Report of the 
 Italian Ghuroh Reformation 
 Gonni scion. 
 October, 1872. 
 
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 OCTOBER, 1872, 
 
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 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/reportoctober18700epis 
 
REPORT 
 
 "Protc-stavSY E^\scopa\ cV^u^rcV^ '\VA-l\>e O.^.A 
 
 OCTOBER, 1872, 
 
 ^ii\)t €\)uxt[) press: 
 
 M. H. MALLORY AND COMPANY, HARTFORD, CONN, 
 
 1872. 
 
(/ 
 
 This Report has been printed at the expense of a tnember of the 
 Commission ; those interested may obtain copies of the same by 
 application to either of the Home Secretaries, The Rev* 
 Charles R. Hale, Auburn, JV. Y., The Rev. Albert 
 Z. Gray, 43 Fifth Avenue, New York. Con- 
 tributions, which are earnestly solicited, 
 should be sent to the Treasurer, /a?nes 
 S, Mackie, No. 71 Broadway, 
 {P. O. Box 5728,) 
 New York. 
 
Italian (El)urd) llcfonuatiou (Homnussioii. 
 
 The Rt. Rev. A. C. Coxe, D.D., Bishop of Western New York, Honorary President. 
 The Rt. Rev. M. A. De W. Howe, D.D., Bp. of Central Pennsylvania, Honorary Vicc-Pres. 
 
 The Rev. Noah Hunt Schenck, D.D., Chairman. 
 
 The Rev. Benjamin I. Haight, D.D. 
 
 The Rev. George L#eeds, D.D. 
 
 The Rev. Eugenk A. Hoffman, D.D. 
 
 The Rev. Willi -m Chaun'cv Langdon. 
 
 The Rev. Charles R. Hale. 
 
 The Rev. Edward A. Foggo, D.D. 
 
 Frederick S. Winston. 
 
 Henry Chauncev. 
 
 William M. Goodrich. 
 
 James S. Mackie. 
 
 Andrew H. DeVVitt. 
 
 Ernesto G. Fabbri. 
 
 S. K. ASHTON, M U. 
 
 The Rpv. Samuel Osg-^od, D.D. 
 
 The Rev. J. H. Rylance, D.D. 
 
 The Rev. Gkorge H. Houghton, D.D. 
 
 The Rev. Edwin Hakwoop, D.D. 
 
 The Rev. John Cotton Smith, D.D. 
 
 The Kev. Albkrv Z. 'tray. 
 
 The Rev. Leight jn Coleman. 
 
 Prof. Francis Philip Nash. 
 
 E. R. Mudge. 
 
 Henry Meigs. 
 
 William G. Low. 
 
 Nathan Matthews. 
 
 John Stewart. 
 
 The Rev. William Chauncy Langdon, Foreign Secretary. 
 
 Care of Messrs. Maquay, Hooker & Co , Florence, Italy. 
 The Rev. Charles R. Hale, Auburn, N. Y., \ u <, , . 
 The Rev. Albert Z. Gray, 43 Fifth Ave., N. Y. S ^"'^ Secretaries. 
 
 James S. Mackie, Treasurer^ No. 71 Broadway (P'. O. Box 5728), New York. 
 
 ISvecutibe ffiommittre. 
 
 The Rev. Benjamim I. Haight, O.D. 
 The Rev. Eugkne A. Hoffman, D.D. 
 The Rev. Edwin Harwood, D D. 
 The Rev. Smuel Osgood, D.D. 
 The Rev. John Cotton Smith, D.D. 
 
 Wm. M. Goodrich. 
 Ernesto G. Fabbri. 
 S. K. Ashton, M.D. 
 Henry Chauncy. 
 Frederick S. Winston. 
 
 Together wi:h the Officers of the Commission. 
 
 loiut (Eoiuiuittcc of ([general (JTomjention on tl)e Heligious 
 Hcfovnt in Italu. 
 
 The Rt. Rev. W. R. Whittingham, D.D., Bishop of Maryland, Chairman. 
 
 The Rt. Rev. G. T Bedell, D.D., Assistant Bishop of Ohio. 
 
 The Rt. Rev. W. B. Stevens, D D., Bishop of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The Rt. Rev. F. D. Huntington, D.D., Bishop ot Central New York. 
 
 The Rev. Benjamin L Haight, D.D. 
 
 The Rev. Noah Hunt Schenck, D.D., Secretary. 
 
 The Rev. George Leeds, D.D. 
 
 The Rev. Eugene a. Hoffman, D.D. 
 
 Frederick S. Winston. 
 
 Henry Chauncey. 
 
 William M. Goodrich. 
 
 Prof. Francis Philip Nash. 
 
 The Rev. William Chauncy Langdon, Foreign Secretary. 
 
Dloasan (Jlominittces of tl)£ Italian €l)urrl} Hifonnatioii 
 (llciniini00iou. 
 
 Albany : The Rev. ,W. A. Snively, Hon. J. V. L. Pruyn, Albany ; Joseph W. Fuller, 
 Troy. 
 
 Central New York: The Rev. E. M. Van Deusen, D.D., Utica : The Rev. Charles R, 
 Hale, Auburn: The Hon. F. W. Hubbard, IVatertown. 
 
 Connecticut : The Rev. T. W. Coit, D.D., LL.D., Middletown. 
 
 Long Island : The Rev. N. H. Schenck, D.D., Thomas Messenger, Wm. G. Low, 
 Brooklyn. 
 
 Maryland: The Rev. George Leeds, D.D., C. Morton Stewart, Samuel W. VVyman, 
 Baltimore. 
 
 Massachusetts: The Hon. A. H. Rice, B. T. Reed, G. P. Denny, Boston. 
 
 New York : The Rev. Benj. I. Haight, D.D., LL.D., James S. Mackie, M.D., New 
 York; Wm. M. Goodrich, Poughkeepsie. 
 
 Ohio : Larz Anderson, Abner L. Frazer, Cincinnati ; The Rev. W. W. Farr, L. S. 
 Hubbard, Sandusky; the Rev. Lewis Bui ton, D.D., Samuel Mather, Cleve- 
 land; J. W. Andrews, Columbzcs ; Morgan E. Wood, Dayton. 
 
 Pennsylvania: The Rev. E. A. HoflFman, D.D., S. K. Ashton, M.D., Philadelphia; 
 The Rev. J. Andrews Harris, Chestnut Hill., Philadelphia. 
 
 Rhode Island: The Rev. C. A. L. Richards, the Rev. C. H. Wheeler, Providence: 
 The Rev. George L. Locke, Bristol. 
 
 Western New York: The Rev. Wm. Shelton, D.D., Livingston Lansing, Buffalo; 
 The Rev. Henry Anstice, Thos. C. Montgomery, Buffalo ; H. 
 L. Smith, LL.D., Francis Philip Nash, Geneva. 
 
REPORT 
 
 HOME SECRETARIES, 
 
 Soon after the adjournment of General Convention in l868, the Joint Com- 
 mittee on the Italian Reform Movement, authorized by resolution of General 
 Convention, took steps for the formation of a COMMISSION, in order to the more 
 effectual carrying on of the work entrusted to them. 
 
 The Italian Church Reformation Commission, at its organization, November 
 20, 1868, declared its special object to be : 1st. To maintain such relations with 
 the Italian Reformers as shall secure to our Church accurate knowledge of their 
 work. 2d. To render them such assistance, by information concerning our 
 Church, by Christian counsel and otherwise, as may be acceptable to them, and 
 conducive to the end in view. 3d. To provide for the support of a clergyman 
 of our Church, resident in Italy, as the organ of communication between the 
 Reformers and themselves. 4th. To diffuse accurate infomiation throughout the 
 Church as to the progress of the Reform, and to act as the channel through 
 which the liberality of its members may be judiciously dispensed. Last October, 
 at the expiration of the tenn for which it was appointed, the Commission made 
 to the Joint Committee a report of the state of the Church Refonn Movement 
 on the Continent of Europe, and more especially of what had been done during 
 the three years last past by its Foreign Secretaiy, the Rev. William Chauncy 
 Langdon, in aid of such movement in Italy. This report the committee adopted 
 as its own, and presented to the General Convention with the following resolu- 
 tions, which were unanimously adopted by both Houses, October 23, 1871 : 
 
 Resolved, That we again commend to the Church the great cause of Religious 
 Reform in Italy, and especially the interesting and effective work which is now 
 being done in that Kingdom by the Rev. William Chauncy Langdon, the Foreign 
 Secretaiy of the Commission, during the past three years. 
 
 We commend his zeal and discretion, and rejoice in his marked success in 
 communicating to our brethren in Christ, within the Church in Italy, a knowl- 
 edge of the condition and circumstances of our branch of the Catholic Church, 
 and our sympathy with them in the trials of their faith and patience. We ask the 
 sympathy and cooperation of the Church in behalf of his important labors. 
 
 Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Religious Reform in Italy be con- 
 tinued, and so constituted as to consist of twelve Members, viz., four Bishops, 
 four Presbyters, and four Laymen, with power to fill all vacancies occurring in 
 their number. 
 
 . Resolved, That the Joint Committee thus appointed be empowered to nomi- 
 nate a Commission of Presbyters and Laymen, to assist them in discharging their 
 duties. 
 
A meeting of the Joint Committee, as reconstituted, was held in the Chapel 
 of Grace Church, Baltimore, October 25, 1871, when it was 
 
 Resolved, That we proceed to the formation of a Commission on Italian 
 Reform, to consist of not more than fifteen Clergymen and fifteen Laymen. 
 
 Resolved, That this Commission be entrusted with full powers to prosecute the 
 work for which the Joint Committee was created. 
 
 Resolved, That the following persons be elected members of this Commission, 
 and that this body, when organized, shall have power to fill up vacancies in 
 their number. [The names of the Commission being given on a preceding 
 page, it is unnecessary to repeat them here.] 
 
 Resolved, That the Rev. William Chauncy Langdon be elected Foreign 
 Secretary of the Joint Committee, and requested to return to Italy for the prose- 
 cution of his work. 
 
 Resolved, That the Foreign Secretary retain, for the ensuing three years, the 
 same relation to the Commission as heretofore. 
 
 The present Commission organized at St. Paul's Clergy Rooms, New York, 
 November 7, 1871, by the election of the Rev. Dr. Schenck as ChaiiTnan; the 
 Rev. Wm. Chauncy Langdon as Foreign Secretary; the Revs. Charles R. Hale 
 and Albert Z. Gray as Home Secretaries; and Mr. James S. Mackie as Treas- 
 urer. At an adjourned meeting, a week later, the Right Rev. the Bishop of 
 Western New York was elected Honorary President ; the Rev. M. A. De W. 
 Howe, Bishop-elect of Central Pennsylvania, Honoraiy Vice-President. The 
 Chairman was authorized to appoint an Executive Committee, consisting of five 
 Clergymen and five Laymen, in addition to the officers of the Commission. The 
 Foreign Secretary was instructed, so soon as it was practicable for him to do so, 
 to repair to his field of labor in Italy. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Langdon accordingly sailed for Europe about the ist of 
 December. But on his arrival in Florence he found every member of his family, 
 but one, seriously ill. In a week he was himself prostrated by disease, which, 
 for some months, laid him aside from work. 
 
 The Commission, at its meeting, April i6th, had the pleasure of passing the 
 following resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That we tender our very hearty congratulations to our Foreign 
 Secretary, the Rev. Wm. Chauncy Langdon, in view of the recoveiy of himself 
 and the members of his family from the visitation of deadly pestilence, and 
 would beg to unite with him and his household in grateful acknowledgments to 
 Almighty God for His preserving care and restoring power, lifting our hearts to 
 the great Physician in adoring ascriptions, for that He hath defended and saved 
 His servants. 
 
 At a meeting of the Commission, Januaiy 16, 1872, it was 
 
 Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Commission, it is eminently desirable 
 that the Right Reverend the Bishop of Mainland should visit Europe, agreeably 
 to the request of the House of Bishops, inasmuch as the interests entrusted to 
 this Commission would thereby be very greatly furthered. 
 
 Bishop Whittingham sailed for Europe September 4th, and was present at 
 the meeting of the Alt-Katholik Congress in Cologne, September 20-22. It is 
 the hope of the Commission that the Bishop of Maryland, who, it will be borne 
 in mind, is the Chairman of the Joint Committee, and who has ever shown a 
 most enlightened interest in the movement for Church Reform wherever it has 
 manifested itself, may also be able to visit Italy, and carefully examine the work 
 there. 
 
 Our Foreign Secretary could not have, as to the perplexing questions from 
 time to time arising, a better adviser than he ; and there is scarce any one whose 
 opinions would, in a matter of the kind, have such weight with the Church as 
 those of the venerable Bishop of Maryland. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Langdon has during the year past by his pen and in other 
 ways done good and effective service in' the cause of Church Refomr on the 
 Continent of Europe. 
 
His " Five Letters on the Defects of our Practical Catholicity," addressed to 
 the Right Reverend the Bishop of Maryland, have received warm encomiums from 
 leading minds in the Church. 
 
 He has been requested, on behalf of the Deniches Merhir, of Munich, the 
 organ of the German Old Catholics, to furnish that journal with stated informa- 
 tion concerning the condition and prospects of Catholic Reform in Italy. The 
 Esperance de Ro7ne announces as to appear in its columns a series of articles by 
 our Foreign Secretary on our American Church. 
 
 Mr. Langdon has by special invitation taken part in the Old Catholic Congress 
 at Cologne. A very able letter, addressed by him to the Rev. Prof. Dollinger, on 
 the Old Catholic movement, has been published in German at Munich, 
 republished in English in London, both in a separate pamphlet form, and in the 
 pages of the Colonial Church Chronicle ; and has doubtless met the eye of many 
 of our readers in the columns of The (Hartford) Churchman, of October 6th 
 and 13th. 
 
 The work of our Foreign Secretaiy in Italy is by no means a sensational one. 
 Many facts relating to it are, it will readily be understood, not of a kind to be 
 made public. But the Commission, basing their judgment upon the observation 
 of several of its own members, and the testimony of most competent witnesses, are 
 happy to testify that Mr. Langdon's work, though quiet, is most 7-eal, so that, to 
 use the language of the Bishop of Western New York, they are " surprised alike 
 by his labors and his successes." 
 
 Several interesting papers will be found in the Appendix to the Secretaries' 
 Reports, among which we would call special attention to the extracts from pub- 
 lished addresses of the Right Reverend the Bishop of Pennsylvania, and of the 
 Very Reverend the Dean of Chester. The foiTner, who is a member of the Joint 
 Committee, spent a part of last winter in Italy ; the thorough acquaintance of the 
 latter with the Italian Reform movement is well known. 
 
 In conclusion, we would ask that the Report of our Treasurer receive careful 
 consideration. From it will be seen at once how great are our needs, and upon 
 howy^7>7 comes the burden of sustaining a work in which surely many feel an 
 interest. 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 CHAS. R. HALE,1 rr c . • 
 A 7 CRAV* > Home ^>ecretaries. 
 
REPORT 
 
 FOREIGN SECRETARY. 
 
 Florence, June 22, 1872. 
 The Revs. Albert Z. Gray and Charles R. Hale, Home Secretaries, etc. 
 Rev. and Dear Brethren, 
 
 Among the first duties which the Commission has a right to expect from me, 
 upon my return to my post of duty, is such a report of the state of my field as may 
 serve it for a new point of departure. But long as I have already delayed this, 
 I would willingly delay it longer still. Between seven and eight months have 
 interrupted my continuous acquaintance with the current of events, — four months 
 for my visit to America, and for almost as long a time immediately after my 
 return I was completely withdrawn, by my family's and my own sickness, not 
 only from my work, but most of the time even from intercourse with others ; and 
 at a time when changes are so many, so constant, and so rapid as now in Italy, 
 such a break is enough to alter not a little the aspect of my field, and create, to 
 some extent, the feeling that I have to begin anew. 
 
 Death, too, alas ! — as when I returned to Italy three years ago — has again 
 sundered some of the most important of the personal links which connected me 
 with the reform movement here ; and it has been with something of the bewilder- 
 ment caused by the sudden death of Dr. Bianciardi, that I have addressed myself 
 once more to my work, without the opportunity of taking counsel with my oldest 
 and one of my dearest friends among Italian ecclesiastics, Monsignore Tosi, and 
 without the cooperation of Cav. Civinini, editor of the " Nazione," through 
 whom, principally, I had enjoyed access to the public. 
 
