The Jesuits, 1534-1921: A History of the Society of Jesus from Its Foundation to the Present TimeCampbell, Thomas J. (Thomas Joseph)
History
The Jesuits, 1534-1921: A History of the Society of Jesus from Its Foundation to the Present Time
Campbell, Thomas J. (Thomas Joseph)
Jesuits -- History
In 1541 we find Salmerón and Brouet on their way to Ireland as papal
nuncios. They had been asked for by Archbishop Wauchope of Armagh, when
Henry VIII was endeavoring to crush out the Faith in England and
Ireland. Wauchope is a very interesting historical character. He had
been named Archbishop of Armagh after Browne of that see had
apostatized. He was generally known as "the Scotch Doctor," and had been
the Delegate of Pope Paul III at Spires where Charles V was striving in
vain to conciliate the German princes. With him as advisers were Le Jay,
Bobadilla and Faber. What made him especially conspicuous then and
subsequently, was the fact that he had risen to the dignity of
archbishop and of papal delegate though he was born blind. This is
asserted by a host of authors, among them Prat in his life of Le Jay,
and Crétineau-Joly, MacGeoghegan and Moore in their histories.
On the other hand we find in the "Acta Sanctæ Sedis" (XIII) a flat
denial of it by no less a personage than Pope Benedict XIV. It occurs
incidentally in a decision given on March 20, 1880, in connection with
an appeal for a young theologian, whose sight was very badly impaired at
the end of his theological course. The appellants had alleged the case
of the Archbishop of Armagh and the court answered as follows: "Nec
valeret adduci exemplum cujusdam Roberti Scoti, cui quamvis cæco a
puerili ætate, concessa fuit facultas nedum ad sacerdotium sed etiam ad
episcopatum, ascendendi, uti tenent Maiol. (_De irregularitate_), et
Barbos (_De officio episcopi_). Respondet enim Benedictus XIV, quod
reliqui scriptores, quibus major fides habenda est, Robertum non oculis
captum sed infirmum fuisse dicunt;" which in brief means: "Benedict XIV
declares that the most reliable historians say that Scotch Robert was
not blind but of feeble vision." As Benedict XIV was perhaps the
greatest scholar who ever occupied the Chair of Peter, and as his
extraordinary intellectual abilities were devoted from the beginning of
his career to historical, canonical and liturgical studies, in which he
is regarded as of the highest authority, such an utterance may be
accepted as final with regard to the "Scotch Doctor's" blindness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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