, and the reply was that they were all agreed that the question had already been ascer- tained and determined by the Apostolic See, and that the result of the inquiry brought out clearly with how much wisdom and justice the Apostohc See had definitely decided the question.
The event was in harmony with the wishes of the Roman CathoHc authorities in England. Meanwhile the Encyclical Satis Cognitum, deaHng with the relations of the Pope to the Church, had appeared in the last days of June, and three months later the Bull Apostolicae Curae, declaring English Orders invalid, was pubhshed. An abstract of the Encycli- cal Satis Cognitum, as of the Pope's previous letter Ad Anglos, was pubhshed in the Times, with a covering letter from Cardinal Vaughan, and commented upon in an article of that journal of the same complexion as that which had performed a similar office for the Pope's previous letter Ad Anglos. The inspiration to which the article was due was obvious, although Cardinal Vaughan 's biographer speaks of it as a ' comment ' written from the ' opposite pole ' to that of an article ' to the same effect ' which appeared in the Tablet, the Cardinal's own paper. ^ As in the case of the letter Ad Anglos, if the wish had been to make the EncycHcal unacceptable in Eng- land, to prevent any consideration of the claims advanced in it, and to check all attempts at reunion, nothing could have been more calculated to produce such results than the way in which it was presented to the English people. And yet, the EncycHcal in itself, apart from the prejudice with which it had been invested, contained statements which had great need to be considered by the Enghsh Church, and which might, under happier and more friendly auspices, have promoted the interests of peace. It claimed for the Pope, in relation to the Epis- copate, neither less nor more than the rights conferred by our Lord on St. Peter in reference to the other Apostles. It asserted for the Episcopate a power and
^ Life of Cardinal Vaughan, vol. ii. p. 191.
32 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
jurisdiction ^ derived from Christ, and it defined the rights enjoyed by the Holy See on the one side, and those enjoyed by the Episcopate on the other, by a reference to the names of St. Cyprian and St. Augustine, and of other Fathers, citing their authority and practice in witness of the rights recognised from the eariiest times as inherent ahke in the Episcopate at large, and in the See of Peter.
In face of such a claim as this there might indeed bo difficulties in regard to the consequences of our Lord's commission, there could be none as to the principle asserted in itself ; indeed, the Archbishop of York, in a letter to the Abbe Portal of the 27th March, had distinctly said : —
In respect to our relations with the Church of Rome, while it is absolutely vain to expect that England would ever accept the idea of the Papacy as we have been accustomed to have it presented to us, we could never hesitate to admit whatever can be shown to be in accordance with the Will of our Blessed Lord and the teaching of the Primitive Church. It is in this spirit, that we should welcome any opportunities of 'friendly con- ference' (the words of Cardinal RampoUa), which might tend to bring about a better understanding between us on the basis of St. Augustine's rule, ' in necessariis unitas, in dubiis Hbertas, in omnibus caritas.' '
Considerations such as these, however, in view of the use made of the EncycHcal and the meaning attached to it, were not likely to obtain a hearing at the moment, al- though the reception given to the speech dehvered by the Abbe Portal at a meeting of those interested in reunion, in London, on the 14th July, showed how much might have been done under other circumstances, that is to say, had the authorities of the Roman CathoHc body in England been anxious to facihtate instead of to prevent explanations, and wise enough to see what an opportunity was being afforded for removing the misunderstandings which keep England and Rome apart.
A full account of the Abbe Portal's speech, which was
* A bishop's jurisdiction is of divine right — ^how it is conferred upon him, whether mediately or immediately, is a question of the Schools.
INTRODUCTORY 33
delivered with the object of removing misconceptions and placing the Encyclical in a favourable Hght before all who were interested in reunion, together with the events to which it led, will be found in the correspondence. The account of that speech pubhshed in the Tallet, though taken from the report in the Guardian, for the accuracy of which I was responsible, omitted everything connected with the Encychcal, everything relating to the prerogatives of the Holy See. Those portions only were retained which dealt with individual conversions, and which, separated from the parts suppressed, were susceptible of, and indeed suggested, an entirely false impression. The object of such suppression was obvious : it was to further the efforts which were being made to put a stop to the Abbe Portal's work.
Those efforts were only too successful. The Abbe on his return to Paris received an order to abstain from taking any further part in the movement for reunion. I wrote to Cardinal Parocchi, then secretary to the Holy Office, to explain how the Abbe was being misrepresented. I also wrote to Cardinal Rampolla in the same sense, adding in one of my letters that if Rome was opposed to all attempts at corporate reunion, and was looking only to individual conversions, it was the stultification of all that I had been doing, and that, without the formal con- tradiction of such being the case, I should consider it inconsistent with my whole position to continue the action in which I had been engaged.
To this the Cardinal rephed that it was not true to say that Rome only desired individual conversions, and did not desire corporate reunion : that I was not to be discouraged but on the contrary to persevere in my good intentions, and to continue working for that reunion which is so desir- able. If Cardinal Rampolla, who had not been present at the meeting of Cardinals on 16th July,i was aware of the forthcoming Papal decision, his letter was a proof how Httle the convictions of EngHsh Churchmen as to the reaHty of the Sacraments conferred by the Church of England and
1 When the Orders were disallowed. C
34 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
their loyalty to the Ecclesia Anglicana were understood at Rome.
The Bull Apostolicae Gurae declaring English Orders null and void was pubhshed in September. A letter from Lady Beauchamp and a telegram in the newspapers announced the rumoured contents of the Bull, and in a letter to the Abbe, dated 19th September, I said : ' If the news which reaches me is correct, our work is finished. The Cardinal, Canon Moyes, and Dom Gasquet triumph. There are victories worse than defeats, and this is one. It is the history of Gahleo over again ! ' A day or two after, having heard from the Abbe, I wrote again : —
It was indeed the love of souls that inspired us. We wished for nothing else. That something should be attempted to put an end to the divisions which separate those who love our Lord Jesus Christ, those divisions which keep so many souls away from Him, that the love of those who already love one another should be increased by being able to communicate at the same altars, that the essential unity of the Church should be recognised by all, and that for these objects we should approach one another in a spirit of love and charity, and in a spirit of penitence for all the faults committed on both sides : that was what we wished. I suppose others wished it too. But to accomplish such an object much love, the charity which hopeth all thiugs, believeth all things, was necessary : it is precisely that which has been wantiug. It is difficult to speak without having seen the text of the Bull, but if it is all that is said, it fulfils all the wishes of Cardinal Vaughan and those who have worked with him. As for us, what have we to reproach ourselves with ? We tried to do that which I believe God inspired us to do. We have failed, at least for the moment : but if what we aimed at is God's Will, that Will will be accomplished iu His own good time.
The Archbishop of York begs me to thank you for all that you have done — ^he says nothing can undo what has been accom- plished, and that we must have patience and God will bring all these things to a good end.
The issue of the Bull, contrasting as it did in so marked a way with what had been understood to be the Pope's original wishes, together with the cessation of the Revue Anglo- Eomaine, the editors of which found themselves
INTRODUCTORY 35
compelled to suspend its publication, extinguished the hopes which had done so much to brighten the future, and from which, for a moment, so much had been expected.
Owing to the death of Archbishop Benson, the answer of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the Bull was delayed for some months. It appeared in the early part of 1897, and was followed by a letter from the Pope to the Archbishops, and by a vindication of the Bull by Cardinal Vaughan and the Roman Cathohc bishops in England. I add Appendices containing extracts of letters and documents to complete the narrative, but the history of the events detailed in these pages may end here : it is the story of a failure, and certainly, so far as those who had endeavoured to approach the Holy See in the interests of peace were concerned, no failure could well have been more complete. Everything that had been said by the enemies of Rome appeared to be justified, everything that had been urged by those who had desired to see the renewal of the ancient relations between England and Rome seemed to be falsified. Members of the EngHsh Church had shown themselves desirous of doing all in their power to heal the divisions of Christendom, conferences on disputed points had been sug- gested, the principle of such conferences had been accepted, and then, after all the good-will manifested, a deHberate affront had been offered to the Enghsh Church, and the very subject selected as the best to inaugurate a series of conferences in the interests of peace had been decided without any conference, in an adverse sense, and used to increase the estrangement which there had been so earnest a wish to remove. But God's ends are accomplished as much by our failures as by our successes. His hand is surely visible in the history of these four years, and if that work was undertaken at His inspiration, its reahzation is assured.
It was in conversations between two individuals brought together by what we call accident, for reasons of health, neither of them possessing any particular influence, and incapable themselves of influencing the action of Popes, Cardinals, and Archbishops, that the seed was sown which
36 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
produced what had not happened for more than three cen- turies, letters from the Pope to England, and communica- tions between the Pope and the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. How much might have resulted from those com- munications if the inspirations of goodwill had been better attended to, if personal considerations had been allowed less place, if there had been a greater desire to make the best of all that might lead to peace, if there had been more charity and a wider outlook on one side, more courage and a greater grasp of principle, a Uttle more imagination, and some perception of how great an opportunity was being missed on the other, the narrative of what occurred may perhaps show. The object sought to be achieved was not to be dismissed because, from a human point of view, the diffi- culties in the way of its accomplishment might seem to be in- superable : it was essentially an object which could not rightly be approached except in the hght of supernatural faith, and in the conviction that with God nothing is impossible. If Cardinal Vaughan had thrown himself into the Pope's views with the same ardour and determination as inspired his efforts to build St. Joseph's College and the Westminster Cathedral, instead of endeavouring, as he certainly did, to thwart those views ; if he had not approached the subject of reunion with a preconceived idea of the Church of England, which enabled a distinguished convert to say that of the internal affairs of the Church of England the Cardinal was absolutely ignorant, the story I have to tell might have been very different, and Cardinal Vaughan might have gone down to history as he who above all others had done most to bring England back into communion with the Holy See. But great as the Cardinal's virtues were — and how great they were no one who has read his Hfe can doubt — he did not possess the gift of seeing a position which was not his own from, so to speak, the inside. And in this case the result was that he defeated his own objects. His action was determined by the fear of checking individual con- versions : the result of what he did was actually to check them. It was, perhaps, his misfortune rather than his fault, but that he made a great mistake, even from his own
INTRODUCTORY 37
point of view, I can have no doubt. What he beHeved to be the welfare of souls was at stake, and he acted in regard to that supreme end very much as he acted — from not dissimilar reasons — in regard to Dr. Newman and the Vatican Council : in that case he suppressed in the Tablet any allusion to the attitude of the minority ; in this, his influence with the press enabled him to present the docu- ments emanating from Rome in such a way as to put them in the most unfavourable hght before those they were intended to influence. May his present prayers within the veil correct the result of whatever mistakes may have been made by him and others here below ; if the record of those mistakes can help to prevent their repetition in any future attempt to promote the reunion of Christendom, the work the Abbe Portal and I attempted will not have been in vain.
In this connection I cannot forbear quoting the following words addressed in the year 1868 to the then reigning Pontiff by a dignitary of the English Church : —
' Upon you, Holy Father, more than upon any other human being rests at this moment the hope of peace and unity for the family of Christ on earth. Right and reason are on your side in undertaking this work of reconciliation ; mercy and truth meet together to cheer and aid you ; the tide and current of public feeling, the progress of events in the world, the yearning desires of true Christians are all with you, the hearts of thousands so long estranged from one another will bless you for promoting their reunion in Christian brotherhood. The Saviour, Who prayed that His followers might all be one in Him, will forward your endeavours; upon you will rest the benediction of the Prince of Peace.' ^
These are the words of Canon Selwyn, himself an Evan- geHcal, the brother of one of the glories of the Enghsh Church, the apostohc Bishop of New Zealand, and of Lich- field. Let us make them our own.
One other point : it is due to the Abbe Portal, in view of
^ Letter from William Selwyn, Canon of Ely Cathedral, to his Holiness Pius IX., 19th September 1868.
38 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
certain things which have been said, that mention should be made of a matter in respect of which it is impossible that I should be silent.
The Abbe Portal has been spoken of as the dupe of my representations in regard to the Church of England — representations which had no foundation in fact — and as a mere instrument in my hands. Nothing can be further from the truth. It is true, no doubt, that the Abbe could not alone have accomplished what was done : he knew nothing of England or the Enghsh Church, and it is probable that if he had not had the misfortune, as some may think it, of making my acquaintance, he might never have interested himself as he did in EngUsh ecclesiastical affairs, but the determining cause of his action, although I may have influ- enced its particular direction, was the inspiring influence of Leo xm. himseK, which at that time, and ever since his accession to the pontifical throne, had been making itself felt in a variety of ways throughout the whole of the western world, and more especially in France. That influence was nowhere more marked than in the impulse it gave to the cause of reunion. The EncycUcal Praeclara, addressed to the Princes and Peoples of Europe, had made an appeal which awakened a response in many hearts, and the Abb6's action was, in fact, but a part of the general movement which, under the influence of the Pope, was stirring the Church in France. It was a moment when hopes ran high and great enthusiasms had been kindled. In one of his early letters the Abbe says : ' It is not only the East, but those in England and the whole Anglo-Saxon race at our doors . . . : we have to consider them.' And it was under this impulse that he acted. So far from it being the truth that what was attempted had its origin in England, and was due to me, the fact is that the movement had its initiative in France. Beyond an earnest desire for reunion, and a determination never to say a word which might embitter controversy, I had hitherto done Httle to further the cause I had at heart — the moving impulse came from the Abb6, he was the mainspring of aU our action. EQs compel- ling energy shook me out of my inaction, and the inspiring
INTRODUCTORY 39
force that urged him forward was due to the quickening impulse given by the attitude of the Pope himself. What- ever may be thought now, under the novel influences which govern the direction of affairs at Rome, no one conversant with the events of that time, the current of opinion then prevalent and the facts of the case, can doubt the truth of this statement, or blame the Abbe's action without also blaming that of Leo xiii.
The Abbe and I worked together, and so far as we were successful, our success was due to the fact that we implicitly trusted one another ; but that the work was attempted at all was due to the Abbe, and to no one else. In the short space of six years, by his courage, his honesty, his skill, his capacity for distinguishing between what is essential and what is not, by his accurate theological knowledge, and by his unrivalled talents, above all, by his love for souls and his devotion to the cause of Christ and His Church, he did more to promote the cause of reunion between England and Rome than has been done by any one, so far as I know, since the schism in the sixteenth century. That work wiU one day be accomplished, and on that day, when reunion is a fact, and not a hope, the name of the Abbe Portal will be honoured as it deserves.
With so much by way of preface to, and explanation of, the correspondence, I leave that correspondence to tell its own story, merely connecting the letters with such notes and remarks as may be required.
CHAPTER II
Letters— 1890, 1891, 1892, and part of 1893
The correspondence which begins with the letters which passed between the Abb6 Portal and myself in the summer of 1890, after the Abbe had left Madeira in company with the Bishop of Funchal, for a tour in Italy, is continued throughout the years 1891 and 1892, up to the end of June 1893, and explains the friendship and affection which grew up between us.
It will be seen that we spent some time together in Brittany in 1891, and that in 1892 I paid him a visit at Cahors, where he held the post of Professor of Moral Theology in the Grand Seminaire of Mgr. Grimardias, Bishop of Cahors.
The letters show that the question of reunion was never absent from our thoughts, and bear witness to the fact that far from our having desired to act independently of Cardinal Vaughan and the Enghsh Roman Cathohcs, I had in 1892 not only gone to the Cardinal and urged him to take up the cause of reunion himself, but had pointed out to him why, in view of possible conferences for the purpose of mutual explanation, a proposal to discuss the vaHdity of the Orders conferred by the Church of England was the one most likely to predispose EngHshmen to consider favourably all that could be urged on disputed points of doctrine, and on behalf of the claims of the Holy See.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
QuiNTA BiANCHi^ FuNCHAL, mai 1890. Un dernier petit mot d'adieu. C'est avec beaucoup de regrets que je verrai le ' Funchal ' partir.
40
LETTERS— 1890-1893 41
Le petit livre sera pour moi un souvenir bien agreable de nos entretiens et de nos promenades.
