WESTMINSTER. CARDINAL MANNING. You inscribed on the walls of these cloisters. Here anciently was the house of Gordianus, the father of S. Gregory, and in that house was conceived the idea of despatching Christian missionaries to England. My own thoughts were early turned towards this spot, the birthplace of English Christianity. In days long before I could have dreamed of ever occupying my present position of a Catholic ecclesiastic, my heart yearned towards St Gregory's on the Coelian, the cradle of the Christianity of my native land. There are many here whose hearts must be animated with feelings like my own. There are others present whose thoughts may not be altogether in unison with mine on this subject, yet I cannot think that any of you who have come here this day have come merely as if you came to gaze at a ceremony with idle curiosity. If any of you have so come I fear you have been disappointed. all, however, have a common cause to come here. You are all, if not of one nation, at least of one speech and language, a language which extends far beyond the limits of the British isles, for it spreads over the vast colonial empire of Great Britain, and over the immense continent of North America. You all belong to the same race, and possess many interests in common. Although I am separated from some of you by the office wherewith I have been invested, I am joined to you by the fact that you are Christians of our English race, and as such sprang from St Gregory. You are his spiritual sons. Many of you, doubtless, are his true children, and would, if called on, lay down your lives for the name of Jesus. Many of you are well aware that if it had not been for the ardent love of that great Pontiff, the gates of the Church might never have been opened to our forefathers." "If there be any here who, not knowing, would desire WESTMINSTER. CARDINAL MANNING. to know the circumstances under which England became converted to Christianity, I would ask them to read the pages of the Venerable Rede, who lived within a century of the mission of St Augustine, and who pictures, in admirable faithfulness, the entry of that brave band of missionaries into England, and their successful progress in turning our pagan ancestors from their dark heathenism to the brightness of the Gospel. In the writings of that historian they will find an outline of the glorious work of St Gregory, as well as a record of the foundation of the bishoprics of England.” "There is another motive which, perhaps, has brought many of you here, and that motive, the love of our country, proceeds from no less a source than the Holy Ghost. Piety is one of the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit of God, and although it has for its primary object the love of God himself and of His Kingdom, its second object is love for our kindred and family, and its third is love for our mother country. It is, then, a supernatural grace which causes us to love our native land." "As Englishmen, or descendants of Englishmen, we feel a sacred interest in the place to which we owe the conversion of England, and in St Gregory as the author of our English Christianity. The children of St Patrick, St Columba, and St Aidan will, I fear, think that I pass them over, and exaggerate the love we bear to England. But to them I would say that we are united with them in things Divine and eternal, and they with us have common cause in the work of St Gregory, in points not local, but of higher than local interest. We are all united in our belief that Christianity is the revelation of God, in our belief that the inspired Scriptures are His Word, and that our baptismal creed, even though some of its articles be WESTMINSTER. CARDINAL MANNING. not perfectly understood by all, is a true summary of the Christian Faith. All this, if you have not all of you received from the great Apostle of England, you yet have received and hold as he did; and so far you have much in common with us. If then we be divided in much, in much also are we united." "These are days when it behoves all of us to guard well that faith which we have inherited from St Gregory, and to beware of those enemies of all faith, who would destroy Christianity. We have to dread the open foes who war professedly against the Church, and those insidious ones who, by corrupting Christian education and Christian institutions, seek to undermine the faith and pervert the doctrines which we know to be Divine. The hearts of many are failing because the days are evil, and because they think the strong tide of the world to be setting in steadily towards unbelief. To these I say 'Stand firm in the faith. Be strong and of a perfect heart.' There was a time, just before St Gregory was called to his eternal reward, when the whole Christian world seemed to some to be drifting fast into spiritual ruin. When that sainted Pontiff died, Christianity appeared to be vanishing away. The far East was overrun by heresies. Constantinople was on the verge of schism. Russia, Germany, and the north of Europe had then no existence in Christendom. England had become heathen again. Spain was Arian. All things betokened a breaking up of the Kingdom of Christ. Yet notwithstanding all these outward signs of darkness and chaos, the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the floods, and evoking divine harmony out of threatening elements. The inward grace was fructifying and preparing fresh harvests from the seed sown upon waters of adversity. But at this day we possess no such grounds for alarm WESTMINSTER. CARDINAL MANNING. as those which darkened the horizon of the Church at the time when Gregory died. Never indeed was the Church at any time so widely spread and so rapidly extending her borders as at the present. The increase of the Episcopate and of the faithful is beyond our fondest hopes. Never before was that Episcopacy so united in itself and to its Head. The Bishops were never so united to their Chief, nor the priests so united to their Bishops, nor the peoples so united to their pastors. Come what may, there is yet a future more glorious and fruitful than the past. We have no cause for despondency, but ought to be hopeful and courageous." "We are met here this day, beloved brethren, as a multitude gathered from many lands. Many of those I see around me I know, and know them to belong to my flock. Some of them I have myself tended as a pastor, and until I die I mean to tend them still. Many others I know, and I know that they are not of my flock. I would to God they were. Others again I do not know even by name. We have come here from many lands, and have met together with one heart in some respects. Shall we ever meet again? Not on earth, my brethren. Never again shall we all meet togeter on this Coelian hill, where S' Gregory once dwelt. We shall never again meet each other, all of us together, until we meet upon the everlasting hills at the moment when the Good Shepherd shall tell the full tale of his sheep. God grant that then, of all who are here present, not one shall be missing from the vision of peace." When the sermon was over, the Cardinal gave his Benediction, and then retired into the Sacristy, followed by an immense number of the congregation, Protestant as well as Catholic, who all reverentially saluted his Eminence. WESTMINSTER. CARDINAL MANNING. The Cardinal then returned to his residence in the English College and left Rome on the following morning for England. Cardinal Manning, as may be concluded from the multiplicity of his writings, has taken no ordinary part in the religious, social, and political affairs of his Church and country. He has, notwithstanding his conversion to Catholicism, retained considerable influence with successive governments, and his opinions upon political measures, such, for instance, as the repeal of the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, the Education Bill, etc. were solicited on various occasions, while his views upon such topics as the Labour and Temperance questions and the improvement of the working classes, have always been received, by the British public, with attention and respect. Many of his literary works were, after their publication in England, translated and republished in Italy, France and Germany. As a pulpit orator and as a speaker at public assemblies, the Cardinal enjoys a reputation second to few of his contemporaries. To his sermons or speeches, educated men, even although opposed to him in religion or politics, flock, as to an intellectual treat. His style of oratory, seldom impassioned or fervid to excess, is always vigorous, suggestive, and incisive, characterised by deep earnestness, and distinguished by a rare felicity of expression. His hearers, even although not immediately convinced by his arguments, never fail to acknowledge the sincerity and truthfulness with which they are urged. Hence, perhaps, it is that Dr Manning has been so successful in controversy, and has, directly and indirectly, been the instrument of bringing many hundreds of protestants to the bosom of the true Church. The following is a list of the works up to the present date published by Cardinal Manning: |