[COPY.] To His Eminence CARDINAL LITTA-CardinalBishop of SABINUM-and Prefect of the S. Congregation of PROPAGANDA Fide. MONSIGNEUR CARDINAL, ROME, 15 April, 1818. WHEN I had the honour to transmit to your Eminence the copy, and English translation, of the "Statement of Facts," drawn up at the reiterated desire of His Holiness, I had flattered myself that my own labours, and the patience of His Holiness and his Ministers, were not so soon to be put to a similar test, but I have, since, been made acquainted with some facts, which, consistently with my feelings, leave me no alternative of adoption, and I will trust that, from our very long acquaintance, your Eminence will be disposed to give full credit to the integrity of my motives. Soon after the appearance of the Pontifical Bull, "Solicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum"-I heard that the Roman Catholic Bishops, in Great Britain, had been apprised that they were not to consider that Rescript as obligatory upon their conduct, respecting any members of the Society of Jesuits, who might be resident within their several districts of spiritual jurisdiction-a similar construction of the Rescript had, I understood, been given, by the See of Rome, in reply to the Protest of the Court of Portugal, on the 24th of August, 1815. I am now informed, that mandatory instructions have been addressed to the Bishop Gibson, the senior Apostolic Vicar, in England, distinctly enjoining him, to confer spiritual ordination on such of the Society of Jesuits, who may demand it "titulo paupertatis," thereby giving an obligatory effectin extenso-to the Pontifical Bull, and, at once, recognising, within the British Realm, the substantive existence of that Order, or Society, against which the opinions, or prejudices, of the great mass of the British nation are so prevalent, a fact, which I thought it incumbent upon me not to conceal from His Holiness, and, your Eminence will do me the justice to recollect, that, in a letter, which I had the honour to address to you, on the 30th August, 1814*, * [Extract of a Letter to His Eminence the Cardinal Litta,Prefect of the S. C. of Propaganda Fide,-dated-StonEaston-House, Somerset, August 30, 1814. "Your Eminence will probably have seen, in the public prints, that many Documents, connected with the subject of the Roman Catholics, have been moved for, in Parliament, by myself, and printed, by order of the House.-I enclose a copy of the First Number, and I am more particularly induced to my sentiments, on this delicate and important subject, were expressed, at some length, to the same transmit these papers to your Eminence, as you will observe the great caution manifested by our Legislature, with regard to the Society of Jesuits-nor can it be a matter of surprise, when the same conduct obtained even in, almost, every Catholic State in Europe. I will not conceal from your Eminence my own feelings, resulting from no narrow exclusive principlesbut I must plainly avow to your Eminence, my candid opinion, that the See of Rome cannot adopt any line of conduct more injurious to the interests of my Catholic fellow-subjects, than the manifestation of any disposition to recognise the reorganization of a Body of Jesuits within the British Realm :— :-Believe me, my dear Monsigneur, that, their existence, as a Body, here, cannot be tolerated by our Government, nor by the great mass of the people. If that great luminary and prelate of your Church-Melchior Cano-so vehemently and so prophetically denounced their establishment-almost in the very cradle of their infancy-and, if the progress of their growth has been marked by the animadversion of so many of the orthodox of your Communion-by authorities ecclesiastical and civil—and, the act of their abolition hailed with, almost, general acclamation-your Eminence will not deem a Protestant Government to be actuated by a narrower policy, when disposed to resist the experiment of the revival of a Body +-which have so often been accused of "extending their Creed at the expense of the "Decalogue."-I press these observations more anxiously upon your Eminence's notice, as individuals of the Body have made no scruple to avow that it is actually the intention of the See of Rome to revive the Order of Jesuits, in this kingdom-and, I hesitated not to declare to our friend, the Cardinal Secretary of * [A Spaniard-Bishop of the Canaries.] + [The Bull for the restoration of the Order, or Society of Jesu, is dated, Rome, at Santa Maria Maggiore, 7th Aug. 1814.-The knowledge of this fact had not reached England-at the date of the Letter, from which the above Extract is taken.] effect. Indeed, that I might feel greater confidence in the representation which I, then, conceived it to State, as I did to Monsignor Frosini*, when, both, in Londonmy own sentiments upon that subject, in concurrence with the public feeling, as well as, what, I know to be, the sentiments of the King's Ministers. When the Apostolic Vicars-as your Eminence may probably trace, in the records of Propaganda-in consequence of exclusive claims asserted by the ex-Jesuits in this country, applied, in the prefecture of the Cardinal Borgia, for information upon the subject,-His Eminence, distinctly, disavowed any authority, derived from any act of His Holiness. The ex-Jesuits, nevertheless, asserted that, their Order had been revived—“ oraculo vivæ " vocis"—of His Holiness. Catholics, not educated within the pale of the Jesuits, look, with much concern, at the frequent transmission of young men, sent for instruction or ordination to the Jesuits in Sicily, and, from thence returned to this country. If the example of Russia be pleaded, the answer is found in the restrictions put by the Russian Ukase of regulation of the Catholics within that Empiret. It is far otherwise with Great Britain-for an additional objection here applies to a dependency upon a foreign superior-to whom implicit obedience is due-and resident, possibly, within a State in actual hostility to our own. God be praised-such is not the case at present-but, who will say-that it may not recur?I enclose a translation of the Russian Ukase of 1782-though your Eminence's long Nuncioture in Poland must bring the circumstances familiarly to your recollection."] * [Maggior Duomo-or Great Steward of the Pontifical Household.] [The Jesuit-General is resident in Russia, and, by the Bull of 7th August 1814-was invested with all the authority of the original Institute in every other State-but in Russia his powers are extremely limited, by municipal regulation.-The Jesuits, by a subsequent Ukase, have been expelled from both the Capitals of the Empire.] |