Priez quelquefois pour moi, que je ne sois pas parmi ceux qui connaissent la verite, et qui ne la suivent pas.
Ulmitation que vous m'avez donnee me sera toujours chere. Encore, adieu.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax.
Venise, juillet 1890.
Notre tour d'ltalie s'acheve, et vraiment c'est fort heureux, car depuis trois jours nous avons de tres fortes chaleurs. Que vous dire de cet incomparable pays sinon que je m'en vais enthousiasme de toutes les beautes que j'y ai vues. Pour mon gout personnel, je retrancherais bien un bon nombre d'ltaliens qui ont le don de m'agacer, mais, puisque le soleil a des taches, ritalie peut bien avoir ses ciceroni, ses facchini, etc., etc. A Rome j'ai eu le bonheur d'assister au consistoire, et surtout d'etre regu par le pape. Leon xin. m'a emerveille par sa me- moire surprenante, par sa vive intelligence et par sa presence d' esprit. II m'a cite des faits d'il y a vingt ans se rapportant k notre congregation, avec noms propres et circonstances particu- lieres qui m'ont bien surpris. De I'avis de tout le monde, le pape, tout maigre et tout vieux qu'il est, est encore plein de vie.
Nous avons quitte Rome le 11 juillet, depuis lors nous n'avons fait que courir : — Lorette, Assise, Florence, Bologne, Padoue, et Venise — nous sommes aujourd'hui le 19 ! Que de belles choses a Florence, et dire que nous I'avons visitee en deux Jours !
Je me suis bien souvent demande en parcourant cette vraie capitale de Fltalie moderne pourquoi les grands politiques veulent a tout prix Rome pour capitale. II me semble que seulement au point de vue de I'esthetique cela jure, qu'on passe du Colisee ou des catacombes ou du forum ou de la villa Adrien sur le Corso, et que la on apergoive le ' high-life ' italien — et on eprouve une commotion, le sentiment d'un horrible anachronisme.
J'ai assiste a la fete de St. Jean et a la fete de St. Pierre, c'est fort beau, comme musique.
Une petite excursion a Naples m'a permis de faire I'ascension du Vesuve ; mais je m'apergois que je vais etre au bout de mon papier : permettez-moi, en terminant, de vous demander une lettre, car il me tarde beaucoup d'avoir de vos nouvelles. Com- ment va votre cher malade ? Ecrivez-moi k Paris, rue de Sevres
42 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
95, et dites-moi que ma demiere ^ lettre ne vous a pas fait de la peine.
Suivant ma promesse, j'ai dit la Sainte Messe a votre intention et j'ai pri6 pour vous dans plusieurs de nos sanctuaires.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
HiCKLETON, 26 juillet 1890.
Je suis tout honteux quand Je me rappelle que depuis un mois entier je suis en Angleterre, et que de tout ce temps-Ik je ne vous ai pas ecrit le moindre petit mot — le fait est que j'ai 6t4 accabl6 d'affaires, et puis, nous avons ete tres inquiets au sujet de mon fils. H a 6t6 souffrant au moment de notre arriv^e, les medecins ne m'ont pas beaucoup rassur6, et je ne pouvais m'occuper de rien autre que de sa sant6, et de ce qu'il y avait k faire pour I'am^liorer. Maintenant, grace k Dieu, il s'est remis un peu, et si ce progres dure, nous allons faire un petit voyage en mer. C'est le conseil des medecins, et je ne songe h autre chose qu'k me soumettre a leur avis.
J'ai trouve nos affaires ecclesiastiques assez tranquilles. Le proces de I'Eveque de Lincoln traine en longueur. On dit maintenant que le Primat ^ ne prononcera aucun jugement avant le mois d'octobre. J'ai rencontr^ sa Grandeur I'autre jour chez le Lord Mayor, mais je n'ai pas pouss6 I'audace au point de lui demander des renseignements. C'est bien s^r aussi qu'il ne m'en aurait pas donn6.
J'ai promis de faire un discours k un congres qui se tient a Hull, ville voisine d'ici, sous la presidence de I'Archeveque d' York, au mois d'octobre, et si la sentence est rendue, ce discours aura peut-etre quelque importance. Dans ce cas, je vous en enverrai la traduction.
Voici votre lettre qui m'arrive de Venise. Comment pouvez- vous croire, mon cher ami, que votre demiere lettre m'ait fait de la peine ? C'est, je vous I'assure, tout le contraire ; je vous suis bien reconnaissant de toutes les bontes que vous avez eues pour moi. Je devine aisement quels sont les souhaits que vous devez faire pour moi. II faut bien que ce soit ainsi. De mon cote, vous savez ou je suis.
' La Monarchic Pontificale ' ^ me parait rempUe de difficultes. Mais, assez pour le moment siir ces sujets. Je suis tout a fait
* In which he had spoken of his wishes for my ' conversion ' and of ' La Monarchie Pontificale.'
* Archbishop Benson. * The work of Dom Gueranger.
LETTERS— 1890-1893 43
de votre avis sur la question de la capitale de I'ltalie. On aurait du prendre Florence. Rome pour mille raisons est une ville a part.
Combien de temps restez-vous a Paris ? Retournez-vous k Madere ? Est-ce qu'il y a le moindre espoir de vous voir en Angleterre ? Si seulement vos superieurs voulaient vous permettre de passer quinze jours chez nous au mois de septembre ! Pensez-y bien, mon cher ami, et songez au bien immense que vous me feriez.
Toutes vos soUicitudes et toutes vos prieres, surtout les Messes que vous avez dites a mon intention dans de si saints lieux, me touchent profondement.
Adieu, mon cher ami, vos lettres sont toujours un bonheur pour moi.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
Malaga, Espagne, 6 septembre 1890.
Je suis encore de ce monde, et je viens vous donner signe de vie.
De Venise, nous sommes alles a Milan ou nous avons vu les Capranica.i Le pauvre vieux marquis est bien affaibli, et la marquise a beaucoup de cheveux blancs : la douleur est passee par la, bien amere. De Milan a Turin, de Turin a Lyon, et de Lyon a Paris.
Le 6 aout mon superieur m'annongait que je ne rentrais ni a Madere, ni en Portugal, et le 7 Mgr, 2 prenait avec un autre confrere le chemin de Bordeaux. Ce n'est pas sans emotion que je me suis separe de ce bon et saint eveque, qui m'avait procure une de mes plus grandes jouissances. Lui aussi a ete bien emu quand il m'a donne sa demiere benediction.
Quand il a fallu statuer sur mon sort, j'entrevoyais avec joie une classe de theologie dans un seminaire du midi de la France qui me convenait a ravir. Je comptais sans mon bote. Le docteur a declare qu'il m'etait impossible de reprendre tout de suite le professorat et alors on a ete bien embarrasse de ma per- sonne. On m'a envoye, en attendant ime solution definitive, donner des retraites en Espagne, ou Je suis deja venu I'annee demiere.
Vous constaterez done, mon cher ami, que, malgre toutes nos
1 Eriends of the Abb6 Portal, whose acquaintance I had made in Madeira. They had lost their daughter.
2 The Bishop of Funchal.
44 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
channantes promenades,^ Je ne suis pas tout k fait gueri de ma congestion. Vous avez echoue, j'ai un plaisir cruel a vous le dire, puisque moi, de mon cot^, j'ai fort peu reussi.^ Cependant le docteur a constate une grande amelioration, et vous ? . . . Je pense qu'il faudra recommencer le traitement. Comme volontiers Je reprendrais n'importe ou nos bonnes promenades et nos d61icieuses causeries.
J'ai appris avec peine la mort du cardinal Newman. C'est une perte pour I'Eglise d'Angleterre sous bien des rapports : vous le savez mieux que moi.
J'espere que vous voudrez bien me tenir au courant du mouve- ment des idees religieuses autour de vous, et ]e compte en particulier sur votre discours, que vous avez bien voulu me promettre. Ne vous donnez pas la peine excessive de le traduire, je me ferai rendre ce service par n'importe qui autour de moi.
Et votre cher malade, comment va-t-il ?
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
Madrid, H6pital Fran^ais, 14 octohre 1890.
C'est dans la province de Jaen, au moment ou je montais en voiture pour commencer mon voyage de retour a Madrid, que J'ai regu votre si courte et si triste lettre.^
Quelle epreuve pour vous, mon cher ami, et pour Lady Halifax, et pour tous les votres. Votre coeur si affectueux a du etre brise. Mon Dieu, que la mort est bien plus terrible lorsqu'elle frappe ainsi les etres qui nous sont chers. Vous avez dej^ trop vecu, mon cher ami, vous avez trop souffert aussi, pour n' avoir pas dit quelquefois comme St. Paul, ' me taedet vivere,' et si la mort venait vous frapper vous la recevriez comme un vrai Chretien, sans trop de peur, ni de regrets. Mais donner ses enfants ! Dans mon ministere, mon cher ami, moyennant la grace de Dieu, je sais faire accepter la mort, mais consoler un pere ou une mere je ne I'ai jamais su. II n'y a pour vous qu'un consolateur, le Dieu du Calvaire et de la souffrance. Souvenez- vous qu'au pied de la croix J6sus a voulu qu'il y cut une mere et dites dans votre douleur ces belles strophes * Stabat mater dolorosa,' etc.
Mes prieres ne vous manqueront pas. Hier J'ai dit la Sainte
^ I used to persuade him to take walks with me for the sake of his health.
* In the matter of my conversion. * The death of my son.
LETTERS— 1890-1893 45
Messe pour votre cher enfant, et j'ai bien pri6 pour vous; ]e continuerai, mon cher ami. Je voudrais bien vous voir en ce moment si triste. Les amities ne vous manquent pas sans nul doute, mais c'est une privation pour moi de ne pas vous donner mon petit tribut d' encouragement. Si je rentrais en France, ce qui est a peu pres sur, est-ce que nous ne pourrions pas nous rencontrer a Paris dans quelques mois ? Je serais si heureux de passer une huitaine de jours dans notre Maison-mere : le calme religieux aupres des reliques de St. Vincent, huit jours de solitude et d'edification chretienne vous feraient, je crois, grand bien.
Je vous ferai adresser de Paris, un tout petit livre, que vous offrirez de ma part a Lady Halifax, si vous le jugez a propos.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
Garrowby, Stamford Bridge, 14 novembre 1890.
Votre bonne lettre m'a fait du bien, et je vous en suis tres reconnaissant.
Notre Seigneur est si bon pour nous que ce serait la pire ingratitude de ne pas accepter tout ce qui vient de lui avec la plus profonde conviction que tout est pour le mieux, et pour nous, et pour ceux qui nous sont si chers, et c'est ce que je tache de faire. Apres tout, ce n'est pas si difl&cile de croire que Notre Seigneur en salt plus long que nous, sur ce qui se rattache a notre salut ; et si ces epreuves nous sont necessaires, il faut essay er de les accepter avec joie.
Quand on songe a ses peches ce serait quelque chose d'epouvan- table de n' avoir que les douceurs de la vie ; on se croirait aban- donne comme ceux pour qui on ne peut rien.
Depuis que je vous ai ecrit. Lady Halifax est tombee malade. EUe a eu une fievre typhoide, et depuis un mois elle est au Ut. Grace a Dieu tout va bien, mais il y a quinze jours, j'etais tres inquiet, tres malheureux. Nous sommes ici au milieu des bois et des coUines, une vraie sohtude. En dehors du medecin, des gardes-malades, et du cure, je ne vois personne. Je monte beaucoup a cheval, je fais beaucoup de lectures et je ne regrette pas d'etre tout seul : une chose me ferait plaisir, c'est que vous fussiez ici.
II n'y a rien de nouveau en ce qui touche nos affaires eeclesi- astiques. Je crois que I'eveque de Lincoln sortira triomphant du proces dont nous avons tant parle.
LIBRARY ST. MARY'S COLLEGE
46 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
Depuis que j'ai commence k vous 6crire, le livre * est arriv6. Lady Halifax est encore trop malade pour le lire, mais elle est bien toucli6e de votre bont6 pour elle. Ce que ]*en ai lu m'a ravi. Pour nous la pensee de la mort, et de tout ce qui, par la mis^ricorde de Dieu, est au del^ de la mort, rapporte plus de consolation que toutes les joies de la terre. Mais, mon cher ami, ne pensez pas que nous sommes malheureux. Dieu a ete bien bon pour nous, et tout devient supportable, ]e dirai presque doux, si on se laisse bien tranquillement dans ses mains.
Comme je vous remercie pour le souvenir que vous avez eu de mon cher enfant a I'autel. Priez pour lui et pour nous.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
Baecelona, 1890.
Justement j'allais vous ecrire lorsque votre lettre m'est arrivee. J'6tais inquiet de votre long silence, et je faisais mille suppositions. Mes inquietudes avaient bien im fondement puisque Lady Halifax a ete si malade.
J'ai 6t6 bien edifi6, mon cher ami, de vos sentiments si pro- fondement Chretiens. N'est-ce pas que lorsqu'on est bien Chretien on trouve tout a fait vraie cette parole de St. Jerome : ' O mort, tu es noire, mais tu es belle.' Noire, oui, elle Test par son horrible travail sur le corps, par son triste cortege de souffrances, par les larmes qu'elle arrache k la pauvre nature, par les dechirements des coeurs qu'elle fait saigner. Mais elle est belle parce que, a travers cette hideuse figure on en pent voir ime autre qui est bien belle, celle de Jesus Christ qui vient, le divin jardinier, cueilhr une ame mure pour le ciel. Elle est belle parce que la mort n'est pas une fin mais un commence- ment, et que ses tenebres ressemblent a celles que Ton voit s'enfuir poursuivies par I'aurore.
H y a une dizaine annees, j'ai ete sur le point de partir moi aussi pour le grand voyage, et, depuis lors, bien souvent I'etat pr6caire de ma sante m'a rappele que je pouvais etre frappe d'un instant k I'autre. Cela m'a fait du bien. Sans doute j'ai bien malheureusement experimente ' que plus on marche plus on se crotte,' du moins j'en ai tire im certain detachement qui parfait ma vie reHgieuse. Aimer le bon Dieu le plus possible, malgre le refroidissement progressif du coeur, faire du bien aux ames, oh ! beaucoup de bien, et puis cueiUir sur la route quelquea
' Miditationa de VAhhi Perratid.
LETTERS— 1890-1893 47
fleurs, c'est-^-dire, aimer ses amis. N'est-ce pas la toute la vie, la vraie vie ?
En attendant, mon cher ami, que notre tour vienne, nous travaillerons a meriter une mort sainte, nous ferons du bien, et nous garderons au coeur cette bonne amitie nee la-bas pro- videntiellement.
Mes superieurs me renvoient dans mon ancienne maison k Cahors en qualite d'econome, et je me permets de vous rappeler une promesse que vous m'avez faite bien souvent ! ' Si vous rentrez dans un grand seminaire de France, soyez sur que j'irai faire une retraite aupres de vous,' vous en souvient-il ? Done, ]e vous attends a Cahors.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
Garrowby, Stamford Bridge, York, 26th Novr. 1890.
Je lis votre livre pour la seconde fois ; c'est-a-dire que je suis votre conseil.
Ce que vous dites dans votre bonne lettre qui vient d'arriver, va droit au coeur. On est si lache envers soi-meme, qu'en verite on devrait etre bien reconnaissant a Dieu quand il nous envoie des croix. On pent au moins essayer de les accepter sans trop se plaindre, et de remercier Dieu de tout ce qui aide a nous detacher des choses d'ici-bas.
