Journal in France in 1845 and 1848 with Letters from Italy in 1847: Of Things and Persons Concerning the Church and EducationAllies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Religion
Journal in France in 1845 and 1848 with Letters from Italy in 1847: Of Things and Persons Concerning the Church and Education
Allies, T. W. (Thomas William)
France -- Church history -- 19th century; Italy -- Church history -- 19th century
was to us the portal of that great building of the Catholic Church. He
approved of that metaphor, which served to give him a better notion of
our position than anything else we said, though, like every other
Roman Catholic, he could not admit for a moment that we were in the
Church. He said, a Protestant minister, an optician, had expressed to
him his belief in the efficacy of prayers for the dead, which appeared
to him under this image: it was as if a number of figures were thrown
into the shade, out of the sun's rays; while between them and the sun
are other figures who enjoy his full light: these, like certain
glasses, reflect that light upon the figures in the shade. Thus it is
that the prayers of the blessed especially succour the faithful
dead. He had often used this image in sermons. I pressed him with the
existence of the Greek Church, on the one hand, and the acknowledged
developement of Papal power, on the other; but no Roman Catholic ever
hesitates to excommunicate individual or church which is not _de
facto_ united to the Roman See; unity with them is indeed a first
principle--a sublime and true belief in itself, though perhaps certain
facts may modify the application of it. He said he had thought
continually of us since our visit, and had the greatest esteem for us,
that he had prayed for us daily, as he did for England; that fair
England, if she could be again, as she once was, the Island of
Saints--what a means for the conversion of others! At our parting, he
begged our prayers for himself. I said, if I came again to Paris, I
should hope to be allowed to see him again. Our conversation was so
disjointed that I can remember but little of it, but it turned on the
_offences_ which alienated us from them. He denied repeatedly the
thought of adoring the Blessed Virgin. He had moved his lodgings to
the Rue du Regard, 14., in order to overlook a house and garden
opposite, in which were lodged a female community of converts from
Judaism, over whom he watched. The Supérieure was with him when we
came. He spoke of our silence as to the Blessed Virgin and all saints;
that we made a wall of separation between them and us, whereas
the whole Church was one, vividly affected with the joys and sorrows
of its several members. M. tried to show that, in the present state of
things, silence might conceal very deep and reverential feelings. He
seemed not to think this satisfactory, and in truth it applies only
partially.
We went to the Pantheon; its interior has the coldness and deadness
which naturally belongs to the tombs of those who die without the
Christian's hope. It looks exactly what it is,--the shrine of human
ambition--a vast coffin holding a skeleton. If it were made a church
hereafter, as surely it must be, it might be made to equal the
Madeleine in magnificence. We mounted and enjoyed the fine view: there
is a triple dome,--sufficiently bungling, I think.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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