 The opportunities I have had during the two or three months past — two visits 
 to Rome, such Italian correspondence as I have been able to resume, and the 
 diligent and daily reading of several newspapers — have not yet sufficed to give 
 me a satisfactory understanding of the present ecclesiastical and religious condi- 
 tion and prospects of Italy. Such a statement as I can now make must, there- 
 fore, be accepted provisionally, subject to such modifications as further means of 
 judging may lead me to make. 
 
 In the Report of the Commission to the late General Convention it was 
 pointed out that the Catholic Reform Movement must henceforth be considered 
 under two entirely distinct, though closely interdependent aspects : the reforma- 
 tion, pure and simple, considered as a religious and ecclesiastical movement, and 
 that politico-ecclesiastical preparation for reformation which consists in the 
 modifications yet to be made in the character and power of the Papacy. It was 
 further pointed out that the leadership of the fonner has been clearly assigned to 
 
9 
 
 Germany, with its headquarters, for the present, at least, at Munich; while the 
 latter has been as clearly assigned to the new Kingdom of Italy, with its head- 
 quarters, of course, at Rome. What Dollinger, Hyacinthe, Huber, Friedrich, 
 Michaud, Reinkens and others are to the one, that, not Italian ecclesiastics, but 
 Italian statesmen are to the other. 
 
 The Italian Catholic Reform Movement is, therefore, now and henceforth 
 absorbed in, or rather become identified with and dependent, on the one hand, 
 upon the general Alt-Catholic religious contests going on chiefly in GeiTnany, 
 and, on the other, upon the Italian politico-ecclesiastical struggle gathering in 
 and around the Parliament at Rome. Considered in its religious aspect, it is no 
 longer a distinct and separate force whose movements we might follow indepen- 
 dently. It has taken up position, and is now the left wing of the gieat amiy of 
 Catholic refomi, whose centre i-ests upon the Iser and the Rhine, and whose 
 right upon the Seine. True, the centre only has thus far become fully engaged ; 
 the right is but just coming into action, and the left is yet awaiting the proper 
 opportunity. But this latter is not, therefore, to be any longer regarded apart, 
 nor is even the position which it has taken up to be understood by those who do 
 not, at the same time, study that of the main army, and who are not closely 
 watching the action in every direction all along the line. 
 
 It was, therefore, with the conviction that thus only could it be able to follow 
 up the first and most important branch of their work, that the Commission, in the 
 report above referred to, recommend that it should be henceforth merged in or 
 replaced by some organization of wider scope, one which, like the Anglo-Conti- 
 nental Society, should be competent to address itself to the European Catholic 
 Reform Movement as such, without those limitations to the range of its investi- 
 gations and relations which were appropriate while the movement was confined 
 to Italy alone. In their wisdom the Joint Committee and the General Conven- 
 tion thought otherwise, and the geographical restriction which had been placed 
 upon the range of our official action was confirmed. As the effect of this course 
 was clearly and repeatedly explained to several of those who took the lead in 
 this decision, it cannot be supposed that it was unintended ; and as, moreover, 
 the House of Bishops concurrently and fonnally expressed their judgment that it 
 was " highly desirable that the Right Reverend the Bishop of Mainland should 
 visit Europe for the purpose of ascertaining the state and condition of the various 
 reformatory Church measures recently manifested there, in Germany and Italy " 
 (it had not, at that time, taken form in France), I cannot but infer that this 
 latter proposition was designed to be a first step in the direction of some such 
 more comprehensive organization, while our own Commission was designedly 
 restricted to the consideration of the more political and local asjDccts of this 
 movement. 
 
 While, therefore, I had before felt at liberty to adapt myself to what I 
 regarded as the necessities of my work, and to follow it whithersoever it might 
 lead me, I feel myself now precluded by this decision of the General Conven- 
 tion from taking any official cognizance of this religious movement, save in its 
 minor and local manifestations. My report will accordingly be occupied chiefly 
 with the consideration of the politico-ecclesiastical conditions and prospects of 
 Italy, and my official activity to the endeavor to avail myself of such opportuni- 
 ties as are or may be open to me in this field. 
 
 The ecclesiastical condition of Italy to-day is the natural product of two such 
 factors as Romish training and the Law of the Papal Guarantees. The foiTner 
 had already utterly materialized religion, destroyed the religious sentiment and 
 religious principle, and taught the Italians that religion consisted, not in the con- 
 victions of the mind and the affections of the heart, and in a life governed by 
 these, but in the outward acceptance of a system of dogmas and rites, irrespective 
 of the degree to which that acceptance represented any inward convictions 
 whatever. These are of little or no consequence, so they do not interfere with 
 due outward conformity. The latter, the law, under the vain idea of thereby 
 separating the Church and the State, has only disarmed the State in the presence 
 
lO 
 
 of her most implacable enemy, deprived all the patriot and reforming clergy of 
 even the hope of protection, and delivered them up wholly into the power of 
 Jesuit vengeance. If the condition of the liberal clergy was deplorable before, 
 since the passage of this law it has become, humanly speaking, hopeless indeed. 
 If it was hard, in the language quoted by the Dean of Chester, in his address to 
 the late General Convention, " to face the horrors of martyrdom in the ignoble 
 form of starvation," it is still more difficult when the certainty of martyrdom is 
 nearly, if not quite equalled by the certainty of effecting no compensatoiy good 
 beforehand. A people, and especially a clergy, who are taught to think that 
 there is no necessary connection between their inward convictions and their out- 
 ward professions and conduct, will, under such circumstances and with the rarest 
 exceptions, be very likely prudently to cover the indignant protest of the intellect 
 and of the conscience with a thin veil of an outward acceptance and conformity. 
 
 The Italian Government have, then, for the present at least, handed over the 
 whole field, and eveiy ecclesiastical refoiTner in Italy, and evei"y ally and every 
 check against ecclesiastical tyranny, and even against ecclesiastical conspiracy, to 
 the sole and arbitrary control of the Vatican. Indeed, it needs a pretty thorough 
 knowledge of the real inner condition, and of the politics of Italy, and a philo- 
 sophical consideration of the different stages through which she must inevitably 
 pass on the way to her spiritual regeneration, not to be profoundly discouraged 
 by the present aspect of the country. 
 
 To understand these, let me briefly indicate the different views taken by the 
 different parties into which Italian politicians are divided. 
 
 There are, first, the two extreme parties, the clerical and the radical. These 
 — as extremes are very apt to do — agree in some of the fundamental principles 
 of their political syllogism, and differ chiefly in the practical policy which must 
 follow. They both alike agree in accepting the claims of the Papacy to be the 
 embodiment of Catholicity ; they regard the Vatican obedience as exclusively the 
 Catholic Church ; and Catholicism (if not, indeed, Christianity itself ), as what- 
 ever the Vatican defines it to be, — no more, no less. 
 
 From these premises the clerical party deduces the necessity of obedience to 
 the Vatican, and of acceptance of its dicta ; the duty and true interest of Italy 
 humbly to sustain and defend the Holy Father in all his claims, and to make the 
 civil government what it was, as they hold, designed to be, — the temporal arm of 
 the Holy Church, the king the prefect of the Pope. Either ready to sacrifice 
 Italian nationality, or strangely incapable of seeing that this must result from the 
 consistent application of their principles; clear-sighted to the perils of infidelity 
 and religious anarchy, and believing that these will inevitably result in commun- 
 ism, they see in spiritual despotism the only bulwark or safeguard against these 
 evils, which are unquestionably now threatening society. This party is small — 
 at least it is so in the Lower Chamber of Parliament— but it embraces many of the 
 representatives of the old nobility, the highest-toned families which have inherited 
 from generations of the old regime the dignity, culture, knowledge of affairs, 
 influence, together with the deeply-rooted prejudices of their class. It has no 
 possible chance of getting possession of the government, but it possesses, never- 
 theless, an influence, from the fact that among a large body of deputies, who are 
 generally mere politicians, and believe nothing, some of the members of this 
 party are men of sincere convictions and of consistent life, and are of course 
 respected even by their most detemiined opponents. 
 
 From identically the same premises the radical party — who are of course 
 much more alive to the dangers of ecclesiastical despotism than to those of 
 religious anarchy — draw the reverse conclusion, that the true interest of Italy 
 lies in the determined warfare against the Papacy, the Catholic Church, the 
 Jesuits, the priests, — in fine, the whole institution just as they find it ; and so far 
 as they consider it the exclusive embodiment of Christianity, upon the Christian 
 religion also. Living in an age too late — or possibly too early, who can tell ? — 
 for direct persecution of Christianity ; looking upon its spiritual claims with con- 
 tempt, or at best with cold indifference, they would deal with the Church as only 
 
II 
 
 an element in the political and social problem, and, as such, have the state get 
 wholly rid of it, have no relations with it, nor recognize it in any way, neither 
 granting privileges to its head or to its ministers, nor undertaking any part of their 
 support, nor permitting them to interfere in any degree in the education of the 
 young, nor itself taking the slightest interest in any of its internal divisions. 
 This party is active, numerous, not strong enough to achieve a parliamentary 
 victory over all others combined, but quite able to wrest power from the midst of 
 the contentions of others. 
 
 Neither of these two parities have any really able leaders; indeed, no true 
 statesman can be extreme either in Church or State. Rattazzi is the representa- 
 tive man of the radicals, and a Rattazzi ministry would of course be the result of 
 a parliamentary victory on their part. 
 
 Between these two parties are the moderates, who are generally considered as 
 divided into the right and the centre. These all agree in refusing to accept the 
 practical conclusions of either of the extreme parties already named ; but there is 
 an important difference in the grounds on which they do this, and a consequent 
 divergence in the policy they would substitute. One portion of these agree per- 
 sonally and in the abstract with the radicals in the infidelity or indifference with 
 which they regard all religious interests as such, and refusing to take any notice 
 of the dissensions within the Church, as matters with which they, as a government, 
 have nothing to do, and for which, as individuals, they do not care. They take 
 the Church as a whole into consideration, as a political fact with which they must 
 deal, and the Papacy as the accepted government and embodiment of the Church. 
 To this section belongs the present Lanza ministiy. Out of this way of looking at 
 the ecclesiastical questions of the day has sprung the Law of the Papal Guarantees, 
 or, rather, that second Title of this law which settles the new relations of the State to 
 the Church in the Kingdom of Italy. This law, and the ministry which secured 
 its adoption, ignore all questions which have arisen within the Church, consider 
 the Papacy as de facto its head, and the clergy as the subjects of the Pope; and 
 the government has, thus far, at all events, sought by eveiy concession and by the 
 very extreme of deference to conciliate this inimical Church, and to persuade 
 the Vatican to reconcile itself to the faits accomplis of the loss of the temporal 
 power. Hence the policy of summarily suppressing all those ecclesiastics who 
 showed themselves disposed to resist the Vatican in any way ; hence the policy 
 of leaving all ecclesiastical questions whatever to be disposed of by the Vatican, 
 and at its pleasure. 
 
 What is the real meaning of this policy I do not pretend to understand. The 
 ministry are not believers, it is true, but the Italians, and particularly Italian 
 politicians, are keen, far-sighted, and veiy practical men, shrewd and subtle too, 
 and it seems too much to suppose them really blind to the fact, patent to the 
 whole world, that the Papacy, as at present constituted, neither will nor can 
 reconcile itself to the Kingdom of Italy, and that Italy can never hope to find 
 other than mortal enemies in Ultramontanism and the Jesuits. If anything had 
 been wanting heretofore, the late letter of the Pope to Cardinal Antonelli has 
 supplied it ; and henceforth no one will pretend to hope for reconciliation with 
 the Papacy under its present government. But they have France to consider as 
 well as the Pope, and the course which has no effect with one may serve greatly 
 to conciliate the other, and, in some coming emergency, secure to Italy the peace 
 which she imperatively needs for the development of her internal and domestic 
 interests. This policy may then be, in a certain sense, an honest and straight- 
 forward one, or it may have been pursued for the purpose of affording the minis- 
 try, when the time should come for a change, a record to which they can point 
 in support of their claim that Italy has done all she could, and more than all she 
 should have done, in the endeavor to live peaceably with the Papacy, and to 
 come to terms with it. 
 
 The ablest statesman belonging to, or at all events now acting with this sec- 
 tion, is Visconti-Venosta, the present Minister of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 The other, or right section of the Moderates, contains some leading statesmen 
 
12 
 
 who have been disposed to take a more discriminating view of the ecclesiastical 
 questions of the day. I speak of men vi'ho personally and in the abstract agree 
 more nearly with the clericals than with the radicals, at least so far as to recog- 
 nize the claims of the Catholic Church, — to confess their spiritual allegiance to 
 her, while yet they do not acknowledge the claims of the Papacy to an arbitrary 
 supremacy in and over the Church. All this class of men — and it embraces the 
 la"ger part of the truly great names among Italian public men, such as Ricasoli, 
 Mamiani, Peruzzi, Minghetti, Boncompagni, Bonghi, and Rudini in active life, as 
 well as Capponi, Sermoneta, Manzoni, and others, reverenced for their years as 
 well as for their virtues and their abilities, — all this class reject alike the Vatican 
 Council and its decrees, and advocate, in a greater or a less degree, the reforma- 
 tion of the Church. Many of these wished to have so modified the second Title 
 of the Law of the Guarantees as to have prepared the way for some such refoiTna- 
 tions. These men clearly discriminate between Catholicism and Ultramontanism, 
 and would gladly do whatever they believe practicable to combat the power of 
 the latter in the Church. Some would do this from political, some from social, 
 and some from purely religious considerations. Some would aim at reform 
 only through and under the lead of a reforming Pope, and trust that one will yet 
 arise. Some do not think that the German Old Catholics are going at all too far, 
 and would gladly see Italian ecclesiastics following their example. Some have 
 no hope for such reform in Italy, others are far more sanguine ; but all stand, in 
 some sense, as the representatives of the general principle of Catholic Reform, as 
 between the clericals on one side, and the central moderates now in possession of 
 the government on the other. With the ecclesiastical views of these men our 
 Church would unquestionably most fully sympathize, however much more some 
 of the negative principles of the radicals might seem to commend themselves to 
 us. But it must not be forgotten that to denounce the Papacy does not in Italy 
 imply any belief at all in Christianity. Nay, if anything, rather the contrary. 
 
 Such is the state of Italian parties on ecclesiastical questions, and under the 
 present government policy it has been no wonder that the refomr party among 
 the clergy of the Church have been utterly unable to act, or even to speak out 
 with any effect. 
 
 The contempt with which the Vatican has thus far met all these advances on 
 the part of the government, the undisguised hostility of France, to which the 
 Vatican looks for a restoration of its temporal power, and radical pressure, are 
 apparently forcing the beginnings of some change. The German alliance, 
 which has been inevitable under the circumstances, is Visconti-Venosta's share in 
 that change. The foreign policy of the government now undoubtedly implies 
 resistance, not to the Chiuxh as such, but to the Ultramontanism within the 
 Church, and the protection and encouragement of the Old Catholic reformers. 
 There is, however, as yet no consistency whatever, — nay, the strangest antagon- 
 ism between this foreign policy and the home administration, but the ecclesiastical 
 policy of the government might be much more generally censured than it yet is 
 without forfeiting parliamentaiy support, since, after all, there is a far more living 
 interest felt everywhere in questions which concern the material development 
 of the country, and the consolidation of its unity; and the practical efficiency of 
 Signori Lanza and Sella in advancing these ends commands deserved confidence. 
 
 But as ecclesiastical questions become of more pressing importance, a change 
 will yet come, and it may come in either of three forms : 
 
 1. By the accession of the left or radicals to power. In this case it would 
 bring with it an ecclesiastical policy hostile to the Church as such, and by no 
 means favorable to calm, sober, and Catholic internal reform. 
 
 2. By the accession of the right wing, perhaps under Ricasoli, but more 
 probably under Minghetti as Prime Minister, and not at all unlikely retaining 
 Visconti-Venosta in his present post, which has not been so ably filled since the 
 death of Cavour. Such a ministry, from a mixture of principle and policy, would, 
 I think, certainly give a more or less active and practical encouragement to the 
 Catholic reformers. 
 
13 
 
 3. By a change of policy on the part of the present ministry in the same 
 general direction ; if for no other reason, at least to forestall their political oppo- 
 nents, and secure a continuance in power. 
 
 From all this it is easy to perceive how much depends, humanly speaking, 
 upon the spread of Alt-Catholicism in Germany and France, and the degree to 
 which this may influence the course of the governments of these countries, and 
 thus indirectly that of Italy as the ally of the one, and as being forced to guard 
 against the hostility of the other. Much, very much, depends, too, upon the 
 extent to which Italian public men, statesmen and writers, are able to discriminate 
 between the Catholic Church and the Ultramontane sect which has become 
 despotic within it and over it, or, in other words, upon the growth of truly 
 Catholic views in public circles. Such views would prove to conservative men 
 that it was possible to root out the present evils without laying disloyal hands 
 upon the Catholic Church ; and to moderate radicals that it was not necessary to 
 destroy the Catholic Church in order to secure liberty and restore peace to Italy. 
 
