The before this period, when State and Church were bound together. And as Henry IV. called to the vacant episcopal sees persons distinguished for learning and piety, the Catholic religion entered on a new period, which in the course of time developed into the "siècle" of Louis XIV. Vicomte de Meaux's work, founded as it is on the most scrupulous study of history, and principally the recently published documents of the time, claims the attention of Catholics of all countries. In the second issue (March) is contained an article on Napoleon's Marriage with Josephine," in which the Rev. Dr. Knöpfler, of Tübingen, thoroughly establishes the fact that this marriage was truly valid, sacramental, and hence indissoluble. author refutes the opinion recently published in his memoirs by Prince Metternich, who vindicated the sentence of the Paris Ecclesiastical Commission declaring null and invalid the Emperor's marriage with Josephine Beauharnais. Our author brings before us a far more trustworthy man, the Count d'Haussonville, in his valuable work, "L'Eglise romaine et le premier empire, 1800-1814." According to him it was Pope Pius VII., who, as soon as he became aware that the Empress was only civilly married, insisted on the immediate celebration of a marriage "in facie ecclesiæ," and gave all faculties to Cardinal Fesch, who in the presence of Talleyrand and Bertier as witnesses, assisted in the chapel of the Tuilleries at the ecclesiastical marriage. Cardinal Fesch drew up a document which he handed to the Empress. When the Emperor sought for a divorce, the Empress, although extremely reluctantly, gave way to her husband's pressing petitions and delivered the document to him. It has disapappeared for ever. The fact that the Pope kept silence as to Napoleon's second marriage with an Austrian princess, is to be accounted for by the captivity in which he was detained. In case he had enjoyed full liberty, without any doubt he would have denounced the Emperor's proceeding and taken the same course as Clement VII. in the time of Henry VIII. of England. 3. Stimmen aus Maria-Laach. Father Ehrle continues discussing the bearings of the Encyclical issued by Leo. XIII. on the Restoration of the Catholic Philosophy. He advances most important internal and external reasons which require us to take St. Thomas as the leader to be followed in this work of restoration. There could only be a choice between him on one side, and St. Bonaventura or Scotus on the other hand. But St. Bonaventura is a far more developed mystical nature, and in his commentary on the sentences of Peter Lombard sometimes only reproduces the latter; and Scotus may be an acute thinker, but he lacks not only the deepness, but also the clearness of St. Thomas. Another prerogative of St. Thomas is that he enjoyed as his teacher Albert the Great, who for the first time introduced the study of Aristotle into the Christian Philosophy. Lastly, it is to be observed, that St. Thomas, in editing the two great Summas," sought to meet the necessities of the students who longed for a text-book. For this purpose the two immortal works are eminently adapted. Among external reasons may be adduced the recommenda tions of the Holy See and the most eminent theologians from the thirteenth century, down to our time. Our author very accurately comments on the great opposition which St. Thomas's doctrine met with for almost a century; but at last it proved stronger than all its assailants. It was principally in England that the Franciscans, who had two extensive schools both in Oxford and Cambridge, opposed St. Thomas, but at last they were obliged to submit. In the April issue, F. Ehrle goes on to establish the high esteem in which St. Thomas generally was held in the period after the Reformation, not only by the Dominicans, but by all religious orders and also by the principal theologians belonging to the secular clergy. And what ought not to be forgotten is, the almost insane fury of the Reformers against our Saint. It is a very strong proof for the excellence of his doctrine. F. Von Hummelauer expatiates on " Ancient Christian Times and their Relation to Physical Science," adducing from every century striking proofs of the undeniable fact that the Catholic Church has promoted the investigation of Nature, inasmuch as it affords a means for ascending from the creature to the Creator. แ A ITALIAN PERIODICALS. La Civiltà Cattolica. 