Lady Hahfax a ete portee pour la premiere fois hier sur un sofa. Grace a Dieu, les medecins sont satisfaits, et j'espere maintenant que tout ira bien. Le proces de I'eveque de Lincoln est termine. Le jugement du Primat donne raison a I'Eveque, et nous sommes tres contents. Un des votres, qui est tres He avec votre monde en Angleterre, m'ecrit ce matin que rien ne pourrait avoir de meilleurs efPets pour la cause dont je vous ai si souvent parle. C'est bien sur, mon tres cher ami, que je viendrai vous voir a Cahors.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
29 dkembre 1890. Avant que les embarras du premier de I'an m'arrivent, je tiens a vous offrir mes voeux et souhaits de bonne annee a vous et a tous les votres. Cette annee qui s'acheve a ete bien rude pour vous, mon cher ami, mais je suis sur qu'au ciel vous la cbnsidererez comme tres precieuse, car elle vous aura merite
48 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
beaucoup. Que Tannee dans laquelle nous entrons soit pour nous une ann^e de graces, qu'elle nous apporte aussi, si le bon Dieu le veut, quelques Joies de la terre.
Vous me parliez autrefois d'un livre ^ russe, ecrit en fran9ais, sur Teglise orthodoxe, pourriez-vous m'en donner le titre exact et I'adresse de I'^diteur : ]e serais tres curieux de le lire.
Dans le cas ou vous auriez quelque autre indication interes- sante, soit sur I'eglise grecque, soit sur I'^glise anglaise, meme sur des livres Merits en anglais, ]e Taccepterais avec gratitude, car ]e me propose d'occuper mes loisirs k cette 6tude.
The death of Lady Halifax's only brother, the Earl of Devon,2 and of Earl Beauchamp,^ early in 1891 interrupted my correspondence with the Abbe.
We were away in May and June, and Lady Halifax was again ordered abroad in July.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
Southampton, 3 juillet 1891.
Je viens d'arriver ici en route pour RoscofE.
Lady Halifax, ]e I'espere du moins, va un peu mieux, mais le m^decin h, Londres nous a dit que deux mois aupres de la mer avec des barns de mer chauds lui sont absolument n6cessaires. Pour le moment elle n'a pas beaucoup de forces, et il me semble qu'elle est devenue plus maigre encore qu'elle ne I'^tait avant de prendre les eaux en Allemagne. Tout ceci me rend inquiet, et puis, ces jours-ci me rappellent k chaque instant I'annee pass6e oxi mon fils 6tait encore avec nous. C'est le coeur bien gros que je vous 6cris. Toutes mes pens6es sont remplies du souvenir de mon enfant. Ici c'est I'endroit ou nous avons d6barqu6 en retoumant de Madere. Mais a quoi bon vous affliger avec mes tristesses. EUes passeront, et apres tout, il faut accepter de bon coeur ce que la volonte de Dieu nous envoie. Jamais je n'aurais le courage de me punir moi-meme, aussi force est d'etre reconnaissant pour les soufErances qui m'arrivent d' autre part.
Je ne sais pas trop de quelle fa9on nos plans s'arrangeront avant d'arriver a Roscoff, mais je ne crois pas pouvoir quitter
^ Khomiakoff, L'Eglise Latine et le Protestantisme.
* Edward Baldwin, twelfth Earl of Devon.
* Frederick, sixth Earl Beauchamp, who died very suddenly at Madres- field.
LETTERS— 1890-1893 49
Lady Halifax et tout ce monde d'enfants.^ Quelle bonne chance si le hasard vous envoyait du cote de la Bretagne ! S'il m'est im- possible de venir a Cahors maintenant, il faut arranger les choses pour plus tard, en attendant faites-moi savoir vos arrangements.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
Cahors, 7 juillet 1891.
Je ne saurais vous dire quel plaisir m'a fait votre premiere lettre surtout, car je ne savais plus que penser. Graces a Dieu, malgre vos inquietudes, Lady Halifax est en voie de guerison, vous passerez je I'espere de tres bons jours a Roscoff, en cette terre de France sur laquelle j'aurais bien voulu vous recevoir, et vous ramenerez les votres en Angleterre pleins de sante. Je comprends toutes vos craintes, comme je comprends votre chagrin en revoyant les lieux qui vous rappellent votre cher enfant ; pourquoi avoir du scrupule a me dire vos tristesses, mon cher ami ? Un de nos auteurs a dit que le moi est haissable ; j'admets cela pour des personnes qui tout en ayant des relations restent absolument etrangeres les unes aux autres, mais entre amis, c'est le moi que je cherche, et que je veux surtout quand il s'agit de tristesses. Vous connaissez cette belle definition de I'amitie : ' nihil ahud est nisi omnium divinarum humanarumque rerum cum benevolentia et caritate summa consentio.' Omnium . . . summa consentio . . . j'ai toujours regrette qu'un paien I'ait trouvee. Croyez, mon cher ami, que vous ne pouvez me donner une meilleure marque d'amitie que de me parler de vous, en particuher lorsque vous etes dans la peine.
Nous sommes en vacances jusqu'aux premiers jours d'octobre. J'espere que nos projets si bien enterres par I'influenza seront repris et menes a bonne fin. II serait triste que nos chers souvenirs de Madere ne puissent pas se renouveler et se rafraichir.
L'empereur d'Allemagne fait la cour a votre vieille reine ou plutot a votre flotte. Est-ce vrai, mon cher ami, qu'en cas de guerre vous seriez contre nous, et que si la victoire revenait sous nos drapeaux, il ne nous serait pas possible apres avoir battu I'Allemagne d'administrer une belle fouettee a cette Itahe dont le role a notre egard est ignoble d'ingratitude. J'ai de la peine a croire que votre gouvernement se soit he, comme j'ai de la peine a croire qu'il veuille I'aneantissement de la France.
Une seule chose me fait plaisir au miheu de tous ces imbroghos, de toutes ces menaces, c'est I'abnegation, I'heroisme du Pays.
^ Lady Beauchamp and her children went with us to Koscoff . D
50 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
Depuis rhomme du peuple le plus humble jusqu'au gentilhomme, a tous les degres de I'echelle, des qu'il s'agit de Tarmee, on est pret a tous les sacrifices. Vous avez 6te le temoin^ de nos desastres. Apres 1871 nous n'avions plus d'armee, aujourd'hui elle est fort belle, et de I'avis de tout le monde une lutte avec I'Allemagne pourrait etre affrontee sans trop de crainte. Pour qu'en vingt ans un pays se releve k ce point, il faut qu'il ait dans les veines du bon sang.
En dehors de I'armee, par exemple, la France se paie un luxe de fohes peu commun : mais ce chapitre serait trop long. A bientot de vos nouvelles, mon cher ami, la prochaine fois je vous parlerai de vos ordres, J'ai 1^-dessus quelques petites remarques que je vous communiquerai.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
Cahors, 29 juillet 1891.
II y a bien longtemps, mon cher ami, que je veux vous com- munique! quelques reflexions sur la defense de vos ordres, telle qu'elle est presentee par le Rev. Aubrey Moore : ^ puisque je ne suis pas trop presse, je vais le faire aujourd'hui.
On a beaucoup discute sur le fait, c'est-a-dire, sur la vaUdite de I'ordination de Parker. Sur ce point la discussion me parait inextricable, et, en definitive, la conclusion vous est favorable, en vertu du principe de droit melior est conditio possidentis. Mais il me semble qu'on pourrait avantageusement porter I'attaque sur im autre point. H faut admettre, dit notre auteur, que Notre Seigneur n'a pas determine in specie la matiere et la forme de tous les sacrements, et qu'il a laisse ce soin a I'EgHse. Parmi les catholiques romains plusieurs theologiens font diffi- culte d'admettre cette proposition : quant a moi, je la regarde comme certaine et indiscutable. 11 suffit d'ouvrir St. Thomas pour constater qu'il place la matiere et la forme de la confirma- tion dans I'onction, alors que les Grecs et les Latins anciennement les mettent dans I'imposition des mains. Or, s'il y a eu change- ment I'EgHse ne pouvait I'operer que si la determination lui a 6t^ laiss^e par Notre Seigneur.
Done I'Eghse a pu determiner une autre matiere et une autre forme que celles usit^es tout d'abord dans le sacrement de
^ I had been at Sedan with the Red Cross for some time in 1870, attached to one of the hospitals.
* He had been interested in a book by the Rev. Aubrey Moore, which I had sent him amongst others, including Khomiakoff Sur VEglise Latine et le Protestantisme, above mentioned.
LETTERS— 1890-1893 51
rOrdre et les determiner pour la validite et la liceite. Cette conclusion sort tout naturellement, et de la proposition du Rev. Aubrey Moore et de ce que je viens de vous dire.
L'Eglise le pent, cela est certain : mais I'a-t-elle fait, I'a-t-elle voulu ? La volonte de I'Eglise se reconnait, soit par I'usage que Ton peut constater chez elle, soit par le sentiment unanime des theologiens, lorsqu'il n'y a pas de loi, de commandement expresse- ment formule. Je ne connais pas d'acte special operant la transformation. Je crois, au contraire, que ce n'est qu'insen- siblement qu'une ceremonie regardee comme accidentelle dans le principe, est devenue essentielle chez les Latins. Mais elle a ete regardee, et elle est regardee, comme essentielle : cela se prouve, 1°. par I'obligation de recommencer I'Ordination si tout, ou partie, de la porrection des instruments a ete omise ; 2°. par I'unanimite des theologiens du treizieme, quatorzieme, et quin- zieme siecles pour n'admettre comme valide, que la porrection des instruments ; 3°. par I'opinion des theologiens des epoques posterieures qui admettent comme necessaire I'imposition des mains et la porrection des instruments et qui prescrivent si la porrection des instruments a ete omise dans une ordination, non pas de suppleer au defaut de ce rite, mais de recommencer I'ordination purement et simplement.
Mais quel est le sujet de la volonte de I'Eglise ? Pour nous qui admettons que Rome est le centre, evidemment c'est I'Eglise romaine, et dans ce cas la question est videe : mais j'entre dans votre opinion et j'admets, par hypothese, que I'Eglise grecque, c'est-a-dire, I'Eglise tout entiere au moyen age, doive intervenir, et il me semble que Ton peut raisonner ainsi.
L'Eglise grecque savait tres bien, et par notre pratique et par nos documents — en particulier par le decret ad Armenos ^ — que nous n'avions pas la meme matiere ni la meme forme pour la Confirmation et I'Ordre. L'exemple de la Confirmation est typique, car, si I'imposition des mains a ete maintenue chez nous pour I'Ordre, I'onction lui a ete substituee dans la Con- firmation. Or, I'Eglise grecque a admis nos sacrements. Si elle les a admis, sa volonte s'est unie a celle de I'Eglise romaine. Et I'Eglise entiere a done admis, et par le fait meme, determine que la porrection des instruments et I'onction constituent une partie essentielle de la Confirmation et de I'Ordre en Occident. Cette volonte de I'Eglise Universelle qui admettait dans les deux Eglises des usages differents, a admis que chez les Latins Tonction
^ Of Eugenius iv.
62 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
et la porrection des instruments 6taient devenues necessaires, tandis qu'elles ne I'etaient pas chez les Grecs. Si on admet que TEglise a regu mission de determiner la matiere et la forme de certains sacrements, il faut admettre qu'elle a le pouvoir de changer ce qu'elle a etabli : mais il faut admettre aussi, que I'Eglise seule, et non pas une fraction de cette Eglise, a ce pouvoir. Chaque eveque ne pent pas evidemment avoir cette puissance : des lors, on est en droit de dire aux eveques d'Angle- terre, ou, plutot, a trois ou quatre eveques : Pour supprimer une partie de I'Ordination regardee par tous les theologiens de cette epoque, par vous-memes avant les troubles, par I'Eglise latine, et— implicitement par I'Eglise grecque— comme essenti- elles, sur quels droits vous fondez-vous ?
On a infers de la conduite de ces eveques, qui supprimaient une partie regardee comme essentielle de I'Ordination, qu'ils n'avaient pas voulu v^ritablement ordonner ; moi, ]e conclus de ce qui precede que s'ils voulaient, ils ne pouvaient pas ; car il n'appartient pas a un particulier de toucher a la matiere ni a la forme des sacrements determin^es par I'Eghse.
II me semble, mon cher ami, que j'en dis assez pour faire comprendre la portee de mon argumentation, de vous surtout, qui etes si au courant de ces matieres. Vous savez que tout cela est dit salva amicitia, et vous savez aussi combien je serais heureux d'avoir votre pensee a ce sujet. Si vous n'avez pas le temps de me I'ecrire, vous me I'expliquerez a Cahors.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
H6tel des Bains, Roscoff, FiNiSTijRE, 1 aout 1891.
J'etais en train de vous ecrire quand votre lettre m'est arrivee.
Maintenant, avant de repondre a ce que vous me dites, laissez- moi vous donner de nos nouvelles. Nous sommes vraiment tres bien ici. C'est tout a fait une sohtude. Personne de notre connaissance, et une plage ou les enfants s'amusent du matin au soir. II serait impossible de mener une vie plus paisible et plus reguhere. La haute et la basse maree decident la grande question si nous nous baignons le matin ou I'apres-midi, et a quelle heure la promenade aura Ueu. Nous allons a la messe a sept heures ; a huit heures moins un quart, le cafe. Nous dejeunons a onze heures, le diner est a six heures, et nous nous couchons a neuf heures. Le temps a ete superbe, I'air est tres fortifiant, et Lady
LETTERS— 1890-1893 63
Halifax va beaucoup mieux. Nous sommes au nombre de vingt-et-un, si on compte les domestiques, et nous remplissons a peu pres I'hotel. M. Sejat, le proprietaire, est tres aimable, et le service est suffisamment bien fait. Les fenetres de I'hotel donnent d'un cote sur la mer, on pourrait Jeter une pierre dans I'eau quand la maree est haute, et de I'autre cote nous sommes vis-a-vis de I'eglise. En un mot, I'endroit nous va a merveille, et nous serons tres faches de quitter Roscoff. Nous comptons Tester ici jusqu'aux derniers jours du mois, et alors nous passe- rons par St. Malo pour retourner en Angleterre.
J'ai fait connaissance avec le Recteur dont tout le monde dit du bien, et nous sommes tous tres edifies par les foules qu'on voit a I'eglise. C'est tout autre chose qu'a Madere.
Vous allez trouver tout ceci tres ennuyeux, mais telle est notre vie, et elle ne se prete pas a une chronique amusante. Maintenant, j'ai une proposition a vous faire. Si vous etes libre jusqu'a la fin du mois, ne pourriez-vous pas nous faire une petite visite ? Je suis sur qu'une semaine ou dix jours vous feraient beaucoup de bien. N'hesitez pas, mettez-vous dans le train, et dites-moi tout de suite I'heure de votre arrivee. J'attends votre reponse avec impatience. Qu'elle soit un ' oui ' ! Je demande, j'exige un ' oui ' ! Si vous venez, nous discuterons le raisonnement que vous m'envoyez sur la question des Ordres. Si vous ne venez pas, je vous ecrirai la-dessus a tete reposee, mais il me semble, pour toucher un seul point, qu'au point de vue de I'EgHse romaine, si I'imposition des mains avec I'inten- tion de conferer les Ordres a ete consideree comme suffisante pour la validite des Ordres a telle epoque dans I'histoire de I'EgHse, il ne devrait pas y avoir de difficulte pour que I'EgHse romaine, vu toutes les circonstances, reconnut la validite de nos Ordres, meme en admettant qu'ils eussent du etre conferes avec d'autres ceremonies. 'Fieri non debuit, factum valet.' Adieu.
The Abbe Portal came to Roscoff 20th August, and stayed with us until the 28th, when he accompanied us as far as St. Malo on our way to England. I remember now his astonishment at the number of handbags and loose parcels we had with us, and the shade of something more than astonishment at the noise the children (Lady Agnes and Lady Maud Lygon, and my son Edward) made in the train.
64 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
Garrowby, Stamford Bridge, York, 12 novembre 1891.
Je suis tout a fait au desespoir. J'avais essaye d'ecrire quelque chose pour la Eevue ^ dont vous m'aviez parle, mais j'ai trouv6 cela si difficile, et le tout m'a paru si banal et si mal fait que j'ai tout dechire, et c'est k recommencer de nouveau. Je ne sais ce que vous allez me dire, mais je puis vous assurer que ce n'est pas la bomie volonte qui fait defaut. Je suis contrarie au dernier point d'etre si absolument idiot. (Je crains aussi qu'une de vos lettres ne se soit egaree.) Que m'avez-vous de- mand^ au sujet des livres de theologie ? Serait-ce par hasard que les volumes que je vous ai expedies ne sont pas arrives ? Enfin je n'y comprends rien, ce qui m'ennuie beaucoup, car je ne voudrais pas, pour tout au monde, vous donner des embarras.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
Cahors, 17 novembre 1891.
