THE ENGLISH PILGRIMAGE TO ROME.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1617, 7 December 1912, Page 9

THE ENGLISH PILGRIMAGE TO ROME.

• ADDRESS TO THE POPE. The following address was presented to the Pope by .Cardinal Bourne at tho audience accorded to the main,, body of the English pilgrims on October 22:— . Most Holy Father—We come into your prr-sen'cs not only without fctfr, but with a joyful ease that springs from our : knowledge .of the exceeding affection for our nation which :yo u express on every occasion, and notably manifested last year, when, for the welfare of tlio Church in England, you decreed its division into three provinces. Following tho ancient'example of so many of our forefathers who endured the countless hardships and fatigue of a long journey to conic at last to this sacred city, wherein rest tho bodies of. the Blessed Apostles, and the Key-bearer of Heaven is honoured in the person of his successor, we too are come, bishops, priests, and faithful people, all 'filled with desire to see Peter. How great—or. rather, to use the words of pur King Edward the Confessor—how "supreme was the devotion of the English to St Peter and his succcssors" there is i at this moment no need to prove, nor j to refer, however lightly, to the mass'of ■ convincing .testimony expressive of that j devotion. One instance of it is enough: j that far-famed and most noble of English ; fanes, where tho Sovereign is crowned, : and the illustrious dead are entombed,.: Westminster Abb;v, was rebuilt by , R. Edward and 'dcdicnted to S. Peter, ! .with the approval'of Lea IX, Roman Poll- I tiff, in commutation nf the King's vmv j to go as a pilgrim lo Rome. Tn truth for j a thousand years our Church ah"do in ; elo<wt union with this Snerrd See. re-; ee.iving from it doctrine, authentic power, and law of life. And even under that iniouitoi'i ICingj. onoo the dofondor of tho and thou .its persecutor.. tl« Churchi.

was not wholly severed from its Head, nor the vineyard utterly uprooted; for the constancy shown by Blessed John of Kochest'or, Blessed Thomas More, andothe.r groat men in maintaining the rights of the Holy See, begot other martyrs, who, in laying down their lives handed on to others the lamp of life, whose ravs shine upon us to-day. The yearly dedication of our country to S. Peter—a custom instituted and perpetuated by the Bishops of England—this dutiful act cf homage wo havo already done over the very uody of the Apostle. What, then, remains, Most Holy Father, but at the feet of you, in whom we behold, worship, and love Peter, to lay the tribute of our faith, reverence, and affection, that the earnest love we lavish on you may flow back to ns again in. good measure from your fatherly heart You see before you thoso who glory in being the descendants of martyrs. Though that trial of our faith is not now asked of ns, yet- in. beholding you, may the spirit of the martyrs be renewed within us, that, in these easier days we may do, more bravely and readily, all that we know to bo needful for tlie preservation, the defence, the spread of the faith. And that tlus desire may be richlj and happily fulfilled, .we humbly beg, in pledge of your paternal charity, the Apostolic - Benediction. •