 It is manifest, then, that, so far as this part of the field is concerned, the 
 opportunities at present offered for my official action consist chiefly in contribu- 
 tions to the secular press, and such intercourse as may be permitted me with lay- 
 men interested in the solution of this politico-ecclesiastical problem which Italy 
 has yet on hand. Within this range I have, so far, little or nothing to report. I 
 have not, as yet, been able to resume my pen, although the columns of two or 
 three journals have been courteously opened to me, nor do I yet feel sure to what 
 extent it would be wise to do so ; and the subject of my private and personal in- 
 tercourse with individuals is not, as can be readily understood, either a practi- 
 cable or a proper one for discussion in a published report. 
 
 I turn now, briefly, to the more strictly religious aspect of the Catholic 
 Reform Movement, as manifested in Italy. 
 
 ,, Everywhere I find it, as I have already intimated, almost crushed by the strong 
 hand of triumphant Jesuitism, into whose absolute control the Church has been 
 delivered up by the Law of the Papal Guarantees. I do not find any reason to 
 think that the reformers have lost faith in the future ; but, for the time, nearly all 
 purely Italian activity in this field is repressed. 
 
 And, in the meanwhile, those whose firm and self-devoted hands first upraised 
 the standard of reform are one by one passing away. Of all the noble staff which 
 gave to the " Esaniinatore " its first value, and which commanded the respect of 
 even its bitter enemies, only one remains. Bianciardi, its editor, died more than 
 three years ago, as we all well remember ; Barzacchini, his own pastor and the 
 Desiderio Dalvelo of the ^^ Esaininatore^^ and also Prior Bianchi, of San Lorenzo, 
 died but a short time before him. Reali, ex-Canon of the Lateran, and lately of 
 Siena, followed him soon after. Now Parroco Mongini, once the vigorous and 
 uncompromising pamphleteer and impetuous assailant of the Vatican, broken by 
 age, sickness, and disappointment, although still living, is unable to continue his 
 labors ; and one whom I have not heretofore felt that I ought to name, but to 
 whom I have often referred, as the author of the Piacentine Letters, is no more. 
 
 If I am ever able to treat this subject more at length, I shall hope to speak 
 more fully of Monsignore Luigi Tosi, of Cremona. He was one of the earliest 
 friends of Bianciardi, a leading counsellor during nearly the whole career, and 
 especially the latter years of the "Esamhia/ore.^' He was one of my own first, 
 and latterly, I think I may add, most attached friends in Italy, and there was a 
 bond of sincere Christian affection between us, to which it will do him no harm now 
 to refer. The sincerity and simplicity of his personal piety, the thoroughness of 
 his learning, the breadth and candor of his views, and finally the position which 
 he held as the Capitular Vicar of the vacant Diocese of Cremona, from the death of 
 good Bishop Novasconi, December, 1867, to the appointment of the new papal 
 occupant of that see, made him a man of mark, whom I had hoped that God had 
 raised up for a leader in the coming struggle between Catholicity and the Vati- 
 can. The sad intelligence that he had been struck with apoplexy but a few days 
 after his displacement by the new Bishop, and of his death upon January 13th 
 
H 
 
 last, came to me when I was unable either to respond to it or to report the fact to 
 the Commission. 
 
 To this loss is also to be added that of Cav. Guiseppe Civinini. The Com- 
 mission are aware how greatly I have been indebted to his courtesy as director 
 of the "Nazione" for the opportunity of discussing in the secular press, and for 
 secular readers and public men, the various topics connected with the witness of 
 the Anglican Churches in the ecclesiastical questions of the day. The remains 
 of this aljle publicist — one of the very ablest and most influential which have 
 adorned Italian journalism — were borne to their resting-place at Pistoia, passing 
 me as I returned to Florence. 
 
 Nor is this all ; for when I was at last able to reply to the affectionate wel- 
 come of Count Tasca which awaited me on my return, my letter was answered 
 by his son, telling me that the noble, faithful soldier, patriot, and Christian was 
 lying on the bed of severe sickness, where he had been lingering for some time, 
 and from which there is, I fear, at his age, but little hope of recovery. 
 
 I have been in Italy but little more than five years, yet events have come and 
 gone, succeeding each other so rapidly — those which were once spoken of among 
 us as probable in some vague future now already past ; and so veiy large a pro- 
 portion of those who once formed my whole circle of Italian friends and counsel- 
 lors have finished their course, and now rest from their labors — that I feel as 
 though I had been here an age, and as though I stood between two generations of 
 reformers, — those to whom God gave it to inaugurate this sacred work, and those to 
 whom He will yet entrust its completion. 
 
 Monsignore Tiboni, of Brescia, still lives, thank God, and has lately published 
 a very characteristic discourse on " Communism and the Gospel." 
 
 Professor Cassani, of Bologna, still moves on in his quiet but firm course as 
 Director of the " Kinnovaine^ito Cattolico" an organ of the reformers, but little 
 satisfactoiy to those whom it seeks to represent, on account of its extreme conser- 
 vatism, but which may, perhaps, claim to atone for this defect by its equally un- 
 questionable tenacity of purpose. 
 
 The arch-priest Cicuto, too, a Venetian whose name I have not before felt at 
 liberty to use, is now writing boldly over his own signature, in the "Jiivisia 
 Universale," against the new Papal claims, and has, in consequence, been singled 
 out by the Pope himself as worthy of personal reproof. 
 
 I hope soon to see some of my good Lombard friends, and to know more of 
 their present views and hopes than I do as yet, but I fear that they generally feel 
 themselves, as one of them lately wrote me, " bound hand and foot, and deliv- 
 ered over by the government to be dragged at the car of triumphant Jesuitism." 
 
 What wonder that the loyal and refonning priests, oppressed and almost 
 directly persecuted by the government itself, should turn toward Germany, and 
 bitterly contrast the support which the Gennan Alt-Catholics receive from their 
 government on the one side, and from the laity on the other, with the cold 
 indifference by which they are themselves surrounded on every side ; and what 
 wonder that there almost ceases to be a distinctively Italian Reform Movement, 
 and, instead of it, a number of Italian ecclesiastical followers of the great leaders 
 of iVIunich and Cologne ! What wonder that the Alt-Catholic Committee in 
 Rome, though it contains Italian members, is by no means an Italian committee, 
 but one of mixed nationality, under the presidency of the great French refomier, 
 P6re Hyacinthe ; that the leading refonn journal now in Italy, the "Esperance de 
 Rome," is a French review directed by a Brazilian, and claiming to represent 
 the movement generally, rather than the Italian phase of it; in fine, that the 
 city of Rome itself, so far as the religious aspects of this movement are con- 
 cerned, is not the capital of Italy, but rather one of the centres of the general 
 European Catholic reform. 
 
 Yet, in despite of all these discouragements, there are, nevertheless, great 
 grounds of encouragement, full of promise for the future, for those who have 
 patience to look forward, to realize that all these things "must needs be," and 
 to remember that there can be no uncertainty of the ultimate issue in the contest 
 
15 
 
 between truth and error, between light and darkness. What if this generation, 
 trained under the past, should be incapable of doing more than setting wide the 
 door for truth to enter ? Another generation will be better fitted to enter into the 
 fruition of the present ; and what is a generation in the histoiy of the Church ? 
 
 Is it no great advance that the contemporaries of the Madiai, who were im- 
 prisoned in Florence, the most liberal city of Italy, for the sole offence of reading 
 the Word of God, should have been able to listen to the catholic Pere Hyacinthe 
 advocating the organization of a Bible society in Rome, and to assist at a public 
 discussion in Rome of the question whether St. Peter had ever been there ? Is 
 it nothing that the erratic, but most honest and earnest priest, Don Ambrogio, 
 who had been so frequently imprisoned in Piedmont for open-air preaching, 
 should have been able, as he did about a fortnight since, to address a crowd upon the 
 Piazza Colonna, at Rome, within earshot of the former headquarters of the Papal 
 police, upon the subject of the difference between the religion of Christ and that 
 of the Vatican ? Is it nothing that priests of the Italian Catholic Church, who 
 had been taught to look upon all Protestants as accursed unbelievers, that despised 
 God and trampled on the Cross of Christ, should now be ready "to take sweet 
 counsel together" with one of ourselves; and that Italian statesmen, trained 
 under the same system, should not scorn to seek information concerning the 
 principles, discipline, organization, claims, and practical working of our Church, 
 as subjects which might be suggestive of practical solutions of some of the 
 politico-ecclesiastical problems which perplex them to-day ? It is the greatest proof 
 of the enormous strides toward religious liberty and light which have been made 
 by the Italian state, that we already begin to take these as a matter of course, and 
 are impatient at the difficulties and obstacles which obstruct the entrance of 
 similar liberty and light within the Italian Church. 
 
 We forget that these civil liberties were preceded by and were largely the con- 
 sequence of the sufferings of those who first sought them; that Gioberti and Manin 
 died in exile ; that Poerio languished year after year in the Neapolitan dungeons, 
 and that Silvio Pelico was transported from one Austrian prison to another ; that 
 the only reward of the patriot was suffering, and the only apparent result of his 
 labors to be crushed by the strong hand of tyranny. But yet, because of these 
 things, the flag of a free Italy floats this day over the castle of St. Angelo, and 
 Italy is one from the Alps to the furthest cape of Sicily. We are now living 
 only in the day of the Manins and the Poerios and the Pellicos of the Church. 
 
 Before closing, it is proper that I should say that, while in England, on my 
 return to Italy, the desire was expressed to me that I should cooperate more 
 directly even than heretofore with the Anglo-Continental Society. I did not 
 feel at liberty to assume any official relations with that body, but, grateful for the 
 confidence thus shown, I assured my English friends that it would be a source of 
 sincere satisfaction to the Commission, as well as to myself, if in any way I could 
 aid them in canying out the objects of that society. From one cause and an- 
 other they have ceased to have any direct agents in Italy ; and I believe that I 
 alone at present practically act for them. 
 
 As usual in my reports, I have had but little to say of what I have myself 
 done. In fact, so far, I have indeed done but little since my return to Florence ; 
 but I can never report much under this head. A slight consideration will easily 
 suggest to those who understand the nature of my present position here that, as a 
 general thing, the more successful my mission, the less I would probably have to 
 spread upon the pages of a report. The facts which might enable others to 
 judge of the value of our work I am withheld from mentioning by considerations 
 of propriety, prudence, and good faith; and opinions and claims, unsupported by 
 facts, I am equally withheld by self-respect from putting forth. 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 Wm. Chauncy Langdon, 
 
 Foreign Secretary. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 REPORTS OF THE SECRETARIES 
 
 Extract from an Address delivered bv the Right Reverend the Bishop of 
 Pennsylvania before his Diocesan Convention, May 14, 1872. 
 
 The work of the Italian Commission of our Church in Italy is confined to 
 watching the progress of affairs in the Church and in the State as they bear upon 
 ecclesiastical reform, to pouring in light upon the public mind as to the existence 
 and practical working of what Count Cavour so ardently longed for, "Libero 
 Chiesa in libero Stato^'' as illustrated in the organization of this Church, and to 
 the keeping up an interest at home in this work abroad, so as to sustain that 
 sympathy which, we hold, should ever be extended to those who are struggling 
 to free themselves from the shackles of superstition, tyranny, and error. For, 
 just as our American people, through the resolutions of their Congress, showed 
 their sympathy half a centuiy ago nearly, with the then existing republics of 
 South America — not, indeed, approving all the proclamations, or all the acts of 
 these nations in the pursuit of freedom, but only thereby sanctioning, by our 
 national sympathy, the great underlying principles of liberty which originated 
 these revolutionary movements — so the General Convention of our Church, not 
 endorsing, indeed, all the plans or efforts or views of the Italian reformers, or of 
 the German reformers, yet sees in these movements the germs and principles of 
 great Catholic truths and a great Catholic work, and so sends out to them words 
 of cheer, holds out to them a hand of help, and thus encourages them to press on 
 in the work of getting back to the old paths and the old truths. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Langdon, who has been our agent in Italy for sevei-al years, 
 has been of great service as a living bond between the reforming elements, 
 clerical and lay. He has also been a centre of information as to the practical 
 workings of other branches of Christ's Church, a vigilant obsei-ver of the ebbs 
 and flows of the tidal waves of Italian legislation, and the proceedings of the 
 Roman Curia, a ready defender and upholder of the great principles upon which 
 only a true reform can be based. 
 
 Extract from an address delivered by the Very Rev. y. S. Hozvson, D.D., Dean 
 of Chester, before the House of Deputies in Getteral Convention, Baltimore, 
 October 23, 1 87 1. 
 
 It might be asked, in the first place, What has the American Church to do 
 with Italy ? Why may it not attend to its own concerns, which are sufficiently 
 
17 
 
 important and very various, and why not leave Italy to do its own business in its 
 own way? I venture to say that the thought expressed in that objection is not a 
 very Christian sentiment. It certainly is no part of the business of this Church to 
 form separate congregations of Italians in that country ; but for this Church to be 
 out of sympathy, and not to make any expression of active sympathy with a move- 
 ment for Church reform in that countiy, would be to be unfaithful to its own 
 position and traditions. 
 
 Why should the American branch of the Church occupy itself with this busi- 
 ness ? It is separated by the whole breadth of the Atlantic, and more than the 
 breadth of the Atlantic, from Italy, whereas the Church of England is veiy near, 
 and the relations between Italy and England have been frequent in ages past. I 
 presume to say that this is the very reason why the Church of England is not so 
 fit as the Church of America to deal with this question. The veiy fact that we 
 have been entangled in a great many European questions, religious and diplo- 
 matic, for a great many years, exposes us to a certain degree of suspicion which 
 does not belong to you. The fact of your independence, and the great distance 
 at which you stand from Italy, seem to mark out this branch of our united Church 
 as the most suitable to deal with this question. 
 
 But more than this, there is a popular saying, which has obtained currency 
 from Count Cavour, which speaks of a " free Church in a free State." This thing 
 you have more than any other nation in the world. You, possessed of a free 
 Church in a free State, are more likely to be listened to in Italy than we, with our 
 hereditary entanglements, whether they be good or whether they be bad. Be- 
 sides this, you have a free and full representation of the laity in this Church, and, 
 as I shall have occasion to remark presently, this will make you far more acceptable 
 than any Church where the representation of the laity is in a quasi political 
 form. 
 
 It maybe asked. What form should your sympathy and effort take in regard to 
 these Italian questions? The method according to which these efforts should be 
 made, I presume, is this : Information should be carefully collected and recorded, 
 and brought to you. Those who are inclined for reform in Italy should be 
 brought together, the publication of useful books should be promoted, relations 
 with the public press in Italy should be cultivated, and all this should be done in 
 an open, frank, honest, and perfectly transparent manner, without any intrigue, — 
 to which, in fact, none of us are addicted. And meantime, while you are doing 
 this, we in England ought to aid in any way we can. But one thing is essential, 
 — that whatever ultimate action is taken should be thoroughly Italian. No 
 American exotic, no English exotic, in Church matters, will ever have a healthy 
 and perpetual growth in Italy. We can help them to reform themselves ; but the 
 Italian proverb says, in regard to Church matters, as well as other matters, 
 ^'Italia lo fard da se." In fact, the fonn that your enterprise, according to my 
 humble judgment, ought to take, is precisely the form inider which these move- 
 ments have been conducted hitherto. 
 
 Mr. Langdon has accumulated a great deal of knowledge and a great deal of 
 experience which no other human being possesses. . . . He and I have been to- 
 gether a great deal, as I have told you ; and this I will say, that, although I 
 believe he is very zealous, I have found him veiy prudent. Indeed, I have some- 
 times thought him too prudent, and, so far as my knowledge of his proceedings 
 goes, I have never been conscious of any single blunder on his part through want 
 of judgment. ... As to the results at which we should aim — the obtaining of 
 the confidence of public men, and the establishment of relations with the press — 
 I am quite surprised at the degree of confidence which he has inspired, and the 
 way in which the Italian newspapers have admitted his letters, in which he has 
 expounded to the Italians, with their approval, your Church Constitution; which 
 letters of his have again been followed by leading articles speaking most respect- 
 fully of your organization, and recommending to Italians the careful consideration 
 of your system as possibly in many respects very much adapted to them. 
 
i8 
 
 But, in regard to Mr. Langdon, I will say nothing more on my own part ; I 
 will only add that two of my friends, who have seen more of him than I have, 
 entirely agree in my opinion. One is a clergyman who probably knows more of 
 reforming movements on the continent than any other person now living, and 
 who certainly has the most singular skill in winning his way with opponents in 
 respect to the controversies that lie between the Church of Rome and ours. The 
 other is a layman, a lawyer, a keen lawyer, and a lawyer with a very large and 
 varied experience in regard to Church law. I will read to you a few salient sen- 
 tences from a letter I received from him in the month of September. This 
 gentleman says to me : 
 
 " I hear you are going to America. If you do, don't fail to put in a good 
 word for Mr. Langdon. It would be impossible for any one else to fill the place 
 he fills most efficiently there. Pray do not mislay this note, but take it with you 
 to America. It would be a grievous mistake to suppose that the spirit of reform 
 is not alive in Italy because, externally, things go on as ever." 
 