15 Maggio, 1880. N article in the Civiltà Cattolica of the 15th May, entitled "La Revoluzione Italiana al bivio", which we might freely render as The Italian Revolution in a Cleft Stick," represents it as standing where two roads branch off, each leading to destruction, and under the necessity of making a choice. Since the Revolution took possession of Italy there has been no peace for the country. Its professed liberators promised wonders, but no real change was witnessed, except a progressive increase of misery, suffering, and crime. Complainants were told to wait until the unification was completed, but after Rome, the predestined capital, had been won, and Venice emancipated," and yet there was no prospect of deliverance from evils which, on the contrary, became every day more intolerable, the smouldering anger at last burst into a flame, and in 1876 the men who had "made Italy" by all their nefarious arts, and had made her miserable also, were thrust aside,and others called to the helm of Government. These men were as liberal of promises as their predecessors, and pledged themselves to repair all past injustices and remove every The Reviewer proceeds to inquire how, during the last four years of power, the Left has fulfilled its engagements. The present wretched state of things is sufficient answer to this question. Instead of providing for the interests of the country, the leaders have been exclusively occupied in securing the attainment of their own selfish ends or those of the small fraction of the Left to which they belong; for, not only does no such thing as a national representation exist, but neither can it be said that in the chamber itself regular Government abuse. and Opposition parties are to be found, as is the case in the Parliaments of other modern constitutional States. The particular men in power keep their places because they are there, and the rest of the dominant oligarchy who at present rule Italy are only hindered from unseating them by their own internal divisions. All are discontented, all loudly declaim, all upbraid and curse each other, both within and out of Parliament, and tax each other with doing no better than the Right. And this is most true, for there is really no divergence in the political aims of the Right or the Left. If there were only portfolios enough for all the leading men of both parties, they might very well hold office together. A proof of the immoral selfishness which prompts the rulers of Italy to sacrifice everything to their own personal ambition was given the other day, when, in order to humiliate the Right, the Left was not ashamed actually to reproach that party with the seizure of Rome, flinging in their faces the iniquitous arts by which they had succeeded in installing themselves on the Capitol. Farini, the President of the Chamber, ventured gravely to rebuke them for thus lowering the majesty of Italy, but he paid dearly for this proof of his courage. His own party rebelled against him, and for the sake of his personal dignity he felt himself constrained to resign his post. Neither the Government nor the so-called representatives of the nation know what they would aim at, nor what they would do, yet all feel that there is no getting on in this fashion, and anxiously look out for a solution. But is there one to be found? The Reviewer confidently replies, none, and gives his reasons, which are briefly these. He was writing when the dissolution of the Chamber had not yet been resolved upon, but he clearly saw that either a Ministerial or a Parliamentary crisis was imminent, and yet in neither case could the difficulty of the present situation be removed. A change of Ministry would be only a change of men, and could but lead to a continuation of the same indecorous comedy which the Left has been playing for the last four years with its alternation of ministries, Depretis, Cairoli, Depretis, Cairoli, Cairoli -Depretis. On the other hand, no substantial change in the situation could be expected from a new Parliament, for it was impossible, constituted as things are, for any very different political condition to result from the elections; and this is the opinion of all competent judges. Vainly would men shut their eyes to the true cause of the ruinous state of affairs. It is to be found in the absolute division between the rulers and the ruled, a division happily described by a saying of the senator Signor Jacini, which has been seized on and adopted. The former constitute legal Italy, the latter real Italy. The distinction is most accurate, for the men who ought to represent the needs and desires of twenty-eight millions of Italians, represent only themselves and their paltry private ambitions. They are elected by a very limited constituency, interested or bought, and mostly belong to the legal profession, or are mere political adventurers, with no status in the country. Between them and the country, in short, there is a chasm; they are a mere nucleus of individuals who have as much to do with the nation as have the satraps of Persia or the mandarins of China. Such an artificial Government can only get on by a succession of stratagems and fictions, and, if such fail at last, it comes to a standstill, with the alternative of going forward towards certain destruction or of dying of inanition. Up to 1870 the leaders of the Revolution were combined in the purpose of destroying the temporal power of the Holy See, which was an obstacle to their unchristian designs; this served as a certain bond of union and furnished an object of external struggle. "We shall stick together," said Guiseppe Ferrari in April, 1870, as long as possible, from the necessity of making head against the Pontiff." But when this external struggle came to an end, legal Italy was thrown upon internal dissensions and conspiracies to keep up some semblance of life, and