Origin of the Pallium

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 28, 13 July 1905, Page 27

Origin of the Pallium

The original grant was from Ohrist to Peter : to- 1 day it is from the successor of Peter to the Bishop 1 of St. Louis. And here another question :To what a purpose the grant, whether that of 2000 years ago, or ] that 'of the present day ? The pallium of itself gives ] reply. This is the story of the blending "of the 1 threads in its texture. Pure-white lambs wore blrssed ( in the Basilica and on the natal day of the Virgin i Agnes ; taken afterwards Into the oare -Hi the holy i nuns,- they were in due time shorn of their wool : and from this wojol the pallium was woven. Simple, if 1 you will, the symbolism ; but deep and beauteous the 1 meaning. ' Feed my lamibs, feed my sheep '—this, the ( purpose for which power is given to the kingdom of 1 Christ— that thoise receiving it iguard the flock of c Christ, guard in purest unselfishness, unspotted in i themselves by evil, bent upon holding the flock equally i unspotted. t The giving of the pallium is of ancient date in c the history of the Church. Antiquity mingles with \ sacred symbolism to lend solemnity to the ceremonial i

wi<me^s«d this morning in St. Louis. So far back as the sixth century. Pope Pelagius sent the pallium to the Archlbfishop of Aries- in Gaul, ' that constituted as Vioar of our See, and in lieu of ourselves, you " may hold the place of the First Priest in those parts of Gaul.' Gregory the Great granted the pallium to byagnus of Autun, in Gaul, to John, Bishop 'r,^ Corinth in Greece, to the Bishop of Laureancus in Pannonia , he, too, invested with the pallium St. Aurustir.e of Canterbury in England. Cher the very cradle of t<he Anglo-Saxon Church hung the glory of the pallium, and with the pallium the glory of oinilon with Peter and his successors. These the words sent with the pallium by Gregory to Augustine . ' And in regard that the new Church of the English is, through the goodness of the Lord and your labours^ brought to the grace of God, we grant you thi use of the pallium, so that you ordain in 'several places twelve Bishops who shall be subject to your jurisdiction, so that the Bishop of London shall tor the future be consecrated by his own synod, and receive the honors of the pallium from the holy ond apostolic See which I now serve. We give you no authority over the Bishops of Geul ; b,ut all the Bishops of Britain we commit to your charge.' Surely the fountaim-head of spiritual jurisdiction in the Church of Augustine was none other than the Pontiff of Rome. Under Saxon rule evory successor of Augustine, despite distance and hardship of travel, either sent to Rome for the pallium, or went thither to receive it. Among those going to Rome were the great saints of those centuries, Odo, Dunsta.n, and Elphege. 'Wihen, the Norman sei'/ed the sceptre of England thettre was no change in the Cfiurch of England. From the days of William to those of Mary seven anid thirty Archbishops of Canterbury, successors of St. Augustine, received the pallium of Rome in token of their union with and of their submission t 0 the Pontiff of Rome. .The great Saint Anselm walked with bare feet to meet the Legate Walter, bringing t 0 him the pallium . Unshodden,* too, Thomias a Beckett went forth to salute the bearer of his pallium— so well did sdholars and samts understand the meaning of the consecrated wool ; so deeply did they feel in their souls that Peter sipoke through the pallium, and that Christ spoke through. Peter. Cranmer himself placed upon his shoulders in Wes'tminsiter the pallium received from Rome and swore vt 0 be faithful and obedient ' to the Bishop of Rome— a perjurer,, it is true,, in his heart, but unable as yet to breajk away from the traditions of ages, and unwilling as yet to defy the olden faith of the people of England. Again, Cairdinal Pole wore the pallium ;t he, the faithful servant of Rome ; but Pole dying, dark days came to Engfana and the pallium no longer shed its? effulgence over English-speaking peoples— the people of martyred Ireland excelled— until it lifted its symbolic glory over Carroll in Baltimore and over Wiseman in Westminster. The pallium is the Banner of the Spiiilual Empire of Rome. As it enters the Cathedral of St. Louis, Catholics bail it in the fulness of your faith. Rome rises bpfore you in its stoned majesty, in its sky-born authority, Rome, thou art the Eternal City. Eternal thy pag^an poets and seers fondly believed thee to be ; their di earns were not vain, "though vain were the shadowy forms which beguiled them into such dreams. In their Rome they hiad seen the embodiment of highest human might, of highest human grandeur. Should not their Rome, they believed, mock time and the ravages of time? But nothing that is human lasts, and of olden Rome naught now remains save shattered columns and tenantlcss sepulchres. And yet not vain were the dreams that ifc was indestructible. "Another— <a greater Romewas to arise on Tiber's banks— a Rome of which the Rome of pagan bartfs and seers was the precursor and prophet— the Rome of Peter. ' Thou art Peter,' it had been sad in Galilee, ' and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against if.' One day this Peter walked along the A?,pian Way into the Rome of the Caesars. lie brought with him the new Rome, the Church built, ujpon himself by the Eternal Christ, endowed by its Founder with its Founder's eternity. Trie Rome of the Caesars passed away'; the Rome of Peter remains. Nineteen centuries went bv — centuries of revolutions and changes, centuries of kingdoms and empires now me; in strength and power to the very skies, now''strewing the earth with their ruins and their dusts, of men and institutions comitng to-day and going at The dawn of the morrow — each of those centuries heralding its birthmorn with the message, ' Behold, I make all things new '— bjut, meanwhile, Rome stood, the Rome of Peter,