 He then quotes from the third volume of D'Aubigne's " History of the Re- 
 formation," alluding to a similar period in the sixteenth centuiy, when there was 
 no visible change in regard to outward matters. D'Aubigne says, " Every revo- 
 lution must take place first in thought, before it is accomplished externally. The 
 minds of men must be changed before their forms are changed. For all these 
 things the lapse of a certain time is required." After thus quoting D'Aubigne, 
 mv friend says : " The more I see and hear and think of our hopes and duties in 
 relation to Italy, the more firmly I feel convinced that we ought to spare no pains 
 in sowing, leaving it to others, in God's good time, to reap. . . . When the 
 public mind is educated up to the mark, the people will drive the priesthood to 
 reform the Church. Meantime, we cannot expect that the most ardent reforniers 
 will face the horrors of martyrdom in the ignoble form of starvation." 
 
 These are strong sentences from a well-informed man, whose opinion is 
 worthy of being accepted. And to add the judgment of two of oin- own English 
 bishops, I believe I can quote with perfect confidence the names of the Bishop 
 of Ely and the Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Harold Browne, and Dr. Christopher 
 Wordsworth, names not unknown on this continent, veiy strongly in confirmation 
 of everything I have said ; and, for my own part, I have no hesitation in saying 
 that Mr. Langdon has been instrumental toward a very large difflision in Italy of 
 a liealthy spirit of conservative Church reform." 
 
 Extracts from a Paper entitled the Religious Condition of Italy in the [London) 
 " Christian Observer" for June aud yuly, 1872. 
 
 The various agencies which are comprised under the head of " The Modern 
 Italian Reformation" may be arranged under four heads: (i) The missions 
 established by foreign religious bodies, with the view not only of making known 
 the truth, but of founding in Italy branches of their respective communions; (2) 
 The mission of the Waldensian Church; (3) The Evangelici, or free Italian 
 Churches ; (4) The reform movement in the Italian Church itself. 
 
 On the first of these heads we have little to say. No foreign religious body 
 can ever exist in Italy, reformed or unreformed, but as a sect ; and good men 
 as its missionaries may be, their work must partake somewhat of the nature of 
 proselyting. We take this opportunity of giving a caution to those friends of 
 Italian reformation who, in their warmth of heart believing that anything must 
 be better for the Italians than what they already have, do not sufficiently consider 
 whether what they would give them is the best or wisest of substitutes. 
 
 The Waldenses are everywhere regarded as foreigners, and, as such, while 
 they may make individual converts, may found communities, and do good in 
 making the truth known to individuals, they will never absorb Italy into their 
 Church. 
 
 We cannot accept "the Evangelici'''' as the best thing for Italy. Wliat 
 
19 
 
 English Churchmen would think most mischievous in their own parishes cannot 
 be right to sanction and aid in Italy. He who determined not to know anything 
 among the Corinthians save " Jesus Christ and Him crucified," wrote also to 
 them the earliest rubric, " Let all things be done decently and in order." And 
 neither the Waldenses nor the Evangelici have any influence with the educated 
 classes. 
 
 To our minds the real hope for Italian reformation is the refomi movement in 
 the Italian Church itself, carried on by men whose position much resembles that 
 of our reformers in the reign of Henry VIII. There is, from its veiy nature, 
 almost as little to write about it as there is to write about the gradual stealing on 
 of the morning light in the eastern sky; it is as slow, as quiet, we believe it is as 
 sure. The sky is not cloudless. The reformers are not fully enlightened ; they 
 dread schism, and, distinguishing between the Church and the corruptions, they 
 have no wish to leave her, rather remaining in her with the hope of reforming 
 her. They have often, nevertheless, to encounter persecution and false judg- 
 ment, not only from the Papacy, but at the hands of those who would have them 
 see everything at once. 
 
 The Anglo-Continental Society gives its sympathy to the reformers within the 
 Church; the Italian Church Reform Society goes further, and desires to form 
 congregations after the model of the English Church ; but we had better bide 
 their time, and let the reformers take their own course in Italy, as they did in 
 England, and we do not desire to foist even our dear English Church upon them. 
 . . . The American Episcopal Church has acted with equal judgment and tact. 
 She, a Church wholly separate from the state, seems to the Italians to have solved 
 one of their most perplexing prolilems, and her influence is, therefore, greater 
 than our own. And from her " Church Reformation Commission " the Rev. W. 
 C. Langdon, to whose writings and reports our pages are so largely indebted, has 
 been sent to watch the RefoiTn Movement and to aid it. which he has done with 
 an ability, judgment, and prudence which have earned for him plenty of hard 
 words on one side, but, on the other, the full confidence of the reformers them- 
 selves. 
 
 The Programme of the Central Committee of Old Catholics at Rome. 
 
 The Esperance de Rome for June 5th publishes the programme of the Roman 
 Old-Catholic Committee. The document is well described as " very important 
 as the most definite in its terms of all that have hitherto proceeded from the 
 leaders of that party, having, besides its intrinsic importance, a deep interest for 
 another reason. It is the first public profession of faith in opposition to the 
 Papacy which has been made at Rome for a thousand years by members of the 
 Roman Church, always excepting those few scattered periods of revolution when, 
 for political reasons, the Pope was ' not at home.' " The officers of this commit- 
 tee are as follows : 
 
 Honorary President : The founder, the Rev. Father Hyacinthe. 
 
 President : The Rev. Father Andrea d'Altagene, Capucin. 
 
 Vice-President : Mr. F. Nery, editor of the "-^ Esperance de Rome." 
 
 Secretary : The Abbe Vincenzo Caprera. 
 
 Treasurer : Mr. Gerardo Molfese, of the Roman bar. 
 
 The address of the Committee is Via Bocca di Leone, No. 1 1 , Rome. 
 
 Here is the programme in full : 
 
 " The Committee established in Rome for the defence of the Catholic faith 
 against the innovations of these latter days, and for the promotion of a refomi in 
 discipline and in morals within the Church, feels itself compelled to declare 
 distinctly that it intends to base its work on the Divine foundation of Jesus Christ. 
 It looks upon all schemes of reform that are otherwise inspired as impotent ; it 
 therefore confesses Christ as the Son of the Living God, the only Redeemer of 
 souls and of nations, and it awaits at His hands that regeneration of which the 
 world stands in need. 
 
20 
 
 " Urmly attached to the faith which Christ and His Apostles established in the 
 Church, we accept, together with the Holy Scriptures, all traditions of a Divine 
 origin, and all the legitimate decrees of the Catholic Church. But we reject, in 
 the most absolute manner, all human traditions which have mingled with the 
 deposit of Revelation, and the misuse of authority whereby it has been sought to 
 maintain and impose them. We do especially reject the Council of the Vatican, 
 as having lacked both liberty and the oecumenical character, and the dogmas 
 which it decreed we reject as being the consecration of all the errors and abuses 
 previously introduced into the Church Catholic. 
 
 " We ask, as our fathers in the faith asked, a reformation of the Catholic 
 Church, both in her pastors and in her flock. We think such a refomi more 
 necessaiy and more urgent to-day than ever before, because of the very obstinacy 
 with which it is denied to us, and because of the intolerable excess to which our 
 woes have reached. We do not deny the wholesome development of later times; 
 but we think that, in-order to bring about an effective refomiation, it is indispens- 
 able to go back to the age which preceded the division of the East and the West, 
 and we think it is on the basis of the first eight centuries that it will be possible 
 first to prepare and then to carry out the wished-for reunion of the different 
 Christian communions. 
 
 " Nothing could move us to separate ourselves from the Catholic Church for 
 the purpose of founding a new sect; we acknowledge the lawful authorities which 
 represent that Church ; but, at the same time, we assert our right and our duty to 
 resist arbitrary and a fortiori iniquitous decrees, which can in nowise bind the 
 conscience of a Christian. 
 
 " In the tumultuous and essentially transitory condition in which the Catholic 
 Church now is, it is the duty of the various committees organized throughout her 
 length and breadth to agree upon a uniform direction to be given to the move- 
 ment of resistance and reformation, and to make arrangements for the assem- 
 bling of a truly free and oecumenical coimcil, and for the choice of pastors 
 faithful to the ancient faith, and to that spirit of charity and liberty which should 
 reien in the Church of Christ." 
 
 Extract from a Leading Article of "La Libertd," of Rome, upon the Pope's 
 Letter to Cardinal Antonelli. 
 
 Upon the sixteenth of June last, the twenty-sixth anniversary of his election, 
 the Pope publicly addressed to his cardinal secretary of state a long letter, in 
 v/hich he set forth the condition to which the Papacy had been reduced by the loss 
 of the temporal power ; and declared, in the most formal and emphatic manner, the 
 utter impossibility of any reconciliation whatever between the Vatican and the 
 Kingdom of Italy. On the 20th of June there appeared in the "Liberia," a 
 moderate and influential Roman journal, a leading article, from which we extract 
 the following : 
 
 " In the exercise of their rights, the Italian government has proceeded with a 
 moderation of which histoiy offers no other example. The lavi^ of the Guarantees, 
 in vain abused and derided by the Vatican, bears witness that, on our side, there 
 has been a serious and honest intention to respect not only the Catholic religion, 
 but even the unfounded claims of the Pope. Italy has done what no other 
 Catholic power has ever conceived of doing, — the dogma of the infallibility, the 
 cause of so much trouble in other countries, has not encountered in Italy any 
 opposition whatever ; the bishops have literally inundated the Peninsula, govern- 
 ing their dioceses at their own discretion, and everywhere promoting feelings 
 hostile to the government ; an unchecked liberty has been left to the Catholic 
 press, asking them only to respect the common law ; and the pulpit has not been 
 subjected to the least surveillance ; everywhere have been freely organized 
 associations, which are in fact a permanent threat to the government. In fine, 
 
21 
 
 alljhas been done to assuage the wrath of the Vatican ; ^to inspire it with senti- 
 ments a little more Christian ; to induce it to abandon the ruthless war which 
 it intends to wage against the nation. 
 
 " Well, then, the Vatican answers us that all this is nothing ; that what we 
 have done is worth nothing; that to satisfy it we must leave Rome; if not, war ! 
 
 " It is clear that, even were we to leave Rome, the same Vatican, with imper- 
 turbable constancy, would give us notice to vacate the Marches and Umbria, 
 which it would then claim to govern at its own discretion ; that it would review 
 and reform our laws; in line, that it would itself command eveiy where; if not, 
 war, always war ! 
 
 " Was ever such a situation imagined ? To what else should Italy be finally 
 reduced, but to condemn itself to death ? Ourselves to destroy what we have 
 built up ? It is therefore plain that— unless we are ready to put ourselves in that 
 position — the time has come, or is about to come, when to the challenge which 
 the Vatican sends us it will be necessary to answer in terms which have the 
 same signification. 
 
 " Our loyalty cannot be called in question, since it is attested by the manner 
 in which we came to Rome, by the laws in favor of the Church which we have 
 enacted, and which have not kindled a civil war. The responsibility of what 
 shall happen will certainly not fall upon us, but upon those who have provoked, 
 on our part, a legitimate defence. 
 
 " We can, indeed, delay awhile ; we can prosecute loyally the experiment 
 which we are making, not without continual sacrifice ; but if, in the counsels of 
 the Vatican, the idea of war continues; if the means for cariying it on are 
 gathered there ; if from thence everything is put in operation, by deceiving, to 
 raise the populations ; in fine, if that which ought to be the symbol of peace and 
 concord in the world neither knows how nor wishes to be other than the symbol 
 of strife and of discord, we shall be compelled to prepare ourselves for defence, 
 putting forth an energy at least equal to that of the attack. And perhaps Provi- 
 dence, in its inscrutable decrees, itself prepares this struggle, in order that from it 
 Catholicism may emerge stronger and purer, no longer defiled by those blind and 
 grasping passions which would make of it a political party and an instrument of 
 worldly domination." 
 
 Extract from a recent Letter of the Rev. Mr. Latigdon. 
 
 In my report I believe I mentioned my pui-pose of soon visiting some of our 
 North-Italian reforming friends. In fulfilment of this purpose, I made a short 
 and hurried trip to Lombardy. 
 
 In this trip I saw not a few of the reforming ecclesiastics of whom I have 
 often spoken, and I heard from and of several more. I was impressed on every 
 side with the toning up, the increased decision manifested by them, and the good 
 results in the way of mutual intercourse and common action which had grown 
 out of the Conference held at Verona in November, 1870. They told me of visits, 
 correspondence, and consultations, — things which were altogether new. With- 
 out an exception, it was the conviction of every one with whom I spoke, that a 
 serious crisis was rapidly approaching, which at furthest could be postponed only 
 until the death of the present Pope, and for which all were earnestly preparing, — 
 a crisis in which the Government, whether disposed to do so or not, would be 
 constrained by the Providence of God, making use of the policy of the Vatican on 
 one side, and of the indignation of the people on the other, to protect and aid 
 them. 
 
 I myself am quite of this opinion, and I cannot but recognize, as evidence of 
 the growing definiteness of the issue, the appearance upon the stage of action 
 of two men to whom I must specifically refer. 
 
 The first is Ruggiero Bonghi, of whom I have before incidentally spoken, in 
 my report for 187 1, as the Relator e of the committee, which reported to the 
 
22 
 
 Chamber of Deputies upon the famous law of the Papal guarantees. I have 
 never met him, and therefore cannot speak of him from personal knowledge; but 
 he is said to be a man of very considerable ability, enlarged views, and knowl- 
 edge of affairs, of activity and industry, and quite an exception among Italian 
 politicians, — a sincere Christian and Catholic. That he exercises a decided 
 influence in political circles is evident. But his most remarkable characteristic 
 is his tremendous power of work. He is director-in-chief of the Milan Perseve- 
 ranza, the largest, the most expensive, and one of the most influential papers in 
 Italy. He is also the director of the N^itova Antologia, a Plorence monthly 
 review, and, I believe, of a newspaper in Naples besides. He seems ever to be 
 engaged, more or less prominently, in drawing up papers and reports, and in 
 committee work for Parliament. He is continually going to and fro, even during 
 the session, between Rome, Milan, Florence, and Naples, yet never absent from 
 his duties in the Chamber of Deputies. 
 
 About two months since this Deputy Bonghi, in an editorial in the Perseve- 
 ranza, took the Government roundly to task for their bad policy as well as injustice, 
 in ignoring and abandoning the liberal and reforming clergy in the Catholic 
 Church. In that paper for June 17th, he introduced the first of a series of 
 letters by an ecclesiastic, of whom I shall speak presently, in a way that implied 
 the strongest sympathy for that class of the clergy, expressing a hope that this 
 example would be followed by many more, calling upon them to speak out 
 boldly and plainly, and offering the columns of his journal as a means of access 
 to the public. 
 
 The other to whom I refer is the ecclesiastic whose letters were thus introduced 
 in the Persei'eranza. Two only have thus far appeared, although more are prom- 
 ised. They are only signed Fra Guisto, but the director says of the writer : 
 " He is one of the most pious, the most highly-cultivated, the most exemplaiy of 
 Italian priests, and one of the most elevated in rank. This we can affirm, while 
 we are not at liberty to give his name." 
 
 The letters themselves, indeed, indicate a person of culture, learning, and 
 piety ; one, too, having or having had intimate personal relations in the very 
 highest ecclesiastical circles. They are conservative ; they enter into no detail 
 of needed reform beyond the necessity of the frank abandonment of all claim 
 to the temporal power; but they confess so humbly the corrupt condition to 
 which the Church has been reduced, the extent to which the most sacred spiritual 
 interests have been sacrificed to the lust of worldly power, and the need of 
 thorough reform and restoration to its pure original, that it is no wonder that, 
 coming from such a quarter as is their apparent source, these letters have already 
 attracted great attention, awakened speculation upon their authorship, and sugges- 
 ted to some of the reforming clergy that they may be about to find a leader even 
 in the sacred college itself. I have, for my own part, absolutely no suspicion of 
 the source from which these letters emanate. I vouch only for their character as 
 letters, and for the interest which they seem to have awakened, as the papers say, 
 " under every reserve." 
 
