第 6 页

struggling. While the toiling multitude suffers from its hard lot and

demands that in any fresh division of wealth it shall be ensured at least

its daily bread, the _elite_ is no better satisfied, but complains of the

void induced by the freeing of its reason and the enlargement of its

intelligence. It is the famous bankruptcy of rationalism, of positivism,

of science itself which is in question. Minds consumed by need of the

absolute grow weary of groping, weary of the delays of science which

recognises only proven truths; doubt tortures them, they need a complete

and immediate synthesis in order to sleep in peace; and they fall on

their knees, overcome by the roadside, distracted by the thought that

science will never tell them all, and preferring the Deity, the mystery

revealed and affirmed by faith. Even to-day, it must be admitted, science

calms neither our thirst for justice, our desire for safety, nor our

everlasting idea of happiness after life in an eternity of enjoyment. To

one and all it only brings the austere duty to live, to be a mere

contributor in the universal toil; and how well one can understand that

hearts should revolt and sigh for the Christian heaven, peopled with

lovely angels, full of light and music and perfumes! Ah! to embrace one's

dead, to tell oneself that one will meet them again, that one will live

with them once more in glorious immortality! And to possess the certainty

of sovereign equity to enable one to support the abominations of

terrestrial life! And in this wise to trample on the frightful thought of

annihilation, to escape the horror of the disappearance of the _ego_, and

to tranquillise oneself with that unshakable faith which postpones until

the portal of death be crossed the solution of all the problems of

destiny! This dream will be dreamt by the nations for ages yet. And this

it is which explains why, in these last days of the century, excessive

mental labour and the deep unrest of humanity, pregnant with a new world,

have awakened religious feeling, anxious, tormented by thoughts of the

ideal and the infinite, demanding a moral law and an assurance of

superior justice. Religions may disappear, but religious feelings will

always create new ones, even with the help of science. A new religion! a

new religion! Was it not the ancient Catholicism, which in the soil of

the present day, where all seemed conducive to a miracle, was about to

spring up afresh, throw out green branches and blossom in a young yet

mighty florescence?

At last, in the third part of his book and in the glowing language of an

apostle, Pierre depicted the FUTURE: Catholicism rejuvenated, and

bringing health and peace, the forgotten golden age of primitive

Christianity, back to expiring society. He began with an emotional and

sparkling portrait of Leo XIII, the ideal Pope, the Man of Destiny

entrusted with the salvation of the nations. He had conjured up a

presentment of him and beheld him thus in his feverish longing for the

advent of a pastor who should put an end to human misery. It was perhaps

not a close likeness, but it was a portrait of the needed saviour, with

open heart and mind, and inexhaustible benevolence, such as he had

dreamed. At the same time he had certainly searched documents, studied

encyclical letters, based his sketch upon facts: first Leo's religious

education at Rome, then his brief nunciature at Brussels, and afterwards

his long episcopate at Perugia. And as soon as Leo became pope in the

difficult situation bequeathed by Pius IX, the duality of his nature

appeared: on one hand was the firm guardian of dogmas, on the other the

supple politician resolved to carry conciliation to its utmost limits. We

see him flatly severing all connection with modern philosophy, stepping

backward beyond the Renascence to the middle ages and reviving Christian

philosophy, as expounded by "the angelic doctor," St. Thomas Aquinas, in

Catholic schools. Then the dogmas being in this wise sheltered, he

adroitly maintains himself in equilibrium by giving securities to every

power, striving to utilise every opportunity. He displays extraordinary

activity, reconciles the Holy See with Germany, draws nearer to Russia,

contents Switzerland, asks the friendship of Great Britain, and writes to

the Emperor of China begging him to protect the missionaries and

Christians in his dominions. Later on, too, he intervenes in France and

acknowledges the legitimacy of the Republic.

