Medieval Mariolatry.
The January number of the Princeton Theological Review contains a very interesting and instructive article on the above subject by Prof. Kelso. Dr. Kelso points out that the medieval theologians Bonaventura and Albertus Magnus had a great deal to do with the popularising of the cult of the Virgin. For though the greatest of the schoolmen, Thomas Aquinas rejected the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, yet the Franciscans, under the leading of Duns Scotus, upheld the doctrine with all the skill they could command, and finally triumphed in the recognition of the Immaculate Conception as a dogma in 1854.
New Roman Catholic College for Ireland.
Mr. Bryce, late Chief Secretary for Ireland, has announced the intention of the Government to erect a new Roman Catholic College in Dublin at the expense of the State. Mr. Birrell, late Minister of Education, has succeeded Mr. Bryce as Chief Secretary for Ireland, and therefore will be the one chosen to introduce the Bill into the House of Commons. But how he can do it without a blush of shame is more than I can understand. Last session Mr. Birrell was the leader of those opposed to sectarian education in England and Wales, and now he will have to appear as the leading advocate of the very principle he was engaged in denouncing all last year. I hope every one of my readers will energetically oppose this attempt to set up a new Popish College in Ireland. It is not needed, and will only tend to multiply the evils of the country and to increase religious intolerance and disloyalty. It would be far wiser to spend the money in providing elementary education for the benefit of the poor, and freeing it from priestly control.—Protestant Observer.
Rome’s Great Losses.
The practically simultaneous breaking away from the tyranny of Rome of the three most prominent European countries in which for centuries she has kept the people in spiritual bondage is an epoch-making event. The month of December, 1906, witnessed the actual separation of Church and State in France and the expulsion of the Papal representative from Paris, the passage by the Italian Chamber of Deputies of a resolution congratulating the French Government upon its action, and the drafting by the Spanish Government of an Associations Bill very similar to the French law, and also the refusal of Spain to side with the Vatican in its war on the French Government and people. So far as Germany is concerned, a year-book, published in Prussia by Pastor Schneider, reports the number of conversions from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism as 66,000 more than those won by Rome from among the nominal Protestants, while during the last ten years 75,000 Catholics have become Protestants in Austria.—Converted Catholic.
Roman Catholicism in Scotland.
The Roman Catholic Directory for Scotland for 1907, just issued, contains statistics showing the strength of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. The estimated Roman Catholic population is over 514,000, an increase of 1000 compared with the end of 1905. The increase is entirely in the Edinburgh Diocese. There are 539 priests, or 14 more than in 1905; 233 missions, an increase of 3; 381 churches, chapels, stations, etc., a decrease of 4; 65 religious houses—no change; 210 schools, an increase of 6; 38 charitable institutions, 1 less than 1905.
The Power of the Priest.
A correspondent of the Sentinel (Toronto) calls attention to a little book published in French, “La Prêtre” (the Priest), at Masson, Quebec. The book has the imprimatur of the Archbishop of Ottawa. Here are a few sentences from it:—”We now come to the Sacrament of Holy Orders, which does not seem to be respected by anyone amongst you, but which respects everybody. This sacrament elevates man as God. Who is the priest? A man who holds the place of God, who holds all the powers of God. ‘Go,’ said our Lord to the priest, ‘as my Father has sent me, I send you. All power has been given to me in Heaven and on earth. Go, then, teach all the nations. He who hears you hears me; he who despises you, despises me.'”