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-'more affable accents:
tt vi dong | time in the fortress 2”
s+) © He stooped his hea
# hand imitating the mot
plas Ne hy Sa tinge to
: pat “gdy thn Toa he vos
C HERALD.
“THE © WIERALD
18 PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY
M..FITHIAN,
No. 106 North Fourth Street, Philadelphia.
HENRY MAJOR, Epiror.
Terms.—Two Dollars and Fifty Cents, if pacd
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No paper discontinued until all arrearages are
settled.
All Communications, except from Agents or
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paid, and addressed ** To the Editor of the Ca-
tholie !lerald, Philadelphia, Pa.’?
ATHOLIC
Poetry.
{4 From the Weekly Catholic. Instructor.
. OUR LADY’S EVEN SONG.
» Child of beauty, brightness, power!
Sleep, it is the evening hour!
S.cep, though rude thy chamber round,
Fear not, this is holy ground;
Viewless watchers hover here,
vs. Angel bands are bending near.
Child of mystery and might,
What can ail thee, babe,to hight?
Infant, tender, pure, and pale,
Rosebud, delicate, and frail.
Ab! [ secupon thy brow
' Some uneasy feeling now;
‘And thy quiet falling tear
Wake my heart's foreboding fears.
..<) Child of high and lowly: love,
‘Thou hast left thy bower above:
Come, then, to an humbler nest, .
On thy mortal mother’s breast;
Wherefure still thy murmurs heard,
Wherefore futtering timid bird?
Is it my rude songs that break
‘Dreams from which thou would’st not wake?
> Are the angel-hyms on high
Softer than @ mother's sight
1 Chita of heaven! 2 lower ay,
Holy as thou art,and dear,
May I love thee without fear?
Ob! too beautifui thou art
‘Thus to slumber on my heart,
Yet, while thus our arms entwine, :
~ Thou art mine—for ever, mine!
eS
‘ From Dolman’s Magazine.
' | THE CAPTIVITY OFAROMAN PONTIFF.
(Concluded from page 370.)
From Fontainebleau Cardinal Pacca jour.
neyed to Paris, and thus describes bis inter.
- view with Napoleon—
11 -« "Phe ewperor entered the apartment, very
simply attired. Having cast a sombre glance
© upon the surrounding company, he approached
‘me, and stopped five or six feetoff. The
:'* ministre des cultes’ then announced my name:
:* Cardinal Pacea!’ said the emperor in a
oo grave tone 5 and then drawing nearer, said in
acca,’ you were »
*'Three years and aehalf sire,’ I replied,
and, with his right
on of a pen upon his
*You signed the bull ‘of ex-
“deft, continued:
communication?”
>. TL answered; * But all the past is to be
» now forgotten’; alluding thereby to the tenth
article of the concordat, under favor of which
2° the emperor promised to restore to his favour
; all cardinals, bishops, priests and clergy, who
vt Ina incurred his displeasure. “Napoleon then
ked me from: what country came; and,
t hing told him from Beneventum, he turned
© 19 Cardinal Congalvi, who stood - near’ me.—
*This is one Consalvi; I know him.’ ' He
© sthen asked the cardinal in what town he had
© be
quartered; and being answered * Rheims,’
The
irejoined: * And a good town, too.”
©° emperor cominued his rounds, saying 2 word
r two to everybody ; and, after all that I
"ol
\o had been led to apprehend, [ thought myself
Jet off very easily.