En arrivant ici, il y aura demain huit jours, j'ai trouve votre lettre et les livres que vous avez bien voulu m'envoyer. Les livres constituent un vrai tresor dont je vous suis infiniment reconnaissant. J'ai dej^ parcouru de-ci de-la plusieurs de ces ouvrages, je me propose de les travailler a fond, des que j'aurai repris ma vie de calme et d'ordre.
J'ai re^u une reponse favorable du directeur de la Science Catholique. A I'oeuvre done, mon cher ami, et envoyez-moi au plus tot votre manuscrit. Ce ne sera 1^, j'espere, que le com- mencement d'une longue campagne. Que Notre Seigneur benisse nos efforts, que par sa grace la petite semence jetee par I'amiti^ dans le champ de I'EgUse y produise des fruits d'union.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
28 novembre 1891. Je vous demandais dans ma demiere lettre de vouloir bien reprendre votre travail pour la Revue. Je crois, mon cher ami, plus que jamais, qu'il serait bon de faire connaitre I'etat de votre EgUse ; I'union, si jamais Dieu la permet, ne pent se produire brusquement ; une preparation est necessaire dans les differentes
* Eevue de la Science Catlwlique,
LETTERS— 1890-1893 55
communions. Pourquoi ne travaillerions-nous pas de toutes nos forces a preparer ce glorieux evenement, en jetant une petite semence de-ci de-la, laissant a Dieu le soin de la faire germer, s'il le juge a propos.
J'attendais votre discours sur le retablissement des ordres religieux, des details sur cette reunion, etc. Rien n'est arrive. Mon cher ami, ]e ne vous laisserai pas un moment de repos jusqu'a ce que nous ayons commence notre petite campagne. Je me propose d'entrer en relations avec un de nos principaux joumaux religieux, et de lui envoy er des articles des que j'aurai quelque chose. Je serai sur, ainsi, que nos idees passeront sous les yeux de nos principaux eveques. Mais il faut que J'aie quelque chose. Cette reunion et la statue ^ du Cardinal Newman fourniraient, ]e crois, de bons articles : allons, mon cher ami, c'est pour I'Eglise, c'est pour notre Seigneur Jesus Christ, a I'ceuvre done.
Lord Halifax to the Abhe Portal
Hampton Court Palace, 12 decembre 1891.
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa ! C'est le seul mot que ]e trouve a vous adresser. Vraiment j'ai honte de moi- meme, et je veux absolument me confesser. Ce malheureux 6crit que je vous avals promis me pesait sur la conscience. C'etait si difficile a faire, que je ne trouvais jamais la resolution de me mettre a I'ceuvre. Je me faisais des reproches tons les Jours, mais il n'en resultait rien, et puis, quand votre demiere lettre m'est arrivee j 'avals peur de la lire.
Voyez, mon cher ami, I'indigne personne pour laquelle vous vous donnez tant d'embarras, et comme je merite peu votre amitie. Maintenant, je vous en prie, pardonnez-moi. Je suis tout contrit, et je vous demande pardon tres humblement. Ce qui finit de me couvrir de confusion c'est le ton de votre lettre. Enfin, je vous promets de me mieux conduire a I'avenir. Aussi je vais vraiment essay er de vous envoyer quelque chose pour vos joumaux. En y regardant de plus pres, ce qui s'est passe a York, au sujet des ordres religieux, ne vaut pas la peine d'etre reproduit ; c'etait trop local, et n'aurait pas beaucoup d'interet a I'etranger. Si je peux y mettre la main, je vous enverrai mardi, quand je serai a Londres pour quelques heures,
^ The erection of a statue in memory of Cardinal Newman : it was e ventually put up outside the Oratory at Brompton.
66 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
la lettre ^ k Tarcheveque de Paris et sa r^ponse au sujet des ordres religieux en France.
L'affaire de la statue du cardinal Newman marche bien ; nous attendons seulement la reponse de la municipalite d' Oxford pour la mettre tout a fait en train ; 1' argent est pret, et c'est seulement la question du lieu qui reste k etre d6cidee.
Nos joumaux s'occupent de Tarcheveque d'Aix, et de la discussion k votre chambre des deputes sur I'obligation que votre gouvemement impose k vos 6veques de demander une per- mission pour aller a Rome : cela me parait quelque chose de tout k fait inoui. Je voudrais que tous les eveques fran9ais se missent en pelerinage ' ad Limina ' k I'instant.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
12 Janvier 1892.
La soiree est a moi, si vous le voulez bien, nous allons en profiter et Jaser tout a notre aise.
Vous m'avez parle du mois de fevrier pour votre voyage k Cahors, nous voila au milieu de Janvier et de]^ vous pouvez pr6voir si, oui ou non, vous serez a meme d'ex6cuter votre projet. Je vous en prie, fixez-moi la-dessus. Le manage du fils du Prince de Galles aurait lieu, d'apres les joumaux, le 28 fevrier. Cette date, contrarie-t-elle les projets de Lady Beauchamp et de Lady Halifax ?
Et maintenant, causons. J'ai du pour un renseignement consulter Thistoire du Concile du Vatican, par Mgr. Cecconi, traduite par deux pretres de Paris, et depuis deux jours je suis absorbe par cet ouvrage que je ne connaissais pas. La facture n'est pas frangaise, mais les jugements me paraissent impartiaux et les documents qu'il public sont du plus haut int^ret. Tout naturellement, je suis all6, dans les preliminaires, k ce qui con- ceme votre Eglise, et je ne saurais vous dire k quel point j'ai 6t6 int^ress^ par des extraits d'lm opuscule de Cobb : ^ ' A few words, etc.,' par les tentatives d'un Bollandiste, le pere de Buck, et en particulier par sa belle lettre si charitable et si savante, inseree dans le Church Times. II y aura la matiere a bonnes conversations. Pour aujourd'hui, laissez-moi vous rappeler
^ A letter I had written to Cardinal Guibert, Archbishop of Paris, on behalf of the English Church Union, in regard to the expulsion of the Religious Orders from France.
2 Grerald Cobb, the author of the Kies of Peace, and other works in the interests of reunion.
LETTERS— 1890-1893 57
quelques paroles de Cobb : ' Nous d6clarons posseder des preuves authentiques plus que suffisantes pour faire casser ce verdict au sujet des ordinations. Qu'avons-nous fait pour placer ces preuves sous les yeux de nos adversaires et obtenir qu'ils modifient leur jugement ? ... La moitie au moins de nos ecclesiastiques s'en felicitent et ne cessent de proclamer que nous sommes une Eglise protestante, les fils du seizieme siecle, qui a eu la mission speciale de commencer contre Fantechrist papal une guerre qui se poursuivra jusqu'a la fin du monde.'
Si cela est vrai, ]e me demande au sujet du dernier para- graphe, ce que deviennent vos sacrements en pareilles mains, et si quelques-uns de vos eveques entrent dans ces idees, que peuvent-ils faire du sacrement de I'Ordre ?
Mais, c'est sur la premiere citation que je veux m'arreter et avec Cobb je vous dirai : Avez-vous fait quelque chose pour placer ces preuves sous les yeux de votre adversaire ? Votre Eglise devrait publier, si non d'une maniere officielle, du moins par I'organe d'un de vos meilleurs tbeologiens, une these etabUs- sant peremptoirement la vaUdite de vos ordinations. Et pourquoi ne profiteriez-vous pas du pontificat actuel ? Leon xin. a I'esprit tres large, tres conciliant. II apporterait, j'en suis sur, dans I'examen de I'opportunite de la question, et de la question elle-meme, toute la prudence et la sagesse voulues. Comme le dit tres bien Cobb, Rome est au moins le siege de votre patriarche, c'est done a lui, qu'un litige doit etre porte. Croyez, mon cher ami, que ce sera tou jours la la premiere question a resoudre, et elle est d'autant plus facile a aborder que ce n'est qu'une question de fait, et non pas une question de foi. Mais I'aborder, serait, il me semble, faire un grand pas, car ce serait commencer a negocier, et en cela, comme en bien d'autres choses, il n'y a que le premier pas qui coute.
II existe, bien sur, au moins une vingtaine d'eveques en Angle- terre ou dans les colonies, qui partagent vos idees. Eh bien ! si ces vingt eveques se presentaient a Rome, en disant : ' Voil^ nos titres d'Ordination, examinez-les, examinez nos preuves,' je suis convaincu que I'effet produit serait immense. En tout cas vous auriez atteste votre croyance a la primaute d'honneur, qui ne consiste pas, j 'imagine, en une question de preseance et de poHtesse, et il serait acquis a nos yeux que vos ordres sont vaUdes. Mais, en attendant, et ici je retombe sur mes pattes, pourquoi ne pas agiter la question dans la presse, surtout en France. J'ai oiu dire par des mauvaises langues, que nous
58 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
6tion8, nous fran9ais, les commis-voyageurs des id6es des autres. Une chose certaine, c'est que nous sommes vulgarisateurs et apotres par nature. Quand nous avons une idee, bonne ou mauvaise peu importe, il faut qu'elle fasse le tour du monde, si non, nous ne sommes pas contents. Vous devriez profiter de ce genie particulier de notre race, et faire connaitre en France Tetat de votre Eglise. Si les Fran9ais y prennent gout, soyez tranquille, il faudra que tout le monde en tate.
Dans votre lettre du 12 decembre vous me disiez une chose fort grave: * Je veux me conf esser . . . Jesuistoutcontrit.' . . . Savez-vous que je suis capable de prendre au serieux mon role de pere spirituel ? Vous vous confessez, oui vraiment ? mais quand on se confesse, on ne raisonne pas, mon cher enfant ! Et vous vous permettez de raisonner : * je ne vous envoie pas le discours de X parce que ' . . . ' je ne vous parle pas de la reunion d'York parce que' ... etc. Tons ces 'parce que' sont de trop. II fallait dire : Je vous avals promis ceci et cela, pardonnez-moi, mon pere, je ne recommencerai plus, et je tacherai de reparer ma faute en vous envoyant, si possible, ce que je vous avais promis. Voila qui est parler en vrai penitent. Pour cette fois je ne continue pas ma fonction jusqu'au bout, et je ne vous impose pas de penitence, mais la prochaiue fois, gare !
Ce que j'exige, par exemple, c'est que vous m'envoyiez mon travail pour la Reime, sans quoi je suis d^shonore, et pour un professeur de th6ologie morale, c'est chose grave. Envoyez-moi aussi certaines communications pour les joumaux. H faut decid^ment secouer votre ' tiideur Spouvantable dans laquelle vos devoirs mtme les pltis rdcessaires votes semUent presque impossibles.' Et pour achever de vous rechauffer, venez done bientot passer quelques jours aupres de nous. Comme nous serous heureux de vous recevoir et quel bonheur pour moi de vous posseder 1^ tout pres, de causer et de vous confesser.
II faut pourtant bien m'arreter. Avouez, mon cher ami, que je suis en veine de bavardage. Causer avec vous est plus agreable que de creuser le traits de la Justice. Ce matin j'ai expHque les differentes circonstances de Heux, de temps, de mode dans lesquelles la restitution doit se faire ; matiere peu interessante, mais malheureusement tres pratique.
Tout k I'heure au refectoire, on nous a lu un passage de St. Cyprien bien remarquable. Ce grand homme 6crivait a Rome pour demander au pape d'user de tons les pouvoirs qui lui sont
LETTERS--1890-1893 69
confies, de d^poser Marcien, 6veque d' Aries et primat des Gaules, et de lui donner un remplagant. Cela suppose une croyance qui depasse toute primaute d'honneur, il me semble. Naturelle- ment j'ai pense a vous, comme je le fais bien souvent, en par- ticulier lorsque je trouve des citations, ou des exposes de doctrine qui me frappent beaucoup plus maintenant qu'autrefois.
Lord Halifax to the Abhe Portal
HiCKLETON, DONCASTER,
29 Janvier 1892.
La mort du due de Clarence a tout bouleverse ici, jamais on n'a vu un tel deuil. Je reviens de Windsor ou j'ai ete pour I'enterrement, et je ne saurais vous dire a quel point la ceremonie a ete navrante. J'ai vu le Prince de Galles le jour apres, cela m'a dechire le coeur. Ah ! que ce monde est triste !
Lady Halifax, Marie ^ et mon frere ^ jouent aux cartes. Et moi, je vais repondre a votre lettre.
Je ne connais pas le livre dont vous me parlez. Quoique je I'aie perdu de vue depuis longtemps, ce M. Cobb m'etait connu autrefois, avant, et a I'epoque du concile du Vatican. II s'est fait remarquer par un livre sur la Presence reelle, intitule, The Kiss of Peace, dans lequel il demontrait que ce que I'Eglise anglicane nie dans le mot ' transubstantiation ' n'est pas ce que I'Eglise romaine entend par ce mot, mais, la transaccidentation, et que sur ce point il n'y a pas vraiment de difference entre les Eglises, que c'est une question de mots, une logomachie, et pas autre chose.
M. Cobb avait fonde toutes ses esperances sur le concile du Vatican. II croyait que ce concile allait surement tout recon- ciUer, et que jamais il n'erigerait I'infailUbilite du Pape en article de foi ; quand le dogme a ete proclame Cobb a perdu la foi, il a cesse de communier, et il est reste depuis longtemps isole, avec toutes les bases de sa croyance brisees. On prie beaucoup pour lui, et je crois que maintenant il revient a la foi.
Pour ce que vous dites au sujet d'une demande aupres de Rome de la part d'eveques anglais, pour une enquete sur la vahdite de nos ordres, il serait sans doute facile qu'ime teUe demande fut faite si les eveques qui la feraient etaient prets a accepter la decision du Pape, quelle qu'elle ffit. Mais croyez-vous qu'une
* My daughter (married to Colonel Sutton, Coldstream Guards).
* Colonel, the Hon. Henry Wood.
60 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
telle demande pourrait s'arranger si ceux qui la fesaient, deman- daient cette enquete de la part du Pape, non comme si les ordres etaient douteux, mais comme preliminaire pour des discussions visant k la reunion des Eglises. Pour moi, ]e crains beaucoup que I'etat des esprits de chaque cote ne soit pas assez avance pour permettre de croire qu'une telle demande pourrait etre faite avec succes k I'heure qu'il est. II y aurait plus k esp6rer d'une demande de la part de Tarcheveque de Canterbury au Pape de permettre k des envoyes d'Angleterre de fouiller la bibliotheque du Vatican, et toutes les archives de la cour de Rome. Je parlais d'lme telle demande I'autre Jour a I'^veque de Rochester,^ et si on croyait ici qu'elle ne serait pas refusee, il me semble que cela pourrait tres bien se faire. Des relations personnelles Stabiles entre TArcheveque de Canterbury et le St. Siege, si les questions d'etiquette et de titres pouvaient etre arrang^es, seraient d'une tres grande importance.
J'ai envoye un exemplaire du petit Uvre de I'Abbe Perraud que vous m'avez donn6 k la Princesse de Galles ; il lui a plu beaucoup.
Ah ! mon cher ami, ce n'est pas k moi de le dire, qui ne veux pas me donner la peine du petit travail que vous m'avez de- mande, mais si seulement la paix pouvait se faire entre nous !
