14 April 1895 A.D. Pope Leo XIII’s Gasbagging Apostolic Letter to Englishmen “Yearning for Unity with Rome”—The Pope’s Necromancy to Peter, St. George, Mother Mary, St. Augustine & Other Departed Saints
14 April 1895 A.D. Pope Leo XIII’s Gasbagging Apostolic Letter to Englishmen “Yearning
for Unity with Rome”—The Pope’s Necromancy to Peter, St. George, Mother Mary,
St. Augustine & Other Departed Saints
Leo XIII. “Apostolic Letter of the Pope Leo XIII to the
English People Who Seek the Kingdom of Christ in the Unity of the Faith.” Writings of Dominic Barberi and Ignatius Spencer. N.d. https://barberi.wordpress.com/prayers-for-england/pope-leo-xiii-to-the-english-people/. Accessed 3 Mar 2015.
Apostolic Letter of the Pope Leo XIII
TO THE ENGLISH PEOPLE WHO SEEK THE KINGDOM OF
CHRIST IN THE UNITY OF THE FAITH.
Health and Peace in the Lord.
Some time since, in an Apostolic letter to princes and
peoples, we addressed the English in common with other nations, but we have
greatly desired to do this by a special letter and thus give to the illustrious
English race a token of our sincere affection. This wish had been kept alive by
the hearty good will we have always felt towards your people, whose great deeds
in olden times the history of the Church declares. We were yet more moved by
not infrequent conversations with your countrymen, who testified to the kindly
feeling of the English towards us personally, and above all to their anxiety
for peace and eternal salvation through unity of Faith. God is our witness how
keen is our wish that some effort of ours might tend to assist and further the,
great work of obtaining the reunion of Christendom; and we render thanks to
God, who has so far prolonged our life, that we may make an endeavour in this
direction. But since, as is but right, we place our confidence of a happy issue
principally and above all in the wonderful power of God’s grace, we have with
full consideration determined to invite all Englishman, who glory in the
Christian name, to this same work, and exhort them to lift up their hearts to
God with us, to fix their trust in Him, and to seek from Him the help necessary
in such a matter by assiduous diligence in holy prayer.
Papal Solicitude for England.
The love and care of the Roman Pontiffs for England has been traditional
from the days of our holy predecessor Gregory the Great. Religion and humanity
generally, and especially the English nation, owe him a deep debt of gratitude.
Although prevented, by the Divine call to yet higher duty, from himself
undertaking the apostolic labour “of converting the Anglo-Saxons, as he had
proposed to do whilst still a monk, his mind remained intent upon this great
and salutary design” (Joann. Diac. in vita ejus, c. ii. 33), nor did he rest
until it was accomplished. For from that monastic family which he had formed in
learning and holiness of life in his own house he sent a chosen band under the
leadership of Augustine to be the messengers of grace, wisdom, and civilization
to those who were still buried in paganism. And relying as he did on Divine
help his hope grew stronger under difficulty, until at length he saw his work
crowned with success. He himself writes of this in tones of triumphant joy in
reply to St. Augustine, who had sent him the news of the happy result: “Glory
be to God on high and on earth peace to men of good will. To Christ be the
glory in whose death we live; by whose weakness we are strong, in the love of
whom we seek in Britain those brethren whom we knew not; by whose mercy we have
found those whom knowing not we sought. Who can tell what gladness filled the
hearts of all here to know that the English race, by the workings of the grace
of God Almighty, and by your labours, my brother, has been illuminated by the
light of our holy Faith, which expels the darkness of error, and has with free
mind trodden underfoot those idols to which aforetime they were subject in
‘foolish fear” (Epist. c. xi., 28, al c. xi., 58). And congratulating
Ethelbert, King of Kent, and Bertha his Queen, in a letter ful1 of affection,
in that they imitated St. Helen, of illustrious memory, and Constantine, the
devout Emperor” (ib. c. xi., 66, al. c. xi., 60, c. xi., 29, al c. ix., 59), he
strengthens them and their people with salutary admonitions. Nor did he cease
for the rest of his life to foster and develop their faith in instructions
dictated by holy prudence. Thus Christianity, which the Church had conveyed to
Britain, and spread and defended there against rising heresy;” after having
been blotted out by the invasion of heathen races, was now by the care of
Gregory happily restored.
