ordinum Tom I. qu. 56, art 14, and Tom II. qu. 67, art 1), Natalis Alexander (De Sacramento Poenitentiae art 10, reg. 5), and the Bull" Plantata," which is appended to the document. 1720. May 3rd. Copy of the letter of Bishop Bonaventure Giffard, Vicar Apostolic of the London District to the Congregation of Propaganda.

The Bishop acknowledges the receipt on May 1st of the letter of Cardinal Sacripantes, Prefect of Propaganda, dated March 18th, respecting Fr. Laurence Fenwick's insistance, as President of the English Benedictines, on the necessity of his signature to the Faculties of members of the congregation exercising parochial functions in England; and states that no inconvenience has hitherto resulted from the practice.

This and following letters on the same subject are copied, through the kindness of a friend, from the collection of the papers and correspondence of Cardinal Gualterio.3 (British Museum. Additional MSS. 20,241 to 20,583.)

1720. May 21st. Bishop Matthew Prichard, V.A. of the Western District, to Cardinal (? Sacripantes),-on the same subject.

Bishop Prichard bears witness that he has never ventured to give missionary faculties to the members of any religious order without the consent of their respective superiors.

1720. May 23rd. Bishop George Witham, Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District, on the same subject, to the Cardinal. He states his theoretical objections to Fr. President Fenwick's claim; but adds that he has never heard of any inconvenience or scandal being caused by its exercise.

1720. May 24th. Bishop John Talbot Stonor, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District, to the Congregation of Propaganda, on the same subject.

The Bishop alludes to the exercise by the superiors of the religious orders in England, as in Catholic countries, of censures &c., with regard to their own subjects, without consulting the Bishops; he thinks too much has been made of the danger of missionary priests being found with a paper of faculties, since a slight precaution would ensure secrecy, even if secrecy were

3 Filippo Antonio Gualterio was Vice Legate at Avignon in 1696, Papal Nuncio in France from 1700 to 1706; created Cardinal and Protector of Scotland in 1706; and appointed Cardinal Protector of the English at the court of Rome in 1717. He died April 21st, 1728.

needed now-a-days. In conclusion the writer suggests, as a remedy for most of the difficulties under which the church in England was labouring, an annual conference of the four Apostolic Vicars to discuss their affairs, and under the sanction of the Congregation of Propaganda, to legislate for the needs of their clergy and people. Such a meeting could be held as safely in London as in Rome itself. Two of the Bishops cordially approved of the plan, while a third had some scruples as to its advisability.

66

1720. July 20th. Rescription ou mémoire contre la requette des Bénédictins Anglois de la ville de Douay" (see April 3rd, above). The arguments used by the opponents of the monks with regard to the privileges complained of by the curé of St. Albin. 1720. August 7th., and August 28th. Two short papers on the same question.

1720. September 23rd. A summary (in Italian) of the letters above

mentioned from the Vicars Apostolic to Propaganda, with extracts from the Archives of Propaganda on the same subject. (Copy.)

• The Bishop states that a certain Jesuit father who had recently been arrested, was found in possession of a paper of 'faculties' from his own superior, but that the judges considered they could not urge this against him, and on his release the paper was given back to its owner; even a parcel of letters from members of the Society to their confrères in China, was restored after a few months and allowed to be forwarded in an English vessel to its destination. Again, no hurtful consequences had resulted from a paper of faculties, which the Bishop had granted to a secular priest, named Caseby, having fallen into protestant hands.

(To be continued.)

LINES WRITTEN AT THE MONASTERY OF

"LA GRANDE CHARTREUSE."

WILD-HUNGERING for Christ's serene embrace-
The dazzling beauty of Perfection's face,-
Here Bruno found the Peace of God,
His soul uplifted from the sod,

Lines written at "La Grande Chartreuse." 203

And here, where Nature weaves the thunder-cloud,
And rolls with glee the leaping torrent loud,

He gathered joys unknown to Time,

In taciturnity sublime.

For roused to thought by that gaunt spectre1 dire,
With throbbing heart and sudden glance of fire,
"Avaunt" he cried, "terrestrial cares,
"To genuine life destructive tares.

"O Gold and Glory--dust, and dirt, and dung,-
"Henceforth from off my soaring soul be flung,"
And plunged up the piny chasm,

As urged by some o'ermastering spasm.

:

Such flames are catching others crowding came,
Disdaining pleasure, mocking foolish fame,

And, far from men, anear the skies,
This saintly City bade to rise;

Where, halcyon-like on far off shipless seas,
They brood at will amid primeval trees,

White-souled, white-vested, like the snows
Which veil their roofs and round them close ;

Where, rapt in happy meditations meek,
They slant in pensiveness the pallid cheek;
Their knees are horn; their dreamy eyes
Mirror the calms of Paradise.

And thus for ever through the circling hours,
Like fragrant odours flung from desert flowers,
The golden thuribles of prayer

They swing,-for nought beside they care.

1 See, in the life of St. Bruno, the legend of Raymond Diocres, who, at the very moment of his obsequies, rose from his bier and made known that he had just been sentenced to eternal damnation.

cause of the Saint's conversion,

This prodigy, it is said, was the

They pray alike, should August's ravenous rays
Above their noon-lit cloisters burn and blaze,
Or black hybernal tempests sweep

The earth dissolved in lust and sleep.

Alike, for nigh a thousand changeful years,
With ocean's tide, or Heaven's starry spheres,
Their solemnizing voices vie
Undying. They will never die!

WILLIAM BONAPARTE WYSE.

ST. LAURENCE'S AT DIEULOUARD.

The

MANY of our readers will be glad to see a view of one of the numerous religious houses and colleges which were founded on the continent during the persecution of the church in England in the 17th century. bird's eye view of old St. Laurence's at Dieulouard which we have borrowed from an interesting little pamphlet recently published' will be welcomed by all friends of the English Benedictines, and especially, we may hope, by those whose early years have been spent at the new St. Laurence's which has made the name of Ampleforth so well known in Catholic circles. To those who have long been familiar with the traditions of their Alma Mater at Ampleforth what we are going to say will present little novelty; to others however we may hope to communicate some slight knowledge of an institution which for nigh two hundred. years did good service to the cause of the church in England.

In the midst of the spreading cornfields and hop gardens and famed vineyards of the land of the Moselle, in that smiling country whose peaceful prosperity is watched over and fended from all hostile invasion, (or should be, if the course of European politics would but run a little smoother), by the "blue Alsatian mountains" which bound its horizon, lies the little village of Dieulouard, where the English monks of St. Benedict were so fortunate as to secure an asylum in the early days of

1 Les Bénédictins Anglais de Dieulouard et la fuite du Révérend Père Marsh, dernier prieur du couvent de Saint-Laurent. Par l'abbé P. Marton. Nancy. René Vagner, 1884.