cessors should have devoted themselves to its development, recommending it by special praises. Thus Urban IV. attested that every day the rosary brought blessings to the Christian people. Sixtus IV. said that this manner of praying was for the glory of God and of the Holy Virgin, and particularly apt to turn away dangers that threaten the world. Leo X. declared that it had been instituted against heresiarchs, and against pernicious heresies. And Julius III. called it the glory of the Church. St. Pius V. also said that in the practice of this kind of devotion the faithful have begun to warm their hearts in meditation, to take fire in prayer, and to become new men; the darkness of heresy has been dispersed, and the brightness of the Catholic faith has shone forth in all its glory. Lastly, Gregory XIII. has declared in his turn, that the rosary has been instituted by St. Dominic to turn away the wrath of God, and to implore the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

"Guided by these thoughts and by the example of our predecessors, we have judged it most opportune in this day to establish with the same ends a solemn course of prayers, and to seek, by means of the recitation of the rosary addressed to the Holy Virgin, to obtain from her Son Jesus Christ a similar aid and succor against the dangers which threaten us. You perceive, venerable brothers, the grave trials which the Church now daily undergoes. Christian piety, public morality, faith itself, which is the supreme good and the principle of all the virtues, all are menaced with dangers growing greater from day to day. Not only are you aware how difficult is the situation, and how much we suffer from it, but your charity has caused you to share our anxiety and anguish. For it is a thing most mournful and most lamentable, to see so many souls which were redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, snatched from salvation by the whirlpool of a distracted age, and hurled into the abysses of eternal death. We stand as much in need of Divine aid as did they of the time when the great Dominic raised the standard of the Rosary of Mary for the healing of the wounds of those days. This

great saint, illumined by the celestial light, saw clearly that for the cure of the evils around him no remedy could be so availing as that which would recall men to Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and which would cause them to appeal to that Virgin to whom it is given to destroy all heresies, as to their patroness before the throne of God. The formula of the Holy Rosary has been composed by St. Dominic in such a manner that the mysteries of our redemption are commemorated in their successive order; and this matter for meditation is intermixed, and, as it were, interlaced, with the prayer of the angelic salutation and with the prayer to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We who seek for healing in similar ills have the right to believe, that, in using a similar prayer to that which served St. Dominic for so much well-doing to the Catholic world, we, too, shall witness the defeat and disappearance of the evils under which we groan.

"Not only, then, do we invite all Christians to apply themselves, whether in public or in their own homes and the hearts of their own families, to the recitation of this pious office of the rosary, and to continue without weariness in this holy practice; but we desire that the month of October in this year should be entirely consecrated to the Holy Queen of the Rosary. We decree and order that in the whole Catholic world, during that month, the offices of the rosary may be solemnly celebrated by special and splendid services. Thus from the first day of October to the second day of November, in all the parish churches, and, if the ecclesiastical authorities judge it to be opportune and useful, in all other churches and chapels dedicated to the Holy Virgin, let five decades of the rosary be recited, the Litany of Loretto being added thereto. We desire that the people may be present in numbers at these exercises of piety, and that the Holy Mass may, at the same time, be celebrated, and the Holy Sacrament exposed to the adoration of the faithful; and that immediately afterwards the benediction may be given with the sacred host to all the pious congregation. We greatly approve that the confraternities

of the Holy Rosary should make, according to the ancient usage, solemn processions through the towns in order to glorify religion in public. Nevertheless, if, by reason of the evils of the times, this public exercise of religion should not be possible in certain cities, let its place be taken by more assiduous visits to the churches, and let the fervor of piety be made to shine forth by a still more diligent practice of all Christian virtues.

"In favor of those who shall do what we have commanded, it pleases us to open the celestial treasury of the Church, so that they may take therefrom encouragement and reward. To all, then, who during the time named shall be present at the public recitation of the Rosary and the Litany, and shall pray according to our intentions, we grant seven years and seven quarantines of indulgence, applicable to all ends. We wish to impart this favor to those also whom a legitimate cause shall prevent from taking share in the public prayers, provided that in private they shall practise this devotion, and that they shall pray to God according to our intentions. We fully absolve those who, during the time which we have indicated, shall at least twice, either publicly in the churches or in their homes (with lawful excuse), practise these pious exercises, and, after confession, shall approach the Holy Table. We also grant the full remission of sins to those who, either on the festival of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary, or during the eight following days, after having purified their souls by a salutary confession, shall approach the table of Christ, and shall for a certain time offer, according to our intentions, their prayers to God and to the Holy Virgin for the necessities of the Church.

“To action, then, venerable brothers! The more you have at heart the honor of Mary and the salvation of human society, the more you must apply yourselves to feed the piety of the people towards the great Virgin, and to increase their confidence in her. We hold that it is in the designs of Providence, that during these times of trial for the Church the ancient devotion to the august

Virgin may flower more than ever among the vast majority of the Christian people. Let the nations now, excited by our exhortations, fired by your appeals, seek with a daily growing fervor the protection of Mary; let them become more and more attached to the habit of the rosary, to that devotion which our ancestors used to practise not only as an ever-present remedy for their evils, but as a noble ornament of Christian piety. The celestial patroness of humankind will hear their supplications. She will readily grant to the good the happiness of seeing their own virtues increase; to those who have gone astray, the blessing of a return to the way of salvation. In answer to her prayers, God, the avenger of crime, inclining to clemency and mercy, will avert all these perils, and will give back to the Christian world that peace which is so much to be desired.

"Encouraged by this hope, we pray God by the intervention of her in whom He has placed the fulness of all good, — we pray Him with all our strength to shed abundantly upon you, venerable brothers, these celestial favors. And as pledge of our good-will we give you with our whole heart to you, to your clergy, and to the people committed to your care - the apostolic benediction."

T

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE BALTIMORE COUNCIL.

O do more than detail the work of the Baltimore

Council, which was held in the year 1884, and which, of course, forms a part of the history of Pope Leo's Pontificate, inasmuch as he was the one who especially ordered its convocation, is impossible. Every American is aware of the calling of the American prelates to Rome by the Pope, who wished to consult them on the condition of the American Church. The American dignitaries were detained in Rome for months, during which they held many interviews with the cardinals of the Propaganda, and the Holy Father himself, who showed an almost uncontrollable desire to inform himself about the minutia of the Catholic Church in this country. He did the same thing when the Irish prelates were in Rome. As a result of the conferences of the Propaganda and the American hierarchs, a plenary council of the Catholic Church of the United States was ordered; but as 1884 was the year of a Presidential election, it was deemed prudent by Rome and by the American prel