J'espere bien vous voir au mois de mars, ou peut-etre au commencement d'avril.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
3 fivrier 1892, Je vous exp6die un journal, dans lequel vous trouverez im article sur . . . je n'ose pas le dire ; il le faut bien pourtant quand ce ne serait que pour vous donner sa raison d'etre. Le petit article est sur Gladstone : ^ il a ete motive par un article paru dans un journal r^pubUcain et anti-religieux, ce qui d'ordinaire chez nous va ensemble. Dans cet article fort ^logieux d'ailleurs pour votre compatriote, on parlait surtout de Glad- stone homme pohtique, et de ses opinions sur I'ltaUe. Dans un petit paragraphe, on faisait allusion k ses opinions philo- sophiques : j'ai voulu leur faire savoir que Gladstone avait autre
^ Very Rev. Randall Thomas Davidson, afterwards Bishop of Winchester and now Archbishop of Canterbury.
2 Article intitul6 Oladstone et L4on XIII., which appeared in the Express du Midi.
LETTERS— 1890-1893 61
chose que des opinions philosophiques, et leur faire constater que Ton pouvait etre grand homme d'Etat et bon chretien. Vous me direz combien il y a de betises dans mon factum.
Et maintenant causons. Le but a atteindre pour le moment, ce me semble, serait d'obtenir que la question des Ordres qui sera, necessairement et toujours, la premiere question, fut
L'auteur de I'histoire du concile du Vatican, I'Archeveque de Florence, Mgr. Cecconi, apres avoir rapporte des extraits de I'opuscule de Cobb, dit : ' Tous les catholiques, et, je ne crains pas de I'affirmer, le Saint Siege lui-meme, seraient heureux de voir entamer une serieuse et loyale discussion sur une matiere ou M. Cobb montre tant d'assurance : ce serait la un avantage precieux pour la science historique, et, ce qui vaut mieux, pour le salut des ames, car on mettrait fin a une controverse historico- dogmatique ouverte il y a trois siecles : alors tout anglican de bonne foi, tout ministre de ce culte ne tarderait pas a prendre une determination, non pas conforme a I'opinion de ceux qui pensent comme M. Cobb, mais de tout point d' accord avec la verite. Que les anglicans produisent done ' les preuves authen- tiques (documentary evidence) plus que suffisantes pour faire casser le verdict traditionnel rendu centre la validite de leurs Ordinations.'
J'ai tenu a vous rapporter ce passage tout entier ; les mots ' serieuse et loyale ' sont soulignes par l'auteur lui-meme. Vous voyez done, mon cher ami, que la chose parait possible a d'autres qu'a moi. Je crois que pour examiner la question, a Rome, on n'exigerait pas ime adhesion prealable a toute la doctrine romaine, et que le fait serait discute en dehors de toute doctrine. Ce n'est pas a dire qu'il soit bon d'aborder la question ex abruptOy il faudrait y amener peu a peu les esprits, de maniere a ce que tout le monde presque le demandat. Pour cela, comme entree en matiere, des recherches a faire dans la bibUotheque du Vatican seraient un excellent terrain. Mais, la encore, si, comme je le crois, la permission est accordee sans difficulte, dans la maniere de proceder, il faut aller doucement. II serait bon de sender le terrain par des intermediaires qui ne compromettraient per- sonne. Et de plus, la permission obtenue, il vous faudrait a Rome un pretre, connaissant un peu les ItaUens et voulant fermement la reussite de I'entreprise. Ce pretre eviterait a vos envoyes bien des ennuis, et leur rendrait d'inappr6ciables services. En tout cas, il faut eviter h tout prix que la tenta-
62 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
tive de rapprochement si elle est lanc^, ^houe, car ce serait, apres, pire qu'avant.
Si vous le desirez, ]e pourrai ecrire a Rome a im ancien nonce de Lisbonne, avec lequel j'ai fait autrefois un peu de diphmatie : c'est le cardinal Vincent VannutelH, persona grata aupres de Leon xm., homme tres fin et destine, ]e crois, k occuper bientot un poste important. Ou mieux, ]e pourrais tout d'abord, obtenir les reglements de la bibliotheque vaticane, bien que les regle- ments generaux ne servent pas a grand' chose. Si vous croyez que ces reglements doivent vous etre utiles je pourrai les obtenir facilement, je pense.
La conclusion qui s'impose, c'est qu'il y a quelque chose a faire. Vous n'imaginez pas comme ]e serais heureux de vous etre utile, en tout cela.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
Maison Affbe, Place Stb. Eugenie, BiABRiTZ,! 27 f^vrier 1892.
Un mot pour vous annoncer notre arrivee. Lady HaUfax va mieux, Dieu merci, et commence a entrer en pleine convales- cence ; c'est un grand soulagement pour moi. Je crois que nous serons ici au moins jusqu'au commencement du mois d'avril ; mais cela depend de la convenance du cUmat pour Lady HaUfax. Toutefois je viens a Cahors ^ ou le mois prochain, ou au commencement d'avril, probablement le mois prochain, du moins si cela vous est 6gal.
H me parait que la situation en France entre TEgUse et I'Etat se precise, et tout a I'avantage de I'EgUse. L'encycUque du Pape devrait faire beaucoup de bien partout : on ne saurait voir la question plus nettement posee.
Je finis a I'instant les ' Origines du culte chr^tien ' par I'Abb^ Duchesne. Cela me parait une oeuvre de premier ordre ; les apergus qui s'y trouvent sur quelques auteurs anglais ne laissent rien a desirer. Je suis de plus en plus convaincu que tout ce qu'il faut pour la paix entre nous, c'est de la bonne volonte, et ime connaissance un peu exacte des choses, mais, c'est precise- ment ce qu'il y a de plus rare sur cette terre.
^ Lady Halifax's health was still a cause for anxiety, and in consequence she was ordered to go to Biarritz in February 1892.
* April 2nd, I went to stay with the Abb6 at the Grand S^minaire at Cahors, and I remained there till the 8th, when I rejoined Lady Halifax in Paris.
LETTERS— 1890-1893 63
I spent the opening days of April with the Abbe at Cahors, and after I left I wrote to him as follows : —
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
H6tel Voltaire, Paris, 8 avril 1892.
J'ai ete tres triste en vous disant adieu hier, et pendant tout le voyage je ne faisais rien que regretter les bons jours passes avec vous au seminaire.
Je n'en dis rien, mais soyez certain que je vous suis tres reconnaissant. II me semble qu'il aurait ete impossible d'avoir plus de bontes que celles que tout le monde a eues pour moi.
Samedi.
Diner tres agreable hier soir, chez Mile. Gavard : ^ le Due de Broglie, M. Anatole Leroy Beaulieu, un secretaire de I'ambassade d'Angleterre, et, enfin, le cure de la Madeleine. On m'a de- mande beaucoup de choses au sujet de I'eveque de Lincoln, et je crois que le diner n'a pas ete tout a fait inutile. Je suis meme entre en relations avec le cure de la Madeleine qui me permettra de lui ecrire et de lui rendre visite quand je me trouverai a Paris. Lui aussi desire beaucoup qu'on ecrive quelque chose en fran9ais au sujet de I'eglise anglicane.
Lisez dans le Temps le discours de Pierre Loti et la reponse de M. Mezieres, de FAcademie.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
Hotel Bardet, Mont-Dore, Puy-de-D6me, 19 juillet 1892.
Vous etes bien surpris, n'est-ce pas, en lisant I'adresse au haut de cette lettre ? Lady Halifax a ete encore si souffrante que le medecin a voulu positivement qu'elle essayat des eaux qu'on trouve ici.
Je prends la plume pour vous dire que j'ai travaille un peu aux choses dont nous parhons a Cahors, et que j'ai fait im com- mencement au sujet du Hvre sur les ordinations anghcanes, et pour ce qui touche a la demande de visiter les manuscrits au Vatican. Le nouvel archeveque de Westminster ^ a ete tout a fait aimable pour tout ce qui touche au Vatican.
^ Sister of M. Charles Gavard, for some time Secretary of Legation at the French Embassy in London. They were both intimate friends of mine. ^ Cardinal Vaughan.
64 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
The Cardinal was quite the reverse, however, in regard to the question of Orders. I see from my Diary that I had called upon him on 4th July, and had stayed to luncheon. My object had been to interest him in, and obtain his help on behalf of, a serious effort in the interests of reunion. I remember insisting how much might be done by a friendly and sympathetic attitude on the part of the authorities of the Roman CathoHc Church to bring back the Church of England as a whole into communion with the Holy See, that nothing was so great a cause of irritation as the attitude adopted by those authorities in regard to the Orders and Sacraments conferred by the Church of England, and that, if an investigation into the facts, as I beUeved must be the case in any fair and impartial inquiry, led to a reconside- ration of that attitude on the part of Rome, a step, the importance of which could not be exaggerated, would have been taken in the interests of peace.
To all this the Cardinal only repUed that the question of Rome was the crucial question, that it was the question which would have to be settled in the end, and that it was therefore better to begin with it, the exactly opposite course which, for the reasons given, I had advocated.
The Abhi Portal to Lord Halifax
3 septemhre 1892.
Avez-vous retrouve votre calme et pouvez-vous travailler ? ^ II me tarda de savoir si vous allez aborder enfin votre travail sur les Ordres. II y aurait bien je crois quelque chose a faire sur le proces de I'eveque de Lincohi. Voyons, un bon mouve- ment. Je ne vous rappelle pas vos aaciennes promesses, mais souvenez-vous de ce que vous disiez au Mont-Dore. Ce serait vraiment le moment de faire quelque chose.
Que disent les medecins au sujet de Lady Halifax ? J'aime a esperer qu'ils ne jugeront pas un s6]our en Egypte necessaire et qu'ils se bomeront k vous envoyer dans le Midi de Fraace. Ce sera moins ennuyeux pour vous et beaucoup plus agr^able pour moi.
» After our return from Mont-Dore» where the Abb6 had passed some days with us in August.
LETTERS— 1890-1893 65
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
12 octobre 1892. Votre silence ^ me surprenait beaucoup, j'etais inquiet d'etre sans nouvelles, et ennuye de ne rien recevoir au sujet de votre congres de Tolkestone.^ JJUnivers nous en a parle, mais assez sommairement et assez mal, comme vous avez pu vous en convaincre par le numero que je vous ai envoye. Or, c'est tout ce que notre clerge fran9ais saura de vos reunions. Dans d'autres circonstances, je vous aurais demande de m'envoyer de vos joumaux, de m'ecrire une longue lettre, et avec ces elements j 'aurais compose un article que J 'aurais fait paraitre probable- ment dans le Monde ; mais je n'ose pas vous imposer ce travail et ces ennuis au milieu de votre tristesse, et des derangements qu'une telle mort vous occasionne. Vous me feriez grand plaisir, cependant, en m'envoyant des journaux et votre discours.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
HiCKLETON, DoNCASTER, 29 decembre 1892.
Sachez le bien ; il n'y a personne a qui je pense plus souvent qu'a vous, ni aucun sujet qui me preoccupe plus que celui qui est le commencement, le milieu et la fin de toutes nos conversa- tions, c'est-a-dire, la paix de I'Eglise, et ce qu'on pourrait faire pour mettre fin au schisme entre I'Angleterre et Rome.
Vous souvenez-vous d'un conseil que vous m'avez donne au Mont-Dore, de faire une petite retraite et de prendre une bonne resolution de donner suite a ce qui pourrait se faire pour la cause que nous avons a coeur. Eh bien, j'ai obei, je suis alle chez ces pretres a Oxford passer quelques jours (cela m'a bien rappele Cahors) et Dieu aidant, je vais essayer de faire un peu plus que par le passe. C'est une resolution que les bons jours de Noel vont aider a fructifier. Pour le moment nous sommes au beau miHeu de toutes les fetes de Noel. Ce soir il y a un concert, Agnes et Edouard jouent chacun d'un instrument, et tous les domestiques sont en requisition— on m'assure que cela va etre tres beau. Lady HaHfax est chef d'orchestre, et se demene avec son baton d'une fagon tout a fait professionnelle. Demain il y a un bal pour tout le monde, maitres, domestiques, fermiers, etc., etc., et la grande question est avec quel cavalier Lady
u ?^?. *? *^® ^®^*^ ^^ "^y brother-in-law, the Hon. John Dundas « m^"^ ^'®^ ^®^y suddenly at Hickleton in September of this year 2 The Church Congress at Folkestone.
E
66 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
HaKfax doit danser la premiere contredanse. La semaine prochaine tous les enfants du voisinage doivent venir jouer ici ; 11 y aura un prestidigitateur pour les amuser et tout doit fim'r par un petit bal dont Agnes et Edouard vont faire les honneurs. Mercredi nous recommen9ons notre train accoutum^, et vers le quinze Janvier Lady Halifax et Agnes partent pour Biarritz. Malheureusement, il m'est impossible de les accompagner, et ]e garde Marie pour me tenir compagnie dans ma solitude. C'est probable que ]e viendrai passer un mois k Biarritz a la fin de f^vrier. Lady Halifax est un peu enrhum6e ces demiers temps, et ]e serais content de la voir k Tabri de nos brouillards. Edouard est a la maison depuis dix jours ; on lui donne les meilleurs certificats de son ecole. Marie se porte a merveille, et Lady Beauchamp et ses enfants sont aussi on ne pent mieux. Robert et la petite Agnes Lygon viennent k Lincoln le douze du mois prochain pour leur confirmation. La cer^monie a lieu dans la chapelle de I'^veque. Un peu plus tard Lady Beauchamp et les siens doivent rejoindre Lady Halifax k Biarritz. Voici bien toutes les nouvelles que J'ai a vous donner sur vos amis d'ici.
En fait de politique, personne ne croit que le gouvemement puisse durer. Dans la politique c'est bien I'impr^vu qui arrive, et il se pourrait bien que M. Gladstone ait des surprises dans sa poche qui 6tonneront le monde. Mais pour le coup ]e crois que I'impression g6n6rale est bien fondle, et Je tiens pour certain, que le gouvemement ne durera pas longtemps. Monsieur Gladstone vieillit beaucoup et son parti est traverse par tant d'interets divers que la moindre petite chose pourrait remettre Lord Salisbury au pouvoir. Le Parlement se rassemble le 30 ou 31 Janvier et 9a va etre pour nous autres un temps d'in- t^ret exceptionnel. Je crois pour ce qui touche les missionnaires ^ en Afrique qu'au fond la question est politique et non reUgieuse. On est d'accord ici pour vouloir TimpartiaHte la plus complete de la part du gouvemement entre les missionnaires cathoUques et protestants, et on croit que le capitaine Lugard 2 a voulu tout simplement imposer la paix k tous les partis. Tout de meme, k mon avis des choses deplorables ont ete faites et surtout dites, et je vous avoue que mes sympathies sont tres divisees. Je suis en correspondance avec I'eveque de Safisbury et d'autres au sujet de la brochure sur les ordinations angUcanes,^ et j'espdre vous donner bientot des informations precises a propos de cet
^ Missionaries in Uganda.
2 Sir Frederick D. Lugard, K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O.
' The Abb6 had been trying to write something on the subject.
LETTERS— 1 890- 1 893 67
ouvrage. J'ai envoye a I'eveque les notes que vous aviez ecrites la-dessus. Je crois que I'eveque ecrira lui-meme quelque chose qui traitera la question de la ' matiere et de la forme du sacrement.' Pour le moment il m'envoie une lettre qu'il a adressee a I'Archeveque d'Utrecht. Cette lettre traite seule- ment la question historique. Evidemment, ce n'est pas a I'Eglise Janseniste qu'il faut s'adresser, mais je vous envoie la lettre telle qu'elle est. Comme vous le verrez, la lettre est en latin, avec une traduction en anglais.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
25 Janvier 1893. Vous avez vu par nos joumaux que le prince d'Arenberg a pose une question i a notre Ministre des Affaires etrangeres, on en fera autant chez vous. Je ne sais trop, au fond, que penser de I'affaire, mais vous pourriez, ce me semble, profiter de la circonstance pour stigmatiser les agissements de certains mission- naires, ministres protestants anglais, qui, pour nous, les repre- sentent tons. C'est sans doute delicat, car il ne faut pas froisser I'amour propre national, cependant la chose me parait faisable. Vous pourriez parler du Zanzibar 2 et de la conduite de vos amis. II y aurait la, je crois, une bonne occasion de marquer votre desir de concorde et d'union. Vous le savez, a Madagascar, nos missionnaires ont trouve des Anglais au travers de leur route. Dans rUganda, ce serait pareil, d'apres nos renseignements. Bien souvent, nos relations des missions disent la meme chose pour la Perse et pour bien d'autres endroits. II serait bon qu'un desaveu autorise partit de votre tribune parlementaire. Je serais tout heureux si, vous d'abord, et votre Ministre ensuite, f aisiez connaitre a notre monde catholique, que ces missionnaires n'ont rien de commun avec votre monde rehgieux. Dans le cas, mon cher ami, ou vous croiriez devoir suivre mon modeste conseil, je vous prierais de m'envoyer le compte rendu de la seance ou des seances. Je m'en servirais et ferais quelque chose pour un journal de Paris.