Having resolved to address this letter to the English
people, we recall at once these great and glorious events in the annals of the
Church, which must surely be remembered by them in gratitude. Moreover, it is
noteworthy that this love and solicitude of Gregory was inherited by the
Pontiffs who succeeded him. This is shown by their constant interposition in
providing worthy and capable teachers in learning, both human and divine, by
their helpful counsels, and by their affording in abundant measure whatever was
necessary for establishing and developing that rising Church. And very soon was
such care rewarded, for in no other case, perhaps. did the Faith take root so
quickly, nor was so keen and intense a love manifested towards the See of
Peter. That the English race was in those days devoted to this centre of
Christian unity divinely constituted in the Roman Bishops, and that in the
course of ages men of all ranks were bound to them by ties of loyalty, are
facts too abundantly and plainly testified by the pages of history to admit of
doubt or question.
The Holy League for England’s return to union
But, in the storms which devastated Catholicity throughout Europe in the
sixteenth century. England, too, received a grievous wound; for it was first
unhappily wrenched from communication with the Apostolic See, and then was
bereft of that holy Faith in which for long centuries it had rejoiced and found
liberty. It was a sad defection; and our predecessors, while lamenting it in
their earnest love, made every prudent effort to put an end to it, and to
mitigate the many evils consequent upon it. It would take long, and it is not
necessary, to detail the sedulous and increasing care taken by our predecessors
in those circumstances. But by far the most valuable and effective assistance
they afforded lies in their having so repeatedly urged on the faithful the
practice of special prayer to God that He would look with compassion on
England. In the number of those who devoted themselves to this special work of
charity there were some venerable and saintly men, especially Saint Charles
Borromeo and Saint Philip Neri, and, in the last century. Paul, the founder of
the Society of the Passion of Christ, who, not without a certain Divine
impulse, it is said, was instant in supplication “at the throne of Divine
Grace:” and this all the more earnestly that the times seemed less favourable
to the realization of his hopes. We, indeed, long before being raised to the
Supreme Pontificate, were deeply sensible also of the importance of holy prayer
offered for this cause, and heartily approved of it. For, as we gladly recall,
at the time when we were Nuncio in Belgium, becoming acquainted with an
Englishman, Ignatius Spencer, himself a devout son of the same St. Paul of the
Cross, he laid before us the project he had already initiated for extending a
society of pious people to pray for the return of the English nation to the
Church.
We can hardly say how cordially we entered
into this design, wholly inspired by faith and charity, and how we helped
forward this cause, anticipating that the English Church would obtain abundant
assistance thereby. Although the fruits of Divine Grace obtained by prayer had
previously manifested themselves, yet as that holy League spread they became
notorious. Very many were led to follow the Divine call, and among them not a
few men of distinguished eminence, and many, too, who in doing so had to make
personal and heroic sacrifices. Moreover, there was a wonderful drawing of
hearts and minds towards Catholic Faith and practice, which rose in public
respect and esteem, and many a long-cherished prejudice yielded to the force of
truth.
Looking at all this, we do not doubt that the
united and humble supplications of so many to God are hastening the time of
further manifestations of His merciful designs towards the English people when
“the Word of the Lord may run and be glorified” (Thess. iii. I)”. Our
confidence is strengthened by observing the legislative and other measures
which, if they do not, perhaps, directly, still do indirectly help forward the
end, have in view by ameliorating the condition of the people at large,
and by giving effect to the laws of justice and charity.
Social Movements in England
We have heard with singular joy of the great
attention which is being given in England to the solution of the social
question, of which we have treated with much care in our Encyclicals, and of
the establishment of benefit and similar societies, whereby on a legal basis
the condition of the working classes is improved. And we have heard of the
vigorous and persevering efforts made to preserve for the people at large an
education based on religious teaching, than which there is no firmer foundation
for the instruction of youth and the maintenance of domestic life and civil
polity; of the zeal and energy with which so many engage in forwarding
opportune measures for the repression of the degrading vice of intemperance; of
societies formed among the young men of the upper classes for the promotion of
purity of morals and for sustaining the honour due to womanhood. For, alas, in
regard to the Christian virtue of continence pernicious views are subtly
creeping in, as though it were believed that a man was not so strictly bound by
the precept as a woman.
Moreover, reflecting men are deeply concerned
at the spread of Rationalism and Materialism, and we ourselves have often
lifted up our voice to denounce these evils, which weaken and paralyze not
religion only, but the very springs of thought and action. The highest credit
is due to those who fearlessly and unceasingly proclaim the rights of God and
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the laws and teachings given by Him for the
establishment of the Divine Kingdom here upon earth; in which teachings alone
strength, wisdom, and safety are to be found. The various and abundant
manifestations of care for the aged, for orphans, for incurables, for the
destitute, the refuges, reformatories, and other forms of charity, all which
the Church as a tender Mother inaugurated and from the earliest times has ever
inculcated as a special duty, are evidences of the spirit which animates you.