 In Bologna I found Professor Cassani engaged in something of a contest with 
 the new archbishop of that city, apropos, of course, to the Rinnovamento Cattolico, 
 Professor Cassani's position, however, as the occupant of a chair in the University 
 of Bologna, under a Government appointment, gives him a certain independence, 
 of which he well knows how to avail himself, and he is defending himself with 
 perfect coolness, as well as with a thorough knowledge of his canonical rights. 
 
 I also visited the venerable Count Tasca on his bed of sickness, finding him 
 much changed from what he has been in physical strength, but the same childlike, 
 Christian spirit. He has firmly resisted all the attempts of the neighboring priests 
 to approach him, and to avail themselves of his hour of weakness to extract from 
 him a retraction and confession of repentance for his " heresies" and it was my 
 privilege, upon the fourth day of July, to administer to him, according to the 
 forms of our Church, what was, I know, to him " the most comfortable Sacrament 
 of the body and blood of Christ." 
 
TREASURER'S REPORT. 
 October i, 1871, to September 30, 1872. 
 
 RECEIPTS. 
 
 The Rev. W. R. Whittingham, D.D., Baltimore, Md $100 00 
 
 The Rev. George Leeds, D.D., Grace Church, Baltimore, Md 100 00 
 
 " " " (Offerings at public meeting at Grace Ch., Cct. II, '71) 13088 
 
 The Rt. Rev. G. T. Bedell, D.D., Gambler, Ohio 50 00 
 
 Mr. J. W. Andrews, Columbus, Ohio 5 00 
 
 The Right Rev. A. C. Coxe, D.D., Buffalo, Western N. Y 200 00 
 
 Prof. Francis Philip Nash, Geneva, Western N. Y 100 00 
 
 The Rev. W. Stevens Perry, D.D., Geneva. Western N. Y 10 00 
 
 The Rev. Benjamin I. Haight, D.U., New York 50 00 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Rylance, D.L)., . ew York 500 
 
 The Rev. G. H, Houghton, D. D., New York 25 00 
 
 The Rev. G. H. Houghton, D.D. (offerings at public raeeting Ch. of the Transfig- 
 uration, N. Y., Nov. 26, 1871) 67 87 
 
 Mr. J. W. .Alsop, N. Y. (per Frederick Chauncey) 50 00 
 
 Mr. W. M. Goodrich, Poughkeepsie, N. Y 50 00 
 
 The Rev. A. Z. Gray, New Vork . . 100 00 
 
 The Rev. W. H. Hare, " 5 00 
 
 Mr. E. G. Fabbri, " 2500 
 
 Mr. G. Albinola, " (per E. G. Kabbri) 2500 
 
 Mr. J. S. M. " 2000 
 
 Mr. C. L. Cammann, " 5000 
 
 Mrs. L. F. Batelle, " . 2500 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Schenck, D. O., St Ann's Church, Brooklyn, L 1 200 00 
 
 The Rev. C. H. Hall, D.D., Holy Trinity Church, Brooklyn, L. I 100 00 
 
 The Rev. Benjamin H. Paddock, D.D. , Grace Church, " 9300 
 
 " "• " (offerings at public meeting, Dec. I, 1871) 5700 
 
 Mr. Thomas MessenKer, Brooklyn, L. 1 100 co 
 
 Mr. C. R. Marvin, " 100 00 
 
 Mr. W. G. Low, " 100 00 
 
 Mr. J. A. King, Great Neck, L. 1 5° 00 
 
 The Rev. E. M. Van Deusen, D.D., Grace Church, Utica, Central N. Y 34 44 
 
 Mr. H. A. Moss and Mrs. Moss, New Berlin, Central N. Y 15 00 
 
 The Rev. Charles R. Hale, Auburn, Central N. Y 60 00 
 
 Mrs. P. D. Twiggs, " " " (per Rev. C. R. Hale).. 1000 
 
 Mr. Jbo. Mills Hale, Phillipsburgh, Central Pennsylvania ,, „ . . 10 00 
 
 Miss Julia L. Hale, " " '" ,, ,, .. 1000 
 
 Miss Mary £. Hale, " " " ,, „ .. 1000 
 
 The Rev. L. Coleman, Mauch Chunk, Central Pennsylvania 50 00 
 
 The Rev. E. A. Hoffman, D.D., St. Mark's Church, Philadelphia 150 00 
 
 The Rev. J. A. Harris, St. Paul's Church, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia 147 95 
 
 Mr. George S. Kirkham, Philadelphia (per the Rev. J. A. Harris) 20 00 
 
 Mr. H. H. Houston, " " " " 5000 
 
 S. K. Ashton, M.D., Philadelphia 100 00 
 
 The Rev. James Saul, Philadelphia 10 00 
 
 Mr. John Welsh, Philadelphia (per the Rev. A. Z. Gray) 100 00 
 
 Trinity Church, Bergen Point, N. J., " " " 5000 
 
 Mr. J. C. Garthwaite, Newark, N. J 5 00 
 
 Mr. Nathan Matthews, Boston, Mass 100 00 
 
 Mr. E. R. Mudge, " " 100 00 
 
 Mr. B. T. Reed, " " (per the Rev. Dr. Twing) 100 00 
 
 The Rev. S. O. Seymour, Pawtucket, R.I S 00 
 
 A member of Grace Church, Providence, R. L (per the Rev. W. H. Hare) i 00 
 
 The Rev. J. W. Brown, Christ Church, Detroit 5° 00 
 
 The Rev. J. I. Bliss, Bennington, Vermont 10 00 
 
 J. J. Jacocks, Windsor, North Carolina i 00 
 
 Total oflFerings from Oct. i, 1871, to Sept. 30, 1872 (of which $1,908.70 was received 
 
 from Oct. I, 1871 to Dec. 30, 1871) I3,i9g 14 
 
 Balance in bank as per last report, Oct. i, 1871 167 67 
 
 $3,366 81 
 
24 
 
 ADVANCES TO MEET CURRENT EXPENSES. 
 
 The Rev. C. R. Hale $ioo oo 
 
 The Rev. Geo. Leeds, D. D loo oo 
 
 The Rev. J. Andrews Harris 80 00 
 
 Loan by Treasurer 650 00 
 
 3 93° °o 
 
 Total receipts for general purposes $4,296 81 
 
 Note. — The following loans to the Treasurer, included as receipts in published 
 report of Oct. i, 1871, have been cancelled as donations to the Commission : 
 
 Henry Chauncey, New York $500 00 
 
 W. M. Goodrich, Poughkeepsie 150 00 
 
 $650 00 
 
 [disbursements — GENERAL FUND. 
 
 Salary for Secretary, October 1,1871, to Sept. 30, 1872 $3,000 00 
 
 Travelling expenses for Secretary from Europe to General Conven- [...-ia 
 
 tion, and returning home 477 50 
 
 Printing reports, circulars, postages, expenses of public meetings 236 90 
 
 Deposits in Union Trust Company 583 41 
 
 $4,296 81 
 
 LIABILITIES. 
 
 Outstanding bills I89 52 
 
 Salary of For. Secretary for quarter beginning Oct. i, 1872 (pledged in advance).. 750 00 
 Loaned by Treasurer 650 00 
 
 $1,489 52 
 Less cash on deposit 583 41 
 
 Balance required $906 11 
 
 JAMES S. MACKIE, 
 
 New York, October i, 1872. Treasurer. 
 
 ADDITIONAL OFFERINGS FOR THE SUPPORT OF SPECIAL WORK IN ITALY, CONNECTED WITH THE 
 GENERAL OBJECTS OF THE COMMISSION. 
 
 Through the Rev. Charles R. Hale: 
 The Rev. Charles R. Hale, $15 : Mrs. P. D. Twiggs, $10— Auburn, N. Y. Mrs. 
 
 R. C. Hale, $10; John Mills Hale, $10; Miss L. C.;Hale, $20; Miss J. L. 
 ^ '^WHale, $25; Miss M. E. Hale, $25— Philipsburgh, Pa. Mrs. Edward Ship- 
 
 •gp" pen, Philadelphia, $5. G. P. Bissell, Harttord, Ct., $10 $13000 
 
 Through Mr. William M. Goodrich : 
 Mr. William M. Goodrich, $3 ; Mrs. F . B. Morse, $70— Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
 
 The Rt. Rev. J. B. P. Wilmer, D.D., $10; Mrs. Richardson and Col. E. 
 
 Forsley, $20 ; A. P. Cleveland, $10 ; Dr. Watkins, $2 ; Mrs. W. F. Adams, 
 
 $10 — New Orleans, La 125 00 
 
 Mrs. E. N. Biddle, Philadelphia 30 00 
 
 The Rev. James Saul, " 100 oi 
 
 Mrs. S. O. Hoffman, New York 2500 
 
 Mr. E. H. Allen, Providence, R. 1 50 00 
 
 Mr. H. W. Nelson, Boston S 00 
 
 Reported by the Rev. W. C. Langdon, as remitted directly to him : 
 
 J. D. Wolfe, New York $200 
 
 Stewart Brown, " , 300 
 
 Mrs. C. S. Spencer 200 
 
 700 00 
 
 Total of special contributions $i,i7S 00 
 
SUPPLEMENT 
 
 TO THE REPORT OF THE 
 
 ITALIAN CHURCH REFORMATION COMMISSION.* 
 
 Florence, October 31, 1872. 
 The Revs. Albert Z. Gray and Charles R. Hale, Hovie Secretaries, etc. 
 Rev. and Dear Brethren, 
 
 After long delay — partly in consequence of my absence in Germany, and 
 partly because of duties more immediately pressing — I resume my letters, the 
 last of which was dated July 26th. 
 
 In continuing to inform the Commission of the state and progress of religious 
 affairs in Italy, let me, first of all, say frankly that I must abandon the attempt to 
 confine myself exclusively to Italy. To discuss an international question as if it 
 were purely local, — to treat of a general Catholic movement as though it had a 
 wholly isolated and independent life and histoiy in each several nation, or, at all 
 events, in Italy, — to watch and follow a European struggle as it surges around 
 me, now in one direction, now in another, and yet to speak only of what occurs 
 on this side of the Alps, — is an utter impossibility. I repeat, therefore, what I 
 have said before, — let no more be said (in spite of the name of our Commission) 
 of an " Italian Reform Movement." The expression now involves an anachron- 
 ism. We are in the midst of a wide-spreading, general European struggle 
 between the Catholic and the Papal or Ultramontane sections of the Latin 
 Churches of this continent. Let events take place where they may, on one side 
 of the Alps or on the other, in Germany, in Switzerland, or in Italy, they are all 
 none the less incidents a,nd parts of one and the same great revolution, — the same 
 great struggle between the past and the future of Latin Christendom. It is the 
 uprising of piety and learning, of patriotism and practical common-sense, repre- 
 sented by the universities and the laity, and, to some extent, by the lower clergy, 
 against the concentrated sacerdotalism of the Roman See and of its enslaved 
 episcopate. I will continue as best I may to inform the Commission of the part 
 which Italy is taking in this struggle, or of this struggle as it is felt in Italy. 
 
 The Old Catholic Congress at Cologne has been, of course, the event of this 
 Fall ; and it has served two purposes. It has given far more clearness, breadth, 
 
 * At a meeting of the Italian Church Reformation Commission, held in Trinity Chapel, 
 New York, October 30, 1872, the Home Secretaries were instructed to have some further 
 information as to the Reform Movement shortly expected from the Foreign Secretary, 
 with the letter addressed by the Rev. Mr. Langdon to the Rev. Prof. Dollinger in August 
 last (seepage 7), printed as a supplement to the Report of the Commission then in type. 
 The tollowmg changes should be noted in the list of members of the Commission : 
 Page 3 : add the names of The Rev. John Andrews Harris, Mr. Charles L. Cammann, 
 and Mr. Henry R. Mygatt. Mr. George R. Shoenberger, of Cincinnati, has recently 
 been appointed member of the Diocesan Committee for Ohio (see page 4). For The 
 Rev. W. R. Whittingham, D.D., page 23, read The Rt. Rev. "W. R. Whittingham, D.D. 
 
26 
 
 and solidity to the religious convictions and purposes of the Old Catholics ; and it 
 has definitely connected the future restoration of Christian unity with those prin- 
 ciples, and with the success of the movement itself. Heretofore critics on either 
 side have made much of the inconsistencies in the position of the Old Catholics, 
 forgetting, as it seemed to me, that a. transitional position is necessarily inconsist- 
 ent ; that the gradual and successive realization of inconsistencies, and the 
 gradual and successive elimination of these, when realized, are the very condi- 
 tions of a calm and gradual reform. Heretofore, also, the Vaticanists had been 
 left in almost unchallenged possession of their vaunt, that the dogma of Papal 
 Infallibility would restore the unity of Christendom, by bringing all recusants 
 into reverent submission to the Holy See. A most Catholic response has now 
 been given alike to these criticisms and to this vain boast ; and this is, in great 
 part, the value of the Cologne Congress to Italy. 
 
 Of that Congress itself, the Church has already heard informally from various 
 sources, and will, no doubt, in due time, hear more fully from the venerable 
 bishop who so truly represented her loving interest and unobtrusive Catholic 
 spirit among the noble reformers gathered there. It was my privilege to be for- 
 mally invited, quite as much on account of my relations with the liberal and 
 reforming Catholics of Italy, as in my capacity of an American clergyman. As 
 the time drew near, several of my Italian friends expressed to me the earnest 
 desire that I should attend, and convey to their German brethren the assurances 
 of their deep sympathy and anxious interest ; and, at the meeting on Thursday 
 evening for the reception of the foreign guests, when the inquiry was made whether 
 any Italian deputies were present, an opportunity was courteously offered me, of 
 which I very briefly availed myself, to discharge this commission. 
 
 In the Congress itself I took no part whatever, my own view being that the 
 opportunities afforded me in private conversation with the leaders of the move- 
 ment were far the most appropriate for any information I might be able to give 
 them concerning either the reformers in the Italian Church or the relations which 
 I had been privileged to hold with them. Upon these and cognate subjects I 
 had many opportunities of conference with individuals in Munich and Bonn, as 
 well as in Cologne, both before the Congress and during my return to Italy. 
 
 Of those Italians who were formally invited to the Congress, Count Mamiani 
 and Commendatore Bonghi wrote most cordial letters in reply, though neither 
 was able to attend. The latter explicitly stated, in the Perseveranza, that noth- 
 ing but the pressure of overwhelming duties prevented him from accepting the 
 invitation. He took great pains to procure full current information for the columns 
 of that journal, and he also published a summary account of the Congress in the 
 Nuova Antologia for October. Count Mamiani wrote a reply, which was read in 
 a German translation, and which M. de Pressense, in his admirable letters to the 
 Joiirnal des Debats, characterized as " tres-eloquente et toute penetree de 
 I'esprit de reforme." The Count has kindly furnished me with a copy of the 
 original, which will, I trust, be published in Italy, and to which I shall again 
 take occasion to refer. 
 
 All the principal Italian papers had daily telegraphic notices of the Congress 
 and of its doings ; but, with the exception of five letters in the Peiseveranza, 
 from its Cologne correspondent, and Commendatore Bonghi's article just referred 
 to, no account of the Congress has yet, so far as I am aware, been published in 
 Italy. Yet it was the subject of a very general interest here, and it has been 
 discussed, more or less widely, even in those papers which, as a general thing, 
 care least for religious topics ; and the effect is visible in the marked care with 
 which journals of all political opinions now reproduce, from German and other 
 sources, every item of current intelligence which bears upon the subject of the 
 Old Catholic movement. At least such is the fact of the papers which I take or 
 see, and I have no reason for supposing them at all exceptional in this respect. 
 
 A letter which I addressed to Dr. von Dollinger, in reference to the Congress, 
 just before the meeting, which has not been published in Italian, and which is, 
 therefore, known here only through the circulation of a small number of English 
 
27 
 
 copies, or from the comments of the German press, has also been very courte- 
 ously discussed in connection with the Congress and the Old Catholics. 
 