L'eveque de Sahsbury trouvera bien peu de chose dans mes notes. Je m'etais propose de reunir dans ce cahier les textes et les documents qui pouvaient servir pour le travail dont nous
^ In reference to the missionary troubles in Uganda.
2 Where the members of the Universities Mission, including the Sisters of Charity from St. Raphael, Bristol, were on the best of terms with the Roman Catholic missionaries.
68 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
avons parl6 si souvent, mais je n'en 6tais qu'au debut de mes recherches : je souhaite que Teveque de Salisbury et vos amis fassent bient6t paraitre une solide demonstration de la validite de vos Ordres. Si, une fois le travail fini, examin6 par vos principaux eveques, et approuv6 par eux, on avait le courage d'en envoyer un exemplaire a Leon xin., ce serait un grand pas.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
5 juin 1893.
Vos Joumaux vous ont-ils parl6 d'un pelerinage en terre sainte, a la tete duquel se trouvait Mgr. Langenieux, archeveque de Reims, nomm6, pour la circonstance, legat du Saint Siege. Ce pelerinage a pris les proportions d'une importante manifesta- tion de sympathie pour I'lSglise orientale. Le discours de Mgr. Langenieux a ete tres beau et a produit, parait-il, excellent effet. Je vous I'envoie. Vous trouverez dans le meme journal un petit article sur I'Angleterre, qui a bien interess6 nos confreres, ce qui prouve, entre parentheses, a quel point la question anglicane est nouvelle pour nous.
Je crois, mon cher ami, que le moment d'agir est venu. De toute part cette idee d'unite s'empare des esprits, c'est le vent qui souffle, ou plutot, qui commence a s'elever doucement. II faut en profiter pour rappeler qu'il n'y a pas seulement qu'une l&glise orientale a conquerir, mais que tout pres, I'ile des Saints fait les plus nobles efforts pour se debarrasser de mille liens, politiques et autres.
Le travail sur les Ordres avance-t-il ? Je voudrais bien avoir les details. Pour nous, nous allons etre absorbes par la lutte electorate; je dis nous, mais c'est uniquement maniere de parler, car tout en la suivant avec grand interet, elle ne me troublera guere.
CHAPTER III
Correspondence — July 1892 to July 1894 — The Abbe Portal's Pamphlet, Les Ordinations Anglicanes — its Division into Three Parts: (1) 'Le Rite,' (2) 'Le Ministre,' (3) 'Le Sujet.'
In July and August 1893 Lady Halifax was again ordered to Mont-Dore, where the Abbe Portal spent a week with us. The preceding correspondence will show that at Roscoff and elsewhere the intention had been to get articles and other communications into French papers and reviews, in order to excite interest in the question of reunion. The Abbe had wished that I should myself write something on the question of Orders. But there had been much delay on my part, and when the Abbe came to Mont Dore he brought a sketch of a work on the Orders question which he had drafted himself in order to ascertain whether in my opinion the draft suggested would serve as the basis for such a discussion as we had contemplated from the begin- ning. We did a good deal of work together, and after I got home, the Abbe wishing for further information about the Church of England, in reference to a pamphlet he was preparing on the subject of Enghsh Orders, I suggested that Father Puller (one of the Cowley Fathers, and a very old friend of mine), who was a good French scholar and a perfect mine of accurate information, historical and theo- logical, should pay him a visit in France.
Lord Halifax to the Ahhe Portal
1 octohre 1893. Le pere Puller est en train de vous ecrire une longue lettre, et Lady Beauchamp qui est ici et Lady Halifax travaillent k la traduire ; ainsi vous voyez que nous nous batons d'executer vos volontes.
Priez bien pour moi pendant votre retraite.
70 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
Gabeowby, York, 9 novembre 1893.
Comment avez-vous trouve la lettre du pere Puller ? et la traduction, etait-elle bonne ? Vous ne savez pas comme ces dames ont travaill6. Elles disaient tous les jours : I'abb^ va-t-il etre content de nous !
II n'y a rien de nouveau chez nous. Mon discours a assez bien reussi a Birmingham,! et I'archeveque d'York avec qui j'ai ete tout demierement, m'a donne une permission qui m'a fait grand plaisir.^ Je vous conterai tout cela un autre jour.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
Eaton Square, 2 dicembre 1893. Je ne saurais vous dire avec quel plaisir j'ai lu votre lettre. Naturellement pas plus que le pere Puller, je ne puis vous sou- haitei- le succes pour votre troisieme partie, mais je crois que les trois parties mises ensemble, I'effet de votre brochure^ doit etre ce que nous desirous. J'attends avec impatience la brochure elle-meme. Combien d'exemplaires pouvez-vous nous donner ? C'est une campagne commencee, et une guerre qu'il faut mener k une bonne conclusion. Le cardiual ici et notre archeveque ne se raccommodent pas, ce qui est grand dommage.* Mais il faut finir, je brule d'envie de Ure votre ecrit. Je suis bien con- tent que vous appreciiez le pere Puller comme il le merite. C'est une personne que j'aime beaucoup.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
14 decemhre 1893. Notre revue, la Science Catholique, aura quelques retards. Au heu de paraitre le 15, elle paraitra du 20 ou 25. Pour la brochure sur les Ordinations angUcanes, je me decide a en faire tirer 500 exemplaires.
^ The Church Congress at Birmingham.
2 Archbishop Maclagan, who gave us leave to use the first Liturgy of Edward vi. in our chapels at Hickleton and Garrowby.
' The Abb6 Portal's pamphlet on English Orders.
* Speech of Archbishop Benson at the Annual Meeting of the National Society in June 1893. Sermon preached by Cardinal Vaughan at Cardiff on or about the 29th August, in which he had already made remarks adverse to the validity of Anglican Orders, to which the Archbishop had repUed in his Visitation Charge at Ashford, reported in the Guardian, 8th November 1893.
CORRESPONDENCE— JULY 1892 TO JULY 1894 71
Depuis quelques jours nous parlous plus particulierement de vous et de toutes les choses qui nous interessent avec notre Sup6rieur. Je lui ai fait passer tout mon travail,^ quand j'ai eu le numero de la Science CathoUque, il en a ete tres content. II le juge susceptible d'attirer I'attention et capable de changer beaucoup d'idees re9ues parmi nous. II croit, lui aussi, que la these soutenue n'est pas seulement vraie pour moi, mais qu'elle constitue la these opportune. A la grace de Dieu : nous avons travaille pour sa gloire, c'est a lui de donner a I'oeuvre la fortune convenable.
The Abbe's Pamphlet was published in France towards the end of January : it was reviewed in the London Guar- dian on the 21st of February. It was divided into three parts : the first dealt with the question of the Rite ; the second with the fact of the Succession ; and the third with the vahdity of the Orders themselves. The Rite was held to be sufficient, the historical fact of the Succession was admitted, with a doubt as to the intention ; the validity was denied in consequence of the suppression of the porrection of the Instruments, on the ground that the Church has the power to vary the form and matter of some of the Sacraments, i.e., where the form and matter have not been directly instituted by Christ.
The last point, which was the unfavourable one, is not the ordinary teaching actually given by Roman theologians, and as such was certain to be called in question. As a matter of fact, the Abbe Duchesne, in the Bulletin Critique of the 15th of July 1894, concluded that on proof of the sufficiency of the Rite, and the fact of the historical Suc- cession, the vahdity of the Orders must necessarily be allowed.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
HiCKLETON, 8 Janvier 1894. Je trouve votre article ^ excellent ; ce que vous m'envoyez aussi 'du ministre ' ne laisse rien a desirer. Permettez-moi, mon cher ami, de vous dire que la maniere dont vous avez saisi
1 Pamphlet on English Orders.
2 In La Science CathoUque, on the Orders conferred by the Church of England.
72 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
les points essentiels, et dont vous vous etes rendu maitre des
faits, est vraiment surprenante. C'est une vraie grace, que
Dieu vous ait donn^ Tidee d'entreprendre cette oeuvre. II faut
qu'il en sorte des resultats dont nous ne saurions k ce moment
estimer I'importance. Pour moi, je suis de plus en plus con-
vaincu que la methode que nous avons adoptee est la seule
bonne. II faut desirer I'unite et etre convaincu que Dieu la
veut plus que toute autre chose. II faut, de chaque cote, etre
bien r^solu a envisager les choses du point de vue de I'autre
parti ; il faut donner toute sa valeur a ce que chacun pent
avancer, et etre bien r^solu a pecher (si on peche) du cote de
la charite et de la paix, et non du cote d'une s6verite qui
empeche de bien apprecier toutes les considerations permettant
un Jugement favorable. II faut insister sur tout ce qui est
vraiment n^cessaire et permettre une grande latitude sur
tout ce qui peut etre consid^re comme matiere d'opinion.
II faut aussi pour etre juste s'abstenir rigoureusement de
tout reproche qui, mutatis mutandis, pourrait etre aussi bien
dirig^ contre soi-meme. Par exemple, nous autres nous
devrions laisser de cote ce que nous trouvons a redire chez
vous, et nous appliquer a corriger nos propres fautes. Et de
votre cote il faut, pour le moment, laisser les points les plus
difl&ciles, et essayer de trouver im accord la ou I'ignorance et
les prejuges ont cree des differences, la ou en v6rite, et avec
des explications, il n'y en a pas. Je suis en train d'ecrire
quelque chose dans ce sens. Apres tout, il n'y a, et il ne peut y
avoir, qu'une EgUse, — je ne crois pas a la theorie des trois
branches de I'EgUse, — et si de notre cote nous sommes con-
vaincus que, bien que separes exterieurement, nous ne sommes
en verite qu'un corps avec vous, tout ce qui vous touche nous
touche aussi. Vu le pass6, nous pouvons bien pour le moment
supporter avec patience la negation de notre position, de la
part des autorit^s de I'EgUse romaine, du cardinal Vaughan,
par exemple.
Le pere Puller attend la seconde partie de votre travail dans la Science Catholique pour venir ici afin de mettre en train chez nous des comptes rendus de votre oeuvre. II est en retraite en ce moment, mais il m'^crit qu'il sera Hbre dans a peu pres quinze jours.
H fait un temps detestable ici ; beaucoup de neige et im froid insupportable. Quant a la poUtique, on croit que la chambre des Conmiunes sera dissoute assez prochainement, dans le
CORRESPONDENCE— JULY 1892 TO JULY 1894 73
courant de cette ann6e certainement, et que les elections qui auront lieu seront peu favorables a M. Gladstone et a son gouvemement. La verite est que I'Angleterre a bien mal traite I'lrlande dans le passe, mais que le ' Home Rule Bill ' n'est autre chose, dans les circonstances actuelles, qu'un procede pour mettre le gouvernement de I'lrlande entre les mains du parti revolutionnaire.
Je suis content que M. le Superieur soit satisfait de votre travail ! Voulez-vous bien me rappeler a son bon souvenir, et a celui de M. le Professeur de Theologie et de M. I'Econome.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
29 Janvier 1894.
Je suis desole que vous n'ayez pas reyu la Revue ; le pere Puller m'ecrit a la date du 24 qu'il I'a regue.
II me vient deja quelques impressions touchant mes articles, la dominante est I'etonnement sur I'ensemble, et, comme je I'avais prevu, une grande repugnance a admettre ma troisieme partie. Un de mes amis ^ m'ecrivait hier : ' Tu auras pour sur beaucoup de peine a faire admettre la nuUite des Ordinations anglicanes pour ce motif de la suppression de la porrection des instruments, comme aussi, que I'Eglise puisse dans le cours des temps changer, ou quasi changer, la matiere de certains sacrements.'
Je vais vous envoyer un autre exemplaire de la Science Gatho- lique, et si par hasard vous en aviez deux, ayez la bonte de me le renvoyer.
Et puis, vous aurez la bonte de m'envoyer, ou de me signaler, les articles de joumaux ou de revues qui parleront de notre oeuvre commune. Je le crois, moi aussi, le moment est bien opportun. Que le bon Dieu serait bon, s'il voulait se servir de nous pour faire quelque bien dans son EgUse. Je ne puis y penser sans emotion.
Ci-joint copie d'un entrefilet de VTJnivers, qui pourrait vous interesser. II serait bon de le faire publier par vos joumaux et montrer par la a tons les votres, que Leon xin. s'occupe de I'union des EgUses.
1 M. Verdier, superieur du grand s6minaire de Montpellier.
74 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
79 Eaton Square, S.W., 23fivrier 1894.
J'ai parle de votre travail aux archeveques de Canterbury et d'York, et aussi a I'eveque de Rochester,^ et ils m'ont prie de leur envoyer un exemplaire de la brochure. Us s'y sont beaucoup interesses. Mais j'ai une foule de choses k vous dire a cet egard. Nous sommes au milieu d'une crise parlementaire qui me retient a Londres jusqu'au milieu de la semaine prochaine.
Le Guardian ^ publie un long article sur votre travail.
Lord Halifax to the Ahbe Portal
HiCKLETON, DoNCASTER, 4 awU 1894.
J'ai a vous remercier pour trois lettres. Je ferai de mon mieux pour qu'une lettre comme vous la desirez soit 6crite au Cardinal Bourret.^
Vous avez bien devine que la sienne ne m'a pas plfi du tout. Vous savez aussi que si j 'avals le moindre doute sur la validite de nos ordres je ne serais pas ou je suis. Mais si une certitude pent devenir plus sure, je deviens de jour en jour de plus en plus convaincu que quelles que soient les difficultes de la position de I'Eglise anglicane, (et ces difficultes je ne les attenue pas), ce que nous avons a faire, c'est de travailler ou nous sommes, et dans la position que Dieu nous a donnee pour la diffusion de la verite catholique, et pour la reunion des Eglises.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
HiCBXETON, 10 avril 1894. Jevdi saint.
Votre lettre* est bien des plus interessantes. Je reconnais
avec vous que Particle du Guardian ne reproduit pas cor-
rectement ce que vous aviez dit au sujet du Pape Eugene rv.
et du decret aux Armeniens. Vous n'avez jamais dit que ce
1 Rt. Rev. Randall Thomas Davidson, now Archbishop of Canterbury.
2 QtLardian, 21st February 1894, La Science Catholique ' on the Orders, and on the Eucharistic doctrine of the Church of England.'
* Cardinal Bourret, the Bishop of Rodez, had addressed a letter to the Abb6 Portal on the subject of his pamphlet, to which the Abb6 had sug- gested, in a letter which is missing, that an answer should be made in England.
* Letter missing.
