SCHILLER ON THE POPES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 152, 31 March 1876, Page 8

SCHILLER ON THE POPES.

It will|not be amiss at the present time to lay before our readers the following striking remarks of this great German poet, respecting the Popes. They are taken from an article entitled "Universal Historic Keview of the most striking political events that occurred in the time of Frederick I." This article may be found on page 1067 of the complete works of Schiller, printed at Stuttgard, in the year 1830. In the course of the article, Schiller says : "We have seen Emperors and Kings, enlightened statesmen, and sturdy warriors, by the force of circumstances sacrifice rights, become unf aithful to their principles, and yield to necessity ; such a thing rarely or never happened to a Pope. Even when wandering about in exile, possessing not a foot of land in Italy, nor having a friend, but living on the charity of strangers, he strenuously upheld the prerogatives of this See and the Church. "If every other political organization has at certain times suffered and still suffers, in consequence of the personal qualities of those to whom its management is entrusted, this hardly ever happened with regard to the Church and her Head.. How dissimilar soever the Popes were to one another in temperament, their mode of thinking appeared not to effect their office in the least, their personality, we should say, was absorbed by their dignity, and passion was extinguished under the triple crown. Although the chain of succession to the crown was broken with each dying Pope, and welded again with every new Pope, this was nevertheless the only throne in the Christian world which seemed never to change the one that occupied it, because the Popes alone died, and the spirit that animated them was immortal." Thus does one of Germany's greatest poets speak of the Papacy. We advise those that, especially in these days, again so glibly speak of the downfall of the Papacy, to woigh these words well.—' Baltimore Mirror.'