 For instance, the Ferseveratiza of September 22d contained a leading 
 article of four columns length upon the Congress, in which the principles of this 
 letter were cited and warmly endorsed. The Diritto — an influential and lead- 
 ing " organ of the Italian Democracy " — on the contrary, upon the 7th, 8th, and 
 9th of October, published three long articles upon the same subject, the second 
 of which was occupied almost entirely with a veiy fair and detailed analysis of 
 my letter, and the third with a confutation of its argi.mients and principles, the 
 writer urging that Christian reunion is neither practicable or desirable ; and that 
 religious reform is only to be sought in breaking wholly with Catholicism and 
 upon extreme Protestant principles. The articles are able, and I owe my antag- 
 onist sincere acknowledgments for his perfect fairness and extreme personal 
 courtesy. An article in the yoitrnal de Rome of October i8th, which, after 
 briefly, but most flatteringly, referring to my letter and to me, expresses the 
 belief that the Old Catholic movement in GeiTnany, with which the writer 
 admitted that he was imperfectly acquainted, " had become a political arm of 
 which Prussia was availing herself; a fact which singularly diminished its 
 importance." This article was preceded by a leader upon the " Religious Agita- 
 tion " of the times; and I immediately wrote a reply to them, which was pub- 
 lished upon the 23d. Again, a writer in the Naples Pungolo gives a tolerably 
 full resume of the proceedings of the Congress, referring rather sarcastically to 
 me as the Italian representative, and expressing a general disappointment and 
 dissatisfaction with what he regarded as its excessive consei'vatism. Of course, 
 other journals are equally ready to point out its Protestant tendencies. 
 
 These references sufficiently illustrate the general effect of the Cologne Con- 
 gress upon the Italian mind, so far as it has found expression in the press. I 
 should be glad to supplement them by a number of extracts from my private 
 correspondence, from the several letters I have received thanking me for the 
 witness that I had borne to Italian sympathy with the Gennan reformers, asking 
 fuller and more detailed information, or criticising, or expressing gratification at 
 the calm and slow deliberation of their course. But, as there is nothing like 
 ipsissinia verba, I will make two or three quotations. 
 
 A venerable cathedral dignitaiy writes me : " I have read with great pleasure 
 that, among others at the Congress, were present the most learned Bishop of 
 Lincoln, your own Bishop of Maryland, and our friend Lewis Hogg. And I 
 was very glad that you said that many Italians were also present in heart and 
 spirit." 
 
 An estimable parish priest writes me from Venetia : " I have experienced no 
 little satisfaction at hearing of your return among us, as also in the allusions you 
 make to the Cologne Congress, concerning which I know very little, from a few 
 lines accidentally met with in a journal wholly unconcerned with religious ques- 
 tions. Therefore, I should be rejoiced to know something more, especially 
 about the resolutions and practical conclusions ; about the so greatly desired 
 union of the confessions dissident from the Roman ; about the Old Catholics 
 themselves," etc. 
 
 Another, a Prevosto and prominent priest in a Lombard diocese, who, before 
 the Congress, had been very urgent that I should do eveiything in my power to 
 prevent the attendance of the Anglican bishops, now writes : " I am gratified 
 with the course taken by the Congress at Cologne, since I had feared that it 
 would determine upon the immediate consecration of a bishop and the constitu- 
 tion of a separate Church. I praise also the position taken by the English 
 bishop, whose presence, instead of pressing them on toward schism, was an en- 
 couragement to preserve the faith. ... I hope that the assembly has taken 
 measures to keep alive the question of the reunion of the separated Churches. 
 For myself, I say frankly that, after the Councils of Lyons and Florence, if they 
 were somewhat at fault in separating themselves, they have sufficiently atoned for 
 it by their desire for reconciliation; and,' if reconciliation has not taken place, it 
 
has been the fauk of Roman curialism. I consider them, after those two 
 Councils, as sister Churches of the Roman." 
 
 But enough of the Congress. There are other topics of which I must write, 
 and I will do this in another letter. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 Wm. Chauncy Langdon. 
 
 Florence, November 5, 1872. 
 The Revs. Albert Z. Gray and Charles R. Hale, Home Secretaries, etc. 
 Reverend and Dear Brethren, 
 
 Two articles have lately appeared in the Journal de Rome, under the heading, 
 " L' Agitation Religeuse," giving the first express recognition, with which I have 
 met in the press of Italy, of the true character and tendency of European politics. 
 These articles declare that " Europe is at this moment agitated by a religious 
 crisis, of which it is difficult to foresee the development, and still more the end, 
 since it is, as yet, scarce begun ; " that " it would not be at all surprising should 
 this positive age terminate with a religious war ; " that the point of departure of 
 this crisis is, on the one hand, the Council which has proclaimed the dogma of the 
 infallibility, and, on the other, the suppression of the temporal power ; " that 
 " Italy, although the centre of this conflict," is " the country where it is felt with 
 the least intensity, and where the passions are the least excited; " where, in fact, 
 " ideas of moderation, of good sense, and of liberty, seem to dominate more than 
 elsewhere;" but where " it is necessaiy also to recognize the fact that, as we 
 advance, the task of the men of moderation' and of good sense will become more 
 and more difiicult." 
 
 With some of the practical conclusions drawn by the writer from these pre- 
 mises I did not concur ; as they were partly addressed to me, and were connected 
 with his comments on my letter to Dr. von Dollinger, I took the liberty of urging 
 my dissent in an article which was promptly and very courteously published, and 
 which has since been quoted with approbation by at least two German papers. 
 But in the main positions taken by the JoMrtial de Rome, there was undoubtedly 
 much truth. 
 
 From the two points of departure named, proceed the two parallel, closely 
 connected, and yet distinct issues of this crisis. The one partakes more of a 
 political, the other of a religious nature. The one concerns the character, rights, 
 and privileges, and may ultimately involve the very existence itself of the 
 Papacy ; the other concerns the character and teachings of the Latin Church, and 
 may result in a Catholic reformation from within its fold. On the Ultramontane 
 side these are considered but as one issue, — the defenders of the temporal 
 Papacy, and the supporters of the Papal claims to infallibility, clerical and lay, are 
 everywhere the same, and everywhere bound together by a thoroughly recognized 
 unity of purpose. But on the liberal side, unfortunately, these are too often 
 regarded as wholly independent questions ; the one concerning statesmen and 
 governments, and the other concerning priests and devotees alone. Consequently, 
 while on the one side there is concentration, admirable organization, abundant 
 means, a clear perception of every community of interest which might secure an 
 alliance, on the other there is, so far, a great scattering of forces, isolation, and 
 uncertainty of purpose ; but they have with them, in all their weakness, progress, 
 truth, and God.* . . , 
 
 * From want of space we are compelled to leave out portions of this interesting letter. It 
 may be found in full in The Churchman for December 14, 1872. 
 
29 
 
 God has His own great purposes in view, and He will accomplish them, and 
 no human wisdom nor human instruments are necessary to Him ; but humanly 
 speaking, the future of Italy depends very gi-eatly upon the power of moderate 
 men to define clearly to themselves, in all its phases and bearings, the precise 
 nature of the position upon which they must entrench and fortify themselves 
 against the double assault which is, perhaps, coming upon them and their country. 
 They are able to do this, so far as depends upon political considerations, for the 
 Italians are shrewd, keen, far-sighted politicians, — in political genius unquestion- 
 ably superior to all other people now, as they have ever been. Besides, God has, 
 in His marvellous providence, so interwoven the plainest political interests of the 
 kingdom with the accomplishment of His own purposes for the Church, that a 
 result which no party aims at, nevertheless no party can prevent. Unless the 
 Papacy transforms itself, and voluntarily sweeps away the system of which it has 
 so long been and is now the embodiment ; and unless it renounces the lust ot 
 worldly dominion for the discharge of the spiritual trust of the ministry of Christ, 
 — unless the Papacy voluntarily does this, the nievitable necessities of self-preser- 
 vation will force Italy, step by step, to remove from her midst, and to relieve the 
 world of the spiritual, as she has already of the temporal. Papacy. Party politics 
 and diplomacy may hasten or retard the issue, — they can do no more. 
 
 Yes, they can do something more, and influential Italians can, individually, do 
 much more to determine what shall succeed — and true Catholic Christianity, with 
 all its blessings for society as well as for the rest of Christendom, or the cold and 
 mocking materialism of infidelity. . . . 
 
 But Italy, with all her mastery of the political elements, has not yet been 
 able to comprehend the religious elements of the problem before her, nor the 
 religious issues of a struggle in which the political and the religious issues cannot 
 be separated. Italian statesmen have not yet before them that clearly-defined 
 conception of true Catholicity which can alone furnish the key to their perplex- 
 ities. There is almost universally prevalent among educated men such a con- 
 temptuous indifference to religion, that few among them even suspect, what we 
 should regard so plain a truth, that without a careful study of its principles 
 they cannot comprehend the true character or the relations of a question which, 
 to so great an extent, turns upon those principles. 
 
 Nay, can even we, with all our interest in them, and all our self-satisfaction, ven- 
 ture to say that the principles of true Catholicity, in all their breadth and meaning, 
 have as yet been anywhere so clearly established that they can be assumed as 
 recognized standards of public policy ? I think not. This is the work of the 
 age in which we are living. This is the work upon which, in their several meas- 
 ures, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the forlorn hope of liberal Catholics in 
 France, are now engaged. It is Italy's present weakness, that here, where the 
 detennination of this great religious question of the age is of the greatest imme- 
 diate and practical importance, precisely here, there is the least interest in the 
 subject. 
 
 Nevertheless, out of the darkness of the past, guided by the political provi- 
 dence of God, Italy is slowly toiling toward the truths which shall make all plain. 
 Not a few of her worthiest ecclesiastics have advanced far toward them ; but the 
 separation between the clergy and the laity is too great, and few hearken to them ; 
 and they are left, each in his isolation, to be the victims of Ultramontane bigotry. 
 The great German movement is beginning to pour a flood of light upon the 
 subject ; and it has, I think, to a considerable extent at least, arrested attention 
 among thinking Italians. There is a greater readiness to look around over a 
 wider field for the materials of a judgment, and as they understand better and 
 better what our Church really is, what position she claims to occupy, and what 
 are her real relations to Christendom, and the principles to which she is a witness, 
 her practical illustration of those principles, and her practically Catholic spirit 
 will be allowed to have a weight with these practical Italian minds, which would 
 never be conceded either to theological speculations or to hostile interference and 
 dictation. 
 
30 
 
 And precisely this — to contribute, so far as may be in our power, to the solu- 
 tion of this great Catholic problem — is the sphere and opportunity of our work in 
 Europe, in Italy, to-day. The issue of this Papal question concerns us deeply 
 as a Church ; and a people who were so ready to recognize the political rights of 
 other nations, in their conduct toward the temporal Papacy, will not refuse to 
 recognize the rights of other Catholic Churches to interest themselves in their 
 ecclesiastical policy. If we, patient and courteously, wait until alike the 
 grounds and the spirit of our mission here are generally understood, as they 
 are already by not a few, we shall be able, I doubt not, to contribute no 
 inconsiderable aid toward the growth of that truly Catholic conception of the 
 Church which will solve, at last, Italy's most perplexing and most dangerous 
 politico-ecclesiastical problems ; and in that solution complete the boon which, 
 in the suppression of the temporal Papacy, she began to confer upon Christendom. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 Wm. Chauncy Langdon. 
 
 Florence, November 9, 1872. 
 The Revs. Albert Z. Gray and Charles R. Hale, Hotne Secretaries, etc. 
 Rev. and Dear Brethren, 
 
 My last letter brought me back to the immediate purpose of my writing, — that 
 of reporting upon the current progress and development of Italy's great contest with 
 the Papal system. It was a long episode, but, I believe, a necessary one ; and it 
 will, I hope, make more plain the bearing of future events as they occur. 
 
 If there is a newspaper in Italy whose directors comprehend the religious 
 aspects of this contest, it is the Perseveranza, of Milan, whose editor-in-chief, 
 you remember, is Commendatore Bonghi. There are other papers animated by a 
 thoroughly sound intention, — papers which are equally removed from the fanati- 
 cism which accepts as dejide all that the Vatican teaches, and from that which 
 rejects indiscriminately the Church, its authorities, and its faith, all taken 
 together, if not even Christianity itself; but it is rare to find any that have clear 
 and positively defined religious or ecclesiastical grounds for so doing. The Per- 
 severanza, combating at the same time the Ultramontanism of the Jesuit organ at 
 Turin, and the radical onslaught of a leading Neapolitan publicist, could thus 
 clearly point out the real identity of their position : " The scoricc, which the 
 passions and the prejudices of the clergy have added to the pure metal of the 
 faith, are for Signor Settembrini and for the Unitd Cattolica alike the faith itself." 
 Identifying the scoriae and the pure metal of the faith, the Unitd Cattolica regards 
 it all as equally priceless ; identifying them in like manner on his part, Signor 
 Settembrini would regard all as equally -worthless ; but, clearly discriminating 
 between them, the Perseveranza would rejoice at the coming of some refining 
 power, capable of separating the pure metal from the scoriae, that the one may 
 be preserved, while the other is cast away; lest Italy, in her indignant reaction 
 from the impositions to which she has been subjected, reject all together. 
 
 I have found in this same journal, also, the most correct appreciation of the 
 relative position of our Church, as among the various Christian communions. It 
 is but a short time since learned ecclesiastics and cultivated laymen heard, with 
 surprise, that we paid any reverence, as a Church, to religious antiquity; that we 
 even pretended to an episcopate, or recognized the great early creeds ; or, indeed, 
 that we were any otherwise to be considered than as one of a hundred rational- 
 istic sects, which, from time to time, had broken off from the Catholic Church, to 
 devise a new faith of their own. Surely, we are not so unknown or despised as 
 we once were, when such a paragraph can be found as this, which I translate 
 from the Perseveranza^ s editorial, on the then approaching Congress of Cologne : 
 
31 
 
 " Christendom, if attentively considered — although it has been divided and 
 redivided among so many sects — is, nevertheless, found to admit this principal 
 division : on the one part stand the Latin, the Greek, and the Anglican ; on the 
 other, all the other beliefs and opinions which take the name and assume the title 
 of Christian. The great dividing wall between the first three and all the others 
 is this, — that the first three claim to have a doctrine derived from the cardinal 
 books of Christianity, and preserved by an ecclesiastical organization, whose 
 origin reaches back even to Christ himself. All the others, on the contrary, how- 
 ever they may claim to reproduce in themselves, more or less, the primitive 
 Church, agree in being, in their present form, an innovation, sprung up in some 
 one of the eighteen centuries that Christianity has thus far lived ; and they subject 
 its fundamental doctrines to a criterion of interpretation and of jiianipulation, 
 wholly rational and human, which, at will, alters them, reduces them, dilutes them ; 
 and some have little less than melted away altogether." 
 
 I will not go so far as to assert that this can be taken as a fair illustration of 
 the light in which our Church is now generally regarded among educated Italians, 
 even among those interested in such subjects ; but I will say, that such language 
 is veiy far from being as strange now as it would have been, in such a paper, five 
 or six years since; and, also, that such a discriminating judgment of our Church 
 cannot have appeared in a leader of the Ferseveraftza, without its effect upon the 
 liberal press and the thinking classes of Italy. To this change I think I may 
 fairly claim that my own contributions to the Italian press — my efforts to bring 
 under their consideration the writings of some of our ablest bishops, and the 
 utterance of our Church in reference to the great movements of the age — and my 
 personal intercourse and correspondence with Italian publicists, have, more or less, 
 contributed ; doubtless, much more indirectly than directly. It is something to 
 have the opportunity, if no more, of simply provoking the desire to seek informa- 
 tion upon a subject, concerning which Italians have generally been as indifferent 
 as ignorant. 
 
 Indeed, the paragraph just quoted is the more gratifying at this time, inasmuch 
 as it is to laymen and to public men that we must look for the most active 
 participation in this religious and ecclesiastical contest between Italy and the 
 Papacy, — certainly for the present. The Law of the Papal Guarantees has effec- 
 tually crushed the liberal clergy, and, until some modification in their legal 
 position, or some great change in the ecclesiastical policy of the Government, 
 their way is barred. This I took pains to explain fully in my last report, last June. 
 The Papal authorities have not neglected the power and opportunity furnished 
 them by parliament, to put down all reforming views with a stern hand ; nor do 
 they omit to be detailed and explicit. On the loth of October, a formal Decree of 
 the Congregation of the Index was affixed to the doors of certain Roman 
 churches, prohibiting, condemning, and anathematizing, by name, twenty-one 
 specific works of recent publication, of which fourteen were German (Old 
 Catholic, of coui-se), one Latin, one French, and five Italian. Of the latter, the 
 principal were the Rinnovamento Caitolico, and an ecclesiastical treatise by 
 Professor Cassani, the director of that periodical. Another, who has written 
 vigorously and often upon these subjects, finds himself obliged to choose between 
 submission and such an expulsion from his post and from the Church as will 
 utterly deprive him, at once, of his means of living and of all influence. His 
 only mode of communicating with the public will therefore be, as he and others 
 have not unfrequently done heretofore, to entrust their manuscript, in confidence, 
 to me for publication. 
 