CORRESPONDENCE— JULY 1892 TO JULY 1894 75
fut Eugene iv. qm changea la matiere du Sacrement pour rOccident, mais, ce qui est tout autre chose, que son expose de la doctrine des Sacrements constate la croyance de I'Eglise latine a cette epoque. Maintenant, si nous passons de ce que dit I'article, a la chose en elle-meme, il me semble qu'il y a une grande difficulte a concilier ce qu'ecrit Eugene iv. avec ce que dit Benoit xiv. Ce Pape {De Syn. Diocesan., Kb. viii. c. 10) si je le comprends bien, dit ce qui suit : ' Certains Docteurs disent que quoiqu'il soit vrai que les Latins a une certaine epoque aient confere les ordres par Fimposition des mains, comme le font actuellement les Grecs, cela n'empeche pas que la porrection des instruments soit necessaire aujourd'hui dans I'Eghse latine, parce que notre Seigneur n'institua ni ne determina la matiere et la forme du Sacrement de I'ordre dans ses details, mais donna la permission a son Eghse de les determiner a sa volonte, et, pour juste cause, de les changer, pourvu qu'elle se servit toujours de choses et de mots propres a signifier I'effet des ordres sacres. Ainsi ils enseignent que I'EgHse, ayant, dans le temps, designe Fimposition des mains seule, avec les mots qui I'accompagnent, comme la forme et la matiere, neanmoins plus tard, sous un changement de circonstances, elle laissa cette faQon d'agir aux Grecs, tout en imposant une matiere differente pour les Latins. Mais cette doctrine trebuche sur deux difficultes graves. II n'est pas suffisamment constate que Notre Seigneur ait donne un tel pouvoir a son Eglise ; meme on pourrait dire que F opinion contraire pent etre demontree d'apres le Concile de Trente (Sess. xxi. cap. 2), qui a declare que FEghse a le pouvoir donne par le Christ de changer les choses qui touchent a la dispensation des Sacrements pourvu que leur substance soit gardee intacte. Or le changement de la matiere et de la forme appartient non au rite et a la dispensation d'xm Sacrement mais a sa substance. Et puis, meme si ce pouvoir a ete donne a FEghse, c'est une supposition tout a fait arbitraire et gratuite que FEghse s'en soit jamais servie, a moins qu'on dise, ou et quand, dans quel Concile ou par quel Pape im tel changement a ete fait. A vrai dire, si FEghse avait ote du rite de Fordination ce qui avait ete fait dans les temps anciens, nous serious obliges d'affirmer que la matiere et la forme de Fordination ont ete changees par I'autorite de FEghse, et une nouvehe matiere et forme substituees a Fancienne. Mais, comme tout ce qui est con- tenu dans les anciens rites reste intact, et qu'ils sont accomphs dans leur integrite et leur saintete, personne ne croira facilement
76 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
que ces choses qui etaient autrefois suffisantes pour rendre parfait le Sacrement de Tordre, ne suffisent pas maintenant.' ^
J'ai bien mal traduit ce que dit Benoit xiv., cependant, vu qu'Eugene iv. ne dit pas un mot de rimposition des mains, mais parle seulement de la porrection des instruments, il me semble que ce n'est pas tres facile de le concilier avec Benoit xrv., et que ce dernier serait favorable k notre these que Tomission de la porrection des instruments (supposant tou]ours qu'il y ait eu I'intention de conferer le Sacrement de I'ordre, et que la succession de fait a 6t6 gard^e), ne pent pas, par elle-meme, invalider les ordres, qui, par ailleurs, seraient valides. II y a encore une decision de la Congregation du Saint Office, donn^e le 9 avril, 1704, et confirmee en 1860, sur les ordinations d'Ethiopie qui dans ses principes est des plus favorables pour nous, mais ]e n'ai pas le temps de vous I'envoyer aujourd'hui : ce sera pour un autre Jour.
Regardez aussi ce que dit le Cardinal Bellarmin (Dispuiationes de controversiis De Sacram. in gen., lib. i. cap. 27, tom. iii. p. 27, Col. 1628) sur I'intention. II me semble encore ici, que ce que dit le cardinal a une grande valeur pour le point traite par vous au sujet de I'intention de Barlow. Mais, mon cher ami, comme vous dites, au dela de toute controverse, ce qu'il y a a faire c'est d'iuteresser les personnes a ce sujet, de leur faire un peu comprendre que la question renferme de plus grandes difficultes que Ton ne s'est peut-etre imagine, et qu'enfin, ce que veut Notre Seigneur, et a quoi nous devons tons travailler, c'est la reunion des Eglises. Je crois qu'il y a beaucoup a pardonner de tons les cotes, et que le devoir est impost k tons de chercher non ce qui pent convenir a un c6t6 ou k Tautre, mais la verite seule.
On m'a envoye d' Arras un bon nombre d'exemplaires de votre brochure. J'en ai donn6 k nos deux archeveques. L'eveque de Rochester m'en a parle avec beaucoup d'interet, et je le crois tout pret a en parler dans son prochain mandement. Mal- heureusement il est tombe malade. Cette maladie I'a empeche d'accompagner la reine a Florence. Ce que vous me dites de votre 6veque,2 et du cardinal ^ et ce que vous a ecrit l'eveque de Madere, sont des faits tres encourageants. Je suis sur que, plus on considere la question, plus nous avons k y gagner.
1 The opinion here attributed to Benedict xrv. was criticised in the Abb^ Portal's reply to an article of Father Puller's. ' Mgr. Grimardias, the Bishop of Cahors. ' Cardinal Bourret, Bishop of Rodez.
CORRESPONDENCE— JULY 1892 TO JULY 1894 77
Evidemment, chez vous on ne va pas admettre la validite de nos ordres tout d'un coup, mais si par votre travail (tout le monde ici le trouve tres remarquable), et par vos bons offices vous parvenez a montrer au monde catholique en France, et a I'etranger, la question dans toute son etendue sans rien sup- primer, plus aura ete fait pour la paix de I'Eglise et pour la reunion de ceux qui aiment Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ en sincerite, que tout ce qui a ete fait depuis des centaines d'annees. Voulez-vous me permettre de montrer votre lettre a I'arche- veque de Canterbury, et a I'eveque de Rochester ?
Mr. W. J. Birhheck to Lord Halifax
Hotel Stavianski Bazaar, Moscow, Afril 10/22, 1894.
You were kind enough to say that you would send me a copy of that French priest's ^ Articles upon Anghcan Orders. I wonder whether you could send me two or three copies out here ? A great controversy is going on between the leading theologians upon the Old Cathohc question, and it is turning a great deal upon their inter-communion with Anglicans. I personally am against our having anything to do with the Old Catholics, whose position I always find it difficult to clear from the charge of schism ; but I think it would be a decidedly good thing, if theologians here could see that there are better grounds to attack them upon than the supposition that they are in communion with a church which has no Orders ! And two (General Kirieff, and Janisheff, the Emperor's confessor, whose very frank letter to the Archbishop, about the Jews you know about), who are taking part in the controversy are anxious, if possible, to defend Anglican Orders ; and I think independent testimony, such as are these articles by a French priest, would help the matter considerably.
I arrived here from St. Petersburgh yesterday. The Lent services are wonderful. I never saw anything like the de- votion of the people. Li St. Petersburgh on Wednesday and Friday, I was at the Mass of the Presanctified in the Kazan Cathedral, and each time the Church was crammed. To-day is Palm Sunday, and all yesterday in the streets every person almost that one met had his bundle of willow twigs, and at six o'clock (at Vespers followed by Matins) they took them to church to be blessed. I went from church to church, and all ahke were 1 The Abb6 Portal.
78 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
crowded, the congregation in each case looking like the forest marching on Macbeth ! The town is full of pilgrims from all parts of the country coming here for Holy Week, and the people who are going to make their Commimion all go to Matins at one o'clock in the morning all through the week, sleeping the rest of the night on the steps of the numerous churches and shrines about the town. To-morrow begins the preparation of the Chrism which is consecrated on Maundy Thursday. They begin at eight o'clock to-morrow morning, and the mixing and boiling is spread over three days before the Mass of the Presanctified, which takes place at nine o'clock to-morrow, on Tuesday at ten, on Wednesday at eleven. It is finally consecrated on Thursday, after which, at twelve o'clock, follows the Liturgy of St. Basil, which they say lasts till about six in the evening on account of the numbers of communicants. I am staying here for a fort- night, and then am going to prowl about amongst monasteries and old towns all the way between here and the confines of Siberia, but how far I get rather depends on the state of the roads in the Urals.
I shall be back in the second week of June. Till then, this will be my headquarters. I hear that next month a description of the English Church Union is to appear in the leading Moscow monthly magazine, together with a full translation of my Gloucester paper. They are very much pleased with my last paper on the Russian Monasteries, and hardly a day passes without it being referred to in the newspapers ; it is such a new experience for them to find their Church appreciated among Westerns ! In the Moscow Gazette last week there was an article upon Gladstone's Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture, in which they say that true Christianity is the same all over the world, and that 'just as "Birkbeck and VannutelU" find themselves at home amongst Russian monks, so we Orthodox find something to learn even from a Western Liberal Prime Minister ! '
The Abbe Duchesne to the Abbe Portal
Pabis, 13 avril 1894.
J'ai lu avec le plus grand int^ret votre travail sur les ordina- tions angUcanes. Mes etudes ne m'avaient pas jusqu'ici conduit de ce c6t6, et ]e vous remercie de m'avoir appris beaucoup de choses.
CORRESPONDENCE— JULY 1892 TO JULY 1894 79
J'ai lu aussi la lettre de I'eveque de Rodez, qui me semble vous avoir peu compris, et qui ne vous recommande guere.
Avec vous, ]e crois que Ton ne peut contester le caracterc episcopal de Parker et de Barlow ; avec vous, j'admets que le rituel anglican est suffisant en soi. Mais je vais plus loin, et, de ces deux premisses, je deduis la validite des ordinations angli- canes. Tout ce que Ton objecte du cote des intentions est sans valeur. II y a eu de tout temps des pretres et des eveques heretiques, ou meme incroyants, si I'on mesurait a leurs croyances secretes ou avouees, la valeur de leurs actes ecclesiastiques, on n'aurait plus aucune securite.
D'autre part, je suis tres dispose a admettre que FEglise peut modifier les formes et matieres des sacrements — de certains cela s'entend. Mais cette latitude ne lui est attribuee que par des theologiens et par des theologiens embarrasses du conflit entre les divers usages. C'est un expedient dont ils se servent, ce n'est pas une decision de I'Eglise.
Maintenant, I'Eglise eut-elle par un acte explicite et solennel, decide qu'elle se reconnait un tel pouvoir, il faudrait encore, pour que votre these fut bien a I'abri, qu'elle eut declare, a un moment determine, qu'elle entendait en faire usage, et changer tel ou tel rite.
Dans la reahte on ne trouve rien de semblable. Ni Eugene iv., ni les scolastiques, dont il s'inspire, n'ont jamais imagine que la porrection des instruments ne fut pas le rite original, institue par Notre Seigneur lui-meme. lis se sont trompes, cela est certain.
J'en etais la de ma lettre quand j'ai eu I'idee d'ouvrir un manuel de theologie, celui de Hurter, ou je vois que Benoit xiv. desapprouve absolument I'opinion que vous exposez, et cela pour les memes raisons qui m'etaient venues a I'esprit.
Quant a I'autorite du decret aux Armeniens, je vois depuis longtemps que de bons theologiens ne le considerent pas comme engageant I'infaillibite du pape. Ces theologiens doivent avoir raison. On peut en dire autant du decret de Nicolas en reponse aux questions des Bulgares. La, il est enseigne que le bapteme in nomine Christi est vahde, ce qui n'est guere admis maintenant.
Maintenant, il est loin de ma pensee que I'EgUse romaine n'ait pas de bonnes raisons pour repousser les ordinations anghcanes. Sa pratique actuelle s'inspire de la theologie du seizieme siecle, de principes errones sans doute, faute de bons renseignements, mais qui jouissaient au temps du schisme d'une autorite in-
80 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
contestable. De plus, elle est, et elle a raison d'etre, tutioiiste en matidre de sacrements. Je ne crois pas que les Anglais eux- memes, s'ils se d^cidaient k runion, se refusassent k une revalida- tion qui leur donnerait toute s^curite.
La question d^battue est done une question de theorie et d'6rudition. Une solution pacifique de la part des theologiens catholiques, pent avoir un bon effet sur Topinion anglaise, assur6ment la lettre du cardinal de Rodez, par son ton chagrin et son accent malveillant est de nature k produire I'effet contraire. Mais, contents ou m6contents, les Anglais n'en seront pas moins r^ordonn^s. Pour les consoler, vous pourrez leur rappeler I'histoire de Bede, ou Ton voit que le m^tropolitain Theodore r^ordonna de malheureux 6veques parce que des pr^lats Bretons avaient figur^ comme assistants k leur ordination.
The Rev. Edvxird Denny ^ to Lord Halifax
Kempley Vicaeage, Dymock, Gloucester, May 3, 1894.
Many thanks for sending me M. Dalbus's ^ pamphlet. May I keep it for a httle time as I should Uke to study it carefully ? I have got his last article in the December number of La Science Catholique, but have not been able to obtain the January number. It is very good of you to send me also the letter from the Abb6 Duchesne : it is deeply interesting and most valuable ; I should Uke to copy it if I may — of course I shall make no use of it, nor, indeed, shall I mention it to any one. The opinion of one so learned ought to have great weight. Both it and M. Dalbus's pamphlet are to me most refreshing after a long course of reading the statements of other Roman writers on the subject ; the spirit in which they both write is so different, so much more in accordance, if I may say so, with that of our common Lord and Master. I should be interested to see any other work M. Dalbus may bring out on EngUsh Orders, especially if he either elabor- ates further his * two points,' or (as I would fain hope) if he sees his way to take the Abb6 Duchesne's line with regard to them, a line which I note is destructive of the two arguments on which he rehes for his conclusion in his pamphlet.
If I may presume to differ from the Abbe Duchesne, I would like to add that Bede's statement, to which he refers in the
^ One of the authors of the De Hierarchia, « The Abb6 Portal.
CORRESPONDENCE—JULY 1892 TO JULY 1894 81
last paragraph of his letter, not only does not necessarily imply that Archbishop Theodore ordained St. Chad as one who had never been validly consecrated, but, on the contrary, to affiv such a meaning to the words would appear to be inconsistent with the way in which Bede in his account of St. Chad's Episco- pate at York, previous to the ceremony (whatever it was), evidently regards him as a true bishop ; moreover, to take them as meaning that Archbishop Theodore as MetropoHtan con- firmed him in his office, thus doing away with any irregularity which from his point of view might have resulted from the fact that Weni, Bishop of Winchester, called in as co-operatores in the consecration of St. Chad two British bishops, whom he would regard as schismatics, would be consistent with the Archbishop's practice as laid down in his Penitential, n. ix. 1, in which he ordained that ' those who have been ordained by bishops of Scots and Britons, or are not CathoHc in the matter of Pasch and tonsure, have not been united to the Church sed iterum a catholico episcopo manus impositione confirmentur , besides which, since St. Chad was in a better position from the Archbishop's point of view than those mentioned here in the Penitential, inasmuch as his chief consecrator had been ordained in Gaul, and thus was not himself tainted with schism, it is, I think, impossible that Archbishop Theodore would do in St. Chad's case what he did not think necessary in the case of the British or Scottish ordination.
Mr. W. J. Birkheck to Lord Halifax
Hotel Slavianski Bazar, Moscow, April 25/May 7, 1894.
Many thanks for the copies of Dalbus on AngUcan Ordinations : I shall send them to the two people I mentioned to you at St. Petersburg, who are interesting themselves in the matter. Duchesne's letter is most important, more especially as coming from one of the greatest living authorities upon the history of the Roman Pontifical.
I see that Dalbus adheres to the idea that the whole vaHdity of a bishop's Orders stands or falls with that of his principal consecrator. This, of course, the Easterns utterly deny ; on the contrary, some of them go so far as to say that if there are not at least two consecrators the consecration is not vafid, inasmuch as it is not from a single bishop or patriarch, but from the bishops
F
82 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
as representatives of the whole Church that Orders are given. As far, therefore, as the Easterns are concerned, even if Barlow were proved not to have had vaUd orders, neither Parker nor his successors would of necessity be affected. But when I was in Belgium in February, staying at Maredsous, a French monk, Dom Germain Morin, who is one of my greatest friends there, told me that Cardinal Pitra, when working in Lambeth Library amongst documents, had come upon the actual record of Barlow's consecration. He told me that the fact was mentioned in Pitra's Ufe, and that although the reference was not there given, because it was thought ' plus prudent ' to leave a matter which, after all, did not concern the Roman Church alone, he himself had seen it amongst Pitra's papers at Solesmes. I think the matter would be worth hunting out. Of course it may be one of Pitra's mare's nests (as the Bishop of SaHsbury said to me the other day, he discovered more than one in his life) : still, it is worth thinking of, and if we could find the document, and produce it just at the moment when Dalbus and those who think with him are being hard pressed by their less charitable brethren, it would be most useful. If we can't find it at Lambeth, the next thing to do will be to try and get at the reference at Solesmes ; and as I know one or two of the monks there, and shall have anyhow to go there sometime soon with regard to a passage which Pitra foimd in the Vatican Library, describing the details of Vespers and Matins in the Greek Church in the filth century, I think they might be inclined to show me the reference.
