mencement of his supremacy. They were drawn along by the current of his influence; they were acted upon by the fatal magic of his principles. The most conspicuous of them were soon attracted together by the similarity of their opinions and objects; and towards the middle of the century, they found themselves strong enough to conceive and execute a combined and systematic attack on Christianity in the publication of the Encyclopédie.

(To be continued.)

POPISH LEGENDS.-No. II.

THE author having assured his host that he had no design whatever to attack the catholic church, or the saints, but only to draw his pen against the absurd legends by which both were disgraced, their discourse proceeded :—

Land. Draw your pen in God's name-but you will find that you have one hard nut to crack.

Auth. Where is that to come from?

Land. Why, from that place which St. Macarius did not choose to go to. My good Sir, you will want no safeguard against compliments from Rome. You will not get any from that quarter.

Auth. You may rest assured that, even in Rome itself, there are learned men who set no great store by the legends.

Land. Rome will never allow those whom it has pronounced to be saints to be brought in question; and, as it were, confess that it has cheated itself, and others, by its acts of canonization.

Auth. My good landlord, you have never formed any right notion as to what canonization is-and that, I am sorry to say, is the case with a great many persons.

Land. How so? Is not canonization exclusively the pope's business? Can one suspect that anybody who was not a real saint should be publicly proclaimed to have been such, be placed upon the altar, and commended to veneration, and that this should be nothing more than a trick put upon all Christendom-namely, that they should venerate those who never existed at all, or who, if they did exist, were no such persons as the legend writers have represented? And would the bishops and all their clergy allow themselves to be so far deceived as to consecrate churches dedicated to such saints, and say masses in honour of such saints, and make the extracts from the lives of such saints part of the service of their breviary, as our old rector said to my aunt in my presence? Would the pope, and the bishops, and the civil authorities, suffer the printing and circulation of the legends to go on, if accounts of saints that never existed, or things which they never did, or things absurd in themselves, were thus spread abroad? Of course, at the times assigned to these saints and their actions, there were persons living who were worthy of credit, by whom all these things were set down; and it must first of all be shewn that they

wrote fables and lies; and that actually, in the case of some saint, they have held up to admiration what was inconsistent with his character.

Auth. Now you are in your fever again-and certainly a very hot fit. Are not you thirsty with it? in such cases a glass of wine is recommended what will you take?

Land. You are always joking about it-I never drink anything from one dinner-time to another; except, for mere civility, when our old rector gives me a call. It would be much better for you to answer what I have said.

Auth. Why, you have said a good deal as far as words are concerned, though not much to the purpose. It will be very easy to answer you point by point.

Land. Point by point? I am afraid some will be omitted, for I cannot take upon me to repeat all that I have just been saying.

Auth. I know every word that you have said. The first questionfor all your philippic was in the interrogatory form-the first question was, "Is not canonization exclusively the pope's business?"

Land. Yes, yes,-that was the first.

Auth. In the old times of the Christian church, my good landlord, there was no papal canonization at all; but the people themselves honoured with their trust and confidence those who were most famous for their sanctity; and those popular canonizations (as they may be called) received the approbation of the bishops. It was not until the twelfth century—

Land. The twelfth century?-what when the church was more than eleven hundred years old?

Auth. Yes, yes, that is what is meant by the twelfth century-it was in the twelfth century that Pope Eugenius III. [elected 1145*] undertook to perform the first solemn canonization, and that was in the case of the Emperor Henry.

Land. What a fine thing it is to have learning.

Auth. And Pope Alexander III. [elected 1159] was the first who maintained that canonization was exclusively the pope's business. Land. That must have annoyed the bishops uncommonly. Did they let it pass?

Auth. Some of them; especially as the bishops grew by degrees more sleepy in their office, till in process of time they slept away their rights.

Land. They not only slept them away, but played them away, and hunted them away, and eat and drank them away, and may God forgive me-made away with them by other means. But now we have got again some stout bishops, who would not take everything from Rome quite so easily. But, however, since Pope Alexanderthe how many?