 The Italian clergy will, evidently, be compelled to wait until the results of the 
 German movement, and the progress of political events, open the way for them 
 once more. And perhaps they may not have long to wait. As one of them 
 lately wrote me : " Our times are not to be measured by the history and with the 
 metre of past ages ; to-day everything hurries forward ; ten years now is what a 
 century was once." 
 
 The ministry are pledged to present to the coming parliament the long 
 
32 
 
 deferred law for suppressing the religious corporations in the province and city of 
 Rome ; and it is notorious that they cannot agree among themselves as to what 
 that law should be. The interests of Italy, and the popular demands, cannot be 
 reconciled with what some regard as judicious concessions to Franco-Papal 
 irritability. Indeed, it might well puzzle any ministry to apply the ecclesiastical 
 laws of Italy to Rome, in the face of the Law of the Papal Guarantees. The 
 general dissatisfaction with the ecclesiastical policy of the present government is 
 veiy manifest ; the Opposition has had the tact to make themselves, as a party, the 
 representatives of the wide-spread impatience, and have announced that, at the 
 opening of parliament, the ministry are to be interpolated upon the subject, and 
 a ministerial crisis, apropos to ecclesiastical questions, is, therefore, veiy probal^le. 
 I am sorry to say that I fear a reaction from too much deference to the Papacy, to 
 too little respect for religion of any kind. 
 
 A ray of promise, however, comes to us amid this gloom. It may be remem- 
 bered by some, that Article XVIII. of the Guarantee Law left it for future legisla- 
 tion to determine what should be done with the sacred edifices, and other 
 property of the Church, of which the State then renounced all control ; and 
 there always remained, therefore, the power of remedying much of the evil of 
 that law by a wise disposition of this Church property. A commission appointed 
 ad hoc, and consisting of Deputies Mauri, Bonghi, and De Filippo, published, 
 about a month ago, the project of law which they propose to report to parliament; 
 and, should such a project become a law, it may, and no doubt will, sooner or 
 later, lay the foundations of such a lay power in the Church, and offer to the 
 better clergy such possibilities of lay support, as will be a blessing indeed for the 
 Church, to say nothing of the state of Italy. 
 
 The principal provisions of this project are : The creation of diocesan and 
 parochial " deputations," the one of seven, and the other of five or three mem- 
 bers, according to the size of the parish. Of these " deputations," the bishop 
 and the parish priest, respectively, are to be ex officio members, the other 
 members of either being clergy and laymen, the former elected by the clergy 
 whose rights they represent, and the latter by the provincial and communal 
 councils from " among the Catholic citizens most noted for their probity and 
 intelligence." In the parochial deputations the laity will always have the 
 majority ; in the diocesan, they would need but the concurrence of a single 
 clerical member to secure the same control. Into the hands of these deputations, 
 finally, is to be committed, in ti'zist, the entire property of the Church. Such a 
 project is, of course, capable of being greatly improved or in great part nullified, 
 not only by amendment, but by the minor regulations which may be annexed to 
 it ; but, as it stands, it is the promise of a most beneficial measure ; and its 
 discussion in parliament will be most interesting, and will throw not a little new 
 light upon these obscure and perplexing ecclesiastical questions. 
 
 Much more lately, Switzerland has given Italy some excellent suggestions 
 for improving even upon this project. The Council of State of Geneva has 
 announced the measures which it intends to propose to the authorities of the 
 Canton, as required by the conditions of their contest with the Roman Curia, in 
 the affair of Bishop Mermillod. These propositions include the election of the 
 parish priests by their i-espective parishioners. It is to be hoped that the proposed 
 measure will be adopted in Switzerland, and that the example will not be lost 
 upon Italy. Humanly speaking, her only hope of escape from her ecclesiastical 
 embarrassments is in raising up an intelligent and religious lay power in the 
 Church, which can and will support the better disposed and most loyal of the 
 clergy against episcopal and curial despotism. Speriaino ! 
 
 Parliament is summoned to meet upon the 20th of this month. We shall, 
 therefore, know more of the probable course of events before very long. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 Wm. Chauncy Langdon. 
 
33 
 
 The Restoration of Christian Unity and the approaching Alt-Cath- 
 olic Congress at Cologne. A letter addressed to the Rev. Dr. Dollinger 
 by the Rev. Williatn Chatmcy Langdon. 
 
 ''To the Rev. Prof. J. J. Ignatms Dollinger, S.T.D., D.C.L., etc., Munich. 
 
 " Reverend and Venerated Sir, 
 
 In a late course of lectures, you have solemnly proposed to the Christian 
 world the problem of the restoration of Christian unity. You have done this, 
 moreover, it is my conviction, at a time when the same Holy Spirit, who has 
 thus made you His instrument in summoning the Churches to enter upon the 
 solution of this sacred problem, has also prepared them to give to your words a 
 hearing and a response for which they have not earlier been ready. Though 
 partial tentatives have indeed been made heretofore, as you have yourself re- 
 minded us, yet never before, since divisions began to multiply in Christendom, 
 has such reunion been really within the reach of sober hopefulness. The Alt- 
 Catholic movement, the growth of a Catholic reform party within the bosom of 
 the Roman Catholic Church, has now at last made it possible to take a practical 
 step, at least ?« the direction of reunion ; and this first step once taken in the 
 fear of God, He who has put this within our power will assuredly reveal to His 
 Church the next. 
 
 " The precise nature of this first step to be thus taken, of the first measures to 
 be thus adopted, will no doubt depend, not so much upon the genius and convic- 
 tions of any one man whom all are prepared to follow, as upon the commingling of 
 many convictions, the interchange of many diverse and even conflicting views, 
 the struggle of antagonistic aims and purposes, and the gradual elimination, un- 
 der the guidance of the one great common aim, and of the Holy Spirit of God, 
 of all that is erroneous or inconsistent with the realization of that end. From the 
 very nature of the case it could not be otherwise. Under these circumstances, 
 it seems to me the duty of every one who is brought, by the providence of God, 
 into special contact with this blessed work, from whatever direction, to cast into 
 the common treasury of thought, from which this great restoration is to be carried 
 on, whatever offering God may have put within his power, trusting that He will 
 accept and bless it in its measure. 
 
 " The glowing words of that faithful Christian orator, the Pere Hyacinthe, 
 have already warmed our hearts anew with something of his own pure and child- 
 like trust ; the able pamphlet of the Abbe Michaud, 'Programme de Refortne 
 de r Eglise a' Occident^ has already set a good example by entering formally upon 
 this discussion ; and, more lately still, a pamphlet, by a Russian layman, which I 
 have not had the good fortune to read in the original, but of which I have seen 
 an English analysis, discusses the policy which their own principles logically dic- 
 tate to the Alt-Catholics. The writer regards them as shut up to immediate re- 
 union with, or rather, perhaps, absorption in, the Oriental Orthodox Church; a 
 conclusion with which the late vicar of the Madeleine seems also in principle to 
 concur. 
 
 " The courteous reference to the Anglican Churches made in the programme 
 adopted by the Munich Congress ; and, still more, the very cordial invitations 
 which have been extended to three eminent prelates, and to other members of 
 those Churches, to assist at the approaching Congress at Cologne, are evidence, if 
 the spirit of your whole course had left any need for other proof, that you are by 
 no means disposed to regard them as excluded from the discussion of these ques- 
 tions. And the kind reception given to a letter which I took the liberty of ad- 
 dressing to you a year ago, and which was, I believe, instrumental, in some de- 
 gree, in removing misunderstandings between yourselves and us, encourages me 
 to address you again upon the subject now before the Church. However devoid 
 of novelty in themselves the views may be which I here venture to submit to the 
 consideration of Alt-Catholics, yet so little are we known to you as yet, it may 
 be something new that such views should come from an Anglican source ; and if 
 they thus serve but the purpose of a single link between us, provisionally useful 
 
until stronger ties be knit, this intrusion upon public attention and your own, will, 
 I trust, be deemed justified. 
 
 " There are two ways of seeking reunion : 
 
 " The first is that each several Christian communion should come forward, in 
 the person of some devoted champion, with the proofs that his Church most faith- 
 fully represents the great Catholic ideal of the Church of Christ ; and that, there- 
 fore. Christian unity should be sought, not only on the part of the Alt-Catholics, 
 but on that of all others differing from her, in a frank and full conformity with 
 her, acceptance of her principles, and entrance into her communion. This is the 
 old way ; this is the old theory of Christian unity upon which Rome has acted 
 ever since division first began. There has been no time for the last thousand 
 years in which reunion could not have been attained by Christendom, could all 
 others be but induced to submit to and be absorbed by her ; and doubtless neither 
 Oriental nor Anglican nor Protestant Churches have ever lacked those ready to 
 better Rome's example, and prove that she had ever erred, not in the principle it- 
 self so much as in its application. The pamphlet of the ' Russian layman,' al- 
 ready referred to, proceeds upon this veiy principle; and did the Anglican 
 Churches agree with him as to the mode by which reunion was to be sought, 
 neither that of England nor that of America would be at any loss for able trea- 
 tises bequeathed her by the past, or for living divines ready to write new ones, if 
 these were not enough, in demonstration that the Christian world has no hope for 
 unity, and, of course, the Alt-Catholics no refuge now, save in conformity to the 
 Anglican type of Catholicity. Shall we, then, gather at Cologne, from the east 
 and from the west, from the north and from the south, to renew this strife of cen- 
 turies ? Shall the learning of Moscow be pitted against that of Lincoln, and the 
 logic of the New World against that of the Old ? Nay, upon what grounds could 
 either Geneva or the Vatican itself be excluded from such a discussion? Is 
 Christian reunion to be sought in this manner, or has the Holy Spirit at length re- 
 vealed to us a more excellent way ? 
 
 " That other way would seem to be the searching for the great underlying 
 cause and principle of division, and removing that. No one better than yourself 
 can judge how far I am correct in feeling that deep beneath all differences in 
 doctrine, all the strife of ecclesiastical ambition, all the mixed motives which have 
 swayed men and communities, has ever lain the one great primal error, the one 
 great primal wrong which is, in the last analysis, the cause of all the divisions in 
 Christendom, — the attempt to suppress the natural manifestation, the inevitable de- 
 velopment, of different types of the Christian character. If there is any truth 
 which physical science has impressed upon us, it is the wondrous unity in more 
 wonderful variety which the Maker has preserved in all His works. But Chris- 
 tendom has scarcely learned, as yet, that the same law obtains in the spiritual 
 world; that different types of religious feeling, different types of religious thought, 
 different types of religious life must exist there as well, more broadly marked as 
 between different races, or between different ages, or even between different so- 
 cial classes of the same race and age ; and in infinite variety of modifications as 
 between different individuals ; and that, therefore, the unity of the Church of 
 Christ is to be sought, not in the conformity of all others to any one single type, 
 but in that harmonious combination of them all which science teaches us is per- 
 fectly consistent with the most faithful allegiance to all really fundamental relig- 
 ious principles. And has it not, then, been the blind, narrow-minded, forcible 
 violation of this law of Christian unity which has been the cause of all our di- 
 visions ? 
 
 " What is the dogma of the personal infallibility of the Pope, but the logical 
 maturity of this great fallacy of ages ? And in what, let me add, does this dogma 
 differ, save only in localization, from the common principle which has been 
 practically held and implicitly acted upon in eveiy branch of Christendom ? The 
 Oriental Church has had, and I fear still has, just as firm a faith in her infallibility 
 as the Latin Church has in hers; and the disciple of Geneva just as firm a faith 
 in the infallibility of the logic of John Calvin as the disciple of Loyola in that 
 
35 
 
 of the utterances of Pius IX. The Vatican has, after all, in this, not so much dif- 
 fered from, as been bolder than, the other Churches. Rome has formulated her 
 claim to infallibility; they have not formulated theirs; but it will make little 
 difference in its practical i^esults if all act on the assumption of their several 
 claims. Nor, in my conviction, will any end be attained, beyond the stirring up 
 of strife anew, if the principle of infallibility be saved, and the question be per- 
 mitted to extend itself only to the determination of its locality ; the question, that 
 is, whether the infallibility which you, who have renounced your own, are to ac- 
 cept as better founded than that of the Vatican, be it that of Moscow or of Can- 
 terbury, of Utrecht or Wittemberg. 
 
 " No, none can meet you, nor can any profitably enter with you into a dis- 
 cussion of the terms of Christian reunion, who do not, like yourselves, come with 
 their protest in their hand against all claims, formulated or not, explicit or implicit, 
 to the infallibility of any separate part or portion of divided Christendom. Un- 
 less we can meet upon the assumption that our several Churches jnay, each and 
 either of them, have erred in so7ne respects, and may be in sortie particulars occu- 
 pying a partial and one-sided, rather than a truly Catholic position ; that each and 
 either of those communions from which we are separate, and of which we are 
 probably far more ignorant than we are aware, may have in trust precious truths 
 which it may profitably learn from others, and may offer precious examples which 
 it may profitably follow; nay, that, abstractly considered, it is more than proba- 
 ble that such it the case, — unless we can meet in this spirit, we had better not 
 meet at all. 
 
 " I have spoken of the divisions of Christendom as resulting from the con- 
 flict of distinctive types of Christianity, for whose harmonious development due 
 provision was not permitted in the Church. But even in these divisions, per- 
 haps we may hereafter be able to look back and see that good has been brought 
 out of evil, by what I reverently call the Divine distribution of spiritual labor. 
 To one race, the Greek or Eastern — which was best fitted for it by its peculiar 
 genius — was assigned the cultivation of the theological ; to another, the Latin, the 
 development of the organic and practical ; to a third, the Teutonic, the preser- 
 vation of the spiritual elements of Christianity. Each was permitted to lay un- 
 due, or, at all events, disproportionate emphasis upon one, to the comparative 
 neglect of the complementaiy elements ; and, under the influence of these diverg- 
 ing tendencies, to separate ; until, one after another, all had fulfilled their several 
 and successive functions in the religious training of the world, and the time should 
 come which should restore the unity of the Church, and make her at once Ortho- 
 dox, Catholic, and Evangelical. 
 
 " At all events, the present great classifications of Christendom are very like 
 the results of such a distribution of functions in the past ; and the strength and 
 weaknesses which severally distinguish what may be generically termed Oriental, 
 Latin, and Teutonic Christianity, are such as ought to impress us deeply, on 
 every side, with the profoundest sense of our need of each other, before the Church 
 can bring the world — heart and mind and life alike — into subjection to the Cross 
 of Christ. 
 
 "Cr?V«/ff/ Christianity, however it mayor may not have actually remained 
 faithful to the theological teachings of the early Church, is assuredly firm in the 
 intention and belief that it has done so. It is, in spirit, the very embodiment of 
 historic conservatism ; but it has remained for ages, as theology indeed should re- 
 main, but as the Church in other respects should not, impassive, unprogressive. 
 It has, I believe, brought all classes of her children within the influence of her 
 training as no other Church has done ; and it is now to Christendom, and would 
 be more and more, if its influence could reach but further amid the great and 
 rapid changes of Western thought and life, a precious element of repose, of 
 strength, and of unchangeableness ; but it is not distinguished for piety, for a 
 missionary spirit, or for active Christian work in the world. These it must, in 
 turn, learn from the West. 
 
 ^^ Latin Christianity alone is not confined to any single race, or to any geograph- 
 
36 
 
 ical limits ; the Latin Church alone has any pretensions to be considered cecumeni- 
 cal. By virtue of its broad, catholic spirit, by virtue of the Latin genius for organi- 
 zation and discipline, it has risen to empire, proclaimed the Church's universality as 
 opposed to all merely local or national organizations, and vindicated the great 
 principle which Oriental Christianity had placed in jeopardy, that the laws of God 
 are independent of those of man, and far above them. The Latin Church has 
 been the aggressive power of Christendom, whose missionaiy energies none ever 
 rivalled ; and her clergy, take them as a class, are most self-sacrificing and labo- 
 rious. But these great elements of religious power have been abused and cor- 
 rupted in her hands ; and the gigantic ecclesiastical despotism of Rome which 
 has resulted, has reduced the Churches of her communion to spiritual slaveiy ; it 
 has sacrificed its moral power to a lust for worldly domination ; it has sought to 
 place the Church's merely temporal interests, and the dicta of ecclesiastical au- 
 thority, upon an equal footing with the divine law in its relations with the civil 
 authority ; it has almost crushed out the spirituality of religion, and an intelligent, 
 manly faith in revealed Christianity, and replaced them by a coml^ination of a 
 cold materialism and a mechanical outward conformity ; it has alienated the edu- 
 cated and thinking classes, while it has sunk the ignorant into a debased super- 
 stition. I, for one, do not hesitate to admit myself a debtor to the Church of 
 Rome, during my five years' residence in Italy, for instruction in great truths, 
 which, with all her offences against religious freedom, morality, and doctrinal 
 purity, she unquestionably yet holds in trust for a reunited Christendom ; but it is 
 no less true that Latin Christianity needs to learn once more from the East and 
 from the North — from Oriental and from Teutonic Christianity — truths as impor- 
 tant, nay, as we think, far more so, of which it has, as a Church, almost ceased 
 even to feel the value. 
 