I am still here : it is very difficult to get away, I have so many bishops and abbots of various kinds to go and call on, as well as laymen. It is quite extraordinary the gratitude with which they have received those two papers of mine, read last winter. The one about the monasteries has been either described or quoted in full in quite haK the papers, secular and ecclesiastical, in the empire, while the English Church Union one is to appear in May in the Moscow Review, with, I beheve, an accoimt of the Eaghsh Church Union, which, if good, I shall certainly send you a translation of. I am going for a short expedition to the east of Russia, down to Kazan, and across the Urals, to see something of the Orthodox missions to the Tartars, and am already receiving invitations from some of the most active missionaries in those parts, so I expect to see a good deal in a much too short time. I hope it will all make for the peace of the Church. I am glad to see that the papers are beginning
11
CORRESPONDENCE— JULY 1892 TO JULY 1894 83
again to speak of enlightened members of the Enghsh Church being more friendly disposed to Eastern Christianity than those of any other Western body, and to speak of us in general some- what more as they did in 1888 after the Archbishop's letter to Kieff, and before he gave himself away to the Jews !
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
LoNDRES, dimanche soir, 6 mai 1894.
Je viens de passer I'apres-midi avec I'archeveque de Canter- bury. Je lui ai lu plusieurs de vos lettres et celle du cardinal Bourret, et la lettre de I'archeveque d'Albi.^ (II avait deja lu votre brochure et I'avait meme annotee de sa main.) II a ete vivement interesse. Comme vous le comprendrez facilement, la lettre du cardinal I'a un peu etonne (il faut admettre que le cardinal ne connait pas son sujet). Je lui ai aussi montre la lettre de I'abbe Duchesne, dont il connait bien les ecrits. Ce que dit I'abbe Duchesne lui a paru de la premiere impor- tance, et a produit le meilleur effet. A la fin de notre con- versation il m'a demande ce que je voulais, et il a ecrit a Feveque de Salisbury pour lui suggerer d'ecrire une lettre telle que vous la desirez. L'eveque I'enverrait au Guardian, et vous vous en serviriez.
L'eveque de SaHsbury doit etre a Londres mardi. Je saurai mercredi ou jeudi s'il veut bien ecrire la lettre que nous de- sirous. Sinon, un pretre qui est tout a fait dans I'intimite de I'archeveque I'ecrira, probablement avec quelque ' imprimatur ' de I'archeveque.
J'ai aussi parle de tout ceci samedi a l'eveque de Peterborough, ^ homme tres capable et tres instruit, et si nous echouons avec l'eveque de Sahsbury, nous aurons recours a lui. Si l'eveque de Sahsbury ne vient pas a Londres mardi, j'irai le trouver chez lui. Le resultat de tout ceci est que j'espere que nous allons faire quelque chose de notre cote. Maintenant que je suis arrive a Londres, il me sera beaucoup plus facile d'agir, et je ferai de mon mieux.
Nous avons beaucoup de prejuges chez nous, et beaucoup d'ignorance, choses qu'on ne pent pas detruire tout d'un coup. II me semble aussi qu'il y a une certaine dose d'ignorance parmi les votres.
1 Mgr. Fonteneau. 2 Rt. Rev. Mandell Creighton.
84 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
Nous pouvons dire comme Pierre rHermite et les Croises k Vezelay, ' Dieu le veut.' La reunion de la Chr6tient6 doit etre Toeuvre du siecle prochain, et ]e prie Dieu jour et nuit pour que nous puissions y contribuer.
Souvenez-vous de moi quelquefois quand vous dites la messe.
The Bishop of Salisbury ^ to Lord Halifax
Sabum, 7 May 1894.
The Archbishop has put into my hands the interesting letters of M. Femand Dalbus, together with the documents which he has sent to you. He tells me that I may write to you on the subject for further elucidation, and asks if I feel inclined to take up the matter suggested. It is curious how this subject is being stirred just now in many quarters.
The Abhe Portal to Lord Halifax
21 mai 1894.
J'ai re9U ce matin la lettre ^ de I'^veque de SaUsbury : elle est bonne. Sans doute, elle n'est pas parfaite, mais elle est bonne, tres bonne meme. Je Texpedie tout de suite au cardinal Bourret, a Rome, avec un mot. Son Jfim. doit venir a Cahors fin juin, nous nous verrons alors et je tirerai de sa bonne volonte tout le parti possible.
The Archbishop of Canterbury to Lord Halifax
Lambeth Palace, S.E., 215/ May 1894.
Thank you so much for the copy of the letter of the Abbe Duchesne. I know some of his greater work : he is the French- man whose criticism I should most stand in awe of.
I was so glad to hear that you went down to Sarum with the letter I sent you.^
Is not that * all most touching ?
^ Right Rev. John Wordsworth, died Aug. 1911.
* The Bishop of Salisbury had written the letter suggested by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
^ I had been down to Salisbury to see the Bishop about his letter in reply to Cardinal Bourret.
* Mrs. Wordsworth, the Bishop of Salisbury's wife, was dying.
CORRESPONDENCE— JULY 1892 TO JULY 1894 85
The Archbishop of Dublin ^ did not write me the promised letter, and I wrote to ask him for it some days since. I have not heard yet.
Lord Halifax to Dean Lake (he had resigned the Deanery of Durham) ^
May 30, 1894.
I had a long talk, and I think a satisfactory talk, with the Archbishop^ about a fortnight ago. He seemed to hope that the Archbishop of Dublin's deplorable and mischievous action in regard to consecrating a bishop for Spain might, after all, come to nothing. We shall do our best to help on so happy a solution of the difficulty, and have quite resolved, should matters go on, to present an address to the Spanish bishops, telling them what we think of the Archbishop of Dublin's action. Meanwhile, I have been busy on some very interesting work in connection with the vaHdity of Anglican Orders. The question is being much discussed now in France. I much hope that great good will come of it.
The longer one lives the more convinced one becomes how great a duty it is to do all in one's power to heal the quarrel between Rome and ourselves. It is a quarrel which I am satisfied might be healed without any sacrifice of principle on either side, not now perhaps, but a Httle later, if only there is a little more goodwill on both sides. It is a pity Cardinal Vaughan is not a different man.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
3 juin 1894. Je suis bien en retard avec vous, mais j'attendais pour vous ecrire d'avoir en main la reproduction de la lettre de I'eveque de Sahsbury. Le Monde I'a donnee dans son numero du 28 mai : L' Univers la donnera prochainement : la Verite qui a public ces jours demiers la lettre du cardinal,* la donnera aussi. Par ces trois journaux le clerge frauQais, dans son ensemble, aura con- naissance de la question. Chez toutes les personnes que je vois, I'impression est excellente. ?^| Je crois, mon cher ami, que voila
^ The Archbishop had remonstrated on the subject of the proposed consecration of a Spanish bishop for Spain. » The Very Rev. William Charles Lake, D.D. ' Archbishop Benson. ^ Cardinal Bourret.
LIBRARY ST. MARY'S COLLEGE
86 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
un bon pas de fait. L'abbe Boudinhon a eu la d^licatesse de m'envoyer les epreuves de son travail,^ en me demandant si ]e n'aurais pas quelques observations k lui faire. L'ensemble denote un th^ologien, et produira une certaine impression sur des hommes qui n'auraient pas etudie la question, mais la replique ne sera pas trop difl&cile.
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
Juin 1894.
Encore le Moniteur de Rome qui s'occupe de nous. Quand j'ai vu qu'il mettait un tel empressement a reproduire la lettre de Teveque de Salisbury, je I'ai prie d'inserer toute ma con- clusion. Pour le pousser, je lui ai dit que plusieurs personnalites de I'Eglise anglicane etaient d'accord avec moi, et voulaient essayer de creer un mouvement dans ce sens.
Ce matin, j'ai rcQU la permission d'aller a Paris apres le 15 juillet. Tres probablement, j'y arriverai le 18.
Le Cardinal ^ nous arrive samedi prochain.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
6 juillet 1894.
Les choses marchent bien ici. J'ai beaucoup parle a nos deux archeveques. Je suis convaincu que c'est Dieu qui s'occupe de notre oeuvre. J'ai des choses a vous dire qui vous feront plaisir.
Pourquoi ne venez-vous pas en Angleterre cette annee ?
The Abbe Portal to Lord Halifax
Juillet 1894.
AUer en Angleterre k cette epoque est un peu tard, mais ce n'est pas impossible. Pour faire oeuvre utile il me faudrait rester chez vous trois ou quatre semaines. Ce qui pour moi ne fait pas de doute, c'est la necessite de nous rencontrer. Si je ne vais pas en Angleterre, il vous faudrait venir a Paris. Mais encore ime fois j'ai bon espoir pour 1' Angleterre.
^ An examination of the Abbe Portal's pamphlet. i Cardinal Bourret.
CORRESPONDENCE— JULY 1892 TO JULY 1894 87
Je vous expedie un compte rendu bibliographique des peres Jesuites.^ II est excellent ; I'auteur de I'article est un professeur de theologie, la position qu'il prend est tres bonne, ]e I'apprecie d'autant plus que je redoutais un ton agressif. J'expedie un exemplaire k I'eveque de Salisbury, et un autre au pere Puller.
Ma brochure a ete traduite en Portugais, par un professeur de rUniversite de Coimbre.
^ In the Etudes Religieuses des Peres Jesuites, No. du 30 juin 1894 (partie Bibliographique).
CHAPTER IV
The Abb]6 Portal's Visit to England — His Summons to Rome
The contents of the letter I have placed at the head of the succeeding chapter were, I beUeve, in whole or in part, together with other papers on the same subject, communi- cated to Cardinal Rampolla, by a friend of the Cardinal's, resident in Paris. It will be seen from the concluding paragraph that I was doubtful whether the time was ripe for the Abbe's visit to England, but circumstances over which we had no control decided the event, and the chapter which follows describes his visit, and concludes with my journey to Paris previous to the Abbe's departure for Italy on the 8th of September, in consequence of an intima- tion he had received that Cardinal Rampolla desired his presence in Rome.
The following letter was in reply to one from the Abbe, asking me to put down on paper what I had often said to him by word of mouth, in order that in speaking as he did to his friends, they might be assured he was, in fact, repre- senting my opinions, and the opinions of others in England, and not merely his own.
Lord Halifax to the Abbe Portal
79 Eaton Squabe, 11 juiUet 1894.
Ce qui est certain c'est que si Dieu nous prete vie, et s'il veut se servir de nous, nous aliens travailler de toutes nos forces pour la reunion de I'Eglise anglicane avec le Saiat Siege. Je suis sur, pour beaucoup de raisons, que le temps est propice pour Jeter des semences d'une telle oeuvre, et que de contribuer pour la moiadre des choses a la paix et k la reunion des Eglises, est ce
THE ABB:^: PORTAL'S VISIT TO ENGLAND 89
qu'il y a de plus beau dans ce monde. Rien que d'y songer remplit le coeur de joie, et, comme me disait I'autre jour un de mes amis, le Marquis de Lothian/ avec qui ]e causais sur ce sujet, ' I'idee seule de mettre fin au schisme du seizieme siecle est si belle, si transportante, qu'on peut a peine s'imaginer ce que ce serait de la voir realisee.' On dirait que le monde se prepare pour quelque evenement pareil. Tons les hommes, tons les pays se rapprochent par I'extension de la presse, les chemins de fer, le telegraphe. Tout le monde se precipite a I'etranger, les divisions s'effacent : on commence a se connaitre, c'est la moitie, et plus de la moitie du chemin accomplie. II me semble aussi que toutes ces questions sociales qui se font sentir partout, meme ces greves intemationales, travaillent dans le meme sens, et que Dieu prepare pour notre Europe ou un cataclysme affreux, peut-etre le commencement de la fin, ou que la religion catholique s'emparera encore des masses, comme elle I'a fait des Barbares, et ne laissera rien a regretter des Siecles de Foi. II se pourrait bien aussi que de grands troubles exterieurs fussent les moyens par lesquels, dans les desseins de Dieu, ce rapprochement se fera, et s'il en est ainsi, qu'ils viennent, et qu'ils viennent vite, et que notre Seigneur nous donne la force et la grace de nous comporter comme il le faudra dans de telles epreuves. La premiere chose, c'est de nous connaitre, la seconde, de desirer I'union avec tout notre coeur, de juger tout ce qui a ete fait et dit dans le passe, tout ce qu'on dit et fait maintenant d'un cote et de I'autre, de la maniere la plus indulgente, tout en ne sacrifiant pas la verite. Surtout, il faut beaucoup d'exphcations. Je suis absolument convaincu qu'entre vous et nous il n'y a rien dans tout ce qui rattache a la doctrine des Sacrements, du Purgatoire, de I'lnvo- cation des Saints, au culte, a la confession, au Sacerdoce, qui ne pourrait etre arrange avec la plus grande faciHte, si de chaque cote on voulait s'expliquer, et insister seulement sur ce qui est de foi, en permettant un plus et un moins pour toute autre chose. Les Grecs et les Latins se servent egalement du mot Transubstantiation pour exprimer la doctrine de la Presence Reelle. La maniere dont ils traitent le Saint Sacrement ' extra usum ' est absolument differente. Permettez un procede semblable pour d'autres choses, et on aurait d'un coup mis de cote les trois quarts des difficultes qui empechent la paix. Evi- demment aucune partie de I'Eghse ne peut contredire directe- ment ce qu'elle a dit, mais avec le temps on voit que certaines
^ Schomberg Henry, ninth Marquis of Lothian, died 7th,February 1900.
90 LEO XIII. AND ANGLICAN ORDERS
paroles, certaines formules, n'avaient pas toute la port^e qu'on voulait y trouver, et qu'il y a place pour des explications qui permettent un rapprochement qu'on trouvait autrefois im- possible. Par exemple, si la definition du Concile du Vatican pent a la rigueur etre prise dans le sens que le Pape est seule- ment infaillible quand il a pris tons les moyens necessaires pour s'informer de ce qui est I'enseignement de TEglise, et qu'il est infaillible seulement quand il promulgue ce qui est I'enseigne- ment de I'Eglise, evidemment il y aurait moyen de s'accommoder sur un sujet ou il paraissait, il y a peu de temps, que tout arrange- ment etait impossible. De meme avec d'autres questions.
Mais pour tout ceci il faut que nous nous connaissions. Les hommes sont conduits beaucoup plus par le coeur que par la tete, et surtout, il faut que vous autres, vous essayiez de bien comprendre notre position. Avec raison ou non, nous trouvons qu'il y a beaucoup de choses k dire sur le schisme du seizieme siecle, que les torts ne sont pas tons d'un cote, que, s'ils ne sont pas tous d'un cote, la responsabilit6 du schisme et les conse- quences qui en decoulent ne peuvent pas etre toutes mises sur nos epaules ; que, sans doute, nous devrions etre en communion visible avec le Pape, mais, qu'il ne suit pas de \k — ^les faits etant tels qu'ils sont— que I'interruption de cette Communion ait detruit la Grace des Sacrements, et nous ait reduits k la position d'une secte protestante.
On pourrait d^crire la position de la fa9on suivante : ceux en Angleterre qui sont en communion avec Rome ne le sont pas avec I'episcopat local, et ceux qui sont en communion avec r^piscopat local ne le sont pas avec le Saint Siege, et rien ne pent marcher Jusqu'^ ce que ceux qui forment ces deux Communions soient reunis. Pour cela, il ne faut pas