Auth. The Third.

Land. Since Pope Alexander the Third, then, have all saints been canonized by the popes?

The translator begs to state generally that he is responsible for anything which may be found in the text and notes between brackets.

Auth. No. Some bishops (as even Pope Benedict himself allows) took upon them to perform canonizations after that time; and such episcopal canonizations as had gained a sort of prescription by the lapse of a century were thenceforth considered valid at Rome.

Land. Bravo-these were resolute bishops. Is it the same with saintship as with fields and meadows, that the title is to be gained by prescription? Or does the sanctity of the party grow so much more rapidly when the pope himself takes the matter in hand? They should not canonize anybody, except upon a certainty; for prescription will never make him a saint; and if they can discover that anybody who has been canonized by a bishop is a saint an hundred years after that event, one would think that they might have discovered it before. I can comprehend so much.

Auth. Õh, you are beginning to take quite a right view of things. Land. But why do not our bishops canonize anybody now-a-days? Auth. Patience-Pope Urban VIII. entirely took away their right to canonize in the year 1634; and since that time, no one has been bold enough to attempt such a thing.

Land. They should make me a bishop; I would take care they did not hinder me. It is as clear as the day, that it is a mere usurpation of the pope; and not a very old one either.

Auth. I am glad you confess it—and I feel that I have said quite as much as is necessary in reply to your first question, "Whether canonization is not exclusively the pope's business."

Land. What a loss it was to the bishops-that usurpation of the pope. Auth. That is as one takes it. If you refer to the money which, since that time, Rome has drawn from canonizations, no doubt it amounts to a great sum; and the bishops might have done a great deal of good with it; but in respect of canonization itself, they have not lost any great deal of power, because it, in fact, consists of nothing more than the expression of an opinion, that this or that person, who died with a high character for sanctity, is deserving of public veneration. Just as those early canonizations, which I have mentioned, had their origin in the opinion and confidence of the people.

Land. If canonization is so entirely a matter of opinion, then we are completely deceived when it turns out that anybody whom we venerate as a saint was in fact no such thing.

Auth. Why, in this sense we are not deceived-we venerate him conditionally, on the supposition that he was a saint; and in imitating any really good works which we read of him, we cannot deceive ourselves.

Land. What then, it is no article of faith, that this or that canonized person was a true saint, and that he really performed all the actions ascribed to him?

Auth. Here, look at this book-François Veron's "Rule of the Catholic Faith," a book that is held in high estimation as an approved work, even for converting heretics.* "We do not learn," he says

"VERON (François) Missionaire de Paris, entra chez les Jésuites, et en sortit quelque tems après. Il se consacra aux missions, et fut l'instrument du salut de VOL. XIV.-Nov. 1838.

3 U

here, either from the written, or the unwritten, word of God that the holiness of any individual Christian who sleeps in God is an article of faith revealed to us by God. None of the miracles"-observe this none of the miracles."

Land. My stars, not even the miracles?

Auth. "None of the miracles which have occurred since the time of the apostles form any part of divine revelation; consequently, none can challenge that belief which is due to God. How then can the canonization which is grounded on them, or the judgment of the church"-observe again the words "the judgment of the church." Land. I see. It is so-" or the judgment of the church."

Auth. Or the judgment of the church, that this or that person is holy, be the object of such belief? Consequently, none of the bulls of canonization which commonly issue from the popes, and only decide an historical question, form articles of faith."

Land. This is what comes of the want of learning. How are our folks to know that this is the case?

Auth. Stay a little-here's another book by the same Muratori, whose work on true devotion I before commended. It treats of the regulation of the natural understanding in religious matters.

Land. You have fine books certainly;-and quite catholic?

Auth. They are I assure you most particularly catholic, and highly esteemed by all intelligent catholics.