Nor can we omit to mention specially the
strict public observance of Sunday and the general spirit of respect for the
Holy Scriptures. Everyone knows the power and resources of the British nation
and the civilizing influence which, with the spread of liberty, accompanies
its commercial prosperity even to the most remote regions. But, worthy and
noble in themselves as are all these varied manifestations of activity, our
soul is raised to the origin of all power and the perennial source of all good
things, to God our Heavenly Father, most beneficent. For the labours of man,
whether public or private, will not attain to their full efficacy without
appeal to God in prayer and without the Divine Blessing. “For happy is that
people whose God is the Lord” (Ps. cxliii. 15). For the mind of the Christian
should be so turned and fixed that he places and rests the chief hope of his
undertakings in the Divine help obtained by prayer, whereby human effort is
supernaturalized and the desire of doing good, as though quickened by a
heavenly fire, manifests itself in vigorous and serviceable actions. In this
power of prayer God has not merely dignified man, but with infinite mercy has
given him a protector and help in the time of need, ready at hand to all, easy
and void of effect to no one who has resolute recourse to it. “Prayer is our
powerful weapon, our great protection, our storehouse, our port of refuge, our
place of safety.” (Chrys. Horn 30in Gen.)
But if the prayer of the righteous man
rightly avail so much with God even in earthly concerns, how much more will it
not avail one who is destined to an eternal existence for obtaining those
spiritual blessings which Christ has procured for mankind by “the sacrament of
His mercy.” For He “Who of God is made unto us wisdom and justice and
sanctification and redemption” (I Cor. i. 30), in addition to what He taught,
instituted, and effected, gave also for this purpose the salutary precept of
prayer and in His great goodness confirmed it by His example.
These simple truths are indeed known to every
Christian, but still by many they are neither remembered nor valued as they
should be. It is for this reason that we insist the more strenuously on the
confidence which should be placed in prayer, and recall the words and example of
the fatherly love of the same Christ our Lord; words of deepest import and
highest encouragement; words also which show forth how in the counsels of God
prayer is at the same time the expression of our helplessness and the sure hope
of obtaining the strength we need . “And I say to you, Ask and it shall be
given you; seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you; for
everyone that asketh, receiveth, and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that
knocketh it shall be opened” (St. Luke xi. 9, 10) and the Son of God Himself
shows us that if our prayers are to be acceptable to the Divine Majesty they
must be united with His Name and merits. “Amen, amen, I say to you if you ask
the Father anything in My name, He will give it you. Hitherto you have not
asked anything in My name. Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be
full” (St. John xvi. 23, 24-). And He enforces this by reference to the tender
love of parents for their own children. “If you, then, being evil,” He says,
“know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father
from Heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask Him” (St. Luke xi., 13). And
how abundant are the choice gifts contained in that good Spirit! The greatest
of them all is that hidden power of which Christ spoke when He said: “No man
can come to Me except the Father who hath sent Me draw him” (St. John vi.
4-4-).
It is impossible that men grounded in this teaching should not feel drawn
and even impelled to the habit of faithful prayer. With what steady
perseverance will they not practise it; with what fervour pursue it, having
before them the very example of Christ Himself, who, having nothing to fear for
Himself and needing nothing, for He was God, yet passed the whole night in
prayer (St. Luke vi. 12), and with a strong cry and tears offered up prayers
and supplications (Heb. v. 7), and doing this” He wished to stand pleading
before His Father as if remembering at that time that He was our teacher,” as
Venerable Bede that ornament of your nation, wisely considers (in ev. S. Joann.
xvii). But nothing proves so clearly and forcibly both the precept and the
example of our Divine Lord in regard to prayer as His last discourse to the
Apostles during those sad moments that preceded His passion, when, raising His
eyes to Heaven, He again and again entreated His Holy Father, praying and
entreating Him for the most intimate union of His disciples and followers in
the truth, as the most convincing evidence to the world of the Divine mission
on which He was about to send them.
