OPENING OF THE CECUMENICAL COUNCIL.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 644, 5 March 1870, Page 4

OPENING OF THE CECUMENICAL COUNCIL.

The CE6nmenical Council. wasVbpenol on the Bth December. Amid the .. ringin c of the bells of all the> ecclesiastical editiiea in the city and salvoes of artillery from the Castle of San Angela and Mount Aveatiue, the procession. formed in. tie Upper Atrium of the Vatican, .descend* d the Scala Rnggia, and passed through the Lower Atrium into the Cathedral. R? g• - laf and secular clergy were ranged ;»n either side, and the procession consisted of six archbishop-princes, forty-nine caidinals, ejevfe'n patriarchs, 680 archbishop' 4 and bisnopsj,- twenty-eight abbots, ana" twenty-nine, generals ■ of • religun^s prder3. In all about 800 ecclesiastics preceded the Pope, and was carried into the"Cathedral in the gestatorial , ahair,: His : Hbliness first knelt -sometime, before the Sacrament, and the assenib'ly then t6ok their places in 'the Conncil-hall in seven rows. After mass had been chaunted by Cardinal- Patrisvi, the Archbishop jof Iconiunr pronounced- the inaugural dis course. The Pope, who appeared to be in the enjoyment uf excellent htalth, then gave his benediction, the ceremony being carried out hrexact accordance with the State programme. The tribunes of the Council-hall were occupied by the sovereigns and "prince's 'present in Rome, the 'members of the diplomatic body/ Generals Dumont and Kanzler, and the Roman and foreign nobility! The Cotm* cil-hall presented a most splendid and imposing appearance. After giving the benediction, the Pope received the homage

of the members of the Council. The appointed prayers followed, and the Pope three times invoked the aid of the Holy Ghost for the Council a hymn to the Holy Ghost was sung by the choristers. Persons not members of the assembly then quitted the hall. The prelates approved T tho decree opening the Council, the Te DeMrn followed, and the ceremony terminated. The Empress of Austria was present in the gallery set apart for foreign sovere : giis t The weather was very b;id. On the 9th of December the Pope read to the members assembled a short homily, in which he said that it had given him'great pleasure to inaugurate the Council on the appointed day, and to see the bishops assembled in greater numbers thun ever. They had come to teach all men the voioe of God, and to judge with the Pope under the auspices of the Holy Spirit, on tho errors of human science. Tho Church was stronger than Heaven itself ; and now was the "time to oonsider what remedies were efficacious against tho present evils. The bishops should strive with him to secure peaoefulness in the monasteries, order in the Church, arid discipline among the clergy. In conclusion, he invoked the Holy Spirit, the Virgin, and the Holy Angels. Tho fourth sitting nf the General Congregation was to be held on the 28th December. After the election of the committee appointed to oonsider the question relating to religious orders, tho assembly would probably enter upon the discussion of certain proposals regarding dogmas of faith. Duelling is among the subjects announced for disoussion by the (Ecumenical Council. The debate will be opened by the Bishop of Privas. Among other matters of speculation connected with the Roman Catholic Council it has become a question, notmerely what these reverend seigniors will say (if they are to say anything), but how they will say it. Latin, of course, is supposed to be the official tongue, butat a little rehearsal held the other day they came to signal grief at once on the question of concocting to his Holiness in answer— more pnrlantentico^' to his speech " from the chair, for it was found that all the Latin available did not suffice for a common conversation. A few American bishops proposed to substitute French, and things went on smoothly, for a few minutes in the tongue of the Gallioans, when the Bishop of Reggio protested against the profanation. Matters of the Church could only be treatel in Latin, he said, the Vulgate being ; written in that holy tongue, and some one even suggested Christ and the Apostles as having spoken that tongue. And so the Latin debate was resumed by the few who had mastered the language to a speakable degree. The others sat in silence, but when it came to signing the address they did si»n it all like men. The following are the names of those who form the committee on Anglican Orders in the Vatican Council : — Cardinals Reisarch and Cullen, the Archbishop of Baltimore, with Drs Manning and Ullathprne. Had Dr Newman been in Rome ho; would have been asked to act as their secretary. The Times correspondent gives us, in the following description, an admirable idea of the varied characteristics of the crowd attending on the proceedings : — "Of course London, with its three millions, can get up a larger multitude of men on a good many occasions ; but it could not be anything like so strange, so motley j so picturesque, an 1 so surprising. Imagine, all 'the. figures in all the pictures of churches, countries, cities, villages, by all the Italian and all the Dutch artists, walking out of their frames, just as they are, and you have the crowd in which 1 have been wandering like - a mote in a sunbeam. I am living in company with Raphael, Titian, Paul Veronese, and also Teniers~; for I have never seen more beautiful dresses, never more quaint, never more savage and nncooth." ©escribing the service, he says :— " Strange as it may seem to English Protestant ears, the service was incessantly going on at all the altars in the church ; congregations were assembled at them,: bells "were ringing, and responses chanted, and every now arid then there was a prooession, with bell and' candle, from one part of the church to another. In the very midst of the sightseers, occupying everywhere the most commanding positions, from th.c slightest to the most dangerous elevation, priests were celebrating mass as if they were alone in the vast solitudes of the old basilicas here, I must add that every ten minutes the word of command was given in no gentle \ oice to some body of soldiers to clear an avenue, push back a crowd, or make some now combination. This they had sometimes to do in the face of strong remonstrances. Lower down the. nave I ; hear the thieves were plying theite trade, with concerted attempts at disorder,"