The Catholic World, Vol. 10, October, 1869 to March, 1870Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 10, October, 1869 to March, 1870
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
The distinguished Father Theiner, of Rome, has lately given his
friends occasion to regret that he had not remained known to the
literary world by his _Monumenta_ alone. No words but those of praise
and admiration could then have been found for him. Our occasion for
this remark is his late controversy--or series of controversies--with
M. Crétineau-Joly, concerning the Cardinals Consalvi and Caprara, and
Bishop Bernier, touching their connection with the concordat of 1801.
The matter has culminated in an octavo volume lately out, _Bonaparte,
le Concordat de 1801 et le Cardinal Consalvi, suivi des deux Lettres
au Père Theiner sur le Pape Clement XIV._, par J. Crétineau-Joly; and
of which we made mention in our August number. M. Crétineau-Joly is a
terrible adversary, and wields a trenchant blade. Such a rapid shower
of cut, thrust, back, forward, and circular strokes is rarely seen.
It is to be regretted, however, that M. Joly, in the abundance of his
power of replication and retort, should not have been content with
telling Father Theiner, as he does, "You have been given a bad cause
to sustain, and you defend it with bad arguments." But blood becomes
as hot in literary quarrels as in physical combats, and M. Joly
goes entirely too far when he talks about surprising his adversary,
"_Vingt fois, trente fois, en flagrant débit de mensonge_." Those who
know Father Theiner are satisfied that he is in this case the victim
of his imagination and of his simplicity, and that, moreover, he has
been badly advised.
* * * * *
Dr. F. W. Kampschulte, Professor of History at the University of
Bonn, has hitherto been known as an author only by a few works of
secondary importance, such as his _History of the Ancient University
of Erfurt_. He has, however, just taken rank quite suddenly among the
best historians of Germany by his lately published _Johann Calvin,
seine Kirche und sein Staat in Genf_, (John Calvin, his Church and
his State at Geneva.) The first volume alone is as yet published.
But this one is quite enough to display remarkable erudition, and an
amount of literary labor nothing less than enormous. Dr. Kampschulte
asserts on good grounds that, without the assistance of Berne,
Genevan Protestantism would never have succeeded as it did, and he
has, accordingly, thoroughly and successfully searched the archives
of Berne for new and valuable documents. Finally, the author has
not, like too many of his predecessors in the same field, been
content to take for Calvin's correspondence Beza's edition of the
_Epistolæ et Responsa Calvini_, which really contains but a small
portion of Calvin's correspondence, but has with wonderful labor and
perseverance collected a large amount of Calvin's letters hitherto
unknown, and which were dispersed throughout Europe.
* * * * *
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