in security the sacred cause of the Christian world and of social order.”
Pius IX. made reply: “United as we are, venerable brethren, we cannot
doubt that the God of peace and charity is with us. And if God be with us,
who shall be against us? Praise, honor, glory to God! To you, peace,
salvation and joy! Peace to your minds; salvation to the faithful
committed to your care; joy to you and to them, in order that you may all
rejoice, chaunting a new canticle in the House of God for evermore!”
The address which Cardinal Mattei read bore the signatures of all the
bishops who were in Rome. The bishops of Italy hastened to express their
concurrence, with one exception, Ariano, who had participated in the
revolutionary movement, and who came to an unhappy death within the year.
There came, in due course, numerous adhesions from all parts of the world,
together with countless addresses from the clergy of the second order. The
laity, on their part, received the bishops on their return home with
triumphal honors. They came around them and escorted them to the pulpits
of their cathedrals, in order to hear from their lips all that had taken
place at Rome. The Bishop of Moulins, Mgr. de Droux Breze, admirably
expressed in a few words the impressions of the venerable pilgrims: “Rome
is a city of wonders; but the wonder of Rome is Pius IX.”
The moral result of all these manifestations was incalculable. At a time
when universal suffrage had come into vogue, it was impossible not to see
in all this, from a merely wordly point of view, indirect, indeed, but
strikingly universal suffrage. The vote of the whole Catholic world was
shown, united with that of the Romans, in affirming the rights of the
Catholic world over Rome, whilst appeared, at the same time, the
determination of the Romans to retain their cherished autonomy, and to
remain the capital of the Catholic world. The parliament of Turin was
greatly agitated. There was indescribable confusion, so that discussion
was impossible. They voted, in opposition to the Episcopal and Pontifical
allocutions, an address to Victor Emmanuel, the character of which may be
gathered from the following few words: “Sire, bishops, almost all
strangers in Italy, have proclaimed the strange doctrine that Rome is the
slave of the Catholic world. We reply to them by declaring that we are
resolved, to maintain inviolable the right of the nation and that of the
Italian metropolis, which is, at present, retained by force under a
detested yoke.” It was of a piece with many other assertions of the
revolutionary party that the Romans detested the rule of the Holy Father.
It was particularly audacious to make such an assertion in face of the
enthusiastic demonstrations which had just been made in the city of the
Popes. They had forbidden the presence of the Italian bishops at Rome, and
nevertheless they dared to complain that almost all the bishops who
gathered around the Sovereign Pontiff were strangers in Italy. But what
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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