* Upon the merits or demerits of the concor~
dat, great difference of opinion existed among
“the cardinals, who at the request af the pope,
“© submitted to him their sentiments upon it in
writing; all of them, however, combined to
~>‘yender justice to the pure and saintly charac
= ter of the pontiff, and those who most deeply
‘deplore the weakness: under the influence of
which he had been compelled to sign a treaty
uw 5, Naat he inwardly disavowed, admiued that he
Philadelphia, Thursday,
had yielded to what was at the time an invin-
cible necessit
But Pius the Seventh, from the day upon
which his unwilling assent bad been wrong
‘0 the concordat, never ceased repining at his
betrayal of the high trust reposed in him as
the spiritual father of the faithful, and ‘no
sooner found himself again surrounded by the
staunch friends and advisers from whose pre-
sence he had been so long debarred, than he
took counsel with them how he should best
enter upon the work of retraction,
Cardinal Consalvi, and many other mem-
bers of the sacred college, were of opinion
that the pope should make a simple public ree
cantation of the instrument he had signed but
a few days previously; and no more remarka-
e instance of his holiness’s’ self-accusatory
feelings and profound virtue ean be alleged
than the fact of his cheerful readiness to sub-
mit to a co so apparently humibating.
Upon forther concidernon, however, of the
subject—and principally at the suggestion of
Cardinal Pacca—it was deemed most expe-
dient that the pope should make the desired
retractation by leer tothe emperor, and ‘that
no person might be implicated in the reepon-
sibility of euch a communication, Pius the Se-
venth wrote every line of jthimeelf. Some
extracts from this elaborate document— which
in his aged and infirm condition of body,
was a physical and mental effort of no ordi-
nary nature to have compiled—furnish pleas-
ing evidences of the pontiff’s ‘sincerity and
devotedness to the interests of religion :—
Fonrainsieav, March 24, 1813.
" Sire,—Painful as it is for us 10 make the
avowal to your majesty, and great as may be
your displeasure in receiving it, dread of the
judgmems of God, which ‘our “advanced age
and the gradual decay of our energies render
every day more imminent, must render us su-
“| perior to every other consideration, and to
au as anxieties that prey upon us a thie
Tmpelled by our duty, and in the spirit of
that frankness which becomes our dignity and
ministry, we declare unto your majesty that
ever since the 25th of January, the day upon
which we signed articles that were to form the
basis of a treaty then in contemplation, the
most lively remorse and repentance have torn
oursoul. We know neither peace nor rest;
We have acknowledged (and continual, dee
reflection hes confirmed us in our convictions)
the error into which we were betrayed by the
desire we entertained of ‘adjusting in a per-
manent manner the affairs of the Church, and
atthe same time giving satisfaction to yout
majesty. ‘One thought alone modified our
sorrow ; it was the hope that the harm which
our signature bad inflicted upon the Church,
might be repaired in some subsequent and final
document." ‘
Bat our grief was mightily enhanced, when
to our great surprise, and contrary to the ex-
ivting understanding’ between your majesty
and ourselves, we learnt the publication, un-
dee the title of a concordat, of those very ar-
ticles which were only to form the ground-
work of a future arrangement.
“Profoundly #fflicted atthe scandal we have
given the © ures and convinced of the ne-
cessity:of repairing it, we ‘have yel, as you
well know, ‘ratuctanily delayed this expression
of our sentiments, thata matter of such im-
portance might be condacted without precipi-
tation. |
Knowing that in a short time we should be
surrounded by the members of the sacred
college, we had resolved to await their com-
ing, and be illumined by their counsels; not
indeed respecting the course which he had of
ourselves resolved to pursue, but upon the
properest method of ‘carrying it into execu-
tion,
We have deemed it consistent with the
respect we entertain for your majesty, to have
recourse at once to yourself, and address you
this letter.’ In the presence therefore of that
God before whom we must soon appear to
render an account of the use which, as the
vicar of Christ upon earth, we have made of
His authority, confided to us for the govern-
ment of His Church, we «declare unto your
majesty with all apostolical sincerity, that
our conscience opposes insurmountable obsta-
cles to the execution of the various articles we
pave signed; for to our great grief and con-
jon, we acknowledge that we should be
sing our power to general detriment il we
were to carry into effect the provisions to
which we inconsiderately pledged ourselves.
December 2: 1847.
