THE OATH OF HOMAGE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4442, 15 June 1875, Page 3

THE OATH OF HOMAGE.

Earl Russell writes to The Times : —" At a time when much discussion prevails on the subject of ecclesiastical and civil authority, excited in this country by Mr. Gladstone's' admirable essays and his logical defence of his writings in the pamphlet called ' Vaticanism,' which no author is able to confute, and the same controversy rages in Germany, where the Roman bishops proclaim the nullity of civil authority and the supremacy of sacerdotal laws over marriage and education, it may interest some of our priests and bishops to consult the Oath of Homage taken by every bishop, kneeling, before the Queen, when he obtains from the Queen the grant of the temporalities of his See.—l am, sir, your obedient servant, Russell. Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, March 5. —' Bishop of ——. Oath of Homage.—l, , Doctor in Divinity, now elected, confirmed, and consecrated Bishop of , do hereby declare that your Majesty is the only supreme Governor of this your realm in spiritual and ecclesiastical things, as well as in temporal, and that no foreign prelate or potentate has any jurisdiction within this realm; and I acknowledge that I hold the said Bishopric, as well the spiritualities as the temporalities thereof, only of your Majesty. And for the same temporalities I do my homage presently to your Majesty. So help me God. God save Queen Victoria."