not only did Right and Left mutually conspire against each other, but even men of the same party did the like, leading thereby to a Babel of confusion such as we now witness. A State reduced to such disorganization can no longer make a step without falling into the horrors of anarchy or of civil war, a result which the republican and socialistic demagogy daily threaten. On such occasions, a Government has sometimes recourse to the desperate experiment of a foreign war, because in face of the enemy it becomes possible to create a centre of union, and victory may serve to allay the jealousies of internal faction. Many are ready to embrace this expedient, and raise the cry of war against Austria for "Italia irredenta; " and, perhaps, before long the Italian revolution may be urged on to adopt this course in spite of the miserable state of the army, the still more wretched plight of the navy, an exhausted treasury, and an impoverished people. Such a war would be inevitably disastrous, as Alberto Mario confesses in the journal La Lega, where he says that a rupture with Austria would "plainly entail the certainty of defeat and of the decomposition of Italy." But opponents treat such assertions as blasphemy, and perhaps it may not be possible to restrain the impatient much longer; perhaps the Revolution may see no other way of escape except war. On which course, then, will legal Italy resolve? War with the foreigner, or civil war? Whichever choice is made, there can be little doubt but that it will lead to destruction. There is, in fact, but one way of salvation open to Italy to retrace its steps, cast itself at the feet of the Pontiff, cancel irreligious laws, repair past injustice, and place in power men who will consult the weal of the country and respect the sanctity of Catholicism. Either there is this way or there is none; either re-action or the abyss; Catholicism or death; the Pope or ruin. A SUCCESSION of solid articles is now in process of appearing in the Civiltà Cattolica on one of the most urgent questions of the day, that between masters and operatives, capital and labour. The new school of poetry, styled Verismo, continues also to be treated. The article in the May number sums up its remarks by pronouncing the new school as destestable, for it does not know how to represent in its artistic forms that very humanity which it pretends to substitute for the great Christian ideals. Its men resemble the most despicable of women, while its women are degraded still further below the type of womanhood. If now and then you chance upon a pretty strophe, or a happy inspiration, it is the exception, and concerns some trivial matter. It is a nest of nightingales, or a child's fair curly head, or some piece of domestic playfulness, which affords this relief in the midst of a mass of rubbish or worse than rubbish. But nothing will you meet with which appertains to the true life of humanity; these little scraps of Nature and prettiness regarding only its least and most accidental belongings. La Scuola Cattolica. 31 Marzo-30 Aprile, 1880. Two articles in the Scuola Cattolica for March and April, amongst longer and more elaborate ones on important questions of the day which our limited space forbids us to notice, will be read with interest at the present moment. The first is on St. Benedict and civilization, and briefly sketches the gigantic work accomplished in times of barbarism by him and his children. Saints-those men truly greatare the salvation of the world. God raises them up from time to time in His Church. Such we need at this day, when disorder, moral, social, and political, has invaded every class as it had in the fifth century, albeit in a different form. The second, entitled St. Catherine of Siena and the Papacy, vindicates that great saint from the misrepresentations of the despoilers of Pius IX., who have actually claimed her as a witness in their favour, and quoted her words in excuse of their sacrilegious and iniquitous deeds. St. Catherine is here triumphantly proved to have been very far removed in thought, word, and deed from being a "patriot" of their stamp. IN FRENCH AND BELGIAN PERIODICALS. Revue Catholique. Avril et Mai, 1880. Louvain. N two articles in these numbers of the Revue, M. E .Vandelaat gives an interesting account of a "Free Colony at Port Breton " (Oceanica), which is being formed by a Breton gentleman, M. Ch. Du Breil, Marquis de Rays. The Marquis de Rays is the possessor of a large fortune, but instead of enjoying it at home, he prefers to use it and his signal talents as an administrator, in organizing a free colony for New Britain. "I wish," he has said, "to colonize for God and for France';" that is to say, he hopes to create in that distant island "a new France worthy of the old, and where the laws of the Catholic Church will be held in honour; to raise also from their profound degradation the unfortunate peoples of that part of Oceanica and to civilize them; neither to drive them back into the forests nor to annihilate them." The colony of Port Breton is to be a work of religious civilization. The small and weak tribes are not to be con |