challenging the very gates of hell {, uctoriolus ever ! immortal e\er ! 'lhe indestructibility of Home! We Low m awe before it. It reveals the divinity to which alone indestructibility may be ascribed— the dniiuty which spoke in Galilee to Peter, which in fulillnutnt of solemn promise was with the empire built upon Peter, which \wth iC will be ' until the consummation of Lhe world ' • Thy mission, Rome, is to sway with imperial rule the j©o. Ics oi eaith.' ttu'ch the bidding of the Man t nan I " f>l , "i' l '" l 1n 'i, Il>r mtoanine of the commission af the Gallium ( iiiisL to Peter. Material arms, the sword a,.d the Uu'C— \ n:,il vould have pnt into thy ha/nrts only tlio arms ot tiuth, justice, and holiness docs Christ a.llow , nune other are worthy oi' thy God, worthy of the spiritual ennpire which is 'thine by His appointment. 'Jhhough truth, justice, and holiness thou doit sway the nations. Great and wondrous is the sway of Rome. Great and wondrous it was yesterday; great and wondrous it is to-day,. Catholic it is, this empire of Rome : it embraces all nations. The Mightiest of Human Empires care limited , a sea, a river, a mountain range bid ihem go no further. 'lhe sons and subjects of Koine are Cveryvvhcie , 'across e\ery ocean, through every continent, upon e\ery island the standard of Rome is uplifted , beneath it souls cfuiver in love and devotion to Rom" A sonaiate otherwise, but united as if all were one being, when Rome edicts the law. Deep-reachmg and lenetrating 'It is as the spirt of the Almighty, this empito of Rome It is not outward obedience, not bodily submission that Rome obtains, it is the yielding up of mind and heart Rome tells what the faith is that was hv Christ ; its subjects believe. It proclaims the law of righteousness ; its subjects o\jsy in word, m act, m thovght. Rome speaks, The voice of Christ is heard Purely spintual, purely moral is tne might of the empire of Rome. Rome is the great moral power in t 1 c v.oild, ban ing authority solely in the name of truth and lighted. .sness. All thp.,l conquerors and lawgr ers count upon is absent from Rome; naught i\ thcio but v CcWness and helplessness ; yet its speech reaches to ihe end of the eaith, honored o'ervwheie and ie>vcred as it wmgs itself on its w.iy, illumining tl.c intellect, cheering the '»/.<]. strengthening the heart, elevating the vliole man to more Mi'-s-iul legions, making eaith know that truth and righteousness aie mightier than stoutest na\KS and me st \aliant armies V»lia/t is there then, in Rome thi! its pmr.nc be <-o micrhty ? Peter is there— Chii t U theic Never in the stoiy of Christendom wis there s v -Ui need as theie is to-day "of the mightiness (f the Moial Power of the Pontiff of Rome. Tliis is an age of revolutions and of upheavals in rehf;i >n and iii e\ en form of thought, in cnil society airl ip e>(rv form of public polity and public order-. IMcii ond nations are depaiting from old mooiings, venturing i, ; on new '-cms, dn\en from billow to billow by ui.ceitain winds, no gliding star o'erhead, no Ijav en viuile he> ond t'lie liMddcnmg vvateis The need supiemc is a voice, punen and authorised, to ring out clear and mj;,oio"s aho c the roar of storm and wave — and pi ex. lawn vsheio safety Iks, whither the ship m«;t turn its prow, 'lhe voice— the hciald of salvation— i,s the \ oicc of Fetei, who, as V)o Pontiff of Rome, speaks m defence of relili n ,'n.d of revelation , who, as he proclaims the luv of soei >1 jirtiee and soci.-.l lights; who, as l,c guards the famih heaithstone. shields the weak, w artiT, the op- ! ressur, and by building up a moral conscience, fits mm se,>airtdv ond c ollectnclv to live human lives on c. N .rth and os, nc to the bcjtter life of the skies hereafter ? 'lhe moral power of the Pontiff' of Rome is on unspeakable blessing to all mankind Peotles aie recognising thti fact, and the more the seas around them rage, 'the morp if\i,'il, will tlicv turn toward the rock to which Christ made pionnse of immortality. Thy mission, Romr, is 1o sway with the imperial rule— the ri'lc of truth and lightco.isness— the nations of the earth. 1 v ill name the Pontiffs of to-day, Leo and Pni^ The sun of Leo's day is but setting , the skies am still il'iui'incd vMtb the brilliancy of its rays, the earth is st 11 fr.'^rm t of tbe sweel ( ne c s of its light. Leo's t is' v, >s to start lo an indifferent ami forgetful woilil into <i < him ln'isness of the power of Rome TTis gran tier ( f |'0i s^nalit v f.tied him for the task. Eves werp at o',( c ii f 1 o/l niioii hini , ears were at on^e nlrri to his words lie ro-^e i»nto highest altitudes prces ,lilo to him.in cinnis and with him rose unto sublime mountain to] s ibc spiritual power of Rome All .saw and heard, ond all wondeied. 'The humblest wacje-earner and thp most potent prince, the scientist and the philosopher all felt Hint Too knew them and understood them, and all bowed ljeForc the majesty of his thotignt nnd word. The A'ati"an sliono with new and brightest effulgence ; the