 " Teictoiiic Christianity, finally, has best preserved and cherished that religious 
 life of the heart, that deep-seated spirituality that makes of religious truth not a 
 mere outward law, but an inner governing principle; and which sanctifies a sound, 
 and, perhaps, atones for an unsound theology. Its hold upon the intellectual and 
 cultured laity is unquestionably greater than that of any other type of Christianity ; 
 its general standard of morality is far superior. It has developed the religious 
 energies of individuals, and the devotedness of unobtrusive individual charity, 
 to a degree which is little suspected by other communions, and indeed can be 
 fully known to God alone. Its faith is an intelligent faith resting on the assured 
 convictions of the reason, and it is strong in its victory on a hundred battle-fields, 
 where it has met and repulsed every assault of every form of infidelity. Its free, 
 unfettered spirit has thrown itself forward into the solution of all the new relig- 
 ious and ecclesiastical questions which the progress of science and of religious 
 histoiy is propounding to the world. But all this has been secured, to a very 
 great extent, at the sacrifice of a due regard for the great principles of early Chris- 
 tian theology, and for the outward and visible organization of the Church of 
 Christ. Its free spirit has often degenerated into license of religious thought and 
 speculation ; and here, therefore, we find divisions unknown elsewhere, and 
 large sections subdivided into jarring sects without number, each with its own 
 newly wrought-out creed, and each with its own special theories of ecclesiasti- 
 cal government, — waging an internecine warfare which is a stumbling-block to 
 the heathen, and a scandal in the eyes of the irreligious and scoffers around us. 
 
 " In fine, to the Orthodox Churchman, the essence of Christianity consists in 
 being scrupulously sound in his creed ; to the Roinan Catholic, in his faithful 
 adherence to his Church, and to its centre of unity at Rome ; to the Christian of 
 the Teutonic type, it consists in the state of the heart before God. 
 
 " That these types have largely intemiingled, that there have been exceptional 
 periods in the history of each race, and exceptional sections in each Church, is 
 no more than we should expect. Nor are these ecclesiastical boundaries by 
 any means coincident with the ethnological boundaries from which they are, 
 on the whole, derived. Especially it is true that the Latin type of Christianity, 
 as in the case of Latin civilization before it, once wholly included the Teutonic 
 
37 
 
 Churches, and it still largely extends itself among the various nations of the 
 Teutonic stock ; in some occupying the ground almost exclusively, and in others 
 vigorously contending with other dominant communions. Nor are the influence 
 of its genius, and the value of the principles of which it seems to have been the 
 peculiar defender, unfelt even by those who refuse to acknowledge its supremacy. 
 "While in the violence of its protest against the evils into which Latin Christianity 
 had fallen a large portion of Teutonic Christendom broke away into what we 
 should agree in regarding as the opposite extremes of Protestant disorganization 
 and theological instability, the Church of England — the Church, in fact, of that 
 people in whom the Latin race was most largely grafted upon the Teutonic stock — 
 made the effort at least to pursue a more sober and a more Catholic course ; to 
 refuse submission to Papal supremacy, and to reform herself from the corruptions 
 which had crept into the Western Church, without separating from the Church 
 itself, or even from the communion of the Roman See. How far she was faithful 
 to this programme, and how far she may, in your opinion, have departed from it, 
 are questions upon which I will not enter here. Sufficient for my present design 
 that such was her purpose then, and that it is the firm and conscientious conviction 
 of her ablest divines and most devoted children now, that she was guided by the 
 Holy Spirit to be substantially faithful to this purpose, and that, if practical sepa- 
 ration from the rest of the Western Church resulted, as in the parallel case of the 
 Church of Utrecht afterward, it was not her desire, nor, as we humbly believe and 
 trust, her fault. The Church of England, in fact, anticipated your present 
 protest, and claims to be the ' Old Catholic Church ' of that ancient realm. The 
 characteristics and this claim of the Church of England, as she thus reformed 
 herself, are, in all save in respect to her relations with the State, substantially 
 those of her daughter Church of America, and of the other Anglican Churches 
 scattered now throughout the world. 
 
 " If there be any truth or force in this analysis of the ecclesiastical history of 
 the past and of the present relations of the several divided parts of ^Christendom, 
 there are some conclusions immediately resulting which cannot safely be neg- 
 lected by any of those, on whatever side, who would contribute toward the resto- 
 ration of a true and stable unity between them. 
 
 " Firstly. That such a reunion of Christendom can be fully attained only when 
 these three diverse types of Christianity can all meet once more, each coming 
 from its own diverse direction and with its diverse characteristics ; and that it 
 cannot, therefore, be even inaugurated successfully by the independent action of 
 any one of these, but only by mutual conference between the representatives of 
 them all. 
 
 -T^ " Secondly. That such representatives should approach each other, not, on the 
 one hand, with the aim, or even the desire, to subject the other Churches to their 
 own; nor yet, on the other hand, to renounce their own specific type of 
 Christianity, but to confess the respective extremes to which their respective 
 Churches have, in their separation, severally tended, — indeed, the grave errors into 
 which they have severally fallen ; and willing and prepared to learn of each 
 other how to remedy that which is wanting on either part, while they communi- 
 cate, each to the other, whatever elements of real truth or strength may be more 
 especially their own. 
 
 " Thirdly. It follows, as a corollaiy of this, that the unity to be sought for 
 the future is not such an uniformity as should aim at the suppression of all such 
 typal differences in the Church, or which should attempt to compound them into 
 one. This would be to repeat the fatal error of the past, and but to clear the 
 ground for new divisions. We shall all need to bear in mind, as the Bishop of 
 Lichfield so well expressed it, in a late message to the American Church, « that 
 independence is not disunion ; ' that the bond of mutual interference is not 
 necessaxy to that of mutual intercommunion ; and, above all, that a real Christian 
 unity does not require, nay, will not permit, consistently with its preservation (as 
 Rome is now learning to her cost), any attempt at an enforced uniformity. A 
 frank recognition of the diversity which must of necessity exist between different 
 
38 
 
 types of Christianity, and the provision for their harmonious development and 
 mutual infltunce over each otJiej-, as the only proper means of restraining such 
 development within due limits, this is the condition of future Christian unity. 
 
 "Fourthly. That as it cannot be expected that such views would prevail 
 generally and simultaneously in all parts of Christendom at once, so the 
 approaches to such reunion must be gradual, beginning with those, on either side, 
 whom circumstances have enabled to understand and to appreciate each other 
 best, and who are most free to act in the premises. The German Alt-Catholics 
 and the Church of Utrecht belong ecclesiastically to Latin Christianity, but to the 
 Teutonic race ; the Anglican Churches belong ecclesiastically to the Teutonic 
 type, but to that portion of the Teutonic race which has the largest mixture of 
 the Latin (and this is especially true of the American people, who are a far more 
 mixed race than the English), and, as Churches, they have a close organic 
 likeness to the earlier Latin Churches. These bodies, as representatives of the 
 two great divisions of IVestern Christendom, are clearly those who might be 
 expected first to recognize the possibility of restoring Christian unity once more, 
 and the first to set themselves to labor to such an end. To what extent there 
 exists similar elements in the Greek or in the Armenian Church, until so lately 
 connected more closely than most other Eastern Churches with the West, I am 
 not sufficiently informed to say. You, reverend sir, can better tell than I. 
 
 "As the various sections of Christendom now stand toward each other, 
 therefore, I can but feel convinced that the Church of Utrecht and the German 
 Alt-Calholics, together with and strengthened ])y every element which they can 
 draw to their side, from France, from Spain, and especially from Italy, on the 
 one side, and the sister Churches of England and America on the other ; of 
 course, in joint cooperation with similar representatives from the East, if any 
 there be ready to unite with them in such a work and upon such principles, — 
 that these are they who can and who ought now to enter soberly and in the fear 
 of God, and humbly invoking the guidance of the Holy Spirit upon the examina- 
 tion of their relations to each other, for the purpose of detennining if some first 
 step toward the restoration of Christian unity cannot now be taken, some loving 
 invitation be addressed by them to their Christian brethren on either side. 
 
 " From all that I have thus ventured most respectfully to urge, it follows that 
 the present possibility of the restoration of Christian unity is consequent upon the 
 fact that in the Alt-Catholics, or Catholic reformers of the Roman Catholic 
 Churches, as well as in the Church of Utrecht — if I am right in thus including this 
 Church with you — Latin Christianity finds representatives willing to meet, for 
 this purpose, with those from whom they have been so long estranged. And not 
 only so, but that, therefore, the issue of the Alt-Catholic hopes of being instru- 
 mental in this sacred result will depend, absolutely and unconditionally , upon 
 their power as a body to retain their present representative position. 
 
 " This conviction is my ground of apology for intruding upon the discussion 
 of a question with which otherwise I should have, at this stage of affairs, no 
 concern. But if it be well founded, not only I, but every one that looks longingly 
 forward to the restored unity of the Churches, has a personal interest in all that 
 can affect the desired fruition of these hopes. And I repeat my conviction, that 
 the future usefulness of the Alt-Catholic representatives of Latin Christianity 
 depends upon their retaining their distinct individuality as such. Let them 
 perfect their organization, let them strengthen themselves for their work, as they 
 in their wisdom deem best; but let them not forget that to renounce formally 
 their place in the Roman Catholic Church, and to accept that separation into 
 which the present authorities of the Church are only anxious to drive them, 
 would be, not merely to free themselves from those authorities, but also to sunder 
 the ties between themselves and those who are with them at heart, and who are 
 daily drawing nearer and nearer, although they have not as yet felt it right, or 
 been able, to identify themselves formally with this movement. This latter is a 
 most serious consideration. There are great numbers, as we all know, in every 
 part of the Latin Church, whose honest convictions are identical with yours. 
 
39 
 
 This latter is a most serious consideration. There are very many such, as I per- 
 sonally know, in Italy itself, in the very heart and centre of the Latin Church ; 
 ecclesiastics of learning, of position, and of personal worth, laymen of rank and 
 influence, who might have been actively cooperating with you now, but for the 
 policy of a government which has not realized their moral value to itself; which, 
 indeed, ignores the veiy existence of their allies, and delivers them into the abso- 
 lute control of their common enemy, the Roman Curia. There are bishops, 
 fathers in the Church, who, in the secret of their hearts, feel that their proper 
 place is at your head, and leading in the van of your movement to-day; and some 
 of whom, I cannot doubt, as the difficulties of their present false position open 
 their eyes more and more, will yet have grace to take their stand with you. May 
 I venture respectfully to add that there are some, even of those whom you might 
 suppose most likely to urge your separation from your own Church and union with 
 themselves, who, on the contrary, sincerely hope, for the sake of the interests of 
 future Christian unity, that you will wait what, in His providence, the Lord God 
 will have yet to say to His faithful children, who still linger behind you in 
 submission to the despotism of the Roman See. There are mighty events yet to 
 come ; why anticipate their influence? You well know how many springs of 
 action are held in restraint on every side of you, to await the issue of those events. 
 Who shall say, for instance, what influences will flow from the contests that will 
 probably arise out of the next conclave to bring your yet comparatively feeble 
 numbers great increase of strength? 
 
 " This is why I, for one, regret the counsel of the Russian layman, and of 
 the Abbe Guettee, and why I regret to know that the views of the Abbe Michaud 
 incline so much in a similar direction. 
 
 "This is why I have no parallel counsel to offer the Alt Catholics on behalf 
 of my own Church. I speak, of course, upon my own personal responsibility, 
 and I have no authority to speak for any one else whatever, much less for my 
 Church ; but, so far as I know, I speak but the common feeling of all, whether 
 among English or American divines, who have given special attention to this 
 subject. By formal union with either the Oriental or the Anglican Churches, 
 you would, of course, gratify the self-appreciation of the one or of the other; you 
 would strengthen them for future controversy; you would, doubtless, provide for 
 many of your own ecclesiastical as well as material necessities ; but pardon me 
 for saying frankly, that it seems to me you would fall far short of the spiritual 
 grandeur of your present position, and of your future capabilities for good ; and 
 that you would greatly mar your power to contribute to the restoration of Christian 
 unity. 
 
 " This is why, moreover, I deeply regret that there should have arisen any 
 question relative to the catholicity of the purpose of the German Alt-Catholics. 
 That there are those among them who prefer to regard their movement as purely 
 national, and who are disposed to aim at the organization of an independent 
 German Reformed Catholic Church, rather than at the reformation of their whole 
 communion, is evident. That the knowledge of this tendency, and the fear lest 
 it might prove the dominating one among you, has done much to check the 
 sympathy, and even something to deprive you of the cooperation of your foreign 
 coreligionists, there is no doubt. An able and, upon the whole, appreciative 
 article, contributed by Deputy Bonghi to the Florence Nuova Antologia for 
 October last, is a striking illustration of the truth of my assertion as respects the 
 Catholic reformers of the Church of Italy. 
 
 " These times are, indeed, exciting, and events press upon us with a close and 
 rapid tread, and all our hearts are warmed by the hopes which they enkindle. 
 But all those who are pemiitted to take part in the religious changes of this 
 generation have in charge a work too sacred to be imperilled by impetuosity. 
 Their steps must needs be patient and gradual. One, the most difficult of all, 
 has been taken already ; for never before, since divisions began in the Church, 
 have bishops and leading divines of such widely separate communions been 
 invited to meet for such a purpose as will, perhaps, soon bring Greek and Angli- 
 
40 
 
 can, Dutch and Annenian, to confer with German, French, Austrian, Italian, 
 and other Alt-Catholics at Cologne. We have learned to recognize our need of 
 each other, thus far at least ; more formal recognition, and on a wider scale, will 
 follow next ; recognized relations afterward, and a settled and definite Christian 
 unity in diversity as the ultimate result in God's own time. 
 
 " I have, for my part, in that definite result, this ground of hope, that now, 
 at last, love goes before logic, and an irenical spirit which is in search of our more 
 important harmonies, and is ready to lay emphasis upon them, has taken the 
 place of that polemical spirit which has rarely effected more than a widening of 
 the breach. It will be much for us to look each other kindly in the face, and 
 hear ourselves called brethren; it will be much if we can provide some means 
 of acquiring a more thorough knowledge of each other ; it will be much if we 
 can give and receive each other's blessing, in exchange for all the bitter maledic- 
 tions of the past ; it will be much if we can agree, however informally, upon some 
 common principles on which all alike may act in future measures toward the 
 realization of our present hopes. And all this — thanks be to God — seems now 
 to be within our power. 
 
 "Not one of those whom, as Anglican Christians, you have bidden to the 
 approaching Congress at Cologne will come to meet you there, but with the 
 feeling that their steps are drawing near to holy ground. In no less sacred 
 name than that of Christ will they be gathered there ; and they may meet with 
 the assurance that He has met with them. Could but the veil be lifted, howso- 
 ever slightly, which conceals the future from us, so we might catch a glimpse of 
 the issues which jiiay result from the conferences there begun, all that are truly 
 faithful, all that are truly Christian, of whatever name, in every land, would min- 
 gle their prayers for the guidance of those upon whose meeting, it may be, so 
 much depends. Rarely, in the history of the Church, has there been such need 
 of the wisdom which is from above ; rarely, perhaps, has such a blessing waited 
 upon the deliberations of Christians as may await a wise and godly issue of this 
 conference. 
 
 " 'O pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee.' 
 
 " Faithful to His great purpose to which God has called them, the Alt-Cath- 
 olics of Gei-many, France, Italy, Holland, Austria, and Switzerland, that 'now 
 sow in tears, shall reap in joy;' for 'he that now goeth on his way weeping and 
 beareth forth precious seed, shall doubtless come again with joy, and bring his 
 sheaves with him.' 
 
 " I am, reverend sir, most respectfully 
 
 " Your fellow-servant in Christ, 
 
 "Wm. Chauncy Langdon. 
 " Muhlbach-in-the-Tyrol, August 19, 1872." 
 
"1