From the very outset an idea becomes apparent in all his actions, an idea

which will place him among the great papal politicians. It is moreover

the ancient idea of the papacy--the conquest of every soul, Rome capital

and mistress of the world. Thus Leo XIII has but one desire, one object,

that of unifying the Church, of drawing all the dissident communities to

it in order that it may be invincible in the coming social struggle. He

seeks to obtain recognition of the moral authority of the Vatican in

Russia; he dreams of disarming the Anglican Church and of drawing it into

a sort of fraternal truce; and he particularly seeks to come to an

understanding with the Schismatical Churches of the East, which he

regards as sisters, simply living apart, whose return his paternal heart

entreats. Would not Rome indeed dispose of victorious strength if she

exercised uncontested sway over all the Christians of the earth?

And here the social ideas of Leo XIII come in. Whilst yet Bishop of

Perugia he wrote a pastoral letter in which a vague humanitarian

socialism appeared. As soon, however, as he had assumed the triple crown

his opinions changed and he anathematised the revolutionaries whose

audacity was terrifying Italy. But almost at once he corrected himself,

warned by events and realising the great danger of leaving socialism in

the hands of the enemies of the Church. Then he listened to the bishops

of the lands of propaganda, ceased to intervene in the Irish quarrel,

withdrew the excommunications which he had launched against the American

"knights of labour," and would not allow the bold works of Catholic

socialist writers to be placed in the Index. This evolution towards

democracy may be traced through his most famous encyclical letters:

_Immortale Dei_, on the constitution of States; _Libertas_, on human

liberty; _Sapientoe_, on the duties of Christian citizens; _Rerum

novarum_, on the condition of the working classes; and it is particularly

this last which would seem to have rejuvenated the Church. The Pope

herein chronicles the undeserved misery of the toilers, the undue length

of the hours of labour, the insufficiency of salaries. All men have the

right to live, and all contracts extorted by threats of starvation are

unjust. Elsewhere he declares that the workman must not be left

defenceless in presence of a system which converts the misery of the

majority into the wealth of a few. Compelled to deal vaguely with

questions of organisation, he contents himself with encouraging the

corporative movement, placing it under State patronage; and after thus

contributing to restore the secular power, he reinstates the Deity on the

throne of sovereignty, and discerns the path to salvation more

particularly in moral measures, in the ancient respect due to family ties

and ownership. Nevertheless, was not the helpful hand which the august

Vicar of Christ thus publicly tendered to the poor and the humble, the

certain token of a new alliance, the announcement of a new reign of Jesus

upon earth? Thenceforward the people knew that it was not abandoned. And

from that moment too how glorious became Leo XIII, whose sacerdotal

jubilee and episcopal jubilee were celebrated by all Christendom amidst

the coming of a vast multitude, of endless offerings, and of flattering

letters from every sovereign!

Pierre next dealt with the question of the temporal power, and this he

thought he might treat freely. Naturally, he was not ignorant of the fact

that the Pope in his quarrel with Italy upheld the rights of the Church

over Rome as stubbornly as his predecessor; but he imagined that this was

merely a necessary conventional attitude, imposed by political

considerations, and destined to be abandoned when the times were ripe.

For his own part he was convinced that if the Pope had never appeared

greater than he did now, it was to the loss of the temporal power that he

owed it; for thence had come the great increase of his authority, the

pure splendour of moral omnipotence which he diffused.

What a long history of blunders and conflicts had been that of the

possession of the little kingdom of Rome during fifteen centuries!

Constantine quits Rome in the fourth century, only a few forgotten

functionaries remaining on the deserted Palatine, and the Pope naturally

rises to power, and the life of the city passes to the Lateran. However,

it is only four centuries later that Charlemagne recognises accomplished

facts and formally bestows the States of the Church upon the papacy. From

that time warfare between the spiritual power and the temporal powers has

never ceased; though often latent it has at times become acute, breaking

forth with blood and fire. And to-day, in the midst of Europe in arms, is

it not unreasonable to dream of the papacy ruling a strip of territory

where it would be exposed to every vexation, and where it could only

maintain itself by the help of a foreign army? What would become of it in

the general massacre which is apprehended? Is it not far more sheltered,

far more dignified, far more lofty when disentangled from all terrestrial

cares, reigning over the world of souls?