moral power of Rome was as supreme as ever in the most glorious epoch of its story. 'When Leo died the world was silent in its grief ana in its reverence. His task was 'done ; the world was conscious of the greatness and the power of Rome. Ana now another sun sheds splendor upon the horizon-Pius is the master the teacher. Other y the mission of Pius : it is the complement of that of Leo. Pius is the Reformer, tne strcngthener of the inner life of the Ohuich. r ii:e highway*, of the world weie o,.uued -to her by Leo ; her spirit must be \ Lifted, her a^ms of power burnished, thai, she may reach triumphantly over those highways in conquest of souls. It is not that Leo did not do the work of Pius , it is not that Pius will not do the wofki of Leo : but Leo was eminent in one form of work, as Pius is eminent in another. The work of Leo and the work of Pius together are destined by Pro\idence to show forth with e.««)ccial effect in these modern tunes the fulness of the divine life of the Church, the fulness of the grandeur and the power of Rome— both men of the hour, Pontiffs of their age, both destined e a ch in his manner by Providence to rule the Church and feed the flock in these modern times— both born to shed lustre upon the throne of Peter and prove that to-day, as in the long past, Rome obeys its commission and reigns. To "fourteen Sees in the United States the pallium has 'been^ghen, and amid the princes of Judea, St. Louis' is not tne least ; it deserves the honor, the love of Rome. His Grace then went on to speak of the history o! the archdiocese, which has been popularly acclaimed as the ' Rome of the West.' The name 'of 'St. Louis is Catholic , it was that of the valiant old Crusader who led to martyrdom the knighis of France to rescue from desecration the SejVulchie of Our Lord. Among those v. ho had ruled the Sec was the able and gifted Archbisho-« Kenriok, who<-c v.oiks and dreds will ne\ er be forgot ton Tften came the whole-Hearted Archbishop Kain. St. Louis hadi a noble past (continued nis Grace), 'may the futuie be nobler still The full meaning of this morning's ceremonials is not caught vp unless, seized with the sprit of Loo am] of Pius, we, Bishops, priests, and liymc-n, swear that we shall do for God's Church the best thirms that it is possible for us to do. The ral'r'ir, is a Hewing from Rome, challenging us to the baitleHcld, fcr truth and for justice, for God and for ( hi'ich. The Twentieth Century. The tweitieth will assuredly be a wondrous century in all that liumjn thought and human contrivance can i ro:ltice. The ambition of men is aroused to' the utunst, and the iiKiteiial woild seconds their aims and cllo'ts by new oik! stun^e tdiroWlyings, by unwonted generosity in yielding up its seuets, and harnessing its forcts into the ser\ ice of science and industry. The ci'iN'i/un imposes itself Will Uic ajnhition of the soldiers <.f Ciins-t be equally intense '> Will the forces of Hiinerj^at'iral truth a^id grace be ccj'ually tasked into the working of unwonLid nniacles 9 The lesolution and no eltii's in the material ( woild^ bring; forward "new and audacious problems that must be solved if Christ and His v'J ;ircli are to reign : will tlvy be sohed, and solud as t'.ey should be, quici.lv and triumphantly? enrich ( atholic, Church of AnH'iica— I pray heaven for thee. I pray first that grace divine be given, without which efforts of men are \ain. Lnless the Lotd. be the watcher and the worker, in vain they spend themsehes wno watch and toil. I pray for a holy, a learneil, an {-irnw't clergy. The clergy, bishops, and priests, are the leaders, the guides of the army. They form and drill the soldiery ; they inspire and direct movements >; they bold in their hands/victory or defeat. They must be holy, siuch as to draw down upon themselves light and bhksjng from abo\e ; such as to teach by example while teaching the word. A'chhisl'oi Glennon, you are nth in talent, you are ru-h m goodwi'l and energy , you are fashioned to conciur* ; and youth is jours Forward to your God-t-i en work Clergy and laity trust von, and pledge to you unreserved and unwavering loyalty. Forward in the p.icht of your soul, in the might of di\ine craoe. Great thmrs nui^t von do for St . Louis and foir America. Yo v ill Iv ild a C.itl-e'ral for St. Louis But remember that when voui farcer is o\er the C'atKedral must draw it^ highest and sweetest honor from this, that it is a lronument to the glorious deeds done by you in Ibo s' inlual work of your episcopate — deeds done for Cod and for souls for Chinch and for country.

For Bronchial Coughs tal<e Woods' Great Peppermint Cure. Is 6d.