Catholic World

New Zealand Tablet, 16 March 1922, Page 37

Catholic World

1 ;.", ,1,,~. = = ST. ANTHONY NEARLY ARRESTED. St. Anthony (of Padua) had a narrow escape of being arrested, owing to the blundering directions given out by the Chief of police at Nagybanya, part of the former Hungarian district of Transylvania, now taken over by the Rumanian State. A warrant of arrest was issued in the following terms: “The arrest is ordered of St. Anthony, a wealthy citizen of Baiamare, who is under suspicion of conspiracy against the security of the State. All military and civil authorities are instructed to obey this order, and to arrest the aforementioned citizen, wherever he may be found, and £o bring him under escort to the military tribunal.” How St. Anthony came to be looked for as a Transylvanian Hungarian is thus: A fund was being raised for the hungry children of the Hungarians of Transylvania, who have been transferred to Rumanian sovereignty, and among the contrbiutors was an anonymous donor, who put himself down for 5000 lei, and signed himself' “Saint Antonius.” As it is apparently a crime to succor the necessitous, if they should be Hungarians, the zealous, but ignorant police official had every subscriber whose name was on the list arrested. But as St. Anthony evaded his clutches, he sent out the ridiculous warrant for his arrest as a conspirator. Up to the present the police have failed to lay hands on St. Anthony.

CZECHO-SLOVAK POPULAR PARTY SPLIT. A very serious division has taken place in the ranks of the Czeeho-Slovak Catholic, or Popular, Party, over the failure of the Government to carry out a pledge. The Party, which is composed of the Czech and Slovak deputies in the Prague Parliament, ranks first in importance after the Social Democrats, and its solidarity is respected even by its political opponents. Quite apart from its collaboration with the present Cabinet, the Party has given a loyal and efficient support to the Government. It goes without saying, however, that this support was conditional, and the condition was that the Government should have some consideration for Catholic interests. Unfortunately, the Minister of Public Instruction, Mr. Srobar, has disappointed the legitimate hopes of the Popular Party, and the disappointment is over the promise to open three Catholic colleges in Slovakia, to replace the five Magyar colleges that had been suppressed by the former Government. The predecessor of Mr. Srobar was a Czech (Mr. Susta), and he gave an assurance to the Slovak deputies that these colleges would most certainly be placed at their disposal. But Srobar, who is himself a Slovak, has now refused to redeem this promise, which was a condition of supporting the Government. On these grounds, then, the Slovak deputies have protested against it.

APOSTLE’S TOMB TO BE OPENED. On the urgent request of certain distinguished Catholic scholars and antiquaries, the Pope has consented (says the London Daily Telegraph) that investigations shall be carried out in the Vatican Basilica, with a view to establishing beyond all doubt whether the remains of the Prince of the Apostles still rest in the spot which, throughout many centuries, has been revered as his place of burial. That spot, as all pilgrims to Rom© know, lies beneath the altar of the Confession of St.- Peter, which itself is directly underneath the great, dome of Michelangelo, under the canopy of Urban VIII., and below the high altar of Clement VIII. Deep down, below the level of the ancient basilica built by Constantine the Great, is the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles. There are rival claimants to this honor, but they have no standing, for no scholar of repute upholds other claims to the tomb of St. Peter. Ever since the middle of the fourth century the body of St. Peter has lain in this place,

when Constantine, acting on the entreaties of Pope Sylvester, built the Basilica of St. Peter and prepared the wonderful tomb for the body of the Apostle and Martyr. The question which the suggested investigation is to solve is whether the sarcophagus and tomb still remain. There is no record of their disturbance, nor in all its long history, save on one occasion, was there any fear that a disturbance was threatened. That was when Rome was invaded by the Saracens in 846, during the Pontificate of Sergius 11., of which event very little is known. But there is no record in Christian history that the tomb of the Apostles was rifled by the Saracens, and indeed it is known that by the sixth century, when the Popes no longer were buried close to the Apostle, that the approaches to the tomb were sealed up. If, then, has remained untouched, the archaeologists may expect to find that which has been described by the Abbot Anastasius, a writer of the middle of the ninth century. He says that the Emperor Constantine enclosed the body, which had been brought from its resting place on the Appian Way, in a large chest of Cyprian brass, selected for the purpose on account of its extreme durability. This brass chest was five feet thick all round, and on the top rested a great cross of pure gold, weighing 150 pounds, the gift of the emperor. The chamber in which the Apostle's body lay was supported by rich marble and porphyry columns, which the emperor had brought from Greece. On the cross was inscribed: "Constantine the Emperor and Helena the" Empress have richly decorated this royal crypt and the Basilica which shelters it." This is what the investigators may expect to find in the tomb of the Apostle. The golden cross was last seen in the 16th century, according to Professor Lanciani, an Italian scholar, who says: "In the spring of 1594, while Giacomo della Porta was levelling the floor of the church above the Confession, removing at the same time the foundations of the Ciborium of Julius 11., the ground gave way, and he saw through the opening what nobody had beheld since the time of Sergius ll.—the grave of St. Peter, and upon it the golden cross of Constantine. On hearing of the discovery, Pope Clement VIII., accompanied by Cardinals Bellarmine, Antomano, and Sfondrato, descended to the Confession, and with the help of a torch, which Giacomo della Porta had lowered into the hollow space below, could see with his own eyes, and could show to his followers, the cross, inscribed with the names of Constantine and Helena. 'The impression produced upon the Pope by this wonderful sight was so great that he caused the opening to be closed at once. The event is attested not only by a manuscript deposition of Torrigio, but also by the present aspect- of the place. The materials with which Clement VIII. sealed the opening, and rendered the tomb once more invisible and inaccessible, can still be seen through the « cataract' below the altar."

If, in such circumstances, the tomb was closed at once, there is reason to believe that both the tomb of brass and the golden cross will be found, and with them the removal of all doubt whatsoever that the body of the Prince of the Apostles lies within.

The time 1 when this incident took place was during the building of the present fabric of St. Peter's. The work lasted for more than 100 years; that is, from 1506 to 1615. It was undertaken because the old basilica of Constantine, which had stood for 1,150 years, was threatening to collapse with age. The columns and walls of the left wing of the church were leaning more than three feet out of the perpendicular. These were the walls which the Emperor Constantine— save both time as well as expense and labor— taken over from the Circus of Nero, which overshadowed the adjoining Cornelian Way, and incorporated them into one side of his church. !