The Yearning for Unity
And here no thought is more welcome to our soul than that happy unity of
Faith and will for which our Redeemer and Divine Master prayed in that earnest
supplication a unity which, if useful at all times even for temporal interests,
both at home and abroad, is shown by the very divisions and confusions of these
days to be more than ever needful. We on our part, watching the signs of the
times, exhorting and taking thought for the future, urged thereto by the example
of Christ and the duty of our Apostolic office, have not ceased to pray, and
still humbly pray, for the return of Christian nations, now divided from us, to
the unity of former days. We have more than once of late years given expression
to this object of our desires, and have devoted sedulous care to its
realization. The time cannot be far distant when we must appear to render an
account of our stewardship to the Prince of Pastors, and how happy, holy
blessed should we be if we could bring to Him some fruit-some realization of
these our wishes which He has inspired and sustained. In these days our
thoughts turn with love and hope to the English people, observing as we do the
frequent and manifest works of Divine Grace in their midst; how to some, it is
plain, the confusion of religious dissensions which divide them is a cause of
deep concern, how others see clearly the need of some sure defence against the
inroad of modern errors which only too readily humour the wishes of fallen
nature and depraved reason; how the number of religious and discreet men, who
sincerely labour much for reunion with the Catholic Church, is increasing. We
can hardly say how strongly these and other signs quicken the charity of Christ
in us, and redoubling our prayers from our inmost soul we call down a fuller
measure of Divine Grace, which, poured out on minds so well disposed, may issue
in the ardently desired fruit, the fruit, namely, that we may all meet into the
unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son God (Eph, iv, 13), careful to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, one body and one Spirit, as
you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism
(ib, 3-5).
With loving heart, then, we turn to you all in England
to whatever community or institution you may belong, desiring to recall you to
this holy unity. We beseech you, as you value your eternal salvation, to offer
up humble and continuous prayer to God, the Heavenly Father, the Giver of all
Light, who with gentle power impels us to the good and the right, and without
ceasing to implore light to know the truth in all its fullness and to embrace
the designs of His mercy with single and entire faithfulness, calling upon the
glorious name and merits of Jesus Christ, who is “author and finisher of our
faith” (Heb. xii. 2), who loved the Church and delivered Himself for it that He
might sanctify it and might present it to Himself a glorious Church (Eph. v.
25-27.) Difficulties may be for us to face, but they are not of a nature which should
delay our apostolic zeal or stay your energy Ah, no doubt the many changes that
have come about, and time itself, have caused the existing divisions to take
deeper root. But is that a reason to give up all hope of remedy,
reconciliation, and peace? By no means if God is with us. For we must not judge
of such great issues from a human standpoint only, but rather must we look to
the power and mercy of God. In great and arduous enterprises, provided they are
undertaken with an earnest and right intent, God stands by man’s side, and it
is precisely in these difficulties that the action of His Providence shines
forth with greatest splendour. The time is not far distant when thirteen centuries
will have been completed since the English race welcomed those apostolic men
sent, as we have said, from this very city of Rome, and, casting aside the
pagan deities, dedicated the first fruits of its faith to Christ our Lord and
God. This encourages our hope. It is, indeed, an event worthy to be remembered
with public thanksgiving; would that this occasion might bring to all
reflecting minds the memory of the faith then preached to your ancestors, the
same which is now preached – Jesus Christ yesterday, today and the same for
ever, as the Apostle says (Heb. xiii. 8), who also most opportunely exhorts
you; as he does all, to remember those first preachers “who have spoken the
word of God” to you, whose faith follow, considering the end of their
conversation (ib. 7).
To the Catholics of England
In such a cause we, first of all, call to our assistance as our allies the
Catholics of England, whose faith and piety we know by experience. There can be
no doubt that, weighing earnestly the value and effects of holy prayer, the
virtue of which we have truly declared, they will strive by every means to succour
their fellow-countrymen and brethren by invoking in their behalf the Divine
clemency. To pray for one’s self is a need, to pray for others is a counsel of
brotherly love; and it is plain that it is not prayer dictated by necessity so
much as that inspired by fraternal charity which will find most favour in the
sight of God. The first Christians undoubtedly adopted this practice.
Especially in all that pertains to the Rift of faith the early ages set us a
striking example. Thus it was the custom to pray to God with ardour that
relations, friends, rulers, and fellow-citizens might be blessed by a mind
obedient to the Christian faith (S. Aug. de dona persev. xxiii. 63).