And yet God is our witness, thatin doing so
we had no evil intention, but erred from hu-
man frailty, being ourselves but dust and
ashes. We shall adress to your’ majesty,
with respect to the paper signed by our han
the words of our predecessor Pascal II, rel
tive to a reseript to which he had affixed his
signature, and which contained a concession
in favor of Henry V. that hie conscience re-
proached him with having made, ‘I'hey were
these ¢
We deem this writing to be invalid, and
therefore pronounce it to be such. As such,
with the aid of the Lord, we would that it
were reformed, that no damage may accrue
to the Church, nor prejudice to our soul.
We acknowledge some of the articles to be
susceptible of correction by certain madificas
tions and alterations, while we declare others
to be intrinsically bad. contrary to justice and
the discipline of the Church’ established by
our Lord Jesus C hrist, and therefore i impos-
sible to be carried into execution.”’..
‘The Pope's letter here enters seriatim
npon a consideration of those articles of the
concordat, which reflection and the counsels
of his advisers had presented to his mind in
the most obnoxions light,
“ We know,” he continues, ** the value of
treaties, and the obligations they impose, but
we know also that when they prove to be. in
opposition to divine institutions, and to. our
own duties, we are bound to submit to the
obligation of that higher eall which forbids
their observance, und renders them uolaw-
ful.
We beseech your majesty graciously to
receive this expression of our sentiments, and |
with the same effusion-of heart that has
prompted these explanations. We conjure
you to give us consolation in the. name of
Jesus Christ... We have no other desire than
reconciliation; it bas ever been the chief ob-
ject of ouraspirations.. In fine, we implore
your majesty to consider how great will be the
glory of an arrangement thal may conduce to
the true peace of the Church, and may be per-
manently maintained by our successors.
We address to Gad the most fervent pray-
ers that he may vouctisafe to pour upon your
majesty the abundance of his celestial -bles-
sia,
The letter was immediately despatched 10
Napoleon, and asrembling the cardinals on
the same day, Pius VII read them a copy of
it, together with an aliocution, in which he
made a declaration of his own sentiments,
and desrribed the tine of conduct he had pur-
en,
¢
‘From the time that the Pope had thus, to
the best of bis ability, repaired the mischief
and scandal he believed himeelf to have occa-
sioned, a marked change for the better took
lace in his health and spiriis.; | He had been
long plunged in a state of deep despondency,
and suffered from @ total loss of appetite and
want of ‘repose. He now resumed all his
wonted cheerfulnees and serenity ; no longer
complained of inability to eat or sleep; and
declared to one of the cardinals that lie felt
his heart delivered from an enormous weight
that had preyed upon it day and night.
Napoleon was indignant at the reception of
the Pontifical letter, but he was no longer
at the apogee of his glory and. power, and
durst not give way to the extremities which
perhaps before the Russian campaign he would
willingly have attempted. He communicated
indeed the Pope's missive to his ministers,
and was heard toexclaim: **1f 1 do not sever
the heads, of some of those Fontainbleau
priests from their busts, matters will never be
arrange
othe suggestion however of one of his
advisers, that the time was come for the em-
eror to declare himself the supreme head of
the Church of France, he replied : “That
would be smashing the srindows.” Napo-
leon judiciously determined on ing lute
publicity to the subject matier of the Pope's
letter. | Measures of additional restriction and
severily were however enforced at Fontain-
bleav. The inhabitants of that town were
no longer permitted as heretofore to hear his
Holiness’s mass, or thathis chaplain Monsig
vor Bertazzoli; they were no longer admitied
to the Papal presence ; Cardinal de Pietro, un
suspicion of having been the chief instigator
of bis Holiness’s retractation of the concordat,
was arrested and conducted by @ police officer
to Auxonne, and the cardinals left in atten-
dance upon the Pope were strictly enjoined,
under penalty of being driven away and im-
Whole Number 777.
prisoned, to to confine ‘heir Personal communi=
cations with him to the courtesies of ordinary
cussing affairs with him, or carrying on any
written correspondence in France or. laly.