Land. Well, and what does the book contain that is to our purpose? Auth. Hear" All commentators agree in opinion that God has not revealed to us all truths; but that the Holy Spirit only teaches 'all truth' that is necessary for the salvation of men, and the maintenance of the catholic church. But how can we say that the veneration of any new saint, and faith in his heavenly blessedness, is necessary for the catholic church ?" *

Land. But before every canonization, there is a regular process carried on against the person whom it is proposed to canonize; and I have understood that there is somebody who appears as the Devil's advocate, and makes it his business to bring forward everything that can have a tendency to prevent the canonization. And it is not till after the strictest scrutiny that the Pope decides for, or against, the sanctity of the party.

Auth. My good landlord, canonization, as I have already told you, is properly nothing more than a permission granted for the public veneration of this or that person, who has died with a great character

plusieurs pécheurs. Il mourut saintement en 1649, Curé de Charenton. On rapporte qu'après la fameuse conférence qu'il eut à Caen sur la religion avec le ministre Bochart (l'un et l'autre ayant un second bien inférieur en force) un Catheolique qui étoit présent, fit cette résponse à des Huguenots qui lui en demandoient des nouvelles: Pour vous dire la vérité, on ne peut pas assûrer que votre Sçavant soit plus sçavant que notre Scavant; mais en recompense, notre Ignorant est dix fois plus ignorant que votre Ignorant.' On a de lui une excellente Méthode de Controverse, et surtout une Règle de la Foi Catholique et d'autres ouvrages, dont la plupart ont été imprimés en 2 vol. in fol."-Nouveau Diction. Hist. Trans.]

*Murat. de Ing. Moder. in Relig. Neg. c. 17.

for holiness. Whether he really was holy, God has not revealed to us; and the Pope cannot make anybody holy that has not been really

Men (and even the Pope is a fallible man) judge only by the pious deeds, the external manifestations of virtues, and the extraordinary and wonderful actions of the deceased which may be produced. All this depends on depositions, documents, and other human means of proof. Such means of proof may deceive even when the scrutiny is ever so strict. The Pope himself confesses that he may err in this matter; and provides for it at every canonization, by publicly protesting, before all the congregation, that by this solemnity he intends nothing contrary to the faith, or the catholic church, or the honour of God. Would such a protestation as this be necessary, if the sanctity of the canonized party was a matter so completely decided? A clearly established truth, without this precaution, could not injure the faith, or the catholic church, or the honour of God.*

Land. Well, all this makes it the harder for me to understand how they can take a saint and place him at once on the altar, or dedicate churches to him.

Auth. My good landlord, our altars should certainly present a different appearance from that which they have, even in the present day. "We say indeed" (writes Muratori in the True Devotion of a Christian) "that this or that church belongs to this or that holy martyr, or confessor, or virgin; but, in truth, the churches and altars are dedicated and consecrated to the true God alone, in remembrance of his holy servants. In like manner, we use to say, 'The mass of this saint;' and yet it is perfectly clear that this unbloody sacrifice is offered to God alone, though certainly with the intention of honouring the memory of his departed servants, but much more with a design to laud and magnify the Supreme, whose grace and gifts we venerate in the inhabitants of heaven."

"We often

see" (he adds with reference to the pictures of the saints) "that this great God is served with but few lighted tapers at public service, while the picture, or relics, of a saint, on the very altar, are surrounded with a great show of lights. Is it fitting then that the Lord of Hosts should be made inferior to his servant?" To support this sound doctrine of his, he adduces the ordinance of Pope Clement XI. of the 20th January 1705, by which his holiness commanded, "that whensoever the consecrated Host should be exposed for worship, all pictures on that altar should be covered, no relics or picture should be placed upon it, and still less should the representations of the poor souls in purgatory, in whatsoever way they might, or could, be portrayed, be allowed to be visible.

Land. By my troth, and so they ought to be. The pictures of the saints, in so far as they consist of a mixture of colours spread on canvass, wood, or wall, or, indeed, in my opinion, when they are of gold, silver, marble, wood, or plaster, certainly merit no veneration in themselves; but the only object of veneration is the person of whom the pictures, or the relics, remind us. They might therefore be placed

* Van Espen. tom. iii. p. 574. Christ. Lupus, tom. iv. Scarl. in Can. p. 573.