And in regard to this there is another matter which gives
us anxiety. We have heard that in England there are some who, being Catholics
in name, do not show themselves so in practice; and that in your great towns
there are vast numbers of people who know not the elements of the Christian
faith, who never pray to God, and live in ignorance of His justice and of His
mercy. We must pray to God, and pray yet more earnestly in this sad condition
of things, since He alone can effect a remedy. May He show the measures proper
to be taken; may He sustain the courage and strength of those who labour at
this arduous task: may He deign to send labourers into His harvest.
Whilst we so earnestly press upon our children the duty
of prayer, we desire at the same time to warn them that they should not suffer
themselves to be wanting in anything that pertains to the grace and the fruit
of prayer, and that they should have ever before their minds the precept of the
Apostle Paul to the Corinthians: “Be without offence to the Jews and the
Gentiles, and to the Church of God” (I Cor. x. 32). For besides
those interior dispositions of soul necessary for rightly offering prayer to
God, it is also needful that they should be accompanied by actions and words
befitting the Christian profession – first of all, and chiefly, the exemplary
observance of uprightness and justice, of pitifulness for the poor, of penance,
of peace and concord in your own houses, of respect for the law – these are
what will give force and efficacy to your prayers. Mercy favours the petition
of those who in all justice study and carry out the precepts of Christ,
according to His promise: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you
shall ask whatever you will and it shall be done unto you” (St. John xi. 7).
And therefore do we exhort you that, uniting your prayer with ours, your great
desire may be that God will grant you to welcome your fellow citizens and
brethren in the bond of perfect charity. Moreover, it is profitable to implore
the help of the Saints of God, the efficacy of whose prayers, especially in such
a cause as this, is shown in that pregnant remark of St. Augustine as to St.
Stephen: “If holy Stephen had not prayed, the Church to-day would have had no
Paul.”
Invocation of England’s Saints for Mary’s Dowry
We therefore humbly call on St. Gregory, whom the English have ever
rejoiced to greet as the Apostle of their race, on Augustine his disciple and
his messenger, and on those other Saints of God, through whose wonderful
virtues and no less wonderful deeds England has merited the title of “Island of
the Saints;” on St. Peter and St. George, those special patrons, and above all
on Mary, the Holy Mother of God, whom Christ Himself from the Cross left to be
the mother of mankind, to whom your kingdom was dedicated by your forefathers
under that glorious title ., The Dowry of Mary.” All these with full confidence
we call upon these our pleaders before the Throne of God that, renewing the
glory of ancient days, He May “fill you with all joy and peace in believing:
that you may abound in hope and in the power of the Holy Ghost” (Rom. xv. 13).
Care should be taken that the prayers for unity already establish amongst you
Catholics on certain fixed days should be made more popular and recited with
greater devotion. Especially that the pious practice of the Holy Rosary, which
we ourselves have so strongly recommended, should flourish, for it contains as
it were a summary of the Gospel teaching, and has always been a most salutary
institution for the people at large. Moreover, we are pleased of our own will
and authority to add still another to the sacred Indulgences which have been
granted from time to time by our predecessors. We grant, that is, to all those
who piously recite the prayer appended to this Letter, to whatever nation they
may belong, an Indulgence of 300 days; moreover, a Plenary Indulgence once a
month on the observance of the usual conditions to those who have recited it
daily.
Finally, may the Divine prayer of Christ Himself for
unity fill up the full measure of our desires, a prayer which on this day, through the
Mystery of His most Holy Resurrection, we repeat with the utmost confidence: “Holy
Father, keep them in
Thy name whom Thou hast given Me; that they might be one as We also are one. . . . Sanctify them
in truth. Thy word is truth ..”. And not for them only do I pray, but for them
also who through their word shall believe in Me, that all may be one, as Thou, Father. in Me,
and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us. . . . I in them and Thou in Me;
that they might be made perfect in one; and the world may know that Thou hast
sent Me and hast loved them as Thou hast also loved Me” (St. John xvii.)
Finally, we desire all
manner of blessings from God for the whole of the British people, and with all
our heart we pray that those who seek the kingdom of Christ and salvation in
the unity of faith may enter on the full realization of their desires.
Given at St.
Peter’s in Rome on the 14th of April, 1895, in the 18th year of our
Pontificate.
LEO PP. XIII.
O Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon
England “thy Dowry” and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee. By thee
it was that Jesus, our Saviour and our hope, was given unto the world; and He
has given thee to us that we might hope still more. Plead for us thy children,
whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the Cross, O sorrowful
Mother. Intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold
they may be united to the Supreme Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son. Pray for us
all, dear Mother, that by faith fruitful in good works we may all deserve to
see and praise God, together with thee, in our heavenly home. Amen.
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