‘These conditions being proposed | to Cardinal
Paeca by Colonel Lagrose, a renegade monk,
and now officer of gendarmerie, who with sin=
gular want of good sense had been appointed
to the office of the Pope’s chief gaoler, his
eminenee in measured terms retused ‘ compli«
ance with them. | "So," rejoined Lagorse,
‘if the Pope were to command you to enter
upon the discussion of affairs, or to send com-
manications elsewhere, your eminence would
Undoubtedly,” was the cardinal's
rep for I have repeatedly sworn fealty
an Cuhmieeion to bim.”' + Declare at least
in writing that you have received the empe-
ror's instructions on the subject.”
To this request, Mgr. Pacca and most of
his colleagues willingly acceded.
eanwhile, with utter disregard to the
Pope's remonsirances and retraction, the ob-
noxious concordat was inscribed as a law of
the French empire, and declared obligatory
upon all the archbishops, bishops, and chap-
ters of the kingdom of Italy.’ Severe penal-
ties were to be levied upon its transgressors,
and there is no knowing to what extent a die-
astrous schism might have prevailed in Chris
tendom, if the decisive campaign of Leipsic,
in accelerating the downfall of Napoleon, had
not arrested him in his ambitious schemes for
enslaving and despoiling the Church,
Not anticipating however so soon the event=
fal crisis in the emperor which led to his ab-
dication, the cardinals at Fontainbleau advised
the Pope to prepare an allocution, by which
he solemaly protested against the imperial de-
crees; and, in an instrument of elaborate
length, recapitulated his reasons for retracting
the consent which had been forced from him
in the matter of the concordat, Cardinal
Pacca and his colleagues at the same time
occupied themselves with digesting and pre-
paring a bull, regelating the form of proceed~
ing to be observed, if by the death of Pius
VIL in exile, it should become necessary to
hold a conclave for the election of his succes~
sor, This important document was written
out and signed by the Pope himself.
The private habits of bis Holiness were
simple and fragal.” He dined alone, and du-
ring eighteen months of his stay at Fontain-
bleav, never left his apartments. Occasional
visits from the cardinals and bishops slone
beguiled his solitude.’ He read listle § but
large portions of iis time. were absorbed in
prayer, and grave meditations on the reepon-
sibilities and difficulties of his ‘exalted posi+
tion left scanty leisure for otker occupations,
His sole amusement consisted in relating the
circumstances of his former life, Paricnlerly
in reference to the time when he had bee
Bishop of Tivoli and Imola. « Four French
prelates were habitually resident at’ Fontain-
bleau, and when about to pay their personal
respects to the Pope, they were apt to observe
with an ironical smile: ‘* Let us go and lis-
ten to the little stories about Tivoli,’ Imola,
and Cesena.” | . a
‘The Pope was at length as anceremonious=
ly removed from Fontainbleau as he had been
conducted there. On the 22ad of January,
1814, two carriages arrived at the castle, and
Colonel Lagrose abruptly informed the cardi«
nals thathe had orders to escort the Pope
next morning on his journey back to Rume.
Upon their evincing satisfaction at the intel-
ligence, he added: As to yourselves, noth=
ing has been resolved ons had you but shewn
a litle more prudence moderation, af-
fairs had been long since satisfactorily adjust~
” >
The dean of the sacred college, inthe name
of his colleagues, vehemently repelted the
accusation.
‘The Pope successively pleaded very’ hard
to be allowed the company on his journey of
three, dr two, and even one of his cardinals,
but was refused the indulgence, and only per=
mitted to take Monsigoore Beriazzoli, his
chaplain in ordinary.’ In the second carriage
followed the colonel, the Pope's physician,
and two servants,
Before his departure, summoning all th
cardinals to his Presence, Pius VII thus ad-
dressed them ;
“Upon the point of being separtied from
you, ignorant of my destination, and unaware
whether [ shall ever gain have the consola~
tion of finding myself in the midat of you, I
wee oe
JE