In the early times of the Church the papacy from being merely local,

merely Roman, gradually became catholicised, universalised, slowly

acquiring dominion over all Christendom. In the same way the Sacred

College, at first a continuation of the Roman Senate, acquired an

international character, and in our time has ended by becoming the most

cosmopolitan of assemblies, in which representatives of all the nations

have seats. And is it not evident that the Pope, thus leaning on the

cardinals, has become the one great international power which exercises

the greater authority since it is free from all monarchical interests,

and can speak not merely in the name of country but in that of humanity

itself? The solution so often sought amidst such long wars surely lies in

this: Either give the Pope the temporal sovereignty of the world, or

leave him only the spiritual sovereignty. Vicar of the Deity, absolute

and infallible sovereign by divine delegation, he can but remain in the

sanctuary if, ruler already of the human soul, he is not recognised by

every nation as the one master of the body also--the king of kings.

But what a strange affair was this new incursion of the papacy into the

field sown by the French Revolution, an incursion conducting it perhaps

towards the domination, which it has striven for with a will that has

upheld it for centuries! For now it stands alone before the people. The

kings are down. And as the people is henceforth free to give itself to

whomsoever it pleases, why should it not give itself to the Church? The

depreciation which the idea of liberty has certainly undergone renders

every hope permissible. The liberal party appears to be vanquished in the

sphere of economics. The toilers, dissatisfied with 1789 complain of the

aggravation of their misery, bestir themselves, seek happiness

despairingly. On the other hand the new _regimes_ have increased the

international power of the Church; Catholic members are numerous in the

parliaments of the republics and the constitutional monarchies. All

circumstances seem therefore to favour this extraordinary return of

fortune, Catholicism reverting to the vigour of youth in its old age.

Even science, remember, is accused of bankruptcy, a charge which saves

the _Syllabus_ from ridicule, troubles the minds of men, and throws the

limitless sphere of mystery and impossibility open once more. And then a

prophecy is recalled, a prediction that the papacy shall be mistress of

the world on the day when she marches at the head of the democracy after

reuniting the Schismatical Churches of the East to the Catholic,

Apostolic, and Roman Church. And, in Pierre's opinion, assuredly the

times had come since Pope Leo XIII, dismissing the great and the wealthy

of the world, left the kings driven from their thrones in exile to place

himself like Jesus on the side of the foodless toilers and the beggars of

the high roads. Yet a few more years, perhaps, of frightful misery,

alarming confusion, fearful social danger, and the people, the great

silent multitude which others have so far disposed of, will return to the

cradle, to the unified Church of Rome, in order to escape the destruction

which threatens human society.

Pierre concluded his book with a passionate evocation of New Rome, the

spiritual Rome which would soon reign over the nations, reconciled and

fraternising as in another golden age. Herein he even saw the end of

superstitions. Without making a direct attack on dogma, he allowed

himself to dream of an enlargement of religious feeling, freed from

rites, and absorbed in the one satisfaction of human charity. And still

smarting from his journey to Lourdes, he felt the need of contenting his

heart. Was not that gross superstition of Lourdes the hateful symptom of

the excessive suffering of the times? On the day when the Gospel should

be universally diffused and practised, suffering ones would cease seeking

an illusory relief so far away, assured as they would be of finding

assistance, consolation, and cure in their homes amidst their brothers.

At Lourdes there was an iniquitous displacement of wealth, a spectacle so

frightful as to make one doubt of God, a perpetual conflict which would

disappear in the truly Christian society of to-morrow. Ah! that society,

that Christian community, all Pierre's work ended in an ardent longing

for its speedy advent: Christianity becoming once more the religion of

truth and justice which it had been before it allowed itself to be

conquered by the rich and the powerful! The little ones and the poor ones